#was thinking about this in terms of my show & curious to hear other people's thoughts!

[podcast-bookclub]

Audio drama creators: what moment made you feel like you were *actually* a creator?

[a-force-dyad-in-space]

So I've been rewatching the Twilight movies and certain scenes from them recently, and there's something that caught my eye while going through the post-battle scene in Eclipse.

We have Jane and the others show up, being like "blah blah blah, you guys did pretty well against all these newborns, how curious, blah blah" before Jane notices that one of the newborns is still alive, pointing out Bree.

Now, here's where it gets interesting for me. Because Jasper immediately moves and stands next to her protectively.

And yeah, sure, he's the newborn expert, he's in charge of all-things newborn vampires, so in that sense alone it makes sense for him to associate himself with her in that way, but I think it's a lot more than that; namely something that is always mentioned in passing in the movies, but never really pointed out as something significant (unlike Edward's telepathy and Alice's precognition, which are always mentioned first in terms of desirable acquisitions of power). I of course speak of his pathokinesis.

Bree is scared. At this point she has realized that she's a vampire and what that means for her life, but she has no idea if she will come out of this stand-off alive, so naturally, she is nervous.

And thanks to his pathokinesis, of course Jasper can feel that. So I think he's standing with her, almost protectively, not just because he's in charge of her, but because he can feel her fear and tries to comfort her with his presence (she with her vampire sight can of course see that his skin is decked out in scars, so that intimidating display alone probably tells her him being on her side is a good thing).

And then we come to Jane starting to torture Bree, and me having another observation.

When she falls to the ground and is screaming in agony, we can assume that Jasper can feel that, too (not the pain itself, but the mental anguish connected to it). And look how startled he seems when he sees her fall and looks from Bree to Jane.

This moment here makes me think that this is probably the first time he's ever seen Jane's power in person. Of course he knew about her, knew what her powers are. Alice probably filled him in in detail about the events in Volterra from New Moon, and I assume Carlisle has shared many stories over the years, too.

But hearing about something and actually seeing it first-hand are two very different things.

For someone like him, who can feel what other people are feeling, from their happiest moments to their most devastating mental pain, watching Jane not only use her powers, but relish in their effect without a second thought since she can't feel the pain she's causing, must be absolutely nauseating, for lack of a better word.

Jasper's experienced several lifetimes of anguish by proximity and is trying his best to make others feel better, while Jane deals blow after blow with her powers without any consequence. It must feel wrong and unfair to him.

Anyway, back to the point.

This is the face of a man who has fully realized what the antagonistic force is capable of, and he'll be sure to be prepared, next time they cross paths.

And lastly, something sad.

He turns his back on Bree, probably because he can't deal with watching her die on top of feeling her fear and pain. Neither he nor the other Cullens can stop Bree's death from happening without declaring war on the Volturi in the process (because I'm certain that's how Jane and the others would see their push-back).

So all he can do is turn away, and maybe make an effort to lessen her pain (it doesn't look like he did, but I think it would make sense if he used his powers to make death less frightening for Bree).

Anyway, rest in peace, Bree, you would have made a wonderful addition to the Cullen family. ♥

[foropinionssake]

i have a question for you, and i’m genuinely curious.

do you think womanhood should be defined by the ability to reproduce/have children rather than by living within the social role of womanhood, such as wanting to be called “she?” and for women who can’t reproduce, or who have had a hysterectomy, etc. are they still women? what about people who, in every way, have happily inhabited the role of being a man and even you would call them “he” if you didn’t know they were trans, but they could still technically give birth. is someone living fully as a man actually a woman because of one thing that their body could potentially do? is someone living fully and happily as a woman not a woman because of one thing their body cannot do?

i think these questions are good to think about, because it is just a fact that many trans women get called “woman” and “she” by strangers without a second thought, and they respond to that term and feel happy and comforted by it. throughout the whole interaction, there is no claim made about what genitals, dna, or birth-capabilities they have. you have probably had countless conversations like this too, where you were called “she” without having claimed anything about your body or anyone needing to verify. this is because the word “she” is not being used to refer to genitals etc, it is just being used to indicate that you look and act in ways that make you read to others as a woman. that is, most often, the truth being recognized.

with that in mind, it’s easier to see that, when a trans woman asks to be called she, the truth being told is “i like to be called she and seen as a woman,” not “i was born female and have the capacity to give birth and have xx chromosomes.” i have many close and dear trans friends, and none of them actually deny or disbelieve their own biology. in fact, they are painfully aware of their biology. they acknowledge the truth that certain hormones and surgeries can change some things about their body and not others, thus making it easier for them to integrate into the social role that feels natural for them. i have never heard a trans woman claim that hormones or surgery can let them give birth. all of my trans friends, are fully cognizant of the reality of their biology and the limited capacity of science.

what i see is you falling into a strawman argument, assuming that trans people believe false things about their bodies, like trans women claiming they can give birth or have xx chromosomes

it made me realize that maybe you hear the word woman and you think “birth giver, child bearer” rather than “full human person who’s body is none of my business and who chooses to inhabit the social role of womanhood.” i don’t blame you, because our patriarchal society has taught us that the former is all women are for. but as women, there are so many sexist messages we are taught that we have to unlearn. i mean, think of your own experience. wouldn’t you rather have other people see you as a whole person who has connection to womanhood, rather than just a source for babies? isn’t it more affirming to have people see your womanhood as the complex way you purposely and naturally step into the world and show up each day, rather than just a medical category that was thrust upon you at birth by a patriarchal medical system that wanted to determine who you would be? because i know what i prefer. and, in my experience, that is all trans women are asking.

anyway, i am just sending this out of curiosity, so lmk your thoughts. maybe we can have a conversation, but i won’t engage with hostility. i hope you’re having a nice day :)

Women are adult females. Men are adult males. The ability to have children has nothing to do with making someone male or female besides the fact that males biologically cannot get pregnant and birth babies. I am a woman and I’m choosing not to have children, that doesn’t make me less of a woman. The entire issue here is people are mistaking gender roles with gender. You can change your gender roles. You cannot change your gender itself. You are born with it.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

hello hello! can i just say, i love your takes so much. it feels like you’ve read my mind on how katara would actually react in certain situations. currently myself, im rewriting the structure of the show in a way that makes more sense (aka, getting rid of kataang altogether and focusing on actual growth for each character including aang!) and im struggling a bit on aang actually!

we know how brykke basically stunted aang’s growth because of their weirdness. but what if aang never had a crush on katara? what if he sees katara as the big sister he always wanted instead, making their relationship more wholesome than weird? i think he’s such a centralized character, but when i develop the others beyond the show, aang feels like he’s left behind.

maybe that’s part of it too! he is a boy out of time, and now more of a concept than a person as far as anyone else outside of his immediate group knows. in this au where i intend to age everyone up, i’m just curious to see what kind of man aang would grow up into if his motivations for katara was never there. i see him as trying to hold onto his lost childhood and then having to come to terms with the fact he can’t. but i’d love to hear your thoughts. who is aang outside of that? his journey has the opportunity to be so fascinating, but brykke kind of said hey! let’s not get into that! let’s make him a creepy god boy who gets whatever he wants!

(also to note, this version of aang is meant to be with azula and while i love the meta ive seen about taang i do personally hc her as a lesbian but i do like them but yeah!)

also sorry if this is too rambly i’m just very excited!

hi! This is such a nice message, and please never apologize for rambling! My blog is a safe space for all ramblers. Your fic sounds like a very exciting project!

I definitely agree with you that he’d try to hold onto his childhood & have a hard time with his grief; coming to terms with the depth of his loss would be an exceptionally interesting arc. His people were victims of genocide: his culture and his loved ones were brutally murdered. Nobody can replace that community, not even his chosen family of the Gaang, and certainly not a romantic partner.

But Aang certainly is somebody outside of all that tragedy too. I think his cheerfulness and optimism, his playfulness, his resilience, his reluctance to assume responsibility, and his prodigiousness are all important facets of his personality.

Here's my piping hot take: Aang is James Potter with a more tragic backstory and less of a cruel streak. Think about it: mischievous, funny, adventurous, brave, enjoys attention, popular, devoted to friends, prodigious, entitled when it comes to love interests, morally inflexible, dedicated to Good, can be too arrogant to recognize his own faults. We hear that James became a pretty decent guy, so there's plenty of potential for growth for Aang, especially if he doesn't get his forever girl at age twelve.

Aang has a big heart and stringent morals, but is still a bit of a trickster. Not in a malicious way, but in a “I have a zest for life way” that gives him a little bit of an edge beyond just being a sunshine boy. You can see this even in ep 1, when he sacrifices himself so that the village would be left alone, only to haul ass out of the Fire Nation ship as soon as they’re safe. You can also see it in The Great Divide, where he straight up just fabricates history lmao. Lying is not an issue for him at all, which indicates it’s not really part of his moral code.

On the other hand, he obviously feels very strongly about taking life, which indicates a black and white approach towards morality that is not uncommon in kids. I could see an older, more mature Aang being led to question his own approach to morality, particularly by someone like Zuko, who probably finds violence a lot more palatable than lying. I think there are very interesting cultural differences that can be explored here, which doesn’t necessarily mean that Aang will change his opinions, only that he’ll have greater respect for how other cultures see right and wrong, and that he can keep Air Nomad culture alive without taking on the burden of being the manifestation of that culture. He has the innate impulse to try to see the best in people, which is at odds with his black and white morals sometimes. Related to that, he really struggles with morally grey characteristics in his friends. I think that if he had a fleshed out opportunity to properly disagree with his friends, he may not necessarily change his own mind, but he might grow to value his friends' freedom of choice over imposing his own values on them, since one of the cornerstones of Air Nomad philosophy is apparently about freedom. I think his pacifist voice is an important contribution to their ragtag group of overpowered pre-teens and teens and I love it when that aspect is explored in fics.

I've seen some really good depictions of Aang-not-obsessed-with-Katara in fanfiction (Southern Lights has my favourite one; in fact it's my fave characterization of basically everyone except for Mai). I see most of his flaws as things he can grow out of, but only if he encounters difficult situations and learns to grow. Have fun with your fic, and please do share in any relevant tags once you start posting!

[candyfloss-kittens]

22 years….

I've known of the trio for… as long as I can remember, given my dad would watch them way back when they were still on Top Gear. I don't know when Top Gear first aired on TV in New Zealand, I guess when the show first started to get popular world wide? I don't know…. Though, I do have some very vague recollections of seeing news reports about Hammond's big crash back in 2006 when I was 8, but I really don't know. I might've just heard of it back then, not necessarily seen anything about it.

Now, while I had watched bits of Top Gear over the years, and back in primary school, I'd tend to hang more around boys at school rather than girls (I do recall at one point with the desk layouts I was the only girl in one group alongside five other boys), and if I recall correctly, a lot of them would talk about Top Gear. I think I might've even watched some of Top Gear with one of my closest childhood friends many years ago, we might've even watched the Botswana special together when it first aired in NZ, though I genuinely can't remember if that actually happened or not (my memory is… not great). But given me and him did do a lot of things together, and we were both interested in most of the same things, it's possible (I've not seen that old friend in years now, though. Last I heard, he's got three kids…).

I do remember back in 2015 hearing about Jeremy essentially being fired from the BBC, and James and Richard leaving alongside him. Though, I cannot remember what my thoughts on that while situation was, given I at the time I didn't care about them.

It wasn't until late 2021 that I actually started getting into Clarkson, Hammond, and May. I think right as the Grand Tour's Carnage A Trois released. Pretty sure it was a result of some YouTube compilation of the trio popping up on my YouTube feed. At like 1:30am in the morning after i had gotten home from working night shift at my previous job at a mussel factory (that has unfortunately, and frustratingly, now closed down). How, when I've never been interested in cars at all, I have no idea. Then I started mostly just watching YouTube compilation videos of them after work before getting to bed. Then, I had ended up finding a copy of one of the sampler DVDs that came with the Top Gear magazines, the Supercars one, at one of the op shops near me for $2. I kind of just… fell head first into the trio after that. Buying every book and DVD of theirs that I could find, which was a lot easier than I had thought. Found many of my TG books and DVDs at the op shops near me (still had to get a few online, though, because some weren't easy to find, like May's Cars of the People).

Then at one point, I got curious about if there was fanfic written about them. I'm no stranger to rpf fanfic, so while I was surprised to find that there is, I sort of expected there to be? Because if it exists, there's bound to be fanfic for it. What was a surprise though, is just how into writing fanfic of the trio I got. Especially considering at the time I was trying to move away from writing rpf. So, thanks for that, guys.

I still find myself curious whether or not the guys know that there's fanfic about them, and what their thoughts are on it, though. I'd like to think that they just don't give a fuck, because surely if they had a problem with it (if they're aware of it), then they would've said something about it by now.

So… yeah. Known of them since forever, but never really cared much for them until late 2021 at 23. And now in 2024, at 26, I'm still very much into them, despite not really caring about cars (with the exception of collecting die-cast cars, and putting together model kit cars). I don't even have my driver's license.

While I definitely got into the fandom late, it's been very fun. And in terms of my Ao3 fics for the trio, I still have many more ideas to come, so even though the Grand Tour has now ended, I'm not going to be stopping writing fic for them anytime soon. And definitely won't stop me from finishing off my collection of all their books and DVDs they've released over the years.

[aoimeru14]

I'm usually more calm about this sport, but today's race makes me want to sort of rant (and hear what y'all think)...

Serious question, do you genuinely think that McLaren actually has a strategy? (Any kind of strategy) (Please comment on it, I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughts)

No, because now I'm starting to think that they just play Jenga during the briefing and then tell the drivers "Do what you want, you are your own man now. But remember, Papaya Rules" and then proceed to play Galaga at the pitwall during the race.

I'm saying this because even if McLaren objectively has the best car/drivers combo on the grid, it seems like they still don't have a plan on how to use it and what they want to achieve with it. (Like, today they achieved results just because the drivers aren't tractor drivers) (and no, it's not the same as Ferrari. They have clear goals, just poor strategies, from time to time, for achieving them)

You think they learned after Hungary, but no.

You think they came to a resolution after everyone, especially their direct competitors, told them about WDC, but no.

Today none of the pit calls made sense (most of them were just plain data feeding/asking for feedback) and this leaves me wondering:

"why I still cannot figure out what they want to do with this 2024 season in terms of strategy/goals?"

(Also, they clearly don't have a clue on how to start p1-p2).

Italy Sky sports commentators seem to think just like me because they kept asking the same question to everyone on the grid.

Am I really the only one who saw today as an easy p1-p2? Like, everyone was so confused/slow during the race and the drivers were clearly left by their own devices...

In the realm (of dreams) in which a strategy/goal actually existed, then the pitwall should have done more, in my opinion. They should have given more clear instructions to both drivers, especially before the actual race...

Yes, i'm also (but not only) talking about that risky, premature and overly aggressive pass in lap 1 at the chicane.

NO, it is not Oscar's fault, he just wanted to prove that he is a good driver. We know sweetie. You still have a lot to learn and today it showed. The fault is on the ones who instructed him, a rookie, that he COULD do it so aggressively and early in the race, risking both of the cars like that. (Thank you Lando for braking and saving it)

No, really, If that's what they are cooking for winning WCC then, oh boy. We are screwed.

Let's remember the clownery of: "Yes, we don't have a first driver, that's toxic behaviour. We let them race each other".

Yes, I agree.

You have a really good lineup so, why not? BUT there must be limits, for god's sake... There must be a strategy behind it. Look at what could have happened to BOTH cars... IN LAP 1.

That 1v1, so early in the race, didn't make sense strategy wise (and, in fact, just helped to open a position for Ferrari to slide in. Very "Ministry of Defense of the Papaya Kingdom" behaviour from everyone involved).

It was clear that today Piastri was feeling it, even more than Norris. He could have had all of the laps in the world to challenge Lando AFTER they secured a P1-P2 by distancing themselves from the Ferraris...

Also, why on earth do they still ask the drivers "Are we still on plan A or B?"... Guys, it's your job, YOU HAVE ALL THE DATA IN FRONT OF YOUR NOSE... YOU are the one who should know if your drivers are in a position in which they can safely do two pits or just focus on one and manage the tyres (yes, I'm positive that that was the full extent of the two impossible-to-decipher master plans... Call them MI5).

To quote Max Verstappen: "Can people in the background please be awake? it's important."

Speaking of the data... I unfortunately also think that the real reason behind why they had to rely so much on the drivers for feedback was also because they didn't harvest enough data for the medium (and so, acquiring solid data concerning the race pace) during free practice. From what I saw they preferred the soft all friday, obviously for a perfect pole at quali, and sacrificed all Saturday morning for petty strategy (sandbagging, really? In this economy?!).

Speaking of "In this economy"... (Yes I'm still not done ranting, I just recharged my battery for the last nail in the coffin, like Lando taught me last GP)

Ok, today was bad but what makes me more upset is the fact that McLaren's lack of ideas (and today's podium positions) slightly undermined both of the drivers chances to p1-p3 in WDC. (Yes, both. I would really like to see Piastri getting P3 in WDC in his second F1 season. Very demure, very polite cat.)

For those wondering, no, I'm really happy that McLaren is achieving all these points this year, it's been a while for the Papaya house and they really worked so hard to achieve this and more.

But this car/driver combo has not only proved to be suited for being on upper side of the grid, it's real winning material. So real that the beasts (us and, why not, the drivers) are getting hungry for victories. Let's just keep this mentality and translate it to a solid plan, because we don't know how long will it last. Maybe next year would be 2022/2023 all over again. Let's win everything while we can.

ALSO this lack of plans, Championship wise, is also starting to build up on drivers. We can see it on Oscar's tendency to be impulsive at times and Lando's struggles with believing in himself and performing accordingly. Does he really have to start ignoring the pit wall and go full multi21 for the WDC? Does Oscar have to do the same to win and prove that he can do better than whatever Hungary was? No.

The fact that none of the other McLaren strategists/team principal seem to acknowledge the harm that this lack of long term plans/goals is doing to everyone is what is making everything worse. And no, saying that Lando could do a Vettel Is not how you solve the problem. Same goes for "Oscar Is ready to help, if asked". Same goes for guilt-trapping Lando and calling him childish when he does not comply.

No, no one has to sacrifice something. No, one IS sacrificing something. Why is it always about blaming the other driver? Stop with this narrative. It's pure and simple gaslighting, the reality is that you have a rocketship and zero plan on how to use it at the fullest.

All for what? favouring constructor? That's really the only plan you have? Guys, do you know that if you do strategies that help the drivers (also WDC wise) you mathematically also get points for the WCC, right? That's how it works...

And yes, i really think that p1-p3 in WDC was (and maybe is, I don't know... Don't feel like I want to do the calculations right now) doable with the right strategy (and Verstappen constantly on a one-wheeled tractor, let's be realistic).

Both Norris and Piastri deserved a P1-p2 today, and both of them deserve to be adequately followed for the WDC (even if they cannot achieve P1. P2 and P3 is still LOVELY). Wouldn't it be more gratifying for them and their careers than just a podium?? That would be a real PAPAYA RULES in my opinion. (Of course drivers like to win, so probably they are ok with anything if that means holding trophies, but still... THINK BIG WHEN YOU CAN)

That said, even if I'm a McLaren fan (maybe I should correct it as "McLaren's drivers and engineers fan" now, we'll see), I'm still really happy that Leclerc won (sorry, i'm italian. Today, and just today, I'm also a tifosa too, forza Ferrari!).

Just a little pissed to see that we still don't have a plan other than a stupid propagandistic slogan... (Yes, I decided to risk my life on this site doing this ranting BECAUSE of that stupid slogan).

Sorry for the yapping/ranting, I hope I didn't offend anyone. Love y'all, and don't take anything too seriously, it's just a sport.

As anyone, I just want to see the team I'm rooting for improve, especially now that we have a NASA rocket in the house.

Also, McLaren fans, pls don't fight each other, let's be less toxic than our favourite team. The drivers didn't do anything wrong today and, even if it is difficult to admit it, they are just two twenty-something years old acting like their age living their dream/passion.

That said, I'm really curious to read your thoughts/opinions on today's race and ideas for possible future strategies. I see it often on Reddit and never on Tumblr, let's show that we too can get technical!

See you (?) for the next GP... Hoping McLaren does come to their senses.

[how-to-fail-at-ship-jumping-au]

Hetch, as a note before I send this message, I've never once played a role to you or Ranboo or anyone else. My name's Jordan. They/them. I'm much younger than you but I've got eye bags and grey hair that match yours. I've spent most of my life trying, in one way or another, to help people in situations like yours and Ranboo's. If I were in your world, I would have tried to get you as many legal, financial, and medical resources as you could.

I don't know what to say. There's so much TO say and all of it is goodbyes. I want to ask about everyone - Cameron and Ashley, whether Mike made it back or not. Jerma and the entire cast and crew and what's happened to Showfall itself.

You've had a month to get ready to say goodbye but we haven't. I want to thank you for everything, to express how much we love you and love having been part of your lives. To wish you the best of luck as life goes on. To celebrate the time we've spent together.

But I guess I don't know how much you'll hear this from the others so I'll try to focus on one thing. And I think I speak for most of us, but I might not. In that case, it's from me personally.

I'm sorry. Deeply, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize. To everyone we've affected and to you specifically.

We entered your world without your permission, under a power that only Janine understood. We teased you, we played around, we didn't respect you because you were only fictional to us. We're the reason you almost died (not through our own fault, but still). I've been so morbidly curious about your life story that I've encouraged people to ask for a glimpse at your future if we'd voted differently, because I (thinking of you as only fictional) wanted to know more about you even if that required seeing you in pain.

We've joked to you about things that you were clearly horrified or disgusted by. We kept calling you "babygirl" to your face against your will - and I can't speak for anyone else about this, but I personally thought that this would be sexual harassment if you were "real." I hope it's the loving nickname we meant it as rather than a despised term, but my hope doesn't change the way it actually affected you.

Ranboo, we've known things about your life that should have been private. That also wasn't under our control, but we could have stopped reading at any time and we didn't. Our constant eyes on you as a vulnerable teen probably hurt you sometimes in ways I don't even remember or haven't considered.

Sneeg, I'm sorry I didn't ask if you wanted to be reached out to as much as the others. Charlie, I'm sorry I didn't ask if you wanted a break from us at any point. And I'm sorry that there are probably a million other sorries I don't have time to give.

I don't expect an answer to all of this. But I wanted to tell you this as part of my goodbye. Love you all.

And for the sake of making sure this message can get to you... please react in a way that only shows one person in the frame for us? Without much talking?

Everyone, please don't listen to this part but Hetch. And Hetch, please cover your ears if you don't want to know something about yourself that you haven't realized yet. Or maybe I'll need to send in a separate censored version of this before it reaches you?

Alright, if you're listening, this is about your own sexuality maybe not being what you think it is. Please cover your ears at any time. But I have good reason to believe that you're bisexual. It's a good thing, a beautiful thing. But no one can determine who you are but you.

[dr-spectre]

This feels like a mix of a hc and theory, but something I'd like to hear your thoughts on since it came to me earlier today. So we know that Callie went with Octavio to the Low Water Party which happens after Octo Expansion. I'm unaware if we have a time frame of how long after but anyway, the idea is what if it was Callie's idea to try and show Octavio that inklings and octolings were starting to get along now. It makes sense to me because I mean, how would Octavio know about it? And I feel like it'd be in character for Octavio to be like "Yeah, this was my idea" because old man pride and Callie just goes along with that because whatever. Anyway, I thought this theory was interesting and was curious to see what you'd think of it.

Hmm... interesting. Very interesting.

From my perspective, Octavio seems to be totally unaware that some of his Octolings vanish randomly and leave the Octarian undergrounds. Or maybe he does know about it and leaving the undergrounds is this very taboo thing that brings shame and resentment in the Octarian society, like its a thing that is frowned upon which Agent 8 hints at in their memcake entries.

I really wonder how Octavio would react to knowing that Octolings and Inklings are on very good terms with each other and seem to enjoy living side by side without any prejudice. Like how it used to be hundreds of years ago, when Octavio and Cuttlefish were on good terms.

Callie is known to have Octoling friends as said by Smollusk, she has zero resentment or hatred towards the Octarians and I'm sure she would be more than happy to tell Octavio and show him that Octolings and Inklings are living with each other in harmony.

I like to headcanon that Callie talks to Octavio in secret without Marie's knowledge and that's why he's free from the snow globe in Splatoon 3 ROTM and why Callie and Octavio attended the Low Water Party together.

I find it really interesting too that Callie seems to have no hatred or anger towards the Octarians. Despite being manipulated by them and of course getting hypnotised by Octavio (reminder, hypnosis isn't brainwashing or mind control. Just wanna remind everyone... you cant get a hypnotised person to adopt any ideals unless THEY want to. Thats why hypnosis is sometimes used to treat people who suffer from addiction and want to change their habits. But I digress.)

She probably knew that the Octarians were struggling and was more than happy to help them in any way she can. She wasn't even treated that badly during her time in the Octo Canyon too.

Anyways I've been rambling semi off topic for too long lmao. I headcanon that Callie and Octavio keep contact with each other and attend raves and parties lol.

[sophieinwonderland]

i have a question, if youre willing to answer.

i dont want resources, i’ve likely already read them.

we’re a traumagenic programmed system. typically the thought of someone without trauma having this disorder upsets us, because what we went through was so severe that it seems unfair to people without trauma to have to live the same hell as us.

it seems like the only reason someone would be a system without trauma would be by choice.

i would like to hear your explanation for endogenic systems. as i already said, ive read plenty of journals on non trauma based plurality. i dont include spiritual plurality as to me that is an entirely different field.

all i would like to know is your version or perspective of why endogenic systems exist without any trauma whatsoever. when i say this, i mean the type of formative years that would leave a singlet with fondest memories of childhood, nothing bad or stressful, a peaceful parents and environment, etc.

this is not for syscourse, i dont engage with negativity like that.

im open to learning, and i will always peacefully coexist with opposing views to my own, but again, i do my research and have already read many of both the popular and obscure journals on non trauma based plurality that i have found.

-

i dont know if you’ll answer this, though i do hope so, and im not sure how often you get anonymous asks like this, but just in case, you can consider me as anon M.

much respect to you, and i hope you have a good day/night.

-M

Sure!

I'm curious if, in your research, you've also looked into studies into "imagined companions."

These are what I actually find most interesting. Now, "imagined companion" is a loaded term from a singlet-normative perspective that ASSUMES a single consciousness per body. But recent research into ICs have shown a reality that is far more complicated than that, with a majority of ICs seemingly possessing will of their own.

Current research shows about a third of ICs appear to be fully controlled by the host child. These are pretty much what you imagine they would be when you hear terms like "imaginary friend" thrown around. These aren't what I'm interested in.

At the other end of the spectrum are researchers call "noncompliant" imaginary friends. These do have will of their own but exhibit harmful and often bullying behavior. I think many of these would be traumagenic in nature, or at least trauma-affected. If a child's IC is bullying them, that hints that something has likely gone wrong in their homelife, and they're emulating toxic behaviors.

What I find most interesting then is this middle third. Those who demonstrate autonomy while being generally supportive, positive relationships in the lives of their hosts.

It's in this group that we find the strongest evidence of natural multiplicity in children. And it's a pretty massive percentage of the population.

Some studies have shown more than 60% of children have had imagined companions in childhood before the age of 7.

Extrapolating, this means as many as 40% of children, 2 in every 5, would experience childhood plurality, with other people in their heads with their own will.

About 1-in-5 would fall into the category of having these sorts of positive childhood headmates.

To me, the issue isn't a question of why natural multiplicity exists. It seems to me that it just does. Some people are just naturally multiple in childhood.

To me, the issue is what happens to it afterwards. Where do these headmates go? Why do some people keep them?

For the first question, this seems a result of forced conformity. Tell children that their ICs aren't real and that they need to outgrow them, and the ICs will either be forced into dormancy or fuse with the host child.

Their singlethood is sociogenic.

But a fraction will remain. The ICs will be stronger than normal or the host child won't let go of them. And they'll stick around to adulthood. Since they "know" a simple imaginary friend can't be real or think for themselves, they may turn to spiritual explanations for what they experience.

Most will feel alone in their experiences, feel crazy, and never tell others about these headmates.

I'll also add that these systems are usually unable to switch. Switching appears to usually need a dissociative capacity from either intentional dissociative practices such as those in tulpamancy and many spiritual practices, or from trauma.

These systems can learn to switch but it's not inherent to their plurality.

Those are my thoughts anyway! Good day to you too, and thanks for the question! 😁💖

[ekwolfwriter-blog]

WIP Zutara Month Challenge: Meet Cute/Ugly

Honestly, this one is a bit of a challenge for me. Not that I could not do meet cute, but mostly because I associate meet cutes/ ugly with modern stuff. And while I have dabbled with modern stuff, I have been trying to stay closer to the time period of the characters - at least for me.

Definitely can recommend one or two meet cutes that are pretty sweet and fit that modern feel.

As for this challenge, I think I am going to twist the prompt a bit and show a bit of a meet cute that is a set up for a bigger plot.

For context of this plot: This AU is a no war AU - well not yet at least. A version where the North and South are kinda like the same in terms of a royal class that rules over the rest, and the royal blood must rule - does not matter if male or female. There is on tradition, in order to succeed, one must be married and approve by the council of the water tribe elders to be come the ruler (it is vague because it is a fairy tale). Katara is a princess in this story and Zuko, banished from his home and sent to the Southern Water Tribe for protection, ends up meeting Katara as a young princess.

Eventually, they will grow up together. Zuko becomes her personal knight/ guardian as she gets more rambunctious, but they grow and care for one another; and become close enough that they are in love. But traditions keep them apart... for now. So, here is how their meet cute went:

Zuko looked over at the training ground as he is trying to think of something to cheer his princess up from this news of having to be married to someone else. He saw the new soldiers fighting and sparing and some of them stumbling, but all the while a few laughs. Zuko chuckled as well.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" Zuko asked.

Katara glanced up at him from the ground, still had tears in her eyes a little. "What?"

"I was just thinking about the first time we met. How different things were then?" he said as he was recalling the first time Uncle brought him to Madame Kana many years ago, asking the matriarch at the time to take him under his wing after an incident scarred and banished him. Zuko was shut down then, and had a bandage over his left eye so he could not see or hear much.

Katara thought about it as she nodded. "I recall. Sokka and I were trying to see what was going on. And it did not help the grown ups were trying to shoo us away while your uncle and Gran Gran were talking."

Zuko nodded. "I don't remember much of what they were talking about. But there was something that caught my attention that day."

Katara looked up at him softly. "What caught your attention?"

Zuko glanced down at her, his golden eyes seemed to flicker with a teasing look. "A pair of soft blue eyes that was being too fussy about leaving and not missing out on something new."

Katara rolled her eyes and smirked. "Well not my fault I was curious."

"Curious enough to try and sneak glances at me as I was being escorted to the training halls?" Zuko teased as he thought about it.

It was a hard day for him as his uncle basically asked Zuko to hide him away. That much he knew. As he got older, the details were clearer to him as to why, and talks with his uncle and Lu Ten over letters, and even with the matriarch herself explaining to him why, it made sense. But the pain then as a child being left behind in a world so foreign from his own, and with people that did not seem to like him or want him. And yet a waterbending princess seemed to follow and break the rules to keep watching him. Staring at him like she was trying to figure out something about him that drew her to him.

Katara blushed as she turned her face away. "I just wanted to make sure you got there safely. It is only right."

"If that is what you say, my princess," he smirked as he looked away.

Katara returned her gaze up at him as he was looking away. "If I recall, you were not exactly the most talkative and seemed to have more bite to you than what the other guards were willing to put up with. And at least I was the only one willing to face you. Even Sokka would not spar with you until you were finished training."

Zuko chuckle as he nodded as well. "True. Even if I was doing the same exercises, no one really wanted to fight against a fire bender. Given our reputations."

Katara stiffened as she looked away again. She remembered following Zuko out of fear that maybe he would snap at someone, and while he did, Katara did not see him use firebending like the rumors said. If anything, he was just a scared kid, doing his best to not give the others reasons to attack him. Well give them reasons to hurt him more than she knew they did as she would find him in the sick bay, beat and hurt. And how she saw his scar the first time.

Katara took a breath as she spoke: "Firebenders are more than capable of showing compassion and care. You just need to let others see it."

Zuko looked at her and nodded. "You remembered?"

Katara nodded. "Of course, I remembered it vividly," she said softly. "It was the first time you let me heal you. Even if you were snappy."

Zuko chuckled again. "Well can you blame me when an nearly 8 year old comes up and heals you and has more wisdom in her words than half the grown ups? I thought you were mocking me at first."

Katara rolled her eyes. "If I was mocking you, I would have challenged you to sparring."

"You did that too. And then rightfully kicked my butt," Zuko added as he smiled.

Katara smiled. "I still think you let me win then. I was no where near good as I am now."

And going to stop there, otherwise, I will go all night. But this one, I do hope to make into a story. But I just need to figure out when. If people are interested, please let me know!

[wellcomeoneileen]

Just rambled about why I didn’t know if Brian was happy with fucking around or not at the end of S5, and i have some loose thoughts on why I didn’t know if Justin was also happy with it or not?

I think most people agree S4 and 5 largely didn’t know what to do with Justin, and this topic is a good example, bc what did he really want out of monogamy other than to give brian a conflict? (Which wasn’t even fleshed out lol)

I think it’s because Justin wanted more emotional connection than brian could/would provide, and I do think S5 is hopeful brian will get better and better at being emotionally connected to Justin (beyond sex and unspoken actions of love).

And so them only talking about non-monog in terms of fucking around or only fucking each other didn’t ring true to me for what Justin wants?

Like I know a married couple who has one husband who sleeps around and the other husband who has a boyfriend. They have different needs out of an open relationship. and I’m curious if Justin, who I never felt like was never thrilled with an open relationship, would be drawn towards getting some emotional needs met by another man or two whilst brian gets his physical needs met by others.

We do explore that with Ethan! But in a monogamy context. It was like - you can get both your emotional and sexual needs met by ethan, or sexual needs met by multiple people and only emotional needs met by brian, who really struggles with that. But you can’t get your emotional and sexual needs met by multiple people +brian.

An open relationship to brian and Justin meant fucking around only; which I felt like meant a lot to brian bc of his relationship with his body as self-worth; but was maybe a take it or leave it thing to Justin who didn’t derive his self worth from his body.

This is bc the writers were focused on brian and not as much on Justin, so his unique needs for monogamy/not weren’t really debated as much as he provided pushback to brian for Brian’s plot.

And if brian is allowed to center himself by getting other dick, I would argue maybe Justin should be allowed to center himself by getting other connections?

Like Justin created those S2 rules mostly bc those were the things he was craving! Brian was not the one falling for guys he was sleeping with, lol.

The Justin Loses His Hearing fanfic AU has a story about something similar - Justin gets a boyfriend who gets him in a different way than Brian does, and honestly that makes a lot of sense to me. Brian was overflowing with physical energy whilst Justin was overflowing with emotional energy. This kinda seems like a natural outlet for them both, be open but in different ways. Brian fucking a lot of guys frequently and Justin fucking a few guys intentionally. And they are one another’s constant.

Like I see them in New York, justin is right by brian 9/10 times, and that 1/10 time is him totally off in his own little world with his boyfriend of the year ( a rotation of artists in residence and study abroaders and they’re hot and heavy for the year then send friendly postcards and they always knew they were a love affair not LOML) and brian is right by Justin 9/10 times, and that 1/10 time is compiled of his little daily random hook-ups (all his steam room men and waiters and clients who don’t even register)

They ultimately sexually and emotionally satisfy each other more and better than anyone else, but if Brian’s monogamy crux is he needs sexual variety, why couldn’t Justin have emotional variety?

I just wasn’t totally sold on Justin getting something out of their version of non-monog, bc in every season we see him crave additional relationship components, and be upset by brian fucking other people, and we don’t see him just itching to go fuck others indiscriminately.

And this might not be what he would want either!!

But it’s my best guess given that his character wasn’t allowed to want much outside plot reasons towards the end, and I love guessing about this show :)

[lautity]

1, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 17, 23 with lautity/holyphone for the otp ask game :3 (no pressure to do all of these btw, i'm just really curious to hear other people's opinions on them since i dont see to many lautity shippers in the wild </3)

Ask game

HEHE its totally okay you could have sent me the whole book.....im so obsessed with them rn its not even funny. i <3 my niche ship nobody else thinks about. and im so sorry for how long this is...stuck it under a cut for safety

also note many of these answers are in the context of my silly fic/AU  but u do not have to read it to understand i included context where necessary. mostly i think abt them in terms of my AU but i think most of these are canon applicable as well

1. Who most initiates PDA?

Funny question for these two. Steph is by far more comfortable with PDA and treats it very casually, but she would probably have to slow down and match Grace's pace while she's still adjusting to being visibly in a queer relationship (especially in Hatchetfield/where she risks bumping into family or people from her congregation).

I think Grace is extremely affectionate though and once she's more comfortable (or just living somewhere she's less well known) she would probably initiate at least as much as Steph, if not more. I think she would get into the habit of hand-holding every time they're outside at some point and it would just be muscle memory to grab Steph's hand when they're walking side by side.

4. How did they first meet?

In Slow they met in middle school! Grace joined in 7th grade after attending a religious primary school, Steph failed 7th grade (too many skipped classes) and was taking it for the second time when Grace got there. They don't really interact significantly until a year or two later, but they're in the same homeroom pretty much every year in school, so they're always aware of each other in passing.

5. What is their love language?

I think for Grace the thing that makes her feel most comforted is probably physical touch, but the 'above and beyond' thing for her (and what she holds as a sign of the utmost commitment, at least on her part) is quality time. She's really punctual because she feels it's the best way to show that she cares and wants to be there + she's pedantic about attending her friend's events to show her support. She's also clingy in a 'following Steph around the house' way, she just loves to have company and another person around. Especially if that person is her girlfriend (someone who wants her around. She has not experienced much of this </3)

Steph probably appreciates words of affirmation quite a lot, especially if they're well thought-out. Also enjoys quality time (though she does need Some alone time) and is usually cool without fancy going-out stuff. Prefers casual, appreciates when people make time for her and enjoys the attention of being alone with someone. I think physical touch and being touchy is like breathing to her, just second nature with her friends and especially her partner. Throwing herself across laps and using people as pillows, always bumping shoulders. Stuff like that. it's very casual to her and it's a language for her in that it's how she says 'I feel safe and comfortable around you".

11. Which member is more physically affectionate?

I sort of already talked about this LOL but I think Grace is more intentionally affectionate and is more likely to initiate cuddling or kissing (once they get over the Afraid To Initiate bit of very newly-out Grace). But obviously Steph is always just touching her anyways, often unconsciously (initially this makes Grace's head explode. but she figures it out eventually) so while everything Grace does is thought out Steph is just always being touchy without realizing it because of how relaxed/comfortable she is. I think they're pretty equally matched on like volume but Grace does initiate more Big acts of affection

15. Who is more likely to make an impulsive decision and who is the voice of reason?

Steph has ADHD (to me.) and bad impulse control so she tends to be very spontaneous. I think a lot of the time she'll do things on a whim, even if they're risky, and say whatever comes to her mind. Grace is good at talking her into more safe activities and derailing her when she's feeling righteous and wants to pick a fight with someone twice her size over an insult to one of her friends.

Grace tends to be really unpredictable and impulsive when she's emotional at all and Steph gradually gets better at handling this and calming her down as they're together for longer. Not so much a voice of reason as a source of comfort for her.

Steph is the one online shopping and showing Grace her phone every 5 minutes just for her to go "no, we don't need another one" LOL

16. Who stays up way too late and who tries to drag them to bed?

Steph and her fuckass sleep schedule from parties and arguing online vs Grace, who has never stayed up past midnight, wakes up at 6:30 AM on weekends, makes her bed every morning, never snoozes an alarm... I think even when Grace drags Steph to bed "on time" (still an hour later than she'd like) Steph is just not a morning person and loves getting to sleep in and wake up slowly. Grace eventually learns to appreciate being cozy in bed for a little bit longer, but she never really stops waking up earlier than Steph and getting tons of things done before she even stirs.

17. Who fell in love first?

Hehe. Grace fell first, Steph fell harder/faster. Grace had like... this steadily building crush she didn't know was a crush. I think it probably started when they were in a group project together and Steph kept bumping their knees together under the table. She called them friends once and Grace pretty much did the entire project to please her. And even once Steph started ignoring her in class again she remained unusually fixated on her salvation and helping her. Around Abstinence Camp (summer before sophomore year/10th grade) Steph catches on to the fact that Grace genuinely wants to help her and tries to be nicer. They get more hostile again when Steph is outed as bisexual and Grace discovers what gay people are and that she isn't supposed to like them (but she can save them!). At the point where NPMD begins (around the beginning of their senior year) Steph has not had a non-religious interaction with Grace in over a year, and she is extremely sick of it.

(Slow is an everyone lives AU that has Max sleep with Grace before most of the events of NPMD, and the Waylon prank is both revenge and blackmail so she can force him to 'admit' to lying about it, hopefully preserving her reputations + preventing it from getting back to her parents. Everyone else is in on it for the same reasons as canon, and only Steph knows that Grace slept with Max at the point of the prank)

After finding out about Grace and Max, Steph just starts kind of pitying her because she knows how vicious gossip of this nature is and how cruel people are. So she's like okay, this girl really needs a friend, I can do that for now + being friends with Steph Lauter does give you some level of social standing which she figures she can lend to Grace for awhile. And Grace is still sort of annoying at first. But seeing her passionate + happy during the prank, orchestrating everything, awakens some really long-buried feelings about the weird girl in her homeroom who always tried too hard to relate every book to God, and who had come over to her house and described every research note to Steph while she assembled their poster by herself; Steph had SpongeBob reruns playing (which Grace was apparently not allowed to watch, so she sat with her back to the television) and was mostly tuning her out. They got 100% on their poster, and Steph stopped talking to Grace when her friends started to comment on it.

She feels bad for treating Grace that way + she is genuinely letting herself know this person for the first time and finding that she likes her. Like. Genuinely finds her smart and funny and interesting. She's sort of insane under duress, but it's endearing. But Steph does not pursue people, people come to her, so she sort of brushes it into the back of her mind, because there is no world in which Grace Chasity realizes her obvious queerness before she's 30.

Once she knows Grace likes her shes giggling and kicking her feet and extremely extremely excited about everything but she is trying So Hard to be normal and not rush her. She's sort of flattered about being Grace's first girl(friend?) and really really wants to give her a good experience and treat her well (the way she wishes her first partner had treated her). She is very happy and the only thing she really wishes is that Grace would apologize less and trust her a little more.

[emotionallyattachednerd]

Wicked Ones | ES Skywarp x Nova Storm x f!human reader | NSFW 18+

Word count: 1500+

Warnings: Smut ( Spark merging, touching, licking, fingering and oral ) and robots on human. NSFW 18+.

Notes: Something new and different. I really enjoyed working with these seeker femmes. Thanks for sending in your request @badkarma-900 hope you like it. 🥰

Title of this story was inspired by this song. ❤️

Conjunx Endura - Significant Other Amica Endura - Long-term Best Friend

☕ Coffee

The high you get when playing music is an addiction you craved each time you and your band would perform. You're the lead drummer, and pretty damn good at it. On stag you were swimming through the loud music and the cheers of the crowds with a wide beaming smile, loving every moment of it as the performance went on. People loved you and you admired your fans, but there are two who were your biggest fans that no one else knew about, and with good reason.

Who would've thought two giant alien robots from another planet would come into your life?

"Hey ladies!" You cheer outloud to the seekers at their little bunker they had settled. You've just come from a long performance, the adrenalin still kicking through your heart.

"There's our rockstar!" Skywarp giggles as she comes down to help you up onto the platform to stand in their view.

"We loved the performance!" Nova Storm adds through pumped enthusiasm. "Hope you didn't mind Skywarp and I adding in that little jet performance nearing the end?"

You grin wildly. "Are you kidding? It was fucking amazing! The crowds loved it too, which added more thrill for everyone."

"I don't understand why you two waste your time doing silly stunts for the humans." You hear Starscream say from across the room. "Entertaining them for a short moment like trained pets."

"You make it sound so much worse." You shake your head holding a small smirk. "If you join them you might feel the thrill."

"I'll pass." Starscream wasn't one for a lot of fun you think to yourself.

"In that case, shoo." Skywarp suddenly says to the red and blue seeker catching him off guard slightly.

"You're kicking me out?"

"It's ladies night!" Nova Storm giggles with her wings flickering.

Starscream lets out a wounded groan before he starts heading out. "Fine. But I'll be having my own fun tomorrow and you two will need to shoo then." He's out of the bunker before any of you could question.

"What kind of fun is he into?" You ask through a curious smile.

"Starscream's fun? Could be anything, but most likely his fun is peace and quiet by himself." Skywarp shrugs as you all make your way further into the bunker.

"Well that's sad." A part of you feels sorry for him. "Perhaps next time I do a show you two should drag him along, force him to have your kind of fun, he might like it."

Suddenly you feel yourself being picked up by Skywarp and held closely up at her face. You feel the heat radiating from her warm face plating adding blush against your skin. Right to it then. You're not complaining in the slightest, as this is what you came here for.

"And let him steal our fun? Steal you from us? Nah." Skywarp lets out a vibrating purr that gently shakes through your body and causes a low delightful hum to leave you.

"Besides, don't you want us all for yourself?" Nova Storm is already sitting in their little area before Skywarp brings you over to join.

"Never knew you two were the jealous types."

You remove your top casually and wiggle out from your shorts, leaving you in your lace bra and thin thong clinging against your sweaty skin, mostly from the concert, but you feel yourself beading with sweat and heat once again due to the growing arousal.

"You're ours, y/n." Skywarp watches you, ruby optics eternalling, the very lingering stare they both give that makes you ache and so wet. "And all you need is us."

Nova Storm shifts closer and gently takes Skywarp's chin between her digits, tugging her closer and sharing a kiss with her conjunx. You bite your lips softly at the sight of them, watching your seeker lovers kissing gives you such a surprising thrill. While seated in Skywarp's servo you toss the rest of your undergarments aside, leaving you bare and naked for them to do with as they please.

"Is someone missing out?" Nova Storm asks through a silky tone before leaning closer over you, nuzzling against your breasts before nudging your legs apart, her thick glossa darting out and swiping across your very core.

The very action causes your back to arch up under her warm glossa, letting out a soft shrill and gripping your hands against Skywarp's digits. It was such an erotic feeling having them do this to you, and so much more has happened already. You three simply are in it for fun.

Nova Storm lets out a muted moan against your tingling core and clit, Skywarp watching through lustful optics while you wiggle yourself against the wet warmth gliding across you. Suddenly you feel the tip of her glossa press against you, entering, stretching your depths as you clench down, moaning loudly out for your biggest fans.

You were already so worked up from the concert, so it doesn't take long for you to orgasim and you don't hold back, arching your ass up as you tremble with your juices soaking out and dripping.

"Oh my, was it that good?" Skywarp can't help but giggle and bit her lips at the way you came so quick and hard. Nova Storm laps everything you give, her frame quivering at your taste.

"Like sweet energon." She purrs as she moves away and kisses Skywarp to share your sweet nectar. You have no idea what that is, but you can guess it must taste pretty good to them.

"So good..." You manage to sigh between heated breaths, laying there and gazing up at them, craving for more. They seem to pick up on this and both smirk down at you.

Both their chassis open up and you're faced with the illuminating blue light of their sparks. It's such a gorgeous sight. You know what they wanted. It's been done before between you three and you're very turned on and fascinated by what happens.

Sitting naked between them you sit on the inside edge of Nova Storm's spark chamber, gently touching the glowing orb and smiling to yourself when you hear her gasp out. You know to be gentle, to take care of their sparks and enjoy yourself. After all, you're pretty much in contact with, as the humans say, their hearts.

Gazing down you notice Skywarp has started to finger Nova Storm, servo pumping away at her endura while listening to the music they played, and you start to caress both their sparks as they close and join together in front of you.

It's been explained to you what spark merging is. It's a ritual that joins two or more sparks together of friendship or romantic love, so they can combine into one. How detailed that bond is, from the mental link to a physical need to be together, to full out emotional and mental mind reading to one another.

Skywarp and Nova Storm were conjunx endura, in human terms, married. Starscream was also part of this bond but he is only an amica endura, a close friend.

As you caress the blue orbs under your hands you tilt you head and lick along the outside, feeling a gentle electric buzz rushing through you as you taste it, moaning lowly, mixing in with your seekers' own sounds. You hear them speak your name, praise you and one another, some other words you think is their own language as you take care of their sparks and help build up their pleasure.

The only way you could describe the taste of their sparks is that it's almost like dragon fruit, mildly sweet, a blend of pear and kiwi. It might sound weird but that's how it did taste to you.

Moving your hand down you start to rub your clit in circular motions, sucking and licking at the joining orbs as you let out a moan as you feel another orgasim suddenly build in you. Doesn't take much at all.

Their sparks glow more intense, glittering around you, and this is your only warning that your seekers were closing in to their overload, and so you work your fingers quicker against yourself, continuing to touch and drag your tongue against their sparks. It honestly felt like an honour to be able to touch such an intimate place to them. They chose you, they wanted you. You love spending every moment with them.

Skywarp passionately kisses Nova Storm as they both pump their digits into her valves together, glossas coiling with her mates while their human friend stimulates their sparks perfectly. It won't be long now.

Then it happens. Their sparks glow brightly in a burst of light as both seekers came to their overload and you came hand a second time under your working fingers. Watching their sparks sizzle together was such a beautiful sight. You'll never tire of it.

When it's over you're carefully brought up and set against Skywarp's shoulder where you lay down to get comfortable.

"Best ladies night ever." You grin softly before kissing her cheek.

"Damn right." Noza Storm joins and you three let yourselves calm down from your arousals, knowing very well that you'll probably be at it again soon enough.

"Night is still young..." You tease lightly, making them both snicker.

"Oh y/n, we're never letting you go."

Fine by you.

[scarletofhufflepuff]

Personal Thoughts On “Batman: Caped Crusader”

As the title suggests, I will be talking about my thoughts and personal opinions on the newest Batman show. Mostly the things that confused me ngl.

Now I’m no Batman expert nor a film critic. Just a casual fan of Batman and the Batfam(as well as Dc comics in general). Wanted to preface that before moving onto the main point of this post. So I ask to not take I what I say too seriously. Again, I simply wanted to express the thoughts I had after just watching the show.

Warning: This post become longer than I thought it would, a lot of words were typed out. Became more of rant of my various thoughts than anything constructive, I think. Lol sorry about that.

Stuff I Liked About the Show

The art style! I just really liked how everything was drawn and colored. The animation itself was just fantastic. I’m no animation expect though so honestly there may have been flaws that went over my head, but still!

The show itself I found I enjoyed watching. I was interested in each episode’s story, despite some things that confused me(more on that later).

Character designs were also something I liked. My favorite being Harley’s jester costume. I just loved its pattern and colors.

Character personalities were also interesting to watch. The contrast between Bruce’s playboy persona versus his attitude as The Batman has always been interesting to me. Same goes for Harley. As a therapist/psychologist she’s cheerful and always wearing a smile. Telling her friends the best way to endure the hardships that are Gotham is by laughing. Versus her demeanor when it’s shown what she does with her greedy clients who refuse to see the error of their ways. The voice she uses as she talks to them is just really neat to me.

Things I Didn’t Like/Confused Me

Unnecessary changes to the critical details of well established characters have always bugged me slightly. Gender, for instance. The Penguin has always been depicted as this short chubby man who uses a club as a front to his criminal organization. This depiction of the character has been well established in my imagination whenever I hear the name Penguin in reference to the Dc villain. So imagine my confusion when this show introduced this big female character with two sons as the Penguin. I just have to ask, why? It just seems unnecessary. I’m willing to ignore it and excuse it as maybe it’s the result of the show being an alternate timeline(or universe). Either way it was a bit weird. Also her name? “OswaldA”? That just doesn’t seem like a real name honestly.

Moving on, another thing that confused me in terms of changing well established critical details of well known characters were the changes made to Commissioner Gordon and Barbara. Specifically their ethnicity. Why the heck are they black? Now before you raise your pitchforks and torches, I have my reasons for this change to the characters to confuse me. Historical accuracy. This show is set in the 1940s, a time when segregation and mistreatment towards people of color were very well present. Yes there were black police officers, but they were not treated equally nor given the same amount of power in their jobs as white officers. I’m no expert on the subject and will not act like one. But I still I think I know enough to be confused at Gordon and his daughter to be black and yet have no problems working in the positions they do. Again, maybe it’s because the show is set in an alternate timeline/universe? Maybe they didn’t have racial issues in their world like we did irl? Personally I have no qualms to such changes to the characters in other scenarios, I’m just confused/curious how things work in the world this show is presenting us.

Speaking of historical inaccuracy, Harley and Detective Montoya’s budding relationship being so open. Again, it’s the 1940s. If queer people were struggling to be accepted in the 60s, then they definitely were having a hard time being accepted in the 40s. Honestly I don’t hate these characters falling for each other. It’s kinda cute and honestly I wish it had a chance to be fleshed out more. What I’m confused about mainly is the lack of reactions from background characters and the fact Harley and Montoya aren’t being secretive. Again, I’m no history expert on this subject so correct me if I’m wrong. I’m just confused as a casual viewer of the show who’s heard how queer people had to be really secretive in times when they were heavily looked down upon. Again, I’m willing to overlook this in the sense the show may just be in a different timeline/universe where such issues possibly didn’t form. Who knows honestly what the history of the world this show has created is like.

Other than all of that, Harvey Dent’s characterization. Now I want to preface by saying I don’t know a whole lot about how this character has been generally depicted in the past. But from what things I have heard in passing; wasn’t Harvey originally a really good lawyer with a likable personality? Anyone who knows more about him, please correct me if I’m wrong. The way this show depicts Harvey before his transformation into Two Face just seemed off. Like, is he supposed to be that pretentious? Also why kill him off not so long after his change into Two Face? Is he going to be brought back somehow?

Okay last thing I’m confused about; Bruce’s estranged relationship with Alfred. Now I get it when Bruce insists on shooting down Alfred on talking about his personal issues and insisting that he’s fine. Bruce is stubborn on that front and personally that makes sense to me. But in this show he’s depicted as not treating Alfred like family? Am I describing it right…? It just confuses me a bit that he doesn’t seem to be treating Alfred as kindly as I’m used to seeing in other shows. Alfred basically became Bruce’s step dad by raising him as best he could after Bruce’s parents died. Maybe it’s a result of Bruce becoming overly focused on perfecting being Batman or something. Who knows. I’m just a bit confused by this, understandably.

That’s all pretty much it. Despite not liking the changes made to certain characters and stuff that had confused, none of those overall ruined the show for me. I generally liked it and will be waiting patiently for season 2. Especially to see what comes from that cliffhanger that’s shown in that last episode of season 1. Also I personally think it was missed opportunity to make the flashbacks in black & white. It would’ve made a lot of sense to do so.

[kanohirren]

That's not criticism, that's your own biases and conjecture and headcanons talking.

You RWDEs have zero media skills.

classic rwby fan, any opinion other than "rwby is perfect and I will hear nothing against it" is immediately dismissed because it doesn't match their own.

I gave reasons why I think rwby is badly written and why I think it could be improved but nah, fans will just close their eyes and cover their ears and go "LALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU RWBY IS PERFECT AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT"

genuinely curious about what rwby fans consider so well written about the show to be this defensive about it. I'm saying this as someone who used to like the show too. Also curious what this person thought was my own bias and conjecture when there is evidence that the show wasn't planned from the start. Here's a piece of trivia I found about Neo on the rwby wiki

This character was created for a casting opportunity... and then she ended up being mute. Clearly well planned and well thought out in advance since the very start. Source from

Also there's this funny video where Grey Haddock admits Neo didn't exist until 10 days before her debut episode (timestamp 54:56)

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to have last-minute inclusions and neo is my favourite character from the show so I'm glad she exists, but all of these reactionary on-the-fly writing decisions eventually ended up making a mess.

I struggle to understand the concept that a show should be immune to criticism from anyone. Maybe the fans are defensive because they feel the show can't speak for itself in terms of quality and thus needs the fans to tell other people why it's good?

I'd argue that just blindly accepting a piece of media as flawless is what having zero media literacy actually is but hey you do you. I don't care if people like or don't like the show and I'm not gonna try and tell people that they should or shouldn't like the show, but I am gonna say that it's weird that people think that their favourite piece of media should be immune to criticism. I have my favourite things and I firmly believe that they're not perfect and could have been done better, but accepting flaws is a lot less convoluted than pretending they're not there.

[distort-opia]

For the director's cut,

I am SOSOSOSOSO curious to see how you'll continue Burn It To Ashes. Do you have anything you'd like to talk about for that fic? I particularly love the part in the fic where Joker seems to flip from being playful and deliberately trying to rile Batman up (being insufferable) to obedient (for a lack of a better term) and willing to keep his impulses in check. I kept expecting Joker to inevitably try to break one of the "rules" Batman set, or at least pushing a boundary/ toeing the line (Just like Batman also expects him to!). But he doesn't! I love how you strictly only show Bruce's thoughts and we don't know what Joker's thinking, leaving the reader to speculate on why Joker's acting this way. I found myself asking many of the same questions Batman was. Is Batman right and is Joker just biding his time? Does Joker secretly enjoy being degraded, or is it just because Batman's doing it? Is allowing Bruce the control another way of Joker toying with Batman, meaning Joker's the one "winning" while Batman thinks he is? I love how Batman convinces himself throughout most of the fic that he's enjoying the experience because Joker isn't (punishment), contrasted by his later obvious excitement at discovering that instead Joker's thouroughly enjoying himself. It's so similar to me to their dynamic in general, where Batman can never really "win" against Joker because Joker always spins it in a way that it means he's won. I don't think Batman would've actually enjoyed it if Joker had seemed turned off and only merely allowed Batman to do what he did.

Would love to hear some of your thoughts!

I'm really happy you like burn it to ashes! Aaa, so nice to get an in-depth ask like this with great reflections, thank you. To be honest, that fic is pretty much a consequence of Silvestri's portrayal of Bruce being a shade darker than usual, with the not-so-subtle need for domination on display. Which all Bruces have, but this one spit in Joker's face and put him in a gimp mask and then in a skintight suit he designed and then did whatever the hell "Come and get it" was... It lit my brain up like a Christmas tree, hah.

As to the questions on Joker's state of mind: yes, is the answer to most of that...? Though Joker would probably kill anyone else trying something like what Bruce did in two seconds flat. Batman has the capacity to dominate and degrade him because Joker thinks he's an equal and worthy of it. But thing is, they're both losing and winning at the same time. It's a zero sum game, despite Joker being much better at spinning it in his favor. Joker is allowing for Bruce to dominate him that way because it's Batman doing it, but he's still conflicted; he's enjoying himself and Bruce can't stop him from liking what's happening, but that doesn't mean Joker doesn't dislike his weakness being used as dangled bait to make him behave and play by Batman's rules. Neither of them are free, they're inescapably under the influence of the other, and thus will always feel a degree of hatred towards the other for it. And Bruce is banking on Joker's resentment in making it a punishment because he hates Joker's guts... but at the same time he enjoys that Joker enjoys everything he does. Because it means he's in possession of someone he can do whatever he wants to, but still won't ever leave. It's a contradictory thing; Bruce's sadism and genuine anger at all the things Joker's done drive him to make Joker suffer, but at the same he'll always be relieved that Joker isn't actually suffering, because then maybe Joker would stop being unconditionally devoted to him. So yes absolutely, I agree that Bruce wouldn't have fully enjoyed it if Joker didn't like it too.

As a sneak peek, I'll say that the continuation will be a separate work. Gonna have to make this baby a series. Because in issue #4 of Deadly Duo, Joker disobeys, doesn't he? Bruce told him not to kill people, and yet Joker threw those passengers off the train. So the next work will take place in issue #4 and be centred around Bruce enforcing... consequences of the horny kind.

fanfic writer ask game - director's commentary