it’s the way people hate criston for calling rhaenyra a “cunt” once (not good, but this man’s situation was unique and he otherwise respects women from what we have seen), and simultaneously think daemon is a feminist (he repeatedly called rhea “a bronze bitch”, murdered her in cold blood, groomed his niece, choked his pregnant niece, and fucked her immediately after the death of his second wife). criston’s loyalty and dedication to alicent has been all but unwavering both seasons, and daemon has spent the entirety of season two plotting against his wife (aka wife number three, aka the niece he groomed), and it took him, what, eight episodes to stand by her again? people really hate criston just because he was hurt about being used and his position being put in jeopardy (he said no. it doesn’t matter if we know that rhaenyra would ever tell anyone that they’ve slept together, he doesn’t know that). he has been loyal to alicent, loyal to her children (does daemon even remember his daughters’ names), loyal to their cause, while daemon seized the opportunity for power the first chance he got like a hungry dog. truly pathetic.
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im not the biggest alhaitham/kaveh shipper (because im a rare pair ho) but it seems to me that in alhaitham/kaveh getting-together fics tend to be... unequal.
the beautiful thing about alhaitham and kaveh is that they're both equally right and equally wrong and equally dicks about it. but the writers for alhaitham/kaveh much more frequently seem to give alhaitham the burden change (the burden of the character flaw) instead of kaveh.
in any good character arc, the main character has a fatal flaw or misconception, and by the end of that arc they have addressed that flaw in some definitive way. scrooge was a scrooge and learned that being that way was detrimental; merlin from finding nemo was overprotective to a fault and had to learn that he couldn't (and shouldn't) control everything and to let go; the wolf from little red riding hood learns that you should stop while you're ahead.
stories centering around romance tend to lean heavily on character arcs, which makes sense. and since romance generally requires two individuals to be vulnerable and open and emotional with each other, it makes double sense that alhaitham/kaveh authors zoom straight into alhaitham's lack of emotional vulnerability.
this bothers me.
in society, individuals are expected to experience and present emotions in a specific way. if someone dies, you cry. if someone smiles at you, you smile back. if you're at a party, you're supposed to be having fun. if you don't do these things, you're seen as impolite at best and a inhuman freak at worst. when these behaviors are frequent it's often viewed as emotional immaturity, or a lack of ability to feel at all. the inability or lack of willingness to conform to societies emotional expectations of you is seen as a flaw and a reason for exclusion.
alhaitham is canonically disliked and avoided for being the way he is. he prefers it this way, but that doesn't mean the people perpetuating this avoidance are in the right. they are the societal pressure to conform that alhaitham blows off. alhaitham could be the way he is for a lot of reasons: avoidant attachment style, trauma, following someone else's example (eg. his grandmother), or just his base personality. it doesn't MATTER. he is the way he is. kaveh having to accept that should be part of the story.
putting the burden of the fatal flaw on alhaitham, making the way alhaitham treats kaveh and the people around him the problem, feels invalidating. it implies heavily that alhaitham's way of interfacing with the world, alhaitham's very SELF, is incorrect. my suggestion is to flip a larger portion of that burden onto kaveh. kaveh 👏 character 👏 arcs 👏
some examples/recommendations:
- make kaveh project his insecurities onto other people but especially onto alhaitham; he's overly reliant on other people for his own self worth, and he perceives alhaitham's lack of positive feedback as a direct reflection of how alhaitham feels about him. but learns along the way that alhaitham doesn't hate him, kaveh's actual struggle is with hating himself and being unable to his own self as worthy of love. maybe throw in how you are responsible for your own recovery, other people can help but you can't rely on them to carry you through self actualization.
- or, kaveh tries to make alhaitham behave more like a "normal" person, to be more pleasant and emotive and forthcoming, and then realizes he's in the wrong for trying to make alhaitham into something he's not, possibly for all the wrong reasons (not because he likes alhaitham better like that, but bc society says that's healthier and a better/more conforming way to be)
- or you could go ahead make alhaitham's issues the main problem but they're too complicated to overcome in a short period of time, so kaveh has to accept alhaitham is doing his best in his own way and not push for unrealistic and unhealthy changes. he could alter his own behavior to give alhaitham space and time and a safe place to land.
that got sappy so it's past time for me to dip out. go forth and ship things; but maybe consider letting alhaitham be a rude stone-faced bastard if he wants to be.
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The Batman fandom infantilizing a near 30 years old white man taking in a child, saying he was a brother more than a father as if he wasn't a full grown adult taking in a child he could have birthed, but parentifying a brown young adult taking in his brother pre-teen for less than a year, saying he was a father more than a brother (only a year is barely enough but ok), or saying he was more a father to his other brothers than Bruce, when he met them when he was 18 and 21 is making me uncomfortable, ngl.
Like, Bruce is a "kid" when he became Dick's guardian when he canonically was over 25 (he started being Batman at 25), and a brother to him when he raised him for 10 years (and Dick probably has not many memories from before Bruce now), but Dick is a "father" to Damian he only had as his charge for less than a year, half of which they were fighting each others??? Make it make sense???
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fanfic idea wherein the strawhats come across a very dangerous pirate with the devil fruit ability to steal voices, who makes a sick show of “collecting” peoples’ voices, especially if they’re the voices of famous (or infamous) people, and Luffy sacrifices his voice to save Zoro’s life. Mute!Luffy ensues but he literally doesn’t care that his voice is gone. He’s just happy Zoro is okay. ofc the strawhats fight and get Luffy’s voice back (and manage to free everyone else’s voices in the process), and when Luffy gets his voice back he has the BIGGEST and purest laugh of the century
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Favorite and least favorite activities, if you’re willing to share?
Also, did you learn anything about what’s going on with the new guy down the hall? Sure, you were supposed to stay out of it, but you’ve got to at least be a little curious, right?
LEO: *quiet guilty thoughts because he can't ask about if Loki is like Loki in the movies* *pretending to know anything about Norse mythology*
MAGNUS: *overthinking about Uncle Randolf and the Loki symbols* *forgetting that Norse demigods aren't the only demigods bc they still haven't talked about his Greek cousin*
prev ask
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You know that headcanon that Peter can’t thermoregulate or has trouble with thermoregulation because Spider?
Which all basically boils down to Peter having more trouble in the colder seasons and he enters a state of lethargy
Right right anyway
How would this headcanon apply to someone who — before Spider — had Cold Sensitivity/Intolerance?
If it’s not fixed like Peter’s eyesight and asthma and becomes worse
Would they just straight up decease if they get cold???
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Rafayel is not queer coded because he has (supposedly) feminine aspects to his demeanor and personality and face, he's queer coded (to my burdeningly biggest bulging noggin) (and/or at least a good allegory for queer people or ig certain other minorities i don't know enough about to go on as much about) for having always been about breaking free (or trying) of rigid boundaries and passionately exploring the new even if it's forbidden (the sea's surface, land, the red of the blood of his beloved people mixed in the sea, MC)
one of few who's faced identity-centric pressures even higher than most already do (as a born god whose red strings of fate and love were meant to become puppet strings for a "follower" he once thought would simply be a bride)
and he's disliked the shallowness of humanity even when he's been forced to assimilate and after he's gone through such lengths to understand it in theory
and, you know, sea creatures have a higher tendency to be fluid (badumtss) about "gender", or even when some have binary-centric roles it can be in a way dissimilar to most humans', and queer people of all sorts have always been mistaken as inhuman and monstrous
and Lemuria is literally described as a place more centric on love and freedom
and he accepts change, but would never truly change only for others, as even with a few facades he is overall all about authenticity even with the sometimes smallest things (paint, loving MC not just because of the lost history but the present he does acknowledge as more important) even whenever it's more inconvenient or downright dangerous or makes others have trouble liking him.
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