#I’m using this inability to my advantage

[cherryredstars]

Pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x gn!reader

Warnings: 18+, Purely smut/suggestive content, Mentions of various kinks/sexual fantasies, Mentions of Simon’s SA

Summary: How Simon handles his sex life!

A/N: I’m making quick throw-away content for scheduled/backup posts so I’m sorry if it isn’t up to my usual standard.

Word Count: 1K (Edited)

After his sexual assault, Simon’s sex drive and libido became almost non-existent. He doesn’t feel the need to masturbate or have any sexual encounters. Watching any porn just makes him uncomfortable and he rather not waste his time with it since it’s all fake anyways.

Sex isn’t even an option when the two of you first start dating. Not because he isn’t attracted to you, because of course he is, but because of the sexual assault he went through. Even though he’s dating you, he doesn’t fully trust himself or you yet when it comes to that part of his life. 

He feels bad about it sometimes. There’s always a little voice in his head trying to convince him that he isn’t good enough for you because he can’t easily give you what you want or need. You constantly reassure him that sex isn’t the foundation of a relationship and that you would wait for as long as it takes until he’s ready. And if he’s never ready? That’s okay too because you love him for him, and not for anything he may or may not be able to offer you. 

When he’s finally ready to try, you both take it slow. You constantly whisper words of encouragement into his ears, constantly asking him if he feels okay, and that you both can stop at any time. You guys don’t go all the way the first time, instead letting each other get familiar with each other’s body by gentle touches. Each time you try, Simon gets more and more comfortable and takes it the tiniest bit further.

Simon always takes the lead, because he doesn’t feel comfortable being in a submissive role or in a position that feels like he doesn’t have control. It’s perfectly fine with you because you understand that it’s what Simon needs. 

He’s paranoid to hurt you, even after you both reach a point where sex isn’t a sensitive topic for Simon and he’s much more confident with his sex life. He always goes slow when he first enters you and pauses if you stiffen the tiniest bit or make any face or noise that isn’t 100% pleasure. 

He is big on foreplay. Not only because he loves it, but because it makes him feel more comfortable. It gives the both of you time to prepare for penetrative sex and it allows him to make sure you’re absolutely ready to take him. There is also a sort of deep connection he finds in foreplay that he enjoys.

Simon is very simple when it comes to sex. He doesn’t feel the need to do anything fancy or add extra flare in the bedroom. All he wants is for the both of you to be comfortable and experience the intimacy of the act. 

That being said, he isn’t into a lot of kinks personally. He doesn’t even entertain the idea of things like CNC kinks, weapon-related kinks, bondage, choking, gagging, or just any kink that remotely reminds him of torture or gives you little to no control/inability to voice any discomfort. That doesn’t mean he won’t engage in other things if you ask kindly and he does research on it and deems it okay. 

He won't indulge in free use kinks or somnophilia. Even if you give him permission. He just doesn't feel comfortable doing anything when you're not conscious enough to consent in the moment. He doesn't want to catch you off guard or surprise you with anything. It doesn't make him feel good thinking about taking advantage of your body whenever he wants, even if you say it's okay.

He’s verbal during sex. He’s constantly giving you praise and asking you how you feel. He’s shy at first when it comes to voicing his own pleasure though. He’ll try to hold in moans and muffle them. But as he progresses and loses himself in the moment, he’ll get a bit louder. 

Simon only really likes missionary positions. He needs to be able to gauge your reactions to anything he does and he likes the intimacy of it. Any position where he’s on the bottom or on his back makes him feel claustrophobic. The only non-missionary position he likes is when he’s sitting up and you’re in his lap facing him. 

Simon likes eye contact. He’ll ask you softly to open your eyes if you close them in pleasure and he’ll gently move your face back towards his to maintain contact. 

Period sex is a no. Not because the thought of blood or periods disgust him. He’s seen far worse things in the field and blood practically stains his skin. It’s a big no because he can’t see your blood. He doesn’t like the image that he’s hurt you and caused you to bleed. Doesn’t like the scenarios his brain makes up of you bleeding out and hurt. He just can’t do it. 

When he’s in the bedroom, it’s just Simon. There will be no trace of Ghost for the most part. For him, they’re two separate people and he doesn’t trust Ghost around you. He doesn’t want to bring any of that stuff from the battlefield to you. He wouldn’t want to wear the mask during sex, but maybe if you’ve been wanting it for a while and he’s comfortable enough, he will. 

He doesn’t like quickies. He thinks it has a bit of a degrading factor and he doesn’t like the fast and throw-away pace. He doesn’t like that they’re specifically rough in nature, only used for a quick release. He’d rather prefer to take his time with you in your shared bedroom. 

He doesn’t like having sex when he’s angry or stressed. He’d be too in his head for him to enjoy the moment and he doesn’t want to risk his emotions getting the best of him and possibly hurt you. He doesn’t want you to feel like he’s just using you for a release either. Again, sex is all about love and intimacy for him. If he wants you to help him calm down, he’d much rather prefer drinking tea and cuddling. 

He is the biggest supporter of aftercare. He’s doing everything he can to help you calm down and relax after sex. He’s asking you if you need anything, massaging any sore muscles, getting you food and water. No matter how tired he is after sex, he’ll always stay up and go through the whole aftercare routine to show his love and thanks for you.

I know I didn’t go into much detail about kinks like I did with Miguel’s NSFW headcanons, so I hope you all aren’t too disappointed. I just feel like these are more realistic for Simon and Ghost as a character!

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley #simon riley headcanons #ghost simon riley #cod x reader #call of duty #cod mwii #cod ghost #ghost cod #simon riley x reader #simon riley x you #ghost smut #ghost x reader #ghost headcanons #simon riley smut

[moonstruckme]

not sure if you’re taking requests buttttt poly!marauders but they’re kinda overprotective bfs and she sneaks out to go to a party with marlene or her girlfriends but they find out and show up at the party 💞

Hi don't worry, I am! I think it should show on the requests page linked in my pinned post, but please let me know if it doesn't, I'm still figuring tumblr out and often mess up! I hope this is alright honey, I tried to go for the angst but honestly the more I write the more suspicious I become of my inability to write our boys being anything other than soft with reader! I'll try to work on it but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this <33

cw: mention of concussion symptoms, including nausea, nothing intense or even very descriptive though

poly!marauders x fem!reader ♡ 906 words

You’re aware that the internet had said you were supposed to avoid bright lights, loud sounds, and movement when Remus had looked it up after an unfortunate fall that morning. Just like you’re aware that when your boyfriends left you at your apartment a few hours ago, they’d been trusting you to follow those instructions. But you’re also aware that the internet had led you all to believe your concussion was mild, and that Marlene only has one birthday a year. Damned if you were going to miss it. 

So yeah, you feel a bit queasy as your eyes struggle to track the movement and voices around you, but that’s nothing compared to the contentment of being with your friends. Lily has assigned herself the role of your caretaker, checking that you’re alright every few minutes and shushing anyone who raises their voice too loud around you, and Marlene has attached herself to your side, telling you how much she appreciates you in between beer-scented hiccups. 

“And you’re so nice to come tonight,” she’s saying now, brushing her fingers clumsily but sweetly through your hair. “I can’t tell you how much—uh oh.” 

You have a premonition of ill fate even before the hair on the back of your neck stands up, and you follow Marelene’s unfocused gaze to the curly-haired boy coming towards you.

“Happy birthday, Marls,” he says, his smile only appearing slightly strained, before he turns to you. “Hey, sweetheart. Let’s go home, yeah?”

“Jamie,” you say quietly, and Lily and Marlene leave the couch to give you as much privacy as a party allows. “What are you doing here?”

“Everyone here’s been posting, and you’re in the background of half the pictures.” His smile slips as he crouches in front of you, disappointment in his eyes. “You know you’re supposed to be resting,” he says softly. “C’mon, let’s go.” 

You’re glad that he’s here instead of Remus or Sirius, who surely wouldn’t be as careful about not embarrassing you. James is less stern than the others, and though you feel a bit guilty for doing so, you press that to your advantage. 

“I haven’t drank anything but water,” you say. “That’s gotta count for something, right? And look.” You brush your hair behind your ear, showing him the earplugs you’d put in before arriving. “I’m being careful, see? I’m alright, Jamie, and it’s Marlene’s birthday. Let’s just stay, both of us, okay?”

James looks nearly apologetic. “Remus and Sirius are waiting in the car.” 

You groan, but allow James to pull you to your feet, waving goodbye to your friends with a pout. He supports more of your weight than you really need him to as he walks you outside, where Remus sits in the drivers’ seat of the idling car. Dread settles, along with dull resignation, in your stomach. 

Sirius is in the backseat and you hope James will get in first, but he lifts you in before him, placing you between two of your three upset boyfriends. You can’t look at any of them, allowing James to buckle your seatbelt for you as an oppressive silence, worse than the bass that had brutalized your head inside Marlene’s, stretches out between you. 

True to form, Sirius is the first to breach it. 

“What the hell were you thinking?”

You sigh. “I’m sorry.” 

“You have a concussion! All you had to do was stay home and rest. That website said that lights and loud music—say, the sort of things you’d find at a party—would only make things worse.” 

Normally, you’d argue with him. No matter how hopeless it seems, no matter how obvious it is that Sirius is going to win, you can always meet him head-on and at least make your point. But tonight, with your head throbbing and something about your very being feeling fundamentally wrong, you can’t muster up the energy. 

“I know,” you say. 

Sirius goes silent at the acquiescence in your voice, and he looks at Remus in the rear-view mirror, unsure of how to proceed. James puts a hand on your knee, a tiny gesture of comfort even though he’s upset with you too. The motivation that had driven you to Marlene’s and through the party is wearing off, and you feel suddenly, embarrassingly teary. 

“Do you feel sick?” Remus speaks for the first time, and though his voice is calm, the absence of his usual terms of endearment leave no doubt that you’re still in trouble. 

You clear your throat of the tears that are trying to clog it. “A little.” 

“We’re bringing you to our place to rest.” It’s not a question. “We can go get some things from your place tomorrow, but tonight you can just wear our stuff. Think you can eat something before bed?” 

It’s worse that he’s being kind to you. You’d been prepared for a lecture, but being taken care of is worse. It brings the vulnerability you’ve felt since the frightening pain and dizziness of that morning to the surface, and you keep your face turned towards your lap as your eyes become wet. “Yeah, I think so,” you say, and your voice cracks slightly when you add, “I’m sorry.” 

Sirius makes a sympathetic, pained sound from beside you, and James abandons all pretense of anger, tucking your head under his chin. 

“We’ll talk about it later,” Remus says, a bit more gently. “For now, just try to relax.” 

#poly!marauders #poly!marauders x reader #poly!marauders angst #protective marauders #poly!marauders fanfiction #poly!marauders fanfic #poly!marauders fic #poly!marauders imagine #poly!marauders scenario #poly!marauders x you #poly!marauders x y/n #poly!marauders drabble #poly!marauders oneshot #marauders era #the marauders #marauders fanfiction #marauders fanfic #marauders fic #marauders #remus lupin #remus lupin x reader #sirius black #sirius black x reader #james potter #james potter x reader

[livwritesstuff]

Hazel James Harrington is about three years old when Steve and Eddie realize she will be causing a very specific kind of problem.

The problem really stems from how goddamn sweet Hazel is, and how hard that makes it to say no to her.

It's a new problem for Steve and Eddie, because they'd never had any problem saying no to Moe and Robbie (the hard part was getting them to listen). Hazel, though, and her little face and big eyes and mop of blonde hair that surprised them all by turning curly just like her big sister Robbie’s, is their sweetest baby by a mile, almost never getting upset or throwing tantrums. All that combined makes it so hard to figure out how to refuse things, and Hazel’s a smart cookie, so she totally knows this.

And she totally uses it to her advantage.

All. The. Time.

When Hazel was three, she went through a phase where she absolutely refused to go to sleep.

One Friday night, when all three girls were finally in bed, Steve and Eddie retired to the couch to watch a movie on DVD that they’d wanted to see in theaters but couldn’t ever get around to because…children. 

It was nearing ten o’clock at night and they were fifteen minutes into the movie and Steve had a glass of wine in hand when the one light they had left on so they weren’t sitting in total darkness suddenly switched off.

Steve let out a sigh.

“Who’s out of bed,” Eddie asks in a mock-accusatory voice.

Steve turns to look towards the kitchen and can just barely make out a Hazel-sized shadow making its way towards them.

“Hazel,” he groans, “It’s way past your bedtime.”

And then the little shit has the audacity to climb into his lap, footie pajamas and all because it’s January and freezing cold outside, and Steve is only human, and he loves his kids so much it hurts, so of course he’s pulling her into his arms for a snuggle.

“You forgot to turn off that light,” Hazel tells him, her little hands tapping against his shoulders, “and I forgot to tell you what I dreamed about.”

“Are these daydreams, my girl?” Eddie asks, eyeing Steve warily because he can obviously tell how close Steve is to caving and spending the rest of the night cuddling their littlest girl, “Because you haven’t been to sleep yet.”

“No, I had the dream last night,” she corrects.

“Ah, my mistake. Apologies.”

Needless to say, Steve and Eddie put a pause on the movie to hear about Hazel’s dreams.

Another time, the whole family was heading into Boston for a Red Sox game, and they were running really late.

“Okay, who’re we waiting on?” Steve asked.

“I don’t have eyes on Hazel,” Eddie replied, mid-way through corralling Moe and Robbie to the car.

Steve found Hazel in her room, still in her pajamas, looking up at her closet.

“What’s the hold-up, hon?” he asked.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” she told him.

Steve’s eyebrows flew up, because between Eddie’s inability to shake his love for buying clothes for their kids and years of hand-me-downs from Moe and Robbie, Hazel’s closet was packed.

“You’ve got plenty to wear,” he replied.

“I just…” Hazel shrugged up her little shoulders as she looked back up at her closet, “I’m just not the right person for these clothes.”

“Okay?”

“It’s about how you feel in the clothes,” she continued.

Steve narrowed his eyes, silently running through his mental rolodex in search for whoever she might have learned that one from.

(He suspected Robin).

“Okay, baby, no matter what, you cannot say that to Daddy.”

“But I like talking to Daddy.”

#hazel is how steve would have turned out if his parents had actually loved him #steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steddie dads #steve harrington #eddie munson #late post = long post ig

[in1-nutshell]

Can the tfa bots and elite guard react to a female bot who has the personality and appearance of fluttershy from my little pony who was bring to life by an allspark fragment

Okay, its been a hot second since I've seen My Little Pony, but worth it! Buddy is here with their animal friends ready to meet Team Prime and the Elite Guard.

Hope you enjoy!

Team Prime and the Elite guard reacting to a Fluttershy Bot Buddy that was brought to life by a fragment of the Allspark

SFW, platonic, Cybertronain/ Bot reader

TFA

Buddy’s alt-mode is golf cart. It was Team Prime who found Buddy. Well, more like Prowl and Sari who found them. Buddy was talking to the geese in the lake. Prowl was the first to make his and Sari’s presence known. Buddy shyly introduced themselves and asked if the two of them knew anything about the geese. Later the rest of Team Prime comes in to meet the new bot. It takes a few days to gain the bots friendship, but they seem happy to make such nice friends. Then the Elite Guard comes in…

Optimus Prime

“You’re a good friend Optimus. I’m glad I met you, my friend.”--Buddy

“Thank you, Buddy.”--Optimus

“Are you okay?”--Buddy

Voice crack “I’m fine.”--Optimus

Optimus needs good friends in his life.

Not like Sentinel or Elita-One/ Blackarachnia. They lost their rights to be Prime’s friends.

He has a good friendship with Buddy. Optimus has respect for Buddy as they treat everyone with equality and the same level of kindness. Something that not many people or bots have now a days.

Where was Buddy his entire life?

The only thing that does get on Optimus’s nerves with Buddy is that they want to adopt every animal they see without an owner. He has lost count of how many stray cats and squirrels he has found in their room.

He has no problem standing up for Buddy when they need it. He knows better than to fight others battles. But if Buddy needs the help, Optimus has their back. He does have talks with them about setting their own boundaries and being able to say ‘no’.

Will not hesitate to go out on someone if they make Buddy feel like they aren’t a true Cybertronian. He offers a confidence booster to Buddy if they feel like this, while also plotting against the attacker. Optimus does not care if the attacker is a Bot or human, they are going down.

Ratchet

“Hello there Doctor Ratchet. I cleaned some of your medical tools for you last night and organized them all just the way you like them!”--Ratchet

Need to adopt intensifies.

Oh, he is really considering it,

Ratchet has a soft spot for the younger bots on the team. Buddy is no exception to this.

Buddy’s quiet nature goes along well with Ratchet own quiet nature. Its just introverts being introverts. After his experience with Wreck-Gar, he defiantly has a bit more patience with Buddy.

Ratchet will not hesitate to hurt anyone who hurts Buddy. Whether it be physical or emotional, he has his throwing wrenches ready.

He doesn’t lecture Buddy as much as the rest of the team, but he does take time to talk to them about setting boundaries and saying ‘no’. Ratchet does get worried that one day Buddy isn’t going to say ‘no’ to something that would end up hurting them.

He is going to rain down a whole army on the sorry bot or human who calls Buddy a ‘fake Cybertronian’. Buddy is just as much of a Cybertronain than its inhabitants. Ratchet gives them a mini pep talk about it not mattering whether being a ‘fake’ or not, they are Buddy, one of the best Bots he has had the pleasure of knowing in his life.

Bumblebee

“Hey Buddy! Help me put these boosters on my back!”--Bumblebee

“Umm… that seems a little bit dangerous…”--Buddy

“C’mon please!”--Bumblebee

“… I guess if you use them responsibly…”—Buddy

Oh, he was definitely taking advantage of Buddy’s inability to say ‘no’ at first.

All Bumblebee had to do was sic the puppy dog eyes and a couple of ‘pleases’ and it was done. It isn’t until he gets a reality check from his team that he realizes that what he is doing is a bit messed up.

So, he does try to make up for it.

Mainly in the form of inviting them out to do more outings with him and Sari. But he soon gets the hint that Buddy doesn’t like big, crowded places, he offers Buddy to play video games as an alternative.

With time Bumblebee does try and get Buddy out of their shell. He makes sure they are fine with it first; he doesn’t want to overwhelm them too much. Just taking baby steps first.

He is willing to stand up against anyone who makes Buddy feel uncomfortable and fight them. He does try and help them in saying ‘no’.

He is ready to fight anyone if he hears that Buddy feels bad about being a ‘fake Cybertronian’. He is giving the weirdest pep talk that strangely works and helps Buddy’s self-esteem. Afterwards Bee and Sari are planning on how to make the human or Bots week miserable.

Sari

“Hello there Sari.”--Buddy

“Hey Buddy! You ready for Bird Time?”--Sari

“I thought you’d never ask.”—Buddy

Sari like Bee, definitely used the puppy dog eyes trick but not as much. Mainly to get out of little troubles here and there.

She does get a talk about it like bee though. But unlike Bee she gets a whole new idea.

Sari becomes Big Sister.

She is protective of the Big Little sibling. She feels like she has a special bond with Buddy. Anyways she always wanted to be a sister.

She instated a tradition between the two called Bird Time. Every week or so the two of them would go back to the pond and feed the geese while talking about their weeks. Sari loves Buddy’s empathetic nature and supportiveness. This was especially important when she learned about her not being human.

Like Bee, Sari is willing to fight someone who makes Buddy uncomfortable. Does not matter who it is, no one is coming near her little big sibling. She does have a habit of answering ‘no’ for Buddy when the situation seems fishy.

Sari honestly sympathizes with Buddy when they get called a ‘false Cybertronian’. Being a techno organic she understands that there are a lot of people and bots that will look at them differently. But that does not mean she will be plotting murder behind Buddy’s back. She teams up with Bee to make the person or Bots week miserable.

Bulkhead

“Good morning Bulkhead.”--Buddy

“Oh, hey Buddy…”--Bulkhead

“What’s wrong?”--Buddy

“Well… what do you think of my latest art piece? It’s probably dumb—what are you doing?”--Bulkhead

“I’m going to put this piece of art in my room.”—Buddy

This is Bulkhead’s best friend.

They are practically twins.

Many have mistaken their nature for twins. Which is something that both deep down find endearing and wish it were true.

Buddy never makes Bulkhead feel useless brute that’s only good for smashing things. Buddy does their best to support the things Bulkhead is passionate about.

Bulkhead in return does his best to stand up against anyone who is mean or makes Buddy feel uncomfortable.

Like Buddy he has a tough time saying no to certain things, but is much more honest in saying it and tries to help Buddy when they need it.

He is ready to pound anyone to the ground if he ever finds out Buddy doesn’t feel like a ‘true’ Cybertronian because someone says so. He does a lot of paintings of Buddy and tells them that they are as true Cybertronian as he is and that anyone who says otherwise is dumb. Bulkhead will have a grudge on any bot or human who says anything mean about Buddy.

Prowl

“Hello Prowl.”--Buddy

“Buddy.”--Prowl

“… I brought them in…”--Buddy

“Let me see.”--Prowl

Little meows

“Perfect.”—Prowl

Nature friends.

Prowl loves nature and Buddy loves animals.

The two of them like to walk around the park or go to Dinobot island to escape the city and enjoy nature. Buddy has made friends with all the Dinobots which makes Prowl happy.

The two of them have their own version of Bird Time. Except it involves staying still and seeing how many birds can land on them as much as possible. Buddy so far holds the record with 27 birds.

But there is a little snag in their friendship.

It involves training.

Buddy hates the idea of hurting anyone in any way shape or form. Prowl does it for self-defense or when it’s needed. He often tries to get Buddy to train with him, but it usually ends up with Buddy bringing animals into his room and watching him train.

Prowl still tries to get Buddy to at least know something, but that mission is still on going.

Does not hesitate a nanosecond if someone is making Buddy feel uncomfortable and will verbally destroy them if they even think about being mean to Buddy. Does talk to Buddy about the importance of saying no and setting boundaries.

Prowl is ready to throw shuriken’s as soon as he hears about someone making Buddy feel bad about their origins. He talks to Buddy about it no mattering how they got made, what matters is who they are. They are his friend, they are their own bot and that’s all that matters. May or may not have slashed someone/ somebots tires.

Jazz

“So, how long have you’ve been here?”--Jazz

“I was born last month.”--Buddy

“… You want to take a drive around?”—Jazz

Oh, he loves Buddy’s vibe.

They are a breath of fresh air compared to being 5 minutes around Sentinel. He sees someone who has so much kindness and empathy that he knows it is a gift. He doesn’t know too many bots that have that anymore since the war.

Jazz gets to know about Buddy from their hang outs and from talking to Prowl. He likes asking Prowl about Buddy’s favorite places to visit so he knows where the two of them could hang out when he has time. When Jazz can he likes walking with Buddy about anything under the sun. From the latest gossip in the Elite Guard, to his hobbies, music tastes, etc.

Jazz stands up to anyone who is being mean or making Buddy feel uncomfortable. Most times though he would take Buddy physically out of the company of the offender. No one has time to deal with rude people. He does try and talk to Buddy about the power of saying no while still being the kind bot they are and how important boundaries are.

Jazz would be speechless if he ever heard Buddy talk about someone calling them ‘inferior’ for not being a ‘true’ Cybertronian. He’ll take Buddy out on a walk while talking to Buddy about how people being mean because they don’t have anything better to do than cause misery to people who are living life by their rules. Definitely shares with Buddy a comfort playlist before leaving. Teams up with Prowl to find the bot or person who made Buddy feel bad.

Jetfire and Jetstorm

“Buddy! Buddy! Buddy!”—Jetfire and Jetstorm

“Hello there—whoa!”--Buddy

“We missed you!”—Jetfire and Jetstorm

The twins love spending time with Buddy.

Not only does it mean that they get to skip some of their chores, but they get to have fun too. Buddy offers some of the best places to fly and great places to observe some of Earth’s great nature phenomena. The twins sometimes like to combine into Safeguard to give Buddy a ride above the ground to look at earth.

They do use the puppy dog eyes sometimes, but they don’t abuse it too much. Only on harmless things like staying up a little bit more to continue playing video games with Bumblebee.

They don’t hesitate to get Buddy out of a harmful situation. Maybe flare up their powers a bit as a warning. They act like Buddy’s bodyguards when things get hairy.

They get angry when Buddy mentions that someone told them that they were a ‘real’ Cybertronian. They want names immediately. They do try to distract Buddy from feeling down by cracking jokes to make them forget about that feeling again.

Sentinel Prime

“So, this thing has a fragment of the Allspark?”--Sentinel

“They’re name is Buddy.”--Optimus

“Well just hold them down so we can extract—”--Sentinel

“NO!”—Everyone

Yeah, that’s right he wanted to crack Buddy open just to get the Allspark fragment and call it a day. No one is letting Sentinel anywhere near Buddy after what he said. He has tried pulling the Prime card, but that means nothing here.

Buddy, since they did not hear this, does try to make friends with him. They just want everyone to get along, where’s the damage in that? They are a bit confused in why so many of their friends are so against them even being a couple feet from Sentinel.

The rare times that he does get with Buddy are filled with him undermining them and proud fully boasting about his achievements. Yes, he is defiantly one of the Bots who calls Buddy a ‘fake’ Cybertronian. But these are short times since Buddy’s friends are never too far when Sentinel is around.

All the talking does do a number on Buddy’s confidence and self-esteem thinking they aren’t a true Cybertronian

Sentinel better run and hide because the second that Buddy lets loose that they think that way about themselves and it was caused by Sentinel.

Nothing on this planet or Cybertron is going to stop the war path buddy’s friends are going to be on.

#transformers #transformers x reader #tfa x reader #tfa optimus prime #tfa bumblebee #tfa bulkhead #tfa ratchet #tfa sari #tfa prowl #tfa jazz #tfa jettwins #tfa sentinel prime #maccadam

[blueepink07]

Since we will get Kotoko's album in one day, which includes her VD from which most probably we will find more information about her motivations and her plans in Milgram, I decided to look a bit into her attacks during prison and how I imagine things happened! (I'm fully aware that I will most probably be proved wrong when the album drops, but I'm really curious if I can actually figure out most of what happened!)

Starting off, Jackalope informs us that the order in which Kotoko attacked is: Mikoto, Mahiru, Fuuta.

Which makes sense, considering that she attacked, in order, who is closer to her cell.

(Also fun fact! The prisoners are distorted according to how many injuries they have!)

What I want to answer, however, is how she managed to attack two people without being stopped.

Mikoto vs Kotoko

From Mikoto's VD, we find out that Kotoko has attacked, while John was distracted, giving herself a slight advantage.

"Es: Like you didn’t get beaten by Kotoko…! John: Hah. That was just because she caught me off guard. We went at it again while you were asleep, and it’s not like I lost there."

Considering that they fought some time and where evenly matched, there must have been a lot of noise, which should have alerted the others. In this attack, Kotoko didn't care much about how much attention she would attract. Why? Because the prisoners were already used with John's restlessness and they wouldn't dare to go near him. Hearing those noises didn't alert them much, because they maybe were too scared and didn't want to approach or thought it was just the usual.

As seen in many timeline posts, Mikoto is avoided. The only one who wished him Happy birthday was Haruka, whom we know that is currently isolating himself and didn't wish Mikoto a happy birthday this year too...

"Mikoto: The others told me about it. How I got into a fistfight with Koto-chan and whatnot. "Es: Seems like it, yeah. Mikoto: I wonder if it’s like… some kind of sleepwalking…? After all, I’ve been losing sleep more and more often recently… Man… It’s really troublesome, isn’t it? Es: Mikoto… Mikoto: The others are all scared of me. I can tell by looking at the way they act. Because I read the room."

Mahiru and Kotoko

From Shidou's VD, it is given the information that Mahiru suffered head injuries, more exactly head lacerations.

"Shidou: Shiina-kun’s is even worse. Head lacerations. Bruising all over her body. Left anterior compression fracture. A sprained neck. Fractured ribs. Further fracturing to the left arm. And furthermore… this may be outside of my profession, but her mental health is deteriorating as well."

These injuries are the aftermath of being hit by Kotoko.

Mahiru says some interesting things in her VD:

"Mahiru: … Ah, but this is… I think Kotoko-chan is the one who did it, so… you know? It’s not like it’s your fault. Um, so…! I’m not holding a grudge towards Kotoko-chan either. I’m sure she just thought it couldn’t be helped…"

This "I think" was always interesting to me. It implies that she is uncertain of the events that happened, like she wasn't there... Like she just a heard rumour from someone else...

However, she also tells this:

"Mahiru: … Ah– I– I—I’m sorry…! If– If you touch me so suddenly, it makes me remember… how it hurt… and I get scared…"

She remembers the pain, but not the person who hurt her. Keeping in mind that she also suffered from head trauma, I have thought that Mahiru must have lost consciousness, shortly after being hit, but not fully.

There are actually some levels of impaired consciousness, that can explain my assumption!

Confusion

Confusion is marked by the absence of clear thinking and may result in poor decision-making.

Disorientation

Disorientation is the inability to understand how you relate to people, places, objects, and time. The first stage of disorientation is usually around awareness of your current surroundings

Loss of short-term memory follows disorientation with respect to place.

Delirium

If you’re delirious, your thoughts are confused and illogical. People who are delirious are often disoriented. Their emotional responses range from fear to anger. People who are delirious are often highly agitated as well.

Lethargy

Lethargy is a state of decreased consciousness that resembles drowsiness. If you’re lethargic, you may not respond to stimulants such as the sound of an alarm clock or the presence of fire.

Stupor

"Stupor is a deeper level of impaired consciousness in which it’s very difficult for you to respond to any stimuli, except for pain."

Coma

Coma is the deepest level of impaired consciousness. If you’re in a coma, you can’t respond to any stimulus, not even pain.

From all of these, stupor seems to be what Mahiru experienced after being hit.

Stupor -> caused by head injuries, such as concussion or bleeding in or around the brain

"Stupor is characterised by impaired reaction to external stimuli. Those in a stuporous state are rigid, mute and only appear to be conscious, as the eyes are open and follow surrounding objects. If not stimulated externally, a patient with stupor will appear to be in a sleepy state most of the time."

If Kotoko hit Mahiru and caused her to have a stupor, Mahiru wouldn't even have the chance to yell or cry for help. She couldn't respond to any stimulus (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch), the only thing that she could feel was the pain.

It would make sense, in this case, for the other prisoners to be unaware of what was happening to Mahiru. Kotoko most probably made a surprise attack (as in John's situation), left Mahiru is a state of stupor and did further damage to her body.

"Kazui: I wonder. Maybe it’s because I’m used to violence. Even so… I couldn’t make it for Shiina-chan. I feel responsible for [what happened to] her."

Fuuta and Kotoko

Fuuta seems to have been fully conscious when he was being beaten up by Kotoko. He remembers every detail, unfortunately to him: the way he had been stepped on with the safety boot-like shoes, the beatings which made him think that he'll die. He even remembers Kotoko's motivations and beliefs! It's pretty likely that he was still conscious when Kazui protected him.

"Fuuta: Hey. Look at me. My right eye. It looks awful, doesn’t it? This is what happens when you get stepped on with those safety boot-like shoes. – Don’t recoil like that, that’s hurtful. According to Shidou, it’s likely that I won’t ever be able to see [with this eye] again. Sucks, huh."

"Fuuta: It hurt… It hurt so bad, I thought I was going to die. I was scared!"

"Fuuta: I mean, you forgave Kotoko, right? You affirmed her, right? Her belief that “it’s fine to do whatever to people who have done something wrong”. Es: How do you know about that…? Fuuta: She told me while she was beating me up. How she thinks it’s okay for her to do anything she wants to people who have done wrong, no matter the severity of their crime. And she left the judgment of that up to you."

What are your thoughts about Kotoko's attacks?

If Fuuta was conscious the whole time, his cries of pain or help surely must have been what alerted the other prisoners, who stopped Kotoko from doing further damage...

And so this is me trying to explain why the other prisoners noticed too late Kotoko's attacks!

I'm prepared to be proved wrong, but it was fun to write anyway!

#milgram #milgram theory #milgram kotoko #kotoko yuzuriha #milgram mahiru #mahiru shiina #mikoto kayano #milgram mikoto #milgram fuuta #fuuta kajiyama

[taurusdaylight]

[2.03pm] kindness

kindness came in the form of jeno lee. almost always having a smile etched on his adorable face, it was baffling to the people around jeno how he kept up with such a bright disposition all the time. it was as though he had little to zero anger coursing through his veins. 

to some extent, it’s true that jeno rarely got angry. despite being a chronic overthinker, jeno’s not the type of person to let his emotions control him. instead, he’d mull over it for a bit. think about why he got upset over something, and if it was truly worth getting upset over. he would at most sulk a little, as evident by his pouty lips that would make an appearance every so often. 

case in point: jeno currently getting lectured by yours truly in the corner booth of a quiet café. looking down on the ground, jeno absentmindedly stirred the straw in his cup while you talked.

you huffed, “you should stop being so nice to others.” 

“i didn’t know how to reject him…” jeno replied softly, still not looking at you. “besides, it will contribute to our overall grade? it won’t take up much of my time anyway,” he quickly added, in hopes of making the situation better.

the both of you weren’t even talking about something extremely serious. you were simply nagging jeno for agreeing to help his groupmate finish his part of the project because he was apparently busy with other submissions. the first thought that came to your mind was, what about jeno? surely he had other things to do too. 

the thing is, jeno was a kind person inside out. it wasn’t only about looking kind. deep down, jeno was tender-hearted and the biggest sweetheart to ever exist. as much as you believed in being kind, you were also aware of your boyfriend’s inability to say no to others whenever they approached him for help. no matter how he dismissed it as something trivial, you still didn’t like how he would go out of his way to do something that was not even supposed to be his responsibility to begin with. most important of all, you disliked how others took advantage of his kindness that came second nature to him, which rendered him to be at their disposal even if it wasn’t exactly convenient for him at times. 

“we talked about this, jen.” you made a face at him, expressing your concern over this issue that repeatedly came up time and again. “i hate that other people are using you and you just let them.”

while jeno understood where your frustration was coming from, a part of him also felt wronged because he was simply trying to do something nice for others. why is it that he somehow managed to make you upset too? jeno felt like he couldn’t do anything right. 

jeno finally stopped playing with his straw and looked you in the eye. “i’m sorry, okay? i won’t do it again, just please don’t be upset with me,” he said in a desperate plea. 

“i’m not upset with you, so there’s no need to say sorry to me,” you assured him. one thing you learnt about jeno over the years was how his negative thoughts got to him more than he’d liked to admit. how he would willingly take the blame for something if it meant that it would keep the peace. thankfully, he simply needed a few words of affirmation for him to get out of his head. 

you grabbed jeno’s hand and gently squeezed it. “i just want you to know that it’s okay to put yourself first. you don’t always have to think about others when you’ve got so much at hand. sometimes… just sometimes… it’s okay to be selfish too!” 

your lips curled upwards into a bashful smile. “even i feel bad asking you for help. i don’t like to trouble you but i know you wouldn’t say no even if i did, especially not to me.” you were ashamed to admit that, but you could swear from the bottom of your heart that you only turn to jeno as a last resort because you didn’t want to be like one of those people who only went to him when they needed something. 

“what?” jeno pouted even more. “but i like doing things for you. i’m your boyfriend, i’d hate it if you went to anyone else for help.” 

“it’d make me feel useless,” he muttered. 

you were quick to respond. “hey! don’t say that… you’re not useless at all.”

“anyway, don’t change the subject. after this project, please say no if you don’t have the capacity to help others, including me! if your worry is not knowing how to reject others, you could start with me. we are already so close, i won’t take it to heart if i asked you for help and you said no. let alone acquaintances who barely know you. baby steps, okay?” you looked at jeno expectantly. 

jeno’s expression turned into one that was half a frown and half a smile, you could tell that he was feeling conflicted about it. “like you said, i could never say no to you, baby…” 

you tried to bite back the small smile that made its way onto your face because of the nickname so that jeno would take you seriously. “so, you‘d do something about this?” 

“only for you, yes.” jeno’s face broke into a wide smile as he tightened his grip on your hand. 

“you’re supposed to say no!” you replied jokingly in order to play off the shyness that came with jeno’s affectionate gesture. “you’ve failed the first test, i thought you were better than this…”

an incomprehensible noise left jeno’s mouth. “i’m so confused right now… so do i say yes or no?”

you sighed, well aware of how this was going nowhere given jeno’s innocence that sometimes made him come off a little… naive. like the time you told him that you were going to teach him something to tell your parents in your native tongue and he obediently repeated after you, only asking what it was later on (it was a curse word, and you were glad he asked before the actual meeting with your parents). 

“nevermind… the next time someone asks you for help, just tell me. i’ll make sure they’d never want to ask a favour from you ever again.”

jeno’s eyes widened in shock, “o-okay.”

“i’m just kidding. but seriously, i’d help you reject them so you don’t have to,” you said with a smile. 

“thank you,” jeno said sincerely, “i know you mean well, and i appreciate you looking out for me.” 

at his words, you leaned over the table to give jeno a peck on his right cheek, on the spot just slightly below his beauty mark. he laughed quietly, his smile uncontrollably becoming wider by the second.

the both of you were so immersed, it was fortunate that the café was empty enough for the moment to remain intimate. better yet, the owner was preoccupied with his tasks, not sparing a single glance at the direction of your table. 

between soft giggles and shy smiles, you and jeno indulged in each other’s loving company until the sun fell, its golden rays penetrating through the glass window situated next to your table. 

#jeno timestamps #jeno drabbles #jeno imagines #jeno scenarios #jeno x reader #jeno fluff #nct timestamps #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct #nct dream #nct jeno #jeno #lee jeno

[the-modern-typewriter]

Could you write a piece where the villain (who has a very destructive power) somehow trades powers with the hero? I can think of it going two ways: either the villain is frustrated at their inability to harm the hero, or the villain is taunting a reluctant hero about using a power that can only cause harm, with the hero being reluctant to do so. I love your work ❤❤

“No - no why would you trade powers with me - you don’t -” 

The villain broke through the hero’s stammering with laughter. 

The hero’s mouth clicked shut, matching their eyes that were squeezed shut, holding back the searing lasers that they couldn’t control. Their hands curled into violently trembling fists, glowing with power. 

The realisation of what the villain had done quickly chased the heels of the horror of it. Because the villain, now that they had the hero’s regenerative powers, was the only person immune to the destruction struggling to explode beneath the hero’s skin. 

“No,” the hero whispered, quieter, all of their dizzying advantage turned to rot and ruin. 

“Yes.” The villain fell to their knees before the hero, cupping their hero’s jaw. They stroked the pads of their thumbs through the power burning, bleeding down the hero’s cheeks in streaks of tears. “You think me a monster, a creature of nothing but pain and death and terror. How are you coping with being me?” 

The hero had never realised, before, the phenomenal amount of self-control it took the villain with every breath of every day not to detonate. To feel like there was something monstrous, something world-ending, fizzing beneath their skin trying to force its way out. 

The villain, in the time the hero had known them, always made it look so easy. It felt the hero had seen but the awful tip of the iceberg, and now the rest had been shoved through a pit in their stomach. It hurt. 

They gritted their teeth as more power swelled in their throat, ready to take out an entire building block with a howl, but some of the magic still spilled down past their lips to the floor. It peppered the pavement beneath them like bullets. The hero could smell something scorched. Hear it sizzling.

The hero made a desperate, wordless sound. The villain had held that power all of their life. The hero could do it too. They could learn to do it too, and the villain would never be able to use it again, only heal, and wouldn’t that be karma, but...

Every gulp of power they swallowed down wanted to find some way out, refusing to settle quiet, not while the hero’s heart was racing, adrenaline spiking, fear sour and explosive. 

Another inch of power leaked out around their shaking hands, and they heard someone scream, heard the sound of a bang and their eyes flew open on terrible instinct and -

The villain’s palm pressed swiftly against their face, like the hero had done to them to block their powers before. The laser couldn’t get through, fizzling against the villain’s skin.

"You think you’re so much better than me.” The villain’s voice was cold venom. “But it’s so much easier being the hero when you were born for it, huh? When you have to work so hard to cause pain instead of healing it? I should let you slaughter hundreds and see how you feel about it then. Watch every person you touch wither.”

Maybe the hero would learn to control it, but who knew how long that would take, who knew how many well-meaning people would get hurt in the process.

“I’m sorry.” The hero held perfectly still, petrified of the damage any one wrong move would make. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” 

“My demands do not seem so unreasonable now, do they?”

“Please don’t let me hurt them. Please.” 

“Do they?” 

The hero shook their head, the smallest fraction, breathing ragged. No. They didn’t, not if this was the effort their nightmare of a villain went to every day to avoid an apocalypse. If what the hero felt was true, the villain did far more to save civilians from themselves than the hero ever did fighting them, not that they hadn’t saved people, but...

“I’m sorry,” the hero said again, barely able to think through the roaring in their head. “It hurts, I’m sorry.”

“Take some deep breaths,” the villain ordered. “Calm your mind. Focus on my hands, god knows it’s more than I ever got.” 

The hero sucked in deep, desperate breaths. The power didn’t sink right back into their skin, it seemed to catch on every bone in their ribs, aching like a dozen punches. It still scorched behind the hero’s closed eyes, still rolled down their cheeks towards the ruined floor beneath them. But it eased away from their hands, stopped being a ready curse on their lips, in every exhale of air. 

They sagged against the villain’s grip, curled in on themselves. 

“Now. Loud and clear for our witnesses, hero. Would you like me to trade our powers back again?”

The hero said yes.

#villains and heroes #heroes and villains #writing #story #fic #ficlet #fiction #creative writing #villains #heroes

[beeffilledshark]

Had shower thoughts about IBO in a hotel bathroom so I need to have a quick rant about all the dipshits who hate season 2 because they think Orga “just got stupid” or whatever the fuck.

So I decided to make a compilation of all the adults that tried to deceive/use/betray Tekkadan throughout the show

(Note: i didn’t include Nobliss Gordon because I forgot and the app only lets you include 10 images. Also including McGillis because he’s an adult even tho I consider him an Iron Blooded Orphan (but that’s a rant for another time))

Like, is it REALLY that much of a surprise for an orphan child soldier who gets involved with the mob at 16 to want to financially set his family for life by taking the shortest avenue possible? Growing up, he never met a single adult who didn’t view him as sub-human trash or a literal tool, other than Nadi (the mechanic). His first actual role model was a fucking mobster that commanded a ship full of wives. It’s an absolute wonder he lasted as long as he did as an interplanetary political figure.

In his experience, adults will always try to take advantage of him and his family because that’s just how the world works. It’s only a matter of time before the next adult that works with them will try to screw them over and get them killed. He wants to protect those he loves, and to an orphaned child soldier, the only way people won’t fuck with you is if you’re the literal King of Mars.

This poor kid had the weight of an entire family resting on his shoulders and the pressure to give Mika a place he belongs. AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN. WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING AT SIXTEEN BECAUSE MY BIGGEST CONCERNS WERE OVERWATCH COSMETICS AND AO3 FICS (I know he’s 18 in season 2 but that mfer did not have the chance to mature between the rapidly expanding Tekkadan responsibilities and the Half-metal trade moving to Teiwaz and, by extension, them).

Also, it’s made painfully obvious that Biscuit fulfills a crucial part in Tekkadan’s decision making. He’s the voice in Orga’s head that tells him he’s going too far or he’s forgetting the rest of the family. It makes his death and the inertia they build towards the fatal endgame all the more tragic.

I’m sure there’s other reasons people dislike season 2, but this is, by far, the point I’ve seen stressed the most when people sight their preference of season 1. I, personally, LOVE season 2 BECAUSE of Orga’s failures. He and Mika easily take the spot of my favorite shonen protagonists because it’s so easy to be swept up in the genre of being the scrappy underdogs that always come out on top by sheer force of will and a LOT of luck. But this is the first Shonen I’ve seen that ends with the protagonists getting utterly fucked because of their inability to not push on and move forward. In a way, it feels like a subversion of the genre and it makes it so much more gripping.

But that’s just my two cents. I’m not denying that Orga is an imbecile, by the way. Look, he says it right here.

#Gundam #ibo #iron blooded orphans #orga itsuka #I love him so much man #he just wanted to make a future for his family #who can fucking blame him #it’s so sad he couldn’t keep his space rv of child soldiers

[thestarsfightagainstusmyfriend]

Excerpts from letters between Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens that make me cry

[5 December 1778, From Laurens to Hamilton] “Adieu, my dear boy. I shall set out for camp tomorrow.”

This letter is the first correspondence between just Hamilton and Laurens, as opposed to a letter written jointly to or jointly by them, that I could find in the archives. The letter itself is rather unemotional, just a brief letter about Charles Lee’s “Vindication to the Public” but these last two sentences are so gentle compared to the rest of the letter and the phrase “my dear boy” always makes me melt.

[April 1779, From Hamilton to Laurens] “Cold in my professions, warm in ⟨my⟩ friendships, I wish, my Dear Laurens, it m⟨ight⟩ be in my power, by action rather than words, ⟨to⟩ convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that ’till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it was not well done. You know the opinion I entertain of mankind, and how much it is my desire to preserve myself free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness independent on the caprice of others. You sh⟨ould⟩ not have taken advantage of my sensibility to ste⟨al⟩ into my affections without my consent. But as you have done it and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on condition that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to merit the partiality, which you have so artfully instilled into ⟨me⟩.”

I would be absolutely remiss if I did not include this paragraph, arguably the most famous of any correspondence between the two. I can recite this paragraph from memory but I’m still never going to be able to be normal about this. “by action rather than words, to convince you that I love you” always gets me because it refers both to the physical distance between the two men, but also Hamilton’s inability to love Laurens openly and freely like he wishes he could, even when they are physically together. And how he says he wishes he could CONVINCE Laurens that he loves him, like Laurens has a hard time believing he could be loved omfg. And the teasing way that he goes about blaming Laurens for tricking him into falling in love with him like it’s so adorable??? I could talk about this letter for ages, and I might delve further into it in its own post because I have So Many Thoughts.

[14 July 1779, From Laurens to Hamilton] “Ternant will relate to you how many violent struggles I have had between duty and inclination—how much my heart was with you, while I appeared to be most actively employed here—”

It’s so funny to me that Hamilton’s way of expressing his affection while physically separated from Laurens is to pledge his undying love and tease him relentlessly while Laurens is just like “I tried to pretend I wasn’t thinking about you but apparently I’m too obvious 🙄🙄🙄” like it’s too cute.

[11 September 1779, From Hamilton to Laurens] I acknowlege but one letter from you, since you left us, of the 14th of July which just arrived in time to appease a violent conflict between my friendship and my pride. I have written you five or six letters since you left Philadelphia and I should have written you more had you made proper return. But like a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. I had almost resolved to lavish no more of them upon you and to reject you as an inconstant and an ungrateful ——. But you have now disarmed my resentment and by a single mark of attention made up the quarrel. You must at least allow me a large stock of good nature.”

I find this so fucking funny like Hamilton literally admits that he wrote FIVE OR SIX LETTERS and got all mad that Laurens wasn’t writing him back but forgave him literally immediately. The way he compares himself to a “jealous lover” and his letters “caresses” like?? Something about this letter is just too fucking funny to me.

[8 January 1780, From Hamilton to Laurens] “I have strongly sollicited leave to go to the Southward. It could not be refused; but arguments have been used to dissuade me from it, which however little weight they may have had in my judgment gave law to my feelings. I am chagrined and unhappy but I submit. In short Laurens I am disgusted with every thing in this world but yourself…”

This quote is from a pretty depressing letter where Hamilton says he doesn’t believe that he should be nominated for a commission which Laurens was favored for, rejected, and then suggested Hamilton for. He says he believes he is the least qualified, he tells Laurens that he made an effort to go Southward (where Laurens is) but was dissuaded from it, and then goes on to make a rather depressing remark that he hates everything but Laurens and a few other honest men and that he wishes to “make a brilliant exit” from life, and that he doesn’t feel “fit for this terrestreal Country.” 

[30 March 1780, From Hamilton to Laurens] “Adieu my Dear; I am sure you will exert yourself to save your country; but do not unnecessarily risk one of its most valuable sons. Take as much care of yourself as you ought for the public sake and for the sake of Yr. affectionate A. Hamilton”

I find this quote so sweet. Mind you, Laurens injured himself in EVERY battle he ever fought in, and Hamilton had to witness a lot of it firsthand. The way he gently asks Laurens to Please Please Please Don’t Be An Idiot And Die Please I’m Serious is so sweet. It reminds me of “That Would Be Enough” when Eliza says “The fact that you’re alive is a miracle / Just stay alive, that would be enough”

[30 July 1780] The archive reads: “[Laurens] Has executed Hamilton’s commission by arranging for a tailor to make a hat for him”

I don’t even know why I find this so cute.

[12 September 1780, From Hamilton to Laurens] “I hate Congress—I hate the army—I hate the world—I hate myself. The whole is a mass of fools and knaves; I could almost except you and Meade. Adieu”

Very reminiscent of  “In short Laurens I am disgusted with every thing in this world but yourself…” The first sentence of this letter kills me too. He apologizes that the two have not written each other much recently, and assumes that one of his letters to Laurens must have not been delivered but I feel like it’s so obvious that Laurens is ignoring him after Hamilton told him that he was getting married… like Laurens is literally on house arrest, it’s not like he’s too busy to write…

[16 September 1780, From Hamilton to Laurens] “In spite of Schuylers black eyes, I have still a part for the public and another for you; so your impatience to have me married is misplaced; a strange cure by the way, as if after matrimony I was to be less devoted than I am now. Let me tell you, that I intend to restore the empire of Hymen and that Cupid is to be his prime Minister. I wish you were at liberty to transgress the bounds of Pensylvania. I would invite you after the fall to Albany to be witness to the final consummation. My Mistress is a good girl, and already loves you because I have told her you are a clever fellow and my friend; but mind, she loves you a l’americaine not a la françoise. Adieu, be happy, and let friendship between us be more than a name.”

THIS FUCKING LETTER OMFG so much to unpack. He reassures Laurens that while he loves Eliza publicly, he is still devoted to him, and he implies that Laurens has been encouraging him to find a wife to CURE HIM OF HIS AFFECTIONS FOR LAURENS??? And I can’t even… Hamilton straight up invites him to watch him deflower his wife on his wedding night I can’t even get into that. This whole fucking letter…

[11 October 1780, From Hamilton to Laurens] “In one of the visits I made to [John André] (and I saw him several times during his confinement) he begged me to be the bearer of a request to the General for permission, to send an open letter to Sir Henry Clinton. “I foresee my fate (said he) and though I pretend not to play the hero, or to be indifferent about life; yet I am reconciled to whatever may happen, conscious that misfortune, not guilt, has brought it upon me. There is only one thing that disturbs my tranquillity—Sir Henry Clinton has been too good to me; he has been lavish of his kindness. I am bound to him by too many obligations and love him too well to bear the thought, that he should reproach himself, or that others should reproach him, on the supposition of my having conceived myself obliged by his instructions to run the risk I did. I would not for the world leave a sting in his mind, that should embitter his future days.” He could scarce finish the sentence, bursting into tears, in spite of his efforts to suppress them; and with difficulty collected himself enough afterwards to add, “I wish to be permitted to assure him, I did not act under this impression, but submitted to a necessity imposed upon me as contrary to my own inclination as to his orders.” His request was readily complied with, and he wrote the letter annexed, and with which I dare say, you will ⟨be as⟩ much pleased as I am both for the dic⟨tion⟩ and sentiment.”

This literally isn’t even everything he told Laurens about André. He is absolutely enamored with André and I find it so funny he thought it necessary to write this all to Laurens.

[4 February 1781, From Hamilton to Laurens] “Adieu ⟨my⟩ beloved friend. Do justice to my ⟨regard⟩ for you. Assure yourself that ⟨it is⟩ impossible more a[r]dently to wis⟨h for your⟩ health safety pleasure and success ⟨than⟩ I do.”

Just one of a thousand examples of Hamilton trying desperately to convince Laurens that he cares about him.

[This is the final sentence in Laurens’ final letter to Hamilton, written a month or so before his death, J. C. Hamilton didn’t give an exact date when publishing] “Adieu, my dear friend; while circumstances place so great a distance between us, I entreat you not to withdraw the consolation of your letters. You know the unalterable sentiments of your affectionate Laurens.”

YOUR AFFECTIONATE LAURENS that always makes me teary-eyed because Laurens is nowhere near as affectionate as Hamilton in any of his letters but the last thing he tells Hamilton is that he will always be Hamilton’s “affectionate Laurens” like it makes me so emotional.

[This is from the end of Hamilton’s final letter to Laurens, written about two weeks before Laurens died] “Quit your sword my friend, put on the toga, come to Congress. We know each others sentiments, our views are the same: we have fought side by side to make America free, let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy… Yrs for ever, A Hamilton”

SO MUCH ABOUT THIS JUST GUTS ME like the way Hamilton implores Laurens to stop fighting and join him when less than two weeks later Laurens would die in battle and the YRS FOR EVER LIKE I can’t handle this I had to go take a little break to cry.

#hamilton #alexander hamilton #american revolution #amrev history #amrev #laurens #historical lams #lams #john laurens #queer history

[destinygoldenstar]

Which Pretty Cure Would WIN Squid Game? (2024 Update)

Hello.

A couple years back I made an analysis post discussing which Pretty Cure would win Squid Game in that scenario, taking their skills in mind and being as non-bias as I could.

Since then, more seasons have come out. AND my opinions on certain characters placements have changed as I realized some errors in my logic.

So we’re re-doing it!

Fun, right???

I’m going to go through every challenge in Squid Game and see who’d be front runners and who’d be eliminated. Until we get a final two and then a winner.

Some rules though:

No weapons

No power ups. This is based on their own natural skill. If their Pretty Cure powers give them skills they don’t have without it, then that ability will not be factored.

I am only doing major Cure characters. Bright & Windy are the same characters of Bloom & Egret. No ancient Cures, no 11th hour ally’s, as they simply don’t have enough about them to factor.

My opinion on them as characters doesn’t matter here. Some characters I don’t care for can do great in the game while some of my favorites get eliminated very early. I’ll give reasons why I make the choices I do

I won’t be doing Wonderful. That season isn’t done yet. We can’t factor it. There’s just not enough info.

So that gives us 78 Cures as contestants.

Let’s begin.

Red Light Green Light

This game is about patience and mobility. Contestants have go get across the finish line without getting caught moving by a red light. An inability to stay still and wait the light out will spell doom.

Front Runners Of This Challenge Include:

The Suite Cures ; I never factored it the last time I did this, but I realized that because they’re all music based characters, they have an excellent sense of rhythm that gives them a huge advantage. So they’d be really good at the game and knowing when a red light would hit. (Plus I think Ellen and Ako are the types to hide behind people) So this season of Cures pass with flying colors.

Cure Beauty ; If you rewatch Smile, she specifically has avoided getting snagged at stuff more than her teammates. She’s very calm in situations and is persistent in all of them.

Cure Amour ; She’s a literal robot, so… you know. I know some would say that should be non-factored. But it’s not from any Pretty Cure powers, that’s just her body. As such, she’d be great at following directions.

Cure Macaroon & Cure Cosmo ; Same reasons. They’re the types that would take advantage of the game and hide behind people. Can’t ignore that.

And… that’s all the front runners I can think of.

Now for the hard part.

For the Cures that DON’T pass this….

I think Futari Wa-Fresh are all fine.

Blossom. I know people are gonna ask. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she passes this, but BARELY. I know she’s very shy and scared, but unlike some others I can think of, she has shown she can be patient even in scary situations.

As for her partner, Cure Marine, that’s our first one to go.

I know. We’re already losing fan favorites.

But this girl just CANNOT stay still no matter what you do. On top of her being insanely reckless of a character.

There’s even an episode where she actually got frozen and her face was STILL moving.

Especially if she thinks she can take a bullet to the forehead…

Yeah she’s a goner.

Sorry Erika Stan’s.

And we’re keeping the ‘getting rid of fan favorites’ train going, because Cure Happy is also out.

More than other pinks, she’s a huge klutz. And that’s for multiple reasons, whether that be hyperactivity, recklessness, or just plain bad luck. If anyone’s the first to trip under pressure, it’d be her.

Cure Peace is joining her.

I love her as a character.

BUT a main trait of hers is that she is extremely sensitive and a huge crybaby.

First bullet fired, she’s gonna freak out and try to run away.

Cure Felice is eliminated for a different reason.

This one in particular solves all her problems through magic. Which isn’t allowed here.

Considering that overconfidence, she’d not care about a red light and try to run it. Not because she’s arrogant, but because she’s a kid without that discipline.

Cure Custard is also out.

For the same reasons as Yayoi was pretty much. Especially since she is based on a squirrel, which is a pretty skittish creature that jumps at anything.

And the final one eliminated this round is…

Cure Sparkle.

One big factor of this character is that she is not good at following directions. We know she means well, but in a game like this, that’s just a fatal flaw that spells your doom.

I was debating on Cure Earth as well, but after thinking about it I think she’d pass barely. She’s a newborn born in an adults body and incredibly naive about the world but she’s not necessarily dense. (No offense Sparkle)

That’s 6 Cures out ; 72 Cross the Finish Line and move on to the next round

Honeycomb

In this challenge, contestants have to perfectly carve out a shape of a honeycomb candy. Breaking it will result in failure. This challenge involves contestants to be able to manage a steady hand to be able to carve out the shape.

Right off the bat, EVERY Cure from KiraKira and Delicious Party are INSTANT survivors.

No questions asked. Both of these seasons are heavily based around cooking, KiraKira especially specializing in candy. Which means these Cures have the exact skills, so this challenge is a breeze.

I mean except for Himari, who already got eliminated. RIP.

Amour, AGAIN, would also pass this.

Yes her strength is… nuts. And inhuman even without powers. BUT not only does she have great steadiness, she also proved she can carve stuff out well.

It’s not about strength. It’s about controlling that strength. And Ruru has proved she can.

For that same reason, Cure Sunny is surprisingly also safe.

Yes she’s the hardest hitter of her team, and a volleyball player, but 1) Volleyball does require you to aim the ball with your arm effectively, AND 2) Akane has a culinary background and shown to have skills to save herself.

Cure Honey is also a very obvious stand out.

Same reasons for Akane, except even more so. Food and cooking is pretty much her entire character.

And… come on her name is literally Cure Honey. She’s got this.

Cure Scarlet also survives.

Thanks to her violin skills and her nature of tranquility with her craft, she knows exactly what she’s doing.

So we have quite a few Cures that pass with flying colors. But what about the ones that break their cookie?

Despite the success last round, the first one on this list to go is Cure Beat.

Siren is, well, a cat. Born a cat with PAWS.

And even after she became human there’s not any moment in the show where she’s shown to have a steady hand, in fact the opposite with her massive handwriting and her skill being a guitar.

I know people are gonna argue I should’ve given her a pass like Towa because they both play instruments, but keep in mind Towa has more going for her than that, and the guitar is a much more loose instrument than a violin. Especially the one she uses.

The reason the other cats pass is because they’re either chefs, or in Yuni’s case, was an alien form of a cat that had hands. And both those characters are far less reckless than Siren is.

I hope that’s a good reason that you can understand.

Milky Rose is also out.

This one is a born mascot plushie without the steady hand. Now not to say she never had precision, but Milk is known to have such an arrogant sweet tooth that she would just not care about the challenge and eat the cookie.

And even if she didn’t, she doesn’t have much skill involving the candy to save herself.

But now we move on to a sadder one to see go, Cure Sword.

Yeah… this is kind of an obvious one. And I’m pretty sure no one will argue against it.

This girls hand is HARD. In this case for the worst. And she has next to NO skill involving a steady hand as shown constantly. That includes cooking related when she slashes a cutting board by just hitting it once.

Yeah, that’s a quick break right there.

Okay, so Cure Magical is at a very unique disadvantage.

Liko is a stubborn perfectionist and is very hyper focused on getting things right.

She’s the type to overanalyze the best strategy to cut her cookie-

And then the timer would run out in her.

And even if that’s not the case, we’ve seen what her magic does.

But since we eliminated four purples in a row, let’s change it up. Cure Yell.

She’s designed as a cheerleader. But that does NOT translate to ‘steady hand’ in any way.

If her hair styling skills are horrible, what chance does she have?

I know some might say that Flora should be out too for these reasons, but the difference is that Haruka actually showed improvement in hand steady skills and that can’t be ignored. Hana on the other hand doesn’t really have these moments.

Though if people are sad about losing a well liked Pink, not to fear, we’re losing one of the least popular Pinks also, Cure Star.

Hikaru is RECKLESS with a capital R. I’m someone who doesn’t dislike her as much as other people for it, but I can’t ignore that it’s doom spelling in a game like this.

Plus she’s also daring enough to pick a harder shape like the Star. (Ha. Cure STAR.) But she would NOT know what to do with that.

Okay breaks over from the Purple Cure slaughter. Next out is Cure Earth.

I gave her a past last time. That ends here.

Again, she’s a newborn in an adults body. And just… it would just be impossible to have that precise knowledge to be able to do this.

Cure Majesty is also gone for that same reason.

But it’s even more so, as she’s a BABY. There’s just… there’s no way.

And lastly, in a pretty bittersweet, mostly bitter case, Cure Summer and Cure La Mer go out together.

For different reasons. Minatsu is like Hikaru in the sense that she’s more of a reckless character, and in her case a victim of slapstick. Unlike her teammates she just doesn’t have any noteworthy hand steady moments to save herself.

Laura on the other hand is a mermaid. Mermaids live in the water where pressure is very different. So she’d easily get the pressure to cut a cookie wrong.

You can say Melon Bread should be a factor, but I’d disagree as that’s a much softer sweet than honeycomb.

So yeah, it’s sad. But hey, at least they go out together.

10 Cures Break Their Cookies ; 62 Successfully Cut Out Their Shapes And Move On

That number was bigger last time. But after thinking about it I do feel I was too harsh on some of the sporty characters and didn’t acknowledge sports DO have precision involved to do these sports. So I guess I redeemed myself there.

Midnight Brawl

This isn’t really a canon challenge, but several victims are claimed in it that it should be counted for. A lack of needs and sanity breaking events will snap a ton of people to violence. So it’s everyone for themself here.

This is a tricky one as there’s multiple ways you can survive this. Whether it’s naturally being a good fighter who can defend themself or being stealthy event to hide and wait the brawl out.

In this case, it’s tricky cause they’re ALL fighters in a way. It’s just about who is better at fighting than others.

Cure Macaroon is a stealthy person and a deceptive one. She will have no trouble hiding out the event.

Cure Muse is also in that category. As despite her small size, she was a vigilante for such a long time and kept to the shadows. Hiding is pretty natural to her.

Cure Cosmo could actually do it either way. She has the skill to defend herself AND she is a master at disguise like Ako. She has no problem here.

Cure Sunshine, even without powers, is a master at combat being from a dojo and all. She has no problem defending herself.

Cure Moonlight is also a veteran warrior, so she’d have no problem with defense.

Cure Rosetta is also someone who has trained in martial arts outside of powers, so she’d survive no problem. Even if she’s the barrier warrior of her team.

Cure Flamingo has absolutely no trouble committing to assault when she deems necessary. She’d probably be the first to snap.

Cure Sky is also a trained warrior with plenty of strength to go around. So she has no problem.

Now for the hard part. Who doesn’t survive the night?

The first one to go is Cure Whip.

Unlike the rest of her teammates, Ichika has nothing going for her besides being a baker. And with KiraKira’s combat style compared to the others, she’s far less capable of a fist fight as a result.

What can she do? Cream someone??

Yeah that just won’t work.

Cure Yum Yum is also gone.

For the same reasons that she is just a cook. And her personality in particular makes herself very noticeable.

But while Yui is a soccer player, Kokone is quiet and can hide, and Amane is a vigilante with skill, Ran just doesn’t have anything.

Shiny Luminous is probably the weakest cure remaining.

Aside from from being an amplifier, Hikari just does not have anything compared to the others around her.

Of the Yes 5 Cures, Cure Lemonade has the worst shot at this.

She’s expressive in lifestyle so she wouldn’t think about hiding, and compared to her teammates she has the least noteworthy of skill to fight anyone off.

Unless she had rope, but no weapons.

And now we lose a fan favorite unfortunately, Cure Blossom.

For the mockery of ‘weakest Cure ever’, Tsubomi should be really proud of herself for surviving the first two games.

Unfortunately her run ends here. As that mockery does play a factor. Tsubomi is very easy to scare, so it’s not hard to find her, and she’s just too fragile to fight anyone off.

But if that’s too upsetting, not to worry, Cure Ace is also out.

This might be controversial, as Aguri is one of the most overpowered Cures ever…

But only WITH her powers.

Without them, she’s just a regular girl. And given her nature of always butting into things, always saying her opinions, and going on anyway, she’d be too arrogant of a character to hide.

And without her powers, she’s done for.

It hurts cause she’s one of the younger Cures here… but that’s probably the only reason why it hurts.

And finally, the last elimination is, and it absolutely breaks my heart as a Stan…

Cure Grace.

Look, I can’t be bias here. Nodoka doesn’t have much going for her here.

Her hospitalization background does no favors and gives her a physically weak disadvantage going in. Without her powers, she can’t do anything, and even if she tried, it’s damage her health, which would sure be deteriorated at this point in the game already.

That and Nodoka is a pacifist. Sure she’ll fight when it deems right. But she’s one to look for the least harm as a solution. In the world of Squid Game, this is a failing move.

So sorry. She’s my fave. It hurts.

7 Cures Get The Boot ; 55 Cures Survive The Night

Tug Of War

This is another strength based game. Two teams play tug of war against each other and losing side falls to their doom.

This game requires good strength and teamwork. Preferably both.

Now, in the context of Squid Game, there’s be two teams.

I’m not doing that here. Because you come up with ANY match up here, and results would vary.

Instead I’m gonna continue to factor them individually and you can infer from that they’re on the losing team.

From future Eliminations you can interpret the 27 that’d get eliminated here.

This is also tricky, as naturally, all of them are strong and good at teamwork to a degree.

But for the BEST ones at this,

All the Duos left together. (Melody & Rhythm, Black & White, Bloom & Egret, Lovely & Princess, Amour & Ma’Cheri, Sky & Prism, Wing & Butterfly)

More than the others, these Cures are VERY devoted to their teammates and it shows. They’d survive easily.

The Fresh Cures are all very team focused in their move sets and lifestyles.

Also helps that all four of them are still here.

Cure Dream is an excellent leader of a team of 6.

And shes the only 6 Team Leader left in the game. She’d be great at working with a team.

Cure March and Cure Soliel are both strong and the eldest of many siblings. They’re known for teamwork.

Cure Heart is a HUGE standout here.

She’s the student council president, the leader of her team, and a very strong a determined fighter on her own, and is always taking the selfless route of her team first.

More than anyone else here, if anyone’s carrying the team to victory, it’s her.

And finally, Cure Moonlight.

This is a strange one, as last time, I actually eliminated her in this round because she wasn’t a very big team player and took the longest of anyone to join a team. And even then there were complications.

BUT, looking back, I feel like that was my biggest error in that previous list. As while that IS true, you can’t ignore that Yuri IS one of the STRONGEST Cures remaining.

Regardless if she is a good team player or not, if you’re strong enough to hold the rope, you can survive.

So there, I redeemed myself.

So yeah, there’s a lot of good Cures here. What a shock, a show all about teamwork has characters great at teamwork.

But there ARE exceptions to that, surprisingly.

First one is Cure Muse.

1, she’s the smallest and therefore weakest one left.

2, she’s a loner. It’s who she is.

Lethal combo.

And sadly Cure Cosmo.

She was a front runner before, so WOW, what a downfall.

Literally.

While she’s not as weak as Ako, she is also a huge loner and didn’t cooperate with a team even after joining, she was just kinda along for the ride.

Cure Spicy and Cure Finale are both gone here.

Both of them are natural loner who struggle with others, and constantly go on their own and are just social communicators.

Cure Fortune. For… pretty much all the same reasons as the previous combined.

And finally,

Cure Miracle and Cure Fontaine.

The thing that screws them over here is their respective teammates, the Mahou Tsukai Cures and the Healin Good Cures.

Who, aside from themselves, have ALREADY been eliminated.

So they’re alone here.

It’s sad, honestly.

7 Cures Are On The Losing Team ; 48 Cures would hypothetically survive

Marbles

In this came, pairings are pinned against each other to ensure one of them gets all the marbles.

There’s multiple ways to go at this. You can play a marble game. Or if you’re not good at that, there’s always manipulation.

With that in mind, I think the obvious contenders are the villain Cures, especially the born ones.

That’s Amour & Passion.

They’d have no problem.

Cure Macaroon is also a master manipulator without even needing to be a villain.

It’s honestly impressive.

And… that’s it.

Not a lot. That’s because all of these characters are so good hearted that they just wouldn’t be able to hurt their partners.

With that in mind…

We gotta talk about the partners.

I think we’d know who’s pair up with who, not knowing what the game is.

And if Amour made it…

That means her little Cure Ma’Cheri is a goner.

It doesn’t help that she’s younger, and therefore just not a manipulative person.

Plus I think she would allow Ruru to go on.

If Cure Peach is Setsuna’s partner, then she’d also go.

Love is an overbearing person anyway who devotes herself to people.

And then, Cure Chocolot.

Try and convince me Yukari wouldn’t be Akira’s partner. But Akira is very loyal and devoted to people. Sure she’d try to fight to save them both, but once she realizes they can’t, Akira would give Yukari the marbles.

Then there’s the other duos. Melody & Rhythm, Black & White, Bloom & Egret, Lovely & Princess, Sky & Prism, Wing & Butterfly, and the other teams left with just two of them left. Berry & Pine, Sunshine & Moonlight, Gelato & Parfait, Ange & Etoile.

I don’t see these characters manipulating the other. SO… Which ones would sacrifice themselves so the other would move on?

I feel it would be…

Rhythm, White, Egret, Lovely, Prism, Butterfly, Pine, Moonlight, Parfait, Ange

These characters I feel like would have a slightly more devotion towards their partners that they’d sacrifice themselves.

Then there’s the others.

March, Heart, and Soliel, though front runners last time, go here.

They’re all very loyal and devoted, overbearingly so.

Cure Honey goes here, as she’s very trusting towards villains as shown

Cure Scarlet is an interesting elimination.

Yes she’s also an ex villain, but she’s a BRAINWASHED ex villain. It’s because she was manipulated as a child. And years of that would taint her ability to BE manipulative herself without that.

And to even it out to have 24, we need to eliminate six more.

I believe this would be…

Precious, Sunny, Mint, Flora, Milky, & Coral

I’m putting these six together because I don’t have a good reason for it individually.

It’s just that the others have more brain power and guts going for them.

That was a brutal round. And it’s gonna get worse with 24 left.

Glass Stepping Stones

This is by far the worst one.

Get in line. Step on one of two glass panels one at a time. One is safe, the other breaks and you’re gone.

There are NO stand outs here.

This is mostly based on LUCK.

BUT there is ONE factor that we can use to determine a final two.

The line order.

They get to pick their numbers. So it really goes down to who is prideful enough to pick a low number and who’s resilient enough not to.

Out of these, the one I feel would pick #1 is…

Cure Princess.

Out of all them, Hime is easily the most prideful and spoiled of the bunch with her inheritage.

And that will spell her doom for sure.

Cure Sky is not too far behind.

Her whole thing is being the hero, therefore, she’s very confident in her abilities and would think she could pass this.

And going on with it, I think it’s safe to say student council characters would definitely feel the urge to do sooner.

So…

Sunshine, Beauty, Aqua, Diamond, Mermaid, & Selene.

Then there’s more headstrong characters.

Melody, Black, Bloom, Gelato, Dream, Flamingo, Rouge, & Twinkle

Which leaves 8, who I feel would be humble enough to pick higher numbers.

This is hard.

SLIGHTLY, I think the next ones would be Macaroon, Berry, Rosetta, & Papaya.

Which leaves 4

And with that in mind, Etoile and Passion BARELY miss the Top 2

This might be VERY controversial, but of the four left, that half is the lesser stable.

Homare has trauma from her figure skating career and taking on a major role, which is why she’s be further in the back, BUT she HAS shown improvement on such and thus that can’t be ignored. It’d be a dare she’d make to pick the 4th to last number instead of the last one.

And Setsuna, while she is NOT dumb, or arrogant, or even prideful, she is someone who acts on impulse when it comes to time. Especially if, at that point, the timer was almost out. She’s be desperate. And to call her a very emotionally stable person in these sorts of situations is just false.

Which leaves the Final Two, Cure Amour and Cure Wing.

Cure Wing because I feel he would be the one to pick the back number out of everyone. He has survived in his own in hiding for a long time and never broke in sanity, and his nature, while selfless, is also reserved and patient enough to recognize his playing field.

Therefore, he would be the most humble and go last.

And Cure Amour because she too, while able to hold her own, also recognizes when to stay in the back and reserve herself. She did go in disguise. I know that probably means the same should apply to Setsuna, but there is one thing that made me choose Ruru over her.

Her robot nature.

If ANYONE here would be able to tell the glass apart, it’s her.

So she’s at a pretty huge advantage no one else has.

Squid Game

And now, the titular Squid Game. The finale. One acts as the defender. The other acts as the offenser.

And… honestly in the game it’s more of a ‘fight to the death’ type of deal.

And considering which two are left…

I feel like this is even less of a debate than last time.

We LOVE Tsubasa and he deserves it, BUT this scrawny bird boy stands next to NO chance against Ruru.

Ruru is a robotic figure with better defense than him, she’s so much stronger than him that she could throw people in space with ease, and could predict his moves before he could even make them.

Maybe Tsubasa is faster. But that can’t play any factor if he can’t get through her robotic figure. Which he has no ability that can do that.

So… yeah, the Bird Boy falls here.

Cure Amour Wins Squid Game.

She was the victor last time, and… that didn’t change on redoing it. She just had all the skills necessary to win.

#pretty cure #squid game #yes pretty cure 5 #smile pretty cure #delicious party pretty cure #precure #smile precure #suite precure #futari wa precure #delicious party precure #go princess precure #happiness charge precure #healin good precure #healin' good precure #heartcatch precure #hirogaru sky precure #fresh precure #hirogaru sky! precure #hugtto precure #kira kira precure a la mode #star twinkle precure #tropical rouge precure #cure amour

[the-sayuri-rin]

Just my view of things:

I’m not a Scara fan at all, but seeing people go “He’s mad at his friend because he died, huh...what lol” Scara himself is not human, the concept of humanity, life and death are foreign to him since he can’t experience these very human things. Instead all he can see and is able to understand is:

“This person broke their promise, they lied. It hurts, I can’t trust humans. My mother thinks I am weak because I am emotional, she left me to rot because I wasn’t to her liking. My mother is a god, are all gods like this?  my mother is a god and yet she could not bother to care about me, so all gods are scum.” A very traumatic yet childish view that has only been continuously fueled by lack of proper guidance and love.

 Think Kana and Ruu, despite Ruu being unable to sing for her because he was sacrificed and dead... while she was mad at the people, she was mainly mad at RUU because in her eyes he broke his promise to her. She wiped out the whole civilization in a murderous fit of grief and revenge.

Scara is going through his own very murderous fit of grief and revenge dialed up to like....100; and what’s worse is that there was no stable person in his life that was able to teach him these things. and the people he did meet and let into his life took advantage of that grief and used it to convince him to join their cause basically twisting and manipulating him, encouraging his inability to understand these concepts for their goals.

A interesting foil to Nahida in term of Nahida also can’t make much of human emotions, is a newborn god and thus doesn’t know about godhood in the way her predecessor or the other older gods do. Yet Nahida tries to learn and understand what it means to be these things and has at the very least the traveler and the few people who do believe in her to help her understand in some way. 

While Scara hates these things, has no one willing to help him better understand these human concepts other than hatred, and currently wants nothing more than to annihilate both humans and gods via becoming the thing he hates.

#genshin impact #scaramouche

[thevulturesquadron]

Ok so this is me sorta headcanoning, so take this with a grain of salt, but one of the reasons why the infantilization of Rogue always bothers me is because I always felt like her powers were a metaphor for disability/chronic illness and fandom police act already like disabled women aren't capable of being in their own villain romances, example being Entrapdak antis denying Entrapta her own agency in her romance with Hordak in the She-Ra reboot.

Oh! But you make a really good point! It’s one of those subtle perspectives that can be dangerous just because of how easy they are to integrate into someone's view of the world. I'm not as vocal online as I used to be. I feel like there are people out there far better equipped to talk about it than I, while I grow old and cranky. But, you brought up a really important aspect that kinda sent me into a 'hold my beer' moment so apologies for the long answer! To start with, I wouldn’t call this a headcanon, not at all, clearly not in the context of X-men, and Rogue in particular. It’s a very apt analogy. The reason why these characters become relevant to us is because we recognize something from our personal journey in them, and the comparison you made for Rogue is a very strong one. Her inability to touch can absolutely be read as a disability! In so many of her stories/arcs it is often portrayed as a struggle, as an obstacle to a ‘normal life’. Her difficulties with gaining control over her powers and dealing with other personalities that are trying to take over her mind can also be a strong metaphor for mental health struggles/disorders. Rogue is a fantastic hero in that regard and seeing her be her own person, learning how to work and be proud of what she can do, can feel like a personal victory for so many people. It’s why it’s important to see her happy, to see her winning her battles and use who she is and what she can do in a positive and impactful way. There are many reasons why fans end up taking away her agency or attributing her choices to a different (often male) character. And, to be fair, a couple of comic-book writers have done this exact thing to her, so I can see where this skewed perspective might be coming from. Within fandom this happens mostly because it serves to support their arguments for whatever thing they prefer or project onto the character. If they don’t like a certain narrative or can’t accept that it might’ve be written for someone else, they have this to fall back on and point to. Or, sadly, one of the simplest reasons for doing this is the age-old turning their ship preferences into ‘I’m right, you are wrong’ arguments. But these things can hide some internalized misconceptions. Unfortunately I haven’t seen the reboot of She-Ra (shame on me) so I don’t have the full picture for the take on Entrapta, but now I have one more reason to invest some time in it. In this situation with Rogue, I believe that what you mentioned applies very well. The argument that I’ve seen going around a lot is that Rogue was manipulated/swayed by being presented with the opportunity to ‘be normal’. Because she wanted to be able to touch and as a result she was taken advantage of because of her ‘disability’. Which is entirely false. In no version of the relationship between Rogue and Magneto in the comics, and not even in the reinvented take in the animation, has he ever abused that. Her attraction to him has always, always, come first, and the ability to touch, second. He was never the first one to act upon it. Even in the animation, every shot in the flashback was carefully considered to portray that - she is shown as the initiator every time (my favourite scene is when she’s trying her very best to pose in a suggestive way and he just paints her as he sees her, lively and sincere). But some fans don’t want to see that. They don’t want to acknowledge the authenticity of her decisions because it doesn’t serve the narrative they want of her/for her.

I read your message and it hit like a hammer how much deeper this problem can actually go, because it’s masked by those surface-level justifications. Removing agency and responsibility from someone just because they operate differently than one’s expectations is damaging in and of itself, and within a fandom it perpetuates an idea that can stifle people’s perspective and critical thinking. (This whole topic actually reminded me of Madison Tevlin's “Assume that I can” commercial. I think it's relevant to the conversation) Thanks a lot for sharing this!!! We need to talk more about these things and if I misspoke on something or missed something important would love to hear it. 💜

#x men #x men ‘97 #rogue #anna marie #anna marie adler #fandom critical #fandom #rogue x men #magneto

[yukidragon]

The pregnancy AU is so dark but good. Realistic.

CW discussion of abuse and suicide mention

What Ian is doing to Alice in this AU is called post-separation abuse (and arguably stalking). Using child support money and visitation to keep his hooks in her are particularly dirty tactics, as is trespassing in to the hospital to hound her while she’s vulnerable after the birth, and the fact that his suicide attempt injuries are creating guilt in her.

He’s taking advantage of her inability to set boundaries and completely ignoring those of the hospital that are set for patients safety and wellbeing.

Ian paying for the flat trying to get Alice to move back in is favour sharking and trying to maintain control over her through financial means.

I do know exactly how dangerous Jack is after what he did to Nick. And that he’s also 100% manipulating MC/Alice, and half considered the theory that he may want to take over MCs body. I don’t think things will end well. But in this particular instance I’m actually more on Jack’s side and despite his ulterior motives think him hitting the call button to help Alice/talking to her about Ian’s manipulation is super reasonable.

Even from source material I genuinely don’t think Jack is the only shady manipulator in the game. Unstable yandere Ian is plausible.

Canonically Ian’s got his own issues resulting from abuse and is pitiful but he’s still got the upper hand financially and whether consciously or not he can be a manipulative softboy. Ian’s crying and incessant calls pressure MC, he talks about their history and grabs for any emotional hold he can get. They can’t afford to cut ties by moving out of the flat he knows the location of and presumably still has keys to, and he doesn’t give MC any choice around him returning to try and get back together. He knows the calls are unwanted as he “didn’t think you’d answer”.

He’s scary persistent. Abandonment issues are making him irrational. This is beginning to border on post separation abuse/stalking.

Plus to me Ian’s ‘intimacy’ while together seemed very one sided, kind of forced or forceful with what he did at the end. You’re welcome to disagree but I found it pretty difficult to listen to that encounter. His wants trumped her comfort level.

It’s ok if anyone likes him as a character, he’s cute, nobody is all bad and it is fictional.

I’m just saying I buy this AU because personally even canon Ian gives me bad vibes.

This is a very thoughtful analysis on the pregnant with Ian's child AU I posted here and here, but also MC's relationship with Ian as a whole. I'm also glad that you enjoyed the AU, even if it's pretty darn dark.

I have actually touched on Ian's personality in several past posts, particularly in this in depth one where I examined why he might have cheated. I do agree that Ian is being manipulative with his phone calls, from the way he words things to how he reminds MC of their past together and how much he loves and needs them. How far he'll go to get them back is something we'll have to wait and see, as the demo only gives us a glimpse into his desperation.

I do agree that Ian's sex scene was a bit rough to get through. You're not alone in thinking that he was being too forceful since he wouldn't let MC stop, pleading with them and even physically taking control away from them. Even MC thinks of it as them being used.

It was like being used. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I didn’t care if he WAS using me.

I won't go as far to say it's dubious consent, but it did feel like MC's ability to say no or stop was denied because Ian was horny and really wanted them to get him off.

Some people like being choked/suffocated during sex, but that's not everyone's fetish, and MC wasn't given a choice in the matter, nearly blacking out from lack of oxygen at the end.

It's possible that this is a similar situation to the sex scene in the "no" route where the writing didn't quite convey the tone intended. I'm willing to accept that may be the case and reserve my judgement for intent with the scene for when the updated demo comes out and reexamines that scene in particular when it comes to MC and the player's ability to make choices.

However, as we've seen in the demo, Ian gets pointers on how to have sex from ecchi/hentai. I don't know about you, but those sex scenes tend to have the penetrating male partner be excessively forceful, with the submissive partner at times protesting or even clearly saying "no," only to have it be framed as them actually being shy and wanting to be dominated so forcefully. It's a "romanticized" view of sex that lacks real communication for the sake of keeping the action going, as it were.

There are plenty of people who learn misinformation from hentai/ecchi/porn/word of mouth, especially if they're inexperienced, as MC and Ian are. Often times these types of porn are meant just to satisfy the straight male audience without considering other genders or orientations. There's plenty of bad lessons about toxic masculinity in these types of fiction and how much focus and glorification there is on the dominant male partner to get off. If the media shows that the other partner is satisfied by these actions that mostly just gratify the dominant male, and Ian is not getting feedback from his partner to tell him what they disliked, he can just happily think nothing is wrong with his technique.

This is especially true when it comes to having a partner who struggles to advocate for their own comfort if it might make the other partner feel bad. This is the narrative I'm exploring with Alice and Ian in Sunshine in Hell, and is part of why their relationship turned toxic. Lack of communication on boundaries, and Ian taking more from Alice than she should have been giving, ultimately led to an unhealthy dynamic between them.

As we've seen in the demo, while MC did take the lead at first during the sex scene, wanting to make Ian feel good, when they tried to pull back, he stopped them, giving them pleading eyes and saying it's the first time they got so far and it feels so good. They love him, so they give in to his needs. They're used to taking care of him and his needs, as we saw a few times earlier in the demo. He's sensitive, cries easily, and is very apologetic. Someone who is empathetic will have a hard time wanting to do anything that might upset him, like, say... telling him that what he's doing is hurting or suffocating them. They might even just skip asking him to return the favor by going down on them next since he's tired.

That's the case with Alice. She consented to sex with Ian, but there was this undercurrent of pressure to it. They're in love, it's what he wants, he says such sweet things, and it's something natural that couples do, right? If they don't have sex, well... isn't that just saying that she isn't attracted to him, like those bullies that mocked his looks? Isn't that comparing him to the people who forced SA on her? Isn't that saying that his sex drive is wrong like his mother always told him? I don't think pressuring her was a conscious choice on Ian's part, but when Alice struggled to deny him what he wanted and was so used to helping and taking care of him since he needed her... there's this undercurrent of obligation that encouraged her to just, well, "lie back and think of England" as the saying goes.

In their relationship, Alice's comfort and needs were sacrificed over and over for Ian's sake, because he needed her. He needed her to be the strong one, to support him. He had a shitty life and was all alone. He couldn't face the world without her. Without her, he had no one who loved and cared for him, no one to find him desirable. He got spoiled by her in ways... so when he no longer had her and he suddenly had to stand on his own... he felt very lonely. And very horny.

So it's really not any wonder that Ian was tempted when other people, besides Alice, started paying attention to him, liking him, and finding him desirable... especially in a place where Alice simply wasn't around to fulfil all his needs.

I think Ian is a really interesting character to explore. I do think his story arc is going to be one of redemption for his mistakes, both with the cheating and with their relationship in general. He's flawed, and I think that's the point. I don't think it's bad to like him or want to give him that second chance. I also don't think it's bad to dislike him and feel uncomfortable by the way he manipulates and pressures MC.

Ian has done damage to MC with his cheating. Whether or not the rest of his relationship with MC was healthy, well, I think that we might have to wait and see and/or do our own headcanons there. I'm sure for plenty of Ian fans, what went on between him and their MC was a lot healthier, just with a few hiccups and one major issue with his cheating.

I do know that Alice and Ian simply weren't a healthy relationship. They won't work together, even if he never cheated. Too much damage has been done and continues to be done. What Ian does with the phone calls is crushing to someone like Alice who only wants him to be happy... even though he broke her heart over and over again... and he continues to do so in a desperate attempt to return things to the way they used to be, when they were happy.

Ian just doesn't understand that there were too many times that his happiness came at the cost of Alice making herself unhappy... while she lied to herself that she was happy just because she made him happy.

To be fair to Ian, he can't exactly understand that he's taking too much when Alice doesn't love herself as much as she loves him.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Ask

[wulvercazz]

Talking about innocent to the human world Grimmjow, do you ever think Kon would take advantage and trick Grimm into doing dirty stuff without Grimm knowing? Like, Ichigo coming home one day and Grimm being like "Take this, Kurosaki!!" and he starts twerking, cause Kon told him this was a "move that can knock out even the most powerful of enemies". Sure enough, Ichigo passes out at the sight.

dfdasfsggsddhdsfss I— omg ok, I don’t think he’d be thaT clueless tbh 😂 he’s a pretty smart guy usually.

BuT I do see him being tricked into a few things, like wearing too-tight or revealing clothes (totally Urahara and Yoruichi’s fault) because in the end he wears pretty much thaT and I don’t think he’s yet super aware that he’s hoT. He’s spent the most of his hollow existence as a fckn jaguar looking thing; I think some part of him still sees himself that way. And he’s probably sure Ichigo likes him for his power not his looks, (which - Ichigo does admire but ofc him being hot plays a gOOD paRt) thankfully, Ichigo’s dead set on telling him over and over just how pretty he is💕 (because I just know Grimmjow blushes against his will and gets pissed about it, and flushes more and … yeah, Ichigo loves that)

And also— I like to think people around the house end up asking him for help every once in a while; when Ichigo is unavailable for whatever reason. Because ofc they’d suddenly start acting chummy with an arrancar just because it’s Ichigo’s boyfriend— and I think Grimmjow would want to convince Ichigo somehow that he can be trusted with what would probably be his ‘pack’. (Just them tho, he’ll skewer any other of his friends if they look at him weird.)

So I do see Kon using thiS to sabotage Ichigo, being a dramatic little fuck to set his evil plans going: “OuGh maN— I can’t reach this thing under the bed with my tiny lion body— I’m sure you could reach it right, Jaegerjaquez-san? You’re pretty tall and stretchy— Ichigo usually helps me with these things though, I guess he’d be a better option to ask this too…“ (Grimm’s competitiveness and inability to not have to prove himself has always been downfall, lmao)

Ichigo walks into his bedroom to a pretty sight of Grimm’s ass presented to him. In that bodysuit of his that truly leaves nothing to the imagination, on his knees, ass in the air and chest planted to the floor; with an arm angrily searching for whatever the fuck the stupid stuffed moron is asking for. All Kon does, from his smug little spot on the desk, is give Ichigo the most annoyingly-knowing fucking raised brow, “see, I told you you were a pervert too” is what he’s telling him.

Oh, Ichigo is going to unstuff Kon (right after he takes a cold shower).

#answer #bleach #grimmjow jaegerjaquez #ichigo kurosaki #ichigrimm #ichigrimm thoughts uwu

[pocima]

Curating an aespa remix album because the S in SM stands for “sleeping on opportunities”

aespa are not only a group whose talents, incredible music and polished concepts I’ve appreciated for more than 2 years, but they were also a key in reviving my love for hard-hitting electronic music and discovering new kinds of it. A K-pop group fueling my love for entire EDM subgenres may sound absurd, however you’ll understand what I’m saying if you reassess how much potential they have off of the sound they’ve already built. Through both the fandom’s reach on wonderful producers and my own interest, I took proper deep dives into numerous genres such as hyperpop, UK garage, drum and bass, breakcore, trance and future bass, all genres that aespa have either done or would pull off perfectly. As I took my deep dives, one of the things I learned to appreciate tremendously more is remixes. When I was way younger, I had this misconception of remixes just being crappy badly mixed oontz oontz flips of songs due to the atrocities I would regularly hear on pop radios. Talented producers remodeling already high-quality tracks and showing their own stunning perspectives through their own approaches to music completely changed my mind, and I currently often find myself looking forward to how some of my beloved tunes will be reshaped. Now here I am, making a comprehensive list of my desired aespa remixes that also serves as a list of electronic producers that the girls’ A&R team need to get on their roster. (This list was roughly freestyled after @nayeonline came up with the idea of an aespa remix album, and of course I had to make them a victim of my extensive yapping at the mere thought.) Some of these I discovered through MYs, some of these are my own personal faves that the fandom may be overlooking. Enjoy observing my A&R syndrome, and let this serve YOU as a mini aespacore playlist.

Track 1: Welcome to MY World - Sega Bodega Remix

Sega Bodega is most likely my favorite producer of all time. Aside from his objective immense talent, versatility and inability to make a single track of his any less than superb, his musical style (especially recent songs) is otherworldly; his music lulls you into a higher setting. While the possibilities of the outcome of Sega Bodega producing/remixing aespa are endless, WTMW’s orchestration, harmonies and beauty go hand in hand with Sega’s work in that sense. His touch would take the song into another dimension, from an introduction story to aespa’s real world side to a guided trip all around it. It would be a Kwangya-ified but still earthly version of WTMW.

Below attached is his song Cicada, which gives a hint on what can be done with the guitars in WTMW and how the song could become more electronic and intricate.

Track 2: Next Level - Masayoshi Iimori Remix

A vast majority of the tracks with Masayoshi Iimori’s involvement give me the feel of racing around in a city with neon lights, with a mission to return to my time machine to come back from the future to the present time before it’s too late. Doesn’t this description fit Next Level like a glove? Iimori could make Next Level more punchy, which is perfect for the confidence of the Kwangya rider anthem, with his “mixed and mastered on a BlackBerry in the best way possible” sound adding to the daring, cosmic atmosphere. He definitely needs to be involved in aespa’s Japan debut and quite frankly, he’s not an unrealistic pick even for SM.

Below attached is Freedom Kingdom by 4s4ki feat. Swervy, produced by him, which is my favorite example of his frequent trance incorporation and use of gritty motor-like synths. Spoiler: this will not be Miss 4s4ki’s only appearance in this post.

Track 3: Savage - A.G. Cook Remix

In all honesty, I don’t believe this needs much elaboration. This man is considered the father of hyperpop, one of the genres aespa are the most influenced by and certainly a genre they could take more advantage of. Savage, the song that solidified aespa as experimental trendsetters in K-pop, becoming more of an outrageous banger than it already is with the A.G. Cook touch, would be a K-pop moment going down in history books.

The track attached below, produced by him, summarizes my vision for a gritty, banging dream Savage 2.0.

Track 4: Drama - umru remix

Let’s preface this with a fun fact: umru’s splice pack was put to good use in Savage, confirmed by the song’s producers and umru himself! His involvement would transform the twinkling, forceful, electric Drama into an even more hardcore anthem. The synths in the song’s chorus already catch your attention before you’re able to catch your breath after the beauty of the intro and verses, and making all the instruments hit even harder would be a move that totally suits aespa to the core.

Below attached is umru’s take on Fire Truck by SG5, which is one of my favorite productions by him and one of the most hard-hitting of his too. I recommend comparing all the remixes in this post to their respective originals to get a better sense of how these producers can change the tracks.

Track 5: I’ll Make You Cry - Iglooghost Remix

From the 8-bit synths to the sudden kicks and claps and the video game finale soundtrack vibes, I’ll Make You Cry and Iglooghost’s production go hand in hand. If I were to pick a word to describe the style of his work, without hesitation, it would be “cyber-sigilism”, and he converts it into sound like no other. I’ll Make You Cry could become more even more mystic and mellow, making aespa’s darker side visible once again. (Word to SM: this is how you expand aespa’s range instead of making an EDM-based group release country song demos.)

Below attached is Iglooghost’s take on Crybaby by ABRA, and if this is what he can do to the original Crybaby (love both and please listen to both versions), that IMYC remix would be something never seen in music, let alone K-pop. I also highly suggest checking out his own work to understand the sigilism bit better.

Track 6: Yeppi Yeppi - Giga/Reol Remix

When I first listened to Reol last March, specifically starting off with the Kinjitou album, “I have to make this woman collab with aespa one way or another” was the second thought to cross my mind. Her and Giga, the producer she works with the most frequently including on Kinjitou, have kept their high spots on the list of Japanese artists I NEED to see working with aespa ever since. Giga’s production is fun, bouncy and radiant, allowing Reol’s expressive songwriting and masterly vocals to shine. I don’t need to mention who else has top-tier production and vocals, you already know who this entire post is dedicated to. The duo, who are also some of the most well-known in Vocaloid/utaite communities, creates pure pop excellence, some of which I’m still convinced were created FOR aespa, to the point I’m genuinely surprised they’ve never mentioned our beloved girls. Reol, I know you’ve been streaming aespa’s music, don’t be shy, at least give them a follow on IG or something.

Kinjitou the title track is Yeppi Yeppi’s older sister and there’s not a single soul that can convince me otherwise. Just tap on the Youtube embed and see for yourself. These two could do WONDERS on Yeppi Yeppi itself. The even crazier instrumentals, and a Reol feature on top? A dream. I also HAVE to see an aespa-ified Kinjitou, to the point where I made a whole line distribution of how they would sing it. At this point I’m begging SM to steal my ideas verbatim. I’d still like a check though.

Track 7: Illusion - 4s4ki remix

Two scrolls through my account and you’ll immediately know I am THE aespa x 4s4ki truther. President of aes4ki nation. aes4ki priest who has converted three people so far into believers of their joint supremacy so you know it’s tried and tested. 4s4ki and aespa are musical soulmates: the mixture of cybercore and ethereal real world aesthetics and mind-blowing composition on every single song and the lyrics ranging from game/fiction themes to genuine confrontations of virtual worlds to love and sorrow and recovery and the artistry and excellent execution are some incredible traits they have in common as musicians. About Illusion specifically, well firstly I just know that 4s4ki, openly a gamer and anime nerd, would have so much fun working on a song about a virtual snake slurping up some heroines, and she’d eat up aespa’s lore in general. Second, her use of autotune somehow makes her vocals magical and she’s very unafraid to take risks when it comes to music. Illusion’s voice filters, the bass, the surreal atmosphere and that hyper-cosmic feel would be so much more elevated and outrageous with her involvement. If we can’t get a whole album produced by her (I NEED IT SO BAD) at least make this happen. Besides, it would be an incredible full-circle moment for 4s4ki herself, as she has a history of songwriting and producing for others pre-debut, and now she’d be doing it with infinitely much more confidence in her skill and vision.

Now introducing you to into the darkness, my personal fave song of hers and my most played song of 2023. Look at the album cover and listen for yourself. I swear I could praise this woman all day, but I’ll leave it at saying artists like THIS is what aespa deserve, nothing less. MYs, stop what you’re doing and listen to the Killer in Neverland album right now if you haven’t, and you will thank me later.

Track 8: Thirsty - Donatachi Remix

There are artists who just know the recipe to fun, exciting, girly yet still intriguing pop music and Donatachi is a producer who undoubtedly mastered exactly that. Thirsty already has the bubbliness and joy you could ask from a summer jam so why not double it with this remix? This would be perfect to amplify aespa’s ‘00s spy cartoon-coded colorful real world side, and Donatachi is also a perfect choice for this if you take into account his bright cartoon-avatar 3D visuals. aespa’s real world aesthetics and soundscape should definitely be utilized and expanded to truly fit how surreal their concept is.

Below attached is b2b heartbeat feat. Cowgirl Clue, demonstrating the upbeat drum patterns and euphoric feel that could also be used in a Thirsty remix.

Track 9: Trick or Trick - Safety Trance Remix

Trick or Trick is the trick-or-treat anthem MYs deserved, and a remix of it needs to maximize its spookiness while setting it apart from all the familiar creepy-ish K-pop songs. Safety Trance brings his grimy industrial genre-bending sound wherever he goes, which hits the target of creating a more experimental, haunting version of the track. Additionally, as reggaeton and dembow influences become increasingly wide-spread in K-pop, a techno-infused neoperreo take on the wave is the most fitting choice for aespa. With the lead of a prominent figure in the electronic neo-reggaeton scene, the execution of this would turn out flawless.

Below attached is his remix of Incredibly Annoying by VTSS. One of my favorite examples of his consistent style and shows how all-in Trick or Trick could possibly go.

Track 10: Better Things - Florentino Remix

You might be wondering why I chose to give Better Things yet another remix when we already have like 3 of those. Of course the existing remixes are wonderful in their own ways, and the Tropkillaz one is my personal favorite due to its blending of funk, however there’s always room for a full-on Brazilian funk Better Things mix, especially if it’s produced by Florentino. Florentino works with and often seamlessly fuses many genres I have a soft spot for as you could tell, including deconstructed club, neo-reggaeton, baile funk, jungle, breakcore and grime. With such a concoction, the summer anthem could become more distinctive and timeless than it already is.

Below is Florentino’s remix of the adored Nice To Meet You by PinkPantheress, adding in glitchy UK bass, jungle and classic funk drums and grime. The vision for the Better Things remix is crystal clear.

Now, I want to end this post by talking about fans’ wishes for aespa’s future sonic direction. I find many MYs wanting aespa to release hyperpop albums or stick to hyperpop, and while I understand that it’s the bare minimum after the horse girl harmonicas and meemaw ballads that somehow make their way into their God forsaken EPs, even this is nowhere near what’s beneficial for the group in the long-term. Again, aespa have this lingering (thankies to SM 😒) potential to be a multi-faceted EDM group and have one of, if not the, most sophisticated, one-of-a-kind discographies in all of K-pop. It is crucial for them to explore all these EDM subgenres and more instead of getting swayed by shallow trends that come and go. That’s the way to becoming a truly futuristic group that will stand the test of time.

Thank you for reading some of what I got off my chest. Show some love to Drama and Trick or Trick. Being an aespa fan is not for the faint hearted though.

#keyboard.com #aespa #why did this take sm longer than planned… #anywayyyy SM WRITE THIS ENTIRE LIST DOWN. #sega bodega #masayoshi iimori #a.g. cook #umru #iglooghost #giga #reol #4s4ki #donatachi #safety trance #florentino

[bakujho]

Another rant about another eel

It’s been a while since my last eels rant, but here I am again to rant about good ol’ Jade Leech and how the fandom seems to uhhh… gloss over the canon information we’re given and give him whatever personality they feel like. As always, if you don’t care about canon lore, or the blatant information we’ve been given and prefer house husband uwu soft Jade, carry on and do what you will. I’ll put the rest of this under a cut because it’s likely to get long because I am salty and so so so so so sick of takes that completely ignore his canon characteristics to replace it with uwu baby he’s so soooofft instead. At this point I am BEGGING the EN twst fandom to read more than bad youtube translations of the main story only, and read the card stories and events since the characters get their own spotlight and time to actually dig into their personalities because the uwuification of Jade is the *worst*

*ahem*

So, one of the VERY FIRST THINGS we learn about Jade, is that he enjoys playing with people, and using them to best suit whatever plans he’s aiming to achieve. For example, the conversation in Jade’s robes story spells out REALLY QUICKLY what kind of person he is

Jade: Frightening students so quickly after they entered school….. 

Jade: Don’t you think there’ll be plenty of chances to do that later?

Floyd: Eeh~. If you want to tell people something, isn’t it best to say it straight away? That’s way faster! 

Jade: Of course, that’s one way to do it….. But it’s not preferable. 

Jade: The thing I desire the most is not fear, but chess pieces that can be moved for the sake of Octavinelle 

Jade: And in order to get that, one of the most important things is “public confidence”. And to obtain that, first impressions are crucial

Jade: In addition to the country of origin, hobbies, preferences, the food they dislike and subjects they are bad at…

Jade: I also listed all their MagiCam accounts. I just happened to come to know about those too.

Azul: Oh….. And the ID’s listed under “private”?

Azul: Incredible, could it be that you managed to obtain everyone’s private accounts despite their attempts to hide them? 

Jade: Ah, oopsie. It was so incredibly easy to find, I may have accidentally gone and written all of those down too.

Azul: Oh, how terrible. If this list were leaked, everybody would be oh so troubled. 

Jade: In that case, you should make sure to properly manage the list so that it does not get leaked. 

This isn’t some misunderstanding, or fear of Azul to act, or some other misplaced garbage softboy bullshit the fandom sometimes spouts, he knows exactly what he’s doing, and it’s something that he ENJOYS. It's why he and Floyd work so well together cause Jade will happily fuck with their head before Floyd breaks their bones (standby for the ‘stop uwufying Floyd’ rant cause you know I have one of those too). And Azul knows and takes advantage of that exact fact. None of them are soft uwu babies, they all know what they’re doing, and are exceptionally good at it. 

I’m not sure if this is at large just a “we didn’t read that card or the translation was bad (like the Floyd fish nicknames for affection when it just says nicknames) or read at surface level or inability to understand what’s NOT being said” etc, but I see it a lot. A lot of things about Jade aren’t said outright, because that’s EXACTLY the game he plays to fly under the radar. He’s Monsieur Mastermind for a reason, Rook knows that every single one of his actions and mannerisms is thought out and pre-planned so I don’t understand why some folks out here are refusing to see it, especially when even in universe the characters regularly comment on this exact thing. There’s MULTIPLE instances of Jade using people and being facetious to keep up the facade of Azul’s lackey without much else going for him at all. His magic is understated, he fades into the background and lets Azul/Floyd be the standout Octa students, but he always seems to know *exactly* what is going on and where, and how to manipulate the situation to suit what it is he’s after. 

In his own dorm card he pretends to leave Octavinelle in order to manipulate Vil into doing some free promo work for the lounge, and no one is sure of his intentions the entire time he’s there. Rook and Vil know that he’s using them but can’t quite put their finger on what he’s up to, BUT because he’s so good at his job they let their inhibitions go and let him get on with whatever he’s up to. Jade knows how to act and what to do to get people to trust him, and part of his charm is that he keeps to himself so that there isn’t any negative correlations with him like there are Floyd. It seems everyone is afraid of Floyd’s mood swings, but no one suspects Jade of having any ulterior motive because he’s always so well behaved and kind to people. Even when Kalim is making him tea and he’s thinking to himself that his teeth are going to rot out of his mouth, he keeps up the kind demeanor and drinks the tea, because Kalim could always be a powerful pawn (which he then becomes in ep 4). During beans day 2 Azul mentions that between the twins, Jade is the more dangerous of the two, and who better than the one that knows them best to make the observation. I think it’s pretty obvious that Jade’s favourite type of game is playing chess with those he’s around (he even mentions he likes terrariums because he controls everything inside of them), but I think the focus on mushrooms and mountains sometimes detracts from that. Even sociopaths have hobbies, friends!

And that I think is where it gets confusing for some people, there’s the sociopathic tendencies, but he has friends and likes mushrooms and mountain climbing and smiles genuinely sometimes, so he can’t be all that bad! Except, having things you enjoy isn’t reserved for good people. Plus,  look at the people he’s closest to. Floyd is what I would personally call a psychopath (I know there’s a lot of takes on this, but that’s an essay for another day), and Azul is a few screws loose of being normal himself. They’re all brilliant, but that doesn’t mean they’re good people. Some of the examples I’ve seen for how Jade is ‘misunderstood’ as ‘evil’ are easily debunked by canon, because he almost always says something facetious and creepy afterwards to undermine the ‘sweetness’ of it. Not to mention that good and bad isn’t black and white. You can do good things while still being a bad person and vice versa, and doing good things while being a bad person is Jade’s bread and butter. Twisted wonderland in general is very much about morally grey characters where none are implicitly good or evil, and I think we’ve yet to see anyone *actually* evil, BUT the Octavinelle trio are the closest to classic disney villain bad guy we’ve gotten to see so far. 

To go off topic here a bit, I do wonder if the uwu-fication of the Octavinelle trio as a whole is due to the whole weird purity push that makes it so you can’t enjoy morally grey characters unless you can find the redeeming and good qualities in them. Hmmm. I understand wanting to find the good in people and so on and so forth, but the whole redemption of the villain to be able to like them without getting cancelled or whatever it is is really stupid. Let the shitty characters be shitty, because that’s what makes them interesting. It’s like with Crowley, he’s not a good role model but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad character because he’s a teacher and should be a good role model (or whatever mental gymnastics are there). The point of having a colourful cast is that not everyone is static or good and the characters grow, though sometimes that growth isn’t in a positive way, and that’s okay because it’s fiction. 

Okay back on topic, and back to Jade. 

So if we’re operating on the assumption that not every character needs to be a good person to be a good character, Jade is an EXCELLENT example. He is very multifaceted and if you look at him just on the surface he seems like a really decent dude. He IS very helpful, and he CAN be very kind, and he DOES enjoy wholesome things wholeheartedly, BUT i think boiling it down to those points and ignoring the sea of red flags is the entire point of his character. He wants to fly under the radar and not stand out as a bad-guy. That’s how he gets things done. Even in canon it’s commented on by Trey and Riddle, with Trey being taken in by the good guy act and Riddle mentioning he needs to look beyond the surface because Jade never does anything without reason. I think one of the best examples of how Jade thinks is in Silvers FG card. He immediately changes his tactic when dealing with Silver when the latter balks at Jade mentioning “forcing” the fairies to do anything for them. He immediately sees the change in atmosphere and as such changes the way he interacts with him and takes control of the situation with the fairy to get the results he desires. Silver, being the goodest of boys, doesn’t seem to see the point of Jades plan and words to manipulate both of them into doing the work he needs done. Afterwards, Jade seems amused by Silver’s words that he ‘spoke from the heart’ as if it’s something he himself had never tried. 

Jade: I didn't expect you to flatter them to receive it. You are quite the negotiator, aren't you?

Silver: Negotiator…? I only spoke from the heart.

Silver: If you speak with sincerity, it does not matter if they are human or fae, they will understand.

Jade: From the heart… I see. Well now, that is a wonderful vision.

“Sounds fake but okay” - Jade Leech, probably. This point in the story could be where we see more character development in that Jade learns that maybe shady and underhanded isn’t the best way to go about things, BUUUUUUUT, since the event is an “IF” version of a side event, I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime soon (if at all). Jade is definitely one of the most nuanced characters in TWST (imo) so I think it is easy to miss all of the hints and things that have been scattered between the main story, character stories, voice lines, and events, but once you put everything together I think it it paints a very clear picture what kind of person he is, and unfortunately it’s not the uwu soft boy house husband pushover that most of the EN fandom stuff I see seems to take him for. Again, if that’s your personal preference you do you, but I find it very hard to ignore the information that is SUCH a big part of his character. (Speaking of, I did see a complaint that most of the fandom is with me on the ‘Jade is a sociopath’ front, so like… can someone tell me where to find it cause I always find the opposite) To throw it all out the window to focus on the much smaller parts of his personality I think are doing him and his character a huge disservice by just … missing the point. Jade is a good character BECAUSE he’s a bad person, and because he doesn’t seem to want to be a good person at all. He (and Floyd) enjoy causing problems, and watching chaos unfold, and ignoring it for the less often seen softer points is lame. 

Moving onto how he cares for people. Of course he’s able to genuinely interact and appreciate those that he cares about. His relationship with Floyd and Azul of course is different in nature than it is with anyone else at the school. He’s known Floyd since birth and been friends with Azul since middle school, that being said… that doesn’t mean that there’s no tension there at all. During beans day, Jade mentions he’s glad to be on the opposite side as Azul so that he can challenge him, and can’t wait to see the look on Azul’s face when he loses (rip tho lol). He does provoke Floyd occasionally as well when he’s in a shitty mood, so it’s not as if he’s all sunshine and rainbows with them either. He does after all, fully agree with Azul to wringing the eel slime out of Floyd despite knowing that it’ll be really painful for him, laugh at him when he gets blasted by Riddle at their entrance ceremony and tease Azul after his overblot. In regards to the overblot, of course he’s worried afterwards. Azul is his friend, whereas the same can’t be said for most other people in the cast. Azul is more than a pawn, and though he would likely not hesitate to use Azul if necessary, Azul knows him well enough to help with his schemes openly knowing about any shady reasoning behind it so there would be no reason to. I think as far as friendship goes for him, the only ones he truly opens up to are people like himself (like Azul and Floyd) not because he’s worried that he’d frighten them, but because he wants people that will help him and enjoy the same things as him. His hobbies are his own personal interests so Azul and Floyd not sharing them with him is fine, but when he has the more malicious intentions, as is shown SO many times, he wants to have friends that will increase the chaos rather than trying to diffuse it. Even in his official profile it says that he dislikes being bored. 

One of the other arguments that I had seen about Jade was that he was “canonically shy” and doesn’t like showing his teeth because he’s embarrassed. I think it’s important in these situations to consider the context in which the information is presented. Jade has already said in several places that he doesn’t like when people watch him, and that he doesn’t like when people watch him eat (because he’s got such a big appetite) so taking a conversation such as this:

Ruggie: So in this school, doesn’t that mean Jade-kun and Floyd-kun would have a big advantage?

Ruggie: Cause they’ve got big bodies. And their teeth are sharp.

Jade: Fufufu, I wonder. I would be embarrassed to open my mouth so wide while everyone watches…

Jade: Contrary to everyone’s expectations, I may dawdle too long and be unable to grab an apple.

As facts he’s embarrassed needs to be looked into deeper. There absolutely could be a hint of embarrassment for someone that’s put on such a refined persona to open his mouth that widely since the row (or rows if you’re a pharyngeal jaw believer) of serrated teeth is a frightening view that could completely ruin the image he’s worked so hard to maintain. He does mention in his voice lines that he doesn’t like when people look at him too closely, and I think instead of that being shy/embarrassed or whatever else, it’s more that he prefers watching to being watched. This I think becomes especially clear in his PE story where he feels Rook watching him and seems to be uncomfortable about how much Rook may have learned from watching, though remarks that he probably had gotten nothing from it at all. He spends the rest of the card fufufu-ing with Rook because they’re the same sort of people. They both have their secrets, and they’re both hunters, though of a different type. (Also, Rook is great, Rook haters u suck). The idea that Jade is insecure etc about himself at this far in the game is absolutely absurd. He knows his strengths and weaknesses (are there really any?) and knows exactly how to progress and overcome any obstacle. In fact, when he confronts the Heartslabuyl team/yuu/grim in episode 2 with Floyd, he demands to know why they were spying and challenges them to a fight (then of course proceeds to chase them down with Floyd afterwards) These aren’t the movements of someone that isn’t sure of themselves, and is quite the opposite. 

I think I’ve rambled enough here at this point (we’re at over 2500 words weeeew), but I do think a lot of people overlook the shady and instead focus on the very clear parts of Jade that are present but DON’T make up the core of his character, because again, when characters are nuanced they’re not just one trait. Jade isn’t just a mushroom lover. Not just a mountains lover. Not just a poisoning his classmates for fun enjoyer. Not just a blackmailing his fellow students just because kinda guy. Not the knocking his classmate off his feet with a pie throw guy. Not just a making his close friends dance for his amusement while under his control guy.  Not just a shady mf that has LITERALLY SAID he would tie someone up and drag them to the bottom of the ocean never to be found again if they double crossed him. He’s all of those, and I think putting more weight on the “positive” and “good” traits is doing him a great disservice since those are just the cherries on top of his entire fucked up personality, because lets be real, the shady GREATLY outweighs the cute or soft things he does. And if anyone has read this far and for some reason still thinks he’s soft uwu boy (unironically), I’ll leave you with one of my favourite Jade quotes proving that he’s much shittier than he is soft, which is exactly what makes him such a good character. I could probably talk more about this, but this I guess covers the majority of what I’m salty about.

Indeed. If I were ever to be betrayed like that…I would drive them into a corner, destroy them emotionally, and then tie them up and drown them deep into the sea…Seeing you blame yourself and acting like such a martyr is, pardon my words, truly disgusting- main story ep 4

But no, tell me more about how he’s soft and sweet and misunderstood.

(Translations taken from a combo of the inactive @/twstarchives @/mysteryshoptls and kanadesmusingsblog)

#jade leech #jade meta #twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #octavinelle #azul ashengrotto #floyd leech #twst jade #twst azul #twisted wonderland meta #twst meta #character study #jade is a sadist and y'all can pull it from my cold dead hands