#why buffy matters

[l0veisntbrains]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER || 6x22: Grave The sixth is the only example of closing a season with the image of another character. While the choice allowed the season to close with what would have been a surprising moment for many viewers, it also indicates the significance of this character in particular and the motif of the spiritual journey in general. - Rhonda Wilcox ; Why Buffy Matters, The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

[brown-eyes-blue]

I'm a normal person.

[violettathepiratequeen]

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[camellcat]

I'm on my knees desperate for more feral spike fics. it's so fun but there's just so little. where are all the feral spike fics 😔

[coraniaid]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer takes place in a world full of demons and magic and werewolves and invisible girls and convincingly human-like robots; in a world where the Russian Revolution took place in 1905 and a song released in 1957 could be a hit in 1955 and high school sports coaches can use declassified Soviet research to turn teenagers into fish monsters; in a world where vampire attacks are commonplace enough that the police have a standard lie ready to deploy about them and where weekly student deaths are not reason enough to shut down the local high school.

But so far, forty-one episodes into my rewatch, the most fantastic and least plausible thing in the show by some distance is the fact that Buffy still willingly chooses to socialize with Xander Harris.

[punksouthie]

love how pathetic and fucked up and sad faith is but i also do love how cutesy she is about it for like no reason. lounging on her bed kicking her feet. stabbing the air with her fork and doing a little shoulder shimmy at dinner w buffy and joyce. eating cookies with milk. drawing a silly heart on the window w a stake through it. putting an angry face on her makeshift punching bag made out of like towels and duct tape. all this while being 5’6” and having dimples. like woagagahsghsg…. just a little thing….

[variousqueerthings]

*sighs in post mildly broke containment again* there's nothing wrong with reading willow as a lesbian, this is a piece of fiction, and the post I made took on a jokey tone for a reason and is ultimately more about underlying bi-erasure on tv than anything else kaybye ✌

[girl4music]

That is precisely why Buffy still matters. And maybe more so now than it ever did. Timeless television has a way of keeping you coming back to it not because of what it contains that matters. But rather what you can get out of it because of what matters to you. In actual fact it doesn’t contain it. It’s created in the moment. And timeless art/entertainment of all kinds is like this. There’s never really a one specific fundamental lesson to take from it because it always depends on the observer what can be learned. So it stands the test of time as meaningful material because there’s always an observer creating that material for it. Truth be told - Buffy probably isn’t meant to be that deep. It’s likely not intentional how deep it is when it comes to its meaning. But it is that deep because the people that watch it add more and more to it’s depth all the time.

So it’s not the content that is why it still matters.

It’s the content creators for it. Just like you.

You make it still matter.

[femslashspuffy]

If my college aged friends were lecturing me on taking care of my little sister I would be fucking violent. All of them with their only childness have no right to say anything about Dawn like shut the fuck up plus she has the added stress of Dawn not even being real

[invisible-pink-toast]

#to answer my own question: nobody talks about it because it happened in season five of angel#and nobody watched that far

why does nobody ever talk about angel and spike fighting over the shanshu prophecy?

when spike points out that angel views his soul as a curse, as punishment, as being forced to live with the guilt of everything he's done, whereas spike fought for his soul. nearly died for it. the demon with no soul still wanted to do the right thing, to be a good man, so desperately he would destroy himself for the chance.

and then angel says something VERY interesting to spike. spike says he thinks angel hates him because he's a living reminder of his evil. "cause every time you look at me, you see every dirty little thing i've done. all the lives i've taken. because of you. drusilla sired me, but you made me a monster."

and angel, the man who, without his soul, tortures and kills people sadistically for fun and feasting, the man who insists he is not angelus, says, "i didn’t make you, spike. i just opened up the door and let the real you out."

SUCH an interesting thing to say, angel! let's talk about this. no, please—go on. explain how you are better than spike in any way. i'm fascinated. i'd love to hear how you and angelus are different people but the demon who possessed william the poet is somehow the same as the man.

you can't have it both ways, you horrifically catholic man. you aren't a better person just because you've suffered more.

[babyleostuff]

which svt boy is the type of boyfriend with whom you can turn your brain off with | ot13

. . . most to least likely

1 . . . seungcheol

i don’t think anyone is surprised that choi seungcheol is the number one. you wouldn’t have to think AT ALL ever again with him, like come on - he’s big, buffy and dependable (jeonghan’s words, not mine). knowing him, he’d get offended if you tried to “think” - looking out for you, and taking care of you is his number one priority in life. i mean it, it’s his life mission.

2 . . . mingyu

husband material number two, he’s equally fixated on looking out for you as cheol. there is nothing that could distract mingyu from you, your well-being, and safety. the type to walk on the outer side of the sidewalk, and always holding your hand when crossing the road. not a single one of your brain cells would have to be active when he’d be around.

3 . . . joshua

the third husband coded man of svt. no matter how distracted you’d get, joshua would be there right by your side to make sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself or get lost if you were out on the town. there would be no need for you to be aware of anything, thanks to your lovely boyfriend. and it’d all come so naturally for him - he wouldn’t even have to think about it.

4 . . . minghao

hao, our silent and attentive boy that looks out for you, no matter what, would always make sure you’re taken care of, to the point where you wouldn’t really have to think around him. you could do whatever, and minghao would have no problem with protecting you from anything that could hurt you. he’s just so aware of you, and your presence.

5 . . . jeonghan

similar to mingaho in the sense that you don’t even realise that you’re not really “thinking” when you’re with him. even before you started dating he was always such a caretaker that it doesn’t really surprise anyone when you mindlessly follow jeonghan everywhere without a single care in the world.

6 . . . wonwoo

wonwoo is everything you could ask for - he is handsome, smart, funny, and most importantly he always makes sure you’re happy, well fed, and safe. he is ready to change a light bulb, make you dinner (even though he can’t cook for shit), pick you up after a party, and pack you lunch before school/work. the best part out of all of this is that you never have to ask for any of this - he just knows when you need him, so why do you need to think when your boyfie is always there for you

7 . . . woozi

woozi is kind of the middle ground between those who are excellent at taking care of you, and those who try their best, but are too easily distracted, or just prefer to be the ones taken care of. jihoon is always there for you, no matter what (obviously), but sometimes he can get a bit distracted, so you’d still have to be aware of your surroundings when out and about, or you’d have to check his luggage before a trip to make sure he packed his toothbrush.

8 . . . chan

a very observant lil bub that always keeps an eye on you. no matter how much you try to convince him you are good on your own, he still takes care of you in every way he can, and with time (you didn’t even realise when) you started to shut your brain off more and more when with your boyfriend. and come on, it makes him so happy when you depend on him, he loves when you grab his hand the second you exit the car, ready to trust your boyfriend with everything and anything.

9 . . . dk

does a pretty good job as being the “thinker” until something doesn't distract him, and because he is easily distracted, well… he is a cutie pie, though, and very obedient, so he will gladly follow you everywhere without much nagging so looking after him isn’t as hard as looking out for hoshi or vernon. there is one situation when you can definitely shut your brain off, and it’s in crowded places, because there is no way dk will let anything happen to you in a crowd.

10 . . . seungkwan

poor baby really tries to take care of you so can confidently shut your brain off with him, but at the end of the day your relationship is very 50/50… okay, more like 30/70 because usually it’s you who has to think about everything. seungkwan still tries to help you out as much as he can, he doesn’t want to be a burden to you, but sometimes he’s just so easily distracted or oblivious to what is happening around him.

11 . . . jun

easily distracted, manipulated, puts himself in dangerous situations on a daily basis, and has the tendency to wander off like a kindergarten kid, so naturally he’s the one to shut his brain off with you. looking after him can be quite tricky sometimes, he has his rebel moments when he want to make your life a living hell by worrying the shit out of you, but the second he sees you getting really stressed he gets back to his polite, and cute self.

12 . . . hoshi

this poor boy would get distracted so easily, you’d have to think for him. if you were out, hoshi would be the one to wander off, or not see the incoming car and almost getting hit by it - you’d have to be the one to save him from everything. it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about you, but he’s a kid at heart that needs to be the protected one.

13 . . . vernon

same as hoshi, you need to be alert 24/7 with vernon. distracted easily, and does not understand the concept of dangerous situations - you’d definitely have to be the “thinker” in your relationship. like, if you were going on a trip you’d be the person that plans everything, is in charge of the maps, food, packing clothes, and vernon would be the one to venmo you money.

taglist (if you want to be added, check my masterlist): @jeonghansshitester @soul-is-a-strange-kid @weird-bookworm @sea-moon-star @hanniehaee @wonwooz1 @byprettymar @edgaralienpoe @staranghae @itza-meee @eightlightstar @immabecreepin @whatsgyud @hyneyedfiz @honestlydopetree @vicehectic @dkswife @uniq-tastic @marisblogg @aaniag @daegutowns @carlesscat-thinklogic23 @embrace-themagic @ohmyhuenings @nidda13 @hrts4hanniehae @k-drama-adict @isabellah29 @f4iryjjosh @bangantokchy @mrswonwooo @bangtancultsposts @lllucere @athanasiasakura @chillseo @onlyyjeonghan @haecien @caramyisabitchforsvtandbts @hannahhbahng @valgracia @ohmygodwhyareallusernamestaken @mirxzii @hhusbuds @wonranghaeee @rosiesauriostuff @gyuguys @aaasia111 @tomodachiii @veryfabday @lilmochiandsuga @asasilentreader @mrsnervous @bewoyewo @sharonxdevi @wondipity @gyuguys

[olderthannetfic]

/olderthannetfic/769334704445997057/another-fandometrics-year-in-review-another-bevy

I am - genuinely - very sympathetic to the frustrations of solely f/f shippers and I DO think some people are a little too quick to shrug off the lack of f/f in fandom spaces with “lack of representation in media what can you do” when fandom is all about assigning personalities and backstories to one-line characters. HOWEVER. As someone who likes all kinds of ships, the experiences I have had across many MANY fandoms with solely f/f shippers treating people who also liked the main m/m ship as traitors and bad feminists, not to mention the number of people who have told me, a trans man, that I HAVE to write more f/f and less m/m For The Sisterhood, has made me LESS likely to engage in f/f, not more. Some of y’all are your own worst enemy when it comes to this stuff I swear. (Hashtag not all femslashers, hashtag some of my best friends are femslashers, etc)

--

Demands that people defend and explain perfectly commonplace things always end up generating dumber and dumber explanations.

I agree that that explanation by itself is kind of weak, but "Why are you asking only about AO3?" (as people often are) plus representation problems plus the other commonly cited reasons add up to a perfectly sufficient explanation. People just don't like what they're hearing.

--

The kind of f/f fandom people are often looking for—a by cis wlw, for cis wlw one—is not that different in size from the by cis mlm, for cis mlm one. They are both small.

Yes, I know they pretend that's not what they mean. They are lying. Possibly to themselves. Just look at the bawwwwing over the idea that cis men liking f/f could add to the amount of f/f art or the audience for the same.

Many AO3 slashers are better compared to transbian catgirls making lesbian furry porn or cis dudes horny for Buffy/Faith or something. There are plenty of people who care about f/f. They're just not necessarily the ~right~ people in the right spaces making the right art to count in some wanker's statistics.

Part of the reason our explanations and discussions always sound so bonkers is that we constantly compare apples to oranges.

--

And while we're at it, let's talk about that hoary old ~one-line character~ thing.

The reality is that we like to talk about how we elevate random walk-on characters, but the vast majority of shippy AO3 fanfic is about fairly major characters. Clint/Coulson was bizarrely popular in 2012. It has been twelve years. It is time to get over it.

On top of most things focusing on leads, the focus is often on characters who are given a lot of interiority. The audience is invited to be in their head and care about their feelings. People aren't usually good at analyzing film, so they use more familiar metrics involving text: how many lines do they have in the script? How many minutes does that translate to on screen? They don't know how to quantify a character being treated as an object to be looked at beyond "Booty shorts bad". But it's not general sex appeal or amount of skin on display that matters here.

As audiences, we respond to film grammar and "Just happen to like" or not like some character as a result of it, but we aren't aware of the mechanics, so we can't explain why beyond vague spluttering and "How dare you! Everyone should think this because it's the natural response!"

In general, media with multiple central women who have intense relationships with each other and who are conventionally attractive generate plenty of interest in f/f. Media with one hot girl who has the camera trained on her ass all the time while the men do everything interesting usually don't.

It's a no brainer and the harebrained explanations come from trying to look deeper to find the secret conspiracy where there is none.

--

The biggest mistake of most of this dumb discourse is "But I see all these queer women here. Why isn't there more f/f?"

This presupposes some default "normal" level of f/f without any actual justification for why that would be expected. You see the same nonsense from people going "Why is there so much m/m?"

What's the default? 10% because of the fake statistic that 10% of people are gay? 75% because action movies are sausagefests and all the important relationships are between men? What's the "normal" level of femslash? 25% because f/f, f/m, m/m, and gen are all equally valid? 80% because lots of fanfic writers are women?

Chasing one precise number is a fool's errand, but building a whole theory on the idea that there's an implicit number without even digging into that assumption is more foolish still.

When you look at the fanfic (or art!) spaces that are full of dudes, they often look like a bit of a mirror of AO3. Lots of het still. Lots of f/f. Lots of lady blorbos people are obsessed with. Limited m/m. Depending on the space, there might be a lot more gen. It's not perfectly 1:1, but then AO3 isn't precisely like other chick-heavy fanfic spaces anyway.

--

In my experience, the thing that makes a blorbo take off is that they're fairly major in canon, often driving the narrative even if they aren't the main protagonist, and they show up early.

In the cases where they weren't there at the very beginning, them showing up was the catalyst for fans who like this type of character to get into the canon at all. It's not just Castiel: you see it with Methos from Highlander and plenty of others. It's usually in a context where that fandom didn't have that much established for this type of fan. There wasn't a second dude to pair the lead with or the ship turned some people off or something. Highlander, for example, had fucktons of het shippers, both of canon het and of various OFCs and canon dudes. It was the slashers who stampeded over there when friends told them there was new ship potential for m/m. SPN... Sam/Dean was very popular on LJ, but I think it's obvious why a viable non-brother ship was of interest to people. I watched tons of people get pimped into Teen Wolf for Sterek. Of course they ended up liking it and not really caring about other ships: they were pre-selected to like that specific vibe. (And they are all wrong because Scott is the best and Derek has weird teeth.) The same thing happens with f/f. People get into media all the time because they're promised such-and-such a ship dynamic.

Wynonna Earp had plenty of people who were there for the women because the women are who matter for the most part. People were super into the canon f/f because it's hot and because it didn't seem like they were just going to get hit by a bus and shooed out of the narrative.

How many things that everybody and their sister saw have that many main women who matter? Some, definitely, but they're outnumbered by the sausagefests and by the things with very central het. Not everything with a huge audience gets a big fanfic fandom, but most things with big fanfic fandoms do have a big audience. You need critical mass to make a fandom happen.

Something like MCU has a variety of tasty shipping options, but the characters it spent all its time on first were the small selection of guys fandom cares the most about. When other characters were established very early, they also had an early spurt of fandom. I can't be the only one who remembers Pepperony fandom on LJ. It wasn't just people tagging canon ships in the background: Pepper/Tony shippers were a whole thing.

Yes, there are exceptions, but we make a big deal of them while ignoring the overall pattern.

Again, it is time to get over Clint/Coulson, Arthur/Eames, and people hallucinating that Hux had a personality in that first movie.

These are rare exceptions, and they're all snark-based at that. Darcy Lewis was also obnoxiously popular based solely on a few lines of snark, but that didn't count because she wasn't the correct and virtuous choice of favorite female character.

(Seriously, you should have seen the whining about all the people horny for Darcy who didn't give a fuck about boring Jane. Sorry, but your blorbo is a snooze and mine has amazing tits in addition to being funny.)

--

Let's go look at what's big on AO3 since it's easy and that's what other lazy statistics compilers do and then base their whining on:

Looking at the M/M tag, here's the sidebar:

Castiel/Dean Winchester (111856)

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter (70823)

Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (70134)

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson (67796)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers (61397)

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) (56548)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (55109)

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (49179)

Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku (46679)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (44754)

I'm seeing canons with huge audiences. Teen Wolf and SPN are way more popular in fanfic fandom, relatively speaking, but they're certainly not obscure media.

I'm seeing a lot of leads. Sirius/Remus does stand out a little: they aren't walk-ons, but fanon did elevate them. Same with Draco, but main protagonist/most obvious nemesis is hardly a surprising ship type.

Let's play with exclude filters and see what's next (numbers won't be exact since this is via excluding the previous batches):

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson (43234)

Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian (40115)

Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V (38398)

Keith/Lance (Voltron) (32757)

Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs) (32744)

Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester (31834)

Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV) (31527)

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) (31011)

Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter (30819)

Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood (30133)

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (27403)

Original Male Character/Original Male Character (26854)

Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou (26854)

Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin (26454)

Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov (26453)

Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF) (21154)

Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion (20946)

James T. Kirk/Spock (20716)

Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin (20561)

Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet (20113)

Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru (20039)

Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio (18806)

Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel (18013)

Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier (17577)

Dan Howell/Phil Lester (17518)

Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager (17404)

Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know (17390)

Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou (17141)

Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli (Genshin Impact) (17041)

Harry Potter/Severus Snape (16773)

Oh look: more leads.

Sure, there are some little oddities, like the fact that taekook is obviously the worst BTS ship and it is a personal attack on me that it is that popular. But come the fuck on: this is a parade of some of the most famous musicians and most popular anime, shows that had huge audiences and particularly huge audiences of the type that like fanfic.

Let's have a look at f/m:

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug (33773)

Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy (33031)

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) (29586)

Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (24192)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (21606)

James Potter/Lily Evans Potter (21088)

Kylo Ren/Rey (16028)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader (15922)

Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley (15635)

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (15335)

Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (14552)

Fox Mulder/Dana Scully (14214)

Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin (13616)

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson (11471)

Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak (11383)

Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan (11272)

Castiel/Dean Winchester (11187)

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added (10529)

Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov (9750)

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) (9736)

Okay, it is AO3 after all, so some m/m ships have snuck in there, but the general trend is still leads, leads, leads, now with some readerfic. (For James/Lily, you can blame the insanity that is Marauders fandom on TikTok, or so I hear.)

And f/f:

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (21520)

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) (17873)

Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan (16168)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (13681)

Clarke Griffin/Lexa (12876)

Adora/Catra (She-Ra) (11532)

Amity Blight/Luz Noceda (10880)

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (10532)

Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends) (8925)

Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long (7766)

Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler (7369)

Korra/Asami Sato (7146)

Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair (6720)

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added (6684)

Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught (5764)

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) (5529)

Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell (5347)

Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein (4895)

Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo (4662)

Charlie Magne | Morningstar/Vaggie (4402)

Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan (4284)

Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer (4223)

Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam (3936)

Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova (3876)

Maya Bishop/Carina DeLuca (3700)

Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva (3689)

Castiel/Dean Winchester (3664)

Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price (3471)

Miranda Priestly/Andrea Sachs (3394)

Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee (3324)

Carmilla might be a little obscure compared to some media, and some other ships have snuck in here, but again, we're seeing some fairly prominent canons and the leads or at least main cast who have intense relationships in those canons. If most fantasy tv shows were Once Upon a Time, all of AO3 might be awash in nothing but swanqueen and captainswan.

The big thing that one sees is simply that f/f fandom often revolves around different media, while m/m and f/m are more likely to be into the same stuff that's full, full, full of main dudes getting to do things with one woman who matters.

We do not, in general, elevate anybody.

Not unless some very talented writer leads the way first with a juicy longfic that establishes all the fanon.

We repeat the myth that we do because it suits a certain narrative about how creative and transformative fandom is—and another equally popular narrative about how the lack of ship A/B is a ~conspiracy~ to rob one of one's rightful overflowing feed trough of fic.

It's bullshit.

We write about leads.

[just-a-ghost00]

FS Series : random facts about them

Group 1 - Smallville

2 of cups, ace of swords, The Fool

They tend to stutter and act silly around the person they like. They get tongue tied easily and those could be tell tale signs they are into you when you meet them.

They are super chatty once they feel at ease and may sometimes act like a baby to make others smile or laugh, especially in romantic connections.

They could be into greek mythology or be a history nerd overall.

They left their home at a really young age to pursue their dreams.

They enjoy dancing.

They tend to overthink quite a lot. When it comes to you, you would know that they are worried when they suddenly stop talking and stare into the distance.

They love travelling and trying out new things. They have a bit of a reckless attitude sometimes and tend to get themselves into tricky situations without intending to.

They always have funny and heartwarming stories to tell about their past and the things they love. They're a good story teller and could want to write a book.

They get lost in their thoughts pretty easily because they are very dreamy which results in them getting lost or losing the train of conversations. They're like in their bubble or on a cloud and sometimes that can infuriate people around them.

They could mirror you in a lot of ways and one thing this person could do to show you they like you is to mimick you or take interest in the things that you like. So if you ever notice this person starting to drink coffee when they've told you several times they disliked it, know they're head over heels for you.

They look way younger than their actual age. They also tend to sulk and pout to make you feel guilty in arguments.

Group 2 - Buffy the vampire slayer

3 of swords, The Devil, Wheel of fortune

Your person could have SM tendencies and some of their kinks involve restraints. They could be into kamishibai, for instance. BDSM overall seems to be their thing.

They can be quite wealthy. Kind of old money vibe.

They can be of a different culture than yours.

They have been to very exotic places in their life, either for work or for vacational purposes.

They are an overachiever and a workaholic. Which is part of the reason why they may be influent and wealthy.

They have gone through a lot of downs in their life. Those downs could have included severe depression, harsh breakups, addictive behaviors, risky behaviors like driving way past the speed limit among others. They could also have gone through a phase of their life where they were a serial dater and were only hooking up for a night or two with various people.

They are a bit of a daredevil. This person tends to take high risks especially if they are heartbroken. They may gamble a lot.

They have a rather dark and intense vibe to them. Their fashion style could be along the lines of gothic / dark grunge aesthetics. They could wear a lot of black, paint their nails, have a lot of tattoos or piercings.

They tend to thrive and do their best when they feel like their back is against the wall. This person is likely to procrastinate a lot only to ace a project or a homework at the very last minute. They work well under pressure and are not afraid of pain. They may even unconsciously seek it.

This person is incredibly lucky, which kinda ties with the previous point. It's like they were born under a good star because no matter what this person does, no matter how chaotic their life may get or how bad their habits may be, they always manage to prevail somehow and come out not only stronger but also victorious and richer than they were before.

Group 3 - F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Queen of wands, 8 of wands, page of wands

This person is extremely outgoing and bold. They immediately light up a room when they walk in and tend to be a bit dramatic.

They could be a drag Queen / King. They could also enjoy acting, performing, being under the spotlight.

This person's sense of fashion is definitely on point. They are extremely attractive and I wouldn't be surprised if they were a model. If they aren't, at least they post a lot of fashion related content on their socials.

They are very active. They are restless and may do a lot of different activities as a way to release stress. This can both include artistic and athletic activities.

This person is very outspoken and tends to advocate for greater causes. They could be a member of a humanitarian organization or could promote such initiatives around them.

This is a person that is very feminine, regardless of their gender. They tend to wear make up and jewelry.

They talk and type extremely fast. They could speak many languages. They are chatty. This is a person that could be of African, Afro American or Middle East Asian descent. I am also picking up on islands all over the world.

They are flirty AF. And also kinky AF. They have a lot of drive, passion, stamina that they hardly repress. They could struggle with ADHD for some.

They can't keep a secret. They love gossiping. They are extremely funny and could enjoy being a comedic. They could also be into rap music.

[cowboylikedean]

A soul didn't turn Angel into someone who wanted to help people. Souled Angel hid in the sewers for 100 years and then Whistler took him to see Buffy be called and souled Angel "fell in love" with a 14 year old girl and wanted to help her, not people. Buffy is the one who made him want to help people and then when he moved to LA he was in danger of giving into his vampiric instincts when Doyle found him, sent by TPPB. it wasn't until Doyle said he could bring Angel redemption if he helped enough people that Angel wanted to help people... So it wasn't about the helping, it was about the redemption and forgiveness.

A huge part of the thematic point and artistic message of AtS is that a soul doesn't make you a good person, choices do.

That's not to say that your point about Spike is wrong, I haven't seen season 5 in a while but I have seen btvs s7 more recently and souled Spike in s7 is a lot softer than previous iterations of Spike but I can see the argument for continuing that softening in ats s5 which didn't happen to the degree you were looking for, which is a valid criticism. I just wanted to point out the soul didn't take Angel from crazy monster to wanting to help people.

I wish they had made Spike softer in season 5. I mean, I know that Angel brings out the worst in him, but he could have been softer when he wasn't interacting with Angel. I'm thinking about how he reacted to the first woman he rescued when he was being manipulated by Lindsey. His reaction to her gratitude was to harshly victim blame. He didn't have to be like that. If he really needed to chastise her, he could have done it gently.

The show essentially didn't change his personality whatsoever. Sure, he had a couple of moments of guilt and self reflection, like when he was talking to Angel about Dana(the Slayer who had been tortured into insanity in 5x11), and said that just because it wasn't her family he had murdered, that didn't make him not guilty of murdering other families. But other than that, there was very little. Sure, he was soft with Fred, but soulless Spike demonstrated with Dawn that he had it in him to be soft with women he cared for. The only difference was that he was more polite about asking her to help him become corporeal than I think soulless Spike would have been.

It frustrates me. Angel's entire personality changed when he got a soul. Literally everything about who he was became different. So why didn't we see that with Spike?

My best guess is that unlike other vampires, Spike retained elements of who he had been when he was human. That streak of gentleness I keep talking about. So perhaps soulless Spike, especially after he fell in love with Buffy, just wasn't that different from who his soul made him be. He simply stopped wanting to rape, torture, and murder. Or at least had a better grip on controlling those instincts that his vampire soul gave him.

Still, I wish the show had made him softer. I feel like Spike's gentleness should have been massively increased. A soul turned Angel from an extremely evil and cruel person into someone who actually wanted to help people. Sure, he was closed off at first, but that was because he only had evil vampires in his life. Once he was surrounded by good humans, he became gentle with a strong desire to help others. Spike was already surrounded by good humans. He should have become better faster.

Idk, maybe it really is that just being around Angel turned him into the worst version of himself.

Sorry, that was rambly, I just have FEELINGS.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

What happens when Ford eventually returns? I mean, Dipper and Mabel will have to get used to a whole ‘new’ Ford, and Bill is a chaos-god again, so meeting him in his real form will be interesting, will Bill just hang around?

To summarise: It isn’t great, for anybody.

In the case of Ford, it’s like he’s just woken up from sleep. In his mind, it’s like no time has passed at all, but instead 30 years has, and he has to come to terms with that. His paranoia is intense, and to make matters worse, he doesn’t just feel like a stranger in his own home, but a stranger in his own body. He honestly spends a lot of time around Stan, despite his lingering anger, as Stan is the only person who doesn’t look at him strangely, or make him feel like he’s the one who stole this body, that he’s the one who doesn’t belong. Stan’s familiar. He’s safe. Everything else is just… wrong.

He’s generally quite unsure around the twins, which is a mutual feeling.

Mabel wants him to feel welcome, she really does, but she’s struggling to cope with the feelings of confusion and betrayal, and though she does her best to put on a smile and get to know him, he always seems very far away. Meanwhile, Dipper thought he knew the Author for the longest time, but apparently, it was all a lie, and he’s hurt, they both are, but Dipper honestly handles it worse. He’s fixated enough on Bill’s pages in the journal to know he’s dangerous, that he did something bad to their real Grunkle Ford, and he’s relentless in finding out what.

It feels like walking on eggshells at all times. Their new Great Uncle Ford is jumpy, and he’s always looking at them like they’re going to attack him. He’s only ever really at ease when Stan is around. Speaking of Stan, he doesn’t blame his brother for being so on edge, nor is annoyed at Ford constantly trying to argue with Stan and prove Bill has manipulated him too, because to Ford, it’s the only possible explanation as to why Stan would protect him. And Stan gets that. Even now, he will never forget the anger he felt at seeing Ford’s body, how damaged it was, and how Bill laughed about it. But, unfortunately, he’s spent 30 years with Bill, 30 years Ford had taken from him, and that leaves everything painfully complicated.

Speaking of Bill, I haven’t decided exactly how he’s going to be present, either he’s completely back to hanging around the mindscape, or he’s latched onto Ford still somehow, either way, he hangs around.

I have a particular vision in mind of him entering the twins dreams sometimes, especially if they’re having a nightmare, and he and Mabel end up having a conversation one night.

I may make a full, coloured comic for it honestly, because it’s very clear in my mind, and Mabel asking Bill to lie to her for her own comfort… yeah.

(If anyone’s seen Buffy, it’s kind of based off the ‘Lie to me’ scene)

(One final note: I think DD&MD will still be the key to getting Ford to open up, but it’s something the whole family gets involved with, even Stan and Mabel, though they admit the game isn’t really for them, just to make him feel more comfortable around them, and break the tension a bit more. Dipper kind of figures out he likes it in the similar fashion of Ford seeing his die!)

[cerezzzita]

Hear me out…Dante and Vergil using his arm transformed into his Devil Trigger form to warm the belly of his partner with menstrual cramps because they don't have a heating pad around…

notes: hi, anon! In advance, sorry for keeping you waiting for such a long period. Now that's a very adorable request! Been there, went through it, wish I could have Dante to comfort me, it's such a pain in the ass. Well, in this case, in the uterus. Sorry for the bad joke btw hehe

Thank you for requesting and enjoy the reading! 🧡

♡ tags: fluffy, mentions of menstrual cycle and period cramps, (in the most subtle way fr), no reader's appearance description, 2nd pov (you/yours only), gender-neutral reader, I'm sorry if Vergil's part is short I don't know how to write him, the dorks of Sparda are the cutest.

⠀🍓 ˖ . ᵎᵎ Dante & Vergil using their DT'd arm to comfort their S/O's period cramps

ⓘ gif's not mine!!

Dante

Cuddly, attentive boyfriend is on the way!

Really, Dante is gonna do anything in his league to comfort you and make you feel good. He knows how hard this time of month can be for you and will support you and help you in any way he can.

If you have a craving for something sweet? Do not despair, he’s got this, the best sundae of your favourite flavour just for you. Your legs and feet are itchy and hurting? He’s your man and will deliver the best of his massage techniques — and honey, they’re wonderful. But most importantly, the strawberry on top: Cuddles. 

As we all may know, Dante is in fact a teddy bear and has so much love to give. He’ll cuddle you no matter — it does matter sometimes — the situation, especially considering you’re on your period and are feeling down because, well, hormones are a bunch of bitches. 

That means that it’s no big deal when you don’t have your heating pad on your display. Why, what is a itty bitty heating pad compared to your big, buffy warm boyfriend? 

At first, Dante’s kind of unsure about your suggestion, thinking the rough texture of the scales would hurt you, yet he knows you’re well used to touching him on his DT. So he complies, one arm surrounding you and the other below the uncovered skin of your tummy, keeping your back laid on his firm chest, his chin on top of your head while cuddling in bed and gently massaging your scalp. 

“There we go, babe,” Dante whispers, kissing the crown of your head. “Feeling better?” “Much better…”

In the end you two spend the rest of the day/night in pure cuddles until you both got lured enough to fall asleep.

ⓘ gif's not mine!!

Vergil

Tea. Tea is the answer to everything. 

Jokes apart, Vergil is really cautious to make you feel good and free from any period pain, from your head to your toes. 

Which, yeah, includes him making the most appropriate teas for you. 

He won’t deny you anything, so have this chance to ask him whatever you want and you’ll have it. Vergil may be a little reluctant to cuddle you at such a time because he thinks you’re way too sensitive for it — on one hand he’s not completely wrong, the poor dork. 

Much like his brother, he’s pretty unsure about the whole Devil-Triggered-arm-cuddling but if it is what you wish, then it must be done. Serving you some mint tea, Vergil hugs you from behind and slowly but surely places his scaled right arm below your belly. If you turned your head right now, you would be able to see Vergil's reddened cheeks and trembling lips. 

“Are you… feeling comfortable?” “Indeed. Thank you, Vergil.”

As the afternoon time died, you both relaxed, Vergil deciding to read a bit for you.

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