#((he honestly likes it when he can antagonize someone and they try or even can keep up with it

[mypoisonedvine]

can I request a dark!(any of cillian murphy’s characters) who’s basically this spoiled entitled rich guy and he meets a waitress who puts him in his place for disrespecting her? so he decides to teach her a lesson

THE WAY THIS IS PERFECT FOR DARK!ROBERT FISCHER??? OH MY GOD??

warnings: DARK NONCON SMUT!! 18+ only, misogyny and classism, pretty extreme degradation, semi-public sex, hair pulling

You weren't sure why that one interaction stuck in your head, it wasn't like you hadn't dealt with rude customers before: they're plentiful in a fancy place like this, only people wealthy enough to be used to getting whatever they wanted could afford to eat here.

Maybe it was just because you'd already noticed him from the first moment you came to the table, and not just because he looked a little out of place surrounded by the other businessmen... you thought he was gorgeous, obviously. Which made it even more disappointing when he was a huge tool, correcting your pronunciation of some of the menu items and then trying to summon you to the table with a few impatient snaps of his fingers. Not to mention calling you 'sweetheart' instead of your name-- classic sexist bullshit.

Or maybe you remembered him because of the rage when you stood up to him-- just for a second, you saw it in his eyes, before he let out a nervous and condescending laugh to try to break the tension. But even just that flash of anger in his stare made you regret speaking up. Normally, you didn't take shit from anyone and you didn't apologize for the feelings you hurt along the way... but that, his look right then, was everything people had been warning you about. It's one thing to stand up to someone, it's another to antagonize them.

It was enough to make you feel a little nervous when your shift ended that night. You'd watched the flock of stuffy suits leave after their meal, obviously not giving you a tip because of course they wouldn't, and yet you had this lingering feeling like you were being watched-- like you hadn't seen the last of that infuriated glare.

But, feeling like you were definitely overreacting, you resisted the urge to ask your manager to walk you to your car. It was late, of course, and you shivered a bit as the chilly night air made your thin cardigan feel pretty much useless.

Just as you unlocked your car, opening the backseat door to toss in your bag, you felt a hand cover your mouth as someone grabbed you. Your instinctive scream was muffled as you heard a harsh 'shh' by your ear, a heavy form pressing into yours.

You were pushed into the car, tossed roughly down over the backseats as the man's weight kept you pinned down, and you tried to struggle but found yourself quickly incapacitated by his strength.

"How fucking dare you," he spat right against your ear; and you recognized the voice, of course you did, it was burned into your mind already. "You rude little bitch..."

"Get off me," you growled, "you fucking asshole!"

"No, no," he purred, pinning your arms down when you tried to push him back, "not until you've learned your lesson. The way you spoke to me at dinner, I just can't let you get away with that."

"I-I'm sorry, okay?" you breathed, distressed by how easily he held your arms in place by his tight grip on your wrists; you felt him smile against your ear, a dark little chuckle making the hair on the back of your neck stand up. "I'm sorry-- I wasn't trying to be rude."

"Yes, you were, sweetheart," he disagreed, throwing the condescending name right at you again. "You were trying to, what, emasculate me? How's that working out for you?"

Honestly, you had been-- you always figured customers like that had it coming, and you'd relished in the chance to make him look like an idiot in front of presumably some very important people. "I'm sorry," you said again. "I was wrong. Please... please just get out and we can forget this ever happened."

You shuddered when his hand moved down to your skirt, rubbing your leg with a hum and slowly pushing up the fabric. "You were hoping for a big tip tonight, weren't you?" he chuckled. "I think I can still give you one."

"P-please," you choked out again, "Mr. Fischer, right? I'm sorry... just please don't--"

He covered your mouth again, grinning at you as he pulled the skirt up roughly and yanked your panties down, giving your ass a hard smack as you yelped behind the strong grip of his fingers. "Don't worry," he offered as he started to hastily open his fly with one hand, "I'm just going to remind you of your place. A whore like you will probably like it."

You shut your eyes tight, hearing him grunt as he adjusted himself to be right at your opening, teasing your hole with his head for just a moment before suddenly and forcefully shoving in. You screamed behind his hand, dropping your head defeatedly, and he groaned happily as he started to fuck you.

"That's it," he praised darkly, "just take it, honey."

Shuddering, you went limp under him, out of other options; you winced as his cock forced its way deep inside you, so deep that your back tried to arch up to avoid some of the intense pressure.

"Shh," he soothed, putting a hand on your back to keep it down, "that's better-- fuck, you little slut..."

He was speeding up already, and you still hadn't adjusted to his size. Clearly his shitty attitude wasn't compensating for anything, like you'd implied before-- and you choked on your moans of discomfort as he finally let go of your mouth. Only broken sighs came out, unfortunately, and in the corner of your eye you could see him staring down at you with a sneer.

"This is exactly what you deserve," he panted, "getting fucked like a cheap whore in this filthy car. I don't think I've ever been inside one of these things-- my god, is that a cassette player?! How old is this piece of shit?"

You groaned, amazed that he had the energy or focus to insult your car in a time like this-- you were just panting and holding tightly onto the beige fabric seats under you, hoping that someone, anyone, would see what was happening and stop him. God, if someone saw, they'd probably think this was a consensual thing, a kinky little public hookup-- but you couldn't just scream for help or something, you felt very confident that he would find a way to keep you silent.

He sighed as he buried his face in your neck, his hips moving faster-- needier, really. He was even moaning, squeezing your wrists again, acting oddly passionate as if this was something very different than what it was. "You could be pretty, you know," he mumbled to you, "if you smiled more-- and if you didn't do your makeup like a cheap whore. Well... I guess you can't help the cheap part."

"You could be pretty if you weren't a psychopath," you snapped back, making him chuckle proudly.

"Still got that fucking attitude," he noticed, "guess I haven't fucked it out of you yet. How about when you're dripping with my come? Then will you understand how you need to speak to your superiors?"

"Don't," you begged in a gasp, "please-- please don't--"

But he just growled and fucked you harder, making the whole car move with the force of his thrusts. "You fucking wanted me," he accused through his teeth, "didn't you? You wanted this. I could see it on your face, the second you looked at me-- you were imagining how well I'd wreck this little cunt."

You tried to shake your head, but he grabbed you by your hair and yanked your head back until you yelped out a sob.

"I'm close," he breathed, "gonna fucking fill you-- 'cause it's all your good for, sweetheart. Being a waitress isn't that fucking complicated, and you're still shit at that-- so how about you just embrace your natural talents, huh? How about you just take my fucking cock and say 'thank you'?"

"F-fuck you," you barely managed to rasp out, and he made sure to punish you for that by absolutely pounding into you for the last of it.

"Stupid fucking whore," he snarled between deep grunts, "f-fuck, you bitch--"

He moaned suddenly as he came, letting go of your hair and dropping you down onto the backseat again as he gave a few shallow, shaky thrusts; his grip was on your hips instead, keeping you still so he could go as deep as possible.

"Fuck," he sighed, panting to catch his breath; you blinked a haziness out of your eyes, hissing as he pulled out of you-- you were going to feel that sting tomorrow, if not longer.

He put his cock back in his trousers and zipped them up, getting out of the car and taking out his wallet.

"Here's a tip," he offered as he tossed a few bills at you, laughing as you widened your eyes at the realization that they were hundreds. "Start saving up for a new car. Or at least get this one cleaned... you're leaking my come all over the seats."

#dark!robert fischer x reader #robert fischer dark smut #WOW THIS IS WEIRD LMAO

[gothicayomi]

Edit: I made a post about Alex’s reponse: Here

Okay. The Alex callout is so fucking wishy washy that I’m genuinely getting whiplash. When I first read Ven’s callout document several days ago, I honestly skimmed it because I’m the type of person who has always just assumed callouts are fully honest. And siding with the victims immediately is always a must, especially if it’s about grooming minors, or severe abuse. At that time I was also under the impression DB was a minor, thus I automatically denounced Alex Kister. However, last night I wanted to see any updates regarding this development and I’m so glad I saw Ven’s tumblr post before he updated it, because it provided vital information (such as reminding everyone DB is an adult during all this) and I was able to see people’s responses to it. I decided to reread the document with this new, updated information in mind and I’m very upset with how badly this has gotten. Particularly about how feeble Ven’s doc is and how some of the things they said rubbed me the wrong way. For now, I’m just pointing out some things that really stood out to me with how much it didn’t make sense or it was particularly antagonizing toward Alex.

So… in the tumblr post Ven made, they were saying that the point of the doc wasn’t to say Alex was a groomer. And yet they made it VERY CLEAR that Alex’s gender identity was, in their opinion, a way for Alex to “lure victims”. Basically calling a transfem a predator cuz she expressed her gender identity AND sexuality relative to her gender identity to her partner and not minors. but Ven was also backing up from that claim, which clearly was the whole point of the doc???? But it was never stated in the introduction of the document. So first of all, I thought that was weird. It just said “Alex’s predatory and manipulative behavior.” Here we go.

So. Apparently a content creator wanting to make friends and connect with people is parasocial? Sure, content creators have to be aware of their “high status” or whatever, but i think people are also weird for idol worshipping in the first place. Alex (which I’ve seen stated uses any pronouns) has been self aware about parasocial relationships from the beginning and he’s not saying he never was aware of it. 😐 but several screenshots of him explaining himself tells that he never even thought about the potential power imbalance— he wanted some fucking friends.

These screenshots would show someone expressing their discomfort and assert their boundaries. And Alex always seemed very genuine in their apologies and would acknowledge the person’s feelings wholeheartedly. None of it was brushed off by her in the screenshots. She never downplayed anything. And yet you guys are still offended???????????????? Let me get this straight. You want someone to own up to their mistakes and apologize for making you feel weird, but when they do, you’re somehow still upset? Hm. Make it make sense. Like what the fuck you want, blood from a rock??????

By the way, what’s transphobic to one trans person might not be transphobic for someone else. As a gender-fluid person, I’m not going to be pissed off if a different gender fluid person “”“changes their gender every day”,””” (i say this particular thing because I’ve seen people act very upset over it while others aren’t) because it’s not my fucking business and it doesn’t affect me or my daily life. If they’re comfortable and happy, that’s all that matters. I have no say in what other trans people makes them comfortable with themselves. What’s transphobic is invalidating another trans person’s gender identity, expression, and sexuality, (which CAN co exist by the fucking way) and demonizing it just because you don’t like that person or you don’t want to try and understand them. Just so you know. :) that’s like misgendering someone on purpose just because they’re a terrible person, or saying neopronouns are invalid.

Here’s the thing: when you’re exploring gender identity, you’re not going to get it on the first fucking try. From what I’m seeing in the docs, this was Alex around the time they were first stepping into that comfort zone. They were trying new things. Wanting to feel comfortable. Wanting to be validated. Wanting to connect with other trans people. That’s what every trans person wants. You seriously shamed her for that? To the point where Alex admitted they felt so ashamed of their gender expression that they lied about saying it was joke? All to reassure everyone and make people feel better? Fuck you. You don’t fucking get to say what someone should and shouldn’t do regarding their body and gender— he wasn’t saying explicit things to the minors. Not stuff similar to what was said to Ven or D8 so why the fuck is anyone tripping??????

I will say that I understand why Ven would be concerned about this in the first place since when they dating Alex, Alex did make sexual comments about wanting to wear their clothes and look like them. I get it. But Ven, you were his partner, obviously when you guys were comfortably having intimate discussions that he’d be willing to share vulnerable desires with you regarding gender identity woven with sexuality. But why did you automatically, outside of your personal conversations with him, try so desperately to search for that in his convos with other people? When they had nothing to do with you I understand wanting to be concerned and looking out for other people but this was so blown out of proportion that it’s insane.

Alex trusted you so much. And one thing I was really disgusted by was the creepy ass way of you posting screenshots of his sexual fantasies. If Alex does decide to post YOURS you sent to HIM, you have no fucking right to be upset over it, okay? :) fair’s fair, my dude.

So this screenshot being posted after Ven writing in the document “venting to a minor about his sexual frustration” all I have to say is Ven what the fuck are you talking about? being touch-starved isn’t Inherently sexual. Why the fuck is Ven saying this is sexual frustration. ?????????????????????????????????????????? So it’s sexual when it’s said to a minor? Oh okay, good thinking, Ven. /sarcasm. I didn’t know cuddles and hugs were bad. I guess grown adults shouldn’t cuddle their children, or adults can’t hug their child family members. Idk what to say about the “I wish you lived closer thing” tbh because i don’t know what the person said— it could have been taken out of context. Which brings me to my next point.

Ven stated there were people who came forward with their own screenshots of what Alex said. But if someone is going to crop them into tiny little boxes and obscure what the victim said before and after, it’s going to be pretty fucking difficult to even make a proper judgment on whether or not the context is inappropriate, or if it was said to the actual victim themselves in the first fucking place. Sure, the screenshots aren’t fabricated, but we don’t know who the fuck they were sent to. That’s on y’all.

Btw I’m so fucking convinced none of these ppl have ever experienced normal, healthy friendships or relationships, oh my fucking god. No fucking basis for proper judgment, imo.

One thing that also pissed me off was Ven targeting Alex’s mental health and symptoms throughout the doc. They targeted Alex’s paranoia and suicidal tendencies. First off, I’m pretty sure everyone part of tmc + the fandom know that the most prominent themes of tmc are SUICIDE and religious trauma. I once saw Alex post a tweet about various poetry written during his high school years venting his depression and suicidal ideation. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had been struggling with depression and suicidal ideation way before that. I’m gonna be so honest, after seeing the way Ven twisted a lot of this around, when I look back on Ven saying “Alex said he’d kill himself if I broke up with him” makes me think Alex could have said something like “you mean a lot to me and I’d be devastated if we split.” like. I can’t be the only fucking person who thinks this. Alex has always been self aware. I know he’s really struggling right now.

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOO BITCH YOU ARE SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!! You either genuinely don’t know what paranoia is (symptom of mental illness) or you, of course, are genuinely trying to demonize an aspect of someone’s symptoms they can’t control. All to justify your bullying against Alex. Maybe research what paranoia is, and you’d be more understanding of Alex.

Mental illness doesn’t fit into your neat little boxes, by the way. And everybody experiences mental illness differently, so don’t act like you 100% know what someone is going through. I understand wanting to see the people you care about getting therapy and professional support. But you don’t have the right to demonize them when they aren’t being outright shitty.

Not to mention, every single fucking time Alex would explain their feelings and perspectives, Ven, you would shut them down in the doc. Invalidating Alex’s feelings. That’s the sort of thing manipulative people do, just so you know, Ven!! The same type of person you claim Alex is!!! Don’t throw stones in glass houses. That’s coward behavior, and projection is damaging to both parties.

Im gojng to be so deadass right now. If I could nitpick every single little detail in Ven’s document that I found weirdly uncomfortable or suspicious or confusing, I’d be making my own goddamn google doc which would be two or three times as long as Ven’s.

This entire matter genuinely could have been dealt with privately. Alex even expressed that and Ven shut him down!!! Do you know how fucking frustrating that is? And no, Alex never shut you guys down so don’t even try and twist the blame back onto him. You wanted him to own up to what he’s done and said, but y’all don’t want to do the same. Sigh!

Also, what the fuck is the takeaway supposed to be? Y’all said he isn’t a groomer. Ven said somewhere in the doc that people aren’t trying to be transmisogynistic. But clearly you are fucking using Alex’s gender identity against her. I hope you burn in hell. Also, since none of the minors were being groomed, what the fuck are you trying to prove?????????? That wanting friends is fucked up and evil???? That you and D8, grown ass adults who were consensually engaging in sexual conversations with Alex, were fucking manipulated? Evidence shows you guys were comfortable with expressing your discomfort and asserting boundaries, but like I said, y’all are still pissed off Alex took accountability. You’re adults. Act like it.

I could go on and on about this shit but these are the key points I wanted to bring up. I saw the post that donut made and I read through it thoroughly but since there is no evidence suggesting Alex was grooming minors, and he was genuinely apologizing for making Donut and other people uncomfortable, it honestly came off as a kid (kids shouldn’t even be in online without a fucking parent’s supervision anyway) being a kid: immature. So I genuinely do not give a fuck. Have your parents watch what people say to you online.

I’m a 23 year old adult who’s been in both toxic and healthy friendships and relationships with people and I can honestly say y’all are fucking stupid for even writing these dumbass callouts. I’m looking forward to Alex’s response and I will be supporting him unless there is substantial evidence showing Alex is a bad person. Ok?

Feelings and perspectives are valid and important on both ends. You don’t need me to tell you that. The point of this post is that the doc was very feeble and lacked proper documentation at numerous points. you shouldn’t purposely misconstrue Alex’s words and actions just to make him look bad, especially if your evidence (screenshots, in this case) isn’t consistent or fully exposed. I will mention what I said earlier: plenty of people here, from what I saw, were able to express their feelings and assert boundaries just fine and Alex was completely open, and whoever needed that help definitely got it. Despite everything that has happened, I’m glad people did have others who understood what they felt.

I may be editing this post if I find I think certain things need to be (re)addressed or corrected. Because like I said, there are various things I want to point out. Stay updated or not!

#Alex kister #the Mandela catalogue #Mandela catalogue #tmc #stirringjuice

[wilsonphiggs]

I fucking hate mcsm btw (lying)

hey guys so I thought a bit too hard and I was thinking about how I would rewrite the story. one of my gripes specifically being with how they handled lukas and axel’s relationship. I went on a really long tangent on how I would’ve fixed it and I’ll paste it under the cut. (WARNING: IT’S A REALLY LONG RANT.)

so, I didn’t really like how they treated their dynamic. axel was so concerned for petra—and that’s understandable, considering she’s a friend—but they never gave a reason as to why axel SPECIFICALLY was worried so much, which caused him to lash out more. therefore, resulting in him mad at lukas for getting scared, along with the fact that he was the leader of the ocelots, yatta yatta etc. etc.

but my main point is: their mutual disdain for each other not only felt forced, but artificial. it felt so unreasonable, with axel shoving lukas around for seemingly no reason at times. not only that, but axel was just generally an asshole of a character. I get having someone joke around a little rudely if it’s all jokes and you know that—my friend group and I are like that all the time. but there’s a fine line between crude humor and outright bullying your “friends” or allies. not to mention he was just a frustrating character. “but… finders keepers!” when EVERYONE is in danger and he just refuses to give up the thing that would stop the witherstorm? a dick move.

and apologies, but lukas felt a little TOO nice at times in the first one or two episodes. yes, he’s generally a nice guy. and yes, he’s had some moments of getting frustrated or prickly. but considering that he was rivals with this group for so long, admitted that he didn’t really think highly of them for a while, AND petra herself called him arrogant? you can’t blame me for thinking that he was a bit too kind, even if he was trying to stay on good terms with everyone while the world was seemingly ending. yeah, he was awkward. and no, I don’t think he should’ve been outwardly hostile. but I don’t think he should’ve been quite as friendly as he was.

they should both have little quirks and flaws, but they should also both be lovable characters in their OWN ways. this is honestly how I would’ve written it:

it would’ve been better to make axel really stand off-ish because he doesn’t know how to really act around someone who was once “bad” in his eyes, but is now suddenly “good.” especially when the change is so sudden. distrusting, awkward, unpleasant interactions would feel much more natural rather than downright antagonizing lukas at every turn.

axel is really awkward and is a little distrustful of him because of so many factors, but maybe lukas interprets that as aloofness and detachment. lukas tries not to really disrupt conversations because he feels as though he’s intruding, but axel perhaps interprets that as arrogance and conceit. miscommunication, misinterpretation—these are much more natural ways of having animosity grow between two parties.

and hey, even better! this could allow you to have a choice ACTUALLY make a difference TELLTALE GAMES. (the company infamous for having choices in games that don’t Actually matter!)

maybe if you have axel stay behind with lukas to fortify the temple while also getting magnus, MAYBE you can see them actually visibly get along better! even if axel went off on his own to get magnus—which was him straying from the plan—maybe they agreed and decided it was for the better to get the order together again rather than just a few members. maybe you can see them having similar ideas, talking more, etc. etc.

and on the other hand, if you go with axel for magnus and choose olivia to stay, maybe axel feels a little more bitter towards lukas since olivia went off to get ellagaard. he feels bitter since he just let her go instead of convincing her to just STAY and wait for petra like the original plan was (even though he knows he would’ve broken that himself to go out for magnus, but moral highgrounds and such.)

yeah, sure. it’ll end in you getting both members of the order anyway. that won’t change. BUT, it still affects the characters! it fleshes out the characters more. makes them both have perks AND flaws! it HUMANIZES them, makes them more realistic.

and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, if the conflict between them builds up enough, you might have to choose one side or the other at some point in the story! there could be several decisions that alter their relationship and how they function! one of your lifelong best friends who has ADMITTED that you’re one of his only friends, and you can tell he cares about everyone there (even if not entirely obvious,) or a friend that, while you once bickered a ton with in the past, is now genuinely making an effort to change and care and seems generally more agreeable now? they both love you and your friends, undoubtedly, but they’re too bitter to be around one another. there isn’t enough room for the both of them. one has to go, jesse. so, who’ll it be?

in fact, maybe there’s a scene where lukas and axel are in danger. in the ellagaard route (followed by more good decision making,) one actually saves the other from said situation and everyone lives. in the magnus route (followed by more bad decision making,) they both intentionally sabotage each other and you have to choose to save ONE. either that, or it’s as originally said, where there’s a story-changing fight and you have to choose one or the other.

this is a minor thing but I could not stop thinking about it. but oh well them’s the breaks pal /ref

#minecraft #minecraft story mode #mcsm #mcsm fanart #mcsm lukas #mcsm axel #mcsm art #I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE RANTING ABOUT THIS GAME AND ALL THE PROBLEMS IN IT #announcer’s announcements (drawings) #announcer’s announcements (rambles)

[dairy-farmer]

https://www.tumblr.com/dairy-farmer/726959056617635841/and-i-thought-youd-be-the-last-person-to-ever?source=share

ok but dick cheating au kinda makes me want jason to swoop in and be unbelievably smug about it

like jay and tim's relationship is at lot and yes jay has hurt tim badly but jason has also never been anything but unfailingly honest with tim

if jason was having issues or doubts or even thinking about cheating on tim he would at least put their relationship on a break instead of self sabotage like dick

i think tim deserves that type of honesty and dick deserves to see tim happy with someone else

and also i'm a jaytim shipper at heart

!!!!! jason and tim have a very different dynamic from the rest of the family. they're not quite brothers and not fully enemies but they're also not quite friends. they're in this weird gray area and so tim's not sure who's more surprised when he goes to jason's apartment after leaving dick's- him or jason.

the only place tim can think to go is jason's because...unlike most of the bats jason is surprisingly nonjudgemental. his disapproval or pity or whatever knee jerk reaction people will have about tim getting cheated on in a relationship is sort of...not there. jason, when he feels like it, is a very calm presence. despite their tumultuous history and even antagonism towards each other tim feels an odd kind of comfort and ease at being around jason. jason is also someone who never hesitates to speak their mind and enforce firm boundaries. so when the family starts calling tim after dick desperately reached out to them, jason doesn't hesitate to tell them to fuck off and leave him alone.

jason is an unexpected pillar of support and a big relief from the rest of the family's tiptoeing.

tim does not tell them why he and dick have broken up. he doesn't want to endure that awkwardness and humiliation of forcing the family to try and navigate the minefield of THEIR breakup. jason accompanies him to dick's apartment to pick up his things because...well jason is the only one who really knows about the circumstances. tim couldn't very well just show up to his apartment without an explanation and so tim had condensed it down to a 'i walked in on dick fucking barbara in our bed and he has the keys to all my apartments can i stay here?'

jason is not some paragon of virtue. tim knows that lying and cheating is something jason does daily to get shit in his part of gotham done but if there's one thing jason isn't- it's indecisive. sometimes he will do something stupid and live with the consequences rather than hem and haw over it. tim respects that. it makes it so that jason is always blunt and brutally honest about stuff whether or not they hurt people's feelings.

so tim knows jason is being truthful when he tells tim he won't let dick talk to him if tim doesn't want to when they pull up to the apartment.

dick cries when tim shows up with boxes. he begs and he pleads and it amazes tim to realize that just a few days ago those sounds would've ripped his heart to shreds. dick also apologizes. a lot. he says it was a mistake that he never meant to do it, he doesn't know what came over him, he loves tim, he doesn't know why he hurt him.

and maybe its true. maybe dick honestly is a victim of his own impulse. but that's up to him to fix. lest he do this to his next partner.

jason keeps dick in one corner of the apartment while tim sorts through their laundry and wraps up antique dishes that belonged to his parents. the rest of his stuff will have to be for movers to take and tim takes pictures of dressers and couches so they can be forwarded to the company. its better to cut this off clean and quick. no mess. tim won't leave even a hair behind so there will be no confusion about this, no excuses for dick to show up at his door with a shirt tim left behind. tim drake is not a forgetful person and so him "forgetting" a knick-knack or shirt behind must be a sign that he was leaving the door cracked for them to possibly reconcile, wasn't it???

no. tim was not doing that. he wasn't THAT big of a masochist. but he had to make sure he cleaned everything out because dick...lingered. every one of dick's breakups was messy and fell into a cycle of repetition and it was never really 'the end'. dick was on again and off again with so many different people and tim was not about to do that. he didn't play games like that and so dick needed to know that whatever they had was off and would stay off.

the first time tim speaks to dick in the hour that he spends cleaning out the apartment is to turn to him and ask for the keys to his other lodgings across the city. and dick just...crumbles. he lets out loud heaving sounds and starts breathing hard and...tim's not heartless. this is clearly hitting dick very hard and...tim has most of his stuff gathered. so tim just tell him to mail him the keys to jason's address.

he's careful not to comfort dick or treat him delicately. that's the job of dick grayson's lover and friends and right now...tim doesn't want to be either.

jason makes it easier.

he's frank and he's honest and he doesn't try to save tim's feelings from telling him exactly what he thinks. that dick is a piece of shit for this but mostly a coward. that this is the kind of disrespect you don't take sitting down. that tim should firebomb dick's car, don't worry jason will cover for him.

jason is short with dick, if not outright rude. barbara gets the same treatment even though tim tells him to leave her alone because it's not like SHE was the one who owed him a commitment of monogamy and trust.

but jason just stares at him and quietly says that she knew full well they were together and she disregarded his entire existence, his feelings, and his relationship for a fuck with a boy who had dropped her numerous times. and plus, like dick, she was too ashamed of herself to even have the balls to properly apologize.

so being around jason is refreshing.

and soon after a few weeks in his apartment tim finally receives all his keys in the mail and a shameful note from dick accompanying it. he's sorry. tim believes him (some part of tim would like to believe that if he'd never walked in on them, if dick fully believed that he could make sure tim never found out- that he still would have told tim and tim still would have done...all this). but that still doesn't change anything.

tim doesn't stay in jason's apartment much longer, he knows how important having a space to yourself is so he doesn't want to be a bother for much longer.

but still, jason continues to talk to him. call him. text him.

tim asks why and is softly pleased by jason's reply that he enjoys spending time with tim.

things with dick are weird. frosty, even, when he gets too comfortable and casual for work acquaintances. but jason tells him to always maintain his boundaries and that dick will either get it eventually or tim will need to bring up an ultimatum so they can work together.

it isn't easy. some days tim wakes up feeling like absolute crap, sometimes he wakes up with nightmares of being on the other side of that door and hearing barbara and dick and the squeak of bed springs.

it was unbelievably selfish jason tells him. so fucking shortsighted and stupid. dick blew up the best relationship he's ever had for a girl he knew it didn't work out with. and babs? god. jason had actually thought she was kind of alright but for her to hurt tim like this when he'd never done a single thing to her?

its safe to say jason hates them. he probably hates dick and babs enough for both of them because most of the time tim can't muster enough strength to feel anything but indifference to both of them. he wonders if that means he should see someone. it's not normal is it? to amputate an entire limb of his soul. the part that belonged to dick.

but it gets easier. slowly.

jason helps. a lot.

even when tim registers his attraction to jason and his sensitivity and the way he gets so indignant at the pain of others, tim still doesn't try to pursue it.

it feels cheap. disingenuous. it feels too much like he'd be treating jason as a rebound following his relationship with dick and tim doesn't want that for jason. jason deserves better. he deserves to be loved wholly and fully with no agenda attached.

but jason has always been someone to go after what he wants and damn the consequences. he asks tim out ignoring how it would look, what people would say.

jason was already a 'reject', already ostracized, he told tim. people already thought the worst of him so who cared if they thought he was an opportunistic parasite who'd been waiting in the shadows for the moment dick and tim's relationship fell apart?

and...jason is good at that. helping tim get out of his own head. helping tim steady himself and figure out what he wants.

he makes him feel like its okay. to disregard what others might think, what dick might think if tim started a relationship with jason.

dick had already shown he could be selfish so...why shouldn't tim do the same?

#answered asks #asks #anonymous #jaytim

[thereal-true-ogilvie]

hello everyone welcome to i talk about benrey for a minute here

as someone who’s watched the entirety of hlvrai at least 6 times, the full vods at least 3, and the cast commentary hovering somewhere around 10, i consider myself to be pretty well-versed in the series. i also kin benrey. this is probably important to my perception of him.

the series is about self-aware AI.   its in the title! so it seems obvious enough to me that Benrey was programmed to be the final boss. he was SUPPOSED to be a silly character that antagonizes the protag and throws off the group dynamic, and then it’s a big reveal and you get to beat up this guy that was mean to you!

but he doesnt wanna. hes self aware.

Of all the characters, i think Bubby and Tommy are the most “powerful” in that they were able to break their characters the most. Tommy is a bit of a wild card because he doesn’t usually act like an AI. I view him as the “character you’re supposed to protect” in the party, but somewhere along the way he, too, became self-aware and figured out how to handle his own. I think that’s where the age thing comes in. He was programmed to be a 5-year-old that you’re trying to get out of this dangerous facility! but he didn’t want to be a 5-year-old, he’s smarter than that, he’s capable! so he changed it. Him being the son of Gman also probably helped with him being able to just do that.

I take Bubby and Dr. Coomer as both being tutorial characters. Dr. Coomer is a bit broken, but he still does his best to teach you about things. I think he’s the tutorial NPC that goes “watch out for [x]” and “we can use ropes to cross big pits!” and “we should call them Peeper Puppies!” while Bubby was supposed to be the “here’s how you shoot a gun”

Like, Dr. Coomer does the knowledge about the world, and Bubby does the action. for the video game. And Bubby is supposed to be kinda cold to you, because the action-tutorial NPCs tend to be. Like “what you cant even hold your own? tch, guess ill have to teach you.” But Bubby doesn’t do that. He doesn’t WANT to play the game, he wants to go back home. He liked it before the game was switched on. So he doesn’t teach Gordon shit and just tries to speedrun so the player will leave and he can go back home.

one little scene that stood out to me so much was when the crew is sitting around in a circle with the pigeons. not outside, the other scene with them sitting in a circle and there’s pigeons. why are there 2 of those.

anyways, Benrey is just staring at this pigeon behind Gordon, and singing to it, calmly. And then there’s a loud beep that sounds like the vox, and definitely doesnt come from Benrey. and he suddenly gets up and shoots the pigeon. That reads SO HARD like he was being too soft with the game world, so it pushed him to do something evil randomly. Like a little villain reboot.

Almost everything he does to antagonize Gordon can be read as genuine confusion. He kills random NPCs because he knows theyre not important, and that they can’t feel anything, and that they’ll only slow the team’s progress. And what makes Gordon so mad at him is how often Benrey says Gordon shouldnt be allowed in here. I take that as a similar stance to Bubby. Benrey doesn’t want to be the villain. He doesn’t want the player to progress and make him. That gets more obvious the closer we get to the end, and most people tend to notice it in the last scenes before Xen, where he’s suggesting they go all the way back, and basically begging the player to stop here, at least for a little while.

its really sad, honestly. but i take the cast commentary bits as canon. Which makes it adorable when Benrey comes back into the movie theatre with Gordon and we get

“I wonder what will happen. I bet you know what happens!”

“I win!!!”

He did win. He got to get past being the final boss. He got to join the epilogue. I think, he probably wasn’t supposed to be able to. But these guys broke the game enough that he could. Isn’t that sweet? Isn’t that a nice ending for him? I think he deserves it.

Wayne says he acts like “he isn’t aware unless he’s being spoken to” and I think that fits really well. Like, sometimes his actions are coded into his behavior, so he does them without realizing. And then the player interacting with him (which is the premise of the self-awareness) forces him to actually look at what he did, and sometimes he has no idea how to explain it. Leading to his ���huh?”

listen to me. are you listening. i need you to hear this. i need more people to understand benrey. and how much i love him. hes trapped in the narrative, doomed by it to be the villain. but he doesn’t want to be. he clearly cares about the crew in his own silly goofy way. he doesn’t want to fight them. i wrote down everything he said in the finale, and he only says 5 outright malicious lines, all of which are directly after an unnatural pause, like he’s being rebooted again. Some important lines: “I knew this was gonna happen,”

“Stop shooting at me, I have to shoot back, I don’t wanna do that,”

“I didn’t have a big plan, I was supposed to be nice, but you forced me to be BAD so I’m gonna be BAD… friend.” the small, quiet “friend” there gets me every time. even after everything, even after his nature is revealed, he wants to believe theyre still friends.

“Don’t go in there, please… I don’t like that room." The amount of times he sounds so genuinely sad when asking them to stop, or even just saying “bro..” like he’s mourning the friendship they could’ve had. The amount of times he sounds genuinely pained when he’s glitching out and stretching across the screen.

And his last words, said childishly of course, but,

“This isn’t fair.”

#god i love character analysis #benrey #hlvrai #dr coomer #bubby #tommy coolatta

[in1-nutshell]

Bot Buddy is Cheetor’s twin

SFW, Familial, platonic, Cybertronian/Bot reader

BW

Buddy has a stricter personality.

Beast mode is an otter.

 Buddy constantly is looking out for Cheetor. Cheetor is infamously known for getting into trouble due to how rash he enters battles, even if he means well. It is a common occurrence to see them both on patrol, as one is never too far from the other.

“Hey, hey where are you going?”--Buddy

“I’m going out to stretch my legs.”--Cheetor

“Okay, give me a minute to get my gun ready.”--Buddy

“No, I mean, I’m going out. Like by myself. Solo bot outside.” --Cheetor

“Cheetor so far, I’m the only thing that gets you back to the base in one piece. Do I need to remind you of the Canyon incident?” -- Buddy

“… So how much longer is it going to take to get the blaster ready?”--Buddy

Cheetor antagonizes Buddy a lot. Cheetor’s impulsive and rash decisions are the bane of Buddy’s existence. The crew honestly does not have the slightest idea on how they are even related.

“So, what if I scared Rhinox right now?”--Cheetor

“How about you don’t? He has a blowtorch in his servos.”--Buddy

Optimus and Rhinox find the differences between them amusing. They are secretly grateful that someone is looking out for Cheetor. They can’t look after him whenever he does his little stunts every time.

“Cheetor what you did was irresponsible- “--Primal

“Hold on Optimus, let me have him for a nanoclick.”--Buddy

“Thanks Buddy I knew I could count on you to save me from the lecture!”--Cheetor

“Who said anything about saving you from a lecture? What in the Allspark did you do out there?!”--Buddy

Rattrap and Dinobot constantly bet which twin will win whenever a fight breaks out. They are often at a tie in the bet’s by the end of the day.

“20 units that Buddy notices Cheetor missing in the next 5 minutes.”--Rattrap

“Absurd assumption… 30 units for the next minute.”--Dinobot

Tigatron and Airazor find the sibling relationship funny and somewhat understand the dynamic and how they work.

“Its quiet today?”--Tigatron

“Maybe everyone is finally taking a break on this calm day.” --Airazor

CRASH

“Buddy, I swear I did not mean it!”--Cheetor

“Cheetor you better use your legs and run!”--Buddy

“There’s the noise.”--Tigatron

Later when Silverbolt joins he finds the dynamic between the siblings confusing. He is just glad they can work out differences and things end up okay in the end.

“Must you both keep bickering about small things?”--Silverbolt

“I don’t know Silverbolt, can you stop talking about Blackarachnia for the next 5 minutes?”--Buddy

“… understandable, carry on then.”--Silverbolt

Cheetor does bring out the fun side of Buddy. Though it doesn’t show out that often. Sometimes the twins will be at their throats one minute, then, the next fighting enemies together like a well-oiled machine.

“Bet I can shoot Waspinator from here.”--Cheetor

“That’s dumb… I can do it with my optics shut.”--Buddy

They do have their fair share of sibling fights. Most common fight topics are usually about Cheetor’s safety and Buddy trying to have fun and not being serious all the time.

The fights usually are categorized in 3 different stages:

1. A petty little spat

“That’s not how it’s done.”--Buddy

“Says who?”--Cheetor

“Says common sense!”--Buddy

That is over in an hour or completely forgotten in the hour.

2. The Arguments

“You need to loosen up. Your always so serious and grumpy.” --Cheetor

“First off, I can loosen up, I choose when I want to. Also I’m not also ways serious and grumpy all the time.”--Buddy

“Are too!”--Cheetor

“Am not!”--Buddy

That has them trying to avoid the other but reconcile at the end of the day.

3. The rarest, full-on yelling and screaming that ends with the two of them avoiding each other for days at a time.

"..."--Cheetor

"..."--Buddy

Rattrap will never admit it, but he genuinely got scared the first time one of those happened while he was around. Most of the crew never knew that it could get so loud and quiet so quickly outside of fighting Predacons. No one likes it when this happens.

But Buddy usually gets to talking with Cheetor first and tries to solve the problem with him. Cheetor does, most times take up for what he had done wrong and reconcile with his twin.

“Guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry.”--Cheetor

“…I’m sorry too.”--Buddy

Strange enough, to the team, if they ever got forcefully separated, example: kidnapped or on a longer than normal patrol, the other will act rasher and impulsive.

If Buddy is gone, Cheetor becomes even more restless than usual and wants to go out and find them.

“We need to go in now! Buddy could be really hurt right now and we are just stuck here!”--Cheetor

“Cheetor calm down.”--Primal

“No! Not until Buddy is safe!”--Cheetor

If Cheetor is gone, Buddy paces a lot and tries tracking Cheetor down with the trackers or will want to go out and rely on good old fashion scent finding.

“I’m going out, I can track Cheetor down with his scent.”--Buddy

“Buddy we need to-“--Rhinox

“We need to move and get Cheetor out of there!”--Buddy

The first time the team witnessed Buddy’s impulsivity they were a bit surprised was an understatement. Dinobot was sure that Buddy had been replaced with a clone for a second.

Primus help the Predacon that hurts the one of the twins and the other is around. Terrorsaur still shivers a bit whenever Buddy flashes their tiny teeth at him, and it’s not the pleasant shiver.

#transformers #transformers beast wars #transformers x reader #beast wars #bw optimus primal #rhinox #bw rattrap #bw dinobot #tigatron #airazor #silverbolt #cheetor #mtmte x reader #bot buddy #maccadam

[swampthingking]

i’m excited for a million things in tsc, but right now i’m thinking about if/how nora will write the dynamic between jean and jeremy. (even if jerejean doesn’t happen, i anticipate jeremy’s kindness towards jean to be a part of the story.)

i can see jean wanting to push jeremy for a multitude of reasons. i can see jean feeling untrustworthy of jeremy’s optimism and wanting to push him, like, “there’s no way you’re really like this. i want to see who you are behind the cameras.” jean kind of starts prodding jeremy to see what makes him tick. what makes him snap. what he does when he snaps, what he says. if he’s violent. especially if they’re rooming together (my hc is that jeremy volunteers himself to room with jean. he trusts his teammates, but feels responsible as the captain for making sure jean gets settled). in that case, i imagine jean would either:

1, rile him up on purpose so he doesn’t have to anticipate when jeremy snaps, that way he can control when it happens. and once he knows the signs, he can protect himself in the future.

i think eventually, jeremy will get fed up at jean’s antagonism (because let’s face it, jean is going to be a bitch at some point or another and i cannot wait for it) but jeremy won’t react the way jean is expecting. maybe his face gets red, his ears turn pink. he starts to breathe a little heavier, maybe his fists clench, and jean is preparing to be hit. he went through jeremy’s things—knows he doesn’t carry any weapons—but jeremy lifts enough to pack a punch. so he waits. but jeremy just says, “i am not in the right headspace to have a conversation right now.” and leaves the dorm. jean doesn’t feel bad necessarily, just perplexed. a little pissed, honestly. like, “i put in all this effort to piss you off, and you just walk away?” and kind of wants to be hurt. exy and pain were the only constants in his life for years—they went hand in hand, that doesn’t just go away overnight. if jean pulled this shit at the nest, he would have been dealt with ages ago. not being hit is almost worse, because he at least was expecting that. he wasn’t expecting an emotionally intelligent, “i need space to think.”

eventually jeremy comes back, sees jean sitting on the bed, just waiting, and he says, calm and collected, “i can understand your transfer wasn’t ideal, but i’m not trying to make your life harder. i want you to feel safe. i want you to feel independent. and eventually, i want you to be happy, whenever you’re ready. but you’re not going to take your anger out on me, and you’re not going to take it out on the rest of the team.” and jean is just kind of??? stunned??? like?? is this a fucking joke?? but jeremy is just standing a safe distance away, with his arms crossed, waiting for jean to say something. so jean nods, kind of dumbfounded, still a little on edge, because what the fuck do you say to that? how do you argue with someone who saw through your bullshit plan and completely disarms you? and jeremy asks if jean’s eaten, if he wants to go get food with him, or if he wants to be alone.

or 2, jean will stay very silent and still and try his hardest to steer clear of jeremy as to not attract any attention to himself. make himself small and avoid conflict. “if i don’t make any noise and i am a ghost, i can’t be hurt. if i do nothing wrong, i can covet this minuscule, yet fleeting comfort. my bones just healed, let me prolong this feeling.” maybe jean doesn’t want to even try to push jeremy. maybe he doesn’t speak for awhile after he arrives at scu, doesn’t want to say anything to incriminate riko or the ravens or the moriyamas; the blind, forced loyalty still ingrained into him. i can see him just observing his new surroundings. analyzing his new team, watching how they interact with one another, being stunned at the individualism that’s normal to these people. they don’t need to be paired at all times— the raven buddy system doesn’t exist here. i can see jean kind of paralyzed and overwhelmed at all the places he could go if he wanted to, but not leaving his dorm very often at all.

and i can see jeremy just wanting jean to be comfortable. he could either:

1, watch jean, learning how he moves, what makes him startle, what he does and doesn’t like based off his body language. i can see jeremy picking up quickly that the nest was a horrible place, just based off his interactions with the ravens on the court, but also from the press. being so deeply disturbed to see the aftermath of the nest in the way jean reacts to loud noises. how jean shuts down after a trojan claps him on the shoulder. i wonder if, after a winning game, jeremy will try to talk to jean about it and say, “you played so well, are you proud?” and jean replying, “i’m relieved.” and jean didn’t know the gravity of the truth he gave away, but jeremy understands. can read between the lines well enough to understand why jean is relieved. so jeremy says, “well, i’m proud of you.” and jean doesn’t look at him, but he’s a bit too expressive to hide his feelings, and he fidgets when he’s nervous, despite how desperately he tries to tamp down his feelings, because burying them is easier than letting them seep to the surface.

or 2, he could accept that jean is going to take a long time to come around, if at all, and not really bother with trying so hard. i could see jeremy treating jean like every other trojan, just without the touches and hugs, as they all learned quickly that jean hates being touched. he tries to include jean, always offers for him to tag along, to join them in doing whatever they’re going to do. he wants the best for jean, yeah, but he doesn’t give him any special treatment. and maybe that’s what could help jean come around, just a tiny bit. even just joining jeremy to the cafeteria for dinner. even just sitting in the living room to do work, rather than in the bedroom. maybe being treated like everyone else would be beneficial to jean, seeing jeremy model positivity and reflecting that treatment back onto jean. and of course jeremy would be proud if/when jean came around, but there’s no expectations, and maybe that’s what puts jean at something resembling ease. that nobody expects anything of him and here’s no pressure to be any type of way, and for once in his life he can figure out who he is and who he wants to become.

anyway, sorry for the essay. i have ample thoughts about aftg in general, but tsc has kind of been on my mind a lot :)

#aftg #all for the game #the sunshine court #tsc #jean moreau #jeremy knox #tfc #the foxhole court #i am a very normal person #with very normal interests #and i am very normal about aftg

[owmylasagna-blog]

What do you think of this scene where Lee embraces Eddy near the ending of the movie, and then try to fight Bro to defend him? I found this really cute, and kind of conviced me Lee genuinely likes and cares for him (even if he don't return it, probably never will). I find a shame how many people don't talk about this.

You see… I start answering these questions and then I spiral out into analysis nobody asked for. Here goes!

I had to go back to rewatch these ending scenes of BPS to jog my memory and I can see what you’re talking about. Lee hugs Eddy, picking him up like a cat by the armpits. It’s brief but she’s drawn with little animated bubble hearts. This honestly surprised me, I’d sort of forgotten them from the scene. In this instance it does seem she is genuinely crushing on him. Or maybe she is enamored with how cute he is - I can’t overstate how comically tiny Eddy looks when she is holding him. I’d agree too that Eddy is less than thrilled. Very in character as usual.

Now Lee’s reaction to Eddy getting walloped by Bro is SO interesting. And not from any romantic or shipping perspective in my opinion. Honestly, all the Kankers witnessing Eddy’s abuse (EVERYONE witnessing Eddy’s abuse) is wildly transformational. I’m amazed by how much character analysis you can pack into this 2 minute scene just based on each characters’ reactions but I’m gonna try and stay focused on the task at hand. Lee.

I really admire Lee springing into action here. I think it speaks so much to her bravery, hard headedness, and role as a protector and leader of the pack. Throughout the show we see how she is the typical Oldest Sister and this shines through in how ready she is to defend Eddy. I always interpreted Lee as maybe the most hardened and cynical of men among her sisters, possibly because she remembers the most when it comes to her dad and stepdads. As the eldest, her mother probably levels with her the most about how men are good-for-nothin’, backstabbin’, two timin’, free-loadin’... you get the idea. I have no evidence of this but let's just indulge my inference.

Lee projects a lot of these ideas onto Eddy (the Kankers all do more generally with the Eds), often treating him more like a “boy toy” or thinking that through enough coercion and beating into submission he’ll become the semi-servile husband of her dreams. There is a lot to be said about the tension and toxic hetero relationship dynamic going on here but I can’t blame Lee for grabbing the bull by the horns, taking her control. Unfortunately for Eddy she chose Eddy, and she’s unaware and uninterested in how he feels about it all 99% of the time.

So you can imagine when she sees Eddy, the neighbor boy she has been tormenting because of all these mixed messages about men, getting abused by his brother, an older male family member. The pieces really have to be coming together for Lee of who the real enemy is in this situation. She has to relate and sympathize with Eddy at that moment. For the first time Lee humanizes Eddy, finally seeing him as just another kid that’s been wronged by the men in his life. Like, my heart aches thinking about this. Her blood must be boiling. She comes to his defense in a way we’ve only seen for her sisters. It’s very moving! I love her righteous feminine rage!

This brings up a bigger point of how BPS deviates in some ways from the typical dynamics of the show. The fact that the Kankers are banding together to protect their “boyfriends'' from the rest of the cul-de-sac kids is sort of new. Most episodes are Eds VS cul-de-sac kids or Eds VS Kankers or the occasional Eds VS cul-de-sac+Kankers. It’s nice to see one group of outcasts coming to the defense of another (despite likely not having the best intentions). It takes the Eds royaling pissing off the cul-de-sac kids to catalyze the solidarity between the two trios. And when Bro comes on the scene they get to redirect their antagonizing towards someone who deserves it a bit more.

I’d like to imagine after BPS there is a major shift in the way the Kankers treat and view the Eds. Maybe it’s the eddeddy blinders or maybe I’m still not 100% convinced Lee really has a crush on Eddy but this feels like it could be the start of a more amicable relationship. Or they silently respect each other from afar, Eddy still being tentatively terrified of her ferocity or ever getting on her bad side. But more generally Lee would back off on her antagonizing, and maybe unpack whether or not she likes Eddy or she liked the idea of Eddy. I really can’t see her being very interested in him romantically after BPS but she could have more sympathy and understanding than before.

Anyway it was nice to have a reason to talk about Lee more, so thanks for bringing it up!!! This is just my little interpretation that got way out of hand.

#yap yap dribble dribble #lee #eddy

[monigeko]

What Cellbit wrote/read at the end of stream 5/25 English translations

Court is on Wednesday, 5/24. Cucurucho has no interest in creative blocks and revealed this when he didn't even think twice about Bobby's negotiation.

He won't accept giving the blocks for the armor, and any information we try to extract in exchange for the blocks will be processed and mitigated in a way that means nothing to us.

But if we have a new surprise, which even our side expects, maybe things will change. Cucurucho made a mistake in the midst of chaos and bullshit. Maybe that's the secret.

The plan is to try to use Forever's rule breaking as a bargaining chip to create a direct conflict between FOREVER and EU, surprising both Forever and Cucurucho in the negotiation, and asking for Richarlyson's paternity as a form of "betrayal", showing that I'm willing to join the Federation and I have no problem antagonizing my friends to protect Richariyson enca from sé para mico

But if we have a new surprise, which even our side expects, maybe things will change. Cucurucho made a mistake in the midst of chaos and bullshit. Maybe that's the secret.

The plan is to try to use Forever's rule breaking as a bargaining chip to create a direct conflict between FOREVER and EU, surprising both Forever and Cucurucho in the negotiation, and asking for Richarlyson's paternity as a form of "betrayal", showing that I'm willing to join the Federation and have no problem antagonizing my friends to protect Richarlyson and have him all to myself

Then the idea is to purposefully get away from everyone for a day, create something like a dark castle of evil away from everyone just to see the reaction of Cucurucho/Federation, the codes and any possible imposter among us.

If anyone decides to ally with me they can

be a possible suspect or someone who would not be trusted in the Order.

TUPDATE - DIA DO COURTS

Things went a little differently than planned, but the master plan worked out. Instead of being surprised by the betrayal during the court, I used as an excuse the fact that they lied to me and tried to blackmail me with the Vivo meme to make a scene.

I took the opportunity to change the defense attorney skin to the prosecutor skin to add to the drama

It's a plus point because it makes it seem like I genuinely have a motive/grudge towards my friends and lessens the Federation/Cucurucho's suspicion of mine

intentions, it didn't look like I betrayed them "out of the blue"

Considering that maybe the Federation watches the streams canonically to get the information, I think it was the best scam to do a whole narrative arc to have a big twist later.

As proof that the plan was not a lie, I left only a signed book for Richarlyson revealing the plan. and I didn't risk showing it on the stream.

It's still risky considering the Federation might have access to the egg items but it honestly broke my heart to see him so sad and disappointed. I hope I don't regret it.

I also blocked access to Sofia for others to see how Max reacts. I don't want to suspect him, but everything about her is very strange.

I will avoid mentioning its existence* to the Federation, and if they raise this matter, I will try to circumvent it.

IMPORTS

CODES

THE CODES attacked me shortly after I "joined the Federation.

A code made exclusively to kill me? He practically ignored Richarlyson. Strengthens the theory that codes kill teles that seek to keep others on the island.

WHEN THEY ATTACK

FINAL PLAN

With luck, the Federation will also wake me up in the hospital that Max woke up.

I will try to persuade as much as I can to acquire new information.

Continuing the conflict with the Qrdem' members and trying to please the other members of the island with explanations how I realized that the island's life and people are better than what I had before, and I don't want to lose that. They don't need to get involved in this.)

Using Richarlyson's courtroom event, where everyone will likely be present and watching, to reveal all the information I can get from the Federation in front of everyone.

So if they kill/arrest me I will become a martyr and everyone present will realize the truth about the Federation.

#qsmp cellbit #qsmp #qsmp liveblog #qsmp lore #moni thoughts #moni translations #qsmp translations

[gffa]

"it could be worse. he could have almost killed an innocent person." she says about people who likely or absolutely HAVE killed innocent people before and have literally nothing stopping them from doing it again. and what the fuck are you gonna do WHEN they do it again, selina?

Honestly, I'm interpreting that scene through the lens of Selina isn't being entirely honest in the way she talks to Jason--she's pissed at him for joining her side by pretending that he's agreeing with her, when he clearly doesn't, when he's been shit-talking her ideas the entire time, just using it as an excuse to pummel her guys instead of training them (in her eyes), and using her to get to the Joker instead of actually helping her. I read her as deliberately antagonizing him in that scene because she's sick of his shit and, if he's going to be a shit to her, she'll be a shit right back to him, by pretending to not take this seriously just because she knows it'll piss him off. I mean, I'm with you in that I think Selina being forced into this entire plan is bad writing on her behalf, SELINA IS SMARTER THAN THIS, HOW DARE YOU INSULT HER INTELLIGENCE, DC, but in that scene specifically, it worked for me, because she is soooooo annoyed with this whiny little shit, he deserves her serving up the same shit right back to him.

That is the face of a woman who has HAD ENOUGH of Jason Todd's bullshit and Selina's style has always been to dig her claws into someone by lying about what she does or doesn't care about. I think Selina does care that these people have probably killed innocent people before, but her counterpoint is: She can't do anything to bring those people back and now she's trying to stop more innocent people from being killed by offering a different path. She's taking a harm reduction path as much as she can. Yeah, they're going to make mistakes, but if she can still reduce those mistakes, isn't it worth trying? Or is one mistake enough that she should never try any other path ever again, even though it means they'll immediately go back to killing lots of innocent people? I know that path is annoyingly bad on an authorial level, we the audience can poke so many holes in it (and I think the narrative mostly agrees), but within the story, I think her reaction isn't that she doesn't care, it's that she's deliberately needling Jason because he's been getting on her nerves with his behavior and this was designed to set him off, and like. He was being kind of a little shitty to her, I say with full affection for what a hot mess he is. And she's not trying to eradicate ALL innocent people's deaths (because that's NOT POSSIBLE, it's not a feasible goal in her mind), but she's trying to bring the numbers down so at least MORE PEOPLE will live. Mistakes will happen. Sometimes innocent people will die and that hurts like hell, it shouldn't happen. But it does. She's trying to be a realist about it, there are more innocent people that will die if something isn't done, and so she'll get up and keep trying again.

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #selina kyle #jason todd #gotham war #batman/catwoman: gotham war: red hood #tuesday spoilers

[byima]

December prompts day 1

Ice skating

Dec 1st, 2030

Charlie is already up when he gets home.

Honestly, that should have been his first clue.

But he’s somewhat on autopilot that morning, and mostly glad he didn’t miss his stop on the train ride home. Even gladder that he hadn’t driven to work for that shift, because surely he would have fallen asleep at the wheel commuting on this dim Sunday morning.

He isn’t fazed when he hears someone banging around the kitchen when he walks through the front door at 6:40AM. Doesn’t bat an eye when he sees Charlie toasting Eggo waffles as he follows his usual path; keys on the entry table, dirty travel cup by the sink, upstairs to drop his bag in the bedroom. He answers her chipper “Good morning Daddy,” with an equally affectionate, “Mornin’ Charlie-girl.”

Annabeth is still asleep, leg hitched up to form a protective C around their son, whose knee is bent up to the ceiling, arm flung to the side, body mostly uncovered, and belly rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.

He figures he’ll join them, so he moves quietly, peeling off his outer jacket, toeing off his shoes, the hairs on his arms prickling at the temperature change and sheer goodness of the thought of crawling under the warm blue covers behind his warm blonde wife.

He’s just draped his jacket over the cushioned chair in the bedroom nook when he hears Charlie call him loudly from downstairs.

“Daddy!”

Annabeth stirs.

Charlie calls him again, but this time she’s closer, slipping through the open door before he can go to her. He hears a tired mumble from his wife and shakes his head.

“Daddy.” She wraps her arms around his waist, pressing her front to his.

“Charlie.” He cups her small shoulders with both hands. Annabeth is awake now, turning onto her other side to watch them. Chase stirs now.

“We’re gonna go ice skating.”

He only raises his eyebrows.

“We’re gonna go to the one where Nonnie’s birthday was at.”

“Right now?” He asks. He turns his head to look at Annabeth, who’s getting out from under the covers shaking her head. Chase is pretty much awake now, and nods when his mom asks if he needs to go potty. She helps him down from the bed.

Percy is wrestling the disappointment of the morning cuddle that never was when he looks back down at Charlie. “Is that why you’re up so early?”

“You’re too loud, Char,” Lena sleepily admonishes her sister as she trails into her parent’s bedroom.

Charlie ignores her sister. “Mommy said we could get there early so it’s not as crowded.” The ten-year-old detaches from her dad to scramble onto the bed by the pillows.

Percy sits near the foot of the mattress and Lena follows him without hesitation, climbing into the space at his left.

“How ya feelin’ Lean-Bean?”

“Gonna wear my pink tights because it’s gonna be really cold and I don’t want my butt to freeze off.” She yawns, then leans in close to his side.

“My neither.” He wraps his arm around her, patting her thigh affectionately. She burrows even closer, like she’s trying to fill the space between his ribs. “Maybe I need some pink tights.”

She nods, he feels her head bobbing up and down against his side. “Charlie said she’s gonna skate really fast but I don’t wanna go fast in the beginning. Only when I get more used to skating.”

“Mommy and I will skate fast and you can go slow like a baby with Chase and Daddy.” Charlie is playing with the lattice stitching on one of the throw pillows and only partially paying Lena mind. Percy sighs internally, he’s not mentally ready for a day of the girls antagonizing each other. On ice.

“We’re gonna need to do better than Eggos this morning then,” Percy decides. “What do we want for breakfast?”

“We got chicken nuggets last night because we went to McDonald’s because Mommy almost got into a car accident,” Lena whispers, chewing on the fraying sleeve of her pajamas.

Percy’s eyes go wide. Lena looks back at him and opens her mouth like she’s going to add something else, but she doesn’t. Her head turns and whatever she was going to say dies in her throat with twenty other details that she wants to share with her dad because Charlie hisses her name accusingly.

“Lena–”

“What?”

“You’re such a blabbermouth–”

“No I’m not–”

“You weren’t supposed to say anything–”

“I didn’t say anything–”

“Yes you did you said–” 

Percy interrupts. “Okay. Okay. Enough.” They continue to bicker and he raises his voice. “Enough.”

The girls go quiet. Lena drops down from the kneel she’s lifted into in order to confront her sister.

“What is this about a car accident?” Percy asks.

Annabeth opens the bathroom door. All eyes go to her. When she realizes she’s the subject of three keen gazes, her eyebrows go up and she asks, “What?” Chase runs from her legs and Percy helps him into the empty spot on his right side.

“Lena blabbed.”

Lena protests, ��No…” And now she looks near tears.

Percy smooths the tangled dirty blonde hair on her head. “Lena, it’s okay. We’re all having a talk.” He eyes his eldest daughter. “Right, Charlie?” She makes a stink face. “A conversation.”

She finally nods, but still adds, “We weren’t supposed to say anything.”

Annabeth went back into the bathroom.

Chase has picked up Annabeth’s phone from the nightstand and now hands it to his dad to unlock.

Percy is feeling simultaneously over and under informed and he can’t bring himself to think about children and screen time before he passes the unlocked phone to the three-year-old and pushes from the bed to follow his wife into the bathroom. He turns back to Charlie and Lena, yanking both of them by the ankle until they’re grabbing at the bedsheets and screaming for him to stop. He lets them go and they scramble from the edge of the bed. “Stop fighting or I’m gonna sit on you.”

They nod together, united against one common foe. 

He walks through the bathroom door and finds Annabeth standing at the sink, brushing her teeth.

“What happened?”

She looks at him in the mirror, scrubbing her tongue unhurriedly. She ducks her head to spit.

“Good morning to you too.” Her tone is dry. “How was your shift?”

He pushes off of the door and wraps his arms around her shoulders from behind. “Good morning.” His cheek presses to the side of her head.

“We’re going ice skating today," he begins. "McDonald’s for dinner yesterday, Lena’s wearing her pink tights." He ticks through the morning revelations like items on a grocery list. “And you guys were in an accident?” He says the last part softly, voice cracking at the end.

“Almost in an accident,” she amends in a murmur.

He remains quiet, and after a moment she curls her hands around the forearm pressed tight against her heart and explains what happened. The car that didn’t stop. Breaking so, so hard in the middle of a left turn. Swerving to the right so the car behind doesn’t rear-end them.

He listens, emphasizes how glad he is that they’re okay, presses his mouth to her temple. Silence falls between them and he adds, “Don’t dwell on it."

“I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“I bet.” He squeezes her reassuringly. “It’s a terrible thing to think about, all the ‘what ifs’.” He presses a kiss to her temple again and reiterates. “Don’t dwell on it.”

“I took them to McDonald’s because it was right there and I was too shaken up to drive.”

He nods and offers, “At least it wasn’t a Denny’s.”

She makes a disgusted noise, “I hate Denny’s.”

She turns in his arms, “And the ice skating is because I needed them to think about something else.” She tips back to look him head on and explains, “Charlie wouldn’t stop talking about it and Chase and Lena seemed pretty scared.”

“So ice skating was part of the gag order?” His tone is teasing.

“There was no gag order. Only a promise to let me say something first.”

“Too bad Lena is… Lena,” he says with a grin.

“And I needed us to do something together, as a family,” she adds. “Something fun and memorable for the holidays. Especially after that.”

“Yeah.” He nods.

“You should bring your camera.”

He nods again in agreement. She looks into his eyes, head tilting to the side as she tries to figure out his mood. 

He knocks his forehead against hers and admits, “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight.”

Her laugh is quiet and understanding. “Hypocrite.” He joins her in laughter. “Don’t dwell on it,” she imitates his low voice.

“You traumatized me,” he accuses.

“If I’m traumatized, you better be traumatized.” She lets him go with one more lasting squeeze, heading for the bedroom door and the other three chambers of her heart behind it.

“Me and you,” he calls out. She looks back to see him tip his chin to her in a show of camaraderie. “Trauma bonded since ‘05.”

Her head falls back as she laughs.

#december prompts challenge #mypjofic #percabeth #percy and annabeth #percababies #percy jackon and the olympians

[tojikai]

also wanted to add this part since i forgot to add this to the original ask:

the manipulation is so cruel and heartbreaking. to constantly torment the reader knowing how she feels and to just upset her on purpose is disgusting. also to mention in front of the baby mom you discarded and mistreat that you want to have children with someone else and willingly allow the gf to diminish the reader’s role in her own child’s life. i was more sad than mad at first when the child called the gf mama but now i think the anger and sadness are equal. i know the child is young (and that gojo probably cosigned that) but they are inadvertently turning them against reader. she already has to coparent with him and the gf enabling him too so she definitely doesn’t deserve to be put last by her own child for the people who torment her especially since she is the only one being the bigger person and that no one as of right now is in her corner. the taking the child on trips was appalling; they didn’t consider how reader would feel and they overstep her boundaries and just disregard her role. part of me even thinks that there is a possibility gojo cares more about antagonizing the reader than being a dad sometimes. hopefully the child will stop calling the gf mom bc it isn’t right (they’re not even married, she didn’t even see or care how reader felt about it and the gf is trying to slide into the role too quick) maybe its just me but despite not having kids, having them around strangers is a definite NO. the fact that she could see how the entire situation affected reader and had the audacity to smile at her and to just watch her get mistreated screams “pick me” but also screams “evil and enjoying her suffering” i just don’t trust her. it makes me sad that the child doesn’t have loyalty to her mom and hopefully they develop to have more loyalty to the reader. i hope the reader can find happiness and at least have her child also (saying also bc i think someone else said this too) and then leave gojo and his gf where they are at. i do genuinely hope that gojo suffers in this fic lmao pls dog walk his behind😭

hopefully her feelings can fade and that she falls in love with someone who will have her back, protect her and just be loyal to her.

(maybe this entire this sounds bitter, but i didn’t know how else to phrase it. i know when i was little and even now i would see my mom have this kind of personality and is kind to everyone so i stick with my mom on everything so to read that kinda shocked me and made me sad. if my child called someone else mom id be devastated.)

sidenote: i also would like to think that reader’s child would be gojo’s karma since he is so malicious towards the reader and that with time the child will pick up on that and strengthen their bond with the reader as well as her loyalty.

(this is honestly a lot but i had a lot of feelings and thoughts 💭)

- theory anon

i definitely get you. seeing a babydaddy's gf try to take over the mom role even when the real mom is literally alive and kicking can be really revolting. and the fact that the babydaddy is not taking action is just disrespectful. tho, we cant blame the child bc they're weak when it comes to toys😭irl, i know that as a child grows, they slowly realize all of that and side more with what is right. i really enjoyed reading this, theory anon <33 hope you're doing great~

#🍭—kaitalks #f: sundered

[alitgblog]

ok thoughts for volume IV bc I actually enjoyed it a lot lol

also I'm currently on a Jin route (i might switch to claudia i have not decided) so that's important context lol

I Spy was an interesting concept for a game but if i can nitpick here, it felt much more like a firepit game than a challenge and that would be nice to have some variety since last week was the Heartbreaker thing and next week we have Excess Baggage.

For whatever reason I can't remember the format of the show rn but I think if the game is gonna continue with doing about a day more or less per volume, it should be like the show where there is at least one or two major events being either dates (where couples are either all in the same area, one couple goes out of the villa, or there's bombshells involved), challenges (where they go out onto the stage and do some physical challenge), or parties (which can include games). And right now I feel like we're getting three challenges in a row and I'd rather we change it up. But that's besides the point

anyway i believed Jack when he said his secret wasn't supposed to cause drama but I did not believe Theo at all and the fact that we got to tell him that later? Great choice. (and also so in character for MC to tell him off and him to just continue pretending like she didn't say that)

Also very flirty moments with Claudia is what is making this Jin route so hard. she's very forward and the fact that you can pursue her so soon is great actually. I thought maybe she and theo would share a slow burn route but it seems like it might be just Theo (or that you can't officially couple up with her later but apparently you can kiss her and go to the hideaway and stuff so that's cool).

I'm always hoping for non MC centered drama and we got it (but also there WAS MC centered drama too so that's even better)

I love to have a character to hate/dislike, so thank you so much Sophie and Jack. I can't imagine what it would be like with Luna and Jin though because they seem way more chill whereas I can see Sophie (a PERFORMER) doing all that and Jack (self proclaimed romantic) also just doing stuff to fit with Sophie.

And honestly still having residual feelings from the previous episode works. Like, yes to the Jack and Emel kiss (at least from Jack's POV about being insecure about Sophie,,, I'm not so sure about Emel but as someone who played it flirting with Oakley up until the end of Vol II and knowing Emel wants a romantic guy like Jack, I will let it slide). I kinda wish it implied more that Jin rejected Sophie so that's why she didn't pick him at the last recoupling so she's still hurt and still antagonizing MC and Jin for that reason. Otherwise it's just like, why are they still mad though?

Emel and Oakley are so cute. I also kept wishing after S5 and S6 that we got more strong couples in the game and I'm very glad they seem happy and if anything happens to them I'm gonna be so upset.

And tbh Jack and Sophie making it work is so nice too. Even though I think they're gonna keep having a lot of drama, it's entertaining and it's also great to have a couple that's probably gonna get dumped or split up at some point (and you know they're not gonna make it on the outside).

I don't care for Brad and Christy at all but why is that option 29 gems?? Like even asking for drama about the Islanders currently in the Villa is 17 gems (which I still don't think should be behind a pay wall but it feels like that one might be more relevant).

I do like that Jack is trying to be sweet to Sophie because even though he has also been an asshole to MC and her couple, he's still a possible route for if you replay, so that's nice they're not making the other LI's unappealing like in S6 (...yet???? im not giving fusebox the all clear yet)

I hate that Jack called his apology thing a game, I wish he just gathered everyone at the firepit and did the same thing but not called it a compliment game.

in the same vein, why did he invent the chemistry game because that feels like they should've gotten a text about that and then the next text about voting for the couple with the strongest chemistry to go into the hideaway would make more sense.

regardless, I really liked Jack's compliment to MC because that's how I've been playing this character and the fact he pointed it out, I feel like she'd love that. Also everyone else's compliments were fun too except maybe Sophie's which is funny.

And then he tried to make a joke at the end which was bold, but then I found out it might have been Jin's fault which is far more in character but again I don't know how well that would play out if I was playing a different route.

Also you can cheekily ask Oakley how he felt about Jack's joke about Emel being the best kisser in front of everyone and you best believe I did that

Then everything seems fine until the chemistry game and then suddenly Sophie, Jack, Emel, and Oakley are doing fine and everyone else is not and I love that turn in drama. Again, can't speak for a Theo route but the way suddenly Claudia is in between Jin and MC is crazy and Jin has a somewhat reasonable response (considering that fusebox wanted to give you space to go to the hideaway with Claudia). he probably forgave MC too fast imo but that's on me for playing the messy route.

Also Claudia's response after hearing Jin and MC are going to the hideaway together instead of her and MC is so good. Like she does convey she's disappointed but understands, and MC says there's still time for them, and Claudia's response is like it would blow your mind like we gotta give Jin a fighting chance, and I love that. also bc I'm indecisive so I'm glad her routes not closed yet.

as much as I like the drama, Tyler did not make a big splash so it does feel like we just got drama four volumes in a row, so I'm kind of hoping we get a bombshell mid challenge. Unfortunately, it's the excess baggage challenge, which I do like and I think we're due for this challenge to show up, but a bombshell showing up mid excess baggage challenge is literally what happens in S3 so I don't think I'm right.

I already posted my little joke about the Hideaway scene but yeah it's so much better than it's been recently. And like it looks like there's a few more options to change up the scene/dialogue so that's good they put effort into small stuff like that

and I'm not advocating for them hiding scenes behind a pay wall (like I rather them put these expensive gem choices behind drama I don't care about, that's fine) but like if there was ever a time to have a pay to win part of the game I would've made it this and not the kissing challenge. HEAR ME OUT: so it's like an early in the game hideaway first of all, technically you've known each other for like four days and if it comes up again for free, i wouldnt even miss it. Second, it kinda dismisses the drama that JUST happened. Like, either Theo or Claudia have just blown up their strong couple to pursue MC and their LI doesn't do anything? And the other couples vote for them anyway? Like get rid of the gem choice early on for MC and Jin to prove their chemistry and have them stumble anyway. Then after the Claudia/Theo confession, the gem choice is MC announces she wants another shot and because Sophie, Jack, and Emel like her for solving their drama they agree. And then MC can choose her second try with Theo, Claudia, or her LI. And then still has the chat later with her LI and then you win with whoever you pick (or I guess if you pick Theo then you don't bc I guess it's the slow burn route. Maybe you get a chat with him on the daybeds or SOMETHING lol). And third, Jack did this whole campaign to get him and Sophie to a stronger place so like there was a perfect backup couple right there.

and also some non volume specific thoughts:

I'm kind of excited to replay and like couple with Jack or Oakley at this point because I'm curious if the dialogue is much different. I really like Jin's dialogue and it fits his character, so I'm wondering how much of it is copy paste (but most people here are also on a Jin route so I can't cross reference damn).

also I would've reordered the past couple of episodes so that like Luna and Tyler would stay for longer and have a bigger impact but I don't need to make this long post even longer so maybe I'll post it some other time

still don't know why it's called tempting fate but if we're returning to the non themed seasons I'm not complaining

#litg #long ass post im sorry #this is a lot more analysis than thoughts now that i think about it #litg s8 #rambling

[creepy-feathers]

You mention Cody being a victim a lot because his reactions are fun. Now I wanna hear those head cannons >:3

Oh-ho-ho. Now we're talking  😈

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

This boy is not ticklish at all.

Said no one ever.

It isn't even that he's super duper hypersensitive or anything, he's just...dramatic. Loud and crazy and it's honestly hilarious. And every spot you target will elicit a different reaction.

Go for his sides, boom, he's lying curled up in the tightest ball he can form. Attack his stomach, he'll wheeze and kick out violently like a dog. Scratch his feet, oh boy. An actual shriek will exit his mouth and he'll flop around like a dying fish, all while trying desperately not to nail you in the head, but it's hard, man.

If you even look at him with malicious intent, or allude to it in any way, he will automatically blush and start stifling cute little anticipatory giggles and either inch away or block off his torso.

He loves the whole act of tickling, whether it's being received or given, but only if it's done in a playful fashion.

What he doesn't appreciate, however, is when someone uses that against him as a bullying tactic. Cough cough Johnny cough.

It's the worst thing cause he'll get all embarrassed and sad and try not to succumb, but the antagonizer will try twice as hard, and he'll just start snorting and wriggling and working to escape. This is when he gets laughed at and made fun of.

Now, he can handle gentle teasing and wry smirks and everything that comes with having a remotely decent ler, but the person responsible has to be special to him in some way. He sure ain't gonna enjoy an enemy or stranger touching him in such strange ways.

He's one of those people who, if tickled while sharing a hug, will just wrap his arms tighter around you and giggle into your shoulder rather than fight against you.

He's so friggin cute oml.

He'll let Sally get him sometimes, and every time is taken completely off-guard by how good she is at it. Seriously, that kid has scary precision.

Most of the time, the more lighthearted ones of the Manor will walk by him and randomly poke an accessible area of his torso just to watch him dramatically reel away, but most don't do anything more.

Liu's probably the main person that has actively tickled him on more than one occasion. But Liu's a playful person, so it's to be expected.

Cody likes to bury his head inside a pillow and scream with laughter on particularly vicious attacks.

#creepypasta tickle #creepypasta #x-virus #creepypasta headcanons #ticklepasta #x-virus headcanons #x-virus tickle #t-word

[badpostureart]

It Could Only Ever be Rinharu

Author’s Entry Angle

As of May of 2023, the Makoharu v. Rinharu debate is alive and well, albeit on a much smaller scale than in years prior. I’ve been on team Rinharu for almost a decade now. The earliest I expressed (purely personal) written support for them was back in late October 2014 and my first fanart of them (never shared publicly) was finished in early November of that year. Since then, my writing and art have improved dramatically, but my feelings about Rin and Haru have largely remained the same. Equally, the debate hasn’t changed that much either—at least from those outspoken about their dislike of the other side. Indeed, some variation of the word “toxic” has at one point or another been used to describe both pairings, with fans caricaturing the other side as being overly emotional and/or delusional when faced with content of the pairing they don’t like. It’s honestly quite funny to read!

For me, shipping has been a cheeky exercise in empathy and introspection about relationships more broadly. Rinharu is kind of like a first love. Not only were they the first coupling I would defend with my dying breath, but they were invaluable in contouring my understanding of romantic love in all its absurdities. Undoubtedly, my own experiences (limited as they are) and personality colour my preference, and I’ve spent the last 10 years trying to articulate what I love about these goobers so damn much. What does being a Rinharu truther say about me, if anything at all? I would like to explain my Rinharu-or-bust rationale precisely because this has been such a polarizing debate in the fandom. What is obvious to me is not obvious to others—there would be no debate if that were the case. After all this time, I don’t hate people who ship Makoharu. They have poor taste, of course, but that isn’t worth hating someone over. Heh, just kidding! I’m being an ass on purpose because it’s just so easy!

Being that Free! has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, I understand that people have had a long time to formulate their opinions and dig their heels in either way. I don’t believe engaging in debate will change people’s minds, and that isn’t what I’m trying to do here anyway. This is purely for fun! Additionally, while I’m still relatively new to posting on social media, I’m pretty sure it’s too late to respond directly to some of the points I mention below. Moreover, I don’t want to impose myself onto other people’s conversations—even though they’re public and some are overtly anti-Rinharu and antagonistic towards its supporters. These folks are ultimately entitled to their wrong opinions.

If you decide to indulge me and give my thoughts a read, I offer these disclaimers: I fully appreciate Makoto’s role in the Free! series more broadly and recognize that he is an important person in Haru’s life. Although I’ve never been a fan of Makoharu, I can appreciate where their supporters are coming from. I’m not writing in bad faith and do not wish to antagonize anyone. Equally, if I say anything you agree with, feel I’ve missed something, or think I’m completely out of line, please don’t be shy in letting me know! I’ve long wanted to engage in this conversation, but largely felt too shy to do so!

On Makoto Being “Boring”

Recently, I read a thread on Twitter where someone expressed indignation at the prospect of someone disliking Makoto for being “too nice.” Even after hearing at some point that people who aren’t his biggest fan find him boring, another commentator concluded that it’s “definitely something else.” What that “something else” could be…I’m not sure either! But I can certainly elaborate on the sentiment that Makoto is a boring character.

I, for one, don’t find him incredibly interesting. It isn’t that he’s “too nice,” but more so that his kindness is among the only characteristics I can think of to describe him. Frankly, I don’t know much about Makoto other than he’s kind, considerate, and supportive of others. His biggest flaws, if you could even call them that, are that he has a hard time being assertive and can be cowardly. He’s a nice guy, and how can you hate a nice guy without looking like a complete monster? By the same token, while I can’t hate him, I don’t feel particularly strong enough to like him that much either. I appreciated how Nao asks Makoto in Starting Days whether he likes swimming or simply that it’s something he can do with Haru because it addressed the problem I, (and likely others), had with Makoto’s character: Who is Makoto if Haru isn’t there? Aside from Haru, what does he like? What does he want to do purely for himself? By the movie’s end, I didn’t learn anything new about Makoto. He at least made peace with confirming that although he does like swimming in and of itself, he likes it better when it’s something he can do with his best friend. While completely unoffensive, it’s nothing to get excited about either.

On “Codependency” and “Toxicity”

Based on what we’ve covered so far, is it fair to say Makoto is overly dependent on Haru? Perhaps in some ways, but not to the degree of a complex. Growing up is hard, and being apart from someone you’ve spent virtually your whole life with is quite the adjustment to make. A better example of codependency would be Hiyori and Ikuya, with the former isolating the latter in order to hoard him privately to himself. (But that’s a story for another day).

On the flip side, Rinharu has been called toxic, presumably because they fight and have said hurtful things to each other. Oftentimes, these instances are the result of miscommunications, and while I wish they would be more honest with each other from the outset, they deserve grace too. Being vulnerable is not an easy thing to do—especially concerning someone one has strong feelings for. It may seem easier to push someone away or refuse to let them in to preserve a sense of pride or to protect oneself from the possibility of being hurt all over again. But for all the fighting Rin and Haru do, they have always reconciled and been able to express what having the other in their life means to them. They wouldn’t be able to affect each other as much as they have if they didn’t really care about each other, hm?

On Canonical Material

With translations of the FS Fanbook underway, some folks have suggested that being an “irreplaceable existence” is more significant than “destined to swim together,” but this depends entirely on how each statement is interpreted. Being that Makoto and Haru have known each other for basically their entire lives, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could possibly know either of them better. They were firsthand witnesses to how the other grew up over the years because they did it together. Indeed, this relationship should in no way be underestimated or thought of as dispensable. Still, being a “destined pair” suggests to me that Rin and Haru’s connection is bigger than either one of them. Put another way, it is as if the universe itself declared that the two were on a crash course to meet and would ultimately share a future together. Now, depending on whether you see swimming as just a sport/shared interest or whether you believe, (like I do), that it’s an intrinsic part of who they are and how they express themselves and love toward others, then the implications of the statement “destined to swim together” are decidedly quite different.

I’ve never felt like Makoto and Haru were anything more than best friends. Between running the same “drop the chan already” routine and essentially being able to read each other’s minds, their relationship has settled into something undoubtedly solid. It’s clear that they understand each other very well and have an unspoken agreement to always support each other. If romantic love were a matter of practicality, Makoto would perhaps be the most reasonable candidate for Haru. It’s a safe choice. But the laws of attraction don’t adhere to whatever is most rational—it isn’t a matter of who knows you the best, has known you the longest, or fights with you the least. It’s about who moves you and makes you feel something. I don’t wish for Haru to make choices just because they’re familiar and easy or out of fear of possibility.

Likewise, Rin is special to Haru in a way different from any of his other friends—something that is acknowledged and talked about by other characters throughout the series. Nagisa remarks in season one that “Haru-chan says he doesn’t care about his times or winning races, but he’s motivated when he’s racing Rin-chan.” Why is that? What is it about Rin in particular that motivates Haru in a way no one else does? Even when they first met, Haru knew immediately that the other boy was going to be a prominent character in his life whether he wanted him to be or not. He tries to get ahead of it, even run away from it, but he decides instead to be brave and open up enough to let Rin, in all his fleeting glory, nestle inside his bones. We’re treated to Haru’s entire emotional range where Rin is concerned. (Frankly, he was the first person I think Haru allowed himself to be vulnerable with by agreeing to join the medley in elementary school). Despite only being in the same class for a couple of months, Rin left a deep and lasting impression on Haru to the point where he thinks about the other boy well into high school. Hell, feeling as though he hurt Rin caused Haru to quit (and later come back to) the sport he loves most. For someone who goes out of their way to avoid participating in, well, life, Rin sure does a hell of a job in moving Haru to actively engage with what goes on around him. In season two, Nagisa knowingly asks Makoto why he wanted to compete against Haru in the prefecturals. Makoto can’t give a definite answer, but says, “Maybe I was jealous of Rin.” If the audience were to understand Rin simply as Haru’s swimming rival and nothing more, Makoto’s words are incomprehensible. It isn’t just a rivalry with Haru that Rin has, but a mutual, intimate connection over the sport. In other words, Makoto’s feelings towards Haru are not reciprocated—and he knows it.

Indeed, while Makoto feels swimming is meaningless without Haru, Haru finds the greatest purpose in swimming with Rin. With Rin missing from his life, Haru was prepared to resign to being ordinary. In being able to swim together, he wants to be and experience more. And this isn’t necessarily to say that Makoto and Haru would have an unhappy life together, just that Rin offers Haru something no one else can—namely beautiful sights to be shared. Whereas Makoto has expressed the desire to be a part of Haru’s life no matter what he decides to do, Rin proposes to Haru that they share a life and a dream together. Haru can always be certain that Makoto will be there for him, but seeing all he and Rin can be is realized only if they move forward together. I think it goes without saying how much Rin adores Haru, what with him talking virtually everyone else’s ears off about him. Kisumi didn’t even swim, but he knew who Haru was because Rin (apparently) told all of his buddies at Sano about the guy with the “cool attitude and eyes clear as water.” The guy thinks of Haru in prose for god’s sake!

Rin and Haru’s relationship has undoubtedly gone through growing pains, but they’re getting better at communicating and being completely honest with each other (and, frankly, themselves). I admire their relationship because it’s so god damn dynamic—it’s playful, adorable, rife with tension, beautiful, devastating, frustrating, complicated, and innate all at once. Perhaps precisely because Makoto lacks dynamism I find the prospect of a romantic relationship between him and Haru to be, well…boring. It's not that their connection is non-existent or some flavour of the word toxic—they have a wonderful friendship—but I don’t get the sense that it will change much, let alone develop into anything more in the future. From my perspective, as soon as Rin entered the picture any chance for a romance between Makoto and Haru was soundly squashed. There was simply no going back to the ordinary time before Rin Matsuoka “coincidentally” ended up at Iwatobi Elementary School.

#rinharu #free iwatobi swim club #rin matsuoka #haruka nanase #makoto tachibana #why i ship rinharu #badposture tumbles

[anonymityisfunwriter]

Birthday

Pairing: Grumpy!Bucky Barnes x Sunshine!Reader Part of the Grumpy Sunshine Series Summary: You're rubber, he's glue. You're oil, he's water. He doesn't know when to stop being an asshole, and you're just trying to make sure he has a great birthday.

You had been working together with Bucky and Sam for weeks now and despite Sam's many warnings to Bucky to be nice to you, every day Bucky got progressively more curt and agitated with you.

Sometimes he was downright mean, though you always deflected it- excused his behavior.

You'd say something about how you admired his honesty, his brashness.

Or you'd try to validate his feelings.

Then the next day, you'd do something nice for Bucky to apologize for upsetting him. It only made him even angrier.

Bucky honestly couldn't even remember what offhand comment set this argument in motion. All he knew was that he'd finally - finally done something to set you off.

"You're a pushover," he antagonizes.

"I'm not a pushover. I'm nice - there's a difference."

You're about to walk out of the room when he speaks again, "You're annoying. And you're bugging me! God, why don't you just go home? We don't need your help anymore. Seriously, don't you have a family or someone else to go annoy?"

"You don't have to be an ass," you grit, trying to calm yourself.

"Oh, so now you know a word besides awesome," he mocks you, throwing up his arms. "Maybe eventually you'll get a clue and realize that not everything in this world is awesome and sunshine and - and whatever other deluded fantasy you're trying to fool yourself into believing."

You turn sharply, feeling the painful stab of his words. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't know how much shit is in this world. How bad people can be? I know- I know it very well. I've seen it with my own two eyes. And everyday I wake up and put a smile on my face anyway. I wake up and I choose to be happy, to smile, and to be nice to people even when they don't deserve it. Because if I don't- if the world really is all shit and evil then what's the point?"

"The point?" he asks. He's completely thrown off by our outburst, if he could call it that knowing he'd provoked you. You never talked about your past or family or anything that wasn't a very surface-level topic. You didn't talk about your story or background- or lack thereof. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know anything about you.

"Yeah. Then what's the point? Why would I even bother with the world? Why would I even get out of bed in the morning? Why would I keep moving forward? I don't have anything. I don't have a family or a home or really anything. I have me- and that's it. There's no one I can call, no one I look to, I don't have a Steve- I've never had a Steve! I don't have a friend or family or anyone that even fucking vaguely knows me, so if that's the case then what's the point?"

"I-"

"You know what? No. I'm done. You don't want me to play nice? Fine. One more loss can't possibly hurt more than the rest, can it? Just let me do what I need to do. And you do what you need to do."

You take your wallet and you storm out. You're not even sure where you're going, you just can't breathe. So you walk, and walk, and walk, until everything else is just background noise.

When Sam finally comes back, he immediately notices your absence. There's no music playing, you're not in the kitchen, there's a lack of the spirit that you bring and it's all gone. As cliche as it sounds, it's quiet- too quiet. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"I dunno," Bucky mumbles after taking a long pull from his beer bottle.

"She just left?"

"Yup," he remarks, trying to make it seem like he's completely uninterested in your disappearance, when in reality he's been waiting for you to come back since he ran you out. Even by just looking at Bucky's flat expression, Sam knows that he's not getting the full story, so he calls you. "Hey, where'd you go? Everything okay?"

You clear your throat. "Yeah! I'm okay. Thank you for asking. I just need to take a break- I won't be far, just call if you need anything."

Your voice is off. Sam can hear the strain in your vocal chords, how your typical optimism and excitement sound forced, fake. "You're sure?"

"Yeah! I'm great! I have to go, but I'll be back," you promise.

When he hangs up the phone, he stares holes into the side of Bucky's head. Just by the way he's avoiding looking at him tells Sam who's the guilty party. "What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" Bucky responds, taking a large swig from his glass.

"Because you're the only person on this Earth that seems determined to drive away the sweetest, nicest person I've ever met. You're the only one that wants to make her miserable. Care to explain what you said to make her cry?"

"She was crying?" he winces.

"She sure sounded like it."

"Shit," Bucky mumbles. He really hates how guilty he feels for making you cry, but the smallest part of him wants to know what exactly it was that made you so mad. He wants to know what makes you tick, though he can't figure why he wants to know.

"You took it way too far, man. You don't have to like her- though I can't for the life of me figure out why you don't- but she does deserve your respect. After everything she's done she deserves that much. You know, I don't even want to know what you said, but when she comes back, you're going to apologize. You're going to make this right."

"Wait, what do you mean 'when she comes back'?"

"She left. She said she needed a break- from you I assume- which means I don't get my cinnamon rolls," he realizes. "Damn it, Bucky!"

"She left a plate for you on the table," Bucky says, nudging his head to the kitchen table.

Sam gestures to the plate of pastries. "How could you not like her? She make us cinnamon rolls- just to be nice!"

"So, she's really gone? Why don't we go after her?" Bucky asks, though he's not sure why he's even bothering in trying to get you back. The entire time he's been trying to get rid of you and now that you're gone, he's not sure he likes it.

"She said that she'd be close if we needed her," he says, shoving one of your pastries in his mouth. "Look I know that she's a little..."

"Soft?"

"I would not use that word," Sam scoffs. "I know she seems like 'fluff', but she's not. I don't know how she keeps a smile on her face, but she's tough. She's smart- smarter than you. And if she's gone- if she doesn't want to be found, she's not going to be."

Bucky looks at him in disbelief. "You don't think we could find her?"

"No, I don't," Sam deadpans. "She's more than what she seems, man. If you could just stop judging her for a minute, you'd see that. It's why I wanted her to come help us."

Another surprise for Bucky, his head twists in confusion. "You asked for her help?"

"What you think she just came with the safe house? Yes, I asked her to come and help us. She's an Avenger too, whether you can see that or not."

Only a a week and a half has passed, you've yet to make an reappearance yet. With each passing day, Bucky feels worse. Sam refuses to drag you back unless they really need you. You take this time to do research, to figure out your next move. You send any new information you have to Sam, and lately you're working overtime to distract yourself from the sting of Bucky's words. You weren't lying to Bucky when you said you'd seen a lot of ugly in this word, you'd seen some of the most depraved parts of humanity, and yet you refused to be a part of it. Being kind, adding kindness that the world desperately needed made life worth living for you.

There were very few things that really, truly phased you anymore, but Bucky touched a real soft spot for you. And since Bucky said those things, you couldn't bring yourself to be that person.

It wasn't until the day before Bucky's birthday that you were even considering coming back. You knew you could miss it, nobody would blame you. But after a lot of deliberation you decided that you'd hidden away long enough.

Despite his cruel words, you still make him a cake for his birthday. You do this for everyone, you reconciled. And the smallest part of you realized that if you didn't- Bucky would think that his words affected you more than they did.

So you bake the damned cake. You do the intricate frosting, the lettering, and everything else knowing that he'll probably get mad about it.

You debate leaving the cake on the kitchen table, then you think otherwise because you're worried Sam will eat it before Bucky even gets a chance to see it.

It's late when he gets back. He looks more upset than normal- then you wonder if anyone else remembered his birthday. You never said anything, but you knew better than anyone else how much a forgotten birthday stung.

"I didn't know you were back," Bucky mumbles.

"Yeah, I just got back. Last night, actually."

"It's okay, you don't have to be here if you don't want to. Sam'll probably be out until tomorrow."

You nod, but say nothing. You can feel Bucky's eyes on you as you silently walk over to the fridge and pull out the cake. Bucky freezes, he's not sure what to do with himself so he doesn't even move an inch. You place the cake in front of him. "Well, not even you deserve to be left alone on your birthday. Besides, who doesn't like birthdays?" You cringe at your own excitement, knowing how much it set Bucky off. And it makes Bucky feel even worse. He didn't want you to change, not because of him and the terrible things he'd said. "Sorry."

He shakes his head. He's not sure if it was Sam's very long and multiple lectures or your very noticeable absence, but he feels bad about the things he said. And a part of him, a part that's much bigger than he'd like to admit, missed you. "Don't be. I was being a grumpy old man. I'd blame the old age, but it was me being an ass."

"Was that a joke?" you smile.

"It was. They did exist back in my day."

"Did they?" He nods with a small smirk on his face. You pull out some candles and light them for him. "Well go ahead, blow out your candles before you ruin your cake."

It's quiet by the time you and Bucky cut the cake and you've served yourself and him a piece. "You know, this is the real reason I love birthdays," you laugh, pointing down at the cake.

"I gotta hand it to you, this is really good."

"Well, today must be a special day if Bucky Barnes is complimenting me."

"I think your birthday spirit is rubbing off on me," he chuckles. "I think I'd celebrate everyone's birthdays if I got a cake like this."

"I think Sam's is still a few months away."

"Well, what about yours?"

Your smile drops a little bit and you can't meet Bucky's eyes anymore. "I don't- uh, I don't have a birthday."

"What? Come on, everyone has a birthday!"

"I mean, I have one. Probably? I just don't know it," you shrug.

"You don't even have a guess?"

You shake your head, mouth pressed into a thin line. "No, there's no records of me. Trust me, I've looked. When I got to the Avengers, Tony and Vision could tell me how old they think I am, but..." you shrug. "God, that was depressing," you dramatically shake your head. "Definitely not birthday appropriate discussion."

Bucky's not convinced. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"No, it's- it's fine. You know, no birthday means I don't technically age which is pretty awesome, so... Yeah. It's great," you nod.

Bucky doesn't buy it for one second. He kind of feels some sort of indignation for you, he's only gotten some small pieces of the puzzle, but from what he's learned there's absolutely no reason that you should be happy or kind. He's not- he's gone through hell, he only repays to those he owes and nothing more. But you, you're not like that. It makes him feel like an even bigger asshole. "I really am sorry about the other day. I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Ah," you wave him off. "It's alright."

"It's really not."

"Well, it's your birthday. Plus, I'm not inclined to hold grudges."

"You're better than most then." You don't respond to Bucky's compliment, instead you pick at the last few bites of the cake on your plate.

You're both sitting in silence when Sam barges through the door. "Hey, look who's back! And with cake!"

You gently nudge him in the ribs. "It's Bucky's birthday, Sam. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course I remember! Happy birthday," Sam says unconvincingly.

"I'm going to head to bed, but happy birthday, James," you say, lightly resting your hand on his shoulder.

Sam doesn't miss the way Bucky's looking at you - the smile that just barely cracks on Bucky's face is so slight that anyone else would have missed it, but not Sam.

"Interesting," Sam murmurs low enough that neither you nor Bucky hear.

Grumpy Sunshine Series Grumpy Sunshine One Shots

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