#which is ironic because I’m 99% sure that I don’t like him in a romantic way but it’s good practice to feel more comfortable in dating stuff

[maybege]

I have a date tomorrow and he will come to my apartment to watch a movie and I’ve never been cleaning this thoroughly I feel like that “mom just before guests come over” clip in real life 😂😭

#may’s dating mishaps #may rambles #which is ironic because I’m 99% sure that I don’t like him in a romantic way but it’s good practice to feel more comfortable in dating stuff #but also I hate this and I don’t want anyone in my space and just watch lotr in peace

[alltheselights]

So annoyed by the way this fandom portrays Louis.. like that black house in that meme you know? As if he's never worn colors? Cuddly sweaters and just all around softness. He's a mix of everything, likes football and partying and surely does listen to punk/rock, but also flowers and Abba and romantic things. I just.. why is Harry always allowed to be so multi-dimensional to them but Louis gets put in a box and they say "This is the real Louis, he's a grown man, stop treating him like a baby" :/

Anonymous asked:  Oh look there's little innocent Harry showing off what Louis taught him.. sorry but the way some people talk about them is so ridiculous! As if they're light/darkness personified. (Yes I'm the same anon as just before about L's image and yes I'm annoyed today can you tell? ;P )

Oh yeah, this has bothered me for AGES. Honestly, people have been portraying both Harry and Louis as one-dimensional for years, but the difference is that their one-dimensional portrayal of Louis is more harmful because it tends to place him in a negative light. According to this fandom, Harry is the polite, angelic, pink-wearing, feminine baby who needs to be protected and cared for, despite the fact that he’s 27 years old. On the other hand, Louis is the dark, rude, skull-wearing, masculine protector who should never be portrayed as soft or treated gently because tHaT’s BaByInG HiM!!!111!! People ignore anything that counters these narratives. 

And sadly, fellow Larries are some of the worse perpetrators of these one-dimensional fic character type tropes of them. I see the pink/purple vs. black house meme used constantly despite the fact that there are plenty of examples of Louis in light, soft clothes and Harry in dark clothes. Whenever Harry holds up a middle finger or says the F word, both of which we’ve seen him do many times, you see hundreds of Larries on Twitter saying it’s because Louis or “the hubby” taught him well. Fans constantly say it’s “the Tommo way” when they’re being rude (even though “the Tommo way” has only ever been used by Louis once to refer to how he sets up tents while camping) versus “TPWK.”

At the age of 16, Harry said “think of all the pussy you’ll get” to Matt Cardle when he won The X-Factor, and Louis is he one with fairy lights all around his home and studio. For those of us who actually pay attention to Louis and Harry’s personalities (which is apparently very few people), the only thing that was surprising about Louis acting more gentle and motherly with children and Harry acting like the goofy uncle was that the rest of the fandom seemed so shocked when Lou Teasdale posted those videos in 2015. Also, Louis may wear a lot of black, white, and red, but he’s also dressed in oversized hoodies and soft sweaters about 99 percent of the time, so I’m not sure what’s so intimidating and 🖤🔪💣💀⛓ about that.

And despite these examples that I mentioned just to point out how ridiculous some of the things people say is, it’s ironic because Louis and Harry are actually very similar personality-wise and in how they dress when they’re not working to match their public images. They both tend to dress casually with plenty of dark clothes, they both are kind people who enjoy bantering and messing around with their friends and fans in “rude” ways, and they are both grown ass adults who don’t need to be taught how to act a certain way.

No matter how desperately people want to fit them into boxes and no matter how much fans say they’re just “joking around” when they use that idiotic house meme or say that Louis must’ve taught Harry how to be rude, it’s actually just disrespectful and demeaning to both of them and it’s another reason why this fandom is often very unbearable these days. With Harry, though this one-dimensional portrayal is equally stupid, at least he’s being portrayed positively, but with Louis, it’s like this fandom wants to make him look like a mean, dark, hard person all the time when that doesn’t actually describe him at all. I honestly wish all the people who pretend they’re like this would just stop talking about them entirely, but I know that’s just wishful thinking. It’s really frustrating.

#asks

[babysprouseisart]

Honestly more things are pointing to a permanent separation for SH. No indications of any reconciliation sadly. And it makes it even harder without the confirmation. I guess when they start to get papped with their new SOs will be the day that it is confirmed they are done. And I hope it is soon. This push and pull with them is exhausting

Good day, anon, and welcome to hell. Screams for help will not save you, alas, because when it comes to a topic in which I am 99, 9% sure, I have no equals. I'm sorry you probably got the wrong address, but it's too late. I am merciless and bloodthirsty with anyone who tries to contradict my faith, tries to correct my point of view and convince me of their own, although I did not give it a reason. Because it's my fucking blog where I for x-billionth time has already expressed my exact points and agreed with some people which think and proved the exact opposite to all that you are saying. So be prepared to be slowly but surely tortured by my long ass post.

 So, let's start with what I said about my blog: only good vibes here. I am not interested/concerned about other opposite/negative feedings. I just don't want to make a big deal about it. Here, in my blog, we support Lili Pauline Reinhart and Cole Mitchell Sprouse in any case as couple as well as individuals.

 This means that under no circumstances do we talk about them, their relationships, their projects, their family, or their decisions in a negative way. Yes, we may disagree with something they do, where they do it, and how they do it (what they post, what they like/don't like, write or repost, who they meet, with whom they decide to be, live and communicate with, what they archive/unarchive, and so on), but we do not have the right to judge them or decide how to act. We also can't control it and it's none of our business.

 I repent if I once made the appearance of a person condemning one of them or their family for their actions and possible causes of the separation, it was only my objective external disagreement, points and thoughts aloud, nothing more rude, involved and inappropriate. And I think with many of my words said earlier (or the words of those I follow and reblog their posts) about the behavior of family/friends of Lili, Cole, and so on, people with brains and common sense could agree. Remember this, or write it on your forehead, so that the next time you write to me, you will see these words.

 Moving on, taking into account all of the above, I would like to tell you that it probably won't be enough for one blog to explain to you point by point all my beliefs and points of view on this subject, to prove to you that every fucking word you say is illogical shit and the most real nonsense. It feels like you're an alien who fell from another planet and decided to crawl into our hole with your impressions of a newborn baby who doesn't understand much about the world and its creators. Although in this case, I'm more of the opinion that you are a little asshole, in which the vein of hatred is boiling and you like to come to this and some other blogs to tell us your agenda although we have no idea where you have such rash thoughts, perhaps you have an extra chromosome? Dude, treat your paranoia.

 Further, given that I don't have much time and desire to describe all my points of view point by point, which, unlike your random set of words, really makes sense for hundreds or even thousands of people who have the gray matter to be able to think, I will attach my long - standing post, indicating all the facts at that time proving the opposite to yours. Although, I will try to supplement everything else as much as I can.

 While, we all ( I hope) already realized and accepted that for many reasons, during this quarantine, Lili and Cole had some problems, were distant and ended up apart for a certain period of time, immediately after the end point of the explosion and informing us of all these public actions on social media (I hope you understand), then after a few weeks, they were already confidently moving towards resolution and recovery and that's why:

https://babysprousehart.tumblr.com/post/618026656780648448/hello-i-hope-this-doesnt-come-off-negatively

This was written long before, but still has many valid points and I just want to widen some of them.

Take a sit and follow me word by word.

I shall start my addition of evidence, based on all the guesses and great opinions of others, as well as hints from the Lili and Cole themselves. I would like to start with a significant event and the day when Lili posted a photo from the Antelope Valley on April 28th, well, or 27th, depending on where you are.

Perhaps we lose some missing pieces in this puzzle and forget about something that was done earlier, but I just want to start counting from this moment.

A few facts about this photo/photos:

1) It was posted exactly 3 years later from their famous photoshoot, when very, very, very many people, mostly in media, began to suspect that there is something between them in a romantic way. It was exactly in the same place, exactly with the same style, exactly in a similar image (waving curly hair, light flying dress, black and white effect) and even without a capture. The picture marked the anniversary and is very important for the two of them. An undeniable fact, beat me.

2) That photo was definitely taken by Cole. Why?

Here are a couple more facts in addition to the first:

They have the quality of captured on professional camera.

You can see, that Lili did not tag the photographer and said jokingly that the photo was taken by Milo, why would she lie, or hide that it was anyone else, because clearly she just hid that because it was Cole.

You may have noticed that Austin, when asked who took the photo, whether she took it and whether she is a good photographer, says no and her reaction with a grin and laugh is priceless. She also didn't tag nor the photographer, neither Lili in her photos from there.

You can watch the vlog in the Colleen blog and see there are very similar figures to Cole, Lili and Milo walking along the valley, because, duh, they were there.

You can view her post, where you can see Cole from the back (notice his dark clothing, the same as on one of his post in the profile, which he has already deleted, as well as his position from which the photo of Lili was supposedly taken and it is just in the same place).

You can observe his style of photography and how similar the theme is to the photos from 2017.

You can see the same poppy behind his ear in one of the past stories.

You may have noticed that the photo of Lili is processed with the same effect as several photos in Cole's profile, and I can tell you as an amateur photo editor that it is very identical.

Question: why arrange such a significant photoshoot with your ex after a few weeks of separation? Why is Cole smiling in a photo (black and white one with a mustache and black clothes) probably taken there? Why is everything so secretive if they broke up? Why even post a photo that your ex-boyfriend definitely took? How can you calmly go to this place, which reminds you of your joint travels with your former lover? Therefore, this photo and later another one from there were the first iron arguments in confirming the improvement of things.

 I would like to continue with another ironclad proof.

Lili in early may very fiercely, after a few weeks of Cole's statements about slander and threats, which she did not respond to so clearly at the time, defended Cole and pointed out the private relationship and literally said that people should stop it and even though should hurt and bully her, but not him.

Question: did she defend her ex so publicly? Would Lili talk about a private relationship if that was the way her past relationship was most often? Would she have written anything at all if she didn't care about him and didn't feel something towards him? I don't think so, so it's gibberish to say so (about the break up) when it's the second unquestionable argument.

 Next, we need to talk about the general activity of Cole and Lili in social media. I just want to list some observations, in different order, but it seems like everything we have now:

If earlier it was visible in the posts of Lili that it was clearly a show off, then over time and after the published photos, she began to behave more sincerely and tenderly, began to publish Milo less, began to say that there was only the two of them less, has stopped showing how good she is without certain someone, as if for Cole showing that she could cope without him, which was visible in the posts and stories, she began to talk more about improving her mental health as a result of training, spoke about how later she was feeling better and that she was grateful for those who were with her and difficult times and in light moments, that you just need to live and enjoy.

Additionally, I can say how she shone with each photo, and it was a natural glow of happiness and settling down. She no longer sang sad songs or posted sad songs, on the contrary, posted sexy, funny and relaxed ones. She appeared more in photos taken by paparazzi. She posted sexy, energetic, romantic movies, funny cartoons, watched funny clips, was excited about her project, laughed, danced with her dog, played with a dog with macaroni, cosplayed Willy Wonka (we all have a feeling it’s Cole’s thing, no?), playing with sand, puzzles, posted funny memes in story, which unfortunately coolly accepted as the opposite, posted a poem with a typo and funny answered to a fan who corrected it, told more about poems and attached a photo with a fragment of a poem about love from her upcoming book. She liked some photos from the anniversary of the last episode of the series, where we remember there was a hot scene of her and Cole's character, she liked a Bughead drawing. Yesterday, she actually posted one of the sexiest videos that will not be posted, being single and lonely, we saw that she actually spent more personal time with Cole (I am not saying they weren’t doing t back then), which was investigated thanks to many amazing people here, and even if they don't live together yet, they are more likely to meet and have met with each other, and more hints on sexy times (because, come one, maybe Milo was the one who left a hickey on her neck, huh?), which is undeniable, just compare the fact that she is no longer in the old rental, and he is not in Kj's house, she then posted a photo from some place, which is very similar to where Cole shot a video with Jimmy Fallon.

 He also began to be more active in social networks, exactly after she started posting photos of the Antelope Valley, he posted a series of photos of the kissing couple, even if it was a gay drawings, they were filled with love, there was a photo of him with cattle with the sarcastic caption, then the photo about porn bots, with funny ask to leave him alone and saying it’s not allowed to be horny on quarantine, again a photo of himself with heart eyes that I talked about above, he posted a very funny video recently. There were more photos from the paparazzi after some time when Lili's usually flashed, and then it stopped, then his humorous photo in the washing machine appeared, which she probably had taken, and why so I explained in the attached post, he posted a photo from the walk, which was also probably taken with her, because again, she had a similar location, then he jokingly called Tommy ‘the’ muse, maybe roasting fans, but he didn’t use ‘my’, so, indicating he still has his own muse, then we saw him at that damn party, which caused people's panic, although he is an ordinary person and has the right to relax, and by the way at this party he was very happy and frisky, but nothing bad or shameful happened and he is innocent, then we even saw Cole, after Lili, delete many of the photos, although he had also unarchived some of them several times, as she had, which means that he did not delete them completely, but just removed many of them, leaving the most tender photo after or before the kiss at the famous moment when Lili wanted a toast and eggs at 1 am, or many photos reflecting her body, which also marks not a bad phenomenon, but a simple trolling from them. Proof of this trolling and unarchiving is on the vastness of other blogs and on Twitter, thanks to that girl's video.

 The way their condition and activity on social networks have changed is very noticeable and is also third undeniable fact of denial of the break up. You can compare photos of Cole taken by Alex, where he is clearly very sad and depressed, because it was taken somewhere in the interval of their real breakup. And compare this with his smiling and playful state during the interview with Jimmy, where he also sparkled with happiness and fun, constantly smiling and seemed to be aroused about something (or someone). I think even a newcomer will notice a change in their mood and attitude. You will see the difference. And this does not happen when going through the break up after 4 years of deeply imbued with love relationships. Please understand, damn it.

 I have listed alas not everything that speaks so vividly about things going in the right positive direction and is evidence that everything is getting better again, there will be only more I assure you and you will kiss my ass, as Cole said.

 Execution cannot be pardoned.

 You have one attempt to put a comma and decide your fate, but I think you’ll  fail because you are a total sucker anyway.

 Bye!

#cole sprouse #lili reinhart #sprousehart #sprousehart positivity #sh positivity #bughead #only good vibes here #positivity #anon hate #anon ask #ask #cole and lili #relationship #break up #not a break up #shut up dumbass

[traincat]

i don't ask this with intention of being like One is Better that the Other, but more like understanding them better; how would you say peter's relationships are different form each other, in a nutshell? (or just with gwen and mj?)

That’s a valid question because they are very different relationships and while I don’t like talking about them with the view that One Woman Is Better For The Man Than This Other Woman, Therefore Other Woman Is Terrible, I do think it’s important to acknowledge those differences and they’re interesting to talk about.

Here’s the thing: in 616, I think it’s very important that Peter and Mary Jane aren’t each other’s first relationship. We don’t know as much about her relationship history as we do about Peter’s – we know she’s seen other people, including Harry, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that for the majority of her life, since she was fourteen years old in canon, she’s known Peter was Spider-Man and for a long time kept that secret to herself. (We also know as per ASM #259 that serious relationships justifiably scare her – but I’ll get to that in a moment.) But Peter seriously dated Betty Brant when he was in high school, and, though I don’t think it gets talked up enough in discussions about Peter and Gwen, before Gwen’s death she and Peter were very much planning to get married.

(Amazing Spider-Man #103) 

Cut for length.

(Peter had also briefly thought about proposing to Betty Brant at the end of high school. He’s a marriage monster.)

If I had to use one word to sum up Peter and Gwen’s relationship it would be “passionate.” And not always in a good way. They have a very fast connection in comics, but initially, they don’t really like each other that much. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #35)

They’re on the same wavelength – that wavelength just happens to be “this hot person pisses me off so bad.” But then John Romita sweeps in and things get romantic as opposed to Ditko’s more prickly, vampier Gwen take, and Peter and Gwen start to get closer. That Mary Jane enters the picture and is seeing Peter probably doesn’t hurt Gwen making a more aggressive move on him. One thing I want to clarify that in modern day the word “dating” conjures up, first to mind, a serious image when we talk about fictional relationships, but Peter and MJ were very casually seeing each other after they first finally came face to face, something that seemed to annoy Peter actually:

(Amazing Spider-Man #44) In Webspinners #1′s backup story, The Kiss, Peter describes MJ at this point in time as mercurial and indirect, and says that’s one of the reasons he was more attracted to Gwen at the time. Gwen’s very direct, very passionate, and very open with her emotions, whereas Mary Jane and Peter both have their own secrets. It makes a certain amount of sense that Peter would be drawn to that openness. Peter and Gwen also have a keen interest in the sciences in common, which I also think is a pretty important factor in their early courtship when you consider part of the reason Peter felt isolated in high school was that his classmates didn’t share his interests:

(Amazing Spider-Man #53)

Once Peter and Gwen are together, things get pretty serious pretty quickly, with lots of sappy love declarations and both of them bringing the other around their parents. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #68) Like I said, one of the things I often see overlooked in discussions about Peter and Gwen is just how serious the relationship was at the time of Gwen’s death. They were if not officially engaged then definitely pre-engaged and making plans for marriage. Peter had even wrangled his way into a staff position at the Daily Bugle specifically with his future marriage to Gwen in mind.

(Amazing Spider-Man #99) Peter used to be super good at this whole responsibility thing, in both his costumed and uncostumed lives. 

This isn’t to say Peter and Gwen didn’t have problems – while people paint an image of the college days before Gwen’s death as being some big MJ/Peter/Gwen love triangle, that’s not really true. MJ had a tendency to flirt with Peter, especially in front of Gwen and also Harry, who MJ was seeing at the time, but it was Peter who was at times irrationally jealous of Flash’s flirting with Gwen. 

(Amazing Spider-Man #72)

(ASM #80) Poor Flash really suffered as the least dramatic member of this friend group. It’s a little ironic that Peter got so heated up about Flash of all people because, while Flash does at one point profess more than friendly feelings to Gwen, he’s exceptionally gentle about it and never actually tries to threaten her relationship with Peter.

(Amazing Spider-Man #107)

On Gwen’s side of things, Peter’s frequent disappearances troubled her, and she often begged him to stay with her in times of danger – when he was trying to slip out and discreetly change into his Spider-Man costume – so that Peter would prove to her that he wasn’t a coward. (Look, it was the 60s and 70s in superhero comics and machismo was a big deal.) She could be insecure – Peter’s disappearances sometimes made her think he didn’t love her anymore, a feeling which was compounded when she accidentally lost her temper and yelled at Aunt May about her tendency to coddle Peter, causing May to put some distance between them, and after the death of her father, for which she initially blamed Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man #91) It was that hatred of Spider-Man that made Peter hesitate proposing to her initially, and she briefly left to stay with her uncle and aunt in England thinking that he didn’t care for her as much as she did for him. All those are, when you get down to it, far more serious issues in the relationship than the notion that Mary Jane and Gwen were constantly fighting over Peter.

I said if I had to pick one word for Peter and Gwen’s relationship it would be “passionate” – but I think that’s in part because Gwen herself is a very passionate character. For all her emotional openness compared to Mary Jane’s at the time party girl facade, Gwen felt very deeply about everything, especially about her relationship with Peter. I don’t doubt that if Gwen had lived, she and Peter would have gotten married – it was the natural progression for their relationship at the time. However, I’m not sure they would have stayed married, and not for any “selling the marriage to the devil” reasons. I’m sure they would both have tried very hard to make it work, and I don’t think separating would be easy for either of them, but I’m just not sure if I see them as a successful long term relationship. (Which, for the record, doesn’t make me ship them less.)

With that in mind, I also don’t know if I think PeterMJ happens without Gwen’s death – at least, not in the specific way it does in comics. While he was definitely initially attracted to her – it’s a running joke before Mary Jane appears on panel that Peter desperately tries to avoid meeting her because he thinks that, because Aunt May approves of her and says she’s a nice girl, that she’ll be ugly, which is where Mary Jane’s famous “face it, tiger” line comes in when she reacts to his surprise at the door – the further in love Peter falls with Gwen, the less intrigue Mary Jane seems to hold for him. Before Gwen’s death, he’s even disapproving of her advances, and dislikes the fact that she hits on him in front of Harry when she and Harry are dating.

(Amazing Spider-Man #97)

(ASM #106)

At the time of Gwen’s death, Peter’s impression of Mary Jane isn’t the most favorable in the world: he thinks she’s a flighty, irresponsible party girl – which, to be fair, is the impression Mary Jane has put some serious effort into cultivating. This changes with Gwen’s death with one very important scene that signifies – not necessarily to Peter, who is lost in his grief at the moment, but to the readers – that that’s not who Mary Jane is at all, and it’s the door scene from Amazing Spider-Man #122.

I’ve noted before that Peter has a tendency to lash out verbally towards the people in his life when he’s in the depths of grief, and he can be very good at hurting people, like here when he accuses Mary Jane of not caring that Gwen’s dead and telling her to get out. 

And she doesn’t. If I had to pick a scene that I think is the most pivotal turning point in any Marvel comics relationship, it would be this one. 

Peter and Mary Jane have a more complicated build up to their romance than Peter and Gwen did. Unlike Gwen, who was very much a heart on her sleeve girl, Mary Jane has secrets of her own, something Peter doesn’t really seem to realize when they do launch into a romance of their own, and when Mr. Marriage pops the question to her the first time Mary Jane ends up turning him down.

(ASM #183) 

Mary Jane’s commitment issues are seated deep-seated. Gwen, as far as we know, had no reason not to believe in true love. Mary Jane has many.

(ASM #259)

I love Amazing Spider-Man #257-259 because they totally recontextualize everything about Mary Jane and throw all her previous actions into a sharp and different new light that just makes the most perfect sense. ASM #257-259 reveals two very important things. The first is that Mary Jane knew the whole time, since before Peter ever laid eyes on her, that he was Spider-Man, and that she’s been walking around the whole time carrying this secret.

(Spider-Man: Parallel Lives)

The second is that, with Mary Jane having told Peter she knows his biggest secret, she makes it an even trade and tells him her own, letting him know the details of her childhood that shaped her into the person she is. It’s really worth reading for yourself if you haven’t already and in my opinion it’s one of the best backstory reveals ever written. 

(ASM #259)

Peter and Mary Jane enter into a weird stage in their relationship at this point in time. Mary Jane is, essentially, the only person Peter can confide in once he learns she’s known his secret all along. Mary Jane, on the other hand, finds the nitty-gritty details of Spider-Man’s life difficult to deal with, even as she tries to be there for Peter. One thing I see a lot in Mary Jane vs Gwen discourse is that while Mary Jane loves Spider-Man, Gwen loves Peter, which is a completely movie-based fabrication – in 616, Mary Jane frequently wishes Peter wasn’t Spider-Man and worries about him risking his life. They have a very strong emotional – and physical – connection at this point, but they’re not officially romantically together, and during this point in time Peter is still involved in a tumultuous on-and-off relationship with Felicia Hardy.

(Spectacular Spider-Man #116)

“I’ve just ruined a perfectly good lie.” (Spider-Man vs Wolverine)

They don’t officially get together again until Peter proposes marriage – again. Although Mary Jane initially turns down his offer again, she later calls him from her sister’s home in Pittsburgh asking him to come down and help her.

(ASM #291)

Hearing about Mary Jane’s past is one thing, but Peter’s confronted with it when he finds himself supporting Mary Jane as she tries to figure out what to do when her father’s schemes have landed her estranged sister in jail. It’s a really great lead up to the marriage: Peter has to learn to trust Mary Jane to make decisions, and Mary Jane takes the reigns when she needs to help out in a Spider-Man fight. At the end, in the airport, she agrees to marry him.

(ASM #292)

It’s not magically perfect after that – in ASM Annual #21, the wedding issue, Peter worries about Mary Jane’s more lavish lifestyle and how she’ll handle his more staid one in addition to his fears over what his enemies could do to his new wife, Mary Jane struggles with the concept of committing after so many years of running from that, and the ghost of Gwen still hangs over them both.

They do both end up making it down the aisle, of course, though:

(ASM Annual #21)

One of the things I love about Peter and Mary Jane is that, while I truly do think the characters are soulmates, they’re not perfect – they have relationship problems as big as Mary Jane worrying Peter’s identity as Spider-Man will get him killed or about what effects his irradiated blood might have on any children she might have, to as small as Peter having a crisis over Mary Jane paying his bills for him:

(Web of Spider-Man #37)

And of course Peter and Mary Jane have a much more complicated and complex relationship than Peter and Gwen did, but that’s because Peter and Mary Jane had hundreds of issues over which it develops and deepens, even after their marriage, whereas Gwen Stacy wasn’t even in 100 issues after her first appearance before she died. So I think Peter and Gwen have much more of an instantaneous love connection, which is aided by Gwen’s own emotional openness, whereas Peter and MJ are more of a slow burn, with a lot of stops and starts along the way that end up being the foundation for a very strong love.

#peter parker #mary jane watson #gwen stacy #marvel comics #*replies #long post/ #traincat talks comics #petermj #petergwen #this ended up just being gwen and mj because if i tackled everyone it'd be sooooo long

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Predictions. Most of these ‘problems’ are either not going to be problems or are things fans absolute do admit.

 The video starts off shooting itself in the foot by acknowledging some fans will admit there are problems but that there are those who won’t admit this.

First of all, that’s pretty redundant because...no shit of course there are. There are people who will still defend Game of Thrones as the best TV show ever and there are those who acknowledge the Sopranos (which is the ACTUAL best TV show ever) wasn’t flawless.

Second of all if the author acknowledges this fact then why bother labelling the video ‘fans’ without a qualifier? Just saying ‘fans’ means they are referring to ALL or at least MOST fans. Let’s see how much that holds up in the video.

 10: Constant Major events

Okay so right off the top I’m calling bullshit.

It’s not just that MOST fans absolutely call out the insufferable number of events Spider-Man characters get involved with (even if you exclude line-wide Marvel events like War of the Realms) it’s that if there exists a fan who will honestly defend this as NOT a problem I’ve never seen a hint of them and neither has anyone else I know.

More noticeably though...this isn’t a problem exclusive to Spider-Man, not even a little bit.

EVERY Marvel and DC franchise popular enough have overstuffed annual events. In the X-Men they are literally called X-overs. Avengers No Surrender. This has been happening since the 1990s and REALLY been happening since the late 2000s/early 2010s.

This isn’t a Spider-Man problem its a Marvel/DC problem.

“There is a concern that smaller scale stories don’t sell”

It’s not that smaller scale stories don’t sell it’s that bigger scale stories are more easily marketable in solicits and present ‘sexier’ ideas to the average reader and thus sell MORE!

Also Whilst Spider-Geddon was a huge sprawling plot that’s at odds with Spider-Man’s down to Earth nature, Peter Parker himself was barely involved in it. He battled Morlun in a zoo and that was basically it.

9: Silly villains

...oh dear...

Yes. It sure is a problem that across 55+ years there have been a lot of silly/bad villains like Clock King, Kiteman, Calandar Man and...oh I’m sorry those are all Batman villains!

It’s almost like EVERY superhero has loads of shitty villains if they last long enough or something.

More importantly...as if people friggin count EVERY villain.

You count the NOTABLE ones, the ones that are recurring or a major feature of major stories. And it’s of those guys that you judge a hero’s rogue’s gallery. So on balance Spider-Man has a GREAT rogue’s gallery and a better one than every other Marvel hero.

I mean Jesus Christ once you get passed Moonstone, Dracula and Madam Masque how many honestly good villains are there in Carol Danvers’, Blade’s or Iron Man’s rogues galleries? Two or three, four at a push?

Spidey has like 10 decent to great recurring villains. The Hell does it matter that he also punched Hypno Hustler once in the 1970s? THAT drags down the whole thing?

At least Spider-Man’s dumb or bad villains are memorable.

8: His place with the Avengers

This...is actually a very good point.

Well done WatchMojo...Too bad shittons of Spider-Man fans absolutely DO acknowledge this as a problem.

I don’t see anyone currently complaining that he isn’t a regular Avenger.

7: Immortal Aunt May

Okay for starters Aunt May already died and Peter wasn’t ‘devastated’. Sad, grieving sure but he handled it.

Second of all what is this ‘necessity to keep her around’?

There is no necessity. She serves no purpose if she’s alive and doesn’t know who he is.

As for us knowing May will never be allowed to die? We don’t know that because Marvel did kill her off and committed to that for a while.

But the biggest BS with this argument is that...what Spider-Man fans DON’T know this and WON’T admit this besides John Byne and his cronies?

6: His Way with women

“He’s just an all round terrible boyfriend”

Get fucked no he isn’t.

99% of the problems that stem from Peter as a romantic prospect for a woman are directly connected with his work as Spider-Man. Which is frankly not a million miles away from being a police officer, soldier and doctor combined. Notice how all of them tend to have romantic partners and indeed Peter HAS had successful romantic relationships. As have other superheroes.

You can’t just throw out ‘he’s just all round terrible’ and leave it at that.

“This everyman only dates women who look like supermodels”

Wow...that’s some grade A sexism right there and stupidity there.

Let’s ignore the fact that you could argue that some of the women Peter dates only look like supermodels due to artistic licence and that in universe they aren’t regarded as looking like that.

Let’s ignore the fact that Peter’s dated women who DON’T look like that.

Let’s even ignore the fact 99% of ALL women in comic books if taken at face value look traditionally glamorous and beautiful. Fuck in recent years even Aunt May has been drawn resembling Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren, women who look decidedly more glamorous and attractive for their age than most women in their demographic. She literally looks younger NOW than she did in the 1960s or even the 1990s!

Let’s ignore all that shit and dive a little deeper.

FIRST of all beauty is mostly in the eye of the beholder so ‘supermodel sexy’ is fairly arbitrary here.

Second of all, there is no life algorithm determining people of X level of attraction are unlikely to hook up with people of Y level of attraction and more likely to hook up with people of Z level of attraction.

Third of all by traditional standards of attraction Peter WOULD be appealing to a lot of women. He is himself fairly handsome in his facial features, his physique is obviously in great shape, he’s incredibly intelligent (in the 2010s in particular scientific acumen has been promoted as sexy) and he’s got a responsible and dependable personality, his problem is being too responsible if anything. He’s also fairly open minded, he got over his wife making more money than him fairly quickly, he was aokay with his wife going off to night clubs to party and dance with strangers and be the object of countless people’s sexual fantasies which a lot of men, even today wouldn’t feel totally comfortable with. If a woman knows he’s a superhero too my goodness that could be yet another major source of attraction. Not only could a woman find it very glamorous and find the secrecy and potential danger a turn on but like...friggin doctors and firefighters are routinely framed as the subjects of romantic or sexual fantasies for a lot of people. If you are a bona fide superhero that could easily dial up that kind of attraction to 11. This is to say nothing of the fact that some people find power a turn on and Peter unlike most people has very real physical power. In fact even if a woman doesn’t know he’s a superhero it’s entirely possible that they could pick up on the fact that he is powerful in some way and that could be a potential turn on.

I’m not saying any or all of those apply to every potential partner but it can for a lot of people.

Finally...are we really going to judge these characters on the basis of their looks as opposed to their personalities. Like it’d be more fair if Peter had dated an A-list actress, a high up in the Pentagon and a secret agent but not if he dated like 5 NYC dwelling working women who happened to be traditionally very attractive.

What makes this all worse is that the video is doubly wrong because not only is it not a real problem in the first place but it’s also something that an obnoxiously HUGE chunk of Spider-Man DO refer to (incorrectly) as a problem.

5: The constant attempts to make him the public enemy

This is another thing most fans DO agree is a problem...sort of. Because when the Hell was the last time Spider-Man was regarded as a wanted fugitive anyway? Zdarsky’s run in like 2017 maybe?

More poignantly the notion that the general public wouldn’t view Spider-Man as a vigilante because he’s not grim and gritty is asinine for several reasons.

To begin with he isn’t just a lunatic with guns or a a guy dressed as a bat he’s a bona fide super human entity and one who USED to be an entertainer of all things. That alone provides grounds for people to want to bring him in for taking the law into his own hands.

More importantly this video utterly omits ( in spite of SHOWING the panels proving it) that a huge reason people buy into the idea that Spider-Man should be brought in is because of Jameson’s slander campaign and propaganda against him.

The video isn’t even arguing that the fact that Spider-Man’s been proven innocent multiple times makes repeating him being wanted unbelievable, it’s literally saying any time that ever happened it was BS.

The Avengers comparison is a false equivalency too. Not only was Spidey NOT affiliated with the Avengers for most of his career thus the solidified public opinion of him wasn’t going to be as charitable as the Avengers’ was but more poignantly it ignores WHY the Avengers were more beloved.

Throughout their history the Avengers have either had highly respected members in their line up (like Captain goddam America living legend of WWII!) or had government ties which legitimized them and held them accountable to some degree. For a lot of their history they absolutely weren’t just a big gang of vigilante’s. And a lot of the Avengers didn’t even have secret identities unlike Spider-Man.

Also Jameson slandered them too when Spidey initially joined them so you know...affiliation don’t mean shit.

Finally the video claims that Jameson printing propaganda doesn’t make the public turning on him believable.

Wow...just...wow...

Okay so does Watchmojo know what propaganda is? Shaping the public opinion is literally the whole point of it! So Jameson making a lot of it, although it isn’t just Jameson MOST newspapers in NYC print Anti-Spider-Man stories, is very much making the public’s hatred of Spidey believable because it is shaping their views.

More importantly...has Watchmojo looked at the world right now?

I don’t want to turn this into a big ‘Trump is bad’ post but like...this is a guy who’s got a ridiculous laundry list of immoral, unethical, illegal and just shady shit to his name. And we all know about it. It’s practically shoved in our faces daily unless we actively avoid it.

And a HUGE chunk of America still supports the guy. A HUGE chunk of America swallows his lies and the lies of the people who support him and are on his side. And even if they don’t just swallow everything they contort it in their heads to be right or support him in spite of that stuff for whatever reason.

And he’s not the lone example of this in modern culture or in fact in the history of mankind. A LOT of people are sheep and A LOT of people in the masses will not look at things logically or make sound judgments based on facts but rather follow in lockstep with what most people feel led by a loud voice or at least believe what they want to believe.

And believing that mysterious entertainer who had amazing but creepy powers was in fact a creepy criminal and so says this rich successful man who’s not hiding behind a mask, with the guy he’s accusing never stepping forward to publicly defend himself or deny the accusations?

The masses AREN’T going to just buy that narrative?

Of course they are.

To quote Spider-Man 2002:

“The one thing they love more than a hero, is to see a hero fail, fall. Die trying. In spite of everything you’ve done for them eventually they will hate you.”

4: The refusal to let him age

Again 99% of ALL Spider-Man fans acknowledge this is a problem!

Not that the video gets it’s fact correct.

It seems to have used the Slott run as the foundation of the entire video which as anyone reading my blog for awhile should know, is a big mistake.

In SLOTT’s run Peter was a manchild for sure.

But he absolutely wasn’t in JMS’ run where his age wasn’t exactly pinned down but he acted like a late 20s/early 30s guy. Indeed  he was clearly aging and maturing up until like John Byrne showed up in the late 1990s and even then it wasn’t like he was consistently written to be 22.

More importantly if you were to hypothetically argue Peter was 22-25 forevermore then why is him always acting that way tantamount to making him a manchild? If he acted that way at age 35 sure, but if the idea is he’s 22 and acts 22 then there is no problem.

Not that that is what happened in BND and Slott’s run, I’m just saying.

3: The irreparable damage of One More Day

There are 2 ways to interpret this point.

a)      That OMD caused huge damage at which point what kind of crack is Watchmojo smoking if they think the people who DON’T admit this are anything but a tiny minority and even then they are the newbies who probably don’t know about OMD yet

b)      That everyone admits OMD was bad and damaging but that all/most fans won’t admit that the damage is beyond repair. At which point that’s bullshit because whilst most fans won’t admit that OMD’s damage is irreparable the reason most fans do not admit that is because it’s not true. OMD is 100% fixable it’s just ALLOWING it to be fixed thats the problem.

2: His finances

The only reason Doc Ock managed to be a hero and get a doctorate and found Parker Industries was a combination of bad writing and immorality.

Doc Ock went from not having a Master’s degree to earning a doctorate in under a year which is physically impossible!

He also founded and built up a whole company in that time too which is also physically impossible, there doesn’t exist enough time for this stuff to HAPPEN!

More importantly Doc Ock only managed to do all this through embezzling illegally acquired funds, neglecting his hero responsibilities (hence Norman Osborn was able to gain power!) and basically reusing work he’d already done when he earned his own doctorate.

Oh and let’s not forget Slott turned on the cheat codes for his pet character.

So Watchmojo are making a false equivalency in comparing Peter and Otto.

Peter hasn’t been able to get his finances in order because he never STOLE shittons of money and goods from people or engaged in criminal enterprises to build finances for himself.

He’s stuck trying his best to strike an impossible balance between a job that can allow him to afford the highly expensive life of an inner Manhattan resident, maintain his superhero equipment like expensive web-fluid, look after a family member (in a day and age long before a proper welfare system for healthcare) and have some semblance of a normal life to keep him sane and be a superhero at the same time.

He could NEVER maintain a 9-5 ever without major suspension of disbelief! Hence Slott had to give him a shitty fanfiction job with ‘choose your own hours’.

More importantly in Slott’s run pre-Superior Peter’s finances WERE in a very healthy state. He had to cheat to make it happen but he did it! But back then his Spidey expenses and all his other ones were totally covered.

As for whether Spider-Man fans admit this or not again, it’s not a case of the majority saying this because the discourse is way more all over the place on this topic. What is more poignant though is that MOST fans do make shitty Superior comparisons like the above.

1: His repeated failure to live by that one important rule

First of all Watchmojo misquotes the rule so not off to a great start here.

“Supposedly central to the character”????????? Did Tom Brevoort fund this video or something?

“Why doesn’t he apply this to all aspects of his life” He does. That’s the point. The responsibilities of normal life vs. superhero responsibilities. Hence the struggle in the early days was being a hero AND looking after his Aunt May.

And oh boy....pulling out the most infamous moment from the Clone Saga.

Real classy Watchmojo.

For real I’m honestly sick and disgusted of people pulling this scene out of context.

Now I wrote a long ass article dissecting that story/scene years ago so feel free to read that.

tl:dr version: Peter and Ben Reilly were stated to be out of control and not in their right minds. Peter had recently lost Aunt May, his parents and endured numerous immense stresses upon his psyche which had resulted in him having a mental breakdown.

He got better but very quickly thereafter endured more, perhaps even more severe mental stresses and traumas. People who endure breakdowns are unfortunately more vulnerable to further breakdowns so when someone who’s had a breakdown recently, then very recently recovered has inadequate time to heal and is hit in quick succession with traumatic experiences another breakdown is all but inevitable.

In this case Peter broke down when his entire sense of identity was shattered upon learning he was a clone and that this fact might have serious health risks for his pregnant wife and their unborn child, MJ herself even exclaimed ‘my baby’ upon learning Peter was a clone.

BTW when Ben Reilly initially learned he was a clone he wanted to die and contemplated suicide, and he hadn’t built as much of a life for himself as Peter had, he wasn’t an expenctant father or husband for instance.

Anyway this news broke an already severely vulnerable Peter and he attacked Ben Reilly.

In his blind rage Peter without realizing she was there lashed out at Mary Jane when she tried to stop him.

In other words Peter did not consciously, deliberately, in his right mind attack Mary Jane. He didn’t even properly register her presence

And NO, it’s a million miles from someone getting drunk and hitting their wife or getting angry or having long standing anger issues. Those are all things they have a degree of control over, they have the potential to recognize they have a problem and work on it or else not engage in substances or activities that would accentuate a problem or create a potentially toxic scenario.

In this specific case entirely external circumstances Peter had no say in occurred to shatter him  and THEN an accident occurred wherein MJ was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And then nothing like that ever happened again ever!

It was wrong, he should beg her forgivness on his knees and all that entails, but it was 100% NOT what Watchmojo paints it as. It’s irresponsible of them to have presented the scene out of context in fact.

Moving on...Peter is irresponsible because he’s allowed his loved ones to come to harm.

Er, Watchmojo sweetie that’s either because of

a)      Bad writing. Which we do not count in regards to our analysis of who the characters are, hence we don’t count OMD because it’s OUT of character or

b)      He’s human. Peter lives by great power and great responsibility but that isn’t the same thing as him being perfect. He can’t AVOID his loved ones coming to harm 100% of the time because he’s human.

To argue he could by not having them in his life is asinine because he NEEDS human companionship as we all do and the people who know his identity typically maintain a relationship with him nevertheless.

“He’s failed to learn from his past mistakes”

Remember all those criminals Spider-Man deliberately allowed to walk free out of pure selfish disinterest after that one time he did that in 1962?

How about all those times he used a singular webline to save falling people from bridges after that worked out well for him in 1972?

“Where was his great responsibility when he rewrote all of reality in OMD”

It wasn’t present because that was against his character...as mentioned earlier IN THIS VERY VIDEO!

“We aren’t asking for perfection”

And yet a 100% success rate of protecting his loved ones is demanded for him to have lived by Ben’s words even though in real life people can’t protect their loved ones from all forms of harm. I have relatives and family friends who lost their son in a tragic car accident when he was abroad. Are we sitting here saying they were ‘irresponsible’? If so fuck you.

Also...the root of this video is that these are things all/most fans won’t admit to.

As if 99.9% of fans don’t point out how hardcore out of character or irresponsible hitting MJ or making a Mephisto deal was FFS!

#Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Watchmojo #mjwatsonedit #Mary Jane Watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #mj watson #One More Day #Dan Slott #uncle ben #ben parker #aunt may #may parker #avengers #j. jonah jameson #Donald Trump

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 4x10 Hush

aka Tara Maclay has done nothing wrong ever in her entire life

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is one that I’d easily recommend to first time viewers as their introduction to what Buffy can do - but one where I’m also starting to notice my own fatigue about trying to hyperanalyze the show on this rewatch run. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and take a moment to appreciate the nice things in life. And by nice things, I of course mean Tara.

Hush was nominated for an Emmy for its writing, and that’s significant, because it marks the show’s only Emmy nomination in what people consider to be major categories. I guess it’s also sort of an ironic twist that it’s the episode that lacks any dialogue for most of its run time that gets nominated for best writing, especially on a show that was largely known for creating its own language and voice… But that’s sort of the point. (And it’s the kind of ironic twist that Buffy would certainly appreciate.)

Through Hush, Buffy successfully challenges its own tropes and boundaries while maintaining its tone throughout. Quippy dialogues are replaced by visual gags, thanks to acting, editing, and some fantastic musical score choices. This is easily a top 5 episode contender for most of the fandom, and many people’s favorite of the entire show.

That being said, it did bring to the surface my aforementioned critical fatigue thanks to scenes like Xander thinking that Spike killed Anya. The ensuing fight, and the relief upon realizing that Anya is alive is supposed to prove that Xander truly cares about her… and then is immediately undercut as the two very unsubtly leave for a quickie.

I find that I have a much harder time getting into Xander and Anya’s relationship now, but that scene also tells me that the show is aware of how dysfunctional this relationship is still. Much like the swelling romantic music that played during Xander and Cordelia’s early make-out sessions, here, it feels a purposeful exaggeration to lampshade the romanticization of certain tropes.

Needless to say that at the time I interpreted all as romance played straight, but I enjoy discovering the nuance in these stories now. It’s far from being a subversion, and there is very much a genuine relationship build-up happening between the two, but there’s also a level of self-awareness about where they are now, currently.

I’m also still overthinking Buffy’s dream opening. “When I kiss you, it’ll make the sun go down.”

Is this a foreshadowing for Buffy about Riley’s hidden side, and who he is in the dark? Is this referring to how she talked about having a boyfriend in the daylight now, and does this line then mean that after kissing Riley, she’ll have to integrate him into the Slayer part of her life as well? Or is it just about her fully letting go of Angel and how that day has now truly passed?

What does it all mean???

And if the Wicca group is also the Lesbian Alliance that Riley put up the banner for in the other episode (I’m like 99% sure that that was the actual intent here, even if it’s not a textual equivalence), what does it mean that Tara feels uncomfortable expressing herself in that very environment? Is this a social commentary about silencing the most vulnerable in a community of those it’s supposed to represent?

See, this is why my brain is a mush trying to interpret all these themes and metaphors and probably foreshadowing. I need more processing time.

So instead let’s go into a lighter theme: communication.

There’s an obvious thesis here about how language often makes a barrier to communication. As a result, going non-verbal actually helps Buffy and Riley get over their little dance of blabbery, and even Xander and Anya get their groove back because… Actions speak louder than words? I guess?

But admittedly my favorite thing about this concept is that it’s essentially what informs Tara’s entire character. She stutters. She has valuable input, but she either gets ignored and is spoken over, or she’s put on the spot where she has trouble expressing herself.

Think about that. A character that will become an integral part of the series over the next two and a half seasons, and she was written with this specific episode’s themes in mind. That’s kinda neat.

We also see her running away from the Gentlemen, unable to speak, as her frantic knocking and non-verbal cries for help get ignored by the rest of the dormitory. A fellow student in danger who the rest of her peers are too afraid to open their doors for. What if they become victims too? What if she is the monster?

Everyone except Willow. (Fortune favors the brave and all that.) And while individually they’re easy targets, together, combining their powers, they’re strong enough to protect themselves against the threat. A community of two.

And then they have that adorable talk by the end of the episode, and Tara tells Willow that she’s special. Which is Willow’s catnip, so she’s probably already in love.

I was also wondering about Tara looking up Willow’s room in the dorm directory. (Kinda like Spike did Buffy’s in The Initiative? That’s a weird parallel.) She seemed rather convinced that Willow had powers based on a rather short group interaction… but then I also remembered, that Tara’s magic is pretty intuitive. She’ll spot Faith being in Buffy’s body right away later in the season based on her aura, despite never meeting Buffy. So of course she senses that Willow’s like her.

Alright, so it’s a gaydar.

And I’m just so excited that Tara’s here??? In a show that’s full of flawed characters who will each do some questionable shit, Tara is like an actual ray of sunshine who you can always count on to not be terrible. I love her and I can’t be held responsible if I end up talking about her in most of these posts from now on.

You’ve been warned.

(Fun Fact: the first room we see the Gentlemen visiting is Room 118… So I looked it up, and I know you’re wondering it too, but no, Seeing Red is not the 118th episode of the show. It’s the 119th. 118 is Entropy where Tara and Willow get back together. So there’s that.)

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

[lost-n-stereo]

Summary: Clarke Griffin doesn't want to join Cupid's Arrow, Los Angeles' newest online dating site but her mother insists she at least give it a try. Enter "Fake Blake", a man claiming to be Bellamy Blake, TV's hottest new up and coming actor. With a profile photo that can't be found on the internet, to stories only the man himself could tell, Clarke starts to wonder if her online crush could be her celebrity crush too. Modern Romantic Comedy AU

draw back your bow (let your arrow go)

Part 1 - Clarke

Tuesday night is her favorite night of the week.

Her roommate works late every Tuesday, which means that Clarke gets the television all to herself. And sure, she could always bring up Netflix or whatever on her laptop if she wanted to watch something that her roommate didn’t. But her favorite show is on Tuesday nights, the only one she actually watches live and not on Hulu a day or five later.

­­­It starts in five minutes, so she grabs her favorite plush blanket from her bed and drags that and a pillow onto the couch in the living room she shares with her best friend Raven. They go to the same college but are in two completely different programs and while Clarke is lucky enough to have help from her mom and stepdad for financing, Raven has to work most nights that she’s not in class.

She grabs the remote and turns on the TV just as the opening credits of The Ark are starting. She blushes a little when Bellamy Blake’s name crosses the screen. He’s by far her biggest celebrity crush at the moment. His character Robert Moore is her favorite and not just because Bellamy is so good looking. Robert is tough and strong but also kind and sweet. He’s a guard on a space station called the Ark that can’t come down to Earth because of a nuclear war a hundred years before that’s left the planet uninhabitable.

Sometimes she feels like a nerd for loving this show so much but it is what it is.

Her phone dings halfway through the episode but she doesn’t check until commercial.

Did you think anymore about joining Cupid’s Arrow?

Clarke rolls her eyes at the text from her mother, who’s been trying to get her to join a new dating site that just started up. It’s supposed to be only for people in the Los Angeles area, where she’s currently living while she attends university.

Mom…I told you. I’m not signing up for a dating site that’s just for L.A. People here are the worst.

Clarke, that’s not very nice! How can you say that when you met Raven there?

She’ll give her mom that one. Raven is by far the most badass chick she’s ever met. She briefly thought about trying to ask her out because the girl is a straight up ten. They were dorm roommates their freshman year and then as soon as Clarke got that college experience out of the way she insisted they get an apartment off campus.

Clarke sighs and pulls her legs up under her on the couch. Her mom only means well. It’s been almost two years since Lexa passed away and while Clarke hasn’t been exactly celibate, it’s still hard to think about being in another relationship.

I’ll think about it.

Her phone dings again almost instantly.

That’s all I ask!

She tosses the phone down on the coffee table with a roll of her eyes and turns back to finish the episode.

When it’s over, instead of pulling up Tumblr to check out spoilers for next week’s episode like she does most nights, she types in cupidsarrow.com into her browser and hits enter.

CUPID’S ARROW: THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO MEET NEW PEOPLE IN THE GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA. WHETHER YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A ONE NIGHT ROMANCE OR THE SOULMATE OF YOUR DREAMS, CUPID’S ARROW HAS THE LARGEST DATABASE OF FUN, ATTRACTIVE AND AVAILABLE SINGLES IN YOUR AREA!

“Good lord,” Clarke mumbles to herself as she clicks the Create A Profile button. “Here goes nothing.”

The signup process is pretty basic. Add a photo, but no nudity. Add a bio, but no profanity. She uploads a selfie she took on the beach of Cancun last spring break and starts to type in her bio, keeping it short and sweet.

I’m Clarke, a bisexual college student currently living in LaLaLand while I attend UCLA. I’m originally from the east coast but I plan to stay in California after I graduate. Not looking for anything serious but I’m not looking for a hookup either. Somewhere in between, I guess.

She groans as she reads it out loud. “What am I even doing?” She asks herself as she clicks enter and then her profile is officially live. A popup comes up almost instantly, followed by another, and she clicks through an array of guys and girls that have liked her profile already. Within ten minutes she’s got fifty “arrows” which are apparently the Cupid’s Arrow equivalent of a like. She’s supposed to check the other person’s profile and if she likes them back, she can send a message.

There’s a tab at the top that reads Cupid’s Top Picks, and she clicks it because if she’s here she might as well see what Cupid has to offer her. Her screen is filled with faces and she raises an eyebrow as she takes in how freaking attractive everyone seems to be. Then she remembers that it’s the L.A. crowd, notorious for putting their best face forward even if all they are doing is taking out the trash.

Every photo has two icons, a broken heart or an arrow, so she thinks, what the hell, and starts making her way through the list.

Broken Heart: Guy from Long Beach with a bio that reads “Fuck Bitches, Get Money”

Arrow: Girl from UCLA named Niylah that she’s 99% sure she’s seen on campus before.

Broken Heart, Broken Heart, Arrow, Broken Heart .

She’s almost starting to get into this now, picking and choosing a person based on one photo and a few lines of text might seem super shallow but it’s actually kind of fun.

Her heart stops in her chest when she reaches the next on Cupid’s Top Picks list.

Bellamy Blake’s gorgeous face is staring back at her. And it’s not a promotional photo either, but a candid shot of him sitting on a balcony smoking a cigarette. His feet are bare, propped up on the railing. He’s looking at the camera and smirking, his full lips curled up as the cigarette hangs from the tips of his fingers.

She’s never seen this photo before. And she’s seen a lot of photos of Bellamy Blake.

There’s no way in hell that it’s actually him. Last she heard he was dating a CW actress that plays on The Ark’s spinoff, Grounders. Curiosity gets the better of her and she’s clicking on the profile to see what kind of nonsense this imposter is posting.

I’m Bellamy, I’m 25 years old and I’m an actor. Recently got out of a relationship and I’m looking for someone down to earth, sweet and real. That’s the most important thing…that she’s real.

Clarke’s teeth dig into her bottom lip. That doesn’t sound like someone pretending to be someone famous but she knows that it can’t possibly be the real Bellamy Blake. He could have anyone that he wants, why would he be on some random dating site, making a profile that anyone in the world could find?

Even though it’s fake and she has no idea what the person behind the profile actually looks like, she hits the arrow icon.

That’s the most important thing…that she’s real.

For some reason that hit close to home for her. In this town she’s learned that it’s hard to find people that are real. And she realizes how ironic it is that she’s saying that when this person is definitely NOT being real by posting that he’s Bellamy Blake. But maybe there’s a reason they are hiding behind the façade. Maybe she wants to know what it is.

And maybe there’s a tiny part of her that wonders if he could really be behind the screen on the other side.

***

There’s a message from Bellamy Blake waiting for her when she wakes up the next morning.

She rolls her eyes at herself, her heart pounding when she sees his picture in her message box.

“It’s not fucking him, Clarke. Get yourself together.”

The message is short but nice, not at all inappropriate like some of the other messages she’s gotten.

Hello, Clarke. Thanks for the “arrow”. Is it just me or is that a very strange way to like someone’s profile? Then again, it could be even weirder considering Cupid is a baby in a diaper but I digress. Not to sound like a creeper but I like your profile photo. And not just because you look beautiful, which you do. I have been to Cancun a few times and those beaches are amazing. I’m Bellamy, by the way.

“Why do you have to sound so normal?” She drums her fingers on her keyboard, thinking of something to say back.

“Why does who have to sound so normal?”

Clarke practically jumps out of her chair when Raven walks behind where she’s sitting at the dining room table and into the kitchen. She pours herself a cup of coffee and leans against the counter, raising an eyebrow in Clarke’s direction.

“Uh…no one.” Clarke stutters and Raven snorts.

“Real convincing, Griffin.”

“Fine!” Clarke gives Raven the rundown of the night before. Her mom texting and insisting she try this new dating site and then finding Fake Bellamy’s profile.

“So you sent this guy a like even though you know he’s not the real deal?”

Clarke shrugs. “I know it’s not him but I don’t know. I just felt something when I read his bio.”

Raven blinks at her for a few seconds and then reaches for her phone. “Send me his profile pic.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re going to reverse search that picture. I know you basically cyberstalk Bellamy Blake, so I’m honestly surprised you’ve never seen this photo before. If it’s a fake profile, whoever made it definitely just pulled it off the internet.”

Clarke thinks about it for a second before right clicking and saving the photo and then sending it to Raven’s phone.

“Hmmm.”

Clarke narrows her eyes. “Hmmm? What does ‘hmmm’ mean?”

Raven turns her phone screen around so Clarke can see. “No image matches. Anywhere on the internet. At all. Do you know how rare that is? That a celebrity can take a photo without it getting out online?”

Clarke rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t mean it’s him, Raven. It just means…well I don’t know! But it’s not him.”

“You’re right. It’s not him,” Raven says from behind her mug. “Just be careful, Clarke.  This guy could be anyone in the world. Well…anyone other than Bellamy Blake.”

They both laugh before Raven goes into a story about a friend from work named Murphy that Clarke always jokes is Raven’s work husband. They aren’t romantic, as far as Clarke can tell, but she can tell Raven cares for the guy.

“So, did I tell you Shaw asked me out?”

Clarke’s eyes go wide. “What?! When did this happen?”

Raven blushes, a look Clarke doesn’t see on her friend often. “Yesterday. He came into the diner and asked if I wanted to go to an air show at the base this weekend.”

Shaw is in the Air Force and frequents the diner Raven works at. Sometimes Clarke thinks it’s the only reason he goes there at all.

“That’s awesome,” Clarke tells her and she’s happy for her friend. Raven has had a tough go of it and it’s nice to see a smile on her face.

“Message him back,” Raven tells Clarke before she leaves the kitchen. “You never know, maybe it’s the person you’re supposed to be with. And you have to admit, this would make an insanely funny meetcute story.”

Clarke shakes her head. “You’re insane. I gotta get ready for class.” Raven just shrugs and walks out and before she can question herself, she’s typing a response to the Fake Blake.

I know your profile photo is bogus but I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt and hope you mean it as a joke. I also highly doubt your name is Bellamy, so what’s your real name? You’ve been to Cancun, that’s cool. Did you go for spring break?

She closes her laptop, expecting it to be awhile before she gets a response, but her phone dings almost instantly. She doesn’t recognize the notification sound until she remembers downloading the Cupid’s Arrow app to her phone the night before.

My profile photo is bogus? I don’t understand. My best friend Monty took that photo of me last summer at his beach house in Malibu. And my name is Bellamy, I promise. My mom gave it to me and everything. And no, not spring break. I filmed this little indie film there three years ago.

“Oh, you are good,” Clarke says out loud, laughing as she reads the message again. His best friend Monty. As in, Monty Green, who is another actor on The Ark. This little indie flick filmed in Cancun. If Clarke had to guess, she’d say it was a horror film that Bellamy Blake starred in a couple of years ago that no one she knows has ever even seen.

Whoever this person is, they did their homework on the real Bellamy. She’s going to catch them in a lie eventually. And she doesn’t know why, but it’s kind of fun talking to him.

You must think I was born yesterday. There’s no way in hell you’re Bellamy Blake.

She goes about her morning as she gets ready for class.

Oh, so you know who I am? And why is that so hard to believe? And for what reason would I possibly have to lie?

Clarke snorts as she reads the message. She’s got her mascara wand in one hand and her phone in the other, trying to type with one thumb as she finishes up her makeup.

Lots of reasons. Number one with a bullet, I’d guess, is you wanna get laid. What better way to get a girl’s attention that pretending to be the hottest actor on television right now.

She doesn’t realize what she’s said until his message and then she’s laughing.

Aha…so you think I’m the hottest actor on TV?

No. I said I think Bellamy Blake is the hottest actor.

Same thing, sweetheart. We’re one in the same.

She rolls her eyes and thumbs in a response.

I have to go to class. Maybe you should consider telling me your real name since you’re not entirely horrible to talk to. And honestly, I’m sure you’re a good guy. You don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not.

Her phone beeps one more time before she walks out the door, and his response makes her stop in her tracks.

Pretending is my job, Clarke. Trust me when I say that this is the true me. Quite possibly the truest me that there is.

One thought crosses her mind in a loop as she drives towards campus.

What if it’s really him?

#bellarke #bellarke fanfiction #bffnet #modern au #verse: cupid's arrow #just in case this becomes a series #fanfic #100

[theclaravoyant]

Hey Clara, I really miss your Trans!Fitz stories, and I just wanted to know: is there any on the making? If not, could we got one with Fitzskimmons? Thank you so much!

AN ~ Thank you so much! I’m really glad you like them :D and this prompt gave me an excuse to write something that’s been floating around in my head for quite some time now… it’s easily able to be interpreted as romantic or platonic due to being set during S1, hope you don’t mind. If you have any other and/or more specific ideas, let me know - in the meantime, enjoy!

Read on AO3 (~1900wd). Rated T. Bus Kids or FitzSkimmons. trans!Fitz.

After the Fall, Fitz comes out to Skye - partly for security reasons and partly because he’s wanted to tell her for a while now and never quite did.

also known as

Jemma rapped her nails on the teacup, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. The tears had stopped, for now at least; her grief momentarily suspended in the wake of the increasingly wide-reaching ramifications that seemed to be coming from this. Communications were down. Someone, somewhere was storming the Academy. Their friends and classmates were Hydra, on the run, or dead. It was enough to turn the stomach – only, she hadn’t eaten anything in over a day.

Fitz, lying on his bunk nearby, turned his Rubik’s cube over and over in his hands. His chest felt tight, his thoughts scattered. He stared blankly. Lost.

“D’you think Brian…” he wondered, trailing off before he could form the words. Voice straining, he recalled: “He was stationed at the Hub.”

The Hub. The Triskellion, as it was officially known. One of the first places to fall – and in a big way, too. Which meant there was almost no way Brian’s story ended well. He probably wasn’t Hydra, Fitz thought – and hoped: they’d been fast friends back in the day. But even if he were loyal, Fitz couldn’t help but recall his own experience in the field, barely scraping out alive from his first firefight after almost having his throat slashed and almost blowing up a plane. The plane he’d been on. He’d been a bumbling giraffe of an agent and last time he’d checked, Brian wasn’t much better, physicality-wise. Being surrounded by enemies, and secret ones at that, he wouldn’t last long.

And to think, earlier this morning, Fitz had teared up over wiping the personal data from everyone’s phones.

Fortunately a knock on the door interrupted him before the tears could well again. Unfortunately though, it was Skye, with a tablet in her hands and a solemn, almost timid expression on her face.

“Hey,” she greeted, similar discomfort mixed with sympathy in her tone. “How’re you guys holding up?”

“Great,” Fitz responded, needling and sarcastic. “Nothing like watching everything you’ve ever achieved in your life get taken away. Fictional people taking all the credit – or worse, our names getting wiped while that lot gets to keep the glory. ‘n glory’s not even the worst of it.”

“Fitz.” With as much strength as she could muster, Simmons scolded him. “Don’t take it out on Skye, this isn’t her fault.”

“Take it out?” Fitz retorted. “I’m not taking anything out. This is calm. I’m… zen.”

He clenched his jaw, and pressed the heels of his hands against the cube as hard as he could. The spiked shell of fury that had materialised to shield his grief and panic from prying eyes quickly crumbled and he sighed. Sitting up, he wiped a hand over his face to clear the clutter and haze.

“Sorry,” he whispered earnestly. “This is just… a lot.”

“I understand.” Skye nodded, then shrugged, and then realised that a shrug was probably not appropriate. In truth, while she saw their pain it was difficult to connect. She didn’t have a history of marked achievement that anyone could take away though, she supposed. Nor did she have the kind of network of acquaintances, colleagues and friends that they did. 99% of all the people in the world who cared whether she lived or died were in this building, going through this same pain, this same fear, as Fitz and Simmons were. As guilty as the thought made her feel, she hadn’t felt so grateful to be alone in a long time.

“We’re the lucky ones, though,” Jemma pointed out. Her tea was going cold. “Our loss is just paper, really, just scraps of code. Accolades. Plenty of people save the world and never get half as much.”

“True,” Fitz acknowledged, though it didn’t make him feel any better.

“I’m – sorry to do this,” Skye pressed, “but I’m actually here on business. I need to know, is there anything else you can think of where your personal details might be found. Old social media profiles, comments on New Yorker articles, a digitized catalogue of your baby photos…”

Jemma shook her head, but Fitz hummed in consternation. Skye raised an eyebrow and he let out a second sigh.

“Actually,” he said, “there is.”

Jemma glanced at him like she knew what he was talking about. Fitz glanced back at her, as if he had been expecting the look.

“It’s okay, Jemma. I was going to tell her sooner or later.”

“Tell me what?” Skye frowned, watching as Jemma brought Fitz what appeared to be an old shoebox, from his shelf. Fitz waved Skye over as he dug through it.

“I want to show you something,” he said. She sat on the bed beside him and took the photograph he held out. On a field of thick, patchy grass – somebody’s yard, most likely – stood a young child, probably around eight years old. A little girl, sandy blonde hair, her fists clenched in the skirt of her dress, which was somewhere between white and yellow – the photo was a little discoloured with age, so it was hard to tell. The girl scowled at the camera, and her eyes were on somebody standing next to the photographer, out of frame.

“School picture day?” Skye quipped, looking back at Fitz.

“It was, actually,” Fitz recalled, with a grimace. “But that’s not why I’m showing you.

Skye scanned the picture again. Not much more came to mind by way of observation, except that the girl looked like Fitz – which was unsurprising, since he had her photograph in his box of momentos from home.

“Who is she?” Skye speculated. “Your sister? D’you have a sister?”

“No.” Fitz took a deep breath. Time to move this along. “That’s me.”

“Really?” Skye frowned down at the picture again, and bit her lip. Part of her wondered if this was not another one of their pranks, though to what end she wasn’t sure, and the timing seemed extremely insensitive, even for Jemma’s usual tactlessless. Plus, as best Skye could tell, the photo was genuine and there was no other reason she could think of for Fitz to expose this kind of secret only to lie about it. Surely it would be easier to fake having a sister. And even if Fitz could pull it off, Jemma wasn’t sitting beside him, holding his hand, with an eerily May-like expression of neutrality for nothing.

“Okay,” Skye said. “I believe you.”

Fitz frowned a little, surprised at the anti-climactic response. “Do you have questions?”

“What kind of security threat do you think this poses?”

“What?”

“That’s why you showed me, right?”

“Right. Yeah.” He blinked, pulling himself together. “I’m not sure. There’s probably not even that much of her online, but you said everything, so, um…”

Feeling his hands begin to fret again, Jemma passed a pillow over. Fitz hugged it close to his chest. Skye was busy scanning the picture into her device and adding it to the search parameters, so Fitz had time to check his voice before he spoke.

“Her – My, uh, name was Bridget. If that means anything.”

“Sure, I’ll add it,” Skye murmured, typing into the search field. She paused, finger hovering above the screen. Fitz seemed hurt, and though her job was important – possibly moreso than anything she’d done with Shield so far – she was finding it hard to ignore the shimmering vulnerability that seemed to emanate off him. Maybe she didn’t understand the depth of what they, as Shield veterans, were going through right now, but Fitz clearly put a lot of weight on coming out to her and she was rejecting him. She knew that feeling far too well.

Taking a deep breath, Skye set the tablet aside.

“Sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to be an ass, I just didn’t want to pry, which is ironic, since I’ve been sifting through everyone’s dirty laundry the last few days…”

“S’okay,” Fitz replied. “Kinda surprised you didn’t know already, actually. Everyone else does.”

“Everyone?” Skye raised an eyebrow.

“It’s in my file, so May and Coulson definitely know, and I told Jemma already. Ward, I’m not sure. Sometimes he says things… but maybe he’s just teasing me, or I’m reading too much in. He does have higher clearance though so who knows.” Fitz shook his head. “That’s not the point. The point is, I didn’t really tell you because of security. I mean, that helped, but either way it just didn’t seem right that everyone else got to know and you didn’t.”

“Then, thank you,” Skye said. “I wish it could have been a less morbid occasion but here we are. Can I sit?”

Fitz and Simmons scooched along the bed to give Skye some space. Then all three of them leant backward, and huffed out a breath of air as they took sanctuary lying under the roof of Fitz’s bunk.

“Can I ask, Skye,” Jemma wondered, “you didn’t seem that surprised, or confused. Have you encountered this sort of thing much before?”

“I mean, yeah.” Skye shrugged. “I was an underground anarchist hacktivist. You meet all sorts of people in that world, plenty of trans people. Might be a bit out of date but for the most part it’s… pretty normal to me, if that makes sense.”

“Sure you don’t have any questions?” Fitz asked. Skye took a moment to consider, and then ventured forward.

“Okay, I’ve gotta ask. Leopold?”

“I know,” Fitz groaned. “My mum thought of it. Thought it sounded brave and strong. ‘Lion-heart’. You know.” He snorted, and gestured down the length of his body with distaste. “Then she got this string bean.”

Jemma batted at him. “Shush, you. I think you’re very brave. You can’t be brave without being scared first.”

“Yeah… that’s not better.”

Fitz screwed up his nose and Jemma laughed. Skye laughed with her, and her hands joined the tangle of Fitz’s and Simmons’ in the middle of them all. As the humour of the moment fizzled - the weight of the day’s more sobering revelations making itself felt once more - she gave a squeeze.

“Thank you for trusting me,” she said. “I promise I won’t tell anyone. And for the record, I think you’re plenty brave. Not just for this, I mean - I knew you for like, one day, and you’d already been shot at, held at gunpoint, and nearly blown up twice and you still didn’t tell Shield to shove it, so don’t underestimate yourself. But also… there is something to this. Knowing who you are. To be honest, I’m kinda jealous, actually.”

A heavy moment passed between the three of them as they reflected further back than the fall of Shield. It was not only Fitz and Simmons who’d had their worlds shaken lately: Skye’s search for her mother had come to the most heartbreaking dead-end possible, and despite all her hopes, she was an orphan after all.

But after that moment, Fitz squeezed her hand.

“Hey,” he quipped. “Who says I know who I am? I have an existential crisis every other day. Got one scheduled for tomorrow at 10 if you want to join.”

“Sounds good,” Skye said. “I’m in.”

#bus kids #fitzskimmons #fitzdaisy #aospositivitynet #aosficnet #clara's fic tag #prompt me stuff #Anonymous #trans!fitz

[sundogsandrainbows]

Do you have any distinct "headcanons" (your OC, your canon lol) for your Wardens? Like, what makes them distinct? I really love what I know of your Mahariel, and I'm wondering if you have any others that you've developed as much! ^^ -A Gay Bloodmage ♡

Lenya occupies 99% of my creative writing headspace, so there is not really much room for other characters or wardens beside her right now, ahem xD Which has the unfortunate effect that I don’t talk about them as much as I probably should.

I do have a Brosca, who I would call my main Warden aside of Lenya. Or second Warden, for that matter. Saria is pretty much an accidental byproduct of me playing around in the character creator and gosh, how could I not play this cutie then:

HC/random facts: (oh boy, this got long)

Saria is a shield and sword warrior, mainly because she’d looted a shield from a corpse someday and found out how much fun it is to bash people in the head (or, if they are much larger than her, into their dicks/respective squishy bits) with it.

Alistair is fucking terrified every time he sees her fight, because it is such a stark contrast to her otherwise shy and rather insecure persona.

Fighting is cathartic to her, because it means (re)acting rather than having to think, which she does all too much. About everything. She is very self-conscious.

Speaking of which, her insecurity, shyness and questioning of self-worth stems from a life of abuse through her alcoholic mother, who made her feel unwanted whenever possible.  

Rica was the one who gave her the name Saria, since their mother only called her mockingly “duster”and never bothered to name her properly.

Rica is also the one who raised her, showed her love and protected her from their mother’s aggression/frustration whenever possible.

Thus her sister means everything to her. She is also the reason why she joined the carta, despite her struggling with this line of work. Saria hates it, but knows as duster there is little choice other than follow orders and be a carta thug.

Leske makes it easier. At least a bit. They had an one time thing/tumble, but stone it was weird and no, never again. They agreed to stay friends and partner in crime, ofc.

If you threaten Rica you are dead, no matter who or how tall you are. Bye bye. Never threaten her friends either, unless you like being smashed to a pulp. 

She had a few casual flings with women and men. Rarely, but it happened. 

Duncan is the coolest, kindest human she’d ever met. Also the first, but hey, that doesn’t count right? He immediately treated her like a person, with respect. Unlike the rest of Orzammar

She had a total Eowyn “I’m no man” moment in the proving arena.

Saria can’t understand why Duncan wanted to recruit her, but holy nugshit yes yes yes, she agreed before he could change his mind.Though even then she couldn’t leave without making sure that Rica would be okay.

First time she stepped outside was a disaster. She saw the big gaping hole above, clung to the next stone she saw and refused to let go. Duncan needed an hour to convince her that it was save. 

After walking a few steps she became wobbly and queasy, and emptied the content of her stomach into the next brush. Duncan was very patient with her, which she appreciated a lot. Even more that he endured how she clung to his leg for half the journey to Ostagar. 

Water from above? Why? How? This shit is terrifying. Even more so thunderstorms. Snow is awesome, though. Mainly because she can form it into round projectiles and throw at somebody. 

Flowers and herbs are weird. Why are there so many different ones? And why is Morrigan yelling at her not to eat them? What purpose have they then?

Saria can never remember the many names and looks of animals Alistair and Leliana explained to her, and thus calls almost every animal a“nug.” Or if they are bigger “bronto.” She learns it later on, tho.

She managed to convince Shale to give her piggyback rides. The golem has a strict 1 gem=1 ride rule, however. Too bad that Saria seems to stumble over gems EVERYWHERE xD

She is sort of head over heels for Alistair? Like he is so fucking huge, a giant basically, but he is friendly and patient and smiles as she asks all the things about the Wardens?

After Ostagar, they both bond over their shared grief about Duncan.

Her crush on Alistair solidifies as well during that time, but she never acts upon it. He is so pretty and tall and when he tells her that he is a human prince in Redcliffe, because ofc he is, it is obvious that he will never love her.

Leliana’s forehead is constantly reddened from all the facepalming she does, because these two are hunting from one misunderstanding to the next, and are thick as bricks regarding their attraction to each other. While it is obvious to everyone else of course.

After Redcliffe, Alistair and Saria hit a new low, after he yells at her for letting Isolde sacrifice herself. So 10000% certain she butchered any chance with him and pissed and shocked he’d yelled at her like her mother always did, she takes Zevran up on his offer for a “massage”. Ironic twist: She is so tense that Zevran focuses on the massage alone, because brasca my dear warden you needed that.

Vanishing into Zev’s tent naturally made matters only worse between Alistair and Saria. Both are pouting and avoiding each other for days afterwards.

Save Leliana’s forehead Dragon 9:30

Zev is unsure whether to help or make another move, but is amused about their…complete lack of understanding romantic relationships. Not that he is the one to talk, still, it makes long evenings spent at the camp fire much more interesting. 

Morrigan and her never get along well, mainly because she feels defensive/protective of Alistair and dislikes how she is always insulting him. They hit off much later in Orzammar, after Morrigan met Saria’s mother. They basically bond over their abusive parents. Which is not the best, most positive thing to bond over, but hey it works for them.

She is fearful to return to Orzammar, knowing what is waiting for her there. It takes a lot of pep-talk of Leliana and Zevran to go there at all.

Seeing her sister again months later, and her doing so well for herself let her forget about her anxiety quickly. Naturally she is all for supporting Bhelen. 

She is an aunt, gosh. She loves the little boy so much. 

Then Leske happens and everything falls apart again. Seeing how devastated she is after she’d to kill her best friend, Alistair throws aside his stupid grudge/jealousy and consoles her. 

Afterwards, they talk things out, and he confesses his feelings for her and gives her The Rose™.

Naturally Saria does not know what to do with this, but gosh he called her a rare and beautiful thing, when she thought she would never escape dust town, even after becoming a Warden. So she might keep that herb…flower thing instead of eating it. After all, she doesn’t need Morrigan to yell at her again, after they get along now. 

They kiss and spend the rest of the day cuddling. Somewhere in Orzammar, Leliana dances a happy dance. 

She hates the Deep Roads. But then again, everyone does.

Bhelen is crowned king and her sister is his mistress. Wow, cool. And with Alistair being a prince and heir to the throne she could have that too :)

Due to her alcoholic mother Saria never touches any drinks. Also out of fear to become like her then. Naturally her and Oghren don’t get along well. She tries to help him in hiding his stash, which goes over just as well as you imagine it to go. Their relationship is very distanced, tho she appreciates his aid in battles. Beyond that, she lets the others handle him.

Being caught between fearful and fascinated by magic, she nearly recruits the templar in the circle quest, until the passionate plea of Zevran changes her mind and she save the mages in last minute.

Wynne becomes the group mom and is practically/somewhat the mother Saria never had.

Alistair’s and Saria’s first time is after the circle quest, in the inn. Saria had made moves before, quite enthusiastically even, but Alistair asked her to still wait a bit, since he wasn’t ready.

Loving Alistair is terrifying and beautiful alike. Saria had always conflated love with sex, so learning that she is worthy of love and even is loved in such an open, genuine way by him, is a whole different experience than the quick tumbles before. 

They are that gross lovey-dovey doe-eyed couple who can’t get enough of each other and make Morrigan gag while Leliana (and also Zev, bc no hard feelings here) cheers them on xD

Saria never hardens Alistair (well she does, quite often in fact, but just in another way…ahem) since after visiting his sister the last thing she would say is “everyone is out for themselves. You better learn that.” She consoles him and they declare their love for each other…again. Somewhere in the distance, you can hear Morrigan gagging.

She breaks the curse and saves both, the elves and humans turned werewolves. Forests are weird, especially this one. Saria is happy when they are able to leave there again. 

After meeting Arl assho…Eamon awake and seeing how he treats Alistair like a pawn despite him protesting against it, very loudly and often, Saria quickly changes her mind on making Alistair king. He should be free to choose his life and not be bound to the family and blood that never even acknowledged him and treated him like nugshit. (If they weren’t all dead already, Saria would smash them into a pulp for that)

She is not a huuuge fan of Anora, mildly put, simply because she reminds her too much on the dwarven nobles at Orzammar. But, as Alistair puts it, better her than him. 

She hates human politics and is glad when the landsmeet is finally over and Queen Anora gives them the much needed troops for the last push.

Alistair is so happy to NOT be king that he visits Saria in her room afterwards and declares once again his undying devotion to her and thanks her…with sex. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The Dark Ritual is as always an ugly affair and nearly doesn’t happen. But, like Lenya, she let him choose whether or not to go through with it. And Alistair does, bc, like Lenya, he doesn’t want her to die.

Saria is the one killing the archdemon and ending the Blight. Alistair and her run off to rebuild the Wardens together. After putting up a memorial for Duncan in Highever and having many weeks off from darkspawn slaying, ofc.

Zev and Leliana stay around in Amaranthine, helping to run things. At least until the Crows come knocking again and threaten Saria once more. Then Zev leaves to “clean up their ranks” but always returns to those he calls his “true friends.”  

#daughter of war #saria brosca #brosca #dragon age #alistair theirin #alistair/brosca #my other oc's #I also have a #cousland #evie cousland #to be exact #tho #this got too long #to fit her in here #so if you wanna know more about her #lemme know

[sgt-peppersmanager]

Do 1-102 😎😎😎 also you're a super cool human being just thought I'd let you know

OMG! Thank you anon!!💙💙💙

1.) what’s a song you depict with your childhood?• Come on Eileen by Dexy Midnight Runners. My aunt played a lot of 80s music for me when I was a kid, and she would sit down and show me music videos from when she was teenager.
2.) did you have a memorable childhood pet? • Yes! Two beagles. Donkey (the name kills me) and Loki. They were brothers.
3.) have you ever been drunk?• Yes, many times. My tolerance is top notch now tho 
4.) have you ever tried drugs?• No actually. 
5.) have you ever completely regretted what you’ve said?• Yes almost everyday.
6.) have you ever made someone cry?• I don’t know if I have actually. 
7.) has someone ever made you cry?• Oh my goodness yes.
8.) have you ever been in love? if so, describe the moment you knew it. • Yes, sadly. Well we were on a sofa in my basement, I was cuddled up in his arms, and we had a Beatles album playing on my record player. The song was And I Love Her, and I honestly can’t remember exactly what he said (funny how things change because I said I would never forget) but it was something along the lines of “haha man this song is how I feel.” Which I kinda ignored cause I figured he didn’t mean that but he said he loved me, I looked at him and said “do you mean that?” And he said “if what I feel for you when I’m with you isn’t love, then I don’t know what is.” And it was that moment where I kinda hit me that I loved that boy all along. Now I hate his guts, again funny how things change. 
9.) which came first the chicken or the egg?• Ted Allen. 
10.) are you part of the lgbtq+ community? do you support them?• Yes! People should be allowed to marry and love who they want regardless of your personal belief! Plus I’m bisexual. 😎
11.) how many siblings do you have?• One older sister and I hate her. 😊
12.) have you ever been in love with someone you couldn’t love?• Yes? Maybe? Idk. 
13.) are you a good cook?•Yes I’ve been cooking since I was 6. 
14.) what is your favorite tv show?• Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I’m trying to find another show though. Always accepting recommendations 👀
15.) what is the last movie you cried during?• Dead Poet’s Society 
16.) what are songs you’ve cried to when you first heard them? (if any)• School Days by The Kinks, Captain Jack by Billy Joel, and High Enough by Damn Yankees cause I’m a fucking dork who heard it after I got my heart broke. 
17.) do you have a middle name?• Elizabeth. Don’t forget the Z, they always forget the z. 
18.) have you been out of your country?• Nope.
19.) are you a chocolate fan or not?• Yes I love dark chocolate and any vegan chocolate. 
20.) how many people have you kissed?• one. 
21.) what is your favorite album?• America’s Least Wanted by Ugly Kid Joe probably. 
22.) what is your dream car?• I always feel so judged when I say what cars I want around my friends, because I know a lot of car enthusiasts. All honesty though I want either an old Chevy camper van because shagwagon amiright, or a hearse like in the Warriors 😂
23.) what is your lucky/favorite number?• 25 or 8
24.) what is your favorite flower?• Roses!!!
25.) books or movies, why?• I love both but I’ll pick movies because I have trouble getting my mind to focus when I read, I’m trying to help myself with that though. 
26.) have you ever been on a blind date?• Nope. 
27.) has one of your friends ever backstabbed you?• Yes. 
28.) have you ever backstabbed one of your friends?• Ugh yes. Never again. 
29.) what thing do you symbolize love with?• Death. Eventually its gotta end one way or another. 
30.) do you have neat handwriting? • Nooooo but my cursive is pretty. Not many people know how to read it so I don’t get to use it much 😢
31.) do you have a friend with benefits?• Nope. 
32.) do you want a friend with benefits?• Eh. Depends on the person. 
33.) if you could be anything in the world, what would you be?• Someone who actually makes a decent living lol 
34.) have you ever been blackout drunk?
• No actually. 35.) have you ever met someone famous?• Nope. 
36.) how many concerts have you been to?• 1, technically 2
37.) which concerts have you been to?• White Reaper. I’ve been to local punk stuff downtown if you want to count that. 
38.) do you have a hidden talent?• Not really. None that I know of. 
39.) what do you do when you’re stressed?• usually lay on my floor and wait for panic attacks to stop and listen to music. 
40.) do you think money can buy love?• well 🎶I don’t care too much for money cause money can’t buy me love 🎵
41.) how old would you date?Well right now the oldest I’ll date is 20 because I’m 17. But when I turn 18 probably date anyone within 10 years of my age, I guess it depends on who it is. 
42.) have you ever done something illegal?• No. i am a perfect innocent little child 😏(lol I’m so full of shit)
43.) what is your biggest fear?• big bodies of water and never escaping my family. 
44.) what is an unusual fear you have?• big bodies of water lol
45.) can you drive?• mhm! 
46.) do you believe in supernatural creatures?• yes!
47.) do you believe in karma?• sometimes????
48.) what is one quality you need in your partner?• sense of humor. 
49.) do looks matter?• eh it’s hard to say because only do you know what you think is “ugly” and what’s “beautiful.” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 
50.) does size matter?• 👀
51.) who is the last person you forgave?• Gabe
52.) what is your favorite ice cream flavor?• Superman, mint chocolate chip, or cookies and cream. But I haven’t found any good vegan substitutes for them 😢
53.) what languages can you speak besides english? • none. 
54.) ever been on a plane?• Yup! 
55.) ever been on a boat? • Yup!
56.) is there anyone you’ve lost touch with that you wish you hadn’t? • of course. 
57.) are there any friendships you regret?• YES. 
58.) are there any friendships you wish you could make?• Yesssssssss 
59.) have you ever stayed awake for 24 (+) hours?• Yup…
60.) have you ever walked outside after 12 am?• Yup!!!
61.) have you ever seen a sunrise completely through?• Yes I have. I get sorta sick a lot (hard to explain) and some nights I only sleep 2 hours so I’ve seen a lot of sunrises. 
62.) are you scared of rollercoasters? • depends on the rollercoaster 
63.) on a scale of 1-10 how stressed are you usually?• 9.5 
64.) do you have any plans this weekend?• Sitting in my room working on an art project and hopefully playing guitar and finishing up homework
65.) do you miss anyone right now?• Yes. 
66.) who do you wish you were talking to right now?• Lots of people.
67.) if you could have any superpower, what would it be?• Invisibility or mind reading. 
68.) who is your favorite superhero?• Quicksilver, Spider-Man, or Deadpool. Comics are kewl. 
69.) are you dirty minded?• Lol yes. I’m an immature asshole. 
70.) what is your favorite song from every decade starting at that 80’s?• 80s - Pretty in Pink by Psychedelic Furs • 90s- Santeria by Sublime or Ironic by Alanis Morissette • 00s - Blue Orchid by The White Stripes 
• 10s - I mean the decade isn’t over yet but digging Judy French by White Reaper a lot. 😎71.) how many kids, if any, do you want?• AGHHHH uhhhh people are gonna freak when I say 3 or 5 but yup. I want a lot. I guess I just wanna have a big happy family for once. 
72.) who is your biggest OTP?• Anastasia and Dimitri
73.) what is your favorite food?• Guacamole 
74.) do you want to be married one day?• Yes. 
75.) dogs or cats?• Both. 
76.) do you drink enough water daily?• 100 oz every damn day baby
77.) have you ever seen a shooting star?• yes only once. 
78.) if you had the opportunity to go to the moon, would you?• I would but not alone. 
79.) how many best friends do you have?• idk really. 
80.) when was the last time you cried?
• few minutes ago lol 81.) have you ever laughed so hard you peed yourself?•no actually. 
82.) have you ever made anyone laugh so hard they peed?• yes. 
83.) if you could travel any where in the world, where would you go?• Europe. 
84.) what are 3 words you would use to describe yourself?• Total Fuck Up. 
85.) do you consider yourself a loyal person?• yes. I usually don’t leave unless you’re a shitty person to me or someone else. 
86.) what is your favorite season and why?• Fall and Winter cause sweaters, hot food, warm drinks, cuddles 
87.) have you ever told anyone you loved them, and didn’t mean it?• Yes but not in a romantic sense. I say it to my family all the time. 
88.) do you know how to play any instruments?• yes! Guitar. 
89.) do you like falling asleep to music or not?• Depends on the night I’m having, but usually yes. 
90.) what are you allergic to?• Cats, I have seasonal allergies, and rabbits
91.) have you ever wanted to be someone else for a day just so you could see what there life is like?• Yes. 
92.) if you could be any character from your favorite tv show would you, and if so, who would you be?• Probably Charlie from Always Sunny because it just seems like an adventure. Lol
93.) if you could be best friends with any celebrity who would it be and why?• Nick Cave because we both have similar artistic visions and mind sets. 
94.) are you outgoing?• sometimes! 
95.) have you ever wanted to kiss someone, but weren’t brave enough to?• Ugh yes. 
96.) are you a good flirt?• I’ve been told I am by many, but I don’t think so. 
97.) have you ever been turned down, or have you ever turned anyone down?• Yes to both. 
98.) which planet is your favorite?
• Neptune or Saturn. 99.) are you superstitious?• Yes. 
100.) are you a good listener? • I like to think so! I don’t always have good advice but I try my best to be there and help. 
101.) are you a good kisser• I’ve been told I “make it difficult to walk after"👀 I honestly don’t know if that’s good or not. So yes???? I guess???? I can’t really kiss myself. 
102.) would you kiss any of your friends?• Sure. Almost kissed a few actually, and I always tell them when I almost do and why I almost did because I feel the need to lol.

#mobile fucked the text over #whoops #thanks Tumblr app

[circlesofts]

Please don't hate me... from the "Get To Know Me" questionnaire: All of them? Or at least all that you choose to answer. You don't have to answer those that you don't want to

Thanks for asking! Don’t worry about it, no hate, i’m happy to do it (Sorry it’s a day or two late, mobile Tumblr doesn’t give me notifications for messenger. Luckily I remembered to check…)

1. What is your middle name? Claire

2. How old are you?20 years old

3. What is your birthday?6th of Feb, the 20 years old thing is fairly recent

4. What is your zodiac sign?Aquarius

5. What is your favorite color?I quite like green/turquoise/purple (#339933, #008060, #990099 for an idea)

6. What’s your lucky number?I don’t really have one, probs 6 or 2

7. Do you have any pets?Used to have lots of pets, currently just a dog and cat, they’re p cute

8. Where are you from?I’m from the North West of England, around the Fylde Coast

9. How tall are you?5″5

10. What shoe size are you?I’m a size 4.5-5 for shoes

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?There’s 10 pairs with me at uni (including slippers) but I have an extra 5 or more pairs at home I think

12. What was your last dream about?I can’t remember my last dream

13. What talents do you have?Umm, I don’t really have any talents, I can sort of do things but nothing I’m really good at? 

14. Are you psychic in any way?I don’t really believe in psychic stuff, but I sometimes really vividly dream stuff before they happen? Then a strong sense of Déjà vu

15. Favorite song?I have too many favourite songs, from too many genre. A few good ones that I listened to recently, Vectors by Area 11, Boy With A Coin by Iron and Wine, Salad Days/My Kind Of Woman by Mac Demarco and finally, the hot new meme Bag Raiders by Shooting Stars

16. Favorite movie?Again, there’s a lot. Anything Ghibli is a hit, also Your Name is a banger. Rogue one was p fantastic, Amélie, Fight Club, Animatrix, so many more

17. Who would be your ideal partner?Idk, someone who tries to understand me I guess, who never stops trying and always want to find out more. Also patience is key, I’m not the easiest person to live with

18. Do you want children?I do want children, but also the idea of it terrifies me

19. Do you want a church wedding?I’ve never been super fussed about marriage but a church wedding does sound appealing in some ways.

20. Are you religious?None Religion with Left Beef

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?I’ve been to the hospital a few times

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?Nah, never been caught

23. Have you ever met any celebrities? Met Alfie Boe, his aunt or mum or smth lives v close to me

24. Baths or showers?Showers for sure

25. What color socks are you wearing?No socks lad

26. Have you ever been famous?I’ve been in the local newspaper a few times, wouldn’t exactly call it famous tho

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?Yes and no, like the idea of being remembered and being influences. Also kind of a poor background so the money would be nice. But also too much pressure

28. What type of music do you like?Cliché as it is, I like a bit of everything. Although preferences for rock, indie, folk. Although I’ve been on a vaporwave jam recently

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?nah

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?2 usually, sometimes 3

31. What position do you usually sleep in?On my front or side I think

32. How big is your house?My uni flat is p small, my parents house is 3 bedroom, small but not super small

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?On the rare occasions I have breakfast, toast w/tomatoes on. Although I did just treat myself to a box of cereal which is very rare.

34. Have you ever fired a gun?Air rifle at scouts, I wasn’t half bad

35. Have you ever tried archery?Again, at scouts

36. Favorite clean word?Altruism

37. Favorite swear word?It has to be cunt

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?3 days, it was during exam period as well

39. Do you have any scars?2 on my face

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?Umm, not in the super romantic sense with surpise gifts and shit. More like people have had crushes and told me months/years later, doesn’t end well usually

41. Are you a good liar?Yes

42. Are you a good judge of character?I’d like to think I am, but probably not. Sometimes tho

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?Poorly

44. Do you have a strong accent?North-west doesn’t have any particularly strong accent. That being said, some people at uni can tell I’m not from the south

45. What is your favorite accent?Italian probs. Although for comedy, it’s gotta be Somerset (think Hot Fuzz)

46. What is your personality type?Quiet probably, I’m not really sure

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?I own some Dr Martens boots, that or a shirt I got in a sale that turned out to be heckin expensive

48. Can you curl your tongue?Ye

49. Are you an innie or an outie?Innie

50. Left or right handed?Right

51. Are you scared of spiders?Definitely house spiders

52. Favorite food?Burgers or chocolate.Although red peppers.

53. Favorite foreign food?I really like Indian curry, not spicy tho. Although there’s nothing more British than going for an Indian, unless it’s a Chinese.

54. Are you a clean or messy person?Kitchen is always clean, bedroom is always messy.

55. Most used phrase?Soft boy, Ayy lmao, That’s gay, it’s chill, It’s a banger. I have a lot of stock phrases I just kinda say without thinking, I don’t remember all of them

56. Most used word?Probably soft, or dickhead

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?if I’m late and I don’t have to look nice, I can be ready in 10-20. However for most things I’m late because I take too damn long59.  Do you have much of an ego?Not really, but it’s easily bruised

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?Bite

60. Do you talk to yourself?Sometimes

61. Do you sing to yourself?Yes, a lot

62. Are you a good singer?Average

63. Biggest Fear?Forgetting things, memories, smells, how something felt. That and things like aneurysms and strokes, I’m really afraid of them.

64. Are you a gossip?Definitely. If it’s not v important or a secret I’m gonna be all over it

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?Little Miss Sunshine

66. Do you like long or short hair?All hair is good hair

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?Nope

68. Favorite school subject?Sociology, Philosophy, Art

69. Extrovert or Introvert?A shy and anxious extrovert

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?Nah

71. What makes you nervous?People with any authority to judge, people judging, being alone, loud people and loud noises. Laddish people

72. Are you scared of the dark?Nah

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?Depends on the mistake, but usually

74. Are you ticklish?Very

75. Have you ever started a rumor?Kinda, yeah. In high school. My friend put his newts in the bathtub while he was cleaning their tank. We were all having a laugh in maths about it and I made a joke about him bathing with his newts and then it became A Thingl. It wasn’t super bad, mostly funny.

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?Yeah

77. Have you ever drank underage?Ye

78. Have you ever done drugs?Ye

79. Who was your first real crush?One of my online friends from back in my Deviantart days

80. How many piercings do you have?None,

81. Can you roll your Rs?Not really, with great effort

82. How fast can you type?Very fast on my phone, average on my laptop

83. How fast can you run?Not sure, I don’t do a lot of running anymore, probably not v fast. Used to be p fast tho

84. What color is your hair?Currently brown

85. What color is your eyes?Hazel

86. What are you allergic to?Nothing

87. Do you keep a journal?Nah

88. What do your parents do?My dad is a welder fabricator, my mum is currently unemployed

89. Do you like your age?Not really? I don’t feel 20 but it makes me anxious, I wanna be a teenager again

90. What makes you angry?injustice, being tricked, when people make me feel stupid

91. Do you like your own name?Ye

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?Nah man

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?Gender or sex isn’t important

94. What are you strengths?I’m a good listener, and I always try and be as kind as thoughtful as I can be. Although sometimes salty, I am usually p good at moving past things and forgiving people, although sometimes a weakness.

95. What are your weaknesses?Anxious, sometimes way too defensive. Because I hate being tricked I have a very bad reaction to pranks. I’m also really forgetful and have poor motivation.

96. How did you get your name?My Grandma is Irish and there’s a river Shannon, also my older bro is called Shaun. Shaun and Shannon is a good name combo.

97. Were your ancestors royalty?Don’t know, don’t think so

98. Do you have any scars?question 39

99. Color of your bedspread?Green and White

100. Color of your room?Room at home is red, room here is white and pale blue.

[thiefking]

the kurosawas are probably the most detached from the rest of the Oc Web because they already have the hayashis to hang out with and kouki & nora are not the best at socializing (kouki wishes he could be. nora does not give a shit) the only other oc that i own that is definitely pre-established friend of theirs is mia...

okay this post got like really long hold on. oc relationship web (the self-insular version where it’s all My Own ocs except for a brief mention of katsuya/nate’s not-husband and the above mention of the hayashis) under the cut

haruka and zagreus (i literallydreamed the character concept and name up before i even knew a single thing about that one game. i dreamed i was a motorcyclist named zagreus and i went that’s fun i’ll make that real. let me live.) are bffs and also very friendly and easygoing people so they pretty much tie every other oc together in one big friendship web, but even more importantly there’s already an established connection to pull in my OTHER social recluse, because zagreus’s royal advisor/older sister figure is ophelia, who is the Biological older sister of nate, and as soon as ophelia and nate are reunited and zagreus finds out about it he’s obviously going to adopt nate as basically his brother and then through zagreus nate also meets ein and haruka and through haruka he meets the babbages. this is the giant web here

i also know that eventually nate and the kurosawas will be friends and i think haruka and nora would make good pals because haruka is like perfectly built to handle nora’s standoffishness... really my biggest trouble is connecting mia to the oc friendship web because she’s very picky about her company and she’s too aloof to maintain actual connections with most people. the only ones i can think of are loose “she’d be chill with zagreus” and “she would assume her being very vulgar and irreverent would piss nate off so she does that on purpose near him but he seems more than okay with it and in fact may even have a chuckle so she’d decide he’s also fine” and “she would be okay with rin (babbage) and ein thinking she’s cool because they Would think she’s cool as hell and mia agrees. but she’d be like errrmmm... no... if any attempt was made to get her to babysit. even though she’d do a decent job of it and isn’t actually as bad with kids as she thinks she is”

also i think thOH RIGHT and ophelia and nora and zagreus obviously have to become friends because they all like jojo. okay anyway i think zagreus and mia would be the most tickled with the fact that nate is this very serious-looking regal prettyboy whose wardrobe makes him look like he’s constantly cosplaying a vampire and/or miles edgeworth and speaks in a generally calm and verbose manner is:

Incredibly Clueless about like... generally accepted concepts like theme parks, roller coasters, anime conventions, video games/pokemon, and if you introduce him to any of these he approaches them with the same straightfaced curiosity and if you ask him questions you get to find out how many things he’s getting wrong. for example he thinks that “voltorb” is what the trainer he’s fighting named their little round pet. like he’d think it was Mr. Voltorb and Ms. Oddish and not realize that it’s a species name. and also he thinks that people getting stopped for pictures at disneyland is just something that happens there and the people all dressed up in their princess/prince outfits are just dressed like that casually because he also showed up dressed similarly and ALSO keeps getting stopped for photos. so he’s like “i see, so it’s a social norm in this town (he thinks disneyland is a town) to expect photographs. understood”

not only is he Not scandalized by hearing the word fuck he himself will occasionally say it. furthermore so long as he actually understands it he will laugh at dirty jokes. more esoteric ones/ones that you can only understand through internet exposure he won’t understand but if you teach him he’ll laugh

related to the above he’s never given up teasing ophelia for accidentally referring to zagreus’s mom as a milf and will very quickly inform people that she did that within the first half hour of reuniting with him after a full decade of neither of them seeing each other and ophelia is tormented by it (and the fact that because she refused to tell him what milf meant, he then asked his not-husband katsuya to define it, said not-husband being someone ophelia had JUST met for the FIRST TIME EVER the same day, who now knew two things about her: she’s nate’s sister and she has the hots for her boss’s mom)

he is willing to attempt to try referencing memes. he does not do it correctly 99% of the time and is strangely verbose about it or just says it with entirely the wrong cadence

has a very easily capitalized-upon curiosity just in general and will not question most requests to do something and will just be like Okay.

this is also all stuff that the rest of the crew would find fairly funny/endearing about him (save for kouki maybe because he and nate are basically on the same wavelength and get along more based on similar personalities and haruka just kinda likes Everyone) but mia and zagreus actively.... i guess exploit? these traits for comedic purposes the most

weirdly i feel like nora wouldn’t exploit it much but maybe it’s because again nate is similar to kouki and nora doesn’t tend to “exploit” any of kouki’s traits, kouki is usually in on whatever nora is trying to do (or at least they have a mutual understanding that they can use each other’s traits to their own advantages and even if they don’t know the plan necessarily they’re aware of what they might need to play up or even just Continue Doing)

nate is like... he’s fine with being handed things and told Do Something With This and given no further instruction. and if he’s laughed at when he says/does something that he didn’t intend to be funny he’s not embarrassed he’s just like “? is that wrong?” and doesn’t take it to heart. but he and mia/zagreus wouldn’t be on the same wavelength of what’s going on (or at least have wildly different perspectives on it?) the way kouki and nora are, mia/zagreus are getting some (friendly, good-spirited) comedy out of nate being the strange little man that he is and nate is usually getting a genuine learning experience that just happens to be very comedic for everyone around him

that also i think is an important difference between the two, nate is much more resistant to being embarrassed than kouki is in most situations. nate is capable of being very casually intimate/physically affectionate with katsuya (though he also doesn’t realize how blatantly romantic it is. once he’s like oh my god i am in gay love with him THAT is when he’s SLIGHTLY flustered about it but it very quickly goes back to not being embarrassing at all for him) and while nate can have his moments of “aw fuck a social blunder” he’s usually more... deeply saddened in an instant than embarrassed. kouki will get embarrassed more by much less and will ALSO be sad about it afterwards, he’s also like Genuinely Shy on top of being lonely and bad at speaking, as opposed to nate who is exceedingly lonely but not necessarily Afraid of talking to/approaching people. he’s just bad at being casual which makes it hard to make friends. kouki and nate are also on complete opposite ends of the verboseness spectrum and yet both ends have the same result of “friend-making very hard”

the plus side though is nate and kouki would be friends super easily because kouki wouldn’t find nate intimidating (actually he’d probably be scoping out whether nate Deserves To Get Robbed or if the hammer of justice need not be swung this time) and both of them are so Autism-Having that the other one’s social awkwardness does not affect them at all. actually itmakes it even better for both of them because nate can ask kouki 5 million questions and kouki can just answer with “*nods head* mm.” or “*shakes head* mm.” and nate’s like “excellent he’s answering my questions and doesn’t look scared this conversation is going great” and kouki islike “wow i can’t believe he’s still talking to me even though i’m barely saying anything this conversation is going great” and nate can infodump all he likes and kouki doesn’t have to stress out about trying to speak “better” because nate doesn’t expect/need him to

i also think it works well because kouki says So Very Little sometimes that it gets insanely vague (ironically enough he tries to only say the important words so that it ISN’T vague because he thinks the more words he says the more likely he is to be misunderstood. like more words = more opportunities to be misconstrued) but nate has no issue with basically rephrasing what kouki said with more words filled in to confirm what he meant and kouki can just be like Yeah or No It’s More Like _ and nate will be like ah i see and it just goes on as normal. which is i think a rarity for kouki because usually nora would be the one to translate kouki-isms and if nora isn’t there kouki would have to sit there thinking really hard about making sure the sentence is as clear as possible and get kind of nervous about being wrong about how clear it is, but nate is not easily offended and doesn’t look Visibly Confused by kouki-isms so kouki is in turn more comfortable and confident

likewise nora would be initially as distrustful of nate as he is with everyone but as soon as he realizes how similar to kouki he is AND that nate and kouki get along nora’ll be really chill with him. even moreso when he makes similar discoveries as mia irt “oh he actually is nowhere near as stuffy as he looks i guess he just dresses fancy”. also i think nora would still do something Adjacent to the mia/zagreus hijinks of giving nate something to do just to see how he reacts, nate and nora have a clearer understanding that if nora asks nate to do something they both know that it’s just for Funny Purposes and nate doesn’t get like... nutritional value out of it it’s just like nora asks him to read something (like just Read it with his eyes or read it aloud) and nate is like ah i’m going to be exposed to very strange words again aren’t i. mia and zagreus would do that sort of thing too it’s all part of the “funny ways to use nate’s strange little traits” umbrella it’s just that nora doesn’t partake in most of the other ways (at least not most of the time anyway. i think he would also be the type to lie to nate about what words/internet terms mean though)

#txt #oc talk #a LOT of oc talk #not a lot about haruka sorry buddy...... #i think you're fine with that though because 1. you love your friends and you would be very :-) about them getting along with each other #and 2. if i talk too much about you in the context of friendships #we both know we gotta talk about Times When Haruka Needs Help With Things and you don't think those exist ever