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mikareo · 5 months

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“ ࣭⸰ ★ GARDEN SONG . . . ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ブルーロック ; itoshi rin x fem reader (6.8k)

⊹ ⠀⠀ rin's never been in love. he's never had the right to fall in love. so when sae is betrothed to a foreign princess, he doesn't bat an eye. you're just like every other girl who's attempted to marry his half-brother; yet, for some odd reason, he can't seem to shake you off. his heart aches thinking of you, despite how heated you make his head. he hates you. no. he loves you. no. rin doesn't know what he feels.

contains; royalty au, e2l, sfw, bastard prince!rin, princess!reader, reader is betrothed to sae, slowburn, rin calls reader names (like lowkey sexist sometimes), lots and lots of worldbuilding (bear with me please), forbidden love, swearing?, some sexual innuendos, kind of like...medieval dialogue??, tw rin literally calls reader a breeding ground like..., reader is very princess kaguya coded, some princess kaguya references near the end author's note; literally dropping this out of nowhere sorry lol :3 i think this is my best piece of writing i've like ever produced so pls give it a chance n enjoy it! i rewrote the whole thing today in present tense,, so there might be tense errors

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀this part of the fic is about 2 1/2 years old ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀originally a keiji akaashi fic,, lmk any name errors ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀extremely descriptive worldbuilding writing,, (heads up) if it's not ur thing then u likely won't enjoy reading this ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀will have a second part titled swan song in the future!

It’s humorous to Rin— the perception that titles and notability have complete control over one’s life, obligations, and status. The pure and blind belief that every problem or issue can be solved with a man on the throne; a man whose birthright has always stated that that is where he belongs. Where he’ll rule and live out his days, utterly unhappy and self-sacrificing all for the benefit of people, his people, that he doesn’t even know. Strangers. Where he’ll wear a weighted crown encrusted in sapphires and jade, bound to strands of hair that’ll be ripped out if he dare defy his solemn promise to protect his kingdom. The crown must always be worn with pride and honor— the two things in the unspoken king’s code that every man of status is expected to follow— two simple things that seem impossible in Rin’s eyes.

Yes, he’s been raised according to the precept of manners and fulfillment of duties, but there’s something of the way his own father seems so distant and disconnected from the world around him— from the connections and relationships that he should be closer with— that makes the idea of being emperor completely disheartening. It’s completely and utterly horrid to Rin when he compares a life of golden chains to his dreams of travel and adventure.

It’s for the best that he’s nothing but a bastard child, then.

Prince Rin of the Itoshi family is nothing if not a black sheep. He’s a man who gentlemen aren’t envious of and whom women never lust for. He’s simply a royal with no drive, no meaning to motives or dreams, and no purpose to carry him onwards. Fortune and prosperity have never and will never be the necessary materials for his happy ending— but freedom and individualism, two contrasting colors amidst blocks of the same shade, speak his language. For in his situation, there’s no point in slaving away his natural qualities in hopes of gaining an ounce of respect from his parents.

The second born bastard child is but a shadow of a man when he stands behind the true heir—his half brother, Sae. The golden child, the pure-bred son of the true royal bloodline coming from their shared father’s genes. Sae, the future Emperor of Japan.

An emperor who’s bound to be married off to an unsuspecting princess who’s just recently come of age, and live happily ever after with their countless children. It sounds positively dreadful, doesn’t it? A life that’s been bestowed upon all of the men that have come before Sae— a life void of real love and connection, one that pleasures the theory of bountiful rulings in retrospect to genuine happiness. A life that Rin has never wanted for himself, and has been lucky enough to avoid.

But as his brother stands opposite to him, with his head held high as he’s about to meet his betrothed for the very first time, Rin feels pity.

It’s a sorrowful sight for Sae and the predicament that he’s been cornered into, but Rin knows his brother does not want his comfort. Their broken bond has been laced with new threads of sadness after years and years of competition— yet, everyone still deserves a choice in their future, in their loved ones, and that choice is being taken away from the crowned prince with every second ticking by.

Tick.

The time is now.

As the courtroom doors burst open, gold and silver accents vanish from sight. Five guests gracefully enter the palace— that of two guards, a handmaiden, a king, and the most important arrival…you. You, the princess of the neighboring royal family from the South. The royal family that will be merging with Rin’s father’s in a legal binding between you and Sae— the infamous royal wedding of the century.

“What an honor it is.” Emperor Itoshi greets your father with a firm stare.

The two men analyze one another, squaring out in a power strike before stepping forwards for a decisive handshake. As their palms clap together, Rin can see that this king is much different than his father— seemingly gentle, showcasing a non-plastic smile that’s true and bright whilst his daughter stands behind him— and Emperor Itoshi smiles back. “It’s truly spectacular to finally meet you; well, you and the princess, of course.”

At his words, your father grins and extends his arm out to you, encouraging you to step away from your trusted handmaiden and towards your future father-in-law— the man who’s retiring his lifelong title in a mere two months for the sake of passage that’s occurred for centuries. A sacred passage between fathers and sons, full blooded fathers and sons.

“Your majesty,” you bow your head.

As you curtsy in respect, your skirt drapes to the floor— the gown’s extravagance dusting the marble tiles, shimmering beneath the dense candlelight, and reflecting off the mirror and shined surfaces scattered across the ballroom. Despite the perception of beauty and grace that his father and brother seem to share for you, Rin peaks through the cracks of your facade. He can tell this regal persona you’re displaying is nothing but an act. Your stoic expression speaks all he needs to know, that everything about you is princess protocol and lacking personality, and proper folk have never been his usual cup of tea.

While he’s been ordered to entertain ladies of the court and women in the social ring for years-on-years, there wasn’t one occurrence where he actually obeyed his father’s demands— rather string along every maiden sent his way and bid them farewell after a night or two of endless, droning conversation; that and perhaps a few turns in and out of his bed chambers, which is a fact that is infamous among the palace staff. Rin disregards them, though. Tuning others out is his speciality. He uses it in daily conversation, diplomatic meetings, as well as other important matters such as the one happening now, right in front of him. Just a few feet away.

This is pointless.

Why is he being forced to be here?

It’s not like you're his bride.

Rin doesn’t even bother to tune into the presumptuous meeting of you and Sae. They don’t involve him in any way nor does he care for either of you. Typically, most others don’t give him the time of day, so who’s to say that they deserve it from him? The only thing he owes to others is his mere existence as the kingdom’s greatest mistake— all to remind the ton that there is a good and gracious prince, and they should be grateful that he is to be their ruler and not Rin.

Rin, whose birthright is to stand still and respond to his father’s wishes with no choice other than to agree.

So, as the decadence concludes with the bowing of heads and nods of approval dispersing amongst royals and servants, Rin thinks nothing of the way you and Sae stand beside one another in light conversation.

It’s desperate. The sight of you attempting to find a sliver of mutual interest or some sort of connection that binds the two of you other than royalty, makes him look in disdain. He’s grateful that he won’t be the one spending the rest of his already grey life with you, ruling the kingdom.

You aren’t really his type.

“Rin!” Sae’s voice rings through the courtroom, his eyebrows raise in expectancy as he ushers his half-brother towards his bride-to-be, wanting to introduce the two that’re going to be living in close proximity for the weeks to come. “Do come close, I’d like you to meet my bride. Perhaps you’ll find something in common and make a friend for once, for this girl can’t be another one of your whores.”

Typical Sae.

Whether the dig was intentional or unintentional, Rin grimaces at his brother’s words—pursing his lips into a tight smile and closing his eyes in an attempt to disguise his disdain with faint exhaustion.

“Apologies, my brother. I’m afraid I’m rather tired and would prefer to return to my quarters.” Rin nods towards the two of you in respect. “Do enjoy her company, yourself. I’m sure the two of you will be sharing personal physical matters in the near future— best to be comfortable.”

With a quick turn of his heel, he carries on, making his way towards the exit of the throne room, to his grand living quarters— quarters that are fit for a bastard prince such as himself. However, his rancid suggestions aren’t left unanswered, instead contemplated by you as he hears your light voice speak to his brother. Rin hates first impressions. Not because he gets anxious or worried about being disliked; but because he already knows whoever he’s speaking to already knows his history. They know the truth of his bloodline, and they’re never afraid to step on his already small ego. You’re no different.

“So the rumors are true then?”

You speak aloud in a low tone, deciding the best words to use, and phrasing your statements in the most respectful manner you can muster— not wanting to offend Sae in any way, shape, or form while you address his little brother.

“Your brother is not the royal he’s made out to be?” As your voice trails off, regret immediately overcomes you as the subject of conversation stops dead in his tracks.

A scoff escapes his lips, head tilting to the left as your remark settles beneath his skin— hitting that special little spot that enrages every buried emotion, feeling, and reaction in his heart.

Rin spins on his heel with a manic look on his face as he analyzes the regret hidden in your weary posture; which is in great contrast to the confidence and poise you’d displayed a mere seconds before— poise that appears to be only a facade, a mystery that he’d gladly uncover if he actually cared just an ounce about your wellbeing. Taking long strides towards you, ignoring the words of concern from his half-brother, he stops to a halt at your feet— giving you nowhere to avert your eyes, gaze being forced to rest on his anger and distaste only. The rage bubbling in the pit of his stomach is like an over-boiling copper pot, scorching water taunting the brink of the lid, causing it to fly off and wreak havoc elsewhere.

“Tell me, princess.” He ponders mockingly, finding great humor in how tense he was able to make you with three simple words.

“What is it that you make me out to be?”

There’s a shit-eating grin at the tip of his tongue, a taunting aura to his spite. Perhaps there’s a part of him that hopes your response will be genuine, positive to the darkness that’s held to his head on a daily basis— but no matter. He already knows what your misconceptions contain. He knows that you’d already filed him away in the troublesome cabinet at the back of your brain. It’s almost like he’s looking at an average cavern girl with great beauty. You’d be nothing without the small tiara on your head, that’s clear after determining the lack of assertiveness you assume.

…but perhaps, for once, Rin is wrong.

Not a single response emits from your mouth, the silent stare down between glaring eyes being intimidating enough; there’s absolutely no way you were going to anger the bastard prince any further. Yes, he’s considered to be nothing but a brute, but there’s something in his sparks of blue that makes you believe otherwise.

This man is an underestimated enigma, and you sure as hell aren’t going to be one of those common fools who blindly thinks otherwise.

“Your brother tells me you are a good man.” you speak enunciating each word to ensure that it gives its intended effect, that being of a derogative nature masked with falsified kindness and fortitude. “He says that your people adore you, that you are one in the same. Grounded. Of level head.” Bullshit.

Sae would never say those things.

The people would never say those things.

Rin scoffs, listening to the meaningless and unoriginal acclamations being brought to his attention, tired of having to hear them day after day by not only his fellow royals, but staff and peasants— and every other person who’s ever been fortunate enough to cross paths with the royal family, always being disappointed that he is the one to be met.

As he steps closer, wanting to see just an ounce of fear in your eyes, a frown is brought to his beautiful features. What?

In no way are you intimidated by his presence. There’s no shudder, no wince, no flinching whilst his steps grow closer and closer to your position. Just a blank stare of nothingness at his furrowed brows. You aren’t reacting like the other princesses that’ve come to attempt to wed Sae; all princesses who have come and gone due to Rin’s dark intimidation. You have spirit, a fire that’s not willing to be doused by his ocean of hatred.

“Are these your words?” he interrogates.

One of his hands reaches out to brush a stray strand of hair behind your right ear, noticing the tomato red of your cheeks. Smirking, he thinks to himself how dismantled you likely are beneath your stoney stance. “Or are these all of the things my brother has told you? Do you have any thoughts of your own, princess?”

“No need to answer that. I already know what you think of me.” Continuing on, deaf to the attempted precautions from Sae, he leans in— his lips just ghosting over yours, and whispers his final remarks.

“You’re an open book, beautiful— and I can’t say that I'd ever want to read you.”

So, as Prince Itoshi Rin’s steps recede, the distance between you two grows with every second; and you feel a bright, red, rage bubbling deep within your heart. It’s a hot and heavy anger simmering within your soul for the sly man with dark hair— knowing full well that he will be one of the many, if not the biggest, challenge you’ll face in your newfound kingdom.

And never before, have you felt more ready to take on a challenge.

Annoyance is the most prominent emotion Rin has felt in the past two weeks.

Utter disdain at the sight of you and Sae conversing through the courtyard, picking flowers in the rose garden, and taking romantic boat rides in the nearby lake. It’s one thing to fall in love, feel your heart begin to swell at the physical presence of that one special person— but it’s another to have to witness first-hand with no relation to the budding romance at all. Having no need to be involved in the newfound relationship, yet still being forced to interact as a third party member. It’s absolute madness.

He’s somewhat happy for Sae, he truly is. There’s a sense of pride in his soul at the sight of his half-brother stepping up to the position that he’s been in preparation for for all of his life— but with that promotion comes you.

With the rise of power comes your completely lethargic presence.

Oh how he cannot stand you.

You’re just insufferable. You’re unapologetically and unequivocally insufferable to his mind. The mere sound of your voice sends him into a downward spiral. The mere thought of your existence ruins his day with ease. The slightest mention of your life-lasting role in the kingdom he’d grown up in ignites the most powerful feeling of disgust he’s ever known. The weight of his conscience burns with every snarky remark, dig, and insult that flies from your throat; your trained grace never falling scarce in melody, although your words could be considered crude by any proper lady. Words that allow you to terrorize his brain in the midst of night, keeping him awake whilst the moon becomes one with the sun.

He fully believes that you were created to be the bane of his existence…the hell to his heaven…the demon behind all corners in the everlasting game that he has the misfortune of living.

“You’re looking a little grey today, Rin.”

Oh no…

“Perhaps it’d be wise to freshen up a bit!”

Please, just shut up.

“I’m sure the servants won’t mind spending a few hours by your side in an attempt to make you look handsome!”

He hates that damn sound.

There it is. The dreadful sound of your sing-song voice ringing through the hallowed halls, emptying the painfulness of your personality in the wake of the morning dew— as for some god awful reason, you always insist on being the first person to the dining hall, wanting to mark each new day with a classic and large Japanese breakfast.

“As I’ve said many-a-times before, princess.” His head swivels to face you, eyes rolling at the skip in your step. “You are to refer to me as Prince Rin, it is what I prefer.”

“Is it your honored title or is it what you personally enjoy?” you challenge, looking over your shoulder with a mocking pout, having the knowledge that he has certainly come to despise you in the short time you’ve known one another. “Greatest apologies, my liege; but it wouldn’t be proper of me, a woman, to call you, a man, a name that isn’t of great decadence.”

“Surely you can see where my true intentions lie?”

A pained grin comes to shine on his features, shooing away the rain clouds and allowing sparse rays of phony sunshine to shower you. His teeth bite his bottom lip as he struggles to keep his curses imprisoned between his heart and his tongue. You had to have been born of a despicable nature. In no world that is right, in no paradise would anyone deserve the punishment of having to know you— as Rin believes all tyrants belong with the street rats. Not to insinuate you’re a tyrant, but to express that you’re equivalent to a sickly rodent.

“I’m not a fool, you know.” he spits, striding towards your retreating figure and grabbing you by the forearm and stopping you in your tracks. Rin smirks as his touch forces you to become overwhelmed in shock. “I see you, princess. I see through your poise and ladylike mannerisms. I can see what a lonesome and sorrowful shadow you’ll inevitably become. No wonder you’re going to be nothing but an objectified woman, an accessory to Sae’s power— a dull little doll of a woman who perhaps had moxie in her past— yet still became a lifeless puppet beneath a bejeweled tiara, stuck with the hands of judgment up her arse.”

You’re a fool to go toe-to-toe with him, of all people.

Rin doesn’t think he’s ever seen such fire behind your eyes. Fire that burns hot, raging with seething anger and humiliation. If the world were to be supernatural, there’s no doubt in his mind that you’d have set it aflame in response to his vile predictions; the castle crumbling in ash with you standing alone in its wake atop his lifeless corpse that’s burnt to a crisp.

“You are entirely incorrect, never have I shown servitude for the sake of reputation—”

“Really?” his snarling voice interrupts you, refusing to let you get a single word in amidst his long-winded attack. “Then what is it that you’re doing right now, at this very moment. No princess with a functioning brain would ever find herself working with kitchen servants to prepare breakfast for two royal families. She’d simply order them to do it on their own. Every single thing you do is in order to gain likability from those who shouldn’t ever matter. If you had a backbone of any sort, you’d understand that— and you’d understand that titles are of nothing. They’re of no relation to any true purpose or meaning.”

“Then what are you?” you retaliate, ending the lengthy trail of hurtful words and confessions spewing from his mouth. “What are you but a sorry excuse of a prince…of a son?”

“You say titles are rubbish, yet you continue to wear that horrendous crown atop your hair. You choose to take it off of your placid vanity and wear it with honor; although you aren’t much of an honorable man, are you? If you were, then perhaps you’d have a grain of respect from your people. Perhaps you would spend your days in the throne room, being in the advisory alongside your brother— your splendid and valiant brother who has done nothing but serve for the greater good— instead of dallying away with mundane and useless tasks that no one cares to notice! As why would anyone bat an eye at a mistake, when they could be focused on someone like Sae. Someone of the sun’s decadence?”

The face opposite to yours is almost unrecognizable; with his red skin, flared nostrils, and dead-set eyes, Rin looks as if he’s just murdered a man out of spite and grief. He looks as if he’s just induced a homicide and is preparing to start anew, find another victim…that victim undoubtedly being you.

He tips his head downwards, breath grazing against your upper hairline whilst his dark crown shifts in his hair— nearly falling off the front of his forehead, the large arches seem ominous and unwelcoming along with the deadly ocean depths of his eyes. The usual gem-like blues holding a more dangerous tone than a tsunami.

Rin knows he’s frightening…

…and he’s enjoying it.

“You speak on things you know nothing of.” Rin fakes a straight toothed smile; his outside appearance looking completely opposite to the growing pit at the bottom of his stomach. If the peasant’s freak show has come to the kingdom, he’ll be the opening act—a fraudulent performer behind a mask of stoney emotions. “I have freedom and opportunity. If I so wanted, I could order a horse to be prepared, ride through those gates, and never look back. There is nothing holding me here— not my father, my brother, or the people. When will you realize how little your beliefs matter to me.”

He’s boiling with rage, as are you whilst his words ring truer than you’d like to admit; each one hitting the most insecure corners of your heart. “Your meaningless and unimportant opinions in relation to my kingdom— when in reality, you’re simply another black plague that’s washed upon its shores. Another person who’s crawled out of the local sewers and weaseled their way into the generous hands of the royal family. It’s just so unfortunate...”

“...that in the end, you’re nothing but a breeding ground for my brother.”

On instinct, without a coherent thought in your mind, you feel your arm swing out— open palm flying through the air, only to land against the dark prince’s swelling cheeks— leaving not only a bright, red mark, but also an expression of identical shock on both of your faces.

Taking a step back, he reaches upwards to cup the bruise only to realize that you’ve done far more damage than a measly purple wound. You’ve managed to produce a cut, one that seeps through his scarlet blossoms and runs from the corner of his eye to the bottom of his chin; displaying the path of your anger whilst your ring-studded hand has directed itself across his face.

Raindrops of ruby pour from the injury as you stare in horror at your blood splattered engagement ring.

The shimmering diamond turns dark as the tide of rouge rolls in, encasing the notion of property beneath your outspoken and unintentional hatred for Rin; and before you’re given a chance to respond, a second to apologize, the man has already stalked off towards his living quarters— not wanting to see the look of expected satisfaction on your face at the sight of his uncontrollable winces. You don’t deserve to smug as he rests in pain— despite how you are, in truth, regretful of what you’ve done.

Though, not that he’ll ever come to that conclusion.

As why would you, someone in the same likable ranks as a weathered gargoyle have any intent of remorse. Why would you, a woman who would soon have all the power in the world to hold over his head, care about a lasting scratch; no matter how deep.

You’re a tyrant, and oh-how he loathes a tyrant.

A garden of statues would perhaps have more purpose than Rin in his current predicament— standing between his father and half-brother, listening in on the up-and-coming preparations for the royal wedding; whilst even the breaths he takes are ignored, lost in a sea of ignorance and invisibility. Emperor Itoshi gleams with pride, his mindset focused on the change of power— the crown on his head that will soon be worn by his eldest son, the one of pure royal blood. Yet, with the happiness in his heart, his smile only reaches so far; never shedding light on the tundra that consumes his bastard child.

“Rin!” The man hollers beside him as he grasps Sae’s shoulder in a love-bound strength; his god-given touch of a father being miles-on-miles away from the fragile prince who needs it most. “Look at the life your brother’s going to make for himself! Witnessing him amidst the coronation will be splendid—”

“Remind me again, father.” Rin interrupts, not wanting to hear a minute more of the relentless doting. It’s night and day, a never ending string of praise and compliments, all for the great, Sae. “Where is it that I am to be for the duration of these wondrous festivities? I don’t believe I’ve heard spoken word of that as of yet.”

A wave of ignorance acts upon itself through his father’s careless hand, dismissing the trivial concerns of his youngest son; his heart only having enough room for one soul other than himself. “I suppose you’ll stand with the castle staff, it’s likely we have a limited space at the head of the church due to the size of our friends' traveling blood.”

The castle staff?

He’s to stand with lowly servants?

Rin doesn’t know why he feels so shocked, after all, he should’ve been expecting to be cast aside with those of low status. While his title associates himself with the royal lineage, he’ll never truly be accepted into the upper class— that divide has always been inflicted upon him by his own father.

“So, I am not to be in our primary aisle? I am not to have a sliver of sight at Sae’s crowning?”

There’s a hint of spite in his tone, a spite that was usually hidden from the eardrums of others, revealing itself to the people who’d known it was lurking for decades. While Sae simply disconnects himself from the conversation, a privilege that he’s lucky to have, refusing to meet his younger brother’s eyes— their father pushes further. He’s well aware of the growing insecurities his bastard child has, but he also knows how to obliterate the subject in its entirety.

“You aren’t pure.” His voice is stoney and directed at Rin whilst gesturing to Sae, as he shakes his head at his least favorite son. “I can’t possibly have you, a boy I conceived with a gutter whore, stand at the equal sides of neighboring royalty. It would be seen as disgraceful.”

This isn’t the first time Rin’s heard these words.

“You are a disgrace.”

His father tells him these things often.

“All you are is a physical representation of my shame, boy. You’ve already embraced the darkness—it’s about time you allow the shadows to consume you whole.”

That doesn’t lessen the pain, though.

With that, Kyohei turns away and grasps Sae’s arm, leading him towards their higher chambers; ones that Rin has never been honored to walk upon. There are no glances, no solemn, not a single look back by his father to perhaps ensure that his son is somewhat okay or devastatingly upset— though, neither one is true. The only emotion racing through the thick blood in his veins is emptiness. Just the familiar feeling of being worth absolutely nothing in the eyes of the man who should see him as the world. From the beloved emperor that cares for nameless peasants and civil servants, his father is seen as just and valiant— his true nature of disdain and cruelty only being known by his immediate family.

So as he walks alone, with no council weighing down on his heart, no angel on his shoulder, and no devil in the ranks— Rin is blind to the world around him. He chooses to maintain blindness in relation to any matter that seems regal and of importance. Since, after all, who is he to state a claim on that significance…

…when he, himself, has no significance at all?

His feet move on autopilot, like a white pawn at the match’s first mark. As if there’s a knife at his throat, forcing him to play down the chessboard— across the bi-colored tiles and towards the blackened queen. Him being a simple sacrifice; one of many to ensure a victory, no matter the underlying consequences. No matter the fact of how he’ll never hear the final calling, the call of wind inducing the fallen king and victorious player— as he’ll be far too acquainted with death to rise back from the shattered stone. A small sense of relief overcomes him as he steps into the courtyard. His soul is satisfied and alleviated at the location his muscle memory has taken him. While the twilight moon is nearing, his mind is awake; fully conscious and stormy of his own self-doubt and insecurities. Two things that can typically only be dissolved by his favorite location on the castle grounds.

The secluded lake amidst the willow trees. It shimmers and glistens beneath the draping branches, and acts as a hub of life and growth. His secret spot is possibly the most beautiful feature in the kingdom, at least Rin feels so; with its evening flowers and low-light critters, the soft grass and blossoming lily pads, and the perfect view of Andromeda— it’s his safe haven.

A safe haven that he prefers to keep to himself.

A place that no other person has stepped foot in for as long as he’d known of its existence.

A place that has just now been infiltrated by the disguised cockroach that is you.

“You torment me day and night within the walls of my own home; yet you still find it necessary to follow me as if you’re a lost duckling during ungodly hours.” he deadpans, shaking his head at the sight of your furrowed brows and taking a seat at the bay. Rin sighs deeply as his calloused skin comes in contact with the grassy fibers. “A proper princess would be in her chambers by the time midnight struck. It’s nearly 12:30, princess.”

Why are you looking at him like that?

The strange look on your face is laced with some sort of emotion that he’s never seen before. It's buried beneath the layers of organic makeup and skin. He can only assume it’s something similar to discomfort, and despite your intentional mask being well kept— he can see through anyone. He has the rare ability to understand the thickest of thieves, as he, himself, is the biggest phony of them all.

The sparse shadows soften your usually antagonized features in his mind, a more human appearance alleviating in its wake; and Rin swears he sees a tear drip from your right eye, swimming down your cheeks, and dropping off at your chin into the dewey land— becoming one with nature’s true beauty. The earth embraces your unexplained sadness with open arms, blowing the willow branches around your body. In a strange way, Rin thinks this is the first time he’s truly seen you as what you are. A princess. You’re beautiful beneath the moonlight, but perhaps it isn’t your physical beauty that’s catching his eye…but your emotional vulnerability.

“Dearest apologies, my liege.” you mutter, voice droning on with not a sliver of spite in your tone; only exhaustion. “I’m afraid that I’m not much of a proper princess, tonight. If you’d prefer it, I’d be more than welcome to leave you be— perhaps I’d regain some of my lost dignity in doing so.”

He studies you for a moment, his eyes grazing your posture, the physical habits you display on the daily are missing beneath the moon’s kisses. All that’s left in its disappearance is a small-spoken and sadness-consumed girl. A girl that’s tired and painstakingly sick of the expectations and predecessors that she’s been forced to live up to by birth…and as much as he hates to admit it, even just to himself, he’s found a similar identity in you. A familiarity he’s never quite noticed before.

“Stay.” His voice is so faint that even he is surprised at his statement.

“Perhaps we’ll both freeze to death.” he continues on, feigning the annoyance he typically spits in your direction. “I’d quite enjoy seeing your ghastly face covered in ice.”

While Rin believes his offering to be nothing out of the ordinary, your expression tells otherwise. It’s clear that you’re able to read through the misconceptions he’s trying to give you; looking straight into his eyes with an amused gleam and giggling softly in response. He’s never made a princess laugh before— usually the only girls he spends one-on-one time with are the tavern girls who wish to sleep with a prince— and he’d be a liar to say he didn’t like the sound. You have a beautiful laugh and Rin hangs onto every second it continues to carry through the wind. Perhaps he’s been misjudging you just as you misjudged him. Perhaps you’re not like the others.

“I’m sure you would, Rin.” you smile, sitting down next to him on the plush comfort of uncut grass. “But I have had such an awful day, that I don’t think there’s anything you can say to me that will make it worse.” An awful day?

“May I ask what happened?” Why does he suddenly care?

“Yes, you may.” Why do you want to tell him?

A sigh breathes out of your lips, whistling in the wind and getting lost in the space of stars. “I’m a lousy princess.”

He chuckles, shaking his head and nudging your shoulder. There’s no way that you, little miss prim and proper, are a bad princess. You’re practically the model that every father bases his daughter on when raising her in a royal setting; he knows because he’s met his fair share of truly lousy princesses. “No you’re not.”

“Yes I am.” you’re not looking at him anymore, rather at the constellation ceiling above you. The stars reflect themselves in your eyes, and if you weren’t a princess on earth, Rin would think you were a gift from the moon himself. “I could barely keep up with Prince Sae today. We had dance rehearsals for the wedding, and our instructor is so strict that I can barely breathe around her without being reprimanded. I couldn’t even memorize the basic steps, I don’t know what is wrong with me. I have practically been training for this duty for my entire life and I can’t remember a few dances? I’m not fit to be a queen. I just turned eighteen, I’ve barely lived at all. How can I protect an entire kingdom, when I cannot even fend for myself?”

“Prince Sae is perfect. He’s amazing. I can’t possibly be enough to be his wife. I can’t live up to those standards. It’s impossible.”

Suddenly, all of the broken pieces seem to come together. They’re swept by a broom, one that the moon king holds above the two of you, as your shattered stars of insecurities collide into one pile of stardust. Rin sees himself in you. He sees himself from a perspective that he’s never known before. Never in his life has he met someone who understands and agrees that royal duties are impossible; usually common folk and other royals tell him what an honor it is to be of a royal bloodline. They don’t care or consider his feelings on having to be held to a higher standard, while also being at a disadvantage as a bastard child. You are different. He knows you won’t judge him for these fears he has; a small part of him trusts you now.

“My brother is a golden boy.” Rin smiles at you, and it’s the first genuine smile he’s ever given someone. “Please do not take it too personally if you cannot live up to his excellence.”

You gaze at him in appreciation, scooting slightly closer while keeping a healthy balance that wouldn’t ensue romantic implications. “Thank you. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for you, though. How do you handle all of this? I can barely keep my head above water.”

Wow…you’re the first person who’s ever asked how he feels.

“It’s difficult,” he explains, “but manageable. I’ve only ever known this life, so I’m quite used to being at the end of the line so-to-speak. My brother— I’m not sure why I even call him that, he’s not my brother, I’m sorry. My half-brother is the kingdom’s blessing. He’s my father’s blessing. He’s perfect like you said; but his destiny isn’t his own. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

Your head shakes in confusion, not quite understanding where his story is going.

“I’m sorry, I’ve never spoken of these feelings before; at least not out loud to someone other than my own mirror.” His human instinct shuffles himself closer to you, wanting that physical comfort whilst knowing that he can never have it. “I’m not unhappy that I am not the one to be emperor. I would rather be a bastard, because at least I have freedom to run away one day without worrying about feeding the masses and avoiding war. I can leave this kingdom and not have to think about my father or Sae ever again. That’s the one luxury I have always had— and it’s the one thing that I look forward to. I’m so sorry that you don’t have that same privilege.”

Nothing comes as a response and Rin feels a little concerned, that is until your soft voice reaches his ears.

“I’m sorry for being so difficult towards you.”

You’re apologizing?

“I don’t regret anything, though.”

That makes more sense.

Another laugh bubbles up from the pits of his soul, setting off the volcano of amusement that’s been dormant for so long. “You’re a tyrant princess, my kingdom should be more weary of you.”

You giggle beside him, “Tyrant princess sounds more fun than disciplined empress.”

Maybe he’s gone mad or maybe the chilling breeze has gotten to his brain and made him delusional, but Rin feels his heart pounding— and not in the familiar way of anger and aggression. This rapid heartbeat is something warmer…fonder…gentler. If he’s not mistaken, he believes it to be the warmth that comes with falling in love; something that he’s only read about and wished for when he does eventually run away from home. However, he never believed he’d find that feeling within the palace walls— especially with you, whom he despised prior to this night. He promised himself he’d never fall for another royal, but his destiny is shaping itself in ways that are unpredictable.

He should thank the man in the moon.

Rin stands, dusting off his pants, before offering you a hand. It’s an earnest gesture, one that you cannot ignore, and he’s vulnerable with his sincerity. “I can’t promise that I hold any skills near to my brother, but I swear on my soul that I won’t push you into that lake if you give me one dance.”

“Just one?” your tone is teasing, yet you accept his offer. The feeling of your hand in his sparks flickers of jealousy in Rin’s mind. Why is Sae the one who gets to hold you? It isn’t fair. “If you push me in that filthy water, I’ll give you a matching scar…”

“...right there.”

One of your fingers softly grazes his cheek, the spot underneath his right eye and flicks upwards, brushing against his thick eyelashes, before you lace your hands around his neck. You sway together, with the moonlight showering its stars down upon you, blessing you with well-wishes from the galaxy— and drift away from the worries of royalty and betrothals. Rin is miles from the anger that nestled itself inside of his heart, freezing it and shrinking it until he no longer knew what the emotion felt like. You’ve melted that ice. You’ve found a crack and broken the cycle of rage he’s so accustomed to…and he’s grateful.

For this is the first time he’s ever felt loved…

…if only you were his…

…but you aren’t.

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀thank you for reading! reblogs are greatly appreciated! ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀will have a second part titled swan song in the future!

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awakentheeldritchabomination · 2 months

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I started playing around with my Charlie’s design a little bit. I wanted to add some more covert wolf/dragon-like qualities, and I’ve also been ruminating on the white-savior narrative a bit as well as colorism… I know that they are technically half black in my version (they’re basically albino and albino black/bipoc people exist and, of course, should be acknowledged; I don’t want to overlook them, however, there is something to be said about how lighter skinned people or characters tend to fill the kinds of protagonist roles Charlie is in at a disproportionate rate….for very obvious reasons…., and idk how I would feel about playing into that even if I aim to critique it, especially if this ends up branching off into its own little thing) and that I chose the white coloration to comment on the ways we perceive whiteness as purity (lamb deception) whilst demonizing darkness, but I’m still on the fence. Like I said, I also wanted to play around with wolf patterning, so I landed on some vitiligo (ig?)- coded ideas. I’m not sure if I’m sold on it right now, but I do like the concept. I was also gonna try darkening their skin tone, but that one’s still in progress (Sorry, I don’t do a lot of digital art, so I’m kinda bad at it lol)

If anybody has any thoughts on the subject, I’d love to hear them.

Also, some more fun facts: they definitely have a more extensive wardrobe as royalty, and the colors I associate with them are black, white, pastel blue, and red (so original lol). They wear more red around their father or whenever they feel crappy since this palette is based on flame coloration in accordance to heat (high spirits = blue and white; low= red and reddish orange) and in my version, red would be a color closely associated with specifically Lucifer’s presence (instead of…everything), so they’re subconsciously trying to match his energy. They wear more contrasting black and white outfits when hanging around Alastor. With V, it’s more the typical blue (their usual attire is made to complement each other through pastels). Oh, and V finally has a name: Vanesa. That should have taken two seconds to come up with, but indecisiveness strikes again. I’m still second guessing.

Alright enough random color dynamics:

#hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin hotel rewrite #artists on tumblr #hazbin hotel criticism #charlie redesign #hazbin rewrite

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roxannepolice · 7 months

Note

hi!!! hows it goin i’m here to dump my thoughts about simm!master/lucy vs ten and martha cause i have MANY. also a disclaimer before i begin that i’m white and that likely does color my experience as a viewer compared to a BIPOC viewer. anyways: i’ll start with ten and martha because by sound of drums we’ve spent all season watching them and its that already established dynamic which i think lucy/saxon are meant to parallel in a way. you have ten very much still grieving rose and his entire planet, which makes him try and push away any new companions for a bit. but he’s still looking for - and i think needs, in a way - this kind of connection where he can depend on someone, and ideally they could depend on him. however. ten sucks at this second bit. for the entire season. so he’s in need of this connection despite not wanting any whatsoever, emotional intelligence completely out the window right now since he’s grieving x2, and martha unfortunately walks in right in the middle of this. so you get this dynamic really starting from i’d say the shakespeare code wherein martha is carrying a lot of the weight in their relationship. ten will entrust her with the most deeply personal shit (like his memories of gallifrey, his feelings on losing rose, even in 42 where he’s like "i’m scared i’m so scared" where he depends on martha for emotional support) and then when martha’s like hey can i get some support here or something ten’s like “uh sorry all out too busy being sad” i mean that's a bit exaggerated/summarized but thats the vibe they have. in the beginning he doesn't even admit she’s traveling with him! he’s all “just one trip” “just one more” and refuses to make a concrete decision that martha really needs him to make already. and despite this emotional unavailability shtick ten still relies on martha quite a bit! off the top of my head you have 42(martha freezing/unfreezing ten as he screams in pain), blink (they get sent back to the 1960s… and only martha gets a job???), and. human nature. wherein martha endures racial abuse alongside lesser shitty working conditions in order to ensure the doctor doesn't get his body possessed or something. and in the middle of it this human version of the doctor falls in love with another woman(after basically uh leading her on for the whole fucking season) (sure maybe unintentionally but that's not the point here) who. also was racist to her she's not even a nice person. and her only friend in this godawful place gets possessed. and human doctors a dick to her. and i think. i reflect on it and i come to the conclusion that ten very much does expect martha to just… do his job for him sometimes. handle all the dirty work like making sure human him doesn't get distracted or hurt or die. and still immediately after is like haha we are in 1960 now. i will not get a job what is that. why do you want me to “communicate” or “pull my weight” you’re traveling across space and time lol.

and the master and lucy are a darker extension of this dynamic that i actually haven't really seen people talk about much!! the master is very clear about why he married lucy, and there is no love/admiration/respect whatsoever in there. it is purely a means to an end - her family gets him influence, and she helps him carry out his plans. he gives nothing to lucy, only takes. which is in itself a mirror to ten & martha - the audience knows ten isn’t intending to be malicious in how he treats martha throughout the series, but when paralleled to lucy & the master i think you really get a sense of the harm this can cause down the line. what resentment this kind of dynamic can lead to. and ALL THE WHILE martha is walking the entire planet for a year to save all of humanity while ten hangs out aged 100 with his little tent & dog bowl & seething sorta-ex-husband-boyfriend-whatever. i mean he doesn't have the best time either but he also doesn't have to do that much and also is perhaps a bit too happy about not being the last time lord to fully grasp that hey, uh, humanity's in pretty dire straits right now. martha watches as the master turns earth into a living nightmare, slaughters millions of people on a whim, turns ten into a 900-year-old tweety bird, and tortures her family for a year, only for ten to go “guys dw i can fix him lol we’ll just live in the tardis for eternity together” as if she hadn't had to fight for that too. and ten is still shocked-pikachu-face when she goes “yeah no i’m leaving. i gotta get out.” and that is very much similar to lucy's moment in a way! where she sees the doctor forgiving(without really considering everybody else's opinion on the Past Year), martha's mom talked down from killing him, even Jack is talked down from his confusion at the whole idea, and i think in that moment she goes. okay. you guys can forgive. you guys can let him walk away having just taken, taken, taken everything without any repercussions. i meanwhile have this gun and two years of pent-up rage coursing through my veins. and both of these moments - martha leaving, lucy firing the gun - come at a shock to the doctor and the master. i mean you can see the master's little "oh" face when he gets shot. even if he plays it up like he expected it after i don't think he considered it before. and i think on a certain level neither really expected to be called out like this - ten because he’s got the emotional intelligence of a baseball bat, the master because he doesn’t think humans are capable of wiping their own asses - so in both of these moments in LoTL theyre like "wait i didn't know you could do that"

anyways tl;dr thats why i think lucy and the master are a darker parallel to the doctor and martha in their own way. which feeds into the rest of the finale where the master is just showing the natural extremes to who the doctor is - this is that toxic dependency taken to its natural worst possible place, where you treat someone as a tool rather than as a person. the master's generally a great foil to the doctor but the series 3 finale is just a fantastic example of it i think.

OMG, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts like this! And I love your thought process here so much.

First, absolutely, Martha is the case of right person, wrong time... which is probably what makes hers my favourite companion arc - as I like to put it she travelled through hell and pulled her Virgil (because yes, the Doctor absolutely always has this guide role that brings Virgil to mind, at least in companions' first episodes) to the Earthly Paradise in the process. There's a lot of debates going on about whether Ten was leading Martha on, because on the one hand - well, he's very clear he's not into her romantically, on the other - ok, bitch, you made it clear the kiss doesn't mean anything, but also you hit off with flirtatious winks and end showing off time travel while also casually showing off your Adam's apple. Yeah, a girl can make deductions. And you're right that this superficial frankness is mirrorred in Master's relation to Lucy - though if anything he's crrepily keen on playing a caring husband, what with the 100% performative hug he gives her while the Toclafane are hacking a journalist up. Though I suppose in his head this is what the Doctor does as well when they comfort their companions. And let's give it to Ten - when he said he's not going to let Martha *checks notes* fry in a small capsule in far space because of a sentient sun, he does bend head over tits and does as promised. But historically it has happened that the Doctor's reassurances were hollow (future, but kind of most painful in Twelve assuring Bill he's going to de-cybermanize her only to later admit yeah not really an option... considering Saxon was there to witness this, I wonder if he marked this in his Notebook (of Rassilon) of Spiting the Doctor).

Ten's handling of the chameleon arch is kind of pathetic, thanks for pointing that out! Like, ok - if the Family gets a whole Time Lord lifetime it is a genuine threat to the universe, but his attitude of oh I'm just going to spend three months as a human in a random timespace, what could possibly go wrong, and anyway, Martha will be there to clean up any mess? is a mess. I do like John Smith's romance with nurse Radfem, though, not in the sense of shipping them, but more of an appreciation of the concept: a classic victorian/edwardian romance, but when you look at it from the persective of a BIPOC servant... it kind of becomes apparent both parties are dickheads. This does tie back to the Master in a way, because I think... want to think... that by the time the Doctor went oh no, we're better than a tyrant maniac that spent a whole year destroying the planet and torturing everyone in the room specifically, so we're not going to execute him, I'm going to put him in my nice spaceship and we'll have nice cuddle movie evenings instead, she was already hardened by the fact that he put her in an (unintentionally) tailor made emotional torture room for three months only to later reveal oh yeah, I could absolutely have handled them all along. Is just higher moral ground, innit?

I guess as all best foils do, the clue lies in the diffrences, though, right? Both Martha and Lucy end up deeply disillusioned with their respective semi-immortal twinks from space, but in one case there is still a disillusioned friendship (Ten's surprised Pikachu face, excellent comparion) and in the other there's only hate - and for good reasons! And where the Doctor grows to really respect Martha (and I wouldn't say he started off dismissive, I mean he is impressed when she tells him oh no mister, a doctor isn't something you just are, you have to earn the title) and is not just saddened but... humbled?... by her leaving, the Master shows up in EoT and is like Hey, my widow, did you miss me, hope you haven't remarried, that would be awkward to explain in the registry office :D!

*sigh* I suppose this is why tensimm is so special to me. It's 20 seasons of foil dynamic condensed into 5 hours. It really shows how thin the difference between the Doctor and the Master is. And how in the right circumstances, including the loss of the handy mirror villain to show how things can go wrong, a madman with a box can turn into an eldritch horror deciding the future of the universe. So, again, thank you so much for poining out yet another excellent parallel!

#ask #ahh i hope the answer was worthy of the ask because your analysis is so. good!#doctor who #doctor who meta #thoschei #tensimm #tenth doctor #simm!master #martha jones #lucy saxon #doctor who season 3

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kyber-crystal · 5 months

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Okay bestie how about Christmas HCs where Obi-Wan is spending Christmas with you and your strange family ❤️

HI YES OKAY

also i'm so sorry if my writing seems off, i'm lwk rusty from not having written anything in a FAT minute. anyway enjoy some festive obi-wan!!

you and obi-wan were born on complete opposite ends of the galaxy, on different planets

this meant different cultures, different traditions, different ways of life

obi-wan doesn't remember much of his childhood—he can barely recall who his family was and only has a few fading memories of them—while you remember your loved ones in great detail

so when he hears you talk about your family and sees how your face lights up when you do, it's very bittersweet for him

now, life day (i believe this is christmas in star wars terms lol) is quickly approaching but you had been too busy throwing yourself into teaching an introductory sparring class for the younglings, along with your personal training, to realize it

if it were up to master windu's doing you wouldn't be getting as long of a break

but it's master yoda in charge here, and he grants you a long weekend to rest—which you and obi are incredibly grateful for as you've gotten a combined 6 hours of sleep in the past 3 days

(pathetic, you know...especially when it's drilled into your heads from day 1 of being in the temple that rest is the key to a happy, fulfilling life)

your family stories are always filled with lots of laughter, vibrant colors, and more love and compassion than he could even describe

so when you invite him to come to your home planet with you he's obviously excited

though outwardly he expresses how he feels a bit nervous

they've all heard about your best friend and wise master, but have never spoken to him in person

"it'll be fine, trust me! i have a big family but i promise you they're the nicest people you'll ever meet."

so he agrees, and you fly out that following morning

you can tell he's nervous as you get to the front door

so you intertwine your fingers together, giving his hand a squeeze

it's your silent way of telling him it's going to be just fine :)

and your family instantly LOVES him

of course, you're first bombarded with the classic "are you two married?" "when's the wedding?" "y/n, this is the first time you've brought a man back home!" "he's so handsome!" and whatnot

meanwhile, obi stands there with flushed cheeks...

the older women of the family—your mother, godmother, grandmothers, aunts, etc—instantly love him since he offers to help you out in the kitchen

in the meantime, you sit in the living room with your siblings, cousins, and the rest of the men

"where is the ring on your finger, y/n?" your favorite uncle asks you. he has this GIANT grin on his face and he's wearing THAT "ugly sweater" with a pink loth cat on it

ever since you got it for him, he's made it a yearly tradition to put it on at every holiday gathering

so it's hard to not laugh at first when you're trying to respond

"uncle ted, you know jedi can't get married!"

"who said you had to follow the rules?" he raises a brow at you and you laugh again

"y/n," your dad adds on, "he's right. you should be getting married soon..."

"but the jedi code!"

"it's not a crime if they don't find out, right?" your oldest cousin, cal, says

...and all the men murmur a "yep" or "touche" at that

obi wan catches part of this conversation and comes over, "who's marrying who?"

"she's marrying you!" your younger sister, layla, exclaims with a giggle

and now it's time for both you and obi to get extremely flustered

"SORRY," you quietly tell obi in your mind. "my family can get a bit...chaotic."

"it's okay, don't worry about it," and he smiles at you

while you're eating dinner, you catch him looking around the room—at your family, the eccentric decorations on the fridge and walls (courtesy of layla, cassie, and cal), the most stunning tree standing tall in the corner, the golden stockings with hand-stitched names of each cousin hung above the crackling fireplace—and your heart swells with warmth

in all his years of living so far, obi-wan has never felt so much at home as he has now, with you by his side

even amidst the chaos of the day, he tells himself he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, & he means it

later, you're making gingerbread houses together (apparently obi has never heard of this tradition before, so you take it upon yourself to teach him all about it)

but despite knowing little about it, he ends up making the best house out of everyone

you come in close at 3rd place, though you're sure your house is only one breath from falling apart

there's frosting all over your hands

and on your chin, apparently, but obi wipes it away with a quick sweep of his thumb

the longing look in both your guys' eyes doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of your family

long after everyone has gone to bed for the night, you stay by the fireplace together with glasses of warm milk on the coffee table in front of you

"you're really lucky, you know," he tells you. "to have a family you can remember and spend time with when you can."

"i really am..." you agree, "but obi-wan, you're always welcome to come over. my family loves you. i know it's only been a day but they already want you to be a part of the family."

(neither of you realize that he's taken ahold of your hand and started to gently brush over your ring finger)

and just around 4 short months later, you wake up one morning to find a sapphire ring on that exact finger

"just so you know, i'm saying yes," you squeeze his shoulder before going off to continue with the rest of your day

(how the council doesn't suspect anything, you have no idea. but you're grateful for it lmao)

ok i'm so sorry idk what i was doing with the ending there but I HOPE YOU ENJOYED &&&& merry christmas & happy holidays!!!'

tags (once again, this list hasn’t been updated in a while so apologies if it seems off haha): @voguesir @fl0ating @lady-elena-adeline @katelynnwrites @freeshavocadoooo @buckysbeloved @kelieah @kaleidoscope1967eyes @lam-ila @amelia-song-pond @unstablecaffeinatedmind @elenavampire21 @joyfullyswimmingface @arkofblake @hellotherekenobi

#obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan kenobi #star wars imagine #obi wan kenobi imagine #obi wan fic #obi wan imagine #obi wan imagines #obi wan x reader #star wars prequels #star wars oneshot #obi wan kenobi x you #obi wan kenobi x y/n #obi wan x you #christmas #holidays

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ihopesocomic · 5 months

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I'm so sorry if it's too long but I just did a reread and decided to take a look at the designs on Toyhouse and it reminded me how much I love IHS.

I love all the designs of your characters, they are so deliberate. Take the Golden Grove family for example. Their fur colours perfectly match the name of this pride - all characters from this place are golden/have fur that's a certain shade of gold. Just by looking at them you can tell that they're related. But that's not everything.

I looked at the designs of three sisters and their parents and I noticed how some of the traits of their parents can be found in their daughters. Vicious is almost a copy of her mother Watchful, while Clever looks so much like her father Wild. They all have respectively a similar coIours and face shapes. In all of that Careful, the middle child here, is a perfect combination of her parents - she has her father's muzzle shape and eyes shape but her colour palette is more like her mother's. All marks are placed with so much thought that they help to recognise a character. The funny thing about the similarities with parents is that you probably created sisters first and then their parents - so you actually had to take a look at the sisters and then create their parents. While making sure everything made sense.

I tried to find similarities with Hope, Adamant and Quiet but I find it a bit harder, maybe cause they're still young. But older Hope definitely reminds me of Clever and Careful, rather than Vicious. Maybe it's the fur on her cheeks. I noticed that Adamant has the same fur colour as her grandfather, Jasper the First and I find it cute. And of course, how could I not mention Breccia and her freckles that she gave to all of her grandchildren. I love them <3

What I mean to say is that I adore how much thought and effort you put into your story. Every time I reread I find something new to adore. I love the plot and world, but I really like how you also put effort into your designs. You manage to make all characters stand out and be easy to recognise but you also find a way to make sure that audience can tell who is related to who. Thank you so much <3

And tbh I really like the new schedule with a page for week.

Well first of all, I do love a good wall of text, so don't apologize haha

Second, I'm glad you like the new schedule. It's actually activated the speculation part of the fandom, which we also love LOL

Third, THIS MAKES ME HAPPY! I love when people go back and notice the details we included. I did work backwards from the sisters to the parents, just because we had no intention on showing the grandparents, but people asked and I thought they'd be fun to design too. And they were! (This is to go with a previous ask, but this is also part of why we did away with color-coding, just cuz Wildfire looked great as a blonde, but maybe he's from somewhere sandy, who knows.) And it was interesting distributing all the different characteristics of them. Still not satisfied with Careful, I wish I'd thought on her a biiiiiiiit longer. I just didn't think anyone would care about her LOL

Hope will look more like Clever when she gets older, so once I can properly elongate her face, it'll be more obvious. I'm slowwwwwly gonna show them aging, Storm's hair will get longer, Adamant will be more buff, stuff like that. Right now (and people will see this on next week's page) Hope actually looks pretty similar to Careful. Careful just has to pull some more... Hopelike faces first for it to be obvious haha

Overall I'm happy with the designs and it brings me much joy to have people analyze them. Character concept is one of my favorite things to do, and I like being creative while being limited at the same time. Lions are a good way to practice that. So thank you again! - Cat

#ask #ask us stuff #cat answers #golden grove #vicious #careful #wild #watchful #clever #hopeful #adamant #jasper the first #breccia #thundering mountains

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cornflowershade · 1 month

Text

Get To Know Me Tag!

thanks for tagging me @distant-screaming ! <33 💕 and @airenyah ! <33 ☺️💗

do you make your bed? typically no. I mean, I'll pull the sheets up so that it looks kind of okay but that's about it.

what's your favourite number? i don't think i have one 🤔 but I've always preferred odd numbers.

what is your job? working with kids part-time at an after school! we get to play games and go outside and do art. on thursdays I dance with them. it's a good time :)

if you could go back to school, would you? mmm. maybe! (but it wouldn't be with the intention of going into a that new field—I just like to learn and also enjoy school lol.) I was just talking the other day about how there's so many things I would've loved to study that I didn't go for or only discovered later. Like film! I want to know how to film things and have them look super professional for my personal fan projects.

can you parallel park? nope. never learned how and haven't had a chance to continue practicing driving bc... life. i'm still on my learners permit 🙃

a job you had that would surprise people? not sure what would be surprising honesty! But uh, I used to do website design for people.

do you think aliens are real? like... no but also yes? I think it's safe to assume that somewhere in the universe there could be life of some kind.

can you drive a manual car? nope

what's your guilty pleasure? wracking my brain and i literally can't think of something right now, i'm sorry

tattoos? nope! I like to change up my aesthetics too often for something that permanent asdfg. I stick with the occasional eyeliner tattoos or henna xD

favorite color? red!!! also blue. but I love most colors <33

favorite type of music? i listen to (most) any kind of music! just depends on what I feel like :)

do you like puzzles? like physical puzzle-piece puzzles? not really, I get a little antsy and don't have the patience for them! Unless it's a kids puzzle but then they're often too easy lol. BUT if we're talking mental puzzles, I love that. Like trying to code something and crack how to get a thing working... that's fun.

any phobias? i'm a bit afraid of heights. (not being high up in all situations, but specifically if there's a way to fall down. like sure I'll climb on top of things sometimes, but if it's too high or feels like there's an easy way to fall off then i get scared. sometimes kids try to get me to climb on the jungle gym equipment at work but this is simply not going to happen).

favorite childhood sport? horseback riding :)

do you talk to yourself? yes, but not out loud, just in my head. though a lot of the time it's actually fake conversations with other people or made up people. My brain makes up situations lol.

what movies do you adore? 'the lego batman movie', 'legally blonde'... when it comes to movies i'll watch over again it's usually the more feel-good type stuff

coffee or tea? tea! (I actively dislike the taste of coffee.) But also, I find tea very calming and it makes me happy! like, it's just so cozy!! especially if you have a little time for it, to make it a peaceful moment. boil the water, pick out a cup, sit with it all warm in your hands. rushed tea is not the thing.

first thing you wanted to be growing up? either being an actress or a teacher! :)

tagging: @qt-qtoey @softneomiro @lamonnaie @celestial-sapphicss @moonkhao

#tag game

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starfxkr · 1 month

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hi moony!! so i’ve been peeping all the drama regarding the copying allegations and the palm colored people who, well…just don’t get it. I just want you to know that you are so loved and supported here and i mean that from the bottom of my heart. i LOVE your blog and your writing and your brain and your humor. it genuinely brightens my day. writers like you are needed and valued. I recently (like last yr) got back into tumblr and reading ff on here. idk if it was divine guidance or what but i started seeing all these blogs (yours included ofc) who wrote for the obx fandom with hc BLACK readers and black coded writing and i was honestly so shocked and amazed. it made me so happy to know that the content i liked was being written with women like me in mind like idk it just meant so much. i’m honestly paying the copying allegations DUST because that’s been squashed already. Concerning the straight up tone deafness and racism you’re getting on here, i just wanna say, FUCK Y’ALL. how odd is it to crawl into a space made by a black woman FOR black women (and woc) and go “why are you obsessed with imagining someone who looks like you being paired with a character you like?” HUH?? i had to read that a couple times like…they can’t be serious. the passive aggressive, absolute WEIRDO behavior, is just throwing me. i feel that with some things you either get it or you don’t and if you’re a black woman or a woc you know what i’m talking about. (ie: hc rafe as secretly like black girls/ebony porn). thats what people love about you moony. you ARE unique and niche. there are HUNDREDS of others spaces for y’all to dwell in. spaces where your cheeks blush baby pink and your hair flows in the wind. why waste time being confused, bothered and trying to understand something that isn’t meant for YOU to understand? ANYWAYS back to laughing and giggling and being sexy and black 💋

-💌

WHEW I DIDNT RESPOND FAST IM SORRY but really its bc u said so much (positive dw) that I don't know where to start!!!

but really I would mostly like to talk about creating a space for black readers and other woc because that really in my main priority. like I always say everyone is welcome here but certain jokes and nuances are gonna fly over peoples heads and thats fine!!! so many white defaulted stories fly over my head sometimes (I often think "mmm a black girl wouldn't do that" LOL) but that never tempers my enjoyment of peoples blogs or writing. everyone knows im not a super girly hyperfem writer but would you believe thats 99% of what I read because its fun to imagine myself that way sometimes! and then I come back to the gutter with the rest of my around the way girls at the end of the night 🫶🏾

but I just wanted to give the girls something different and thats all I ever wanna do! I feel like not only are the black girls underrepresented but also like...the grungy girls, the weird and sarcastic girls and not on some "not like other girls" shit but I do sometimes feel like my personality and fashion and I guess "brand" of writing isnt always palatable or desired and I wanted to make a space for those who always felt like they were on the outside looking in. they aren't carefree, easy going laid back girls or super feminine and girly sweet girls we're just...gross and weird.

I wanna be mean weird gross black girl rep at the end of the day!!!!

#✨.txt #💌 anon

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ultramarine-spirit · 1 year

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In the novel, Athy's debut dress is described as white with long sleeves and the skirts made it look like a rose (? I think she was also wearing rubies but I don't remember very well anymore

Don't you have reference photos of what the dress was like? The translation I read is very strange lol

Athy's debutante dress is described to be pretty different in the novel! It was a pure white dress, that seemed to bloom like a flower at the bottom. It also had embedded jewelry and a tulle ribbon tied around the waist, and it had sleeves, it wasn’t sleeveless like the manhwa's. So the translation you read looks accurate. Here is @lithi 's complete translation of how the dress looked like!

I don't have any reference pictures of that dress specifically, sorry. And as far as I know, there's no novel-accurate fanart of the debutante. We'll have to use our imagination.

The thing about debutante balls that... no manhwa seems to get right is that, they weren't just fancy balls to introduce noble girls to high society. They were that in part, yes, but most importantly, they had the purpose of serve as the occasion for young girls of marriageable age (for the time period) to find a husband.

So the balls had a pretty strict dress-code. All debutantes had to wear white (though shades of ivory and pink were acceptable), the dresses were strictly floor-length and with a long train, though the sleeves were short. Long white gloves were also very common. The hair had to be done in an up-do with a veil attached to it, decorated with three ostrich feathers. As for jewelry, pearls were the more common option.

Some details could change depending on the time period, but those were the basics. So no colorful gowns, loose hair, short dresses or stuff like that.

Totally different vibes, even though that debutante dress is pretty modern. But it looks... like a wedding dress.

I was surprised to see that the novel's debutante was actually pretty historically accurate. My guess is that Spoon felt the novel's dress was too bridal, so she changed it to the iconic dress we all know (I've seen people say it feels too "homecoming", teenager ball, but debutantes were kind of just that lol). The part about the dress resembling a blooming rose was kept, but Spoon added the pink details, flowers and patterns, shortened the length and made the dress sleeveless (and gave Athy a tiara! Apparently only married women could wore those at debutantes in real life).

I quite like it. I think the choice was also to better reflect Athy's fashion sense and make her stand out compared to the other debutantes. Athy's dresses are always lovely and elegant, but she uses way more colors, patterns, short sleeves and hems compared to the rest of the girls. I think it suits her free spirit!

And yeah, it would have been kind of weird to see all the girls dressed as brides in the debutante lmfao...

#this is a very interesting topic tbh #im fascinated by how korean writers take elements from western high society but just kinda... change them a lot LMAO #same with emperors/kings having concubines. That was very much not a thing in the west. But it was in some eastern societies #super off-topic but a thing some western readers don't think about is that. despite the western setting of most otome isekai manhwas #they very much reflect korean values and ideas (duh the authors are korean). So i.e. you have readers not understanding FLs #that put a lot of importance on family. i think its important to be aware of the bias one may have as a reader regarding such things #anywaaaays lets tag this #who made me a princess #i suddenly became a princess #suddenly became a princess one day #wmmap #sbapod #sbap #athanasia de alger obelia #athanasia #athy #wmmap fashion #wmmap novel

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torchickentacos · 3 months

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15 Questions!

Tagged by @gaycey-sketchit !!!!! Thank you so much for the tag, and I loved reading yours! Long post, sorry lol.

1. Are you named after anyone? Nope! Not to my knowledge, anyways. Though if my mom told me that she named me after Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters, I would not be shocked.

2. When was the last time you cried? I think monday? I cry really often, at every single emotion. Happy? I'm going to cry about it. Laughing? My high school theatre class would always point out when they made me cry laugh. Sad? ABSOLUTELY crying about that. I didn't cry but I DID tear up yesterday because I was really happy about something nice someone said to me.

3. Do you have kids? Nope, and no intention of having them. Regardless of my desire to or not (usually not, being the oldest of four is enough for me), my health is not, and never will be, in an acceptable position or ability to go through that, and I've accepted that for a while now.

4. What sports do you play/have you played? As a kid, I played soccer and did gymnastics! In middle school, I BRIEFLY did fencing. My mom told me that when I was fencing is the only time she's ever seen me look truly graceful (lmao, love my mom dw. She's right). Then health stuff came up and I had to stop, but fencing just came as easily to me as breathing did. I always wonder where I'd be if I could have stuck with it. Nothing's ever immediately clicked with me the way fencing did, but it's hell on my joints.

5. Do you use sarcasm? Sometimes, usually when I'm annoyed which isn't TOO often. Or if I'm being hyperbolic for a joke.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people? No clue. I guess their demeanor- if they seem happy or not, if they look stressed, how they're feeling (or how I perceive them as feeling, I guess).

7. What's your eye color? Blue! My friend swears up and down that they're kind of green. I think she's colorblind.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings!!! I am not built for scary movies. I can do some buzzfeed unsolved and I can watch markiplier play indie horror games but that's kind of my limit. I LOVE some types of horror, but my anxiety does not. I will be paranoid for a month after.

9. Any talents? I can play music by ear. Give me a guitar and a random song and ten minutes at most!

10. Where were you born?

11. What are your hobbies? Landscape/scenery art (also other art but it's much harder), writing, playing guitar (used to play piano too but not well. I also own a ukulele that I'm bad at, but generally I can play something on any instrument you give me). But mostly, I pick up and put down hobbies all the time. I've dabbled in crochet, embroidery, sewing, painting, archery, coding, needle felting, gardening, cooking, a little bit of everything. Never long enough to get good at most of them, though. I get bored too quickly.

12. Do you have any pets? A lovely husky (shelter girlie <3) and a gecko! And, for the gecko, a bunch of crickets at any given point in time, which I guess counts because I have to take care of them, too.

13. How tall are you? 5'2 and a half. 5'4 with my doc martens.

14. Favorite subject in school? Assuming lunch doesn't count, I was a theatre girlie. Assuming THAT doesn't count, English. I liked English because if I didn't have an answer, I could just bullshit one, but I usually did enjoy it and had real answers. I'll tell you why the curtains are blue and why they're the specific fabric they are and what the rest of the room means- if I'm interested, anyways.

15. Dream job? Oh boy, uh. Still trying to figure that out. DREAM job, like, without worrying about money or my physical ability to do it? Pro fencer, but I gave up on that a looong time ago. I genuinely believe I could have done it if my knee hadn't gone to shit at fourteen. I'd love to work in a record store or a music store, though, which is a little more in-reach.

Tagging: Anyone who sees this, lmk if you do it from this post!! But also, NO PRESSURE AT ALL but @soulsilversprings @nowandevermore @lostlegendaerie @mozukumi !!! Also whoever else wants to, I get nervous to tag people so assume you're tagged, too!

#taylor's tag #long post #thank you for the tag andrew!!!!

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daily-shadow-milk-cookie · 3 months

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hi! this account looks awesome; it's always good to see fallen hero fans heheh :D

i was wondering if you'd perhaps be willing to share some of your shadow milk headcanons? no pressure obviously, i just feel like it could be fun <3

thank you so much for asking and also giving nice compliment, and yes I like edgy evil cookies. :]]]

(already answered here, but here more like of thoughts and things i think he/they would do i guess?). And most of it is a warrior cat reference lol and more detailed one. But here it is ^-^

(under the cut)

Back when he/they liked a good side hero ancient (before getting corrupted). He/they is like a nerd studying magic, & herbs, and various locations to wander and discover around and research on them?.

Based on his/their old hero form, i assume he/they is like a chill guy before his/their demise

His/their moral alignment is chaotic evil. Due to him being mischievous and chaotic.

If he/they can possessed pure vanilla cookie in any way, pure vanilla cookie get shadow milk cookie heterochromia same eye color acting unhinged (like the imposter) from the broken code wc book while sabotage his body. they/he tried controlling and manipulating targets.

He/they go to a moonstone in blueberry academy and receives their/his immortal 9 lives from cookies Spirit. (Yes this is a reference to the wc cat leader)

I assume their/his nine lives message of why they're getting, since every clan leader in the book get message about their received 9 lives. (Sorry if it's terrible but that I could think of)

it is about First is knowledge

second id responsibility

third is kind

fourth is gentle

and 5rd is diligence

6rd is loving

7rd is calming

8rd is leadership

9rd last is bravery.

I don't know what role job, he is/they are but I assumed he was a healer mender or either mediator.

Or maybe a herbalist and researcher?

I think he is still alive while stuck on the sacred silver tree.

He/they can shapeshift into an ordinary cookie or even light of truth, and also cookie spirits.

Every caretaker, elder, and mothers, babysitter, older siblings, adult, etc used his/their story as a spooky urban legend or fairy tales to young kids who are mischievous to make them scared and learned their lessons.

He/they used to have a leader star forehead mark but it got shattered after he/they became corrupted and faded over the years.

Back when he/they was visiting the moonstone, he got star shape sparkly eyeshine about him/them receiving 9 lives from cookie spirits and they/he got a white diamond shape eyeshine whenever encounter spirit cookies. And also sparkles around him/them.

He/they either had his/their remaining lives went to 6 or 7, 1, 8 since pure vanilla cookie get to be a new leader role but he/they maybe still had their 9 lives?.

He/they lose contacts & communication from cookies spirit since they don't like/love him/them anymore. Due to shadow milk cookie turn evil.

He/they get is swarmed by blue butterflies whenever he/they sleep (back when shadow milk cookie was a hero).

He/they used to get gifts and notes by many cookies before he/they get corrupted.

He can mimic and voice impression of some people's voices and their shadows.

He wears a sage wreath and Myosotis/forget-me-nots flower and either yellow dandelion, gladiolus on both head and necklace depends.

He hates being stuck on the sacred silver tree.

He is happy that the moonstone gets destroyed accidentally indirectly by gingerbrave gang & dark enchantress cookie. So that cookie on whoever is becoming leader had to find another solution or resources to get their nine lives and struggle.

Pretty sure he hates starclan.

#sorry its so short #and sorry if it another warrior cat reference. it just stuck on my head.#shadow milk cookie #cookie run thoughts/ maybe headcanons #ask #{mailbox text✓}

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fallenrocket · 3 months

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#OurFlagMeansDeadloch Watch Party - Episode 8

(crossposted from my Twitter)

Before I start, I really hope we don't get a last-minute twist where James is the killer. Can you imagine if he was just pretending to be incompetent to sabotage the investigation? His villainsplaining would be *insufferable*.

***

Second, I'm manifesting Abby suckerpunching James in the finale and then exclaiming, "Ma'ams, did you see that? I did a punch!"

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"Go color-code your Birkenstocks or some shit"--'cause it's not enough to just take Dulcie off the case. Gotta throw in some "clever" homophobia too.

***

Okay, "emotional truffle pig" is a great descriptor for Cath. Props to Nadiyah!

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"Where would I have the time to murder? If I had free time, I would take my kid to the pool, not kill her fucking dad." Go, Sharelle!

***

"Darlings, I'll get you out of here, I won't rest until it happens!" says Margaret as her scurries out the door.

***

When the convenience store owner stops to help a customer while Dulcie and Eddie are getting to get information on the bus, you can actually see Eddie's soul leaving her body.

***

"He's taken them up into the hills."

"Like The Sound of Music."

"Yeah, sure."

lol, I love it!

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"Ugh, I muscle-memory drove myself back to Deadloch! Sorry, guys." omg, Sven, I've been there!

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I like that this show takes the OFMD approach of, "It's okay when racists/colonizers die."

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And there's the big twist! Yikes, poor Eddie--you think she had issues getting close to people *before*???

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"James, I'm talking to Skye. Let women have the floor, mate!" omg, I can't with this guy's ultra-considerate "let's unpack toxic masculinity" spiel when he's kidnapped a bunch of dudes to murder them. He's evil, but he's hilarious!

***

"I don't have to do all this murder!"

"Yeah, everyone knows that, mate! Everyone knows that except for fucking you!"

lol, these two are taking me *out*!

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I like that we're shown how killing predatory men is still a product of his misogyny, that notion that women are so helpless and brainwashed by the patriarchy that they "need" a man to step in and do what needs to be done to liberate them.

It has a thematic ring with Miranda asking why Margaret gets to decide who "deserves" what in an earlier episode, which is very fitting.

***

"Attention all units: the men are not on the bus. Repeat, the men are *not* on the bus." lol, that timing is just *chef's kiss*.

***

"So Collins, were you always into women, or was it something you had to work on, like a muscle?" hee!

***

Ah, bless Abby, walking down the street with her new bangs, eating a sandwich, off to meet up with her forensic Edward Teach a.k.a. Kate. Lovely ending for her!

***

lol, and we end on one final mixed-up name from Eddie! It reminds me of when the Kraken crew were telling Stede that Ed retired and Archie just mumbled, "Yeah, got tired."

#our flag means deadloch #adopt our crew #save ofmd #fallenrocket #ofmd #our flag means death #deadloch #madeleine sami

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aclosetfan · 5 months

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Hey hope you don't mind me rambling in your inbox but I have a lot of thoughts and I want to dissect how people actually create their Rowdyruff redemptions. I am so sorry how long this is in advance.

Ok so like, I'm working on a a fic currently and one of the aspects of it involves a Rowdyruff redemption (well, sort of... it's complicated lol) and color code shipping when they're older, and I've been reading a lot of fic to see how people actually do this. I've noticed a lot of things that really bug me about it how this is handled by fic writers.:

1) The Puffs are used as props, development, and eventual love interests for the Ruffs. They don't usually get much development, nor do their perspectives change much outside of "hey those ruffs are good now! Time to make out with them!". It's boring and it feels like the Puffs don't actually gain any perspectives from the Ruffs. As superheros and especially as characters who are getting with characters who often characterized as people who were directly abused by the system they uphold, wouldn't the Puffs gain some perspective from them? Give me puffs who learn about the ruffs experiences and become more disillusioned by the police force and start advocating for fighting against crime by supporting those who need it and filling in inequalities as opposed to arresting every thief out there. The Puffs and Ruffs have black and white perspectives in regards to good and evil. A great way to develop them is to mess around with their perspectives and make them question things.

2) The Ruffs don't seem to change much either, I think the main issue is that they're toned down from the beginning without any good explanation. Yeah sure "maturity" can be one, but if you're gonna change their personalities for your redemption fic, there needs to be a good reason as to why these personalities changed. Redemption fics aren't fun if they just start out as "mildly annoying boys" without reason as to why they're toned down. Either make them total shitheads and legitimately develop them or give a very good reason as to why they're not as intense. It's not interesting if they stay mildly annoying throughout the fic with little development but get with the Puffs anyway.

3) Mojo and HIM as parental figures are often very absent and are just usually explained away as "lol they were abusive". While I don't really mind this angle of Mojo and HIM ending up as shitty parents, it's never really developed. I want to know HOW they're shitty parents, why they were bad for the Ruffs. A lot of fan backstories in this fics involves the ruffs being used as tools by Mojo and HIM without caring about their needs as little kids, how about we show how that was done throughout their lives? You don't have to get like, graphic and explicit about what abuse and neglect they experience, but it needs to be developed and seriously impactful if you're gonna add it. I want to see how those impacts still mess with them, especially with interactions with their parents. Trauma like that doesn't just go away. If that can't be done, just keep their parents, have the ruffs be intentionally rebellious against their wishes. They are self driven after all and will often do shit that pisses people off and is enjoyable to them.

Especially if you're doing like... shipping, I want more elaboration on Mojo and HIM's perspectives. I want them to seeth and lose their minds over the prospect, I want Mojo to become a laughing stock among villains for not only failing to beat the Puffs, but creating their eventual romantic partners. I want Mojo to confront the very exhausted professor who's also not happy about this idea and have Mojo fucking lose it while the professor is just... so exhausted.

4) We need more of the other villains and cast to show up. Where the fuck did they go? Why is it only HIM and random monsters that can be used as villains (not even Mojo is, he's just thrown to the side which is such a massive shame). Lemme see Princess be something besides a mean girl, lemme see Sedusa or Fuzzy or the Amoeba boys. Let's see some one-offs from the OG series show up! I'm always a Boogie Man advocate, would be delighted to see him in a fic for once (although he's somewhat niche so I could see how it would be difficult to involve him). Hell if you can make them interesting, I'd be down to see reboot villains too. Just, anything to mix things up and add more action.

5) Not enough is done with the Professor, he's usually just a supporting character to the Puffs who shows shockingly minimal apprehension of the Ruffs, let alone their relationships with each other. I need a professor who's braver and plays a more active role in these fics. I need him to be a strong father figure who loves his kids so much and shows himself to be deeply intelligence. I need a professor who can be kind to the ruffs if need be and deserved (while he's protective and distrusting of the ruffs, I don't think he'd be spiteful to them especially if they're still children), but won't stand for any bullshit that they do and is willing to fight to keep his kids safe. Is is such a loving and substantial figure in the OG show and so few people actually bother to dive into the depths that the Professor would go for his kids.

6) interpretations of the ships are so fucking cishet it's so boring. Even if you want them to be m/f and cis, you can still make their dynamics and perceptions queer. You do not have to fall into tired cishet characterizations or dynamics (with the reds by far getting the worst of this). I think this can be hard depending on time setting and the ages of the characters, especially the Ruffs and how deep their toxic masculinity is embedded into them. Granted that I headcanon that their birthdays are their debuts and they'd be 29/30, I think that the time period would make it more difficult to explore queer aspects about them depending on how old they're portrayed, but I think that could make things even more interesting tbh especially if they don't have the language for what's going on with them. Example of a trope that's common in fics but can be twisted to be queer: High school fic #2728732. It's 2010, Buttercup is turning 17 soon and she doesn't feel like the other girls and hasn't for years. Buttercup doesn't have the language to describe her experiences as genderqueer since it's 2010, she sticks to the tomboy and girl label even though neither feel quite right.

My older takes on these ships tend to usually fall into Brick/Blossom who are both bi and gender apathetic but tend to have a male and female preference respectively, and navigating their unique perspectives of their attraction and dynamics to one another in that regard. Very very very very pan blues who are gay about everybody and proud of it, and (of course) genderqueer and genderfuck greens. We need more trans (particularly enby) greens rep out there and I'll do it myself if nobody else does. People write the ships (especially the color codes) so cishet I appreciate takes that drive them outside of that circle of "cishet boys and girls with hetronormative dynamics like each other now kiss mwah".

7) Inverse to the "the Puffs are just stepping stones to redemption and objects for the Ruffs", I'm really tired of fics that just end up neutering the ruffs once they're redeemed and have them be the second in command lapdogs to the Puffs (once again... a particularly big problem with the reds). I want more fics where the ruffs are their equals, where all of their voices are taken into account.

8) I want more of these stories to happen when they're not in high school. I want elementary and middle school redemption stories. I want full grown adults redemption stories. I'm so tired of the high school setting and I know it's mainly used for shipping, but not making them too old that they're boring and gross or w/e. Give me these characters past the age of 21 or under the age of 16 I beg. Hell please we need more stories of them at their canon age, the idea of The Professor and Mojo hosting a play date for them and all of them just having fun playing with toys and making up their own games is so cute.

9) This ties into my point of the ruffs history with law enforcement. It's very, very difficult for me to believe that they'd completely jump to the good side and just be the Puffs but slightly shifted over personality wise. They'd be distrusting of the superhero system. Maybe they'd be willing to kick monster ass, but they're not going to be knocking down thieves and working side by side with cops. If anything, I think it would make sense for redeemed ruffs to work to fight against current police system standards and help those who are most affected by it the most. The ruffs aren't and shouldn't just turn into the Puffs but a bit spicier. It's boring and it doesn't make sense.

10) I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of all the weird sexualization in high school fics, especially when you can tell they were written by somebody who's not in high school and hasn't been in years. I swear people who write these hypersexualized Riverdale style high school AUs haven't actually looked at a 16 year old in years. They wouldn't look like full grown adults and most likely wouldn't be diving deep into sex and drugs. There's also a lot of sexual assault, especially casually? I read a fic recently where Butch groped Buttercup's chest without consent just randomly and it was played off for laughs. Closed it instantly and physically facepalmed. I somewhat get when teens write stuff like this, but adults? It's ridiculous.

11) I feel like people make the Puffs and Ruffs parallel each other a bit too much? It takes away from existing tension and ways they can clash. Make Bubbles care way too much and Boomer struggle with the ability to take things seriously. Make Brick smart but not academically so, his intelligence lies in other places and he specifically spites the rigid authority of academia, while Blossom loves and embraces it. Show Buttercup being able to be more calculated and intelligent about her fighting while Butch is a berserker. Give them parallels and differences, and differences within their parallels!

Again I'm so sorry about how long this is, I've been full autism mode about PPG again and my old fic idea I never got around to writing. Reading up on people's takes on RRB redemptions for my own research and I notice that there's a lot of things that just bug me about how they're played out, and it inspired me to do a full dissection of how RRB redemption plot lines tend to be done.

This is another ask that I've tried to answer a thousand times, but really honestly, every time I read it, I'm just like:

Like come sit right next to me because we're in this together. I've been riding this train for a while now and if I've learned anything, ya gotta be the change you wanna see. There's no other way!

#long post #always love your insights #no notes i agree #\

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