#the whole scene where their parents pick them up is really says a lot about all their relationships with their respective parents

[aprillikesthings]

Okay so yesterday I did this with the first half of Promise let's see if I can manage the second half lol

and this is where I paused it lol (she just did the "teen self trying not to cry while leaning on the sink and failing, looks up and sees her adult self and is startled," and spiders are about to come out of the mirror)

I know we go on about the voice acting for this show a LOT but Catra's screams of terror are just really well done, okay

(hands)

It's always interesting to me that it takes her a solid like ten seconds from when the big robot spiders wrap her up in webbing, to when she remembers "oh wait I have claws" and frees herself. Like she has this moment first of still shrieking Adora's name even though her mouth is covered, and crying, and THEN she gets herself free.

They do take a split second to show us Catra intentionally making her claws longer, which is Nice. But it always cracks me up that the fandom as a whole seems to have mostly decided that she can retract them enough that it's safe to, uh, put them in sensitive places. Because y'all. They're pointy. She'd have to retract them SO MUCH. There's not room on that first knuckle of each finger!

It's fine, I decided to have that in my canon-based fic instead of having her cut any of them, I get WHY the fandom decided that even though it's not really physically possible lol it's still funny

ANYWAY

Adora's the muscular one but Catra's no weakling, she just fucking tears metal panels off the robot spiders and yanks cables until they snap

fangie!!! it took me four tries to get it without her blinking lol

Twice in this episode they show Adora putting her hand on Catra's shoulder, and Catra shoving it away--both as teenagers and as their current age

(I *know* I've seen/reblogged a gifset or meta post or both about every time Adora puts her hand on Catra's shoulder and how her reaction changes over the course of the story)

oh god. Adora's attempt at getting Catra to change sides is so painful. Because Adora's not wrong, but the way she says it ("I know you're not a bad person, Catra") is just guaranteed to push Catra further away. Well, that, and Light Hope then forces them into one of their shittier memories.

lol this is only happening for a split second before they stop and see the Black Garnet, but I caught it

Man. Adora's "You don't have to go in there." She knows what memory that is immediately, and she knows Catra knows, too. And it's interesting to me that she goes in anyway.

I say this knowing sometimes some memory of my childhood abuse will pop up in my head and I'll end up thinking about it for hours or days, letting myself get angrier about it, because the anger feels better than just being sad. So like...I get it.

I'm not screenshotting this scene. :(

"You've been never been anything more than a nuisance to me. I've kept you around this long because Adora was fond of you, but if you ever do anything to jeopardize her future, I will dispose of you myself." God. Not the first person to say it, but the degree to which Shadow Weaver made clear that her only source of safety was Adora liking her explains so much about how when Adora left, 1. It hurt her so much that it got twisted into anger and a desire for revenge, 2. Why she immediately started scrambling for the only other source of safety she knew of, which is power over others

"Adora, you must do a better job of keeping her under control." And THERE we have why Adora nearly martyrs herself trying to fight Catra and feels responsible for stopping her herself

"You never protected me! Not in any way that would put you on Shadow Weaver's bad side!" Yeah see that's what happens when you're both living under an abusive parent. Unfortunately. Speaking from experience.

Man this whole scene with them arguing has been picked to bits by plenty of people plenty of times lol but god it's just...so well done. There's so much character stuff here, so much that adds meanings to other scenes

"Why do you think I gave the sword back to you in the Fright Zone? I didn't want you to come back, Adora!" Yeah. She both means this and doesn't. Is the thing. I'll never be over the degree to which, from Catra's POV, Adora's actions just keep making her life harder, and so Catra is constantly frozen between missing/wanting Adora (a feeling that, especially after this episode, she's suppressing/denying), and hating her fucking guts.

ALSO I'm repeating myself but the voice acting

AAAUGH

Hah, I was joking about making one of those stretchy letter bracelets that says ilofyaylofmnrbchalawheoypip but my wrist might be too small

That shot of baby!Catra looking at her current self is such a gut punch. And then we see Catra making some decisions, and baby you are going to regret this

(did they run out of animation budget for this ep or did someone just forget to make the sword shiny? I always wonder)

The fucking speech she does. Aaaaugh baby you let that holograph manipulate you into seeing all your memories of Adora through the most bad faith lens possible

(man the music here is great. also side note I've only tried just listening to it on the soundtrack release like, once, because my brain often knew what was happening and it was Too Much)

I do like when she looks this deranged tho ngl

Can’t wait to engage in one of my fave midnight hobbies: get high as balls and rewatch bits of She-Ra and sometimes post screenshots with overemotional/horny captions

[feelingtheaster99]

When your parents pick up up after the first day of your freshman year of high school during which you got attacked by corn monsters, witnessed five people die, two of whom were kids your age (which despite them eventually being resurrected is still incredibly traumatic), one of whom you accidentally killed in self defense (and as they died they have a speech about how it was YOUR FAULT, sending you into a panic attack), and two of whom died in a murder-suicide to resurrect your newfound friends… but your parents are mad at you because:

You are SLEEVELESS

You defended yourself using your martial prowess (instead of magic)

You got detention

[itsclydebitches]

By this point we’ve all seen a hundred “Lucy had a crush on Cooper Howard and doesn’t realize he’s the Ghoul” takes (which feed me during the hiatus, thanks), but just for the lols I’d love to see the reversal: Lucy hates this guy.

Cooper Howard is her personal White Whale. Lucy hate-watches his films and nit-picks every scene like someone is paying her caps to do it. Whatever the opposite of a blorbo is, that’s Cooper. She woke up one day and chose violence against this 200 years dead actor in particular… but, you know, in a PR approved, Vaultie kind of way. Why the hate? Who knows. Probably a combination of her dad showing her Cooper’s debut film right when she hit that tween age where liking what your parents like is soul crushing and the fact that if she didn’t have this emotional outlet she’d probably explode. It’s the one (1) thing goody-goody Lucy is irrational about and Norm takes endless pleasure in it.

So she’s traveling with the Ghoul, right? Not a whole lot to do while traversing the Wasteland, especially when your companion is blatantly ignoring you and the pip-boy isn’t picking up any radio signals. So when Lucy is able to open that wound again she starts talking about her dad. The books he liked. Jokes he told over dinner. His favorite pair of socks. Silly, inconsequential things that don’t touch on the weight of his betrayal.

Eventually, Lucy talks about the movies they used to watch.

Eventually, Lucy is comfortable enough—and bored enough—to segue into epic rants about Cooper Fudging Howard. For hours. Nothing escapes her passive aggressive, couched-as-constructive-criticism bitching. Not his acting (“Really, he’d benefit from learning a gesture other than sticking his hands in his belt”), not his looks (“Who decided to put him in those pants in Master of the Ranch? Although, Dad says Howard is the one who requested them…”), not even his unintentional impact on the family (“I swear if Dad makes me watch A Man and His Dog one more time…”).

All the while Cooper is walking a few paces ahead. Seemingly stoic.

Actually losing it.

What’s he even supposed to do in this situation?? He hates himself, but not like that. Cooper doesn’t have any desire to talk to Vaultie (that’s a lie. He’s good at lying to himself), but suddenly he wants to turn around, finger held aloft in the air (hers), and correct everything coming out of her mouth—whether he truly disagrees or not. Hands-in-belt is a classic cowboy pose. He loved those pants.

Cooper is Struggling™ and they haven’t even hit the strip yet.

Bonus points: Somewhere along the line they get together and Cooper starts angsting over whether Lucy will leave him. Not because of the radiation damage, or the murder, or the cannibalism, but because if she ever finds out he’s Cooper Howard she’ll absolutely abandon ship. Or kill him. Either option seems likely at this point.

Lucy: Are you ever going to tell me your name? Cooper, literally in bed with Lucy post-coitus: …That’s a little personal, sweetheart

[fancyfeathers]

Another prompt/ask for Fancy! Scenario where Daughter!Darling gets into a courtyard fight with somebody from her school?

Like I’m talking fists flying, scratching, maybe even hair pulling!

Like, who in the Batfam would be horrified to see her come home bruised and who would be immensely proud to see that she beat the other kid to a bloody pulp?

From 🪼

Yandere Batfam w/ Wife/Mother!Darling & Daughter/Sister!Darling Masterlist

The question is who would be the least horrified/concerned

Bruce gets the call from the principal right around lunch time, he is supposed to be in a meeting but then he gets told his daughter was in a fight and he immediately goes to the school only to find his daughter sitting outside the principal’s office with Damian next to her because the principal left him to watch her. Bruce honestly expected a trip to the hospital to check for concussions, but his daughter looked fine besides a few bruises, and then the other kid and his parents come out of the office, the parents look pissed and the kid looked terrified and was the one who probably needed stitches.

Bruce definitely looked like he got a few grays sitting in the principal’s office with Damian and his daughter. She had gotten in a fight at lunch, apparently the other kid said something to her that pissed her off and it ended up in that kid getting beat up, really beat up. Then when she was being brought to the office Damian spotted her and tagged along, demanding an explanation for her, and Damian was pissed because no she is not supposed to get in fights, he was supposed to protect her, she is supposed to be helpless.

Bruce pays for the other kid’s medical bills and takes her home after she was suspended and oh my she is very much in trouble. It is that type of scene where he scolds her in the car, she is a member of their family now, she has to behave. Damian does not pick fights at school, and he was raised by assassins, so there is no justification that she should either. She is sent to her room and needless to say she is grounded for a very long time.

Seeing as she already spends most of her time in her room in the manor and her mother does not side with Bruce on her actions, it really won’t get the point across. So after some mulling it over, Bruce talks to Dick and she is told that she is going to be staying with Dick in Blüdhaven during the rest of her suspension and probably then some, doing online classes.

The punishment isn’t the fact that she has to stay with Dick but the fact that she won’t have her mom with her. Dick is not as harsh on his little sister, actually getting her to let her guard down and have fun, especially with a little help from Haley. Honestly he understands, her whole life had changed because of them in the blink of an eye, she is not a vigilante in a family full of them, she just is a child and she deserves to be a child instead of just having a bunch of pent of rage and that kid was just the one who popped the lid on the enviable. Honestly for awhile she forgets about a lot her problems with Dick taking her out to see the city during the day and bond with her and tucking her into bed with Haley before he going off on patrols during the night, he doesn’t really need to worry about her running away, he lives in the middle of the city of Blüdhaven, the crime is bad enough that she won’t go running off.

Tim will probably stop by to watch their little sister during the day when Dick has to go into his day job and he is definitely a bit torn up. He certainly is not happy about the fact that do to her actions she is out of the manor until she learns her lesson (not like she wants to be there anyway), but he understands she needs to learn to let her guard down around them so she does not keep her emotions so pent up so this does not happen again. When she starts school work online again, Tim is the one making sure she does it, sending reminders to Dick to check up on her work (he would text her but her phone was taken after she got suspended), or sitting by her when Dick is busy and he is watching her and making sure she is working and helping her out. He is the one who is trying her to break down her walls the most so this can all be over with and she can come back home and…

It doesn’t work that easily.

When she is out at the park with Dick and Tim, taking Haley on a walk after Dick got back from work and before they went on patrol, Dick brought up the idea of family traditions since she must have had some with her mother and since they all are a family now…

“No, we’re not a… you’re not my family.”

Just when they thought they have made so much progress, her hand threatens to slip away from Dick’s grasp, but he squeezes her hand tight and he drags her back to his apartment, Tim trailing closely behind.

Jason is the last to have to deal with this situation after this last incident. He comes to see her while everyone is out on patrol, climbing through the window of Dick’s apartment, taking off his helmet, and sitting down next to her and breaking down for her as much as he can. He knows she does not want to be here and there is no changing the fact that she is not going to be leaving them, if she just pretends to be happy and get along with people things will actually be happier for her, they will never be totally ideal, but they could be flexible if she follows the rules like no fighting at school, let them be older brothers and a father to her, just behave, act her age, and be a part of the family. Just work with them and they will work with her.

She agrees, Jason isn’t one to keep up the delusion, he just does not want to see her hurt anymore, he is a protective yandere by the very definition. Because she agrees he may or may not teach her some self defense moves that Bruce didn’t want her knowing, just to be able to hold her own when need be and not give a kid a bloody nose, if he really deserves that her brothers will take care of it.

(I am also imagining the aftermath of the meeting with the principal, Bruce stressed out and Mother!Darling being like, “hm, maybe she would be a better Robin than your boys-“ “no.”)

[mandarinmoons]

could you write spencer x reader where she's pregnant but everyone finds out before reader does and spencer is the one to tell her, like the scene with Cece and schmidt in new girl. ofc u can write it however that's just where i got the idea from. thank you 💋

I haven't seen New Girl so I don't know how it all went down in the show, but I hope my take is alright x

The members of the BAU had started to notice that you had started to act a bit strange. 

JJ noticed that you had started to go to the bathroom at what seemed like every half an hour while Penelope, who was known as the team’s personal baker, saw that you had started to decline her homemade cookies. Something was fishy.

“Spencer!” Penelope carefully hurried to the man’s way in her high heels, “We gotta talk.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Have you noticed that Y/N’s been acting a bit, hmm, I don’t know, strange lately?”

Spencer furrowed his brows and blinked a few times, “What do you mean?”

“Y/N is always the first one to take one of my cookies whenever I bring them in and now she’s refusing and saying the smell makes her feel sick. And, and JJ said that Y/N’s been feeling sick lately and-,”

“Wait, what? She’s sick?”

Penelope's eyes widen and she stares at Spencer, “You didn’t know? JJ’s noticed that she’s been going into the bathroom a whole lot recently.”

Spencer shook his head as he glanced towards you. Usually he’s the first to notice whenever you’re acting off, but with all of the work being piled up on his desk, if it didn’t happen right in front of his eyes, he wouldn’t be in the know.

“Have you noticed anything else?”

“Uh let’s see, she said she’s been feeling more tired recently. She said it could be from going to bed later at night or- oh wait, you don’t think that…”

Spencer nodded and excused himself as he walked towards you, the idea of what could be causing your unease could be more beautiful than nerve wrecking.

Spencer walked up behind your desk chair and rested his hands on your shoulders, his thumbs rubbing over the blades.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m alright,” you looked up from your paperwork and gave Spencer a smile.

“Penelope said you’ve felt a bit sick lately.”

“Oh um, yeah it’s nothing though. I’m sure it’ll pass soon.”

“Are you sure? How long has it been going on?”

“Oh um, I’m not sure, a week maybe?”

“A week? And you haven’t told me?”

“Spence I’m sorry I just, it’s always gotten better and I didn’t want to worry you.”

“But it’s kept coming back?”

“I guess yeah, why?”

Spencer sighed and caressed your cheek, “Sweetheart, don’t you see?”

You furrowed your brows and a moment later you realized what Spencer was hinting at, it was becoming clear.

“You don’t think that I’m…”

“Pregnant? It could be.”

You sighed and rubbed your hands over your face. Spencer kneeled down in front of you and took your hands in his, "Hey, listen to me, we’re going to be okay. I’m right here with you through all of it and if it really is what we think it is then I’m going to do my best to take care of both of you, I promise.”

“I know you would, Spence, it’s just a lot of responsibility.”

“I know, but I’m willing to put in the effort. I want this, I want this with you.”

Tears pricked your eyes and Spencer leaned over and kissed your forehead.

Later that night as the work day ended you and Spencer stopped by a pharmacy and picked up a few pregnancy tests and headed home with crossed fingers. 

Half an hour later and four pregnancy tests later, that were all positive. Spencer held you tightly in his arms as you both took in the news, you were going to be parents.

“Are you sure you want this? With me?”

Spencer nodded and kissed your head, “Of course, there’s no one else I’d rather experience this with. Do you want this?”

You looked up at Spencer as he brushed the hair from your eyes. You thought about the time you had spent together, how over the years it seemed like he became even more delicate with you if that were even possible. The times you had seen him with kids made your heart soar and a part of you did hope that one day you could experience the joy of having a family together. Sure this was unplanned, but that didn’t mean you two weren’t ready.

“I do want this, I want this with you.”

Taglist: @radioactiveinvisible @whoisspence @sreidisms @lanascinnamongirls @luvkatryna @sp3ncelle @iluvreid @khxna @keiva1000 @indigosamsblog

If you want to be a part of my taglist go here!

You can find my masterlist here!

My requests are open so feel free to send one in! (SFW only)

[the-s1lly-corner]

I’ve read through some of your old posts and I gotta say…I love me some angst. May I kindly, pretty please with a plastic cherry on top, ask for TADC gang with an S/O who abstracted a while back, but then they ‘respawn’ one day with a glitch affect about them, and their memory was totally wiped? Like it was their first day in the digital world? The glitch affect doesn’t hurt them or anyone like what happened to Ragetha and Pomni btw.

TADC cast x mended!reader

so funny story i was about to sit down and work on this about 4 hours ago but then my parents said they were going to watch the fnaf movie in the garage and i literally dropped everything and watched it so uh uh. the reason the grind stopped was because of fnaf movie and now im kinda tempted to pick up my fnaf fic again anyways! i did a similar post, here! jax and caines parts here will be short, really only focusing on the glitch aspect for them in this post, since the other half has already been written!

CAINE:

just got flashed with an image but you know that scene where the iron giant is trying to pick the boy up but hes like limp or something and the giant pulls back (ive never watched iron giant i just know this clip from a meme) i think it would be like that if he tried to poof your glitching away; but like. in an emotional way, if that makes sense. like its the same kind of carefulness and worry, i think... bonus if he does more damage than not

JAX:

honestly a little too scared to even touch you out of the deep seeded fear of getting all glitchy as well. like he knows it wont spread to him, but you know...

POMNI:

similar to jax i think she would instinctively avoid touching you even though she knows its fine... the whole hand thing making her overly cautious for future scenarios, you know? i think she would slip up and accidentally bring up something you and her did before you abstracted, or call you an endearing name before abruptly stopping herself and trailing off, sad stuff. grief makes her tear between wanting to find an exit faster and trying to make you remember/stay for you

RAGATHA:

poor girl :( i think she would genuinely try to make an effort to re/befriend you and try not to have her hopes too high for the two of you to get back together. if you hear about your past relationship and want to learn more about it, shell tell you what you want to know, but i doubt she would instantly start dating you again if you suggest the two of you trying to give the relationship a second shot... i think that would need some time

KINGER:

bro is gonna be going through it, first he loses his possible wife to abstraction and now he lost you.. got you back, but you dont remember anything. on top of that you look.. off.. sure it doesnt hurt you but it still looks like it would be uncomfortable, even if it isnt

stuck between longing to rekindle your old relationship and letting you go in order to allow himself to process this grief; the third option is potential abstraction for himself

ZOOBLE:

tries not to care. they want to forget everything like you did, they were finally starting to be normal after your abstraction. but now your back in a clean slate, mind wiped and memories gone. how does someone cope with that? as much as it hurts them they think it would be best for them to pretend you were a stranger again

GANGLE:

saying it again, poor girl. mix of pomni and ragatha here i think, like she keeps messing up and verbally reminiscing before realizing you cant relate to what shes saying anymore. will tell you anything you want to know about the past, but i think it would take a lot longer for her to consider getting with you again than ragatha. for both its kind of a "i dont want them to feel obligated to try because we were together once" type deal

[herejusttosufferalong]

I've started and deleted this sentence several times now and don't really know how to begin. So let's just go for it and say seriously WHAT THE FUCK has been the last 6 months!? My mind is a clusterfuck rn. I love L and N but they are seriously debilitating. Like I've been see-sawing between casual nonchalance about everything saying "haha this is great ride, what's next in store?" to just confused exasperation and emotional fatigue. I don't even know these people, and yet I am so fucking invested. This has never happened to me. They are like a drug. Seriously, whatever they are selling, I will buy 10 of everything, pump it into my veins. Why is my kink now seeing them get married, have kids and L be a stay-at-home daddy while N rules the fucking world?! N, alone, has me questioning my sexuality. Then I remember L is there, and I go oh yeah him too. Them is my sexuality. It's so messy. Anyway, now to the point of this. I had some flashbacks while watching L's Loewe Vogue video today. Watching his groomer give him a lovely face and head massage instantly transported me to Ireland with the infamous forehead stroke. Honestly, imo, the biggest turning point of the whole tour. So much happened before this time, but I really do think this moment was critical. I will outline why.

Obviously, Ireland was a massive deal for N. The excitement of getting back home and meeting family and friends, the amazing reception, it was special. She talked ad nauseam about her mum meeting L and honestly all I could think was when has anyone been excited/nervous about their parents meeting just a friend? You feel that certain way because you're wanting approval, you're wanting them to feel the same way you do about that person and welcome them into the family, as it were. I've never felt that way with friends, but I had done with my boyfriend (now husband). But maybe that's just me? L didn't seem as caught up in it, like almost trying to downplay a lot of her ott excitement. I also noticed that they were less touchy feely overall compared to earlier on in the trip, which was so unhinged honestly, I didn't know what to do with myself. But then came the moment. I don't think enough people have broken this moment down. So the interviewer asks the question, that's been asked oh so many times, "was it easier or harder to do the intimacy scenes with a friend?" And N looks at L and thinks to herself, he has a hair out of place on his forehead, I'm going to reach out and stroke his forehead right in the middle of this god damn interview. Not once, but a few times, like her little hand was built to stroke that man's face. Now, tbf, she does ask permission but also tbf her hand is already at his face before he can answer a whispered, guttural, "mhmm". He leans in, we loose L for a bit there, then he comes back saying "ok" like you probably got that hair now, think we should stop now. And her going into 'mother' mode telling him to turn his head, good boy. And his little worried face when it's over. And them talking about how N just can't stop picking hairs off people on set. Mmm ok. If they were in Regency outfits, I would be expecting a mirror scene next up. But you might say to me, well shit like this has happened countless times, it's just another thing. Well, I say no, this time was different. They both knew they had crossed a line, publicly, her initiation, his reaction. Because they were strange as hell at the London premiere. He avoided her gaze. She visibly stopped herself from touching him. One occasion, I saw her reach out to his arm or back, and she looked behind him (I think where their teams were?), and immediately pulled her arm back. The first moment she was asked about people shipping Lukola she had a pre-prepared speech ready to go to explain the head stroke. It was forced. A lot of what she said seemed so rehearsed, and although, I'm certain N does think a lot about what she is going to say in interviews, usually she is very natural about it and let's it flow. That lady was stressed and making a point that L is just a 'bud'. The lady doth protest to much, methinks. She's seen everything we've typed about her and L's behaviour during the tour, so why start over-explaining and defending behaviour now? She was STRESSED. That was the overt, obvious, stop yourself type of behaviour, and yet we still saw SOME of that unconscious stuff seep through, like him searching for her hand, her looking up at him like a God, her stroking his thumb with hers while holding hands (seriously, why was that SO intimate to me?). Point being, you can't fake that stuff, the repression and release. The unconscious behaviour. They knew something was rumbling. Or at least, N did. My opinion is that they have not acted on those rumblings, because if they had, it would be OVER. Electric. Power surge. Goodnight. Pack your bags and goodbye. We might not even exist anymore, tbh. But I shall wait over here and keep eating all the crumbs I can get. (I am sooo sorry about the length of whatever this is, thank you much the same, it was so nice to vent).

OKay but like I kinda fuckin love you anon...

I had the biggest smile on my face reading this.

There is so much to unpack here. We will have to chat sometime.

LOVE x

[lunarfleur]

Miles Morales Dating Headcanons

Tagging: @juneberrie @sluggmuffin

Warnings:fighting mentions

A/N:I’m in love with him he’s a cutie patootie ☹️☹️

This is x gender neutral reader!

He’s honestly just so cute

The type of guy to smother you in kisses and hug you really tightly every time he sees you

Simple nicknames like babe. Throws in a Cariño or Hermosa every once in a while

Like I said, he’s a hugger in every universe.

If you don’t greet him with hug the second he comes into view, there’s a problem

“Not a hi…? Not a hug? A kiss? Hello??”

Just like Earth 42! Miles, he keeps his room clean for you

Like it’s typically organized anyways, but he makes sure to clean clean before you come over

Vacuums, dusts, picks up clothes

Makes sure his bed is made perfectly, fit for only the best cuddles

Movie nights happen as often as possible

You’ll cuddle up on his bed, suffocatingly close to each other

It’s so easy to fall asleep because he’s so warm and he smells so good

Initiate any form of affection with him. He’ll die.

You kiss him? Dead.

You compliment him? Dying.

Tell him you love him? On the floor.

He’s just so in love

He never gets over it

Same with Earth 42! Miles, he’s young and you make him excited

Playful, giggly make out sessions that never lead anywhere except tickling or play fighting with each other

Lip biting, laughing, uncoordinated movements that have you both making fun of each other

The sweet, happy make outs that make it seem as if the world is perfect.

In no way is this boy ashamed of PDA.

You know the scene in ITSV, where his dad drops him off at school and makes him say he loves him?

He’s like that.

Nothing can come between your feelings for each other.

Ankles hooked under the table and shoulders touching when sitting next to each other.

Holding hands when walking together.

Those kinds of things.

He’s a dork. Everyone knows it. He knows it. You know it. The whole school knows it.

He’s come to terms with it. It doesn’t bother him anymore.

He doesn’t have many friends, but it doesn’t bother him.

He’s friendly to everyone and, even though he isn’t besties with everyone he’s ever seen, people have respect for him

He’s got this showy kind of confidence to him, and it’s so easy for him to make people laugh.

He’s warm and playful, almost in a nostalgic kind of way.

Miles loves his parents more than everything. Not only did they give him life, but they’ve been there for him through everything.

He knows that.

He wants you to meet them, for you to become a part of the family.

He wants to show you everything that makes him Miles.

And, of course, he wants to meet your family.

He wants to see where you come from.

But if you say no, that you just don’t think it’s a good idea, he won’t push it.

His parents are sweet people

They’re understanding

So when they walk in on one of those playful make outs?

The first few times they drill him about being safe. The rest of the times they let it go.

Fighting with Miles is one of the biggest differences between him and his Earth 42! counterpart.

This Miles will yell. Not necessarily at you, just in general.

He’s got big feelings and a lot to say

Of course he hates raising his voice at you, but he honestly does it without thinking

But fights with him never last long.

He won’t let you go until the problem is resolved.

Even if you’re at his place and his mom hesitantly reminds him that he has to walk you home

He makes it clear that nobody’s leaving

He does his best to stay calm, and you two talk it out

And then he kisses you and gives you one of those big hugs

Everything’s always okay with you two.

Miles was honestly okay with telling you about being Spiderman.

He knew he was gonna disappear randomly. So after a bit, he told you.

It was surprisingly nonchalant

And he told you about how it all happened

He included his uncle’s death, Peter, Gwen, even “the pig who sounds suspiciously a lot like John Mulaney” as he calls him.

He takes you swinging and you two have dates where you watch he sunset on top a building

He doesn’t miss out on things as much as Earth 42! Miles does.

Miles takes every opportunity to draw you

He has sketchbooks upon sketchbooks filled with pictures of you

You sleeping, you smiling, you doing literally anything.

He just thinks you’re so cute, he can’t help it.

[bestworstcase]

What do you mean by Tai favors Ruby?

i mean that he favors ruby

to be more specific, yang has been co-parenting her two-years-younger sister with her dad since she was about five, when tai evidently left them home alone on a regular basis. now i’m not in the camp that tai did not do any parenting at all or that yang raised ruby completely by herself—i don’t think the text supports that:

ruby clearly does see tai as her dad, and relates to him that way

“ugh, you sound like dad!” in particular illustrates both ruby’s fairly normal parent-child relationship with tai and yang’s quasi-parental role in her life

both yang (per the text) and tai (in the animated fairytale series) read bedtime stories, although ruby’s recollection suggests that it was yang reading to her more often than tai reading to both of them

—but i do think it’s clear that tai leaned on yang a lot more than he should have. yang remembers him “shutting down” after summer left and that she had to be the one to “pick up the pieces,” ruby expressly thinks of yang as the one who raised her, there’s literally a scene in ice queendom where tai and yang talk about parenting ruby. like:

TAI: It’s gonna be a lot harder to go out as a family after you’re gone. YANG: I really hope Ruby will be okay without me around. She tends to get caught up in her own little world sometimes, you know? TAI: A little independence will do her good! I love that you two support each other, but she can’t rely on you for everything, you know? YANG: I know, I know, you’re right, Dad.

<- that’s not a parent-child conversation.

innately when you have a dynamic where the elder sibling is co-parenting the younger, the younger sibling is being favored. that comes with the territory.

but there’s also the additional factor of both ruby and yang being so strongly identified with their mothers—to the point that their individuality is elided—and summer being up on this pedestal as both the Perfect Huntress and the Good Mother in contrast to raven being the skeleton in the family closet until yang reached legal adulthood. and then when tai finally does start talking about raven, he more or less presents raven to yang as a cautionary tale: i see so much of her in you and that’s great but watch out because her flaws tore our team and family apart.

it’s never said in so many words but that level of comparison and identification with their mothers, when one is the Noble Heroic Paragon and the other is a Complicated Woman Who Ruined Our Family… that. uh. to put it gently, that will trickle down into the treatment of the children.

and between how tai treats yang in v4 and ruby’s summer-identity-crisis in v9, it’s pretty fucking clear that both girls felt that in different ways—ruby’s whole sense of self is fucked because she can’t separate herself from the Idea of Summer Rose, whereas tai is really harshly critical of yang specifically because he projects his ideas about raven onto her, to the point that yang feels the need to go “sorry i remind you of her.”

it goes without saying that none of this was good for ruby either—it just hurt her in different, more insidious ways. but there’s like. this pattern. of yang being given adultlike responsibilities way too young and being held to harsher standards because tai can’t or won’t separate her from raven

[zetsubo-bani]

The Attackers and why I don't think it was rciel

The attackers of the tenth birthday is probably the biggest mystery in black butler. They are the ones ociel wants revenge against and their identities is a complete mystery. Which is why this is a popular topic to theorise about.

The most popular theory is the real ciel mastermind theory (rcmmt) which claims that it was rciel who either let the intruders in and commanded them or did this whole thing himself.

I myself strongly disagree with this theory and want to present why (as well as do little speculations about the real culprits).

Now then, why do people think it's rciel?

The panel that most people found suspicious are these:

The unknown expression on ciels face is what caught peoples attention and a lot of people thought that it meant he developed some sort of grudge against his parents because they "wanted to seperate him and his brother". But I think it's actually the opposite.

What vincent and rachel basically told him was "if you grow up and become a strong earl, you can help and protect your brother, even if you two are not in the same place" and I think that's what kickstarted rciels protective side.

We've seen in the blue memory arc after they got captured that rciel always held ociel in a very protective pose and with a glare to the hostile person.

And this moment is simply him realising that since his brother is a bit on the physically weaker side and doesn't have the title, that rciel can protect him instead. Some call his smile fake but I think it's genuine if you look at the background and how those little bubbles are drawn (which are always there in happy moments).

We also saw this protective side later during the attack .

Tanaka was supposed to pick them up at 6pm and as we can see, it's already 40 minutes after the time he was supposed to come. If a person who is usually very reliable is 40 minutes late, anyone would be suspicious and as we can see in rciels expression, he clearly suspects something is wrong.

We can see rciels protective side already kicking in by telling ociel he should remain where he is while rciel goes and checks. I couldn't include the next panel due to the limit but after that rciel says "it's my duty as the heir" which definitely ties back to what the previous pages caused.

So rciel basically walks out with no insurance that it's really safe while leaving his brother behind where he is (at the moment) safe.

Though after roughly 15 minutes have passed, ociel walks out anyways.

On his way he hears barking from vincents room after the dog sebastian has ran off.

What I believe happened was that the dog caught the perpetrator with vincent and started barking which caused the attacker to also kill the dog.

After ociel saw his dead parents and dog, he ran off in a panic, accidentally stumbling upon more corpses who were gathered around the whole house

Before hearing what seems to be the sound of blades clashing and running into tanaka.

Now this part is very important for the next page but think about this: if there is a sound of blades clashing and tanaka is not the one fighting then who are the two people fighting?

The answer is: it's rciel and the attacker.

Tanaka soon says this:

"master ciel is..." Indicates that rciel is in that hallway tanaka was in and from the sound of it, it doesn't seem that he was fine.

But you may ask now: "if rciel is fighting against someone and didn't seem to be doing well then why didn't tanaka help him since he is their servant and supposed to protect them?"

The answer is ociel.

Tanaka got distracted by ociel suddenly entering the scene. But most importantly look at what happened moments afterwards:

Someone stabbed tanaka in the back after he ran towards ociel (which was very likely the person who fought against rciel). But the important part are the hands grabbing ociel from behind.

Someone was following ociel and tanaka saw this which is why he left rciel on his own and try to protect ociel. But it was already too late.

After they got captured, rciel drops what I think is the biggest hint that he isn't the responsible one.

"if only I had more power", "if only I had the power to be invincible" pretty much confirms that he was indeed fighting against someone and got overpowered.

Now here is why I don't think rciel is the culprit:

1. Rciel has no motive to hurt his parents. They acted completely fine and like normal parents to him and that lesson after his tantrum is not nearly enough to serve as motive, especially because I think it served the opposite purpose and only spurred on his "I'm the big brother, I need to be strong" personality of his (which can be a common thing of older siblings)

2. Like I said the reason rciel went on his own was due to that personality and thinking he as the heir needs to deal with the possible threat. It wasn't to let in intruders

3. When they woke up, 40 minutes had already passed so the intruders were already on their rampage while the twins were sleeping (which caused tanaka to not come). Rciel couldn't possibly have let the attackers in if he was sleeping or while he was playing with ociel the whole time. He literally has an alibi.

4. That 15 minute timeframe wouldn't have been enough to kill off everyone in that manor because on one hand it is absolutely huge and on the other he is just 10 and lacks strength to fight against a grown adult.

5. Sebastian the dog obviously caught the intruder with vincent and barked. But sebastian already knows and likes rciel so why would he bark at his familiar? Because the intruder wasn't a familiar and most likely a stranger.

6. Rciel was fighting against someone which is the attacker. How can rciel be the attacker if he was fighting against the attacker?

7. Rciel was just 10. A little kid and most importantly the son of Vincent! Even if rciel had malicious intent (which he didn't) he couldn't have orchestrated it without vincent as the guard dog somehow noticing it. Tanaka or other servants were closely watching them and rciel wouldn't even have had the chance to meet and hire assassins to attack their manor on the tenth birthday.

8. Why would rciel cry over not having been strong enough if he was the mastermind? Even if he was and the attackers ended up "betraying him", it just feels strange that this would be what he complains and apologises for. The "not having been strong enough" is a big blow for him since he believed for years that he has to be the strong one for his brother. But the fact that he wasn't and they both got kidnapped, deeply hurts him which is why those tears in his eyes are genuine

9. Rciel having vincents ring is not a surprise if you think about the dog sebastian. Sebastian barked loudly which caught ociels attention who was rather far away. And it certainly must have caught rciels as well which is where he likely caught the attackers in the act and chased after them. This is what most likely broke out the fight.

The attackers are two or more people and by the size of the hands who grabbed ociel, they are most likely adults.

Besides consider this: Vincent requested diedrich to protect his sons if something should happen to him (which even diedrich found suspicious). Why would he ask that? Likely because he suspected something like this would happen.

It's highly likely that Vincent must have done something bad that he knew will cause his death. Which makes me theorise that vincent is the reason the attackers came and not because rciel orchestrated something.

Maybe I will add more reasons in the future if I think about more but I really had to get this off my chest since the rcmmt is my least favourite theory because it makes no sense to me. That theory is definitely based on some bias against rciel I believe.

But hopefully after this, you will see why it couldn't have been him.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

Looking back at Steven Universe I had a lot of criticisms, but there were also a lot opinions and discourse that REALLY didn’t sit right with me—one of the biggest ones was the discourse surrounding “Storm in The Room”

I remember there being a lot of posts about how “Rose” was gaslighting Steven by asking him if he really believed she purposefully made him to run from her mistakes.

And I just. As someone who is close to their parents BUT also has had a lot of fights with them, and has had a lot of moments where I felt EXACTLY like Steven does during this scene, it was always very clear to me that this whole conversation and episode was Steven working out his complicated feelings about Rose on his own.

The “Rose” in the gif above is not real. It’s not actually Steven’s mom. That’s like. That’s the whole point.

Steven asking Room!Rose if she just created him to run away from her mistakes, and her responding by asking him if he really believes that, is Steven having an internal dialogue. He is talking things out with himself. It’s something I’ve done myself MANY times when I get in arguments or need to untangle my own feelings about something.

Steven’s fear and anxiety is that he wasn’t created to be his own person, but to fix Rose’s mistakes. However, on some level he doesn’t really believe that, he knows rationally Rose loves him and did not INTEND for him to be hurt by her past actions. But regardless of her intent, Steven was still hurt. And that hurt is real and important.

This room manifests Steven’s desires, feelings and thoughts. I always interpreted that scene as Steven coming to terms with the fact that his mother isn’t perfect and wonderful like he previously believed her to be. It’s him realizing she’s a PERSON who had flaws and did bad things.

He has to let himself feel the anger and hurt and betrayal and be upset before he can think rationally again and realize that no, he doesn’t really believe that his mom only made him to hide from her mistakes. But it’s still upsetting. It’s still hard. And as he says in this scene, he has to pick up the pieces of everything Rose left behind.

THAT is the point of this scene, and of “Storm in the Room” as a whole.

Something that I haven’t heard or seen talked about in regards to Steven Universe’s themes is the fact that, in life, you will hurt the people you love sometimes. And that you will be hurt by them in turn.

This happens multiple times through the series, and I personally think it’s done so well because the way the characters are written feel very true to life. The relationships in Steven Universe rupture and break, but the characters come together to repair their relationships again and again.

That is what a healthy relationship actually looks like—they are not devoid of conflict. Instead the people in the relationship work through conflict when it arises.

The reason the conflict in Steven Universe is so engaging to me personally is because its focus is on interpersonal relationships and how they take hard work and time.

This is something that is so important to understand, for kids and adults alike. That the people who love you become a part of you, and that they will hurt you—and while that doesn’t make them evil or malicious, that pain is still real and deserves to be acknowledged and those feelings should be treated seriously.

[chungledown-bimothy]

Top 5 character dynamics on d20? (Intrepid heroes seasons + side quests; so 10)

oh i love this and thank you for splitting it into the 2 groups, making it slightly more possible lol

point of clarification: the slashes are NOT being used as a shipping indication. it's just faster than using and a million times. in fact, the only one i ship is colin/deli/skarna.

Side Quests:

1- Colin/Deli/Skarna. I don't need to explain this one, I think. Everything is wrong with them and it's painful and wonderful.

2- Squing/Alexsandr. Squing ate over 2500 letters Sasha wrote. Sasha wants to play with his weirdly soft head like silly putty. Every single interaction has me in hysterics, really.

3- Evan/Jammer. EAT TRASH BEAT TRASH. FAMILY ON SIX. Jammer constantly being Evan's strongest hype man is just so great.

4- Chirp/Squak. Emily and Lou decided they wanted to be an iconic, chaotic duo, and my god they knocked it out of the park. The scene where she tells him about her wife and kids?? 100/10.

5- Lila/Jaysohn/Thorn. It was really hard to not say the whole damn party, honestly. But Thorn trying to cool-uncle parent these goddamn nightmares was incredible.

Intrepid Heroes:

1- Amethar/Caramelinda. I wrote a whole fic about their early relationship. I rotate them in my mind constantly. As complicated and painful what we know about them is, what's left unsaid is even more so. (if you just meant pc/pc dynamics, i'm sorry!)

2- Sofie/Kugrash. If I start talking about the million reasons I love them and their friendship, I'll start crying, so. Not gonna do that. But you understand.

3- Pete/Kingston. Pete seeing Kingston as an authority figure to rebel against -> father figure. Kingston not giving Epona Pete's information in the same day that he says that if it comes down to NYC or Pete, he'll pick NYC ten out of ten times. The Voxes, starting diametrically opposed and ending up family, really.

4- Saccharina/Ruby. You can be my queen or my sister, but not both. The prisoners' dilemma. Jet just died, Ruby can't let anyone else in vs Ruby representing everything Saccharina has ever wanted. 100/10 Siobhan and Emily killed me.

5- Pib/Pinocchio. Literally partners in crime. Just a pair of little dudes causing Big Chaos. Pinocchio holding Pib up to Baba Yaga and saying "where the white women at?" is canon to me.

That's a lot of Lou characters oop 😅

[richonnesbitch]

Oooh ok now we know your fav TOWL kiss(es) so the logical next question is what is/are you favorite TWD kiss(es) ???

And between your fav TOWL and fav TWD kiss… which one wins 😈

Just wanna start this off by saying I'm sorry I took so long to get to this! I've been busy lately but I wanted to give this question the time it deserved because I could really go on and on about every richonne kiss. But I am going to limit myself to my top 3. I would do more but currently I'm not in the hest headspace so its hard for me to think! This is in no particular order because it's hard as hell to pick favorites! Anywayyyy let's get started.

1. Have Your Mints

Okay so before richonne I wasn't really one of those people that shipped couples, okay? Of course I loved the chemistry between richonne but I wasn't as hardcore about it as I am now. I remember where I was when this moment happened. When I say it changed my life, it changed my entire DAMN life. Like, I was shell-shocked in the most amazing way possible. Never have I felt such euphoria in my life than I did when Rick and Michonne finally happened! I immediately became a VERY hard-core shipper. I would literally rewatch this kiss on repeat for HOURS for MONTHS straight. Obsessed was not even the word. Like it was straight up addiction the way I would watch it. Naturally it would have to be my favorite kiss! It's just so beautiful and romantic and sensual and tender, etc, etc, etc. I've never seen anything else like it. To quote Scott Gimple, "These are two people who have found kindred spirits in each other, strength, respect, support, loyalty. But the world has been screaming in their faces and clawing at them for a good part of their acquaintance. For all they’ve been through, when the world stopped screaming and clawing for them, they realized what they had." Wooooo! What a gorgeous quote. Basically, this kiss invented romance for me and changed the entire course of my life. I had to give it the #1 spot, I had to. I had to!!!

2. The Triple Kiss

This kiss is just too damn cute. If I'm not mistaken, it's the only casual kiss we ever get between richonne. Most of the time they're making out lmao! But it just goes to show how life has slowed down a lot for them and now they're fully able to enjoy their time together and they can take time with their kisses. It's so domestic. Also find it cute how Rick knows Michonne likes too work hard but kinda softly tells her to take it easy for the night because he wants to cuddle her to sleep. This whole scene is too good.

3. Hearts Still Beating

Well, this kiss was almost too dark to see but from what I did see it was sexy as fuck! And also very loving at the same time. Richonne is so good at that. I love love love LOVE Michonne's speech. She has such a way with words, her thinking about becoming a writer at one point in her life makes SO much sense. The way she talks about how she doesn't wanna do things her way. she wants to do it her AND Rick's way. She doesn't wanna do anything without her man by her side. The way she not only convines Rick to fight the saviors but also uplifts him in the process.... she is so one of a kind. And the way Rick listens intensely and values each and every word. This scene is also extra sweet because not only does it drive the narrative forward but it's also a makeup scene for Rick and Michonne who have been at odds! Whenever she starts crying and he cups her face and kisses her.... ughhhh you can just FEEL the yearning they've been experiencing over each other. They missed each other so bad and it feels so good for both of them to be back on the same page. This isn't an actual picture of the kiss but a still from the same scene. WHY IS THE STILL BRIGHTER THAN THE SCENE IN THE EPISODE!?!?! Lowkey I feel like someone on set was trying to sabotage them.

Now.... how do these compare to TOWL kisses? Well, this is kind of like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. How can I choose when they're all so perfect?!?!?!?! But seriously if you really want me to choose.....I have to go with the "have your mints" scene. I'm sorry! I just do. I mean... it's where we all started. It's what turned me into a shipper and kicked off the greatest love story of all time. Did I mention it was all done in one take and Danai and Andy essentially took their own direction for the scene? Meaning everything they did was unscripted and yet it still came off as the most natural thing in the world.... how can it not win?!?!

[kohakhearts]

goh starter trio meta perhaps? i was ensnared by the goh-scorbunny parallel subpoint in the cubone meta bc i'm making myself unwell thinking about how scorbunny latching on to goh and goh latching on to ash.... but also more generally, sobble's whole thing and the absolute tearjerker drizzile evolution episode, and goh's weird ass dream about his rillaboom parents and then waking up to baby grookey clinging to his arm, you get it, i know you're galaxy brained about this

YESSS I AM *SO* GLAD YOU ASKED!!

so my tl;dr here is that all of the galar starters represent something about goh specifically relating to his childhood. their growth and eventual evolution (or lack thereof!) therefore serve to highlight his character development (as an aside, i think this is a very common theme in anipoke. ash's pikachu not evolving speaks to the fact that ash's growth isn't about becoming someone new but about staying true to himself and embracing a battle style that reflects the creative ingenuity that, in the early os, other characters mocked him for. similarly, dawn's piplup chooses not to evolve because it doesn't want to change how things are between them. does this not seem fitting for the partner of someone like dawn, who has always admired her mother so much that she never even considering doing something other than following in her footsteps? i'm sure there are other examples, but these seem to me the most obvious ones!).

let's break down each one, then!

scorbunny

when we meet scorbunny, goh is still determined that mew will be his first pokemon. this is a point of stubbornness that, while impressive and arguably kind of admirable, is frankly kind of stupid. how is he supposed to get to mew without any pokemon to help him? there's an interesting implication in this resolution, which jn004 and jn005 really highlight for us - goh isn't comfortable with having a pokemon. he knows a lot about them, is interested in researching them, but as far as the bond between pokemon and trainer goes, i don't think he feels prepared for that. it's easier to pick a target that is far from reasonably attainable for him at this point, especially since he does have some history with mew - didn't it take an interest in him? didn't it give him a reason to chase after it?

so meeting scorbunny, he's obviously not thinking about catching it. but he lies to the guy at the scone stand, in an interesting parallel to how scorbunny steps in to protect the nickit. he doesn't even seem to know why he does it. but just before that scene, he sees scorbunny wipe some of the dirt off its face. he doesn't get the whole story and connect all the dots until after, but i think he realizes then that scorbunny is trying to hide itself in some way. that it's performing as something it's not. and on some unconscious level, that motivates him to lie for it. after, we get this whole exchange, where the scone seller tells ash and goh the story

and this note is what makes goh get up and approach scorbunny and the nickit:

it's very symbolic that he wipes the mud off scorbunny's face. and then later, he even points out when they see it again that it looks better without all the mud covering it up - it looks more like itself. it's not pretending to be something it's not. goh wiping the mud off its face is him saying that he accepts it as it is. that being resigned to living a certain way just to fit in or just because that's how it's always been is pointless.

and i mean...even ash says in this scene that the things goh is saying are things he's only recently learned himself, right? goh denies it (and tbh when he says that he's always thought the world is big and anyone can explore it if they want to or whatever - i don't think that's untrue! i think it's just that, prior to meeting ash, he didn't have it in him to explore it), but ash has a point. and what goh is doing for scorbunny here is the same thing that ash did for him.

relatedly, scorbunny follows him, right? in the same way that goh "accepts" ash as his friend, scorbunny chooses goh as its trainer. goh recognizes that it travelled far for him, that it saw a vision of its future with him, and changes his mind about not catching it. i think the determination he saw in scorbunny to chase after its dreams resounded with him, because he's only just started doing the same thing. and his entire character is built around this idea of like, learning how to adapt and how to let other people help you find the courage to chase your dreams (and even to help you chase them). how could he possibly deny scorbunny the same thing?

but while scorbunny's enthusiasm helps motivate goh to chase his dreams, he is very flippant and dismissive, as we see when it learns ember and he says it doesn't matter, that scorbunny doesn't need to know a fire-type move and this gut-punch of a line, of course:

goh is someone who needs a lot of convincing to do things he doesn't think he'll be good at (or enjoy). he only joins project mew because gary goads him into it. he spends most of his life refusing to make friends, because he had one bad experience. he's a fairly black-and-white thinker, which makes sense considering his background. he doesn't really believe in change. he especially doesn't believe that people (or pokemon, in this case) can change their circumstances just through hard work and determination. as we see in jn003 with the ivysaur, he also doesn't think that it's anyone else's place to intervene and "help" others. if you can't change something, then don't. and there's no point in hoping it'll change on its own, either.

when scorbunny storms off here, his expression is interesting. this isn't the expression of someone being judgemental. it's the expression of someone who sympathizes.

he sees scorbunny trying so hard to do something he thinks it can't do and thinks that scorbunny's determination to change things is, if i had to guess, kind of immature. a lesson scorbunny will have to learn, whether it wants to or not. at first it's kind of endearing, but then he actually gets frustrated, because he feels like scorbunny's determination to learn ember is harmful to them both. here, there's a degree of "why won't you just trust that i know what's best for you?" for sure, but on a deeper level, i think that stems from a place of "can't you see that i'm just trying to protect you?"

...but obviously, all he really does is wind up lashing out and hurting scorbunny's feelings. he tells ash that he was trying to draw out scorbunny's strengths (and he was, by telling it to use moves it was already good at!), but ash points out that their values weren't aligned and that's kind of the opposite of strength when it comes to pokemon battling. so he reassesses the situation and finds a way to bring out scorbunny's strength that also aligns with what scorbunny wants. that compromise is what makes scorbunny evolve. it was the right call! but then raboot starts ignoring him.

and this is like. a running gag with scorbunny - goh gets distracted by other things and doesn't notice that it's trying to show him things. it happens when they meet and it happens again in this episode with its ember. we see something very similar with goh and his parents in jn032 when he's excited at the prospect of their vacation together, but when he tries to ask what they want to do, he turns around and find they're both asleep (and we see the flashback of something similar happening last time, too).

with raboot, in a lot of ways, goh is grappling with...himself. or at least, the person he was before he met ash - cold and distant, more interested in doing whatever he thinks is worth his time than in school, for example. so if goh saw his child self in scorbunny, he sees his more "adolescent" (i mean. he's still ten so still child, technically. but older child lol) self in raboot. and he actually responds to this in a way that's a lot like how we see his parents responding to him. in jn022, we see him

buy a bunch of apples for raboot, even though he thinks it doesn't need them (and is hurt when it doesn't let him have one, despite raboot seeming pleased that he bought them for it). compare to the device he shows horace in jn032, for example, which he says his parents built for him. or his six computer monitors. his parents reach him best through material means!

question why raboot hates him when it's not responsive to his overtures. contrarily, goh's parents don't think he hates them; they just automatically assume the worst case scenario (like in jn015 when he calls and they immediately wonder if he did something and got kicked out of the institute). but while that's their worst case scenario about him, raboot hating him is kind of goh's worst case scenario, right? it took him time to open up and accept scorbunny as his partner. now that it's evolved and is acting differently, he's terrified that he came to care for it only for it to leave him.

which leads to my last point here, which is that he doesn't actually ask what it wants. in this episode, he concludes that raboot would be happier without him. so he leaves it behind, but he never actually considers how it might feel. goh's parents do the same thing! they worry about him, but they don't share their concerns or ask how he feels. they just assume that he must feel a certain way and they adapt to compensate for that. but they never actually ask him what he wants.

this episode ends with him realizing that he hasn't been reacting to raboot's feelings so much as to his own, of course, and we see their relationship smooth out quite a bit. he's acknowledging that he's done things wrong, but also that it's not all his fault - and raboot's change in temperment is just a consequence of it evolving. they accept each other again and move on.

then, it evolves into cinderace and kind of opens up again more (though it's been doing that little-by-little since jn022). i think the fact that raboot and riolu evolve at the same time was a really cool move by the writers to kind of demonstrate how like...the relationship between ash and goh is reflected in the growth of their pokemon. they trained together! in a way they kind of grew up together! riolu, ash's token baby pokemon in jn, evolving at the same time as goh's starter feels like a very deliberate choice to highlight how ash helped goh's pokemon grow, too - through getting the ball rolling with how he helped goh grow as a person and a trainer. if that makes sense?

anyway, i don't have much to say about cinderace, other than that if he saw himself as a child in scorbunny and as an older child in raboot, then cinderace's level of openness and its enthusiasm aren't just reflexive of it getting back more of its scorbunny-esque personality - it also shows how goh has changed and has learned to embrace these parts of himself, now that he's in that "coming of age" age (well, for pokemon. he is still only ten lmao).

i think we see something similar with his other starters, though maybe a little less on the nose.

sobble

the drizzile episode, as you mentioned, is probably Thing here. but i think the theme with sobble is sort of that, where scorbunny maybe reflects more of the way goh thought about growing up and his aspirations (and how hard it was to open up to people), sobble more so mirrors his social experiences at school and with chloe.

VISUALLY, i think it's really telling that when goh catches sobble, he's...literally speaking to it from the other side of the water:

this whole episode (jn028) is about goh kind of...forcing sobble into positions it's not necessarily comfortable with, and not realizing that it's uncomfortable until it runs away from him. as we saw with raboot, this is a common theme with goh - but it's most obvious with sobble!

he realizes, of course, and says this:

even in flashbacks, goh never comes across as a shy kid. he doesn't exactly relate to sobble, but i think he's drawing a parallel here between them. he wasn't shy, but he was always on the "outside" - that's why he's so good at researching. he strives to see things as they are without getting involved. eventually, this is something that will make him a pretty thoughtful and strategic battler, though at this point he's still learning how to apply that to more than just research for the sake of research.

and then after sobble meets inteleon, we have these bits too:

goh's childhood motivations on the surface appear to be like...he doesn't want to bother with friends, because they aren't going to be able to serve a purpose for him. he isn't interested in making friends with anyone who is less into pokemon than he is. but after what happens with horace, it seems to get a little more complex, and then we have to wonder if his motivations really were that surface-level to begin with, or if, maybe, his policy of not making friends has always been a way for him to protect himself from betrayals like he experienced with horace.

we see chloe as early as jn001 trying to convince him to make friends, to no success. she doesn't even refer to herself as his friend - he doesn't seem to be willing to let her. he believes he doesn't need friends and is better off alone. but he doesn't realize until after meeting ash that his solitude is more of a self-imposed exile, in that it's hurting him more than other people. he can't improve as a person and reach his goals if he's too busy trying to protect himself to accept that he needs help from other people to do those things. so, again - i think he sees that side of himself in sobble. so it feels very impactful that he reaches out to help sobble become a better battler, but rather than forcing it to battle in a way that makes sense to him, he comes up with a way to have it train that plays off of its strengths of running and hiding.

and then, of course, there's the episode where sobble evolves, jn062. the writers themselves do most of the work here of drawing the parallel between goh's childhood and how drizzile is feeling, but i think it goes even deeper than that. drizzile is unhappy because it wanted to evolve into inteleon, not into drizzile. it's not comfortable in its own skin. and it doesn't necessarily want others to see it, because it feels like it's still growing and it's not ready yet. it kind of just...needs time to sulk and brood. drizzile runs away again, because it's not ready, and while they're looking for it, it's chloe who makes goh start thinking about when he was a kid, by saying this:

which prompts him to think about how he was searching for a "reason" for why drizzile was acting how it was, just like how adults used to demand reasons from him even when he didn't have them. and then of course we get this scene:

but i think he does on some level know why, because he talks immediately after this about how his parents weren't home and often felt lonely. he's more comfortable being alone. he's protecting himself. which is reinforced by the fact that he then tells drizzile this:

goh has a hard time putting his feelings into words, which is something we see throughout jn. he sees that drizzile is the same and this is a huge moment for him, because he's saying here that it doesn't matter what inspired its feelings; he understands it is experiencing those feelings and that's enough. he'll wait until it's ready to fully process them or whatever else it needs. drizzile kind of returns the favour when he starts crying here and it reaches up to brush away his tears, then disappears again.

overall, this episode does an amazing job of showing us how goh has become someone who actually acknowledges his and his pokemon's feelings - this is the only time we see him as a child where he's not doing something to try to ignore his feelings, or trying to walk away from them. in flashbacks, his back is often to his parents. in jn032, he gets upset, and then tries to cover his disappointment up immediately with anger and avoidance. the writers set this scene up so that we can see the reason behind his feelings clearly (just like we can see the reason behind drizzile's, even though goh and co. can't), but they rightly emphasize that goh's ability to analyze "why" he or his pokemon are feeling a certain way isn't always helpful. emotions are meant to be felt, not intellectualized. it's a good message, and a huge area of growth!

drizzile's evolution into inteleon also shows us how this acceptance translates into it eventually being comfortable enough to be who it wants to be. and the characters are impressed by it - it even earns kecleon's admiration, the same way that other inteleon earned its when it was a sobble. this is a pretty clear mirror with goh's social life, where he went from being this friendless outcast figure to someone with a lot of friends, and a great willingness to make more, as he became more comfortable and confident and willing to reach out to others.

and lastly,

grookey

the only one of the three that doesn't evolve, for reasons that aren't ever really made clear to us. but i think that as random (...and tone deaf) as his dream sequence at the start of grookey's debut episode is, it actually makes a lot of sense. in the original, the dream has camille and walker transformed into rillaboom, and goh is understandably freaked out. but i think the bigger, more symbolic thing is that even if it is a dream, his parents are the ones that foist grookey upon him. this does seem like a really weird choice, until you start thinking about the parallels, right?

in reality, grookey is team rocket's pokemon. the episode title "when a house is not a home" tells us that grookey obviously doesn't feel like it "belongs" there. but the episode doesn't open in team rocket's base. it opens in goh's apartment. and the part i didn't show in the drizzile scene above is when he says this:

the fact that goh was home alone a lot as a kid gets brought up fairly often. it implies that he kind of had to adopt this lone wolf persona, because there was no one else around to take care of him. he had to learn how to console himself and meet his own needs (hence why he's so combative about ash intervening with the ivysaur in jn003!), which is a lot of responsibility for a kid. grookey is handed to him like it's a responsibility in his dream, but then they bond. and he starts to appreciate having grookey around, to the point that he misses it when it returns to team rocket.

to me, the choice to have grookey not evolve kind of comes down to grookey being kind of...emblematic of goh's childhood. like, in his dream, grookey is this burden that's forced on him. someone he has to take care of, even though he isn't really prepared to do that. in reality, grookey is escaping from an environment that doesn't meet its needs. putting those two things together, i mean...that's just my reading of it, anyway. so grookey not evolving, and goh accepting grookey as it is - without any of the "growing up" analogs we have with cinderace and inteleon - is a way of showing that goh has come to terms with his childhood and that he accepts (and cherishes!) his childhood self. which he can only really do after he's done all the growing we see reflected in the evolutions of his other starter mons. (relatedly, grookey is the only starter of goh's who goh considers leaving with other mons in its evolution line. specifically, with two thwackey and their child, i.e. a family unit not unlike goh's!)

anyway! this is a very long post, so thanks for sticking with me if you did. hope my takes are as galaxy-brained as you hoped hehe

[hollowphobia-casual]

Starship troopers is (Not) Satire

Starship troopers is a 1997 satirical re-interpretation of the 1956 Sci-fi novel by Robert A. Heinlein, which went on to inspire the 2015 Satirical top down shooter Helldivers by Arrowhead Game Studios and later the 2024 Satirical sequel game Helldivers 2, by the same studio. But everyone knows this..., or do they? During the popularity of Helldivers 2 there was a large spike in people and players who didn't realize that the game was a comedic and satirical commentary on fascist governments. Even some close friends whom I played the game with didn't know this was the case and as the discussion went on there were people saying they didn't know or think Starship Troopers, the games very clear inspiration was also a satire.

And there were many people throwing around accusations or poking fun at people for not knowing this, but I feel like there was and still is an important discussion to be had around this, why didn't people know this? IT'S SO OBVIOUS RIGHT? Well..., no, when Starship Troopers initially came out many movie goers didn't see it as satirical, some people even thought the film was pro-Fascist and pro-nazi. And later sequels would tone down the satirical angle of the films. When I was younger I assumed the movie was just another sci-fi American war film about brotherhood and defying the odds, it wasn't until I was told of the films satirical nature did I stop and look for it.., so what went wrong?

I believe both the issue with the film and the video game is the framing of it. In the example of Starship trooper... The movie is about Rico, a young student who wants to join the military because of a girl he likes despite the wishes of his parents who want him to go onto higher education. Sadly the girl he threw his life away for breaks up with him, so he puts himself completely into becoming a great soldier. And he's really good at it, until his strive to achieve ends tragically when he gets one of his friends killed and is punished for it. Demotivated and blaming himself he wishes to leave, only for the bugs to launch a meteorite at earth, killing his family. Motivating him to return to service and fight. The initial assault on the bug home-world is absolute failure and a slaughter, but Rico manages to survive and we learn in a shocking twist that the bugs are a lot smarter than we gave them credit for. Responding to a distress call, we learn the existence of a brain bug, that is able to drain the brains of humans to gain information about us. We've learned where one of these brain bugs might be and we push for an assault on the planet. Rico lands, saves the girl of his dreams and the army is able to capture a brain bug, learning that for the first time that they are now scared of us and the chance to win the war is growing closer, happy ending. Now, many people will read that and think, wait no, your missing out key details or important observations. Well, what I told you is probably what most movie goers would of probably picked up on when watching the movie. The important satirical and anti-fascist details we are familiar with are essentially, background noise. They are very small scenes. Example, the needing the citizen ship to be able to have a kid detail? That is in one scene, it lasts for about a few seconds and isn't expanded upon. We were suppose to take away from it that the government is controlling who and who can't have a kid and enrolling into the military is essentially indoctrination, however, without more context there isn't much else to go on. The fact that the whole war is started by the humans first by invading the bugs territory? Again, it's a really small scene and we don't know what exactly invasion means in the grand scheme of things, but through out the movie we have ONLY seen the bug be the aggressors and the manner in which they aggress is incredibly violent, cruel, painful and indiscriminate. Casper Vein Dien, the actor for Rico, asked the director, Paul Verhoeven if the satire was a bit too heavy handed, with the director saying that the satire was 'subtle'. To which after seeing the reaction with most people missing the point of the movie, agreed that maybe they made the film, too subtle. And I agree, but I don't think it's the only problem. Helldivers 2 is WAY less subtle with it's broadcasts and use of propaganda. With videos and images of robots stealing baby prams. However, most of the fanbase, who are in on the joke have responded with Pro-propaganda and in doing so, many people take the game as a pro-war game. After all, you are fighting against mindless bugs and machines who attack you on sight, slaughter workers and stuff them into cages. Your just taking back your worlds from these invaders, right?

By framing both media as the 'hero', having you defend and fight against these attackers. you convey to the audience that you are in the right, especially when you compare how much damage the enemy do compared to yourself. There is no scenes of squashing sympathies, rebellions, or seeing what life is like for the average non-citizen, we get to see the world from the 'privileged', the rewarded, the heralded. The characters we are typically seeing doing right, but we aren't seeing them doing wrong. The context is there, but it can be missed by an average viewer and the fact it can be missed is a problem as it paints the setting as one of pro-war propaganda and doing what is right for the people. Like I said, if you aren't looking for it, you don't see it.

[unabashedly-so]

😉 SDV Elliot HC 😘

Flirting.

Content warning: does get a little naughty post 10 hearts, still SFW.

everyone's entitled to their opinion, even if they're wrong, and since i can't be wrong in my own hc post

📣 Elliott is the biggest flirt of all the bachelors.

...and bachelorettes, I feel confident in that too.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say in the whole valley maybe.

you don't see it much in his actual in-game dialogue, but tbf you don't see much of it in anyone's dialogue. The game's not really written like that.

BUT IF IT WAS!!!!! ☝️

I'd hang my hat on this. Elliott's flirt game would be 🔥✨🔥😩😩👌👌👌

he's self-assured, he's foppish and aware of it, and heck SOMEBODY's gotta hear all the GREAT one-liners and colloquialisms he's got bouncing around in his head all day from writing.

once he gets to know someone (mainly knows that they're okay with playful, meaningless flirting), he's just shameless.

he's complimentary: "that shirt really brings out your beautiful [color] eyes!"

he's self-aggrandizing: "did you miss me already?" (<--narrator voice: it's been <10 minutes).

he uses pet names and terms of affection so much you almost think he's forgotten your name but it's too late to ask now. "dear," "darling," "love," "light of my life," "sunshine," "lovely," "beautiful," etc.

he's also self-deprecating, or the damsel in distress, "oh, if only there was someone strong and dashing who could save me from my misery!" (author's note: his misery is an unopened wine bottle.)

✨ D R A M A T I C . ✨ calm down, sir. (read: don't.)

then the praise. oh the praise. "bless you, you kind and radiant soul. My world would be so dark but for your captivating light."

he's probably not one to use a lot of physical touch in his flirtations because, y'know, boundaries. But with a receptive 4-7 heart farmer, he might make some exceptions, particularly if it was farmer-led, and so long as it wasn't genuinely romantic or sexual. Like dancing, brief hand-holding, kisses on the hand, hugs of most kinds, etc.

and if there was something he wasn't comfortable with, he'd first deflect playfully. ie, holding hands for too long, "I haven't gotten my cooties booster this year."

he'd only use pick up lines if he came up with them himself. a man has to have standards, y'know.

so, he'd basically be like this with ANYONE with whom he has a decent enough relationship with (and he knows it wouldn't make them uncomfortable)

But. BUT.

Here's where it gets really interesting. Follow me down......

after a farmer gets his 8 heart scene... he shuts it down.

he stops flirting with them. cold turkey.

for those of you who think graphically like i do, see below for a representation:

so what the heck is going on between 8 and 10 hearts???? why does it actually get WORSE than before he barely knew the farmer????????

aliensfeelings.png

he's not thinking much about any kind of relationship beyond friendship (with anyone, really) while he's working on his novel because he's So Close and that's really invigorating and it kind of overshadows all else.

then the book reading happens, and he hears himself say out loud that he dedicated his novel--his ENTIRE BOOK, arguably his LIFE'S WORK up to this point so far--to the farmer that he only just met a few seasons ago

(not to mention he canonically made it at their behest?!??? (2 heart scene picking the genre))

most authors dedicate first books to, like, their spouse or parents, or childhood best friend, sibling--someone MEANINGFUL, who has STAYING POWER, and has impacted the trajectory of their LIFE..........

🎵oh no.

🎵oh no.

🎵oh no no no no no.

talk about a fucking tidal wave of realizations that come crashing down on him. Things that he was too swept up in his own head to really realize or fully acknowledge. Like how, oh no, he's actually been putting some heat (and hope) behind his recent flirty interactions with the farmer. y'know, a more sophisticated of "hahaha... unless.....? 👀" Or how, oh no, did their lips always look so kissable? Or, oh no, was that story arc in his novel just an allegory for his subconscious pining? Oh, you mean the one he just READ OUT LOUD to the entIRE TOWN?????

the man's about to go jump into the sea with cement shoes.

and here's the thing: he's very SELF-assured. His confidence comes from knowing his own worth separate of extrinsic factors. But his confidence when it comes to relationships with other people??? Far less assured. He knows he can be intense in some ways, and not everybody wants that all the time. That stung, having to figure that out the hard way. And now it turns out all the sweet nothings he'd been saying to the farmer are actually emphatically true, but now how's the farmer to know that he's being serious when he says them??? And wouldn't it be so weird to say them with the fervor and hope of it being received genuinely while also having to acknowledge he'd said all those things ingenuously before, but he means them fr now??!?

he's too passionate about his adorée to want them to feel that he was being facetious with them, but was he not???

Oh, Elliott...

Despair(TM)-2

so he stops all flirting with the farmer. He doesn't ice them out, he just... acts a little differently. Where once he might have greeted them with a melodramatic tale of how he missed them so... instead he says, "It's wonderful to see you again."

it's almost like he treats them warmly, but professionally. The friendliness, warmth, sincerity is all still there but the jokes have faded away and he's a little more... stilted. It's about as subtle as he can be (ymmv), but the change is definitely... perceptible.

it's even worse when you take into consideration the bouquet, omfg. it DOES grant him a sense of security, but this is man is a ROMANTIC who is INTENSELY PASSIONATE. He's got a foot in the door, but doesn't want to scare them away by suddenly becoming overbearing. 8-10hearts is a bit of a tightrope walk for him, as he navigates getting closer to the farmer and being aware that not everyone can (or wants to) handle all he has to give (which is fine!).

he tries to give little tastes here and there but..... subtlety is not his strong suit, and he knows it.

and maybe the farmer has to confront him about it at some point, ymmv. it could very much be a "it's not you, it's me" conversation that leads to ???? or in this hc post, it leads to the 10heart event, where Elliott knows he has to let go of his fears and commit.

Despair(TM)-2_final_FINAL

It's just so hard because apparently this farmer really, really means a lot to him.

whoops how'd that happen *sweeps mountain of duck feathers and pomegranates under the rug*

without getting into the 10heart scene too much, I'd just also like to point out how fucking funny it is because you KNOW this romantic ass man has day dreamed so many different scenarios of expressing his love and adoration and when the moment finally arrives he just... totally flops. poetic.

but anyway once that's all established and good, the flirting comes back with a vengeance.

a saucy, naughty, 🌶️spicy🌶️ vengeance.

now that he's figured out where the new boundaries are, he's unafraid to use any opportunity (within reason) to express his adoration for them and reaffirm his commitment to them.

example, farmer teases him over a glass of wine, "wine on your tongue got you slurring, El?" To which he smirks, and lets out a low hum. "It's the wine now and you later, my love."

sometimes it's stupid, like stage whispering to Leah as you join them at the Saloon, "don't look now, but a ten just walked in. Should I talk to them? Do you think I have a chance?" (you're married, btw.) Leah's heard this before and says, "No."

sometimes if you're holding hands, he'll just start spontaneously pull you into a wrap in and dance with you, murmuring some lines of spicy poetry he writes and shares only with you. Sometimes this happens at home or on the farm, but not always.

but one way he NEVER flirts with you again is with anything that would put his adoration of you into question for even a moment. You may as well hang the moon and stars for him, and he'll never once let you forget or doubt that. 💖

sometimes it's just so infuriatingly cocky. "I hope you'll still love me when I'm so old and senile that I forget my own name."

"Of course I will."

"You make me so happy, dear. I just hope I can maintain the stamina needed to properly ravish it out of you."