#tragic at points obvs but the fact that it feels like he figures this out and uses it to his advantage is funny to me

[lexicals]

The contrast between teenage lan wangji and adult lan wangji is so funny. He goes from 100% obedient uncle's special boy to almost getting disowned and bc everyone acts like nothing happened afterwards he just starts doing whatever the fuck he wants and everyone is too cowed by his reputation to say anything. And it works bc 1. he usually wants to do things that align with his clan's principles anyway 2. who the fuck is gonna stop him and 3. are you going to be the person who says they saw the great hanguang-jun breaking a rule?? No-one will believe you. Even people who do see him doing smth out of the ordinary are like "well. He knows what he's doing I'm sure"

[codename-adler]

YOUR TROJAN TEAM?!?!?! flabbergasted. sooooo many lil guys u got there!!!

mayhaps some info on #21, Levi Romanov? love the name, very intriguing <3 or any of your choice, really, whichever you feel like sharing the most!!

oh boy. oh god. Levi's such a big file. u really know how to pick 'em Roo 😂 prepare to be sick of me...... (also ty sm for being chatty n enabling <3) //official unofficial USC Trojans OCs list here//

21: Levi Romanov (22) USC Trojans Backliner

[ face subject to change]

aight let's bullet point this:

born in USA (Alaska); child of immigrants (Belarusian father (born Alaska, parents 1st gen immigrant), Dutch mother (1st gen immigrant))

5'6½" (the half inch is important)(to Levi)(not the Trojans tho)(esp. not Jeremy)

BA: Communication (USC Annenberg)

goes Pro after college

bffs: Nikita & Angie

brother-from-another-mother w/ Nikita Bailey (their mothers are bff, grew up together in Alaska); Nikita is his bff/older brother figure/idol so he joins him in playing Exy (v popular in Alaska) and follows him to USC when he graduates HS

now for the love & tragedy chaos...................

both he and Nikita have a steady relationship with their longtime girlfriends, so much so that Levi talks to Nikita about proposing to his gf after graduation

one day though the 4 of them get into a car/boating accident that kills Levi's girlfriend and seriously injures Nikita's; Levi and Nikita are somehow miraculously the least damaged

it's a rough fucking patch for Levi (and Nikita, but that's a story for another day!)

enter Angie Pullman, Trojans recruit (ask!!! me!!!)

both men are immediately drawn to her, and inevitably it ends up in a big fight that creates a (temporary) rift between Levi and Nikita

luckily it ends up being an Adam/Gansey/Blue/Ronan situation (do you see where i'm going with this?)

because the thing is, there's this guy, Anderson [subject to change] Atwell

the assistant coach

ohohoho yes

Anderson’s really been there for Levi after the accident, bc he's been much more of a confidant to Levi than any of the team's therapists, probably because he's not a therapist; and then the shit with Angie and Nikita really isolates Levi, and slowly Anderson can't help but wanting to help Levi as much as he can, more than assistant coaches probably normally feel...

so Levi's not as straight as he thought, not in love with Angie like that like he thought, much more in love with Nikita than he always thought, and definitely, definitely super hard in love with his assistant coach (you see the Adam/Blue/Gansey/Ronan pattern?) (except there is nothing whatsoever between Nikita and Anderson. in fact Nikita probably hates him a little bit actually. fr fr.)

also before anyone sends me anon hate about my own OCs, the Levi-Anderson age gap is 22-30, so calm downnnn

so yeah Levi & Anderson, once they're all in and go all out, are disgustingly happy; but the hurdles are many and exhausting (i have another ask incoming for Coach Rhemann, which will coincidentally explain really well said obstacles)

i would say, apart from Jean Moreau himself obv and Adèle Moreau, Levi is the most tragic Trojan :(

especially because he used to be such a goofy ass mf, and so hyped about Exy on and off the court, before the accident, and nowadays he's much more a shell of himself, doesn't care much about Exy outside the court, always plays his very best but his heart's not into it, feels disconnected from his team and teammates, etc.

Anderson's the one to lead him back to his love for the sport <3

Jeremy did try very hard as his captain to reignite the flame inside Levi, of course, but let's say he had a little less incentive than with the Frenchman... if ya know what i mean... but Levi's just glad even his captain never gave up on him

birthday's June 1st //lmao beginning of pride month and i didn't even do that on purpose//

originally Levi was named Reuben Muller and he was German-American? but i decided to split the character in 2 and thus Levi & Nikita were born!

his bestfriend, apart from Nikita who has known since birth almost, is Jack Driver; they hit it off instantly the first time they practice together on the court (it also helps that Jack is both a moron and a wise man. very in touch with his feelings. it just depends if his brain cells are activated or taking a nap…)

once the drama settles down Angie also becomes one of his close friends

he’s an only child [pitiful]

did i mention his ADHD? oh he has big big big ADHD… he often forgets his meds, and he’s prone to lash out (mostly at himself) or zone out, but Exy really helps a lot with both his bottomless restless energy and his self-worth <3

on the meds thing: that was such a battle. for everyone involved. Levi, the doctors, his gf, his parents, Nikita... it was just barely starting to go well when the accident happened, and well. the step from ADHD to depression is already so small, Levi had no chance. but he's climbing up the hill again now :)

so Levi's kind of the dark version of Jeremy, or like a past younger iteration of Jeremy before he got to be the Captain Sunshine we know and love (and that's partly why Jeremy has trouble connecting w him, befriend him, even look at him sometimes); he doesn't talk much anymore, except to fight and curse, but then he turns around and drops by with a pan of brownies for the new girl because he saw her eating one all alone and sad in the athletes' hall, you know? he's very hard to pin down, even more so now that the constants in his life have been taken away or flipped :/ but he's a precious dude, trust me!

[fandomwritingbit]

(teacher)william afton x (afab)reader

WARNINGS: teacher/student dynamic, inappropriate relationship, bad banter, swearing, nsfw mentions.

NOTES: You’re an ex-gcse student of Mr Afton who after years bumps into him and decides to help him solve a problem of his. Obvs reader is 18+, Reference to Afton’s wife (in process of divorce), but she is nameless. If you don’t like a student/teacher dynamic don’t read. This felt kinda wholesome, maybe because William isn’t so much the evil cockney bastard I’d usually write him as cos the teacher aspect sort of forced him to be a bit more... normal.

Engulfed in the buzz of a mainstream restaurant, your eyes dart across to the customers on surrounding tables. Bored to death by your blind date, Chris or Carl? You can't remember, at this point you'd had a couple too many and your friend Eloise - who was responsible for this tragic night - was going to have Hell to pay for putting you through this.

"Y/ n!" Your miserable date said, waving his hand to get your attention.

"Damn, you're not even listening to me." He barks and you apologise. Assuring him you will try to listen to his spiel in defence of Boris Johnson this time. Alas around four words into his sentence, you find your eyes searching faces again. It was a couple of minutes later that your eyes clap on a man. A very handsome man. You recognise him, and his gorgeous face, but can't quite place his identity. You stare for a while trying to figure out who he is. And as if feeling your curious eyes, he glances in your direction, locking gaze with you, catching you completely off guard.

~

He had been in this restaurant for what felt like years, trying to persuade his ex wife to sign the agreement she had drawn up. At this point he'd have given her everything, the house, the car, the money. Well in fact he pretty much had. He sighed audibly.

"Just sign it, it's everything you asked for and more, probably. For the love of God, put us both out of our misery." He spoke quietly, she blinked slowly, looking offended and placing a manicured hand on her chest.

"I don't know why you're insisting on this divorce, think about the kids. This isn’t-" He rolled his eyes, her shrill voice too loud in the restaurant and drawing attention. She was grating on him badly now. Keep it together, William. Don’t give the demon what she wants, he reminded himself. Managing to keep his head, he raises his eyebrows at her in a warning to be quiet.

"We're in public." he said through gritted teeth.

"I know... that's why we should have met at the house, so we can talk properly." She responded, shaking her head. She never listened. It had nearly been a year since he first filed for divorce, she had been delaying. He had begged, bargained and borrowed to get this far, and this divorce was going to happen whether she liked it or not. His wife tried to place her hand on his before speaking.

"Come on, we can make it work, Will... you know we can." He sharply moves her hand away from his, trying to hide the look of disgust and anger her action elicited. In doing so, he noticed that she was still wearing the fucking engagement ring he'd got her 9 years ago, along with the wedding band. His eye twitched.

"No... no we can't. Please sign it." He replies harshly and stands up, sick of all this diplomacy he needed to get away before he did something he’d regret something that’d give her an excuse to drag this out more, like the last time. 

"I'm going for a smoke. If you don't sign it, I'll call my solicitor." Not that he could afford to, but he decided to leave it at that and exited, slender frame dodging tables to escape the restaurant.

~

During that whole debacle, you were also having a rough time, you hadn't been listening to your date... again. Instead you'd been trying to eavesdrop on the drama going on across the room. Your interest faltered when the man got up and left. You finally decide to end this.

"Look Chris, I don't think that this is working..." You begin, but he scoffs and cuts you off.

"Yeah I agree, cos my name is Craig," He snaps, a guilty look passes over your face. You didn’t have time to apologise as he continued.

"Do you want to come over to mine so we can hook up? At least it's not a complete failure then..." You grimace, you really couldn’t think of anything you wanted to do less. 

"I don't...?" Suddenly he spoke up again, cutting you off for the second time.

"You know what? I was only taking pity on you, never mind." This causes you to laugh in disbelief. Fully coming to the conclusion that this guy was a complete and utter dick, so it was only right that you treat him like one.

“Wow.” You say, voice intentionally loud so as to draw as many stares as possible. Voice layered thickly with overly sarcastic gratitude. "Well thank you, it's such an honour to even be considered worthy to hook up with you." Your performance achieved its goal, people were looking and wide eyes filled the room. Feeling as though he'd been sufficiently embarrassed, you stand up, fixing him with the most witheringly sarcastic smile you could muster.

"You’d better not be here when I come back.... oh and I'll pay, your highness." You finish and walk off towards the back door, saying. "That's all folks" to the surrounding tables in your best bugs bunny voice.

Approaching the door, you see that bloke from earlier, the one you recognised. The one who looked fucking huge stood next to this door, squinting because of the light. He looks pissed, as evident in how he was roughly flicking the ash from his cigarette onto the floor. You offer him the typical tight-lipped expression of greeting, but he barely notices. Instead you take a place on the other side of the door and pull out your pack of fags. And as if you were a character made up in the mind of a “romance writer” you didn't have your lighter. OF FUCKING COURSE. And so, despite the social etiquette, you turn to the guy.

"Hey mate, can you light this for me?" You ask, the tensing of his jaw making you instantly regret getting involved. He looks at you blankly, taking a second to realise that you are a real person, who'd just asked him a question.

"Uh, yeah sure.. sorry." He passes you one out of the pocket of his suit trousers.

"Lost in thought?" You begin enquire but he didn't answer, and instead said,

"Did I teach you biology a few years ago?" And it hit you like a bucket of water dropped by a shitty window cleaner. That's where you new this fucker from.

"Oh god, yeah... Mr Afton, right?" He nods a small smile on his lips and resumes the cigarette. He remembered you quite clearly, a high achiever but not one who could be bothered with his lessons. He recalled having to give you many a choice words during his time with you. But God, looking at you out of the corner of his eye, you looked fucking different now. 

"Well, thanks for the lighter." You smile somewhat awkwardly and hand it back, rushing to get to your smoke. You’d really tried to put your secondary years behind you and here he is, dredging them all back up. How could you forget that face, he was all sharp angles, scary as fuck but menacingly attractive; as consequence you'd been nothing but a cunt to the man for years.

"No problem," he pauses... "Though I distinctly remember telling my students not to smoke. On several occasions." A smirk glazes his handsome face. You roll your eyes and reply with,

"Oh sorry, Sir Hypocrite... I'm having a rough day, alright?" You can't stop yourself from grinning as you speak.

"Aren't we all?" He arched his eyebrows. "Anything I can help with?" He asks. You roll your eyes again, hard enough that it hurts a little.

"Nah I don’t have any exams coming up.” He shakes his head at you, laughing. You’d always had something quick to say, even back then. You smirk, answering him properly 

“The man I was with was a mega prick, I told him to swivel." He laughed out loud. 

"I've never heard that expression, but I think I get the drift. You poor thing." You both focus on your cigarette for a minute and an awkward silence takes over.

You break it saying,

"Your turn at story time, then." He smiled, not even taking a second to think before responding.

"Did you see the lady I was with?" He gestures inside with his head and you nod. "Yeah, she's my soon to be ex wife, but the plot twist is, she won't sign the division of assets agreement, because she thinks there’s still hope... at this point I think it'd be easier to kill her." he laughs. Causing you to smirk at the mischievous grin on his face, though what he said was quite menacing really, he looked fucking good when he said it. You both again go quiet, lost in thought. Your train of thought making you giggle, rather hysterically truth be told.

"What? What's so funny?" He started chuckling purely because of how you were laughing. A memory of him telling you off years ago for disrupting his lesson and you just laughing at him crossed his mind. He’d struggled to keep a straight face back then, and was having the same problem now. You wheeze, needing a minute to calm down before you could answer him.

"I just thought of something funny, is all." The grin remained fixed to your face.

"Share with the group then." he said, looking at you with a slightly stern stare, that made you giggle again. That look was all too familiar.

You gulp, what you'd been thinking of wasn't really appropriate for the group. In fact it was the opposite, rather stupid and embarrassing.

"Leave it, I'm tipsy." You mutter, trying to hide your own embarrassment. He turns to face you properly now, eyes searching yours for answers.

"Now I really want to know." He folds his arms, giving you the special teacher stare down, cocking his head to bring about your answer.

He continues, "Come on... I won't tell anyone." His conspirator-like expression made your stomach twist and your knees get a bit too weak. Though you’d tortured this man with comments back in the day, to be honest he’d always rather intimidated you. Shaking your head you knew you had to reply.

"Fine... you say your wife thinks there’s a chance, well you've just got to prove to her that there isn’t." You explain as best you can, trying to formulate the next sentence swiftly so you don't come off as thick.

"Alright, Inspector Clouseau. And how am I to do that? I've told her plenty of times." He threw you a quizzical look, for all his clever-dick ways he was unable to decipher where this might lead.

You laugh shortly, “Well as you taught us: humans are fairly visual creatures, show her you've moved on..." Your cockiness was over compensating for how embarrassed you felt right now. You giving relationship advice, this is where the credits should fucking roll. 

He raises his brows but quickly lowers them, concluding that that wasn't such a bad idea. Student becomes the master, he thought, grinning. 

“A good point, I suppose. How though?” He inquired, becoming invested in your solution. At this point he was considering anything to help end his marriage. Honestly a fortune teller, essential oils, burning sage; he’d try anything. 

The way he was looking down at you was making your legs press together, he’s well too attractive to be in a confined space with you and your decreasing inhibitions.  

"This could be the drink talking... but do you want me to help you out?" You bite your lip, hating that you said that and realising how it sounded. But you’d have to follow through now, your pride demanded it of you.

“What are you proposing?" He asked, eyes narrowed but a wide smile on his face. Trying to figure out if this teasing was in his head or not, he looked you up and down, the way you were clenching your bottom lip between your teeth sent shivers down his spine and a guilty feeling seeped into his bloodstream. This felt very inappropriate, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to see where it would lead.

"I'm proposing... that we move over, in front of the window.” You point somewhat awkwardly and smile at your own idiocy. “And... make it look like we're flirting..." You trail off uncertainly, feeling completely stupid. Not hating yourself quite yet, but resenting your need to be smart in front of a man that made you feel like a pissing 16 year old again.

"If you think that it's a good idea, of course?" You finish, raising your eyebrows and bracing yourself for him to tell you that you were being well inappropriate. 

You had no clue. He thought that was a great idea, both for the practical element of making his wife upset and the idea of getting close to you was certainly appealing. It felt odd, to say the least, but you look so cute, flustered and a bit embarrassed, laughing at yourself. It made arousal lick at him, the fact that he hadn't had the sort of attention for a long time really not helping.

"Well I-I guess. If you want." Is all he could come up with, you nod in semi-disbelief, on the border of going into a giggling fit again. Flirtatious grins coating both of your lips. Why you are doing this, you don't know, but you sure as Hell aren't backing out now.

You are several shades of red, when you move with him in front of the window. He himself felt a little hot under the collar. Trying not to look inside the restaurant, you take the space in front of him, hardly meeting his eyes.

"So, she can't hear us. Only see." You say, flashing him the most flirtatious smile you had, whilst moving a hand up to your hair.

"I see, so we’ll have to compensate with... actions." He matched your smile with a smirk that gave you fucking butterflies, you try not to let it show though.

"Exactly. Why don't you say something and I'll laugh, that's a start." You suggest, finally managing to look at the man. Regretting it as soon as you did.

"God. No pressure then." He said, his brows furrowing as he thought of something to say to impress you.

You react outwardly, giggling and putting a hand on his arm to steady yourself. You keep it there, fingers moving up and down on him. All he could do was watch, his mind complete mush.

"I hope that's alright. I was just taking initiative." You half apologise, not moving your hand an inch. He laughed, it was all he could think to do in the moment, his mind racing.

"Do you mind if I-" he paused, unable to finish his own sentence.

"By all means." You shrug, by now mischief flooded your body, making you slightly giddy. Nodding, he stepped forward, leaning his head towards your ear. The simple action made your heart race dramatically.

"I'm terrible at this. I'm sorry." He whispered, his breath flush on your neck. Partially out of reflex you move your hand up his arm to rest on his chest. Here you could feel the intense beating, beneath his hard flesh. You are unsure if you heard a hushed curse word from him, or just a harsh intake of breath. Regardless, he retreats his head from beside your neck.

Words were failing him a lot by now. And he was too into this for his own good. You smelt so nice and that hand on his chest was too much. Knowing it was pretend wasn't enough to quash the physical reaction you were causing. The effort of trying to keep his arousal at bay was making him dizzy.

"It's fine. Believe me, I’m struggling just as much..." you say, realising the position of your hand. You were about to take it away from him when his large hand overtook it and kept it there.

"Oh-" you whisper, mainly to yourself. Looking up to meet his eyes, yours ever widening with confusion. Before you could say something funny to lighten the mood, he placed a hand on your neck. And words didn’t exist in your brain anymore, the effect of a gorgeous man touching you - least of all one who you joked about fancying since you were a kid - rendering you silent. Seemingly without hesitation he pulled you in and locked you in a kiss.

He couldn't believe what he'd just done. He really should have asked first, for fuck’s sake he barely knew you. Last time he’d seen you was on your GCSE results day; the though of that made him feel fucking grimy. But your body against him distracted him from his thoughts and he focused on kissing you, trying to do the best job he could. 

The kiss, although unexpected, made your stomach knot in arousal. And you couldn’t help but kiss him back. The smell of smoke coupled with his aftershave, was intoxicating, that mixed with how he pressed his tongue between your lips was fucking overwhelming. But God.

When he finally released you, you noticed his pained expression.

"I'm so sorry. I should have as-" he rushes, his eyes searching yours for any sign of discomfort. Mercifully for him, there was none. All you could do was giggle, rather school girlishly, a hand running through your hair to try and calm your nerves.

"Don't be. You're alright." You smile, cheeks a bit too red. Both of you didn't have anything else to say, and looked at each other, grinning widely.

After a few moments you realise the reason for all this and turn to look into the restaurant, he joins you. To your surprise, the table where Mrs Afton was sat was now empty, the drinks discarded.

Sweet relief flooded the man, thank Jesus he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore tonight. She’d most certainly have crushed the high he was on right now.

“You were right.” He smirks, turning to look at you.

“Well, Mr Afton as much as you resented me for it: I’m always right.” You counter, confidence trying to make up for your heart still thundering from the touch of him. 

“I did not resent you.” He pointed at you, easily slipping back into a teacher-like personality. “If anything, your gall was amusing.” 

You smiled, it was like he’d read your school-years diary and knew everything to say to reignite every stupid crush you’d had on him.  

Before you could reply, he put his hand out to say something, a dashing smile coating his lips. 

“I think It's appropriate you call me William now. I mean that... just happened and I’m not teaching you biology any more.” His eyes widened when he realised you were again laughing at him, your hand reaching to cover your mouth. 

“What now?” He chuckled in uncertainty, your ability to make a joke out of everything kept him on the back-foot. 

“You uh really set me up for a dirty joke there, Williammm.” As you drew out his name mockingly, he could only raise his arms in confusion. You were driving him crazy, the years since he’d last seen you had given you even more of an ability to run rings around him. To be honest, he liked that. Man, he liked that a lot.

“Well go on then.” He shook his head, for some reason deciding to humour you.

“Fine.” You giggle, he asked for this. “You could be.” 

His eyes narrowed, as usual he couldn’t follow your train of thought, which you seemingly relished. “Could be what?” 

“After that kiss you definitely could be teaching me more biology.” The cocky smirk on your face was enough to bring a slight colour to his face; trust you to have him speechless like the roles were reversed and he was the young one. 

“I’m not sure what to say to that.” He snickered, not bothering to hide his inclination to flirt with you. 

“Tell me next time you see me.” The laugh that that ripped from him made you blush, you thought that you would be getting on his nerves but a quick glance at his eyes revealed that he was enjoying your teasing immensely. 

“Smooth, Ms L/N and when will that be?” 

[letstalkabouttvshows]

Now, let's talk about Malex, please

I have some theories of what we might get from the Malex plot.

I'm gonna share the ones I really feel strongly about (or that I really, really want to happen HEHEHEHE)

(Obvs, I might be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off, but it's nice to share and see how it goes).

The wedding ❤️❤️❤️

I'm a firm believer the wedding will happen.

There's a lot of evidence to that overall, but I think, above all, the writers knowing they might not have a season 5, would want to send Malex off as a married couple.

Their whole theme throughout the show has been home, belonging, hope. It fits! The fact that Michael will have to find and get Alex back probably will make him not want to waste any more time.

And say whatever you wanna say about RNM writing, but if we take a look on the seasons, Malex has a very well done (but not free from mistakes) journey as a story arc.

It's not as tragic, terrible writing as some people here make it out to be.

The parallels, the chemistry, the soundtrack, everything with them has details and it connects to itself.

It might not have always been perfect, but it definitely is the love story of the show.

🌟 They are cosmic 🌟

I really think "cosmic" will stop to be a metaphor and revealed itself as literal.

I think Malex is connected by something. I think Alex might not be just human.

I think we will get something sort of a soulmate explanation.

Alex will die ☠️💀☠️💀

I know this sounds dramatic, but I think Alex will die in front of Michael. Maybe when Michael finds him. Maybe he dies right before Michael finds him.

Can you feel the angst?

I just think that Maria losing her ability to see the future and Max not being able to use his power full speed because he might get overcharged crazy with it sounds like a lot of blocks in the way to bring Alex back safe and sound.

The Maria and Max factor also can be obstacles if they get Alex back and he's like almost dead.

So they'll have to put him in a pod until they figure out a way to heal him.

But, I'm feeling dramatic, so my best bet is that he's gonna die.

I don't think we'll have a handprint ❌🤚🏻❌

If Alex dies, I don't think we'll get a handprint.

BUT WAIT. HEAR ME OUT!

I think the handprint thing is very Echo and I don't know, maybe the writers will not want to parallel that particular thing.

Although they parallel Echo and Malex quite often lately.

That doesn't mean Michael won't heal Alex.

I think if Alex dies, Michael finally will touch his ability to heal.

I mean, he's Jones son, the healing power must be there somewhere.

I think Michael's healing power will be displayed in a different way.

Not necessarily with a handprint.

Maybe a surge of power, lightning in the sky, bright lights surrounding them. I don't know. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

But something that's bigger than a handprint because season 3 hinted that Michael is more powerful than Jones without training.

Alex death would be triggering enough to Michael unlock all of his powers.

---

So, so far, this is what I got. I might be on to something or complete off. But I think that's the point.

The story is good enough to keep us guessing!

Let's wait and see!

❤️❤️❤️

[chalkrevelations]

So, Word of Honor, Episode 36 (and “Episode” 37) again, because I want to do a little bit more unpacking of this, particularly with some of the extra material and information that people have been able to point me to.

Spoilers, obvs. For right now, I mainly want to pull out this bit of my initial reaction to 36 & 37, because I think it remains a key point for me:

It would be nice, though, if the connective tissue from 36 to 37 made any sense. Or existed whatsoever. Just, like, throw me a bone, show, some kind of explicit hand-waviness that actually gets mentioned for why Ye Baiyi apparently was not as smart as he thought he was and didn’t really know what he was talking about when he was doomsaying about how one of the pair will surely, oh surely perish. None of this “Sooooo, they managed to figure out the technique and master it?” from some random shidi who never actually gets an answer. I mean, the door was left open for fanwankery on this one, with what looks to be a very last-minute conceit of all this being a story told by grown-up Chengling to his disciples, which begs the question of how much of what he’s telling them is totally accurate, given any number of issues …

I do feel like there’s an interesting meta thing going on here, in that the entire show has been about – let’s be honest, it was never really about the plot – queer-coding this couple in ways that supposedly fly enough under the radar that people can handwave them as Just Good Friends and Brothers (I mean, I guess) with a Bury Your Gays tragic ending (ugh) for good measure. And Chengling is telling a story in-universe that seems to conform to some of this same formula. And yet, we all know well and good that these guys were husbands … So are we supposed to carry the same assurance out of the show, on a meta level, that what appears to be happening in the story at the end of Ep 36 – what we discover we’re learning through Chengling’s story-telling, isn’t really the truth? Just, look: While we’re getting the Good Friends and Brothers push, there’s stuff like obvious voice-over work that doesn’t match the much more queer version of what the actors actually said, which is apparently blazingly clear to any viewers who know Mandarin and can manage to lip-read. The show has literally put de-queered words into these characters’ mouths. You can’t trust what you hear. But apparently the show has also made this obvious enough that, if you’re a good enough speaker of the language the show is being told in, and you have a good enough eye, you can see what is actually going on. Are we being taught to trust our eyes more than our ears, are we being told that what we’re being told – by the end of Ep 36 on a meta level, by Ye Baiyi-through-Chengling’s-story on an in-universe level, and by what we learn about what happened from Chengling’s story, itself, also on an in-universe level – is inherently untrustworthy, but that if we “speak the language” of this show well enough, and have a good enough eye, we can decode it and see what “actually” happened and is later made explicit in Ep 37? 

So, that’s a lot, but the reason I wanted to pull it back out is because I feel like this no-homo, surface-level, smoke-and-mirrors effect that gets layered over a queer bedrock of “reality” is precisely what the show did with its ending, and I want to approach that on a couple of different levels. Particularly since I’ve seen several reactions from other people who didn’t seem to have seen/didn’t have access to the extra of “Ep” 37, or who also found it difficult and vaguely unsatisfying to make the leap from Ep 36 to full belief in, and commitment to, “Ep” 37.

When I first posted this, I was really leaning on the idea of a classic Rashomon effect, given that we see – imho – a final Zhou Zishu/Wen Kexing scene in Ep 36 that’s filmed to lead us to believe that Wen Kexing died, with a subsequent cut to Zhang Chengling wrapping up a telling of the “story” of ZZS and WKX to his disciples. The easiest fanwank on this is that all of what we’ve seen so far has been Chengling telling the story of ZZS and WKX to his disciples, making him an unreliable narrator who in fact doesn’t know the truth of what really happened. I was actually reminded of the contrast in The Untamed (god, I don’t need to warn for spoilers for The Untamed, do I, we’ve all seen Chen Qing Ling at this point, right? Anyway, SPOILERS FOR THE UNTAMED) between the cliff scene in Episode 1 when they make it look like Jiang Cheng stabbed Wei Wuxian, leading to his fall off the cliff, and you go back later and realize this is the version that the storyteller was telling to the people in the teahouse vs. Episode, god, what is it, 33? When we see the cliff scene in “real” time, and discover that’s not what actually happened, that what happened is that Jiang Cheng stabbed a rock and Wei Wuxian shook himself free of Lan Wangji’s grip to fall to his death. You can’t trust what you hear. Also … well, we’ll get back to Chengling in a minute.

The second level of uncertainty to unwind is Gao Xiaolian calling bs on Chengling’s story. So, I felt like the kid who’s practicing his forms in the snow and being coached by ZZS in “Ep” 37 might actually be someone, not just a random kid, and that might be important, but I could not for the life of me figure out who he might be. I wasn’t aware until I watched some of AvenueX’s wrap-up of the show (I think that’s the first place I heard this info pointed out) that this kid is supposed to be the son of Gao Xiaolian and Deng Kuan, and the dad who comes to take him home is Deng Kuan (formerly Da-shixiong of Yueyang Sect, who – let’s face it – Gao Xiaolian really wanted to marry). Seriously, I spent so much time making fun of ZZS’s stupid facial hair tricks in this show, and then they actually do just put a dumbass mustache on a guy, and I completely don’t recognize him. I have to admit, the mustache threw me enough that I had no idea that was Deng Kuan (well, and maybe only seeing him for three episodes also helped). But if that’s Deng Kuan, and if the kid is his and Gao Xiaolian’s son, then she would have some reasonable standing to know a story detailing WKX’s death was bs.

 Finally, and most crucially – thanks to everyone who directed me to resources (including AvenueX and other fans who were able to do some translation) who were able to talk about the voiceover work in this final ep, because when I talk about how you can’t trust what you hear, but if you speak the language well enough and have a good enough eye, you can catch what’s really going on? When I talk about de-queered words being put into these character’s mouths? Apparently, this is what happens to Chengling in the final scene. That last scene - and the story he tells his disciples - apparently DOES provide the connective tissue from Ep 36 to Ep 37, but you can’t trust what you hear. Apparently, this is one of the places where you can see something different from what you hear if you’re able to lip-read, with Chengling telling the disciples something much closer to the idea that two people who love each other equally can equally support each other through this cultivation technique and both come out alive.

In the AvenueX discussion of this (Livestream #21, starting around 1:22:30), there’s an additional tidbit about the use of the word “cauldron” – I believe by Ye Baiyi - to describe one person in the pair, a word with a specific and widely-understood meaning within the genre that’s not necessarily known outside of the genre with, yes, sexual connotations. (Come on, slash fans, don’t tell me you don’t giggle every time you pass a perfectly innocent Jiffy Lube auto shop, at something that the mundanes don’t think twice about.) Apparently, “cauldron” is in the script, I believe it’s in the English subs, and it apparently was in the original Chinese subs, until too many people started talking about it and how it had been slipped past censorship, because it’s a perfectly common Jiffy Lube auto shop, right? and then it appears Youku went back and changed the character in the Chinese subs to something that doesn’t even make any sense. So again, we get an example of a case where if you’re a good enough speaker of the language this show is being told in – in this case the vernacular of wuxia – with a good enough eye, you can catch what’s really going on. Something that then gets no-homo’d. And has some nonsensical de-queered meaning laid over top of it. How many times do we have to do this until we learn the lesson that you can’t trust what you hear?

 ANYWAY, I’m wondering if the visuals are important, too: Something we see in the last scene with ZZS and WKX in Ep 36, when WKX is either unconscious or dead (CLEARLY UNCONSCIOUS), is that ZZS – twice – doesn’t let WKX’s hands fall. He catches him by the wrists and then catches him again by the hands as WKX’s hands start to slip away from ZZS’s hands – aaaannnnd end scene. I have to wonder if that’s not a subtle but important detail, that we see ZZS refusing to let WKX physically slip away, and maybe, by implication, refusing to let WKX slip away from him into death.

Also, again with Ye Baiyi – in the flashback when WKX is yelling at ZZS, Ye Baiyi says “No one dies!” as he comes bursting into WKX’s sickroom. And then even reiterates it – “No one dies before me!” But then the voiceover during the qi transfer, he’s supposedly going on about here’s how WKX is going to have to kill himself to save his husband? I think the script has dropped the ball in a few places, but that would really be a tremendous flub. That also deserves some unpacking, but I’m running out of free time right now.

So, just some additional thoughts. I will probably have more, but next up, I think, will be a re-watch from the beginning.

One last thought, tho’: What’s the likelihood that Nian Xiang is Actual A-Xiang and Goa Xiaolian’s/Deng Kuan’s kid is Cao Weining, reincarnated?

[animus-inspire-archive]

💖 Give Tseng a little loving~

Send a 💖 and I’ll tell you what a relationship would be like with my character:

How likely they are to enter a relationship with them:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 - oh now, you're not being fair. You know this is one of - if not my primary - OTPs but ours haven't interacted in that way. *blows raspberry* okay, look, I may be biased but there's a lot of canonical reasons I see this ship as at least starting (though whether it lasts is another matter entirely, or in what form). From Tseng's realisation of his mentor's relationship with Reeve and actively being concerned over his well being when Cait Sith is attacked in Gongaga through to the fact that Reeve rescues Tseng at the Temple of the Ancients (and I think also has a part to play re: attack by the remnants). Not to mention whatever happens with Rufus, as Tseng is never far away there either. They have some similarities too, they both are men who give of themselves in service, though for different things. Just... :|

Would they…

Make the first move? Yes | No - depends entirely on the circumstance. He is technically Tseng's superior during Shinra times, but we figure the hierarchy doesn't mean much to Tseng past the Turks and Rufus. I don't see him as being that passive either, though he could easily make (anybody lol) Tseng so frustrated that he in fact makes the first move. I've played out both, and other alternatives.

Say “I love you” first? Yes | No - I think after some time, he would deliberately want to show open vulnerabilities to Tseng (for many reasons) so yes, he would verbalise

Cheat on them? Yes | No

Be the jealous type? Yes | No

Plan the dates? Yes | No - both. both is good.

Initiate the first kiss? Yes | No - see point 1

Remember anniversaries? Yes | No

BOLD WHAT APPLIES:

Their Relationship Is:

friends to lovers | rivals to lovers | enemies to lovers | still just enemies | mutual pining | star crossed lovers | old married couple | perpetual honeymoon phase | stable and boring | stable but not boring | secret lovers | best friends hiding their feelings | and they were roommates | friends with benefits | coworkers avoiding HR | one-sided affection | weird sexual tension | it’s complicated | toxic relationship | a secret affair | an actual dumpster fire | other - Queer Platonic as I can see for a few of Reeve's ships, though I vibe strongest with this ship (possibly Veld) as potentially QP like Shadowgast

PUBLIC Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection - not in a public work environ obvs

PRIVATE Displays of Affection:

hand holding | kiss on the hand | kiss on the cheek | kiss on the forehead | kiss on the lips |  cuddling | hugging | affectionate messages or comments | pet names | pictures together | no displays of affection

Do they stay together?

yes, this is endgame | yes but someone is gonna die tragically | something is keeping them apart | they part ways as friends | they part ways as enemies | they’re on-again-off-again | they have a super messy breakup | it was just a fling | other

BONUS

What terrible pet names would they give each other?

He just calls Tseng, Tseng (unless told otherwise).

@apathetic-ruler

[oh-phineas]

Emma’s 2021 BDRP Resolutions!

Write your RPer Resolutions for 2021! (What are some goals for yourself as a writer? Improve descriptions? Plot with more members? Etc.)

I’d like to get better at planning long-term and having arcs supported by different mini-stories. I started doing this with Tiana and her restaurant which was a good exercise, but I want to challenge myself to take on less tangible goals as well if that makes sense and finding ways for different characters to get involved in that journey. I think throwing characters together just to see what happens can be a lot of fun and lead to really great interactions, but I’d also like to think more about all the development potential an interaction can have and really jump on that.

I’m also always saying this, but I want to get more comfortable/confident with plotting. Sometimes I feel like I really need to have a fully fleshed-out idea before I approach someone which can lead to me just giving up before I even try because I haven’t fully developed the idea. I want to find a balance where I’m bringing something to the table with plotting but I’m not psyching myself out just because I don’t have a full-blown idea. Because sometimes I think it’s okay to say here’s a vague goal I have, here’s how I think it could work with our characters, let’s see what happens! And overall I just wanna get better at approaching people I don’t write with as often. 

Write at least one resolution, or “goal,” that you have as an RPer for your character(s)

Phineas: Be less freaking selfish! Lol I feel like Phineas’s problems tend to stem from his Main Character Syndrome. Like the kid seriously thinks everything is about him. Honestly, I don’t want to delete that trait from Phineas because I think it is a very important part of his personality. But I want him to seriously reckon with it, see the damage it can cause sometimes and understand that even with the best of intentions, some things just aren’t about him.

Tiana: Learn to rely on other people more! I think the knights can offer this opportunity which is why I wanted to get her involved with them, and I’d also like to see her learn to lean on her staff and the Princess House :) She’s pushed a lot of people away over the years working toward her goal, and now that she’s achieved it, I want to see her navigating relationships and all the messiness that comes with them. Because opening yourself back up is rewarding but it is not uncomplicated!

Aquata: Find a purpose in life other than swimming! That dream is dead! It’s gone! Rest in peace, she is never going to be on the national team and she’s gotta learn to live with it! I’ve spoken to a few people about this but I wanna see her really get involved with Magick rights and dig into her mer-heritage a little bit. Because it’s such a big part of her identity that she’s always sublimated into swimming and I’d love to see her explore it separate from her world as a swimmer.

Henry: I want to do more Order stuff with him. I’d like to set him on a wild goose chase where he totally pursues the wrong person, I think that would be a really fun plot because the exact person he’s trying to stop is RIGHT in front of him!! And he doesn’t even realize and I love some good dramatic irony. 

Ev: I really wanna get some bigger plots moving with her and really shake things up because that was my goal with picking her up initially. I have some stuff in the works but I think I can do more with reaching out to people and planning long-term stuff. And I want her to face the aftermath of her plans: the excitement at seeing it all come together and the guilt of knowing it hurt people, even if she thinks it’s for a greater purpose.

Anna: This is weird because I JUST got her but yeah I’m just excited for college plots! Finding herself! I’ve been thinking about doing some kind of mean girls thing with her bc I think she has Cady Heron parallels lol and I’d love to put her in a situation where she has her loyalty tested. And I also want her to learn to EXPRESS her ANGER. She can get pissed off sometimes but he has this tendency to censor herself when it’s people she cares about. I want her to FIGHT.

Write at least one resolution IN CHARACTER for your characters. What do THEY want to accomplish or change in the New Year?

Phineas: Launch Something Big. It’s the last year before he starts college and he’s running out of time to be a child prodigy!!! Oh no!!! What will he ever do!!! Maybe it’s his first business. His first podcast. His first Ponzi scheme, who knows?? (That is a joke Phineas is not starting a Ponzi scheme). But give him something to try at and fail at!

Tiana: Get situated with the knights, keep making Tiana’s Place a success.....maybe find love?

Aquata: Improve Swynlake. Make it a better place for people to be out Magicks. Improve the environment. Get shit done on Board!!! And stop being weird around Vidia lol

Henry: Figure out what the hell happened on December 21 2020. Hunt down the Unseelie Creatures that Plague the Night. Keep Ashleigh happy <3 Mostly, though, Henry feels like he’s been slacking in his mission and he wants to get back on track.

Ev: Organize a big disaster, preferably taking advantage of cursed people. Gather as much intel about Swynlake as possible. Stop dragging my feet and make it happen!!

Anna: MAKE NEW FRIENDS!! She is so desperate. Fall in love <3 Figure out what the hell actually happened between Elsa and her father and why Elsa never talked to her before now. Make the most of uni :)

List one or more characters you have never interacted with that you would like to do so

Reza!!! He’s on Board with Aquata and has a similar platform. I think they could really work together and I would love to find a way for them to interact.

Ting Ting!!! How am I a Ting Ting stan and I’ve never interacted with her. Tragic. Obv she probably deserves some space rn with all the drama but at some point I would really love to work with her unique form of magic 

Tink!!! She’s got such an interesting story and I want to interact with more fairies in general. 

ROBBIE. Swynlake’s currently only known vampire!! I think he and Henry could be really interesting.

Plotting Exercise! Pick one of the resolutions/goals in #2 and plan a rough guideline to how you could accomplish it. Here’s an example. EXAMPLE OF A MOCK PLOT: HENRY’S WILD GOOSE CHASE

Self Para: Before going back to school, Henry has a talk with his father who tells him that while he knows he is capable, if another widespread Unseelie attack occurs, it’s going to look very bad for him and he needs to figure out what happened.

therefore...

Para: Henry hears loud screeching that keeps him up at night that he concludes must be a banshee. He goes to investigate and runs into KOVU, who is coming back from a “late night walk” and ropes him into helping him search. They don’t find anything, but they are able to trace the sound to DEVYN’s room.

therefore...

Para: Henry ropes ROSE into helping him do research in the library, despite the fact that they are on... not great terms following Rose and Tom’s breakup, by convincing her that there is dark magic afoot in the dorms. Upon some research, Henry starts to doubt that the sound he is hearing is really a banshee, but his options are either admit he is wrong or double down.

therefore...

Para: Henry corners DEVYN at a Student Union outing and tries to ask him if anything weird has been going on, if they are hearing any weird noises or seeing strange omens. DEVYN is understandably confused, setting off some confusion magic. Henry, not understanding the confusion magic (and affected by it) becomes absolutely convinced that Devyn’s death is being foretold by a banshee. 

therefore...

Para: Henry and ROSE camp out all night and discover nothing, but sometime late into the night, they the sound again. They break into DEVYN’s room only to discover it’s no banshee, but just the music he’s listening to while studying late into the night. Henry is embarrassed.

[olreid]

hey so after seeing ur screenshots ive been trying to read the once and future king but im getting,,,bored. would u say it's worth the read? what is it abt rlly?

hi ! whether it’s worth the read for you is obv gonna be different from whether it’s worth it for me but i can def say a bit about why i like it.

the first thing that i think gave me a good entry point was learning more about t.h. white and the context in which he was writing - there are a lot of interesting articles about him online, and the more research i did, the more intrigued i was. on a personal level, white was incredibly lonely and wrote large portions of the book in remote parts of europe. i think that fundamental feeling of being somehow set apart from other people really comes through in the writing; it’s also relevant because some of this loneliness is attributed to the fact that white was gay and closeted, and so was wrestling with self-loathing and shame. he wrote lancelot in the once and future king as in some ways a self-insert; lancelot, like white, experienced attraction to men which was the root of a self-loathing that followed him all his life but also the root of a desire to be good and to do good works. the lancelot-white figure of someone who is desperately lonely but also desperate to channel that loneliness into something meaningful is one i think a lot about. 

on a political level, white was a british writer working on this series during and directly after world war ii, and it is in large part a political allegory and an exploration of the costs of war and of nationalism. i don’t want to spoil the ending in case you do end up finishing it, but i was genuinely surprised by the ultimate ‘moral’ of the story and conclusions white draws about the root causes of war, which felt really prescient for the time in which he was writing. i’ve read a couple other british novels set in this post-war time period recently and there’s something about them that really gets me... all of the authors are talking about loss of innocence and a youth they won’t get back and wanting to do what’s right but not knowing what right is and how we live and love in the shadow of war... 

i’m also just a fan of arthurian myth in general and so i’ve read a lot of re-tellings, and the once and future king is by far my favorite... it is long-winded, but i think white gets at the core of what makes me come back to arthurian myth. it’s a fundamentally tragic story about people who all in their own ways are trying to be good but through various political machinations and twists of fate end up so fundamentally at odds that they cannot help but to hurt each other. white doesn’t shy away from the tragedy of that, but his characters also never stop loving each other even though they suffer for it, and even though they become bitter they also retain an innocence that makes the book feel almost optimistic even though everyone meets their own version of a tragic end. 

every time i go back to it another bit of writing sticks out at me, and there are tons of lines that come back to me all the time... only fools want to be great... it is so fatally easy to make young children believe that they are horrible... he felt in his heart cruelty and cowardice, the things which made him brave and kind... it is good to put your life in other people’s hands... in tragedy, innocence is not enough.... life is beautiful beyond belief and there is a kind of joy which has to be lived... whew !

what makes a good life? is there such a thing as a good nation, or a good king, or a good war? how does one live in the face of loss? is it possible to create peace and healing out of devastation? these are all questions that the once and future king is asking, and they’re all questions that i’m interested in answering, and i think that’s why it’s worth a read 4 me. 

[lunaxmadel]

My thoughts on LOK characters after watching season 1 (spoilers (obv))

Thoughts on characters before watching | after season 1 | after season 2 | after season 3

Korra: I do not understand how people dont like her. Shes spunky and doesnt take shit and she has her own opinions... definitely a Taurus with ADHD you cannot change my mind. I feel like the reason ppl dont like her is purely based on the fact that shes a poc and a woman with a strong opinion and mindset and we're all taught that that's not acceptable. Ppl just can't stand that shes not like Aang. ANYWAY I LOOOOVVVEEEEE HER AND I RELATE TO HER SO MUCH I know shes not canonically ADHD but I still feel very represented

Jinora: sooo different from what I imagined! I thought she'd be more of an extrovert!! Shes so cute tho and I love how shes clearly a daughter of Tenzin!!

Amon: WHAT. HOLY CRAP. I did not expect him to be like....this.... this man is so OP!! How does he???? What is he???? This just creeped me OUT! What an amazing villain. And yk big thanks to him for getting Korra in touch with her air bending and the spirit world. Helpful man

Tenzin: I dont think I was wrong about him in my first post. I love him so so much i want him to adopt me lowkey???

Mako: still very attractive to the point that I just hate it. Idk I really like him but there's something off... and I know hes not gonna stay with Korra(?) But i dont think they're right for each other. He wasnt being honest with Asami and Korra and idk I like a man who's honest my dudes. Love the fact that he loves his brother so much!! So so cute!!! I love Mako, I just dont think either Asami nor Korra are right with him. But maybe I'll change my mind on that throughout the next seasons???

Bolin: THE AXTUAL LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!???? I LOVE THIS DUDE IF HE WERE REAL I WOULD MARRY HIM SO HARD LIKE HALLO THIS PURE BOY IS A DREAM MAN

Kuvira: I dont think I've met her yet??? So I dont know

Asami: still haunts my dreams this queen is the most beautiful person in any room shes in. In the beginning I felt like there was smth off... like she was so kind so quickly and that was just super sus but maybe shes just very social and just wanted friends!! I love when she stood up for herself when Mako wasnt being honest. You go queen!

Zaheer: I dont think we've been introduced yet so idk

Eska: same as Zaheer

Kya: I have no idea but now that I'm thinking about it maybe shes Katara daughter? Her mom's name was Kya right?

Lin: definitely bisexual. Fierce. I love her oh my god we stan a strong woman

Opal: we've not met her yet?

Wan: also haven't met

Bumi: WEVE HAD A FIRST GLANCE AT HIM AND HIS PERSONALITY IS LIKE AANG AND SOKKA COMBINED???

Suyin: I'm pretty sure now that she is Tophs daughter

Unalaq: I'd like to retract the statement that he has daddy vibes. He does not thank you. Well he does, when we meet him and at the end, in the middle hes lowkey an asshole though. Still hot though cant help it. When it was revealed he was Amons brother my mind was blown and the backstory is so tragic (so it turns out I switched the brothers but I'd figure I'd leave it in bc I was so confused and it was hilarious anyway read Tarrlok for that)

Meelo: HOW DARE THEY WRITE ME INTO THIS SHOW WITHOUT MY PERMISSION HAHAHAHAH MY MAN INVENTED FART BENDING??? ME BITCH I want to adopt this lil dude and mother him and that says something considering I dont want children so, yk, Meelo best boy

Varrick:have we met? Is he the referee at the fight club? I dont know. He looks fab tho

Pabu: AAAAAAHHH I LOVE HIM AND I WOULD STILL VERY MUCH DIE FOR HIM THANK YOU SIR? SIR?I WOULD DI3 FOR YOU SIR.

Pema: best mom. Looks like a cinnamon roll but could very much kill you. This queen gave birth to 4 whole ass kids and still just does her thing strong queen

Hiroshi: he is rich. Great mustache. Absolute douch tho

Tonraq: I honestly dont know OH WAIT IS HE KORRAS DAD?

Desna: still dont know

Saikhan: chief of police...? Still mean grandpa vibes

Shiro: is this the hobo man? I'm so lost in all the characters man

Senna: KORRAS MOM OH MY GOD THE MOST BEAITIFUL LADY ICE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE

Ikki: so okay I thought she was a princess but shes Tenzins daughter. Very cute, probably has ADHD. Just a a generally sweet bub. I still think shes a princess so I wasnt wrong

Tarrlok: ....wait? Hes Amons brotjer?? Then who the fuck is Unalaq? I think I'm confused

Naga: BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY my child I want you as my pet friend please please I love you please my heart goes boomboom

Adding:

Iroh: I was confused bc the picture it shows is old boy Iroh but this is Zukos grandson so. Anyway when he came on screen and i heard zukos voice i SCREAMED and then someone was like "general Iroh" AND I STARTED SOBBING I MISS MY BUB IROH anyway this is a dream boat hes gonna accidentally steal as much hearts and Zuko did

Overall thoughts so far:

OKAY SO I've waited with watching this for such a long time bc I just figured it would disappoint me bc I love Atla so so much!! So I never got to watching it always coming up with excuses for myself. Now that it came to NETFLIX though, I had no excuses left and boy am I happy I didn't. This show has already been amazing so far. There are certain things I still dont really understand but I'm sure we'll get clarification on that (why couldn't Korra airbend and spirit thing yk why and how can Amon take away powers? Etc) I'm so excited to watch more! It hold my attention so so well, I love the characters (I LOVE KORRA!!!) Anyway I was not disappointed and that was a great surprise!! I'm gonna start on season 2 and write another on of these when I finish that!

[punkscowardschampions]

Ali & Tommy

Ali: [Let us assume he has gone back to school now and this was a weekend affair] Ali: You forgot your 🕯 Ali: expect it in the post, minus the disappointed note from Ro I've taken out Ali: ✈️ trips not guilt trips, welcome Tommy: leave it in, LOVE to hear what she's gotta say about why I'M the one being a holy show Ali: You aren't respecting the sanctity of her offering, is very much the point and gist Ali: she put more letters to it, as standard Tommy: 'course she did Ali: It does mean a lot to her Ali: but yeah, nice to have my 📅 to myself again, can't lie Tommy: meant so much she fucked off soon as the 🎂 candles were out Ali: You know she isn't the party 'til dawn sort Ali: anyway, they'd be coming in for morning service 😅 Tommy: I know it's her party & she can 😭 if she wants to Ali: If I'd known that was the theme, could've made party bags with 🧅 & 🧻 Ali: well, at least you were in your element 🕺 and you kept Meena and Carly entertained Ali: the hostess not being overly concerned herself, like Tommy: this family's hostess with the mostest has & always will be me, honey Tommy: what else do they teach me at this school, like? Ali: I had no idea you were at finishing school, my apologies Ali: how's things with keeping a man then, Holly Housewife? Tommy: Why stop at strutting with 📚 on our heads when we could do it in 🩰 perfectly en pointe, carrying a sulky ballerina all the while? Basically a Latin motto Tommy: & yet I still can't keep a man, cheers for the reminder Ali: Maybe now you're of age they introduce the final string to your bow Ali: quadruple threat = 🎤🕺🎭🍆 Tommy: 😂🤞🙏 Tommy: stole your girl regardless, tell her to call me when she's slept off the festivities Ali: No doubt she will when she's between the next couple of parties 😜 Ali: your girl is here actually, helping Ro 'organise' her presents Ali: dunno where she parked her 🎃 Tommy: I'll join Fraze in the red corner 😍💋💔🤬🎯👿🥤🤡🥵🛑💘 Tommy: those dolls do go walk abouts if you don't keep a 👀 but obviously she was 🤞🙏 I was still there Ali: He might misconstrue that and come to fight for her honour Ali: 🤞🙏 she's in LDN too, naturally Ali: lots of them are haunted, but that last part of your sentence there is the MOST 😱 ever Ali: it's weird when you approach anything fuck boy like Tommy: miscommunication is his thing™ no hard feels or feelings full stop, 'course 💪🚫😭🚫😍 Tommy: what can I say? being back DOES things to me Tommy: it's all the positive masculine role models this family has Ali: Guess it beats a total lack of @Joseph Ali: though he sent her some book about musical theory so he still manages to be the favourite somehow 🤷 Ali: and hey, dad is the best Tommy: v catty & then cuddly of you, Kit Tommy: he doesn't respond to MY efforts at being a daddy's girl exactly the same way somehow 🤷 Ali: we're both living up to what's expected then 😼 Ali: could just be I'm better at it than you though Ali: if your ego will allow it Tommy: can't let our sister fly that flag alone, like Tommy: as for who's better at kissing the arse of authority figures, don't need to dignify that with an answer 'cause my school report will Tommy: you ain't never been a pleasure to have in class Ali: I might genuinely have to shoot myself if anyone ever said anything so asinine about me so you're right Ali: that would be such a waste of potential, not until I've lead a more scandal-filled existence Tommy: you could respect the hustle Tommy: it's getting me 🩰 perks Tommy: disciplined is the head that wears the 👑 hoe Ali: I know all about discipline, trust me Tommy: we've all read 50 shades, you can't take it as gospel Tommy: Ro could write a better bdsm bibe when she's done at church Tommy: bible* Ali: It's all fun and games 'til I walk in on her flagellating herself Ali: how are we explaining that to the shrinks Tommy: that she misunderstood a more sexy f word? Ali: we don't want to look like we're trying to lock her up for that Ali: way too retro, bro Tommy: She wants to be catholic Tommy: I didn't make the rules Ali: No, then da really would hate you Ali: she's got worse Tommy: Yeah Tommy: I know, no amount of drama from the golden couple could detract Ali: not that I haven't heard enough about that though Ali: guess there's too much to put in a passive-aggressive note Tommy: 🙄🥱😴 Tommy: She wasn't even THAT late & tbh I wouldn't have blamed her for doing a Joe no show Ali: I would've understood if she was upset when she wasn't coming Ali: I am when Joe doesn't, whatever Ali: but I think she was actually MORE upset that she did come in the end, and not just because she was messy, but because Ro thought she wouldn't Ali: I don't get it, they're complicated, always have been but ??? Tommy: she can't hold being a good sister over her, like you can't me being the most fabulous brother in existence 🏆 Tommy: the fuck ups are more fun to bring to a 🥊 Ali: I guess that's more likely than them being all 💕💞 Ali: but fucking hell, does it hurt to hope Tommy: it's hurting you 😿 Tommy: she'll be too hangry to hope Ali: I have no hope or agenda for your 🏆 or 👑 dear brother Ali: but seriously Ali: what does she want Tommy: like you said ???? Tommy: there's every chance I'm bringing too much McKenna magic to the motives & she don't wanna bear a grudge til the end of her days Ali: because it doesn't sound like her at all Ali: if you can't be honest in the DMs where can you, eh, to quote that romcom Ali: fucked if I know what to do about it right now though Ali: maybe I need to sleep off the festivities, or get something to eat Tommy: long as you're not so hysterical you run into the path of an oncoming car, to recall another faithful role of hers Ali: have you adapted that for the stage? Ali: get 5 of you to be the 🚗 Tommy: dibs 'cause I can't do the accent Tommy: not that loads of 'em posh kids can either Ali: they'll have spent enough time gentrifying the east end to have it down, offensively so but all adds to the hysterics Tommy: I'll pitch it then 💡 Tommy: go down better than her 🎤🎵 Ali: better than her when she got hit by the car, like Ali: give me credit or I'll turn up and make a SCENE Tommy: like I wouldn't be LIVING for that Tommy: if we are being honest in the DMS Ali: I'll work on my RICKKAAAAAAAAAAAY Ali: maybe can convince Ro to be Sharon Tommy: hang around your ma in law & you'll ace it in no time Ali: Ha Ali: she'd accept Peggy, not Pat Tommy: fair, Laoise's ma's the one more likely to express herself with big earrings & animal prints Tommy: but I don't know if Sam Mitchell is a favourable role for Carls, what did she ever even do? Ali: Are you trying to tell me it's NOT a look? 🤔 Ali: or that you rate Laoise's mum? Ali: The character, nothing, the OG actress lost her nose so we're all agreed that's a no Tommy: I'd rate seeing her da on the doorstep in nothing but a bow tie for how mortified she'd be when I uploaded it Tommy: Grant's also no, he knocked Martine on her arse way before that car Tommy: but if she's Phil, you're Sharon so that's a yeah from me, like Ali: Don't, her dad always gave me those vibes Ali: and you ain't actually on the street still to have to witness that 🤮 Ali: I don't know how she'll feel about going bald, I'll float it gently before getting out the clippers Tommy: Do Rock's while you're there, he looks feral Tommy: even that nonce wouldn't have him Ali: You know his ears would get chapped Ali: hair is essential or he'll fly away on the breeze Ali: and we'd all be devastated, obvs Tommy: don't start me thinking about that scene in Dumbo, cheers very much Tommy: 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Ali: Such a depressing film Ali: disney gives me bad vibes Tommy: the park is creepy & you won't catch me there Tommy: whether or not Walt was a Nazi it's still a nah from me Ali: Wee bit concerning that emotional manipulation and forced fun trumps facism/literal Nazis for you but we'll 🤐 Ali: ma is in enough of a mood and she'll only direct it at me so nah Tommy: well his racism is disputed depending whether you're in camp 😇 saint him 🙏 or camp cast him into the hellfire 👿 Tommy: the forced fun & emotional manipulation is just facts Ali: 👿 advocate Tommy: I'm gonna go to hell 🤞 he's an ally Ali: 😬 Ali: it's a punishment, not a holiday Tommy: it'll be a grand hol for my pores Tommy: love a sauna sesh Ali: that London smog is not it Ali: how black is your snot? Tommy: as Ro's soul 💀 Ali: Thomas Tommy: Alison Ali: 🛑 it Tommy: she'd 🖤 to hear it but FINE Ali: you're an enabler, it is known Ali: not the kind of encouragement I'm after tah Tommy: enabling you & your lady love to have a good time, yeah 🕺💃 Tommy: & I fully expected her to turn up with a pet raven is all I'm saying Ali: the best was made of it by all, despite it all Ali: even her, in her way Tommy: despite Kayne appearing 🤵🥀 & all in her case Ali: yeah Ali: ugh Ali: he's harmless enough, bless him Tommy: she'd beg to differ right now Tommy: you're gonna wanna hide the 🍄🍄💀 til she calms down Ali: You don't need to tell me Ali: I think he's just really oblivious Ali: like all lads Ali: it wasn't you know...assaulty Tommy: It's not his fault she's team true love's kiss & he AIN'T it Tommy: who could EVER measure up to the 💭💞 Ali: standards, cool Ali: unrealistic expectations, less so Ali: but I can't really advocate for reality at this point in the game Tommy: You don't need to tell me, sis Ali: you're team turn-a-stage-kiss-real, yeah Ali: it's more realistic than fairytales, anyway, look at strictly Tommy: I'm team when's my life been a shitty made for netflix flick never mind a 🐸🤴📖 Tommy: crushing realism ftw Ali: 💔 Ali: If you didn't have a tragic love-life to complain about, you'd be too insufferable 🤴💩 Tommy: comforting Tommy: I'd HATE to morph into Fraze of a few years back Ali: I'll let you know if you start getting freckles Tommy: I'd know if I woke up with those brows Tommy: nowhere to hide, like Ali: 👺 Tommy: 😂 Ali: What are you getting ma for her bday/have you got already (suckup) Tommy: I left it there if you wanna find & shake the 🎁 Ali: Wow, you really didn't wanna pay postage that bad huh Ali: I'll see if I can 🔮 Tommy: with what? I'm skint after buying hers & Ro's Tommy: & it'll be 🎅🎄🎁 before too long Ali: that's what people really mean when they say dance don't pay Ali: gifting an interpretive dance is nothing but pretentious and unwelcome Ali: I can bodge together however many crafts I need and save my dolla Tommy: been there, tried that one Tommy: so much for your so called genius Tommy: ain't even thought of earning any by busting out the 🎅🎄🎵 classics for a busking sesh, works with 🩰 too I'll have you know Ali: 'til you knock over an old lady and have to leg it, like Ali: and if you hadn't noticed, I've been a little busy making a replica Ro, tah Ali: my creative juices are juiced right now Tommy: I'll make it look like part of the show & have the punters eating out of my palm when I catch & twirl any 👵 before they touch ground Tommy: yeah well you've got time from now, fair game on all things yule from Nov 1st Ali: 👌👌 clearly the LDN ones are more receptive because they're vicious 'round here with their 👜s and I'm only trying to give them the tea they ordered Ali: if ANYONE should advocate for Christmas not dragging, like Tommy: it's Irish dancing or fuck all back there, 365 🌧 or ⛅ Tommy: little girls scam every bit of that trade Ali: ironic when it's catch these hands in every other aspect Ali: so you'll fit right in, eh Ali: feel traumatised yet? Tommy: I'll do my best, as ever Ali: 🤴 Ali: meanwhile ma will have to make do with whatever IOU present I can knock up Ali: maybe I'll babysit, that's never not gonna work Tommy: she was on about going out 🍽 wasn't she? Tommy: Carls will never not be down either Ali: get him to make her a cake Ali: sorted Ali: providing he washes his hands...a full hose down may be necessary actually Tommy: she's survived the 🧁 he brings back from school & we've all seen the state of him at day's end Ali: yeah, cheers for the immunity boost little 🦠 Ali: fair, I'm pretty sure we put some weird and wonderful things into our bakes at his age and no one died Ali: Laoise nearly but you know Tommy: close but no 🚬 Tommy: typical of that bitch Ali: sure a 🙏 was said to finish the job at mass Tommy: if you see her ma mascara running in an lbd, I demand to be the first to know Ali: I'll pap her in her time of distress, it's fine Ali: I can hide up trees for HOURS if needs must Tommy: I'm not above piggybacking on the 'tragedy' to get better grades or a hol Tommy: do your part, like Ali: she won't fall for 🍄 again Ali: her brother might if Ro puts 'em in her gob Tommy: 💞 Ali: more of a mood than without Ali: add a little danger Tommy: she'd appreciate the drama more than anything he could ever do Ali: 💔 Tommy: nah, we're not shipping that Tommy: not today Ali: You gotta make some bad decisions before you make the right ones Tommy: a bad decision was the colour of her 👗 Tommy: the last thing that girl needs is a boy right now Ali: Okay you can't come for anyone vis a vis colour, boy Ali: even if I still see it when I close my eyes after however many weeks sewing Ali: but you may have a point re. a boy Ali: just, some socialisation wouldn't hurt Ali: and as far as they go, he's harmless Tommy: 'Course I do, she can barely exist in front of us Tommy: if they went on a date, what's she gonna do, order a glass of water? Ali: like you haven't seen her fake eat a plate of food Ali: it's only noticeable to all us that she's not actually putting any in her mouth Tommy: 🔮✨ Tommy: if he's TRULY harmless he don't deserve to be harmed by her attitude Tommy: which anyone else not bound by family love & loyalty would call something loads harsher Ali: Don't Ali: I feel bad enough for Meena sometimes Tommy: @ Carly too & we all know it Ali: Yeah, Carly can handle it though, she's mostly unphased even if it is a total thing 🙄 Tommy: She's a 👸😇 I doubt Kayne is that pure of ❤️ or intentions tbh Tommy: & Meena can handle anything so Ali: he's deffo a virgin though Ali: which yes, makes for more desperation, but he can't be that forceful if he dunno what he wants, you know Ali: yeah but God knows why she wants to come 'round here and get more of it at times Tommy: No shit, Kit but everyone's seen a porno, it's not the 70s Tommy: dress for it all you like Tommy: maybe she wants to get out of her own 🏡 Ali: everyone also knows it's bullshit Ali: whatever else she's got that much about her Tommy: does he though? Tommy: all I'm saying Ali: either way, it isn't like she's going to have a miraculous change of heart Ali: we all saw how well it went Tommy: Yeah but what if it makes her heart set on finding someone else to play 🤴 Tommy: you'd know better than me what goes on in her head Ali: She's 15, I don't see how any of us can say or do anything to stop her if that's what she does want Tommy: 15 technically Tommy: 🤷 Ali: If we can't make her eat, you know Ali: what hope do we have for anything beyond that Tommy: 0 Tommy: & it's fucked Ali: Yep Ali: but it's not as if that bombshell has only just been dropped, I guess Ali: we'll carry on doing what we can Tommy: 🔮✨ Ali: ✌💚

[quidfree]

sirius being "The best-looking, most rebellious, most dangerous of the four marauders"? I'm not as attached to sirius as some of the other characters i think bcuz we didnt know him as well but i definitely think he's one of the most intriguing characters 2 of 2

yeah that’s totally fair! sirius is such an iconic hp character even to the gp (i think mainly bc we’re introduced to him in such a wild way and then his death comes as a massive shock) but he’s not actually featured in the books all that much- poa is “his” book but we only meet him in like the very last moments of it and we spent most of it thinking he was a crazy murderous death eater, and then we mostly see him again in ootp, wherein he’s depressed and frustrated and then dies pointlessly.

what we see of him is so intriguing to me precisely because every glimpse of sirius we get is of a ghost of a man, in a sense- everything about him relates to death and decay. he matters to the plot and to harry because of his connection to harry’s parents, who are dead; he’s spent a decade rotting in prison amongst the dying and the dead inside because of their deaths; he’s our proper introduction to the crumbling institution of pureblood wizards, trapped in an old empty house full of portraits of dead people with outdated views; his death is the first time harry loses someone who matters to him (and a parent figure at that). sirius, more than any other character, is trapped in the past- between james and lily’s murders and azkaban, he’s always written so the audience knows a massive part of him has died a long time ago. and yet at least imo he’s so different from a lot of characters like that- ofc he’s bitter and jaded and traumatised, but instead of being sad and apathetic and tragic, jkr makes sirius, well, cool- to harry and to us. he’s obviously very smart, and brave, and kind of an all round badass (he broke out of azkaban! he has a motorbike!) who talks to harry like an adult, knows a lot (and is willing to divulge a lot) about the order and death eaters, and has a sharp tongue & no fucks left to give. he’s also obviously a very flawed character- he makes little attempt to hide this, and narratively some of his “cool” traits are in fact his flaws- his recklessness, for one, and his stubborn pride, for another. sirius butts heads with an impressive roster of characters for someone with so little screen-time. to me all of this always begged the question: if this is sirius now, what was sirius like in his prime?

we kind of get some answers in the flashback scenes, obv (i will never forgive the movies for cutting those in DH)- sirius is, well, pretty much old sirius amplified by a thousand; low on angst and high on life. i love that the first things harry tells us about him are that 1/ he’s very hot and 2/ he could not be less interested in the people fawning over him because 3/ he only has eyes for james. in a sense what flashbacks give back to sirius is just james- what we have is sirius without james, hence the haunting. and suddenly all of sirius makes sense, i think- we know what he’s missing, and why he’s missing it. ofc we see all of the flashbacks from snape’s POV, which makes it all more negative and antagonistic, but it makes sense for young sirius to have been a cocky, permanently bored semi-asshole too charming to get in anyone’s bad books for long, clever and quick with his words and crueller than he needs to be. we see hints of that in him later, and we know the context.

so, to get back to the quote: the most rebellious, the most handsome and the most dangerous of the marauders? canon says yes. (he’s probably up there for most rebellious/most handsom/most generous chara in general, actually, with the disclaimer of some of the big bads in terms of danger, ofc.) sirius is a rebel both in attitude (leather jackets, motorbikes, sticking muggle posters all over his room to make a point) and in conviction (unlearning his family’s bigotry, spending his whole life fighting an oppressive movement); he’s also one of the characters jkr-via-harry spends the most time telling us is attractive, and as for dangerousness, well. sirius is dangerous, and he’s an interesting dangerous, because he teeters between acceptable canon dangerous (he’s a highly skilled duelist, he violently hates death eaters, and if he puts his mind to something he will accomplish it no matter the obstacle) and a more uncomfortable dangerousness, which both adults like molly or dumbledore and students like hermione take issue with (he feels little pity for anyone he considers in the wrong, cruelty comes easily to him, and if you cross him his vengeance borders on unhinged).

i think the quote kind of sums up why my nine-year old self was so drawn to sirius- he was a character that harry loved and looked up to tremendously, and he was so different from the kind of hero adult figures i’d seen before, always with a darkness to him, and cool in a way the other adults weren’t. since then, though, it’s the other things that have kept sirius near and dear to my heart- all the complex contradictions of his character, all the important things he teaches harry, the duality between the familial roots and traits he can’t shake off and his innate drive to do good and to make right. i’ve said so before, but the fact he’s the character that tells harry things like "we’ve all got both light and dark inside us. what matters is the part we choose to act on. that’s who we really are”, or “if you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals” is incredible to me. not only are they some of the core messages of the books, but they display such a worldly widsom, on behalf of a character you wouldn’t initially expect to have any such deep dumbledore-esque statements to make, which adds so much depth and nuance to sirius. the striking thing is that sirius is the one to tell harry (and us) these things, but they are battles he himself struggles with tremendously- he lives his life in black and white while thinking in grey, so to speak. it’s that kind of thing that has kept me coming back to sirius and will keep him close to my heart so long as i live- he feels so very human, both a walking greek tragedy and a cool uncle. not to mention he has the best roast of all seven books.

i could go on about sirius endlessly, especially sirius and james, because their relationship is such an interesting study of both their personalities while feeding into their personalities at the same time, but i think i’ve covered your question, so i’ll leave it at that for now, haha.

[rilldineth]

So a friend of mine told me that given that we are now in 2020, it will be fun if I did a top 20 ships of the past decade for me and boy, did I thought was a good idea and I have decided, why not right? I will be listing them here and...if followers decide to read it...well...

You will quickly notice that probably that most, if not all the ships fall on the following categories: a) rare-ships that are obv not canon; b) ships that are obviously crack; c) ships that had wasted potential, the ones hinted but never happened or briefly happened in canon and writers decided to fuck up. There’s also only one...one RL ship and I am ashamed yet not, but had to list it because I spent a long time hung up on it so don’t judge me.

So yes list...

Before the list, no list is complete without some honorable mentions, these are mostly ships I either got into the hype to recently (not being dedicated for years as the one I will list) or had my fancy then lost it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Charlastor from Hazbin Hotel (recently got into it)

Clack from Final Fantasy VII

Cloud x Squall from Final Fantasy/KH series.

Hayffie from The Hunger Games.

TodoMomo from Boku Hero no Academia.

Gency from Overwatch series ( on and off )

RinMako from Free!

Terraqua from Kingdom Hearts series.

TOP 20 SHIPS OF THE PAST DECADE

20. Spuhura - Spock x Nyota Uhura (Star Trek original and reboot): Again this was another ship that I liked, since the original series, while everyone was Spirk this and that, I was like,’’yas, yas give me the sweet, sweet Spock and Uhura interactions’ and I was happy the reboot hooked them up, even if that ended dubiously but for a glorious moment, I had it.

19. Swarkles - Barney Stinson x Robin  Scherbatsky (HIMYM): This is one of those ships I am bitter, bitter and salty about, there are more in this list in fact next spot is another one. But I loved it and I did think they complimented each other better than the wet noodle they stuck Robin with, they took the time to know the other, grown separately and then together, the episode where Barney proposed to Robin gave me all the feels and it was so sweet, and then fuck the writers deciding to do what they did. It’s no wonder the finale of this show is so hated.

18. Lotura - Lotor x Allura (Voltron Legendary Defender): When they announced a new reboot to Voltron I didn’t think much of it. I had fancied Lotor x Allura in the original series, as dubious as that was, but then I started to watch this Netflix thing and there was something between them, something more tangible and I was happy. It was this strong woman with an equally strong man encouraging her strength and not putting her in the box of the exotic pretty princess, like a certain dude, and wanted to know her mind and interests, they discovered things together and for a brief moment knew peace and I was here so happy that we were getting something good and then fuck the writers again that decided ‘Nah bro, you’re not getting it’ and you know to fuck off again. I will always have fan fiction I guess.

17. VinTi - Vincent Valentine x Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII series): This is a ship that I think started to like during my second playthrough of the game, I always figured the both could work, both having loved people that for one reason or another couldn’t fully love them back (Lucrecia due to damn guilt and Cloud because of Aerith) and both were mature enough to fit together, I just like them okay.

16. Helsa - Hans x Elsa (Frozen): Truly, I have never made it a secret that I really dislike this movie, I truly do. The only good things were Hans (which I am still huh at the ‘turns out he is evil’ I still call trolls) and Elsa (because of her damn powers) and then the next step was shipping them and honestly, he should have gone for the older sister lmao, they make more sense and there have very nice fiction out there.

15. Yuzuvier - Javier Fernandez x Yuzuru Hanyu (Figure Skating): Ahh, we have reached my dreaded and dark secret only RPF fancy. Be it broship or more, I always liked the friendship and camaraderie these two skaters had with each other, they were rink mates and rivals but above all friends. I was kokoro break when Yuzuru was telling Javi that he couldn’t do it without him and stop it you two. I just like them, they are wholesome.

14. Victuuri - Viktor Nikiforov x Yuuri Katsuki (Yuri!!! On Ice): And here we have another precious figure skating duo when I started to watch this series it was only because it was a figure skating anime and I love figure skating, I never expected to see a wholesome and wonderful healthy relationship to explode in front of me. The relationship between Viktor and Yuuri is just so lovely, so mature, they both worked through issues, grew from them and accepted them even and I can’t I love it. (Special mention here to Yurio x Mila, as is another ship I love from this series and so underrepresented).

13. Jonerys - Jon Snow x Daenerys Targaryen (ASOIAF/GoT): Regardless of the stupidity committed in the series, I have shipped them since the books, because I can read in between the lines and there are too many parallels between them and their journeys, ones that at will some point collide and bring them together in a way that will be worth it, so better make it count George. 

12. Rhaegar Targaryen x Lyanna Stark (ASOIAF/GoT): Yes, mea culpa, I love tis ship and no one can shame me for liking it and boy has people tried to do so. Were these two smart of escaping like that and not saying a thing? Nope, they were so not. Was Brandon smart going to Kings Landing, knowing there was a crazy king with a penchant of burning people and demanding his heir's head? Nope, that was probably the stupidest move of all. Do I want to believe they loved each other? Why not? Martin has a penchant for tragic love stories, I know this ship is problematical for some, but I still love it and if you see spot 10 here, well I have varied tastes.

11. Soriku - Riku x Sora (Kingdom Hearts series): Come on, this is a given. Prior to Kairi appearing, it was clear Sora was Riku’s world and Riku’s was Sora, they were attached to the hip, the rivalry for Kairi more felt like Riku being jealous of Kairi and wanting Sora’s attention back. Then we have KH2 where Sora spent the whole damn game being all ‘Riku, Riku!’ and Riku doing his damn best to help him from the shadows, ashamed to be seen. DDD was more Riku protecting him and Sora leaning on him, even KH3 had Sora wanting to find and reach Riku, and then Riku going once again to find him by the end, so I am sorry but if there was a love story written here it was between these two. 

10. Hannigram - Hannibal Lecter x Will Graham (Hannibal): Quite honestly, from all the things I ship, they are probably what one will consider the most toxic one I guess, which fair considering one part of the ship is a charismatic yet cannibalistic serial killer. But there was something in the way this relationship was developed by Fuller and brilliantly brought out by Mads and Hughs that just hooked me, their soft moments, their violent ones, it just somehow worked for me. I guess this is also one of the few canon ships that I have, funny enough.

09. Rivetra - Levi Ackerman x Petra Ral (Shingeki no Kyojin): Who will have thought that a series about human eating titans was going to give me one of my most everlasting and also shortlived OTP’s. Years can pass by and I will still love this ship, my heart will still believe there was something more between them, something that was realized or something that wasn’t, I don’t know, but I will forever love it and even though years have passed since she died, I always enjoy the hints here and there that he still remembers her or hints where we are supposed to do so.

08. Squinoa - Squall Leonhart x Rinoa Heartilly (Final Fantasy VIII): People can say whatever the fuck they want ‘the love story was rushed’ ‘we hate Rinoa’ (fuck you btw) but it doesn’t change the fact that Squall fell in love with her and that Rinoa helped him to open up, to not take things for granted and Squall taught her to be even stronger and conquer her fears, they helped each other grow and it’s what matters in the end.

07. Feanor x Nerdanel (Tolkien): This is probably, from all the romantic relationships that Tolkien has gifted us, which I have loved the most and held my attention the longest. They have the happy times, the ones that were full of joy when they met and fell in love and had their children, then we have the tumultuous times when he became too obsessed with this craft, the separation when he left with their kids leaving her behind in her pain and then their possible reencounter when he leaves the Halls of Mandos and how they might deal with it.

06. ItaHina - Itachi Uchiha x Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto): Both the heads of two of the most important clans of their villages, both with heavy expectations upon their shoulders that nearly broke them, only one was talented from the start and the other had to learn, yet they are also similar. Both love their siblings to a fault, sacrificing so much for them and their happiness, both seem to hate conflict yet know is necessary and both are devoted and loyal to a fault, they would have suited each other wonderfully, in an AU probably they would have gotten engaged, who knows, but it would have been wonderful.

05. SessKik - Sesshoumaru x Kikyou (Inuyasha): A ship that could have been but that we didn’t have. This is a ship that has been with me for years and I don’t plan to let it go, they were the best players (in a sense) in that game against Naraku, also probably the strongest, both level headed and smart, not easily intimidated and calculating, together they would have been quite a formidable force and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see that.

04. Bethyl - Daryl Dixon x Beth Greene (The Walking Dead): Another wasted potential and gone so soon, not to mention forever salty at the waste. The way they were being developed promised so much, in the few time he was with her, well, she taught him to have faith and it’s something that apparently still shows from times to times (I am not sure as I stopped with this show) and imagine how it will have gone if they had more time. Just a waste.

03. Romanogers - Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanov (Marvel/MCU): I have been shipping them for years, like honestly, and when the MCU was showing me the seeds of potentiality I was happy, not even that stupidity with Bruce killed my hope, as they still had this steady relationship, he trusted her and she trusted him, something that she couldn’t say of many, they had each others back and took care of the other...but again another wasted potential right there.

02. Huddy - Gregory House x Lisa Cuddy (House MD): I spent years, kind of, season after season watching the delicious and lovely UST between these two characters, watching them snark and then help each other, watching the ‘won’t they will they’ dance, waiting for the moment when these two will finally collide and my lord was it glorious when they finally did, and I was eager to see where it went, as they both seemed to be in relatively good places, but no once again forbid the writers to stop House from being self-destructive and another ship I had waited years was ruined.

01. Terrence "Terry" Graham Grandchester x  Candice "Candy" White Adley (Candy Candy): And this is still my most important ship of the decade, I was forever bitter they never ended together and that their authors decided to make them suffer so much, but then Final Story came and all clues were pointing that aha they did found the other again and ended together as they were supposed to be, and before anyone says shizz, I did manage to read the novel and I do believe all hints were there to let us all know the identity of her husband was Terry and I am so happy.

And there it is, all the ships of the decade for me lol. Next stop, I should maybe make a list of mythos ships I like lmao.

[toonazcoolforyou]

What We Do In Bram Stoker’s Dracula

alright so i rambled on about this in the Discord buuuut this is a slightly more shiny and cleaner version! :D *enthusiastic single party blower goes off* okay so tbh it’s kiiinnd of gunna be the same thing but just, idk, with a little more information lol. while there’s a few details a bit more ‘set in stone’ plenty is open and i’m seriously flexible with ideas so don’t hesitate throw any suggestions at me~ you can DM me on Discord (it’s Nazcool#8991 if u happen to come across this train wreck and don’t know wtf i’m talking about) if you’re interested and/or have any questions (and if there’s enough of y’all that wanna coordinate maybe we can get a channel up/a group chat or somethin’ & go from there <3)

**if u see that there’s no info for w/e character it just means i literally have no ideas for ‘em so go wild & have fun~**

EDIT 1: I FORGOT THE BRIDES OF DRACULA AAAAHH + other details lol

btw this is a two part ad so bear with me as i try to keep things organized:

Part I.

alright alright alright so like i said think Dracula but with 75% less charm & wit & competence. the characters for the ad will have vibes of satire of something resembling being srs but at the same time they’re just ridiculous & dramatic & just, idk, too much™ at times (maybe even more so than Dracula Dead and Loving It lololol). i’m gunna be playing The Dracula role (he doesn’t have a name yet ssssshhhh but at least i have Luke Evans as his face??? :D :D :| okay cheesy as hell i know i know pls forgive me) but everyone else is open! i’m going with the main few folks for rn but in all honesty if you wanna play another character from Dracula that i don’t have listed pls be my guest?? as for ideas themselves i’m still figuring my guy out so what might be listed for him may change -but i’ll update things so dw about that- & tbh besides a few main details for The Mina Harker character i’m super flexible on everything so just holler at me if ur interested :D

also just ‘cause this might be more silly doesn’t mean there can’t be drama~ & sadness~ & murder~ pls pls gimme all the tragic stuff!!

BTW u can race/gender bend any of the characters in the list tbh lol (i’m doing a gender bend for The Mina Harker + The Jonathan Harker so yeh go for it babes <3 <3 <3)

A L S O, u don’t have to be that well-versed with the book/characters u just need a basic grasp so that the character can be barely influenced by the original one. If u need help with any of this just lemme know i am more than glad to aid u <3

roles:

The Dracula- taken. so hey i’ll be playing The Dracula! I’m still working out how old he is but he’s probably gunna be old old to keep with the #aesthetic of the character (also i wanna have it so that he’s still oblivious to some more 80s day things & he’s that weirdo who dresses in old clothing when not in public). Think between 1800 and 2000 y/o old xD;;; anyway so backstory is still obv. In Progress but really he was probably stupid and got himself turned into a vampire ‘cause he was a gullible fuck & now has to suffer with the consequences -this includes adapting to having pointy sharp teeth, feeding on the living in order to survive, and outliving everyone that u have ever loved :’D he’s totes fine w/ this guys it’s fine. he pretty much struggled for ages & while he likes to exaggerate/romanticize what happened to him it was pretty terrible™ & he has plenty of a fuck up under his belt. over time he got to know other folks + vampires & he adapted but not enough? like he’ll quote you some fancy-ass poem to be elegant~ and he has a pity party every 5 seconds & gets pissy when no one pays attention to him he’s just needlessly #dramatic

somehow, he pissed off a family of vampire hunters who have been going after him ever since??? i haven’t plotted out when this began so it’s open as of rn lololol & it’s The Abraham Van Helsing who is now in charge of hunting him down~ (more info, or rather just ideas, in The Abraham Van Helsing character section)

& now here comes the more complicated section tbh: so i haven’t planned out when this happened yet -i’m torn between sometime just before/after he was turned into a vampire or during WWI big range i know- but he fell in love w/ a man & that man died tragically so he decided to try to be w/ the guy’s kid only for them to die too at some point but not before they had a kid (might be bad luck? might be a curse? who knows *shrug.gif*) so yeah fast forward MANY YEARS & now he’s trying to be with The Mina Harker who is the last(?) possible descendant of his first love. rn they’ve been best friends for 6 yrs w/o The Mina Harker knowing A. that The Dracula is in fact a vampire, B. that he is the descendant of the first man The Dracula loved, & C. that The Dracula is, in fact, in love with him -he just thinks he’s a rad and weird best friend who does weird stuff at weird times of the day. SO YEH that’s his awkward life he’s just trying to be w/ the love of his life piss off other vampires/hunters/supernatural creatures/world pls & ty

he’s also super weird ‘cause he doesn’t wanna turn any of the descendants into vampires??? which makes each death more painful ‘cause he has a code or w/e & it’s becoming more & more tempting w/ each descendant so yaaay for drama~

also! he has a few roommates & there might be a documentary being made about them which is detailed in Part II. of this ad~

The Mina Harker- open. as listed in The Dracula section The Mina Harker is the descendant of the first man The Dracula loved & The Dracula has been pinning for him for the past 6-ish yrs. rn they’re the best of friends & The Mina Harker thinks The Dracula is a totally good guy -he’s a mostly™ good guy *cough*- & super cool but also super odd but he likes him a lot anyway as a best friend lololol. as for the descendants of the first guy honestly that’s pretty open (like The Dracula pretty much loved every guy after that BUT if there was only a female descendant at the time he loved them too even if they weren’t his technical preference ‘cause love > all) but they pretty much died in bad ways??? like it could be mundane bad ways like illness or war or it could be off-the-walls weird like being crushed by an elephant or getting struck by lightning five times idk idk whether it’s just Bad Luck on The Dracula’s part or a curse is open so yeh lmao.

ANYWAY so for personality i was thinking that this descendant is more on the quiet/introverted side??? like he’s super nice to ppl and wants to help but confrontation??? big groups??? talking to ppl a lot??? not his forte he is an awkward bby. while The Dracula & he aren’t exactly the same personality-wise they get along absolutely great which probably is even more tough for The Dracula ‘cause??? he loves him??? & has to protect him from all of the other vampires who probably wanna eat him??? like pls no he wants this guy to live leave him alone *sobs*

there’ll probably be ppl to try to stop The Dracula from pursuing his dreams maybe because they’re dicks but actually probably because The Dracula is a dick & he has a few skeletons in his closet (he dresses them up in costumes for Halloween & nobody's the wiser, except for his roommates ofc) but it’ll just be random and confusing to The Mina Harker ‘cause, yeh, who would hate his bestie???

besides being best friends w/ The Dracula for about 6 yrs, being engaged to The Jonathan Harker (for w/e reason is up to u tho it could be funny that he wanted to fulfill some wish/will that a dying relative had aka them trying to fuck over The Dracula), not knowing that The Dracula is a vampire despite possible signs + ppl maybe hinting/telling him, & woops having no kids of his own & he’s what thirty or forty-something that’s a nail-biter for The Dracula for sure everything about the character’s past is open!

okay so final lame part but i’d absolutely LOVE it if you used Michael Fassbender as the fc ‘cause I <3 him a million times BUT if you really don’t want 2 you don’t have 2 i won’t force u into that decision if you like the idea but wanna use someone else~

The Jonathan Harker- open. an idea i had for this one is that, for whatever reason, she’s engaged to The Mina Harker character & they’re pretty much complete opposites. she’s a nice girl but she just… is too active. a pure extrovert by nature, she’s always going to parties and socializing and dragging The Mina Harker along with her. she loves him with all of her heart it seems though it appears as if she really doesn’t listen to her fiance & enjoys the concept of him rather than who he is actually. The Dracula is pissed off about this and has contemplated her death approximately fifty five times now. probably calls her vapid or w/e while he’s on his pity party couch (yes that’s a thing don’t judge) rofl

The Abraham Van Helsing- open. the idea i have for him is that he is the descendant of the family who have vowed to hunt down The Dracula. kind of awkward because The Dracula just wants to be left the fuck alone (and okay maybe he wants to kill a few peasants in peace but he can’t seem to get what he wants, can he?) but overall the tone is that this guy hates The Dracula. however, times have changed a bit and nowadays he just confronts The Dracula, declares his hatred for the man, and then pretty much just resumes his day. maybe puts garlic in the doorway to a place in order to disrupt The Dracula, switches out regular spoons for silver ones, etc. etc. etc. (honestly, on occasion, he more brings up the fact that The Dracula is in love with a man rather than being a blood-sucking vampire which makes The Dracula go :/. ALSO PLOT POINT if u wanna go this direction but mb actually the reason The Abraham Van Helsing keeps going on about this is because he's trying to push The Dracula away and has feelings for The Mina Harker??? idk idk late-night ideas flooding in here lmao). overall, he just acts like a prick to The Dracula tho The Dracula probably deserves it lololol. it doesn’t help that they live in the same building, which typically causes The Abraham Van Helsing to be locked out on stormy evenings while The Dracula bemoans whatever fate he thinks up at the time on the couch near the entrance.

the fc i have in mind is Jonny Lee Miller ‘cause i really like his appearance in Elementary but tbh if you have anyone else in mind go right ahead!

The Brides of Dracula- (shhhh ignore the fact that i forgot this section initially) so that this is pretty open since there'll probably be at least a few folks The Dracula has turned like the dumbfuck he is lololol. more than likely they have their own lives but they may??? still have contact w/ him??? & while he pretends to not give a fuck about them they're like his kids???? like pester him for money and he'll be all ‘Why??? I just gave you some!!’ but if anyone hates them he'll be all ‘Don't talk to me or my 100 children ever again’ & be defensive. overall he'll still be an asshole to them lololol

i have two vague af ideas just in case u guys are interested:

the first one is that this progeny has an actually good relationship with The Dracula & is always visiting (or mb lives in the same building idk) & is always bringing him presents and nice stuff & mb looks out for The Mina Harker when The Dracula can't (probably helps cover up a lot of crap ‘cause The Dracula is a mess tbh *shrug emoji*).

the second is a progeny obsessed w/ The Dracula & wants to be w/ him forever & doesn't wanna share him w/ any1 else. which a major problem cause??? The Dracula is in love with The Mina Harker??? so mb this progeny wants to sabotage the relationship anyway they can??? & wants The Mina Harker dead???

they can be any ethnicity/gender ‘cause The Dracula doesn't discriminate LOL

Brides:

any #

The Renfield- open.

The Lucy Westenra- open.

The John Seward- open.

The Quincey Morris- open.

The Arthur Holmwood- open.

Part. II

soooo for this part the concept is fairly simple: i wanna have a What We Do In The Shadows sort of plot where my character has a few roommates (preferably 3-5 though the number isn’t in stone yet) and they’re all weird af. not only that but potentially??? they have a documentary being made about them -w/ 80s London aesthetics + technology- due to vampires revealing themselves 2 years prior. it’s still in production which means there’s at least one cameraman around at all times. my character is dreading the time when it’ll be showed on TV because he has been trying to hide the fact that he is a vampire (alright really only to his love interest & best friend he dgaf if anyone else knows). like, think: he enters one of the rooms, minding his own business, & while the camera is technically focused on something else you still see him as he tries to walk backwards as inconspicuous as possible. he can’t deny that he loves the attention, though, so there are points/gunna be points where he’s more featured and may “subtly” try to push aside whichever roommate is around in order to be noticed.

he may or may not threaten the others with death and doom on a daily basis as well over the smallest of things -at this point his roommates know he’s full of shit, tho the crew might not woopsie

ALSO, there's (1) amulet to walk in the sun among all of them (probably his but idk lol) so everyone is always fighting over it rofl he is not happy that he can't be normalish all the time. they probably try to be all fancy but really they're doing rock-paper-scissors or tossing a coin. plans are ruined all the time, ppl are pissed off, good times.

there won’t be any technical ‘inspirations’ for any of the spots from the movie but honestly if ya wanna base your character on one of the wacky vampires go right ahead! everything about the roommates are open & while i prefer them to be vampires due to the aforementioned info but if you have an idea for another species (besides human) lemme know!

**also if u wanna make inspirations for the other characters from the movie besides the roommates 2 be involved w/ them too go right ahead~**

roles:

The Roommates:

(3-5 individuals)

The Crew:

(any # of individuals, at least one-two cameramen)

[onceuponamirror]

What are your thoughts on where they’re going this season with the core four? Any predictions? Not just about their relationships, but obv that is part of it, but on the direction of the characters.

hm, you know, my predictions haven’t really changed when i sit down to think about this question. i feel like i say this constantly, but especially on a show like riverdale, for all it’s shortcomings, i interpret it as exploring how a positive trait is also a negative one.

a characteristic is just that; it’s only situational context that defines whether it’s a “good” or “bad” one. 

as in, the strongest trait manifesting, sometimes for purposes of betterment, sometimes for self-destruction. 

and it’s not just circumstantial, and thus the thing about riverdale that keeps me so tightly wrapped around it’s finger; betty is not just angry because her mom is oppressive. jughead is not just withholding because of his father’s alcoholism, veronica is not just riches to rags, archie is not just music or football. 

| betty is extremely loyal—she will throw herself into the line of fire for anyone she loves. even if it hurts that person in the process, she’ll carry on if she’s doing it out of bigger-picture-loyalty, and thus it comes at a great personal cost. betty is also tunnel-driven towards justice, but only when it comes from a place of loyalty. (for popular example, blackmailing cheryl for jughead)

| jughead is a romantic—and not just in the literal sense, with his girlfriend, but with all of his relationships and his life. he suffers from high romanticization of situations and people, because he builds them up in his head as idealizations or expectations and is blinded by that reality. at the start of the season, for him the serpents had become sort of a romantic, laboring symbol of heroism, the underdogs, and then he was dead-dropped into the fact that it wasn’t all rosy metaphors. 

| veronica is protective—which is different from betty’s loyalty, because to be protective is to also be on the offensive. loyal is defensive. veronica will shield anyone she loves, and she will literally punch you down for it. to be on the offensive, especially from a place of sheltering and love, is still propulsive for vindictiveness, vengeance. and veronica is all of those things. 

| archie is heroic—and incredibly impulsive as a result. heroes are sacrificing, and often removed from logic; if they thought too thoroughly about what they were doing, they would probably talk themselves out of it. but archie barrels head first into whatever cause he feels requires a mantle, and this has obvious repercussions. 

in this way, archie has all of the above characteristics; loyalty, romantic, and protective, and this is why he’s actually the central character. (he is, regardless of if you dislike him) but it’s the combination of these purely “good” things that makes it so volatile, and frankly makes him so damn idiotic at times, etc. 

not just a tangent

i’m blabbering on about character points because they inform the predictions i made around the early episodes of s2 and feel have more or less stayed the same:

| betty’s pursuit of justice without true understanding of the concept as a snowball in which she has no perspective for will bite her in the ass, but she’ll be forced to come to terms with her incredibly binary rules for it. 

she also is set on a long quest for agency, and i think there might come a point where she has to ask herself if love is loyalty is sacrifice, is she ever actually doing anything for herself? (the answer, of course, is that it can be both, and it can be healing, but that’s a question she should ask)

| jughead’s had an entire lifetime of running away from identities pressed upon him from both sides of town, and now he’s forced to come to terms with that, and i think he’ll really be worried about who he truly is, or what is just an expectation of him. he has to figure that out, especially because both dueling sides of identity come from that romantic vision of himself. 

loner, or leader. 

| veronica’s got a rabbit hole of her own, and it’s just as dark. in my s2 premiere meta, i talked about how the show presented veronica and jughead as parallels into family legacy, and the ways in which they’re on similar paths. [x]

veronica may have started investing time into her parent’s business from the right place—wanting to keep them on track, or see who they really were—but i think she’ll find (and already is) that she is very much suited to their world. she can compartmentalize. she is vindictive. and i think she’ll be very worried about one specific thing: is she actually a good person? 

if hiram lodge is don corleone, isn’t veronica the heir apparent? [x]

| archie is heroic is vigilant, is dangerous is impulsive. i think archie doesn’t understand consequences and as an aforementioned collection of traits, his basest lack of such represents all of the core four’s innocence, so to speak, and as he moves deeper and deeper into actions he can’t take back, it’ll stand to symbolize all of their end of innocence as well. 

tl;dr

these are all character based theories.

plot wise, riverdale is kind of all over the place, and i can’t always keep a speculative beat on where the writers are going because it’s like they just shoved every page on TVTropes.com into a blender and decided yes, time to write. but character—character, i honestly, genuinely think they’re doing pretty well.

and by pretty well, i mean…hard to watch, at some points. it’s kind of tragic a lot of the time. but it’s resonate and important, especially as bringing the characters down only serves them greater good, better development, in the end.

[princepriestandpirate]

Character Solidifying for Rowan!

god this is so fucking late forgive me, but anyway here u go! answers under the cut

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

oh he loved his dad, and he thinks of him with a lot of love and respect. really, the only thing about his father that was not so great was the amount of time that he spent working, and both rowan and em wished that he had more time to spend with them. at the same time though, if rowan or emilia sought their dad out he’d always try to spend time with them. he was a good guy, and rowan wants to be someone who would make his dad proud & honor his legacy.

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

his relationship w/ his mother is more complicated, mostly because she died when rowan was very young (she died in childbirth giving birth to emilia, so rowan would have been about 3) so rowan doesn’t remember her well. he maybe thinks of her with a bit of longing, but that’s more about the idea of a mother rather than the woman herself. 

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?

he has one younger sister, Emilia (3 years younger). he loves his little sister a lot, partially because he was always very attached to the role of being a “big brother” and partially because he and emilia were probably each other’s only playmates as kids? they probably fought sometimes, like siblings do, especially since em always had a lot more energy and rowan just wanted to be left alone sometimes, but at the end of the day she’s one of the most important people to him. he’s very proud of her, even if she is a terrorist probably?

4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

it wasn’t very strict at all but i also think he was a pretty good kid who didn’t get into trouble all that often

5. Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

physically yes, mentally not as much? he and em had their own personal guards, and rowan was accompanied by a group of guards + marcus after his family was attacked, so physically he was never in much danger. on the other hand, his father believed in being honest w/ the kids and not trying to hide all the stuff that was going on in the outside world, and after rowan started traveling w/ marcus they didn’t keep their plans from him and let him be involved (probably because rowan would be even more upset if he didn’t know what was going on)

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

all affection. one thing that can be said for his tragic backstory™ is that at least he was always surrounded by people who loved and cared for him

7. What was the economic status of their family?

very rich, they were nobility

8. How does your character feel about religion?

he wasn’t raised in any religion so he has no attachment to any specific religious beliefs, but he believes that gods exist and it’s probably a good idea to stay on their good side (although this is changing a bit now that he’s met a bunch of gods and some of them are dicks *cough* aengus *cough*)

in modern day he’d probably be considered vaguely agnostic

9. What about political beliefs?

very anti-new initiative and pro-hoth (obv). on a more theoretical level, he believes that there should be a government to unify, organize, and protect the people, but it shouldn’t run into totalitarianism and should have input from the people it governs.

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

as a kid, very book smart, which would have continued if it wasn’t for the attack on his home. he ended up having to abandon his studies to some extent and focus much more on practical skills, so he has a good amount of street smarts as well now, although they mostly focus on his ability to move unnoticed and gather information.

11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

he sees himself as fairly smart, but not super well-educated (or at least not as well educated as he’d like to be), since he’s self-taught on a lot of stuff and doesnt have a full formal education

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

i think the fact that he was well educated as a kid but had to quickly adapt to life on the road (w/ a bunch of guards no less) is reflected in his speech, as he goes back and forth between a more formal speaking style and more casual speech in his day to day conversations. he can switch back into more formal/well-educated speech if he needs to (see: when pretending to be a noble) but it’s not very natural for him.

13. Did they like school? Teachers? Schoolmates?

he loved it! he’s a fucking nerd and he loves to learn, so much that he kept up his studies even after he lacked a formal schooling environment. he also really like his teacher ms. alduri, even if she was strict sometimes. he didn’t have schoolmates though, he was basically homeschooled and his sister was younger than him and interested in different subjects anyway.

14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

those didn’t really exist, he had private tutors

15. Did they graduate? High-School? College? Do they have a PHD? A GED?

he stopped his formal education at age nine

16. What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

he’s a spy, basically. he doesn’t really see it as a matter of liking or not liking his work, but instead the work that he does is a matter of necessity. he’s doing this work because it’ll help him achieve his ultimate goals (bringing down new initiative/bringing back hoth) and because he has a deep loyalty to the resistance for all the help and protection they’ve given him. he likes that he’s doing useful work, and he likes seeing new places.

17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When?

all the time since he was nine. they never stopped in one place for more than a month, mostly around khajjitan (sp?) and then when he started helping out the resistance, in the desert as well, although recently he’s been traveling farther north. he travels because if he stays in one place too long he might be found by people who may potentially want to kill him, and because his job requires it.

18. What did they find abroad, and what did they remember?

this is kind of a weird question to answer, because at this point his “being abroad” encompasses… over half his life? but i would say he found his godfather, his favorite weapon, his best friend, and a lot of new skills. he remembers a lot of moving around and never really making friends or relationships that lasted, and seas of grass, and later seas of sand that go on for days. and he of course remembers marcus sticking by him and taking care of him.

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

right after his home was attacked i think he realized, moreso than he ever had before, that the world was a mean and dangerous place and that he wasn’t safe, and that no one really was. i think it’s still probably something close to that, that you can’t really trust anybody but yourself and a few others.

20. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

oh boy. well, when he was very young he was in the area when the capital of hoth collapsed, and he was also present for the attack on his home where the last king of hoth was assassinated. later on, he was in the capital of khajjitan when the high councilor was killed in an attack on the city and he participated in fighting off invaders. he was also present when that one building blew up in the fishing villages. a lot of shit has happened tbh.

21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?

he’s pretty polite to strangers, kind of a snarky shit to people he knows better. i don’t think he’s particularly taken with the ideas of heroes, but he would model his image of a hero off of his father or marcus, very kind men who always put others before themselves.

he hates a good portion of jashtall’s government. he also tends not to like people he perceives as untrustworthy which is… ironic

22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?

lumley + the people on his team, although to varying degrees (he probably puts lumley, maybe peitho and honeyclaw in the friend category, while he views mies and ko as coworkers, although he’s starting to get closer to mies). he doesn’t really have a lot of friends otherwise since he didn’t grow up around a lot of people his age. he also doesn’t really have ‘lovers,’ unless you count a couple one-off flings from when he was traveling by himself or his current thing with quinn.

as for ‘type’, i dont think he pursues romantic stuff often but he tends to go after people who are a bit more outgoing than him that he can have a good conversation with/match intellectually (that he can nerd out with basically). i think he also tends to go for people who are taller than him? i think that’s a thing

(i’ve also definitely decided that his taste in girls is “girls that are definitely way cooler than him” but i havent figured out his taste in guys yet, more info to come)

23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

he wants (or at least definitely needs) someone who is stable and can sort of ground him emotionally, and someone he can trust completely.

as for sex it’s…weird? because i think sex is something he wants/enjoys but he has a lot of hang-ups wrapped up in his issues with trusting others and being open with them. so he finds the experience of having to be very intimate physically or emotionally very uncomfortable and it makes sex kind of an awkward topic

24. What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

almost none, he doesn’t interact w/ a lot of people outside of missions. when he is around people he either likes to fade into the background unless he’s put in a specific role he’s supposed to fulfill. in reality he likes to be in control of the situation and know what’s going.

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

he loves magic! so much that he studied it even after his formal schooling got cut short. he also loves history and reads non-fiction books whenever he gets the chance. and in his spare time he enjoys playing cards (which some of the guards he traveled with taught him). it’s how he developed a good poker face.

26. What does your character’s home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

what home lol

as for personal taste though, he tends to go for darker/duller colors that don’t stick out too much (he likes to wear shades of blue and brown especially). he likes comfortable and inconspicuous clothes, and goes for simplicity over complicated outfits, altho he’s a fan of layers. his head is shaved, but when it grows out he has dark curly hair. 

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

he cares a lot about his appearance but more in the sense of being very careful of what kind of image he’s projecting. he doesn’t want to stick out too much, and is careful to dress in a way that will make him blend in to whatever circumstance he needs to. unless he’s wearing the very fancy clothing he obtained recently so he could dress as a noble (a situation which is very weird and new, he hasn’t dressed up like this since he was little), he tends to go for comfortable, modest clothing that he can move around in easily, usually involving layers and some way to hide his face. nothing ridiculously high quality, but he likes clothes that will last him a while.

28. Who is your character’s mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

he’s not really with anyone atm, all of his recent romantic encounters have been born almost exclusively out of him trying to get info out of people

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling?

depends on the situation and who you ask. in relationships, his tendency towards thinking of relationships strategically and hella trust issues/lying. in his job, has a soft squishy center that can lead to him getting attached, although on the other hand he also has a bad tendency towards very black and white thinking, putting a lot of emotional weight on ppl he trusts and kinda disregarding anyone who falls into an enemy category. it’s complicated.

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

oh boy is he! he’s holding onto his father’s death and his sister’s disappearance, and it’s not something that he’s going to be able to forgive, ever i think. it fucked up his life too much for true forgiveness to ever really be an option.

31. Does your character have children? How do they feel about their parental role? About the children? How do the children relate?

he doesn’t have kids, although he’d like to be a dad one day

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

usually evasively, if something is wrong or he doesnt want to deal with a situation his first instinct is to run or evade.

33. Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health? 

he drinks occasionally but not often, since he doesn’t like the “lowered inhibitions” part of it that much

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous?

very revengeful and somewhat righteous towards jashtall. they killed his family and destroyed his country and his life, he’s not happy.

35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?

he puts a lot of pressure onto himself to live up to the roles placed onto him, so when things go wrong he tends to think of it as his fault and freak out a bit, usually trying to atone for whatever happened.

36. Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

no, but he’ll endure a lot if he thinks its for a good reason or cause. and he doesnt like to see people suffer but there are some enemies he won’t be afraid to be ruthless against.

37. How is your character’s imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

he’s not a big daydreamer, tends to be more focused on the moment and how he’s going to approach the future. he tends more towards the latter two, worrying quite a bit but tbh his situation calls for a good bit of that, and when he’s alone he prefers to revisit old (good) memories rather than daydream.

38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic?

almost always very suspicious, even of things that seem relatively innocuous. he’s not very trusting and usually assumes others are out to get him or could lead to him being found out unless he has reason to believe otherwise.

39. What do they like to ridicule? What do they find stupid?

he doesn’t (outwardly) ridicule others a lot i don’t think (unless they did something really dumb), but internally he thinks people who automatically trust others are dumb, as well as people who don’t think before they act.

40. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. he can laugh at other people’s jokes but is very bad at making them himself. he likes wordplay and puns though.

41. Is your character aware of who they are? Strengths? Weaknesses? Idiosyncrasies? Capable of self-irony?

he’s aware of his own strengths and weaknesses on a physical level, he knows what skills he has and how he can be most useful, but he’s not super self aware internally. he’s not very introspective and probably isn’t aware of how emotional he is.

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

right now, he wants his sister back, he wants jashtall in pieces, he wants to build his home again. he’ll sacrifice a lot of work and pain and hardship for that.

43. Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

oh boy does he lol. mostly the “secretly the prince of hoth” thing, along with the “currently a spy” thing, along with the several fake identities he’s using at the moment. he hold these things back from most people, but he’s becoming more open now that he has more people that he can rely on. he won’t give most of this info up unless it’s necessary to do so though.

44. How badly do they want to obtain their life objectives? How do they pursue them?

very badly, but his responsibilities come first– it’s a rare occasion that he drops everything to go do whatever he wants. he generally tries to obtain his goals through planning and slow/deliberate action, utilizing help available to him rather than just pursuing things on his own. 

45. Is your character pragmatic? Think first? Responsible? All action? A visionary? Passionate? Quixotic?

very pragmatic, much of which is learned– constantly moving and running away lends itself to making one very pragmatic about their actions, which even extends to how rowan uses magic, mostly picking up charms and illusions because they tend to be the most useful, even if they’re not what he’d prefer. he’s not very impulsive and much prefers to clearly plan things out before acting. “responsible” is also a key character trait of his, he’s very committed to the responsibilities given to him or the responsibilities that come with any role he has (whether as a brother, a prince, a leader, etc.)

 46. Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

height-wise he’s very average (he’s 5′9″). i don’t know his weight but he errs on the leaner side, although he does have muscles (his build is somewhat akin to a dancer’s build, where he has muscles but they’re mostly focused on being able to move quickly and efficiently rather than pure strength). he has very good posture. i don’t think he has any problems with his body, but he’s also pretty modest and doesn’t really want to show it off at all.

47. Do they want to project an image of a younger, older, more important person? Does they want to be visible or invisible?

he wants to come off as older and more secure and in-control than he is. whether he wants to be viewed as important/visible/invisible changes depending on the situation. if he’s pretending to be someone important then he wants to project that, but otherwise he feels very uncomfortable being looked at and noticed and would much prefer to blend into the crowd.

48. How are your character’s gestures? Vigorous? Weak? Controlled? Compulsive? Energetic? Sluggish?

very controlled and deliberate.

49. What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent?

his voice is... tenorish maybe? idk, not terribly low but not super high either. he doesn’t have a very loud voice but knows how to speak authoritatively, and he tends to speak a bit more slowly and deliberately. 

in regards to pronunciation & accent (and also vocabulary), i think it’s somewhat apparent in his normal speech that he goes back and forth between a more “proper” and “educated” style of speech that he spoke growing up as nobility (which also would probably come with a hothean accent, whatever that is in this world), and a more casual style of speech that he picked up from years on the road (he also pronounces some words with a kajjitani accent/pronunciation), he can fall back into the more “noble” style if the situation calls for it, but his normal speaking style goes back and forth between the two. 

50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

his main facial expression is a serious one, trying to seem impassive but definitely kind of “on” at all times. if he shows his emotions his expressions tend to be kind of grumpy, although he can put up a front and appear very polite and amiable if he wants (although he finds it very draining to do so).

[punkscowardschampions]

Grace & Janis

Grace: Did you even tell anyone you were staying out?? 🤔🤔 Janis: Did YOU warn the fam you were inviting the devil inside? 🤔🤔 Grace: Rude! Grace: Someone woke up on the wrong side of the barista's bed Grace: OMG is he that bad? How shaming Janis: Wouldn't you all love to know Grace: Like you would anyway, you don't have anything to compare him too Janis: Again, you wish you knew Janis: but yes, I text them Janis: that it? Grace: Oh honey, we ALL knew you were a virgin Grace: Did he? Grace: Before you made it obvious, I mean Grace: You should have come home first, me & the girls could have helped you out Janis: It's cute Janis: all the things you THINK you know Janis: yeah, that'd be fun Janis: Mia must've dropped the invite on her way out Janis: with the story, likw Grace: 🙄🙄 Grace: girl please Grace: Mia'll get over it Grace: Unlike ME! You could've told me! Janis: Get over herself? Janis: Unlikely Janis: Told you what? Grace: OMG how hungover are you!? Don't be dense Grace: THE GOSSIP obvs Grace: I have to hear it from Mia Grace: so UNACCEPTABLE Janis: It's gossip 'cos she made it Janis: as if I had a chance to tell you or anyone, even if I wanted, when she went live with it Grace: There's always time to give me the real story Grace: You've got a phone Grace: Look how quick you answered this morning 🙄 Janis: 'Cos I thought you might have some real concern Janis: shoulda known better Grace: I AM concerned bitch Grace: you could be in a ditch Janis: Yeah, new boy's a serial killer Janis: this ain't the CW Grace: I didn't even know you were with HIM, did I? Grace: You never tell me anything Janis: Now who's being dense Janis: 1+1=2 Grace: Excuse me for having a nun for a sister Grace: Usually Janis: Again Janis: get a clue Grace: OMG Grace: I'm trying Janis: Bless 💕 Grace: Are you coming home TODAY? Janis: Are the coven gone Grace: I wouldn't bother asking if they hadn't Grace: I'm not stupid Janis: Probably then Janis: I got stuff to do Grace: One of them better be 🚿 Grace: Whelan's is soooooooo gross Janis: Not like you've ever got inside to know Grace: It's not like I want to Grace: like I said, ew Janis: Not with that baby face 😂 Grace: Shut up Janis: Like I said, bless Grace: I hate you so much Grace: This is what I get for being nice Janis: Nice Janis: Where? Grace: This WHOLE convo Grace: From the moment I checked you were still alive Grace: & I defended you last night GOD KNOWS why Janis: Shouldn't have to Janis: if your friends weren't cunts you wouldn't be in such a mood Grace: You're the only one being a bitch to me, Janis Grace: Newsflash Janis: Nah Janis: I'd have to be interested for that Grace: Yeah we KNOW you're only into barista boy Janis: Why would I be interested in anything you're doing Janis: it's them with the fucked priorities for giving a shit Grace: OMG get over yourself Grace: getting one boy to sleep with you doesn't make you God's gift Grace: 🙄🙄 Grace: Like I told you before, he'll get bored Janis: You first Janis: Like I told you before, get a hobby Janis: pass it on Grace: Whatever Grace: Don't come crying to me when he realises how much of a bitch you are Janis: 😰 Janis: Don't come to me when you grow a backbone and/or personality of your own Janis: still won't be interested Grace: I already have both thanks Janis: 👌 Grace: 👋 Janis: Cute 😂 Grace: At least one of us is Janis: Sick burn Janis: If only someone that weren't Mia thought so, eh babe? Janis: Sad times 💔 Grace: Take your own advice and get a clue Janis: 😂 #exposed Janis: get some self-esteem Grace: You need it more Grace: Letting that boy use you like this....tragic Janis: I'm God's gift, remember Janis: Can't have it both ways baby Grace: I said you think you are Grace: Not that he does Janis: SELF-esteem, Gracie Janis: not 'this boy would chuck it up me from behind' esteem Janis: poor thing Grace: Faking having it doesn't mean you really do, hun Grace: We can all flex on the snap Grace: You're honestly so embarrassing Janis: I don't need facetune to flex Janis: no filters gonna fix all...that 💋 Grace: You DO need it, you just don't USE it Janis: Nah, I don't though Janis: tragedy Grace: Sure Jan Grace: Keep telling yourself that, babes Janis: You keep telling yourself Janis: can't talk someone into feeling as bad as you do Janis: let your bestie in on the secret and maybe you'll both stop being such poisonous little trolls 💕 Grace: 😂😂😂 Grace: You wish Grace: Can't be bullied without a bully, but you're not that important to Mia 💔 Janis: Oh no Janis: not queen Mia Janis: suck her dick a lil better and she might love you back Janis: story of your life though, that 🤷 Grace: You're actually disgusting Grace: Save it for your boyfriend, I'm sure it makes him really 😍😍😍 Janis: Yeah, and I'm the Nun Janis: the swings and roundabouts you have to go on to make me the bad guy Janis: no wonder you're braindead 😵 Grace: Yeah sure 🙄 Grace: I don't have to say things to cover up the fact I don't know what I'm doing Grace: You sound 12 Janis: Lie of the year goes to Janis: that's all that comes out your mouth Janis: fuck what's going in it 😂 Janis: I'm glad I don't like you, it'd be exhausting having to pity you as hard as is needed Grace: Again, you wish Grace: You tell me to get a hobby, you make the same 'argument' over and over again Janis: it ain't an argument Janis: irrefutable facts Janis: don't like it, change it up Janis: we all got bored a long time ago Grace: Exactly, it isn't, it's you trying to throw shade TERRIBLY Grace: You don't know a single fact about me, babe Grace: Clearly you don't like THAT if you have to keep pretending you do Grace: Hm? Sounds like me with his convo Grace: Don't you have a boy getting bored rn? You might wanna focus on that Janis: Nothing to know Janis: Shadow of a shadow Janis: Literally how are you the blandest granola ass bitch outta the lot and they're all white as hell Janis: not even earning them mixed points, it's a real talent how uninteresting you are, truly Janis: tutorial on that, please Grace: 😂😂😂😂 Grace: But you're STILL talking to me instead of him Grace: What's the matter? Not everything you hoped it'd be? So sad Janis: I got more than one braincell Janis: can talk about put mascara on Janis: though the memes of you failing in your last vid have been amusing, tah for that Grace: You should try doing it Grace: Obvs you need more that mascara but every little helps Janis: Not with a face like that Janis: but you know, more is more and it almost constitutes a mask at this point Grace: 👏👏👏 Janis: There you go, now when you cry like a little bitch about it, you've got reason beyond your victim complex Janis: welcome ✌ Grace: MINE? You're the one who thinks that we're so invested in your little love story that we're all out for sabotage Grace: Please Janis: You know you can see when people watch your stories, yeah? Janis: she was like, the first view Janis: so much for not being important, don't worry, I won't steal your girl Grace: She's mad 'cause you outshined her coffee date moment Grace: Like I said, she'll get over it Janis: Should stop making herself vom Janis: wreaks havoc on your natural glow, but that's neither here nor there Grace: And she's the evil one Grace: That's not funny or true Janis: Cry me a river Janis: not gonna if she kills herself making herself look even worse than her personality Grace: OMG STOP Grace: You're as bad as she is Grace: Obsessed with each other 🙄 Grace: Get a room or something Janis: Awh, wanna be BFFs then?! Janis: 😏 Grace: Shut up Grace: I'd rather be the one who dies Janis: Didn't think so Grace: The first thing you've got right this whole time Grace: Well done, babes Janis: I ain't the one in remedials with the rest of the thickos Grace: Stop calling me stupid Janis: Any time you fancy stopping Janis: be my guest Grace: And what? Be more like you? 😂 Janis: You wish Janis: Be less braindead, would be a start Grace: YOU wish Grace: Caring about what I look like doesn't make me braindead Grace: It makes you a judgey bitch Janis: Yeah, that's the issue Janis: look like Sephora threw up on your face all you want Janis: at least be a person with it, not a painted fuckdoll Grace: So sorry I can't get top marks in maths or whatever OMG Janis: 🔬 Grace: I don't even know what you're talking about now Janis: Just trying to find your last surviving braincell Grace: Find it with the last place you cared about anything Janis: 🔭 Janis: Nope Janis: no signs of life Janis: soz Grace: So glad I could make you feel better about your crap shag by insulting me Grace: But I'm the idiot 👌 Janis: Awh, don't do yourself down Janis: never let it be said you don't have your uses Grace: I'm not here to be used by you, hun Grace: Deal with that Janis: Just a cumdump and Mia's personal bitch Janis: coolio 👍 Grace: Says you Grace: You've known that boy for like a day Grace: & Mia's more concerned with you right now, like I said Janis: 😱 Janis: Are you SLUT SHAMING me Janis: dundundun Janis: know you're 💔 but babes, girl code Grace: I'm stating a fact Grace: You think you're better than me, you aren't Janis: You think I am Janis: I just don't disagree, that's all Grace: I think you're the worst person this family has so far produced Grace: But whatever you need to tell yourself Janis: A dagger through my heart Janis: good thing you've got no place then init Grace: Yeah Grace: Bad enough I have to have the same last name as you all Janis: Marry the first boring white boy who will settle for you and no one ever need know Grace: And follow in your footsteps? No thanks Janis: You couldn't fill these shoes, figuratively and literally Grace: I don't want to Grace: You dress worse than your boyfriend Grace: At least he gets paid to look like that some of the time Janis: as much as I'd LOVE to look like topshop's sale rack Janis: you rinse 'em every time, what's a girl to do Grace: Obvs Grace: It's all my fault you look a state Janis: I don't, so don't trouble yourself Grace: You do, but I won't Janis: Mia don't seem to think so 😘 Grace: She hates you, that's her obsession Grace: Keep looking like that, it fuels her Janis: What, the body she's actually killing herself for? Janis: Will do and it's so effortless Grace: 🙄🙄 Grace: I'm the one who needs a hobby and is soooo uninteresting but you keep talking about Mia cos that's really not Grace: Go into her inbox, please Janis: Like I said, get a personality and we might stand a chance Janis: surgically remove yourself or are you less of a Siamese and more parasite? Grace: Sure, I'll turn myself into her so you can be obsessed with me Grace: You two are ridiculous Janis: 😂😂 Janis: Oh honey Janis: you clearly can't, been trying for years Grace: You wish Grace: Does your boyfriend know you're in love with my best friend? Grace: You might wanna share before he catches feelings Janis: Do you know your best friend kinda hates you? Janis: 😬 too late for you, awkies Grace: Rn the feeling is mutual Grace: Get over it Jan-Jan Janis: 💔 Janis: You'll get over it Janis: well, she'll walk over you, doormat Grace: Like you care Grace: either way Janis: What's the point Janis: You're never going to Grace: I care bitch Janis: You're never going to stand up to her Janis: Why should I be waiting on it with baited breath Grace: You've never waited on me Grace: Don't act like it's Mia's fault Janis: It ain't, it's yours Janis: she's a decent scapegoat though Grace: Again, you wish Grace: Nothing's all my fault, sorry about it Janis: Trust, no part of me wishes for you as my sister Janis: especially what you've become Grace: That makes two of us Janis: You said Janis: with all the care and concern you're claiming Grace: I do care, I just wish I didn't Grace: and that you weren't my sister Janis: Get over it Grace: You can try and tell me what to do as much as you like Grace: Not gonna happen Janis: I know, you're hopelessly pathetic Janis: like I said, no baited breath here Grace: Me? Oh babes Grace: Like I said, tragic Janis: Yeah, you Grace: 😂 Janis: 😥