#and again knowing rachel the implications are not great | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

genericpuff · 7 months

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To be fair, a country can have more than one head of state. Political systems aren't as consistent as we might think them to be and even absolute monarchies like Spain have a prime minister. Then you have things like elective monarchies and hereditary republics. From what I remember, the idea of an election isn't even really treated as that big of a deal... but that right there is the problem. The first and I think only time it actually gets brought up is when it's introduced for a single panel, and even then, it's only in relation to Persephone's trauma. No one really comments on it afterwards. Even in Apollo's own episode, he very briefly comments how he could do a lot as king—not president, but king! Ergo, overthrowing Zeus. So either the whole president thing was a dropped plot point or Rachel couldn't think of any other reason for Apollo to be on a giant poster.

Regarding Eros' comment, Apollo is the god of medicine and the literal god of doctors is his son. Even if Asclepius himself doesn't have a bad record, he'd have reason to be wary. It's why I don't blame Hebe for automatically believing Apollo that nothing can be done about the poison after he simply touches Zeus, given what one of his domains is.

And speaking of Hebe, again, to be fair, a lot of people don't notice their surroundings when they're grieving and her back was clearly turned anyway, so I don't think this should necessarily be a strike against her. I honestly didn't find anything off about Apollo gaslighting her either (I mean, besides the obvious; gaslighting is horrendous) and he'd also just threatened her, so I don't blame her for running away either. Plus, the episode just ends with her noticing the snow soon after, so it's not like we get her thoughts on this one way or another. I don't have fastpass, though, so does it show her actually believing she'd somehow poisoned Zeus in a future chapter, or...?

Hebe poisoning Zeus also wouldn't necessarily be outside the realm of possibility either if Apollo were to argue she did it for Hera's sake or something and then she just snapped. That said, it is still ridiculous she's the first deity he would frame, rather than someone alot more believable, like Ares. Didn't Zeus sleep with Aphrodite that one time? And we know how protective he is of Hera. Or hell, if he wanted to topple the current monarchy entirely, he could've just framed Hera herself! Maybe even Hades!

And if this were any other comic, I'd say Apollo returning to the scene of the crime and then calling the media is just him being a narcissist, because some narcissists can be really, really dumb. But the chances of it being framed that way are practically at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Even a single panel of someone asking why Apollo called a journalist first is doubtful.

But yeah, not trying to slam you or anything and sorry if it comes off that way. I really like your analyses and I love Rekindled, I'm just trying to offer a few explanations here. I do agree with you overall, though! Rachel has alot of great ideas, but the executions of said ideas are just terrible.

Okay so, while I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into defending these points and I can totally get the points you're trying to make in many of them (and yes this is the part where I respond with my own points, as we do) I think the fact that you presented all of these "well to be fair" talking points is just highlighting and further proving LO's biggest problems in its writing, one that I've talked about before on here but I think bears repeating.

And that's the fact that we (the readers) have to make massive assumptions just to make the plot make sense.

Yes, to be fair, there are government systems that run with a dual-system of monarchy + diplomatic government, but there was never any implication of this being a thing in LO until all of a sudden Rachel dropped the "Apollo for President!" plotline in S3.

Yes, to be fair, Apollo is the god of medicine, but we've never seen him actually fulfill a single duty regarding that, Asclepius is far more qualified as an actual doctor than Apollo (*from what we've been shown), who we've only ever seen apply a bandaid to Persephone's hand five years ago.

Yes, to be fair, people in shock may not take in their surroundings fully, but it seems really silly to have Hebe positioned in front of a window that has a FULL VIEW of what's going on outside and still have her just freeze in time when she's offscreen so she doesn't see or hear anything that's going on just several feet away through a sheet of glass. Just get rid of the window and find another way to force Eros and Psyche into confrontation with Apollo.

Yes, to be fair, Hebe could have a motive, if she were written as someone with some vendetta against Zeus. But she wasn't. That version of Hebe does not exist and, as you said yourself, there are way more gods who would have reasonable motive to poison him. We've only ever seen her dote on him and love him unconditionally as her father, and we've even seen scenes of them in S1 where they have a functional father-daughter relationship (if anything I'd be more inclined to believe she'd have a vendetta against Hera for being an alcoholic mom during her childhood but I digress).

Through all of these "to be fair's" when do we actually stop and ask ourselves why we have to constantly have the benefit of the doubt and jump through all these logical hoops to make sense of the plot to begin with? Again, all this just lends to how poorly structured and written the comic is, and all of these 'to be fair''s you've presented cannot reasonably apply to LO because LO never wrote those things. They never showed Apollo being an actual god of medicine, they never showed Hebe having ill will towards her father, and they never showed Olympus running with a monarchy + presidential government system. So to fill in those blanks ourselves is to do the legwork for Rachel who's only managed to write half a plot. It's why it's so jarring for random plot points like this to happen because it's just like "wtf do you mean Apollo is running for president? He can just do that??" That's not something that should be established five years in, it makes it really hard to just give benefit of the doubt because if that was something that actually existed in this world, it should have been established ages ago when the foundation for the story was still being built. We're in the endgame now, this is NOT the time to be throwing in new random plot threads pulled out of thin air.

This is what I mean from my essay post earlier that Rachel constantly fails to provide context for things she's trying to say, while overexplaining things that are already being shown onscreen. It's completely imbalanced between what we have to know and what could have stayed on the cutting room floor, and it makes for a messy story where people have to make gracious assumptions and do all the thinking for a plot that was never fleshed out to begin with. Why should we as readers have to do all the thinking for Rachel's lack of storytelling ability, when she clearly couldn't be bothered to put any thought into the narrative or the worldbuilding or the characterizations to begin with? It's lazy low-effort writing.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #ask me anything #anon ama #ama #anon ask me anything

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theflyindutchwoman · 8 months

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You know what we don’t freak out about enough…

Our kids.

OUR KIDS

The way these two had only been dating for what like 3 months? When they watched Jordy and are already joking about their own kids.

Which on one hand, like isn’t surprising because Lucy did mention their grandkids on their first date. But also I feel like it is because they’ve both been so idk “uncommitted” in their previous relationships — minus Tim married but after that he was not as serious with Rachel and Ashely — like Lucy wouldn’t move in the Chris and never said ILY to him after being together for like probably well over 6 months. And Tim wouldn’t move for Rachel and wouldn’t retire for Ashley after being with them for long too. But here they are at the most 3 months together and are already so all in their talking about their own future kids. And neither is scared or nervous or wanting to run away and I feel like we don’t scream about this enough 😂

I think that also shows just how different this relationship is compared to all the others they’ve had. And it makes me so emo

Lucy said she wanted to take things slow and that lasted like 5 seconds 😂 they basically live together and their talking about OUR KIDS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Not but wait… not only were they joking about their own kids after spending two minutes with Jordy (before they lost him), they were doing this in the middle of the station… Loud and clear for everyone to hear… The insanity!

I still don't know which part was better : Lucy admonishing Tim to take this more seriously if they ever lose their kids… Or Tim feeling insulted that she dared insinuate that their very own kids would even think of pulling a stunt like that… This wasn't the "our kids" that made him react, it was the implication that they would be this chaotic... Again, the insanity! Also, Tim saying they didn't lose the kid, they simply 'misplaced' him was so hilarious! That whole exchange was gold.

But seriously though… None of them batted an eye or freaked out after mentioning their kids. Lucy might have previously joked about their grandchildren but still… It felt more here, with the way they were so casual about it or how Lucy told Tim he will be a great dad. They're all-in and it's so freeing for the both of them. They're finally in the right relationship, with the right person and they're absolutely loving it. They know that they both want the same things… Lucy is getting the love story she always wanted and Tim is at peace now that he realises that he can have it all. It's so blissful that they can actually joke and tease each other about this And I love that they get to kid around the topic… That they're secure enough in their relationship that for them, it's a fact of life, but at the same time, they're not actively making plans either, you know? They're just enjoying this journey together.

Funny how being with the right person makes all the difference in the world. Like you said, Lucy was already having trouble naming her relationship or even simply using the word 'boyfriend', so forget about meeting the in-laws or buying a house. And Tim spent 6ish months with Ashley before finding out that marriage and children weren't in the cards (and that was only due to Lucy's meddling). And yet, here they are now… Ready to change jobs or stations for the other, joking about their future kids, coaching Little League together, making breakfast together, practically living together… And it's so wonderful to see! *insert 'I'm so used to giving and now I get to receive' gif*

#little talks #the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #And I'm in my feels and it's your fault 😭

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silentfcknhill · 3 months

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Vincent Phantomhive Theories (That Butler, Nursing)

Ok this is kind of a tangent so bear with me, but because I really love Vincent Phantomhive as a character I've been thinking a lot about the little bits we do get to see of him, and that chapter about him and Ciel cooking with Diedrich in particular.

Heavy spoilers below.

So on the surface it seems like just an innocent slice-of-life chapter that also serves to give a little backstory on Ciel's home life and his connection to inheriting Rachel's asthma. But as we learned later, not everything was as it appeared in this chapter. Namely, for one, it wasn't even Our Ciel at all cooking with Vincent but his twin, which was foreshadowed by the mysterious line about not wanting 'fake brothers' at the end.

Knowing this and that everything in this series usually has a hidden meaning, I began to wonder what other little insights could be gleaned from those seemingly innocuous moments. Especially about Vincent in particular, because there are some other oddly important-seeming panels and dialogue that went unresolved as of yet just like the 'fake brothers' line did until the twin reveal.

And because I love to overanalyze, that one simple little moment of Diedrich telling him his food sucked actually opens up a whole lot of possibilities about both characters that go much deeper than Vincent being able to cook or not. It started off as a funny thought experiment of whether he sucked at cooking, but then the implications started popping up behind each hidden door of possibility.

Normally it could be said 'it's not that deep', but I think we've established with this manga that it very much usually is that deep. I haven't seen anyone suggest some of these things, namely the cricket-match conspiracy part, but if it's already been done I apologize.

I have seen people point out Vincent's potential shadiness before but it usually wasn't fully fleshed out in terms of his motives, and the posts were usually done by people who seem to be criticizing Vincent. My post is a bit different because I love him either way and this is more just a character analysis weighing the possibilities.

So in case anyone else is interested, here are some of my thoughts on what the different possibilities are for why Diedrich said Vincent's cooking was bad and what they could mean for the characters on a larger scale. In no particular order:

1) Vincent's cooking was not great but also not terrible and Diedrich overplayed how bad it was due to being a grump. Definitely possible, Vincent claims to have never cooked before and that is probably true because he grew up very wealthy with cooks, similar to Ciel who is shown to not even be able to tie his own shoes properly without Sebastian.

Then again, Ciel is also a child and his parents died before he could even be trained to do stuff like shoot a gun properly since Sebastian taught him all that stuff in the flashback to their first days of the contract. Vincent likely would've been much more independent than Ciel, even as a rich man.

That said, it is possible that Vincent is capable of doing things but chooses not to. Diedrich also comes from wealth but he admits to enjoying cooking himself, while Vincent is shown to be good at getting other people to do stuff for him such as getting Diedrich to make him food in school when he was sick (that instance was likely partially a troll tactic to demean Diedrich since he hammed it up and made Diedrich physically feed him too which was surely not necessary).

If he got used to making other people do stuff for him like cooking, then it stands to reason he had no practice and might not be great at it. Diedrich is also a negative nelly so chances are he would jump at any imperfection in a dish that he knows very well and is attached to from his homeland, and he is always looking for an opportunity to take Vincent down a peg. It matches their bickering banter in general.

2) His cooking was actually as good as, or even better than Diedrich's, but Diedrich couldn't and wouldn't admit it consciously. Possible since Vincent claimed to use the recipe precisely, and if that was true then it should have been at least just the same as Diedrich's quality, so whether the dish was objectively good or bad doesn't matter because what matters is that if Vincent did indeed follow the recipe and did not make mistakes then it would have tasted the same as Diedrich's, so it would be what Diedrich subjectively considered good.

Diedrich is a perfectionist so it's possible nothing would've been good enough to earn verbal praise, and he is also so tsundere that he is loath to give a compliment, especially to Vincent. If this option is true then it might have even annoyed him that Vincent cooked a perfect German meal because Vincent is not only not German but he was British, and the Germans considered them to have bad taste in food.

So not only was he annoyed that an Englishman showed him up at his own forte, but that it was fucking Vincent who was effortlessly perfect at everything once again, and he didn't want it to go to Vincent's head by admitting another of his natural talents, especially since Diedrich had probably worked hard and put effort to get good at cooking while Vincent was treating it flippantly.

This is supported by the fact that Diedrich blames Vincent being British for his shitty German cooking. It was true that there was a huge cultural difference due to food preferences of England being considered 'bland' by the rest of Europe, and those of Germany being considered more 'tart/flavorful' in England. Their differences in culture are brought up multiple times through complaints from Diedrich and teasing jokes by Vincent, as well as the tense behind-the-scenes frenemy rivalry between the two countries being a big part of the manga plot overall.

However, this cultural difference can't be the sole reason for Diedrich insulting the food because if Vincent actually used Diedrich's recipe and didn't make mistakes then it wouldn't matter if he was not German, it should have been just like the German version and Diedrich wouldn't have noticed any difference.

3) His cooking was terrible on purpose and he did it to troll Diedrich so he'd have to make it all himself. Seems to be within character for Vincent for sure when it comes to Diedrich because he likes to mess with Diedrich's head in general and make him do a lot of extra work. It wouldn't have been motivated by laziness though, because he spent just as much time making it himself the first time, so if it was intentional it was done as a power play to remind Diedrich he was still his 'fag' (assistant) and he could make him do anything at any time.

Plus, he seemed more motivated by playing house than actually making a good meal for Rachel himself anyways, as he seemed to steal credit for it when she asked so he clearly didn't care about needing to make it himself. With this option, he would've had to covincingly fake what seems like genuine shock when Diedrich told him the food was gross, but that is also not uncharacteristic of him as a master liar and manipulator by reputation. More evidence of/context for this theory is used to possibly debunk #4 below.

4) His cooking was terrible by accident because he thought he was following the recipe but messed it up. This is possible due to seeming legit shocked when Diedrich told him that it was bad, but his reaction may have been a little too shocked and coy to be real. Also, he is usually shown to be competent when actually trying and if he were that careless in his tasks and unable to pay attention to detail then he wouldn't have been 1) entrusted with such an important position by the Queen in the first place, and 2) able to carry out his duties with such skill and precision that it earned him a reputation for exactly that.

The potential debunking of this option is where we get into conspiracy territory. Depending on your interpretation of him as a character, it is not entirely clear the extent of which his symptom of being distractible is real versus just an act to manipulate people/get them to do what he wants and then claim ignorance later. Since his sister Francis claims he was always a bit irresponsible even in youth, it could possibly be both...though she is also not the best judge of responsibility since she's so strict that to her everyone is irresponsible. Still though, it's possible he might be a bit in his own world but his convenient cluelessness at certain moments could be exaggerated and used as an excuse, particularly with Diedrich.

Or the whole entire thing could be an act. In fact, the main example of his forgetfulness was the whole 'forgetting about the Prefect meeting back in school' thing, and that easily could've been an elaborate game to get the end result he himself said he wanted on the boat: Diedrich as his 'loyal German dog' aka slave. If he skipped a Prefect preparations meeting, he knew Diedrich would have to do all the work, which would make him angry and confront Vincent. He purposefully made it even worse by trolling Diedrich by pretending to nap during the school day and on the lawn no less, which they were not supposed to be laying on, and by breaking more school rules such as calling Diedrich by his first name. He knew all this would provoke the bet that he knew he'd win through cheating/outsmarting, like Ciel later does in the Public School arc.

This theory is given more weight when you consider that Vincent deliberately commented on how all Germans must be rude if Diedrich is, which he figures will provoke Diedrich into making a similar blanket claim about his dormitory which he can pretend to get offended by and have a justification for the bet. It would be hypocritical for him to get offended by Diedrich stereotyping a whole group otherwise, when he himself had just done the same thing first. I have seen people say he was just being a hypocritical jerk, but it seemed more deliberate and calculated to me. Like Ciel in the Blue Cult arc when he put on the whole concert as a misdirect to catch the group dumping bodies, and tbh in most arcs, the Phantomhives are known for their Xanatos gambits and misdirections to get what they want.

There was probably a reason for everything Vincent did in the flashback, because Vincent is usually shown to be very outwardlt kind and supportive to everyone but Diedrich. He is a gentle, passive father who cannot bear to discipline his children. He compliments people on their insecurities like Ann's red hair. He even was very polite to Baron Kelvin despite his friends being rude to Kelvin. So why would he act differently around Diedrich? Because if he wants to get control of a mean man, then he has to earn his respect first by speaking his language.

But why did he even want to gt control of Diedrich in the first place? Well, maybe he was tasked to. The whole plot being a request from the Queen makes sense considering Vincent is seen reading a mysterious letter with what looks like her insignia after the cricket match in the gazebo and right before Diedrich approached him about what his request is.

She is shown making power plays against Germany throught the franchise by setting up her German cousin Georg von Siemens to be unalived at Ciel's party to stop Germany from advancing their tech to match England's, and also in the whole Emerald Witch arc which takes place in Germany and involves the German military and their building 'cold war' with England and her interest in Sieglinde as a weapon for England's benefit.

Notably, Diedrich was forced to intervene against his own country in this arc due to the loyalty he owed to the Phantomhives, so it's very possible he was intended to be used for purposes like this and that is why the Queen wanted Vincent to set that pawn up for the future if needed. That might've been the reason he was at that school to begin with, he might have been undercover like Ciel was. This would have been only a couple years after his mother, the former Queen's Watchdog, died and so he was probably eager to live up to the expectations placed on him and would have done anything to succeed.

Diedrich even seems to be aware of being used for this purpose, which explains him being so depressed he developed a stress-eating addiction and why he seemed resentful of his friendship with Vincent, and Vincent's family in general who he still can't get free of.

Vincent asked Diedrich in the flashback to look after Ciel if he died, and Diedrich even asks if this was an order. It would seem weird for a friend to ask that unless they felt obligated/coerced. It would also make sense why he said he was almost glad Vincent was dead in the scene with Undertaker, the 'almost' meaning 'if only he didn't live on through his son and I was actually free of this debt'. That's why he always compares Ciel to his dead father in a negative way.

Not to say he and Vincent weren't actually friends on some level, if anything it seemed they had a lot of past sexual tension and possibly some unrequited feelings on Diedrich's part that he is still resentful over due to Vincent leading him on. But I do think his friendship with the Phantomhives was not balanced, as referenced by the 'Unbalanced Triangle' chapter title with him, Vincent and Ciel on the cover, and that he was most assuredly being used to some extent.

If this is the case and the whole school cricket thing was one of Vincent's chess games, then it's also why Vincent deliberately pretended not to know what he would make his request when they first made the bet, because he knew Diedrich would never agree to it but would have to honor his promise later if it was already made because Diedrich took rules and obligations so seriously.

If this all was true, then it seems that pretending to be bad at cooking would be just another ploy, as listed in theory #3 above, albeit with lower stakes.

5) Somehow he has a reverse Midas Touch with food and is so terrible at cooking that he was able to butcher the meal despite actually honestly trying and successfully following the recipe to a T without making any mistakes. This seems unlikely from a realistic standpoint but could be used in fiction for comedy purposes since fiction doesn't have to make sense entirely. It would seem a bit odd for Vincent though because this is never shown to be the case otherwise and he is not portrayed as a butt-monkey character but rather a frighteningly competent one through reputation and the tangible results of his actions that we see proof of.

6) Alternatively, the seemingly comedic moment could've been a red flag for something deeper, as most seemingly lighthearted jokes are in this series. Foreshadowing of what? This is where we get back into conspiracy town. Well, the bad meal could have been symbolic from when Vincent mentions the most important ingredient in a meal is love, and Diedrich questions his ability to love at all.

If Vincent is telling them that love is the main ingredient in a meal and yet can't cook it properly, he is basically confessing as much in his own words, hence the special attention Yana paid to show his smirk of acknowledgement after Diedrich questions his potential to love and how there is no protest from Vincent or any follow-up at all and it is left 'hanging' like Ciel's 'no fake brothers' line before the twin reveal. Nothing in this manga is left hanging forever, the clues are always there and there are no such things as coincidences in this series.

I don't think Vincent is incapable of love entirely, but I do think he was very repressed and emotionally isolated due to preparing his whole life for his role as the Queen's Watchdog, meaning he couldn't safely get attached to anyone lest anything happen to him or the other person. He also seems to have trauma around attachment from losing his mother when he was 15 and having to take up the very job that killed her, knowing at any time he could be next if he failed in his duties (and it's entirely possible this is exactly what happened and why he died).

Keep in mind the meal he was making was not only for Rachel, but to nurse her back to health while she was sick. Because his marriage to Rachel was arranged by her and Ann's father, while I do think he began to care for Rachel as a companion over time, it seemed more of a platonic co-parenting marriage of convenience type situation. Vincent makes comments indicating his infidelity at various points, such as offering to flirt with 'German beauties' with Chlaus.

This is why Diedrich commented on the lack of love in his marriage, because he knew Vincent personally from when they were kids and knew how hard of a time he had opening up to the vulnerability of such an emotion. The bad taste of the meal might have confirmed Diedrich's seemingly irrelevant comment earlier and it's possible that Vincent's bad meal was a manifestation of the lack of actual romance in his marriage and/or his fear to open himself up to love in general.

Aside from just the love and marriage aspect, since he is partially non-human and Undertaker is his direct ancestor (father or grandfather etc) then Vincent's soul is probably 'tainted' by darkness to some extent, so that could also explain why something so intrinsic to human life as food/eating would not come naturally to him. The Phantomhive line is constantly referred to as cursed and not supposed to exist, likely as a result of Undertaker breaking shinigami code by interfering with life through procreating.

While he is half-human, the bad cooking, if it was real, may be a nod to his connection with death through being half-shinigami and/or marked for death already by fate. So of course he can't put his 'heart and soul' into making a meal if his heart and soul are cursed with flaw. Any result of a 'soulful' endeavor on his part would naturally reflect his true genetic and spiritually tainted nature.

#vincent phantomhive #kuroshitsuji #black butler #diedrich kuroshitsuji #what is the true extent of his dubious nature? could it be a combo of these options?#he is a character shrouded in mystery since we only see him through other people's memories which can be altered by their own perceptions

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adanseydivorce · 1 year

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solace and jasico for the ship think im evil and shit

wrote this last month before I lost access from traveling here is everything I wrote then.

Solangelo

Why don’t you ship it? — I did ship it when I originally read BOO when I was in the seventh grade, because I wanted Nico to be happy and Will was presented as something that would help that. Then I remember liking them a bit less when I first read THO when it came out, not to the extent of hate or anything (and I wouldn’t call it a solid notp or anything now I’m just not particularly fond of it at this time) just found the timeline of them getting together to be rushed and I didn’t love their interactions (not going to speak on what exactly I felt about them because first time reading THO was a blur for me, my feelings on reread are more important to this matter anyway). In the time between then and my reread of the first two series + continuation of ToA this year I was mostly fine with them in theory, but occasionally was a little annoyed by how overrated the dynamic and Will as a character seemed to me from what I could see as I’m always very multifandom and keep pjo fandom on my radar as one of my formatives but was mainly focusing my energy on other media during that time.

When rereading Boo and THO I found their dynamic.. not very appealing in the scenes we get. I can like vitriolic banter when it’s done well but the way it was introduced for Will and Nico in boo came off more as Will being pretty bossy/condescending towards Nico and Nico reacting to that with annoyance + some of his usual becomes-attached-to-anyone-who-shows-any-signs-of-potentially-wanting-him-around thing which is IC for him, but it’s not an introduction I appreciate for one of my favorite chars ever’s endgame canon romance. Other people have made longer posts about this + the general solangelo canon dynamics and implications re: ableism but Will’s dismissiveness toward Nico’s feelings of being ostracized from the camp wasn’t endearing to me either. THO followed the same pattern of their ‘banter’ falling flat for me and reading more as two people kind of disliking each other and not in a fun interesting way like I sometimes go for, and to be fair I think the fact we first see them as an official couple from Apollo’s pov might contribute to this for me, because we don’t have Nico or Will’s narration to make the dynamic feel more lived in and Rick just generally isn’t great at writing couple dialogue for anyone but Percabeth/Fierrochase (and even Percabeth had some dud scenes aka. the Percabeth scenes in boo that are from Piper’s pov so.) And again, I just don’t like the condescension from Will’s end or how pushy he can be about Nico’s boundaries in some scenes. ToN was slightly better in that I think as a duo they were incorporated naturally into a plot (also was just so happy about the Nico and Rachel interactions I was like the the Solangelo here is fine it can be there too hebrew). However two books where I disliked the dynamic + a book where I was neutral + what I’ve seen of the fandom which.. yeah. Ultimately I just don’t enjoy them as a ship at

this time

2.What would have made you like it?

This is an interesting question for this ship in particular because there actually is a book coming out that if things go a certain way could make me like the ship.

I’ll start with changes that could have been made

to what’s already canon. This particular brand of grumpy one sunshine one dynamic is an idea/trope that I just have found less compelling the more time I’ve spent in fandom, so I would play up a subversion of that to start. There is something to Will being a bit more stubborn/intense than you’d expect I just wish that wasn’t presented in him bossing Nico around/telling him His perceptions of Nico’s problems like they’re fact, generally being very I-know-what’s-best-for-you. Maybe if their introduction in boo had them clashing over just different approaches to the battle at hand but not being able to help admire each other even though they’re so different, and then I think setting up them getting together as a slow burn over the course of ToA could’ve worked nicely and the antagonistically working together dynamic could’ve come off far better if they were written as two friends not yet together but with some tension kind of dancing around their actual feelings. Some scenes I had problems with also could’ve been better to me if this was the current dynamic ex: I really didn’t like the scene where Will comments about the kid from the Ares cabins arms and they again ‘banter’ but with what we know of Nico’s insecurities/abandonment issues it comes off (to me) as a scene where he’s genuinely stressed and Will either isn’t cognizant of that or is ignoring it which seems off for a couple who are together / annoys me on Nico’s behalf, but if it were a scene where they weren’t actually together yet it could

make sense as Will testing to see how Nico reacts/if he likes him based on his reaction and I’d feel better about it. Things like that. And Rick clearly knew how to write this type of bickering dynamic in slow burn for Percabeth so I think maybe this could’ve turned out a lot better.

Where we are in their story how I could be made to change my tune about their dynamic in TSATS: will say I’d be a lot more optimistic about the book being able to make me like them if the premise was different, the fact that it’s (at least being pitched this way the actual book could obviously be pretty different) about Tartarus testing the strength of their relationship when we haven’t gotten a first hand experience of that relationship and it’s strengths and flaws other than what can be gleaned from conjecture (which ultimately is why views on the ship are so polarizing, they’re underwritten in canon so readers can interpret things a lot of ways depending on what’s there + how generous or not they are with it). That aside I think since for me the dynamic was a little better in ToN than it had been in the past framing some of their previous interactions as a beginning stage of their relationship they’ve since grown from and in the present Will is supportive in a way that’s less.. overbearing from my pov + we see both of them work for a good relationship (and the things Nico has to work on aren’t framed as ‘it’s Nico’s fault he doesn’t have that many good relationship ‘he needs to work on his people skills’ etc.) I could like it more. I also think seeing Will interact with more important parts of Nico’s life like Hazel or his father or Reyna could help add interesting interactions and conflicts. Another thing I disliked about ToA was how distanced Nico seemed from Hazel and Reyna / it seeming like he didn’t meet them after the war… *sigh* keeping myself from going on a tangent anyway. Ideally I would like the book to make their relationship interesting and compelling, I need it to show me how they work/are a good fit as partners and mainly make me feel good about Will’s place in Nico’s arc. Hopefully I get shippy feelings / emotional attachment from them in the book (I’m keeping my expectations low a) because I like to purposefully keep my expectations low for certain things so I’m not disappointed a habit I developed shortly after BOO was released lol, if it’s fantastic my low expectations can only lead me being more blown away so win-win b)like I said it isn’t a type of dynamic I’m very into these days even if tje execution is made to work now) but what matters most is that I feel good enough about it as a part of Nico’s arc since I don’t even concretely feel that way now. No Will-is-Nico’s-savior/solves all his problems trope. Hopefully no “doctors orders” bit either

3.Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I am here for the implication that Will has had a crush on Nico for a while before Nico noticed him, I think in a way it’s good for Nico to experience someone not needing to warm to him to see him as worthy of being into and just wanting him in general at the time he meets Will. If the relationship was presented as just Nico seeing what being in a relationship where he’s someone else’s Percy in a sense is like and not his canon-sanctioned endgame like it’s meant to be I’d be a lot less critical of it.

Not necessarily something positive more negative things that I’ve seen said about the ship that I disagree with: 1) It’s not an abusive relationship based on anything in canon 2) I’ve seen people say it’s ooc for Nico to be into Will/want to start a relationship with him so soon and that’s not my issue with anything, again it’s very Nico to latch onto attachments I just haven’t seen any evidence this relationship is good for him

Jasico

What made you ship it?

I remember when I first read HoH and Boo there were scenes where I thought they had interesting chemistry/found something of interest in the idea but back then as a kid I really hated Jason so ultimately still didn’t want it to happen/invest more interest in it On reread I really started to become actively interested in it / feel things in the Jason pov section directly after the (ugh) Cupid scene section. The scene where they have that balcony argument / tense conversation about belonging/fitting in where Nico voices how Jason has never been unfairly reviled because of who his father is only idolized for it vs later when Jason reflects on this and actually envies Nico’s freedom of expectations as much as Nico envies the respect Jason gets, the more I’ve thought about it the more the ideas behind their arcs are interesting foils to one another which is something that automatically does a lot to appeal a ship to me. And generally this establishes something that really appealed to me which was Nico opening up more to Jason than he does to others and Jason being a lot more expressive/engaged in around or about Nico. Then after that the chalice scene is just.. really romantically coded like more than most scenes in hoo that are actually supposed to be romantic by a lot, and I’m a sucker for a display of trust that’s literally quite deranged (drinking poison because you want to be Very Good Friends with another man) in my ships too, so from there on I was gone and the more I actually thought about it the more reasons I found to be compelled but I’ll get into that more in part 2. Also Generally the way they describe each other at points in HoH and Boo is insane which is also worth mentioning.

2.What are your favorite things about the ship?The dynamic appeals to a lot of tropes or ideas/narrative markers I go for in ships in general, what I said about narrative foils is a huge draw for me so is characters going from disliking each other to comrades/allies to establishing more trust to friends, prep x goth ship. I love the care present in how they think of/worry about each other throughout boo, also easy to read yearning vibes into it especially from Jason’s side in pov. Honestly the fact that they’re both repressed as fuck but different ways is so fun to me because soo much potential for pining and slow burn and angst/insecurity all of my fav things lol and now that I’ve started reading some fics really respect how much writers go all in for these things w the pairing. As an opposites attract pairing there’s a lot I love about the idea of two people who are othered in different ways in seemingly opposite ways like Nico has been ostracized and underestimated and felt excluded or undervalued in relationships while Jason tends to be a put on a pedestal for who his dad is and being idolized in relationships can also be stifling/harmful, so there’s something very compelling about that idea combined with certain other parallels like they both have sisterly abandonment issues etc. for similar circumstances. I think a lot of Jason’s dynamics are hard for me to fully connect with and in general his POV is hard to connect with because he’s so passive in most dynamics/storylines, but the way he is about Nico post challice is very overexcited golden retriever energy, like very much the vibe of being oh so flattered that the cool mysterious boy has given the vaguest indication of ‘okay we can be friends I guess’ and then he’s just so over-the-top enthusiastic about Nico after that it’s so very funny, and I also do think it’s interesting to think about why that reaction exists. I said this before but I do like that Jason has to put in a bit of work for the relationship (specifying ‘a bit’ because the Cupid scene as a conduit for them to interact is lazy has a lot of issues (I was more willing to gloss over how that starts the dynamic on reread because on reread of this series in general I think most dynamics that weren’t pre-existing before the series or the Nico and Hazel/Reyna dynamics were jump started in lazy ways because Rick didn’t want to put thought into how they’d get to know each other, so it’s not a roadblock to me liking the ship like it probably was on first read, I see it as a featurebug of how the series was written rather than specific to the dynamic ) and Jason’s reaction was the bare minimum (but still would be important to Nico I think both things are true) so the ‘work’ I mean is mostly not giving up on reaching Nico afterwards) while Nico gets to be on the receiving end of support it’s not the role either of them usually take in a dynamic/storyline so I think it’s an interesting place for both characters. I think Nico would really benefit from being with someone that level of adoring and devoted to him who doesn’t overstep his boundaries (the bar is very low but I did also really like the difference between HoH where Nico snaps at Jason not to touch him without permission vs Boo where Jason really wants to hug Nico but holds himself back until Nico acquiesces verbally (and even being bare minimum I do feel a lot better about it compared to Will always telling Nico what to do grabbing his hand without permission etc. so lmao on that front) and getting to be the person who makes a very stoic buttoned-up person Worse/less sane, I just love how powerful he would feel thanks to making the golden boy worse lol. I think Jason symbolically sort of represents a lot of things Nico has always wanted, so I love the potential fulfillment for Nico’s narrative through this and like the validation of it

. I also think the relationship from a story pov would have a lot of interesting ramifications for plot for being two big three kids and relationships with other characters like Reyna Hazel Percy Thalia Leo Piper etc. so I love thinking about that, and I think Nico would more naturally be involved in these dynamics if he was with Jason one of my gripes about canon rn is how Will is prioritized in ToA for Nico over all other relationships for no reason :/. Also the idea of Reyna shovel talking Jason is iconic. Really like I said I think on every level the more I think about it the more it makes sense and the more into it I am.

3.Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?we’ll just say that technically preferring Jasico to Solangelo is unpopular already. I do also think though that it being more interesting to me is partially just about Rick’s writing and how he tends to write relationships intended to be platonic as more interesting and having more chemistry than his romances that aren’t Percabeth and Fierrochase, and especially true for hoo pairings for instance the way Pipabeth or Pipeyna are developed as opposed to Jiper, Leo’s relationships with Jason or Frank as opposed to Calypso and Hazel etc. I do think that’s just a common feature in the way he writes dynamics.

Um. But also I felt much more passionate about all of this last month. I still stand by everything but after reading the tsats snippet in SoH that I read I’m kind of abandoning any of the optimism I had about it.

(Ship ask meme from a while back)

#ask games #anti solangelo #jasico #ig are the tags or whatever #riordanverse #S speaks

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a-couple-of-notes · 10 months

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assorted ramblings on the pasithea powder

I find it hilarious that in one of the Q&As, we learn that the creators really love this one episode of Hannibal where five people are stuck in a house, emotional bombs are dropped, and everyone is immediately in danger of dying--and then in "A Passage," three people are stuck in a spaceship, emotional bombs are dropped, and they're all pretty much in danger of dying (I mean, okay, they're not all bleeding out in a kitchen, but like--Sophie's brain is melting, the government is in pursuit, and Other!Evelyn did get shot, so it's close enough.) It's so cool when you can see pieces of what people love in their own work.

Someone else made a post about this, but learning that at least one of the creators read Animorphs makes so much sense and brings me so much joy. And also that shred of lettuce story reminds me in such a great and terrible way of that sliver of Hork-Bajir flesh in Cassie's teeth in #19.

You know, there could be a world in which these assorted ramblings devolve even further into Animorphs comparisons--for example, Yeerks and Others feeding off memories to create something that's an approximation of how the real person would act but not quite? Or, even closer, the Yeerk parasitism vs. the Eggaran mind-meld in Episode 18 (and even how that parallels Cassie and Aftran in #19, although the stakes are completely different). Or the easy parallels between Jane and Cassie and Sophie and Rachel that stick and fall apart in interesting ways once you examine them too closely--I'm gonna stop now.

Speaking of that famous mind-meld in Episode 18--it felt, in the most loving and thematically appropriate of ways, like such a fanfic trope? Like those pollen fics--you know which ones I'm talking about--except the characters are launched into another sort of intimate understanding of each other. And, you know, it feels like something that would happen to the leads of another show: this whole story has been about Jane and Sophie's struggle to communicate and be vulnerable with and trust each other--so shower them with feelings juice and make them work it out! It's why I was so glad that they didn't do that. Moreau and Jane get the mind meld shortcut; Sophie and Omikron do, too. But Sophie and Jane have to process and grow and communicate with each other all on their own. And it makes it so much more rewarding when they do.

My favorite ending narratively was Episode 11--that tightly-constructed ball of longing and trust and betrayal that makes you go, oh, of course it went like that--but Episode 33 was such a good finale, too. Getting to see them be kids again, essentially, reveling in memories when memory has been the thing that's haunted them for so long. There's peace. They're young. They'll be alright.

"A Passage" will haunt me, I can already feel it. The implications of the Evelyn interacting with Sophie being Jane's Evelyn and thus being not only a representation of what Jane thought Evelyn and Sophie's relationship was but also a fucked-up extension of Jane's own love for Sophie. All of Evelyn's snippiness toward Jane being, on some level, Jane's own self-recrimination. The fact that Jane could give Sophie both orders (to believe her and to leave) and Sophie didn't fly into the sun, and that Jane took the chance of that happening (for Evelyn? in the heat of the moment? because she knew the core of Sophie wouldn't fundamentally conflict with the idea of believing in Jane?) The tangled mess of Sophie wanting to stay with them anyway! God. This show is so good.

#the pasithea powder #the pasithea powder spoilers #I am too busy to write fanfic (really this time) but some might show up

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plasmablasts · 27 days

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DJ goes on and on about all of Alex's canon romances. Electric boogaloo.

ALEX & LORNA

Obviously the big one, and I guess I'll straight up start by saying that I mostly just ship them platonically now in a very similar fashion to how I only ship Jean and Scott platonically now. I think they'll always love one another, but if we're being perfectly honest they are not good for one another, and they both desperately need to work on themselves and put their own mental health first before ever rekindling anything in the future. ( Not counting messy one night stands because I think it's funny. )

They were at their best in the 70's to early 80's when they were not the focus at all, and just hung around working on their PhD's in cute domestic bliss, but unfortunately that doesn't make for a good story and since then their relationship turned into a complete mess. The only outlier I have for that was when they were in space, I'm a big fan of the Alex/Lorna/Rachel Starjammers trio and Alex was strangely at his happiest among the stars and ever since returning his life has turned to hell and his relationship with Lorna completely crumbled.

I did enjoy their few interactions on Krakoa, it was pure platonic former lovers supporting one another and that's what their relationship should be going forward.

ALEX & MADELYNE

I know this ship gets a lot of flack seeing how she's his sister-in-law, but as a big fan of the Outback Era of the X-Men, their relationship was actually super cute to start out with. They were just two heartbroken people taking solace with one another, but of course this also goes into shambles come Inferno.

The one positive to this ship is Alex's constant championing for Madelyne, he's always believed she was her own person and for that I think similarly to Lorna that a platonic route is better for both of them, because Madelyne is NOT good for Alex's mental health as seen in Dark X-Men. I think they have their spicy moments which I enjoy, but otherwise I'm not a big fan of them romantically. Be supportive of one another, but drop the romance please.

ALEX & ANNIE

Fuck this ship. A nurse wanting to fuck her patient who is a vegetable is bad enough, but the implication that her telepathic son is the reason why both of them have an attraction to begin with makes me ill. As messy and fun the Chuck Austen run can be, it's also extremely gross towards a lot of it's characters and Alex is no different. This ship sucks and I never want to see it brought up again.

ALEX & JANET

FUCK THIS SHIP. As an Alex fan I have been in the trenches ever since Remender's shitty ass run. Alex had no business pursuing a relationship during this era, and even with a better writer I don't think it would be a good ship! Janet isn't his type IMO, and her writing in this run isn't that great either. ( NGL not a single character was written well in this book, some of things Remender makes Wanda say about mutant kind are repugnant as if that woman hasn't been raked over the coals in the X-Franchise enough as is ) This ship created an alternate universe daughter that I refuse to acknowledge ( just like Marvel lol ) and his mind getting snapped in a way that he hasn't recovered from yet. I do appreciate that Alex is a character who canonically struggles with mental illness now, but I still wonder if it was worth it in the long run because I still have to remind everyone that the M-Word speech was indeed shitty and his worst moment, but he also told everyone on the team ( Steve specifically ) to fuck off and that he was wrong and then quit to go hang with Scott for a few days. Alex/Janet sucks, glad no one has brought it up since!

BONUS: ALEX & ELEKTRA

It's the way this is Alex's most healthy relationship lol. When Alex was stuck in the Mutant X timeline, Elektra was the bodyguard / nanny to his son Scotty and the two of them had a cute little romance. They were hot! Unfortunate that it's been forgotten in the sands of time, but Alex was truly in a great place in that reality and I will always have a soft spot for this ship.

#out of plasma. ( ooc )#one day alex will have a decent and healthy romance #ONE DAY #tbh let him kiss men already #he and bobby need to work out their shit

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friendly-books · 7 months

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Dresden files Storm Front live blog

Dresden files live blog

I read the dresden files after reading Wedding Bells… No More like Hell’s Bells by @jadedragoness so this is going to be interesting.

Storm front

Murphy! I’m going to like you

Sqeee Marcone! And Hendricks!

We get Marcone in chapter two yay!

“A man of handsome and unassuming features” pg. 45 Bi Harry 1

“Good looking, tanned, athletic, and enthusiastic” pg. 46 Bi Harry 2

This was not the romantic met cute I wanted

“He wanted to take a peek at my soul. He wanted to see what sort of man I was” pg. 50 Interesting implications

Ugh male gaze

“I borrowed a line from Johnny Marcone” pg. 59 Already

Morgan you and Inspector Javert would get along.

Mister!

Bob! :)

Toot-toot!

Why did you attack Harry Bianca? What was your plan here? If Harry did kill Jennifer what do you think you can do against him? If Harry didn’t kill Jennifer then you just attacked an innocent man.

Did Bianca kill Rachel? I think she killed her.

Beckitt’s? As in Demeter?

He Who Walks Behind sounds like a name with all its capital letters.

Harry forgot about his date with Susan oh no

Morgan is the worst the absolute worst

Harry using the power of a storm is cool

I like Susan she seems fun

More Marcone yay

Harry put on a show that poor building what did it ever due to you?

“You should have known me better than that Mr. Dresden” It was my turn to frown “You’re right. I should have” pg. 260 Yes you really should have, you’ve seen his soul Harry.

“Then he smiled for a fraction of a second” pg. 262 Harry already making Marcone smile

“Harry” pg. 262 Already talking with first names. I know Harry won’t like that but my shipper heart adores it.

“Good luck. I think it would be best if you and I did not encounter one another in the future. I cannot tolerate any more interference in my affairs'' pg. 263 Pfff that’s not going to happen. Marcone is definitely showing up in the next book.

Harry’s dad no now I’m sad

Harry buddy I talk to myself occasionally but this is a bit much.

“Fuego” pg. 278 Is this the first bit of fire magic in the book? I think it is. Pretty late to show off Harry’s classic spell.

Victor isn’t very smart because he is summoning a demon.

The fight was cool!

I’m glad Murphy is ok and threw the flowers at Harry. I’m glad they’re friends again. I’m glad Harry got his date with Susan. I like that Toot-toot got his pizza in the end.

Final thoughts I like all the characters so far. Not a fan of the male gaze. I’m absolutely a Harry/Marcone shipper thanks to @jadedragoness. Let’s see how far the Bi Harry counter can go. “He wanted to take a peek at my soul. He wanted to see what sort of man I was” Has interesting implications in that Marcone seems to know what a soul gaze is and he knows about magic. Not sure if I’m reading too much into it. Not a fan of Morgan he needs to take a chill pill and stop being such a Knight Templar. I’m pretty sure Bianca killed Rachel which isn’t great. Like lady you could have stopped before you drained Rachel dry. Bianca isn’t the smartest person around. I didn’t realize that the Beckett’s were all the way back in book 1. He Who Walks Behind is differently coming back. Like you don’t have a name like that and not be important. The fight scenes were cool. I thought there would be more spell slinging. Overall I liked it.

#dresden files #wizardbaron #storm front #harry dresden is bi

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kira-nerys-rocks · 2 years

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Rachell Lutrel is literally half African, and while she is comparatively lightskinned, portraying Tayla as having an indistinguishable skin tone from Dr Weir (not to mention yellow hair) in your art plays into some unfortunate implications of colorism :/ I doubt it's intentional, but something you definitely should be aware of. We all make mistakes, and when we know better, we do better. This is a great opportunity to play with color and learn about undertones and experiment until you're comfortable with a broader range of POC skin in digital art 🎨

Thank you for your feedback. I'm always open for constructive criticism.

I don't think my art is perfect and I'm still learning. While I admit that I didn't get their skin tones perfectly right I don't think that their skin tones are indistinguishable tbh. What might make it a little bit weird is that since there's obviously no picture of Teyla teaching Elizabeth self-defense I used picture references that hat different lighting which makes it even more difficult to match the skin tones for a specific set of lighting. I wouldn't call Teyla's hair blonde here. It did turn out lighter than I had planned to, but I still think it's a bit darker than blonde...

I hope the direct comparison of my main reference and my art helps you to understand my colour choices a bit better.

And to stress this again: I didn't mean to offend anyone, I'm still learning to become better 🤷🏻‍♀️

This was also my first digital art project in a loooong time, my biggest project at that time as well and my first coloured digital art as well

#asks #painting #elizabeth weir #teyla emmagan #stargate atlantis #fanart

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goddamnwebcomics · 11 months

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I know you’re probably used to anons coming to you about something to vent about or point out problematic stuff…but I just wanted to honestly come here and talk about the post above for a while.

Honestly, while I love reading Blacksad and I think it’s a great comic…to act like it’s the “gold standard that every furry comic should aspire towards” is kind of silly for a few reasons:

1. Not every mature furry comic is gonna be a noir set in a realistic environment. Some will be sci-fi, some will be lovecraft lite…the point is there are more genres than a realistic noir. Sure, Canales’ writing is good in that it avoids gratuitous gore and shock value unless it’s absolutely necessary, that I can commend, but again not every furry comic is going to be nor needs to be a noir grounded in reality. Hell, some will be mixed genres with very confusing plots, doesn’t mean it’s any lesser than Blacksad.

2. Guarnido has a nasty habit of inconsistency with his art style. I mean that all the women Blacksad encounters look so damn human like they would in a Saturday morning furry cartoon to the point it feels very out of place in the setting, not to mention it kinda makes it hard to really enjoy any intimate scenes between him and any woman he falls in love with…human-looking cat women making love to a very anthro looking cat man? Yeaaaahhh, um…that’s a bit weird.

3. Building off of #2 any other female character that isn’t a love interest for Blacksad is drawn as animalistically anthro, but they’re done in an unattractive manner which can create some major unfortunate implications. The only characters that Guarnido managed to avoid that with is Donna, Luanne, Iris and Rachel.

4. I don’t know what OP was talking about, but the Arctic Nation was hands down one of the most simple-minded and worst ways to tackle racism in a furry comic. Ever. I mean…come on…using black or brown fur to indicate a character was black, or pure white fur to insinuate someone was white? I mean using such concepts with anthro animals is hard to do in general given…well…they aren't human, so I cannot be too harsh about that…but Guarnido barely touched on it and honestly that was a trainwreck. If not for Red Soul, I doubt Blacksad would have made it far as a series after that.

All in all, it’s still a good read and a good example of how to write with depth and maturity without all of the gore and shock value…but come on, it’s not a golden standard…

That’s fair. I haven’t read Blacksad myself so I can’t comment on it. D you think we should add it to Rifflist? Your points make it sound oddly riffable, and oh my god that racism method sounds awful.

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bqstqnbruin · 2 years

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Hello, hello, here I am with a fic for @antoineroussel's winter fic exchange. I had an amazing time writing this for @rosesvioletshardy. I hope you like it 💛💛💛

This was inspired by the song 23 by Kyle Hume

Word count: 5.5k

Warnings: swearing, implications of sex (nothing really serious or explicitly mentioned), I'm mean in this at times but that's on brand at this point

________________________________

Save the date: Jeremy and Steven, January 22nd, 2022

Andrea and Eric’s daughter Amelia’s first birthday party, February 13th, 2022

Save the date: Taytum and Alex, March 19th, 2022

Save the date: Michelle and Nathan, March 26th, 2022

Steve and Liz’s engagement party, April 10th, 2022

Rachel’s baby shower, May 21, 2022

Save the date: Emily and Kevin, August 6th, 2022

Save the date: Natalie and Domenic, October 8th, 2022

And those were just the ones that were already sent to you. Not to mention the how many that you knew were coming, that were already in the works of being planned, and the ones that you just didn’t want to go to or already knew you couldn’t attend.

It seemed like every other day, a new ‘Save the date’ card or wedding invitation was showing up in your mailbox, someone else that you knew growing up, in college, now at work, getting married or announcing an engagement, having a child, doing something that warranted a celebration for any major life event that everyone was having.

Everyone but you.

You were just living your life, doing whatever it was that you wanted, not a care in the world. Part of you didn’t care that you seemed to be the only one of your friends who didn’t have a significant other, who wasn’t completing some major life milestone every other month, who really just was going with the flow of things in hopes that everything would eventually work out. The other part of you was anxiously waiting for everything to work out, that something good would happen to you with someone great.

Maybe you’ll find that by the time you’re 23. That seemed like a good age to get going. It was the age your parents met, the age your brother had his first kid, the age where everything good happened to everyone in your family. It had to be the same for you.

________________

“Who are you bringing to Jer’s wedding?” Cellini asked you.

You shrugged, not looking up from your computer. “Fuck if I know.”

“Didn’t you say that you were bringing someone?”

“Yeah.”

“And you don’t know who that is yet?”

“No.”

“I’m only going to invite you to my wedding if you’re in a relationship.”

You finally look up, the annoyed look on your coworkers face in contrast to the confused one on your own. “Why?”

“Because!” she screams, a few of your other coworkers looking up, shooting dirty looks in your direction, “Do you know how annoying it is to not be able to make the little seating card and have an actual name for the seating chart?”

You stare at her, trying to process what it was that she could possibly be trying to say to you. “No, and neither do you.”

“I helped plan Milani’s wedding,” she tells you, referring to her sister, “and she uninvited anyone who said they were bringing a date and then couldn’t say who their date was.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at her, knowing that Jeremy would never do that to you. “Jer isn’t that dramatic.”

“He might not be, but Steven is.”

“And who are you bringing?” you ask her, hoping that she didn’t have an answer.

“Seamus, duh,” she says, you silently kicking yourself for forgetting the boyfriend she talked about constantly. You two sit there for a few moments before Cellini starts up again. “What if I set you up with someone?”

“Oh, god, no,” you groan, sitting back in your chair, your head thrown back slightly as you covered your face with your hands. “Last time you did that, I had food poisoning for a week and couldn’t find my favorite bra until I got it in the mail in an unmarked package three months later.”

Cellini scoffs, sitting back in her own chair. “I can’t believe you don’t trust me with finding you a wedding date.”

“What reason have you given me so far that would make me trust you?”

“I’ll find you three dates and you can pick from there, how about that?”

“You don’t even know three single guys.”

Cellini had apparently taken that as a challenge, finding you not only three single guys, but going beyond that and finding you five, single, and incredibly attractive men who had no business still being single unless there was something seriously wrong with them.

There was Maxwell, the guy who was on his college cross country team and it still showed, especially since running seemed to be the only thing he talked about. His red flag was that he had an obsession with bugs, which wasn’t something you really cared about, follow your passion and everything, but it became a little much when the two of you first met and he left you to chase a bug that he saw on the sidewalk for his collection.

There was Clayton, who was cute, but he really didn’t seem to be there meeting you for any reason other than Cellini told him he had to be. He was probably only doing it because you were sure that Cell had mentioned he had a crush on her at one point, and based on the way he couldn’t stop talking about her, he didn’t seem to be passed that crush just yet.

There was Jackson, the one who told you when you were leaving that first meeting that he liked you and wanted to spend more time with you, but didn’t want anything with you. Not even to go to the wedding with you. He thought Cellini was just doing this as a blind date because he had told her he was bored and alone.

There was Luke, the high school teacher at a Catholic school in the area. He was fine. He ended up just being another nondescript guy that would probably show up in a dream or something without you being able to place where in your life that face came from.

After the fourth guy, you weren’t sure Cellini was actually on to anything.

“What’s his name again?” you asked her, on the phone with her, waiting for her last option for Jeremy’s wedding to arrive at the coffee shop he picked. “Titus? Timmy?”

“Who the fuck is Titus? His name is Tyson. He’s friends with Milani’s husband. Honestly, I should have just introduced you two to each other first.”

You scoff, knowing Cellini was probably giving you a look despite you being unable to see it. “And why would that be?”

“You two are perfect for each other.”

“Y/N?” You hear, pulling your attention away from Cellini’s description of him.

“He’s tall, adorable, just dorky enough that he seems innocent, but not enough so you know he can be a little devious when he needs to be. He’s fit, like’ running your hands on his abs and never wanting to stop’ fit. He’s got that smirk that you love and will make you melt, curls that I know you want to run your hands through and pull while he moans your name,” she told you, you only tuning into the last part, hanging up without a word.

“Tyson? Hi,” you greet him as he takes the seat across from you. Cellini was right about everything she said. She should have introduced you two first.

“So, you need a wedding date?” he asks you.

You didn’t know what it was about him, but you couldn’t help but start to blush, sheepishly nodding in reply. “Mine and Cellini’s friend is getting married and I said I would bring a date, which I don’t have.”

“Yeah, your friend Jeremy!” he says, shifting towards you, his arms resting on the table supporting him. “Cellini showed me their wedding site, he and Steven look like they make a great couple.”

“They are,” you tell him, starting to mirror the smile that was growing on his face. “They met when they were freshmen in college.” You tell him the story that you knew about them, sure that you were leaving out details about them, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He seemed to be hanging on to every word of yours, his chin resting in the palm of his hand.

The two of you sat in the coffee shop for hours talking about everything you could think of. From the outside, it looked like you two were friends who had known each other forever.

“Oh, shit,” Tyson says, checking his watch. “I have to get going, I have to pack for a road trip.”

You had no idea why, you were sad that he was leaving, wishing you could spend more time with him and trying to think of anything you could say that could lead to you being with him longer. “Do you need help?” you offer.

He hesitates for a second, immediate regret washing over you. “I should be fine this time,” he tells you, you praying that the hurt that you felt wasn’t showing on your face. “But, how am I doing on the wedding date front?” he asks, a smirk growing on his face.

You give him a small smile, trying your best to flirt with him. “Well, I don’t know if I should say yes to you when I barely know you.”

“Good, because I get back Sunday,” he says, standing up from the table, “and if you’re interested, I want to see you again before the wedding.”

You tell him yes, letting out the breath you didn’t know you were holding, watching him leave the coffee shop unable to let your eyes wander anywhere besides him until he was out of sight. You sit back in your seat, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. You never were like this after meeting a guy unless you were drunk and waking up the next morning regretting at least one decision from the night before and leaving as soon as you could.

But Cellini had known the guy who could take your breath away all this time, waiting until now to introduce the two of you.

________________

Sunday rolled around, Tyson inviting you over to his place to make you dinner and watch a movie with him, Cellini not hesitating to tease you about your ‘Netflix and chill’ night that was about to happen as your first date. Actually, your second date, since Tyson told you he considered your first date that day you met.

You were sitting on his couch, Tyson banishing you from the kitchen while he cleaned up and telling you to find a movie that you could watch. You found 13 Going on 30, not caring if Tyson had seen it or not, settling into the cushions while the opening credits started playing.

“What did you pick?” The title cards comes up on the screen before you can answer, Tyson saying, “Huh, I’ve never seen this one before.”

“How have you never seen one of the best movies ever?” you ask him, Tyson extending his arm across the back of the couch for you to lean up against him, resting your head on his shoulder. The two of you stay like that the entire movie, Tyson adding his commentary every now and then, his fingers dancing up and down your arm, tracing patterns as he pulled you closer to him with every chance he got.

By the last scene, Jenna and Matt are sitting on the couch outside their new home, sharing Razzles, you and Tyson in a similar pose. You look over at Tyson, feeling his eyes on you for the last few moments.

“You aren’t watching,” you whisper, seeing his eyes flickering down to your lips.

“I know,” he says, his face inching closer to yours. “This might sound dumb, but can I kiss you?”

You could feel his breath on you, waiting for you to tell him what you want. “Yes,” you let out, his lips connecting with yours without a second thought. His hands wrapped around you, pulling you up onto his lap, you running your hands through his hair. Your mind went blank, wanting him, needing him to do everything he asked. He seemed to be the same; every time you asked him if you could do something, he eagerly told you yes as you went for it. Your bodies moved together as if they were made for each other, finding the parts of you in him that you didn’t know were missing.

Part of you thought he was the love you were supposed to find when you were 23.

________________

“Ok, so I heard from Tyson that things went well,” Cellini says to you that next Monday at work, her eyebrows wiggling to match the mocking tone that was dripping from her voice.

You were suddenly mortified, praying that she didn’t know everything about that night. “What did you hear?”

“Tyson wants to go to the wedding with you,” she squeals, just about jumping out of her seat in excitement. “See, I told you that you were perfect for each other.”

Cell keeps gushing about you and Tyson as a date, going on and on about how he would look so good with the tie color that matched your dress, dancing with you, everything. “When’s your next date?”

“The wedding?” you say, a hint of confusion in your voice. The other night wasn’t really a date. You hadn’t even technically agreed to take him to the wedding. Cellini still apparently had another man for you to see if he was your potential date. “What about guy number five?”

“Tyson was guy number five.”

“Well, you said you had another one after Tyson.”

“Why do you need to meet James?”

“Actually,” you start, “If he calls himself James, there’s probably something wrong with him.” You let out a sigh, guess you had to settle. Settling for someone who could be perfect for you if you were in a place where you were ready to be with someone. Settling for Tyson.

Cellini keeps going on about you and Tyson again, not seeing to notice or just not caring about the fact that you weren’t paying attention to a word that she was saying. You wanted Tyson to text you, not go through your friend to say that you would go to the wedding together. The wedding was in about two weeks, plenty of time for him to get his tux and match his tie to your dress. He didn’t have to be anything more than your wedding date. There was no need for him to be more than that. You weren’t 23 yet, you didn’t have to worry yet.

“Oh, my god,” Cellini stops her rant, her eyes wide as she looks just over your shoulder.

You turn to see what it was that had her like that, or rather, who. Tyson was at the front desk of your office, talking to the receptionist but clearly looking for someone while he listened to whatever it was they were telling him. He finally lays his eyes on you, a wide smile covering his face that you couldn’t help but melt at the sight of. Something about that stupid grin of his was haunting your memories in the best way possible, from the smile he gave you after he pulled away from kissing you, the one he flashed as he was leaving that next morning, every time he did was replaying like a film reel in your head as he was walking towards you. “Hey, Cellini,” he greets your friend before she scurries off, mouthing something along the lines of ‘have fun’ before disappearing. He turns to you, not seeing what she said. “I was wondering if I could take you out to lunch.”

There was something about the slight tone of nerves that were coming through his voice that sent shivers down your spine. You had only known this boy for a week and there was something about him that you couldn’t stop thinking about him. You knew he was only your date for your wedding, but you couldn’t stop yourself from taking him up on his invitation to lunch.

He brings you to a cafe not far from where you worked, his hand in yours the entire walk there as if you two had been together for years. Tyson sits across from you, his hand running through his hair nervously as he looks at you. “I have to admit,” he lets out with a sigh, “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the other night.”

You give a smile, Tyson matching yours. “I haven’t either,” you tell him, Tyson reaching across the table. You put your hand in his, feeling him give you a gentle squeeze. What was this, where you two dating? Were you supposed to ask him what he thought, if he thought you were? Or was he only in it for the friends with benefits and the wedding? You would be fine with the latter. You weren’t sure you could handle dating at this point.

“Are you busy tomorrow night?” he asks you.

You want to see him. You need to see him.

“Like for another date?” you ask him.

“Yeah. You know, dinner, a walk around the city, back to your place or my place and hopefully repeat the other night if you’re willing?” he suggests, a rosy tint showing up on his cheeks at his suggestion.

He take in a deep breath, trying to figure out what you wanted. You wanted him. But you couldn’t have him. “I like the first part of that,” you start, your voice trailing off as the smile on his face fell.

Tyson felt himself starting to panic. “Did I do something wrong the other night? You can tell me, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in any way,” he lets out.

“No, no,” you reassure him, squeezing his hand that was still holding yours. “You did nothing wrong, I just.” You stop yourself, trying to figure out what to tell him. “I think you want more than I do from this.”

His shoulders deflate at your words. “What do you want from this?”

This wasn’t a conversation you pictured having as the waiter brought over the food you had already forgotten you ordered, sitting there in public as the stream from the panini you got started to reach your face. But there you were, in the cafe, talking about where you wanted this relationship to go with the boy sitting in front of you. This perfect, gorgeous, sweet boy who was everything you could ever wish for in a man. “I don’t know if I’m ready to be dating someone.”

________________

You hadn’t seen him in a week and a half. Not that you didn’t want to, but you were working late nights trying to get everything done (thank you overtime pay), and the nights that you weren’t working late were the ones that he was either traveling or just playing a game and didn’t have time to come see you. You missed him.

“Why aren’t you dating him, again?” Cellini asks you while you’re sitting at your desk, staring at your phone instead of actually doing any work. You were trying to manifest him texting, calling, sending a snapchat, anything that would give you a reason to talk to him like you had been waiting for all day.

“I don’t date.”

Cellini scoffs, earning a confused look from you. “You’ve been spending the last year and a half that I have known you talking about how you hated that you felt like you were ‘behind’ everyone you knew when it came to meeting the person you were supposed to spend your life with. Now you’ve met him, and all you’re doing is using him to sleep with and then as a wedding date. Then what?”

“I am not. I’m not ready to date,” you try to argue back.

“No, you think you aren’t ready to date. Tyson is your person. Tyson is the one you’ve been waiting for in your life to be yours, I know it.

You roll your eyes at your friend. “How do you know he’s my person?”

Cellini shrugs, looking down at her hands and starts picking at her cuticles, not making eye contact with you. “I don’t for sure, it’s just a feeling. But you won’t know unless you date him. Like, actually date him.”

“I told you, I don’t care about dating. I have time when I’m older to date, I don’t have to start thinking about that stuff yet,” you say to her, leaving out your arbitrary age that you wanted to date knowing that it was ridiculous.

Cellini rolls her eyes at you, standing up from her chair. “There’s no timeline set in stone about when you meet someone. There’s no schedule about when you’re supposed to fall in love, get married, when you’re supposed to accomplish those ‘milestones’ that you always talk about. When your person comes, they come. Your person is here in your life, and you’re trying to keep him out of it for God only knows what reason.”

Before you can respond, Cellini walks away, leaving her words hanging around you. ‘Your person is here in your life.’ There’s no way she could actually know that Tyson was the one for you. He was just your wedding date, and nothing more.

________________

The night before Jeremy’s wedding, you and Tyson were at your place, as you had been the last few nights that both of you were free. You couldn’t help but feel like the two of you were actually dating, something you were trying to stay away from, something that you kept telling yourself that you weren’t ready for.

You were cuddled up next to him on your bed, the sheets pulled up over your chest, Tyson’s hand in yours as you both tried to catch your breath. Tyson was unlike any guy you had been with before, so why were you trying so hard to push Cellini’s words out of your head.

Tyson kisses the top of your hair, mumbling something against you that you could make out. You look up to him, a lazy smile on his face. “What was that?”

“I like this,” he says, using his free hand to tilt your chin up to him, his eyes flicking between yours and your lips. He pulls you close to him for a sweet, slow kiss, his hand cupping your face before working its way to the back of your neck to pull you closer to him. He pulls away first, you wanting to go back for more when he presses his forehead against yours. “I like you.”

You smile at him, unsure what to say before settling back onto his shoulder, feeling him kiss the top of your head again. The wedding was tomorrow. You probably weren’t going to see Tyson again after tomorrow night, probably not like this at least. You were trying to tell yourself that you didn’t want anything more with Tyson than you had now, and that you shouldn’t even being doing what you’ve been doing with him, no matter how good it was. No, no matter how great it was. “I like you, too,” you let out, barely above a whisper.

Tyson was everything, but he couldn’t be anything.

“I need to ask you something,” he tells you, shifting so you’re forced to sit up and look at him. “We’ve been dating for a little bit now,” he starts.

“Wait,” you cut him off. “This isn’t dating.”

You could feel your heart shatter at the look on his face, the absolute disappointment and confusion that fell on him. “Then what is this?” he asked, quietly.

“We’ve been on dates, but we aren’t dating. This was just for the wedding,” you say to him, hating yourself for those words.

“So when do we get to the part where we are dating?” he asks, the tone in his voice starting to change.

You sit up a little straighter, feeling an argument coming on between you and him. “We don’t.”

“Why? I like you, I want to be with you, and I have a feeling you like me and want to be with me,” he says.

You bite your lip, knowing that he was right. “I do, but,”

“But, what?” he cuts you off. “Is this that stuff Cellini had warned me about?”

“What did she warn you about?”

“You don’t want to date anyone. You have it in your head that you have to wait for a certain time in your life where you can start living and being with someone else. Why?”

You flinch at his words, something about the bite in his tone that you didn’t expect making you recoil from him. You never really thought about why other than, ‘because.’ “There’s no point in doing anything serious right now,” was the best answer you could give him.

“But, why?” he asks again, more force in his voice.

You couldn't answer him, your mouth opening in closing like a fish while he stared you down waiting. He didn’t wait too long for an answer, getting up out of your bed and gathering his clothes. He turns to you while you sat there, silently, shaking his head with his clothing balled up against him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tyson opens his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, shaking his head and closing the door behind him instead of letting out what he wanted to. He stood on the other side of your door, putting on his clothing as silently as possible while he tried to listen to see if you were going to try to chase after him.

You sat there, too stunned to move. You had just sabotaged what was probably the best relationship you would have in a long time, with the best guy you had met, the most perfect person for you was sitting in your bed next to you, and there you were, letting him walk away.

Tyson let out another sigh, trying to fight back his tears while you were there letting yours fall. You got up, not loud enough for Tyson to hear you, and crept over to your door. You had no idea if he was still there, your hand hovering over the doorknob. If you had opened the door while Tyson was still there, his back leaning against the wall next to it, he would stay.

He would stay, and do everything he could to convince you that you were both in the right place in your life to be with each other. Deep down, he knew that everything about you two was what you needed from the other; you were his comfort, his voice of reason even though you were just as insane as he was, his person to talk to when he wasn’t right for whatever reason. He was your strength, the warmth that you needed when you couldn’t find it otherwise, your joy and the smile on your face.

All you had to do was open the door. Your hand was right there ready to open it, Tyson there on the other side without you knowing. You just had to open it and you would find what could be your forever relationship on the other side.

And you didn’t open the door.

________________

“You look like shit,” Cellini says when she opens the door to her place. The two of you were getting ready together that morning and heading over to the wedding that way. You already knew that Cellini’s observation was true; you spent the night after you heard your door close crying. You were kicking yourself for letting Tyson get away from you, but what else were you going to do. You didn’t want to be with someone. But Tyson made you think otherwise. You always heard that you would find your person when you stopped looking, and there he was, when you weren’t looking.

“I know that, help me not look like shit,” you mumble, pushing past her with your dress in hand.

The two of you get ready in silence, Cellini already filled in about Tyson storming out last night. She was mad at you for it, but not showing you at that moment. You were mad enough at yourself, anyway. You spent the night thinking about Tyson, wishing he was there with your, the image of him burned in your mind every time you closed your eyes. You hated yourself for letting him walk away. 23 was too far away for you when Tyson was so close.

“Is he still coming today?” Cellini breaks the silence between you.

You shrug looking at yourself in the mirror. You just finished your makeup, the thought of Tyson ditching you starting to make you tear up, and there was not enough time to redo your makeup if you were going to cry. “Do you think he’s the kind of guy to bail?” Cellini gets up, gently resting her hand on your shoulder.

“For you, I don’t think he would.” You nod, knowing that if you said anything, it would just be followed with a sob. You were pretty much ready to go, slipping into your dress and heels before Cellini tried to find the keys to her car. She had helped you pick out a red dress, outside of your normal black, but fuck, you looked good.

You just wanted Tyson to see you in it.

There was nothing that could occupy your mind other than Tyson during the wedding. Jeremy was saying he would spend the rest of his life with the love of his life, he and Steven looking the happiest you had ever seen them. They were saying their vows, you trying to force a smile when Cellini nudged you in the side. You couldn’t see Jeremy and Steven. You wanted to be standing there with Tyson, something absurd for only having known him for a few weeks, but Cellini was right, he was your person.

Love at first sight was never on your mind. Falling in love quickly was never on your mind. Finding your person was something you never thought would happen, and neither was letting him go.

Getting to the reception was a blur, the first part of it was a blur, and you were sure the rest of the night would be the same. There was nothing, no one, that could keep your attention or really bring a smile to your face. Tyson had bailed as your date, the seat next to you empty as Jeremy and Steven and the rest of their wedding party made their entrance.

“Is this seat taken?” you hear someone say, pulling you out of your trance, Tyson with a small smile on his face as he leaned against what was his seat anyway. You smile, nodding as he takes the seat. He’s close to you, your breath hitching as you feel his knee against you. “Sorry, I’m late, practice went long,” he tells you, leaning back.

You felt weird with him next to you, the tension between you after your last conversation still lingering as neither of you said a word. Cellini didn’t seem to notice, or, she didn’t care, simply greeting Tyson and then getting up to dance with her date. She was lucky enough to have a boyfriend, Seamus looking at her the way Tyson looked at you while they danced together.

“Do you want to dance?” Tyson finally asks you, standing up and holding his hand out to you before you answer. You nod, following him to the dance floor, just as a slow song starts to play. He holds you close, his hands on the small of your back, your arms draped on his shoulders. “I waited for you to follow me last night,” he tells you.

“What?” you ask in shock. You thought he left. If you had known he was waiting, you would have went to him. But why didn’t you? “I had no idea.”

“Would you have followed me?”

You didn’t even need to think about it, the immediate ‘yes’ coming into your mind. “Of course.”

“Then why are you waiting until you’re 23, of all ages, to let yourself fall for someone?”

“I’m not.”

It was Tyson’s turn to look at you with shock, his mouth hanging open slightly while he tries to find the words. “What are you saying?”

“Waiting is stupid when I have the perfect guy right in front of me,” you tell him, your fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck.

He doesn’t say anything, his hand leaving your back and finding your cheek to pull you in for a kiss. Everything melted away for a moment, everyone around you was gone while you were there with Tyson, the perfect, sweet, goofy, beautiful boy that you didn’t have to wait for to come into your life.

He was standing right in front of you.

#tyson jost #tyson jost imagines #colorado avalanche #colorado avalanche imagines #avalanche #avalanche imagines #hockey #hockey imagines #nhl #nhl imagines #it took me an embarrassing amount of time to spell hockey help

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genericpuff · 1 year

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…Here is something a bit more serious I wanted to ask…

How do feel when it comes the fact that plenty of sexual themes inside LO are being told incorrectly to a young audience (I keep hearing on how most of Webtoon readers are still around 12-16 year old girls)?

Specially with the fact that Rachel keeps on sexualizing Persephone after some scenes showcasing her trauma….

I hope I’m not overstepping my boundaries here…thanks again for listening.

You're not overstepping at all ! This is actually a topic I've gone off about in the past at length on reddit and in chatrooms like Discord so I'm always happy to divulge about it and talk about it. It's a problem that goes way bigger than LO but I'll try my best to keep it focused on LO for the sake of getting to the point.

Before I get into it, obligatory TRIGGER WARNING for discussion surrounding sexual trauma/abuse/etc. and how it's romanticized and marketed in Webtoons media.

There are so many comics in Webtoons library that are just skeevy beyond belief for the stories they're trying to tell. Whether it's gratuitous oversexualization of its characters to the point of being absurd, to the implications of the romances in these stories that often border on non-consensual/toxic, Webtoons seems to be using these types of things as its main draw in a lot of their "big money" series - or at least, the ones they tend to market the most.

Now don't get me wrong, I've got a strong stomach for weird/creepy/dark shit and I'm capable of having suspension of disbelief when reading stories like this. I'm an SA survivor myself but despite this, I'm no stranger to dark romance or stories that 'toe the line' or even overstep it completely between morally acceptable and morally apprehensible, a lot of these kinds of stories have actually helped me overcome and heal from what I've been through. Suspension of disbelief is important and this is, after all, fiction, where we as creators are able to explore taboo or 'forbidden' topics in ways that either interest us or empower us or just feel like fun to write.

But there's still a line to be drawn because I'm an adult person who has literary analysis skills and is capable of picking apart these stories and what they might be consciously - or subconsciously - teaching us or portraying. Kids and teens? They basically are what they eat. This isn't to say teenagers are stupid or anything of the sort, but I was a kid too once and I know I internalized a lot of media that I straight up shouldn't have been consuming at the time. And I do think a lot of webtoons on the WT platform specifically dangerously veer into that territory all for the purpose of money and clout.

Again, don't get me wrong, I love morally questionable or otherwise abrasive characters, I think they're fun to write and fiction is a great way to explore those kinds of dynamics (and I've had pals weirdly thank me for how much suffering I put my characters through LMAO). But I'm also not gonna sit here and bullshit people into thinking my main projects are meant for teens. They're not. My main protagonists are in a shitty toxic relationship that should not be romanticized. My main character is a hyperbolic self-insert reflection of how awful I used to be as a person and how I was at the center of all my own problems for years. You should be 18 at minimum if you want to read my work because the stuff I write about isn't appropriate for or wouldn't be able to be observed and accepted as just fiction the way most mature adults can.

Now I'm not saying my work is "deep" or anything like that, it's stupid fun weeb shit. But it's the kind of stupid fun weeb shit I wouldn't want a teenager internalizing or taking to heart. It's why I'll include plenty of disclaimers to remind people that my stuff is a work of fiction and I simply enjoy exploring these kinds of tropes and dynamics through my characters, but I do not condone their behavior or the things I represent in my work. I fully respect other creators and writers who do the same.

Rachel is not one of those people. Rachel doesn't do this. She tries to claim to be progressive while completely misrepresenting the things she writes. She doesn't actually care about these topics, she just wants you to think she cares about them. Don't get me wrong, there are other series on the platform that are absolutely problematic when it comes to this sort of thing (Webtoons looooves marketing them, blech) but Lore Olympus is the absolute pinnacle of irresponsible, the sum of everything that's wrong with Webtoons.

It gets constant special treatment - often times being put in the banner reel every time it updates and in the prime spots no less that are rarely ever given to other - far more thought-provoking and well-written - series that could really use the ad space.

It markets itself to kids and teens despite having subject matter that either isn't handled responsibly OR should be taken with a level of suspension of disbelief that a lot of teens/kids aren't capable of having.

And the subject matter that it does try to handle responsibly is flubbed entirely because they're leaving it up to the writing 'skills' of a privileged white woman from New Zealand who's either never lived these experiences or, those that she has, couldn't even write them into a narrative when she tries because she still exists with internalized biases that completely miss the mark because she's never tried to look at things with a viewpoint outside of her own.

She's just not a writer, full stop. But because it's Webtoon's golden goose, they market the shit out of it anyways and give it preferential treatment. And of course, they market it to kids and teens because it's cute and colorful, and kids and teens will be more likely to overlook its blatant problems because they don't have the literary analysis skills yet to identify them.

The other side of the coin they market to? The adults who don't think these problems are problems to begin with. These are the same adults who celebrated 50 Shades of Grey and After as if they're masterworks of fiction. Overall very shitty, problematic people. At least the teenagers have the potential to "grow out of it". The adults who defend Rachel like their life depends on it are grown up but not mature or empathetic in the slightest towards those who have found their own stories and experiences trivialized or otherwise misrepresented completely through LO.

I know, that's undoubtedly a lot of hot takes, but this is such a massive problem in romance stories today. I get it, it's "drama", and it's been around since the harlequin novels of old, but the way it's pushed and romanticized and presented as if it's somehow "couple goals" by the people - often women - who write them is getting to be exhausting.

At this point I put Rachel Smythe right up there with Anna Todd and EL James - ego-driven female "writers" who wrote shitty fanfiction that got a lot of views and happened to fail upwards in their success, but when you dig past the subscriber count numbers and the clout, they themselves are not that profound or well-read in any meaning of the word. They're just people with huge deeply-rooted issues who write problematic romances instead of going to therapy.

And that's all I'm gonna say on that.

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus #lo critical #ama #ask me anything #sorry btw if that doesn't answer your question #i kinda just went off there because it's def a hill i'm willing to die on #webtoons advertising their creepy romance shit to teens and kids fucking sucks and it's everything that i hate about the webtoon industry r

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puttingherinhistory · 3 years

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“Covid has unleashed the most severe setback to women’s liberation in my lifetime. While watching this happen, I have started to think we are witnessing an outbreak of disaster patriarchy.

Naomi Klein was the first to identify “disaster capitalism”, when capitalists use a disaster to impose measures they couldn’t possibly get away with in normal times, generating more profit for themselves. Disaster patriarchy is a parallel and complementary process, where men exploit a crisis to reassert control and dominance, and rapidly erase hard-earned women’s rights. (The term “racialized disaster patriarchy” was used by Rachel E Luft in writing about an intersectional model for understanding disaster 10 years after Hurricane Katrina.) All over the world, patriarchy has taken full advantage of the virus to reclaim power – on the one hand, escalating the danger and violence to women, and on the other, stepping in as their supposed controller and protector.

I have spent months interviewing activists and grassroots leaders around the world, from Kenya to France to India, to find out how this process is affecting them, and how they are fighting back. In very different contexts, five key factors come up again and again. In disaster patriarchy, women lose their safety, their economic power, their autonomy, their education, and they are pushed on to the frontlines, unprotected, to be sacrificed.

Part of me hesitates to use the word “patriarchy”, because some people feel confused by it, and others feel it’s archaic. I have tried to imagine a newer, more contemporary phrase for it, but I have watched how we keep changing language, updating and modernising our descriptions in an attempt to meet the horror of the moment. I think, for example, of all the names we have given to the act of women being beaten by their partner. First, it was battery, then domestic violence, then intimate partner violence, and most recently intimate terrorism. We are forever doing the painstaking work of refining and illuminating, rather than insisting the patriarchs work harder to deepen their understanding of a system that is eviscerating the planet. So, I’m sticking with the word.

In this devastating time of Covid we have seen an explosion of violence towards women, whether they are cisgender or gender-diverse. Intimate terrorism in lockdown has turned the home into a kind of torture chamber for millions of women. We have seen the spread of revenge porn as lockdown has pushed the world online; such digital sexual abuse is now central to domestic violence as intimate partners threaten to share sexually explicit images without victims’ consent.

The conditions of lockdown – confinement, economic insecurity, fear of illness, excess of alcohol – were a perfect storm for abuse. It is hard to determine what is more disturbing: the fact that in 2021 thousands of men still feel willing and entitled to control, torture and beat their wives, girlfriends and children, or that no government appears to have thought about this in their planning for lockdown.

In Peru, hundreds of women and girls have gone missing since lockdown was imposed, and are feared dead. According to official figures reported by Al Jazeera, 606 girls and 309 women went missing between 16 March and 30 June last year. Worldwide, the closure of schools has increased the likelihood of various forms of violence. The US Rape Abuse and Incest National Network says its helpline for survivors of sexual assault has never been in such demand in its 26-year history, as children are locked in with abusers with no ability to alert their teachers or friends. In Italy, calls to the national anti-violence toll-free number increased by 73% between 1 March and 16 April 2020, according to the activist Luisa Rizzitelli. In Mexico, emergency call handlers received the highest number of calls in the country’s history, and the number of women who sought domestic violence shelters quadrupled.

To add outrage to outrage, many governments reduced funding for these shelters at the exact moment they were most needed. This seems to be true throughout Europe. In the UK, providers told Human Rights Watch that the Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated a lack of access to services for migrant and Black, Asian and minority ethnic women. The organisations working with these communities say that persistent inequality leads to additional difficulties in accessing services such as education, healthcare and disaster relief remotely.

In the US, more than 5 million women’s jobs were lost between the start of the pandemic and November 2020. Because much of women’s work requires physical contact with the public – restaurants, stores, childcare, healthcare settings – theirs were some of the first to go. Those who were able to keep their jobs were often frontline workers whose positions have put them in great danger; some 77% of hospital workers and 74% percent of school staff are women. Even then, the lack of childcare options left many women unable to return to their jobs. Having children does not have this effect for men. The rate of unemployment for Black and Latina women was higher before the virus, and now it is even worse.

The situation is more severe for women in other parts of the world. Shabnam Hashmi, a leading women’s activist from India, tells me that by April 2020 a staggering 39.5% of women there had lost their jobs. “Work from home is very taxing on women as their personal space has disappeared, and workload increased threefold,” Hashmi says. In Italy, existing inequalities have been amplified by the health emergency. Rizzitelli points out that women already face lower employment, poorer salaries and more precarious contracts, and are rarely employed in “safe” corporate roles; they have been the first to suffer the effects of the crisis. “Pre-existing economic, social, racial and gender inequalities have been accentuated, and all of this risks having longer-term consequences than the virus itself,” Rizzitelli says.

When women are put under greater financial pressure, their rights rapidly erode. With the economic crisis created by Covid, sex- and labour-trafficking are again on the rise. Young women who struggle to pay their rent are being preyed on by landlords, in a process known as “sextortion”.

I don’t think we can overstate the level of exhaustion, anxiety and fear that women are suffering from taking care of families, with no break or time for themselves. It’s a subtle form of madness. As women take care of the sick, the needy and the dying, who takes care of them? Colani Hlatjwako, an activist leader from the Kingdom of Eswatini, sums it up: “Social norms that put a heavy caregiving burden on women and girls remain likely to make their physical and mental health suffer.” These structures also impede access to education, damage livelihoods, and strip away sources of support.

Unesco estimates that upward of 11 million girls may not return to school once the Covid pandemic subsides. The Malala Fund estimates an even bigger number: 20 million. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, from UN Women, says her organisation has been fighting for girls’ education since the Beijing UN women’s summit in 1995. “Girls make up the majority of the schoolchildren who are not going back,” she says. “We had been making progress – not perfect, but we were keeping them at school for longer. And now, to have these girls just dropping out in one year, is quite devastating.”

Of all these setbacks, this will be the most significant. When girls are educated, they know their rights, and what to demand. They have the possibility of getting jobs and taking care of their families. When they can’t access education, they become a financial strain to their families and are often forced into early marriages.

This has particular implications for female genital mutilation (FGM). Often, fathers will accept not subjecting their daughters to this process because their daughters can become breadwinners through being educated. If there is no education, then the traditional practices resume, so that daughters can be sold for dowries. As Agnes Pareyio, chairwoman of the Kenyan Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board, tells me: “Covid closed our schools and brought our girls back home. No one knew what was going on in the houses. We know that if you educate a girl, FGM will not happen. And now, sadly the reverse is true.”

In the early months of the pandemic, I had a front-row seat to the situation of nurses in the US, most of whom are women. I worked with National Nurses United, the biggest and most radical nurses’ union, and interviewed many nurses working on the frontline. I watched as for months they worked gruelling 12-hour shifts filled with agonising choices and trauma, acting as midwives to death. On their short lunch breaks, they had to protest over their own lack of personal protective equipment, which put them in even greater danger. In the same way that no one thought what it would mean to lock women and children in houses with abusers, no one thought what it would be like to send nurses into an extremely contagious pandemic without proper PPE. In some US hospitals, nurses were wearing garbage bags instead of gowns, and reusing single-use masks many times. They were being forced to stay on the job even if they had fevers.

The treatment of nurses who were risking their lives to save ours was a shocking kind of violence and disrespect. But there are many other areas of work where women have been left unprotected, from the warehouse workers who are packing and shipping our goods, to women who work in poultry and meat plants who are crammed together in dangerous proximity and forced to stay on the job even when they are sick. One of the more stunning developments has been with “tipped” restaurant workers in the US, already allowed to be paid the shockingly low wage of $2.13 (£1.50) an hour, which has remained the same for the past 22 years. Not only has work declined, tips have also declined greatly for those women, and now a new degradation called “maskular harassment” has emerged, where male customers insist waitresses take off their masks so they can determine if and how much to tip them based on their looks.

Women farm workers in the US have seen their protections diminished while no one was looking. Mily Treviño-Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, tells me how pressures have increased on campesinas, or female farm workers: “There have been more incidents of pesticides poisonings, sexual abuse and heat stress issues, and there is less monitoring from governmental agencies or law enforcement due to Covid-19.”

Covid has revealed the fact that we live with two incompatible ideas when it comes to women. The first is that women are essential to every aspect of life and our survival as a species. The second is that women can easily be violated, sacrificed and erased. This is the duality that patriarchy has slashed into the fabric of existence, and that Covid has laid bare. If we are to continue as a species, this contradiction needs to be healed and made whole.

To be clear, the problem is not the lockdowns, but what the lockdowns, and the pandemic that required them, have made clear. Covid has revealed that patriarchy is alive and well; that it will reassert itself in times of crisis because it has never been truly deconstructed, and like an untreated virus it will return with a vengeance when the conditions are ripe.

The truth is that unless the culture changes, unless patriarchy is dismantled, we will forever be spinning our wheels. Coming out of Covid, we need to be bold, daring, outrageous and to imagine a more radical way of existing on the Earth. We need to continue to build and spread activist movements. We need progressive grassroots women and women of colour in positions of power. We need a global initiative on the scale of a Marshall Plan or larger, to deconstruct and exorcise patriarchy – which is the root of so many other forms of oppression, from imperialism to racism, from transphobia to the denigration of the Earth.

There would first be a public acknowledgment, and education, about the nature of patriarchy and an understanding that it is driving us to our end. There would be ongoing education, public forums and processes studying how patriarchy leads to various forms of oppression. Art would help expunge trauma, grief, aggression, sorrow and anger in the culture and help heal and make people whole. We would understand that a culture that has diabolical amnesia and refuses to address its past can only repeat its misfortunes and abuses. Community and religious centres would help members deal with trauma. We would study the high arts of listening and empathy. Reparations and apologies would be done in public forums and in private meetings. Learning the art of apology would be as important as prayer.

The feminist author Gerda Lerner wrote in 1986: “The system of patriarchy in a historic construct has a beginning and it will have an end. Its time seems to have nearly run its course. It no longer serves the needs of men and women, and its intractable linkage to militarism, hierarchy and racism has threatened the very existence of life on Earth.”

As powerful as patriarchy is, it’s just a story. As the post-pandemic era unfolds, can we imagine another system, one that is not based on hierarchy, violence, domination, colonialisation and occupation? Do we see the connection between the devaluing, harming and oppression of all women and the destruction of the Earth itself? What if we lived as if we were kin? What if we treated each person as sacred and essential to the unfolding story of humanity?

What if rather than exploiting, dominating and hurting women and girls during a crisis, we designed a world that valued them, educated them, paid them, listened to them, cared for them and centred them?“

#women #coronavirus #life and style #world news #inequality #Covid 19 #COVID-19 #feminism #womanism #gender inequality #gender equality #corona virus

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tuiyla · 2 years

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What are some glee friendships you think could have potential but weren’t really explored, either in canon or as much in fic?

This question is RIGHT up my alley. I could go on about pretty much any seemingly random Glee friendship because I think almost none of them were explored to their full potential. For a show that supposedly has 'found family' as one of its core aspects, Glee really said "no friendships, just romance drama".

Since I have so many potential ones I'll just limit this to 5? And make a conscious effort not to make them all Santana ones lol. Really the thign about Glee is that I could even include ones like the Unholy Trinity here because god knows the writers didn't care at all about them, either.

Marley and Sam

Their sweet scene at the beginning of season 4 made me think they might go down the relationship route, you know, like they did with Bram instead of having them be friends. The existing cast needed more scenes with the newbies in general, how did they not think about that very basic rule of integration? Of course there was a degree of separation when the newbies basically just had scenes with other newbies.

Anyway, Marley and Sam could have been soo great together. Sam was the new kid with a difficult family situation once and he could relate to Marley's socioeconomic struggles like no one else. He has that big protective brother instinct anyway as well as history of standing up to bullies so him looking after Marley would have been so wholesome. They're just two nice people understanding each other and providing comfort. Headcanon that Marley would repay the favour when Sam was being insecure about school and his future and thought all he had going for himself was his body. Oh yeah, that's another point of relation, complicated relationships with their own bodies.

Puck and Santana

I wasn't sure which one of my Santana bro ships to include so I went with one that probably needs the most explanation. Look these were two people who, at one point, were very bad for each other because they just used on another and even enabled some bad tendencies. But I'd like to think that after the break it off for good and Santana's out, they can learn to grow with each other's help. There are some very juicy thematic parallels between them, such as people often assuming the worst of both Puck and Santana and the two, not knowing how to handle that, doubling down. Fine, I'm gonna be a bitch then. Fine, I am a Lima Loser.

They just need someone to believe they can do better. And I think it's great that Santana has Brittany, but for a while she's the only person she has. And the only one who really seems to understand Puck is Quinn? Which has its own baggage and again the implication that only a romantic interest could possibly be that person. Instead I'd like to have had scenes between them in late season 3, where they were both lost and maybe even after graduation. I understand why they stopped sharing scenes together and I'm even glad for it for Naya's sake, but separating it from irl drama I think Pucktana were such rich narrative parallels. I'd have wanted a proper Santofsky friendship for similar reasons.

Rachel and Kitty

Season 6 was short and had so much to get through as is, but I really enjoyed their interactions. From what I understand part of that was Lea and Becca bonding irl but regardless, they could have been great. Rachel really needed someone like Kitty to make her realize that the kids at McKinley mattered and she couldn't just use them as a way to restart her own career or stroke her own ego or whatever. And I love that it was Kitty, because it makes so much sense for her to be this "one who was left behind" and the one who carries so much hurt over that. Standing in opposition to Rachel, who struggled to make room for the other New Directions' emotions even when they were her peers this is perfect.

Kitty is the bridge between the season 4 and 6 newbies but she really also could have been Rachel's bridge between her own days and what mistakes she made back then, and trying to do better now. They would have been really fun, too, with a more humble but still dramatic af Rachel Berry and a character who is essentially a Quinntana love child. Based on the flashforward they kept in touch because Kitty was also watching Rachel’s Tony Awards speech so, there’s that.

Artie and Quinn

They had one episode and what a good dynamic it was. I really digged Quartie and I wish they didn’t just drop it like they did everythign else.The idea that this girl who was once on top of the high school social pyramid has gone through so much that she can now relate to the nerdy kid in a wheelchair is very compelling. After all, what is Glee if not a constant championing of the underdogs so at least have Quinn bond with actual underdogs when she falls from grace. Admittedly the Quinn car crash storyline was... A Choice and I think the two could have easily bonded even in season 1 but better late than never. And better one episode than nothing at all! We deserved more though and I’ve rarely seen this friendship be elaborated on even in fics.

Brittany and Blaine

Alright so I really wanted to include a Brittany one and I had a few different choices, ranging from Mercedes to Quinn and Rachel but I settled on Blaine. We saw a bit of them in season 4 and I liked that. I know the fandom dubbed them the Sunshine Twins and I think that’s cute, even if we didn’t get a lot from the two. I love how bewildered by Brittany Blaine is, like most people are but there’s something extra delightful about Blaine’s confusion. But at the same time I think she could really challenge him to relax a little and go with the flow, consider other perspectives. At the same time Blaine could ground her a little and bring her back to reality. Can you believe we supposedly had Bram dating in season 4 and Blam being besties but we never had these three as a trio? And the most Brittany and Blaine got was the election and sulking about Kurtana.

So even with just five that was long lol. What are some of yours? Please do share, and anyone else who sees this too. I love Glee friendships with all I am.

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niall-is-my-dream · 2 years

Text

Addicted to You - Part Fourteen

So here's the next part. Catch up below! Emily x

https://niall-is-my-dream.tumblr.com/post/666267291647950848/addicted-to-you-masterlist

Your insecurities about your flat being broken into by Calvin while you were away proved to be ridiculous when you arrived home and the place was exactly as you left it. But this was what he was trying to do wasn't it? The following you from outside your flat was just to play mind games with you wasn't it?

There was no way in hell that he was going to make you feel like that again.

You arrived in your office on Monday morning at 8:30, Niall was going to call the Police Case Officer that was assigned to you all. He had the piece of paper with your scribbled notes on in his pocket.

Niall came by your office just after 10am with the news of how it went.

"So, they're not surprised he did what he did." Niall said as he made you both a coffee from your machine.

"They weren't?"

"Nope, he's still acting like he's innocent and that what I found he had being doing and the allegations from both You and Natalie are made up."

"He's such a twat."

"Yeah he is, but we can't let on when in court that we think like that. He needs to be given a fair trial and we need to be seen as credible witnesses. The truth will all come out in the end."

"Jack said similar to me last week actually. He's furious and was worried that Calvin might have tried to implicate him and others from the Accounts team."

"Their work was 100% accurate and they shouldn't be worried. He can try and intimidate us and lie about us but it's our word against just his. The only person who's in his corner is his solicitor."

"I know, I just hate the thought of his solicitor asking me questions when I don't know what they will be. I hate being unprepared."

"It'll be fine. Please don't let it worry you. We've got takeout at Ben and Rachel's tonight to look forward to."

"I know I know." You mumbled "Well, I need to get on so I can leave on time tonight, so you need to get your gorgeous self out of my office. You're distracting me!"

"Distracting you?!" He smirked.

"Yep, so bugger off!" You smirked back.

"Ok I'll go, I've got stuff to do anyway." He said as he placed your coffee down on your desk. "I'll see you later, I love you."

"I love you more." You replied, as you pulled him towards you by his tie.

"That's impossible petal." He smiled as he kissed you.

He left your office carrying his coffee and swaying his bum from side to side, laughter filling your office.

-----------------

"So, how was seeing the in-laws again?" Rachel asked Niall.

"Was a great weekend. I've always got on well with Jessie's family."

"Oh Niall you charmed them again didn't you?!" She laughed.

"Well........" He said smiling.

"Actually it was my nieces and nephews who were charmed the most!"

"Ah Uncle Niall is the favourite now is he?!" Rachel said.

"Isla actually asked me if she could call him that." You replied.

"Ah that's sweet! Did your Mum ask you when you were both having some?" Rachel said and you heard Niall choke on his drink.

"Oh she hinted ALOT but jeez that woman's got 5 already to keep her busy." You laughed as you patted Niall's back. "Told her she's greedy!"

"You ok there Niall?!" Ben asked laughing along with you and Rachel.

"Did she hint, I didn't hear her?!" Niall said.

"Oh she didn't say it near you. Wouldn't want to scare you away!" You laughed.

"Jesus! She could at least wait for us to be engaged!"

"Oh yeah and when's that going to be?!" Rachel said smirking.

"Literally just got back together guys!" You said shushing them.

"Well that biological clock is ticking Jessie!"

"Rach, we're the same age!"

"I know and we're trying!"

"Are you?" Niall asked looking between them both.

"Yeah we are." Ben admitted.

"Oh wow that's so exciting!" You said smiling.

"So happy for you both." Niall added.

Niall drove you both back to your flat just after 10:30pm. It had been a nice change to a normal quiet Monday night to be able to catch up with Rachel and Ben. You'd had a couple of glasses of wine with your take away, but Niall hadn't as he was driving.

"I'm going to take a shower." You said as you walked into your bedroom. Making your way across the room you closed the curtains, not before taking a quick glance up and down the street.

"Yeah, I need one to."

"Is that you inviting yourself to join me?!" You replied cheekily.

"It wasn't but ......... I'm not going to say no." He smirked.

Moving across the room you made your way to him. Reaching across you found the waistband of his suit trousers and pulled him towards you. His hands came up to cup your face and he didn't hesitate to lean in and kiss you.

"Do you even have a clue how difficult it is to keep my hands off you at work?!" He mumbled against your lips.

"Yeah I do actually, because I'm the same about you. I have to stop myself from bending over your desk everytime I'm in your office." You managed to whisper back as you undid his belt and trousers.

"Don't tell me that...." He sighed but then gasped as you dipped your hand beneath the fabric teasing him over his boxers.

"Do you think about me when you're alone in your office?" You said leaning in, grazing your lips with his and feeling him harden under your touch.

"You know I do. I would've had you the other day if you'd let me. Sitting on my lap, your legs spread like that, I would've touched you until you came all over my fingers."

"I wanted you to. But we said we'd be good at work."

"That was a stupid rule. Spent the afternoon with a massive hard on." He admitted.

"A massive one?!" You giggled.

"Ooohhh you cheeky ......... " He said as he kissed you.

You undid the buttons on his shirt as his hands continued to cup your face. His fingers caressed your cheeks before gliding up through your hair.

"Bathroom." He whispered inbetween kisses.

The water was hot and the shower filled with steam within minutes of you both being in there. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders as his hands wandered up and down your body.

"I'm so addicted to you, you know that?" He said as his lips explored your neck. "Just want you all the time."

His words hit you hard and you couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else other than with him. Reaching across to the shelf, he took the purple bottle of body wash and poured some in his hand. His hands continued to explore your body, the body wash foaming up and bubbles appearing across your skin.

Your body was tingling with anticipation of what he was going to do. He was teasing you right now, his fingers caressing your body, this thumb flicking across your nipple.

"Turn around." He managed to mumble, his voice showing you how turned on he was right now.

The water splashed across your chest washing the bubbles away as you stood under the spray. Niall moved his lips gently across your shoulders, up your neck until they were right by your ear.

"Do you remember that first shower we took together?" He said and your body shivered as you took in his words.

"Y..e..s...sss." You panted out.

"Water pressure is much better here than it was then." He said and you heard the smirk in his voice. "Do you want to test it out?"

Managing a small nod, you began thinking about exactly what he had done to you back then on that cold and snowy February night in your shower in halls.

"Need more than a nod darlin'." He said as his hands continued to roam your body and your mind was drifting to how good he was making you feel.

"Please..... " You almost begged.

Niall's hand reached up and unhooked the shower head from its holder. You looked down and watched him adjusted the setting before turning it over.

"Spread those legs a little bit." He whispered in your ear.

You did as he said and he moved the spray of water towards your centre. The jet buzzed against your clit and you moved your hand to sit over his making sure to control the angle of the pressure.

"Fuck...." You mewled out as you steadied yourself with your free hand flat against the shower wall.

He allowed you to guide the shower to where you needed it. His other hand caressed up and down your torso, pausing to cup your breast and pinch your nipple.

"You ok there darlin'." He panted clearly enjoying himself behind you.

"Mmmmm." You mumbled as you managed to nod your head. Your body jolted as the spray of water hit a particularly sensitive spot and you felt Niall's rock hard cock against your bum.

"Feel how hard you make me?" He said as he moved closer to you, his cock rubbing against you more.

He began to move his hips gently against you, making sure not to stop the water pressure from hitting that spot that was currently sending you crazy.

"I love you so much, you know that? So fucking much. " He whispered. "Always have and always will."

"Oh....ju.....yes...." You moaned as the heat that had been building up inside you began to unravel.

Pushing the shower head away from his hand, it swung and tapped against the tiles as you moved his thick fingers to your heat. He knew what you wanted and as you began to come undone it was his fingers that did the final work.

With your head thrown back against his shoulder, he kissed along your neck and whispered in your ear, "That good baby girl?" as your orgasm pulsed through you.

Your pants echoed around the shower as you struggled to come around. Niall held you tight as your legs began to wobble. "I got you."

He must have held you like that for a few minutes before you opened your eyes and saw the white bathroom tiles in front of you. Gentle kisses across your cheek and neck before making his way across your shoulder.

You reached down and picked up the hanging shower, placing it on its holder before turning around to find Niall looking thoroughly fucked. Glancing down you could see his cock, thick and hard. His head exposed, the tip bright red, you knew he was close. You began to kneel but he pulled you back up. Your confused eyes met his as he shook his head. When you ran your fingers gently across his tip, gliding the precum across it you could tell he was closer than you thought.

Leaning in you kissed him softly before holding his cock firmly in your hand. A few moves of your wrist and he was coming. You wanked him fast and hard as he came all over you, his mouth open against yours, so overwhelmed with his orgasm that he couldn't even kiss you. He panted against your lips as you whispered words of encouragement.

You were exhausted as you got into bed a little while later. Slipping in between the covers you knew sleep would come easily tonight. Niall followed you to bed a few minutes later, he had been checking the doors were locked and the lights were off.

He had fitted into your flat with ease and you wondered how to broaden the subject of moving in together permanently. It was too much of a conversation for now. You were exhausted and embraced Niall as he got into bed next to you. Pulling you close he kissed you gently as you both whispered I love you's before falling asleep in each others arms.

-------------

By the time you'd crawled into bed last night it was nearing midnight. Your alarm ringing at 6:30am woke you up with a start, you had been in such a deep sleep. Niall grumbled beside you as you reached over to turn it off.

"How is it only Tuesday?" You heard him say, his gruff Irish accent barely coherent.

"Someone can't handle a late night eating Chinese take away and then some sexy shower time can they Horan?" You smiled.

"Oh I handled that perfectly well thankyou." He said lifting his head off his pillow. "Just desperately need some time off if I'm honest. More than just a weekend."

"Talk to Michael and Gerry today then, I'm sure they'll allow it. You've been working flat out for months on the company merger."

"Yeah I might."

"I'll get some coffee started." You said as you leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Don't go back to sleep."

You made your way to the kitchen and got some coffee started. Hearing Niall head to the bathroom you smiled. You loved having him here, it was his birthday in just over a weeks time and you had no idea what to get him. Checking the calendar you realised his birthday fell on a Sunday.

"Hey, do you want to see if you can take a few days either side of your birthday?" You asked him as he appeared by your side wearing just his boxers.

"Yeah, you got something planned?!" He smiled as he squeezed your hip.

"No , I haven't actually." You admitted and he faked a look of sadness. "I just thought we could do a last-minute get away or something. Not sure if it's a bit late notice for work though."

"I'll speak to Michael and Gerry today. I know you've got a couple of projects going at work but that's why you've got a team working with you isn't it?"

"Yeah I suppose." You said as you handed him his coffee.

"Any place in particular you were thinking about going?" He asked.

"No idea. Where do you want to go?"

"Don't mind darlin'. Anywhere we can be alone, relax and be naked a lot of the time." He replied with a smirk.

"Should've known you'd say that." You smiled.

#Niall #Emily writes #Addicted to You #Niall fan fic #Niall Horan #Niall fluff #Niall smut

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