#this is an honest to god legitimate ship

[coffee-n-converse]

**PJO Episode Seven Spoilers ahead!!**

I expected the moment they realized they only had three pearls to hurt. I expected the moment Percy had to leave his mom behind to hurt.

I absolutely did NOT expect to have whole ass TEARS running down my face for the entirety of that scene with Sally and Poseidon!!

And yet, the moment the rain started outside the window and you could just SEE the relief in Sally’s shoulders, the world breaking gratitude that he had heard her and he was there…. And she had that same look on her face from episode one when she’s on the balcony and feels like he’s there with her because of the rain.

Here’s the thing. I don’t think, up until that moment, they’ve occupied the same space since the day he had to leave her before Percy was born. I can’t explain it, but something about the way Sally hesitated before dropping the match in… this was a last ditch act. An act of sheer desperation. She’s been doing this alone for SO LONG and she finally broke. She finally thought “I can’t anymore” because she felt like all she was doing was hurting Percy over and over again. And she was terrified she was going to keep hurting him. And I don’t think she burnt the sundae to try to talk to the god Poseidon; I think she burnt it to feel close to the man Poseidon that she loved. She didn’t want to feel alone in that gut wrenching moment, she wanted to come as close as she could to having the man she loved holding her in his arms.

And the he SHOWS UP. My gods, the only time this woman has burnt an offering to him, and he is THERE without hesitation. He knew she was a badass and could handle the world and was doing an incredible job of raising her son, so when she burns a sundae to him he knows she’s at her breaking point and he is THERE.

But then… gah their whole conversation had me crying. Not for what they were saying (though him saying she was doing an incredible job hit me hard) but because they never once actually looked at each other. They had this whole beautiful conversation and for once Sally doesn’t feel completely alone in this (and you can see it in her shoulders and on her face) and she is so grateful to not have to do this moment alone, and he clearly still loves her and believes in her and trusts her to raise Percy right and even gives her a safe space to vent about HIS family and come to her own decision, but they never look at each other. And I cannot explain why that GUTTED me. Like I know why he didn’t look at Percy, but it gutted me that him and Sally didn’t look at each other. It worked and it was beautiful and it made me cry.

While we’re on that convo, can we just talk about how Poseidon lets Sally make the call about school or camp?? Like, he’s a literal god and technically this is his son we’re talking about, but he never once gives her his opinion on the situation. He doesn’t try to parent, doesn’t try to make the call. She literally summoned him with a match in a sundae and still he doesn’t take over and call the shots. This man has so much faith in Sally Jackson’s ability to raise Percy when he can’t be there to help at all and I just…. Aaaahhhhhh

To be honest I never super shipped Sally and Poseidon in the books. For me they were a pretty summer love story that was nice for a few months and then eh. It’s over. But this?? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want them to get back together, but their dynamic as two beings heavily invested in primarily Percy, but also each other, in this adaptation is *chef’s kiss*.

I loved this episode, but I am legitimately FERAL for this scene.

[spearxwind]

oh my god Ringworld's misogyny is *so bad*. I don't even know where to start

I read ringworld when I was like, 13 or so and I didnt really PROCESS the misogyny until like years later but when I did then OH BOY...

Some of my faves that I still remember: - One of the main characters is from an alien race of huge anthro cats where only the males are sapient and females are completely feral and inferior - the woman they find on the derelict ship who is INSAAAANELY good at sex and the book outright tells you "well of COURSE she´'s so good at sex she was on a spaceship full of MEN and she had to SURVIVE so she had to be real good at that" ???????????? - one of the mc's being just stpid as fuckkkkk and it being a legitimate, honest to god, cosmically relevant plot point. and of COURSEEE at the end of the book she stays with the very stupid, but built like a brick shithouse barbarian, instead of The Intellectual Protagonist, because she's just that stupid.

Honorable mention:

When the derelict space lady is banging the protagonist (i dont remember why but she does it multiple times and i feel like it was bc that way she got smth out of him??) and then then one of the other weird alien freaks from the party shoots her with the Orgasm Mind Beam which IMMEDIATELY makes her super docile and into the protagonist because women are that simple (??????)

It's REALLY upsetting because a lot of the worldbuilding is genuinely so awesome!! like... fist-of-god was my favorite thing ever. its just so brilliant and iirc it was rly well written (for my 14 year old mind). the puppeteers planets being set up in a kemplerer rosette and moveable like colossal spaceships!! and the fact that some humans can be cosmically significant based on their luck is also a cool concept, but it was pulled off so misogynistically....

I wish I remembered more but I think the book focused too much oh Weird Scenes and I don't remember a whole lot about the lore other than these things :(

[quietwingsinthesky]

Hey i swear that i was not that rude ass anon but i am very curious would your "actual response" would've been? I ask because i think i had some honest misconceptions about "toxic ships" for a while and legitimately thought that it was a kind of soft support for irl toxicity.

oh, of course I can do that for you, anon. it just might get a little long.

so, what we're gonna do is set the stage with previous asshole anon's declaration: "u know incest is illegal disgusting and traumatizing". and we're going to assume that what they are actually saying here is "incest, which is a subject you have written about in your fanfic and posted online, sometimes seriously and sometimes purely for erotic purposes, is these things" and not that they are accusing me of committing incest in real life. because that would be an insane thing to accuse me of.

to start: yes, incest in real life is all of those things. the first breakdown of communication in this whole debate about "toxic ships" is that a whole lot of people seem incapable of realizing that someone can hold firm opinions about something in reality while also exploring the topic in taboo ways in fiction. i think incest is bad. i think murder is bad. i think bestiality is bad. i think uhhhh fuck what's another crime. arson. arson is bad. but my moral opposition to these things does not prevent me from writing about them.

"Kelly burned her best friend's house down. Wendy killed a man in an alleyway. Kit and Kat are twin sisters who make out." These are just words on a page. If they happened in real life, they would be morally wrong. But they aren't happening. I made them up.

Of the three things asshole anon points to in order to attack me writing about fictional incest, two of them are poor grounds for morality and the third is an extremely good basis for morality but certainly isn't supporting their side of the argument.

Illegal: To start, fictional incest is not illegal. Fictional murder is not illegal. Fictional sex crimes are not illegal. We don't waste time prosecuting Walter White for creating meth because he's not a real guy. But incest is illegal. That's a good thing, under the current state of affairs, but also, I'd argue, a very poor way of deciding what is moral and what is not. Laws are not a god-given code of Good Boy Rules; they're a set of instructions created by fallible people for when the state is allowed to enforce violence, and this violence is not enforced the same for everyone. Often, in this debate, we point to the fact that by this same logic, queerness itself would have been immoral to portray, let alone to be, for as long as it was outlawed, and I find that's generally a powerful and easy way to emphasis how laws can be a poor standard for right and wrong. But I'd also like to add, what is legal is not always moral. Marital rape was legal for a very long time, but we know that's immoral. If incest was made perfectly legal tomorrow, it would still be immoral. So, clearly, what's right and wrong is not something we should rely on government authority to decide for us.

Disgust: So, how about disgust? Is that how we decide what's right and wrong, to partake in, to write about? If it was, then we'd say incest is disgusting, therefore it is immoral, and because portrayals of incest are disgusting, therefore they are immoral as well. But this very quickly falls apart. We clearly can't allow person-by-person disgust to decide what's okay, because I, personally, think kissing is gross, and under this framework, that would mean it'd be just fine for me to point at kissing couples in public and yell EW! FREAKS! That leaves societal wide disgust as the deciding factor in right-or-wrong, and that's a very dangerous beast to try and appease. After all, that joke about me calling couples freaks in public would be a lot less funny if my reaction was rooted in, let's say, society-wide bias against same-sex couples or interracial relationships. There is no arguing with the fact that incest is disgusting, but disgust cannot be the deciding factor in what we allow to happen, because disgust does not care about the whys or the hows, disgust only cares that what it sees is an affront that it will either destroy or hide, and both of those options put people in danger.

Traumatizing: Let's talk about that danger. Asshole anon's final point is where I agree with them. Incest is traumatizing, and that's why it's wrong. It's wrong because of the harm it causes, because someone is being abused and victimized by someone else. Our hypothetical victim of incest is a real person who suffered.

This is where it falls apart for asshole anon.

Because no one suffers from a portrayal of fictional incest. The actors in Game of Thrones are not actually related and are not in abusive relationships. The moms on pornhub are not actually doing doggy with their real sons. and the only person harmed in the making of the perks of being a wallflower was me, who was not warned of its contents and was triggered real fucking bad when i slammed into it.

That's why I get it, you know. I understand the response that a lot of people have to seeing fictional portrayals of real life abuse and pain is to flinch and to lash out at the creator. Especially here on the internet, where a lot of your fellow creators aren't big name writers or actors you'll never be able to touch, but just some guy with a blog who writes porn. There's a lot of hurt people here who never learned, maybe never had the opportunity yet to learn, how to let their initial defensive reactions pass over them before they hurt someone else. (And I say maybe never had the opportunity to learn because there's a lot of people in this "anti" movement who are really, really fucking young. That's heartbreaking for me, both that they've been hurt in a way that allows them to be swallowed up into this movement and that they're now in a community that exists under constant surveillance where one wrong move will get them harassed and hurt all over again.)

Someone's writing is not what hurt them, though. I won't deny that seeing something you're unprepared for can trigger you, but that's why proper tagging is so important and why we need to emphasize that when you go online or into a space like tumblr, you need to accept personal responsibility in that you may see things that make you feel like shit. Someone who ships incest does not inherently condone the abuse someone went through in real life, not unless they're a real shithead. They might be someone who went through a similar experience and find safety in fictional expressions of it, or they might not and they just find the taboo fun to play with. It's a conspiratorial line of thinking to believe otherwise: they're writing about X, so that they can convince everyone that Y is okay to do in real life. When people are hurt, they want to construct a narrative where the hurt is intentional and malicious, rather than them just randomly seeing a piece of art not meant for them and being affected negatively by it.

But, there are real people hurt intentionally and maliciously in this situation. Asshole anon proves that themself. I don't know who they are, they don't know who I am, but they thought that it was morally correct of them to come into my inbox and condescend to me about my writing being disgusting. That message is one of the nicer ones I've ever been sent over the years. And I'm not the only one who can attest to being sent death threats, or people telling me to kill myself, or people wishing that the things I write about would happen to me or to my family members in real life. I'm basically immune to that shit by now, I publish the most pathetic ones if I can come up with a halfway decent zinger of a response and delete the rest without thinking about it. But I'm basically a cockroach freak that spent its formative years in superwholock, I cannot be hurt by anything I get sent now because honestly? I probably received worse when I was twelve.

The only harm that matters is the harm done to real people, and this stupid fucking conflict about fiction has allowed a lot of people on this website to dehumanize anyone who disagrees with them to the point that they think it's not only fine but morally justified to tell them how they wish they would die.

So there's my take on it. Incest is bad because it hurts people. Fictional incest is fine because it doesn't hurt anyone. People who write about incest are not conspiring to support real life incest, because they are writing about fictional people who can't get hurt and if they're halfway decent, they know that real people getting hurt by incest is bad. Attacking people over writing fictional incest is bad because they are more real than anyone they ever write about will be; they can be hurt, the characters can't.

sorry. like i warned you, long. but i wanted to cover as much of what i could think of as i possibly could.

[blossomingtree]

Very angry post here, but fully legitimate.

The amount of people who ship SIBLINGS is terrifying. Do you guys not realize how twisted you are? To be honest, if you were my sibling I'd be pretty scared.

Here we're mostly talking about Logan and Hero of Brightwall (thank god you're not shipping every sibling duo, but still). So we're talking about a literal grown up man and a fifteen-seventeen years old girl who happens to be his SISTER.

So aside from it being *ncestuous, think of the age gap. Guys... That is not okay, wake up. WAKE UP. I have seen some of you interpret stuff the developers never meant in the prologue. Or sentences Logan said that you fully sexualized. Again, recontextualise it in your head. This game is a game where a war happens between siblings and they're both puppets. The sentence "You've become the woman I've always wanted you to be" doesn't refer to sex, it refers to the fact that he is proud of his younger sibling for managing to do what he did not manage to.

Again, i may be speaking to walls and if so that's very worrying. It's not because they are fictional characters that it's okay. You really should get yourself checked.

[dollypopup]

unpopular polin opinions (again)

-Colin honest to God didn't do anything even REMOTELY as bad as this fandom insists he did? framing him as the big bad in a friends to lovers story is deeply unsatisfying and pits him and Pen against each other when the whole POINT is that they're a team.

-Polin is meant to be ride or die. it's meant to be people who see one another for who they are beyond the front. it is NOT meant to be two people who hold grudges against one another with a scorecard of who hurt the other more huffing about how the other is frustrating. their whole dynamic is 'i like you' 'i like you, too'

-BOTH OF THEM have hurt the other without apology. NEITHER of them are actually in love with the other (yet). Both of them are closed off and secretive and neither of them should actually have to beg and cry and scream for forgiveness. they're supposed to be friends

-jealous Colin as we're pushing for it is a shit tier trope. Colin swooping in w/ feelings for Pen only after other people have expressed interest in her would always make her wonder if he wanted her for her or if he wanted her because someone else did first and that's not the dynamic at all. Colin falls for her organically, albeit slowly. He falls for her when she opens up, when she shows him who she is, and only after he shows her that he's a safe place to do so. Likewise, SHE falls for HIM for real when she sees who HE is, too. When she sees that he's imperfect and that his charming artifice is a mask he wears. They're both scared that who they truly are on the inside is unlovable or unworthy of serious consideration, and when they crack open and the other sees, they fall for who they actually are. It's a love made stronger because it's born out of trust and understanding, not out of an ultimatum of 'I could lose her!'

-Penelope ghosting Colin with no explanation after S2 would be her being a really bad friend and deeply hurtful

-Penelope would hate being the unofficial diamond everyone is seemingly rooting for and it makes 0 sense for her to suddenly have a bunch of suitors. it's just lazy storytelling.

-most of the Polin dynamics this fandom has actively rooted for in S3 is just Kanthony or Saphne 2.0. That's very much NOT the point of Polin's romance. and I do not understand why people want the exact same season playing out the THIRD TIME IN A ROW

-Pen's actual character would despise how some of y'all write about Colin. like. . .she's supposed to love him? he's supposed to love her? If someone called him an idiot or undeserving or uninteresting or that he should beg and grovel she would fight

-Polin's characterizations as individual characters as well as a couple have been so completely twisted and deformed in this fandom for the sake of drama and painfully cishet toxic tropes that it makes me legitimately sad. Polin is a great ship. So much of it is beautiful and healing. Two people who care for one another deeply, if with a good deal of confusion, discovering who they are individually and then realizing they're happiest with each other is lovely. Colin being an atypical male love interest in the sense that his primary draw is kindness and compassion and primary struggles being lost and jealous of his LI for her success is INTERESTING. There are a million and one brooding rakes out there breaking hearts and beating their chests howling 'she's mine!' in the middle of a room full of other men gawking. Ship Pen with one of them if you want that dynamic, but that's not Colin and I don't WANT it to be Colin. Colin is great without that

-Penelope is not an innocent lil bab who did everything she did out of good intentions. she is more complex and relatable as someone who fucks up. It is COMPELLING that she did deeply hurtful things not out of saintly altruism but out of jealousy or scorn or desperation mixed with a genuine desire to do well by those she cares for. It is a better story to acknowledge she isn't even remotely perfect and that in wanting to help, she just tangled things up even worse than before. Penelope has plenty of faults alongside her goodness: she's closed off, distrusting, traumatized, jealous. All whilst being funny, sharp, cunning, loving. She wants to be loved and to love those around her and doesn't know how. She hurts the people she cares about and she hurts herself in the process. THAT'S REAL. The idea that Penelope is a perfect bab who should be fawned over and all her ills can be excused away is flat and infantalizing. I understand: there have been a lot of criticisms of Penelope from people who genuinely dislike her character. But the pendulum has swung to the other side to the point where people who DO like her and DO ship Polin point out unsavory parts of her character, it's met with the same rabid defense as if we were haters. Guess what? I like Penelope MORE because she's made those fuck ups. I like discussing how she's hurt others because who of us haven't? Penelope is overlooked and unpopular and awkward and unsure and I LIKE HER FOR IT. I'm exhausted of the glittering, perfect Penelope who everyone else has to apologize to because she's the 'victim'. That makes her so much more unlikable

-speaking of unlikable, most of y'all who say you ship Polin straight up do not like Colin as a character. And it's obvious. Turning him into a character he isn't, wanting him on hands and knees begging for a second chance, considering him only as an extension of Penelope when he has so much richness as a character in his own right. Assuming the worst in his actions and striking out all the good about him in favor of a narrative that deforms Polin into a ship where he is always wrong and she is always right. And it turns a lot of people off to the ship. People who ship Polin already get turned off by how much this fandom hates Colin, let alone peeps just getting into it or outside of it. There are people who despise Polin that discuss Colin more favorably than we do in our own ship and it makes no sense because he is a genuinely fantastic character. He refuses to abide by toxic masculinity, he's gentle and sweet and caring, he's silly and unsure and self-sacrificing, he's putting on an act and he's self-critical and he's got such a big heart. He's the kindest person in Pen's life. He supports her unyieldingly. He's never done anything to purposefully hurt her and he cherishes her as a friend. Why do we so rarely talk about him favorably?

-Polin is NOT Colin vs. Penelope. That dynamic can create some interesting conflict, sure, but it needs to move beyond that because at the core? At the core, it's Polin vs. The Problem. and it's so much more fulfilling that way

[sapphire-weapon]

First off i wanted to say i appreciate you always sharing your true opinion without muddying it up too much or trying to appease people. The honesty is very refreshing!

Okk anyway i keep seeing this take going around and wanted to know your thoughts on it (i have my own, but):

Leon in infinite darkness asks shen may out to dinner once and then later is looking forward to dinner with Claire. Do you see both of these incidents as platonic? The first one reads as flirting to me and the last one seems like an intentional ship tease from the writers (before uh, yknow, making the encounter end on a sour note... look, that one hug they share when leon saves her is ship tease 100% they know what theyre doing)

A lot of people seem to think he is just innocently wanting a meal and I kind of get that vibe with Claire I guess but... ... ... ANYWAY what are your thoughts. I think people are just simply afraid of whore leon

The way I look at it is that my goal first and foremost is to analyze the story text in a serious way -- and it's impossible to have a productive conversation about narrative, characterization, and use of literary tropes if I treat every single possible interpretation of the text as valid. There needs to be some uniformity to what I'm saying, or else there's no point in having the conversation.

That, and I also feel like there's no point in having this little community at all if we can't be honest with each other. Friendships aren't built on uwu. They're built on a sincere exchange of common interests and ideas.

So, I'm really grateful that we've all found each other. It's been so fucking awesome to meet so many people who are genuinely interested in a literary analysis of RE's story and want to brainstorm ideas and piece through things together as a team -- because this has never been my experience in RE fandom before, over the full 25 years that I've been here.

I love u all very much ❤

Ok, so as for your actual question --

I pretty much agree with your interpretation of what's going on there.

People really need to get the fuck over this weird, puritanical pearl-clutching they're doing and being scandalized by OG Leon being a slut canonically. OG Leon tries to fuck Hunnigan at one point, for god's sake.

Because, like. If you try to handwave away or whitewash the way that Leon is pure testosterone; he's a walking hard-on looking for a hole throws himself at people, you're erasing and overlooking a really big part of his character.

Leon is lonely and he fucking hates himself.

The way that this manifests/the way that he expresses this is different between Remake and OG, but that fact about him never goes away. Remake Leon puts up walls and self-isolates as though he's trying to protect everyone around him from the misfortune of having to know him, but OG Leon does the opposite. OG Leon is constantly giving more and more of himself away in the hopes that, eventually, there'll be nothing left.

So, there's a few different things going on there when he asks out Shen May and then Claire in ID.

With Shen May -- yes, he is actually asking her out. That is a legitimate offer for a date that he will go into with the intention of putting the moves on her and having it end in sex.

He does this not just because she's a hot girl -- though, of course he does think she's a hot girl -- he does it because he feels enough of a connection to her that, if she were to go out with him once, he could use that as a way to trick himself into thinking he's still worth other people's time -- even if for just a few hours. Again: he's really fucking lonely. No one person ever stays in his life long enough to form a meaningful relationship with him (platonic or otherwise), but if he can take a girl out to dinner -- hey, that's something, right?

And if he were to actually fuck her, he'd be able to lose himself in her wants and desires for long enough that he can forget how much he fucking hates himself. If he were to feel her hands on his body, he would actually feel wanted for a change. And if he were to make her come, he would feel needed -- and, if he were to make her come more than once, that would be even better. (Remember: Leon is "The Protector." He needs to be needed. He's probably the master of foreplay and will tease and touch and put his mouth on a partner for well over an hour before he actually fucks them.)

And, ever since being kidnapped by the CIA, the only way that Leon has ever been needed or wanted or useful in any way has been through physical means and the use of his body. That's why he defaults to sex as a coping mechanism before he gives up and just starts drinking. He might not have any value as a person, but as a physical body and an object -- well, that's a different story.

Leon objectifies himself, is what I'm saying.

With Claire, though, it's a little bit different.

Yes, it's ship bait -- but it's very mild ship bait, because the context for this one is way different.

Leon isn't being sincere with Claire when he says what he says. He knows that Claire didn't call him or meet up with him because she wants to go out with him or is looking for a booty call. He's not stupid (mostly).

Leon is being sarcastic and self-deprecating when he tells Claire that he was hoping she was going to want to get dinner with him. It's a sad joke to him, because, in his mind, the thought that Claire would be interested in him at all is actually ridiculous.

Because Claire knows him in ways that Shen May didn't. He can't charm his way into Claire's panties by pretending that he's something more than -- or that he's someone -- that he's not.

Claire doesn't need him -- Claire has never needed him, and Leon has absolutely no reason to believe she wants him, either.

What good is he to her, really, when she already knows the truth? She knows that Leon's only real use is as a weapon -- that he's not good for literally anything outside of an active bioterrorism situation. She knows that he fucks up everything he ever tries to do in his personal life. So, why would she want him? Why would she ever want him?

She doesn't. That's why she's about to disappear from his life again for maybe another six years. Maybe more. Because he's not worth being around.

At least, that's what his brain tells him.

It's a really self-defeating mindset that turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Him talking about getting dinner with Claire is a joke, and the punchline is his own opinion of himself.

[bonefall]

What do you think of Fallen Leaves (as in, canon Fallen Leaves)? I'm pretty neutral towards him, but I'm curious to know what you think of him and why you decided to merge him with Hollyleaf. Also, does Hollyleaf ever regain a better understanding of Clanmew again since you mentioned she only half remembered it? Does she ever teach anyone the ancient language or nah? I can imagine kits begging to know ancient swear words.

i dont like jhim

BANGER idea, wasted. Ancient ghost in the tunnels??!? He drowned to death in an ancient ritual?!!? He has been unable to move on for a thousand moons ??!?!?!?!?!?!

Idk make him a lonely sadboy or something. No he doesn't try to drag people down. No there's no ghostly powers or anything. No he's not like a folklore ghost.

He just lives in the tunnels and Is Sad. Lame.

Erin Hunter LOVES coming up with cool ideas for characters and then doing nothing with those ideas, slowly turning them into boring ship material and cardboard background cats.

"We can't just do nothing with the ghost, idk. Hollyleaf is the closest female character. Ship it"

Do they have chemistry? No

but holly is a Girl and fallen is a Boy so that's good enough. Have him (ghost) nurse her back to health ig, people eat that trope up, no effort required.

It also frustrates me that this random ancient Softpaw's death made the entire Lake Society consider leaving their very bountiful home. "Oo it's been a hard year or something. Let's leave everything we've ever known."

Broken Shadow being dramatic about his death is also... fuck it I'm gonna be honest, it's annoying. I hate how women in this series are always more torn up than their husbands over dead kits, I hate how they needed to make Broken Shadow "insane with grief" and completely hysterical to drive home how sad this one, random, singular loss is

Honestly, I don't think there's a single part about Jay's Time Travel Adventure that I like. I'm seriously trying to think of one thing I enjoyed and I'm coming up with a blank. I like the vague idea of the cats leaving the lake I guess fgsdfgf

So, personally, I think there's 2 things you can really do here with Fallen. You replace/merge him with someone for a stable timeloop, or you replace/merge Rock with Jayfeather for a stable timeloop. Without that, being in the tunnels for so long doesn't matter.

Fallen could have been in there for 2 years or 200, nothing about him is legitimately old to contrast modern cats. He was waiting for someone who no one has any actual attachment to because her entire personality is being a crazy-with-grief mother.

Hell, you could replace Fallen with a weirdo who hates sunlight and it would fill the exact same role as Love Interest Who Doesn't Leave Tunnel.

He has the bland honor of not being as bad as Moth Flight but I'm sorry. I would squarely place Fallen Leaves in F tier. You can definitely make an argument that the idea of him is cool, but somehow that feels worse because he could have been GREAT and he wasn't.

SO INSTEAD I merged him with Holly! Because making this unnerving connection between Hollypaw and the tunnels, catching glimpses of a strange ghost, and interacting with her mother when she was young and wreckless is FUN imo and accomplishes a lot more about her whole arc coming to terms with the lie.

Naughty god goes into the timeout tunnel to be adequately wiggled, indeed

And YES she does eventually get a better handle on Clanmew again, it just takes a couple years. And 100% she teaches some kittens how to swear in ancient Lakemew.

[weaselbeaselpants]

About fandom smexuality, aging-up, age gaps vs CSEM

The thing I wish people could understand is the debate over whether or not loli/shota/cub/drawn 'artwork' is inherently cp is a different debate than the fandom questions of:

" Is making a child character into an adult for *reasons* akin to irl grooming? "

" Is making a childincanon-now-adult-character date an always-was-adultincanon-character akin to irl grooming? "

" Is making absolutely everything into a sexy pinuplegalage adult good for me? "

" Can you write about these topics at all? "

" What is someone's mental age vs physical age when it comes to fantasy fiction involving shit like gods, monsters, shapeshifting talking animals having smex? "

" Is it wrong to dismiss a character's age when they otherwise don't act or look the age they're supposed to be +are treated as sexualized adult in canon? " ((kinda specific; I'm mostly thinking of Ariel and Jasmine being canonically 16 and 14 for some reason.))

All these above debates are worth talking about. And by talking about, I do mean having discourse over because it's unavoidable. No one is going to agree 100%, I think that's just the nature of sexualizing things or maybe just fiction in general. Something that may be tame to you can be triggering/traumatizing for another person -especially if that person is a survivor of any kind of ab*se. You are not responsible for their well-being, B U T, you ARE responsible for yourself and not being a dick to survivors. I also think it's such a 'your millage may vary';'depending on the situation in canon v fanon'-shit going on.

f.e. shipping the themepark young man version of the Mad Hatter with the adult woman Alice that walk around Disneyland and are their own characters apart from their animated counterparts but clearly are still meant to illicit those versions-- I can be sus and grossed out and designate it as one of my own notps all I want, same with Lydiajuice and Fluttercord. I DO find these ships genuinely 'icky' to me because I can't get over the association w the animated versions. BUT- knowing the context of what people are into it and how, I'm not going to call that shit amoral. It's not. I'm just allowed to dislike it. Cope.

Ultimately people are right that it's sus how we keep making underage characters into smexy adults to appeal to adults with sexual and/or shipping tastes. Like 'can we seriously not comprehend characters in a non sexual (or in fandom, non shiptastic) context EVER about anything?' is a genuine debate worth having.

People are also right that susbehavior can be excused with legitimate circumstances; like how coming of age stories inherently mean minors discussing sexuality because teens are sexually imbalanced and sex interested. There's a LOT of talk to be had there and shade to be delivered.

As an asexual who's dabled in, and has friends, who make and sell adult art for adults, I just don't see this problem[i.e. aging up minor characters into adults] as an inherent red flag.

Many honest nonpredatory people have adultified versions of their childhood crushes. There is a porno version of Alice in Wonderland where Alice was a sexually adventurous twenty-something getting down with other adults in furrsuits and singing. No really. Me in my new fangled respect for the og novel can be all "GAWD why do we have to make this sexy?" all I want -AND YET-- I'm also glad they made the porno version of the story for adults ABOUT adults. Good job. I'm sure lots of people looking for that thing loved it. Let cringe adults be cringe adults, damnit.

Sexuality and sexual preference (not orientation) IS messy and complicated even if you do all this by yourself and without a partner.

~End of part 1.

[why-is-it-always-autumn]

Finished reading Sanderson Secret Project 4! Thoughts below the cut (mostly copied from me messaging my friends on Discord)

the vibes are so scifi. Like it's still Breaths and Shardblades but he's being so science about it

Spren in Stormlight: magical girl fairy companions. Spren in this: AI companion built into your scifi augments

Ooh, Nomad's been to Ashyn? That's the only planet with floating cities near Roshar, iirc

I love that Rosharans always specify shade when they mention eye color. She doesn't just have green eyes she has light green eyes. That adjective is important

Man on the run for his life hasn't slept in a week no way out keeps getting distracted by the urge to do anthropology

Another thing that's very funny is Nomad is talking about how unbelievably low on Investiture he is and it's still, like, unfathomably wealthy by Nalthis standards

Actually I'm gonna look this up. Nomad has 1500 BEUs in chapter one. He had at least 18750 shortly before that.

In Warbreaker, Vasher starts off with around 50 Breaths, which he considers low while acknowledging that many people would not. Most Returned have the equivalent of 2000. This is enough to be worshiped as gods.

Ah okay looking at the coppermind for the Heightenings this makes sense. It's all very consistent

Fifth Heightening: 2000 Breaths: fast healing, high durability, casual magic Ninth Heightening: 20000 Breaths: oh, you know ;) Tenth Heightening: 50000 Breaths: now that's just excessive

Now I will exit the coppermind before I have another "let me just check Rayse's species midway through reading RoW" moment [Fun fact: vital status is listed right next to species!]

I'm sorry did this man break his radiant oaths and then Mayalaran his shardblade back to pseudo life? Is that what's happening here?

Chapter 6 "No. Even in my head I will not admit Rock is right about the airsick lowlander thing"

I thought part of that phrase sounded like Nazh's name!

Gonna be honest, given how very dead He is, I somehow doubt that Adonalsium will remember their plight eventually

Love that "one of them is secretly a dragon" is a legitimate possibility

Huh. I wonder if they're Ghostblood Scadrians, Harmony-sent Scadrians, or just random people

Chapter 9: "Walking into a storm wasn't something usually done on [Roshar]" Unless you're in the middle of dinner and you really need a knife, of course.

I really wonder how confusing it would be to read ssp4 without reading Stormlight Archive

Oh boy. Wit's here!

Like if you only read the secret projects as if they were a standalone series how long would it take to realize that the cabin boy, the coatrack, and the hologram are the same person

"back before God died" You mean before you and your friends killed God? It didn't just happen there was a whole 17 person conspiracy

Hoid has two modes: "I am a silly little man" and "I am older than your planet and I will weep as I allow it to burn". No in between

"Adonalsium will remember our plight eventually" Man who just got off a skype call with one of the people who murdered Adonalsium ten thousand years ago:...

"Can you fly?" "Who told you I used to- oh you mean fly a ship. Yeah probably."

"The Chorus tells of our old world..." "Yes, yes, the forests of Hell, we've all been there"

The implication that there's a thriving interplanetary job market for specifically bronze Mistings...

If there's one thing that I've learned from Homestuck, it's to never turn your back on the body

Every new hint about what went down on Roshar in the back half of Stormlight just increases my fear about what's going to go down in the back half of Stormlight,

"I was destined to unite all of my people" Man who used to work for Dalinar Kholin: l, and I cannot stress this enough, ol

"Your planet shouldn't have different countries. You should have conquered and unified it all" Sir I cannot stress enough how Big Roshar is. They can barely keep the Alethi Princedoms unified there are so many more people on Roshar than here and they are so much more spread out

Now I'm just picturing that Ron Swanson meme. "I laugh at who I want - Wit"

It feels appropriate that this guy's ancestors are from the planet most closely associated with Ambition

It also feels appropriate that Mercy was there, tbh

Love that this guy is not a particularly soldier-y guy by Rosharan standards, but he's got so much soldier energy in comparison to Canticle that no one has yet noticed that he physically can't hurt anyone

Love that they talk about actual rocket science but it's interspersed with phrases like "raw investiture" and "zephyr aether" and "why take all the effort to travel the void of space when you can just walk through another dimension to travel between planets?"

Yes, yes, the plot to kill God, we've all heard of it

Khriss's Second Law :D

I'm really wondering how newbie friendly this book is. Like, they're explaining everything, but they're also throwing a lot of terms around and all of them are things I already know. For me, who read Warbreaker, when he mentions Commands as a thing on Nalthis that's just a refresher. If that's all the context I have...

The fact that this book includes both hoverbikes and a room full of angry ghosts in the same town

Oh that is a very different perspective on the whole lighteyes/darkeyes thing

Ah. Hemolurgy. From Threnodites. He's right, the cosmere is an increasingly small place

Highspren????

What did he even swear to?

I mean "Auxiliary" isn't a very Honorspren name and obviously not all of Bridge Four are Windrunners but Most Of Them Are

262 "You threw out your conscience years ago, I know, though I never had a chance to meet her" Seriously what is going to go down in the back half of Stormlight

Roshar Man: yeah you can totally go into the murder storm my friend Kal does it all the time lmao

They're called Skybreakers because they break you. Storms yeah Bridge Four!

Yessss He did the thing! I was hoping he'd do the salute!

Oh, that's who Zellion is

Hoid, Zahel, etc: I'm changing my name just for fun. Just for the vibes. New planet new me :) Also same planet new me :) Aliases are so fun :) Elegy: I'm literally not the same person anymore but I am keeping the name because it fits me really well. Dead me can change her name idc

Yeah something really bad goes down in the back half of Stormlight. They should not be that surprised to see a Rosharan.

Awakened Steelmind? This tech is so fun

"I like to think that this is all part of God's plan. That He made before He died :)" -- Tootsie Noodles, Starship (2011)

"God had nothing to do with it it was all Auxiliary." "And what's Auxiliary?" [Zellion remembers that spren are fragments of Honor and Cultivation, who are/were themselves Shards of Adonalsium] "..."

"Sigzil was a capable fighter, but far from the Order's best" -- Rhythm of War chapter 6

I'm done btw

Also I didn't talk about her much but I love how down for murder Elegy is. She loves her sister and she's learning all about different kinds of strength but she was so happy when she had that shardblade

Also, speaking of Stormlight, didn't love Nomad mentioning that glowing red eyes remind him of his friends! Hope he just meant Renarin and Rlain but I'm worried he didn't!

In retrospect it makes perfect sense that they already know about the Shattering. They fled Threnody, which is only Like That because of the Odium/Ambition/Mercy fight that killed Uli Da and Splintered Ambition. Those three only existed as Shards because they had already killed Adonalsium.

Also I hadn't realized or had forgotten that Shades are a "being from Threnody" thing, rather than a "dying on Threnody" thing

Fascinating that Auxiliary's corpse can still change forms even when his consciousness is completely gone. That implies that Maya and the others did something on purpose to lock themselves into sword form, rather than it being a direct consequence of the spen dying.

Also don't think I didn't notice Sanderson deliberately dancing around exactly what Sigzil's oaths were. He was Fourth Ideal in two different Orders and everything past Second is personalized

Of course the Scadrians don't interfere except to ruin things. That's so Scadrial

Love Nomad repeatedly going "Okay... I'm Azish, though." Man isn't Thaylen or Alethi it's a completely different culture that happens to share a planet. The Cinder King has no concept of this. The Greater Good doesn't even understand the difference between Roshar and Scadrial

I was laughing at the Cinder King for thinking that you could just conquer all of Roshar (it's so big), and then I remembered the Voidbringer reveal in... I think Words of Radiance? And just started laughing harder. They literally did conquer the entire planet, other than the Shattered Plains and a few other remote areas. That canonically happened

Adonalsium is literally mentioned more in ssp4 than all the other Cosmere books combined lol

[dracomysthical]

ok if i’m being honest i think one thing that could have made leo and calypso’s arc better is if they just. became friends. no romantic feelings and whatnot, just encountered and accepted each other as friends.

i’ve personally fallen off the caleo boat myself, because. well. that's another post entirely. but i also don’t think calypso and/or leo deserve to be treated like idiots for or even villains sometimes for meeting and connecting with each other. so, while i don’t think their romance worked, i legitimately think their arc would have made much more sense and told a much better message if they ended up becoming deeply emotional and connected friends instead.

leo has been struggling with being the seventh wheel amongst a ship filled with three couples and one satyr who misses his wife, which is seriously a severe emotional toll on a young teenager who copes with his crippling fear of losing the ones he loves with humor, and it makes complete sense for him to feel like he needs a romantic partner just to feel less alone. similarly, but on the opposite end, calypso has been so lonely she becomes desperate to form a romantic connection with anyone she meets. they’re both figures who think that having a romantic partner is what would make their life more fulfilling. which is definitely not what would actually make their life more fulfilling.

so i think for their arc to make sense, their story need to be a tale of self-actualization instead of a romance. it starts off the same: leo crashes onto the island, he isn’t calypso’s type at all, and leo is deeply offended by calypso’s severe reaction towards him. they swore off the idea they would fall in love, romantically, with each other… except this time, they commit.

they still warm up to each other. leo tries to get off the island, and calypso scoffs. calypso makes him clothes, he fixes her bird bath. calypso still gets angry over the image of reyna, except this time when Leo asks her why she’s even mad, she realizes she doesn’t know why she’s jealous. she doesn’t like leo; he’s not her type, he’s just odd and kind, and she doesn’t like him. sure, she definitely feels desperate for any sort of romantic attachment and he's the only other person on the island, but he's so. annoying. and he definitely doesn’t like her! so does she really need to be jealous? what has being jealous ever done for her? and... what has she done in the name of this jealousy? for the first time in so many centuries, calypso starts to realize that everything she did in an effort to assuage her immense loneliness have never helped at all.

and leo wants to apologize, obviously, maybe even get to know her, and some of his thoughts are straying towards romance… but is that really what he wants? he already might be facing imminent death, does he really want to deal with a romance on top of that? she’s cool, and gorgeous, obviously, but he… just met her. it makes sense that he's attracted to her, but is it worth it? he crashed onto her island like a wrecking ball, and seriously, he barely knows her. and isn’t she, like, centuries old or something? how does that even work? does he want it to work?

and it all comes together when they’re eating dinner together one night and leo mentions percy off-handedly and calypso bursts into tears. she confesses she’s angry, she’s so so angry that so many people came and left, that the gods gave her this punishment, that this punishment has transformed her into something she never wanted to become: she thought she loved percy, and yet she went and cursed his girlfriend the moment she got a chance. (could leo blame her for a promise percy didn't keep?) how could she have done that if she really did love him?

and that's how she realizes she doesn't. she's lonely, and tormented, and tortured by the gods to never have companionship. most likely she never fell in love with any of those heroes, only with what it could have been, with the freedom and reprieve they represented.

leo listens wordlessly, and he thinks about his own predicament. it's similar, he realizes. he's desperate to not be lonely, to not be left out. in doing so, he might take anything that comes and try to make something out of it - but would it really mean anything when it's just a means to a purpose? when it's done not because of love, but because he just wants to not be alone?

he's shaken out of his thoughts when calypso thanks him. surprised, he asks her why. she looks at him with a shaky smile and says she's glad the gods gave her someone she didn't fall in love with. because even though she doesn't like leo romantically, he still gave her just as much comfort as all the others. and beyond that, he helped her realize more about herself, and what she really needs.

leo stares at her tear-stricken face under the starlight, and tells her he's going to get her off the island.

she sighs and shakes her head, but he leans over and says he means it. he wants her to know she doesn't need someone to fall in love with her to come and rescue her; he's going to do it regardless. he's going to prove to her that what she needs isn't love, it's for someone who cares. and despite everything, leo has begun to care for calypso. and he wants her off this island.

she doesn't really believe him, and she lets him know. but she takes his hand and squeezes it, and she smiles again.

leo builds his navigation device. he takes a crystal from her cave. one night, he catches her standing outside with her eyes closed and face twisted in concentration, and before he could ask what she's doing a ship blooms into form at the beach.

when she opens her eyes, leo asks who she was thinking of. she looks at him, smiles, and tells him she thought of her one true love: flying over the ocean with ogygia shrinking behind her.

events play out, a prophecy is fulfilled, and the hero of fire dies. but he comes back to life on a dragon, and when he lands on the beach of an island no one is supposed to find twice one of his best friends in the world from a chance meeting that was coming for centuries is running towards him before flinging herself into his arms. they fall down on the sand, laughing, before he pulls her up, jabbering on about all the things he's going to show her that she's just going to love, and she can't stop smiling at the world he's describing.

it's not all sunshine and rainbows, of course. the real world can be disappointing. leo and calypso bicker all the time, but this time there is less tension on "this isn't what our relationship is supposed to be," and more of "we need to do better if we want to stay friends with each other." so they do. calypso talks about opening a shop, and leo jokes about having her hire him as an assistant. she takes it into consideration. leo makes sure to teach her as much as he can about the world, not just what to look forward to, but also how it actually is. they run from monsters and argue about how to spend money and leo shows calypso celebrity magazines and she tells him about different constellations in the sky.

and they both realize: they don't need a one true love. they just need this: a companion who forces you to grow, who tells you when you're stupid and sticks by your side. someone who you want to keep in your life forever because that's just what best friends do, that's just how it is.

"are you two dating?" percy asks, dumbfounded, the day leo returns to camp half-blood, after calypso threatened everyone who so much as thinks about punching leo with decapitation by wind.

calypso gapes at him. over percy's shoulder, leo catches her gaze makes a weird face. calypso rolls her eyes so hard it almost disappears into her head. then they both start laughing hysterically.

"no, percy," calypso says, wiping her eyes and grinning so wide it must have hurt. "we're just friends."

and that, really, was enough.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 12 - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

So, like everyone on tumblr, I was at least peripherally aware of The Untamed, if only as ‘the C-drama with the impossibly pretty men everyone loves shipping about necromancy or something.’ (Also the one crossover porn fanfic with so many tags that it broke AO3.) So I wasn’t quite coming into this blind, but I think I came pretty close. It sure as hell wasn’t anywhere close to my vague expectations.

Anyway, this was fun! Also absolutely let me cross off reading something from an entirely unfamiliar literary subculture off my metaphorical bingo card for the year. Just reams of assumed context I absolutely did not possess. Kind of loved it (but the occasional clarifying footnotes were very much necessary and appreciated.)

Which is to say – there was so much more slapstick and physical comedy than I expected from the vague intimations of feudal politics and magical warfare I got? Not usually my sort of humour but it got a laugh out of me once or twice. My favourite character is Wei Wuxian’s donkey.

The conceit of the first story – reviled and abused failson destroys his own soul and offers up his body as a host to the spirit of a legendary evil wizard to wreak bloody vengeance for him, but fucks up the bit of the ritual that tells the spirit who to take revenge on. Also the whole ‘legendary evil wizard’ reputation was at least partially and vaguely due to a propaganda campaign by his enemies and he’s not particular enthusiastic about the ‘murder a whole family’ thing – is also just incredible. I kind of wish it had been more drawn out, before the whole ‘gotta collect them [chunks of a specific super cursed corpse] all!’ plot became the main justifying connective tissue.

Not that the overarching plot is really the story’s strong point – it’s basically just the excuse to keep Wei Wuxian and Wang Lanji together and having adventures. The actual selling points are the backstories and character interactions and to a lesser extent the monster of the week stuff. All of which are pretty well done!

Though as far as monster of the week stuff goes – I’m vaguely aware that cultivation fantasy is a whole, like, genre, with about as many weirdly specific shared assumptions as ‘generic’ western fantasy written by people swimming in a sea of Tolkien/Conan-as-interpreted-by-Warcraft-and-D&D, but I’ve really got zero clue whatsoever to what degree the worldbuilding of this is typical of the genre? Not that it particularly matters, beyond some of the reveals making much more sense if they’re building off an assumed awareness of how the world’s expected to work, all more or less new (though more or less intuitive) to me either way. Fun to see so much magic based around music.

Anyways – obviously I’m going in with a biased perspective but my god can you see how this ended up with a massive shipping fandom. The entire story is nothing but impossibly beautiful men flirting/pranking/sexually harassing each other while being utterly and entirely capable to even understand let along communicate their feelings. The two lead’s entire relationship in this volume is like a dated mid-2000s comedy sketch about two ostensibly straight guys playing gay chicken and both being so competitive that they just end up fucking. Author really knew what they were doing with the fanfic bait.

(Though honestly I’m legitimately unsure if it’s just a matter of narrative choice to not dwell on motivations or Wei Wuxian really is the single most unselfaware asshole in the entire universe. He legitimately seems incapable of understanding his own motivations most of the time.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the art, which really is very lovely. Though I will be entirely honest that there’s only so many handsome black-haired men in flowing robes I can keep apart in my head.

But yeah, fun read overall. Don’t exactly feel compelled to go seek out the next volume, but don’t regret having read this one, damn sight better than some other things I’ve read this year.

[exsanguidus]

re headcanon: how do you think Astarion will go about marriage proposal? will he be nervous or smarmy. would he even want to marry at all?

This is going to be a long answer. Also, should note this is of course in reference to non-Ascended Astarion.

Since I headcanon Astarion as a Moon Elf, I think 3e and 3.5e lore on how elves view love, romance, and sexuality is probably pretty close to what Moon Elf culture practices, seeing as they're stated to be rather adventurous and tend not to stay in one place for too long.

3.5e Elves Reddit Citing 3e

This is also why I headcanon that Astarion is rather open-minded to the idea of Tav taking on another lover or having threesomes/foursomes together.

That said, I think that deep down he prefers monogamy, particularly because he's selfish in the sense he wants to have something of his own that he doesn't have to share. Especially after those 200 years he didn't have himself for himself and the fact he can't recall ever genuinely being loved just for being himself rather than what he can offer.

But so long as Tav reassures him that it won't affect their relationship negatively and he won't be neglected in love, affection, and care, he's not opposed. He trusts Tav enough to be responsible, honest, and communicative.

He also mentions, if you approach him about being with Halsin post-his quest, that while the idea of change has always sort of terrified him because it's an unknown, he's accepted that life happens and if Tav does end up falling for someone else, he's confident he'll eventually be ok because he has himself.

Now to get to the actual question at hand: how would Astarion go about a marriage proposal.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but he wouldn't. At least not in the sense that Humans think of marriage and marriage proposals.

He's definitely read about them in the sappy and smutty romance novels he's read, but he personally doesn't subscribe to the idea that he needs to showcase his true love for his partner like that because his partner would know through actions and words they speak to one another privately exactly how Astarion feels about them.

Astarion would really just start referring to his partner as his Wife/Husband/Spouse one day. And then after that, just start using their surname along with his own like that's what his name has always been.

For example, I ship exclusively with my buddy Vex's Tav OC Annette Harlow (@knivesong). So, in our post-game verse Astarion refers to himself as Astarion Harlow Ancunín as his completely full name. He wasn't asked to and he doesn't just going around announcing it randomly to everyone, but he decided that on his own and tells people when its relevant to do so because that's how he decided he wanted to show Annie's place in his life while still respecting both their individualities and unique personhoods.

I also recently put up a headcanon that elves traditionally wear wedding bands on their right hand, if they choose to wear any at all. I believe Astarion would wear the True Love's Caress ring on his right ring finger. He originally didn't until post-his quest, I imagine, but eventually would have just quietly moved it to that finger of his own accord.

I also recently wrote a headcanon that post-game, rather than claim and move into the Crimson Palace (Szarr Palace), he gets himself a nice spot in Baldur's Gate where he can live in the apartments above his own perfume shop. He would legitimately just assume Tav was going to live with him, at that point, and put in furniture to accommodate both of them and take into consideration Tav's tastes in his decor choices.

All that is basically my long way of saying that Astarion would basically just marry Tav via Common Law Marriage. Basically everyone just recognizes those two as married even if they didn't have some big solemnized ceremony.

Astarion doesn't believe in any of the gods anyway. Acknowledges they all exist, since they literally do and can be physically seen, but he won't worship any of them ever. So he wouldn't really think it's important to have their relationship solemnized by an outside source as long as they both solemnize it via consent and mutual understanding of the perimeters of their relationship.

He doesn't care how others view their relationship because, to him, his relationship with Tav is strictly between them and no one else's business.

Of course, if Tav ever brought up that they actually wanted an official marriage proposal and a legitimate marriage ceremony with all the bells and whistles, he'd be all for it because:

I. It's a reason for him to dress up and be Extra.

II. It would make Tav happy.

In that case, he would be the most Extra of Extra about it. Not nervous because he already knows the answer would be yes, but nervous because he wants to make sure he does it right in a way his partner would be pleased with. He'd make a whole performance out of it and it'd be this massive grand gesture. Mind you, that doesn't mean it'd be this huge public display with like releasing doves and hiring a troupe of bards or anything, but something elegant that feels expensive and intimately grand.

It'd probably be so Extra that Tav would facepalm, but he'd just remind them that they asked for it and he doesn't go halfsies on things like that because he has standards for the both of them.

[mrstsung]

Me at mk12/mk1 shang:

Baby you did no wrong. The narrative does you wrong. Tells us you can never be forgiven yet other characters do horrible shit (maybe even worse) and get off scott free cuz the narrative and story told you to hate him. Instead of using your brains to think for once in your god damn lives. Calling shang lazy because he's poor,down on his luck trying to survive in this game. Ableist shitlords who tell poor people and minority groups to "put in honest work and youll get somewhere" or "shang tsung is always a liar" when a supposed "good version exists"?! Are you shitting me?! He deserve nice things. Every excuse i see seems to be wanting to demonize a character that in the story actually didn't deserve it. And by all means is valid in their anger. Shang tsung deserves better. But most of all he deserves the heads of those responsible for giving him a wretched life. So fuck nrs and fuck liu kang stans.

You deserve so much more. Shang tsung stans,my fellow tsimps. Please do him actual justice. That doesn't involve shipping him with everyone on the roster. You know actually write something worth a lick.

Also Me at mk12/mk1 liu kang and anyone who justifies him in the narrative now:

That's not my liu kang and honestly liu should have stayed dead.

Nah i won't apologize.

Hating on this man for the predicaments that you gaslight him on in a situation where liu kang has every fucking means and power to actually change shit or ya know stand up to his superiors. Does nothing. Nobody's calling out these god/titans. And look where that gets our faves.

So liu kang is just as at fault if not more.

You dont give him nearly as much shit as you give raiden as a God and yet unlike raiden

LIU KANG DESERVES TO GET FUCKING YELLED AT,CALLED OUT AND SOME FUCKING CONSEQUENCES FOR HIS BLUNDERS. but yet....he doesn't really. Just sad kitty mew mew faces and a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile shang tsung has to pay for crimes he did WHILE HE WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE AND ACTUALLY FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE PROBLEMS.

Dont give that "oh but evil shang" did what? Whos to say it wasn't the same shit? But instead of God liu kang,it was raiden? So same shit. Plus like i said a good shang exists. So....what is the actual excuse to not feel bad for shang. Even a lil bit?

So same shit different god. Nothing got changed. Nothing worth of lick to the story actually happened.

So what did we actually do differently that was worth it?

Nothing.

Like how am i supposed to love these supposed "good guys" but all they do is follow orders,not question shit,follow narrative,and run around like bumbling idiots? How am i supposed to root for someone who legitimately ruined the lives of others by not actually helping.

If gods actually can do all this shit in mks world. Like they say. If these beings are oh so powerful. Then show it. Because if not. Then they are just as flawed and are no better then the supposed mortals.

Gods in mk use mortals as cattle for their own amusement would be the narrative that mk needs so desperately. And for shang tsung of all people to call that shit out and actually do something about it and do a NOBLE DEED. Would be fucking amazing.

But nope y'all want your boring stale unseasoned trope of "uwu evil guy to beat up because me good guy cant possibly be an asshole in the wrong uwu"

What drove shang to evil....is the lack of actually love and care from someone that was supposed to protect him. He had a hard time trusting others. So.....help him trust again? Help him and guide him better? Maybe he needs a lil bit different teaching technique? He obviously didn't take pleasure in lying or stealing or selling to make ends meet. Obviously there was a reason. Whos to say the people wouldn't find any excuse to hate shang even if he was making an honest living? Whos to say that they wouldn't find a way to other him in the narrative as some of y'all seem to be doing?

So yeah nothing changed.

same shit. Different god. That's all that fucking changed. Period.

It's a mid game. And thats me being very very generous. If shang wasn't in it and used as fucking sale bait. I bet you it wouldn't even get off half the fucking attention it's gotten. And even then it's waning as we speak. (Good)

Say what you want but there is no valid reason to hate shang tsung. You can say he's not your fave. You can say he's done deliciously cold Blooded shit. I'd agree with you.

But dont ever say it was for no reason. He has every right to fuck the gods up.

This man is a survivor of a game that was rigged from the start.

And by god he still despite taking unnecessary L's . He stays winning because i feel he's more popular than any other character on the roster. Simply by being the lovely bastard he is.

People would argue that sub zero or scorpion are the best. Not anymore. They aint even the right ones.

Kenshi is only popular because pretty guy lewis tan(he's cute but by god fans of him are irritating) plays him and people want anime sword dude. Outside of that niche what does he actually have to offer the narrative and story beyond his part. Nothing. Unpopular opinion but...His son was cooler anyways.

Johnny cage is cool but only in small doses otherwise he's insufferable. And he's even mid tier in mk12/mk1. That jean claude van damme skin is the only reason people came back for johnny and i genuinely feel that was also a sale bait. Because they knew they couldn't beat tekkens sales nor street fighter. And had to rush shit out to even be noticed.

It reeks of "notice me younger generation. We still have the cool toys." It's desperate for the glory days that never will come.

People are tired of the mediocre.

You had an opportunity to actually shake shit up. But nope nrs just wants an injustice game so bad but have to appease the impatient mk fans. I say this as a long time mk fan. We are our own worst enemy.

But enough venting.

I'll get back to shang tsung posting soon.

Some actual good food.

Just lemme simmer down and cook a bit.

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

For both: 🎶Do they have a type? 😡What are their deal breakers? 👫Do they display affection in public? What about in private?

✧ ── 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏

ℝ𝕆𝔹𝕀ℕ 𝔸. 𝔹𝔸𝕌𝔻𝔼𝕃𝔸𝕀ℝ𝔼

🎶Do they have a type?

── I genuinely do not think it is any suprise when I say that Robin is attracted to less-than-ideal people in terms of the standards of the general populice. Robin is attracted to people he finds interesting and 98% of the time that means they're most likely willing to do some bizarre or messed up shit. His two ships both have people like this involved, Danny Johnson being a journalist serial killer who delights in bringing misery just so he can spice up "boring lives", and Vladimir vol Kalah Heigaari being a batshit hemomancer who's like 4000 years old and maybe a single step from a god. Robin searches not only for strange, and dangerous, quirks - but he's also very aware that he needs a partner who will encourage him and his pursuits; someone to stick beside him always. His time in Zaun (and wherever he was equivalent to Zaun in other verses) taught him to be resilient and to guard his heart from almost everyone around him - figuratively and literally - he does not trust easy. When that trust is forged it is on purpose and a calculated risk he decides to take for his lover - its a great depth that he could easily drown in - and he expects that same loyalty and vulnerability in return. It creates an amazingly deep connection for the relationships he DOES have. In terms of physical - Robin legitimately could not care less as long as they bathe.

😡What are their deal breakers?

── Robin is the most important person in his life; anything that will abuse him (mentally or physically) is an automatic "no" and he will leave without worry. Following off of this he has a very troubling relationship with his own autonomy after making the deal with Abel - and he is extremely protective of it. If a lover were to threaten that independence I imagine he would make quick work of removing himself from the situation; he wil be no one's slave. Robin will also accept no form of infidelity; once it happens its over - they will no longer be his problem or his lover since they have obviously chosen to unionize with another.

👫Do they display affection in public? What about in private?

── Once Robin is used to being able to touch someone his body reveals that he's been touch starved since before he even died - and now its all layering up and results in Robin being ridiculously clingy and physically touchy. If he can hold his lovers hand, he can - he spends nearly every break in modern verse with Danny - and is happy to carry Vladimir in his bat form too. Although I suppose this is moreso fine around strangers, he's a bit more hesitant around professional settings and around people he actually knows. In private he won't stop touching and being near his partner, I'm so sorry but also not really - he will stick to his partner until he smells like them. He is touch starved and loves kisses, hugs, snuggles - and its stupidly sweet given his usual pragmastism.

ℍ𝔸ℝ𝕌𝕂𝕆 ℕ𝔸𝕂𝔸𝕊𝕆ℕ𝔼

🎶Do they have a type?

── Haruko is a relatively normal person and he has pretty basic needs when it comes to the people he enjoys; honest, mature, and affectionate - he isn't asking a lot like Robin. Granted this doesn't mean at all that Haru is interested in a lot of people, it takes him time to actually care about someone enough to even want to sleep with them. This may seem a bit off course since he did have a few flings - but going into a deeper relationship with him takes time despite the simple desires he has. He also, despite his own preening, doesn't particularly care what his partner looks like - their features will become attractive to him the closer he gets. He's just very lucky that Tarhos has such pretty eyes and is like - a foot taller than him. Ok. Maybe he likes tall people.

😡What are their deal breakers?

── The obvious ones; no abuse, don't be a douchebag - that sort of stuff. But he also comes with an extremely large bag of trauma that focuses around his sexuality and sexual pleasure; in short he did not have a good time with a previous partner. That being said he is still learning how to actually love himself and if Tarhos, for some ... reason?, was ever pushing him or trying to coerce him when he wasn't in the mood - that would pretty much tank his opinion of his boyfriend. He also expects respect not only for HIMSELF but for his family - unlike Robin (in modern at least) he actually loves his family and holds them in very high regard. Disrespecting his sister and/or mother will result in him very quickly dropping his partner, he might be a bit more lenient with teasing Hina but his mom? No.

👫Do they display affection in public? What about in private?

── Oh yeah, Haru absolutely loves being kissy and gross in public with Tarhos - he doesn't care who's watching he loves his boyfriend and will happily show it. The issue is when Tarhos actively returns it or shows the same enthusiasm or flirtations; this drives Haru to become pretty flustered pretty fast. Its weird being a siren usually and then having your own pretty lines thrown right back. Between this and private not much actually changes; he will be a bit more inclined to lean into deeper and more vulnerable conversation though - he doesn't want the world to see him fold but he will happily do it for Tarhos.

[kob131]

Well, in light of the events I'm this week's new RWBY episode, I now know why my Reddit account had that weird glitch I mentioned earlier: it was god's way of telling me to stay away from on the FNDM and HTDM for the rest of the volume. I can practically smell the rage this episode will bring.

Yeah that's what I thought that was.

Gonna be honest here, I've never had that much of an opinion on Bumbleby. I'm not a huge fan of Blake- She's too similar to me in the...less interesting ways ways so I just don't care. At most I cared about Black Sun was when it turned out Kali acted like Sun despite looking like Blake while Ghira had more of Blake's personality...Huh, maybe that's why I'm ambivalent towards Ghira.

At most, All I ever thought was 'wow, the shippers are toxic.' You know how certain Black Sun shippers started getting all catty and petty towards the show because their ship sunk? Well, it was the Bumbleby shippers who did that first when it looked like Black Sun was winning. And I have the same response both ways- "The writers are using the best character for the job at the moment." I knew that Yang would play a part with Blake just like Sun did- it just made sense for those characters at the time.

I've had problems with Bumbleby in the show before, mostly in the indirect and yet blatant way it's been hinted at. I preferred the more subtle moments that Sun had with Blake during Volume 4 but that's just me- I've found romance in RWBY to be very hit or miss (Looking at you, Weiss X Neptune.) But this episode was really cute and I was legitimately cheering it on, in spite of the sour history I have had, simply because it was that cute.

Personally, I would have screwed over both sides of the shipping war and had Blake and Yang be bi but not with each other. But that's me being petty and spiteful. It's canon now.

... Now I can actually work back and judge it based on writing merits.

[willow-lark]

LARK TELL ME ABOUT THE CUPID SCENE OMFG

hello andi!! 💕 my cupid scene mike fic is actually no longer a wip, i finished it up late last night n it is up and published!! but i will give u all the background deets anyway,,, bc this is something i could talk about for hoursssss.

i don't remember exactly when i started thinking huh, nico and mike are kind of similar--i think it might have been before s4 when there were theories that nancy might die and i was like omg u know my other emo dark-haired blorbo with a dead sister w a crush on someone named will??? like, they're not exactly alike but the two of them just radiate the same energy to me. ugh. my faves. i've been dying to write this fic for ages. it's always been bouncing around in my brain. (if house of hades ends up being on the writers' s5 inspo board just know that i fucking called it) like nico getting outed, as brutal as it may be, fundamentally changed the trajectory of my life. honest to god i would be straight right now if i didn't read that scene at age 11. and mike-gets-vecnaed is such an awesome theory/trope, so why not mesh the two??? i feel like it legitimately works so freaking well.

plus, i also get to give mike some support as he goes through it and develop his relationship with lucas. no one is better fit for the role of jason grace in this scenaro--lucas is strong, steadfast, supportive. he's not going to give up on mike, no matter what. plus, in hoh, cupid taunts jason about his relationship with piper a bit, and boyyyy did i have fun squeezing out all the lumax angst this fic would give me! it's a character study for both lucas and mike, and for their friendship. i have not written much lumax before and it is legitimately a travesty because i adore them so much. lumax and byler best ships. always.

plus pjo is just so so very dear to me and although i am not very active in that fandom anymore (though i am anticipating that will change with the release of the tv adaptation), i loved going back to it and sort of blending an older fandom with my current one.

thank you v v much for the ask! (and for giving me an excuse to rant about pjo, i honestly have So Many thoughts~ 💖🫂

wip ask game!!