#where she doesn't need to be powerful to be loved.

[adieutristana]

Hi! Can you make arcane characters x reader who is afraid of touch?

of course! thank you for the request <3

characters included; jinx, vi, mel, sevika, caitlyn

summary; arcane women with a girlfriend who is afraid of touch.

tags/warnings; hurt/comfort, (vague) mentions of past trauma, fluff, mentions of poor mental health

men dni.

jinx;

✧.* jinx is pretty understanding when it comes to fear of being touched. she is as well, for the most part. when it comes to a relationship, i think jinx would be incredibly touchy, but if you tell her that you're afraid and/or uncomfortable she'll give you the space that you need. yes, jinx enjoys physical touch, but she doesn't want to overstep any boundaries.

✧.* jinx will probably resort to words to show her love instead, though she's not the best with them. saying sweet things like "i missed ya, trinket! i've got something to show ya, yeah?" or "oh gods, you just look so pretty, it's impossible!"

✧.* jinx is the textbook definition of clingy. look up the word in a dictionary, and her face will be underneath. so she won't physically hang off your arm if you're afraid of touch, but she'll still follow closely behind you like some kind of lost puppy. it's endearing, honestly. jinx just needs to be close to you somehow at all times.

✧.* the closeness reassures her. she's used to everyone she lets in, everyone she cares about dying. so to share that proximity with you and have the reassurance that you're here, alive, with her, it means a lot more than jinx thinks you'll ever understand.

✧.* like i said, jinx is the same way to an extent. touch-starved, but also won't let anyone close enough to touch her. so when she met you, let you in and began to trust you, part of jinx did expect that touch. you're in a relationship, after all. but once you explain to her, she understands wholeheartedly!

✧.* also constantly showing her love through gifts and grandiose gestures. makeshift firework shows that are a fire waiting to happen? yep! music boxes that play your favorite songs (although slightly out of tune)? also yes! tagging walls in the undercity with your initials together in hearts! you bet! jinx will go above and beyond, she doesn't want to scare you off by doing something she knows you're afraid of

✧.* on the off chance you do let her touch you she'll be making sure you're alright, but also very very happy for those little moments.

✧.* pressing soft kisses to your cheeks while whispering, "you okay, sweetness?"

✧.* jinx doesn't really question you on these things, she just lets it be. if you say you're afraid of touch, then so be it. not a problem for her.

✧.* "come with me!" she'd say, using her hand to wave you over. "what's this about, jinx?" you'd ask, quirking an eyebrow. jinx would be giggling all the way, shaking her head and nearly skipping towards her destination. "don't worry about it, toots! you'll love it, i promise!"

✧.* knowing jinx, she's probably dragging you to the last drop after hours so she can show you how she decorated it just for you (don't question how she managed to pull that off), or she's taking you to her hideout to show you some of the gifts she made you. she's just so excitable around you, she can't help it

vi;

✧.* vi is a little confused at first i think, but that's just because of her need for communication and specifics. like yes, you're afraid of touch, but what kind of touch?

✧.* she has a loooot of questions. she's not trying to pry at all, genuinely just trying to understand you and where you're coming from better. is it alright if she hugs you every now and then? can she hold your hand? what don't you want her to do? do you need her to ask to touch you, or not touch you at all?

✧.* literally just doing everything in her power to not scare you off. vi has a good thing going with you, something real. the last thing that she wants is to fuck it up because she couldn't keep her hands off of you

✧.* vi is sooo so good with her words, though. a master at sweet talking you to show her adoration.

✧.* "you look so beautiful right now, y'know that? i mean- you always do, but gods, right now..." or something along the lines of, "look at you, all focused and stuff. you always amaze me, cupcake."

✧.* one of her defaults is that it's a trauma response, mostly because she knows that's most of where her sister's fear of touch comes from. she'll try to approach the subject delicately, letting you know that if you need to talk about anything she's here and she only wants to help. it can come off as slightly patronizing without her meaning to, so it really all depends on how you take it.

✧.* if it is a response, then fine, vi wants to help and support you the best she can. if not, then she backs off still, settling for just doing you favors and vocalizing her love for you

✧.* she will not let you do a damn thing if you're in a domestic situation. vi is so loving and attentive. she will handle the cooking, cleaning, laundry, all that... you just rest!!

✧.* honest to gods, vi is just such a sweetheart. literally whatever makes you happiest and most comfortable is done without question by her.

✧.* on the off-chance that your girlfriend does scare you or accidentally crosses a line, she'll be profusely apologizing. asking if there's anything she can do to make it up to you, this is the absolute last thing she wants.. if you need space, you've got it. need words of reassurance? consider it done. literally anything.

✧.* generally, i'd think vi is touchy but not enough that this would be a problem. she's versatile, she can show her love in a lot of ways!

✧.* "mm.. i'll do your laundry for you tonight. give you some time off." "vi, that's not necessary-" "shh. it's done. see? i'm already on my way, getting your laundry..."

mel;

✧.* honestly a bit confused at first. mel has grown up around war, tragedy, and despair, but she hasn't met many people who are just downright afraid of being touched- even in the midst of chaos.

✧.* she probably immediately goes to thinking it's because of something that's happened, though, only because of the war and tragedy that she's seen. she hasn't seen fear of touch in particular, but mel has seen a lot of things affect a lot of people in different ways. if it is, then she wants to support you, of course. if not, she still will do her best to show her appreciation for you in other ways.

✧.* mel is easily one of the most devoted and gentle lovers ever, and she has so many tricks up her sleeve when it comes to affection. we've already established that she'd be spoiling you constantly, but she'd also be using her words so well. i also think mel might be the type to write you poetry, honestly. is she the best writer? probably not. but damn, she pours her heart into it.

✧.* "hey, darling. i wrote something else for you, see?" she'd say while holding up another slip of paper, just to add to the collection of your endless others. "written just for my dearest girl."

✧.* mel is just so attentive. she'll probably be a bit protective, especially in public. even if it's just a stranger innocently tapping you on the shoulder to ask for directions to the station, she doesn't want you to get scared.

✧.* "aht- i'll handle that. directions, yeah? you'll go straight here, then take a left, and another left right past the council building." all before someone can touch you.

✧.* if you do allow any kind of touch later on, mel will tread lightly. it's not that she thinks you can't handle yourself or you're fragile, but she just wouldn't be able to live with herself if she scared you off somehow or hurt you.

✧.* light caresses to your cheeks, gentle hugs, guiding you by the small of your back, her head on your shoulder or lap. always so careful, but so sweet and loving

✧.* of course mel will have a lot of questions initially, but it's only because of her need for connection and understanding. she doesn't mean to push or prod, she just wants to understand her lover better and know exactly what is and isn't okay. what will make you most comfortable being with her, that's all that she wants

✧.* hands-down the best at comforting you if you do happen to get scared by touch, though it's usually not at her own hands.

✧.* "hey. hey, tell me what happened. i'm right here, you're alright." she'd say, her voice low and soothing. "nothing's gonna hurt you, nothing's gonna touch you. at least not while i'm here. just let me make things better."

sevika;

✧.* i don't think you'd really need to have a conversation with sevika about it. she's intuitive. the first time you flinched from her touch, trying to wrap an arm around your waist, she knew something was up and she backed off. she wouldn't ask, wouldn't push for more information than you're comfortable giving her. something in her tells her that it's a sensitive topic, and asking might make things worse.

✧.* if you want to talk to her about it, the floor is open. you know that she'll listen, she always does. but until then, she won't pry.

✧.* if you do decide to have that conversation with sevika, she'll take in and cling onto every last word. we've established time and time again how loyal and devoted she is, how she'll do anything just to make sure you're content. she'd listen attentively, taking note of every little thing that you say scares you, of every shift in tone of your voice.

✧.* "i... thank you for telling me this." she'd whisper, her eyes locked with yours. "you know you don't have to hide a thing from me, yeah? but i won't ask for more than you wanna tell me, either. just don't hold out on me, dove."

✧.* besides, sevika has a lot of other ways she can show her love to you. that connection can be achieved through other means! late night talks, bringing you to play games of blackjack and poker with her, etc.

✧.* that's actually one of her favorite ways to have fun with you: gambling! as odd as it may sound, it's one of her favorite pastimes, and getting you involved in her world is a big deal for sevika. someone who famously doesn't let anyone in. so for her to play games alongside you when she's typically merciless, giving you tips for your own hand, it's a big deal.

✧.* if you do allow sevika to touch you, it'll be fleeting and soft. almost as if she's afraid. it's only because she wants to ensure your comfort and sanctuary, really.

✧.* light kisses to your jawline as she whispers things like, "look at you, so beautiful," or "my sweet girl, you look tired. let's turn in, hm? i can hold you. or not. your call, dove..."

✧.* like she doesn't need to be told twice that you're afraid. sevika is very good with respect, very good with communication and laying off. she loves you, she doesn't want to make you afraid or uncomfortable at all if she can help it.

✧.* super protective in public, though. if anyone tries to touch you at all, even if just to push past you in a crowded place, she's immediately pushing them away from you and telling them off.

✧.* "hey. you lay off her, ya hear? thought we learned as kids to keep our hands to ourselves."

caitlyn;

✧.* i think caitlyn would also catch on pretty quickly. she'd ask just to be sure, but she's a smart woman. she can take hints, put pieces together, figure things out. the first time you inched away from her touch was coincidence, the second time was anything but.

✧.* naturally, cait brought it up with you when she got a moment that was just you and her. she tries to approach the subject with caution and care, as she doesn't want to scare you off or seem like she's aiming to force information out of you. but she loves you, and she worries.

✧.* "you can tell me things, love. i promise, i won't get angry. whatever it is, you can tell me."

✧.* she's understanding once you do tell her! she's been raised knowing devastation and war, though her upbringing is privileged. she still knows about trauma, about fear, about phobias, all that kind of thing. even if it's just a thing of general anxiety and you not wanting to let people in that way. she won't take it personally, she knows that this is just something innate within some people

✧.* caitlyn will likely resort to her words and acts of service instead. she's constantly doing things for you, trying to make your life easier in any way that she can. if there's some housework you need done, consider it taken care of. if you're feeling hungry, she's cooking your favorite without a second thought.

✧.* she might accidentally touch you without thinking- like a brush against your back or a grasp of your hand, but she immediately pulls back and apologizes the second she realizes what she's doing. she gets the hang of it rather quickly, but she's used to showing physical affection to her family and friends.

✧.* she still loves sharing a bed with you at night, but cait makes it abundantly clear that she doesn't expect you to cuddle up to her, and she won't hold you unless you ask her to. she's perfectly happy having you next to her, just your presence soothes her to sleep.

✧.* "shh... just sleep, dear. i'll be right here. you always look so peaceful when you're at rest, it's beautiful."

✧.* cait is honestly just so sweet and understanding, she'll do anything and everything in her power to make sure that you're at ease!

[ivoraic]

a/n: gender neutral, just a cute moment between you, the first years, and gojo

It's one of those rare, blissful mornings where there are no missions, no training, and no immediate disasters waiting to unfold. A morning where, for once, you can just exist without having to dodge curses, deal with absurdly powerful enemies, or get thrown into another one of Gojo's ridiculous antics.

So, naturally, it doesn't last.

You're sitting in the lounge, curled up comfortably with a warm cup of tea, savoring the quiet. The light streaming in through the windows casts a soft glow across the room, and for a moment, it almost feels peaceful.

Then, the door creaks open, and in steps Megumi.

He's always up early, his hair still slightly messy from sleep but his expression as composed as ever. His sharp eyes sweep the room before landing on you, lingering just a second longer than necessary.

"Morning," he says, voice even, though there's a slight stiffness in his posture.

You smile. "Morning, Megumi."

At that, his ears tint red. Just a little.

There's a pause, the kind of hesitation that comes with careful consideration. He shifts his weight slightly, hands buried in his pockets, before finally clearing his throat.

"I was wondering..." He glances away, the slightest furrow in his brows. "If you'd like to train with me today?"

He's so shy, so adorable, that you can't help but grin. You're already about to reply with an enthusiastic sure when-

BANG!

The door flies open, nearly coming off its hinges.

"There you are!"

Yuji bursts into the room, practically vibrating with excitement, completely oblivious to the moment he just destroyed.

"There's this huge event at the arcade today!" he announces, grinning wide. "If you beat the high score on this game, you get a limited edition prize! But it's a two player game, and I need a partner! So-”

He finally registers Megumi standing beside you, his face still slightly pink, and blinks. "Oh."

You open and close your mouth, blinking a few times yourself. "Well, I-"

But, of course, you don't even get the chance to explain before a third person walks in.

Nobara saunters into the room, flipping her hair over one shoulder as she drops herself onto the couch beside you, crossing her legs with effortless grace. She slings an arm over your shoulders like she owns the place, because honestly, she kind of does.

She yawns, stretching. "God, let's ditch these losers and go shopping." She smirks, nudging you. "I found this really good place downtown. Plus they have the best food court."

"Hey!" Yuji protests immediately, turning to her with an indignant pout. "I was talking to them first!"

Megumi, who has now gone completely ignored, just sighs, shaking his head in his hands.

And then, just when you think the situation can't get any worse-

He walks in.

Gojo Satoru.

He strides into the room, exuding his usual chaotic energy, hands in his pockets and that damn blindfold hiding whatever mischief is undoubtedly gleaming in his eyes. He takes one look at Nobara, seated far too comfortably beside you, and immediately shoos her aside.

"Move, move," he says, making an impatient gesture with his hand.

She scoffs, scooting away with an eye roll. "Ugh, seriously?"

Without hesitation, Gojo plops down in her spot, pulling you in close to his side, his long arm draped around your shoulders like second nature.

You let out a slow, suffering exhale.

"I should've just stayed in bed," you mutter under your breath.

Megumi, despite himself, chuckles softly.

But Gojo (because of course he hears it), gasps dramatically, hand over his heart. "What was that?!" he demands, fake offended. "You love spending time with me, don't lie!"

You sigh again, pinching the bridge of your nose, while Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi all exchange long-suffering glances.

So much for a peaceful day.

[firelxdykatara]

The thing that always hits me about season 5 is like... Buffy is just so fucking tired.

It comes on gradually, and of course season 6 is widely known for Buffy's depression arc, but the seeds are well and truly planted in the season before it because I think season 5 is when it truly starts to hit her that... she was never supposed to live this long.

Because throughout history, Slayers have been incredibly short-lived. They make it to adulthood if they're very lucky, and at the age of 23 Buffy is officially the longest-lived Slayer in history. At 20, she had already well surpassed the average, and she's really starting to feel it. It's no coincidence that this is the season when she starts giving up on the life of the normal girl she'd been so doggedly clinging to, refusing to give up just because she's the Slayer, since season 1. She drops out of college, her mom dies, Riley leaves (and she didn't even love him but he was something normal and good and she couldn't help but cling to him even when she knew she shouldn't and no thanks to Xander's terrible fucking advice but ANYWAY), she has nothing but being the Slayer and taking care of her sister--who isn't truly her sister but finding that out doesn't matter because she is in all the ways that count.

And she's tired. Because she's just one girl, one woman, with the weight of the world on her shoulders--and every other Slayer in history was eventually crushed by it, killed by the very darkness they were destined to fight (and die fighting), most of them never even making it this far. So she's standing there, hearing Dawn tell her that she has to let her go, to let her sacrifice herself to save the world because it's what she was created for, it's the only way- and she remembers.

Death is your gift.

And on the face of it, yeah, her death is the gift she gives to her sister to ensure she lives, and to her friends and the world to ensure they are not consumed. But also? Death is her gift. And it's not just realization dawning on her face in the rising sun--it's relief.

Because finally, finally, she can just let go.

She doesn't have to fight anymore. She doesn't have to suffer, or lose anyone else, or lose more pieces of herself. She can just stop. She can just rest.

Because the universe calls for one single champion, one teenage girl in all the world to fight all the powers of darkness and evil. And at the end of it all, the world offers her nothing in return except this--true and final peace. Death is her gift, and she rushes to meet it and she thinks finally, finally, she can just stop fighting. Stop everything. The world will be ok without her, there's always someone else to take up the mantle. She doesn't have to be the one everyone else is counting on. And she's so exhausted and so ready.

And then she wakes up in her own coffin. And all that suffering she thought she'd finally been allowed to escape crashes down on her a hundred fold, and of course she would stagger under its weight. But I think deep down some part of her blamed herself even for that. Because she'd been so ready to give up, stop fighting, end her own torment and then... her friends needed her back so badly that they ripped her from the only sliver of true peace she'd known since her Calling, and how could she say they were wrong for it when she feels so very wrong to her core for being so ready to let go in the first place?

Idk where I'm going with this, just feeling a lot of emotions about Buffy Fucking Summers today I guess.

[asooffa]

how did you come up with your designs for the ninja? they're some of the coolest ive seen in this fandom!

LONG POST INCOMING‼️‼️‼️

thanks for liking my designs!! honestly it took me a solid bit to make them look like the vision in my head and are NOT professional by any means,, but such is life

im putting more individual notes and explanations under the cut because i like yapping 👇

GENERALLY SPEAKING i wanted my ninja designs to feel slightly more traditional than they tend to lean in canon (s11 gis were my main point of reference). so most of my inspo draws from different culturally historical garmets and patterns. obviously i break a few rules and mash some things together.. but i wanted all of their silhouettes to be consistent as a team with room for individuality. the sashes, symbols and uniform shape were the most important for me to have across all ninja. i also wanted half the ninja to use gold and half to use silver as their accent metal. it feels less repetitive that way but is subtle enough to not make it the main focus? (if that makes sense) jay and lloyd also use more browns/leather than their respective metals for that added variation.

ok now i can talk about each ninja on their own

kai - POINTY. he has to be pointy but in a charismatic way and not a scary way. lots of gold accents to make it flashy without having to introduce a whole other color. short sleeves because he probably needs the breathability, same for his pants being a different material. i hc him and nya as thai so that's where i drew the siamese warrior influences from. also it incorporates more metal and he's a blacksmith

nya - her design reflects more in her samurai x days with SOME of the same influences as kai, and is a lot more symmetrical compared to the others because of that. so she gets samurai styled armor and surcoat. i absolutely MISS when they used red as an accent color for her so i kept that. her shape is more hourglass only because of how broad her clothes make her shoulders. kept her sleeves loose because i feel like that reflects flowing water better??? idk it looked good lmao

lloyd - he's THE mascot ninja so obv he has to have the most traditional shinobi silhouette. but i wanted to reflect on his half dragon and half oni situation by giving him a ton of asymmetry? so his shirt is color blocked to be a light and dark green, one sleeve is longer than the other, and i like the hc of him having a messed up arm 💀. idk what specifically but something about him gives the smallest bit of high fantasy too because that fits together in my head.

cole - im very biased when it comes to him so oops.. he's also got a lot of asymmetry going on but i tried to balance it out by placing the details on different levels, mostly using a mix of traditional seasian patterns. the beads are a must. i love the beads they've stayed on him since 2021. no sleeves and open chest because we need to be able to see his earth punch/spinjitzu burst ability and i do NOT wanna try and draw that on fabric. even with the *lack* of fabric, i still kept the fit of his clothes baggy so he can move around comfortably. big guy needs big clothes

jay - ok i hate this guy (im kidding). but because of his upbringing in a junkyard I wanted to kind of give off that same mismatched energy in his clothes. pure loser core. that's where you get details like the pins, the bandana, the stupid shorts over his pants, etc. he's clashing modernity with tradition in a way that still keeps his design harmonized with the whole team. he has to look a bit all over the place or else he doesn't look like himself imo.

zane - inspo came from tang dynasty armor mixed with traditional japanese shapes.. idk it seemed to have the same sort of power in elegance i associate with him and how he fights. his clothes are the longest and most modest out of all of the team, mostly to accentuate his height. still, its practical enough to protect him and hes still able to move with little restrictions because of the loose fit. he also gets purple as an accent color!! because cool tones.

in conclusion it was mostly **very shallow** research and trying to get in the mindset of what they would put out of preference and function,,, maybe i blacked out during the whole thing,, who knows,,,,

[crimsonxe]

Then you need to get in touch with Tumblr staff to fix something, because for me it popped a notif earlier today and those have no time stamp.

Um no what it says because of all those cases is that it didn't do what THEY wanted it to do. Right-wingers wanted it to not have LGBT+ or respect for femmes or to be anti-fascist. Far leftists want I guess for it to time travel to have more PoC, rush its LGBT+ pair, and become leftist propaganda vs. a story that has a progessive lean but isn't guzzling the kool-aid. The women of that bunch mentioned either simp for Adam, Ironwood, and/or Sun and thus want the story bent around them. On top of that throwing double-standards in the mix too. So far the track record is that every single left-leaned or neutral person that has come into the show in recent times has come away loving it and going "why is this spoken of like its trash? Its great." the latest case being NSAF.

Um no, Pyrrha was able to go toe-to-toe with Cinder a half-powered Maiden; that completely throws off power balance when Pyrrha already did that as is. Pyrrha alone could handle Mercury and Emerald probably, which isn't something one wants at v3 of a potentially 12+ volume story. On top of that ONLY she could stand a chance in hell of going toe-to-toe with Cinder in that moment. Mercury figured out her strategy but there was never a legit statement of him actually being able to take her on.

No, it didn't that was a MASSIVELY lower thing than the establishing Cinder as a powerful villain, the dark tone the series was heading towards from the light school arc, that death was a thing that was on the table, pushing Ruby to her first use of silver-eyes ability, etc. Yes, Jaune is the one with moments of remembrance of her due to being on her team and the two clearly having been going towards a romance; but that doesn't equate to her death being all about him. Hell if that were the case HE'D be the one rushing to where Pyrrha was to see her die and getting his semblance at seeing it, not Ruby.

Yes, she spent time with him like any character on a team does and characters in general fucking do with other characters cause y'know they're supposed to interact and be a team. Jaune doesn't even fucking go on to be some legendary swordsman, he's a damn support. The worldbuilding elements are the same case as with Sun, they're meant for the audience. Falling in love with him = yeah, no shit and her reason for it makes fucking sense. As for that last bit, yeah moron that's kind of the whole deal with secondary characters; especially when you know they aren't going past v3. While the with him goes to once again them being both on the same team and being romantically tied.

Um yeah, you actually are. Your whole bullshit about Jaune is in itself misinformation that gives the impression of him being far more important or a bigger thing in the canon; while then also having your dipshit ass pair it with "going against the subversion of sexist tropes" angle. Not only is it false af and based entirely in your biased warped ass vision of what happened vs. reality; but it also seeks to undermine a core aspect of the goddamn show. That its not really subverting sexist tropes and pro-femmes being center stage and badasses; because your dumbass watches scenes with a clear film over your damn eyes.

See the "what's harm" part of this would work like 8-10 years ago; but now one can't throw a rock without someone saying how they "heard RWBY was bad" hell some would even think it treats its femme characters horribly. Hell some actually think the show legitimately queerbaits (some do it for the meme others mean it), when it doesn't. THAT is the harm that gets done by dipshits like you spewing your shit which gets spewed by whoever saw your shit who then spews it to another.

Frankly I don't give two shits if its a 20 year vet of the film industry show or "amateurs"; only damn thing I care about is if its good and if it invokes eye-rolling sexist or queerphobic tropes. These "amateurs" do a better damn job than some others that try to touch on the same shit. Hell as much as I love Arcane, I wish they'd given Violyn the sort of multi-arc setup that BB had. I wish Dragon Prince had left Viren as a piece of shit, instead of giving him a redemtion arc. Like were there elements to it that were good? Sure, but it doesn't take back all the shit he did that crossed so damn many lines. That's just naming 2 cases. So take that angle and shove it up your ass too.

Say you never watched RWBY without actually saying you never watched RWBY.

Aromancy: "Wasted potential"

And thus you speak the same as Hbomb...meaningless lies with misinformation. Poor soul, who spreads lies happily to hate.

I watched up to about halfway through Season 4. Season 3 ended on a high point that had me excited for more, but basically nothing happened afterwards and I got bored and dropped it. I say the same thing as Hbomberguy because I agree with him; the show is an attempt at anime made by people who enjoy the superficial aspects of anime but fail to look beneath the surface to examine the themes.

Monty's fight scenes were excellent (and even after he died -rest in peace -the fights continued to be excellent; Pyrrha vs. Mercury is probably my favorite of the whole series), but his unwillingness to work hand-in-hand with the writers in charge of providing context let the whole show down.

I haven't seen past season 4 personally, but I've heard many RWBY fans disparaging the series since, especially Season 8, and I have no reason to doubt their testimony.

[harlivycentral]

Queer Identity in Poison Ivy (2022-)

I want to talk about the way the ongoing Poison Ivy series uses her queerness to deepen her character, exploring tensions between her tie to humanity versus the earth, her resistance to confining systems, and her problem with confrontation.

Under the cut cause I have a lot to say!

Ivy has been around since the 60s, and she was obviously not intended as a queer woman then. She was portrayed as a femme fatale, and her relationships with men were not usually ones of mutual respect. Instead, we saw Ivy weaponizing her sexuality against men in order to get what she really cared about (in early comics, that was wealth, which we later saw evolve into a concern for the planet). For example, in her earliest appearance (Batman #181 in 1966), we see her controlling Batman through a poisoned-lipstick kiss:

In her current iteration, this relationship to men/power/sexuality has evolved in interesting ways. I would consider her current iteration to have started with her storyline in Batman (2016) #41-43, Everyone Loves Ivy. I say Everybody Loves Ivy because I think that was when DC realized her character had been written in a lot of conflicting ways (in part because she had never had an ongoing solo series at that point, so got written as a side character in different series by many different writers) and started trying to give her a coherent characterization. You can read my master post summarizing that journey here, if you're interested.

In Everybody Loves Ivy, we see her at perhaps her most powerful. It's the culmination of her pheromone powers: she is able to use them to make everybody on the planet in love with her (except for Batman and Catwoman, who manage to get themselves an antidote before she takes full control of them).

As is typical with Ivy, this "love" she instills is a power grab: she intends to control everyone's actions so that they stop harming the planet. It's not a true, interpersonal connection. However, while she initially has Harley under her control, Batman (rightly) tells her that she isn't really controlling Harley that deeply, that she doesn't really want to be controlling Harley:

As we eventually see, Batman is able to break Harley out from under Ivy's control. Harley is the one who gets Ivy to let go of control of everyone else, too, by asking Ivy how she's doing and taking genuine care of her. Ivy's love for and interpersonal connection with Harley outweighs her need to weaponize her sexuality, her need for control. It brings her back to her humanity and makes her realize she doesn't want to save the planet at the cost of everyone else's free will.

In the fallout from this storyline, Ivy dies and is reborn, and we first see the new Ivy in the limited series Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn, in which Harley and Ivy are on the run from Woodrue. This sets up a theme that the current run of Poison Ivy is dealing with: Ivy running from her problems. But, again, Harley is the one to tether her to humanity.

In the Batman storyline where Harley & Ivy are finally made a canonical couple (Fear State), we see a sort of repeat of Everybody Loves Ivy. We're told Ivy has grown vines into the foundation of all of Gotham and could take the city down at any moment. She is convinced not to when Harley talks her down, though. Again, she loves Harley so much that she is able to extend that love to greater humanity and decides not to destroy them. We see the tension for Ivy between her want to use her unrestrained power to completely overturn corrupt systems with the reality of the harmful impacts the use of her powers will have on individual people.

The other love interest she has in the lead-up to her solo series is Bella. Bella is actually Ivy's ex-girlfriend, but we get the story of their past in James Tynion IV's awesome single-issue backstory for Bella, which also establishes the first coherent backstory for Poison Ivy that we have in this current iteration of her character. Her solo run ended up expanding on but not contradicting any of Tynion IV's version.Bella narrates the issue, and we see Ivy's relationship to both Bella and Harley to be quite lovely:

Above, we see her spend a "beautiful" summer with Bella. Later, when she is imprisoned, her relationship with Harley is presented as a lifeline for them both:

In contrast, we see Woodrue's exploitive relationship with Ivy. He's her professor who ends up doing experiments on her against her will, and we are explicitly told that she never loved him:

We also see her relationship to Batman portrayed as something very much outside of the flirty, femme fatale model it had in previous decades:

Given this backstory (and the fact that we have only ever seen her romantically/sexually involved with women since at least 2016), I personally interpret Ivy as a lesbian in her iteration. (They've never confirmed her sexuality as either lesbian or bi, so it's open to interpretation.) However you interpret her sexuality, her relationships with women are shown in clear contrast to her relationships to men in this comic. Her relationships with men are used to emphasize the harmful potential of power differentials and rigid systems.

Ivy's relationship with Bella is shown in contrast to her relationship with Woodrue. Ivy's relationship with Bella is about being in tune with her embodied self and following her desires. She connects to her "animal self," seeing this queer relationship outside of societal lenses which might condemn it. In contrast, her relationship with Woodrue is very much informed by the academic system in which they are working, and misuses his power within that system to coerce Ivy into an abusive relationship.

When Woodrue's experiments on Ivy ironically enable her to break free from her relationship with him, she recognizes and begins to fight the larger systems that enabled his interpersonal harm of her. However, then Batman comes in, stopping Ivy from fighting those systems and instead putting her in prison. As Ivy was dehumanized on an interpersonal level during her relationship with Woodrue, she is dehumanized on a system level in the prison system. But, again, we see her relationship with Harley in contrast to how Batman and the carceral system treat Ivy. We're specifically told that their love is borne from Ivy recognizing the way Harley has been abused like she was, and we see how both women help each other develop a sense of self that people in power and the prison system would rip away from them.

When Ivy's solo comic started, it continued to explore how individuals can hold strong against destructive systems. Ivy is shown as being outside a lot of systems in her solo comic. In Poison Ivy #10, for example, she's opposed to the capitalist system which drives the destruction of the earth:

I think this is very tied to her backstory, which shows her (whether you interpret her as lesbian or bi) as very resistant to/outside of the system of heterosexist patriarchy. We know from her backstory that she was abused by Woodrue, and that she sees Batman as another man who would try to use his power to keep her within systems she'd rather not confine herself to.

With the current understanding of Ivy as a queer woman who values overturning unjust systems, I interpret her backstory of as a "femme fatale" in earlier comics a little differently. To me, I read it as: Ivy is abused by specific men and systems as a whole because of her vulnerabilities (as a queer person and a woman). Her means of fighting back against this abuse is to sharpen her perceived weaknesses into a weapon. She leans into almost a caricature of femininity and uses it to manipulate men that might otherwise hurt her, either interpersonally or through their participation in oppressive systems.

However, this means of fighting back against the system doesn't allow room for Ivy to be her authentic self. She performs an idealized femininity for the male gaze, and--as we saw above in Everybody Loves Ivy--she can get tunnel vision on her end goal (of saving the planet, of overturning oppressive systems) at the expense of leaving herself any breathing room. In Everybody Loves Ivy, she was almost willing to sacrifice the chance for both herself and everyone else on the planet to have any sort of authentic relationship.

In her solo comic, we see a new iteration of those same impulses in Ivy. She isn't a femme fatale in this series--in fact, I don't thinks we see her almost (if ever?) weaponize her sexuality against men. Usually, she just threatens them with violence. Still, we see her at the start of the series willing to give up her personhood--her very life--in order to save the planet. She's cut herself off from her relationship with Harley and tries to keep herself from forming any new attachments on the road. Instead of leaning into what society expects of her, she's operating outside of society completely, ready to kill everyone and bring it all to the ground. But the effect is the same: she is completely cut off from what she as an individual might need or want, from room for any kind of authentic, interpersonal love. She want to be all plant, connected to a revitalized nature, and free from her human needs.

However, we start to see cracks in this stone-cold facade pretty early into her comic. First, in Poison Ivy #4, she takes on a temporary shipping job, and we see her come to the aid of her coworker, Jesslyn, after learning Jessyln's boss is sexually harassing her:

She then sleeps with Jesslyn:

I think it's important that her connection with Jesslyn, like we saw her initial connection with Harley, is borne out of a recognition of the ways they have both been abused by men in power. I think Jesslyn reminds Ivy of her own origins, that part of what initially drove her to try to overturn human society is the ways it cut her off from meaningful relationships (Woodrue luring her away from her relationship with Bella). Ivy reconnects with the part of herself that wants--not just her grand, moral wants but her small, human wants. She starts to question if there isn't something worth saving.

Say what you will about Janet, but her introduction in the series is a pivotal point in Ivy reconnecting with her human side. In Poison Ivy #8, we see her first start to really care about Janet's fate:

She ends up sleeping with Janet in issue #10:

Which she immediately regrets:

I think Ivy has two modes: either confronting everything head on, with a singular, grand goal in mind, or running from her problems. Ivy isn't good with nuance: she doesn't seem to really know how to go after saving the earth in a way where she can still allow herself any of her own identity and needs. When she starts to feel the cracks in her determination to kill all of humanity with her spores--when she starts to realize that this will mean killing innocent people like Jesslyn and Janet, people she might learn to care about, if she gives herself any breathing room--her instinct is to run away.

She doesn't run away literally this time, but I think she runs away figuratively in sleeping with Janet. She doesn't giver herself time to think about what this will mean for her relationship with Harley, about what this will mean for her relationship with Janet--she just does it. She's been denying her own personhood for so long that she sort of swings the other way, indulging in whatever she wants in the moment with no plan at all in mind.

Keep in mind that she's also just reunited with Harley, and Harley has always been the one who most re-grounds Ivy. It's a very re-connective experience for Ivy. Harley shows Ivy proof that she can still bring green things to life, not just kill people with spores. She then urges Ivy not to punish herself:

I think this reconnection with Harley overwhelms Ivy, almost, and contributes to her decision to sleep with Janet. Harley has always been the one to pull her back from the brink, and I think part of Ivy doesn't want that. She doesn't want to care about anyone. She wants to be able to save the planet without caring about the costs along the way, whether to herself or others. So I think she gives in to a bit of a self-destructive impulse, maybe even trying to blow up her relationship with Harley a bit, although we obviously see later that they work through it.

We see her work through things with Harley and literally confront her demons, defeating Woodrue and the fungal zombies. Just as she's working to find some sort of balance--a way to be in relationship with Harley, to be friends with Janet, to care for plants and humans at the same time--we see an ecoterrorist organization hold her up as their patron saint.

Now, I am suspicious about where the writers might go with this plotline, as her ecoterrorism has been pretty central to her character for a while. But I'm willing to see how it plays out, since I think an interesting point is being made that these people are dehumanizing her--in a different way than Woodrue and Batman and the prison system, sure, but by making her into an idol, they're stripping her of the nuance she's worked so hard to gain over the course of her series. Ivy's backstory shows her realizing how those with power can so easily manipulate it for abusive ends. Ivy's had power in the sense of her actual superpowers (lol) for a long time, but the idolization of this ecoterrorist group gives her social power in a way I think she's not accustomed to. She's a loner, and I think she associates the kind of power these people are putting in her hands with abuse. I think she's terrified that she'll mess up and hurt someone. She does not want or know how to use the kind of power they're giving her.

I'm also willing to see where the re-introduction of Bella goes. I do hate that there's clearly a mandate from DC editorial to keep Harley and Ivy apart. However, seeing as it's probably not coming from the creative team of the Poison Ivy team itself, I'm hopeful they'll do interesting things during Harley's absence. I love Bella as a character, and I think Ivy's instinct to fix their initial conflict with a kiss is in character for her. It's a bit of falling back to her old ways--of leaning into that femme fatale mode of from her past, weaponizing her sexuality to get what she wants, which is for Bella to make the ecoterrorism idealization of her go away.

I think it's a bit of a lot of things. I think it's a bit of Ivy wanting to reconnect with Bella on a personal level, to remind both herself and Bella of how they first fell in love just as two people, when they now find themselves meeting more as two political players navigating unjust systems with different methodologies in mind. I think it's a bit of that "run away" instinct, of giving in to what she wants in the moment to avoid having to confront all the complicated realities of what Bella coming back into her life (and in this way) means. If the writers continue to tease out all these threads in an interesting way, I'm still hooked.

This isn't to say I unquestionably love all the writing for this series. I find Janet annoying. I'm worried DC editorial is trying to soft-launch a harlivy breakup without the backlash, and that we won't see Harley and Ivy on the page together in any meaningful way for a long time. I'm worried that this current plotline is going to devolve into a very centrist/liberal take on Ivy's want to overturn the system and save the earth instead of a nuanced exploration of agency and power.

But. I also like a lot of the writing. Ivy in this series is one of the most fleshed out and realistic queer women I've ever seen in the pages of a mainstream comic. Overall, I think there's something really powerful about the way Ivy's sexuality (both her queer identity and sexual behavior) is portrayed in the ongoing Poison Ivy series. Ivy's only had a solo series since 2022, so Ivy and Harley's queer relationship was first hinted at in other comics and portrayed very differently by those writers. It was hinted at in the pages of Batman and then more strongly in Harley Quinn. At times, it's been quite sexualized in a way obviously intended to appeal to male viewers. In Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti's run of Harley Quinn, for example, Harley and Ivy are portrayed as "girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy" (x), which allowed the writers the "best of both worlds": Harley was implied to be dating Ivy and a character Mason at the same time, and she flirted with everyone from Batman to Power Girl. Harley was often drawn in quite sexualized ways; although I personally think this run added depth to Harley & Ivy's relationship, there were other times that their implied hookups were clearly meant to just be sexy and not to add any depth to their characters.

Even the statement alone that they were "girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy" shows that the writers didn't have a vested interest in portrayed a nuanced and realistic portrait of a non-monogamous relationship, as people actually in these relationships will often talking about having to work through feelings of jealousy as a part of making those relationships work. Non-monogamous relationships take work and communication like any other, and earlier series didn't necessarily portray them that way.

Even before her relationship with Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy has long been a character that was highly sexualized. In her current solo comic, though, she's portrayed as sexual without being sexualized. When she sleeps with Jessyln in issue #4, we're shown their shadows on the wall instead of anything more salacious. When Ivy and Harley are shown in bed together in #9, they're not drawn in a particularly "sexy" way, and the emphasis is on their emotional connection to each other. When Ivy sleeps with women in this series, as I've talked about at length above, it always deepens her character. Her relationships with these women--whether they're one night stands, situationships-turned-friendships, an ongoing & longtime romance, or an ex-turned-leftists-squabble--allow her to messily explore who she really is and what she really wants. The Ivy we see is confused about her political goals, about what using her powers for "good" should look like--and that makes sense, on a meta-level, for a character who has never had the breathing room of a solo series to be anyone besides the villain, the anti-hero, or the girlfriend in someone else's story. Let's let her be messy for a while longer. Hopefully, something beautiful will grow out of it.

[ruleroftheimps]

I'm just going to throw this out here. Vox only seems as weak as he does because of his role in season one. All the Vees had a scene where they lost control and were just honestly pathetic, and a scene where they were cool and collected, but because of how it's set up, it looks like people completely overlook Velvette being pathetic and focus on Vox's patheticness. Which is fun to play around with, but I feel like a lot of people just don't acknowledge he's, in theory, a fairly decent threat, especially against the Hazbin Hotel. There's definitely going to be a reason he's one of the main antagonists.

It's sort of long, so cut here lol.

For starters, to back up my claim of they were all pathetic at some point, when we first meet Velvette, she's throwing a hissy fit about Val. He's literally right there, and yet she can't be assed to do anything about it and instead calls Vox to solve her problems for her, and then complains about Val ripping apart her models, despite her not doing anything. People love to riff on Val and Vox for being man children, which, yes, they are at times, but they completely disregard the fact that when we first meet Velvette, she's acting like a spoiled brat. Valentino is the same, throwing a fit about Angel Dust. They're all equally pathetic.

The thing is, Velvette and Valentino were glossed over fairly quick. Vox had a whole song about it.

The same thing about them all being equally cunning and collected, which I actually doubt myself. I think Vox is the most collected of them all, not Velvette. Yes, he did the same, basically had a temper tantrum when he found out Alastor came back, but it makes logical sense when we look at their interaction later and Vox is scared of him. He's worried. But once he calms down, he sits down and comes up with a plan that's actually very logical and well-thought out. Er, to some extent. Picking Pentious probably wasn't the greatest, but I think, based on the drones we see everywhere later on and his reaction to Pentious getting caught, Vox wasn't taking Valentino's idea of putting a spy in the hotel seriously. He's nonchalant, and has a backup plan. And the way he handled the paparazzi is a sign that he IS able to deal in high-stress situations with ease.

And no, that's not saying Valentino and Velvette don't have their moments. In Masquerade, Val's smart about how he approaches Charlie being there, and Velvette's extremely clever in Scrambled Eggs (Er, possibly. I doubt she and the other Vees didn't talk about it before hand and theorize then, and their goal was NOT to start a way but to gain info, but her noticing Carmilla's reaction was definitely a point for her.). But they're not more clever than Vox, they just get more screen time as actual villains, probably because of their roles in this season. Velvette's there explicitly to set up for the reveal Carmilla killed an angel, and Valentino's meant to be the main enemy of Angel Dust throughout the series to build his character. Vox? Well, right now we just need to know he exists and doesn't like Alastor, for future plot lines. And also comedic relief in episode 8, because, come on, almost everything he says in that episode is just funny. (And also emphasizing how much he hates Alastor/is obsessed with Alastor losing) And yeah, the pacing about introducing him could have been better, building him up to be a threat and then having Alastor take him down, but for 8 episodes, they did a fair job. And a part of me wonders if we're meant to overestimate Alastor and underestimate Vox, especially after the Adam fight.

And why I say he has the potential to be a big threat to the Hotel has to do with the scene we have when he's getting introduced, and what we see in Helluva Boss about Voxflix being on Blitzø's phone. He's everywhere, he has power over his viewers, and his grip on media is so tight, even Hellborns use his services. What's the Hotel's main issue at the moment? A lack of guests, which is at least in part caused by poor advertising. Anybody else think it's not coincidence the 'emergency broadcast' happened just as the Hotel's advertisement began to play?

Tl;dr, Vox is more powerful than people seem to believe, even if he's pathetic as all hell a lot during his limited screen time, probably mostly because he has no big role in the current season.

[brightvelvet]

I'm going through season 1 of Rings of Power again before I start watching season 2. There's so much to talk about, but what I want to talk about here is Halbrand. Specifically, Halbrand and what he meant to Galadriel. **NOT WRITTEN WITH HALADRIEL IN MIND**.

For one, looking at interactions, these two don't feel like friends. There's no casual exchange of friendly words or touches. Galadriel looks at Halbrand and sees so many things. He's rough around the edges and wary, handsome if grody, and too clever. His goodness wasn't apparent from the get-go, and it appeals so well to Galadriel's own seeming struggle with darkness. They're equals, but Galadriel's watching Halbrand to see what he does as much as he's evaluating her.

Galadriel wasn't being wise or powerful when she kept coming back to Halbrand and his potential royal bloodline. To be clear, she doesn't trust anyone. She can only go to him because he won't care enough to use her and he's too kind to say no. Most importantly, she recognizes his type, someone she doesn't want to leave by their lonesome. Maybe it was selfish of her, to keep dragging Halbrand into her journey, but I don't think so. Halbrand was a cracked reflection of her flaws and strengths, and so she treats him not like any friend or ally. She treats him like he's cut from the same cloth as her, like he's a mirror of herself. She pushed him like she wished someone would push her. Unfortunately, we know that Halbrand was incredibly receptive to this.

For two, Halbrand's reciprocation to her actions just enflames their strange, intimate dynamic. Galadriel pushes hard, asking more and more of Halbrand and it seems harsh from the outside. Yet Halbrand stays with her step by step, taking in her commands and demands. Galadriel pushes so much of her own expectations on him and when she thinks of him the words -thank you- must surface. She realizes how tired she is of carrying everyone's expectations alone. Her gratefulness and guilt for him sharing her burden are what finally manifest Halbrand as that mythical King in her mind. Not his silver tongue or Southland's crest. They speak the same language, 'favors' as a weak cover for the fact that they are too loyal to ever refuse the other. She meets him at the bow of the ship and acknowledges this attachment. It becomes something she holds close to her chest in the absence of anything else. Not love, but some type of dream fantasy/fulfillment where Galadriel doesn't have to fight alone.

For three, Galadriel watches Halbrand fight the orcs and it cements something in place. Galadriel appreciated Halbrand before, was grateful and saw good qualities, but here we see that she genuinely doesn't want to let him go. She was never interested in redeeming his bloodline, not really. The 'bloodline right' was to convince other people of her cause and his glory. She never needed a material reason to want better for him. But now it sets a line between them. He was her equal when he was a low man but now he is a King and he has other obligations. It threatens to drag him from her, and I mean drag because he's demonstrated on a few occasions that he's just as attached, and she's conflicted. Maybe some part of her wants to grab him and run. It's not simple, what she feels for him. It's not simple what his person does for her. And the thing is, she knows what the correct course of action is. He looks noble, acts noble, and hundreds of Southlanders need him. He would be the King they were Promised. So she begins to let him go in her mind, loosen her dream from her heart, because she won't keep him. He'll become one of her ideals (like Elrond, like her husband, like her brother) and she'll remember their time together as bittersweet.

In the end, Sauron grows impatient of Halbrand.

Her dream dies when Halbrand eventually asks for the one thing Galadriel wouldn't give.

Halbrand himself dies a dishonorable, screaming death. His pupils shrink to slits, his eyes shot through with red. His teeth become ungainly and sharp. His skin turns grey and darkens with visible veins.

Galadriel turns her blade against him.

She'd looked up to him on his mortal, Kingly pedestal. She'd envied him, been so proud, and wanted to steal him away. And in the wake of his utter betrayal, she has to try and think past the flames.

Halbrand's dead, even if he never existed in the first place. She can't mourn him, for so many reasons, and she must immediately get ready for battle because her massive fuck-up could cost the lives of everyone she loves.

Halbrand's ghost will haunt her though, and I'm sure not just in the form of her worst nightmare come to life.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Petard (Part II)

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/31/the-blood-speech/#dudeface-from-chiapas

Biden's FCC unanimously passed a rules banning landlords from accepting kickbacks to force all their tenants to use one ISP as a rental condition. Last week, Trump's FCC boss Brendan Carr (who voted for the rule just last year) killed it, saying that he was sticking up for tenants, who would somehow save money from this sleazy arrangement:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

In some ways, this is to be expected. The Trump agenda is about trussing and plating working people so rich sociopaths can conveniently devour them whole. On the other hand, this move lays bare the long-run historical phenomena that led to this moment. Case in point: back in 2013, I wrote a sf story about this very subject, Petard, which was published in MIT Tech Review's 2014 anthology Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Bruce Sterling:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

I love that story, and upon re-reading it, I realized that it was extremely timely. So timely, in fact, that I decided to serialize it over four days on my newsletter. If you're feeling impatient, you can tune into a four-part podcast version from 2014 and 2018:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

Here's part one of the story:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#part-one

And now, onto part two!

My advisor is named Andronicus Andronicus Niyazov, and her parents had a sense of humor, clearly. She founded the Networks That Change lab three years ago after she fled Kazakhstan one step ahead of Gulnara's death-squad, but they say that she still provides material aid to the army of babushkas that underwent forced sterilization under old man Karimov's brutal regime. Her husband, Arzu, lost an eye in Gezi. They're kind of a twitter uprising power-couple.

I'm the only undergrad in the lab, and the grad students were slathering at the thought of having a bottle-washing dogsbody in residence. Someone to clean out the spam filters, lexically normalize the grant proposals, deworm the Internet of Things, get the limescale out of the espresso machine, and defragment the lab's prodigious store of detritus, kipple and moop.

Two days after telling them all where they could stick it, I got a meeting in AA's cube.

"Sit down, Lukasz," she said. My birth certificate read "Lucas," but I relished the extra consonants. I perched on a tensegrity chair that had been someone grad student's laser-cutter thesis project. It creaked like a haunted attic and its white acrylic struts were grubby as a snowbank a day after the salting trucks. AA's chair was patched with steeltape, huge black cocoony gobs of it. And it still creaked.

I waited patiently. My drop was in my overalls' marsupial pouch, and I stuffed my hands in there, curling my fingers around it and kneading it. It comforted me. AA closed the door.

"Do you know why my lab doesn't have any undergrads?" she asked.

I gave it another moment to test for rhetoricalness, timed out, then gave it a shot. "You don't want to screw around with getting someone up to speed. You want to get the wo rk done."

"Don't be stupid. Grad students need as much hand-holding as undergrads. No, it's because undergrads are full of the dramas. And the dramas are not good for getting the work done."

"Andronicus," I said, "I'm not the one you should be talking to –" I felt a flush creeping up my neck — "they –"

She fixed me with a look that froze my tongue and dried the spit in my mouth. "I spent four years in Dolinka prison in Kazakhstan. Three of my cellmates committed suicide. One of them bled out on me from the top bunk while I slept. I woke covered in her blood.." She looked at her screen, snagged her attention on it, ignored me for a minute while she typed furiously. Turned back. "What did your labmates do, Lukasz, that you would like to talk to me about?"

"Nothing," I mumbled. I hated being dismissed like this. Of course she could trump anything I was inclined to complain about. But it was so… invalidating.

"Never forget that there is blood in the world's veins, Lukasz. You've done something clever with your years on this planet. You're here to see if you can figure out how to do something important, now. We want to systematize the struggle here, figure out how to automate it, but eventually there will always be blood. You need to learn to be dispassionate about the interpersonal conflicts, to save your anger for the people who deserve it, and to channel that anger into a theory of action that leads to change. Otherwise, you will be an undergraduate who worries about being picked on."

"I know –" I said. "I know. Sorry."

She held out a hand to stop me fleeing. "Lukasz, there is change to be had out there. It waits for us to discover its fulcrums. That's the research project here. But the reason for the research is the change. It's to be the bag of blood in the streets or the board-room or the prison. That's what you're learning to do here."

I didn't say anything. She turned back to her screen. Her fingers beat the keyboard. I left.

I pretended not to notice three of AA's grad students hastily switching off their infrared laser-pointers as I opened her glass door and walked back out to the lab. Everyone, including AA, knew that they'd been listening in, but the formal characteristics of our academic kabuki required us all to pretend that I'd just had a private conversation.

I pulled my laptop out of my bag and uncrumpled its bent corners. I'd only made it a week before and I didn't have time or energy to fold up another one. It was getting pretty battered in my bag, though, the waxed cardboard shell getting more worn and creased in less time than ever before. Not even my most extreme couch-surfing voyages had been this hard on my essential equipment. The worst part was that the keyboard surface had gotten really smashed — I think I'd closed up the box with a sharpie trapped inside it — so the camera that watched my fingers as they typed on the letters printed on the cardboard sheet was having a hard time getting the registration right. I'd mashed the spot where the backspace was drawn so many times that I'd worn the ink off and had to redraw it (more sharpie — a cardboard laptop owner's best friend).

Now the screen was starting to go, the little short-throw projector attached to the pinhead-sized computer taped inside the back of the box was misreading the geometry of the mirror it bounced the screen image off of, which keystoned and painted the image on the rice-paper scrim set into the laptop's top half. The image was only off by about 10 degrees, but it was enough to screw up the touchscreen registration and give me a mild headache after only a couple hours of staring at it. I'd noticed that a lot of the MIT kids carried big plastic and metal and glass laptops, which had seemed like some kind of weird retro affectation. But campus life was more of an off-road experience than I'd suspected.

But I'd never go glass-and-plastic. AA thought that the way to win a war was to shed your blood. I have a limited supply of blood. There's a lot more cardboard out there. Why fight with meat and blood when you can use free infrastructure and good code to organize a resistance. You'll never win a war of atoms against the Powers That Be. They'll always have more lethal atoms. When they're hitting you with a baton, your glass-and-plastic number will crumple just as surely as a cardboard laptop. The best way to beat a policeman's baton was to be somewhere else when he was swinging it.

I spent fifteen minutes unfolding the laser-cut cardboard and smoothing out the creases, re-sticking everything with fiber-tape from an office-supply table in the middle of the lab, and then running through the registration and diagnostics built into the OS until the computer was in a usable state again. The whole time, I was hotly conscious of the grad students' sneaky gaze on me, the weird clacking noise of their fingers on real mechanical keyboards — seriously, who used a keyboard that was made of pieces anymore? Was I really going to have to do that? — as their chatted about me.

Yes, about me. It's not (just) ego: I could tell. I can prove it. I was barely back up and running and answering all my social telephones when some dudeface from Chiapas sat down conspicuously next to me and said, "It's Lukasz, right?" He held out his hand.

I looked at it for a moment, just to make the point, then shook. "Yeah. You're Juanca, right?" Of course he was Juanca. He'd been burned in effigy by Zetas every year for four years, and his entire family, all the way to third cousins, were either stateside or in Guatemala or El Salvador, hiding out from narcoterrorists who were still pissed about Juanca's anonymizer, a mixmaster that was the number one go-to source of convictable evidence against Zeta members whose cases went to trial. If it wasn't for the fact that Juanca's network had also busted an assload of corrupt cops, prosecutors, judges, government ministers, regional governors and one Secretary of State, they'd have given him a ministerial posting and a medal. As it was, he was in exile. Famous. Loved. It helped that he was rakishly handsome — which I am not, for the record — and that he had a bounty on his head and had been unsuccessfully kidnapped on the T, getting away through some badass parkour that got captured in CCTV jittercam that made him look like he was moving in a series of short teleports.

"Yeah. You got the blood speech, huh?"

I nodded.

"It's a good one," he said. I didn't think so. I thought it was bullshit. I didn't say so.

We stared at each other. "Welp," he said. "Take it easy."

[lovecharmforyou]

…. just asking this out of curiousity but… any ideas or headcanons on Hyunju x Sangwoo 👀? If you do requests like that ofc. Can always request smth else.

~hyun-ju x sang-woo headcanons/ideas~

this is my first time making headcanons! Sorry if the format isn’t perfect and kinda random haha. I had so much fun making this though hope u like. thanks so much for sending in this ask. I love that u fully made this ship btw I support so hard! Feel free to send In more asks!

— Sang-woo straight up offers to pay for Hyun-ju’s surgery 101 times but Hyun-ju is always too polite to accept money from him. Regardless, Sang-woo is always be willing to spend money on Hyun-ju- even if it’s his last 5$, in a second he’ll spend it on her

— Sang-woo lowkey wants to be a sugar daddy!husband

— When they first start getting to know each other, (outside the games) all Sang-Woo can do is buy Hyun-ju gifts with a quiet nod of the head when he gives them to her. It’s not him wanting to be the rich one showing off, or the powerful one of the two, he just doesn't know how else to show his affection yet. Its how he tries to woo her, but Hyun-ju ends up telling him she doesn't need the gifts or anything to spend time with him! She just wants to be with him

— Gift giving is 100% his love language and quality time is hers🥹<33

— In the games together, his brains and her skills… Them teaming up would be dangerous for everyone else, they could win every game so fast but- Hyun-ju would be wanting to save all these people and Sang-woo wouldn’t exactly want that, with every aspect he has to consider in each moment. But Hyun-ju knocks sense into Sang-woo and convinces him to help her help the rest of their team and friends they made on the inside.

— He’s smart, cynical and a little dark. So naturally he wants a very large portion of the money for himself, but he really takes into account what she says and softens up. Plus, he’d fold immediately and helps her with everything she asks of him after seeing how much she cares about these people and how they make her happy (and realizing how much he wants to make her happy))

— She helps him learn to be kind. She brings it out of him.

— Hyun-ju also brings out his protective side

— She brings out the best in him and he brings out the worst in her— the part of her that is seething with the world, and he sees that part of her and he loves every part of it. He wants to see the dangerous, strategic and tactical part (he sort of sees himself in her, although she is much more unconditionally nice), the spiteful part of her. But he also very much loves the overwhelmingly large sweet side of her. The caring and kind part that makes up most of who she is.

— Meeting in the middle of the good and bad parts of themselves, they use their skills together to win the games with the people they’ve grown to care about in there.

— After they’re out, he follows her to Thailand. Knowing how precious she is, how different and unlike anyone he’s ever met before, he'd never let her go ever again

— Late at night just two of them they’d smoke cigarettes on the beach and watch the stars twinkle

— Sang-woo would propose in a shockingly fast amount of time, under the bright moonlight of a full moon, completely silent other than the sound of waves washing up on the beach. The Intimate moment shared only between the two.

— (Hyun-ju totally cries and is a little bit in disbelief, but saying yes would be the easiest decision of her life)

— Him being so traditional, he puts a big-big diamond ring on her finger and absolutely loves it, as does she

— Their play-fights would turn into a real competition fast. At first, Hyun-ju would feign weakness and lose. But once she gets more comfortable around him, she'd let loose and let herself show her true strength and be her honest unapologetic self. She never thought it was possible to be so okay with being herself with another person. And to be so validated doing so. During their first “playfight” where she lets herself use more strength and technique, she surprises him and catches him off guard, pinning him to the ground. He looks at her in with a small expression of awe, while attempting to be as respectful as ever, he wouldn’t be able to hide the look of amazement on his face

— He's smitten with her strength, her mind, her abilities, to be kind, to be selfish. All of it, all of them.

— And she would love him the very same, and knock some much needed sense into this man

-

I <3 Hyun-ju x Sang-woo

[inkydavinkygal]

Introducing The Latest Crackship: Bookworm × Bookworm.

Introducing a new personal favorite crackship: Becky Botsford/Wordgirl, a powerful alien superhero who has an extensively wide range of vocabulary and intelligence, and Whyatt Beanstalk/Super Why, the younger brother of Jack Beanstalk and a powerful reading superhero who's only three inches tall, minimum.

Why did I choose to ship these two, especially since Wordgirl and Toby are a popular compatable ship? Well, like any crackship, it doesn't always have to make sense or be from the same universe. Honestly, I just saw their shared love for literature and being bookworms being the main focus of their relationship. Besides, Wordgirl having a boyfriend whose only three inches tall doesn't bother her.

At least he's easy to carry around or ride on her shoulders: she just needs to be careful where she sits.

[pearlsdefenseattorny]

i feel like some su fans don't realize Pearl isn't keeping a promise when she covers her mouth, she literally cannot speak of it because Rose made it a command, not a suggestion/request.

picture from end of an era

we know from an interview (cant find it) that Pearl's compulsion to obey the command is unique to Pearl - that no, Garnet wasn't forced by Rose to never ask questions. Pearl is uniquely programmed to obey a direct command like that because she was designed for Pink. this is a horrifying little bit of worldbuilding lol, thanks crewniverse - but it definitely makes Rose's act go from manipulative to outright egregious

what Rose does here to Pearl (by gagging her), is what the diamonds do to all gems. it's a highly institutionalized violation of agency that robs every gem, especially those of lower caste, of freedom, individuality, and autonomy. quantifiably, the gag order doesn't rob Pearl of much (there's only one thing she can't do after all), but for Rose to silence Pearl at all, to take away her voice, has enormous implications thematically and for Rose's character. Rose knows Pearl isn't able to resist the command, she gives it with the intention of taking advantage of her innate programming (designed by, and representative of, a system they both hate!) to forcibly prevent disobedience. this is WHILE she's trying to establish equality between them! if i were Pearl, i know id struggle with understanding where i stand. the signals are mixed as hell.

and we know Pearl wasn't sure she was equal, even after Rose's death. one example being - "who am i now in this world without her? petty and dull with the nerve to doubt her." i think occasionally members of the fandom fail to recognize or overlook that especially in her worst moments, Pearl STILL felt less than Rose, not only hierarchically but just fundamentally worth *less.* it's a struggle she eventually overcomes, yet during the run of the show, she's still fighting that battle. we also know from ep 2 of future (wherein steven tries to give all the gems non-homeworld-purpose related tasks), we know gems tend toward their original designed purpose.

but this isn't a Rose hate post and i wouldn't be caught dead writing one.

so what was happening when she gave the gag order? we know from the episode "bismuth," rose told bismuth she could be anything she wanted to be, that gems could choose for themselves. rose fought a whole war to free any gem who wanted to be free and to protect humanity. she told garnet (practically) to make her own identity and create her own purpose. how is this the same person who abused her power over pearl to make her keep a secret?

in end of an era, rebecca says: "[rose] makes sense once you know she is her own worst enemy. she dreams, achingly, that she could become compassionate, because she's sure she is incapable of compassion. her lack of respect for herself makes it impossible for her to respect everyone closest to her."

and that therein is the tragic heart of the problem. Rose hates herself. she wants to change, she wants to be good, but even when she IS good - she can't see it for what it is, past her own shame and self-disgust. it makes it "impossible to respect everyone closest to her" - including, and most damagingly (becuz of her purpose on homeworld and accompanying trauma), to Pearl. Blue and Yellow planted the seeds of self-hate, and developing her own value system on earth and learning to despise the diamonds' for the system they upheld reinforced that she, by just being a diamond at all, MUST be bad. she longed to be good but could conceive of no pathway to do so, except hiding her "villainy" permanently behind a "hero" mask and running away.

Rose couldn't even tolerate the slightest chance Pearl might say something, that's how deep the fear and shame ran, that she felt the need to do an absolutely horrible thing to a gem she very dearly loved in order to make sure her worst fear could never come true. people who need control need it to feel safe. it's kinda like that. the irony is that in trying desperately to hide that she's a diamond, she makes the fatal mistake of doing what a diamond does - controlling those beneath them in the hierarchy and reducing them down to their designed purpose. she tried hard not to be pearl's owner and not to treat pearl like her slave, but in this moment of finally escaping those roles, she embodies them briefly - with lasting consequences. it's an ego-dystonic betrayal of her own values impelled by self-hate and fear. it's heartbreaking for both of them.

Pearlrose's issues were varied but miscommunication was a big one. now they can't ever talk about it. what a difference it would have made if Rose hadn't done what she did. i wonder how often she wished she didn't (thought to herself, "pearl doesn't deserve that, how could i do that?"), then felt that fear creep back up, and maybe even wondered whether pearl's love was even genuine, or if it was totally hollow. in greg the babysitter she says, "When a gem is made, it's for a reason, they burst out of the ground already knowing what they're supposed to be, and then.. that's what they are. Forever." She says it almost sadly. like she's not sure she's anything but what she's always been, maybe even unsure pearl's anything but what she's always been. how can you trust someone to keep the deepest, most shameful secret of your life, if you're not even sure this person loves you sincerely?

we know Rose is tragically wrong here. she could grow and change. the gems are entirely capable of growth. every central character grows over the show- including Rose, we just watch it backwards! but she can't see herself for who she is and it's what doomed her.

isn't that the essential symptom of shame? Rose's self-loathing hurt not only herself, but Pearl (and Bismuth, Sapphire and Ruby, etc.) and she spent thousands of years healing from it. by hiding and hurting ourselves, we hurt others inevitably.

[armpirate]

RED || Jungkook | Ch. 5

MASTERLIST Previous ||  Next

Pairings: Demon!Jungkook x fem!reader  

Genre: smut, angst, fluff, fantasy, past life

Warnings: Explicit language, mention of death and suicide, demonology, violence, rough sex

Summary: Y/n thought her life couldn't get worse after losing her parents in a tragic accident. Years after, she's aware of everyone moving forward, while she's in the same place, isolated and alone. She struggles to find meaning in a world that seems indifferent to her grief. Desperate for comfort, to feel the deep connection she had been missing, she starts the manifestation, expecting an inoffensive entity to walk with her that rough path. What she doesn't know is that she awoke the mysterious entity tied to an old necklace around her neck.

Jungkook, a mysterious and seductive figure, appears in her life, offering the company she craves. But as his presence grows stronger, so does the unsettling sense that there's more to him -and the necklace- than meets the eye, unfolding all the reasons that took him to that place.

Now, as the past bleeds into the present, Y/n must fight with her growing feelings for the demon who seems familiar yet dangerous. Jungkook is determined to reclaim his power, but in doing so, he may doom Y/n once again. Bound by fate, the two are locked in a dangerous mix of love, redemption, and the looming threat of destruction. 

Will they break the curse that has haunted them both, or will history repeat itself with devastating consequences?

Chapter duration: 13 minutes

Chapter warnings: Explicit content, smut, explicit language, masturbation (female receiving), edging, unprotected sex

Two days had passed, and Y/n hadn't gone a moment without fuming over how Jungkook had disrupted her attempts to touch herself in peace. Every single time she tried, his voice intruded into her mind, dragging her into some kind of argument that completely killed the mood. It pissed her off to no end, leaving her in a perpetual bad mood.

She felt completely restricted.

Not only that, but he hadn't appeared in her dreams since then. Not that she had dreamt of anything in the past two nights -and if she had, she couldn't remember them.

Sitting on the stool behind the shop's counter, she forced a smile and nodded politely to the middle-aged women who wandered in to browse the racks of clothes. At that time of day, it was rare for anyone to make a purchase. Most of the customers came in after work, gave the dresses a quick glance -ones that indicated they'd probably buy them later in the month- and then left to return home. It was a routine she had grown used to.

"That lingerie would look great on you" Jungkook had whispered to her just the day before. She had snapped back, saying he'd need to let her finish first. His response had been to mimic her tone mockingly, saying she'd have to beg for it.

And then, just like that, he had vanished. For almost a full day, there had been nothing but silence.

It was the quietest he had been since his presence started manifesting. Usually, he was a relentless nuisance, inserting himself into every moment he deemed unacceptable -like when she focused too much on studying, for instance.

The silence, though welcome, left her uneasy. She found herself wondering what he might be doing, wherever he was. It wasn't as though he could do much, right? After all, it seemed like he depended on her to draw energy. In some ways, she felt like she had power over him in the real world.

She wished she could wield that same power over him in her dreams, where he always seemed to have full control. There, he commanded, and she obeyed without resistance, without second thoughts. Only once or twice had she managed to speak her mind, but even then, she had eventually caved to his will.

There had to be a way to gain full control. They were her dreams, after all. In the grand scheme of things, he was the intruder. She should be the one controlling him, forcing him to bend to her desires. That only made sense, didn't it?

As she googled ways to control lucid dreams, she started an internal countdown, waiting for him to interrupt. She could almost hear his mocking laughter already, telling her she'd never be able to control him no matter how hard she tried.

But the silence persisted. Surprisingly so.

And it remained for two more days.

Ever since, Y/n had tried three different methods to maintain some semblance of control over what happened when she closed her eyes, but none had worked. Jungkook hadn't appeared either, and she was taken aback by how affected she felt by his absence. She couldn't say she missed him, but over time, she had grown used to his presence, as maddening as it was.

Perhaps she really was losing her mind. Maybe he had been a figment of her imagination all along. If, after all that time, it turned out he was nothing more than an imaginary figure she'd created- like the ones she had made up when she was six-, she was sure the next place she'd visit was going to be a therapist.

With those thoughts, and like every other night, she managed to fall asleep.

Her eyes flew open suddenly, and she realized she was still in her room. Only then, there was a difference: he was standing right in front of her. She sat up straight, trying to get a clearer view of him.

—It took you long enough... —she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

He looked disoriented, as if he hadn't expected to be there. His eyes darted around, taking in the space, and Y/n knew he recognized it as her room-though, like his domain, it was bathed in the same red-filtered light.

—Where the fuck have you been? —she demanded, her voice sharp.

—More like, why the fuck did you take that necklace off? —he pointed to the pendant resting on her neck—. Were you trying to get rid of me?

—Wh...

She stopped as realization hit her. She only wore her necklace again that day after she realized she hadn't been wearing it, when she found it in her bathroom sink. And, judging by how angry he was, it definitely had to do with what he was able to do -or not.

Was she able to get rid of him so easily? It was as simple as throwing away that necklace?

—Is it really that simple? —she asked, genuinely surprised—. Good to know for the next time I have a Tinder night.

Her tone was teasing, but it was no joke to him. He shot her an annoyed glare, still standing at the edge of the bed, clearly waiting for an answer.

—I guess I forgot to put it back on after I took it off —she said with a shrug—, and it's been in the bathroom...

—Seriously... —he sighed heavily, glancing at the ceiling before letting his eyes fall back to her—. Out of everyone who could've manifested me, it had to be you?

—It's not like you told me I had to wear it to contact you —she snapped back.

—It's common sense —he sighed.

—No, it's not.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, visibly trying to rein in his frustration. When he looked at her again, his expression had softened, though his irritation still lingered beneath the surface.

—Why are we in my room? —she asked.

His confusion mirrored hers as his gaze swept around the space once more. He frowned, his mind clearly working through the situation.

—Tell me you didn't try to take control of your dreams on your own...

Her mouth moved faster than her brain, and before she could think better of it, she replied

—I just wanted to have some control.

—More? —his hands moved to his hips, his eyebrows raising in amusement—. You already have full control over me, and you still want more? —he chuckled softly, a hint of mockery in his tone—. Greedy girl... But again, not surprised at a human being like that.

—But... the dreams... —she stammered.

—I have the ability to appear in them whenever I want, but you're the one who controls what happens. You haven't cummed yet because you didn't want to. The only thing stopping me from fucking you stupid right now is you —his eyes glinted with wicked amusement—. You only gave me the power you wanted me to have. You're very selective with the energy you share with me.

—So... all that meditation was for nothing?

He nodded.

—You only changed the location —a sly grin spread across his face—. Thought that by having a middle ground, you'd get what you think you want?

She mulled it over for a moment before nodding hesitantly.

—Yes.

Her plan had been to gain answers: answers he wouldn't give her in the red room, which she considered his territory. She had hoped the familiarity of her own room would shift the power dynamic.

Clearly, she'd been wrong.

Out of nowhere, a chair slid into place behind him, hitting the back of his knees. He sighed dramatically, letting his head fall back before fixing his gaze on her again.

—You've got to be kidding —he muttered.

She shook her head, gesturing toward the chair.

—Sit like a 'good boy' and answer my questions.

—I'm not a dog.

—Sit —she insisted.

His jaw tightened, his tongue running over his cheek before he bit down on his lip ring. Despite his clear irritation, he sank into the chair, leaning back carelessly, his hands resting on his knees.

—First of all, what's going on with the necklace? —she asked.

—You used it to manifest me, and here I am —he said with a shrug.

She didn't use it to manifest him, she was just wearing it when she manifested him. She stopped, realizing that what made those videos work was the necklace, and not the fact that those guides worked at all.

—No —she narrowed her eyes at him—. Why does it have so much power over you?

—You don't need to know —his tone was firm, dismissive. He crossed his arms over his chest, the dark fabric of his shirt clinging to his muscles—. All you need to know is that you used a cursed necklace, paired with your little manifestations and selfish desires, it was the perfect combination to wake me up.

She thought back to when she had bought it months ago. Something about the necklace had drawn her to it: the intense red in the amethyst making everything else around it seem dull. She hadn't been able to resist it, even though she'd only been in the shop to find a birthday gift for Anthony.

—And your materialization? —she pressed.

He let out another heavy sigh, this time letting his head drop forward. His dark hair fell over his eyes, but he looked up at her with a sharp gaze.

—I'll only materialize when you truly need me in your real life. It'll happen sooner or later, days, maybe months. The more present I am in your life, the harder it'll be for you to settle for having me only in your dreams and thoughts —he leaned back lazily, a smirk tugging at his lips—. It's part of the process, my process —he corrected himself—. When you desperately need my real touch, I'll be here. Wasn't that one of your wishes? Company, sex, to be loved and wanted?

Those exact words echoed in her mind.

She opened her mouth to ask what would happen when that day came, but he raised a hand, cutting her off.

—No more questions about that.

—Then your name —she said, almost daring him.

A deep laugh rumbled from his chest, filling the room.

—Asking a demon for his name is like trying to leash a wolf with a piece of string. I'm not giving you my name.

—I don't care. It's annoying enough to hear you constantly, so, at least, I'd like to have a name to call you out with.

But his lips remained sealed, not a single hint was going to come out of them.

Her eyes drifted to his left hand, where the letters "JJK" were tattooed across his knuckles. She remembered how she'd speculated that it might be tied to his real name. He followed her gaze, smirking when he saw what she was looking at.

—You made me write that as well —she said—. You're so full of yourself you made me write your name but still refuse to give it to me?

His lips pursed slightly, and she realized she hit exactly on the right button.

—Fine, then. I'll call you JJK.

—JK —he said, immediately after—. It's not my name —he clarified, his smirk deepening—, but it'll do. At least you'll have something to scream when I finally make you cum.

The thought alone sent her mind spiraling, images flashing of his hands and tongue tracing every inch of her body until her voice broke from repeating his name.

The atmosphere in the room shifted suddenly. It felt charged, electric. A quick glance at him and his wicked grin told her everything she needed to know.

Jungkook stood up from the chair with a loud grunt, his gaze fixed on the floor, a smirk forming at the corner of his mouth where his lip ring rested. Finally, his intense, almost-black eyes locked onto her, sending a shiver down her spine.

He began unbuttoning his shirt slowly, his fingers moving deliberately from one button to the next, pausing to give her a teasing glimpse of his half-exposed chest and defined abs. He didn't remove the shirt entirely, savoring the effect he knew the sight of his partially revealed torso had on her.

Drawn to him like a magnet, she crawled to the edge of the bed. The closer she got, the hotter the air around him felt, like waves of warmth radiating from his body. When she reached him, he didn't bend down or shift, but his commanding presence and unwavering gaze held her in place.

Her fingers trailed over his arms, her touch tentative but curious, until they reached the collar of his shirt. He remained still, his expression firm and unreadable as her hands explored. Finally, her fingertips brushed against the skin of his neck, slipping beneath the fabric. His breathing grew heavier the moment her touch moved lower, grazing his biceps and forearms as she pushed the shirt aside, fully exposing his upper body.

His tattoos caught her attention. His right arm was adorned with a full sleeve of intricate designs, while his left arm was bare. She traced some of the ink with her fingers, pausing when she reached his hand, her touch lingering on the letters "JJK" etched into his knuckles.

Abruptly, Jungkook pulled his hand away and gripped her neck, pulling her into a rough, needy kiss. His lips moved against hers with unrestrained hunger, a mix of desperation and dominance. His tongue claimed hers with no warning, the sensation leaving her knees weak. Her arms wrapped around his neck instinctively, clinging to him as if afraid he'd pull away and leave her.

His hand left her neck as her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. The lewd sounds of their kiss filled the room, growing louder as his other hand slid down her back, over her oversized t-shirt, and stopped at the hem. She started to break the kiss to let him remove it, but he didn't wait. With one swift motion, he ripped the fabric apart from the hem to the collar.

He slipped the remnants of her shirt off her arms, leaving her in nothing but her panties.

—The only reason I'd stop kissing you right now is to go down on you —he murmured against her lips, his voice a low growl—. But after tasting you, I'd need hours to get enough of you. And right now, I need to sink into you too badly to wait.

His words made her whole body ache with desire. Her clit throbbed, her pussy clenched, and her panties felt soaked. She struggled to hold back, wanting to match his pace, but her restraint was slipping.

—Then fuck me —she whispered, her lips brushing against his—. Please.

The desperation in her voice made him smirk, his fingers sliding between her legs. He found out then her plea wasn't only to please his ears, she was indeed aching for him, eager to take him.

—So wet and ready —he groaned, his breath hot against her lips—. You look way better when you're begging for me.

Jungkook kissed her again, slower, taking his time exploring her mouth. His fingers teased her folds before he slid them inside her, making her gasp. He worked them skillfully, curling just enough to hit the right spot.

—JK... —she moaned, her voice trembling.

—What? —he asked, planting a kiss on her lips without pausing his movements.

—I need you —she pleaded, her pitch breaking as his thumb circled her clit.

—Greedy girl —he murmured, the sound of his zipper filling the room—. Begging for my cock while my fingers are knuckle-deep inside you.

Positioning himself between her legs, he made her whimper as he withdrew his fingers. She clenched around nothing, desperate for the fullness she craved. He rubbed the tip of his cock against her folds, teasing her, never quite pressing into her entrance.

Her hands slid to his hips in an attempt to pull him closer, but he stopped her.

His rough hands grabbed her wrists, pinning them above her head against the mattress. With his free hand, he slipped two fingers into her mouth.

—Suck —he commanded, and she obeyed, swirling her tongue around his digits.

In one swift motion, he thrust into her, filling her completely. He let out a guttural growl as her walls clenched around him. She cried out, her moan muffled by his fingers.

—Happy now? —he asked, his voice husky.

She nodded quickly, the pleasure coursing through her overwhelming. His pace started slow, deliberate, and sensual. He pulled out almost completely before pushing back in, each thrust deep and purposeful.

But just as she was about to lose herself completely, the sensations began to fade. The room blurred, and she felt herself slipping out of the dream.

—No... —she whimpered.

—Fuck it —she cried out as she woke up, her chest heaving.

Disoriented, she sat up, her mind racing to process what had just happened. The dream had felt so real, and yet... she tasted herself on her lips, as if his fingers had truly been in her mouth.

Confused, she glanced over her shoulder and froze. A cold breeze brushed her skin, and she noticed her t-shirt hanging loosely, the fabric torn at the hem.

How the fuck...?

https://www.wattpad.com/1509417402-red-jungkook-chapter-5

[mai-komagata]

you aren't the only one. I loved her arc too. To me, her principal issue was her treatment of Adar and the orcs in season 1, so having a resolution to that is what i wanted the most. the best i could gather is people wanted either a) her to be more rebellious/still fighting

I think she is still being super rebellious -- she is still going into enemy camps, evading elrond, and asserting her opinion without caveats, but she is also repairing relationships which necessitates reconciliation. I think cathartically people want her to stab sauron or something, but like what we want emotionally and what works narratively are different.

or b) have more scenes with Sauron

I mean i understand why people want this but plotwise it doesn't do anything. She has already had her "being suspicious of him in eregion" storyline. there is no plot point for both of them to have together beyond the confrontation at the end, not until season 3 when things like the forging of the one ring happen and there is another plot device there. She isn't involved with the dwarves plotline, she has nothing to do with forging the rings, etc. Her having a scene with Celebrimbor made a lot more sense because she needed to let go of the guilt she felt. And having those desires for a different galadriel is FINE -- just because i don't think it would work narratively doesn't mean you can't think otherwise. its just the calling it misogynistic or arguing there is some conspiracy when it is just a logical way to construct the story called "The rings of power" is where i lose people. That said, I've had lots of conversations with people about this, and I don't think it's a widely held position. The main point of agreement we all have is that everyone wants more time with their fave character. Having more Galadriel on screen means less of another character (it would have most probably cut down other storylines like miriel's or nori and poppy's). because nobody is getting enough time in 8 episode seasons. And I ultimately think they did their best to balance things. YMMV.

I'm gonna be honest, I've seen the retoric that S2 was misogynistic and catering to the lorebros bcs Galadriel got sidelined and reduced screentime on S2. And I honestly I hate when ppl say the show is trying to cater to the lorebros simply bcs they aren't doing what some ppl want, BUT I also don't see Galadriel being sidelined at all???

Am I the only one that think her arc on S2 was great and other characters taking more actions than on S1 is also nice and also expected as we know Gil-Galad and Elrond are super important to bring Sauron down??

AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT LOVED S2 GALADRIEL'S ARC AND DON'T THINK IT'S MISOGYNISTIC???!!!

[fightaers]

the matter of fact is: sakura's always been an outsider. she'll always feel like an outsider. she's been an outsider since she was the child from a civilian family grouped with a batch of children from strong shinobi families. she's been an outsider since the moment s.asuke and n.aruto left her on her own, and she'd taken an apprenticeship under t.sunde in her effort to "keep up". ( matter of fact is: she thinks she never will. she will discover this later. ) she's an outsider even when other team from the konoha 11 would invite her into their group, and it'll be good for a while, and it'll be satisfying, but they will all have their own sensei and their original 3-man cell — she will not. she's an outsider even in the war, dismissed because she's simply not 'strong enough' to compete against s.asuke and n.aruto's rivalry even though she's quite literally in the team and have had similar pain to what n.aruto endured, but it confirms it, doesn't it: even in team seven, she can't quite fit in. she's always been an outsider, just as much as s.asuke and n.aruto is ( and k.akashi as well ), and her astute but-you-can't-really-see-until-you-notice-it loneliness will never not haunt me

[trappedinafantasy37]

One of the things that had my mind spinning for a while is that in the Shadowheart origin, if you reject Shar, Minthara will apologize. She will believe that she and the rest of the companions held Shadowheart back from achieving her destiny. She blames herself for Shadowheart making a choice completely on her own, thinking that Shadowheart's concern for herself and others held her back. Minthara feels it to be her fault that Shadowheart is not as powerful as she could be and she is to blame for Shadowheart walking away from her destiny. Minthara sees herself as having failed for Shadowheart making the choice that she did.

I know it is cut content and cannot really be considered canon, but she does something similar in the breakup. Where she's yelling at Durge and asking why they rejected Bhaal. And Durge can tell her it's cause they love her. When the breakup was slipped in, I was initially so angry because Minthara calls Durge stupid for choosing love over power (when Minthara herself chooses love over power). Especially since the breakup happens like 10 minutes after the alurlssrin confession where she says the two of you have an unbreakable bond. I used to be so confused on why she would be so upset that you actually loved her. Then I realized that she's not upset that you love her. She's upset cause she fears that your love for her held you back.

Even though she sees you as her equal, she keeps putting herself as less than you. Where your wants and desires are more important than her own, and your greatness should be put above any affection you have for her. She wants you to love her of course, but she does not want to be what holds you back from reaching for power. To Minthara, power is safety and she has never felt safe. She wants you to keep elevating yourself cause the stronger you are, the safer you will be and by extension, the safer she will be. So you picking her over power means you are less safe and by consequence, she is less safe. And as much as Minthara loves loves, she needs to be safe first. It's why it seems like she keeps making the same dumb mistakes over and over, getting herself into precarious situations. It isn't because she's necessarily blinded by love, but she feels her proximity to power should keep her safe.

I also had a discussion with someone on Reddit, talking where it almost seems like Minthara keeps putting herself in positions of servitude, despite having some pretty ambitious goals involving world domination. We are talking about someone who has been a servant of Lolth her entire life. She tells us she was raised to be a soldier in Lolth's army and that was all she was meant to be. For 200+ years she was a servant and has never been anything else and doesn't know how to be anything else, and I believe she is too afraid to try to be anything else.

As a paladin, she was responsible for keeping social order, follow the word of whatever Priestess was in charge and enacting Lolth's will, partake in surface raids, and kill any of Lolth's enemies. There was very little room for her to achieve what she wanted, because Lolth had to come first. And even if there were things she wanted for herself, they still ultimately had to please Lolth in the end. Her time in the Absolute is no different. She just swaps the Absolute for Lolth and keeps up with the same shit (although she is too brainwashed to tell). So of course she is stunned when Lolth abandons her and the Absolute attempts to kill her and throws her deep into a crisis of faith. 200+ years of service has always bought her safety, until it didn't. So when you come along, she just swaps you for the Absolute. Telling herself, "I just need to be better than I was for the Absolute, better than I was for Lolth, and I should be okay." And her little rant about the gods, Lolth, Bhaal, the Absolute. Minthara is not anti-god. Minthara is anti-gods who do not reward their followers for their service. Because to her, service should be rewarded with something (other than death). She plays both sides when it comes to Shar because although she does think Shar is a poison in Shadowheart's life and believes Shadowheart is better off without Shar, at least Shar did reward Shadowheart for her service by making her a Dark Justiciar and elevating her to Chosen.

You would think she'd learn, but she doesn't. Not because she's stupid, but because her basic need for safety isn't being met. And so be fair, her "mistakes" with Lolth and the Absolute were relatively recent. So she keeps pushing people down the path of ruin and never going down the path herself directly, thinking that if she helps you become powerful, she will be safe. Where if she stands beside as you walk down this path, you will reward her for her service. Where she does not believe you would betray her because she helped you get that power. Where she thinks her service to you should buy her safety. Because to her, the most important thing she can be to you is useful. And she is terrified of being useless. So she provides you with unbreakable loyalty, devotion, and servitude, (and perhaps love). Where she will help you achieve your ambitions, whether it be to become a Dark Justiciar, the Vampire Ascended, the Slayer, or a god. Her path to safety, and greatness, and true power is forever lost to her down in the Underdark. So all she can do is help you walk down yours.

She keeps doing the same stupid shit over and over, making the same mistakes with people over and over, cause her fundamental need to safety is never being satisfied. And her service to various gods and entities technically did buy her safety, but only for an unknown period of time. And when she loses that safety, she thinks that the problem is her. That she was punished because she was not a good enough servant. That if she was a truly good servant, she won't lose your safety and your protection. And she thinks love interferes with your perception of her as a servant. She wants you to see her as a loyal servant first, lover second, because the only things in her life to be truly rewarded was her service, whereas her love got punished.