#which people have pointed out makes sense because a lot of people

[val-the-protoss-simp]

Yeah, so. The best way I can explain my thoughts on these ships (especially Artazun - Artanis/Vorazun) is using one of Avril Lavigne's most iconic songs:

He was a boy

She was a girl

Can I make it anymore obvious?

Like, I'm not trying to throw any shade at all, people can ship whatever they want. But I am yet to meet a person who ships these two that explains why they like them so much in a way that makes sense to me. Because sooner or later, their explanation boils down to "He's a guy and she's a gal so ofc they'd be into each other" as if a straight ship is some kind of default and if a story has a male main character and a female main character, they have to end up together. And I just don't see it. Them as friends? Sure, absolutely, imo they're great as friends, but not as a couple. Alarak and Artanis have way more chemistry with one another. Bit of a hot take but so does Rohana and Vorazun. But Artanis/Vorazun is about as interesting to me as watching paint dry is. It's like when you pick up a mediocre romance book where the girl character obviously ends up with the boy character because That's Just How Things Are no matter of they're good together or not. No thanks. Pass

Kerrinor is a bit more complicated in a sense that the game actively tries to convince you these two are really into each other. But if I had to sum up their vibes, I'd reach for Sk8tr Boy again. "He was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it anymore obvious?" I just don't get the romantic vibes at all off of these two. Raynor frequently comes off as an incel that gives the vibes of someone who'd insist they know better than you and just to listen to them because they know best, while also transforming into the biggest simp in the galaxy in SC2 as he pines over a woman that's obviously not into him.

And Kerrigan gives me the vibes of someone who really does wanna see more in this weird relationship, but more because she thinks having someone to love will make her feel whole and worthy of living rather than that she really wants this. Like, if shit didn't go south and she didn't get infected, I'm 100% that eventually she'd go "Yeah sorry lol this ain't gonna work." and break it off with Raynor. Like, I do think she cares deeply for Raynor, don't get me wrong, and at one point might have thought what she feels is romantic love, but eventually comes to a point where she realises that it's a sense of kinship rather than anything romantic. She loves him as a friend, that is all.

And funny enough, if you know more about his character, you know he had a wife and a son that he tragically lost. Knowing this information and how he's written, Raynor comes off to me as someone who's desperately looking for that kind of love again, albeit without realising, because the time he spent happy with his family was the happiest he ever was and his defeated, depressed ass desperately wants that again. So he seeks that shit and Kerrigan just happens to be there.

You can clearly see that he cares deeply about her, but his feelings of affection are misplaced to the point he doesn't want to see the kind of person she is and instead tries to morph her into the kind of woman HE wants. Which is not who Kerrigan is at all. Revenge is all she has left, no matter what it takes, and Raynor again and again tries to talk her out of it for his own personal wants when she makes it very very clear this isn't something she wants to do and that she cannot just let go of what Mengsk did to her and what that man's choices turned her into. And instead of trying to understand why someone he supposedly understands so deeply would want to kill the man who robbed her off of everything and turned her into a monster that killed billions, he gets butthurt when she doesn't wanna run off with him and live happily ever after. I love Raynor for many reasons, I think he's a well written character in a lot of aspects but this just. Ain't it. If the game treated this behaviour of his as a flaw, I'd dig it. But instead it tries to tell how boo boo poor Raynor is just so unfortunate to want a woman that doesn't want him, even when he ignores everything that's important to her. That's just not doing it for me, fam. I get that the game tries to ram it down my throat as the technically only canon ship it gives us in its five installments, but I can't get behind it. Kerrinor is a big fat no for me, let them just stay friends.

a ship where i see what people see but it is simply not very interesting to me personally it’s like

[demonic0angel]

Phantom Family (In Uniform)

My headcanons for when the Phantoms are in costume and working with other DC heroes :3 (click for clarity)

All four of them work separately, but team up whenever there is a world-ending crisis in their universe or in the DC world (where they’re currently staying). Cue shenanigans bc they’ve been gaining the trust and love of people around them who had no idea they were siblings??? (The Batfam feel a strange sense of deja vu)

More notes:

+ Danny joins the JL, Jazz joins Jason's gang as his assistant, Dani joins Young Justice, and Dan is a loner who only works with Nightwing.

+ Danny is named Phantom, Jazz is named Wolf, Dani is named Spirit, and Dan is named Wraith, named for multiple reasons.

+ In my hcs, the DP world and the DC world are separate, and the DP characters go to the DCU for various reasons. Ofc, these makes people from both worlds slightly different from one another via genetic makeup, culture, politics, etc.

+ Jazz was the first to arrive and she mainly wanted to study and practice her fields at Arkham Asylum. However, she got bored and decided to join Jason’s gang as his assistant before quickly earning his trust and then accidentally gaining more power within the gang. Dani came next and asked to join Young Justice. She was accepted and thus became friends with everyone there. Dan was next, but he thought he got the wrong universe and wasn’t able to contact anyone for awhile. He met Nightwing, and after being interested in his innate goodness, decided to stay around him and continue bothering him, eventually resulting in a genuine relationship where he strives to become better. Danny came last and asked to join the Justice League, which they allowed after awhile as he proved himself, eventually becoming one of the top hitters and most powerful members.

+ Danny’s relationship with the JL was cold at first because his arrival was unprecedented and he was considered an unknown. Eventually, they started realizing that he was chill, but it took a long time before anyone could even trust him since he wasn’t really a team player. At some point, Batman was able to get his identity out of him, and after realizing that he was genuinely young, Batman softened and everyone started trusting and befriending him slowly.

+ Jazz’s relationship with Jason was stilted at first bc Jazz was lowkey suspicious and Jason didn’t trust her. After a while, she proved herself to him and helped him a lot, so they began developing a friendship and eventually, she gained the trust and loyalty of everyone around her. She and Jason have a great but complex relationship with the only hurdle being their secret identities. Both of them have an irrational fear of rejection from the other, so they go out of their way to avoid finding each other’s identities (even if it would be really easy for both of them) which has resulted in a lot of frustration and slow burn.

+ Dani’s relationship with Young Justice started out a little awkward, but her personality and charm won them over and with her assistance towards Secret, she was able to integrate herself into the group easily. She’s considered the newest, so they kind of treat her as the baby, but after a lot of crazy adventures, they trust her with the spiritual and supernatural stuff.

+ Dan’s relationship with Nightwing started out as extremely hostile since Nightwing took no chances and almost immediately wanted to attack him. Dan had no problem with this and often provoked him, but was too powerful to be fought off, only leaving whenever he wanted, which resulted in a lot of frustration and anger. As time passed, Dan made himself into a neutral force in Bludhaven as someone who would not kill others, but would not help unless it was Nightwing asking. He wore down Nightwing enough by popping up for more fights that eventually, Nightwing just lowkey teamed up with him until he was accidentally established as his partner.

+ Danny has both his job of being hero and of being the High King of the Infinite Realms. He balances it out pretty well, since JL is also rather flexible. Jazz has both her job of being Jason’s assistant and of being a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. She cannot sleep well so she has a bad habit of overworking herself until she drops, but Jason convinced her to sleep in his office at times. Dani has no jobs and only studies or has fun whenever she’s not out and about as a hero. Dan has a bunch of random jobs whenever he’s not flirting with Nightwing, so he can be seen as a bartender, a babysitter, an accountant, a barista, an artist, etc.

+ At some point, they all meet and everyone looks at them like 😟😦😦 bc WHO WAS GONNA TELL THEM THAT 4 PEOPLE WHO ARE STATIONED SUSPICIOUSLY NEAR THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACES WITH PEOPLE WHO CAN BE CONSIDERED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ARE ACTUALLY SIBLINGS????

[genderqueerdykes]

I promise this is just coming from someone who wants to learn, and I apologize if it sounds hateful or rude for what I'm about to ask that is not what I want at all,

but when it comes to systems, DID, plurality, from what I have heard, it is something extremely extremely rare, and something that most people under the age of 25 the body isn't even supposed to like "reveal" until older. I'm just confused and I would really like to hear from someone who actually is plural and not just from like Google

is being a system, DID, and plurality even the same? And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters (I ofc know not everyone who is plural isnt just fictive and it's all different)

just a very confused person who isn't plural and I would really like to learn and be educated !! I would really like to understand more and hate unreasonably for something I don't understand

hello there!

you can be plural without having DID. there's not really much else to it. DID is one form of plurality. it's not the end all be all of plurality. there are even other dissociative disorders like OSDD that get cast by the wayside when people adopt this kind of mentality. there's so much more to plurality than DID. also, there is no set age at which the symptoms at DID become apparent on the outside. i've been having dissociative symptoms since i was a kid. my alters were active and present even as a teenager!

relying on medical statistics alone for DID is a bad idea because most professionals who are capable of diagnosing someone with a mental health condition don't even know what dissociative disorders are or what they entail. my own therapist has known that I have DID the entire time i've known her, but she has told me that currently, she can't help me with it, because she has not received training for it. dissociative disorders are nowhere near as rare as we think they are, one has to consider that a number even as low as 1% - 2% of the global population is an absolutely massive number of people!

saying that DID is "extremely rare" in this case in order to discredit non dissociative plurals is an appeal to authority. it's appealing to the medical industry who refuses to take it seriously in the first place. the amount of professionals i've had who pointed out that i have dissociative disorders vs. the ones who never commented on it at all is pretty staggering. this is due to a lack of proper research due to lack of funding, not because DID is genuinely that rare. the reason there isn't more research into plurality in general is because of a lack of funding. medical studies and organizations require funding. if they don't see money in it, they won't do it.

DID is still a heavily stigmatized condition. things haven't gotten much better since it was renamed from Multiple Personality Disorder. people with dissociative disorders are still treated like shit in medical settings, so to me, it makes no sense at all whatsoever to pit dissociatives against other plurals because no one takes ANY of us seriously, it's not non-dissociative plurals' faults that we're not taken seriously. it's the medical industry. there are no medications to push for DID. DID does not respond to medication. this already makes a lot of doctors not want to interact with it at all, because there's no commissions for medications prescribed.

"And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters."

i'm pointing this out gently, i don't think you're a bad person, but this is sooooo mean, please don't be that mean and judgmental about other people, plural or not. please consider how those people would feel if they heard you talking about them like that. even if you don't view them as plural, you shouldn't think it's okay to discredit their lived experience. what are you getting out of phrasing it like that? even if that person turns out to not be plural, please do not judge other people based off of things like this. you don't live inside of their head. you don't know what's going on in there.

i'm not entirely sure why people think this way about introjects and fictives, but they're an extremely normal part of the plural experience! one of the most well known DID systems of all time, Truddi Chase and The Troops, had not only fictional alters (Elvira) but also factual ones as well (Mean Joe Green). this is not new, nor is it isolated to non dissociative plurals. introjects and fictives are extremely normal. it doesn't mean someone is faking just because they've introjected someone, or someones.

hope that helps, in general, please understand that the only lived experience that you are the arbiter of is your own and you cannot tell someone else what they're experiencing, no matter what. plurality will look different for every person, system and so on that experiences it! the sooner you accept that the easier your own life will become. it's not hurting you for someone to have headmates that you don't like. that's their business, not yours, and that's actually a very freeing thing!

great addition from the tags:

[harmeu]

ARGUMENTS 

(HSR X READER) (ANGST)

(Amphoreus Men)

(GN!READER)

MYDEI: (His devotion to his fight which results in neglect.)

You couldn’t remember the last time you and your beloved spouse had talked to each other. It was as if Mydei’s mind was constantly on things that neglected you heavily. Even a simple “How are you today”  would’ve been enough at this point. It hurt a lot. As if millions of daggers pierced you everytime Mydei walked past without saying anything. You were his lover for God’s sake.

Mydei was in the training room punching dummies with ease, letting them break into shards as they thumped onto the ground, his knuckles bleeding heavily from the constant fight.

You stepped in peeking through the small opening of the door with your wide gaze contemplating to yourself if you should walk in and say something or not. 

Eventual acceptance of the option ‘yes’ overthrew your mind so you walked in and Mydei’s keen senses picked up on it immediately.

“What is it.” His gruff reply made it sound like he was annoyed. (Which he probably was.) 

“You’ve been busy lately.” You mumbled out moving from one foot to another a bit nervous to how he was going to reply.

“Of course I am. You know my duties.” Mydei went back to smashing his fists against the solid wooden dummies as you winced at the sight and decided to walk up, up to him.

“I miss you.” You murmured out making Mydei freeze slightly and you could’ve sworn he softened. But as fast as it came it vanished. Mydei was back to his tense state. 

“You should know everything I deal with in a singular day.”

“But I’m your lover!” You exclaimed out flinching at your own tone of voice and words making Mydei turn looking at you in your eye for the first time. 

“That doesn’t matter.” He huffed out. Okay wow. Now it was your turn to be cruel.

“No wonder everyone finds you difficult.” You spat back leaving the door slamming heavily making the walls vibrate as Mydei stared dumbfounded at the shut door clenching his fists.

PHANION: (Accusations that result in anger.)

Phanion was a gentle soul with you. The perfect boyfriend in your eyes. Though as days passed you had a weird gut feeling. As if he was talking to someone other than you. Not possible. Right. The constant ‘they’re just a friend’ sounded like a lie. But you didn’t have any proof. Not yet at least.

Phanion was sitting on your local bench quietly reading as you walked up to him with a half lidded gaze of suspicion. Feeling your hard gaze Phanion sighed, shutting his book and standing up to match your height.

“Don’t give me that look.” Phanion murmured frowning with a pained expression on his face making you feel a hint of guilt. 

“It’s just that you’re constantly not letting me meet your friends at all. As if you’re hiding something from me.” Your fists clenched, eyeing up at Phanion as he narrowed his own gaze at your words.

“I do not let you meet them in order for them to not do anything to you darling.” Lies. You repeated in your head. You were being unreasonable. You knew that. But your gut feeling never failed you. 

“I don’t believe you.” You said spitefully making Phanion droop in hurt as you frowned at his reaction. You were expecting anger.

“Why don’t you trust me?” Phanion said holding your hand. He really had to pull that card out didn’t he.

“I do..I just.” As if knowing you were in the wrong, the only option left in your mind was to get out of the scene immediately. You let go of Phanions hand shakily leaving Phanion standing next to the bench alone as he stared at your slowly disappearing figure with a pained look.

ANAXA: (His anger towards the Gods.)

You knew your spouse's hatred towards the Gods. It never bothered you really because the people of Amphoreus worshipped titans rather than the Aeons above. Though Anaxa seemed to be solely focused on that singular emotion of hatred removing everything else in his life. Including you.

You were sitting in bed with Anaxa as he fixed up his eyepatch with his usual elegance as he eyed the several books in front of him that talked about the several elements the Gods gave down to the mortals.

“Anaxa.” You mumbled out tilting your head as Anaxa hummed out a reply as you frowned. “Why are you so focused on this subject?” 

Anaxa sighed at your words as if he was contemplating you speaking out on this matter and turned his gaze towards you. 

“You don’t know what these Aeons have done to our people. They’re vultures.” Anaxa spat out with seeming elegance despite his harsh words. 

“I feel like you’re forgetting about everything to focus on this.” You said a hushed whisper as Anaxa narrowed his gaze.

“That’s utter lies darling. I have enough mindspace to deal with everything.” You stared at him blankly. You doubted it at this point honestly.

“I feel like you’re lying.” Silence dawned between the two of you at your words as if rendering Anaxa speechless from your statement. Which added onto your doubt from his quietness. 

Silently Anaxa grabbed his things and left. 

Did he just storm off?

I post in like once a century oopsie (Since I don't know anything about the characters personalities I went off looks and the trailers)

[mysaldate]

Doesn't that sort of make sense though? Why would the characters make a big deal out of it if it's normal for them? It's kind of an issue I have with a lot of fantasy series, the characters are all from this world where magic exists but they have to act surprised and clueless about it for the audience's sake? That has always felt cheap and kinda lazy to me. Yes, act like it's normal because it is normal for you. Don't make a big deal out of it and let us figure it out. Yes, you run a risk of a lot of fandom glossing over it but imo, it's much better than breaking character just to coddle your audience.

On your age point... no, that doesn't really work. The game is originally a joseimuke, meaning for working-class women. Just because Aniplex and Disney US decided to dumb everything down for the English release doesn't mean teenagers are suddenly the intended audience. The characters are those ages because that's a popular trope and that's it, they might be 30 or 50 and they wouldn't change because the age label on fictional characters is arbitrary as they are not real. Yes, Disney JP still keeps certain things censored/safe but far less than whatever is going on in the EN release. In a similar vein, the whole "respect women juice" thing was added in the EN release while in JP, it was left at the fact that women are intimidating and more physically imposing which led to Leona and Ruggie trying to appease them even outside of their own culture (we wouldn't exactly call that respect, now would we? We don't say women irl respect men when they go out of their way to appease them because they are physically stronger).

This isn't about whether or not Jack has a knot lol. This is about how many features the characters do have that the fandom just explains away or even straight-up ignores. And it gets worse when it comes to cultures. The hyenas are mistreated in Sunset Savannah because they have a bad reputation (yes, it is a part of what happened with Scar but also for biological reasons) which then leads to them having to scavenge for food and use trickery which furthers the stereotypes even more. Leona's palace guards are all women because lionesses are usually the ones guarding a pride. Leona does roar or growl in the story on multiple occasions (and a roar is even one of his battle lines iirc).

Malleus was literally born from an egg, that's a pretty big thing imo, people even like this, they just don't like thinking about what that might mean for Meleanor. Also, dragon fae only being able to conceive with their true love? That's a pretty huge difference. The fae in general communicating by hisses and chittering noises? Yes, it's a language for them but at the same time, that's a pretty non-human thing to do. And despite Lilia adopting Silver, he never taught him the language so there's a question of whether full-blooded humans can even learn it.

I agree with you that this is a prevalent problem in media, I just don't think twst is as devoid of it as you seem to suggest. Yes, fandom is always there to explore things more and push them to their logical limits and conclusions but, again, I think twst gives us a ton to build off of. It makes sense to me that they don't make a big deal of it, much like they just off-handedly mention other parts of their world that are normal to them but alien to us, simply because it's no big deal or it is common knowledge for them ("By the Seven!" is an easy one. Nobody feels the need to explain it but we all know why that is, another example would include Mozus' off-hand mention of the discrimination against beastmen in the past, and obvsl there are more all over the place).

Anyway, this got long, sorry. I like discussing this sort of thing even if we don't come to an agreement. Personally, I like the way twst does it but I do get why people might want more obvious explanations and followups on things in way that are harder to disregard.

I need. Twisted Beastmen and the like. To be more animalistic. Not necessarily like, physically, I don't meant that in the furry sense. I mean that in the 'they're part animal and it'd not just for show' sense.

I want beastmen with claw like nails. Where the cat-like ones tend to walk on their toes when not wearing shoes because it feels right. Where their eyes and pupils reflect the animals that they're partly of. With fangs and teeth appropriate for their species.

Ruggie making laughing noises at the active prospect of food. Whooping when in a fight and needing backup. Lowing when excited for a fight.

Leona roaring to get the whole dorm's attention. Chuffing in greeting at people he considers part of his pride. (He'll sometimes grunt at Cheka like a mother would to her cubs but will deny it.)

Jack barking at danger to warn others and howling to try and figure out where his pack is (he forgets they can't howl back, but Ruggie will sometimes low at him and Yuu definitely tries to howl back.)

I want to see Azul with the tips of his limbs in human form retain some of his octopus natural ability to camouflage. I want to see his hands always moving, grabbing something, holding something. Azul who might not have bones in human form with how flexible he is??

The tweels who aren't very active naturally during the day but get really hyperactive at night. Who bare their teeth at people when excited.

Che'nya who lounges in the sun on lazy days. Who's great at stretching and popping everywhere in his body if he needs to, to a concerning degree.

GIMME FEY WHO DONT ACT HUMAN

Malleus who snorts smoke when he's angry. Malleus who wear gloves because he got claws. Malleus who has a tail and wings outside of his dragon form sometimes.

Lilia who gets just a bit too excited at the prospect of a fight and spilling blood. Who can recognize a person by the smell of their blood. Who makes inhuman noises when too excited and gives off a very eldritch horror kind of vibe if he lets loose.

Sebek who can be found eating rocks sometimes. Who finds quiet in thunder and lightning. Who can move so smoothly and silently you don't know he's there until he opens his maw. Who has a lot of really sharp teeth for someone with a human mouth.

Just- gimme some animal, like, REALISM. PLEASE.

[cquackity]

the thing is if a character would ever do something at all/in general, say kill himself, is often confused with actions like that making sense narratively. and it's like okay c!quackity could kill himself, this makes sense and it's in character, but what do people even mean when they say it "works narratively" because when you compare it to the last lnv streams we saw i really don't think it does work. at all. actually in the order which we see these streams it makes no sense narratively.

this is a huge jump from the guy who didn't want to waste his last chance at life. we are missing a lot of shit in between this finale and the last. where is foolish? what triggered c!quackity so badly that we haven't already seen be said/done to him by c!slime? we have already seen c!slime betray him, kill him, leave him, and we have in response seen him write letters, reach out to people who he hurt/hurt him, reflect on his life and relationships, and want better for himself.

there are a lot of unanswered questions that make this sort of ending very unsatisfying for the narrative, a lot of people missing who needed to be involved and couldn't be, so when i see people repeat that talking point over and over i have to wonder if they actually mean it's ic for c!quackity to have killed himself at all and not that it's good for the story. yeah at one point this made sense for him but not as a conclusion to his story.

[choccy-zefirka]

Emergency Follow-Up Book Club Meeting

[Won't really make sense if you don't read Part 1 first, but Tumblr will hide this post if I add a link, so search "book club" on my blog]

Attending: Bellara, Harding, Lucanis, Neve, Davrin, Taash, Emmrich, Rook

Book: Adventures of Dolor the Daring, Volume 49, by I. L. Literatus Evaraas Mercar (Rook)

Notes taken by: Neve (Bellara was too overexcited to hold a quill)

Notes:

Important preface: This will likely be the serial’s last volume ever to be published. According to the paper sellers and my own sources, there is currently a lot of public outrage around the scene where Dolor gets hit by an enemy mage’s ice spike and, aside from wounding them for dramatic suspense, it also shatters a glamor amulet around their neck, revealing that they were not a human, but a Qunari all along. Reactions from (human) readers have included, to my knowledge: verbose letters to the publisher decrying the serial’s “forced diversity” in character backgrounds, as apparently it was already bad enough that the supporting cast is “teeming” with elves and dwarves; threats to the author as an “agent of the Qun” trying to “falsely paint their kind in a positive light”; laments from anguished mothers that their children will now think that the “oxmen” are all friendly heroes (I would point out that children have no business reading crime serials in the first place, but we know there’s no stopping a particularly determined twelve-year-old with a yearning to see a throat slit); and even high-brow critical essays insisting that Dolor has so far proven themselves to be far too quick-witted and intelligent to be a Qunari.

Rook opened the meeting by going over all of the above; which, according to them, was precisely what they feared when they picked up writing as a hobby. “It didn’t take you too long to figure out that Dolor’s adventures are based on my own,” they said, looking at me specifically (they did not seem angry, at least; though I suspect that Rook has trained their facial muscles not to betray them when they are angry, to put humans at ease). “But do I look like someone these adventures might happen to? In most people’s eyes, at least?”

Bellara and Harding disrupted the meeting to give Rook a hug.

Taash further disrupted the meeting with an offer to beat up every qalaba that made them feel like this. Lucanis supported them and volunteered his services to do it “more elegantly but also more permanently”. The offer was appreciated, but graciously declined.

Davrin asked if Rook regretted revealing Dolor’s true identity. Rook said they did not, and added that it was not a revelation, but a last-minute twist, which never would have happened if it were not for us. “I have been avoiding your book clubs because I was so embarrassed about my little secret… But it turns out I never had to hide it. Not from you.”

BEL, I CAN SEE YOU LOOKING OVER MY SHOULDER. I AM NOT GETTING SENTIMENTAL. I AM JUST KEEPING AN ACCURATE RECORD!

Harding said that she found Dolor’s sendoff to be “quite lovely”, and in her mind, they are still out there, fighting evil mages on the streets of Tevinter as their true self, with their friends by their side.

Bellara stopped trying to contain herself and erupted into enthusiastic gushing about the final scene, where the heroes get a moment to breathe as the villain is dragged away by a very Rana-like templar, and the mage Flosculus gently tends to Dolor’s wounds. In the previous volume, Dolor assumed that their feelings for Flosculus were not reciprocated, and decided to bottle them up. This volume still ends before the two can have an open conversation — but the delicate touches of the healer’s glow-infused hands all across Dolor’s bandaged torso, and the soft whispers asking them to tell him where it hurts “had more spice than the one romance we read that made Lucanis walk out of the room in a straight line”.

I am inclined to agree.

Emmrich laughed at no, that would be too mean-spirited; let’s say, was very amused by Bellara’s stumbling over the word “spice” and told her, “You can say eroticism, dear. That was the intent, after all.”

Rook has quite a few vitiligo spots on their otherwise slate-grey face, and that makes it a little more obvious when blood rushes to their cheeks. Which it certainly did in that moment — as they admitted the healing scene was Emmrich’s idea, and they merely “did their best” to commit it to paper.

To which Emmrich said, “And you described everything marvelously, my darling. I hope you know that all of us in this room are deeply grateful to you for sharing your work with us”.

I am also inclined to agree with that last part. But also, let it go on record that Emmrich held Rook’s hand while talking. If he ever blinks those big eyes at me again and claims that he had “no idea” everyone in the Lighthouse knew about him and Rook, I will just point to the evidence.

The meeting concluded with everyone reassuring Rook that, despite what happened to the Dolor serial, they should never stop writing. Harding even said, tearing up a little, that Varric would be proud. That made Rook blush again; are they finally beginning to process what happened? I cannot be certain.

Once we settled down, dice were rolled to choose the next book. It is Emmrich’s turn now.

Taash begged him, with a groan, not to choose any of the “thousand-page academic shit”. He protested that he has amassed “quite a collection of enjoyable romance stories” over the years — and took Rook’s hand in his again.

I see you, old man.

[skiagraphe0]

The fact that Tiana knows Facilier as 'the Shadowman' and says it like a title when Naveen first tells her about having met him tells me that Facilier has a reputation. I think, at some point, he was successful, and probably had a decent level of income. You have to be pretty prominent as a criminal for people who don't follow crime to know your name, and you have to be a very prominent psychic/fortune teller for people who don't mess with that to know you. The only IRL psychic I can name off the top of my head is one who scammed thousands of people.

Facilier is black. (Mixed race, probably; purple eyes and a French surname hint at that.) The world was not kind to him given the era. I think at some point he, like Tiana, had doors slammed in his face due to his race. He may have tried honest work, but that honest work didn't get him anywhere. The game of life was rigged against him. And so the thought occurred to him: it's not wrong to cheat if your opponent is cheating, too.

That he managed to bungle his profits badly enough to end up this deep in debt makes him more human than most Disney villains. Facilier has a spending problem. It's the only way for him to simultaneously be this well known and also this broke.

He responded to the world kicking him while he was down by going, "Hard work hardly works. Fine. Let's see what other options there are." It's not that he never tried. You don't get that bitter without trying and failing, and you don't get at big as he is without some talent and charisma. Whatever he tried, it didn't fail on its' own merits, or he wouldn't ask Lawrence, "Aren't you tired of living on the margins while all those fat cats in their fancy suits don't give you so much as a sideways glance?" That screams 'wealthy white people screwed me over/didn't give me a chance'. As does the seething look he gives Big Daddy when he sees him initially.

When he briefly traps Tiana in an illusion, he does two things that make me think he did actually try hard in the past. He compliments her work ethic, and it doesn't sound like sarcasm. Then he points out to her that her father's work ethic, which he also compliments, didn't work.

The closest he ever comes to victory isn't done with deceit. It's just done with the blunt, awful truth: for a lot of people, hard work hardly works. He didn't have long to pick an illusion to construct or go with. He went with this because it resonated with him, personally. It seemed like the best option because it made sense to him on a personal level as an argument. He didn't put her or her father down as foolish for working hard or argue with her that it was dumb. If anything, he sounds like he admires Tiana's dad for being both hardworking and a good family man.

His argument was simply that it wouldn't be successful to keep working hard in a world that has never rewarded that as a virtue.

He's speaking from experience.

You know what’s great about Dr. Facilier?

He’s the perfect villain opposite both Tiana and Naveen.

He’s not exactly like Jafar or Ursula, who know they’re evil and delight in it as like, a lifestyle. He’s more like Scar. He’s introduced getting money on the street through cons and feeling satisfied…until Big Daddy LeBouf drives by with all his money and makes him feel insignificant.

You get the idea that something in life made him this way—there was a beginning to his villainy. You don’t get that sense from like, Clayton or Gaston.

So he’s a relatable character with flaws, to an extent.

But those flaws specifically play off of Tiana and Naveen’s characterizations.

Tiana has no real respect from her peers—she is in a position to be jealous of Lottie the same way Facilier is jealous of the Cotton King. But where Tiana simply works hard and refuses to let others make her bitter, Facilier has clearly taken shortcuts. Or…”the easy way.”

Then there’s Naveen.

Naveen has no thought beyond the present; he thinks they’re “on this earth to have some fun,” and frequently jumps without looking at the consequences. Leaps without looking! Doesn’t stop to find out if the girl he’s kissing is a real princess even though he knew his original invitation was to a costume party, forgets that he’s supposed to be getting married and plans on continuing his playboy lifestyle, wanders into a shadow-man’s shop. But eventually he learns to open his eyes to what’s important, and what will last, in Tiana. And he takes that seriously; if he marries her instead of Charlotte, he has to get three jobs.

Facilier, on the other hand? He not only does the opposite of Tiana and has taken shortcuts to get where he is—but he also suffers from Naveen’s flaw; he keeps making what are basically get-rich-quick schemes with his “friends on the other side.” When we meet him, he’s stressed and certainly on edge about failing—but that doesn’t stop him from asking for more and more debt from the demons, and he basically goes to his grave still making promises he can’t keep…like Naveen’s promise he couldn’t keep to pay Tiana for kissing him.

He’s got Tiana’s focus and Naveen’s charisma. He’s got Tiana’s lofty goals and Naveen’s dependence on others to do his dirty work.

He’s exactly like Tiana and Naveen put together, aged about twenty years, but with none of their good qualities. Perfect villain for those two main characters.

But he’s also the opposite of Mama Odie.

He entices innocents with what they want while she lights their way by explaining what they need.

He wants total control, while she’s satisfied with simply giving advice and sending people on their way.

He directly transforms his victims, while Mama Odie shows Tiana and Naveen how to work toward their transformation on their own. I mean, you guys noticed that she could have done it for them, right?

But she doesn’t, because she’s the symbol of that Disney Faith-Based morals: you act on what you know is true instead of taking the easy way to what you want. Facilier does the opposite: he promises to give you the easy way to what you want, and tries to tell you why you should accept his deals—but his reasons are all lies.

That’s how you write a villain, ladies and gentlemen.

[guided-by-the-skies]

Where shadow work glitches and how to fix, by pluto house

another post in the meanwhile because i got bored...

... next after this will be the one you guys chose on the poll! thanks to everyone who answered, means a lot to me :)

Ok, so your pluto sign may be pretty nuch the same as everyone else in your generation, but even if there isn't much diversity in pluto signs, there is definitely diversity in pluto houses

pluto is the planet of the shadow and all that we are unconscious of. however this will have it's own specific vibe or colour depending on house. shadow work and making this stuff conscious (so it does not control you!) is way harder than it needs to be because unfortunately our modern lifestyle is totally screwed up and has disrupted our ability to introspect spiritually or embark on any form of personal development. so what are your common pitfalls/your achilles heel based on the house your pluto is in? and how can you transform it into something positive?

HOW IT WORKS - by house - YOUR SHADOW WORK GLITCH OR MOST LIKELY PROBLEM | followed by - HOW YOU CAN REFRAME IT OR TRANSFORM IT INTO A POSITIVE

🌌 pluto in 1st house - over intellectualising it. transform into: you have an amazing capacity to build struggles into a new identity ans grow from the difficult things which have happened to you.

🌌 2nd house pluto - being too hampered down by what people may think of you. transform it into: noticing projection and reflection, a powerful ability to influence those around you for the better

🌌 3rd house pluto - talk and no action, blurting things out, need to concentrate on thought before action. transform it into: an incredible ability to 'read between the lines' and subtly work out how to say the right thing in ANY situation

🌌 pluto in 4th house - childhood baggage. transform it into: an ability to break patterns not just for yourself but for other people. you have the ability to be a good influence to those around you - not by giving too much of yourself, but naturally, by your energy.

🌌 pluto in 5th house - being ruled by your emotions to the point of them becoming unbearable. transform it into: an ability to use your darkest emotions as a powerful drive for good. basically, they can fuel you, as opposed to controlling you.

🌌 6th house pluto - somaticising emotions so you don't know what you feel. transform it into: being able to reconnect with your body, strengthening energetic boundaries, and a strong ability to sense energy and understand how to use your 'gut feeling'

🌌 7th house pluto - 'one true problem' / magic bullet fallacy. you keep searching for the one thing that will helpp, without knowing the answer may lie on multiple places. transform it into: powerful focus and dedication, yet without losing yourself in one goal. an ability to follow any resolution you set yourself through to the end

🌌 8th house pluto - expecting immediate results and ignoring small changes. you guys are INTENSE. when results from shadow work are not similarly intense, you may feel as if mothing has happened. transform it into: an ability to notice and draw from the snall and subtle changes, getting as much potential from them as possible

🌌 9th house pluto - getting too into it. sounds weird because it can be hard to confront your shadow. but the intellectual stimulation shadow work gives you can often mean you may start identifying with it. transform it into: an ability to share your bravery with others. you don't have to become the therapist friend, but you can definitely help thise who are less confident at confronting themselves

🌌 pluto in 10th house - focusing on achievement and results, not your feelings. transform it into: setting emotional goals, an ability to master your emotions without suppressing them, a real skill that will support you through many situations

🌌 pluto in 11th house - lacking a sense of self before you start. transform it into: a genuine opportunity to find your trye self without the need yo create a mask or have a persona you show to the world, in the shadiw work process uou have the ability to synthesise both the desired and less desired parts of yourself into a complete whole

🌌 12th house pluto - not knowing what shadow work looks like or means for you. transform it into: a genuine opportunity to be totally OBJECTIVE with yourself, seeing what you TRULY need and not what you want to see

this is part of a series on 'how to shadow work in the modern world'. over the past 100 years humanity has gone through immense social changes, and not all of these are aligned with human nature spiritually. thus, we experience more blocks, life seems harder, and shadow work encounters more blockages.

hopefully these posts can give a hint as to how to realign. as with everything, take what resonates, leave the rest. for the post masterlist, see here.

[demonslayerunhinged]

Unhinged analysis - Demon Slayer Mark Series d=(^o^)=b 💪

In Search of Acceptance - What Determines a Person's Worth?

Muichiro's character, journey, and development are some of the most underappreciated and overlooked in the series. This is a shame because I see his story as a commentary on gender expectations of young boys in the form of emotional repression and stoicism to be 'useful' in society.

So let's begin this analysis from the very introduction of his character.

Who is Muichiro Tokito?

When we first meet Muichiro, we're not given a lot of information about him, aside from the fact that he's constantly spaced out. He isn't shown to have any proper sense of identity, and along with his forgetful nature, lack of emotions, thoughts, and opinions about anything. But then we do see something, two things actually; when the Master reveals that Tanjiro has met Muzan and when Tanjiro interrupts the Master when he's addressing the Hashira.

He expresses interest in Muzan and annoyance at Tanjiro's disrespectful interruption, so much so that he's the only one who reacts by pelting Tanjiro with stones. So we've seen two emotions so far, curiosity and annoyance. He isn't completely blank, just muted. The strongest emotions are the ones that breakthrough is his love and respect for the Master and his hatred for Muzan.

Next let's move on to his character design:

Similar to Sanemi, there's nothing on his uniform that gives us a clue to his personality and identity outside of being a Demon Slayer. His uniform is practical in concealing his movements from demons, but aside from that it's plain and blank, pointing to his lack of identity.

We get more information about his personality from his reintroduction in the second episode of the Swordsmith Village arc. he gets into an altercation with Kotetsu, who refuses to give him the key to Yorichii Type-Zero, a prized possession and family heirloom. At Kotetsu's refusal, Muichiro gets to bullying him, first with words as he attempts to put Kotetsu in his place by stating the difference in importance between the swordsmiths and the Hashira.

“There is a vast difference between the value of your time and a Pillar’s time.” “Swordsmiths are unable to fight, they can’t save people’s lives either. Other than making weapons, they’re useless.” “Get a clue about your position before making a move. You’re no longer a baby.”

When this does not work, he then moves on to attempting to bully Kotetsu physically and is stopped by Tanjiro. Tanjiro notices that there is no hint of malice in Muichiro's words, which tells us that he's simply stating what he believes to be true.

So where does this mindset come from?

The Useless, Worthless Boy

One of the things that I noticed about the twins is how their differences tell us a lot about the gender expectations of boys in society. Yuichiro possesses qualities that are prized and encouraged in boys and men—He's tough, strong, determined, capable, and most importantly unemotional. After their parents died, he was able to take up the responsibility of taking care of the household and taking over his father's job as a woodcutter with the single-minded purpose of taking care of his soft-hearted 'useless' brother.

Muichiro on the other hand is soft and weak as seen in the flashback where he struggles with carrying just one log of wood whereas Yuichiro has carried a dozen or so. He mentioned in the light novel that he wasn't able to do simple chores like cook rice or even use a knife. He's optimistic, soft-hearted, soft-spoken, and emotional; possessing traits that society considers useless in a boy/man, a sissy if you will.

Yuichiro seems to think so too because he not only mocks Muichiro for his 'uselessness' but he also berates him after Amane's visit by belittling his abilities and desire to become a swordsman. This has been interpreted by a lot of fans as Yuichiro hating him or him just being an emotionally abusive dick.

But if we simply listen to his outburst, we'll see that Yuichiro is not simply being hostile to Muichiro. But as we see from his outburst, his actions do not stem not from any real malice but from his fear of losing his little brother just like he lost his parents. In his mind, kindness, and optimism don't have a place in this harsh, cruel world that took their parents away from them. Anyway, despite his true intentions the message was clear to Muichiro, and the damage was done; traits such as kindness, and optimism are worthless and by extension Muichiro is worthless.

Then we had the demon attack, which echoed the same sentiments to Muichiro—their lives were worthless.

*I'm sorry but every time I watch this scene, seeing Muichiro holding Yuichiro, them huddled in the corner with Muichiro shaking in terror looking so small and helpless, it brings tears to my eyes. They were just babies! Fuck that can-opener-hands-looking motherfucker!😭

Anyway, the demon saw them as easy pickings who would not fight back and would not be missed by anyone because after all, like just Yuichiro said 'What can a couple of 11-year-olds do?'. But the thing is that even the smallest, most conflict-avoidant creature will bite back when pushed to the corner, especially when it's to protect what's important to them.

Muichiro was successful in killing that asshole demon, but the damage was already done. Yuichiro had bled out and even though Muichiro was able to make it back to him, the adrenaline from fighting the demon wore off, leaving him too exhausted to go call for help. As he watched his brother bleed to death, I reckon that he felt a sense of guilt because the only reason he was alive was because Yuichiro protected him, putting himself in danger.

I bet that Muichira was thinking that if only he was stronger, if only he wasn't so weak, so…useless, then maybe Yuichiro would still be alive. His brother was right to hate him, he was useless and stupid things like kindness, optimism, and weakness have no place in this world and all it does is get people killed, his mom, his dad, and now his brother. To have those traits is to be worthless, and even when his memory fades away due to the trauma, he still has those beliefs. Subconsciously or probably even consciously, he adopted the traits Yuichiro possessed that he believes will give him worth.

He trains his body to become strong and skilled to match Yuichiro's inherent strength. He also adopts Yuichiro's seemingly cold, callous, and emotionally repressed nature, especially his lack of tact, which he uses to berate anyone who possesses any trait different from what he deems 'useful'. To him, those people are like the old Muichiro—worthless, and this is what he tells Kotetsu.

“Swordsmiths are unable to fight, they can’t save people’s lives either. Other than making weapons, they’re useless.”

The Significance of Muichiro's Fight with Gyokko

We all know that the fight between Gyokko and Muichiro is the least liked in the series so far and the most shat on, with fans calling it mid and lackluster. Especially when compared to the final battle against Gyutaro and Daki in the Entertainment District arc.

But I disagree. First off, not every fight has to be a spectacle. The best fights to me are those that tell a story or a battle of ideologies between the opponents that ultimately result in the development of the protagonist. Second, Demon Slayer is a character-driven story, so the plot is secondary to the development of the characters, and instead, we focus on their journeys, which include their battles. Demon Slayer's antagonists are usually a twisted or exaggerated representation of our protagonist's inner beliefs, fears, and desires. They serve as a mirror that forces the characters to look inward and examine and overcome their false beliefs and inner demons, so to speak.

Gyokko is a twisted representation of Muichiro's view on worth and usefulness. This might seem obvious, but the demons don't value human life, and with Gyokko this disregard is even more apparent by his usage of the swordsmen's bodies in his 'art pieces'.

We also see his disregard in the way he callously spat out the body of that poor swordsmith he ate in the beginning when he entered the village. Rest in peace random swordsmith dude, your only crime is that you had good taste in pottery 🙏🏼😔.

So anyway, Gyokko's view of humans as worthless and insignificant is a twisted version of Muichiro's personal beliefs about worth. This is why Gyokko's comments unlocked his long-buried memories because they were similar to the words uttered by the demon that attacked the brothers, and subsequently also mirrored the words said by Yuichiro.

But here's the thing, Gyokko's disregard for Muichiro and the major mistake that caused him the fight was that he underestimated Muichiro because all he saw was this tiny boy and these weak swordsmen. After all, what can two little boys and two human swordsmiths do against a powerful, old, immortal demon like him? It's just like that can-opener demon said—their lives are worthless. He considers them insignificant, so insignificant in fact that he puts little thought into his methods of killing, like trapping Muichiro in the water vase and sending his little fishies to attack Kotetsu instead of just killing them immediately.

This is also why Haganezuka's lack of attention enraged him because it made Gyokko's presence insignificant. The demon wasn't worth the attention, which to Gyokko made him feel insignificant when it should've been the other way around.

In his attempt to correct things to their natural order in a sick version of 'notice me senpai!' he underestimated not only Haganezuka's intense focus on that autism-fueled sigma grind, but also underestimated Muichiro's abilities and Kotetsu's resilience. By the time he was ready to face Muichiro, it was too late. His hubris and underestimation of Muichiro, the swordsmiths, and the perseverance of the human spirit are what ultimately led to his downfall.

Muichiro's Mark

“For the sake of someone other than yourself, you can tap into an infinite strength.”

Remembering his past and most importantly his brother Yuichiro is what allowed Muichiro to unlock his mark. His core wound was that he as a person was worthless, which is why he adopted his brother's cold and callous attitude but upon revisiting his memories he realized that his brother never hated him and admired his kindness and even considered it as a strength that only the 'chosen ones' possessed which he tried so hard to protect it.

Nii-san did not distance himself from me on purpose, he treated me with importance even till his last breath. He said the “Mu” in Muichirou was the “Mu” in “Infinity”.

Yuichiro recognized his brother's worth and loved him for who he was, but it was his fear of losing Muichiro just like he lost his parents that caused him to lash out, to become hardened and angry. Then, when they got attacked, that was when his true feelings came out. Kindness is Muichiro's strength, when pushed to the brink, it was his brother and the need to protect him that gave him the courage to face and kill the demon.

It was also what made him save Kotetsu which in turn was what gave Kotetsu the resolve to save him too. While one might argue that he saved Kotetsu because of Tanjiro's words, I believe Tanjiro just planted the seed. It was Muichiro who decided to not just save Kotetsu but to protect him at the cost of his own life. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't have some semblance of kindness, even the most viable seed would fail to grow if the soil is dead.

Side note: When Muichiro unlocks his mark, it presents as two clouds on either side of his face. I believe that marks that manifest on the face are representative of the bearer's self-identity and perception. The fact that there are two clouds is representative of his connection to his brother, which I think is a really neat detail.

Revisiting our past and facing our trauma is hard as hell. It's probably one of the hardest things to do when undertaking therapy. While it seems comfortable to repress the trauma, doing so may also hold us back. By facing our demons and accepting the parts of ourselves that we, the people in our lives and society deem worthless, we would be able to unlock our true potential, and I think that's what the mark represents for Muichiro.

So What Does Determine a Person's Worth?

“I am no longer that Muichirou who is empty inside.”

Well nothing. Muichiro's journey of self-acceptance tells us that every one of us has inherent worth. I also believe that his story is a commentary on how boys are expected to repress their emotions from a young age. Boys are conditioned to believe that having and especially expressing traits like empathy, softness, and vulnerability is a sign of weakness, and to be weak, especially as a man, is to be worthless. The same goes for women and girls as well, where you have to display 'masculine' traits to be taken seriously.

Muichiro is a soft boy. He loves making origami airplanes, he is soft-spoken, sweet, and has adorable descriptions for his fellow Pillars even when he didn't have his memories. But he's also a badass who decimated a demon with his bare hands at 11 and became a Pillar in just 4 months. No part of him is more useful or worthier than the other, they were both instrumental in all his actions. When he realized this and his inherent worth as not just a warrior, but also a human being, was he able to achieve his full potential and most importantly to heal.

Perhaps he sensed the emotion in Muichiro's voice, because Himejima abruptly smiled. "Forget it. I don't think I need to worry after all."

In Conclusion, self-acceptance is the way to go, never underestimate anybody including yourself. No matter how weak you perceive yourself to be when the time comes for the sake of others, the people you love, and most importantly for yourself, you too can tap into infinite strength ❤🌫.

The quotes are from the unofficial translation of A Promise of Tomorrow

*Yay! I finally made a DS mark post! Sorry that this took so long, guys! 😖 This post went through many rewrites, fat trims and additions, like when I decided to add a 'title card' because I just love to make myself suffer. I might make edits because I'm sure there are some things I've missed and mistakes I've made, but anyway I'm glad to have released something a little substantial to start this series.

[zuko-always-lies]

Do you think that the betrayal at the Boiling Rock was done to give a reason for Azula's eventual breakdown in the finale? The more I think about it, the more Mai's anger towards Azula doesn't make sense to me. I know that people say that it's because Azula left Zuko to die, but if that's the case, she should have been angry with Ty Lee as well, since she also tried to stop them from leaving the prison. Also....they were chasing after Zuko and Iroh for the entirety of book 2, even though they kept on running into the Gaang and never actually came across Zuko and Iroh, and that was just Azula. Mai had zero issues with Azula's mission in the second season, and she already loved Zuko by that point. It feels like the writers just forgot about that.

So the thing to understand that in (well-told) narrative, everything happens for a reason. Everything serves a very deliberate narrative purpose. But perhaps we should take a moment to reflect on the differences between Book 2 and Book 3 characterizations before we go back to the Boiling Rock:

Book 2 Azula has some distinctive edges to her which shows the original ideas the writers had. She was consistently depicted as quite hostile to Zuko (this wasn't changed until the writing of the last episode of the series, when the writers realized that they needed Zuko to go home). She was depicted as using fear to control soldiers in a military context, including Ty Lee, but never as using fear to force or substitute for personal relationships. Azula was depicted as mean and cruel(and I believe she was originally supposed to be crueler and more merciless than she ended up being, but it ended up being scrapped as too dark). However, she was also, aside from maybe one scene, was depicted as stable and mentally put together well. Finally, Azula was never depicted as sympathetic in Book 2, and we can't be certain of what the original intentions in this respect were.

Book 2 Mai also has a couple interesting characteristics. First, she was consistently written as not being afraid of Azula. Second, the seed that she had a crush on Zuko was clearly planted. However, since Zuko was never supposed to "go home" in the original outline, it's not clear how this might have flowered, and it's possible the writers didn't know either.

Now let's move on to Book 3. We should note that Book 3 came out in two parts, but I'm not quite sure how much that reflects what the production looked like. It might be that everything was mostly decided before they started writing, but based on the shift between the first and second halves of Book 3, there might have actually that they mostly wrote Book 3.0 before they figured out what they were doing for Book 3.5

Anyways, Book 3.0 (and really we can kind of include the Crossroads of Destiny here) had two shifts in the depiction of Azula's character. First, she was now consistently depicted as caring a lot about Zuko. The first episode of Book 3.0 was kind of ambiguous here in a way that suggests the writers were tentative about this, but every following episode clearly showed Azula being kind to Zuko in one way or another. Second, The Beach introduced the idea of Azula as sympathetic character, including her trouble with her mother. Note that there are two ideas that Book 3.0 does not introduce or use: the idea of Azula being mentally ill/crazy (at her worst, Book 3.0 Azula is only a bit over the top), and the idea of Azula controlling her friends through fear. In fact, The Beach "normalizes" Azula's relationships with her friends a lot.

Meanwhile, Book 3.0's depiction of Mai centers around the seed about her relationship with Zuko flowering. 3.0 always continues the trend of depicting her as unafraid of Azula and generally not giving a shit what Azula thinks.

Book 3.5 is where the final shift in the depiction of Azula occurs. There are two new ideas introduced here. First, there's the idea of Azula using fear and terror to force people to have relationships with her due to Azula's own fear of loneliness. Let me point out that this idea conflicts strongly with her past depictions, where Azula only used fear as part of her methodology of ruling. Mai being "afraid" of Azula is also suggested, for the first time at this point, despite all previous depictions of Mai emphasizing that Mai was not afraid of Azula (while Ty Lee was). Second, the idea of Azula being mentally ill and "crazy" is introduced late. Previous depictions of her showed her being mean and cruel, but not her being "crazy."

Now, at long last, we can return to your question. Again, we must remember that everything which happens in a story happens for a reason. The Boiling Rock episodes served one primary purpose: depicting Zuko and Sokka bonding and getting to know each other. This is why these episodes were written. Hypothetically, reintroducing Hakoda and Suki could be another purpose for them, but Hakoda was instantly written out again and the writers made it clear that they had zero real ideas for Suki in subsequent episodes and essentially just had her character hang around in the background 95% of the time.

However, if the purpose is to show Zuko and Sokka bonding, why do Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee appear? Why does Azula show up and fight Zuko, and why does Mai save Zuko? None of this was necessary for the Zuko and Sokka bonding experience. I suppose having Azula and Zuko fight furthers their rivalry, but literally in the very first scene of the next episode (The Southern Raiders) there is a fight scene between them which serves to further this purpose far more effectively. The writers also could have written Mai's sacrifice as having a big effect on Zuko, but we all know they avoided that too.

The reason that Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee appear has to be almost solely for reasons related to the arc of those characters. The writers wanted Azula to have a big breakdown and go "crazy," but they hadn't built up toward that idea at all in the previous two seasons. They needed to speedrun toward it now, and having Mai and Ty Lee betray Azula offered a convenient start toward Azula's downfall and mental health collapse. Moreover, it also allowed them to depict Mai and Ty Lee as "redeemed" and "on the right side now," while having them stick by Azula until the end would make depicting this problematic. Zuko being Mai's love interest and Ty Lee always being depicted sympathetically probably contributed to urge to redeem these characters, but it's also important to remember that the writers took pains to make sure that child characters were "happy" and/or "redeemed," even if they died tragically, during the series. The only real exceptions to this were Hahn (NWT warrior who was Yue's betrothed) and...Azula. One of the reasons why Azula's ending strikes so many people as odd and at odds with the themes and tone of the series is that almost every other child got some sort of "happy" or at least honorable ending, while Azula was not only humiliated and utterly broken but also denied the slightest hope of happiness.

[stellar-solar-flare]

I’m so glad to finally be back to this story! The end of the year 2024 was a rotten cherry on top of a trash fire cake which was a drain on my energy. But I definitely haven’t forgotten about this one – especially since I have been super amazed at how quickly you’ve been able to write this story and publish it. You’re awesome! I’ve seen some light spoilers to this on my dash from people’s comments so I know it’s going to be a ride and I’m here for it!

You’re not anxious at all over meeting with Pepper, but what has you on alert is the possibility that you could theoretically meet Steve Rogers, former Captain America, today.

Oh, interesting. So we’re seeing subtle hints that she’s a Steve girl right off the bat – but then again, like when we see her think about her friendship with Pepper, it’s clear that she’s not just starstruck or someone easily swooned by celebrity status. Are we harboring perhaps a little crush here?

Your background in political science and your years working in non-profit management seem like they could be useful, but you can't help feeling a little out of your depth.

I always say in comments that I enjoy it when we see the little things that make the Reader similar to Steve, or qualities that I know Steve will find attractive, and I feel like working in a non-profit is definitely one of those. Doing her best to make a better world.

You were among the half who disappeared - still such a strange concept to grasp though you were supposedly settled back in.

I don’t read a lot of post-Endgame fics / fics that deal with the Blip one way or the other, but when I do read them, I immensely enjoy writers working with all the things that the Blip would cause, and I think we’ll see a layered, deep approach on it from you in this fic! I’m definitely curious.

"There's Maria Hill," Pepper continues, "who's handling security and intelligence briefings. She's got connections that'll be invaluable. Then there's Peter Parker - you might know him as Spider-Man - he's officially our youth outreach coordinator, but he's also got a brilliant scientific mind that we're tapping into for policy development."

Oh it’s lovely to see that Peter is still around the Stark Foundation even with Tony gone, and hehehe, the little reveal of his identity. I love how competent we see Pepper be here, how she’s been so good at putting this team together.

You feel your jaw drop in shock, almost hitting the ground as your mind races with disbelief and anger. The room feels like it's spinning as you struggle to process the weight of her words.

I love how you wrote her shock here; it makes sense that her first reaction to this would be anger – she would feel like she’d be just a trophy wife when she’s been hoping for a big role. And while I’m certain she’ll have just that big role, it makes sense that initially a marriage of state, essentially, would sound insane in modern-day America.

"I know," Pepper says softly. "That's part of the plan. We want to show that leadership isn't about who you're married to or what your last name is. It's about vision, compassion, and the ability to bring people together."

But I really like this point. It feels very Steve – I adored all the glimpses we saw into his plans through her thoughts, as well as her note about not even being able to sleep – to create a world like this and especially lead by example.

“We have an opportunity to show what a healthy partnership in marriage could look like to new generations. You’re my first and only choice because of your skills, experience, and the vision I know you would bring to the table. But you’re also my first and only choice because I think you two are well-suited for each other.”

I really really love this, in addition to the way we see Pepper go through the strategic side of this, the polls and expectations and all this. This feels like something that Steve would agree to, in the end. After all, he is from a world where marriage wasn’t so focused on romantic love. But since he is a romantic, I’m definitely looking forward to them falling in love.

A soft laugh falls from Pepper’s mouth. “He actually asked the same thing.”

Hehe, more of the little things that show they’re similar.

And yet, there's a part of you that's intrigued by the challenge, by the opportunity to make a real difference on such a grand scale.

I love her your honor. I always enjoy Readers that are shown to be competent and not afraid of going after what they want. Also this is a very Steve thing again.

You both lost husbands, but you don’t want to talk about it, yet again, and you don’t want to bring up a painful subject for her either.

Oh, I’m intrigued by this. Is she a widow too?

"You must be the future Mrs. Rogers," Sam says with a warm smile, extending his hand. "I'm Sam Wilson. Steve asked me to come apologize and explain - and to have breakfast with you, if you’ll have me.”

Oh, I wonder what came up for Steve to skip this. But aww, I hope she and Sam end up being friends, as I can definitely see that happening.

“President Bartlet?” you can’t help the awe in your voice. “I’d skip out on breakfast with me, too.”

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. It’d be very beneficial for him, and I enjoyed seeing that Reader understands. And yay, we’ll be seeing more Sam in the fic!

“I can’t help being a little disappointed - since I was hoping to finally meet my future husband - but he’s unemployed and you’re technically Captain America, so I guess it’s really an upgrade.”

Oh, you and me both, Sam. I really really like this Reader. I’ll nickname her the First Lady for comment purposes, since that’s easier for me. I hope you don’t mind!

"Trust me, Steve takes this very seriously," Sam says, his tone becoming more earnest. "He may not know you yet, but he respects you and the commitment you're making. He's not the type to back out or let you down."

Oh, Aspen, you’re coming straight for my heart with this. This isn’t even a thirst trap, it’s a heart trap, and that’s worse. I love how serious we see Steve be about this from the beginning, and I really like how reassuring Sam is here too.

"But then again, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my time with the Avengers. This? This actually feels like one of the more normal things I've been part of."

Also this tracks, and I wonder if this is a part of Steve’s mindset too.

"Steve's one of the best men I know. He's loyal, compassionate, and has a moral compass that doesn't quit. But he's also been through a lot, and he can be... guarded. It might take some time for him to open up fully."

This makes complete sense, and I am HERE for the pining and the slow burn that’ll follow from this. It’s very compassionate of Sam to warn her about this so she doesn’t get the wrong idea about Steve’s behavior, if he’s going to be a little distant. And also this has the delightful found family vibes – which are definitely highlighting some major loss in First Lady’s background, I mean, she has to have a hint of craziness and not a lot to lose to jump into this headfirst – that I always enjoy in fic.

Sam grins. "Trust me, once you two actually meet, you'll see what I mean. Just don't let that 'aw shucks' routine fool you. He might look like an all-American boy scout, but there's a lot more going on under the surface."

I’m definitely looking forward to all this characterization; from the (shamefully few) works that I’ve read from you so far, I know you write Steve in a very human way. And this is definitely hinting towards how he’s not just the perfect soldier or the good man but human and I am always here here for it. And we love Sam for recognizing all this in his friend.

Also as a more general note, I enjoyed Reader having these little doubts about the marriage side of it working – there is definitely hint here that while she’s not waiting to be swept off her feet, she’s certainly not going for a simple marriage of convenience. I always enjoy fics that show that wanting love and to be loved aren’t mutually exclusive with things like strength or independence.

You learn about Steve's dry sense of humor, his unwavering loyalty to his friends, and his surprising skill at sketching. Sam describes missions where Steve's quick thinking saved the day, but also quieter moments - movie nights with the team, intense debates over board games, and Steve's ongoing struggle to catch up on pop culture.

I love this for her. And for Steve. That she goes into the whole marriage knowing not only Cap but also Steve Rogers. I am VERY excited for the wedding, and not just because I love weddings. I know it's the delicious sort of slow burn when they don't even lay an eye on each other in the first two chapters.

I’m so glad to be back at this and I’m so looking forward to diving into the next chapter! Sorry if I got a little rambly or overexcited but I had so many thoughts. I hope you're well and the muse is behaving!

Red, White & True: Manhattan & Brooklyn (1/?)

Characters/Pairings: Steve Rogers (future x curvy Millennial Female!Reader), Pepper Potts, Sam Wilson Word Count: 4k Summary: "There was an idea..." Words at the heart of what brought the Avengers together. Pepper Potts has persuaded Steve Rogers to step up and help again - but this time in a battle to The White House. She invites you to consider a key position.

Content/Warnings: none

Notes: This takes place in a post-Endgame scenario where Steve stays and generally most of TFATWS happened.

Prologue | Series

↠ Main Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

[MAY 15 - Manhattan, New York]

You try not to hold still while you wait in the lobby, but you’re nervous and the longer you sit, the more difficult it is to resist drumming your fingers, tapping your foot, jiggling your right leg as it’s crossed over your left, or even just chewing on your bottom lip.

You’re not anxious at all over meeting with Pepper, but what has you on alert is the possibility that you could theoretically meet Steve Rogers, former Captain America, today.

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves. The lobby of Stark Industries is immaculate, all sleek lines and modern design. The large windows let in plenty of natural light, making the space feel open and inviting despite its corporate purpose.

Your mind wanders back to your college days when you’d walked into a different Stark Industries lobby for the first time, a hopeful intern wanting to make a difference at the then-new Stark Foundation office. Pepper had been very involved in building the Foundation at the time, and had become a key mentor and - as the years passed and you left Stark Industries - a dear friend. She had helped fuel some of your late-night study sessions through grad school. Living in a new state, she had shown up and seen you through breakups, family drama, and the stress of putting together your thesis. Even when your paths diverged, you'd managed to stay in touch.

Back then, she’d become like the older sister you never had, seeing you through some of the difficult years figuring out how to be a real adult. Now, here you are, waiting to potentially join a presidential campaign she’s orchestrating for none other than Steve Rogers.

The receptionist's voice startles you out of your reverie. "Ms. Potts will see you now."

You stand, smoothing down your carefully chosen outfit - professional, but not stuffy. As you follow the receptionist down the hallway, your mind races with possibilities. What position could Pepper have in mind for you? Your background in political science and your years working in non-profit management seem like they could be useful, but you can't help feeling a little out of your depth.

As you approach Pepper's office, you take a deep breath to steady yourself. The door opens, and there she is - Pepper Potts, looking as poised and confident as ever in a crisp white blouse and tailored navy suit. Her strawberry blonde hair is pulled back in a neat ponytail, and her smile is warm and welcoming.

"It's so good to see you," she says, embracing you in a quick hug. "Come in, please."

You step into her spacious office, taking in the floor-to-ceiling windows with a breathtaking view of the city skyline. Pepper gestures to a comfortable-looking chair across from her desk, and you sit, trying to keep your nerves in check.

"I appreciate you coming on such short notice," Pepper begins. "I know it's been a few years since we’ve been able to catch up - even before the Blip.”

You were among the half who disappeared - still such a strange concept to grasp though you were supposedly settled back in. “I was happy to come! And of course I don’t mind a trip on the Stark Industries dime,” you say with a grin.

"Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee?"

You shake your head. "I'm fine, thanks."

Pepper settles into her chair, folding her hands on the desk. "So, I know I told you we’re putting together the campaign team for Rogers for America, but I'm sure you're wondering more specifically why I called you here."

You nod, leaning forward in your chair, eager to hear Pepper’s vision.

"We're putting together an incredible team," she begins, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I've been reaching out to some of the brightest minds in politics, economics, and social justice. We have former White House staffers, grassroots organizers, and even a few unexpected faces from the private sector who are eager to contribute their expertise."

You are instantly intrigued, trying to imagine the caliber of people she's describing. Your mind races with possibilities - perhaps that brilliant campaign manager who orchestrated the upset victory in the last Senate race, or the economist whose revolutionary ideas about sustainable development have been making waves in academic circles.

"We've got strategists who are anticipating every move our opponents might make," Pepper continues, "and communications experts who can craft messages that will resonate with voters across the political spectrum.”

You listen intently, trying to pinpoint where you might fit into this powerhouse group.

"There's Maria Hill," Pepper continues, "who's handling security and intelligence briefings. She's got connections that'll be invaluable. Then there's Peter Parker - you might know him as Spider-Man - he's officially our youth outreach coordinator, but he's also got a brilliant scientific mind that we're tapping into for policy development."

Your eyebrows raise at the mention of Spider-Man.

Pepper leans forward, her eyes locking with yours. "But here's the thing - we're not just assembling a team of political operatives and policy experts. We need people who understand the heart of what we're trying to do, who can see the bigger picture and help keep us grounded in our core values."

Your heart begins to race as you start to realize where this might be going.

"That's where you come in," Pepper says, a warm smile spreading across her face. "I've watched your career over the years, how you've navigated the non-profit world, building coalitions and making real change happen. You have a gift for bringing people together, for seeing connections that others miss. Your experience gives you a unique perspective that we desperately need."

Your heart races as you process her words. You had assumed you might be offered some kind of advisory role, perhaps in fundraising or event planning. Maybe even appearance management or offering occasional input on strategy. But from Pepper's tone, it sounds like she has something more substantial in mind.

"Where do you see me on this team?" you ask, trying to keep your voice steady.

"I've been putting a lot of thought into this," Pepper continues, her voice filled with conviction. “You know we’re doing something unconventional. Did you read the presidential plan?”

You nod. Steve’s bid for President of the United States was still technically not public knowledge. You had signed an NDA - being told only that you were receiving a proposal Pepper wanted your input and consultation on, with potential to join the team if you supported the initiative, and just silence if you didn’t.

“It’s bold, idealistic, aspirational; but it’s also unapologetic, has clear plans of action, and could be transformational in ways we haven’t seen in living memory,” you give your assessment.

“And it’s something you could see yourself being a part of?”

You take a deep breath, but smile genuinely. “I couldn’t sleep the first night after you sent it over. I couldn’t stop reading, hoping, re-reading, imagining possibilities!”

“Good,” Pepper responds. “Perfect.”

“Put me to work wherever you need me!”

“I was hoping you would say that because I have a very specific position I need to get filled, and you’re my first - and only - pick for the job.”

“Pepper, stop holding out!” A nervous and eager laugh escapes you. “Tell me!”

Her response slams into you like a freight train, knocking the air from your lungs.

“Future First Lady.”

You feel your jaw drop in shock, almost hitting the ground as your mind races with disbelief and anger. The room feels like it's spinning as you struggle to process the weight of her words.

"What?" you gasp, your voice barely above a whisper. "Pepper, I... I don't understand. First Lady? But that would mean..."

Pepper holds up a hand, her expression serious. "We're not just running a campaign here. We're trying to redefine what leadership looks like in this country. Steve is an incredible man, and he needs a partner who understands the complexities of modern America, not just a trophy wife, someone who can connect with people from all walks of life."

You shake your head, still reeling. "But I'm not - I mean, Steve and I aren't even - we've never even met!"

"I know," Pepper says softly. "That's part of the plan. We want to show that leadership isn't about who you're married to or what your last name is. It's about vision, compassion, and the ability to bring people together."

Pepper leans back in her chair, her expression at least revealing some concern over your reaction. "I know it's a lot to take in."

"A lot to take in?" you interrupt, your voice rising. "Pepper, it's insane! It’s May, and the election is in November. How could I possibly be the First Lady?"

Pepper holds up a hand, trying to calm you. "I know, I know. Let me explain."

But you're on a roll now, your initial shock giving way to indignation. "Explain what? How you thought it was okay to offer me a position that requires me to be married to a stranger? Use me to score points?”

"I understand your reaction," Pepper says calmly, "but please, hear me out. This isn't about scoring political points or creating some sham marriage. We're trying to redefine what leadership looks like in this country."

You take a deep breath, trying to calm yourself. "Go on," you say, your voice tight, “because you’re still trotting out marriage.”

"We can’t outright ignore traditional expectations and polling numbers. If Steve were running as the nominee for either of the major parties, we could probably win without him being married, but since he’s running as an independent, he needs a wife. That being said, we want to move away from the traditional concept of the First Lady as just the President's wife," Pepper explains. "The vision is a First Partnership. Two people who work together. There’ve been a few First Ladies who have done more with their platform and position, and that’s what we would want for you, too.”

You chew on your lip, not persuaded yet, but a little less angry.

“We have an opportunity to show what a healthy partnership in marriage could look like to new generations. You’re my first and only choice because of your skills, experience, and the vision I know you would bring to the table. But you’re also my first and only choice because I think you two are well-suited for each other.”

You open your mouth to protest, but Pepper raises her hand to stop you.

“You and Steve don’t have to put on a show and be madly in love - that’s not what I want, that’s not what he wants or expects either.”

You frown. “What does he expect?” you ask. And then you perk up even more. “Has he agreed to this? Shouldn’t he at least be here to make the offer himself?”

Pepper sighs. “It was easier for me to convince him to run in the first place than to agree that he needed a wife.”

“But you’re telling me he did agree?”

Pepper nods. “He did.”

You unconsciously rub the empty space on your left ring finger. “Couldn’t we just get engaged and leave the question of a marriage for whether or not he wins?”

A soft laugh falls from Pepper’s mouth. “He actually asked the same thing.”

“And…?” You raise your eyes expectantly.

“The public would rake us over the coals and accuse us of only doing it as a publicity stunt. The campaign would become a gossip column on your relationship status and nothing more.”

“But isn’t it a publicity stunt?”

“We can spin a marriage that seems to appear out of nowhere. Steve’s always been a private person when it comes to his personal life. We will tell people you met through me - which is true. I thought you were well-suited for each other - which I do. When people asked why the wedding just before announcing his bid for the presidency, we tell them you two didn’t want your relationship status to become the big question on everyone’s minds so they can focus on the platforms and policies instead and that every marriage takes work regardless of the length of the courtship.”

You sit in stunned silence for a moment, trying to process everything Pepper has said. The idea of marrying someone you've never met, let alone becoming the First Lady of the United States, seems utterly surreal. And yet, there's a part of you that's intrigued by the challenge, by the opportunity to make a real difference on such a grand scale.

"I need some time to think about this," you finally say, your voice barely above a whisper.

Pepper nods understandingly. "Of course. It's a lot to take in. But I want you to know that I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't think you were perfect for this role. Not just as a political partner, but as someone who could genuinely connect with Steve."

You raise an eyebrow. "You really think we'd be well-suited?"

"I do," Pepper says with confidence and warmth.

You rub your ring finger again, but this time you see Pepper’s eyes drop to watch your unconscious action, and you quickly stop. Her eyes, when you meet them again, are full of sympathy. You both lost husbands, but you don’t want to talk about it, yet again, and you don’t want to bring up a painful subject for her either.

She can read that in your tight-lipped smile.

So instead she says, “I can give you three days to think it over.”

You sigh and rise from your seat to go. “I don’t know if that’s long enough, but if you give me three days or three weeks, I don’t think it will change my decision I’ll land on. Give me the night to sleep on it. I think I’ll know by tomorrow morning.”

[JUNE 4 - Brooklyn, New York]

Three weeks later, your life has been packed up and put in a truck on its way to the new brownstone in Brooklyn that’s been acquired for you and Steve to move into, and you’re sitting at a table in a café a few blocks away, waiting to meet your future husband for the first time over breakfast. Every time the bell rings over the door, you dart your head to see if it’s him, but he’s evidently running late.

As you wait, checking to see if you have any messages on your phone, the bell over the door chimes once more. This time, when you look up, your breath catches in your throat. A tall, athletic man with dark skin and an easy smile has entered the café. You recognize him immediately as Sam Wilson, the new Captain America. Your heart sinks a little as you realize Steve isn't with him.

Sam spots you and makes his way over, his stride confident but casual. As he approaches, you notice the way his eyes scan the room, a habit born from years of military training and superhero work. He's dressed in civilian clothes - a leather jacket over a simple t-shirt and jeans - but there's no mistaking the aura of strength and capability that surrounds him.

"You must be the future Mrs. Rogers," Sam says with a warm smile, extending his hand. "I'm Sam Wilson. Steve asked me to come apologize and explain - and to have breakfast with you, if you’ll have me.”

You nod, forcing a smile, and shake his hand. "Of course. I understand.” You motion toward the chair across the table from you, inviting him to sit. “I know campaign prep must keep him incredibly busy."

Ever since you’d accepted the proposition to marry Steve Rogers and join him on the campaign trail to the White House, your own life had turned upside down, giving you hardly any time to breathe, and you’d been told this was only a mild version of what your own schedule was going to look like once Steve formally announced.

“Former President Bartlet agreed to meet with him, and the schedules ended up aligning this morning for Steve to go up to New Hampshire for a sit down,” Sam explains.

“President Bartlet?” you can’t help the awe in your voice. “I’d skip out on breakfast with me, too.”

“I hope I’m not a disappointment of a substitute,” Sam teases. “Since we’ll be working together as part of the senior staff, I volunteered because I was eager to finally meet you.”

His smile is genuine, and you feel the absolute truth of his sentiment. It melts away some of your disappointment and worry.

In return, your smile becomes a little warmer and easier. “I can’t help being a little disappointed - since I was hoping to finally meet my future husband - but he’s unemployed and you’re technically Captain America, so I guess it’s really an upgrade.”

Sam laughs. “Oh, I’m going to love you, I can tell.”

“Just promise me he’ll actually be at the ceremony tomorrow?” you ask. Your tone is light, but Sam calls your bluff.

His laughter fades, replaced by a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, he'll be there. Wild horses couldn't keep him away. Or androids. Or aliens. Or wizards. Or..." He trails off, realizing he might be overdoing it. "You get the idea."

You nod, appreciating Sam's attempt at humor. "I hope so. It would be pretty awkward to explain to the press why the groom was a no-show at his own wedding."

"Trust me, Steve takes this very seriously," Sam says, his tone becoming more earnest. "He may not know you yet, but he respects you and the commitment you're making. He's not the type to back out or let you down."

You nod, feeling a mix of relief and nervousness. "I suppose I should get used to schedule changes and last-minute adjustments," you say, trying to keep your tone light.

"It's part of the package," Sam agrees. "But so is having a team of people who have your back, no matter what." He leans forward, his eyes meeting yours intently. "I want you to know that includes me. We're not just colleagues in this; we're family."

His words touch you deeply, and you feel a bloom of warmth in your chest, the firs time you’ve felt grounded since you agreed to do this. "Thank you, Sam," you manage to say. "That means a lot."

The waitress approaches, he orders coffee, and you both order breakfast.

As she walks away, you take a sip of the drink you’d ordered while you were waiting before, mulling over Sam's words. "Can I ask you something, Sam? You know Steve better than almost anyone. Do you think...?”

You hesitate, uncertain if you should voice your doubts to Sam. But his open, friendly demeanor encourages you to continue, and you’re going to need to learn to trust this new circle of people you’ll be surrounded with.

"Do you think this is crazy?" you finally ask, your voice barely above a whisper. "Marrying someone I've never even met, maybe becoming First Lady... it all feels so surreal."

Sam leans back in his chair, considering your question carefully. "Crazy? Maybe," he admits with a small smile. "But then again, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my time with the Avengers. This? This actually feels like one of the more normal things I've been part of."

You can't help but chuckle at that, some of the tension easing from your shoulders.

"Look," Sam continues, his tone becoming more serious. "I won't lie to you. It's not going to be easy. The scrutiny, the pressure, the constant demands on your time and energy - it's going to be a lot. But if anyone can handle it, it's Steve. And from what I've heard about you, I think you're up for the challenge, too."

Sam pauses as the waitress returns with your breakfasts and his coffee. Once she's gone, he continues, "Steve doesn't do anything halfway. When he commits to something, he's all in. And he's committed to this - to you, to this campaign, to trying to make a real difference."

You nod, appreciating his honesty. "And what about... us? Steve and me, I mean. Do you think we can make this work? Not just for the campaign, but as a real partnership?"

Sam's eyes soften. "Steve's one of the best men I know. He's loyal, compassionate, and has a moral compass that doesn't quit. But he's also been through a lot, and he can be... guarded. It might take some time for him to open up fully."

You absorb this information, feeling a mix of apprehension and curiosity about your future husband. "I appreciate your honesty, Sam," you say softly. "I guess we'll both be navigating uncharted waters."

Sam nods, taking a sip of his coffee before responding. "True, but you won't be doing it alone. Not only do you have the support of the team, but I think you and Steve might surprise yourselves. You both have a strong sense of purpose, a desire to help others. That's a solid foundation to build on."

You pick at your breakfast, mulling over Sam's words. "I just hope we can find some common ground beyond the campaign," you admit.

Sam leans in, his expression earnest. "Like I said, when Steve commits to something, he gives it his all. That includes relationships. He may be reserved at first, but once he lets you in, you'll have his unwavering loyalty and support."

You nod, feeling a bit more reassured. "I appreciate that. I’m not some hopeless romantic, I’m not looking to be swept off my feet, but I just hope we can find some chemistry, some spark beyond just being political partners."

Sam chuckles. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Steve might be from the 1940s, but he's still a red-blooded man. And you," he gestures at you with his fork, "are definitely his type."

You feel your cheeks flush slightly. "His type?"

"Smart, independent, passionate about making a difference," Sam lists off. “

Your work in non-profits, your passion for social justice - that's right up Steve's alley. Plus, you've got that whole 'take no crap' vibe that he needs. I have a sense about these things, and you have it.”

You laugh, feeling some of the tension dissipate. "Well, I'll take your word for it. Though I have to admit, the idea of being Steve Rogers' 'type' is a bit surreal."

Sam grins. "Trust me, once you two actually meet, you'll see what I mean. Just don't let that 'aw shucks' routine fool you. He might look like an all-American boy scout, but there's a lot more going on under the surface."

You raise an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."

Sam shakes his head, still smiling. "Nah, I'll let you discover that for yourself. Where's the fun if I spoil all the surprises?"

You roll your eyes good-naturedly. "Fine, keep your secrets. But seriously, Sam, thank you. For breakfast, for the pep talk, for everything. I'm really glad I got to meet you before tomorrow."

"Me too," Sam says, raising his coffee mug in a mock toast. "To new beginnings and unexpected partnerships."

You clink your own mug against his, feeling a surge of warmth and camaraderie. As you finish your breakfast, the conversation flows easily between you and Sam. He regales you with stories of his adventures with Steve, carefully omitting any classified details but painting a vivid picture of the man you're about to marry.

You learn about Steve's dry sense of humor, his unwavering loyalty to his friends, and his surprising skill at sketching. Sam describes missions where Steve's quick thinking saved the day, but also quieter moments - movie nights with the team, intense debates over board games, and Steve's ongoing struggle to catch up on pop culture.

As Sam talks, you find yourself leaning in, captivated by these glimpses of reality, getting to know more about the man behind the myth. And even if the next twenty-four hours will be a whirlwind of you choosing and getting fitted for your wedding dress; interviewing candidates that have been vetted for your personal staff - assistant, pr strategist, stylist, initiative director; and a bachelorette party; you feel like you’ll be able to face it all with the bit of reassurance you’ve gained by spending this time with Sam.

next part: LAS VEGAS & CLEVELAND

↠ Main Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

I do not do tag lists, but FOLLOW @buckets-and-stories and TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS to be updated any time I publish a new work!

This story will have 3-4 chapters, depending on where I split up the narrative. I anticipate about a chapter a week, usually posted on Fridays.

[floatingshark]

This has been in my head for like weeks and it's what makes me struggle to actually finish arcane LMFAO. For context ive been mostly interacting with arcane stuff on tiktok and ive seen some stuff and opinions that doesn't sit well with me.

also on another note i havent fully finished arcane, i stopped at s2 ep6 so ep7 to 9 i have no prior knowledge apart from spoilers i got bc of arcane edits.

and on one last note, if you disagree or agree with me in this you're free to express it. just be civil. we can all be adults and we know how to understand so just mind your words bc people on tiktok state their opinion so aggressively, it is not needed. we dont need that energy here.

okay so with that out of the way, like i said ive seen a lot of tiktoks lately and i want to kind of speak my mind (technically rant) about some of the discourse regarding characters and whatnot. This is going to be long.

also, spoilers.

so first up is caitlyn. How do i start?

Caitlyn:

I do love caitlyn... in season 1.

in s2 not so much but hear me out. a lot of people have been debating on her actions and how half the fandom hate her, half love her (some a little,,, off putting but ill get into that later) and here's my unneeded take. I don't think its valid. like her actions in s2 are so morally wrong it blows my mind.

first of all, Im not going to say that its ooc of her because that doesnt make sense to say. this cant be ooc (in my perspective) because we have never seen caitlyn angry to the point of doing this. this is our (or my) first time seeing her go through grief this bad that it has her making decisions we dont particularly agree with or is objectively right to do. we cant say that this is "out of character" because we had'nt had prior idea or knowledge to how she'd cope with her mother's passing.

second off, like i said i dont think its valid. yes, i understand her actions are a result of her mothers untimely passing but we can't keep saying that it was right of her to do what she did.

we can empathize and we can understand that what she's doing is because she's had enough of jinx putting the people of piltover in danger because obviously she cares about these people, and it put her over the edge the day that her mother died because of jinx. but it doesnt mean that her actions were right objectively (i say objectively because we all have different moral compasses).

lets get into what she did

her actions consist of:

-gassing the undercity (even after watching an entire documentary/history lesson about how her mother built the ventilation systems to keep the grey out of the undercity)

i dont want to hear people saying that it never showed people dying, it was only used on the gangs, the goons, and jinx. people, we dont need to see people dying to know that the grey has been a problem zaunites have had to deal with for years until cassandra (cait's mom) built those vents.

yes, you can say that they didnt show people dying, doesn't mean that using it wont have consequences if anyone that was innocent does get affected. gas spreads, it moves, it can and it will affect anyone in the vicinity or anyone that comes across it. how do you know that it didnt affect anyone?

even in a moral lens, isnt it just wrong to use the grey ( which in the real world might be equal to something like tear gas. theory tho, going off of tear gas effects) to "clear out" the streets of the undercity where homeless people litter the streets, where children, old people, and people with disabilities roam freely?

-the scene where she insisted she wont miss her shot at jinx

for this one, i think she said this because she was obviously frustrated. she believed in her abilities and she had jinx right in front of her and obviously she wasn't thinking straight.

but people, i cant defend her when i saw her miss her shot just a minute prior. she can think that about herself, that she can shoot past isha and hit jinx in the head, i cant. like i said she missed, it is absolutely not a guarantee to her that they wont move once she pulls the trigger, which is exactly why she hit jinx in the finger instead, and almost killed vi before too.

like its more understandable for me that that statement would come from her, than if it came from someone that was watching the show.

with that, i think i covered mainly my thing with caitlyn. i do empathize, and i do think that for someone thats grieving and angry, her actions can be understandable in that perspective. i do not however, think her actions are justified, especially bc its borderline fascist (if not already). she's a dictator in simpler terms and its just so wrong no matter how i look at it.

i mentioned earlier as well that there were caitlyn supporters that were off putting, but honestly even caitlyn haters can be the same so really its not just a one sided thing going on. the least we can do with this topic, especially because its not black and white, is be civil and just talk about it properly we dont need aggression.

Jayce:

I love jayce, i truly do. well, for the most part.

this rant simply started bc i saw people saying he's privileged, he's egotistical etc, etc.

here is my take.

some people (might just be one actually) see jayce as a minority, or an immigrant and believe that that erases his privilage. but let's talk about it.

no matter if jayce is a minority, or an immigrant, it does not erase that he is from a known house (even if its small) and lives in piltover. he is in the academy, a known scientist and inventor, and he's part of the council. where is the privilege? right there.

he has privilege, why are we erasing that? he has the privilege to live in piltover, to study and learn, to meet with the highest of the highs that control and lead their entire nation, to be known as a great inventor and scientist who, through hextech, has improved the lives of many, who bears a name that is recognizable as a house, and even if he is not equal in wealth with salo or mel, is still equal in status because he now stands amongst them in the same rank and has mel beside him to get the other counselors on board with his plans or ideas.

he has privilege, we cant erase that just because he's an immigrant, because objectively he's living a life better than anyone in the undercity does. hell, viktor has privilege because he's living in piltover now, he no longer lives in the undercity where people struggle, get hunted down, and killed.

thats mostly what i wanted to talk about, i cant say if he is egotistical because i cant remember him being one? arrogant in a way, maybe. but egotistical im not so sure.

with that note.. thats all the word vomiting i can do. but mainly my main gripe is how s2 loses what i loved with the s1 storyline and its the oppression that piltover has on the undercity. it could have been even better if they had handled it properly but i guess it just gets erased like that..

anyways, like i said im up for discussion. you're free to dicuss, to correct, to agree because i can admit i might be forgetting about certain scenes or diaogue or whatnot and its good to be educated and to learn from other people as well.

so, idk, dont take this too personally. at the end of the day it is a show, with important storylines, but still just a show nevertheless. we dont need to be so personal and so aggressive with debates, we can have it like adults, and we can have opinions and thats okay.

thanks for listening lmao

[cynical-canidae]

Okay, sorry (I'm not at all), but someone was appreciating the outfits of Viktor's commune on Twitter, and it reminded me I just have a whole lot of thoughts.

But I just love love love love them because essentially?? Looks aside (though they are stunningly gorgeous), these outfits—specifically being wrapped in blankets—sort of represent these individuals at their base/"pure" humanity.

But if you think about it, for most people, even in fictional settings/media, a blanket is your very first "outfit." It is your very first armor to brave this big, big world. Then and there at your birth, you are at your absolute most vulnerable. It's you BEFORE all of the wrong of the world (prejudice, disease, harm, death, etc.) has any chance to affect/shape you. From then on, they—this life, this world, this society—all will take every chance they can get to leave its fingerprints all over you. But in that moment, coddled by a blanket, you are a bare canvas of whatever your genes have ordered. Which is why I say "pure/base humanity."

And RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA if this does not perfectly encapsulate the commune's (Viktor's) mindset at this point??

I want to first preface this by saying. No. OBVIOUSLY the commune was not 10000% all good. Loss of self and autonomy and free will are Not good things. 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️ (As these things makes us ourselves. Yes, though their bodies move, this is essentially murdering these people.) This is the core principle of which original game Viktor and Jayce disagreed and ultimately separated upon/got Viktor expelled. However, one of the MAIN themes of Arcane is how we can do very horrible things with good intentions. We know that this happens to be Viktor's. Clearly not probably one of the best methods of trying to bring this about, but what I'm saying is that not a single soul can argue that everything/the aftermath was done out of malice/an "evil" plan. TL;DR: No, the commune was not perfect like some people for some reason?? were convinced (looking at all of you with the 🚫 Jayce pfps after Act 2 lol). However, no way can someone genuinely say that it meant Viktor was evil because of all of it. Ok, preface over.

(Also, don't even get me started on the tragedy of how the world made Viktor, a disabled man, believe that the solution was to change himself and not ?? making the world more accommodating/educating people. That's for another time and I'm supposed to be talking about BLANKETS djksfnosfjskm.)

ANYWAYS, like Viktor himself says in Act 2:

"The reason for our failures in the commune. The doctor was right. It's inescapable. Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions... Rage. Compassion. Hate. Two sides of the same coin. Inextricably bound."

Humanity has a ton of good to offer the world and each other. The commune was born out of Viktor's genuine empathy and desire for people to live free from all of the downsides of the human condition and the things that come with it. The commune was an attempt to separate the good side of the coin from the bad side. Which is why I say that their outfits, simply blankets wrapped around them like their "pure" selves (birth), perfectly encapsulates the commune's/Viktor's mindset at this point in time. He was convinced that he could find a way to have only the good. It also meant everyone was put to the same "level"/showed a sense of equality, which was another thing Viktor was trying to do. (I.E. Uniforms are VERY big in Piltover. Certain clothes mean STATUS. Even Salo, a former councilman, being in the same robes as everyone else is a good example of bringing everyone to the same playing field.)

Also, since I cannot help but note on it. My fellow religious trauma girlies were also very tuned into just how biblical Act 2 was in general (Jesus Viktor jokes, you will always be famous). I could make an entire essay on all of THOSE parallels, but on the topic of clothing: Adam and Eve only adorned "clothes" out of shame/self-consciousness once the biblical version of Pandora's box had been opened, releasing all of the bad (sin) into the world. This point in time of humanity before the apple is exactly akin to what Viktor was trying to achieve. (He even had a damn greenhouse omg like that's literally the Garden of Eden?? 😭😭) So while Fortiche/Riot definitely wouldn't have been able to have the members of the commune all naked without getting bumped up a couple ratings, it definitely makes sense that they would wear/appear as the next thing closest to that. Huzzah!! Blankets!! 🤌🤌

I also very much appreciate it because it makes the transition of Viktor's mindset changing very stark as well, going from "most" human (blanket) to least human (machine). I have been rationalizing these two differing points in my head kinda as:

[Commune/Act 2]

"I must save humanity from the world"

(Mentally, you have to equate bad things to the world if you believe you can have humanity without it)

VS.

[Arcane Herald/Act 3]

"I must save humanity from itself"

(Inarguable, as this is the canonical current state of new game Viktor. Also can be seen like "the world from humanity.")

Anyways, I'm crazy. 🧎‍♂️🧎‍♂️ Thanks for reading.

[dusty-pistol]

Guh, I can't believe I have to do this, but here's the doc about angelfangz. But if you don't wanna see all the disgustin things they've done and the fucked up way they said it, I'll give a list of what they said and did directly. With more added information that this doc doesn't show.

[UPDATE 1, JAN 5TH, 2025, 12:28 PM]: More Information.

[UPDATE 2, JAN 5TH, 2025, 1:14 PM]: More Information.

Cw: Mentions of rape, incest, self-harm, just a lot of proshipper bullshit under the cut. There is now more photo evidence and proof that a few anonymous people have given me. Be warned clickin this may subject you to suggestive/NSFW imagery that has been censored for your safety. Please continue with caution.

>>: Said that Dave gets off to Jack raping his brother Peter.

>>: Said that Jack and Peter should fuck. Calls it "consensual incest."

>>: Said Harry should rape Jack. Said that "Jack likes it due to being desensitized from being raped by Dave."

>>: Said Harry gets off to the thought of bein raped and self-harms for pleasure.

>>: Said Henry raped Dave.

>>: Said that once Jack was done raping Peter, he'd kill him and share his corpse with Dave to eat and fuck.

>>: Said their sona is a shotacon as it is/was 17 in a relationship with a 75 year old.

>>: Romanticized 16 year old Peter being sexual with 10 year old Jack.

>>: Drew Jack raping Peter.

>>: Said they love bein a proshipper.

>>: Said that they themselves wanted to be raped and cannibalized and that they "might be necrophilic."

>>: Sent NSFW content to a minor / minors.

>>: Roleplayed suggestive / NSFW content with a minor / minors. Not to mention, they were makin a father-son kind of relationship have strange romantic/sexual undertones. Such as askin a roleplayer to make an (adult) character seem more childish for what I can only assume as fetishization reasons.

>>: Sexualized / romanticized rape, incest, self-harm, etc.

>>: Said their server is "13+" even though 13 year olds should not be able to be exposed to NSFW content.

>>: Here's a few photos showin proof that they've sent NSFW to minors.

>>: Wrote a rape fanfiction of Harry and shared it with minors.

I don't care if they were a minor too when they did and said most this. That is not an excuse.

I made the dumb mistake of thinkin they could change. Proshippers don't change. Even some of the rp blogs they were interactin with said that they were uncomfortable role-playin with them. They've also shown to take perfectly innocent rps into a sexual turn, and one of the rp blogs they did this with a lot was a Harry blog, which is run by a minor. They did this while they were an adult , mind you.

I'm disgusted, and I can't believe I gaslit myself into thinkin they could change. I tried bein nice because I was scared for my own safety since I am a minor, and I didn't know if they'd try to confide in me their fucked up thoughts like they did to the person shown in the doc.

I take responsibility for interactin with them, of course. That was my mistake. But like I said, I was scared. They're unstable, unmedicated, and there is direct photo evidence of proof that they've done these things. And hints that they're not done yet. I wanted to believe they'd change, but the more I hear about them, the more I realize what an idiot I've been. I turned a blind eye to the initial accusations made about them, and that was a detrimental mistake that I apologize for.

I also apologize if it seemed like I "led them on" at any point. I was just tryna be nice to them, and to be honest, I don't even understand what that's supposed to mean. Led them on in a romantic sense? I have it clear in my intro post that I'm not interested in havin any sort of relationships with anyone. I don't know what else "leadin them on" could mean.

I don't wanna turn this into some sorta drama as I'm too tired and busy to deal with that. But I wanna put this out here before they try to start anythin just in case they're upset that I "betrayed" them. Not only that, but because they've surrounded themself with minors, I wanna put this out here for anyone who they might be friends with as a warnin. Don't get your hopes up like I did. They're dangerous to your safety.

Do not harass anyone who might be involved in this. Just block and move on. Hell, if you're still defendin angelfangz after all of this, then I'd like you to block me too as I don't feel safe or comfortable around you. You're now aware of what they've done, you know that they're dangerous, and you should stay safe. This is a predator regardless of their age. They were a predator the moment they engaged with minors in this subject matter in the first place. Even if they were a minor themselves at the time. Their age should not be an excuse.

Thank you kindly for readin, and have the day you deserve.

[bloodcoloredglasses]

you're right, introject doesn't grammar quite the same. i guess the best i can say is that I still use kin to say the same things and I find the fact that introject doesn't say it as explicitly to be an oversight in the language and I'm glad to have kin as a verb to fill that niche. i use kin both as an active "i am introjecting this" at the moment of introjection and also as a way to say "i continue to be an introject of this character, i continue to identify as this character"

I do say "I introjected Valentino" to mean "I continue to be an introject of Valentino, I continue to identify as him," it's just implied rather than explicitly stated. But it is still understood as that even though the word doesn't grammar exactly the same. Kin as a verb has all those usages that are clear in context for me and which all work similarly to the concept of introjecting and being an introject. It sucks that introject doesnt do that in the present tense because being an introject and identifying as Valentino is something I am still doing.

It might be useful to explain all my usages of kin as a verb?? (or at least all the ones I can think of, there are prolly more) and also potential grammatical usages that I don't use:

I kin Valentino: I am Valentino. I identify as Valentino. I am an introject of Valentino. I am Valentino kin.

I am kinning Valentino: I am in the process of becoming Valentino. My brain may be sniffing him out as a potential fictotype/kintype or perhaps I have already taken up residence and am currently putting all the trauma on the right shelves. The introjection is in process. I am currently introjecting him.

***I might/could kin Valentino***: I have identified Valentino as a potential kintype/fictotype and need to sniff him more to determine whether the kintype/fictotype will stick. If an alter doesn't yet have a fictotype at this point, it is often hard for them to speak and be identified. Introjecting a character like this helps them to be identified and heard by the rest of the system. **(Important note!!!: This is my biggest use case for kin as a verb because this just straight up does not work afaik for using kin as a noun, because "I might be x kin" doesn't make sense as you are not x kin at this point.)**

I kinned Valentino: not a use case for me. Kinning is something you start and never stop. To say I kinned him past tense would imply that I no longer kin him.

I know that using kin as a verb is a red flag, so I make it easy for people who are worried about that to kinfirm me: saying I'm fictive not rp in my bio, basically using a lot of fictive language because that hasn't been infiltrated by kff and just generally making it clear when I speak that I am literally Valentino. I think most people who know about kff and know that kin as a verb is a red flag will put green flags like this up. Green flags are more reliable anyways, because people can have seen the use of kin as a noun and still be kff, but if you talk about your kintype identifying as them, then that pretty conclusively proves you are kin real.

I don't think that my use of kin as a verb is applicable to everyone's kin experiences, but me and the rest of my system find it applicable to ours and so we use it that way.

(sidenote: no third party introjected valentino. I did. I introjected valentino and became him. There is no host.)

( @a-dragons-journal sorry to ping you idk if it gives you a notif from just reblogging like this but this is also in reply to you ^^')

edit: idk if there's a kin as a noun version of "I am kinning valentino" either and i use that a lot. so. yeah thats important too. i done forgot. imagine some asterisks up there

When i use kin as a verb i use it in the same way i use introject as a verb and it's just weird and upsetting when ppl insist kin can never be both an action and an identity. I can say I introjected Valentino and nobody says shit but then I say I kin Valentino and suddenly it's a big problem of language misuse and implying that kin is not an identity?? Is my fictive identity somehow not real if it has an element of action to it? It happened in the back of my brain while I wasn't looking, but it was nevertheless an action, and we experience our kin identities in the same way. Why the hell do people accept system experiences so easily but then purity test the exact same experience if framed as kin