#the specific characters in question that I want to make out with:

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

✏️ Writing Dialogue That Sounds Like Real People, Not Theater Kids on Red Bull

(a crash course in vibes, verbal economy, and making your characters shut up already)

Okay. We need to talk about dialogue. Specifically: why everyone in your draft sounds like they’re in a high school improv group doing a dramatic reading of Riverdale fanfiction.

Before you panic, this is normal. Early dialogue is almost always too much. Too polished. Too "scripted." So if yours feels off? You’re not failing. You’re just doing Draft Zero Dialogue, and it’s time to revise it like a boss.

Here’s how to fix it.

─────── ✦ ───────

🎭 STEP ONE: DETOX THEATER ENERGY I say this with love: your characters are not all quippy geniuses. They do not need to deliver emotional monologues at every plot beat. They can just say things. Weird, half-finished, awkward things.

Real people:

interrupt each other

trail off mid-thought

dodge questions

contradict themselves

repeat stuff

change the subject randomly

Let your characters sound messy. Not every line needs to sparkle. In fact, the more effort you put into making dialogue ✨perfect✨, the more fake it sounds. Cut 30% of your clever lines and see what happens.

─────── ✦ ───────

🎤 STEP TWO: GIVE EACH CHARACTER A VERBAL FINGERPRINT The fastest way to make dialogue feel alive? Make everyone speak differently. Think rhythm, grammar, vocabulary, tone.

Some dials you can twist:

Long-winded vs. clipped

Formal vs. casual

Emojis of speech: sarcasm, filler words, expletives, slang

Sentence structure: do they talk in fragments? Run-ons? Spirals?

Emotion control: are they blunt, diplomatic, avoidant, performative?

Here’s a shortcut: imagine what your character sounds like over text. Are they the “lol okay” type or the “okie dokie artichokie 🌈✨” one? Now translate that into speech.

─────── ✦ ───────

🧠 STEP THREE: FUNCTION > FILLER Every line of dialogue should do something. Reveal something. Move something. Change something.

Ask:

Does this line push the plot forward?

Does it show character motivation/conflict/dynamic?

Does it create tension, add context, or raise a question?

If it’s just noise? It’s dead air. Cut it. Replace it with a glance. A gesture. A silence that says more.

TIP: look at a dialogue scene and remove every third line. Does the scene still work? Probably better.

─────── ✦ ───────

💥 STEP FOUR: REACTIVITY IS THE GOLD STANDARD Characters don’t talk into a void. They respond. And how they respond = the real juice.

Don’t just write back-and-forth ping pong. Write conflict, dodge, misunderstanding. If one character says something vulnerable, the other might joke. Or ignore it. Or say something cruel. That’s tension.

Dialogue is not just information exchange. It’s emotional strategy.

Try this exercise: A says something revealing. B lies. A notices, but pretends they don’t. B changes the subject. Now you’ve got a real scene.

─────── ✦ ───────

🔍 STEP FIVE: PAY ATTENTION TO POWER Every convo has a power dynamic, even if it’s tiny. Who’s steering? Who’s withholding? Who’s deflecting, chasing, challenging?

Power can shift line to line. That shift = tension. And tension = narrative fuel.

Write conversations like chess matches, not ping pong.

─────── ✦ ───────

✂️ STEP SIX: SCISSORS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND The best dialogue is often the second draft. Or third. Or fourth. First drafts are just you figuring out what everyone wants to say. Later drafts figure out what they actually would say.

Things to cut:

Greetings/closings ("Hi!" "Bye!"--skip it unless it serves tone)

Exposition disguised as chat

Obvious thoughts spoken aloud

Explaining jokes

Repeating what we already know

Readers are smart. Let them fill in blanks.

─────── ✦ ───────

🎧 STEP SEVEN: READ IT OUT LOUD (YES, REALLY) If you hate this step: too bad. It works. Read it. Mumbling is fine. Cringe is part of the ritual.

Ask yourself:

Would someone actually say this?

Does this sound like one person speaking, or a puppet show with one hand?

Where does the rhythm trip? Where’s the breath?

If you can’t say it out loud without wincing, the reader won’t make it either. Respect the vibe.

─────── ✦ ───────

🏁 TL;DR: If you want your dialogue to sound like real people, let your characters be real. Messy. Annoying. Human. Let them interrupt and lie and joke badly and say the wrong thing at the worst time.

Cut the improv class energy. Kill the urge to be ✨brilliant✨. And listen to how people talk when they’re scared, tired, pissed off, in love, or trying not to say what they mean.

That’s where the good stuff is.

—rin t. // thewriteadviceforwriters // official advocate of awkward silences and one-word replies

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

[cuppajj]

Tbh i just want to know why you like hollytaya but not eternalberry or b x a at all? Pitaya is a shitty person to hollyberry too. But they get a pass and eternal sugar doesn't? You say you can see b x a as a onesided thing but then why not hollytaya too? Why would she like pitaya and not es when they've both treated her badly? If she can forgive pitaya for what they did even though they never said sorry or made up for it then why cant she forgive es too? Not trying to start shit, i'm asking a legit question because I'm confused, like i see everyone hate bxa all the time but love hollytaya even though they're like. The same thing? And pitaya has done shitty things to hb too? But it's ok when they do it I guess? Idk i just dont get it man

Haha ok so I wrote more than I thought I would, I guess this serves as my case for why I like Hollytaya.

Here’s the TL;DR: I think Hollytaya has a good character arc attached, Eternalberry is good and I do like it, but I still prefer Hollytaya more.

I go into your comments more specifically under the cut:

So!

I disagree with some of what you said about Holly and Pitaya. Let me explain:

I’m not out here going to parade Pitaya as the most innocent guy around, because that would be misunderstanding Pitaya’s character. Yes they’ve definitely terrorized HB’s kingdom, took her throne in her absence even. But in summation they’ve (1) historically had a respect for Hollyberry’s strength, and 2) already had an arc where their relationship with her improved.

Let’s walk through their interaction in the Red Dragon story:

Cookies and their villages are being attacked and burned down. Hollyberry starts out believing Pitaya’s up to no good again, because naturally, the Red Dragon’s name being attached to such awful things makes sense. She fights them early on, but it’s a little too easy because their power’s been sapped. After questioning them (with juice, which they really like), Pitaya’s honesty is tested when they make the proposal to help them get their strength back. Holly and Wild don’t believe them at first, but by the end of the story, Pitaya proves to stay true to their word.

The shittiest thing Pitaya’s done to HB, as far as we can tell, is threatening her kingdom, burning farms (implied but could be any other dragon too), and taking her throne in her absence. But something to note is that Pitaya doesn’t go out and hunt cookies specifically. Hollyberry admits this is true:

(And if Pitaya was one to not burn cookies in their houses, and instead… burn cookies outside of them, she might’ve brought that up, no?)

It seems like Pitaya, despite being one of the many dragons that plagued the Hollyberry kingdom, wasn’t the worst one to. They were definitely the main (or strongest) one, if the legend of Hollyberry defeating them got so much fanfare, but possibly not the worst… I’d wager the kingdom would be a little more hesitant to make Pitaya part of their culture if so. Who’d want to see replica taxidermies, statues, paintings, and get merchandise and plushies of the dragon who killed entire families? Why would Hollyberry (or any of her family) approve of that??

I don’t think Hollyberry would be this trusting out the gate if Pitaya was known to be anything else, especially someone who goes out backstabbing and hunting cookies for sport. They might be a nuisance, but they stay true to their word. Pitaya is honestly more reliable than Starscream.

(Something to note too: in the screenshots I’ve shared, they’re making a deal to help each other. Later on though, after Holly learns about the binding contract, she asks if that is what she and Pitaya made. Pitaya says no since it wasn’t in dragon tongue, thus showing that they were willing to take Holly on her word.)

And be for real /nm, when was the last time we saw a ship between rivals who had years and years and years of fighting each other, coming together as allies against a common threat?

Jumping ahead to the climax of the story, it does look like for a second that Pitaya was using Hollyberry to break her soul jam. But it’s not the entire truth - in order to defeat the Red Dragon (a facsimile of Pitaya made by DE), Holly has to sacrifice her soul jam that is partially bound to the contract Pitaya made (was tricked into making) with DE.

Pitaya was almost pulling a Beast move there, getting Hollyberry to agree to destroying her soul jam. BUT it’s not for any devious plot, it’s for protecting the cookies and kingdom they used to terrorize. They even do it in Dragontongue, meaning their oath can’t be broken. If Pitaya was that conniving and evil, would they have wanted to put themselves in a position like that?

Even when they and Holly find another way around the oath, they still stay true to their word, once again proving they don’t need to force themselves to do the right thing. They respect Holly, despite all the fighting they’ve done, and the countless times she’s defeated them (they are lowkey mad when she left after the war! They want her back!! They want their rival back to fight!! That was their whole thing in the story mode). Holly, versely, respects Pitaya’s strength and honesty. They might be the same dragon that took the throne, but they’ve changed, so much that they’re willing to give up their old menacing ways.

You’re right that Pitaya never apologizes for what they did, but what they chose to do in the Red Dragon story instead was arguably more powerful than what words could do. And Holly never forgives them, yes, personally I wouldn’t want her to—but regardless, she knows them well enough to know all the actions they take are genuine.

Now here’s what I have to say about Eternalberry:

There’s a reason why I’m not as uncomfortable with Eternalberry as I am other BxA ships, and it’s for the reason that Eternal Sugar didn’t hurt HB as much as the other Beasts with their ancients. Her tactics relied on psychological and emotional manipulation above anything else, and while HB was affected by it, she had a good support system with her to keep her from spiraling too far. Awakening even helped her understand how to talk to Eternal Sugar, arguably in a similar way to Pitaya!

But with the way ES reacts… how do we know she listened? Hollyberry does the hero thing by telling her she can change, but Sugar is so hellbent on keeping her that despite acknowledging for a second, she slips right back into doing anything she can to keep Holly there and make her hers.

When the paradise begins to crumble and Holly does her thing protecting Eternal Sugar despite everything, we get The Yuri Scene:

But note that Eternal Sugar is asking if Hollyberry changed her mind. Changed her mind on leaving most likely, all because she protected her from falling debris? That’s just what Hollyberry does, she protects those who she believes can possibly change! It’s certain HB believes ES can, but the question is if ES actually wants to.

Now- ES does say she’ll think about it! But it’s, for now, up to interpretation. Was she really promising to do that, or was she too lovestruck by what Holly just did to say anything but yes? (It’s really funny to me to imagine that she simply yes ma’amed Holly, because whoa… woman just protected her.., awoogah!!!!!)

Personally, this strikes me as more one-sided than Hollytaya. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall ES saying sorry either. She did lighten up after listening to Holly, but she was too lovestruck to really do anything else. Well, beside make the garden prettier for her return… but that’s ES assuming Holly will return, which as Holly says, depends on whether or not ES commits to changing the same way Pitaya did.

If the other BxA ships like Mysticcacao, Burningcheese, and Shadowvanilla were closer to Eternalberry in how the beast was actively encouraging the ancient’s happiness and comfort in exchange for their company—not threatening them or hurting them or psychologically tormenting them first thing—then I’d probably be more comfortable with them. It helps that ES’s whole thing is happiness, so there was no incentive for her to really get into Hollyberry’s head until she started doing what she didn’t want, which was try to leave.

I don’t want Holly to forgive ES either, because the stuff she did was unforgivable. But if people can look past that and construct ideas for how they’d come together as partners, then people who like Hollytaya can do the same!

You’re right in how Sugar and Pitaya are similar, just different antagonists with different methods and different ways Hollyberry overcame them. For me, and I’m sure others who like Hollytaya, it’s the fact the two of them came together as allies despite everything, and all that I said above.

There’s one thing Hollytaya has over Eternalberry though, and that’s the fact Pitaya became an ally. The two of them worked together to stop a common enemy, and in the process, understood each other a little more. It’s a foundation us Hollytaya fans like to run with, and a very good launchpad for any hero x villain/rival x rival ship. Holly understood ES, but they haven’t had enough time to really work things out. Holly told ES that she’d give her a chance if she fixes herself, and that made ES go from desperate and angry to eerily calm really fast… but who knows if that was because she was actively listening, or because the Hollyberry she loves (or loves the idea of) shone through? I wouldn’t put it above ES to love the idea of Hollyberry instead of her - keep in mind how she was elated whenever HB did anything but be the strong-willed defender of her people, ready to take on any challenge including ES’s mentality and methods themselves.

And again: I don’t dislike Eternalberry (bc don’t get me wrong, I love me a good toxic yuri situationship!), I just prefer Hollytaya. There’s a whole lot of juice in a ship between ES and HB that can be explored, but I prefer the character development Holly had with Pitaya and the rival x rival dynamic. They’ve known each other for much longer too, enough for there to be more juice than Eternalberry, at least for me. I don’t see Hollytaya as one sided either, there’s a mutual respect between them that can turn into mutual feelings for each other.

If you prefer Eternalberry over Hollytaya, that’s fine! I’m not going to dislike people for shipping them, or any BxA for that matter. I just hope I helped you (and anyone else) understand my thought process is all! I went off on a ramble, so hopefully all of this makes sense and is easy to read. Sorry if it’s not 🥹

[dreamyblanket]

Ok wait, I actually like this sona alot.

[myrsinemezzo]

Bear McCreary and Rings of Power at the Grammy Museum

Last night at the Grammy Museum in LA, the inimitable Bear McCreary gave a talk for over two hours along with a q&a about his compositional process and work on the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2

You guys get my scribbles in the dark instead of riddles in the dark, and I was so delighted to get to attend what turned out to be a very intimate theater setting for the audience. As a musicologist who works on television music among other things, this was the opportunity of a lifetime so I took copious notes and hope they can answer most of the questions people posed to me on here and on bluesky when I said I would keep an ear out for discussion of themes or process, etc.

He came out and was so charismatic and lovely from the get-go. A natural performer, it seemed like, which makes sense given his concert work with touring his album The Singularity in the lead up to this talk. He spent a ton of time at the piano, and where I had assumed it would be an industry-oriented audience, he talked to a general one yet didn’t dumb things down at all. It was absolutely charming the way he opened the discussion with pointing out that John Williams was able to capture a character and the imagination and memory of an audience with only two or three notes or specific intervals (the distance between two pitches). The first he demonstrated was a Perfect 5th for the old Superman theme and then a minor 2nd for Jaws.

He had themes in the double digits to write for s1 of RoP (16 I think he said?!?) and even more added to those with s2. He demonstrated an ascending Perfect 4th for the Dwarven theme, describing their music with that opening interval as “consistent and powerful” while Nori’s “optimistic, adventurous, and likeable” theme springs from the ascending Perfect 5th that opens her theme. The bigger ascending interval of a minor 6th as a beautiful and lush melody instead for Arondir and Bronwyn… He wanted these to be all “ringing a bell obvious”.

The Galadriel Theme! (Wheeeee!) is an ascending minor 7th with elements that are more unusual. He wanted to communicate things about characters with these themes, and the shifting chords beneath here indicate that she is “unresolved” and “driven by a quest for Sauron and quest for revenge — always on the move” in s1 just like the theme. The sound and harmonies always shifting underneath the theme but never resolved, yet also “noble”.

He told an amazing anecdote of an ear training professor in college saying something to the effect of “nobody opens a theme with an ascending Major 7th” and his response? Challenge Accepted! It became the opening to The Stranger’s theme [and then I zoned out listening to him play that amazing theme and forgot to take more notes on the Stranger. Sorry!]

It was fascinating that all of these themes started low and moved high that would often express an “aspirational and hopeful” or “noble” sound but he wanted to “muddy the waters a little bit” by having themes that moved downwards as well. So we get the Rings theme opening on a descending interval with a tritone (the very “diabolus in musica” interval that is so jarring and disturbing and distinct if you want to look up an audio clip) in the accompanying music beneath the theme. And then he sang Where the Shadows Lie! It was amazing. (He did apologize for not being Fiona Apple 😂)

Oh man do my notes get unhinged at this point so apologies because it was very dark and I was scribbling very fast and was very excited as he started talking about writing Sauron and Halbrand’s themes. I have words jotted down that he said like “more conflicted and less nebulous…distrust…malevolence…Sauron as the antagonist OR is he the Protagonist?!?…sinister and conflicted” with a descending minor 3rd followed by an ascending minor 3rd where it “forms a ring” through that circle and then another circle and again and again through moving down with “jagged” circles.

The challenge, then, in s1 was that he wanted the next theme - Halbrand’s theme - to be related but not sound the same. So that your brain would put together associations without conscious realization. (And how cool is that!) So he put it backwards, tweaking one very important half-step (the tiniest musical interval) and that became the Halbrand theme.

In short, he wanted to present melodies that the audience could quickly identify. Bear McCreary’s love of Tolkien rang throughout the entire talk because he knew the movies including the cartoon haha and he had read the books as a kid/teen, but as he put it, it took “twenty years to piece together the totality if Tolkien’s work” for him to try to express that in musical form. He talked about his work while a college student at University of Southern California where he was the last protege of Elmer Bernstein who worked with DeMille and Scorsese and every big name in old Hollywood. McCreary launched into using everything for that first season of Rings of Power: instrumentalists, middle eastern music, Celtic music, “left nothing on the table”

And then the showrunners said “We’re going to Rhûn!” And then it was an… oh shit moment haha because what was there to use now for s2? I have vague notes on the language setting and the poetry JD Payne wrote and contributed that then had to be translated by experts into Elvish or other languages they had from the Legendarium where Tolkien’s lexicon kind of petered out and petered depending on the Middle-earth race and culture until you just have one or two phonemes for Rhûn. Apparently Payne met with him weekly(?!?) to talk out soundtrack and lyric elements which is honestly just wild when it comes to soundtrack writing as I understand it.

McCreary’s work with choirs came up next, where he talked about how the human voice was and is “the first instrument” set as a “primal” sound. He used children’s choir for Valinor, and wrote with a child soprano in mind who he shouted out as reappearing in the final moments with Sauron and Celebrimbor when Celebrimbor delivers his last line and you see Sauron’s reaction. I was losing my MIND at that point since it ties into the question I got to ask during the q&a… Anyway! As the choral opposite to the Austrian classical professional choir they use for the choral elven moments and the s1 orc “Nampat” music, he got to at last work with Bulgarian women’s choir which has such a distinctive sound and vocal practice and that was the key to the Rhûn music. Jotted that bit down specifically for @conundrumoftime!

The weight of responsibility he felt when it came to Tom Bombadil’s music was something I hadn’t expected. Because, as he put it, we all read the books and every single person hears those Tolkien lyrics differently as you read Tom’s chapters. To know that some people might hear his music now when they read that for the first time? A bit overwhelming, which is super understandable. He wanted a “melancholy” kind of sound to Tom’s music as much as it at first sounds like any repeated pentatonic (five-note musical scale) phrases in a British or American folk song until you hit the complex shift in the latter part of his theme on the words “Old Tom Bombadil”. Because Tom has seen it all. There’s a “wistfulness and deeper layer” to his reactions because of McCreary’s sense that there was a “wisdom and longing” in that character.

So, Damrod! I didn’t take as many notes for this in part because it was so captivating just how into the idea he was of orcs and goblins in Tolkien clearly having their own form of song. He was frankly pretty gobsmacked that the showrunners and the producers and Amazon itself let him run with inviting the lead singer of the incredibly influential band Meshuggah to sing on the Damrod track and that McCreary’s band and an incredibly influential metal drummer got to accompany him. The battle scene music at that point introduced a Finnish scream choir who filled the role a bit better than the Austrian choir’s “Nampat” role in s1.

To wrap up the discussion portion, he talked about how he is a very narrative-driven musician and revealed he has already read the s3 scripts!! He also talked about how it is an extraordinarily collaborative endeavor with writers, production, cast, showrunners, producers…everybody and not just him influencing these tracks.

Q&A time! I was hyping myself up to ask a question so I didn’t get everything from this but someone asked about the Song to the Rocks or Plea to the Rocks in Khuzdûl and how epic it was from the actress who sang that (Sophia Nomvete). He originally refused to write the storm music in Rhûn in s2 because it would probably get cut, but they cued it just right with the sound effects.

Ok. Ok ok ok. I was delighted that he had already spoken about the use of Elvish and Black Speech translated poetry from JD Payne in every one of those musical moments (and what I wouldn’t give to know what they actually say) and the child soprano effect with Celebrimbor and Sauron. Since it was more of a general audience, I toned down asking about specific range choices and underlying orchestration in Sauron’s theme as it varies across the season. I asked what it expressed in those climactic moments like on the raft in s1 and after the duel in s2 to have that child soprano that in Renaissance music denotes light and beauty and purity provide Sauron’s theme. What did it say about the Sauron and Galadriel interactions?

And that’s where either I didn’t phrase my question well or it trod into NDA land lol because he talked about Sauron being a complex character (which yes!) and how McCreary lives to see people debate “did he mean it” when he made his pitch to Galadriel on the raft in s1. From his perspective alone (he emphasized that it was his alone) he feels like that as with “any good sociopath” there was a level of truth there on the raft.

And then he immediately pivoted to talking about his wife Raya Yarbrough singing the funeral pyre music in s2. Which was very cool! But made me wonder if there’s not much he can say about Sauron/Galadriel interactions until s3 comes out 😅 sorry, haladriels.

Someone asked about the language and Golden Leaves, and to my delight for the sake of @julyzaa who had asked me to keep an ear out, he revealed that the lyrics were by JD Payne based on Fellowship text, and if he remembered correctly that it was Galadriel’s song in that book it was supposed to recall! How cool is that?! You were onto something there, julyzaa!

He then played the theme that had been a general “horse charge” theme from s1 that he now considers to be the “Elven valor” theme that appears in Galadriel’s closing “And the sun yet shines!” speech. (If I remember right it is also in the Fall of Galadriel/The Last Temptation tracks at one point and I had been curious about what it represented there so that was lovely to hear about.

Someone asked about whether he likes to play with musical modes (which are basically scales, so a series of pitches in different permutations that the Greeks in antiquity thought would inspire certain feelings and had certain characteristics. They’re very popular in rock and metal, as well). As he put it, it’s “the vibe of the scale” which is great, honestly. Then he played the Númenor theme and climax and talked about how that was one of his favorites in s1 where now it has become civil war music and the theme of the Kingsmen. Where it was so beautiful in s1, it becomes less and less beautiful over time. What blew me away is that he theorized that we have “maybe hear[d] it in the major chords for the last time” …which weeping weeping weeping 😭

And that was it! Hope you guys enjoyed this epic recap as I tried to piece together my scribbles into something coherent. DM me if you want me to wrack my brain for any other details.

And as always…be well, trop fam!!

[creatingblackcharacters]

hello! just did a read-through of your pinned post and really appreciate all the information, resources, and perspective!! it's really helpful for me as both an artist and writer <3

i really liked the sections on Black hair and had a more specific question!

i'm currently writing a Black character who's going to be in a wilderness survival situation for 2-3 months or so? are there any specific hairstyles that would be better suited for those conditions? (for context, it's summer weather, fairly dry and mountainous climate! and he's got coily hair!)

currently, i'm considering twists because he could feasibly do them himself if he needs to retwist? and maybe cornrows but idk if they'd hold that long. locs are unlikely for this character, i don't think he'd be able to fully commit to them LMAO

also! completely different question but when posting fanfiction, do you prefer when characters that aren't explicitly Black in canon but are explicitly written as Black in the fic tagged? ex. Black Jayce (Arcane) or Black Hermione Granger (side note on that one bc she's not explicitly written as Black in the books but she's been played before by Black actresses and it's a popular interpretation of her!!)

apologies for the long paragraphs but thank you so much for taking the time to provide these resources! have a lovely night :D

1. It doesn't have to be in a style. He could just have his regular afro that grows out of his head. If he's got access to some extra water, a pick, and a scarf for his head, there's no need to do anything extra. But if you want some short braids- if that's what he's willing to do- then that's fine too.

2. Hm. I mean, doing it would be cool for us who want to read! So there's no harm in it! It will let people overtly turn away from your fic or complain, though (people don't find Black characters "relatable" and may say that).

I know for me, I have said "Patroclus is Black" in my notes, but never in the tags. Mainly because I don't think I should have to; if you get into my fic, read that he's Black, and suddenly you're not having the same experience, that's a reflection of YOU and YOUR antiblackness. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Because why you don't like it as much no more, 👀👀 unless- I shouldn't have to clarify shit, fr. Let em read it and find out on the way! There's no denying it when I'm done describing and glorifying him 👍🏾

But that's me lmao; again I don't think there'd be any harm in it. Some Black readers might go "oh! Something for me!" because it'll be easier to spot and thus cater to, and that's always a bonus. Just make sure you actually do a good job, because don't draw someone in with promise of diversity and don't deliver.

[vidavalor]

oh right on @seaweednpeanuts lol. Don't forget my favorite:

@werehounded: <<people who can't see aziraphale as at least a switch baffle me. literally baffle me.>>

Jim knows what they all are lol.

<<i say this lovingly, as someone who's usually a Dominant partner, and has done plenty of submissive stuff and kinky things irl as well as online - crowley is conclusively NOT a sadistic daddy dom into impact play and leather or whatever else people assume of him because demon has to = Dominant top or whatever>>

I think that Crowley would love for you to think he is this but, yeah, I agree that he's definitely not lol. Shax thinks he is-- that alone probably tells you how much he absolutely is not. It's not seeing the show Crowley is putting on. Soft dom Crowley and his pun-laden growls, sure, but nothing remotely sadistic.

Obviously, everyone's own ideas about this are their own and fine and everything and I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum, but if we're all just talking about what we personally think? I've never seen two characters who are less into pretty much any kink that overlaps with pain or violence than Crowley and Aziraphale. The ceiling on that really feels like Aziraphale liking the occasional swat sometimes with a Bible ok this is getting too specific lol but like that's a far cry from some of the people who seem to think Crowley wants to build a dungeon in the South Downs Cottage basement.

It's like thinking that his taste really runs to the gauche chair in his old flat when his car and his love of Aziraphale's bookshop (and his angel) tell you he's got a far classier eye than he lets on. He's just trying to keep himself safe in a den of vipers. It's all part of a persona he's crafted for himself to give him a sense of power and control in a situation in which he actually has very little power and control.

And you know who else acts like that in a very similar way to cover up the fact that he's a fucking marshmallow and a half? This guy:

<<like. this angel, even if his predilections tend to have him bottoming - which, none of us know if he prefers that, really. we just know he's flamboyant at times, and 'gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide' at others >>

See, this is what I think is really good about Good Omens at the same time as it can be frustrating when reading posts sometimes because just in this one post (not your response alone but all of them so far to the original one I made), I've seen a bunch of really intelligent people showing how we all have some internalized assumptions that we have to work to overcome.

The level of misogyny in our world is such that we have internalized the idea of a gay man who can be, at times, what some might term effeminate as a woman and a woman as always being a receptive and/or submissive partner. So pervasive are patriarchal ideas about gender in our world that even here, in the fandom for the story about the non-binary-out-of-the-box, human-angel-demons, we're still wading through our ideas about it.

This is why the show is talking about patriarchy so much with Pepper and Sitis and references to Lot's Wife and many more. It's why Jim is asking what a wife is because, when you ask that question, what you're really asking is what is a partnership where the partners don't adhere to traditional gender roles? and the next question there is: wouldn't it be a hell of a lot more equal and satisfying? It's 'smash the patriarchy' in a question.

There's also a moment in the show about how perceived gender informs sexuality assumptions in otherwise really progressive people that I loved because it showed how even the best of us need to be a bit more aware of it at times. It's Nina's assumptions about Crowley in this bit here:

Nina is a modern, progressive, socially conscious, queer Black woman-- exactly the type of person you would think would be the least likely person on the planet to make assumptions about someone's sexuality-- and even she makes the assumption that Crowley has no desire for pussy.

That's not actually true. There is plenty of suggestion in both the novel and the show that Aziraphale and Crowley both swap up their bits at different times. The suggestion does seem to be that Crowley might do it a bit more frequently and that they both go the cock route more often than not ("occasionally damp, most likely singed" from Demon's Guide lol, among other things) but the whole point is that they both sexually desire one another when the other is sporting a cunt. Nina made the assumption that Crowley wouldn't want, say, penis-in-vagina sex, but he does and has had it. He's gone down on lady parts more than Nina has lol.

Nina perceives the Thin Dark Duke as a gay man because she sees a man with feminine attributes so she thinks that this man then must be one that only desires a man and why does she think that? Because patriarchal notions about gender correlating traditionally to sexuality are so pervasive that women (even women who are attracted to other women) often reinforce them without even realizing it, as Nina is doing.

She assumes that Crowley is only attracted to men because she perceives him as being woman-like and unconsciously assumes that this must mean that he wants a man because a woman must want a man. Plenty of women who have sex with other women unconsciously do this just as much as straight women.

What she's really doing is perceiving him not just as gay but as an exclusively receptive partner because she's equating being a receptive partner with femininity and femininity with submissiveness. Not to mention that being a receptive partner is also not inherently submissive. Crowley does desire men and he does enjoy being a receptive partner but it's not the totality of his sexuality-- just as he's not even actually exclusively a man in the first place.

Mah point is that Nina looked at Crowley and decided what she thought his sexuality was and she was wrong about it. He has a fella, yeah, but he also has a girlfriend, and they're the same person.

This Nina moment also comes at a point when she's standing in for the audience a bit in trying to figure out what Crowley & Aziraphale are so I think that it's subtly asking us to not make the same assumptions that she does.

I don't know that Aziraphale has a preference. He definitely loves getting fucked for sure but I had someone message me once and insist he was a pillow princess (a reductive term that I hate) and it was just like... god, no lol. He loves giving Crowley pleasure and he absolutely gets off on it. The scenes (crepes; go by train vs. take the car, etc.) where they're kind of always figuring out what they want to get up to speaks to how there are a lot of options and not always the same configuration. It seems to me to be close to a 50/50 split.

<<but for me personally, it's gotta be aziraphale calling crowley a good boy and hand feeding him sweets tbh, not the other way around ;)>>

Babe, I'm just excited that you also think that Crowley eats. You've made me feel better about the state of the world with that take today so thank you lol. If you also come back and tell me that you're sure he reads, I might ask you to marry me, just a warning lol. [P.S. if you'd be into good girl just as much as boy, watch this space for when I get around to finishing the thing. 😉]

I saw you agree with the soft dom stuff in Aziraphale Defenders and I just don't know where you guys are seeing that.

For starters. 💕😇😉

[herearedragons]

would you mind elaborating on edér's writing in deadfire? i don't recall anything really egregious but im not a Pillars Scholar

I am about to turn into an unskippable cutscene.

so there are four parts to my beef with Deadfire Edér, the first being more nebulous and having to do with his Overall Vibe, the second being the orlan racism (we'll get there), the third being the way him being unromanceable was handled (which tbf largely comes from me being disappointed because I, Personally shipped it, but I do have some gripes with how it was executed from a storytelling standpoint), and the fourth being his companion quest, which I think contains the strongest cases of He Would Not Fucking Say That. (if you just want to know what I referred to in the tags of that post, just skip to the fourth point, titled The Companion Quest.)

Deadfire spoilers from this point on. (also SORRY, this is long, you've enabled this, I'm just going to spell out ALL of my beef here so I no longer have to retype it. this is also very biased on account of me preferring POE1 Edér and my specific reading of his character. if you, the person reading this, got something different from this character and prefer it to my vision, cool! you might get some entertainment out of seeing the hole I dug myself into.)

TL;DR I feel like Edér's Deadfire writing had a change in characterization that I didn't enjoy, and that it drops the ball on things that Pillars Of Eternity and The Reaping (Edér's short story) set up in a way that just makes me feel bad.

The Overall Vibe: this is honestly take-it-or-leave-it, but I feel like Deadfire dumbed him down somewhat? like he has great lines still, there are moments where he's shown to be observant and calls people out on their bullshit, but... idk. I feel like the companion and NPCs treat him with much more scorn specifically related to him bring a Dumb Farmer, and the thing is that... it's kind of presented like they're right? There's a Serafen banter where Serafen kind of says that Edér's a no thoughts head empty kind of guy, which... he's not? Or, at least, that's not the kind of person he's been shown to be in POE1 and in his short story (The Reaping). The vibe I got from pre-Deadfire media was that if anything, Edér is an overthinker, constantly questioning the people around him and himself. He has his blind spots, for sure (orlans.), but he's very concerned with doing the right thing, and he can often offer insights into why people act the way they do. He's critical, and he's empathetic, and... that's just not there in Deadfire, because I guess "Edér is your himbo tank buddy" makes for a better punchline. (<- salty)

and this is me getting REALLY petty, but his Deadfire voice being significantly deeper/more gruff doesn't help matters. like, PLEASE, go listen to the audio of him talking about the farmer and his Hollowborn child in POE1, or him saying ANYTHING at all about Woden. You can hear his voice break. You can hear the sincerity and the uncertainty and the anguish. you don't really get that in Deadfire imo

The Orlan Racism: idk, chat, I agree that the guy is weird about orlans, I wish we had any actual dialogue about that instead of just watching him put his foot in his mouth over and over (we'll GET to the rejection dialogue.), but like I think we could do better than this.

my beef isn't with Edér having prejudices, but with the... general way it's handled? his Hiravias banters are probably my favorite Edér Orlan Racism content across both games, because Edér says a stupid thing, gets yelled at by Hiravias, feels bad about it, tries to backtrack, and backpedals right into another microaggression. But also, there's more to his relationship with Hiravias: they chat about their shared experiences with violence, women and recreational drugs, and it sounds like Edér actually kind of relates to him. Not in a deep way, but in the way that lets them trade stories and go "hey, that happened to me too!". This makes me feel like the orlan microaggressions are something that's baked into Edér's cultural background to the point where (as he says himself) he doesn't understand that it's bad, or why Hiravias would take offense. it's funny, right? or it's a compliment? and he feels bad when he realizes that it's not, because that's not what he was trying to convey.

the Serafen banter could *maybe* be chocked down to the same kind of ignorance, but between that and Edér rejecting an orlan Watcher specifically on the grounds of them being an orlan (which from a Doylist perspective is a LIE, by the way)... idk, it feels like it's veering more into "he doesn't see orlans as the same as other kith", which is kind of not the vibe I got in POE1? and it's kind of played as like, well what can you do, he's just ignorant/prejudiced like that, which... feels bad? considering that the Watcher, potentially his best friend and moral compass, could be an orlan? if he was so prejudiced towards orlans, wouldn't he have not put so much stock into them in the first place? also, might be just me, but combined with the "FARMER /derogatory" of it all it almost feels weirdly classist? like, ah yes, the hick farmer is racist, what can we do. he can't possibly learn or have second thoughts about this. he can't possibly rethink that mindset, nevermind that his entire arc up to this point was about his entire worldview being shattered, he's just so set in his ways, you guys! isn't it funny how awkward he is!

anyway, I've read reddit comments that went "well some people in real life are like this", which, fair! but also, this is a fictional character that serves a purpose, and I don't think that's the best direction to take him in. it's fine if we disagree on this.

The Unromanceability: well, clearly I came out of POE1 an Edér/Watcher shipper, and from the tag dives I've done, I clearly wasn't the only one, and I also wasn't the only one disappointed by what we got in Deadfire (I also understand that companion romances were promised but not which companions, so people went into Deadfire on release fully intending to kiss Edér. and to all those people: I'm So Sorry.)

anyway my thoughts are that him not being romanceable is, like, fine. we could just do a fated besties HawkeVarric situation and whoever wanted to ship it could do it in fic. it would have literally been fine.

what we got was a) the option to confess to Edér and be rejected by him, b) this banter.

let's break it down.

the confession: let me preface this by saying that I know that people have interpreted Edér's rejection as him being aromantic, to which I say, cool! honestly, if I wasn't already deep in the Edér x Watcher romantic trenches I might have picked it up. but it is what it is.

a few things that I have a bone to pick with here.

as I've learned from going through the game's text files, Edér will start his rejection the same way, but will have a different reason for it depending on who the Watcher is. if the Wather is an orlan, he'll claim that back at home orlans and folk "just don't mix" and he hasn't gotten over that; if the Watcher is a man, he'll say that he's not into men and (I KID YOU NOT.) will hit you with an "in another life, maybe" (WILD IN A WORLD WHERE THERE'S REINCARNATION.); if the Watcher is a non-orlan woman, he'll claim that he hasn't really "felt like that" about anyone since Elafa.

so let me get this straight. the orlan and male Watcher lines are basically a lie, right? because he still rejects you if you're NOT an orlan. "maybe in another world" is a lie, because if you're a folk woman, he'll STILL reject you. there IS no universe where he reciprocates. so... why did he SAY that? why did he talk about orlans? WHY did he say "in another life" to a male Watcher, implying that under different circumstances he would have, if he just wouldn't?

I will say that if you read him as aro it works pretty well, because it looks like he's just reaching for the nearest excuse because he doesn't have the words to explain how he really feels about romance. Which is fun. But if that wasn't the intention, then it kind of makes me feel like? he's saying the thing that would hurt the most for this specific kind of Watcher? for some reason?

the thing about him being unromanceable (and here's where the banter is going to come in) is that I just can't figure out how the game wants me to feel about the idea of him and the Watcher being together? does it want me to laugh at it? does it want me to think there's a chance? like, if you want there to be no romance, you just need to not implement it. but knowing that people (including me. I'm people) loved the character in POE1 and came into Deadfire looking forward to romance him, the explicit need to shoot down the idea twice, with someone bringing it up and Edér going "no." is WEIRD. and Tekēhu's "Ngati weeps for such wasted potential" line is WEIRD. it feels like the game is making fun of me for even wanting that to be an option. It doesn't feel good or organic. And if Edér WAS meant to be aromantic, I don't think that's the best way to convey that. It's fine if we don't agree on this.

The Companion Quest: okay, NOW we can talk about Elafa.

The Reaping is a short story by Edér's lead writer, set just before the Eothasian purges started. It gives us a look into what Gilded Vale was like in that time, what the people felt and what it was like to be an Eothasian. It's great, it's freaking sad, I really like it.

In that story, Elafa is a Gilded Vale woman about Edér's age, who he used to hook up with before the war, when they both were younger (so in their teens, I assume). He meets her for the first time after coming back from the Saint's War at a celebration, dances with her, notes how she looks older now. They're still somewhat fond of each other, and he ends up spending the night with her. He then finds out that Elafa has married since he last saw her (I don't remember if we ever learn what happened to the husband), and that she has a child that she's raising alone. Her child is Hollowborn.

I'm going to show you a few passages from The Reaping now.

this is his relationship with Elafa in The Reaping.

fellas, is this what the guy from the above scenes would say about the woman from the above scenes FIRST THING when being asked about her? in front of a stranger? (this is triggered right after recruiting Xoti.)

I don't know. maybe it's just me, but when he finds out that her son is Hollowborn, the FIRST THING he does is voice his support. the second thing he does is try to imagine himself in her shoes. later in the story he kills a man with his bare hands to save her Hollowborn son, she kills another, and they hide the evidence together.

^ he's saying that one TO HER SON. (not the Hollowborn. other son.)

fellas, is this the same people?

(^ being extremely salty)

and then, the other thing about his companion quest is These Lines

chat.... is this Edér? is this Edér "the gods really have it in for you; wish they knew you like I did" Teylecg? is this the guy specifically built up by the narrative to be your ride-or-die? the guy who saw his god crawl out of the earth and instead of doing LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE hoofed it to where he knew YOU were, to save your life?

please explain to me the purpose behind having him go "hey, you know how I said I care about you? well, I kind of didn't mean that. can we go find that woman I hooked up with and see if her second son is mine?" in the exact way he did. like. POE1 and The Reaping conditoned me to think of him as someone who understands people. who FEELS for them. POE1 and the opening of Deadfire, by virtue of him SAVING MY GODDAMN LIFE, also conditioned me to think he cares about the Watcher. deeply. sincerely. WHY is the narration trying to convince me otherwise? WHY are we throwing out every single part of the character that I originally found appealing? POE1 Edér became my favorite because he was funny, yes, but also because he was insightful; because he was questioning; because you could hear in his voice that this is a guy teetering on his breaking point and still trying to find joy in the world, trying to find something, anything that would help him make sense of things; because he cared about people, and he cared about the Watcher. he trusted you with his past, and you helped him make peace with it. he saw you through the horrors and the creeping insanity of an Awakening, and offered whatever help he could, and felt that he knew you. his world shattered during the Saint's War, and you helped him find his place in the wreckage, where something new may grow. you were with him when he found out the truth about his brother and about Eothas, and decided what it meant to him. that's FUN. that's COMPELLING. that REWROTE MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY.

Deadfire is a great game and Edér has great moments in it. But I have subjective, petty beef with it, and I also have slightly less subjective beef with the way it just chooses not to follow through on things like his relationships with Elafa and Hiravias, reducing these topics to one-liners that deny him both depth and growth, which is WHAT I LIKED ABOUT HIM. I didn't like him because he was a himbo tank. I liked the existential crisis. And we don't even GET a fun existential crisis for him in Deadfire, because it just does "is Eothas.... bad?" again. arguably the "am I a dad?" arc could have been a fun existential crisis, but I just don't like the way it was done - and resolved - at all

so... yeah.

[wrestlersownmyheart]

"Yeet Of Fate" Chapter 4 (Jey Uso X Female Reader)

Title: Yeet Of Fate Pairing: Jey Uso X Reader Summary: When you, an aspiring author, decide to take your skills to the world of wrestling, you decide to shadow and tag along with a couple of wrestlers to learn more about the sport for your upcoming book debut. None other than the Royal Rumble winner, Jey Uso, is the male wrestler you will be working with, and needless to say, that makes you nervous. You tell yourself, things will stay platonic. You tell yourself that…

Jey Uso is at the top of his game, the last thing he needs is a fan trailing around after him and fan girling all over the place. He wants to do his job, bask in the glory of it and call it a day. Not have to answer questions all day long from a wannabe writer. That's how he feels, until he meets Y/N face to face. She isn't what he expected. And he doesn't like to be wrong. As beautiful as she is… He will keep things platonic. He tells himself that…

Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with WWE. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Violence against a woman.

Chapter 4

"This will be so fun!" Nattie exclaimed as Rhea drove you, Nattie and Naomi to a Macy's department store. Everyone had their dresses for the Hall Of Fame ceremony, but you. So the women took it on themselves to get you out and shopping.

You nodded, deep in thought about what kind of dress you should buy.

"What color should I wear?" you asked the women. "Like, what color does Jey favor?"

"Ooo, she wants to impress Jey!" Naomi squealed. "I knew you two had something going on after that dance at the club!"

"Oh, stop it, Naomi," you laughed. "I just don't want to show up in a color that he hates, is all."

"Yeah, right," Rhea said, as she turned into the Macy's parking lot. "That dance between the two of you said it all." She chuckled, "Add in the fact that he specifically asked you to be his date, and you're not fooling anyone."

You flushed and stayed silent at that.

"As for what color the dress should be, I say red or royal blue." Nattie said. "Remember Jey dyed his hair tips red for the longest time–him and Jimmy both. And then he went blue. What with your coloring, red or blue would look amazing."

You nodded, taking in the input.

"Red or blue. Got it."

You all piled out of the car and headed into the store and began ransacking the racks for red and blue dresses.

"Ooo, this one!" Rhea exclaimed, picking up a sequined red dress with a slit up to the thigh. "It will look amazing on you!"

"But the plunging neckline," you cried. "Are you sure it isn't too much?"

"Of course not! We'll get you some of those tapes that go on your boobs and hold the dress in place."

You picked out your size and draped the garment over your arm and headed for the dressing room as the women went through and picked out a few other dresses for you to try on later.

You stepped into a booth and pulled the swinging door closed behind you, hung the dress up as you prepared to undress and try it on. You'd pulled your top over your head when you were propelled forward and hit your head on the wall of the booth. Not hard enough to debilitate you, however. You pulled your shirt back down frantically, and instantly saw Gunther in the booth with you. You started to scream, but his hand clapped over your mouth and his other arm pressed against your neck, pinning you to the wall. You couldn't breathe. You struggled, but he had a death grip on you.

You punched at his middle, but it had less effect on him than the punch to the face, the day prior.

"Stop, or I will hurt you."

You froze. He was already hurting you.

"I want something from you," he said, finally loosening his grip on your neck. "I want you to hurt Jey. I can see he's very fond of you. Hurt him. Or I will. And you won't like how I achieve it."

Your mind spun.

"There's nothing between me and Jey. He doesn't have feelings for me."

"Maybe, maybe not. I still want you to hurt him."

"And how am I supposed to hurt him?"

"Break up with him, or whatever it is you have going on. I want his head so screwed for Mania he can't think straight."

Realization dawned on you.

You smirked, despite your fear. "You're afraid of him. He was right. You're wanting his head messed with so you can actually beat him Saturday."

Gunther's blue eyes darkened and he pressed in on your neck again.

You groaned against the discomfort and loss of air.

"Careful, little girl. I can beat him with my eyes closed."

"Sure," you spat.

More pressure on your neck. "You are either very brave or very ignorant."

He let go of your neck so you could speak more freely.

"Get out of here."

"You either hurt Jey, or I will," he reiterated, slowly backing away from you.

You wanted to say that you'd never hurt Jey, but you knew if you did, Gunther would take it on himself to hurt him, physically. So you kept your mouth shut.

Gunther exited the dressing room and you wished suddenly that the booths had locks on their doors.

Shakily, you began to undress and tugged the red dress on over your undergarments.

"Y/N? What's taking so long?" You heard Rhea's voice in the fitting area.

"Sorry, I'll be right out," you said after clearing your throat. You couldn't speak so well after Gunther's treatment of you.

You stepped out of the booth and watched as the three women Oooed and Awwed over the dress.

"I don't think you should try any others on," Naomi said. "That dress is the one!"

You nodded, quick to agree and get out of the store. "Yes, I think so too."

"But why is your neck so red?" Nattie asked, reaching out and touching the redness where Gunther had pinned you.

"Oh, uh, I'm just flushing because of the plunging neckline," you tried to joke. This seemed to pacify the women and they started chuckling.

"Jey's gonna swallow his tongue when he sees you!" Naomi exclaimed, giving you a hug.

"Thank you, guys," you said, fighting off a sudden surge of tears. "It's so sweet of you all to help me."

"Aww," the women cooed, "You're so welcome!"

You smiled, and fought the trembling of your chin.

What were you going to do?

If you didn't hurt Jey mentally, Gunther would hurt him physically.

You wished you could ask the women's advice, but you knew they'd go tell Jey and that would be the same as opting to let Gunther hurt Jey.

What were you going to do, you wondered yet again, as the women let you get dressed back into your own clothes. Then you were off to go buy a pair of shoes for the dress.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Thursday came and you were so full of emotions it wasn't even funny. You'd gotten up to find some very noticeable bruising around your neck.

"No," you cried, looking closer.

There was no way you'd be able to go to the Hall Of Fame ceremony with your dress–it exposed your neck completely.

Feeling as if you could cry, you immediately picked up your phone and texted Jey that you wouldn't be able to go to the ceremony because you were feeling sick and you didn't want to give him some illness before Wrestlemania.

You waited a minute, expecting him to text you back immediately.

Nothing. You waited five more minutes and still nothing.

A knock at your door.

"Oh, no." You muttered, grabbing your robe and pulling it on over your pajamas. You cinched it up to your neck and went to the door, looking out the peephole.

You sighed a partial sigh of relief.

It was Rhea, Naomi and Nattie.

You opened the door and let the women in. Just seeing them made you tear up.

"What's wrong," Rhea asked as you all went to sit down in the living area. "Jey just texted all of us trying to find out why you are bailing on the ceremony tomorrow night."

"I'm afraid to tell you," you replied, subconsciously tightening your hold on the robe's collar.

"You have to, Y/N," Nattie said in a reasonable tone. "Jey is somewhere between pissed and hurt."

You sighed, knowing you were trapped. You slowly released the collar and let it fall open.

"Oh, my God!"

"What happened?!"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

You sighed again, not knowing where to start.

You burst into tears, and began telling the women what happened to you the day before.

"I was going to change into the dress at Macy's yesterday and…. Gunthercameinandattackedme."

"WHAT?"

Nattie's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"What did he do," she asked.

"He pinned me to the wall with his arm at my neck, and threatened me and Jey," you said, relieved to get it out in the open. "He told me to either hurt Jey mentally, or he'd hurt him physically."

"So you bailed out of the ceremony to protect Jey?"

"I was trying to protect him by keeping him from seeing the bruises. I didn't want him to go fight Gunther because of me and get hurt."

There was another knock at your door. Nattie went to see who it was.

You heard her faint, "Oh, crap!"

And then Jey was walking into the living area.

You scrambled for your robe to cover your neck once again, but Jey reached out and took your arm gently, preventing you from covering up your neck and slightly revealing tank top.

He was extremely quiet as he eyed the bruises on your neck. He tenderly touched them. "What happened?"

"Jey…" You started. "It's nothing."

"What happened, Y/N?"

"Can you guys leave us alone," you asked your friends. "Jey and I need to talk."

They all nodded, and started to leave.

Before heading out the door, Rhea turned to you. "You don't have to miss the ceremony tomorrow night. I have some tattoo covering makeup that will cover those bruises easily enough."

You nodded, as Jey sat down beside you on the sofa. "Thank you Rhea."

"Don't worry about it," she answered, with a soft smile. Then she closed the door behind her.

"Tell me."

You turned to face Jey on the sofa, and let out a deep breath. Tears welled up in your eyes again.

"I was about to change into a dress at Macy's yesterday," you said, wiping at your eyes. "And I was attacked from behind as I was pulling my shirt over my head. It was Gunther."

You could see the muscle twitching in Jey's jaw. "He went into your dressing room? Watched you? What else happened? How'd you get those bruises?"

You swallowed hard and continued. "He grabbed me and slung me into the wall. Then pinned me to the wall with his arm at my neck. I tried to fight him, Jey. I did. I tried to punch him in the stomach, but he acted like it didn't even phase him. And he threatened me–told me to stop or he would hurt me."

The muscle twitch became more intense as Jey listened to you. "Keep going, Mama."

He took your hand, and squeezed it reassuringly.

"He said he wanted me to hurt you–to end whatever is going on between us. I tried to tell him that there's nothing between us–that you don't have any feelings for me. But he wouldn't listen. He wants your head messed with so you can't think straight." You smiled through your tears, "He's scared, Jey. You've got this!"

Jey seemed to be thinking, and when he spoke he shocked the dickens out of you!

"So you think I don't have feelings for you? And, you didn't tell Gunther that you don't have feelings for me?"

You gasped. "Um… I-I don't know. And no… I didn't…"

Your face was burning.

Jey smiled, "And why is that?"

You shook your head once. "I-I think you need to focus on the problem at hand, Jey. He wants to see you hurt."

"I'm not worried about him. But I do need to go pay him a visit and teach him how a woman is to be treated."

He rose to his feet, and you stood too.

"Jey, no! Don't get like this! That's exactly what he wants!"

Jey took your arm, and led you into the bathroom in front of the large mirror. "Do you see this?" he asked, gently brushing his finger across the bruising at your neck.

You winced, and he murmured, "Sorry, baby. He didn't break your collarbone, did he?"

You shook your head. "No. Nothing is broken. I don't even notice any soreness until it's touched."

Jey nodded. "I'll be back soon." He headed out of the bathroom and for the door to your room.

"Jey, please, don't."

He turned around on you and brushed his fingers down your cheek. "When this is all over…" His eyes scanned your face. "I'm gonna kiss you. And then you're gonna find out exactly my feelings for you."

With that, he turned and left, leaving you reeling.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Within ten minutes, Jey was knocking at your door again. You quickly let him in.

"What is it?"

"He switched hotels, the coward. And I can't find out which one he is staying at because of the freaking privacy policies that hotels have."

"Well, I'm relieved."

"Why? You think I can't beat him?"

"I know you can. And you will," you smiled, brushing the back of your hand down his cheek and moving into his embrace. "I just don't want you to fight because of me. I want you to stay focused on the championship. Keep your eye on the prize."

"I am." He said, staring at you.

You flushed and looked away, his reply flustering you majorly.

He turned your face back to his and he pressed his lips to your forehead. "Can't wait to taste that sassy mouth of yours."

"And what's stopping you?"

He gazed into your eyes and smirked. "The fact that I want to kiss you when there's nothing ahead of us but smooth sailin'. Not when all this white noise is surrounding us–Gunther and your note-taking and all that stuff. I want your attention fully. On. Me."

With that, he kissed the tip of your nose.

"You'll have it," you replied, with a smile.

If you want on my tag list, just ask! 😀

Tagging:

@oreillystolemyheart @lookalivesunshine-x @southerngirl41 @claymoresofinfamy23 @beccalynns-world 

@Heerah34 @dersha89 @shortyiceheart @wwechristina87 @expert-texpert

@sassymox @sammyfinn21-blog @alliecatsworldsblog @potatosackk @keisha-knell 

@peaceloveandcurves @terrortwinunicorn @mzv11 @jazzyboo123-blog1 @ibelievedinjh  @fafomama @zigzoggy @raya-hunter01 @sharmelasworld

[soclearlytosee]

a primary early s5 threat is likely a s1-style lone Demogorgon hunting kids...

...and that Demogorgon is probably being directed by Vecna.

at this point others have definitely also come to this conclusion, but I just wanted to lay this out somewhere more clearly/concisely.

first, the evidence from leaks/BTS/footage:

an early s5 filming rumor was that Frank Darabont directed a Home Alone-style sequence with a Demogorgon, which came from the same source as a bunch of other things that have been proven true. plus we clearly have a big sequence in a mansion in a Darabont-directed episode (5.03, The Turnbow Trap) reminiscent of the iconic house in that movie.

the lights are flickering in quite a few scenes that we've seen footage of from eps 1-4, and specifically the ones the feature the child characters (Holly's room and the upstairs bathroom at the Wheeler House in ep 1, at the Turnbow mansion in ep 3, and now at the farm in ep 4)

the strangerwriters twitter account saying "Season 5 is like if season 1 and 4 had a baby. And then that baby was injected with steroids."

the rhythmic banging from the date announcement voice memo/teaser feels like a fairly straightforward callback to the s1 Demogorgon's recurring ominous offscreen footsteps (that then escalates, s1 on steroids etc).

There's obviously something going on with Holly and her classmates, and a not quite yet parseable feedback loop between Vecna and the military's interest in them (considering the pap photos of Henry, Holly, and the other kids in the Creel House Mindscape, and the kids at the military base which we've now seen in the teaser footage)

but more importantly, what would that do for us, character- and plot-wise?

Bring up big feelings for our characters who experienced Will and Barb's disappearances in s1

especially since, according to the season logline, a certain anniversary is coming up...

Tee up a reveal about what it looks like when Vecna is directing a Demogorgon remotely

according to the season logline, Vecna is currently laying low: "[Vecna] has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown." similarly, it's pretty clear he's been part of the picture this whole time but if that's the case he had to have been acting from a significant remove in s1 too.

while we are also revisiting Will's time in the Upside Down in 1983 in flashback form, showing us a version of Vecna's s1 strategy in the present would be an additional opportunity to surface some answers after years of the "Was Will taken intentionally or just a bystander? Did Will see Vecna or the Demogorgon on Mirkwood?" discourse.

Serve as a device to travel into the Upside Down

if they bring back the s1 Demogorgon's ability to create smaller, temporary gates, our cast should be more prepared to take advantage of that opportunity to travel to/from the Upside Down this time around. (though the time limit on the lil Demogorgon gates makes that risky...and might lead to something like perhaps a certain character whose early season activities are still a big question mark being stuck in the same clothes for three-quarters of the season)

please don't ask me to square that with Vecna's s3/s4 needing to steal El's powers in order to open his own gates via elaborate teen murder ritual I'm not a writer on this show. let's say it's probably a question of magnitude/temporality for now

so yes, I have come around to feeling like this is probably one of the big drivers of the early s5 plot (after really walking the long way around to get here even though in retrospect like anything it seems like the most obvious choice for them to make, and I think a smart one). other supernatural forces should also be at work - I'm at least feeling some mysterious medical stuff going around, and maybe disappearances via an additional mechanic. plus the Demogorgon situation would start more at a 1.03/1.04 level and escalate quickly, building to a new monster/s reveal around the end of 5.04 with whatever is knocking at the downtown military base's door in the teaser.

and still more to suss out on Vecna's motivations here, what's going on with his Creel House Mindscape set up with the kids (maybe playing both sides by siccing a scary monster on them and then getting to swoop in as a benevolent helper?), how the military's interest in the kids factors in, and then Max's role in all this.

[justafewberries]

What are your thoughts about the epilogue? Specifically this sentence :

It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly.

How do you interpret it?

Disclaimer : this question is for textual analysis, it's not meant to incite fandom war. please DNI if you don't like this topic.

Thank you so much.

@curiousnonny

I’ve always taken Katniss’s “I dont want kids” attitude to come from three different things:

- She’s 16

- Kids die in the Hunger Games

- She doesn’t want kids with Gale

First of all, it’s completely normal outside of the Hunger Games for a teenage girl to be certain she doesn’t want kids. It’s also completely normal to change your mind. Not everyone is the same person they were at 16. She’s about 32 when she agrees. That is twice her life. Good for her for letting herself heal and then reevaluate.

But in thg, she doesn’t want kids because they’d have to endure what her current “kids” would:

Katniss is a mother from the moment we meet her. Her first and primary concerns are about keeping her “daughter” (Prim) safe. It would make sense if she just needed a break from having to look out for kids. Add in the factors of d12, where she has to hunt and keep them safe and worry they’re going to get reaped every year, that would burn anyone out.

She’d spend her days worried sick, watching them grow in the place she’s had to endure so much starvation herself. I find it hard to believe she would have kids if the war hadn’t happened. To me, her qualms about having kids resided in what the world would do to them, not the kids themselves.

Finally, she didn’t want kids with Gale:

Katniss starts the first book talking about how Gale would have no trouble having kids. The second book, she says people assumed she and Gale would marry. She claims to have never given it any thought, but she technically co-parents with Gale already. And I think she just didn’t like the idea of having to endure raising more kids with him. Maybe because of him, or maybe because of the memories it would awaken. Either way, before Peeta was an option, she didn’t want kids. And she tells this to Gale.

So to me, it was never about her not wanting kids. It was about her not being able to ensure their protection, and that was enough for her to abstain. Then the war happened, she waited the span of Prim’s life, and finally realized she too was safe and warm in the meadow. And her kids would be too.

As for Peeta wanting them so badly, that’s also natural for both his character and life in general. He breaks down after the “if it werent for the baby” line. He wants kids, yet, I dont recall if he ever discusses them with her. I think the only time we hear about his kids was through Katniss’s thoughts.

It’s natural to want kids. It’s natural to not want kids. It’s natural to change your mind, especially when the reasons you made up your mind in the first place have changed.

[cruisinforarubberman]

DC Sexuality Headcanons for Pride

Decided to just make a new post with all my headcanons so far. For all future questions I'll just update this. But please keep asking!

Cassandra Cain: I see Cass as being pansexual. She's very thoughtful and trying to keep her eyes out for people's motivations and what that means for who they are as people and their morality, I don't see her being concerned with what people have going on under their clothes, or at least that not changing the way she might feel about them. That being said I also see her as graysexual, because I think with how aware she is of everything physical that sex could be very overwhelming for her. She does enjoy it, but infrequently.

Jason Todd: Jason is my bisexual disaster, and I doubt that surprises anybody. But I don't see him having a sea of lovers that could fill up a stadium (unlike other Robins ahem DICK). No Jason doesn't hook up with randos much, mostly because that would involve a lot of messy feelings. Casual hook ups with close friends though? Very much on the table. You'd think that would be even messier, but somehow in his mind it's not. Hence the disaster part. Jason is a fantastic, intense lover, but despite how dominating he is in bed he is not at all a top. Sometimes, but rarely.

Damian Wayne: As I mentioned in the notes on the last chapter of my fic, I see Damian as a double demi aka demisexual demiromantic. He ABSOLUTELY has to know and care about someone before he feels any kind of way about them. When the stars align perfectly, and he meets his perfect person (Colin Wilkes, if you were to ask for my opinion) he is one of the most loving, caring partners there is. Saying that though, when it comes to intimacies he needs to be invited. A longing look, a bitten lip, a come hither quirk of the finger, anything outward to show that his other half wants him in a carnal way. And I'd say more but I was actually planning to write a scene about that one day so...

Talia al Ghul: Don't hate me, but I see Talia very much as a straight woman, who's heart locks on and does not easily let go (for good or bad reasons). I don't know if she's had any trysts outside of Bruce that were serious and not a means to lure fools to their doom, but I struggle to see her falling for a woman (but maybe that's because I have no idea who she even gets shipped with regularly). While most see her as a dommy mommy, I actually don't. For some reason I see her being a mite submissive, maybe even a touch selfish in bed but not in a bad way. Talia is a very complex character for me as you can probably tell. But she IS an ally. There's no way something as dumb as sexuality or gender changes how she might look at a person. If she's going to kill you it has nothing to do with your identity.

Bruce Wayne: Bruce is some kinda polyromantic. Mostly because he needs the wiggle room, you know? He's very independent. He's also pan because I said so <3 We've all heard the legends of how he is in bed, what goes unsaid is that he is the living example of a switch. He's both the kitten princess who lures you into the sheets with just his eyes and the daddy that all the good boys and girls want to please.

Dick Grayson: Fun fact, I learned what an omnisexual is just this past Sunday. And I realized that was the identity I was trying to describe in my head for Dick for a long time. Unlike pansexuals whose attraction isn't effect by gender, omnisexuals are specifically attracted BECAUSE of gender. He wants the men, women, and enbys equally. And he's a very fun, silly lover. He will make you feel beautiful and satisfied, and then share a giggle about it~

Alfred Pennyworth: Ah Alfred, my aromantic king. Sure, he's had an intimate encounter or two, and no one will ever know anything about them. (I lowkey ship him with both the Waynes, Thomas and Martha as a set, but I don't see it being sexual, passionate kisses at the most). No relationship matters more to him than his duty to his family. Sure, occasional interest might turn his head for a minute, but his heart always brings him back home.

Tim Drake: I'm totally on board with bisexual Tim. And the idea that he doesn't know that until he's straight up asked out by a guy. And that's the through line, too. He. Is. Dense. As. Fuck. He starts feeling feelings for someone when they make it clear they like him first. In bed he's very excited, a bit clumsy in his enthusiasm, but he really enjoys mutual give and take. If you rock his socks, he rocks yours right back.

Stephanie Brown: Steph is for sure attracted to men, canonically at least, and I'd like to keep true to that. But she bonds with the girlies pretty well, so her being into women isn't impossible? Something tells me it would be more butch women then feminine women. So Imma say polysexual, attracted to some genders but not all. She's sweet and attentive in bed, doesn't need anything crazy to have a good time, but is down to play if the interest is there. Loves to tease her partners until they blush.

Colin Wilkes: Colin, my pansexual brother from another mother. I just get that feeling from him, what can I say? (mostly because we don't have enough of him in canon to say that's not true so) In my head he thinks all of Damian's family, and close friends too for some reason, are pretty. When he gets older, he realizes he's drawn to the lifestyle, and that's why they all have that something that catches his eye. As for in bed...he's a brat. He teases and bites and pinches and really just wants to be put in his place (which is to be picked up and/or thrown by Damian's big strong man muscles). Aftercare requires a lot of cuddles and kisses, and reassurances that he's loved, but he looks at his man like he hung the stars in the sky.

Jon Kent: Bisexual baby boy, obvi. Another case of my happily embracing canon. As for in bed, I see him being very, very shy. Happy, enjoying himself, and will loosen up as things go on, but shy and sweet.

Kon-el/Conner Kent: Is it insulting...if I call him a pansexual freak? The leather, the earring, the sunglasses? It just reads as sexually adventurous, which I love for all of us. Like listen, there is no way he is a fully straight man, let's not kid ourselves. Very much a top, and a dom, but you'll never hear a cruel word cross those lips. He can take you apart without ever having to tear you down.

[smilingfr3ak]

Pilot literally has one of my most favorite character designs in a while. I love myself a nervous lookin fella. Can you do a silly little tldr lore drop (if you have one 😔‼️)

GRAAAAAH HES SO COOL 😩

SDFHKJSDHF thank you for finding him cool!! teehee. I can drop a bit of lore about how I created him, and his current story I have for him. Buckle up because this is gonna get a tad bit long. No TLDR at the end here, you oughta be committed!

HIS CHARACTER

His concept as a character came from ‘Fight or Flight’ and he is the embodiment of the latter choice, being an extreme coward in the face of danger, and working as a pilot! The 'smoking weed' trait was a joke that became canon because... hehe he's flying high.

Pilot is so overly paranoid he believes everything is out to get him, making it slightly difficult for him to feel comfortable in his surroundings and when putting his trust on other people (LIZARDS- ALIENS- THE GOVERNMENT!!). He would do everything to avoid or get rid of potential threats and danger as fast as he could to ensure his survival.

Along with his paranoia, it is paired with stubborn determination. Once he's locked into a certain idea or belief, HE'S STICKING BY IT.

CURRENT STORY

Pilot is the eldest son of his family. His father was a former aviator, which inspired Pilot to become one as well, despite not liking heights that much- (he flies while high on weed, it's fine--). After their father's passing, Pilot became the main breadwinner of the family and they moved from Canada to New Mexico.

He has a sister who is younger than him by 3 years, and she works as a waitress at a diner in Teufort. Their mother fell ill after a couple of years, and they both work hard to take care of her and pay for her treatment.

Pilot initially worked in Icarus Airliners, but at some point he crashed his plane in one of Mann Co's territories, and Saxton Hale happened to be there when he crashed.

On that specific day, Saxton needed someone to fly him to one of his absurd projects (Like Yeti Park or something) but Jerry was absent because he couldn't take Saxton's bullshit of ripping out the plane's engine as an excuse to jump out of it Saxton Hale style. So Pilot was hired on the spot by Hale (without the supervision of Bidwell). Because he was in the air for a while at least!

At first, Pilot said he couldn't stay and was about to decline the job, until Saxton just gave him a butt load of money as his 'first day' pay to convince him. Obviously, Pilot took it. He needed the money. Without realizing, he became part of a mercenary business.

He would eventually be shoved with the mercenaries because Jerry came back the next day after his much needed break, and despite Bidwell's pleas to make Pilot leave (he couldn't stop asking questions and it annoyed Bidwell to a degree), Saxton decided to keep him in the company anyways because... y'know, he's kinda pathetic- He makes Saxton want to say: "My god, you call yourself a man? We need to get you out there in the battlefield, boy!"

Which made Pilot become part of Team Fortress instead as their aviator when flying the mercs in for new missions.

----

There may be things I might change about him or his story in the future, but as of now this is what I have for him.

I hope you enjoyed reading all of that and learning more about Pilot!! :)))

[pharrell-the-formation]

Hello everyone. In honor of Pride Month, I'd like to talk a little about one of my oldest stable headcanons in this fandom: the concept that Marco Legrand might be a closeted homosexual in deep denial. I want to point out right away: don't take everything you read from here on out as a serious theory about the game. I'm well aware that this was not the authors' intention and is just my interpretation of the facts given to us. Harmless fun :)

So, let's start from the beginning. A phrase that has become a point of no return for many.

(Strangely enough, the English translation made it a little less suspicious with him not addresing Evan directly, like he did in the original).

I once mentioned it on this blog, but I feel like it’s too important for us to ignore it here: during the dialogue about Evan's deceased father, Marco will state that he was not uninterested in Caleb... it would be a different matter if he were alive and Evan was a girl. Another dialogue (where he shares a failed plan to seduce Ferguson's imaginary daughter) fully confirms the suspicion that he would be interested in the politician's daughter in that very sense. Of course, for the sake of authority and getting a position in the Ministry, of course!

I do not want to state that everyone who says that they would be together with their friend if they were of the opposite sex are necessarily latent queer people, because in psychology you can't generalize. But this still raises questions, because here you can't say that Marco could respect Evan as a person, since he just met him. But okay, let's assume that he joked like that in the context of his desire for a promotion. Marco is clearly not a person who is distinguished by witty humor.

The more you interact with Legrand in the game, the more you see the idea that he loves to mention women at any possible opportunity. He clearly strives to create an image of a successful, charming womanizer around himself. The problem is that in some places it feels forced. Let's look at this example:

Evan asks the most standard question that can be asked at work, and Legrand for some reason immediately answers that he does not think about the boss, he thinks about girls. I find this extremely unnatural, nothing prevented him from simply answering that he does not care, that he has a negative attitude or whatever, but for some reason he once again drags women into this and the idea that he is some kind of Casanova.

If we draw parallels, then in the series there is another playboy character: Peter Pranger. His situation is even more aggravated than Marco's, he makes remarks towards the fair sex or intimacy with them in almost every conversation with him, but you can see the difference in his delivery. Peter seems ultra-horny, but quite sincerely interested in women. He describes their features, his feelings, reacts to specific situations (he sees Nora - describes her legs. Frank interrupts his plans for a date - he declares this). There are no questions for him, he looks natural in his environment.

What about Marco? Let's talk about Emma.

Emma, ​​Emma... this will sound harsh and possibly rude, but... remind me, why didn't Marco try to make a move on her? In conversation, he gives a very clear reason - Hazer is pretty, and even though he knows about her reputation, she annoys him as a person. In theory, this does not raise questions, normal reason, but

a) Marco knows that Peter, the main sponsor of his entertainment in the office, is in love with Emma.

And Legrand had never been above any pranks before: he even laughed at the time when his victim broke his spine. Literally everything built into his image implies that pretending that he is trying to steal Peter's beloved in front of him would have been a trifle for him and a natural continuation of all the previous ridicule. And yet he never tried to do this. His fourth prank could have been this, but he comes up with a dodgy plan to convince her to seduce Dong and steal his clothes.

And b) if Evan gets closer to Emma in a civilized manner and comes to his friend to share news and an interesting story, Marco, completely unexpectedly, will shift his ground and suddenly ask whether he should sleep with her too. So he is (at least in words!) would be quite capable of this.

I assume that his first admission about Emma is quite truthful, and later he began to adapt to the situation and to his friend's behavior. He is (remember?) a womanizer, sleeps with women, so he must be interested in this, especially since Evan raised this topic. As in other dialogues, he seems to forcibly mention this image. He wants you to know this, to know his stories about his romantic life, where even instead of saucy details, he ultimately concentrates on humor, telling his bro how he brought a girl home and they fed sardines. Is this all? No, not all.

The route where Emma becomes his stepmother.

For me, this is almost the loudest and most illustrative example. Within this route, Legrand receives a call from his father and complains that his father is pressuring him again with marriage and children. He is already fed up with this and comes to the realization that he needs to deceive his father, that he followed his instructions and did what he asked. Logically, we can make a prediction that he will probably find himself a girl, either one of his acquaintances or a bribed one, and convince her to play along with him temporarily. In such a situation, and, again, if he already made a decision to lie, this seems to be the only working option, simple and understandable. But instead, for some reason, Marco turns to his friend, gives him his father's number and persuades him to call and say that, well, I'm an acquaintance of your son, he found a bride, by the way, I'm the son of Redgrave, the very same one, believe me. Just think about how surreal this idea is, even in its concept. Imagine yourself in Henry's place, some stranger calls you, claims that he is the son of a bigwig in the political world and tells you stories about how your eccentric child suddenly decided to mend his ways and to get off the wrong track. Would you believe him? Better tell me at what point you would hang up. Even Evan in the game reasonably refuses this crazy plan, and then the colleague pays him just so that Evan agrees. If we believe his words, he gives the last money he can give.

Let's leave out the fact that somehow Marco's father falls for this masquerade, it doesn't matter now. What's important is that Marco is subsequently completely uninterested in how Evan resolves the situation there. It would be expected that he would at least find out who he had picked as his imaginary bride, but he emotionally distances himself from this event and decides to focus on other matters. I also suggest, keeping everything described in mind, to look at and analyze the ultimatum for the businessman's inheritance, the main motive for Marco's presence in the Ministry from the beginning.

"The demands are still the same - get married and have children. Or get a promotion. But with your attitude towards hard work, getting a promotion is fantastic, so I'm waiting for grandchildren!"

No one, absolutely no one will like the idea of ​​​​forcibly dating someone and by no means will enjoy the unvoluntary conception of offspring. You understand Marco and do not condemn him from this position, and his decision to work seems normal, but here again the details are curious. Lazy Legrand, really lazy guy, this is evident throughout the game in small references and even in his own actions, AGAIN chooses a more complex and confusing path, avoiding a simpler one where all that is supposedly required of him is to show his vaunted charm and flirt, meet or drag into bed some pretty young lady. The game itself gives an interesting detail with the fact that Henry Legrand set this condition for him only because he wanted his son's marriage, he never believed that he will be successful in his career path and clearly does not want this, being more interested in continuation of his family line.

So, in my interpretation of things, everything leads to this idea: Marco does not like women. He does not accept this and hides it, concerned about his reputation, telling tales about his relationships and avoiding those in practice.

Also, taking into account all this background, his attitude towards Evan seems peculiar to me, because at some moments he literally trusts him to the point of stupidity, actively tries to make him part of his secret plans, and at other moments he can suddenly subject him to impulsive, unjustified cruelty. As if he wants to keep him close to himself, but something in him really fights it and because of his inability to deal with his emotions sensibly, he can take it out on Evan and those around him.

(Text on the screenshot - "I see you and Legrand are birds of a feather! Alright, the prank isn’t that bad").

Thank you all for your attention!

[neveromininart]

After reading the episode 36 with my friend we came to wonder about the blades. We’ve seen how blades can be all shapes and sizes but we’ve not seen many of their potential applications. The first thought was how they could be applied outside a criminal setting. This all derived from noticing that Heliodora’s blade is quite small. For that questions like how sharp they are (or if that is based on its shape like resembling a non magic object )came up. Also can the phoenix making the blade choose its shape and placement or does that depend on the person receiving the blade? And lastly how clean are they? Like could they be sterile? Bc based on that we wondered if for example surgeons would use phoenix feather scalpels (cause based on all the previous questions they would probably beat steel) or if Heliodora for example would be able to use hers for (non) body disposal / day job activities.

This has gotten quite long but my friend and i tend to think a lot about what a world with a magic system like sunset phoenix would look like outside a criminal setting.

We really love your work and your story

OOOhohooho I love this ask *rubs fly hands together*

I'm gonna start by telling you about Heliodora's Phoenix Feather Blades! Tbh I think they're the coolest shape/ placement in the series.

They're actually a pair of scissors! They're not for body disposal at all, Valentine gave them to her specifically so Dora could cut Val's hair, because when Val's hair is cut with regular scissors it grows back instantly. Episode 36 was probably the first time they'd ever been used for any other purpose. Also, unrelated, but Dora is the only person Valentine gave a Blade to, everyone else in the Ring got theirs from Rohan.

as for your other questions:

Blades are The Most Sharp. I imagine they are as sharp as steel can possibly be, but Always, because the edge doesn't degrade with use.

The Phoenix who is placing the blade on someone decides what it looks like! It's like a regular tattoo in the sense that it needs to be like, drawn on, so the Phoenix doing the Blade, like a tattoo artist doing a tattoo, has complete control over the shape and design. Where the design is sharp or rounded is also controlled by the Phoenix by building up layers. The more layers, the thicker the Blade. This is roughly the layers that Emilia's Blade took:

I don't know jack about biology but I think? They would be sterile automatically? Like, Blades hang out on people's skin, but when you bring them into 3D form, they don't really exist for a second?? So there probably wouldn't be any way for bacteria or moisture to hang on through that transition??

I think Phoenixes would still need surgeries sometimes - maybe because of damage done by a blade, or maybe for cosmetic reasons. So there's probably a handful of surgeons wandering around with a set of Phoenix Feather Scalpels and Needles tattooed on them. I imagine there are also quite a few hairdressers and barbers with Blades tattooed on them, and chefs with a series of knives tattooed down their arms, and survivalists who always want a knife handy, and one guy who's really into cheese and has the specialty cheese knives. The only problem with Blades is that they're always cold, so it would suck working with them for a long period of time. But if people wanted Phoenix-specific work, or just want to have a sharp edge on hand, then there are plenty of reasons to get them! Airport security must be a bitch, though.

The thing with most of the characters in the series, though, is that they look shady as hell. Like, the swords are all explicitly for killing Phoenixes, and everyone they pass on the street knows that. Or they think it's an edgy regular tattoo and you want to look like you can kill a Phoenix. Either way, you don't look very friendly. Emilia's future job prospects aren't looking great.

[mscaseys]

I'm sad bc it feels like the whole cast and crew behin the show prefers markxhellyna :(

ajskdfbjdk i genuinely don't think that is the case... as someone who keeps up with the interviews, most of the time it's just things taken out of context and... let's just say even if that were true, the show definitely does not hold back on mark and gemma either. the whole premise of the show is because of them, plus dan fleshed out gemma's character so much in season 2. also i think dan's writing and adam's acting shines the most when he's in those mark and gemma scenes (2x03, 2x05, 2x10).

i think snubbing markhellyna isn't a good look for the cast especially since mark and helly are the shows main characters, like of course they are going to talk about them, it would be silly not to. i also don't see them praising markhellyna as them hating markgemma at all, if we think about it mark and gemma basically have 2 episodes in the whole show, so obviously they aren't going to be talking about them a whole lot (and for what it's worth, i think they talk about mark and gemma way more than i ever expected). it's also kind of impressive that they managed to make people care so much about gemma in one episode that the finale is as divisive as it was. there's also the element of not wanting to spoil the s1 twist that gemma is mark's wife, so sometimes they hold back from interviews in this press cycle. they also don't want to spoil episode 7, like even in the london interviews adam and dichen didn't want to spoil that it was a flashback episode where we meet gemma.

i get being sad but honestly i wouldn't worry (and jessica has done so many hour-long interviews where she goes in depth about episode 7 specifically so definitely check those out!). what makes mark and gemma so special to me is their narrative weight, like one of the main mysteries being the numbers, the testing floor etc. the downside to that is that they don't necessarily make for clickbait interview questions asking if mark made the right choice in the finale, so i try to take them with a grain of salt. i let the show speak for itself, especially when both jessica and ben have said they try not to talk about the show too much because they want to leave room for the audiences' interpretation of it.

[aliceforhumansacrifice]

BSD characters as siblings

Had this one in drafts so here we go

Dazai Osamu

He knew. Or at least, he suspected.

Dazai never trusts coincidences, and the first time your name appeared on a case file, he suspected. Ran quiet checks behind the scenes. Kunikida didn’t even know.

The moment it clicks with absolute certainty that you’re really his sibling, he doesn’t bring it up right away. That would give you too much control.

He laughs it off when you first bring it up. “Is this some ploy to gain my inheritance? Jokes on you, I’m broke.”

He will get used to you though.

Starts leaving really specific jokes in front of you just to see if you’d flinch.

Taught you to pick locks in case you get kidnapped or need to steal snacks.

A notebook titled: “101 Ways to Fake Your Death (Sibling Edition).”

He never calls you “sibling” though. Not once. Not directly. That word means acknowledgment, and Dazai doesn’t do well with emotional anchors.

On the surface, he will act like it’s no big deal.

But quietly covering for you when Kunikida gets too strict, sending you those ridiculous notes with weird advice.

Not because he thinks you can’t manage on your own, but because he cares enough to bother.

Surprisingly gives good advice when you ask for it.

Buys matching sunglasses and says, “We’re undercover now.” You’re just at the grocery store.

In every minor inconvenience he calls you ”biological betrayal”

Kunikida tries to be supportive but he’s absolutely watching you like you might also jump into a canal at any moment.

Atsushi is too stunned like actually. ”You’re… Dazai-san’s sibling? Like… related?”

Yosano just laughs

Ranpo obviously knew but it was fun to watch it reveal the emotional damage naturally.

Fukuzawa just goes ”If you ever need support separate from your brother’s… unique influence, my door is open.”

Kenji is innocently excited

Doesn't he just radiate older brother energy?

Chuuya Nakahara

At first? Denial. Hard denial.

“There’s no way. Nope. I would’ve known. That can’t be true.”

Mori gives him the files. The couple had another child after Chuuya.

He's mad. Not because he hates the idea, but because it seems impossible.

He doesn’t say anything at first because what can you say when your sibling suddenly appears in your dangerous, chaotic life?

He’s always been told he was alone. Manufactured. Cloned. The mafia was his only family.

He tears through records. Old Mafia logs. Government documents. Orphanage rosters. Blood types. Medical files. Everything.

You go from “colleague” or “stranger” to “under mafia-grade protection.”

Suddenly he’s showing up at your place like, “What kind of lock is this? You call this secure?”

He expects you to be tough because family is family. No weaklings allowed.

You’re his equal in battle and spirit. If not, he’ll make you so, whether you like it or not.

He’s fiercely competitive and loves challenging you to things whether it’s a fight, a race, or who can drink more sake. But he never cheats.

He’ll text you out of the blue just to say, “Don’t get into trouble. And don’t eat crap food.”

If you want advice, he’s blunt but honest. No sugarcoating.

You catch him checking in on you during missions more than he lets on, especially when things get dangerous.

He’s softer with you than with anyone else but acts twice as tough to cover it.

Dazai just laughs out loud. He starts asking casual, seemingly meaningless questions that feel too pointed to be innocent. He wants to know if you’re a weak spot. Not for the Mafia but for Chuuya.

Akutagawa acts like he doesn’t give a damn, but he notices everything. Keeps tabs on you not out of kindness but out of respect for Chuuya.

Kouyou isn't surprised. She gives you small guidance, traditional advice, and “He doesn’t say it. But he’s relieved to have you.”

Mori doesn’t speak to you directly at first. Just watches. Smiles. You become part of some silent calculation. A piece on a board. Be careful though because if you ever betray the Mafia he’ll make Chuuya choose.

And that’s a knife you don’t want to put in your brother’s hands.

Kunikida Doppo

It starts with a file. One of those background checks that come with new recruits. Kunikida didn’t think twice about it at first. Just procedure.

But your birthday, your birthplace, the timeline, it didn’t add up. Or rather, it added up too well.

He thinks it’s a coincidence too. But Kunikida doesn’t like coincidences. They offend his order-driven worldview.

•Adoption records. Hospital notes. The kind of paper trail only someone with an obsessive notebook and high moral standards could actually follow.

He pieces it together like a mystery one he desperately hopes he’s wrong about. Because what would it mean, if it were true? What does he do with something like that?

He doesn't tell you right away.

Were you hiding something? Did you know? Would telling you disrupt the team’s balance? Would it disrupt him?

He pulls you aside one day after a mission. He doesn't sugarcoat it. Just showing you the files.

Then he waits. Like your reaction will either validate or completely ruin his life plan.

On the surface? He’s composed. Focused. Back to work like nothing’s changed.

Internally he's panicking, screaming in italics.

"This was not in the notebook. There are no pages labeled: ‘How to Be a Good Brother While Also Maintaining Professional Standards in a Government-Affiliated Agency.’ I am underprepared."

He starts writing new sections in his notebook.

SIBLING DUTIES:

-Always ensure their safety in the field

-Offer moral guidance and discipline

-Do not play favorites (difficult but necessary)

-Pack emergency snacks in case.

He tries not to be overbearing. He really does. But you’ll catch him glancing over at you during missions, checking for injuries before anyone else’s.

He starts calling you out more in meetings to include you.

He cares in a responsibility kind of way. At first.

But he softens over time

You matter to him because you are proof that the world can still surprise him and that maybe, not all surprises are bad.

Also Dazai starts calling you “Notebook Jr.”

Tries to provoke fights between you two on purpose just to watch who will win.

“How to Corrupt Two Kunikidas at Once.”

Atsushi tries not to call him your brother out loud because it feels like a title he hasn’t earned the right to say.

Yosano offers you sibling bonding “advice” that’s basically just, “Annoy him until he snaps and throws a pen at the wall. That’s how you know he cares.”

When it comes out, Ranpo just goes, “Took you long enough”. He also tells you both weird things about each other he somehow knows

Fukuzawa might subtly assign missions that build your sibling teamwork, but he'll never admit it.

Kenji asks adorable questions like, “Do you have matching notebooks?”

Stress level: notebook-shredding.

Atsushi Nakajima

He doesn’t believe it at first. Not out of denial, but out of pure disbelief like it’s too good to be true.

The moment he sees the files your name next to his, your birthday just months apart, the orphanage his breath catches in his throat.

You try to say it gently, like it won’t shatter him but his eyes go wide and he steps back like the air was knocked out of his lungs.

His first reaction is to apologize. For not knowing. For not being there. For being him.

You have to stop him or he’ll spiral right there in the middle of the Agency.

After that? He’s so soft with you it’s almost awkward.

He keeps trying to do things for you. Fetching tea. Holding doors. Doing your paperwork for you.

Constantly checking in like “Are you okay? Did you eat? Are you warm enough? Should I get you something else?”

You’re his only family. The only person tied to his past that didn’t hurt him.

Buys you things he thinks you’ll like, even if it’s just a pen with your favorite color.

Tries to cook for you. Fails. Tries again.

Offers to patch up your wounds even if you’re not bleeding. Just in case.

He doesn't need you to fix him. He doesn't even think he's worth fixing. But you remind him that he isn’t alone anymore.

Dazai starts referring to you as “Little Tiger No. 2”

Kunikida cross-checks every legal record to verify it. He's ’very Kunikida’ about it. Immediately updates your personal files.

Ranpo doesn’t say much more, but sits next to Atsushi for a long time after he finds out. Just keeps him company.

Kenji asks you both if you want to visit his village one day.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

He knew you. He just didn't feel the need to reach out and make it public.

He acts like he’s above you but he’s the first to pull you out of danger like it's his full time job.

He’s not good at hugs. You try once. He pats your back like you’re a centuries old artifact.

if you fall asleep in the same room as him while he’s working, he will adjust the lighting and lower the music volume like you’re a literal houseplant. (You grow best in low light and mild humidity.)

You ask if he wants to hang out and he says of course and pulls out a 500-piece chess set.

Makes you practice chess with him. he destroys you every time, but then pretends to be shocked when you finally beat him once. “What’s this? The peasant has risen? How thrilling.”

Game night is banned after he wins Monopoly by psychologically destroying the banker (you).

He says stuff like “I left you something on the table” and it’s either a slice of bread or a coded message for his wicked plans.

He plays cello late at night sometimes. You wake up to it. It’s haunting.

When you argue, it’s philosophical warfare. He doesn’t yell. He debates.

“Your logic is flawed,” he says, sipping tea like he didn’t just dismantle your worldview in three sentences.

Looks like he’s plotting your downfall, but is actually just trying to remember if you like strawberry or raspberry jam.

100% the type to insult you affectionately:

“Out of all the fools in this world, you shine the brightest.”

“You’re not unbearable. That’s a compliment.”

Dazai treats you the same as how he treats Fyodor. He doesn’t trust you. But he doesn’t hate you either. ”I wonder why he leaves you out. Not very nice of him.”

Chuuya just goes ”No way that trash rat bastard has a sibling” You’re still a problem, sure. But you’re not the enemy.

The moment this reaches to Ango, he opens a new file. You’re either leverage or a threat.

Chief Taneda is calm. He’s seen worse. He’s been worse. “Even monsters are born from somewhere.”

If you’re captured by the government, he tries to learn how much you know about Fyodor.

Chief Taneda does keep you in high security cells. Not because he doesn’t trust his agents but because he knows Fyodor will get you out.

Nikolai is absolutely delighted. “Dos-kun has a baby sibling! That’s hilarious!"

“Do you think he would cry if you died?” “Did he ever smile at you when you were kids? Oh wait you had a childhood?” weird questions like this.

You’re either his new favorite toy or his least favorite disappointment. The line shifts daily.

He calls you “little devil” and “Fedya Jr.”

Sigma is scared of you by association.

Jouno immediately sniffs you. Literally. “You smell like coffins and existential dread. Like him. But softer.”

Doesn’t trust you. At all. For a long time. But over time, he realizes you don’t lie. You barely know how to.

Eventually says something off handedly kind “You’re too pathetic to be him. That’s a good thing.” (Coming from Jouno? That’s affection)

Tecchou stares at you like you’re an endangered animal. Keeps trying to bond with you in awkward ways. “Do you… like horses?”