#people will ship these characters regardless and its fine i guess but i think its funnier if they're gay and no one wants them

[jazzyblusnowflake]

OMG hi…I really like your art and was wondering if you wanna be mutuals??????????? Also tell me about your MD ships :3c

honey we are dating- .....okay yknow what- HI PRETTY & TALENTED LADY- yess i will absolutely love toooo 🙈💕💕💕💕💕

also lets see uhhh okay this is an excuse for me to just... expload-

keep in mind not every ship is meant for all of you so dont badger me about stuff that ISNT CANON or YOU DONT SHIP. contrary to whatever you believe, when somone posts about THEIR ships, nobody wants to hear about you NOT shipping it on THAT EXACT post.

hang in there, this gon be a long one >:p

First off we are starting strong with Nuzi- Biscuitbites obviously thats a given- these two just have too much to be said about why and how they make eachother the best version of eachother, whether they ever became canon or not- they fit like puzzle pieces- they lessen eachothers negative traits by being their for eachother.

next is Vuzi- Violentviolet, they are my favorite kind of enemies to lovers 😔 but its also tragic smh. kinda pissed off at how V always does something good in Uzis favor only when she is LITERALLY PASSED OUT- either in the camp ep on the bus or in Alices lab. like damn ofFUCKINGcourse Uzi wouldnt know she cares about her 😭😭😭

envuzi- Violentbitingbiscuits, i love these goobers with all my heart- they deserve the best 😔💕💕💕💕

envy - [does this poor ship just NOT have an exclusive FINDABLE tag name??? im calling them GoldenMemories...], i like to think that if they were in the manor still, and nothing bad had ever happened, these two would be comforting eachother in the healthiest way possible. V needs someone like N and N is just adorable like that uwu

Next we have JxTessa/Jessa- [calling them Fancyblades cuz why not-] J deserves some closure for the shit shes gone through smhhh 😔, its a tragic yuri of J loving and wanting something she probably already accepted she couldnt have, and even then she gotta deal with Ns ass being the favorite one regardless of how hard she tries to be perfect... sighhh i wanna imagine them in a future where Tessa was spared as the only human and J could save her 😭😭😭😭 Tessa might have loved doing mechanical stuff or wore black to hide grease/oil stains on her clothes from her parents and wore gloves to hide her oily stained hands- i want her to have a scene of wiring drones back to life and saving them and saying something like "hey there, you made it! dont worry, ill take care of you, youre my friend now :3" or something //dies//, also before anyone says it- even if Tessa was a teen in the flashbacks- romance is not exclusive to ADULTS, teens can love eachother without having sexual stuff involved. no she was not their MOTHER figure, she was their FRIEND who liked to fix robots for herself to not be alone in a house where her own parents literally chain her up as punishment. i dont even know why im arguing about this, people headcanon or make aus about characters NOT being dead all the time and if Tessa was alive for as long as J thought she was, Tessa would have been a perfectly fine adult either way. so counting this, yes shes canonically considered an adult when Cyn tries to imitate an adult humans body 🙄 makes as much sense as everything else i guess-

next ones i got is NorixYeva/Neva- Solverlilies- i just think theyre neat 😭😭😭 and once again, like everything else in this franchise- they are tragic yuris 😔 damn liam im finding a pattern over here 🤨 anyway, i like to think they either got closer in the lab experimentations or were already close when they were working as WDs in the campsite area for the humans. obviously canonically they were probably straight or just not into eachother romantically- [Nori either u have the worst taste men or Khan just fucking lost it after you died-] but also on the other handddd.... they have 2 hands and they are robots, i want them to kiss like two barbie dolls and im gonna make them do just that-

DollxLizzy/Dizzy- Bloodypink, wost fucking ship names ever, i cant find shit on them with these tags and it makes me angry >:/ at this point 2/3s of my ships are just tragic yuris smh, Doll did not deserve any of the things handed to her, even if she went about doing some things the wrong way i wish Lizzy didnt just abandon her- but then again, Doll did kinda abuse Lizzys trust and Lizzy got scared of being close to a serial murderer so.... morality calls this a draw? 😭 im crying... i wish someone was there to help Doll... sigh... i like to think Lizzy would have waited for Doll to just come back at some point... oh well, thats why AUs exist :"3 //sobs in the corner//

DollxUzi/Dollzi- Bloodybats, this ship is so underrated to me... they could have been... so much more. but why weren't they? did Yeva abandon ever getting close to Uzi when she was a kid after Nori died? did Uzi and Doll just never play around together as kids when their mothers were so close? were they ever close and something went wrong as they grew older? at worst they could have been like sisters together, and at best maybe more than friends. i just dont know what happened here, like Yeva could have tried to keep an eye on Uzi, maybe Uzi could have found Dolls powers so cool before having them too- i dont know theres literally tons of possibilities- but if Doll deserved to be saved or cared for by anyone, at least one of them should have been Uzi... sigh.

ThadxV- Killingblonde, yall this is... the cutest shit... ever???? like from here on out we kinda go into the more or less crackship territory but these two are adorable- Dumbass yet wholesome jock boy that just wants to keep his queen happy 😔👌👌👌 He and Uzi would have so much to talk about on "crushing on literal murder bots that stabbed and almost ate us" its literally love at first stab smhhh 😫💕

ThadxSam- Smokyjock ???? for some fucking reason??? i dont know what my brain did here man- i just like the trope of someone getting under Thads skin- like pair up the healthy sports loving gym boy with the lazy but wholesome dumbass that does drugs or is always just sleep deprived and Thad is always trying to just... take care of his ass and make him take care of himself but he just WONT SMHHH-

okay some more or less crack ships down here:

ThadxN: it speaks for itself. its too adorable and youll go blind from the light of wholesomeness-

ThadxNxUzi: Uzi will die here from the overwhelming wholesomeness... oh bonus if its just a 4s polycule of ThadxNxUzixV i mean i know im pushing my luck but.... random crackships go brr- V and Uzi will complain but love their dumbass golden puppy partners-

ThadxUzi: i think they could have been close and Thad caring about her as a childhood friend turned crush sounds just too cute for me 😔

LizzyxUzi: another random ass rivals to lovers or some shit idk what this is, Lizzy would pay Uzi to kiss the fuck out of her i dont make the rules-

ThadxLizzy: in some cases where they are NOT headcanoned as siblings or cousins, i think they have a good energy of wholesome jock bf and girly queen cheerleader lol, Thad is just a good bf eitherway-

DollxUzixLizzy: the gals would not leave a single second of silence for the small gremlin i swear to God- [Uzi is gay as FUCK for her gfs, absolute girloser unit with her gorgeous but crazy gfs]

okay for the end i have some characters that arent ships but i wish they could have become closer as friends or work out their issues...

J and N- too much abuse and toxicity here, i wish they could talk together more and see they have a lot of things in common- maybe a full line of dialogue from J without threatning N in every sense of the manner would be nice for a change =_=

Doll and V- again, a bit morally ambiguous to ship a character with the murderer of your family, esp when said murderer hasnt expressed regret lmao, but i wish they could at least be friends... Dolls disdain for the murder drones pushed her to end up the way she did. maybe if she didnt do it alone she would have been alive by now. so i like to think what would have happened if she and V could have made up- not necessarily Doll forgiving her- but at least having the space to grow and understand why they did they things that happened.

Cyn and literally ANYONE- i want the solver to be SEPARATE from Cyn- i wish Cyn would have still existed somewhere down there and was savable- i wish this poor child AI had a happy ending to her by connecting with the others as ACTUAL siblings... goddamnit 😔

aaaand thats it for this fine ass day 🫡 yall are welcome to ask about any of these- boy the tags are gonna be.... a lot.

#snow rambles #murder drones #uzi doorman #tessa james elliot #nuzi #biscuitbites #vuzi #violetviolence #envuzi #violentbitingbiscuits #jessa #j x tessa #envy murder drones #envy #n x v #solverlilies #bloodypink #dollzi #bloodybats #dizzy murder drones #killingblonde

[beepboop358]

Hi. I am/was a mileven defender until I saw that scene in the van and Mike's copy pasted monologue that felt like it wasn't even meant for El but for Will.

As a straight person, I don't think I can relate to a queer person's frustration or anger over Season 4 even if I tried.

And I'm sorry but that's why it's hard for me to understand why you guys have given up on your ship when it's obvious that my people are the ones that should be getting prepared for a massive straight bait.

I hate to even think about it and it saddens me to the core but Mike is clearly projecting. He doesn't feel about El the way he feels about Will and it shows. I think El truly loves Mike tho so it's even more frustrating to me.

I wanted mileven to work so badly and I still do but given Mike's strange behavior and the way Will and Mike look at each other and the way they stand side by side between two other canon ships in the final scene and actually all their scenes together, it's hard to not to believe that your ship is the one they're going for.

I guess it's a good thing that they are planning on making the gay ship endgame. I know you guys need some decent representation and I'm sorry about the people that are mocking you for it on Twitter or in real life. All of that doesn't mean I suddenly started shipping them tho. I'm still clinging on to mileven. Probably forever.

I just wanted to acknowledge that I think it's weird that many of you have lost hope. But again, I can't really relate to the things queer people are experiencing and going through on a daily basis so I want to apologize if anything I just said was insensitive.

hello!

This was really interesting to read, thank you so much for sharing, genuinely! I hadn’t thought about it from this perspective before because i’ve mostly seen mike/el fans only celebrating after s4, and i’ve gotten several rude messages since vol. 2’s release over me being delusional and crazy for thinking byler would ever happen. It’s super interesting we are both doubting our ships and convinced the other will now be canon after s4… and I find it really fascinating that as a mileven shipper you thought Mike’s speech to El sounded like it was meant for Will…

I still have faith that byler could happen, and the ending shots really make me think it will, but i’m worried that they won’t be able to fix the damage they did to it in s4 fully, in s5, because I thought the writing in s4 was very different than what we have previously seen in the show, and so many characters didn’t get the development i thought they deserved. Regardless of whose ship ends up being endgame, I just hope that they fix it and actually resolve something in s5 so it ends on a healthy note for the couple. I believe everyone should ship whoever they want, so its totally fine by me if you don’t ship byler. Also, thank you <3 It definitley sucks to be mocked by so many people rn LOL.

I hope you’re well! xx

#byler #byeler #st4 #stranger things 4

[mushroomjeremy]

I have been holding on to this design for a little while now. Thinking about how best to deliver how I changed the character and if I did enough.

I really want to get to clearing my 'to post' folder out. So I guess its better now than never.

This is Dr. Jair Shimmer a rewrite for SCP 963. Ignore that this is almost the exact same design in my Clight artwork; I liked the design so I kept it.

His main gimmick is that he study cursed object not just 963. He wears many curse object regardless of moral or ethical reasons against it. His office is chalk full of them, enter at your own caution.

SCP 963 isnt to much changed from base one, only thing is the souls in the amulet can be retrieve. Very hard thing to do and Shimmer needs to do that action all on there own and he kinda does not care to do that.

I do want to make more bodies for Shimmer but Im very busy and Im scared to draw women.

Past Keep Reading is just headcanons (do I even call them that at this point?)

The amulet is made of out silver, Red Beryl/Bixbite, and different colored sapphires.

While I am using He/Him in this post, Shimmer is a genderfluid, pansexual, panromantic with any pronouns as long as your not taking the piss out of him

Despite shipping war, Shimmer is with Glass, Clef, and Kondraki. Sometime all at once.

He use to be cautious around cursed objects, but after 963 he started to become reckless knowing he'd always come back after the Foundation found him

963 works a little differently on how is possess someone. All it needed was an initial soul trap and the next person to pick it up will be possessed. If Shimmer kills themselves the curse is kinda broken, he would just be in the amulet and the next person to pick it up is the knew host.

So Able is out of the story.

Shimmer just touched it and became the host.

How he found out about SCP 963 abilities is a informant apart of a different GoI stabbed him in the back cause they thought Shimmer was getting to close to figuring out why they were in the Foundation in the first place

Shimmer went to Deer College to get a degree in Magic and Curses

Shimmer can see, read, and understand magic in objects and crystals but he himself is not a wizard/witch/Type Blue/ect.

He's a lot calmer here with a stern voice, though he still tells jokes when he feel in danger. Force of habit.

I wanted to keep this as I think it gives some good worldbuilding to the Foundation daily life. He does facilitate a betting ring for literally anything. You could put a bet on if the kitchen will be destroyed in the next breach or not.

Shimmer likes to see the personnel fight when bets don't go their way.

Where is Shimmer get money to pay back people? Who knows.

Shimmer has yet to see the gravity of immortality. He's in the phase of getting sick of dying but still careless with his bodies and "clones."

Oh yeah the Clones! How the amulet after a month could be taken off and put on another person? Well the Foundation uses that to their benefit instead of killing them. More bodies that can work on higher clearance levels stuff.

Shimmer can take of the amulet before the end of the month and still retain his body.

I also wanted to keep the Personnel Director position. I like him having all the information on the Personnel of the Sites he is place in. It could cause tension between characters if they fine out about Shimmer knowing those things or it could show how much they care about friends with this information. Example for both: Clef

I want to do the rest of the Family as well but its still a wip. But I will say I wanted to explore ableism as a defining problem for the family in its dysfunction

If I remember or figure out anymore I'll come back here maybe.

#art #scp #scp 963 #scp 963 rewrite #Jair Shimmer

[skadren]

Yuffie 1-10 :3

send a character + questions

i haven't played intergrade, so i assume there's quite a bit i'm missing there in terms of yuffie's character, but i'll do my best. since this is a little longer, i'm putting it all under the cut!

why do you like or dislike the character?

yuffie's definitely a fun character! admittedly not one of my big faves, but i'm fond of her nonetheless. regardless of the struggles she's grown up with, she doesn't tend to blame or resent people who have wronged her. she's lively and willful, knows how to have a good time, and isn't afraid of defying tradition.

2. favorite canon thing about this character?

i really like the story she gets in her episode of otwtas re: how wutai deals with geostigma!! it really shows off that despite being young and immature in some ways (like not thinking things through), yuffie is selfless and really cares about helping people. she'd much rather try to find a solution she can act on in the moment instead of dwell on impossibilities also learning that her dad sucks absolute BALLS and she's so used to it that she barely even cares about how he fucks up explains a lot about her whole. why she is how she is

3. least favorite canon thing about this character?

not quite a criticism of canon itself per se, but since she's an optional character in og, she doesn't get a whole lot of important dialogue or characterization there. hoping rebirth will live up to its promise of making both yuffie and vincent more integral to the storyline :)

4. if you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would it be?

i think she'd be fun in a serialized comic or manga!! the adventures of materia hunter yuffie :)

5. what's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

cop out answer but. the wutai ost. i feel like i have a strong association of all the characters with "their" intended soundtracks

6. what's something you have in common with this character?

not much in personality at all tbh but i mean. i'm east asian, she's east asian-coded.... i guess that counts

7. what's something fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

it's fun when she's everyone's bestest and most favoritest little sister menace and she drives them all up the wall i think she should be allowed to do that more often

8. what's something fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

i don't even ship her with anyone but some fans say shipping yuffie at all is icky and predatory and grossbad even when she's portrayed as over 18 because she's "minor-coded" but are perfectly fine shipping 15 year old tifa or 16 year old cloud etc etc etc like i'm not saying it's the racism but sometimes it sure feels like it's the racism

9. could you be roommates with this character?

not if she's going to steal all my shit and not put it back in the right place!!!

10. could you be best friends with this character?

well. i mean. same as above, honestly

#skadren rambles #ask game #can y'all tell that the infantilization of adult characters drives me up the wall jsnjwkhsdfkd

[lrgcarter]

Over the past few decades, it's become comparatively easy to fill your TV screens with space ships. And I think this has become something of a story telling problem. I'll explain what I mean:

[Turns out I went on for a bit, so here's a Would You Like To Know More break]

  Back in the 90s, a space ship battle might have only one or two ships on each side. This meant you would usually know who was in them, and you could expand the character of the crew onto the ship itself.

For example:

The TNG Enterprise had a top of their game crew who would work hard to find that extra edge in any situation. Thus, this became the character of the Enterprise itself. A champion fighter, always pushing itself to come out on top.

The crew of the Defiant, on the other hand, were a group of people much lower down in the social hierarchy. They were a team of vicious bastards with (often conflicting) convictions. And so that became the character of the ship. You see the Defiant, you know it's going to do some sneaky bastard stuff and possibly some terrorism, all for the long term good.

The aliens of that time all had an easily understood factory setting, and this would be transferred to their ships. You see a Klingon, Romulan, or Borg ship, you know what you're getting.

So, if you watch a space battle, you know the players, you know the rules. You'll see what each side is doing and understand it. You'll also understand the retaliation actions taken by their opponents. Thus you get the same sort of drama that comes from spectating a game.

Even when Babylon 5 and later Deep Space 9 led the way in using CGI to make these battles bigger, they carried over the old rules. Before the start of the battle, the objectives of each side would be laid out. Also, they would use a limited number of ship models so you could understand a fleet in the same way that you can understand a selection of chess pieces. And the plot and writing established that this was the lot. These massed battles were the commitment of so many ships that  if the battle was lost, then so was the war.

These narrative rules continued into the 2000s. Battlestar Galactica, for all its many many writing crimes, was really good at establishing the ships as characters. I'm sure you can all think of good examples.

But somewhere along the line, media money men came to demand an End of Show Firework Display. Regardless of whether the story needed one. So the writers don't necessarily lay down the groundwork for the big ship battle, because to them its just a producer's note box ticking exercise, rather than being key to the story.

For example, lets look at the end of Picard series 1.

At the end, some of the good guys are in a ship.

Then, an enemy fleet turns up. Like, fuck loads of ships. What can these ships do? Don't know, never seen them before. But that doesn't matter, because there's fuck loads of them. Whatever the good guy's ship can do, it won't be enough. That's what causes the drama.

Then a fuck load of good guy ships turn up. Ah ha! now the two sides are evenly matched! At least, I think so? In terms of numbers I guess. And then they just sit there shooting at each other. You're now watching a firework display rather than a game of chess.

And while that's happening in the background, the good guys continue on their quest, unimpeded by the firework display in the background.

And unlike the DS9 massed battles, you get the felling that even if the good guys lost the battle, their animators would be fine with just pasting in a new identical good guy fleet in. Because the firework battle isn't the source of the story drama, it's just a pretty light show. It's only there because it's expected.

Discovery has a similar battle at the end of series 2. It's much, much better than the Picard one, because the plot has actually led up to it, but it is still mostly a firework display of expendable non-entity ships to make the background colourful for the main characters. (And I like Discovery, so don't come at me with anti-disco bullshit)

Even the end of SNW had a bit of this. But at time of writing that's still really new so to avoid spoilers I'll avoid discussing that.

Contrast this with Lower Decks. Which has now had a fair few fights where you can count the number of ships on an average human hand. And so benefits from all the drama things from the first half of this post.

So, in conclusion, I'll say this to space ship battle choreographers. Please use smaller numbers of ships, but make those ships better understood in terms of character and stakes. If a ship gets destroyed, we want to feel that it's a loss to the survivors. If a ship does something awesome, we want to understand how that has bought the battle closer to ending.

Anyway, that's my controversial shipping opinion.

#sci-fi #space ship battles

[rootbeerfloats]

my favorite character type is a character that is gay but they have no romantic chemistry with anyone because of how fucking insane they are

#speaking #people will ship these characters regardless and its fine i guess but i think its funnier if they're gay and no one wants them

[oatmealpeople]

Non-Platonic Ships with AroAce Characters: An Entire Goddamn Guide of what not to say.

So,

you’re an allo fan(artist) who shipped an aroace character.

This is now especially relevant in the time of our lord and saviour, Yelena Belova. Many people have been creating ships without taking into account her queer identity. But no worries! Nothing a little bit of taking accountability and listening to the affected community can’t fix!

Just make sure you actually do that and don’t just say;

“Well Aro/acespec people can still be in relationships and have sex”

yes they can... with nuance. Was there a genuine care about the relationship between that person’s aroace identity and relationship to romance/sex? Did you do your research on sex/romance favourability? on gray/demi, etc. aro/ace experiences? Was their Aspec identity integral to how you depicted their character and interactions? There is perspective needed to portray aro/ace experience that is relevant to partnership/relationship narratives.

The majority of the time, this excuse of ace/aro people existing in relationships/partnerships is used as a convenient loophole. Escaping accountability for contributing to the erasure of an aro/ace character’s identity by a creating a romantic/sexual dynamic without considering it.

“Its only canon in the comics, not the MCU”

&

“Don’t get mad at other fans, get mad at the studio!”

By this logic, any blatant erasure/censorship of a queer character’s sexuality onscreen (e.g. Valkyrie and Ayo) shouldn’t bother you? Fanworks created that ignore a character’s queer identity are fine? Any report of a queer identity being stolen from an onscreen adaption of a character has been met with backlash. Of course there was! There are so many identities and experiences that intersect and represent all parts of a person. Someone’s sexuality isn’t only relevant for who they are attracted to, but all affects facets of who they are. It removes the intimacy in relatability you have to a character, they can become uncomfortable and unrecognisable.

There has been no statement from Marvel or any official source about the future of Yelena’s love-life. The only article issued is from ScreenRant and is an opinion piece about how they could hypothetically, produce a relationship for Bucky and Yelena. Saying they could use Yelena’s proximity and assassin experience in the red room to be Natasha’s replacement in a relationship based from Natasha and Bucky’s relationship in the comics. Hey Siri, play the second stanza of Washing Machine Heart by Mitski.

Basically, what I’m saying is that the studio hasn’t said anything and aro/ace people have the right to give a fuck about erasure and representation and not tolerate bullshit. Erasure and invalidation can come from anyone, people have a right to feel upset and receive empathy when they feel invisible.

“She’s only inferred to be ace in the comics, not aro”

There are two pieces of evidence that are frequently referenced when it comes to Yelena’s ace and aro identities. And yes, its indicative of the existence of both.

First of all the comic panel.

Nikki: Maybe it’s your kink, that’s why. Starkovsky always though you were a lesbian... So I thought I should ask.

Yelena: No I’m not a lesbian, I’m not... Anything.

I guess if you were to interpret talking about kink as inference of sex and sexual attraction, you would see this as only validation in her ace identity. But the way Yelena says that she isn’t “anything”, wouldn’t that stretch over both sexual and romantic facets of attraction? Regardless, it is ace affirming.

The next piece of evidence is an interview with writer Devin Grayson, “...and (Yelena) probably more likely to identify as asexual than to follow Nat’s romantic path...” This seems like a case of miscommunication/misunderstanding. A common misconception to people not familiar with aspec identities, is thinking asexuality is indicative of aromanticism. In case you are one of those people, no, it is not.

Asexual and Aromantic, as labels, are completely independent of each other. Asexuality regarding sexual attraction and Aromantic regarding romantic. It doesn’t make sense to be talking about Natasha’s “romantic paths” and then equate the inverse that is Yelena’s romantic path to asexuality. Ergo, Yelena is aromantic.

In conclusion,

I am tired, it is 3:30am and I ran out of my last fuck to give. Ace/Aro people are queer, Ace/Aro people are queer enough, we deserve representation too. Amen Hallelujah Yahtzee Goodnight.

#ace #aro #yelenabelova #yelena belova #aromantic #asexual #black widow #aroace #ace pride #aro pride #aroace pride #ace yelena belova #aro yelena belova #asexual yelena belova #aromantic yelena belova #aroace yelena belova #yelena x #yelena belova x #aspec #i realise as this progressed i became more and more grumpy #3am is not the time of forbearance

[miraculouscontent]

Alright, so apparently certain love square shippers felt the need to go into the Lukanette tag to celebrate/mock that Lukanette is “over” (Marinette broke up with him to keep him safe but go off I guess) and that officially crosses all my lines of not dealing with the fandom’s garbage.

The sheer pettiness is astounding to me, to take joy in the end of what was a lot of people’s comfort ship (people don’t choose comfort ships, by the way) because of “toxic Luka/Lukanette stans,” essentially lumping chunks of the fandom together and letting the opinion of those fans shape their own opinion on a character/ship. The sheer sensitivity on display to have so much spite and disdain for a ship that appeared in less than 10% of all episodes in the show. The sheer vindictiveness to feel smug and self-righteous while also being panicked over a non-endgame ship that’s as temporary as their claim of positivity and condemning of salt until they’re presented with something they don’t like.

Goliath really be beating up on David over here because he's bigger and thinks his opinion is more valid. For the record, no, opinions are not more valid due to shipping an endgame ship or presenting oneself as a beacon of positivity.

And it just goes to show how ship-blind these people are, to care about nothing more than the fact that Lukanette has broken up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve seen people who openly admit to caring more about the love square’s security than Marinette’s happiness, which is just part of the issue here.

These people did not care how Lukanette broke up, only that it happened. Marinette’s crush backpedaling (because of the show feeling the need to cater to these exact people, who are so worried about their obviously endgame ship being “in danger”) and Marinette ending the episode in literal tears because she wanted to date Luka but couldn’t are both things that didn’t matter to them because it’s all about their ship in the end. Marinette’s life has been made more and more miserable due to her crush on Adrien while straining her relationships with various characters (see: Alya’s claim of jealousy as a reason for why Marinette “must be lying” about Lila), but so long as these people feel secure in their endgame ship, that’s all that matters.

They didn’t care if it was a clean break where both sides came out satisfied (or at least content). If anything, they wanted Lukanette to end as shoddily/dirtily as possible with zero care into how it affected Marinette, whether because they just don’t like the ship or because they actively desire for the suffering of the people who found comfort/happiness in the ship. Adrien had literally nothing to do with the break-up itself and him being mentioned served nothing for the story, but it’ll be completely overlooked or outright praised because god forbid Marinette spend an episode not talking about Adrien since that would imply that her life doesn’t revolve around him and that would be an apparent detriment to the love square.

By the way, newsflash: Luka was not an obstacle to the love square. He sent Marinette away in “Frozer” to go talk to Adrien. He told her that there was no pressure and that he’d be happy for her no matter what. Had Luka not existed, the love square would still be as stagnant as it is now, and it’s pathetic to complain about Marinette liking/dating another boy when she’s not only allowed to do so, but when “Oblivio” and “Chat Blanc” both exist as little more than tools to hold the supposedly “starved” love square shippers over.

These are the same people who will say they dislike/hate Luka, then do a 180 and claim that they “just feel so bad for him” and how he “deserves better than Marinette” (the sudden sympathy of which conveniently serves to hate on a ship that interferes with their own, further proven by equally convenient and appreciation/liking of Luka when he’s not a “threat” to the love square) while simultaneously shipping her with their sunshine boy because Ladybug is who Adrien wants and what Adrien wants is what matters.

These are the same people who will say that Luka is unnecessary and unneeded, then use him as a prop and stepping stone for love square fanfics and fanart, or suggest that Kagami is fine because she makes Adrien feel good about himself (when Luka does the same for Marinette but sure).

These are the same people who say that “Marinette can’t date Luka because she’s busy with hero stuff” while making fics about the love square getting together mid-”hero stuff” and then giving complete radio silence during “Chat Blanc” outside of how good they thought the episode was.

These are the same people who will tell others not to denounce Adrien for “a few mistakes” and then preemptively denounce Luka’s behavior based on a written synopsis for an episode that hadn’t even come out yet (and also after complaining that Luka was “too perfect,” I might add).

These are the same people who will say that Luka/Lukanette makes them feel “uncomfortable” (usually without offering any tangible reasons or being vague about Luka giving off “bad vibes” when he’s done nothing less than support and respect Marinette's agency) while the show’s endgame ship features the “m’lady” hand kissing Chat Noir who Ladybug has pulled away from multiple times yet he keeps persisting (which is apparently considered okay because Adrien is Chat Noir as if that discredits her discomfort/disdain for the gestures).

These are the same people who will say that Luka is “barely there” or “hardly exists” and then complain about how much screentime is dedicated to Lukanette, the utter greed on display going right over their heads when they have the actual endgame ship.

These are the same people who will absolutely reach for anything about Luka to complain about (again, after saying that he’s “too perfect,” then claiming he “tricked” Marinette into kissing him, claiming that he tried to force her into telling him her secret, or criticizing him for teasing her for her stuttering despite him immediately apologizing) and then either defend or turn a blind eye to Chat Noir (who tried to kiss her mid-battle instead of helping, made Ladybug feel bad for keeping secrets that weren’t hers to tell plus threatening his kwami that he’d quit if he didn’t get let in on said secrets, and mocked her instead of apologizing when she told him to stop calling her by a nickname she doesn’t like and has told him before to stop calling her) at every opportunity.

These are the same people who will say that Lukanette is “forced,” then proceed to ship Luka (regardless of if they like him or not) with literally anyone else for the sake of taking him out of the romance equation (because he has to be taken out via already dating as they couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason for Marinette to not want him otherwise), and the only requirement for this person he’s shipped with is that they breathe and aren’t Marinette.

These are the same people who act bothered by Marinette “””treating Luka poorly””” because of her crush on Adrien (by the by, Adrien’s crush on Ladybug has hurt Kagami as well), inadvertently admitting that Marinette’s crush is a problem, then continue shipping her with Adrien in its canon form anyway.

These are the same people who will say that they hate salt fics (specifically ones that target Adrien) and how they “bash characters,” then write fanfics or draw fanart that intentionally make Luka out of character for the sake of having him look bad or giving Marinette an excuse to run to Adrien (because Luka apparently needs to be made worse so that Adrien can look good instead of Adrien being able to stand on his own merits as a good love interest for Marinette).

These are the same people who will slam Luka when he’s Marinette’s support, then go off and ship him with other characters so that he can support them instead (fun fact that this is usually either Adrien - thus leaving Marinette completely alone and miserable when Luka canonically likes her - or characters that Marinette is actively against, such as Chloe or Lila).

These are the same people who will complain about how salty the fandom is (even when the salt is for catharsis/getting out anger from an episode in a productive way) and then laugh when a simple side ship ends because they’ve been letting said ship live rent free in their heads and couldn’t stop anticipating the episode that declares them “over.”

These are the same people who tell or suggest that people should “just leave” if they don’t like the main ship, unapologetically implying that the main ship is either all the show is about, all that they personally care about (bringing us right back to that little “not caring how torn apart Marinette is about the break-up” thing), or that people aren’t allowed to watch/like the show for other reasons (like Marinette herself, the miraculouses, other characters who may appear intermittently but nevertheless bring them joy to see, etcetera).

These are the same people who get on other people’s case for being spiteful while they themselves ride their high horse into the sunset, playing victim when people call them out for intentionally provoking others or purposefully mistagging to avoid people’s blacklist (tagging is not for the comfort of the tagger so they can “””avoid the toxic stans,””” for the record; it’s for the comfort of the people who don’t want to see that content).

And these are the same people who will go on and on about the toxicity of the stans who ship something they don’t like and then either ignore or downplay the stans who ship what they do like because they personally don’t have to experience it. This isn’t even about ship wars, it’s about the hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness.

I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear about how cruel the Luka fans or Lukanette shippers are when these people are celebrating Marinette’s misery because it means the end of a ship that they don’t like and certain people find comfort in. I don’t want to hear about people cross-tagging/mistagging when the Luka/Lukanette tag has been flooded with people who talk trash about the ship without any additional tags to filter it away, getting so bad to the point where some Luka/Lukanette fans had to find workarounds and/or avoid the tag entirely. I don’t want to hear about how certain shippers are worse because [x] [y] [z] when everyone has different experiences, showing a severe case of close-mindedness or at least ignorance on these people’s parts.

And, with how this season is heading, if something bad happens to the love square by the end of Season 4, I most definitely do not want to hear these same people decry the people who will do the exact thing that they’re doing now.

#category: salt #category: fandom #category: long post #((Mind you--this doesn't apply ONLY to the people who cross-tagged to ''celebrate'' Lukanette ending or mock Luka/Lukanette)) #((so... if the shoe fits.)) #((I literally don't care if people want to salt.)) #((I think the whole situation is gross but like--whatever.)) #((But we shouldn't be forced to deal with it because salty clowns want to make sure the people they're salty over see it.)) #((And I don't want to hear ''oh it'd be different if people cheered the love square getting a wedge driven in it because it's endgame!'')) #((as if mockery is okay if done by endgame shippers.))

[assassins-and-hidden-blades]

Trust Me -- Part 2

02/06/2021: Wow, uh, wow. This one got me. Almost started crying at the cheesy ending. I will cringe at it in precisely two months from now. Thank you guys SO much for all the positive feedback of PART 1, it really helped me finish this part. Without you guys, this would have been still sitting in my drafts. There's lowkey a bit of pressure in this actually being GOOD, so I'm sitting here with a bit of Imposter SyndromeTM and crossing everything I can cross that you guys like it. I can't tell whether I went overboard or not, though... I guess that's for you guys to tell me lmao.

Also, these commas can be pried from my very cold, extremely dead, fingers.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated! For the first time in almost ever, I'm a bit very nervous to post this -- I hope you enjoy it!!

Tagging: @marshmallow--3 // @yourlocalfrenchie // @rahdaleigh // @sofiewithat /// @iceboundstar // @mythandmagik // @itseivwhore // @pink-polarfox // @missbenzayb // @ct-5445 // @timbreavery // @dacian-assassin // @thepalaceofmelanie // @asilverraven // @huntheimpossible // @eclectic--assassin // @thehistorynut19 // @ta-ka-shi-ma // @roki3chocoa // @fandomsfanman // @le-nottibianche // @bandit-brunsmeier // @starmoji1 // @spocktheestallion // @salty-thembo // @missingfrye // @xdeimos // If you want to be tagged, let me know!!

Warnings: Lots of swearing, a bit of graphic violence, implicit mention of sexual assault (I hope it's not a spoiler to say that this does not actually happen, but the idea is used as manipulation. It's not done well, but I'm blaming that on the character being a horrible liar, instead of me sucking at write arseholes), implied character death.

Pairing: Edward Kenway x F!Reader

Assassin's Creed Mobile Masterlist

Red Dead Redemption 2 Mobile Masterlist

The neighbouring ship was chaotic. The opponents were drunk on victory, so slipping through unnoticed was easy. The hard part was going to be staying undercover until you could free Edward and the rest of the crew without anyone falling casualty. “Strip them of their weapons and take them to the brig!” You heard the Quartermaster yell. Thinking quickly, you moved to Edward; if you knew where his weapons were, escaping could be much easier. People were already pulling out his pistols and cutlasses, fortunately dumping them in your arms. Looking around, you pulled away to hide them in an inconspicuous barrel for later.

You weren’t planning on staying long.

Quickly rejoining the group, you took hold of one of your crew members -- you recognised him as one named Jonah -- at the back of the crowd, keeping your face covered lest they accidentally reveal your identity. You kept your eye on Edward’s tense shoulders the entire time, heading below deck and to the rows of cells at the end of the ship.

As you gently pushed Jonah into the cell, someone slammed the door shut, chucking the ring of keys your way. “Lock ‘em up.” Swallowing, you nodded, feeling uncomfortable under their gaze while turning the key in the lock. Taking them out of your hands, a mop and bucket was shoved in its place. “You’re on cleaning duty, starting upstairs; let’s go.” With one last glance, your eyes scoured for Edward before they all disappeared from view.

----------

Edward

There was this crushing anxiety he just couldn’t shake. It rendered him almost motionless, crouched in the corner of the cell, picking at his sleeves. There was a commotion heading towards them; he was in for company he was not in the mood for.

Heavy footsteps gave away the visitor. “We searched your boat.” His crew parted to clear a view as Charles Marlowe relaxed against the cell bars. “We found your woman.”

Edward’s eyes snapped to Marlowe’s as he clenched his jaw, almost daring him to say more.

With a chuckle and a disgusting grin, he brought out a small knife to clean. “Don’t you want to know where she is?”

“I expect you’d would tell me regardless.”

“I would advise against winding me up, Kenway. I could always take my anger out on her instead.”

It took a second for Edward’s arms to fly through the bars, constricting around Marlowe’s throat. “What have you done with her?”

Although cold metal pressed against his jaw, he didn’t ease up.

“She’s waiting for me very nicely... in my cabin.”

Edward didn’t have to think very hard to infer his meaning.

“I’ll kill you if you touch her. I’ll kill you.” Growling, he held impossibly tighter, for if he was here, he wasn’t there.

“With your actions come consequences, Kenway. And you might not be the one paying for them.”

A dilemma came to mind: delay him to keep him away from you, or risk the consequences of his revenge?

Somewhat luckily, he didn’t need to choose.

Before Edward could comprehend that he loosened his grip, Marlowe slipped out of his grasp. The distraught Captain pressed himself against the bars, anger drenching his expression as he heaved out breaths. His captor laughed. “You’re very good at empty threats, Kenway.”

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.” His cold tone streaked through the crew, setting hairs on end. They had never heard their Captain like this before; so angry, so dangerous.

It terrified them.

“That remains to be seen. In the meantime…” With a mocking whistling tune, Marlowe spun on his heels and began to walk away.

“Come back here, bilge rat!” He pulled harshly against the cell door. “Don’t you dare touch her!”

“Then you better stay in line.”

As he disappeared from view, Edward’s emotions overwhelmed him, frustrated tears coming to his eyes. He turned to a solid wall, slamming the side of his fist against it and yelled.

Fear, anger, guilt, and grief echoed around the brig.

Collapsing against the wood, he hid his face in his hands, aiming to either calm himself or hide his inevitable breakdown.

----------

Y/N

“Finish up downstairs.” Nodding affirmatively, you picked up the mop bucket and eagerly headed beneath deck, having to consciously slow down to avoid suspicion. You were glad you were disguised in the uniform of Marlowe’s crew instead of the rags of the common sailors aboard; it would’ve made the job much harder than it had to be.

Keeping a level head, you walked past the cell holding your family and placed the mop bucket against the wall, scanning the deck.

Empty.

Sighing in relief, you realised that you were alone with your crew at last. As you pulled the covering off of your face, you shushed frantically, the cell almost erupting into cheers. You gestured for them to part, eyeing Edward, almost balled up in the corner of the cell. “Hey, Ed,” you whispered, watching as his head snapped up to you, eyes widening.

Scrambling up, he strode to the bars in a second, reaching through the gaps to hold you. “Thank Christ…” he exhaled in relief, bringing your forehead to his lips between the bars. You pulled away after a few moments, sharing relieved glances. “Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?” he asked, eyes scanning you for any sign of injuries.

“No, no, I’m okay. Are you alright? Did we lose anyone?”

“I’m... fine; I haven’t done a head count yet.”

You didn’t reply, watching as Jonah came up to tap Edward on the shoulder. “Capt’n?”

He turned around, withdrawing his hands as Ryan came into view. “I can’t find my da’.” His voice was barely stable, cheeks stained with tear tracks. For a second, you both exchanged sorrowful glances.

Edward crouched down, ruffling his hair. “He’ll be around, lad. We just have to find him. Maybe he’s escaped and is planning his own rescue mission for us.”

Ryan nodded, wanting to believe him. Meanwhile, Edward stood and brought Jonah close, leaning to whisper in his ear. He withdrew, a willing but uncertain look on his face. Both retreated back into the small crowd.

“What did you tell him?” you asked.

“...That he has to look after Ryan now.”

You squeezed your eyes shut to stave off tears. “Shit.”

His fingers gently grazed your cheek. “Are you sure you’re alright? Does Marlowe know you’re here?”

Frowning, you shook your head. “I wouldn’t have thought so; if he did, I’d be stuck in there with you.”

His expression was nearly unreadable, but you could sense his anxiety. “I saw him come from here a few moments ago. What was he saying?”

“He…” Pausing for a moment, Edward swallowed. “Just Templar bullshit.”

You scoffed at the notion. “Of course he did. Look, I know how to get out of this.”

“I’ll take anything at this point.” Although his tone was sarcastic, you could tell that for the first time, he didn’t know what to do.

“He needs to die.”

Edward froze, brows narrowing, realising your intention. “No, Y/N, no.”

“‘No’ was an option in Nassau, but we don’t have that choice--”

“No, there must be another way -- “

“There is no other way! This is our only chance--”

“Are you hearing me?! He--”

“Do you understand the situation we’re in?!”

“No, Y/N, please--”

“All it takes is--”

“Just LISTEN to me!” He hissed through gritted teeth, grasping your arm to give it a sharp shake to stop you talking over him. The shock threw you into silence. Lowering his voice, he continued. “If you make so much as one mistake, he won’t just kill you; he’ll make you wish you were dead. Please, please, don’t do this.”

You were stunned. You’ve never seen him so adamant about staying your blade. The desperation in his tone threw you off; you’ve never heard him this serious -- this frantic -- before.

Edward grabbed one of your hands in both of his, bringing your knuckles to rest against his lips. “I love you… with everything I have; I can’t lose you. Not if I can help it,” he murmured, closing his eyes. Your heart broke as you watched a tear escape, trailing down his skin.

“Okay, okay.” You rarely saw Edward cry, and when you did, it was usually due to either drinking or laughing. He took a small, shuddering breath, trying to compose himself.

“We wait for Adé. Then we’ll think about Marlowe.”

“Alright, okay. Hey...” you caressed his jaw. “I’m okay. We’ll be okay. Trust me.”

You heard ruckus above the deck. “Someone’s coming.” Both of you broke away like shrapnel, Edward sitting himself on the floor while you mopped, facing the wall.

And that was how things were.

----------

A couple of weeks had passed since the crew was abducted from the Jackdaw. Everyone had been forced to labour on the deck, doing various jobs, from scrubbing floors to adjusting sails to everything in between. Adé was nowhere to be seen; whether he was hidden on deck and still strategising, or God forbid, something worse, you didn’t know.

A few didn’t make it.

Keeping your identity hidden was becoming increasingly difficult as time went on, of both being a woman and lover of the imprisoned Captain. You had, however, been able to gather intel of Marlowe from the crew that despised him. Each day further validated your belief that this man would be much better off dead; the crew have no loyalty except out of fear, and you could work with that.

You understood Edward’s fear, but it would be selfish of you to stand back and not do anything, watching as almost everyone on the ship suffered; if you did nothing, you would regret it for the rest of your days.

One particular morning was extremely hot, extremely dry, and extremely labour intensive. You were almost halfway through your journey, and you knew you were running out of time. Something had to happen, and soon, or you would never make it to the end of the year.

----------

Edward

After the first week, the crew joined the common sailors around the ship, performing average labour over hours. There was barely time to rest, eat, or drink; he could tell that this was wearing him down more than any form of torture.

The sun’s rays beat down on the nape of his neck as midday approached. Orders were to scrub the floor. He had a brush in his hand the size of a polishing brush, sharing a bucket with four other members of his crew. Each time he made eye contact with one of them, he’d give them a reassuring look; they’d all get out of this, he just needed a plan.

Doors were haphazardly flung open, Marlowe revealing himself from his cabin, followed by an entourage of his closest crew. They clumsily made their way across the ship, bumping into those scrubbing the deck, only to send them a look as if it was their fault in the first place.

One of them knocked over a bucket of water, spilling the liquid across the wood. Edward looked up to observe the situation. It belonged to his crew, including Jonah and Ryan. Marlowe stopped, his stare set on the ones kneeling, completely ignoring the real culprit. “You.” He crooked his finger towards Ryan. “Get up.”

With a petrified look on his face, Ryan stumbled to his feet, shaking like a leaf. “It wasn’t--”

Marlowe put his hand up, a warning to shut up. “It was your bucket, was it not?”

“Y-Yes, but--”

“So it was your responsibility, correct?”

“W-Well--”

“It’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, boy.”

“... Yes, sir.”

Marlowe turned to call to his second in command. “Get the cat.”

Edward’s heart stopped. By now, the ship had dropped to complete silence. They wouldn’t… he was only a boy. Marlowe was sadistic, but he wouldn’t be that evil, would he?

Before he could stop himself, Edward found himself standing protectively in front of Ryan. The child gripped onto his sleeve as he was pushed behind his Captain by the arm. “Why don’t you give a punishment to someone who deserves it?”

Marlowe held a neutral expression. “You’re right…” With a wave of his hand, arms snaked themselves around Edward’s, pulling him away from the others, restraining his movements.

Edward’s eyes flitted to Ryan for a split second; he was pulled to sit beside Jonah before he gained any more unwanted attention. Marlowe came to stand in front of him, unpinning his cape from around his shoulders. It fell into someone’s arms, who carried it away. Although his limbs were pulled harshly behind him, he held his head high, a hard expression in his eyes.

Undoing his cuffs, Marlowe smirked. “I believe you deserve twenty, in place of that boy…” Without warning, a fist came into contact with Edward’s sternum. If it weren’t for the arms holding him upright, the force would have sent his knees buckling. As he regained his breath, he glared at Marlowe. “Another twenty is in order for disobedience…” Another strike winded him again, this one seemingly worse than before. Keeled over, hair blocking his vision, he almost didn’t notice Marlowe leaning into his ear. “Then, about as many as I deem fit…”

Standing up straight, he shook out his hand. “Get him ready.”

Edward stumbled as he was half-dragged across the deck to the main mast. His chest and face collided with the post, the wood almost burning his skin. His arms were pulled taut above his head, rope quickly entwining itself around his wrists. He gave them an experimental tug, his heart skipping a beat when he found not even an inch of give.

Oh, fuck.

Hands gripped the back of his shirt, swiftly tearing it open. His muscles tensed as the sunlight hit his skin. Closing his eyes, he steeled himself with a breath.

The first strike licked his skin, the force shoving him against the post, ripping open stripes of flesh. Pain shot across his back. Biting a back a groan, Edward clenched his jaw. Sweat trailed down his temples, arms straining against the ropes.

Resting his forehead against the post, he prepared for the next lash.

But the strike never came.

----------

Y/N

Ooh, boy.

You were shocked at yourself for a moment, your hand firmly wrapped around Marlowe’s extended wrist, the cat of nine tails trickling Edward’s blood onto the back of your hand.

“I demand satisfaction.”

Gasps and muttering littered the crowd, and you kept to yourself the true realisation of what you’ve done.

You’ve challenged Marlowe to a duel.

“Don’t…” Edward looked over his shoulder, voice loud enough for only you to hear.

You spared him a side glance, urging him to quiet down.

Instead of the expected anger, Marlowe chuckled. “Alright; who demands it?”

You pulled off your face covering and hat, the sun hitting the skin on your face fully for the first time in two weeks. “Naturally, me.”

He hummed darkly, eyes narrowing with recognition. “Naturally.” He began to unsheathe his sword.

“I thought you were a man of tradition; are pistols not your forte?” You raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

After a prolonged glance, metal clicked back into its leather hold. “You really don’t know what you’re getting into, my dear.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“... Let’s get this over with.”

Your heart pounded. This was such a stupid move.

But it was also your only move.

Hiding your own fear, you held eye contact with Marlowe. With trembling fingers, you drew your own pistol, gifted to you by Edward from your last birthday. It was very much your lucky charm, and you hoped it wouldn’t fail you now.

“Ten paces, on my count.” You had no idea who the voice belonged to, nor did you have the current emotional capacity to care. Pulling the hammer down on your pistol, you turned your back to Marlowe. A blank was fired, the echoing shot a signal to start moving.

1…

2…

3...

It was almost deadly quiet.

4…

5…

6…

This was stupid, this was a bad idea. You won’t make it.

7…

8--

An unexpected shot rang out. You dropped to the floor, a pain beginning to blossom in your side.

“NO!”

Marlowe had cheated. Internally, you scoffed. Of course he did.

Although it stung, you were surprised at how bearable the pain was, given you just got shot.

Or did you?

You lay still, partly in shock and partly to plan what to do next.

“What are you all looking at? Get back to work!”

“Y/N? Y/N/N!” You heard Edward’s voice crack. “You cheating bastard!”

“Now, now, Kenway. Don’t forget the position you’re in.”

Floorboards creaked as someone approached. Pistol miraculously still in hand, you waited for as long as possible. Just a little longer....

A shadow shaded your face from the sun. Without thinking, you turned, aimed, and shot.

Marlowe stared back, glassy eyed, blood trickling down his nose.

A moment later, he collapsed.

No one dared to move, choosing to stare at the body in front of them, not quite believing that he was dead.

The monster of a man was dead.

After the adrenaline ebbed away, you sighed heavily. “Glad that’s over.” A hand came into view, offering assistance to stand up. You locked eyes with someone who should have made himself known a long time ago. “Adé!” Accepting the help, you smirked. “Great timing.”

You quickly moved to Edward to begin untying the knots around his wrists. “What the fuck were you thinking?!” he exclaimed, exertion clear in his eyes.

“I’m sorry for worrying you--”

“Worrying me?” One wrist freed, he deftly moved to the other. “When I saw you lying there, I felt as if I had died!”

You sighed. “I needed to do something, lest you became more bone than back.”

“That was the most stupid plan I’ve ever seen in my life.” His hands free, he paid no heed to his own wounds and immediately tried to inspect yours. “You were so irresponsible--”

Bringing his face to yours, you stopped him talking with a kiss.

He diffused immediately, finally processing that you were in front of him, alive, and Marlowe was the one dead on the floor. Melting into you, the tension in his muscles dissipated, replaced only with relief. He broke apart from you, burying his face in your neck, his arms wrapped around you tightly.

“If the plan worked, it couldn’t have been that stupid,” you remarked.

“I’m so sorry.” His words were mumbled into your shoulder.

“You were looking out for me; I would have done the same if the roles were reversed.” You hugged him back, recoiling when he suddenly flinched in pain. “Oh, God, I’m sorry.”

“Shall we just accept each other’s apologies and call it a day?”

You laughed. “That would be good.”

Turning to the hands on deck, you raised your pistol in the air. “It’s over, lads! We can go home!”

You held your side, the pain greatly subsided under the amount of other emotions you were feeling; joy, relief, but also grief. Not for Marlowe, but for the ones that didn’t see this day.

You made a vow there and then; a vow to live your life the way they would have lived.

With joyful, carefree fun.

With the ability to live in the moment.

With gratitude for what you still have that they lost: For some, love, and for others, life.

#assassin's creed #assassin's creed x reader #assassin's creed x f!reader #edward kenway x reader #edward kenway x f!reader #assassin's creed imagine #assassin's creed oneshot #edward kenway imagine #edward kenway oneshot

[maxwell-grant]

Jumping off from my previous question/suggestion, might I please ask if there are any superheroes you think would make fine Pulp Villains and any Supervillains you think would make convincing Pulp Heroes?

I'm gonna go ahead and remark that I'd personally suggest to anyone who's trying to create pulp characters inspired by superheroes (which would be probably about 90% of you who may want to do that sort of thing) to flip the script around a little. As in, don't try to create pulp analogues to the Justice League/Avengers upfront, but play around with some of the lesser-known icons and filter those through your idea of what “pulp” means (which is gonna be quite different than my own or anyone else’s). 

I’m not gonna really mention characters I’ve already talked about before like Vandal Savage or Namor, instead I’ll pick new ones and see what can be highlighted about them.

Regarding “Superheroes who could make fine/convincing Pulp Villains”, even though he’s a character I've read basically nothing on, Martian Manhunter definitely leaped out to me as an obvious option. He’s a Sci-Fi Superman who takes the first half of the name to an extreme that borders on comical, except he’s not a square-jawed white man, he’s a 1.000 year old green alien from Mars with shapeshifting powers who can look as monstrous as the artist desires. He’s the product of an advanced civilization and genetic modification, and on top of the Flying Brick powerset and shapeshifting, he also has incredibly powerful and extensive telepathic abilities, he can become invisible, phaze through matter, use telekinesis and other weird abilities. A lot of pulp stories closer to sci-fi were based around the idea of taking one of these abilities and extrapolating horrific consequences for them, and J’onn has those by the dozens. He also has an extremely mundane weakness that would allow him to be beaten by Macready with a blowtorch if that’s where the story ended.

He was also a law enforcement officer from Mars who became a police detective and it’s even right there in his name, and again, I have never read anything he’s in (I should probably pick the Orlando mini), I know he’s for all intents and purposes a generally nice man who tends to job a lot in crossovers and cartoons, but the idea of taking all those great vast and horrifying alien powers, combining all of them into a single character who also happens to be the last survivor of a doomed planet (and one who actually lived through it’s collapse), and then making that character a former cop trying to resume his work on Earth? 

That is a Pulp Supervillain begging to happen, and a particularly horrifying one at that. And hey, speaking of The Thing-

Now, Plastic Man’s potential for horror has already been explored quite a bit in some of the darker DC continuities like Injustice and DCeased, and it’s quite funny seeing a lot of these turn Plastic Man into The Thing because there were quite a handful of Wold Newton pages that ran with the idea that Macready from the original story was Doc Savage, and that the secret chemicals that Eel O’Brian was hit by that gave him his powers were actually samples of The Thing contained in one of Savage’s labs. Regardless, the idea of a former street crook suddenly gaining bizarre shapeshifting abilities that allow him to reign terror on his gangster associates could make for a great premise as a pulp crime story that veers into horror as the gangsters gradually figure out what is Eel O’Brian’s deal, and then the story can take a more tragic turn.

The thing about Jack Cole’s Plastic Man that modern takes on the character neglect is that, while Plas was a lively roguish anti-hero (arguably the first of it’s kind in comics), he’s still for intents and purposes “the straight man” (HA, right, Plastic Man being “straight”). He’s the relatively sane hero who plays off Woozy’s wackier misadventures and the imaginative madness that Jack Cole paints his adventures with, and it makes for an interesting contrast considering Plastic Man is already a weird character, having to ramp up the strangeness of the world around him so that he still remains the sane man. There are ways to twist this into something quite horrifying, even tragic for Plastic Man as he either struggles to maintain coherency, or embraces the shifting chaos the world’s spiraling into for better or worse (and definitely for the worse towards those on the receiving end of his vengeance, or even his humor).

Now, onto the flipside, regarding Supervillains that could become Pulp Heroes -

Normally I’d not mention the Batman villains here, because I already have a lot to talk about in regards to them as is, they comprise some of my favorite comic characters, but I pretty much have to make an exception for Two-Face in this topic, as not only a pretty obvious option but one with even case studies to prove it, as not only do we have The Black Bat, a 1930s costumed pulp hero with an identical origin story and several other conceptual overlaps with Batman, as well as The Whisperer, a young hotshot police commissioner who dresses up as a disfigured vigilante to kill criminals without consequence (and who’s somehow less of a maniacal asshole in his secret identity than in his regular one), but it turns out that there actually was a 1910s pulp hero called The Two-Faced Man:

Crewe was created by “Varick Vanardy,” the pseudonym of Frederic van Rensselaer Dey (Nick Carter, Doctor Quartz), and appeared in three short stories and two novels and short story collections from 1914 to 1919, beginning with “That Man Crew” (The Cavalier, Jan. 24, 1914). 

Crewe is “The Two-Faced Man.” 

He is in his forties and has gray hair and a “sharply cut and handsome profile—until one caught a view of the other side of his face and saw the almost hideous blemish that nearly covered it, and which graduated in corrugated irregularity from a delicate pink to repulsive purple.” 

Crewe is two-faced in another way. Crewe is a saloon owner in below Washington Square. But he has another identity: Birge Moreau, portraitist and socialite hanger-on. Crewe uses both his identities to solve crimes as an amateur detective.

The only person to know about both of Crewe’s identities is a police inspector who is also Crewe’s friend and who Crewe helps in pressing cases - The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heores by Jess Nevins

And speaking of obvious picks for Supervillains turned Pulp Heroes,

Assuming I even need to make a case for Kraven the Hunter other than just presenting this cropped panel from Squirrel Girl and in particular the art painted on the Kra-Van, or even just telling you to read Squirrel Girl and it’s take on “The Unhuntable Sergei” (I had no idea most of the people saying “Kraven’s arc in Squirrel Girl is as good if not better than Kraven’s Last Hunt” weren’t actually joking in the slightest and I speak as someone who has Kraven among their absolute favorite Marvel characters, it had no right being that good), I’m going to quote the brilliant Rogue’s Review from The Mindless Ones that lays down in painstaking detail why Kraven could make a killer protagonist in that horrifically over-the-top pulp fashion

One thing that strikes me writing this, is how well Kraven could hold his own comic. There’s always room for a book spotlighting a ruthless, hardcore, gentleman bastard, and Kraven’s raison d’etre makes him supremely versatile, so well suited to any genre, any environment. It’s odd that more writers haven’t jumped on the fact that in a universe where off-world travel is possible – indeed, common – a hunter like Kraven would have a field day. 

I can just imagine the opening scene – herds of weird cthuloid bat creatures grazing in the gloomy green nitrogen fields, bathed in lethal, bone splintering fog, when, suddenly, LIGHT! from above and an unholy bellowing: “CTHGRGN fthgrgnARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGN!”

They look up in fear and then they start to run – ploughing into and over each other, tentacles flailing, as from the space-ship’s docking bay Kraven silently plummets, barely dressed for the cold, a glowing knife smothered in elder signs jammed between his teeth. 

You should have seen him one night previous, sipping alien tokay around the Captain’s table with the other guests, discussing the morning’s hunt; and the way he insulted the Skrull dignitary by forgetting himself and accidentally sporting his favourite piece of formal wear: his boiling unstable dinner-jacket of many colours, fashioned from the hide of one of the Ambassador’s super kinsmen.

Whoops!

Midway through Kraven explaining how the best way to irreparably damage a symbiote is to wait until its bonded with you and then seriously maim yourself, the Skrull decided it might be a good idea to simmer down, while his beautiful Inhuman lover hung on every word.

The deeper I get into this the more convinced I am that the MU’s hunter-killer extraordinaire wouldn’t limit himself to bloody planet Earth. And neither would he limit himself to this dimension, or universe or timeline. The guy’d be just as at home leaping, sword raised, onto the back of a T-Rex in the Savage Land, as he would be ploughing through werewolves in the graveyards of Arkham or tracking a howling Demon across Mephistopheles’ realm. 

He’d work perfectly in all these environments because he has a damn good reason to be casting a bloody swathe through them: wherever there’s big game, you’ll find Kraven.

The next choice I guess is an oddball, but not that much of an oddball if you know already what is my main frame of reference towards Marvel

I don’t think people appreciate enough that the main reason Shuma-Gorath has anything resembling a fanbase has nothing whatsoever to do with the comics he was in, but entirely because, when Capcom designers had a list of Marvel characters to pick from to work on Marvel Super Heroes, they took a look at the diet Cthulhu and went “gimme THAT one”, and then went all-in in giving the alien squid monster a funky personality along with a great stage and music and animations and all that great fighting game character stuff, and now he’s maybe the most popular Dr Strange villain along with Dormammu and Mordo, despite having ZERO film appearences or major showings in comic sagas.

Capcom's designers redefined Shuma-Gorath from a nebulous cosmic evil into a comically smug cartoon bastard who can rant about devouring all dimensions and souls horrifically while also cracking poses and zingers like “How do you expect to win a fight with only two arms?” and having dinners with Dhalsim or hosting Japanese game shows in his endings, and it kills me that none of this ever made it’s way into any depictions of the character outside of MvC. 

So that’s kinda what I’d go with. I’d take Capcom’s Shuma-Gorath, depower him a bit obviously from his canonical power, and run with the premise of his MvC3 ending where he decides that, well, if he's the unlikely savior of this pathetic planet and these wretched human dogs like him so much, and he’s clearly having a much better time here among them than he ever had drifting among the stars cealessly consuming life, then maybe he can take a break from all that eldritch business and keep up hosting the Super Monster Awesome Hour and maybe fight whatever PITIFUL villains think can take HIS planet. I mean, he’ll probably still end up destroying the planet by the end, but why not give this hero business a try?

Just until he gets his full powers back of course. 

I mean you can’t deny he DOES look pretty good in that bowtie, surely The Great Shuma-Gorath wouldn’t be so unmerciful as to deny these vile wastes of flesh something good to look at in their brief and miserable lives.

#replies tag #marvel comics #marvel #dc comics #dc #pulp heroes #pulp villains #martian manhunter #plastic man #kraven the hunter #two-face #shuma-gorath #marvel vs capcom

[laimar]

just out of curiosity, why don’t you like jotakak? (no pressure to answer if it makes you uncomfortable)

thank you for asking!

to make a long story short: the fans are some of the worst ppl ive seen 😞

long post under the cut:

its like, pretty much every media on this site has that one ship all the fujos and gay fetishizing weirdos crawl over like ants, and unfortunately jotakak is that ship for jjba. it sort of goes hand in hand with kakyoin fans, who is like a sort of red flag character if hes someones favorite.

the worst example off the top of my head i can think of is hajnarus. people like hajnarus are what ruin jotakak and kakyoin fans for me. and they come in ABUNDANCE.

borderline trans caricatures when drawing kakyoin. "my little uwu gayboys" type of attitude towards the ship. mischaracterizations out the wazoo.

it's also another issue of needing characters in a media to be "shippable" in order to enjoy the media. this is a rampant problem on tumblr. everything needs to have a pairing or a ship, or it needs to be About the pairing or a ship, rather than the actual story the media is providing. and thats the case for jotakak: it seems people needed to have some kind of ship instead of just taking part 3 for what it is. yes, theres avpol as well, which i also have a tiny problem with for the same reason (needing media to be shippable, but avpol has a little bit of substance in canon at least).

another reason i'm wary of jotakak fans, looping back around to the "fujo ship" phenomenon:

jotaro and kakyoin, to me at least, don't have much going on for them (in part 3, where jotakak would take place). they're characters that require a lot of projection to have any sort of substantial meaning. i don't mean this to be insulting, either, i think either araki did a bad job at writing them, or DP fucked them over severely in the anime. regardless, this fact of them being blank slates means that you get a bunch of freaks flocking by the dozens to do whatever they want to these guys. and by anything they want, i mean anything. some of it is downright disturbing.

yes, you get freak weirdo fans for pretty much anything on the internet, but some of them are more prevalent than others. jotakak and kakyoin fans being one of them.

all of that being said, i guess i'm fine with jotakak fans if i know them already, like mutuals or friends or something, but i'm uncomfortable with strangers i dont already know. same goes as a general for jojo fans, because jjba fans can be some of the weirdest, nastiest people on this website.

please take none of this as an insult, i didnt mean it that way, simply my thoughts and feelings on this ^-^

#jjba #wizposting #im not tagging this with the proper tags because i really dont want angry fans flocking to my inbox pls dont do that 😞😞😞😞 #anon #asks

[clonerightsagenda]

Hey hi! I remember you’ve mentioned parent-child themes in Wolf before referencing Eiffel and Hera, can you say more about that? :0

Ok, let's stop talking about necromancy to talk about something even more terrifying... parenthood.

Anyway, yeah! That's the read on their relationship that makes the most sense to me. I'm basing that read on three elements:

Juxtaposition of Anne & Hera

Parallels to Cutter & Pryce

Complementary narratives (idk what to call this bullet point tbh)

Since I know Eiffel/Hera is a popular ship, let me preface this by saying that I'm not saying you shouldn't ship them or that shipping them is incorrect or wrong or whatever. This is a reading, one that I think makes sense and is well-supported by the text, but it's certainly not the only one.

Anyway, lengthy explanation + textual evidence under the cut bc I am putting off having to do this week’s meal planning:

Juxtaposition of Anne and Hera

The narrative draws a connection between Anne and Hera several times. The most obvious is in “Limbo”, where the A plot is Hera struggling with the effects of mental and physical trauma inflicted by Hilbert and Pryce (sort of her evil mom), and the B plot is Eiffel revealing his past where he inflicted mental and physical trauma on his daughter. In case the parallel isn't clear enough, he directly bridges the two plots near the end of the episode.

MINKOWSKI God. I don't know what to say.

EIFFEL Say Hera's gonna be okay.

In "Mayday", Eiffel hallucinates specific crewmates at specific moments. As brain ghost Hilbert notes, "If I am here, it is because some part of you thinks you have to confront [the mathematical reality]." To Eiffel’s subconscious, Hilbert represents cold hard facts in the same way that Minkowski represents crisis response and Lovelace represents a can-do attitude. Near the end of “Mayday”, when he realizes he’s doomed, he says "I guess I'm never going to talk to..." Although he doesn't finish that thought, given the person he tries to leave a message to in the finale, we can guess he's probably thinking about Anne. Who does he hallucinate immediately afterward? Hera.

Finally, in the finale, Minkowski overhears Eiffel making a recording for Anne, where he tells her "Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something." Later in the same episode, when he's encouraging Hera against Pryce, he tells her, "You can do anything."

An aside: I've heard secondhand that Word of God is that Anne was four when Eiffel last saw her, which would be another point of comparison. However, I can't verify that, and it's not in the text. And no, I'm not saying Hera is the equivalent of a human four-year-old. (Hera's age and whether it even makes sense to assign her a human equivalent is its own post, but mostly I refer to Hera as four in the same way that I refer to myself as a girl - only when it's funny.) I'm an adult, and I still have parents. Our parent/child relationship simply looks different than it did when I was younger.

Parallels with Pryce and Cutter

Based on the way the writers discussed their planning process, most of the characters echo other members of the cast. Eiffel and Cutter - pop culture savvy, communications in their title, the only two to speak 'directly' to Bob - could be seen as one dark reflection, and of course Hera and Pryce reflect each other as well. I've already written about how the numerous Tempest references in the finale suggest a twisted father/daughter relationship for Cutter and Pryce (Prospero my behated), so if they've got an *evil* father/daughter thing going on, then it follows that their non-evil counterparts might have something similar.

Complementary narratives or whatever we’re calling this chunk

Both Eiffel and Hera enter the story with backstories involving parent/child trauma. Eiffel, of course, hurt his daughter when he selfishly and impulsively decided he was entitled to custody, regardless of her comfort or safety. Hera doesn't technically have parents, but her creator and closest equivalent to a ‘mother’ belittles AIs in general, treating them as machines rather than people, and stuck disabling code in Hera's head to keep her compliant.

The two of them are on outwardly friendly terms in season one, but both make comments (Eiffel in "The Sound and the Fury" and Hera in "Am I Alone Now?") suggesting they don’t necessarily respect each other. I imagine a lot of the initial draw was that they like socializing, and neither Hilbert nor season 1 Minkowski are particularly chatty. However, during/after the mutiny, Eiffel gets much more defensive of Hera, and he repeatedly circles back to the attack on her ‘brain’.

I'm not doing it if it means that he gets to stick his fingers in her brain and mess around with her mind again. ("Painfully Ever After")

You know, she's been a little twitchy ever since Hilbert tore her brains out. ("Limbo")

Well, you know how it is when your mechanical brain gets broken and you have to get it replaced with a new one made mostly out of electrical tape and paperclips. Oh, wait, no you don't. ("Happy To Be Of Assistance")

Given what we learn later, I think it's reasonable that he's reacting to the similarities between what happened to her and what happened to Anne. After the mutiny, they grow closer over the rest of the show and start to deal with some of the issues tied to their earlier bad relationships - Eiffel more actively giving a damn about the people around him, Hera bonding with people who treat her as an actual person. Imo, two characters with a past involving opposite ends of a damaged parent/child relationship striking up a *better* parent/child relationship that helps them heal and improve gels better with the narrative and character arcs presented than a budding romance.

Finally, I think this reading adds to the way Eiffel's story ends. In "Limbo" when he's recounting his daughter’s accident to Minkowski, he says bitterly, "I was fine. Of course I was fine. The driver's always fine." In the finale, right before he and Pryce get deleted, he tells her "We're driving off the cliff together". He ended up on the station in the first place because he selfishly hurt his daughter, and he exits the story (as himself, anyway) by choosing to selflessly prevent a daughter figure from being hurt more. (Giving her even more memory-based trauma in the process, but life's a bitch sometimes.) I still dislike endings that erase character development, but looking at it this way made the narrative logic click for me in a way it hadn't before.

In conclusion: Again, I’m not saying people have to read the relationship that way, but I think it fits really well with the text as presented and adds nuance to how the characters’ stories progress and resolve. Sometimes a podcast is also a bad dad competition. This is also more or less what Fullmetal Alchemist is about.

#wolf 359 #interrupting my blog's lengthy run of TLT posting #I’ll note that most of these examples are from his perspective #bc this is a human concept she doesn’t necessarily have context for #but I think it makes sense for a human character and potentially for human readers #I mean listeners

[ihopesocomic]

What's a movie that you love that most people seem to hate? and a movie that you hate that most people seem to love?

Gosh, I love alot of movies that people hate lol Titanic, Jennifer's Body, Pride & Prejudice, The Cat Returns. But I love Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Now it’s not like peoples’ hatred of this movie is unfounded. It has a really racist caricature played by Mickey Rooney. And it’s inclusion is so obnoxious and offensive and pointless. It’s one of those movies where I’m like “I wish they would digitally remove Mickey Rooney from this movie” because what would be left is a really nice love story between a struggling writer and an eccentric cafe society woman. They have really good chemistry. He’s really amused by her, trying to figure her out, but she throws him for a loop so many times it’s hard to see what the truth is about her. It’s just a fun romantic comedy. But again. Hard to recommend this movie to people.

As for a movie I hate that most people seem to love? There’s a lot of those too, but I guess uhhh Star War. It’s just really expensive mediocrity. That’s not to say the “original movies” were good either. They’re boring too. If I wasn’t attached to the actors on a human level I wouldn’t care at all. If they were movies for kids, I’d give it a pass. But there’s nothing they do that’s innovative or fun. Which again, would be fine. But for the amount of money that gets put into it every time they make a new Star War, and now much content there is, I’d expect a good story and good characters at some point. I’m not even entirely sure fans of these movies even like these movies if I’m being completely honest. - Cat

Carpool has always been one of my favourite all-time comedies and critics really fucking dragged it. Mainly because it had Tom Arnold in it. lolol

But I really liked it. I will note that it has some problematic elements due it being a nearly 30 year old movie, like the protagonist is pretty ableist towards one of the kids but he’s very much treated like an asshole by the rest of the cast (to the point where somebody outright calls him annoying and rude as opposed to his kidnapper) so it’s not normalised at all.

And there’s a character - the mother of Tom Arnold’s character - that clearly has a facial condition of some sort which is commented upon. She does spend every single scene she’s in being an undisputed badass (i.e. taking on two armed intruders single-handedly) but she and how the characters talk about her is a very eh part of the movie that just would not fly nowadays.

They could’ve done with keeping that plot element out entirely because it adds or changes nothing about the movie aside from “comedic value”. A lot of comedies do this, sadly. Dumb and Dumber being a more notable example with the storyline concerning the blind character and the dead parakeet.

I also love Dumb and Dumber for the record, but it’s important to make note of problematic elements in the movies or w/e you enjoy, regardless of nostalgia.

I just remember enjoying as a kid and occasionally go back to it because nostalgia. But the ableist elements can be an issue. Which isn’t the reason why critics didn’t like it, by the way. They just really didn’t like Tom Arnold. Understandable. There’s a reason why he was on the celebrity rocket ship headed for the Sun in that one episode of The Simpsons. lol

As for the second part of your question: any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie that isn’t Spiderman. Also, Daredevil: which is another movie I like but people hated because I guess it allowed itself to be censored. Watch the Director’s Cut, guys. It’s a shame because Deadpool was allowed to stretch its legs and be adult but not Daredevil and I think that really let it down.

I find them all terrifically boring. Maybe if I were straight, I’d go to drool over Chris Hemsworth or whoever and ignore how bad and repetitive those movies are but I’m not so what’s the point?

Honestly, the only real thing I remember those movies for is how Tumblr used to - and possibly still does - go wild for them and post gif sets of probably the only “funny” moment of the movie, thus eliminating the point of watching them in their entirety. lol

#ask #ask us stuff

[natsubeatsrock]

Why the “Nalu wasn’t the original plan“ party is STILL a big deal.

It's been five years since I made one of my favorite posts on this blog.

If you don't know, it's a post celebrating the fact that Mashima didn't plan to make Nalu canon from the jump. Not only that, he wasn't planning on writing it canon. Not only that, his preferred way of writing Nalu was decidedly not romantic.

As someone who has never bought into Nalu, I was very skeptical when I first heard this. The reason behind the title is that I wanted to be crystal clear this was an accurate source. (Also, I was a full-time undergrad student.) I didn't want to be fooled by something that didn't actually come from Mashima. I only made the post after I was sure that the sentiment really did come from Mashima.

It's safe to say that it hasn't just changed how I think about Nalu. I can't think of Fairy Tail or the discussions fandom had regarding ships the same way. It's not an exaggeration that this revelation has made me like Mashima as a writer much more in retrospect. 

However, it doesn't seem as though fans of Nalu (and certain critics of it) understand why this is such a big deal. I've seen a couple of posts that question the importance of this. "Why is it such a big deal that Mashima didn't originally plan to make Nalu happen?" I feel as though I should talk about this one more time.

Before we get too far into this, let's remind ourselves of what Mashima confirmed in his afterword to Special Request.

He didn't intend to write Nalu as romantic. Even though this chapter, among other events in the series, led people to believe otherwise.

As of the time this post came out, he was writing them as somewhere between friends and lovers and liked that dynamic.

Let's get two things out of the way now. 

One, this doesn't mean that Mashima won't make Nalu canon. I've said this many times before, but it's worth repeating. Mashima has very much strayed away from his original plans for the series in many respects. Not just in the sense that Fairy Tail lasted longer than he originally expected. Mashima wrote Fairy Tail without much in the way of long-term plans. Given what I've also read from him on this subject, this doesn't necessarily mean he went at writing the series without plans in mind. However, he had much fewer concrete plans than either of his other long-running series.

Even as fluid as those plans might be, let's not forget who we're talking about in Mashima. We don't give the man the nickname Trollshima for no reason. As vindictive as many who call him that are, the man is not as predictable as many would believe. Not many could have seen Natsu and Zeref's relationship coming from just chapter 200. Not many people could guess that Happy was more than just a flying blue cat. Zervis was treated like a crack ship up until the chapters that confirmed it came out.

I would love nothing more than to see Nalu fall flat on its face in terms of canon. It doesn't seem as though that won't be the case, as of the time I'm writing this post. However, that might prove to be less true in time with future revelations. As far as I'm concerned, Nalu is still a possibility.

Two, I don't want people to think that Mashima's words mean people can't ship Nalu. This is an entirely different post (that may or may not already be published), but I think it's totally fine to like a ship that isn't canon or tending towards it. Nalu was likely always going to be popular to some degree, regardless of Mashima's writing. It's hard to think of a series where the two leads aren't shipped together, despite what canon does. People will ship the main characters even in situations when canon says they're not meant to be a ship. (read: I can think of at least two semi-popular sibling ships.)

You need to remember that Fairy Tail S wasn't published fairly early in the life of Fairy Tail. The chapter itself was originally released in 2007, just over a year after Fairy Tail started publishing. It's part of Volume 10, which was published about six months after that. If this afterword came out around then, this wouldn't be a big deal. The series continuing past that point wasn't in Mashima's original plan.

Both volumes of Fairy Tail S came out in September 2016. This was about a year before the series would officially end. The same day they were released, volume 57 came out. Those were the chapters we almost lost Gajeel in. (Assuming you believe his life was ever in any real danger.) Weekly Shonen Magazine had already published chapter 501 of 545. We were more than halfway through with the final arc of the series. 

If you can't already tell, that's what makes this revelation a big deal. Mashima's comments refer to most, if not all, of his writing of Nalu in the main series. He never wrote any of the big moments claimed to be Nalu moments to be romantic. They were all written with that "more than friends, less than lovers" idea in mind.

And what's crazy is that, after that afterword came out, there's not a whole lot that Nalu does together in the main series. What happens next? Lucy warming up Natsu? Their interactions in the last two chapters? Nalu's definitely had better days over the years than that. 

But even those moments weren't written with the perspective of them becoming a couple.

One of my favorite Nalu moments in Fairy Tail is the Rainbow Cherry Blossoms. In the special all-color chapter, Lucy gets sick right before she's able to see the titular trees. (It's not as impressive in black and white) So, he digs one up, puts it on a boat, and sends it floating near her house so she can see it. Even as an omake, it's a great sign of the relationship they have. 

Mashima didn't write that thinking they'd become a couple.

A lot has been made about the various different moments where people hint at Nalu becoming canon. One time I think of a lot is when Virgo gives them clothes from the Celestial Spirit World. She mentions that they're almost like a couple. I once mentioned that this would have been interesting to bring back when Lucy sees Natsu passed out in chapter 200. Even though things play out differently, I'm often left thinking about how it did happen.

Mashima didn't write either moment thinking they'd be a couple.

One of my favorite omakes is Natsu and Asuka. It involves my favorite character showing off his parenting chops as a favor for my favorite Fairy Tail ship. The one thing everyone else seems to talk about is Natsu and Lucy almost kissing. Loathe as I am to admit it, that isn't insignificant. To be clear, Asuka's idea of Natsu and Lucy's relationship as being similar to her parents is the product of her naive views of the world. Still, plenty of fans have definitely wished that Natsu and Lucy would kiss already.

Mashima didn't write that thinking they'd be a couple.

I could do this all day.

I wouldn't even be in the wrong. I've said this before, but Nalu fans have taken nearly every interaction involving Natsu and Lucy as proof that the ship will be canon the chapter after it happened. It's not just that this has gone past the moment of credibility. I'm often worried by just how gung-ho fandom is to see Nalu happen. 

"Okay, Mashima might not have been writing Nalu romantically in the main series. But what about the sequel? Surely he's going to make Nalu canon there, right?”

Uhh...

"Also, when are you going to talk about fiction affecting reality?"

I'll get to that second one eventually. But, for the first one, well...

Have you been reading the sequel?

Have you been seeing how fans have been reacting to the sequel?

It's not just that Mashima hasn't done a whole lot to make Nalu canon. It's crazy that I can say that without worrying about bias. People who actually like Nalu are worried that Mashima hasn't done a lot to confirm the ship. If it was just that Natsu and Lucy's relationship was stuck in neutral, that wouldn't be as big a deal.

It's that Mashima's made two different alternate versions of Nalu in implicitly sexual relationships.

It's that Mashima's made every ship in the Big 4 progress further except Nalu.

A long time ago, Mashima made a sketch of Natsu and Gray grabbing different girls. Obviously, Gray grabs Juvia. Natsu, on the other hand, grabs Lucy, Lisanna, Erza, and Wendy. One chapter of the sequel has that same scenario play out while adding Mirajane and Cana into the mix for Natsu. I don't think anything in the sequel has made me laugh harder than seeing Natsu punch a version of Lucy willing to be groped.

I'm not entirely sure that there's one way to make a couple romantic. You have to remember one of the biggest ships in the series involves one character brutalizing the other on their first meeting. There are plenty of different paths to romance, with all kinds of twists and turns.

These types of things don't tell me that Nalu is on any such path. It seems easier to say that Mashima hasn't changed his approach to the ship. Call me crazy, but it looks like he's still writing them as decidedly not romantic. One might even argue he's writing specifically to dissuade people from shipping Nalu. (I wouldn't seriously do this, in case you're wondering.)

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Despite all of this, Mashima still can make Nalu canon. I don't believe that anything I've said means that Mashima can never make Nalu canon. There's enough time in the series that some drastic change could happen to make Nalu canon. (A scenario I caution readers to temper their expectations about.)

But I'm not holding out for such a scenario. In all likelihood, Nalu will end the sequel in the same way Mashima preferred: more than friends, less than lovers. And no one in fandom might be happier than I will if and when he does.

In Conclusion:

Mashima's revelation is NOT important because it means Nalu will never become canon. It's important because it changes how we understand the different Nalu moments throughout the main series. Though, there's little to suggest to me that Nalu's becoming canon anytime soon.

#anti nalu #fairy tail #that's right #it's been five years #since that post came out #five years to the day #and by the way #if you have something to say to me #say it to my face #i better not see vague posts talking down my arguments

[lesbianclaryfray]

for the record, i’m not trying to start anything and i think people should be allowed to watch whatever they want for any reason they want, regardless of whether or not i understand it. all that being said, i’m currently getting frustrated by a certain section of the station 19 fandom and would like to vent about it on my blog

we all know that white fans have a tendancy to “take over” or at least be louder in fandom spaces, and when it’s over lgbtq characters/ships i feel like it gives people a sense of...validity i guess? but then white lgbt fans (or fans of white lgbt characters) will just...take over. and reaffirm each other at every turn and, regardless of whether the show or its marketing then starts promoting to them or writing in things for them (the latter of which, i admit, rarely happens with f/f or m/m ships, but this all happens with popular white characters/ships in general), they sort of get this idea of “carrying” the show? which. okay. nothing wrong with that. except...

your white lady ship that showed up 3 seasons in did not “make” this show. the fans that continuously attack and villainize a Black man and sideline the Latina lead are not “carrying” this show. fans of colour getting tired of this shit are not being attacking you, gay rights, or #feminism.

i don’t think there’s anything wrong with watching this show solely for a ship. i’ve done that with other shows before. sometimes you’re just not into the plot, and that’s fine! but this is an ensemble show with a whole cast of compelling, well-rounded characters all with their own dramas. i started watching this show because of travis, because it’s still not easy to find mlm characters of colour. i fell in love with this show because of vic and andy, because i relate to them, because they look like girls i know, because even though i don’t share my ethnicity with either of them, their families remind me of mine. i recommended this show to my friends because the “diverse” cast wasn’t just a bunch of white people with one or two poc thrown in as an afterthought, because i know my friends are tired of that.

i am continuing to watch this show because i love andy, vic, dean, travis, robert, maya, ben, jack, carina, and theo. not because i want white women to lecture me on feminism because i’m not siding with their blonde blue-eyed princess over a fictional dispute.

i’m a lesbian. i understand the importance of wlw representation, especially in the form of a relationship between two successful bisexual women. i understand getting attached to characters. i love their relationship myself! but i’m also brown and i find snobby white fans who think they’re owed whatever they want and then some just because their ship is popular fucking annoying

tldr; shut the fuck up about marina lol

#wank for ts #racism tw #delete later #just needed to vent and twt doesn't have enough characters lol #but ended up overexplaining some parts bc i Know ppl are going to willingly misinterpret #also to clarify this is NOT unique to this fandom skfjhaf this is just the show i'm rly into rn so it's what's on my mind #but anyways #gonna go smoke now #bye #personal #s19 #station 19

[poliel]

Fix-It Deaths: Floofty

Content warning: this fic contains major character death.

I had the idea to do this way back when I first played through the bad ends and got disappointed by Floofty's reaction to Shelda's deaths and vice-verse as well as Cromdo and Beffica's reaction to each other's death, and the fact that when one of the Fizzlebean siblings died, the other has no reaction to it whatsoever. I'd drifted away from the idea, pulled by other ideas for this fandom as well other fandoms, but as I said in the summary, the horror of it fits for the darker side of the Halloween spirit so I returned.

As of right now I only have two of these written, this one and the one where Shelda dies. I was supposed to start the Beffica chapter tonight but, uh, it ain't happening. That should be fine though, I have the whole month practically to finish the last two chapters. I make no promises though, other than to try my best, my main focus for Halloween is art so it might not happen.

Happy first day of Halloween regardless though.

~

Being proven right about bugsnax would’ve been a wonderful moment under almost any other circumstance. But as it as, Shelda only desperately wished she’d been wrong instead.

“I feel our decision to split up was a mistake,” Floofty said as they fired the fist, knocking a serious of snax back to splat into the ground more due to luck and the density of them than actual aiming skill.

“One is in agreement for once.” Shelda’s only weapon was a hoe stolen from somewhere after the first wave had come out of the ground. It had been fairly easy to push it back. This second wave though, not so much.

Shelda held the right flank while Floofty guarded their left. Even so they were being driven back, step by step until… Shelda gasped as her back pressed against the rough wooden boards of the barn’s wall. On one hand they couldn’t be attacked from behind, on the other though they had nowhere left to go.

The ground rumbled and shook again, throwing off Floofty’s next shot, making it miss utterly this time. Almost as if sensing the opening more bugsnax grew out of the ground and pressed in.

“Back foul toxins, back!” Shelda screeched as she swung her hoe, whacking a couple strawbys away.

Floofty let out her own wordless battle cry. But Shelda couldn’t afford to pay attention to them. She just had to trust them to hold off the snax on that side much like how they were doing for her. Neither of them were going die here today, Shelda simply would not allow it. They were going to make it through and later once they were safe and sound on the mainland again she was going to make sure Floofty never forgot that she was right and they were wrong.

So, abandoning her pacifism for the first time since she’d taken that vow, she went to town with the hoe. Smashing anything that dared approached until her hoe was bent and dripping in various bugsnax juices. She kept going on even as her arms started to ache and burn, her breathing ragged and heavy.

Oh grumping fuck, how many more could there be? Surely they had to stop coming eventually, right? Hopefully help would come before…

Floofty let out a cry of distress. They’d fallen to their hands a knees, either knocked down by an aggressive snac or lost balance some other way, didn’t matter. They were given no time to even try to right themself before they were swarmed completely.

The bugsnax covered every inch of them as they crawled up and forced their way into their mouth. They choked, gagged, and sputtered, flailing their paws uselessly underneath the mass of bugsnax.

With a vicious snarl, Shelda went at them, whacking as many away as she could. But… all the bugsnax had stopped going for her, instead focusing on the easier already down target. There were too many and they just kept coming. Even if she’d been in her prime, there wasn’t much more Shelda could’ve done.

Far too soon the gagging and sputtering spotted, as did the flailing. The bugsnax pulled back, revealing Floofty, or what was left of them. Their snakified flesh was… oozing off them, revealing white bone underneath as it melted into the ground.

Shelda turned and gagged, probably the only thing keeping her from vomiting was the fact that she hadn’t eaten in a while. Before she could recover the bugsnax were swarming her next, climbing up her legs. This was it, now it was her turn. She was going to share the same fate as…

A very well aimed shot from the fist canon knocked the snax off her chest. She gasped, looking over to see Buddy already aiming their next shot. With no time to thank them, she burst back into motion, quickly knocking the rest of the snax crawling up onto her off.

For whatever reason, the flow of snax was slowing. Allowing Buddy to quickly clear a path, freeing Shelda.

“Go back to the airship,” they said, not even looking at her as they continued to keep the bugsnax away.

“But what about…” Shelda glanced at what was left of Floofty. Just a pile of bones where once, just a matter of minutes ago, there had been a full living breathing grumpus. How was it even possible for someone to be there and then gone in such a short amount of time? No one deserved such a fate, not even them… especiallynot them. “If nothing else we should at least…”

“No time,” Buddy interrupted with a slight growl. “Get out of here now before they start swarming again.”

Shelda’s suggestion that they should gather up Floofty bones for a proper burial later died on her lips. Buddy was right, as much as Floofty deserved at least that, they didn’t have time. Shelda was beyond spent and sticking around while Buddy protected her was only holding them back from rushing off to potentially help the others. So… she tore her gaze away and turned to run back towards the airship.

She encountered a few bugsnax on the way back but nothing she couldn’t just run past. Filbo greeted her as she reached the ship but she ignored him as she made her way over to the ship’s cabin. She didn’t go in though, instead sinking to the deck and leaning back against its wall.

Don’t think about it. …. Don’t think about it. … Don’t think about it. … But in all her years and having known many people who were gone now, she’d never witnessed anyone she’d known well die violently. She’d never known someone who’s death she could’ve possibly prevented. If she’d managed to get the snax off Floofty or hold them off entirely for just a little longer than Buddy would’ve arrived in time to save both of them.

Such an awfulway to go too. And the two of them been starting to get along, sort of anyway. But now that was all gone. All of everything that made up Floofty was gone forever. All of the scientific achievements and discoveries their brilliance might’ve led to in the future to help the world and grumpkind was never to be.

It was unwise to dwell on such things, she’d learned that a long time ago. But despite that and all her years and supposed wisdom, her thoughts circled on it anyway.

~

Snorpy and Chandlo arrived on the air ship next, Snorpy huffing and puffing from the run, though Chandlo looked a little spent too. Oh no. Shelda would have to tell Snorpy about Floofty. … Not now though. Let him not have to bear the knowledge of how horribly his sibling had died for just a little while longer.

But alas, as soon as he was done checking in with Filbo on the airship’s engine, a process that took only a few seconds, he and Chandlo turned and made their way over to stand before Shelda.

“Floofty was with you, right?” Snorpy wasted no time getting to the point, huh? “When I was running to help Chandlo, I’m sure I saw them with you. So… where are they?” His expression was confused as he looked around the ship, seemingly the thought of the worst having happened hadn’t even occurred to him yet.

Shelda took a breath, intending to spout some ‘wisdom’ that would really be just gobbledygook meant to obscure the bad news and hide it for a little longer. But… no, now wasn’t the time for that. “They’re dead.”

His face dropped like a stone. “What?”

Chandlo’s expression almost mirrored his. “Nuh-uh, no way they’re dead… right?” He looked at Shelda as if she could somehow take those words back and make them not true. If only she had such powers.

She could only shake her head. “I tried to save them. I really did but… it wasn’t enough. I’m sorry.”

For a moment Snorpy looked like he was going to say something but ultimately just shook his head and turned away as he shrunk in on himself. Chandlo followed as he went to the other corner to grieve in.

“Wait! Floofty’s really dead?” Filbo cut in. To his credit though he remained by his post.

“Yes,” Shelda said. “Now be quiet about it.” The last thing anyone needed was Filbo being Filbo about this.

“Oh uh… okay.” He shrunk in on himself too and turned away once more. “Sorry Snorpy about… I guess you probably don’t want to listen to me about it but… sorry. … I’ll shut up now.”

And this was only the beginning of having to tell everyone about Floofty. Well at least the hardest part was out of the way. Hopefully everyone else would make it back to the airship okay.

#my writing #bugsnax #floofty fizzlebean #shelda #floofty & shelda #major character death