#show him that solvable problem (every problem is solvable because it has to be. every problem is his because he is the Problem Solver)

[jq37]

.....fuck. Ok, so the simple answer is Cassandra's going Nightmare King. But that "she's at my side once more" thing gives me hope that this is something else and not entirely Kristens fault. Could be the Elf side of Galacaea reacting badly to the Wolf side gaining prominence and she's trying to grab for any piece of her old self to gain a controlling foothold. On the lighter side of things, Kristen believing she's a full-on actual political candidate and trying to give a speech to steel-workers was gut-bustingly hilarious. Less light-hearted, Adaine needs to stop attacking her financial woes as a teenager and start attacking it as a wizard adventurer. And lose the crap job, a 40% discount is not worth those 8 hours she's losing every shift. She can get a lot more done with that time. But she's a kid who's trying to solve this on her own instead of the common sense move of reaching out to adults who know more. Siobhan commits to the bit, I'll give her that. Bizarely, Gorgugs 400% course load is actually is the most solvable problem. Get Digby and Wilma to tutor him and help him speedrun through the Freshman and Sophomore material and then play catch-up on the Junior year material. He might have drop the Owl Bears, he needs those hours. Fig is killing it so hard in all her classes, it would be fucking hilarious if she's the Bad Kid who graduates as valedictorian. This one ran long, sorry about that.

OK, my quick thoughts on everything before I sit down to write this recap tomorrow (I finished my notes today--geez these JY eps are LONG):

Kristen: Wild that the thing Kristen has chosen to go all in on is her high school bid for class president and not *gestures vaguely* literally anything else. Funny, but wild. My best guess until we have more info is that this is an "As above so below" thing because the wizards getting ripped and aggressive is super random except for the fact that the main things that Kristen has been doing in the past few months is getting ripped and being aggressive to Cass. But we're working with incomplete info so we'll see.

Adaine: Girl, take Aelwyn's chest of rubies and sell it for cash and buy stuff with that! Or better yet, use your Oracle/general divination powers to figure out the lotto numbers/stock futures and exploit that! Honestly, even killing your mom is a better plan that working at Fantasy Auntie Anne's!

Gorgug: :( Hang in there buddy. It's wild when everyone else is dealing with kind fantasy problems--even Adaine's thing is tinged with Fantasy what with the absurdity of the items she needs to get--and Gorgug is just dealing with…a completely regular school problem. That's rough man. I personally feel like I'd try to join a club or something to show off my skills rather than doing it on the books if this requires a 400% course load but I hope he can make it work. Though, it would also be interesting for them to do a, "There's no shame in trying and failing," storyline because man that's just so much work and that's an important thing to learn.

Fabian: If you want Adaine to be at your party then give her some of your massive pile of gold so she doesn't have to work a crappy mall job. The girl is filtering gold flecks out of discounted booze and you know that because you're the one who gave her permission to do it. Either help her or don't be sulky when she can't make your shrimp party!

Fig: Fig as surprise valedictorian has the same energy as Annie realizing she and Shirley are neck in neck for the position even though Annie is the type A control freak (this is a Community ref for anyone who's like whomst?). That would be so funny. But also, it wouldn't be crazy! Fig was super preppy before she decided to be punk. I wouldn't be surprised if her grades were always good and she's also passionate about everything she does. If she wasn't set on sticking it to the man, she'd be so so so solid.

Riz: You didn't mention him but I wanted to give him a section anyway. Hi Riz :)

OK, that's it for now. Can't wait for next ep! (And no worries about this ask being long. I like getting long D20 Asks!)

#asks #farmer-10 #fantasy high #dimension 20 #fhjy #d20 #fantasy high junior year #spoilers

[cosmereplay]

KOWT PREVIEW CHAPTER

Call me a silly sod for wanting to talk about relationship therapy stuff but this Jaswit chapter is a great example of Gottman's solvable vs perpetual problems, and why either of those kinds of problems can be relationship breakers.

For some reason, the dealbreaker isn't the one people seem to think.

So in this preview chapter, Jasnah and Wit have two relationship problems: 1) they have mismatched sex drives, and 2) Wit has been lying to her by omission.

This is the problem that some think is the dealbreaker. Having mismatched sex drives is a perpetual problem - it will always exist as long as they're together. Jasnah herself is troubled by Wit being weird about it, but it's not a dealbreaker for her. In fact, every relationship has perpetual problems, and mismatched sex drives is a common one, even in allo/allo or ace/ace relationships! And they got the benefit of knowing that right from the beginning. To me, that shows that they both believe that they can adapt, or at least there are other things about the relationship that make it worth the ongoing mismatch. Again I cannot stress enough that every long-term relationship, friendship, family relationship, etc has perpetual problems that they have to work around.

Wit's dishonesty is the problem that causes Jasnah to feel like something has broken in her. She knew Wit would keep secrets, but she asked him to specifically share information he had about Odium, and he agreed and then withheld that information from her. This is a solvable problem! He could solve the problem by giving her the information she wants and being honest with her going forward. Or trying to negotiate a different level of secrecy. However, he will likely choose to keep lying because he's a bastard man. That's the dealbreaker for her, and quite rightly in my opinion!

In conclusion, Wit busting his nut isn't the dealbreaker, it's the fact that he's not busting his balls to say his next Ideal. And he's going to have to get honest fast if he's going to stay in this relationship. Jasnah deserves better!

#kowt preview chapters #kowt #kowt speculation #kowt spoilers #jaswit #They are so silly #I love them #i am clowning myself but i hope they make it #If they don't Jasnah's going to end up with another Lightweaver I swear to the Heralds she is only romantic for Lightweavers #ANYWAY

[kingdarkstalker]

I wanna start off saying I don’t agree with most of your opinions, but there is one aspect of Tui’s writing that bothers me that I want to point out.

Her treatment of stonemover. When Sunny meets him she basically calls him a pathetic excuse for a father. She’s constantly complaining about how he’s sad and pathetic, and when she leaves she says “I’m not gonna lie around moping because things aren’t the way I want them to be.” She also mentions wanting to poke him with her sharpest claw to get him to stop sighing. It’s the same with moon though in that encounter it’s less subtle, but she basically calls him annoying and pathetic. No character ever shows sympathy to stonemover and he doesn’t get a good ending. Would it have been that hard to just have darkstalker remove his magic altogether? Problem solved

It would be understandable if he was the kind of person who intentionally mopes about an easily solvable problem, I hate those kinds of people, but he’s NOT. Stonemover absolutely has every reason to be as sad as he is. And he’s not exactly “moping,” he’s literally growing into the floor. How he ended up cursing himself is a little unclear, but how I understand it is that in a desperate attempt to save his soul he changed the animus curse to instead affect his scales, but didn’t anticipate that it would turn him into a living fossil. I gather his curse to be largely by accident. Poor stonemover can’t do anything to save himself because he’s so afraid of losing his soul and hurting someone, and his magic took his one love. He’s not a lazy annoying old man, like how moon and Sunny make him out to be.

I especially hate this because with Luna Tui tried to write her as a character you can sympathize with and everyone feels sorry for her, but Luna is a character I just physically can’t feel sympathy for because she’s SO GOD DANG ANNOYING. Throughout the entire book she’s complaining about everyone, even(especially, in fact) the dragons who are risking their lives and entire freaking continent to help her. She’s a jerk to cricket who arguably can be credited for like 70% of the entire plot(stole the book of clearsight, exposed the truth about wasp, figured out the mind control, saved blue multiple times etc. but no, Luna doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that the only reason everyone she loves is still alive is cause of cricket) and she has no character development. By the end of the book she’s just as much a jerk as she was before. And Tui’s attempts to portray depression and trauma in her are sloppy at best. All we get are a few annoying moments of “oh no I’m going to jump to ridiculous conclusions so I can have an excuse to be useless” and offhand mentions of “rainy days.” But Tui treats her as if she’s more sympathetic than stonemover? It just infuriates me so much.

I also hate how she portrayed social anxiety with moon(and moon in general but that’s a whole other can of worms.). As someone who suffers severely from it, I hate the “uwu I’m so shy and cute” stereotype, because anxiety shouldn’t be romanticized like that. You don’t end up in a love triangle when your shy, you end up having everyone hate you because you have a resting b face and people associate quietness with a lack of interest.

^^^

#the ableism in this series is downright disgusting #asks #wings of fire #tui sutherland

[thesherrinfordfacility]

(last anon= me, was a bit anxious it might not go over well for some reason- off now bc changing the capitalization was a pain)

i agree on the human aus! love their flexibility, the sorta "yeah, may as well happen" you get clicking on something (with love) completely ridiculous. it's also so much fun to see what people do with crowley's eyes and his relationship to the glasses.

i'm very very early in planning this, but i want a&c to be as close to theirshow characterizations as i can possibly get them (book boys are amazing but i want the drama). i don't know that i'll do a very good job at justifying it with their backstories, but i'm gonna try. (idk. people have different opinions on personality being nature vs nurture. i can claim majority nature if it's more convenient)

i'm thinking here that crowley, personally, would have had to kill somebody or a couple somebodies, in an absolute (it at least appeared so, still does), life or death, them or him scenario (only his life saved). said somebody or somebodies would have attacked first, and out of desperation-- not totally their choice either. i'm assuming for the sake of the fic that he'd be able to do it at all, and then survive a couple decades after, so there's... something.

i just can't figure out exactly how he'd have coped with it, and whether he'd, later, think of it as justified, like how much guilt there would be. don't know what's even plausible.

my biggest problem is that framing him as 100% Good and Pure (and weirdly helpless?) like ppl do sometimes is literally my biggest fear writing this (huge mischaracterization in general). i don't want to go for the exact same indifference as in the show, for reasons you mentioned (and also that level of apathy would fuck up the entire rest of the fic), but not too far in the opposite direction, either.

tysm for the first response and considering a second, this seems a whole lot more solvable- and sorry if it's a lot to ask to go over all this (although your ability to hold a shit ton of information at once and then respond eloquently is impressive asf, looking at like every chain with LWA), i just drew a bit of a blank. also my bad if it's got a little heavy for your blog, just realized looking at the tags 😭

oh @aq-uatic you silly goose!!!✨ im absolutely fine with asks like that, please feel free to sling them my way anytime!!! ultimately tho, that's what the tw was for; just in case it was a bit heavy for someone else, but for me, personally? there's not a lot of themes that i feel uncomfortable discussing, almost all topics are welcome and i'll soon say if they aren't!!!💕

ooooh okay, so a self-defence angle!!! i think that that could be interesting to explore, because - well, you could take it from the perspective that crowley is initially very righteous in defending himself, rightly thinking that he deserved to protect himself, and the use of force was proportionate. he could initially come across as quite dispassionate and apathetic about it, "me vs. them? well of course it was going to be me!", and ultimately not want to address the whole concept of having committed murder because, on face value, it was justified. and maybe he privately doesn't want to examine it bc he's apprehensive about what he'd find?

but then as plot (and character) develops, turns out that because the whole thing was so fast, fuelled by adrenaline and the instinct to survive, crowley ends up... not being able to remember much of it? and as details start to come back, i think that's where the cognitive dissonance element would play - that he then has to reconcile himself as being someone who he feels is morally sound, 'would never harm another human being', a good person... but then is starting to remember his fear in the situation, confronting his own mortality, and what it says about him to be able to take another life with little thought other than his own self-preservation? as well as remember the specific physical details of what happened? the sounds, the smells? looks in the mirror afterwards and sees a different person looking back?

obviously without knowing the full motive of the person attacking him, who they are, what their story is etc.,... i think crowley could end up dealing with it in a way that he accepts that he cannot control others' actions, only his own. that that person chose to put him in the position of having to defend himself, and whilst, yes, that person may have had a family, friends, potential... when he's in a position of ensuring his own survival, he may have actually made the best decision he could have at the time. idk if you're planning to explore the attacker's circumstances in any depth, but if - for example - they were trying to rob him out of their own desperation (e.g. homelessness/austerity, fund addiction, peer pressured/gang context, mental health), maybe crowley would deal with that by exploring charitable work, or good causes, that seek to alleviate that very desperation? and that's how he heals from the experience?

again, hoping this might be some food for thought!!!✨💕 please do link me your fic when you've posted anything, i really admire how you're exploring this concept and it sounds really interesting and promising!!! i'll reiterate that i love getting asks, especially when they explore topics like this; i feel the LWA ones are a little bit of an anomaly, for being really analysis-heavy (which i love, let me clear), but getting to be a bit creative is exciting for me too!!!✨

#good omens #ask #tw: death #<- again adding this just in case!!!💕

[screamsviakeyboard]

There's something weird about the DC movies. Specifically WW 1984 and The Flash. Both movies have pretty clear morals to their climaxes, and those morals are basically "don't hope too much or try to change things." Which are weird ones to have in anything, but especially mind boggling to have in superhero media.

Wonder Woman 1984

So, for those who don't know, WW1984's villain is a dude who fuses with a magical wishgranting rock, but, when you make a wish on the rock, you have to give up the thing you value most in exchange (the rock doesn't tell you this ahead of time). So the dude goes around granting wishes until he gets access to every screen on the planet and gets everyone to make a wish on him so he can take their most valued things. In order for Wonder Woman to beat him, she shows him that this is hurting his son (by destroying the world) and he convinces everyone to renounce their wishes. The day is saved, and WW can go try and move on from her dead boyfriend or whatever.

Now, the thing is, the guy who was granting the wishes wasn't actually doing anything. He was absorbing power from the people who were making wishes, but he wasn't using that for any purpose. What was destroying the world was the wishes themselves. Every single person who makes a wish on screen wishes for bad shit. Like there's a lady who wishes for someone to die and then the dude just drops dead. Shit's fucked up.

What this means is that the thing causing the danger isn't an evil villain; he's only creating the opportunity. What's to blame for the oncoming end of the world are the wishes of humanity. It is, in effect, bad to wish for things, not because you might get your shit sucked out by an evil rock, but because your wish might come true. It is only by not wishing for things that you can help Wonder Woman save the world.

The Flash (spoilers, if you care)

This one's about Flash trying to change the past. Time travel, woo. He goes back in time to save his mom from being murdered, and he actually succeeds, but he gets knocked out of the time travel and realizes that as a result of his actions all the super heroes are MIA and Zod (evil general superman) is about to invade.

Flash meets up with himself from this time and gets the band back together, with Batman and Supergirl because Superman didn't arrive in this timeline. Then they go to fight Zod. Montage, music plays, big battle scene, until, they lose. Supergirl and Batman die, so the Flashes need to go back to the past to try and save the day.

Then they fail. And it's kind of interesting, I guess, because we're trained to expect the heroes to succeed at this sort of thing. Then they go back in time again to try and save the day, only to fail again, and again, and again.

Our flash explains to the new flash that this is because this is fated to happen. Zod wins and the planet is destroyed, there's nothing they can do about it. The other flash refuses to listen and keeps trying to save the day until he threatens the fabric of time and space and an evil monster appears.

The twist is that the monster is the other flash, after countless attempts to change the outcome, he's become unrecognizable and now he's here to stop our Flash from stopping him from saving the day. He tries to kill our Flash, but the other Flash takes the hit, dying in the process and erasing his future self from existence.

Our Flash realizes what he has to do, he goes to unchange the past, and then he returns to the present, where his mom's still dead, but at least his dad isn't in prison anymore.

Once again, the Big Problem, isn't the villain. Zod's an obstacle, sure, but the thing threatening to destroy all of existence isn't him, it's the fact that Other Flash wants to save the day. If he just gave up, then all solvable problems would be solved. And it's by giving up on, uh, having a living mother, that our Flash does save the day in the end.

So you can see my problem with this

The moral of the story is that some things can't be changed, and if you try to fix them, you'll only hurt yourself and others. The moral of the story is that if you wish for things, you'll wish for something wrong and selfish, so you need to not wish. These are morals, kinda, if you squint at them, but they suck. They're depressing and hopeless.

And they're especially bad in a Superhero Movie.

The whole point is to reach for what's impossible. We're here to watch larger than life figures prevail against impossible odds and save the world. We're here to change the things that can't be changed, and to wish for a brighter world. These morals are practically antithetical to the genre they're presented in. And if you're, like, writing fucking Watchmen, then sure, that's fine, but when you're writing blockbuster bright and colorful superhero movies—when Watchmen's already come out, when we've got more evil supermen than we have fingers and one of them's already appeared in your own universe—what're you even doing?

These are for kids, man. And the kids in us if we're lucky. Let 'em hope.

#ww1984 #The flash #long post #DCEU

[saltypiss]

The biden speech everyone's cheering was decent to okay. Didn't have much of a problem until he started discussing the genocide by israel to Palestine as a war and as if it was defense.

Truthfully I'd have walked away thinking it was an okay speech. But the second that hit? Total wash. Contradicting himself hard to justify the genocide.

Then it played a different speech and man, he really is tired. Like not trying to be a bitch "he's old and sleepy!" genuinely the dude just has no energy and looks genuinely exhausted. Definitely had drugs in his system for the speech before, but I don't care, I want an olympics based on how far drugs can push someone to jump anyways.

The only realistically solvable problem I have left with Biden anymore is aiding and partaking in a genocide and working with terrorists to do so. But my problem with dems continues to be their utter disdain to criticise this complete joke of a person.

Like god damn ya'll. Just say you're not voting trump at this point. It's embarrassing how republican democratic voters have become. Seriously the instant he's out every one of ya'll are turning on him. Just disgusting and overwhelmingly telling of your character how far you're willing to go to ignore reality to "protect" yourself at the expense of actual lives you deemed beneath you.

I look forward to a decade from now when I get to say "Told ya so" on so much shit when it comes to this administration.

Seriously republicans are at least "debating" who to vote for in the elections. Ya'll don't have a Single Motherfucker lined up for after Biden. Republicans got at least 6 faces of the same flavor to choose from. Biden ain't getting a third term either and the very idea that seems to be everyone's plan is pathetic.

"If you criticise biden it means you're voting for dump!" Like my man no, I'm just not voting for the genocider who did less than the bare minimum in the 4 years he's been in charge to inspire anything in me. "Oh so your plan is to withold your vote for Biden? That's just a vote for dump!" Oh so your plan is get Biden in and then.... And then what?

Does the genocide end? No. Is marijuana legalized? No. Is student loans cancelled? No. Is minimum wage going up? No. Are tax rates for the rich going up? Pfft, 25% yeah, better than what we had but what a damn inch forward. Is he going to lower prices? No. Which is something he mentioned surprisingly, but he's corporate as fuck and we all know the law that'll pass will be a nothingburger that gets removed next election by the innevitable desantis victory against Literally No One.

Go ahead and continue keeping the status quo and establishing that genocide is not enough to even make you blink towards utter devotion. I'm gonna vote third party and continue to do so until we have more than 2 genocidal parties that are completely incapable of criticising Dear Leader. Ya'll have fun with your faux politics where dems are setting up an R victory, I'm gonna Try Something Else and hopefully it's not all a completely rigged and broken system where it doesn't happen even when it should.

Remember: You cannot change an anti-genocider's stance. You can only change yourself. I'd vote biden if he rescinded support and shamefully hid that part of himself for the rest of his presidency, because at least then I know he can be held accountable. I know we didn't elect a different flavor of dictator.

Really have to understand that Dems will do the bare minimum when they feel they actually have to listen to the people. Dump absolutely showed that dems needed to step up their game, and while I appreciate not aiming for charisma, maybe they could've also tried anything worth a shit.

A whole hour n a half long speech and not a single thing he said helped me or anyone I know. Fascinating. Ya gotta love all the nebulous "we got taxes!" going on but here we stand feeling absolutely none of it. Tell me, when does the government gaining money benefit me? Because my roads are shit, my hospitals private, our prisons bloated with pot smokers turned drug experts, and every single fucking time I've tried for government assistance, they Always Deny Me.

So uh. Yeah when's the government gaining money going to positively affect my life? As it stands, it's literally just the stock market. Line goes up, I feel nothing, line goes down, my entire life turns to shit, but not for politicians or the rich.

How about a fucking UBI or god I dunno, make it possible to get government assistance in the first place? Maybe make unemployment catered to, you know, the employee? Hell, fight greedflation like he claims. Bro's on stage acting like he's never noticed shrinkflation, buddy, I was a Child when I first noticed a Chocolate Bar do this shit. Cmon. How much is a banana, old man? How much is the banana?

Regardless. I'm tired of faux good PR and multitudes of claims of accomplishments when not a single one of those affects my day to day. Yes. Good on being green n shit. But you can do more than the bare minimum of ensuring the planet doesn't die with us all on it. Yes that is the bare minimum, and I'm tired of pretending it's not.

All anyone had to do, was just criticise the guy. Not pull your vote, but simply, point out mistakes? Oopsies and gaffs? Perhaps even just have a giggle? It's painfully obvious this admin is shit but simply better than we were expecting from the US government in general thanks to Dump.

As it stand though, well, Biden ain't losing, and he's gonna find out pretty fucking quickly that if a Genocide isn't going to get Dems to be self-aware, god damn near nothing will. And the next dem president after that, and after that, and after that. Literally, just be anti-genocide? It's kind've the most rock-solid, future-proofing you can do for your character, and of course other people, of course. But that's kinda a backseat item for dems anymore. I mean, hey, Biden simply had to send bombs and guns to aid a genocide, maybe it's okay if he does it to some other group of people I only just heard about but Instantly Violently Hate. After all, a genocide is good for Biden!

Again. Just to reiterate a final time: I would've stayed Dem if ya'll could give or take even the slightest criticism of this fuck. I cannot stress enough that it's not a guerilla program to make biden look bad. He just does it himself. But I understand the game. Shit like this can happen with such a compromised country, but jesus christ, the voters? The voters are even pro-genocide? Like, vehemently, pro-genocide, Very Overwhelmingly Pro-Genocide. Like...ya'll, nah. I'm out. No party should overwhelmingly support a genocide.

That's why I'm anti-republican. That's why I was a Dem. Because republicans want a genocide of black people, gay people, other countries.

And here we stand. Biden and his entire admin are pro-genocide. This isn't a hard concept to understand. You either compromise and criticise, or you lose your most rational. Because, and again, this cannot be stressed enough: You Cannot Change an Anti-Genocider's Stance. This is on Ya'll. Not the people who don't want thousands and millions dead.

If ya'll are overwhelmingly, and Vehemently against a compromise, a compromise consisting of "Genocide Bad" then the party is compromised and not worth working with.

Change has to come from ya'll because it will not from republicans. But the fact remains that a Shitload of you are fully invested in justifying a genocide for some old fuck with nothing to show for 4 years and desperately doesn't want to show anything before those 4 years.

Just so we're clear a final time:

Genocide is Bad.

If someone is telling you otherwise, that's telling of their character, and you should trust that tell to inform you of the character. Not justify it. Not defend it. Because when you do, you push away rationality and accountability. When you trust the mask more than the person, the person will always be there, while the mask will not.

Are you willing to defend a genocide for 5 years maximum? Are you willing to justify the actions of someone who's aiding in a genocide until it's no longer convenient? How many corpses need to pile before the end of the genocider's term to hasten your innevtiable switch of opinion?

Because here's the facts: Most of ya'll couldn't care less about the genocide. But by golly, if 4 years of faux safety is enough to justify one. Until it's no longer social convenient. Then, and only then, will you recognize your entire online personality, even real life personality, resulted in the death of multiple generarions of people. Only then will you recognize, you were on the wrong side of history.

Because as easily as you forgave Biden for aiding a genocide, rational people just as easily can drop you out of their life. Good luck getting rid of that digital footprint, the world, and history, will only remember your face for one thing: Aiding a Genocide. Because it was socially convenient at the time. Congrats.

#democrats #biden

[ungodlydandelion]

Huge vent under cut

Ex: [actively yelling 5 inches from my face] I hate when people are loud!

Me: [suffering] yeah... me too...

💫

Ex: [immediately after asking me for money and also making me do their adult phone calls and handle their schedule] You can just treat adults like children and people are so bad with their finances these days! Making someone else deal with your financial situation is unfair.

Me: [coughing]

💫

Ex: [sees me kiss my partner on the cheek] Ew, gross. Anyways I'm watching this show about designing sex rooms for people. Do you want to watch with me? Or maybe talk about the kinks I just discovered [cybersex partner] has? Or watch this movie - it has lesbian sex in it! Onscreen!

Me: ... uh I guess what's the. Plot? Of the lesbian sex movie...

💫

Ex: You have to be positive around me. My anxiety makes me assume that any negative emotions you have are aimed towards me. Also I don't want to talk about anything that doesn't bring me joy - if it doesn't bring me joy, I assume it can't bring anyone else joy. Also, you cannot yell or have a stern tone while talking to me. Also I need you to hang out with me all the time, because I'm lonely, and I get too anxious to meet anyone else.

Me: I think. I am suffocating for some reason.

💫

Ex: I'm a problem solver! [Proceeds to not do any task unless every step is explicitly spelled out to him, and stops doing the task if there is any road block. This leads to legitimate dangers to the health of household pets which I am not aware of because he told me he would deal with it and didn't tell me that he just stopped due to a solvable issue.] Oh I just don't want to burden you with problems!

Me: [desperately trying to play catch up on things that he told me he had handled and didn't, show him step by step how to do anything, and double check all of his work after finding out he endangered my animals and ruined some of my dishes, pans, and silverware] it's less exhausting to just do stuff myself... you're older than me and have done all this stuff on your own for years, how is this happening?

💫

Me: [my partner & I get horrifically sick, are bedridden for two weeks] can you please keep up with the animal care, upstairs chores, and water the plants while we're sick? And possibly order food? I'll send money for it.

Ex: [does not do any of that]

Me: [desperate scramble to get all three of us fed and the pets (including his cat) cared for during the few moments of clarity and wakefulness I got during the illness, then another scramble to catch up with household tasks afterwards]

Ex: I was just so lonely while you were sick :(

Me: for some reason I really feel violent about you saying that, odd.

💫

Ex: [zones out of conversation for 10 minutes, then stops everyone in order to show off a completely unrelated video]

Me: can you not zone out of conversations and then come back to interrupt, off topic? Like if you don't want to have that conversation, you don't have to, but [partner] and I were talking?

Ex: oh, I mean, with my mother will just talk at you and you can just ignore her so I figured it would be fine to handle conversations with you that I'm not interested in the same way.

Me: I'm. We are not your mom??? We're nothing alike????? Why would you think that's applicable here? We've been close friends and family for 5 years and that has never been how things worked?

💫

Ex: [misgenders me, ignores my requests, ignores or tramples my stated boundaries, spends multiple-day, highly visible pouts in the living room if I seem upset near him, ignores me in conversation, ignores when I say no or need privacy]

Me: man, I don't understand or appreciate how you've been treating me. And it feels like you don't respect me or the sacrifices I've made to make this work. I thought we were family, that was the plan? Here's all the issues I'm having and what I think we can do to start not having those issues.

Ex: [doesn't talk to me for an entire week and somehow suddenly has his own money to order McDonald's that whole week] I don't think of you as family, I just went along with that because it seemed like that's what you wanted. I also lied about and hid my financial situation from you because I thought you wouldn't let me move in with you if you knew the truth. I think the problem is that we just have a disconnect of expectations! So let's have a series of singular discussions over each issue in turn so we don't overload my anxiety. [Does not acknowledge any of the issues except to be vaguely defensive]

Me: How am I supposed to have adequate expectations when you're just lying to me and never allowing reality to exist near you??? I'm fucking done. Get out of my home and my life. Enough. I am going to need so much more therapy after this. I'll even pay for it and help you pack.

Ex: [packs and leaves within a week with no help from me - pointedly ignoring any help I offer, showing initiative he's never displayed while here, leaving behind about 30 random expired foods and a huge mess]

Me: [still dealing with the aftermath and finding myself repeating old trauma patterns] I just don't understand why.

#vent #text #hhhhh

[anna-scribbles]

yeah so the line “hey you, show me that solvable problem/we can get though this, i’ll do the hardest part with you” still hits like absolutely nothing else

#i might have listened to the steven universe soundtrack tonight #this show is just. i am filled with so much joy whenever i think about it #it’s so good #this line sums up so much of the movie and steven’s character in general #endlessly impulsively painfully helpful #the hardest part is on him. it’s always on him. #show him that solvable problem (every problem is solvable because it has to be. every problem is his because he is the Problem Solver) #and just.. the vision of him singing this bit while climbing up that impossibly high geoweapon #with nothing but his fading humanity and desperately bleak grasp at optimism #to a fight he didn’t start with a person whose issues have nothing to do with him #and he just. he goes anyway. every single time he goes anyway #every problem is a solvable problem because it has to be #because who is he if not the problem solver. what is he for if not to go through the hardest part of everything with everyone all the time #his helpfulness builds him up and eats away at him in the same stride #su is not perfect but man do i love the way they pushed steven’s ‘good’ character qualities to their extremes #helpfulness is good until it is all you know how to be. problem solving is important until there are no problems left to solve. #selflessness is good until you lose your sense of self in all the years you’ve sacrificed to someone else #i love steven’s character a lot. he is so important to me #okay that’s all #i painted a deck with my dad and brother tonight and we listened to su songs and i had a great time #what a good show #su #anna rambles

[once-upon-a-scenario]

What can I do for you? (Tamaki/reader)

Sometimes he wonders if this is a solvable problem. Is it like math, or quirk training? Is there a formula he needs to memorize, or a technique he needs to practice? Supposedly, picturing people as nonthreatening objects can help, but it’s not like the vegetable plan ever worked anyway- and it’s not like he could ever really see you as a potato or a bunch of lettuce. (OR:  Tamaki likes you. This causes a lot of problems.) Note: Gift for a friend, you know who you are ;) I also wrote this with a bi reader in mind but no labels are mentioned, so it could apply to a number of sexual orientations? :D -Mod Eve ______ Some people are just special- Tamaki knows this. There’s Nejire, with her eyes and her laughter that sparkle like stars, and there’s Mirio, who fairly glows- everything looks golden when he’s nearby. There’s Kirishima, who has teeth like a shark’s but a smile that makes people feel safe. There’s Fatgum, whose presence alone is larger than life, enough to make a room come alive. And there’s you. It’s not that Tamaki dislikes you. It’s not that he doesn’t want to talk to you, or that he takes any sort of pleasure in facing the wall when you’re nearby, trying to fix his gaze on anywhere but your face. This was never part of the plan (if a plan existed in the first place. He’s not sure. He just knows that his hands are clammy and his airway feels blocked and he wishes he hadn’t eaten ramen for lunch because noodles are so, so messy when they come up and this right here feels like it’s about to come up whenever you’re nearby). 

He leans against the hallway wall and groans, hoping that if you happen to pass by, you won’t pay too much attention to his mental breakdown. It’s not too far-fetched, as wishes go, because you’re nice like that- have been nice ever since he was partnered with you for a lesson and you smiled at him, a little awkwardly but not unkindly, even when he was trying to wilt into the nearest corner out of embarrassment. The memory makes his face feel hot and it’s horribly uncomfortable, the combination of squiggly, mean-spirited butterflies and noodles in his stomach and the redness that’s beginning to spread up to his ears. What name, exactly, would you give this kind of feeling? Tamaki feels as if he knows, and he doesn’t like it. (Nevertheless, he likes you. But he’s not special. You are. That’s the problem.) ___ “Cheer up,” Mirio tells him brightly. “Don’t sell yourself so short!” It’s lunchtime, and Tamaki should be eating, but he can see the back of your head a few tables away and it makes him want to die. Maybe it shows in his expression, because Nejire pokes his cheek (harder than necessary). “Hey, hey, do you want help with confessing? I can help with that! Let’s come up with something really cool!”  “I’m not going to confess anything,” Tamaki says, stirring his soup with a dismal air. He stares at the back of your head for another moment, then takes a mouthful of rice. It’s gone depressingly cold. Nejire and Mirio glance silently at each other. Then they start talking loudly about English homework. Tamaki’s grateful, briefly, for their tact; he goes back to his cold rice and tries not to think about The Problem that is you. ___ It’s not easy, though. “Hi!” you say in the hallways, waving at him. “Good morning!” you say in the classroom, smiling shyly. “Hi again!” you say in Recovery Girl’s office, getting your face patched up after a sparring session. You keep talking to him, acknowledging him, and half of it is everything he wants and the other half is everything he wishes would never happen. Every time you look at him and don’t see through him, dread settles in his stomach heavier than any real food he’s eaten. At this rate, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t yet manifested pure anxiety with his quirk. (Wouldn’t that be something to explain to Fatgum?) He tries to say hi back but can never make up his mind whether he should or not; his tongue gets caught in the middle of the word and trips over his teeth, leaving him to creep into the nearest corner and wish he wasn’t there. Liking people, Tamaki decides, especially people like you, just isn’t worth the trouble. (But he can’t stop his heartbeat quickening every time he sees you at school. It’s a wild horse running with the reigns lose, leaving him to careen off the nearest cliff while desperately hoping that maybe, someday, he’ll just forget about this entire disaster and the steering wheel will be back in his hands again.) ___ Sometimes he wonders if this is a solvable problem. Is it like math, or quirk training? Is there a formula he needs to memorize, or a technique he needs to practice? Supposedly, picturing people as nonthreatening objects can help, but it’s not like the vegetable plan ever worked anyway- and it’s not like he could ever really see you as a potato or a bunch of lettuce. The color of your hair, the sound of your voice, the shape of your smile. None of those things are compatible with vegetables. So maybe there’s nothing he can really do, not even when classes see him paired up with you once again. And you smile at him- again. He doesn’t know what expression he makes in return. It might look like a cringe. He hopes it doesn’t, but he also has no clue about how to not make it look like a cringe. And you’re just the kind of special person who keeps being nice to him anyway, which somehow makes him feel worse. Or better. Somewhere in between the two, or maybe a mixture of the two extremes. It doesn’t make sense. (It stopped making sense ages ago.) ”Do you like butterflies?” You ask him, suddenly, halfway through working on your joint presentation. He stares at you. You chuckle awkwardly, twitching a little with what might be embarrassment. “I mean- I’m sorry! I know it’s random. I just noticed...you borrowed a book about them. From the library. When we were there together...not that I was, you know, stalking your book choices or anything! I just...happened to see?” See, Tamaki knows a thing or two about stammering. He knows a lot about being lost for words. Still, he’s been at it for so long and he still hasn’t figured out how to make it sound appealing. You seem to do that naturally. And now you even know that he likes butterflies. You stand there, still twitching a little and looking rapidly between his face and your shoes, and his heart is beating fast again and it’s just not fair. ”I like butterflies,” he replies, simply and stupidly. You smile like he just handed you the whole world. Later that night he tosses and turns in bed, regretting his answer, knowing that he’s just exposed himself as the farthest thing possible from eloquent, but also turning your smile over and over in his head like his favorite record on loop. (Is it possible for someone to have a pretty mouth?) By dawn, he’s memorized the shape of it. He’s in trouble now, he realizes, walking to school with dark shadows under his eyes and Nejire elbowing him in the ribs (”Hey, hey, what kept you up so late?”). Butterflies. That’s all it took to disarm him. You’re too much, entirely too much. It’s time for him to step on the breaks. You smile at him again from across the hall that morning, though, and he realizes with a sinking feeling that the breaks on his stupid, treacherous heart are broken. ___ He has one tried-and-true technique when it comes to other humans. The technique is called Avoidance. He puts it into practice again immediately. When he sees you coming down the hall, he turns the other way. At lunch, he leads Mirio and Nejire as far away from your table as possible. After school, he takes the long way around, hoping that he won’t bump into you on the way home. Mirio sighs a little. Nejire keeps poking him. He ignores them both. ”How do you know it’s one-sided?” Nejire asks him. He won’t look at her. “I just do.” ”That’s a lie,” Mirio says, a little reproachfully, and they leave the subject at that. Mirio always sees right through him. It is a lie, because Tamaki remembers how you smiled at him. That wasn’t a normal kind of smile- it was different from the polite, neatly-folded-at-the-corners sort of look that you usually give. It was brilliant and starry-eyed and so, so preciously beautiful that it hurt to even think about. The kind of smile that you can’t believe you’ll ever see again twice. And the problem, the problem is that he can’t stand to think that that smile was meant for him. Because you’re kind to him even when he won’t look at you, even when his replies to everything you say are short and stupid, even when you’re so special and he’s nothing but himself; anxious and pessimistic and barely even average. And because he is all these things and because he’s afraid, actually, afraid of his own heart palpitations, afraid of this out-of-control rodeo he’s found himself in, afraid of you because how can you possibly expect him to take everything you give him?- he decides to look away. As if nothing ever happened. Because it doesn’t matter. Because he can take it. ___ Actually, he can’t. Or at least, it’s a struggle. There’s that girl with the pink hair and bright eyes who hangs off of your arm like she’s known you forever; a boy with a bold smile who makes you laugh at every word he says. People love you. You don’t seem to notice it, ducking your head and blushing at the attention, but they do. It’s not just him. Tamaki’s treacherous heart turns flip-flops way down in his stomach, whispering that it should be him, him holding your hand, him making you laugh. But it’s not like he has the courage or the wit to do either. ”Jealousy!” shouts the main lead’s best friend in the shoujo romance anime Nejire makes him watch that weekend, and Tamaki sinks into the couch, wishing he would dissolve into it. He is not jealous. He doesn’t have the right to be jealous. But it’s hard to give up on you. He’s realizing it more and more every day. ___ ”Aren’t the butterflies pretty out here?” It’s a school field trip; you’re wading through the long, green grass, chasing a bunch of white butterflies that go flitting through the air, just out of reach of your wandering hands. You smile at him shyly. “Hey Tamaki, would you like to-” He knows what you’re going to say. He knows. He doesn’t dislike the idea of it. At the same time, he hates it. Suddenly, it’s all running through his head like a supercut. Every time you’ve ever smiled at him before. The girl with pink hair. The boy with his joking words. Nejire’s stupid shoujo series. “I’m sorry.” He tenses and turns, almost running, leaving you there in the grass with the butterflies. ____ He suffers in bed that night. How can he ever look you- or himself- in the face again? Maybe it’s better that he doesn’t. Nejire texts him another clip from her anime. ”Be honest with your feelings!” the female lead demands, hands on her hips. “If you like me, just tell me! If you don’t, do the same! That’s all I want from you!” Tamaki mutes his phone, shoves it under the bed, and buries his head under the pillow. He hopes he won’t wake up tomorrow. __ The next day at school, the news has somehow spread. Nejire looks at him reproachfully at lunch, her lips jutting out in a pouty frown. ”Tamaki, how could you? After all that perfectly good romantic advice I texted you, too.” Tamaki says nothing; just picks at his rice, because really, how could he?  Mirio puts a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you’ve got this. Go and apologize. Say how you feel. I know it’s hard, but you’re a good guy and people ought to know that.” Mirio is good at comforting Tamaki. Always is, always has been. But Tamaki still drags his feet as he walks down the hall alone, hunched over, hands in his pockets. All he hopes is that he won’t run into you. And he doesn’t; not for the next week, a week he spends doing very little except looking, Nejire tells him, a lot more depressed than usual, to the point where his teachers and parents start worrying, and isn’t that just embarrassing? He finds that book on butterflies that you pointed out before, stored away in a corner of his room. It’s past the return date. He flips through the pages and pages of colorful wings and beady eyes and then finally slams the volume closed in frustration. It just makes him think of you, standing in the tall green grass with butterflies fluttering around you like feathers from angel wings. He feels a little bit like crying. He wonders how you must feel, and that just makes him feel worse. It’s Kirishima who really gets him, though. Kirishima, walking past him in the hallway, side-by-side with you, talking in low voices about some secret subject meant for two. Kirishima, who corners him after school with a frown that hides all his sharp, sharp teeth and a furrow in his brow that makes Tamaki want to dissolve into the ground. “C’mon, senpai, you’re the coolest. You’re better than this.” You’re really sad. You think he must think that you were too forward- that he hates you. And it’s those words that really rip him apart. ___ On Monday afternoon, you find a note slipped into the pocket of your bag. It’s written in handwriting neat and precise, covering a post-it in the shape of a butterfly. Will you meet me on the rooftop after school? And you’re not sure how to feel because you never took Tamaki to be the cruel type, but your heart beats a little faster as you decide, maybe, maybe just one more time. ____ You’re there on the rooftop, waiting. Tamaki swallows. There’s a script in his head, overly detailed and dramatic; he spent all night writing and memorizing it. Now that he’s here, though, it’s slipping out of his grasp, water between his fingers. He stands there, hands trembling. He notices with a pang that your eyes are red.  “I’m,” he begins, and he had a grand speech planned out for this part, there were so many adjectives, but they’re all gone now- “I’m sorry.” You look at him questioningly. The next words tumble out completely out of order. This is him losing control of the reins again, but Tamaki’s helpless, unable to grab his sentences back until they’re already out of his mouth. “I do like you.” And after that it’s like a torrent of words, just words, a waterfall out of his big, stupid mouth that’s not used to talking at all and therefore is not good at it in the slightest, and you’re just staring at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes, sniffling occasionally as he rants. “I like you a lot, I’ve liked you for- so long now. I don’t remember how long. I like your hair and I like the way you smile and I liked that you noticed I like butterflies because nobody else ever noticed those little things before, and nobody else ever cared, and I thought you looked so pretty on that field trip when the grass was all up around your ankles and the sun was in your hair. And I- I knew what you were going to say, I think, and I wanted to say yes. I’m sorry.” It’s silent for a moment. You watch him carefully before you open your mouth, your voice quiet and a little hoarse.  “...so why didn’t you?” “Because,” and today is really not his day, everything is careening right off course and he’s miserable, unable to look you in the eyes even though that’s the most basic of courtesies that he ought to be fulfilling right now, “because you’re- you’re too special.” “I’m...?” “Special,” he pushes on, because why not at this point? “You’re like Mirio, or Nejire, or Kirishima- special people. You stand out. You’re- you’re- you’re just...wonderful. And I don’t know,” he swallows hard, all the way down to the pit of his stomach, “I don’t know what I could possibly do for someone as special as you are.” There’s another moment of silence. He trembles, still, looking down at his shoes, studying every dent and bit of dirt on them and feeling small and miserable and naked, his heart on his sleeve for you to judge. Then he hears you laugh; soft and rueful. “That’s funny.” He looks up, right into your red, teary eyes. “Because that’s exactly how I feel about you.” It’s like the world stops turning for a moment. “Oh,” is the only word his mouth can make out. “Oh.” “Yeah,” you say, shrugging your shoulders and smiling nervously. A tear runs down your cheek and Tamaki’s heart clenches painfully; he’s there in an instant, his body moving before he can think, until his nose is centimeters from yours and he can barely say anything but his hands are jumping about in anxiety, unsure where to put themselves. “Please don’t cry,” he whispers. You laugh again, whispery and low, your voice cracking a little. You reach up and wipe your eyes with your sleeve. “Ok. And Tamaki- you said you don’t know what you can do for me.” You glance at him cautiously through your eyelashes. “Will you go get ice cream with me this Saturday?” And every nerve in his body is screaming no, no, no, you’re not worth this, there’s no way, refuse before you let another person down, but fighting against the darker thoughts is the image of the single tear trickling down your cheek and how much he absolutely hates to see you cry and the way you’re looking at him right now, wide-eyed and jittery and barely hopeful and oh so special and yet, in a way, exactly like him. Tamaki flushes. “Ok.”

#BNHA #Tamaki Amajiki x reader #amajiki tamaki x reader #Tamaki x reader #Suneater x reader #Tamaki Amajiki #Amajiki Tamaki #Suneater #BNHA reader insert #scenario #Mod Eve #fren I have 0 experience writing for Tamaki but I did it for u #ily lots #uwu #gender neutral reader #reader: I like u #Tamaki: self esteem issues go brrrr

[yostresswritinggirl]

Genshin Boys would be Horrible as Disney Princes

Headcanon and Reader Perspective, Drabble

Sojourner Special (Followers Event)

Despite being the gentleman and sweethearts that they are, in the wrong hands, of badly aligned context and universal rules these boys can barely function as princes given their own ideals.

Diluc in Cinderella

Shortest one, oops.

Our Diluc would honestly be too busy for balls if we're doing this canonically, night time of all times. He's not your prince tonight, he's off somewhere doing Knight stuff...

If by chance you did catch him in the ball and he did indulge you with your dance until you escapaded at midnight, he's not gonna question it.

And since he didn't even REMEMBER your face, the next day just goes on as usual. No decree for searching the whole land for your foot or anything, it's just a normal day after a party.

"They left without a word, no name or promise, who am I to say no when they clearly don't want to stay?"

He's a gentleman. Too gentlemanly...

Childe in Sleeping Beauty

In this scenario, Childe embraces his knight-ness more than the princely aspect. I mean sure, he danced with you in the forest all so lovingly, sang along to your pretty lil voice. But when the prophecy came, his focus changed—

To the thrill of fighting a big ass green fire breathing dragon! Big woah, Childe had soooo much fun fighting it that he didn't even cheese it.

He lived for every hour of the fight and made it as slow as possible. Taunting, playing with his PREY- mid-fight the dragon would realize just how strong and horrifying Prince Childe is, but the entertainment had started, and the dance won't end until Childe wills it.

When he DID finally slay the damned thing, he'll come up to your quarters and stare at your sleeping body, and then think "Hey, if them being put under this spell gave me the fight of the century? What if ANOTHER dragon comes? That would be amazing!" No waking up for you, or the whole city for that matter.

Albedo in Frog Princess

You... You don't even get the chance to be the frog princess in here... simply because he himself REFUSES to change back to normal. You have never met a man so intelligent, much more a frog.

"I know of which you are not, I won't be fooled by cardboard crowns and secondhand dresses," you choke as he berates every fiber of your being, "It matters not, I still have much to learn about the life of an amphibian."

He disappears after that and you've never heard from him ever again, although at the back of your mind you're pretty sure he's a live and well, that bastard is too smart to end up as roadkill.

And well, you're right, he's out there in the world of frogs doing frog things. Triumphant over frog science and the other talking creatures he may meet.

He'll also find a way to revert himself back to normal, either making his own cure or just enlisting the help of a princess to bargain.

He might come to you upon the logic of marriage counting you as princess, but don't get too hyped, you won't be treated as his wife. He'd be too busy putting his frog research into paper...

Zhongli in Beauty and the Beast

A beast he may be, he's still dignified and elegant, upholding his end of the bargain so long as the other does the same.

Your father may have trespassed and have taken some flowers in his domain but well, really it's such a petty crime that can easily be solvable. And even if there needs to be punishment incured...

When you stumble to the mansion in search of your father, ready to take his place from his jail cell, you find him and the beast (ohh half-dragon Zhongles) by an elegant table drinking cups of tea with light conversation. Huh?

"There is no need to fret, your father and I are just discussing the terms of our contract. He spoke of his woodworks that I wish to commission in exchange, such good potential should not be wasted."

You can also, well, pay off things within contract? But either way, it would be hella awakward, he won't impose on your life and most certainly not about the curse when you had so much to live for.

Kaeya in Rapunzel

Little bitch, thru and thru. If Eugene is such a criminal, he's taking it TENFOLD.

He's not even gonna be the slightest bit trustworthy for you, little Rapunzel, because he raises so many red flags your frying pan wouldn't even be enough to threaten him. He probably has a really thick skull, and your resolve won't be able to smack that pretty face.

Bargaining won't work, he'd sleight of hand his way out and get the crown knowing you'd hid it in the pot immediately, and then just backflip outta there.

If you manage to get him to get you out, he's not gonna be of help either. Kaeya would be amused with toying with you, leaving you in the dark as you get scared shitless/dance around with some tavern criminals. Otherwise, ehh...

One way or another, he's gonna find a way to get you off his case. Either forcing you to travel with companions that's headed to the city anyways or forcefully knocking you out and heaving you back to your tower.

"You have a mother that never ages lock you up in this tower? Nu uh, sweetie, I'm not dealing with the dark forces of witchery when I'm already well off with the crown."

He got the crown.

Venti in Snow White

I'm sorry what? Free apples? Eternal sleep in a beautiful bed? He's gonna be glad to just take your place. (Spoilers, he would)

He'd be most definitely entertained with your dwarves, playing his tunes. You life would be filled with his lyre as he plays around, not even caring about the other implications of yours or his status in this woodland forest.

You ran away from home? Cool, freedom, man. Wish he could the same without jeopardizing the kingdom and his family. He'd probably take the apple too just for you~

During your rest, he'll come up with the most eloquent song to play for your seven dwarves as he watches your fate sadly. How peaceful you looked, away from the world and from the grips of death.

The dwarves would force him to please try and break the spell, and he'll shrug and indulge- except it didn't break the spell, as he expected it to be. And they are clueless on who else you had encountered in your life to even spare a true love's kiss.

"How saddening, the princess lays. Maddening to those around as they'd say, if only my kiss was enough for the curse to sway." You died, ouch.

Xiao in Mulan

Brutal. Brutal. Brutal. His voicelines would come in sooooo handy here, oh my goodness.

If you miraculously bypassed his analytical gaze enough to hide your sexuality, you're going to die in his training program. He's not gonna go easy on you, not when the fate of the nation lies upon your capability to keep up. You're gonna go through far worse than what true Mulan went through, and you may or may not just die in the process.

If by chance you survived, this would warrant enough respect to not kill you (oh, you lived) but you better not show up again.

He's never gonna be delighted to see your traitorous face again, he can save China on his own, thank you very much. And you know he can. Try and approach him, and a sword would be at your neck once again.

"Foolish gremlin, you think you had the right to present yourself after the treason you willfully committed? We won't crumble at the loss of one person, your job here is done." How sad.

Cyno in Little Mermaid

First of all, wack, mermaids exist! Sadly, that's nothing new for him. He knows a lot with that intelligent mind of his, so it would be no surprise that the existence of such mythical creatures doesn't make him bat an eyelash. He's been living near water, he's not that stupid.

With that in mind, your presence in your first meeting is going to be bad. Very bad. Cyno knows about sirens and he's not at all gonna fall for it, and if by chance he had known you before the ship was wrecked, he's probably gonna be veryyy keen in capturing you instead.

So if by chance you're stupid enough to interact with him and DESIRE to be on land with him, you're gonna deal with a lot of problems.

You're not getting that kiss easily. No, it's a huge challenge. He'd be repulsed in your naivety and will most likely be more concerned on your voice than ever. He'd be so kind to try and give a shot in helping with the cure but it's not the cure you needed.

He'll drown himself in every literature in full concentration just to see if there's any text he can find about curses and muteness. His curiousity would get the best of him, and you'll barely see him after you managed to explain your predicament without the need for words. Octopus woman doesn't even need to show up to intervene.

"A kiss? Surely not, such ailment won't be cured by fairytale methods." And then he goes back to his library once again. And you will be seafoam the next sunrise. Or was it sunset?

"So now that we've established these grounds," Exiled turns to the other two in the area, "Maybe, these boys would be better off as princesses."

And so the trio concocts a new type of fairytale, collaborated to masterpieces soon after.

@moaa @dandelion-dreams @witchsungie @zelos-simp @legionqueensav @snackgod @rxsalinee @cala-ran @wind-wheel @struggljng @ellitx @kookieyachi @dandelion-dreams

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #diluc x reader #cyno x reader #albedo x reader #venti x reader #zhongli x reader #childe x reader #xiao x reader #kaeya x reader #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact imagines #exile.flower #exile.circlet #disney genshin #ajajjajajaja #this was made on impulse #sojourner special

[silversatoru]

megumi + gaslighting / iq reduction

pls mr fushiguro, undermine my intelligence every day, purposely keep me unstimulated until im ur dumb, dependent plaything ❤️

a present for you when you get off the plane <3 i took a slightly diff approach to this and i know ur degree is very much not related to science but science is all i know,, so idk,, pretend u were a bio major or something for the sake of this fic okay

megumi + gaslighting/iq reduction

tw: nsfw 18+, f!reader, college-student!reader x professor!megumi, dark content, gaslighting, heavy manipulation, iq reduction, dumbification, slight misogyny?

wc: 1.3k

you still remember the first day of mr. fushiguro’s class, and the way he seemed to pick on you of all people — the way he asked you to stay after class and immediately offered you a position on his team of research students. you remember questioning why he chose you instead of someone else, to which he affirmed that no one had quite the credentials that you did. and you were left wondering how he could possibly judge that on the very first day of classes.

you still remember the first time you showed up to the lab for said research group, the straps of your bag clutched nervously in your clammy palms. mr. fushiguro was a young but incredibly esteemed professor, and this was going to look great on your transcript, so you were nothing but a ball of excited jitters. and you were smart! you knew you’d be an excellent addiction to this team of students, and you were grateful for the opportunity.

or so you thought; but it quickly became apparent that you weren’t nearly as prepared as you thought you were. it seemed like everything you did was wrong — all of your experiment results were compromised, lacked accuracy, and were always rejected. it seemed like all the other students were excelling, and mr. fushiguro loved them — but he was always so frustrated with you.

if only you knew the frustration was a front. if only you realized that every experimental result you got was right, that every answer and every theory you came up with was painfully accurate. if only you knew that your struggles were entirely fabricated by mr. fushiguro and his ulterior motives.

eventually he made the recommendation that you do some remediation with him — a few one-on-one sessions to help sharpen your skills so you can contribute more to his research. so of course you said yes! because you wanted nothing more than to be helpful and you couldn’t understand what you were doing wrong.

so you attended the tutor sessions with your dark-haired professor; but they were less about learning and more about brutal criticism of your skills. mr. fushiguro berated and insulted your intelligence several times, making you falter at his words and wonder what you ever did to deserve to be involved in his research project in the first place.

“i just don’t think you’re cut out for this, ms. l/n”.

maybe you really weren’t cut out for this.

“your lack of skills has surprised me, i can’t say i’m not disappointed in your performance so far”.

you were disappointed in yourself too.

“you’ll have to put in a lot of extra work if you want to stay on the team”.

you’d do whatever it took.

you were always bright, always excelled in your science-related classes, so what was happening to you? why were you the weak link of his research group? why were you on the verge of failing his class? why was everything suddenly so hard?

you didn’t mean to break down in front of him, tears streaming down your cheeks as you choked back sobs and hid your face behind your hands. it’d been building up for a while now: your frustration, your sudden lack of self-confidence, your feelings of inadequacy; they were all overflowing. but mr. fushiguro showed you zero sympathy, staring down at you with icy eyes and not a shred of mercy. you were exactly where he wanted you, and he was about to seal the deal.

“i really expected more from you”

those were the words that broke you in half, your fear of failure becoming all to real in that moment. but his next words halted your tears and created a small shred of hope in your despair.

“but i do want to help you. my door is open to you anytime. i have practice questions and study methods that i’m happy to share with you”.

and so here you were, anxiously sitting at his kitchen table trying to solve a few problems that he’d given you to practice. but you couldn’t seem to figure them out no matter how hard you tried — brain frying as you tried and failed over and over.

but it was all exactly as it was supposed to be — the problems were never solvable in the first place — there were no right answers — they were simply meant to melt your little brain.

you came back to his house time and time again, and each study session was worse than the last. you were never able to figure anything out on your own, you always needed his help, you couldn’t do anything without him.

it was no shocker when you began to admire him, depend on him, feel like you couldn’t do any schoolwork on your own. his months of manipulation were finally paying off, you were finally a dumb little thing who had no self confidence and who was constantly begging for his help. and he was happy to provide that for you, but you were going to have to start making it worth his time — his expert help doesn’t come for free.

you’re not sure what possessed you to agree, to have his cock lodged in the back of your throat while he groaned and leaned back in his seat — but you needed his help, this was just a small price to pay. you’d bob your head and choke on his tip as it pressed into your esophagus as if your future depended on it, because at this point, it kind of did.

but the prices kept getting steeper; eventually a quick blow wasn’t enough to appease mr. fushiguro. he wanted more. if you wanted to keep his help you needed to be face down and bent over his kitchen table — and so that’s exactly what you did.

brain foggy and knees aching your sweaty fingers grasped at the smooth table top as he took you from behind. his strained cock dragged against your sopping walls, your ass nearly bruising from how hard he was fucking himself into you. whimpers and moans overflowed from your lips as your bare tits pressed into empty worksheets — the two of you had completely glossed over the “studying” portion of your night tonight, skipping right to your payment.

you could barely even think straight, your head spinning with endorphins as you cried out in response to the tip of his cock kissing against your cervix. his fingers dug into the sides of your hips, pressing little red circles into your skin from how hard he grasped at you. your were shaking, your entire body pulsing with bliss each time he thrusted up into your cunt.

he was so happy with himself, balls deep inside one of the smartest students who had ever graced his classroom. he’d taken a girl with so much potential it was sickening, and convinced her that she was worthless, reduced her to a less than average student who was desperate enough to take her professor’s cock in exchange for better grades. you were pathetic, embarrassing even, laying here on your stomach and babbling complete nonsense while he filled you up.

all it took was patience and a sprinkle of manipulation to get you like this. to make you a dumb little fuck toy who came to his house several times a week under the guise of getting help with class work.

and he’d keep this up until you could barely even think for yourself — reducing you to a brainless little pet who deserves to be stuffed with cum and nothing else.

you didn’t belong in STEM, you didn’t belong in a university in general — you belonged right here on his kitchen table, your face sitting in a puddle of your own drool.

you were stupid, or at least he convinced you that you were so much so that you actually became it.

#dark content mini event #tw dark content #tw manipulation #tw dumbification #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #megumi fushiguro smut #megumi fushiguro x reader #megumi x reader #fushiguro x reader #fushiguro megumi x reader #megumi smut #fushiguro smut #silver.nsfw

[wanderingwomanwondering]

So I had a conversation with someone on Facebook about his views on what he believed to be New Trek’s divergence from the true meaning of Trek. I won’t share his comments, which were civil but ultimately fairly shallow in my opinion. Instead I want to share a synthesis of what emerged for me in my replies to him.

I’ve always appreciated the idea of Utopia but it’s hard to believably implement given the diversity of needs and contexts present in a multispecies universe. DS9, Disco, and Picard all honor the fact that Utopias aren’t built overnight and aren’t maintained by sheer will. It takes grappling and wrestling with dynamic and nuanced contexts. It takes dialogue and diplomacy, as well as war when the basic “human” rights of even a few are being violated. All three shows highlight that Utopia doesn’t just happen and that even once it is painstakingly established, it’s not monolithic. There is complexity and dynamism even in a Utopia. The Utopia and it’s denizens are growing, working, figuring, negotiating, conflicting and challenging, changing and evolving, finding common ground, honoring differences and celebrating similarities. I think all of that is quite beautiful.

Regarding Disco’s grittiness and Picard’s character shift (due to a changing universe and his newly acquired on- and off-screen life experiences over time), the addition of those elements is a great boon to the Star Trek Universe from my perspective. The course of scientific progress and cultural evolution never did run smooth.

I loved TNG. It was the series that ushered me into the Star Trek Universe. However, its “vibe” (and the vibe of TOS) often struck me as more of a superiority complex than as moral high ground, not because I disagreed with the key philosophical and ethical arguments of the STU but because it rarely grappled with the real multicultural foundations and implications of the Federation’s philosophical directives and charges.

DS9 and Disco (honorable mention for the Picard series too) are my favorite iterations of the STU thus far because they honor the complexity and nuance of “doing the right thing” by honoring the unique histories and values of the cultures represented. They struggle with what “the right thing” even means and invite debate and diplomacy without ignoring disagreements and other forms of conflict, including rebellion and all out war. We got whole arcs in all three shows demonstrating that every expansion of the Federation and every forward motion in time comes with new cultural, political, and scientific dynamics, issues, and concerns.

That has always been the highest evolutionary form of the STU for me and I am thrilled to see the showrunners’ willingness to finally “go there” unapologetically and explore the issues more deeply.

“Grit” and conflict are not mutually exclusive to Utopia; they are the road to lasting, meaningful interplanetary collaboration and an enduring federation of planets. The main challenges to Utopia are not grit and conflict but how the diverse cultures involved choose to rise to meet, address, and work through those very real and salient issues.

Honestly, it makes me teary-eyed just thinking about what a beautiful model that is. Pretending conflict doesn’t exist and/or that tough problems are clearly/easily solvable does a disservice to the complexity of human nature, the dynamism of human scientific and cultural ingenuity, and the depth of the human spirit.

To me, the Star Trek Universe has always been about something better and far greater than cisgender, heterosexual, white male power fantasies of an exotic and diverse futuristic universe marching to the beat of their imperial drum. I’m just sayin. New Trek has leveled up and I’m here for it.

#i have thoughts #star trek #star trek meta #star trek discovery #star trek ds9 #star trek picard #star trek tng #star trek tos #mine

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

No.13ーParaEmu (established relationship). Thank you!

13. “Am I doing it right?”

A puzzle is solvable. A game can be beaten. Parad is a walking, talking encyclopedia of cheat codes, exploits, and unbeatable strategies, and if he wants to be good at something then he will be.

The problem is, he’s finding, that you can’t really be good at a person. Like, you can get to know them, you can learn everything about what they enjoy and what they do and how they think about things, and you can still mess up. Because actually you’ll think you know everything about them, but you don’t, or maybe you did but something changed.

And you don’t even get patch notes.

It’s not fair.

He sits next to Poppy’s cabinet and buries his face in his hands, and Poppy leans out from the screen with a little frown on her face and says, “What’s wrong?”

“Emu doesn’t want to talk to me,” he mumbles into his palms. “I think he’s mad at me. I think I might be bad at being a boyfriend.”

“Why do you think he’s mad?” She fizzes out of the cabinet and sits down next to him, reaching out to pat his knee gently. “Did he say something to you? Did you two have an argument?”

“He’s shutting me out of his head. He feels upset about stuff, but he won’t tell me why. That means it’s me, right? Why else would he be keeping it secret?”

“Maybe he’s worried about something that he thinks would upset you. Have you tried talking to him? You know, with actual talking, not just your brain?”

“No. If he doesn’t want to talk to me with his brain then why would he want to talk to me another way?”

“Well, sometimes it’s easy for humans to say things one way but not another.” Poppy pauses, tapping thoughtfully on her lips. “Or if you’re really sure he’s mad at you, you could always try bringing him a present. You know, something a boyfriend would bring him.”

Parad stares up at her, forehead wrinkled in bafflement. “Like what? I don’t know what boyfriends give people, that was Lovelica’s thing.”

“Um...flowers, I think? Or chocolates or something? I’ve never had a boyfriend, I don’t really know. And, I don’t know, ask him what he’s been working on, he and the others have that conference coming up.”

--

Emu gets home exhausted, puts away his shoes, hangs his coat up, turns around, and stops. “Uh. Is today something? Did I forget about today being something?”

Parad stares glumly at the stack of plastic containers on the table. “I told Poppy you were mad at me, and she said maybe give you flowers or chocolates or something, but you’re allergic to flowers and I wasn’t about to ask Brave what kind of chocolates are good so I just got you one of every bento you like from the convenience store near Snipe’s clinic. Is that right? Am I doing this right? Whatever I did, I’m sorry, please talk to me again.”

“You told Poppy I was...what? I’m not mad at you. Oh wow, is that gyudon, I am starving--why do you think I’m mad at you?”

“Whenever I try to talk to you you’re all shut off.” Parad taps on his temple. “And you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

“I--” Emu sags. “I’m sorry, I thought I’d told you, I had a couple of patients who had to get big procedures lately, between that and this stupid conference I’ve been really busy. And--oh. Damn. It’s the conference, that’s why.” He thumps down on the couch next to Parad and leans on his shoulder. “I promise I’m not mad at you, but I was shutting you out, and I’m sorry for that. I can explain why if you want to talk about it.”

“...you’re sure?” Parad passes Emu the gyudon bento and utensils and then grabs three kimchi onigiri for himself. “Poppy did mention the conference, what’s so bad about it?”

There’s a long pause as Emu stuffs his face with gyudon and downs a coffee, and then he says, “So, uh. I have to give a speech.”

“I thought giving speeches at conferences was a good thing.”

“Well, yeah, kind of, but. Um. You know how I’m Patient Zero?”

“Yeah, obviously I know about that, I’m your Bugster.”

“And you know how there are only, like, five or six people who are supposed to know about that?”

“...yeah?”

“One of Kiriya’s colleagues at the path lab found out somehow, and he told another doctor, and now pretty much the entire medical community knows and I have to give a whole presentation at this conference about how it’s affected my work as a CR doctor. They want me to transform in front of everyone. And also some conspiracy theorist with a podcast is going around saying that I’ve been going around giving people Game Disease for years like I’m, I’m Typhoid Mary or something.” Emu shovels more gyudon into his mouth, chews, and swallows, scowling all the time. “I’ve gotten some really nasty emails.”

Parad gapes at him for a moment before saying, “Game Disease doesn’t even work like that, though.”

“Well, yeah, I know that, you know that, any doctor who knows anything about Game Disease knows that, but either this podcast guy doesn’t or he’s a really good liar.” A mouthful of rice, more gyudon, more coffee. “Like, it’s not really doing damage to my rep with other doctors, but it’s not exactly. Great for me.” Emu stares down into his already-greatly-diminished bento. “I was shutting you out because I’ve been worrying about it a lot and I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”

“Why would I--” Parad blinks, eyes flashing briefly as he figures it out. “Oh. Because I’m your Game Disease.”

“Yeah. It...honestly it didn’t even occur to me that doing that would freak you out more, I just didn’t want you to find out and think it was your fault.” Emu groans and flops back against the back of the couch. “I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I should have just told you about it.”

The unexpected response is, “Can I fight the podcast guy?”

“What? No. I mean, I wish you could go fight the podcast guy, but it really wouldn’t help.”

Parad nods. “Ok, if you say so. Can I help with your conference thing?”

Emu opens his mouth to say no and then blinks and says, instead, “...actually, yeah, you wanna do Mighty Brothers in front of a big crowd?”

“Obviously I do, you know I love showing off. Do you think that’d help?”

“Yeah, I mean. If they want me to talk about how having a long-term case of Game Disease has changed my approach to the, uh, active part of the treatment, you’re sort of important to that.” Emu grins at him. “You’re my favorite symptom, you know that?”

Parad preens. “Sure I am. We’re gonna scare the crap out of a bunch of doctors, it’s gonna be awesome.”

#parad #hojo emu #poppy pipopapo #fanfiction #anonamouse

[wrightiverse]

Last batch of commentary for the last chapter of Crowd

Glenn looks over to see how Nick's doing, and the kid gives him a beaming grin and a thumbs up. Glenn’s heart thumps almost painfully in his chest as he grins back.

But I won't feel blue / Like I always do / 'Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you.

The “you” that was somewhere in the Crowd had to be Nick. As much as I like Robin, Nick is still the most important person in Glenn’s life, and affirming their bond was the right note to end on.

* * * * *

See, Glenn's cautiously adjusting to the idea that Nick isn’t going to kick Glenn out of his life on his 18th birthday. He definitely doesn’t know a lot of guys who get along with their fathers, but even his oblivious ass has noticed that Connor’s over at the loft every few weeks, crashing on the bunk beds that he and Nick insisted were necessary. Hell, Robin called his own parents back in Boston this morning to proudly tell them about Glenn’s show.

That's what Glenn did to his own dad, and of course that's what he's afraid of with Nick. You can't be what you don't see, and unfortunately I don't think Glenn knows a lot of guys who have a good relationship with their fathers. I certainly couldn’t come up with a third example from the characters in the dndads universe.

* * * * *

Choosing to be happy is a high-stakes bet, but Glenn's decided to let it ride. Giving up just doesn't hold the same appeal that it used to. He's going to stay in the game, trust his luck, and see what the cards have in store for him.

One of the changes in Glenn over these stories is him grasping that much of the stuff in his life, good and bad, was due to chance. He didn't bring the bad times on himself by being a bad person, and the good things in his life now aren't because he's turned it all around. Refusing to roll the dice didn't actually protect him the way he hoped it would, so he's getting back in the game. We threw it in kinda casually at the end of a silly part of the story, but it's more or less the thesis statement: Life’s still not fair, but occasionally, with the right people around... it’s good.

* * * * *

Maybe he'll get to be around to watch Nick grow up. Maybe he’ll actually find a gray hair one day, and it won’t be the end of the world.

Glenn’s vigilance about looking youthful, particularly with regard to whether his hair is going gray, has been a running bit since way back in Name. In contrast, they're both very comfortable with Robin looking his age, to the point where Glenn has a hard time even accepting that Robin looked different when he was a young man. It comes up a couple of times, often relative to Glenn's parents. Robin asks Glenn when Bill went gray, and Glenn doesn't know (and gets stressed out at the question). Robin realizes when he meets Adele that she does her grays exactly the way that he thinks would look good on Glenn. I have to imagine he never brought that particular suggestion up again, but the fact that he found out via meeting Adele and not via Glenn saying "no, that's what my mother does and I hate it" is not a great sign. Anyway, all those moments take on a different cast in light of Glenn's difficulty with making decisions on behalf of his future self. As with the "fatherhood extends past the point when your kid turns 18" revelation, some of it just comes down to him being somebody who is fairly isolated and lacks role models. This is where their often-alluded-to age gap comes in really handy: Robin and Connor can provide at least one model of a functional father-son relationship that’s a few years along from where Glenn and Nick are. That’s not the only thing Glenn needs to help him out, but it can’t hurt.

Glenn tends to self-isolate, and from my perspective, essentially none of his problems are solvable in isolation at all. This is a guy whose best friend is his kid and most of his adult interaction is with his bandmates, with whom he has a bad relationship in both this and canon. Canon Glenn never tries to use his phone to talk to anybody but Nick, IIRC. His dad is dead. His wife is dead. He never mentions any other partner, a friend, even an ex or a neighbor. He seems to vaguely know a couple of the other dads from school stuff, but not well. Maybe he has an entire support network that got mentioned after I stopped listening, but he always seemed like a really lonely guy to me in eps 1-30 or so. It made his failings make a lot of sense - he has no support and he has no points of comparison, so he just sort of freestyles it and gauges his success based on whether Nick seems happy or not. That’s not a sustainable or healthy approach, but every other one would probably require a) effort and b) external support, so... nope.

The future isn't the only time that Glenn is bad with. He also has major parts of the past blocked off, and most of the time when he thinks about something in the past, it's the result of a trigger, rather than a choice. There are definitely things in his past where it's understandable that he doesn't want to linger, but it means he’s left some good stuff behind, as well. Part of him figuring out how to break out of his patterns is developing the ability to envision both the future and the past. That's why it's so good to see him reconnecting with the first music he played, and why they finally have some pictures of Morgan up. He is making peace with the past, he is understanding that the bad stuff that happened to him was the result of random happenstance (rather than deliberate punishment for him being a bad person), and it enables him (as do some of the other things discussed above) to contemplate the premise that tomorrow might not necessarily be worse than today and the future might be worth showing up to, gray hair or no.

*****

Maybe he’ll become old and boring. Maybe he deserves to. What Glenn can say for certain is that in this moment, he's happy, and he's lucky, and he's loved.

It's tough to figure out where to end a slice-of-life story. In this case it made a lot of sense to bring it full circle with Glenn performing on his own. He opens Crowd rehearsing miserably and he spends a lot of the subsequent story untangling the mess that's become of the band and his relationship to music. I honestly don't remember why we decided Glenn's canon exit from the GC3 didn't apply, since it was a decision we made back when we actually were trying somewhat to adhere to canon, but I'm glad we did because it gave us the opportunity to follow this out and explore the different nuances of it.

I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but I am always hugely tempted to end dndads fics with some riff on the “it’ll be all right” thing. In this case, I wanted to avoid it not just because it felt hacky but because it was a contradiction to everything we’ve been saying. There are no happy endings. I can’t promise that everything is going to be all right for Glenn, but I can promise that in this moment, in this story, in this universe, he’s happy and loved. I hope that felt earned and that you enjoyed getting there with us.

#wrightiverse #commentary

[kasplode]

Love.

Fandom: Steven Universe

Words: 1,700

Summary:

Steven with his family, in the days following his break down.

(Set after Steven Universe Future Episode 19, ‘I Am My Monster’)

—

Hey, you, show me that solvable problem

We can get through this

I'll do the hardest part with you

[READ ON AO3]

Steven is exhausted.

For the first time in several days, he’s actually alone. He’s sitting in the kitchen, staring out the window at the beach and the horizon beyond. He’d been playing games with Amethyst all morning, and now she’s left the house for her class at Little Homeschool. It’s nice to finally have a moment of quiet.

The Diamonds and Spinel went back to Homeworld a few days ago, at the insistence of Steven and the gems. He appreciates that they care, but Spinel was right, back then. Sometimes you need to not see someone for a while.

The rest his family have been all but smothering him in love. It seems that every moment of every day, there’s at least one aggressively loving person by his side; be it Dad, Connie, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth, Peridot or Lapis.

‘That’s so many,’ Steven can’t help but think, sometimes. ‘So many people here. So many people I love, who love me. How did I ever feel so alone?’

But smothered as he is, it feels like he’s never been able to breathe quite so easily.

They’ve kept him busy, made sure he doesn’t do too much.

/-/

The day after his breakdown, Steven forces his tired body out of bed, where Connie is curled up beside him, passed Pearl, who has apparently taken up the whole ‘watching him while he sleeps’ thing again, and downstairs to make himself breakfast.

“Good morning Steven,” Pearl greets him, following him downstairs. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m-” Steven stops before he can say ‘fine’ and stares at the kitchen counter for a moment. Saying that will never be the same again, he thinks.

“I’m tired. I feel better than yesterday, though,” he says.

It’s true. Every move he makes is weighed down as if gravity is pulling at him harder than usual, trying to push him into the ground. But still, he can stand, and his emotions seem to have finally settled after the riotous rollercoaster of the past few days.

Pearl claps, rewarding his improved mood with a smile. A spark of happiness lights in Steven, but.

How long has it been since he’s made one of the gems smile? How long has it been since he’s even seen them smile, without sadness there to corru- ruin it?

Steven turns back to the counter. He’s so tired, but it’s no good if he goes back to bed now. He needs to get something in him, and with his current lack of energy, that ‘something’ may as well be a protein shake.

“Oh, Steven,” Pearl says, when Steven grabs the protein powder, “you need something with more substance than that to keep your strength up! I wanted to make breakfast for you and Connie.” She glances at the couch, “And Greg too, when he wakes up.”

Steven’s face falls against his wishes. He’s already caused so much trouble, he doesn’t want the gems to feel like they need to take care of his every whim and will just because he couldn’t handle himself!

Pearl looks at him, and her expression becomes a little less sure. “That is, if you’d like me to. I understand if you’d prefer to take care of it yourself, I just…”

And heck, he’s made Pearl lost for words. Not what he wants to do.

Steven forces himself to take a deep breath, breathing out the muggy smokiness invading his lungs. “No, it’s okay. If you want to, I’d love to eat your cooking again. It’s been a while.”

Pearl gives him a crooked smile and pulls him into a quick hug. “Excellent! I have so many recipes I’ve been meaning to try out. Maybe you can hang around and be my taste-tester today?”

He’d wanted to start helping the clean-up at Little Homeworld, but he supposes he can wait for an hour or two. For Pearl.

“Yeah. Sounds great.”

Steven convinces Pearl to let him help cook, needing to keep himself occupied. Connie comes down when she wakes up, and the noise of their conversation proves to be enough to rouse his dad.

Amethyst comes in from her room and is ecstatic to see so much food cooking. It takes Steven, Connie and Pearl’s combined efforts to save their breakfast from the voracious gem.

Garnet appears when the food is laid out on the table and makes herself comfortable, Cat Steven sitting in her hair.

Steven sits down with them all, feeling light for the first time in weeks.

/-/

He had eventually managed to sneak away to go to Little Homeworld, but as if she had future vision of her own, Bismuth was waiting at the warp when he arrived.

“You’ve been cleaning up everyone else’s messes for so long, Steven. You can sit this one out,” Bismuth had assured him, ushering him back onto the warp pad and taking him back home herself. He still felt bad, but in the end, he appreciated it.

He still isn’t ready to face everyone after wrecking Little Homeworld.

Tears well up in his eyes. He wipes at them frantically, but it’s no use. He’s been crying with startling frequency, and when he starts, it’s hard to stop.

And lately, when he cries, he is soon comforted. Before the first tear reaches his chin, there are big, multicoloured hands picking him up and carrying him to the couch.

When he’s put down again, he finds himself sat not on well-loved upholstery, but the strangely warm lap of a gem.

It’s way, way too comfortable to sit in Garnet’s lap, cradled in loving arms.

“I’m sixteen, Garnet,” he protests weakly. “You don’t need to- to put me in your lap like this anymore.”

“Nonsense,” Garnet says, giving him a little squeeze, “you’re never too old for affection.”

“Heh. I guess you’re right.” Steven’s voice comes out a little wet, as it often tends to do these days.

“I hope you’re prepared to not move for the next hour,” Garnet adds.

“What?”

A furry warmth climbs into his lap, and Steven is delighted to see Cat Steven making herself at home there.

“Oh.” Steven melts as Cat Steven begins to pur, and he scratches gently behind her ears.

As predicted, they remain that way for an hour before Steven’s tears dry and the void in his chest closes up, at which point Cat Steven stands, stretches, and walks away with a little miaow.

/-/

Connie returns to the house in the afternoon. She’s been spending an hour or so each day at the library, getting in some college prep while she’s away from home. Quite conspicuously, she’s only been studying when Dad or the gems have some kind of activity planned to keep him occupied for that time.

They sit down together for lunch, holding hands over the table, as Connie tells him about how she thinks gem technology defies physics. She asks after Steven’s day, and he tells her about the doctor’s appointment he’s booked and his impromptu cuddle session with Garnet and Cat Steven.

They fall into a comfortable silence, which of course is when Steven’s brain decides to throw everything in his face again. He doesn’t cry this time, but he feels the wrinkles of his frown.

“What is it?” Connie asks.

Steven bites his lip. He doesn’t want to bother her with it. But he can’t keep everything bottled up. If nothing else, he’s learnt his lesson about that.

“It’s just… I’m thinking about what happened. I’m worried that you’re still here. You should go home! I don’t want you to risk your future for me. You need to study, not look after me.”

“Steven, I’m here because I want to be,” Connie says. “Some things are more important than studying. It’s really not going to hurt for me to be here a bit longer. But that’s not all you’re worried about, is it?”

“Yeah. My…” he takes a deep breath, has to accept it, has to say it, “corruption. I really could’ve hurt people. You and Dad, all of the gems. And Beach City, Little Homeworld! I’m- or at least. My powers are dangerous. It’s scary. And I don’t know if I can ever make up for everything I’ve done with them.”

Connie gives him that look. That warm one, where her eyes go all soft, the one she gives because she’s concerned and she loves him and she wants to make everything better. Her other hand comes up to sandwich his own.

“Whatever happens from here,” Connie says slowly, “I can’t promise it’ll be easy. There’s no one, instant way to fix everything, or control your powers, or get better.” She squeezes his hands. Her sword-calloused hands, smaller than his own, are firm and strong.

“I know it was scary, and I understand why you’re scared. But what-ifs won’t help, okay? No one was hurt. The house wasn’t damaged, you didn’t get anywhere near Beach City.

“You can’t change what happened. But you’ve done so much good you shouldn’t ignore, and you can keep doing good. You aren’t alone, and we will never let you feel alone again. We’ve all learnt from this, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you don’t break down, or become corrupted again.”

Connie looks him in the eye, holding his hand tight. “And if, somehow, things go wrong again? We will make it better. Crystal Gems always find a way.”

The tears come again, and Connie holds him tight as he clings to her.

“Thank you.”

/-/

Steven sits at the table, surrounded by his family.

He doesn’t know what’s going to happen from here. He isn’t sure he’ll ever be okay again. He’s terrified he’ll break down again one day, and won’t come back.

The future is a foggy, unknowable mystery ahead of them all. There are still so many questions and uncertainties plaguing him.

But now, Steven’s pretty sure he has the beginnings of the way forward, a start for the answer.

He looks between his family members, so full of compassion and life, looks around the house, adorned by years of soft memories and tough decisions and firm, unending determination. He smiles.

Yeah, Steven’s pretty sure.

The answer… is love.

#su #steven universe #steven universe future #i am my monster #connie mahaswaren #connverse #garnet su #pearl su #amethyst su #cat steven #my writing #my fic #long post #su spoilers

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - The Way of the Willow

Now here’s a controversial episode from season one. Let’s delve into the discourse, shall we. 

Summary:  It's Queen Arianna's birthday, and she receives an unexpected guest: her estranged sister, Willow. Willow and Rapunzel quickly bond, sharing a lot of the same personality traits (most notably them never wearing shoes), and Arianna feels a bit left out. To add to her aggravation, Willow has given her a pet with an annoying rattle. Eventually, Arianna explodes at her sister, letting her know her irritation with her and throws away the rattle. The pet starts to multiply and rampage over the countryside. Meanwhile, Lance and Eugene  take the King camping. 

More Filler, More Poor Pacing, More Fatigue 

This is yet another episode that was moved around. Noticing a pattern yet? It doesn’t effect the plot much, but it kills the pacing dead. By the time you get to this episode you’re just tired and bored and ready for the show to just get on with things. 

Let's Talk About Representation 

So we have here a show that is marketed towards pre-teen little girls run by two middle aged white guys and written primarily by men. The creators have claimed that female relationships are the focus of the show, but only to give us one female friend for our main hero, no other friendships with women in them, just two sister relationships, and only one mother that is even alive. 

Furthermore they go on to break up that single female friendship, refuse to give any focus to the only mother in the show, and then wrap the plot around the dead abusive mom instead, making her unnecessarily even more horrible than she was in the OG film. (just to make the equally abusive father in the show look better)

Meanwhile we get four father figures, all of whom are just some variant on the ‘overprotective estranged dad’ trope. Even though at least two of them could have been easily written to be mothers instead and it’d not change the plot one bit.   

When women talk about about poor representation in media, it’s things like this we are often complaining about. That’s not to say that men can’t write women.  Miyazaki, of Studio Ghibli fame, has made a lifelong career out writing movies for and starring women. Nor is this a claim that the TTS crew are misogynist. You can be well intentioned and still screw up. As is most often the case in films. 

But nevertheless, if you are writing for a demographic that you are not a part of then you need to either include those voices in the development of your story or reach out and consult people within that demographic. And no, you’re wife/niece/daughter/mother does not count here. You need to go beyond your personal social circle, as people who either don’t know you or have worked in the industry can be more open about what is needed in the writing process.  

Sadly there are rumors, (and please keep in mind this is only rumor, and we’ll never know the actual truth due to the fact that production artists are under contract and can’t share things without fearing for their livelihoods) but there are stories of the head showrunner shutting down the opinions of the female storyboard artists who warned him of some these creative decisions. 

Moreover said creator responded to criticisms of how his female characters were written by claiming he ‘knew strong women in his life’ as if that actually had anything to do with his writing skills. It’s a poor response and smacks of ‘Well I can’t be misogynistic, I love women. See, I married one’. Dear, male creators, please don't ever do this. It makes you look bad. 

So Where are Arianna and Willow From, Again?

The show keeps dropping hints that they’re from Corona itself and are born princesses, but that makes little sense. Because if Arianna was the rightful heir she’d have far more political power then she actually does in the show. If we’re to buy the idea that only Rapunzel will be in charge, and not her and Eugene, or even just Eugene. Then we have to accept that it’s because she’s the rightful heir by birth. If so, then Frederic must also be the blood heir or otherwise he wouldn’t be able to do all the things he does in the show. 

TTS is so determine to not have any real world markers in the show and keeping things a ‘fantasy’ that it winds up swinging too far in the opposite direction. To the point that it undermines its own worldbuilding.     

The Conflict Between Willow and Arianna is Good, but Unnecessary 

I’ve seen some debate over ‘who is right’ here, along with tons of unwarranted shade thrown at Willow, but the truth is, it doesn’t matter. Neither side is right or wrong, and for once the conflict in TTS is real, complex, not easily solvable with a ten minute conversation, and is presented evenly so that you know where each side is coming from. But in the end, it doesn’t add anything to the series. 

Willow is never seen outside of this episode. This is the only story that gives Arianna any kind of focus. Rapunzel learns nothing useful from witnessing their squabbles and it’s all build up to a be bad parable/parallel in the series finale. 

It’s a waste. A waste of conflict. A waste of character. A waste of time. 

Had Arianna been treated as an important character to the narrative, like she should have been, then maybe the episode would have fared better. 

Arianna is Reduced to a Pointless Parallel

We talked about it before but this might be the most grievous example of Tangled’s useless parallels.

Willow and Arianna are meant to be ‘foreshadowing’ (and I use that term loosely) for Rapunzel and Cassandra’s conflict in the finale season. Let me count the ways of how bad this actually is..

For starters Willows and Arianna’s conflit isn’t actually the same as Raps and Cass. There’s some overlap, but ultimately theirs is actually deeper and more complex than the Raps vs Cass stuff. It’s also only between them and does not involve ruining the lives of other people. So it’s a weak comparison to begin with.

Cassandra isn’t even here to make the parallel complete. She barely interacts with Arianna and has never met Willow on screen.

Rapunzel learns the wrong lessons from this. She gets encouragement from her aunt to go traveling and a pep talk from her mom during the show’s finale, but she doesn’t actually apply any of the actual context of the arguments being made to her own life. Making the parallel shallow.

Reducing a character from the original film, one that you did not create and who has reasons to be have more plot importance then they are given, to a mere ‘parallel’ for your favorite OC is just bad fanfiction. This is something that I would expect from a seven year old setting out to write their first ever story. Not from grown adults, who are supposedly professionals, who've worked for years in the industry and are employed by the largest entertainment studio in the world.

Now before you jump down my throat, there’s nothing wrong with fanfiction itself, nor with children exploring their favorite stories in ways they find personally fulfilling. But I happen to hold mass produced media to a different, and ultimately higher standard. As well should we all. A television show made by the mouse has more real world impact than a little girl posting on Ao3.

Critiquing stuff like female representation, the behind the scenes hiring processes that leads to either good or bad rep, and the impression these stories can have on people still developing their worldviews is important. Questioning things are needed in order to make change happen. If you never acknowledge how giving a show targeted to women to a male showrunner can cause problems then you’re never going to push the big companies for more female lead shows. Which means more women are left without work.    

This is Subjective but...

I don’t like the Uumlaut being used as the main conflict. Look, if you like the Gremlins references, good for you, but I was promised sword fights and adventure according to the pilot and all I got was a parody of a 80s horror comedy that decided to skip out on the ‘horror’ part. The Uumlaut isn’t threatening enough to be interesting and the lack of real threats and challenges in this show is really starting to weigh things down. Plus it just distracts from the far more interesting human drama going on with Willow and Arianna. 

Like if you don't want action to be the focus of every episode, that’s fine, but commit to that. Don't just half-ass it because you feel the need to shoehorn in an action sequence where it isn’t needed.    

Conclusion

I like Willow as a character, but not this episode. They needed to do more with her to justify her existence, and they needed to do more with Arianna while at it. Sadly, you won't really miss out on much if you decided to skip this episode and that’s a shame. 

Also... 

I’ll forever headcanon that Willow is the wife that Stan mentioned back in Rapunzel’s Enemy and that she’s his and Pete’s beard. You can’t change my mind. Poly relationships for the win! 

#tangled #anti-tangled #willow #arianna #repersentation #critique #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tts #rta