#because the take itself is a bad faith one that has nothing to do with how well-written any of them are

[mxtxfanatic]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the take that MXTX love interests are one dimensional? I saw a post that mentioned how MXTX doesn't let her characters explore their sexuality, but it rubbed me the wrong way honestly.

I don't mind if you focus on any of the main pairings, but I would love to hear about TGCF primarily if you're up for it.

Well you’re in luck, anon, because this is an argument that infuriates me! But before I get into that, let’s start with this: if you think the love interests of any of the mxtx novels are one-dimensional, you are not paying attention to the plot, character interactions, or anything to do with the love interests. All of them have lives and motivations outside of just the MCs, and even the one who arguably doesn’t (Luo Binghe) is fixated on the MC in a way that still has to do with his own character development and growth within the story. He doesn’t just perpetually play support with no internal life of his own.

With all that said, you were right for feeling like this discourse sounds wrong, because it’s absolutely a red flag when people say that “surely you can’t know your sexuality unless you experiment with a bunch of different people before you fall in love!” 🤢 Never in my life have I seen anyone argue that straight people must first date/have sex with a bunch of people before they can “really know” whether they’re straight; this is strictly something that homo/bi/queerphobes say to dissuade non-straight people from acknowledging their sexualities. Real people in real life are allowed to fall in love with whoever they want, regardless of what sexuality they do or don’t identify with and how many different people they have or have not slept with. This goes doubly for fictional characters who are products of their story and therefore 100% allowed to be in love with just one (1) person without that throwing into question the “validity” of their love, sexuality, or the believability of the story.

It’s funny cause it’s definitely a trendy discussion topic in mdzs and I guess tgcf now to suggest that the MCs and LIs can’t possibly be fulfilled as people due to the fact that they dedicated their love lives to just one person. In tgcf, Hua Cheng became a ghost king, kept humans safe, and started a ghost city to keep ghosts and spirits safe in the interim of Xie Lian’s second banishment, but this is somehow “unbelievable” or “one-dimensional” because he also only loved and held out for Xie Lian the entire time? He couldn’t have possibly grown as a person and become a more well-adjusted adult without the healing powers of hook-up culture?

Idk, there are just way too many stories being written about characters who date/sleep around and romances that come after that period, but mxtx novels are not those stories and the existence of one should not negate the validity of the other. If a reader finds that loving one person your entire life and not being interested in romance or sex otherwise outside of that one person is unbelievable, then they should simply find another story they do find believable enough to read that doesn’t break their immersion. But to then question the skills of the writer because their writing choices don’t speak to a reality you have experienced or accept?

#mdzs asks #svsss asks #tgcf asks #i hope this all makes sense #glad I didn’t see whatever post you were talking about though #cause that’s def a queerphobic take #this didn’t focus so much on evidence that the characters aren’t one-dimensional #because the take itself is a bad faith one that has nothing to do with how well-written any of them are #anon

[lunarduty]

𝙒𝙄𝙎𝙃 𝙄 𝘿𝙄𝘿𝙉'𝙏 𝘾𝘼𝙍𝙀

☾ how the cod men act when they're jealous. 141 + ALEJANDRO + RUDY + GRAVES + FRANK X F!READER TAGS | female reader. WC | 1,449

☾ JOHN PRICE has always felt very secure in himself, his work, and the relationships with those he cares about - that extends to you tenfold. he’s not one to get into a relationship if he doesn’t feel like you won’t or can’t be faithful 100%. and that’s why he never truly gets jealous - because he knows you and he knows you love him and wouldn’t try to mess around. if some muppet tries hitting on you at the pub, he’ll only get involved because he doesn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.

but john isn’t completely immune from jealousy. while he never worries about some other bloke sweeping you off your feet, his jealousy comes through when he feels as if someone else is outshining him. john has a tendency to be distant, and even when he’s beginning to feel that distance, work can pull him even further away. so if he sees you getting your laughs or comfort from someone else, it kinda tugs at his heart. makes him wish he was doing it instead.

☾ GAZ never truly lets things get under his skin if he doesn’t deem them important enough to, and jealousy is one of those things. of course, he likes having all of your attention. but it’s hard to really feel threatened when he’s the one who brought you to the pub, arm over your shoulders, showing you off and giving lots of kisses and doesn’t really give a fuck who sees. cheeky as he is, kyle might even revel in the onlookers who start to feel jealous of him.

and if there’s anything to be jealous about, it’s the bottle that you hold so tightly in your hands and bring to those gorgeous lips. it’s toward the music itself for making you move so slowly and sexily. it’s at the liquor that plasters a grin on your face when gaz can usually do it himself. he does later, rest assured - makes dumb jokes to make you laugh while he runs your hands all over his body for you. and there’s nothing left to be jealous over.

☾ SOAP is a man who’s pretty in touch with his feelings. he knows when he starts feeling jealous, when it starts making him act up, and he always feels bad about it. there’s few people in the world soap trusts more than you - yet, he gets that hot, tight knot in his gut whenever he hears your laughter and he’s not the cause of it. when someone else seems to gain your attention more easily than he can. soap will push it down, try to act nonchalant, like it doesn’t bother him. but it does. other people pick up on it and that just makes it worse.

later on, when he finally gets you to himself, soap is talkative - more than usual. like if he keeps rambling about random topics, it’ll make up for lost time. at least in his mind. you eventually have to slow him down with a kiss, ask if everything is alright. you know soap better than he knows himself - of course you picked up on the shift in his mood. that simple fact helps soothe away the last lickings of jealousy. he still feels stupid about letting himself get like that.

☾ GHOST wouldn’t even realize he was jealous until someone else points it out. he’s usually gruff and stoic and glaring at people so his signs of jealous takes the form of not talking at all. and lots of staring. scowling is probably a better word for it - if looks can kill and all that. he internalizes his own behavior as simple concern over you, or something about the situation just not feeling right. he still memorizes the face of the guy who’s been chatting you up. sticks him all the way to the top of his shit list.

ghost doesn’t really interfere, not unless he feels like he has to (though, he’ll move around the goalposts of when the appropriate time is.) until then, he kinda just sulks by himself. not even soap can muster more than a couple words from him. and you can really feel his jealousy once he’s got you by his side again and he’s barely talking to you and glaring because he’s in a general shit mood. you ask him what’s wrong, and he says it’s nothing. it’s not until later, in private, when he reflects and feels like a total ass.

☾ ALEJANDRO is quite known for his hot temper, but when it comes to jealousy, he becomes more of an opportunist. instead of embarrassing you and himself by acting out on his jealousy, he’ll take the burning feeling and turn it into something useful. this means coming up to you, pulling you against his side, looking directly at the guy who’d been chatting you up, and really laying it on thick. kisses you, touches you, makes sly little comments. might kick it up a notch by saying some lowkey insults at the guy, knowing he wouldn’t do anything but alejandro kinda wishes he would.

he’ll act all innocent if you confront him about it. tell you he just likes showing you off because you’re too fucking cute and he loves you too much. but that act doesn’t hold up for very long because alejandro isn’t great at subtly. he ends up just insulting the guy even more to you by saying he was an idiot and didn’t deserve you and he kinda smelled anyway so why would you ever give him the time of day?

☾ RUDOLFO gets a bit of a Kicked Puppy Vibe whenever he’s jealous. he can be a sensitive person and feels the loss of your presence in his very soul. he really does try to ignore that ugly, twisted feeling inside him whenever the jealous gets especially potent. he wants to enjoy the night with the rest of los vaqueros, but rudy always seems to find you in the crowd. always frowns a little when he finds you enjoying the company of someone else a little too much. always stops himself from going and stealing your attention for himself.

but later on, his affection gets amped up to the max. rudy usually shines under your attention, and tonight is only worse. honestly gets a little clingy for the rest of the night, and seems to feel a little better when you blame it on the alcohol. of course, rudy knows himself well enough to know what he’s doing. feels a little embarrassed by it, so maybe some of his many kisses are his way of subtly apologizing for it.

☾ PHILLIP GRAVES does not get jealous at all. not at all. why should he care if some loser is making you laugh so hard at jokes that aren’t even funny? he only steps in because this guy is so wildly unfunny, and also kinda creepy, that graves is afraid you might just die of boredom. and as you know, phillip’s a heroic guy. as your boyfriend and commander, it’s his job to keep you safe from any and all threats big, or in this guy’s case, very small.

graves couldn’t hide his jealousy to save his own life. he likes to believe he’s smart and cunning and doesn’t let dumb shit get to him - and that’s true for a lot of things. but as soon as you gets you all to himself. he’s got this primal need to pull you close and remind you just who the fuck you belong to. he doesn’t think of it as proving himself, but the marks on your neck say otherwise…

☾ FRANK WOODS gets jealous more often than he’ll admit it. it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be obvious. and he’ll deny it - insist he isn’t the jealous type and he’s got more self-respect than all that. but he’s not nearly as subtle as he tries to be. it’s so easy to catch his gaze from across the room when someone happens to get a little too friendly. he’ll say over and over how he isn’t jealous, and in the same breath, stand between you and the dick talking to you and start throwing out insults.

even if you call him out on it later, frank doesn’t seem to care. in fact, he’ll look damn proud of himself. he’s always had this instinct to protect what’s his. always had this tendency for possessiveness. if he’s in a good mood, he’ll crack a dumb joke about the guy and move on. if not, he might think you were trying to make him jealous. but of course, that would mean admitting he was jealous in the first place.

#call of duty x reader #cod fanfic #cod x reader #simon riley x reader #alejandro vargas x reader #captain price x reader #ghost x reader #john price x reader #phillip graves x reader #rudolfo parra x reader #kyle garrick x reader #gaz x reader #soap x reader #johnny mactavish x reader #frank woods x reader

[pinkie-pop]

Pop's Self-Aware AU: Heartslyabul

Intro Heartslyabul Savannaclaw

Featuring: Gender-Neutral Reader, Twisted Wonderland x Reader. Yandere x Reader, Self Aware Twisted Wonderland

"Happy unbirthday! You're five minutes early and right on time. Hurry, pick a seat and grab a cup, you're the main character of today, so why not sit up by the front? Of course, by front I mean back, and by back I mean front. Oh, don't look so confused, dear, this is just how we do things around these parts. You'll get used to it soon.

Now, do you take your sugar with tea or with honey?"

>[Go to Heartslyabul]

Riddle Rosehearts:

He's a real stickler for the rules. Best not to anger him, lest it be off with your head. But you don't have to worry about that, do you?

Indeed, to Heartslyabul's housewarden, you are a being that sits above even the most important of the Queen's laws. Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that you are the law itself? To Riddle, you are a perfect being—the pinnacle of righteousness. No matter what you do, no matter what rules you break or how unscrupulous you may behave, it does not matter. You are not wrong. You can't be. It is everything else that is wrong.

It is with this unshakable faith that he rules over his dorm, gradually changing everything to suit your tastes. Of course, you'll acknowledge his efforts—won't you?

You have to. If you don't, then what was this all for?

Please accept them. Accept him. For you, he'd do anything.

There is nothing more important.

Trey Clover:

There's something sinister hidden behind his kind smile and brotherly persona—a wolf in sheep's clothing, if you'll forgive me for sounding cliché. It's something kept under wraps, and few had ever gotten unlucky enough to see it...until you came into the picture, that is.

Don't get the wrong idea now. This sadism would never be directed towards you. Rather, it is everyone else that you ought to worry for, should you care enough to worry for anyone at all. Trey would do anything if it were for you. Whether it's making your favorite dessert at three in the morning due to a sudden craving or throwing it out should you change your mind, it hardly matters. If it's for you, there are no lengths he wouldn't go to. Why, if it were your wish, he would pluck out everyone's unworthy eyes so that they were unable to gaze upon your form.

It stands to reason, then, that he would be willing to hide his true self from you, as well, if only to stand by your side.

Cater Diamond:

Another one that's not quite what he seems. Cater has spent years polishing his persona to an almost sickening degree. Putting on airs is exhausting, and the rewards are hollow. A few likes on Magicam, a fleeting moment of cyber fame, or applause from the crowd at a club event---none of it means anything to him. The endorphins are empty, cold, and so, so lonely.

He's been looking for something all his life. He couldn't find meaning in the real world, so he looks for it online. There's nothing there, either, yet even so, he searches.

He can't give up. He has to find something. If he doesn't...

Perhaps the universe decided to finally take pity on him, to throw him a bone, because finally, finally, he found it. Something more than just what's tangible. A purpose. A goal. Something to strive for, someone to impress.

You.

Duece Spade:

He's never really been a good kid. Bad grades. Bad attitude. The only way he knew how to communicate was through his fists. He hated it, but he didn't know how to change. But Duece is nothing if not stubborn. Even if he didn't know how to do something, he'd still brute his way into doing it. Even when it was sloppy. Even when he did it badly.

He wanted to change. Wanted to turn over a new leaf and make his mother proud. He finally had a chance to, after enrolling in Night Raven College. It was clear that he was out of his element. He wanted to be an honors student without knowing what it meant.

Then he met you. And everything fell into place.

You, perfect, amazing you. You were everything he'd ever wanted to be. You helped people, even when you didn't have to. Reached out even when you were on the other side of a screen. You traveled to another dimension and still managed to carve out a place for yourself amongst the chaos.

You were everything. And he'd give anything to you.

Ace Trappola:

Ace isn't exactly the lovey-dovey type. Never has been and thought he never would be, either. But...something about you makes him want to give it a try.

It's gross, honestly---the way you make him feel all warm and mushy. It's lame. He's lame. And yet, he doesn't seem to mind. He can't find it in himself to hate you. Of course not, how could he, when you're so...you?

You've made him a real sap, you know? But that's okay. Ace doesn't mind being sappy if it's for you. The others may tease him for it, but he knows they're all jealous of him. After all, he's your best friend, isn't he? Sure, your first impression of him may not have been all that great, but he's still the one who's stuck with you the longest.

He was the first human you made friends with.

He was the first, and he'll do whatever it takes to ensure that he's the favorite, too.

Unbirthday parties are so much fun; it's too bad this one was over so quick. Still, you have to go. After all, there's another dorm just down the hall. They've been scratching at the door waiting for you, so let's hurry and join them, okay?

>[Go to Savannaclaw]

#yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twst #self aware twst #yandere riddle rosehearts #yandere ace trappola #yandere duece spade #yandere cater diamond #yandere trey clover #yandere riddle #yandere ace #yandere cater #yandere duece #yandere trey

[tokyo-debunkers-headcanons]

How do you think the boys were when MC didn't come back for a day? I imagine Kaito starting a riot and probably crying. Maybe even failing to sneak out lol (I love him 😭)

Oh GOD! the CHAOS! I'm gonna do this more as a group headcanon for both houses. Thank you for sending in a request!

It was around lunch time when the message that MC went MIA on a mission. These are the headcanons of the brave souls that survived that day.

FROSTHEIM

Jin was already pissed that he lost his newest gopher (affectionate) to do stuff for him. But the second that message dropped. He had to do a double and even a triple take to make sure he read that right. As soon as he's sure he IMMEDIATELY get Tohma to check the tracker on the cruiser he lent out to them (he's rich. He absolutely has a tracker put on his shit)

Kaito is screaming, crying, throwing up (okay maybe not that last one). He's READY to go dive into the water to save MC. He is LOSING IT scoob!

Some would think that our boy Luca would try to keep Kaito calm....in actuality he's almost just as bad. He just manages to keep it on the inside. He's trying to do it through the proper channels (ie Professor Dante) but when that doesn't work or will take too long for their liking, he's coming up with an escape plan right alongside Kaito.

We gave to remember that Luca has already lost one of his loved ones. He's sure as HELL not losing another one without a fight!

Tohma is STRESSED! Not because MC is missing though. He's concerned sure, but he's sure they'll come back soon, missions are typically dangerous after all. He doesn't have much faith in the academy itself. Its more of a logical way of thinking. Its one day, he's sure they're fine.

Where his stress is coming from is the other Frostheim ghouls. He's basically that meme of someone with kids on leashes each going in different directions. Someone HELP this man's before he goes gray!

VAGASTROM

Alan had to hear from someone else. He was shocked to hear that MC had gone missing. It was even worse since the last time he saw them they weren't sure if their ability worked or how it worked. He went to go ask some of the professors to see what happened but got what was essentially nothing.

Sho was worried but he didn't show it. He tried to play it off like he was too focused on his food truck to worry about the honor student. He did however ask his brother about them when he saw him next. His brother mercilessly teased him about possibly liking MC and Sho instantly regretted asking. Every now and then he considered trying to call MC to see if they would answer.

He decided against it and focused more on his truck to keep his mind off of things.

Leo doesn't care. At this point he still wants to take MC down. So while its not the way he wanted to do it, it meant no more annoying NPC tagging along on missions with them. So to him, it was a win. The only annoying part was Alan and Sho worrying about them. He didn't get it and just laughed at the gossip on WickChat about the meltdown at Frostheim.

#tokyo debunker #headcanons #frostheim #jin kamurai #tohma ishibashi #kaito fuji #lucas errant #luca #Vagastrom #alan mido #shohei haizono #sho #leo kurosagi

[ilynpilled]

Something so sexy about Jaime’s most heroic act being doomed from the get go in every way. It damns him for one, like there is no action to take in the situation he is in without huge cost. So many vows yadda yadda, you are damned either way. But in general, a nuke being under the city is something you cannot come back from. It is meant to be a death sentence to the place, the culmination of the trajectory the kingdom was on. Aerys doomed the city with that. The logistics of removal is not all that simple. If you tell Ned and he even believes you? Great! Now who else will have to know? Who can be trusted with it? How will you remove it? We do not even know all precise locations, we had to kill all the pyromancers. How do you make sure it is not accidentally set off? On top of that, the city is filled to the brim with corruption. Full of players who would love to use and exploit that kind of power. The information itself is dangerous. The wildfire functions as a great metaphor as a result. It is festering corruption. You cannot erase the caches at this point. The closest you can get to that is bury the knowledge. He is still haunted by an endless stream of burning bodies. An event that never happened: “In his dreams the dead came burning, gowned in swirling green flames. Jaime danced around them with a golden sword, but for every one he struck down two more arose to take his place.” When he hears that Tyrion made use of it, he is immediately reminded of his greatest fear: “Jaime saw green flames reaching up into the sky higher than the tallest towers, as burning men screamed in the streets. I have dreamed this dream before.” His faith in institutions is also below ground by then, like you see it in his weirwood dream, he tells the truth to his heroes and it does nothing. It is not about Ned, he is not the one that comes out, even though he assumed he would be. “It was never him.” They damn him to darkness anyway for his act and prioritize feudalistic moral constructs. All these contradictions are what makes his fire go out in the dream. But the belief that you can bury all this, and therefore prevent the existence of an Aerys 2.0, does nothing but stall the inevitable. KL’s supposed savior, Robert, the man leading the rebellion, who would slay the “evil dragon”, just led to stagnation. He did not wash out the corruption in it, he just sat on top of it and let it fester. He rues Robert, he says so. One bad king to another. The wildfire problem is more complicated than a single mad man. Its tragedy is rooted in enablement and escalation. There is a reason the pyromancers are more emphasized in the confession. I read it as symbolic of the systemic issues permeating the city, because those are what allowed it to get to the point that it did in the first place. Brienne knows about the wildfire now too, but she also does not comprehend what a volatile ticking time-bomb it is. They do not know how it works, and how it becomes more dangerous over time. Jaime might even save that damn city twice with the Cers and valonqar set up, but both times it is gonna be ultimately “pointless”, bc KL cannot be saved. But that does not matter, because the fact that someone acted back then has meaning. Thematically, that action itself is a triumph.

#valyrianscrolls #jaime lannister #me when i am trapped by the meta bc one of my most defining acts is a chekhovs gun #but i stll think there is meaning in the action. like there is meaning in the attempt #things are not only about the result #something something jaime always guarding something doomed in his narrative #worst knight in shining armor oat 💔 #his family his children etc etc #his kings #the city itself #so many vows and u will keep breaking every single one of them

[the-ember-island-players]

I said it before for pjo and I never thought I’d have to say it again, but watching some of the immediate negative reactions and nitpicking, as a wheel of time fan, who suffered the first botched adaptation and then powered through season 1 and suffered again through season 2:

Yall are so spoilt it’s sickening. This is your second chance a lot of fandoms do not get that. It looks better than the movie don’t yall dare deny that I see some of you clowns trying already it’s embarrassing. Please watch the movie again. The trailer wasn’t terrible. It’s a live action adaptation of an animated story it’s not gonna be perfect. It’s gonna look campy and if it didn’t there would be other people complaining. And while we’re at it give me one adaptation that was perfect, literally one. That’s not how this shit works. Most aren’t even close and this looks close. I see one person complaining it’s too saturated and another person saying it’s too dark they can’t please everyone. It’s a few minutes, how much could you possibly have to criticise? I’m not saying you have to like it but give it a chance to prove itself.

Enjoy the good parts, because there will be good parts I promise you, give feedback, hope the writers take it into consideration. Hope season 2 is better. They saw what happened the first time, they know they’d be insane not to respect the fandom.

Also they’re not ruining the original. Nothing ruins the original. It still exists. You can still watch it. If the adaptation is bad we can give it the movie treatment and pretend it doesn’t exist.

And maybe it’s not relevant, but I’m gonna put it in anyway, just for context, it was obvious from the get go that the wheel of time show was going to be very different from the books. You could tell even from the trailer. The atla trailer? It isnt like that. I know what a trailer looks like for an inaccurate show and this isn’t it. Yes azula has a bow and arrow, no that’s not in the animated show. It’s not the end of the world I promise you. In fact, there’s probably an in show explanation have faith.

I’ll be the first person to criticise the show if it lacks heart, but until then, I’m choosing to hope for the best.

#atla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender live action

[misshoneyimhome]

You mentioned that the inexperienced reader has gotten good at giving blowjobs to William. How did William react of skills of her rocking his world right before his contract meeting? He would totally test her flexibly after the meeting just to make her loose her mind.

Alright, we're taking a few leaps in time here - hope it all flows well for you 🤍

[Or who cares if it's a bit confusing; it's Willy smut, and we're all just here for the fun, right]

However, I do still hope you enjoy it, even though it turned out to be quite lengthy... 🙈 No pun intended

Also, I decided to weave in two other requests (1 & 2) to create a full chapter, so it sort of turned out to be three stories in one - please, feel free to share your thoughts (on the length, amount of smut, or anything else) - Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy 😊

Warnings; 18+ smut; oral sex (m receiving); mention of masturbation; praise!kink; light spanking; dominance!kink; thigh riding; edging; light bondage; unprotected sex (p in v); cum inside; more oral sex (m receiving, mention of f receiving); swallowing...?

I won't even try and defend myself on this 🙈 I know, nobody asked for 5.9K words of Willy Nylander smut... 🤍

[Credits to sarahaugenphotography]

[Inexperienced!reader x Willy]

・✶ ｡ﾟ

All good boys go to heaven - But bad boys bring heaven to you pt IV I William Nylander 🖋️⚡️

"Hey, you alright, babe?" you inquired, your voice gentle and cautious, while you looked at your boyfriend, William Nylander.

"Hmm... I’m fine," he merely responded, though his restless leg under the table suggested otherwise. His tense fingers played with the mug, even though he had already finished his coffee and was now just staring into space. His striking blue eyes sparkled, and his expression remained calm yet resolute.

You had just finished breakfast. Even though William wasn't initially hungry when you’d asked, you still prepared a small plate of his favourite pancakes, which he devoured with evident satisfaction.

"Hey, it's okay if you're feeling nervous. Anyone would be," you offered a soft smile across the table.

"I know, but I'm not - my agent has it all sorted, babe," he reassured you, although it sort of seemed like he was trying to convince himself, as you noticed his attempt at a smile, but it quickly faded.

Truth be told, William hadn't been particularly nervous during the many months of negotiating his contract. He had complete faith in his manager and agent, confident that he'd make the right decision no matter what.

While it wasn't a secret that William wanted to stay in Toronto - at least, that's what he had communicated to everyone, including the press - he understood that his career came first. If a better deal presented itself elsewhere, he would take it. But Toronto was more than just a city; it was home to him.

And naturally, you played a role in all of this too. Since you and William started dating, he felt a subtle desire to be wherever you were. Not that he'd ever choose not to transfer because of you – you understood that. Yet, a small part of him hoped to stay there so that the two of you could be together.

Especially since you hadn't really discussed what would happen if he didn't get an extension.

Yet today marked his final meeting with the managers, settling the last details, and hopefully, reaching an agreement to sign. Despite William not displaying any nervous emotions, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of anxiety on his behalf. This was a significant step in his career, and you wanted to be nothing but supportive. After all, you were in a committed relationship, and all you wanted was for William to be happy.

And as you both sat in silence, an urge to comfort your man washed over you. You wanted to make him feel at ease and tune into his calm pulse.

So, gradually, you got up from your chair and took measured steps around the table, placing your hands gently on William's shoulders as you tenderly caressed him. Your fingers traced his neck and the cascade of his long locks as you admired your stunning man. His composed demeanour had always impressed you, and now you felt the need to impress him as well – to show him just how proud you were of him.

Gently, you offered his shoulders a light massage, ensuring you wouldn't tense up his muscles. You observed him relaxing from his position, leaning back in the chair into your touch.

Noticing him slowly tilting his head back, you bent down behind him, placing a soft kiss on his earlobe before whispering, "Are you sure you don't need me to help calm your nerves?"

Your seductive voice echoed through his ear, and William felt a comfortable shiver run down his spine, as he closed his eyes, letting himself relax under your butterfly kisses on his neck. Your hands carefully sneaked in front of his torso, under his shirt by the collar, gently toying with his light chest hairs.

"Mmm... maybe I could use some help..." he moaned softly, feeling a small tingling down in his groin as one of your hands began traveling further down under his shirt.

And with a light bite onto his earlobe, you seductively added, "Then get up and let me take care of you..."

Which you didn't have to tell him twice.

Rising from his seat, you both moved around so William could lean against the dining table, and you stood in front of him, on your toes, sharing a deep, passionate kiss while tucking two fingers under the hem of his sweats. Pulling back, you looked him straight in the eyes with a flirtatious smirk. Then, you squatted before him, pulling down his sweats along with his boxers, letting his semi-hard member come in contact with the cool air.

Your eyes glinted up at him as you kissed his muscular thighs, his hand gently stroking your hair, and his eyes meeting yours. William couldn't help but gasp, slightly parting his lips as you kissed closer to his growing member, licking and nipping his sensitive flesh.

"Baby, no teasing," he muttered softly, as you used one hand to gently stroke his length, feeling how his blood flow made him completely hard for you under your touch. You licked your lips, hungry to make contact with his tender skin, and as he wished, you parted your lips to wrap them around his tip, circling your tongue before slowly taking him further into your warmth.

William let out small grunts as he felt you take him deeper with every slow motion, hitting the back of your mouth as you expertly worked him with your hand. Your saliva coated every inch of him as you concentrated on breathing through your nose, relaxing the back of your throat, allowing yourself to take more and more of him in.

Truth be told, you were rather impressed with yourself.

William wasn't exactly on the smaller side - nor unrealistically large. But he was thick, a good length that could fill you up completely and girth that could stretch you wonderfully. To you, his cock was perfect.

And as you bopped your head and offered him every part of your warm mouth in a seductive and sensual manner, you observed how his hips softly began to rock and his eyes turned away from yours, closing shut as he leaned back. One hand still in your hair, while the other held a tight grip onto the table behind him.

His breaths gradually grew deeper and more inconsistent as his climax built up, and he could feel himself nearing the peak.

"Oh yes, baby, so damn good," he praised you softly between moans, his hand gripping your hair more firmly. "Fuck yes... shit... baby, more... I'm getting close."

His words acted like a spell, and instinctively, you increased your speed, bobbing faster as you took him deeper. Your hand worked the area you didn't have in your mouth, feeling his hips thrust against your movements.

He was so close.

You sensed the tightening in his thighs, his hand holding onto the table, while his other hand ensuring you wouldn't pull away.

Then with several more bobs, William let out a deep grunt as he reached his climax, releasing into your mouth. And you willingly swallowed every bit, cleaning up his sensitive shaft with your tongue and lips.

William's breaths were deep as he regained control, his lungs filling with air as he slowly came down from his high, and you gently let go of his member.

"Fuck, baby, you're so good at this..." he softly muttered, and you couldn't help but elicit a chuckle as you rose from your knees.

"I just wanted to make you feel good before your meeting," you flashed him a mischievous smile, gently wrapping your arms around him as he pulled you in for a hug and placed a kiss on your forehead.

"Well, I must admit you really did, baby..."

**

You’d taken the day off from work to get the condo ready for a family visit, as they all wanted to be there for William on this significant day in his career. And while his father, Michael, had already headed to the arena to join William for the training session, his mother and sisters opted for some rest at the hotel before joining you later.

And as your boyfriend and his agent were in the meeting, you busied yourself with tidying up the place. However, amidst the preparations, you felt a bit naughty and decided to give William a sneak peek of what awaited him when he got home. You kept it classy enough though, considering the possibility that he might open your message it in front of others.

Meanwhile, across town, William was smiling during his meeting. Everything seemed to be falling into place exactly as he had hoped, and after months of negotiations, the final touches were about to be put down just before his signature.

The atmosphere was calm and relaxed as his agent discussed the details, and William mostly had to sit back and follow along. However, as the conversation continued and the final touches were being ironed out, his phone suddenly vibrated.

And as curiosity got the best of him, he saw your name on the display, yet knowing it could either be something nice or naughty, he decided to open your message – which turned out to be a seductive mirror photo of you in lingerie, accompanied by the text: 'Hope the meeting is going well for you, baby – can't wait to see you later.'

William had to gulp to contain his reaction. Shit, he thought. Of course, you'd be teasing him like this. But he couldn't help but smile. You were stunning, and with the meeting going in his favour, all he wanted was to celebrate with you later. And the way you’d already given him a taste of how good your mouth felt like, he had an idea of just what to do with you.

**

It had become a familiar game between the two of you, especially since the trip to Sweden where William had teased you all day, culminating in a passionate round of sex in his childhood home with his family just down the hall.

And describing how mortified and embarrassed you’d felt would be an understatement, but it only took a week for you to exact your revenge. 

After the boys immediately went on tour following the Global Series, you became a master at teasing William, as you sent him lingerie photos, nudes, and dirty messages that had him thoroughly riled up. It was a perfect game.

And as he returned home, ready to reciprocate, you found yourself on a short business trip. Though it was only for two days, for William, it felt like an eternity. 

It wasn't that you didn't crave his touch – of course, you did – but the thrill of the game was more intriguing. Besides, you managed to satisfy your needs with a vibrator, even sending him a short snap of the act.

And ýou knew you were in for a round of trouble.

Upon your return from the business trip, William wasted no time picking you up and taking you to his place. And without hesitation, you agreed.

He’d naturally tried to keep his cool at first. He ordered some of his favourite takeout, which you enjoyed as you lounged on the sofa. Then gently William began caressing your thighs and teasingly moving close to your core before retreating completely. Which he repeated a couple of times, well aware that it was slowly driving you insane. 

However, you maintained a small smile on your lips, not wanting to let on how much he was getting to you. And together, you both managed to keep control as you watched a TV show.

But then, as you snuggled up to William in a spooning position and purposely ground your ass into his groin, he slowly grew impatient, and he felt the need to put you in your place.

It hadn't always been a fantasy of William's to act like this, but a comment from a few of his teammates during the Sweden trip had sparked some ideas in him.

“Det är nästan som att hon är Ana till din Christian Grey,” (It’s almost like she’s the Ana to your Christian Grey) Calle had teased, after the lads had been talking about how much sex you’d been having ever since you’d admitted your lack of experience.

“Du har verkligen visat henne världen – och nu testar hon vattnet – hon är en kinky en, Willy, du kan verkligen ha kul med henne,” (You’ve really shown her the world – and now she’s testing the waters – she’s a kinky one, Willy, you could really have some fun with her) Lagesson had added with a mischievous grin, prompting William to consider what other limits he could push with you.

"You’re being a bad girl, baby," William spoke with a dark, husky voice, whispering into your ear and causing a shiver to run down your spine. However, you were more intrigued by the fact that you had finally stirred his attention.

"I don’t know what you mean," you innocently spoke, still looking at the screen as you 'ignored' his accusations. "I’m just getting comfortable."

As you gently wiggled your ass a little more, ensuring his cock twitched just enough to tease, a deep grunt escaped from the man behind you. And the satisfied smirk formed on your lips, swiftly removed as William had evidently reached his limit.

"Mmm. I think I need to teach you a little lesson on how we do things here," his voice was rough, and without saying anything else, William rose from his position, hoisted you with his strong arms, and tossed you over his shoulder before carrying you to the bedroom. You had to contain a small giggle, knowing it would only encourage him further. Yet, you were also tempted to play with fire. 

As he put you down, you offered him a small smile, one that he didn't return. Which could only mean one thing for you – you were about to be punished.

William wasn't particularly rough – perhaps a mild version of Christian Grey – but he certainly had a dominant side. Much like the first time you had had sex when he had spanked you a few times. It had been an unfamiliar mix of pain and pleasure, something you had been slightly intrigued to explore a little more ever since.

And tonight, he let his inner dominant side take charge. As you stood before him, he issued his first command.

"Strip for me," he spoke with a soft smirk formed on his lips. So, you stripped down to your dainty knickers, earning a cocked brow as William sat on the edge of the bed. "Completely, älskling."

And with a gentle nod, you did as told.

"I knew you could be a good girl… come here."

However, just as you thought you were going to straddle your boyfriend and have the opportunity to ride him, he shifted you and pulled you to bend you over his knees with your ass in position for his right hand.

You suppressed a smile as William looked intensely at you, and you turned your head to meet his eyes.

“Why do you always have to be a fucking tease?” he asked with a dark chuckle, and you found yourself biting down on your lower lip before responding with an almost innocent smile.

“Because I can.”

Less than a second later, you felt William’s hand slamming across your ass cheek, earning a light moan from you as you closed your eyes and felt the sting on your skin.

“That’s right, baby…”

Then you felt the spank again.

“This is for being such a bad girl…”

And again. Every time, you couldn't help but let out a soft moan, feeling your core beginning to tingle, yet you craved something else entirely.

“Willy, I want to touch you,” you heard yourself softly speak after the fourth smack.

“Oh, you want to touch me? Alright, get up, babe,” he chuckled lightly, and again, you did as he said.

However, instead of giving you what you wished for, William leaned over to the nightstand, took out a pair of faux leather cuffs, and sat back in his position.

“Turn, älskling,” and with a quick eyeroll, you let him cuff your wrists together before he turned you back around and pulled you into his lap, one of his thick thighs between your legs for you to straddle. “Did you just roll your eyes at me?”

Again, his light chuckle had a hint of darkness and dominant disapproval, to which you naturally had to offer him a light nod.

Your knees were on the bed, William's muscles flexing against your core, and your wrists were tied behind your back; it wasn't exactly an easy position. But William felt content with it, and as his eyes wandered your body, he gave you his next command.

"Ride me," he smirked, placing his lips onto the sensitive skin of your neck, wrapping a hand behind your head, intertwining fingers with your hair, and the other holding your hips in place.

Slowly, you began rocking your hips, grinding your sensitive core against his thigh. And you couldn't help but moan a little, letting yourself sink into the pleasurable feeling of rubbing your clit against the dry fabric of his sweats.

William sucked and bit your neck in between kisses, releasing his mouth to stare at you with an intense glare as you closed your eyes and increased your speed. His hand on your lower back guided your motions, and slowly you became more and more eager, grinding yourself more intensely against him in search of the impending orgasm.

"Oh yes, Willy," you panted lightly, feeling the knot in your lower tummy form, and a euphoric state slowly clouding your mind.

"Yeah, it feels good, baby?"

"So, good, Willy..."

He could almost feel how you were clenching your walls in mere desperation to reach your peak, again increasing your speed as your breaths became incoherent.

"Don't come, baby."

"What?"

"I said: don't come," William's voice was filled with content as he observed how desperate you were, almost crying as you had to slow down your movements to avoid reaching climax.

It was torture.

You let out a whimper as you opened your eyes again and met his intense gaze.

"Willy, please…"

And as your cry rang like music in his ears, he felt his own need for release as his cock had solidly stiffened in his sweats.

"Looks like you've made a bit of a mess, baby," William chuckled again, noticing the wet patch you'd created on his thigh. "Stand up."

Without hesitation, you rose again, staring at your boyfriend with a slightly open mouth as he stripped down to nothing as well, before gently undoing your wrists.

"You're such a good girl for me," he praised with a low voice, carefully rubbing his thumb over your lower lip as his eyes locked intensely with yours.

"Always," you simply replied, gently licking his thumb before he bent down and forcefully connected your mouths. His hands found your ass as he hoisted you into his grip and firmly took a few steps to press you against the wall.

Your tongues were hungry to taste each other, mixing saliva. And you couldn't help but feel your core clenching as you felt William's member hard against your inner thigh.

“Willy, please, in me,” you almost begged in between kisses, and this time, you got what you wished for.

William's length quickly found your entrance, easing in as your arousal had provided a good amount of juices. You couldn’t contain your moans as he stretched your walls, harmonising with him as he felt every inch of your warmth.

And swiftly, his hips found a steady rhythm, pounding in and out of you as William shifted between connecting his lips with yours and moaning into the crook of your neck.

It was heated and passionate. No game anymore as you were making love and both craving a release. His cock felt so good inside of you, filling you up and stretching your walls as his deep moans echoed in your ears like sweet sounds.

“You feel so fucking amazing, baby.”

Your hands were tightly gripping onto his hair, and you soon found yourself again getting closer to the edge.

“Please, I want to come,” you cried out as William thrust into you, bringing dangerously close to your orgasm of he denied you once more.

But this time he gave you, his approval. And as soon as he spoke the words, you let out a deep moan and surrendered to the intense orgasm.

And before short, William felt himself about to reach his own climax. The tightness around him pushed him closer, and as he continued to fuck you through your high, feeling your muscles clench around him, he too let go and reached his peak, spilling his seed into your warmth.

“Yes… Mmm…” he let out deep grunts, slowly pumping a few more times as he regained his breath, both calming down from the intense high of finally giving in to deep desires.

In comfortable silence, you both untangled from the heated moment, gently cleaning up before retiring to the bed where William, as always, made sure to give you proper aftercare.

“I hope I wasn’t too rough with you,” he offered you a slightly concerned smile as you rested beside him.

“Not at all, Willy,” you flashed him a soft chuckle. “But I’m glad you're still worried about it.”

“Of course, älskling, I only want you to feel good.”

“You always make me feel so good, baby,” you smiled before placing a soft kiss on his lips.

**

Despite the intensity of the games you occasionally played, both of you found them more intriguing than anything else.

Especially after the Sweden trip and that memorable night, it became an ongoing play. When William was on the road, every day felt like torture for him. He'd play exceptionally well, knowing you'd be watching back at home. And in the evening, you'd catch up during a video call, where mutual self-pleasure often followed. Teasing photos were exchanged daily, ensuring he had something to look at in case he felt the need for release. And you'd be ready to guide him through it over the phone while satisfying yourself.

However, despite the fun of teasing when apart, nothing compared to how William would take you when he got back. Nearly every surface of his condo had been in contact with either of your skin. Whether it was your body on the dining table, his ass print on the sofa, your back against the shower, or any other wall, you'd been there.

Yet what amazed you the most, was how your relationship had evolved into something more. After being introduced as his girlfriend, you both had made your relationship public, not just to players and families but also to the rest of the world.

In his ever-so-chill and discreet way, William had posted stories of you on his social media, and you'd done the same about him. It was all rather cute, nothing overly lovey-dovey as Auston had put it. You were officially together for the world to see, and it felt more than amazing.

The only challenge you faced next was, of course, William’s contract extension.

It had been underway for a while, and although you were aware of it from the beginning, you tried not to think too much about it. Perhaps it was because the fear that William might not stay in Toronto lingered in the background, and discussing it might make it all too real, bringing tears to your eyes.

Not that you showed it to William. He didn't exhibit any signs of concern or worry, so you attempted to match his calm energy and simply enjoy the present. Your relationship was profound, and you were willing to make the best of every moment.

Yet, as the negotiations approached their final days, impatience grew within you. And your best way to deal with it was to show your man how much you cared for him and supported whatever decision they'd reach, which often meant taking him down your throat. It was a skill you proudly possessed, and it brought you almost as much pleasure as it did for him. 

And it was also very much on your mind during the family dinner.

Despite the overwhelming joy over William finalizing an 8-year extension in Toronto with a satisfactory salary, the thought lingered in your mind.

And amidst the Swedish chatting, cheers, delicious foods, and drinks, the idea of celebrating with William alone distracted you from keeping up with the mix of languages. Despite their best efforts to engage you in the conversation, you were more occupied with resting a hand on your boyfriend’s thigh, contemplating just how you were going to please him.

“Easy, baby,” William softly whispered in your ear as your hand had slowly travelled to cup his member through his baggy jeans. “Save it for later….”

You softly smiled to yourself, gently biting down on your lower lip as you let your hand slip back to just rest on his thigh again. And, before everyone wanted to rise from the table and go for an evening walk with the dogs, you couldn’t help but leave him with a small comment.

“Can’t wait to show you just how much of a good girl I can be for you.”

Your voice held nothing but seduction, and you knew that such a whisper in front of his family was way over the line. A line he had started crossing the night in Sweden, and you were simply playing along.

But your comment wasn’t left unattended as you noticed William’s flickering eyes and a smirk forming on his lips before he rose from his seat.

“Oh, you better be,” he merely whispered as they all began cleaning the table and left for a walk.

Fortunately, none of the family members stayed for long, needing rest due to jet lag, and soon you were back in the condo, slowly stripping each other as you shared deep, passionate kisses.

William's hands roamed your body as if he'd never explored it before, and you felt every inch of his skin you could reach. It was hungry, yet slow and intense as you lay on the bed, his fingers finding your core, stretching your walls while his tongue flicked and sucked your clit a few times.

He prepared you so well, making you feel incredible as your body trembled under his touch, feeling the intensity of a rush coursing through every cell and slowly clouding your mind.

He even brought you to orgasm just with his fingers and mouth, your fists clenching the bed sheets, letting your juices coat him as your mouth moaned his name over and over again.

William always took such good care of you, ensuring you came before he thought about his own needs. And tonight, he knew exactly how he wanted to finish.

And after your first orgasm, he then knelt, placed your ankles on his shoulders, and eased himself into your depths, feeling your walls tighten around him. He hovered over you, supporting himself on his arms, and had your knees come closer to your face before he pounded hard into you.

His skin slapped against yours as your uncontrollable moans filled the room, and he was touching the deepest parts inside you, making you squirm and cry out. It was intense as he kept hitting a very sensitive spot, overstimulating with every thrust, and it didn't take long before you let a second orgasm take over, screaming out curse words that clearly signalled your climax.

You were on cloud nine, your legs shaking when William released them from this position, and it took a moment to find air again before you could open your eyes and look at him with a satisfied smile.

Naturally, he returned it, confident and proud of his work as always, turning you into a piece of art of a mess again.

But tonight was not about you. It was about him.

And though William loved nothing more than to fuck you into oblivion, he did have something else in store for you.

"On your knees."

His voice was dark and husky as his fingers threaded through your hair, guiding you onto the floor. You obeyed without protest. His dominant side was showing again, and you felt a mix of excitement and shock as his eyes had turned darker after your passionate lovemaking.

You knelt before him, your eyes intensely looking up at his large figure, shifting between his face and his throbbing cock, hard and eager for release. You trembled as he approached, kneeling before you, his lips pressing against yours, and his tongue exploring your mouth.

You couldn't help but moan in response, your hands desperately seeking him. But swiftly, he withdrew, leaving you in need of more than just a heated kiss.

Then standing before you, William looked at you with a confident, smug expression. You were down on your knees for him, ready to please and bring him to climax after he'd been good to you. And as he took a step forward, aligning his hard member with your slightly parted lips, he looked down at you with deep desire in his eyes.

"Open up."

No more words were needed before you eagerly moistened your lips with your tongue and opened wide enough for you to take his length into your warm mouth.

William couldn't contain a deep moan as you took him in, letting your saliva cover his shaft as you tasted yourself. You used a hand to stroke the part your mouth couldn't reach, pushing yourself to take him in fully. And as the sensitive tip hit the very back of your throat, your nose struggled to control your breathing.

"Shit, yes, baby… so fucking good…"

William's dark grunts echoed through the bedroom, and you could taste his salty precum as he closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and slowly began rocking his hips. You felt his muscles tense and his grip on the back of your head tighten, and so you decided to make him see the stars he deserved. Taking in a deep breath through your nostrils, you did your best to relax your throat and took him all in, your nose meeting the skin above his cock as you felt your lower lip touch the top of his balls.

“Oh fuck…!” his moan came out in surprise as he looked down at you with wide eyes, gagging on his thick cock as you forced yourself to keep in him, tears polling in the corner of your eyes, before you gently pulled back to breath. You could tell that he had not expected that, and being a little proud on yourself, you then turned to his balls, took one in your mouth, sucked it a little as you gave his length a few strokes before giving the other ball the same attention. “Y/n/n… fu.. shi..” 

Saying William was speechless was an understatement, as you let your mouth to work every bit of tender skin he had to offer. Licking up his shaft again before you took the tip in your mouth again, circling with your tongue before once again down him entirely. Moaning around his cock you felt him twitch under your touch, and you knew he was getting closer to his climax. His moans and breaths seemed uncontrolled, his hand keeping your head in place as his hips began thrusting against you, and you had to hold your hands on his hips to keep him from choking you. 

“Baby, I’m gonna come…” 

William felt his climax about to peak, and then pulling you away from his cock, he looked down at you with a satisfied smirk. 

You were there on your knees between his leg, with your mouth open. Ready to be fed. Your eyes looked up at him with hunger, as you watched as he stroked himself. Slowly. Intently. His veins were engorged, and he build and build until he was ready to climax. 

“Stick your tongue out for me.” And you did a told. “Mmm that’s a good girl.”

With a deep grunt, he then stuck his cock in your mouth again, and unloaded onto your palate. His sticky cum coated your tongue and painted the inside of your mouth white.

And just before you could do anything, he spoke again.

“Hold it. Do not swallow until I say so….” 

He released his member from your warm mouth, and you had to keep control of yourself as you held his cum in your mouth, looking up at him as he gently stroked your hair. “Oh fuck… you have no idea how pretty you look…”

You had to focus your gaze on him, letting yourself enjoy the sweet and salty taste of him. Your eyes batting as you awaited his final command.

William enjoyed the image of you before him more than he’d expected. You were so fucking gorgeous, and you were his. Letting his thumb gently rub over your lips as he was calming down from his high, he then gave you your last treat.

“You can swallow now, baby.”

And so, you did.

You let his cum glide down your sore throat before gasping for air. William always tasted so good. Like you couldn’t get enough of him; you could eat him like candy, send him to pleasure as you challenged your own abilities.

And as always, being the gentleman he was, William helped you rise from the floor, pulling you in for a tender embrace, and placed a soft kiss on your lips.

You couldn’t contain a smile as you gazed up at him, your arms finding his neck as you enjoyed the warmth from his body.

“Congratulations on the contract, Willy,” you spoke softly, gently playing with the locks of his hair.

And returning your smile, William let out a light chuckle. “Thanks, babe… you were fucking incredible.”

“I know,” you replied with a wide grin. “I just love pleasing you like that.”

“Mmm… can’t really complain, now can I…”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think you can.”

As rough and dominant as William could be, he also showed a caring and soft side. And after cleaning you both up in the bathroom, he prepared for bed and let you cuddle in his arms as you again locked eyes in a comfortable silence, before he broke it.

“Move in with me…”

His words came as a complete surprise.

“What?”

“Move in with me,” he repeated with a light chuckle, his voice suggesting it was the most obvious thing to do. And you couldn’t control how your eyes darted from side to side as you stared into his.

“Willy, are you sure? Or are you just trying to be nice?”

But the question wasn’t all that sudden to William. For a while now, he had been thinking about it, mostly because you spent so much time at his place anyway. It would just make sense that you didn’t have another place. Besides, you always took care of his dogs when he was on the road, so you might as well just live there. To him, it seemed so simple.

“Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t ask.”

His calm demeanour could still take you by surprise, and as you let out a light sigh and a chuckle, you just looked at his wonderful blue eyes.

“Alright, let me think about it.”

#18+ #Inexperienced!reader x Willy #william nylander imagine #nhl smut #wn88 imagine #william nylander smut #nhl hockey imagine #toronto maple leafs imagine #SlutsforPresidentNylander

[franki-lew-yo]

An 'A-ha!' fandom moment, ft. The Owl House

These comments I screencapped from a user I watch elsewhere really hit like a brick in the face to me. I'm blotting out OP's name, mostly cuz this was just a shower thought they had rather than any meaningful open discussion with people, but it ended up making me realize something (also NO they're not some contrarian AntiSJW type or even hate TOH; they're a very gay+trans writer themselves. Sorry if youknowwhoyouare sees this and recognizes ur posts but you don't allow reblogs or comments and I wanted to present it on my own):

The Owl House was always hampered by being killed halfway through, writing wise and that will always be it's greatest 'sin'. However, OP's comment made me realize how much the show kind of tells you it's characters are flawed rather than actually give them arcs to suggest it, especially in season 1. When I say flawed I don't mean lacking quirks that are relatable but human: Eda is a recluse criminal; King thought he could kill people and acted like it; Luz is a genki girl; Amity starts off as a bully; Hunter...is unfortunately Hunter, ect. Those ARE flaws, character wise, but in the presence of the complete story (as complete as the show will ever be) they really aren't actually flawed, bad people in anyway.

Before I go further, two things: 1, IN ALL FAIRNESS, this is why myself and others particularly LOVE the characters and why TOH was a comfort show for me rather than a 'high-tension narrative'. The characters are a lot of what you want and hope to be like and I think that's really sweet and enjoyable, especially for horror and especially for kids.

2, NO! I DON'T think any particular bad faith cartoon reviewer opinions about coddling certain characters and punishing others IS WHAT DANA and co did at all here! Steven Universe and certain crap-reviewer's takes ON Steven Universe and how it's characters were flawed but overly forgiven by the fandom the show itself are NOT the b-all end-all of this discussion, nor are they the reason The Owl House is the way it is!

The context op was talking about was how in the upcoming hate crime The Last Airbender live-action show the showrunners are going to tone down Sokka's sexism because they think it's 'unlikable'. Even though, we all knew as children that this was an arc for him and it was WRONG, so axing it because we the audience lack nuance to recognize characters we love doing problamtic-sisms is BEYOND annoying.

Op's point is how The Owl House in particular doesn't actually expect much or want much out of it's characters. Or audience. For any infighting early on about how much Amity should 'die' because of reasons, that's really just fandom infighting when you get right down to it. There's nothing on par with the disagreement people have over, say, the Diamonds from Steven Universe and how Steven 'totally forgave them or 'should have murdered them in cold blood' about The Owl House. And like...from a fandom point of view that's good, but otherwise the show is pretty concrete the way you're supposed to see certain characters vs other shows which allow you to make up your own mind.

Avatar, Star vs the Forces of Evil (pre finale), Centaurworld and Amphibia all showcase your protagonists being genuinely, intensely flawed. Sure, maybe some neckbreather crap-pseudocritic complains that they 'made the unlikable' or whatever (i.e. me with Friendship is Magic) but overall the actual point is HOW the characters actually have grown and have ended up with the ending and morality they need. The villains, no not Zukos or 'redeemed' villains who joined the protagonist squad, VILLAIN-villains, will always be at least one serious step behind the protagonists and that's what give the protagonists the cautionary wherewithal to end them like they should and not 'be like them'. It's such a fufilling narrative, there's a reason people like it so much because it's really good when it's delivered well.

Removed from my fandom gaze; the Owl House feels like it's saying it has that ultimate messaging and character arc when it actually doesn't. Your protagonists have the endearing aspirational-part totally covered, but as far as the actual 'edge' and nuance? Well...

Eda is, at most, naughty. She really isn't any kind of morally sidetracked character. She's an outlaw because literally her society is awful to her and she's in the right to be against it. She's cursed but she's not addicted to her potions or hiding it or not really taking care of herself or her loved ones because of it. Her actual biggest flaw is that she's been 'running away' from problems rather than dealing with them, but I'd be lying if that wasn't suggested more than it's actually portrayed; or at least, dealt with fast enough in "Eda's Requiem". A bigger issue I see, even if it's what's also endearing about her, is that she REALLY isn't a flawed caregiver at all. It's portrayed as her most redeeming feature that she's otherwise a good mom and mentor, but Eda having virtually no problems in raising Luz and King just, again, makes her feel ONLY aspirational. All of the angst about 'failing' to parent and making up for it is moved all onto Camilla and sadly all of that angst for her is mostly within an already bloated episode. Eda, while an absolute mood, lacks any real kind of edge. Does she need it or not? I don't know. Discuss, kids.

Luz, like OP says, is treated like this high-energy super-optimist. She's like Star Butterfly in that her fangirlism and impulsivness are supposed to get her in trouble. But, she absolutely just isn't one when you break it down. Besides episode 2, Luz really is never that inconsiderate or lost in her fantasies ever again throughout the show. She never has anything like what Steven goes through where he hops into Larz' body and makes things worse for people by trying to fix things- which is not only good filler but it calls forward to the ultimate ending of Steven's arc for the series - Luz is just sort of adorable. Luz has blindsided by hype moments of weakness, like when she accidentally hurts Owlbert or messes with Amity's secret room, but still always level headed and down-to-earth. Her impulses are always kind of treated like...excusable? Because, again, they usually are. This is a large part about what makes her self-hatred at the end of the show about accidentally helping Belos' feel 'forced'. Even MOREso than what Hunter and Daddy Titan explain about Belos using her, we the audience never see Luz's choice to go back in time and try and get answers from Philip as being anything other than just, you know, logical. Because it is. The show acts like what Luz did was reckless and bad and that she was SOOO overtaken by her fangirlism about Philip and now just how much she has to live with the guilt and regret of helping being duped by him...it just doesn't come off that way at all. She was only so much excited about meeting him and her interest was getting home to her mother. In terms of comparing her to Philip, that's all fine and good, but again it's not 'flawed'. Not really, anyway.

Lilith absolutely has it the worst...but I kinda think people know that. She arguably does have the most morally-gray turning point in the show given what she did to her own sister. But neither the characters nor her nor the show really hold her accountable in any lasting way for cursing Eda. Lilith is the closest we get to that 'Diamond'-dilemma. She does 'make things right way too quickly and it's obvious to even her biggest fans that her character is really rushed in this area. They lampshade what Lilith did and that she was their villain in season 2 and 2B, but lampshading isn't the same thing as progress. As a result, as a Lilith fan you kind of never really forgive her for what she did. None of that's her fault, cause' you know...she doesn't exist, but it makes it frustrating that you the fan watching the show is doing the heavy-lifting in your mind in this area.What you come away from is this feeling of loving the characters for being able to work everything out. They're engaging and nuanced in theory, but you also feel robbed, w or w/o the Disney interference, of them being fully rounded or WHOLE. It kinda feels like 'and suddenly, he wasn't racist, anymore' all the time with every character ever with except Amity's mom, the Titan Trappers and Belos.

The reason everyone dunks on Star vs the Forces of Evil's finale, (besides being salty over ship wars and declaring THAT'S the reason for the drop in quality) is that 'Cleaved' could have not only worked but REALLY worked. It just needed to be better written and processed as an ending. Instead people reviled Star, the protagonist we're supposed to be rooting for, for what feels like impulsive apathy and cruelty towards everyone else by destroying magic, as opposed to it being an actually selfless sacrifice that makes her different than Toffee. Ultimatley, I do prefer The Owl House, unfinished as it is, to any of that. But yeah... I can now never unsee the characters as being what they are: fun but indulgent when they're supposedly complex. Indulgent is never bad u guys, but the problem is when you only have that to go on while insisting you have fully developed characters, there's a lot of the show telling you how to feel and how to come away from it rather than letting you, the audience, make of that yourself. As annoying as fan-wars can be over this stuff and when people are either WAAAY to forgiving of their villain blorbo or form hate-campaigns over Glub Shitto for ruining their life, it is ultimately a good thing that shows give you that chance to really see the characters that way at all.

The Owl House is, as OP calls it, "tumblr feels" not for being gay and magical and fun and wholesome and indulgent like that stuff is GREAT. It feels 'tumblr oriented' in that it all kind of feels too easy even when it's not for your protagonists. It's never actually "challenging". I guess, in as far as 'good' indulgence is concerned, it's as warm and fuzzy and a happy AU fanfic you found but not so much the Pacifist Ending of Undertale where you really do feel bad if you rectify the good ending in anyway. It's fun and it's comfort food, but not entirely lasting as you want it to be???

Amphibia, I think, was also way better than Owl House in this respect. It wasn't perfect cause nothing is but you really got a feeling for HOW flawed Marcy, Sasha, the townsfolk and even Hop Pop throughout their arcs-- which made it so SO rewarding to see them get their happy endings and come together to defeat the core and be the better people they needed to become.

The Owl House is my favorite where I think Amphibia is the better of the two.

#ramble #the owl house #toh critical #good lord did any of this make any sense Idk #franki's features #I guess technically King had the most fufilled arc #considering he thought he was a dictator-realized he wasn't-and then w he found out his true past was horrified by it but coped #discuss

[scoobydoodean]

Bugs is actually so crunchy as a Sam and Dean vs John episode like I know even the show itself hates on the episode but the family dynamic insights are delicious especially when you understand the larger context. Because you have things like:

Sam saying John was always on his case and Dean was the golden child who could do no wrong. We as the audience already know from "Skin" Dean has a very different view on John's perception of him and who exactly is the favored child.

Sam thinks Dean was the golden child because Sam and John would fight all of the time while Dean would keep the peace, but we get clues too that what we're seeing is actually the honey vs. vinegar approach in action and the consequences of that.

Sam thinks Dean was simply aligned with John in every way growing up in terms of his interests, which makes Sam the freak and Dean the non-freak in their fucked up family. Sam wanted to play soccer, Sam thinks Dean was happy working on weapons training and never wanted anything else but we already know from "Skin" that Dean did have dreams of his own but has stifled them into silence all his life because of the abuse of emotional incest (and deep down, Dean resents that Sam doesn't know that Dean had dreams and crushed them... but Sam not knowing this is also partly by Dean's design!) (Don't think about S9 "About A Boy" :/ I meant "Bad Boys" sorry!)

Sam thinking John might hate him and won't want to see him and learning that John would actually swing by Stanford to check up on him... as the audience knowing that Dean doubts that John would do that for him, and he's probably right to doubt it (see: the next episode "Home", then "Faith").

Dean framing Sam's absence as a lack of loyalty to John when what he really is refusing to admit is that he's upset that Sam abandoned HIM because Dean feels helplessly chained to their family (John) and Sam does not, and what's worse for Dean is knowing Sam doesn't even see the chain around Dean's neck. Of course this is also by Dean's design! And at the same time, despite all the resentment, ultimately Dean would never try to take Sam's freedom to leave him and the family because he knows feeling chained up like Dean does isn't good ("Pilot", "Scarecrow").

If Sam is disloyal for abandoning the family, then John is also disloyal for abandoning Dean, but Dean can't touch that hurt yet because it means there is absolutely nothing he can do to prevent being abandoned by either of the two people he loves the most—he'll always be a freak and sooner or later everyone is going to leave him... and yet he'll never be able to be the one who leaves.

#1.01 #1.06 #1.08 #1.09 #1.11 #1.12 #9.07 #pk rewatches spn number ? #john #the one who cares #the hearth of the house #season 1 #season 9 #the flannel business #we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone #i dont deserve what he put on me

[strixcattus]

I'm supposed to be working on other things right now but I'm thinking about that question on the survey that asked about which ending you preferred/considered canon. And I'm about to say a lot of things that may or may not make sense or all be related to one another, and I'm not sure they'll come out in a parseable order, so I may or may not even end up putting this in the main tag. We'll have to see.

I chose the answer I consider best. Or, least bad. And not in a narrative sense—after the update, I like the scene of the "And? What Happens Next?" ending better than perhaps any other. But I chose the one that I believed led to the most favorable scenario after the end, which would be the loop ending. And I've got a post in my drafts, half-written, that explains in detail why I consider each ending to be a "bad ending" for the world or the characters or both in some form, which I had to put on a back-burner because I wanted to ensure I wasn't doing some sort of bad-faith reading on the Shifting Mound during my discussion of one ending, and even though with the benefit of distance I can see I generally wasn't I've never gotten back to it. To sum it all up, each ending requires you to trade away something the game's story makes you value (unless, I suppose, you come to hate the Princess and by extension the Shifting Mound, or the Shifting Mound and by extension the Princess, on a nonnegotiable level) in order to resolve the narrative, but the loop ending allows you to put it off ad infinitum. What you're sacrificing is the resolution itself. So you lose nothing, and gain nothing, and probably something really horrible happens to the world, but you don't have to think about that part.

But I consider the canon ending to be "There Are No Endings." Maybe it has something to do with it being the first ending I got. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I consider it the optimal outcome for the world—you sacrifice everyone who's unconditionally been on your side this entire time (Shifty doesn't quite count, since she wasn't present in the same way the Voices were) in order to maintain balance and surety. Maybe it just says something about what I value, and that unseen value says something about the endings.

Shifty's right. She doesn't get it right about what you, the player, feel and value (unless your values happen to align with hers—mine don't, but I know some people's must), but that's how people are. She says it—and normally I'd go sifting through the files or the game itself for when exactly she says it, but it's late and I have other things to do, so I'll just say she says it very early on—she says very early on that she cannot know your mind, because you are not her.

It's the same way as your final words to the Voices in the mirror. None of your options are poorly worded. If you expect the Voices to take the harsh truth gracefully, that's an honest mistake, because you can't know what's going on in their heads. Your options are to lie kindly, or tell them a truth that will make them hate you, because just as you can't see inside their heads, they cannot see inside yours, and they will assume you must have some other choice. You don't. But you don't get to articulate it. Lie or hurt them. Those are your only options.

But aside from that Shifty is right. I've seen people ask—and this was early in my entrance to the fandom, and I don't know how much discussion went around about it because I wasn't in the circle, so to speak, even less than I am right now, but I've seen people ask if Shifty could have killed us.

That's not the question to be asking. Of course she could have killed us. She can do anything we believe her to be able to, and if we believe her able to kill us, she can. She always could have killed us.

But she never would have, because she knows. She knows something as a god that you cannot know until you choose to raise yourself to her level—she knows that a universe without either one of you may not be a universe worth living in. She knows that she needs her counterweight. She may not value people on the same level you might, but she does not want them to suffer—she specifically wants them not to suffer, or at least not to suffer in a way she could have prevented. She is a detached god, not a cruel one.

She's right. She's forceful, but she's right, and she can't understand why you would rather be a person than a god, because she has never been anything but a god, and her Vessels are as much a part of her as your Voices are a part of you, but while you lived alongside your Voices as a person before cannibalizing them, she only welcomed her Vessels back upon their absorption. She does not know firsthand what it is to be a person, but she is right about everything else.

(I have to wonder if she is less cruel to her Vessels than you are to your Voices. Hers maintain their form throughout.)

And now this has me thinking—what if the Voices are you? Not in the way in which they're obviously you. I mean that you live your life, you make your decisions, and then you die. And then there is a new one of you. But the new one is not the Voice that has appeared in your head. The new Voice is the old one, fully realized into his own person with a personality you can no longer mold, just as the Vessels are not their own persons until you make the choices that make them into real people. The new entity is you, unmolded, without any personality save what you, the person who does not exist in this world, pour into it.

#slay the princess #I don't actually know how comprehensible this post is #someone tell me if even one point makes any sense

[dextixer]

There is no point in discussing Ironwood/Atlas in the fandom.

Since Volumes 7-8 the way that Ironwood and Atlas were written, their actions, whether they were justified or to what extent they were justified and the like have been discussed to death. There is no stone that has not been overturned, no statement that has not been made, no argument that has not been disected.

Regardless of ones stance on the subject, there is nothing left to discuss, the only thing left at best is sharing ones interpretation and opinions on it with people willing to engage with them. Or it would be, if there were actually such people left.

Around a week ago, against my own better judgement i once again engaged in an Ironwood discussion, something that i have mostly avoided for nearly a year, and i got just the right reminder as to why exactly there is no point in discussing it with members of the FNDM, and especially the fanatics.

They do not care about the show, how its told, what it told us. What they care about is to show how "moral" and "morally upstanding" they are by repeating the same mantra over and over. "Team RWBY are heroes, Ironwood is a fascist.", its both to show how morally "good" they are and also to protect the writing of a product that they love, because their beloved product possibly being deficient would be seen as a personal attack on their taste.

Lie and Lie again, if that doesnt work, lie once more

One of the most important factors in having any discussion is for both of the people talking to not only be truthful with one another but also agree upon some level of common ground that a disagreement comes from. In the case of RWBY, an Animated show, one has to agree with what is canon, what we can see in the story, from where on we can start arguing about interpretations. The problem however is that many people in the fandom, in regards to Ironwood especially, do not care about canon.

This being one of many examples. Since as far back as Volume 7, when we saw Ironwoods forces, everyone could look back to Volumes 2-3 and see that Ironwood brought 3 airships to Vale, a small detachment for the security of the festival.

Yet time and time again, RWBY fans refer to it as an "army", implying some kind of excessive force, in fact, some people in the past have went as far as saying that Ironwood was MILITARILY OCCUPYING Vale with his forces, i am not kidding.

But the most often directly lied about scene is of course the scene of Ironwood abandoning Mantle. In the show, after seeing the chess piece, he encounters a seer left behind in his office, this seer allows him to talk to Salem who pretty much tells him she is coming, which is then confirmed by the Ace Ops saying that the Grimm sensors have ceased working. That is canon. And yet, many a RWBY fan often pretends that Ironwood takes his decision after seeing the chess piece and "conveniently" ignore the chat that Ironwood has with Salem.

Fans of RWBY will not hesistate to lie about the canon itself to make their point, for people who claim to appreciate the shows writing, they will often directly ignore or even contradict it just so that they could hold true to their moral obligations.

But what happens when lying doesnt work?

Misdirect, Motte and Bailey and bad faith

When direct lying fails, RWBY fans will often take a different stance, instead of directly talking about canon, they will instead make the most bad faith assumptions and arguments imaginable.

This often takes form in Omissions or other less direct types of lies. Many times, it wont even be lies, but the most riddiculous arguments that they dont themselves believe.

For example, saying that soldiers helping to protect an event from terrorists is a stupid move.

In Volume 7, one of the earliest things we see happen is that Ironwoods forces are fighting against Grimm, the Sabyrs when they breach into Mantle, after which Penny shows up to assist in cleaning them up. And yet, fans of RWBY will say that these soldiers were not meant to protect people against Grimm, they were meant to abuse the citizens of Mantle.

The same goes for the curfew that also gets established in that same Volume. It is done explicitly for peoples protection. They instead say that its to control people, implying that the threat of Grimm isnt real? Which is exceedingly funny since COVID lockdowns happend near the same time, which were also curfews that meant to protect people.

Ironwood shooting Oscar is also a key part of such misdirections. Often times when RWBY fans talk about Ironwood shooting Oscar they refer to him as a "child" a "defenseless child", conveniently ignoring the Ozpin shaped hole in his brain.

This is yet another form this takes. Strawmanning and of course, the reference to "Ironwood runs away" argument, which they hold as true despite the show never stating it ever. They take Ironwood statement that Atlas will always stay out of Salems reach as a direct statement that Atlas will just rise and stay away. And not for example become a flying city which is also a possibility.

This is also another example of dishonest arguments. RWBY fans pretend that Ironwood is classist, that he only wanted to save the rich and leave everyone else to die. Despite the fact that Ironwood ordered Mantle to be evacuated into Atlas and only wanted to leave to save as many people as he could regardless of status. And yet, they have to pretend that he only cares about the "rich".

But the most often seen tendency among RWBY fans in regards to argument is something else.

Doulethink

Doublethink is acceptance of two contrary opinions being right at the same time due to ideological reasons. For example, decrying someone as weak when convenient and as strong at the same time.

And RWBY fans love this type of argumentation, especially with Ironwood.

As shown before in a picture, they pretend that Ironwood only cared about the rich. And yet they also argue that as a fascist he hates and controls the rich by how he treats Jacques.

They will both pretend that Ironwood is a sociopath who wants to control the world and at the same time will claim how sorry they feel about his PTSD and how he clearly should have been thrown out of the army due to it.

Ironwoods prosthetics both show how he suffered so much and should have been told to sit out due to his clear mental issues, yet at the same time those prosthetics prove and show how evil he is, how he wants to replace his body with metal because he wants to be an unthinking machine.

They will pretend to care about how Ironwood holds 2/5 seats on the Atlas council, decrying how UNDEMOCRATIC he is being, yet at the same time, when convenient they will constantly bring up how Ironwood did not ask for Ozpins persmission for his actions in V2-V3. They pretend that he usurped Ozpin despite Ironwood acting directly under Vales council.

As shown in this exchange. The cries for "democracy" quiet down all of a sudden when people take Ozpins side against Ironwood. Suddently, the opinion of the council doesnt matter, only Ozpin does. Oh and this is also an example of how they will change the topic once an argument is lost.

Oh, and of course, their favourite is in regards to team RWBY.

Who are at the same time both small teenagers who know no better and cannot be judged for their actions because they are smoll beans uwu.

And they are also literal jesus.

Because NOTHING says "we are being honest" when the protagonists are amazingly "weak" and "smoll" uwu beans whenever anyone criticizes them for making shit decisions for entire COUNTRIES which they CHOSE to do. And at the same time those protagonists are amazing badass girbossing jesus-like heroes who everyone should worship.

Ending word

I guess what im trying to say is that there is simply no point or hope in arguing about Ironwood, or hell, even arguing with RWBY fans in general unless you are in relatively neutral spaces with people who are willing to listen. They will lie, if they cant lie they will misdirect, and they will never be honest about their beliefs. Because their true beliefs are only "RWBY is good and what it attempts to say is correct". Nothing else matters. RWBY is good. Its messages (no matter how mangled they are) are good.

And to protect those beliefs RWBY fans will do ANYTHING. Because just like religious fanatics, they have faith, a belief, and nothing will stop them. If you oppose them, you are everything they think is evil. If you accept their words uncritically, then you are now a "friend".

#rwde #rwby #rwby fandom #rwby fndm #rwby discourse #rwby discussion

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

I'm the anon! I wasn't meaning you specifically. I actually think you've been doing an amazing job at stating the facts without letting biases show one way or another. Mostly I'm referring to some tags I saw and the salty post, in addition to YEARS of seeing people on twitter acting snobbish and like the western fandom (in particular after the 7s novels came out) are lesser, ignorant, or a plague. Might've been a bit of projection on my part but the aforementioned notes and comments from others in your posts reminded me of those attitudes (or how if unchecked they could become as rancid). My bad that I didn't clarify specifically what I meant. I love your posts and that's why I would hate to see them be used by bad faith actors to delegitimize "western" voices. Yes, we need to be humble and come from a place of being open to learning and not imposing our pov, but it's also unfair when we're being subject to higher standards and scrutiny that other non-english speaking parts of the fandom are.

Ahh I see!

Even though SVSSS is a Chinese novel written primarily for Chinese readers, the fandom itself is massively diverse. All sorts of different people from everywhere in the world have found things they enjoy about this book, and it means a lot to them— and I think that’s neat.

No one should be made to feel like they have no place in the fandom, or aren’t allowed to create fanworks. No matter where you come from, what your background is, there’s no reason you can’t be an equal part of the fandom — and yes, this also includes western fandom.

One other thing: there is nothing wrong with ignorance itself either. Everyone is ignorant of everything until they learn. If western fandom is ignorant, but they are trying to learn things, then what good is beating people down going to do? Only take any joy out of learning, only creating bitterness.

Western fandom is still SVSSS fandom, still people who enjoy this book.

It’s important to remember this is for fun. All of this, all fan creations and fandom in general is because a bunch of people from all sorts of backgrounds all liked one novel. As a Chinese person, I really love that people actually care to learn about Chinese culture through things like this. To see people genuinely interested in a positive way, it’s really nice!! It’s refreshing, and while my own life experiences make me quite wary of westernization, it also gives me an appreciation for this genuine interest, and this embracing of learning. I’ve seen much more instances of western fandom actually wanting to learn and being interested and curious than being willfully ignorant.

Everyone has a place in fandom, no matter if Western, Chinese, or anyone else. There’s nothing good that will come of gatekeeping people’s enjoyment of a book or participation in fandom.

#psa #answered #thank you so much for clarifying! #in terms of cultural things I have really been quite pleasantly surprised by MXTX fandom #of course there are still some issues #and then sometimes I can be touchy because I was partially-westernized in my youth after living in the USA #and it’s something that causes me a lot of grief and struggles #but overall it’s nice #most people seem to understand there are things they don’t have the cultural knowledge for #I don’t have full cultural knowledge either— I also hope that if someone has better familiarity with things than me that they will add on #but yes as a whole #people seem to be more excited and open for learning #than being overly stubborn and ignorant

[genderkoolaid]

Hey this feels like kinda a dumb question but when you criticize someone for bad reading comprehension is that what you mean literally? I see that a lot on tumblr and I can't really tell if it's a knee jerk reaction, if it means they're not listening or trying to understand, or if you genuinely think they can't understand what you meant and that's the dig.

I think generally "bad reading comprehension" refers to when someone reads a post that is generally well-explained and makes its point clear, and they wildly misinterpret its point in a way that is extremely detached from anything the post itself was trying to say.

The classic example is the post where someone said "the reading comprehension on this site is piss poor" and someone jokingly responded, "how dare you say we piss on the poor?" Obviously this is a joke, but it still sums up the general idea: someone makes a post that is very clear in what it is trying to say, and someone has a wild misinterpretation, often based in bad-faith readings and knee-jerk reactions that lack critical thinking. in this case, the point would be "people on this website are really bad at accurately interpreting discussion posts and make a lot of sweeping claims", and the misinterpretation would be "you are literally accusing tumblr users of pissing on the poor because you used a very common phrase and are criticizing us". It both doesn't engage with the original point being made at all, and comes to a wild conclusion about that point that no one would reasonably draw from the original post.

Obviously its not necessarily someone's fault when they misinterpret a post, but there are a lot of cases where the misinterpretation is 1. extremely far from the actual intention of the post, to the point where its an annoying derailment, and 2. extremely emotional/provocative, taking the misinterpretation not just from confusion but to "how DARE you say [x thing that has nothing to do with your point]", so its not just an unintentional derailment but one that is often rude or inflammatory when you were never making the point they are getting upset about. I think generally it speaks to how a lot of people do not put a lot of critical thought into things they see or write, and that a lot of people are very unexperienced/unwilling to learn how to critically engage with things yet continue to engage and be reactionary and inflammatory.

#m. #ask box

[never-let]

Chapter 2 of The Queen Of The Dunes

Chapter summary: Crowley and Aziraphaella finally meet each other. The girl discovers that the village's most famous 'snake' has an interest she never could have thought of him having.

Word count: 5k

You can read it on Ao3

You can read chapter 1 on tumblr

Full second chapter under the cut:

The girl got up early in the morning, before the first rooster crowed and the sun rose, and went about her daily business by candlelight. She washed her face, swept the still fairly new wooden floor and prepared the food, always looking out of the window to see if the sun had coloured the whole sea pinkish red. Almost the same colour as Crowley's hair... 

Scolding herself for those thoughts, she greeted her parents, who stood up and thanked her in a friendly manner when they saw the holiday clothes already smoothed and ready to wear. They were amazed at their daughter's diligence, for levelling clothes was time-consuming. Still wet clothes had to be twisted around a kind of wooden rolling pin, then with a sudden movement the cloth had to be rolled on the table, using a board with a scalloped bottom, and then rolled around the rolling pin back again. This was repeated until the clothes were perfectly smooth, and since metal coal irons didn't do so well with linen, the practice was still popular to their day.

The mother went to check on the animals, while the father sat on the bench and smoked his pipe, looking out the window. Since it was Sunday morning, everyone was preparing to go to the local little church where, although the village population was small, everyone could barely fit on the narrow pews in a small and stuffy room where the only natural source of light was the stained glass window above the wooden head of Jesus, set so that at certain time of the day the sunlight would fall on the altar itself. If there were no candle stands on the sides, people would fall over each other, stumbling over the uneven clay floor, but that didn't stop the faithful from continuing to walk there with eagerness to listen to the priest's long discourse on the past, present and future for which people should be thankful.

Having announced that she was going for a walk, and having met with no complaints - the father considered that his daughter had the right to do what she wanted, for he was completely sure that nothing bad would happen, and Aziraphaella was already a responsible adult, therefore could decide for herself, but it was still nice that she always announced that she was going somewhere.

When the girl went outside, the sun was already peeking out from behind the sea, and the blonde headed towards the dunes without waiting, knowing that the way through the loose sand would take quite some time, and not wanting to keep Crowley waiting - after all, she was the one who had asked the guy to meet her! Even if she had no idea what to talk to him about, or if they'd even find common topics of conversation.

When she reached the top, she began to look around. From here she had a view of the sea that surrounded the spit on all sides, the sandy areas that looked like a desert in sunny summers, the dead dunes, and the green areas that seemed almost grey because of the scant vegetation of mosses and low grasses. Aziraphaella loved this half-island more and more each year, not understanding why some people wanted to trade this life for a bustling life in the city, where you could get lost amongst lifeless buildings and be completely destroyed emotionally without seeing so much nature around you, which allowed the mind to relax.

Aziraphaella sat down on the sand, pulled her knees up to her and dipped her toes under the sand, occasionally spreading her fingers apart and watching the sand scatter between them. She sank into her thoughts and wondered if Crowley would come. It was very impolite of her to say nothing to him at first, and then come over to arrange another meeting. He might have thought she was ashamed of him and didn't want others to see them together. It was actually quite dangerous to meet before marriage, because parents could think that the young people were doing something inappropriate and the lovers would be punished properly, but, after all, the girl didn't know Crowley as a person at all, and the idea that someone would suspect them of doing forbidden things before marriage was ridiculous.

The girl rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes. The morning sun had not yet warmed up the ground, so it was a little chilly, the wind was blowing behind her, making strands of her hair stick to her face, but she sat relaxed and not paying attention to what was happening, as if merging with nature and becoming a part of it. Where did people who lived in cities go to relax? Were they satisfied with miserable parks with bushes here and there, where you could still hear the noise of people in the streets?

“Are you not afraid to miss the church?”

A voice which came from nowhere, not far from her, made Aziraphaella flinch and open her eyes. Crowley was standing in front of her with his hands on his belt, looking at her with his head tilted to the side. His hair was gathered into a small ponytail, but few strands still rested on his shoulders.

“Not at all," she said and immediately got up from the ground. She did it so abruptly that Crowley didn't even have time to offer her help, causing his eyebrows to rise for a moment, though perhaps that reaction was due to her words. “And you?”

The girl stopped in front of him and tilted her head to the side as well, mimicking the guy's pose. This caused him to smile, baring his teeth slightly, so sly, as if he knew something more. And what to say about that incomprehensible low grunt that Crowley often expressed himself with instead of using words. But, in fact, this manner of reply was understandable to everyone, expressing both the lad's opinion and the emotion he was feeling at the same time.

“You never go to church. I've seen you tending the chickens or sitting at the spinning wheel in front of the house," Crowley said, ignoring her question. The guy was looking her straight in the eye, she was sure of it, even though he was wearing sunglasses. He didn't seem to be accusing her, just frankly perplexed as to how someone like Aziraphaella could skip going to church and, even stranger, how her parents could take it so easily or even allow her to commit such a transgression, even though they were firm believers themselves.

Aziraphaella only smiled modestly at him without saying anything, and, looking the other way, pointed with her hand to the woods in the distance, which led to a cosy shore where no one would find them, and suggested, “We can go there.”

Crowley, who himself had walked round the whole half-island many times, at once realised what the girl meant, and nodded, following her.

“So you don't believe in God?” he asked curiously, knowing that such a question usually sounded very negative and that it was better not to bring up such topics in public, but for him it was not a taboo topic, and Aziraphaella did not seem to mind.

“In one god, no. Gods, yes. I'm a pagan.”

Crowley snorted out something in reply, as if considering her words. He himself did not believe in superstition, legends, or gods, but the answer intrigued him, for paganism had not existed in the country for centuries, and it was incredible that there were still pagans in such a remote land. He hadn't been interested in the subject before, he just knew that it had been the main religion in their country until it was forcibly replaced by another.

“So what exactly do you believe in?” he asked, not knowing how to continue the conversation. At this time they were descending a steep slope, and Crowley held the girl's hand to keep her from falling.

“That every phenomenon in nature depends on a god or a creature. You probably know Austea, don't you? The goddess of bees. Or Gabia, the goddess of fire. There are many of them, big and small, but each one is responsible for something, and if even one of them disappears, the world will fall into chaos.”

Yes, Crowley remembered something like that. Perkunas, Zemyna, Laima... He remembered a few names and their approximate duties, but there were many more. He had never really cared about any of that, but he was curious about how the pagans perceived the world around them, and he decided to test Aziraphaella to see how strong her faith was, for he was a real trickster himself.

As they walked, he looked carefully around and even lowered his glasses on his nose to see better. The girl at that moment was looking at the clear blue sky, which didn't have a single cloud on it. She looked relaxed, and Crowley was sure that he would manage to surprise her properly.

Finally the young man's sharp eyes spotted what he was looking for. He let go of Aziraphaella's hand, which he still held even when the steepest slope had long since ended. Crowley ran down and leaned suddenly towards the ground and seemed to grab something, shrieking triumphantly. Intrigued, Aziraphaella quickened her step to catch up with the guy who now had his back to her.

As she approached, Crowley suddenly turned around and looked at her through the lowered lenses of his glasses. 

“And the grass snakes, hmm? The pagans believed in them, too," he said, as if trying to prove something to her. The young woman only flinched, surprised by the suddenness of his movement, but not at all frightened, looking at the black grass snake with yellow "ears" wriggling in Crowley's hands, trying to escape from his jail of fingers.

“Yes. Pagirnis is a god in the form of a snake," Aziraphaella held out her hands, and after a moment of hesitation - this was not the reaction he had expected, Crowley placed the snake in her palm. Apparently the warmth of her hands calmed the reptile a little, because the creature stopped wriggling and just curled up in a ball. “He keeps the house in order," she laughed and bent down, letting the snake loose and watching it crawl away. “When dad found the grass snake you left in his clogs, I persuaded him to keep it at home, and now I feed it eggs every morning. You mustn’t hurt them, or they will bring you bad luck.” 

Crowley awkwardly looked away when he heard about his prank, but the girl only laughed, noticing his reaction, because she was not angry with him at all and, moreover, she could even thank him for such a ‘gift’.

“Hmm... Other girls are afraid of them..." he finally answered, deciding it was time to change the subject. Crowley looked thoughtfully after the snake, which finally burrowed into the sand and disappeared. “If you hear them squeak, you can be sure they saw a snake”

“Yes, unfortunately, their religion says that innocent grass snakes bring evil…” Aziraphaella sighed and said something she wouldn't dare to say to others. Apparently, Crowley really influenced people... “The Christian god is very cruel... He forces you to believe in him and doesn't want people to have a choice…”

“God has nothing to do with it. It's people who create it and then attack each other if their opinions on religion don't match. That's why I don't believe in them. Too many fights happen over things that don't exist.”

Aziraphaella chose to remain silent. Yes, their opinions didn't coincide, but she agreed that it wasn't worth fighting about it, especially since they had both expressed what they thought, what they believed or didn't believe, so there was no need to go on about it all. It would be awkward if on their first walk they immediately started hating each other.

When silence came, they started walking again, looking at the trees around them and getting closer and closer to the shore. It was a little uncomfortable as each of them sank into their own thoughts, but they were just starting to get to know each other, so they had to accept that sometimes silence would accompany them, and thus awkwardness, because one of them would have to start a new topic that would suit them both.

“So... do you believe... in... something?” Aziraphaella asked timidly, knowing that faith wasn't necessarily religion, and hoping that Crowley understood that too.

The boy didn't answer immediately. He thought for a long time, going over all the options in his head and figuring out if they would be suitable as an answer to the blonde girl who was patiently waiting for him to find the right answer. He knew exactly what she meant, but he didn't know exactly what he himself believed, which was why it took so long. No one had ever asked him a question like this before. He could answer all the questions he had ever been asked in a split second, even if he had to lie, but now that he had the opportunity to just say “no”, Crowley somehow didn't take that easy way out. 

Finally they approached the shore. Aziraphaella, lifting her skirt slightly, sat down on the grass and dipped her feet into the water. Crowley sat down beside her, tucking his legs under himself, and watched the girl move her white feet under the water. Her movements raised the sand, causing several fish to swim up to her, thinking that the raised sand was food.

“Don't believe in the world, believe in fairy tales,” Crowley said after a while and smiled to himself. Aziraphaella looked at him, waiting for further explanation, and tilted her head interestedly. She couldn't say that she had expected such an answer from Crowley, but she was glad that he had decided to keep the conversation going and try to answer her honestly. “Well... you've probably seen me... I often listen to you while you are telling fairy tales to children…” 

“So you like fairy tales?” the blonde asked when he was silent for a long time, thinking about how ridiculous his words sounded and twisting a stalk of grass into a knot because he didn't know what to do with his hands.

“When they're told by you…” Crowley suddenly raised his head and looked directly into her blue eyes, which were almost indistinguishable from the colour of the sky, but actually much more beautiful, because they were full of innocence and enthusiasm. The girl blushed slightly, and now it was her turn to look away for a moment. “Actually, well... Icreatemyownfairytales," he said it so fast that his words strung together, and Aziraphaella blinked a few times and frowned slightly, trying to make out at least one.

“What..?” she asked quietly, still blushing and thinking she should have listened more carefully.

Crowley took a deep breath, realising he'd fallen into a hole he'd dug himself. If he'd kept quiet, he could have avoided all this. Or turned it into a joke, but now it seemed like he was really into it and Aziraphaella wouldn't believe him if he tried to joke about it, saying he didn't really believe in anything.

“I create... my own… well… fairy tales…” he answered very timidly, and would have blushed himself, but the contrast of his red hair with his pale face made it completely unnoticeable.

“Really? Oh, wow! Couldn't you... could you tell me one of them?” The girl even stopped shuffling her feet, ready to catch every word he said as carefully as possible, in case Crowley was shy and spoke again at lightning speed.

The young man opened his mouth, pondering how he could avoid this whole situation and why he had even admitted to it in the first place. If he had remained silent as always, it would have been much better..! However, not only was he influencing Aziraphaella, but she was influencing him as well. Crowley was afraid to admit that all these stories were quite simple and he would not be able to gather a bunch of children around him and tell them in such a way that they would listen to the end. Since he himself could neither read nor write, he often forgot the endings of his own stories, and sometimes they merged into one, and sometimes the names of the characters changed halfway through. In short, Crowley was not the best storyteller, so he decided to get out of the situation as quickly as possible, and fortunately his wits helped him to do so.

“Recently I began to create one…” even a lie like that, told directly to Aziraphaella's face, somehow seemed cheeky to him. “It's not finished yet, so... Well, I can't really tell you all of it yet.”

Aziraphaella nodded, afraid to even interrupt Crowley. The boy swallowed, realising that he was really in trouble now, and began to look around, trying to remain calm. His gaze lingered on the trees, the sea, the sand, the sky... Nothing that could help him think of anything that would be interesting to listen to.

Finally he remembered the grass snake he already had seen and began to think of how to come up with a story about it. Realising that Aziraphaella might not be interested in hearing about the life of the snake and its hardships, Crowley looked again at the surrounding trees. A name immediately came to mind, and the lake finally told him how to begin the story.

“There were three sisters swimming once…” Crowley began slowly, giving himself time to think about what to say next. Aziraphaella seemed to hold her breath, eagerly swallowing his every word and nodding quickly, as if asking him to continue the story. “They were swimming until the sun began to equal the sea…

“At last they climbed out, began to dress, and then... Then the youngest, whose name was Egle, began to shriek... The other two ran up to her and asked her what was wrong. They took a closer look - there was a grass snake in her clothes and it wouldn't crawl away. The eldest wanted to kill it with a stick, but he started to speak…”

Aziraphaella gasped. The young man didn't think that he was telling something interesting, he was afraid that the girl would realise that he was only making up a story now, and perhaps it would become clear when he got stuck in some place and didn't know what to say next, or because or because he was constantly searching for the right words.

“And what did it say?” she asked suddenly, after Crowley had gone silent, maybe for a minute, not realising it at all and just looking down. Why was he ashamed of himself for coming up with such a stupid lie? After all, he usually lied about much more important things.

“The snake, it… it told the youngest sister Egle that if she promised to marry him, he would crawl out of her shirt.”

“And she?..” the girl asked, eyes wide.

“And she... She promised. The sisters said there was nothing wrong with it. In the end, it was just a snake. Whether she promised or not, nothing would change and she won't have to get married. So the snake crawled away, having received the promise, the sisters went home and immediately forgot about that meeting,” Crowley bit his lip, realising how ridiculous it all sounded, but Aziraphaella listened to him anyway, as if he were telling something interesting.

“And what happened next?” No doubt the girl was extremely impressed with what Crowley thought was a silly story, and wanted to know how it ended. Of course, the guy could have said that he hadn't thought of anything else, but he thought he would appear a fool in front of her for making up simple, short, and meaningless stories. He had to think of something else.

“After three days…” suddenly Crowley decided that it was time to really surprise Aziraphaella and show that he really knew how to create tales that could impress with their originality. “Three days later, when Egle was at home with her twelve brothers and two sisters…” Yes, the boy thought, the more the better. “The ground began to shake... When they looked out the window, they saw that in the distance, there were a lot of snakes crawling and wriggling towards them in all sorts of ways, and even the sun seemed to be darkened by their numbers. There were so many of them that it was not clear where one began and another ended. Some big, others small... They started circling round the house, knocking on doors, windows... Her parents, of course, hid Egle, not wanting to give her away.”

“But she promised!..” Said Aziraphaella, surprised at the insolence of the protagonist.

“Would you marry a snake?” Crowley suddenly asked boldly, looking her straight in the eyes again. Apparently his tone was too harsh, because the girl was a little embarrassed, and he quickly added. “I'm sorry. I was just wondering…”

“Promises must be kept…” she said quietly after a while, running her finger over the patterns of her skirt. She wasn't sure if she could marry a snake, or if it was even possible, but if she would promise, she'd keep her promise, because she felt she had to be responsible for what she said.

Crowley only raised one eyebrow in response, but he couldn't say anything. It seemed Aziraphaella really was the kind of person who would marry a damn snake if she had promised it that. He didn't know why he thought that, since the very idea already sounded strange and unrealistic, but the girl was talking about it so freely and openly that it was hard not to believe her.

“So... Of course, Egle's loved ones didn't want to give her to the snakes... So when one of the reptiles spoke up to say that they had come here to take the bride with them, Eagle’s father decided to trick them.” Crowley fell silent, unable to think of a way to trick a group of snakes, so he looked at the girl and asked in a curious tone, as if to give her a chance to guess, at the same time remembering how she used to ask children when she told them stories what they thought about this or that aspect of the story she was telling. Of course in reality he just decided to give himself time to think. “What do you think - how?”

“Well…” she looked off into the distance and pressed her lips together slightly, thinking. “Maybe... her father... took a blanket and hid the lamb in it? And gave it to the snakes…?” - she again looked at him.

Both of Crowley's eyebrows flew upwards, causing the girl to blush even more and stare in the other direction, trying to avoid embarrassment. Aziraphaella had heard a lot of fairy tales, and frankly, she no longer had any issues when fairy tale characters managed to escape some situation in a strange way that wouldn't have worked in reality, such as the one she had suggested.

Crowley realised that his reaction was not quite appropriate (after all, he was the one who had started the story about talking snakes, so the girl's idea wasn't that outlandish), and cleared his throat, trying to think of a way out, because he didn't want to offend the blonde in such a stupid way. He wasn't surprised anymore, but the fact that someone would start hating him because of a simple story he'd made up a few minutes ago made him sad rather than amused.

“Maybe it would have worked, but... the snakes have a good sense of smell, don't they? Or at least they should have... So they'd quickly realise it wasn't Eagle under that blanket…”

“Yes... I think you're right…” Aziraphaella said quietly, smiling with barely perceptible embarrassment. “So how did the father decide to trick the snakes?” 

“Well, maybe he did not exactly trick them… The father told his sons to get pitchforks…”

The girl gasped again, but this time she covered her mouth with her small hand and looked much more surprised, apparently it wasn't hard to understand why the sons had armed themselves.

“Yes, they ran outside and started swinging pitchforks, but it didn't help. There were a lot of snakes in the end… Some curled around the sons' legs, others around their arms, until they all dropped their pitchforks in surrender.” It was obvious that Crowley had vividly imagined the scene of the ‘battle’, so he did not pause and made expressive facial movements, occasionally waving his hand. Aziraphaella smiled, because finally the guy seemed to relax and spoke more freely.

Noticing her smile, Crowley fell silent and cleared his throat, himself smiling faintly. For a moment he rubbed his ear between his fingers, as if thinking, and seemed about to say something, but in the distance he heard the ringing of a church bell - the service was over.

“Oh!.. I must go home…” Aziraphaella rose abruptly from the ground. Unlike the other people who wanted to interrupt her conversation with Crowley, she actually looked sad. “Could you tell me what happened next when we're on our way back?”

“No. It would be bad if you were seen with me," Crowley said seriously, trying to hide how hard it was for him to say it. “Go. I'll stay here a while longer," he added quietly, and leaned his head back, enjoying the warm rays of the sun.

To Crowley's great surprise, the girl sat down next to him again and looked at him expectantly. Confused, the boy stared at her.

“You wanted to continue the story," she reminded him, smiling softly.

Crowley stared at her for a few more moments. Her expression was so sweet compared to the way the others usually looked at him. Even if Aziraphaella was only interested in his stories and not him, the guy was determined to create at least a hundred more for her, and would even try to memorise the names of all the characters so he wouldn't get lost.

“So... Well, the sons have failed... The big reptile spoke again. He threatened that…” Crowley quickly scratched the back of his head and continued. “That they'd kill all their cows and chickens and other animals if... well, if parents didn't give them Egle.”

“Poor souls! But Egle even promised... If I were her, I'd have given up to them by now…” said the girl, even a little worried. It was obvious that she was much more concerned about her family's welfare than her own.

“Really? Would you go outside when there are hundreds... no, thousands of snakes! At least a few would definitely crawl up your sleeve…” Crowley asked with a smile and even leaned forward slightly, reaching out his hand to the girl and moving his fingers, imitating the movement of snakes, so that Aziraphaella realised that he was joking and provoking her.

“They're not poisonous at all!..” she laughed, catching Crowley's fingers and, as if answering his mockery, began to stroke them. “If Egle has enough chickens, she can feed all the snakes with eggs and make friends with them!”

Crowley, even though he was embarrassed by the girl's bold act, didn't want to show it, so he swallowed and took Aziraphaella's hand. It was uncomfortable because he was sitting leaning forward with his arm fully extended, but he liked to see the girl embarrassed and blushing. She didn't seem to be mad or uncomfortable, not at all, in which case he would have let her go immediately and apologised. The blonde probably just didn't expect that their jokes could get to this point.

After watching her reaction for a few more seconds, Crowley moved closer, not letting go of her hand but keeping his distance. He held her fingers as if they were crystal, giving her a choice to let go. Since the girl didn't seem like she was going to answer because she was too embarrassed, Crowley continued his story.

“As you said... Eagle finally decided to surrender on her own so that her parents, sisters and brothers wouldn't suffer… The snakes immediately got out of her way and where the biggest pile of reptiles had gathered, it turned out that they were covering a golden carriage, in which, of course, instead of horses, the grass snakes themselves were harnessed…” That was the first thing that came into Crowley's head, and only when he said it out loud did he realise how silly it all sounded, but it was too late to change anything, especially as the girl didn't seem surprised by this continuation - after all, it was a fairy tale, and in a fairy tale not everything had to make sense.

“And... where did they take her?” Aziraphaella asked after a long pause during which they both stared at their intertwined fingers.

“Erm... this... well... fairy tale, after all, is... unfinished...” The blonde's question threw Crowley off balance a little; he sat back, relaxed and completely forgot that he had to keep thinking of a continuation of a story. He cursed himself in his own head for not being able to think of something else to say to spend more time with the girl. But he wouldn't be called a cunning snake if he didn't immediately come up with a solution to this dilemma. “But, um. I'm gonna keep the story going, right? And that's why we can meet again…”

The girl timidly raised her eyes to Crowley, who looked at her expectantly, afraid that she would refuse, for the villagers might quickly notice that they were both absent and begin to suspect them of the unprecedented. That, of course, would hit Aziraphaella's reputation hard.

“In a week's time. When everyone will go to church again…” she replied quietly, still blushing and averting her gaze.

Crowley nodded. He hadn't expected to meet her earlier. To be more precise, they were seeing each other often, but usually didn’t have a chance to talk, nor that they needed to, but now, at least until he told his story to the end, there was definitely a point in meeting. All that was left was to figure out how to stretch the story out as long as possible so the girl wouldn't get bored.

Crowley got up off the ground and helped Aziraphaella to her feet. She wiped her wet feet on the grass to keep the sand from sticking to them and stood for a moment, spreading her fingers and letting the thin stalks tickle her delicate skin.

“I think we can meet on the same dune… and maybe go the other way," she suggested.

“Yeah, sure…”- Crowley said, a little confused, and tilted his head up, looking up at the sky. Through the small slit between his glasses and his face, the girl watched his squinting brown eyes, which seemed to be searching for something in the wide endless blue. “Well? It would be better if you went back alone,” he said, though he wanted to spend a few more minutes together.

“Yes, I'm sorry... See you later..?” she asked, taking a few steps forward and looking back.

“Yes. Absolutely,” even Crowley himself thought he said it with a little too much confidence in his own success.

#my fic #good omens #good omens au #ineffable spouses #ineffable husbands #fem!aziraphale #gomens #long hair crowley #crowley x aziraphale #aziracrow #aziraphaella #aziraphale #crowley #alternative universe humans #alternative universe #fairy tales #christianity #lithuanian mythology #mythology and folklore #religion #paganism #lithuanian history #lithuanian folklore #lithuania #Never-let fic

[chocomd]

ATLA Live Action Final Thoughts

So I'll start by saying that I went into this show with zero expectations (including the expectation for it to be any good at all) and focused more on questions like: How is the acting? Does the writing make sense? Is the story decent? Do we have emotional scenes?

I didn't care about sticking to the og ATLA's ships, lore, or any of the details really. Even changes to the characters were fine with me. But the most important question of all is: Does it work?

The answer:

No.

There are lots of well thought out NATLA critical reviews out there, so I'll try to keep this short. NATLA tweaked a lot of things, tried take elements of the og and make them subversive, changed the themes, completely nerfed Katara, watered down almost everyone else...and I could go on and on. But essentially, NATLA was a "remix" that stayed too close to the original in that the changes they made felt like empty imitations and clumsy efforts to improve on the og. They really should have created a completely different story while keeping maybe a handful of elements of the og. And even if they changed core traits of the characters, that would be fine. It just has to work...and it didn't.

So some main points:

The acting was terrible to ok for the most part. Overall stiff and stilted with almost nonexistent chemistry. Sokka, Jet, Ozai, and June (😍) were the standout actors. Katara had one facial expression and one tone of voice 95% of the time.

Ships I actually enjoyed: Sukka, turnip Jetara, sokka x hahn (hakka? sahn?) and ZUKAANG

The writing often contradicted itself and there was very little emotional resonance or depth. So many lines and moments felt unearned, or simply didn't make sense.

Telling. SO MUCH TELLING. The constant exposition killed so much in this show. I groaned almost every time an actor opened their mouth.

Katara. Why was she in this story again?

The only time the show felt fresh and interesting was the spirit world segment with visions and flashbacks in episode 5...the one time they took ideas from og ATLA and truly remixed them and it was actually decent to good.

The Blue Spirit episode (ep 6) was amazing (relatively speaking lol), and I think it's because Bryke co-wrote this episode AND it was pretty faithful to the og AND the Pohuai Stronghold fight was incredible AND the Zukaang was even more deliciously Zukaang.

The overall plot did not feel cohesive and felt like a disjointed imitation of og ATLA.

Even if I wasn't familiar with the og, I would not have enjoyed this show because it's not good or interesting TV. One person I was watching with (who didn't see the og) left the room because "this is so bad" and "the acting is really stilted."

In the end, I'm not surprised by any of this. Animated stories usually suffer when they're translated into live action, because animation typically has much more emotional and dramatic range. And while og ATLA isn't perfect, it very nearly is because even its imperfections still manage to work in the bigger scheme of the story. Adaptations of og ATLA are pretty much doomed to fail, unless they completely rewrite the ATLA story (and I do mean completely).

Do I regret watching NATLA? That's a hard question to answer. There's no way I was watching this on my own, so I got to enjoy the unhinged company of my friends. If nothing else, watching NATLA made me want more og ATLA and sucked me back into ATLA fandom again.

#choco watches natla #I've written out my thoughts and now I can move on lmao #natla sure was something #at least I'm enjoying the surge of og atla fanart that's coming out in response to natla LOL #maybe I'll rewatch an episode or two of og ATLA #natla #atla live action #atla la #natla critical

[visenyaism]

Share with us your Shiera headcanons please 🙏

since shiera is such a nothing character who just happens to have a really cool premise i do have a lot because you can just make stuff up (apart from my goofy shiera hightower theory). so here’s a big ol list under the cut:

-raised primarily by her half brother daeron since her mother died having her and her father died when she was an infant and seeing as how her mom had dubious origins (maybe from lys but no family, maybe a witch) she had literally nowhere else to go. Also because as a GIRL bastard she was just less of a threat. Because she’s just there on the goodwill of her brother the king, internalized from a young age that the only way to get what she wanted was to be extremely self-interested and perform her part very well.

-spent most of her childhood in the library reading political theory and trying to Learn Real Magic to get closer to her mother. fixation on appearance and performance led to her picking glamour magicks as her primary field of study, which is also what she heard they’re into in Lys.

-Spent a lot of time with Aerys I as a result because they had similar special interests and his general disinterest in women meant he was one of the few people who was not Weird to her as a teenager so they just stayed research buddies.

-Everyone at court’s preoccupation with her physical appearance from a weirdly young age (thank u george rr martin very normal and cool) led to teenage shiera just deciding she can say or do pretty much whatever she wants within the confines of the social role she’s been assigned. None of it matters unless she wants it to so the worst thing she can be is bored.

-So as a result of that she manipulates people when she gets bored but can you blame her if it’s the only way to get what she wants as a bastard and they’re probably not listening to what she has to say anyways and also making people fight is really entertaining?

-Not being taken seriously as a bastard AND a girl helps her realize that the entire game of thrones is in fact a made up game—one she enjoys her and her loved ones winning, but not something to stake her whole personhood in—and her family are not literal dragons or serious people.

-Unlike the other great bastards shiera is not wrapped up in the existential identity crisis about whether or not she is a True Targaryen because she’s never been interested in being anyone other than herself. Terminally bored whenever Bloodraven or Aegor or Daemon start doing this.

-Blackfyre rébellion happened when she was sixteen so of course she backed Daeron over her annoying other brother. Definitely made Bloodraven’s arrows that took him and his kids out.

-the blood magic thing WAS true. shiera was maybe not as practiced in it as her notable sisterniece danelle lothston but she did partake

-Eventually fell out with Bloodraven because it was really fun at first to be cooking up schemes nonstop to hold the realm down under Aerys, but then she realized that’s the only thing he wanted to do for the entire rest of his life. and the game is just going to repeat itself over and over again so she got out of there because that’s soooooo critically boring and there are other things in the world.

-accelerationist in that she does not believe things can actually get better for people under a targaryen king unless circumstances get bad enough that the people rise up and take back power, but not in the sense that she’s interested in being the one sparking that. She just has very little faith in the system at large.

-i don’t think she’s quaithe but definitely she spent the rest of her life travelling learning new magic and stuff. Not alive by the main series but no known records of death, she just sort of fell off the map eventually.

#shiera seastar #love the idea that shiera is the LEAST dramatic great bastard #AND she’s a silver jewelry girlie. taste! #they gave her main character eyeballs and then no personality except Hot. george you gotta quit doing that #she just has a lot of potential to have been bonkers as a great bastard with no other parent who also wasn’t around for aegon iv. but yknow