#I don't intend to compete but if I did it would never be with my face but also I am going to spend months practicing my makeup just in case

[andypantsx3]

hi andie!! 🥺 i have a few lil questions for you, if you don’t mind 🥺 (you may choose to answer this publicly or privately, whichever is more comfortable for you!)

would you have any tips/advice for writing/posting on a schedule? 🥺 how do you manage to stay on top of releasing/writing parts of your series consistently? do you keep daily goals? internal deadlines? a system? 🥺

i’ve always adored how organised you are with your fics!! and how regularly you write and update too 🥺 i am currently ~~trying to write and post more regularly (esp the ones for ficsforgaza!) but am stuck on how/where to start 🥺

Hi Sellie my love!! Omg yeah of course I'm happy to answer!! Idk that my system will work for you because everyone is different but I'm happy to explain my process!

These days I do not have much time or large stores of the right kind of focused energy it takes to write, mostly due to work and other personal life things I have going on right now. So I'm all about keeping goals microscopic as hell, removing blockers that distract me, and removing any pressure to write, actually lmao. I find that I'm most enthusiastic and productive when I don't feel like it's another obligation to deliver on, in the midst of all the other thousands of things I am responsible for in my day-to-day, if that makes sense?

In terms of goals, I have a loose one of writing just 100 words a day, but I cannot emphasize enough how loose it is. I do not ever try to make up for days I missed because that just adds more pressure. I do not try to push myself into doing it if I'm not feeling it because the last thing I want is for writing to feel like anything but a fun hobby. If you intend to take the Andie approach, I would advise you to set a goal that you think is so small you could achieve it by sneezing on your keyboard. Meeting goals is like, proven to release dopamine & boost your mindset, so it's more important overall to meet any goal than it is to have an impressive one.

Relatedly, I only promise things on a schedule when I know 100% I have the enthusiasm to meet it. I don't set deadlines to motivate myself, rather I let the deadlines be motivated by me, if that also makes sense? And if I have competing fics, I will prioritize working on whichever one has an actual deadline (like I set aside all my other fics to work on the one for Lore's a/b/o collab) because I know the boost I'm going to get from delivering on that is going to help me write the other ones after anyway.

I also try to remove as many blockers as I can so that writing is easy as pie. I write when I know I can control most of the factors that would sabotage me—early in the morning. If I can help it, I usually try to write first thing before I log on to any of my socials in case there's some spicy discourse I'm going to be absorbed by. It's also essential for me to do before work because work sucks the absolute life out of me right now, and I am almost never in the right headspace when I get home. Also no one ever tries to call or text me first thing in the morning so there are fewer distractions at play and it's quick work to just sit down and bang a few lines out.

I also set up my fics so that it's easy for me personally to work through them. They are all planned in advance so I know where I have to go with my writing and I'm not stuck waiting for an idea. But they're also not planned down to the detail, so that I don't feel like there's nothing left for me to explore mentally when writing!! That helps keep things directed but still interesting to me, so I feel motivated to keep returning to them.

It's really all about finding what works for you! Reflecting on what you've written already, when did you feel most motivated to write? What time of day was it, most often? What fic was it and how had you planned that/what was the subject material? Was it when you'd had a deadline to work against, or when no one knew you were working on it? Recreating those conditions to the best of your ability is what I think will help you stay engaged.

And again I cannot emphasize how much more important it is to stay motivated than it is to deliver anything regularly or on an impressive timeline. The motivation is the key to helping you to keep delivering long term. If you write something regularly for 2-3 months but then burn out, that's not gonna help you!! And honestly, meeting small goals and feeling good is actually going to motivate you to write more and faster anyway, so it's a win-win lol.

#i hope this makes sense!!!!!! #feeling a lil bit jumbled this morning so it's not as directed and articulate as i would like but i hope the key points are clear & helpful #ask andie

[lesbiancientforesttroll]

Think about Harrow's AU Bubbles

Thinking about Harrow's AU bubbles, not as fanfic references, but as expressions of her subconscious fears and desires, is so fascinating.

The Harrow Nova one is pretty obvious. Harrow's parents were obsessed with her being a necromancer, were willing to kill for it. It's only natural she'd wonder, "What if I hadn't been?"

And the answer Harrow gives herself is: Your parents and everyone would reject you (except, wildly, for Crux). Also they'd be alive cuz you'd never opened the tomb, and you'd be an unpopular orphan they'd abuse (Just Like Gideon). And you'd still be just as devoted to serving the Ninth with a blade. There's a lot there. But the other really telling bit is her relationship with Gideon. Harrow Nova professes to hate the reverend daughter even as she seeks to (re) create the necro-cav bond with her. But that hatred doesn't seem to be mutual. And the bit about the daughter intervening when Harrow was whipped…

That's Harrow's subconscious saying if their roles had been reversed, "Gideon would have treated me better than I treated her. Gideon would have protected me."

The Ball AU also seems like a reasonable extension of Gideon's childhood query: "What if my other parent is the most important guy in the universe?" Answer: Emperor Dad would throw a big party.

But also… it's a bride-finding ball! That's so very telling. It could have been anything, but Harrow invents another scenario where she's fighting, competing to get to Gideon, to be awarded the role of her sworn partner (first cav, now bride), while outwardly claiming not to want it.

Now The BARI Star AU often gets described as a "coffee shop" one, but it's actually set in a cohort cafeteria. And normally I wouldn't split hairs over that, but I think the cohort setting is actually really significant. The Cohort was Gideon's dream, and also Harrow's rival for Gideon's attention. It's what she kept trying to leave Harrow for.

So now Harrow dreams that she's left Drearburh to join the cohort and will meet Gideon there. Not fight or compete for a role where they're bound to each other, but just meet her there. That feels like yielding. Like compromise. It makes me think Harrow's subconscious has matured past trying to keep Gideon with her always and is instead looking for ways that SHE can be with Gideon. Meet Gideon where she is.

(Also this may be a stretch, but I always find it low-key funny that Harrow imagines Gideon in the cafeteria… I like to think her brain is skimming lists of hypothetical military jobs like... what sees the least action... ah, coffee-adept, she'll be perfectly safe there...)

#the locked tomb #griddlehark #htn spoilers #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #tlt #tlt spoilers #harrowhark nonagesimus #gideon nav #Harrow Nova is like I don't want to protect her I want see violence done against her so bad I'd buy tickets #but also I'll kill you for the right to protect her #I don't intend to compete but if I did it would never be with my face but also I am going to spend months practicing my makeup just in case

[ao3cassandraic]

I’m wondering about your thoughts on something I’ve been musing on after S2. How good is Aziraphale’s reading comprehension? How much does he understand subtext and metaphor? Because his behavior this season struck me with the impression that he didn’t really understand the books he collects. He’s clever at puzzle solving, and contains vast knowledge; but he always seems to take things at face value (when he’s not willfully misunderstanding), and refuses to give up black-and-white thinking, which would make it very difficult to analyze texts.

Angels, demons, language, and culture: part 1

You sure ask the difficult ones. (Which is great, I'm totally jazzed about it!)

I delayed answering this ask because it sent me off in a lot of directions:

What is an angel's starting knowledge base?

In contrast, how and what do we humans learn about our world and one another?

Which of these learning methods is not really available to an angel?

What do humans learn from books, fiction especially?

What kinds of information get left implicit in books because authors are humans writing for other humans?

How would an angel fill in those blanks? How would those blanks distort an angel's notion of How Humans and Human Things Work?

What would angels generally and either Aziraphale or Muriel (because yeah, it's hard to have this discussion without thinking about Muriel too) specifically read human-authored fiction for?

I don't have all the answers to the above questions. Not even CLOSE. I happily invite my fellow meta-ists to weigh in on any or all of them!

But let's see what I can tease out. We'll start with factory settings, so to speak.

Angelic vs. human factory settings

(questions 1 through 3)

Angels have (one) language. They have music -- or, at least, they can sing Her praises (likely by rote). At least some, like our Starmaker, have the knowledge to do specific jobs. Note that Aziraphale not only doesn't know how to make stars and nebulas, he's not even clear on what a nebula is. We can safely assume from that that angels don't all possess the same set of knowledge and skills purely by virtue (heh) of being angels.

We don't see, however, how much of what they know is simply an angel's birthright versus how much of it is somehow educated into them. We also don't know how She divvies up necessary knowledge, though I'd think it safe (given most takes on angelology) to guess that angelic rank and intended function are part of Her calculus, perhaps even the whole of it.

What strikes me hardest is that angels seem to be created either as adults or children (which is what I believe the scareable "cherubs" are), and they may well never change that state. The Starmaker is childlike in some ways, but not a child. Likely never was a child! Aziraphale, Before the Beginning, isn't childlike at all; his personality seems pretty close to fully-formed.

And children learn so very, very much. Babies learn so much as babies, while their neuroplasticity is super super plastic! Especially they learn about relating to other beings! (Which the Starmaker is conspicuously Not Real Great at, honestly -- absorbed in the work of creation, the Starmaker does not pick up the feelings Aziraphale is laying down at all.)

Children also learn one OR MORE languages, and that "more" is rather important, because language shapes how we think to some extent (the extent of that extent, and its nature, are objects of fierce debate among linguists and neuroscientists), and different languages shape us differently. Just as Crowley (as plenty of theologians argue) did humanity a favor with the whole knowledge-of-good-and-evil thing, the Tower of Babel (assuming that was a thing that happened in the GOverse; no reason it wouldn't have, I suppose) added a whole lot of nuance and complexity and competing understandings to humanity's sense of itself and its universe.

Exactly how angels and demons manage to speak all human languages (which Crowley indicates they can) isn't clear. If we accept that the Tower of Babel happened, both Heaven and Hell must have had to figure out a way to deal with it.

We do see, however, that angels and demons can be fluent in human languages without being fluent in human thought or human cultures. Gabriel and Sandalphon speak perfect English yet barely know which end of a book is up. Hastur and Ligur can't disentangle ciao/chow. And, I mean, actual food? Fuhgeddaboudit. So I see their linguistic facility as a sort of Douglas Adams Babel fish: it can translate an angel's or demon's thought into the target language, but it can't help an angel or demon think like an actual speaker of that language.

As an example, Gabriel can tell Job and Sitis about their new children, perfectly fluently. His purely-linguistic fluency does not help him understand that they loved their old children, much less why.

This may explain why Aziraphale studied French under M. Rossignol. He perhaps didn't feel he understood how French speakers think, and was interested enough in that to learn the language (as other meta-ists have noted, the language of love!) the human way.

So yeah, if I have a conclusion here it's that angels and demons can seem as off-center as they often do from a human perspective because they wholly missed out on a key period of human brain development.

What they have in its place appears to be... rules. Which is, I think, where I'll take this next.

#good omens #good omens meta #heaven and hell #the starmaker #aziraphale #hastur #ligur #babel fish #language and culture #tower of babel

[katsukikitten]

Warnings: Body horror, Violence, child abuse. This is a work of fiction intended to be consumed by those who are 18 or older. If you are not 18 or older dni.

Mafia Heir Bakugou Katsuki, Guard Izuku Midoriya x reader.

The sound of a metal bay door clangs to life, shoved open by two strong hands as the gears echo their groans to the warehouse.

His lip twitches, brows furrowed as he sneers at the contents of the space dimly lit from the flickering lamps on the dock outside.

Two large shipments sit side by side, covered in black tarp sitting atop wooden pallets so fresh that the smell of pine competes heavily with the stagnant bay.

"How did those idiots forget both?!" He hisses under his breath, white paper cigarette bouncing between his lips as he pats himself down for his phone to call the more volatile buyer but before he can hit the contact the harsh fluorescent lights buzz to life overhead.

"Who the fuck-" He draws his gun but his threat dies quickly on his tongue. Mouth agape as his lit cigarette falls into a puddle formed from the neglected roof.

"Those 'idiots' didn't forget either shipment." Your voice rings out and when the goon spies you he sees you sitting atop what was supposed to be your shipment. You're looking over your claws, paying him no mind as if you were bored and seemingly alone. Although the man would have to be a fool to think that you alone wasn't the worst option he had.

"I have some questions. About my shipment." You hop down from the pallet stacked with pristine products taller than yourself. Pulling down the tarp and the one next to it that was supposed to be delivered tonight, to him.

"Can you spot the difference, Tadashi?" You give the man your back, stepping backwards and your heels clack. Echoing around the silent warehouse, "See how mine is a little bit shorter?"

Your dark eyes flash to him, close enough he can smell your expensive perfume and tonight you're dressed to the nines.

Tonight was supposed to be the meeting of clan heads by the surrounding syndicates. Your shipment was to be delivered by morning and the other was rushed to tonight.

"I don't see that. No ma'am." He can't even see any difference from where you sat on top of the heavily Saran wrapped white bricks. You were by no means a small woman either, strong in stature and you were not called Madame Morte for nothing. Your laugh catches him off guard, it's pretty, the sound contagious and the only reason he doesn't laugh along with you is because he knows exactly who you are.

But that didn't stop him from his little fuck up did it?

He swallows thickly and you smile up at him.

"Hmm that's funny then isn't it? A half inch difference is clear as day. So something must be wrong right? Especially since you take good care to make every brick the exact same weight, size and dimension." You walk over to the two shipments and take one brick off of each, holding them up where he can see the miniscule difference that he tried to pad up with extra wrapping. What's concerning is that the obvious ones shouldn't have been on the outside, he was careful with everyone else, more careful with you. Sure to wait until comfort had sat in and that the head wouldn't bother with the shipments and goons never look past the outside layers, normally that was after five shipments and this was your sixth.

"Ya know I found this one in the middle, about three layers were like this," You cut the brick open with your sharp claws the white substance flutters down onto Tadashi's shoes, "But there weren't bricks like this in the Red Dragon's shipment. Not. One. Single. Brick."

You walk back to return the brick from the opposing stack, ass swaying in that body con black dress and Tadashi tries to look everywhere but. He's seen you gouge out the eyes of anyone who lingered over your body for too long, he was sure it's why you kept those nails so sharp.

"You're a chemist right? Specializing in Bliss, especially correct?" Swiping your middle finger over the substance rubbing it between your digit and thumb, "So you know the chemical structure of bliss right?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I have a chemist as well, she isn't as smart as you, at least not according to everyone else, but do you know what she found in over half of this brick? A different structure. Baking powder." You're still smiling, still cherry sweet with the hint of deadly poison in your eyes before it turns into pure acidic venom, "So which is it? Are you an idiot or are you fuckin lyin to me?"

"N-neither ma'am." You roll your eyes and your done up lashes flutter wildly from the action.

"Liar then." You snap your fingers and a large man with emerald green curls shoves a woman and her two children into the light. Tadashi's eyes widen with horror as he looks over the crying half family.

His family.

"I'm sure since you have no issue lying in front of me, you'll have no issue lying in front of your family." You hum, cradling the woman's jaw in your hand, tapping the tip of a sharp claw to her cheek. The kids cling to their mother with tears in their eyes, their quirks flaring in their time of stress.

"Guess you weren't the smartest chemist underground after all. Pay attention kids, this is what happens to liars." Patience thin, you pull out your gun from under the thigh high slit in your dress aiming the cool metal at the goon who thought he could undercut and insult you in the same breath. The guy was getting off lucky in your guard's opinion given the fact you were electing not to use your quirk.

"W-wait! Wait wait! I can prove my loyalty." He grovels, hands shaking as he holds his palms up to you. It makes you scoff and cock your gun.

"You already did with how you handled my treatment."

"Bu-but I have this- this new product." He fumbles in his pockets, a red dot appears on his chest causing him to freeze.

"'Ts fine Zuzu." You wave him off but all your guard does is move his finger from the trigger, when you glare his way he lowers his gun.

Tadashi produces a small red capsule bullet, needle at the end when he takes off the top and it makes you furrow your brow.

"And what's this?" Curiosity melting your angry features.

"Something In development for mass production. For Overhaul. His shipment is in the back." It's obvious confidence is starting to come back to his sinful face as he nods his head to a crate behind you.

"Oh Kai? Hmm. What does it do then?" By now your gun is returned to its holster and hidden away.

"Quirk deletion." Tadashi gives a nasty smile, like he's truly proud of his work, "Ya know like Allmight's guard Eraser head 'fore he died."

"Ah well let's see it then." You smooth down the fabric of your dress a final time before looking up at him when he makes no action to move.

"Wh-what?" He stammers and it grates your nerves.

"You wanna live? You want your family to live? Silence your quirk." He shrinks under the disgust evident in your sharp gaze and shapter tongue.

"I-I can't do that." His eyes dart around looking for any sign of an out but when you play these silly little games, you always go for the kill.

"That too hard? Well pick your least favorite, silence one of their quirks instead." You gesture between the two boys that whimper at the wave of your nails.

"B-but…"

"B-b-but." You mock rolling your eyes, "But it's insurance isn't it? Proof of your loyalty to me? Especially since you've already been lying. You know how I feel about liars, or at least bad ones."

He swallows, stepping closer to his family and it's obvious now he isn't going to choose himself. Looking between the two boys as their quirks flare, like he's deciding which one is worth more to him.

All while silently telling you he doesn't have an antidote.

"Make up your mind I'm already running late for an event." Quickly he grabs at the hair of his eldest son, pulling the seven year old up by his roots and pushing the needle into his throat. His yelp echos around the warehouse but the most malicious thing of it all is that even with his back to you, you can see Tadashi's smile pushing up his cheeks.

"There." He turns around, sniffling, fat tears brimming his eyes, who he's trying to fool you stents sure, you just know it sure as hell isn't you, "I'll have an antidote for you by next week."

He wipes at his face, coming closer to you, well within arm's reach. Red dot on his forehead but you've spared Tadashi once, he figures you'd spare him again.

Because what woman would let a seven year old go without their quirk not that it mattered to him either way. Good riddance if you asked him, his eldest couldn't control his quirk for shit and it was annoying anyway.

"So I've-" But his sentence is lodged in his throat, unable to get past your steely grip, your lip snarled up in disgust. Your eyes bored, dull and he's coming to realize why they call you Madame Morte from his own first hand experience.

There are legends around your quirk, rumors, that yours is similar to the Ashen King's, although yours was more painful.

Rot, slow and hungry. Greedy in the languid licks as it spread through his body starting from under your pretty hand wrapped around his thick throat. Claws digging into flesh that darkens with blight before pieces of it begin to fall away from his muscles and bones in thick chunks, scream scratching up his throat.

"M-mercyyyyyy." His voice comes out garbled before ending in incoherence as his tongue melts in his mouth, sliding down his throat and taking with it his scream. You lean forward, watching the life flicker in his eyes as he rots slowly, too slowly and only once it's been a moment or so that the flesh is separated from the body does it turn to dust at your designer clad feet.

"God has mercy. I don't." Holding his head as his neck separates from his torso before dropping him all together.

Your eyes flicker to the broken family, the children hiding in their mother's thread bare turtleneck. Tears tracking through her cheap foundation and further exposing the poorly hidden bruises on her throat. It was obvious they were malnourished and it makes you gather saliva into your mouth.

Producing a hissing spit before it lands onto a stray eyeball that turns to dust seconds later.

Izuku is already across the room, rifle slung over his broad shoulders, face stoic as he grabs onto your wrist gently. Taking out a towel to wipe off your manicured hand.

"Kaminari." You look into the shadows before he appears, golden eyes glowing like a cat.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Take care of this."

"Yes ma'am." Kaminari nods, helping the woman up to her feet as Izuku carefully slides elbow length lace gloves onto your arms, that thicken around your palms and fingers, concealing the skin. "Usual collateral payment?"

"250k this time." You spit in the direction of Tadashi or at least what's left of him, again. Just ash fluttering in the bay breeze. Denki nods, skull half mask hiding his smile as he ushers the family out.

"And get them a new apartment, would you? Their old one was a dump." You hiss before going on a small tangent as Izuku fixes your hair, "Can't believe I set foot in there, piece of shit stealing from me and couldn't even fucking provide. Another thing Denks, I need the name of the landlord of that apartment complex. I want it in my name by tomorrow. Tenants relocated."

"Whatever you wish ma'am, it is done." Denki calls back before he takes the family to the van he brought them in, now given orders to relocate.

"You should really stop using your gift when you're in designer dresses, ma'am." Izuku fusses, his emerald eyes flickering to your body as he scrutinized the fabric for any lingering he may has missed.

"Why do you think I always wear black Zuzu?" You give him that damn look, the one that makes his heart clench, the one he can't say no to. He's sure there isn't a person alive who could say no to you.

"Because you like to make every day a funeral." Izuku smooths over your dress, double checking the zipper. He's pulled his half mask down to settle around his throat the second he needed to attend to you. His eyes lingering over your jewelry to make sure it was still in tact until your claw settles under his chin. Tilting his gaze to even with yours even with him leaning closely to you.

"I'm fine. Really." You lean up on red bottomed heels to gently press your lips to his before you're settled back on your feet.

He gives you that pained look he always wears with the two of you get "unprofessional." Still it doesn't stop him from leaning over to kiss your cheek, lips grazing the corner of your mouth before he pulls away and draws the line in the sand by adjusting his half animal skull mask back over his face.

You always think the line is for you but really, it's for him. You live in blissful ignorance on what you do to him and what you allow him to do to you.

It's like you forget the lengths he's gone and still willing to go to protect you at all costs. Even if that means killing his idol. If you asked him he'd tell you he'd do it all over again.

"Aw Zuzu bear don't pout." You tease and his eyes crease in that fake smile he uses to make pretty girls swoon as he presses his broad hand to your back.

"I'll call the car Madame."

"No, no. I'll walk." He gives you a glare but doesn't fight it, talking over the coms to the two waiting outside.

Meanwhile Ochako stands outside in her suit, half mask tiger skull still secure around her pretty face, making her doe like brown eyes that much more deceiving. She flips her knife over and over in her hand. Playing with her quirk that she activates to send it higher before letting it fall back to her hand.

"She should be here by now." Ochako doesn't like waiting, makes her anxious and Sero sighs, more than used to his partner's mannerisms. Mask around his throat as he's hunched over to protect his cigarette he's trying to light from the wind.

"You know madam gets caught up sometimes. It's never anything to worry about." Sero says as he straightens himself out, watching pier bay 42 with the door open just half a block down. He watched the man go in, watched the lights come on but no red confetti yet.

He blows out smoke before his com crackles to life in his ear, Ochako's fingers twitch as the both wait for the command.

"She insists she comes to you." Izuku's voice rings in their ears.

"It's clear and we are on standby." Ochako answers as Sero tries to finish his cigarette while he can, otherwise he'd get fussed at by his pretty boss who chided him on how it would rot his lungs.

And how she would know best.

Once he sees you he flicks the butt, smothering the ember into the gravel under his designer shoe as you walk closer, your lap dog at your heels.

Izuku isn't the same kid that Sero and Ochako grew up on the streets with, no longer the shy, cautious boy he once was. Especially not after the three of them were forced to hop around for mercenary work before the clans popped up to take over the cities. Like a shadow government that the real one feared more than the masses.

The three of them were good at their jobs, Izuku the planner, Ochako the executioner and Sero the getaway driver. But being good, too good even, made them cocky. It wasn't until they went up against a syndicate they had no business trying to steal from did they learn their lesson.

Your father was ready to kill all three of them. They were just lucky enough you had forced your way into sitting in on this very important meeting moments earlier.

Bags torn from their faces and your eyes widened in delight when you saw they were all the same age as you at the time. The ripe age of fifteen.

"Oh Father, killing them would only be a waste of their potential." Sero remembers how you looked, how you still make that face to this day and often. Like a cat that's caught a mouse by its tail with nothing but delightful day dreams of batting it around.

"I want them to train to be my new guard. They're mine now."

"Absolutely not." Your father's voice boomed around the room, making the teens shake, helpless with their wrists bound behind their backs, "You took in that blonde stray two months ago I'm not going to allow-"

"And yet who's men did they slip past? How many layers of security did they slip through? The blonde more so than them but our shit is secure now isn't it? Besides." You hop down from your father's old mahogany desk, "Princess always gets what she wants. Isn't that right?"

Your father pinches the bridge of his nose, he made a monster of you, he truly did.

He'd be lying if he wasn't proud of it, especially after what happened to your mother.

"Fine. But no more strays. That's final."

"That's fine. I won't need anyone else."

That was ten years ago and in the past decade Sero had been treated better than he could ever imagine. He has a lot of freedom for a head of a department and you've made it clear that only the four of them had the option of getting out if they wanted. No strings attached as long as they stayed silent you wouldn't look for them.

But you haven't once given them a reason to leave.

Sero fingers the swirling ink on the inside of his thick forearm, the family crest sitting proudly on display when he's driving you around, hidden in the city so he can float throat the crowd like all the other faceless nobodies.

You're graceful, even in the uneven gravel of the parking lot, smiling genuinely as you approach two people you have and would kill again for.

"Sero, Ochako, thank you for waiting. Ochako love, I have a task for you dear. Inside is a crate that Zuzu has marked would you be a doll and make sure that it gets transferred to Momo's office immediately. I'd like for you to hand deliver it and call me once you're there." You talk as Izuku helps you into the car waiting for you to finish before he shuts the door, "And you'll have no problem keeping your girlfriend company will you?"

"No ma'am." Ochako blushes as you wear your knowing cat smile. Izuku shuts the door and rounds the car to sit on the other side. Sero turns over the engine. Ready to pull away on your command.

Ochako watches her reflection in the pitch black tint retreat as the window rolls down revealing just your eyes that sparkle with that dangerous glint.

"One more thing. If you could ask her to expedite this antidote please. I've got a seven year old waiting on it."

"As you wish ma'am." Ochako nods and watches her reflection grow this time while your eyes disappear before Sero throws the car in drive and tries to salvage some of the lost time hoping to make you no later than an hour late to the most important meeting of the year.

But you wouldn't be the Princess if you weren't always fashionably late now would you?

#katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou Katsuki x reader #izuku midoryia x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #mafia!Bakugou x reader #guard!izuku x reader #kitten writes 🖤🐈‍⬛🖋️

[sourbinnie]

title -> she's all i wanna be genre -> pure angst (should not be a surprise by now) pair -> hyung line!skz x gn!reader plot -> getting replaced isn't fun (especially by someone who never gave you a chance to love them) lowercase intended | no warnings a/n: part 2 with maknae line? i'll see if i can make it different though :] lmk if you liked it!

stupid boy making me so sad

didn't think you could change this fast

"ah sorry (y/n), i have plans today with someone special."

at first it was fine and i could understand that he was busy or had plans with someone else. i didn't expect it to be her though and that's when jealousy started bubbling up in my chest. everyone loved her to the absolute fullest, how could you not? great dancer, incredible singer, lovely personality and an idol, she was full package (or an ace as they say). of course chan would fall head over heels for her, of course the plan was not just a plan, it was a date organized in secrecy so no photos would be caught and no scandals would be brought up. 

he looked at her with cartoonish eyes, full on heart mode. she was gorgeous, i could not deny it. i was just me, boring old me with nothing to show (at least that's what everyone led me to believe). as if i wasn't frustrated enough on their private social media they posted so many pics of them together and the last one being a kiss. he led me to believe at one point that when his contract would finish, we would be the ones having dates and kissing freely. but it looks like it was just a lie as if she fits that image more than i will ever do.

she's got everything that i don't have

how could i ever compete with that?

"she's so incredible like she can do anything."

yeah i know, i hear it every day minho. the choreography you guys pulled off went so well that you're now clouded with eyes only reserved for one person only. i expected this, i saw it coming from a mile away when she stepped into the jyp building and you just had an expression that i couldn't read 'cause that was love at first sight. you never looked in my direction that way but for her you would clearly do anything that she asked you to. i couldn't even get along with her before i found you guys making out after practice when we were supposed to go out.

i had to go home and cry into my pillow for hours as i tried to calm myself down but failed miserably at every attempt. it was almost like it was all a prank played on me since everyone knew about my crush on him and maybe that also meant he knew as well. god was i that awful? did i look that bad? i know i could not pull a dance move at all but did only that matter to be with him? maybe just wasn't meant to be like i thought he was. if this is a competition then i'm the loser 100%.

i know you'll go and change your mind

one day wake up and you're bored with mine

"i've been talking to her for hours, i could not get bored of her."

but you could get bored of me and pretend i wasn't there as i came to visit you but you were just on your phone. and this isn't even the first time that changbin has done something like this because when he falls, he falls hard. he could talk about her for hours and i would just have to put up with the weight of not being enough for him every single day. i would look at myself on my phone camera, my reflection in the mirror trying to figure out how i could improve myself for him (as if that wasn't pathetic enough).

i knew the day where he would ditch me would come. i just wasn't ready for how hard it would hit me, the reality of not being best friends anymore since he's now got someone who he can call that but also do so much more. i didn't want him to leave me hangin' but i became second choice as soon as she walked through the door. it was a punch in the face to see them hanging out in the distance when i was over at the dorms. seeing them kiss for the first time almost brought me to tears.

she's got everything that i don't have

and shе's all I wanna be, all i wanna be so bad.

"she's the love of my life and yes i'm sure."

i might have been there before but that didn't matter in hyunjin's eyes as he placed a kiss on her cheek. so many years together thinking that maybe i would have a chance with the one i used to call "the one". how incredibly delusional of me thinking that i would have a chance with hwang hyunjin when she was right there all along. her beauty was outstanding and her confidence showed with every move, every word, everything. but here i am being insecure about her, about him and about where i stood positioned.

i got up, leaving the place before i put myself through more hurt than i needed right now. it was so stupid of me to think that staying friends could be easy when i clearly couldn't do that. my eyes getting filled with tears as i just wished to be in his arms and take her place for a moment, for a second even if it was possible. i would just like the once feel the love of the one i wanted and his eyes reserved for me like i was meant to be the one he was looking at. but he said it, she's the love of his life right? no spot for me anymore.

#skz imagines #skz reactions #skz scenarios #stray kids #stray kids x reader #stray kids drabbles #stray kids imagines #stray kids reactions #stray kids angst #skz angst #skz x reader #skz drabbles #skz songfics #sourbinnie #stray kids scenarios #skz #changbin x reader #bangchan x reader #hyunjin x reader #minho x reader

[lightlycareless]

Hey I'm sorry for spamming you again 😭

But... imagine Y/N and Naoya pulling this prank on Naomi. I get that Naomi would be so mad at both of them

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1cVXQwrHjV/?igsh=MWhrd3pvdWt4Nml2dQ==

Hello!!!

Sorry for the late reply, but I have to say, this never left my mind. This was really cuuuuuteeeeeeeee!!!!!!! I just had to oblige omg and don't worry about spamming me, I love it keep it coming!!!

You know what I think? Naoya is actually the one to suggest this. By doing so is when  when you know he’s completely accepted his role as a father and is enjoying doing so. Jfc thank you for sending in this NOW ONTO THE DRABBLE.

Warnings: none. Fluff. Naomi is a growing baby :’).

Naoya didn’t have any social media presence before you.

No, scratch that. He had a presence, only that it entailed stalking following you back then when he barely started to know you.

Once the two began to date, you convinced him to open up a proper Instagram, mainly so you could fill it with posts of you and him together, tag him on your pictures, and to make it easier to share things whenever the two are apart.

However, when you two finally have a beautiful daughter named Naomi, everything changes.

Besides opening an account of her own (only for friends and family of course, everyone else can jump off a cliff for all they care) to record of her day by day, from the cute matching outfits you’d dress her in, to her achievements, or simply anything she did that you found remotely funny.

Naturally, Naoya keeps up with every single thing that you post + all the messages you send him regarding his family; he is the first one to like and react and all in between as soon as you post them, and soon, he’s even looking for inspiration on what else to fill her feed with…

Or simply spend time with Naomi.

Thus, he begins to follow family content, accounts that suggest activities and places to go to with his lovely daughter… or innocent pranks to partake in.

That’s how the video came to be.

“What do you think? Shall we do it?” Naoya says, offering his phone to you.

“Oh… well, I don’t know.” You murmur, and not because you didn’t want to, but rather… “Naomi is too sweet, I don’t think she’s going to do anything besides giggle!”

“We don’t lose anything by trying.” He insists. “It’ll be funny if she does something, though. Might be able to record it too.”

“Alright, alright!” you quickly agree, not that really need much convincing. “We can do it once she wakes up from her nap!”

Thus, after little Naomi wakes up, as well as checking if she’s neither hungry nor in need for a change, Naoya is the first one to assume position, getting beneath the soft, warm covers and subsequently closing his eyes, ready to act as if he were asleep and let this prank begin.

“Go with papa, pumpkin!” you whisper once gently placing on the futon, just beside Naoya. She’d then begin to crawl over to him.

Naoya tried his best to not laugh at Naomi’s adorable coos and babbles, the ones clearly intending to call for her father’s attention, only to cruelly receive none of it.

She’d persist on by grabbing onto a handful of his hair and pulling it, hoping that by this he’ll finally stop acting the fool and look at her!

But after a few attempts, Naomi eventually gives up and instead does the most unexpected, cutest thing that either could’ve hoped, which was to nuzzle against his chest, close her eyes, and fall asleep once more.

How the two managed to not screech out of happiness is a mystery to remain, as well as his resistance to keep still while Naomi laid on him, perhaps the most difficult endeavor he had to endure in his whole life—no special grade mission could compete!

Either way, it was an adorable reaction that amounted to taking a few pictures, which both would fondly look at in the future.

Yet, your curiosity still demanded to know what kind of reaction Naomi would have towards you, thus, in another occasion, you’d replicate the same scenario although now in Naoya’s shoes, silently hoping that you’d also get a semblance of Naomi’s adorableness, not that you weren’t getting much of it any other time of the day, but you couldn’t allow yourself to be left out!!

So, you lay on the futon, with your husband placing Naomi besides you, doing your best to not giggle when she begins to prod at you, repeating somewhat of the same actions as she did with her father… though there was to be a slightly more aggressive edge to her actions, almost as if she’d caught onto their intentions and grew annoyed by it.

Perhaps… too annoyed, for this would be the first time either saw a new side of Naomi, the one that described far beyond a simple baby that radiated nothing but happiness and sunshine, a personality to be discovered, if not handled, because these negative emotions would be the first she’d ever experienced, and thus, ignorant on how to deal with them—unknowingly taking them out on you.

“Ouch!” you immediately shriek when Naomi’s small hand sharply slams against your cheek, repetitively doing so across your face until you eventually intervened by grabbing her arms. “No, don’t hurt mama!”

“Naomi!” Naoya gasps, quickly lifting her away from you. She whines, trying to fight against his hold while trying to reach out for you again. “No, Naomi, stop!”

“Nnghh bah!!” she protests, furiously trying to squirm her way out of his arms but failing. “Mah!”

“I won’t let you go back to mama if you’re going to keep hurting her!” Naoya declares, and for the briefest of moments Naomi seems to understand, enough for her to eventually quiet down and cease her rebuttal, but not from pouting or crying.

“Naomi… I would never ignore you intentionally!” you say, stretching your arms to hug her. Naoya lets her go with much hesitance, although by that point, Naomi could only express her regret. “It was just a silly prank, no need to be upset.”

Naomi pouts, as if embarrassed before resting her face onto your chest, sniffles eventually turning into hiccups.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s ok to hurt me, sweetie.” You add. “You hurt mama very bad.”

Naomi whines, and both know that even when young, she wholeheartedly regrets her actions.

Once tiring herself by crying, as well after eating a bit, Naomi would eventually fall asleep, giving both parents the perfect moment to ponder about what transpired and how to approach this situation.

“Why did she react that way? I never thought our little pumpkin had it in her, always so adorable…” Naoya sighs, crossing his arms as he relaxes against the wall while watching you prepare the food for that day.

“Well, not that you mention it… Naomi always whined whenever I had to peel my eyes off her.” You admit. “I thought she was being talkative, or simply acting like any other baby would when away from their mom, but I guess it was something deeper than that.”

“Who would’ve thought our daughter was the jealous type?” he snickers, you smile.

“Since she’s got you as a dad.”

“I’m not jea—”

You raise an eyebrow.

“Fine, alright. But I would never hurt you.”

“She’s just a baby, a cute, adorable one that is starting to discover her feelings and how to react to them.” You add. “Naomi must’ve been upset that we tried to do the same thing on her twice, when she just wanted to play.”

“Or that she called for us and we didn’t answer immediately.”

Like we usually do.

You sigh.

“Oh, I must’ve spoiled her horribly!” you cry. “I was advised against giving her too much attention, that it’ll make her more demanding and whatnot…”

“By whom? My relatives?” Naoya frowns, you look away. “I wouldn’t take advise from people that leave their children to their own whenever committing mistakes…”

“I don’t want to do something that will hurt Naomi in the long turn” you quietly admit, looking back at him. “But I’m also scared of reprimanding her, of seeing her upset!”

Raising a daughter was not to be an easy thing, as enthusiastic both were. Her fate, the way she’ll grow up to be, all the achievements she’ll obtain and more greatly rely on what you, as her parents do; in that case, there is no room for mistake…

But luckily for Naomi, she had both her mother and father wanting nothing but what’s best for her, and after understanding what needed to be done, the two began to help her channeling her emotions into something more positive—something that will hopefully branch out into sorcery when the time is right, Naoya hopes.

That didn’t mean Naomi would stop demanding of either your or Naoya’s attention (specifically yours) though in a less aggressive manner. She’d still a bit overzealous whenever others attempted to sway you away from her, (Naoya included) but that wouldn’t last long until she was doted on by the same people that tried to distract her—always loving the attention, Naomi was never one to deny them.

Though her behavior could sometimes become concerning, Naoya and you knew well to enjoy these short moments with her, for it wouldn’t be long before she’d grow up and leave these antics behind, just as most kids did, replacing them with a bit of… apprehension for said demonstrations of affection.

Or preference for pranks, that is.

“When will you two stop doing that?” Naomi would eventually ask after the nth prank that week—at first, they’d make her laugh, then confused, but now, irritated. As expected of a young teenager who wanted nothing but to not appear humiliating to her friends.

“Probably never, little pumpkin.” He answers with a chuckle. “Not when your reactions are hilarious.”

“And when will you stop calling me that?!” Naomi frowns, cheeks red. Naoya laughs once more.

“See?” he shrugs. “You’re not helping yourself, Naomi!”

“Ugh, whatever.” She rolls her eyes, turning around to leave. “Have fun with your lame and old jokes.”

“Old?? I’m not—I’m not old!”

Long are the days where adorable little Naomi would scurry to her parents whenever she could, chubby little hands reaching out for them so they’d carry her, giggling as soon as her cheeks where peppered with kisses.

But she’ll always remain their little one, the one that taught them love at first sight does exist, the wonders of parenthood, as well as what it’s like to be the embarrassing parent for once in their life—a bane they never thought to experience, thinking themselves to be cooler than average, a reality that was quickly shattered with Naomi's sharp refutal.

It's like a cycle, y/n and naoya preaching that they could never be uncool and then... Naomi comes along. hahahah

Anyways, I envisioned for a long time now that Naomi is quite aggressive when it comes to getting what she wants; she probably never shows that because you and naoya just endlessly dote on her—but it becomes quite apparent in situations like this, and of course, when she has siblings.

though with hard work and dedication that stops :> she learns that being jealous about something like that (something that she'll always have) is not the right way to go on with her life and it's also a waste of energy so, she moves on :) I wish naomi could stay a little baby forever tho, writing naoya and y/n as enthusiastic first time parents is 🥺❤️

I truly enjoyed writing this little drabble, it warmed my heart 🥺❤️ thank you so much for sending in this!! I always appreciate whatever you share with me 🤭 I look forward to the next hehe.

Take care, and hope to see you soon!!

#ask #naoya zenin #naoya zen'in #naoya x reader #naoya zenin x reader #naoya zenin x you #jjk naoya #naoya zen'in x reader #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #jjk x you #prompt series: jujutsu kaisen

[sirfrogsworth]

hi hi!!!

I'm a CFX artist (I do hair and cloth for 3D animated movies) and I wanted to clarify something!!

the encanto post? we talked about that one at length at work when it was first made, and it is incredibly evident that the guy who posted it is just bad at his job. the exact same effect can be archieved by changing the camera focal length- but animators never reach for technically competent solutions. (this is a roast.) and even if thats not possible, there is NO reason for why her shoulder area or chest are completely crushed or why her feet are inside of her hip bone.

and also, since I am in the department that comes right after animation- if I had gotten that shot, I would have either sent it straight back to the animator to fix it, OR cleaned it up myself, by which I mean it absolutely did not look like this off-camera by the time we send it for final light render.

essentially if animation looks that messed up off-camera, it is not "animation magic", it is actually someone doing a bad job.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree.

For one thing, the behind the scenes image was not close to a final render so I don't think you can fairly judge what was probably just the animator lining up and blocking the shot. I don't think at that state they were concerned with the shoulders, chest, and feet. I'm betting the final polished version looked much better.

And I also disagree the exact effect could be achieved by changing the focal length.

As a photographer, focal length is not just about cramming everything into the field of view. I don't only use a wide angle because I want more stuff in the photo.

It is also an artistic decision.

Wide angle lenses exaggerate distance and can make foreground objects seem massive and background objects seem tiny.

Look at this super wide angle shot of Otis lusting after a tennis ball.

The ball has a huge presence in the photo. It is only two feet away, but the distance between them seems immense. The ball takes up as much space in the photo as Otis.

Compare that to the ball in this telephoto image.

The picture now becomes less about the ball and more about the act of chasing it. The ball is literally only a foot closer to Otis, but it has no commanding presence like in the super wide shot.

So what artistic intention comes from using a telephoto lens like in Encanto?

Telephoto focal lengths compress distance. Background objects appear much larger in the frame. They also flatten the face and give a more flattering perspective of said face. Human faces can look a bit alien at wider focal lengths.

So what if you want the background to look large and encompassing and you want the flattering facial proportions from a telephoto lens, but you also want a foreground object to have a commanding presence like the ball?

You cheat!

This is not a technique confined to the world of 3D animation though. It is actually an old live-action trick. They will actually use another person's hands to do effectively the same thing as above.

In Hellboy II, Guillermo had two problems. He wanted a telephoto feel and depth of field and he also wanted a very intricate practical egg prop that could open mechanically.

To get the proportions and the framing and the feel of the shot as intended, he double cheated!

He made a big freaking egg with a big freaking fake hand.

(I know there is a picture of the giant hand somewhere but my googling failed me.)

In any case, I think this is just a case of good problem solving over incompetence. I think the director or the animation lead wanted this scene to fit within a specific focal length and it was easier and more efficient to just give her crazy long arms.

I'm not trying to dispute your expertise or animation-splain. Perhaps there was a better way to achieve the same look. But if the final result looked good, I don't think we need to bash someone who was probably under tight deadlines and had a lot of other work to complete. At least not without a lot more information.

[saintsenara]

I really like Snape as a character. I made the mistake of mentioning that online. Someone asked me how I like a character is inexcusably mean to children when he is a position of authority around them and how he is petty, can be cruel and harsh teacher and his lack of patience towards Nerville and basically a list of all the mean/horrible stuff that he has said/done. What do you say when people ask you how you can reconcile liking such a character given all of cruel and hurtful things that he has said and done both towards his students and joined willingly a known blood supremacist terrorist group and said known slur towards his friend that is a member of a minority group? I find Snape to be a deeply compelling and flawed and complex character- that's why I enjoy seeking out Snape centric fics.

thank you very much for the ask, anon, and i'm sorry that people have popped off about you liking snape. it's an extremely tedious way for them to behave, since these people are fictional.

i must be honest, i don't really get asked to justify my fondness for the baddies anymore, partially because i curate my fandom space in order to avoid it and partially because i must give the impression of not caring, but i've never found it particularly difficult to reconcile the fact that all my favourite characters are mass-murderers with the fact that i myself am not one...

the first - and frankly the most important - way that i do this is because i understand what genre conventions are.

it seems to me that this is the thing that really is the most lacking in the discourse surrounding the 'bad' characters in the harry potter series, with snape chief among them, but it’s absolutely crucial to understand:

snape is a mean teacher because harry potter is for children, and children do not want to read about sweet or competent adults.

[this is also the reason why the dursleys are horrible, or why hogwarts is such a dangerous and poorly-run school - if the series contained the line, a troll did not get into the dungeon and so harry did his homework, then any child worth their salt is hurling the book into a fire.]

it must be remembered that child readers - for whom the text is primarily intended - will have a different response to the tropes and themes of the series than adults returning to it with their own experiences, and that adults' responses to the books are not responses that the books were written to provoke. this doesn't mean that adults' reactions are unreasonable - nor does it mean that adults shouldn't engage with harry potter, as my 300k words on ao3 attests... - it simply means that it is not a flaw of the series that snape's behaviour is not addressed in the way that adults would like it to be. it's just genre.

because children tend to see the things in the series which horrify us as adults as considerably less frightening or problematic than we do ourselves. indeed, they often see interactions which we read as abusive, or as evidence of systematic cruelty, as simply unfair, and they are looking for retribution not in terms of legal punishment or wide-ranging institutional change, but in the character who is behaving unfairly getting their comeuppance, often in a comic way.

this is because fairness-unfairness is one of the primary ways in which children understand justice. as adults, we think with more nuance - but that doesn’t mean that our response to the text is better. in fact, we have a responsibility to understand the series’ genre conventions when we approach characters in our own writing - if you want to make snape a violent abuser, you actually need to understand all the ways in which the series shows him not to be those things.

snape’s relationship with his classes is written in a way which provokes the response in children that he is unfair, but not one which provokes the response that he is frightening - indeed, the story generally treats his 'cruelty' as comic, at least until half-blood prince, and he often gets an embarrassing comeuppance when he tries to be sincerely malicious. [i.e. literally everything which happens to him in prisoner of azkaban.]

he is unfair, because he doesn’t tell malfoy off for misbehaving. he is unfair, because he doesn’t give hermione a chance to answer questions. he is unfair, because he is rude to harry (who, like any good child hero worth his salt, has no respect for snape and isn’t scared of him). he is unfair, because he gives horrible detentions.

but no child character in the story ever seriously believes his behaviour to go beyond this - including neville.

neville’s fear of snape is caused by snape being unfair towards him - and, since neville is a character the text likes, snape therefore frequently gets his comeuppance for this unfairness. the incident where he threatens to poison trevor is horrible to read as an adult, but as a child the outcome - snape is foiled in his plan because of neville and hermione - is understood as triumphant. snape - an adult - is constantly outfoxed by his pupils - who are not adults - and children love to see that.

[similarly, it really should be emphasised that the text treats neville’s fear of snape as ridiculous. lupin laughs in his face about it in prisoner of azkaban, and neville himself admits that it’s silly and irrational. it cannot be seriously suggested - although i've seen plenty of people try - that snape is his boggart instead of bellatrix because snape sincerely frightens him more. he fears snape more than bellatrix because his narrative purpose in the first four books is to be comic relief - he’s a bit cowardly and a bit useless, and he provides a character for the child reader to feel braver and cleverer than.]

obviously, these incidents read very differently to adults - especially if you are an adult who has, knows, or works with small children. but if somebody complains to you about your favourite characters because they're upset by children’s literature without thinking about how it’s intended to be read by its primary audience... that’s not your problem.

but even beyond genre, i feel comfortable liking ‘bad’ characters because i understand human complexity.

online, it is increasingly becoming a dogma that our attitudes are fixed and unchangeable. i feel incredibly sorry for young people nowadays, who often have to live in a state of hypervigilance in order to make sure that they never do or say anything cruel or ignorant. this must be miserable, because flawlessness is unattainable - not only for real people but for fictional ones as well.

the fannish desire to write someone like snape off as bad and unchangeable - alongside the accompanying tendency to minimise the human flaws of characters such as james and sirius - comes from the fact that snape, like many antagonists, holds up a mirror to us as the reader. and we may not like what we see.

snape’s life demonstrates that it’s very easy to be radicalised into joining a terror group - particularly for people who have experienced things like poverty, being othered, or being bullied. it forces us to recognise that people who end up involved in evil did not come into it fully formed - they started somewhere, and they often ended up where they did because of failures in societies and their institutions which we ignore because they benefit us. after all, hogwarts does nothing to prevent voldemort recruiting death eaters among its pupils, hogwarts does nothing to dismantle the oppressive class system on which the wizarding world runs - the school is the archetypal ivory tower, and the ministry is no better.

snape’s life demonstrates that it's very easy for people who are victims in some areas of their lives to be perpetrators in others. trauma is often not sympathetic and perfect victimhood does not exist. having experienced trauma means you have experienced trauma - it can still make you act like a cunt.

and snape’s life also demonstrates that it’s very easy to - without entirely intending to - do something absolutely terrible, and this is something which we should always be compassionate towards. because it’s going to happen to all of us - and, actually, our terrible deed could easily be something as significant as snape’s report of the prophecy. if you drive, for example, it takes one momentary distraction for you to kill someone. what are you going to do if the person you kill is your childhood best friend, whom you love?

well… you’re going to try to redeem yourself. and, like snape, you will learn that redemption is messy and often strange, and that people can show growth in some areas and lack it in others.

and the redemption point is important - the idea that snape is redeemed by the end of the canon text is something which lots of fans push back against. but it’s crucial to note two things:

the first is that one’s own capacity for forgiveness and the potential of forgiveness as a concept are not the same thing. you might never have been able to forgive snape if you were lily or harry or dumbledore, but that says nothing about whether anyone else can or should. the second is that forgiveness and redemption are not inextricably linked. one can redeem oneself without being forgiven.

my view is that approaching bad characters with nuance is actively beneficial for us, and that having a ‘problematic fave’ is a good thing when it comes to our self-growth in the real world. if we believe ourselves to be immune to the sort of radicalising forces which would lead a person to other their best friend to the extent that they call her a slur, we will be easy to radicalise. if we believe ourselves incapable of making a dangerous mistake, we will be more likely to miss the clues that we’re about to. if we do not believe in the possibility of redemption for all, then we are going to have a very hard time when we do something bad, since we therefore have to believe in redemption for none.

thinking critically about oneself - both in relation to the media one enjoys and in general - is a protective act. learning to identify commonalities with bad people protects you. learning to recognise that you’re not always going to be good or right protects you. learning to accept that you’ll fuck up protects you. learning to be remorseful protects you. learning to forgive protects you. learning that the limits of your personal capacity to forgive is not the same as the potential of forgiveness protects you.

unsympathetic literary characters show us how to approach unsympathetic people in real life. snape is a brilliant example of what can be caused by failing to see the whole person - voldemort is evidently the only person who offers him a life-line, where dumbledore and the ‘good guys’ in wizarding society do not. this is a lesson to us all - if we flatten people into good-and-therefore-worthy-of-help and bad-and-therefore-not, it’s a recipe for disaster...

but this is all very pretentious and philosophical. the main reason why i have no qualms about enjoying ‘bad’ characters is because i’m not a cop.

the summary of the last point is - basically - that readers need to learn how to sit with discomfort in media, because discomfort within a fictional context is completely safe, and therefore it provides an outlet for people to think about themes or characters which are darker in a way which cannot cause actual harm.

fiction is not real life and fictional characters cannot harm you - and this is the case even if the fiction is about something which would or did materially harm you if it happened in real life. [this is doubly the case in harry potter because the harms upon which the series focuses are themselves fictional - the series’ blood-supremacy obviously reflects real-world examples of discrimination, but it is not something which any real person has actually experienced.]

this means that a reader’s reaction to something in fiction is always on them. authors have no responsibility to anticipate every single reader’s response to their writing - encountering something that upsets you in a fictional setting is your responsibility to deal with. [even if the author’s not tagged properly.]

snape may upset a reader for various reasons, some of which may be related to experiences of real world discrimination, but his existence cannot cause actual harm to any living person, because he and the society in which he lives are not real.

fictional crimes are not real crimes, and so, if someone tries to say that you shouldn’t enjoy reading about him because they don’t like it… they are a cop and you should have no respect for them. acab applies to the thought police too.

and knowing this gives us a powerful tool… i have no qualms about being criticised for liking bad characters because i just say acab and go on with my day.

just as you can’t cause anyone else material harm in your consumption of fiction, nor can anyone else cause you material harm just by criticising your choices - obviously, if they’re attempting to doxx you, or to cause any real-world repercussions because of your fan-fiction tastes, that’s another matter - which means that you have the power to choose to be unbothered by unjustified criticism. it’s not even that hard! simply refuse to be upset!

curate your fandom experience without shame. post what you like. block and move on. filter assiduously. scroll past without engaging. don’t waste your time getting into fights. don’t answer comments which are rude. don’t feed trolls. delete messages. this is just harry potter!

and also be compassionate towards the fact that people don’t express themselves perfectly. if you are primed not to immediately get upset or consider yourself to be under attack, you will be able to read comments with more clarity, to look and see if you can find commonalities, and to answer them in a way which doesn’t escalate the situation.

[and always remember that a lot of the angriest and most righteous comments come from teenagers, and being a teenager is hell. be compassionate, as your fandom elders had compassion for you.]

#asks answered #asenora on writing

[arceespinkgun]

The criticisms (beyond blatant misogyny) surrounding Elita One typically trace back to the fact that she's JUST Optimus Prime's love interest– except this argument itself is a flimsy argument because she's appeared more times NOT as a love interest! In fact, Elita One's most consistent character trait has and continues to be that she's a LEADER! Whether it be the resistance leader on Cybertron, the leader of a Quintesson elite team, the second-in-command of the Autobot's etc. It's people themselves who refuse to see her as anything other than a love interest but her origins as just a love interest aren't exactly black and white to begin with? Ariel and Elita One were originally separate characters, Ariel was going to be Orion Pax's friend and girlfriend that was killed by Megatron while Elita One was a separate character who was coincidentally similar in design. Elita One was always intended to be the character she was in The Search for Alpha Trion. We were always going to get Cybertronian Autobot resistance leader Elita One, she just happened to be conflated with Ariel which in turn saved Ariel's character from being a killed off love interests ultimately sparing the world from one less completely avoidable female character death

Yeah... I was thinking about this, too. With iterations of her that were romantically involved with Optimus, I see people say, "She's bad because she only exists to be his love interest!" but then when there are iterations of her that aren't, people say, "She's just a flat girlboss stereotype!" And you're right—more versions of her weren't romantically involved with Optimus than were, and even the ones that were never really seemed to end up with him? I swear, people just make up reasons to hate her no matter what. Sadly, even her role as a leader I've seen derided. I've seen people saying, "She doesn't deserve to be a leader like Optimus!" as if Ariel and Orion didn't behave basically exactly the same in that one episode. As if Elita-1 and Optimus didn't both save each other in the cartoon, as if they weren't equally competent. It's like for some people, Elita can never be worthy enough, or fun enough, or deep enough... it's sad.

I wonder if people resent Elita because she is a female character who is aspirational the way Optimus Prime is usually aspirational. I'm not saying they don't have relatable traits, too, but usually they are people who are role models, who are authorities. And not only that, but there's often a paternal element to Optimus and a maternal element to Elita-1. I often see people saying, "*insert other female character here* is better than Elita, Elita shouldn't be used anymore!" but there are actually very few maternal authority figures among the female characters in this franchise. Arcee is often someone who has to grow into that sort of role over time, and not as often an equal to Optimus in terms of authority.

Elita-1's original bio in the script

Also, while I totally understand wanting the female Autobots from the Sunbow cartoon to be more than parallels to various male characters, I feel like they've already moved away from that over time? Chromia especially. I get people disliking Oplita in the Sunbow cartoon specifically because Ariel and Elita-1 definitely did feel very much like "the girl counterpart to boy Orion/Optimus" (although she does not actually have the same personality as him! People rarely comment on that) but I genuinely do not get the literal dread at the thought of Elita and Optimus being together that certain people on Tumblr seem to express every time Elita is going to show up???

I mean, my preferred Elita ship would be with Chromia, but that's not because Elita can't be a good love interest to Optimus—it's because I want an "old friend" sort of relationship between a leader and her bodyguard. It's more because I feel like Optimus hasn't been there for Elita enough in my liking, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be in a new story, like in the Skybound comics or something. And my preferred ships for Optimus are Ironhide (G1 cartoon) or Scorponok (G1 comics)... so... strong people who can protect him and can be close friends with him and would sacrifice themselves for him? That literally also perfectly describes Elita-1!!!

It's shocking to me any time people say they hate Elita-1. Like there are so many other characters you could hate in this franchise and it's her? lol

#transformers g1 #transformers go! go! #Elita-1 #Elita One #Oplita #my analysis #People on Tumblr sometimes judge people on sites like Reddit but I've never seen Elita hate THERE! But it's in her tag on here often!

[thorraborinn]

Hey, bit of an odd question maybe but I've been looking into the use of "drengr" and had a thought I hoped you might have some insight on: I know "drengr" was & can be used for women just as it is but I was wondering if, grammatically/syntactically/etc., something like "drengkona" or "drengmaer" would make any sense at all if you wanted to specify a woman-drengr without other context? thanks!

I think maybe kvendrengr but the problem would be in the semantics. What modern English-speaking heathens mean when they say "drengr" comes from a particular set phrase, drengr góðr (or góðr drengr), literally meaning something like "good lad" but used so often that it takes on a distinct meaning separate from the two words that make up the phrase. Sometimes góðr is replaced by another adjective (beztr 'best', hæfr 'competent', dugandi 'capable', etc), and sometimes it's extended to harða góðr drengr, but you can always tell that some kind of formulaic phrasing is being used.

Outside of that phrase, you need to give context to how the word is being used, or it could mean any of several different things. In Old Norse times, I'm not sure what its unmarked, "default" meaning would be, but I don't think it was the same as when it's drengr góðr. It was probably just a young, unmarried man, or maybe "someone in service to a war-leader". In modern languages it mostly just means "boy," sometimes "farmhand/hired worker" or similar. In Modern Icelandic, the phrase drengur góður can still be used regardless of gender, but drengur on its own is inherently gendering (as male), and it probably was in Old Norse too.

Just to be clear, it was used in the same sense as the phrase drengr góðr, but that isn't the only thing it meant, and you need context to make it clear that that's what's intended, and as far as I can tell it was never applied to women that way. To give you a sense of the degree to which saying the whole phrase dominated usage of the word in general, here's a section of what is returned when your search the Scandinavian Rune-text Database for "dreng":

These are mostly in the accusative so look for góðan. The one third from the bottom that doesn't say 'good' says 'best'. And yeah, I could have looked for a section to screenshot that wasn't so uniform but I also could have given three or four non-overlapping sections that looked the same. The entries that don't say góðr (or another similar adjective) in proximity to drengr are mostly using the word differently, to say that someone died young (ungr drengr), to say that someone was in service to someone powerful ([some guy's] drengr), and sometimes it's plural and indicating the people who commissioned or carved the stone, so something like "we lads did this".

There are some derived words that might be useful to you, including drengskapr (think 'dreng-ship') and the adjectives drengiligr and drenglyndr. If your context allows use of two words, then drengilig kona would be a better way to say what you're trying to say. Or you could just use an adjective in the feminine in isolation, like drengilig (though this is also the plural neuter).

Personally (without knowing more about what you're doing with this), I would either say drengr góðr and let it be ambiguous with regard to gender, or just use a different word. I think English-speaking heathens would not think drengr were as special as they do if they had a better grasp on the Old Norse vocabulary generally. Maybe something like skǫrungr; this word is actually gender-neutral in application (grammatically masculine, but is used for women very frequently, whereas calling women drengr góðr is very uncommon, and just drengr nonexistent), and all the women in the sagas who are called drengr góðr are also called skǫrungr. But if you want to be specifically clear about her gender the word kvenskǫrungr already exists. I dunno, it depends on what you're doing with it and what in particular you're trying to say.

My experience of watching heathens put drengr on a pedestal has been very weird because I speak a language where it's still used and is very normal and no more interesting than any other word. So it's like if someone from a non-English-speaking culture were like "Can you help me to make sure I understand your extremely important social and religious concept of the 'guy' correctly?" The prevalence of the phrase drengr góðr on memorial runestones indicates that yeah, this formula had a significance back then that it doesn't have now (yeah, you can still say it, but nobody's putting it on their tombstone) but man it's weird to hear, especially as a single word. To be honest most of my experience of being called a drengur involves someone being vaguely demeaning.

#answering my asks out of order because this one was easier

[lyrakeaton]

Chronicling The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - The Final Entry

Gosh, what a game huh?

I'm not even sure where I want to begin with this. The Final Entry. I have so much to say. So much I've been thinking about throughout this wonderful little game. Where do I even start?

Well, I suppose I'll start off by saying that I had a very wonderful time with this game. It's my first time playing a game with the secondary intent to analyze and write down my thoughts here on my blog. It's been a delight to do so, and I'm looking forward to analyzing other games in this manner going forward.

As for my thoughts on Twilight Princess: I think it's an excellent game, with a lot of heart and a commendable focus on story and emotional connections. This game has dealt me a few sour blows that stick out like an ugly blemish on an otherwise spotless surface. But those blemishes in turn give contrast to just how competent the rest of the game really was.

In fact, that's what I would love to call this game more than anything else. Competent. It was made by people who knew what they were doing, and were fucking excellent at doing it. It shows how much heart the people involved put into this title, despite how under cooked and rushed it felt at a few moments.

One of my favorite moments in the ending part of this game, which is also one of the clearest signs of how this game was developed, is what you see above.

Your allies come in to save you from a sticky situation. It's a lovely moment, showing the care and respect that these characters have fostered for you, after all the time you've spent working together for this common goal.

And yet, it also shows off how much this game wanted to do, but couldn't. What it tried to say, and what it left unsaid.

Because these people just show up. You don't tell them when or where you're going, and neither do they show up later to help you. They show up for this scripted event where they get to save you from a menial threat, so that they can show their appreciation for Link always having their backs. It leaves me wanting a bit more, and wondering what potentially was planned before or after.

And these moments aren't rare. There are many moments, that become more frequent as the game progresses, where it feels like the developers had more to say or do, but didn't have the time to implement it.

And I think no point shows this better than the presence of Ganondorf, and Midna's true form.

Ganondorf is name dropped once in the story, but isn't elaborated upon. Later, he shows up in this weird, incorporeal form, which Zant interprets as a god. This spectre then combines into Zant(?) to take over him as a sort of puppet. As such, Zant is kind of just thrown aside so that the player can have their badass final boss against Ganondorf. I was honestly a bit disappointed.

But not necessarily because it was yet another Ganondorf ending. But because there was so much more room to explore Zant and his relationship with Ganondorf, that I really wanted to see.

I think another sign of this was Midna's true form. Her true form was first shown in a cutscene, right before the second to last dungeon of the game. Before this, we have never even heard of Midna being anything but the imp we've known since the start of the game. And it makes me wonder a lot about what the developers wanted for Midna. Did they always intend for her to be this humanoid form? Or is their vision of Midna actually the imp we spend the whole game connecting with?

I ask this because Midna's imp form appears later in Hyrule Warriors alongside her true form, which makes me wonder if the devs couldn't decide which form they liked more. It's a bit of a weird moment for me because I love imp Midna a lot, but never got to see or interact with her true form self until after the journey was over.

What's more, Midna then destroys the Mirror of Twilight. This moment made no sense to me at all. I couldn't justify it, or understand how Midna would justify it. Why would she do this? Zelda just made a small speech about how their worlds are two sides of the same coin. Midna then says that as long as the Mirror exists, they may meet again, only to say "see you later" before destroying the mirror.

I understand this was likely thought of from the start, as Midna establishes that Zant could only fragment the mirror due to his incomplete power. But Midna, having regained her true power, is the only one capable of utterly destroying it. What I really wish though, is for the game to have explored why she feels the need to do this, because I think it would serve the game better if it were spelled out. It's a genuinely sad moment! I'll never get to see Midna again! Why is the credits continuing with the triumphant music!

It hurts, man. But it does make sense, after I thought about it. Because the mirror was what allowed the Twili to escape into the Light World and cause havoc, so, by destroying the mirror, that connection is severed, forever. No more evil forces invading each others worlds, causing problems.

Which makes Midna's words all the more tear-jerking. 'Cause she won't see us later. She'll never get to see us again. But she doesn't have the heart to say goodbye. So she says she'll "see us later."

I'm not sure how to feel. I think I feel sad, and a smidgen disappointed. I mean, all this time, we've been fighting to help Midna restore peace to her realm, and to prevent Ganondorf/Zant from wreaking havoc on the Light World. And then, only for Midna to get the reward she deserves so much, and yet she doesn't get what she seems to actually want, which is to stay with Link. She cries, knowing she'll never see him again.

I think that right there shows the beauty and magic of this game. No other Zelda game has grabbed a hold of me with its story, its characters quite like this. I felt emotionally invested throughout, and I truly wanted to make good for this world, and to help Midna. It even feels selfish to say that I wish she could have stayed an imp and gone on more adventures with Link. But I think narratively, it is not only perfect this way, but it also couldn't end any other way.

Because not all stories should end completely happy. I think it does a bigger service to showcase how meaningful these emotional connections truly are by taking something from us in this way, than it does if everything ended like a story book.

It hurts, because we care.

This is the best outcome, where everyone can be happy, with the clear exception of Midna's and Links relationship to each other. That meant something, which is made all the more clear because of them never getting to see each other.

In closing...

More than anything, I wish this game had a bit more time to fill in the empty rows before and after some of its more significant beats. But still, I am so grateful that what is here was fantastic from beginning to end. And I'm glad that regardless of what was lost before the print to disc, what was left was something forming a beautiful and complete whole. A whole that I love with my whole heart. Wholeheartedly.

Thank you Shiggy Miyamiggy for this wonderful game. Please don't shy away from this kind of narrative and emotional focus when making future Zelda titles. I want to cry when it's all over, they way Twilight Princess made me. What you've got here is truly special, and I'm so very glad I got to experience it.

#zelda: twilight princess #tloz: twilight princess #the legend of zelda: twilight princess #TLOZ:TP Journal #the legend of zelda #twilight princess #lyraposting #midna #midnaposting #link #zelda #zant #ganondorf

[howlingday]

Weiss: But there's something else. Having these two characters fight each other isn't just two people fighting. They've been iconic symbols for generations, so it could also be classified as a fight between ideologies, or even cultures! When you put that at stake, who would want either of them to lose?

Yang: Uh... Ya think maybe you might be overthinking this by just a smidge?

Weiss: We'd never intend this, but when you ask the questions about what we're doing, how could people NOT take what we say and conclude as anything other than fact, even when fiction itself is always up to the viewer's interpretation?! Are we stripping characters of their value by simplifying their feats as a way of having them compete in a vacuum of violence? And if so, then what's the point?! (SLAP!)

Yang: Because it's fun, Weiss! God dammit, woman! Don't you know there's always more than one way to appreciate something? We're having a great time talking about super awesome characters, slapping them against each other like action figures out on the playground! And that's okay!

Weiss: ...Y-Yes. You're right.

Yang: Like it or hot, whether your favorite won or not, that fight was a hit... girl!

Weiss: Ugh! That was your worst pun yet!

Yang: Oh, come on! It fit them both!

Weiss: It's just so lazy!

Yang: Well, I don't see you coming up with the puns!

Weiss: I do the math! You do the puns!

Yang: Well, maybe if you did your math better than I punned, then maybe my favorite character would have won!

Weiss: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

Ruby: (Shuts door) See you next week, Blake.

Blake: See you, Ruby.

Ruby & Blake: (Leave while WY still fight)

#rwby #death battle #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #ruby rose #blake belladonna

[donnerpartyofone]

I just saw this poll that was apparently the product of a debate among non-Americans as to whether or not summer camp is real. Americans were supposed to select one of several answers describing how real it actually is and what their direct experience is with it (like "I've been to one" or "I've heard of them but never known anyone who went"), as if to prove their claim. One option suggested it was only for rich people. Never in my life did it occur to me that the reality of summer camp was up for debate, but I also never thought about the economics of it. As a kid I was just glad I didn't have to go; forced-fun is really hard on me still, I hate even friendly competitions because I am literally incompetent, and I couldn't imagine being in a situation where I wouldn't ever be alone for days or weeks at a time. We had to go to band camp, which was just a day thing at school for a month or so, and I'm sure that was a combination of our parents just wanting to get rid of us and also wanting us to have extracurriculars on our record. But it never occurred to me that proper sleepaway summer camp was out of our price range, probably because wealthiness was not part of the cliche of summer camp.

Like, the 1980s was the era of a film subgenre called snobs versus slobs, a prime example of which is the movie MEATBALLS, which pits kids at a working class summer camp against the rich jerks at a much ritzier camp nearby; the stereotypical vision was that summer camp is for everyone, but the rich people versions are less wholesome, farther away from the American-as-apple-pie camp experience god intended. I also recall a Saturday morning cartoon called Camp Candy, in which John Candy was the beloved counselor of an earnest little camp that was under threat from a rich developer--again here, money is the enemy of the salt of the earth, egalitarian decency of summer camp. ERNEST GOES TO CAMP involves scrappy juvenile delinquents at a camp that is antagonized by a greedy strip mining corporation, so money is only a theme insofar as "camp" represents something common and honest that is antithetical to contaminating wealth. The standard summer camp narrative is most often about underdogs trying to save something they love, and not about rich people either finding their souls or getting their comeuppance (unless they're the bad guys who are generally not "real", sincere campers). Personally, my closer cultural connections are with FRIDAY THE 13TH and SLEEPAWAY CAMP, which take place in rural New Jersey; nowhere is there the idea that Jason Voorhees' mom was rich, and although there's evidence of wealth regarding the first family you meet in SLEEPAWAY CAMP, the prevailing image is not of snotty prep school students, but of regular, somewhat coarse suburban kids who don't mind skinning their knees and getting their hands dirty and eating cafeteria slop dished out by a filthy pervert.

I do get the idea (just now, from searching the internet) that summer camp is exorbitantly expensive nowadays due to inflation (and probably escalating greed, just like with everything else), but even though it can involve room and board etc for days or weeks, I never acquired the prejudice that camp in general was only for the upper crust, like I'd assume about ski school or uh sailing lessons or I don't know what. And I mean there's a lot of stuff like that in mainstream media, where e.g. blue collar families have homes and possessions that are WAY too nice, or something like that. It's just something film and TV creators do to make things more inviting and less depressing, I think, and that can skew popular conceptions of how expensive certain things actually are. But I'm looking at a Reddit right now confirming my perception that versions of summer camp were available to middle class Americans in the 1960s-80s, and that the idea that the price tag of it would compete with college tuition is pretty recent. But it's still funny to me how often I see people on here assuming that if they've never personally experienced something, no matter how often they've heard of it, then it's probably not real. That's some protagonist syndrome shit right there. Just because you've seen an artificially enhanced version of something on TV doesn't mean it's a fake idea contrived to make an idiot out of you. You can do that all by yourself.

#ive seen tons of movies from other countries depicting experiences ive never had #it never occurred to me that like european media is specifically trying to trick american viewers into believing in fake things #where does this attitude come from like youre already on the internet look it up!

[romeulusroy]

Succession Preference: Dating A Political Figure

Requested: would you write preferences about the roy siblings with a significant other who is a successful political figure?? i feel like it would be an interesting concept especially with connor running for president & shiv being a political consultant - anon

A/N: I love this my love!!! Thank you for requesting!!! I hope you like it!!! Feedback is always appreciated 💜💜💜

Connor thinks your political hold is great for his presidency. Very nicely you sit him down and explain that being president isn't an easy thing, it's not something you can just decide to be one day. He's not really listening though, assuring you his campaign won't hurt yours. It might even make yours better! Who knows? You can't stop him, you would never want to, it makes him so happy. But you definitely put some distance between what you're doing and what he's doing. You're doing the real thing, with goals and issues and a real idea of how to do your job. Connor just decided one day that's what he was going to do after a lifetime of doing nothing. It can be frustrating, especially when you're known as President Roy's first partner. You're actually doing something that will have an impact. You know his siblings don't actually believe in him, nor does his father. You're the only cheering him on. It comes with a lot of conflicted feelings.

Kendall feels a lot of stress. He can't help but spiral anytime something doesn't 100% go your way. He's very reactive. You're the one who's able to take a step back, look at the whole picture, and find a way to fix the problem. Most of the time it's not even that big a deal. So some of your numbers are a little low, you can always make up for it later. You're the one calming him down, reminding him that this is a long game you intend to play well, with lots of strategy. He can't help it, you know this. When something goes wrong in his world everything, absolutely everything, falls apart. He's so proud of you, too. When he's not freaking out, he's bragging to anyone who will listen that he's dating the next President of the United States. You wouldn't go that far, you laugh, but you can dream. He doesn't get too involved, not wanting to mess things up, but he'll always ask you how it's going. At night, in bed, the two of you debrief your days. What did your campaign manager say about this or that? Was Logan any nicer today? How are Shiv and Rome? When is your next speech? Your days are stressful and all-encompassing, but your nights together are anything but.

Shiv loves helping you with your career. All her life, she's been ignored. By her father, by her mother, by her brothers, by everyone she's ever worked with because she is a woman. Because they have already decided she's hysterical and stupid and not as powerful as they are. She doesn't want to overstep at first, but your career is new, and you're still building your image. You know Shiv is smart. You know she knows what she's doing. When she's not competing with everyone around her, she can actually think through every decision and have the best outcome. You two often spend date nights going over speeches, campaign ads, slogans, meetings, etc. You try to change the subject, not wanting your whole life to become this, but Shiv doesn't mind at all. She loves it. Not only is she helping you, which she loves, but she's finally starting to feel heard for the first time in her life. She knows you're going to be one of the greats. She does. And she's gonna help you get there. You're a power couple. No one is going to get in your way.

Roman my baby my baby, you're my baby doesn't get involved at all. He says it's because politics aren't his thing, but really he's afraid he'll mess everything up. He got involved with Mencken and that went pretty well. After he starts dating you, he makes sure his public image remains neutral. He gives Mencken to someone else, wholeheartedly standing behind you. He knows the politics of his fathers business. The backstabbing, the lying, the cheating. He expects the same kind of cat fights from you and your opponents. You remind him that you don't run like that. That's not your style. You run a clean, fair campaign. Your opponents can do and say whatever they want, but you won't be dragged down to that level. You know what they say about politicians. . . He's got endless jokes lined up. You don't mind, you know the reputation you all have. But you're trying to do better, be better. You think people deserve honesty, they deserve the truth. Roman can't believe it, you've got no skeletons in your closet. He assumed everyone did. Everyone else in his life did, at least.

#requested #headcanon #preference #connor roy #connor roy headcanon #connor roy x reader #kendall roy #kendall roy headcanon #kendall roy x reader #shiv roy #shiv roy headcanon #shiv roy x reader #roman roy #roman roy headcanon #roman roy x reader #succession #succession headcanon #succession x reader

[pileofsith]

Hello there (no pun intended),

I do not have any questions regarding the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic per se (which reminds me of the fact that I still need to leave a comment on Ao3), but I just wanted to say that you rewired my brain with the page on which Tion Medon talks about a young Grand Inquisitor being taken in by the Jedi without him knowing that the guy in front of him is actually the person in question (and the Grand Inquisitor looking kinda like a kicked puppy). I'm especially obsessed with the line "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid." due to the sharp contrast to who and what the Grand Inquisitor has become. 

On another note: I also love that one piece of yours that depicts the Grand Inquisitor scrambling on the floor, all bloodied up, after Darth Vader backhanded him as punishment for his failure on Lothal, because it just makes so much sense, especially after reading Charles Soule's Darth Vader series (2017). The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused in it is really fascinating, which makes me wonder whether Vader ever maimed the Grand Inquisitor like he did with the other Inquisitors. Do you have any thoughts on that? Also sorry if I'm assuming too much! You referenced the Grand Inquisitor's strained relationship with Jocasta Nu very early into the Grand Inquisitor/Nameless comic and since it was a bigger plot point in the Darth Vader series (2017), it felt like a natural conclusion. I'm currently trying to finish a little character study on the Grand Inquisitor, which is mainly based on that source, and your comic was a very big inspiration for me to even try writing down the first draft.

Either way, have a nice rest of the day! Can't wait to see more from you!

Hello! Huge thanks for your awesome ask and your kind words, made my day! Thank you for reading the comic!

And please do share what you'll create for your character study, I'd love to read it! :)

So: I have only read a few snippets from the comic series, but have definitely used them as a basis to expand on the Inquisitor's character - I'd love to read the whole thing, however, I don't know where to find it!

"The way the Inquisitors are depicted as both abuser and abused is really fascinating" <- This is 100% my opinion, too! I have a lot of thoughts about them that I have a hard time putting into words, but this really sums it up, thank you!

For my comic, I admit I am definitely woobifying him a bit, but I can't really help that when I write stuff about villains, I just tend to make everything three shades nicer than in the source material. :-/

But I do try to keep his main personality intact, I just glaze it over with a more sympathetic view than I expect a canon explanation could offer.

This is the pic you referred to, if anyone's wondering (it's super old but still checks out, lol):

I do not think Vader ever maimed him like the others, but I think he would have opportunities to casually injure or torture him, if he ever feels like it the Grand Inquisitor goes out of line. Having said that, I do think the Pau'an seems to be perpetually aware of the risks in working with Vader, as he does carefully defy some of Vader's decisions with a verbal objection, but he never tries to contradict him further if his input is dismissed.

My pet theory is that neither Reva nor the Grand Inquisitor were ever maimed as a lesson in loss because they had both already survived loss events that filled them with enough rage: for Reva, it's the massacre of her Temple friends. For the Grand Inquisitor, it's the end (betrayal?) of the Jedi Temple Guards he was dedicated to.

I also find it interesting how Vader reframes his own greatest "weakness" in Jedi terms - dealing healthily with loss - into a template for how to teach others how to turn into darksiders.

I generally think Vader treats imperial inquisitors similar to imperial officers - useful if competent, but ultimately expendable, and free to use as a squeaky toy to vent frustrations. For the Grand Inquisitor, since the Pau'an is really arrogant and thinks so highly of his own intellect, the most efficient way to put him in his place would be for Vader to flaunt his own Sith powers against the Pau'an's humble dependence on him, to deny him some knowledge or to humiliate/humble him in some way...

About "Very polite child, very sweet, but so very timid":

When Jocasta and the Grand Inquisitor fight in that comic, he says something along the lines of how he never felt he belonged among the Jedi. I thought that was a really good starting point to imagine his life decisions. What brought him from being wholly dedicated to protecting Jedi, to becoming a hunter of the very group he vowed to protect? It's such a contrast! There has to be some nice, meaty psychology there to dig into and explore.

I imagined him as a subconsciously lonely sort of child, being from a much longer-lived species than anyone else (and in an Order that values detachment, perhaps one would diagnose that as a problem), so that when he grew into a detached, bookish individual, he sought to gain belonging in the Temple Guard as a permanent fixture around which to base his whole life. But then the Jedi Order starts shaking at its foundations, and he wants to escape, but his particular ~*°special-secret-Force-magic°*~ vows to the Temple do not make it possible to just walk away like Ahsoka or Dooku did. And that leads to inner tensions and a pull to the Dark Side, eventually.

#pau'an inquisitor #star wars rebels #pau'an #ask #long post #THANK YOU #I would love to give a more intelligent and thorough reply as you deserve <3 but my brain is being a bit foggy

[vintagecvm]

Ciara's distinct voice boomed throughout the spacious condo, walls vibrating. Envi competed with the volume, belting the lyrics to "I'm Sorry" She wasn't a singer. Her voice cracked terribly. The passion and effort behind it was impressive, however. The song had been playing on a continuous loop for hours. Envi spent the rest of the day, running around Michigan. She collected different items for a project she had in mind. By the time Envi returned to his home, darkness enveloped the sky. Jahir still wasn't home. She kept from overthinking by working strenuously on a presentation that ran her thousands of dollars. Envi used some of the money he gave her. There was a big purple heart made out of purple rose petals near the front door. Yellow candles to represent his team's colors filled the center of it. Her favorite picture of them was blowed up and standing on an easel behind the heart. She had to pay them extra money just to expedite the process. A life-size teddy bear with his jersey on it sat on the couch along with a basket full of his favorite candies. She also donned an oversized version of his jersey. It was similar to a short dress on her curvy body. The bottom dangled on the top of her thighs, a peek of her black boy shorts were showing. There was a solid gold bracelet on one wrist with the number eighteen charm dangling. The other was covered in plastic for a reason. That wrist stung and was a bit swollen, the black ink still fresh on her skin. Envi had a flare for the dramatics. She went over-the-top to prove a point to him.

Ciara kept her up until he returned at a little past midnight. His keys jingling alerted her. She ran towards the door to meet him, heart quaking and nervous jitters trying to persuade her to just pack her bags and go. Envi ignored her fear, dropping to her knees the moment the door opened. She didn't give him a chance to question what was going on. A terrible case of excessive word vomit poured from her lips immediately. "I'm so so so sorry, Jahir. I'm so sorry" Her hands were clasped together, fingers intertwined. Tears swarmed her eyes and started to drip slowly down her face. "I'm so so sorry. I have this thing that I just can't control sometimes. I don't mean to be this way. I promise I don't. It just happens. I get afraid that something will go wrong if I just let loose. The thoughts just mess with my head and makes me overthink. I panic and I just do whatever that's in my head" Envi only took a break to swallow the lump in her throat. "Sometimes, it's a good thing. A lot of times, it's not. I didn't realize it hurt people until today. I never meant to hurt you. Please understand that. I would never want to hurt you, Jahir. It's just my mind is my worst enemy sometimes. I want to do better" She wiped her eyes then looked down at the tattoo on her wrist. "555" "I got two tattoos today. One is 555. It has different meanings. My birthday is October 5th. Your birthday is February 5th. We met in May. That's the fifth month of the year. I had this epiphany at 5:55. The angel number 555 means change, growth, and freedom. All the things I need. I also got another tattoo" Envi rose to her feet and swiped her bohemian braids over the right shoulder. She slowly hiked the jersey up and spun around, letting her back face him. Envi used the other hand to lower her boy shorts some to reveal the "JJ" tattoo just above her crack. It was easy to cover with panties for her content shoots. "Please don't breakup with me because I don't want to cover that up. It really hurt. You don't understand" She eased the shorts back up then turned around. "But I would understand if you did. I really messed up. I could say that I'm a change. I'm a be a better person. I do intend to be but it's going to be a process. I'm a flare up sometimes and say something stupid becauss i was overthinking. But I'm trying. That's all I can tell you. I'm trying" @mdlhq

#໒꒱ 𝗘𝗡𝗩𝗜 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧 ⠈⠂⠄ 〃 ˢᵀᴬᴿᵀᴱᴿˢ