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wolfiesmoon · 1 month

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Who is who again?

Riddle, Vil, Idia (seperately) x gn!reader

i was thinking and thinking and then i remembered that basic overdone fanfiction tropes do in fact exist, so here's a silly lil bodyswap fic for the soul

yuu is a little silly prankster goofster who likes messing around and trolling people in this fic, just saying in advance that i did inject a bit of personality in them

also i apologise if the fanfic becomes confusing to read at any point, it's kind of hard writing the reader's actions while in someone else's body, especially when interacting with the person you're swapped with haha

‧₊˚✩彡 Riddle Rosehearts

"Okay, so you're tellin' me that you're Riddle, and you're the Prefect?" Cater pointed to each of you respectively, still trying to grasp the situation. Trey, Ace and Deuce seemed equaly stumped.

"Yep. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I'm in Riddle's body now." you replied, shrugging casually. "You shouldn't have told them so early on, Riddle, I wanted to mess around a bit."

"Oh, now I'm very glad I told them so early. Knowing you, you'd cause far too much trouble for me to be able to uphold my reputation." Riddle shuddered, imagining the silly pranks you'd pull on everyone while in his body. Well, I suppose they wouldn't be very silly to him.

"Wait. If I'm in your body, does that..."

You quickly took out Riddle's magical pen and pointed it towards Ace, yelling out "Off with your head!"

To your surprise, it actually worked and Ace had a collar around his neck. So you can use magic now.

"HEY! Why did you do that!?" Ace called you out.

"It's revenge for stealing the bit of food I was saving for last on Friday. And also, I needed someone to test out whether I can use magic now." you smirked mischeviously at his annoyance. Now this is fun.

"This still feels unreal. I cannot believe I'm looking at myself talking to someone else. And fooling around like an idiot, too." Riddle did not seem amused.

"Listen, okay, I finally have magic now and I'm gonna take advantage of that. Which means you better run, Cater." you rubbed your hands together evilly.

"What?! Why me?!" Cater was not prepared for this attack.

"Too much magicam. Not enough reality. Collar needed." you explain like a robot overlord and point Riddle's magical pen at Cater.

"Now, now, let's not do that, okay?" Trey gently wrapped his hand around the magical pen in your outstretched hand, smiling at you.

You were about to shake his hand off and proceed with your collaring plan, but you got a better idea.

"No, no, you're right." you shook your head, lowering your hand. Cater breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since I'm Riddle and all, I have to uphold a perfect test score on every test." everyone looked at you, wondering where you were going with this.

"This might be an awkward time to mention that I haven't studied for tommorow's test at all."

"Oh, no. Absolutely not. You are coming with me." Riddle was not about to let his grades slip by such a wide margin. He'll make you memorise things until atleast a 90% is guaranteed, as much as he would hate to get one.

Originally, he was going to try and figure out how to switch you back as soon as possible but that'll have to wait after tommorow it seems.

"WAIT, CAN YOU LIKE, ATLEAST REMOVE THIS COLLAR BEFORE YOU LEAVE?!" Ace yelled behind you but you just whistled innocently, not paying attention to his despair.

"That's how the Queen's succesor managed to- are you even listening?"

"You know, it looks kind of funny when I'm being scolded by myself." you yawned, placing your chin on your arms which were currently crossed on the table.

"This is NO laughing matter. My grades are at stake here." Riddle scolded you some more. You nodded sleepily and he took that as a sign to continue.

"So as I was saying- What are you doing now?" Riddle followed your line of sight, his gaze falling on the mirror inside his room. You were looking at him?

"Woah... You're, like, actually pretty cute." you turned back to him, excited at your discovery.

"...What are you blabbering on about? This is NO time to be fooling around, as I have been telling you for the past- Wow, you really are hopeless." Riddle sighed, watching you examine his face in his mirror and still not listening to the magical history lesson.

It does not help at all that you made him lose composure with that "cute" comment.

"Your eyelashes are nice." You comment, smiling at your own reflection.

"What an oddly specific compliment." Still, Riddle felt all weird inside when you said that. This is not fair. Now he can't focus on teaching you anymore.

"It's not oddly specific, really. Guys have really great eyelashes sometimes." You batted your lashes at the mirror and then at him, trying to showcase his charm.

"That is... very strange. Please stop that." Riddle still felt weird about seeing his own face make such silly expressions.

"Hey, if I were in my own body right now I would be swooning over you. Just for your information." You rolled your eyes playfully, entirely insistant on getting out of studying by flustering the hell out of poor Riddle.

"Wha- That's it, off with your-" Riddle reached for the magical pen which would normally be in one's pocket, only to realise that you don't even own one. Of course.

"Oh, Riddle. You silly goose. I'm the one in power here." You intertwined your fingers like a supervillain.

"Please, let's just get back to studying." If Riddle were in his own body right now, his face would be red all over from embarrasment.

"If you insist." You sighed in feigned defeat, your mind already cooking up more plans to embarrass Riddle while you're in his body.

How very fun indeed.

"Why are you smiling at me like that? That kind of smile does not suit my face." Riddle seemed concerned about his body's fate.

"Hmmm, I wonder how many drinks I can order at the Mostro lounge in one sitting." You wondered aloud on purpose.

"What?!"

"What? I didn't even say anything this time." you faked your innocence.

This is going to be a nightmare for Riddle, isn't it?

‧₊˚✩彡 Vil Schoenheit

"Oh. My. God." you lightly slapped your cheeks while looking at yourself in the mirror to make sure this is reality.

Well, you suppose they aren't exactly your cheeks. You're currently inside Vil freaking Schoenheit's body and you have no idea how it happened.

You do suppose all logic kind of gets thrown out the window in a world where magic exists, so swapping bodies with someone might not be that outlandish. Now you wonder if you're the only one who this happened to, and what your body is up to.

Speaking of being Vil Schoenheit now, does that mean you have to uphold his insanely strict daily routine now?

Nah, who are you kidding? You're going to cause as much trouble as you can for this pretty boy. He wakes up much earlier than you thought, so you don't know what to do right now. You walk around his room, inspecting every corner for some prank ammunition.

Rook knocked on the door all of a sudden, telling Vil that he's worried since he's taking longer than usual. You let him into the room.

You decided that you're not going to tell anyone that you're actually not Vil and and act as him for as long as you possibly can.

"Oh, I was just... thinking about something." you grinned evilly at the mirror, before turning back to face Rook.

"Oh my, it seems you were so lost in thought that you've completely forgone doing your hair and makeup. Quite the unpleasant surprise. What troubles you so?" Rook seemed utterly hearbroken.

Wow, he's blunt sometimes. Not that you care about that right now.

"I was just thinking that I'll probably skip all that today. You know, going for a natural look." You twirled a piece of Vil's hair in your hand.

Rook tried convincing you otherwise but you shooed him out, not wanting to hear anything about how 'a natural look also involves doing subtle, light makeup'. You're on a mission here.

Speaking of, you just got a great idea.

You opened his Magicam after getting dressed, briefly gawking at the follower count before clicking on the 'new post' button.

You placed Vil's phone horizontally against your chest, taking an unflattering chin photo and posting it to magicam with the caption "#chinningtime😍😍😍😍", giggling like an idiot all the while.

Within a minute, your post has already gained about 2 thousand likes and loads of very confused (and amused) comments.

What great encouragement to post another one.

You placed the selfie camera of his phone close to your forehead, taking a forehead touch perspective pic. You added the caption "what my kitten sees😈💯🔥" and posted it.

You were laughing your ass off at all the comments when someone knocked at the door. "Roi du Poison, this is an intervention. I am very concerned about you."

Hahahaha, of course he would be one of the first people to worry about you.

Rook joined you once again in your room, explaining how concerned he is about your behavior this morning and how it's very unlike you. I mean, jeez, is Vil allergic to fun or something?

However, Rook wasn't the only one that had concerns with you, it seems.

"Would you care to explain what these are?" you were surprised to hear your own voice, turning your gaze back to the door where you were standing with a very displeased face, holding up your phone with the two selfies you took earlier. It feels dystopian to see yourself standing right in front of you. Out of body experience, for real.

"Wait. Before anything, just who are you?" you wanted to know just who was in your body, though you were already about 90% sure of it.

"Ah, Trickster. What brings you into Pomefiore?" Rook questioned internally how Vil doesn't recognise you.

"For your information, I am Vil. That other person next to you is not Vil. I'd assume you're the prefect, then?" he looked you with authority, leaving no room for stalling or avoiding his question.

"Yeah, yeah. You got me. But like, it's funny, right?" you shrugged, smiling goofily.

Vil dragged you off to the headmage's office, promising to explain things to Rook later and giving a firm scolding to you.

"Now that everything is finally sorted and we're excused from class for the day, would care to delete those... unflattering posts, please?" once the two of you were back in Vil's room, he immediately brought up that topic.

By now, they had to have gathered about 70k likes, right? Hehehehe.

"Do not smile at me like that. Or I will take back my phone and delete those horrid photos myself. Do you even realise what a PR nightmare this could be?" he placed his hands on his hips. You feel like you look completely different now that Vil's mannerisms are reflected on your own body. Body language really makes a man, huh?

"Oh, come onnnn, your fans love it. Everyone's laughing and saying how surprising it is to see you post something like this. See, they even got the hashtag #chinningtime trending!" you showed him pictures of his fans taking the same unflattering chin photos.

"What joy does someone derive from selfies as horrible as that? You made me look utterly horrible with those angles." You watched your own face contort with cringe. It's amusing how funny you look.

"People love silly things from time to time. For a celebrity as serious and professional as you, occasional silliness makes you look more relatable to your fans. A celebrity with a good sense of humor is the best kind in my opinion." you gave him a happy thumbs up. It was also for your own amusement, but you really don't feel like getting scolded even more than you have on your way back to the dorm.

"That is... the smartest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth." He sighed, "I suppose it would cause people to talk about it even more if I deleted them now. But I am still not happy about them."

You ignored the jab at your intelligence, turning around to look at yourself in the mirror. "You know, Vil, you can let loose from time to time. Smile and goof around without worrying what someone might think." your eyes travelled down the sculpted jawline of your new reflection.

"In a way, you're right for suggesting that. But I'm not someone who enjoys your sense of humor or relaxed philosophy to begin with." he was right. He only jokes on occasion and his jokes aren't very goofy.

"You're right..." now that you technically are him, you can see first hand how much he cares about his body. His skin is soft and gleaming, his hair is healthy and shiny and his body is nice to move around in.

"You seem lost in thought. It's unlike you." you looked back at him through the mirror.

"I just thought about how admirable you are. Like, damn, I could nevaaa." Vil inferred you were talking about his strict daily routine. You seem different now. More quiet and thoughtful than usual. And he definitely didn't miss the pink dusting his cheeks on his own face through the mirror's reflection.

"Thank you." 'admirable' is a compliment slightly rarer than the usual ones talking about his beauty.

"By the way, your smile is beautiful. Not the one in all the movies, the one you don't consciously make." you closed your eyes, recalling that exact face of his. Too pretty for his own good, that man.

"Thank... you. You seem in a great mood to compliment me. Surely you don't think this will be enough to make up for the selfies, because it is not." at this point, even Vil didn't know what to think. The smile he doesn't consciously make, huh...

"Nah, those were just random ones I wanted to get off my mind. Oh, by the way, I don't know how to do your makeup look. Care to do it for me, pookie bear?" you sprung up from the chair at the vanity table, already getting excited about messing him up on purpose by opening your eyes when he tells you not to or moving your lips away from the lipstick, making it smudge.

You got way too sentimental for a moment there. And you're sure he noticed.

"Back to your regular self, I see. Fine, I will make myself look beautiful, as always." he smiled confidently. Though he himself has become curious about that side of you now.

Do you really think of him as a victim of your little pranks like everyone else, or are you hiding something else behind your silly smile?

‧₊˚✩彡 Idia Shroud

You were surprised to find a different voice calling out to you in the morning and telling you to wake up, one that sounded more cheerful, peppy, childlike.

And sure enough, it was Ortho's face that greeted you instead of your usual furry friend Grim.

As it turns out, you woke up in Idia's body this morning. What a lovely surprise.

You mean that both sarcastically and in the regular sense.

While you were explaining what was happening to a confused and worried Ortho, Idia's phone started buzzing somewhere in the bed. This dude sleeps with his phone inside his bed? Well, you suppose you have no time for judgement when the phone call might be important.

You rummage through his bed and eventually extract his phone. It was your number calling him.

When you pick up, you hear your own panicked voice on the other end. "U-Um, is this- Are you- How do..."

"Yes, I'm the Prefect. Looks like we switched bodies overnight." you inferred that he wanted to know who exactly just picked up the phone.

"How exactly do you think that happened? I mean, that's NOT normal." your voice on the other end seemed much calmer now.

"Hm, I have no clue, but I do know that I'm going to have loads of fun..." you grinned widely, catching a glimpse of yourself on Idia's dark phone screen and flinching slightly. You're definitely not going to get used to looking like someone else for a while. Especially if your new appearance is as unique as Idia's.

"What do you mean by that? Seriously, wha-" you ended the call before your voice could finish the sentence.

"Hehehehe... I bet he's panicking so hard right now." you giggled to yourself, still feeling a little weird about the fact that it's Idia's voice coming out of your mouth instead of your own.

"Brothe- No, Prefect. Who was that?" it was adorable how worried Ortho was over his brother. Or you, you suppose.

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head about it..." you patted Ortho's head, hand moving over his flames with interest. "Go ahead and have fun, I'll be here if you need me." you gently shooed Ortho out of Idia's room to execute your master trolling plan.

You sat behind Idia's computer, booting it up. His computer works really fast, which isn't all that surprising considering his skills. He probably built the whole PC from scratch.

Surely, Idia won't mind if you play his games for a bit. You just want to see how far he's gotten. How many items he's saved up.

Hehehe.

You opened up one of the games you've been dabbling in yourself a bit, giggling to yourself about the random anime girl backround.

"Jeez, he's basically pro at this point." you went through his obtained characters and all the stats on most characters were maxed out.

But, since he still hasn't obtained the new character AND he has loads of gems in his inventory, he surely won't mind if you do the work for him, right?

You started pulling for characters in the gacha, waiting for the little indicator that you got a rare character. The flames of your hair flickered more and more with each pull, knowing you were getting closer.

Just when you got the pull animation you were looking for, the door to his room burst open and you saw yourself, all panicked and panting. Took him long enough, jeez.

"Oh, hi, me! I was just pulling for this character on your behalf, and-" you glance at the monitor "Looks like I won the fifty/fifty, hehe~" you acted cute and innocent.

"W-W-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! I didn't- I didn't want this character! I was saving up for the re-run, and- Agh!" Idia pushed you away from his keyboard, and he stared at the screen with pure horror in his eyes. You wonder what color his hair would be if he were in his body right now. But as it stands, his flames are flickering happily above your head at a succesful trolling attempt.

"Just buy more gems, bae. Money solves all your problems." you pat his head, kinda cringed out by the way your face can contort when it's making faces candidly. You really look like that when in despair, huh?

Idia ignored the way the casual pet name made him feel. He's supposed to be furious at you right now, not flustered.

"Noooooooo, this is the worst day of my life...." he hid his face in his hands.

"You know what, though? Look at the bright side! I get to figure out how your hair looks when it's wet. I doubt you'd do it yourself and I've been morbidly curious for a while." you patted his shoulder in an overly cheerful manner.

"Wha- Abso-freaking-lutely not. You're a weirdo of the third degree." he crossed his arms, still feeling a bit heartbroken over his videogames being tampered with.

"Is it that weird that I find your hair pretty?" you run your hand through his hair for the thousandth time this morning. It just feels so strange, yet nice under your fingers.

"Finding out if I become bald when my hair gets wet doesn't seem like something a hair admirer would do, but IDK, maybe my definition is different from yours." Idia shrugs, scowl still as big as ever.

"But really, I am an admirer. I kept looking at myself or, well, you in your phone camera this morning because your hair is just so pretty. Watching your hair fluctuate with your emotions is always a fun sight, too. Like damn, your hair is literally on fire, how cool is that?" you explain your thoughts, twirling a piece of his hair in your hand and smiling at it.

"If only I could cuddle up to you and use you like a heater. Too bad your hair's just a normal temperature." Idia's heart almost exploded at the mental image that formed in his head when you said that. And it was even worse because it was coming out of his own mouth.

"T-This is not okay... You can't do this to me...!" he mumbled, not meeting your eyes.

You don't get it, you just dealt 99999 damage to his falling-in-love-resistance shield. Just how do you manage to do that?

"Actually, now that I can look at it up close as much as I want, your face is like, really well proportioned too. Like..." you bit your lip as a joke, wanting to look overly flirty. "That's all I'm gonna say."

Okay, now you've done it. He might just pass out, right now.

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girlgrouptrash101 · 4 months

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Karina (Aespa) as Your Girlfriend

Requests:

"aespa’s karina as your gf please?"

"Can you do Karina from aespa as a girlfriend please?"

"I would like to request Aespa Karina as your girlfriend 😍"

"hi!! i hope your having a great day and i hope your doing well, can i request aespa’s karina as your gf? thank you~"

"Hello! Can I please request Aespa’s Karina as your girlfriend? Thank you!"

A/N: cannot believe it has been over 2 years since I've written anything lol. so here's a lil something to try get the creative juices flowing again wOO 🤭

- C

when 99% of the relationship is you just staring at karina and wondering how someone can be that beautiful. as you SHOULD

idk why but i feel like karina is the perfect person for the trope where she would make a habit of going to the same coffee shop every day even though she hates coffee,, just because you were the cute barista that worked there

despite her cool and composed aura, she unfortunately had no idea how to talk to you outside of ordering a drink; her brain would just fizzle out whenever she tried to strike up further conversation 🥲

so you had to be the one to take the first step, which took a hot minute because perhaps. miss yoo jimin had a sliiiiiightly threatening aura at first (you quickly learned she was really just a cutie patootie behind that stoic face she tended to wear. teehee)

after gaining enough courage, you ended up asking her out for coffee because you thought hm,, she comes here every day for coffee she must love it!

safe to say it was a little surprising when she responded with a very embarrassed "...i don't even like coffee"

with the tips of her ears flushing red as she had to explain her reasoning behind coming in every day

you decided instead to take her to the carnival that came to town every summer

[insert cliche top of the ferris wheel kiss here]

and every summer since then you've always gone to the carnival together, the two of you running around to go on all the rides like little kids, never getting tired of it even though you do the same thing every time it comes

she's the kind of girl to be super head over heels for you but never admit it until those times where you lay side by side in bed at night, your eyes doing your best to see each other's silhouettes in the dark

her hand coming up to rest on your cheek, thumb gently caressing your face as she reminds you of how much you mean to her

but don't bring it up the morning after unless you wanna get hit with the "idek what you're talking about i would never be so sappy 🤨"

fit checks!!!

refuses to leave the house in said fit unless you send a paragraph in all caps hyping her tf up (it's just what she deserves!)

queen of soft launching your relationship on social media 🥹

like IG stories of flowers you gave her, or your hands intertwined, but nothing too much more than that

because it's her relationship and she doesn't need the world to know about every little thing you two get up to,, that's for her to know and her only

well......... her and the aespa girlies who can't help but smile every time their leader comes home and launches herself face first into her pillow, gushing over how much she likes you and how nice your date was

(which she will NEVER admit happens. she's no softie, okay? okay. yes she is hehehehe)

ningning stealing karina's phone at the dorm and blowing your phone up with memes n sending off guard pics of Karina lol <3

Loves going for walks in the park nearby, no matter the weather or time, especially if there's something on her mind and she just wants to get some fresh air and chat it out with you

lives in your hoodies whether you like it or not, you have no choice cuz girlie just treats your wardrobe as hers

never brings PJs when she's staying at yours as an excuse for you to lend her even more clothes

brings a film camera everywhere,, her favourite thing is when the film fills up and she gets the pictures developed so she can bring them back to you and you can look back over the memories shared together

scrapbooking together !!! will even spend hours in the stationary shop looking for the perfect pen/washi tape to use for it hehe.

Can't stand it but also loves it when you compliment her as often as you do

(but it hurts ur heart a little when you feel she doesn't believe what you say is true, you wish she could feel the same love she has for you for herself too :[ )

so you pledge to always be there to lift her up and be her #1 fan!! in both day to day life and as a My of course

which meanssss first row seats to all the aespa concerts, practice nights, just generally supporting her through thick and thin, and she will no doubt do the same for you!

and that one day you came to an aespa fansign to surprise her 🥹 she had to hold back all the affection she wanted to give you :((((

gaming nights 🤓 and by gaming i mean gardenscapes....... god she's such a lil nerd

anime nights 🤓 her getting all excited when her faves come on screen, smacking you on the leg repeatedly with joy while she explains what's going on (because as much as you enjoy sitting down to watch her favourite shows w her, you really didn't understand half of it LOL)

loooooves late night arcade dates

especially so she can win plushies in the claw machines,,, or rather, you can win them for her (so chivalrous 😁)

her love for claw machine plushies gets so bad that your bed now has a mountain of them stacked up that you have to throw off before bed everyyyyy night omg

not to change the subject but like. Karina's morning cuddles 🥹

or for the mornings where you wake up late, your eyes opening to the sound of her padding back into the bedroom to check on you, a smile creeping onto your face as you feel the bed sink where she sits by your side

and when she leans over to kiss your forehead, her gorgeous locks framing her face while her cute glasses slip down her nose 🥹🥹🥹 IM GONNA CRY

tldr; the softest girl that just wants to be loved the way she loves you 😔

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luvrhyune · 1 year

Note

skz as kissing tropes/types of kisses they give 🙏

-; ✧˖*°࿐ KISSING TROPES . SKZ .

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ SUMMARY ; your skz bias as kissing tropes !!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ PAIRING ; ot8 x reader !!

— warnings ; KISSING, fluff, idk man its kissing ??

— notes ; here u go gf <33

— notes ; thank u cielle for helping me with this luvie !!

masterlist.

— CHANNIE & KISSES EVERYWHERE !!

chan most definitely kisses you anywhere, any chance he can get.

hands, cheeks, forehead, temples. he will kiss you anywhere.

it’s mainly just a way for him to tell you he loves you when he doesn’t know how to express it.

— MINNIE & FOREHEAD KISSES !!

now this might sound bizarre, but i literally cannot imagine minho kissing someone anywhere other than their forehead.

it’s just so him? being able to hold his partner close and place a kiss on their head. it’s very discreet but so very loving?

you’re both in a very intimate moment, just holding each other. your foreheads a pressed together and you’re looking into each others eyes, and he pulls away to press a kiss to your forehead before resting his chin on the top of your head.

— BINNIE & LIP KISSES !!

CIELLE ( @starseungs ) SAID THIS AND I COULDN’T AGREE MORE.

binnie is a certified lip kisser. certified lips man.

his favourite thing is to kiss you / make out with you and watch you try and follow his lips when he pulls away.

he can’t get enough of your lips seriously, especially if you’re wearing a flavoured lip gloss / balm / chapstick because he won’t stop kissing you.

— JINNIE & HAND KISSES !!

don’t ask me why i think he likes hands… i just do.

i just think that because he uses his hands so much he’s taken the time to appreciate them i guess??

and it’s just so easy for him to show you his affection.

you guys are holding hands? he’ll lift them up and press a kiss on the back of your hand. your hand is resting on his cheek? he’s kissing your palm. your thumb is brushing over his lips? best beLIEVE you’re getting a kiss there.

— HANNIE & HEAD / NECK KISSES !!

i don’t have to explain the neck one. we all know he’s THAT type of bf.

it’s just so easy for him to wrap his arms around your middle and pepper kisses across your neck and the back of your head.

and i think for the times hes just feeling lazy, and whats to laze around with you he’ll press absent minded kisses to the top of your head.

— YONGBOKKIE & KISSES EVERYWHERE !!

come on,, felix is so clingy & touchy and no doubt kisses will come with that.

even if it’s just a small peck, that man whats to kiss you everywhere.

his kisses are like,, a buy one, get one free thing honestly because you get an ‘i love you’ and a kiss to go with it.

— SEUNGIE & TEASING / NECK KISSES !!

THIS MAN IS A MENACE.

he’ll beg (he hates begging) for a kiss, go in for the kiss and then turn away at the last minute. and then make YOU beg for kisses.

he also really likes kissing your neck, JUST TO BE A MENACE.

he’ll kiss along your neck, get you all relaxed AND THEN BITE YOU ISTG.

— INNIE & GIGGLE KISSES !!

i didn’t know what these were until today 🫥

but our lovely i.n is a happy kisser.

he’ll kiss you and smile in between the kisses or laugh in between them.

you’ll never know if it’s because hes so happy to kiss you or if he’s thinking abt something stupid his members did but he will smile and laugh in between kisses.

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hellfire--cult · 11 months

Text

Baring Teeth {Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader} - Ch. 6

Picture for Banner: pitifulbaby

Chapters: Masterlist (Go here to see list of chapters.)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Non-Traditional Omegaverse, Slow burn, Modern!AU, Mechanic!Eddie

Warnings: Ab*se, Violence, Mental Health, Cursing, Smut (mild), treat it as a normal Enemies 2 Lovers book, but the A/B/O dynamic will appear at some point. Trauma, manipulation, dirty talk, omegaverse topics.

Crossposted on: Wattpad & AO3

A/N: All comments and reblogs help with the engagement, I appreciate every single one! ❤️I cannot thank you enough for all the follows and new people I met on here, you're all too sweet, and hopefully I can introduce you to this trope as soft as possible! Also, should I put this down as Mature category? Or do I just do that on the chapters that will contain one of the warnings above? I am new to posting on Tumblr, so I don't know how to do much of the interaction and engagement here!

Anyways, Enjoy!

<- Prev. chapter - Next chapter ->

Chapter 6

“He’s not coming again?” You heard Nancy exclaim angrily as she took her phone out and started typing away with her fingers. You bit your lip nervously as you side eyed Robin and whispered to her.

“I can leave, I mean, I already had drinks with you guys yesterday–” Steve heard you from across the table and shook his head and then directed his head towards Nancy.

“He is a big boy. She seems to have bigger balls than him because she actually dares to face him after their fight.” A sense of pride surged in your chest, but honestly you dreaded Eddie's appearance. You could always ignore him, and that’s what you planned to do in case he did show up, but for the second night in a row, he didn’t, and you knew it was because of you.

“I know! That’s why I am trying to make him come down here!” Nancy spat as she stared at the phone and let out a loud scoff, slamming it face down, her eyes going directly to you. “You are not going anywhere, if he wants to be a baby, so be it.” You were actually surprised that Nancy was taking your side, as well as Steve, who were the closest with Eddie.

“But, I mean, I can risk a night out–” And that’s when Robin stopped you from talking, swaying her beer around with a frown in her face.

“Don’t. He has to put the big boy panties on at some point.” You looked down at your beer and sighed, taking a sip of it. You were all sitting in the same booth as you always do, and the reason for going out for drinks two nights in a row, was because Jonathan was having anniversary happy hours. His bar opened two years ago, and he is celebrating with a full week of discounted drinks, which was getting him a really big clientele.

“Don’t think too much about it.” Steve says to you and Argyle nods next to him, taking a sip of his beer.

“Yah, that dude can be pretty hard headed when he wants to be. But he always comes around.” He says with a nod and you sigh, looking at him.

“Argy, sweetheart, I don’t know if you remember, but coming around this is not something I am hopeful for or want. We despise each other. I thought that was clear.” You said while looking at Argyle who was smirking while staring at you.

“There is a fine line in between Hate and Love, brochacha.” You winced at that, shaking your head at him.

“Hell no Argyle. The day Eddie Munson and I become friends, it’s because one of us lost their mind, or both.” You explain and it was Robin’s turn to roll her eyes with a giggle in her lips.

“Oh come on, everyone remembers your googly eyes at him when you first met him. Attraction never goes away.” As she was saying that you had the fantastic idea to take a sip out of your beer, only to be spat slightly at the word ‘Attraction’.

“Jesus!” Steve yelped, moving away to not get any beer on his polo shirt.

“Sorry, Steve, but Robin, what the fuck?” You exclaimed, feeling a certain not in the pit of your stomach start to form. You did look at Eddie that night, it was hard not to, he just simply stuck out like a sore thumb out of the bunch.

“I think the two of you just need to fuck your hate away.” She said this time with another sip of her beer. You knew she was getting drunk now, but to say those things about a man who made your life a living hell the past year? It was too much.

“I prefer to eat a raw unpeeled sea urchin than think of Munson’s dick, thank you very much.” You said taking a big sip out of your beer. You heard a big sigh on your side as Nancy put the phone down from her ear, and you knew that she listened to an audio message, probably from Eddie.

Even if your friends were defending your honor basically, you couldn’t help but feel like a nuisance. You felt like you were a splinter, just poking and bothering whenever it pleases. You didn’t want the group to be on bad terms, even if you knew all of them saw Eddie outside these gatherings, you still couldn’t shake the feeling of him being cast aside because of your quarrel.

Maybe tomorrow you can make up an excuse of not going out with your friends so that Eddie could take your place. Why do you even care about that douchebag? You know he wouldn’t give two shits about you if it were the other way around.

But you know loneliness too well. So you can’t ignore it.

Not even for Eddie Munson.

—-—————————————

You had your arms full of papers, walking down the hallways at your workplace, trying to reach your office. Robin had a terrible hangover today, which made you angry as hell because you had a deadline of bringing in your project next week, and you were feeling like you were handling it all by yourself.

“Fucking Robin, stupid alcohol, stupid happy hours–” You were so in your own little word that you didn’t see where you were going, nor the person you just rudely ran into, making your stack of papers fall to the ground. Your ass fell straight to the floor at impact, making you groan in pain, your eyes closed from wincing.

Great, what you needed. A stupid bruise, from someone that was stupidly in the middle of the way–

“Are you okay?”

Your eyes immediately opened, registering the voice, and slowly looked up. Worried light blue irises were looking at you, inspecting your body as he crouched in front of you. The black leather pants made a creasing sound as he did, and you sucked in a breath when you saw the button up shirt he had on, which had all the buttons on his torso opened up.

And dear god, he smelled divine.

“I– What?” You were awestruck, taken completely aback by his beauty as he frowned in confusion, tilting his head. Oh, you were making an idiot out of yourself, you had to snap out of it. You had to stop staring! You shook your head to concentrate once more, his words registering in your brain as a deep blush from embarrassment covered you from head to toe. “I– Uh, yeah, I just… Wasn’t looking where I was going.” You say shyly, recovering yourself, kneeling down on the floor to start picking up your papers.

“No, no. It’s my fault too, I was just standing in the hallway… Got lost again.” You looked up from your papers to see Billy Hargrove smiling slightly at you. He remembers you. Oh god, he remembers you from last time, even if it was a small interaction.

“I should give you a map.” You say, wincing in your head at your poor choice of words, but he chuckled nonetheless and started helping you with the papers.

“Maybe…” He says and you bit your lips as you both got up, helping each other by grabbing your elbows. “Or you can be my guide.” He finished with a soft smirk on his lips. Your eyes slightly widened at that because, was this really happening? Is he flirting with you? Maybe he flirts with every girl he meets, he is a model, he knows he is good looking so of course he might be taking advantage of that.

If there’s anything your life taught you before, was to not be naive, no matter how good looking someone might be, how charming they can be. A pretty face can be a mask for so many lies and secrets that you don’t even want to figure out what it is.

“Oh, but it’s so close. Just like last time, the floor above you is where you want to go.” He seemed taken aback by your response. Of course he was. Billy Hargrove was used to women becoming putty in his hands as soon as he said the word ‘Hi’ to them. He thought you were another one of those catches of course, by the way you smiled dumbly at him last time he met you.

‘This one’s easy.’ He thought to himself that day.

“Well, you see, last time I even got lost on that floor as well, this office is just too big.” He replied to you with a small tug on his face. You looked at the big pile of papers on your hands and back at him.

“I am a little busy at the moment Mr. Hargrove.” You tried to be as polite as possible, even if he was dressed casually, you weren’t even acquaintances. There was no need to call him by his name. He let out a chuckle at that, and you gulped at how manly it just sounded.

“Mr. Hargrove? I’m not a teenager, but I don’t go past my 30's, Doll.” Oh, the nickname made you shiver slightly. You were too weak for nicknames, and as you kept staring at his grin, you remembered how two days ago, you masturbated in his name. Because you imagined him, with you, touching every corner of your skin, pampering you, taking care of you, knowing what you want and what you need. Making you gasp, writhe, whimper and moan his name with every tap, lick, flick, pinch he did to you.

“My name is not doll Mr. Hargrove.” You replied to him, snapping out of your memories, walking past him to avoid him looking at your blush. He’ll certainly know he has you around his finger if you cave in, so you were simply trying to keep your distance. But it seemed someone else had other plans, following you down the hallway. You were wondering what he was up to, reaching your office to finally put down the heavy stack of papers on your desk with a relieved sigh.

“Ah.” He pointed at your door, and there it was, the plaque with your name. He said it with a raspy voice which simply etched itself in the deep of your gut and you won’t be able to ever forget it now. “Pretty name… Doll suits you better.”

“And why is that?” You ask, crossing your arms over your chest and you notice it. Of course you did. The way his eyes went to your chest for just one second, because thanks to your arms, your breasts stuck out now, pushing them up.

Billy never hooked up with a woman in an office outfit. Never imagined it either. Now, seeing you in front of him like that was making him discover a part of himself he didn’t know of, and that was, that he wanted to lift your skirt up, and fuck you right into the window glass that was in your office.

“Because you’re pretty, like a doll.” It was a very corny line, you knew it, but you still shifted on your legs, clearing your throat, looking down at the pack of papers.

“Well, thank you Mr. Hargrove. Like I said, one floor up– What are you doing?”

“You’re in charge of putting together my photos?” He was giving you his back, looking at the board that was in front of your desk. Pictures and texts were all stuck in various places, ideas that formed in your head for how the articles might look best, and eye catching.

“It’s more than that. I have to make sure everything is detailed for possible investors in the brands you modeled.” He nodded in understanding at that, completely mesmerized at the work. He modeled of course, but he wasn’t the main focus of the articles this time. It was the clothes he was wearing. He looked at all the details she added, the texture, pattern, stitches of the clothing in various zoomed in pictures.

“I didn’t know there was this much work behind my pictures.” You were looking at his back with a confused frown in your face. Talking like this with him, without knowing one another was weird but also soothing at the same time. He turned around with a smile on his face, looking down at his watch. “Oh, five minutes left for the meeting to start.”

“Weren’t you running late already?” You said with a smile on your face, a small scoff coming out of your lips which made his eyes bright up at it. He doesn’t like chasing after girls, not at all, but something was drawing him to you, something that interested him for some reason. He walked over to your desk, putting his hands on it in order to lean forward towards you.

“I am not lost, Doll. Just wanted to know your name and maybe something else. A username maybe?” He asked with a smirk to his face and you felt your face heating up at how straightforward he was being. He was asking for your Instagram username.

“A lie? Why’s that?”

“Let’s just say I was wishing to run into you again.” You bit your lip, deciding to play his game and put your hands on the desk, leaning forward as well, your face inches away from his. Your breaths mixed with one another’s and you felt it.

Tension.

“Well, I don’t think there is time to give you my information. Your meeting starts right now.” He was looking at you, scanning your face and your features. He slowly said your name, a smirk in his lips as he inhaled your sweet perfume.

“Cat and mouse, huh.” He said on the low, and your heart was going a mile per minute, butterflies exploding in your belly as he stared into your eyes, your soul, your heart, just everything. He leaned forward, even more, and you held your ground, even if you wanted to shrink away in embarrassment, or nervousness, you kept your head in place. His lips brushed against yours as he spoke once more.

“I can’t wait to catch you, little Mousy.” Your breath got caught in your throat. This guy, this model, this god sent man, who saw you twice in his life, was making you feel so desired, so wanted, so untouchable. He did something that you’ve been wanting someone to do for so long, for a year or more so.

You just cannot believe it is him the one doing it.

He pulled away from you with a soft chuckle, saying your name, bidding you goodbye, and leaving your office, closing the door behind him. His perfume lingered in the air, and you finally, finally, could breathe out properly. You held your chest, your hand feeling the rapid thumps that were bouncing under your skin.

You gulped, feeling your throat completely dry after that exchange. Holy shit, you can’t wait to tell Robin. Oh, thank god Robin wasn’t here today, because she would have totally meddled and fucked that interaction over.

You started pacing in your office, trying not to smile at how bravely and straightforward he was flirting with you, an office woman, someone totally different to what he is. You were no Kendall Jenner, his ex, or Gigi Hadid, but if someone like him looked at you the way he did today, it was alright to feel… hot. Sexy. Attractive.

He was an ego booster, that’s for sure, and now you were expectant of your next encounter. Some small part of you was screaming because it was in need of sexual interaction, and it is yelling at you that you should have given your username, even if it was for a one night stand.

But the other part, the one that holds your dignity and pride, wanted to know how far you could go with this. A normal city guy for a one night stand, that’s okay, you don’t care, now when a model, a hot one at that, is bluntly flirting with you, yeah, you’re going to make a feast out of it.

As much as you could.

Because, it was just sex. Right?

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

End of chapter 6

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A/N: Please, comment or send me an ask if you desire to be put in the taglist ❤️

taglist: @enam3l @rainybakerypandaegg @katethetank @seatnights @oliskitten @bebe07011 @seventhlevelofhell @babez-a-licious

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solomonhater · 1 month

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“We can’t be friends”

Solomon and MC with this song (0:23-1:00)

Hear me out (personal HC & slight angst)

“I don’t wanna tiptoe, but I don’t wanna hide. But I don’t wanna feed this monstrous fire”. This part gives me. “I wanna be with you, but I cannot tell you directly”. Solomon knows for a fact that you won’t accept his confession, mainly because you/MC aren’t sure how sincere he is (and bc the game hates Solomon). And because of this “misunderstanding” his actual confession takes way too long before it’s too late.

“Just wanna let this story die, and I’ll be alright”. He wants this entire situation to end and just be with the love of his life.

“We can’t be friends, but I’d like to just pretend”. Solomon wants to be more than friends with MC. And as much the domestic life and “chemistry” they have in NightBringer, it’s all just an “act”. Solomon is just trying to get you back to the present while you form closer relationships with the brothers. Something, no matter what timeline and universe. You will never love Solomon truly…. So he just “pretends” to be okay for the sake to get you back to the present.

“You cling to your papers and pens” this part is kinda tricky to understand and from which perspective you can look at. This might be that Solomon or MC are 24/7 doing work. If they are both doing their job, they are both emotionally unavailable. Personally I see this line being in MC’s life, they are just fixing the peace in HoL. And Solomon is just waiting for MC to come back…..

I think Solomon will always wait for MC, and would accept his fate for not being able to have MC by his side. In the beginning of NightBringer we sort of have some Solomon x MC moments, but got discharged asap…

“Wait until you like me again, wait for your love. Love, I’ll wait for your love” is the perfect example of Solomon. I wait for you no matter how long it takes.

Banner by @/cafekitsune

I need more Solomon angst, but also I want them to be happy ever after…. (Edited)

I just put my Simeon romance trope explained in a draft bc ehh no inspo :’)

#Spotify #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me solomon #solomon x mc #solomon x reader #obey me headcanons

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lightns881 · 2 years

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How She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Uses Traditional Fairy Tale Archetypes and Motifs to Reinvent the Love Story

(This is based on a 15-page final paper I wrote for my Queer Theory class last semester. Link to that if you want to read it or see the format is at the end.)

The SPOP finale is one that consistently has me SOBBING. Not only because it’s such a beautiful portrayal of a kiss shared between two female leads portrayed on a kid’s show, but because the kiss itself is so utterly significant to the story that I cannot see a more perfect ending for the climax overall.

What really struck me thinking about it later on was the fact that traditional fairy tales have always made me hate the “true love’s kiss saves the world” trope because it has always felt so ingenuine, and yet for the SPOP finale, it could not feel more genuine and real (and it wasn’t just because I loved seeing a queer kiss because prior to this I’ve had many straight ships I’ve enjoyed). The deeper I fell into investigating the structure of SPOP and the motifs it uses (She-Ra as a savior, Catra as a villain, princess tropes, etc), the more I understood that this show isn’t just revolutionary to queer animation, it’s revolutionary toward the fairy tale love story as a whole, and I’m going to explain why.

The world of Etheria is one that exists without a dominant sexuality or gender. It’s something I’ve began to notice more in my favorite shows (the two that I can think of off the top of my head is SPOP and The Owl House). These fantasy worlds portray sexuality without putting so much significance to it--Bow and Willow have two dads and nobody bats an eye, they/them pronouns are used so casually you’d think it’d be the norm in the real life, Amity’s mom doesn’t approve of Luz not because they’re both girls but because she’s considered a criminal and she wants to get her a different girlfriend--notice how queerness is something that just exists, there’s no "coming out” or no queerphobia because it just doesn’t exist. People just are who they are and love who they want to love. It’s as if every sexuality and gender is treated with normalcy.

The best example in SPOP is the whole episode involving Bow coming out as a rebel to his gay parents. The whole irony of the situation just establishes that queerness is not considered out of the norm in Etheria. If it did, you’d see some sort of reference to the way his dads had to come out to their family or their community in some way, but you don’t because they didn’t have to come out. There is no closet when it comes to gender and sexuality in Etheria--you just are who you are.

There’s this very interesting concept called the “heterosexual imaginary” that basically states how straightness is basically invisible in our world because it’s considered the norm (the essay Sex In Public by Berlant and Warner describes it as “the givenness of male-female sexual relations [that] is part of the ordinary rightness of [our] world”). This imaginary or “givenness” does not exist in the universes of SPOP and TOH, and it is why these stories can pull off queer relationships and characters without needing the stereotypical coming out episode or homophobia episode a show based in our world would generally have. You’d think it’d be a norm in every fantasy world to have this seeing as it’s a fantasy world and it’s weird that one would function with our set of norms but anyway.

This directly ties to a quote that Stevenson made that I just love:

The show’s not a romance show. It is about a lot of things. It’s about choice, destiny, fighting, tyrants, you know, all of these other things. I grew up with so many stories—like sci-fi and fantasy—that I was so passionate about. And it would be considered no big deal to have the hero get the girl and to have a kiss at the end, without it suddenly becoming a romance or ‘Oh, the shippers got what they wanted.’ It was just a part of the story.

We see this in sooooo many fantasy stories! If it was any other sexuality, you’d see these kinds of arguments all the times--”shoved in your throat,” “inappropriate,” “not for kids”--we see these arguments all the time when it comes to queer relationships but nobody bats an eye when a guy gets the girl at the end of a coming of age journey, do they? It doesn’t suddenly turn the whole story into a straight romance, it’s just a part of the story. That’s the heterosexual imaginary in action!

Now, when it comes to traditional Disney fairy tales, oh boy do we get compulsory heterosexuality everywhere. These stories already have a reputation for building a pretty unhealthy view of romantic love (or assuming that all love is romantic in the first place), though they have been getting much better at it (and by better I mean Pixar... it’s literally Pixar holding their weight).

Especially when it comes to princess stories, “a heterosexual romance is inevitable and often a central conclusion” (England, Descartes, & Collier-Meek 565).

Let me make it clear: SPOP is not a romance. It is a love story, but it is not the romance, and here’s the difference.

A love story uses a romantic relationship (or another type of relationship between two people who love each other) as an impediment or a facilitator to focus on a message outside of romantic love. A romance focuses on the actual romantic relationship itself.

These terms are often confused because the “traditional Disney definition of true love” (Rojas 13) shapes our expectations of a love story. In framing this heterosexual love as the primary purpose of female leads, these stories “help to reinforce the desirability of traditional gender conformity” (England, Descartes, & Collier-Meek 565). They build narratives that revolve around a princess (who upholds feminine ideals) finding her prince (who upholds masculine ideals) and depict their love as relying on their “fated” bond that “cements over the course of… one meeting” and that “endures a test where the man overcomes hardships and succeeds in rescuing the woman from evil” (Rojas 13). This love story ends with a kiss, a marriage, and a happily ever that upholds the social order.

Since these love stories shape our perception of love as children, as adults, we interpret ‘true love’ as a frivolous concept that only exists in fairy tales; as such, it is common to discredit the romance genre for its superficiality and degrade the message of any love story to this expectation of superficial love. Consequently, because “the givenness of male-female sexual relations” (Berlant & Warner 168) allows heterosexuality to function in a state of invisibility, heterosexual love stories can end with a romantic union without it demeaning the story whereas queer love is degraded to ‘just another dumb love story’ instead of “a part of the story” (Stevenson).

But Catradora isn’t just another dumb love story. It is the foundation of SPOP as a whole because it’s what drives the story. The most interesting part is that SPOP uses so many traditional motifs that you’d think would only serve toward maintaining patriarchal norms and it uses them in such a meaningful way that transforms them into so much more!

Let’s start with the character motifs--the savior, the princess, the villain, and the damsel (and there’s a reason why I am separating the princess and the damsel). Adora functions as a savior and a princess while Catra functions as a villain and a damsel, and I know it sounds ridiculous right now but hear me out. The gender messaging inherently attached to these archetypes are a part of the narratives that Shadow Weaver builds to manipulate them so she can have control over them.

Let’s start with the savior, aka the knight in shining armor. This one’s pretty easy to tie to Adora because her savior complex is what drives her whole arc. But I’m taking it further to explain how it ties to the messaging behind the archetypical savior. The knight in shining armor archetype is build upon the foundation that a woman is a man’s responsibility--it is clear the man is generally the one portrayed as independent and the woman he must save is the dependent. The woman needs the man to live. We see this archetype in sooo many princess stories (Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella, etc.) Now think about the way Shadow Weaver manipulates Adora to adopt this mindset.

Shadow Weaver expects Adora to “[keep Catra] under control” (”Promise” 16:48), that what Catra does is her responsibility as if Catra isn’t her own person outside of Adora. This is what builds Adora’s “caretaker” role in their codependent relationship at the beginning of the series--this is what causes her to adopt her savior complex.

Similarly, as a scapegoat, Catra was conditioned to be Adora’s ‘taker,’ and Shadow Weaver viewed her as a “nuisance… [only kept around] because Adora was fond of [her]” (16:20). This narrative results in Catra’s Cinderella Complex, the “repressed attitudes” that lead women to believe “they are simply damsels in distress and will remain so until the rescue of their male suitors” (Saha & Safri qtd. in Ding 23), at the beginning of the story, for as the damsel archetype upholds, a woman is worth nothing past being an extension of the man that owns her. In this sense, Shadow Weaver describes Catra as an extension of Adora—everything she does is tied back to Adora, for she does not have an identity outside of her. Catra needs Adora to survive--both emotionally and literally because who knows what Shadow Weaver would’ve done with her had Adora not been “fond of her.”

When Adora defects, their codependent roles collapse, and following her ‘caretaker’ role, she seeks to be the savior as She-Ra whereas Catra entirely loses the person she relies on for her sense of self. Seeking her worth elsewhere, Catra pursues their original goal to move up the ranks of the horde alone, and deep into her resentment for being abandoned by her ‘caretaker’ and the only person she loves, she turns to villainy and seeks to defeat Adora.

The scene that most clearly portrays this savior-damsel dynamic between Adora and Catra at the beginning of the story is “Promise.”

“Promise” highlights her rejection of her damsel narrative when Adora fails to save Catra from being dragged away by the spider. We see her default into helplessly calling for Adora with tears in her eyes even though we know she’s capable of taking out that spider herself, she still instinctively fills her damsel role and calls out for Adora to save her. Then we see her look into an empty hallway, and it’s almost as if this is what goes through her mind: Adora abandoned me, therefore Adora is not coming to save me, but I don’t need Adora to save me, I can save myself.

Consumed by her resentment over Adora breaking her narrative and being confined within her own, she proves Shadow Weaver wrong by resolutely fighting back—a capability she always possessed but that her dependency on Adora and Shadow Weaver’s manipulation prevented her from acting upon.

Alongside that, Adora’s ‘heroic’ save just before Catra finishes off the spider and her condescending chuckle and “sure you did” after Catra argues that she “had it” (13:47) emphasize how ingrained these detrimental narratives are within their perceptions, for the mere idea of Catra not needing her is a joke to Adora. The purpose of “Promise” is to divorce Catra from her Cinderella Complex, but in spite of abandoning this narrative, she falls into another by misconstruing Adora’s heroism as a manipulative tactic to hold her back (20:07), and it drives her into her obsession to make Adora fail to prove herself that she can be above.

Yet Adora’s Savior Complex was also a result of Shadow Weaver’s manipulation because, apart from enabling Adora’s belief that she was responsible for Catra, she believed her worth relied on her success as her prodigy. As Kyle the Scott explains in his video essay about the hero mindset, SPOP “does not present the argument that heroism is bad” but it “[questions] how healthy the hero mindset really is… [and] what kind of effect thinking of yourself and others in this way have on a person” (Scott, 7:58).

Throughout the series, it is made clear that Adora’s Savior Complex not only drives her to believe she is worth nothing past her destiny to save Etheria but that she is the only one capable. This belief relates to Adora’s state as a princess, for in the way a passive princess must give everything of herself to serve her man and her society, Adora had to give everything to earn Shadow Weaver’s motherly love, and, later on, she had to give everything to become the hero of Etheria. As such, Adora is not passive in that she is powerless, she is passive in her state as a chosen one lacking agency over her destiny and her belief that her worth relies on what she can offer others.

This extreme selflessness or “ability to show love” (Davis 125) contrasts Catra’s state as a villain, otherwise characterized by her predisposition toward hatred or her “[inability] to demonstrate love” (Ding 15). The archetype of a villainess sends the message that it is “wrong and deceitful for women to be independent and powerful… [and pushes] them to adopt more submissive roles and behaviors” (Ding 16). While Catra describes Adora as a “people-pleaser” (which confines her within her princess archetype), Catra has always steered toward rebellion because Shadow Weaver put her down no matter what she did right, and her rebellion (or “disrespect” as Adora calls it) is deemed a negative because it gives Shadow Weaver less control over her in the same way the archetypal villainess is demonized for defying gender roles.

However, Catra’s descent into villainy was another narrative she confined herself to because she sought power to prove her strength to Shadow Weaver and everyone who put her down, but internally, it was a method of self-preservation since she no longer had her ‘caretaker’ to protect her. As Catra gains power and attempts to convince herself she hates Adora, it becomes evident that her motive was never “ruling Etheria,” it was always about the two of them staying together. Hence, Catra is not a villain because she is heartless or because she craves power; it is due to her use of lashing out as a method of self-preservation and her inability to express her emotions that she falls into the cycle of self-destruction that makes her one. As such, Adora and Catra’s detrimental actions and beliefs about themselves are driven by these confining narratives Shadow Weaver imposed on them which mirror the gendered messages behind these archetypes, and it is these narratives that they transcend at the climax of their love story.

Now let’s fast forward to the Season 5 during the episodes they spend outside of Etheria, specifically I’ll focus on “Corridors,” “Save the Cat,” and “Taking Control” because these are the key for the foundation of Catra’s redemption, Adora’s growth, and the reconciliation of their relationship. This will help prove the power of their love is what helps them break away from their narratives (and it sounds so cheesy but it’s executed so well you barely notice).

I’m going to quote a lot of Five by Five Takes on Youtube because she has some AMAZING takes of this show. Catra’s reflection in “Corridors” reveals that her fear of abandonment ranged back to their childhood, for when Adora made friends with others, Catra perceived it as an attempt to replace her—that if “she wasn’t Adora’s priority… she didn’t matter at all” (“She Ra's Corridors Isn't What You Think” 1:43).

Now, having pushed everyone away for her power trip, at the last step of her journey to the top, when she reflects upon Adora’s words as a child, she recognizes this “safety, friendship, love she turned away from because she didn’t believe it could be real” ( “She Ra's Corridors Isn't What You Think” 1:46) and realizes that resigning herself to villainy is not her only path, for “it’s only too late when you’ve resigned yourself to that” ( “She Ra's Corridors Isn't What You Think” 4:47).

In her choice to save Glimmer, she breaks her cycle of self-destruction and “reclaims her identity… her narrative, to be about her [and] not about someone else” (“She Ra's Corridors Isn't What You Think” 3:08). It is the memory of her love for Adora—the love she rejected because she confined herself to her villain narrative to keep herself safe and to prove she could form an identity outside of Adora—that sets her on her path to redemption. So in this way, their love impedes and facilitates Catra’s coming-of-age journey because it was her attempt to reject this love that drove her into villainy and her acceptance of it that gets her out.

“Save the Cat” is a turning point in Adora’s journey because, in breaking out of her savior and princess narratives, she discovers that She-Ra is driven by her most authentic self. By choosing to rescue Catra, Adora puts her responsibility as a hero aside and acts for herself. For once, her decision is not selfless because she’s endangering her team and Etheria by going to save someone who has been the villain for so long.

She also does not make this decision because she feels responsible for Catra, for we see her abandon this feeling in the episode “The Portal” when she stops attempting to pull Catra into the good side and stops holding back during their confrontations now that she understands Catra is her own person and that she is not responsible for her bad decisions.

Thus, in saving Catra because she has hope for her and not because she ‘needs’ to, Adora rejects her savior and princess narratives. Furthermore, it is the “need to protect” the person she loves and her “purity of emotion” that allows her to channel her most powerful and authentic self (Stevenson), so while Prime embodies lack of identity and agency, Adora embodies embracing love and authenticity. Along the same lines as Catra, Adora confined herself within her narratives by putting her obligations above her feelings for Catra, and she freed herself from them by putting the person she loves above the world.

“Taking Control” marks another turning point in their relationship because we see them communicating and actively reconciling their relationship. By putting herself in a vulnerable position and telling Adora that “[she wants] to go home” (16:56) despite having told Glimmer “there is nothing left for [her there] (“Corridors” 6:20), Catra implies that Adora is her home, and, in making an active effort toward fixing her anger issues and getting to know Adora’s friends, she shows she wants Adora to be part of her life again. Furthermore, the way she lets Adora help and comfort her shows she no longer links vulnerability to being submissive, and she puts aside her fear of falling back into her damsel narrative now that their separation has given her time to find an identity outside of Adora.

So these three episodes mark a turning point for their relationship—one that is no longer based on dependency but on supporting each other’s growth, being honest about their mistakes, and letting themselves be vulnerable.

And then... “Failsafe” happens.

Their return to Etheria is also their reunion with Shadow Weaver, and their regression into her narratives impede them from admitting their feelings for each other and being authentic to themselves. Once more, they get stuck in these narratives Shadow Weaver has weaved into their core.

The good news is their growth and the progress they have accomplished in mending their relationship reflects in the way they reject Shadow Weaver’s influence and defend each other. Furthermore, the improvement of their communication reflects in the way Catra voices why she is upset and Adora expresses she needs Catra by asking for her support. So their rejection of Shadow Weaver’s narratives allows them both to support and be supportive, and their relationship is no longer codependent because they exist on equal grounds now.

Unfortunately, Shadow Weaver’s presence still triggers Catra’s insecurities about feeling wanted and Adora’s fear of failure.

Shadow Weaver uses their reconciliation to her advantage in the way she weaponizes Adora’s feelings for Catra by convincing her she must focus on “protecting [Catra]” instead of letting her distract her. She also breaks Adora’s identity apart by describing She-Ra as an entity outside of her, even though She-Ra is Adora at her purest ( “the world needs you as She-Ra… not Adora” (”Failsafe” 12:12).

Thus, Adora’s regression into her savior complex turns her into a martyr, for what she wants for herself does not matter because she must protect the world and her friends. In telling Catra that “even if [Shadow Weaver] is [sacrificing her]… [it] is the only way” (16:29), Adora conveys that she is, yet again, willing to abandon Catra and sacrifice her own life for the rest of the world even though, as Catra tries to convince her, “it doesn’t always have to be [her]” (17:54).

Here, Adora regresses so deep into her narratives for fear of losing those she loves that she believes she is acting of her own volition and not Shadow Weaver’s influence. Yet Adora does not have to be the one to make a sacrifice; as Catra points out, Shadow Weaver is capable of taking the heart herself, but she does not because she knows Adora’s savior complex will drive her to believe it has to be her.

In asking her what she wants, Catra is really asking Adora to choose between their relationship and her heroism, and when Adora responds that “[she has] to do this” (21:25), Catra perceives it as Adora willingly resigning to Shadow Weaver’s narrative by “[choosing] Shadow Weaver and not [her]” (“The Heart (Part 1)” 4:56) and not loving her enough to stay because she has never needed Catra (21:40), so she leaves. In the same way Adora acknowledged Catra was her own person who made her own choices in the episode “The Portal,” Catra acknowledges here that she cannot change Adora’s choice no matter how self-destructive it might be. Hence, it is their failure to accept their true feelings that hold them back from being authentic to themselves, for Adora does not allow herself to want and Catra does not want to confess because she believes “Adora doesn’t want [her]... like [she wants] her” (“The Heart (Part 1)” 5:00).

And now, finally, let’s talk about true love’s kiss--one of the oldest fairy tale tropes in the book.

True love’s kiss is the deus ex machina of countless fairy tales, but although true love’s kiss does save the day in SPOP, its significance relies on Adora and Catra transcending the narratives Shadow Weaver imposed upon them and embracing their love and their authentic selves. It is not merely a magically ending--it is them admitting what they’ve been holding out on for FIVE SEASONS that allows She-Ra to transform. That is how they save the world. Stevenson says it himself:

This moment of confession is the climax of the show. It is everything [they have] been building up to.”

Even though it is its magic that saves the day, true love’s kiss feels authentic here because of what the magic represents. In SPOP, magic stands for authenticity, connection, and love—all of which express humanity.

At the climax of their story, having lost her ability to transform, Adora begs Catra to leave so she can do the next part on her own—primarily, Adora knows how much she has hurt Catra, so she does not want her to witness her sacrifice. Catra’s choice to stay is a selfless act because she willingly puts herself in a vulnerable position by risking being hurt in the worst way possible. Meanwhile, Adora’s “beautiful wish,” as Prime calls it, externalizes what she wants and is not letting herself have because “[she is] She-Ra” and sacrificing herself “is what [she is] supposed to do.” However, in expressing that “[she deserves] love too” (“The Heart (Part 1)” 17:32), Mara tells Adora that she is allowed to be selfish—she is allowed to want and to receive love. She is “worth more than what [she] can give to other people” (17:30). So in confessing her love, Catra externalizes Mara’s words to Adora.

Despite her best friends claiming to love her for her and not She-Ra, Adora cannot be certain of this because they only became friends after she found the sword. So when the person she cares for the most and who she has also unintentionally hurt the most reveals that she not only loves her but that she has always loved her, it disproves her damaging perception of her worth. It allows Adora to unchain herself from the narratives that have been holding her back from expressing her wants and her feelings. When Adora confesses her love, she chooses Catra for the first time, and she disproves Catra’s belief that Adora does not want her.

The magic behind their true love’s kiss does not rely on superficial rules about love that paint it as a fantasy. On the contrary, it is the humanity behind it—Adora’s acceptance that she deserves love and a future for herself, her rejection of the expectations the world has reduced her to, and their mutual love—that gives Adora the power to transform and save Etheria. In opening their hearts, the magic at the heart is released and it revitalizes the planet, reverting it to its authentic state in the same way it does for them. As Five by Five Takes points out, we even see this in the amount of ‘I love you’s’ exchanged between all the characters—between lovers, friends, and family. The climax also contrasts their narratives, for as opposed to saving Catra, Adora is saved by Catra, and Catra’s “inability to show love” as a villain opposes the way her showing her love saves the world.

As Five by Five Takes explains in her video How She Ra Gives Us Hope, “the conflict [of SPOP] was never love or power, it was authentic connection versus outside manipulation: our genuine selves against the constructs imposed on us” (10:13). Having been divided and at odds for five seasons, having been abused and forced into narratives that stripped them of their identity and agency, and having grown and experienced hardships together and apart, concluding the story on a mutual confession and a true love’s kiss between Adora and Catra establishes their feelings, their wants, and their love are connected to the core of their identities and their coming-of-age journeys as they exist with and outside of each other.

“With Disney specifically, their conceptualization of romantic love is one that follows along with a set of ideals that define perfect love” (Bell, 1975; Sprecher & Metts, 1989 qtd in Ding, 2021), and it is these limitations that paint love as an unachievable fantasy that make these love stories superficial. These stories depict idealized models of men and women that are nothing more than hollow shells written into narratives confined by heteronormativity and gender norms. Such as the ones Shadow Weaver imposes upon Adora and Catra, “whatever you call them—narratives, expectations—these things that tell us who we are, really, are just about control” (“How She-Ra Gives Us Hope” 16:11).

SPOP illustrates a beautiful love story that can serve as a metaphor for the way queer love can rise above the narratives heteronormativity confines it within while reinventing the same archetypes and motifs traditionally catered to reinforcing this heteronormativity and without resolving to topics like homophobia or discovering sexuality, for, in Etheria, love is humanity and love is love. Whereas the resolution of Disney love stories relies on princesses giving up their agency to pursue their role as a wife and a woman in a patriarchal society, SPOP has both its female leads rejecting narratives that allow them to reclaim their agency, their identity, their lives, and their love, not only in their universe but also in ours.

Then there’s the “happily ever after” motif. In Disney fairy tales, happily ever after’s capture beautiful images with “little details” like “fireflies, butterflies, sunsets, wind, and the beauty and power of nature… a link to the naturalness of hetero-romantic love… [that depict] these loving scenes of heterosexual love as the most natural and magical form of love” (Ding 34). In this way, it teaches children “a distorted concept of romantic love at… a young age” that “poses an issue for the harsh reality that love and relationships actually exist as” (Ding 49).

The ending of SPOP captures a magical scene similar to the one described above where Adora and Catra stand upon a hill with their foreheads against each other before a rising light in a new and healing Etheria. Ironically, this beautiful image is not heartwarming because it glorifies their relationship. Their love story was never perfect—there was hardship, tragedy, mistakes, and heartbreak. Instead, the warmth in this image comes from the characters’ perseverance, acceptance, growth, and hope. It comes from having witnessed the coming-of-age stories of two abused best friends who have finally reunited and confessed their love.

Even though SPOP is a fantasy, in Etheria, true love is authentic—it is not a fairy tale concept. Its magic is intrinsically tied to the human truths expressed through its characters and their stories. SPOP redefines a love story by giving these traditional fairy tale motifs a purpose past enforcing gender norms and a glorified image of heterosexual love. Thus, it proves it is possible to redefine the fairy tale love story outside of these heteronormative narratives for “to be against heteronormativity is not to be against norms” (Berlant & Warner 170) nor is it to condemn these motifs or eliminate them from love stories altogether. Instead, we must infuse them with a new meaning—one that focuses on the truths and the complexity behind our humanity—that conveys the message that love is real and that love is love without losing its magic.

If you got this far, thanks for reading :)

(Original essay linked in the notes)

Works Cited

Berlant, Lauren, and Michael Warner. “Sex in Public.” The Routledge Queer Studies Reader, 2013, pp. 165–179.

Brown, Tracy. “In Netflix's 'She-Ra,' Even Villains Respect Nonbinary Pronouns.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2019.

Davis, Amy. Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Women in Disney's Feature Animation. John Libbey Publishing. 2007.

Ding, Shay. Overexposure to Disney Princess Animated Films: Disfigured Perception of Gender and Love In Adolescents. 2021.

England, D.E., Descartes, L. & Collier-Meek, M.A. “Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses.” Sex Roles 64, 555–567, 10 February 2011.

“Failsafe” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 5, episode 11, Netflix, 2018.

“How She Ra Gives Us Hope.” YouTube, uploaded by Five by Five Takes, 29 July 2020.

“Promise” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 1, episode 11, Netflix, 2018.

“Reunion” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 2, episode 7, Netflix, 2018.

Rojas, Camila. Confronting Traditional Love: The Evolution of the Representation of ‘True Love’ in Disney’s Princess Movies (1990s to the Present). 2015. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, dissertation.

Scott, Kyle. “She-Ra and the Hero Mindset: Video Essay.” YouTube, uploaded by Kyle the Scott, 24 March 2021.

“She Ra's Corridors Isn't What You Think.” Youtube, uploaded by Five by Five Takes, 8 August 2020.

Stevenson, Noelle. “She-Ra’s Noelle Stevenson Tells Us How Difficult It Was To Bring Adora And Catra Home.” Interview by Beth Elderkin. Gizmodo, 13 July 2019.

Stevenson, Noelle. “She-Ra showrunner, stars break down Adora's new look with exclusive clip.” Interview by Christian Holub. Entertainment Weekly, 16 May 2020.

“System Failure” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 1, episode 6, Netflix, 2018.

“The Heart (Part 1)” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 5, episode 12, Netflix, 2018.

“The Heart (Part 2)” She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, season 5, episode 13, Netflix, 2018.

#spop #she ra and the princesses of power #catradora #adora #catra #spop analysis #spop spoilers #sapphic #queer love

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gryficowa · 4 months

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Something pisses me off that people in the fandom reduce all the criticism of the episode with Marinette's trauma to the fact that people in the fandom are stupid or love Chloe too much and hate Marinette

No, people don't like this episode because it has no respect for the viewer and it has many problems that are revealed later in the same season, on top of that, I question whether Adrien's trauma was addressed at all in a respectful way, or whether they justified everything by that he is a senti monster? Exactly

By the way, defenders of this episode, I hope you were going after Felix like you were going after Chloe? Oh no, wait, he was a victim of domestic violence and he was rich, so like Chloe, but he was a boy, so his trauma is more important

But coming back, this episode with Marinette's trauma is problematic on many levels, mainly because it fucks with the logic even more than in the first season when in the episode "Origins" when they rescued Chloe, and then in "Lady Wi-Fi", the chat noir suspects that Chloe it's a ladybug and don't ask about logic, because there is none

Not only does Kim and Chloe make so much sense that Chat Noir from the episode "Lady Wi-Fi" could give a high five on this topic, but calling it "Feature Sharpening" is an understatement, it's more like Thomas had too much to drink before writing the entire script for the episode, and like a typical kid, he created the episode like one of the "Scooby-Doo" movies, where Scrappy-Doo was an out-of-character character in order to be antagonized (Because the fandom didn't like him, so it's better to kill off the whole character this way)

What's the best way to end the story of a father who abuses his child? Give him a statue, the fandom will 100% love it

Seriously, Thomas, we all know you didn't write this episode for traumatized people, but just to go the way people did to kill Scrappy-Doo, which was to kill Chloe herself so that the fandom would hate her and Kim in the process suffered, because why not?

And by the way, to explain your imaginary daughter with your ex…

The standards of this series also contributed to the reception of this episode, and I would also like to remind you that Zag wanted redemption for Chloe, but Thomas himself did not want it, so when Zag left to create the film, Thomas went to destroy the whole Chloe, because like a child he cannot reconcile with this, that a fictional character can have any development and tried his hardest to kill Chloe like a Scappy-Doo movie, seriously Thomas, I understand a lot, but as a creator you should use it to your advantage and not kill her off because you hate your character so much (Like a child what creates illustrations of cartoon characters dying because he hates them)

Seriously, this show has 00's to 2010 vibes, but today? Such productions are more annoying than entertaining (And I say this as a 01-year-old)

This writing by Chloe and Kim seriously has Scrappy-Doo movie vibes to me

So the episode with Marinette's trauma is even more irritating, because anyone sensitive will notice what Thomas did here and it is a seriously conscious murder of his characters.

The context of this episode makes you feel offended rather than understood by the creator, because it's not about empathy towards people with trauma like Marinette, but about killing off the characters of Chloe and Kim

No matter how much I love the trope of the main character who, over time, turns out to have a trauma that the viewer doesn't know about, this show fucked it up and resulted in a not-so-good taste

It's just the context of this episode that causes it, I'm seriously sensitive to this way of writing and it has irritated me since I was a child, I was hoping that the newer the cartoons, the more it would disappear, but then Thomas appeared and did my hated trope, but turned it up to the max

Sometimes I wonder why many great creators get as few seasons as possible, while Thomas gets more

Because no matter how much I liked this show, after Chloe's arc fell apart and the writing fell apart because killing Chloe is more important than everything else in this show, it made me fed up

And because of creators like Thomas, many people consider animations as worthless and only entertainment for small children, because Thomas' writing style is effortless (And even productions for preschoolers can handle it, yes, I'm talking about "Bluey"), just as little as possible, and the fact that the fandom swallows everything has a simple task in this topic

Thomas had a good idea, but Miracolous's greatest enemy was Thomas himself

Damn, it's hard for me to come back to the series, but "Ladybug PV" is awesome, so Thomas himself has gone backwards in the development of his work, literally.

Ok, Felix was still problematic (It was chat noir back then, for those who don't know the history of the miracolous creation process)

But if Thomas could develop the character… Oh no, wait, he can't, that's why Felix became Adrien

By the way, Mr. Pigeon and the mime from the first season appeared in this version, just an interesting fact

I also have the impression that the characters had a better design than in the current series

There was another 3D version, which also looked amazing, so the version we got is the worst and this thought kills me, because this series could have been something more, but Thomas himself killed it, i.e. the creator killed his creation before showing it in its entirety to the world (Congratulations, Thomas)

Yes, I had to let go of all my frustration with the show and the fandom, because it's fucked up that when you criticize the bad writing of Marinette's trauma, people come up with their theories on why you do it, not why you do it and why you don't like it

#cartoon #cartoonist #ml critical #ml fandom salt #ml ladybug #ml salt #ml writers salt #ml writing salt #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #chat noir #chloe bourgeois #thomas why?#thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug salt #ml writing critical #anti thomas astruc

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vampirealpaca · 3 months

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My thoughts on the pjo show (now that the season is over) (this is going to run long) Overall Rating: 8/10 :

Ok first of all, I actually LOVED the show and the cast is literally awesome; I do have some thoughts and feelings tho.

The GOOD :D

The visuals were eating ngl

THE CAST!!!! they literally were amazing cannot stress this enough

I think a lot of the changes were handled super well, especially Medusa (although I don't love all of the changes...see below in the next section lol)

I LOVED the set design for pretty much all of the scenes!!! Like the set & costuming was literally so good; sometimes it looked a little Volume-y but I think it's ok since they also clearly did a bunch of on-location stuff

Driving scene was literally so funny like no notes on that + the acting was On Point pretty much All of the Time.

I actually think they slayed with the special effects

Pretty accurate! (overall a waaaaaay better adaptation than the movies)

BLUE FOOD!!!!

More Sally content was awesome!! And I cannot stress this enough the ACTORS WERE SO GOOD in their roles!! Like I think they were the perfect choices ngl and I hope to see more of them in season 2 (if we get one, idk if its greenlit yet)

I also liked how they focused on Grover's character more (lowkey my fav now)

Genuinely had a great time watching the scenes from the books I've loved since Forever come to life onscreen!

The character dynamics were GIVING

Loved getting more info about Percy's backstory

The way they showed the Mist was honestly so cool!! This might be filed under Visuals but still...it was so cool

Fight choreo fluctuated, but I liked the Percy vs Luke fight (altho the scorpion erasure ;-;)

Again the chemistry with the actors like adkjhfdkjdfkjhdfjkhk I think the acting may have been my fav part honestly lol

All of the easter eggs for the fans!!

Rick's subtle rewriting of the story was sometimes very cool! (Like with the water grabbing Percy etc) --- you can definitely tell that he's thinking about how he'd change the story if he were to write it today

...HOWEVER i have gripes :(

THE LIGHTING WAS TOO DARK IN NIGHT SCENES!!!! HATE THAT TROPE WHY CANT I SEEEEEEEE (looking at u medusa scene)

I feel like they should've fallen into like…at least one trap without Knowing Everything about it. Like, I get the Medusa change and am pretty on board with it, but I feel like a few of the other changes weren't really necessary & messed with the stakes. A lot of the time it felt like I was watching them explain "Oh you're THIS person so you will do THIS so I will do THIS" instead of like...showing me.

Not enough blood (this is prob a Disney problem, not the show creators fault but like...cmon Disney...they have swords, let the children get More Injured...they are Fighting for their Lives)

Felt kinda...dryer than the books? idk how to explain it...like it felt like there wasn't the same Vibes in some parts if that makes sense, like they switched out a lot of funny moments (esp with how they changed Charon and the Crusty scenes lowkey im bitter)

the tone was definitely sometimes waaay different from the books (like it was way more serious I think, which is good sometimes and less good other times)

Idk if this is 100% true bc my last reread was a few months ago, but I think they separated the main trio more than in the book (?), it felt like they were duo-ed with diff members for a lot rather than building off of their main dynamic -- they had some trio moments but ig i just wanted more (again, I could be wrong on this one tho)

Lotus Casino not really being as Fun (the pumping lotus flowers in the air was a cool detail tho!)

It generally felt like they took a lot of the funny parts in favor of talking more about how messed up the gods are (which I liked sometimes!! but the kids are 12 let them have more funny moments too yaknow) (Rip the Died in the Bathtub line...gone but not forgotten)

I really didn't love the changes that made the story feel more Cliche and Basic (the ones that annoyed me were changing the entire DOA to just Some Standard Death Eater Looking Fellow & Annabeth's interactions with Cerebus being completely changed)

Mixed feelings on Gabe...I wanted him to be more evil at the beginning but I get why they changed it ig. Plus he was literally so funny when he (spoilers?) got murdered by opening someone else's mail. That's what happens when you commit a federal crime ig.

General Character Thoughts:

PERCY: Walker Scobell was such a good casting call... like you can tell he really cares about the books & getting the character right. Acting was on point, sass was on point (but I do wish he got to be sassy a bit More); Really gives off the energy of Percy Jackson and definitely was AMAZING in this role!

ANNABETH: She was spectacular in this role!! Leah got literally all of Annabeth down to a T --- her kindness, her pride, her wisdom, etc etc without resorting to any kind of "stock smart girl" vibe. She was literally SO GOOD! I loved seeing her talk about her dad, and the detail about her not having seen a movie is such a mood and so in-character lowkey. Leah really nailed Annabeth's dry humor and general vibe like dfajkhfdjhkfdhjk

GROVER: He was my favorite! Like, his acting was AMAZING fr!!! They brought a lot of newer things into his character that I think worked really well & it definitely strengthened his characterization --- he was also really funny & so sincere I just loved his portrayal of Grover!

HOWEVER I think some of the arcs are shakier since the characters didn't struggle as much, since they were figuring out a Lot of things

Overall, I took 2 points from the rating because the Spirit and Humor weren't fully there and I felt some of the changes made it feel less like the OG and more cliche (looking at u Charon). However, the great acting, pretty slay writing (except for the tone stuff), Vibes, and all the other stuff I think they did right pulled through to get it ranked a little higher lol. Plus, I liked it, even if I didn't like all of it.

No hate if u loved the show adaptation tho!! Feel free to disagree, these are just my thoughts lol. I really genuinely hope there's going to be a season 2, although I would like if they fix a few of these problems in that potential season (please...let me see what's happening in the dark scenes...please...)

#pjo tv show #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #review #percy jackson and the olympians tv show #pjo series

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ridl · 7 months

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Gen question what made u ship ganqing so much?

Great question! Prepare for an essay tho hhhh

I played Genshin at launch but got bored quickly and stopped before I even met Keqing or Ganyu. I learned abt their existence thru fanfics, while looking for some wlw fiction to read. “Cornerstone” in particular is a fantastic fic that was being updated at the time. The author put a lot of care and effort into treating those characters seriously, and fleshing them and their dynamic out, which the game generally fails at.

Their dynamic just instantly captivated me. The way they went from being at odds, with their clashing beliefs, to reaching a mutual understanding. To caring abt each other. And it was never just pure hate, but something much more complicated and nuanced.

Back then it was just voicelines abt each other, and both characters had barely any screentime in general, but it was interesting enough of a basis. I started playing again, missed Ganyu's og banner but was lucky to win my 50/50 on Keqing's once-in-a-lifetime limited banner lmao. And the more I learned about them, the more I liked them.

I not only love ganqing, but I also love both characters individually, their personality, story, design, gameplay, they somehow just have everything that’s interesting and appeals to me.

Keqing is the Yuheng of the Qixing, meaning one of the leaders of the country, approved by Rex Lapis. She’s very pro humanity and believes that humans should fare for themselves, rather than rely on the archon. Not many ppl dare to think this, much less say it to Morax's dragon-adeptus face during the rite of descension. So she’s seen as controversial and disrespectful, and Ganyu as a devoted follower who worked closely with Rex Lapis for thousands of years just doesn’t understand Keqing. Rex Lapis absolutely approves of Keqing’s belief, and Ganyu cannot comprehend it no matter how much she respects and trusts him. It’s a very interesting conflict, that eventually gets resolved, giving us the basis of their potential romantic relationship.

Keqing and Ganyu are both very devoted to Liyue, so they’re both similar but also different. They complement each other. Keqing with her modern approach, quick and efficient, straightforward and bold. Ganyu with her old approach, with her opinions and strength hidden, not very straightforward. A confident human who knows what she’s about, and half-qilin that feels lost between the two worlds. But after Morax’s passing, they manage to find understanding, they go thru character development now just in terms of their relationship, but also them individually, and in relation to Morax. They can change each other too. They can learn so much together, from each other. Keqing how to be more patient and deal with uncertainities, while Ganyu how to be bolder, voice her opinions more and just live more for herself.

Ganyu is no longer bound by her contract, but she remains with the humans. She’s working alongside Keqing, in this new human era of Liyue. And while their limited screentime is locked behind time-limited events, it really shows that change, it shows how they care about each other. It shows Keqing’s relations with the adepti and how interesting it is considering her beliefs, and especially with Ganyu’s mother figure.

You could technically just sum them up in popular tropes like “enemies to friends to lovers”, "mortal x immortal" or “opposites attract”, but I think it’s so much deeper than that. I find ganqing's relationship very interesting and unique bc of their personalities, relations with each other and other ppl as well as their country, the setting, their stories, their identities, the conflict and character development they go through.

The game only gives us crumbs, but it also gives so much space and potential for this pairing. It’s never fully explained how it all changed between Ganyu’s voiceline how she started understanding Keqing a little, and their interactions in moonchase/lantern rites, where they’re clearly on very good terms. But I think that’s fine. It gives us freedom to truly flesh them out. Genshin’s storytelling is pretty crappy in the first place lol, so I think it’s cool to just take the interesting ideas, and make something much greater out of it.

And if you’re interested, ganqing related links:

Some fic recs (limited to canon setting): - (Chuminder has written 4 fics that are technically seperate, but they work very well as a series so i recommend this order) Blue the Color of a Goodnight, Cornerstone, Taproot, Passage - Heartbeat of the world - In the wake of - She, with the scent of flowers and lightning - A Better, Brighter Light

My chaotic compilation of bigger and smaller crumbs, including some stuff abt those characters individually:

It’s just things I find interesting, or that could be used in describing their dynamic and relationship, or just official images. They’re underrated characters, both by the fandom and the game itself imo.

Also an excellent thread, with similar idea and better screenshots (lol) i saw on twitter: https://twitter.com/gqlovebot/status/1672183539973111808

#ask #ganqing #imma be real i don't think i'm very good at expressing my thoughts but hopefully this is good enough lol #i forgot to say this but ganqing likers feel free to add to this post in a reblog or tags if u want

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nateriverswife · 2 months

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alright I hate LawLight with all my heart. but what I'm actually here to say is: one of the reasons I dislike it is that I hate enemies to lovers, but at the same time I'm a sucker for rivals to lovers. If this was my old fandom I'd probably be put through a paper shredder but let me explain -

there's a difference between hatred and diametrically opposed goals, motivation, whatever, and dislike because of situations or other external forces.

essentially, this means that there is a much more realistic chance that rivals will overcome their conflict because it is (usually) not there by choice, but by circumstance, even if they do take advantage of those circumstances it's less personal. For an example. Mello doesn't hate Near because he's Near, but because he's first at Wammy's. On the other hand, L and Light/Kira are enemies because their ideas of justice clash to the point the other one cannot be imagined in their version of the world.

Of course I can dislike rivals to lovers and like enemies to lovers, but it depends on how it's written and most of the time people don't put nearly enough thought into enemies to lovers. I'm sorry for rambling have a nice day goodbye!!

my same exact opinion about those two tropes. I literally have nothing to add. I love you, I'm holding your hand, I'm on my knee & I'm proposing.

#I used to be a sucker for enemies to lovers but in the past months. my dislike for it has been growing exponentially #either cuz they are not real enemies or because it literally doesn't make sense for them to love each other #dn.inbox

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theweeklydiscourse · 8 months

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Aaron Warner: A Defanged Romantic Lead

Don’t get me wrong, I actually love Aaron Warner’s characterization in Shatter Me. I like his unhinged attitude and how at times he comes off as a little delusional with his fantasies of a fucked up future together with Juliette. He’s like an obsessed scientist who caught a mermaid and is both in love with her while also being fascinated with her supernatural qualities and wanting to exploit her for them…BUT.

There’s this trope I’ve noticed that I’ve thought about for a while, but I’ve never actually written about it. Have you ever noticed that in certain stories involving fantasy or dystopian elements, the story will begin with a dangerous and edgy male lead with dubious morals but as soon as the author considers them as a romantic interest for the female lead they are completely and utterly defanged?

What I’m referring to is the tendency to characterize a male lead as an unhinged individual who engages in violent and dangerous behaviours in the first book only to completely backtrack on that characteristic in the second book. These male leads are often extremely well-liked by readers and are involved in equally well-liked romantic sub plots in their respective series. However, there is a certain dissonance to these types of characters that I believe cannot be ignored and I have an unconfirmed hypothesis on why this trope has become so popular. Aaron Warner is a perfect example of this trope (among many) and to illustrate my point, I’ll use examples from Shatter Me and Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi.

To make things clear, I do enjoy romances with darker themes, But, I absolutely cannot stand the lack of nerve in both of these narratives and their refusal to truly lean into the subjects they raise and how they cower at the implications of what they’ve written.

Anyways, here’s a page from my physical copy of Ignite Me from a few years ago.

I hate how Aaron’s explanation for his actions in Ignite Me amount to him getting huffy with Juliette for expressing her grievances with the way he handled things in Shatter Me. It’s just one justification after the other in rapid succession. Some of it it plausible, like his efforts to establish Juliette as an intimidating force in the Sector by making a public display of her abilities (albeit against her will) as well as belief that he was lifting her out of a poor situation. But, this is all marred by the final line: "I had no idea you hated me so much. That everything I tried to do to help you had come under such harsh scrutiny.” Because…really? You had no idea that Juliette harboured any negative feelings towards you after what you did? That your actions would come under “harsh scrutiny”?

Let’s go back to Shatter Me, shall we?

“We will always be enemies.” My voice is cracked into chips of ice. The words melt on my tongue. “I will never be what you want me to be.” (Shatter Me, Chapter 13)

I push him hard, slamming his back up against the door. “You disgust me.” I stare hard into his crystal-cold eyes. “You disgust me—” (Shatter Me, Chapter 18)

I meet Warner’s gaze. “If you ever put me in a position like that again, I will kill you. And I will enjoy it.” (Shatter Me, Chapter 25)

“You’re insane.” My hands are shaking but I hold the gun up to his face again. I need to get him out of my head. I need to remember what he’s done to me. “You want me to be a monster for you—” (Shatter Me, Chapter 27)

All of these lines are preceded or followed by Aaron insisting that he is helping Juliette or that she should appreciate the work he’s done to make her flourish. So it seems ridiculous that Aaron suddenly shocked and appalled that Juliette thinks of him as a bad person. While I do think that some of Aaron’s actions were justified given the circumstances, it is still laughable that the narrative expects me to buy into Aaron’s argument here. I imagine that this conversation is meant to recontextualise his actions and give him a chance to explain things from his side, but all it does is give him full permission to go on a self-righteous tangent.

This scene encapsulates my point about Aaron being defanged. It exists to portray him as a well-meaning but unaware benefactor to Juliette (unbeknownst to her) and seems to let him avoid taking responsibility for his actions. His claims that he was unaware of Juliette’s initial disgust and hatred towards him even though evidence suggests the complete opposite. How could you “have no idea” that Juliette felt that way about you when she was throwing it in your face in all of your interactions? The answer is that Mafi wanted to do the whole “I was hurting you to protect you” deal but muddles her continuity due to her need to make Aaron a “good” person at all costs. It’s an especially baffling character decision especially when Aaron claims to have an intimate knowledge of Juliette’s true feelings several times.

But that’s not the only thing. Aaron’s shock about Juliette thinking he was an unhinged creep suddenly frames Juliette in a negative light. Suddenly, she is at fault for being too judgmental and jumping to conclusions about his motives when he had deliberately misled her.

“Was that all a part of your plan, too? No wait, don’t tell me”—I hold up a hand—“that was just a simulation, right?”

Warner goes rigid.

He sits back; his jaw twitches. He looks at me with a mixture of sadness and rage in his eyes. “No,” he finally says, deathly soft. “That was not a simulation.”

“So you have no problem with that?” I ask him. “You have no regrets over killing a man for stealing a little extra food? For trying to survive, just like you?”

Warner bites down on his bottom lip for half a second. Clasps his hands in his lap. “Wow,” he says. “How quickly you jump to his defense.”

“He was an innocent man,” I tell him. “He didn’t deserve to die. Not for that. Not like that.”

“Seamus Fletcher,” Warner says calmly, staring into his open palms, “was a drunken bastard who was beating his wife and children. He hadn’t fed them in two weeks. He’d punched his nine-year-old daughter in the mouth, breaking her two front teeth and fracturing her jaw. He beat his pregnant wife so hard she lost the child. He had two other children, too,” he says. “A seven-year-old boy and a five- year-old girl.” A pause. “He broke both their arms.”

Judge me,” he says, “all you like. But I have no tolerance,” he says sharply, “for a man who beats his wife. No tolerance,” he says, “for a man who beats his children.” He’s breathing hard now. “Seamus Fletcher was murdering his family,” he says to me. “And you can call it whatever the hell you want to call it, but I will never regret killing a man who would bash his wife’s face into a wall. I will never regret killing a man who would punch his nine-year-old daughter in the mouth. I am not sorry,” he says. “And I will not apologize.” (Ignite Me, Chapter 7)

What a sick joke.

“GOD Juliette! I can’t believe that you’d view me as the kind of person who would kill an innocent man in cold blood! It’s not like I deliberately misled you and lied about my motives for killing him. It’s not as if I manufactured a scenario where I came off as a dangerous and cold-blooded psychopath and did nothing to make you think otherwise. Wow can’t believe that you’d be so judgmental.”

You know? It’s not lost on me that Aaron doesn’t even address the fact that Juliette was fed false information about Fletcher and gets so indignant about her assessments of him. I hate this part even more than the last. Take a look at the scene from Shatter Me they’re referring to and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sorry but this is just stupid beyond words. It irritates me to my core that the narrative cannot commit to Aaron’s previous characterization and follow-through on it. It cheapens his development later on and it almost borders on gaslighting with how it tries to cast judgment on Juliette for questioning Aaron’s morality in the first place. And for what? All to make Aaron into a technical good guy who has all the aesthetics of a dark romantic lead, but none of the edge to match. He is dulled by this contradictory scene and made into this schlub who was just doing his best to help while implicitly accusing Juliette of jumping to conclusions and being too “harsh”.

Because this passage from Shatter Me proves that Juliette isn’t just pulling these accusations out of thin air, she has a legitimate reason to believe that Aaron is morally bankrupt, but the narrative doesn’t let her dwell in those conflicting emotions. Instead, it goes out of its way to make Aaron as noble and misunderstood as possible while shaming Juliette for buying into the LIES THAT HE HIMSELF TOLD HER!! The cherry on top of this scene is that she apologizes to him as he storms off in a huff.

It’s such an emotional cop out and it tries way too hard to soften Aaron’s actions to make him more digestible as a romantic lead.

#aaron warner #tbh the same can be said about ACOTAR and ACOMAF #shatter me #ignite me #ya fiction #tahereh mafi #warnette #juliette ferrars #bookish #booktok #bookblr #acomaf

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bearofohu · 26 days

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your tags on the lady layton anime poll tell me you didn't exactly enjoy watching it

Personally, i can only agree and i have my reasons for it, but I'm still curious as to why you dislike it?

I don't like it mainly because it's so... obviously made for little kids. In every part of it.

No culprit is actually bad, but rather 99% of them were doing a bad thing for a good reason, which is fine once in a while, but this is the case in literally every single episode, and it gets old quickly. They made a detective/mystery anime with no actual crimes depicted. I mean come on. On top of that, the episodes are so painfully formulaic. The mysteries themselves are interesting enough though, which is probably the only reason why i managed to suffer through it to the end. I also just generally dislike Layton becoming a father. I don't doubt he'd be good at it, but he just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would just adopt a whole ass child. I'm also generally not a fan of "popular character becomes a parent, so their child can continue their legacy". I just hate that trope in general. Children are not their parents and it's unrealistic to expect them to be.

And I'm also not a big fan of the main characters. I could probably write more if i seriously thought about it, but as a whole i can say that i just find them grating. Katrielle is supposedly an "english lady", but we rarely see her acting actually ladylike in the anime. Her interest in sweets is fine enough, but it's so overblown that it's just not believable anymore and instead turns into her only character trait, completely overshadowing her supposed interest in mysteries, which just seems like bad writing. And while the main plot, so to speak, of the whole show is her finding the professor, the only times that even comes up is in the episodes that are exclusively about that. Katrielle isn't really shown to be missing him at all, not even in private, which makes it seem more like she's searching for him out of obligation rather than because she actually wants to. The moments shown of Katrielle and Layton in the past are so few, it just seems like they wanted to do their own thing with the show, but had to slap the Layton brand name onto it for the brand recognition, and i wouldn't be surprised if that was the truth tbh.

Noah, or as the english subs called him, "Ernest" (for whatever reason), is probably my least favourite kind of character. I don't know, maybe it's his character design that makes me dislike him so much. I hate how he's such a huge scaredy cat and that being his one and only sole character trait. Seriously, what other character traits does he have? If you know any, please tell me, because i legit cannot think of any. Well, he does have this one other character trait of having a huge crush on Katrielle, but is unable or unwilling to actually ever act on it, which is a trope that I'm just so tired of. Like, either grow some balls and make a move instead of being passive aggressive to every other potential partner that approaches her, or give up on your crush and grow a personality! I don't care about how "realistic" this kind of thing is supposed to be, it makes for a terrible character. That coupled with his general demeanor just makes him boring as hell. If he was replaced by a lapdog that got carried around in a small purse, i doubt the anime would be much different. His only backstory we get is his two-episode backstory thing, but the whole thing hinges on an initial misunderstanding, or rather, it hinges on everyone else deliberately keeping Noah in the dark. He shows character traits in those episodes that could actually lead to him becoming interesting, but as soon as those are over, he's back to his normal, boring self, which is a huge shame.

Sherl the dog is the classic (and literal, in this case) example of "all bark, no bite". It's never explained why only Katrielle and Noah can understand him, and this fact doesn't matter either, because it's rarely, if ever, called out by other characters. He doesn't have the sense of smell like a typical dog, effectively making him useless. His role is the animal mascott of the agency and anime, the third character to make a trio, and to be the comic relief. That last one is a shame though, because he's not funny at all. Or maybe the whole "yelling at ridiculous character for being ridiculous" thing is just not my thing.

These are my main reasons. There are a few more things I don't like, but those are more nitpicks.

So I know why I don't the anime (and now so do you), but I'm curious as to why you don't like it. Same reasons as me? Completely different?

your reasons are really valid criticisms and i agree with most but mine are actually pretty different

my reasons are probably going to be more based on bias rather than the overall quality of the show bc to be completely honest with you i hate both mystery room & lady layton and think both attempts to “reboot” layton was lazy, uninspired and unnecessary

and if a lot of this makes me sound like an old ass man its bc i am when it comes to layton. my 7 year old ass was playing CV on its release week in the US. im an OG snob to the bone so honestly you should take my beef with LMDA with a grain of salt when it comes to presenting legit critique bc while i do hav legit critique, above all else i have “i just hate this shit”

hino ignored “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and for that i never intended to give either spin-off a chance and im not ashamed to admit that this point. i knew i wasnt going to like mystery room when it was announced, but it was so obviously a spin-off that it was very easy to ignore and safely assume it was just an AU type deal

but then shit got personal when i found out LMJ was going to be professor layton’s successor. back in the day when all that hoopla was occurring i always had to back up my complaints by emphasizing its not bc i don’t like the change, its bc of x and bc of y.

but the truth is there was nothing wrong with LMJ in regards to the game they were trying to make. LMJ and by extension LMDA is for kids, marketed towards kids. thats why the puzzles are piss easy. they’re not badly made, they’re for children. the plot isn’t sterile and corny and safe, its for kids.

if LMJ/LMDA were a spinoff i wouldnt have had such a problem with it. but it wasnt. it was supposed to be a successor to layton, but its not a successor, its a total replacement that fails its source material in every possible way

and thats my problem with it. professor layton didn’t need to be remade. it didn’t need to be remade for children. children could stomach the original perfectly fine. the unwound future trauma beat my 8 yr old ass and i came out just fine

there is nothing wrong with LMJ/LMDA if it stayed in its fucking lane. instead hino attempted to replace a franchise with it that was totally and utterly different in every aspect which totally alienated OG fans and completely failed to capture new ones

and i hate LMDA more strongly bc the relic stone arc is such a failure of a professor layton story. it steps all over hershel’s character and makes him such a prideful deadbeat who gladly sends himself and luke to their possible demise for NO fucking reason. if layton knew they were going to get captured by rufus aldebaran’s stupid cult then why the FUCK did he let luke come with him. jesus fucking christ. he would not let that boy walk to his death

..or maybe he would bc of what happened in azran legacy. fuck me. i swear to god everything thats wrong with LMDA i can trace back to azran legacys writing somehow

hershel aside it also shat on any of the impact that we would’ve gotten seeing luke’s growth. LMDA just throws a fucking eeeve stone at him and even then we learn almost fucking nothing about him or his wife or how they met. marina is the only character i found even a little bit interesting due to how fucking hardass it was that she indoctrinated herself into the cult that froze her man for 10 yrs JUST so she could one day save him. but ofc the fandom shat on her when LMDA was airing bc she wasnt luke’s husband (which she is btw. sorry some of u werent woke enough to see that)

hino obv knows by now that the reboot failed in nwos is any indication. and i don’t want to rip on hino bc at the end of the day after azran legacy blew fat stank ass in sales, he was just trying to bring bag back to professor layton. this just wasnt it and hopefully the hype around nwos has showed him the actual way forward for the franchise and if hes swagful enough he’ll just start giving LMJ the flora treatment

but yea this is such my brainshit of thoughts for why i personally hate LMJ/LMDA. hopefully it was even a little bit coherent and ty for giving me a chance to ramble and sharing your own thoughts 💖

#long post #answered #professor layton #lmda

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lavellenchanted · 3 months

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13, 16, 24?

13. What character would be your best friend in real life?

Answered here.

16. Rant about anything book related

I have so many book rants in me you have no idea a lot of which are more publishing industry related rather than reader related but inspired by an Instagram reel I saw earlier, I'm gonna rant for a minute about how much I hate the fanfic-ifcation of published original fiction and the fact that fiction marketing now seems to almost solely consist of paint-by-tropes.

So, this Instagram reel was an book blogger recommending a new fiction book (one that is literally called The Fake Dating Game) and listing "5 reasons to read this book". By the end of the video, I knew the book involved fake dating and a game show but I still know nothing about what the actual plot of the book is. Tropes are building blocks, they're not plot.

The reason talking about tropes with fanfiction works is because fanfiction is rooted in the idea that you are writing about an existing property. Your readers will already know who these characters are, be familiar with their core traits and values and what's shaped them. The point of fanfic is to drop those characters in different scenarios and tease out how different circumstances work with those core traits and values and how you can map their histories/pasts into these new stories. There is a baseline understanding and an already established interest.

You cannot do that with original fiction. With original fiction we don't know anything about the characters or setup and just listing tropes doesn't tell us anything about what you're doing with them.

To use an analogy:

Fanfic is like having had a full meal and knowing what it's supposed to taste like and what works, and then playing with the recipe a bit and switching up ingredients to see how it comes out and creating something new that's still recognisably tied to the original dish. So of course you're gonna talk about what ingredients you're using.

Marketing original fiction with tropes is trying to convince someone to try a new meal they've never had before, but only reeling off a list of ingredient and not explaining anything about how you're cooking them or what the end product is.

Honestly I'm a point now where if I see a book being shared just with a list of tropes and no actual plot description I'm gonna refuse to read it out of spite - but I also can't entirely blame the industry because I work in book marketing, I know how hard it is, and the books that 'go viral' and sell in their thousands are unfortunately the ones that can be packaged up into neat little boxes and tropes that get attention on TikTok and Instagram, regardless of the actual quality of the book.

24. First book(s) you remember being obsessed with

Answered here but shout out as well to the Mallory Towers books, which I absolutely adored.

book asks

#thank you for giving me the opportunity to vent leah #I was going to talk about the new romantasy genre #but it wouldn't have been a rant so much as me just saying I hate it #(hot take: it's a genre for people that don't really like either romance or fantasy)#book asks

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ameliawarnerr · 1 year

Text

Getaway Car

Chapter 3

Previous Chapter: here

Paring: Jake x MC

Trope: Enemies to lovers

Overview: It takes a thief to catch a thief. So to catch a hacker, you have to become one.

Warning: Slight smut⚠️

His eyes never leave mine as he asks, “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Blood rushes to my cheeks for a cause not known to me. I wish it was because of the anger and frustration I feel. It has to be it.

“I want you gone. I can't even look at you.” My voice turns bitter. I realise how long it has been since I’ve spoken to someone since I have been a part of an active conversation. And I wish it wasn't affecting me in ways I can’t explain.

His voice is low as he laughs at me, at my stupidity, I assume. It seems like he is doing everything with the motive to make me feel frustrated and agitated. It makes me furious that he is succeeding. “I don’t wish to have your eyes on me either so it’ll be in both of our best interests if you stop being a child and listen to what I say. It's either that or—”

“Or what?” I take a step. “You’ll kill me? Hit me and ditch me as you did again? You must be crazy to think I’d trust you again.”

My boldness does not make any impact on him as he steps towards me. “Here’s the thing, MC, I don't want your trust. You can keep your guard up but you are coming with me.”

Words make their way to my mouth and die somewhere in the process as I sense a movement from behind. The man that was lying on the floor was not out of his senses, I realise. Too late, though. There's a sharp object moving against the skin of my foot until I crunch down and it appears that he wanted me to do the same thing.

“MC, no—” Jake tries to throw a warning as he rushes towards me but I don't see his face. The man hits my head with something hard. I only hear footsteps and soon they disappear too. This must have happened way too long ago if Jake hadn't come. I wish he assumes I am dead and no longer his problem and leaves me. I hope his assumption doesn't turn out to be wrong.

Jake

My chest burns with an invisible flame as the sight of her in pain registers. I was so focused on her words and the words leaving my mouth that I lost the sense of my surroundings. Despite my warning, she sits down and

I rush by her side, taking out the knife in my pocket. I throw the knife and it hits the man right in the neck, simultaneously, I pull her away from him. There's blood coming out of both her leg and head. “Dammit,” I mutter under my breath followed by a few other curses.

I lift her. I am so frustrated by the whole situation, by her. She absolutely agitates me. Mostly, I am frustrated by myself. I showed up with the sole purpose to protect her— and my information— and I couldn't even carry that out.

I leave the bag of her clothes and carry her out of the building. I put her in the passenger seat of my car and occupied the driver’s seat. I cannot take her to a hospital. The cameras, I can't afford the risk. I take a look at her face, the blood has stopped. I can treat her myself.

I hate her. Mostly because I cannot get rid of her, neither physically out of my life nor mentally. I hate the hours I’ve spent looking at her from my computer screen as she worked so hard to find me. I hate all the thoughts I have about her. She has changed me in ways I never wanted. If she would let go of me, I’d be free.

My grip on the steering wheel tightens. That's a lie and I do not want to accept it.

After a couple of contradicting thoughts after, we are finally at my place. I carry her to my bedroom, put her on my bed and grab the safety box. It's much easier to treat her wounds while she's passed out but I’d really like it if she'd open her eyes and let me know she isn't having a concussion.

It's as if she could hear my thoughts— which scares me— her eyes flutter open and she takes time to adjust to the brightness. It took me a while to adjust to the brightness myself as I never turn all the nights on at once but I needed to look clearly at her wound while treating them.

Her hand goes to her head touching the wound. “Where am I?”

I grab her hand. “Don't touch it. I haven't put a bandaid on it yet.”

Hearing my voice, she tenses. She moves on the bed trying to sit while I am applying a bandage on her leg. I firmly grab her other leg to keep her from moving. “Don’t move either.”

She kicks off my hand and sits up anyway.

I get up from the bed. “I preferred you passed out and silent,” I say and sit nearer to her, grabbing her leg. I give her a warning look, silently telling her not to move. I put her leg on my lap and as soon as I touched the wound, she kicked me in the stomach.

“You’re grabbing it tightly on purpose, aren't you? I’ll do it myself.” She complains.

I get up and sit as close to her as possible. I grab her leg again, sighing. I glare at her. “Do not move, MC or I swear to god. I’d tie you up with bandages.”

Her body language goes completely stiff as she stares back at me. I can understand where her mind is roaming around. I said it with the same purpose. I am glad it's working.

She doesn't move anymore as I bandage her feet. If there was any distance between us before, I closed it up as I moved my hands to her head. My eyes are focused on the wound but I can't help but glance down at her. My throat works when I find her already looking at me. I clear my throat focusing on the wound again. When it hurts her, she grabs my T-shirt. The sensation of her hands on my body makes me unintentionally apply too much force on the wound. It only backfires as she grabs the neckline of my t-shirt pulling it down until a portion of my chest is visible. I glance back at her trying to find if she's doing it intentionally but no, her eyes are closed. God, this has to end.

Finally, when I am done, she lets go of me. I get up from my bed and open my wardrobe. Finding the longest t-shirt, I threw it near her. “You can change. Might as well take another shower, if you wish to. Just be careful with the wounds.”

But she ignores me. “Why am I here, Jake?”

I sigh, looking at the ceiling, trying to find patience. “I was getting bored being here all alone. You’re my source of entertainment. And I like my source of entertainment in clean clothes so please.” I gesture towards the bathroom.

She shows no signs of moving. I pinch the bridge of my nose. Then I look at her. “You know what? I don't have time for your tantrums. So I’ll be going to get some work done. You have one hour to debate yourself about going to take a shower or not. There are no cameras in the bathroom. I take a shower in the same one.”

She looks at me, with a challenged look. “You are a terrible person, you know that?”

I look at her, smiling. “Yes. I am well aware.”

She scoffs. “Of course, you are.”

“I am downstairs. If you need anything,” I start taking steps back until I am outside the door. “Just figure it out yourself, okay?”

She mimics my sarcastic smile. “I’d rather choke on the water than ask for your help.”

I grab the knob. “If you want to choke, there are many better options. Make your choice wisely.” I shut the door but not before noticing the blush that makes her look away from me.

I figured it out. All I need to do to make her agree with me or shut up is throw a flirty line or get close to her physically. And as it turns out, it’s fun for me too.

I descend the stairs and make my way towards the room with all my computers and equipment. That room was supposed to be the bedroom but it was the biggest one in the whole house. It was an obvious choice. Opening the door, I throw myself on the chair as it turns around.

I knew this would be difficult but I could never imagine her being this difficult. She was stubborn from the very beginning, I admit but she used to listen to me and then make her decision wisely. I realise that it's my fault that she doesn't trust me anymore. And now I’ve dragged her here with me. I have no idea what I am supposed to do from this point on.

She became a hacker, it's concerning that it makes me smile. But I cannot let her do that anymore and I am well aware she won't just sit in this house doing nothing. I can ask her to work with me— for me. She’s taught herself in months and I admit I wasn't even near to the skills she possesses in the starting few months of my hacking. I'm impressed and she’ll be useful.

But first, we’ll have to develop trust, again. And it will be a thousand times more difficult than the first time.

But we got time. She's not going anywhere nor am I.

I turn on the computer and try to focus on my work for one straight. I fail multiple times, though, terrible, too.

After forty minutes. I go to the kitchen and make a bowl of soup. My cooking is decent because I’ve lived alone for most of my life. In fifteen to twenty minutes, I am done. I walk to my room and stand outside. It's a strange feeling, knocking outside your own bedroom.

I expected her to throw a ‘What do you want’ but instead, she opens the door. I have to look down to meet her gaze. It's uncertain, uneasy. Then my eyes fall on her body. Her tiny body is in my grey T-shirt. The neckline is too wide to fit on her so it hangs down her left shoulder. She pulls it up her shoulder but in vain.

God, I should've just taken a few of her clothes with me when I left her place.

“Too late,” I mutter under my breath.

“What?” She asks, her eyebrows raising.

I clear my throat. “Move,” I tell her. She doesn't. Right.

But she opens the rest of the door and I walk past her. I place the tray on the table. I glance back and find her looking out of the room. “You cannot run. So don't even think about it.”

She doesn't say anything but I picture her rolling her eyes. And regret as soon as the image comes into my mind. She turns towards me. “You are holding me captive for God knows what reason.” She says, flatly.

“I have already told you the reason. If it doesn't fit in your perimeters of reasoning, I cannot do anything.” I walk towards the door, ready to leave. But she grabs my hand.

“I will not disclose any information about you. I’m no longer looking for you so it's no longer important to me. I have no interest in you now.” I can’t listen to a word she's saying. Her bare skin distracting me out of my senses. She notices where my eyes are and hides her shoulder with her wet wavy hair. Doesn't help, I want to tell her.

Unintentionally, I move closer to her. “No interest?” I question her. This time my eyes look straight into hers. “Not anymore?”

She takes a small step back which doesn't put much distance between us. “No.” She says firmly but breaks eye contact.

I take another step closer to her. I raise my hand, and rest it on her neck with her pulse under my thumb. I graze it. “No?” She looks back at me. “Then what’s making you so nervous?”

“It’s definitely not you.” She taunts with a smile. She's good at faking it. That turns me on even more.

With my one hand around her neck, I grab a handful of my t-shirt from around her waist and pull her closer. She doesn't resist it and her body is flushed against mine in a fraction of a second. I let go of the fabric and rest my hand on her waist. “Still not me?”

She doesn't say anything. Instead, she shakes her head, purposefully removing the hair that was hiding her bare shoulder. Her hand moves and rests on my chest, right where my heart is beating fast. “What is causing your nervousness?”

“Fuck it,” I mutter under my breath but she's close enough to hear. In a span of seconds, she's pinned to the wall. Her hand is still on my chest. She shows no signs of removing it either. I press my body into hers and dig my head until my lips are inches away from hers. They’re parted as she leaves with a shaky breath. “You said you hated me.” She whispers and as her lips move, they touch mine slightly.

“I still do.”

“So do I—” She begins but I don't let her. I am done with talking.

I press my lips against hers, the kiss neither soft nor slow. I groan slightly as she returns the desperation with her lips. Her hands wrap around my neck. Her tongue enters the kiss first and dominates. For a second only. She throws her head back a little as I apply slight pressure. Her hands raise to my hair as she tries to guide me. She wants to be in control so badly. It makes me smirk in between the kiss.

I let go of her waist and grab both of her hands. She tries to resist but fails. I pin her hands over her head. I withdraw a little, seeing her struggling with my grip. It's not tight but she can't get out of it either. I get close to her lips but refuse to touch them. I move to her ear instead. “No more in control?” I ask my voice deep and low. Simultaneously, I grip her hands with only one hand as the other descends down her curve and stops when I sense the band of her underwear. I lightly tug on it, kissing her earlobe.

She turns her head and kisses my jaw until her lips are on mine. We get lost in the kiss again. Suddenly, she bites my lip, hard. “You wish.” She frees her hands when I am too distracted by her smile. “I told you I am no longer into you.” She says as she tries to walk past me.

She hasn't taken a complete step when I grab her neck lightly, putting her back on her place against the wall. I don't kiss her lips, instead, I put my lips on her neck. Sucking on it. I keep doing it faster and faster until she can no longer be silent. I don't leave a single spot. My hand caresses her thigh at the opposite pace. I move my hand under the shirt until I'm touching her. “Jake—” She chokes when I start rubbing my hand against her, painfully slow. She grabs my shoulder when I increase the pace. Somewhere in the middle, I stopped kissing her neck and she threw her head back, her neck on full exposure with fresh marks. Her eyes were on mine. Her lips sinful noises.

Then I let go of her. All at once.

And take several steps back. “I came to get you some soup, by the way.” I act as if we both weren't satisfying our hunger seconds ago. “Try not to choke on it, it's hot.” I stare at her neck, covered with purple marks. “Or it’ll leave similar marks on the inside of your neck too.”

Next Chapter here

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The slight smut part.....I TRIED OKAY?

I know I'm terrible at slow-burn but the situation was calling for it.

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