#the fact that it’s platonic doesn’t make it any lesser

[steddiefication]

when steve and robin get to their late 20s/early 30s they go into a lavender marriage with each other sorry i don’t make the rules

[lesbianfakir]

Thinking about this post and can we talk about how important it is that fakir was okay with Duck not loving him back?

I think it’s fair to say it’s pretty heavily implied that he’s in love with her, and it’s explicitly confirmed in the guidebook.

While Duck’s feelings for him are more nebulous and hard to pin down, from his perspective she’s in love with Mytho. We as the audience know she doesn’t actually feel that way about Mytho but from Fakir’s perspective everything she’s done so far has been for Mytho. She admitted to him in episode 12 that she had feelings for mytho and there has been nothing to dissuade him from this line of thinking. In fact, he finds her crying because mytho chose rue.

There’s this little moment I like. When Duck tells him mytho has chosen rue as his princess his eyes narrow ever so slightly.

[ID: two screenshots of Fakir from episode 25. In the first he is looking at Duck (off camera) with a serious expression. In the second he narrows his eyes slightly. End ID]

He REACTS to this news, even if it’s subtle. And he doesnt look happy about it. Fakir is upset that Mytho rejected Duck. And this seems so antithetical from what we come to expect from a romantic subplot.

So the girl he loves loves someone else… and he’s okay with that. He never tries to pressure or guilt Duck into being with him. Hell he never even mentions his feelings. She likes someone else so what’s the point. But this never dissuades him from his devotion to her. He doesn’t give her an ultimatum or make her choose. He doesn’t even seem get upset that she loves someone else. Even when she goes back to being a duck destroying his last hope of being with her romantically, even then he never wavers. He wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Whether that’s as friends or as partners or as just a simple boy and a duck, he wants to be with her. How she feels for him doesn’t matter so much as getting to share his life with her.

And I find this such a refreshing spin on tired romance tropes. “Just friends” looms large in our media so it’s lovely to see a boy in the so called “friendzone” who’s okay with it. Beyond okay he treasures the time he spends with Duck. His affection for her doesn’t hinge on reciprocation.

It’s so common for characters in fakir’s archetype to grow angry or sad that they’re not “the one,” often lashing out at the girl who doesn’t return their feelings. But instead we have Fakir who’s perfectly content to stay Duck’s friend. After all, being her friend is a gift in itself.

I just love to see a platonic relationship not treated as a lesser stepping stone to a romantic relationship. Sure, Fakir has feelings for Duck. But that in no way undermines the friendship they already have. It’s treated with all the gravity usually reserved for romantic relationships. They’re going to spend their lives together and whether that’s as friends or as lovers—that part isn’t important.

I’m tired of media treating friendships like they’ve suddenly become worthless when one party develops feelings and the other doesn’t return them. With fakiru, the lovely part is that their relationship is built on such a strong foundation it can stand on its own. We the audience are free to interpret it as romantic, platonic, or something in between, but with any reading their close friendship forms the centerpiece.

[dotthings]

So if platonic bonds are the most centered on spn and the point of Sam and Dean holding a narrative position structurally that is often reserved for romantic relationships in media and the point is to illustrate that platonic bonds are as strong as romantic ones, therefore it makes no sense at all to read Sam and Dean as coded romantic.

There is no intent on spn to make Sam and Dean romantic. It’s a “love story” that is about the love between two blood brothers. Not a “love story” referring to a romantic love story.

With Dean and Cas, there is loud romantic symbolism and queer coding as well as loud textual story beats that are romantic. In fact, Dean and Cas occupy a narrative position that romantic pairings often do. While media does tend towards centering around a romance, it’s also true that romantic love stories are sub-plots. Dean and Cas moved into the A plot position as spn unfolded its endgame (their love was literally, canonically, textually, key to defeating the big bad villain), but mostly it occupies a common slot for romances. Dean and Cas’s love story (romantic) always connected to the main mytharc plot, but unfolding a bit to the side.

People get really mixed up about this and think that narrative framing, or structure, means Destiel is lesser, or not important. But it’s as crucial as the sibling bond. This has to do with structure, not importance.

Dean and Cas are best friends. Them being best friends doesn’t in any way preclude the romantic love story. Their romantic love story does not in any away demean or take away from the power of their friendship love. These loves co-exist in Dean and Cas. It’s common societally. People “marry their best friend.” Or “fall in love with their best friend.” There’s been major jewlery brand ad campaigns using this premise. It’s not mysterious. It’s not odd. With Dean and Cas, it just is. Not every romantic love story is a best friends lovers hybrid, or friends-to-lovers, but they are fairly common. It’s a favorite romantic trope.

SPN did not diminish the power of romantic love. It made Dean and Cas’s love key to the main plot for taking down the villain. That love was key to Dean’s arc. No Dean and Cas love, there’s no reunion in Heaven for the brothers, either.

We gotta use small words.

Sam and Dean are platonic.

Dean and Cas are romantic.

Both relationships are crucial to the plot and the emotional arcs of spn.

Yes it’s that simple.

[themissinghand]

hello

I loved your character Brighella, could you make a scenario, after the events of 4.2 (I'm still with the trauma), where Furina is visited by Brighella, she is kind to her and congratulates her for her performance, she is the second best actress of teyvat, only after herself of course

plus: she leaves her a nice gift

I just want someone to give Furina a hug and tell her she did an excellent job.

Genshin Impact: Thank you, Dear Furina

Summary: In which a performer can finally put away their masks.

Or Furina needs a hug, and the Archons and Neuvillette help with that.

Pairing: None!

Note: I tweaked your request to the Archons because Brighella is displayed to be more cunning and not suited for this scenario. Hope it still fulfills your request!

While I loved Furina’s personality from the very beginning, getting to know her story was beautiful, empowering, and sad all at once. Hopefully this helped soothe some of the pain (even though I know Furina deserves more and more).

Warning: None. Just platonic fluff and comfort. Also includes some of my personal head cannons of the Archons.

★・・・・・・★

“I can’t go to the meeting alone! You have to accompany me!”

“Lady Furina. Is there something more to this…’friends’ hangout’ that I should know about?” Neuvillette stares at Furina who stutters in place, before laughing nervously.

“Well…I just want you to come with me and enjoy this party-” Under his intense and suspicious look, Furina gave in.

“It’s…a meeting with the other Archons!” Neuvillette widens his eyes slightly at the unexpected reveal. Furina shows a scroll with an Ameno Sijil. Neuvillette did feel the Anemo power radiating from it.

“I want you to come so that if any problems show up, you’ll have no problems navigating them.” Furina blurted out her worries, followed by an awkward silence between the two.

“So…can you come? Please?” When Neuvillette didn’t immediately reply, Furina was about to give up. But he stood up suddenly and gave a nod.

“When is the meeting?” Furina let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly to reply.

“This afternoon!”

Neuvillette blinks, and turns to look at the clock hitting noon.

Neuvillette brings a hand to his face, while Furina fidgets nervously in her place.

“...I’ll ask Wriotheslay and Clorinde to watch over matters for this afternoon.” Neuvillette felt a headache coming, but even so, in his eyes there was an unexplainable look of curiosity and wonder.

“Hi Furina, my name is Nahida, you may know me as the Lesser Lord Kusanali, or the God of Wisdom that presides over Sumeru.

We want to invite you to an Archon gathering at Alcazarzaray in Sumeru. Please don’t be worried about your status here, in fact, many of the archons wish to meet you!

Barbados especially wishes to meet you, and is willing to help you with your travels, please wait for him at the West Slopes of Mont Automnequi when the time comes.

Oh! You can bring the Ludex with you as well, after all, we hope you will feel safe and welcomed. We look forward to meet you, dear Furina. -Nahida”

Furina never expected to receive a letter, much less from the Lord of Dendro herself. After her act had ended, and Fontaine saved from their curse, Furina was content already with her peaceful life.

To receive this on her window sill one day terrified her, not knowing what else was in store for her from these Archons.

So naturally, she sought out Neuvillette, and luckily got him on board.

When the time comes, while she doesn’t show it on her face, she felt nervous, overwhelmed, and tries to comfort herself with faux confidence and meaningless chatter with Neuvillette.

(Who was not helping by the way!)

Standing on the mountain, she and Neuvillette waited, and ensured there was no one nearby. After all, an Archon will be here to pick them up!

“The wind…” When Neuvillette finally spoke up, Furina felt the wind shift around her.

Neuvillette immediately stepped forward and covered Furina, whereas she was trying to not get blown back.

“Dragon!” A large dragon with shades of blue descended in front of them. The dragon stops and a youthful and carefree man descends with a gentle breeze.

“Hiya!” With vibrant green eyes, he smiles gently. He wore a whimsical bardic outfit adorned with feathers, and a lyre at his side. His presence is accompanied by a gentle breeze, and a small Anemo symbol hovers beside his waist.

“Barbados.” Neuvillette says with displeasure, and Furina gulps silently. This was the Anemo Archon. Although he looked quite friendly, he is still a God that could easily blow her away.

“Ehe, I go by Venti now. You must be the Water Dragon Soverign that the old man was talking about! Don’t worry, I’m simply here to give you all a ride!” Then his eyes shift to her, and she immediately straightens and grains.

“You must be dear Furina, the most talented artiste and stage performer!” He extends a hand, “Nice to meet ‘cha! Although I am an Archon, I am more known as a bard of Mondstadt these days.”

A bard of all things? Furina supposed that was why he had a lyre.

“Won’t you share some of your tips and tricks as a performer? I would love to know.” If it’s just about the stage, Furina could talk about it for a long time, after all, she is a well-loved idol in Fontaine.

Feeling a bit more confident and safe, she accepted his hand, feeling the gentle warm breeze swirl around her. She looked at Neuvillette, who gave her a nod.

“C’mon, Dvalin doesn’t bite. The others are waiting for us! Don’t worry, Tsaritsa and Murata won’t be there, they’re too busy with the shenanigans of their own country.” Furina let out a breath of relief, knowing that at least the leader of the Fatui won’t be attending.

(She’s still traumatized by that!)

“Hold on, Lady Furina.” Neuvillette held her hand, and she held on tight.

Furina felt a sense of excitement overtake her as they boarded a dragon, and with a flew flaps of Dvalin’s wings, they soared into the air like never before.

“Woohoo!” Seeing the God of Freedom being such a carefree spirit, Furina almost felt envious of him. After all, she heard many things about Barbados being the absentee God and for a lack of better words, a God on the…lazier side of the Archon spectrum.

She quickly shook the bad thoughts away, and simply decided to enjoy the view from above, after all, she did not know the God, Barbados, nor “Venti”.

A gasp left her lips as Dvalin flew faster, but she couldn’t help and laugh in excitement. The feeling of soaring in the skies above the clouds, and the rush of air brushing against her skin.

Truly, she felt liberating and freeing.

(Furina didn’t see the little relieved smile on Venti’s face as he encouraged Dvalin to soar)

“We’re here! This is the Palace of Alcazarzaray in Sumeru.”

Just in the short flight alone, Furina felt a bit more relaxed in the God of Freedom’s presence. Perhaps he is one that she could get along with well.

She looked around at the lush green scenery, then to the beautiful palace before her. It was most definitely different from Fontaine’s design, but nonetheless beautiful to the eye.

“Don’t worry, Nahida said that she got permission from the owner of this place and we can use it!” Venti hopped off first, followed by Neuvillette, who extended a hand to help Furina down. With a little wave from Venti, Dvalin nodded and left with a gust of wind.

“Shall we? I think everyone is here, waiting for you.” Venti led the way, and with a deep breath, Furina quickly held onto her confident mask.

“Don’t worry, they want to see you, Furina.” Venti smiled at her, stunning her briefly and she slightly released her hold onto her mask.

When the doors opened, a little girl welcomed them in. She has fair skin, pointed ears, large green eyes, and white hair with Dendro-green tips that glow in the light.

“Hi Nahida! I brought them here on time!”

“Thanks, Venti.” She smiled, and almost immediately Furina felt that she was like a mother-figure.

“Hello Furina and Neuvillette, my name is Nahida, and I welcome the two of you to Sumeru. I was the one who sent the letter.” Furina immediately felt charmed by this little God of Wisdom.

“Hello Lesser Lord Kusanali, we are grateful and honoured for your invitation.” Neuvillette bowed slightly, and Furina knew this man also had a soft spot for Nahida.

(She giggled at the fact that Neuvillette greeted Nahida but not Venti, as said man almost pouted at the unfairness)

“Hi Nahida, I am Furina from Fontaine, thank you for inviting me!” Furina almost gasped when Nahida held her hand, no, she couldn’t fall for her cuteness! Nahida is the Dendro Archon for goodness sake!

“Of course! I’m glad that you and Fontaine are safe.” Nahida turns around, “Follow me, Zhongli and Ei are waiting for us.”

Scrap that, although Nahida’s cuteness and Venti’s friendliness did calm her nerves, it came back at almost full force (of course, with Nahida’s cute little hands grabbing her - how could Furina ever let go).

She looked at Neuvillette, asking for silent advice, but instead, he had the same stoic expression on his face, as if in deep thought.

When more doors opened, the four of them walked into the central room. There sat two prominent figures, one drinking tea, and the other savouring what seemed like Inazuman dessert.

“Oh Zhongli~ Ei~ I escorted our guests here!”

When two extra pairs of eyes landed on her, she felt like she was electrified and buried 5 feet under.

“Ah, welcome.” The taller gentlemen sets down his tea and stands up,

“I am Zhongli. You may know me as the Geo Archon, Morax.” Furina has heard many things of the Geo Archon, of his battle history, and as the oldest of the Seven. With sharp amber eyes and long, dark hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, Zhongli wears an elegant ensemble, combining traditional and contemporary elements with a Geo vision behind his back.

Zhongli exudes a dignified and refined demeanor, almost like Neuvillette. She glances at Neuvillette who for once seemed to be surprised, even if just a little.

“You may have heard of ‘the death of Rex Lapis’, which is true, as I have decided to fully settle as a mortal named ‘Zhongli’.”

Furina was almost baffled, an Archon faked his death? She has heard of the chaos that occurred at Liyue, but to think it was masterfully orchestrated by one person…she didn’t know whether this person was heartless or…lonely…just like her.

“Nice to meet you, I am Raiden Ei, the Electro Archon.” On the other hand, the person who Furina is the most scared of is her.

Raiden Shogun, the one who can struck Furina down with a simple strike of lightning. She has a formidable presence with her regal and stoic appearance. She has piercing golden eyes and sleek, indigo hair tied in a traditional topknot.

She has heard of the Vision Decree.

Furina instantly knew not to mess with these two, especially Raiden Ei.

“Ei is not as scary as you think,” Nahida spoke up behind her, and Furina immediately stepped aside to hold her little hands.

“We have our hardships don’t we?”

“Indeed we do, Nahida.” Zhongli agreed amicably, and he gave her a gentle smile. It almost reminded Furina of a grandpa.

“But despite us as Gods, we believe we couldn’t have executed what you have chosen to do for your people, Lady Furina.” His words shook her to the core.

“Your willpower and determination as a human, has impressed us all, and we wanted you to acknowledge that your feats will not go unnoticed.”

Furina didn’t even notice the Geo Archon was already in front of her, or felt the small squeeze from the little hand.

“You are not a burden.” She felt a gentle pat on her head from the man who was known to hurl mountains as his weapons. Who knew his touch could be so gentle?

“From now on, if you need help, feel free to scream into the wind! I’d be the first to know!” Venti popped in with a bright grin.

“If you need me to exterminate-”

“Ei.” Nahida sharply said.

“...I will strike down your enemies in a flash.” Ei said regardless, despite the pointed looks from Nahida. But even so, her answer promised so much behind her words.

Furina felt touched, and before she knew it, her vision blurred slightly.

“Aww, you made her cry Ei!” Venti pointed out, and Ei stood up suddenly and walked over.

Furina, frightened, stepped back, but Nahida and Neuvillette (who had been so so quiet this entire time), stabilized her.

“...Sorry.” Raiden apologized, though sounding a little bit awkward, Furina felt that it was genuine.

“No! I just-”

“Lady Furina, you can relax now. The Archons are right. You did well in protecting Fontaine.” Neuvillette’s words were the last straw, and Furina burst out in tears.

“There there.” Nahida patted her gently, like a mother soothing a child.

“You don’t need to hide your feelings anymore.”

Before Furina knew it, she felt arms wrap around her, and despite her small figure, it felt so warm that Furina couldn’t help but hug back.

It took a moment for her to collect herself, and she felt embarrassed to break down in front of so many powerful people.

When she finally came back, Venti was playing his lyre as if to soothe her. When she returned a weak grin, he immediately responded back with enthusiasm.

“When you’re sad, drink your pain away! I got the finest wine from Mondstadt!” Out of nowhere, the bard brought out wine bottles.

“Venti.” Zhongli face palmed as if he was scolding him, and resigning to fate at the same time.

“Come on old man! This was a party in the first place!”

Glad that the atmosphere changed and no longer focused on Furina’s break down, she immediately took the lead in grabbing a bottle.

“Lady Furina-”

“Don’t worry Neuvillette! I can handle it!” Furina grinned while wiping her tears, “Venti is right! I heard alcohol is a great way to get rid of worries!”

“I don’t drink.” Neuvillette responded almost immediately, but Venti only gave him a wine bottle instead.

“Hey, Zhongli is a dragon that can hold his liquor pretty well, but what about you, Mr. Water Dragon?” Neuvillette turned slowly to look at Zhongli, who returned the same stoic expression back, neither confirming or denying that statement.

“...Then I will take you up on the offer.”

“Ei, want to join us?” Nahida called out to the Electro Archon, who stood without moving. Only when Nahida took her hand, did she move.

Before Furina knew it, she was sitting with the female Archons, drinking her heart away while performing her lines from her previous acts. She made sure Nahida didn’t drink the wine, even though Nahida is older than she looks.

On the other hand, Ei was the first one to be drunk much to her surprise. After all, for someone so powerful, Furina never thought the Electro Archon could be the sleepy and doppy drunk.

On the other side, Venti was happily singing and playing the lyre while floating upside down in the air. Neuvillette’s face gets red while he judges the wine as good quality with a bunch of fancy words.

Zhongli on the other hand simply sips his wine slowly, while answering any questions Neuvillette may have in the process.

That was her last thought before she was body slammed by the Anemo Archon, who hugged her.

“Furinaaa~ Zhongli and Neuvillette are bullying me!”

When she and Nahida looked over, the two old grandpas were clearly judging Venti with their eyes. Even so, she laughed, followed by Venti’s “Ehe!” before he floated back with a spin in the air.

Furina laughs at Venti’s antiques while drunk, teases Neuvillette about his face (much to his denial) and drinks like she had never done before.

It was liberating, fun, and most importantly, she wasn’t alone.

For the first time in a long time, she was able to put away her mask, and feel safe.

Needless to say though, she got knocked out quickly.

When she woke up the next day, she was tucked in into a bed with the covers over her. She sits up quickly, noticing Neuvillette drinking water and Zhongli drinking tea.

“Good Morning Lady Furina.” They both say simultaneously, and they shared a look before going back to their drinks.

She felt a hand tug her shirt, and when Furina looked, she almost died from the overwhelming cuteness from Nahida.

“Good morning.”

Before Furina could respond, the door was opened by Ei, who had an apron on and a tray in her hands.

On the tray was a mysterious black substance that Furina knew she would be putting her life on the line if she had to eat it.

“I made breakfast.” Ei simply says, before Furina saw Venti fall through the ceiling.

“What?!” Venti looked at Ei as if she was crazy.

“You have a problem with that? Barbados?”

Despite the threatening aura, Venti simply brushed it off.

“Ei, you suck at cooking.”

Light flashed, and thunder followed.

“Ei!” Nahida called out with worry, whereas Zhongli immediately put a shield on everyone without batting an eye.

“Ehe~”

Furina felt like she could get along with this group of people quite well.

[cloudykaii]

little things: txt

the second installment of the little things series.

includes: sixth member of txt

genre: cute, platonic, personal headcanons

you have a significantly different relationship with each of them, but none of them are lesser. it’s very obvious that the six of you have a very deep amount of love and respect for each other, and that doesn’t change. you have been through a lot with the support of each other, and also suffered together. there are so many moments to remember and choose from, but some of them just stick out more than the others.

YEONJUN

i just feel like you and yeoniun have a very funny relationship. He's definitely like your pretend sworn enemy. You'll joke together all the time. His favorite one to tell is that he raised you yet you constantly disrespect him. There is even a viral video of him talking to the camera about how you're his least favorite member because all he's done his best to teach you wrong from right and you just couldn't get it, and then immediately followed by clips him letting you do whatever you want, like putting random clips and pins all over his hair while he's talking.

He's notoriously known for lying about you lol. Notoriously known for pretending he's not soft for you. There are viral videos of things like him yelling about who ate his leftovers and being mad then seconds later soobin tells him it was you and he's just deflating and going, "just ask next time, I'll order you your own fresh."

 He's also your favorite to prank yourself. It's always a war; he'll put salt in your drink, you'll saran wrap yeonjun's door so that he has to run through it to leave his room. If anyone ever asks about why yeonjun dyes his hair so much, you always say because you're sneaky and yeonjun doesn't buy his own shampoo. Despite all of that though, whenever anything goes too far, he is always the first to apologize

SOOBIN

Soobin best brother is my favorite agenda. He's very attentive and protective. Possibly a little overbearing but not in a "you can't be around anyone" way. He's just always concerned. He makes sure that even if you say you're fine that you pack a sweater or something when it is cold, always making sure your favorite snacks are stocked up.

He's kind of like your moral compass because he's definitely the one to be like "hey not tonight we have an event in the morning" and definitely makes you take care of yourself, but also, he does in fact lie for you in a heartbeat. one time yeonjun ran into his room covered in whipped cream, "where's y/n, I know she did this" and soobin just patted the pile of pillows under the blanket next to him and shook his head. "sorry to burst your bubble but she's been in here all night"

Coordinates matching outfits with you all the time. You probably steal his clothes claiming they will help in your mission to make your outfit iconic. Which..honestly you could tell him you needed it for any reason and he'd give it to you. Soobin is physically unable to tell you know unless it is a matter of your health. There are lots of videos of you wearing soobin's jacket whenever the stylists give you a dress or something. He's definitely the one to lay it over your lap when you're sitting

BEOMGYU

Gyu is a tough nut to crack. I think that you guys are probably shipped the most, but it's ironic because the usual shippable moments that fans latch on to either don't happen or are very lowkey the two of you are.. unique. For a better insight into your relationship with beomgyu, a list of viral moments/thins relating to your and your third oldest brother are:

You are constantly copying him. Most of the time it's not even direct or on purpose so most fans find it adorable how you're wearing the same outfit he wore two performances ago.

You jumping over a table to full body tackle him over a game of uno, him picking you up in the air by your ankle because he asked if you wanted to go somewhere and you said no so he literally took you anyways. Beomgyu going in for a hug only to turn it into a chokehold. The two of you sharing one blanket at a little campfire thing and him holding your hands to keep them warm. Beomgyu pouting and asking you to dye your hair to match him, you falling asleep with your head in his lap

The two most iconic moments that no one ever forgets, is when beomgyu said he was proud of you without knowing that a camera was filming, and when he was crying because his family was in the audience, and you just hugged him the entire time the guys were talking onstage. These are the famous moments because despite how much you two mess with each other it is obvious that you both love each other.

TAEHYUN

Very soft best friends. Lots of inside jokes, very hands on. It is far from uncommon for the two of you to be found giggling about something found totally mundane by anyone else. And when I say you guys are soft I mean it's literally like the famous dynamic between you both. Countless images of you guys being cute together are spread, first most shipped duo where you're concerned

He's an absolute sucker for you. Would let you get away with burning the world down and stop anyone trying to hinder you. Lets you practice things on his hair like braiding or pins. Whenever he buys something like food or a souvenir and you're not there you can always hear him mumbling to himself, "should I get y/n one?" usually then turns to ask kai for advice if he's there.

Tbh, would probably also egg on the shippers. Never in a way you're not comfortable with or is obvious, but he'll do things like hold your hand for extended periods of time, pat your head. One time, he had been extra bold and kissed you on the head and slid his hand into your back pocket. That little move is a rare occurrence, but he does it because he loves fueling the running joke of your being his girlfriend lol.

Also loves when you baby him and make him feel completely taken care of. You carry around extra water and snacks- or sometimes they're just for him and the way you remember little things he tells you always reminds him that even if he has no one else he has you.

HUENINGKAI

If you and Taehyun are soft best friends, you and kai are soft soulmates. He is your biggest fan, and I will in fact die upon this hill. He loves you so much, and he sees the way you go out of your way to care for literally everyone else, and he has enough people taking care of him. For every one thing you do for him he does three for you.

Carries around three hair ties on his wrist. If stylists say he has to take it off he makes sure to keep them in his pocket just in case. He has a pack of bobby pins and he bought you a jacket to match his favorite that he keeps in his bag for you. Has a list of all your favorites; movies, shows, snacks, colors, materials, restaurant orders. Has a list of things you hate that he keeps both on his phone and printed and posted on a wall in the kitchen so mistakes never happen. Ever since the great pumpkin fiasco of 2020.

Has previously sat with you in his lap, bundled up in his coat because you fell asleep. I think everyone who knows the two of you and like k-moa ship you, nit international fans think it's all platonic. Very touchy, finding moments where the two of you just so happen to be linking pinkies or high fiving each other while performing is like the moa equivalent to finding easter eggs in taylor swift songs.

I mean literally soulmates, whether platonic or romantic is yet to be found, but the two of you are attached at the hip, sharing the same brain cell and everything. Ironically, I think he would also be the most protective. He has sisters and after hearing about their struggles within their groups and knowing that things are already different for you as the only girl in an otherwise boy group, he tries to be like your advocate, wanting things to be easier for you.

[jq37]

Twice Upon a Time - Neverafter Ep 7

Trouble in Tuffeton

Hoo, boy. Welcome back to Dimension 20 where we have for you today, 3/4ths of a normal episode and then the wildest 25 minutes of your entire life–but more on that second part later.

For now, we’re where we left off–with our intrepid and slightly monstrous heroes just having brought Little Miss Muffet back to mostly normal. She’s still sporting a spider head, but she’s no longer feral. In fact, she’s pretty scared to be in a spider’s web. Which is ironic cause she wrapped everyone in her village up in spider silk cocoons. Awkward!

Before they head out, the group decides to search for the magical artifacts they were told Muffet was amassing, and Ger does best. Here’s what he finds:

A LOT of dead people that he instantly lies escaped to protect the children and especially Muffet

A velvety black cloak with stars embroidered inside 

A ghillie suit/cloak that can disguise you as a pile of grass and leaves

A golden bridle (my mind jumps to the taming of Pegasus)

A mirrored, obviously magical sword with the word “Veritas” on it. Siobhan–resident Latin understander–translates that to “truth”

When Ger uses the sword to test it out, Brennan makes him do a Wis save. He gets a 13. With that, Brennan asks if he sees himself more as a frog or a human at that point. Ger says that him being a frog is what’s getting him through this awful experience alive so, right now, he’s actually feeling pretty froggy. And, likewise, he sees his reflection as he is–slimy and amphibious.

Puss checks his spider ring and sees that it’s pointing towards the entrance. As they follow it, they see a lot of spiders are returning to the cave now that Muffet has been taken care of, including Itsy Bitsy who drops off his stuff then goes to try and climb the water spout again. 

They follow him out where it’s still raining and Muffet looks up sadly to the hill where she used to eat by herself every day. Everyone says they’ll gladly eat with her and as she smiles, the rain stops falling. It’s the first sun they’ve seen the Time of Shadows began.

And, much like in the fairy tale, with the sun out, the Itsy Bitsy spider gets to the top of the spout. Time goes to record his story and asks if he wants to be put into the book. The Spider, in what sounds like a clear “Pay Attention You Guys, This is a Major Theme” asks if it’s such going to be all sunshine all the time in the book. Because while he likes the sunshine more than the rain, he likes his resilience in the face of the rain and maybe he should bring some rain with him.

The Spider, as he’s very small and he thinks he’d be more helpful as a story, is about to choose the book when Tim (and really Ally it feels like lol) slams the book, to Brennan’s surprise and is like nooooo you have so much value out here! Let’s work on your self-talk. So the spider tags along but, because his story is in the book, Tim gets a new spell that is too high level for him to access yet.

(Btw: Brennan and Ally explain that Goose gets a new spell when he writes down someone’s story. So far he has the spell he doesn’t have access to yet, Jump (I assume from the Cow), Expeditious Retreat (from Jack), Lesser Restoration (from I believe King Cole), and Calm Emotions (the only other person I can remember him sending to the book is the Dish? Or I guess it could also be Muffet since he did write her story. Edit: Cindy too but does that count since it was second hand via an object?)

After this, Tim goes with the rest of the group to distract Muffet while they search the town for cocoons. Tim spots them then leads Muffet away so she doesn’t have to see any of this. 

The group takes down the cocoons which are stuck up in the rafters and crack em open. Inside, are the citizens of the town–blessedly alive but VERY freaked out. Our heroes try to claim that this is all the result of a platonic adult sleepover gone wrong (Ally: Roll for Gaslight) to mixed results. 

Meanwhile, Tim is trying to give Muffet a pep talk while the screams of her victims ring out in the background. She’s not super feeling the pep. Tim asks how it felt when she became the spider monster and she says it was weird. She was on the hill and then the spider showed up but it was bigger than it should have been. She says that things have felt weird, but she doesn’t know why–a common refrain of citizens of this world. Then, she starts to get a little meta. She says that it struck her all of a sudden that the fact that she’s scared of spider is the only thing anyone knows about her. Maybe the curds and whey thing also. It felt like she was only one thing and not even really that. And that felt messed up. Sounds like someone being cursed with the burden of meta awareness to me. 

Back with the townspeople and the rest of the party, everyone is about ready to start the Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast and form a spider hunting party but Pinnochio casts suggestion on the mayor of the town (Mayor Harold Hopps) and gets him to back up the adult sleepover gone wrong version of events. With that sorted, it’s now party time!

The sun sets and the stars come out. There’s a call for perception checks that doesn’t seem to yield anything (highest roll was a 17). The townsfolk bring out alcohol and curds and whey for all in their party location–the Golden Chair tavern. 

Ger and Red have a sidebar because Ger is NOT loving Red’s self talk. He says she’s not a monster and, while she appreciates the sentiment, she’s like, come on, you know what’s it like to feel like a monster or else you wouldn’t be trying to turn back into a prince. Ger concedes she has a point but when she asks if he still would still have loved Elody if she had a spider’s head, he thinks he would have. He didn’t just love her for her beauty. He loved that she was rebellious and fascinating and love him as he was. He thinks that maybe once he became handsome, he stopped trying so hard to be anything but that. Red says that it’s strange that Ger is kind of leaning into the non-prince thing because all the best stories are about princes and princesses and Ger–really leaning into the meta vibe of this ep–says that stories usually end once you become a prince or a princess. Roz, who is going through it, pops in to chime in that true love isn’t real–something she as a full adult at 18 would know–and we jump to Tim.

Tim hears writing in his book and sees that Scher is writing to him. She says thanks so much for helping. She and her companions escaped the cave, picked up some new allies, and found a handy doorway to take them all to a new world. She asks if Tim knows of a place called the Land of Beasts and Birds and when Tim says no, that confirms to her that it’s another realm like the Never After and the Endless Nights. (My guess is it’s the Aesop world since he’s all about animal fables.) She tells them to sit tight and, when she can, she’ll open the doorway to them. Tim messages this info to Ger because he’s the only other real adult in the party and everyone else is dancing.

Pinnochio, specifically, is pole dancing using his nose as a pole.

(Puss: Slay Pinocchio, slay.

Roz: Oh, she’s vogueing.)

Anyway.

Tim then goes to Muffet to talk to her magical spoon which we learn is the one that the Dish ran away with (I wonder if that’s what Brennan always had planned or if he just did it because that’s what they figured was going on and why not?)

The Spoon says that yes, she had a tryst with the Dish but it was a mistake and she doesn’t wanna go into the book. Everything in the rhyme is true, but she doesn’t want that to be her whole story. Again, like I said, this ep gets very meta, and we’re not done. 

Pinocchio mentions his time at the Land of Toys (aka Pleasure Island in the Disney version) and when Muffet marvels at how long his story is, he says that the story is basically about growing up and actions having consequences and everything being very black and white. Everyone else starts thinking about their stories and Roz thinks about how she has little agency in her story. Puss thinks he doesn’t have much to do in his story once it ends. 

Tim wonders if he can do anything to change their stories–he is a writer with a magic book after all. He writes in the book that Pinnochio is free and able to have fun and the book throws a fit. The ink shakes and shudders and is swallowed into the page. Then it starts raining. Tim tells the rest of them what happened and says maybe this is something he can do in the future, but not yet. Pinnochio is like, thanks but I think this is the path I need to be on right now. After all, it’s where his mom wants him. 

Speaking of, Tim wonders if Pinnochio’s stepmom has anything to do with the rain starting up again–defeating Muffet was supposed to stop that. 

Roz tries to put her spindle into the book to see what happens and the book accepts it, writing her story as it is in this reality–with 7 fairies. But, like Cinderella, her story is interrupted (though not at Happily Ever After, at falling asleep) and then there are two blank pages and an illustration of the spindle. Strange. 

Puss goes to the bar and sees two burly men he doesn’t recognize from freeing the townsfolk. He sees them whispering to each other then going upstairs. He follows them and a lot happens to I’m gonna go to bullets.

He hears two cloaks being put on the bed.

He hears a tearing sound and then the noise of something heavy and almost wet hit the ground. 

Then he hears thin hollow voices and the lighting of a match.

It was dark when they walked in and now light is seeping under the door. 

A voice asks why the rain came back and the voices (who call this person “mistress”) say that they saw a witch writing in a book and then the words freaked out. 

The voice is like “Hmm, curious,” and asks what was being written about. When they say a wooden boy, the voice recognizes that it’s Pinnochio. She says that what happened is “dangerous” and they should stop him from writing more, kill him, and leave the book.

Puss hears a wet noise like something sharp and angular straining against something “slick and horrifying”. Then he hears cloaks being picked up from the bed.

Puss runs like hell and finds Tim. He gets Tim to message him and is like, so funny story, these men want you dead. The message is disseminated amongst the group and they all get into position. Tim goes outside to lead them out and everyone else follows or goes to an upstairs window to get a high vantage point.

As soon as they’re in position, Puss attacks without waiting and misses, but Ger’s ability lets him get another hit in and he aces it with a Nat 20 that causes a full death blow. First of the campaign! As he kills this dude, he realizes that it’s a twig and wood skeleton under a flesh skin. Gross! The plant matter inside these guys is familiar to Roz as the brambles she’s familiar with. So it seems like these guys are some kind of plant constructs and the weird sounds Puss heard were them taking off and putting on their skin suits. Again, gross!

They don’t seem to be human and the rest of the party is able to dispatch the other one in short order. Puss explains what he saw and they go to the room to check it out.

OK, so, this is when the last fourth of this ep kicks in and it turns into a Whole Other Thing. You have been warned. 

They go into the room and it is destroyed. The only thing that looks OK is a small table with a silver platter on it. In the silver platter is a small amount of water and a blood red candle burned most of the way down. It’s perfectly centered in the water.

Ger puts the truth sword over the candle and the reflection shows the candle is lit, even though it doesn’t appear to be. Tim’s 20 arcana check tells him that the candle is a spell somehow. 

Roz smells petrichor and iron and rot. It smells like the bad fairy–which is interesting because iron is usually fairy bane. Maybe the iron is blood?

Ger blows out the seemingly unlit candle and it lights the torches on the wall. They realize that the candle being lit probably somehow impedes other light sources. 

Pinocchio casts Faerie Fire to suss out if anyone invisible is in the room and no one is revealed but the spell lights the candle and casts the room in a shimmery light. Pinocchio has a weird feeling, like one of his strings attaches to the candle.  

The candle asks who he wants to speak to–everyone hears this and sees his string by the way. Pinnochio knows that his mom has his strings and wonders if this candle is somehow connected to his mom.

Roz, in a throwaway line that is actually the turning point of the episode, asks if they can talk to PInnochio’s mom. Pinnochio is like, uh OK, yeah. Sure. You guys can meet my mom. And the Roz is swiftly shoved into a closet by Tim so she’s not seen. Which is very funny considering that this was her idea and it goes…

Uh…

Interestingly.

“You watch as something terrible unfolds” Brennan says, which I have to add to the same list as, “I’m about to describe something heartbreaking” from Sophomore Year. 

The candle sputters and Pinnochio hears a garbled voice say, “I did not summon you to speak to me.”

Roz and Pinnochio see the face of the bad fairy they both recognize in the candle flame. The door to the hall flies open and Pinnochio sees the silhouette of his mom in the doorway–everyone else sees this for the first time. If feels wrong to see and I’m just gonna quote Brennan because I can’t do these lines justice in summary:

“You are seeing something you absolutely should not see–the face of a divinity you don't worship, the smile of a devil you never believed in.”

AHHHHHHHHH.

Pinnochio is standing in such a way that he’s blocking the fae in the flame from his stepmom in the door and he has to choose if he wants to look at his mom or keep blocking the fae from her. Also, because of the lighting conditions here, it seems like he’ll actually be able to see her and not just her shadow.

He chooses to look at his mom.

As he does, Ger tosses him the truth sword. Light reflects on the sword and fully illuminates the stepmother. As this happens, the room grows strange. It doesn’t feel like they’re in the inn anymore. It’s like they’re in a place out of place. 

The wicked fairy sees the stepmother properly, screams HORRIFIED, and does a full Oedipus–no, not that part, the other part. She PLUCKS HER EYES OUT. The candle goes out.

Brennan asks who wants to look at the stepmom after that. 

All of the adults are like FUCK NO but the kids–Red and Pinnochio, choose to look. 

(Note: Muffet is also there wildly and doesn’t look. Ally: Where has this bitch been in initiative?)

Anyway, both kids have to make a Cha save. They both get the help action. 

Red fails with a 6–unsurprising since the AxMurph dice pool has been rolling *garbage* this episode (Murph, repeatedly: This die is RE-TI-RED!)

Pinnnochio passes with a 21. 

Red gets three red tokens. Three. Dying gives you one. Looking at this person gives you THREE.

Thanks, hate that!

The stepmom in her full glory is an eldritch abomination made up of shifting visions of malice and spite. Brennan describes her sneer splitting off into a second mouth so she can sneer further over and over almost fractally. Beneath her skin are hundreds of beings crawling–countless stories and people she’s eaten. 

Brennan asks whether her mom or grandma is who comes to mind first. Emily, fully knowing she’s about to get hurt, says in Red’s good natured casual tone that Grandma is always on her mind. 

She suddenly sees her grandma appear and Pinnochio’s stepmom grabs her, and bites her head and shoulders off, and swallows her. She asks if this is real and Brennan says it feels real in the way that a nightmare feels real. “Grandmother,” she says. “Close enough.”

Pinnochio sees something trying to burst from his mom’s cheek–a woman in a crown–but she licks it back up with her tongue and swallows. First of all, awful. Second of all, giving me Kronos eating his kids vibes. Third of all, is this maybe the queen from Snow White? We know there’s some connection between Pinnochio and/or his mom and this Queen because of the Mirror conversation. Anyway, enough analysis, back to the horrific event already in progress. 

The stepmother is furious that Pinnochio called her rather than waiting to be called.

“You don’t open a door to me. I open a door to you. I was not ready to speak with you, impudent boy. Now you have truly outlived your use.”

Everything has been happening in bullet time. Brennan finally asks for a check to catch the thrown sword. Pinnochio gets the help action from Ger and picks Acrobatics as the check.

He rolls a Nat 1.

*AND* a Nat 20.

God, the dice love a story. Y’all. 

The stepmother throws the Pinnochi’s strings back on to him and he’s flooded with pain. He grabs the sword–the sword of truth in the hands of the boy known for lying–and he cuts his strings. 

Ṙ̶̞̀͑̓̎̏̊̈́͛ě̸͔̟͙͕͕͙͕̱̩̟̩̻̐̉̐̈́͠͠a̴͕̘̭̺̯̮͉̩͙̳͇̰̼͓͌̈́͋͋l̵̡͚̬̞̙͉͕̩̬̘̐͊̈́̇̒̿̌̍̈̓̌̽̃i̵̛̝̓̽̑̽̔͗̆͝t̴͕̠̠̖̲̻̼̜͊y̴̡̮̺̪͍̠̭̫̱̲̖͕̣̠̾̇̉̔͜ ̷̢̤̞̺̙̱̞̝̽̆̆͠Ş̴̡̳̭̱͚͇̗͈̈́̏͗̃͗̈́̓̕͜͠ͅh̸̜̻̫̙̳̘͔̬͔͆̈́̈́̽̌̕͜ǡ̷͔̩̎̽̇̀̚ţ̸͍̮̟̼̘̊͑͗̎͌̈͗͗̏̓̅̽́̎͂͜t̴̘͇̯̳̞̮̓͗̅͆͒́́̾̏̿̑̕̚e̶̢̧̡̖͕̻̟̪̯̭͆̈̿̑̈́̚r̴̡͖͉͍̾̎͛̆̃̍̏͊̽̊s̶̡̨̺̦̰̳̯̠̅́͗͑̈́͗͗̉̽̑̄͛́͘͜.̴̨̳͍̹̪̮̩̦̥̩͉̘͕̣͍̈̏́͋̌̾̇̀

The editing goes insane. 

The heroes are freefalling through pages of their stories, all on fire. The stepmother is screaming and chasing after them. It reminds me a lot of Coraline being chased down the hall by the Other Mother. 

Pinnochio’s strings are returned to him (which, I am curious about considering he’s a warlock–we’ll see how that goes). 

“Worse than death, worse than the end of stories!” the Stepmother howls. 

She sucks in, inhaling all the pages in a weirdly Big Bad way, but before she can exhale, a golden door opens from Tim’s book. 

A golden rope is lassoed around them, they are pulled into the door, and it shuts. The stepmother is gone. 

On the other end of the rope is Scher plus SInbad and his crew.

“What the fuck was that?” Scher asks.

BITCH, GREAT QUESTION. 

And we’re gonna have to wait until next episode to start further unpacking this because I’m barely getting it in under the wire. 

In conclusion, AHHHHHHHHHHHH. 

[rovickies]

Well there’s no “supposed to” you’re allowed to prefer whatever ship you like, whether it’s likely to be canon or not!! If you like 2 characters’ personalities/dynamic together better, you don’t really need to change that for anyone.

(hi, sorry we’re not mutuals but i was just looking at the rovickie tag for content and saw this post so i thought to respond and give my thoughts)

But for me personally...I recognize that Ronance had more actual interaction and development so far, and I do ship them, but I think canonically it’s intended to be platonic so I didn’t get that invested in them as a potential couple tbh. Robin actively encouraged both Steve and Nancy to go back together, so I don’t even believe she’s supposed to have any implied romantic feelings/crush towards Nancy herself. They have an acquaintances to best friends arc IMO, and a platonic bond is NOT lesser than romantic chemistry, so it’s still really satisfying for me that Ronance just becomes close friends and confidantes.

Having a strong female friendship is super important, especially when 1. Nancy had lost her childhood best friend Barbara and has been carrying the guilt of that for 4 seasons. Having her get close to and open up to Robin is a great development (it doesn’t have to be a romantic connection, although of course that’s still fun in fanon.)

2. Just because Robin is a lesbian, doesn’t mean she can’t/shouldn’t have platonic friendships with other girls. Having the difference between her platonic relationship with Nancy and her romantic feelings for Vickie is a good move. WLW, lesbians especially, are often shied away from close friendships with straight women because they’re scared to be perceived as creepy or other harmful stereotypes (see Robin’s lines about how if she asks out the wrong girl she’s a town pariah etc etc.) So having a healthy friendship with Nancy where she doesn’t have to be afraid of that is also good representation, bc she couldn’t really do that with her crushes (Tammy and Vickie) without worrying about her sexuality being a problem.

Meanwhile I enjoy romantic Rockie for the potential of what it could be, with the hope/expectation that they’ll have more scenes and development in season 5! Part of it is like “I’m gonna be here supporting them BEFORE s5 makes them a popular ship and it’s suddenly cool to like them” which I’m aware isn’t the best reason but if you’re enough of a hipster, you too can succeed at shipping like this!

But also I think what we did get out of s4 was enough of an introduction that we can see Vickie is a sweet, cute, funny and unique person. We have to trust that Robin knows her better than we do at this point, because they at least spend time in band together if not outside of school, and she describes her as her “dream girl” (super adorable.) Robin also appreciates Nancy’s qualities, but that doesn’t mean she’s in love with her—Robin knows what she herself is interested in romantically which is a quirky girl like Vickie!

Vickie not just laughs at the muppet joke but adds onto it comparing Tammy’s voice to Kermit; she returns a movie to the video store paused on a boobies scene and later says she should have broken up with her bf as soon as he trashed Fast Times for having no plot, like the AUDACITY; and her rambling does show that she has a trait in common with Robin but it’s also to show reciprocity of feelings, being nervous around her crush. But then she goes on to being sassy and silly (FLIRTY) plopping a sandwich in front of her and saying “It’s a gift. You’re welcome.” (R: “Oh you really shouldn’t have”) “Oh, but I did!!”

So you don’t have to like Rockie better than Ronance just because it’s closer to being canon, you can just prefer whichever dynamic you like better!! And the draw towards Ronance is understandable with what we have in s4 so far…

But for me the fact that Rockie are such implied endgame material makes me sure that they’ll have more about them to love in s5 with beautiful sapphic love scenes incoming…while Nancy is going to have to finish having her “love triangle” between Jonathan and Steve. (Nancy being bisexual is a good headcanon, love Ronance for fanon, but canonically speaking, her 2 love interests are men and the writers have already spoken on how they’re going to have to complete that plot next season. Meanwhile Robin canonically has feelings for Vickie who is implied to reciprocate and they’re probably going to kiss and be adorable together so I’m HERE for them. We also don’t know if Ronance are even going to spend a lot of time together in s5 or if they’ve already completed their arc of becoming friends and will be in separate groups next time, but we know for sure that they’ll have to develop Rockie sooo)

That’s my take!

Mutuals please help me like Rovickie/Rockie better than Ronance!!!

I get that I'm supposed to, so please help 😭

[lunarblazes]

OKAY.

this post is for appreciation of fan creators in the last life/third life community. you all are the BACKBONE of our community for REAL.

ever made art? written an analysis or fic? edited something together? drawn up an animation or animatic? taken a survey (shoutout to kel sprucewoodmpreg specifically, creator of the now-infamous Whoreslut Survey)? come up with just A Concept, an au, a headcanon, and let it sit in your brain for months?

CONGRATS, YOU’RE A FAN CREATOR!

all fan creators in this community are so adored and so beloved. i am kissing you metaphorically and platonically. you are all so talented, creative, and wonderful. the containment breaches recently may have been a big joke on my blog and a little scary, but the fact is that the content creators who make this series wouldn’t be purposefully digging through a random dead website like tumblr if they didn’t absolutely love what we create. we’ve trended last life so many times, it even got to the week in review trending last week! on web stuff, it was just below crit role and dsmp.

and i love the stuff we create too! so i have made the (possibly stupid) decision to try and encourage lesser-known creators to share their ideas with a little weekly event on my blog. other blogs can and are encouraged to participate in this, too, but only if they choose! somehow i’ve managed to become a decently sized blog in the trafficblr fandom, so, i thought there’d be no better place to host this than right here on my blog.

what is this weekly event, you may be asking. what do i have to do?

the event will be called…

THE TRAFFICBLR CREATOR GAMES

(unless that conflicts with something else, it’s a work in progress lmao).

detailed rules under the cut! it got a little long lol

all that you must do is tag any piece of fan work for the last life/third life fandom with the tag “trafficblr creator games!” what i’ll do is, every friday, i’ll go through the tag and reblog every new post that i see. i’ll go on tag rambles, i’ll have a specific tag for it on my blog in case anyone wants to peruse my commentary. i’ll always reblog it (given that it doesn’t violate my blog boundaries, which is to say that it’s not sexual or shipping content. just a personal preference. you guys are still cool and valid i just don’t want that on my blog)!

my hopes are that this little event will coax lesser-known or intimidated blogs into the fanwork circle, and let me see WONDERFUL pieces from them as well as the more well-known blogs in trafficblr! again, all of you guys can feel free to participate in this event as either a creator or a platform, but there is absolutely no pressure for either. it’d be really cute if this became a Real Fandom Thing, but i’ve made it just so i can be really excited over something when the end of the week recording fear hits hehe!

as a fan creator myself, i always get super happy when people reblog my stuff with excited tags! i know an event like this would make me so much more confident in posting my stuff, and i just want everyone to feel welcome in our content creating community. we’re all so talented, so skilled, and even if you don’t create anything, this is absolutely a way you could contribute. artists have struggled with getting enough encouragement and engagement on tumblr because likes do not help visibility at all, and so encouraging with an event that is explicitly meant to give them reblogs seems like a great way to keep creators motivated and excited about starting new projects.

i do want to make it clear really quickly that you should NOT be pushing yourself to get content out “in time” for this event! if you do that, i will give you a little bonk on the head. there’s no rush, no hurry, and no worries! do not put pressure on yourself for something fun like this. there’s no deadline. it continues as long as i want it to and as long as others decide to do it.

TL;DR (because this got way longer than i thought it was going to):

i’m hosting a third life/last life fan content displaying event on my blog every friday starting this week!

to enter, simply use the tag trafficblr creator games

i’ll reblog everything in the tag with rambly tags and encouragement (barring sexual or shipping content, which you’re still welcome to post there! i’m just not going to be rbing it because it’s not something i personally want on my blog)

ALL types of fan content are welcome! fics, analysis, art, music, poetry, headcanons, edits— anything!

do NOT put pressure on yourself to deliver content every week. if you do this i’ll bonk you with the self-care stick

any blog is welcome to participate in the event as either a creator or platform! go wild with it :^D

please don’t use the tags for unrelated things! i love all the fanwork but unless it’s for last life or third life don’t post it in the tag, and if it’s just a normal post please don’t put it in the tag. we don’t want it to get overshadowed with unrelated posts please!

if you need clarification on anything or have any suggestions before the reblogging starts, shoot me an ask! i’m always happy to help!

posting in the tag can occur any day of the week, it’s just that the reblogs for the event will take place exclusively on fridays. just so i don’t have too much to spread out over the week!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, HAPPY CREATING, AND WELCOME TO THE GAMES! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE IN THE TAG.

MUAHAHAHA (sounds of my evil little positivity post)

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi!

I'm here for a pretty stupid thing actually but I've always found it annoying to do: summaries for fics. I never know how much is too little, how much is too much, or if what I'm putting is going to make people think “wow this sounds interesting” or “wow what a shit, keep scrolling”

Do you think it is better to make a summary as such, or include some lines from the story? Idk, any advice would be appreciated

Thanks for taking your time to read!

Hugss🥰

Hey Nonny!! *HUGS*

Ah, the bane of all writers... the blasted summary to describe your story in as little words as possible to get people interested. The LITERAL very last thing you have to do on a story. Always a fun time.

And it's daunting and can feel very overwhelming, because, just like in advertising (my professional background), you have a TINY window to grasp people's attention and make them WANT to click on your fic to read. As an avid reader of fanfic, I do have my own preferences on what I look for... but as a professional, I think I can offer some wisdom in this part here, for a change. PLEASE KNOW that this is different for EVERYONE! These are just some things I picked up in my 20 years in advertising, and applying it to – what is essentially – a "classifieds" board for stories.

Attention-Grabbing Title – Not PERTINENT, but the average reader is more likely to continue reading what you have to offer if your headline is interesting. Even one word ones can grab attention. Something whimsical or metaphorical to your story is always a winner.

Short and Concise Description / Call to Action – One to two sentences is an average attention span before someone gets bored and moves on to the next post. You need to entice someone into reading MORE of your summary in those first two sentences, if you have a long summary. Start your summary with the subject of the story. ie. "John has a problem: he's well hung." That example right there will entice someone to read your summary further.

Grammar Check your Summary – BECAUSE the summary is a representation of what's to come in your story, make sure you get that summary spell-checked or beta'd with your beta. It's a small thing, but it can help bring people in, and especially if you're trying to appeal to a language that you're unfamiliar with. Your beta can even help you refine the summary so it's more attention-grabbing.

Rate Your Story – "Not Rated" stories have a lesser chance of being read than something rated. Doesn't matter what it is, just put a rating there. At least, if people are doing a ratings filter, then you will show up in a search result.

If You're Writing a WiP, State the status of your story at the end of your summary. Many people such as myself don't want to start a WiP without the certainty that it will be done. Stating something like "Story is finished, new chapter every Friday" is a GREAT way to get engagement on your story, AND generate excitement and buzz for it from the day-oners. THEY are your advertisers. A LOT of people like the suspense of a week-to-week model... it's why syndicated television is still alive! A lot of our Fandom authors do their stories this way, working on chapters weeks in advance while posting chapters "approved". It gives YOU time to write and proof, while also having a Live / Active WiP Story that will keep people coming back.

So yeah, those are some tips from an advertising standpoint.

As a reader, though, my PERSONAL interest in a fic is based solely on these 4 things:

The Ship Tags – use "/" (slash for Slash-fiction) for romantic and sexual relationships, and "&" for platonic/friendships or non-sexual relationships. I, for a fact, DO filter stories by the ship tags FIRST, so I'm sure other people do too. Make sure that you use them.

The Story Tags – Ao3 has spoiled us with these!... List relevant tags, tropes, Universes, and genres that pertain to your story... these are what help get your story found in the search algorithm. Don't write "tumblr-style tags" (ie. "this story took way too long") into this field. It is a big turn off for many people (myself included), AND it fucks with the Ao3 search results. Use author notes or descriptions to write your Tumblr-style musings! The tags should ONLY contain content within your story that may appeal to people OR help trigger/content warn against stuff. Yes, I understand that many authors poo-poo on "spoilers in tags", but in all the years I have been reccing fics, I have NEVER ONCE been told that people don't like how meticulous I tag everything I rec. A LOT of people will use those tags to filter OUT stuff that they personally can't read or don't like. Apart from the summary, the Tags are VERY important, AND it can help you come up with a more interesting and short summary that doesn't need to be descriptive. Use the suggested tags that Ao3 offers when you start typing – these are tags, I believe, that have been used frequently on the site.

The Summary – I KNOW it is legit the worst thing to have to come up with, but your story has a higher chance of being read if you stick to writing a concise summary as I've pointed out above. Some people also may choose to use an interesting blurb from their stories as a preview, which some DON'T like, but it's honestly better than nothing. I know for a fact that I have skipped over stories that don't have SOMETHING in the summary box NOR any tags. I know this isn't what you want to hear, Lovely, but put something here, even if it's just "A literal fuck-tonne of porn without plot" (I give authors permission to steal that pun, LOL).

WiP or Not – This is one of those "gamble" things. As I mentioned above, some authors do a week-to-week advanced model for their story chapters, while others "post each chapter when done". The latter tends to wind up with stories in limbo. PERSONALLY, I don't read WiP's for the simple fact that I get confused REALLY easily on plot lines when I do – I like reading one whole story in one go. But PLEASE don't take this as the golden end-all/be-all. This is a personal preference, since I read a LOT of fics and I have very little time these days to do it. Some people love WiPs. A good way to indicate that you have a story plotted out, but is NOT a week-to-week model? Add the Chapter count, rather than leaving it as "?". People are more likely to follow your WiP WITH a chapter count, since it gives the illusion that you have a rough draft written out and you know how long it will be.

So yeah! I hope this helped you out a bit, Nonny. Sorry it's so long, but I thought with how long I've been reading fics and with how picky I am with fics, these tips would be helpful for you. Again, at the end of the day, it's ALWAYS up to personal preferences of the readers. And don't take it personally if you can't "get an audience" right away. Just be yourself, write because you LOVE writing, and you will have a fruitful and enjoyable time publishing your story!

If any experienced authors in the fandom want to add their two cents from a WRITER'S perspective, please do! <3

[gothhabiba]

hi! i've really valued advice you've given other anons & wondered if i could ask for some? i get it if not bc i know reading & thinking abt these take energy! i'm 26, and just starting uni & having career aspirations. i spent my teens & early-mid 20s v v volatile after surviving abuse in childhood, so didn't achieve anything rly except surviving & becoming stable. do you have any thoughts at all on dealing with shame/worthlessness/comparison-anxiety/etc abt starting life late, please?

I’ve been sitting on this one for a while because this is very much going to be a case of me needing to take my own advice, lmao. But:

It is not “everyone else, who seamlessly conforms to an ideal of progress over specific periods of time,” versus “you.” Rather it is “an ideal of progress over specific periods of time” versus “everyone who actually exists and the particularities of all of their lives, which are too complex to be fit into any impersonal and general ideal.” The entire thing with an “ideal” is that it is not commensurate with actual lived experience—it is in fact defined by its isolation from it.

This means, firstly, that there are a lot of things that lead people to differ from this ideal to a greater or lesser extent. LGBT people often speak about having a second adolescence in their 20s or 40s or 60s. Many people upon getting out of abusive relationships later in life have the experience of first learning about what love can be like in second or third marriages / long-term partnerships. Being disabled eradicates a timeline towards “career” and “independence” completely—makes it stall, jump around, reverse. This doesn’t mean that any of these people are failing to live their lives properly... the only life that anyone needs to be leading is their own.

This also means, secondly, that this ideal doesn’t work for anyone, including people who seem on first blush to adhere to it. The idea of “teenager”-hood in at least U.S. popular culture is very bizarre, for example—adults are meant to reminisce about specific defining “teenage” experiences, feel that they’ve “lost” something since their adolescent days, idealise a vision of what it means to “be a teenager”... even as actual teenagers often don’t receive much in the way of respect or autonomy. So “adolescence” is defined by a, like, Platonic ideal of specific experiences occurring in a specific order, rather than by... the actual experiences of actual people of a certain age range. Again, it’s specific lives that actually matter, not a rarefied idea of a type of “life” that is simultaneously longed for, nostalgia-tinged, romanticised, commodified, and derided in a culture that has an obsession with youth.

I assume you already know that these ideals are capitalist nonsense in the first place, and that nothing about human minds and bodies is actually described by them. This is easier said than internalised, but still worth repeating. These are not ideals that it is worth comparing yourself to. Other people’s lives—people who may seem to fit the pattern, but perhaps don’t in ways that aren’t always visible to you—are not worth comparing yourself to. Their lives are not yours. Value the specific over the general.

You also say you “didn’t achieve anything except surviving & becoming stable.” Any model that sees surviving and becoming stable as not being “really” an achievement is an absurd model! This is an immense achievement that you ought to be proud of. Childhood abuse impacts people more than many realise. It is not even like abuse in adulthood, where there is a sense of healthy relationships or a sense of self that has been formed prior to trauma and “recovery” can be (perhaps wrongly, but still) conceptualised as “return.” Victims of childhood abuse, upon reaching adulthood, are building from nothing. Building from worse than nothing, really, because there are not just things you need to know that you never learnt, but also habits that used to help you survive that need to be jettisoned. If rebuilding your entire concept of self and reorganising everything about how you relate to the world isn’t an “achievement,” what on Earth is? A “career”? No 😂

Basically, “what would have happened” / “where would I be if” isn’t a question that is worth dwelling on. By all means, take the time to mourn what you’ve lost or what could have been. But the point comes where it isn’t useful or productive or telling you anything new. All of your experiences have worked to shape who you are now, and you should be proud of who you are now. So why regret things? The person who would have been doing x y and z by now is a different person. This I what I mean when I say to value the particularities of your own life over a generic ideal that can only ever be devoid of life.

[wenellyb]

Anthony Mackie is homophobic

There’s no way around it, Anthony Mackie is homophobic and here’s why.

This is how you make a headline..! You make a shocking title and then a catchphrase and the job is done.

You want it to be provocative, intriguing and you want people to click on read more, you want to catch everyone's attention.

Who cares if it's misleading or not accurate, right? People will get the rest of the idea/article when they read the whole article.

But what about those who don't click on the link and read the article? Who see the headline and then their idea is set.

Most people don't have the time to read the full article for further explanation. Some people will read the headline, take the information and move on. Sometimes they will even share that headline... without even reading the article. And I won't pretend I haven't done it too... I have done it and still do it. I've read headlines, retweeted them and shared it without reading the content because the headline was enough information for me.

And a lot of people on the Internet do this...and I think that it's part of the game. But, if you're going to use those headlines to throw accusations at someone and then share those accustions with people, the bare minimum is to read the article first.

And I feel like there has been 3 types of people in the Anthony Mackie story:

Those who read only the headlines and tweets but didn't read the article

Those who read the FULL article but didn't listen to the podcast ( This is much much better than the first one btw)

Those who read the article and listened to the audio.

And I also feel like people making the most noise are part of the 1st category.

I keep receiving some asks that I feel that some of them are missing the point so I'm going to write what I think about all of this and hopefully I can just link this post whenever I get a question.

And I am also disturbed by the fact that this is the 3rd option I get when I type Anthony Mackie on Twitter.

Now that the situation is calmer and the story died down a little, I wanted tovshare my thoughts. And of course you don’t have to read this, but I had to write this down, at least for myself.

I will be exploring 3 angles, so feel free to skip the ones you are not interested in.

It should have never been about the ship

If you say someone is homophobic, at least you have to explain why

Your minds were already made up on Anthony Mackie even before the article was published.

Part 1: It should have never been about the ship.

For the people who read only the headlines... It's a shame because the headlines made the interview all about “Anthony not liking Sam and Bucky's relationship as romantic”. '

A lot of the people based their opinion on the articles and didn't even look further... it was set that Anthony didn't like Sambucky as a couple.

It was revealed with the audio of the podcqst that it wasn’t what Anthony said at all, and he wasn't talking about Sam ans Bucky's relationship but was answering another question that the interviewer had asked about male friendships. And in fact, and it was the interviewer who said that male friendships were rare in the superhero context... He set up the question that way.

But that is the not the point, the point is that EVEN IF Anthony had said he didn't see Sam and Bucky as romantic... that is not enough to say he is problematic or homophobic.

And the intensity of the backlash he received is because he is a Black man, sure... but the accusations of being homophobic  would have been there anyway.

Because fandoms are not rational.

When Sebastian Stan said he didn't play Bucky as in love with Steve in 2016, he also received backlash from the fandom and got accusations of being homophobic, even though he had said people were free to interpret it as they wanted. And guess what he still got the accusations lesser level than Anthony, but still...

Anthony and Sebastian have both played gay characters in the past, more than once. And I repeat this so you understand, they have played gay characters more than once. So maybe, MAYBE if they say their character isn't gay or bi, maybe it isn't because they're homophobic, or because they don't want their characters to be ....but because that is how their character is written in the script?

Again, Anthony didn't say any of this about Sambucky but even if he had, it would certainly be because he played the part they were supposed to play.

Some people want to make Anthony this big bad guy who "killed the ship" but I'm sorry, Anthony doesn't own the production company, he isn't the writer or the executive producers.... The actors who be the last in line to blame for this.

And I don't want to make it seem like it's only the general public doing this...Because even some journalists have been writing articles about how Anthony shouldn't be "shutting down ships or dismissing Sambucky" because there is so little representation in the MCU... I'm sorry but what??? WHAT???

I understand the sentiment and I know that a lot of ships are there to compensate the lack of representation on screen...but how is it Anthony's responsibility or his fault?

It’s great when actors go along with the ship, do not invalidate it and leave the doors open, but it is not their fault or their responsibility if they don't, especially actors who have no clue about how shipping or fandoms work.

If it's written in the script that the charcter is straight and the actor says the character is straight you shouldn't be lashing out at the actors for "killing the ship"...Do you want him to change the script? Go blame the production company instead.

I know actors are an easy target because it is much more easier to tweet about them than look up the names of Executive Producers or CEOs and write them letters to ask for more representation. Actors are an easy target but it is literally not their call.

Some of these articles making headlines blaming Anthony because he shut down the idea of romantic Sambucky when there is so little represenration and not making headlines blaming the multibillion dollar company that refuse to have decent representation!

Sure, let's blame the Black actor who said that Sam and Bucky are just friends for the decades of nothing expect a total of 10 seconds screentime for a character nobody remembers and just calls the “Russo cameo”.

And again, Anthony Mackie didn't even say anything against a romantic reading of Sambucky, nothing! But it shouldn't matter, even if he had said they were just friends... it wouldn't justify any backlash at all... if it is about the ship.

Him shipping Sambucky or not should be the last point the fandom is focusing on.

An actor doesn't ship your ship and it bothers you? Move on, ship another couple if you want to... Don't start calling him names because of the ship.

When you make the debate about the ship, it kills the discussion before the discussion can even start because how can you have a constructive discussion if the debate has no foundations?

For instance, if Anthony made hurtful or problematic comments, the right way to deal with this,  would be to ask for apologies or for a better explanation of his words .... But since a lot of people, and even news outlet made this story about the ship, what do you want to do?

Ask Anthony to apologize for thinking/saying Sambucky is platonic?  We do realize how insane this would sound right? Or are there people who really want Anthony to come out and make a public statement about how he apologizes and supports romantic Sambucky? Is this were we want to go?

People made it about the ship, so he will also think the problem is that he doesn't "ship" Sambucky... but that wasn't the problem right? At least I hope it wasn't.

All of this should have never been about the shipping...If you are bothered by an actor not liking your ship ...it's ok. Stop shipping it if you want to and move on, but don't act like they're the worst human being on the planet because of it.

When I first read the article I was surprised by Anthony's comments about Sambucky because he had never talked like that about the relationship before... but the first thinf I said ia that he is an actor... he reads and interprets the script he has... he doesn't make the decisions...

But when I listened to the audio... I was even more horrified by the way the whole story was handled.

Part 2. If you say someone is homophobic, at least you have to explain why

This might be an unpopular opinion but I don't mind people saying that Anthony Mackie is homophobic. I don't know him, so I won't pretend to know what he is or isn't. What I do mind is people saying he's homophobic but not giving any explanation or evidence.

And I have seen people do that. A lot... And I have receiced asks like that.... "Have you seen those articles? Anthony is homophobic," “He dug his own grave”

But all of the articles and headline are talking about the ship...is that your evidence?

If your opinion is based on a headline or some tweets, I don't know how you expect people to believe you.

I have seen people calling Anthony homophobic because of his comments on the explotation of homosexuality. But to me it was clear that he wasn't talking about the Queer fans, even though I could be wrong... (I talk abour this more in the part 3)

The part where Anthony Mackie has made comments that could be dubious are the comments about how he is bothered that he can't go to bars with his friends anymore.

No matter how you turn it, making it seem like it's a problem that people think you're gay when you're with your friends, has homophobic undertones.

That is the part that really bothered me personally... It really made me feel uncomfortable.

But is it enough to say he is homophobic? I don't think so, but if I'm wrong and it means he is, in what way? You need to give an explanation. Even a short one.

And even with that comment about the bars, if you add the context, you could imagine that maybe he's not talking about the characters but about his real life experience because we know that some people ship him and Sebastian romantically, and if he was talking about that... It could be understandable that he is bothered by that because he's a celebrity and when people make assumptions about celebrity love lifes they can become annoying or even toxic sometimes.

People shipping the two of them romantically makes me unconfortable so I can't imagine how it would make HIM feel.

But anyway, that part of the interview bothered some people and I personally don't think it's enough to call him homophobic but I do think it is worth a discussion.

Unfortunately, most people didn't focus on that... they focused on the shipping or other words that were taken out of context... By mixing everything with the shipping, the battle for a legitmate discussion was already lost before it even started.

Part 3: Your minds were already made up on Anthony Mackie even before the article was published.

I think that what bothers me the most were that some people were waiting for this moment... They were holding their breath until the moment he would finally slip up so they can be hateful in peace.

This is a screenshot of a post from April 2021, way way before this whole story.... Some people already had in their mind that him being a Black masculine man, he was homophobic... and were just waiting for a confirmation it seems.

( I cropped the OP’s blog name to avoid any problems going their way)

I have said this before... But I don’t follow celebrities foolishly. If you think Anthony Mackie gives off homophibic vibes or could be homophobic... you may be right.... but I would need evidence, or an explanation, not just a “vibe”... I asked evidence to that OP or at least an example of an homophobic joke he had made and they blocked me...

I have watched a lot of Anthony Mackie interviews and never got that "vibe" so I really wanted to know. Later, I asked one of my mutual to reach out to ask them about it and the OP finally answered to my mutual and said that an example of a moment they could tell he was homophobic was the interview were Anthony talks about his soft spot.

So that person based their impression of Anthony being homophobic on the fact that Anthony doesn't like to be touched in the back by strangers...Imagine me staring at the camera like I’m in The Office

And this isn't about racism because that person who wrote the post is Black apparently. But it is about how Black men are perceived and stereotypes that are often attached to them.. People make all of these asaumptions on then wait for the moment they can be proven right.

For this OP, a masculine Black man from the south =homophobic ...

And I don't think they are the only one.

What's worse is that they make it sound like all of this is on Anthony:

"Sambucky won't happen because Anthony gives off homophobic vibes"

Not only are they sharing accusations without even a small proof... they are the acting like he would be the only one to blame if Sambucky doesn't happen... Let me tell you that sometimes when I come to Tumblr I want to scream at how irrational people are... Disney has a history of being homophobic and never having any kind of representation, but if Sambucky doesn’t happen, it would be because of Anthony Mackie.

Please, PLEASE!

Anthony Mackie isn't writing the scenarios, he isn’t a Disney Exec.... Does anyone really belive he would walk away from the movie and the contract just because his character is gay, bi or pan? When he has played gay characters in the past??? Why are people trying so so hard to put all the blame on Anthony? I don't understand....

I have also seen "Sambucky won't happen now that Anthony made that interview and said he didn't like it...." How??? How does that even make sense????

What I believe is that a lot of people already had their minds made up about him and were holding their breath until they could finally throw accusations at Anthony because the minute there was a potential scandal... they didn’t try to look for more or try to dig deeper...their mind was already set.

And from then on... their idea were already set on how they were going to interprets the things he said.

For instance, When I first read the article without the context of the audio... I thought a lot of the things Anthony said weren't contreversial because those are ideas expressed on Tumblr every day...the fetishization of some MM ships etc,... But I thought he had expressed it in the worst possible way because he seemed like he was mixing a lot of stuff.... well, I found out later that it was because it was taken out of context.

But even in the context of the article, it was clear to me that Anthony was talking about anybody BUT the Queer fans when talking about the exploitation of homosexuality etc,...

We talk about the fetishization of MM ships by straight women on a weekly basis on Tumblr etc.... What would make anybody think that when Anthony was talking about the some things being “twisted” explotation of homosexuality he was talking about the Queer shippers???

I have joined and left BL fandoms after 2 weeks because of the problems exposed by Anthony. I have seen people who shipped real life actors to the point where it affected the actors's lives. I have seen an actor from a popular M/M ship make a dramatic public statement explaining that nothing will change for his fans that he still loved them and still loved his costars... and made it seem like he had a terminal illness or something....It turned out he had just gotten a girlfriend......?????

And these examples are specific to the BL genre but I have seen similar behavior with some MCU stans.... look at how some (I insist on some) Seb stans react to Seb having a girlfriend (I have seen things).

What made people think Anthony was talking about the queers fans if not the fact that you already had your mind set on the fact a Black man talking about a topic like this was homophobic in some way or the other and some people were just waiting for a confirmation?.

I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t confused by some parts of the interview. What is  “There’s nothing more masculine than being a superhero and flying around and beating people up” even supposed to mean? And it wasn’t the only sentence. But I don’t think any part of his interview deserved the backlash he received.

A discussion? Yes. Remarks? Yes. Blacklash and hate? No.

TL:DR: If you're going to call out Anthony for what he said.... you better  be ready to give a few arguments other than.... "bohoo he doesn't ship Sambucky" or “have you seen the headlines?” and  you should probably check your own pre-conceived ideas first..

If you come in my asks to tell me I write too much I will save you the trip and tell you... I already know that😂

[radiosandrecordings]

Something I really like in the interpersonal dynamics of TMA is the portrayal of ex’s. There are a few mentions scattered throughout the statements but I wanna talk specifically about Jon and Georgie, and Tim and Sasha.

Jon and Georgie. Oh boy, where do I even start here. I have so many feelings about their relationship in general so it’s kind of difficult to untangle how I feel about them as a whole and the role they serve within the whole show’s examination of dynamics from their actual former romantic relationship. But, along with TimSasha, I think the thing I like about it is how little it’s brought up? I think it’s possibly only mentioned once, in 106, with Melanie telling Basira about it. At that stage we’d known Georgie for 26 episodes, and had Jon living with her, and they never mention it. I mean, we only get glimpses of their conversation on tape, maybe they did, but we don’t know for certain. The important thing is our experience as an audience and how they’re portrayed to us. 

They have this extremely fraught and complicated dynamic and it’s my favourite in the whole show, because each believes themselves to be right in the actions they’re taking, because they each are very stubborn and have these deep-seated mindsets, plus Georgie is working with imperfect information about what exactly is happening in Jon’s life. And it would be so easy, expected even for a lesser show, to have this culminate in a conflict where one of them yells “This is exactly why we broke up!” or “This is just like you, you’ve always been like this” or “This is just like (x y z time)!”. 

But that never happens! I don’t think we ever get any references to what they were like as a couple. We just have to take their dynamic as it is, because whatever they were like in the past is something they’ve put behind them. It ended on bad terms, but for regular Young Adult Break-Up reasons. They’re adults now, they have new problems like Being Framed For Murder, and The Apocalypse. And it’s just really refreshing to see them deal with new problems and not stale ones from the past that they’ve buried. 

This extends to how Martin interacts with Georgie as well. When they first meet, Georgie is aware that Jon is in love with him, and Martin clearly knows they were staying together, if not that they used to be together from him calling her “Jon’s Georgie”. And yet they conflict for how the other treats Jon, not because of any dating based tension, especially surprising considering Martin has a whole list of people he’s been jealous of in regards to Jon. Which means it’s allowed to become a trait which, while not good, never leads to any actual conflict. I really like that because that would just feel out of place in the narrative, to have all this massive complicated web of dynamics and grievances going on and then have “You dated the guy I like 10ish years ago, and that’s why I hate you” as one of them. It would feel a little immature in a story about people closing in on 30 if it was allowed to grow beyond something brought up in minor scenes as flavour text and become a  whole dynamic definer, especially in a show where each dynamic is supposed to be a specific type of exploration of relationships.  

The same could be said of Jon and Melanie. The two famously don’t get on, finding any reason really to go for each other’s throats a lot of the time, even when it can be taken more literally as ‘scalpel to the shoulder’. I’ve made jokes about this scenario’s hilarity before, but in actual fact I’m glad that there’s never anything made of “The girl who hates me stole my girlfriend”. Because Georgie doesn’t belong to either of them, she’s not a pawn in any of their fights. She’s a woman who can make her own decisions and form opinions independent from who she’s dating. 

And then there’s Tim and Sasha. Something they were so chill about, we, the audience, didn’t know about it for 162 episodes. It’s a lovely little scene really, it tells us so little but also so much. They have an “Ill-advised hook-up” and Tim is convinced something more will come of it. Sasha laughs and tells him that she doesn’t agree. And then the conversation continues on. He doesn’t push her on it, doesn’t even ask her why, just lets it go. From Sasha referencing that she’s “pretty sure we already established it’s a ‘wont they” it might hint that this is a conversation they’d had before, but honestly from the light tone I want to give Tim the benefit of the doubt and say Sasha is just referencing the general fallout of their fling that made it, to Tim’s own description, ‘ill-advised’. And unlike Jongeorgie, after this breakup, Tim and Sasha remain close friends and co-workers. Tim continues to care about Sasha even when it’s clear she doesn’t have any romantic interest in him and no longer any sexual interest, because he genuinely cares about her as his friend. He jokes around with her and curses out both Jon and Elias and they’re just good to each other. They platonically care so much that Sasha is literally willing to risk her life to save Tim when he doesn’t notice Prentiss in episode 39. 

And again, jealousy never comes into play. When the Not!Sasha starts going out with ‘Tom’ - Literally one letter away from his own name! - It would be so easy to have some of Tim’s anger in season two manifest in jealousy about that. About wondering what this guy has that he clearly doesn’t when Sasha has moved on to someone else. But that never happens, at least as it’s presented to the audience, because Tim is genuinely a nice guy and respects her decisions (Aside from the fact that isn’t Sasha but y’know. He thinks it is). 

Overall it’s just very, very good to see a show where characters are allowed to have (had) romantic/sexual relationships but these not define their dynamics or for this to extend to how other character’s perceive them. A lot of media will often introduce the ‘evil ex’ because for some reason I feel like people tend to forget sometimes that whatever happens later, we date people because in the first place there was something there that we liked? And not every breakup has to ruin our ability to see that. It’s also maybe a little reflective of the fact that every relationship I analysed there involved at least one queer person? (Well, every person I mentioned is queer except canon Sasha. Sorry love) Because just from my experience and my friend groups that’s how it can often be. It’s just another way in which TMA has my favourite character dynamic writing and really knows how to give it’s characters complex connections without letting them fall into stereotypes. 

[thefanficmonster]

Corpse Infested

Corpse Husband & Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Mentions of dysfunctional family, Family problems, Swearing

Genre: Humor, Comfort, Platonic fluff, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: When your friend disappears for a long time, seemingly having lost interest in what fueled the most passionate fire in their life, you cannot not worry about them. Even if you wanna give them space, you will reach out, you will offer your help. You will tell them they always have you to rely on and talk to.

Requested by Anon. Hi dear! I’m really sorry it’s taken me so long to complete and post your request, but here it finally is! Hope you come across it and if you do I hope you enjoy the read! Love, Vy ❤

For me, it’s never hard to find things to do. I’ve constantly got things on my mind and tasks to tend to, keeping me occupied and my mind focused at all times. I think that comes with living in a home as dysfunctional as this one. I honestly can’t recall a time when my parents got along nor can I think of a time where there was at least one second of peace while the two are both present in the house. It’s always a warzone up there. I’m saying up there because I tend to live out of the basement of their home. I know living in your parents’ basement is considered a peak loser point, or the bottom of the bottom, but you’d have to believe me when I say - I wasn’t always like this. In fact, I only recently came back to this hell-hole and boy do I regret it. I mean, it was a decision forced upon me by circumstances. Trust me, I tried every other option there was. When my dorm was to be closed down and demolished, we were given a notice to start planning our next move about a month early. You can bet I immediately started looking at places but my very tragic and miserable budget didn’t allow such a purchase. No rent was adequate for me and my near-empty wallet so my second option was moving in with my best friend who was also not in the greatest of situations but I thought I’d give that a shot too.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out. She lived in a tiny apartment with her boyfriend and his best friend at the time, so four people in one apartment was a nightmare. Still a lesser nightmare than this one but a nightmare nonetheless. Some unwanted and downright traumatizing events chased me out of that place after barely managing to pack my stuff. Therefore, finding myself on the streets again, I had no other option other than the obvious and least liked one: moving back in with my parents.

Making money during my first year of college hasn’t been easy. Working two jobs at once and also streaming video games on the side was what my time was filled with all throughout the first semester but then this damn pandemic started and now ruined everything for me. I had things going for me, I was slowly getting my life together and now it has all fallen apart yet again. The places I worked at closed down due to quarantine and I haven’t been able to steam, not only cause I’d be the victim of my parents’ comments but also cause my terrible home life would be exposed to all my fans and viewers. It’s not like I could cancel out the commotion going on right above my head, it’s a livestream and this house’s walls are cardboard thin meaning all the arguing I hear almost 24/7 will serve as background noise for my streams.

I haven’t reached out to my friends or fans to inform them of this which I feel slightly guilty about but I’m really not looking forward to having to lie to them, just as much as I’m not looking forward to having to tell them the truth so instead I’ve picked silence which is probably either worrying them or driving them insane. Either way, I’ll make my comeback soon.

Well....not very soon by the looks of it...

I have to gather the money, then I have to find a place, then comes the packing, moving out of here, moving into the new place...oh God, there’s so much to it that I don’t even wanna think about. Just that thought that I’ll be inactive for that long makes my stomach turn. Streaming’s where I’ve been channeling all my negative emotions, turning them into something positive and entertaining with the help of my friends.

Speaking of my friends, I should probably put emphasis on how amazing they are. Basically the older siblings I’ve always wished I had. I’m the baby of the group, the eighteen year old freshman in college, powering through life the best they can cause they are constantly getting tripped up by inconvenient occurrences such as this one for example. I tend to have the gang poke fun at me quite frequently - all lighthearted and with good intentions obviously - but they are also the ones to get super defensive if anyone gets the balls to talk shit about me. They’d never allow me to be the victim of any smack talk or online rumors and ‘cancel culture’ or whatever the hell people will come up with to leave others restless and wondering if they did something shady a decade ago. Well, to be fair, I didn’t even know about the concept of social media a decade ago and I’ve never been one to post much but I still have a protection squad in case anyone decides to come after me.

Little do they know the people I need protecting from are the very people that are supposed to protect me - my parents. Luckily, they don’t venture into to basement very often if at all and I have my own exit to the outside world so I don’t have to run into them unless I absolutely have to. The only time I emerge to the surface of the house - aka the ground floor - I do so to leave my share of rent money on the dining table and I usually do it when they aren’t home or when they’re asleep - that happens often with how many bottles they each knock back on the daily.

*sigh*...at least I don’t have to talk to them, right?

Anyhow, remember how I mentioned I always have things to do? Well, right now I’ve tasked myself with rifling through the large boxes containing random stuff I found in one of the basements down here to see if there’s anything I could possibly sell online. For starters, I’d like to hope there aren’t any severed body parts in here because this was one shady-ass basement before I moved in and un-creeped it a bit so I wouldn’t have to become an insomniac due to the paranoia of there being a homeless person down here with me or some paranormal entity. Regardless, old basements tend to be, apart from haunted, also filled with junk no one would find valuable despite it actually being worth something after all. That’s basically what I’m hoping to find at the moment.

As I dig through the contents of the first box, the YouTube playlist I have put on on my phone cuts off causing me to furrow my brows in confusion for a second before my ringtone pierces the silence the lack of music created.

I quickly mute the ringing and take a look at the Caller ID to see a name I never thought would pop up on my screen as an incoming call - Corpse. I, as well as many of our friends, know that he’s not the biggest fan of talking to people on the phone so this is rather surprising. Still, I pick up the call in case it’s not a mistake and an odd chance that it’s somethin urgent cause Lord knows Corpse doesn’t call people willy-nilly. 

Thank God it’s quiet up there at the moment.

“Hello?“ I try my best to cover up the confusion in my voice but I can only assume I didn’t do the best job considering Corpse replies with a slightly awkward chuckle.

“Surprised you, didn’t I?“ He asks, getting my cheeks to redden a bit, “You can’t blame a guy for calling after up and disappearing on him and on the whole internet. Where’ve you been?“

I open my mouth to respond when I hear the sound of glass breaking a shouted curse from upstairs.

Oh for fuck’s sake!

“Um...you know, places?“ I’m aware the answer isn’t only nonsensical but also sounds more like a question, but I can hardly focus on that right now. I’m too buys praying to an entity I don’t fully believe in for the situation above to not escalate.

“Uh, is everything ok over there? Where even are you right now?“ The teasing tone to his voice is all but gone at this point, replaced with deep concern, having obviously heard the commotion that did the exact opposite of what I prayed for - escalated.

“Y-yeah, it’s ok. It’s just another Thursday, you know.“ I attempt a small laugh but it’s blatantly miserable, “I moved back in with my parents when they announced the quarantine so that’s where I’m at now. They’re not the quietest of folks as you can tell so...“

“I FUCKING HATE YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I HOPE YOU DIE“

Oh crap, here we go.

“...So I can’t really stream a lot...or at all.“ I mutter, cringing with all my might, “But it’s only temporary! I’ll get back in the saddle as soon as I find another place to stay.“ I don’t dare mention how long that’s gonna take me, it’ll be too disappointing and depressing for the both of us. “So yeah...um...thanks for showing concern but there’s really nothing to worry about. I’m ok, everything’s ok, things are just...a bit off the rails, but I’ll fix em no problem. Like I always do!“ I attempt to sound as cheerful as possible with little success due to the overwhelming anger I feel towards those people upstairs and the gut-wrenching nostalgia for the world of streaming I can no longer be a part of because of them. Actually, I put the blame first on the pandemic and second on my parents - if it wasn’t for Covid I’d probably still be in my dorm!

“Hey...um, I think I know an affordable place where you can take up residence. Only if you want to, of course.“ He sounds hesitant but I easily overlook that as excitement bursts throughout my entire being at the sound if an escape being offered to me just like that. Had I known I’d find the solution to my problem in the very people I spent time avoiding because I was afraid of their pity, sympathy and judgement.

“Oh please, it could be a rat and roach infested shoe box and I’d go running to it. How much is rent?“ I ask through a gasp of hurried laughter that’s a result of my inability to contain said excitement. Listen, I’ve been sitting here in Hellsburg for three months now and haven’t gotten a proper shuteye during that whole period, whatever Corpse is offering has to be better than this misery.

“Rent can be discussed once you move in...“ He trails off, “And it’s not rat nor roach infested but there’s a slight issue...“

“Which is?“ I’m honestly expecting the worst: in a bad neighborhood; faulty wiring with a high chance of being electrocuted; faulty piping with a high chance of flooding; people have died there; things get randomly moved around in the middle of the night etc. However, I don’t voice any of them to avoid getting laughed at for my wild imagination.

“Well, uh, it’s corpse infested.“ He says a little awkwardly, causing me to let out an inaudible sigh.

So my ‘people have died there’ guess was on point, huh?

“People have died there, huh? Well, I can turn a blind eye to that as long as I don’t find their bodies in the closet or meet their spirits at 3AM.“ I attempt to joke, now second-guessing my eagerness to accept the offer.

Corpse bursts out laughing his ass off at my statement, getting me to furrow my eyebrows in confusion and wonder what I said was so funny - it was a poor attempt at a joke, it in no way deserves that sort of reaction, barely a chuckle in my opinion.

“You’re golden, Y/N, I swear.“ He says once he forces the laughter to subside, “I meant corpse infested as in Corpse Husband infested.“ He breaks out in another fit as my brain slowly starts connecting the dots.

Oooohh he’s asking me to go live with him

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait, hold up for a sec. Are you aware of what you’re offering me? I mean, we’ve never met IRL, you barely know me and....and for all you know I could be the serial killer in this situation!“ I have no idea why I’m pushing my luck, don’t ask. I just don’t want him to make a decision he’ll later regret, I guess. “Like, I could kill you in your sleep!“

“Would you?“ He asks confidently, silently stating he already knows the answer.

I roll my eyes, “Of course not! But...” He cuts me off.

“Great, the offer stands on my end. I’m not a noisy nor nosey roommate so I suggest you start packing. If you choose to live in that hell-hole over living with me, I’m sorry but I’ll be hella offended, just so you know.“

Corpse sounds like he’s about to hang up on me, a decision already made, so I hurry to stop him. “Wait! What about rent?”

“Fuck the rent, pack your bags.“ And just like that, despite my efforts, he hangs up on me.

Well...this is a chance of a lifetime that I know refusing would lead me to not only remain stuck here but also put me in the hugest loser bin. There’s also the fear of being Corpse’s burden which I’ll try my best not to be - I mean, I’m a super independent person and Lord knows that if this offer came any other time or from any other person, I would’ve declined asap, no discussion.

But streaming

But sleeping properly

But having a normal life again

Yeah those are most certainly the reasons I get up and go into the closet in search on my emptied suitcase. Time to fill it up again, I guess. This time with a smile on my face and excitement fueling each and every movement of mine.

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[0lshadyl0]

Hi! Can I request Yandere! Headcanons for Sabo and Benn from One Piece? I loved the ones you did for Shanks🙈. Tysm in advance 😙💙

I am glad that you like pumpkin 

since you didn’t specify the gender it will be female pronouns

Yandere Sabo headcanons

• It is a bit scary to think of this guy as a Yandere and I will explain why

• Of the three of the ASL brothers, he is the most deceptive, because of his chivalrous and kind appearance, he also tends to be a bit sadistic

• By sadistic I don't mean that he hurt his darling, he would never do that, after all, he is a Yandere protector... unless you try to escape, in that case, say goodbye to your legs for a while because he'll be going to break them and it's going to hurt like hell

• For you to learn the lesson, remember, he did not want to do it, but you forced him, because yes, he is a manipulator, he has a great talent for mental games • But when I speak of sadistic I mean it because everyone around you is in danger of being attacked by Sabo • As soon as he fixes his eyes on you, all men (except Luffy and in a perfect world where he is not dead Ace) are a threat and if they are too affectionate with you he will make sure they never come near you again

• Don't worry, he won't kill them the first time, but I'm sure none of them would want to push their luck a second time • Oh yes, I did not mention you before, but he is from the group of yanderes who kills threats or what he considers competition, but at least he is one of the few who gives a second chance, and if you happen to like are women then ... • Suddenly he has just forgotten that he is a gentleman who drinks the respecting women juice 

• In front of you, he is an elegant gentleman with a kind smile, always looking out for you, in case you need help or are in danger, as I said before, he is a protective Yandere, your safety comes first • Sabo will always be looking for a way to help you and make your life easier, he will accompany you everywhere, he will buy you things that attract your attention and he will even share his food, do you know how much that means? I am not exaggerating when I say you are the only one with whom he has shared his food • He is also a Stalker, that training to become a revolutionary is coming out very convenient now.

• I honestly do not believe that he will kidnap you because he values freedom very much, yes, Sabo wants you to always be by his side and to know where you are always but not if it is due to the fact that you are locked in a room and chained to a bed or wall • If not, and because of bad luck you end up in danger, the first one will rescue you, the second will scold you a little and the third will not allow you to get out of their sight. • breach that or try to leave and see how we will go to the part where he breaks your legs • Although it is scary, you may lose most, if not all, your friends or you have no privacy, Sabo is one of the most bearable yanderes if you are intelligent as well as knowing how to play your cards, you may have a normal relationship with him, just do not keep any secrets and for the  love of whatever you believe, DO NOT show interest in another person

• because even though it may not seem like it, Sabo is a very jealous person

Yandere Benn Beckman headcanons

I'll be honest with you, I know very little about Beckman, after all, I have the understanding that he is not that he has appeared much in the series, but I will see what I can do with the little information I have, so this may come out a bit oc with him, but hey, don't let it be said that we didn't try

• Benn gives me the feeling that, despite looking like a laid-back man who takes things easy, he's not really like that. • We could say that he goes by the specter of the paranoid Yandere • I mean, his outward appearance is a vile lie compared to what is inside his mind, he is always worried about what might happen to you. • It's not that he mistrusted you, on the contrary, he trusts you a lot, in fact, that is why you have never seen the dark side of him to the point that you think that he is an ordinary person

• In fact, on the yandere scale of my One Piece universe, he is on the side of the least dangerous for his Darling, since he would not hurt you even to punish you • He would use the old guilt trip technique and although he hates to make you feel bad, it is for your good, you are too innocent and this world is so cruel... • Who Benn doesn't trust is everyone else except his captain • He has the thought that everyone tries to hurt you and take advantage of you to a lesser or greater extent, that is something that the pirate could not accept • That is why he keeps you by his side and tries to teach you as much as possible so that you can defend yourself. • Because he is the type of Yandere with enough sanity to know that he will not last you forever, he is already a man over fifty years old and the pirate job is not very safe to say despite being under the command of a Yonkou • So he wants you to learn as much as possible, for when he lacks you, no one can abuse you �� He is quite soft and the way he talks is so attractive, full of wisdom, with affectionate words, that sooner or later you will be willing to have a closer relationship with him

• Oh yes, he knows how to talk to women, surely in his youth, he was a real casanova • He does not like you to be with other men, not because he is jealous and will hurt them (which he would only do if they try to overstep with you), but because he is afraid that they will do something bad to you, in addition to that he is also insecure of himself, after all, as I told you, he is a man and youth has abandoned him a long time ago (still looks hot to me but whatever you think Benn) 

• I can say that he is a Yandere that you cannot manipulate because of how supremely intelligent he is, but he hardly restricts anything since his only goal is for you to be very happy and with him as much as possible. • If you decide to have a relationship with him and get married, that would make him very happy, but if you don't want to, that's fine, just don't take him away from your life or you'll see how the dark side of him starts to come out • definitely this man is suitable for both romantic and platonic Yandere (I speak for you readers with daddy issues, this is your yandere, he won't abandon you to go for cigarettes)

[chocolatte-and-despair]

hi again!, could i please request general yandere headcanons for saudi arabia, qatar, brazil, mongolia and philippines? if it's alright. idk if it's just me but i always get invested in the lesser known characters when i join a fandom

Saudi Arabia

* Saudi Arabia is a controlling yandere. He is quiet and usually keeps to himself. Because of that, he wants to make sure that he can control you. You see, he does love you a lot, but he also wants to own you and control you in any way he desires. He is also quite old-fashioned, considering his religion. * If you would reject him, he would make sure that you don't have many choices. Your consent doesn't matter much to him. He can offer you a better living situation, and he will use that to his advantage.

Qatar

* Qatar is a possessive yandere. Because of how egotistical and narcissistic he is, he believes that he has the right to you. He believes that you belong to him because I mean, why wouldn't you? He is great and deserves to have everything that he wants and sadly for you, he wants you. * If you would reject him, he would make sure to make your life a living hell. You are going to regret ever rejecting him. If you don't love him, then, make sure you are ready to be hated by him.

Brazil

* Brazil is an obsessive yandere. He hates himself quite a lot, even if he usually shows a very friendly and cheerful side. But you could always see that he was not okay, so he couldn't help but feel happy whenever he is around you. That's why he needs to know everything about you. How else is he going to keep you happy? * If you would reject him, he would be very angry. How dare you do that.. He was doing everything to make you happy yet you are acting like what he did means nothing! Oh.. don't make him hurt you!

Mongolia

* Mongolia is a wrong idea yandere. She is friendly and confident and the fact that you were always her close friend and supported her confused her to the point of making her think you love her too! The smallest thing that you did platonically, she would take as a romantic action, causing the misunderstanding and obsession to become worse with every kind of action you did. * If you would reject her, she would think that you are cheating. If you are dating someone at the time, then make sure that she never finds out about them or they won't be alive for much longer.

Philippines

* Philippines is an overprotective yandere. He is kind and hard-working. He is also very dependable, that's why he believes that he knows what is best for you. He understands that maybe you losing all your current friends is painful, he knows that's for the best. Besides, you have him! * If you would reject Philippines, he would think that you are joking. Come on, seriously, you know that he cares about you and keeps you safe! Why wouldn't you want to be with him? Do you like being all alone? Is that it?

[pigeonsatdawn]

law school ep 15 (and solhwi overall)

gonna put in my two cents for the line that singlehandedly caused the solhwi nation to implode.

(apologies in advanced because my thoughts are too messy for me to neatly put it in a post but i want to say it anyway—also this is just the way i view solhwi so please don't come screaming at me if you disagree!)

i'm a diehard solhwi shipper and i love their relationship, and think they have one of the best relationships out there in the fictional world, and also definitely one of the healthiest. but to me, their relationship extends far beyond the romantic relationships we so often see portrayed in media.

kim beom said in one interview that this relationship between HJH and KS is kin to that of a soulmate relationship that's not necessarily romance, and i find myself agreeing with that notion. while soulmates are typically used to describe romantic partnerships, it doesn't necessarily have to start with romance. (many people have pointed this out in other posts so i won't go further down the fact that HJH x KS's relationship is a friends-to-lovers slow burn but you get me.)

but in fact, this bond between soulmates (or at least how i define it), in my opinion, is far beyond what we usually see in romance. as in, it's not just someone you like, but it's someone whose changed your life in a certain way. i know some may be averse to the idea of having to change for the one you love because loving is the notion of accepting someone in spite of the person's flaws, but what i mean is that when you love someone in this way, you want to change because of them. you see them, and they inspire you, and you grow in your own way. once again—growth is a very subjective idea, and even for HJH and KS we can see them grow in different directions—but we can clearly see how they have impacted each others' lives.

it's quite obvious, imo, how KS's life has been impacted by HJH's. she's,, not the "smartest" out there, and we can't deny that. we know she probably won't make it through law school if not for HJH's help. HJH is always there, a step ahead of KS, but he's not just being proud about it, instead opting to help her understand what the laws are and why they are the way they are, which KS especially needs, being a particularly empathic person. but we've also seen that HJH has helped KS beyond simply academics. he's always been there to protect her—almost all their interactions have proven that (the camera outside her house, the hungover soup, the switching seats—i think literally everything?..?..?.??). maybe she doesn't necessarily need protection, but surely thanks to his protection she's much better than she might've been without, especially knowing her terribly miserable life.

but i often wonder why HJH is so heart-eyes of KS of all people. i mean, i know love is love and sometimes you just catch feelings, but i believe there's more meaning behind their relationship than meets the eye. like you don't just look at someone so lovingly for it to be just a crush, y'know? the first reason that comes to mind is clearly simply KS's amicable personality. she definitely stands out: she's not that intelligent, struggling and barely surviving, but she has insane passion to pull through even despite truth attacks (like SJH saying she should reconsider her life decisions, saying that a chance of passing isn't something to be proud of, etc). she treats everything with such a positive outlook, and, well, KS is just an adorable human, so it's hard not to have a little crush her.

what makes KS stand out most, the core of her personality, is that she has hope, despite everything. she's been through shit because of her circumstances—left by her twin sister without a word, been in juvie, has no money to deal with it—you know, entire backstory. but instead she fights her weakness, even though she feel like it should've been her sister, even though she's not smart enough, because she has to do this. she keeps going, even though things keep turning out for the worse for her, holding hope when circumstances are most dire. but why? because she strives for justice. she doesn't want to be wronged. she wants the law to own up its mistakes, wants to make sure the law gets its own revenge. that's why she wants to work in law, yeah? and so she keeps fighting, even when hope seems lost.

okay but why did i mention this? because i think this is what HJH sees in KS. why? because this is what he needs.

HJH had lost hope. in an episode (i don't remember which), he mentioned he doesn't trust anyone, and it's obvious why: his uncle. it's the worst kind of betrayal that causes your ideals being burned down. he realized that even people who work in law can be corrupt, people who he thought he could trust above all others, people who seemed utterly good. and then he just begins to regard everyone with baseline amity, and no further. many have pointed out he doesn't have real friends (other than KS), even though he looks outgoing and friendly. it's not quite shown, but it must've been lonely. and a lonely fight, trying to prove that he will be a better prosecutor than his uncle was. and we know that HJH's nature as a person is to be calculating, objective, seeing things through facts and statistics; it's what makes him so intelligent. what that also makes him is realistic, and more often than not, that is almost equal to pessimistic—because reality just... sucks, as has been proven by the betrayal of his uncle. and further into the drama we see only more corrupt people in the business, so we certainly don't get out hopes fueled.

there's scarcely anyone in what we see who's actually pursuing law because they're passionate about the law, or if they are, they're not often very... human in doing it. examples: YJH, SJH, KSB are all very cold and indifferent types, people who really just come and do what they do, focus on studies (in the case of YJH, his teaching), and interactions with others are treated as "lesser". SJH and KSB in particular—they're good at the law, sure, but they seem to prioritize their position in law first and foremost. SJH and KSB don't hesitate to call out their losses, and even would rather not intervene for justice if it meant their position would be compromised. not that they're bad characters, not at all; i mentioned them simply to compare them to KS, who, despite not having the brains to do half the things she's supposed to do and earning herself nosebleeds everytime she tries, still does what she does for justice, passionately, hopefully, all for righteousness.

okay this was longer than i intended WHEW so i'll cut to the chase: long story short, HJH needs KS because KS gives him hope. hope of a humanity where people actually work in law and choose to fight for justice against all odds, even if the system itself is infiltrated by filth and corruption. KS is someone who, in her first lecture, was grilled the fuck out by Yangcrates, yet the first thing she does after she nearly throws her guts out is ask HJH whether he can tutor her. she does not ever lose hope, and that, truly, is what stands out to HJH, what he needs.

and KS needs HJH because he is her hope as well! hope by itself does no good if you can't actually do something about it, and KS knows this. HJH, despite seemingly just being someone to help her in her studies, is someone she needs if she wants to achieve her goals, if she wants to get back on the law the right way. which is why, in the end, KS and HJH are, while independent in their own way, dependent on each other in terms of their growth—KS gives HJH hope in humanity, HJH helps KS realize (make real) her hopes that would have been dreams if not for her.

oh my god i've rambled on this long without stating my point: THE DAMN LINE.

HJH saying he owes her makes sense in this light because, indeed, KS's positive outlook in everything keeps him going. it gives him a reason to keep wanting to work in law, because she is a reason to believe in goodness and justice, that there will be people who keep fighting for justice against all odds. he owes this to her—and perhaps that is why he goes all out to help her achieve that hope, perhaps that's why he goes out of his way to care for her. because they are each other's missing puzzle piece, the other half. soulmates.

sigh ok this was long ONE FINAL POINT. everyone has their own opinion on a solwhi ending, so i might as well chip in mine.

certainly, as a solhwi shipper, i want them to end up together. i believe they're really the best of soulmates, two people who just complement each other so well. but in the current timeline, them having a romantic relationship out of the blue would be,,, simply unnecessary, imo. they're still very much in the stage of friendship, and are both dealing with their own personal baggage, that shoving a romance would just take away the focus from their growth. i personally think even this platonic relationship is already a beautiful one, one that outshines many of the romances i've watched, even without having to flood everything under the romance light—which i think many can agree with me, seeing as how solhwi is shipped so much. i still want to see them end up together, though, so SEASON TWO LAW SCHOOL MANIFESTATION. please please please directors writers make it happen i am begging you. thank you.

sorry for this long ass post, thank you if you do read it and leave any thoughts! again this is just my opinion, you're free to let me know if you think differently or anything, or shoot me a message if you want to scream about solhwi or whatever i'm just solhwi brainrot 24/7 🤸🏻‍♀️