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multifandomfanficss · 7 months

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Home Is Wherever You Are P1

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

With a very heavy emphasis on platonic!Christopher Smith/Peacemaker

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Adrian Chase Masterlist

Prompt: You jump in front of an explosive device to protect Adrian from the blast and end up getting separated from him with no way back.

Warnings: mentions of trafficking, mentions of child abuse, panic, meltdown, crying, divorce, mentions of August Smith, cannon typical Peacemaker violence and language

A/N: In July I started cooking up a new idea with the help of my friend @countlambula and what was originally meant to be a 2 parter moved to a 4 parter and somehow I ended with 7 parts?! Not quite sure how that happened! I’m very excited to share what I spent a huge part of my summer working on. I hope you guys enjoy!! Also despite the main ship being Adrian x Reader there is A LOT of platonic!Chris content in this fic so I really do hope Chris fans can read and enjoy this! I loved getting into the thick of Chris’ backstory for this! All of the 11th Street Kids have their own importance in this series, but it is very Adrian and Chris centric. Please enjoy!!

“I love you.” You sighed in relaxation, smiling as you were gently woken up by your boyfriend.

“Well somebody has to.” Adrian joked.

“Shut up!” You lightly hit him on the chest, laughing.

“Never.” He smiles, kissing you. You could look at his beautiful, infectious smile for hours. Your phones both buzz at the same time, an indication that it’s probably a text in the 11th Street Kids chat because you both got it.

“Didn’t we just get home from a mission?” You groan.

“There’s no time to rest for super badass super cool heroes, babe.” Adrian kisses you on the cheek quickly before getting out of bed.

“Okay, but if we have to pair up there is no way in hell I’m going with Chris again. Last time he told me I looked like his sexy babysitter growing up. Like who the fuck says that? Our lives aren’t some shitty porno and it’s almost like he doesn’t even give a fuck that we’re dating.” You sigh.

“Yeah he constantly tells me that you’re way out of my league. I think his exact words were I’m in little league and you’re on major leagues, but I don’t know. I was never on the bowling team.”

“I think he meant baseball, honey.” You smile at him, finding his little knowledge of sports cute.

“That might actually make more sense with his home run and base metaphors! It took me way too long to figure out what that shit meant. Why can’t people just say what they mean?” He questions.

“Because they’re trying too hard to sound smart. I think sometimes not saying things they actually mean, but understanding that’s not exactly what they meant makes them feel smarter. They don’t know lots of facts like you do and they definitely can’t come up with intricate strategies either.” You smile at him, taking his hand in yours. You watch his smile grow, but there’s something more behind his eyes. He seems moved.

“How do you always do that?” He asks.

“What?”

“How do you always make me feel so smart and validated?” He clarifies.

“Because you are smart. You’re a hell of a lot smarter than Chris and if anyone gave you a second and actually listened to you, they’d realize that. You helped save the world last year. There’s no way they could have done that without you. If it weren’t for you, Chris’ dad probably would have killed him that day, honestly.” As you speak Adrian starts to realize.

“I tried to tell Peacemaker about the gaps in the armor, but he didn’t listen.” He reminds you.

“Well that’s because he’s too deep in his own bullshit to see past it. He should have listened to you, but this isn’t just about him being stubborn. I don’t think most people would have noticed such a small detail like that. Give yourself some credit.” You kiss him again.

“You know you’re like everything to me right? I’ve never felt this way about a person before. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had feelings for other people, but like…it’s like I just never fit in as a kid. I just kinda felt like an alien who crash landed here as a baby and I know I’m not, but I just didn’t feel human. You make me feel human.” He’s giving you that look he gives people when he’s worried he’s said something a little too out of pocket or strange.

“I get what you mean. It’s almost like we were made for each other. We’re each other’s rocks…wait does that sound too cheesy?” You look at him, blushing.

“No! I love rocks! I had a rock collection when I was a little kid!” You giggle at how cute he is.

“Me too! My mom would find rocks in the machine every time she did laundry because I would stuff my pockets!” You tell him and you both laugh. Then your phones go off again, interrupting your good morning. You sigh. “Harcourt’s gonna kill us if we’re late.” You kiss him one more time before getting out of bed and heading to the shower.

“Let her kill us.” He laughs, smirking, following you to the shower.

Several hours later you found yourself sneaking through a warehouse. You didn’t quite know what to expect, you just knew a lot of people had gone missing at the hands of this guy. You figured maybe they were being killed off or trafficked. If you knew what you know now maybe you would have done things differently. Maybe you wouldn’t have even done them at all. You wished you were at home with Adrian. Adrian. You may never see him again…

You were running after the guy when he pulled a grenade on you. Adrian had survived a grenade once, but you didn’t think he would survive again. You on the other hand were testing out new armor from ARGUS that could probably withstand the blast, so you did what anyone would do for the person they love the most. You pushed him out of the way. Your ears were ringing and everything was so bright. You think you hear Adrian and maybe some of your other teammates screaming your name, but you’re not sure. Suddenly you’re on the ground, but the ground is different… you try to open your eyes, but they’re still strained from the bright light and now you feel lightheaded and nauseous. You black out.

You wake up to arms shaking you.

“Adrian?” You question in a whiney tone. You open your eyes to find a construction worker looking over you.

“I don’t know who that is. What even happened to you?“ You blinked a couple times, moving around slowly, getting your bearings. “You’re in my construction site for the new factory warehouse that’s going up. What happened? Did you slip down the dirt mound and hit your head?”

“I- I must have…” Your voice trails off as you try to make sense of everything.

“This is going to be so much paperwork.” The worker sighs.

“I’m sorry… what town am I in?” You ask.

“Evergreen, Washington.”

“I don’t remember there being any big construction sites like this recently.” You try to think of any signs indicating any recent work sites.

“We just broke ground yesterday. I’m surprised you didn’t see it on the news.” The worker helps you up.

“I don’t tend to watch the news. My boyfriend thinks it’s depressing. I usually get my news elsewhere, but I’ve been a little busy to read up on it in the past few days.” You smile at the worker, thinking of Adrian.

“Like the newspaper?” He asks.

“No, online.”

“On what? You wait in line?”

“No… like the internet…” You give him a confused smile.

“Oh, I don’t mess with that new stuff. I don’t want robots in my house, stealing my information. You young people always just want things faster, faster, faster.” You tried to refrain from giving the man an odd look. He’s probably from one of the more rural areas. You knew how radically conservative Evergreen could be at first hand, having met Chris’ dad and been told stories of how he grew up. You were just happy Chris’ dad was dead. As awful as that sounds you’d hate to run into him.

“Yeah…” You give a nervous laugh. “Well thank you, but I should probably head out before your supervisor notices.” You quickly excuse yourself, walking down the street. You pulled out your phone, but had no service, so you put it away. That’s odd. Usually there’s dead zones in town, but you didn’t think it was this bad. As you walk down the street you see a beautiful vintage car parked by the side of the road. It’s in pretty good condition.

“I love your vintage car! What year is it?” You ask the woman getting out of it.

“What this clunker? I got it from my parents. It’s only an 81, but I guess it’s getting old now. It’s got tons of miles on it. They just got a new car, so they gave me their old one.” She says, locking her door.

“They didn’t wanna keep it?” You ask in shock.

“Why would they? It’s old.” You look at her in confusion before she excuses herself to walk into the grocery store. Guess some people just don’t know the value of collectibles.

Today has been fucking weird. How did you even end up in that construction site anyway? You must have gone for a walk this morning and fell in, but it’s a little alarming you don’t remember. You could walk home, but it’s just so far. You walk into a nearby corner store hopping they have wifi to connect to. You couldn’t call Adrian without service, but maybe if you could get wifi you could get him a message to come pick you up or you could order an Uber.

You walked into the building and made your way up to the counter. “Hi, do you have wifi here?” You ask.

“No, sorry we don’t sell that.” The teenage cashier dismisses you and goes back to the pad of paper they’re doodling on.

“Okay… do you know anywhere near here that has wifi?” You ask.

“I don’t even know what wifi is. I could call the hardware store and see if they have some.” They look at you like you’re the stupid one.

“What do you mean call the hardware store?”

“We have a phone behind the counter.”

“How do you not know what wifi is? Wireless internet?” You stare at them, losing your mind a bit.

“You think we have a computer here? This is Evergreen. Half the town is poor as shit. You’re not gonna find a computer in a gas station. Go to the library. They just got another one.” The teenager rolls their eyes at you.

“Can I at least use your phone?” You ask, trying to keep your patients with the idiot in front of you. How do they not know what wifi is?

“You have to use the pay phone next door. My boss said this is a business only phone.”

“The pay phone… What is this? 1985? I didn’t even know pay phones still existed.”

“Well some of us again can’t afford a cellphone. Not to mention, my mom says they fuck with your brain.” They roll their eyes again.

“It’s the 21st century who cares what their mother says? Practically everyone has a phone?” You give them a strange look.

“I don’t know what you smoked before you walked in here, but you’re still half a decade away from the 21st century.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You look at them dumbfounded before it all starts to register. The comments about the internet being new, no wifi, no cellphones, the vintage car. You feel your ears start to ring as your eyes begin to tear up. You feel like you’re underwater. You take off, booking it down several blocks. You’re out of breath and you have a cramp, but you don’t care. You keep running. You’re sweating, but you keep running. You can taste metal in your mouth, but you keep running. You keep going. You have to. Finally you reach it. You stand in front of the building, catching your breath as you watch people walk in and out of Henelotter Video. Your heart is in your throat.

“No…” You look at it and begin to cry in shock at what was once your headquarters… or you guess what will one day be… That day hasn’t come yet. You walk over to a newspaper box and grab a free local paper. You see the date says August 31st, 1994. Fuck. You drop the paper, rushing to the back of the building. You collapse on the ground against the back wall of a building that should feel more familiar to you than it is. You remember now. The grenade must have been some sort of weaponized time travel. The people weren’t being killed or trafficked. They were being displaced in time. You sob quietly, not trying to cause a scene. This wasn’t supposed to be this way.

You lean against the building staring out at the parking lot, the parking lot where you shared your first kiss with Adrian. You had just gotten back from a mission that he was a little too reckless on and you needed to tell him how you felt in case you never got the chance again. You look over at the dumpster, clean of the graffiti it will one day be littered with. That was the dumpster he was hiding behind when you first met him as Vigilante.

Adrian… You may never get to see your perfect boyfriend again. He was by no means actually perfect, but he was perfect to you. He was your personal version of perfect and you knew you’d never find anyone else like him again. Now you may never see him again…

You cry until it starts to grow dark. You wonder about what you’ll do. Anything you do could change the future. What if changing the future makes it so you never meet Adrian or what if you change something and it branches off into a different future and you get stuck away from him in a parallel universe? You’re not a time travel scientist. Anything could fucking happen! The only thing you do know is that you’re alone and it’s getting dark. If you’re getting your timeline right, Chris’ dad would be coming out soon with his awful fucking army and you knew if they tried to fight you, you wouldn’t be able to take all of them on your own. They rule the streets in these years. You pull out your wallet from your pocket to find you have enough money to at least go get dinner. Your debit card won’t work, but you have just enough cash. You head to Fennel Fields because you knew it would probably be the only consistent thing left in town. You just wanted something familiar.

As you’re seated, an overwhelmed waitress rushes past you saying “I’ll be right with you!”

“Take your time. I practically have all the time in the world… like 30 years of time…” You whisper the last part under your breath. The overworked waitress runs back to you and apologizes.

“Hi, my name is Diane. Can I get you something to drink?” You want to order a soda, but decide against it to save money.

“Uh… I guess water will have to be fine.”

“You don’t look so sure. It’s free refills.” She smiles at you.

“I- I’m okay…” You stutter, tired. You could really use the caffeine, but shouldn’t.

“Well if you could have any pop in the machine which one would you pick?” She asks.

“I’m really fine with water…” You laugh nervously.

“Just humor me.” She smiles at you.

“Uh…maybe a Diet Coke…” You smile shyly at her. She leaves and comes back with a Diet Coke.

“On the house.” She smiles at you again. Something about her is so comforting.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t possibly-“

“Take it. You look like you’ve had a long day. I know I have.” She smiles at you.

“You’re very kind.” You smile back, taking a sip, letting the cool bubbly liquid trickle down your throat, which is sore from crying.

“Now what are we doing for food?” She asks.

“Uh…I’m gonna be really honest with you. I know most restaurants won’t let you order a kids meal if you’re over 12, but I’m really tight on cash, so I was hoping to maybe get the chicken tenders and fries?” You try your luck and she gives you another comforting smile.

“Great choice. I’ll go have the kitchen whip it up.” She walks away without any other questions.

You stay and eat at the restaurant for a while. Even long after you’re done, you stay and enjoy more free refills just so you’re not out on the streets.

“You know we’re technically closed right?” Your waitress, Diane asks.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll leave…” You start to collect your things as she begins to sit at your booth with a bin of silverware and some napkins.

“No, please stay. Mind if I join you?” She asks.

“Um…no.” You smile. “I don’t mind at all.” Truth be told you loved Diane. She had such a comfortable, familiar air around her. Even in all of this chaos, she felt like someone you could trust. She starts rolling silverware as you sip on your drink.

“So what’s your story? Are you running or were you kicked out?” She asks.

“What?” You look at her confused.

“You just look scared and tired and like you’re not quite sure what to do. It’s none of my business, but you just look like you need someone on your side is all.” She smiles again, hoping she didn’t overstep.

“Why were you so kind to me? I walked into this restaurant with thirteen dollars to my name and you didn’t even roll an eye at me.” You question her.

“Just doing what I think is right, I suppose. It’s been hard for me too lately. My husband just left, so I picked up this second job to make sure my kids will be alright.” You shoot her a sympathetic look.

“Um…kicked out…I guess….” You open up. Being exiled from your time period is sort of like being kicked out.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” She asks. You shake your head silently. She finishes rolling the last bit of silverware before standing up and putting the bin behind the counter nearby.

“Let’s go. I’m taking you home with me.” She smiles.

“Oh, no! I- I couldn’t possibly-“

“Yes, you can and you will. I’m a mother. I’m not going to let a young adult with nowhere to go and no money sleep on the streets.” She cuts you off. She couldn’t be too much older than you, but clearly motherhood had aged her.

“You don’t even know my name!” You protest.

“What’s your name?” She asks.

“Rey” You panicked. It was the first name to come to your head. You and Adrian had watched Star Wars yesterday.

“Well then, Rey, let’s go home.” She insists.

“I can’t just stay in your house. That’d be rude.” You continue to debate.

“Then work for me.” She says.

“What?” You question her.

“I’ve been wanting to hire a nanny, but haven’t been able to afford one. If you come stay at my place, while you’re there you could watch the boys when I’m at work and in return you would have a roof over your head and food to eat. It sounds like a win-win situation.” She proposes. It isn’t a bad idea. You worry doing just about anything else would have an insane impact on the timeline. How much could one family affect everything?

“Are you sure about this?” You ask.

“More than sure. There’s something about you. You just seem…right.” She tells you. You smile.

“Okay…let’s go home then I guess…” you say as you follow her out of the restaurant. On the drive home she tells you about her kids.

“I have two kids…officially…” She starts.

“What do you mean officially?” You ask as you watch the passing streetlights illuminate her face.

“Well my son’s friend is always over, so more often than not it’ll probably be three boys. I let him sleepover a lot even though he’s a handful because every time he sleeps at home he comes back the next day with bruises. I can’t do anything about it because…well…that’s just how the town is…I think if I said anything things would just get worse, so I keep my mouth shut and put out an extra table setting for supper.” Her hands tighten on the steering wheel as she speaks.

“That’s so awful. I’ll never be able to understand parents who do that to their kids.” You sigh.

“Me either. If anyone laid a finger on either of my boys I’d kill them.” Most moms would be exaggerating, but you saw fire behind her eyes. You knew she loved her kids and she wasn’t fucking around. When you get home and walk inside you see a toddler with tight brown curls running around the living room in nothing, but a diaper.

“Dorian?!” Diane yells through the house. She catches the giggling toddler who has food on his face.

“Dorian Gut Chase! I told you your brother had to be in bed by 8!” Diane starts to scold her son who could be heard from the other room playing video games. Oh fuck.

“I’m sorry. Can you please hold Adrian. I don’t want him getting into anything else before bed and it seems like Dorian and Chris are upstairs killing aliens on the Super Nintendo instead of watching him, which is why I need a nanny in the first place.” She shoves Adrian in your hands. Holy fuck.

“Hi.” You hold him stiffly in your hands.

“I’m Adrian! I’m three!” He tells you just about the only thing every toddler is trained to say upon meeting a new person, shoving 3 fingers in your face.

“I know.” You say back. That’s probably not what you’re supposed to tell a three year old when they introduce themselves, but it’s not like he’ll remember anyway. You’re too in shock to care.

“What’s- what’s- what is your name?” He asks, stuttering out the words, obviously new to keeping up conversations.

“Rey, could you bring Adrian upstairs to help get him ready for bed please?” Diane calls and you remember you told her your name was Rey. Fuck if only baby Adrian could catch the joke in all of this. This is so weird on so many levels.

“I’m Rey, I guess, and we’re going upstairs now.” You tell him.

“Is it bedtime?” He asks.

“Um yeah. You’re up a little late, bud.”

“It’s not late!” He protests in his squeaky voice.

“What makes you think it’s not late?” You ask, as you walk up the stairs.

“I’m not tired!” He says.

“What time do you think it is?” You ask.

“Um 2- 2- 27” He giggles.

“That’s not a time!” You laugh at him, pretending to almost drop him. He breaks out into a fit of giggles. You had almost forgotten who you were holding.

“You’re really good with him. It’s almost like you’re a natural. He’s usually not this happy with strangers. He loves you!” She says, pleasantly surprised. If only somebody else could see the irony in the situation. Freud would love to be a fly on the way during all of this.

“Oh…uh…thanks.” You smile, as Adrian situates himself in your arms, hugging you closely. You would do anything to have Adrian back. Well this is sort of Adrian, but… you wish you had the older version. You wanted your Adrian back.

“I’ll take him from here.” Diane offers. “Check out the guest room. It’s the one at the end of the hall.” She says, taking Adrian from you.

“Thank you. You’ve been really kind.” You smile at her.

“It’s no trouble. You’re doing me a favor.”

You bid your goodnights and head to the guest room. You sit on the bed and think for a moment. This is so fucked up on so many levels. Forget about how you could fuck up the timeline… How are you gonna fuck up your boyfriend?! Not to mention, what kind of fucking ethics are involved in nannying your future boyfriend? He’s fucking three! He’s impressionable! On one hand this is weird, but on the other hand it might be your smartest move. Free room, free food, and you know how Adrian, Gut, and Chris’ lives are supposed to play out, so maybe you can stick to the script of your own timeline a little easier. This might be the easiest way to change as little as possible. You sigh, flopping onto the bed. You pull out your phone. The battery is only half charged and you have no way of charging it, but you don’t care. You need him. You pull up a picture of him that you took this morning in the van on your way to the warehouse, as tears come to your eyes. You open your voicemails and play one he left for you the other day.

“Hey babe, it’s me. I’m just calling because I know you had a bad day today and I was thinking maybe I could bring takeout home from the restaurant and we could just have a movie night? I just wanted to know if you were feeling chicken parm or meatballs or if you wanted to just scratch dinners and have me bring home a pizza. Just call me back when you get this. I’m really proud of you- uh…not that I’m not always proud of you. I’m like totally proud of you all the time and I’m rambling again and this voicemail is about to be like 10 years long, so uh bye I love you.” As soon as the voicemail ended you played it again, letting your tears fall freely. After you’re sure everyone is asleep you sneak into toddler Adrian’s room to check on him. He’s fast asleep in his bed. You let your silent tears continue to fall. He starts to move in his sleep. He seems distraught like he could be having a nightmare.

“It’s okay. I’m gonna take really good care of you, just like how you always take really good care of me.” You put on a teary eyed smile, giving him a kiss on the top of his head and adjusting his fallen blanket to cover him better. He seems to look more comfortable now. He stays fast asleep as you sneak back to the guest room for the night.

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sarcasticgaypotato · 7 months

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thoughts on Caroline?

What to say about Caroline?

She's a massively important character to the franchise, but she barely speaks. She's constantly present in the story, but she's only acknowledged a handful of times. She's everywhere and nowhere, she's everything and nothing at all.

She's GLaDOS, but she isn't, or is she?

Depending on your perspective of Caroline, we either know a lot about her personality or next to nothing.

I think my initial impression of Caroline as a character was much more negative because it was shaped by fanon interpretation.

It's probably not a huge secret that I don't enjoy c/aveline, and that WAS the majority of Caroline content for a long time. I honestly kind of resented that ship, partially because it practically became a given that where there's Old Aperture, there's this ship. These two who barely interacted were EVERYWHERE, and I always got the feeling that the only reason they were popular as a couple was because it's a m/f ship, and the Portal fandom was practically beside itself with excitement to focus on any male character.

I'm not here to ship-bash, if that's your cup of tea, good for you. But personally? Not for me, and it negatively colored my perception of her for a while. It felt a bit like she was a character defined by fanon more than anything else, just there to be in a relationship with Cave (healthy or otherwise) just so it can end in tragedy when he puts her into the robot. I understand why people might enjoy that, but I've always felt like it cheapens GLaDOS's (and by extension, Caroline's) story to make it all amount to just 'being the girlfriend of a mad scientist and tragically paying the price.'

Cave's a creep! He, in my opinion, probably thought his relationship with Caroline was much more friendly than it was. She responds to him like a secretary who knows how to please her boss— "Yes sir Mr. Johnson!"— but nothing personal. She was probably nice and polite because she was a secretary, and look at the era she lived in. If she wasn't all sweet and cheery, Cave probably would've told her to smile more.

So does that mean I think she's the opposite of what we hear? Is she sadistic and cruel like GLaDOS is? No, I'm not saying that either. I'll get into who and what I think Caroline is in a second, but above all else I wanted to point out my frustration with how she's portrayed in connection to Cave. Making her Cave's love interest is boring and bland to me, basing their connection off of the same level of friendliness from her that I've shown to people working in customer service. It's just part of the job.

For Caroline herself? I'm also not a fan of 'evil Caroline' takes. I mean I love a girlboss, but it sort of misses the point here. If Caroline was always evil, sadistic, and scheming, it waters down GLaDOS and her development. If Caroline is too similar to GLaDOS, it takes away from the weight of who and what GLaDOS is. If they’re too dissimilar, it’s difficult to imagine the connection between them.

The fandom was so obsessed with the incorrect— and stupid— idea that Caroline is Chell’s mother that it missed the much more obvious metaphor under their noses. Caroline is GLaDOS’s mother.

Cut from the same cloth, GLaDOS is born of her, but she isn’t her. Without Caroline, GLaDOS would never exist, but it would be absurd to say that GLaDOS is the same person that Caroline is. GLaDOS grew, changed, and became who we saw at the end of Portal 2 much in the same way that anyone grows into being their own person, not a copy of their parents.

Here I go talking about GLaDOS in this ask about Caroline— it’s impossible not to.

If you want my personal take on Caroline?

I think she was a smart woman, keeping up with the actions of a madman and holding her head above the flood of insanity. I think she was able to look the other way when she had to, anyone who worked at Aperture needed that dubious morality. That being said, I think she had a heart. We can all debate until we die whether or not GLaDOS was remotely truthful at the end of Portal 2 about deleting her, but I think there’s a reason she attributed her act of compassion to Caroline— it wasn’t Caroline forcing her hand (claw?) via possession, but rather, she is the only framework GLaDOS has to reference that feeling. That scene is definitely GLaDOS projecting her own emotions onto someone else to avoid confronting them, but I don’t think she would make that comparison for no reason, Caroline might have been how she learned that emotion, even if the feeling is all her own.

Ultimately, Caroline is a character we will only really ever understand through the lens of other characters. We can only try to extrapolate who she is from what we see and hear, but she will likely always be a bit of a mystery. She’s the ghost haunting this franchise, and I kind of love her for it.

#portal #portal 2 #caroline #GLaDOS #I'm not going to call out specific fics or headcanons #but there are definitely takes on caroline that grind my gears #especially when I see them everywhere #I could rant plenty more about all this but I tried to contain myself #tl;dr we can have an interesting character that isn't just 'GLaDOS lite' or 'Cave's girlfriend' you guys #I know shocking concept #but it's true

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cere-mon-ials · 4 months

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2023 in kdramas

*that i finished

**in order of how deep and lasting the brainrot was/is from barely a smidge to stitched to my soul

[12] I figured See You In My 19th Life would be trying when I couldn’t understand why an extraordinary individual in her 18th life—18 incredible lives lived over some of history’s most happening centuries—would fixate on one pesky schoolboy. I bought it because (a) Shin Hye-sun was selling it (b) the show tried to make it clear that while she remembered her past lives, it is not the same as living the one she is in. So when the young Ju-won meets Seo-ha, she is still a 12-year-old who happens to fall for a 9-year-old, except she has heightened emotional maturity.

The plot follows Ju-won, who is reincarnated as Ban Ji-eum, her 19th life after her 18th was cut short in a car accident with Seo-ha. Then, the show fumbles its own logic, unable to choose if the real gift is living in the present or remembering how we got there. We are told that Ji-eum is determined to fix the life she didn’t get to live as Ju-won and because Ju-won’s family and Seo-ha are still alive, that’s who she seeks out. She also finds a dear one from her 17th life. The twist is that the 18th life was meant to be a fated reincarnation of two lovers, who in their time—the first life—were wronged. In the end, when the sins are atoned for, Ji-eum loses the memories of her past lives. She is Ji-eum, smart and talented, daughter of an abusive man and born destitute, free of karmic obligations. But who is this Ji-eum? Who does she love? Why are the memories of everyone who knew her as the extraordinary Ju-won/Ji-eum so valuable and hers isn’t? Milquetoast writing and a genuine lack of interesting characters in the rest of the show.

[11] I didn’t finish the first season of Dr. Romantic because I had a violent reaction (derogatory) to Yoo Yeon-seok’s character. I went straight to the additional episode ft. Kim Hye-soo who is ~flails~ and warmed up to this fantastic ensemble, thanks to a YYS-less sequel. Season 3 is ambitious and follows the raggity crew of overworked doctors in a country hospital now coping with its expansion into an elite trauma centre. The show does neither this premise nor the incredible cast they managed to bring back together (at least four of who could demand three times what they were paid in S2) any real justice. It had all the ingredients and an emotional core that is most pleasing to me. Seriously, it was so good: in reaching for the Michelin stars of healthcare, ostensibly Kim Sabu’s legacy, both he and his colleagues find that they may need to reassess what he taught them. Look at the implications. Doldam is a hospital that has run for two seasons on the strength of close-knit interpersonal relationships in ways (some might accuse) hazardous to professional codes. Something's gotta give.

DRR S3 does not trust the emotional tensions that these ideas can provoke and instead, throws in spectacle after spectacle. A bloodbath on a ship carrying illegal migrants, a raging forest fire, a building collapse. And there are villains, written as yangs to yings, in a main character's father played by an actual trash person, and then groan a politician. I mean, the vagaries of ill fortune and death is right there. Isn’t that enough? Makes you wonder just how did Lee-Shin partnership accomplish what they did with HosPlay. Someone who loves DRR’s characters will sit through it. But it’s junk food.

[10] Lee Bo-young is a force in Agency. It's a tried and tested formula: a brilliant creative person with abandonment issues in fantastic clothes. I enjoyed the snippy dialogues, peppered with refreshing metaphor and irony reminiscent of vintage Hollywood flicks. The writing isn’t confident about what it wants to say about an ambitious single woman in a workplace (and other women too including working mothers, women who find no need in dressing up to do their jobs, expert women who still have to struggle when they want to build something). But perhaps you, like me, can let it pass. It is not ideal to fetch a real answer to women’s struggles amidst capitalist excess.

[9] Our Blooming Youth begins with a cursed prince (Park Hyung-sik) and a noblewoman (Jeon So-nee) accused of murdering her entire family joining hands to free each other. Lurking behind is a national conspiracy spearheaded by several degenerate officials who wish to erase a people and their history—interesting that OBY and My Dearest later in the year featured the most marginalised being branded as traitors. The prince and noblewoman (cross-dressed as a eunuch of course) are joined by four young individuals who feel a sense of duty. I adored this band and their shenanigans. The show is kind to the youth in question, to their capacity to chase freedom and friendship. I was moved by such love for characters in this story about nationhood as an ongoing project.

But enjoying OBY means reading in between the lines because the show doesn’t know what to do with its 20-episode length or the depth of its interest in the scars of unacknowledged genocide. I felt impatient and unfulfilled more times than I’d like. I wish OBY was more meaty because it had the opportunity to be radical and chose to be inoffensive. Hyung-sik, very dear to me. So-nee, GOSH. I have loved her since Encounter (2018) and she fills a frame like nobody’s business. If there is such a thing as female gaze, she’s got it. I caught her in the little I watched of Soulmate (2023) recently. A marvel, just like Kim Da-mi.

[8] One Day Off is whimsical and celebrates the mundane in eight chapters following the wanderings of a school teacher, played by the luminous Lee Na-young. Japanese entertainment does discovering minor joys and its everydayness so well that it’s a genre in itself. I have seen it in a handful Korean variety shows too. As a drama, this is new to me and ODO felt special. It giveth in multitudes taking us to a monastery, an art exhibit, a film festival, a planetarium, many bakeries. At other times, it puts us in the middle of a rainy day and ancestral rites and a bus station where the teacher is stuck with condescending boomers. It's lovely.

[7] King The Land benefitted from low expectations of prestige. Junho lovers were tuning in to see him frolic after his Baeksang-winning performance as King Jeongjo, I can’t speak for Yoon-A lovers. The makers wanted to bank on these beloved actors and there is minimal friction between who they are and what they play on-screen. Junho, handsome, rich, kind. Yoon-A, pretty, hardworking, warm. There is a good chance that this show was part of a joint marketing campaign by Dior and Estee Lauder. And also, possibly, Thailand's tourism department. KTL is classic popcorn, easy on the eyes, easy on the mind (save for that irritatingly stupid arc with the ‘Arab prince’), designed to be innocuous. Here’s the thing, though: the cast and crew were not messing around with that dough. They chose to inject this fan + consumer service with an earnest desire to entertain missers of fluff romance. Lee Junho, permanent resident of my heart.

[6] Going in with low expectations helped when I watched My ID is Gangnam Beauty too. Kang Mi-rae is starting college with a new face, having shed her old one at the surgeon’s table because of life-long bullying at being conventionally unattractive. But Mi-rae now has to deal with gossip and judgement about the extents she has gone for what’s deemed as a vanity project. When Mi-rae says that it matters what people think of her, I can't object. It’s because Gangnam Beauty tells a story about familiar feelings and yet, it is also defiantly about Mi-rae. You can walk with her but you’re aware that not all of us walk in her precise shoes, and it’s not about measuring who’s having it worse either. I loved watching her settle into her skin, remaining compassionate in whatever is the opposite of noble idiocy.

Very sweet romance. I may not have noticed Cha Eun-woo if I hadn’t been derailed to the hilt by him in Island—also a show I finished but you will not find it on this list For Reasons.

[5] I wanted to love My Dearest a lot more. It was promising what with Namgoong Min as the perfect Lee Jang-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin as the perfect Yoo Gil-chae. NGM’s ability to smirk in a way that elicits both a punch and a blush is unparalleled. He owns the role of clever playboy merchant who sees the rules of polite society as impositions and who values human life above platitudes. AEJ's Gil-chae is stubborn and witty and audacious and has no interest in anything that distracts her from her desires. I loved them, and that became one of my problems when Part 1 ended. NGM is the perfect Jang-hyun and AEJ is the perfect Gil-chae but I wasn’t able to root for their romance. I never quite got over how the desire that they shared, which war put a damper on before it got a chance to bloom, gets cheapened at the end of Part 1—please read @elderflowergin's excellent post about this. In Part 2, that conversation isn’t adequately addressed but I was there to watch these two actors earn their Baeksang nominations. I found myself willing to move with the tides when Jang-hyun and Gil-chae let each other in after they learn to devote themselves to the people who make their community.

I cannot fault MD, however, on its commentary about how war disrupts ordinary life. There is nothing more moving in the show than the Joseon slaves in Qing singing their songs and harvesting rice, yearning for home while the King and his scholars commit to preserving standing and write these countrymen off. It’s a sharp critique of an upper class that delude themselves about their importance. MD is courageous enough to say that the nation does owe something to its people and the nation must prove itself worthy of sacrifice before it can demand such a thing. I haven’t stopped feeling the pangs of this love letter to a people and their land. The first seven episodes, set during the invasion and in the early days of the Joseon surrender, is real television. It’s what I watch sageuks for.

What else? Great telling of Crown Prince So-hyeons’s story. Lee Chung-ah is captivating. MD would have risen in my heart and on this list if it were more attentive to Ryang-eum. Double amnesia was comically exhausting to watch but I do feel generous now. The first time round Jang-hyun regains his memory because of a tangible article that proved Gil-chae’s love for him. The second time he traces back the arc of his life that spawned enduring memories of love and dreams. He’s not looking to retrieve what he doesn’t know he has lost. He knows he has lost and he is piecing together what he can. That’s a bold note to conclude on by makers who have risen to question the state of a nation in the hands of incompetence and cruelty and obscene pride. The racism is unsurprising—I wish this meant that I had better tolerance for it. I also wish the story knew better than to push Eun-hye to the sidelines. My favourite scene is Gil-chae finding Jang-hyun clawing to life by a string on a pile of corpses and proceeding to play dead while holding him tight to escape.

[4] I kept tuning in to Moving week after week despite my reservations about high school life, superheroes, and gore because it is a feat of storytelling. A rewarding first act, an absorbing second, and a near perfect third. It’s a compelling story on its own about superhero parents who will go to any lengths to protect their superhero children. But it’s also poignant in how it tackles passive peace.

Critiques of the state’s abuse of power often turn fangless in the face of this idea about national security, the notion that secures our future. Writers fumble because they feel forced to provide an alternative: how else do we protect what we must? Moving kills the question by letting you see past that what (national security) and takes you to a who (our children, our literal future). It dismantles the illusions with its central stage as a highly-surveilled school where undercover secret agents observe and train gifted children. The litmus test isn’t going to be the abstraction of a nation. It’s going to be whether our children can grow up, can learn, can be free to be who they want to be, irrespective of talents they may or may not possess.

A state which can’t imagine freedom as such is a failed state and a failed state resorts to joining hands with those who have every interest in keeping us from seeing that we do in fact want the same things as our neighbours. The real world bleeds in when the story of two Koreas becomes apparent. It’s acutely observed in a way that’s trope-y but perhaps not untrue. But the show is more interested in the shared Koreanness, in their love for their children, and for the unimpeachable desire to make their lives better.

Park Hee-soon had me hugging myself from his first frame to the last. Electrifying performance. Han Hyo-joo, oh my god.

[3] My Lovely Boxer was made for me. It’s about Gwon-sook (Kim So-hye), a boxing prodigy who disappeared from public eye after failing to show up for a championship game and Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob), a ruthless sports agent at the cross hairs of matchfixing. Tae-young has messes to clean, payments to make, and he finds Gwon-sook to bring her back to the limelight for one final game to lose. Gwon-sook wants nothing to do with the sport and Tae-young promises that if disappearing for good is what she wants, then this plan would work for her too. It’s exactly as angsty as it sounds.

The show works because it doesn’t touch a thing that it isn’t willing to gnaw into. It doesn’t merely dangle matchfixing as plot omen—it explores the emotional and economic damages for the sportsmen with heft. Gwon-sook feels no love for boxing but she isn’t the only boxer in the world and that feeling is hardly universal. One of my favourite characters this year is Ah-reum, the opponent of that championship game for which Gwon-sook didn’t show up. That day, Gwon-sook may have chosen to leave the game for self-preservation but she also took away Ah-reum’s right to fair play. MLB is at its best when it navigates Gwon-sook seeking Ah-reum’s forgiveness because therein lies sportsmanship and what it means to tirelessly push your body for a shot at the ring. It’s an exhilarating journey with these two girls because (a) you want Ah-reum to have her moment (b) you don’t want Gwon-sook to lose and let the matchfixing bookers pocket money (c) you begin to wish Gwon-sook could win because she is too good. The stakes are delicious because the bookers are also a tad bit murderous and the final match had me at the edge of my seat.

Lee Sang-yeob was a shock to my system with his intense stare and a thespian interpretation of a man in shades of grey. Sexy bitch. I want to see Kim So-hye and Shin Se-kyung play sisters one day.

[2] Into The Ring tops my list of kdrama romcoms. Nana is a star and the fact that Se-ra cannot walk straight to save her life makes me giggle. She is blunt in the wrong ways, sharp in the wrong ways, and honest in all the right ways. Her heart is big and she has a sense of service to the people around her as though she really believes she was raised by a village. I loved Se-ra’s parents who reminded me of my own in their warmth and clownery. Park Sung-hoon’s Gong-myung is the dream guy: competent at work, loser in everything else. There’s only one kind of valid workplace romance and it’s this: accidentally becoming an elected representative and your childhood nerd friend volunteering to be your secretary to cover your ass. Perfect, no notes.

I happened to be reading Sara Ahmed’s Complaint! around the same time and I think it made me love the show's take on political action more. This is where Se-ra begins, just her and her complaint diary. That early episode where it dawns on her that she wants this job as much as she needs it got to me. There’s much to love in a show that is okay with however small a population she represents, as long as they are fun about joy and serious about justice.

[1] At the outset, Call It Love sounded like the makjang I avoid—a relationship between a woman and the son of her father’s mistress? Turns out, it's possible to tell that story like an accomplished spare poem with meticulously composed frames overdoing headroom and pared down dialogues. In effect, CIL is beautiful to look at and inviting to spend time with. This is kdrama caviar. Debut writer Kim Ga-eun has a gift for writing loneliness and solitude as not mutually exclusive to being a loved and loving person. She’s drawn comparisons to the extraordinary Park Hae-young who is the master at this sorcery. To my mind, the comparisons hold merit in subject but they operate with different intentions and styles. I hope they meet one day and I get to be a fly on the wall.

I was struck by how Lee Sung-kyung played Woo-joo as the responsible middle child, the one most burdened by the timing of her family’s collapse. The show is about her revenge but often, you see her struggle with the coldness this demands of her. She cannot resist what comes easiest to her and that’s her ability to see people having bad times as a reflection of the times, not the people. It's why she can forgive the aggrieved man who harms her, and why she tidies Dong-jin’s ex’s house while the ex is recouping from the heartbreak of losing the same man she is falling in love with.

No one has gotten the allure of the quiet guy, the shy guy, the good guy who is too awkward to be nice like Kim Young-kwang has. Dong-jin knows he has to work very hard to keep up with the pace of the world. He knows his mind but is afraid to impose it, because he doesn’t think it matters and because he doesn’t want to be a bother. Young-kwang just gets that line between clarity and low-esteem. I will never forget his teary eyes and total submission to loving Woo-joo in the single word he lets out with a hitched exhale. He slouches a lot but he will look you in the eye when he has to say something he doesn’t want to repeat. I loved him for that dignity. Special kisses to him for ditching neck ties.

It is true pleasure to see two male leads, majestic and towering in physique, composed to look tiny and frail. At one point, the costume department steps up Woo-joo’s wardrobe as her feelings intensify and it doesn't come across as a makeover. It is presented as the ordinary consequence of paying attention. I loved everything and everyone. The siblings. The ex-girlfriend, the bad mother and also, the generous & kinda clueless one. The stepfather who lingered, the best friends, the loyal & competent manager lady. Favourite kiss.

I am currently watching four dramas: A Good Day To Be A Dog (cute & fun), My Demon (silly & fun), Park's Marriage Contract (testing my patience), and Tell Me That You Love Me (relishing but for some reason not investing). I missed Not Others and The Eighth Sense when they were airing and they are the two shows from 2023 that I am adding to my watchlist. I am looking forward to 2024 because we seem to be getting at least one release from several greats and beauties. See you then! I hope no one emails you for the rest of the year and you eat well.

#call it love #into the ring #my lovely boxer #disney moving #moving #mbc my dearest #my id is gangnam beauty #gangnam beauty #king the land #one day off #our blooming youth #jtbc agency #dr romantic 3 #see you in my 19th life #kdrama #notes #2023 in review #kdrama in review

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alliepretends · 15 days

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been thinking about your post on aromanticism and fandom with riz, and before i say anything else, i want you to know that I 100% agree with you. my primary interaction with fandom is through ao3 and fanfiction, and the heavy focus on shipping and romance has shaped what fandoms i choose to actively read fanfiction for: because I do not want to read romance heavy stories, I'll interact with fandoms/fanfic on a much higher level for fandoms that contain a large amount of gen works, regardless of how much i enjoy the source content in comparison.

within d20 fanfic, out of the 1167 fics with the Riz Gukgak character tag, only 89 of those fics have the aromantic asexual Riz Gukgak tag, and within the 95 fics total that have the aroace Riz tag (apparently there are fics with the aroace riz tag without tagging him as a character?), 18 of those 95 fics are tagged with Riz/Fabian, but only 12 are tagged Riz Gukgak-centric. In d20 fic overall, Riz/Fabian currently comes in as the most written relationship, with 365 fics. The highest written platonic relationship is Adaine & Aelwyn, who are sisters. As someone who personally, also does not like fabriz, queerplatonic or otherwise, and primarily enjoys reading about platonic relationships, this is, not gonna lie, disappointing to me.

However, like you said, it IS incredibly important for the aroace people who DO want to have/see qprs represented to get that! I want them to have it, and im incredibly happy for them that they do! yes, it's not something that i would enjoy, (it just doesn't align with my interpretations of either character) but like you said, a lot of aroace people find qprs to be an integral part of their experience, and seeing stuff get represented is so, so important!

this brings me to my actual point: you talk about how fandom falling in with your (and mine, i agree. you've encapsulated how i feel about riz.) point of view, this would end up alienating other aroace people who don't share the same view, or experience in their identities, and I don't want that either! The thing is, to me at least, that's just not how fandom works! Yes, in canon, if they confirm riz to be aroace (please please please please please) they will end up giving him one singular experience. it's impossible for him to represent all the wide and varied and wonderful ways for him to be aroace in canon, but that's what's beautiful about fandom for me! The metaphor you used for fandom was fighting over a bone, and while I definitely understand why you feel that way, to me, I cannot see it the same way at ALL. For every single individual person who watches fantasy high, there will be a completely different interpretation of each and every character, and all of them will be true. The thing is, when we're talking about Riz as an aroace character, well, there are not a lot of aroace people just in general, and fewer of those aroace people are going to have the same point of view, and there will be less fan-created content centered around this part of his identity as a result.

The solution, because there is one! is not to fight over the bone, or give up the bone, or keep the bone for ourselves, because there is no one bone. The beautiful thing about fandom, when the character passes from the creators hands into ours, is that there are infinite ways to interpret the character, all of them true, and when you don't see enough representation of the interpretation you have, the solution is to take YOUR interpretation and share it with the world. Write fics! Write massive text posts! Encourage and lift up the people who create things you DO relate to! Share what this character is to you and what you want him to be, and while it may not be a large percentage of people, you will find people who feel/have felt the same way you have. You're already doing it. You did, after all, reach me. I guess my point is, be the change you want to see in the world?

I understand that your whole point was about how fandom is so heavily romance focused and how that's frustrating, and maybe this isn't what you want to hear, maybe you just wanted to have a nice little complain (complaining and sharing your frustrations is good for the soul) and that's totally okay. I'm simply an optimist, and you seemed kind of doomy about it, so I just wanted to let you know that there is hope, and community, and people who feel the same way that you do, and hey, maybe if we work together we can create small pockets of fandom that can give you and everyone who feels the same way the aro rep they want to see in the world.

(I am so sorry for how long this got. um. sorry. thank you for putting up with me, I hope you have a wonderful day!)

It's lovely that you have such an optimistic perspective on this. And I hear you about wanting fandom to be a place that has space for a multitude of interpretations, but I think you're kind of missing my point. This goes beyond what you're saying, but it's something I get frustrated about in every fandom I've been in. There's a tendency for fans to want to ignore that fandom is a culture. That fan behaviors are shaped as much by cultural trends within fandom as by the desires of individual fans. Those cultural trends can be really harmful. But because fans often tend to treat fandom as a space outside of culture, and tend to act as if each individual character/ship/fandom is only made up of people having a personal engagement with the text, it becomes very difficult to address the problems that are deeply rooted within fandom culture. And those problems in fandom culture are reflective of the broader cultures of which fandom is a subculture, but they are also built, exchanged, and cultivated in a unique way within the subculture. That's how oppression works, relatively few people are actively trying to hurt others, but people all want to see their actions as independent from a larger cultural context so they don't have to worry about how they might be contributing to a culture that hurts people. It's why fandom, a space historically made up primarily of women, spent a very long time shielding itself from any accusations of sexism (which ran and continues to run rampant in fandom - as seen in everything from how female characters are treated to how m/m ships are forced into heteronormative tropes) by pointing to the failures of the source material. Despite the same problems occurring across the majority of fandoms regardless of the source material. And despite the justification not really holding up when one examined how many one-dimensional male characters fandom was happy to flesh out. I'm not a POC and I don't want to speak for POC but I've read enough critiques of fandom by people of color to know that racism (of all kinds) is an equally rampant problem in fandom.

And this issue of fandom as culture was what I'm talking about with Riz. The discourse over Riz's aromanticism frequently gets heated on this website. And I wanted to make a post exploring why that is. Because while discourse about any aspect of fandom can get heated (we're all emotionally invested here), I felt a particular weight of baggage in this discourse that I thought was worth attempting to bring to the forefront. There is a culture of romance-centrism in fandom. There is a culture of devaluing friendship (found family is great, but in my opinion, it has also become a way of talking around the devaluation of friendship in fandom spaces). There is a culture of characters only getting fic or analysis written about them if it fits into the context of romance or into a romance-dependant context of family. And so the baggage that I was trying to draw attention to with my post is that cultural baggage. Someone shipping fabriz may feel unfairly attacked by the desire of many people to keep romance away from Riz ("it's just a ship," "it's just me projecting on to the character," "it's just fandom, we're all supposed to have fun here.") And I wanted to point out the cultural hostility toward aromanticism in fandom spaces that makes viewing Fabriz that way impossible for someone whose spent any time observing and struggling with the broader culture of fandom. My metaphor about being thrown a bone was more an acknowledgment that being aromantic in fandom is always hard and that our options are limited trying to address this cultural problem by just talking about one character does leave a lot of people out. But this is the problem we have and the character we've got.

You're right that I was kind of doomy and gloomy about it. I'm not a person who likes to put myself out there in fandom. I'm fundamentally a lurker. This blog originally existed as a practice in positivity and contributing my own ideas. But after I left the fandom I started it for, I didn't come back to it. And it took me feeling mad about something for me to be motivated enough to post again. I already kind of regret it. But my intention wasn't just to have a good complain. My intention was to make the case that this particular discourse has a deeper cultural weight within the subculture of fandom. One that, if not considered properly, can easily allow people to shrug off their own role in building that culture. And it's a culture that is actively harmful for people who live romance-free lives (whether they are aromantic or not). I don't need there to be less romance in fandom. I just need there to be more space for characters like Riz to be allowed not to engage in it at all and still be considered worthy of fan attention.

Anyway, this is preachier than I like to be. I do appreciate that you are trying to bring optimism and empathy to fandom. But I also hate to be misunderstood. So I hope this clears up my point for you.

#riz gukgak #dimension 20 #long post #discourse #aromanticism #fandom culture #i feel like i shouldn't post this #but also i can't stand feeling like people missed my point #so sorry to everyone who sees it

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nerd-hotnissa · 1 year

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Spoilers if you haven’t seen the Wednesday series on Netflix

I still ship Wednesday and Tyler. Tyler may be the villain but let’s not forget the complexities that come with it.

Throughout the series we see Wednesday learning about emotions, social interactions, and developing relationships.

Also Wednesday is our beloved goth girl who loves all things macabre and twisted.

She also never stated blatantly about how she feels about Tyler being the murderer, just proving that he was and she needed to stop him.

She put piranhas in the swimming pool.

Wednesday said she would have went further on Tyler’s prank to Xavier so she’s not above causing harm, also let’s not forget she did torture Tyler.

But murder, she made a few comments here and there but nothing was ever stated firmly whether she believes that’s above her and it’s wrong to do.

(If I’m wrong please let me know but if I remember correctly I don’t remember her ever stating murder was her boundary)

What the series did show though was attempted murder had an impact on her. Thing was stabbed and Eugene was attacked and both made an impact on her.

So now we have the Macabre Goth Girl who enjoys harm to others but has developed friendships and feels fear and concern when they are hurt.

She subtle develops feelings for Tyler who is the walking metaphor to her evolving of concern for others but the twisted enjoyment of pain and harm.

Tyler is both.

Because he is a Hyde.

A monster of Jekyll and Hyde

And we all know that story. Two halves of the same person fighting against each other.

Tyler is just like Wednesday.

Tyler doesn’t want to harm anyone but Hyde does. (Obviously we haven’t been shown that yet but for the sake of the posts just stay with me)

Tyler has feelings for Wednesday, Hyde will kill her.

Wednesday loves cause harm, but she is also evolving into making friends and caring for their wellbeing.

Tyler is her opposite and also he can keep up with her.

When they were on their date his banter and responses kept up with her.

Also on their date he did what he knew Wednesday would like.

A picnic in the crypt, to be tortured (the movie), and knew horror movies would bore her since he loved all things dark so he thought outside the box of something she would absolutely be disgusted by.

Tyler always thought of Wednesday not what he wanted of her.

No hate but *cough* Xavier *cough*

He never really got frustrated with her and when he did he kept it cool.

Could this all be a ruse because of him being the villain? Of course but you can’t just be the Hyde monster and no Jekyll.

Tyler had issues, Tyler had trauma. Tyler was used and abused to evoke the monster inside him, literally, but the other “monster” inside was a troubled kid.

Before Laurel he was just Tyler, Jekyll.

He’s complex and foils well with Wednesday.

I’m season 2 I hope to see a redemption arc and Wednesday see the complexity of Tyler and how they mirror each other that of course I hope develops their relationship.

But of course I also understand Wednesday is great all on her own and I am okay with that too.

#wednesday #Wednesday Netflix #Wednesday Addams #Tyler Galpin #Wyler #Wednesday x Tyler #Tyler x Wednesday

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sidestepping · 13 days

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Fanfic Writer Questions

@askweisswolf tagged me, thank youuuuu for thinking of me ♡

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Huh, 12 apparently? A lot of them are shorts and gifts, though.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

66,495???? When did THAT happen (I have never opened the statistics tab before can you tell)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly and forever Fallen Hero my beloved, but I have one (1) foray into Baldur's Gate 3.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Hmmm, my "main" fics really: 1. Splinters (Fallen Hero, Una and Ortega's relationship's turning points) 2. Dialogue Box (Fallen Hero, people having conversations) 3. Hopefully, No Biting (I can't believe this is in the top three JKLHGLKHGLH. Probably the oral sex helped.) 4. Hauntings (Fallen Hero, little mindfucks and experimental chapters) 5. The Heist, a three-part gift about Hollow Ground and @kittlesandbugs Sidestep, Riley. This one was a passion project, very happy to find it (surprisingly) in the top 5.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Usually, yes, if I can't reply directly to the commenter on another platform! If people are lovely enough to take the time to write, you know... Right back at them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

No endings to my fics, really, but the angstiest as a rule is Hauntings.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

No endings to my fics, really, but I think my happiest / sweetest / peacefullest might be one of my recent ones--Shipname: Burnt to the Ground (it's sex, but not sad babygirl sex, you get me?)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No.......... But if you want to go and hate on Hollow Ground when they appear in my fic please be my guest lads I'm right there with you.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not sure my sex scenes count as smut considering I'm firmly rooted in the suggestive rather than explicit territory. I write metaphors for fucking, more like.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not really! I'm such a one-trick pony man, all my money's on Los Diablos.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Hmmm.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not! I do like to fuck around with language and I have translated part of my fics once or twice and then back again just to throw a punch into the English and its pacing though. And I used to translate fics out loud for my friends who couldn't read English when I was, like, a teen.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Started to, didn't finish, but the idea's there somewhere—co-writing with @astarien is the heights of existence obviously.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

... Chargestep. I guess. I guess they're alright. Whatever.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

If I want to finish a work I do—but there's nothing I'm gunning to end yet, except for shorts, which I finish in one-go.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hm, I don't really know... I enjoy dialogue, action scenes, and fucking up pace, musicality, analogy, words and format so that language says more than it usually does, or shows more than it usually does—goes further than it wants to go if you don't give it a shake—and makes you FEEL. That's what's in my brain when I write.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fucking... plot. Logical pathways. Lore. I do not have a brain.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Love it! I gesture at it but keep it in English when I don't know the language (too scared of fucking it up, and not enough control over tone / nuances / connotations), but if I do know the language then absolutely.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

In my little notebooks when I was 8? A French Child Fantasy book I loved. But the only fandom I've written seriously for is FHR.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

My darling, though not my easiest, is Splinters. The hard-hitting writing moments are compiled there, I usually break out of a chapter a little brain-weird and all rabbit-hearted, it's always a blast to get to work on it.

Annnnd I'll tag @astarien, @kittlesandbugs, @ejunkiet, @impossible-rat-babies, @rab-bitly, @witchfall, @silvery-bluish, @ladyshivs, and anyone who feels like it!

#notebooks #writing

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actualbird · 7 months

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Cloak her. Help me protect her. Please grant us this wish. Please— Luke didn’t know what to expect, when casting a spell. He maybe thought he’d feel some kind of…energy come out of him, or something, but that’s not what happens at all. What happens is a sudden yet gentle breeze streaming through the windows and into the room. Luke can hear the rustle of the leaves outside, the faint creak of the old wood of their home, and the sound of Ria’s soft gasp cutting through the air. The parchment on her palm begins to crumble out of existence, like it’s burning into small ashes but with no fire in sight. It flutters into nothingness, and Luke’s eyes widen as Ria’s wings begin to do the same. Not just her wings; her horns, her tail, the scales speckled over her skin, all of it fades in fragments and pieces, leaving only what is human as Ria watches it all with a smile slowly pulling at her lips. When the parchment disappears fully, all of her draconic traits are gone as well, and she looks up at Luke. Even her slitted pupils have taken a more regular shape as they glimmer with awe. “...It worked,” Ria says. Her smile grows wide as Luke feels delight build inside of him too. “It worked, it worked, it worked!”

chapter update!! wc for ch3: 7.5k (to make up for the hiatus this fic went on) ship: luke/mc

uhhhh surprise update of this fic i hadnt updated in more than a year!!!!! this past week, fueled by coffee and fixation, ive finally written the 3rd chapter :DDD

in this chapter, there’s a cheekily written spell, luke and mc going out on a date, lots of metaphors, and a plot-important seal (like, the animal).

comments, kudos, likes, rbs, etc are much appreciated!! i hope someone out there enjoys this <3

#tears of themis #lukerosa #luke pearce #tot luke #xia yan #tears of themis fanfic #tot rosa

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adagiospace · 3 months

Text

It's been a while since I published it, so I wanna share the PDF version of my 2 Tsukiyami doujinshi that's printed some years ago

Both is Koumyou Sanzo x Ukoku Sanzo ship book, and warning about some violence, blood, dark stuff, the.. standard Saiyuki warning I guess.

Language: English. I'm not native English speaker, so I apologize if the dialog sounds weird.

Read from LEFT to RIGHT

[1] THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG

Is the collection from comics I draw in 2018 until 2021. Originally my comics were drawn for web (vertical) format. It's separate stories and overall theme is dark. !! Warning for a R18 chapter. It's my first book so it's still a bit messy~

** Book 1 PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qeV2Psvw5u0gM7P1XQFD-3D68QSdHEUW/view?usp=drive_link

[2] BENEATH THIS SKY

Is doujinshi published in 2022, another solo anthology about Tsukiyami relationship in [Four Season] Theme, the stories are all connected. Overall lighter theme because I was terrified after rereading how dark first book was, some Chinese culture references and Teresa Teng's song (lol)

This book very much have implied meaning with dialog, it might be a bit hard to notice the hints, but it's all about Koumyou relationship with Ukoku, between a colleague, also a mentor, maybe friends, or maybe closer than friends, in metaphor of Four Seasons - Born in Spring, Grow in Summer, Reaped in Autumn, Stored in Winter, and its relevancy to current chapter's festival. For example, Qingming festival (festival of tomb-sweeping, to reverence one's ancestors) in Spring, Quifen in Autumn (Midautumn festival to gather with friends and family, to eat moon cake together in happy occassion). Please see notes in the end for short description about what actually referenced in the chapter

Bonus R18 chapter is not planned, it's just me having naughty impulse.

** Book 2 PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_82S4E-E0obRL7Z5kKmYQ_YW727UWlnN/view?usp=drive_link

** BONUS R18 CHAPTER (Need Pixiv login): https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/101532942

Please DON'T REPOST DON'T REPRINT ANY CONTENT OF THE PDF, I've uploaded MOST of my comics here / Twitter / Pixiv.

Also my tip jar because those two living rent-free, I'd appreciate any good tea I could buy from tip jar haha https://ko-fi.com/adagiospace

Enjoy my delusion about those two.

I love them so much.

#saiyuki #tsukiyami #koumyou sanzo #ukoku sanzo #adagiospace #comic

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ninadove · 6 months

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20 questions for fic writers 📝✨

Thank you for tagging me, @bittersweetresilience! I love talking about myself. I’m my own favourite subject.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of now, 13! I’m keeping a couple in store as they were written for specific events.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

62,992 let’s GO

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Miraculous Ladybug and Professor Layton! I should really get working on the latter again…

4. What are your Top 5 fics by kudos?

@paracosmicat look at our babies. They’re doing so well 💜💚

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do!!! I love exchanging with readers, especially since our little fandom niche is so comfy and warm. If you’ve ever left me a kind comment or a bunch of happy emojis, please know you made my day! 💖

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

WELL THEY ALL GET HAPPY ENDINGS

Clive isn’t doing too hot in The Lucky Ones right now, but it’s a WIP so he’ll get there. Eventually.

As for my finished fics, probably Everything I did (I did for you) pre-epilogue? I consider it to be a happy resolution, but Adrien is crying pretty hard.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

WELL THEY ALL GET HAPPY ENDINGS — Oh wait. I already mentioned that, didn’t I.

The fluffiest one (so far) is probably Avant-première!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! People have been wonderful overall. 💖

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh oh, my friends. I wouldn’t even know where to start. I am a little ace dove who gets a critical case of boredom whenever movies feel the need to feature a smutty scene.

Nothing wrong with the genre itself, of course — it’s just not my cup of tea!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

@dragongutsixofficial have discussed many crossovers over the years! Maybe one day I will commit one to paper. 🌍

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope! Hopefully this doesn’t change.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but that would be a good exercise! Writing in my first language (🇫🇷) actually puts a bigger pressure on my shoulders.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

ABSOLUTELY AND HERE ARE THE GOODS:

Shadow Strike with @paracosmicat

Unmasked with @paracosmicat

ephialtes / reverie with the Anarchist Gang Server (🎶 all of you, all of youuu 🎶)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

🎶 In canon they have never met 🎶

Special mention to Feligami, because. Duh.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

LISTEN I WILL FINISH IT I JUST NEED TO FOLLOW THE BRAINWORMS WHERE THEY TAKE ME

But right now it’s probably The Lucky Ones, my role swap AU for Professor Layton. I’ve been working on it since 2019 and I know where I’m going with it — it’s just taking a while to actually get there, y’know?

16. What are your writing strengths?

Well I’m very good at making myself cry. Which hopefully means the feelings are getting across to my lovely readers too.

I do have extensive experience on writing redeemed villains struggling to build back bridges with the people they love. 12 years of obsessing over a fictional terrorist will do that to you.

Technically speaking, though, I think I’ve gotten great at deleting bits of dialogue and description I don’t need to keep only the essentials! It makes my writing lighter, while also encouraging readers to explore the metaphors for themselves.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am paiiinfully slow and lose motivation easily when writing longer fics (see: The Lucky Ones). Shadow Strike is the exception to the rule, and what a wonderful exception it is. 💜💚

One-shots are the format for me, but I’ve been enjoying two and three-parters a lot lately!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don’t think I’ve had to do it before (except for the occasional nickname or curse word), but I’d probably be able to!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Probably Professor Layton or Pokémon Black and White! I got into these when I was 13. Dragon Quest IX came a little bit earlier, but it took a while to finish, so my one big fic for it must have been around the same time.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

How could you make me choose (Shadow Strike)

How dare you even suggest I might like some of my babies more than the others (Shadow Strike)

Preposterous. I could never pick just one —

SHADOW STRIKE

Hmm. Yes. It is Shadow Strike indeed. @paracosmicat and I have so much fun working together and we get to be as self-indulgent as our hearts desire. Truly our masterpiece. 💜💚

From a technical perspective, I think Everything I did (I did for you) is my best work so far! I’m very proud of the metaphors carefully woven into this one. Photosynthèse was a nice training!

Everything I write for Feligami fixes something in my brain chemistry, and La nuit, tous les chats sont gris just. Makes me so happy. For so many reasons.

Tagging @dragongutsixofficial, @paracosmicat and anyone who would like to participate! 💖📝

#writing #nina writes #ask games

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midnightlitterateur · 3 months

Text

Rugan likes the puss

Pairing - Rugan/ oc m/f

Summary - Rugan tries to be a gentleman but Leah Keene has other ideas.

Warnings - age difference, m/f, penetration,

18+

The chill of the night air on her face was a welcome relief from the overwhelming noise of the packed tavern. Too many people was fine if you were working in a crowd, you could make a decent living from their pockets but when it came to socialising Leah preferred something a little more subdued. The Blushing Mermaid was anything but. She stumbled out into the darkness, quietly slipping away from the small group of friends that she had been drinking with when she saw a tiny speck of burning pipeweed glowed weakly in the darkness. Someone must have had the same idea and sought a little solitude on the bow of the ship that gave the dingy little grief hole its name.

“Who goes?” the smoker called out into the night. Wary of the intrusion. The night concealed the man like a cloak, only the small ember casting its meagre light lit his lips as he pulled the smoke into his lungs. “I'm not looking for company, so fuck off”

Leah smiled, recognising Rugans voice instantly “What's it to you, Zhent? I’ll go where I damn well please.” she slurred. She liked Rugan, he was a good laugh. They got along well on the rare occasions that their paths crossed. Though their respective organisations would not be too thrilled that they were on friendly terms.

“Sounds like someone had a good night!” he chuckled from his perch, “hows tricks, kid?” he hopped down from the table and headed towards the light of a flaming torch. The creaking of his leather armour was almost imperceptible as he passed her.

“Can’t complain. You?” She answered in a friendly tone as she followed him into the small ring of light. Rugan was smiling warmly, Gods that smile. He was fucking gorgeous. The bastard.

“Same shit different day, mate.” The light of the rolled pipeweed cigarette moved towards her in the dark as he offered Leah a drag. She took a long pull then handed it back, letting the smoke escape from her nose. “I'd ask you if you fancied a pint but I think you might have had enough.” he teased, watching her sway in the shadows.

“I'm not that drunk but I'm not going back in there, too many dickheads. Might just go home.”

“I’m headed that way. I’ll walk with you.” he spoke casually but he didn't like the thought of her walking through the docks at night drunk and alone.

“Alright but I am definitely not drunk enough to drop my knickers for you, Zhent. So don't even try.” she warned as she teetered towards the ramp that led down to the road.

“You wear knickers?” he ribbed, following along behind her, ready to catch her should she take a tumble.

“…metaphorical knickers,” she shrugged, eliciting a chuckle from her companion.

They walked back through the lower city toward Heapside Strand, chatting about everything and nothing, just enjoying each other's company as they slowly headed towards Leah's loft. Even breaking into song at one point much to the annoyance of the sleeping residents of the Lower City. They definitely didn’t want to hear “A wizard’s staff has a knob at the end” in the middle of the night. Finally they arrived at her door.

“Do you fancy a nightcap?” She slurred, leaning against the door fumbling with the keys as she tried and failed to find the keyhole.

“I shouldn't…shipping out at dawn,” he stepped closer, “but I want you to know, there is nothing I would like more.”

“Really?” she whispered, trying her very best to sound alluring. “Seems to me if you're that thirsty…you should drink.”

Their lips met softly, tentatively. Briefly. Rugan pulled away, “You are way too drunk for this,” he said with a rueful smile, “get yourself to bed. I’ll come find you when I get back.”

Leah groaned with disappointment “Oh come on…” she started to complain, losing her footing and taking a tumble into some crates. “Oww,” she sobbed dejectedly.

“Woah,” Rugan picked her up, “come here.” He shook his head with a smirk and took her door keys. He carried her up the narrow staircase and across the room to her bed, which was currently occupied by the fluffiest cat he had ever seen.

Leah turned to see him scratching Crumbs forehead. “Straight to the pussy…” she shook her head, chiding him mockingly.

“Well you know me, lass. I don’t waste time.” He smiled and shooed Crumbs from the bed.

Leah stared at him sleepily in the low light that emanated from a lantern she had forgotten to put out before she left. He was a handsome bastard. Strong and sweet in equal measure. “Stay,” she whispered, reaching out for him as he pulled off her boots and threw them onto the floor.

Rugan froze, mired in indecision. “You are in no fit state, little lady.” He said, full of regret as the words left his mouth, “and Nine Fingers will have my head - both of em.”

“I am a womanly woman, I will have you know! And just because I've had a drink doesn’t mean I can’t make my own decisions. Now get them pants off!”

He took off his boots and unbuckled his cuirass then climbed onto the bed. “You’ll be the death of me, Leah Keene. I swear.”

“Shut up,” she giggled softly as he settled between her thighs. Wrapping her arms around his neck she pulled him in for a kiss. Their tongues pressed and glided over each other in a sinuous dance, their kiss became more and more urgent as they stripped away the rest of their clothing. Rugan's mouth slid sloppily down her neck, dragging his soft lips to her tightened nipples. Her back arched and her fingers tangled in his blonde hair, urging him on with gasps and groans as he suckled gently on each. He began to move lower, aiming to use his skilled tongue on her aching clit but she clutched his hair and pulled him back to her lips. Her other hand reached for his stiff, dripping cock. Pressing the tip into her warmth impatiently. Rugan took the hint and dipped his hips, sheathing himself in her heat with a soul deep groan. Pulling out and slamming into her again and again as she moaned and cursed loudly beneath him. Clawing desperately at his muscular back as she tried to hold on to something as he destroyed her body and mind. Deep red trophies that he would later show off to his fellow Zhentarim.

Their sweat slicked bodies moved together, chasing the high. It coiled low in her belly, the prickly heat behind her trembling knees uncomfortably itchy. The pressure building until it consumed her in an aching release. Exhilarating and electrifying. She sobbed his name lustily into the night as she shuddered with pleasure as the walls of her cunt rhythmically fluttered around his dick.

Leah trembled beneath him, coming down from her peak, breathless and glowing. “Give me a minute,” she pleaded, flinching from overstimulation every time he moved.

Rugan reined himself in not without difficulty. Leaning to claim her lips in a lingering kiss that threatened to become so much more.

He pulled himself up to his knees and looked down upon her, gloriously messy and dishevelled. Her beautiful tits heaving with every breath.

His hands slid down her narrow waist, pulling her hips into his, burying his throbbing cock to the hilt. Her moan sending a thrill straight through him.

“Yes…” she gasped quietly, covering his hands with hers.

He pulled out, repeating his last stroke. Slowly building up speed as he used her to pump his cock. Absolute filth poured from her lips between ragged screams of exhilarated desperation. It was all too much for him.

“Ugh… I’m gonna come” he groaned, warning her of his imminent release, “Leah…oh Gods!”

“Do it! Do it!” Leah looked down between them watching his cock as he fucked her. “Don’t stop, I need it…” she threw her head back with a rapturous groan, clenching tightly around his thick cock as she came for him.

Rugan wanted to pull out, he really did but…fuck it.

Every fibre of his being tensed, deliciously teetering on the edge before following her down deep into complete bliss. It was over far too fast. He slumped into the crook of her neck, breathless and shuddering and a little bit sad.

Leah ghosted her fingertips up and down his back as came to. “You alright?” She asked, nuzzling into his cheek.

“Yeah…that was...” He raised himself up on shaky arms, “better than I imagined.”

“Than you imagined?” She teased gently. “Do you think about this a lot?”

“There were nights I'd go to sleep thinking about this, out there on the road,” he confessed in a soft whisper, his cock still sheathed within her delicate walls. “What it would feel like to have Leah Keene wrapped around my dick.”

She gasped “Rugan! You're old enough to be my…” Leah caught a fit of the giggles. “My…”

“Don’t you dare say it!” He chuckled along with her.

She sniggered and raised her hands cupping his stubbly cheeks and trying to kiss him with taught smiling lips.

Rugan turned his face in faux petulance, “Nah. No kisses for you.”

“Aww no! I prefer older men, Roogs. Someone my age couldn’t fuck me like you just did.” Her palms slid down to his hairy chest, “I just got railed.”

“Yeah, you did,” he pressed his forehead to hers, “and if you're not careful it’ll happen again, little girl.”

Leah squealed with delight “Is that a threat or a promise?”

A heavy silence laced with affection settled over them both and Rugan lowered his lips to hers. Barely feeling the tickle of their mingled breath before the gulls squabbling outside rudely interrupted. He turned to see a sliver of light cutting its way through the gap in the shutters.

“Ugh,” Rugan groaned, “I'm late!”

He hopped out of bed and grabbed his trousers, pulling them on, “I’ve gotta go, princess. Zarys will have my balls.”

Leah turned on her side and watched him dress, mourning the loss of his perfect body, “I thought she already had em,” she jabbed with a smile. “I heard she keeps em in a little pouch round her neck, gives em a little jiggle when she wants you - it’s got tinkly little bells on it.”

“Very funny,” he retorted sarcastically, “You’ve sobered up quick.” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he buckled his belt.

Leah shrugged, smirking as she held his gaze. “I might have exaggerated a bit,”

“We’ll have words about this, young lady. Just you wait.” He gave her a quick kiss then jogged down the stairs. It would be a good long while before she saw him again and when she did her whole life had been turned upside down.

#bg3 rugan #rugan #rugan bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 #fanfiction #ao3 #fanfic #archive of our own #rugan/oc #zhentarim #my wriitng

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emmetofthestars · 6 months

Note

God I love your characterisation of Medic so much. He would absolutely cannibalise himself (metaphorically, and maybe even literally) in his pursuit of his morbid ideas of what life is. He would have NO problem mutilating himself and his teammates to satisfy that need. To feel like a god, like he can hold all this life right at his fingertips and do whatever he pleases with it. Like, no matter what extremity he's feeling in the moment, above life or under life, it's still the same idea: life is nothing more than a toy he can tear apart and frankenstein because it doesn't hold real value to him. He just wants to feel in control of everything around him.

I don't know if I'm missing the point, if I am pls feel free to delete this ask, it's just the ideas I'm getting from ur characterisations an I like it a lot. Feels like ppl often focus too much on the "doctor" part and less on the "insane" part.

EXAACTLY EUUEUGUGEGHHGHHH Hes so hes so. hes so normal. hes so normal about life and what it means to live and how to control it and create it and. yeah. thank you so much bttwww CRIES... yeah you arent missing it dw :3 im glad i get my point across in the first place HEEHE your thoughts are also so so so true

indeed, i do wish people would really really go into depth with just how much medic enjoys experimenting on people and life in general and how much he DOESNT see a problem with the things he does. like he cares about the other mercs but it doesnt stop him from acting the way he does, in fact the more he loves someone the more he wants to tear them apart piece by piece i would say (Coughhhh i would love to see more medic ship content where he doesnt express love in conventionally romantic ways)

#emmet answers

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rriavian · 5 months

Note

My revenge prompts are:

20: holding their hand to their cheek

And/or

35: grabbing their hand to pull them back to them.

Choose your own ship! You know my favs. ;)

I was going to wait for Nano to be over before answering any prompts, but I know you've been unwell recently and I saw your post about yesterday not being a good day. So I very quickly pulled this together when I should have been working (totally worth it!!) and I hope you enjoy <3 You are wonderful and I really hope today has been a better day.

Corintheus - 20: holding their hand to their cheek

“You are covered in blood.”

“Nice observation.” The Corinthian grinned as he turned, found his creator standing a few meters behind him.

Dream was frowning at the floor. “Mervyn will not be pleased.”

“And I should care because…?”

Dream looked up at last, distracted by insolence it seemed. “His role is essential.”

“You could very easily clean up those footprints yourself.”

“I could.” Dream replied; a twist to his lips that could be amusement, could be pain. “I could do all of this alone. But, as I said, his role is essential.”

Cryptic.

But the gravitas there spoke of a weight he couldn’t see, a treasure waiting in the dark for him to discover. The Corinthian filed it away for later, would dedicate time to it, wanted to enjoy this particular prize for now. So he turned and continued walking forwards; shoes squelching against stone, no real performance in how he continued to be impertinent, deliberate to be sure but there was no fear in flaunting how he disobeyed.

He flicked his fingers to drip more blood onto the floor.

“Corinthian.”

The terse tone made him grin. “Just making sure the clean up job is worth it.”

Dream appeared in front of him, sudden, breath-taking, enough to pass from metaphor to truth because this put an instinct in him that the Corinthian had never had. It created it, lent the weakness to him, this the only being to ever put a hitch in his breath. There was pleasure in holding it there for a moment before breathing it out, letting it go. Dream would not be denied; had stopped his progress with a hand on his chest, uncompromising like walking into a wall, like being frozen with just a touch. The Corinthian felt every inch of contact, felt it through his clothes, the blood, this hand deceptively slender for how each part of it was known.

“So much blood soaking your clothes.” Dream said softly, contemplative as his pretty face drew into a scowl. “In your hair. How messy you have been in dreams today my nightmare.”

His palm lay flat on the Corinthian’s chest.

It remained unmoving. Startlingly familiar even as there was no pressure, so known because everything he was would always remember this hand.

The Corinthian had been made by it.

And that made Dream his.

So he claimed without hesitation. The Corinthian raised a hand to Dream’s, clasped fingers gently around his hand, raised it to his own cheek, cupped those cool fingers around his skin and found they bent obediently to his will. There was blood there too, he introduced Dream to it—tacky as it dried across a cheekbone—a moment spared to disdain at the barrier between his skin and Dream’s before he pushed it aside. This was indulgence for them both. What in the Waking World was mundane was a marvel here, this the language a body gave them the ability to speak, an intimacy that would not be taken for granted.

The gift of it, of personification, an oxymoron in the impossibility of how two concepts could touch.

The Corinthian smiled. “Messy am I?”

Dream’s fingers no passive prisoner; they curled of their own accord, leaned into him so readily, held in the Corinthian’s grasp but not forced to do more than remain there. It was far more than temptation. This touch deliberate rather than instinctive—far more delicious for it, far more the harder prize—no easy victory won by sneakily triggering an impulse, this surrender signed with a flourish while glowing eyes remained fixed on his.

Though the scowl remained.

The Corinthian only chuckled as he tipped his head towards the fingers cupped around his cheek, amused, unabashedly enjoying how he was touched.

“You will not distract me while the proof of clumsiness remains so obvious.”

“Critiquing my technique?”

“A technique must be present for one to critique it.”

The Corinthian raised a brow; still nuzzling into Dream’s hand, the slender fingers trapped by their own choice, surrounded only by him. “Very irritable today.”

“You are dirtying the otherwise pristine floors of my palace.” Dream retorted primly.

That was fair.

Still—

“Oh I’d much rather dirty you.” The Corinthian crooned.

His other hand was raised, the knuckles brushed against Dream’s cheek, blood smeared careful and adoring across it.

Red looked very pretty on him.

Then the Corinthian stepped closer, wrapping an arm around Dream’s waist, leverage enough to tug his creator against his chest as he leaned in to press a kiss to that tempting jaw. The side without the blood—as lovely as it looked on him the Corinthian would suffer no barrier here—the taste of lightning sizzling as he made contact, a flavour that needed to be licked to be enjoyed. He ignored the blood now seeping into Dream’s dark clothes, that to be appreciated later, to be tasted after he’d devoured this. The Corinthian wanted to run a hand through Dream’s hair, wanted mess it up too, to get blood through it.

So he did; slid a hand up Dream’s back to the nape of his neck, then further still, got the strands between his fingers, got them wet and sticky with blood.

It was half a shame.

The Corinthian would much rather this blood was Dream’s.

If it was he’d have licked it from his skin, would have licked it with his skin, yet perhaps the Corinthian would have to find a way to get that later. As for the King himself, well, Dream sighed but did not push him away—the thin frame remained uncoiled, relaxed—an open invitation for all he’d been so determined to scowl. It was what could be learned if one paid attention, what could be taken for advantage, the truth of how to please the hungry thing Dream was could be found in making him a banquet. Enjoying him was giving to him because eternity didn’t fear emptying, infinity didn’t concern itself with running out, and to a being like this restraint didn’t translate as conservation.

The only way to love him was with greed.

It would be given back; Dream still had his hand against the Corinthian’s jaw, held there perhaps but still not kept there, the thumb beginning to stroke little circles into his skin. For a while Dream seemed content with that, to taste it as fully as he was being tasted in return, and the Corinthian was still peppering idling kisses up and down his jaw when Dream spoke.

“Come. You need a change of clothes.”

It made him pause.

There was an implication there that found the Corinthian considering the absurd. He smiled against Dream’s skin, found the parting of his lips was followed by the temptation to use teeth, indulged in a little teasing graze.

“Gonna run me a bath?”

The response to his joke proved that the Corinthian was still prone to underestimating what his creator would do.

“Yes.”

#dream of the endless #corintheus #the corinthian #the sandman #fic progress #my writing #prompt fills

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homestuckpolyswap · 12 days

Text

What is a Dear Gifter Letter?

A Dear Gifter Letter, or DGL from hereon, is a letter to your anonymous gifter outlining all the "please don'ts" that matter to you!

When signing up for a Polyswap event, you may want to include your squicks... but you just don't want to clutter your prompt up with things like NOTPs and headcanons you don't like. Some people are a bit more verbose than others, after all, and this is a way to circumvent AO3's "prompt box" character limit or just be a little more comprehensive on something you need to avoid.

While we encourage including the most important no-nos in your prompts, think of this like... an expansion or DLC! So, let's get into it.

Squick?? What even??

Anything that makes you go "nnnyyeegh" or hinders your enjoyment of something. Think of it like an ICK [for the younger crowds], or getting the heebie-jeebies. There's nothing wrong with a squick, but it's just not for you... and that's okay. A DGL allows you to outline squicks or peeves you'd like your anonymous gifter to avoid. Some common squicks include:

phonetic / "typed out" quirks, or having Thollukth talk like thith ["Sollux talk like this"] in a fic.

extremely saturated colors, or having an art piece with a lot of contrasting colors.

quirked dialogue, or having characters type in their quirks for a significant portion of the fic [which can interfere with screenreaders].

NOTPs, or NOT THIS PAIRING[s?] — the metaphorical opposite of an OTP or ship you enjoy very much.

specific headcanons, or re-interpretations of the original canon such as how tall or thin someone may be.

interaction types / relationship types, or particular dynamics you're just not interested in [such as Bro & Dave being really good brothers, or Eridan & Sollux being in a pale romance].

But what if I don't like really specific stuff?

The important thing to note about DGLs is they are not commission posts. You cannot control your gifter, nor can you enact certain headcanons / expecations on them. Polyswap is about making poly-shipping stuff for fun, and the fact that it's also a gift is the hilarious bonus!

While it's important to let both the moderators and your gifter know that a particular ship would totally ruin your day and thus your enjoyment of something, we can't enforce or encourage a DGL that outlines "rules" or "expectations" of the gifter. A letter is supplementary, and even if you really want to be thorough, it's important to know that your gifter isn't required to read a DGL to begin with.

Furthermore, Polyswap is a shipping event first and foremost. The primary focus of ANY gift should be... the shipping! Miscellaneous things like ships you didn't even list in your prompt, or dynamics that really don't affect your requests, aren't necessary. Sure, not everyone thinks that EriDirkFef is the best polyship ever; they might even hate it! But mentioning that hate in a DGL just clutters things up.

I don't want to be matched with X!

Anything in a DGL which implies a moral superiority or "Do Not Interact" vibe is completely unnecessary. We're all here to make polyship content. Any hardline "please don't match me to a specific person" or similar information should be conveyed to the moderators in your OFFER, which is private. Not written in your DGL for the whole world to see.

This is an all-inclusive event, which means that anyone of any background within the fandom can participate. We have an ALL AGES option, Prospit, as well as an 18+ ADULTS ONLY option, Derse, for sign-up. But that's where the lines end! If you're just not comfortable being associated with certain shippers, creators, or headcanon-enjoyers... then this event may not be for you!

Where to post my Dear Gifter Letter?

You can host your DGL just about anywhere that your gifter can access. We recommend a Tumblr post or a "view only" Google Document that doesn't record who visits. After all, your gifter has to remain anonymous, and we don't want you figuring out who it is too soon!

If you have any further questions about DGLs and how to get them to your gifter, just email us at HSPOLYSHIPSWAP on GMAIL.

#homestuck polyswap #homestuck event #polyswap 2024

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lemidnightlitterareur · 4 months