#and his girlfriend is just. an overall really shitty person. and has always been generally an awful friend to me bc we were friends

[1yyyyyy1]

what do you think about poly? i hate it because i don't think its possible to actually be in love with 2 people without pair bonding more with one, or value someone while having sex with someone else. i feel like it's a cover for how shitty men and some women are at commitment. a part of me believes men don't feel true love or intimacy, but admitting that only makes me feel like i'm validating them when they say they can't commit and it's "unrealistic" but it's really just being a good partner.

I like not to think about it :) Everything I've learned about polygamy has been against my will… I distinctly remember a male on Reddit describe his experience with polygamy, in which he spoke about having a "polygamous mindset" for a lack of a better word. He was in a committed relationship with a monogamous woman and chose monogamy because he liked her as a person (I'm guessing polygamy was a hard boundary for her). He said that, aside from the pull to be with multiple people, him being polygamous meant that he was genuinely happy with his partner seeing (and sleeping with) other people and enjoying it; it didn't sound like he was describing a fetish and it was in general different from the idea of polygamy I previously had in mind. It stood out to me because he was mostly talking about his attitude towards his girlfriend partnering others and not his personal gain, so I could see how it could be a mutual dynamic between compatible partners. This kind of changed my opinion on what polygamy could be like if it involved emotionally mature and self-aware people, even if didn't make me understand the appeal any better.

Generally speaking, I don't have a strong opinion on polygamy (or polyamory) because I prefer to concern myself with the things that are for me. I can imagine polygamy working out for people, even if only within the confines of a thought experiment, so I'm not going to dismiss it on the premise that it is inherently dysfunctional. I'm not going to dismiss it in favor of monogamy either because I don't view monogamy as a sign of adjustment. Some people are into monogamy because they are obsessive and controlling, and monogamous partnerships are still notorious for cheating and turning into an "open relationship". I'm less and less inclined to be picking a side as people always seem to find a way to pervert whatever it is I would be supportive of... It is possible to stand up for your preferences without disparaging the other option — and risking being wrong in the process. The reason I would only ever consider monogamy is very simple — I don't like sharing my life on a profoundly personal level with multiple people. My overall personality traits coincide in a way that makes this unfeasible for me. I am very private about my life experiences and I would not share them with someone who is not fully invested. I also see relationships as a learning experience, and since I like getting to the bottom of things I would be genuinely distressed if me getting closer with someone were diluted by some other person's contribution. This may sound like a self-absorbed approach to something as reciprocal as a relationship, but laying down the precise terms on which you enter one makes it impossible for people to sway your opinion in a direction that doesn't benefit you. It doesn't matter to me if my standards are framed as "a desire for ownership" or "controlling", which are all common accusations made against monogamy. The point is that I would never consent to a relationship (let alone sexual contact) with a person who is not willing to match my commitment and views on privacy, it would violate my personal boundaries and I am better off not entering a relationship altogether until my conditions are met.

I would argue that there is an issue with commitment on people's part, but I would attribute it to something other than a specific relationship model. What I see is that most relationships are formed out of convenience, and revolve around reproduction, shared finances and sexual gratification. The reason I believe this results in commitment issues is because these are all non-specific traits most functional adults can perform and provide. There is not much ground for personalized bonding, and this approach can result in indecisiveness about which partner to commit to (if at all). This, of course, can also lead to multiple partners being a valid option at the cost of them being entirely replaceable... To answer the question the second time — I do think that relationships that involve multiple people can be a sign of poor commitment and superficial bonding.

As for men's inability to love, I don't see acknowledgement as endorsement and I don't understand why it is such a common notion. My negative assessment of people is there for me to have an understanding of what I am dealing with, not to validate said people. In acknowledging that men are incapable of commitment, I choose to allocate my efforts to someplace else because attempting to change a person's behavior is a waste of my time. I don't feel responsible for men's stance on faithfulness; I believe them to be capable enough to live in accordance with their convictions regardless of outside influence. I know for a fact that no amount of external validation would make me cheat on my partner, so it is not a stretch to extend these expectations to other people, including men.

#ask

[caseyscartwright]

My thoughts on 13RW Season 4 (SPOILERS)

So I originally wasn’t going to write a review, because if I’m completely honest, I’m still in shock by that finale... but here we go...

Overall, I enjoyed this season a lot more than season 3. This time, we didn’t have Ani’s annoying narration, that weird crap that was Bryce/Ani and that Bryce “redemption” bullshit that the writers shoved down our throats last season, so kudos for that. Too bad the ending fucked everything up.

Now, let’s go character by character:

Jessica: Jessica has always been my favorite character (besides Hannah), so I was really disappointed by her arc this season... if we can call it that. Her reaction to Justin breaking up with her was really immature. I understand that she was hurt, but Justin was right, he wasn’t in a position to be in a relationship and needed to focus on his recovery, so for Jessica to go after the first guy she could find (Diego) to get back at him... it was shitty. Also, what the hell, Jessica? Diego spent the whole season tormenting Clay and defending Tyler’s rapist. Aren’t Clay and Tyler your friends? Why are you sleeping with someone who is messing with people you claim to care about? And please don’t say it’s for “information”, because you clearly liked him, even tho he was an asshole. Once again, the writers made Jessica’s storylines all about boys, first it was Alex and Justin, now it was Justin and Diego. And to give one final “fuck you” to her character, they implied she ended up with Diego. “Ask me in a month”, um, so it’s going to take you a month to get over Justin? Okay, cool.

Clay: I’ve always loved Clay. Always. He’s flawed, he’s stupid, he’s too stubborn... but he cares. I’ll say this tho, he was a complete ASSHOLE towards Justin during that party, and he should have apologized for all those awful things he said, because that shit was NOT okay. I appreciate that he got help, and Dr. Ellman was a fantastic character, but his arc got old real fast. Clay has some fucked up hallucinations, Clay has a breakdown and makes a scene in front of people, Clay claims everything is fine when clearly it’s not. We get it, he thinks he’s Batman and can handle all this shit alone. Well, clearly, he can’t.

Ani: I’ll admit, I actually liked Ani this season. I think it’s because her screentime was reduced (she missed big moments like the camping trip and the shooting drill), and she wasn’t inserting herself in everyone’s business like last season. I appreciate her standing up for her friends against Winston and apologizing to Jessica for sleeping with Bryce, but that NEVER should have happened. It was weird as hell how she kept defending Bryce in s3, insisting he wasn’t a monster (he was a serial rapist who raped your friend, how is that not a monster). Her “explanation” as to why she slept with Bryce was crap. “I was lonely and stupid”, well, aww!! Lots of people are lonely and stupid, but that isn’t an excuse to defend a serial rapist and sleep with him multiple times. And even before she slept with him, she kept hanging out with him, playing poker and laughing like nothing was wrong. Weird as hell. At the end of the day, I still don’t know who Ani is, other than “the girl who liked Bryce and then liked Clay.” I’m 100% grateful that she and Clay broke up, that was never going to work, so I’ll drink to that. It was also annoying how she and Clay took their sweet time to tell the others about Winston. STOP KEEPING SECRETS. I still insist that the writers should have kept Sheri and Ani shouldn’t have existed.

Zach: Seriously, where the hell was Zach’s mom to check on her son? The whole season was basically “oh, look, Zach’s drunk!!” He was a hot mess and all his friends didn’t do shit to help him until the last minute. I know Winston manipulated him, but seriously, telling the enemy that you beat up Bryce?? Not cool, dude. And don’t get me started on that scene where they “implied” he was going to assault that drunk girl. Zach has flaws, sure, but he ISN’T a rapist, and neither is Clay (I’m talking about that weird scene where he hallucinates Bryce encouraging him to assault that girl at the frat house). The writers clearly didn’t give a fuck about Zach. Remember in s2 when he told his mom he had suicidal thoughts?? What happened to that?? I’m glad he came to his senses in the end, but he obviously needed help with his addiction.

Tyler: I felt bad for Tyler because his friends didn’t trust him, but I also sorta get it. He was acting hella shady and I get that the cops told him not to say anything, but... dude, you scared the living hell out of Clay with those guns at the end of s2, how are your friends not going to be suspicious? Like in 13RW fashion, his storyline got dragged for too long, but I think he was right when he called out Clay and Tony about their friendship. I liked his friendship with Estela, that was sweet. But overall Tyler didn’t get that much to do this season. I didn’t like how they made him feel bad about Monty. Monty raped him and belonged in jail, it isn’t Tyler’s fault someone decided to kill him.

Alex: GAY KING. The only character who didn’t annoy me this season (besides Charlie). Bryce and Monty apologists, how are you feeling?? My boy didn’t go to jail like y’all wanted it!! No “justice” for the rapists!! Beautiful, amazing, brilliant. In all seriousness, I wish his crush on Zach had been explained a bit more. I don’t think it came out of nowhere, but it would have been nice to spend more time with it. I don’t know how I feel about the whole thing with Winston, he was a Monty apologist so I didn’t want to see another one of my faves sleeping with a rape apologist, so I’m glad he found out the truth in time. Charlie and Alex were so cute together, I wanted him with Zach, but I can’t bring myself to complain because ALEX GOT A HAPPY ENDING, YAY!! He regretted killing Bryce, but it’s like Zach said “maybe he didn’t deserve to die, but NEITHER DO WE”, and he was right. Alex didn’t deserve to have his whole life ruined over a fucking rapist, so I’m glad he got happiness. I just wish his recovery arc after his suicide attempt had been done better, he’s the only character in the show who is a suicide survivor and they never focused on that. Shame, tbh.

Tony: I don’t have much to say about Tony. He was being hella stubborn about not going to college and staying in town, so I’m glad his dad knocked some sense into him. He got a happy ending and got to see his sister again, so that was nice. Tony always had to deal with so much crap, so I’m happy he ended up happy.

Winston: Now this dude didn’t annoy me as much as I thought he would, but... he was weird. He became obsessed with Monty after meeting him twice, and then obsessed with Alex after dating him for two weeks. What was his reason?? Why did he fall in love so quickly?? I thought we were going to get some backstory to explain his behavior, but we didn’t get shit, except that scene in the first episode with his mom where he seemed like some lonely rich kid. I’m glad he let go of Monty in the end and didn’t ruin Alex’s life, but other than making a bunch of passive-aggressive comments and staring at people, he didn’t do much. The trailer made him seem like some mastermind villain, and in the end... he wasn’t.

Diego: How are you going to spend the whole season calling Clay a psycho/crazy, when you’re out there pulling pranks, beating people up, and defending a rapist?? Check yourself first, Diego. He was so annoying with his “I miss Monty” crap, like how are you going to give a big speech about how great Monty was when Tyler, the guy he raped, was sitting right in front of you??!!  I wish he had faced some consequences for all the shit he did to Clay, like “omg, you brought a knife!!, dude YOU left the knife in there. I’m glad he let things go in the end, but JFC, he was annoying. When Zach told him to suck his dick, I cheered so hard.

Justin: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HA. I’m laughing because I don’t wanna start crying again. Are the writers fucking serious?? After EVERYTHING they did with Justin, turning him into a better person, making him Clay’s brother, getting him back together with Jessica, EVERYTHING...and he dies?? And even before his death, they needed to torture him one last time and kill off his mom, have Clay and Jessica treat him like shit, and make him feel like nobody wanted him. Wow, what a brilliant idea. The series finale would have been perfect if they hadn’t killed off Justin. He deserved to graduate and live a long, happy life. I think the writers just wanted to have one final tragedy and controversial storyline, so they did this cruel and unnecessary crap. I’m disgusted, tbh.

Bryce and Monty: I’m so, so happy we got ZERO Bryce flashbacks and ZERO Monty flashbacks. FUCK these two rapists. I didn’t feel sorry for either of them, and I hope future shows do better and the humanizing of rapists stops. We already know rapists are human, they aren’t aliens who come from another planet, but the focus needs to be on the VICTIMS. I know they weren’t going to bring back Katherine Langford and Brandon Larracuente for a 5-second cameo, but hallucination!Justin should have been hanging out with Hannah and Jeff, not Bryce. Bryce wasn’t Justin’s brother, he treated him like shit and raped his girlfriend, and the whole “it’s okay to love people who do bad shit” is bullshit. There’s nothing wrong with hating rapists/abusers and bad people in general (like racists, homophobes, etc). Well, at least the two rapists are dead and can never hurt anyone again.

Say whatever you want about Hannah Baker, but this show suffered a HUGE loss when Katherine walked out of that door during her final scene.

They should have sent Bryce’s ass to jail at the end of s2, and the last two seasons should have been about ALL the character’s recoveries, with everyone getting proper characterization, good storylines, and focus on the friendships and family dynamics. The murder mystery and cover-up stuff ended up being really stupid and pointless. The writers prioritized shock value over proper storytelling, and that’s a shame because the cast is really talented, and the characters had the potential to be better than what they actually were.

Goodbye, 13 Reasons Why. I’ll check out the cast’s future projects, but the writers/producers can GTFO.

#13 reasons why #13 reasons why spoilers #13rw spoilers #13rw #jessica davis #clay jensen #ani achola #zach dempsey #tyler down #alex standall #tony padilla #winston williams #diego torres #justin foley #bryce walker #montgomery de la cruz #hannah baker #rape mention // #death mention // #suicide mention // #long post // #my post

[rendezvous-ramblings]

Hi!! I hope that i'm not bothering you in any way, but i really need some advice from someone. Okay, so i have a crush on my 29-year-old physics teacher!! Quick description: he has curly hair and literally everybody LOVES him, he has been my teacher for 2 years. During this year i got to know him better and by that i mean we text on a regular basis, we talk about astrology, harry styles and taylor swift. i know the birthdate of his parents, and he knows the birthdate of mine, he learned the names of all of my cats and tells me in detail what i was doing when we had our first lesson together two years ago. basically, we tell each other almost everything. and we even held hands for a short amount of time.so when i tell you that i am close to this man i mean it HAHAHA. now we come to the shitty part, he has a girlfriend. (i wish both of them the best and i'm seriously very happy for him) but now i'm doubting everything. think of the song “you belong with me” by taylor swift like we both know so much about the other person and now i'm supposed to think that those things we share are normal and that it happens in every teacher student relationship? obviously, i'm not saying he has to be in love with me!!! but i need another point of view so long story short i want to know if you think that there is something teeny-tiny going on between us? maybe not romantically but like do you think he likes me or sees me as a friend? (i'm really sorry for the long message, i just haven’t been able to talk to anybody about this) (oh and a short FYI i'm from Europe, and we have school till July so i still see him every Monday) (oh and all of these things happen either during lunch break or after school cause i always talk to him and another physics teacher!!) thank you so much for taking your time and reading all of this nonsense<33

Hi,

No need to apologize this is what my ask box is for!

Okay, I hope you don't take any of this the wrong way because I am forming my opinion of the situation based on what you've briefly told me and I just want to look out for you. I think you should tread carefully with your tc in terms of the physical boundaries. I'm not sure if there's differences in terms of social acceptability or culture, but in the U.S. unless you're very young (e.g. help crossing the street on trips) there's not really an appropriate context where you would hold hands with a teacher. Of course the casual handshake, high five, or hug (during celebrations or milestones) are okay. I suppose it also really depends on your school culture as well though I would tread carefully as rumors can start with even the slightest of moments placed out of context.

I've also said before in other asks that when you're still a student to your tc it is definitely possible to form a friendship within the school/extracurricular setting, however, you can't really truly form a more mature friendship until post-graduation (that's still quite rare). Teachers frequently have to censor parts of their private life to balance their professional teaching persona. I think it's nice that your teacher has things in common that he could talk to you about and they're not very common topics for a guy to be up to speed on, haha. Again, everything is still very much restricted because of the age gap and the need to maintain professionalism. So, I would say yes you do have a friendship with your tc though I would be careful not to idealize your friendship to the extent where you feel like you know everything there is to know about him and vice versa. I'm sure there's probably things about yourself that you wouldn't share with him because of boundaries.

The two things that sort of flagged my attention was how you mentioned you both were texting more this year and how he somehow recalls everything you were doing during your first lesson together. I would try not to contact him unless it is strictly school/extracurricular related. I've never had a teacher's number as a contact unless it was for a trip and that was only reserved for emergencies. All the schools I've been to it is frowned upon to have contact with a teacher unless it is through a school email or some kind of platform maintained by the school. By conversing with him too often you might lose sight of the boundaries and vice versa. In terms of him recalling things you were doing during the first lesson I hope that's just attributed to his sharp memory and not for any untoward reasons? E cannot for the life of him recall much from when I was his student over five years ago. I hate to generalize but most men don't really pay meticulous attention to small details and overanalyze like we would.

My overall advice would be to remain mindful of boundaries and try to keep your feelings in check. After I kept my feelings in check with E it really helped our professional friendship. I was no longer overanalyzing our conversations or the moments that we shared. I was just able to appreciate them as they were. It definitely took a lot of self-control and reasoning with myself internally to calm down. I know how overwhelming crushes can get.

If you get the vibe that he likes you as a student and have a friendly relationship then that's likely what you have. Do be wary if you feel like your tc is inappropriately coming on to you (a proper teacher should never cross that line). I'd never encourage someone to hope for more while they're still a student or even right after graduation (like I said, you really need the boundaries/authority dynamic to disappear first). I essentially almost had to 'get to know' E all over again and some of the ideals I had of him did shatter, haha (nothing intolerable of course!).

#teacher crush community #teacher crush blog #teacher crush advice #teacher crush post #teacher crush ask #teacher crush #age gap blog #age gap crush #age gap relationship #teacher and student #student and teacher #teacher and student relationship #student and teacher relationship #tcc #tcc ask #tcc advice #tcc feelings #tcc post #tcc blog #tcc community #tc community #tc post #tc ask #tc blog #tc advice #tc crush #female tc

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

A Donna Pinciotti character study (and how I write her on my stories)

I'm apologizing in advance, this is too big, I talk a lot.

Someone sent me an ask a week ago asking why I write Donna as a nice character, and that inspired me to make a specific post about my thoughts on the characters and how I choose to write them on my published stories, more specifically, in Rock You Like a Hurricane and When The Levee Breaks. So here we go.

I love all the main 6 characters, not equally, everyone has a favorite, but in the end, they all have a very special place in my heart.

Out of the six characters, Jackie and Eric are my favorites. I have trouble writing Eric, but I really love him, I don’t get why he gets so much hate, he’s such a good person. They are followed very closely by Hyde, I relate to Hyde a lot, and honestly I love writing him. I think Hyde and Jackie are deep characters, with lots and lots of layers, and I love exploring them.

They are all complex characters with distinct personalities, each one has their specific storyline, and they all have their little quirks. They are not perfect, they have defects and qualities just like any other human being.

This post is about Donna, but I plan on making separate posts for each character later. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts.

Let's start off, shall we?

Donna was my favorite character, until I started season 4. One of the things that bothered me the most on the show was how much Donna's character regressed after her first break up with Eric.

Donna is a very likeable character in the earlier seasons, she's independent, determined, passionate about the things she loves, cares deeply about her friends, among other things. What I particularly loved the most about Donna, was how progressive she was for a teenage girl living in the 70s.

She and Eric were a sweet couple, and their love was pure. Their break up at the end of season 3 was heartbreaking, but it was very in character for me. Donna always wanted to be a strong, independent woman, and Eric was trying to tie her down. And while I could understand Eric's reasons, Donna also had a pretty strong point. I do believe things could have been solved with proper communication, but they were teenagers and these things happen.

After their breakup, both Donna and Eric acted immature, but after Donna's mom left, she... well, she's changed. And not for better. There's this one episode from season 4 that really upsets me. Right after Midge left, Donna slept with Eric, and Eric was really happy afterwards, he thought they were back together, but Donna had absolutely no intention of getting back together with him, in fact, she said "she would've done it with anyone". She used Eric in that episode, she should’ve been clear to him about her intentions, I get that her mom left and that she was sad, but that was kind of cruel of her and I felt really bad for Eric.

That's one of Donna's flaws: whenever she's going through something, she becomes this selfish person, too wrapped up in herself to focus on anyone else's problems. She refuses help and she acts up, showing really self-destructive behaviors (like purposely failing school, smoking cigarettes, dating Casey Kelso, etc). Donna’s kind of a hypocrite, she doesn’t like when people tell her she’s wrong about something. She also doesn't care about anyone other than herself when she's angry or sad, a clear example of that was running away to California with her best friend's boyfriend, because she was feeling humiliated about being rejected by Eric. That was a pretty shitty thing to do, Jackie did not deserve that.

In fact, Jackie did not deserve many of the things Donna did to her, but to me, Donna’s worst offence was to side up with Kelso during all the times he was an asshole to Jackie (yes, that includes when Jackie started to date Hyde).

As a self-proclaimed feminist, Donna should’ve been more empathetic towards Jackie. She should’ve told Jackie about Kelso and Laurie, she should have discouraged Jackie to get back together with Kelso on season 3 (everyone knew how toxic they were, even Hyde tried to stop them from getting together again in his own way - by breaking that egg - but Donna actually encouraged Kelso and seemed rather amused with the situation), she shouldn’t have shown her boobs to her best friend’s boyfriend on episode 4x20, she shouldn’t have ran away with her best friend’s boyfriend without even thinking about Jackie’s feelings, she should’ve supported Hyde and Jackie’s relationship from the beginning, she should’ve called Kelso out on his hypocrisy towards Jackie and Hyde on season 5, she should’ve been there for Jackie - without judging her - when her mother came back. She should have been a better friend to Jackie in general, Jackie was bitchy and kind of annoying, but she was a good person, and she was always there for Donna when she needed it.

Jackie was supposed to be the bitchy one with a huge ego, but Donna slowly took her crown. To me, in later seasons, Donna was worse than Jackie from season one - season one Jackie was a bitch, but she was also innocent, and she didn't know better, Donna did, and she loved calling Jackie out on her behavior. I'll elaborate more on that when I write Jackie’s essay. 

And (I’m afraid people are going to judge me for this one) Donna should’ve been a better girlfriend to Eric. People always say that Donna was too good for Eric, and well... I disagree.

In the first three seasons, Donna and Eric’s relationship was healthy, they were cute together, and you could see how much they loved each other. But they got back together in California and didn't even talk about why they broke up in the first place. They just ignored it and pretended it never happened. Like, wtf? And then out of nowhere Eric proposes and she says yes? She hadn't accepted his promise ring less than a year before, and now she accepted an engagement ring? I’m sorry, but that was very OOC to me. The reason why they broke up was that she didn’t want to make such a big promise because they were sill young, and then they just get engaged when they’re still in high school? That’s bad writing to me.

Their relationship in season 5 was okay, their engagement didn’t make any sense, but overall, they treated each other well and were in love.

Then Red had his heart attack and Donna decided to postpone college so she could be with Eric. Another thing that didn’t make sense to me. Donna basically threw away her whole future in order to be with Eric in season 6 and 7, and they broke up in season 3 because she didn't want that for herself. It’s just… well, shitty writing.

After she stayed for Eric, their relationship changed, at least from what I could tell. And then all the episodes had the same storyline for Eric and Donna: Eric does something stupid, Donna overreacts, Eric spends the day kissing her ass to make up for it, in the end she forgives him and it’s always the same thing “Donna, I’m a dumbass, you’re too good for me, I’m sorry” and bla bla bla. It’s a freaking cycle, and it only gets worse after Eric leaves her at the altar.

Eric was a good person and a good boyfriend, he had his flaws, but overall, he was a decent guy, he shouldn’t feel inferior to Donna. She mocked him for liking the things he did (Star Wars, Styx, roller disco), and often acted like she was too good for him, a good girlfriend is supposed to support her boyfriend in whatever makes him happy, not force him to quit something because she thought it was too girly.

(For example, when Hyde was going to work at the muffler shop with Red, Jackie didn’t like that idea, but she supported him anyways, she said “If it makes you happy then, I’m happy”. Donna wasn’t very supportive of Eric’s choices, the roller disco thing is a great example, I mean, yeah, it was girly, but he liked it, so she should’ve supported him).

In my opinion, Donna and Eric’s relationship on seasons 6 and 7 wasn’t a healthy one.

I’m not even going to mention Donna’s actions on season 8. To me, they were unforgivable, that’s why I totally understand why people write her like a bitch on post season 8 stories. But hey, everyone was acting OOC in season 8, that’s why I tend to ignore its existence most of the time.

In Donna’s defense though... That was mainly bad writing. I believe that the real Donna would’ve been more empathetic towards Jackie, she would’ve called Kelso on his crap, and she would’ve actually talked to Eric about their problems. She also would have gone to college, she and Eric could make distance work.

Up until season 4 we could see that the writers were actually developing a storyline for Donna. She was bitchy in season 4, but her parents had just got divorced, she and Eric had broken up, her mom left... Her life changed a lot, it’s understandable why she acted out, the writers knew what they were doing then, at least in the character development part, but then season 5 started and Donna was a whole different person.

I don’t know if I’m making any sense in this essay, I have trouble expressing myself sometimes because english is not my first language, but basically, to me, the writers stopped caring about Donna’s character development by season 5 and I’ll always be bitter about that. 

A clear example of character development is Jackie, Kelso and Hyde. They grew and matured over the seasons, Donna didn’t, not really, if compared to them. It's incredibly sad to see most of the characters growing and genuinely being better people, while Donna was just… being there.

Donna had her good moments, as I’ve mentioned before, Donna has qualities, plenty of them by the way. She’s passionate about the things she loves, she wants the best for her friends, she’s determined, she has a kind heart.

One of my favorite scenes from the show is when Jackie asked Donna to help her not to fall into Kelso’s “charm” again, when he was trying to grow a beard. Donna was an amazing friend in that episode, it really made me smile. Donna had some really good moments with Jackie. I wish she valued them more, but I blame that on the writers and their need to put women against each other for “comedy”.

The Donna I write on my stories is based on the Donna from the earlier seasons, it’s a Donna who still has her flaws, but she pushes her pride aside when she recognizes she's wrong and apologizes, she doesn't see Jackie as her competition, she sees her as a friend who she loves very much, and wants the best for her.

When The Levee Breaks Donna is the real Donna, at least how I think the real Donna actually is. After Eric sent her that letter, she recognized that she gave up too much for him during their relationship, and that she wasn't being herself by doing so, so she decided to no longer wait for him and be her own woman, that's why she moved to Chicago. No one is worth giving up her dreams for, not even the love of her life. 

She loves Jackie and wants the best for her, that's why she encourages Jackie to move to Chicago with her, and she also wants to make up for the times she wasn't the friend she deserved. Donna recognized how wrong she was by siding with Kelso, and admitted that she took Jackie's friendship for granted. 

This Donna lost all the respect she had for Hyde when he came back from Vegas, to her, that wasn't the same Hyde she grew up with (she wasn't wrong), and she wasn't going to stay quiet and let him destroy himself (and Jackie). She stepped up, and tried to shove some sense into Hyde's head before leaving with Jackie, but Hyde can really be an ass when he wants to, so she gave up and punched him, that was the last time she saw him until he got his head out of his ass and went to visit them at Chicago after New Years.

Donna was heartbroken, but she refused to dwell on it and tried her best to move on with her life. She's at the top of her class at college, she's trying to be there for Jackie (who wasn't doing so good when they first moved in) and she tried to date someone else. 

Turns out that you can't really date someone if you're still in love with your ex, so that didn't work out very well for her, but it helped her realize that what she felt for Eric was real, and that it wasn't going away anytime soon.

In Chicago, Donna and Jackie formed a strong bond, they were friends before, but Chicago kind of made them sisters. During those 6 months they've spent living together, Donna developed very strong protective instincts towards Jackie, especially after Jackie opened up about her childhood with her mother. She saw Jackie struggling every day, she saw how often Jackie cried over the things that happened in Point Place, and she started to understand her friend better.

Donna's protective instincts kicked in when Hyde and Eric showed up in Chicago, but they softened after she talked to Hyde and realized that he was being genuine. She was still pissed at him, but she could see that he was suffering a lot, so in the end, she just wanted to see Jackie and Hyde being happy again.

Her feelings with Eric were conflicting, she loved him very much, and she was aware of that, she got tired of denying to herself, but that didn't erase the hurt of their past. After a long talk, she and Eric agree to start things again, but she makes it very clear that she's not giving up her future for him anymore.

One of my favorite Donna quotes on my story is:

"Eric, I don't need you in my life. But I want you in my life, I really, really do."

So basically, that's how I write Donna in WTLB, she still has her flaws, but she's overall a good person and a good friend.

Rock You Like a Hurricane Donna is not so different from WTLB Donna, she's still protective of Jackie, but not for the reasons WTLB Donna is.

Donna and Jackie grew up together in RYLH, no Eric, no Hyde, no Kelso, just the two of them, and I believe that had a significant impact on both of their personalities.

Donna and Jackie first met in school, and became best friends after Donna beat up a kid who was trying to bully Jackie. Donna and Jackie both had no friends - Jackie was new in school, and Donna was new in town - so they started to play together and basically became glued by the hip.

The fact that she didn't grow up as "one of the boys'' changed Donna's personality a bit. Not too much, we still love a lumberjacky Donna thank you very much, but her behavior around Eric and the rest of the boys is sheepish if compared to her behavior around the entire gang on the show.

That changes after a while, she starts to get comfortable around everyone after a few months.

Growing up with Jackie had an impact on her, not a bad one. Donna's way less judgemental, and she's not a hypocrite, at least not like she was portrayed on the show. Jackie calls Donna out on her bullshit, and Donna does the same for her, they make each other better and they would kill for each other.

Donna's also not afraid of showing her girly side every once in a while, and she and Jackie support each other on their interests. As shown in some chapters, Donna sometimes even watches Jackie's cheerleading practices, and she's always there to support her in the games.

Jackie encourages Donna to write on a daily basis. She always loved reading Donna's short stories, she claims that if Donna ever writes a book, she has to write a character based on her, preferably, a princess.

They have a healthy friendship in both of my stories, it's how it should've been on the show.

That’s all, I guess. If you actually read this, please feel free to give me your opinion about Donna too, I would love to hear it!

I’m posting Jackie’s character study sometime soon. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

#that '70s show #that 70s show #rock you like a hurricane #donna pinciotti #character study #when the levee breaks

[libermachinae]

An Abundance of Prowls

I remembered the first time I read IDW, feeling like I couldn’t get a hold on Prowl’s character, like he existed as a general concept but I was never really sure what his goals were or why he did... anything he did. I mentioned it to my girlfriend, who was delighted to introduce me to the discourse of our local cop car/war criminal.

Months later, in anticipation of Prowl Week, I said to myself, “Well, I could read through all of Prowl’s appearances, in the order they were published in, and see how the writers developed him over time. That could help make sense of his character.”

Friends. It did not. Here’s a summary, plus my thoughts. [Spoilers ahead!]

Infiltration: Prowl’s first appearance in IDW is him yelling at Ratchet for exposing the Autobots to the humans. We’ll call this guy Rule-Abiding Prowl, and he’s very steady/boring throughout the rest of the -ation series. His main function is to try to stop kids from being involved in the plot. Thanks Furman.

Spotlight: Kup: Our first glance of Spec Ops Prowl. Though he’s not physically present for most of the issue, Nick Roche still delivers a Prowl who is behind the scenes, pulling the strings. I was honestly surprised by how early on this was set up, considering everything we’re about to trudge through.

Megatron Origin: More Rule-Abiding Prowl, this time by Eric Holmes. He has a job, he does as he’s told, he clings to the chain of command like a padlock.

All Hail Megatron: Seven instances in which we’re victorious! It’s number-cruncher Prowl time; also anxious, war-weary, slightly hopeless Prowl. Maybe Shane McCarthy was trying to do a combination Roche and Furman? It’s all for naught, in the end, because Roche got brought back in to follow up on Kup’s story and he dove all the way in with Prowl being a sneaky bastard.

Spotlight Prowl: Can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, though! Mike Costa wanted Prowl to be a hardboiled detective with a a spark of gold SO BAD. Also the point at which Prowl falls into his terrible cycle of learning a lesson only to learn the opposite thing in the next issue. In this case, it’s between doing what’s right regardless of the rules, and sticking to the rules because order is paramount. Is this unresolved internal conflict going to haunt our boy for the rest of the continuity? Mmmm. Transformers V1 is more of the same, except now Prowl has a little buddy. Can’t lie, Streetwise delights me and I wish he’d stuck around.

Death of Optimus Prime: Co-written by Barber and JRo, so it’s tricky to say who exactly was responsible for what, although I have a feeling JRo was all over that Peaceful Resolution backstory. This does provide a perfect bed in which to sew the seeds of who Prowl will be in the coming arc.

MTMTE: Okay, full disclosure? I jotted this guy down as Warm Prowl in my notes. Through flashback, JRo gives us a gentler version of the character whose blunt nature and vow to regulation are underscored by a hidden concern and appreciation for his partner, Tumbler. Don’t look at me, I think about the conversation about the coming war and them leaving together all the goddamn time. Also, JRo waves at his buddy Roche’s Spec Ops Prowl from afar.

RID: War’s over, everyone can (literally!) go home! Prowl? Hey, bud, did you hear the news? No, ofc not, because this is Endless War Prowl, the guy who is convinced the Neutrals are out to murder everyone and also that Bumblebee sucks at his job. This is also the arc where Bombshell happens :(

Dark Cybertron: Prowl Buries His Trauma

Spotlight Bumblebee: Rude boy. Doesn’t like Bumblebee? Doesn’t respect the chain of command?

Autocracy/Monstrosity/Primacy: Prowl wants to follow rules! He trusts Optimus’ judgement! Babey Prowl.

RID Pt 2: It’s hard to classify this Prowl because so much of what he does in this arc is in response to things that have been done to him. The Decepticons mind controlled him, so he has to keep them from getting the Engima. He’s been saddled with gestalt coding, so now he needs to have the Constructicons along wherever he goes. Spike Witwicky betrayed him years ago, so dammit, now he’s gotta spend a Saturday trying and failing to squish one tiny human. He’s Renegade Prowl in my notes, because this is definitely the point where he stops giving a shit about rules. (Get a teeny bit of Warm Prowl, tho, when he calls Bumblebee his best friend. Kinda comes out of nowhere, the guy could have used your support like, any time over the last few years, but it’s a nice moment.)

Combiner Wars: Absolutely loses his goddamn shit. It’s like Spec Ops Prowl, going behind everybody’s backs, making the “hard choices” (he’s literally deciding to kill off the Cybertronian species; please keep this detail in mind), but he does it all as a giant combiner who solves problems by smashing them, so we’re gonna stick with Renegade Prowl. Barber wants to blame this on gestalt coding. I shrug and say sure, though I do raise a hand to question it when Optimus proceeds to beat him up for it.

Sins of the Wreckers: NAUGHTY SPIDER TIME. Roche takes all of Barber’s Bitch Prowl energy and embellishes it with those sweet spec ops tactics we’ve been missing so dearly. Gone are giant combiners smashing shit: now it’s just Prowl having ideas, making deals, and twisting morality to suit his own needs while desperately trying to avoid the fact that he has a conscience. Roche also makes the fascinating move of highlighting Prowl’s shittiness while subjecting him to Tarantulas’ arguable shittierness. There’s a nice moment at the end when he decides he wants to do better going forward, though Roche leaves it open for other authors’ interpretations via violent interruption by Impactor. Nick Roche never writes Prowl again, and an infinitesimal part of the internet grieves.

MTMTE Pt 2: AKA the misadventures of Luna I, AKA the one scene where Prowl’s helping with the dishes and actually seems comfortable for the first time in centuries. JRo takes a comedic approach to the character which is evocative of his Warm Prowl invention. Just one thing. Remember that detail I told you to remember earlier? About how he was entirely ready to bring Cybertronians to extinction? Here to Sentinel, Prowl says, and I quote, “And unlike you, I don’t feel the urge to kill the rest of my species.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, so rather than risk turning this into an actual literary essay, I’m going to leave it at that.

Optimus Prime: Two versions of Prowl in here: one from the past, where he describes himself as “unpopular” and beats up Jetfire, and present-day, where he somehow ends up in a ship with Stardrive, Garnak, Wheelie, and a vamparc gun from Autocracy. No one bothers to explain how this came about, the same way no one explains how by the books, rule-driven Prowl started battering prisoners before the war ever started.

Unicron: The most bizarre. Prowl does his whole logic thing, gotta sacrifice Devisiun so we can save everyone else, y’know. But then, in the showdown with Shockwave, he gives a whole speech about how the real battle is within the self, to make sure goodness prevails or something like that. It comes out of nowhere and I guess is a follow up from the Wreckers, but honestly idk?

Lost Light epilogue: Rule-Abiding Prowl! Hey dude, how you been? Work for Windblade now? Have an official job reviewing Functionist Cybertron and establishing ties with the Galactic Council? Neat!

Optimus Prime epilogue: Giving this one its own thing because it’s one of Prowl’s most memorable moments for me, personally. He begins by acknowledging his own multifaceted nature through an argument with Shockwave, arguing that every one of an individual’s identities are “real” and rendering this entire exercise moot. After I dragged myself off the floor from that realization, I went straight into the line that has always stuck with me, “We are our actions... not our hopes.” Barber wraps up Prowl’s character by having him acquiesce to the criticism he’s been facing since the beginning of the continuity. It places a heavy emphasis on Spec Ops Prowl, the one who made “hard choices” in hope of possibilities that rarely came to pass, but is not entirely bound to that identity. Every aspect of Prowl I’ve described here performed actions that influenced the overall plot of the comic, though his motivations throughout are rarely transparent. What do we make of it, now that the character himself is now saying they didn’t matter? Is Prowl the sum total of the crimes he committed, friends he betrayed, and lives he sacrificed? In our calculations of Prowl, is there any variable that represents an unclaimed seat on the Peaceful Resolution?

Answering that question isn’t what I set out to do here, though, and I’ve already had to stop myself from writing an English essay once. I hope someone finds this useful, because putting it together was like building a puzzle of pieces that don’t quite fit together. You could even argue that not all of them are important, and that some bring down the integrity of the whole. They’re all in the box together, though, so we’ve gotta make something out of them.

#maccadam #idw tf #prowl #my writing

[jojotichakorn]

Theory of Love: Review (& General Info)

Summary: Third is a film major, who’s been in love with his best friend Khai since the very first day of university. The problem is, Khai has a rule - he doesn’t date friends. And to make matters worse, he is a terrible player, who’s dated girls from each faculty. Will Third give up on pursuing Khai? Love him from afar? Or will something entirely unexpected happen? (Trailer)

Couples: Two mlm couples - one main, one background.

Running Time: 12 episodes - around 53 minutes each - 10,5 hours in total

Cast (& their Instagram pages): Gun Atthaphan (Third), Off Jumpol (Khai), White Nawat (Two), Mike Chinnarat (Bone), Earth Pirapat (An), Neen Suwanamas (Lyn), Sara Legge (Paan), Foei Patara (Chen), [more].

Where to watch? YouTube

Related Shows: None

My Review:

Rating: 5.5/10

Short review: Considering how I didn’t connect with some of the actors, most of the characters and pretty much all relationships, as well as with the plot overall, I found this BL kind of boring and even annoying at times. There is enough problematic moments here and there, but I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily critical. This is possibly my most subjective review to date, because most things I don’t like about this show just don’t fit me personally. And since it’s not that bad and I know that a lot of people love it, maybe you will too. So at the end of the day, I don’t recommend it, but I’m not saying you should be necessarily staying away from it either. Though, as usual, it’s obviously your own decision to make.

Extended review (under the cut):

Theory of Love is one of those BLs that everyone seems to love. It’s on everyone’s list of favorite BLs of all time, and every character favorites list features at least one person from TOL. Which is why I feel weird about not liking it.

The thing is though, I don’t hate it. I think it’s kind of alright and at times really annoying and problematic, but that’s about it. Mostly, I just don’t care about it. Like at all. And I’m gonna talk about why.

So, the cast of TOL is stellar, in my personal opinion. At least, at face value it is. There’s extremely popular familiar faces, like Off, Gun, Earth, White and Neen. New faces that truly captivated me right away, like Sara, Foei and especially Mike. And, most of them lived up to my expectations. Off is still good, Earth is still as perfect at subtle acting as he’s always been (which is especially helpful this time around), everyone is just truly great. Well, with one exception. And I should’ve probably mentioned this last, because he is generally accepted as one of the best actors not only in GMM, but in the BL industry in general. But, I did not believe Gun at all. And I want to mention that it’s the first time I don’t believe Gun like this. I don’t know what happened in TOL (besides, I’m sure lots of people will disagree with me), but to my mind he wasn’t real as Third at all. I don’t see him being in love with Khai. He says that he is and everything he does confirms it (like literally everything – cute moments and thoughts and looks, all the puzzle pieces are there), but I just don’t see it. And he never really manages to make me feel anything. He cries and breaks down and has a generally terrible time, and with my head I understand that this is all extremely said, but my heart stays still – I don’t feel a thing. And maybe that’s why I never managed to like TOL that much – because I am completely disconnected with the lead. But it is what it is, you know.

The characters in this show once again make me feel conflicted. Third’s personality is far more sarcastic and blunt than other BL mains’ – and I do like that. Khai, on the other hand, was first unlikable to me and like really annoying, and then after feeling a little bad for him closer to the end, my pity sort of cancelled out my hate and they met in the middle, making me just not care for him at all. They do try to give background characters a little more depth just by having one-two conversations with them alone, but it feels kind of forced – like they knew they needed to make them more real, but they did it so mechanically that they ended up being even more fake. Thus, the most memorable and likable characters to me ended up being the ones we know the least about – An and Chen.

The friendships in this drama are good and bad all at the same time. I don’t think I have to mention that Khai is a terrible friend, but it’s meant to be that way, so that was handled perfectly. I was never really sure why anyone was friends with him in the first place (or at least anyone who isn’t Third, because love is blind), but that happens sometimes – we get stuck with shitty people, so whatever. I can see how that could happen. Otherwise, friendship in TOL is kind of a one-way train. It’s a great modern train with all luxuries, but it only goes one way. What I mean by that is all background characters like Two, Bone, An and Chen are amazing friends to Khai and/or Third. Their relationship is truly detailed, they apologize, help, notice things, talk - just do things friends do. But, Khai and Third don’t return the favor. And I could understand why that happens with someone like Chen or even An – they aren’t really POV characters in any instance in the show. But, Bone and Two have their own real storylines and things happening in their lives, which the viewer follows and is invested in. But Khai and Third don’t know about them, because they just never even ask how their friends are doing. Which sucks.

The romantic relationships in this show are (mostly) a mess. Khai and Third’s “bond” is nowhere near being profound – it’s toxic, damaging and disappointing. At the end they do get together and “Yay!” I guess, but I don’t see them truly resolving their issues (or realistically staying together for long). For example, Third clearly still doesn’t trust Khai and it’s mentioned for the drama, but then it’s never truly resolved. Bone is thrust into this weird thing with his professor – and thank gods he didn’t end up with her, but it was still really unnecessary in my opinion. An and Two are sort of a beam of light in this whole relationship mess. Overall, they have a pretty good storyline – its complicated enough and simple enough in all the right places. There are things that are kind of related to An and Two that kind of make me mad – for example, the way Two tries approaching Lyn. But, mostly it’s good. I especially liked how their connection was subtly established from the very beginning – and looking back at it (or rewatching it), you can see some clear signs.

The overall plot is kind of good. It can be funny and even self-aware at times, though there are a lot of unrealistic, stupid, nonsensical things there as well. The only real specific criticism I have is that background storylines don’t seem to exist outside of background storylines. There is a lot of examples with AnTwo specifically. The KhaiThird and AnTwo plots are sort of intertwined, because An is Third’s friend, as well as Khai’s supposed rival (because everyone thinks An is approaching Third), and obviously Two is Khai and Third’s friend, who is directly involved in their relationship. So, there are moments when – for example – Khai is jealous of Third and An, Two is there (at the time, already realizing he feels something for An, or that he is at least important to him), but he is completely unfazed, as if this doesn’t have anything to do with him at all. Which, even if he was approaching it all “maturely” or trying to hide his real feelings, there would still be some sort of minor reaction. And there’s just none.

The theme of someone confidently believing in something and it not being true is present multiple times in this show. And usually, when a story does that, it’s quite complicated. All the facts are carefully established so that the viewer believes the lie, and then when the truth is revealed, the viewer looks back on the story and sees all the clear clues to the truth that were given, as well as just how and why they’ve misinterpreted every detail that led them to believe the lie. This all is very hard work that requires some smart, careful planning. Which TOL didn’t do. An truly seems to be into Third and there is no other way to interpret some of the things he does with him, and Khai truly does act really flirty with Third in the beginning, which can only be interpreted as him trying to approach Third, which was not true at the time. (Even if he subconsciously liked him, that was legit planned flirting – not subtle things that could reveal his true feelings). It’s clear that this is all done for the drama with all disregard to why this trope is usually used. And there is many moments where something really nonsensical and completely inexplicable happens just to further the drama. TOL is drenched in plotlines like that – and there is nothing I hate more than unnecessary drama.

The movie theme is present throughout the whole show – both directly and indirectly. They do connect everything with movies quite well, and the cinematography choices are more meaningful than they usually are. The way shots are set up, the subtle details that are hidden in camera work and setting specifically – all of it is quite artistic and careful, which makes me think it was done specifically because of the relating themes of movie making in the show itself. The only thing I didn’t really like was how much the things that were happening was compared to “how as if it was all just a movie”. It was ironic the first couple of times, but stupid and repetitive the next hundred.

LGBTQ+ issues aren’t really touched upon in the show. But, when they kind of are – it ain’t it chief. Khai’s friend telling him he couldn’t possibly imagine “a dude like him being into another dude”, Khai feeling uncomfortable with imagining a date with Third similar to the ones he takes his girlfriends to, and the ever present intimacy problem, which mostly belongs to AnTwo here (boyfriends kiss, GMM – they do). Now in certain context or with some explanation, these might’ve been better, but there is no good context or explanation here – it’s just Bad.

There’s quite a few other problematic moments in this show. A lot of them are connected with Khai and Third. For example, Khai physically pins Third down when he’s trying to talk to him, while Third cries and screams to let him go. After receiving a “no” over and over again, Khai asks Third to be his boyfriend once again – this time in a public place, making a big deal out of it, with everyone chanting “yes”. Khai also admits that he sees all the girls he’s with as an object – which in the context is positioned against Third, who he sees as a person. It’s made to look romantic and special, but it’s just some kind of a new fucked up version of “you’re not like other girls”. Also, and this is slightly less serious but very annoying to me, Bone’s new girlfriend was introduced at the very end of the series. And by introduced, I mean “Here’s a girl, she’s Bone’s girl” – and that’s the entirety of the introduction. It has no value or meaning to the viewer and seems to send a message that Bone’s story could only have a happy ending, if he ended up in a relationship as well, which is obviously a shitty fucking message. I would’ve preferred him staying single.

Finally, talking about some small details that caught my attention. The main quartet is a very stereotypical teen movie gang, but I think that’s intentional and it does fit well. They’re also third and forth years, which is kind of unusual for BLs, so that’s pretty cool. I do love the style – I want all their outfits and hairstyles like right now. The sound choices are not always the best, but the music can be pretty nice. There’s quite a few metaphors here and there – and they’re actually good. But, there’s not nearly enough attention to detail sometimes. The kisses are really good – no doubt about that here. And, surprisingly, they address the fact that kissing someone out of the blue is not ok multiple times, which is really great (and – let’s be fair – pretty unexpected, which makes it even better).

Overall, as I’ve said before, I don’t really hate this show. Despite criticizing it, I mostly just don’t care for it. It isn’t a BL I would recommend to someone, but if I was actually asked, if someone should watch this specific BL – I would say “Sure, why not”. It’s not that bad and I know that a lot of people love it, so maybe you will too. So at the end of the day, I don’t recommend it, but I’m not saying you should be necessarily staying away from it either. Though, as usual, it’s obviously your own decision to make.

#my most controversial opinion is in my dudes kgjskldfjlkdjf #theory of love #archer's bl recs

[cooplagoop]

Contemplations

Pairing: Gill x Barodius

Rating: T

Word count: 2.3k

How odd was it for the emperor of the most advanced technological species to have his thoughts plagued by his best friend? Instead of focusing on managing his planet’s finances, he was interupted by the image of Gill’s eyes, his broad shoulders & that slim jawline. Needless to say he’d been avoiding the man for 3 months, spending only the required amount of time with him as his second in command, while trying to figure out why he was feeling this way. 

Eventually he came to the realization of the cause of his newfound fascination with Gill being nothing other than a newly-formed crush on the sly bastard. 

‘Despite isolating myself from him as much as possible for 3 whole months, my… desires... towards him haven’t weakened nearly as much as I’d prefer.’

Although his desires had decreased in intensity as of late, they were still ever present. In one of his bouts of curiosity as prince he had attempted to research the phenomena called love & found a theory by a gundalian neuroscientist claiming love is experienced as a building & descending series of waves. The scientist was trying to argue that love doesn't fade away over time, but that it slowly ascends to a certain point where it is unconsciously built up within the psyche then reaches the peak of infautation once the conscience fully acknowledges these feeling & afterwords it descends into the subconscience after focus starts to waver until the next wave arrives to begin the ascend again. According to this theory Barodius' conscience should be almost completely aware of his feelings.

Being as well-read as he is, it didn’t take him more than a few weeks of research & self-reflection to conclude what these feelings actually are. He was no child after all. He’d successfully courted several women in his teenage years mostly to spite his traditionalist father, who had remained steadfast in the belief of reserving oneself for the “right one” & even tried to pick a girl for him on more than one occassion. Just thinking about this made his blood boil. 

‘THAT SHITTY OLD MAN’ 

In order to prevent himself from damaging his own chambers in a fit of blind rage, he diverted his attention to his conquest for Nethia's sacred orb. Soon. Very soon he'd make Dharak the most powerful Bakugan the cosmos has ever seen. After calming himself down for a minute or two with the thought of his inevitable succes, his overbaring anger was eventually reduced to a much smaller flame ever still threatening to consume anyone standing in his path. He sighed while recalling the events of the past 3 months again.

During the remainder of these last few months Barodius had tried to reason that he couldn’t love a man. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been interested in any man overall making his feelings for Gill even more shocking to him. That is until he saw some naked pictures of good looking men on an erotic photography site. 

Even then the revelation hadn’t been any easier to accept. As the only heir to a long line of aristocracy he was obligated to produce children. In spite of his budding adolescence, talk of wedlock persisted among the other noble houses.

The real question was could he even be in a romantic relationship with another person. His personal outlook had been to always put himself first regardless of if others called that evil or selfish. It would be for the best if his significant other had no plans of changing his philosephy.  

Continuing his musing Barodius was once again swept away to his thoughts this time about what his ideal lover would be like. He could make do with any physical traits to be honest as long as they wore presentable clothing. He hoped they'd have an interest in jewelery as well. Jade jewlery was very popular in these times. Oddly enough Gill wore bronze jewels on the ends of his sleeves.

'Probably to match Krakix'

And just like that he found himself thinking of Gill yet again. Groaning, the emperor closed his eyes in another attempt to clear his mind.

Dharak had apperently decided an intervention was neccessary.

“Is something wrong, Barodius?“ he said after exiting the confinds of his owner's overcoat.

The emperor doubted his companion was very knowledgable on love affairs.  Then again he didn't have many options for consolence now, did he? 

Airzel is Gill’s protege, so the red head would notice without fail if Airzel slipped up for even half a second. Even though Airzel knew a great deal of confidental information regarding Gundalia, he might view his emperor’s personal secret to not be on the same level of importance or too strange for him to fully understand why such a trivial thing was to be kept secret in the first place. 

Stoica would most likely concoct some kind of ludicrus plan, which would have him questioning his sanity at the end of it. Kazarina is a workoholic with nothing aside from contempt for all Gundalians excluding her Bakugan & himself, of course. The only one left was Nurzak. He did have a wife once making him the best choice out of the Twelve Orders. However, Nurzak would no doubt try to guide him as if he was still a prince & truth to be told Barodius hated such pretentiousness most of all.

And with that he was stuck with Dharak. He knew Dharak would have no trouble keeping his secret, but there was no guarante Dharak would understand anything he said concerning his feelings for Gill. The young emperor scrutinized his partner for a good moment. 

Dharak felt he'd waited long enough for the other's response. The look the young man shot him really rubbed him the wrong way. 

“And for what reason are you looking at me as if I’ve betrayed you?”

After finally finding a respectable master, he was now being doubted. He had half a mind to start calling Barodius boy like when they had first met.

“It’s nothing. It just occured to me that I have a crush on Gill.” 

Barodius decided to be honest with his feelings. At least as honest as he felt was necessary. Some would classify this as him trying to push away those who cared about him, but to someone who knew him as well as Dharak, he had disclosed more than enough information.

“...You want to kill Gill?” 

“No.” 

Of course, Dharak would associate the word crush with destruction. 

“You misunderstood. What I was trying to say is that I-”

“You have a romantic interest in him.” was said in a manner that signified the guardian bakugan’s disbelief.

Barodius flinched at being cut off so abruptly. 

“You have some nerve interupting me while I disclosed my personal problems to you, Dharak!”

“My deepest apolagise, master Barodius.” Dharak was able to come out of his shock to form a proper apology. 

Shock. Disbelief. He was completely taken aback with the reveal. He looked over at Barodius & he was staring at him intensely as if he was expecting him to say something.

‘But what should I say?’

For the first time in several decades the strongest Gundalian bakugan that has served the noble house of the emperors for 4 generations did not know what to say.

‘I have to think this through. If I choose my words poorly, this could drive a wedge between us’

Bringing up the reality that this relationship would have an experation date due to the necessity for a successor & the general disdain their countrymen shared for homosexuality was out of the question. His master was no fool. Barodius already knows that.

‘Emperor Barodius is not interested in my thoughts on homosexuality. What he is seeking is personal advice on how to proceed with his complicated emotions towards Gill. Wait!... Does Gill even like men?’

For the next 6 minutes Dharak would try his hardest to piece together his words. Going over all the different ways their conversation could play out. The old guardian had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the young man had returned to his work by the time he had settled on his words. 

No matter. He knew what he planned to say.

“Barodius, if you’d allow me, I’d give you my insight on your predicament.”

The white haired man closed his eyes & said “Very well then.”

“Before that I’d like to ask one question for the sake of fully comprehending the subject at hand.”

“Go on, Dharak.”

“Do you know if Gill is interested in men the same way you are?”

A smug grin formed on the Darkus battler’s features.

“You didn’t notice the way Gill would awkwardly flirt back when women latched themselves onto him during a gala? Or the fact that he had a crush on our martial arts teacher that I used to tease him about? Or how about the reality of Gill never having a girlfriend for as long as I’ve known him? Does this answer your question, Dharak?”

‘He’s really one insufferable man when he gets passive-aggressive with me’

Nothing showed Dharak’s age more than how he would forget small bits & pieces of the past like Barodius teasing Gill over something insignificant, but now wasn’t the time for reminiscing about days gone. He had something to say.

“Barodius, I believe the best course of action is to confess to Gill.”

“That is all I assume?” the emperor inquired as he fixed his gaze on his companion.

‘Did Dharak really spend all of that time thinking to himself just to tell me to confess?’

“Yes.”

“Hmph. I refuse to entertain your idea.” 

“...What now?” 

‘He really doesn’t understand anything about romance. Heh, why am I surprised?’

In spite of Dharak being far from it, the young man couldn’t help finding him to be endearing in his attempts to help him. 

“I ask Gill for permission to court him.” was said with a renewed confidence as his signature smirk formed on his lips “We need to make arrangements at once.”

“We?” Why couldn’t the emperor excuse him? 

“Yes, you’ll be helping me.”

Barodius clearly found his inexperience to be amusing & felt like teasing him. Dharak just wanted to live a simple carefree life where he didn’t have to be berated for not understanding mushy romantic nonsense & devote his precious time to crushing pathetic insects, who dare have the audacity to challenge him. 

“Do it yourself! You already rejected my idea & figured everything out on your own already. You don’t need me to advise you.” Dharak said in a very firm tone, refusing to be used as a toy for his master’s childish whims.

After the first year or so of their partnership, their disputes had lessened significantly. It turned out the two of them were a lot more similar than they had liked to admit at the time.  Dharak hadn’t been so vocal about his objections in 4 years when Barodius “jokingly” tried to use Dharak as a royal seal. 

A displeased look crossed the young ruler’s face. 

“Stop throwing one of your fits already.” the Darkus battler immaturely deflected “I need someone to bounce ideas off of.” 

“I refuse!” said Dharak even more convinced than the first time

The evil man sighed. He didn’t want to argue with Dharak when the solution he was looking for was a hair away from him.

“...It appears my issue with Gill will remain stationary for now.” 

As much as he loved to rile Dharak up, he never meant to be rude to him. In Barodius’ twisted mind mocking was seperate from disrespect whenever he did it to his guardian bakugan. 

“Dharak”

The Darkus bakugan was still somewhat put-off. He didn’t expect Barodius to admit defeat & back off without taking another jab at him.

“Regardless of your feeling on the matter do not speak of this conversation to anyone.”

Oh, so that was why.

“Understood.”

Barodius attempted to return to his previous work. Nonetheless he was still just as unfocused as he was 20 minutes earlier. 

“What are you loafing around for, Dharak?” the tyrant snapped

“Hm, take your anger out on someone else.” was said as the old bakugan resumed his nap in the emperor’s overcoat

Barodius considered this. He had nothing to gain from forcing himself to do paperwork when his mind was preoccupied with something completely different. He also didn’t have the energy to find some incompetent fool to torture. 

Then it hit him. The gymnasium. 

Martial arts was a hobby he thoroughly enjoyed, whose aggressive nature coincided perfectly with his irritable temper.

Telepathically flicking his screen to the gym’s camera what he found surprised him. It was Gill & he was sparring with Airzel. 

Airzel was doing a good job of dodging Gill relentless blows. The Ventus battler tried to grab onto one of Gill’s arms to stop his attacks. He succeeded, but Gill simply used that to his advantage by taking ahold of Airzel’s arm & pulling himself towards him to deliver a fierce punch to the side of his protege’s head.

A cruel smile formed on the red head’s face as Airzel landed on his side. However, when the smaller man started to get back up, he quickly concealed it behind his usual stoic mask. 

“That’s enough for today. You’re excused.”

The Pyrus battler started walking towards a set of weights. 

“I’ll keep training for another hour.” Gill said before Airzel had time to inquire

The pupil nodded & curtly left.  

‘How convenient’ Barodius thought to himself. 

Once he packed all he needed he ordered his servants to carry his equipment to the gymnasium as he slowly made his way closer towards Gill’s location. The emperor was trying to contain himself from smiling least someone see him & think he lost his mind. A single thought was to blame for his childlike excitement that restlessly continued to echo in his head. 

‘I can’t wait to break that bastard’s skull!’

Author’s note: I finally made it & it only took me 7 months 😅 Well, they say the first one is the most difficult, right? I also plan to post this on my ao3 soon.  Anyways, I’d like to thank you guys for expressing your genuine interest in this pairing & my writing. I’d like to thank @laggingbehindreality for reading a very early draft of this fic & giving me some feedback. I’m gonna tag some of my friends who were interested in checking out this pairing.  @just-halbeerd-things @hailey12panther

Constructive criticism is always welcome

#bakugan #emperor barodius #gill #Gill x Barodius #Dharak #Bakugan Gundalian Invaders #fanfiction

[myfandomrambles]

Rory Gilmore Character Analysis (Expanded)

Facts

raised by a single mom

basically abandoned by her father

grew up in a small town who adore her. Functionally like an extended family

huge reader

Family financially struggled when she was little

highly devoted to education

Goal oriented when she is young

Wants to be a journalist and travel

Highly obsessed with media of all kinds, a shared interest with her mother

Somewhat of a wallflower as a teen

attended an elite preparatory school for last three years of high school

Tends to do whatever is asked of her, most common with her grandparents going against her upbringing and mothers lifestyle

deeply competitive with her main Rival in school (Paris)

Excellent in academic settings

Displays a willingness to be in unhealthy relationships with her BF’s

Believes in a strict pattern in her life and rejects changes

Has visceral reactions to rejection, like with Mitchum

Learned to fit in well with an elite culture

Struggled in her work

Analysis:

Rory overall was a combination of natural gifts, communication issues, commitment, perfectionism, and a girl who faced very little criticism.

Rory’s relationship with her mother Lorelai is the deepest defining connection. Her taste in media and food come from her mom, as well as her struggles to form competent romantic connections. Lorelai instilled an independent identity as well as a fun-loving idea and a love of laughter. Lorelai also shaped Rory by acting as much of a friend as a parental figure, part of this was having trouble ever telling Rory “no”, or that anything she did was wrong. Rory was to some extent a parentified child. She helped run a lot of the boring but important parts of living and was the main emotional support for her mother. Lorelai and Rory also had a relationship that lacked normal boundaries between parent and child. Lorelai did love and support Rory. Lorelai would do everything she could for Rory and worked her ass off to give Rory everything she could to be happy and successful. Rory did know that, and it was important in her best characteristics.

Rory grew up with a very strong extended family in the form of stars hollow. Mia was a grandmother figure more than Emily when Rory was very young. Sookie acted as an aunt figure to Rory often, was at all the parties, baked the birthday cakes etc. Lane was her very close friend throughout her childhood. Lane appreciated Rory and Lorelai as an escape from her strict home life. Rory was influenced her in musical taste by lane, as well as her seeming to be Rory’s only friend around her age in stars hollow.

Luke was a large part of Rory’s life way before he dated Lorelai, often playing a fatherly role. He consistently made meals, helped with birthdays, giving presents, taking care of Rory when she was ill, fixing up the girls house, being deeply protective and attending her big events. Rory struggled with her lack of a father but seemed to really appreciate Luke even going to him when she was struggling during her and her mother’s huge fight.  He was awkward and sucked as much as the girls in proper communication, but tried as best he could to support her. Luke is just as protective as her own father, and present way more often.

The rest of the town: Ms Patty, Babette Dell, Morey Dell, Fran Weston, Bootsy, Gypsy, Taylor Doose, Mrs Kim, Jackson Belleville, Andrew & Kirk Gleason were all very important in Rory’s upbringing teaching her different things, keeping her in books. The town at large loved Rory as a kid and into her adulthood. They all come to birthdays and throw her a bon-voyage party.

Being surrounded by a large extended family in the form of the town gave Rory a kind of cushioned experience with how people treat one another. Even if she wasn’t intensely popular at school the town at large prop her up, told her she was wonderful and basically never told her that she was wrong. She was the darling of everyone. Rory was deserving in some senses, she was kind and helped with the town but she struggled to learn how to deal with other people realistically, expecting things to always go well and others not to take advantage of her.

Rory's relationship with her grandparents becomes extremely close after 15ish years of almost no interaction. They love Rory but are controlling in a way that causes strain. Another problem they often have is they are also navigating around the fallout of Lorelai and her parents' history. Emily and Richard want to "fix" what went "wrong" with Lorelai. Rory is their second chance, placing an unfair expectation. They also feed Rory's need to be perfect and expectation of getting it. One reason I do think they click is they do in a way give her more traditional parenting. Lorelai struggled to balance her want to be friends with Rory and Parent, Emily and Richard are always parents. I do think even with headstrong, stubborn and independent person like Rory to have people care for her and not force decisions on her. But this becomes toxic when she lives with them and she suffers the stifling aspect of emotionally controlling and abusive nature of the Gilmores.

Dean was her first love and an important part of her life for a long time. Her relationship with Dean was fine enough in the beginning but Rory overlooked the part of that that wasn’t healthy. The unhealthy behaviours grew overtime instead of exceeding good parts, this ultimately leading to them having an affair and Dean hurting his wife. Rory was supported in this relationship when she was younger by most of the people around her. Rory wanted him to be the one and only but it was an unrealistic goal. Their second try at a relationship began as cheating and ended when Dean realised she had more to her life than being his girlfriend.

Her relationship with Jess started off as a kind of forbidden romance against the wishes of society and the feelings started while she was dating someone else. the relationship was strained for a lot of the time because they both sucked at communication. She was also the only person besides Luke Jess ever had, it's hard to experience a healthy relationship when you are really the only person the other one has. They did care deeply for each other though, and end up helping the other be a better person through their deep understanding of each other, even if their romance didn't work out.

Logan and her relationship was mostly healthy in terms of making each other happy and was the best communication, though that is a low bar. In slightly less productive he was also a large part in her embracing the partying lifestyle. He also enables worse impulses like leaving Yale, he doesn't force them but his lack of care and Hakuna Matta lifestyle making it easy. Their disagreements like the others come mostly from lack of communication and being hyperemotional people. Rory expects him to be the worst he can be, and he doesn't take time to think through what he doesn't. They also have similar family lives which cause strain, though the handle it differently, Rory tries to be the perfect Gilmore while Logan bucks the system. Logan also has aa implied Alcohol addiction problem which of course strains their lives, as it always does.

Rory's relationship with Paris Geller is another huge one in her life. They start off pretty much enemies in school. Paris is so obsessed with being the absolute best she hates that Rory is able to match her skill and standing in the class. She spends much of the first year playing games to have more success and power. Rory is also a perfectionist and has the same natural skill and usually, the same time and work put in.  Rory ends up seeing that Paris is deeply insecure and has even worse family relationships then she has ever had. It's hard for them to hate each other when they are both struggling to be as best they can, working together. They end up being more "frenemies" for the last two years of high school and in college.  They push each other forward a lot and support them as time goes on. Paris's intensity and propensity to think everyone is acting against her, and their inherent need for competition keeps them going back and forth quite a bit. But they stay friends for their whole adulthood seen in AYTL.

Rory slid into higher society better than her mother ever did. She was close to her grandparents that might have been healthy they expected a better Lorelai and in many ways, that’s what they got. Rory learned the functions well, attended elite schools and dated a Huntzberger. Rory, in the beginning, so conflicts averse she did as she was told, and then adopted much of that lifestyle by choice later. This society allowed her intellect to continue to be praised as well as her looks and luck of birth.

Rory’s friends and family viewing her as usually flawless has always been the best, and truly being naturally gifted academically made it very hard for Rory to deal with any rejection. She is so deeply perfectionist that losing is unexpected and quickly hugely destabilizing. We see this when she isn’t perfect at college and then in extreme form with Mitchum Huntzburger.

Rory broke down twice around not living up to her and others expectation. The second time landing her in jail and listless in her purpose. This dates back to her never being told know and perfectionist tendencies.

Inbetween the end and AYTL we see she burned out early and was fine cheating on her boyfriend (who she treats real shitty) by sleeping with an ex who was engaged. She falls back on her most destructive tendencies forgetting that even with her natural gifts she had actually done the work when she was, young.

Overall Rory is generally kind and willing to help others, her lack of communication and relationship skills were often detrimental to her. Her overstated belief in her own raw talent and tendency to deny the obvious made her professional life struggle as well.

ADHD:

RSD

hyperactivity

hyper interest

hyper fixating

needs a schedule to function

attempts organization but has trouble sticking to it

outbursts of emotion

rambling

impulsivity often masked my anxiety

difficulty in social settings

struggles to understand her emotions

Bolting

GAD:

An overwhelming fear of failure

easily overwhelmed by stimuli

easily stressed out

escapism through books

fear of expressing emotions causing bottling up till it spills over

needs things done in one way

Obsessive behaviours, organization and studying

panic attacks when she is older

people pleaser to avoid conflict

perfectionist 

rumination

struggles to define her needs in relationships

#fandom: #GG #Gilmore Girls #topic: #analysis series #character analysis #Character Study #nd headcanons #anxiety headcanons #adhd headcanons #relationships #meta #Character: #rory gilmore #Luke Danes #Paris Geller #Emily Gilmore #richard gilmore #Lorelai Gilmore #jess mariano #Logan Huntzberger #dean forester #ship: #rory gilmore & lorelai gilmore #emily gilmore & rory gilmore #richard gilmore & rory gilmore #rory gilmore/jes mariano #logan huntzberger/rory gilmore #type: #my post

[ridiculissa]

SPOILERS! my thoughts after watching 13 reasons why season 3:

Overall, I think it was a successful season. I actually like how there is more seasons and not just the first one based off of the book. Season 3 (especially the final ep) reminded me a lot of HTGAWM, just a high school version. 

I appreciate how Tyler was an example of a character who considered suicide, but was able to seek help and get better, which unfortunately wasn’t an option for Hannah. His character really grew during this season and it was great. That scene with Tyler breaking down and explaining what happened to him was HEARTBREAKING. It was great to see so many people support him, even those you would think would be unlikely to, during this season.

 I love how Dr. Singh was depicted as a mental health professional who was actually able to do her job correctly and assist the characters, unlike Mr. Porter. I love how Tyler included her on the wall of photos at Monet’s. 

I don’t know how I feel about Ani. When the season started, I was really confused on who she was, why she was being so nosy, and why she knew everyone’s secrets. She is not my favorite character, and honestly I wish I could have seen more of Tony or Zach or even CHLOE or any other charcter besides her, who was in every single episode. I was so mad at how she allowed herself to get close to Bryce even though she knew what he had done. However, I do see how her character played a somewhat important role. (I feel like a lot of people are jumping on the hate bandwagon without developing their own opinions)

Alex kind of annoyed me this season too? I mean, he was never one of my favorite characters but idk. Does he think he is invincible because his father is the Sheriff? One day he’s taking steroids and snorting cocaine with his girlfriend’s former rapist and the next he is throwing the same guy into the river. It seems like he doesn’t think twice about anything. I do feel bad for him since he has been through a lot and I do hope he is able to get the help he deserves next season, but he irritates me.

Zach and Chloe’s friendship was sweet. & I really appreciate the realistic abortion scene & journey. I wish they showed more of this friendship or even Chloe’s character at all throughout the season.

I love all the mothers?? Ani’s mother: always looking out for her. Bryce’s mother: was there for him when he was trying to better himself and is able to acknowledge both the good and the bad about her son and others in her life (her father and grandfather). Hannah’s mother: super passionate and caring about those that were in Hannah’s life, even after her death. also incredibly strong, inspiring, and honest. Clay’s mother: supportive even when there is evidence that her son could have committed murder, also adopts justin and on Thanksgiving says she will provide whatever help he needs to recover from his addiction with no judgement. 

Justin! Ah, I love his relationship with Clay and also with Jessica. He has also grown a lot through the seasons. It upsets me that he kept going back to drugs but it is hard to recover from being an addict, and it took a lot of strength for him to ask for help on Thanksgiving. 

Clay always has the same expression and it bugs me lol. He is such a good friend though, honestly. It is creepy how obsessive and jealous he gets about girls but when it comes to his friends, he will do anything to help them.

It bothers me how they tried so hard to make the viewers feel sympathetic towards Bryce, but i also understand how they were trying to show that changing for the better is possible and I am upset that we couldn’t see what he could have become.

Monty is disgusting and I really didn’t feel bad for him at all, even when they threw the father into the mix (okay maybe a little) but in all honesty a lot of people had shitty dads and were able to grow from that experience and become a better person. Monty decided he was going to be a complete POS. He deserved to go to prison and I don’t care that he died, I also don’t care that he was also blamed for murdering Bryce. 

The whole protest at Bryce’s funeral was horrible. Yes, Bryce was also a disgusting person who raped and abused many girls but a funeral is not the right time or place for a protest and will not get the right message across. It is disrespectful to the family. I think the principal was right, and I believe that he actually did support Jessica and her club and was trying to help her by preventing her from making mistakes that could ruin her movement. Also, I am glad that the other leader of the HO group (can’t remember her name and I’m too lazy to find it) came around at the end because she really got on my nerves most of the season. A lot of times the feminist movement was put in a negative light but I also think that was to highlight that there are right and wrong ways to go about things. 

In general, all of the characters say fuck too much to the point where it pretty much loses its effect. Also, they all say “Jesus!” excessively when acting shocked/surprised. I wish there was a little more creativity and variety in the writing.

I know this is a long post, but it was over 13 hours of content that I had a lot of opinions on lol and this isn’t even all of my thoughts! Did anyone feel the same way about anything?

#personal #diary #13rw #13 reasons why #13 reasons why 3 #13 reasons why season 3 #netflix #netflix original #series #tv series #teen drama #teen tv #high school #tv show #personal blog #multifandom

[chasholidays]

hi, a bellarke timestamp for the butt crazy in love verse would be awesome!

Series here!

Not to be that guy, but Bellamy doesn’t really get marriage proposals.

On a practical level, obviously, they make sense. Marriage is a mixed institution, overall, but he understands why people want to get married and that they need to ask their significant others if they feel the same. But proposals as this big, romantic surprise don’t make a lot of sense to him. It’s not as if he should unilaterally be deciding that he and Clarke should get married.

Not that he’s ever thought he and Clarke wouldn’t get married; she started making references to it pretty early, almost as soon as they were dating, and it always felt inevitable to him too, in the best way. That’s how it’s always been with Clarke: by the time they got together, he hadn’t had any doubt that she was it for him. It’s nice, obviously, wonderful, but that makes it awkward too.

The early steps of their relationship were easy, uncomplicated, thoughtless. The first couple years they were dating, Clarke was still in college and he was still in law school, and once they were done, they moved in together. Clarke started working at the MFA and he got a job with the law firm where he’d interned, where they liked him a lot more than he liked them. The hours were too long and the jobs are shitty, but after two years, he’d made enough to clear up most of his debt, and by four, he was getting savings, like a real adult.

Clarke was the one who told him to quit, but not in the way it happens on TV, when there’s some shitty ultimatum about how he loved his job more than he loved her, which he obviously never did. It was Christmas and he got a call from his boss that he had to take, which turned out to just be forwarding a client who wanted to spend an hour yelling at him. Once he was done, he went back to the living room, and Clarke leaned into his side.

“I love you,” she said, “and you can do whatever you want. But if I were you, I’d be thinking about whether or not what I wanted was another job. You could find something that pays you more than enough and doesn’t make you miserable.”

“I’m not miserable,” he said, which wasn’t really the point.

Clarke didn’t miss a beat. “You could find something that contributes to not being miserable. Something that improves your life instead of making it worse.”

“What a concept.”

Her lips pressed against his shoulder. “It’s your decision, I’m not going to tell you what to do. But–at some point, you have enough money to realize that it isn’t worth it to do whatever you can to get more money. I hope you get there soon.”

Jobs like this one had been why he went into pre-law, why he went to law school. He saw Jake Griffin with his big house and his perfect family, and it made so much sense. Lawyers are rich; if he was a lawyer, and he’d have a good life too.

And he did have it, of course. He was dating Jake’s perfect daughter, and they didn’t have a house of their own yet, but they did own their condo. They had a mortgage. This was what success looked like.

But it wasn’t what he wanted.

Two months from the next Christmas, and Bellamy’s got a new job, a worse one, by most objective standards. He makes less money and has less prestige, but he’s not expected to work every hour of the day and he’s no longer worrying that he’s actually making the world a worse place. He has more time to spend with his girlfriend and his friends, to feel like a person.

He has a good life, and it feels like the next step is marriage, but for some reason, it’s tripping him up.

“How did you decide to propose to Monty?” he asks Miller. The two of them have been married for two years now, and Bellamy remembers having the conversation again with Clarke at their wedding: this will be us someday. It hadn’t seemed pressing, particularly.

“I wanted to,” Miller says, with a shrug. “And I got a good idea for it.”

Bellamy has to smile. Miller had gone into Monty’s Stardew Valley game in the middle of the night and changed the names of all his livestock to Monty will you marry me? I hope you’re seeing these in order, which of course he hadn’t. He’d spent ten minutes writing down all the words until he got to marry, at which point he’d figured it out and said yes.

“Don’t tell me you’re worried about proposing to Clarke,” Miller adds, giving Bellamy a look. “You guys have been married since before you started dating.”

“I think that’s my problem,” he admits, with a sigh. “I don’t know how to–it’s a big deal, but not a big deal, you know? It feels like what I should be doing, but why do it now? Why not last month or next year?”

“Why not next year?” Miller asks, as placid as ever. “Why are you thinking about it now?”

“I think it feels like the next step. Like–everything else is set, time to get married. But that’s–shitty.”

“You know she wants to marry you. You know she’s going to. It doesn’t matter when you ask. If you want to marry her, you should marry her. If you’re thinking about asking, maybe it means you’re ready. But I think you’re going to know when it’s right. You’ll think about doing it, and it’ll just click. Everything will come together.”

“You’re so wise,” he teases.

“You asked me for advice, you don’t get to make fun of me for giving it to you. Look, you’re in great shape, okay? You found the woman you’re going to marry, all you have to do is figure out when you’re going to marry her. If you don’t do it soon enough for her, she’ll ask you. I’m not saying it’s impossible for you to fuck this up, but you’d probably actually have to be trying. You know how to make Clarke happy.”

“Yeah, I know.” He gives Miller half a smile. “And I know this isn’t a real problem.”

He shrugs. “It’s an opportunity. You’re get to do something romantic for your girlfriend, and there’s no rush. Come up with something good and figure out how to do it. You’ll know it when you know it.”

“That’s true.” He smiles. “Thanks for the advice. I knew I could count on you.”

“I’ve been waiting to be your best man for like ten years,” he says, with a shrug. “Just say the word.”

“Yeah,” says Bellamy. “You’ll be the second to know.”

*

With most problems in his life, Clarke is the first person he talks to. Sometimes, like with his old job, she talks to him about his problems before he’s even aware of them, before he’s willing to admit they are problems. It’s one of the amazing things about having someone like Clarke, someone who knows him as well as he knows himself, and part of him expects her to figure out the engagement thing, to have realized he’s worrying about it.

But the thing about proposing to her is that it’s not really bad worrying. It isn’t grinding him into slow misery like his job was, isn’t a problem for her to help fix. It reminds him of nothing so much as those months between the Halloween party when he realized he was almost ready to tell her how he felt and her parents’ party where he actually did, a strange, pending state between relationship upgrades. There’s the same anxiety, the same persistent doubt that something will go wrong, despite every rational part of his brain telling him that it won’t.

So it’s mostly a nice kind of worry, nothing Clarke would notice, nothing she has to fret over.

Which actually complicates things a little.

“Is that a new ring?” he asks, tapping the band on her right hand. It’s not, and he knows it, but she doesn’t wear it that often, and for whatever reason, society has decided that people don’t just say I’m thinking of proposing and I want to get you a ring. It’s a surprise. And he needs information.

Clarke blinks, frowns. “No, my mom got it for me last Christmas, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. You don’t wear it that much, I forgot what it looked like.”

She shrugs. “It’s not really me, I guess. Not my style.”

If she’s deliberately giving him clues, there’s no indication of it. She’s so casual. “Yeah, you’re not much of a jewelry person.”

“I don’t dislike jewelry,” she protests. “But my mom thinks giving cash is tacky, so she gives me jewelry, and she doesn’t know what I like.”

“Your mom doesn’t know what to get you for holidays? Wow, I can’t relate at all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she says, laughing. “I know. She’s doing her best. And it’s a really nice ring! Plenty of people would love to get it. And maybe I could get comfortable with it. Besides, if I’m not wearing it at Thanksgiving, Mom will think I didn’t like it–”

“Which you don’t,” he teases, and she elbows him, grinning.

“It was a nice gesture. I can be nice back.”

His fingers trace the band. It’s gold, which he knows isn’t her favorite, with small, bright red gemstones, probably rubies. It’s a pretty piece, and he understands what she means. It would suit another person; it would suit Abby. But Clarke isn’t her mother.

“Could you try to drop some hints about what you actually like? Do you want me to help? If she’s going to buy you this stuff, we might as well try to make her get you something you like.”

“Maybe I’ll add some jewelry to my wish list. She’d never buy it for me, but maybe she’d get the general idea.”

“Can’t hurt.”

She snuggles closer. “Is it bad that I already can’t wait for the holidays to be over? We’re still a few weeks away from Thanksgiving and I just want it to be, like, Martin Luther King Day. I get the day off work and I’m not expected to do anything.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s why people have kids, so they’ll get excited about holidays again.”

She groans. “God, don’t remind me. You know we’re going to get a ton of questions about when we’re getting married and reproducing.”

His breath catches, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Yeah, that’s how it usually goes.” Once his heart rate is under control, he kisses her hair. “Seriously, we’ve still got a few more weeks to Thanksgiving, why are you already worrying about it?”

“Not to be an asshole, but because your sister got married.”

He has to laugh. “Okay, yeah. That makes total sense. I’m happy for her, but there’s definitely going to be more pressure on us.”

“You’ve been dating for so much longer than Octavia and Lincoln, I don’t see what you’re waiting for.”

“So you’re going to wear the ring your mom gave you and hope she doesn’t notice you don’t have one from me?” It feels a little risky, bringing it up so directly, but apparently he’s hitting a deep vein of stress he hadn’t picked up on. It’s so much more important to check in with Clarke and make sure she’s feeling okay than it is to keep his proposal plans secret. If he needs to offer now to reduce the amount of stress in her life, he can do that.

“The perfect crime.”

“Do you want to be engaged?” he asks, gentle.

She twists around to kiss him, firm. “I’m not fishing for anything. I don’t really care, I guess? Obviously I’m going to marry you, we all know that, but I don’t really need to marry you, you know? I don’t get why everyone acts like it’s such a huge deal. We’re going to do it, and it’ll be good when we do. But for all I know we’re already common-law married.”

“There’s no common law marriage in Massachusetts,” he says, absent. “But yeah, I get what you mean. I still want to marry you, obviously. But I get tired of people thinking it’s a red flag that it hasn’t happened yet.”

“Thanksgiving won’t be so bad. A few passive aggressive comments from my mom about how much she loved Octavia and Lincoln’s wedding, probably a lot of questions for them about when kids are coming, but mostly fine. It’s just one day.”

Thanksgiving generally is the better of their holidays; he and Clarke and Octavia all go over to the Griffins’s along with any of Abby’s residents who aren’t going home, and it’s always pretty small and lowkey. Plus, they’re still in Boston, so they don’t have to travel anywhere or be away from home. It’s basically an intense family dinner, a prelude to going to Virginia to spend Christmas and New Year’s with Clarke’s extended family.

The first time Bellamy went, he was convinced they’d hate him, and he remembers clearly telling Clarke how surprised he was that Christmas Eve wasn’t a disaster. She’d given him a look full of fond exasperation and reminded him that what they were seeing wasn’t a poor boy on a scholarship, but a smart, handsome young man studying law at Harvard. He’s still getting used to the idea that he’s seen as a good match for Clarke, someone who deserves her.

They’re not upset that he’s marrying her, just that he hasn’t done it yet. It’s a staggering thought. The Christmas visits are always intense, but it’s love that’s smothering them. That helps.

“We could do something else for Christmas this year. I could say I have to work.”

“I like seeing most of them. It’s not–” She huffs. “I’m just tired of having an awesome life and hearing how it’s not good enough because I don’t have–” She smiles at her hand. “A ring.”

“I’m going to get you one,” he says. It feels safe enough. “Someday. If you want one sooner–”

She kisses him again. “Whenever you’re ready,” she says. “I’m not in a rush.”

*

“I want to propose before Thanksgiving,” Bellamy explains to the cheerful woman at the ring showroom. He set up an appointment during his lunch break, let Charles know where he’d be and why he might be late coming back. His boss had been thrilled, of course, almost comically supportive, and he thinks everyone else will feel the same. This is going to be good news. “But I’m not sure–” He huffs. “I feel weird picking out a ring.”

“Well, that’s why you come here,” she says, smiling. “We help you figure out what you’d like.”

“It’s not what I’d like, it’s what she would want. She’s not big on jewelry, and she’s the one who’s going to have to wear it.”

“Okay, well, we can work with that.”

He cocks his head. “Really?”

“You’re not the only person to have this problem. You’ve got two options.”

“Only two?”

“Two general options,” she says, with a wave of her hand. “We’ll start with the first and if it doesn’t work go to the second.”

“Which is?”

“First, we’ll talk about what you know about what your girlfriend likes and what might be a good fit for her. If you come up with a design you like, we can go with it. If you don’t, we have placeholder rings you can use for the proposal, and then you can come back with her to have her pick.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to do that.”

“Still, you can look,” the girl says, with a grin. “You can always show her what you came up with, even if you don’t go with it.”

Once she’s made that suggestion, there’s no way Bellamy’s going with anything else. But the woman is good at her job, and she draws out answers he didn’t even know he had in him. No, Clarke doesn’t like yellow gold, she prefers silver or platinum. Diamonds are fine, but she doesn’t get the big deal about them. Her favorite color is blue, and she’s said she likes blue and silver. Harper shows him some of the sapphires they have in stock, some settings it could go in, and he ends up getting talked into putting a 30-day hold on his favorite gem. She prints off a picture of the ring he designed, a preview image from the website, and sends him home with a placeholder ring on deposit.

The whole thing doesn’t even take an hour, and it leaves him dizzy and a little confused, reeling that there is an actual ring in his actual pocket, and he has a deadline for when he needs to tell Clarke about it if he doesn’t want to lose the gemstone he reserved.

He’s proposing to her, in the next few days, ideally. So they’ll have time to get all their ducks in a row for Thanksgiving. He just has to figure out what to say.

Charles gives him a big grin when he gets back to the office. “How did it go? You find one?”

“Yeah,” he says, hoping his smile isn’t too dazed. “I’m all set.”

*

He spends the rest of the afternoon failing to work and googling romantic proposal ideas, getting increasingly fed up with them. It’s not that any of them are bad, but he liked what Miller said about proposing. He has an opportunity here to do something nice for his favorite person in the world, and while he never needs an excuse for that, he wants this to be special, a good memory that will stay with her. He wants to look back at this and think he did it right.

But a lot of the romantic things he finds don’t really feel like they’d be the right gesture for Clarke. He doesn’t want to take her out to a fancy dinner and put the ring in a flute of champagne or get down on one knee in the park. He sinks another full day on How They Asked, and while the stories are all great, they just reinforce that none of those work for him and Clarke.

He tries to think of good memories he could use as inspiration, but so much of their early courtship wasn’t, and it’s not like he wants to recreate the time that asshole tried to grope her in his car or the time he took her to the ER and his then-girlfriend dumped him as romantic proposal memories.

But then Clarke comes back from work on Friday a week before Thanksgiving in utter exhaustion and says, “I don’t want to do a single thing this weekend.”

“Not even one?”

“As little as possible.”

“Bad week?”

“So much to do before Thanksgiving. I’m probably doing overtime next week, so I just want to have a good time this weekend.”

The thing Bellamy has learned about romance is that it’s relative. He couldn’t propose to Clarke like Miller did to Monty and have it mean as much. He buys Clarke a day planner every year for Christmas because she likes having a physical one in addition to her phone and her iPad, and she loves the gift, but plenty of other people wouldn’t. And there are also people who would want a big, bombastic proposal, but he doesn’t think that’s Clarke.

Clarke is tired and wants a relaxing weekend, and he can give her that.

He goes shopping by himself on Saturday morning, assuring her he doesn’t mind and she can sleep in. She’s awake and on the couch in pajamas by the time he gets home, so she helps him put everything away, smiles as she sees all the special things he bought.

“Wow, you’re going to spoil me, huh?”

“It sounds like you need it.”

She leans up and kisses him. “You’re the best, thank you.”

“If you could cook, you’d do the same for me.”

“I’d pay for your takeout.”

“I know you would. But you’re the one who needs a break this weekend, so sit down while I make you pancakes.”

It’s not an answer all by itself, not a sufficient plan for proposing. But he can spend the weekend pampering her and wait for the right moment. He has the ring box in his bag, almost always close enough if the urge to propose strikes with no risk of her finding it. He can have it on very short notice.

They watch Netflix for most of Saturday, and on Sunday, she decides she wants to get a pet.

“A pet?” he asks, surprised. “You want a pet?”

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I was going to do it as a Christmas present, but that seemed shitty. Pets shouldn’t be a surprise.”

“No, probably not. Is this really the best time?”

“You’re off after Tuesday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And then I have something nice to come back to. Other than you,” she adds quickly, and he laughs.

“Yeah, you’re used to me. Have you already researched shelters? Where are we going? What kind of pet do we want?”

“I might have some ideas.”

By “ideas,” she of course means spreadsheets, because that’s how Clarke is, and he adores her beyond all reason. She checked yesterday while they were watching TV, came up with a list of options. She wants either one large-ish dog or two cats, and when Bellamy votes for the cats so they’ll each have one and don’t have to take them on walks, Clarke pulls up a few options.

“I think my first choice is these two, they’re siblings. But that’s if they like us, and if they’re still available when we get there, so they’ll probably be pretty in demand, so–”

He grins. “So we should go as soon as possible, right?”

“This doesn’t derail your weekend plans, does it?” she asks, sounding sheepish. “You still haven’t cooked all your fancy groceries.”

“They’ll keep. The weekend plan is to make you happy, so if cats will do that–”

“You want them, right? We aren’t going to adopt two cats just because I had a bad week. But I thought you liked pets.”

“I do like pets. And now if anyone asks us when we’re having kids at Christmas, we can just say we’re busy with our new cats.”

“As a bonus.”

It’s not too far to the shelter Clarke found, and there’s little enough traffic that it’s not quite open when they get there. There’s a Starbucks near by and they pick up drinks and split a slice of coffee cake, eat it quickly enough they’re still the first people to be looking at pets. The two cats Clarke selected are a boy and a girl, siblings, one gray and the other white, just under a year old. They’re bright and eager for attention, and when Bellamy picks up the girl for the first time, he knows there’s no way they’re going home without these cats.

It doesn’t take any longer than the ring appointment did, all these things that feel like they should be huge, monumental things, and instead it’s done in a matter of minutes. Just like that, he and Clarke are cat owners, and she keeps the two of them in her lap as they drive first to the pet store for supplies and then back home. The ring is in his pocket now, the weight pressing against his leg.

It’s going to be so soon.

They set up food and litter boxes and toys, let the cats start to explore. Their names, at least at the shelter, were Shadow and Milkie, but they were abandoned, and don’t seem to have any attachments to the names. Clarke let Bellamy name them, and he goes with Artemis and Apollo, obvious, maybe, but on-brand for him.

“Sorry I couldn’t wait for Christmas,” says Clarke, as they watch Apollo pounce on a catnip mouse. “But I kind of–I thought about it as a Christmas present, but it didn’t feel like that, I guess. It felt like just something we should do.”

“I know exactly what you mean. I’ve actually got a present like that for you.”

She looks up at him, surprised. “Yeah?”

It’s so much easier than he was expecting, one fluid motion of kneeling down and pulling the box out of his pocket, opening it up for her.

There will be more to talk about after this moment, the picture of the ring he designed (which she’ll love), discussion of when to tell people (after Thanksgiving, at Clarke’s request) and what they want the wedding to be like (small and lowkey), but those things will come later.

What he wanted to give her most was this single, shining moment, the happy surprise that engagement is supposed to be. And as the joy spreads over her face, the laugh bubbles out of her throat, the tear springs into her eye, he finally gets it. This is how it’s supposed to be. This is what people want to achieve with all their complicated surprises.

And he’s pretty sure he nailed it.

#getoveryourselfmate

[slifers-executive-writer]

A Overall Discussion About Godzilla: King of the Monsters 2019.

It has been awhile since I wrote an original piece on my blog, and while I’ve stated this is mostly for my writing and anime fandom, I cannot help but include one of my other passions. That is of course the movies. One topic that has been going around the internet lately is the potential flop that is Godzilla:KOTM 2019. I will put it out there right now, that while this movie isn’t doing as good as I would like, I’m sure it will make its money back and I certainly don’t think it is a flop. But my main reason for writing this particular discussion is to clear the air about where this film stands. I’ve been hearing a lot of reviews both top critical and various Youtubers complain about this thing and my overall observation is a lot of them claim to ‘like’ Godzilla and yet clearly don’t understand a goddamn thing.

A very similar thing happened with Detective Pikachu. Both movies not scoring that great on Rotten Tomatoes and overall critic/Youtuber reception being very mixed, yet the general audience seemed to enjoy both summer blockbusters. Both films suffered from a lot of ‘reviewers’ not doing even the smallest amount of research on source material before opening their big angry mouths and complaining why certain characters or concepts weren’t included.  

And example complaint on these films were:

Detective Pikachu: wHeRe Is TeAm RoCkeT?

Godzilla KOTM: wHy ArEn’T tHeRe OtHeR tOhO mOnStErS?

Yes these were real complaints.

Now in all honesty, I know neither of these movies are masterpieces as in terms of depth of plot or character arcs. If I had to choose one, I would definitely say it terms of the human elements, Detective Pikachu was a much better film. So I am fully aware that these flicks are complete nostalgia pandering hunks of cheese. 

And yet I still found myself enjoying both films to the point where I clapped at the end. The same way almost everyone and their grandmother did for the Avengers. So what is it about this hot garbage making so many people flock to the theaters multiple times to see them?

It’s the simple fact that we have had these Japanese properties in our lives for several decades. Pokemon (1998) & Godzilla (1954). If anyone grew up on either of these or both (such as myself) then we know that as long as these Americanized films are a loads of fun, we can forgive the lazy messy plots. But perhaps that is why these movies aren’t what we all wish they could be...because they are created on American soil. 

You see unfortunately, Hollywood has been in one of the most non-creative/reboot mayhem crisis I’ve ever witnessed. Big corporate studios have to pump out as many safe reboot/non original IPs as possible and it seems to have lost most it’s writing talent as well. If certain directors and producers aren’t behind a project, then the adapted movie (such those inspired by anime and other foreign film franchises) probably won’t have much substance. Not to mention Western filmmakers and our critics don’t seem to fully understand the culture shock of the growing popularity in these Japanese properties. Nor do they understand the appeal of these features, hence all the negative/angry reviews. We have seen this time and time again. And it is nothing new.

Now let’s get back to Godzilla: KOTM. It was a fun ride no doubt. The CGI was incredible, and with certain recent Marvel and DC films, this is a mark a lot of those films miss. So thank Godzilla that our beloved kaijus and other effects looked gorgeous. The cinematography for the monsters was also done very well. There are plenty of moments where we truly understand the grand size of these creatures. Overall the fights were awesome and mind numbing. And the music, oh my god the scoring was incredible. Done by Bear McCreary, who did the recent God of War installation did our Kaiju King a great service. Paying homage to classic Godzilla themes was the perfect icing on the cake. So what was the big complaint? 

Lol These dumbasses. The people in any robot/kaiju/creature feature seem to be the hardest thing directors cannot figure out no matter how hard they try. But let us admit that we as viewers are pretty hypocritical in this argument. On one hand we ask for a shit ton of monster brawls and on the other hand, we complain their are too many explosions and that the effect wears off after a while. We want human stories and then we complain that they are in the movie at all. Godzilla KOTM by no means has a good human story. Some moments with the military and Ken Watanabe were fine, but the idiots in the images above this movie did not need...like at all. I especially hated the father and mother figures. Like yeah Eleven (Milly Bobby Brown), I would run the fuck away too. I’m not excusing the writers for the shitty human plot, I’m just explaining as to why we still suffer from this problem. However, if you are a fan of the Godzilla franchise, you know for a majority of the films, the human plot is not much better than what we see here. Maybe that was Michael Dougherty’s point. He claimed that this was the ultimate film for Godzilla fans and quite frankly, maybe he is right.

Aside from the very first film (Gojira 1954), the human elements of these films were always lack luster, silly, and even forced. Yet so many people are quick to judge our American filmmakers for ruining what ‘only the Japanese can do right’ and in all honesty I’ve never heard such a false statement. The image above is from one of my favorites, Godzilla 2000. Japan’s fuck you to the terrible 1998 film. But when watching this, did you really care about this guy, his daughter, and his dumbass girlfriend. Or the scientists and their anime-esque villain. The answer is probably no. In any of these kaiju films, very rarely do we ‘really’ care about the people. We just want to see the action. The plots are always, cliche, predictable, and stuffing in some bullshit environmental awareness message. Nukes are bad and people suck. But we love Godzilla (practically a walking nuke) anyway. 

Godzilla KOTM, is the same shit we’ve seen before only with American styled editing and tropes. So lots of quick cuts and a focus on the family unit. But hey the special effects are so much better than anything we have seen previously. I don’t have to laugh when I see wires and crappy green screen, or using the same footage from a previous movie. Nope. All our favorite kaijus are in beautiful IMAX quality and are ready to wreck cities worldwide. This is the film fans asked for and we got it. Oh and before the next person complains that the Japanese can only do it better, here is what was done before this.

We got Evangelion Goji with AIDs and CG Tree Goji with Ramen Noddles Ghidorah. While Shin Godzilla was a masterpiece over seas, if you didn’t understand the political subtext, then this film was an angsty destructive ride by a guy who can’t even finish his own art thesis of an anime. (I totally don’t have mixed feelings over Evangelion lol). I didn’t hate Shin Godzilla. It had its moments, but I didn’t think it held the same power of the film it was trying to emulate. Not to mention the CGI and sound design at points were just dreadful. As for the Netflix anime Godzilla trilogy...just wow. Aside from loving the physical design of this new Goji and his new powers, this story was worse than awful, it was downright boring. Even hardcore Godzilla fans had a hard time defending this mess of bad CG. With a promise of multiple featured kaiju and Mecha Godzilla, we get a hunk of nano metal and the only other kaiju actually featured looking like a pack of Maruchan coming down to like ...basically have a staring contest with Godzilla and then evaporate. What a fight for the ages...

In conclusion, I’m not sure if and when either Japan or American will ever truly get it right. We may like certain aspects of one film but hate the rest of it and the cycle will continue on and on. But as far as KOTM goes, I’m happy it exists and hope it does well enough for Legendary to renew its licenses with Toho. I and many others just want Godzilla in the roster and to continue the legacy. Something for future generations of children and adults to enjoy the romping monsters and hear their iconic roars. We can’t let this current toxic and hating Internet culture bitch and complain about concepts and niche cultures it doesn’t fully understand. Like the anime community, the Godzilla fandom is a unique one and has a niche audience. But perhaps like what the Marvel movies have done for comic book fans, the exclusion will lessen over time and become more mainstream. But for now, Godzilla KOTM is meant for a particular group of people and it seems for that bunch, it has made them plenty happy. Myself included. 

So what are your thoughts on this movie and others like?

Feel free to share your comments, reblogs, and however else you would like to respond down below. 

#godzilla #godzilla king of the monsters #godzilla kotm 2019 #legendary pictures #detective pikachu #rant #discussion #movies #american film #japanese film #gojira #kaiju #kaiju flicks #fuck the critics

[rainbow-hatted1]

What Boredom looks like

1. You just opened up a web browser. What is the first site you visit?

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/

Yeah, that’s sort of my jam. Reddit in general but that is my go to.

vv more below if you wanna deep dive. vv

2. You just walked into a bookstore. What section do you go to first?

The local published section. If it’s a good bookshop they usually have one. Usually it’s poetry, or short essay compilations or local history books but I tend to like the offerings and you’re supporting people who don’t have a big platform yet.

Otherwise, comics and fantasy are my next first stops.

3. You are hanging with your closest friends. What are you most likely doing?

Lately, not much of anything. Arguing… not talking… depressing things.

Ideally, though, there’s a good meal. Either we’ve cobbled it together on our own or it’s a decent take out option and video/board games. Quidditch if it’s a nice day. Basically, where we can sit and bullshit and laugh a lot. That’s the best time with my mates.

4. You just turned your car on. What station is the radio tuned to?

The independent/alt/rock station. In spite making pop music myself I don’t listen to it a lot. Which is probably weird.

5. You have just woken up for the morning. What is the first things you do?

Try to go back to sleep.

6. Complete this phrase: You cannot buy happiness, but you can buy____.

Tacos

7. What would you do if you woke up as the opposite gender?

Probably touch my boobs entirely too much. Liz calls them boob checks… well, if they’re quick and random, this would probably be fondling.  I am ashamed of this answer but it’s likely what I’d do.

8. Are you more likely to cook for yourself or buy food from a restaurant?

I’m prone to laziness but I actually find cooking relaxing so cook for myself. Saves money too. It’s just a good practice to have in general.

9. If you had to lose one of your senses, which one would you rather lose?

Smell, probably. I enjoy food too much to lose taste. And between sight and hearing, I’d miss not having those senses and touch is just kind of important as a human being.  

10. If you could relive any one year of your life, how old would you be?

Dunno

11. Would you take a bullet for anyone you know?

A few someones

12. Would you rather be rich and dumb or poor and extremely intelligent?

Poor and intelligent. Better chances of bettering my situation with that one.

13. What TV character do you most relate to?

Sam Gardner from Atypical.

14. You just walked into a supermarket. What section do you first go to?

Produce. Yeah, you all thought I’d go for the bakery and desserts. Don’t lie.

15. Is sex before marriage wrong?

No. It’s human. So is waiting. It shouldn’t be as polarizing as it is. Sex is part of life and how you want to experience it is entirely up to you.

16. You just won the lottery. What is the first thing you do with your winnings?

Get a lawyer and not tell anyone I won. People get shitty when you have a lot of money. They expect you to make it rain and I wouldn’t. I’d also take the weekly installments. More money overall and you are far less likely to tank yourself with the winnings. Just saying.

17. If your best friend admitted that they have a crush on you, how would you react?

I would be awkward as fuck. Love him, not like that and he has a girlfriend so yeah… it’d be fucked up.

18. Will the USA ever have a female president?

At this point in time: no. Again, this is a polarizing question that shouldn’t be. A woman could run the country I’m not women in charge by that answer. Don’t read into it. I’m merely saying, that with the way the country appears to be currently they will not vote for that. I’m sorry. It’s stupid.

19. You are carpooling with your friends. Are you more likely to be the driver or a passenger?

Passenger. I don’t drive.

20. How short is too short for skirts and dresses?

I’m not ancient or wearing a skirt so I don’t think it matters, but I tend to prefer more modest options on girls.

21. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, without any consequences, what food would you choose?

Pizza.

22. It’s Saturday night. What are you most likely doing?

Sleeping.

23. You go on a blind date. Your date is extremely beautiful and physically captivating, but you hate their personality. Would you want a second date?

No.

24. How strict should gun laws be?

I think Australia had the right reaction to a massacre

25. Would you rather be the worst player on the best team or the best player on the worst team?

Best player on the worst team. Hopefully, they wouldn’t resent me and we could have a good 90’s style underdog story.

26. How well do you work with others?

Not well.

27. You have the ability to cure only one fatal disease and eradicate it forever. What disease do you choose?

I don’t want that power. Either way people are gonna die and wonder why I couldn’t cure all cancer or something else that’s just as bad…and inevitably another disease will surface that’s worse. There will always be disease even if we don’t like it.

28. If you could go back to college and choose a different degree to study, would you?

Well, considering I’m not in college yet I can still change my mind on that one, but I probably wouldn’t. Care of Magical Creatures but I haven’t zoned in on the specific avenue I want to go in that field yet.

29. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Er… traveling the countryside looking for magical creatures and documenting them in the wild. It’d be cool if my friends joined once in a while.

30. Are you pro-life or pro-choice?

Pro-choice isn’t anti-life, for fucks sake people.

31. Would you attend a same sex wedding if invited?

Yeah. If my mates fell in love and get married, I’m gonna be at the party regardless of sexes involved.

32. So far, what has been the greatest day of your life?

The first time HM played to a sold out crowd. That was pretty shocking. We’ve done it since and Nik has carried on doing it on his own but that day was scary and humbling and epic.

33. Has anyone you know ever been arrested?

Yeah, wrongly so but they saw what they wanted and went that’s our guy. Luckily, he didn’t get sent away for good.

34. If it could be one season year-round, what season do would you want it to be?

Fall. But like warm fall not close to winter fall. That fall sucks.

35. What is your biggest regret in life?

Saying such shit things about Anna and Charlie’s mum because I was mad at him. We’ve never recovered from it and it was a stupid in the moment blind rage bullshit thing I can’t ever take back.

36. If you could bring one celebrity back from the dead, who would it be?

John Lennon, probably. But the thing is, not everyone is upset their deaths were untimely. That’s more the livings problem than the dead, I’ve come to learn.

37. What offends you the most?

When people assume how I’m feeling. I’m not exactly easy to read, I know that, and I have a hard time wrapping my own head around my thoughts and feelings. So when I am feeling something and someone says I’m feeling another way because my face doesn’t wash with an emotion or my reaction doesn’t match like it allegedly should it’s really upsetting to me and just makes things worse.

38. Would you rather have an ugly hairstyle or be bald?

Do what you want. It’s just hair

39. At what age did you have your first alcoholic beverage?

16. Yeah, I think that’s right.

40. What do you think happens to us when we die?

Ideally, you move on to another plane. Kind of like a multiverse but one for endings. For a bit you can linger between the here as we know it and there but eventually you either stay and become a ghost or a poltergeist (which depends solely on your continued mental state on the matter of your death) but most move on beyond the veil.

41. What do you think is the best way to quit smoking?

I don’t know.

42. If you could take home any one animal from the zoo, which animal would you choose?

A bear of some sort. Polar, Grizzly, Black…. Whatever they’ve got. Not all zoos have the same bears.

43. Were humans created or did we evolve from earlier species?

I’m gonna go out and say something that pisses people off but I don’t see why it can’t be both. Something came out of nothing which is creating, right? The act of creating something is taking elements and making them something or straight up creating an element. What did that, I don’t know. But at one point there was a creation moment. From there everything on this planet has changed and adapted to the situations and surroundings they came into. Life is change, you don’t change you can’t survive. So both. Both sound right to me.

44. What scares you the most?

Losing everyone I care about… and bugs. Fuck bugs

45. What personality trait turns you off the most?

I hate when people play dumb.

46. You got offered a job to do something you hate, but the pay will make you rich. Do you take it?

No.

47. If today you only had what you were thankful for yesterday, how much would you have?

Sadly, not very much probably.

48. How often do you get mad or upset at yourself?

Everyday.

49. If you could choose one celebrity to be your parent, who would you choose?

I’ll keep my parents, thanks but to answer the question: Reign. At least I’d still have family.

50. If you could only listen to one musical artist for the rest of you life, who would you be listening to?

I would probably choose not to listen to music after a bit. I like variety and I’m not always in the mood for an artist of one flavor but the Beatles? At least their breadth of music is pretty wide.

51. Have you ever used you cell phone while driving?

No

52. Has anyone you were close to die way too young?

Yes.

53. Is world peace possible?

No, I don’t believe it is. It’d be great if it could be. There’s no reason for all this hate but people are always going to clash. We get on for a bit and then boom, it’s done. Peace is an impossibility but we should still strive for it regardless.

54. You go on a blind date. You date is extremely ugly and physically appalling, but you are madly in love with their personality. Would you want a second date?

I don’t know. I want to say yes, be that guy who doesn’t care. Looks really are not everything but ultimately, you should be attracted to your partner. If you aren’t it isn’t likely to work even if their personality is the most beautiful thing in the world.

55. How did you discover that Santa Claus isn’t real?

My little brother told me and I was devastated.

56. Do you believe in God, or some form of higher deity?

I honestly want to but I have a hard time wrapping my mind around how things can be the way they are if a loving god is out there watching us. I think the Futurama episode where Bender gets life on his ass is a great example of how my brain wants to look at it.

And then I read the Bible and get to stories like Zechariah and I’m just left thinking that guy probably had a stroke while praying and the rest is a coincidence.

57. If you could save someone you deeply cared about, but it meant breaking a law, would you do it?

Fuck yes. Without hesitation

58. What is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done for money?

Sold my soul for a sickle once.

59. If you were to make a YouTube video about what you know most about, what would the subject be?

Magical Creatures. I could go on for a very long time about that topic.

60. What do you think is your greatest personality flaw?

I’m rigid. I have a hard time shifting directions when I get going.

61. If your friends spoke to you the way you speak to yourself, would you still want them as friend?

I haven’t got many actual friends so maybe. Better than being alone, I suppose.

62. Have you ever “woke up like this”?

No one has ever “woke up like this”. It’s a lie. It’s always a lie. Even if they look good, that caption shows intent and planning: don’t fall for it.

63. You got offered a job to do something you love, but the pay is one of the worst out there. Do you take it?

If I really fucking love it, yes. But I’m also in a position where I can have a shit paying or no paying job and basically be fine.

64. What do you think is your best physical feature?

My lips?

65. What do you think is your worst physical feature.

My nose is big.

66. Do you know anyone who has committed suicide?

Not suicide no. But I know people who have considered it. Glad they didn’t follow through.

67. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done for someone you don’t know?

I dunno. I have a habit of giving my bus ticket away if it still has time on it. I know it’s not much but as for random acts of kindness that weren’t really put on display for charities or a fluff news story, that’s the one I’ve got.

68. Have you ever had a night’s dream come true?

No, can’t say that I have.

69. Would you reject a date offer from someone you didn’t like?

yes

70. Which do you think is worse: Failure, or never trying at all?

This is one of those what I say is not really what I do things. I think the second is worse but I often freeze when it comes to choices like this. When I’m by myself: I freeze.

#random #asks #questions #bored #mild entertainment

[morningsound15]

Any chance I could get your head canon on Jesse in your Perdition story? Specifically in the moment Beca tells him about her and Chloe and the days leading up to him confronting Chloe? That confrontation scene, for me, is the most heartbreaking scene in the story. I love your story and how you write the characters.

Another really, really good question! Damn you guys are really out here digging into my thought process tonight.

To be quite honest with you, I didn’t want to focus on Jesse in this story basically at all. This may not have been my best decision ever (ignoring the way the affair hurt him, too, may have detracted from the overall emotional impact of it), but I really wanted the story to be about Beca and Chloe (Chloe specifically) and what the ramifications of cheating are when you’re the one caught up in the deception. I feel like a lot of media (maybe not fanfiction but media in general) gives us the perspective of the deceived partner, of the way that cheating hurts the person not participating in the affair. And I didn’t really want to write about that; I wanted to approach the story and the narrative differently, from the point of view of the ‘other woman’ so to speak.

(But also, the story is about Beca and Chloe as characters, and I worried that focusing on Jesse would both disinterest readers and detract from the overall central character – Chloe – who of course would have very little care for, perception of, or interest in Jesse aside from his role in keeping her from the thing she ultimately wants: Beca.)

But I will of course answer your ask since I totally understand the curiosity and definitely relate to it.

So I’m assuming this is asking something along the lines of: what exactly does Beca’s revelation DO to Jesse? How does he feel when he realizes that his girlfriend – the woman he’s loved for nearly 4 years – has been cheating on him for the entire span of their relationship?

Well… it’s not great, anon. Not great at all. In my mind, there’s a very specific sort of anger, fury, and devastation that hits Jesse when Beca finally comes clean, but one that creeps up on him slowly. In my mind, Jesse has always had an understanding of Beca as being somewhat-less-than-fully-present in their relationship – especially in Chapter 4/the second movie – but he attributes it to the stress of graduation or Worlds or her internship, more than anything. He doesn’t think it’s really about them, or the strength of them as a couple, but rather outside forces/extenuating circumstances. In my mind, the cheating catches him completely off-guard, because he never would have thought Beca capable. And to me, that’s partially because she has basically 0 male friends or interactions with men besides him, and also because he doesn’t have any sort of understanding that Beca is queer/bisexual.

Why do I think that Jesse doesn’t know about Beca’s sexuality? I don’t think it’s because of homophobia or heteronormativity – he’s a pretty progressive guy, after all – but because, in my mind she never tells him or discusses it at all until after everything falls to shit. And that’s not because Beca has any sort of internalized biphobia, or anything – I believe she knows who she is and what she likes and is comfortable with both – but because she worries that if she tells him, he’ll start over-analyzing her relationship with Chloe, and he’ll maybe catch on to this whole thing that’s going on between them.

So it catches him completely off-guard, and right after she tells him he completely shuts down. He suddenly starts goes back over every little thing in his head, every little interaction he and Beca have ever had, every touch and conversation, every time Beca would cancel plans or would show up to dates late and ruffled, any time she would bow out of spending time with him in order to run set lists with Chloe or go to some sort of Bellas event… In my mind, that’s when the paranoia really starts to grip him. He starts second-guessing every moment he’s ever shared with Beca – going all the way back to their first kiss – and he starts wondering if any of it was ever real.

He spends a few days not processing it at all (denial is the first stage of grief, as we know), before he becomes absolutely enraged. How dare Beca do this to him? And furthermore, how dare Chloe do this to him? How can she have stood on the sidelines for years, talking to him and joking with him and running group events with him, all the while going behind his back and committing the ultimate act of betrayal by sleeping with his girlfriend? Because Jesse hasn’t just been betrayed by his girlfriend – he’s also been betrayed by her best friend (Chloe, who he always considered a friend of his, too, if only for their equal devotion to Beca), and also the rest of the Bellas (he sees, when he confronts Chloe, that more than a few of them knew, as well). And he doesn’t understand it; can’t bring himself to understand what could have possibly made them do this, to him, for all these years. (It’s why he asks if they’re in love, when he confronts them: it would at least make sense, he could at least understand them being together behind his back for years if they were in love…)

That’s when he really breaks down. In my mind, the scene with him confronting Chloe is the first time he allows himself to cry about it. Because it’s all so unfair, it’s all so cruel, it’s all so terrible and painful and traumatic and heart-breaking and sadistic, and he finally just can’t stand the injustice of it all. So that’s the first time he lets himself cry.

I think he never really gets over it – just like Beca and Chloe never really get over it, either. He comes to accept it; he moves on (we learn at the end of Perdition that he and Beca have something of a cordial relationship, and that he’s been seeing someone new for at least a few months) but he never really gets over it. He doesn’t hold onto the anger or the fury or the betrayal or the grief, but it affects him – just like it affects all of them.

But he also comes to realize that his relationship with Beca was never as perfect as he thought. When he realizes that she’s been lying to him for years (once he gets a little distance and is able to examine it more critically) he realizes that there were always walls between them. And he understands those walls, now. He understands Beca’s reluctance, her awkwardness, the way she seemed to shy away from romantic attention and physical affection. He always assumed she was just that kind of person, but he comes to realize that it was really because of this huge, monumental secret she was keeping from him. So Jesse, too, is able to learn from all of this: he learns not to accept anything less than the relationship he really wants. He learns to express his frustrations openly, and to ask his partners when he thinks something is bothering them. I like to think that, though it was super shitty, in the end all of these characters learn something from what happened.

I hope that’s what you were looking for.

#anonymous #asks #perdition #headcanon #long post

[sulietsexual]

Its been a while since I asked you meta related things so I just had a random idea - top 5 characters which you just dont understand, top 5 ch which are well writen but you cant connect or like, top 5 ch storylines you would like to alter, top 5 traits of your disliked chracters that you like, top 5 traits of your loved characters you dislike, top 5 ways your disliked characters contributed to the main storyline that youre fine with. For males and females separately so theres room for thought :)

Top 5 Characters I Don’t Understand

Male

Wesley Wyndam Pryce - okay, so this is only from mid-Season 3 onward, but I cannot fathom Wesley’s actions in stealing Connor, consulting with Holtz and doubting/not believing in Angel to the point where he didn’t realise that Angel would do everything in his power to protect Connor. Then his self-righteous attitude post-kidnap is appalling, the fact that he acts like the wronged party and refuses to acknowledge his own wrongdoings and never apologises for his actions all drive me crazy. Just can’t.

Luke Danes, I mean, buddy, pull it together. You say you want Lorelai, yet never make a move and then bitch about her boyfriends and act like a jerk. You say you’re “all in” and then you run at the first sign of trouble and make Lorelai feel like she did something wrong. You tell Lorelai you want her to be honest with you and then you hide your daughter from her for two freakin’ months. You say you want to spend your life with her, yet you shut her out of it. Like, wtf??

Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III, omg, why is he such an abusive asshole? Why does he treat every woman he’s with like crap? Why does he treat Mellie as if she’s insignificant and stupid? Why does he act entitled to everyone’s time and affections? Why does he continually try to give up the most powerful position in America? Why doesn’t he have any ambition? Why does he resent anyone who does??? I don’t understand.

John Winchester. Dude’s always going on about how he “did the best that he could”. Nope. The best he could would have been to raise his boys in a stable freakin’ environment, not push adult responsibility onto his eldest, not treat his youngest like an outcast/freak for wanting a better life and actually being an adult and being there for his boys. How does he justify the way he treated his sons? Don’t get it.

Finn Collins. Dude, you cheat on your girlfriend, neglect to tell the girl you’re cheating with that you even have a girlfriend, don’t tell your girlfriend you cheated on her and expect both girls to still want you? Plus the whole massacring eighteen unarmed people and then ignoring their bodies as the girl you want walks in horrified and look at her as if she’ll love you for your actions? Yikes.

Female

Lorelai Gilmore, she constantly puts her mother down for her privilege and sense of entitlement, yet displays the exact same behaviour. She rejected Chris, then bitches about how he “wasn’t ready”. She thinks all her behaviour is cute but it’s actually really annoying. And she honestly seems to believe that her parents were the absolute worst parents in the world, when it reality they were really good to her and always try to be a part of her life. Pull it together, woman!

Octavia Blake, why does she blame her brother for everything? Why is her solution always violence? Why does she proudly cannibalize people? Why does she think she knows more about a culture she’s been a part of for two seconds than the people actually raised in said culture? 

Nancy Wheeler. Why does she want Jonathan so badly? Why does she screw over Steve? What makes her neglect her brother and run off with the guy she just banged? Why doesn’t she think through the consequences of her actions? Why did she offer her brother zero comfort when his friend “died”? What made her think it was okay to chase down Jonathan while he was picking out a coffin for his brother’s funeral to talk about Barb? Girl drives me bonkers.

Joey Potter, so many of her actions make no sense. She pines after Dawson for years and then breaks up with him for literally no reason. She blames him for telling her the truth about her father, after repeatedly saying they need to be honest with one another. She can’t decide between two guys for years. She constantly rejects Pacey yet picks him in the end. She believes she’s entitled to be a bitch to people just because she’s had a tough life.

Aria Montgomery, if your creepy-ass relationship really so important to you that you would lie to your friends and family, threaten your parents, risk your partner going to jail, threaten to walk out on your family and basically cease to exist outside of your boyfriend? Yikes.

Going to put the rest under the cut, otherwise we’re going to end up with a post a mile long.

Top 5 Characters Who Are Well-writen But I Can’t Connect To or Like

Male

John Locke, a great-written character who drives me up the wall with his over-zealousness and delusions of grandeur.

Spike, he really does have a great character arc and characterisation but his over-exposure and the fandom’s adulation of him drive me crazy, plus I hate how his narrative overtakes Buffy’s.

Jack Shepherd, such a great arc, such an amazing journey but his douchey behaviour and the way he treats certain characters means I just can’t like him.

Perry Cox, I find him amusing and do occasionally like him but his lack of self-awareness and overall mean attitude and sexism bugs me.

Dean Winchester, so well-written with a great arc but also abusive, violent, self-righteous, sexist and overall annoying as hell.

Female

Regina Mills, her redemption arc is sloppy but her characterisation was always strong and she’s a fantastic villain, which is why I love to hate her.

Robin Scherbatsky, very well-written with a great arc (until the finale) but I just cannot like her, probably due to her arrogance and meanness.

Rachel Green, now, I don’t hate Rachel or anything but she’s one of my least-favourite Friends characters and I’ve never been able to connect with her.

Katniss Everdeen, a great-written character whose personality I find very hard to reconcile and who I just cannot connect with.

Kate Austin, great arc, great characterisation, full of traits I can’t stand and makes choices that make me want to throttle her.

Top 5 Characters Storylines I Would Like To Alter

Male

Neal Cassidy, he was done so dirty by that damn show!

August Booth, another one screwed over by OUAT and there was so much left to explore with his character!

Dean Forrester, I really hate how much Gilmore Girls dumbled down and assassinated his character.

Boyd Langton, Dollhouse’s weird out-of-nowhere reveal that he was the bad guy completely changed his character and he didn’t deserve that.

Jake Ballard, he deserves better than being second-choice for Olivia Pope.

Female

Laurel Lance, who deserved the fucking world and got nothing, I would change so much about her storyline and eventual fate.

Mellie Grant who, like Laurel, deserved so much and got shit.

Emma Swan, who was character assassinated in order to box her into a toxic ship which decimated everything about her.

Juliet Burke, who should have lived and had a happy life and finally made it off that damn Island!

Effy Stonem, who deserved better than to be sandwiched between two guys who treated her like a prize and blamed her for their rivalry, not to mention the shitty “friends” who used her as their scapegoat.

Top 5 Traits Of My Disliked Characters That I Like (I’m not going to pick my absolute most disliked characters for this, but just 5 characters I dislike in general. Also, probably can’t come up with five for each, so I’ll go with as many as I can list).

Male

Going with Wesley again - love his intelligence, his surprising confidence when he allows himself to show it, his thirst for knowledge and his goofiness.

Spike - I like his bravado, his confidence and his loyalty.

Dean Winchester - similarly to Spike, his bravado, his loyalty and his confidence, as well as his humour and love of fun.

Luke Danes - I like that he’s good at the big gestures, I like his snark and his homebody nature.

Jess Mariano - I like intelligence, his snark and the fact that he sorts himself out later on in life.

Female

Anya Jenkins - love her work ethic and the fact that she handles money well and knows how to budget, save and invest.

Betty Cooper - she’s got gumption, I’ll give her that and she is intelligent and hardworking.

Felicity Smoak - like Betty, she’s intelligent and has gumption.

Cassie from the Animorphs series - she’s compassionate and does try to understand people, which I like.She also has a lot of empathy.

Alison DiLaurentis - she is ruthless and strategic and highly intelligent, all of which I admire, even if her actions are truly sociopathic.

Top 5 Traits Of My Loved Characters I Dislike (again, this may not reach five but I’ll do my best)

Male

Angel - his tendency to make decisions for others, his jealousy, the way he can completely cut off those he cares about.

James Ford - the way he lets his self-hatred affect others, his self-centredness, the way he can be deliberately cruel at times.

August Booth - he lies way too much, his self-hatred, his selfishness.

Neal Cassidy ………….. nope, I love Neal too much, can’t think of any traits I dislike.

Charles Gunn - the way he diminishes himself for others.

Female

Prue Halliwell - that damn pride, her self-righteousness, her judgmental streak.

Juliet Burke ……………. nope, as with Neal, love her way too much to dislike anything about her.

Lana Lang - her Mary Sue traits (this lies more on the writing of her character than her), her tendency to project her own feelings onto others.

Lilah Morgan - well, she’s an evil bitch, but you’re supposed to hate her for that, so I more hate her actions than her herself, such as when she gives Cordy the visions which almost kill her or when she sends people to drill into Lorn’s head.

Jo March - her lack of propriety at times, her judgemental streak, her refusal to adhere to convention (at times)

Top 5 Ways My Disliked Characters Contributed To The Main Storyline That I’m Fine With (I am running out of steam and not sure if I can come up with 5 males and 5 females, so gonna combine them for this last one and again might not make it to Top 5)

Alison DiLaurentis - I like her as a villain, her murder kicks off the whole series which worked well, and I liked that she works as a foil for all the girls, in particular Hanna and Mona.

Spike - love him as a villain in Season 2, love that he works as a foil for Angel in AtS Season 5, liked him stirring things up in Lovers Walk in Season 3.

Regina Mills - love her as a villain, love her as the Curse Caster, liked her dynamic with Emma, liked her as a foil for Snow and Emma.

……. I actually might be out, as usually when I hate a character it’s because of the way in which they negatively impact the storyline.

Whew, I’m knackered. Hope you enjoy my answers, even if they’re not 100% what you asked for!

#psychoticdelena #answered

[bittysvalentines]

From: @katiewont  

for: @greenerbucket  I hope you enjoy this, one rarepair heart to another.

“What am I looking at?”

Lardo wasn’t sure what the actual question was, so she decided to treat it like a game of I, Spy. “My… closet?” she guessed.

“No,” Ford huffed, grabbing a handful of fabric, from the right side of Lardo’s closet, all polyester and shiny athletic gear. “This! These! Is this some sort of taxation?”

“Oh, that,” Lardo said. “Taxation’s a good word. Tribute? I don’t know. I just end up with a lot of their clothes.”

Ford was quiet for a while, and Lardo wondered if this was going to be the point where things got awkward. She didn’t know if Ford was the kind of girl that needed to be the only girl, or failing that, the favorite girl. Lardo had known all of her gross boys long enough to know that there’s enough room in their sweaty hearts for more than one person. She’d invited Ford over because she wanted to use the end of her last semester making sure the team was in good hands, and because she and Ford had been growing into friends. Lardo liked her energy, but it was new enough she was suddenly nervous at the wobble.

“Did you. I don’t want to be gross, but I do want to know, because I’m trying to fill your shoes but in my own way and if I’m going into a situation where there are expectations —” and here’s the thing about Ford. She’s cute as hell and Lardo likes her a lot, but when she gets going, she’s something like a fast-talking cartoon.

Lardo is trying not to laugh. “No, wait, stop. None of them expect you to sleep with them. I’ve never hooked up with any of them, I just end up with a lot of their clothes.”

“Oh,” Ford said. “None of them?”

It’s not like Lardo’s never answered that question before, but the answer used to be different. “Well. One of them, but not while he was on the team. Oh! And I made out with Jack once, but that was kind of an accident.”

“That sounds like a good story. You should tell me about it sometime.”

“Sorry, Ford, no dice. My man Jack is too private for that. I have power of attorney over Shitty’s deets, though, and he’s kind of an exhibitionist besides.”

“Ew,” Ford said, and Lardo burst into a single quick laugh. “I mean — no thanks.”

“Not your type?”

“He seems great.” Ford said. “But he’s no Ransom.”

Lardo wanted to laugh again, but didn’t want Ford to think she was the brunt of the joke. Instead, she said, “He is great. He can also be an ass. And he’s a lot, but he’s growing. Also, not to get NSFW or anything but like, close your ears if you want to opt out because one time I told him I was too stressed and tense and generally unsociable to see him and he literally offered to go down on me for an hour and specified that I did not have to talk to him or look at him at any point.”

Ford had her hands over most of her face, and was peeking out from between her fingers. “Oh my God,” she said, looking delightfully scandalized. “Did you let him?”

“I’m not proud,” Lardo said, grinning and ducking her head a bit. “I super did. I made it up to him after all the semester’s final projects were in.”

“I literally don’t know what to think about that.”

Lardo shrugged. “I find him incredibly attractive, in a Furby kind of way.”

“That is a bananas sentence. Please never explain.”

“Fair enough. I want you to explain something though.”

“...”

“You said Shitty’s no Ransom.”

“Oops. I guess I did. No offense to your man.”

“None taken. Ransom’s an attractive dude. He’s got, like, those shoulders.” Lardo said. “And, FYI, you’re totally his type. I feel totally comfortable sharing that information with you.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. You and Adam are two sides of the same musical theater coin.”

“Stop,” Ford said. “I’m going to die.”

“Ford,” Lardo said. “You’re … easier to fluster than I realized. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No, you’re fine.” Ford said, giving her own hair a tug. “I did decide this year was my year. Twenty isn’t too late to bloom.”

“Definitely not,” Lardo agreed, “if that’s what you want. But, you know, if you do set your eyes on the man, you should probably wait until you’ve established dominance with the team.”

Ford wrung her hands. “I don’t know. He doesn’t really seem like a starter boyfriend.”

“He’s probably not,” Lardo said. “But also, not to get too blue, there’s no way he’s not great at … all of it. I have personally heard some tales that seemed like they had to be exaggeration, but then they were not the statistical outlier. And also I talked to a girl who has now slept with, I don’t know, at least four D-men, she ranks him at number one for overall package.”

Ford let out a little squeak.

“ — not that kind of package.”

“That’s not what I was thinking!” Ford insisted, and Lardo raised a single eyebrow. “Okay, but only because you totally were talking about it. Anyways. I kind of always thought my starter boyfriend would be a starter girlfriend, if that makes sense.”

Lardo gestured at her own haircut, grinning. “Nope,” she said. “Not a bit. I’ve never had a girlfriend. Never been attracted to women. Never had a dumb crush on the future manager of my team.”

“Now you’re just teasing me,” Ford said. She looked bashful.

“Not just now,” Lardo said. She got up and strode over to the closet, fishing for something. “Anyways. I’m passing the torch in a few weeks. I think maybe I should start your collection.”

Lardo found her an artfully chopped t-shirt that she had made herself. It just big enough for a little bit of a careless slouch while still being sort of fitted. There was a little bit of silver spray paint on the hem. “Here. I want you to have this.”

“It's already my favorite,” Ford told her, and held it up to her face.

Lardo felt, suddenly, a little feverish. And forty five percent more bi than usual.

#greenerbucket #fanfic #bv2018 #bittysvalentines #fordlardo

[arkhamcitysirens]

I'm bad at comic writer names... What did they do :O I'm curious

ah okay so amanda conner and jimmy palmiotti are a married couple who have been the writers of the harley quinn solo comic series since its launch in late 2013. now they’re leaving the series and personally i am REJOICING to see  them gone. there are a LOT of problems with harley’s series but i’ll try to cover whatever i have the energy and understanding of to discuss.

-the main issue with harley’s current solo series is simply that this is not harley quinn. nothing about her resonates as the harley we know and love from anything that comes before it. she is reimagined as an anti-hero living in coney island as a landlord, trying to help clean up her city whilst holding on to absolutely none of her most defining traits. her dialogue is painful (her catchphrase is “holee _-eriolee!”), she has no clear motives, and she is no longer the funny, ditzy, cute and playful jester girl we’ve come to love. this harley is crazy, sure, but otherwise she really has no resemblance to our harley quinn.

-a big draw for most readers was initially the palmiottis promising harley and ivy would be “girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy”. sounds cool in theory, but this is basically code for the fact they decided harley would be with a man throughout the series, then ivy would pop up now and then for a steamy shower scene or make out session, speaking in nothing but sexual inneundos. it’s not progressive in any way, it’s just an excuse to exploit wlw relationships and fetishize lgbt relationships for sales. and these tactics obviously work. this is the only canon harlivy content we have… so we take what we can get, and the cycle continues, never making their relationship anything more than a repeated booty call to remind us harley’s PROMISCOUS and HOT!!! (take for example hq rebirth #7. we were promised a romantic harlivy issue in which the girls were supposedly taking a romantic vacation together to a tropical island! everyone got so excited, only to find out this vacation was set at a nudist camp. yep. turned out every harlivy interaction in our special issue was nothing but sex jokes.)

-every single character in this series gets ruined by their inconsistent writing. poison ivy is present, but she shares nothing in common with the real poison ivy, instead only existing in this series to be out of character, kiss harley, and then mutter something about plants before vanishing. joker shows up for harley to beat the crap out of him, but instead of showing how cunning and sneaky he can be in convincing her to fall back into his arms again, he just straight out beats her up and calls her names… i mean yes he would absolutely do that because he’s a gross abusive douchebag but he wouldn’t be so blatant. the whole point of their relationship is that he’s smart and always manages to convince harley he loves her, and then turns on her when she’s too far gone to leave. also, harley’s pet hyenas bud and lou were replaced with a grotesque stuffed beaver called bernie that nobody cares about. and harley’s new supporting cast is a bizarre collection of new characters, including a blatant deadpool rip-off, a gross jewish stereotype, a bland white guy who’s apparently her boyfriend and some dude who is literally half-man, half-egg. we don’t want any of these characters,,, i mean really,,, who asked?

-making harley an anti-hero goes against everything people like about her character! the palmiottis write her as this gold star new york hero, who’s all about doing good and helping others, and although harley often has good intentions and doesn’t go out of her way to be vicious, we all know there’s no way in hell she’d be a hero. she’s all about chaos and destruction. yet the palmiottis are currently writing her as a new york vigilante who shuts down gangs, stops fires and burglaries, and is LITERALLY RUNNING FOR MAYOR in the most recent arc. what the fuck.

-the series is just… bad. like it’s all such surface level shit. most of it is sex jokes and harley bashing random people with lots of blood and gore and there’s nothing deep or interesting about it. it’s funny (well… debatable) and action-packed and that’s about it. of course any harley series is ultimately just a cashgrab at this point but they don’t even try to make buying these comics worth the reader’s while

-there was major controversy at the launch of the series because of the contest they ran called “break into comics with harley quinn!” any artist was invited to draw a specific four panel page of harley, ad the winner would be featured in the series’ debut issue. sounds cool, until you learn that one of the panels was “harley naked in a bathtub, with a toaster above her head, ready to commit suicide”. yeah, and it gets worse, because this competition started during suicide awareness week. jimmy palmiotti later explained that it was supposed to be a “funny joke about the suicide squad” and he “should have worded it differently” but really… how can you word something like that differently to make it better… it’s insensitive and problematic no matter how you look at it…

-recently they claimed they were the ones who made harley as big as she is today which is complete and utter bullshit. the arkham games brought her into the mainstream and then her popularity within the arkhamverse led to her introduction to the dceu, which is without a doubt the reason she’s so incredibly popular. how deluded do you have to be to think your shitty series, that makes no sense, is constantly fucking up the new 52/rebirth continuity, and never even makes the top ten comics in a month, is what brought harley quinn in her red and black booty shorts to international fame? the general public doesn’t care at all about the palmiottis and now they’re gone, neither do i.

overall i guess the palmiottis are just bad writers. their stories are uninteresting and unfunny, they fetishize lgbt characters to make money off their exploits, and they take way too much credit for writing a series that only achieves because it’s harley. they seem to know harley will make money no matter what, and so they put no effort in, resulting in comics that cause the reader more pain than enjoyment. well hey, now the demons are dead, we can fucking party yo. bring on frank tieri and the new harley quinn team!

#Anonymous #answered #anon #harley quinn #palmiottis #anti-palmiottis #amanda conner #jimmy palmiotti #sidenote: i fucking love amanda conner's artwork it's absolutely gorgeous but she and her husband are Garbage People #long post #rambles