#in that case she should get her own polycule

[s-aint-elmo]

digging out the eah content i created in a frenzy during last year’s summer of obsession part 1: my personal sapphic multishipping guide (created to explain to my friends which of these dolls i think should hold hands)

(more in-depth discussion of the ships below the cut)

the polycule that will take over ever after

kitty/lizzie; kitty/maddie; maddie/lizzie

self-explanatory. frequently purchased together do not separate. bonus shoutout to maddie canonically giving kitty a little kissie on the cheek and getting off scot-free in the books though. a wonderlandiful world was a banquet to me

cedar protection squad

once again a wonderlandiful world and once upon a time i owe you my life. kitty ESP being so adamant abt not giving a shit then turning around and fucking up those boys who were mean to cedar...... i love friendship

kitty/cerise

also self-explanatory. she was a catgirl she was a wolfgirl can i make it anymore obvious. also doribuki’s phenomenal fake dating fanfic....... transformative foundational transcendental

cerise/raven

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND. i entered eah a rapple shipper and exited the book series ready to burn at the stake for cerise/raven. book two was SO MUCH. it had everything. raven befriending cerise despite her attempts to isolate herself. texting in class. winking at each other. raven meeting the parents and hearing embarrassing baby cerise stories. cerise putting it all on the line to save raven. i’m ambivalent about shadow high but cerise gets literally one (1) mention and it’s in raven’s internal monologue wherein she equates cerise’s hood w feelings of warmth and safety. like how was that in any way necessary. i rest my case 

raven & maddie

self-explanatory as well. dabesties. the ride or dies. it means so much to me that raven always has a friend in maddie no matter how many clowns and jokers (derogatory) treat her like the antichrist. maddie the character ever

raven/apple

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. the gelphie dynamic is a classic and i am EXTREMELY vulnerable to it. they are THE ship and i will pay my respects to the end of time. i am a big fan of how they trade their roles throughout the franchise and how rich the drama and history are between them. it’s pure fucking poetry.

raven/darling

TBH. a serve. the only thing juicier than evil queen/damsel in distress is evil queen/princess charming. big big fan of darling giving raven the five star princess treatment after a lifetime of being feared and shunned and vilified. equally big fan of raven’s momentous act of rebellion giving darling the courage to be true to herself. ALSO. the absolute archetype-subversion slay of the Pure-Hearted Hero(TM) confronting the Mistress of Evil(TM) and dropping their sword. looking through the smoke and mirrors and the will of Fate itself to see the girl who has wanted nothing but to be kind beneath. swearing their heart and soul and sword to the one true good they have found. picture it. i can almost see the 100-word drabble

raven/apple/darling

now THIS is just THE fairytale couple. the evil queen, the damsel in distress and the princess charming ALL holding hands and riding off into the sunset together. dappling on its own doesn’t do it for me but raven in the mix just makes everything gel perfectly. she’s the tomato in the ratatouille the cornstarch in the spring roll water, etc etc

darling/holly

this is one of those ships where i read a really convincing fic and the more i thought of it the more it just made sense. like they'd read swashbucklers and tales of courtly love together. holly would 100% write a darling placeholder in her self-insert romance fanfic pre-relationship as a way to express her feelings. darling would 100% find out and gently pull her out of the pit of sheer mortification she drilled into the ground to escape. also the height difference is a thing of beauty

safe from the polycule

duchess/poppy

they have one singular episode to their name and it was enough. it was Everything. the dynamic you can extrapolate from that one single interaction is so incredibly appealing to me. duchess’s bitchiness belied by her palpable air of vulnerability coming up against poppy’s spine of steel tempered by her skill in gaining perspective. poppy can challenge duchess into being a better person and duchess can be poppy’s character flaw like idk she just has shit taste in women that was the price she had to pay to be moisturized and unbothered by destiny. i just think they have the potential to be the unexpected, inexplicable power couple of eah

briar/faybelle

do i even need to say anything they had a whole movie to make their case. they’re rapple if rapple got their shit together before armageddon, with the bonus of a potential curse-breaking true love’s kiss for the fanfic authors to thrash between their teeth. truly unlimited. also unlike rapple where raven is 100% against being a villain and therefore it’s apple who has to do the mental gymnastics to open herself to the possibility of a relationship w raven, faybelle is just chomping at the bit to make her momma proud and presents a compelling perspective for the whole “falling in love w your fated nemesis” thing

blondie/cupid

they are icons, they are legends, and they ARE the moment. these two are so chaotic individually, what with blondie’s criminal skillset and habit of menacing innocent woodland creatures and cupid’s matchmaking powers combined w her shitty aim, that putting them together can only mean good things. there’s this whole element of their shared passion as public figures who at their best seek the truth and guide others through matters of the heart respectively that’s always interesting as a point of irony/obstacle when they start catching feelings and have to decide what to do with them. their joint youtuber/podcaster slay can level nations

#ever after high #mine #am i strong enough to tag them all #kitty cheshire #lizzie hearts #maddie hatter #cerise hood #raven queen #apple white #darling charming #holly o'hair #duchess swan #poppy o'hair #briar beauty #faybelle thorn #blondie lockes #c.a. cupid #that supernatural vlogger/actual god clondie au that was never finished still lives rent free in my head btw. i nurse my grief over it #like a baby: regularly while sighing over the future that could be #cupid and raven should also hold hands but not in this polycule universe

[curseanon]

The Issue with Eden Polycule

So I wanted to articulate my thoughts on a relationship that ive seen in fandom spaces and lots of fan art or fanfiction. I don’t have any opinions or problems with Adam/Eve/Lucifer/Lilith, but I feel like there are some implications and tropes that we should be more careful about when it comes to Eve/Lucifer/Lilith or even just Eve/Lucifer. Before getting into it though, just a disclaimer: this post is not about polycules in general. It’s not my cup of tea personally, but ship whatever you please! This post is just me rambling about my own thoughts. Feel free to have your own interpretations. ALSO! None of this justifies Adam’s behavior. He is responsible for his decisions, including his cruelty towards people, language, and his decision to essentially wage mass genocide each year. And this post isn’t to say that this relationship drama is the sole reason why he ended up doing exterminations.

1. I don’t really like portrayals that have Lucifer/Lilith (L/L) sleeping with Eve and having her cheat on Adam, especially when it takes place in Eden. I’m afraid Vivzie might have this narrative take place in HH, but doing so does a real disservice to Eve’s (and Lucifer’s if he acted alone) character by having her be willing to cheat, and also does a disservice to Adam by having him be cheated on for reasons that are probably not entirely his fault. Not to mention a lot of media where this happens often has the tone of just “haha let’s cuck Adam twice,” which comes off to me as petty and unfair. Not only is it not a funny joke, but it essentially reinforces and justifies Adam’s misogynistic tendencies later. Especially the ideas that women are promiscuous, always willing to cheat and be unfaithful. The narrative would do nothing to disprove this if BOTH of Adam’s wives did in fact cheat on him.

2. Another thing about Eden. Lilith was Adam’s first wife, literally created for the purpose of being his partner. This is also pre-Apple, meaning that Adam has no concept of right vs wrong. The way he acts, if he truly was controlling and mean and the story book wasn’t exaggerating (which I doubt), is entirely the programming of the angels and the way they tolerate or enable his behavior. Assuming we went with the theory that Adam never ate the apple, it’s the same situation with Eve if she left him and/or cheated with L/L. The way I see it, Lilith’s cheating on Adam is not justified, even if she disagreed with Adam on certain things.

3. I also want to note that cheating on one’s partner is not a justifiable punishment for Adam’s behavior. Whether pre or post apple (now assuming he did eat it), I see it as fighting fire with fire, and all it usually does is create even more hostility and problems than if the person just clearly broke off the relationship first. L/L/E runs the risk of inadvertently encouraging unfaithfulness in relationships and marriages as solutions to a problem, but this is rarely the case. As stated earlier, it only makes Adam justified in acting the way he does. And with that justification, is he really in the wrong for how he treats women? What reason does he have to change his behavior if he is right about them? I could probably accept both wives leaving him if the purpose is to justify Adam’s behavior and not just mock him, to show how morality is not just black and white and the villains sometimes have justifiable reasons for thinking the way they do. But it still seems very shallow on Lilith and Eve’s parts.

4. This part is just my opinion on L/L/E, but I don’t find the idea of Eve getting with the people who caused her to lose Eden very convincing. L/L are the reasons her and Adam were cast out of the garden and made to live for centuries laboring to survive, farming cursed ground and painfully delivering several children. Not to mention the bringing of sin and death into the world, losing Abel at the hands of his brother and Cain being cast away to wander the Earth. All the suffering she faced in life and the suffering of all of her descendants, all of humanity. Her sleeping with Lucifer makes no sense to me unless he seduced her (when she was more naive, maybe even pre-apple) intentionally, either for the purpose of hurting Adam or if he did just love her also, which makes him complicit in ruining someone’s marriage. None of this fits with Lucifer’s character, a malewife who adores his Tall Queen and comes off to me as being very loyal. The idea of open marriage is better, but Adam does not seem like the type of guy who likes to share anything, and his marriage is very clearly between Adam and Eve. That controlling personality indicated by the story book leads me to see him as likely having some jealousy and possessiveness (though not in extreme ways).

5. The only other option is Lucifer sleeping with Eve after her death and if she goes to hell, since we know Adam and Eve lived a thousand years married together on Earth, starting humanity. But I don’t see any reason for this. We need much much more information about Adam and Eve’s relationship and all four of their relationships’ to each other in general first before we can talk more about this. But until then, I don’t see any reason to break up Adam and Eve unless there’s some importance to it in the narrative. For me, I see Adam’s womanizing in heaven as a sign that Eve is probably not in heaven. And thinking that he’ll never see her again because “Hell is forever,” he eventually becomes bitter and jaded over thousands of years and decides that his relationship with Eve must be over then. Possibly the same case with Eve in hell, somehow leading up to sleeping with Lucifer. But considering she’s no where to be found with L/L and Lucifer only references her once, there seems to be zero indication of anything between them.

6. To briefly touch on the idea that once in heaven, Eve eventually left Adam because of his horrible personality and womanizing. This is still possible, but it seems like WAY too big of a personality shift to go from married and raising a family for a thousand years to suddenly being a massive asshole and a philanderer. Something must have happened that magnified all the worst aspects of his personality. There’s no way he is the same today as he was in Eden or on Earth. If he is, that’s just shitty lazy writing on Vivzie’s part and Adam is nothing but a one dimensional villain with no depth at all. Massive waste of a character with huge potential.

Tl;dr This post is already too long so I’ll just summarize everything. Although I agree that Adam is definitely an arrogant and annoying villain, Lilith and Eve cheating on adam is unjustified imo, there is no reason for Eve to cheat on Adam or leave him at all from what we can tell now, and her having any relationship with Lucifer also makes no sense considering what his choices turned her life into. But let me know your thoughts on all this, if there’s some point you want to make or a disagreement on something else!

#hazbin hotel #eve hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel eve #hazbin eve #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin adam #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin hotel lilith #hazbin lilith #hazbin lucifer #adam x eve #eden polycule #hazbin headcanons

[maxphilippa]

babe wake up new GKGG AU designs just dropped

I should have done these long time ago but my brain just doesn't want to cooperate ig

You can find some info of them under the "Read More"!:

Marshmallow: Marshmallow was an influencer back then, even before the show began. Unlike in canon (Canon Bow), her friendship with Knife and Mic is explicit, since Marsh was a part of their friend group and she got to know II thanks to Mic because of her fangirling about it. She quickly got interesed on the show. She's an young adult that is, and was pretty close with the current Green Gamers polycule + Taco. Marsh is sweet and kind, shy as well, but she does like to have fun and once she wants to prove herself, she's reckless, to the point where others could call her dumb. Cobs didn't want her getting in trouble/hurt for getting in the middle of one of the challenges, but once he got the call from ADAM, he ended up accepting Marsh's presence in the show and made her a contestant. Marshmallow is a pretty social person as the time passes and she doesn't give up easily. So when they got her inside of Idiotic Island she wanted to escape since it was terrible, and Cobs made sure she didn't by... telling her to not do that, that they would go out sooner than later and that he was truly sorry for it, that it was what the showrunners asked him to do. As weird as it sounded for Marsh, she didn't focus on that but the fact that she still wanted to escape. And she almost did but... they trapped her inside of the metal box to not let her out. But no one really knew that she was there. Her Feral Look isn't exactly feral, as she is full of adrenaline and physical pain. Her thing here are pillows instead of chairs.

Bow: Bow is an special case. Marsh and her were best friends back then when Marsh was alive. Bow was a very known musician, who was also recognized by her strong attitude and quirky personality of sorts. But she was a great violinist and knew how to play the piano just great. Marshmallow was a big fan of Bow's songs, and Bow was a big admirer of Marsh's work. They did some collabs as well, and everything was going just fine. Until Marsh just... started to drift away slowly. Bow didn't want to say anything since she didn't want to bother Marshmallow, but she did miss her friend. She started sending her messages but Marsh couldn't reply because of the show and eventually, the box. When Marshmallow's definitive death was announced, Bow wasn't able to process it. So she was in denial. She didn't believe it and didn't want to do it. But... it was true. She knew Marsh was gone. She just didn't want to say "bye" to her friend. Stuff happens and, well, she ends up dying thanks to S&P. Marsh does no longer remember her, but she's happy to be with her friend again.

Dough: He's both a mix of Canon Dough and Canon Apple. He's slow at understanding things and doesn't get a lot of stuff, but his heart is in a good place. He doesn't have a lot of friends so he loves and cares deeply for those who he has (Apple, for example), but he's not as energetic really. He has a good heart and tries to be there for Apple, but Apple has troubles opening up after all. He likes to play the piano and likes making songs time to time. Even if his memory is kind of shit, he does remember that way back then, he had an step sibling to who he showed how to play some instruments as well. He doesn't know what happened to her ever since she went away, and... well, there's not much he can do anyway. He's an splendid guy, just needs more critical thinking.

Apple: Apple is a smart girl. But she's not smart emotionally for the record. She has troubles with recognizing her own feelings at times and she feels awfully guilty for what happened with Marsh, and with what happened to Dough, since there was a distance made by Marsh's allucinations. She didn't end up on good terms with Dough after he got out, and was worried she messed up the friendship she had with him. She values her friends deeply and that shows with Taco too! Taco did everything to look after her!

Silver Spoon: Silver is Knife's brother here, most likely the younger sibling, so they most likely had different enviroments/ways to grow up and see the world. Meanwhile Knife threw himself into his studies and became a pretty smart scientist, Silver had a somewhat darker turn. He was similar to Canon Silver years ago that is, always sure of what he was doing and soft spoken (but not in the way Candle would be), and his main job was and is to help people spiritually. However, one of those jobs ended up terribly, and that led him to have another being inside of his body- The Inner Shine. So him being unstable wasn't helping since this creature was a treat to others and everything you know. But thankfully, Knife was there to help him on that, and was never scared towards The Inner Shine. That helped Silver to recover emotionally from his new situation of some sorts, but then, he had to work on himself to dominate this spirit. And he did. Once he reached peace within himself, he was able to control the spirit at his favor, and the spirit warns him about future events that may occur when he meditates. Nowdays, Silver is charming, dear and soft spoken in a way that actually calms others. He looks up to Knife, and wants to help everyone out, since he knows what it is to be helpless. The color of his quartz would be light blue + cyan instead of purple and pink. He does feel useless if he can't help others, since it's the thing he has been doing the most for years after all. Though Knife tries to cheer him up and say that Silver has to focus on himself instead of others sometimes, but it's still hard. He seems to have low self esteem in a way and self doubts too much. Other than that, he's a good friend and only uses his crystal when it is truly necessary.

Candle: Candle comes from a very high-class family, which means she always got what she wanted too. She's smart but in a way that most people don't like (Taco) and is too full of herself at times. This is mostly because she hasn't really made any "friends" in terms of relationships for most of her life, so she's too out of touch with that. She's sarcastic and likes to tease others, Taco specifically, but even then, unlike Silver in canon, she started to show more frequently that she actually does care about her fellow teammates and contestants. Her friends, to an extent. Mostly thanks to Silver that is. He became her spark in a way. She started to be kinder, in her own way, which would be "a dick but with good intentions". Though she's still full of herself.

But she generally does appreciate her friendships and alliances, she just sucks a lot at emotional stuff and is awkward towards it, but she still tries. However, when Silver was eliminated, she felt guilt. And that started to sink in for her. This is what she wanted, right? So why does she feel sad? That's because, as much as she joked about her not caring for her friends, as much as she could act like an asshole, she missed and loved them deeply. She wishes she could have said anything to Taco and Silver before they were eliminated. She wished she could apologize for the things she said. But now, she's completely alone.

#inanimate insanity #ii #inanimate insanity invitational #ii 2 #ii 3 #ii au #ii gkgg au #inanimate insanity marshmallow #inanimate insanity apple #inanimate insanity dough #inanimate insanity bow #inanimate insanity silver spoon #inanimate insanity candle #ii candle #ii bow #ii silver spoon #ii apple #ii marshmallow #ii dough #max does art #max explains the ii gkgg au

[markantonys]

the single best thing the show could do for the polycule is a very simple change: make it happen on purpose. make all four members work together from the beginning to set up a poly relationship intentionally, rather than stumbling into one due to a mix of miscommunication and Fate Said So.

in the books, rand thinks he's having a series of unconnected romantic encounters with three different women and has no idea a polycule is developing until the women come to him to propose the final product. it is documented that the reason rj wrote it this way is because it's inspired by a similar situation he was once in, so i can't exactly blame him for writing based off personal experience, but it does cause several problems in the story.

Problems:

a) rand has little to no input on his own relationship(s) and spends the whole series being extremely passive in his love life. this makes him come across as at best a victim to the whims of his partners who is not allowed to express what HE wants out of the relationship, and at worst an asshole who doesn't really care about any of them as people and doesn't care what arrangements the three of them work out so long as he gets to fuck SOMEONE. it also means that the romances don't have as much of an emotional impact on him/his character development as they should (and as they do on the women) because he's just kinda floating along going "oh whatever you guys want, makes no difference to me."

b) elayne and aviendha get a bad fandom rap as being bad partners to rand because they confuse him on purpose and play games with him. like most of elayne's (in particular) bad fandom raps, this is an unfair exaggeration, but it's rooted in the fact that rj wanted rand to wind up in a polycule by accident rather than helping arrange a polycule on purpose, which means that rand has to hook up with 3 different women in a row without realizing that a polycule is brewing, without having discussed the idea of additional partner(s) with his prior partner(s) and gotten their permission to hook up with other people, AND without coming across as a cheater. which means that rand has to believe himself sufficiently broken up with the prior woman before he can hook up with the next one, which means that elayne has to send him conflicting letters so that he can get away with hooking up with aviendha and aviendha has to freeze him out so that he can get away with hooking up with min.

("they're just greedy/indecisive/cheaters" is probably the biggest harmful stereotype against poly people, and the above approach from the books flirts with that far too much, so the show definitely needs to change that. the majority of people have a very very difficult time understanding polyamory (just look at tumblr, where even the ~wokest~ WOT fans are saying the polycule should be split up into 2 monogamous pairings bc they think the poly aspect is "weird" and they insist that elayne Actually loves aviendha the most or rand Actually loves min the most and that they can't possibly REALLY mean it when they say they love multiple people equally), which is why it's especially important that the show portray it in a way where it's abundantly clear that it's not cheating or rand being greedy/indecisive/stringing a bunch of women along.)

c) the problem for the other 3's approach to the polycule is miscommunication. the problem for min's is Fate Said So. she is rammed into the polycule by prophecy rather than by spending enough time with the other parties to come to want it on her own, and so she coasts along on "you have to let me join your relationship because it's fated to happen no matter what" rather than needing to put in the same work elayne and aviendha do of bonding with each other, making an effort to learn about aiel polyamory practices (in elayne's case), and growing to genuinely want to share their partner with each other and to genuinely enjoy seeing the other happy with him.

the result is min feeling out of place in the relationship: elayne constantly thinks about how she loves rand and aviendha equally, then sometimes hastily adds min as an afterthought; aviendha is very firm that she can't share rand with elayne until they're first-sisters, but shrugs and makes an exception for min for no reason (but then proceeds to think how she wishes she didn't have to share her partner with a near-stranger); min barely cares about the other two and frequently thinks how she wishes she could just have rand to herself and it's unfair that she has to share him. it's a very glaring contrast how elayne and aviendha come to feel genuine joy and compersion at rand's love for the other, while the most positive thought min ever has is "if i HAVE to share (which i'd rather not), then elayne isn't the worst option for a co-partner."

on this last point, monogamous people forcing themselves to try out polyamory for their poly partner's sake (which is absolutely how book!min comes across) is something that happens and gets people hurt irl, and contributes to the societal misconception that polyamory never works out long term and that a choice will inevitably have to be made (again, see tumblr deciding that the endgame will have to be elayne & aviendha happily monogamous in caemlyn and reddit that it will have to be rand & min happily monogamous traveling the world). so if the show is going to portray polyamory, imo it has a responsibility to show that it is a viable long-term relationship type that people can be genuinely happy in. thus, all 4 parties need to choose this type of relationship because they want it, not because fate said they had to, and especially min since she's the one who is the most explicitly in the "only doing this bc fate" camp in the books (whereas rand, elayne, and aviendha all come across as genuinely polyamorous people who likely would have settled on this arrangement even without prophecy foreknowledge).

Solutions:

i made a post recently-ish with a hypothetical timeline for 8 seasons of the show, so if i make any unexplained assumptions in this section about what seasons various characters will be spending time together during, that's where they came from.

i feel pretty confident that rand/aviendha will be the first romance we see in the show, since he's still getting over his much-more-serious-than-the-book-version relationship with egwene and it would make sense to give him season 2 to finish that up and to hold off on new romance for him until season 3. i'm predicting he and aviendha will also meet elayne at falme in 2x08, but i also expect the characters will set off on their TSR roadtrips by the end of 3x01 at the latest, which gives rand and elayne no more than 1-2 episodes together - enough to establish Crush Vibes, but not enough to actually have anything happen between them. so, the show will go out of order and start with rand/aviendha.

which is a perfect way of changing the polycule from accidental to intentional! having rand's first romance be with the partner who is from a poly-aware culture means that the entire set of relationships is now being built off a poly-aware base. from the get-go, aviendha can explain the concept of polyamory to rand and make it clear to him that she is comfortable with that sort of relationship, which means that they can get together and stay together rather than needing to backslide so that rand has an excuse to go off and fuck other people. he doesn't need excuses if he instead has permission! also, rand/elayne not having happened yet would mean aviendha has no reason to feel guilty and pull away from rand after sleeping with him.

so, rand and aviendha are solidly together and poly-curious by the time they reunite with elayne in s4. aviendha can see that rand and elayne like each other, so she encourages them to get together, and rand/elayne can indeed get together without rand/aviendha needing to be tanked first since rand and aviendha are both on the same pro-poly page. elayne knows a little about polyamory from meeting bain and chiad at falme (and maybe from meeting alanna or other greens at the tower), and she has feelings for rand but also likes aviendha and doesn't want to interfere with their relationship, so she is happy to agree to the arrangement. but she still has plenty to learn about aiel ways and about aviendha, and aviendha wants to become first-sisters as is proper, so even without aviendha having toh to elayne for banging rand, the two of them still have a reason to want to bond and grow closer (and for the show, this arc will result in them falling in love instead of or in addition to becoming first-sisters).

so we've fixed the narrative relying on miscommunication to get rand, elayne, and aviendha into the polycule. now to fix the reliance on Fate Said So for min. we can safely say that she's already had her 3-women viewing judging by that line in s1, so she already knows the polycule is fated. this in itself is fine - wrestling with knowing you're fated to love someone is an interesting character arc if done well and done sparingly [sideeyes rj on both counts]. what needs to be changed is how min USES this foreknowledge.

don't have her share it with elayne, aviendha, or rand until after the four of them have gotten together naturally. have her discuss the viewing with her aunts in s2 (or, hell, even with mat, could be a good way to contribute to the friendship they're supposed to have at the end of the series) instead of with elayne, and have her say she knows who 2/3 of the other people are but would never want to tell them about this viewing because it sucks to know you're fated to love someone before it's happened and she'd hate to burden anyone else with that knowledge. have her keep the viewing to herself because she wants rand and elayne (and aviendha, tho min doesn't yet know who she is) to have the freedom to fall in love by choice, even though she herself can't have that freedom. (shit, now that i write it out i actually LOVE the idea of mat being the one she's having this convo with since he too will soon be struggling with a Fated Romance.)

in the books, by telling elayne soon after meeting her that she'll have to share her boyfriend with 2 others and then in salidar going "one of them is me btw so you'd better give me permission to fuck your boyfriend when i see him soon," it feels like min is using her viewing to bully elayne (and later aviendha) into letting her join the relationship. min telling rand in eotw that he shouldn't bother with egwene because they won't end up together also contributes to this vibe, and the show has thankfully already cut out that moment, so i have high hopes that they're attempting to make min more..........empathetic, i guess, in terms of how she uses her viewings. book!min is understandably afraid of being left out in the cold since she doesn't know which if any of them rand will love back, so she uses her viewings to prime the other parties to be willing to Let Her In when the time comes, basically, but it's still kind of a shitty thing to do. however, so far, due to being older and much more mature and much more reluctant to share viewings, show!min gives me the vibes that she would rather quietly resign herself to unrequited love than have to burden other people with the knowledge that their love is Foretold (particularly once she comes to view elayne as a friend in s2).

so, if min doesn't share the viewing with elayne and aviendha in advance, then she will have to join the relationship naturally, by spending time with and getting to know all 3 parties, rather than by telling them they have to let her in because Fate Said So. i see space for all 4 of them to be in the same place together during season 4, while avirandlayne is brewing but min is still just a friend, so that would be a great time for min to bond with them all prior to getting with rand (and maybe as a result, rand develops a crush on her and confesses it to elayne and aviendha, who are happy to give him permission because they already know and like min; alternately, rand has an obvious crush on min but is totally oblivious about it, so elayne and aviendha tease him like "if there is...............anyone else you're interested in.............maybe a certain bartender............you can totally go for it" and rand is adorably baffled as to why they believe he has a crush on min, and then in season 5 he finally Realizes).

and like, wouldn't it be so cute if after the four of them are in a committed polycule, min finally says "hey, i actually had a viewing ages ago that this would happen, but i didn't want to tell you guys and make you feel pressured to love each other" and they all have a good laugh about it together? that would be SO cute!

so, overall, the seeds of a wonderful polycule are there in the books, and the show doesn't have to make a TON of tweaks to help it live up to its best potential! i'm really excited to see what they do with it because it's such a unique romance storyline and one of my favorite aspects of the series, it just needs the Updating For 2020s touch (and the Updating To Reflect The Way Real Human Adults Behave And Communicate With Each Other touch) that the show has so far excelled at applying.

#if you're going to come on here and say 'or they could just split it into rand/min and elayne/avi that'd be even better': DO NOT #rand is poly. this is canon. he loves in a way that his & our society deems atypical and that is canon. #so removing that aspect of his character to stick him in a ~more palatable~ monogamous relationship feels akin to queer erasure to me #i want to see elayne and avi date as much as anyone but NOT at the expense of erasing rand's poly nature (or theirs) #and like..........we can easily just have both at the same time! they go great together! #sorry that you personally don't want a man involved in your f/f ship but you've got other canon man-free f/f ships out there to enjoy #*i* do not have other canon bi poly relationships out there to enjoy so let me fucking have this okay? #wot #wot book spoilers

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Poor Nanami. Hes got all problems rn (one kid uncondcious, two kids really really insisting they did the grand theft auto, one going throufh the most insane emotional journey possible)

I keep thinking about how in the same conversation Yuuta both asked Nanami to neglect him more (insanely concerning) and then also said hed kill himself in front of him (also insanely concerning) after like 5 hours ago going youre *not* my dad. Parenthood is tough.

Nanami, going onto r/Parenting for help with this shit:

I (27M) am the father of three. My eldest (16M) was recently introduced to my two younger children (15F & 14M) under less than ideal circumstances. They all seem to be getting along well—my eldest son and daughter already appear to be friends. My youngest son had to be hospitalized, and the eldest has developed a very protective bond with him. This is one of the issues—I’m harboring some concerns that he may kill the people who hurt my youngest in his defense.

I have a series of other problems that have arisen in the last twelve hour span:

First, my daughter recently stole a car to transport her brother to medical attention after discovering his injuries. My youngest now insists that he was the one who stole it, despite being blind and bleeding out at the time of the theft. How do I convince him that it was okay that the car was stolen and to stop distressing himself with trying to take the blame?

Second, my eldest went through a medical issue recently that destabilized his emotional control, likely contributing to his strong bond with my youngest and the homicidal thoughts. I'm attempting to get him to rest; however, this makes him feel like he's failing to protect my youngest. How do I convince him to rest and take care of his own needs?

Third, the same eldest told me that I’m not his father, asked me to neglect him more, and told me that he’d kill himself in front of me if I tried to discuss puberty with him. Our relationship is very new, and I believe he was being hyperbolic in many of his statements, but I want to communicate to him that he can safely come to me with any issues he may face. How can I best do this?

Fourth, I have recently uncovered reason to believe that my daughter is harboring an active fear that we may one day cut her off from her younger brother permanently. We are currently parenting them through a non-sexual, platonic polycule, and I decided that I was obligated to share this information with the others so that we may address it as a family. Now, however, she has been avoiding me, and I fear she may trust me less. How do I address both the breach in trust and the likely fears of abandonment? I only want her to be happy.

Fifth, my eldest appears to have a relationship of indeterminate nature with his four closest friends. They were all found sleeping in the same bed together, are rarely apart, and he spends most of his time with his best friend/possible romantic partner (15F), though they have gotten in several physical confrontations in the twelve hours I have known them. It is unclear whether their relationship is platonic, romantic, or queerplatonic in nature, though his best friend does appear to be making romantic overtures to my daughter. I obviously support whatever their nature may take (both due to my pre-existing personal opinions and the obviously unique nature of the relationship I have with my coparenting polycule), but I do believe that the answers may affect what topics should be covered in any discussion we may have on puberty and sexual wellbeing. Obviously, this talk is not happening any time soon, due to the aforementioned threat to kill himself in front of me if I attempted to discuss such topics, but I’d like to be prepared should the need arise. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to casually communicate that I support him in whatever form of relationship he finds himself in? Should I cover all of the bases when I give him the talk just in case?

I consider myself somewhat of a veteran parent (I have been raising children for more than a decade now), but these last twelve hours have surprised me with how taxing they've been. Has anyone encountered anything like this? Any advice will be appreciated.

Edit: My youngest had to be hospitalized because his extended family, who is not allowed any contact with him, kidnapped him and injured him to the point of hospitalization. This is not what I'm seeking advice on. We are more than capable of formulating our plans for revenge without the aid of strangers on the internet.

Second Edit: Please stop asking how I'm able to be the father of three teenagers at the age of 27. All of my children were adopted. No one needs to call the police.

Third Edit: My eldest had not yet met his younger siblings because he was only recently adopted under rather dire circumstances. The ex-boyfriend of a member of our coparenting group recently attempted to murder him (for reasons unrelated to the group), and then in the aftermath a different group attempted to force him into indentured servitude. We were looking to allow him time to adjust to his new circumstances before introducing him to his siblings.

Fourth Edit: Yes, I adopted my first two children when I was sixteen. This was not so much allowed as no one could stop us. I fail to see the relevance in this to the problem at hand; however, due to the influx of questions I have decided to provide the information anyway.

Fifth Edit: Yes, I was the poster who sought advice all those years ago regarding the young children that my upperclassman had somehow acquired. No, I still do not know where he got them from. It no longer matters, because we ended up keeping them and are raising them ourselves. Please direct all further comments to the actual questions asked.

#sea glass gardens #nanamis going through it okay #he’s really fucking trying

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Two Of A Kind ~ X.T. (final)

A/n: Posted according to my schedule! For a second at least lmao. Hope you like this, even with the bittersweet ending <3

Requested: yes

Word Count: 4200+

MASTERLIST

The first thing that happened was that they did some research to figure out who his equivalent was in this universe. They were shaken at finding out that in this world, he was dead. The face that was identical to his own was plastered with a grin, each arm around the shoulders of some kids that Y/n didn't recognize.

Apparently in this world, he either had never discovered his powers or didn't have them. He went to a normie school, with normal drama and normal friends. The boys he was standing with were the mayor's son and Tyler Galpin. It was from years ago, when apparently they'd all been close. They'd grown apart in the last year or so, as they'd all taken up other interests.

Y/n was an advocator for outcasts, and was supposed to have been the spokesperson for Outreach Day. He was sporty here, but had gotten kicked out of all the clubs, so he had taken to hiking instead. He had gotten mauled by the Hyde at the beginning of the year. Y/n found it strange to see a picture standing next to Tyler of all people, knowing what would happen less than a year later.

After that, it really came down to just getting him home. Weems didn't know much about his power, but she took it up as a personal responsibility to get him back to where he belonged. Not just to get rid of him but because it was growing more and more obvious that he was absolutely miserable here.

Two and a half weeks passed, and as it stretched, it was growing harder and harder to handle passing those who should have been his family in the halls.

Weems insisted he go to school, in case time was passing the same in his dimension and he missed any classes. She said it would give him something to do while he was waiting to get his energy back as well. It was all fine and dandy until he got paired up with Ajax in biology, or was set up to spar Bianca, or Enid gave him a tour. It was all fine and dandy until he noticed that Xavier, the identical to Y/n's boyfriend, pining over Wednesday fucking Addams.

In Y/n's world, Wednesday was aromantic. She had been very firm about it, aggressively rebuffing any and all attempts at romance. Not just a rejection of societal norms - she was just fine being friends with Enid now adays, and took part in social events more eagerly than before, especially after her first impression of a school dance being the blood/pain shower - but because she was repulsed by even the idea of such a relationship. She was fine with friends, and family, and even having a partner in crime. That had always been Enid or

Eugene.

But a romantic partner?

Absolutely not.

It turned out that Wednesday was aromantic here too, but leaned romantic favorable and was just fine turning her duo with Enid into a romantic relationship. She was even part of a polycule - Enid and Ajax were also dating. Wednesday seemed more than fine with this, as she could use it as an excuse to drag yet another person into her shenanigans, but also because when she had reached her limit on affection, Enid could simply go to Ajax for it instead. It was a fascinating thing to watch. Y/n being so used to Wednesday rolling her eyes and gagging at any such romance was almost comical as he saw Wednesday do all of the same things but then casually refer to Enid as her girlfriend, or Ajax as her "boyfriend once removed".

He almost had a very good time watching the dynamics play out. Almost, because watching them be themselves often lead to watching Xavier be awkward and jealous, and it was like a knife shoved into Y/n's ribcage.

Apparently Xavier had had a massive crush on Wednesday day one, and when she chose someone else he was cool about it - but it didn't change the fact that he still had feelings for her.

He was bad at hiding it, but not because he was bitter. The opposite in fact - he laughed too long at any and all jokes when they were being coupley, or looked a little too long when Enid and Wednesday walked down the hall, holding hands. Or when Enid pushed hair behind Wednesday's ear. Like he wished he could do it. Or he wouldn't look at all, as if he would die if his eyes wandered even close to the area that Wednesday, Enid and Ajax were in.

He was trying so hard to hide his feelings that he was basically saying it out loud.

Wednesday showed mercy in ignoring it, and even Enid was good natured in drawing attention away from the reactions Xavier just couldn't help.

Y/n wasn't as lucky.

People weren't used to his pining. Weren't even aware of it until he went to touch Xavier and then caught himself, or went to lean against Xavier and then pretended to crack his neck. When he went to do all those staple romantic things with Xavier, like playing with his hair or his fingers or stare at his lips or cuddle with him, or even sit a little too close - closer than friends usually did. Definitely closer than strangers did.

He always played it off, but never well enough. Wednesday picked up on it first, but the others followed quickly. The slight awkwardness that always managed to be stifled ran freely with the added element of Y/n in the mix as well.

The day that Xavier caught on, his eyes went so wide that Y/n stopped being around them altogether. Which... would have been fine, as Xavier had never minded avoiding conflict, except when Y/n went above and beyond to avoid him and it made a scene. One day he was sat next to Xavier and when Y/n fully asked to move places, rumors started and people started to ask Xavier what he'd done to the poor boy.

Xavier was fed up.

"Y/n, we need to talk."

Y/n winced, pausing on his way back to his dorm. It wasn't his dorm, the dorm he had in his world, but just a spare room he shared with himself. He missed being Eugene's roommate but this would do for now. In fact, he craved to be there right now. He craved the floor to open up and swallow him whole and whisk him away to a room where he could lock the door and hide away until it was all over.

Unfortunately, he was too far away to get to his dorm. Only outside the building, but Xavier's long legs had always gotten the best of him. So he turned, smile tight. "Yeah?" Immediately he found himself breathless as his gaze landed on Xavier. He had his hair down today, and it moved gently in the breeze. He had a coat on, his tall form wrapped in the long clothing, shielding him from the chill weather. His cheeks, nose and the tips of his ears were just a little pink - he had been here a while waiting. His eyebrows were drawn together, his lips in a thin line.

His lips.

Oh god.

"There's something major going on, and I don't think we should keep ignoring it." He sighed, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck. "I did the ignoring thing - am doing, right now. And it doesn't work when you do it. Not... the way you're doing it?"

"Suffering in silence so loudly everyone can see it?" Y/n managed. He wasn't looking at Xavier, unable to stop himself from the remark. He had always been snippy, but his bantering had gotten worse since spending so much time with Wednesday. Especially with Xavier, who had come to deeply enjoy it.

In another world, at least.

Now he drew back, to his full height, face spiking with irritation. Y/n knew very well that Xavier was a private person. He didn't like anyone but his close friends knowing stuff that were weird or embarrassing about him. Let alone someone he viewed a complete stranger. "I came here to ask how I could help make this less shitty for you. Let's just cut to that."

Y/n's own irritation bubbled up. "Look, I get it. This is your world and I'm foreign here. I'm a factor you can't understand or account for and I mess everything up by being here. I make it hard for you, because you look at her the way I look at you and understanding her sucks, because you just want to pine and be okay with that. But let me give you a bit of advice? I've been here a week and you're already irritated with me. Wednesday spent an entire school year with you - hell, she has a whole girlfriend now. Just get over it."

He didn't know why he had said it. It felt good though, especially as Xavier scoffed, his body tensing. It was the most words the two had exchanged without running away from each other and attention from Xavier felt good.

Even attention like this.

"I get that we were dating in whatever world you're from - it's obvious as hell, don't pretend like you're lowkey about it, he began.

Y/n interrupted. He just had to bite back, taking a step closer with his face screwed up. "Bet it isn't even as obvious as you are."

Xavier's face went red. "What is your problem?"

"MY problem?" Y/n scoffed. "That's the dumbest question you could have possibly asked." There was a tug as his desperation to be away from here, away from this Xavier, grew so unbearable that Y/n found himself reaching out with his power without even meaning to. He tried to push it down, tried to focus on the argument, tried to ground himself with Xavier like he always had... but this wasn't the Xavier Y/n knew. The one who cared about him and could ground him at all. The one who loved him.

The Xavier who wasn't Y/n's sneered, "I'm stupid? You dropped face first into a world that isn't yours and immediately tried to have all the things you had before."

"I didn't try anything." That offended Y/n. He specifically hadn't tried to fox any of the bonds he missed, leaving room between him and everyone else for their benefits and at the cost of his feelings. He was spiraling, out of control, and pushed all the people who could have helped him away instead of letting even one of them help him. Enid and Eugene had really tried to help and even they had failed. 

But then Xavier tilted his head, narrowing his eyes, and Y/n felt strangely exposed. Seen. "You did plenty. Wednesday and Enid got into a lot of fights when Enid kept trying to be friends with you, all because you kept telling her things about how you two used to be. Both because Enid kept risking herself for a person Wednesday didn't trust, and also because Wednesday put space between you even though you needed her. Everyone turned on me when you blew me off out of nowhere. Eugene went out of his way to try and be your friend and got his feelings really badly hurt when you blew him off like everyone else does even though you're supposed to be friends in your world. You walk around sulking, not sleeping or eating or talking to anyone - like a dark cloud in this school. Even more than Wednesday has been able to accomplish. You're a smear, a bad mood, that catches to everyone around you everywhere you go because you're so miserable and we all care about you. But you won't let anyone in. You won't let us help you so we all just get to suffer. And it's all because you want something you can't have!"

"It's not my fault I got launched into another universe!" Y/n was flabbergasted by how it so felt like he was being blamed by Xavier for people feeling pity. Blaming Y/n for making everyone else feel bad when all he was doing was feeling things? Missing his world?

Xavier shook his head. "Isn't it explicitly your fault?"

That stopped Y/n dead. It was fault after all. He had taken a risk and had been dealt consequences. It hadn't been on purpose, but Xavier knew that of course. Y/n however had launched himself into an entirely new place with new rules and new people and then made it everyone else's problem.

Y/n looked away from him, searching his surroundings for anything. Anything that could help or ground him or make this horrible feeling go away. All he could see suddenly were the subtle differences in the surroundings. The fading that was once there that wasn't there anymore because this school was a bit newer and they'd decided to take better care of everything. The paintings that were in slightly different spots, or altogether different images because different people had made them and placed them. The different furniture, the differently colored carpet - just a slightly different shade of blue than it had been in my world. The arched top of the windows versus the rectangular frame in Y/n's world.

This wasn't home.

"I didn't mean to make everyone suffer for me. I was just... feeling..." Y/n blinked away tears.

"Feelings isn't the problem," Xavier spoke quietly. When Y/n looked back at the boy, he saw all the anger gone, replaced by pity. He could see Y/n's hollowness, his panic, his untethered way of existing, and even Xavier ached for me as everyone else here did. "It's that you're just... sitting in it. You won't help yourself and you won't let anyone else help you. We wanted you, Y/n. We were willing to help you until you could go home. But you didn't want us. You couldn't accept a world that wasn't yours. And I get it but..." He shrugged, at a loss for words.

A tear fell down Y/n's cheek and he watched as Xavier suddenly avoided his gaze. So much had been said, and yet there was still so much to say. Y/n felt that tug, that pull, and he knew he had nothing to hold onto to keep him here. His powers had always been like being pulled by a magnet. When they activated he was caught in a tsunami, a storm that ripped him away - unless he could hold onto something. But there was nothing to hold onto. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Xavier looked up and his eyes went wide. His hand reached out for Y/n's shoulder and went through it. Y/n sighed, hanging his head and closing his eyes as he was ripped away from this Xavier, and this world, and sent spiraling into another. Like being sucked through a straw, or pulled backward at the waist by a string, he was yanked - and then he was falling.

Y/n didn't land. He never did. He just suddenly stopped being pulled, stopped falling, and opened his eyes to see a new world melting - like wet paint dripping down an upright canvas. And as it fell, it came into color and focus until a world filled in around him. This was an effect he was used to. He had landed.

Something in him burned as he realized that he was exactly where he had been standing, but in an entirely different world. He was in Nevermore Academy, in the exact same hallway and what seemed even the same time of day. This world even looked a lot closer to his, all of the differences he had noticed earlier being more accurate to how he remembered his own world.

In fact, it was so similar...

Immediately Y/n was running, as fast as his feet could carry him. He heard the bell ring and sprinted to the nearest classroom that belonged to his friends. His eyes widened when, as if summoned by the perfect moment, Wednesday exited her classroom just as Y/n turned the corner. He froze but the girl looked around as if sensing that she was being watched and met his eyes immediately. Her eyes shot wide and she moved quickly to him. "Where have you been?" She demanded. "if you say you went on some expedition without me because there's a new mystery and didn't involve me-"

Her stop was most assuredly because Y/n was crying. He held up his hand, palm facing the left, all fingers curled in except his pinky. It was something they had done when Enid was more demanding for affection but Y/n, who was better at holding himself back, had asked what Wednesday would have preferred and she allowed that physical contact was gross but brief, small touches were fine. They had started linking their pinkies as a show of affection or to make a promise, or to ground each other when either of them were upset or displaced. Sometimes to see if their argument had gone too for, or to test if they were forgiven. It was their thing.

Y/n wept harder when Wednesday reached up, hooking their pinkies together. "I'm back," Y/n whispered in a shaky tone. He felt his knees go weak and he leaned against the wall, letting his hand drop from Wednesday.

Wednesday stalled, reaching out to help Y/n up but being stopped by not wanting to touch him. With help from Y/n, everyone and gotten a lot better at giving Wednesday her space. She had gotten used to prioritizing her want to keep distance. She went to close the distance but Y/n put a hand out, pressing it against her shoulders to keep her away.

"Don't," he reassured her. His eyes flickered around the hall and relief hit him as he saw someone he recognized. "Bianca!"

The siren turned, searching for who had called her name. When she saw Y/n she reacted much as Wednesday had; eyes wide and steps fast. She dipped down and scooped Y/n, helping him stand as she asked, "Where the hell have you been?"

So time had passed. Lovely. "How long have I ben gone?"

That seemed to only worry the two girls more (what good could come from Y/n not knowing how much time had passed while he'd been wherever he'd been?) but Wednesday answered anyway. "A month and a half. The police stopped looking. They already don't care much about us, but when there was no trail or evidence to go off... even I stopped looking. I didn't stop hoping something would turn up, jumping at every opportunity, but there really was nothing to go off of." I appreciated her honesty/ It actually was a relief more than anything to know she hadn't gone insane looking for me... though I was also sure she was downplaying it at least a little bit. She hated when people worried about her or felt bad for her sake.

Y/n sighed, shaking his head. "Get me to the nurse's office. Then I need to see Weems, and..." He swallowed, terrified of seeing Xavier for some reason. Terrified that this wouldn't be exactly his world or that somehow he would still be lost. Maybe it was just a really close world. There were infinite worlds with infinite possibilities - there was a handful at least that would be minorly indistinguishable. Where it would all be the same but he and Xavier hadn't ended up together or one of them had died or-

He tried to stop overthinking.

The girls didn't push him, just did what he asked. He knew they did it so that they could pressure him to talk about what had happened while he was missing when they got back, and he prepared himself when Weems entered the room. Her recognition was back, her worry deep and overflowing with love and care. She reached out, brushing a piece of hair out of his face before her eyes raked him looking for injury.

One he would have complained. Now he almost broke into tears of joy again.

He explained everything, in only the details that needed to be said. Going to another world, why he had gone there and how it had all gone wrong, and that the other versions of them didn't recognize him but tried to help anyway. That they took good care of him.

It wasn't enough. They knew him too well, knowing that "they didn't recognize me" held a deep weight to him, but they didn't push. Half because they knew he couldn't handle it at this very moment and half because they wanted to switch gears to getting him to eat and drink water. Traveling had always been draining. he had been gone for less time for them than for him, but it had still been risky. The first time Y/n had traveled like this, it hadn't been on the scale of traveling whole dimensions and he had still been sick for weeks when he'd come back.

Enid showed up, with Eugene and Ajax. Ajax had brought more snacky foods, which had been a nice gesture and drove home even more the familiarity in this world. Eugene sat with him and distracted Y/n with help from Enid as she updated him on all the drama he had missed and Eugene went off about all the homework he had collected for Y/n and the notes he had taken. Eugene hadn't missed a single day. He hadn't lost hope.

It meant a lot.

"You were of course the biggest news," Enid sighed. "It was a really big deal until super recently. Weems wanted everyone to let it go until there was some kind of hope. So we could maybe start mourning you. It didn't look like you were coming back, and Xavier was struggling with everyone coming up with news to-" Bianca cleared her throat and suddenly Enid slammed her mouth shut.

Y/n's eyes had shot very wide. "What about Xavier?" He had been worried? In what way? Oh god were they hetero best friends? Were they brothers? Oh god Y/n was going to be sick.

Before she could answer the door opened and there was Xavier - as if he had been summoned. There was a very thick silence in the room as he didn't hesitate in the doorway, rushing to Y/n's side and sitting down, taking his hand. Okay definitely not platonic. "Are you okay?" He whispered? Y/n laughed, near hysterical.

Weems cleared her throat this time. "Everyone but Mr. Thorpe please leave the room. I think these two need some time to talk." That was enough for everyone else. They were gone and the two were alone. Y/n had never been more grateful to her than in that moment. 

Xavier swallowed. "Enid texted me the run down. I..." he pursed his lips, pausing for a moment. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Y/n didn't know exactly which part Xavier wanted to talk about. "I..." He let his head fall back on the dashboard. "Honestly the hardest part was being away from you guys in an emotional, even though all of you were right there. It would have been easier if I have been stranded somewhere without you entirely." He laughed without humor, his voice breaking. 

"What can I do to help?" Xavier asked. Y/n looked him and felt his anxiety melt away as he saw an undeniable expression in the other boy's eyes. That oh-so familiar expression Y/n had seen a million times. The care and familiarity; the readiness to help; the love that poured from him.

Y/n swallowed. "What are we here?" It was an insane question for Y/n to ask, when up until now he had been delivering everything as if he was sure he was home, which meant their relationship should have been known, but Xavier knew him too well to question it. Anxiety never made sense.

"We're dating." Y/n sighed in relief, nodding his head. It was easier to ask questions after that, as he went through every single detail and verified it to make sure he really had come home.

He had.

When Y/n went quiet again, Xavier spoke. "Is there anything else I can do?"

Y/n shook his head, smiling. "Stay with me a while."

Xavier kissed his forehead. "Of course." Y/n closed his eyes, this time laying his head on Xavier's shoulder. And everything was okay again. Y/n wouldn't be trying any traveling risky like he had again, so it would be okay forever.

For him at least. In another world, a different Xavier stood in a hallway, eyes wide and heart breaking. He had been getting through to Y/n. Y/n was about to let go of his old world, and maybe they could have...

But no. Y/n was gone, and Xavier was alone again. He never would have had Wednesday, but knowing he would never have Y/n had been a different kind of pain. Y/n had been wrong after all, he had been over Wednesday for a long time. She was happy and out of his reach and he had been ready to move on. Not wanting her, but wanting what she had. And then someone already in love with him had dropped out of the sky, and he had tried to reach out to him again and again, see if they could make it in this world.

But Y/n had wanted to go back home.

Xavier put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, turning and walking to the principal's office to tell her that Y/n had gone home. It would be a lie - he wasn't sure - but a hopeful lie. He really hope the boy had made it. That he had gotten everything he had so missed. At least one of them should get a happy ending.

#xavier thorpe #wednesday #x reader #male reader #wedneaday x reader

[loredwy]

Good evening

Im here to show you all how normal I can be about comics I read (not normal)

Today, I will talk about Im the Grim Reaper, comic made by @/Graveweaver! (here in tumblr)

And this essay will contain reasons why you should vote for Scarlet, Chase and Brook in the @friends-to-lovers-tournament. So even if you dont read all this text because its way too long, please DO IT. FOR ME.

Disclaimer: The following paper will be based in my headcanon of the three of them being a little polycule. Therefore, although it will describe actual content from the comics, they will be as unreliable as I can be <3

Disclairmer 2: This will contain SPOILERS, and even though I will be mentioning which chapters the spoilers are from when I show screencaps, I recommend stopping to read the comic if you think it sounds interesting, for you to not get spoiled too much.

NOW LETS START

So to put you all in context (tbh you can skip this all because I wrote a bit too much), the story goes about what Satan calls Grim Reapers, which are human souls he chose to work for him, sending sinners to hell by killing them. Reapers, however, are not regular humans, as their bodies are 'meat puppets' Satan made to put their souls into, along with demons that give them their reaper powers.

Our protagonist, Scarlet, reacted to being told she was sent to hell as anyone would: 'WHAT DID I DO', accompanied by multiple other questions like why she couldnt remember her past. Because of this, her past becomes a goal to achieve, wanting to discover what she could have done and why.

In the process, she encounters a detective (?) who, recognizing her appearance because of Scarlet's corpse, started suspecting she might be related to the mistery of her death. Which was true, although he didnt expect in which way tbh. -> they teamed up, decided to fuck around and find out

Then later on, investigating some of Scarlets memories, they ended up encountering the city's mafia. Which, funnily enough, had a reaper with them. Why? Because the reaper was way too entertained posting stuff in their blog he didnt want to go find sinners (canon).

Now, were reapers ever against each other? Not really? They have the same boss. So Chase, as the tumblr sexyman he is (<- questionable), convinced Brook of joining them and kill sinners who actually had done bad crimes.

Are you still there? I know I might be boring yall by just telling you the context, but I swear its important to understand (?)

But my point with this post is show you how over time, they start showing how much they care of each other on their own ways, Chase x Scarlet having the advantage because of them becoming closer before Brook joins. Having a confession (?) and everything. But even then they didnt dump Brook at all 🤩

[Spoilers of episodes 47 and 55-57]

Up to this point, not only do the three of them live under the same roof (because Brook and Scarlet were homeless), but bond over their shared circumstance of being partners in crime (literally).

And because there are lots of fights in the comic (?) we can also see the extent at which they would go for each other. Including, but not limited to, sacrificing themselves (because comic readers are destined to suffer) 🥳.

But how much did they sacrifice themselves may you be asking? Well, if Im remembering correctly... Scarlet might have died about 3 times? I might be confusing some with the times she just got brutally hurt or severely traumatized, but lets say its around that number: just to save Chase and Brook <3 (different occasions). She even LET GO of her PAST to save them, which she wanted to know so bad before, to know herself better. She's honestly both impressive and scary by how much she could do for those she cares lol. In Brook's case, he almost gets doomed for eternity to save Scarlet, and im pretty sure he didnt escape fully from that (but hey, Scarlet is fine <3). And Chase... 👁👁 situations happened. Lets be honest tho, Chase was an emo child, like, what he did had to be dramatic as fuck 💔, otherwise it wouldnt have felt like a Chase thing. He was a theater kid, im sure. He is a Batman kinnie. That should tell you enough.

BUT EVEN AFTER ALL THEY'VE GONE THROUGH. EVEN AFTER EACH OF THEM SCREWING UP AT LEAST ONCE. EACH TIME, THEY DO FORGIVE EACH OTHER.

And hear me out, because im not crazy. THIS PEOPLE. They, who live thanks to drama and edgyness. Are you telling me it wouldnt be fucking easy for them to just explode out of anger and break up, and like, get to be enemies or something.

NOT. EVEN. ONCE. HAVE THEY ABANDONED EACH OTHER.

JUST

LOOK

[Spoilers of episode 70, 80 and 110]

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Anyways :3

Even if they dont win is ok, but if you got to this point read the webtoon its really good 👍

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

(vote for Scarlet, Chase and Brook....)

#webtoon recommendation #webcomic #screencaps #i'm the grim reaper #itgr #itgr scarlet #itgr chase #itgr brook

[ourgoodfriendjonathan]

What you have to understand is that being othered out of protection is still being considered lesser.

Othered in any way at all is bad. Mina (in this case) should be trusted to make up her own mind, just like everyone else in the polycule. What does it say about a person when they aren't allowed to decide for themselves even though everyone else is?

You see, if I was a character in the book i would gladly say no thank you to the vampire hunt. I would shriek loudly and probably die at the first clash with evil. But knowing mina, she might be able to handle it just as well (or as badly) as the boys will or perhaps even better. The important thing is that she can decide this for herself.

And the beauty of feminism is that it will help the men too. They should feel just as free to say no to the vampire hunt, without losing face or ''''manhood'''' or being a coward.

Agency is key here. Mina should have the same options as the others and get to decide all on her own, without being steered or manipulated or forced in any way.

Because even good intentions can be pressuring someone to make a certain decision, even when none of the parties are aware of it, like we've seen demonstrated so beautifully these past days. It's sad, and it's difficult to avoid, but that doesn't make it less important to try.

Positive and negative discrimination are two sides of the same coin. Mina can be sooo good at secretary work, but if it means she's not allowed to do anything else and the others never have to help her with it, the compliment isn't going to do her much good.

I'm not saying you should aim for the throat of any of our beloved characters, but I am once again saying that good intentions are not a free pass to make decisions for other people

#dracula daily #October 1 #and yes I'm aware it's all time period accurate or whatever but i still hate it #and it's still happening today

[little-smartass]

7, 8, 14, 17 vampire chronicles

^ actual depiction of anon who wants to see me get killed dsfjkldsfjls but SURE, LET'S GO, I'LL DUNK ON VC ANY DAY

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

oooh, tough one, just because I already hate so many characters because of canon lmao. I'm gonna say... maybe Nicki? purely because I've seen people attempt to Poor Little Meow Meow-ify him, and I'm not a fan of that. I wouldn't say I hate him, though.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

HOO BOY. I'm gonna go for a tame one: that book!Louis is pathetic and boring. is IWTV and Louis' intense depression easy and fun to read? no. but it does really feel like it hits on something real, and something that I personally really resonate with, and so as a fellow drowning-in-emotions wet blanket, I am very LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE when people talk shit about him. it's uncalled for, IMO.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

I don't actually read much VC fic anymore because it's all just swamped (haha) with show fic, and that's not an AU that I personally care much for - and when I do venture into VC fic, I am exceedingly picky about what I will read, so I don't really feel like I have a wide enough data set to answer this question.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Lestat + Louis + Armand + Daniel dynamics, either as a polycule or as two couples in a little coven together. I honestly see that as the best case future scenario for all of them, as it allows the more intense boys different relationships to get attention from, and gives the others the opportunity for some space. also, for ALL of them, I think having a relatively low-stakes family unit would do them good, even if it occasionally gets messed up and weird. ALSO, a free AU for anyone who wants it - instead of Daniel going to Marius post-QOTD, Jesse sees this ticking timebomb of a man and asks her aunt if they can adopt her Blood Twin. Daniel would super benefit from being in an environment that isn't as intense as his relationship with Armand, and getting to hang around with someone his age would really help him work through whatever Post-Turning Bad Mental Health Shit he has, I think. And Jesse would have fun with him because they both have that Need To Investigate thing, and again, I think she'd like having a friend her own age who Gets what she's been through. platonic Daniel + Jesse please!!!

choose violence ask game

#thanks anon! though I already feel the VC fandom sniper dot on my head.............. #ask #ask game #anonymous

[purplekoop]

Oh yeah, there's a character I never did post here back when I was originally making the first few "Miri-verse" Splatoon OC designs back in... July, I think?

I had the idea for a "buff n' tuff" lionfish girl. So. I did that.

In retrospect I don't hate it as much as I did then, but there's a few things that still bother me. The pose is kinda dumb but that's not entirely a deal breaker for an initial design sketch. The real reason I didn't do much with her though is more the fact she just... doesn't look like a Splatoon character that much? Not like Mirianna and the others are super canon-compliant, especially in terms of proportions, but they're still similar enough in key features to Splatoon characters to where you can tell they're supposed to be based on that world. That's not really the case here, this is more just a normal buff lady who happens to have lionfish fins instead of hair and some funky eyes. Not like I don't think that's totally irrational for Splatoon, kind of a fun thing about its designs is that there's no hard limits for consistency, especially the more obscure things get in terms of canon reference (Just compare Gnarly Eddy to the nautilus girl from Ink Theory). Still, this just strayed a bit far for my own personal liking.

If you wanna see a lionfish Splatoon OC I do think is pretty cool and feels more like a Splatoon character, then check out Leona from @justanothersquidblog, part of their really cool idol duo Toxic Tunes! (sorry if the ping is annoying but I wanna give a cool shout out where I can)

I also just don't really have any... ideas for this character past the basic design? Is she a smug jerk? Is she nicer than she puts on at first? I don't really know, but nothing really sticks to me as much as with my other designs. I also don't think she'd jive with the main group (y'know, the polycule), so I don't know where she'd "fit" as a character. She also got conceptually replaced by Dredge in terms of beefiness and looking tough, so not much room for there either. I don't really have like, real story ideas or anything for any of these characters, but at least I feel there's room for some.

This year more than ever I've decided to be okay with just making character designs just for the sake of fun and not to be part of a grander project, especially when it lets me explore concepts I can't really use for those other projects (not much of a place for big huggable sea creature ladies in a game that's supposed to only feature robots, but I could prove myself wrong there). Still, feels a little bad, especially when there are characters from this same time period I'm going back to and giving them more attention. I wonder if I should just do like, adoptables or something... eh, when I get a bank account set up I'll consider it.

So yeah, bit of a ramble just for an old design I didn't end up doing much with or even showing here. Almost certainly being a little harsh on myself here but hey, everyone's their own worst critic. Still, figured it'd be neat to share anyways!

#my art #oc art #splatoon oc #splatoon oc art #koop's oc stuff

[partypuppynastja]

I know you'll take any excuse to talk up your polycule so: What do you like/love the most about bella/hal? I'm sure they'll be different vibes since you're romanticly with one and not the other, but you obviously like hal enough that I thought I'd ask for them too 😊

Aha, a licence to gush! I will indeed take any opportunity; you know me well, Anon :p

Difficult to organise my thoughts in both cases because they're both amazing people, but trying to narrow it down to top favourite things that are most impactful to me:

I first fell in love with Bella for her unique wonderfulness, which sounds a little abstract but the thing is not only was/is she kind, caring, dedicated, intelligent, diligent, creative, cool, with personal compatibilities ranging from life-views to kinks, but also her own fire burning strongly in a way that didn't just reflect what she thought I wanted to see (which latter is something that, in contrast, I'd encountered a lot hitherto). Here was a flame that I could be a moth dancing around, someone I could cheer on in their things, admire, love, adore, serve, and I discovered that this neither intimidated nor overwhelmed her. I finally found my home.

And yet! This did not relegate me to being just some orbiting adjunct devoid of my own things, and nor did it cause the relationship to become one-way. Because not only has she taught me that I am safe with her, but also, her care and love helped me to explore more about myself in many ways, and certainly in ways I never could have previously. And in my good things and my bad things and my neutral things, she has just loved and supported me and cheered me on and picked me up and sometimes just held me. She's stood by me at my worst and never judged me ill for my moments of weakness or failure, and she's helped me to be a better me in my lows and in my highs, and at her side I've become a me that I never could have otherwise. I owe her this life that I have, and I'm just honoured and proud and glad to get to spend it with her.

She is really so amazing and wonderful and I'm so lucky to have her and get to repay her as much love as possible, because she's truly incredible and deserves the world 💖

Which brings us to Hal—about whom I now have less time to write because I wrote a lot about my beloved and now I'm about to have a date with same—and I'm so glad those two have each other too. Indeed, if I had to pick a single top thing to praise about Hal, it's that they're so perfect for Bella. I've paraphrased Shakespeare before about their general qualities that "all that a fine butch should have they do not lack", and I've also said before and I stand by it, that they're the purest and sweetest soul I've ever encountered in my life. If I had to pick a single quality, their patience would stand out as a high candidate (not that we test it too much, I hope, lol), but it's more about the Gestalt of this person who a) is awesome in their own right (sorry I'm not doing them justice while hurrying now) b) is so amazingly perfect for my beloved (something of which I'm very glad, and their very obvious love brings me a lot of joy) and c) is unfailingly good to me in turn (I've been very glad of that too), I'm incredibly happy and proud for us to be comrades-in-[Bella's]-arms and I feel very lucky to have them also by my side in our shared life-mission of loving our amazing Bella.

Addendum: I've been tinkering with this while in a videocall now while Bella has been finishing up some work, and while she was singing to me while working, it reminded me something that's true for both of them also: they just make me so happy to be around; they're a good presence in my life. And that statement comes from me: someone who's not very social, who has a very small circle of friends, generally low social battery, etc, has never needed anyone in my life before I met Bella, and... When Bella was over here for 6 months I still just wanted to be glued to her. And when Hal was here for a week, I loved every moment of their company, felt incredibly safe with them (which is a strong statement from this me, for reasons outside the scope of this post), was a flood of tears when they had to go, and when we have videocalls, be it with just Bella or Hal too, I never want to have to hang up (although I usually am first to have to do so, because of timezones and such). The point is they both just enrich my life so much (she writes, smiling happily with heart-eyes as Bella in this videocall does a victory dance upon achieving her aims with part of her work) and are always able to provide a high point to any day, just by being around.

#Ask #About me #About us #💖 #🖤 #🏡💗 #Polyamory #I feel like I haven't come even close to doing either of them justice but a girl is on a time budget here and I could write whole books #Thank you for the kind Ask! I was indeed very happy for the excuse to gush :p

[edoro]

"and in some cases is so dedicated to trying to prove she’s who she THINKS she should be that she doesn’t pay attention to who she actually is and what she actually wants." <- oooh this is interesting. :D I wonder, if she had a character creation screen that made her Ideal Self, how would she make herself and how would it compare with how she actually is?

so basically i think Emmy's stat distribution is like

-high intelligence + dexterity -medium charisma (she's friendly and sweet but can be blunt and has a kind of dark/macabre sense of humor that puts some people off, and she has a lot of trouble with like, unspoken social rules or people who lie about their intentions) -medium-low constitution + wisdom (see above; she's not very good at sussing out hidden meanings or detecting people's motives, and she's not very good at listening to her own intuition a lot of the time) -low strength (despite being the physically biggest member of the polycule both in terms of height and frame/weight, she's not particularly strong)

and she would really like to bump up those WIS and STR stats and maybe the CHA as well. she wants to be strong! she's pretty butch and she really wants to protect and help the people who she cares about.

because of her history of bullying, she has spent a lot of her life learning to keep her head down and ignore when people are assholes. because she's not very good at telling when people are being more subtly assholish (pretending to be her friend or back-handed compliments, etc), she spends a long time just very withdrawn and socially cut off, refusing to interact with anyone other than Max because she doesn't know how to trust anyone.

she wants to be brave and outgoing and friendly and fearless, and be herself totally unapologetically, and whenever someone is mean to her or someone she cares about, she wants to tell them to go fuck themselves and be able to stand up to them physically if need be.

but... she still worries a lot about how people see her, although she's working on that. she pushes herself a lot to put herself out there and interact, and a lot of the time it IS fun and it DOES turn out well, but it's also gotten her into some uncomfortable situations and caused her to put up with pretty bad behavior.

being a fat black trans girl trying to figure herself out and start maybe kinda feeling herself means that she ends up with a lot of chasers who want to reduce her to a series of exotic and consumable body parts rather than interact with her as a person, and it takes her a bit to recognize the pattern and then get confident enough and respect herself enough to realize that that attention ISN'T positive and she doesn't have to just put up with it as the price of feeling sexy or fun or flirty.

she's not really used to standing up for herself or other people actively. she tends to just smile and withdraw when things get uncomfortable or people are mean. when she leaves for college she tries to overcorrect too hard the other way, and get VERY assertive and forward, which causes her to in some cases be extra blunt and react very strongly in situations that could have been handled with more tact - she has a hard time telling between people who mean well and people who don't.

it takes her some time to settle into a middle ground!

in reality she tends to be a bit shy and need time alone to recharge, and it turns out that when it comes to like, sex and dating and stuff, she really wants to be involved in some kind of emotional relationship with someone, whether it's a friendship or something more, rather than just hook up. she doesn't like confrontation and tends to feel anxious and guilty if she gets forceful or assertive with people, even when she's objectively in the right and they were wrong.

her ideal self, though, is confident, flirty, courageous, physically and emotionally strong, extroverted, always down to have fun and party, able to breezily socialize with little to no effort, and unfuckwithable. ideal Emmy knows what's up, doesn't ever hesitate or get worried, doesn't need time alone, doesn't ever accidentally say the wrong thing or ruin the mood, doesn't doubt herself, is up for anything, etc.

in time she'll come to understand and value who she is, and figure out that she can be confident in her own worth and stand up for herself and the people she cares about without being over the top, that she can be quietly firm about her own boundaries and how she's willing to be treated or let others be treated rather than having to make a scene, that she doesn't have to be a fun party girl to make friends or feel sexy or enjoy herself, and all of that.

(also, she would give herself a bigger ass. she's pretty top-heavy and kinda apple-shaped; big boobs, big shoulders, thick waist, big belly, comparatively less weight in her hips and thighs and butt. going on hrt has made her get a little more curvy, but she still carries most of her weight in her stomach and chest, and she wishes she had fatter cakes. u_u)

#emmeline #<-blorbos from my brain #asks

[rockatanskette]

We make a lot of jokes about "he a little confused but he got the spirit" but I truly think people should get more comfortable with the idea that someone can not "get it" and still be a good ally and a safe person. I've seen some discussion about this in relation to terminology, but I think it goes beyond that. I think it's possible for people to be uncomfortable with an aspect of someone else's identity and still supportive, and I think it helps people be supportive if they feel allowed to be uncomfortable.

My mum doesn't like tattoos. She's Jewish, and there's some taboo there, but she mostly doesn't like that they're permanent; it makes her anxious. I knew this when I got my first tattoo. I could see the discomfort on her face and hear it in her voice when she called it "interesting." But she didn't get angry with me. She didn't openly judge me. And when my grandmother asked why I would possibly do that to my skin, my mum said, without hesitation, "but isn't it so pretty, though? Look at the design, isn't it cool?"

She's still uncomfortable, and she has a terrible poker face. She doesn't "get it" anymore than my grandmother. It's not a choice she would ever make for herself. But she's fought for my right to make it and to me, that's more important than her "getting" it.

I recently moved to a new city and made some Christian friends through a mutual friend. They do not understand Jewish tradition; they don't understand my relationship with religion; they sometimes say things from a place of ignorance, and sometimes it makes me a little uncomfortable. Sometimes, when I correct them, it makes them uncomfortable. They often don't "get it."

But when I mentioned off-handedly that I was struggling a little bit to prep for Passover, being in my first apartment by myself, they didn't hesitate to help. They did the research, they found kosher-for-passover recipes, they tracked down the only kosher deli in this Southern city. They sent me videos on kashering to make sure they were doing it right. They made me brisket and potato kugel and bought me a bottle of Manischewitz, and they did the research all by themselves.

The only thing they asked of me was for me to be there while they were cooking to make sure they didn't accidentally cross-contaminate anything—that and if I would be comfortable saying a blessing over the meal. They weren't expecting the blessing to be in Hebrew, and I think it made them a little uncomfortable. But they thanked me and they ate with me and they asked me question. They still didn't "get" kashrut or chametz, exactly. But they knew it was important to me, and they respected it, without question.

I don't "get" polyamory. Sometimes the idea makes me uncomfortable; not because I think it's morally wrong (I don't) but because it's so antithetical to the kind of relationships that I want that it boggles my mind that someone would prefer it. I don't really understand why someone would want to have multiple partners.

But I do understand that my own preference has nothing to do with someone else's identity. My discomfort is in some ways unavoidable; I can't control my feelings. But I can congratulate my friends on new additions to their polycule. I can commiserate with them when their mom is being judgy. I can tell them there's nothing wrong with them, and I can mean it, even if I don't totally understand it, because I know that even if I don't "get it," they do. Their opinion is the only one that matters when it comes to their identity and their preferences and I do my best to respect that.

Understanding is obviously best-case. We want people to understand us. But just as much, perhaps even moreso, we want people to respect us; to act in ways that make us feel safe and cared about. And you don’t need to understand the people you love to have their back.

[markantonys]

One thing about the 3way Warder bond. While I had the same initial reaction, that as Aes Sedai this should be Elayne's special thing w Rand, OTOH, I would bet Min & Aviendha would be fine with her bonding Rand: give him the benefits of the bond, through someone they both trust & love. That Elayne found a way to share what she originally conceived of as her own private, personal thing, going out of her way to invent a weave to share it with her sisters just makes her so much more impressive.

i suppose that's true! once again elayne goes above and beyond to make this polycule work. i definitely feel like she's the one who works hardest at it. avi's accustomed to this sort of thing in her culture so getting onboard is not as much of a mental adjustment for her. min, credit where credit is due, does tell rand that elayne and avi love him when she could have kept quiet about it and kept him to herself and does bring them to talk with him in caemlyn instead of helping him sneak out without them knowing, but otherwise doesn't put a whole lot of effort into making the situation work, in comparison to elayne out here being the connecting link between min and avi and bonding avi as her first-sister and bonding all three of them to rand. and elayne comes to feel "i love both of them as much as i love rand and am genuinely happy to share" as opposed to avi's "i love elayne as much as i love rand and am genuinely happy to share with her, but min is a stranger and i wouldn't want to share with her if i didn't have to" and min's "i can put up with sharing if i absolutely have to, but i would've preferred having rand to myself." min and elayne are equally shocked by the concept of sharing at first, but we see elayne grow to understand and truly WANT that kind of relationship (via her relationship development with avi and her experience of aiel culture thru avi) whereas min never REALLY has true growth in this respect.

back to the 3-way bonding, i would've been okay with it if it had been set up beforehand for the other 2 the way it was with elayne. if we'd seen avi think "i wish i could bond with rand, but that's a wetlander custom no one would ever invite me to be part of" and min think "i wish i could bond with rand, but i can't channel" and then elayne comes up with a solution. or at the VERY LEAST if we had seen the conversation the 3 of them had about it in caemlyn before making the proposal to rand - instead we only heard that they'd discussed it and reached this decision entirely offscreen.

and if min and rand were going to be bonded i think min should've been HIS warder. masking the bond shows us clearly that there's good reason for a non-channeler not to be a bondholder: it seems that the warder can't mask it and that the bondholder can't mask it if they don't have channeling ability (i'm not completely positive these are True Rules but it SEEMS to be the case from what we've seen), so there's literally no way to turn off the min-rand bond. which means that rand can't ever get full privacy with elayne and avi like he does with min, which sucks and is yet another example of min getting an unfairly large Slice Of The Pie, to use her own metaphor lmao and seeing as min is plastered to rand's side for what i believe might be the entire rest of the series, she doesn't NEED to be bonded with him, narratively speaking - the bond is a great long-distance link between rand and elayne and avi when they're separated, but min's right there with him the whole time.

my other main objection is that it's so emblematic of the Girlfriend Blob, and i hate the Girlfriend Blob. we could've had elayne and avi each bond rand individually and him bond min, but instead it's 1 bond between rand and the Girlfriend Blob. and so i object to the 3-way bond on symbolic grounds haha

#do i believe avi would've been fine with elayne alone bonding rand? absolutely! #min though.......she would've gone along with it but i just bet that internally #she would've had a sulk about elayne getting something she doesn't have with rand #but i will acknowledge that i hate min and MIGHT judge her unfairly sometimes jkfgjh #anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

[thelightfluxtastic]

Unironically, I credit a lot of my current stances/opinions/feelings toward media and fandom to the fact that my very first fandom (as in, actually engaging with other fans and fan discussions and content) was the Vampire Chronicles, when I was just entering my teens. Truly, like-

Shipping?

I'm not saying it didn't happen, but in the communities I came up in (primarily the Interview with the Vampire IMDB forum) there were no shipping wars. Not because it was Pure and Idyllic and everyone was just so nice, but because every ship was canon anyway. These were vampires with centuries of time. Lestat had lifetimes in which to love Nicolas and Louis. Louis could spend decades doing the Domestic Household thing with Lestat and Claudia, then spend 50 years on museum dates with Armand. People had their own favorites based on taste and preference, but there was little to no hostility between ships. It would have been kind of pointless- multishipping was canon. What would be the purpose of shooting down a ship in your own armada?

Dark content?

If the coven of the articulate was a massive polycule, it was a messy one. These were still, fundamentally, vampires! If an evening meal was a murderous affair, why should relationships be all roses? It was a series that looked one in the eye and said "Yes, Louis set Lestat on fire once. Yes, they are soulmates. What are you going to do about it?" I think it...stretched my brain in interesting ways. To be in a fandom where it was accepted that, for example, Armand and Lestat both violently hated each other and were passionately attracted to one another. That accepting both did not mean romanticizing the time Armand pushed Lestat off a roof, nor assuming that Lestat was lying, in denial, or wrong when he claimed Armand as his loved one. Simply to hold both states as true at the same time, embracing the intensity of the emotion in all its valences. Nor was this limited to character romances and shipping! These were gothic characters with Big Emotions that often got expressed in extravagant ways. My personal favorite character is still Nicolas de Lenfent, someone whose story role is to be deeply depressed and self-destructive as terrible things happen to him constantly. Every major trigger I can think of appears in these books eventually. I almost definitely encountered things I was too young to fully process when I read these books. But you know what I did when that happened? Went to my parents, or friends, or other fandom folks and talked through it. (Ironically, due to the atypical rules I internalized, I was far more bothered by the swear words as a teen than the blood and murder). The dark content in the books didn't scar me (in some cases the opposite- it gave me words and poetic expressions for Scary Thoughts and Big Feelings), and are still dear to me years later. As I've seen others express, what harmed me as a teen was mundane bullying, not dark media.

Author and Fanon?

Anne Rice has a reputation in fandom. She is the origin of those "Do not own the characters" fanfic disclaimers for her aggressive anti-fanon policies. And that's not getting into her receiving less editing as the series continued, and what ended up being the 'Vampire Crackicles'. I honestly think it was healthy for my adolescent brain to be in a fandom where every individual had a personal line in the sand for what they considered canon (and that was ok/accepted). I think it lended a flexibility toward headcanons as well as critical lenses of the text. Additionally, it was public knowledge how much Rice's own life experiences and beliefs influenced the text. Yes, there's the grief element to Claudia in IWTV. There's also the visible rollercoaster of her religious beliefs, from Memnoch to the Jesus series. So it wasn't a surprise or shift in going from "reading the text as a pure text" to "realizing the influence of the politics and perspective of the author" as I feel often happens. The trajectory of the books only fully made sense in context of the author and external influences. One could chose to ignore those, or actively take an interpretation different than the intended one, etc. (fandom is transformative, after all!) but it was an active knowledge and choice.

#the vampire chronicles #anne rice #fandom #media #essay #mine

[abbythegatekeeper]

Since it was pointed out to me that in this final season of the Castlevania anime that in all likelihood, Greta of Danesti = Grant Danasty, I am now choosing to believe that along with being a badass bisexual WOC Greta is also a trans woman

#castlevania #netflix castlevania #castlevania season 4 #castlevania spoilers #so proud of greta #for discovering who she is and giving up a life of thievery to settle down and take care of a town #and now she gets to be in the trephacard polycule #grevphacard? #or maybe not since it would reduce her to the woc only introduced for helping the white main characters and being part of their romance #in that case she should get her own polycule #she'll still be alucard's best friend who roasts the shit out of him anyways