#u can tag people if u want but the point was moreso for u to jus feel Seen and loved hehe

[sordidmusings]

WIP TUESDAY - Sugar Daddy Headcanons with Shanks and Garp

Saw Schoute's wonderful art WIP and writing and wanted to join the fun! Have some ridiculous Blorbos as Sugar Daddies headcanons that have been on my backburner LOL I've got Shanks and Garp ready for y'all 🫡 They're pretty much done, I moreso have to fill out everyone else on the list 🤡 No warnings really! Just some allusions to spice but nothing explicit. Lots of silliness. I believe they're gender neutral but I'm going to tag as afab just in case because I fear it may be in the subtext since that's the perspective I wrote it from and the one people generally expect for sugar babies. Might be fun to subvert sometime by writing them with explicitly amab sugar babies. I will Ponder lol I'd also love to see what everyone is working on so please take this as a sign to post something of your own!!

The song I blame for everything (I love u Thot Squad):

“This fine old man, he played three

He can knickknack this coochie

With an Amex black card, get a girl a Benz

Reset and do it again”

Word Count: Shanks ~750, Garp ~400 (sorry about the favoritism Vice Admiral 😬)

Shanks

shanks absolutely pursued this type of relationship with you

Your pretty face and open smile snagged his attention but the way you easily met and fed his energy had him at you like a dog with a bone

He’s no stranger to helping people laugh their way into his bed, but the journey with you felt different. He took extra time simply because each moment with you was too good to keep from savoring

You didn’t hide your attraction at any point but he did appreciate that you would try and prod back at him in good humor to test his will and want

You found he had both in excessive abundance

It felt nice to have someone so attractive, established, feared, and adored seek your company and watch him become more interested with each minute he got of you. It also felt nice to see that while he certainly had an abundance of confidence he held no arrogance with you - he played no games in making you question his interest or to assert his importance to you. He treated you as a person (one he mainly wanted to turn to his bedroom tenant but still-) and it made him feel more like a man than a myth for you both too

And holy hell did you like that man - he made you laugh even if at his own expense, he impressed you when he��d let some of his cunning slip through the jovial pirate shtick, he kept your interest with how he could entertain any topic you brought forward, he made you feel beautiful with the way his eyes and hands soaked you in, and he made you feel wanted with the way he treated everything about you with genuine interest. 

The only thing that made it better is how he made sure you wanted for nothing. The first night it was making sure you didn’t pay a cent for anything, you always had food and drink right before you realized you wanted it, his coat found your shoulders the moment you felt a chill, you found yourself in fresh air right when the heat and the noise of the bar became too much. 

After that it was an endless stream of trinkets, from priceless to silly but sentimental, all coming with letters that had you laughing, blushing, and swooning.

Every time he’d visit you (and it was at first as often as he thought he could manage but that managed to get even sooner and sooner because of his need for you) you’d indulge in each other like it was the first and last time

He stopped wanting anyone else - there were enough people across the seas he had to apologize to after explaining why he’d gasped the wrong name and they were never right to scratch the new insatiable itch he had anyway

When it dawned on him how much you had him wrapped around your finger, not just physically and financially but also mentally, emotionally, and he’s pretty sure even spiritually, he may have had a crisis (the crew was very torn between amusement and true wory watching it unfold, especially when the usual rum and patented Beckman Shoulder Pat with Nod didn't ease his turmoil)

It wasn't because he didn’t want to love you, but he truly never thought he’d ever find someone he wanted and needed the way he does you. It was such a foreign concept to him that he felt like the world had tilted and left everything slightly unfamiliar. Especially coming from a relationship he stapled together with riches. Sure, there was also joy, camaraderie, and intimacy holding it together, but he found it harder to trust that someone such as you wouldn't find someone younger and more present to belong to than to trust that you could need him to sustain a lifestyle of ease and abundance.

If he couldn't be sure you'd want him, he'd try and find solace in you needing him, even if it was only for what he could afford you

When he finally told Beckman of his plight, he was slightly offended by the “it took you this long to figure it out?”

He’s currently trying to figure out how to convince you to live on his ship with him. He needed to let you know you’d be safe regardless of your experience level with the seas or battle. 

He’d bring the world to its knees if anything touched a hair on your head

Luckily for him, you knew. Anyone with eyes would from the way he smiles at you.

Garp

Garp was decidedly not in your plans. Yes, you wanted someone older, someone with wealth, someone with influence, someone who would take care of you, but you thought Gilfs were an urban legend told to see what face it would get out of freshies

You’re not complaining tho

He has certainly convinced you that the rarity of his kind just pointed to what a prized role it was to shack up with one

He was rough around the edges to be sure - brash and loud and stubborn - but he used all those traits to get you both exactly what you wanted

All your needs were met without you having to even think of them anymore (you were surprised that needs in the bedroom were included in that, but you supposed you shouldn’t have underestimated a man who could still punch apart battle ships, nor one with such a lust for eating)

Neither of you had any illusions of sweeping romance

You were more than happy with the care and respect that built between the two of you in your roles, growing with each act of service to each other, each piece of comfort, each unintended moment of vulnerability

Don’t get me wrong, the vulnerability ain’t common; most of your time is this man having fun watching you light up when he took you out and tossed his money around for you before taking you home to have multiple courses of dessert

You’ll never get over his gruff voice and curling accent - they helped your brain turn to mush while he coaxed and praised you through happily giving him everything he wants as a thank you for all his care

That voice along with all that burliness and age, which you thought would’ve been a turn off not on, ended up making you feel small yet so protected

Garp didn’t think he’d enter a relationship like this that went on so long and so easily but any reservation or second guessing was lost the moment he saw you and everything just felt natural

Tho he’d still make jokes that always make you groan about how you keep him young better than his troublesome recruits (that he is stuck between wanting to parade you around to see their jaws drop and wanting to keep you hidden away from any young bucks who may try to get your attention before he’s ready to let you go)

Thank you for reading 😘🤍🤍

Masterlist

[dragonmarquise]

Super Indulgent Canon x OC Ship, Part 3: Rise and Sai

FINALLY the last one of these!! For the first BRC ship I started shipping in earnest, Rise with my own Devil Theory OC Sai! This can be summed up as, “Two people who didn’t like each other start fake dating in order to mess with each other, but then it eventually turns into real dating much to their surprise (and initial denial)”, lol

Like with the others, starting with the long series of events of them getting together. Which will also effectively be an outline for the fic I’m planning for them, if my other two posts are anything to judge me by. :P

Before we really get into it, a bit of a disclaimer, that hopefully I don’t need anyways? But still: This is NOT a “I can fix him/her” type of situation, nor a “I’ll fix myself for him/her”. There is no fixing! It’s moreso them realizing they get along better than either of them expected, once they get some things straightened out on both sides.

Also Sai goes through his own character arc of being a better person (or at least not as much of a jerk like with pre-Algo Devil Theory; accepts that what they did was wrong, not pretending to be a good person just to get people’s forgiveness, etc.) before getting together with Rise. I’ve mentioned that several times before in regards to my Devil Theory OCs anyways! :u

With that out of the way:

Before the events of the game, Rise managed to get permission from Devil Theory to hang out on Pyramid Island. Though only because 3 of the 4 DT members are her fans and follow her online.

The only one who doesn’t already know her is Sai, because he’s not really “into” social media. He also doubts her reputation as a writer, thinking she’s just faking it for views and fans online.

This is actually what makes Rise interested in Sai in the first place. It’s definitely not a crush, moreso her trying to puzzle out how the hell any writer in New Amsterdam could not already have heard about her! Not to mention him not believing she’s skilled at all. She does have a bit of an ego, sure, but she thinks it’s justified given her skills as a writer. She may not be All City material, though mostly because she doesn’t care for it as long as she has plenty of people still respecting her talents.

So anyways, in regards to Sai, she’s taking it as a challenge to convince him she’s a top writer, and make a Rise fan out of him!

Some of her attempts to impress him: Tricks and combos far more complicated than Sai would do, tagging difficult to reach graffiti spots around the island (and not get frustrated by the island’s layout like most others), and even convincing him to help her with an impromptu photo session, similar to her little “side-quest” in the actual game.

By the end of all this, Sai mentally acknowledges that Rise is a skilled writer, but externally he never admits it out loud, and is still very cold towards her. He’s not stupid, he can tell what she’s been doing, and he’s not going to start fanboying over her just because she wants him too.

Rise is frustrated, not to mention genuinely insulted, that Sai still isn’t lavishing praise and compliments on her, like her fans and most other writers would have by now. Not even one compliment? How dare you! At the least, she decides to leave him be (for now) and enjoy her time on Pyramid Island.

Then eventually the events of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk happen!! Rise joins BRC shortly after the whole Project Algo fight, and Sai joins sometime after that. He had originally only joined in order to get revenge against BRC for DT losing Pyramid Island. But they all got that sorted out through the power of friendship! Also no holds barred beatdowns between Sai and Red.

(The previous bullet point is a whole separate fic outline. Also yeah Red and Felix as separate characters! Long story short, that ends up happening due to Felix accidentally finding a mind that’s in need of both a cyberhead and body, while trying to put the Red cyberhead back together to use as his new mask. This is also a whole separate fic, but now I’m getting off topic. :P )

But yeah, Sai joins BRC and becomes a (slightly) nicer person because of the experience. He’s still friends with his DT homies though, just to be clear.

Also him and Red having sparring matches sometimes! Mix of martial arts and wrestling moves, and just in general fighting. Most of the rest of BRC are cool with this, and watch as if it’s an actual event. Bel and Cueball even like to act as MCs for these matches, lol

With Sai now part of BRC, Rise decides to try again with her attempts at converting Sai into one of her fans. Asking him to join her for graffiti sessions, one on one score battles, and even feigning interest in Sai by complimenting his own skills, both as a fighter and a writer.

Unfortunately for her, Sai is still not stupid and sees right through her. At first he’s content with just ignoring her, but eventually starts insulting her. She starts insulting him back, and the two of them are trading jabs and getting more and more frustrated with each other.

Tryce eventually steps in and tells them to knock it off. Either they sort out whatever issues are going on between them, or he’s kicking them both off the crew. The writers of BRC need to be able to work together to keep the crew on top, and they can’t do that if they’re wasting time fighting each other!

Things are quiet between them for a while, but Sai can tell Rise is probably planning something. And that turns out to be true when she approaches him with a proposal: fake dating! If Sai hangs around Rise as her “boyfriend”, he’ll see that he could benefit from associating with her.

Obviously no actual romance will be involved, they’ll just make other people think they’re an item, and then eventually “break up” but still be friends. Even after the fake break up, Sai’s reputation will skyrocket! Or so Rise claims. Not to her own level, but still. The way she sees it, what kind of writer would pass up the chance to have their skills acknowledged and respected by more people?

In truth, this is of course just another attempt to get him wrapped around her finger as yet another loyal fan. She fully acknowledges that, but only in her mind, of course she doesn’t want Sai to know that or he’ll refuse the idea.

To her genuine shock, Sai actually agrees to it! He says Rise has been (annoyingly) persistent, so he figures he could at least give her one chance with something like this. Plus getting more respect/rep from people would be nice, so why not?

Of course that’s not why he’s actually doing this. He’s only agreeing to this because he wants to mess with her and teach her a lesson about bugging him so much. He’s hopeful that this will finallyconvince her to leave him alone for good.

And so the fake dating commences!!

Sai at first considers acting like a gross pervert to chase off Rise, but decides that’s a low trick. Not to mention, harassment like that will just get him kicked out of the crew, since no amount of “I was pretending to be a pervert to make her leave me alone!” would justify it. So he tries to gross her out in a different way, with food!

At first he tries with Latino food, specifically a lot of the Puerto Rican dishes he makes for himself and his DT friends. Most people around New Amsterdam seem terrified of food that isn’t what they consider “normal”, from his experience at least. Too bad for him, that doesn’t work because Rise loves it!

Then Rise gives him a recipe to try and make for her, jollof rice. He makes two batches of it, one that follows the recipe and the other that he’s sabotaged to taste horrible. He meant to give the ruined one to Rise… but then gets them mixed up and gives her the good one by mistake, lol

He does like that Rise is enjoying the food after all, especially the compliments to his cooking skills, but of course he doesn’t admit to that out loud. :P

Then Sai tries rambling at her about video games and anime and manga, thinking she’ll just see it as nerdy crap and want to break things off with Sai to save her own reputation.

She doesn’t have as much interest in it as first, basically just politely listening but not actually paying attention while Sai rambles. But eventually she actually shows some interest, especially once he gets into stuff like sea monsters and ocean/water-themed things (like certain Pokemon and Digimon).

Sai is weirded out that she’s specifically interested in the ocean fantasy stuff, but is moreso just annoyed that his attempt to scare her away with “nerdy crap” didn’t work.

Meanwhile Rise is trying to impress him with her skills and reputation again. She tries to speak to Sai in Spanish, but he can tell she’s mixing up what she probably learned in school (i.e. Spanish with a Spaniard accent, since this is still Europe) plus whatever she managed to get Rave (who is half Dominican in my headcanons) to teach her.

Sai teases her about it, saying, “What, can’t even afford a bit of time with Duolingo or somethin’?” Rise is annoyed and embarrassed by that.

But, he does end up rambling a bit about Spanish, especially the differences between his own accent and others. Even ends up teaching her a few words!

She also shows off her social media, showing she’s got a huge following and tons of interactions on her posts. Sai pretends to not care, though he is genuinely shocked that she’s that popular after all, at least online.

Rise also mentions she sometimes does modeling work. The money she makes off her socials (mostly from fans giving her donations and stuff) is more than enough to live off of. So her modeling stuff is more of a part-time thing for her, she genuinely thinks it’s fun to get dressed up and have amazing photos taken of her. Not to mention the praise she gets for looking gorgeous!

Sai continues to act not-so-impressed and Rise gets annoyed by this. However, he ends up slipping that he admits it’s neat that she’s a model, “I guess”. Rise jumps on that opportunity and shows him a few of her photoshoots!

After a while of looking, Sai realizes, “Wait, shit, she’s actually kinda hot??”, but absolutely does his best to not show it all at. Too bad for him, he’s blushing and Rise has already noticed, hee hee. She tries to scratch him under his chin at this point to tease him over it, but he calls her out on it. Personal space much?! She has the good grace to at least apologize for it.

In another attempt to impress Sai using her status, she invites him to hang out for a night at an exclusive club in Mataan. Sai decides to ruin the evening by getting drunk, even though he actually hates drinking too much. They both get kicked out once drunk Sai starts a scene and gets into an argument with Rise.

Rise decides to just drag him back to the hideout (Sai is too drunk to give directions to where he lives, and he probably won’t tell her anyways) and hopefully sort things out tomorrow.

Unfortunately, during that trip to the hideout, Sai continues to insult her, and actually manages to hit a nerve without realizing it. He points out that, from his point of view, there really isn’t much to her besides status, reputation, fame, getting attention, being popular. Yeah, she’s got great skills as a write and she looks hot, he can (drunkenly) admit that much. But what else is there? Interests, hobbies, favorite things? To him, if you remove all the glamour and skills from Rise, there’s no one left, just a shallow person who cares about what others think of her and using that to her advantage!

This really pisses off Rise, but she tries to keep her temper under control. Once they’re at the hideout, she just leaves him on a couch to pass out.

The next day, Rise tries to get him to apologize for what he said while drunk. It takes him a bit to actually remember what he said, but once he remembers he defends himself.

He asks again, what else is there about Rise? He doesn’t even know about her hobbies and stuff like that, since Rise has been focused on only “sharing” her status and what other people think of her. If he only looks at her socials and how she’s been acting so far, she seems pretty damn shallow. Not to mention petty and egotistical.

Rise gets pissed off at this and tries to force an apology out of him, but Sai continues to refuse. He knows Rise has been trying to make him like her, but she needs to just accept that the way she’s been doing it isn’t going to work on him like it does with her fans. And if she’s still determined to “impress” him, then she either needs to change her tactics or just give up already.

Internally, Sai is hoping this is what finally gets her to leave him alone. He’s also a bit annoyed at himself for not trying something like this sooner.

But to his absolute shock, she does admit she probably did come off as “a bit” shallow. Especially compared to how Sai was at least willing to share with her things like his Spanish skills, his cooking, and even his hobbies with anime/manga games.

(Even though, at least for the latter two he mean to use them to chase her off, and Rise herself has suspicions that he probably meant it like that.)

Anyways, she does decide to share at least one interest she has with Sai, but makes him swear to never mention it in front of anyone else. That interest is marine biology! She starts off slowly, mainly going over facts about starfish. With encouragement and genuine interest from Sai, she starts rambling about other types of sea creatures.

She stops at one point and says if Sai wants to make fun of her for all of this, then he should get it out of the way now. Sai insists he’s not gonna do that. He thinks it’s neat that Rise knows this much about marine biology! He admits he probably won’t remember much of this afterwards, but he can tell Rise really enjoys talking about this kind of stuff.

Also, he says it’s only fair that he listen to her rambling, after she did the same with him and his anime/manga/game rambling. :P

Rise appreciates that he’s being nice/polite about this. She also tries to scratch him under the chin again, but he flinches in annoyance and she stops.

But they do end up having more talks like this! Sai rambling about and showing Rise his interests and hobbies, and Rise opening up more and doing the same with her own interests and hobbies.

Plus, they’re on better terms now! Sort of? They haven’t yet done the “fake break up” yet, but they’re starting to consider each other friends at minimum.

At one point, Rise jokingly bets to give Sai a kiss if he can beat Red in their next sparring match. He ends up surprised at himself when it actually motivates himself to beat Red after all!

Rise holds up her end of the bargain, even if she only meant it as a joke. To Sai’s surprise the kiss is on the lips, with Rise commenting, “What, ya thought you’d get just a peck on the cheek after going all out like that?”

She lets him kiss her back to make them “even”. He kisses her on the cheek, but she teases him about it since he did it so gently she barely felt it!

Other friendship-building activities going on between them:

Rise gets caught by the cops at one point, and Sai manages to save her. Later on he gets his skateboard broken while the two of them are fighting off cops and trying to get away. She buys him a new one as a thank you for last time! She also makes it clear that this is just a thank you gift, and isn’t expecting him to pay her back.

Sai helps her get to a hard-to-reach heaven spot, and Rise asks him to help her with her piece. They start having graffiti sessions every now and then afterwards!

They go see a horror movie together, mainly because each of them assumes the other will get scared, and they think it’d be funny to see it. Not only do neither of them get scared, but they end up just heckling the movie until they get kicked out for it, lol

Around this time each of them realizing how much they’re enjoying spending time with each other. And they both get worried it might be actual love. “No no no, this is just platonic love, right? Right??”

The two of them find themselves holding hands or sitting/standing closer to each other, when neither of them meant to. Also Sai is finally letting her scratch him under his chin, though he tells her not to look into it too much.

At another point, Sai offers to help Rise home after a long day. They almost have, gasp, “a moment” between the two of them, but stop each other at the last second.

Eventually they’re both getting frustrated by how things are going and decide to try and rip off the bandaid. Sai and Rise accuse each other of being “in love” and to just admit to it, but of course neither of them want to confess!!

Sai even leans in to almost kiss, sees Rise’s reaction to it, and points it out as proving his point! She denies it.

They have a huge argument about it, one trying to force the other to confess already, and they “break up” for real.

But of course, that’s only temporary, especially since they both end up feeling awful about how they handled it. They talk things out, apologize, and finally be honest about how they feel.

So then after that they’re officially dating, for real this time!

And now for lovey-dovey activities!~

Okay admittedly they’re only really lovey-dovey in private. The most they do in public is hand holding and quick hugs/kisses, otherwise they kinda act like “just friends” in front of the rest of the crew. Which confuses the crew because of how Rise made a big deal about the apparently “fake” dating, but yeah. :P

Also Sai sometimes effectively acts as Rise’s bodyguard. She sics him on anybody who annoys/threatens her, even if it’s their crewmates, lol

Sai sings for Rise! He mostly likes to sing ballads and salsa songs, both English and Spanish. He’s better at it than most people would expect. That being said, he hates singing in front of other people besides Rise, so he only does it in private when it’s just the two of them.

There’s also dancing! Not like cypher dances, but more like dancing together like with salsa or tango. They both find this a lot of fun, but this is another thing they only do in private (in this case they’d both hate to do this in front of other people).

Rise has a very deep love for homemade gifts, seeing them as something incredibly special and unique. She even cried a bit when Sai gave her a bracelet with seashell charms he made for her!

Sai finds out that Rise has a weakness for puns. He starts carrying around a notebook of pun jokes he can tell her. Rave and Shine (both being Rise’s friends in my headcanons) also contribute to the pun book, along with a few other BRC members who are made aware of it. Rise both loves and hates this.

Also she especially loves puns that can work in multiple languages when translated right. Sai has a field day with this using certain jokes in English and Spanish. Like, where do cats go when they die? Purrgatory in English, Purgatorio in Spanish, lol

Related to the last points, Rise sometimes snorts when she laughs! Inspired by one of @mechanical-magician 's headcanons for Rise, hee hee. Rise thinks it’s embarrassing, while Sai genuinely thinks it’s cute.

The two of them still ramble about their interests with each other, and even sometimes about general gossip/news/movies/shows/etc. Rise rambles about marine biology the most, but then she starts looking into other science stuff too just for the love of learning. Sai doesn’t always remember everything, but he still loves to listen to her being so passionate about something!

Sai willingly cooks for Rise now, and is even teaching her how to cook stuff too! Rise is the type to need very precise instructions and measurements while cooking (“The hell is ‘a pinch’ and ‘a dash’ supposed to mean?!”). But she’s been getting better at it!

Sai also starts teaching Rise fighting moves too. She now knows how to properly suplex people!

Rise is also learning more Spanish between Sai and Rave, and is getting a lot better at it. Especially since she practices by talking with them in Spanish.

Sai tries flirting with/giving compliments to Rise but keeps getting embarrassed by it. Mainly he feels like he’s not making it sound genuine, thus he thinks he’s being cringey. Rise asks him what about it makes it feel “less honest”, and Sai says it just sounds weird in English. So she tells him to do it in Spanish instead, and it works! Sai feels like he’s being more sincere with his love, and Rise gets flustered by it but genuinely enjoys it~

And of course Rise flirts/compliments him back too. Sai is not the kind of guy that’s used to getting compliments at all, so he’s even more easily flustered by it!

They have pet names! Rise calls Sai “wolfboy”, it’s a joke from her calling him “the Big Bad Wolf” when they first met on Pyramid Island. Otherwise, Rise calls him “love” and Sai calls her “amor”. :3

Rise getting more into anime/manga thanks to Sai! But mostly she ends up focused on Pokemon and One Piece the most. Also anything else with mermaids, the ocean, etc. :P

She also gets into video games! Mostly she’s of course focused on ocean-themed/-focused games (Dredge, The Wind Waker, Abzu, Blue Ocean, etc). Sai like to watch her play these sometimes.

And then all the nerdery eventually leads to… cosplay. Rise gets cosplays made for her to wear at local cons, and she has Sai tag along as her personal photographer! Also Rise mostly dresses up as characters that Sai has admitted to having/had a crush on, which is her way of teasing him for it, lol

They do more photoshoots for Rise’s socials too!

Rise is trying to get Sai more “into” social media, to at least promote his own art and get more clients that way (he’s a freelance artist). It does work, and he thanks her for her help of course!

Rise is also trying to improve Sai’s wardrobe. He’s mostly a t-shirt + basic pants + hoodie kind of guy. Sai reluctantly goes along with it, but eventually appreciates the new styles she’s having him wear. It’s nothing too flashy, but still stuff that Sai thinks look cool on him too! She also bought him a really badass-looking leather jacket at some point, and he mostly wears that one for their date nights.

On that note, they usually split the bill for meal dates, unless it’s a fancier (and more expensive) place that Rise picked. In those cases, she covers the whole bill since she knows she has the money for it. Sai feels bad about it at first, but Rise insists it’s fine and he shouldn’t worry about it!

Also, Sai is still not quite wrapping his head around the fact that he has a rich/popular girlfriend now. He sees Rise as a wonderful, smart, and beautiful woman, with “rich” and “popular” being just extras on the side. Rise says it’s better that way, especially since she’s had past exes who were only with her for her money and/or rep. (including Faux, unfortunately)

OKAY THAT'S IT!! I think this is a lot longer than the posts I made for Vinyl x Nunchaku and Cueball and Bō. But tbh, it's mostly because I've been shipping Rise and Sai a decent amount longer than the other two, even if it's only maybe a handful of months difference. There's been more time for the ship to cook, y'know?

Anyways! Finally done with my self-indulgent ship ramblings! Will maybe-hopefully do more BRC headcanon posts as before, but otherwise I'm open to people sending in asks/replies with what they might like to see from me next. :D

[solitaryhome]

mw

ok im not tagging this because i do not want to discourse with anyone i just have a lot of thoughts i wanted to get off my chest about MOUTHWASHING! and how people treat the characters, in this case anya. wrote it up on discord earlier but i wanted to actually archive it. if u see no issues with what im about to describe its like whatever, i dont think u are stupid or bad at media or anything, this is MY viewpoint. spoilers for the game + mentions of rape/suicide

so i saw a drawing on tumblr today of anya with a halo of the sunset screen, with curly, daisuke, and swansea all leaning against her, and holding the horse fetus. and it was captioned "mary of tulpar". and it just really really bothered me. and i think the reasons it bothered me are the same reason basically all the art i've seen of her has bothered me. i'm going to try and be very careful with how i word this because i do not want it to be misconstrued. i just think that the fans have done this thing where they do not know how to approach her identity as a victim and so they figuratively (or literally in this drawing) make her into the virgin mary. where she is a symbol, and a symbol that has been hurt and tainted, but not a person who has a right to feel any way about it. just a symbol that the other (male) characters can lean on (LITEARLLY IN THIS CASE) for strength. there is this seeming consensus that in some way her rape has elevated her (?) and made her into this saint-figure. i do not think this is done intentionally but it is done consistently. it just makes me feel really weird because truly we are turning her into a martyr which does not seem to me like a responsible way of handling the character. like you are defining her entire character on her victimhood. which the game already plays into (one of my issues with it) but the thing is, fanwork inherently lets you give a NEW lens to a story. and yet i swear the fans are OBSESSED with her suffering even moreso than the narrative itself is. like to them she is her suffering. and its a horror game. like obviously that's the point. and obviously in the game she has a 'bad ending'. but i'm sorry i honestly feel like her 'bad ending' is a BETTER angle to focus on for her character. again going to word this carefully but the thing is about anya's suicide is that she does win against jimmy. liike you obviously don't want to say that about someone killing themselves but within the context of this story her death was a victory & took the power out of his hands.

[steven-has-exploded]

massive apologies to all the tanizakiheads seeing me in this tag every other day but now that we have confirmation he and naomi arent even siblings, ive been looking back and just. realizing how weirdly their whole relationship is written BEYOND the alabama shit?

this is also gonna be a teensy bit long because i cannot shut the fuck up, anyways warning for mentions of s/a + some panels of That and incest. also naomi likers proceed with caution, i really dont even dislike her to be honest but the point of this post is to point out the really weird way her actions are written, so if u dont wanna see that then. there

so. ive realized that basically no part of their "activities" is written explicitly as being consensual on junichirou's end, and im unsure if asagiri even did this intentionally because its just. never talked about and also constantly treated like just a running gag

like maybe this is just the translation im reading but id say that it actually implies moreso that the stuff behind closed doors is nonconsensual rather than the opposite, the language used especially by junichirou really implies that theres at least something questionable in regards to that aspect, i.e. this page in chapter 15 right before naomi was taken into annes room by lucy

right before this is naomi saying that junichirou claimed hed "do anything she wanted", which. yeah im not gonna pretend like that isnt just supposed to be some haha funny kink joke, but junichirou claiming that she "forced" him to do something combined with that forms some really unsavory implications that i, again, dont think were intentional on asagiris part

and this continues through their interactions in the earlier chapters; every single time they talk about some kind of unspoken thing that happened between them, its always phrased like this. ive seen a considerable number of people in my time lurking over arguments online claim that junichirou is in on it because of this panel;

and while. firstly that isnt how consent works - second, since this entire fandom sees their relationship as weird in one way or another and not just funny like asagiri hoped we would and im coming at this from the same angle, this seems more like him trying to let her down softly instead of saying she can do whatever in private, since they were in the middle of an investigation at this point. "not here", at least to me, doesnt imply that hes chill with it in private, but that he just doesnt want whatever to happen in public based on the way its been written

and obviously this isnt even bringing up the fact that one of the first scenes we see of them just earlier in ch3 involves naomi groping junichirou in the middle of uzumaki cafe, because that obviously IS nonconsensual and its just. brushed off. like kunikida tells atsushi not to question it and then they just move on. its very obvious that asagiri wrote it this way because it was supposed to be a gag, but seemed completely unaware of the completely godawful implications of this situation just because its happening to a man. junichirou is visibly uncomfortable in all of these scenes, its heavily implied that theres a lack of consent beyond just the scenes on screen, and then its never brought up again because its supposed to be a "joke"

i dont know. i just wanted to point this out because from my personal perspective as a man whose also a victim of sexual harassment, particularly from a family member, this is the way it came off to me and ive been thinking about this for a bit. dont idolize asagiri thats the moral of the story here mans weird as shit

[geastherat]

nope ur also wrong. if u dont wanna see it, unfollow. sending someone a message asking them not to post their own body on their own blog without a label for ur own personal boundaries is a buck wild thing to do wtf. that's a u problem.

usually i dont,, post about this on here but im moreso talking about how, when youre scrolling through a specific content tag, nsfw posts will still be there untagged and unlabeled as nsfw - even if youre not following them

and yes, you can block them, you can block their tags (if they have them, because a shocking amount of people dont) but some people can be sensitive to content like that from trauma or experiences they dont want to relive

tldr - dont report it, because that almost never has the best outcome, just block, unfollow, and spread awareness of how important it is to tag your shit correctly

if you still think me wrong, we can discuss this in dms, because im happy to hear your point of view. however i dont think anyones ever in the wrong for asking someone to tag their content properly

[lovingnekoma]

literally just some of my fav haikyuu/bnha/jjk blogs & why

i’m sad and anxious and my coping mechanisms are being honest about my feelings and nice to people but these are truly some of my fav blogs atm, very tried & true. these are not all my fav blogs ofc, i have so so so many! just some i’d like to give a shoutout to today, and i will continue this series to continue to praise more blogs too hehe <3

also, a lot of these reasons may be “vibes” and that’s bc vibes/energy is important as hell for me to feel comfy and safe on a blog lmao

@sugardaddykenma: you already know lin was gonna be on here. my queen of shitposts, i bow at her feet. she’s funny. she roasts people. the serotonin and memes are on her blog are quality content, unmatched by society. also, seeing snippets of political theory piques my interest as a social justice/global issues/anthropology hoe and it’s really cool?? lmao kinda unrelated, but genuinely is making me think about getting into policy. her shitposts live in my head rentfree and i soulmate-ship her and aone.

@atsumuse: come on. lay’s writing is immaculate, spicy, pussy-clenching...... the power she has in making my flip switch from sad af to horny af. literally, the vibes are so on point and chill and funny. i am always so shy to interact but lay never disappoints. idk. the energy? the vibes? kinda hot, a good time, idk i love it on her blog. also the gojou thirst? her theme? pop off, you legend

@lovingseijoh: LISTEN. clare’s blog is the definition of immaculacy. full of gems. the posts? the theme? clare? unparalleled deity shit right there, baby. i go on it for quality content, then end up liking so many posts that i have to go through my “likes” to rapidly reblog stuff in order to like more posts. her original content is so so fucking good and she’s genuinely so nice & warm to her anons. gives me big sis vibes <3

@inkykeiji: quite literally the only mostly-bnha-dedicated blog i ever go onto, tbh. clari also gives me sweet older sis vibes, is always the nicest to her anons, and truly just puts in so much time & effort into answering every ask and writing very well-written stories. i have not watched bnha but i definitely binge-read some of her series and got soft daddy shig thoughts stuck in my head on repeat from her 10/10 writing.

@heyhinata: cal’s fanart reblogs do not miss but neither do her captions or original posts. she’s truly so sweet and cool (imagine building a pc?? monarch shit right there) and so so so easy to talk to and warm and welcoming towards her anons. i cannot sing enough praises about how much her theme slaps (& her carrd!! did not get a chance to hop on and tell you how cool it looks yet but it looks great omg) and how great the energy is on there.

@iwaasfairy: i keep sending my partner your writing as ref for what i read for porn and he greatly appreciates it. i just love your energy in your asks, you remember so many diff anons & are so thoughtful, and i also love how fucking hard your writing goes. also just appreciate the sharing bits of vulnerability or openness about your mental state with us anons, and i kin your “awake 24/7” habits hard. the vibes r strong and you just seem like a beautiful person who cares about loving characters and is always so easy to talk to

@stonersugawara: hit or miss, they really never miss huh?? i read their shitposts religiously but the minute it hit timeskip hinata i was a goner. quality content of the highest regard. my lungs are fulled with endorphins and laughter. this is slightly delirious because i slept nothing last night but just know i love you, your vibes, and clicked “follow” while reading your navi post alone. that’s on being too powerful

@samuslut: my brain is in shambles from having to form coherent sentences but your energy is so great and fun to me, and your thirst posts and drabbles and work have me literally salivating. i am on my knees for your kita fic, and you have turned me into more of an osamu whore than i already was. also — “wing”?? that’s so cool, you’re so cool. you give me cool person vibes and have beautiful, sexy, amazing writing that i thank you for sharing & blessing me with

@atsumusc0ck: zinkie, your social issues post are so important, your vibes are immaculate, and the cursed memes are unparalleled. i could truly not describe the amount of caring personality and glorious energy in your blog alone. i would need to be typing this at 3am using every cursed tumblr reference and meme while channeling kunimi/suna style vibes and being in beautiful love. you are the embodiment of so many good things and i hope you’re happy always.

[our-hextech-dream]

i'd like to chime in on the viktor post, since it also became a bit of a viktor analysis: one thing that sort of came to my attention re: LoL vs Arcane is that in LoL, i think he's a fun antagonist. but when i watched arcane, i didn't know anything about LoL viktor. i absolutely adored his arc in Arcane; i felt like he wasn't reduced to his disability, he was extremely competent,and while he was definitely hindered by his disability, it wasn’t, like. This horrible, terrible burden he 1/?

suffered from and longed to be free of. He was an intelligent and brilliant inventor, and he also needed to use a cane. and i think that even though he made a mistake with the hexcore, it felt very much like jayce's actions killing a child. in the way that their actions, while they were mistakes, did not make them villains. they were still heroic, even if they made mistakes, because they were humbled due to their hubris and chose to learn from it. which i ADORE. but after reading up LoL lore i'm side-eyeing season two. so far the writing for the characters has been incredibly nuanced and satisfying for me, so i’m not SUPER worried, but i’m hoping that they don’t take viktor to quite the extremes of LoL viktor. I don’t know all of LoL’s lore, but as far as i can tell, Viktor didn’t have the same disabilities Arcane Viktor does -- and i’m a bit wary that they might turn him into a villain on the level of silco. Still nuanced, but certainly not very heroic. And disabled people so rarely get to be heroes! By all means, Viktor creating assistance devices using Hextech until he’s able to basically achieve the same physical feats as able bodied people would be great; but i also don’t want it to be like ‘look he’s cured now ayyy!’ i really hope that instead of that, he and jayce become more like ‘heroes on opposite sides’. LoL Viktor does have some of that nuance (like trying to save the catatonic people with the crystal), but i want that even moreso in Arcane.

i think if the discussion with @hexhomos taught me anything it's that LoL viktor can be a really subtle and multifaceted character! he can also be a mustache twirling villain in some of the 'side' league stories, but given my own comics fandom background i'm perfectly happy viewing that kind of stuff as sort of... dubiously canon. canon when i want it to be to make a point, noncanon when its annoying or breaks my interpretation of a character, lmao.

on the one hand, i wouldn't worry too much (which you said you haven't been) because the writers have done great so far and i don't see any reason that would suddenly change. on the other, arcane was created to tell the story of vi and jinx - everyone else is an afterthought, added because it makes sense for them to be there and they can add to the story, but they're not the focal points. so i can definitely see a portion of fans being disappointed because they feel like viktor didn't get the narrative focus they feel he would have needed to make his turn believable, and this is gonna be the loud portion of 'viktor ooc' fans, if i had to make an educated guess.

(i know i keep bringing up loki in the tags but i'm. so serious. treat the mcu fandom as a case study for this because i have been watching the exact same arguments play out again in real time. 'avengers loki didn't have a believable enough reason to become a villain therefore he's ooc' because we didn't get to see him explicitly tortured by thanos - it was implied, though. they spent exactly as much time on it as was necessary to give us the information we needed without taking the focus away from the actual main characters! i see arcane doing something similar with viktor and the hexcore. the writers are trusting us to be smart enough to pick up on the cues.)

re: his disabilities - we all need to be aware that empowering for me is not necessarily empowering for thee. there are going to be people who disagree with viktor's outcome no matter how arcane chooses to portray it or what they end up doing with his physical disabilities. cure him, don't cure him, lose the focus on his disabilities altogether, continue to focus on them even after his turn, let him keep his humanity, let him go full hal 9000; either way there are going to be people with perfectly valid points who will think they should have done the opposite. i hope that people can come to terms with all possible outcomes before s2 comes out, get cool with the idea that their ideal viktor may not be the one that arcane wants or needs. no matter what we may feel would be 'realistic', we have to keep in mind that he's a fictional character with a role to play in a story, and they're gonna make him play that part no matter how they have to get him there.

[briankang]

i saw that ask you mentioned me in (you're so right btw!!) and even though i literally just woke up i am now In My Feelings about lee know. the thing that pisses me off about the "meanhoe" nickname and the way that some stays treat him is that, and i've said this in the tags of a lot of 2kr gifsets before, but me and lee know have the exact same personality. call it Scorpio Things or whatever, but when it comes to showing affection to the people we care about, lee know and me are exactly the same. i noticed it the most during the 2kr episode with him and chan, watching it felt so familiar because it was like every close friendship i've ever had - the other person would be acting all cute and clingy and i'd be like 🙄😒 but actually i'd appreciate a lot and in return i'd just like...... take care of them? we're the mum friends, like we're ride or die and we'll look after you and we'll love you forever but we're also going to complain about it the entire time. so when those stays act like lee know is actually genuinely being mean and cold it extra breaks my heart because it's so obvious to me that he's not. me and lee know look cold on the outside but on the inside we're made up entirely of heart emojis, we're like cats that show we love you by sitting quietly in the same room as you. and the fact that stays have even said it to him?? like actually told him on vlive that they think he's mean??? unthinkable, that must be so upsetting for him ☹ obviously the members understand him and love him and know that when he's being sassy or threatening their lives he doesn't actually mean it so like, how can people calling themselves a stay not get that? when it's so obviously the case??? idk man

and oh my god don't even get me started on how some stays see hyunjin (i am begging yt creators stop using the same clips from 3 years ago to show that he's a drama queen) and chan (holy shit i have to turn the chat off when i watch chan's room because i cannot believe what people actually say to him) and felix (i know i call him cute all the time but he's my ult so it extra pisses me off when people just straight up treat him like a literal child, and why is it always from stays who are younger than him??) but this ask is already become a novel and i haven't even had breakfast yet 😅

LKSDJGLKDSGKL i need u to know i mean this in a positive way. thank god someone else is willing to write novels about this shit i feel less alone now KLEWJDSGLKDSJGJLKK BUT NO!!!!!!!!!! LITERALLY EVERYTHING HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok but ur so right about the scorpio thing bc some of my favorite people are scorpios (maybe its bc its also my rising sign) and this is. just how y'all are (affectionate) i love it sm....it's so fun to play off of esp as a libra (christopher and i act the exact same way LEKSDJGLKJLK like. ok astrology is not real but also.........)!!!!!!!!!! wait i had no idea people actually said that to him i feel................lol at people who just say shit like that to those boys there's NO tact and ONCE AGAIN!!!!!! acting like they're not people!!!!!!!!!!! WITH EMOTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

lksdjglkdsjlk i always turn off chat if i happen to catch chans room but i usually dont watch (not bc of him obviously but) bc he always at some point reads smth so off the wall that makes me wonder who let these people have internet access there is NO filter!!!!! at all!!!!!!! the best moments end up in gifsets anyways i trust u all to filter out to pull out the best LJDSLGKLDSK but omg.....i had already made my last ask too long but felix.........god he gets. some of the weirdest mix sometimes i want to do a study and dissect the brains of some of these people. a lot of people tend to baby him and jeongin (but...not seungmin which is ????????) and i know its bc they have a generally cuter vibe (i usually will be like ah!!!!!! there's my son!!!!! but i'm....5-6 years older than them so its moreso affectionate.......like baby brothers y'know) but......some people will literally act like those boys are not young men in their 20s who are v capable of taking care of themselves AND YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IN THAT IT DOES COME FROM PEOPLE USUALLY YOUNGER???? i do not understand it. again. i want to study these people under a microscope

but also i hope u have a good morning LKSJGLKSDJLKSD I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[reidsmissmatchedsocks]

sexuality headcanons for the bau!!

hotch - this man screams bisexual to me and i dont even know why. he just gives off the vibe. i feel like he has a preference for women but still very much loves men. emily was the first person he came out to (gideon had known but he found out on accident when hotch forgot to change the pronouns while talking abt an ex) since he knew he could trust her with that sort of thing after she came out to the team. shortly after haley died he decided he was tired of hiding this part of himself and came out to the rest of the bau, starting w rossi and then telling reid, morgan, garcia and jj at the same time. they were all very supportive and garcia gave him a little bi pride flag for his desk :)

emily - gayest bitch in the whole show. this woman takes wlw simping to a whole new level w the yearning shes been doing for jj for the last decade. she came out to the team very randomly while they were out at a bar. she slapped her hand on the table and said loudly, “id just like u all to know im a homosexual” and then walked out. everyone was kinda dumbfounded at first but obviously very supportive and happy she felt comfortable enough to tell them. she goes to pride every year and owns a lot of lesbian pride flags. morgan always laughs at her and teases her whenever he sees her obviously checking out someone and is happy he has someone to comfortably talk to abt girls. she gives the guys dating advice claiming shes “the master of dating women” even tho it took her over ten years to build up the courage to ask out jj. rossi finds this fact very funny

garcia - this woman is pan and u cannot tell me otherwise. fuck gender she loves everyone and is only interested in a persons amazing personality (since she prides herself on her ability to judge character) and how willing they are to flirt in public and how much they enjoy pda. garcia never really felt the need to come out assuming everyone just knew already but after emily came out she decided to keep a set of pride flags in her office and she has a pan flag on one of the walls plus an array of different pan themed things. one day rossi asked what the flag was for and she went in detail explaining different sexualities, flags and the significance. she finds the history super interesting and loves going to pride. she also wheres a little pan pride button on her shirts everyday because she thinks it looks nice :D

morgan - bisexual man. do i have to say any more? he never really came out but after seeing him flirt w enough guys while they were out everyone got the point. has a mini pride flag on his desk he got from garcia and a matching flag pin he wears on his shirts most days. he goes to pride w garcia and spencer every year

rossi - unlabled!! hes mostly had relationships w women but that doesnt mean exclusively. he likes men sometimes and has had relationships w them in the past but hes not quite sure which label fits him and thats okay!! hes never specifically stated his preference or sexuality to any of the others but they wouldnt be surprised if he got a bf, moreso surprised he got into a relationship at all

reid - biromantic demisexual!!! it took reid a long time to figure himself out, getting bullied a lot through school w various slurs thrown at him every day not helping. once he was in college he started to realize his attraction to both men and women and it scared him. he also felt like he was wrong for not wanting hookups or flings, he couldn’t understand the appeal. he pushed away a lot of his feelings, too scared of judgement from other people. that changed when he got to the bau tho, he had a family who loved and. supported him and he started to realize maybe it wasnt just him who felt this way. he ended up opening up to garcia after finding out shes pan and she lets him no they love him no matter what and theres nothing wrong w him. she helps him explore labels until he figures out which ones fit and gives him advice on coming out. he comes out to morgan first, hotch soon after, then emily, jj and rossi. they all are super supportive and loving ofc and reassure him that nothing can change their feelings towards him. theyre family.

jj - jj is bisexual!! she is obviously in love w emily but she also was in love w will for a long time. she never came out to the team officially but they all knew and she kept small bi pride things around her office. shes generally less of a gay mess than the rest of them but she definitely has her moments. she goes to pride every couple years w emily and sometimes hotch if they can convince him to tag along. she figured it out at a young age and never rlly doubted her feelings, just being happy w herself. she loves herself and her identity

[siilvers-blog]

twinkie obession ;

pairing : peter maximoff x gn ! reader word count : 1 951 note : soulmate au where you can taste whatever your soulmate is eating at that moment . and my baby boy is too good for this world . i wanted to write something like more grandiose , but for now this dumb soulmate au will do ! feedback is appreciated <33 requests are super open btw so if u sent in any ,,, peter stuff ,,, we’d be grateful ( moreso me , but whatever haha !! ) - mod em ( under the cut for length ) 

For as long as you could remember, you’d feel the taste of twinkies in your mouth. When you were young, the taste would be occasional and welcome, but around your early teens it began to plague you every single day. Eventually, even looking at twinkies made you feel sick to your stomach and, god, you couldn’t understand how the hell your stupid soulmate could eat a whole batch of them every day. It was kind of admirable, the fact that they could eat the same exact thing so often and not throw up, but your burning hatred overshadowed whatever respect you had for them.

Hate would’ve been a strong word for the first month of non-stop twinkies, somehow you thought you’d manage. But one day it felt as if twinkies were all your soulmate was consuming. That, topped by a bad grade on one of your essays made you reduce your desk into ash in front of your whole class. And that was how you found out you were a mutant; the same exact day all your friends deemed you a freak (some friends) and the same exact day all you could taste were twinkies.

And it was safe to say you hated your soulmate. Which was fine. He’d hate you too if he knew you were a mutant.

You beat yourself up for years for being a mutant, refusing to interact with most people in fear you’d burn them as quickly as you burned your desk that day. Your parents would always try to console you, tell you that you were perfectly fine, that you’d become something great one day. But after your graduation, you came to find that people didn’t really want to hire mutants that much, especially those with an unpredictable and flaming personality. So, you accepted the reality that you’d just have to live with your parents forever, that your soulmate was off somewhere being all happy and eating twinkies, and that you’d never even meet them because you were, what society deemed, disgusting.

Not that eating twinkies every day was any better.

But life of a mutant wasn’t as black and white as you thought, as now you were standing right in front of the famous Charles Xavior school for the gifted with a suitcase in hand. Just a few days back you had burst into tears after receiving an invitation and now you could barely hold them back at the sight of it. Finally, you though, your life was going to turn for the better. You were about to step foot inside, but you suddenly felt someone run past you and into the mansion. Felt; it was an odd word to describe someone who was probably running, but you literally only saw a flash of silver skim past you insanely fast and you just assumed that it was a mutant with super speed. Oh, and the fact that this mystery mutant bumped into you and now you were falling backwards also factored into your deduction. Were you going to tumble down the fancy porch stairs on your first day here? Yeah. Were you still happy with the fact you were here, that there were already careless people bumping into you and not minding their mutations? Extremely and your sudden grin proudly showed that off.

Yet you didn’t have the chance to fall, another mutant teleported by your side and grabbed you by your forearms, looking at you with concern. He was…blue and he had three fingers on each hand, and a tail, and he just teleported in front of you, and, wow, you were so happy to be here.

“Hi!” You couldn’t help but beam at him, despite the fact that he was the only thing preventing you from crashing down. “I’m (Y/N)!”

You noticed the stranger opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it upon noticing something…someone behind you – someone else, who was now pushing you back up to your feet with a giggle.

“Sorry about Peter, er, the guy who almost knocked you down here!” You heard the person behind you say. “We were supposed to show you around, but Peter’s awfully impatient so he said that the last person here was gonna show you around and ran off.”

“I’m Jubilee!” She was now in front of you, grinning and waving. “We’re super glad you’re here, actually, I’m sure you’ll have a chance to get back at Peter for being such an idiot!” She then pointed at the blue mutant who was still holding your arms. “That’s Kurt!”

“Guten tag!” He grinned and let go of you to wave with both of his hands. “It is very nice to meet you!”

And you could’ve sworn you’ve never felt more at home than now. Kurt was gracious enough to teleport all your stuff into your room before he and Jubilee began the tour. It was very extensive, they insisted they weren’t going to leave you to your own devices until you knew exactly where everything was, even if it took the entire day to show you around. You even met some others along the way, like Scott and Jean, who you learned were soulmates. Jean complained about some food she didn’t like that Scott absolutely loved and you shared a laugh, even feeling comfortable enough to mention that all your soulmate seems to eat is twinkies and how much it annoys you. They shared a look as you said that, it almost seemed like a knowing look, before Jean told you how much that must suck and took her leave with Scott. Eventually, you circled back to your room, a little sad that the day was coming to an end, but excited because this was your life now. You had a place where everyone accepted you for what you were and-

Oh god, that god-awful taste of twinkies was in your mouth again. Just as you thought your soulmate wouldn’t eat any today.

“Jubilee, wait!” She turned to you once you had called for her, still smiling. “Everything in the kitchen is…free to take, right?”

She snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, of course it is! Everything is everyone’s, you’re free to take anything anytime!”

Exhaling, you raced past her, yelling out a “thanks” and “see you later!” as you ran. You thought you’d at least try to drown out the taste, even if it didn’t work most of the time, if anything, you might inconvenience your soulmate a little bit by eating something else. Like a fruit for a change!

As you finally reached the kitchen, you exhaled in relief upon finding it was empty. You were a bit worn out from the excitement of today and you didn’t want to seem weird in front of anyone, especially with how frantically you looked around the kitchen for something juicy and sweet. Ah, that apple sat in a basket in the middle of the counter made your mouth water! In fact, at this point, anything that wasn’t a twinkie made your mouth water.

“Ah, so good…” You muttered to yourself after taking a bite, feeling the taste of the twinkie disappear and be replaced with that of an apple.

“You a telepath, or are you just talking to yourself here?”

You nearly choked on your treat after hearing the unfamiliar voice so suddenly and nearly choked again after the owner of it appeared in front of you in a blur. Silver, he must’ve been the mutant who nearly knocked you over - Peter.

“Talking to myself, relishing in how good this apple is, mostly.” You shrugged, a small smile on your face. “What brings you here?”

He was no longer in front of you, instead opening the fridge door. Witnessing someone utilizing their mutation for such mundane things brought a smile to your face. It was quickly wiped though, seeing as how he had pulled out a twinkie from the fridge and waved it around.

“Hungry, soulmate’s not munching on something too tasty right now.” He said, unwrapping that godforsaken thing and tilting his head after you had turned away. “What’s wrong? Am I too attractive for the eyes of a newbie?”

“Nope, I just hate twinkies.” Biting the apple, you shook your head. “My soulmate eats them, like, every day and I can’t stand it. I’m convinced they’re insane.”

Peter fell silent and you were almost concerned that he ran off after you had declared you hated twinkies. Maybe he just held a deep love for them. Did you offend him, perhaps? You turned back and as soon as you did, he bit down on the twinkie, staring right in your eyes. And then you felt the all-too-familiar twinkie taste. And then you realized.

“Oh my god…” You breathed, slamming the half-eaten apple back on the counter. “It’s you!”

You didn’t quite understand why your heart started beating so fast at the sight of him eating that damned twinkie and grinning at you like an idiot. You didn’t understand why suddenly you felt so…anxious, why you were scared to move. This was it, you always visualized meeting your soulmate and then hitting them over and over again for making your life a living hell just by eating twinkies, but all you could do now was stare.

“Y-You’re a mutant!” You choked out, hands flying to cover your gaping mouth. In reality, you just tried to hide the smile growing on your face because you were supposed to hate this guy. “Like me!”

“Yeah, a freak, if you will.” He chuckled, licking his fingers after just finishing this twinkie. “That’s why I’m here, just like you.” He pointed at you, but really, he was trying his hardest not to run up to you and spin you around. Then you’d really think he was insane.

Could you blame him though? He also didn’t think his soulmate would be a mutant too, the chances were just too slim.

“I can’t believe this!” With quick steps, you walked up to him and proceeded to punch his chest lightly, light-heartedly, which was proved by how much you were giggling. “I hate you, you know! Do you have any idea how much you made me hate twinkies? I was literally so annoyed one day, I burned down my desk at school!”

Peter laughed; it was cute. “You don’t really sound like you hate me.” He grabbed your wrists, grinning down at you. “But it’s charming to see you pretend that you’re totally not head over heels for me right now.”

“I am not!” You shook your head, a grin of your own decorating your features. “I am extremely annoyed! Especially at the fact that my soulmate is some maniac who looks dumb and thinks that eating twinkies everyday is good for him!”

“Well,” he began slyly. “I’m sure we can discuss my new diet plan during a date.”

“Peter, you are insufferable.” You paused. “But I suppose we could talk about your twinkie addiction sometime.”

His smile fell for a moment. “Hey…what’s your name again?”

You snorted, light giggles eventually escalating into a laugh that made Peter smile softly. Still laughing, you placed your head on his chest, making him turn slightly red, unbeknownst to you. You had already forgotten that you could feel the taste of that twinkie he had eaten moments ago. Perhaps you were just too overjoyed to remember all the downsides of having this dummy as your soulmate. Sure, all he ate was twinkies, but he was a mutant too, which instantly meant he wouldn’t hate you for your mutation. And he looked dumb, which was charming, you thought.

Well, you supposed you’ll just have to deal with the twinkies, since your soulmate wasn’t that bad.

[its-sixxers]

5 OTP Songs - Nines/Mary

tagged by no one but i wanted to do this anyways for the two peeps i’m currently writing for c: if u wanna do the thing you know the drill, tag me!

This Mess We’re In - PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke | Gorecki - Lamb | Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Make it Wit Chu - Queens of the Stone Age | Mandy Love Theme · Jóhann Jóhannsson

Lyric chat below!

This Mess We’re In - PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke

Already fairly on the nose from the song title. I actually like this one for them for the use of sunrise/sunset symbology, the way the song is mostly Thom Yorke with Harvey echoing and interjecting - for me it feels like Nine’s view of their relationship before Mary’s Embrace with some foreshadowing of what is to come. Impossible dream And I have seen The sunrise over the river The freeway Reminding of

This mess we're in And ohh (the city sunset over me) Ohh (the city sunset over me)

Sunrise meaning destruction for Kindred, the sun setting over Mary and her life - good shit. I just wanna say (I just wanna say) (Don't ever change) Don't ever change now baby (And thank you) And thank you (I don't think we will meet again) I don't think we will meet again

Accurate for their last goodbye with Mary still human.

Before the sun rise (And the city landscape comes into view) Over the skyscrapers (Sweat on my skin, oh) The city

And they never meet ‘before the sunrise’ again - before Mary’s death. Idk I like this song with sunrise as a death metaphor for them. :V

Gorecki - Lamb 

Another fairly on the nose one, this moreso tilting to Mary’s point of view. It starting off quiet and minimalist before drumbeats and a driving force are incorporated mirror’s Mary’s own understanding of their relationship and her love for him - it’s a quiet hesitant little thing until it hits her in the face with full force, something she can’t hide anymore.

Could we stay right here Till the end of time until the earth stops turning Wanna love you until the seas run dry I've found the one I've waited for

Love when you’re immortal can be eternal - and when so many people are preaching about the Final Nights and end of the world, til the end of time starts sounding pretty realistic.

All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race

It takes Mary a little bit to remember her pre-Embrace life - it’s still not enough to sever the connection she feels for him, even if she doesn’t exactly know why.

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs 

Peak pining music. Mostly from Mary’s end - she loves someone who’s a figurehead and loved by many, but not in the way she feels she feels - she’s realizing her love isn’t hero worship but something altogether different. She doesn’t know how to make it clear without making herself vulnerable and the rejection terrifies her.

Wait, they don't love you like I love you

On its face it applies to Mary, but it’s also got an undercurrent with Nines too - in that he knows he’s not trying to manipulate her like so many other people and he’s terrified she’ll go to the Camarilla or end up dead from unseen politics. He wants to protect her even though it’s not logical. Turn the song from someone pining and afraid their love isn’t returned into someone praying the person they love makes the right choices and hey, two birds one stone.

Make it Wit Chu - Queens of the Stone Age 

Established relationship music. So on the nose I’ll just gesture at these.

You wanna know if I know why I can't say that I do Don't understand the you or I Or how one becomes two I just can't recall what started it off Or how to begin again I ain't here to break ya Just see how far it will bend Again and again, again and again

I wanna make it I wanna make it wit' chu Anytime, anywhere

Neither of them know why of all people it was the other, the line when they started being in love is blurred, and they’re hesitant every time they reunite - soon it melds into comfortable familiarity and they return to challenging each other, growing together.

Beyond that - the song’s pretty steamy, obviously, and while their relationship isn’t as sexual as it’d be were they human, it hasn’t cut down on the intensity of things at all.

The world might be ending and politics might tear them apart but they want to make it. :(

Mandy Love Theme · Jóhann Jóhannsson 

Total instrumental but I think tonally it’s perfect. Synths for Mary, guitar for Nines. A tender and melancholy little love song.

[kurtstinypurse]

when u feel like Twitter has kinda ruined fanfiction for u ☹️☹️☹️

aw man :-(

I haven’t been on twitter much today, but I know fanfic/fetishization is a huge topic right now and it’s kind of become a war. I’ve tried to stay out of it, but I will share my thoughts here because I feel more comfortable doing it here, in hopes of making you and others feel a bit better about this.

as a member of the lgbt community, an adult cis woman, a writer, and a reader, here are my ramble-y thoughts:

fanfiction is a really important part of fan culture for several reasons, in my opinion. it provides a means of extending something you care about - taking characters and places and storylines that you are inspired by and making them your own. 

it’s also a great tool to explore of many things, from feelings to ideas to issues, and that can include sexual exploration. personally, I find it harmless. fanfic writers and readers are creating/consuming fictional stories about fictional characters from fictional shows. it affects no real people - not the actors, not anyone. if you’re going to explore your sexuality, I would say it’s a much more safe and consensual way to do it versus watching porn, for example, which begins to involve real humans and a deeply complex and problematic industry.

fanfiction is free and created out of passion and interest, never obligation. writers write what they want to write, whether there’s an audience for it or not. klaine, for example, has tons and tons and tons of fanfiction online, and you can choose to read what you’re interested in. that’s why tags, warnings, summaries, and ratings exist.

as far as twitter goes - in a lot of ways, stan twitter culture is a constant battle to be the most politically correct, whether these people truly believe what they’re saying or not. at its core, it’s a popularity contest and an echo chamber within such a small subsection of culture and reality, but when you get immersed in it, it’s so easy to lose sight of that.

it’s an intriguing phenomenon to watch one person say something, and then you can track it as it absolutely explodes and everyone is talking about that thing. trends come and go in a matter of hours, and it’s terrifyingly powerful. it leaves you feeling like if you have a different opinion, you’re wrong, but that isn’t always the case.

the buzzword of “mlm fetishization” has completely taken off and exploded, and I think it’s begun to be a huger issue than intended. if mlm feel uncomfortable with smut-heavy fanfiction, they do have the right to bring it up as a potential issue. however, it’s become a frenzy of people outside that community attempting to speak for them and blowing it out of proportion. 

fanfiction is not bad. smut within fanfiction is fine. from what I’ve gathered, I think the original intention of the argument was that some smut-driven fics perpetuate incorrect/unrealistic/unhealthy sex and begin to emphasize stereotypes and no longer see mlm as real men. the issue exists, too, with men fetishizing lesbian women, if not moreso -  but personally, I don’t feel like smut about two women fetishizes me. 

at the end of the day, it’s only fair to speak for your own experience. it’s impossible to speak on behalf of an entire community, because in reality, no two people will have the exact same experience and believe the exact same thing. it’s not fair to speak on behalf of a community you aren’t a part of, police others content consumption, or write others off entirely for having opinions different from your own.

personally, I grew up on tumblr in the early days of the glee fandom, and I was exposed to pretty intense smut at a young age - 13/14. I absolutely became desensitized to it in written word, but did it affect my sexual health, growth, and development? not at all.

if smut makes you uncomfortable, don’t read it. if smut makes someone else uncomfortable, respect them and don’t push it on them. that’s when it crosses the line and becomes fetishization.

unfortuately, I feel like it’s gone way past the point of return to a healthy dialogue and productive communication. if seeing this stuff is affecting your mental health, causing you to question your morals, or making you want to stop creating or consuming art, I would really suggest muting words like “fetishization” on twitter. 

at this point, it doesn’t mean you’re turning a blind eye to it - you’re protecting yourself. there is no educating going on on twitter anymore or rational, unbiased points being made. if you would like to educate yourself, I’d really suggest googling some resources on the topic outside of twitter. you’d be surprised at how differently it’s seen in the grand scheme of things.

[nonbinaryresource]

ive been thinking abt this for a little while & have been needing to ask someone abt it. i am nb & have always considered myself trans but recently ive not been vibing with the trans label bc i am so sick of seeing ppl exclude & invalidate nb ppl. ik that i shouldnt stop doing smth just bc other ppl r being assholes but its so tiring to see ppl constantly say how u dont belong or arent valid. srry this is long & kinda rambly i just dont really know how to feel abt it

I will directly address your ask, but I’m going to start by telling you a story about my journey with identifying as asexual and queer.

.

When I was about 11, my friends suddenly started drooling over magazines and calling people hot, and I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I did not feel whatever it is my friends were feeling.

Until I was about 16/17, this part of me remained a mystery to me and to my friends. I never had crushes, I never found people hot, I never liked complimenting people physically, I was uncomfortable with sex on TV, and I didn’t even like platonic touch. Now my group of friends were all repressed and closeted queer folk, so I didn’t have to deal with “being left behind” as my friends dated. But the later we got into high school, the more my friends began discovering and exploring their sexualities.  A freshman became a part of our friend group and was openly trans and gay. One friend came out as gay. Another as bi. They started commenting more and more about other’s looks and having crushes.

Still, there was nothing on my end. My friends used to think I was just being vague and secretive because this is what I tended to be like. I don’t think they’ve ever realized how much of it was that I truly didn’t know or understand what my lack of sexual feelings meant or that it could even mean anything. I used to just consider it a “nothingness” of myself. Until, by complete chance, I came across the term asexual. I immediately connected with it. It explained so much that I didn’t even know I needed explained.

I came out quickly after that and I was really excited and happy and proud to know who I was and what how I felt meant. My friends were great and supportive. My mom was a little ignorant but overall supportive. AVEN was great and a community for me. But if I tried to talk about it anywhere else online…

Well, the effects of how people treated me would fester for years. See, I came out as asexual before exclusionism (the specific movement of anti-aro and anti-ace erasure and gatekeeping from lgbt+ spaces) was a movement or a named thing. Yet exclusionist attitudes were exactly what I faced. My queer friends all completely accepted me as one of them and I helped co-run our school’s new GSA with the rest of them. But online, as a teen, I was facing 30+ year olds telling me I wasn’t queer and that I was just trying to seem special and that I needed to shut up about my asexuality and my experiences and that I wasn’t valid and that asexuality wasn’t a real thing and that even if asexuality was a real thing it wasn’t valid and it certainly didn’t matter.

I graduated high school and went to college and was no longer really in touch with my group of friends. I therefore completely cut myself off from any lgbt+/queer community, even though a friend invited me to join the college’s queer association. I stopped participating so much in online asexual spaces. I become wrapped up in other things.

A couple of years went by and a lot of things in my life changed. By chance, mod applications for a blog about aro and ace headcanons for a fandom I enjoyed came across my dash. I had extra time on my hands and thought I could help, so I applied and was accepted. This increased my exposure to the aspec community again and thrust me back in… just around the time exclusionism was becoming a specific and named movement of bigotry.

At the same time I resisted these ideals, I was also still hurt and unhealed from what I’d gone through as a teen. I internalized a lot of the hatred and gatekeeping. I was so hurt and so tired. I just wanted to be able to exist in peace. And people I considered myself one of were harassing me and dismissing even my biromanticism. So I struggled with my identity and my asexuality. I did not specifically become an exclusionist, but I turned my back on the lgbt+ community and spaces. I did not consider myself lgbt+ because I learned that doing so only brought pain and upset and made me feel alone and isolated. I didn’t speak a lot on exclusionism or inclusionism, but at some point I did make a plea to my fellow aspecs to just let the larger community go and be our own community and accept that maybe we could be straight. I did it out of desperation and hurt, wanting to stop feeling targeted and attacked and to stop seeing the fighting on my dash and in the tags. I just wanted us all to be happy and feel accepted and supported.

On that post, one wonderfully kind and patient person opened up a discussion with me, explaining their own hurts over exclusionism and being so damn exhausted of them and fellow aspecs being targeted and excluded and written out and not supported and feeling like they had to split their asexuality from their other queer identities and how being asexual was a part of them and how it had strongly shaped their experiences, especially with realizing and coming to terms with the other parts of their queer identity. And through their raw honesty I came to realize… I had never stopped to process the harassment I had faced and the pain and hurt that cut me so deeply.

It was a changing point for me. I realized that I had handled my pain in a bad way and had ended up lashing out at other aspecs instead of the people who were actually hurting me. I realized how much I had hurt myself and held myself back and cut myself down and dismissed parts of myself trying to fit into the box exclusionists had laid out for me, as if I could ever made them happy enough to stop harassing me and just let me exist. I cut myself down for them, but the truth is that exclusionists don’t just want aspecs “out” of the community. They want to hurt us. They want us to hurt. They want us to doubt ourselves. They want to feel strong and powerful, and they feel they can achieve this through bullying us. Perhaps some, like myself, are trying to appeal to their oppressors by pointing out another vulnerable group they could target more/instead. They are passing on hurt instead of standing up to it and so they are actually festering in hurt instead of changing anything.

Today, I am a staunch inclusionist. I understand myself and the issues aspecs face much better. I am a more compassionate person regarding the confusion and upset aros and aces have over their identity and their place in the world. I feel more stable and confident regarding my identity as an asexual - and now as an aromantic - queer person who is lgbt+.

But it was a long, hard, difficult journey to get here. It was full of a lot of turmoil. I wish I would have had a happier journey where I felt more supported and accepted, and I hope I can help provide more stability and support for future generations to not have to go through what I did.

.

My point (or one among a few, anyway) is that I deeply and personally understand how you are feeling and the decision facing you now. As someone who went through a very similar experience, my advice to you is to take care of yourself and to prioritize your mental health.

It’s okay if you can’t handle identifying as trans right now. Maybe you do need some space from the label (and definitely from the hatred and gatekeeping). Maybe you need to pull back from certain communities or blogs or discussions.

However, I will say that not identifying as trans may not bring the peace you desire. It may end up making you feel even more isolated. Not identifying as LGBT+ certainly didn’t help me. It was reactionary and it only made me feel like there were less spaces for me. That said, you may find peace in this. But I think the bigger action to take is to separate yourself from those who are saying harmful things more than to separate yourself from a label you feel really suits you. Use your block button liberally. Don’t force yourself to partake in spaces where gatekeeping is allowed or encouraged. Follow and listen to more people who are inclusive.

I think burnout like this is unfortunately pretty common. You do not have to force yourself to face this hatred or exhaustion because you think it’s the right thing to do. It’s okay to pull back and just take care of yourself. Just work on some self-care. Work on building up a community of people around you who don’t resort to bigotry and hatred and exorsexism and gatekeeping and identity policing. Engage only with what you can actually, honestly handle.

We will confront and move past this bigotry only by acting as a united front. The responsibility for improving things isn’t on any one person’s shoulders. And no one needs to be on the front lines 100% of the time, especially at the cost of their own wellbeing. Take care of yourself and rest now before you completely burn out and break down.

You do not have anything to prove, okay? I have both hope and faith that there is a lot more to your journey - a lot more good things and a lot more happiness and belonging. Take whatever time it is you need to help heal yourself and recover from the hurt and harassment that’s been plaguing you. You are important and you matter, much moreso than whatever label you use at whatever point in time. It will be okay.

I am here for you.

~Pluto

[sparring-spirals]

Jester is Fine (spoiler she’s not)

aka my long ass Thing about Jester and her upbringing and also why I have so many feelings about her tendency to suppress negative emotions and IDK I JUST WANTED TO WRITE THIS SINCE HER BACKSTORY REVEAL IN EPISODE 8 LET ME LIVE.

Disclaimers: Im not entirely caught up yet but I know the primary plot points and bigger convos (thanks tumblr lov u). Neccesary spoilers will be tagged as I go down the post. Mostly spoils for ep 8? And I guess their Activity post blue dragon.

part 1 because whoops this got looong.

Okay, so we start at the beginning, at the very first backstory drop; because, Jester was the first person to give up her backstory, in its relative whole. Which makes sense! Right? Its not like she has anything to /hide/.  Because everything about her childhood was Fine. Great! actually, great, super great. Her mom loved her! So much! and she got an awesome room and got to play pranks on people and had the COOLEST BEST FRIEND EVER who taught her how to play even BETTER pranks, and like, it was awesome, even if-

even if she couldn’t /leave/ her bedroom and she needed to keep her existence a secret, and her mom sometimes was too busy to tell her stories or sing her to sleep, but sometimes she’d sit by the door and listen, so basically the same!

!!! :)

Even here- 8 episodes in, relationships still forming, a general hesitation to tread on anything too heavy- you see the unease on the rest of the party.

Caleb: So where were you at this point?

Nott: Just trapped in your room?

Jester: Well no, I wasn’t trapped, but you know- (*1)

Caleb: Did you get to go to the park? Did she read you stories, did she do the things that parents do?

Jester: She.. read me some stories! And a lot of times I would listen at the door and hear her sing.(*2)

Beau: Did she tell people about you?(*3)

Jester: *laughing* No.

Fjord: I imagine that would affect her business a little.

Jester: Exactly. I totally understand, she loves me so much. She really, really does. It’s just, you know, people frown upon courtesans with daughters.(*4)

Okay, so before anything else- we unpack this.

1: This is important to Jester- that she wasn’t trapped. Like, cmon, Jester has read books- SO many books, she knows all the stories, about girls being locked in high towers and- she’s not that! She wasn’t /trapped/ because she didn’t want to leave, not really. She wasn’t trapped, it wasn’t against her will, at all. (continued in 4)

2: The positive spin, the pause- and then the of course! In some form, it wasn’t exactly like how Caleb described,, but it happened! It still counts! (Also because this imagery broke my heart: a child jester, wanting to be sung to sleep or told a story but knowing her mom is busy, a young jester, alone, behind a door, listening to a song that isn’t for her but letting it wrap around her because-

because what else is she supposed to-

3: Putting this in because it makes sense Beau, of all people, asks this question. Beau who (Beau spoiler) was never the child her parents wanted, who was the disgrace, who was dropped in favor of a different child the moment they could do it, who was sent away and forgotten and will always live with the knowledge that she was a /disgrace/ to her family, a disappointment- something to be hidden. Looking at Jester; beautiful, bright, sweet Jester who is soft and easy and bright in all the ways Beau has never been- and thinking of her being hidden away, like a stain, like a disgrace.

4: This is perhaps the most important thing- that Jester isn’t upsetwith her mom because how could she be? Her mom loves her. So much. None of this was ever about making Jester suffer- god no, her mom always tried so hard to make Jester happy and comfortable and- her mom did good, her mom did a wonderful job, and she was just making the right decision.

Her mom loves her.

Her mom loves her.

And you know what? She does. So much. I haven’t yet reached them meeting Marion, but I do know that much; that her mom really loves her, so, so, so much. And thats part of what makes this so painful, and part of why its so vital that Jester always speaks of her childhood with a tiptoeing sort of cheerfulness, why she’s always so insistent that it was fine, it was fine! Because, if its not fine, if it wasn’t fine that she grew up locked in a room, no friends, no company, not supposed to ever leave- then its really not fine. It means Jester, despite everything she has tried to tell herself, is not fine. Was not fine. For years, then something was wrong, something was extremely wrong, and that means she has to face that, deal with it. More than that, if it wasn’t fine, then it means that her mom, her mom who loved her so much and tried so hard to keep her happy, failed. Her mom did bad. That not only did her mom do bad things for her- arguably to her, not only did her mom directly play a part in making things not fine-

her mother did bad. to her. This isn’t just about Jester, this isn’t just about how she was incredibly, achingly lonely for so much of her childhood and how badly she wanted friends, how she ached and burned for friends and just wanted someone, anyone, to be her friend, more than an oft-vanishing green cloak, she wanted people and friendship and companionship and she just wanted to not be alone in her room, traveler please please please-

This is about how she would have to know that someone who tried so hard to keep her happy, tried so hard to not hurt her, someone who truly, genuinely loves her, hurt her anyway.

And that, that’s the most painful part, because that’s always such a fucking difficult lesson to learn: That sometimes people can love you, really, genuinely love you, and still do you wrong. And knowing they hurt you will hurt them, and admitting that, admitting that is sometimes just as hard as the initial damage, and moreso for someone like Jester who so badly wants to believe the best in people, especially the people she loves, and who is at her core, a protector (tm Laura Bailey).

She will never, ever face the extent of her own pain if it means she can, even indirectly, shield someone she loves about from that pain too.

….

ok i dont have a good ending for this but uhhhh PART 2, COMING AT SOME POINT: Why Jester Lavorre knowing about everyone’s tragic backstories DEFINITELY means she wont be acknowledging her own issues anytime soon.

[kingforevermore]

meta on Evan’s Kingmaker - Lofty, and Evan’s relationship with him

read more for length and images. While I haven’t tagged spoilers yet, this post definitely contains spoilers for Ni No Kuni 2′s main story and the DLC which adds ALOT to the story. It’s a little all over the place but please bare with me I did my best alskdfj

For those unaware of what a Kingmaker is, a Kingmaker is both a mark of authority and a guardian for a kingdom. The Kingmaker bestows power onto a Kingdom, onto the King they are bonded to, and the King in turn uses that power to serve their people.

It’s called a Kingmaker but a King or Queen can bend a Kingmaker to their will (for example, the Queen of Hydropolis has a Kingmaker). 

The Kingmakers are a test to see if someone is worthy of ruling. They are a symbol of strength and power. They are guardians for the kingdoms. Evan states that one Kingmaker has the strength of an army, or can be as big as a castle.

A small note here that while Evan states that a King must ‘bend a kingmaker to his will’, this isn’t always the case. Oakenhart - the Kingmaker of Ding Dong Dell - made a bond withe Mausinger after the successful coup to take over the kingdom. Each Kingmaker seems to have their own standards of deciding who they make a bond with. 

Kingmakers also have an item that they are bound to with their King. It’s considered a sacred object and it’s used for future generations to make the bond with the Kingmaker. At first Evan’s and Lofty’s item is a ‘ stick ‘ - which is actually a wand made out of special wood which was later melted down with the ‘cup of unity’ to make ‘the sword of unity’ which is Evermore’s current sacred item. 

Every Kingdom has a ‘King’s Cradle’. a place where a kingmaker is enshrined. Goldpaw has the Cradle of Fire. Hydropolis the Cradle of the Depths. Ding Dong Dell, the Cradle of Creation. And Broadleaf, the Cradle of Wisdom.

The Cradle Lofty Comes from is the Cradle of Light. 

It’s curious that there was still a Kingmaker left unclaimed to begin with. And not far from the Canyon where the sky pirates were no less? It is possible there could have been a kingdom there in the past, or a kingdom decided to just build it out of the way. From the Library in Goldpaw we get a passage stating that a cradle doesn’t have to be near its new kingdom (which is why Evermore not being right next to the cradle of light is fine), but it’s just easier considering the fact that kingmakers go back to their cradles to recharge. 

We aren’t too sure how long Lofty has been waiting on someone to come to him -he does mention he made his trials too difficult so no one could make it to him, suggesting he’s been there a while.

Anyways, the party goes to the cradle thinking that they were going to find a grand beast, but instead come out with....Tiny yellow Lofty. Evan wasn’t even aware that Kingmakers could be so tiny. Everything he had heard up until this point were that they were supposed to be large and powerful - he grew up around the Kingmaker of Ding Dong Dell - Oakenheart. So he had no reason to think otherwise. Evan was....a little underwhelmed, if he’s being honest. But he wasn’t about to deny bonding with Lofty and making him the Kingmaker he claimed to be - because he needed this power to start the new Kingdom he wanted, to fulfill his promise to Aranella. He would do anything at this point to get a step in the right direction. 

As a side note Lofty claims to be able to get big ‘whenever he wants’ - something i’ll come back to later. 

The trial for Evan to get to Lofty was a Trial of Knowledge and a Trial of Courage. The Courage one I’m sort of skipping over because it was just a standard boss fight - the true test was the trial of knowledge. Evan had to reenact the story from the first game in a simplified puzzle form. I feel like this was significant considering one major fact - Lofty is not only a kingmaker, but a fairy. A former fairy considering that he gave that up to technically become a kingmaker, but a fairy nonetheless.

The first game’s protagonist, Oliver, had a companion named Mr. Drippy who was also a fairy. Pictures below are from the trial of knowledge.

I won’t post anymore of the text from the trial but there’s clearly a connection on why Lofty chose this particular story and this particular trial. It’s a story possibly really important to fairies as one of their own kind was involved in it. Now - Lofty never mentions that he’s a fairy in the main story except for a couple of lines of flavor text before the final boss - but in the DLC we get an answer straight out of his mouth. He left his village when he was a young fairy to become a kingmaker. We’ll touch on how exactly that happened in a bit but for now more photos

I find it funny that Lofty calls himself a people fairy when he had never met a human before because of this weird law that the fairies had put in place. Not to mention that it is sort of hinted that Mr. Drippy was the ‘boss’ of the village Lofty was from. Mr.Drippy was the companion to Olivier and the ‘boss’ of the village told the story of Oliver to Lofty well enough that Lofty could create a whole trial from it. Which again begs the question on why fairies weren’t allowed to interact with humans anymore but I digress, that’s probably a thought for another time. 

He calls himself ‘a people fairy’. He claims to have become a Kingmaker simply because he loved people. He doesn’t even call himself a fairy directly outside of these two momentes, just a ‘spirit’. But he’s a fairy. All the fairies in Ni No Kunis have this damn accent and you can’t convince me otherwise. 

I also think it’s important to note just how....cute this is. Lofty loves people. Evan loves people. They are both in a common mindset. Lofty loved watching the kingdom of Evermore grow from a couple of tents into the Kingdom that it is later on. He loves talking with the citizens, He loves being Evan’s kingmaker. Though their canon relationship isn’t dug into much at all - I think Lofty and Evan are close. Moreso than standard Kingmaker and King standards. This has partly to due with Lofty’s size. Him being a fairy is a good thing considering he can go with Evan on all his adventures - while the other Kingmakers can barely enter their own kingdoms without wrecking the place due to their size (Broadleaf adjusts itself for Bastian to enter kind of. And the only other exception is Oakenheart who besides Lofty is the smallest of the Kingmakers). Their bond is strong, though their physical manifestation of it (their ‘kingsbond’) appears small because they have not been bonded long. But that isn’t everything. They’re friends and it’s obvious. 

Now for those of you unaware with the first game, all Fairies are from the Fairyground, the forest of the fay folk. All fairies are from here, no exceptions. Because all fairies are born from the same mother - the fairy godmother. It’s not clear where she exists now considering its been hundreds of years since the first game - but she is the mother of all fairies. All fairies are born from her and kept in the faycare center until they’re old enough to be ‘born’. 

Yes this is a real thing and it’s canon. It’s gh/ibl/i what did u expect.

Anyways. Lofty at some point left the fairygrounds to become a kingmaker. This is no easy feat. We learn how Kingmakers are made at the end of the game through Alisandra - the former Kingsmaker of Allegoria. A Kingmaker is born when a soul is sacrificed in order that a great power may be tamed.

So the question remains, what soul was sacrificed so that Lofty could become a Kingmaker? This isn’t gone into detail in game - Alisandra doesn’t even mention what soul was sacrificed so that she was born. But we know when she tried to split herself to become human - the great power within her, her power as a kingmaker, turned into the horned one. So this ‘great power’ can’t be underestimated. 

I like to think that Lofty met a creature that was moved by Lofty’s dreams of becoming a kingsmaker and willingly gave up their life. They weren’t ‘tamed’ but they instead gave over power to someone who they thought could handle it. Of course it would make sense of this creature was a dragon, considering Lofty’s other form. It’s referred to as his ‘true’ or ‘real’ form, and as mentioned wayyy above, he apparently can ‘get big if he wants to’. So I believe him becoming a kingmaker with the power of a dragon doesn’t seem too far off. 

Plus in the Goldpaw library, it’s noted that Lofty can transform into a mighty dragon which resembles an ancient dragon called Draigfawlanlofft. Now it’s difficult to determine if this guide is a telling of the future or the present, as the owner of the Library is a Seer and also has text written about the future in her library. But for the sake of my brain and meta, I want to say that BOTH are correct. Lofty possibly chose to inherit not only the dragon’s power but their name as well. It has ‘loft’ in it so it’s possible either Lofty took his name from the dragon’s (and he was called something else when he was still just a fairy) or he decided they were ‘similar enough’ because of the small similarity (and that’s just how his mind works) that he decided to take the dragon’s name as his ‘full’ name just because it sounded cool. Honestly it tracks with Lofty’s character. 

As a small note I also feel that it’s his connection to Evan that turned him into a dragon. It wasn’t just that he had been helped by one, he probably could have became any kind of being he wanted to- he could have become as big as the fairy god mother and just left it at that. But I feel like it was Evan’s courage and personality that really helped him use the power given to him to its fullest extent and make him into a dragon. 

The only thing that seems to set this theory of mine off is that Lofty says himself that he just sort of sniffed out the Kingswind (will get to that just below) and found the cradle of light. But again, that doesn’t change the fact that he can’t just find a cradle and become a kingmaker. I feel like there was already a kingmaker at the cradle of light that gave up the power to Lofty, it’s the only thing that really makes sense but still stays within the lore. 

Now we know what makes up a kingsmaker but how did these creatures come into being exactly? There weren’t any in the first game so it happened sometime between the hundreds years of time gap. 

The DLC explains where most of the kingmakers started at least. Kingmakers were originally created by the ‘God of Gods’, Zayin. In the Timeless Tome DLC you’re tasked with saving the God. It turns out that a lot of the ‘taint’ and evil magic in the world of Ni No Kuni had been coming from him, and not the Horned One like everyone had thought. 

 Zayin apparently ruled the world at some point with other gods, but after creating Kingmakers decided to leave the world to the rulers and his creations. But even with him ‘gone’ from the world itself, the Kingmakers still got their power from Zayin himself. He supplied something called ‘the King’s Wind’ which is essentially a flow of vast energy supplied from Zayin himself to the Kingmakers, and then in turn to the Kings when needed. 

Now this next bit doesn’t really have to do with Lofty himself but I just think it’s neat TM. Pretty much the Conductor explains that once the Kingswind is released into the world, Zayin has no control over it. Thus it turned wicked thanks to wicked emotions in the people of the world - and this corrupted Zayin himself. 

Now I’m not too sure why a bird is the focus point of these illustrations, because later we get to see what Zayin truly looks like - and he’s a tree but i digress. 

After defeating the boss born from the corruption inside of Zayin, it returns to normal and the Conductor says that the ‘taint’ and ‘blackness’ will leave from Ni No Kuni, though it might take some time. 

But Lofty also mentions feeling exhausted after the fight. This is also because of the battle that just took place. The taint on Zayin was making the power he released more powerful, and thus giving more power to the kingmakers of the world. Whether they realized it or not, the kingmakers were relying on a dark power to fuel them. Now this source of power was gone. Evan is of course instantly worried about Lofty after hearing this. Lofty explains that he isn’t about to ‘drop dead’ but the other Kingmakers are definitely feeling the change in power. I think this is because Lofty is still a fairly new Kingmaker. He hadn’t really been away from his cradle all that long by this point and had yet to be at full strength (even with him in his dragon form, I believe that it was only a step towards becoming his most powerful state - as Evan has barelybeen king long aswell and their bond will surely grow, which means Lofty will become more powerful). But all the other Kingmakers have been around for a very long time at this point and probably have been at the peak of their power for a very long time. Thus the shift is more significant to the other kingmakers, but it is felt by Lofty nonetheless. 

The Conductor also comments that the loss of power isn’t a big deal, because Evan has created the declaration of interdependence, which means that the kingdoms are working together now rather than against one another - meaning that they should rely on that bond and power. 

Now I don’t want this to cancel out what I had said before - Kingmakers are still very powerful, and are a force to be reckoned with. ‘A little less powerful’ is still powerful. And Lofty is still a new kingmaker so he has a lot of ways to go in terms of power. But him and Evan are probably the most powerful duo in the land right now.

I think this is partly due to a few things. Mostly Evan and Lofty’s relationship. Again, they aren’t exactly ‘professional’ or ‘textbook’ Kingmaker and King. They are both young, they are both new to both of their roles, they are able to go on adventures together due to Lofty’s fairy appearance - there’s so much that sets them apart from the other pairs in the world. 

Not to mention with how Lofty seems to have became a kingmaker - he isn’t like the others. He wasn’t ‘chosen’ by Zayin. He wasn’t ‘created’ by Zayin. He wasn’t chosen, he chose to be a Kingmaker. And I think that’s important to his and Evan’s relationship too. Especially because neither of them were too taken with one another upon first sight but they both chose to accept their bond and have only been growing closer ever since. 

Lofty could also be considered sort of a ‘halfling’ because of this strange mixture of being a fairy yet not, which is another thing he has in common with Evan - considering he’s half human half grimlakin. 

Overall, I believe Evan and Lofty have more of a sibling relationship if anything. It’s unsure which one could be considered the ‘younger’ one with how Lofty’s personality is but they clearly care for eachother. 

 Lofty tries to get Evan to break out of his shell more, to take risks and have more confidence in himself. There are even some fluff dialogue during skirmishes where Lofty yells at Evan to take credit for his commanding skills. He is so proud of his little king and it shows so much. He even says as such a few times towards the end of the game. 

Evan might have been taken back with how Lofty looked when they first met, but he couldn’t imagine getting Evermore to where it is today without Lofty. Lofty also helped cheer Evan up when he got sad, always spoke with others in the kingdom, and really - truly - cared. Evan is happy that he can share his kingdom with Lofty, because it’s clear that he cares about the people of evermore, and the promise of making a place that everyone can live happily ever after, just as much as Evan does. 

[bloodfcst-a]

* romance headcanons.

name:          kisaragi yufi.

nickname:          i’d imagine some would call her kisa-chan or yufi-chan at some point, but i’m pretty sure most just say yufi. give her cute names, y’all !

gender:           nonbinary. he/she/they. don’t use ‘ it ’. 

romantic orientation:          panromantic. she’s of little preference who or what she might fall for. that being said, she’s not a hopeless romantic, and she doesn’t go looking for love. however, she does seek attention, and providing her with it might be one way to get in with her.

preferred pet names:           no preference towards pet names. some of her partners are more endearing, and might lean towards sweeter terms.  some of her dynamics are more sass or snark ( looking at you, ren ! ), so she wouldn’t be surprised by teasing insults from time to time. the only hard pass yufi has is against ‘ baby girl. ’  even if she has some daddy issues, she’s not actively interested in being reminded of it with names like that.

relationship status:           defaulted at single, but there’s a few flirtationships going around. 

favorite canon/fandom ship:          y’all we hopped from canon a while ago. but.... if i had to pick? leon & yuffie in kingdom hearts.  not officially a ship, but their partnership gives me life, moreso than any of the alternatives  ( looking at you, yuffentine ).  if i had to pair her with anyone from compilation of vii, though ? i’d pick between tseng & rufus. 

favorite crossover ship:           i love all of my crossover ships on this blog. majima is such uwu energy, he’s so soft with her and would literally murder for her.... not unlike dean ! nishiki’s gone through a lot, he deserves some soft touches...some redemption... ryoji is very sweet, he’s cutesies even if he’s hiding a lot behind his smiles. kaito is very tough big softie man. ren is.... spicy boi & i’m so into him, he’s so dramatic. he’s the closest yufi has to an equal, in terms of dramatic flair & personality & responsibility for a community he cares for. and her friendships are? so solid. so good. so enriching and life-giving. 100/10. i’d like to thank god but also danny & alex. if u have not seen kiryu & tida... ur missing out. 

opinion on true love:          it’s not something she expects or looks for, but believes in it for other people. yufi’s not above the concept of soulmates; in fact, because she believes in reincarnation, the concept of two souls finding their ways back to each other is entirely possible, and she thinks that’s romantic. but for such a thing to happen to her? she doesn’t spend too much time thinking about it, doesn’t want to be disappointed if nothing works out for her. she has slight attachment issues anyway, finding it acceptable to be vulnerable around someone, so... maybe if someone’s really willing to put in the work, she’d go ahead & commit....... at some point, in her own time. her committing is as close to the concept of ‘ love ’, true or otherwise, that she’s willing to admit to... for her, personally.

opinion on love at first sight:         yufi’s skeptical of the concept. figures it would be more temporary infatuation than anything else. but again, she does believe in soulmates, and so the concept of recognizing them would be... the closest she’s willing to admit such an idea might be real.

how ‘romantic’ are they?:           she wants to be wined, dined, romanced. take her on exciting trips. she’ll do the cliche, she’ll do the extraordinary, she’ll do the unusual. they can go sparring, go fishing, go gambling. as long as she’s with her loved one, spending time, feeling appreciated, everything goes.  yufi’s fiercely loyal to anyone who would show her the respect, attention, and appreciation she deserves. 

ideal physical traits:           fit, well-kempt, taller than her. no preferences towards slender vs bulky, hair length, body hair, etc. though on the topic of body hair-- it has to be maintained. whoever she’s with must keep attention to their appearance, and recognize that the impression they make also reflects on her. don’t disrespect yufi by looking like trash, essentially.

ideal personality traits:        strong-willed. confident-- if not themselves, then in something. to have a strong belief, and to be willing to fight for it. powerful-- could be mentally, physically, either, both. a person with conviction, with fortitude. independent. 

unattractive physical traits:           someone who shows a lack of interest in personal care. someone out of shape. if the bulk is of muscle ( like kaito & kiryu ), then she’s not opposed. if it’s mainly fat, if the person doesn’t care for health & vitality, then she’s not impressed. unattended dress. for example, if the person is wearing a suit, but their shoes are covered in mud & the pants aren’t pressed & the shirt is wrinkled to shit, then it’s really half-assed and she’s not impressed by their slight attempt to dress well-- goes back to being un-kempt, which to her goes beyond just hairstyles & facial hair.

unattractive personality traits:         those without sincerity, compassion, empathy. those who show no ability or interest in perseverance. those who have nothing to be passionate about, no drive, nothing that excites them. people with outlandish personalities that dwarf hers in compasion. those who only live in a facade-- who aren’t willing to showcase who they really are, especially when no one’s looking. people who are irresponsible, unethical, don’t have any concept of a moral code. those who would abuse others and use them as tokens: manipulative, conniving, deceiving, abusive. 

ideal date:          anything goes, as long as she receives their undivided attention, quite frankly.

do they have a type?:        humanoid? that’s about it, really. she’s not terribly picky.

average relationship length:         depends on the type of the relationship, the premise of it, the timing as well. yufi’s most acquainted with no-strings-attached and one-night-stands, as commitment’s usually rather difficult with her. she’s not too willing to form connections-- the concept has to grow on her, and she can be a slow burn. if it’s something like... while she’s taking classes abroad, don’t expect it to last outside of school. however, if the person is really interested in staying with her... for a more permanent amount of time ( i.e., has expressed interest in forever and has said or implied as much ), then she’d only stop being opposed to the idea as long as they recognize the potential complications and difficulties and complexities of the situation. she expects most things to be short-term.... she’d be really surprised with long term.

preferred non-sexual intimacy:        sitting on someone’s lap, curling up close to them. 

commitment level:           once she’s involved with someone seriously, then she’s definitely committed to just them. but if they’re not specifically attached to one another, if there’s no mention of exclusivity or things lean more casual, then she’s more open. that being said though, if she’s fond of someone, she’s willing to keep them in her circle for a while as long as the interest is mutual.

opinion of public affection:        yufi doesn’t care about being affectionate in public, but she does care about drawing attention to herself. so as long as no one is commenting and if they’re subtle in their gawking, she doesn’t care about who is watching what she’s doing. to that regard, she can be rather bold with touches, caresses, kisses and et cetera.

past relationships?:           none to particularly note.

tagged by: @breselin​ ( i’m sorry this took forever ! ) tagging:  y’all. this is a lot to ask of y’all so i’ll just say... whatever u want to share.