#well founded bc well. it wouldn't be My opinion if i didn't personally think so

[raayllum]

thinking about the difference between "the show wouldn't do that or put this character in that position because of tone / time constraints / pacing" vs "the character wouldn't do that because of their characterization / personality" in regards to things happening or not happening.

each of which can be useful in figuring out 1) what is a reasonable expectation to have and 2) what is likely going to happen from both a plot and 3) a character standpoint.

for example:

1) the show isn't going to kill / permanently any of the main trio because of messaging and tone (story / tone constraints). they're just not.

however, any of the main trio would be willing to die for each other (characterization) or could, as characters who in the story's universe are mortal, die, which can be fun to explore in fic.

2) i love court politics, and i love thinking about in-universe politics for TDP, which is a time constraint wish > perhaps a straightforward characterization thing, but 6 seasons in it's very plain that the show has minimal time to devote to court politics, and that's okay! the aims are consistent and make sense, and it's a story constriant that helps me set expectations.

3) alternatively, when it came to callum doing dark magic again after s2, i was always sure that he would (characterization). whether the show would place him in that predicament or plot line where he'd be forced into that decision was up in the air (story/tone constraints), but what he would do if placed there was not to me.

[whumpshaped]

Thing I'd read for forever: Whumpees who don't think they're people

There's a moment in Linden and Colton in a flashback when Colton breaks and he disregards his own personhood bc "this was too awful to happen to a person" so he doesn't believe he is a person. These things don't happen to people, therefore he must not be one

It's makes me feral! LIKE YES! RATIONALIZE IT!

Even better if they get questioned on their logic and they straight up do not understand.

My absolute favorite thing is a caretaker being like "well you're a human so you must be a person, right?" And whumpee is like "no. not a person. obviously." Literally believing they're built different from other humans. Just how it is.

Like how do you even combat that logic?? You don't. Sorry. This is Whumpee's worldview now. Good luck.

tw dehumanisation, conditioned whumpee, past trauma with multiple whumpers

"I appreciate it," Whumpee said softly. "I do. You're... you're very kind to me, and I know you're trying to comfort me, and it means a lot."

Caretaker listened, unsure where this monologue was going. They knew Whumpee had a lot of issues, a lot of new triggers they had to watch out for and avoid. Had they missed one? Had they upset them in some way?

"But I'm sure there are people who need you. I know– I know this is your decision, and you decide whether you want to waste all this energy on a useless thing like me, but... but if you care for my opinion at all, and you seem like you do, because you're s-so nice, then... then stop wasting time on me. I'm okay. Whatever duty you have in mind for me, I, I can start doing it today."

Caretaker hummed. "The person who needs me right now is you."

Whumpee shook their head a little. "Not a person."

They didn't flinch. They continued holding Whumpee's hands in their own, rubbing circles into the backs of them. "No?"

"Just a thing. A thing to use. I don't need such kind attention, though I am endlessly grateful for it." They shifted, averting their eyes. "I had to say something. I couldn't keep lying and taking advantage of such a kind person. I'm sorry I didn't speak up right away."

"You couldn't," Caretaker reminded them. "You were unconscious when I found you and barely conscious in the following days."

Whumpee didn't have a reply to that, but their guilt was palpable.

"How come you're not a person?" they asked gently. "You seem like one to me."

"I thought so, too. When I was still stupid and useless and arrogant. Bad. But Master taught me what I was. Showed me."

"Showed you?"

"Yes. They stopped pretending I was a person. They treated me like a thing, like I deserved to be treated, and no one said anything. You wouldn't have been able to treat a person like that. Somebody would've said something."

Caretaker tried not to let it show just how crushing those words sounded. Even through such a casual retelling — or maybe because it was so casual, like it was normal, — they could picture everything too vividly. A poor soul trapped in that horrible place, with monsters who brainwashed them to the point where it was all Whumpee knew. Trapped in a small world of torture and humiliation until they gave up the memories and the experiences of their life from before.

"I see," they forced out.

"I'm sorry if that was upsetting, I was just trying to answer truthfully and–"

"I know. You didn't do anything wrong."

Whumpee fell silent, their fearful eyes searching Caretaker's face for any lies or deception.

"For the time being, why don't you think of this little recovery period as maintenance?" they suggested carefully. "Would that make more sense to you?"

"Maintenance?"

"Yes. Repairs, even. Getting you back to full working order instead of pushing you to your limits with barely any rest time over and over again for no reason. You wouldn't do that to a thing you intended to keep for a long time."

Whumpee thought about it. Caretaker could almost hear the cogs turning. "I don't think I was meant to be kept for a long time," they whispered.

Caretaker squeezed their hands, prompting them to look up. "Yes, you were. If Whumper got to treat you however they saw fit, then it's only fair I get to do the same, right? And I would like to treat you like you matter, person or not."

~

general drabbles taglist: @ashh-ed @whumpsday @whump-queen @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @rosewriteswhump @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @whumpkinpie @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @whump-em @cyborg0109 @morning-star-whump @justanotherlokifan @2in1whump @lthrboy @justletmereadmywhump @florissimps @anonymous-tiangou

[monsterswithimagines]

Undisclosed Desires- Part 26

Joe Goldberg x female!Reader

Summary: Twenty minutes before he would have met Guinevere Beck, Joe meets you instead. You intruige him, but it will soon become clear that there is something off about you.

Words: 765

Masterlist

Minor disclaimer bc I don't wanna get cancelled: 99.999999 to infinity% of people with autism will not become stalkers. The person in this part is a bad apple. People using the autism as an excuse for the way he acts is me commenting on how society at large will use anything as an excuse for the way a man behaves towards a woman. Am I making sense? Also, this is based on a real thing, but not very accurately.

You sit down at Nadia's desk.

I’m sitting on the edge of her bed, and the distance between us feels too far, but I leave it. I don't think you want me any closer right now. There's probably no rage room in the world that can fix what you're feeling.

“So I reported him. Mitch,” you say, drumming your fingers against the tabletop. “I felt unsure about it from the start, but I just wanted him to stop bothering me, you know? Anyway, everyone had been looking away while he was… But once I called the police, suddenly everyone–” You pause. “And I mean everyone, Joe. His family, our teachers, even the police themselves! Everyone had an opinion. Everyone was telling me to withdraw my statement. They said: ‘well, he has autism. He doesn't know what he's doing. You'll be ruining his life!’”

I want to go back in time and punch everyone who told you not to protect yourself - and I think you can tell. My hands ball into fists on my knees. You smile sadly at me and continue:

“So I told the police I changed my mind, and that I didn't want to press charges after all. That's what it is in English, right? Press charges?” you ask this of Nadia.

She shrugs.

“Close enough.”

“Right. So. I did that. I told the police I wouldn't press charges if Mitch agreed to just leave me alone, and he agreed to that at the time. Only he didn't leave me alone after. He started following me everywhere I went. I could be walking my aunt's dog and I'd feel his eyes on me. I think he even hacked into my email, but I can't prove that. Once, though, I caught him–” you cut yourself off.

Nadia speaks up:

“She's too embarrassed to say it, so I will: he was standing by her bedroom window, masturbating.”

“I'm not embarrassed,” you say. “I’m disgusted. It was disgusting.”

“Same difference.”

“So, what?” I ask. “Is that why you came to America? Did you run away?”

“No,” you say, but a complicated emotion crosses your face that makes me wonder. “In high school, teachers kept telling me to just keep the peace. They said that once I graduated, I'd never have to deal with Mitch again. Only I graduated, and I moved to Utrecht to go to school there and guess what? It didn't make a difference. I got so tired and I just… I figured if I just kept talking nicely to him, at least it all wouldn't escalate. So that's what I did.

“But that just made him convinced we were in some kind of relationship, or something. And when I left for New York, I mean, that wasn't because of him. It was because of the job and because I'd always wanted to. But I can't say that Mitch finally leaving me the fuck alone wasn't a great side effect. I thought he must have seen me going that far away as some kind of breakup, or he'd gotten bored, or he'd found somebody else… I don't know.”

“But then you came back,” I offer.

“Yes,” you agree, and the way you look at me is intense. “But then I came back. I'm sure if he hadn't gone and died, he would’ve showed up in person one of these days.”

This is a pretty big secret to keep from your boyfriend.

The three of us fall silent. I can tell Nadia wants to say something, and I think you can tell I want to say something. But none of us say anything, because there isn't anything to say.

“You probably think I should have told you,” you say. It's like you're reading my mind.

“I can understand why you didn't.”

“But you still think I should have.”

And I would have made it far more painful than I did.

“Fine. Yes,” I admit.

You should have told me, (Y/n). You should have told me just how bad this was so I could have killed this motherfucker the first day I got here. No matter how jetlagged I was, I would have found the energy to put him in the ground.

“Well,” Nadia says, clearing her throat. “Anyway. He's dead now, so. It's over.”

“As if,” you say. “He's been texting me incessantly for two weeks. The police are going to want to ask me questions.”

“But he killed himself,” Nadia says. “He was mentally ill. What's to ask?”

For some reason, your eyes meet mine. But only for the briefest moment. Then, you look away.

“I hope you're right,” you say. And then, smiling weakly, you add: “so, what's for dinner?”

[bkblaise]

I'm dumb as hell, so can you explain me why JPtwt is so pressed about Manga leaks?

I mean, I have heard that those who leak spoilers earn some money out of it, so does this money come out of the Mangaka's pocket? If yes, then I'm against it. If not, then what's the big deal? I think there are many bigger issues than this to focus on.

Further, spoilers come weekly, I guess? That too, in Japanese language, so it's the same amount of time as the official release of a chapter—you getting me?

Hi there! Sorry the response is so long. Basically, JPtwt considers leaks ("hayabare") as a crime (it is), engaging with them is something they find extremely distasteful. Not sure why the reaction is so strong, but it is. Maybe it's being protective over manga bcs it's a big industry nationally. However me being Korean, a LOT of people pirate manhwa... so... (though manhwa is generally not as big so the gripe is spoilers & not leaks.) It's upsetting in my opinion specifically because of the fact that the spoilers themselves only come out like 2 days earlier, but, this time it came out on a Friday when they were originally on Mondays (officials come out on Wednesday. But a long time ago, I heard these came out on Fridays and in Korean? Lol. I wasn't there.) Most of the people who were targeted including myself are artists. This is the source of my gripe with this callout/block list, because we never reposted the official copyrighted material in the first place, so bombarding us with blocks and possibly getting our accounts locked when there are people who rely on commissions and a platform to gain said commissions/communicate with commissioners, for instance, is a bit... odd? They could mute us instead... Yes, there are also plenty of people posting the official panels as well, and I get their frustration. But a Japanese twitter user put it well, saying something along the lines of "these users were all also forced to see leaks just like you, except they're not being [immature] about it". In my opinion if I could disengage with leaks regarding manga I would, since this was my policy up until me getting super excited about Kaiser's backstory specifically. I previously did not post about leaks on twitter. The issue is the people posting the original leaks, but they didn't even put them front and center, which I just found confusing. I think technically since English has (online?) simurelease with Japan, it can affect sales. By how much, I'm not sure, because Twitter isn't a real good gauge of just HOW many people see the leaks (a user called Rayuga is the main one as far as I know, and their main has like 90k+ followers, so I'd imagine their reach is still above that follow count... but it also can be less, because twitter is twitter.) I apologize if this is already common knowledge because before joining twitter, I mainly got my leaks from Reddit without considering the source. Scanlations (A group called PO2? is currently scanlating Blue Lock) also probably has the same effect, which when I was in Scans, in my group we had a hard rule that an English official copy being released would warrant us to drop a series so that the author would receive fair support. So not doing that when there is an english copy, is probably damaging. I never checked if PO2 takes donations or have a Patreon or anything like that, which from my time in scans is GENERALLY looked down upon internally within the community. If they do, this is something that I wouldn't really condone openly, specifically because it's still unauthorized redistribution. Attempting to profit off of that usually is because sometimes scan groups will pay their staff. Me, personally, I always worked for free. But if they don't, then I have nothing to say. I don't think people who would have not bought the chapter even if that was their only option would've ever contributed to sales in the first place, right? So it depends. In conclusion, I'm sure there are losses. But it's hard to gauge by how much, so I simply listed all the possible factors for you to judge by yourself.

[haethyre]

X-Men 97 Thoughts

My personal opinions

Okay. So I grew up with X-men The Animated Series. It was one of my fave shows. It always came on late at night on Toon Disney (at times i shouldnt have been awake LMAO) so it has a special place in my heart. I was very surprised that of all things they decided to "continue" it. So, when I heard about it, I did a full rewatch (even that ungodly last season where quality took a nosedive OOF) Anywhoo! Started and finished 97. Those who know me best know at heart I am a big OG fan of my fandoms and am trepidacious of reboots/even continuation reboots, bc lets be honest most of them are all about stomping on the source material, SO I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Xmen 97.

You could really see how much they tried to capture the feel of the old show and the characters. The voice replacements were surprisingly well done. (i mean, Wolverine is a little off, but i'll give the guy a break its been like...28 yrs XD ) The animation looks amazing. Even if i'm taking some points off for the hair hfgjhdf haha

Now the storyline.... The elephant in the room. We all know the one. I have been a Romy fan since I was a kid and yes, when I was a young girl in Borders, I did come across the comic that showed the RoguexMagneto storyline. I hated it then and I hate it now. Its just...weird. (Again, my opinions. If you like it, power to you. Enjoy, but its not for me and this post isn't for you) but its even weirder in the show, and ill tell you why. As a Marvel comic reader, I'm well acquainted with the fact that everyone gets with everyone. That is just a trope of Marvel comics. All ships of imaginable and unimaginable proportions happen. BUT I think when doing this, they really should have thought it through a bit more in context of the show's universe alone . Bc I'll be real, if you're coming in from TAS, this kinda hits you out of nowhere. She had no form of connection with Magneto in the past show. Like....they had a makeshift funeral for him and she didn't even care. She was just worried about Gambit being stuck in space. So, their "secret" just seems so random and out of place. I do like that it was used for her to understand fully her feelings for Gambit, but man was it frustrating to see him just killed off when he was one of the best characters.(even if it was really well done and the animation, again, was amazing)

There's talk of him coming back as "Death" which is a storyline I'm not familiar with but I also heard talk of the original showrunner idealizing a timeline where Rogue and Magneto have kids....so... IDK It all just left me a bit frustrated and disheartened bc Romy was like one of my earliest ships before i knew ships were a thing. To see what happened to it made me sad, even if it could be part of a long game to get them to their HEA. (and thats always an if bc we don't know, even if the original guy isn't in charge anymore)

Other things that bugged me a little but not too much. Gonna bring up Morph. I love Morph. They were always a fave and they went through so much to finally be back on the team again. I really don't understand why they changed their character design tho? I read it was to make Morph look more like the character changeling from the comics but this is again something that doesnt make sense coming out of TAS bc Morph always had that other appearance throughout the entire show. I mean...it could have at least been explained... Also, as far as the feelings for Wolverine, i kinda found it funny XD bc in TAS, it always seemed like it was the other way around jkhfgjkdfh Wolverine was so attached to Morph and wouldn't let 'em go. That being said, I kinda wish they didn't go this route if its only meant to be unrequited and sad. AGAIN. I know. Marvel is all about unrequited drama jfhdkjfdh but hasn't Morph been through enough??? That being said, I love the ship even though I know its doomed. Wolverine is the worst person to be down bad for tho. Mans falls in love at the drop of a hat fhghdfjhsd

Other than these couple things, I really loved the show. Some people said "why are they shoving so much story into such a short amount of time" XD The storyteller in me would like to agree but i will be honest, there is nothing more like Xmen TAS than smooshed storylines jkdfhfkjds with random one-off eps in between. XD So, I was fine with it.

I liked the conclusion with Scott and Jean, as messy as it was. The family fun time was a pleasure to watch.

Xavier and Magneto. They really highlighted their messy, but still devoted relationship from the original series, so that was nice to see. I was glad to see him back in the red suit LMAO bc the one he was wearing all season was weird for me.

I loved Jubilee's journey, and it was cool that they brought Alyson Court back for that one episode.

I was very pleased overall that they didn't tone things down and since censors are different these days, they could show more stuff they couldn't in the 90s. So, I am looking forward to more seasons (and pleeeeease for the love of god give Romy back to me i am begging)

[dionysianfreak]

Hello I'm not a follower of Dionysos but I am fairly recent to worshipping Hera! During my research I found that Nonnus writes in the Dionysiaca that Pasithea is the daughter of Hera and Dionysos. So I just wanted to ask how you view the overall relationship between Hera and Dionysos (and possibly them having a daughter? or if she was more of a foster mother figure to Pasithea like she was with Thetis). I hope you're having a nice day! :)

hello nonny 🩷 i hope your day is going well too.

honestly, i can't say I've put much thought into this before. I don't focus much on mythology within my theology. a while ago i had a brief relationship with Pasithea alongside my Hera and Dionysos worship. i personally found that my relationships with Them both didn't overlap much. my worship of Pasithea was more intertwined with Dionysos than Hera due to Their shared domain of intoxication.

my personal view of parental relationships within Theology is more symbolic than literal. I also believe that the relationship between two Deities is based entirely on your situation. I don't believe that two Deities inherently like or dislike each other, it's all reliant on the situation. I've had conflict between Aphrodite and Dionysos, two Deities known to get along well. so, i don't think i can speak on the overall relationship between Dionysos and Hera because They won't have the same relationship in every situation. it is based on the relationship you have with both of Them and Their priorities for you.

another thing to note is that Nonnus is a very late author. he wrote Dionysiaca somewhere around the 5th century AD in Egypt. the Hellenistic period ended around 31 BC. He was writing from an admiration standpoint rather than a cultus standpoint, even though he used Hellenistic texts as references. if you wish to take a more mythical literalist approach to Helpol, i personally wouldn't recommend Nonnus outside of picking up information that may have existed earlier but was lost to time (like information on Pasithea's). this is just my own opinion however and you're more than welcome to adopt Nonnus's point of view into your own :3

so tldr; Pasithea is a wonderful Goddess in Her own right and the relationship between Her parents didn't come into play much when i worshipped Her. I can't say there was much of a relationship between Dio and Hera for me personally, but this may be different for you and i have no way of predicting how that will look. if you're curious, you can always ask via divination :) no such thing as a silly question to the Gods, especially if it helps you in understanding Them

[coredrill]

okayyyyyyyy initial bravern finale thoughts. i think i will be thinking abt this show for the next 7-10 business years so more to come ofc but. AH!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ISAMI SINGING THE OP LET THAT BE DIEGETIC TOO!!!!!!!!!! AND ALSO ON SPOTIFY!!!!!!!!!!

isami off his Fucking rocker at that one point like Yeah you deserve it king go OFF LMAO. i found that quite satisfying :] real talk tho for as much as i call him baby rice cracker all the time i really love him as a protagonist? like he just feels so damn human in the way he struggles so much but tries his best and then gets hit AGAIN but keeps trying again and again anyways. it's really good! and his whole arc of like. learning that he Can rely on others and with that reliance brings mutual care..............sobs

i love that piloting these fucking things just makes your hair grow. LMFAO

okay i know i've been complaining abt the translation of "bang brave" or whatever tf smith keeps saying before he dies BUT the reveal that that is just ANOTHER thing he's doing bc he's a Fucking Freak and isami thinks it's weird too KILLED ME. smith: "brave bang :]" isami: If You Say That Shit One More Time You're Sleeping On The Couch Tonight". what is wrong with you lewis smith!!!!!!!!!!

i wouldn't be atall surprised if this show got the ssssg treatment and got four million random manga/light novel spinoffs especially considering it's consistently like the most popular show in japan lmao. the lulu-superbia spinoff sounds like a lot of fun so i'd def be interested to see more in that vein!!! i need to learn japanese tho cause no way they're getting eng translations!!!!

i feel like. there is a specific Vibe of mecha thing that verum vita fits which Also includes dissonanza backarrow and uhhhh idk the name but that one mf who pops up in ep30ish of gaogaigar and is just kinda like. observing? like verum vita is not a court jester like the other two and this analysis does not go any deeper than Vibes but. it had me leo dicaprio pointing like. another one!!!

i'm literally obsessed with the unhinged worldbuilding in this show. like?

population is nine billion???

the suez canal is still blocked????

if you're gay you can just. Do That ???

like i love that they don't explain this shit either it's so funny to me. LMAO

something something smith can only express himself and his love for isami as bravern not just bc it gives him as a character/person separation from his Human Self but also. bc i wouldn't be surprised if that was The Way to get the queer stuff so blatant, bc he was in robot form rather than one human man saying "i love you" to another and then glomping him in an explicitly romantic sense after all the talk of riding and him being inside him. LMAO. this isn't a complaint beyond a vague shake of the fist at Corporations and TV Censors, just smth i think is REALLY interesting and which i had a surprising amount of fun watching play out from a story perspective :]

i feel like my hottest bravern take is and will always be that i really don't mind the 12eps LMAO. like i thought it provided a fun variety of Situations with which to deal with the DDs and it didn't give it enough time for the gimmick or mystery elements to start to feel old. also i am just generally of the opinion that most stories would work better if you wrote them to be told in X amount of time and then had to trim off like. 40% of that. so i know it's a personal thing but i think it worked well for bravern!!

i do wish we'd gotten to see smith and isami hug if only cause i think isami fuckin needs it. LMAO. but overall i'm satisfied w their arc, especially bc i think the whole "beyond bang brave" thing works REALLY well w smith returning to his human body. like as soon as superbia kicked it i had a feeling that would happen, and obv it's textually referring to isami/bravern/lulu's massive super robot powerup, but i also think it can just mean like. what happens After? cause smith keeps saying "bang brave" or whatever tf when he dies but to go Beyond that is to come back to life and experience a life where he can receive love, too (i.e., via cooking and food AND ALSO via Literally being brought back to life from bravern's heart. who had just merged with isami on a particle level or whatever lmao). so i'm rly satisfied with how it played out in the end :]

overall i think my only real complaint w the show on the whole aside from the military propaganda was that the boys looked like such fucking DERPS in half their shots. lmao. like obviously i'm biased cause i'm a sakuga whore and i actually rly do like their more realistic style a surprising amount cause i usually don't go for that sort of thing but uh. there's a reason that lulu is the human i gif most often and it's cause she always looked better than them by a long shot FSKDLJH. her character animation was consistently the best & most expressive and she was always the most on-model which. FUCKING DESERVED BTW. her arc was incredible and i'm so excited to rly think about her some more and dig into her as like. a rei ayanami clone (maybe even specifically rebuild? w the "your hair grows long inside your mecha" thing) but who takes control of HER OWN STORY TOO and is able to grow wildly beyond being that story point. like i love that she's taken care of too. agh she's really such an amazing character maybe i'll have to cosplay her too FKLDJSHF i'm rotating her in my brain So Much

overall that was really good and i really enjoyed it and i can't wait for the blurays <333 i love it when robot shows are made by people who love robot shows!!!!!

[songmingisthighs]

Personally I don't take the topic of cp as something light, or 'just anime' if it were to be portrayed in Mia, which I also have no idea if it does

From what I've read, the anime could be heavily sensored in Korea, all the while it has received awards and just being really popular in general (? And about the Manga, there's also this discourse about it being super sensored as well, while other people say it is 10x worse than the anime, so I really don't know what to believe

Regardless of that, it is difficult for me to be certain of what mingi was trying to say, I'm pretty sure the video was muted right before and after the anime was mentioned, so there are a lot of possibilities, whether he actually liked it or not, if he gave that warning about it having sensitive issues, if he actually recommended watching it or avoiding it, I have no idea

So yeah, the level of sensorship is a great deal for me, idk to what extent it has been 'proved' that he's innocent and all that, so I'm gonna trust that he didn't actually recommend it, but the thought alone of him consuming/recommending something related to cp is most definitely a deal breaker, not 'just anime' for me, obviously nothing has been confirmed, I really really don't imagine him as that type of person, and I'm not as stupid or immature to go around sending hate to him or directly unstan him without having proof or a clear sense of what really happened.

I just hope things get cleared up, for the people that go around sending hate and death threats to get a grip of reality, and for anyone that could have been affected by this topic (or the possibility of mingi being involved in it) to feel better and at peace

Also English Is not my first language, so bear with me while I try to see if this is actually understandable

this is gonna be long and somewhat controversial and mean, so if you (people in general) are a snowflake, pls skip

i get what you mean, really and i don't think anyone should take cp lightly as well. but i also think you shouldn't open a discussion about a topic you are not familiar about when you already decide to form a negative opinion on it. It's a whole other story had you come to me or anyone to actually ask for opinion in a way that is neutral. this is kinda hard for me to explain with words but there is a difference between "hey what's your opinion about this?" and "hey what's your opinion about this? also i think it supports cp and no one should take that lightly" bc it sets bias and when you want to make a painting of a fruit bowl, you wouldn't use a canvas with a big red splotch anywhere on it

from my perspective, you claim to not have animosity towards the anime but the way you describe it, it seems like you do so i guess it would've been better for you to accept that you're leaning more towards rejecting the anime because of what you found out about online and not because you do have personal experience wirh it when you come to ask for someone's opinion. bc it kinda comes off as "what do you think of this? fyi, i have the answer" and i just don't vibe with that. "from what i read online" is also not something anyone should use to justify their stance because if you don't have what i loosely say "personal experience" with it (i.e. you forming your own opinion based on your own interaction), this kind of discussion seem to be counterproductive.

and i find it odd that people are so surprised that anime is so sexual in either ends of the good and bad spectrum as if japan is not known for its main commodity which is porn (again, i'm using this sentence loosely). like i just found out earlier that japan's age of consent was 13 before it was changed to 16 so the sexualization of a western-standardized "minor" is part of a culture there (as bad as this sound). so to use a western standard on a culture that didn't ask for it seem mighty hoity-toity. we're allowed to form an opinion about a culture or an aspect of the culture but what we shouldn't do is act as if that culture is so personal to us when we are not a part of the culture. like i think the bride kidnapping practice is so weird and borderline a test run for a human trafficking ploy but i have yet to see any criminal activities that happen and the people who are involved are well aware of this practice so i can say it's weird but i won't put up a petition to abolish the practice. now i do realize that this is a rather controversial take and i would elaborate here but alas that's a whole other ted talk

in regards of mingi, if you (not you personally, i'm using 'you' in general) think your favourite idols can wear whatever the fuck they want, do whatever the fuck they want, i suggest you make peace that they can interact with any kinds of art or artist and form whatever opinion they want. because if you believe they're their own person, you better mean it and not make exceptions on situations or aspects that you don't agree with. if you can't support the person, support the art, if this makes you uncomfortable, fucking leave the fandom g0rl no one should readjust their whole life, personality, choices, and preferences to accommodate you. you're not the damn law and he doesn't even know you. and to the people who are somehow "affected" by mingi's life choices or preferences, literally get yourself out of the possibility of interacting with the topic and to those who made this issue about them, remember that the world doesn't revolve around you so mingi didn't do this to hurt you, you're hurt because you have personal feelings over this issue and it's not wrong but if you make it your life's mission to end this man's career, literally get off social media and get a hobby

[raeflora]

Hi again! I would really love your opinion on something, (since you said that if I ever want you to write meta on something specific I can ask)

Do you think that most D**ir shippers are Dan fans rather than Blair l fans?

I am going forward with the rewatch and I have been reading stuff here andvon other platforms and I have noticed that most D**ir focus on what Dan feels or what Dan does for Blair, ignoring Blair's emotional and mental state at the time

Furthermore they seem to want to rid Blair from all the things that make her Blair (like her ruthlessness and scheming)

Idk... For me Blair wouldn't be Blair without the good and the bad. So it makes me wonder if these people just.... Don't like Blair very much.....

hi!! this is such a good question tysm and this is gonna be long so I hope u don't mind 🫶🏻 I think generally yes d*ir fans do seem to be more fans of dan than they are of blair, and I think there are a few reasons (that I've seen) for this. some of it comes from penn badgley fans as a lot of ppl who discovered him from you on netflix have then watched gg and like dan purely bc it's him. some of it also comes from this rehash of the idea that chuck's "bad" bc of the pilot and ignoring his development, and dan's "good" bc... he's not chuck lol.

ur right in that a lot of them don't want blair to be, well, herself. as I said in my other meta post there's a lot of focus on how blair's "better" when she's with dan. she doesn't scheme, she doesn't do anything, really, except from talk about movies and artists. they think that this watered down version of blair is her true self, even though if u watch the previous 4 and a half seasons it's obvious that's just not true. they want blair to be this girl who's content to spend her days visiting museums and waiting around for dan who she's clearly not. there's nothing wrong with her that dan needs to fix, and chuck didn't corrupt her. she can be interested in art and movies and still scheme and be mean. there's no mutual exclusivity to any of her personality traits, they can all co-exist and are what make her blair. like chuck said in s2 it's stupid to want her to be anything other than what she is.

also, ur so right again in that they ignore blair's mental state. she's obviously not in a good place in s5 and probably shouldn't jump into any relationship after her divorce. but dan pushes her into it. throughout the show she belittles him, insults him, makes fun of serena dating him, and generally just doesn't like him. while they're dating she still doesn't seem that keen on him. there's talk of how she's happier and smiling all the time with dan, but she's not. she effectively throws a tantrum being seen out with him and she can't celebrate his career, she instead undermines and upstages him. her behaviour doesn't seem like someone who's found her perfect match. it seems like someone who's in a confusing transitional period of her life and clings to the nearest man, like she did with carter in s2. if dan was this great perfect man he'd say he couldn't date her right away, let her sort herself out. but no, he forces her to be more than just friends bc, where she's so isolated from everyone else, if she loses him then she loses her only support system (the fact that she becomes so reliant on dan humphrey in the wake of her miscarriage is something for another post) so she kind of has to get into a relationship with him, even though she's not ready mentally.

in terms of liking blair, I think that most d*ir fans like their own version of blair, instead of the canon version. this might be connected to them often preferring dan, and then they just project traits onto blair that aren't hers. I don't know why they don't do this to serena btw, bc her relationship with dan is significantly more important, and she was far more willing to do "ordinary" things with him than blair. ultimately I think they want d*ir, and blair individually, to be something they're not and were never going to be. d*ir isn't sethmer or paceyjoey or whoever else they compare them to. blair isn't someone they can shape into fitting their ideas like dan does, she's her own distinct character and if they don't like her then they should admit it instead of mischaracterising her

[quinnfebrey]

hello! next to normal is basically the only thing i've thought about for the past month and i'm dying to talk about it with someone so i'm just gonna leave a bunch of questions here please feel free to answers as many or as few as you like :D

would love to know what you thought about the west end covers you saw

who is your favourite person who has played each role?

you mentioned in your review that you find the west end gabe less creepy than i'm presuming aaron tviet's interpretation? would love if you wanted to elaborate more on that cause personally the west end gabe is the first time i've ever found him 'creepy'. aaron's always had a distinct jockish confidence to me that made him scary because he felt powerful but still not creepy imo

what're your favourite songs? mine are i am the one (reprise) and didn't i see this movie?

do you have any strong opinions on a movie adaptation? personally i hate the idea. i think so much of the power of the show comes from the fact that it's happening Right In Front Of You and i also think no matter what they did they'd butcher how gabe appears

if this version goes to broadway, who is your dream cast? (pretty sure caissie levy's a lock in bc according to the director he wouldn't have done the show if she didn't agree to play diana, but dream big or whatever)

hello!! thank u so much for this omg. i just replied to an ask about the west end covers

favorite person in each role: jessica phillips as diana, brian d'arcy james as dan, meghann fahy as natalie, louis hobson as madden/fine but trevor dion nicholas could usurp that i think! random but there's this regional production that had a gabe i LOVED (landen starkman), and then of course adam chanler beret IS henry

re: creepy gabe, what i mean by that is the freudian aspect to original gabe (think the original blocking of i am the one). they really took literally "he's a hero a lover a prince" which works and makes sense for bway but in the west end one it doesn't have the abstract/dream feel to it and that's probably they removed that aspect of gabe, it wouldn't transfer well. he's just less physically close and touchy with the goodman family

ahh i don't even know what my favorite songs are, they change depending on my mood lol. but i think i always love light and i've been

nooooo movie please they already let riverdale butcher the show i cant take a dearevanhansification of it. and you're right, there's no way to make gabe on screen work well. it needs to be a live production

for a broadway cast i wouldn't be mad at caissie levy!! if it takes a decade or more to get it back on broadway i'd love meghann fahy to return as diana. ben tyler cook or josh colley could do a great gabe, jordan fisher henry?? let adam chanler beret come back as madden/fine?? and this is kinda random but i saw josh groban in sweeney and was like oh that's dan goodman

[felinemotif]

3, 12, 23, 27 from the book ask game pls? <33

3. what’s a book you were pleasantly surprised by?

nightbitch by rachel yoder! themes of female rage and capitalism and motherhood. a middle-class woman convinced she's turning into a dog. about 200 pages, witty.

i really wasn't sure what to expect from it; it was a purchased on a whim because i liked the title. surprisingly pleasant. 3.5 stars. end wasn’t as strong**

12. have you read books in more than one language?

yes, spanish and english! just depends on which the original language was between those two because meaning can be lost in translation and if i can, i like to read in the language the author wrote it. but there are some books that i have loved so much, i'll read it in both.

do swedish language textbooks count?

23. what’s your favorite book that’s been assigned for class?

i love frankenstein. i actually got a special edition paperback of it in the mail maybe a year ago? it's very pretty.

after reading it, i did a deep dive on the author's life. mary shelley was a very fascinating woman.

27. any “unpopular” book opinions?

...i judge books by their covers. if it doesn't have an interesting cover, it doesn't grab my attention the same way and i'm less likely to want a physical copy on my shelf.

if the book sounds interesting, i'll still read it; just on library loan or as an ebook.

also, i don't think everything needs a sequel or a series. some things are better as a standalone.

hmm... i don't think authors or their team should publicly respond to book reviews. i bought piper cj's debut novel the night and the moon before it was available in stores -- i was following her journey as an up and coming self-published author pretty closely because i found her 'rapid series release' to be an interesting approach (the night and the moon was written in, if i remember correctly, less than a week), and was happy to support her novel before it hit the shelves.

piper also talked a lot about how meaningful the book was to her, as she in a way came out to her family through them, which caused her pain (she was estranged from her family).

plus, it was said to be a sapphic fantasy that touches on childhood trauma-- all things i'm interested in.

this was a little while ago; i still haven't read it because the author and a woman later revealed to be her editor responded to a very politely worded 2 star review in a manner i felt was inappropriate. the editor attacked the reviewer and piper, the author, responded by mocking the books the reviewer gave five stars in the past.

totally insane behavior esp bc one of the books was about the columbine shooting.

piper did apologize on youtube after, and said she reached out to the reviewer but her and her editor's actions was the pushing point of so much harassment towards the reviewer that they had to deactivate their social account(s).

piper's marketing of the book was that she didn't send it out to publishers (she self-published and then later re-published) because she couldn't take rejection towards a story that was so personal to her, and one that caused her to lose her family.

it bums me out tbh; i was truly looking forward to supporting her series despite knowing that it would come with many errors and that it wouldn't be the most well-written thing i could read; i just wanted to support the author herself.

but her actions, though she hasn't repeated them since, really convinced me that authors and their publishing team should never respond to reviews, good or bad.

reviews are for the readers; authors can read them, but i don't think they should publicly discuss them.

sorry for the rant jaja bookish drama is something i enjoy digging into with some snacks and wine and in this case, i was there while it all went down.

talk books with me

[lutawolf]

Hi Luta!

I'm the baby brat who sent that message about Not Me the other day! Thought I'd give a little update hehe. So bc I'm petty lol I was still mad at Sean watching the next episodes but was feeling a bit less so during ep 12 but immediately went "NEVERMIND" when he let Yok pour the water over White. And then I was mad at him again for the reminder of the episode (and knowing me.....I will probably still be petty mad in the last 2 episodes lol). At the end when he was hugging White, all I could think was "Oooohhh if that were me, I would NOT be letting him touch me." I did take some time afterwards to figure out why that moment made me mad at him again and I think I figured it out: to me it felt like public humiliation which has always been a HUGE fucking no for me, I've never approved of it. Even when it would be played for jokes in children's media, I never found it funny as a kid. And that only became more cemented as I grew older. Another reason why I think I felt this way is bc to me it felt like a Dom letting someone else punish their sub and I don't think that's something I would be ok with. Sean may have thought of it as HIS punishment for White, but that's just not my way of thinking. (Could very well be wrong here about Sean's thought process here ofc since I'm not as experienced or knowledgeable as you are). Ig the way I'm feeling is that punishments should be between the Dom and their sub, and shouldn't involve anyone else? (I realize ofc that this is just my own personal opinion and preference, and ofc there are others who will feel different bc hey everyone's got their own preferences)

Anyways I just felt like sharing! 💕

Hope you have a nice day 💞

Hey baby brat!!!

White is much more subordinate than a brat. Cause yeah, that totally wouldn't fly with a brat. 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, public humiliation is a very particular kink. I know a lot of kinksters who don't like it. I would not be okay with it if someone didn't give expressed permission.

Punishment is just like a kink. It's dependent on the two individuals and what they are okay with. If you wouldn't like another Dom disciplining you, then that hard limit for you. But there are those that don't mind.

Thank you for sharing! Hope you are having a good day. 💜💜💜

[zahrowl]

A Critique of Good Omens Season 2 by 4 Random Girls (+ for fun, a rewrite of S2's outline)

Did you feel after watching GOmens S2 with your friends that this season could have been… better?

I was excited for S2 and I had some high expectations due to spoilers (yes, I am the kind of person to seek out spoilers to raise my personal excitement for the show). But after a watch party with some friends that had me gaslighting myself into denying the letdowns of this season (I was going through the first stage of grief okay), I’ve come around a few days later to bring a list of problems, gripes, and some suggestions for improvement for Season 2.

(EDIT: I reposted this bc I originally tagged Mr Gaiman according to my friend's suggestion. That was insensitive of me, I'm sorry. Thanks to the person who commented and knocked some sense into me, even if I did get a severe increase in heart rate and my hands were literally trembling after seeing your comment)

Mr. Gaiman, if you're reading this somehow, please don’t take any of this criticism as a personal attack. Like, you’re a prolific writer, we’re just 4 girls with opinions, so I don't think you'd really need to take much of these words to heart. I know I wouldn't.

And to the fandom, well, if you enjoyed S2, good for you! I enjoyed it too! If you enjoyed it in a way you understood but I didn't, that's fine too! This is just the perspective of like 4 girls on some writing decisions we found kinda weird. We all have opinions, we can express those opinions as long as we're not attacking anyone.

Also, spoilers for S2 of course.

Anyway, let’s get to it shall we, starting with the most controversial of decisions in episode 6!

Controversial reveals in episode 6:

Halo Ex Machina

Like for god’s sake if you wanna pull that out last-minute, at least show it being used in an earlier episode in a flashback from the war

Ineffable Bureaucracy

Aziraphale agreeing to be the Head Archangel to change heaven with Crowley

Ineffable Divorce

More annoying things in S2:

The purpose of the body swap in S1 feels undermined in S2. Like, that was to scare Heaven and Hell into thinking that they’ve grown so powerful that they’ve made their own side. Shouldn’t Heaven and Hell be like, a little more cautious with these two after agreeing to leave them alone?

The Divorce really feels like it’s written solely for the purpose of milking a certain reaction from the audience rather than a natural development for Azicrow’s relationship. Also, with the amount of times these two ‘break up’, it gets boring, okay

Nina and Maggie were just kinda,, there. I’m not quite sure what themes they’re here for, I was lowkey bored anytime they got on screen. Maybe Nina’s abusive relationship mirrors Aziraphale’s relationship with Heaven, but like, idk it’s really not the best mirror. I don’t care about them, okay, they didn’t need to be here and if they did, at least cut down a bit of their time please? The part at the end where they stayed to help was kinda ehhh, the part where they had to tell Crowley about his feelings was even more eh. I’m not sure why they cared so much to tell Crowley about it. I don't hate them, I just wish they could have been written better.

Crowley just waltzing into heaven. In S1 they were undercover and it’s so nervewracking. This time a bunch of demons just see him go up into heaven and don’t even question it. And then a bunch of archangels just come down the lift with him. Like what???

The miracle that hid Gabriel was kinda handwaved away? What was up with that

What was Bee’s plan with storming the bookshop. Wouldn’t that attract a lot of unnecessary attention from the demons and angels? Is discretion not a thing?

They never really explained what was up with Az’s bookshop and the vampire entering rules like???

Angels and demons really do feel like much less of a threat this season somehow

Guess who had “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark” on their playlist? Guess who didn’t follow someone into the dark.

So, I challenged myself to rewrite S2 to make the reveals a little less jarring than them all coming at you one after the other in episode 6 like Voltaire tormenting Candide.

Things we’re building up to:

Aziraphale’s desire to change the way Heaven is run, thus accepting Metatron’s offer

I know the Job episode was a thing, but again, that was only one scenario and not a consistent running theme throughout the season. The Victorian doctors do not count — that’s Aziraphale learning to become more flexible with his morality like Crowley. It doesn’t have anything to do with changing Heaven except maybe showing how much better Crowley is than everyone/j. The magic show definitely doesn’t count.

Also to all those ppl who say that Aziraphale has religious guilt or is going through religious trauma or smth along those lines… idk it feels more like they’re projecting than that being an actual thing shown by the show. If that was the intention, it doesn’t come across like it well enough

It might be believable that Az’s indoctrination by Heaven might cause him to think that being in charge would improve things, but like,, that needs to be actually shown in the show. Show us his doubts after the end of the world. Give us better foreshadowing of his concerns over the past 6000 years, how he’s seen Crowley struggle with being a demon/how he imagines being a demon is like/how heaven has indoctrinated him. Otherwise it’s like he’s learnt nothing over these past 6000 years!

Gabe and Bee’s relationship

This really suffers by being revealed only at the end because the way they act seems suddenly out of character of how we expect them to. We’re all left kinda unsure if they’re actually in love or even know what love is.

An earlier reveal of their relationship and maybe some Bee/Jim interactions in earlier episodes would help with a more gradual acceptance of expectations vs reality

Also, would it kill to have one close-up of the fly? Or even like, Aziraphale swatting the fly away as it flies into his face when he opens the box? That thing is so tiny it’s no wonder it’s so easily missed. Please, I’m myopic

Divorce

I want Crowley to snap so bad at Aziraphale. And with better dialogue than “no nightingales”. I know it’s a reference, but surely we can do better than this!

Aziraphale really caught the idiot ball this season in the most narratively unsatisfying way, and if it weren’t for Michael Sheen playing him it would be even more annoying.

What can we cut from S2?

A lot of the coffeeshop/recordshop AU

The whole storming the bookshop thing. What was Bee’s plan really

The angel-demon miracle. The damn thing was what attracted heaven’s attention anyway and in the end it was just handwaved away? Let’s toss it out, and by extension, we’ll have to toss out… (checks notes) the Archangels’ visit to the bookshop, lying about getting Nina and Maggie together and the further matchmaking attempts for them, Constable Muriel, Shax’s storming of the bookshop, and god knows what else.

[sashannarcy]

What are your thoughts on the Amphibia fandom complaint's about S3? For me, it felt like people complained about the stuff I had no issue with but ignored or praised the things I did have a problem with.

I'm curious to hear what u personally thought were s3's issues; feel free to lmk that!! as far as my own opinion goes:

I'm really not picky w Amphibia's writing. I've always loved it and that did not change when s3 aired. the major thing I saw most people complaining abt was Anne's seeming indifference in s3a to the situation regarding her friends; I really never thought this to be bad writing imo. we had two seasons of the show to learn how Anne deals w all of her emotional issues: she represses and ignores them. idk why people expected Amphibia to suddenly become this depressing show after True Colors, bc 1) Disney wouldn't have let them (their younger audience wouldn't have found it engaging) and 2) that's never been Amphibia's style anyway. I think there were well-developed and subtle signs that Anne was struggling throughout the season (see: the entire museum episode and also that little outburst Anne had at Sasha during Sasha's Angels), and not to mention the kid had Andrias's robots and the literal FBI after her during all of s3a??? idk, speaking as someone who compartmentalizes all his problems, I think it's def realistic that Anne wasn't having visible breakdowns. so yeah, I didn't and still don't vibe w the complaint that s3 is too cheerful in this sense.

another major complaint I've heard: not enough Marcy. which is so laughable that that's a complaint in the first place. this isn't the Marcy Wu show, this is the Anne Boonchuy show. sure, I would've loved to see more of Darcy, but I'm also v aware that the crew ran out of time for a lot of things and I'm willing to give them some leeway in that sense. s2 really ruined the fandom's perception of the show from what I can see, bc as soon as Marcy was introduced, it was like no other character could be as important as them. I see very little gripe abt how little we see Sasha in s2 and it's practically just Marcy and Anne, but the second we have smth like s3 where Marcy is barely there and it's practically just Anne (and then Sasha), it's a major problem for some reason. it's dumb. s3 was perfectly fine as far as how much Marcy showed up. again, this isn't their show.

final complaint I can think of (which I again disagree with) is how Amphibia ended. I do seriously wonder sometimes if I watched the same show the rest of this fandom did. the entire damn theme of the show is change. did people somehow expect the trio to NOT drift apart? or even for them to be able to return to Amphibia? look, I get it, Amphibia's ending is bittersweet and it hurts, but then again, doesn't life hurt like a bitch sometimes? this is literally inevitable. Amphibia's message is all about change and being made better through the connections you've made and the people you hold close, EVEN if you have to leave those people physically. the point is that love is strong enough to persist without that constant face-to-face connection, and we get an example of that w the future trio reunion ("you'd be surprised what makes its way back to you"). sometimes shit sucks, but you just keep moving forward and you keep hoping. you keep loving. Amphibia is insanely good at representing REALISTIC emotional scenarios, despite the grandiosity of its plot. this is why I love the show so much. you don't have to like the finale, but to say that it's bad writing is just. missing the point.

other than that, I can't really think of the other major things I've seen people say abt s3. I am a s3 defender no matter what. I love Amphibby that's my final statement🫶🫶

[lovelykhaleesiii]

💗💗💗💗 (going to just place it into your askbox bc my blog is blank and im just a lurker, forgive me 😭😂)

AnYwAys- I hope you like it and it will cheer you up 💗😘

Also, if you get a certain reference to a netflix show, you're amazing 🤚

Warnings; uh, cussing? Soft!Aegon and maybe a little o.o.c aegon too, and there is a creepy guy but he doesn't get far!

.

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Your mother pulls off your covers and you scramble to put them back on. It was unnaturally cold and you had been cold all night and were finally getting warm.

"Get up! Today's the day!" You mother said, chipper.

You attempt to rub some of the sleep out of your eye. "What? What is today?"

"The ball!"

Oh.

In truth, you had forgot all about it. But of course you couldn't tell her that. After all your family was one of the most important - well second important after Targaryen family - and it was your family's responsibility to throw the yearly ball. And to discourage the Targaryen family from attending.

You see, your mother and father never really told you exactly why they hated them. Your guess was something happened between them a long time ago and had been forgotten but to cause even more chaos in the seven realms, they choose to just go with it. While you never hated the entire family, you hated one of them in particular. Aegon Targaryen. The now crowned king was spoiled and had an even worse attitude then most spoiled princes you had met. You much preferred his brother Aemond. You wouldn't admit you liked any of them though, your mother mother would probably exile you if she ever found out.

Later that day, to being getting ready for the ball - with it being a masquerade - you bathed and as you dunked under the water, you could hear both your maid and your mother shouting your name. Irritated, you get out of the tub, grabbing a robe.

"Mother I am here, what is your will?"

Both of them look at you in horror before pulling you back into your room.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" Mother asked.

You nod. "I figured I could bathe first, mother."

She then sits next to you. "This ball could be your chance to-"

You groan, knowing what she were to say next. Your chance to meet a suitor. Suitor Ugh, seven hells, even thinking of that word made you sick.

While you wanted to be married, you never wanted to just be known to just give birth. You made sure you made your opinion loud and clear after your aunt had died in childbirth birthing your uncle's one and only child.

You keep your mouth shut, not wanting to spoil the day for your mother and you just nod along and once she leaves, you begin to get ready. For the ball, you choose a off the shoulder dress with lace wrapped around and completed the look with feathers made to resemble angel wings with the maid pulling your hair in halo like braid to complete the angel like look.

Aegon smirked as he grabbed the masquerade mask and placed it on. He had always wanted to attend your family's famous parties. He had dressed up as a knight for the costume themed party. He swipes some milk of the poppy from a servers plate and begins drinking it, look at the people in front of him as he does so. He places the empty cup on another servers plate and begins to ascend down the elegant stair case and up to the massive fish tank, adjourned in golden specks. And as he looks through the glass at the fish, something shiny catches his eye. A silver braided chain and on it a silver pendent of your house's sigils - a phoenix with its wing spread - he then leans his head up and sure enough there you were.

"Why am I surprised to see you here," you say, crossing your arms.

"I could ask you the same." He looks you up and down, trying to size you up. "Angel"

"Fuck off."

He snickers as you walk off, swiping another drink as you do.

Looking back on it, it probably wasn't a good idea to slip out to the gardens. As this particular prince your mother had personally invited didn't want to take the hint of you not being interested but wouldn't leave you alone.

"My lady," the prince tries to grab your wrist but you slap his hand away.

"Leave me alone."

He tries to grab you again - this time your face.

"Leave me alone!" You then punch him, knocking him right on his ass.

To your luck, Aegon had just so happened to had noticed the sleazy prince and decided to make sure he didn't try anything. But he was too late. When he ran up be saw you, in pain, holding your hand, and the prince knocked out.

"I guess you didn't need my help?"

"Of course not, prat."

Aegon scuffs. "I am king, you can't treat me like that. I've been training to fight since I was born!"

You simply roll your eyes. "Sorry, what I meant to say was, how long have you been training to be a prat," you then mockingly bow, "my lord." And to get the last word, you walk away, smirking in victory. What you didn't know was that Aegon was also smirking.

The next morning, Alicent had ripped the covers off Aegon's sleeping form. "Do you want to tell me why Jace had told me you snuck out and went to their ball last night?"

Aegon groans, grabbing the blanket from his mother before saying, "I just went to have fun, nobody knew I was there, mother, we had masks."

Alicent rips off the covers again. "That doesn't matter! They are our greatest enemy! You cannot even be near them!"

"What is the matter? You said you wish to see my with someone and acting how a ruler should."

"Aegon..." Silence. "Just...get dressed."

Your mother had greeted you for breakfast and told you, to your horror, you were to visit the Targaryens to extend and olive branch later that day, which meant you had to see the brat king himself. Again. As if you didn't have enough problems, tour hand was sore and bruised and it hurt like hell and you also fought like hell to not let your mother know what you had done. And the fact, in the silence of your room that night, you couldn't stop thinking about how Aegon called you angel. A sarcastic way, of course, as you were wearing literal angel wings, but that didn't change the fact your stomach felt weird and filled with butterflies when he called you that...

Again, to your horror, your mother informed you, just as you arrived to the Targaryen castle, you and your family would all be staying as guests for a couple days.

That night, you couldn't sleep so you slipped past the guards and into the gardens and to the big pond. But what you didn't notice that in the dark was Aegon also at the pond and he also couldn't sleep that night due to also thinking about his and yours interacting at the party.

As you ran your fingers on the surface of the water of the pond, Aemond began to tip toe away from his hiding spot. Before he could though, he bumped into you, making you scream and trip into the unusually large and deep pond...also taking Aemond with you.

Coming up to the surface, you push him. "You scared me!"

He puts his hands up in surrender as he laughs. Genuinely laughs. A light blush makes it away up to your face and prayed to all the gods that he couldn't tell with how dark it was. An comfortable silence comes between you both and you don't know why but you had the sudden urge to...kiss him. And he had the same idea and before you both knew it, both of you were leaning forward.

Your lips touched his and he thought they were the softest and as you did too. And just as he runs his hands through your hair, two guards rush over, hearing you scream, and you both break apart just in time.

The final days of your visit went bye quicker, quicker then you like. Aemond personally had shown you hidden ways to sneak in and out of the large castle and to his own chambers which normally ended in you both "intentionally" cuddling after nights events.

Aemond didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to admit it that he was or already had been falling for you literally and figurative. He lies awake at night, in the dark, staring at the ceiling. He knew you deserved better. He hadn't been the perfect son. He visit(ed) brothels, was violent, and was begining to become a drunk. He wasn't perfect, far from it. Compared to him, you were an angel, even his own mother thought so. Even his brother questioned why he hadn't gone to any brothels in the few weeks you had came and gone. The best answer he could come up with is that he didn't need too.

He couldn't be falling for you though! You were the daughter of his family's greatest enemy! A rival for the throne! He couldn't have...

After little over a month you had left, he was still thinking about the shared kiss. It felt...right. And maybe, for the first time in his life, he could have something good. He figured fuck it and threw his covers off and scrambled to get dressed just by the moon light.

Due to your families basically living right next door, it was easy for him to visit. All he really had to do was slip from the guards and make a run for it.

As like the other time and like Aemon, you also couldn't sleep either. You couldn't think of a thing to shut your mind off so you thanked the gods when you heard rustling under your window. Getting out of bed, you opened your window you come face to face with Aegon. Climbing onto the surprisingly tough vines that grew around the castle. You couldn't help but smile as you help him through the window and into the room.

Unlike before, it was now an uncomfortable silence that flows between you and Aegon.

"I..." He clears his throat. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." You then gasp as you remember that it had been Ageon's name day just a week prior and you had got him a gift. You tell him to wait for a second and you grab the small gift from under your pillow and hand it to him.

To say Aegon is shocked would be an understatement. While he had received his fair amount of expensive and elegant gifts from lots of people, he never once got one he actually loved or even liked.

You send him a smile. "Open it."

He carefully tears off the paper and opens the box. The gift in question was a silver ring, made from valyrian steel, with the Targaryen sigil stamped on it. He runs his fingers over the design and he puts it on, it fitting perfectly on his index finger.

"D...do you like it?" You quietly ask.

"I love it."

He again genuinely smiles and he brings you in for another kiss.

Aegon decided to stay the night and the morning after, your maid had surprise you by, no fault of her own, bursting in without knocking. She gasps as Aegon rushes - and by extension falling off the bed to the floor - to dress himself and as you cover your self with the covers, hiding your laughter.

The maid closes the door quickly. "My lady, your mother is coming to your chambers!"

Your eyes widen and you grab your robe, quickly dressing. You lead Aegon to the window, giving him a quick kiss before he starts to climb out the window. Your mother, not being the patient woman she is, bursts in just as you have to push Aegon right out the window with him landing right in the waters below. You manage to bite the inside of your cheek to hide your smiling as you turn to your mother.

You have lots of thinking (and explaining) to do if this ever got out.

OMG THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS IN!!!! this was so adorable 🥺🥺🥺💖

think you swapped the brother’s names around but THATS OKAY, I got you!!!!

is it wrong that I want this? ugh the angst and the secret sex would be *chefs kiss* !!!

thank you for taking the time to write and send this nonnie xx

[hyephyep]

fic idea i had forever ago but will probably never write: a support group for ppl on the other end of hanahaki confessions, that didn't return the feelings. specifically a world with the more extreme and iffy version of hanahaki, where the only two treatments are requited feelings or a surgery that has dubious consequences. (those consequences are ususally something about the feelings that inspired the hanihaki getting removed too but i might've changed that if i wrote this. having "love removed in surgery" being this big unthinkable consequence has iffy Implications, but also this fic idea is all about interrogating the Implications of hanihaki universes so i might've kept it).

anyways the fic is about exploring what the hanahaki world looks like offscreen, away from the relationships where it works out bc they both loved each other and just needed a push to admit it. a look at what happens when someone's life depends on you loving them back, but you don't love them back. They didn't ask for it, and neither did you, but you're both stuck in this shitty situation together. What do you do then?

There'd be a variety of experiences in the support group.

People who lied to save a life, and the resulting fallout once the flowers were gone and the "relationship" wasn't working out. Going through the motions, wondering when it'll be safe to come clean and dreading the hurt it's going to cause. Maybe one of them thinks they could learn to love the confesser, that returning the feelings is a lie now but doesn't have to be in the future. How long do they keep that up? How long did these people live a life they didn't want to save someone else's? How long before you can be sure that the flowers won't just come back even worse?

People who didn't know the person confessing to them had hanahaki when they turned them down, because the confesser didn't want to put that pressure on their shoulders. Or who were never confessed to at all, and didn't find out anything about it till long after the fact. The relief-sick feeling of "maybe I could have helped them" paired with "I'm so glad I didn't have to choose whether to harm myself to help them, that the choice was taken out of my hands." Is it okay to feel glad about that?

People that were honest. Who knew themselves, knew that they wouldn't survive faking it for someone else, and said, "I can't help you. I'm sorry. Look somewhere else." Maybe it was to someone they didn't know well, who caught feelings after a few passing greetings, and they never found out what happened after the rejection. Maybe they offered to split the cost on the surgery (some take the offer well. some act like it's the highest insult). One person tried to help the confesser fall out of love with them.

i don't have many specifics beyond "How many different ways might people handle an unrequited hanahaki confession? And what's it like to live with your choices afterwards?" Don't have any particular themes in mind. I just like the idea of taking an AU that's only fluffy and gooey (or an emotional journey but still ultimately happy in the end) if you don't look at it too closely, and looking at it INCREDIBLY closely. Stick that sucker under a microscope, we're doing some worldbuilding. What's popular public opinion on hanahaki confessions? Is the usual reaction to someone who doesn't love back their confesser sympathy? Judgement? Are there laws about this? Like how where I live in the real world, you are not legally obligated to donate your organ to someone even if it wouldn't kill you and would save their life. No one has the right to demand parts of your body to save their own. Would there be similar protections regarding no one having the right to demand love in the hanahaki universe?