#surely i'm just imagining it because CAN YOU IMAGINE

[fadebolt]

I don't have much more to add here.

It portrays its message in a very overt manner - and I think that very much works for its benefit. The real world equivalent of this type of cycle is a lot subtler, and seems a lot more innocuous on the surface. But by exaggerating it, and making it a lot more 'clear', the reader gets a really good idea of how horrid it actually is, which they possibly wouldn't have taken note of, otherwise.

It's funny how I also learned of Metamorphosis through my high school literature class, and it was the piece that stuck with me the most (rather than something from the beautiful Hungarian materials, which was the vast majority of what we covered).

Though a large part of why I remember it is also how much I actually physically struggled to get through it. From what I remember, it was somewhat visceral, and I had to make sure to occasionally take little walks, and keep the window open, so that I wouldn't start feeling dizzy/sick. (Just note that I also imagined it to be a lot more gruesome, than how a lot of the art portrays the story. I also have a bit of a vivid imagination (which decided to picture Gregor as a giant centipede, for some inexplicable reason), and I get the same dizzy/sick feeling when I look at detailed images of cells, so I'm almost certainly an outlier here. Don't ask what's going on with my brain, cus I honestly have no idea.)

But its themes were also incredibly well portrayed, and dare I say, have actually affected me. Because not only has it highlighted the vicious cycle that neurodiverent people go through, but also that 'trying to become 'normal'' is neither a feasible, nor an ideal solution, and is not something that anyone should be fully forced into. Despite its grim undertones, Metamorphosis actually encouraged me to try and stand out in a positive manner, instead of being stuck as an 'insect that is poorly mimic-ing what 'normal' is like', the way the main character did.

It's inspiring, but in an unusual way. It's hard to put it into words, but I think any neurodiverent person will get it.

So yeah, I can absolutely recommend it to anyone who's looking for a more dark story with creepy elements that tackle some heavy psychological subject matters. I wouldn't say it's for everyone, but if you are part of the target audience (which... most of you Tumblr users are xd), then it's absolutely going to be one of your most memorable and impactful reads.

And it's a really pleasant surprise to see that it's so popular and well-known on this site. The story certainly earned that ^-^

[21280]

SECOND DATE UPDATE!

izuku midoriya got ghosted by you after the first date! so, he turns to mic's radio show segment in an act of desperation to know what happened... fem reader (pronoun only used once), y/n had mic as a homeroom teacher before. post war.

midoriya is incredibly nervous as he stands by on the other line as mic's cheery voice blasts through his ear and through the radios of thousands, mic's words sounding incoherent as his mind races on the possible outcomes. though, he's sure there's only one.

he's going to be absolutely humiliated.

"so midoriya here had a nice at home date with a person named y/n, and according to him, everything was super fun! when he asked for a second date, he's been hit with nothing but excuses! so he’s waiting here in the other line while we ring up his date…"

riiiing.

it's an unknown number. you shrug, choosing to answer the call.

"hello?"

"hey hey hey! is this y/n?"

you recognize the voice coming from your speaker, your lips curling into a smile. "is this mr. yamada? oh my, yes this is she! it's been a while."

you can hear him chuckle, "how're ya doing, kiddo? i've seen you pop up on my newsfeed the other day—but we're here on official biz. i'm calling from put your hands up radio because there's this listener of ours that you went on a date with..."

"oh shoot" you say, "um, who is it?"

"do you remember going out with midoriya?"

oh god no, you think. your mind suddenly becomes flooded with images and memories of the past week, where you spent a few hours over at midoriya’s apartment. what was the purpose of all this—did he spill the beans to your homeroom teacher?

you sigh as you shake your head, "yes, i do remember him."

"that sigh tells me it wasn't a good date, now, was it?" mic asks, his curiosity is evident. "wanna tell me what he did wrong?"

you awkwardly chuckle, "midoriya's a really good guy, i swear!"

"but you've been blowin him off ever since your date! i've seen you on the papers, but are you reaaally busy or is that just a load of cap?" mic pressures, and you can only imagine his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"i did? my bad, i've been real busy with the agency i haven't had the time to reply to anyone.."

there's a few seconds of silence, before mic speaks up. "producer here told me you posted on your socials a few hours ago, so unless you have a team who posts selfies of you buying tea, you've been on your phone, my dear y/n" he laughs, "now spill. what happened with midoriya?"

"well, we had a nice dinner at his house, and we played some board games and watched three all might documentaries."

mic scoffs and laughs, “that does sound like a midoriya, alright. but hey—that seems like a nice date—what happened?”

you were unsure of whether or not you wanted to speak up, but decided to do so. “he just wouldn’t stop talking about all might! and, i know he’s his father figure or something but come on! even during dinner he kept mentioning how all might liked cedar from yakushima so he got a cedar scented candle because of that. we played all might themed board games. geez—even when i went to the bathroom he had an all might towel and soap dispenser. i damn nearly fell asleep during the second documentary and he shook me awake because i was missing the best part of it.”

by now, mic is exploding in laughter, the faint sound of his fist banging the table being heard. there’s a couple giggles heard in the background too, from his producer and other guests present.

“oh my god i didn’t know.”

your eyes widen in shock as you realize who the voice belonged to. mic clears his throat, “so, midoriya’s on the other line because he wanted to speak to you and know what he did wrong, and also to ask for a second date! surprise!”

you nearly choke on your spit as you hear his voice through your phone’s speaker. “i really didn’t know you didn’t like all might, but i mean you should’ve said something! we watched the top three documentaries!”

“did you ask me if i wanted to watch three documentaries about all might, midoriya?”

“you’re right—i’m so sorry” midoriya apologizes, and it seems genuine. you know he’s the type of guy to be oblivious at times, so you give him the benefit of the doubt.

“is there any way i can make it up to you? a dinner at a restaurant, a trip, we can even watch documentaries of your favorite hero in return! i really like you, y/n, and i would like another chance.”

you can’t stop your heart from beating quicker when those words left his mouth. he’s a lover boy through and through, and he’s truly devoted to what he likes.

“edgeshot. i want an edgeshot interview compilation marathon.”

you can practically hear midoriya smile, “okay, great! i actually know a lot about him, did you know that during the war he—“

“oookay! looks like it’s all settled” mic chuckles, “i think it’s the first time we’ve had a second date update success!”

[neve-gallus-girl-detective]

I've been making sure my bond with Neve is at like 9 before I finish Aelia stuff and even before the Venatori in Arlathan and she sounds soooo desperate whenever you get hurt, but she also keeps staying "just stay with me, Trouble" and "keep close, Trouble" and now I'm just imagining Rook spending all her free time with Neve and just developing this super close bond. Instead of her job being "stop the Gods and save the world," it becomes "save the world because Neve is in it." It all becomes about the after and then being safe and able to relax and then Neve is like, "I can't promise an after and so I won't say I love you" and it shatters Rook and Rook becomes reckless and ends up in the Fade. It's harder to get out because even if she can overcome the regret, what does it matter? Neve doesn't want a future with her.

Varric is like, "Neve isn't the only person on the planet and that isn't the job you signed up for. Even if it was, you could finish this job, move to Minrathous with her, and then drown in the dock because you tripped on a cat." and Rook is like UGH FINE.

She gets pulled out and Neve is there and she looks terrible and she immediately kisses Rook, but she does wait until they're in private to apologize and say she loves Rook and every second counts and she was so stupid for putting it off and Rook is kind of distant now because she can't make Neve the center of her world if she's going to survive this.

They do survive, though, and Rook is gifted a nice apartment by Dorian and she doesn't assume Neve is moving in, too, but by this point Neve has kind of figured out the situation. She moves in without a word to Rook and just picks a room to be her home office. Rook is cautious, but she makes enough dinner for Neve to have some if she wants.

Neve starts doing the grocery shopping so she can ask Rook what she wants from the store. She starts sleeping more just so she can be in bed with Rook and there when she wakes up. Neve doesn't bring it up, though, and eventually Rook cracks.

She says that Neve leaving her during the eclipse broke her and she hasn't been able to figure out how they fit together. What if she dies tomorrow? What if Neve runs again? And Neve just says, "Run? After I spent all that money on new sheets? After I spent all that time painting the apartment? After I started making coffee the long way to make sure you'd drink some?"

And she does what Varric did in the Regret Prison. She talks Rook through each argument, through every doubt, up every step until Rook believes that it's all real and true. And Rook looks a little sheepish afterward and says, "one last thing... Can I ask you for a favor?" and Neve says, "Anything for you, Trouble." Rook says, "Could you teach me to swim so I don't drown in the dock after tripping on a cat?"

[ihopesocomic]

I'm curious if you guys know about Clouded Moon, Shifting Roots? The book just came out and I read it, I thought it was pretty good

I read it. And I did not care for it. It read more like it was something for people who are already fans of these characters and not for people who were looking for something separate from Warrior Cats. Which would be fine but then I wouldn't have bothered.

It read like they felt like they had something better than Warrior Cats when in reality it was no different from Warrior Cats. Which is the problem with many Warrior Cats adjacent things. They end up making the exact same mistakes. 

There is an unneeded amount of telling and not showing. There was so many instances where a character would explain something that happened to them prior to the events of the book. The writers of Warrior Cats are beholden to a narrative structure of following a linear timeline that is not a standalone story. It requires context from other books. Since this is a story independent of Warrior Cats, I have to wonder why this writer didn't just. Start from the beginning. It would explain the actions and feelings of characters better without having to dump exposition on your readers. This is especially obvious later in the book where the main characters get attacked by coyotes and snakes and we see none of it happen lol it's all third-hand accounts of what happened.

It still has an unnecessarily large cast. Warriors has a problem with too many characters, so why did you CHOOSE to have the same problem? Characters sharing the same prefix is a huge mistake. There is only one instance where it made sense because eventually something changes. But I've been in WC RP groups before and there's a good reason the ones I was in disallow the same prefix lol it's fucking confusing. If you're not gonna trim the fat, it does the reader a disservice to not do your best to make sure no one gets confused. I don't care how attached to the names y'all are. V*viziepop did this shit and I'm gonna criticize the book for doing the same thing.

You can barely focus on the protagonists. They were basically interchangeable, which was not helped by the constant changing of perspectives, because they all essentially have the exact same thoughts on top of a cast you can barely keep track of. They barely had personalities to speak of, so all of them are surprisingly plain. And I'm supposed to believe at least half of the main cast were close friends at some point. Even characters that should at the very least be morally grey like Dawnfrost and Goldenpelt felt like the writer(s?) didn't want to make them "TOO" bad so that people would still like them. Cuz god forbid we have characters that have to grow to become better people. They're essentially a cult in the woods who are at constant odds with each other and you don't want to have Dawnfrost have some questionable thoughts about anything? 

Since the protagonists barely have a personality, character deaths happening around them have such little impact, even the ones I was surprised by. I imagine if this was remedied by telling the story from the start, I would probably care at least a little. I had stronger feelings about Duskwater dying and she had no dialogue and died pooping.

It is only because I have read Warrior Cats does it make it obvious where this story's roots came from. Because all of it is disappointingly interchangeable with Warrior Cats. You can't just change a few words and claim that something doesn't have ownership of something and then keep it virtually the same anyway. Aside from a few minor differences like queer characters having a Mike Wazowski cameo in the background, and magic being more widespread, nothing about it is different. To its detriment, without the context of Warrior Cats, there is no reason characters should be having half of the problems they currently have. A lot of the problems would be solved by simply making choices the cats in Warriors wouldn't. There's too many examples to give, but one that kind of drives me crazy is Windclan Field Colony leaders captains allegedly dislike Spottedshadow for her questionable loyalty, but they trust her enough to train their youth? Any other story would have leadership, no matter what the consequence, withhold that kind of power and make the protagonist find ways to subvert that.

And speaking of the queer characters, the cast is embarrassingly vanilla. You have the luxury of not being beholden to a publishing company's whims, you could have one big ol' polycule, or whatever the fuck, and you just. Don't bother? I know they've had these characters for a long time but like. None of the main cast is gay? Trans? Nothing? I guess Spottedshadow and Dawnfrost are bisexual since they had a relationship at some point, which again we the readers are not even present for, but it is entirely inconsequential to literally everything. I don't even recall whether a character brings it up in conversation. Neither of them barely spare a thought for each other, but their male romantic partners get plenty, even Goldenpelt. I guess to be fair, even the f/m romances are about as deep as the ones in WC. But did we not all decide this was tokenism? Or does it get a pass because it's "independent"? I've always said if you're not going to give your queer characters quality, you're better off not having them at all. I know they had these characters for a long time, but to advertise it as being queer is grossly misleading. People got more from the queer subtext from Frostdawn (god) and Whistlebreeze than queer context in this book. Again, if this was started from the beginning, where we got to see their relationship and it's just not working out, I wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

And worst of all, it was boring.

I really need people to read books that are not Warrior Cats to have an idea of what good books are. Because if the line is "not warriors" then this book can't even cross that. - Cat

-

Basically all of what Cat said. I also didn't care much for the worldbuilding changes from it being a Warrior Cats RP story either. Like Cat said: if you're going to make it not Warrior Cats, you may as well just start from scratch so you can do things differently more efficiently.

Not only are the changes superficial at best but... they either make no sense or are very cumbersome. Like the Captains have these titles like 'Elmtail the something or other Branch' and I'm just like why? I mean, I get it because it's meant to imply something about their personality and leadership strategy but this is an example of how this story tells but does not show.

It also bothers me how we have mismatch of rank titles like Captain, Second, Envoy etc., which may sound like a nitpick but... it makes it really hard to remember what rank does what and what order of seniority they're in. It wasn't until quite far in the book that I realised that an Envoy appears to be something of a third-in-command of the colonies after the Second and the Captain. Even though - traditionally - an envoy is a low-ranking title in most situations. I know a rebuttal to this would be that the Envoy is simply 'in training' but nah, they're on the Council with the Second and the Captain and Goldenpelt even lords over Spottedshadow by using his seniority as Envoy at one point.

I would've just liked an explanation for these new choices in rank titles because they don't seem to correlate well at all. Like with our WC rewrite - The Nefarious - we went with a medieval ranking system because the two Colonies we have date back to medieval times so it makes sense for them to carry those titles throughout their history. Same goes for Warrior Cats itself, which isn't entirely necessary because it's pretty easy to follow what the titles mean but it's still nice we get to see how the Clans established themselves in Dawn of the Clans and Moth Flight's Vision.

And what makes things even more complicated on top of remembering all of the main cast and their respective deals is that - in place of the Leader, the Deputy and the medicine cat arriving at decisions for their Clan - each Colony has a Council that you have to keep up with that is made up of the Captain, the Second, the Envoy and an Elder. WindClan Field Colony even goes that extra mile and adds the Herbalist (medicine cat) to their Council. Good luck remembering which cats are on which Council for each Colony because I sure as hell don't.

We also have a stand-in for StarClan and the Nine Lives ceremony or w/e but I don't remember much about this. It was just more lore and more characters I had to keep track of.

To sum it up all: everything you're familiar with in Warrior Cats has just been taken and renamed but made even more needlessly complicated so that it seems 'different'. It's certainly different... it's just harder for me to keep track of everything. But congratulations, I guess? shrug - RJ

[sawthatmountainburn]

ok serious response:

1 - it's a joke. you can say it's a too flippant crass offensive joke and i'd probably be like yea fair, but it's still a joke and not my actual opinion on the situation.

2 - all of what you just said already happens to women, I don't need to imagine it. they don't even have to be under an actual trial for some crime to be treated like this, they just have to have a callout post about them.

2.1 - I think it's fucked up when that happens, to be sure, but treating it like it's this novel unpreceding thing just because it's happening to a man is ridiculous. also, these things have already happened to men! mangione is far from the first one!

2.2 - if I'm being honest, so far it seems like the public response has been way kinder to mangione than anyone else who's gotten hyperanalyzed online. some people still have smear campaigns circulating about them even years after, chasing them away from every support network and community they come across. this is speculation, but I don't think this would be the case for him., just based on how people are acting towards him vs the people im thinking of as examples.

2.2.1 - but that doesn't even fucking matter right now because the guy is on fucking trial. this is going to determine how the rest of his life goes! and then it's not gonna matter if some 100-follower andy made a flippant joke(!!) in the tags of a 3k note tumblr post.

3 - you're not gonna help him by scolding random people, actually.

Imagine if they find Luigi innocent and he has to go through the rest of his life as That Guy Who Got Turbodoxxed That One Time Because Everyone Thought He Was An Assassin.

[quarterlifekitty]

To add to my earlier ask about how I have more step-dad Nik, your add on was so good because absolutely. Yes. Sweet girl is too fucked out to ask about protection or to think of anything other than Nik fucking load after load into her. She also doesn't think to ask for protection the next day in the shower since Nik gets her so worked up with his mouth first. Makes her cum on his tongue at least twice before fucking a few more out of her and filling her again. Cleans her up too, happy to hold his sweet girl and bathe her. Now I don't know how but she manages to get Nik to let her leave a second time (Nik is getting a new house ready closer to her college so she can attend online schooling, he doesn't want her feeling stir crazy when she's further along after all) and about a month after getting back she finds out she's pregnant. And despite being absolutely terrified of the situation she doesn't want to get rid of it, or at least keeps putting it off out of nerves. She eventually asks Nik if she can come visit and he's like 'oh, I sold that house, too many memories with the ex, new house is much closer to you though, do not worry' and he picks her up. Hand on her thigh the whole way to his (their) new home. She tries to act normal and everything but Nikolai can tell his sweet girl is distressed and presses her for the reason. Eventually she caves and tearfully confesses she's pregnant and she's 'so sorry' that she was so reckless and that she swears she won't bother him with anything and she'll go and he doesn't have to worry about her. And Nik only smiles 'Ah, what makes you think I'm mad? Hmm? And on that note, what makes you think that I'm not going to keep my pretty girl right here where I can take care of her?' and while SD should definitely be nervous and the red flags should be waving she never had a great basis for healthy relationships and she is falling for Nik as ashamed as she was of it at first. She keeps asking him if he's sure and it gets to a point where he just picks her up and takes her to their bed to show her just how sure he is. Funny side note Nik fully shoots her mom a text with something like 'thanks for introducing me to my soon to be wife, you should expect grandchildren within a year. Don't expect to see them though.' (take any dialog I type as an idea of what someone says cause I'm ass at typing in character) Once again thank you for listening to my rambling

Bro please ramble here all the time forever. I love this and I owe you my life.

Nik sending his ex a picture— doesn’t have your face in it, but you’re wearing like the one piece of family jewelry you ever got from her side of the family. It’s got your baby bump, and his hand holding yours— got a pretty ring on it now, too. And then he blocks her <3

Also reader like 100% has daddy issues in this one. Like her mom is piece of work and her dad is completely absent for whatever reason— when was the last time someone took care of her? Probably back when she was physically incapable of caring for herself. From the moment she could dress and feed herself she was on her own. It’s why it’s so painfully easy for her to fall into things with Nik. After a life that kind of treatment, Nik’s brand of doting is like crack.

And I like to imagine, while she might not know this in a full conscious way, she wanted to keep the baby because she fully expected Nikolai to leave her. It’s what she’s used to— and it’s strange for her to depend on him so much when he’s just her former stepfather, no? She’s constantly second guessing herself about leaning on him even a little— that she’s probably bothering him, and he’s just too kind to tell her off. But she does love him. So things would be hard, to raise the baby on her own, but at least she’d have a piece of him with her. She could remember the moments they shared that way, even when he left her.

She’s in for the fucking, no, the lovemaking of a lifetime when she confesses that little tidbit to him.

(This is all just my humble onion as this story is yours lol but this is what goes on in my imagination realm)

[irisintheafterglow]

touya todoroki doesn't like talking. sure, he'll quip and joke and mock a dead horse until it's begging to be killed again, but discussing serious topics were as foreign to him as the next galaxy. not just about his family or his accident or his vendetta against endeavor, but he is the man of few words. physically, it tears his throat to speak for extended amounts of time, and emotionally, he's not the type to share his inner anguish at length.

so when he starts to murmur something in the darkest hours of the night, your head on his chest as he gently runs a fingertip in spirals on your bare back, you tense. and, since he never misses anything when it comes to you, he tenses too.

"something wrong?"

"no," you say too quickly, already aware of how you'd essentially blown up his train of thought. "nothing. keep going."

"you're lying," he mutters against your temple, his voice darker and sharper than whiskey. "thought we said no more lying."

"we also said you'd never end up back in my bed, yet here we are," you remark and there's a small puff of air when he huffs, amused. "it's nothing, really." your eyes fall shut and your body syncs to his breathing rhythm, on the verge of sleeping when he speaks so quietly, you could've missed what he said.

"i don't like when you say that." you blink slowly, fighting to stay awake.

"say what?"

"that something is nothing, like i'm supposed to ignore what you said."

"maybe it was something stupid that you don't need to worry about," you propose but he has none of it.

"then i'll be the judge of that." sighing, you prop yourself onto one elbow and look down at him, his lower half covered by your comforter and his upper body completely exposed. your thumb lightly brushes the seam of his burn scars, stalling in hopes that he'll forget what you were arguing about. he doesn't, of course. "so?"

"so what?"

"if you're gonna keep ogling me, you might as well say what you want to say," he smirks and you roll your eyes.

"ogling is such a strong word." your lips purse and you make to pull your hand away, but he's fast to grab your wrist and press your palm to his heart. it's a steady thump, thump, thump that you could recognize as his in any other world. "i'd say 'admiring' is a better word for it."

"you'd be the first to think so, sweetheart."

"you don't like when i ogle you?" you ask teasingly, your fingertips grazing his collarbone, over the spot that vaguely held the mark of your teeth.

"well, yeah," he confirms like it was written in neon graffiti on your bedroom walls. his eyes flick down to your hand as it caresses the mottled skin. "no one thinks this is pretty. 's just not the way the rest of the world works." his eyes flutter shut under the safety of your touch; something pangs in your chest and you suddenly have the urge to cry. "don't start with all that."

"how did you know--"

"you swallow and blink a lot when you're about to cry."

"but your eyes are--"

"i can imagine your eyelashes fluttering, dear, and you're too sensitive when it comes to me," he explains patiently, with only the slightest patronizing tone. cracking a single eye open, he pulls you back down to his body and presses his lips softly to your forehead. "don't cry for me. i'm not worth it."

"of course you're worth it," you insist and he scoffs. "maybe i'm not like the rest of the world, because i think you're beautiful." it's his turn to fall silent, unsure of how to respond to such blunt statements of adoration. "stop it."

"stop what?"

"stop...stopping," you shrug and he snorts.

"what are you on about?"

"stop not talking," you frown in spite of his smirk. "i want you to keep talking." his chest rises and falls beneath your ear, warm and nothing but yours. "please?"

"if you insist," he murmurs, "but only for you."

---

i miss my bf again man...it's iris misses touya hours every hour

[lexicorp]

XD

Absolutely dude istg we need something where shit goes right for Starscream for once

Bro they really just /love/ killing Starscream- they do it /so/ much, all the time. Def get the death in TF as a thing cuz like it's an inherently dark franchise despite attempting to be kids show core alot. But also rude

Lmaooo not killing off Arcane for the angst tho holy hek- I do love me some angst too tho I must admit. I got my fic where I intend on it having a good ending yet Star is still very much not the king of good luck

Megs rlly was jus projecting his salt on Star as usual there. Is kinda funny to me how in TF1 Star was so just down for the punching each other thing and is like "yeah come at me kid, dewit-" but then the GUN comes out

and he's like SHIT and is like "dude you're taking a roughhousing vibe to the incorrect level cHiLl-" and I can only imagine how that's gonna end up with Megs starting the cons at the end. Cuz the Elite Guard having the "Strength above all" mentality just encourages the want to fight about it. Like I def think Star follows Megatron at the end because the dude fuckin broke Sentinel in half and that show of Power ought to have been impressive. So he'd jus be like aight hell yeah, you killed that guy I hate, cool. But when it starts getting to actually /working/ together for an extended period of time, then Stars far thicker tactical/military experience would just get more apparent to him when seeing dis Buckethead kid just being feral and sad over his ex. Also the idea of Star being older than Megs in TF1 is very trippy, but like if Star fought in the war while Megs was forged after Sentinel was in charge than it's stands to reason they have a decent age gap from those 50yrs.

Also LOL yeah dude omg that "I did it myse-- SAW it myself..." Is so funny dude XD very smooth djdbdjdb

[the other gif was glitching for me but I'm p sure it's this one-]

I just had a huge realisation yesterday and I wanted to share this after going through some pretty horrible stuff over the weekend: Something I've always asked myself ever since getting into G1 Transformers was "why do you like Starscream so much even though he's a narcissistic bully? Why are you, someone who is a victim of narcissistic abuse, taking comfort in a narcissistic character?" Well, I think I finally figured it out. Because Starscream is also a victim of that very same abuse. I mean, he's beaten, called names, bullied, unappreciated, abused, and put through the wringer…and he internalised all that abuse because he knew no other way. He had no one to turn to, and the few bots who did support him, he treated like dirt. Once he had that freedom and power, he abused it and became the very thing that abused him. I have no doubt he was always self-centred, selfish, had a huge ego, etc. before all that but honestly? I think Megatron's abuse caused him to turn out the way he did. I could have turned out that way and it's a little scary, some of the parallels I'm drawing with him.

@ichbinmeltdown wrote a great analysis on Starscream that I want to share here:

"Megatron was abusive as hell to Starscream. He treated him horribly, and I legitimately almost cried a few times watching it. There's an episode called Starscream's Brigade that introduces the Combaticons, and I think that perfectly demonstrates the cycle of abuse. The entire world is against Starscream at pretty much every turn throughout the series, but none more so than Megatron. Every word out of his speech synthesizer to Starscream is to berate him, and he's constantly throwing him around, beating him, even ripping out his speech synthesizer in a scene from a previous episode (Hoist Goes Hollywood, IIRC). His own teammates don't like him, and even his brothers- Skywarp and Thundercracker, going off of the idea they're brothers- just... allow Megatron to abuse him. (Not to get into headcanons here, but I personally believe that Megatron's abuse fractured the Elite Trine's family dynamic. They are still brothers and love each other, but they're all too afraid of Megatron to really... stand up for each other as they did in the past.) And Starscream seemed to just snap in this episode. He treated the Combaticons poorly, and even when teaming up with Shockwave, he subjected him to a lot of the same ridicule and torment that Megatron put him through. He failed to realize Shockwave was the one of the only bots who would give him a chance- and unfortunately lashed out at him, which ruined his chances of Shockwave ever being a true friend and ally to him. Once Starscream had finally gotten a taste of power and not being under another bot's boot, he too became the very thing that he lived in fear of. And that really is how the cycle goes- when you're finally free from abuse, it can be tempting to overcompensate and take back all the power you were robbed of, at any cost whatsoever. Starscream, like D16 in Transformers One, snapped up this opportunity."

And the sad thing is, I've seen this in real life and I've internalised some of the abuse I've dealt with too. I'm not proud of it. Like the Seeker Trine, my own family dynamic has been fractured by similar abuse. I know there's traces of narcissism in my behaviour too, and I'm NOT proud of it. Maybe this is why I can forgive Starscream for being a narc, because I can see a little bit of my own personality/attitude/behaviour in him. Maybe it's because I know where it came from, I get why he acts that way and it's not just random and out of the blue. Maybe it's because--and I know this is a bold statement--I don't think he would do some of the stuff my own family did to me (blah blah blah he's a fictional character).

I didn't mean for this to turn into a long rant, so

TLDR: I finally figured out that part of the reason I love and relate to Starscream so much despite him internalising some of the abuse I went through, is because he was the victim of that same abuse.

[c0rvus-corax]

Ironi is Sweethearts lovelanguage. And they get really creative with it, too.

(Milo and Sweetheart only know each other for a short time here, and they don't live together)

Just imagine Milo walking home at night, and all of a sudden, it starts raining.

At first, it's just a few small drops, but after a while, the rain starts pouring. Within minutes, Milo's hair is completely soaked, and his black T-shirt is sticking to his chest. He leans forward just a bit to prevent the rain from hitting him straight in the face when he hears a car slowing down next to him.

In curiosity, he looks over to the side, being faced with his Sweetheart rolling down their window.

"Need a ride, pretty boy?"

They leaned out of the car window, one of their eyebrows raised in a flirtatious way.

"Geez, what are you doing here, Sweetheart? Are you tracking me down?"

"I dog tagged you while you were sleeping, and now I'm going to kidnap you."

Milo walked toward the passenger seed door and opened it.

"Are you going to lock me up in your basement."

"If you say pls."

Sweetheart grinned.

"Well, actually, I can't because I don't have a basement, but I'm sure we can arrange something."

[lesbianherald]

random not super consequential thought (apologies if you’ve addressed this already): was your mental image of viktor in coming home commune era long hair or academy era short hair? or some variation thereof? what about the fantasy au?

since i wrote coming home before season 2 came out, season 1 for sure! i kind of imagined them mirroring their act 1 looks, but older, jayce maybe with some stubble.

I went this way (in my head) because I imagined this world (for all of its flaws) as a kinder one where neither would age as quickly. this is a choice i kind of regret now? again at the time i was like dont think just write this stupid lil thing and your brain will stop feeling like a prison DKFSJHD.

you were probably expecting two sentences but since we are on the topic, descriptors are kind of high key my biggest regret with coming home. at the time they didn't have many looks. but also I was so so so used to/deep into writing screenplays that i forgot my prose background/just hadn't worked that muscle in a long time. this is also why I personally HATE the first two chapters - because in my own re-reads I can really tell I'm trying to re-work the prose muscle back to life let me tell you it is not like riding a bike.

when you write a screenplay, you usually leave out a lot of what other departments would cover unless its super relevant - costumes, props, hair, etc - and it was only when i was like wayy too late in the game that I was like fuck bro. I screenplayed them DSKLFJHSD. again - it started as a project for me - i had no ideaaaaa you know. now i definetly wish i put more care into describing them.

but that also has created for a really fun side effect of different interpretations of them in the art.

this is something i'm really excited to NOT do in my upcoming fic. in fact, i'm working with an incredibly kind artist in the fandom on really bringing their looks to life. which is so fun. and i'm so excited for ppl to see it.

Viktor is in his long hair baylage era but he's.... not purple LOL. He's using his crutch. Has a sick cloak. Won't give too much else away.

Jayce has his beard/longer hair. Starts out out of his brace but gets an injury where he subsequently wears it. Very similar to episode 8/9 jayce. He will have one feature that is very unique to this fic that he inherits at the end of chapter 1 that is very... well you guys will see its ... i have a flair for drama and romance what can i say.

[quintessenceofdust88]

Life is changin' Tides, ch. 2 🌊

[Ch. 1 here]

[Also available on AO3]

Tommy drives through LA’s streets with complete disregard for speed limits or traffic laws, his mind set on getting closer to the shore. His eyes widen as he takes in everything that’s happening with the city that’s been his home for so many years. It’s completely different seeing the chaos from above as he was doing from the chopper, and being in the middle of it as he is now. Everywhere he looks, desperation clings to people like a second skin—exhaustion in every step, despair in every glance. There are many parents clutching their children close, and the vision makes Tommy’s heart squeeze in his chest when he realizes his own child is lost and scared in the middle of it. And then, an even more unbearable thought crosses his mind: what if she’s not? 

That’s too much for him. Tommy parks his truck in the middle of an unfamiliar street, eerily empty, and steps outside, his breath quickening in what he recognizes as a panic attack, the same kind he used to have back in Afghanistan, only worse. So much worse, because Tommy never feared for his life as much as he’s fearing for Vivie’s. He knows with a fierce certainty he can’t go on without her. Tommy clutches his steering wheel until his knuckles are white, and single sob wrecks through his chest. He tries - fails - to push the worst scenarios off his mind. Vivie has to be alive. Anything else is just unthinkable. 

And he has to find her. He has to find his daughter, and protect her, and make sure she’s safe. Tommy takes a deep breath, inhaling for seven seconds and exhaling for five, and he swallows his panic as best as he can, pressing his nails against his palm until his hands stop trembling. He can panic later, when Vivie is safe in his arms. 

Before starting his car, Tommy decides he needs a better plan of action than frantically going around the city and hoping he'll run into Genevieve. He doesn't have gas, and Vivie doesn't have time. Every second counts.

Tommy raises his phone to his ear with a trembling hand, having dialed numbers that he's used to being on the other side of.

“ 911, what's your emergency?” A sweet female voice answers.

“H-hi, this is firefighter pilot Kinard. I… I’m not on duty, but I have something important to ask.” He says, his voice trembling slightly, but he takes another deep breath to try and calm down.

“Firefighter Kinard, I'm dispatcher Maddie Buckley” The woman says, her tone professional and urgent. “You say you're not on duty, but are you safe? What can I help you with?”

“I am safe, it's… it's my daughter who's not” Tommy tells her, and he has to fight the tears that are already threatening rolling down his face as he says it out loud. “Please, if you have reports of a girl named Genevieve found amongst the survivors, can you make sure it's reported to Harbor station? She's… she's five years old”

Maddie audibly gasps on the phone, and Tommy squeezes his eyes shut, trying to tamper down his guilt and despair. They won't help him now.

“Yes, Mr. Kinard, of course. I… I imagine it won't do much good if I tell you not to go looking for her on your own?”

“It won't” He answers truthfully; there's nothing on Earth that can make him stop looking for his daughter while he has a breath left on his body.

“Then please be safe while doing so” She wishes, and Tommy feels a surge of affection for this dispatcher he doesn't know, this Maddie girl. “Is there anything else I can do to assist you?”

“Yes, actually” Tommy tells her, an idea coming to him as if whispered by some good angel. “Do you happen to know where they assembled the field hospital for the victims?”

--------

Buck is pretty sure that, if he didn’t have to put up a good front for Genevivie, he’d have crumbled in despair by now. They’ve been walking for at least an hour and he hasn’t found neither Genevieve’s uncle nor Christopher, not even a sign of them. He’s been asking around and only getting blank stares in return, or worse, pitiful ones that tell him exactly what most people think might have happened to the two of them. Christopher’s glasses are hanging from Buck’s neck, a stark reminder of just how much Buck failed the kid, and they feel like they weigh a ton. But Genevieve’s hand in his is warm, and light, and she looks up at Buck as if she’s completely sure he’ll keep her safe and take her back to her uncle. 

And Buck has to honor that trust. He knows her uncle Sal is waiting for her (presuming the man is alive, which Buck fiercely hopes for), and so is her father; she didn’t mention a mother, and Buck didn’t ask. 

“Mr. Evan?” She asks while they’re going through an empty street, on their way to the next group of survivors they can find, hoping against hope their people are among them. 

“Yeah, Vivie?” Buck asks, his voice more strained than he’d like it to be, and he remembers that the last time he drank water was before the wave hit. His throat is sore and starting to throb just as much as his leg. 

“Were you scared? When the big wave came?” She asks, her eyes wide in a mix of curiosity and lingering fear as she looks up at him. Buck shivers, remembering the dread he felt when he realized what exactly was happening to the Santa Monica pier, the blind fear he felt for Christopher. Vivie, however, continues before he can answer. “I was scared, but Uncle Sal wasn’t. He just took me and ran really fast"

“I did the same to Christopher” Buck tells her, and Vivie’s eyes widen in wonder.

“You did? So you’re brave like Uncle Sal!” Genevieve concludes, and Buck can’t help but be endeared by her logic, flawed as it was. 

“I… I tried to be, but… I don’t think I was very good at it, Vivie” Buck confesses to her, and she frowns at him, her little nose turning up. 

“Why not?” She asks, her innocence clear, and Buck’s heart aches in his chest.

“Because… Because I ended up losing Chris. I was supposed to keep him safe, and I lost him” Buck says, his voice breaking. He swallows hard, holding back the tears that are threatening to spill.

“Oh” Vivie says, and then looks deep in thought, before looking up at him. “But you didn’t mean to, right?”

“Of course not! I… I meant to protect him, but…” He trails off, but Vivie continues for him. 

“The big wave, right? It wasn’t your fault, mr. Evan. Uncle Sal didn’t mean to lose me either, it was an accident. Like when I spilled milk all over Daddy’s puzzle. He wasn’t mad at me, because I didn’t mean to, and he said accidents happen to everyone. And that we just need to do what we can to fix it”

“So… so you don’t think Christopher’s mad at me?” Buck asks. He knows it’s a bit desperate to be asking that question to a five-year-old he just met, but he really needs some sort of reassurance right now.

“Of course he’s not!” she says, her voice rising with certainty. “I’m not mad at Uncle Sal. I still think he’s really brave. And so are you, Mr. Evan. You saved me, and you’re trying super hard to find Christopher. You’re a hero.”

It makes Buck’s chest tighten, but not in a bad way. He would never call himself a hero, not after today, and he still doesn’t think he is, but. The faith of this little child in him is like a small bubble of hope in the middle of the wreckage, and Buck will hold on to that for as long as he can. 

“T… Thanks, Vivie” He tries to say without his voice breaking, and he doesn’t quite manage, but Genevieve doesn’t seem to realize the weight of what she said. “You're being pretty brave yourself, you know?”

“I know, Daddy always says so.” She says matter-of-factly, and Buck’s amazed that a five-year-old can have that sort of confidence that he doesn’t have at 28. “I’m not afraid of spiders and he is, so he always says I’m braver than him. But I don't think I'm braver than him, because I'm scared of sleeping in the dark, and he isn't. His bedroom doesn't have a nightlight like mine.”

Buck laughs for the first time in hours at that, and in different circumstances, he’d definitely want to meet Vivie’s father. There’s something fascinating about this man who builds up his daughter’s self-esteem, doesn’t get mad at her for accidents, teaches her disaster management and is also afraid of spiders (but not of the dark). 

However, Buck doesn’t have time to build the puzzle that is Genevivie’s dad anymore, because they’re reaching some police officers that are patrolling the area. Buck doesn’t know them, but they might be able to help. He squeezes Vivie’s hand so she keeps up with him and jostles to them as fast as his leg allows. 

“Excuse me,” He calls, and one of them turns to him. Buck can see his own exhaustion and despair reflected in the man’s eyes, and he understands what people mean by disaster solidarity now. “I… I am looking for two people. Have you passed by anyone named Sal or- or Christopher? They’re a man and a little boy…”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think so” The officer tells him, his voice filled with the sympathy Buck found in the voices of pretty much everyone they’ve crossed so far. “You… you might wanna try the triage center near the shore? They’ve built it out of a VA hospital. I heard a lot of victims are being taken there, so maybe your people are there?””

It’s the first Buck’s hearing of it, and that little bubble of hope, the one Vivie blew in his chest, grows a little. A triage center would write down names, make sure people are taken care of. It’s not much, but it’s their best chance. 

“How do I get there?”

-----

Eddie is astonished. Even though he’s been to war and worked the earthquake the year before, this is still the most despairing situation he’s seen. People are coming by heaps to the triage center, in different degrees of dehydration, sheer exhaustion or worse injuries, and it’s a bit overwhelming, if he’s honest with himself. There are helicopters frantically crossing the air, and Eddie sends a silent prayer for those guys who are probably having an even harder time at work than he is.

The only upside of this, when compared to the earthquake, is that this time he doesn’t have to worry about Christopher. He knows his kid is having the time of his life and probably stuffing his face with junk food that Buck always allows him to have and making Buck stop moping around. And he’s safe. So Eddie gets to do his job with a focused mind, which is important, because it’s a pretty demanding job at the moment. 

He’s just seen Bosko take off with her captain and is about to go back to patching up the wound. There is a lot of yelling around, people crying in pain, people screaming for loved ones, but one particular commotion around calls his attention.

“No, you don’t understand!” An angry sharp voice is saying. “I have to go! She’s alone out there!”

Eddie turns towards the noise to find a man with a gaze wrapped around his head fighting against two nurses. He’s a strong man, tanned skin, probably in his forties, and his eyes are widened in despair. 

“Sir, you can’t just leave, you need to let us help you!” One of the nurses is saying, but the man won’t stop struggling. The bandage around his head is stained red, and he’s gripping the sheets as if he’s having a hard time to even sit up.. “You’re injured and-”

“I don’t give a damn if I’m hurt, don’t you see?! I need to find my niece, she’s five, and she’s lost in this damn mess and it’s my fault!”

Eddie’s stomach drops, and he rushes over before he can stop himself. The idea of a little girl missing tugs right at his heartstrings, making him instantly think of Christopher. As he comes closer, Eddie sizes up the situation, and he sees despair and determination in the man’s gaze, but they can’t, in good conscience, let him go. His hands are trembling and his breathing is quick and shallow, and it’s clear that he can’t go anywhere that is more than two steps away. 

“Hey, hey, take it easy” Eddie says, his voice as steady and calm as he can make it, and both the man and the nurses turn to him. “Sir, my name is Eddie, I’m a firefighter, maybe I-

“Yeah, guess what, buddy? I’m a firefighter too, and I don’t care about what you have to say. I’m leaving here, and I’m finding my niece.” The man says hoarsely, and gets up from bed, his face paling as soon as his feet hit the floor.

Eddie sees it coming before it happens, and is already prepared to catch the guy when his knees buckle up from under him. He sits him back on the bed, and the man lets out a frustrated groan, shaking his head. 

“I… You don’t get it, man. I have to find her.” He says, his voice breaking, and Eddie feels for him, he truly does. He sits by the man’s side, and he eyes Eddie suspiciously; Eddie’s sure he knows exactly the kind of tactics that are used to calm down those who are about to have a breakdown, but he’ll try to apply them anyway. 

“What’s your name, man?” He asks, and the guy’s glare confirms to him that yes, he’s on to Eddie. 

“Look, don’t give me this ‘calm down’ crap, ok? I’m not a patient” He grumbles, and Eddie rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, you are, whether you like it or not. You hit your head pretty hard out there, dude. You won’t be any help to your niece if you pass out in the street while looking for her” Eddie reasons, and the man crosses his arms, but doesn’t argue, because he probably knows Eddie’s right. “Now, if you give me your name and your station, we can try and get some of your guys to look for her”

“It’s Deluca. I’m with the 122” He grumbles begrudgingly. “And what’s your station?”

Eddie is about to answer that he’s with the 118 when Deluca widens his eyes as if he’s seen a ghost, the little color that he’s gotten back leaving his cheeks. Eddie follows his gaze to find a man frantically looking around, dressed in a plaid shirt and with eyes as desperate as Deluca’s. 

“Oh my God, why is he here?!” Deluca exclaims, and his tone is urgent. 

Eddie is on alert instantly, getting up from the bed, but he doesn’t have time to react anymore. The other guy has spotted them and is coming in their direction with quick and desperate steps. 

“Sal!” He exclaims, holding Deluca’s shoulders with a tight grip, looking at him intensely, his expression an uncanny mix of relief and despair. “Are you alright?! What happened?!”

“Tommy”, Deluca says desperately, his hand reaching out to grab the other man’s arm, his eyes filled with tears. “Tommy, listen to me, I am so sorry. We… S-she asked me to come to the pier, s-she said she couldn’t wait until Saturday... I s-said yes, man, you know I can never say no to that little girl… And then…”

Deluca is not able to continue, burying his face in his hands, a sob wrecking through his body. Eddie looks from him to the other man (Tommy, apparently), and sees that his face has turned pale. Tommy takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again, apparently swallowing back tears before speaking.

“Sal” Tommy says, and his tone is obviously trying to be reassuring, even though it contrasts with the trembling of his voice and the way he’s still gripping his friend’s shoulders, his knuckles turning white. “It’s not your fault, man, how could you have known a tsunami would hit?”

“How is it not my fault, Tommy?! I lost her! I was supposed to care for her, you trusted me to do it, and I lost her!” He says, and it’s clear he’s working himself to a state. Eddie, as an acting paramedic, wants to intervene before he makes himself sick, but he knows there’s no assuaging the man’s guilt until this conversation is over. He crosses his arms, watching

“Stop it, Sal, you’re not helping anyone with that. It… It was an accident” Tommy says, and then he looks at Sal with pleading eyes. “Just… Just tell me what happened, please. Did Vivie d-dro… Did she?...”

This time Tommy is the one who can’t go on, not even able to finish the sentence, his voice breaking. He lets go of Deluca’s arm and turns his gaze away, trying to fight tears by desperately shaking his head, and Eddie’s heart aches in his chest. He knows all about fearing for your kid’s life, and it’s clear this man is living through that. Deluca (Sal) apparently reaches the same conclusion, because he widens his eyes and shakes his head. 

“Tommy, n-no! No! She didn’t…” Sal sighs, apparently the thought too much for him as well. Then he looks at Tommy as if he’s afraid to be punched. “When the first wave hit, I picked her up and ran as far as I could. I-I knew there’d probably be a second wave, so I made sure she was in a high spot. And I was about to join her, but then the second wave hit and I…”

Eddie can piece together what happened from that; probably Sal got caught in the second wave, his head was hit by something the water was carrying, and he lost consciousness. He’d seen the same story with dozens of people today, and Sal is very lucky to have even gotten here alive.

Tommy apparently pieced it together too, because he nods tensely, and then looks between the surrounding chaos and Sal’s exhausted expression. Then, he takes his friend’s hand in his, gripping it life a lifeline. 

“You have to tell me, Sal. Was she… Was Vivie…” His voice breaks, and he needs to take a deep sigh, but he marches on. “Was Vivie alive when you separated? Was she okay ?”

“She was safe last time I saw her, Tommy, I promise.” Sal says resolutely, his eyes boring into Tommy’s. Tommy’s shoulders sag in relief for all of two seconds before he’s tense again.

“T-that’s good, but that has to have been hours ago, doesn’t it?” He asks, and they both turn to Eddie, who’s surprised they even remember he was here. 

“I… I am sorry, I didn’t see when mr. Deluca was brought in.” Eddie tells them, hating himself for not being able to be more useful, but he doesn’t even know how the field hospital is operating, he’s just a helping hand. “You… you could look for the people in charge of the hospital, they… They might know if your child was brought in by someone else?...”

“I’ll go with you” Sal states, and he’s stubbornly trying to get up again. Eddie is about to tell him to stop being an idiot, but Tommy beats him to it. 

“No, you won’t” Tommy says, pushing him to sit back down. “You’re hurt, and you probably have a concussion, and I cannot be worrying about you and Vivie at the same time.”

He says it very matter-of-factly, and Eddie can see there’s no resentment, only practicality. But it’s enough to make Sal’s face twist in guilt again, and he nods resignedly.

“You’re right. You’re right, I shouldn’t get in your way.” He says, his voice more subdued than Eddie’s heard so far. “I’ve caused enough problems as it is, Tommy. I… I know I said it before, but I can’t say I’m sorry enough.”

Tommy seems to realize his words were taken in the wrong way, because now his face is the one that bears guilt. But instead of saying something, he wraps his arms around Sal’s frame gently, giving him a tight hug. 

“Hey, stop. This was a natural disaster, Sal. And Vivie is out there, and it sucks, and I’m beside myself with worry. But it’s not your fault, I’ll say it every time you say you’re sorry.” He declares, patting Sal’s back. “I’ll go and find her, and she’ll be fine. She has to be fine. And then I’ll bring her straight here to see her favorite uncle.”

Sal nods, patting Tommy’s back before letting go of him, looking at his friend with his eyes filled with tears. Eddie can see their bond is special, something similar to what he has with Buck, and that they would do anything for each other. 

“Good luck out there, Tommy. Find our girl” Sal pleads, and Tommy nods resolutely, then he turns to Eddie. 

“Do you know where I can find the person in charge?” He asks, and Eddie looks around trying to find the woman with the board. When he finds her, he points in her direction.

“Oh, yeah, she’s right th-” Eddie cuts himself short, and barely registers Tommy running to where he pointed. His stomach drops to his knees, his heart beats fast in his chest, and his thoughts screech to a halt. 

Because, in the opposite direction to where he directed Tommy, he spots Buck. Buck who’s dirty, and covered in blood, and with Christopher’s glasses around his neck . And he has a child in his arms, a little child who’s definitely not Christopher. And Christopher? Eddie’s beautiful eight-year-old son? Nowhere to be seen. 

And all of a sudden Eddie understands exactly how Tommy feels. 

------

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[strawbrryvyy]

Hi Ivy!

Since you wrote about Riize's ideal type, it would be cool if you did one about whether they prefer a sexy vs. cute/aegyo person! Also, how they would react to their partner/crush doing aegyo lol. The boys are always doing it in their content, so I imagine at some point their s/o would do it too (maybe as a punishment for some game or to get something).

Also, your writing and aesthetic are so cute 😭😭😭❤️

Sexy vs cute s/o

pairing-ot7!riize x reader

tw-use of“girl” in some, use of “slut” “whore” (non offensive)

a/n-HI LOVELYYY!!!thankyou so much for requesting and thankyou for liking my aesthetic and writing!i hope this meets up to your expectations, and please the rest OF YOU DO NOT HESITATE TO SEND REQUESTS!!!

Osaki Shotaro

Okay, I feel like Shotaro would love someone who's cute, like he loves when the person is sexy, but I can just imagine Shotaro getting so giggly when you need his help doing something and you're just pouting and trying to get him to do it for you! But I feel like he'd prefer someone who's naturally cute over someone who's giving him siren eyes every time they see him, you know! And when he sees you doing aegyo, poor baby would COMBUST; he'd get so blushy and giggly and OMG!

Song Eunseok

Now I said it before, Eunseok would prefer a baddie! not that a cute girl can't be one (no one come at me! I'm a cute girl myself, and I feel like this is mostly because I don't know why, but this man just looks to me as if he's waiting for a girl to walk up and pop her tits out at him, and I see someone believes they're really sexy to do that! Now if his sexy s/o decided to do aegyo, this is most DEFINITELY because of a bet they lost, and Eunseok would CACKLE, with a cutesy giggle like Shotaro but with an evil witch cackle, before running his hands down their face and telling them that it's enough.

Jung Sungchan

This man, like I said, he LOVES cutesy innocent girls that he can take care of as your big, manly boyfriend, meaning he'd live for you pouting and batting your long lashes, asking him to reach your matching frog cups on the top shelf. The smug expression on his face as you do aegyo is one that can't be wiped off even hours later as you're lying in bed, the moment replaying in his head as he smiles into your hair.

Park Wonbin

Ok, so Wonbin would want someone more sexy, as he'd love to have a girl who can use her looks to lure him in like the whore HE is. I feel like you guys would do aegyo to make each other cringe, you know. If his s/o decided to aegyo randomly, especially if they weren't the type to, he would stare at them in silence before bursting out and laughing and pointing at them! He also mocked them like he did at that one fan meet where he shook his hand to show the fans how he saw them, kinda!

Hong Seunghan

Seunghan, I feel like you would like someone who's a mix of both sexy and cute, like Slut Saturdays (respectfully) and cute Sundays!! You know, I feel like that would be the vibe he'd enjoy. He'd start cooing at his significant other if they did aegyo about how sweet and adorable they looked before picking them up and trailing sweet kisses on their cheeks, noses, foreheads, anywhere he could!

Lee Sohee

He'd want someone cute for sure! He's cute, so he'd love someone who could match him (or his freak). He'd love someone who wore cutesy anime merch as well, like maybe a cute JJK hoodie or carried around anime merch! If his significant other did aegyo for any reason, I can see him become a blushy mess like Shotaro, and I feel like he'd stutter through complimenting them as he could feel his cheeks burn up!

Anton Lee

Okay, now I don't know why I feel like Anton would prefer someone cute! He'd love someone cute, who's smaller than him and always making cute expressions that come naturally to them! someone who just yawns, and it seems they're doing aegyo, but they're just moving their face. Now if his s/o is doing it on purpose, then I feel like he'd turn as red as a rose before hiding his face into your chest and muttering the words, “You're so cute, pretty…” over and over again like a mantra that's just replaying in his thoughts.

'*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*''*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*''*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*''*•.¸♡ ♡¸.•*'

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

Well Playful Land actually tipped over a lot of my anger cause of how the guys were acting. It was just icing on the cake that Grim and Yuu are written so stupidly during that event that it ACTUALLY started pissing me off. It's at this point that I ignore Grim to the fullest.

Not to victim blame, but like how are yall being this dumb and chill with the human trafficking stuff?? Like did yall forget half of the abilities yall have??? What about the other trafficking victims?? We literally saw some if them get hauled away crying and it's never brought up. again?? The implications of this place existing??? Doubt we're gonna get that dark let's be real.

Also yeah Yuu and Grim were definitely there... Why is Yuu pulling on Grim?? Why couldn't you have just pointed and go "burn that mfer" if any of them used their brains fully they could have actually gotten out easy. Sure, stress and panic are real but Cater seemed to a least have an okay idea among it all. Grim was just annoying per usual.

Also yeah... I swear in events, they really make characters into caricatures. I can hardly stand Azul because they make him so annoying im events on top of him being a little shit (positive) in canon. I love him but oh my god I'm fatigued. (The whole octotrio suffer from this imo)

And the Bead Brawl/Tail event? I get that they're probably setting up a part 2 with Falena but yall seriously drove off without Yuu and Grim and just left them in an unknown area? Are you guys stupid or was this malicious, cause Yuu being left behind by their group should be their 13th reason. Let's also not get started on all them being so surprised Leona, a grown ass man, can drive a fucking car. What if Yuu was capable of fighting? (I imagine it's cause they don't have papers tbh)

Also the steam egg change like bro

Oh Yuu. It's so hard to defend you...

[doodler16]

Without giving myself much away, lemme tell you that I've been writing and working as an artist for years. Every time I try watching Viv's shows, it never fails to give me second-hand embarrassment as they remind me of the stuff I used to write when I was a teen.

I imagine Viv clapping her hands all giddy and giggling as she kicks her feet like it's the best thing in the world as she shows her poorly-designed, random OC's swearing and acting like edgy American teenagers.

The Mastermind episode, for example, makes me cringe like these Seven Sins like Queen Bee, Mammon and Ozzy are supposed to talk like refined upperclassmen who never swear. Have them talk like Game of Thrones (GOT) characters. The same problem applies to Hazbin Hotel where Alastor and the angels in heaven swear. It's like I'm watching Monster High except they were written by the people behind Riverdale.

Also, the humor isn't even that funny which reminds me of how I'd try to emulate Family Guy and South Park without any idea what makes them very entertaining in the first place. Basically, you don't force your audience to laugh but you've gotta give them something to laugh at. Sure, you can be offensive and even poke fun of people but in her case it's just spiteful and annoying. I just watch with a straight face pondering if it was meant to be funny.

I heard she also makes fun of those with intellectual disability and those she doesn't like by either making them into chubby and annoying characters or ugly caricatures who tend to drool and struggle to read. The story is just all over the place and many other characters end up being neglected over Viv's favorite ship.

I learned not to make those mistakes when I entered college where we also had writing and literary classes that I started scrapping all of those cringey comics and fanfics I used to do in high school. If I were the showrunner, I wouldn't wanna embarrass myself and ruin my career with those shows. Sorry for the long ramble but I just wanna get this off my chest.

Yeah, the humor is pretty hit or miss. Maybe out of context it might more funny but in context it does feel dragged out. Vivziepop is very open about being proud of episodes she has written. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements but there are times when Vivziepop overdoes it and sounds like she is sucking her own dick (metaphorically). There are so many examples of this you can easily find online. She’s inspired by Bojack Horseman and South Park.

Yeah Anon, I was expecting the deadly sins and by extension the overlords in Hazbin Hotel to be gray characters who were professional authoritative figures for Hell. But they are a bunch of middle schoolers hidden in a trench coat.

Yes, she does make fun of people with disabilities in the show (especially if they are ugly). I don’t mind dark humor but when Vivziepop does that, it screams double standards. Because the in universe and in the fandom, they would coddle and defend Fizzarolli (a pretty disabled man) but when it’s someone else it’s “ew” or the characters make a judgmental face.

Vivziepop is an excellent example of what not to when writing a story, Anon.

[insert-random-account-name]

Crappy Character Analysis, part 5

I struggled with this one, but I think it turned out pretty good. I'm also posting one for Contrarian today, so look out for that. Be sure to check out the previous parts, if you haven't seen them!

part 1 (Broken)

part-2 (Skeptic)

part 3 (Cold)

part 4 (Paranoid)

VOICE OF THE STUBBORN:

Stubborn is another character who was given more depth in the Pristine Cut, although not as much of an overhaul as Broken, Skeptic, or Smitten. His new scenes in the Fury can be either hilarious (In the Quantum Beak scenes or with the Contrarian) or sad (In any other scene). Stubborn fits perfectly into the archetype of “All brawn, no brains”. Talking during the Adversary infuriates him, since all he wants to do is “Get to fightin’!” This “meathead” attitude also opens him up to manipulation by the Contrarian, who, in the Fury, successfully convinces him to chuck your only weapon out the window. He is completely convinced that you can win any fight, as long as you just hit the Princess hard enough. Even when facing the Fury without a weapon, he straight up says that he “Refuses to go out any way that isn’t kicking and screaming.” Death isn’t enough to keep him down. Even the Narrator, who is usually all for getting violent, tells him to chill with the blood lust, since he fears it will cloud your judgement. However, his new scenes reveal a vulnerability that wasn’t previously shown. For the first time, Stubborn gives up. Before, there were times he would quit, or just fume, but he never gave up. 

Stubborn is born from conflict, and he will die that way too. He enjoys the thrill of victory, and dreads the thought of retreating so much he’d rather die than run. The way you get him is by fighting the Princess even when it is perfectly clear you will not survive the encounter. It’s fighting, not for your life, or for a better world, but for the sake of winning. He fights because conflict is the only thing that has brought him meaning, so why bother doing anything else? That’s why the more battle-ready the Princess is, the more he likes her. He is codependent with the Princess, who is the only one who can provide him with the high he chases after. This is why he’s so compliant in the Wild, because he doesn’t want to imagine a universe where you and the Princess are independent. (And because losing to a thought is weak.) This search for meaning drives his (almost) unconquerable spirit, which gives you the determination to keep standing up, even when you realistically should be dead. While you might argue that Stubborn’s lack of logical thinking is his fatal flaw, I argue that it’s what helps him break reality. The world shapes itself to your perception, meaning that a lack of logic will serve you better, at least for Stubborn’s purposes. Of course, Stubborn isn't stupid, either. In the (Tower) Fury, he learns how to jump worlds, and bounces from reality to reality, shedding unhelpful voices along the way (A line of dialogue from one of the (Explore) options implies that Stubborn intended to leave Broken), until you finally defeat her. This adds him to the very small list of voices who can actually alter the world itself. If his greatest weakness isn’t his illogical manner of thinking, then what is? His refusal to lose. While most of the other voices are willing to die once in an attempt to do things better or gain more information, Stubborn is intent on winning right here, right now. This leads to him “dying” during the unwinding process in the Fury, since he sees it as a battle to be won, and keeps fighting, while the voices who survive (Cold and Broken) simply accept it. I’ve said it in at least half of these, but the Pristine Cut really changed how I viewed a lot of the voices. Stubborn definitely felt more real after playing.

[coraniaid]

Standard disclaimer that I understand themes and motifs and I'm aware that the reasons characters do things in fiction is because the writers have decided it will drive the plot, rather than because of those fictional characters (who do not in reality exist) being inherently "good" or "bad" people.

Additional disclaimer that I don't think there's any one single reason that Faith ends up spiralling after Finch's death and siding with the Mayor, that the necessary dominoes started falling years before Faith was even Called as a Slayer and that by the time Faith had lost her first Watcher and been living out of a motel room for months and been tricked and betrayed by Gwendolyn Post and accidentally killed a man there probably wasn't anything anyone could have done to stop her from doing all of that.

One more disclaimer: I do not, despite what the rest of this post (or any other posts I may have made or fanfiction I may have written) might suggest, think that Faith's story in Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be somehow improved if she hadn't had the character arc she has in canon. I do not think it would improve the story if Faith hadn't ended up making a series of terrible and short-sided and selfish decisions which ended up making not only her own life much worse but also many other peoples' lives worse [and a couple of other peoples' lives much shorter]. I do not think Faith's fall and eventual redemption is a problem that somehow needs to be fixed.

That being said though ...

Why on Earth, when Giles realizes Faith is lying to him about who really killed Allan Finch, does he decide the best course of action is (1) to pretend to believe her, and (2) make a big show of acting as though Buffy's in a lot of trouble before sending Faith back home to her motel room? In Consequences itself the only excuse he gives is that he "needed [Faith] to think he was on her side" but .. well,

First, newsflash, Rupert: you are meant to be on her side. That is the job you signed up for and are still insisting on doing despite nominally being fired!; and furthermore

This only explains why he pretends to believe Faith. Why does he make a show of throwing the book at Buffy, something that can only help to convince Faith she was right to lie? ("If this is what he's saying to Buffy, his first Slayer and obvious favorite, imagine what he'd be saying if he knew it was me?")

Why not pretend to believe Faith, reassure her she did the right thing by coming to tell him -- and that he's sure she only did it because she knew Buffy needed help -- and then give her the speech he later gives Buffy about how "this isn't the first time something like this has happened" and he "has no plans to involve [the Council]"?

Why not tell Faith that this isn't the first time Buffy herself has been accused of killing a man and questioned by the police? Why not tell her that he himself once accidentally killed a man, and that's something that he and 'Buffy' now have in common? If possible, he could even take Buffy aside and explain the truth to her, and ask her to play along with the charade for now?

Surely if Faith sees that Giles isn't prepared to throw Buffy under a bus, and that he acknowledges that "the Slayer is on the front side of a nightly war" and that "accidents happen", and he's more interested in making sure both of them get the help they need than meting out punishment, she's much more likely to actually admit the truth eventually?

Even if she doesn't want to do that, why not just ask Faith to "sit in" while he talks to Buffy about what "she" did and asks her to explain how she was feeling, so that Faith is in earshot for any advice or suggestions he makes about what to do next? Giles says out loud in this conversation with Buffy that he's worried about "scaring [Faith] off", so ... why is that exactly what he decides to do?

Again, note the disclaimers above: I know the real answer to my question is "that isn't the story the writers wanted to tell". It is necessary for the short-term twist that Faith seems to have convinced Giles to blame Buffy for Finch's death, and for the longer term plot that Giles be unable (or unwilling) to offer Faith any help. I understand that.

But -- in-universe, pretending Giles and Buffy and Faith are all real people -- is there an explanation for this that doesn't boil down to "Giles is a pretty lousy Watcher and should probably not be acting in a mentor role at all?". Why has he decided that the number one priority before anything else must be for Faith to admit it was her, and not the girl Giles can't help but see as a daughter, who killed Finch, when he accepts that -- whoever did it -- it was entirely accidental? If he's not telling the Council anyway and nobody is going to be sent away to be punished, what is the actual issue here?

"There is no help for her until she admits what happened." Okay, Giles, but why have you decided to unilaterally invent this rule, and why do you never use it for anyone else? We saw way back in Faith, Hope & Trick that Giles has no problem at all lying to people who aren't willing to admit the truth in order to help them. If, that is, by "people" we mean "Buffy Summers". Why can't you do the same thing for a girl you don't personally like?