#which is just a misunderstanding of these characters and what the show is trying to do
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Something I really love about Wind Breaker is that not only you see how Sakura grows as person, but it also shows you important life lessons. Things that you may already have heard, but now you have a story as example to help you interiorize it. And shounen mangas target audience generally are teens and children, so that's great.
For example, Suzuri's arc.
He and his teammates start as the villains, but when the story advances, its revealed that they're not bad. They're desperated, they're trying to survive. They were in the wrong but that doesn't mean they're bad nor evil. This teaches the reader, if they didn't already know, that people who do wrong are not necessarily bad. That someone who hurts you could be someone who is also extremely kind to others. That recognizing this is important but not all what there's to it.
Suzuri's arc also teaches you that— ironically for a manga where almost every character is a fighter— violence doesn't solve everything. Sometimes you need to think a little on how can you help others and sometimes the people you're trying to help must want the help. Because it wasn't just the Roppo-Ichiza's job offers what ended the conflict, it was also Suzuri's planning and determination.
Other character that teaches you a lot is Tsubaki. And I don't mean just his backstory (which does, I can't convey in words how beautiful his story is and how meaningful it is).
There's a line when he's fighting that discount Tintin guy where he says something on the lines of "I like who I am when I'm in love with Umemiya" (probably not the exact words, but I don't have the panel at hand). This line is so important because it's not only such a Tsubaki thing to say, but is also something you never consider about romantic love: liking someone can change you into a better or worse person, and that's important to take in account when you're deciding what to do about it.
This also applies to other forms of love and bonds, but I've never seen it applied to romantic love out of fanfiction or movies and that was always in a negative way only.
I just think it's an important lesson, that loving and liking doesn't have to be about what the other person has, but how it affects you. Tsubaki likes himself better when he likes Umemiya because is a version of himself he can be proud of, whether it is because the him who likes Ume is a braver version of himself or because he has grown as a person since then.
I'm not saying he wasn't brave or he couldn't be proud before, because he could, all his character is about being brave to be himself, proud to be himself, and loving yourself. It's just that he has someone holding his back now (besides the old couple, bless their souls). I mean, I think Ume is the first person of his age to accept him for who he is, if I'm not mistaken.
(We also have an example of the opposite— how liking someone can make you worse— later in Endo.)
Lastly, something that Wind Breaker shows you that many adults fail on learning is this: the importance of communication skills.
I'm talking about Sako. Sako, who spent years being mad at someone who he looked up to because of a misunderstanding. That Sako.
His problem was not just "you didn't say what I wanted to hear", it was also that he never voiced his problem with Hiiragi's decision until a lot of time had passed.
Later on, on the post-noroshi war festival, Nii Satoru makes them have a conversation. Because, yes, they weren't enemies anymore, but they still needed to clear things up.
I think a lot of people could beneficiate from learning two things of this two: 1) communication is important to keep any kind of relationship, and it has to be clear from both parts, and 2) others can make decisions by you.
The second is pointed out by Kaji when he tells Sako that Hiiragi said the same to him, but he followed him anyways because it was his decision.
(I'm never going to stop laughing at them)
And you could say "yeah, i guess it's good for your mind, but what about the story in itself?" Well, I think learning all of this along Sakura helps you connect deeply with him. You're developing your empathy right along with him. It still applies if you already knew all of the stuff above.
It's not just some boy with issues on his way to be the strongest. It's a boy, who aims to be the strongest, learning to be a person and live as he connects with others. Wind Breaker is not about the end of the journey but about the journey itself.
on the topic of this post I made I also wanna talk about how nii satoru utilizes giving us, the readers, characters' backgrounds as a whole.
So far the characters we've seen flashbacks of/gotten backstories of have been Umemiya, Choji and Togame, Tsubaki, Hiragi and Sako and Kaji, Endo and Takishii, suzuri, and Sugishita (give or take a few more characters).
This might seem like a lot of characters, but the thing is, we're always given these flashbacks and backstories because we need them, or because they parallel to Sakura in one way or another.
Us getting Umemiya's backstory gives us a very big opening into learning WHY he is the way he is and why he does everything the way he does. It reveals to us why he focuses so much on eating with people and gardening, when it wasn't something we might've been wondering in the first place. As such a monumental guide and positive role model for Sakura, learning about Umemiya's past and how those key moments have effected him today allows us to realize just how much growing up Sakura still needs; while Umemiya's seemed to have completed his own journey in a way, Sakura is still leaps and bounds away from completing his own.
Choji and Togame and their history together with Shishitoren gives us more perspectives. With Togame, it gives us reasoning behind why he'd been choosing to act the way he'd been when we first met him, and creates depth by having us learn that he's not just some crazy evil guy who wants to stomp on people just for fun, he's been in agony for years. With Choji, it gives us another perspective on what it might look like for someone to find their way to the top with no further purpose, which is what Sakura's original goal was. He didn't want to be at the top so he could be a leader, he wanted at the top to prove himself and nothing more. With no further goal in mind, he could easily fall into a similar path as what Choji was walking down before the duel with Umemiya.
Tsubaki gives us hindsight and details on his own past and why he's so loyal to Furin and Umemiya, and why he is the way he is, which is important due to the themes surrounding his character involving self-acceptance and identifying with something outside of the norm. Both of those things are important to Sakura, with his unique looks and his overarching story revolving around the acceptance of others and himself. It was a backstory he, as well as us, needed to hear.
Suzuri's story rings similar to Sakura: both had upbrings that scarred them and let them down (as it's implied a LOT that Sakura's own past hasn't been nice to him in the slightest, and has given him below the bare minimum), but while Sakura ultimately chose to join Makochi, and later Furin, Suzuri did not have that grace of choice and instead could only choose what he could, which was leading his own gang through desperate measures. Like Choji, Suzuri's story can be real as a possible parallel to what Sakura could have been, but it also shows as a way to humanize Suzuri, who up until that point we saw as nothing but a mindless enemy.
Kaji's backstory and his mentorship to Sakura is important to us too, because we learn how far Kaji has come himself with the guidance of Hiragi that he uses to then help guide Sakura. It establishes a connection and bond between more of the Wind Breaker characters that makes them feel more fleshed-out and three-dimensional, and gives more depth to the world they live in.
etc etc... I'd add more but this post is getting too long. The point is, we're getting the backstories to our supporting cast and enemies because they build an increased depth to the overall story or increase our perspectives on characters that would otherwise remain flat or just simple. And we only get it when it matters, such as keep moments in the middle of an arc, or at the beginning to help. nii satoru isn't just throwing out information to us all willy-nilly, there's thought and care behind all of this.
This all comes to a head with the question, "why haven't we gotten a certain someone's backstory yet?" and that answer is very, sweetly simple. Because we don't need it. Because Wind Breaker is about him. We're getting backstories of other characters because Wind Breaker ISN'T ABOUT THEM, not as its core. We need backstories from other characters as a way to learn about them and their reasonings/motivations so we have complex and well-rounded characters, but without them needing a novel each, so we get stories that they relay or flashbacks to give us that information without taking a hit to the flow of the plot.
Plus, the series is ongoing. Who's to say we won't get an arc down the line that'll reveal a certain someone's backstory in a very important, key moment that'll make the entire wait worth it?
#wind breaker#nii satoru's writing is amazing#i could go on and on about tsubaki's backstory shows you the perspective of someone who needs to hide an important part of himself#and how that can help others to understand queer people#and how some people could learn why is important to let others live as themselves#even if they still dislike them#but I'm going to leave it here
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doc martin is just 60% louisa storming over to martin to tell him what an ass he's being and fundamentally misunderstanding him as a person and a doctor and 40% martin doing his job. and sprinkled in between the two is the writers looking into the camera and going "perfect for each other aren't they?" while they wring each others neck'
#i enjoy everything in this show EXCEPT louisa and martins 'romance'#which is a shame considering the amount of time they spend trying to make it happen#and a shame too because if they didn't try to make it a romance then louisa could be a genuinely interesting and enjoyable character#doc martin#martin ellingham#louisa glasson#i don't know if its your classic 'writers actually think this is how romance works'#or if it's 'writers simply do not know how to write a#actually i know they can write a female character because they write pauline and martins aunt and other female characters just fine#they just don't know how to make louisa more than moral outrage and misunderstanding#honestly even that would be fine with me if they didn't make martin respond to it with 'i am in love with you also louisa'#like what basis do they even have for a romance#i didn't mean to get into it i'm just watching it rn and it's pissing me off because i'm on the series 2 christmas special#which comes right after the love confession#like damn give it a rest
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I can’t believe they made me prefer Shyamalan’s adaptation. I can’t believe they’ve done this to me.
#like he did a bad job but he at least tried something#he failed but he was definitely aiming for something I can appreciate#the new one just took out all agency and everything important about each character#I’m not even talking about sokkas sexism#although that also shows a huge misunderstanding of the original to think that that needed to be taken out to update it#I’m talking about aang not even being allowed the flaw of running away from being the avatar and being a scared kid#he just goes out to fly around a while to like clear his head and gets caught in a storm???#pro tip if your plot is driven by coincidence it is a Bad Plot#him being a kid and being dragged into this world and responsibility is like Important and Good to explore#and also they didn’t they didn’t even get rid of silks being sexist btw they just don’t call it what it is#which is WORSE#he still thinks katara can’t fight or protect the village but all the boys can#they try to frame it like it’s just about leadership?? oh yeah?? why does he think he should be a leader and katara shouldn’t?#whats that called?#and yue works in the kitchen now to be more relatable?#they took the sexism out of his plot line and put it into the show itself#I need to stop adding tags but I could literally go on all day#I’m not precious about adaptations#it’s fine to change things#but if all the changes you make are just removing characters’ agency and growth and the POINT of them#those are Bad Changes#you did it Wrong#also they literally CLUNG to tell don’t show as a guiding principle#they didn’t do the most basic storytelling once#not once did they show something to us instead of just telling us what we’re meant to think over and over#first episode includes about five retellings of the opening monologue#aang TELLING gyatsu that he’s playful instead of once just showing him goofing off#this is fucking storytelling 101#all that to say the movie is terrible but it’s like funny and more like a failed attempt at something decent#this series is more like a successful execution of a bad approach to the story and I think that’s worse
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I'm not sure what part of the above gave you the impression I want characters to have "textbook perfect relationships". Because I don't believe that's something I've ever suggested; not here and not in anything else I've written.
I like it when characters have messy, flawed and imperfect relationships. I like it when those flawed relationships are the catalyst for the plot to advance. I like characters who misunderstand each other, or are a little bit hypocritical, or who have a sense of themselves that isn't really accurate.
I don't at all care for the popular fandom version of Giles as somebody who is -- or should have been -- a flawless and faultless father figure to not just Buffy but all her other teenage friends. I don't think that's who the character in the show is, and I think he -- and the show -- would have been much more boring if he was.
(At the same time, I'm not sure this particular fandom reading is necessarily very modern: I've read things written ten, fifteen or even twenty-five years ago that seem to assume that Giles is best understood as The Group Dad. People were wrong about it then and they're wrong about it now, but I don't think it's a recent idea.)
I like the fact that Buffy and Giles's relationship is, at its core, a little bit messed up. That both of them care about each other more than they think the other would want them to admit; that Giles does seem to see Buffy as something like a daughter while, at the same time, being aware that he's responsible for telling her she can't have a normal life and training her to face the prospect of violent death every night. I think that's kind of the emotional heart of the show, at least for the first couple of seasons.
Equally, I like the fact that Giles never seems to notice how much Xander looks up to him and craves his approval; how he turns an almost intentional blind eye to all the hints we get about Xander's dreadful home life; how Xander remains, to him, little more than Buffy and Willow's rather boorish and lazy friend whose jokes and company he can sometimes barely tolerate. I think that makes a lot of sense for both their characters.
I don't particularly need a character to be sympathetic to find them interesting, and indeed I don't -- outside of his relationship with Buffy -- find Giles sympathetic most of the time. I've met a few people with similar backgrounds to Giles in my life, and I can't say any of us were happier for it. But as a fictional character, I do find Giles compelling. I wouldn't post about him if I didn't.
The specific issue I have with Giles and Faith in Season 3 is that there is a vast gulf between what the show is actually depicting and the story which the writers seem to think they are telling. I don't think any of the messiness or flaws here are at all intentional or that the show will ever think to do anything creative with them. I don't think the writers realize quite how dreadfully Giles comes across.
Faith isn't just some random teenage friend of Buffy, like Xander or Cordelia or Willow. She is a Slayer with a dead Watcher and absolutely no other support system, living alone in a strange town. I don't think it's possible to pretend Giles doesn't have a duty of care towards her. At the end of her first appearance on the show, Giles explicitly volunteers for the job of -- in his own words -- looking after her. Specifically, he tells Buffy that:
"The council has approved our request. Faith is to stay here indefinitely. I'm to look after you both until a new Watcher is assigned."
A new Watcher isn't assigned until after Giles himself is fired, so Giles is -- by his own request! -- the sole adult figure responsible for looking after Faith from that point until then. And what does he do to "look after" Faith? What does he try to do? The answer, as far as we can tell on the basis of the evidence provided on screen, is: nothing. He ignores her as much as possible, only trains her when she's with Buffy anyway, doesn't ever ask himself what she's up to when she's not Slaying or waiting for orders in the library of the school she isn't enrolled at, and then -- when she gets into trouble, when she does something that we know Giles himself once did as a young man (an accident after which he was supported and protected by the Council) -- his only priority is protecting "his" Slayer, the (better mannered, more middle class, more respectable) teenage girl he actually likes. He blithely talks about needing to make Faith "think" he was on her side, but ignores the fact that he literally agreed months ago to be on her side. That that was a responsibility he personally requested.
Again, if the writers wanted this to be deliberate, that would be fine. I'd think rather poorly of GIles, sure -- more so than usual, even -- but there is clearly a potentially interesting story to be had there. Only, it seems pretty clear that this isn't the story the writers think they've told at all.
At no point is Giles's own role in Faith's descent to the dark side ever addressed. There is absolutely no pay-off or follow through for the things I'm complaining about. At no point does anybody on screen wonder why Giles didn't try to find somewhere for Faith to live, or react more like the way he did last year when it was Buffy who he believed had killed a man, or why he seems to have forgotten that he not only agreed but asked for the job of looking after Faith. We are seemingly not meant to think Giles has done (or failed to do) anything remarkable.
After this season, when Faith appears on Angel, she will talk as if Wesley was her Watcher all along, and Giles was exclusively Buffy's Watcher. That Wesley is the Watcher she thinks somehow let her down. The show will act as if that is true, and as if what she's saying makes sense, but it isn't and it doesn't. In Season 3, Wesley only arrived in Sunnydale to take over the role of both Buffy and Faith's Watcher. Giles was the sole Watcher responsible for looking after Faith for months. He was the only adult in her life for the large majority of her time living in Sunnydale. In fact, Wesley was actually Buffy's Watcher -- at least officially -- for longer than he was ever Faith's Watcher. And Faith never takes him seriously as a Watcher, the way that Buffy does at first.
Giles as Faith's acting Watcher isn't something the show comes back to when Faith returns to Buffy either. In the seventh season of the show, Faith and Giles only briefly interact. We see Giles telling Faith at one point that she's "doing fine" as the group's temporary leader (she isn't, but okay...), but the only suggestion here is that Faith has reformed enough to have earned Giles' approval. There is again no suggestion that Giles ever did anything wrong by her, or that the crux of this scene should in fact be her deciding whether to forgive him.
If the writers had meant Giles's relationship to Faith to be deliberately complicated or imperfect, these all seem like rather strange choices. It seems pretty clear that we aren't meant to think Giles did anything particularly wrong or noteworthy or objectionable at all.
Only, as actually written, he did. He very obviously did. And the writers just aren't interested in taking that seriously.
The point of my post isn't that I think Faith and Giles should have had a "perfect relationship" or that there's no place for stories about Giles not being especially good at his job. I'm not suggesting that the writers should have tried to tell a different story. I'm arguing that, with a few small changes, they'd have done a better job of telling the story that they were seemingly trying to tell all along.
Anyway, I do think you can preserve almost all of the core of Faith's arc in Season 3 and still present Giles in a much more favorable light than canon with only a very few minor tweaks.
At some point, in one of the early season episodes that Faith doesn't otherwise appear in -- Band Candy, say -- in a scene featuring just Buffy and Giles together, have Buffy comment on Faith's absence, wonder out loud if being alone in her motel room is good for her, and have Giles say something to the effect of "Perhaps you're right to be concerned, but we must respect Faith's wishes. In fact I offered to arrange for more salubrious lodgings when it became clear she would be staying with us for a while, but she assured me she was quite all right where she is." Because, look, of course if an older man she didn't really know offered to set Faith up with a nicer place to stay for free she was going to say no. Of course that doesn't mean she's actually happy living in a motel in the bad part of town, and of course she's still impressed when the Mayor gets her an apartment and clearly doesn't want anything from her in return (or, at least, he's only looking for wholesome family-friendly murder and torture and treason, not what she'd expect him to want). But at least this way we can point to evidence Giles actually tried to do the right thing. The thing that he explicitly volunteered to do.
In Helpless, when Buffy complains about Faith being "off on one of her unannounced walkabouts", don't have Giles -- who at this very moment is not interested in training Buffy but instead setting her up for the events of Cruciamentum -- remark snidely that "Faith is not interested in proper training", but instead explicitly link back to the events of Revelations. Have him remind Buffy that Faith took Mrs Post's betrayal very badly and say that he's deliberately letting her take a break from training for a bit because he thinks it will give her some time to recover emotionally. And, again, Giles wouldn't be right to think this -- Faith would be better off if she was spending time with other people -- but at least we'd get less of an impression that, after Post arrived, Giles decided he was done being Faith's temporary replacement Watcher and that he didn't really care what happened to her afterwards (even after Post was exposed as a fraud).
The key things you need to have happen in Consequences are (a) Faith lies to Giles and says Buffy killed Finch; (b) Giles talks to Buffy privately and they both acknowledge that actually Faith killed Finch; (c) Wesley overhears this conversation and calls in the Council to take Faith back to England. You don't actually need Giles to suggest he was only pretending to be on Faith's side to humor her; you don't need him to be so skeptical when Buffy talks about helping Faith. You could instead have Giles remind Buffy that he himself killed somebody by accident when he was not much older than Faith, and have him say that he pretended to believe her simply because -- knowing what she had to be going through -- he thought it would be better to humor her than provoke a confrontation. Rather than just have him dismiss her as "unstable" and "unwilling to accept responsibility", make the parallels with Giles's own backstory explicit. "In Faith's shoes, I would be -- I was -- unstable. Unpredictable. I needed time to accept responsibility." When Buffy suggests she could talk to her, rather than just sigh and look skeptical, Giles could apolgetically reference his own role in the Cruciamentum a few episodes earlier, and use that as a reason why Faith might not be willing to trust him yet. Instead of just ... nobody suggesting Giles talk to her, even when agreeing that perhaps somebody other than Buffy should.
And really, none of what Buffy and Giles plan at this point really even matters, because all we need to happen next is for Xander to admit that he slept with Faith and that he assumes this means they have "a connection", Buffy and Willow to react to that, and then for Xander to decide to go talk to her alone to prove his point. And then we proceed as before to Faith attacking him, Angel coming to the rescue, and then the rest of the episode as normal (including with Faith going off to tell the Mayor she heard he had a job opening).
In fact arguably I think this version of events actually works better, because after Consequences (and before the reveal in Enemies) the show actually does proceed on the basis that Giles is willing to help Faith and supervize her post-manslaughter evaluation and recovery. It has to, because if he insists she's a lost cause and can't be trusted from the beginning there's no Enemies and no chance for her to betray Buffy and the gang. So there wasn't really any actual story-driven need for Giles to seem so reluctant about trying to help Faith in the first place, was there?
I mean, in the actual show I think nobody knew at the time what Faith's arc was going to be, and that era of the show wasn't quite as dedicated to continuity as it would be later and didn't like throwing in so many references to past episodes. And the show never actually does take Giles's role in the Cruciamentum seriously after Helpless, or have Giles mention Randall's death after season 2 (Ted is the last time he's mentioned, right?). But in hindsight I think something like this -- even if it couldn't have happened -- would better balance the actual story that you want to tell about Faith with the goal of having Giles seem rather more admirable and sympathetic than his treatment of Faith ends up making him look.
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The classic betrayer
This is where everyone subtly knows that this guy's going to turn the other way.
The betrayer puts on a show for our heroes - kind, compassionate and supporting at first.
it just so happens that the villainthinks the heros are the bad guys.
make them actually likable.emotionally ruin the hero upon betrayal.
The remorseful traitor
whether he had bad intentions from the start or was deceived by others, the betrayer regrets his choices.
when he realizes his mistakes, it's too late to stop the evil, which introduces guilt.
throw the guilt and shame on the character.
even the protagonist can be a traitor! will others forgive him?
The Double Agent
this type of traitor will keep the readers wondering whether this guy is truly on your side.
keep your readers guessing. is that an evil smirk or a genuine smile? does he really love drinking, or is he just trying to get the hero drugged?
Snape in Harry Potter is a great example.
The guy can be good or bad - just keep balancing the two
Unrealiable narrators
these characters are not entirely betrayers, but horribly misinformed. they can make others appear like traitors - when in truth, they just have it wrong.
pit your narrow-minded narrator against his allies.
these characters are great for misunderstanding plots.
have your narrator do irreversible damage to the hero. would they forgive him?
Tragic betrayers
these are characters, due to their past wounds and trauma, cannot help but betray the group.
they confess the hero's secrets under physical/mental torment and doesn't have the backbone to do otherwise.
these characters can either be pitiful or frustrating would the hero still fight for the betrayer?
Play around with pov
you can have the readers know about the upcomong betrayal by switching points of view, building up anticipation to the moment of realization.
on the flip side, you can change povs in a way that the reader doens't see what's happening at the hero's back.
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ok we need to have a chat about Kit from Jentry Chau vs the Underworld
(as per usual long spoilers under the cut)
he is a great character, but you all are misunderstanding the point behind his reveal to Jentry as a painted skin
the show finally gives us the dignity to be accepting of a person for being different right out of the gate, like Jentry was surprised by Kit's true appearance, but not unaccepting
whereas other shows often like to give us the whole *you wouldn't like me because I'm different no I would I swear never mind you were right I don't like you anymore* Jentry Chau vs the Underworld gives Jentry a good reason for why she doesn't accept Kit
Jentry later explains herself very clearly to Kit and why she doesn't trust him, it's because he manipulated her, seduced her, tried to kill her, and did the one thing that everyone else does to her, the thing she hates most, he tried to use her to get what he wants
she can't trust that his feelings for her are real, and it's not just because he is a demon and his book entry says "can't feel emotion" or whatever, she has been given good reason to believe that the book is right and she shouldn't trust him, not because he was lying about being a demon, but because he tried to kill her at the orders of the man that she believed had murdered her parents, because he had planted a pearl on her that manipulated her desire to see her parents to lead her into a trap, because he had spied on her and pretended to also be into the things she likes just to get close enough to kill her, and his reasons for doing all of that were entirely selfish, he planned on trading her soul for a soul of his very own
Jentry eventually forgives Kit, but not because she has reconciled that he is a demon, she realizes that Kit is just like her, his manipulation wasn't his own plan, he is a pawn in someone else's game, like her he is being used by another party to get what they want, and like her he wants out
this prompts her to come up with a plan to get them both out of the game, if Jentry can transfer the powers that Flora and Cheng are fighting over from her to something else, then theoretically Flora would no longer need Jentry, and Cheng would no longer need Kit in order to get close to Jentry
she enlists Kit's help to achieve this objective, and it works (temporarily), freeing Jentry and Kit from the rivalry that they both wanted no part of
Kit then takes this opportunity to try and form a romantic relationship with Jentry, but she declines citing a need for "normalcy"
again, not because she doesn't accept him as a person, Jentry is doing everything she can to put her supernatural past behind her whether it's Cheng, the mogui, her gugu, her parents, her powers, Diyu, or ghosts, but she is content keeping friends around like Ed and Kit
and it's worth mentioning that Jentry noticed Kit's desire to be with her was entirely selfish and self serving, he wanted his own happiness no matter the cost, even if it meant stealing from Jentry, and his behavior around her was hardly rational, stalking her, smashing lockers, scaring her, he wasn't exactly trying to formulate a healthy relationship
she is later upset with Kit for breaking her trust once again, and stealing from her to achieve the same selfish goal as before
but Kit finds redemption in the end, not redemption for being a demon, redemption for being selfish, and he does this by sacrificing himself to save Jentry's life, something from which he had nothing to gain, and even admits what Jentry suspected, that his wanting to be with her was selfish, but he proved that he could be selfless and put others first
people are saying he got done dirty, but it was that sacrifice that made him not only a good person, but a good character that was capable of growing and evolving, and his absence from the rest of the show, suggesting that his death may have been permanent, made his sacrifice all the more meaningful
Jentry is hardly perfect, but she isn't the monster some have accused her of being
why wouldn't Jentry be accepting of a demon? Ed was a jiangshi, an undead demonic creature from Diyu that consumes qi much in the same way that the painted skin demon would, and he was one of her best friends
she saw the nü gui as a non-malicious friend to Ed, considered her gugu's ghosts to be helpful and nice, helped a dangerous little girl to return to the afterlife, didn't run off when she learned about Michael's powers, regarded niu tou and ma mian as non-evil forces just doing their job, considered Kit a friend after forgiving him, and helped Zhong Kui capture law breaking ghosts
she was constantly accepting of any super natural entity that wasn't a total dick, why would this be any different?
now I love Kit, and if there is a season 2, and I hope to god there is, I would love to see him return as well, but you gotta stop ragging on Jentry for just being rational, there are much better reasons why someone would be upset with her, but I just can't see the unaccepting angle
#jentry chau vs the underworld#jcvtu#jentry chau spoilers#jentry vs the underworld#spoilers#jcvtu jentry#jcvtu kit#jcvtu spoilers#rose rambles
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I think headcanons are good start for writing Yandere
Yandere!One piece Men x reader
Characters: Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, Killer
A/N: This is my first time writing this so it's very general and i hope it's the right point.
Masterlist
Luffy
It's the type of Yandere that it's so funny and smiley that you dont get it at first, he is just to friendly and nice that you don't care about the dizzy feeling on your stomach.
But once you try to get out of the ship, he just convinces you to stay, that's his secret weapon.
Who says that Luffy doesn't know how to manipulate it's wrong, with his childness he can get whatever he wants and that happens to you.
He gets kisses, attetion, cuddles, sex and everything he wants when he says it and you can't say no to him.
Especially on those times you think about leaving, it's like he reads your mind and instantly asks you with a pouty face "you would never leave me, right my darling?"
And of course you cant, you are trapped on his mental games.
Zoro
Very bad at fights, even to the point that he sometimes scares you.
He compensates it with being extra protective, in some occasions too much but you say to yourself that you love that side of him.
If someone lays his eyes on you, especially the cook, he would deadly glare at them and when you aren't looking, he will break the shit out of them.
He tries not ot be that violent next ot you, and even tries to clean the blood.
You sometimes see the blood but you ignore it, the thing you cant ignore is how he yells when he is angry.
He doesn't have to be angry at you, sometimes he is even jelaous about how other people look at you and his mind tells him that you had something to do with that.
So he yells and breaks something but then he goes and apologies saying that he is a monster and that he doesnt deserve you (a little bit of mental games)
Sanji
Another psychological one but this men plays with your good heart.
He says "without you i have no reason to live", "if you leave me then i may die", "i can't stand living if you aren't there."
At first you thought it was cute and nice and all but then you started to not know where is the limit of the gentle words and a possible threat.
Cause most likely, he wont kill himself cause he would prevent you from leaving any way posible.
And you don't want to find the answer.
Other big aspect of him is that probably he would manipulate your foods like, putting aphrodisiacs or even putting sleeping pills if he thinks you can try something on the night.
Trafalgar Law
Living on a submarine makes its really difficult to leave so... first bad point.
He has a very good case of avoidant attachment which means he doesn't pay attention to you until you feel like crying and being really desperate and that's when he makes time to care about you, but even that saying some mean things like "you are dramatic", "you are overreacting", "it's not that much, you are an attention baby".
But then, when he gets needy it's a different story.
When he wants anything, since he can room you, he gets you to the bedroom and you have to give him what he wants... even when you arent on the mood.
This go forth and back leaves you on an emotion rollercoaster but when he is attentive or when he just relies on you that much, you just love that he goes to you.
Eustass Kidd
Unlike Zoro, he is jelaous, he shows it and he can beat someone brutally in front of you.
After that, you will have to reasure him that you won't leave him, it's the only way he can calm down and so do you.
You have to be careful on how you are with others cause he can misunderstand everything.
Since he is a lot bigger, he likes to toss you around and make you go to bed with him when he needs to, espeacially, when he is angry/needy/urgent he stomps really loud so you are prepared to not resist yourself to his grip, even if you are talking to someone.
I believe that he give you these gifts: a collar, bracelets and anklets. that are made of metal to inmovilize you and make you do whatever he wants.
Don't even try to take them out, he would get really whiney and grumpy, and wont let you alone in a long time, like a real pain in teh ass.
Killer
A little bit quieter than Eustass but still really possesive and paranoid.
He is more subtle about the jelaousy but of course, he landed one punch or two to one person in front of you, he isn't called Killer for nothing.
Otherwise he won't ever lay a hand on you, but he can get scary... with that helmet on and just standing there, with his big body blocking you from the world and completely silent.
He is not one of big words so he goes thru acts.
Wrapping your wrists to oblige you to sit on his lap, tossing you on his shoulder when he is upset on how you are behaving.
The no words treatment doesn't go only for bad things, he can also go behind you and hug you suddently, he can just slap your ass or lift you hide his face on the crock of your neck.
He is somehow very unpredictable cause he is very silent and his helmet doesn't help.
#one piece imagine#one piece x reader#one piece#one piece x you#roronoa zoro x you#roronoa zoro imagine#roronoa zoro x reader#roronoa zoro#trafalgar law imagine#trafalgar law x reader#trafalgar law#trafalgar law x you#eustass kid x reader#eustass captain kid#eustass kid#eustass kid imagine#eustass kid x you#sanji x you#sanji x reader#sanji imagine#black leg sanji#vinsmoke sanji#massacre soldier killer#killer imagine#one piece killer#killer x reader#killer x you#luffy#luffy x reader#luffy x you
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You know what would make the Lucky Charm more balanced? Make it so that there are times where other characters figure it out, not just Ladybug. That way, it doesn't make Ladybug hypercompent and makes it possible for other people to save the day.
I don't mind Ladybug being the one best suited to Lucky Charm. I don't think it makes her hyper competent because you don't need a Lucky Charm to save the day. It's just the way that she saves the day. The other characters should have their own unique talents that let them win fights. Generally speaking, that's how strong teams work.
For a random example, let's talk about the teenage mutant ninja turtles simply because I think most people know something about that franchise. The character Donatello (aka Donnie) is the team's tech guy. He makes all kinds of inventions that help them save the day. The show would not be improved if all four of the turtles were able to take on this inventor role. I'd argue that it would actually be lessened because the characters would become interchangeable. This is something that the franchise seems to agree with as each version of the show gives each turtle unique skills and personality traits that makes each of them indispensable in their own way, which is what I think Miraculous should have done with the temp heroes.
That being said, I do think that there's a way to make your idea work. I'd just go a slightly different, more lore balancing route since Lucky Charm is technically bad lore and you all know how I feel about bad lore. So let's talk about giving it a minor tweak and how I think that would actually improve things.
Tikki is supposed to be Creation, not Luck, so the Lucky Charm shouldn't have anything to do with Luck. It should just be pure Creation where the holder comes up with a thing they want and that thing then pops up. It could also have a give and take element where the holder gets what they asked for if they want something specific, but they could also just call the power as a hail Mary and Tikki would come up with something on the fly, leading to the occasional puzzle.
This leads me to my proposed changed.
I personally think it would be hilarious and honestly more fun for Marinette's character if she could summon anything she wanted, but the Lucky Charms stay exactly the same because that's just how her mind works. Even when Tikki is helping, it's still all wacky items because Tikki knows how Marinette is and just goes with it.
For example, in Copy Cat, Ladybug turns a spoon into a hook for a cobbled together fishing pole. Wouldn't it be even funnier if Marinette summoned a spoon on purpose because she was thinking of the makeshift thing she cobbled together in order to fish up something she dropped from her balcony? Then, post fight, Chat Noir praises her like always, only to then ask, "So why a spoon and not a fishing hook?" And Ladybug just stares at him because oh, right, those are things they make. She could have done that. Ooops.
And in Malediktator where she summons a sniper rifle to get a laser pointer? Well, she was thinking about this silly comic about a cat assassin! She totally spaced on the fact that you could just get a laser pointer by itself.
Eventually, her team learns to just go with it and not ask questions. Meanwhile, the general public thinks that the Lucky Charm is some random item that Ladybug has to figure out and no one bothers to correct this misunderstanding. You can even have a running gag of new team members learning the truth and going through the acceptance process of, "Hey, you try thinking up how to set a trap while a 5 meter tall lollipop is trying to crush you! Your mind goes to what it knows, not to the ideal solution, okay???"
If we go with this setup, then other people can wield the Ladybug and use Lucky Charm effectively, they'll just use it in a very different way from the way Marinette uses it. There will also be people who are just not suited to the Ladybug since that was initially how the powers were supposed to work and it made perfect sense. Kwamis should have ideal holders along with okay backups and terrible backups. I personally think Alya would be an okay backup since she's creative, but not creative in the same way Marinette is, leading her to be a lesser Ladybug. Adrien, on the other hand, should generally suck at the Ladybug as he simply doesn't have that style of creative thinking. Which is fine. Better than fine, even! You don't want your characters to be interchangeable! They should all have strengths and weaknesses!
This is one of the show's big flaws. Since everything is on Marinette's shoulders, the other characters rarely get a chance to shine and so they feel interchangeable. For example, if gift always shows the target what THEY want, then why does Rose need to be the one to wield it? Juleka could wield it just as easily. And if Ladybug is generally the one telling Marc and Nathaniel what to summon with their powers, then their creativity is not needed. Anyone could wield the rooster and the goat! The show has completely failed to understand what makes teams memorable and so we have a bloated, boring team whose presence I'm dreading because they had five seasons to set these guys up and yet here we are.
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I've seen a fair number of posts both here and on reddit that question why Tav (or the Dark Urge) would end up as a group leader for any other reason that "game mechanics say so." There's the requisite "okay, well if you play a high charisma character I guess it makes sense," or on the other end of the spectrum, "if you're playing Durge and murder someone right off the bat everyone would be too scared to tell you no." And I get where people are going with this! I really do. But it also fundamentally misunderstands a facet of human nature, which is that the vast majority of people do not actually want to be in charge, because that means being held responsible for the outcome. Accordingly, most people will dither when a group consensus is needed: have none of you ever tried to get a group of friends to agree where to go for dinner? Yeah, it's like that, but waaaay worse.
A lot of times "leadership" is just the willingness to say, "fuck it, y'all do what you want, but I'm doing this." I see it all the time in a corporate environment, where people will go back and forth on group meetings without anyone making a decision until finally one brave soul goes "in my opinion the clear answer is x" and then everyone gratefully goes along with it. Because now it's not their responsibility when something goes wrong! They're just following along with someone else's suggestion, and maybe it works or maybe it doesn't, but at the end of the day they don't have to worry about the consequences unless they're personally affected. In which case they might step up and argue back, and then they're stuck being a leader, too. Welcome to adulthood!
Lae'zel is the only one who ever even tries to exert some kind of control, when she tells you to follow her lead on the ship, or calls you her subordinate in the Grove. But, crucially, she doesn't ever make any serious attempt to take control: you can just tell her, "lol, no," and she sort of confusedly gives way, because she doesn't know how to handle this scenario. In her world there are commanders and subordinates, and everyone knows where they stand and falls in line. She's never actually had to take control of a situation and so at the first sign of resistance she falls back on the dynamic that's familiar to her, which is executing the commands of someone older and more experienced. She goes through a lot of growth over the game, to the point that she can take over as a resistance leader in her own right by the end, but at the beginning she's a wet-behind-her-ears private with some decent combat chops and it shows.
Otherwise, your party consists of:
Shadowheart, who's trained in infiltration and assassination and does NOT want a lot of attention brought to her or her mission for a variety of reasons;
Astarion, who has literally been a slave for two centuries and canonically takes a while to realize that he can exert an opinion beyond complaining about it;
Gale, whose only friend is his cat and couldn't project-manage his way out of a wet paper bag;
Wyll, who was probably trained for command at one point but has been doing the lone-hero thing for a decade and has a very large secret that he's trying to conceal; and,
Karlach, who's only ever been a bodyguard and a soldier and is genuinely just happy to be here.
Honestly, it would be more a surprise if Tav/Durge didn't end up as their unofficial leader, given the general power dynamics at play. The first time Tav/Durge says something like, "fuck it, we need to do something instead of stand around arguing about it, let's go check out those ruins over there," it's a done deal. They're The Captain Now! As long as they don't make decisions that fundamentally oppose something dear and important to the other group members, they're not even going to get any argument. Because at the end of the day, not one of these walking disasters has enough trust in themselves and their decision-making skills to feel any kind of certainty that they can choose the right path forward. If someone else is going to take that decision out of their hands? They're going to follow, no questions asked, right up until the moment they can't.
#bg3#baldur's gate 3#meta#some of you people have never suffered through group projects and it shows
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Title: A Cruel Punishment
Character(s): Viscount (Unnamed character/original work)
Summary: You were cast aside by your fiance, a prince who fell in love with another woman. You were called an evil woman and you thought you would be sent away yet instead you were given to another. Your hands trembled when you read the contract that you would wed a terrible man.
Tags/Warnings: male!yandere, fem!reader, viscount!yandere x fallen aristocrat!reader, both are adults, general yandere themes, manipulation (both physical and mental), power imbalance, forced marriage, corporal punishment, loss of control, womb tattoo that is not sexual, forced servitude, 4.7k words
Part 2 is here!
This was your punishment.
You did try of course. You tried everything in your power not to have this happen… Yet no matter what you did you were treated like a villain in front of that girl. Tears in your eyes as you watch the man you have loved hold another woman with such care while looking at you in disdain and disgust like you were the devil.
After misunderstandings and misunderstandings, your fiance has cast you aside for the girl who had become the talk of the aristocratic society. You were also spoken of, as the wicked one who lost her fiance to some countryside noble girl. The lady who was cruel and cunning. A bully towards those who could not speak up for themselves. A noble who had set up her own fall.
Yet that was never the case. You were nothing of that sort yet no one believed. When cautious eyes stayed away from you, not wanting to be caught in the waves or rumors. When those who cared for entertainment smiled at you wickedly, watching everything around you collapse. Those who didn't care turned their backs towards you walking away.
Maybe you should have tried harder… but it was too late. Kicked out of noble society, you awaited your punishment.
You thought you would be sent to a monastery. A punishment to banish the cruel women of nobility. Yet just before you could step foot towards that place, you were dragged back to where you were.
They had no place for you. Food and water, none of that nor a place for you to sleep. For you, a far worse punishment awaited you. As you stared at the letter sent to you your knees fell to the floor.
A marriage arrangement contract with the viscount. Cursive, beautiful, and elegant... it was terrifying.
There were many rumors surrounding him, he was someone who always smiled yet the more sharp ones could see the cunningness and hunger in his eyes. There were many rumors around him, that even while handsome many sound-minded women stayed away from him. For those ladies who did not, it was long before they suddenly disappeared, fell into madness or their family suddenly became bankrupt.
There were rumors that circulated around the nobility that the viscount was dangerous, had a hold of the black market, and dabbled in dark magic. But there was no concrete proof, there was nothing. It was impossible to find information that the rumors were true and those who tried to unravel what was covered could only regret it.
The moment you read the contract that he would have you as his wife it was as if cold water was dumped onto you. Fear encased your heart as you wondered if this was your punishment.
Those who have heard of this news wondered if you would even be alive after your marriage with that man. Some thought that you would not last even a month later found in a ditch somewhere body chopped into pieces, while organs were sold to the highest bidder.
You were scared as you were essentially dragged to his mansion, under the guise that you and him should get to know each other more before marriage which was in two months' time. Reaching the place and forced to sit down in the guest waiting room, your hands shook as you held your teacup to your lips, you could not focus on the maids bringing desserts. Seconds felt like hours till he finally showed, the same smile on his lips that felt nothing more than a mask. It was obvious that he was hiding something.
He never tried to hide that smile, in fact, you have never seen another expression on his face other than that sly smile. Maybe already confident that no one would ever find those secrets.
You were cautious of him, having met him a few times at parties and balls you have always kept your guard up and alert around him, never once able to feel comfortable when he stared down at you like a predator watching its prey. You always tried to avoid him, and when you could not you could only sigh in relief when the conversation ended and the two of you separated.
Yet here you were.
"I hope you didn't wait long." He gently asked, taking a seat on the sofa in front of you. The servants had silently left the room after he had motioned them to go out (a flick of his hand) leaving only you and him alone. You shook your head telling him that it was fine that you didn't wait long which he looked as if he had brightened considerably.
"Then please be comfortable. I do hope the tea is to your liking."
His sly smile never left his face.
It made it difficult to actually make yourself comfortable when you didn't know what he was actually thinking. The short small chat between you and him felt too long as he asked about your likes and dislikes, hobbies, and such. Drinking your tea, you were parched from all the talking and your nerves had somewhat calmed down but you tried your best to hide the tremble in your hand.
"You must be sad that you have broken up with your fiance." Looking up you looked at the smiling face of the viscount from your tea. His elbow on his crossed knee while he rested his chin on his hand, "You have been his fiance ever since you were little kids. Why do I imagine it is still difficult to separate when you have been together for so long."
You froze at his words, the hurt in your heart that of what happened just a few days ago was still fresh from the pain. "I pitied you. Such a lovely lady, that looked like a rose wilting as others laughed at a beautiful thing. Why when I heard that they planned to send you to the monastery, I only thought it was unfortunate." He sipped his tea calmly as his eyes watched you, as your hands tightened around the teacup fear climbing up your body as you tried to lean away but were unable to because of the sofa.
"...I am sorry... what are you trying to say?" You didn't understand if he was trying to offend you or if he wanted to show his pity.
You felt a wave of dizziness wash over you.
"Hmmm, for you my dear what I mean to say is that I found it tragic to send such a beautiful lady away." Tilting his head, his sharp eyes staring at you. You tried to concentrate on his words, yet you were struggling. "Then I thought that having you in my grasp would make for such a fine idea. You wouldn't have to go but instead be able to stay and I will get to keep you for myself. Of course, you would need much training before I would release you back into the noble society just like that."
Huh? You tried to listen, yet his words and face started to become a blur. Dizzy and tired you thought as you placed a hand on your head wondering what was the matter with you and if the stress from everything finally caught up to you. It was hard to understand his words, yet you could remember the mocking tone of it. It was getting harder to keep your eyes open.
"It seems that medicine is finally working. Don't worry dear I have made sure just to give you a tiny dose."
There was a sound of glass breaking, wondering what happened you tried to get up again yet were unable to when a hand placed itself on your cheek. The warmth of it was enough to get you to close your eyes. The last thing you heard was his voice.
"Such a cute little dove. Sleep love. When you wake up you will have no more rest. I will train you to become a fine lovely wife just for me and in the eyes of society."
After that darkness was all you could see, consuming all light.
Waking up, you had a major headache. Slowly moving as you push yourself up from the bed when you hear a door open and shut. "You are finally awake."
Opening your eyes, you looked around wondering why you were hearing a somewhat familiar voice when you realized where you were. In a dark room with no windows all except a lamp that lit up the room. There was almost no furniture except the bed that you lay on with expensive sheets and blankets. You suddenly moved alarmed by where you were when the clanging of chains tugged your leg preventing you from getting farther.
Putting force into your leg to pull the chain, you yelped when a sudden pain sprang on your bosom. Grabbing your stomach you looked down to see a crest. A beautiful yet erotic design was laid on the lower side of your stomach through the sheer nightclothes. “You are finally awake! You have slept for quite a while now… three days actually, but I had to make sure that you would not have any irreversible damage from the seal.
"Where... where am I?" You looked at him bewildered, fear and distrust shown in your eyes as you watched him walk closer to you.
"You are in the room you will stay for a little while till our wedding." You raised a brow at his words, surprised and in disbelief but he only chuckled. "My little future wife, my adorable pet, your surprised expression is just so cute. Even since a long time ago, since we met each other the first time I always had this fascination towards you."
Bending his hips, you and him looked face to face at each other. There was a certain twinkle in his eyes, one that you often see in the past whenever he looked at you. "You see it was something like a love at first sight. While I never believed that at first, I realized that it was indeed true when I first laid eyes on you. Such a prim and proper little lady, trying her best to hide her struggles from the pressure of being the finance of a prince while smiling. Seeing you made me wonder what other expressions you have other than the ones that you show in public. I don't know why but I have a hard time getting you off my mind. And the more I thought about you the more I.. fell."
"Quite the love story is it not? However, you have already belonged to someone else, to that foolish and without a lick of sense or talent prince. I do not understand what you see in such a useless buffoon." Dry words of distaste made you flinch. "But it seems I must only do so little to get him out of your side. Why, he himself volunteered to get out of my sight."
You looked at him alarmed at his words when he suddenly grabbed your chin. Examining as if you were a product that he bought. "He is quite the lustful man, don't you think? Falling in love with a woman when all she did was sway her hips and fall in his arms. That woman is a seductress. Her eyes were very greedy for things that didn't belong to her. I have a distaste for such harlots, I prefer the more meek ones, the little mice or loyal dogs."
Placing your hand on his arm you attempted to get out of his hold. "Stay still dear, I have to check if they did anything to your love face dear. I wasn't able to really examine your face much when I was so busy placing that seal." You yelped when your body suddenly didn't listen when you tried to get away. Your own body started to inch closer to him and stayed still.
"It seems that the seal is working quite nicely don't you think?" His smile could not help but widen a little more as he watched your frantic eyes, asking what he had done to you. "Your little seal here is just to make sure you are properly going to follow with your training and not run away. I had it created just for you when I heard that your fiance wanted to break up with you."
"It is just a simple commanding seal, you are quite the doll but even so I prefer my lover to be well collared just in case she had any thoughts of leaving." Your eyes watered at his words, terror seeping into your veins at the implications.
“My beautiful dove, you belong only to me.”
Things went down from there, forced into his every whim you were forced to study and learn to be the perfect wife for the viscount. Whenever you made a mistake there was a punishment. You learned how to care for the mansion. Yet the more you looked the more your blood became cold.
He was a cruel man. No matter how much you begged the servants to let you out they would not. Instead, they would report your actions to their master which would result in you being punished by him. You felt nothing more than dirt when he hit your hands if not your calves with a rod, tears in your eyes as you were forced to listen to his cooing, words of love, speaking of pain as he was forced to punish his oh so sweet lovely dear who just never listened to him.
You didn't want him anywhere near you, but you stifled all your complaints when you watched his eyes become cold the moment you tried to take a step out of line. So you kept it to yourself as your legs in his commands stayed still, as you showed your hands so that he could smear medicine on where he hit. Wanting nothing more than to hide yourself when you were forced to help him move your skirt so that he could place that cooling medicine in your calves. You were ashamed and embarrassed yet you could not do anything.
Nothing at all.
Yet the more you stayed in this nightmarish mansion the more open secrets you found.
"I heard that you have caused some trouble with the maids, you know they would be the ones serving you later when you marry me. You should be kinder to them."
"What happened to them..." You asked, shivering as you pushed yourself further on the bed, wanting anything but to be near the man who was the cause of it.
There was a rumor actually going around one of many about the servants in the viscount's house. When a person enters the mansion as a servant or maid there is a chance you will never see them again, and even if you did they would become a whole different person.
The viscount must have done something, something to make sure that whenever they went out they looked normal to an extent yet at the same time would rather kill themselves than leak a single word about their master. Except for a few who told you about the food and baths no one really spoke unless spoken to. Yet even then there was always this lifelessness in their tone, dead.
They were unbothered by what their master was doing to you, not one reaction did they create when you begged them for help. They wore blindfolds, the viscount didn't care for them but it feels that it was his way of showing his care for you. (Or maybe he wanted to see the shock in your eyes the moment you realize what actually happened to them.) It was by mistake you took off the blindfold of the maid, as you held your breath at their dead, hollow eyes lacking life. There was nothing in those eyes as if there were no memories, no life, nothing.
They were nothing more than living dead puppets.
"What did you do to those people..." You whispered, flinching when he took another step towards you. Tears were in your eyes as you watched him stop as if to think. You were scared, frightened of what he would do. Could do to you. You thought those were slave tattoos that were banned from the kingdom due to how they would cause painful physical harm to the person, how it was inhumane. Due to its nature, the king banned it a few generations ago.
"How..."
"Pfft." You flinched at the viscount reaction, trying to hold his chuckle at the back of his hand as he looked away for a moment. After chuckles and coughs escaped his lips he looked back at you again, walking closer to you again. "My dear, your mind thinks of amazing situations. Even I know that slave seals are banned in the kingdom. Why would I risk myself for something like that? I would also be placing you in danger when you are going to become mine soon."
Not that you weren't already. You saw it in his eyes, that he looked at you as if you were his own property.
Taking a seat on the bed that you were chained to he looked at you tilting his head, his smile was mocking as if asking if you were really that dumb. "You are just so cute dear. Let me explain it so that my fiance would understand." Raising his hands he motioned you to come towards him.
You didn't move, still scared, shivering like a small mouse much to his annoyance.
You yelped when your chained leg was roughly grabbed and pulled toward him. You looked fearfully towards the viscount who was staring down at you, his smile gone just for a moment. He raised his hand again, and you could not help but close your eyes till a hand touched your face in a gentle manner, it felt nothing but nauseating "Come here dear, get up. Let your fiance comfort you from your anguish."
But you didn't move, holding your hands near to your chest as you looked at him with fear. You were scared, so scared at the thought that the viscount would make you the same as those lifeless servants. Yet you were suddenly forced up but an invisible thing holding your arm roughly pulled you towards the viscount who caught you in ease.
"Wha-" "Oh, so eager." That mocking tone again, so close to anger but also amused.
You yelled again, looking at your arms as they moved to their own accord around his neck while your legs also moved by themselves placing you on Viscount's lap. "So eager and so cute... Did you want to jump into my arms that much?" you heard him whisper in your ear as your face heated up in mortification, yet it was obvious that you were shivering still in fear, unable to forget what you saw.
A small sound escaped your mouth as your body flinched when he wrapped his arms around your waist holding you tightly. "You are shivering dear, were you that afraid? I am sorry love, I should have been the one to come instead of the servants but you need to be punished after what you have done yesterday." Another tiny sound escaped your lips when he started to pat your back, tears flowing down your eyes. From the outside point of view, you looked like nothing but a tearful lady crying in her lover's arms begging him to forgive her, while he was nothing but patient.
You were glad that you could not see his face, as your tears stained the shoulder of his shirt. Patting your back his arm went back to hugging you tightly as he placed a kiss on your shoulder. It brought a chill down your spine. "Those servants are like this because I had to be sure that they would never leak any dangerous information. Many had tried already, I had to be cautious dear. I knew you would be scared of them so I had them cover their eyes."
He placed a kiss on your shoulder again this time a little nearer to your neck. "The slave seal is banned and I would never dream of using it, so I made one of my own. The kind that is similar to the slave tattoo but would never hurt the wearer, it just keeps them in a trace, a dreamlike state, and only listens to orders."
You wanted to push him away, yet your arms that hugged his neck were locked in place, as your leg tried to curl around his leg without your command. You knew that he wasn't telling everything, that there was more to it as you wonder about the seal right below your belly button.
Your breath hitched when you felt him place his thumb on the seal, as you froze in your spot. Watching your reaction he laughed again, a laugh that sounded so cruel to your ears as he adjusted your body to move closer to him than what was before.
Warmth touched your neck, his lips touching your neck. Hugging your waist tightly, it was suffocating yet it made him excited, the obsessive love in his eyes so painfully obvious, "My love, I would never do that to you. Your lovely face devoid of any feelings would only hurt me more. To make you a mindless thoughtless servant, that I could never do to you. You just need a little training compared to them..."
"Look at me." Your head did not listen to you, you did not want to look at him. Yet you had no choice but to show your crying face to the man who made you like this. Forced to make eye contact, you saw his obsessed greedy smile as he looked at your face. His eyes swirled with a crazed delight.
You hate it.
You unconsciously jumped when he touched the seal again, there was a static that ran down your spine when he touched it. A foreign feeling that you didn't feel when you touched the seal yourself. Confused, you looked at him, eye round and asking which only made him laugh even more, "You are so adorable." He whispered as he pulled you closer so that your chests were touching. "So adorable, and mine. Forever mine." He whispered, your arms still wrapped around his neck he continued to mumble those words over and over again. His embrace tighter and tighter making it harder to breathe. "I will train you to become a lovely lady, that any other men and woman would look upon you with envy, yet your thoughts would only be infested with me."
Your body moved without your consent again, hugging just as tight. You didn't want this. "So cute. So cute. God it is so fun to watch you. Your body is still shivering and tears are still in your eyes. You are so cute." He laughed as he continued to say the same thing over and over again. "And you will be all mine officially too. Soon dear, in a few months you will be mine but for now you need to stay here okay? You still didn't finish your punishment too for slapping your poor fiance."
You flinched as he looked at you, feeling an immense pressure that was pushing you down the smile calculative and mischievous, "If you kiss me I will forgive you dear." He told you tilting his head.
You want anything but that, yet when you tried to push him away your body did anything but that as your hands on his shoulder pulled him closer instead.
This was your punishment.
Yet nothing changed even after that. Nothing at all when your eyes were forced to read the books that talked about a prim and proper lady.
Every day in your mind you thought that this was your punishment. That you were weak, that you didn't know. Those misunderstandings between you and the prince were caused because you didn't try enough. The Viscount fed you well, even when you didn't have an appetite you tried to eat because of fear, cause you were fearful of the servants who looked after you. You were dressed "well" and taken care of.
However, rather than a human you were almost treated like a doll. The chain was always there on your foot rather than useful; it was a reminder that you were trapped here.
Morning you were forced to study, manners that you learned when you were young you were forced to learn again with the viscounts teaching. He was more strict than your previous teachers, forcing you to do the same sets of movements again and again, from how you eat and how you drink tea. He wanted all the mannerisms drilled into your head so that you would be perfect. To how you walk and hold a teacup. You whelped in pain when he whips you from the small mistakes you have made. Your calves burned in pain and so did the palm of your hands.
Dancing was hell, he found everything wrong with each step. If you weren't able to do it, the punishment was simple as your body was forced to do the same movements over and over and over again. Depending on how skilled or how bad you were you could only become better as you were forced to dance the same song for hours on end. Your body holding the pose of holding the viscount shoulder and hand as he went away telling you to be good and continue practicing telling you that he would come back when he finishes work.
When he came back, you were sweating with a feverish tired look to your face as your body forced you to continue moving to the steps of the dance. More often than not you would fall into the arms of the viscount much to his delight. Asking if you finally memorize each and every step. Sometimes you could not answer too tired to do so and sometimes he was forgiving, other times not so much. You yelped in pain when you heard the loud smack, even while carrying you in his arms he was strong enough to hold you and land a slap on your butt for not answering. You would answer as soon as possible after that, scared that he would hit you again.
It seems that much as he loved perfection, he also adored how fragile and weak you were in his arms. This idea of you being only able to rely on him. As he kissed your feet after taking off your dance shoes, watching you with a crazed lust in his eyes. Unable to pull away when all your energy had been taken away, you could do nothing but close your eyes away from the viscount and his taunting love.
There was even more training after that, he made so that each step you took reminded you of him whether that be the stinging pain of your butt after you had made the mistake of unconsciously trying to avoid him, or thin and revealing the clothes he made you wore were.
Silks and satins, short and over your knees essentially underwear in your eyes when the world viewed the showing of ankles to be too seductive and immoral dresses were the most covered-up clothes you were allowed to wear in the mansion. You hated the feeling of lifeless eyes that the servants had watching you.
And if he was feeling rather sadistic, he would mockingly manipulate your body to play to his whims.
On the day of the marriage, you could not help but stare at yourself in the mirror. You don't remember how many days you were trapped in the Viscount mansion. You wondered if you were broken, broken to the point that you had no willpower to even make a peep at your sufferings. You have long given up, too afraid of something worse you choose to fall. You were too afraid to resist and for him, this was nothing more than amusement. A satisfaction that you were his.
You could not run away, not when he held power over you. Not when he could manipulate your actions and steps. Nothing belonged to you, your life was signed away long ago ever since he saw you.
You thought of yourself as a marionette yet to him he thought of you as his lovely bride.
#yandere x reader#yandere imagine#yandere x you#yanderecore#yandere scenarios#yandere original character#yandere oc#yandere oc x reader#yandere#yandere x darling#yandere boy#yandere blog#yandere thoughts#yandere oneshot#yandere concept#yandere oc x you#yandere writing#yandere imagines#yandere scenario#male yandere
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Jealousy - Simon 'Ghost' Riley Headcanons
Hi can I request any jealous/ possessive ghost head canons? NSFW PREFERABLY. Where he gets jealous and tries to distance the team from being too touchy with you or even to joke around with you. But they don’t know y’all are dating of course. So he has to fight his feelings and eventually taking it out on you if you know what I mean wink*wink*. Or the things he’ll do to show the others that you are his only and that’s when they got the clue. Please?
Wow, I'll admit, this was a bit of a challenge. Also I wrote it as a headcanon list, I hope that's what you were aiming for! I was honestly a bit unsure on how to approach this, and I'm a little unsure about how it turned out, but I genuinely hope that you enjoy it!
Containts heavy smut elements, so minors stay away!
warnings: simon is a jealous bitch, it gets rough, borderline dubcon, genderneutral reader/genderneutral anatomy
Simon has no lack of faith and trust in you. He has a number of peculiarities for sure, but he knows you'd never betray him or go behind his back. It's a trust you worked hard to gain, and it was hard work that he recognizes and appreciates. You've proven time and time again that you're safe in many ways and while he's always prepared for the worst, he's also an excellent judge of character. He can read you like an open book.
Simon has no lack of faith and trust in his team either. He'd never say it out loud, but they are his brothers in arms and he is ready and willing to kill and to die for them, just as they are for him. He's not exactly eager to show his appreciation for them, but they take what they can get, even if it sometimes is just a mere glance. Now, don't misunderstand - he appreciates that you and his teammates get along, and he knows that if something were to happen to him, they'd keep you safe. But he is a man of instinct, and he has a tendency to get a bit territorial, for lack of a better word.
You know he has a bit of a... jealous streak, to say the least. He doesn't try to control you, because his gripes are not with you. He might loom and he might grumble, but he likes seeing you getting dressed up, he likes seeing you having a good time, he enjoys seeing you laugh and joke around. As far as he's concerned, you can do no wrong. No, his gripes are not with you - never with you. They are, however, with everybody else that even glances your way.
Kyle and Johnny are both very friendly by nature - they're probably the most easygoing members both in and outside the task-force. They're the type of people that others trust and want to hang out with, and they also consider you a good friend, whom they like to hang out and banter with. They do seem to have a habit of hogging you though, much to Simon's chagrin, and while you can make it up to him most of the time, he doesn't find it any less infuriating when they whisk you away for you to witness their latest ideas and trinkets.
They are also flirts by nature. Simon knows this because they inadvertently flirt with each other, as well as himself, any other teammates outside the task force and even Price at some points, mostly through jokes. They could probably flirt with a brick wall as far as he's concerned. Which is why he can almost overlook it when they turn their cunning charms onto you. Almost.
No one knows about Simon and yours relationship, not even Price. He's made it a point to keep it on the low for the safety of both of you, and you couldn't exactly argue - it made sense considering the line of work. It seemed as if though you had to remind him of this several times whenever hands and eyes that weren't his own seemed to wander a bit too much for his liking - "you can't hold it against them," you'd say, "they don't even know." And he knows you're right, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to hold it against them.
Despite all this, he keeps himself in check fairly well. No one can tell if he's just staring normally or glaring daggers at others anyways, so he gets away with dreaming about stringing them up by their balls at any time. Or rather, he keeps himself in check fairly well - until he has you for himself.
You'd tease him about it, but it's kind of difficult to even form coherent thoughts once he's pounding into you like his life depends on it. The second you're alone with him, you best believe he's making the most of it. He'll cover your mouth to keep you from making too much noise (although you're not sure that ever helps because just the sound of him fucking you is loud enough anyways) and he growls into your ear things like "you're mine and mine alone," "one day I'll fucking bend you over right in front of those fucking idiots and show them who you belong to," "they think they can fuck you as good as I do," "I bet those fuckheads would kill to get a chance to make you cum this fucking hard."
He tries to keep them away from you, subtly in order to not draw attention to it, even though it doesn't always work, and he'd rather just kick them in the head. Places himself between them and you, keeps you close to him, gives excuses as to why you should be stationed with him, why you should be assigned to him and his missions - anything he can think of. He also has a penchant for interrupting others when they're trying to talk to you, coming up with something to send them away. You yourself are honestly surprised no one's caught on at this point, but that might because no one knows him quite as intimately as you do.
Every day that anyone has managed to get in the way for him always ends the same. If you could keep track of the time he spends fucking your brains out, you'd probably be concerned, but he doesn't give you any chance to gather your thoughts once he has you. If he's really pissed, he might start taking risks - dumb risks, if you had anything to say about it, but he rarely listens, and he knows exactly what weak spots to touch on to get you to give in.
He's pinned you against a door a number of times, somehow managing to stay deathly quiet while fucking you thoroughly with practically all of his teammates standing on the other side, completely oblivious to what's going on behind just a couple of inches of wood. He once fucked you just around the corner from an open hangar door, and if any of the people walking by had thrown a look in your direction, they would've seen you bent over, pants pulled down to your knees and with Simon's iron grip on your hips.
So far though, he's managed to keep it discreet, despite his hotheadedness. Never leaves any marks where anyone can see them, helps you stay on your feet if you're in a place where you have to be, makes excuses to do things for you so that you don't have to get up out of your seat - although he can't deny that a part of him wants everyone else to see what he's done with you. He wants to mark your neck and chest all over for everyone to see, he wants everyone to see you stumble when you walk on shaky legs after he's done with you. He's had to fight the urge to just throw you onto the table whenever the force invites you in for a poker night and fuck you in front of them, just so that they can see that only he can have you.
But he mainly keeps it to himself. You'd be far too pissed at him if he pulled a stunt like that for it to be worth it. In fact, he reached a point where he was almost fine with at least Johnny and Kyle being their usual selves with you (to a point, of course). He almost got over it. Until, of course, the idiot with the mohawk decided to push it a bit further than he usually did.
The outcome can be blamed on a number of things, really. 141 had been away for an extended period of time, long enough for Simon to reach for his phone and send you some heated messages nearly every day for the last week, which was rare. So when he was finally coming back to you, finally able to spend as much time as he wanted in bed with you, when he steps off of that goddamn fucking helicopter to finally be greeted by you, what happens? John 'Soap' FuckTavish runs full speed ahead to you, wraps his dumb fucking arms around your waist, hoists you up in a fucking hug and plants a big fucking kiss on your cheek. Numerous times, mind you!
While you were indeed happy to see him and the rest of the team, you could tell that Simon had reached an instant boiling point. If you didn't know any better, you would've thought that he was about to blow Johnny's brains out then and there, but instead he simply walked up to you, grabbed Johnny by the shoulder and just about yanked him away from you.
"Maybe take a shower before you start rubbin' your stink all over everyone else, Sergeant," he said, pushing Johnny away. Wow, smooth, you thought to yourself, but Johnny seemed to take it in stride and laughed. "Gee, sorry, LT. Just happy to be back with a good friend is all." And as a final nail in the coffin, he winked at you before strutting away.
Kyle and Price greeted you as well as they passed by, Kyle also giving you a warm and tight hug, rocking you back and forth, and you could practically feel the heat radiating from Simon where he stood. Once they'd moved on, you turned to him with a sheepish smile. "Hi, baby," you said as sweetly as you could.
He grabbed you by the jaw, squeezing your cheeks so that your lips puckered; firm, but not rough. He leaned in close, his eyes fixated on you. "I've had it," he said and while you weren't exactly sure what he meant, you knew that there was something in store.
He picked you up and threw you over your shoulder and you were suddenly aware of the fact that there were still people around to witness this very unusual display from Simon 'Ghost' Riley. He carried you through the hallway that lead to his room and people were gawking at you as you tried to protest, tried to remind him that no one's supposed to know, that you need to be discreet about this, but how could you say all that without giving everything away when everyone could hear you? So you tried to just act like you didn't know what was going on, asking him what he was doing, where he was taking you, why he was doing this, but he didn't say a word. You're pretty sure that far more than you were comfortable with watched as he carried you into his room and locked the door.
He threw you onto his bed and tore his mask off, throwing it onto the floor with such force that you thought he broke it. "Simon, what the hell?!" you said, watching him take his gear off and haphazardly toss it to the side. "I thought we were keeping this shit secret!" But he didn't seem to listen. He simply stared at you with some combination of lust and anger as he stripped himself naked in front of you.
He grabbed your ankle and pulled you to the edge of the bed, wrapped your legs around his hips and leaned over you, pinning your hands in one of his above your head. "I've. Had. It." he said again. His other hand moved down to your crotch and pressed, rubbing at you. "I should've fucked you the second I touched ground - maybe then they'd get the fuckin' point."
Everything happened so fast after that - he ripped your shirt off, from the collar and all the way down, and you're pretty sure he broke your belt before he practically ripped your pants off as well. He kept you pinned against the mattress as he relentlessly fingered you, and when you tried to keep quiet he'd only up the intensity, focusing on that exact spot to break you apart. "I'll make them get the point, how's that?" he grumbled and spat at your hole, staring as if hypnotized.
You had no idea how long he'd had you just like this, eventually with both hands working you past the edge over and over again, but you were pretty sure that if you came just one more time you'd pass out, and he hadn't even fucked you properly yet.
At some point, you were vaguely aware of him lifting your hips up, placing your ankles on his shoulders before you felt him push into you and you thought you felt a part of your mind break. You didn't have any energy left to try and keep quiet anymore, so any moans and cries that worked their way up from your chest were let out freely and loudly as he pounded into you. Between the biting and the sucking all over your neck and chest and whatever other parts his mouth could reach, you thought you heard Simon praise you for every sound you let out.
His grip was sure to leave bruises on your hips, but he found that he had little concern about it as he watched your eyes roll back. With how he was handling you, he'd wondered if you'd mark him up the same if he asked you - it would only be fair, and he would be more than happy to wear any branding that you'd put on him. But for now, he'd put his on you.
He gripped the back of your knees, pushing them up to your chest and pushed himself deeper into you. He growled all sorts of dirty exclamations about how you looked, how you sounded, how you felt and how now no one would dare to lay a finger on you again. He fucked into you with reckless abandon, eventually pushing all the way into you to cum as deep into you as he could before pulling out and using his hands once more, fingering his cum back into as it leaked out.
You came one last time with a loud and near pornographic cry, the world flashed white, and before you knew it, you were held up in a warm stream of water in the shower, Simon's calloused hands stroking you gently to wash all the fluids off of you. "Aren't you such a good doll for me, baby?" he mumbled. "So good..."
You were littered with hickeys and bite-marks, painfully sore all over in the best sort of way, so weak in the legs that your knees were still shaking and you could barely stand. "The fuck got into you?" you managed to breathe out. "I'd be surprised if the entire fucking complex didn't hear us." Simon simply grinned. "Good. Maybe now everyone will know to keep their fucking hands off."
You were incredibly pissed at him once you saw yourself in the mirror, yelling at him and telling him that there is no way you can go out there looking like this. You scolded him, unsure if he even cared, but he dutifully went out to grab you some new clothes to replace the ones he ripped apart when you demanded him to.
The following week or so was incredibly stiff, both literally and figuratively. People would nearly sprint out of the room if you entered, trying not to pay any attention to your awkward walk, and you practically banned Simon from sex until you could sit down properly ("Plus an extra week!" you had added, just to get your point across) and all the marks had faded from your skin. Simon did make it up to you, being extra sweet on you, massaging any and every sore spot you had regardless of if he had caused them or not, running errands to make sure you didn't have to leave your spot.
As for the task force... for as long as they could see the hickeys on your neck, Kyle and Johnny tried every excuse they could think of to not look too much at you, or they told you that they had somewhere to be before awkwardly stumbling off under the glare of your boyfriend. Price himself was also a bit awkward, but for the most part, his reaction consisted of calling Simon into his office and scolding him for "causing a ruckus". He also threw in a "and for fuck's sake, don't break them - I'd rather not have to write that report!"
Simon did appear to be pleased with the results, however. Everyone steered clear of you, with the slight exception of his teammates, but even they were treading carefully. He barely even had to do anything. A bonus was that anyone that tried to be an asshole to you also kept their distance, which even you could agree was at least one positive thing to come out of the whole ordeal. At least he'd gotten it out of his system. For now.
#cod mw2#cod x reader#ghost x reader#simon riley x reader#simon ghost riley x reader#simon ghost riley smut#simon riley smut
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Let's talk about grumpy x sunshine tropes.
Arguably one of the most well-loved tropes in media, for good reason. The dynamic where one character is perpetually cynical, stoic, or irritable while the other is warm, cheerful, and outgoing often makes for good banter and conflict, and it's satisfying to watch the grumpy character's reluctance develop into the relationship as they warm up to the other. But it's important to do it well. Here are some tips.
The Appeal
What makes this trope work?
Contrast = Chemistry
The clashing personalities creates tension as well as opportunities for banter, which adds to the chemistry between the characters; and their differences and areas of disagreement force them both to grow and adapt for the sake of the other.
Vulnerability
As their relationship develops, you'll often see the sunshine character helping the grumpy character to confront their emotional walls, whether by pushing them or when they come down on their own over time as they grow closer to each other. This also leads to the grumpy character softening around the sunshine character.
Humour
This whole dynamic naturally comes with its own comedic situations—whether that be witty retorts, misunderstandings, or the sunshine character's relentless attempts to brighten the grumpy character up.
Dos and Don'ts
Do:
Give them depth. Have reasons for their respective personalities, motivations, goals, who they avoid, how they act around new people—the grumpy character's personality, for example, aside from just being a part of their character, might also have elements that stem from past trauma or a fear of vulnerability, amongst other things. Avoid making them one-dimensional, like just making the grumpy character a jerk and the sunshine character obnoxiously naïve.
Show mutual growth. As their relationship develops, both characters should influence the other in various ways. An obvious example of this would be the sunshine character learning boundaries or resilience, and the grumpy character being able to open up more.
Balance their dynamic. Make the relationship feel like partnership rather than a one-sided emotional rescue mission. Both characters should be contributing to and benefiting from the relationship.
Build it up gradually. A slow burn typically works best with this trope. Let their relationship develop over time, give them reasons to connect and bond and grow. This will make the eventual payoff more satisfying for the reader.
Have balance. Make each character complement the other without dominating the narrative. They should feel like a team rather than one character "fixing" the other.
Create situations that force interaction. Whether they’re co-workers, roommates, or trapped together somewhere, proximity is key to fostering their dynamic, essentially forcing it when their personalities naturally go against each other.
Don't:
Make the sunshine character a doormat. Don't let them exist solely for the purpose of catering to the grumpy character's needs and pushing them for growth—give them agency, independence, and their own goals and motivations.
Have one-sided growth. It’s not just about the sunshine character "fixing" the grumpy character; both should influence and challenge each other.
Overuse miscommunication. Misunderstandings happen in relationships, and likely more when the characters' personalities contrast so drastically, but constant misunderstandings and miscommunication can frustrate readers. Try to use it more sparingly and don't drag out the resolution for conflict that is petty or largely unimportant to the overall plot.
Make the dynamic toxic. Unless this is your intention, of course, but if you're trying to develop a healthy and lovable romance, keep in mind that grumpy doesn't mean cruel. The grumpy character might have certain reservations or personality quirks, but being stoic or unapproachable doesn't inherently equate to being emotionally abusive.
Oversimplify the sunshine character. Cheerful and outgoing shouldn't automatically mean being naïve or oblivious. The sunshine character should be complex in their own right, and capable of experiencing a range of emotions, both positive and negative.
Make the sunshine character too overbearing. A sunshine character who ignores boundaries or forces positivity onto the grump can come across as irritating and socially inept rather than endearing.
Overdone?
Some things are overdone and everyone's tired of them; others are overdone because no one gets tired of them. So:
Overdone, unfortunately:
Unexplained 180: The grumpy character changes overnight with no believable arc.
"You’re the only one who gets me": While sweet in moderation, it can feel contrived if the sunshine character magically understands the grump without effort.
Damsel in distress: Turning the sunshine character into a helpless figure who needs constant saving undermines their strength.
Overdone, but please continue:
Forced proximity: Setups like this are cliché but effective when done well, and fun to read.
Grumpy protects sunshine: The grumpy character reluctantly stepping up to shield the sunshine character is not only adorable but leads to deeper emotional connections.
Soft spot: The grumpy character's’s hidden affection for the sunshine character always lands well if subtle.
Happy writing! ❤
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#writeblr#writing#writing tips#writing advice#writing help#writing resources#creative writing#grumpy x sunshine#sunshine x grumpy#character development#character relationships#writing relationships#writing tropes#deception-united
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the problem with mitsi (or as i like to call it. mitsogyny)
(context: this was written under a youtube video, which i'm sure most of us have at least seen pop up in our recommendeds, in response to many people taking criticism against the new episode. it has been edited a little to be more cohesive as a somewhat-essay)
ok, i wanted to write out a rant/essay/ramble/whatever sort of summarising the criticism against mitsi's plotline because a lot of the people here seem to be misunderstanding the fundamental issue that people have with it, including some of those people themselves.
first off, an analysis that i think tell both sides of the argument very well which i feel should be read before reading the essay: Mitsi: What Makes A Fridged Character (and why y'all are wrong about it) | an AvA essay by InksandPensblog. i will note: i don't care to discuss whether mitsi was fridged or not and that won't be of much importance in this post. the above link gives some insight into some of the fandom's criticism of mitsi and how she was "fridged", defining common tropes for examples. that's what's relevant to this post.
the main issue with mitsi, in my opinion, is less with the fact that mitsi's a girl and moreso the fact that she's one of the only female-coded character in the series, and that her character's main purpose was to further victim's own development. the other arguably female-coded character in the series is pink, who (like navy) only really exists to explain purple's motivations. i don't have much of an issue with that since they're not meant to be important or sympathised with at all. that's not their job in the story.
with mitsi, i've seen people point out that she has more character to her than just victim's love interest and supporter: she invents rocketcorp, she's smart, she's kind, innocent and helpful. narratively speaking, she shows other creations' relationships with their animators, parallels her innocence with victim's trauma, and introduces victim to the outernet (as most fans call the stick realm).
but most of this things imo are either stretches or invalid arguments. she's not really a 2/3-dimensional character in any way; her main character traits boil down to the fact that she likes to be in service of others with no nuance behind why she likes helping people. she hypes up victim for the villagers, she starts a company with him to share his talents with the world, and she helps him overcome his trauma from alan's torture. all of her main plot beats center around victim: and while technically the sticks are genderless and free to be interpreted however the viewer wants, alan and most of his team see all the main characters as male, and that subconciously affects how they're written. mitsi, the first major female-coded character, spends most of her storyline in service of victim, a character not written as female.
there's also the issue of her being victim's canonical love interest. i feel like this statement from alan is important to keep in mind (don't mind the sound effects and edits, this is the only isolated clip i can find at the moment). in particular:
"i just assume that [the ava/m characters] are just a bunch of bros]. i haven't thought of adding any female stick figures but i think it'd be good. i don't want to introduce any romance though, i don't want that to be a theme."
he seems to have changed his mind on that last part, which is fine, but the notable part for me is that he seems to associate female characters with romance from the getgo. before anyone misinterprets this, i'm not trying to call alan sexist or anything. but there's a common issue with women in stories being reduced to just a romantic partner for the male lead, and mitsi falls under this, with her entire character existing to serve victim. (not to mention people will make things about romance whether you like it or not. that's just basic fandom. search up grapeduo or chodark.) even her death is to put victim on the path of vengeance--- it doesn't need to happen to show the extent of tco and tdl's destruction, because that's already made pretty clear in ava s2 the flashback and the earlier scenes showing various characters escaping burning buildings. when you write a female-coded character whose only purpose is to serve a male character, you're contributing to sexist narratives.
a counter i see many people point out with the idea that she has no character is that she does have character traits, it's just that they're generic ones like "kind" and "innocent". the issue is that she has no flaws to counterpoint this; it's not that she didn't have enough screentime. in ava4 for example, we see tsc's flaws pretty clearly; they can be very mean when they want to, they're petty (albeit for a fair reason), they're a little impulsive. this is shown in 11 minutes (from the moment they come alive to the end of the video).
with mitsi meanwhile… she doesn't seem to have any flaws? she helps victim whenever she can. she's nice to all the villagers. her customers all like her and she's a great leader at rocket corp (to note, specifically as part of a pair with victim. they're a power couple, she's barely given credit for her work alone). she has 13 minutes of screentime, or 10 if you count from her waking up in the outernet. there's plenty of opportunities to show her having flaws; maybe she acts a little selfish during tdl and tco's attack, only wanting to help herself and agent smith, or maybe she overworks herself, or feels awkward at having too much attention (and that could also be why she redirects so much attention to victim, she's shy). you could argue that the episode needs to develop victim and agent smith too, but ava4 shows that's easy to do too: just a few seconds dedicated to showing rgyb fighting over who leaves first shows that they can be selfish and childish. it's very easy to insert a moment like that for mitsi.
it's a little disappointing when the first major female-coded character in ava is completely flawless, with no personality outside of being nice and helpful for others.
also, slightly unrelated, check out this quote from mitsi's plushie website: "her white featureless face seems to ooze mystery and feminine power all at the same time." her main character trait, as a woman, is being feminine. it's irritating as someone who's been raised a woman to see her reduced to just her gender. she feels more plastic than a person, like the concept of what a woman should be (perfect, kind, useful) and not an actual character/person.
i would expect more from the writing in the series seeing as it's not just an independent passion project anymore, and has multiple writers that all could've worked to flesh out mitsi, or at least get a sensitivity reader of sorts to point these issues out. it's extremely disappointing and i can understand why people were upset.
tldr: the problem isn't just that mitsi's a girl, or that she's nice or dating victim, it's that she's written in a misogynistic way.
#alan becker#animation vs animator#animation vs minecraft#ava mitsi#ava victim#avm mitsi#theo's rambles#ava vitsi#ava vicsi#victim x mitsi#animator vs animation#ava ships#avm ships#ava agent smith
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Of broken promises..
Genshin Men, completely forgetting about your birthday
Characters included: Xiao, Cyno and Childe
Summary: Your special day was just around the corner. You were very ecxited about it, since your boyfriend told you he had something very special planned for you. But things turned out different than you had expected..
Content (Warnings): Angst; Hurt/no comfort; established relationship; characters may be slightly ooc; misunderstandings; gender neutral reader; not proof read yet
Read Part 2 here
Word Count: 4.2k
I was in the mood for some angst, so now here I am, writing this and taking you all with me. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to drama and hurt, but I find it easier to write than fluff and other stuff. As always, feel free to point out any mistakes I may have made, I very much appreciate it!
Well then, I hope you enjoy reading this little piece I brought you all!
Xiao
Your relationship with Xiao was still very much in the beginning stages. It was all tender touches and soft words, as to not scare your boyfriend away from all these new emotions and situations that he was experiencing. You didn’t mind it though. You went into this relationship, knowing that you would have to take things very slow with him. Probably slower than you ever had, but in your eyes, it was a good thing.
It gave you both the opportunity to really get to know each other, not just on a superficial level. Your first kiss happened three months into the relationship and it was also at this point, that Xiao acknowleged his feelings for you though it was still difficult for him to initiate any sort of affection. He didn’t flinch away from you anymore though when you tried to cuddle or hug him, so in your book, that was a huge success already.
Cue now, a few more months into the relationship, almost going for a year now, and your birthday was just around the corner. Xiao knew about it, how the mortals celebrated the day of ones birth every year, though he never thought anything of it. But since it was important to you, he not only made the effort to remember the date, but also plan something for you, so you could really enjoy that day.
He did need to get some help though, since he had absolutely no idea what would be an appropriate thing to do and what wouldn’t be. Don’t mention it to him afterwards though, or he might get moody with you again.
You were currently getting ready for your big day. Xiao refused to tell you, what you were going to do. He didn’t even give you a hint. The only thing he told you to do, was to dress up a little bit, which you gladly took the opportunity to do, since you don’t usually get the chance to do that very often.
After one last look in the mirror once you were done, you went to sit down at your table, feeling giddy and excited. Hundreds of thoughts running through your mind at once, trying to figure out what his plans for today were. As you waited for Xiao to pick you up, like he told you he would do, you noticed that quite some time already went by. He should have been here half an hour ago...
Normally, you wouldn’t think much of it, everyone could be late sometimes. But this was Xiao. He was never late for anything, so of course you began to worry as you noticed this.
“Xiao?”, you called his name and waited for a few seconds, hoping that he just had the wrong time remembered. But nothing happened. Your boyfriend didn’t magically appear right in front of you like he usually did when you spoke his name.
Your gut feeling told you that something wasn’t right. But you swallowed that feeling right down, trying to calm yourself down by reasoning.
‘Maybe he is just getting ready himself, no need to worry.’
‘Surely he is just finishing up some last preparations.’
You tried to find every possible reason for why he could be late and not appear at your call, but as you tried again and again to call his name, he still didn’t show up. Your heart began to feel heavy as worry settled deep within you. Something really must have gone wrong.
You pondered for a long time, trying to figure out what you could do now. But after some time with no real success, you just couldn’t take it anymore. Without wasting another second, you grabbed a few important things and then went straight to Wangshuu Inn, hoping to find him there. Praying, that everything was okay.
It took you some time to get there, but once you arrived, you wasted no time, going straight to the balcony your adeptus boyfriend usually kept for himself.
“Xiao!”, you called again once you arrived, but still, nothing happened. You looked around, trying to see if you could spot him anywhere near, again, without success. Desperation settled into you, as you went downstairs, to where the Innkeeper was located.
“Excuse me, Verr... have you seen Xiao today?”
“Xiao?”, she repeated, then thinking to herself for a few seconds. “No, I’m sorry. Last time I saw him was yesterday morning. He said he had something to take care of.”
“Oh, I see.... thank you.”, you murmured, not sure how you were supposed to feel or react to these news.
You wrecked your brain, trying to think if he had mentioned something the days prior. But if he did, you didn't remember it. Verr looked at you with something close to pity in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again just as quickly, obviously changing her mind about it. Sad and defeated, you made your way back to your house at Liyue Harbour, not sure what you were supposed to do now.
Should you search for your boyfriend? After all, he could be hurt out there somewhere. Then again, you had not even the faintest of idea where to begin with your search. Then, should you just wait here for him to return? But it was still Xiao you were talking about here. He could be gone for anytime between an hour and an entire week. Or, and you absolutely didn’t like that thought at all... he could never return.
What if something bad happened to him while on this mission he never told you about? Was that the reason why he never said anything to you? Because he knew that he wouldn’t make it back? But that would be ridiculous. He wouldn’t have made so many plans with you and talked so much about your shared future with you if he knew he wouldn’t live to see it.
All of these thoughts that came crashing in your mind, you just couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. You forgot all about your stupid birthday, you just wished to have your partner right here next to you again, safe and sound.
That night, you cried yourself to sleep, praying to all the Archons out there, that he would come back to you in one piece. That Xiao would be fine. It was all you would ever wish for.
...
The next day you woke up to a cold bed. A clear indicator that he hadn’t returned in the middle of the night and spent it next to you. And also a harsh slap in the face with the cold reality. You struggled to get yourself out of bed or to get yourself ready, but you managed. Once you were done, you thought about your options, what you could do.
You decided that your best course of action for now would be to go to Wangshuu Inn again today. Just to be on the safe side and see for yourself if he returned. So, you did just that, setting out again while sending a small little prayer to the Archons again.
The walk to the Inn seemed longer this time around then it did yesterday. Maybe because you weren’t in such a rush to get there as you were yesterday. You were still defeated once you arrived, slowly walking up the stairs and pass Verr again, who only looked at you with a knowing gaze and tried to give you a reassuring smile. You found it hard to respond, so you just avoided her gaze and made your way up to the balcony again.
To your surprise, you saw Xiao standing by the handrail, his gaze fixed at something in the distance, but you were sure that he noticed the presence of someone coming up the stairs. Still, you were in shock how casual he was just standing there.
“Xiao?”, you spoke, and the shock was clearly heard in your voice. Your boyfriend turned around and looked at you, while you were also frozen in place a few steps away from him.
“What?”, was the cold reply you got, which only threw you off even more. Why was he being this way to you? Shaking that thought out of your head again, you quickly walked up to him.
“What do you mean ‘what’? I was worried about you! Where were you?”
“Why were you worried? You know of my duty to protect Liyue. I have been away for longer than one single day. And as far as I know, we weren’t supposed to meet up.”
You were taken aback, staring at him as if you were asking him with your eyes to please tell you that he was only joking. But that was the problem.. Xiao never joked, about anything.
“But.. we were. Yesterday was-”
“Y/N, please, leave it for now. I am not in the mood today.”
“But Xiao, yesterday-”
“I said, leave it. I had something important to do yesterday. Something more important than whatever silly little thing you have come up with to bother me! I’m not in the mood for your antics today, so just don’t bother. Leave me alone.”
You took a step back as you heard his harsh words. For a second, you thought you saw something like guilt shine in his eyes, but it was quickly washed away by the cold expression he now wore.
You were hurt. He had never said anything like that to you, you weren’t sure how to react. So you did the only thing you could think of.
Without another word or glance at him, you turned around and granted him his wish. His wish for you to leave him alone.
________________
Cyno
Cyno had many responsibilites as the General Mahamatra. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be gone for a whole week - sometimes even longer - for a mission. He could never tell you much about his work or current mission, until it was over, as to not endanger you or himself. But once the deed was done, he told you all about it, about everything that he experienced.
When he was gone for so long, the first thing he would always do was to find you, trap you in his arms and cuddle with you for hours on end. Not many people would think this of him, but Cyno was a very affectionate lover. He thrieved on physical contact, no matter if it was just holding your hand of if he could hold you in his arms.
To him, you were the most important thing in his life, second to nothing else. Sometimes, he resented his position as General Mahamatra, especially if it was preventing him from spending time with you for an extended period of time. But it was also his calling, he felt.This position was so important to him, and you knew that as well. You learned to deal with it, and Cyno was so grateful for it.
He didn’t know many people who could put up with a busy partner as himself for such a long time, but you two managed. That’s why, as a way to show his gratitude towards you, he put so much effort into your relationship. He was never late for anything, be it a date or just something trivial. He made an effort to remember every important date, be it for anniversaries or a birthday date. In all of your years with Cyno, although you did have your ups and downs, it was overall the best relationship you ever had.
And that is exaclty why the current situation hurt you so much.
...
You were having dinner with your boyfriend, already feeling a little giddy as your birthday was just a week away and you were excited to see what Cyno had in store for you this year.
Except, it came entirely different.
“I have to leave for a mission tomorrow. It’s a very important one, so expect me to be gone for about two weeks.”
You froze when you heard those words. Surely, you must have misunderstood.
“What?”, you said, not really being able to process this new information. And it didn’t help that Cyno simply repeated what he had said.
Was he making a joke again? That had to be it. Surely, he would never forget about it.
“You’re.. leaving? But, what about-”
“Y/N, please. It’s a very important mission. I can’t just let anyone handle this. It has to be me. You have to understand.”
So, he really wasn’t joking. You just looked at him, while he continued eating like nothing has happened, completely unbothered. Suddenly, you were not feeling hungry at all, so you just got up and left the table.
“Darling?”, Cyno called after you as you went in the living room, not sure what else to do with yourself at the moment. Cyno continued to look after you, trying to figure out what could be wrong with you. He wrecked his brain but when he couldn’t come up with a solution, he just shrugged it off and continued with his meal. He would deal with it once he was done eating.
Meanwhile, you were sitting on the couch, deep in your thoughts. You were trying to come up with a solution, a scenario in which Cyno could still spend your birthday with you. You didn’t want to spend it without him, you have never done that since you got in this relationship with him and you definitely didn’t want to start with it now.
You had no idea how much time had went by when you suddenly felt the arms of your lover wrap around you as he sat down next to you.
“What’s wrong, my dear?”, he asked, his crimson eyes fixed on you.
“Just... thinking.”, you said, as you were not able to come up with an idea until now.
“Thinking about what? Tell me, maybe I can help.” That did sound like a good idea, so you obliged.
“It’s about that mission of yours. I was just thinking-”
“Y/N”, Cyno let out with a long, frustrated sounding sigh. “There’s nothing I can do about it. Can’t we just forget about it for now and just cuddle a bit. You know I’m gonna miss you.”
“So you can just go and disappear in the morning before I’m even awake? No Cyno, I wanna talk about it now. Because you’re forgetting something important.”
“I am not forgetting anything. Right now, the only important thing is this mission. I can’t tell you about it, but just know I have to be the one to take it.”
You were getting frustrated as well. He was just not giving you a chance to explain yourself.
“That’s not what I mean, Cyno. I know YOU want to take that mission, and that’s fine. But there is something else you should remember. What I’m trying to tell you is-”
“Listen, I don’t wanna argue right now. If you can’t handle this, maybe it was a mistake to get in this relationship with you.”
You froze when he said that, staring at him, unmoving. Was that really how he felt? Like all this was a mistake? That YOU were a mistake?
Cyno waited for a response from you for a few seconds, but when nothing came, he sighed and stood up, collecting a few neccessities he would need on this trip.
When he passed the living room again, he saw you still standing there. “I changed my mind. I’m leaving today. Maybe the time apart will help the both of us to figure something out and reflect on us.”
With that said, he went for the door and you heard it fall into place again once he had already left.
So that was it? He just left, basically telling you that your relationship might be ending when he returned? And that was when the dam in you broke and tears started to stream down your face. You broke down were you were standing, clutching your chest in hope to ease the burning pain you were feeling inside but of course, it didn’t help.
What a way to spend your upcoming birthday.. anticipating the end of your relationship with the man of your dreams..
__________________________
Childe (Ajax)
Being in a relationship with a harbinger was simultaneously the best and worst decision in your life.
Childe was a very sweet and caring lover, although sometimes slightly overprotective. You’ve spoken to him about it many times, but after only a week or so, he completely forgot about it again and went back to his old ways of guarding you like a hawk.
People in Shneznahya knew about you and your relationship to one of their harbingers, so you were almost as feared as Childe himself, as people were afraid you would talk ill of them to him, which would then result in harm for them.
They didn’t know they had nothing to fear. You were one of the kindest and caring humans that Childe has ever met. It was one of the many reasons why he fell in love with you in the first place.
After he joined the harbingers, he became a frequent visitor in the infirmary, even more so than before. Somehow it was always you who had to take care of him when he was injured again. Most of the time, while you were treating him, Childe was talking about random stuff, throwing in a flirtly remark here and there, but you never paid much mind to it.
Until one day when he showed up there, no injury in sight, so you asked him what he wanted here. And he just asked you on a date.
That was over two years ago and you have been in a relationship with him ever since. Childe was loyal to you, and you trusted him in that, even if he had to travel to many different regions all across Teyvat. He couldn’t always take you with him and the time you two had to spend apart from each other proved to be difficult for both of you.
You also learned very soon that Childe was totally a family person. He took you to meet his parents fairly early on, but you really hit it off with them, getting along quite well with them, and his siblings followed soon. You fell in love with them, and Childe just love seeing you interact with his family. It made him want to get a family of his own with you as soon as possible.
But, no matter how good the relationship was going, there were also always going to be problems along the way. His work was a huge factor, yes, but another huge part of the problem was Childe’s confrontational behaviour. He liked to cause fights, not only physical ones with his enemies, but also with you.
His personality and pride demanded of him to win in every argument you two had, even when he would be in the wrong. Apologizing had never been a strong suit for the ginger, and you knew that. But sometimes, that was all you wanted. For him to seriously apologize and make you his number one priority form time to time.
Because you never were. You knew that Childe loved you with all his heart, he told you that almost every single day. And still, you were only ever his second choice. Because his work would always stay his number one priority.
No matter what it was or how bad the timing would be, if he had another mission, he would already be out the door, barely giving you a kiss to the cheek before he was gone. Sometimes, it was hard. Having to stay behind, not knowing if he would return to you in one piece again.
He promised you to be careful and that he would always return to you, but there was still a chance. A chance that something wouldn’t go as planned and fate would take him from you. In that times of not knowing, you didn’t care how difficult your relationship was if it meant that he was alive and well in your arms.
...
It had been a very stressful week, work has been demanding much from you, both mentally and physically. You were glad when you got home that evening, looking forward to the few days you were able to spend with your boyfriend again.
As if he sensed that you would be done this evening, you found him in the kitchen, preparing a meal for you both.
“Ajax? You, cooking? What’s the occaision?”, you asked, clearly surprised since he rarely cooked, ever.
At that, he just laughed. “What, can’t I spoil my beautiful lover from time to time?”, he asked, giving you a smirk. “Sit down, I’m almost done.”
You did as you’re told, not questioning him any further. You just assumed that it would be a taste for your birthday tomorrow. You haven’t planned much that day, since you never really celebrated your birthday. You would just have lunch with his family at their place and then spend the rest of the day together, doing whatever came to your mind. Maybe his spoiling you today was in preparation for your day tomorrow.
The meal was actually very good, which surprised you, since you only got to taste Childe’s cooking once before today, and that wasn’t exactly his best creation. Your boyfriend seemed to be proud of it himself.
Afterwards, you did the dishes together, before you both went to get ready for bed. Like every night, once you got into bed, he pulled you close to his chest and whispered a sweet “I love you” in your ear, before you both drifted of to sleep.
...
The next morning, you woke up alone in bed. Patting your hand on his side of the bed, you found that it was still somewhat warm, meaning that he got up not too long ago himself.
You managed to get yourself out of bed, before searching for your boyfriend. You find him sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee.
He noticed you coming up behind him, so he turned to you and smiled up at you. “Good morning, sunshine. Did you sleep well?”
You nodded as you went and made yourself your own cup to get your day started properly. You both set in a comfortable silence as you each drank your own drink. Only when you awoke more and more did you notice something strange... normally, Childe would have already showered you in congratulations and presented you with at least a gift or two, but nothing.
Yet, you chose to not say anything just yet. Maybe he had something planned and would do that later in the day.
Once done with your coffee, you got up and went to the bathroom to get yourself ready for lunch with his family. You usually got in the bath first, since you took longer than him, Childe would almost always be done within ten minutes or so.
When it was his turn to get ready, you were waiting for him in the living room, when a knock on the door startled you. You were not expecting any visitors today, but you still went and answered the door.
“Greetings. Would the Lord Harbinger happen to be available?”, was the first thing to greet you once you opened the door. Perplexed, you just nodded and went to turn around, but Childe was already coming down the stairs towards you.
“Babe, everything alright?”
“Yeah.. there is someone for you at the door..”, you said. Not wanting to pry, you went to the kitchen, but you weren’t really able to sit down as just a few seconds later, the door closed again and Childe came in the room.
“I’m sorry babe. An urgent mission. I have to go right now.”
“What? But what about lunch? Your family is waiting for us. And-”
“It’s just a meal with my family. It’s not that big of a deal if we miss it this one time. I’m sure they would understand.”
You were shocked as you heard this. Did he really forget? That today was your birthday? Sure, you never really liked to make a huge deal about it, but at the very least you wanted people to remember it. Was that too much to ask for?
Too caught up in your feelings, you didn’t care how you sounded when you said that to him. “Fine. Go do whatever it is you have to do then, since it’s so much more important. But I’ll go and meet your family since they’re waiting for us.”
With that, you stormed past him, grabbed your coat and went out the door. Childe just stood there, utterly confused on why you were so upset about this. It was just a simple lunch, nothing too exciting about it.
So, he just shrugged it off and went to collect his coat. Then, he made his way to the palace of the Tsaritsa, where he would get the details to his next mission, while his mind was still racing, trying to figure out what went through your head... but he just couldn’t come up with anything.
Couldn’t be something too important if he forgot about it...
#genshin impact#genshin x reader#genshin impact x reader#genshin scenarios#genshin angst#xiao x reader#xiao x you#xiao angst#cyno x reader#cyno x you#cyno angst#childe x reader#childe x you#childe angst
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On the role of outsiders.
One thing I think makes the Scions' relationship with Wuk Lamat unique isn't that they're mentoring her--I don't really see it as a mentor relationship and for various reasons I think it's better for it not to be that--but that, as outsiders, she finds that she can show vulnerability with them that she's only rarely been able to show with anyone else.
When we meet Wuk Lamat in 6.55, it's pretty heavily telegraphed that she's posturing a lot to cover up some personal weaknesses or insecurities. This made me really curious about her, who she was and what that overconfident demeanor was covering for. And when I got into Dawntrail and started getting to know her, I wasn't disappointed.
(No Wuk Lamat hate on this post, please. Any responses clearly trying to pick a fight will be removed and blocked without reply.)
Wuk Lamat has a couple of foils in this story, but a big one is Sphene, and I love @unmovingtroika's description of Sphene as "unpersoned to an extreme degree." And as a distorted mirror of our main character, Sphene reminds us that any person in a position of authority or heroism is depersonalized to some degree, no matter how down-to-earth or benevolent.
Gulool Ja Ja is really presented to us as very much a people's ruler, the charismatic blessed siblings who united the peoples of Tural through curiosity and open-mindedness and understanding. And that may be largely true, but it's also made of him a myth, a legend inscribed in stone and memory. Meanwhile in the course of Dawntrail's story we also meet the real person Gulool Ja Ja... at least, the one who's left. The man who has spent three years grieving his brother, his ever-present companion, the Reason to his Resolve, a man who for the sake of political stability has had to hide his grief and loneliness from even his own children, as he does his best to carry out the work they had begun together, and complete the Rite of Succession in his brother's absence. And if there are places where Gulool Ja Ja failed to foresee the potential negative outcomes to the Rite, like Bakool Ja Ja's actions endangering his people, we might see there in hindsight the Head of Reason's absence in the final stages of the Rite's preparation. And we see, in some of Zoraal Ja's anger and resentment and insecurity, a glimpse of the ways in which the people's Dawnservant might have failed his own son.
One of Wuk Lamat's early growth moments is when the Scions convince her that she doesn't need to try and hide her obvious seasickness--an affliction she can't help, and which represents no failure of character on her part but which is, well, embarrassing. I love that she seems to particularly connect with Alisaie, who's had her own experiences of feeling inadequate next to her sibling, and feeling the need to prove herself on her own terms.
Could Wuk Lamat have been convinced to drop the act by her allies if they weren't outsiders? The problem is that everyone else in Tural, even her own siblings, are the people she'll have authority over if she wins. Erenville frequently rolls his eyes at his old friend's posturing, and fairly so, but Wuk Lamat doesn't behave that way just because she's insecure. In the same way that her father has had to conceal the death of his brother even from his own children, Wuk Lamat recognizes the danger of showing weakness before the people she will have to rule--especially when she's already aware of her reputation as being less qualified than her brothers. But these outsiders from Eorzea are different. They're allies who will never be her subjects. In private moments, she can be a person with them. She can be vulnerable. She can be Lamaty'í.
(Incidentally, I think this is also why I found Sphene calling her Lamaty'i so unsettling. Initially it seems like a simple misunderstanding, an outsider mistaking a very personal nickname for someone's "public" name. But in the hindsight of what we learn about Sphene, I think it feels a lot worse. Sphene is, consciously or unconsciously, pushing past the walls of formality and reticence that necessarily exist around a ruler when interacting with most people--nevermind a foreign head of state whose intentions are unknown. She's positioning herself as a friend when she is not.)
As the story progresses, we learn the Wuk Lamat and Koana have always been close. Now, in the Rite of Succession, they must treat one another as rivals and can no longer share confidences--at least, at first. Koana's love and protectiveness of his sister emerges with a vengeance when Wuk Lamat is in danger--and I'd venture a guess that he, too, feels safer showing this sudden vulnerability before his allies and those of his sister, because again, they will never be his subjects. While we get only briefer glimpses of Koana's journey with Thancred and Urianger, I'd guess that their friendship has affected him in similar ways.
One of the benefits of blessed siblings is that they are never alone. They bring two perspectives to any situation, but they also have one another to confide in, to understand, to commiserate over the burdens of leadership in a way they can't with anyone else, not even family. Wuk Lamat and Koana taking on the role of Dawnservant together brings the benefit of their very different strengths and perspectives to their people. But it also means that neither must take on those burdens alone. When their allies depart, they will still have one another. There will always be someone at their side with whom they can just be a person.
The tragedy of Zoraal Ja is that he's evidently never had that kind of relationship with anyone. The myth of his seemingly miraculous birth has depersonalized him from the very start. All his life, he has carried the burden of living up to the expectations of the Resilient Son, and has never enjoyed the close relationship his brother and sister have with one another. To the very last, he attempts to live up to the legend alone--and he fails.
One of the biggest themes throughout Final Fantasy XIV is standing together. There is strength in companionship and cooperation, but for that strength to flourish, there must also be trust and vulnerability. Wuk Lamat and Koana ultimately find that in one another, as siblings and co-rulers, but the Scions play the important role of offering them an outsider's friendship in their journeys when they are cut off from one another, and would otherwise be alone. As Ketenramm and Galuf Baldesion once were to Gulool Ja Ja, the Scions to Wuk Lamat and Koana are neither mentors nor subjects, but companions and friends.
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hi love!! could you write a jj x reader where he is in love with her but is scared to commit to a relationship because he’s never truly been loved before and doesn’t rlly think he deserves it? and it’s reader’s first relationship too? <3
⋆ ˚。⋆୨୧˚ I LOVE YOU, I’M SORRY (j.m.)
(jj maybank x kook!reader)
summary : in which a boy loves a girl so much it scares him.
w.c. : 2.3k
a/n : ughh LOVED this request, part two in the process but im trying to get something out for each character i have requests for rn!
warning(s) : angst, slight misunderstanding,
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jj maybank loved you. you knew it, he knew it.
he even thought you felt the same. from the way you’d carefully clean out his wounds in the dead of night, or the way you’d make sure he ate at your house because you knew it was one of the only times he’d be fed. all of it make him believe his feelings were requited.
you were so, so good to him. too good, in fact. too good to be true.
he didn’t deserve it. he didn’t deserve any of it— your gentle touches, the sweet treats you’d give him, none of it. he was too rough for someone like you, too violent.
he had hurt so many people, you had to know about it. if you knew about it, there was no way your intentions were good, no matter how much his gut was screaming at him to just give in.
you’d just end up hurting him, that had to be your goal. some sick joke to laugh about with your friends. either that or he’d hurt you. the latter was more likely, he knew that in the same way he knew he loved you.
but, he needed an excuse to flee. he convinced himself it was some cruel style of humor, telling himself he had a right to leave you like this, to ghost you like this.
once he had continued telling himself it was all fake, he actually believed it. it made every time you hung out feel fake, as though he was just putting up appearances. he could tell you were getting confused by his change in demeanor, and wanted to ask him about it. if you did, he wouldn’t know what to say.
so, jj stopped showing up.
he sat comfortably on the chateau couch, the old worn out fabric rough against his legs. his friends were arguing and panicking about something he didn’t care about, or couldn’t bring himself to care about. his mind was stuck on you.
every time his phone would vibrate, he’d desperately want to give it up and text you, saying he’ll be there as soon as he could. but he couldn’t. it was either you end up hurting him, which he couldn’t see happening because you’re so you, or he hurts you. he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hurt you.
so he didn’t answer your calls or texts.
1 missed call from y/n ❤️
y/n ❤️
j?
i thought you were coming over?
Delivered 4:58pm
he sighed, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall. It was almost two hours after he was supposed to be at your house, and even longer since he begun planning this detachment. he shifted uncomfortably in the seat, ignoring you causing an ache in his chest.
his friends looked over towards him, noticing the squeaking of the pullout couch. he had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time. no matter what, he’d jump into an argument full on. yet he had stayed silent.
“dude, what’s the matter with you? you’ve been weird all day,” kiara pointed out, frowning a bit.
he opened his louth to answer, only to be cut off by sarah. the cameron girl had known you, having attended the kook academy together when you were younger. you were always sweet, so she was happy when you started hanging around for jj.
“yeah, and where’s y/n?”
his jaw clenched at that one. jj knew sarah was a fan of you, meaning john b. was too, and cleo thought you were kind, meaning pope thought well of you as well. it was like they were waiting for him to speak badly about you then shun him for it.
at least in his eyes. he felt he was going crazy.
“she’s busy,” he answered, his tone telling them to just drop it.
he punctuated his two word sentence by getting up from the couch, going out to the screened in porch, plopping down out there away from the group, leaving his phone inside where he couldn’t feel it vibrate as you texted and called.
god, you were too sweet for him. he’d just ruin you, like he did everything else.
the rest of the night passed by slowly. everything felt so much quicker with you. he had mentioned it once before, causing you to make some joke about having fun when time was flying. he couldn’t remember it exactly, and suddenly wished you were here to repeat it to him.
over and over again.
but you weren’t, thanks to him. even when you guys weren’t with each other, you’d still text and call each other. maybe this was for the best; he was too dependent on you anyway.
he fell asleep out on the porch, and you fell asleep alone in your bed. the window was left unlocked and cracked open, despite the cool air blowing in. just in case.
he never came.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨୧˚
jj woke up around 10 and walked inside, noticing how everyone seemed to be still asleep in their respective areas. he spotted his phone on the couch, and made the mistake of checking it.
he scrolled through the notifications left by you, not opening them so it wouldn’t say read.
3 missed calls from y/n ❤️
y/n ❤️
jayyy
hello???
7:37pm
this isn’t funny, i’m worried about you
11:21pm
it wasn’t like him to just ignore your texts, especially if you called him. so you had sent this last one. which had happened to catch his eye.
y/n ❤️
atleast let me know you’re okay.
please?
delivered 12:07am
then nothing else after that. you had probably fallen asleep, he knew how you didn’t like staying up late. yet there you were, past midnight for him.
it was because you understood how his life could get sometimes. how he’d get busy, but more importantly, how he’d get hurt. it could’ve been by kooks (maybe starting something on the way to your house), or at the hands of his father.
you weren’t even mad at him, and if you were you weren’t showing it. his heart clenched at the thought. he couldn’t help it, he texted back.
jj 🌊🤍
im finw
read 10:52am
you read the message as soon as he sent it. of course you did. you had been waiting all day and night for him to answer. as soon as you read it, not like it took you long, you got more frustrated.
you had every right to be. he had ghosted you, then all you got was two words in response, and he couldn’t even bother to spell one of them right! you took a deep breath, trying to calm down. if you took it out on him, it’d only get worse.
he got another message, as soon as he had finished with his phone and shut it off.
+1 (123) 456-7890
i missed you yesterday
delivered 10:55am
he knew it was you, seeing your number instead of your name did nothing to change that.
he didn’t even open it.
maybe he was just going through something, you told yourself. it seemed like you guys had been close, close enough to where he’d come to you, but who knows. it could be too personal.
and in that case, he wouldn’t want to be bothered. you sighed, the thought bringing you back to the first time he had come over.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨୧˚ FLASHBACK
jj had just gotten done surfing, it was obvious from the slightly damp state of his hair and the smell of salt water wafting off him. you had thought it’d be awkward— and so did he, you two were from completely different worlds.
but it wasn’t.
it was as if you guys had known each other for years.
the afternoon had flashed by, eventually ending with you and jj curled up under the many blankets you had oiled on your bed. the covers didn’t slip by without jj teasing you about them, saying something like ‘it’s summer, how do you sleep with this many blankets,’ while pretending to be drowning in them.
after the two of you had calmed down, you had ended up lying on top of his chest, messing with the chain that hung from his neck.
“y’know, i didn’t think you’d wanna come. thought i was jus’ some kook girl bothering you,” you had mumbled, heat rising to your cheeks with the lack of confidence you had shown.
he had just responded with a laugh, pressing a chaste kiss against your head, and saying “you could never bother me.”
but now, as he failed to return your texts, or even read them, it felt like that was all that was happening. like you couldn’t stop bothering him.
⋆ ˚。⋆୨୧˚ PRESENT
jj shoved his phone in the pocket of his cargo shorts, sighing harshly as he did so. this was proving to be way more difficult than he had thought it’d be.
the boy ran a hand through his hair, not having his hat with him to readjust kn his head a thousand times.
he couldn’t stop thinking about you. how sad you may be, how angry (though he doubted that), how hurt. and the fact he knew he was doing that, that he was at fault? it was the worst feeling he thought he’d ever feel.
he kept strong, though, knowing deep down that it’d be worse if he kept going. he’d hurt you worse. he couldn’t do that. you weren’t just another one of his hookups. hell, the two of you hadn’t even had sex yet.
you wanted to wait, so he respected that. he honestly partly expected it. you weren’t like him. you weren’t the type to have casual hookups here and there. one time you had even told him you hadn’t been in a relationship, like, ever.
what he didn’t expect, though, was sarah’s words, emerging from the hallway that led to her and john b’s room.
“y/n’s coming over.”
⋆ ˚。⋆୨୧˚ YOUR POV:
you knew the way he looked at you couldn’t be nothing. it meant something, just as the way he’d hold you did. maybe you didn’t have much experience to base it off of. maybe you were grasping at straws to prove to yourself that he had felt the same way about you that you did him, even if it was just for once.
but maybe, just maybe, he truly did feel the same way about you. you checked your phone almost every five minutes, in such a way that if you did it enough, it’d magically make his notification appear.
your hopes of a magical miracle were futile, as your message not only went unanswered, but unread as well.
did you do something wrong?
was this because you didn’t want to do anything yet?
he hadn’t cared when you had shut him down, he had just pulled you back into his arms and held you. even if he had cared, he didn’t show it. he still came over just as much, and he still treated you the same
that was the only apparent ‘reason’ he would be doing this, and it barely was one. you hadn’t been rude, you hadn’t talked badly about him or his friends to your own. his motivation for this whole ‘cold shoulder’ thing was a mystery.
the familiar ding came from your phone, signaling you had a message. you lunged for it, as if it were a bar of gold. it wasn’t jj, but it was sarah.
sarah 🫶🏻🐻
why haven’t you been coming around lately?
kie and i miss you :(
*1 image attached*
read 11:37am
you opened the attachment, a photo of the two girls pouting at the camera, an edited tear drop under each other their eyes. you laughed lightly at it, surprised st the fact they cared that much.
you and sarah had just begun getting close again, having known each other in your tween years. she introduced you to kie once when you were over, and you guys clicked almost instantly, but were nowhere near best friends.
you responded something casual, mentioning how you had been busy lately, not wanting to bring up the stuff with jj. you didn’t doubt they could figure out what happened— he was the main reason you came over, and he had been ‘way moody’ lately, as sarah would describe it.
sarah 🫶🏻🐻
too busy for a girls day? we wanna see you!!!
read 11:39am
you smiled at the offer, instantly accepting and saying you’d be there at noon. that gave you around twenty minutes to get ready and drive over, which would be plenty of time.
*sarah 🫶🏻🐻 loved your message*
you shut your phone off after seeing the notification, going back into your bedroom. as soon as you entered, your eyes flickered over to one of jj’s t-shirts flung over your vanity chair, and his hat hung on your bedpost.
you changed into an outfit that was cute but comfortable enough to walk around in, your hair already done and just needing a refresh from the humidity. after that was done, you folded up jj’s t-shirt, placing his hat on top.
if he was truly done, though you hoped he wasn’t, he’d want those back. you opened your phone, texting sarah to let her know you were on the way over.
it shouldn’t be too long until you got there, and you and jj could only hope it wouldn’t be too awkward.
dividers made by h-aewo!!
#jj maybank blurbs#jj maybank x you#jj maybank x reader#jj maybank imagines#jj maybank#outerbanks blurbs#outerbanks imagines#outerbanks#rafe cameron x reader#jj maybank x kook!reader
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