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baronessofmischief · 1 year

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Steven Grant is not a doormat

I don’t venture into characters tags very often because there’s a lot I don’t like to sift through but I’ve seen a lot of 🎶 timid and shy and scared are you 🎶 takes on Steven that are just… blatantly inaccurate lol

I don’t know how much is infantilization and how much is just a lack of basic character analysis, but Steven isn’t afraid to socialize or deal with conflict. While he may not solve conflict with violence, it doesn’t mean he lets people walk all over him without some form of speaking up or pushback. There are things he wants and has shown initiative in pursuing. Steven Grant is a unique mix of assertive but polite.

He’s also unaware he has DID which means there are situations and complications in his life outside of his control, and people react negatively to that which continues to make life harder for him to handle as well as he’d like, but that doesn’t mean he’s pathetic or inept— Those are adjacent issues I’ve seen in a lot of fan portrayals and interpretations.

Steven is an active protagonist. He doesn’t have to be pushed to further the story because he takes initiative to do things that further the story itself.

Even within just the first episode, “The Goldfish Problem” was devoted to showing us who he was before his knowledge of Moon Knight, and even the smaller moments are evident of who he is as an assertive character.

He calls his mom to talk on the phone and update her about his life even though we get the impression she doesn’t answer and that’s something he’s accustomed to, but he still calls anyway

He points out to the guy setting up his stall outside the entrance to his building that oh yeah, you’re still doing that inconvenient thing (that annoys me) aren’t you, well, good for you, thanks for that, (wish you wouldn’t do that but whatever I won’t make a fuss because that would be rude) cheers

He greets his coworkers by name even when they ignore him

It’s great to see a character politely and effectively correct a kid’s behavior without actually making the kid feel bad because so many times when adults do that they effectively block any possibility of the kid listening to what they say afterwards, even if it might be something the kid would be interested in. We can see that Steven wants to have a teaching moment where he gets to share his interest with someone who may not care about Egypt yet, but because he took the time to engage with her she shows interest (and will likely show more respect for the exhibits moving forward)

He firmly corrects Donna when she gets his name wrong, pointing to the name tag

When the tour guide comes over to confirm their date for that weekend, the reason he hesitates is because he’s caught off guard. Anybody would be confused about a date they have no recollection of having a conversation about

There’s an important distinction between who a character is vs what other characters say about them: when Donna says she didn’t think he had it in him (to ask the tour guide on a date), and accompanies it with the question about him being vegan so what’s he planning to get at a steak place, she’s being critical even while trying to engage him in a conversation, and from how we saw her introduction (unpleasant tone criticizing Steven and getting his name wrong upon his entry), it’s understandable for Steven to bite back a bit with the clipped “I dunno, salad? Bread?” He’s not unsure about himself in regards to the date, he’s telling her to mind her own business. They don’t have a good working relationship and Steven doesn’t owe her his personal life. Someone who’s a doormat would have just rolled over and made excuses to try to get a critic like Donna to like them to keep the peace. Steven doesn’t snap at her, he’s just mildly irritated, and when her moment of good humor drops she leaves with another criticism as she goes. He’s not worried about Donna liking him because she’s already shown she doesn’t respect him.

When he’s doing inventory he purposefully brings up the fact that the marketing poster is inaccurate because to him, this is a museum, so having things be accurate is important even if it’s just to visually draw people in, and when Donna makes the remark about him not having the chance at tour guide, that does stop him and he voices how disappointing that is to hear, actually. He doesn’t necessarily keep his feelings in to avoid further conflict

He apologizes for being late and for the fumble with the box of stock, but he continues the conversation instead of meekly trying to please his boss and spend a bunch of time trying to get her to pity him

Though the street performer doesn’t speak to Steven, Steven still apparently likes talking to him, which I think is a lot more symbolic than people realize

He’s blunt with the lady at the pet shop because he rightfully doesn’t understand what the fish is going on with his magically able-bodied goldfish and that’s reason for him to be determined enough to go out hunting for answers. He knows he’s sleep deprived but Steven knows his pet: this is bizarre

The reason he doesn’t call the tour guide ahead of time to ask about the date they’re supposed to have because 1. He’s running late and 2. It’s evident he wants to be there so he’s taking the time to make sure he does everything correctly, but he still takes the initiative to reach out to her first, instead of making up some excuse to himself as to why she’s not there

It’s interesting because even outside of discovering Marc, the show plays on the idea of Steven “talking to himself” when the reality is that the people he’s talking to just aren’t listening to him, and that has overarching thematic implications further down the line when Harrow uses the idea of Steven / Marc talking to himself as a way to discredit him/the system (which would also further isolate them). There are numerous examples of Steven being shown asking for help and being denied that or ignored.

One of the running themes in the show that’s especially apparent in the first episode is that Steven is alone, but not for a lack of trying. Steven talks to a lot people/things that don’t talk to him (his mom, Gus, his coworkers, the street performer), in addition to initiating conversations with people who are antagonistic to him in one way or another. It does Steven a disservice to strip him of a very clear aspect of his character by making him this meek, trembling wallflower of a character just so you can have rough-assertive-confident-cocky Marc Spector as a contrast (while also not taking into account Marc’s own complexities).

Because of his willingness to push back and ask or demand answers, Steven is able to connect with Marc and start figuring out what the rest of his (and by extension Marc’s) life entails. From what starts to be revealed it appears that Marc has spent a long time pushing people out and pushing people away, but it’s Steven’s stubbornness, kindness, and resolve that helps the two of them connect and find balance in the end. The idea that neither of them is actually alone, whether by choice (Marc) or not (Steven) is important to the series and characters as a whole.

#MCU Moon Knight #Marvel #Moon Knight #Steven Grant #Marc Spector #meta #my writing #I remade the post because something wonky is going on with the first one

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devilrainbunnie · 3 years

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DATING SHIGARAKI HEADCANNONS

shigaraki x fem!reader

(can post a male or gn one but due to the nature of what i wanted to cover, i decided to do a fem!reader)

cw: slight angst, sexual themes 18+, and soft tomu baby (slight mommy kink i literally can’t help it bye)

a/n: don’t feel bad! i love seeing your messages on here, and my requests are dry as heck. i don’t mind at all, thank you for being so kind all the time. i appreciate you! @milkyywavee

Tomura Shigaraki is a hard man to read. While he isn’t just straight up mean to people, he might come across as apathetic or aloof just due to his sometimes socially inept nature. While he isn’t totally shut out from the world, and understands most things, the nature of any sort of relationship is completely new to him. He’s never really understood the want, or need for it. He doesn’t really seek out affection in anyone, but he doesn’t mind when Kurogiri pats his head from time to time, or Twice forces him into a hug-- after all they’re his family.

But romance is something completely new to the boy, he doesn’t get it in the slightest. Even more so less than friendships, the thought of loving someone seems fake to him, how can someone be so unconditional? He’s very pessimistic in his view of romance and love.

In all honesty, I can’t see him caring much about people who aren’t already villains. What would he have to gain from chasing after someone who’s probably terrified of him? He doesn’t have the time or want to try to teach someone he’s worthy of love.

But one day, as he’s interviewing new recruits for the League of Villains, he sees someone mindlessly tailing behind Giran, looking a bit lost. A bit too innocent to be here. Tomura freezes as he watches you nervously look around the room, not saying a word and letting Giran do the talking to Kurogiri. He’s found countless people attractive, but there’s something just so alluring about the way you are. He can’t tell if you have some sort of quirk, or he’s really physically attracted to you. You notice his stare, but out of respect you keep your eyes elsewhere.

After you introduce yourself, show them your quirk and get to talking about why you want to be there, you’re stunned at how quickly Shigaraki is like “okay, you’re in then”.

Once you’re settled in, you notice Tomura doing the smallest amount of things for you that he doesn’t do for anyone else. He’ll acknowledge you more than anyone else, he’ll offer a spare controller to you if you say you’re bored, he listens to advice you give (even if he doesn’t agree with it), once he even was out to get himself food, and remembered what kind of snack you liked most, when he gave you the snack, you lit up. You were smiling ear to ear as he handed you the little package, you thanked him, and for a second you thought you saw him blushing, he mumbled something incoherent before awkwardly speed walking away. Ever since that day especially, your crush really developed.

One time, after a bit of banter and some light drinking, you were given a confidence boost.

You were talking with Twice, and Spinner at the bar. Cracking jokes, and telling stories. It was great to bond with them, and they really seemed to like you. After a bit more of laughter, the two gradually decided to end their night. Leaving you to sit alone at the bar by yourself. Not even Kurogiri was around. But suddenly, you noticed the faint sound of clicking, similar to that of a controller. You look at the couch you assumed to be empty, noticing Tomura deep within his game. You feel guilty that you didn’t even see him sitting there this entire time. Deciding to say fuck it and finally converse with him, you chug the rest of your bitter tasting drink. Letting it burn down your throat and chest, the feeling going straight to your head.

You walk over to the couch, plopping right next to Tomura. His nose in his handheld console, he took a second before realizing who was sitting next to him. You couldn’t really grasp his reaction as he was wearing father like usual. With the help of your liquid courage, you put your head on his shoulder. “What’re you playing?”

“I’m uhhh, I’m p-playing Breath of the Wild, i-it’s a Legend of Zelda game.” he stuttered, shocked by the sudden closeness of the two of you. “Can I help you or something?” he managed to spit out without stuttering, he was nervous.

“Mm, just watching. You’re so cute when you’re nervous.” you giggled at him, you couldn’t tell but his face was bright red. He was becoming even more flustered than usual around you. His legs felt weak and wobbly, his game console losing hold in his grasp.

“Whatever.”

“Do I make you nervous?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering.” you smiled at him.

“I-I don’t know.” he tried to brush you off, trying to shrug you off his shoulder but you just leaned into him more. There you sat for around ten minutes in silence watching his little game, it was interesting even though you had no idea what was going on. After a while, you realized how sleepy the alcohol was making you. You covered your face with your palms as you yawned, and shifted your body, not realizing you gradually had been against his chest. Oh my god, you thought internally, listening to how fast and hard his heart was beating.

“M’tired. Good night Shiggy.” you slurred, not moving.

“Night.” he replied, it sounded a bit standoffish, but even when you were half awake and intoxicated, you understood he was nervous. You sat up on the couch, putting a hand on the side of his face you weren’t next to, and kissing the top of his head.

“Night-night, good night.” You said as you crawled off of him, and walked your way back to your room. Failing to know that you left your boss in a shambled, confused and nervous wreck. He was beet red the entire night, and now because of you he was horny upset. Were you just drunk and messing with him? Were you actually interested in him? Was he reading into this too much? You couldn’t possibly like him, could you? I mean look at him, he has messed up skin, too much scars, and a mop for hair. He thinks he’s disgusting but, he’s a monster. Monsters are supposed to look scary.

Over the next few days after, you were embarrassed with yourself. You felt like a terrible person for stressing out Tomura the way you did. You tried your hardest to avoid him out of embarrassment, any time you ran into him you’d smile and make up an excuse to leave. You were planning internally a way to tell him how you felt, without making him feel weird. Your avoidance of him however, made him feel like you didn’t want anything to do with him. Tomura was more closed off, and passive than usual to everyone. He felt so embarrassed and ashamed.

That was until you stood in front of him as he was on the couch. Like usual, it took him a bit before he was able to recognize someone was there. You handed him a little letter, on the back was his name, with a little heart. Before he could ask you what it was, you disappeared as quickly as you came. His heart was stammering in his chest again.

He stared at the envelope, curious as to what it was.

He opened the envelope, noticing how your writing was nice. He read the words carefully, wanting to be able to grasp every single sentence. Your kind words, and confession made his entire body feel light. There, again, he though internally;

She called me cute, again.

After reading so, he quickly go to his feet. Making his way to your room. Knocking on the door and waiting for you to answer. You were nervous behind the door, nervous he was going to be upset with you. So you peeked through the door with only your eyes, and quickly he began.

“Did-did you mean all of that? Everything?” he seemed a bit different to you, his tone was unusual to you.

“Yeah.. I-I did.”

“Can I come in?” he sheepishly asked.

You opened the door, and Tomura took off father rather quickly, his face was dusted red and he was stammering, which was highly unlike him. He hoped you understood what he was meaning by taking off father and showing you his face. You both talked about what happened. It was mostly you talking, and Tomura answering. After you began to question him, he got very closed off. Like he didn’t want to answer you.

“Hey, can I tell you something?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“You’re so cute when you’re nervous.”

You loomed to his side, brushing his hair from his face. His eyes were watching you intently. What the hell are you--

You kissed him.

You-- kissed him.

Your hands were nestled in his hair, as you kiss his rough lips softly. Tomura began to feel a familiar dull ache in his stomach, looking up at you with lidded eyes. He wanted more, more and more and more. He wanted to kiss you until his lips fell off.

“God, you’re so cute Shigaraki.”

“Tomura. Call me that. Tomura.”

“Tomura.” you smiled at him, kissing him once more.

After that, things gradually progress into a relationship.

Now things have progressed, and you both have grown together.

Tomura really likes kissing you, and being kissed by you. Nothing picks him up better when he’s sad than you kissing his cheek, and telling him to come to you when he’s ready.

He’s like a cat though, sometimes he really needs his space. He’s touch starved, and touch can overwhelm him. He won’t always let you know, but over time you learn a sixth sense with him. You’re able to know without having him voice it to you.

He likes cuddling you when he wants to relax, he’ll snuggle up to your chest and lay his face between the valley of your breasts. Inhaling your sweet perfume scent, and he immediately relaxes. He also likes to kiss and suckle on your breasts as a way to show affection. He might slobber all over your chest, but he does that only because he’s comfortable with you.

He likes to sleep with you, but it took him a long time to get there. He was so worried he’d wake up and you’d turn into a pile of dust. But now he’ll sleep with gloves on, but not all of the time.

You two don’t really go on dates, I mean you both are wanted criminals. So where could you even exactly go?

Well, that didn’t stop the two of you from having at home dates.

You’d just order some take out to eat together, sometimes you’d cook him food so he’d eat something good. You’d watch a movie and snuggle, or play some games. Whatever the mood for the night was.

Sometimes he’d take you out for sight seeing, he really liked going to a specific meadow. He just likes to relax around you.

Tomura doesn’t like to fight with you, despite how sour his attitude can be from time to time. Neither of you fight much to be honest, when you do, if you get sad he might not notice right away and only will if he sees you sulking or crying. Then he’ll get sad. Feeling guilty, and asking for forgiveness. He might seem rough around the edges, but you dove right into his soft spot. He loves you too much now.

Tomura likes bathing with you, not in a sexual way. Sometimes he enjoys having you massage his shoulders and scratch at his scalp. He likes the hot water against his skin as you lay on his chest. The mix of the heat, your comfort, and the rich smell of soap in the air, makes him feel like nothing will ever be wrong in the world. He can forget for a period of time.

He also will usually make you stay home during missions, he’s worried about your safety. If he lost you, he’d lose himself. He’d rather die a million deaths than lose you to anyone or anything.

He also likes when you do things for him to show you care. Like when you clean up his room, make his bed and do his laundry. He gets ecstatic, it makes the feeling of your love feel so much more real.

Tomura shows his love in different ways, however.

He thinks leaving you with bike marks and hickies means that he’s showing his affection. He’s always been a bit aggressive in the love department, he just can’t help it. He loves covering you in affection.

He likes to buy you food whenever he thinks you’ve earned it. It’s his way of showing you that he thought of you, and he went out of his way to do something for you.

Tomura also enjoys being gifted clothes of yours. He’s not gonna wear it, but the scent soothes him turns him on. You’re his favorite person, everything about you is perfect to him.

Nicknames are also a way of showing you how fond he is of you, no one else is called player two, or mommy baby than you.

This might be weird, but Tomura loves to nuzzle into your cheek and neck. Your soft skin is perfect, he can’t get enough of it. He’ll act like a clingy kitten the way he’ll rub his entire body in you to when he wants to be loving.

Tomura overall really likes being babied by you, he’s never had that and you’re perfect for making it up. He might be more dominant in other areas of his life with you, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t enjoy you brushing his hair, making him healthy meals and humming him tunes when he needs to drown out the voices in his head.

If you read to him, he will melt. He loves when you tell him stories or read one of his favorite books. It makes him feel at home, it makes him feel safe.

Tomura also willingly leaves his clothes with you, he thinks it’s cute when you walk into his room ready to cuddle and sleep wearing a shirt of his he ‘forgot’ about a few weeks ago. It makes him feel proud. He’ll never admit to that though.

Sometimes Tomura will compliment you by comparing you or things you do/wear to anime girls he likes. He doesn’t understated that it might be offensive or hurtful by others, but you understand that if he’s willing to compare you to characters he adores, he thinks you are beyond beautiful. Don’t worry, he does think you’re prettier than them anyways.

Whenever you’re on your period, he’ll be there helping you through it. He doesn’t know exactly what to do, but he knows that you get a lot more hungry and want to be comfortable. If you get cramps, he’ll get confused and be like “just drink water, you’re probably dehydrated” like no baby that’s— you’re so sweet, but just... no.

And whenever you’re sad, he’ll be sad too, but he’ll try his best to kiss it better. He likes to hold you to him, and distract you from your sadness. Sometimes he’ll offer doing something he usually doesn’t like doing, like putting on facemasks or letting you paint his nails. Or if you’re up for it, maybe even cooking with him or having a little dance party. He just wants to do anything to make you happy.

Tomura doesn’t always tell you how perfect you are, or how much he loves you but he tries to do that in other ways. He’s not good using his words, it’s foreign to him.

Tomura is also dangerously horny, and loves pleasuring you. Which is another way to show you that he loves you, making you cum.

#shigaraki tomura x reader #tomura shigaraki x reader #shigaraki x reader #bnha au #bnha x reader #shigaraki angst #shigaraki headcanons #shigaraki smut #shigaraki #request

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lacharcutiere · 3 years

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OHYMGOD PLEASE SOMETHING WITH AN AWKWARD START TO A RELATIONSHIP PLEASEEEE I DONT CARE WHO I JUST NEED A COPING MECHANISM TO DEAL WITH THIS MESS

awkward relationship tings w ushi<3

ushijima wakatoshi

ushijima wakatoshi x gn!reader // sfw, fluff, & canonverse

are we surprised that this was requested by my bitch @howlpendragonsupremacist ?? i luv u kt

tis just a quick hc thingy i’m writing while i keep y’all waiting on more big tings bc i like this idea & have head full of thoughts. ushi is baby marg take no criticism

general masterlist // haikyū!! masterlist

PLS LMAO this would start out so awk

just,, when boys text like ushi KEJFJDJS

okay sO

you guys already know each other—you probably have for a while, but like,, you don’t know each other, ya know?

you’ve kind of been interested for a minute, a hot minute, but it was never really enough to make a move or anything; you just kinda watched him from afar and were content with that

because anyway, the idea of a person tends to be a lot more appealing than the person themselves, right?

but life becomes inevitably boring like it always does, and you’re running out of ways to make it less so, and i mean,, it’s ushi. he is Attractive. capital “a”, italicized and bolded.

so one night you decide, fuck it, what could go wrong? and you text him. (maybe i should mention you haven’t really talked before, or at least not in a very long time)

poor ushi, so socially inept🥺 but he’s trying his best tho and that is what matters

you attempt to send him memes, tiktok references, whatever. the irony goes completely over his head. which in itself is ironic; this 6’3” bitch.

facebook memes? nah, they are not memes to him. he is a facebook boomer trapped in an 18-year-old body (a seggsy one, at that, and free of the problematic traits of most facebook boomers. but he is a facebook boomer.)

but!!! your interest in him turns out to be reciprocated

and as time goes on and you continue talking, you both get used to the other’s little idiosyncrasies n things

he begins to get your memes a little more, starts sharing in your obscure, maybe cursed sense of humor, and you stop minding his bluntness quite so much as you basically pavlov train yourself out of thinking that every properly punctuated text is passive aggressive, or that his formality means that he’s keeping you at a distance

he asks to facetime one day and you politely make an excuse bc you’re afraid of it being awkward (which yeah, it prob would be)

BUT eventually you also just get up the guts (or whatever) to call him and,, it’s actually really enjoyable?? quiet for a lot of the call, yeah, but not actually that awkward. and it’s nice knowing that he’s just there and getting to stare at him uninterrupted

so you do it again!! (and again, and again)

and one day he proposes that you guys hang out in person, yk, like,,, a date

and like,, you gotta say yes. come on.

you go to the aquarium. it’s pretty. and more awkward than facetime. but you take some comfort in knowing that it goes both ways.

and just like facetime calls, dates—just being alone together—get easier after that first one

after maybe two or three, you come to the mutual conclusion that the both of you actually click really well; it’s just the getting past the initial uncertainty that was difficult and maybe a little painful. and you make it official:)

you’re still a little bit of an awkward couple for the first month or so tho

not so much when it’s just you two now, but when you’re with friends and stuff bc pda can be weird and sometimes it’s hard to tell when it is and isn’t appropriate

and also ushi’s not huge on pda

but he does love you (which he definitely announced as soon as he realized it) and that’s what matters❤️

general masterlist // haikyū!! masterlist

#ushijima wakatoshi #ushijima x reader #ushijima hcs #ushijima headcanons #ushi fluff #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu x reader #sfw #fluff hehe #the way i literally wrote this in like 30 minutes #u wanna see some real SPEED #okie gn it is bedtime #mara's archive

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hournites · 3 years

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Say that we’ll stay with each other

An aged-up Jealous!Rick hournite fic for @samarasketch

~.~

They grab coffee at the diner to catch up every week. It’s not the only time they see each other, but missions require zero personal life talk for safety, as learned very quickly into their JSA run, and their texts just aren’t sufficient enough for the way they miss each other’s company.

Beth rearranges the cutlery, waiting for Rick as he picks out two desserts from beneath the glass window by the cash. It’s late and quiet, Rick had to work overtime to finish a deadline, so she took a nap at her office until he swung by with his car to pick her up.

The steaming coffee is in front of her, untouched. It’s been a long day and she’s second guessing whether or not caffeine is actually such a good idea after all.

“Wow,” Rick greets her, sliding into the booth across from her. He’s no longer slicking his hair back with gel and the small change makes a massive difference in how he looks. His hair is thick, falling over the front of his face, long enough to frame his eyes. Those eyes are lit up now, bright hazel. They sweep over her, taking everything in like he needs the moment to process.

The silent gesture pushes Beth to look down at herself, wondering if she spilled something or was showcasing a wardrobe malfunction of some kind.

“You look amazing. I noticed before but your jacket was on.”

Beth relaxes, settling against the leather backing of her seat. He grins at her, which she returns easily. Rick is her best friend—has been for a very long time. Her lips curve around the rim of her ceramic mug. “Oh, thank you! I was on my date earlier over lunch. I didn’t want to show up in my lab coat.”

“Right,” he replies. “Dr. Leho, was it?” ” Rick twirls his fork into the perfectly cut marble cake slice on the pretty small plate. “How’d that go?”

Beth suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. “Dr. Leon.”

“Oh, was that it?” As if he hadn’t deliberately botched the name of her date in the first place. Rick has met Denny before. Beth’s mom had invited him to her surprise birthday dinner that she organized with Courtney a few weeks ago. He was nice, bought her a book of easy recipes that he swore got him well fed through night shifts that he thought she’d enjoy. The gesture was thoughtful and was what made her agree to giving him her number. Rick was there for it all, one eyebrow arched high in what she was able to tell was silent judgement as he kept sharing a look with Yolanda.

“—And it went fine.”

He raises that brow again now. “Just fine?”

Beth shrugs. She already knows how Rick feels about why she’s giving him a chance. He’s not exactly her first choice when it comes to dating—Rather, he wasn’t much of a choice at all, pestered into giving the youngest single doctor working at her mom’s floor the time of day.

Her parents are getting concerned she’s throwing herself too deep into work without any support. It’s not precisely fair—Juggling a new position at Central City emergency with spontaneous secret crime-fighting against metahuman villainous egomaniacs does not give a woman much time to find someone new to love. Long shifts end in face-planting into bed until the next one and there’s nothing more she’d rather do than shove off her work shoes to do that. Only a handful of people have enough grip on Beth’s heart for her to sacrifice her evenings—Courtney and her family, Yolanda, Jade, Wally, her parents. And while she enjoys the pretty dress and matching pair of high heels for dinner, her energy to sustain a relationship would require an extension of self that she’s not sure she has to offer.

She’s tried to explain this, cutting out the important JSA parts, which she self-admits would strengthen her argument.

“It was a nice lunch.” She’s already preferring dessert with Rick, though.

“Tell me about it.”

“There’s not much to tell.”

“What, he was that boring?”

Beth sighs. She finds herself describing her entire lunch break, from waiting for Denny to scrub his hands from surgical fluids to grabbing her hand to chatter about his day without a moment of pause for her to get something into the conversation until their food had arrived. It’s because he was excited to be on the date with her. Beth’s mom was talking her up to him, no doubt, clearly that was the case by any indication of how her mother kept talking about Denny to her over the phone too. So Denny was likely nervous, he kept letting out a barking type laugh after something he thought Beth should find funny. Beth couldn’t exactly be annoyed for his rambling to no end, she was the queen of that when she was younger. Her mom probably thought it was nice they had that in common. Except, it’s not. Beth’s excited verbal amusement park went away with age. Beth learned to keep her mouth shut when she needed to, she’s hoarded too many secrets.

“There’s one thing though that bothered me a bit,” she admits finally, tapping her cut nails against the table. “He asked me what...pleased me... the most.”

Rick frowns at her. “Huh?”

She flushes, eyes flitting away as she mumbles, “In bed. What I find pleasurable in bed.”

Rick bristles, his mouth dropping open. “Did you tell him?”

“After what he told me first? I kind of had to. There was a family sitting within earshot of us, it was barely noon so I sort of said something vague, I don’t exactly remember, I think my brain is trying to block it out. It was embarrassing.”

“God, that’s tacky.”

She knew Rick would say that. “I think he was trying to assess our compatibility?”

“You make him sound like some socially inept robot.”

Beth lowers her mug, biting her tongue on calling herself a socially inept robot. She reaches over the table for the pot the waitress left for them after Rick’s second refill, instead. He lifts it for her when notices, pouring her a fresh cup and slides over the basket of sugar packets and creamers.

“Thanks,” she says, then returns to their conversation. “I think he was trying to be suave.”

“You hate that word! You’ve said so yourself!”

Had she? Beth wrinkles her nose. It’s crazy how much of their lives they’ve shared together. “In high school, maybe.”

“I vividly remember you telling me that talking about sexual preferences with acquaintances freaks you out.” That’s true. Whenever a horror story kinky sex accident patient shows up in Beth’s emergency room describing their incident in full detail, it takes all of her professionalism not to drop her clipboard and run out from second hand embarrassment.

She shifts in her seat and explains, “He was my date, Rick.”

“So that’s what, half an hour of getting to know him? You’d think someone that went to med school would have the patience to keep it in their pants.”

“Rick!” She gapes at his bluntness because he’s just flinging it out there, dragging Dr. Leon’s entire personality with barely any effort at all, what’s worse is that he’s being unintentionally funny and now she’s trying not to laugh.

“What? This man is clearly not for you. He’s not your type.”

She raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Then what is?”

Rick looks down at his plate, quieting. He hasn’t really eaten yet, just danced his fork all over that cake. She’s half tempted to ask him for it if Rick’s not hungry. She finished her lemon square in four bites.

“Well...”

“Well?”

"Well... He’s not my type... for you. He’s not good enough for you. He sounds like a secret sleaze."

Beth stops trying to defend Denny after Rick says that. She’s not sure if he’s so adamant because he can tell the way she’s not really interested in him, but feels the need to make her mom happy and is trying to give her an out, or if he honestly thinks Denny is not a good person. She’s been a superhero for ten years now, Beth is pretty sure how to gauge a person’s character. There’s nothing wrong with Denny Leon the way Rick is painting him. It’s hard because she knows there’s no real spark, but she’s willing to try. Chemistry doesn’t develop like that over one day.

Beth thinks about her mom again. She just wants Beth to have a fulfilling life. And she had found Beth’s father while also steadily making a career as a respected research clinician. What’s Beth’s excuse then, to say finding someone isn’t possible?

“I don’t have a type, I’ve barely dated at all. The man I’ve spent most of my time with is you.”

Rick takes a while to respond, but his eyes are on hers like he’s waiting for an afterthought to accompany her last sentence. It’s sincere and gentle, and for the second time since they’ve met here today, she finds her heartbeat picking up because of the way she’s being seen.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just—“

“What?”

He takes another moment before answering. “Why are you forcing something with someone you have no desire to connect to? Are you not...Happy?”

His question takes her by surprise. She stammers, feeling more heat rise to her face. “Why are you asking me this?”

Rick drags a hand over his face and leaves it there for a moment, like he’s just trying to breathe. Eventually, he sweeps his hair back up over his head, and he strikes a nostalgic resemblance to the angry boy Beth latched onto in tenth grade whose soul she watched soften over years of time. Her heart pangs at the memory of the way things were. When they spent all week side by side, and didn’t have to schedule coffee dates that inch towards midnight around saving each other in costumes with relics because of their hectic lives.

“I care about you,” he finally says. “I just don’t want to see you exhaust yourself over someone that’s not worth your time. You should be with someone who makes you feel how I feel whenever I’m with you.”

She smiles at that. “I love you too, Rick.”

His own smile falters, something dims in his expression, she’d almost call it wistful, but that’s not exactly a feeling Rick has in his emotional repertoire. He lowers his gaze to his plate again.

“Hey.” Beth places her hand over his. “Are you okay?”

In high school, Rick was on track to becoming a mechanic like Pat until the man turned him around by the shoulders and walked him through scholarship applications for college. To the surprise of practically everyone in Blue Valley except his inner circle of friends, he graduated with honours in both chemistry and physics, and is now an independent research scientist for a big pharma company. He says he likes his lab, but the regulations of being under a company contract means there’s only so much experimentation he can get by with on his own. Beth has been encouraging his recent talks of starting up his own research lab for JSA, but he seems stressed thinking of taking that beyond the realms of idealism.

His hand freezes beneath her palm. He glances up at her again without words, like he’s struggling with what to say. The creases between Beth’s brows deepen further with concern. “Rick?”

“I’m fine,” he lies. The smile is so fake it hurts that he thinks she could be fooled by it.

“Come on, it’s just us. Something’s bothering you. Is it work? Did your uncle contact you for money again?”

“No, I’m fine. I promise.”

“Rick—“

“You don’t have a type. You just have a person. I know that because you’ve been my person since I was seventeen. You don’t need your mother’s fancy surgeon prodigy to sweep you off your feet, Beth. You have me.”

“I—”

Her pulse rushes in her ears. She’s honestly speechless. Beth just sits there. Rick searches her face for some type of recognition she can’t give back because she’s just confused. She’s blinking back unexpected tears, the hand she has over his shaking, because there has to be something more to this, the gravity behind everything, but her mind keeps hitting against a blank wall. She understands what Rick is saying but not what he means.

He sees her distress and slips out of his booth, sliding into her side. “Hey,” he says, wrapping an arm around her as she presses her wet face into his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s okay.”

Her stomach drops at the horrible way his voice sounds scratchy, thick with regret. That’s when it clicks, and the tears fall for real.

Rick is in love with her.

She’s not crying because she’s upset. Blindly, she reaches up for his face to see him, those fond hazel eyes blinking back. They used to be so hardened and guarded, but it’s just openness now, with her. It’s late, the diner is almost empty, nothing but dim lights and the only waitress busy cleaning up behind the counter. It’s just them, in their special spot. And it’s just them, their solid partnership, that Beth needs in her life to carve out time and effort and feelings for. He’s been trying to articulate this over and over since the evening began. Hugging her tightly, lets out a long breath. The solace he finds in her, alone. The relief and love. How she feels it in equal measures, how it’s always been there.

“I didn’t know.”

“I never really told you.”

But he has, really. He’s shown her since they were kids.

She touches his face, guiding him down so he could kiss her the way she suddenly desperately wants.

He does, kissing Beth deeply until her head goes dizzy and the light feeling is not something she ever wants to let go of. There is no extension of self when Beth is with Rick. No room to make. He already is in her future, can have all of her time.

#stargirl #hournite #rick tyler #beth chapel #fluff #jealous!rick #hournites fic #dctv

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some-cookie-crumbz · 4 years

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Can you write a todomomo oneshot where Momo uses a bunch of cliche pick up lines on Todo because of her new found confidence thanks to him and he's all 😳

Do you realize how WEAK I am for when the girl does the wooing? Because I am INCREDIBLY WEAK FOR IT!!

The first time it happened, he didn't notice it. Todoroki Shoto was an intelligent guy when it came to a good many things, but relationships with other people? Not so much. His social graces were far and few between. He sometimes felt his only saving grace was that two-thirds of the three classmates he associated with as friends were just as socially inept as he was, and Uraraka was too polite to tell him outright he was making an ass of himself.

He was sitting at the kitchen table with Uraraka, Sero and Ojiro, working on a group presentation for their Modern Hero Art History class. It had been a long day for them all so Uraraka had suggested they have some coffee - which he was pretty sure Kaminari had pilfered from the teacher’s lounge - to help them stay perked up. He was preparing his own cup by dumping a few small creamer cups and packets into it. Momo, who was walking past them with a cup of tea, stopped to set a small packet down in front of Shoto. “Here, Todoroki-San, you dropped your name tag," she said with a little giggle and then flitted off before he could point out he didn't have a nametag.

Uraraka and Sero both let out noises of delight while Ojiro paused in stirring his own cup to watch. “Oh, my gosh!” Uraraka squealed quietly once Momo was gone. She grabbed Shoto’s shoulders and shook them excitedly. “Todoroki! Yaomomo is totally into you!”

“What?” he asked, blinking slowly.

“She’s flirting with you, dude!” Sero agreed, clapping him on the back.

“How did she do that?” he asked, cocking his head at them. The pair of them stared at him before looking at each other. “I mean… She just gave me a sugar packet.”

Uraraka released his shoulders and clasped her hands together in front of her, taking in a breath in preparation. “Todoroki,” she said, bringing her hands down in a chopping motion with each syllable of his name.

“Oh, no,” Ojiro trailed quietly as he picked up his mug, “Uraraka is about to break it down.”

“Todoroki, my friend. My buddy. She was using a line on you,” the brunette said with a small huffed laugh. The dual-user looked at her as she moved to sit down next to him, still moving her hands as she spoke.

When he only stared, Ojiro chuckled and set his cup back down. “You've seen what Kaminari does when he sees someone he thinks is cute, right? How he’ll say silly things?” he prompted. Todoroki paused to think about it before nodding. “That’s kinda what Yaomomo was doing. She’s trying to use pick-up lines to flirt with you.”

“I appreciate your insights,” he said, opening the sugar packet and pouring it into his drink, “but I think you’re misunderstanding her intentions. Yaoyorozu would never be interested in me like that.”

The other three exchanged unconvinced looks before falling back into focusing on their assignment.

The next time it happened, he was much more aware of it. It was during a group student session. Since moving into the dorms, it was often for the students of Class 1-A to try and work on class assignments together. There were the obvious outliers that couldn’t be coaxed to join - Bakugo and his group were more times than not holed up in his room while he berated them - and then there were those that were outright banned - Mineta - but for the most part… It was typically nice. The session this time consisted of himself, Momo, Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka, Jirou and Hagakure.

Momo had leaned a bit closer as he explained how he got the answer he did for the math problem they were discussing and nodded. “You must be a bank loan, Todoroki-Kun, because you have my interest,” she hummed before moving to stand. Everyone else at the table gawked at her, though Hagakure was also letting out quiet little squeals, before she indicated the kitchen. “I’m going to make some tea for everyone. I’ll be right back.”

The second she was gone, everyone was staring at the still befuddled Shoto. Uraraka dropped her chin into her palm and sneered at him in amusement. “Still think we’re reading too much into it?” she drawled.

“Yes,” he huffed.

“Wait, has Yaoyorozu done something like this before?” Midoriya asked, turning his wide-eyed gaze to her. She let out a small hum and nodded slowly, gaze never leaving Shoto. “Wha-! Isn’t that flirting? What she’s doing?”

“Wait, is there even a question of what it is?” Jirou asked with a laugh.

“It is! It totally is!” Hagakure agreed excitedly, flailing her arms excitedly. Based on how the sleeves of her shirt were moving, anyway, he assumed that was what she was going.

“It’s not,” Shoto insisted with a glare. The others flinched back a bit while Uraraka continued to sport that look of smug satisfaction. “I am not a fool. I would be well aware if Yaoyorozu was flirting with me or not. And I know that she is not. Now drop it.”

But then it kept happening and suddenly Todoroki was aware that he may have miscalculated a bit.

One morning, after going out for a morning jog with Midoriya and Iida, Momo had commented, “You must be tired from running through my mind all morning.” As to whether or not a few flickers of flame jumped off his shoulder when he excused himself to the elevator and was by himself, he couldn’t say.

And few days after that they were doing some minor Quirk assessment training. As he walked to join her in the group of completed student to observe their peers, she smiled at him. “You were incredible, Todoroki-Kun!”

“Thank you,” he said, plucking his water bottle up and taking a quick chug. When he tilted his head back down to screw the cap back on he noticed she was still watching him. He cocked his head at her, causing her to blink and a faint pink tint to come to her cheeks.

“Ah, my apologies! There must be something wrong with my eyes!” she said quickly, but didn’t tear her gaze away.

“Oh?” he asked.

“Yes, because I can’t seem to take them off of you,”

He had stared with wide eyes for a second before a huge icicle peaked on his shoulder, causing them both to startle and jump apart. He muttered a small apology for startling her, which she politely waved off. As he turned to take another sip from his drink, he noticed the ever-smug Uraraka sitting across from them and watching. He’d never seen someone who could be the living embodiment of those smug cat memes Kaminari liked to show him, but he felt that was the best way to explain her expression.

And so, in need of insights on how to properly address his mutual interest, he asked her about it in private. And Uraraka had given him the advice of “Play her game with her.” And then, seeing he was still confused, she’d told him exactly what to say once the opportunity presented itself.

It came a week and a half later, during a minor training session. He and Momo were paired up to go against Monoma and Kendo from Class 1-B in an obstacle course of sorts. Each team had to traverse through the mangled remnants of a city one at a time and locate flashing beacons throughout the wreckage that represented civilians. They were being tested on their ability to work together and organize rescue efforts, wanting to see how well they’d improved since their provisional licensing exams. The only catch was that the opposing classes team would be working against them. While Shoto himself and Momo took their turns as the Hero Team, Monoma and Kendo were taking their turn as the Villain Team.

There had been a beacon on top of a bent and twisted lamppost, hanging over the edge of a ravine of debris, that Shoto had gone for using an ice platform. As he moved to get off, though, he spotted Kendo and Monoma from the corner of his eye. Kendo enlarged one of her hands before punching it into the portion of broken building propping up the lamppost and nearly sending Todoroki toppling over into the ravine.

“Todoroki-Kun!” Momo shouted before conjuring up a whip and thrusting it out towards him. He caught it with one hand, the rest of it wrapping around his wrist, and she gave a harsh tug. He was airborne for a moment before he felt arms settle under his thighs and back, pulling him flush against a warm, soft body. His mind jumped back into gear and, while peering over Momo’s shoulder as she moved to retreat, he conjured up an ice wall to give them some extra coverage.

Once they were a good ways away, Shoto remembered himself and glanced up at Yaoyorozu. “Are you okay, Todoroki-Kun? You aren’t hurt or anything, are you?” she fretted, pulling him a bit closer to her so as to get a better look at him.

This was it. This was his chance!

“I suppose I am a snowflake,” he began, watching the confusion flit across Momo’s face, “because I am falling for you.”

And then she let out an adorable squeaky sound and dropped him. It was great.

#crumbles grumbles #TodoMomo #my fics #I had so much fun writing this!#Plus I had to go with Wingwoman Ochako because you know she would!

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vulva-o-queef · 6 years

Text

@hestiaq (making a new post because I don’t want to keep reblogging a long threat)

I’m really sorry for what you were put through. I sincerely hope you’re in a better situation now and doing okay. That’s horrific.

I remember the Ted Bundy bit you’re talking about- and she’s…. honestly quite right? If enough men have NPD/ASPD a few of them are going to seem intelligible, I think. I don’t really understand what you’re saying about Ted Bundy- if it’s tongue in cheek or not.

Okay, like I said, I haven’t seen this post she made. necromancerdoll just said that larps said sociopaths/psychopaths “can’t perform well in society/function with others.” I know aspd and being a sociopath are often considered the same thing, and I know a lot of them are pretty transparent assholes. Psychopathy isn’t a formal diagnosis at all, but criminal psychologists do use the term, and there’s a pretty solid consensus on what it means. Some people say psychopaths are a subset of sociopaths, and other people say it’s a similar but distinct thing, but in either case, one of the main characteristics of a psychopath (which a sociopath doesn’t, or doesn’t always have) is that they’re smooth and charming, and they use those traits to manipulate others.

My comment about Ted Bundy was sarcastic (and probably not in very good faith, but also wasn’t really related to the main point of all this), because saying psychopaths “can’t perform well in society/function with others” is the opposite of the truth. Ted Bundy was charming, socially adept, approachable, and likable, which was exactly how he managed to lure in many of his victims. He would put on a fake cast and ask women to help him get things into his car, which is what that scene from silence of the lambs is based on. Larps might be totally aware of all that and just phrased something too broadly. The only way it would be relevant to the rest of what I’m saying is, if she really meant to say that psychopaths are socially inept, it would be another example of how she tries to speak as an authority on mental disorders she doesn’t understand. Mostly I was just poking fun.

Women are over-diagnosed. But I don’t understand how Larps pointing out shitty behavior is the same as “diagnosing everyone”. Also, she’s talked about how borderline personality is over-diagnosed and often ascribed to women who are dealing with trauma. She’s also not talking about it from a “I don’t personally like them” only- “these people” are people who are cruel and vicious and play victim when called out on their cruel vicious behavior.

Clearly, you and I interpret the things she says about bpd and ‘cluster b’ in general very differently. For one, diagnosing anyone over the internet is absurd. In my first response to her, I did agree that she has made some good points, mostly about the link between autogynephilia and narcissism. But that’s about noticing an overarching theme within a specific population, and there’s already a decent amount of academic writing about that link. Case studies done by real psychologists. Actual studies done with controls and statistics and so on. And even with stuff like fucking “trans lesbian” dating profiles that larps points out herself, there is some solid evidence there due to the sheer repetition of entitled attitudes, fetishism, etc, the list goes on. My issue is with the way she thinks she understands BPD when she clearly doesn’t, how she applies “cluster b” or bpd to an awful lot of people, largely young ‘transmen’ or radfems she doesn’t like, and how whenever anyone she’s put down for having BPD tells her to cut it out, or tells her that she’s wrong about them, she dismisses anything they have to say by citing “people with bpd are insane,” or telling them they’re being irrational due to their disorder. Basically she’s using it as a shield to avoid being held accountable for the things she says. “Anyone who’s telling me borderline people aren’t irrational is only saying that because they’re borderline, and therefore they’re irrational!” I’m not saying she’s diagnosing “everyone.” And regarding transmen specifically, there are a lot of psychological factors involved in that situation, and for someone who’s so vocal about the cultlike, exploitative, backwards nature of the trans movement, you’d think she would understand how absurd and frankly just plain egotistical it is to think she can simplify all of those psychological factors and dynamics down to “cluster b.” Again - remember that she’s talking about people she’s never met in her life, usually judging from one blog description, a handful of posts, or sometimes nothing more than a fucking selfie.

Even as a younger girl with supposed “BPD” (who even identified with the label)- I wouldn’t have found this stuff offensive, and if it did (which I might have, and sometimes still do)- it’s really that easy to log off or go outside.

That’s good for you, and I respect your perspective. And you’re right, I could just log off and ignore what larps is saying. You can say that about anything anyone says on the internet, and technically it’s true. But I didn’t. The things she’s saying are ignorant, I find them personally hurtful, and I think she’s spreading misinformation, harmful stereotypes, and regressive thinking. I see that she’s saying dehumanizing and belittling things to women on this site who deserve respect, and probably worst of all, I see that there are a lot of people who look up to her, ask her for advice, sometimes idolize her a bit, and many of them will believe pretty much anything she says. She’s feeding them bullshit and some really vile ideas about mental health stigma, and how people with certain disorders (mainly BPD) deserve to be treated. I don’t think she’s the devil incarnate, and I don’t think she’s out here ruining lives and destroying families. I think she’s an asshole with an inflated sense of her own insight and knowledge, and I decided to say something. I could have logged off, but in this case, I didn’t. That’s all.

...I don’t understand how Larps memeing on a Tumblr blog and often posting insightful ideas about personality disorders is “insulting, ignorant, and dehumanizing”.

Yeah I don’t know what you consider “insightful,” but posting the definition of “insane” and copy-pasting a list of bpd symptoms and saying “see? these people are insane,” and tagging her response to my post with #have u ever noticed how all of these people have personality disorders (callback to “anyone who’s telling me borderline people aren’t irrational is only saying that because they’re borderline, and therefore they’re irrational!”) ...doesn’t quite cut it in my book.

She doesn’t bring up cluster b whenever she “feels” someone is acting unreasonable and dramatic- they… are unreasonable and dramatic- at least in whatever context, and people don’t have to dig deep to see who someone really is to be able to just say “no that’s insane, bye”.

Mmmm... I realize you see the situation differently from me, but am I acting insane? I mean, at worst, I’m making the undeniably blunt way she talks to people into something bigger than it needs to be. And yeah, I know... classic cluster b, amiright? But even if that’s the case, even if I’m misinterpreting her views, surely you can see where I’m coming from. And there are quite a few people who have the same objections that I do (mostly radfems, radfem adjacent women, terves, etc.). When she wrote that tag #have u ever noticed how all of these people have personality disorders, isn’t it clear that she was referring to me, as well as the rest of the radfemmish women who have been speaking against this behavior from her lately? Isn’t she making an assumption that I have a personality disorder (which I do not)?

Do you really think my objection to the way larps talks about bpd is an indication that I have a personality disorder, and that I’m insane? Unreasonable at worst. But yes, she is absolutely using the excuse that those who object to her saying borderline people are irrational are saying so because they’re borderline/irrational. And like I said, I’m hardly the only example of her saying things like this. Someone just reblogged the original post of all of this and said #I just blocked larps bcuz shes been reblogging random old posts from me calling me a cluster b as bait #as far as I know I’m the only quote on quote crazy bihet that doesn’t have a pd? Someone else wrote #I really looked up to larps hence I’m so torn about this #if I didn’t believe she was a smart and decent well meaning person I wouldn’t care. That’s just on that particular post, within the last few hours.

People with personality disorders are diagnosed because they’re anti social and cause harm to those they “love”/interact with and the cluster b community (that I hung around) spend most of their time groveling in misery- despite often constructing their own fantastical narrative of people horrifically abusing them and demanding to be coddled for every emotion.

Some of them, yeah. Not all of them, and not enough to justify making assumptions about people you’ve never met.

What I mean is- the pain that they’re feeling is an offense to ego a LOT of the time. And other’s shouldn’t have to walk around eggshells to make sure that they don’t injure others egos.

Agreed.

Like it’s not real, rudfems don’t enable or contribute to violence against women. None of these women, no matter how mean they are, contributed to the pain I experienced in childhood for being called BPD- actually it was always men and handmaidens.

I didn’t accuse larps, or any other ‘rudefem’ of contributing to violence against women. I know that men were the reason ‘hysteria’ could be diagnosed in the past, and I know that men are the reason bpd is being overdiagnosed in women today. And I’m honestly not even trying to say larps is being misogynistic to the women she says this stuff to (though re-reading, I realize it could easily sound that way). Misogyny or not, dismissing someone’s perfectly measured, reasonable objection as irrational just because they have a bpd diagnosis - which in several cases, dr. larps diagnosed all by herself - is unacceptable, is the same pattern and circular justification used on ‘hysterical’ women in the past, and is particularly bad because, as we agree, bpd is too often being diagnosed as the new version of hysteria. She’s re-enforcing age-old stereotypes about mental illness, and she’s buying into it so completely that she really believes that borderline people are so unreliable that she knows what’s going on in their heads better than they do. Hence saying that borderline people objecting to her backwards stereotyping are doing so out of a kneejerk reaction to a damaged ego, rather than because they know what she’s saying is false.

Also - she isn’t talking about everyone with “diagnosed” BPD.

If that’s what she means, then she’s the one who needs to say it, not you. Again, I respect that you have a different view of this, and I understand your perspective, I can’t believe what others say about her intentions and supposed read-between-the-lines distinctions, when she doesn’t say it herself, and the things she says and the way she acts do not communicate what you’re saying about her.

Meaning, there’s a distinction between people who have been diagnosed and are suffering, and people who have been diagnosed (or not) and are cruel and have a total lack of insight and disregard for other people.

Mental health is complicated. You can’t divide people with bpd into two clean categories like that. That’s not how it works. And you CERTAINLY can’t lump people into the “bad” category simply because they don’t like how you talk about their disorder. You can’t see someone objecting to what you’re saying and assume that YOU know that they’re coming from a “total lack of insight.” People are not psychic. Larps is using the fact that some people with pds have a lack of self-awareness to dodge accountability when it’s convenient for her. It’s complete circular logic - something you would think she would be above, no? “they’re irrational, and when they complain about me calling them irrational, I can shut them down by saying that any complaint they make is irrational.” I know I keep saying this, but it’s true. In my first comment, I pointed out that this is her pattern, and what was her response? hashtag have u ever noticed how all these people have personality disorders. fucking exactly what I said her response would be, because that’s the only excuse she has.

And yes, insight is a qualifying factor that “””exonerates”””” (quite a loaded word in this context????) someone from being “really” BPD. The thing about BPD is that they will not (or cannot) change- like it’s not a fixed part of your personality, and if it is- you deserve to be called out, and if it isn’t and you still behave like that… you deserve to be called out, still.

Again, no. If this is the case, then we need to make a second definition to separate “REALLY bpd” from “sorta bpd,” since currently they both meet the same diagnostic criteria. It’s not up to you, or larps, to create definitive new categories of mental illness.

I went from being told I had “borderline tendencies” to being diagnosed with full BPD, to basically nothing at all, because I became aware of those patterns, learned how to be objective about my thoughts and emotions, and practiced resisting them to the point where they only show up if I’m already in a really bad state. I don’t consider myself to have - or to have had - a personality disorder, because I’ve almost completely gotten rid of those mental reactions. But I know people who do have BPD, who are self aware, who are trying the same things I did, but the difference is that even though they now have the tools to keep them in check, those mental and emotional reactions are still present for them, and likely always will be. To say they don’t REALLY have bpd because they’re able to control it is frankly insulting. “If you’ve been able to improve it through treatment, you never really had it in the first place.” I know that’s not how you meant it, but that’s what it boils down to.

BPD is not defined by a lack of self-awareness. It’s a pattern of ingrained emotional and mental reactions (and, subsequently, behaviors). These often develop as a method of self defense against external abuse. Or sometimes there’s no abuse and it’s there anyways. The cause isn’t always clear. But the criteria calling these symptoms “pervasive” doesn’t mean the individual is unaware of them. People who know they have bpd, and who are working on treating their bpd still have bpd.

“...deserve to be called out”... it’s not larps’ business to “call someone out” for having bpd. She can call someone out for acting like a shithead, but simply having bpd is not a flaw that needs to be criticized. Your phrasing makes it seem like that’s what you’re saying, and although I’m pretty sure that’s not what you meant, that’s what larps seems to think.

Not only are neither you nor larps qualified to determine the “category” of bpd that people on the internet who you’ve never met fall into, but even IF that’s how she sees it, then, again, she needs to say that herself, and she needs to reflect that view in the way she treats people.

But to conclude, she really does make that explicitly clear that she doesn’t think everyone with BPD is a “screeching, manipulative, hysteric”.

Where

You made a bunch of excuses for her and I still have no reason to believe any of it is true

However, I’m mostly speaking for myself here because I’ve been hanging around tungle for too long and I mostly want to say that this all doesn’t really matter. Like, so many feminists on here ramble on about “but what about bpd women who get misdiagnosed?” yeah I didn’t face brutality at the hands of snarky women on the internet. These are not the people that even enabled the violence that me or many other women with trauma face.

Again, I didn’t say that. I don’t think she’s destroying lives either, I was just frustrated, saw that many other women are frustrated about her too, and I felt like saying something, so I did. That is the extent of my motivations here. I do think that she is spreading harmful stereotypes and misinformation, but I’m under no delusion that she is causing damage on a massive scale. She is, however, just one more raindrop in the proverbial ocean of mental health stigma. Insignificant as a single drop may be, surely it’s no less significant than any of those people with bpd whose bad behavior you say should be called out. If it’s larps’ business to call them out, then it’s just as much my business to call her out.

It’s not up to her and other women like her to clarify every single thing they say- people DO generalize and we should be able to communicate without having to specify for everyone.

I’m not asking her to clarify “every single thing” she says, I’m asking her to stop acting like a shithead, labeling people she’s never met, acting like she’s an authority on personality disorders, and using her actually wildly skewed perception of these disorders which is steeped in regressive, harmful, and demeaning stigma and stereotypes about mental illness in order to manipulate her way out of being held accountable for any of it. I’m not telling her to stop generalizing for the purpose of communication, I’m asking her to stop making inaccurate generalizations based on stereotypes, and to stop using “cluster b” as a catch-all for bad behavior. Just because someone is a shithead, or unreasonable, or overdramatic, doesn’t make them borderline, and it’s insulting to the people with bpd who are truly good people, who also have to deal with their disorder being an internet trend for self-dx’ers to milk sympathy and excuse their abusive behavior (sounds just like what larps would diagnose as cluster b, I know, but it turns out that many people who don’t have bpd exhibit these traits as well), deal with shitty treatment from healthcare providers who read the diagnosis and think they know everything about you before you even walk in the door (back when I had the ‘full bpd’ diagnosis, a therapist said to my face that people with bpd were considered ‘used goods,’ and my current psychiatrist treats me with an absurd and totally unjustified level of suspicion), deal with the massively pervasive stereotypes everyone else holds about bpd (ranging from ‘serial killer’ to ‘used goods’ to ‘fake trend on the internet to get attention’), as well as dealing with - oh yeah - the actual fucking disorder, as well as often comorbid cases of PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc.

I’m just saying, it would be a lot more effective and hurt a lot less people you supposedly didn’t mean to target if you just called out the actual behavior instead of “calling out” a disorder. Additionally, I’m pretty sure that people with bpd who do lack self awareness are far more likely to respond to direct criticisms of their behavioral patterns than they are to respond to the label of bpd being “called out.” They’d just see the latter as more fuel for self-pity. It’s a little harder to justify being the victim of someone saying “hey stop being abusive.”

And if that’s not enough reasons for you, consider: people who have shitty behaviors who don’t have a cluster b disorder (yes, larps, they exist) are just gonna hear criticisms of a disorder they don’t have and brush it right off. Call out the actual behavior, and there’s a chance they might recognize it in themselves. It’s like a quadruple win.

A hallmark of bpd/npd/aspd/hpd is having no insight into that, that people say shit, and you take what you can and leave it-her, or me, or anyone else mincing that up….. doesn’t help bpd women live in a world where nobody is going to mince anything up ever. It did not help me when people coddled me, and I intuitively knew that and was deeply frustrated with it.

You’re right that it doesn’t help to have people make excuses for you or ‘coddle’ you. But not being unfair and pushing harmful stigma is not the same thing as “coddling.” Nor is “not mincing” words the same thing as saying things that are untrue, unfair, dismissive, and insulting. Much like Trump saying blatantly racist things is NOT “just telling it like it is.” (and no I’m not comparing you or larps to trump or calling anyone racist. except trump)

Many of the women who have ‘spoken up’ about larps on tungle, I’ve seen on other mediums (fb, wordpress) and they’re often just blatantly manipulative

Really? Am I being blatantly manipulative? Or insane? And, to reiterate, is what I’ve said on her post enough for her to assume that I - and anyone else raising these issues with her - ALL have personality disorders? Is it justification for her to say that I’m “glorifying” ASPD/BPD?

and will never have any insight to the fact that all of this is really a non-issue

I gave you several examples above, and here's your treasure trove:

https://larpsandtherealgirl.tumblr.com/search/cluster%20b

Notice how she loves agreeing with everyone saying they’ve been abused by someone with a cluster b disorder, or otherwise says something negative about a person/people with a cluster b disorder, makes sweeping generalizations and basically uses “cluster b” with the same tone that you would call someone an asshole - that is to say, using the same logical standards of “you said some shit I thought was rude, so I think you’re an asshole & I’m going to call you one” when talking about psychological medical diagnoses?

Yeah, occasionally she claims she’s only talking about The Bad Ones, but that’s a pretty thin excuse when 99% of the time you make no attempt to differentiate, and post things like screenshotted symptoms (which - if the “good ones” with that disorder actually have that disorder - would apply to the “good ones” too) with captions like “these people are insane.”

Again, I realize you see the things she says very differently from me, but surely you can see where I’m coming from. And I would hope that you can see that my having this perspective does not justify saying I have a personality disorder, that I am insane, or that I am “glorifying” ASPD and NPD. I would hope that the similar shit she’s said about several other women who said things similar to what I said would also strike you as unjustified. You can make excuses that she wasn’t literally diagnosing me with a personality disorder, but you can’t make that excuse every single time she says something like this.

but instead “leave radical feminism because it’s so full of mean lesbian separatists” and make huge texts about it everywhere else and how rfeminism is a cult.

Okay... this is an entirely separate and irrelevant subject and I’m not sure why you’re bringing it up. I mean it sounds like you’re saying “people who don’t like being told they’re insane are just butthurt kek” which I really hope is not what you’re saying. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of radical women who would object to being called insane and having their opinions dismissed because of a mental health diagnosis, who would raise their objections and still believe in their politics, probably due to the fact that - in this context - those things have virtually nothing to do with one another.

My point is- she’s not just saying ppl who criticize her have bpd- they often do because people with personality disorders come out of the woodwork to be hideously angry at anyone who calls them abusive or “wrong” and “bad” (whatever that means at any given moment).

In summary: I appreciate and respect that you interpret the things larps says in a very different way, and I’m not trying to tell you that you should be hurt or anything like that. But I can’t accept what I see as excuses that you’re making for her, since she doesn’t offer any of those explanations herself, and I don’t see any evidence of the intentions you’re attributing to her, in her own words or behavior.

At the end of the day, larps is the only person who can speak for larps’ intentions (much like the people whose criticisms larps deflects by claiming they’re motivated by irrational emotion and a threatened victim complex SHOULD be the only ones who can speak for their intentions).

And at the end of the day, larps didn’t show anything but disrespect and a total unwillingness to even consider that the way she speaks to, and treats, people with bpd and people who criticize her portrayal and internet-diagnosing of bpd, might not be 100% faultless.

At the end of the day, larps read what I had to say about her dismissive attitude and manipulative, circular justification for avoiding accountability. Her response was to double down on calling people with borderline “insane,” and double down on her own belief that googling a list of symptoms makes her an expert on psychology, as well as an expert on the thoughts in other peoples’ heads. She used the exact circular, dismissive excuse I was calling out, yet again said that the people criticizing her were all doing so because of their - well “our,” I should say, since she diagnosed me - personality disorders, rather than their actual thoughts, opinions, and perfectly reasonable objections. And then she answered a bunch of messages laughing about how crazy and terrible “cluster b”s are. No, she didn’t literally say “EVERY SINGLE PERSON with bpd is like this,” but come on. She’s not the only person who can recognize patterns of behavior.

#long post

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baneismydragon · 7 years

Note

"I can't do this" for Ladrien?

OMG! Look at what I am finally getting back around to finishing!!! (You guys thought I had given up hadn’t you. Mwahahahaha. Be prepared for all the prompt responses. I will finish them all!

Anyways- here is some Ladrien ^_~

It was a surreal experience to be sitting next to Ladybug on the upper ledge of Notre Dame, staring out at the Sunset.

Not the sitting part itself- they did that at least once a week in this very spot, (her favorite). No, the surreal part was that it wasn’t Chat Noir, hero to the helpless and Catsanova extraordinaire- (her words), but regular old Adrien Agreste, sitting together with her, at their spot, trying to pretend that he wasn’t having to use every ounce of restraint not to fall into usual habits and give himself away.

Something was clearly wrong. She was too quiet. Her usual spark seemed to be dampened by whatever was troubling her.

If he were transformed he would probably be curled up in her lap, letting her fuss with his hair while he told terrible jokes that always managed to pull a smile from her, no matter how hard she tried to bite it back.

As Adrien however, he simple had to wait.

“You’re probably wondering why I brought you up here,” she said softly.

He nodded, not fully trusting himself to speak.

“I needed to talk to someone about things, and even though I know we don’t know each other very well, I feel like I can trust you. Can I trust you?” She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and full of a sort of longing that made him feel humbled.

“Of course,” he said, his voice more raspy than he intended, “anything you need.”

She smiled, though it seemed a little forced and turned to look back out at the fading sunset. Still at a loss as to what exactly he was supposed to do, Adrien reached up and patted her gingerly on the top of her head. Ladybug froze at the touch, and Adrien briefly considered just jumping off the edge of the roof and putting himself out of his socially awkward misery.

To his absolute amazement, Ladybug crumpled- wrapping her arms around his waist and clinging to him as if her life depended upon it.

She had done this once or twice before when he was transformed, but usually only after a particularly brutal fight.

“Ladybug?” he asked, his arms instinctively coming up to hold her, his hands rubbing comforting circles against her back.

“It’s too much,” she sobbed. “I know that I should be able to handle it, but sometimes it’s just too much. I feel like I am being pulling in so many directions that I can’t even keep anything straight anymore. I’m pushing away my friends and I am disappointing my parents and I can’t even tell them why. And I know that it matters, what I do as Ladybug matters, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, but sometimes…” she trailed off with a sniffle.

Adrien held her tighter. He knew exactly what she was going through. In a rare bit of luck his overcrowded schedule and familial neglect had actually made it fairly easy to manage his constant disappearances, but he knew how hard and how lonely it could be. He certainly hadn’t had the ability to manage more than a handful of friends, and even then he was convinced that Nino was a saint for putting up with him. He could only imagine how hard it must be on his Lady, who surely had dozens of people who adored her.

“Have you tried talking with Chat about any of this?” he asked cautiously. “I mean… I would think he would be in a better position to understand than… me.”

Ladybug let out a soft broken laugh. “Yes Chat would understand. He would listen, and he would make me feel better, and then he would try to fix it. He would try to take everything on himself so that I wouldn’t have be hurt. And even though he doesn’t say anything, I know he has it just as bad as I do. Sometimes I think maybe it’s worse. I get the feeling sometimes that his homelife isn’t a very happy one.”

Adrien didn’t say anything. Her analysis was actually pretty spot on.

“I don’t need someone to fix things for me. Nothing that I am saying is end of the world stuff… tomorrow none of it will seem as bad, I know that. I just needed someone to listen.”

“Well I am always happy to help,” Adrien said, “if you ever need someone, you can always just knock on my window or something. I don’t get out too much these days.”

“I don’t know if listening to me cry about my problems is much of an improvement,” she said shyly.

“Nonsense. Fresh air, at least as fresh as one gets in the city, and I hear that superhero tears can do wonders for the skin.”

“So I can repay you by assisting in your beauty regime?” Ladybug said looking up at him, her eyes still watery but with a little hint of their normal sparkle.

“Hey, you can’t be too careful in my line of work.”

“Explains why I’ve heard tales of your thrice daily showers,” Ladybug laughed.

“Right,” Adrien replied, forcing a laugh of his own and once again cursing his inability to come up with less inane excuses.

“Thank you for listening to me,” she said shyly, her arms still wrapped lightly around him as she looked up at him with an expression that Adrien refused to name, because there was no way that she was looking at him with something like adoration.

“Of-of course,” he stuttered, “I always want to listen to you.” He felt his face flush but it was worth it as her face lit up with a dazzling smile.

For a few minutes they just sat there, staring at each other, neither daring to move for fear of breaking whatever spell they were caught in.

“Well I should-”

“Don’t go,” he interrupted. He heard her soft gasp of surprise. “I mean you can but… you don’t have to for my sake,” he babbled. “As far as I am concerned we can stay her as long as you want. I always want to spend time with you. I honestly can’t think of a time that I don’t want to spend with you, although that might sound kind of creepy, but I think you get the-”

And that was when her lips met his.

It was perfect. It was everything Adrien had ever imagined it to be. He lifted a trembling hand to her cheek, tilting his head slightly for a better angle and she seemed to melt into him.

His eyes drifted closed and his head swam as his blood pounded in his veins, a steady rhythm of her, her, her! He heard her sigh against his lips and it was like his whole body caught fire. He felt a slight pressure of her tongue against his mouth and he happily relaxed his jaw to give her access, the kiss deepening as their tongues danced and explored.

This just as suddenly she pulled away with a horrified squeak.

“I can’t do this!” she wailed. “What was I even thinking?”

“I really don’t mind,” Adrien said before he could stop himself.

“You should mind!” she cried, pulling away from him and crossing her arms around her stomach as if to restrain herself, “I am a stranger to you! I pretty much literally plucked you up off the street and carried you away for my own selfish benefit! Maybe I am a hero but I am also just some girl behind a mask who dragged you into her problems.”

Once again Adrien had to hold back the instinct to yell out that she was no stranger to him. She was his partner, his best friends. So what if he didn’t know her name, he knew her. He knew her better than he knew himself. But this wasn’t about him. This wasn’t the time for grand reveals or confessions of undying love. So he bit his lip and held his silence, though he couldn’t resist the need to catch her hand in his own, lacing their fingers together in a sign of support.

“We can’t be together like this,” she said, even though her voice sounded more disappointed than certain.

Somehow he knew that his whole world was riding on this answer. It was the same feeling that had told him to shut the closet door all those months ago.

He just prayed that he was wasn’t about to completely screw this up.

“You’re probably right,” he said, and his heart lurched when he saw her shoulders drop slightly at his words. He pressed on anyways. “Being a superhero is… complicated. As cool as it would be to brag to my friends about my secret girlfriend Ladybug, it wouldn’t be fair to either of us. But you know what is just as amazing to think about?”

“What?”

“Sometimes when I am bored, which actually is quite a lot of the time, seeing as photoshoots aren’t really all that mentally challenging, I like to imagine that I am out walking around the city. And while I am out I happen to run into a girl.”

“Any particular girl?” she says, with a faint trace of disappointment that confirms his suspicion that he has met her before. He can beat himself up over that later.

“No, not really,” he says instead. He holds back a smile when he sees her start in surprise. “But she’ll be cute and she’ll be kind, and she won’t mind that I am socially inept and kind of a nerd when it comes right down to it. And she’ll roll her eyes at my stupid jokes and tell me all about her hopes and dreams, because of course she isn’t just some empty headed celebutante.”

He heard Ladybug let out a soft snort.

“Anyways, we’ll talk for hours, and I’ll see that she is brave, and loyal, and probably a little bit crazy.”

“Hey!”

“Well all girls are kinda crazy.”

“Again, Hey!”

“Don’t worry, none of you have anything on my friend Alya. Anyways, I’ll be talking to this girl- just a normal, everyday girl, and she’ll ask me- ‘Hey, do you want to go get some Chinese?’”

“Chinese?”

“I like Chinese food. Been craving it for weeks but Father doesn’t care for it.”

“Your romantic daydream is for someone to take you out for Chinese?”

For the first time since he had started talking, Adrien turned and looked at Ladybug. He reached out and caught her hand in his own and he heard her catch her breath.

“As amazing as you are, as many times as you have saved this city with your incredible powers, and as ridiculously attractive as you manage to make polka dotted spandex look, when I say I would date you, it’s not because I am looking to date a superhero. I just want someone who is smart, and kind, and funny, who wants to go with me to get some Chinese food. Because they would remind me of you, and that’s the highest recommendation I could think of.”

“How do you know I like Chinese food?” she asked, her eyes shining.

Adrien let out a breath that he didn’t even realize he had been holding. He hadn’t screwed everything up.

“Well if you don’t, then I am afraid our romance was already doomed anyways,” he smiled.

___

“You are a world class sap, do you know that?” Plagg grumbled 20 minutes later as they walked out of his favorite cheese shop. “It would have taken next to no effort to talk the girl into some sort of secret rendezvous and then I could have been spared your endless sighing.”

“You know Plagg, if I didn’t know better, I would say that you were proud of me,” Adrien said, still floating on cloud nine from the brilliant smile and breathy ‘see you around, Adrien’ that Ladybug had given him after swinging them both down off the roof of Notre Dame. She had offered to take him back home, but he figured it would be a little difficult to explain why he was trying to sneak back in through the window.

Plagg simply huffed, curling up in Adrien’s jacket pocket and munching on his newly acquired treat.

Adrien glanced at the sky, almost dark now in the last fading stretch of twilight, but he was loathed to make the journey back to his empty home. Father and Nathalie wouldn’t be back from the office until close to midnight, so he had plenty of time before anyone would think to notice his absence. He had enough practice avoiding the security cameras, after all.

He pulled out his phone, hoping maybe Nino would be free for a few hours of video games, when he saw a disheveled whirlwind of pink tearing determinedly down sidewalk in the opposite direction.

“Marinette?” he called out, stifling a laugh as she skidded to a stop, pirouetting like a ballet dancer to face him, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Adrien? I thought you were going… I mean, um… Hi,” she blushed and waved before thrusting her hand behind her back, as if mortified by the gesture.

“Hi,” he smiled, trying not to laugh at her endearing awkwardness. It really was ridiculously cute. “How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since…”

“Good, I’ve been good.”

“That’s good.”

“I miss you. I mean, we miss you, the class. It’s been different with you gone. Nino especially obviously, but we all do. And me,” she added, looking him in the eye even as her cheeks flamed, “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” Adrien said, ignoring the slight wetness he could feel teasing at the corner of his eyes.

Marinette smiled, her hands clenched behind her back, and for a few moments they just started at each other, enjoying the company but neither knowing exactly what to say.

“Well,” Adrien said, when the silence had stretched from comfortable to slightly awkward, “I was about to send a text to-”

“Adrien,” Marinette interrupted, startling him into silence again, “I know we don’t know each other all that well but I was wondering… that is… I would love to get to know you more, so if you are up for it, do you want to maybe…” she bit her lip nervously and Adrien could feel his skin tingle in anticipation of… something. “Do you want to go to dinner with me?” she asked with a hesitant smile.

“You want to go to dinner? With me?” Adrien asked, his mind screaming that he was missing something important. The fact that he could feel Plagg shaking in his pocket wasn’t helping his sense of foreboding.

She nodded.

“Yeah, sure, I’d love to” he agreed, his own cheeks flushing slightly at the starry eyed smile she gave at his answer. “Where would you like to go?”

Marinette slipped her arm through his and they began walking, her head turning slightly to look out at the city.

“You know,” she said, “I think I’m in the mood for Chinese.”

Adrien tripped.

#Ladrien #my drabbles #4 word prompt drabbles

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libralita · 7 years

Text

Repetitiveness: Clare VS Sanderson

Spoilers for:

[Major] All of Brandon Sanderson’s work (including his non-cosmere stuff)

[Major] Cassandra Clare’s work up to Lady Midnight

[Very Minor] PJO on world building

[Very Minor] Harry Potter on world building

Now if you’ve been looking at my blog recently, you’ll know that I have fallen in an absolute love with Brandon Sanderson. But I subscribe to the philosophy that if you love something then you should mercilessly make fun of all its faults. One of the faults being: Sanderson’s writing is unbelievably repetitive. And no the excuse “well it’s all in the same universe” doesn’t work. Reckoners is not in the Cosmere but it’s a pretty shameless (yet hilarious) rip-off of Mistborn. The only difference being is that Mistborn is adult and Reckoners is YA. Which, apparently, means that everything is exactly the same but main characters don’t die. Also, to a much lesser degree Rithmatist rips off elements of Stormlight Archive but it’s nowhere near as bad as Reckoners. I’m pretty sure they’re going to outlaw drinking games made out of the Cosmere because of dangerous they would be.

I also use to read Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series but decided to stop because it was too repetitive. Now that sounds incredibly hypocritical and at first I didn’t understand why the repetitiveness didn’t bother me in Sanderson’s work. And the repetitiveness was the reason I found myself not wanting to continue after Lady Midnight. I know that Clare is going to pull some reason Jules and Emma can bonk out of her ass, Emma is going to suffer little to no consequences for her actions and they day will saved by bunch of stupid teenagers. At first these franchises seem completely different and pointless to compare but I’d argue they’re more similar than you think. Both authors were started off riding the coattails of other authors (Clare with the Twilight hype and Sanderson finishing up Wheel of Time), there’s a lot of talk of religion and there’s generally a neon sign pointing to which characters are going to die. Ironically, they both have a country called “Idris” that we barely care about unless it’s being under attack (Fun Fact: City of Glass was published in March of 2009 and Warbreaker was published June of 2009, go figure). They obviously have the same flaw. They tend to tell the same story with the same characters over and over again. However I figured out two reasons why I still enjoy Sanderson’s work and have given up on Clare’s.

1. Character Arcs and Group Dynamics:

Let’s take Raoden from Elantris and Elend from Mistborn. They’re essentially the same character. They’re young royals who take a position of authority even though they’re a bit naïve. They have badass girlfriends. Their girlfriends also have something to do with their clearly evil fathers’ deaths. Raoden even had a crazy brother in a draft of Elantris and Elend actually had a crazy brother. It sounds annoying that Brandon has characters with such similar backgrounds but there are some key differences.

One interesting way Brandon avoids the reader immediately realizing how similar these characters are is when their stories begin. Raoden’s story is basically Elend’s story but only through Well of Ascension and maybe a bit of time gap between Well of Ascension and Hero of Ages. In Well of Ascension you have the former ruling god dead, Elend is trying to deal with the authority that he’s accepted in the last book, dies and then comes back with awesome powers. Ditto for Raoden. But we get to see Elend grow from this naïve bookworm just trying to piss off his father into the badass emperor. Raoden’s already got some leadership skills from growing up with the assumption that he’s going take the thrown before he got zombie-afied and develops much faster than Elend in Elantris. It’s not immediately recognizable that this is the same arc. While in Shadowhunters Clary and Tessa basically go through the same story arc. Girl who thought she was average discovers Shadowhunters and that she’s magical, but even more super special than all the other magical people. She meets jerky guy and obviously better nice guy but chooses the jerky guy because he’s tortured. She discovers stuff about the Shadowhunter world and Clave continues to be useless dicks. She’s the only one who can save the day despite having very little to no training because she was born the right way. Bangs her boyfriend right before the climax because…I have no idea what Clare loves that trope to be honest. Anyone who was even remotely rude to her dies, even if they get quickly redeemed before the end and there are a few good guys who die, but honestly their deaths don’t really matter to the MC or the audience. End of trilogy! It’s boring. I will give Clare this, she did realize that the audience didn’t need this world explained for the third fucking time in TDA which a good step forward. I’m sure that every asshole is going to die by the end of the trilogy and right before the climax Jules and Emma will equip those stupid birth control runes and have a climax of their own. However there’s still the problem that they’re still fucking Shadowhunters.

Another difference is the different power sets that the characters. I know Tessa doesn’t have the exact same power set as Clary or Emma. Tessa is a Warlock-Shadowhunter, Clary has a bigger amount of angel blood than your average Shadowhunter and Emma is banging her Parabati which gives you magic powers apparently. Clare couldn’t have these take place on different planets with completely different magic systems like Sanderson can. But Tessa, Clary and Emma hang out with people and it wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t all Shadowhunters who come from the same culture with the same values and same personalities. Even the same family lines, which I guess means that family members have exact same personalities. At least when Sanderson families are from the same bloodlines he makes an effort to change up the personalities. Breeze is fancy asshole with a heart a gold, Wax is a social inept cowboy with a heart of gold. Tessa barely explores her Warlock side in TID, she talks to Magnus and maybe exchanges a couple of words with Ragnor. All three MCs hang out with Shadowhunters. It’s especially obvious when you look at Tessa and Clary’s groups. Tessa hangs out with Jace-Clone-With-Half-Decent-Reason-To-Be-An-Asshole, Simon-Done-Better, Crazy-Izzy (Jessamine) and Characters-That-Would-Make-Much-More-Interesting-Protagonists (Henry, Charlotte). TDA isn’t that much better. Emma and Jules are basically the genderbent versions of Jace and Clary with minor differences and being more pissy. They hang out with Less-Insufferable-Izzy, Evil-Crazy-Magnus, Expendable-Siblings, Siblings-I-Don’t-Care-About, Siblings-Waiting-For-Their-Own-Spinoff and Love-Geometry-Fodder. It would be better if they weren’t all Shadowhunters. Clare created a bunch of really interesting cultures and species that we never really get to see in full. We don’t know what it’s like to be a normal Vampire because Simon was a Daywalker (or whatever) and he wasn’t even a vampire for long, we had Maya the werewolf but she barely got any screen time. The non-Shadowhunter character we get the most of is Magnus because he’s a fan favorite but we still don’t really know much about Warlocks. I know this series is called Shadowhunters but why did it have to be? It would have been a better series if Tessa was a full on Warlock and she was exploring that aspect of Clare’s world and she could still interact with the Shadowhunters. Hell it might even be interesting to see how other species see the Shadowhunters. We know Downworlders hate Shadowhunters but they probably have different histories with them. Maybe Werewolves were used as manual slave labor while Warlocks were used as prostitutes for people who wanted to fuck demons but didn’t want demon STDs. I don’t know! Make Emma a werewolf, she’s aggressive. Culture does a lot, Clare already has the intriguing cultures that I want to learn about. She just has to DO something with them. Brandon loves having crews and it helps that they all come from different planets with different cultures. Even if he’s reusing a character they’re also either just different enough to not be a complete clone (unlike Jace and Will) or they’re surrounded by completely different characters. Raoden’s old crew has two old cranky farts with a rivalry that ends with my heart broken, a soldier, the hot guy, the big strong man with a family and the badass girlfriend. Elend’s crew he inherited from the Kell has the badass girlfriend, the fancy asshole with the heart of gold, soldier who’s a philosopher, Average Joe accountant, religious dude, cranky old fart and love-triangle-fodder. There’s some overlap between all the series’ crews but they’re just enough that you accept it. In Shadowhunters, especially with Tessa and Clary their friend groups are basically the same.

2. World Building:

The thing that keeps Sanderson’s work from becoming dull is that he is a master world builder. So good in fact that while you’re trying to figure out how the hell each world works and exactly how amazing it is that you completely miss all the repetitiveness along with the foreshadowing and references to the Cosmere. It’s only after you give yourself to think about the overall picture that you realize how similar they are. It’s essential a parent sneakily feeding their child vegetables by hiding them in cheese. Clare doesn’t have that. Seeing how Shadowhunters is the same exact world in every series, you never feel the confusion in any of the spinoff series. Once you’ve read a couple of the books you have a feel for the bland world.

Besides pop culture references, I don’t see much of a point in this being an urban fantasy. If the TV Show did one thing right, it’s that it mixed the Shadowhunter tech with modern tech. Why? Because it’s cool and gives it a little bit more of a reason to be set in modern times with modern pop culture references. If you took out all references to modern society it wouldn’t matter what time period any of these series took place because Shadowhunters seem to rarely let their society be affected by Mundane society. Shadowshunters have a very stagnant culture and it’s taken 10 books for them to start to realize that the Internet is awesome. This is an urban fantasy series but it doesn’t seem to have any effect other than pop culture references. You don’t need to completely blend Normal and Magical worlds; JK Rowling did a pretty good job of making a world where the wizard world very rarely interacts with the real world. This was successful because Harry Potter was a world with wizards who can do basically anything and had no real need to interact with Muggles. Shadowhunters for one don’t have any magical powers so they either have to do it themselves, get Warlocks to do it or get some Mundanes. They also have to protect Mundanes, you’d think they’d be interacting more and since there’s no Mist like Percy Jackson you wonder how Mundanes don’t figure it out by now. Speaking of PJO, on the flip side Percy Jackson works mixing the two elements because it’s fun to see Greek Gods and Monsters updated. Riordan took his concept and ran with it. He uses the modern setting to get out pop culture references but there’s still mortal interaction with characters like the demigods’ mortal parents and Rachel. The only other thing Clare uses the modern setting for is to introduce the Shadowhunter series to noobs. Which is fine for a series but after three, it gets tiresome. Also she picked the most stagnant and boring species out of the bunch.

Then there’s Sanderson, which I won’t compare Shadowhunters to the entire Cosmere because that’s unfair but I will compare it to Mistborn. In less than 200 years Henry Branwell made a few inventions like the portal and sensor; Clary made some new runes. So only Branwells can advance this society for some reason. In 300 years, Scadrial got cars, electricity, image projectors and fucking airships. I get that Shadowhunters really don’t like change but seriously all of humanity rests in their hands. I would want someone to create better ways of killing demons. Apparently witchlight can double as a power source so you can use it for computers and WiFi. Use that shit to make a car that works in Idris or some better tech. Find some better way to communicate to each other! That way the next genocidal maniac that Clary creates goes around to Institutes creating the next protagonists for another spin off series, you can warn people! Instead of relying on references to TID. This is why you’re always dying off, because you refuse to advance! This’ll be a never ending cycle of Shadowhunters using glow-y swords and arrows to kill all hell’s got to offer! Maybe this is all just a conspiracy and Clave has been stopping advancement in Shadowhunter society because once they defeat all the demons they’ll lose all their purpose in life.

One of the problems with Clare’s writing is that she often gives her main leads this amazing magical power that no else uses or can ever use. In 200 years or in the entire history of the world we never hear of another Warlock-Shadowhunter other than Tessa. And there will probably never be one because that’s what makes Tessa special. In Mistborn, the magic system is organically evolving. Throughout the first trilogy you always get new metals and new information about how the magic works is revealed. By Alloy of Law yes we have all 16 metals but we now discover that Mistborns don’t exist (which is a great way to keep any character from being too OP) but now there’s Twinborns. It’s a completely different type of magic user much like Tessa but Brandon expanded on that. Imagine the different types of Warlocks and Shadowhunter combos you could get and how that would manifest. Or how this would affect Shadowhunter society as a whole. Instead of Luke just becoming full on werewolf what if there was some sort of hybrid Werewolf-Shadowhunter. It’s the same with Twinborns. There’s so many combinations and possibilities for different powers. Then in Bands of Mourning there’s people being able to artificially give people powers. It’s so organic and just makes the world feel so much bigger because of how much you have to explore. The Shadowhunter magic never really evolves. It’s the same and once the main character uses their super-mega-ultra forms they got from the Angel to defeat the current bad guy threatening all of humanity, the power up just goes away. Like, you never want to see if other people can do that mega-awesome-thing? Why? Maybe they could use it to get rid of demons!

Then here’s my biggest grip with the Shadowhunters’ world: we’re never given an explanation on exactly the world works. I’m less invested in this world because I don’t feel like I can live there and then immediately die because I would not survive in any fantasy world. First is Idris: how does Idris get it’s food or clothing? Shadowhunter culture makes a big deal on how it’s shameful to not be anything but a demon hunter. But…y’gotta eat and someone has to make the sexy black leather you wear. Looking at the map there’s the lake, forest, plains and that’s all there is. Where are the farms? Are there Shadowhunter farmers? How are they treated? Or do they just rely on Warlocks to conjure it all up? Which Warlocks? Before the Accords did they just have Downworlder slaves do all this? If so then what happened after the Accords? And don’t give me that “well maybe it’ll be answered in a future book” or “it was answered in Lord of Shadows and/or Shadowhunter Academy” because it’s been 10 fucking books and a collection of short stories and Clare hasn’t given me the answers on how this society functions. I tried looking at Wiki but it was either such a throw away line that no one decided to put it or Clare hasn’t addressed it. Sanderson shows that worlds can distract from very glaring problems. I don’t expect to know exactly how the Cosmere functions because its not important at the moment, just like you don’t expect to know how Idris works in City of Bones. But after 11 books and still don’t know how anything works, I get frustrated and then I start getting annoyed at the other glaring problems. I know how the Camp Half-Blood functions. Mr. D grows strawberries, they harvest them, sell to them to the mortal world and get mortal money to pay for shit. Then golden drachmas are circulating around to buy magic stuff. Which also brings me to questions about the Institutes like: How do the Institutes have Mundane money? Is it the Clave that gets the money and then distributes it to the Institutes? How do they get the money? Do Shadowhunters really go out grocery shopping or does Idris just ship each institute supplies from wherever the fuck they get it? If so then how did they do that without the portal? How did they pay their Mundane servants back in the day? I go could go on the questions, Clare’s world just feel so small. Like nothing else is happening unless it’s relevant to the plot, while everything Sanderson creates such amazing worlds that you write…well a stupid post like this. It’s just there are so many unanswered questions that it becomes annoying.

Which is not to say that Sanderson never had this problem of not answering questions that probably should have been answered about the world. I can see myself beginning to lose my patience with getting answers to questions about the Cosmere, only to have new ones pop up. He has to walk that very fine line between leaving his audience wanting more without making them give up from frustration. While I didn’t hate it, Calamity left me with a lot more questions than answers. Yes, I know there are questions that are going to be answered later, especially around Calamity (the character) and I’m sure it’ll all make sense in about 10 years when we get Reckoners: Secret History or whatever. But there are questions that I feel should have been answered in this book and normally Brandon would but for some reason he didn’t. Like if Calamity made more Epics before he pissed off? Because if I were an Epic who went on a psychopathic rampage every time someone coughed in my direction, killed everyone I loved and random strangers and then suddenly snapped out of it; I would probably kill myself out of guilt. How exactly did other-universe David die exactly? I know it had something to do with Steelheart but how exactly? What’s it like for Firefight to come to our universe? Did Prof ever go to the other universe and say sorry to that Tia for killing her in our-universe? Could he just live there? Does Meg ever let him go there like she lets David see his dad? Why in this Earth do we have such piss-pour abilities to name shit? No, I’m not over how fucking stupid the name “Newcago” is. I’m actually glad Brandon didn’t attempt to name the two universes because they probably would have been stupid. Ultimately these questions are kind of annoying that I don’t have the answers to but I still know how this world functions. It was stated that the Epics leading their small territories in the…Fractured States (sigh) needed to have servants so they found some way to keep them alive. Yes it’s a “magic” answer but it works because you’ve got people who can come back from the dead and kill with bubbles. It doesn’t work with Shadowhunters because Shadowhunters don’t have magic and their better-than-you culture makes it hard for me to come up with any logical conclusion.

Ultimately Brandon Sanderson knows that if he can distract you enough with shiny bells and delicious cheese, he can get away with his repetitiveness that may be just slightly different. Clare seems perfectly fine with lazily not explaining a goddamn thing and just using whatever works over and over again with it being slightly different. That’s what it is. It’s lazy. Clare doesn’t seem to try. There’s no exploration it’s just a random girl who is super special and the entire universe revolves around her until the next protagonist comes along. Which makes me sad in the end. Oh well, at least I have the TV show to eventually catch up on. Despite my snarky commentary, Shadowhunters is actually gaining my respect by actually killing off characters that matter to Clary.

#cassandra clare #brandon sanderson #shadowhunters #cosmere #bookblr #it took me 2 days but I finally scrapped something hopefully coherent!

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empathyeatings · 7 years

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i think it’s quite important to note during interaction that will will come off “synthetically unsympathetic” and appear to be on the autistic spectrum*.

his surface layer personality is very tactless where other’s emotions are concerned and quite formal, monotonous and repetitive, he has trouble socializing, shows little interest or concern, avoids eye contact (and uses his glasses as a buffer) and social responsibility, appears to have no verbal filter where his own opinion is concerned, has a sensory interest in holding/fiddling with things (especially when a topic becomes too personal or makes him nervous), he talks at people rather than to and has a really specific interest in boat motors and fishing -- though this arguably stems from his childhood and is more hobby-orientated and calming, it has less to do with any obsession but seems to be just about the only thing he does outside of work.

though this applies mostly to interaction during his default verse (and sheds the more the season arcs progress) this is usually going to be your first impression of him if we’re exploring, for example, during the time he was a teacher at the academy.

*disclaimer: will graham isn’t actually autistic.

“what he’s done in order to protect himself is that he’s consciously adopted a whole load of behavior that is actually somewhat like the behavior of somebody who is on the autistic spectrum down the other end. but he’s chosen it rather than it being a part of him. (like a helmet over his senses.)”

bedelia talks of hannibal’s person suit. but we know the will we see is not the will we know. it becomes abundantly clear as the discourse rises towards season two where a few of his true colors begin to show. will adopts mannerisms of someone on the autistic spectrum as a protective stance, to relieve certain social responsibilities and ideologies he cannot connect with, live up to or fears will render him trapped in some way. i believe he wears a person suit and one far more organic and elaborate than hannibal’s, one that fools just about everyone into believing he’s a thing of weakness and ineptness. he comes to believe the man he displays is in many ways, the man he is. hannibal can separate himself from his human veil, is aware of it but will has gotten so good at lying to himself over the years, he doesn’t know where others end and he begins.

will has a co-conscious personality (disorder) and frequently dissociates from himself. this is only worsened by the onset of encephalitis. but from this active co-hosting, he truly believes, for example when he mentions being “hitched” nearer the autistic side of the spectrum, that this is the case for the way he behaves, feels and thinks etc. despite being himself at home, around his dogs, he still appears to be very absent from himself. moreover, he is an extremely neurotic person. (most within the psychiatric circle refer to him as having a “highly unique cocktail of personality disorders and neuroses”, though it’s very vague).

will does suffer from depression (genetically predisposed -- from his mother), instigated by the hobbs’ shooting, has a mild obsessive disorder when it comes to his clothes, his desk, really his own (as the rest of his house is cluttered with his grandmother’s property that he cannot get rid of because he is irrationally tethered to -- even his fishing equipment is set up perfectly, ordered and so on) belongings etc (nicely illustrated by his drawers having all white undershirts, socks and boxers etc being perfectly arranged and categorized etc) and intrusive thoughts, which is more complex and leads into that “door” argument -- he’s very capable of having random and horrible thoughts about other people, events etc that aren’t exactly his own but are still a voice within his head. “collecting” stray dogs feeds into many aspects of his life, including fears, loneliness, harmful thoughts (that if he doesn’t take them in, someone worse might -- essentially he is guilt-tripped by anxiety) and the simple fact that he is obsessed with dogs and focusing on them is therapeutic for him.

hannibal sees the hold back in him and i think something he likes is the fact that will admits to him things he won't to anyone else. and hannibal never really feels the need to verbally confirm he sees will the way will saw him highlighting their unspoken bonds. hannibal's own constructions compliment who he is add to who he is highlight features and charms and the likable bits whereas will'’s complicates him buries parts of him highlights the worst features and the anxieties he deals with.

also i think though he loses himself frequently to this version of himself. what is startling is his awareness that he's essentially buried himself alive under qualities that excuse his true personality. not making eye contact or wanting to socialize bc he's on the autistic spectrum excuse the fact that he can be quite self preserving, rude, introverted, tiresome and so on which isn't necessarily sub-par but he believes so.

“will works if u see him killing people in his head, so you know what he has to deal with, and you see him at home with his dogs so that humanizes him. and that other thing shows you what he’s carrying around on his shoulders the whole time. otherwise he’s just a prick."

i believe will is a very rude (albeit not always intentionally) man when he isn't sharing head-space with others and the only reason hannibal hadn't killed and eaten him sooner was because he saw the same door he'd opened himself (one that shows beauty and not horror) in will too and chose to mentor him and show him how to open it as mads explains. and though will heftily likes to deny he could find the same horrors as beautiful, hannibal clearly sees a potential for him that he cannot see himself yet (bc hannibal went through a similar experience but much earlier on in his life and he can understand that things like fear and denial hold will back).

will has the ability to see things, feel things, agree that things are a certain way without personally taking on that opinion and there's something in him that he doesn't like and as his own person he has every bit of power to chose who he wants to be and what and how his fantasies and curiosities can separate from his morals and perceptions. he actively is trying the entire time to define and reshape himself both in general and in the eyes of others but he clearly has difficulties (like us all) with temptations ultimatums consequences and fears etc.

and i think he's always known about that door ominously standing deep within him...he's just actively chosen to steer clear of it because a) he's afraid of losing himself and b) he doesn't know how to open it. the reason he still gravitates towards hannibal after all this man has done to him is because of that door.

you can't just have someone come into your home, unlock a door and leave it ajar and leave you to deal with what's inside and not tell you why, not make sure they haven't stolen or added something to the room. will very rightly is incomplete without hannibal and his life very rightly is defined by "before you and after you" because before he was still wandering his little house within the safety of a fog ignoring parts of it that seemed too dangerous.

#⌎ ⌏𝙰 𝚂𝚃𝚄𝙳𝚈 𝙸𝙽 𝙳𝙸𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙽𝚃 — 𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃.#long post for ts /#⌎ ⌏𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙽𝙾𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚄𝚁 𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝙽 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚂𝚃 — 𝚁𝙴: 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙱𝙰𝙻 𝙻𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁.#this is really just a repost of some old hc's on the old blog - quotes taken from hugh himself in an interview.

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anthonybialy · 5 years

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Let's Review

Why pay for what you use when you can bill everyone? It's not parasitical when the government can invent all the money it wants. Still, there seems to be a catch. Those familiar with mathematics apparently have to establish why unlimited free things may not be as enticing as hoped. The only ones who believe in paying their share aren't fast enough.

Sure, it's exhausting having to work then explain why the compensation shouldn't be seized. But at least making the case for basic liberty is worthwhile if it offers a chance to review why this is worth believing. Explain goodness as a way of feeling grateful. Your answer can even be in prose.

Get a raise if you'd like to buy more things. A bit more per hour is like receiving handouts with the satisfaction of self-reliance. Also, money doesn't magically appear, so there are fewer fears of it running out. You are not doomed to make the income you are during trainee time. In fact, I think you're very talented and it's just a matter of time before your manager rewards your sunny disposition.

Useless people find it difficult to grasp how anyone could create enough value to earn more. Doesn't the government have to enforce wage hikes? Effort sounds sweaty. Presuming you're stuck in a mental slum is also why progressive taxes suck as the foremost progressive policy. Guess who thinks you can't advance?

More cash per hour follows from getting hired in the first place. The belief that humans are capable of purchasing their own homes, insurance, and education is radical in these times of alleged guarantees. Someone paying you for tasks really cuts into free time. But it beats having to shut up and beg for meager dollops confiscated from toiling suckers.

Life is easier if that rich fiend who owns the factory where you spend a quarter of your life isn't taxed into oblivion. A company can attract employees with good wages, but only if there are options.

You can tell the case for socialism is lame by how those who make it can't come up with better lies despite doing nothing else all day. The purported shady benefits are repeated constantly by people who coincidentally have nothing else to do. Sure, the story is being told by preening dolts who don't know that every bogus claim of helping humanity by sharing has been belied by countless miserable experiments.

Ardent collectivism fans leave out the part about warping human nature and a trail of devastation that defined much of the 20thcentury. Not learning history is the least fun part of the present.

It may feel shockingly dismaying to have to explain why taking autonomy in the name of a dumb and evil state is a poor decision. Doing so feels as redundant condemning pushing strollers into traffic or The Walking Dead. But at least it's a chance to remember why we believe the basics even if they seem obvious.

Calling out praise for a thuggishly moronic ruling apparatus means demonstrating basic logic, which makes it particularly uncommon. There are ample opportunities to explain why everything they enjoy was enabled by everything they loathe. You'd think people not counted upon to contribute would be able to generate more creative excuses. Thank particularly dim members of Congress for the chance to confirm the direction of Berlin Wall-hoppers.

The top benefit of a slavish statist media is having to explain the fundamentals of human liberty. Providing remedial lessons to sanctimonious dolts dumb enough to major in journalism who believe leftism is objective truth may prompt eye-rolling severe enough to cause whiplash. But an antagonistic media provides a chance to counter their silly biases.

The only thing worse than not sticking to objectivity is abandoning it for such crummy ideas. By contrast, preposterous assumptions during cushy coverage of fellow statists leaves the subject too soft to defend against scrutiny. You don't have to thank the media for the favor of deliberate ineptness.

Thankfully, we're blessed with a totally articulate president who understands natural rights and the value of mutual voluntary exchange. Also, he's really polite. Enough Republicans wanted someone they claim is an instinctual maestro, and I hope everyone's enjoying a dream come true. You may have noticed how often said instincts lead to him praising himself, cussing out anyone who dares criticize him, and expanding federal power. None of his tendencies seem particularly conservative. But at least Donald Trump is obsessed with taking down John McCain's ghost.

I guess it's up to us. It's good to not rely on the president. Fans of natural rights are ultimately explaining why life is tiresome. But we don't set the rules. Those who think they can dictate the course of existence make college more expensive every time they subsidize tuition.

There's a nasty balloon payment for attempting to circumvent pricing. Everyone wants to leave the store without visiting the registers. Free stuff will always sound appealing. A plan to burn energy by eating ice cream does, too. Mean conservatives notice there are repercussions and weight gain.

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fictionerd · 6 years

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Good to see you, friends! So this week’s episode opens exactly where the last one ended, and we get an extension on the conversation. Tsutsui makes the same arguments for his case I did last week. Namely that he’s socially inept and it’s hard for him to understand a problem if people don’t give him something other than inference to go on. Iroha, of course, is having none of it and tells him to just “think about it normally”. Let me take an aside here.

Iroha, you’re off base. This is the man who, when you told him you found men baking attractive, picked up a cookbook and learned to make sweets for you. WHEN YOU WERE ALREADY DATING! Dude went out and learned a skillset (Admittedly one that’s not hard to pick up if you learn how to follow recipes) for no other reason than he thought it’d make you happy. Give him something to run with and he will make your wildest dreams come true.

Tsutsui, While I AM defending you. I must say that you have seen far and away enough cheesy romance in anime that you should be able to pick up the cues here. I get that anime isn’t meant to be reflective of actual social interactions, and that usually you don’t want to pattern your behavior in these situations based on scenes from anime.In this ONE instance, however we have a textbook fucking scenario. You’re failing to reciprocate,dude! She keeps telling you she loves you. You feel too inferior to reply in kind. FIX THAT! (Yeah, I realized in the week+ since I watched the last episode that’s what she meant so my bad there).

So moving into the episode proper: Tsutsui meets back up with Ayado in the garden. (Does she actually attend classes or is she just always there?) They exchange awkward small talk based upon their final encounter from last episode, and before Tsutsui can take off to bury his head up his own ass she hands him a massive sack of potatoes. He takes the tubers then returns to tormenting his tortured psyche.

He’s really hung up on this whole “Iroha is mad at me and I can’t figure out why” thing. Then he has an epiphany. If there’s no way I can figure this out on my own then maybe I can get some help from a friend and so turns to Ito. However, Ito informs him that he has other things to do and says that Tsutsui and Iroha should just have lunch together on their own being apparently oblivious to how their relationship is going. When Tsutsui discovers that Ito’s been spending time with a cat instead of him he jumps to the conclusion that Ito has somehow snapped due to loneliness and makes an ass of himself.

When Ito calls him out for his insensitive, self-centered behavior it shatters him and he has to spend some time later that night having a flashback to come to a realization about what to do.

He remembers the halcyon days of his Chuunibyo when he was a back-corner loner who constantly had earphones in listening to, no doubt, the choicest of epic soundtracks in preparation for the day he was finally crowned the King of all Demon hosts.

Turns out that back then he was even MORE of an antisocial jerkbucket, by which I mean he was a jerkbucket intentionally rather than the unintentional jerkbucketry we’ve been treated to this episode. At first he slapped away any attempt at friendship because “Anyone who’s interested in you is doing it out of some desire to fix you and not out of genuine kindness. I’m just waiting for the day you assholes all sprout angelic wings and halos and attempt to Save my soul by beating me senseless with divine armaments so I can finally unleash the hellfire within me to burn away all the haters!”

Later on we see that in spite of his stand-offish attitude he has this thing about repaying debts and so in return for Ito finding his headphones he actually shows up to a task he was assigned to do anyway. (Granted it was sort of forced on him). It’s here that he gets a real look at what the other guys in class think of Ito which naturally is something along the lines of “Ito’s a good dog. Show him a little kindness and he’ll be blindly loyal to you forever!” Naturally Tsutsui’s response is to say, “Well, how about it? Wanna ditch the heavenly host and come reign in hell with me!?”

Okay… I may be taking the Chuunibyo jokes too far particularly since it’s only based on a single comment by Ito at the end of the flashback. What really happens is that they walk home together because it’s raining and Ito offers to share his umbrella. They have a talk about how the rest of the class is using Ito as an excuse not to do homework and he’s just going along with it because he doesn’t want to be hated by everyone. Tsutsui tells him, “I don’t think you’ll die or anything if people hate you.”

This sage wisdom effects Ito in some profound manner so the next time the class bully is bugging Tsutsui and takes it into his head to destroy private property Ito actually stands up for him and gets beat up for his trouble. He then tells Tsutsui that it was because an issue of Animeid is worth 800 yen and when Tsutsui is shocked and asks how he knows Ito replies with. “You’re not the only Chuunibyo here.” Thus the source of my humor for this section was established.

Ito tells Tsutsui that he decided to give up on a lot of things and that wasn’t honest. He says he’ll make it up to him by hanging out with him from now on. Huh? Am I missing something here? The only person Ito has to make anything up to is himself. Oh whatever just roll with it.

Having remembered all of this in the time it took him to peel and apparently mash the potatoes Tsutsui decides that he doesn’t believe his Chuuni self. If Ito hates him he really will die.

Wow… Way to out-edge yourself there, Tsutsui.

I partially kid. I know what that feeling is like. When you feel like your only friends must hate your guts it can make you feel like you’ve got no reason to keep on going. So really while I mock that attitude I also understand it.

Tsutsui takes potato dumplings to school the next day by way of apology to Ito for failing to see beyond his own emotional needs and the two reconcile. You’d think this would trigger an epiphany in Tsutsui as to why Iroha’s been so angry, but NOPE! He rides a wave of momentum to her classroom and chickens out at the last second only to later look up her address and just show up on her doorstep like a stalker. Which he thankfully lampshades. Iroha noticed him standing forbodingly outside her house and asks what he wants and he offers her peace-offering dumplings as well.

[sighs] Do I have to cover this? It feels like it’s a farce and resolves absolutely nothing. Okay, FINE! You’re right it’s in the charter and this is already super late.

Okay, he says he wants to apologize, but he can’t really do that if he doesn’t know what’s wrong then tries to peace out. She responds with…

Anyway she invites him up to her room. He takes the opportunity to… Lay his head on her bed and smell it? Is that a thing? I just… Don’t get it. Does he not clean his sheets very often? Is that what that’s about? Whatever… Let’s get to the meat of this bit.

He’s apparently super scandalized when he realizes she wears low-necklines and short skirts at home. Dude, just how distrusting of humanity are you? [remembers his chuunibyo jokes from earlier] Right, fair enough. Dude’s sheltered as all hell moving on.

Iroha tells him the reason she was mad is because she felt he didn’t trust her. Like no matter how many times she told him she loved him, he never seemed to believe she meant it. He responds that he can’t help but believe her it’s just the circumstances he can’t believe. They kiss he mentally stammers in disbelief about his situation. They engage in possibly the least intimate looking hug I’ve ever seen…

Then he snaps at the mere thought of being sexually attracted to someone. I’m not kidding. He thinks ‘ I can’t’ seemingly topples to a compromising position and then flips out and runs the hell away apologizing profusely and berates himself for being “dangerous” because he was sexually attracted to this girl who he is romantically attracted to and whom he is FUCKING DATING!

The next day when they meet at the shoe lockers in the morning he runs away AGAIN saying “Don’t come near me for the time being”

After said massive freakouts, Tsutsui somehow thinks it’s a good idea to bring dumplings to Ayado. All I have to say is: “Don’t do this! Please for the love of all that is holy, don’t do this! I see what you’re trying to do. She’s going to have followed him or otherwise be looking on and get the wrong idea. Don’t you DO IT!”

GOD DAMMIT!

Okay… First some positive. I was wrong about my assumptions as to where this would go last week and for that I apologize. It seems they weren’t planning to sacrifice Iroha’s character to the great god known only as “plot”. On to the bad parts though.

Iroha is projecting like hell onto Tsutsui. She talks a big deal about how she doesn’t feel like he trusts her, and then the next day when he makes an admittedly bone-headed move she automatically assumes the worst. Or at least that’s how they seem to be painting it and if there’s one thing I hate it’s over-reactionary romantic syndrome. Fortunately we have the terrible judge of character Ishino to act as our litmus test and go forth on a tirade FOR Iroha. Hopefully when she goes on the warpath Iroha will twig to the line of logic established about Ishino being a terrible judge of character and realize that maybe she ought to ASK what the situation was between Tsutsui and Ayado.

Of course I can’t just let that be all I say on the matter because Iroha isn’t the only one being an idiot here. Tsutsui… Why are you being this way? Why are you terrified of the thought that you could be sexual attracted to this lady whom you are also romantically attracted to? I mean maybe the argument could be made that he’s asexual, but that doesn’t seem to be the case and this is Japan we’re talking about here. (Though admittedly if that does turn out to be the case and they manage to sort through that I’d be super impressed.)

I mean Ito does appear to be a feline other-kin and potentially a cat-whisperer so maybe that’s the direction they’ll go, I’m just not in the habit of hearing hooves in Central Park and assuming Zebra. Unless it’s for comedic effect of course.

[Sighs] Maybe I’m just not empathetic enough. I need to take a break. What do I have to do next for catchup duty.

[whispering off “screen”]

Butlers x Battlers!? I need a drink >: { Until next post, keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon.

#Anime #3D Kanojo Real Girl #3D Kanojo #Episode 6 #Fictionerd #Let's Talk Anime

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