#i mean half the times i'm more invested in their lives and romance than my own

[willel]

Since I've been getting a few asks about it btw, I wanted to make my position clear. I don't discuss relationships in the show a lot and you probably only see me speak negatively about some aspects so some clarification might help.

I'm not against the general idea of romance in shows.

When done right, I think a romantic subplot in a show or movie or game can be really good. It can tie together all the themes while not distracting from the main plot. Sometimes even when it's distracting from the main plot, it makes sense and is worthwhile and adds to the main plot.

If you've known my blog for a long time, you'll know I'm not exactly an avid tv show watcher. I still want to provide an example of what I mean though so I'll reference one of the manga I've been reading since I was a teenager.

It's called Skip Beat! I honestly don't know if it's considered popular or niche but I'll give you a general synopsis. The main character, Kyouko Mogami was a girl from the countryside who was basically a glorified maid for her childhood friend, Sho Fuwa. Due to her harsh family circumstances, she grew up in Sho's home and from what we know about their lives, she was being trained (groomed???) to be his future wife. She was fine with it because she loved him.

But Sho wanted to be a star, so against his parents wishes, he took Kyouko with him to the big city to make it big. Which he did and it gave him a bigger head than he already had. He tossed her aside in favor of his new life in a pretty cruel way.

Kyouko vowed vengeance upon him. She would become an even bigger star than him and run him out of town. She vowed to never fall in love again and closed herself off. I know I'm writing this as if it's a sob story, but when I say it's a vengeance plot I mean that literally.

From there, the plot revolves around how far she'll go just for her vengeance. But, as the plot moves along, you can start to see how her icy heart is melting for someone else and how much anguish that brings her. The main plot is about her becoming a star, but the part where she learns to love again (someone else mind you) is a crucial part in all that.

I would suggest you read it butttttt it's the slowest burn in the history of all histories so you might suffer just as much as I have.

I really appreciate how this story might have a big romantic sub plot but it ties in nicely with her goals of self improvement and wanting to be a star, moving on from all her pain and being happy.

When it comes to Stranger Things...... I just do NOT feel that way at all.

Skip Beat! has a love triangle. Honestly at this point, it's more like an octagon and yet it doesn't bother me. There is a lot of "Will they won't they" but it still doesn't bother me.

It may be that Skip Beat! just has a more interesting subplot so the little baby half baked romantic drama in Stranger Things is just boring for me?

Maybe it's that I feel like the romantic drama and tension in Skip Beat! is actually leading somewhere and leads to character development while the romantic drama in Stranger Things feels played up for audience reaction and fandom discourse?

Like sure, Skip Beat! has some fandom discourse but everyone is pretty much on the same page or can, for the most part, respectfully discuss their preferences. With Stranger Things, if you so much as comment on a ship in the wrong way you'll have a gaggle of people harassing you over fictional characters.

To summarize,

I think romantic stuff in tv shows and movies and all that can be really fun, interesting, heartbreaking, all the entertaining things one could want.

I, personally, feel none of that when romantic stuff is happening in Stranger Things. Maybe in the first and second season but beyond that...? For example, while I wouldn't exactly call myself a shipper, I am and was rooting for Jopper from the getgo. (I say that because I think a shipper would be much more invested in the pair. Like fanart, fanfiction, following dedicated blogs etc. I don't really do that)

If the show writers decided to reintroduce Lonnie into the plot and then acted like he had a legitimate chance to get back with Joyce because she starts wavering between Hopper and Lonnie.... do you really expect me to freakin' care? Am I really supposed to care about this love triangle introduced? You actually expect me to get invested in such lazy writing? I just cannot.

My interest in Jopper would probably be eradicated to be honest because they just wasted time with a love triangle instead of developing them as a couple. All that wasted time could've been spent developing the main plot which in turn would've given them more opportunities to write them a s couple working together, protecting each other, etc. You know, substance.

See what I mean? I just... cannot care about Stranger Things ships. It's great if you can though, there are so many reasons to watch a show. Maybe for you, love triangles are the bees knees and the best thing since sliced bread so you'd be eating up another triangle like nobody's business. But that's not me.

I would much rather they focus moving the plot forward, which would naturally create moments between the characters we all care about.

Fandom behavior factors into a bit of this as well of course. Kinda hard to care about or get invested in a relationship if all you see all day is people arguing about canon (which at the end of the day doesn't matter) while also doxxing and harassing each other. Not to mention taking the worst possible interpretation of characters possible just because you think they're in the way of your ship. Dunno how anyone can care about or enjoy a shipping fandom like that.

SO yeah. That's it. Romance is stuff is fine and all, but I just don't jive with how Stranger Things rolled out it's romance stuff so I prefer to think about other things.

#stranger things

[cazimagines]

Born to be wild - chapter 13

Synopsis: Joining F1 as one of the first female drivers you knew was going to be a challenge but you weren’t prepared to deal with one particular asshole on the tracks. With the urge to win so strong within each racer, will romance pave the way? Or will it destroy everything?

Word count: 2.4k

Previous chapter: The morning after the party your memory was foggy and dull, which lead to Niki being anxious about all that had happened the previous night and leaving it in the past

A/N: I'm sorry this has been so long overdue! The last few months I was focusing on finishing all my uni work so I didn't have a lot of time to carry on writing but I have finished now and it is the summer break! Furthermore I have just under a month now till I start my summer job which means hopefully more time to write! I still have a lot more chapters for this planned so thank you to everyone who is still reading this fic! Love you guys <3

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Previous chapter

The finale had arrived. The United States. The last race of this season, and Niki Lauda was ahead of you. 

You were in the last few laps now, and though Niki had already won this championship with how many points he had, you were still determined to give a show for the crowd. 

After all, all you needed to do was get a second place here to beat James for second place in the world championship. 

For the first half of the season, James was confident in his Hesketh’s ability. It was why he had been so invested in getting you into the points as well, to fight with him against Niki. Yet it had backfired on him. As his car started to have problems in every race, Niki had stormed ahead to get first place and you were ready to snatch second place from him. 

You were peeved to not get world champion for yourself, but not as upset as you would have been earlier in the season.

After the first picnic outing with Niki, he had asked you out again, then again, then again. It has almost become a tradition between the two of you. Whenever you arrive in the new country, you and Niki would go out somewhere for a picnic, a pub or a restaurant. Anywhere to spend some time together. Each time you tried to pay for your own meal, Niki insisted on paying each time. He didn’t need to say anything now. Simply he would pull up in his car, and you would jump in, or you would find him on your motorbike, and with some resentment, he climbed onto the back. 

Those earlier feelings of anger towards Niki had started to morph. His egotism was still relentless and often he was grumpy more than anything else, but even with those annoying factors, you lived for the other side of him that would appear when it was just the two of you. The glimpse of his kinder, shyer side. He seemed to always put up a front around others, but when you got him on his own, it felt like pulling his mask away to reveal the vulnerable man beneath. 

You could see him ahead of you now, speeding on the underside of the track to hold off his lead. Smirking to yourself, you pushed down on the accelerator and pushed forward to reach him. Niki saw you coming out the edge of his vision and pulled over, blocking your strip steam. Still, you held close to Niki, chasing him as you both passed over the beginning of the lap. There were only a few more left, and then that was it for this season. Determination burned through you as you moved to the side, and as expected, Niki drifted ever so slightly, narrowing down your chance of overtaking there. But with a jerk to the steering wheel, you pushed to the other side, which had now opened up for you. 

You shot forward, narrowly getting past. Instantly Niki was on your tail, annoyed he had left a gap for you to get past. Hurling into the last lap, Niki kept seeking a way past, and you tried to the best of your ability to keep him at bay, but in one fleeting second, you pushed out too far and hit a patch of grass. It caused the car to slip slightly, and in the time it took for you to recover control, Niki was in front again, leading off. 

Both of you circled around to the finishing line, and you watched as Niki pushed past where the man was waving the checkered flag, calming first place in this race and in the championship. 

Slowly you pulled into your place in the pit and your team rushed over to congratulate you on second place. They cheered and danced around you, picking you up on their shoulders to carry you and celebrate. While you were inclined to join in with the celebrations, feeling an immense joy from doing so well in your first year in formula one, a feat not achieved by many. You couldn’t help but look over to the Ferrari garage. Glancing over at where Niki Lauda was also being carried, smiling and laughing cheerfully. For a moment, he glanced backwards, both your eyes catching each other. But then it was gone as his team pulled him away, ready to take him to the winner’s podium.

It wasn’t long till you were walking onto the stage before hundreds of fans cheering and shouting your name, You smiled and waved at them, stepping up to join Jame’s on the podium. He waved to the fans as well, but his lips pressed into a tight grimace, a heavy sigh that only you could hear leaving him. 

“Perhaps next year!” you say optimistically.

With a plastered grin, James responded, 

“I hope.”

There wasn’t time to talk to James further, though you wanted to. It was Niki’s turn to walk on stage, waving his hands and smiling widely, his lip curling over those precious front teeth. He hopped up to the stadium and stood still as his national anthem played out. His chest was thrust out and he held a satisfied smile on his lips as his gleaming eyes looked over at the fans. As if feeling your eyes on him though, he looked down at you. You flushed at being caught but he merely chuckled quickly and whispered to you.

“You put up a good fight.”

“You’ll have to watch out next year, I might just be able to beat you with all that I know now.” you whisper back, looking out over the audience and smiling to not raise suspicion.

Niki’s face straightened for a second though, the smile slipping from his lips as he watched you.

“Yes.” he muttered.

“It would be useful to know all about your…tricks.”

His smile came back in the next moment as they brought out the trophies and the champagne. Niki thrusted the trophy up in the air, waving it about comically as the crowd cheered. When handed the champagne, though, Niki was fast to pull the top off and hold it over your head, getting the drink over you. Quickly you hopped down, running off to the side in an attempt to remain dry but like a child, Niki followed after you determined to douse you. 

That’s what caused you to be sitting in the garage an hour later, ringing the last few bits of the campaign out of your sticky hair with a towel you had found lying about. A wooden knock echoed in the room and you saw Niki leaning against the entrance of the garage, sunglasses on, a wreath over his shoulders and holding his trophy against his hip. 

“I thought you would be out celebrating with your team,” you say, walking over to Niki while the corner of your lips tugged upwards. Your eyes flickered over Niki and a warmth flushed over you taking in how his world champion look. 

“I have no time needing to celebrate with them. I’d rather celebrate with someone that I like.”

You grin, cheekily elbowing him in his side, 

“Niki admitting he likes me. Never though I would never see the day.”

“Fuck off,” he laughed, pulling his sun glasses off. 

“Well, it’s true; only a few months ago, you said yourself that you couldn’t stand me.”

“Don’t make me regret asking you out,” Niki shouts as he turns to walk to the car park, not sparing a glance back at you. You shook your head, chuckling under your breath then jogging to catch up with Niki. 

He tossed his trophy in the bonnet of the car, now no longer caring about what he considered an ugly thing. The wreath soon followed. As the two of your drove off, your conversation turned for plans over the break before the next practise starts, which trailed off rather quickly when you both found out you two had nothing planned, then joking about making plans together. Then it turned into talk about the other drivers, to which Niki was very scathing while you rolled your eyes at what he said. 

Eventually, he parked up at another fancy restaurant that had soft lights and leaves hanging along the walls, a red carpet out the front and a man waiting to let people in. Though you never really gave a care for where you ate, Niki was a man with an appetite and considered it vastly important to have a good meal, and after tonight he must want a celebratory meal. 

The man at the front’s eyes lit up when he saw Niki approaching and with a giddy smile, lead the two of you to a reserved table, and then pulled out a notebook to ask for an autograph. Niki’s lips tightened, but he picked up the pen and quickly signed it.

Both of you were aware though of the silence that had befallen the restaurant as the two of you sat down, and the lingering eyes trailing on the two of you. Feeling your cheeks burn you glanced down at your lap while Niki huffed and crossed his arms. It wasn’t long before people started leaving their tables to come over to the two of you. Some simply wanted autographs which meant it was easy for Niki to get rid of them but others wanted to sit and chat with Niki, the new world champion. You could see Niki narrowing his eyes at the line of people appearing. His foot started tapping under the table and you shot him a look when he frowned and loudly complained as another person came over. 

Eventually when the waiter’s realised the situation at hand they came over and scurried everyone back to their seats but the special moment of the evening had been lost for you too.

“Let’s leave.” Niki said pointly, standing up and tucking the seat under the table.

“But what about dinner?” 

“We can find somewhere else that respects our privacy. Come on.”

You walked alongside each other, arms brushing as you both swayed. You two walked along the empty roads as dusk settled in and found yourself walking towards the end of the road which had a view of the coast before you. In silence both of you walked over to the gate, leaning against it and listening to the gentle lapping of the calm waves against the shore. The sea was mainly still, with the reflection of the full moon glimmering against it in the night. The atmosphere was serine and you closed your eyes to feel the fresh air brush against your skin, mellowing in the feeling. 

“I remember the night.”

Niki’s face turns to glance at yours, but he doesn’t say anything.

“I eventually remembered everything, what I did, what you said, the slap… the, well….”

Niki hums, sucking on his front teeth as he looks out over the sea again.

“I forgive you for what you said. I know you didn’t mean it, not really. And I’m sorry for what I did as well; I should know you’re not really comfortable in that sort of situation, and I never asked you how you felt and if you even liked me, you know, and that’s fine that you don’t but-”

As you continued to talk, Niki leant forward to grasp your forearm, twisting you to look at him. Without a moment's hesitation, his lips were pressed against yours. Like so long ago you tasted that sweetness again, the softness of his lips as his eyes fluttered shut and his spare hand snaking around your waist to pull you closer. As your heart felt like it might burst out of your chest, you closed your eyes as well and allowed yourself to be overwhelmed in the feeling of Niki. His lips moved ever so slightly against yours. You could feel how his front teeth jutted out and pressed against your lips but the sensation of them sent sparks to your core. 

You two held each other tightly, melting into the kiss as the air glided over you and the moonlight showering you in lightness. When you pulled away to steal a breath of air, your eyes locked onto those warm brown eyes that were already looking at you. They were softer, not the usual harsh exterior, and a little smile showing his front teeth appeared on his face. 

A strand of hair fell down in front of your eye as you observed him. He unwrapped his arm from around your waist and brushed the hair out from your eye, tucking it behind your ear again. His hand lingered against the side of your head for a moment, the warmth of his skin comforting till he pulled away again. 

“Niki?”

“I was fed up of hearing you apologising.”

You huff, shaking your head, glancing away from Niki, but that made Niki frown, He placed his hand on the side of your cheek and pulled your face to look at him again, his eyes flickering from your eyes to your lips. 

“I… liked it when you kissed me at the party. It was what I wanted for, well, a while. It just wasn’t how I imagined it. Not at a party”

He sucks on his front teeth again, now looking away as his cheeks burned.

“I’m not good at these things. Plus, to date, someone as a racer is danger in itself. For both of you to be racers, that’s madness and irresponsible.” Niki lists off as he looks away, but as he slowly stops talking, he turns to look back in your unwavering eyes.

“But, if you’re willing, I would be honoured to date you.”

“My God,” you chuckle, looking at Niki as he licked his lip and flickered his eyes from the ground to you again.

“A poet!”

You lean forward, wrapping your arm around the back of Niki now to bury your fingers in those soft, curly brown locks. You pull him forward, pressing your lips onto his to give him the answer he wanted.

Perhaps it was madness, crazy and bound to end in disaster. The way your relationship had started was rocky at best and there was still the mutual competition between the two of you. Yet you found the thought of it exciting and, as your lips pressed against Niki’s again, your body flush against his, nothing felt more right. 

Taglist: @lorna-d-m @cable-kenobi @zemosimp05 @edencherries @hofficoffi @somethingthatsaysbubbles @apparrio @vverliebt @shadowycollectiveduck @alindeluce @scuttle-buttle @handmaiden-of-mischief @rumblelibrary @nyx2021 @fictionlandslanddreams @darksxder @liadamerondjarin @daniel-bruhhl @aedeluca @trashbin2 @livvyshmiv @nymphalbee @black-mistress-of-evil @laura-naruto-fan1998 @danielbruhlswife @stilltoomuchafangirl @hannahbal-the-fannibal @hungrhay @get331 @hexedeslichts @pastyoverlord265 @transias @everythingbeginsineternity-blog @archangelproperty @lilith-blackrose @jesslove23 @saltysilv @mybisexualheartbeatsforzemo @janine-007 @Vhaenen @jeeperky @cat-r-r @libsybum @linkpk88 @peakyblindersmischief @louisvuittonlinson @realmoftheelemental @brxghtlelune @justpeachiepup @kp9983 @shadystarlightgentlemen @f1yogurt @antheina @little_hildy @bear-bone-berries @lieutenantn @greeneyeblondie44 @viczvaporub @ultraintrovertedgryffindor @jeeperky @xourownsidee @fandom_lover20 @nakedmurmurous @brühlwaltzbaby

Taglist link

PS: The tag's look odd to me but it might just be the new format, if someone tagged on here could let me know if they got a notification or not that would be great! Thanks :)

#niki lauda rush #niki lauda fic #niki lauda x reader #niki lauda imagines #niki lauda fanfiction #niki lauda #daniel brühl #daniel bruhl #niki lauda x you #niki lauda rush 2013 #niki lauda fanfic

[darkheartedraven]

Final Fantasy XVI Thoughts

Disclaimer - Here be spoilers, read at your own risk

Honestly spoilers

Ok, if you've read this far I'm assuming you're fine with spoilers.

So I finished FFXVI and it's good. Seriously good. Has some pacing flaws in the middle, but it's over reasonably quickly and then you can get back to the awesome.

Characters are for the most part well written and I genuinely cared about some of the relationships. I found the Clive and Joshua bond to be heartwarming and gut-wrenching and I was so very invested in Dion and Terence from like 2 whole lines.

I did not care about the core romance though. It has the set up and I guess it makes sense, but it felt so completely default that I didn't really care. There wasn't a great deal of effort put into characterising their bond and the naked scene on the beach felt so forced I was tempted to skip it. I cared far more about a soldier and a prostitute just chatting on the street.

The overall story is excellent. A really interesting blend of sci-fi and fantasy, but from the point of view of the fantasy characters. Elements that were clearly high science fiction, disguised as religion -a really nice take. Ultima was excellent as a villain and some of the lines were just awesome.

That said, they went a bit hard on the bittersweet. Like, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good sad moment, but I came out of the end of the game feeling oddly hopeless. It also ends very... vague. It doesn't confirm who's dead or alive and it sort of teases you that one character lived, but they also might not have. It could be the other character, under a new name (because he had a quill) and I'm left with lots of questions. Maybe the intention is to have DLC to answer that question. There's a whole missing Eikon and I can see that being brought up, so there's scope there for answers behind a paywall I guess. I feel the boundary between games and art is an odd one and honestly the story of this game was definitely art. But it left me feeling hollow and a little hopeless, which I don't think a game like this really should. I should get a sense of absolute triumph after fighting my way through 40+ hours of stuff. Also Dion should have told Terence he loved him. I should have had a miniquest where the two of them got to be there for one another without the trappings of their roles. I mean, I get it, that's their story and it was a powerful tale told in a handful of lines and some beautiful animations, but I cared about it so much more than Jill and Clive, that I wanted to see it develop. I should at least know that he and the girl are safe at the end, that's he's doing OK and that he understands. Duty over love is a powerful notion and there was so much more there, that I wanted to see. I mean, obviously, LGBT stuff in japanese game I'm lucky I got what I got, but still. All in all, Final Fantasy was a great game and I'm glad I played it. I feel a little hollow at the end of it, even though the story was great, but I suspect I'll replay it a lot and fill some of those gaps in by devouring the lore further. Obviously the best character by far is Torgal, they did such a good job of that doggo. I spent half my time petting him and he delivered emotion so well with a handful of barks and whines. I want one. Final Fantasy XVI is a fantastic game. I encountered only 1 bug in my whole playthrough and everything else was smooth as can be. All in all an excellent experience, solid 9/10, would recommend.

#final fantasy xvi spoilers #final fantasy xvi

[readingoals]

Mid Year Book Tag Thing

I wasn't tagged by anythone but I thot this might be a bit of fun

Best book you’ve read so far in 2022

This is a very tough choice cause I've read some absolute bangers this year but at the moment I think my fave would be Why Didn't They Ask Evans by Agatha Christie. I just loved the characters so much and I think their relationship was one of the best I've read in any Christie novel. Plus the mystery itself was very well done.

Best sequel you've read so far in 2022

I've not read a lot of sequels (I don't read all that many series) so I think it has to be Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch. I adore the Rivers of London series and AOW was no exception. If I'm being honest the last couple books of this series I've found harder to follow/remember what happened in them (which is more to do with my headspace than the books I think) but AOW had me completely invested. The start was a little slow but once I was in I was in. Favourite re-read

Okay there are two because I literally cannot decide. The first is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It's one of my all time favourite books and I re-read it every couple of years. The other is Zigzag Street by Nick Earls which I hadn't read for quite some time. Very very different books but I just adore them both. Genre you've been loving/reading the most

It's really no surprise that mystery has been my most read genre this year. I'm following the 2022 Read Christie challenge which means I'm reading 1 Agatha Christie book per month so mystery is definitely right up there for me at the moment. My second most read is Historical Fiction I think. New release you haven't read yet, but want to

I'm gonna be honest, I don't really keep up with new releases. Like if I'm in a bookshop and one catches my eye I'll pick it up but I have no idea what are new releases and what aren't. Looking at my shelf I don't think I have anything that was released this year that I haven't already read. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Like I said anticipated releases aren't really my thing. But I do know that Taylor Jenkins Reid has a new book coming out sometime towards the end of the year which I'll definitely pick up because I've liked everything else I'd read from her. Biggest disappointment

Take Me To Your Nerdy Leader and Sincerely Confusingly Yours by Hailey Gonzales. I really wanted to love those two because the series has an aro main character and I'm aro and I just had very high hopes that the books did not live up to. Biggest surprise

Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie. This one is very different to what I expected and to other Christie's I've read. It's a short story collection for one. And also very romance focused. I mean it's still a mystery book and Pyne solves a number of cases, including murder. But a lot of them are relationship based mysteries - unhappy marriages and the like. Which was definitely not what I had in mind when I picked it up, although still very enjoyable. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)

I don't think I have one. Most of the books I've read have been by authors I'm already familiar with. Of those that weren't - the two Hailey Gonzales books were disappointing, Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen was good in patches but mostly I hated it, and The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins was enjoyable but I'm not desperate to read anything else by him. I think the closest to a new fave author would be Emma Brodie since I really enjoyed Songs In Ursa Major but again I'm not like scrambling for more of her writing. If I saw she had another book I might pick it up but she's not a guaranteed buy yet. Newest favourite character

I think it has to be Frankie from Why Didn't They Ask Evans. I just adored her. Bobby also should get a mention since they worked as a team to solve the case. Book that made you cry

I don't think anything I've read this year has made me cry. Songs In Ursa Major might have made me tear up a bit, same with The City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon but I don't think either made me properly cry.

Book that made you happy

Zigzag Street obviously. It's so funny and because it's set very close to where I live it's just always a joy to read because I'm familiar with so much of what is mentioned. Special mention to Mostly Void Partially Stars by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor because the nostalgia of revisiting early Welcome To Night Vale episodes made me very happy also. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)

I think these three count as the prettiest books I've acquired this year. The first is a collector's edition of Frankenstein. It's got foiling on it so irl its all shiny and pretty. The second is The Complete Novels of Jane Austen. I'm a sucker for flowers and stuff and I really like the colours on this one. And then the third is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende which I'm currently reading. I actually borrowed this one from the library I work in, partly because of the cover. It's hard to tell from the image but there's a lot of gold foiling going on highlighting the title and the lines of the sea and sky. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I don't have anything specific in mind. Obviously theres another 6 Agatha Christie books to read but I don't know what all of them are yet (the next one has to fit the prompt "takes place on holidays"). I'd like to finally get around to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and maybe re-read Cloud Atlas. Then theres the rest of the Welcome To Night Vale books. And in my yearly goals I said I'd like to read 3 non-fiction books and I haven't picked up a single one yet but I've got a few I'm keen to get to - The Regency Revolution by Robert Morrison in particular.

#text #brigid speaks #mid year book tag #read in 2022 #booklr

[thebluesunflower44]

just thinking about zuko and katara hugging...and swaying back and forth with their eyes closed...content in each other's arms

#i'm actually taken aback sometimes by how strongly i care about this couple #like yeah i've shipped things before but no couple has touched me so deeply that i wanted to write my own happy ending for them #no two characters have actually impacted my worldview so much #like i really truly believe that these two fictional people deserve the world and everything good #and that's a little weird actually? #i wonder why i feel that way #i mean half the times i'm more invested in their lives and romance than my own #zutara #feeling very soft for red and blue today #unable to put it into words and use it for my writing but you know what #i am working on remembering that that's okay #anywayyyy i really should focus on real life now but it's just so annoying :/ #blue rambles in the tags #shut up blue #i sound like a four year old again don't i

[beels-burger-babe]

All is Fair in Dice and War

***Soooo, @bagelsinatoaster I love this request. However, you didn't specify which board game and as I am a huge nerd I decided to take some creative liberties and combine this with another idea I've been meaning to write which is: MC introducing the demon bros to Dungeons and Dragons. I certainly had fun with this and I hope you like it!*** Summary: Leviathan's world is flipped upside down when MC tells him there is a game that basically allows him to be the Lord of Shadows in real life!! He demands that his brothers join him as MC introduces them all to the chaotic shit show that is Dungeons & Dragons. For once, it was a peaceful day in the House of Lamentation. Lucifer was lounging in the living room with a cursed record playing softly in the background. For once, Satan had willingly joined him and was sitting by the fireplace, thumbing through a book on the human world. Belphie had been passed out on the couch when he arrived and was still laying there with an impressive puddle of drool collecting near his mouth. Even Asmodeus and Beel had joined in, with Asmodeus gently humming to himself as he painted his nails and Beelzebub happily munching on a snack as he enjoyed the sight of his family getting along. Yes. It was perfectly quiet and peaceful, and Lucifer didn't even have any traces of his regular migraine. But of course, nothing good lasts forever. Everyone jumped as the door slammed open and a wide-eyed Leviathan dragged you into the room. The two you very closely followed by Mammon loudly complaining. "Oi! You're gonna hurt them! Cut it out, Levi!" Lucifer sighed and closed his eyes, momentarily mourning the peace that he had just barely begun to enjoy, and closed his book. "Leviathan, let MC go. What are you freaking out about this time?" Lucifer regretted asking the moment the words left his mouth. Levi looked at it with the expression he only ever got when his limited edition Ruri-Chan merch arrived; his eyes were wide and glittering with excitement while his face bore a grin so large that Lucifer was surprised it didn't rip his skin. The third-born was practically vibrating as he let go of your wrist and pushed you forward. "Tell them! Tell them about the game!"

You laughed at Levi's excitement and casually rubbed your wrist. "I was just telling Leviathan about a game that we play in the human world called Dungeons and Dragons-" "You get to make a fantasy world that everyone plays in, and everyone makes characters. You can be a wizard and cast spells against a huge monster! Or a war hero fighter that has been betrayed by his brother! Or a noble knight who is looking for his lost kingdom! And the best part is that it's real!" Levi interrupted, nearly jumping in place as stars danced in his eyes. You put your hands out towards him to try and calm him a bit. "Well, not entirely real. It is played in person, but it's a role play tabletop game, meaning it mostly relies on the players' imagination. That is unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on 3D maps and figurines of your characters." Levi's eyes grew even wider, if possible, as he started shaking his hands up and down. "I CAN HAVE A FIGURINE OF A CHARACTER THAT I MADE?! GAAAAAAAAAHH!" A pillow flew across the room and hit Levi square in the face as a now awake Belphegor glared at him. "Will. You. Shut. Up?" the Avatar of Sloth hissed as a dark dangerous aura grew around him. Beel gently patted his twin's head in hopes of calming him. Leviathan pouted as he noticed no one else seemed to be getting excited about it. "C-Come on guys! This isn't even a video game! It's a thing that we can all do together and personalize it to be something that everyone will like. It'll be fun! Right MC?" You nodded as you gently tossed Belphie's pillow back over to him. "Yeah. I love D&D. I played it all the time in the human world. There's action, suspense, and even romance if you really wanted it," a couple of the brothers perked up at that. "I could put together a one-shot for you guys to try it out if you'd like? I'll help you make your characters, and we can all get together for an evening and play it sometime in a couple weeks." The room went quiet as everyone thought it over. Most of them had no interest in the game itself, but if it was organized by you... "I'm in," Beel decided with a nod. "I think it will be fun. All of us trying something new; it could be neat." Satan casually flipped a page in his book, "The creative aspect of it is definitely appealing. We'd be the masters of our own fate, and that most certainly piques my interest." Asmodeus smirked as he put the cap on his nail polish. "And you said it could be whatever we want? My, one might say that this game could help our wildest fantasies come true~" he made sure to wink at you as he giggled. Belphie, who had only just got back his pillow, scrunched up his face in disgust and launched it at Asmo. "Don't make this weird Asmo," he looked over at you and shrugged, "So long as you do all the work in putting together the character thing, sure. Why not?" Mammon looked over at you from the corner of his eye. "Ya mean to tell me, that you can make it so I'm some awesome, rich, and powerful prince?" Asmo scoffed as he pushed the pillow off his lap. "Please Mammon, even the world of make-believe has its limitations." Mammon blushed as he growled at his brother. You just chuckled and teasingly elbowed his side. "Don't listen to him, Mammon. There is a set amount of how much money you start out with depending on your class and background, but I'm sure we can find something that will make you happy." The second-born blushed even more as he grumbled quietly under his breath. Lucifer tilted his head in thought. "I suppose that if everyone else is playing, naturally I must as well," he stood and began to make his way to his office. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with MC." The next two weeks were spent planning and carefully figuring out the details of the one-shot and the characters that everyone was going to play. Levi was, of course, the first one who came to you to build his character. The two of you spent hours going through the Player's Handbook and sourcebooks to find the perfect build to recreate the Lord of Shadows. In the end, you put

together a human fighter that you gave a couple magic items to make Levi's vision really come to life. It seemed basic, but for the Lord of Shadows, it was perfect. The moment the two of you finished, Levi dove to his computer and ordered a custom-made mini that looked exactly like his character. Satan was genuinely interested in the game, especially after he learned about all the lore and rules behind the different classes and races. You had just been chilling in your room one day when the door burst open. Satan stood there with wide eyes holding a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters. "MC, why didn't you tell me there are cat people?!" You chuckled, knowing exactly where this was going. "They're called tabaxi, but yeah, they're basically cat people. Would you like to play as one?" He scoffed and snapped the book shut. "Is that even a question? Of course, I'm playing as one." After some discussion and bouncing back and forth between classes a couple of times, Satan settled on a tabaxi druid; that way he not only looked like a cat, but he could speak to them as well. After a few days of you spending time with his brothers focusing on getting their characters ready, Mammon came to you wanting the coolest, most epic character ever. At first, it was clear that he wasn't fully invested in the process, but as he saw the customizable options and all the cool stuff that his character could have, you got his attention. You ended up designing a golden teifling rogue (you tried to tell Mammon that teifling usually wasn't yellow, but he gave you such a sad look that you couldn't say no) that was decked out with piercings and gems all over its horns and tail. He tried to act like he wasn't that excited about it, but one day during class you caught him doodling what looked like a stick figure version of the character on his sheet with a big smile on his face. Asmodeus came in shortly after Mammon finished,

insisting on having the most charming and beautiful character there was. You tapped your chin at the request. "I mean, stereotypically bards are extremely charming and...well seductive...almost too seductive. But that's only thei-" Asmo had hearts in his eyes before you could even finish. "That's what I want to be!" You sighed and made a mental note not to include any dragons in the session as you marked Asmo down to be an elven bard and helped him create his character sheet. You hadn't heard anything from Lucifer for nearly that entire first week, until one day as you were lounging in the living room, he walked in holding a stack of resource books. "Ah, MC. I've been looking for you. I wanted to inform you that I will be playing a half-elf multiclassing as a paladin and hex-blade warlock." You blinked at him as he put all the books down in front of you. "O-Oh. Would you like help putting together your character sheet?" He just grinned and began to make his way out of the room once more. "I've already done it. I must admit that this was quite a bit more interesting than I thought it would be," and with that he was gone, leaving you to try and figure out what had just happened. With only a few days left until the one-shot, you had to go find the twins and get them to make their characters. Beel apologized like crazy for you having to track him in down in order to get his character made. The poor guy was in the middle of peak Fangol season and had completely forgotten. Once the two of you sat down in the kitchen with an empty character sheet in one hand and snacks in the other, Beel gave you his full attention. He put a lot of thought in his character and wanted to make it really good since he appreciated that you were doing something that they could all do as a family. He bashfully decided to play a halfling. Not only did the little creatures share his love for food, but he thought it would be neat to try being small for once. His class was also a surprise. After carefully flipping through all of the class options, he had eventually settled on a cleric. "They're the healers, right? This way I can help the others if someone gets hurt." You gave him a huge hug then and there. Belphegore, on the other hand, was not so easy to work with. "Belphie, come on. Just flip through the book and choose something!" He groaned into his pillow and rolled onto his side to glare at you. "I told you I would play if you did all the work for me. Me flipping through a book is work. It's not happening." After an entire hour of trying to get him to cooperate, you gave up. In retaliation you made his character a goblin barbarian, just to drive in the fact of how much of a brat he was acting like.

Finally, the day came for you all to play the one-shot, and much like you expected, it was complete and utter chaos. You had tried to maintain some structure and keep everyone on track, but it was hopeless. Levi and Satan were taking the game seriously and, Diavolo bless them, were the only reason their party was making any progress. Mammon was trying to pick-pocket every non-player character that they met while Asmo distracted them by flirting. This worked great for them until Mammon got caught and would've died from the resulting injuries if it wasn't for Beel. Speaking of Beel, the poor fella was trying his best to do well in the game but kept getting confused by all the rules and different stats and modifiers. Belphegor spent most of his time, trying to explain it to his twin, but in the end, Beel accidentally ate his dice and Belphie passed out on his shoulder. And then there was Lucifer. He had been mostly quiet the entire game. Surprisingly, he let Levi and Satan take the charge in any investigations and puzzle-based interactions, but he did so with a smirk. You had a funny feeling in your stomach that he was up to something, and you were right. It was the final boss. Satan and Levi were on the edge of their seats, having worked so hard to get the party to this point. You smiled, knowing that one of the best parts of D&D was finally taking down the big bad. In this case, you had prepared a beholder for them to fight. It would be no easy task. The fight should have required them to work together in an epic battle of wits, magic and melee attacks. Only, when everyone rolled initiative, Lucifer went first. The eldest smiled as his eyes sparked menacingly. "For my bonus action, I'd like to use my hex blade's curse on it, which allows me to add my plus four proficiency bonus to all damage, and makes any rolls of nineteen or twenty critical hits. I will then use my long sword with divine smite at third level to attack him and attack him again using my extra attack," barely giving you time to process what he said, Lucifer rolled his dice twice. "And that would be a nineteen and a natural twenty, meaning they're both criticals due to the curse. That should hit, yes?" "Wha-" You could only watch as Lucifer, now with twice the amount of damage due to his critical rolls pulled out a disgusting number of dice and rolled them all. And of course, with his luck, they all rolled high. "So that's 90 points of damage plus the extra damage from the curse and the bonus from my duelist ability per attack, brings this 102 points," he smugly perched his chin on top of his hands as the table gaped at him. You gulped and looked down at the beholder's character sheet, "Y-You just took o-over half of his hit points in one round..." His grin widened at the information, "What, like it's hard?" You never got the chance to finish the game, as Satan burst into his demon form and pounced on Lucifer, the eldest laughing like a mad man, while Levi tore up his character sheet in a fit of jealous rage. Levi never asked to play with everyone again after that. ***This was just so self-indulgent and I just- I loved it. It combined two of my favourite things and I have never been happier. This was more crack than fluff, but either way, it was fun and I hope you nerds out there enjoyed it 🥰 Thanks again for the request @bagelsinatoaster!*** Taglist: @mimik248 @roseytoesy @ester-is-here

#obey me fanfic #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me fic #obey me belphegor #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me mammon #obey me lucifer #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me demon brothers #obey me fluff #obey me crack #obey me requests #my writing #dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d #beholder #druid #cleric #rogue #fighter #paladin #warlock #barbarian #bard #game night #fan fiction

[jeojahari]

03 | kiss it better | myg

🠒 summary: you're one of the lucky ones, everyone else tells you. finding your soulmate the day you turn 18 isn't something that happens to a lot of people... but you and your other half are going to have to make a lot of progress to be able to tolerate each other.

or, you and yoongi can feel everything the other feels, and you're hell bent on causing each other pain.

🠒 pairing: yoongi x reader

🠒 genre: angst, fluff, e2l!au, soulmates!au, college au, crack?

🠒 warnings: profanity, implied smut

🠒 word count: 1.9K

🠒 notes: Y'ALL i can't with you guys thank you so much oh my gosh 🥺❤️❤️ thank you so much for sticking with this! *is very honored and touched* hope you enjoy this chapter :D

also! from here on out i'm going to start putting in parts from yoongi's pov too so y'all can get an idea of what's going on in his head c:

also, just a little shout out to an anon whom i got a very comforting, uplifting message from... thank you so much anon! this part is going to be last-minute dedicated to you ❤️❤️

part 03: three roses

series m. list

Yoongi’s only met you two days ago, and yet he can’t get you off his mind.

“It’s probably just a soulmate thing,” his roommate tells him, typing away at his laptop — the paper is due in half an hour, and he is rushing to get it done. Procrastination has time and again proven to be a horrible habit, but he never does let go of it.. “Regardless of how you feel about her, the universe decides who you’re stuck with.”

“It’s not like that, Jin,” Yoongi groans. “I’m not saying I don’t ever want to be with her. I’m saying it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, if she would just let it happen.”

Jin spins around on his chair, giving his friend a curious look. “What did you even say the first time you met her that made her hate you this much?”

“I, um.” Yoongi shifts around, suddenly aware of how cold he must have seemed to you that day, way before you turned eighteen and knew what the future was to hold. “Told her not to waste oxygen. And left.”

“Wow. So in a nutshell, you fucked up.”

“I did.”

“And she hates you for being an antisocial grump.”

“I’m not! But yes, she does.”

Jin proceeds to take another sip from his mug of (now cold) tea, deep in thought. “You gonna tell me who the mystery girl is?”

“Park Y/N,” Yoongi winces as he says your name, not liking the way it easily rolls off his tongue, or the kaleidoscope of butterflies it sets off in his stomach — or the way his heart seems to skip a beat at the thought of you. He doesn’t want it to, but what can he do? “You know, the one who rooms with Park Jimin from the arts department. They’re not related, though.”

“The Y/N who has an impossibly obvious crush on Jimin’s cousin? Taehyung, right?”

Yoongi chuckles, staring at the blank white wall. “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Y/N in this entire school, but yes. That’s her.”

“So you two don’t get along and she has a thing for another guy. Man, the universe really fucked up, didn’t it?”

“And you’re not helping right now,” Yoongi scoffs, scribbling down another abstract equation on his paper. “The goal is not to make her fall in love with me, dumbass.”

“But that’s precisely what the goal is! She falls in love with you, you date, get married, have kids, you know the deal. Happily ever after.”

“I think you’re forgetting the part about me not liking her at all.”

“That can change, can’t it?” Jin swivels around in his chair, eyes wide and hopeful. “What’s stopping you from falling head over heels for her a week or so from now? You two are already bound; it can’t be that hard.”

Yoongi presses his pen to the paper again, but a sharp stinging sensation makes him flinch backwards, curling his index finger inward. “Stupid,” he mutters, wincing. “Y/N seriously has a thing for giving herself paper cuts on the daily.”

“See?” Jin grins widely, feeling very accomplished for no reason at all. “You’re already worried about her well-being!”

“The only reason I even care is because I feel it too!” Seconds later, another twinge of pain comes, this time shooting through his head. “Ow,” he groans, frustrated. “Really? Are we seriously going back to this now? What’s she doing this time, banging her head on the wall to get on my nerves?”

Jin drains the rest of tea in one gulp, side-eyeing the shorter male from his spot at the desk. “Figure it out, my guy,” he says under his breath. Whether he likes it or not, he’s concerned about his friend — though he knows that if he brings it up, Yoongi’s only going to chide him for being so worried. “Second chances don’t come often. Don’t screw this one up.”

The study group meets again (is this a daily thing now?), and much to Yoongi’s surprise, you’re there without fail, squeezed in between Jimin and another guy he doesn’t think he’s ever seen before. As Taehyung grabs his hand and yanks him down onto the bench, he notices the slightly pissed off glare you send him, too tired to return one of his own.

No one speaks, and it’s strange. It’s awfully awkward; usually Taehyung and Jungkook would be arguing over something stupid, and there would be yelling… but now, there is only complete silence, save for the rustling of pages and the occasional cough from Namjoon.

“Hey,” Jungkook whispers from his left after a few minutes, nudging his elbow as a greeting. “How come you’re not sitting with Y/N?”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you two supposed to be together?” Ah, right. Once again, Yoongi curses fate’s horrible decision making skills, sending another why me? plea to the heavens.

“It’s fine,” he brushes it off instead, sorting through his books. He’s trying not to look like it affects him, but he’s always been rather terrible at hiding his frustration. “She has Jimin and that other dude anyways.”

Jungkook doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he sees right through the half-hearted lie. “You want to sit next to her,” he deduces quickly. “But you’re not. You two fought or something?”

“What would you know,” Yoongi mutters, irritated. “Of all people.”

Jungkook frowns slightly, but the merry twinkle doesn’t leave his eyes, the trademark of a person who’s just happy to live life. “What do you mean? I’m very experienced in these things, I’ll have you know.”

“Right, because fucking a different girl each night is your way of showing off your expertise.”

“Yoongi, I’m trying to help you. You two aren’t the best at covering up; we know you hate each other’s guts,” he sighs. “You need to talk to her, patch it up, do something—”

“Shut up,” Yoongi snaps sharply, thoughts distorted. His cantankerous mood is rising now, only worsening with every word he hears. “Shut up, Jungkook. You don’t fucking know anything.” His voice is loud enough to catch the attention of everyone else at the table, and he’s well aware of your worried eyes on him. “Stop trying to educate me on this bullshit called romance when all you fucking do is sleep around!”

The weight of his words hit Jungkook hard, and it’s written all over his face, shock and something like sorrow in his expression. Yoongi regrets it as soon as he says it, immediately wishing he could take it all back — but he doesn’t, because the anger, the pain, the empty, hollow feeling of having his soulmate near but unable to love her… it’s eating away at him.

Then he hears your voice, soft and gentle in contrast to his own, and it almost grounds him, calms the storm inside his head. Almost, except for the fact that your words are just as harsh, stinging him far more than expected. “You’re such an asshole,” you say, giving him nothing but a stare he can’t comprehend.

“Y/N—”

“Jungkook can do what he wants; he’s an adult and he’s not harming anyone. His actions do not justify yours,” you spit, the resent clear in the way you speak to him.

Have you always hated him so much?

“And neither of us have been particularly great about this, but you had no right to say that to him,” you continue, glowering. The rest of the table just sits there as you talk, still processing what just happened. “You fucking jerk.”

There’s a lot Yoongi wants to say to you. Explain. Redeem himself. Apologize, maybe, if you’ll let him — but he knows you won’t. It’s one of the things he’s picked up on in two days; you won’t listen to reason when you’re pissed off, and right now you’re certainly in no position to hear him out.

“Okay,” he mutters instead, rising from his seat and earning a worried look from Taehyung. He gives you one last look before he forces himself to look away, your heated gaze burning into him. “I’ll leave first, then.”

Jungkook left almost immediately after, and the rest of the group quickly followed suit. Now, you’re cozied up on the couch with a cup of green tea while Jimin works on what he couldn’t finish earlier, sitting beside you.

“Well,” he breaks the silence. “At least now you know that he’s somewhat invested in whatever’s between you two, if Jungkook was trying to give him advice.”

“That’s just Jungkook being invested,” you grumble. “Not Yoongi. The guy doesn’t even look like he cares.”

“Do you?”

The question makes you stop and think. Do you? Do you care enough to try? Growing up, you’d so strongly believed that love was only ever a temporary thing; it never stayed long enough to blossom into something beautiful the way it was portrayed in the media. You had always been surrounded by the dark side of this seemingly magical emotion, listening to your mother’s crying late at night when she thought you were asleep, to the point where you’d sworn it off.

But something in you wants to question it. You want to shatter that ominous what if, throw off the shadows of your own childhood and grow into something more, be able to experience the magic firsthand.

And really, Yoongi’s a fucking asshole and you’re still mad at him. But one day… maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. Give him a try, a chance.

Still, it’s a “no” that you answer Jimin with, lying through your teeth. He doesn’t say anything, just humming a single note in response, his right hand doodling something mindlessly on your skin with one of his black ink pens. When he pulls away a minute later, there are three dainty roses resting in the valley between your thumb and index finger, clustered together in a bunch.

You hate roses. They do nothing but remind you of the one thing that hurt you the most.

“You know,” he says after a while, “I think you’re being a bit childish about this whole thing. Y/N, you two are acting like you’re in some kind of high school drama. You say you don’t like him, but for what? His coffee addiction and his personality?”

“You’re just making it sound worse than it really is…”

“No,” he presses, turning to face you directly. “I’m serious. You’re my best friend and I want to see you happy. Not you screwing this all up. People have differences, it’s normal.”

“It’s not about that—”

Jimin takes your hand, tapping it twice and then rapping his knuckles against the side of your head. “Y/N, you wonderful idiot. You don’t hate him. You’re just desperately searching for reasons to hate him.” His eyes soften. “I know you don’t like this because of how your parents ended up, but not everyone's the same. You don’t have anything to be afraid of.”

“I—” You stop for a second, a bit on edge. “I don’t like this, Jimin,” you say truthfully. You’ve always known it was bound to happen someday, but… the way your heart races around Yoongi and aches when he’s away both bothers and excites you, afraid at the prospect of more but still tempted to see what the future holds. And you can’t decide on either one.

“There you go. What were you waiting for?” he laughs, bringing you in for a comforting hug. “Now you’ve just got to do something about it.”

taglist: @meiadore @kimnamjoonluvbot @im-gay-no-matter-who-i-date @fangirl125reader @helenazbmrskai @min-yus @janeelizabeth1216 @chimchiekookie @chimchoom @igotnotype @beach-bitch-bitch-beach @loveyoongles @ggukkieland @music-is-my-middle-name @secretlycrazyhummingbird @halesandy @moonchild1

taglist is still open! send an ask if you'd like me to add you <3

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#yoongi #yoongi soulmate au #yoongi enemies to lovers #yoongi college au #bts #bts fanfiction #bts college au #bts soulmate au #bts enemies to lovers #fluff #angst #crack?? idk #yoongi series #mine #yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic #part 3

[phoenixyfriend]

Re; Ahsoka and Quinlan being the same age, now I'm picturing Ahsoka, Quinlan, and Rex eventually ending up in a weird sorta thruple where Quinlan comes in and out of the relationship but the door is kinda always open for him? And Rex spends a lot of mornings eyeing the tangle of orange and brown skin on the other side of the bed like he has no idea how he ended up here but he's (mostly) okay with that tbh

Context: Commander Buir in chronological order

YES okay so this is wild to me that people are invested in this but like half the time-travel fics with Ahsoka in the same age-group as Quinlan have me wondering if I should ship them. Let me just. Ho shit.

So, okay, I've explored a lot of possible dynamics but there's something really engaging about how Quinlan, trained as a Shadow before the Sith came back, could react to a War Padawan. Ahsoka isn't really infiltration material yet, she's very much a frontline fighter, but she's got a lot more experience with a kind of consistent dark atmosphere that most Jedi don't. They get exposed to plenty of dark stuff, sure, but not the kind of all-encompassing "this is my life for the last two years" thing that is usually reserved for the long-term field agents like Shadows and Watchmen.

The War Padawans, for all that they were supposed to be just normal Jedi Padawans, were living in the kind of consistently negative environment that's normally experienced by those Knighted Sentinels.

So Ahsoka, while still generally pretty young in these AUs, is a very odd kind of person to be around, because she's spunky and vivacious and snippy and affectionate and snarky and knows how to break every bone in your body from harrowing experience as the only thing standing between death and thousands of brothers.

And Quinlan, I imagine, really likes that about her. She gets it, and she's still an energetic and loving and trying to do her best to be a good person despite everything. He gravitates towards her and she... well, she's not blind. She can tell he's interested. And she's not upset about that.

ANYWAY, ONTO REX

So, Rex is... technically twelve. He hasn't exactly got a whole lot of experience with romance. He is also, up until the point of time-travel, legal property of the Senate and the Jedi Order, which means that Ahsoka, or at least her community, owns him. He was indoctrinated to serve her and that community. She also outranks him, for all that she usually lets him take the lead in the field due to experience. He's older than her physically and maturity-wise, but she's also had a grow-up-faster-than-you-should adolescence, and she has superpowers.

What I'm saying is, the power dynamic is fucked up.

(Unironically I spent hours last night realizing that it balances out a lot more than C*dywan does, which I'm censoring because by god do I not want discourse on this post. I like both ships, and don't want to argue about what's the most problematic. It's Star Wars. The only unproblematic ships are Bail/Breha and Owen/Beru.)

Here's the thing, though, because the main thing people seem to argue here is the age/maturity difference as a problem area:

The age difference in actual time is four years, which is smaller than the two main ships of the franchise (Han/Leia and Padme/Anakin, to be clear). The age difference in maturity is ??? We'll say that the clones started aging normally after they hit twenty, so the age difference in maturity is six years... which is still normal for SW ships.

(This is why I don't have any issues with the ship in a post-O66 context, once they've had a few years to move past the traumas and whatnot. The age stuff all evens out with time, they're a good team, and neither was grooming the other. It's not objectively any more problematic than most SW ships at that point, and I'm okay with that. They deserve to be happy if they want.)

But they get yanked away from all that structure of who owns what, who reports where, who has which rank, who's legally a person in the eyes of the Republic when they end up on Dagobah. Once they've registered when they are, the only remaining complications are:

He grew up in a cultlike environment and was indoctrinated to serve her (but has been replacing that indoctrination with genuine respect and affection for her as a person because they've worked together for two years).

She has superpowers (contextually not a big problem: we see several Force-Sensitive/Non-Sensitive ships that don't consider those powers a complicating element)

He's several years younger than her (canonically less of an issue than it could be: Cut got married and has kids) and has next to no experience with what a normal romance looks like except for hanging out on the edges of whatever the fuck his General has going on with the Senator

She's several years less mature than he is (...something of an issue)

So a lot of this is mostly okay. She feels weird about the fact that she's got more knowledge of romance and all that it entails. He feels weird about the fact that, despite her being older, he looks at her and sees someone that's still a little young, not quite a shiny. Except she is older than him, and he's seen her behead four people in a single move, and they've saved each other's lives more times than either of them can count anymore. He respects her, and the fact that she's babyfaced doesn't change the fact that, in terms of who they are as people and warriors, they're on a level playing field.

She still looks at him and mourns his lost childhood, and he still looks at her and takes a moment to see past the too-big eyes and adolescent proportions.

But they really, really care about each other, and maybe part of them is starting to recognize that there's a bit of a crush before they time-travel, but neither one wants to make a move. There's a lot of baggage on both sides, a lot of "but they're a child" and "but they're (literally vs functionally) below me in the chain of command, I can't take advantage of that" and all that fun stuff. It's the kind of situation where two people circle each other for ages without making a move, because actually making that move is terrifying on account of not knowing whether the other party knows they can say no, on top of the usual "what if it ruins our friendship?" thing.

What happens on Dagobah, though... is very tropey. They're sort of stranded until Ahsoka can fix the ship, and that takes time. The area is also very heavy with the Force, dense and heady with the energy it carries, and it's... actually really not great for Ahsoka. She keeps feeling like she's back on Mortis, and has nightmares from the trigger there, but also keeps hallucinating because she wasn't ready for the thickness of the energy (like Yoda) or still new enough to the Force that she couldn't feel how dense it all was (like Luke). She can't work on the engines as constantly as she'd like to get them out of there, and while Rex is a competent mechanic, he's not as skilled with it as the girl who jumped headfirst into lessons with Anakin.

Rex spends a lot of time holding Ahsoka and wiping her brow with a wet cloth while she's feverish and out of it. Yes we're going full Florence Nightingale romance here, let me have my fun.

They get the communications relay working earlier than the engine, find out the year is wrong, panic a bit. All is well. (It's not, but they're holding it together for now.)

Ahsoka keeps working on the engine when she's lucid. Rex keeps hunting up game and edible plants for them while she does. They cuddle at night, because it's not cold but it is empty of the people they care about, and they kind of want that reassurance of someone they trust and love at their back.

(Morai visits.)

(Daughter shows up in the nightmares, tells Ahsoka that age will not come for her beloved until the time is natural for it. The phrasing is dumb but she does manage to convey that the accelerated aging is no longer an issue, if it even was after they hit adulthood. Ahsoka is relieved.)

And, you know, emotions happen. She takes his hand while they're leaning up against each other. He kisses her forehead while she's having a bad spell. They cook together and tell jokes to keep sane and spar. They hug each other through nightmares and panic attacks. There is much blushing. There is much cuddling.

Once, they kiss.

They break apart, flushing and stammering and being very awkward about the whole thing, and make excuses to leave and panic about the fact that they!! Kissed!!!!!

A couple hours later they find each other again, and have a long and complicated discussion about why they like each other (war makes bedfellows, there's trust and affection and all that fun stuff) and why they're hesitant (age stuff, maturity stuff, prior indoctrination), and make the decision to take it slow. They cuddle, and kiss, and blush a lot because both of them are basically just dumb teens having their first real relationship.

They eventually leave the planet, make it to Coruscant, etc. It takes a bit for anyone except Obi-Wan to realize that something's changed between them. Most people didn't know them before, and Anakin's observation skills are currently at a very low ebb. But they sit together and hold hands, and flirt when they spar, and once or twice people find them kissing (both standard and Keldabe) in a corner while holding hands and then just smiling at each other like loons.

They end up rooming together because nobody has the heart to separate them after hearing about all the war stuff. Like yes attachment's bad, but these two do seem to understand loss of loved ones and recognize that they could lose each other at any time and death is natural and they won't lose their entire shit about it, and if even General Kenobi is anxious as hell about being separated from the people he fought side-by-side with for two years, then maybe it's just... really normal for those two to want each other's company, and everyone can just turn a blind eye to the romance happening.

They share a bed, but they only ever sleep in it. Like, there's some goodnight kisses and cuddles, but everything is very G-rated until they've had time to settle into being true equals instead of just the "well, I guess the power dynamics balance out? Maybe?" of before.

And just... yeah. Rex does not believe that he's in this good of a position whenever he has the time to think about it. He's got a girlfriend! A really pretty, smart, strong, skilled one! Who thinks he's a cool dude! How the fuck did a clone like him manage that? He wasn't even legally a person a year ago, how did he end up in bed with one of the most amazing people he's ever met? He spends multiple nights just staring at her while he tries to fall asleep, asking himself how he got here and just like... marveling at her. She's worth marveling at. He's in love and she's amazing and he has no idea how to handle it at all.

...yeah no I have a lot of feelings now.

#Rexsoka #Ahsoka Tano #Captain Rex #Quinlan Vos #time travel #Commander Buir #Phoenix Posts

[jjmaybanksbaby]

Where It Leads (Rafe Cameron)

Summer IV

Part 07: Crashing Down

series masterlist | previous part

summary: A jarring family emergency forces you to consider the future of your relationship with Rafe Cameron.

a/n: I'm a little bit emotional about this series ending because I've had so much fun writing it! Enjoy the last part and, as always, please come share your reactions with me in my inbox. Okay, that's all from me!

word count: 2.1k words

Rafe Cameron knew how to text. He was somehow witty, charming, and hilarious all in less characters than a single tweet. Texting with most boys was like talking to a brick wall: single-syllable answers, unironic uses of punctuation, asking “What are you wearing?” before even listening to how your day went. Though, to be fair, Rafe had asked that same question a few times, which always earned him a sarcastic answer in return. Well, except for that one time.

You’d been forced to spill the beans about your dreamy summer romance to Alice and Kensie after one of Rafe’s funnier texts almost made you pee yourself laughing at the lunch table.

“Oh, so he��s a stud muffin,” Alice announced, peering over Kenzie’s shoulder at the photo on your phone.

“Please god don’t call anyone a stud muffin ever again Al,” Kenzie replied.

“What? The 80s are like making a comeback.”

“Yeah, not that,” you countered and Alice huffed.

“He’s totally hot though,” Kenzie said, handing the phone back to you. “And I kinda hate you for not telling us about him.”

You looked down at the picture. Rafe was kissing your check while you grinned up at the camera, the golden hour lighting made the whole thing look rather enchanting. It was your favorite picture of you and him.

“Oh shit,” Kenzie said causing you to look up from the phone. “You’re like in love in love with him.”

“What? No,” you protested. Yes, your brain corrected.

Kenzie glanced over at Alice for backup.

“Besides, I wasn’t hiding him. I just didn’t know if there was anything there to...tell,” you finished.

“I wish I had a handsome summer fling with spectacular cheekbones,” Alice sighed.

“Don’t let your boyfriend hear you saying that.” Kenzie chucked a fry off her tray at Alice who dodged it expertly.

“Oh, please. Matty knows I would dump his ass for someone who looks like a young Chuck Bass any day of the week. Gimme your phone. I wanna see the photos again y/n.”

“I seriously don’t know how you and Matthew have been together for two years,” Kenzie replied.

“Are you kidding? They’re practically made for each other,” you added.

“The phone, please,” Alice interjected. “I wanna thirst over your mans while my boyfriend is sucking up to his English teacher so she doesn’t fail him. Of course, I told him he needed to actually read Wuthering Heights and not just sparknotes it. But did he listen? No. I picked a real winner y’all,” she finished, taking the phone from your outstretched hands. “You sure Rafe doesn’t have any brothers? Not even like a half-step brother?”

So yeah, going great. Against the odds of three thousand miles, the whole thing was somehow working. Long-distance friends with benefits? Check. Well, except for those moments when that nagging feeling in your stomach came back and you’d start overthinking everything. His texts would sit, unread in your phone for days or even a whole week, slowly sinking to the bottom of your messages.

Then came the call from the Kildare Country Hospital in the early hours of a foggy April morning. You should have gone to sleep hours ago but were still up, desperately trying to cram Maria’s lines into your brain while also texting Rafe. The Sound of Music opened in three weeks and your director had already chewed you out twice for not being off-book, something about being an upperclassman and the lead, and what kind of an example were you setting for the rest of the program. Big speeches were kind of your director's thing, you learned to just ride them out.

Around 1 a.m. your phone ran with an incoming FaceTime call from Rafe. You pressed the green acccept button, a smile spread across your face as Rafe’s own filled the screen.

“Hey Broadway Star.”

“Hi Rafe.” The dim lighting of his bedroom made his feature especially striking. “What are you still doing up?”

“Can’t sleep. Plus you’re up too so. How’s the memorizing going?”

“Shitty,” you replied, closing your binder with a sigh. “I’m too tired to do anymore of it tonight anyway.”

“You know, I was thinking I could come to Oregon for your opening night?”

“Really?” The possibility of Rafe sitting in the audience made your heart race.

“Yeah, why not? I’ll ask Ward if I can borrow the plane that weekend and I bet Sarah’ll want to come too. I wanna see my girl kill it. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Rafe. You know my friends think you’re hot.”

“Oh, do they?” Rafe replied, rolling over onto his back in his bed.

“Don’t let it get to your head, Cameron.”

The home phone ran but you ignored it, much more invested in your conversation with Rafe. The second time the hospital left a message. Your Nonna’s heart had given out. The prognosis wasn’t good. She had barely any time left.

Your heart dropped as the words echoed over the speaker of the answering machine.

“Rafe,” you said, cutting him off momentarily. “I gotta go. I’ll call you back later. I gotta-” you ended the call before Rafe even had the chance to respond. You dropped your phone on the kitchen table, dashing up the stairs to your parents’ bedroom. Your father was booking a flight for your mother back to the Outer Banks minutes later.

The end had come so quickly, so unexpectedly. It was almost like that made it harder. There'd been just enough time for your mom and uncle to get to the Outer Banks, sitting on each side of your Nonna as her final breaths passed through her lungs. Now, everyone was there to say goodbye one last time. Uncle Austin and his fiancé. Your mom and dad. Both your siblings. The entire population of Figure Eight.

☼☼☼

Rain drizzled down from the dark, gray clouds looming overhead. It was as if Mother Nature was mourning your Nonna too, hiding the sunshine away.

Three baby ducks followed their mama into the man-made pond at the edge of the cemetery. You watched their tiny feet kick up small waves disturbing the peaceful water and the tears silently slipped down your face.

The cars were waiting to take you back to your Nonna's house for the wake. The same house with the for-sale sign now stuck in the front yard. The for-sale sign with Rose's patronizing grin that you were starting to really hate. Your dad had handled that. Listing the house. He'd handled most of the funeral arrangement's actually because your mother had been too sunken into her grief to make any decision. Sending out the invitations, picking out your Nonna's casket, choosing the flowers. Your mother clung to him during the entire funeral, weeping into his shoulder.

“Y/n?” Rafe's voice called out from behind you and you turned to see him walked toward you. He’d stood at the back of the church with his family during the funeral. You had longed for him to be sitting in the first pew next to you, to have had his hand to hold onto to ground you, but it hardly would have been appropriate. Your Nonna would have sooner risen from the dead than have had a Cameron front row at her funeral.

As soon as he was close enough, Rafe reached for you, pulling your body tight into him. Your head landed on his chest and the sobs came moments later. God, he always smelled the same. He just let you cry, holding you close, smoothing his hand over your hair.

“I know you’re selling your grandma’s house but I was thinking you could stay with me for the summer," he said as your tears began to slow. It was hard to imagine that you wouldn't return to the Outer Banks once school let out. It was the first week of May already and you could feel the tourist-attracting town waking up. But selling the house just made more sense. Your older sister was already living her life in New York, a real adult life. Next summer, you'd be moving out too, headed to college. The house would sit empty for eight months out of the year, your family couldn't keep it and your uncle certainly didn’t want it. Selling it just had to happen.

You stepped back, slipping out of his embrace. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rafe.”

“Why not?”

“Cause we’re like Romeo and Juliet.”

“I copied Cleo’s notes for that unit," he joked, trying to lighten to damp mood. “Plus I was never a fan of Leo DiCaprio so I didn’t finish the movie either.”

“It means we’re not supposed to be together, you and me. And whenever we try, the universe rips us apart. We hurt each other.”

Rafe shifted awkwardly on his feet, clearly wanting to reach for you again but stopping himself from doing it. “But I can't lose you.”

You reached your hand out, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. “Oh Rafe, don’t you get it? You never really had me.” You stood up onto your tiptoes to kiss him just like you had the first time three years ago. Rafe barely parted his lips, kissing you back gently. Your hand cupped his face, your thump stroking over his cheek. It was a goodbye. Both of you knew it. It was an ending and this was your closure. You pulled away, your hand falling away from his face.

You couldn’t bring yourself to say the actual words. Your eyes fell to the ground. You needed to walk away now. You side-stepped Rafe but he grabbed your waist, turning you back around to face him.

“So that’s it? You’re not even gonna try to fight for us?”

“What even is there to fight for, Rafe? I’ve been fighting for us for the past four years. If we were supposed to be together that car wouldn’t have crashed into ours, I wouldn’t have fallen for Evan when I did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at my Nonna’s funeral. What? Are we supposed to do long distance for all of college? I hardly know who I am right now. I have no idea who I’ll be in the next four years. Our future selves might not even like each other. I’m not gonna wait around for you Rafe and I would never ask you to do that for me.” You twirled the small, star charm between your fingers, a nervous habit you'd developed over the past year. His eyes dropped down to your neck momentarily and his adam's apple visibly bobbing as he swallowed his next weeks.

“You were it for me, you know. I tried to give a fuck about anyone else but I couldn’t get your gorgeous, stupid face out of my mind. I only wanted you.” Rafe paused gauging your reaction “I was falling in love with you.”

Your eyes wandered over his stoic expression. “The feeling was mutual, Rafe Cameron.”

He dropped your wrist but you both stood, not moving or saying anything. “Do you wanna walk me back to the car?”

“Yeah.” He reached for your hand, interlocking your fingers. Your other hand held onto his bicep so you walked together through the graveyard back to the parking lot.

The moment felt precious and delicate, like the fragile china your Nonna used to collect. You wondered what would happen to all that china.

Rafe placed a chaste kiss on your lips before opening the door of the car.

“I’ll miss you,” you said, the words hanging in the air meaning so much.

“Me too,” Rafe agreed.

You wanted one more kiss, one more passionate declaration of how much this all had meant but that would make leaving Rafe so much more impossible.

You climbed into the car, dropping Rafe’s hand in the process.

“See you around Cameron.” You knew it wouldn’t happen but it felt better than a goodbye.

He smiled back. “Maybe so.”

Perhaps Rafe was right and you’d both end up at a small liberal arts college in California taking the same second-year Econ class with a professor who always smelled like weed. Perhaps the stars would align and two of you would realize the universe wasn’t trying to keep you apart. It was just waiting for the right moment to show you that the love you had for each other was the soulmates, forever and ever kind of love. Perhaps you would get married and Sarah would be your maid of honor, of course. You’d buy back your Nonna’s house to raise your troubling-making kids in. Perhaps, you would find your way back and wake up each day and choose each other again and again.

Or perhaps, he'd always be your right-person-wrong-time. And, in the end, the passing days will steal away your memories of the blue-eyed boy from the Outer Banks.

taglist! @oreoenthusiast13

#outer banks #outer banks fanfiction #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron series #obx netflix #obx #obx fanfic #where it leads series #where it leads

[arethereanyoriginalusernames]

Fanfiction review : Unexpected

Disclaimer: Do not send hate to anyone mentioned in this post. If you plan to respond in anyway to this post, I ask that you remain civil to everyone. Also, this review is an opinion post. Do not take what I say here as fact. Thank you.

------------------

I like sorbet. I do! I prefer it to ice cream, and I would gladly eat half a tub without hesitation. But if I were to eat it every day? I'd get sick of it. It's always bothersome when something like that happens. Especially in literature. Sometimes, a short story is more enjoyable than a lengthy saga. Good things can come in small packages....

... what was I talking about again? Ah, whatever.

Anyway, let's talk about zoophobia fanfiction.

*****

Those who have had the misfortune of reading my last fic review may recall that I went through each and every chapter of TDL's story. This time, however, this will be structured in a sort of ramble. I will be discussing things in sections, and I will give my overall thoughts at the end. This is a review of "Unexpected " by a "Kalum16" , who, if my memory serves me correctly, goes by @kartoonluv on Tumblr. Now, this review was not requested by anyone, so if Kalum (who I'll refer to as KL for brevity's sake) wishes this review to be deleted, I will comply with his wishes. Also, I suggest that you read this on fanfiction.net before continuing with this post.

******

Something I would like to get out of the way are my views on romance and the story's pairing. I'd like to bring these up now as I will be mentioning them later on.

Firstly, I have never been in a romantic relationship. However, I have been in love before, and I know people who are or who have been in relationships. That being said, I have considered that perhaps my lack of experience will mean that with certain things... I might not get it. The importance of certain events may be lost on me, and I may not be able to connect with things couples do.

I would also like to confess that Kayla x Damian is one of my least favorite ZP ships. The idea that after Damian basically harasses Kayla, manipulates her and Zill, and basically makes their lives miserable for his own gain, that he can be rewarded by getting the girl? Not exactly something I jive with. Also, (and this is my interpretation) I do not think that Damian's feelings towards Kayla are genuine. By that, I think (due to how little they know about each other) Dame is more in love with his idea of who Kayla is. Or, if we weren't going to look to deep into it and say that it's because he has a thing for Christians, it would make Dame's attraction pretty materialistic. Neither idea really screams "good ship!" to me.

********

That being said, let's discuss how the pairing is handled here. I'm actually on board with this depiction of the relationship. For one thing, it seems that Kay and Dame have become friends. They clearly care about one another before starting a relationship, and the story makes it so that they can relate to each other. This takes away my issue of these characters not acting knowing each other well, and thus the feelings they have towards one another come off as genuine.

I think that the story makes them out to the a cute couple. However, I still have a major issue with it, and the story as a whole.

Basically, (after a while) I think it's boring.

To best explain why, I would first like detour and discuss Damian and Kayla individually.

*******

Ladies first. I have mentioned in previous posts that I enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Back then, I had not read beyond chapter 1, as I hadn't realized that the story had been updated. And you know what? I still stand by that. In chapter 1, Kayla feels a lot more interesting than she is in the comic. It's interesting to see Kay in a situation where she basically gets what she wants, but she ends up hating it. She struggles with writers block, self doubt and regret. It's sad to see how apathetic she's become, and how she no longer holds the ambition she once did.

I also liked that she still had some internalized prejudice against demons. It made sense, and it made what was going on more interesting as it created inner conflict. Now, if the story was just the one chapter, I would have bought that her falling in love with Dame would have made all her prejudice go away. I mean, you would need to wrap it up by the end.

But we got more than 1 chapter, and thus the evaporated prejudice feels kind of contrived and like lost potential. Hell, it would have been interesting if an ongoing subplot involved Kayla conquering her prejudice by learning about demons and debunking the stories that I heard as a kid. Her just yeeting away her prejudice because she falls for one guy feels kind of lame, and going forward, Kayla feels less interesting in the fic.

Originally, she had all this regret and self doubt. While it's great to see her doing good, her issues feel like they've almost all been resolved by a makeout session. Throughout the story, Kay doesn't grow or develop in any way. Her only real issue is "I'm in love with Dame and ppl don't like it, woe is me"

There's this chapter where Dame meets Kay's parents, and I feel like I should be invested, but I'm more confused than anything. The story points out that Kay's parents were ok with Zill (who's part demon, part whatever the fuck), but they're not ok with Dame. I mean, yes, he's the antichrist, but have they not figured out that their daughter is into some weird dudes? Like, they're perspective is painted as "oh, Kay was such a good girl, and yadda yadda", but, again, they were ok with Zill. You'd think that that relationship would at least make them question that idea? Also, why are Kay's parents deer? Am I missing something?

Kay serves really only one role here. She's Dame's gf, she'll defend the relationship to the grave, and she cares about him. She doesn't become much more than that, and every chapter feels like it's redundant in reinforcing that idea. Like...ok, we get it, let's move on.

*******

Does Damian do much here? Not really. He's mainly the inverse of Kayla for the most part, being "I will defend this love, no matter fucking what". The issue being constantly brought up about how he's the antichrist, so "oh no, that makes things difficult ", is always resolved in about a chapter.

The story feels like it's trying to give Damian some development. I mean, I guess he stands up for himself against Kay's parents, and defends her from his? Oh, and there's that moment where he's like "Yo, I have no control over my life, I don't wanna be a prince, you make me happy ", etc. But not even this really does anything. The meeting with his parents feels like a repeat of meeting Kay's parents. We even get the one parent approval, one on one talk, and it's the mom, just like before. Oh, and Dame's emotional "I will reject prince-y ness to be with you " speech? All that leads to is them having sex.

Ok, well, that last one I might give a pass. I don't find sex to be that big a deal, but I know some people view it as this super important thing, so maybe through that lense, I could see sex as being an emotional payoff.

*******

One thing I won't give a pass is chapter 2, which really didn't need to be here. Jack never shows up again, Kayla can be subtracted from this chapter entirely, and the only build up to this was a couple lines in the previous chapter. The chapter itself is alright, but it feels like it should have been it's own separate story. My only idea as to why this chapter should stay is that, apart from Kayla in chapter 1, this is the only chapter with development. Damian owning up for being a shit is great, and it shows some of only god damn growth for anyone here.

Another chapter that didn't need to be here was whichever was the chapter when Zill showed up again. Admittedly, I skipped this chapter almost entirely. Look, he and Kay broke up, and they're dating different people. That's it. That's all we need. I read the first few paragraphs and the last few. I feel like I don't need to read the entire chapter to know that it's just reinforcing the idea of how great a couple Kayla and Damian are. You know, like basically every chapter in here.

*****

My biggest issue overall with this story is the relationship. As much as I've been ragging on this fic, KL is very gifted at writing. There were some instances where a reread or two could fix some wonky sentences (sounds like me reviewing my posts), but overall he does have a good grasp on it.

That being said, the relationship, the core of this story, is not interesting enough to warrant all six chapters. The only issue Kayla and Damian face are the opinions of others. They never have any reason to question the relationship, question themselves as people, or think about how to handle things. It would have been a lot more interesting if we saw them develop the close relationship the story portrays them as having. It would be interesting if we saw them learn more about each other, or discover ways to deal with each other if one of them is being a dumb bitch. We get it. They love and care about each other. The world around them think it's weird. Every chapter just reinforces the same idea again and again.

I think KL could easily make this better. There's a bunch of plot points that are never brought up more than once that could be interesting. For instance, Kayla struggling to write new songs. We could see more of how she and Dame deal with that instead of having them mention "oh yeah, the problem is fixed now ". Does Damian ever earn Jack's forgiveness? Does Kayla learn anything new about demons?

KL, I believe you when you say these two care a lot about each other. And yeah, seeing how they make their relationship work in spite of what others think is an interesting idea on paper. But the characters don't become closer to each other or anything. Why would I be concerned about the issues presented in the story when I know that they're just going to be resolved in the same way?

You know it's kind of like sorbet...

I would still nonetheless recommend this story tho. Again, as much as I've ragged on it, I still think that the story is good. As mentioned before, I don't have much experience with romantic relationships, so perhaps something here could be lost on me. I'm curious to know anyone else's thoughts.

I apologize for wasting your time

- Spooky S Skeletons

Ps. Yes, quarantine is messing with my head :) just bear with me

[thedogsled]

You seem to be having a not a great day today, so here's a light-hearted ask. I'm having a good day, curled up in pjs with cuddly pets watching Leverage with my sister. Leverage is one of my favorite shows, because it's smart and fun and has great characters that grow over the seasons. Besides Supernatural, what's a show you really enjoy and why?

Thank you so much for the ask! I’m sorry I didn’t reply to it sooner, I’ve come down with a head cold and this is really the first day in several I’ve been able to compose more than a tweet about how much it sucks (swallowing = a knife jammed right into my inner ear, it’s super fun). But I did want to answer your question so I’ve been musing on it since your ask came in.

If it was just “what’s your favorite show right now” it’d be an easy answer: The Boys. The Boys, back to front, front to back, upside down and inside out. The first season was fantastic, and it felt like it woke me up to being excited about TV again after my interest in The Walking Dead waned mid-season. Everything new has seemed very plastic recently, and even The Mandalorian, which is super cool, is kind of like the Cartoon Network dub of Dragonball Z, so Disneyfied in its bloodlessness that although I’m enjoying it it feels even more synthetic as a result. The Boys was the opposite of that, and also just whoever invented Karl Urban, period, just deserves a nobel prize for that masterpiece. He pronounces twat wrong (okay okay it’s a dialect thing) but you can’t have everything =D

So instead (and because it’s cheating that I can pimp The Boys and wax lyrical about loves of old) I interpret your question as sort of like “Which show is your comfort food?” Which show do I go back to when I’m feeling like TV needs to give me a cuddle. I had a good think about it, because there’s a few…

(aside: I shouldn’t have put that gif in before I started writing. ahem.)

There’s been a few over the years, for sure. As a thirteen year old I used to watch and rewatch Buffy episodes, mostly season 2 (baby Spike!). At eighteen, it was old VHS of Deep Space Nine, my favorite ep was “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night” which I watched repeatedly and think about constantly even today. 

But the show I keep coming back to is due South.

This post is a long post, it also deals with discourse (because my relationship to entertainment is so often mired in it, so please don’t proceed if you’re rather avoid it) and this is where it begins:

Okay, so fun fact: I watched due South the first time it aired with my parents (I was about 9) and then when it was on TV again as a repeat, I recorded it on VHS by RUSHING home every single day from school with nothing else on my mind but sitting on the floor two feet from the telly to watch it. Quantum Leap was on right after, and I had an entire different set of VHS tapes to record that on, so had to quickly switch between them. I’d stop recording at every break so that I could get more episodes on a tape. It’s not unsurprising to me now that both shows vibed with me as a young person who hadn’t yet really accepted that she was queer; due South’s main character is coded as Other both to the Americans whom he lives with, and his fellow Canadians, while Quantum Leap explores a straight white man jumping into the lives of Others, and living through them some of the hardest moments in their lives. Even though both keep it exceedingly, textually hetero, one has two men riding off into the snowy sunset together (leaving behind a straight lover to do so) and the other features a love between two men that in the original framing of the finale would have seen God/fate reconnecting the two of them even though one was lost in time, and the partner’s wife begging him to go.)

Of course young me didn’t give a shit about that, or didn’t realize that’s what she cared about. Young me loved the buddy-cop partnership of both shows. Young me liked the half-wolf, and the episodes where they ride horses, and honestly just waiting with bated breath to find out where Sam would jump to this time. “Oh boy!” Retrospectively, these shows (especially QL) are a lot more oh boy in a yikes context now than they used to be, but it’s good that shows age into yikes territory because it means that society is steadily advancing. Particularly, pointing out that these shows both feature white straight guys like…welcome to the nineties.

I was introduced to queer coding in part by watching due South. The show is laden with it. With writers, actors, and ultimately an executive producer who was all three, it makes you wonder if they would have gone there if they could; certainly the ending reads that way. They couldn’t, of course, because it was the nineties (and it was CBS that revived it after enormous international fan demand). Still, there was just nothing else analogous to what we have now that was going there on TV at the time. If you were queer (or discovering your queerness) then watching the show meant everything, as it did to me. So I snuggle up on the couch often these days and go back to that, because it gave me such joy, and because I was left with the opportunity to decide for myself how deep the relationship was. There was no promise of anything, because the context at the time was of course you can’t go there, nobody can go there. Queerbaiting was a word that simply hadn’t been breathed. There was no intent, no companies behind the curtain pulling strings going “Yes, make it more gay, we want those queer dollars”, just invested people slipping what they could past the studio censors.

Like this:

Sigh. A less enlightened time. =P (Incidentally fun meta here but this was after a conversation where Ray suggested that communication in a relationship should be intuitive, like breathing.)

So I guess in part I escape back there because none of that representation was ever as loaded as it is today. It doesn’t require me to judge it, or weigh it against the harm it does - because the politics of the time meant I thought it was doing good (retrospectively, and only through the lens of someone who had nothing to lose). It seemed to scream out into an unyielding universe to force it to move. It did a fraction of that, because of course it did. It was the nineties. It stole indigenous narratives and romanticized colonialism just as much as it beat the drum of environmentalism and kicked at the doors of corporate greed and racism. Old shows are inherently problematic. Today’s shows are too. Being able to examine them doesn’t mean not loving them, but it lets you say “Okay, so what do I expect from the things I watch today? What do I expect from the things I watch in five years time?”

All that aside, the show is just damn good. It’s watchable and rewatchable. It struggles to age because it was already so out of pace with the age it was made in–despite its flaws in representation, it was better than other shows at the time that demonized, tokenized, or outright killed minorities to push white narratives on their own shows (Kendra being murdered on Buffy, for example). It’s standalone enough that you can go back and watch any episode you like because overarching story arcs were way less of a staple as they are today.  It’s witty, fast paced, full of action and moral dilemma, do gooding and the consequences of it. Although still severely unbalanced, and very, very white, it did still have indigenous actors playing indigenous characters, and minorities portrayed in stories about them. There’s a dog. There’s classic cars. And it’s all put to the soundtrack of Canadian bands and singers. 

tl;dr ahead for rambling about subtext and being a disaster queer, but please scroll past for more gifs.

Queer me needed this show, in a world where I’d been taught to look and see myself in straight white male protagonists, it felt like A Lot to see all this on screen. It wasn’t, but it was all I got when I was growing up. I envy the good fortune of kids who can see themselves on screen these days while they try and figure themselves out (and hopefully more so in the future) with far less of having to negotiate through the confusion of looking at it through confusing fractals of different lenses and instead just see someone who looks like them showing them that their POV is normal, heroic and wonderful. Those lenses fucked me up big time. Like I’m not even sure right now what flavor of queer I am. I cling to bi like a lifeline of sense in my life, but it is complicated because I overwhelmingly desire the company of women way way more. But also I was was taught to look through the lens of a white dude in order to see myself universally, taught to be both desirous of the female body and humiliated by it, ashamed by sex, taught men were awful, and taught that I was supposed to marry one anyway. I look at my sexuality/romanticism like it’s a meta puzzle that I haven’t figured out yet, wondering how to put it on paper, how to break apart the different influences I experienced as a youngling and as an adult to try and negotiate if I’m misreading my own impulses. How I was brought up, who I’ve known, the relationships I’ve experienced and seen in real life and on TV. I’m 34 and I’m still no more certain. Subtext is both my friend and my enemy. I hate it, and I owe everything to it.

So when I need a rest from giving a shit about any of that noise, I go back to my comfort food. I go right back to subtext, which gave me the tools I needed to desire romance that wasn’t heterosexual, that somehow was more intimate because it relied on longing stares and never stepping foot out of the closet, that was just someone liking another person without any expectation of sex just because they have opposing genitals, and their colleagues hassle them a lot. There’s nothing wrong with the sex, I write a lot of consommation of the feelings that I see bubbling under the surface. I have even grown to appreciate het romance when it’s done in a way that doesn’t reduce the woman to a love interest–I was thrilled when Simon Baker’s Patrick Jane got together with Teresa Lisbon in The Mentalist. Their relationship was filled with subtext too. Subtext isn’t a queer thing, it has a role in all well written romance. Hell, it has a role in terriblebad tropey misogynistic romance, too. And just you know basically all storytelling (and more). 

Queer romance existing only in the subtext, though? It’s heartbreaking explicitly because it feels like a story that isn’t finished, and that’s where subtext reliant shows can hand off the story to be finished by fandom itself. In due South, as I mentioned before, Ray and Fraser jump into a dogsled and ride off over the snowy horizon to “Find the hand of Franklin, reaching for the Beaufort sea”. It’s where I chose my meta name, as I’ve mentioned before, because that ending - that ending - handed us all the subtext so far and said “Here, take it, it’s yours now. Do with it what you like”–and we did. But that was twenty years ago. I loved that ending (I still think it was a very elegant solution) and it was expected and appropriate for a show that in itself is a “Faves Are Problematic” show, but that’s also why I get so passionate about discussing the subtext in Supernatural.

It’s younger than due South. While it may have begun back when Willow from Buffy had her first girlfriend, it is ending now, not at the turn of the century where a dogsled was still good enough to get the point across and none of us had Twitter. My own experiences, my lifelong queer confusion make it so I feel pretty damn bad for people trying to use Supernatural as a medium for their own self-exploration, using characters from SPN as their lenses. A show these days that makes bank on those tropes and doesn’t inform its audience (positively or negatively) is doing so irresponsibly because of the modern context in which the show presently (not historically) sits, and the increasing awareness of the issues surrounding it. Networks, then, are ultimately responsible for that, but they are in a way which is entirely different and far more directly culpable than they were 20 years ago, because people are out there making money out of those intentional subtextual devices. They chose to do it; took a deep breath and backed right up away from Gamble’s problematic queerbashing tropes, chewed it over, then hired gay writers and dived right back in with more grown up, progressive, and less shitty subtext–but still subtext. 

This show that ended 20 years ago was able to cross way more lines with subtext in one episode than Supernatural has done sometimes in an entire season. It did so despite and because of it’s international audience, on a conservative network that would late purchase Paramount, and Star Trek, and ended with a powerfully subtextual ending. Supernatural, of course, is under a far more powerful microscope from the bigots than those oblivious to subtext back in the 90s could have ever produced. due South, like SPN was just “wholesome family entertainment” to a conservative audience that was completely oblivious by all accounts, yet was laden heavily with queer innuendo. It was also blissfully short, and existed in a social media world which consisted of Yahoo groups and not much else. 

In modern context, Supernatural gets a fox in the henhouse treatment from that same audience, and acts accordingly (when it’s not using that same subtext to deliver earnest Fuck You’s to that audience). While I expect Supernatural to bravely - even considering this scrutiny - deliver a dogsled subtextual ending on a good day, there are bad days, too, because the queer subtext has been underlined so loudly that everyone can see it, because it’s “practically text”, because the bottom line is increasingly more concerned with satisfying those bigots (even while they mock them), and because queer fans are “too loud” about what they want. How dare they. /s The pushback caused by being loud about things you care about, the bigots actually seeing subtext in front of their noses, isn’t bad because now they know what we’ve been doing all along, and we won’t be able to get away with it any more; it means they’re becoming more aware of narratives other than their own. Yes, some people will push back, but “when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression”, and they can shove it right up their asses.

All I ever ask of myself when I interrogate my present day viewing experience, is this: when I sat as a youngster watching due South thinking “This subtextual ending is enough for me”, did I truly believe it was okay to be watching a show about two white guys with a subtextual ending 20 years later? Was that the future I dreamed of and aspired to? Would I be disappointed? The answer is yes, I am disappointed. No matter the whys, the fundamental and societal reasons–I am disappointed. I still love the show probably more than I should, but I am disappointed in the society it sits in - which is increasingly capitulating to far more powerful global financial powers than a couple of red state homophobes - and I’m disappointed in the way we’re treating each other for even caring, and I’m disappointed in myself, too, for being naive and imagining we would be much further down this road now than we are. But we are a capitalistic society, and being both the commodity and the customer should be a surprise to literally nobody at this point. It doesn’t mean you have to like it.

And if you don’t feel that way, that’s okay. We all come from different places. We have different perspectives. We need and want different things, for different reasons, and find joy in different things for different reasons. Variety of opinion is as much a wonderful thing as it is completely terrifying.

I’ve wandered somewhat off topic, so I’m going to go back to the show I love, my chocolate pudding and custard comfort food TV show, and the long stares and the beautiful uncomplicated subtext.

And sign off with half a dozen gifs.

Eye fucking:

Conversations in closets and bathrooms:

Going down with the ship

Intuitively understanding each other without a word spoken

His hobbies humiliate me in public

“Do you find me attractive?”

Sulking in the corridor while you reunite with your ex

This whole ep with original Ray:

And his wolf approving of both

Not pictured “I love you” “And I you”, “Get out of the closet”, actual hand holding when it’s unnecessary, formally handcuffing your buddy, getting stuck in an ice crevasse and a mini submarine together–and so so much more. I invite you to watch the show if you can find it (I have it on a really nice set of DVDs, but there’s some dodgy ones out there that look like they recorded the DVD straight off a VHS, so do check reviews) or else try and find it online. There was a Canada promoting YouTube channel which published both due South and shows like Slings and Arrows, which I recommend as well (It’s not actually bury your gays if the ghost of your gay best friend haunts you, right?) so you should be able to poke around and find a legit copy somewhere. I’ve bigged it up and talked it down, and wandered a long way off topic (that describes my relationship with every show, but especially when I recommend them) but I hope somewhere along the line I also answered the question. The way I hear it Leverage is a similar sort of comfort food, though I haven’t seen it. Sounds like I should put it on my To Watch list.

#due south #dogsled replies #queerbaiting #subtext #destiel #about me

[overthinkingkdrama]

Exit Review: Hotel De Luna

I'm trying to find a new, quick, neat review format that I can use when I don't really have enough to say to give you the whole review. But let's face it. This blog hasn't really been about reviews for a while now. A lot of that comes down to a shifting of my priorities these days. But I definitely am not ready to shut this blog down or stop doing what I've been doing for the past years, which is giving you my completely selfish commentary on Kdramas and how they make me feel.

That said, he's a review for a drama that ended back in September:

Synopsis

Hotel Del Luna  is the 12th full length drama written by the Hong Sisters, and like many of their other works is built around ghosts, folklore, and the sisters' particular brand of adapting previously existing stories into the classic Kdrama romcom format.

The drama tells the story of Jang Man Wol (Lee Ji Eun, aka IU), a materialistic, bad-tempered immortal woman who is the caretaker to The Inn of the Moon (rebranded Hotel Del Luna to keep up with the times) the last pit stop for the sprits of the dead before they pass on to the afterlife. She competently undertakes this task as a way to pay off some heavy duty bad karma from her tragic and bloody past. After centuries spent like this, world-weary Man Wol strikes a bargain to bring hardworking, scaredy-cat and Harvard grad, Goo Chan Seong (Yeo Jin Goo) to work as her hotel manager...very much against his will.

Whether he likes it or not, Chan Seong ends up acting as the human liaison for this luxurious ghost hotel, unlocking the secrets of its CEO and her mysterious past, as well as finding out what his connection is to this magical world.

Review

Story: Hotel Del Luna is essentially a gender swapped Beauty and the Beast set up, but with gods and ghosts. Which, is absolutely my cup of tea. And there's some pretty on the nose symbolism alluding to familiar Beauty and the Beast motifs (like enchanted undying flowers, lonely compelling monsters in high towers, well meaning peasant [boys] indentured to said monsters against their will, fancy staircases...)

But after the first couple of episodes the familiar set up recedes more into the background, and the format becomes a straightforward monster of the week, unlikely partners kind of drama. We've seen this before from the Hong Sisters. Hwayugi does it and Master's Sun does too, to a greater or lesser degree of success. This is clearly the Hongs' comfort zone, and they're good at it. I even noticed a couple story lines that had been taken and tweaked from previous dramas (specifically the spirit marriage plot line which is reused from Master's Sun) and it felt like they wanted to redo some old ideas with a bigger budget and a more experience. For the most part it works.

However, the drama suffers from some serious issues with pacing and tone. While the tone issues even out over time, there is a fair bit of one off slapstick humor which feels disconnected and rather corny in the context of the grander narrative. (Think My Girlfriend is a Gumiho's running fart gag, but classed up slightly.) But by far the pacing is the biggest problem Hotel Del Luna struggles with for the entirety of the run. It feels like the episodes are about a quarter filler. An issue that I feel could have been completely sidestepped had the Hong Sisters had only 1 hour to fill per episodes, rather than tvN's monstrous feeling hour and fifteen minute episodes which only grow longer as the run goes on.

Acting: IU owns this drama. This is Man Wol's world and we're all just living it in, ladies and gentleman. It's not just the fact that IU is consistently the most visually enticing thing in any given scene, she gives the drama vibrancy and life and you feel the lack whenever she's not on screen.

It's not that Yeo Jin Goo isn't a solid young actor, or even that he does a bad job in the drama. He doesn't do a bad job at all. It's just that Chan Seong isn't nearly as complex or dynamic as Man Wol. He's very much playing the uptight straight man to Man Wol's capricious and charismatic anti-heroine, and as such he seems to rather shrink beside her. If you want to see Yeo Jin Goo in a role that stretches him and lets him show of his dynamism, The Crowned Clown was his break out moment of the year. In HDL he is more or less another pretty accessory to hang from IU's arm.

Because the Hongs have been around forever they've also worked with everyone, this drama is a wealth of cheeky cameos and familiar faces and the extended cast makes the world feel full and lived in. There were a number of minor characters I felt invested in and enjoyed watching their plot lines play out.

But let's be real, IU is the single best reason to watch this drama.

Production: HDL is gorgeous to look at. The sets and costumes (especially Man Wol's outfits, which she changes at least 5 times an episodes) are downright luscious. We've come a long way from the distractingly chintzy makeup and costume design of Master's Sun. Hell, it even feels like we're lightyears ahead of Hwayugi, which was just two years ago. The style and motifs of HDL feel like they have a real identity, that they all come from the same place. Real love and thought went into the way the hotel looks and feels, as well as the way the characters dress and the supernatural world they live in.

Feels: The biggest thing about HDL that I felt let down by was the romance. It's not that it was bad, or in some way offensive. Quite the opposite really. The romance in HDL was just okay, just middle of the road. They had an excellent template (Beauty and the mofuckin' Beast y'all) to draw from, and two attractive, talented young people to helm the show and it just...didn't ignite for me. I've seen people praising the chemistry between the leads, and I'm sorry to say I just don't see it. It's okay, it's not leaping out of the screen for me. It's...functional. That's it, that's the big hairy gripe I've got with this show (besides the filler and typical tvN bloat).

What I loved about this drama was the heroine. I loved Man Wol and all of the joy and fun and sentiment and sorrow IU poured into her performance. I felt like IU was establishing herself in this role as a Park Min Young-type force in the drama world, who can carry entire productions on her shoulders. Man Wol in HDL isn't Ji An from My Mister--she can't be; she shouldn't be--but like Ji An she is allowed to be flawed, she allowed to be cruel and miserable and petty and sometimes even wicked. And I love that, because we don't get enough female characters like that, who are allowed to be wrong and yet redeemed, who are allowed to be shallow and bitter and do the selfish thing, and yet still learn from their mistakes and do better.

I like that Man Wol's gray morality isn't abandoned half way through the drama, and her arc isn't dropped or subordinated to Chan Seong's. She is the main character, the driver of the story, and that never changes throughout the run. The "happy ending" of the story is about her, not about the male lead. There's really nothing that annoys me more than a drama that builds up its lead as having a dark side, a checkered past, a hair trigger or a penchant for violence, and then refuses to show that side of the character to the audience for fear of making them unlikable. Female characters especially get this sort of treatment all the time. Man Wol is allowed to be an ambiguous character, she is allowed to fuck up and be forgiven, and ultimately be rewarded. And I think that's fabulous.

Would I recommend Hotel Del Luna? For fantasy fans, IU fans, and misguided Hong sisters completionists (that's mainly just me, I think) I would absolutely recommend HDL. It's definitely one of the better Hong Sisters offerings, stronger on its own merits than Hwayugi, and the closest yet in my opinion to reclaiming the glory of Master's Sun in terms of fantasy romance fun.  8.5/10

#hotel del luna #IU #lee ji eun #yeo jin goo #kdrama reviews #exit review #hong sisters

[wearesungreenmylove]

pt. 1

Simon: What age? High school or college?

Simon: By me saying the WiFi is proper shite I really mean that it's got a password and I was too awkward earlier to ask for it

Luna: HEY! YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT AND VANISH!!

Luna: I've got no idea what to do with this and you are clearly more emotionally invested

Simon: You could have serenaded him with cherry blossoms *so romantic*

Simon: *Google searches how to sign "please go on a date with Luna"*

Simon: Just keep writing just keep writing what do you do you write write write

While I creepily read along

Luna: To answer your question, yes, your book does have the typo

Simon: My toes are cold

Simon: I'm home. Just checking in with all the gays took a while

Simon: I just searched pain on Tumblr and it was like "are you okay" and then some lifeline, right? LIKE, NOOO!!! I WAS LOOKING FOR MY FIC

Luna: I don't know why I thought this was a good idea shisheiene

Luna: Quick, what's the gayest gay bar name you can think of, gay person?

Luna: How is a gay bar better than a frat party, Simon?

{i have discovered that they asked me to watch the shannara chronicles, which is on netflix, if anyone wants to join me in that}

Simon: You do have an insanely ginormous crush on him

Luna: And at the same time I thought "the fuck why is this a ship"

Luna: *hisssss* NO STANLON. STENBROUGH FOR LIFE.

Simon: more like stenbro

Simon: I have 11 children

Luna: There are grim reapers walking around the track. Should I be concerned? XD

Now there's a horde coming towards me imma back away slowly

They're planting graves now Rest In Peace

{it's at this point that i have accidentally pressed the back button, returning me to the bottom, so i'm now taking several minutes to find where i was again}

Luna: Okay, so are we. We had struggles with a show and went out later than expected.

Simon: You should make a kylodaddy sideblog

Simon: You know in Mulan when the mom is like "would you like to stay for dinner" and then the grandma's like "would you like to stay FOREVER". yeah, i am the grandma

Luna: She just said "nobody wants to see your butthole, Grant. We can barely stand looking at your face!"

Luna: Ha! No, not only would it ruin my moody "I hate everything" reputation I've gathered in this class, I would be murdered

Luna: Have fun at your gay thing XD

Simon: Last year I could almost perfectly copy Ashley's handwriting

Simon: And Mr. Schroeder?

Simon: At least you could partially blame that one on me

Luna: HE BUMPED ME

Simon: YOU COULD FALL IN LOVE OVER EMAIL

Luna: You're way too excited honestly I feel like you're gonna expect like fucking Keiynan Lonsdale-like perfection and then just get Caleb

Simon: Is it the kylodaddy club group chat? *wiggles eyebrows*

Simon: I will cancel his plans

Simon: don't judge me

Simon: I DON'T KNOW HIM SO IM ALLOWED TO BREAK THEM UP RIGHT

Luna: YESSSSS MY CHILD YOU HAVE TAKEN MY NAME FOR YOU I AM IN TEARS OF JOY

Simon: Ohkay, so we've got some nice middle age lesbians. Finally some representation

Simon: Could be a link to CACTUS PORN

Or that BIG LONG JUICY TOE

Simon: Also, *BONER NOISE*

Luna: h e c k y e a h

Luna: I'M PUTTING TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO THIS BUT WHATEVER

Luna: Like I feel like maybe he would swish them around a lot absentmindedly

Simon: Yes, by like 3 inches

Luna: She's pretty tough for a crazy half-psychic

Luna: EW why no you've ruined him for me

Luna: Is this how you flirt

Simon: ...you literally sent it three minutes ago

Simon: WINKY FACE MEANS FLIRTING TRUST ME

Simon: HELLO I'M HERE, I'M QUEER, AND WOULD YOU PLEASE LIKE TO GO OUT WITH ME

Luna: I feel like you're over-invested in my love life

Simon: I thought you already knew that I give bad romance advice

Simon: Just because I'm in a relationship doesn't mean I know how I did it

Luna: aCK WHY NO THAT'S SO FORWARD

Simon: I just Google searched how to casually ask a guy out, so I hope you're happy

Luna: I kinda want to channel my inner Eddie Kaspbrak but I'm nervous

Luna: YPU AND MY BROTHER HAVE THE SAME GAY MIND

Simon: I will come caress your legs

Luna: Y'know what, you're the only person I'd let take a bunch of pictures of me, so

Luna: Although we should 110% have a photo shoot in downtown [insert the place we live] sometime with you and me

Simon: Fuck, I just realized I have a math quiz today

Simon: Spoil me up Luna

Luna: How much fanfiction DO you read, Si? It's all you're ever doing

Simon: Probably more than is healthy, but I have no regrets!!!

until I'm failing all my classes

oops

Simon: Hey, this time it really is a link to porn

Simon: Just text him saying that masturbation is not the answer

Luna: SIMON I'm gonna be kidnapped help

Luna: Caleb says happy birthday back

Luna: AND HE DROPPED THE FUCK WORD

Simon: Mac and Cheesie

We will not rest easy

Simon: Don't you have a lesbian aunt?

Luna: So there's ice cream truck music but it keeps fading in and out and I can't tell what direction it's coming from and all I can think is Pennywise??

Simon: 'drive yourself you crusty dick sock'

Simon: considering that we did the would you date me thing neither do i

Luna: Jesus, someone's getting frisky

Simon: FUCKIN YEEHAW

Luna: *praying in Italian*

Simon: we can both get boners together *winks*

Luna: Jesus your boner made me jump

Simon: Luna is in fact just a torso head and arms

Simon: oh hey it worked

i was just spelling diamond wrong

Luna: *sigh*

Luna: Me: *almost falls asleep on couch*

Also Me ; *lays down in bed* tHiS iS nO tImE fOr SlEePiNg!

#this is in chronological order btw #luna #funny text messages

[lesbian-ed]

1. I have been in four relationships in my life, all long-distance with rare meetings, each lasting around half a year. The last one ended this summer, and I'm not heartbroken but... drained? The thought of a serious relationship makes me sick, the thought of getting so attached and then having to detach again, forget our plans etc. This gives me two problems: first, I really want to have some light and easy kind-of-romances, idk just dates and kissing without serious personal attachment, >>

2. >> and giant responsibility - just some light-hearted affection. But I really don’t know where to find any girl with whom that’d be possible, I’m not really good at making acquaintances in the streets etc. and the online/LGB community isn’t active where I live. And my second fear is what if I won’t ever be able to find a long-term girlfriend/wife because I’m tired of Responsibility and Investment? >>

3. >> And I’m kinda sad because​ I always gave more than I got emotionally and it’s hard for me to believe there will be someone as invested romantically and emotionally. :/ 

It’s normal to be drained from failed relationships, if you want something more casual maybe hit a bar/club? (Although be very careful with drinking/drugs/ect!) Also I’m sure there must be at least someone in your area, so really checking out dating apps doesn’t hurt.

It’s normal that you’re tired of responsibility and investment so I’d recommend try to kinda take a break from serious relationships, maybe someday you’ll want a serious relationship again, or maybe you’ll meet your long-term wife while searching for something more casual. That you gave more than you got with the people you were with it’s not a sign that there’s no one ever who will be as invested in you, it just means your exes weren’t really right for you. And that happens, people have failed relationships all the time before finding someone who they want to spend their lives with (or not, relationships aren’t the core of life after all), just give yourself some time away from something serious before you feel like you want to try again

Mod M :D

#mod m #anonymous #answered asks #relationships #advice

[distant-rose-archive-blog]

I'm not going to lie, I'm trash for the concept of Hook and Emma's daughter being with Gideon and I totally want to see some Beth and Gideon action but I am super intrigued by the mention of Jim Hawkins as Beth's SO and how that plays out. If you're not too busy and are up to it, would you mind giving us a taste of that relationship?

You and a lot of other people have made comments about Beth/Gideon interaction in the Little Pirates universe. Unfortunately (I guess), that will never be a serious romance in either Little Pirates or Ever After series. Though I did think about it and Beth/Gideon is something that happens very, very briefly and it’s something neither party had an invested interest in. The first romance I ever conceived for Beth was actually with Ariel and Eric’s son. However, this was nixed when I decided to fully commit to my pirate outline for Beth and I decided to really work on her having those types of adventures.

 Out of all the ships I’ve worked on for either series, Beth and Jim is probably the most fun and the most frustrating because it takes them FOREVER. They meet when Beth is 19 (Jim is 27. He’s 8 years older than her) and finds herself stranded in the Enchanted Forrest, looking for a way to get back home. It’s this adventure that really kicks off Beth as an individual and gives her an actual identity that she’s proud of. Jim and Beth are not an immediate ship by any means. It literally takes them five years to admit they have “chemistry.” However, the two lovely ladies who actually know all of my plans/ideas for the Ever After series will both tell you that Jim and Beth (or JimBeth as we’ve calling it) is one of their favorite ships for this universe. I have a lot written for these two already, which is why it’s jumping my queue. So with that being said, here is 2,300+ words written from Jim’s POV on the first meeting between 19 year old Beth Jones and 27 year old Jim Hawkins in the Enchanted Forest. Rated: T+ 

Jim Hawkins was twenty-seven and four years out of the navy when Elizabeth Snow Jones caught his eye for the first time. She was a willowy creature who looked like she just entered womanhood, with wild dark hair and cunning green eyes, sitting at Captain Isaac’s card table with an over confident smirk on her face. She was dressed like no woman or whore he had ever seen, but it didn’t necessarily bother him or any of the other patrons. They were in a ship port after all and people from all walks of life stopped and took temporary sanctuary here. She was just another exotic creature; a temporary fascination really. A dangerous one too, Jim noted almost right away as he watched her play cards with some of the nastiest bunch of cheats that Jim had the displeasure of knowing. Just by looking at her, he knew that she was more of a card shark than a pretty face; there was strategy in the way she held cards against her chest but low enough that the men at the table had an ample view of her exposed cleavage. Everything about her screamed trouble.

“That’s tragedy waiting to happen right there,” his boatswain Falken remarked, following Jim’s gaze. “She either naive or overly confident if she thinks Isaac is going to let her leave this tavern with both the gold and her virtue. Pity because she’s a young pretty thing.”

Jim made noise of agreement, but his brow troubled at the thought. He knew Falken was right. Captain Isaac had a horrible reputation of not only disemboweling anyone who “cheated” him of his winnings, but also one of being rough with women. Jim had found everything about him distasteful but knew better than to make it his business. He tried to play hero many times before when he was in the navy and when he started out again as a pirate. It always ended badly, especially for him. John Silver had always told him that his sense of justice, honor and duty would get him killed someday and it had taken Jim nearly four years to agree with his old mentor and foster father. Still, he watched the game anxiously with a knot in his stomach growing with every round she won.

“Well, it’s been fun, boys!” The young woman smirked as she drew all the gold into a leather pouch, which had been stored inside her strange leather jacket. “But it’s late and time for me to leave.”

Jim nearly groaned when she stood up from the table. He knew exactly what was coming and he had no desire to witness this. It was one of the things he really hated about this life. Jim had no stomach or tolerance for senseless and unwarranted violence. He had kicked many a talented crewman off of his ship for such unsavory behavior. She was half way through her escape when Isaac and his men stood up, one of them lunging forward and catching her by her long hair. She let out a surprised yelp as she was pulled backwards. The entire tavern turned to watch the ugly scene, but no one made a move to stop them. Jim’s hand tightened into a fist, his knuckles turning white.

“Oh, but the fun is only beginning, lass,” Isaac sneered, roughly grabbing her cheek and pushing his thumb into her flesh; hard enough that Jim knew it would leave a bruise. Her eyes went wide as she caught the implication in his words. “Did you really think I was going to let a cheating whore like you leave?”

A protective angry flare caught aflame inside of him. It was a curious thing to realize that there was still a sense of honor in him after all these years. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t sit by and watch Isaac roughen up this young woman. Jim was reaching for his saber before even giving conscious thought to it. Jim was a military trained swordsman as well as a large man whose strength was rarely matched by his peers. If anyone could handle Isaac and his men, it would be him.

“Jim, don’t,” Falken warned, placing an arm on Jim’s shoulder. He paid his boatswain no mind, allowing the righteous fury to fuel him as he brushed the hand away and pushed forward. He could hear the man muttering about navy men and misplaced honor, but Jim disagreed. There was no way he was going to let Isaac violate a woman who was barely more than a child.

Jim pushed his way forward, sword in hand and eyes blazing with anger. Isaac and his men stared at him in shock, not used to anyone interfering with their affairs. The girl in their custody also appeared to be taken aback as well. She obviously hadn’t expected anyone who to help her. Perhaps she wasn’t that much of a fool after all.

“Leave her be,” Jim commanded hotly.

“You really want to fight us, Hawkins?” Isaac laughed in astonishment. “Over some cheating and whoring doxy? I’m not sure if you remember, but you’re not a navy boy anymore, you self-righteous prick! You’re a bloody deserter and I will gut you like the scum you are and fuck her right on top of your corpse.”

At his words, Jim saw red and he moved forward to spear Isaac with his sword when the girl speared him instead. She had pulled a knife that appeared to have been stored beneath her leather jacket and stabbed Isaac in his soft part of his belly. It was obviously to Jim that she was comfort handling a knife, but he could tell by the expression she made as she pierced his flesh that this was her first time actually stabbing someone. Her face was reflection of horror, shock, hysteria and, more eerily, fascination. However, she didn’t let these emotions completely over take her as she kicked backwards to free herself from the crewman’s grip on her hair. Someone had taught this young woman to fight and they had taught her well.

Isaac fell onto his knees. His scream of agony made the hairs on the back of Jim’s neck stand on edge. Jim didn’t allow himself to ponder too much on Isaac. He knew from experience that the wound was a fatal one. He was more worried about the woman child getting out alive. He reached forward, bringing his saber down on a man’s arm as he tried to grab her. As the man clutched his now bloody stump with incredulous expression, Jim saw his own crew leap into action and join in on the fray. The girl whirled around, watching the action around her with a look of shock before she met Jim’s gaze with almost feral eyes.

“Come with me if you want to live,” Jim barked at her, gesturing towards the door with the nod of his head and making an impatient movement with his bloodied sword. He watched her eyes bounce between the blood covered sword to his face. Her expression on her face made her decision clear.

“If you say so, Arnold,” she replied faintly and Jim decided not to acknowledge her odd response with words, but rather took a firm grip of her arm and forced her towards the door as all hell broke loose. She trailed after him, masterfully dodging the bloody brawl that was happening around them, though Jim could feel her shaking a bit under his grasp. He hoped she didn’t go into shock.

Once they had safely left the tavern and were good way down the docks near his ship, Jim released his hold on the girl and glared at her in annoyance; pushing her away from him slightly. She was trouble, he knew it and he got something involved anyway. He had been stupid and impulsive, getting himself tangled with her mess and endangering his crew alongside himself. Silver was right. His misplaced sense of honor and justice was really going to get himself in trouble someday.

“What in blazes were you thinking playing cards against Isaac? If I hadn’t stepped in, his men would have raped and murdered you regardless of that little knife stunt back there,” he shouted out her, reaching forward to grasp her shoulders and give her a firm bodily shake.

She surprised him once more by slapping his hands away, straightening her back and glaring back at him. Her eyes narrowed into slits and flashing dangerously. Jim watched as her nostrils flaring like an angry bull’s. Instead of wilting under his frustration and looking at him in fear like he expected her too, she looked pissed off. She was a strong one, he had to give her that.

“Forgive me, but I didn’t know that. I was in dire need of cash and just in case you haven’t noticed, but I’m not exactly from around here!” She shouted back at him, gesturing to her clothing.

It was a strange ensemble of a short leather coat, scandalous skintight green shirt, a pair of odd blue trousers and the most bizarre pair of boots that Jim had ever seen. The most curious thing that caught his eye however was the necklace. Around her neck on a silver chain sat a dark steel fishing hook that was shaped in an odd way. He had absently noted her strange clothing before, but it had been pushed to the back of his mind in favor of focusing on the angry wasps nest she had created inside the tavern. Her clothing was fitted in ways that weren’t necessarily fashionable in the Enchanted Forrest and he had never seen such material used to make clothes before.

“What the hell has you so desperate that you’re playing cards with criminals?” He asked, studying her hard. She shifted under his gaze uncomfortably, the first sign of possible weakness that he had seen from her all night.

“I am in desperate need of finding something and I was hoping to raise enough money to get myself an expedition crew,” she responded vaguely.

“And what exactly are you looking for?” He asked, curiosity taking over anger for a moment as he regarded her with a raised eyebrow. She was a strange girl from a different land with a spine of steel, eyes for mischief and a penchant for trouble. He found her fascinating in all the ways that Silver would disapprove. He wouldn’t do anything about it however. She was far too young for him; at least nine or ten years his junior he was willing to bet.

She seemed troubled by the question and Jim could tell by her expression that she was debating whether or not it was worth it for her to tell him what she was looking for. He couldn’t possibly imagine what this girl would want that was so dire or valuable that she couldn’t tell him. There wasn’t much left to the Enchanted Forrest in the decades that had passed since the Dark Curse.

“A magic bean,” she replied in a hush tone. “Like I said, I’m not from around here. I didn’t necessarily come here willingly and I just need to get back home.”

Jim’s eyes went wide and he immediately thought of the secret treasure that went beyond just Florin gold back on Flint’s Treasure Island. He pushed back on his heels for a moment, contemplating his options while studying the look on her face. She still looked annoyed but in her eyes, he could see her sincerity alongside fear and determination. In the end, it wasn’t much of an option for Jim at all; misjudged sense of honor indeed.

“I know where to find a magic bean,” Jim started, pausing to lick his cracked lips. He could see by her expression that her proverbial ears had perked. “I could take you to one if you like…” He trailed off, firmly pausing the ball into her court.

“Really?”

“Aye,” Jim replied firmly. “And I will take all of that lovely gold there alongside something else as payment.”

The girl’s green eyes went even wider from a moment before she narrowed them at him, anger and wariness lurking behind the surface. He watched her fingers fidget and recognized it for it was, the movements of someone who was ready to fight tooth and nail in order to survive. She left her knife behind in Isaac’s stomach, but Jim wasn’t sure what else she had stored underneath the jacket. He didn’t know whether to be offended or amused at the obvious dark place that her mind had taken her to. However, he couldn’t necessarily blame her. She was in a tough spot and she didn’t know him. She couldn’t afford to trust him though he was being entirely genuine.

“Oh,” she said, almost sounding casual. “And what would that be?”

“Your name,” Jim replied with a small chuckle. She looked at him in disbelief.

“My name?” She repeated incredulously.

“Your name,” he affirmed, slightly amused.

“Elizabeth Swann,” she replied cooly, and she said it with such conviction that it didn’t register to him at that moment that she had lied to him. The wariness in her eyes and posture dissipated but the annoyance remained. It was obvious to him that this “Elizabeth Swann” had a backbone of complete steel.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Swann. My name is James Hawkins. Most people call me Jim, but you can call me Captain of the Silver’s Spell.”

#asks #anon #answered #little pirates #beth jones #jim hawkins #ouat future fic #captain swan daughter #jimbeth #my fic #my shit #ever after fic #little pirates fic #jim meet beth #ever after