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#1- because despite what his dad did it feels like he still very much cares him
wyrmghost · 1 year
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Recently I’ve fallen in love with Sebastian and his growth as a character and decided to make him an aged up design as well
+ I wanted to redraw some of his sprites cause I like them
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iu-xo · 2 months
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"Like we've always hated each other"
Tantrum.
intro part 1 part 2 part 3
It took much less time than expected! I hope it's enjoyable to read, god this is so slowburn, so they still hate each other! But... do they really?
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The sun... the sun that comes through the window... the fucking sun.
The most recent being to move into the hotel after its restoration, he was fighting a battle to the death with nothing more and nothing less than the sheets of his bed, nothing new for the king to say the least, In his mind it was the eighth time he told himself he would get up, And this was the real thing, he thought for the eighth time...
When he heard a door suddenly open, and even though he loved his daughter with all his heart, he couldn't wish for anything other than that she would leave him for another hour to rot for a little longer in his nest of depression and procrastination, Which didn't happen that way.
-DAD! I'm sorry to bother you... I know you were still sleeping and stuff! despite being past noon.. But your help would reeeeaaaally help me a lot rigth now!
Even though his body betrayed him and made him want to sink and become one with the mattress, knowing that his daughter needed something from him gave him enough motivation to sit up in bed.
-Whatever you need honey..
His voice was still hoarse and sleepy, revealing his little to none desire to exist at that moment, but surely when he did something he would feel better... he hoped.
The princess gave a happy squeal to take out some notebook pages with lists and colorful crayon drawings, and grabbed one in particular which she put on her father's nightstand while she put the rest away with some clumsiness.
-Today I have an activity planned but I mixed up my schedules with next week's, so I have nothing to start with!
The blonde looked very worried about this problem she had, and Lucifer thought that maybe she would ask him for things to buy and he could just magically appear them, piece of cake.
-So while I fix this I wanted you to put these flyers in the businesses that already gave me permission!
Wait. What?
the angel really thought He could get away with doing this quickly with a little magic trick, but he really had no way of appearing flyers in specific places which he had no idea where they were..
-erm.. Dear.. Can't we just put them in... I don't know... everywhere?
-Nop! Because today's topic is... consent!
She said while making a rainbow in the air with her hands , Therefore, the little angel had no choice but to personally walk through the disgusting streets of the pride ring... his ring. While he was hanging little pieces of paper on the windows of the shops of the ungrateful sinners that owned them. But... it was for Charlie... so how bad could it be, He stopped thinking about how bad it would be and instead saw Charlie's smile explaining how she wanted to deal with today's topic, he saw her eyes full of sparkle and got out of bed.
-Count on me char-char, I'll take care of it!
Charlie smiled from ear to ear and hugged him, leaning down, he had taken Lucifer a little by surprise but he gladly reciprocated
-Thank you.. means a lot.
They both felt a silence after that, it wasn't awkward, it was like they were telling each other without words that they were trying to heal something, And even if it couldn't happen overnight, they were trying, Charlie knew they would make it, Lucifer... he could only hope so.
But after that charlie decided to left the room to let her father get ready, she also had too many things to do, time was against her and she wasn't going to waste it.
-Well.. see ya!
She said goodbye with her hand, while her father did it in the same way, Once she was outside, the angel walked slowly to his closet, looking for something more casual, but ended up wearing his usual outfit but without his white jacket, he rolled up his sleeves and headed to the bathroom to fix his hair, he saw himself in the mirror for a moment, a wave of melancholy drowning him for a few moments, He saw himself worn out, tired.
He washed his face with cold water as an attempt to wash away the draining thoughts, it just... everything used to be so simple for him, at least sometimes... He left the bathroom and opened a window in his room, looking to breathe something other than his own self-loathing, A burst of sulfur aroma was what he found, he sighed, At this moment he missed the aroma of fruit and freshly wet grass... he may not be missing the regime of heaven but... that garden and it's smells sure were something else
He realized that he had gotten quite lost in thought, so he washed his face one last time Seeking to return to reality, and avoiding the hassle of seeing so many faces at the reception... he opened a golden portal under his feet that left him at the exit of the hotel, now he only had to...
walk.
Lovely.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
-WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT.
A demon twice his size was shouting at him in the middle of the street, the lamb-like demon had bruises he was bleeding and holding the demon's hand that grabbed him by the neck while lifting him off the floor, he didn't seem scared, in fact he didn't feel the slightest bit of fear despite the dangerous situation he found himself in, as if he believed that at any moment one of his exterminators would arrive and take him out of there, or simply as if it didn't enter his head that he wasn't untouchable.
-F-FUCK YOU.. YOU.. FUCKING PUSSY!
He tried to get free even with less oxygen than required, he increasingly gained strength to kick his attacker into the pit of his stomach, leaving him breathless momentarily and falling to the ground, he took a deep breath and before the opponent could notice Adam was half a block away, he may have been out of shape, but he managed to ran into an alley and lean against the wall, while he saw the idiot run past him.
-SHIT- FUCKING- DAMN IT!
He dropped to the floor sliding down the wall, wiped the blood from his nose, then saw the blood on his hand..
Red.
His blood was... Red. Did he feel.. anger? No.. sadness? Of course not.. he was not a pussy.. He felt... To hell with what he felt all this was bullshit and he shouldn't be going through this! He shouldn't be here! He Should not.. he shouldn't be here...he was the first man...God's most beautiful creation! Fuck..he couldn't be rotting in this shit hole together with all these pieces of shit! They all came from him. where is his respect..
Interrupting his internal monologue bar existential crisis, he heard footsteps and unconsciously clung to the wall with his new claws, since he had arrived he had already escaped from five guys who were looking to kick his ass, perhaps a sixth could be avoided.
Humming a catchy melody, a familiar face passed by looking for something, looked at a sheet of paper, then at the shops, Then he approached the window of the establishment and stuck a flyer on it, without realizing the stare he had on him, Although of course, many people had looked at him since he left the hotel, he had had to send a couple flying, so it wasn't something especially peculiar
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
of all the habitants of hell... IT SHOULD BE FUCKING LUCIFER THE FIRST FAMILIAR FACE HE SEES?! This day, this place and all of this it's nothing but a stupid damn joke!
What the fuck is he doing? Hanging ruffles? Last time he tried to sell him that he was such a big deal, what was he doing hanging fucking pamphlets in the disgusting streets full of shit?
The gaze that Lucifer felt on his shoulder felt heavier and heavier, when he looked out of the corner of his eye he noticed a sinner looking towards the flyer he puted on the glass, and an idea crossed his mind, what would be better than advertising the hotel? Well, make it work of course! He could do this, it was just... talking to a stranger! Perfect, and the bad thing was that... he had to talk to a stranger. come on morningstar! For your daughter's approval!
-Heey you.
They both remained in total silence, panic could be seen on Adam's face, had he recognized him? It seemed like no... everything pointed to no, but that didn't stop his brain from wanting to run away and leave him alone in that moment, Lucifer had an ackward face and it shows in the way his eye twitched that he regretted his decision ever since the words left his mouth, but there was no way to take it back now, meanwhile Adam considered the possibility of just running away.
-I see you... watching from there! You can... read it. You know.. it's a pamphlet. They are for... reading-
He could easily smash his hand against his face in an exaggerated way, but this wasn't the time for that, if he brought a guest to the hotel today Charlie would be so happy! he can do it, it was like selling, It's not that he knew how to sell things... but how hard could it be
Meanwhile Adam looked at him with a disappointed face, his communication skills were as deplorable as they had always been, but he glanced at the pamphlet, of course, their fifth class hotel.
-It has everything! You should tell every person you see in hell about it.
Adam's disgusted face spoke for him, while Lucifer sighed, obviously it wouldn't be that easy to bring someone to the hotel in one day, but for Adam everything was going wonderfully since at least he didn't know it was him.
The feeling did not last too long, as he felt a figure forming behind him, heat emanating from near his back, the lamb-like demon feared the worst, and unfortunately he was right.
-To claim to be the first dick you are quite the pussy.
Said a demon behind him, twice his size, Shark-like, It was the guy from before for sure, shit-
-wait. what was that first thing you said?
before the words had a chance to come out of the angel's mouth in their entirety, He felt a gust of wind pass by him but as far as he was concerned, the wind doesn't scream.
As he turned around at the speed of the wind itself, he could briefly see his future guest crashing into the brick wall at the hands of the stupid demon who had interrupted his negotiation attempt, in a moment six wings came out angelically from the sovereign's back to place himself just in time between the two demons with a flutter of his wings, whit one hand he stoped the inevitable punch destined to hit Adam's face.
-Nobody taught you not get into the grown up's conversations... right?
He said this while a grin formed in his face, showing sharp teeth which this guy would remember all his life, Lucifer released the guy's fist to hold his wrist and with a twist of his hip he easily sent him to the other side of the pentagram.
-now. where did you get that phrase from?
When the angel looked behind him he could see nothing more and nothing less than two hooves walking away two meters away
-Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!
Although Adam's intention was to lose sight of the small man following him, when he looked back all he could see was his imminent arrival to the ground, receiving a tackle from Lucifer, they both fell rolling around as if they were two little children fighting in the school garden
-SPEAK FILTHY CREATURE
He demanded, standing on top of the lamb, despite it being half his size and looking humorous, the truth is that Adam couldn't get out of his grip no matter how hard he tried.
-STOP BEING SO DAMN DENSE BITCH!
Oh God. He recognized that voice, he recognized that stupid self-nickname, and worst of all, he recognized that stupid tantrum.
-how the hell. are you here rigth now.
-Why should I say that to you, huh?!
-maybe because YOU DON'T HAVE ANOTHER OPTION?! MAYBE??
Both continued to struggle with each other, one to escape and one to have answers. Lucifer was afraid of letting him escape and that he could cause some trouble, although thinking about it carefully... he looked at his lamb's ears, his hooves, his eyes and his teeth... now he was a simple sinner, There wasn't much he could accomplish even if he tried, he'd probably be screwed, he may already had taked a few beatings even.
-Well, I have no idea! I hope that helps sucker!
He said and spit in his face, something he didn't thought about properly, or didn't thought about at all, The ruler's face was irritated, as if he were putting up with a spoiled child, well... that's practically what he's doing.
-That's all, Let's go.
He cleaned his face whit his sleve and grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and began to drag him along the sidewalk, he had an exhausted expression as if he didn't have what it took to face this situation today, although he probably wouldn't any day.
-the FUCK. ARE YOU DOING?!
He said, fluttering his black wings everywhere, managing to irritate Lucifer by obstructing his vision, forcing him to stop, to which he grunted in annoyance.
-Well. taking care of you! What else am I supposed to do! It's what I should always do! because it seems like your entire existence is made to cause me problems!
Adam's gaze could be nothing but anger, he struggled away from Lucifer's grasp, which was curious to see due to the difference in sizes, once free he turned around to look at him from the front
- YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, I WAS MADE TO BE FUCKING PERFECT! YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT.
-If you were as perfect as you say, how do you explain this eh! How do you think this happened?! You are not in this putrid pit for being the dick of the dicks PAL!
The lamb growled in exasperation as he stamped on the ground with his right hoof, after pulling his hair looking to escape from his angryness he lookef at the little one in the eye.
- IF I DON'T CARE, WHY THE FUCK SHOULD YOU CARE, YOU PIECE OF CRAP!
He felt a lump in his throat, but not as painful as the lump in the throat of the king of hell himself, Why should he care? Why the fuck should he care??
-Oh then i saw You die a fucking WEEK AGO. and You expect me to see that You are alive and let you wander through hell knowing that any demon is out there KICKING YOUR FUCKING ASS?! A THANK YOU WAS ENOUGH!
Lucifer screamed as his eyes turned from yellow to red from how infuriating he found having to argue with this idiot, he was never particularly reasonable but right now he was more irritable than normal and had no idea why
- THANK YOU?! OH SURE THEN YOU THINK YOU CAN TREAT ME LIKE A CHARITY CASE FOR YOUR BRAT'S SHITTY HOTEL HUH!? Well I have news for you DUDE!
Adam He kicked dirt from the street, dirtying Lucifer's clothes, who coughed in response to the cloud of dust
-im not your fucking guinea pig.
He narrowed his gaze in disgust, looking down literally and metaphorically at his contrary.
-Are you allergic to kindness? or why is it that you can't accept a fucking favor!?
Adam's Contemptuous face became one of intense anger and he took a step forward and brought his face closer to the angel's.
-from YOU? Of course. Good joke.
Lucifer had enough, he wouldn't wait to know where this reunion could go, It's not even worth wasting his breath on... Adam. Or at least that's what he thought.
-you know what? It's fine with me. It's not like you're not used to everyone leaving you, stay like that, as always, stay alone.
The king shook his clothes to remove the dirt, with one hand he snapped his fingers and as he arrived he left, Adam was left with an unreadable expression, he didn't move from there, he just stood there.
still and quiet.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
The golden portal opened above the hotel's front door, since he had avoided greeting people in the morning he assumed he could say hello in the aftern.. nigth, it was nigth.
Well, anyways, he would greet them at night then.
Opening the door abruptly without worrying about whether it was timely or not, he stepped into the hall.
-HEELLOOO everyone! How does the night treat you all?
From there you could easily see the bartender behind the bar along with the little maid sitting at the bar playing with some dead bug, on the sofa lay their most exotic guest and a certain deer showed no signs of being close, much to the king's liking.
-we have been better short king, But nothing that a drink can't fix, rigth wiskers?
The feline rolled his eyes but smiled at the end, and began to mix different liquids, When he looked in the direction the king was his eyes widened in surprise
- wow. It looks like you were hited by a truck.
Angel Dust looked in the same direction realizing what the bartender was referring to, It really looked like they had made him crawl on the floor, well, in fact something like that happened-
- someone played too rough whit ya~?
Husk put his palm to his face as Nifty leaned over the bar counter
- I like rough.
She said, sketching a sinister smile, to which Lucifer reacted with a certain degree of displeasure, and Husk put a donut from the bar counter in her mouth to make her shut up for a little bit
- umh.. rigth. Well no, I wasn't hit by a truck, and no! Neither, the other thing. I just ran into a few issues. Nothing to worry about.
While this small exchange of words was going on, footsteps could be heard in the distance approaching faster and faster, ending with a hug from behind to Lucifer's surprise.
-DAD! What happened? It took you hours to come back!
-Oh come on, come on... it's nothing at all! A few small issues, a few hours! But everything is fine now.
While the angel convinced Charlie that it was nothing, sounds of static reached everyone's ears, covering them in the act, everyone anticipated the arrival of you-know-who, it was nothing new for him to arrive in such a dramatic way, especially if the king was there prior to his arrival
-How interesting... I would swear it would take more than a few small matters to delay the big boss.. a couple hours.
The one who had just arrived in the room exclaimed very arrogantly, with a smile from ear to ear per usual , Charlie watched him appear on the spot and waved happily, only to receive a greeting from the deer-like demon in return.
-oh oh oh If you only knew You little shit.
Lucifer smiled evilly knowing that if Alastor ran into Adam again the last thing he would do would be act with that arrogance so characteristic of his
-Honey there is someone at the door.
Vaggie entered the room and to the conversation to warn her girlfriend about the presence of someone outside, so charlie left the two old men arguing to answer the door
-Oh but tell us your highness, what were these "issues" then.
-Nothing that your walnut-sized brain can understand piece of-
Two brown hooves entered, stepping on the red carpet that covered the hotel's entrance hall, to which Charlie said very excitedly and taking small jumps until they reached the area where everyone was, her girl on one side of the stranger and her on the remaining side.
Lucifer's sight changed from being fixed on Alastor to seeing the newcomer and although the king was already prepared to smile at the person to receive them, when he looked at him carefully, the only thing that came out of his mouth was..
-FU- ADAM?! THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE.
When everyone heard who he was talking about, they stayed cold and glued to the floor. With his new demonic form, no one would have guessed that it was the leader of the exorcists in person, or rather... in demon.
-ADAM?!
-adam??
-THAT ADAM?!
-OH OH estás muerto CABRON!
-Mhhh..
After the domino reaction Adam with lowered ears tried to talk keeping his dignity and pride, not very successfully, with a stupid smile on his face he speak
-heey bitchees.. so.. what's for dinner?
You could swear there was the sound of a cane breaking in the background followed by a static sound.
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kaymarie-bell · 4 months
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I just came up with the saddest theory. What if the reason for Silver's sleepiness is because Lillia doesn't love him enough? I mean the reason he's sleepy is because of the residual magic the guardian fairy casted on him right? Where he'll sleep and only wake up by parental love. Lillia found and raised him but he still has the problem of the sleepiness. So doesn't that mean Lillia doesn't love him enough? And it's heartbreaking. Because Lillia cried when Malleus was born and he considered it his happiest moment. And he seemed nonchalant when he told Silver they're not really related in a flashback.
And I think I just wanna torture myself and others emotionally by writing this.
LISTEN I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF SILVER'S SLEEPINESS CONSTANTLY! You have given me a chance to talk about the DiaFam and I WILL GLADLY DO SO!!! Let me torture you right back.
But before I get into it, just to be safe: DIASOMNIA BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD
Since I refuse to believe that Lilia simply doesn't love him enough, I'd rather go with the "Silver is the one who thinks being an adopted child means that he doesn't truly deserve his father's love" route.
1. Because that's still such a good angst and 2. Because the game itself tells us that's what he thinks and that *Sebek voice* HE'S WRONG! LILIA DOES LOVE HIM!!!
I do think the trigger for his pseudo-curse coming back was his realization that he's adopted. I might be remembering wrong since I usually binge the entire update as soon as it comes out and it's been months, but in Lilia's memories of raising Silver there's no mention of Silver falling sleep randomly any time before he finds out he's adopted.
And I feel like Lilia telling Silver he's adopted so casually was him just thinking "I'm obviously a fae and he's clearly a human, he should be aware of it already," plus Lilia does accept that he might have kept quiet about it because he subconsciously knew that Silver would be sad about it.
Now, Lilia's thoughts do tells us that his choice to adopt Silver in the first place was due to him wanting to set an example for Malleus. He chose to take this baby in despite knowing who his parents were, because if he wanted Malleus to grow up kind and keep the peace with humans, he should be the one to lead the way.
He still questions his relationship with baby Silver when he calls him "dad" for the first time, and the first one to point out how much he truly cares about Silver is Malleus himself when he tells him that "[Lilia] would be very sad if the baby got sick." Malleus overcame his hatred for humans because Lilia cares about one.
But the point where I feel it finally clicked for Lilia that he truly loves Silver is the acorn bracelet scene. Before this point he still felt the divide between fae and human, but then he is shocked to find out that Silver wants him to live a long happy life with him despite Silver being a human. This is the result of Lilia willingly choosing to try and love a human: the human -his son- loves him back.
And you wanna know what makes me insane? the immediate scene after this is Silver finding out he's adopted. The moment Lilia fully loves Silver is around the time Silver questions his worthiness for the first time. Also, isn't this the moment when Silver stops calling him "papa" and starts calling him "Father"?
So in conclusion: Lilia's love for Silver did not come immediately like it did with Malleus, but rather, he willingly chose to love him. The one who struggled to accept it was Silver himself.
How could he (the son of Lilia's enemies) ever compare to Malleus (the son of the people he loved, the one he shed blood sweat and tears for during hundreds of years just to be able to see him) in Lilia's eyes? And yet, what finally broke the little self-control Malleus had left was Silver's tears...
Edit: I got so caught up in the love they feel for each other that I forgot to clarify: Silver DOES accept Lilia's love as of the recent updates. This is all me rambling about their relationship, we still do not have a clear answer about the reason behind Silver's sleepiness 💔
tbh since the DIasomnia characters seem to be closer to the Maleficent version (not the animated Sleeping Beauty) the fairies probably fucked up the initial spell for Silver
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pluckyredhead · 3 months
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I've been meaning to ask for a while, since you've read so much more Supers books than me, but what are your thoughts on Kon being retconned as Clark and Lex's lab grown love child? Asides from that one mind-controlled-into-shaving-his-head incident, did that ever factor into anything again? Is it even still canon? If it were up to you would you keep it and try to do something interesting with it or just sweep it under the rug and pretend it was never true?
I think it would be a great retcon if they ever did anything with it aside from one (1) incredibly stupid story.
Because the thing is, originally Kon's human donor was Paul Westfield, and genuinely, who the fuck cares about Paul Westfield? He was only relevant for, like, a year. He's a footnote at best.
But Lex? There's so much potential there:
How does Clark feel about it? Does he trust Kon less? Does he feel guilty about that? Does he defend him to people (Batman) who would question him?
What are Lex's plans? You can't tell me he would sic Kon on other heroes once and give up. Lex always plays the long game. He has to have other Machiavellian schemes. What if Kon gets the clone plague again and Lex has the cure? What if he built in a vulnerability other than kryptonite? Most interestingly, what if Lex cares?
And of course, most importantly, how does Kon feel about it? We've seen him ignoring it and then moping about it. And I think it was his Adventure Comics run where we saw him tracking his own behavior to see if he was more like Superman or Lex. But what if a story really interrogated the fact that Kon is a very different person than Clark? (Especially in light of Jon, Clark's mini-me.) Kon likes money; Lex is a billionaire. Kon loves attention; Lex is functionally a supervillain because he's jealous that people like Superman more. Kon is a sweet boy but he's not a shining paragon of virtue. Is that because of Lex's genes? Is everything good about Kon simply Superman's genes? Is Kon is own person with free will that exists beyond picking a donor to emulate? Is a clone a person at all? Let's get into it, DC!
If it was up to me, I would write two stories about it:
First is the story where Kon and Lex actually develop a relationship. Kon and Clark has never been close, and Kon has rarely had a stable home or consistent parental figures (Rex was untrustworthy, Dubbilex got written out a lot, Guardian died and came back as a child, Pa died, Ma lived but Kon died and then got retconned into another dimension...). Kon is primed to fall for lovebombing, especially if Lex is doing one of his regular "no, really, I'm Redemption Arc-ing for real this time!" routines. Especially right now with a trillion Supers Clark likes better hanging around Metropolis, and Lex swearing he's going to be Good...what if he stopped trying to convince Clark, and started trying to convince Kon? What if he spent time with him, and listened to him, and took his side against Clark, and let's be real, probably spent money like water on him? And what if Lex, despite himself, discovered that...he actually cared about his clone son?
Of course, Lex's self-interest would eventually win out. We see this over and over again, where he sacrifices his relationships on the altar of his ambition, where he just can't quite love anyone else as much as he loves being evil. And yes, Kon ends the story hurt, but also with another reminder that validation needs to come from within and not from a billionaire who wants something from you, even if he is your other dad.
(And maybe Clark is reminded that he has failed Kon. Again. Ahem.)
The second story I would write is the one where Lex goes to jail and Kon somehow inherits Lexcorp and many billions of dollars and is cartoonishly irresponsible with all of it. Lex gets out of jail and there's a giraffe in his office and all of his doomsday devices are full of Zesti Cola.
But yeah, instead DC does nothing with it. Literally a few months ago they had Clark and Kon and Lex all having a conversation about a villain Lex created and gave TTK to - so like, talking explicitly about how Lex created Kon, too - and aside from Kon being mildly snide, that was it. That was it! DC WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. WHAT IS THE POINT OF SETTING UP SOMETHING SO JUICY AND THEN LEAVING THAT JUICE UNSQUOZE.
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I am listening to it on audible and am still only half way through but so far have a few thoughts
1. ⁠It is actually very boring
2. ⁠You can feel the treachery, spite, vindictiveness, deceit, victimhood, maliciousness, envy, paranoia, delusion and manipulation in every sentence, Its oozes into my pores and makes me feel unclean just listening to it. I cannot think of a book I have enjoyed less.
3. ⁠The weird and constant mentions of his mum are just bizarre. I understand the tragedy of him losing her so young, but I am sure his reactions to it are not typically normal for what is now a grown man. He is batshit crazy.
4. ⁠He has long gratuitous sections about killing rabbits, deer, pheasants, and talks at length about the blood, gore and disembowelling. It literally made me feel sick.
5. ⁠He has a grandiose sense of self-importance that is utterly delusional.
6. ⁠His constant references to his drug taking are over the top. He acts like it is totally normal. I understand why this plays a part in his autobiography since he seems to have spent so much of his time taking them. But he seems to glorify it with no introspection on the dangers, and revels in spilling all the details with no cares for the people who have loyally tried to cover up for him over the years. Despite the fact he talks about leaking and planting by his family it is obvious how much they have covered for him.
7. ⁠He doesn't seem to give a damn if he destroys the monarchy, and after reading the book that is what I think he is intent on doing. He misses no opportunity to add in any malicious adjectives, unnecessary anecdote, unflattering (and unlikely) quotes about his family and throws shade and blame on to them whenever he can. He comes over as so petty and malicious. You get the sense that he feels that if he can't be king he will blow the whole thing up.
8. ⁠It is abundantly clear he has no real love for his dad, brother, or grandfather from the way he talks about them, and it is questionable that he even loved the queen. He shows no empathy or respect for them and makes them look bad whenever he can. He can talk all he likes about reconciliation but he has burnt every bridge and if he were my son or brother, he would be dead to me. There is no purpose to a reconciliation - if it is not for love then it is for his own self-serving purposes.
9. ⁠When you read the whole book rather than listening to excerpts, some stories fade into insignificance. For example the losing his virginity story is a minor mention in passing. But what you don't get from the excerpts is the whole sense of nastiness pervading every paragraph. Before reading it I really didn't like Harry, but blamed Meghan far more. Never before have a read an autobiography where someone has the chance to write the narrative of their own life in a way that is supposedly flattering, and I have found myself liking them even less, despising them in fact. He is an utterly nasty piece of work......and I am still only half way through the book.
I'm so glad you wrote it up. Thank you.
I think part of the sense of boredom is that the writing gets monotonous after a while. Also, you are immersed inside Harry's head and he really has no empathy for anyone. When I finished the first few chapters, I felt like I was reading one of those 80s anti-hero novels like American Psycho, where you are looking at things from the viewpoint of a sociopath. The way he focuses on the bedroom sheets and the hole in his shoe and even the way he spoke of women ("she was perfect, perfect, perfect") struck as very Patrick Bateman.
I agree as to the nastiness, hence the American Psycho reference above. One of the passages that most struck me was when the Diana Ghost Leopard shows up and his bodyguards are alarmed. He explains that they were alarmed because if the leopard mauled him the headlines would be horrible. It didn't seem to cross his mind that the bodyguards were scared because they did not want him hurt. He only thought of the headlines. That, to me, shows how warped his mindset is.
Ditto on the Diana segments. It feels almost sweet at first because the first chapters of the book deal with his childhood, but then it turns weird really quickly.
I'm surprised not that many people have talked about the hunting gore. It's very striking and, frankly, alien. I know hunters (at least in the US) and I've never heard of any describing the kills like this. It was truly disturbing, and I'm not anti-hunting. It's just that he seemed to enjoy the gore a little too much.
He is very arrogant, particularly for someone who was supposedly raised with an inferiority complex for being a spare.
Drugs seem to be a part of his identity, which surprised me since I'd bought into the "Hero Harry" image. I don't know if that was always the case, or if he bought into the California drug culture when he arrived there, but it's striking.
He does want to destroy the monarchy. That comes across very clearly.
He seems very detached from everyone in his family, and yet passionately attached to the image he has built of his mom (a tabloid-based image!). It's an interesting contrast. He has no empathy for Will's position at all or for his dad's struggles. His family relationships seemed to be stuck at a childhood developmental level--mom is the perfect nurturer, father is all-powerful, and brother is a rival.
It is all very nasty, and I'm surprised someone didn't step in to explain that to him.
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pinazee · 6 days
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Scary Sherry, season 1 finale!
Best. Episode. Of. Season. One. (Should i rank them?)
I love Goochberg (Mercedes Ruehl)! I wish she would have come back also. Like once every season she shows up in Lassies life somehow, wreaking havoc but ultimately teaching him something about himself like they did this time. Which, by the way, Chief Vick 1000% did that to get Lassie out of his own ass haha
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Shannon woodward did a phenomenal job as alice bundy. There was so much depth to her character, you could really feel the pain she was in. This is something Psych also does very well. They have their comedy bits sure, but for the most part they don’t forget that a dead body was a person first. Like in Forget Me Not, they humanize our victim by telling us the woman who died liked to play scrabble with her friends. And Shawn has repeatedly said may they rest in peace, which seems small, but i think it shows they respect the subject matter for what it is. Im not saying they’re perfect, but considering this show is 90% jokes, it’s nice that their 10% drama is handled with such care.
When this scene plays, I only watch James because i watched the commentary and he said he could barely get through this scene and you can see him trying not to break haha
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It’s interesting that Gus is over at Henry’s so often, to the point that he’s almost like his second kid. Theres two reasons i think this happens 1. Shawn asks him to come over so he won’t have to be alone with his dad. 2. Henry and Gus have an unspoken agreement that because Gus is supporting Shawn so much financially Henry is paying him in food. Like child support lol it’s also interesting that they’ve reached a point of family dinners essentially. I wonder how much of this is Shawn feeling a sense of obligation because it’s his dad, how much of him still seeks his acceptance and approval, and how much is him trying to bury the hatchet. And then on Henry’s side i wonder how much is him recognizing that he could do better, how much is trying to rebuild this relationship (that he probably blames himself for destroying though i doubt hes even admitted that to himself), and how much is simply needing Shawn for the exposure to cases again.
And we get quite a bit of character development for our cops. Lassiter sees how his perception of self doesn’t match with what he’s putting out, Juliet experiences some real personal danger and handled herself. And that end scene, was such a great small gesture that showed us despite their history, Lassie is part of the group.
Final note: Look, at how perfectly executed this scene is! The running, the screaming, the jumping, pretending to be brave, and the cherry on top putting his hand through the open window!!!! Dying. Dead. Resuscitated. Choked on laughter. Died again.
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chaifootsteps · 4 months
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College anon dropping in to say that the dubs aren't very good. Some, like the french one, sound like the text went through google translate (and the dubbing in general is terrible despite France having a good rep in the industry). The Italian version of Poison is low-key good tho
As for my reaction to Poison, imagine that gif of the happy yellow emoji looking traumatized/dead inside. I stared at the screen wondering what led me to watching this and how ANYONE would think this was a good scene. Vivziepop claiming that the leaks don't represent the full scene was right for once... It was so much worse. I could think of a more tasteful way to picture it in 5 seconds, it isn't that hard. She could have even kept most of the scene, just remove the graphic stuff to keep the suggestive dancing (a smart idea that should have remained subtle) and maybe keep the Val part à la Addict to show that, yeah, on top of "working" all night (because the graphic scenes made it obvious he stopped "enjoying" work early during the night), Val SA'd him and that shows the entirety of the hell he's going through. It explains why he breaks down and lashes out. Viv didn't need to keep most of the SA, the entire thing was implied.
Also episode 4 comes out of left field. Yes, it was foreshadowed since the beginning but why is Angel suddenly returning his calls? We SAW him ignore Val. He clearly HATES him. Since when is Husk calling him out and badgering him about being "fake"?? They've known each other for a WEEK. It's way too early for that. It's like we're missing 3-4 episodes of development in-between. Angel reconnecting with Val and showing hints that this is indeed a facade, Husk knowing a lot about everyone and giving a damn... This should be a mid-end of season arc for Angel. I'd personally make it end of season 1 so that he can show change during season 2, beginning as someone new, someone who slowly tries to show he cares and let down his bravado in small amounts, with clear hints of being a little scared of the reactions, until it naturally becomes his full-time persona. Maybe have Charlie notice at some point and subtly encourage him, DELIGHTED (in caps because that girl is extra) that Angel is getting better but having to keep her excitement in in fear of scaring him off (because Charlie should have SOME sort of emotional intelligence ffs).
Loser, Baby feels out of place. This is NOT the appropriate reaction to Angel's words. Did they rewrite the dialogue but not the song?? Here's how it sounds:
Angel: I feel like I've gotta be Val's perfect whore all the time so I'm trying to break myself enough he will be alone—
Husk: Well, it's okay to be a loser, baby! Look at me, I'm a failure too. You ain't special and it's okay!
....So Angel is a loser/failure/broken but Val is still into him??? Did they realize that this should send him the wrong message?! That Val will "love" him no matter what and that Angel cannot be free, that he's been making himself miserable for NOTHING?? First of all, Husk's greediness and addictions are NOTHING like Angel's situation. He signed with his real name. That alone implies that Val snatched him early on as he arrived. On top of that, he's being abused every way possible on the regular, for no fault of his own, and is self-destructing. He cannot kill himself and Val won't let him be killed. This is NOTHING like Husk losing a game for more power and being forced to be a bartender.
Here's how it should have gone for the song to work:
Angel: So?! The real me is a good for nothing loser who died in a ditch from some shitty coke! THIS is the famous, hotter than Hell pornstar that everyone wanna fuck! And I've— I've gotta be the part. 'Cause if I'm not... If I ain't then who am I?
Angel's fear should have been about being seen as who he was, as some loser that nobody loved. Let him feel like he beat his father, that now he's someone so suck it dad! You were wrong! Let Angel behave as if his life was a porn movie because that's all he knows now and what he thinks he should be like. Instead of trying to ruin himself so that Val discards him, have him try to be perfect... Because that'll stop the abuse, right? Val is happy when he acts like that. The perverts worship him. No one cares about Anthony.
That would make Loser, Baby work. It would achieve its goal of saying "it's okay to suck, we all do! Look at me, I'm a loser but my life isn't over!" and get Angel to accept that he's enough as he is. If you add in a few episodes beforehand to set it up, it could have worked better instead of being insensitive.
Personally I would have entirely changed the Angel/Val dynamic. Val can still be a whiny bitch but not in a drama queen way as is implied. He gets like that whenever he loses control of his favorite. Have one of the Vees groan and say something about Angel having done something as if it happened often. Make them used to Val throwing a fit because he didn't get what he wanted out of Angel or because he's having a jealousy fit. It already makes Val more controlling. It'll make the messages scene hit harder as, yeah, we can see why Angel left, the dude is unstable and obsessed. I'd be a little more fucked-up and have Angel kinda love him. Ofc in the Stockholm Syndrome way, he's been abused so much he's too attached to leave. That shift in dynamic would explain why he eventually goes back despite everything. Like in the show, he feels ignored in favor of the new resident and the way he's dismissed and talked about makes him feel like shit. He checks his phone again and ends up listening to Val's new voice messages... And this time, they're sickeningly sweet in a row. He's sorry, he's begging for him to come back. He loves him. And that's enough for Angel to go out or answer him. Put a few episodes in-between where Angel seems... Off? How weird, he's jumpy, more on his phone. He's out for parts of the episodes or clearly focused on something else. Then we get episode 4, where everyone culminates to show how bad the situation is for him. I'd personally not have Val hit him. He's smart enough to not leave bruises on his top whore. However, he's manipulative and threatening. There's no doubt that he COULD hit Angel whenever, especially with the way he cowers. Angel tries to diffuse the situation, so well that it's heartbreaking, and he gets bold. That line when he doesn't reply "Yes Val" is meant with silence as we wait for Val's reaction, waiting for him to blow up. A beat. He doesn't. He's not calm but he's not as angry. He's not going to hit him. He thanks Angel, touching him while the other flinches, a hint that he handles Angel roughly in this kind of situation, and just as Angel looks relieved, he announces that he'll have to work all night, distressing Angel again.
Ofc that would require extensive research and talk to specialists to do it well. Viv's audience can be stupid so it's more of a struggle to make it clear that none of this is Angel's fault and to not romantize this shit but it's more interesting than Val being so obviously abusive. IMHO he almost transformed into someone else in that episode and it could work but we didn't see enough of him to go "oh that's the old abuser trick! he's not as nice as he is with others when he's with his victim!". Idk how to put it sensibly but the impression he gave me was "whiny manchild who sadly was given enough power by Daddy Vox to abuse someone" instead of the intended "terrifying Overlord who is unstable and abusing his power to abuse whichever worker he fancies at the moment". I dunno Chai I just think it would work better if he were more manipulative and welding his power in other ways than by force. Like Angel isn't scared by his strength but by his influence. Also I would low-key find a way to make it so that Angel, mistakenly, thinks he can get away with some things to explain how he'd leave for the Hotel. Like having him not be a perfect victim. While he tries to cater to Val and keep him happy out of fear (and/or care because abuse fucks you up), he sometimes provokes him or tries to do his own thing. It'd show he's his own person and stuff. Sadly that would be lost on Viv's stans and it would absolutely spark some victim-shaming stuff or worse. But I think if she's gonna try to portray something like this, she could do with some nuance and not so... Cliché? Of course, it happens like this to too many people but it feels like she's applying a trope with no thought into it. The most cookie-cutter depiction she could do for quick satisfaction or to tick that case. A bit like how Stolitz is a mix of multiple tropes and is a terribly done version of that trope where a noble falls in love with someone whose class is lower with a sprinkle of badly done transactional relationship that sparks feelings. Thinking of HB, HH has better representation of abuse but not by much. I feel like if Stella was a man, she'd have written it this way? It felt like fetish fuel hiding underneath the surface whereas Stella was lazy writing.
I dunno man, I wanted to rant about Charlie and her design but episode 4 hit me like a wall of bricks
Thank you for all of this, College Anon. This was a great read, and you're right, the Italian version of Poison goes so much harder than the English.
Also Italian Val's voice is...yeah, 10/10 stars on that one. Mama mia.
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saturnnelahy · 6 months
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Can I get a BTS reaction to their child (baby, like 1 or 2 year old) giggling and laughing to them looking at themselves in the mirror? I just saw this happening. The dad was pushing the cart close and far away from the mirror, and the kid was DYING of laughter
Hello whitefoxgirl, I loved your request, it gave me lots of good ideas!!!! But I'm going to have to split it into two parts because I'm very sick at the moment so it's very difficult to write, I promise to try and get the rest up as soon as I can!!! I hope you like it 💜💜
Just a Happy Day:
𝓜𝓲𝓷 𝓨𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓲:
Since the birth of your daughter with Min Yoongi you didn't have much free time and you didn't have a day to enjoy without the responsibility of taking care of a baby, your husband did as much as he could to help with everything, but it was still very tiring. Wanting to please her, he took a day off and after a lot of persuasion he managed to convince her to go out with her friends while he stayed at home to take care of Jiyeon, as the girl was already 10 months old and always remained calm and calm with her father. He decided to accept, despite the uncomfortable feeling of being away from his little girl. 
It was already getting dark when you returned with several bags of things you had bought for yourself and Jiyeon. Everything seemed quiet and very clean despite the few toys scattered around the living room and the large sofas, which was strange since there was always a little girl running around and filling the rooms with her sweet delicate voice and loud laughter that made your days happier.
As you climb the steps of the staircase leading to the second floor, you hear a low moan coming from one of the bedrooms, which catches your attention and makes you go up faster and try your best not to make a sound as you walk up to the door of the suite, you open the door just a little to peek at what they're both doing and you end up looking at the most adorable scene in the world. Yoong is with Jiyeon in his arms standing in front of the mirror playing together, he tilts his body so that his face disappears from the mirror and then returns to his previous position, letting out a "buh" that makes the girl laugh and clap her hands.
𝓙𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓗𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓸𝓴:
After a tiring morning cleaning the apartment where you lived with Hoseok and your 6-month-old daughter Yeonju, taking the opportunity to sort out some things to donate and the presents she had received the last time your husband's friends came to visit with their children, you decided to lie down on the sofa for a few minutes just to rest but ended up dozing off for a couple of hours because you were so tired. When you woke up it was already afternoon, the sun was low and your body was less sore, but you were no longer on the sofa but on the big bed in your bedroom. Looking sideways towards the huge closet with a large mirror on the door, you saw your daughter's baby carriage with the little girl clapping her hands and laughing loudly while her father appeared and disappeared from the mirror.
Hoseok hummed a tune as he jumped in front of the mirror and then away. Every time the man disappeared, the little girl let out a loud laugh and clapped her hands in excitement at the "magic" her father was performing, which made her father do it more and more enthusiastically. Until he noticed you looking and turned towards you, a little flushed.
- Look love, she loves watching me do magic - he said excitedly before going back to playing with her, only this time determined to make you laugh too.
𝓚𝓲𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓳𝓸𝓸𝓷:
With a baby at home, it was hard to find a quiet place in the house other than the library where Namjoon went to think, read and work for a while, which he did at least once a day after making sure his wife didn't need him and spending a lot of time playing with little Jae, who was a mini copy of his father.
Today the man had been locked in the library for a few hours working on a new song, but he hadn't been able to make much progress on the track and was starting to get frustrated when he heard a knock on the door and saw his wife open the door showing only her face.
- Hi, honey, I know you're busy, but could you take a look at Jae for a few minutes for me? - Yn asks with a cute smile, Namjoon smiles and nods, going to the door to take the chubby baby from his wife's hands. Jae smiles excitedly and holds out his arms to his father.
Despite being a six-month old baby, Jae is big and strong, always hungry and making a mess, his little brown eyes sparkling with love every time he sees his father. Namjoon holds him in his arms and kisses his chubby cheek, smiling at him, but the happiness of father and son only lasts a few minutes before the little one starts to throw a tantrum, whimpering as he flaps his arms in irritation. The man tries everything to calm him down, but it seems impossible. The father walks with the baby in his arms while rocking him slightly but he continues to grumble, until the man passes in front of the mirror and the baby lets out a low chuckle but starts crying again when Namjoon turns away, realizing this he starts playing with Jae through the mirror while humming the song he was working on.
When yn returned to the room, he found them playing together and laughing with each other in an adorable scene, because both of them, apart from their looks, had very similar laughs. Namjoon always looked immensely radiant when he had his son in his arms, and it was impossible not to get emotional watching him.
Sorry for any mistakes, I hope you like it 💜
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mugentakeda · 5 months
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its like I desperately DO want to explore Iroh maybe emotionally manipulating Zuko his very manipulatable nephew. NOT because I hate Iroh and think his actions in the show are all 100% manipulation but because I love him and how shitty he is. He's like shitty on accident and it's great.
"Whoops accidentally isolated my nephew whoopsies accidentally formed codependency with him. Oh well time to play scrabble" its so slay
THERES THIS UNFINISHED FIC I READ ON AO3 THAT GOES SUPER INTO THIS ACTUALLY i loved it so much it had such a heavy hand in changing how i view iroh (because when i was a wee middle schooler and first watched atla i too viewed uncle iroh as a do-no-wronger). at least the emotionally manipulating part. heres the link if you wanna read it :) now under the cut im about to spazz a bit on the topic of iroh and zuko and im not gonna make anyone read this word vomit unless they really want to LMFAOOO
the way i see it book 1 iroh was still in the dregs of grief over lu ten and was also still dealing w The Order which i imagine had him on thin ice for a WHILE before he managed to score the grand lotus promotion.
i personally dont think iroh was THAT distantly caring of zuko like he was portrayed to be in the fic i linked above and on the contrary i think he was having a Horrible Time during zukos recovery from his burn. but he was still distant in the way that he didnt know zuko that well yet and it was mostly the guilt on top of projecting himself and his feelings about lu ten onto zuko (the first of what will become Many) and thinking along the lines of “how could any father do this to their son, it angers me because id give anything to have lu ten back”, but then once iroh comes to love ZUKO then its “how could ozai do this to zuko”
but despite all that theres still a seven layer salad of problems, miscommunication, misunderstandings, guilt, baggage, and projecting. iroh comes to love zuko fiercely by the end of book 1 after he snaps out of his apathy and is forcibly booted from the ship, therefore a fugitive and therefore harder for The Order to access. SO, he can finally focus on getting ozais venom out of zuko. sadly, as ive said before, iroh only managed to get some of the venom out of himself not even a full decade ago. And its worse, because irohs an older adult.
thats not just a childhood and teenage years of propaganda and crimes. its a whole lifetime. And hes on time limits. sozins comet is coming. his nephew is really good at catching up with the avatar. the order tells him that sentiment and guilt cant get in the way of their goals. its a nice idea to realign zukos ideals with The Orders so iroh has an heir if he decides to take over once they hopefully topple ozai, or if he doesnt want to rule at all so zuko can take over instead- but if ozais venom reaches too deep and zuko cant be helped, The Order will take the measures necessary to remove him from the equation.
between the stress of trying to get zuko aligned with being ok with the avatar toppling his dad and sister and entire nation in less than a year with whatever methods the avatar sees fit, only like a few gallons of his own fire nation bullshit problems being flushed out a few years ago with plenty to spare so hes Really not the best at trying to get his nephew see things iroh himself doesnt even fully see, not realizing that zuko isnt the kind of kid that does well with vague proverbs and prefers it straight forward (and with enough tact to phrase things in ways that wont make him flip out when he hears things hes not ready to hear yet but at the same time without sugar coating), iroh is obviously not gonna do a perfect job.
matter of fact, id go as far to say hes not gonna even do a good job. ill give him one chewed up star and say he did a halfway decent job. a lot of people credit him for getting zuko on the right path as if he was the one that did the heavy lifting, when really he got lucky that zuko managed to pull himself out from under a fucking MOUNTAIN of deeply embedded propaganda and violent physical and emotional abuse trauma in under a few months versus iroh whos still working on it after YEARS. and his doesnt even include the abuse trauma. zuko is strong as fuck and that is his strength and nobody else deserves to be credited for that. iroh gave him pointers and a nudge in the right direction, but didnt give zuko a map and also made him take the route that involved zuko crossing the bridge with an evil goblin that would only let him pass if he solved his riddles three.
but DESPITE ALL OF THAT! despite all of that never getting properly resolved and discussed and brushed over- partly because brykes stinky asses giving irohs character the 180 and making him all ~hoity toity righteous ive never done anything wrong despite my obvious hypocrisy thats so bad it smells~ in book 3, partly because parents like iroh who have 100 million things wrong with them along with being bad at communicating barely Ever get their head right enough to sit and talk these things out with their kids, iroh and zuko still love each other so, so fucking much.
its the little things and the implications that get me the most?? iroh basically collapsing onto zuko during the siege of the north when he leaves zhaos ship and burying his face in zukos chest. zuko telling iroh that for the last time hes NOT playing the tsungi horn. iroh pestering zuko into going back to the port to find a fucking tile for a game that iroh can just buy new of and zuko just growling and stomping off. iroh pumping his fist and grinning at zuko beating up zhao during their agni kai. their banter. his nonchalance at zukos bluntness and rudeness. iroh bothering zuko into going to bed to no avail. his snarky remark at zuko sitting in his room in the dark instead of going on a walk with him. iroh sucking up their argument from the night before over ozai and going with zuko to join azula despite his suspicions while glowering at all the soldiers like a huge snarly bear protecting their cub. like UGHHHH THE VOICES THE VOICES!!!!
its just not a realistic parent child relationship if there arent an equal amount of softness to ease through the complicated tangles.
its the apology plate of cut fruit after the shouting match. you hate it because its like why wont you just say sorry to my face with your words, but then you realize you wouldnt know how to respond in words yourself, so you just eat the shitty cut fruit and say youre sorry back by doing some equally lame act of service later that day just to make the ground fully even again and all is forgiven without even having to say it outloud and both of you are thinking we’ll definitely talk it out later. later wont ever come but the love wont leave anyway so who cares (you both care).
i literally love them SO much dude i dont have enough words they have so many issues we should feed them ibuprofen by the spoonful and put them in a blender
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velvetcloxds · 1 year
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Could I ask for a Part 2 of tipsy? Eli and Reader meeting in the morning 🥰 it’s was such a cute imagine 🥰 can’t get enough of how sweet Derek was in that fic and the little heart to heart with Eli at the end 🥺🥺
SOBER | D.H.
word count: 0.8k
warnings: age gap, reader has a slight hangover, teen wolf the movie storyline- also peep the can you keep a secret gif for the ideal dilfyness- part 1
a/n: stop I got so excited when I saw this because I really loved writing tipsy
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You woke up with a headache, one you had a feeling should've been much worse considering the state of you, you were still wearing your dress from the night before but Derek was kind enough to remove your makeup and save his pillowcase in the process. The night, for the most part, was a bit of a blur, not that you didn't remember what happened, but rather how, how did you end up in Derek's bed drunk, to begin with after you tried to be careful and how did the poor man end up explaining that to his son.
You could hear the two men in the kitchen, it sounded like they were cooking, trying to at least since they probably hadn't done much of that before, their meals consisted mostly of takeout, frozen dinners, and whatever Melissa brought over every now and then. You thought it only fair to give them a bit more time to find their feet and give yourself some time to get over the sheer embarrassment of your current situation by taking a quick shower, hoping that Derek had something that would be at least slightly suitable for you to wear once you were done.
"That's not enough sugar," Eli noted after he'd heard the bathroom door shut, happy he wasn't expected to whisper anymore now that you were awake. Derek wasn't as happy, knowing that Eli would not hold back with the commentary as he continued to sift the sugar into the pancake batter.
"It's enough," he replied even though he wasn't all that sure himself, but he was not about to admit that out loud, so he stirred it through one more time, frowning at the consistency.
"It's not, look, I'll show you" the teenager argued and moved away from the frying bacon to shove his cell phone into his dad's face, the online recipe clearly stating that it needed twice the amount of sugar that Derek used. "Can you read that or should I get your glasses?" he teased, earning a raised brow of disapproval that only made him shrug.
"I can read it just fine, Eli," he groaned and despite his pride, he reached over for some more sugar, ignoring the light laugh that filled the kitchen. "You better not burn that bacon," he added and was about to dish out another order when the bedroom door opened, and barely a second later you came paddling into the room, nervous beyond measure as you pulled the sleeves of Derek's hoodie over your hands, hoping the pair of them wouldn't look too hard at the way his sweats fit you in all the wrong ways. "Morning, honey," Derek cooed and you swore you'd have missed it had he not moved over to you, a sweet kiss placed on your forehead as a gentle hand guided you further into the kitchen.
"How's your head?" Eli asked without a second of prompt, ignoring the warning glare from his father as you smiled, a giggle that sounded more like a breath leaving your lips. "Sorry, I wasn't supposed to mention that," he backtracked but you just shook your head, stealing a quick glance at Derek before looking up at Eli.
"Eli," Derek sighed in faux exasperation but he didn't miss the way your body was starting to calm down, your nerves easing slightly at how casually Eli was trying to talk to you.
"It's fine," you insisted, a gentle hand brushing over his chest paired with the sweetest of smiles as you walked over to Eli, looking over what they were trying to make, gently reaching over to turn the oven down so the bacon doesn't burn. "Can I help?" your question was aimed at Eli, the boy in question smiling brightly at the idea.
"Yes, please," he sighed and showed you the very recipe he was showing his dad, pointing specifically at the part where it shows the sugar. "Dad is severely under sugaring our pancakes," he sounded exasperated like the poor thing was fighting a losing battle to which you giggled softly, dipping a finger in the batter and nodding lightly after tasting it.
"Can he read that without his glasses?" you teased and Eli was very smug at the repetition of his joke, looking to Derek to witness the reaction the comment would receive and his curiosity was satisfied when he narrowed his eyes at him, leaning onto the counter with a sigh.
"I can read it just fine," he argued and when you noticed the tension in the room you looked between the two Hales with a knowing nod, Eli was already laughing softly as he took it upon himself to find the sugar.
"I'm sure you can, bear," you mused and he wasn't at all convincing when he tried to shake his head at you in disapproval, not when his lips were betraying him, a little grin spreading out and tilting into his face. Eli didn't buy it either, turning around with the bowl to have you taste the batter once again, it was slightly sweeter than it should be, showing he wasn't all that fond of the instructions either.
"Too sweet?"
"No, it's perfect," you lied and Derek hummed, standing up to join the two of you at the stove, not even thinking before wrapping his arms around you from behind and squeezing your waist in the process. "It's perfect," you whispered to yourself, watching Eli spoon far too much batter into the pan, not even telling him to do otherwise because he was clearly enjoying it too much.
"It is," Derek agreed and you weren't surprised by the kiss he placed on the back of your head, tightening his hold and forcing you against his chest, knowing that the both of you might've underestimated just how easy this whole thing would be- he loved you and Eli more than anything in the world, so how could it be anything other than perfect.
"Hey, dad, if you could stop fraternizing with my sous chef long enough for us to finish breakfast that would be great," you were quick to jump out Derek's arms, bumping shoulders with Eli as you took your place next to him. "Do you want to pour or flip?"
"Flipping is more fun..."
"Great, so I'll flip then," he was very pleased with himself when you managed a mocking gasp, taking the bowl and spoon from him as he searched for the spatula. "You can just stand there doing nothing, dad, it's safer, don't you think so, Y/n?"
"Definitely," you breathed and your heart soared seeing the sheer size of Derek's smile as he watched the two of you. "You can just stand there looking pretty."
"Yes, chef."
"Sous chef," Eli corrected and the laughter that filled the room was something the Hale house had been missing for quite some time and it was something that Derek hoped would never go away ever again.
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classic-maya · 1 year
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why did Justin fall for Brian?
Ahhh, I love this question because I feel like it is more complicated than answering why Brian fell for Justin but I’ll give it my best shot.
After their first night together when Justin says he is in love with Brian I think he has a naive understanding of what love is at that point. He is infatuated with this handsome, confident, wealthy guy who took him home, let him join at the hospital during one of the biggest nights of his life, and then gently took his virginity. I really like that all the way in season 4 Justin says they made love that first night and when Brian disputes it he says "It was love to me." Even if it was infatuation, Justin is right, that night, that moment, that whole experience was love to him.
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Despite not being able to remember his name, Brian made Justin feel like he was the center of his world that night and Justin had never experienced that before. I think it’s that initial spark that pushes Justin to be so resilient and keep seeking Brian out. I mean how do you get over a man who says "you can see me in your dreams." !!!
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Later on I think Justin falls in love with what Brian represents. Brian is freedom incarnate; he will say anything, do anything etc. When the audience meets Justin he is entrenched in his rebellious teen phase. Don't forget that Justin is 17 running around all night. He is the kid who told his teacher to fuck off, told his mom that he likes dick, and in an absolutely iconic statement after his dad threatens to send him to military school to learn some discipline replies with "I know all about discipline and you should see me take it like a man."
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In many ways, Brian is in the same place emotionally as Justin in season 1. He is chasing his youth. He is angry at the world, he likes being an outsider in society and he revels in it. He doesn't care about driving around in a vandalized car painted with the word “faggot." I mean for goodness sake Brian drove through a fucking car dealership because the seller said something mildly homophobic. Justin finds Brian's fuck you attitude ridiculously attractive. The persona of Brian no excuses, no apologies, no regrets Kinney is Justin's first love.
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But over the course of the first season, Justin's understanding of love and his understanding of Brian both develop. Justin is suddenly dropped into this very adult world that is different from his WASPy upbringing with two parents who have fallen out of love with each other. Justin has adult friends for the first time and he gets to see how Melanie and Lindsay love each other. How Michael and Brian love each other and Ted and Emmett and how Debbie as the matriarch loves and cares for all of them. I think he comes to the mature idea that you don’t just fall in love with someone and everything is fine, you decide to love someone and then you hold on to that decision and make lot of little decisions in order to keep loving them.
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In the first season while Brian struggles with himself and his love for Justin, he keeps hurting Justin in an effort to push him away. He tells him not to trust people, he flaunts his tricks in front of Justin, he is downright mean to him at times. I love this scene in 1x17 when Justin tells Brian “Being mean to me has never really worked, you should try another tactic.” He is telling Brian that he’s got his number and that can’t get rid of him that easily. He then says “I’m killing you with kindness.” From the start, I think Justin saw through Brian’s bluster and just dug down until he could see the scared boy behind the walls Brian built around himself.
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I honestly don’t think anyone else in the show understood Brian as much as Justin. Justin notices all of the little ways that Brian sacrifices himself to help his friends and others. Brian has a reputation for being selfish, but Justin peels back the layers and sees how Brian uses that assumption as cover.
And while Justin does eventually lose his infatuation, he still loves Brian because he already made a decision to love him and to love him for the man he is and not for everything he represents to him. Brian is no longer a symbol to him but a human being with significant flaws and insecurities. This is where I see a massive difference between Michael’s love for Brian and Justin’s love for him. Michael idealized Brian but never got over his hero worshipping crush. Anytime Brian acted outside of how Michael expected him to he was overly upset and confused. While Brian obviously hurt Justin’s feelings sometimes and they misunderstood each other at inopportune moments, overall Justin was able to accept and love Brian as a person not a persona.
Another one of my favorite scenes is in 1x11 after Michael’s birthday party and everyone else abandons Brian but Justin just says “I guess you’re going to need someone to help you clean up this mess.” As an audience, it’s one of our first indications that Justin really gets Brian. Although everyone else thinks he is an asshole, Justin knows what his true intentions were. I also like the use of the word mess in this scene. He is not just talking about the party leftovers but everything. It is also a small little commitment. Justin isn't going anywhere, he is going to love Brian even when it’s messy and difficult.
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Of course, if I'm arguing that Justin made an active decision to love Brian that begs the question why did he leave him in season 2? I don’t think Justin ever fell out of love with Brian. Even in the cheating era I don’t think either of them stopped loving each other. Justin was very hurt and he wanted to see what life was like with someone who was deliberate about showing and stating their love for him unlike Brian. Obviously, Justin shouldn’t have betrayed Brian by cheating but I don’t blame him for wanting something else, nor do I blame Brian for not being able to give Justin what he needed at that time. I think Justin was so shocked by Ethan’s betrayal again because he is a bit naive and did not realize that someone can say they love you 10 times a day but not mean it the way you want them to. On the other hand, although Brian couldn’t let himself say it he showed Justin in every way he knew how that he was important to him and he cared about him. Also, one more reminder that Brian NEVER broke their rules and I think Justin knew that and realized that was what he wanted way more than someone who spoke the right words but didn't follow through with real action.
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TL;DR Justin fell in love with Brian over and over for so many different reasons. Because he was sensitive and gentle, because he made Justin feel important, because he represented Justin's anger, rebelliousness, and the freedom he desired, because he loved Justin unconditionally even when it was messy and difficult.
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thoughtspresso · 9 months
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Hello, sorry I just need someone to voice my op to since none of my circles read or watch OnK :'(
It's so weird to me how Akane's fans interpret that scene when the girls are filming an MV as Akane only having good intention and care for Kana, 'cuz imo even if there is, what she said was still one of her attemps to get Aqua to stay with her. Look at how things played out to her: her business bf wanted to break up, he even straight up refused sex when she offered, and now she found out that right after that he took Kana on to a proper date, Akane's chances were close to zero. She was grasping at straws when she said that and played it under the guise of being considerate about Kana's safety, just like how she said she's okay with breaking up with him yet cried - showing that she wanted the opposite. Because if she only cared about Kana's safety, then what's with the side comment about how actors have it easier? It's like she was saying "Choose me, I'm the safer choice!". I'm not saying Akane didn't have good intention, but it's more like a two bird one stone typa thing where she wanted Kana to be safe and Aqua to continue with dating her (her own selfish want). It was kinda a dirty move from Akane, consider how she knows very well what happened to Ai and how much that'll affects Aqua. Akane always strike me as a good in nature yet also self-absorbed character: She decided what's best for both Kana and Aqua that also benefits her selfish wants regardless of how the other two would feel (& we all know how miserable both Aqua and Kana was during that ghosting period); She decided what to do to Aqua's father without thinking about how he might feel (again); The signs were as early as the LoveNow arc where she tweeted the apology thinking it was the right solution without consulting with her manager first because she thought she knew what was best for her to do in that situation. Even her acting method also kinda reflect this, where if the character's portrayal clashes between her and the director/scriptwriter, she already has a concrete image of the character from her own interpretation and thus has difficulty compromising and adjusting with the production team.
I might even take a wild guess that she was in love (obsessed) with the idea of saving prince charming rather than Aqua himself because to her, their story literally went/was gonna go like the old classic story of prince charming saving the girl -> the girl learns about the prince's past, decides to help him to repay him saving her -> prince charming defeats the bad guy (his dad in this story) with the girl's help -> happily ever after. Akane being a teen + Aqua saved her + it's her first dating experience caused her to have an idealistic view of dating and probably why she tolerated Aqua dating her despite having his eyes on Kana for he did act like the perfect bf on the surface, and that to her was enough to fulfil her prince charming fantasy. Akane is, actually, not that mature in her relationship with Aqua like how her fan keep praising her for, tbh imo it's more akin to what teens think "being mature" is. I know this is one of the appeal of her ship with Aqua, even though some might deny it. As oppose to Kana who might be a potential obstacle to Aqua's revenge whether good or bad, Akane is narratively there as a bonus reward for Aqua after finishing the main quest of avenging his mom if the ship ever be canon again. Akane and Aqua have unfortunately became perfect self-inserts for those who are into revenge and/or trophy girl fantasy (nothing bad about this itself tho). But perhaps because of looking into those fantasy fulfilment rather than the actual context of the manga/anime, they accuse Kana of not understanding the "real" Aqua (I have alot to say about this, maybe 3 paragraphs at least lol) or how she's useless for not helping him kill a person and ignore the entire other half chunk of the story about showbiz problems, where Kana's own story entangle more.
If you've read this far, thank you so so much.
P/s: My wild guess no.2, rather than being a damsel in distress (being Kamiki's target) for Aqua to come rescue, Kana already has a close relationship with Kamiki prior to reuniting with the twins (maybe a mentor-student relationship?). I've always find it weird how Aka just glossed over Kana's past, like he's holding back important info regarding her past that he can't show the readers too soon. So that's why I have this guess. This explains why Aka's been keeping her out of the revenge plot for so long + better than Kana just being a damsel in distress + raises the stakes for Kana (will she choses the mentor who helped her through her dark days being abused by her mom or the twins who she can see the light and bright future in?) + makes Kana a key player in the revenge plot.
Hey Anon! I'm happy to talk to you about some OnK Character Analyses anytime. Sorry to have taken so long to respond, I really wanted to sit down with your question. I've been thinking about this a lot. And I'm afraid my response might be even longer than your ask hahaha!
I want to summarize your main points for everybody else, so that we're all on the same page:
Akane was manipulative when she reminded Aqua that Kana was an idol, and pushed him to choosing her.
Akane wants to reverse the damsel-in-distress and Prince Charming trope, and decides on behalf of others.
Akane fans accuse Kana for not knowing the "real" Aqua
(Bonus) There's a possibility that Kana already knew Hikaru Kamiki.
So, my responses:
#1 Was Akane being manipulative in Ch. 76?
Well, yes. And no.
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I actually had a short discussion (argument?) with Skania (who I will not tag for the sake of their mental health, but mentioning here to credit them.) about this very topic. (And I want to thank them for their time and also apologize to have annoyed them!) We have really different interpretations and disagree each other on this part.
To get the fast answer out of the way: Yes, I believe Akane was wholly aware of what she was saying.
She already knew from the Tokyo Blade arc how badly Aqua can get triggered on the topic of Ai's death.
Put it this way: imagine being a teenage girl who was depressed or bullied, and the boy who saved your life started dating you but admits that it isn't because he likes you that way. You start offering him sex if that would fulfill his wants in a relationship, but he tells you that your relationship is about to end soon. You find out from another girl that they went on a date--shopping for suitcases and Brazilian barbecue--a kind of date he never did for you. Then when he invited you to go on a trip, most of what he did was walk you around his hometown to look for something else, and then watch this other girl be really cute in a dress he was stunned by.
Akane is allowed to be a teenager who would want to nudge her boyfriend to stay with her and away from his other crush.
Akane fans like to argue that she was being completely selfless, and was just looking out for Kana's safety too.
I really dislike this reading of Akane's character, because it strips her of agency. Of course she has personal goals, wants, and flaws. She's allowed to be a teenage girl who wanted her love to be reciprocated. She's allowed to be a teenage girl who gets a little jealous, and try as she might to be professional and civil because all of these people are her work colleagues too, she still does things that fulfill her goals. She is allowed to be self-interested, and act on opportunities that align with those self interests.
I also think that if Akane's fans want to believe in her intellect and her masterful ability in understanding people's psychology and detective work, then it stands to reason that they should also believe that Akane was deliberately aware of the effect of what she said to Aqua. She doesn't always make 100% correct bets, but it's reasonable to conclude she made this bet hoping that it could get him to stay.
Akane and everyone else is already aware that Kana is actually not a person who needs scolding on the dangers of being under public scrutiny:
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Under any normal circumstance, if Akane simply cared for Kana's safety, she would have simply responded to Kana when she was bragging about the date. Like, "hey be careful about dating in public spaces okay? I dont want you getting in trouble." Or, if she would talk to Aqua about it, she might say, "Please remember to book a private room next time you eat in a restaurant."
But no. If Akane would remind them of safety tips of dating as public figures, it would just lead them to the advice to do Home Dates:
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And she doesn't want that now, does she?
She didn't say something as straightforward as that, and neither did the author write it in a more neutral tone. It was deliberately written with Akane implying that if he didn't want Kana killed, he should just date a fellow actor. (Preferably one that the public is actually cheering on to be together, because they were already in a Love Team due to the show.)
I just don't like ignoring what the Author and the Illustrator clearly put on the page for me to absorb the way that it was. I think pretending she was being wholly selfless is an insult to the writers.
#2 Is Akane motivated by the want to Save Prince Charming?
This is the "and no" part of my answer.
When I think of Akane, I don't think of an outright evil person who manipulated Aqua into doing things, wanting to be a hero for that reason. And just like how Tokyo Blade serves as a parallel for the show, it in turn informs us that it is an incorrect interpretation of Saya-hime (or Akane) to think that she outright wants the violence herself.
This part I agree with Skania on: Akane's main flaw is her low self-esteem.
Akane doesn't personally believe that she is inherently worth any value, and any value that she holds is attributed to her hard work.
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People have taken notice to the fact that, unlike Kana's experience of abuse and abandonment, Akane had a really good support system behind her when her suicide attempt happened during the LoveNow arc. She had a loving mother and a really kind-hearted manager that believed in her. Yet she clung onto the validation from the agency President more. She ascribes her personal value to the approval of other people, especially positive feedback from her superiors in the industry, her theater troupe calling her a genius, her fans applauding her.
And, on the opposite side of the same coin, she has immense Rejection Sensitivity that makes her extremely defensive when she received cyberbullying, leading her to want to make a public apology right away and appease people.
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This leads Akane to be an extremely hardworking person, but also seeking validation and direction from other people (like the LoveNow crew), unable to voice out her views unless it is supported by an authority figure (like when she wanted something changed in Tokyo Blade), and also why when meeting her personal hero and idol Arima Kana in person, when Kana lashed out at her, instead of simply thinking, "okay she's a terrible person, I'm done with being her fan forever", she rejected that idea and went on to study Psychology in the hopes of understanding people like Kana.
All of this manifests in her relationship with Aqua being okay with receiving bare minimum from him, not complaining when she realizes he has feelings for someone else, and also doing anything and everything for him, whatever he needs whether he asks for it or not.
I'll go a little further into my interpretation of her (which I know Akane fans might be resistant to or disagree with, but I hope you stick with me here.)
I also think Akane has a co-dependency on Aqua, and herself has Inverted Narcissism, with Covert and Cerebral Subtypes.
I agree! I sound nuts! This interpretation is crazytown.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) has several subtypes, including Inverted Narcissism, which is a subtype where the person craves the co-dependency on another narcissist. They are self-sacrificing to their primary narcissist, feel they are not entitled to anything, but seem emotionally level-headed and highly attuned to the primary narcissist's needs but not much empathy for anybody else.
Because of how little they think of themselves, it gives them a feeling of power and control to be with a person who believes himself to be so special, to have a crucial mission whose victory she can partake in. In a sense, Aqua was someone Akane looked up to so much for having saved her from her suicide attempt, and for turning the public's view of her from negative to overwhelmingly popular.
Akane definitely thought, "I want to be useful to him! I want to make him happy!"
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And this man had his own amazing detective mission going on in his mind and trauma to solve. And so Akane thinks, "Let me solve that for you! Let me be useful to you even if it kills me! Use me as you need!"
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They say true love is unconditional and self-giving so I will aide my enabler in patricide to prove my worth to him!
According to Professor of Psychology Sam Vaknin, the DSM gives us 9 criteria to diagnose an Inverted Narcissist, and you need to have at least 5 to qualify. Here are some that he mentioned that I think fit Akane:
The inverted narcissist is emotionally stable, but her self-esteem is very low. The inverted narcissist devalues herself as an offering, as a sacrifice to the narcissist in her life. The inverted narcissist is compelled to filter all her narcissistic needs through the primary narcissist in her life. The inverted narcissist feels amplified by the primary narcissist's own accomplishments. The inverted narcissist is pre-occupied with fantasies [...] of an ideal love to be accomplished through the narcissistic partner.
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The inverted narcissist feels like she is undeserving and not entitled to anything.
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The inverted narcissist is indistinguishably selfless. She is sacrificial. She is anxious in her interpersonal relationships. She avoids assistance of others at all cost. She can only interact with others when she can be seen to be giving, supporting and expending an unusual effort to assist. So she is sacrificial, she sacrifices herself, but ostentatiously, in full view.
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The inverted narcissist lacks empathy like a classic narcissist. She is intensely attuned to others needs, but only insofar as it relates to her own need to perform the required self sacrifice. She needs to self sacrifice in order to obtain her narcissistic supply from her primary narcissist. But to do so, she must be attuned to his needs. So this is her restricted use or leverage of empathy.
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The inverted narcissist displays extreme shyness, lack of any real relational connections, is publicly self-effacing, is highly moralistic and critical of others, is a perfectionist, engages in lengthy ritualistic behaviors that can never be perfected.
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I also mentioned that Akane has Cerebral subtype, in that she believes she has superior intellect, and the Covert subtype, where she seems altruistic and selfless on the outside but internally she is driven by a self-serving need to be useful, to be wanted, because she chases after this external validation to fill in the gaps of her own self-esteem and call to perfectionism.
There is room to argue that Aqua is actually the inverted narcissist and she's codependent on Akane who is the altruistic/communal narcissist subtype. I reviewed it, but it seems she's the codependent one in this scenario.
I think this answer entails that Aqua himself also has NPD, and I think he does have Vulnerable Narcissism with Cerebral subtype. Kana actually picked up on it pretty well:
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He does tend to think that he is the sole person who can accomplish this mission of revenge, even though it took him 4 years to crack a passcode and he actually didn't solve anything himself. Like, ever.
He thinks that he has some superior ability to read people and manipulate them (and it's not necessarily true, he just believes so).
And he likes bringing it up out loud a lot, like I used you, or haha she's so easy to manipulate, regardless if he actually did anything.
When Ruby points out he hasn't made any friends, Aqua deflects and becomes defensive.
He also initially thought that he was going to make it big as an actor after the one time he did well as a child, and entreated Gotanda to take him in, but when his PTSD was getting in the way of his acting, he just chalked it up to saying no actually I was never talented in that, because he doesn't want to admit to others that he doesn't have the supernatural inhumane acting skills he thought he did. (Note: He's not comfortable showing those old acting videos to Kana, but is okay with showing it to Akane for this reason.)
He truly believes he's everybody's savior. Unprompted he just thinks he's some main character that caused everybody's suffering. His Behavioral Self-Blame (BSB) about the death of both of his mothers is a manifestation of his wish for control over the situation, which is a known coping mechanism for those with PTSD or Major Depression Disorder (MDD)
Vulnerable NPD subtypes also feel uncomfortable being praised, which is why he reacts that way with Kana.
Vulnerable NPD subtypes also hate being asked to compete, which is why during both LoveNow and Tokyo Blade arcs, he keeps out of the way.
Vulnerable NPD subtypes really really hate rejection, and that's why Aqua says that he can't confront Kana without a Pieyon mask because he's too weak to be shot down by her again.
Vulnerable NPD subtypes are quite anti-social, but again if you confront them about it, they'll just deflect you and say things like they had no intentions to make friends or they're busy observing or something like this.
I mean, look at this dumbass intellectualize having feelings for girls his age like Akane and Kana:
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Kana gets it though:
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ONLY A NARCISSIST WOULD (half-joke)
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This is of course a reminder that people with NPD aren't inherently bad people, they also don't come in one shape or form as there are many subtypes, and they can swing in severity. Most of them are a by-product of either a traumatic childhood or an overly doting one. Akane and Aqua just simply happened to be both of these.
I just came to this interpretation when I kept thinking of why was it that it felt like both Akane and Aqua were using each other. They both felt miserable and yet felt necessary and dependent on each other's emotional comfort. They both lie to each other too. I think a lot of people have picked up on the "feeling" that the two are using, manipulating, abusing each other, there's something dysfunctional about them together, and yet they also genuinely care about each other a lot. And people couldn't pick the right words to describe that. Co-dependents and their primary narcissists can heal together into a healthy relationship, they don't have to stay that way forever. But for the most part, nobody really recognizes that that's what was happening, because the dance they do together looks completely synchronized as a relationship. Who ever says no to a sweet and completely self-giving girlfriend? Who would leave their boyfriend to die alone in a revenge plot?
ONLY A NARCISSIST WOULD (not joking)
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#3 Does Kana know the real Aqua:
I think a lot of Akane fans love to cite that Akane knew about the revenge, the trauma, the using, the manipulation etc. She also knows what he's like when he's being silly and playful.
And I don't deny that Aqua and Akane cared for each other.
But I also think that Kana knew Aqua even when he was being unpleasant, making crude jokes about her when they were kids. Kana observes Aqua's acting meticulously and understands the fine details of his style. Kana also has actual conversations with him about his interests too. They read the same books and they jog together, and they're very comfortable arguing with each other about anything.
Most of all, of anybody, only Kana has pointed out that Aqua has chuunibyou/grandiose thinking, narcissistic tendencies, and that Ruby has a co-dependent relationship with him (even when she didn't know about their past as Sarina and Gorou, she just picked it up as the core reason for their clinginess).
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#4 [Bonus] Does Kana know Kamiki?
I don't think so.
When Kamiki opened his production company/agency, Kana would have been about 11yo. It was around this time that she had been recording Full Moon and her other songs, and her career had been on a decline. Then her company left her and she started freelancing instead.
Kana's acting style is also diametrically opposed to Kamiki's acting. Which as Akane has pointed out is similar to Ai's acting style. Kana's acting is very emotionally honest and is rooted in her personal understanding of her own emotions, whereas Kamiki and Ai act to deceive others based on the calculated perception they know the audience wants of them. Given this, it's unlikely that Kamiki mentored her in any form.
Lastly, I think Kana would have been the first person to point out that Kamiki looks like Aqua if they knew each other, even if he was acting as the Miki-san persona.
But I did joke before that I think if Kana and Kamiki met each other, they'd just traumabond and be friends until the cops haul Kamiki away. And that'd be the funniest thing ever.
That's it! That was a very long rant. Thanks for the question.
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mdhwrites · 7 months
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So, do you think Sasha kinda is like Zuko on Avatar in a sense too? Sure Zuko got more time for his abusive dad than Sasha for her family, but the core is the same on redemption and all.
Both are
obsessed with their goals in season 1
- are on the run alongside someone serving as a parent figure to them (Grime and Iroh) in season 2
have a moment of bonding with the heroes and seemingly considering redemption before betraying everyone in the season 2 finales
have their full on redemptions in season 3
Heck, it's telling that Aang is the one who ends up defeating Ozai in the end instead of Zuko (who never even faces him in the finale).
TL:DR The two share oversimplified plot similarities (you literally use a third act redemption as evidence when like... That's just literally narrative structure?) but the details of their characters and what their arcs are about are drastically different. It does warrant comparison, as two villains turned good guys by finding peace with their worlds but the details for both are actually very different, allowing for both to be great shows of this sort of general archtype. Their 'core' similarity as you posit is really just a writing trope or narrative structure much more than it is specifically about the two and their arcs.
I never considered the Grime and Sasha parallel though what's fun with that is Grime is absolutely not like Uncle Iroh. Iroh pushed Zuko's better nature while Grime actually fuels Sasha's negative nature. He introduces her to effectively the calculus of war while Zuko's father is the one who did it for him. It's an interesting contrast and part of why I say that while Grime didn't mean to, he wasn't actually all that healthy for Sasha to know, taking her darkness to extremes. Also, 'obsessed with their goals' is just not right for Sasha in S1. Her goal is to get home with her friends but she is explicitly not in a rush to do so. She's here to have fun because she is incredibly self serving. She uses her perceived status as hero for her friend as an excuse. That making her happy must make everyone happy. Meanwhile, Zuko isn't self serving beyond wanting to literally be allowed to go home. He's never doing things just to treat himself or make himself happy until S2 which is explicitly a part of his arc. That he actually needs to care more about himself than what others desire of him and find his own definitions for things like honor, leading to the evil of the Fire Nation's expectations and his long buried, good heart coming to war with each other.
Meanwhile, Sasha's arc is actually much more extrospective than it is introspective but in a really good way. She needs to learn to stop playing in this fantasy of hers that she has created where the world is her toy. Realize other people matter and have desires and feelings that she needs to stop gaslighting, gatekeeping or girlbossing against. That her happiness does not mean the happiness for all.
Honestly, it makes it so that if she shares anything with an Avatar character... It's probably Azula. And why shouldn't it be? Azula is someone who takes pleasure in controlling people and genuinely believes that anyone can be crushed or used for her own desires. She treats even her friends like pawns and Reunion shows that Sasha isn't much better than that. That Anne is still subject to SASHA'S whims.
The difference is that while Sasha sees herself as a hero and so can be confronted with how she hurts people and cares enough about Anne to be motivated to change, Azula believes herself to be a queen. It's actually part of why becoming the Fire Lord fucks with her so hard. This is the day she was always waiting for but the goal post becomes impossible as her father discards it. This thing she has always wanted is now ash and so she loses her mind trying to pretend that it still matters despite her still being number two. Still not being the best despite the fact that she has always perceived herself as above EVERYONE.
Buuuuut, especially with current analytical trends I see, no one is going to think about Sasha with Azula. They don't share enough narrative parallels for anyone to consider it despite how much their characters have parallels. Both have two friends who have varying levels of loyalty to her and differing skill sets. Both are manipulators, both for fun and profit. They will destroy you if you upset them but also believe that once loyalty is given to them, they no longer need to earn that loyalty again.
These are all genuinely character based similarities and based on overall behavior... Which I think people struggle with analyzing nowadays. When I see people talk about arcs, it's mostly with the big ticket moments or the like. With the episodes everyone loves rather than an actual aggregate of the character. This is exactly the sort of thinking that leads to people say Anne doesn't have an arc in S1 or makes people think Marcy treated Amphibia as nothing but a game because the literal only episode they're analyzing is True Colors and specifically her speech.
My blogs are as long as they because I look more for the aggregate. I am as cruel to TOH's character arcs because those writers themselves want to throw away elements of the characters and ignore the aggregate when that's REALLY important.
So yeah, from a very basic, narrow view, Sasha and Zuko seem similar... But only because they're redeemed villains. Zuko in S2 explicitly NEEDS time away from Aang in order to grow. It's why he reverts at the end when presented his prize. Losing the hunt lets him breathe. Meanwhile, Sasha's exile with Grime is not so good for her mental state. She doubles down because she showed a moment of weakness and HATES it. She is at her absolute worst in S2... Until reunited with Anne and Marcy who make her question things. That alone is a DRASTIC difference in how their arcs narratively function as for Zuko it shows what he could be if he chose peace while with Sasha it shows how much she genuinely does care about her girls, even if her need for control and to keep her fantasy intact guarantees she won't change until she hits absolute rock bottom.
The Turning Point for Sasha, pun intended, is when she has nothing left. When she cannot support her fantasy at all and keep doing this. When she realizes that her care for Anne and want to be a hero means that she can't keep only serving herself. Not when she has only brought misery to others for so long. For Zuko, it's when he has EVERYTHING. A hot goth girlfriend, the respect of his people, his 'honor back, etc. but the point is that the Fire Nation is choosing war. Choosing death. Things that Zuko can no longer enjoy and so he has to make the incredibly difficult choice of throwing it all away because he cannot be a part of The Fire Nation anymore. He exiled himself in S2 just as much as Ozai exiled him in S1.
It still makes them interesting to compare, this blog has been a lot of fun for me to write, because they are both villains turned good in very interesting ways... But they aren't the same. Not even close. Every step on their journey is incredibly different simply by the nature of what drives them and who they are as a character. Which... Good. That's how it should be.
The only times you should be able to claim two characters are practically the same is if they're both kind of boring.
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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!
I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.
A Twitter you can follow too
And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.
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devondespresso · 7 months
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WIP WhhhMonday Nightish
Once upon a time Devon was tagged in a wip wednesday by @eriquin and meant to do it but missed both wednesday and the weekend before remembering again. totally unrelated, Devon is working on getting their official adhd diagnosis.
i also noticed that the past snippets shared in wip-whatever posts have been purposefully the least interesting parts because i was worried about spoilers, which is dumb because that's created the unintended consequence of my tag is full of everything i don't like as much and a very different impression of what my fic is (as seen by most of these snippets being my rewritten scenes despite the actual fic being mostly new in-between scenes)
TLDR: WIP Whatever-day-it-is: But Actually For Fun This Time
The Rules
Post the file names of up to 5 of your WIPs for people to send you asks
Post a snippet of one of those WIPs
When people send you an ask with the name of one of your WIPs, write 3 lines of that WIP.
(Optional) Post the lines you wrote.
You can send multiple requests especially since this is going on through the weekend!
The WIPs
we're doing bulleted chapter titles to share from since that was my favorite and genuinely most productive format I've used. Feel free to ask for as many as you want, I plan on working on this basically all week
Karen Wheeler POV Bonus Chapter (Prologue kinda? side story in the same universe?? Bonus chapter set after season 1 and way before ch 1)
Steve, are you okay? Are you okay, Steve? (ch 9)
What's this? The consequences of my actions? (Is that a motherfucking Lovejoy reference?) (ch 10)
Kidnapping? no. surprise adoption. (lol get taken care of BITCH) (ch 11)
NEXT CHAPTER BC IDK HOW TO TRANSITION (ch 12) (a very tentative title for the next chapter to be written)
The Snippet
here is my favorite and most recent scene I've written, which takes place before they junkyard where Steve and Dustin are at the grocery store to get that ungodly amount of raw meat they have to toss around (also i've split chapters up a bit in the name of structure so the third chapter is now called "Mommy Issues Central". Lemme know any goofy vine reference ideas you guys have or if it should stay like that) (fear not, Get Yo Fucking Dog Bitch lives on still as chapter 4)
___
They turned down the next aisle, lining the edges of the cart with some other pasta-related shit that he could still probably use. They heard someone coming over from the next aisle and before he could turn the cart around Mrs Wheeler pulled up.
"Oh, Steve ...and Dustin. What're you boys up to?"
He took a short breath to work their story into something without Mike, but Dustin beat him to it.
"He's teaching me stuff." 
He was imitating the tone Steve used but still way too vague. Mrs Wheeler held up a smile, her brows slightly lifted.
"Y'know, like cooking-" Steve said, throwing in a little gesture to the cart.
"And cars, changing oil and things. Y'know just.. dad stuff."
Dustin's part convinced her, Mrs Wheeler's expression softening into a real smile.
"Well I won't keep you long," 
She nodded off to the side to talk to Steve one-on-one.
Great.
“Are you and Nancy okay?”
“Wh- we’re- Why? Did she say something?”
“No, no, she’s just been… closed off, lately. And I drove her to school the other day, she didn’t say why.”
“Sh- yeah, that- that’s on me. Sorry.”
“Did you break up?”
“No no, definitely not. We’re kinda… we’re working on it. I’m going to try and make it better, after y’know..” he gestured to Dustin behind him.
“Right.” she smiled again, “Let Nancy know she can talk to me about any of this? Please? I tell her but- I don't know, maybe it’d be different coming from you.”
He held up a smile for her.
“Yeah, sure. Mind if we..” he jutted a thumb towards the end of the aisle.
“Yes, go ahead.”
He gave her a short wave and turned back to Dustin, who studied random shit in the aisle like Steve would believe his sudden fascination with olive oil outweighed childish curiosity.
“Steve-”
He turned back around, seeing Mrs Wheeler coming back up to him and whispering again.
“I know I’m not your mother, but you can talk to me, too. Both of you, okay?”
He kept the smile in place and nodded again, and she finally went back to her cart.
Dustin “Definitely-Not-Eavesdropping” Henderson followed him out of the aisle, thankfully waiting until they were out of earshot to ask.
“What's going on with you and Nancy?”
“Thought we had ‘much bigger problems than my love life’?”
He pulled up to the deli, stopping to pretend to look at the options.
“We’re not dropping everything for it but we can still talk.” he groaned.
“I’ll tell you later, kay? Not exactly the best place to talk.''
___
Tags
@stobinesque @spoookysix @marvel-ous-m @alexcharmsyou @museumgiftshoperaser @blushweddinggowns @sharpbutsoft @fag4dykestobin @findafight (no pressure ofc and feel free to switch it to actually wednesday fhuhjdklashj) (also just let me know if you don't wanna be tagged in these)
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animealways · 2 years
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Were not family, were a team
Avengers x stark!reader/natasha x stark!reader, tony x gn!kid!reader well to tony were still a kid (the avengers came together again but adjusting to the situation was more difficult for some especially for the person with trust, paraniod, family, anxiety and abandonment issues)
It has been a few months since thanos died. It was quite brutal considering you decapitated him with your nano tech shield. It was the most brutal way you ever had to kill someone.
You weren't stupid, you're a avenger. You knew you had killed people before, hell the sokovia accord made that clear as daylight but it was never with intend. Thanos left you with no choose however as he was about to do the same thing to your father but having nebula, thanos daughter witness the whole thing only made you feel more guilty.
Its why after everything cooled down, you apologized to her. Natrualy she was confused as to why, after all it was very necesscary and completely understandable as to why you did it. All you said was "he's still your father." Nebula just nodded and walked away. You knew thanos death hurt her. You yourself know all to well whats like to have family that hurts you but still care about them at the end of the day. It was like that with your own father from time to time.
So to say you weren't feeling well would be accurate especially since all this could have been avoided if the avengers stayed together by discussing instead of fighting.
Wich you were reminded of everytime the team was together. After thanos was defeated you, your dad and steve made a pact that the avengers had to stay together no matter what.
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It was a relax friday. Everyone was sitting and talking to each. You're sitting on the couch with your arm wrapped around natasha shoulder and your head leaning on her shoulder all the while she was talking to wanda.
Peter kept asking for stories about mission, training and whatever came to his mind, curious about the avengers he didn't get know when he became spiderman. You couldn't help but smile. It reminded you of when tony told you stories of his mission when you were a teen. Looking back it was a really bad idea since that lead to you making your own version of the iron man suit but hey what happend happens.
''you guys almost sound like family.'' wich you couldn't help but scoff at.
''is there something little stark?'' you looked at cap with face that screamed 'really?'.
''i just don't think most of us are family, well not anymore atleast.'' natasha frowned at you. ''what makes say that?''
''i'm just saying that family doesn't try to tear each other down after 1 fight.'' peter sat there looking at you, rubbing his neck ackwardly since you do make a point. tony looked at you not saying anything along with the rest of the avengers. steve decided to speak up since no one els did.
''look y/n i know its was a mess but we did our bes-''
''no you didn't!'' you stood up now pissed.
''half of you guys just picked a side, not thinking what it ment to the rest of the team. instead you fought anyone that didn't ultimately agree with you, we're acting like a bunch of dumbass childeren. despite the fact it was a goverment contract. yeah i hate ross as much as the next person for that shit but it was still a contract he gave us. we could have negotaited to change the terms so that wanda and pietro wouldn't be treated like animals in a cage while also still have our own agency over our work.''
no one said a word, just staring at you. ''did all of you seriously forget that? oh and lets not forget how many of us actually tried to keep the team together, you know the avengers, earth first line of defence. half of the planet including the rest of the universe could have been death because of us.''
you walked out of the room done with this conversation. natasha went after you while everyone els let your words sink in. you took a sip of your beer looking at the night sky. natasha stood next to you on the balcony. she grabbed your hand, rubbing it with her tumb.
''i know you're angry and i also know there is more to it then that.''
you sighed, having black widow as your girlfriend ment she could read you like a book. ''i wish i had done more. for wanda, pietro, dad, you, everyone. all of this could have avoided if i-''
natasha grabbed your neck with both her hands to smash your lips together passionately. ''don't blame yourself, like you said all of us we're acting like 'dumbass childeren' for not seeing the bigger picture and letting our emotion get the better of us. all of should have done better maybe then we would be better prepared for thanos. you did your best.'' you stared in her lushes green eyes before sighing again.
''yeah i did my best, but somehow it never feels like its enough.''
''thats because you can't face the earth probleems on your own and if the rest of the team isn't doing their best it goes wrong. we are all to blame for what happen but it doesn't mean we don't care about each other.''
''i know i still care for them. it... it just doesn't feel right to call this a family anymore. all my life my dad was the only family i had and sure he fucked up a bunch of times majorly but at the end of the day he would try to make sure to see things from my side. he tried to make sure my needs we're met but with the sokovia accord everyone got stuck in their own bubble of emotions. if my dad ever did that i... i probably already be dead considering all the enemies we have.''
''thats alright, you're entitled to your feelings. as long as you don't stop caring.'' she hugged you foreheads touching. ''you know i always care. im just really pissed now too.''
''can i have a word with junior?'' both of you look to see your dad, standing there looking with a face that abit looked simealer to the time he got so drunk on his birthday he blew up the house.
natasha nodded, leaving you and your dad alone on the balcony. he walked over to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. ''you're right, we should have done better, i should have done better.''
''all of us could have.'' you muttered. ''no, i saw how often you talked to ross. you gave your best while i... i shouldn't have let a break up bother me so much.''
''its understandable but it doesn't excuse you dumbass behaviour.''
''i know. i'm sorry kid. i promise no matter what happens i will do everything to keep the avengers together, if not for the team or earth i will for you and pepper.''
''and hopefully morgan soon.'' your dad smiled. ''yeah i hope i can finally give you a bigger family.''
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boyfridged · 1 year
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What do you think Jason would feel about mothers? Considering he was betrayed by one and then would have gone on and had figures in his life like a mother.
since someone brought up sheila yesterday, i just remembered that this ask has been stranded in my drafts for a while! sorry.
some loose thoughts on the topic, in a "chronological" order:
in the 80s canon, jay grieves after willis and catherine the same. while it's safe to assume that willis was (physically) more absent, there's not much indication that jay had any parental preference (neither of them really could responsibly parent him anyway.) so i believe in general terms jay doesn't really differentiate much between parental roles (and that's why, subsequently, my answer is more about parents in general rather than just mothers...)
i have a post talking about jason's parental relationship with bruce here but i just want to add that atp we also don't see jason having any specific longing for a figure of a mother. imo the reason he gets obsessed over seeking his biological mother out is that in this particular moment he does not feel secure in his relation with bruce. i think if he found out about a biological father instead, he would also want to find him. what he wants is simply a stable family (<- which he does have in bruce; but does not trust to be able to keep without robin.)
i have mentioned before that it's very important to me that jason most probably forgave sheila. of course, the fact that he tried to save her does not alone confirm it; he would probably do it for anyone, and so it's more of my headcanon, especially since the contemporary canon nearly completely erased her from the narrative up until cheer. but as i said, i prefer to think that he forgave her, as he forgave catherine (if he even ever truly blamed either of them.)
i like to think about his relationship with talia as a parental one too (ignoring the two infamous pages of the lost days), but there's not much canon material, and freshly post-res jason seems fixated on the idea that he is "no one's son." nevertheless, he is also just still a kid when first in her care, and i do think that they could grow into that kind of relationship throughout the years (despite his best efforts to deny himself the comfort of familial connections.)
tbh one of the reasons for which i headcanon that, compared with other kids bruce has taken in, 1. he is the only one who used to call him 'dad' regularly 2. he is the only one who actually settled into a more 'standard' parent-child relationship with him 3. he is the only one who got formally adopted (which "on page" happened only pre-crisis btw), is because jay had a rather traditional expectation of what a bond with a parental figure should look like (and because bruce wanted to overcompensate while working through on jay's attachment issues). the others were either older or did not have a past that conditioned them for such focus on keeping the parent close, so it did not matter much. i think in terms of parental relationships, jason needs to call them by that name and needs formal ways of them being recognized, or at least this is what his abandonment issues call for. at the same time, it also freaks him out because he was a parentified child before and he doesn't think he should need it, so it's a game of pulling closer and pushing away, testing the bonds.
my conclusion is that i don't have much to say about mothers in particular; i think he has plenty conflicting feelings about the parental roles no matter the gender.
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