#so this did critical damage! but also i laughed

[riality-check]

riiaaa!! for the 100 ways to say i love you prompts, #1 and steddie please!!

(this is also very late, but here we go!)

"Pull over, let me drive for a while."

"Steve."

"Mhm."

"Steve."

"Yeah?"

"You're gonna drive us off the road."

"I'm fine," Steve says, and Eddie watches from the passenger seat as the car moves a full two feet onto the shoulder.

And people have the nerve to criticize his driving.

"Yeah, no," Eddie says. "Pull over, let me drive for a while."

"I got it," Steve says, a mid-sentence yawn ruins his credibility.

Eddie sighs. Steve is more than just a good dude; he's become one of Eddie's closest friends over the past few months, thank you, trauma bonding. But even though Steve Harrington is a good person, he's exceptionally stubborn when he wants to be, and driving his Beemer is the most stubborn he ever gets.

Seriously, though? He needs to sleep. He's gonna get them hurt otherwise.

"Sweetheart," Eddie says, and where that came from, he's going to blame on the sleep deprivation, "please. I promise I won't scratch your car."

Steve straightens up at that. Sneaks a glance at Eddie out of the corner of his eye. Relaxes his grip on the wheel.

"Okay," he says, and he puts his blinker on, pulls onto the shoulder. "Yeah, you can drive."

Eddie breathes out a sigh of relief as they switch seats. He's lucky he and Steve are the same size, nearly; he doesn't have to adjust the seat or the mirrors.

He glances at Steve, just to make sure he's settled, before he shifts the car into gear and gets them back on the road toward Hawkins.

Move in was a success all around. First Nancy, in Boston, then Jonathan in New York, then Robin in Philadelphia. Steve and Eddie had nothing else to do, the gas money to spare, and a want to help out. Taking the Beemer seemed stupid until Eddie was reminded by everyone, less than nicely, that the van would fall apart on a drive to Indy, nevermind to three different cities on the East Coast.

They fit less boxes, but at least they made the journey without breaking down.

And now they're on their way back, at nearly midnight with four hours left to go, because it makes more sense to drive than to find an affordable hotel that's not a shithole in Philadelphia.

"This is weird," Steve mumbles.

"What is?"

"Letting someone else drive my car," he explains. "Last time, I was concussed, and Max almost drove us into a telephone pole."

"Mayfield?"

"Yeah, back in '84. Hargrove beat the shit out of me so bad I could barely think, the kids had to get somewhere, and she was the only one who knew at least a little about how to drive."

Eddie laughs and shakes his head. "Everything I learn about you is weirder and weirder."

"I didn't even tell you the worst part."

"Which is?"

"I was so out of it, I thought Mike was Nancy."

Eddie cackles, wiping the tears from his eyes as he continues to drive. Thank god no else is on the road.

"They don't even look alike," he wheezes.

"In my defense," Steve says with a smile, "I did have brain damage."

"Past tense?"

Steve punches him in the shoulder. "Asshole."

Eddie rubs over the spot with one hand and keeps driving with the other. It's nice, this time of night. No one on the road, warm enough to have the windows cracked in the pitch black. Music playing loud enough to hear but low enough to have a conversation over.

It helps that Steve's rich-boy car drives smoother than anything else Eddie's been behind the wheel of, and Eddie's been behind a lot of different wheels in his life.

"Thanks," Steve says after a little while.

"For what?"

"Driving."

"Of course," Eddie says, because he means it. Of course he'd drive when Steve can't. It's what you do for the people you-

Eddie looks over at Steve. He's kicked his shoes off and scrunched his knees to his chest on the passenger seat. He's curled up, toward Eddie, with his hair fanned out and his cheek squished against his knee, eyes closed. The streetlights, as they race by them, cast his skin in varying shades of silver and gold, highlighting the contrast of his freckles.

-love.

Eddie's doing this because it's what he does for the people he loves.

It's a quieter realization than he expected. Eddie has loved a lot of people like he loves Wayne and his friends, but he's never been in love before. He thought it would be an all-consuming, heart-racing crash, a collision bringing fire and constriction, needing the jaws of life to pull him out.

This isn't like that. This is liking being a little kid, jumping off the couch, and knowing someone is waiting at the bottom to catch him. There's the feeling of danger, sure, but he knows what's at the bottom.

He wonders how long he's known. Long enough for that love, the love he has for Steve, to be something comfortable and warm in his chest.

Steve's hand rests on the space between them, palm up, outstretched. Eddie takes it and squeezes it.

And, though Steve is surely asleep, he thinks he might squeeze back.

Prompts here.

#ria writes #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #st #st ficlet #stranger things #stranger things ficlet #steddie ficlet #fluff #asked and answered #stevethehairington #thanks for asking!!

[wispforever]

Some thoughts on Itachi

So, I've seen a lot of comments circulating about my tags on this post, and I'm intrigued at the interest. I didn't expect it, as I see much more pigeonholing of Itachi's character than honest to god analysis. No hate- I'm no stranger to Kishimoto's writing. Some of his characters were unfortunately butchered or never given the chance to be developed properly, and Itachi is most certainly no exception. That said, I like to grant him a bit more nuance than I see on most blogs. I think people get a little wrapped up in the supposed "moral implications" of exploring how Itachi was also a victim of the system, as well as someone who victimized many people. But it's silly to equate character analysis and context consideration with condoning genocide.

I have a good laugh every once and a while at the metaphorical gymnastics people do in order to stay in the good graces of a bunch of internet trolls who are just Waiting for any opportunity to tell you you love murder and think it's delicious just because you made a post exploring a character's background. Media is grey; it's layered and wonderfully complex. There are many wrongs and rights in every story, and many wrongs and rights within those wrongs and rights. That's what I love about Naruto. Often times it's really too much like real life. Instead of people being black and white, right or wrong, bad or good- they're usually in a tough situation, trying their best and falling short, don't have all of the information, acting with good intentions or acting on what they believe will bring about a lesser evil, and then end up hurting others.

But it is much easier to assign blame and move on. A so-called bad person will always be the perfect scapegoat for issues bigger than them. In Itachi's case, the fascist government in the Leaf. It's easier to say Itachi could have just refused and decided not to be involved, than to recognize that like almost every other character in the narrative, he was under extreme duress, living in a military state. He was a child whose existence, along with all the other children and adults in the Leaf, was only valuable as long as he could serve as a tool for the war machine in the shinobi world's fucked up political system. And saying this is not the same as saying he was not capable of better decisions or that everything that he did thereafter or in general should not be read critically or subject to hypothetical consequences. It is the same as a saying his actions cannot be fully understood without complete context, and the themes of Naruto will never come through if every villain is just "evil" with no further nuance. And it would be boring too LOL

That said, I love to think about Itachi's situation back then. The ages in Naruto are a bit muddled, a little inconsistent, subject to change and interpretation, but Itachi was a child when he murdered everyone in the Uchiha compound. Most sources say he was 13. It should go without saying that someone so young isn't capable of the same decision-making or critical thinking as say, a 30-year-old, someone whose brain is finished developing and has much more experience on Earth.

Itachi's experience at this point in his life is informed by his age, and it's obviously informed by his childhood, as he has no other place from which to draw conclusions. Itachi grew up in a warring state. He saw people die and was subject to extreme violence in his formative years. To make matters worse, he was taught that war was inevitable and the only thing he could do to guard against it was kill others before they got the chance to kill him (threaten the village). Thusly, Itachi internalized at a very young age that what was in his power was to minimize damage (to himself, to his village, and to the world). What was not in his power was to stop this violence entirely (by adopting a critical mindset and going against fascist powers).

A part of this I think people often forget is that Itachi has absolutely nowhere to adopt this mindset FROM, as even though his father and the other members of the Uchiha clan seek equity in the Leaf, if they were to overthrow the Hokage and create a new system, it would still presumably center around the same ideals (minus, of course, the oppression of the Uchiha as a group). Fugaku is the head of the Uchiha clan at this time. As someone who imposed near impossible performance-related expectations on both of his sons, and withheld love and affection whenever they came up short (so often that it was at the cost of having any considerable emotional bond with either of them), there is absolutely no good reason to believe that Fugaku would reform the Leaf using a non-fascist ideology. And if he did, there is no good reason to believe that he would be some kind of visionary LMAO

This is important to remember because when it comes down to Itachi's decision to either kill everyone in the Uchiha compound and his family, or be part of the coup that would overthrow the Leaf, some people treat it as though it's a choice between fascism and non-fascism, which it most certainly is not. And if it was, Itachi, as a child who had grown up immersed in this ideology, would not be able to appreciate the difference. This context allows us to understand further what Itachi was really weighing in that moment. Accounting for his young age and limited worldview, the only valuable difference in this moment to Itachi was the amount of bloodshed that he would "allow" to happen. Essentially, he sees the options as follows:

Either give in to Danzo and kill everyone in the Uchiha compound, or facilitate a coup where the current government is (hopefully) overthrown and risk starting another war.

Here, Itachi pauses. He has known war. He knows how it affects children, adults, families, and whole nations. The peace he's living in currently is bought with blood, but it's the only peace he's ever known. The alternative is horrifying. And a war in this context, Itachi likely thinks, would be his fault, as he has now been put in the position to "prevent" it. Danzo and the whole shinobi system have groomed him into thinking so. Itachi, at age 13, cannot understand that there would be no war; it exists only as leverage for Danzo's argument at this point. His sensitivities are being played on.

Fugaku, though he is not the same as Danzo, offers about as much help as he does (that being none). Fugaku has no interest in avoiding war; if a war breaks out, it's justified because it will still mean his clan will no longer be living in oppression. This idea is valid, as fascist systems and discrimination can only cease to exist when we rise up against them; unfortunately, this most often calls for righteous violence, as the oppressive powers will not be moved with peaceful shows (not to mention they are willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid losing their hold on the people they have crushing power over, i.e. the Uchiha massacre). But Fugaku has no words to explain this to Itachi, who fears the worst and further fears being responsible for the worst. All he does is act as if it's a moral failing that his 13-year-old son is unwilling to stage a coup, which he believes could mark the abrupt end of a peace that's only just begun.

That said, let it be known that Itachi does appreciate this situation with SOME nuance, though it isn't of the kind that might have enabled him to see he was being manipulated. He at the very least understands that Danzo is a warmonger and oppresses those he fears (the Uchiha). He understands that the rights of his clan have been sorely disrespected, and that the issue needs correction. He understands the anger of his friends and family. This is why it takes him much deliberation before he can even come close to making a decision. He plays both sides right up until the end, listening to Danzo, as well as Fugaku and Shisui, paying attention to the current atmosphere in the Leaf as he tries to decide.

It is something he doesn't want to do. Here's where I get to the part I put in the tags of my drawing.

In this situation, it's almost worthless to write an analysis about Itachi's feelings at this time, his understanding of what was actually going on, his loyalty to his clan or his loyalty to the Leaf, because really, he could not grasp it. He was never prepared for this. He never knew he would be asked to make a decision he could only understand as "your family or the world?"

Itachi was put in a position that had no happy ending. There was no decision he could make that would not hurt. That could not result in a cataclysm that split him right down the middle. There was no version of this story that a 13-year-old could carry out thinking "I have done the right thing."

And that's the important part. Both sides asked him to make this decision, and so both sides are guilty of placing an immeasurable pressure on a child who should never have been put in such a position. Regardless of ideology, regardless of price, regardless of oppression or loyalty or devotion or any other thing- someone else should have made this decision for Itachi. Someone else should have been responsible. An adult, at the very least. Someone who COULD understand the implications of both options. Someone who COULD go forward and appreciate the evil of fascism and know that a coup was necessary. Itachi was never capable of such a thing. If he made the "wrong" decision, than every child who can't explain to you what a fascist government in a military state looks like and explain what the difference is between a hate crime and resisting a hateful power, is also wrong. Here is the nuance. These are things a 13-year-old in this universe cannot be expected to understand unless they are taught. And Itachi had no teacher. Quite the opposite. There were only forces pressing him from both sides, saying "choose."

Had his father done this for him, had Shisui been in this position, had any other adult Uchiha acting as a spy been put to this task, it would be a much different narrative. But of course, it had to be Itachi, who Danzo knew he could manipulate. It had to be a child, someone skilled enough to do the job, but inexperienced enough, afraid enough, to be willing to sacrifice everything they had to see the mission through. Someone you could whisper "greater good" to and have them hand over their well being on a plate. Someone who didn't understand they had the power and strength to destroy the system threatening them.

On a narrative level, Itachi exists to illustrate this point. How young people are systematically indoctrinated to serve a greater purpose, be it under a specific government, religion, or otherwise. We see it in real life fascism, in real life cults. There's no mistake. It isn't an accident that Itachi's story begins like this.

Which brings me to the rest of his life. The reason I drew the picture in the post referenced at the top. Itachi's character is a bit of a mystery the rest of the anime. Be that because of bad writing or an intentional omission, his motives, thoughts, and opinions are largely left ambiguous. However, there are still a few moments that interest me as far as the implications of his development.

When Itachi first comes back to the Leaf village, he faces Kakashi. On the one hand, this could simply be a narrative tool- the big bad meets the big good. He takes Kakashi out of commission! The first rogue shinobi we see who is able to defeat the pillar of the Leaf, the Copy Ninja, and without even breaking a sweat!

On the other hand, I find the brutality of Itachi's attack very intriguing. Again, it could be the tough guy act, but he's able to keep three jonin busy easily using standard genjutsu (with the help of Kisame). It wouldn't be a stretch to say that using the tsukuyomi is overkill, and at a considerable price, we learn later.

Why then would Itachi, who has been shown to have excellent battle intelligence, who is strategic to a fault, be willing to jeopardize his health among other things just to... scare the Leaf? Make sure Kakashi wouldn't be a nuisance in the future? Sure, the last one would make collecting Naruto less complicated, but they dispatched Kakashi easily enough, and surely Jiraiya, who Naruto was with at the time, would pose a bigger problem than Kakashi.

It doesn't make strategic sense, which makes me wonder if Itachi has a special animosity toward Kakashi. Being his superior in the ANBU before the Uchiha massacre, someone who was willing to conduct surveillance of the Uchiha compound without question, Kakashi could have become a symbol of the indifference of the Leaf for Itachi. He could very well have been a reminder of the inoperable position Itachi was put in when he was still a child, and Kakashi, of course, was an adult. Another adult who did nothing. Noticed nothing. Did not help Itachi.

And while I'm certain that Kakashi would have taken severe issue with the goings on in the Leaf at that time, judging by his reaction when he finds out the truth in Shippuden, Itachi knows him only by what he did then. Facilitated surveillance of the Uchiha compound, was a supportive superior, but nothing greater. A bystander whose compassion, while well meaning, was entirely unhelpful.

I don't think it's far fetched that Itachi fucking crucified Kakashi because he was so angry at what being in the Leaf did to him. At some point, as he got older, he realized how terrible it was. He realized there were people like him. Children who were "born killers". Pawns in the game of the shinobi powers.

After leaving the village, Itachi joins the Akatsuki, who are also seeking peace through war (another story). He is supposed to spy for them, but doesn't follow through in any enthusiastic way (that we're shown). He works alone for quite some time, or else with a group (briefly he was shown with Conan and Kakuzu). He is partners with Orochimaru before he's expelled from the Akatsuki. He is partners with one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He grows up and meets many people, sees lots of stories unfold. He learns that he isn't in a minority. Many shinobi are just like him.

And then, as an adult, he is partnered with Kisame, who he finds excellent camaraderie with because of their similar backgrounds. We see in this relationship that he understands what happened to him and what he did enough to acknowledge that, while neither of them are monsters, as many people say, they are human. And humans make mistakes. Humans are complicated. Wrong and right and wrong and right. They understand each other, and Itachi understands more clearly what the world puts these children up to. What it forces shinobi to become. That it isn't all his fault, but he still did it. And so he is responsible. He appears to be able to live with that.

But when he returns to the Leaf, those feelings bubble up. He hates the Leaf. He hates that system. He hates what he did. Maybe he even hates being a shinobi, how his excellence was weaponized, how being an Uchiha doomed him and his clan. And for what?

Itachi is played as a character who is only sensible, only logical, only interested in practical things, has nothing to express. But the way he behaves toward Kakashi in that moment bares all his grief and anger. I just like to think about it. We have so few moments where we get to see Itachi genuinely. The fight with Kakashi, the Sasuke/Deidara fight, his thoughtful moments with Kisame. Just makes me wonder what could've been if Itachi's story had gone a little differently.

Anyway, if anyone would like me to expand on any points or has additional thoughts, feel free to hop in my ask box or leave a comment. Thanks for the interest, I love to talk.

#this is wisp #itachi uchiha #analysis

[moon-huny]

Stole the Moon - Chapter Three

CW: My content is not for anyone under 18. Major language in this one ya'll. Also, smut towards the end. Some she/her pronouns used for reader in this one, and implied afab physicality. Oh, and masturbation. Kidnapping, coercion, imprisonment.

Word Count: 4.1K

Summary: After being treated to a day of R&R, you and Buggy sit down for dinner.

A/N: So, I am like 15 mins late with this one. But look at the word count, now that's content baby! I worked kinda hard on it, so I hope ya'll like. I have never written smut before and it was a challenge. Lmk how I did. I feel confident that ya'll will like it, but you never know. Constructive criticism is for bad bitches so have at it!

There are some OC characters in this chapter. I know OCs can be a bit hit or miss. Do ya'll like em? Should I continue to include them? Don't be afraid to tell me what you think. I am only married to a few ideas in this series that I know have to happen, otherwise I welcome ya'lls ideas.

Oh! and happy kinktober. Okay, that's all, enjoy.

masterlist ✧˖°

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The moment Buggy shut the door the two young women were circling you like vultures. They pulled at your dress and snickered to themselves. The red-haired girl tugged at the ends of your hair and giggled.

“What exactly does captain –” she said.

“Expect us to do with you?” the raven-haired girl finished.

They dressed alike, finished one another's sentences, the way they took up space in a room together read as though they had known each other for a long time. 

“I take it your sisters?” You said, hoping to perhaps gain an understanding of their relationship.

They both laughed at your question.

“You hear that, Lettie?” questioned the fairer one.

“Marie, she thinks we’re sisters.” replied the other woman whose skin was steeped in golden tones.

Being in the same room as them felt like suffocation. As though they spoke a language you didn’t and breathed in air from an atmosphere you could only dream of.

“Come on,” they both said in unison and began to make their way out of Buggy’s quarters. If you thought that understanding them was a challenge, keeping pace with them was just as difficult. 

Exiting through the ornate double doors, the sun had risen much further in the sky than you’d expected. Nearly at its peak, you enjoyed the warmth it provided and would have basked in it all day if given the chance. However, your escorts were making their way back down towards the lower decks of the ship at a quick pace.

As you hurried across the deck of the ship to follow, you took a moment to scan your surroundings. Looking around the deck of the ship, crew mates in various theatrical themed garb milled about. Looking up toward the starboard quarter, you noticed the captain with two other men – one of whom was the swordsman who freed you from your cage earlier that morning.

They seemed to be pouring over a map – the map. He could feel you staring at him. Buggy looked up from the paper he and the two others were arguing over. A slight smirk pulled across his red painted lips. 

Deciding your eye contact lasted long enough, you turned back around to follow behind the strange duo, climbing down into the lower decks after them.

The two women walked hand in hand down the tight corridors. As you passed the turn that would have taken you back to your prison, you just nearly stopped, looked down through the unlit tunnel, and continued on your way.

Upon reaching the destination, the two stood on either side of a thick purple curtain along the tight hallway. The dark haired woman peeled back the heavy fabric and ushered you into the room. In the center was a beautiful, if not marginally damaged, claw foot tub. Glass bottles of every shade lined the walls, stained glass lanterns were the only light source.

“It’s getting cold,” they both said and gestured to the tub. The basin was full of steaming water that smelled of rosemary and mint. You gently pushed past them and floated into the room awestruck by the idea that such a place existed down the hall from your own personal hell.

“We’ll be back soon,” they said in a sing-song tone as they slowly closed the curtain behind you.

///

It is difficult to clock how long you spent pampering yourself in the bath. Even after the water went from scalding to cool, you couldn’t help but mindlessly float and get cozy in the water.

Your thoughts continually slipped back to your captor. His eyes had regarded you with such gentleness earlier but his smile told you he still wasn’t one to be trusted … but those eyes. The way they drank all of you in as though he could never get enough.

You reached up to wrap your hands around your neck feeling the necklace there. His touch could be bruising, painful, enough to make you squirm. But now, knowing he could be so light, and teasing. You closed your eyes attempting to recall the way he gently brushed your skin when he hooked the jewelry around you. You could imagine what that touch would be like lower, and lower, and … you caught yourself. You promptly removed your hands from your body and gripping each side of the tub. 

These thoughts you had for him were nothing but frustrations. To act on them would send you down a rabbit hole you might never crawl back out of. Stopping now was for your own good.

Just as you were leaning back to submerge yourself in the water, an anxiety welled up in your chest, as though a weight were all of a sudden being slowly lowered onto you. A memory began creeping its way back into your mind.

Waves. Terror. Screaming. Fear.

Eleven years old and drowning. The unforgiving sea pulled your small body through its currents. You didn’t know which way was up or down. Your lack of direction caused you to flail about in the surf attempting to reach out a hand and touch the precious air instead of more water.

You couldn’t see anything but the physical memory was there. The feeling of the sandbars scraping your skin as you were unforgivingly cast against them. It was then you remembered reaching out your hand and feeling hair. Then a hand. An arm. A face. Someone was next to you in the water, but they weren’t moving. 

All of a sudden you felt another person wrap their arms around you. A very strong and living presence carried you out of the churn and you remember feeling air hit your lungs as you –

Gasped out loud. Finally coming up for air from just underneath the waterline of the tub. The two women were pulling you up and out by your wrists.

“Oh my god, what –”

“In the east blue were –”

“You thinking!”

As you panted for air and cleared the water from your face, you couldn’t tell which one was speaking. 

“We leave you alone for one hour –”

“And you try to drown yourself in a three foot tub!”

///

“So you aren’t related?” You said, feeling a bit embarrassed that you had to repeat the question.

You were wrapped in a satin robe provided to you by Marie from her “personal favorites” closet. A gesture that seemed kind at first only until you realized that Lettie had ripped a hole through her copy of the red lacy loungewear and now neither of the women could wear it for fear they wouldn’t match.

“You dress so similar, all the way down to makeup and hair,” you continue.

“We’re acrobats,” they said.

Lettie continued, “at first, it was all just a part of our act.”

“But we decided that we liked being as close as possible at all times,” finished Marie. Her ocean blue eyes shone into Lettie’s golden amber pair.

“Even if that means inhabiting the same dress to feel truly synced,” replied Lettie.

Marie was curled up in her lap. The two women couldn’t keep their hands off of one another now that they were seated in the close quarters of their cabin. The space was small yet, crammed with stuff they’d collected. The queen-sized hammock they let you lie on swung on one side of the room. They were sprawled out on a beautiful yellow loveseat across from you. 

Clothing was tossed around the room in various locations. Corsets, garters, stockings and dresses all poked out from trunks and drawers. An ornate gold mirror adorned the wall, a sack full of makeup products was tossed to the side underneath it. 

“You must really love each other,” you said, feeling a pang of loneliness in your chest. You had curled up with a pillow on the surprisingly comfortable suspended cotton. 

“We didn’t at first,” said Marie. “In fact, we hated one another.”

“Marie!” cried Lettie.

So it seems they weren’t always on the same page. At least not enough to always know what the other one was thinking.

“We were … competitive,” said Lettie. “I simply could not stand the fact that she was so talented when she joined the circus. She was outstanding and I hated being upstaged by her.”

“And I couldn’t stand the meat head you had drooling over you all the time,” said Marie. “It really ticked me off. If I ever upstaged you, my love, it was because I knew I had to compete for your affections.”

“There was no competition,” said Lettie. “Once Xander caught on to that, and I realized that I loved you and only you, he was toast.”

Clearly reminiscing on their past was pulling them into their own orbit making them quickly forget your presence. 

“So, what happened?” you asked, pulling them from whatever intimate moment they were about to share.

“I killed her fiance – who happened to be the ring leader's son,” said Marie. 

“We agreed to live the rest of our lives as pirates on the run,” finished Lettie.

The way they held one another, the words they so sweetly exchanged made your heart ache. As they slowly added more details to their love story, it made you yearn for a partnership so full of passion and affection.

///

Marie and Lettie continued to share stories of their adventures far into the afternoon as they dug through trunks, barrels, drawers, suitcases and bags attempting to find something for you to wear. 

Finally they found a suitable dress for the evening meal you were preparing to sit for. The fabric fell around you perfectly, a short and very lacy white dress with wide flowing sleeves. They threw you a pair of dark red suede boots that climbed up your legs to your mid thigh. The beautiful moonstone still sat proudly on your chest.

Maire took it upon herself to tend to your hair and Lettie made herself comfortable in front of you to do your makeup. Nothing too crazy, just enough to hide the exhaustion that couldn't be whipped away in the bath. 

“Your hair is so pretty,” said Marie as she worked her way through the ornate hairdo. “Like a mermaid.”

Lettie’s eyes shot up toward her partner, a look of warning and one you certainly couldn’t ignore. 

“I- I just mean that …” stuttered Marie under her lover's hardened gaze.

As if on cue, Lettie swooped in, “she means that you have very beautiful features, like those legendary beasts. But thank goodness those terrible despicable things have long since died out.”

“Yes! Yes. That is exactly right, my darling. Look! I’m all done!” Marie ran up to the table and grabbed a small vanity mirror to show you the brilliant job she did. 

“And I’m done as well so it would be best if you start heading up towards the kitchen, yes?” said Lettie.

“You won’t come with me?” 

“Sorry dear we –”

“Have a few things to attend to,” they said, ushering you out of the room.

They waved at you from their room as you made your way back down the hallway.

Once you were out of earshot, Lettie could feel that Marie had something to say.

“What is it?”

“I can't help but feel like we’re sending her into the mouth of a predator.”

Lettie sighed and made her way back into the cabin, “it’s just the way he wants it done, Marie, I am not going to interfere.”

“Really? We already touched her, we weren't supposed to do that, remember?”

Lettie sighed, she knew the red haired girl was right.

“I know, my love, I know,” said Lettie. “But telling her? Hinting? Leading in such a way as to help her remember her past? That’s too risky.”

Marie was shutting her out, crossing her arms and looking out the door after you. Lettie floated over to her partner, she cupped the other woman’s pale white hands in her own warm brown ones. 

“I love you,” she continued. “We worked so hard to find this crew, to escape our old life.”

“I’ve killed for you,” replied Marie. “If I followed every rule, you would have been bed and wed to that loathsome strongman and I wouldn’t be holding you every night.”

“I think we’ve done enough, Marie.”

“And I know you don’t think that’s true.”

///

Entering the kitchen, a beautifully carved table was set with dozens of bronze candle holders each cradling a different colored stick of wax. The soft glow of all the tiny flames kept the center of the space well lit while the rest of the kitchen faded into darkness.

All of a sudden, you heard the door slam shut behind you. Jumping at the sound, you turned around to see a hand pushed flat against the heavy door. 

“You kept me waiting.”

Turning back around you saw the pirate captain leaning back in his chair, his feet crossed and kicked up at one end of the table. He was studying a goblet of wine before taking a sip from the decorated cup. His disconnected appendage floated past you and connected itself back to its rightful location.

“Patience is a virtue,” you reply calmly. 

You were starving, the food laid out on the table looked too good to be true. Fruits and fish and rice and all the things your empty stomach groaned for.

“Well, it isn’t all bad if it means my acrobats take the time to make you look like that,” he flirted back. 

Clearly the dress was doing wonders for you. You caught him gazing at the length of your legs and the small expanse of your exposed thigh right were the lace of your dress and the tops of your boots left just enough to the imagination. 

“Hungry?” he questioned. “Cause I’m starving.” 

You made your way to stand by the smug man. His eyes drunk you in as you approached him. Placing both your hands on the table next to him, you began your line of questioning. 

“I need to know what you want from me,” you demanded.

“Oh honey, what don’t I want?” 

“Cut the shit, clown,” you bit back. “The map you showed me four days ago. What’s it to and why did you need me to recognize it?”

He sighed. “Why don’t you eat first? You must be so so hungry.”

“No thanks to you,” you said.

“I’ll tell you about the map, just eat something first, yea?” He nodded toward your seat at the other end of the table.

Finally deciding to relent, you followed his direction and sat at the other end of the table. The plate before you held some of the most delicious food you’d ever seen. A grilled tilapia, no, mahi mahi, you really didn’t care what it was, it was edible. 

Hesitantly you took a first bite, then another, and soon you were devouring the food in front of you. You don’t think you’d ever eaten so fast in your life.

“Drink something, you’ll choke,” he commented, still maintaining his relaxed posture in the chair. He notably hadn’t eaten a thing. If you weren’t so consumed with stifling your hunger, you would have assumed everything on the table was poisoned.

Having him order you to do something with such cool confidence would typically make you enraged, but this command was more of an invitation, one you happily took. You picked up your matching vessel of wine and gulped it down. It was like nothing you’d ever tasted. Sweet and smooth and just rich enough to sit warmly in your stomach.

You quickly made work of what was in the cup. Then stood and reached for the rest of the bottle in the center of the place setting. Uncorking the top with your teeth, you threw your head back and chugged.

All the while he watched you. Gently lifting the cup to his lips to sip the very nectar you so intensely swallowed down. When you finished, you steadied yourself on the edge of the table and panted, hand still wrapped around the neck of the bottle, your eyes flicked upward to catch his green ones staring back at you.

“The map is to the Grand Line,” he said, holding eye contact. He placed his cup down and moved his body to fully face yours. “There is a river that travels up a mountain. In other words, it’s impossible to traverse it, unless you have a strong ship – or you know how to cheat it.”

You continued to watch him, eyes dark as he finally explained what the map was for. You knew about the Grand Line. Everyone did. There were monsters and pirates and some of the fiercest dangers you could think of.

“And why do you need me?”

He stood and made his way to you. In the candle light his features were so sharp. The shadow of his jaw, the hollows of his cheeks emphasizing gorgeous cheekbones, his deep set eyes darkened in their sockets despite their bright color. The red color of his nose matched that of his lips which looked so much softer the closer he got. He leaned into the side of your face.

“Oh baby, there are a lot of reasons I need you,” he said whispering in your ear. 

He placed a gloved hand on top of your own on the table. It was so much larger than yours and he was so warm. The absence of his coat and hat made him look so much more relaxed, his muscular arms fully displayed. Maybe it was the alcohol in your stomach making its way through your bloodstream, but you began to feel lightheaded.

You slowly turned your head to face him and he followed suit. His seafoam eyes made contact with your own. His lustful gaze sped up your heartbeat. His lips were parted and you could feel his hot breath on your own, so painfully close but not close enough.

“My question for you, gorgeous,” he whispered into the space between you. “Do you need me?”

Your face shifted from a testing confidence to a pleading look of pure want. Your eyebrows pushed together and your eyes morphed from a darkened tease to a blown out lust.

“Oh good,” he purred. “Why don’t you say it, hmm?” His other hand came up to pet goose bumps on the skin of your arm. His fingers leading from your hand, up the back of your forearm, and softly drawing a line until he finally reached your shoulder, your neck, your cheek where he cupped your face.

Turning his head he went straight for the soft spot he knew would make you relent, nipping and pecking the soft skin there. His soft words and lips combined with the scratch of his stubble was enough to make you wet. 

“Say it baby, just tell me how much you need your captain.” he growled into your ear. 

Through the haze of lust and alcohol, you felt a defiance rise.

“You …” you gasped out.

“Yeeess?” he hissed.

“Are …” you continued.

Panting between words, his hand drifted down to caress your thigh and slowly pushed the lace of your skirt up so he could grip your bare hip.

“Not my captain,” you snarled. 

Placing your hands on his chest you pushed, hard. The shock of the action was enough to send him staggering back.

“You fucking little witch!” he yelled.

“And what the fuck are you going to do about it?!” you shouted back. “You gonna fucking kill me?! Oh wait, you wouldn’t –”

Your rant was cut short by his forearms detaching from his body. One pulled you by the wrist back into your chair and the other grabbed a small rope from across the room. You kicked, screamed and fought but he was stronger than you. Once you were bound by your wrists behind the chair, he stalked back toward you. Crouching down in front of you to knee level.

He peered up at you from his position on the floor. If it weren’t for the white hot anger coursing through you, his new orientation could have easily filled you with need.

“You’re a difficult woman,” said Buggy. What he wouldn’t tell you was that, from this position, he could smell your desire, and it was intoxicating. He inhaled and sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth, biting down to hide the guttural moan he wanted so desperately to let out.

“Good thing I like a challenge,” he reached behind himself and pulled out a red smoke bomb. You immediately recognized it and began to fight against your confines yet again.

“No, no, no, Buggy no,” you warbled out.

“Sweet dreams, sweetheart,” and with that he squeezed the little round pouch. As it disintegrated in his hand, he made his way to the door.

Leaving the kitchen, Buggy caught the attention of Cabaji, the only other crew member walking on the deck of the ship this late at night.

“Watch her,” said the blue haired man, pulling his bandanna off his head and heading at a quick pace to his cabin.

Cabaji had questions, tons, but he could tell that now wasn’t the time. The green haired chief of staff walked into the kitchen and saw your sleeping form draped over yourself in the chair, bound and half your neck painted in red.

///

Buggy slammed the door to his quarters. His long hair fell all around his face in a disheveled curtain of electric blue.

“That little fucking whore!” He threw his papers across the room, wiping his desk clean of all that was on it.

“God what I wouldn’t give to just ruin that, fuck, to absolutely snuff the rebellious spirit outta her, god damn it!” 

He was still hard and frustrated from teasing you. Recalling your little panting breaths – not yet moans – sent even more pulsing desire straight to his cock. The fire in your eyes when you defy him, what he would give to just crush it and force you under him.

The growling moans he bit back before now so casually fell from his lips. He let out a light chuckle and spread himself out on his throne.

He thought back to the softness of your skin where his lips grazed you. How he knew you’d feel like that all over the rest of your body. And god, your smell. The perfume you wore still lingered on his cotton glove. He pulled the white garment off his hand with his teeth while his other hand squeezed where his hardened member swelled beneath his belt. 

 “Oh, fuuck ~ ” he moaned.

Both of his hands made quick work of the metal buckle, he pulled his dick from the confines once he got the zipper down. Gripping the angry shaft, his tip already leaking precum, he knew he wouldn’t last long.

After swiping over the slit and collecting his slick with his ungloved hand he tugged quickly on his cock. He could only imagine your beautiful curves and the sweet little face you made when you wanted him.

“Oh shit, good fucking girl, yes, yes, pull on this dick, fucking make me cum.” he growled out. His eyes fell shut and his head rolled back. He imagined what it would be like to eat you out, to have you ride his face and rub your sensitive little clit on his nose.

He’d make you come again and again just to hear you, something he still hadn’t gotten the pleasure to discover. Would you be quiet, whimpering and whining like a little kitten and cumming with a sweet and soft little shudder around his cock? Would you be loud and vocal like his own personal whore, your tight pussy squeezing him like a vice when you came?

“Fuuuuck baby, when I get inside you, fuck, when I get inside you I won’t fucking stop god fucking damn it,” he rambled out, gripping his dick tighter. “Fuck. Fuck. I wanna, princess, fuck, baby your captain wants to cum. Make me cum. That’s right, yes, good girl, such a good girl f’ me make me cum.”

He was incoherent, completely drunk on his own pleasure and the thought of you. After a few more lewd tugs on his cock, he came with a groan that almost sounded painful. He sat back in his chair panting and coming down from the high you filled him with.

He slowly regained consciousness and raked his hands through his long hair. The makeup on his face long since smudged and sweated down his face. He cleaned up and tucked himself back into his pants. 

The ship would be docked tomorrow, looking out the back window, Buggy could see land and, as if on cue, the crew mate in the crow’s nest shouted the all familiar phrase of land ho.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚

taglist: @tokoyamisstuff @mommymilkerfanclub @chaoticqueen33 @tootoomanycats

taglist is open.

#stole the moon #buggy the clown #buggy fanfic #buggy smut #buggy x reader #buggy x y/n #buggy x you #buggy opla #captain buggy #buggy d clown #kinktober

[bluarlequinno]

It's kinda funny to me that Husk mentions that Charlie is trying to fix others because she's avoiding fixing herself but I don't see lots of people talking about it (or about her in general) and even the show itself makes a very clear indication that Charlie's motives and actions for helping people aren't just because of pure altruism, don't get me wrong I do believe she has good intent and genuinely wants to help, but I personally what I interpreted, I feel it comes to the fear of her being unwanted and A LOT AND I MEAN A LOT of characters treat Charlie so shitty, but Charlie always bottles it up and treats them back with kindness, (at least until she can't no more and explodes), there are very few characters to which she responds back with violence being (Valentino, Lute and Adam (rightfully)), but in general she is extremely optimistic to the point it almost seems self damaging and I really wish it was talked more enough because it opens up a whole level of complexity to her character not many people give her, she isn't your typical altruistic good protagonist, she's extremely good to people out of her own fear of rejection, look how she behaved when she realized she damaged more than she helped Angel dust, yes it is normal to feel overwhelmed when you know you've harmed a friend, but Charlie's reactions although played for laughs, go to an extent of over compensation out of fear of being rejected and not receiving the benefit of the doubt to be forgiven, (also because it faces her face to face with her own flaws), just like how she always tries to do the same with others to the point of probably putting herself at harm, I'm not sure how conscious she is of it herself, but it's obvious she over compensates to anything to make sure people won't leave her, because as much as the show says she's got daddy issues, I feel more overall she's got abandonment issues in general, because literally both her mother and father left her at a point in her life and even when Lucifer comes back she's hesitant as to when is his staying going to last (I have problems with how quickly their issue was resolved but that is a discussion for another post).

My main point is that Charlie's issues with herself are so fascinating to me because I love characters who seem like the perfect altruist hero but actually unknowingly to themselves, have more emotionally "selfish" motivations, obviously I'm not saying Charlie has any ill intent, but she's literally an over protected princess of an exploited, unfair and exploitative system who has a very shielded and naive view of morals and goodness and badness.

I know this is fuckin Hazbin hotel, but I srs have so much brainrot.

I know critics of the morals of heaven and hell ain't anything new, but there is genuine good commentary in my opinion, not by any means perfect, but it definitely is doing insistent questions on the nature of a religious morality and using real life politics systems to somehow drive it further and connect it more with reality, of course modernizing it and treating it as a modern, tumblr version of so, but it's really good and the songs are amazing.

The point is, I'm really hoping they will explore more of the character of Charlie and how she transforms to her "demon" form when she is more emotionally unstable that could do a lot of commentary too if used right, but maybe I'm just projecting my own headcanons and ideas for her lol.

Actually I have no previous knowledge of any other media of the creator outside of Hazbin Hotel because I watched it some days ago in Amazon prime so yeah I just really like media and edgy media I'm sorry I liked this show, with it's problems and all I did like it, maybe it was too obvious for most, but I'm really new to the fandom so forgive my rantings

#hazbin hotel #charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel opinion #hazbin hotel commentary #media analysis #analysis #media commentary #alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #idk #i tried to be as coherent in my words as possible but i wrote this quickly because i really wanted to say it #it might be an unpopular opinion but charlie was actually my favorite character #surprisingly #i love her so much im serious #still love the deer cannibal though #how can you not #alastor rules

[renoed]

so smitten | manager! s. kaiba x idol! reader

❥ — PAIRING manager! seto kaiba x gn! idol! reader

❥ — SUMMARY It was noticeable from the moment he was assigned to you as your manager. The way your eyes lingered on him.

# A/N a request!!! eek!! I loved writing this! Seto is just ♡♡♡ love of my LIFE

Seto Kaiba stood at the head of a long glass table, hands tucked away in the pockets of his black trousers. He was the first thing you noticed when you were ushered into the room - the only member of staff you didn't recognise. The fact he stood taller than everyone else made him difficult to miss.

You'd been sat down at the opposite end of the table and one of the senior staff members had began rambling about how your manager was moving on to a rival company. It wasn't new information; she had actually come to you before she accepted the position and you'd encouraged her to make the jump.

"We hope that you'll be able to get along with Kaiba as well as you did with Kujaku!"

The tall brunet bowed down politely to you, "I'll do my best."

As he straightened himself up again, you noticed that his rectangular glasses had slipped down his nose. A long, slender finger pushed them back up to frame deep, blue eyes. Attractive was an understatement.

You let your lips curve up, crossing one of your legs over the other, "I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do."

He didn't falter at your words, or the suggestive hum you put behind them.

It didn't take long for Seto to prove that he was a phenomenal manager - better than Mai had been, as much as you hated to admit it.

Your schedule was consistently filled, while also providing you with consistent breaks. From follower increases to sales increases, Seto seemed to know exactly how to achieve anything.

"Fuck!"

That's why it came as such a surprise for you to hear him shout from your place stood outside his door, a paper bag of doughnuts tucked under your arm and two hot drinks in your hands.

"Seto? Is everything okay?" you were lucky nobody else was in his office, dropping formalities always got you scolded. You couldn't remember when you had gotten so casual with him.

Walking into his office you were met with an unfamiliar sight: tousled hair, an untucked shirt, glasses lazily left on his desk. The room, and Seto himself, looked like a tip.

"No, this could permanently damage your career. It's the furthest thing from okay that we could possibly manage."

"Slow down a second," you placed your things down on his desk before moving to stand next to him, "what's actually happened?"

A brief moment of silence settled between you before he opens his mouth again, "dating scandal."

Oh.

You didn't think before you'd asked, "between me and who?"

He tilted his phone so he could show you the screen, free hand moving to massage his temples, unwilling to look towards you.

Oh.

Any words of encouragement dropped away at the realisation that it was a photo of you and him on the screen. He's holding an umbrella over the pair of you and you're laughing at something, smile hidden behind your hand. If you squint you can see the hint of a smile on his own lips.

You remembered when that was taken: Seto had been particularly nit-picky with your performances and was telling you all his 'constructive criticism' without a single positive comment. Normally you wouldn't have batted an eye - that's just how he is - but it had really upset you and, in a rage, you decided you'd walk yourself home in the pouring rain because you couldn't bear to be in a car with him.

The pattering of rain on the pavement had completely drowned out any other sound around you, except when a car drove past and narrowly avoided getting you absolutely drenched. You weren't very far off anyway.

"You're being childish."

Seto's voice was barely audible above the rain but it was loud enough to make you stop in your tracks and wait for him. The tap of his business shoes against the pavement was unheard as he walked over to you, only stopping a couple of paces behind. In his left hand was an umbrella.

"You'll catch a cold-"

"I don't think it's childish to be upset when all you ever give me is negative feedback," came your mumbled reply, "is that all you see in me? The worst parts of my performance?"

You waited for him to make a snide retort; something about you being sensitive or unfit for being an idol. It didn't come.

Instead, the umbrella he had been holding above himself was outstretched to you. It was difficult not to break into a small smile at the action: Seto Kaiba was useless with pretty words but he knew how to make his actions count.

"I'm sorry," the words were stiff and he bowed slightly, still holding the umbrella above you as rain trickled down his hair, dropping onto his glasses and falling from the tip of his nose.

"You'll catch a cold."

Anybody else would have missed the way his eyes widened as you gently pushed on the umbrella, stepping towards him until you were both covered from the rain.

"Well, that should be easy to manage, right? Just put out a statement about how I'm being escorted by a member of my staff?" this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, a collaboration with solo-artist ATEM had created rumours immediately. You weren't sure what made this situation any different.

Seto didn't spare you a glance, just shoved his phone into your grasp and buried his face further into his hands.

The original photo had been captioned 'Them ♡: a 🧵' and beneath it were countless photos of you and Seto.

Standing together at a shoot in the winter, your hands in fluffy mittens wrapped around his. Red dusted his cheeks and at the time you had just brushed it off as the cold.

Talking together at an event, both dressed to the nines with amicable smiles on your lips.

It went on and on and on: him handing you coffee; you poking fun at him; eating at a restaurant together (although other staff members were there).

It was when you reached the last post - a short video with a screenshot next to it, captioned 'so smitten', that you began to understand.

Taken from fairly early into his role as manager, you're both stood with some other staff. They're talking to the small group about something and you glance away from the speaker to look at Seto. He does the exact same.

This moment of you catching his gaze is what has been screenshot. It's an unspoken softness that makes your stomach twist and throat tighten.

"I'm sorry," his voice was barely a murmur, eyes unwilling to meet yours, "I'm not sure how to fix this."

You had never seen him look weak before. Now he was sitting next to you, hunched over with a creased shirt, tie hanging loose and hair standing up in every direction. It felt ironic that the sight made your heart catch in your throat. You put the phone down on his desk.

"Maybe I don't want to fix it."

The words were unsure and shaky as they left your lips, but they were loud enough for Seto to hear.

"That's ridiculous- did you not hear me say this could permanently damage your career? This isn't just a joke for us to laugh at in a few months-"

Before he has chance to continue his rant, your hands grasp at the collar of his shirt and pull him towards you, lips clashing together messily. He stiffens for a second before kissing you back, only to pull away a few moments later.

"Let me be childish this time: I don't want to fix it."

The damage was done already; the rumours had already started. There was little you could do except entirely remove Seto from your staff, which was a none-option for you anyway.

You lightly tug on his collar again, "are you okay with that?"

His hands gently move to clasp your wrists, pulling you into him wordlessly until your lips meet again. More than okay, is what you settled on as his answer.

reblogs are hugely appreciated ♡ [masterlist]

#renoed #renoed; yugioh #yugioh #seto kaiba x reader #seto x reader #yugioh seto kaiba #yugioh seto #seto kaiba #x reader #reader insert #kaiba yugioh #yugioh kaiba #kaiba #seto kaiba yugioh

[utilitycaster]

I've been seeing complaints that Spenser was 'trying too hard to kill the cast' this episode, which I have to say I wildly disagree with, but I will admit to be a little confused why the players sometimes took one or even two marks after rolling a six. Or I guess I'm not confused so much as I wonder if the mechanics for injury, success, failure, etc could be too vague atm? Candela doesn't really have anything like CR rating or DC which it doesn't NEED, but I guess could create some grey area?

Good question! Here's the secret: all TTRPGs I'd consider worth my time have a huge swathe of gray area, D&D very much included (indeed, I find a lot of the more baseless criticisms of D&D, especially from Game Based Heavily On D&D But Different fans (derogatory) to come from people mad at that gray area) and as long as the players and GM have agreed on it, it's fine. With that said I admit that paying attention to individual rolls is not what I am inclined, personally, to do, but if this is about Sean rolling a six and taking two body...that is because he was going to take four body off the bat and reduced it with a good roll that the GM permitted him. (It also might be about Marion taking in the rift, which was similarly stated beforehand to cost him a Bleed scar no matter what he rolled, the roll reflecting how successful he was.) Now, we can talk about the implications of taking four body seemingly out of nowhere, but do recall that is coming off an earlier 1 roll in his interaction with Duncan.

CR ratings generally are a poor understanding of difficulty, and the thing about DCs is you can set them arbitrarily high (or for that matter, secretly low). Like...to use D&D, you cannot make a persuasion check for someone who dislikes you to give you all their belongings and run away forever. The DM is going to set the persuasion check at 50 and it is going to be unreachable by any means. Even a nat 20 will give you a result of "they think you're joking and laugh it off instead of run after you with a sword." If you jump off a sufficiently high cliff in D&D and roll a nat 20 to land, you still might take enough damage to die during your three-point landing. And so on.

So: while we don't have all the rules of Candela Obscura, it is valid from my knowledge of the Forged in the Dark engine, which Illuminated Worlds was heavily influenced by, for Spenser to say "this action is unbelievably dangerous and there is no possible way you are escaping unscathed, and a full success means that you live to tell the tale with only a gunshot wound or bleed damage rather than outright death." That's the other thing: completely valid for the GM to come in planning to kill the players. That's the premise of EXU Calamity. I would assume the table discussed that this was going to be a much darker and more dangerous game than Chapter 1 and everyone shares those expectations, and is prepared to possibly lose these characters. Which is, frankly, another thing that comes up specifically in actual play: what the table knows and expects and is prepared to accept is often something much harsher than the audience is prepared to accept. I mentioned being irritated at the presumptive nature of a lot of safety tool discussion (and am feeling very validated by Spenser's tweet about how he handled the letters to Sean) but like...when the CR or D20 or Candela tables prepare for their games, they have talked about expectations of tone and whether the GM will be trying to gently usher new players to victory, flat out gunning for a potential TPK, or somewhere in between.

This was a long, pre-full dose of caffeine way to say that one of the biggest rules of GM-ing is that the GM sets the tone of which the danger and difficulty of the world is part, and also that, based on everything about how this chapter has been presented, if someone accuses Spenser of being very hard on the party my answer is "...yeah, no shit, did you fail to realize that from the tone and text of literally every trailer and interview?"

#answered #Anonymous #candela obscura #i don't necessarily think the people making this complaint are No Combat D&D People. but also. they give off that air. #that But TTRPGs Are Supposed To Be About How Cool My PC Is and it's like. you can do that at your table #some of us want to experience catharsis through fiction though hope this helps

[danse--macabre]

jaheira/astarion headcanons:

he constantly flirts (which is par for the course for astarion), as early as the end of Act 2, but it is just so ineffective. so ineffective. your lies mean nothing pretty boy!

jaheira enjoys rebuffing this and coming up with creative ways to tell him his lines do nothing, lol.

he also constantly winds her up as well. will joke about her being a bare-foot hippie for simply being a druid. has called her 'the great jaheira' and 'the high harper' before ('and what does the high harper think?'), just to annoy. attention-seeking behaviour!

this is admittedly something jaheira will also do. loves to rib him for complaining about the damp, the wet, the cold, the mud, nature in general, walking too much, carrying too much, etc. will call him a soft little baby and an aged old man at the same time.

they are a bickering couple

the fact that astarion couldn't give a shit about nature while jaheira is literally a druid is a running joke and theme when it comes to dunking on each other tbh.

another related running theme: when they finally do hit it off, it's a running joke they never actually have sex in a bed. at camp, in a field, in the dirt, on the floor or against the wall in an abandoned building - but almost never in a bed. (real reason: I did not realise you could rent the elfsong out, sorry. but also astarion does complain about this of course.)

astarion LOVES to try and get jaheira to talk shit. she presents herself as somewhat above it, but jaheira is probably partial some gossip and I think a habit that does begin in the early stages is they will share a bottle of wine and they will start being old judgy queens together

'you're becoming a bad influence,' she'll say, wrinkling her nose, hitting him lightly on the shoulder. 'Was I not already?' She rolls her eyes, walks away. 'All the best things are, darling!' he'll call out, with a cackle, as she walks away.

when jaheira actually turns and gives astarion a genuine and sincere compliment... critical hit, maximum damage, hits the fucking bullseye.

other ways of critically hitting: any gentle caress to his face after a genuine compliment.

lots of genuine arguments as well about adventuring choices. I think one thing that does draw me is that yes, astarion does have people pleasing tendencies but he does tend to be quite vocal about his opinion. I'm fairly sure he and jaheira will clash often BEFORE he becomes super drawn into any kind of romance arc & I think in some ways that's fairly good for him.

astarion thinks the fact that she can turn into a panther and just tear into something is the hottest thing and quite frankly I think he was interested as soon as he saw her do this in the moonrise towers fight.

on jaheira's end... quite frankly if he wasn't a vampire and if they didn't have a job to do she would have just bedded him sooner, he's easy on the eyes and good fun, so why not? It does hit her in the middle of their flirting period that in another universe she wouldn't have hesitated.

when they do hook up jaheira tries to keep it a secret / on the down-low. this lasts about five days LOL.

it's not actually astarion's fault - he can be discreet and respects her wishes - it's just this camp is full of gossip mongers and lae'zel has bat ears. within five days everyone Knows.

at least one person (probably wyll, since he's fairly insightful) thought they'd been hooking up since they hit rivington.

jaheira doesn't realise astarion is slightly older than her until she tries calling him cub.

he laughs her off as a flatterer. she's confused, he tells her to just go on and guess his age. she thinks he's 120 years old.

'Add another century to that darling and you're almost there'. Cue jaheira being slightly stunned and astarion absolutely revelling in it.

I think she will still sometimes refer to him / treat him as if he is younger and he to her as if she is older though. It becomes a running inside joke.

biting: very much off the table when they do finally hook up.

(this does not stop astarion brushing his fangs against her skin to tease her when they hook up. 'Careful. No biting.' 'Oh, I wouldn't dare').

the fact that he is a vampire actually is one of jaheira's concerns and a small point of contention. jaheira has an interesting banter where she explains about a time she killed a spawn quite dramatically - while she's not a 'kill on sight' reckless moralist, she's got no great love for the creatures, and as much as she does come to enjoy the banter and the company, it's tinged with wariness in the first half of Act 3, because Jaheira is slow to trust and quick to suspect

the first bite happens well after cazador is dealt with. honestly I can see it happening on the eve of the final battle. because of jaheira's initial wariness, it becomes a real moment of intimacy and trust. she lets him drink from the arm, rather than the neck, just to maintain more control, has healing and resurrection scrolls prepared (she does not tell him this because she doesn't want to freak him out), etc. But he's able to stop when she asks. After it's over there is a very warm moment, after astarion gives her his sincere, genuine thanks, of her cradling his face and calling him a messy eater (lol)

speaking of Cazador, that's... honestly, it's a Lot given they're having a 'light & breezy' romance and they're still in the casual dalliance stages, have only just started hooking up if at all. jaheira ends up learning about some of the horrific trauma through seeing rather than Astarion telling and I think it'd be a bit mortifying if he weren't so singularly focussed on the goal.

I think Jaheira offers to share a bottle of wine with him the night after. I think he takes up her offer and it's a mix of talking about what happened in his own words (Astarion is actually fairly direct when it comes to talking about traumatic incidents) and also talking about something completely different when it gets too much.

Things definitely do ramp up in the final stretch / final few days before the Battle with the Elder Brain. Lots of post-battle shenanigans with some honest and quite raw moments? It's one of the most intense points of their fling (which increasingly feels NOT like a fling).

But I think Jaheira instinctively draws back after the final battle and tries to walk back some of the intensity and intimacy that developed due to 'it might be our last chance', due to some ingrained fears of intimacy and loss + trying to rationalise it as an impulsive, heat-of-the-moment thing + an expectation that Astarion would just move on anyway (false).

Astarion goes off to become a hero in the spawn ending. He does often return to the gate and they always arrange to meet for a drink. There's a lot of catching up, chatting shit, but also Jaheira increasingly turns to him for advice and to get his perspective on an issue. I think she trusts his viewpoint and when she can get in her head about not being able to save everything or everyone, or a hard choice she has to make, he'll often just go, somewhat bluntly, 'well you did the important thing, didn't you?' and put things in perspective. You killed the bad guy, you stopped the plot, you saved that woman's life. Trust yourself more. (He'll attempt to walk this back with a joke about how he's still a libertine scoundrel; Jaheira will laugh him off)

'You work too hard' is a common complaint of Astarion's. He's right. Jaheira always appreciates hearing it.

I think it's here we might also get touches of Astarion's 'I want to be close without having sex' we see in Act 2. I think there's at least on occasion where they initiate sex, he backs out, she's supportive and they end up cuddling.

Something Jaheira discovers way too late, following the events of the game: he's damned good at giving a massage. 'You didn't think to tell me this while we were sleeping in the dirt?' (Response is something like: 'Oh Jaheira, you wish you'd used me more for my body? My my.')

As said before, the 'I actually have sincere feelings for you' confession comes unexpectedly during the epilogue party, astarion impulsively ends up telling her. Jaheira... has to suddenly deal with the distance she put up like a wall coming crashing down because Astarion is impulsive and bad at holding things in

I think in an interesting mirror to Astarion's request to go slow with sex, Jaheira says she'll need to go slow with intimacy and romance. It's been a while (more than long enough), but she's not really had anything serious since her husband died.

I think as a compromise they maintain long distance for a bit, Astarion continues to adventure, but he'll visit with increasing frequency and for increasingly long periods. Jaheira will, after a while, insist he stay with her and not just in a tavern, and this gradually morphs into him spending months at a time in Baldur's Gate before a lead will pull him in another direction.

Which I think is good for them both. I think Astarion does well from a chance to just develop an identity for himself without being 'a partner' and grow on his own through adventuring. I think it also helps things develop at a pace Jaheira's comfortable with and means Jaheira can set some very concrete boundaries.

As things become serious and Astarion just drops the mask, they're very much 'fondly rib each other in public whenever one of them is even a displays affection, but deeply soft and sweet with each other in private'

Takes them a long while to say anything like 'I love you'.

Personally I can see them doing it after the other gets injured in battle. Berating them for being reckless and then telling them they love them, they're terrified, etc. Quite frankly I can see this happening to them both, but given Jaheira has lost a love before... more meaningful from her mouth.

Astarion is nothing like Khalid and Jaheira is very thankful for this. He's a different thing entirely, but it's not any kind of lesser love either.

#astarion #jaheira #jahstarion #jaheira/astarion #please enjoy these sets of headcanons i wrote at 4am because i was dealing with back pain. most fucking 30s thing ever. #i turn 30 i develop backpain i get obsessed with old queen/old queen. standard.

[aristotels]

kinda long thought train on slavic aesthetic of money and drip

w the current ongoing discussion on healeds blog about neoamericana aesthetics i got thinking

ive seen someone commenting that all these neoamericana aesthetics are "reclamations of white trash identity"; and all this started making me wonder where did "slavic aesthetic" of adidas, vodka, cigarettes, skii masks etc come from

there is obv one aesthetic relating to poverty; especially in yugoslav countries. we have two things at hand - 1) poverty of damaged socialism, 2) "slav drip" with rappers and trap becoming more and more popular.

interestingly, two croatian songs as of late portray this very well; first case rim tim tagi dim, which talks about leaving your country and mass immigration, and tokyo drift about the money, cars, etc (ofc you get a guy with a skii mask).

...but while i was writing this and watching the videos, i noticed that in the first case, song about immigration and poverty - also has a guy in the fucking skii mask

and we get this "street mafia drip" in both songs; dont be fooled by cool cars in the second one, it still takes place in front of an old building with 1950 grafitti (football thing).

and this isnt the first time weve seen this in yugoslav pop culture; vratiće se rode was about gangs, "god drives mercedes" by zabranjeno pušenje was also a comment on gang richness. but involving the new autotune music and starting to celebrate that drip in a cool way, unlike rode or mercedes which criticize it, did not come naturally; on the contrary, i think its a product of the slav aesthetic we see around. i was gonna say nobody in croatia drives these cool ass cars but my dealer did, so like

theres this mix of poverty and becoming rich via gang lifestyle, and i just wonder where it all started, or if we are playing chicken and egg here. i remember when "slavs in tracksuits" was meme de jour, but did we ever analyze where and why it came from? because it absolutely was rooted in "slavs = violence, unintelligence, barbarianism"; and thick accent was absolutely hilarious to western audience, that eventually we all started playing into it as well; and i dont think people were laughing with us, but at us. i think they still do

idk where i was going with this but whatever if i leave it in drafts it will just die, if anyone has anything interesting to add feel free to

#txt

[deardragonbook]

Ways parents can fail children without even realizing it

TW: Mentions of mild child neglect, EDs, physical and mental health.

Sorry for not posting in a while but I just got back from a family holiday. The fact this is the first post I write probably isn’t a good sign but I think this is an interesting topic. 

First, what do I mean by failing a child? Well, I mean that pain is inflicted, either emotional or physical. But in this case without realizing it, I’m not talking obvious physical or verbal abuse. Most of what I’m going to talk about is more ignorance than anything else. But it’s a great way to make characters more distant with their parents without having to make the parents bad people. 

1.- The assumptions that children exaggerate their pain. I’ve seen this so often it’s painful. When a child complains they’re in pain, when they cry and scream for help, parents often treat this as a tantrum and don’t stop to consider perhaps they are actually in a lot of pain. 

As well as illness another thing to consider is, how many of you have had your parents laugh after you fall down and start crying before stopping to check if you’re okay? This can also be emotionally damaging when a child is actually hurt. 

This kind of ignorance can also cause food intolerances to be ignored and be forced to continue eating foods that cause us harm because they’re healthy. 

2.- Failure to recognize your children are different to you. This can be both physical and metal. I think the fastest way to explain this is through two examples: 

1.- Physical. My mother has straight hair, mine is curly. If you don’t know, curly hair requires a very different treatment to straight hair. As a child I recall my mother putting huge emphasis on brushing my hair every morning, I did as I was told and every morning my hair looked worse than before brushing it. It’d be all fizzy and just not nice to touch. My mother saw this as either me not brushing it, or when she saw me brushing it, that I was somehow doing something wrong. When I realized my hair was much better when I didn’t brush it and just combed it in the shower, she was having none of it. It wasn’t until I moved out I was allowed to do what I wanted with my hair and it looks much better now. 

That bad hair care not only affected my mental image of myself, I suffered bullying at school and constant criticism from my mother. When I never got the tools to properly care for my hair. 

2.- Mental. This one is far more obvious. If you have anxiety or any other mental issue that your parents don’t have, convincing them those feelings are real is extremely difficult, sometimes, near impossible. 

But even more simple than that, I study best with music on, if there’s no music I will listen to conversations on the street and not be able to study. My parents studied best in quiet. They forced me to study in a way that didn’t work for me just because it had worked for them. 

3.- Teaching children to save but not to spend. This one is a bit weird but stick with me. As a child I was given very little in material goods, which is fine, if ever I wanted something the answer was you can get with your own money. Okay, teaches children to spend money responsibly! Except the issue was, at the age of fourteen, I needed a computer for school and stuff. Computers are expensive. My pocket money was 5 euros a week. To earn that pocket money I literally ran the house (my father was ill, I ran the house because I was the oldest, my siblings were only like ten and five or something), to save up for a computer I needed to not spend any money during my childhood. I didn’t have new toys or actual hobbies. I also never went out with friends to eat or have drinks or go to the pool. 

Like I’ve said, my parents didn’t mean to take away my childhood. My father wasn’t at fault for being ill. The issue for me was the fact my parents were well-off. My sister at this same age (and I’m happy for her) gets sixty-five euros. The computer ended up being a family computer. I used it to manage the entire house’s administrative work. I let my sibling use it for school later on. It went to my father for work when I left home and bought a laptop. 

And as an adult who lives alone, the amount of anxiety I feel when spending money is... well, I lived off five euros a week during my first few years. I wasn’t eating enough or healthy. I’ve improved, but even now I’m still the person who finds the cheapest thing on the menu and always has that. 

And that’s a trauma they taught me. 

Had spending money been an option during my childhood, I perhaps would have learnt to spend as well as save. But I was taught to save to an extreme point and still do today. 

This is very specific. But there are many ways parents end up teaching traumas while trying to teach healthy habits. A lot of EDs come from home for example. It’s very difficult to stop and think about the long-term consequences of certain actions. 

4.- Body image. I knew what dieting was at the age of three because my mother struggle with her image. I knew I was chubby at the age of four. My mother still talks about my fat phase when I was pre-teen. I don’t even know if it was real at this point though, because at sixteen I was told by my doctor was I worrying under-weight, and my mother told me I was fat. I believed my mother over my doctor until she told me to not be surprised if my summer clothing didn’t fit because I’d put on weight. When every single item I tried on was baggy, I stopped listening to her. She probably still thinks it stretched out while in storage. But I know I stopped fainting when I started eating. 

To this day, my mother reminds me how I musn’t eat desserts and how much better I’d look if I just lost a bit of weight. 

I know from how she talks about herself that it’s more a reflection of her mental health than mine. But the inability to separate our issues from our children’s issues is dangerous. 

Trauma shouldn’t be hereditary. And for that, we need to take a step back and evaluate our beliefs. 

Anyway... that’s enough of my trauma turned into writing advice for one day! 

I’m sorry if this was a bit heavy, I promise to write something lighter soon! 

It’s been a really weird summer for me. I’m sorry I haven’t been active but just seeing the notification from tumblr and other social medias has given me a lot of comfort these months. 

So, thank you for being here! Remember, everything changes, and if things aren’t going great today, that doesn’t mean two years down the line things can’t be better. Sometimes all we can do is wait things out. Hoping you find something to smile about today. 

And, as usual if you want to check out my book, an activity book I have, my free stories or other social medias, all of that and more can be found here.

#writing #writer #writeblr #write #Writing tips #writing advice #writing tip #how I write #how to write #writing reference #writing references

[dlysthings]

Little crush pt.7

->Previous part<-

A/N: Im so sorry for how iregular i am with posting that series and not posting in generally. I don't really have any ideas right now so please if you have any you would want me to write, tell me.

“Hey Daryl! How are you doing?” sitting in front of him you smiled and put your tray of food on the table. This was the new thing in Daryl’s life: your attention. From the day the two of you went into the woods you would always sit with him at lunch or at class. Sometimes your friends would also come and he found out they weren’t like he thought they would be. Slowly but surely you were making progress. Some days he would ask you to go out again and take you into the woods again, showing you the cool plants, flowers and rocks he finds. Some days he would come over to your house, lay in bed next to you and just talk about whatever came to mind to either of you.

Though you never went to his house. You didn’t even know where he lived, whenever you asked or ever brought it up he would immediately stop talking, looking a bit wide-eyed at you, hopping that you would somehow forget about your question about his home. And almost always you did. Shrugging of his strange reaction and going on with your previous activities.

However, Daryl knew he would need to explain to you his home life at some point. He just didn’t know how to explain it to you, let alone bring it up. And you would have questions which he would be too ashamed to answer. And why would you want to hang out with someone this broken. You deserved better than him and he knew it, but for now he was going to hope you don’t find out how damaged he is.

“Good, good. How are ya?” Looking at your face, practically about to split in half by the smile on it, he smiled as well. It wasn’t as bright and noticeable as yours, just lifted corner of his mouth, but still a smile. That was a thing you noticed about him recently. He wasn’t the one to talk much, except when he was asked a question and mostly keeping to himself.

“Same here. Hey, do you want to come to my place after school? If you are free, of course.” You asked. “Yeah, I’m free. I need ta go to my place but I will come over later.  That okay?” Happy with his answer, you grinned and started talking about whatever new gossip you heard this day. Daryl just listened and gave his opinion here and there, dropping a few comments and jokes. You laughed especially hard at some remark he just said.

The proud feeling in his chest was something new and unexpected, a rare thing thanks to the numerous bitter and insulting criticism he received through all the years after his mother’s death. But your laughter gave him the confidence to continue with the comments and soon you were clutching your stomach, your face red from barely being able to take a breath.

The sight was one Daryl wished could burn into his brain and remember forever. He wished the light into your eyes could always remain there. And he was sure he will do everything in his power to keep it there. Soon the bell rang and he needed to get up and go to his next class. You were still red-faced from the lack of air in your lungs. 

“I will see you later, Dar.” Caressing his arm quickly you headed in the opposite way of his class, mixing with the other students around you. Going in the direction he was supposed to he pondered on how touchy feely you had gotten with him.

Every time the two of you separated you would squeeze his shoulder or arm, sometimes hugging him. There were some cases where the universe decides to smile upon him and you would kiss him on the cheek. Without exception he would smile sheepishly and get a pink tint over his cheeks. At least he didn’t flinch when you brushed his body with yours.

It was a hard thing to get used to it, a gentle and affectionate one but he ultimately did. And every time it felt like a fire was lit in his stomach, the warmth spreading to every part of his body, a feeling he could get used to. And he was trying to return them all the time, though still a bit shy. But when you didn’t seem to mind them, even going as far to think you like them, he continued with the light touches.

At the end of the school day he waited for you at the door but he didn’t saw you and decided he would meet you at your house later. Going on his way he thought of how his dad seemed to have disappeared these days, never seeing him around the trailer. It’s not like he was complaining. Without his father around he was able to breath at home, not needing to worry if Will was in a bad mood and wanting to take it out on Daryl.

Sadly, four days have passed since his dad was gone, so he was about to come back every moment now. The thoughts of his dad reminded him how he hasn’t seen Merle in a very long time, the last one being around five months ago. He knew why his brother fled the moment an opportunity presented itself but it still hurt Daryl that his older brother left him to deal with the nightmare of a dad they had.

`````````````````````

Opening the front door of the trailer, Daryl, went inside. The first thing he did was to look around and strain his ears for any signs of his father being home. There was no snoring so he wasn’t asleep somewhere. But when he looked towards the couch he saw the television turned on and the head of a man resting over the cushions. There was not a bald spot so there was no way that was his ad and the only other person having a key to the trailer was his brother.

The thought made goosebumps appear over Daryl’s skin. The last encounter with his older brother wasn’t a particularly friendly one. Merle was high and it seemed that it wasn’t a rare habit of his. The older of the Dixon brothers was dealing meth and trying to get Daryl to help him. Of course Daryl refused, not expecting his brother to go no contact after that.

But now he was here and turning around to see who had just entered. Upon seeing it was his younger brother there a wide grin spread over his face.

 “Well look who is here! I was waitin’ the whole day for ya, Darylina!” His brothers mocking tone didn’t give the idea that Merle was up to good but Daryl knew if he didn’t respond Merle was going to become a lot worse to deal with.

“Hi, Merle. What are ya doin’ here?” he didn’t want to waste his time with whatever bullshit his brother was here for, only wanting to get to your house faster.

“That ain’t the way ya greet yur older brother, is it?” The smile fell from Merle’s face, being replaced by a frown and a cold look into his eyes. Daryl couldn’t tell if his brothers eyes were red because of the colorfully lights coming from the TV. But if he had to guess he would say his brother was on something.

“I need ta go somewhere. So what do ya want?” Daryl was getting impatient and his fists were alreay clenching at his sides. “What got yur panties in a twist, huh Darylina? What did ya find someone to look at ya twice. Maybe ya unstuck yur thong from the roof of yur mouth and got some pussy? Huh?”

The mocking tone was back in the older’s voice and Merle even started laughing at the tough of his brother being worthy of the attention of a girl. But this time Daryl wasn’t going to cower away and stay silent. The time spent with you and the affection you were giving him gave him the confidence he always seemed to lack.

“Shut up, Merle! It’s none of yur business if I did. Now what the hell do ya want?!” Merle has never seen his brother stand up for himself let alone yell at him like that. He was in such shock that his mouth fell open. That was the first time Merle Dixon was at a loss for words.

Using the state his brother was in, Daryl, went into his room, dropping his bag and grabbing the stuff he needed. Going back into the living room his brother’s mouth was now closed but there was a glare that made his blood ran cold. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything but he couldn’t take it back. Going outside he prayed Merle was going to let it go.

Unfortunately for the younger brother, Merle was already thinking of a way to make him pay for his words.

Tadlist:@marvelcasey05 @zomb133g1rl @ryoujoking @starkeysslvt @apperancesaredeceiving4lice @that-german-girl @tobemylover-x

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl fanfiction #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #twd #twd daryl dixon #twd daryl

[beevean]

"Sniff! B-but you can't hate our show! We worked so hard on it! When has hard work ever resulted in a bad product? It's not like the very ideas behind it are bad in the first place!

Also the death of Richter's mom was based on my own father's death and the grief I suffered! I'm totally not telling you this to emotionally manipulate my audience of thousands on Twitter into thinking that anyone who may harshly criticize my work is really an unfeeling douche bag that needs to go fuck themselves! "

I'm starting to like Sam Deats less and less

As you can imagine, this behavior pisses me off.

My father died less than six months ago, I am still processing everything that has happened and I am pouring my grief into writing. I sympathize with Deats grappling with the grief, I really do. I can believe that he projected his experience onto Richter. But what I can't accept is him using it as a shield against criticism. "B-but you can't say Richter was treated badly in the show! I put my trauma in it! What, are you saying I disrespected my father? 🥺"

No, we are pointing out the pattern that the Belmonts are treated like shit in your shows. You know who else had trauma over losing his family? Trevor. You know who got always mocked, treated as comic relief, painted as a washed out asshole who makes his friends swear, and insulted by the fandom fave? Trevor. The main protagonists keep getting disrespected in favor of the thirst baits or the controversy machines. Hell Alucard in Nocturne, who rushes in to kill Drolta at the last minute because Richter couldn't do it, makes fun of him for being "on the brink of utter defeat"! And he's meant to sound cool! He's still the same asshole!

Maybe Deats really tried his best with Richter, but that doesn't automatically mean his work is above reproach. Intent doesn't equal execution. And it's slimy how he keeps hiding behind fake sympathy as a way to deflect criticism.

Good for asking that account to delete that stupid tweet, but the damage has been done. Your own fans laugh at how pathetic the Belmonts are. Also, think why that account thought that tweet would have been a good idea. Maybe they know that there's an audience who enjoys seeing the stronk women denigrate the Belmonts because they're stupid and funny to make fun of. You did this, Deats. Own up to it for once.

#anti netflixvania

[fancylala4]

Why Disney’s rapunzel is a terrible character.

The reason why I’m writing this is that I’ve seen people bring her up against Elsa and say she is the superior character. However, that isn’t true at all, and Rapunzel is a poorly written character. Also, they say her “personality” makes sense for her upbringing, but again it’s not true(I already did say this before in another post). She’s actually an awful character. Here’s why:

Rapunzel isn’t effected by her upbringing. In the movie, she is isolated from the rest of the world for most of her life and only had one person in her life to talk to. However, Rapunzel is characterized as a typical teenager. She’s upbeat, outgoing and happy. The movie never shows us that she was affected negatively by this at all. In fact, they showed the tower as a happy fun zone (so they can make the movie more marketable), and the movie never shows how isolating this place was. Compared this with other characters with similar upbringing as her. Quasi from hbond. He was alone, and we see how this affects him throughout the beginning of the movie. he was nervous and was soft spoken as a result of his upbringing. Even frozen shows how much damage being isolated from the world had on Anna and Elsa. Anna was super naive and rushed into a relationship because of how lonely she was. And Elsa was traumatized and she was afraid of how the kingdom would react to her powers due to her upbringing. Their upbringing affected their character and their movies show that. With Rapunzel, however, she’s is just a static character who doesn’t show how much damage her upbringing did to her like the other three I mentioned. She also doesn’t struggle with talking to strangers and adjusting to the outside world. Rapunzel was never confused with how the outside world works and just acts normally. She even yelled at a group of criminals in the bar and interacted with them like anyone would. May I remind you that she was taught to fear everyone in the outside world all her life. Again, compared this with other characters with similar backgrounds, like quasi. He’s shy, doesn’t really know how to talk to people, and was shown to struggle to adjust to the real world. We see how he reacted to being in town for the first time. Quasi hid his face because of what follo has been telling him for years about how people would reject him. We even see that he was confused by what to do in town. Rapunzel, on the other hand, acted as if she was going to Disney World for the first time. She had no fear to touch the town’s people despite what gothel had been telling all these years, and knew how to interact with a large group of people. This leads me to my next point.

Rapunzel also wasn’t affected by the abused she faced in the movie. As I stated before, she is upbeat, happy and outgoing. We have never seen her have doubts about herself unless she’s in danger or gothel is in the scene. Even then, it’s either dropped rather quickly or when it’s convenient. Take the camp scene, for example, gothel was making rapunzel doubt Flynn’s love for her and that he’s only faking to get his stuff back. In the next scene, we don’t see rapunzel having these doubts about Flynn or his intentions. Hell, We didn’t even see her look at Flynn with a critical eye to see what he is up while in town. She didn’t care about it until the plot needed her to be in that bootleg kiss the girl scene. Wait, there is one scene where she was affected by the abuse, and it was when she first left the tower. That scenes was played for laughs and we were meant to laugh at rapunzel’s breakdown. In fact, most of the abuse scenes were played for laughs! It’s like the film didn’t take this abuse seriously. Why joke about something so serious in one scene and then expect the audience to take it seriously when the movie wants us to? Another thing is that there were no negative traits that rapunzel learned from gothel. She grew up with this toxic environment, and she had no other influences to learn from. She should have some of gothel’s negative traits because she believes that this is normal behavior like her joking about people and being mean spirited. But she doesn’t. She’s nice to everyone. Like I said before, She acts like your typical teenager who goes to school every day except she doesn’t have real flaws.

She didn’t really struggle in the movie and was a plot device. Rapunzel had everything handled to her on a sliver platter. A creepy thief broke into her house? Well, that’s great because he helped her adcive her dream and is the love of her life. The creepy thief tried to scare her by taking her to the bar filled with criminals? She said one thing, and the criminals love her now! They even help them escape from the police. A cop horse is chasing Flynn? She got the horse to like her even though she has never seen one before, and he’s bestie with the creepy thief now! This just makes her so boring. Everything works out for her, she doesn’t go through anything that will affect her, and she doesn’t even have to make an effort to overcome these issues in the story. It also what makes her a plot device to aid the real protagonist of the story. Flynn kicks off the plot and begins an adventure, while Rapunzel is there for the ride and aid him. Also help him out with his own poorly written character development.

Her dreams are uninspiring. All she wants is to see a cultural appropriation show in the town. She’s willing to go through dangerous situations just for this? Especially when you factor in what gothel has said to her about the outside. She should be very scared of the outside world because rapunzel thinks that people are evil and will steal her hair. She wouldn’t even want to risk her own safety just to see a light show. But the movie acts like she’s a typical teenager who lives in a normal town and there’s an event in a different city that her parents banned her from going. Not someone who is isolated from the world and was told how bad it is out there! It would have made sense if the movie had her sneak out of the tower as a kid when gothel was away, look at the light show, but she saw the town and wanted to properly see more of it. Or something else would have been better than “I want to see a light show in the unknown because the plot told me to” kind of dream. It’s even worse because the movie acts like the light show is a once in a lifetime experience and an inspiring dream when it’s not. It comes every year and there’s no sign that the light show would ever stop. It’s even super basic when you compare it with the other 2010 princesses dreams. For example Anna wants to be close to her sister again and Moana wants to explore the sea. While rapunzel wants to see some stupid light show. Oh, and once this “dream” is over, her other dream is being with a creepy 20 something year old man who she has known for 1 day! So much that she was willing to give up her life for this creep that she know for 3 days. Wow, she has a non dream and a dream that people bashed in the other princesses. She’s such a good role model for little girls lol.

How she reacts to her stupid magic. All her life, gothel had told her that her magical powers were important and a great gift. Does this care any issues with the character? Not really. Outside the camp scene, we never see Rapunzel deal with this burden. Did she feel like this magical hair is all she’s good for? Does she like the hair, or does she hate it? We never got any answers about this. She also didn’t cover her hair when people get near? In the kingdom scene, she even got real close to people and didn’t freak out when that criminal touched her hair. She just reacts like any outgoing person would act. Furthermore, she didn’t even get to choose to what to do with her hair because someone else made that decision for her. All in the sake of his trash ass character arc.

#mine #anti tangled #anti disney rapunzel #another post I should have posted earlier but it was in the drafts #long post #tangled critical

[jennycalendar]

Bestie, I need to know why Xander/Willow cheating made sense because I cannot send my brain to the dimension you live and love from but I WANT to.

love this energy! <3

so first of all this meta by @petpluto covers a lot of the points that i think make this beat so compelling (willow and xander's history as neglected/abused kids who have been each other's Person since childhood) but for me i am also really fascinated by how gorgeously it highlights some key issues that willow and xander both struggle with -- issues that manifest really neatly in this specific beat for both of them.

while willow has absolutely grown to love oz, there's a moment in "innocence" that i think is really key to understanding how oz and xander occupy a similar space: willow asking if oz wants to make out with her pretty much directly after finding out about xander and cordelia. oz himself points out within the text: this offer has literally nothing to do with oz as a person and EVERYTHING to do with willow's desire to Flip Xander Off, so we already have this pre-existing situation where willow's romantic decisions are not at all linked to her romantic feelings! even if willow is 100 percent absolutely in love with oz, and i do think that the show plays it like that, there's a lot of psychological stuff that goes into her decision to want to be with xander. the show has established that she's attracted to him, obvs, AND i think that willow and her critically low self-esteem would be really interested in What It Represents to be the kind of girl who has two boys interested in her, particularly after having spent SO LONG waiting for xander in particular to be interested in her! there's also this really special allure in knowing that xander is dating cordelia chase, hottest girl in school, but literally Cannot Resist his Magnetic Pull to willow! like that has to be such an ego boost for her. i can definitely see that playing a part.

xander, meanwhile, is very deliberately making this choice because he does not see cordelia as a safe bet. we see this all through the way that he treats her in season three: he convinces himself in "anne" that she's been cheating on him over the summer with a Hotter Guy (with literally no evidence!), and CRUCIALLY, he is visibly thrown by the notion of being "locker door material" in "lover's walk," suggesting not just that he's guilty about willow but that he just genuinely cannot picture a situation where cordelia is actually proud about being his girlfriend. i think the way that their relationship sprung up did a lot of damage to both of them, because it was born out of shame! both of them were constantly trying to hide this because they didn't want their friends to see them with someone who they knew their friends fucking hated. xander and cordelia share this desire to be perceived as Cool, usually by a specific group of people, and it's this shared desire that has them unified in their decision to keep their relationship a secret in season two. thing is, though, we are shown so many moments where BOTH xander and cordelia express their deeper insecurities and have their partner essentially laugh in their face! fandom has dissected the moments where xander is a shitty boyfriend, but cordelia is also a DEEPLY shitty girlfriend in season two right up until they "go public." (see: xander asking cordelia to go as his date to buffy's birthday party & her saying sharply that she won't because she's ashamed of him/cordelia expressing jealousy and hurt re: xander favoring buffy and willow over her and him making fun of her for it.) her love for him is apparent to us as viewers as soon as the valentine's day fiasco, but xander himself does not trust that love, and in some ways does not actually believe himself capable of hurting cordelia. he does not know that she loves him, and on some level feels that this thing is going to blow up in his face anyway, so it could be argued that starting up a clandestine affair with willow would be a neat and effective way to take control of the inevitable horrible end. (it is also an excellent precursor to his decision to leave anya at the altar -- he wants to be the reason that things fall apart, because he cannot stand the thought of these incredible women who he does not feel worthy of leaving him of their own volition! he has to drive them away himself!)

and as a little footnote, we get the foreshadowing for xander's changing feelings re: willow in becoming pt. 2! xander confesses his love to willow by her bedside, and willow, half-conscious, asks for oz. one could argue that this is a "best friend" love confession, and i do think that it is, but i also think that best friends + teenage hormones can be a really tricky business, and it is very understandable that wires might get crossed there (especially with xander, who has these really rigid expectations about what he as a guy is Supposed To Do, Be, And Feel, and in large part feels as though he's failing at all of them, so of course he overcompensates with fucked up toxic masculinity.) xander is very obviously thrown by willow wanting oz there instead of him, and expresses his deep displeasure with willow/oz being cute and couple-y consistently throughout the latter half of season two. he is just as jealous of oz as willow is jealous of cordelia. again, imo, WAY more complicated than "he has romantic feelings for willow," and a lot of this i think can be much more compelling if seen through the lens of "my best friend is slipping away and becoming someone else's person and i cannot fucking take that. i have to grab them before they're gone, and i know i can, because i know them."

#asks #meta #btvs #xander harris #willow rosenberg #thank you for this! i like talking about it!

[annemarieyeretzian]

Hi! Love your recaps while watching campaign 3. Just wanted to share that Liam constantly bringing up Dorian pretty much confirms my theory that he and Robbie are playing the long game with their characters and planned it since EXU. I felt like this was the case back when Robbie did the four sided dive and admitted that Dorian was attracted to one of the other characters in C3, but recently it’s been pretty obvious that while the rest of the characters have largely not thought of or discussed Dorian, it seems Orym keeps making it a point to remember him. And don’t get me started on Robbie’s Critical Role reaction tweets where he only seems to have things to say when Orym’s involved lol. Anyway, glad to see some blogs are still rooting for Dorym as much as I am 🙂

hi hello thank you!!! I love your theory and want it to be true but being a cynic I have my doubts!!! I know robbie really shipped dariax/dorian in exu, which (although I never understood the energy around them That Way) is real and valid. it also feels very much like everyone is being much more careful about shipping discourse this campaign, which is honestly a relief because the fandom is so rabid about it,* so even though I think both robbie and particularly liam’s actions have definitely at least hinted at dorym I’m also not investing too much in them eventually being canon until more has played out. I think orym making it a point to remember dorian has more to do with a) dorian being one of orym’s best friends and b) liam o’brien’s insistence on emotional damage for the third campaign in a row.

THAT BEING SAID, I do agree that it is 👀 that robbie only seems to react/tweet when something is happening with orym!!! I also don’t think it’s incidental that, like, robbie said dorian and orym had the enemy surrounded “with the power of love” (👀) or that when liam slipped and said “oriam” instead of “orym and dorian” he and robbie had a laugh about the fandom picking that up. they are obviously my ship and I want them to be in love. I am absolutely still rooting for dorym. I have shipped them since episode one of exu. they are the hill I will die on.

(*people went fucking feral for beau/jester, dariax/dorian, and now ashton/orym? even though those are not the directions those characters were/are developing in? and there’s nothing wrong with shipping who you want! do it! it’s a fantasy! but how furious people were at laura for playing jester, canonically into fjord, as… canonically into fjord, and how people derided and actually decided they hated yasha – hated an entire character with an incredible arc outside of a developing romance because she was “in the way” of a ship that WASN’T CANON??? – even though beau and yasha were the ones with canonical feelings for each other, and how people have completely disregarded and ignored dorian and orym’s canonical feelings – platonic or romantic – for each other in favor of dariax/dorian and ashton/orym despite robbie and liam saying dorian and orym are the party dads and robbie later called dariax morrighan’s emotional support boyfriend and most of ashton’s in-canon attention/flirting being directed toward fearne??? I am, as ever, confused as fuck by this fandom and their weird insistence on what they want needing to be canon or they will throw a fucking fit. the vitriol is and always will be fucking bizarre to me.)

#annemarie answers things #ask #anon #critical role #liam o'brien #robbie daymond #orym of the air ashari #orym #dorian storm #dorian #orym x dorian #dorian x orym #dorym #fjorester #beauyasha

[separatist-apologist]

I know this isn’t your usual thing but did you like acosf? Why or why not? I love Nesta and was disappointed with it!

It has been SO LONG since I've ranted about ACOSF. Can you believe there was a time when like, I was knee-deep in Neris and was really critical of the IC? It feels like forever ago.

Did I like ACOSF? Brain off, yes, I liked it a lot. It's very much an SJM novel in which centuries old men get to tell near-teenage women what they do/don't need, put them in danger as life lessons, and any bad behavior on said man's part is erased by the fandom in favor of vilifying the woman in question. And before someone tries to come for me, this happens with literally ALL the ACOTAR woman LI's (so save your breath).

Did I like ACOSF? Brain on, no. Cassian is the picture of petulant asshole unable to reign himself in for 5 minutes. Nesta is so successful in pushing the buttons of the general to the night courts armies that you have to wonder how he even got the job?

The plot is thin and falls apart the moment you examine it. Cassian is GENERAL to the NIGHT COURT. And Rhys asks Cassian why he doesn't want more. Why SHOULD he? Does Rhys want more than being High Lord? Does Azriel want more than being spymaster? Cassian holds the highest position for his profession, why should he have to play courtier, too? It's necessary to move the plot forward, since Nesta is effectively trapped in the house of wind, but it bothered me from the jump. Cassian is supposed to be the most powerful warrior, and the idea that somehow its under vauled to...what? Arguing with Eris? Hilarious.

I also dislike a lot of the romance beats in the book. I don't care about the sex/sex plot line, but Cassian spends a lot of time seemingly breaking Nesta down when he internally is aware that she is punishing herself for things that are not her fault. Like he'll think that, he'll feel sympathy...and then he'll laugh when she falls down the stairs. Azriel asks early in if a facial injury Nesta got is an accident, implying it could have been Cassian and that was an ugly moment to me. It pulled me out of the book like oh my god?

I have spoken so much about that hike scene that I'm not touching it here again, but the idea that it was supposed be therapeutic frustrates me. Cassian has no business punishing Nesta for the problems between herself and her sister and literally cant' help himself it seems. Hardly a good look.

Finally, the whole Eris/Cassian/Nesta plot. While I think that people would have liked the Neris pairing regardless of how Eris acted, SJM was working overtime to make Eris sympathetic for her upcoming plot while also making Cassian...what we saw him as...which made people wonder why Cassian was somehow the better person. Because he's IC? Friends with Rhys (who petulantly hates Nesta over her childhood with his wife)? It was hard not to draw comparisons with their situation and think they could have helped each other.

There are a lot of things I liked- Cassian learning to dance, Cassian and Nesta in the prison, Cassian crying when Nesta confesses she doesn't think she's good enough for him because he's so overwhelmed anyone things HE is too good for THEM.

I was never a Nesta hater, and Cassian was my favorite of the bats, so ACOSF was rough for me. I'm doing a big re-read with LB and I admit, I am both excited and dreading getting back to it.

I think ultimately while SJM's personal journeys are her own, the way she conceptualizes trauma and how one moves through it definitely leaves an ugly taste in my mouth. Themes of being broken, ugly, unwanted and damaged and healing through being broken down further by a man who is your forever soul mate have never sat right.

#sjm critical #im not tagging this as anti because im not anti c/ssien #i like him a lot #but the way hes used narratively in acosf makes him seem like an asshole at BEST

[utilitycaster]

#this is SO real#wbn#there's a strange determination to sort everyone into either witches OR wizards and not just. townsfolk. people.#and to a degree that is where the story has led us (ame has been leaning much heavier on the spirit side of her communication role)#but the mortal world is just as complex and deserving of attention and sympathy as the spirits#and it's almost bizarre to treat everything suvi says as empire fodder rather than legitimate frustration and confusion at a world that#has been closed off to her#'you get what you get' has been taken so far out of the context in which she said it for example#yes I believe she has the incorrect viewpoint imo but there is so much nuance in how suvi doesn't want people to be hurt and wants to-#be able to control that. and how the spirits represent an absolute lack of control with the ability to do whatever they want#(for the most part)#and her fear and even occasional disdain of that is from a further place than empire propaganda#it's from her desire to have control and knowledge of her surroundings. to be able to Know everything#and the spirits laugh in the face of that very idea#and it's not entirely invalid of her to be frightened of that!!!#it's the wizard the witch AND the wild one!!#suvi would not be there if her viewpoint was not valuable if very very flawed#her end goal should not be to become ame because like she said. she's a wizard and she Knows magic!#there is virtue is her strategy and determination and logic#but people seem to favor ignoring that to smooth over the nuance and hope for her to realize her wrongs soon#sorry this was a giant ramble lol

@thespoonisvictory (not putting this on the post bc it's already a long one) Yes to all of this! Like, I think first and foremost people are ignoring that she is a 20 year old whose parents died for the citadel when she was a very young child and that this has been her only home since then and if she did a sudden about face "oh I was wrong about everything" it would be just as fragile and biased as her current worldview; while epiphanies and turning points are real, true and lasting change is ultimately a process and I don't trust an ideology that is adopted as a rapid about-face rather than an ongoing exploration.

The firesides make it clear that she and Ame are in fact very similar people; both will often ultimately do what they want despite personal danger or dangers to others in the party, both genuinely do care a lot about common people but both are at times deeply ignorant of the privileged positions they have held from a very young age (even though Suvi will throw her weight around, the realization that Galani would not have been given the same second chances has absolutely rocked her); and both are extremely out of their element in this story! I think it's also worth keeping in mind that we're in the "so wizards have really fucked up badly here" arc. There's plenty of time to explore the idea that, for example, one corrupt witch could do some pretty significant damage. The main thing that divides Suvi and Ame is what they were taught, and yeah, Suvi is frightened and unsettled by the world of spirits that Ame has been taught to respect and understand and that she never has. I think it's also really worth keeping in mind that Suvi knows that Eursulon's life here is in part because she broke rules she had no possible way of knowing, and I can't imagine she - a person who is all about knowledge and rules - has truly found a way to live with that yet.

For what it's worth I find it fascinating that the meta about Suvi is by and large fairly harsh criticism, and the meta about Imogen is "how dare you speak ill of my 28 year old baby daughter", and also that meta about the imperial wizards in WBN is largely "fuck them bitches, they trapped a god and everything they do is wrong and bad" but there's plenty of meta about the imperial wizard in Critical Role that goes "well he sucks as an individual but his plan is pretty cool actually" because I see a lot of parallels and I know there's overlap in fandoms. It does genuinely feel like people just see the word "god" or "empire" and react without actually listening to the other thousands of words surrounding it.

#for reasons of honor i cannot publicly provide my other thought here re: imogen and suvi but check back on sept 9 #or dm me #anyway. i love suvi very much and a lot of the meta about her is like. i don't care if you criticize her #she is a lot of negative things she is impatient and arrogant and unwittingly uncaring and yeah she supports an imperial force #but so much of it is just suvi empire so suvi bad be like ame. like it's not even good anti-imperialism bc it's so shallow #wbn spoilers