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fontasticcrablettes · 8 months

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not sure if anyone's asked this before, but

a common criticism of Vesperia is that Yuri is never really punished for the vigilantism conflict, but I feel that the fandom's proposed solutions are too extreme or boring without much regard for his established character

have you ever had ideas on how you'd rectify this? whether it be a rewrite of certain parts of Vesperia or fanfic ideas

I've definitely thought about this before. I think the issue is that the game tried to address it with Sodia's attack on him, but due to the change of writers between acts 2 and 3, the payoff for that never really happened.

The set-up is there. Yuri spends act 2 inflicting his justice on those he has determined have escaped justice, and the act concludes with Sodia enforcing her own justice on him. But then act 3 comes, and those ideas are never really brought up again. The closest we get is Yuri calling Sodia out in Capua Torim for not carrying through her resolve and giving up on Flynn despite her earlier dedication to him. This could even be interpreted as "Yuri's vigilantism was fine actually" because the lesson he seemed to take from it was "If you're going to kill people, commit to the bit."

I've had a few ideas about addressing this. Disclaimer that I'm a novelist, not a game writer, so my thoughts are around what would work if this story was a novel and not necessarily considering gameplay needs.

The first consideration is that I don't think the game ever intended to 100% condemn Yuri's actions. Rather, I think they were going for a middle ground between his and Flynn's methods. Neither purely solo vigilantism nor a single man rising through the ranks and taking control of the Knights will save the world. You need a bit of both, and not to go to the extremes of either. So, I think it would be against the spirit of the story if Yuri was resoundingly punished and all of his choices punished and portrayed as wrong.

But... some of them should be. Flynn's side of the justice question was about working within the system, and the flaws of his choices smacked him in the face with Alexei's betrayal and realization that his actions to work within the system had led him to aid a coup. The closest thing Yuri gets to a comeuppance like this is Sodia stabbing him, which doesn't really get adequately addressed.

And after all this preamble ("#Nightfoot is bad at brevity" is a tag for a reason) I can finally get to some of my ideas for things that could have happened in the game to strengthen Yuri's character arc.

1. Repede

I think Repede is under-utilized. Yuri is not a very talkative guy when it comes to his own feelings. He doesn't want to burden his friends with his issues, so if he's going through some inner turmoil about his choices, he won't talk it over with his friends unless they bring it up first.

In a book, this could be easily solved with internal narration delving into his thoughts, but in a visual medium, he has to verbalize these. Repede could have been a perfect solution to this. They already set up Repede being a confidant when he got that title for being the only witness to Ragou's murder, but never did anything with it.

I think it would have fit Yuri's character to open up to Repede - to talk things over with his dog whom he knows will never tell another person and won't talk back - in a way he wouldn't want to with one of his human friends.

2. Alexei and Duke

There's a parallel between Flynn & Alexei and Yuri & Duke that could have been stronger. I've always been fond of the idea of Alexei and Duke being old friends who grew apart and became enemies over their dispute about how to handle the corruption of the empire. It makes them a neat parallel for Yuri and Flynn, and a dark shadow of what they and their friendship could become if they keep drifting away from each other and into more extreme deeds.

3. More Sodia

Having Yuri fall victim to the same sort of vigilantism that he inflicted on others is a great plot beat, but then it never really gets addressed again. Sodia does this huge thing, and then we never see her again until pretty late in act 3.

This kind of ties in to me talking about "Yuri and Sodia forced to work together" fic, but what if this happened in the game? What if there was some scenario where Yuri and Sodia had to go off alone together and actually talk to each other and having some messy shouting matches and acknowledge that they aren't so different?

4. Comeuppance for Yuri

Now an actual proposed scenario to "punish" Yuri for his choices. My idea is that when Yuri leaves his friends behind in Halure near the end of act 2, he makes it all the way to Alexei by himself. Rather than his friends catching up with him in the Quoi Woods, Yuri makes it all the way to Zaphias and confronts Alexei alone at the Sword Stair. There, he promptly gets his ass kicked.

The rest of the party catches up to him before Alexei can finish the job, and at that point it can switch to the whole party fighting Estelle as Alexei leaves, as in the game.

In the Quoi Woods scene, his friends call him out for trying to lone-wolf it and point out to him that he does in fact have good friends who want to help him. By shifting this reunion to the Sword Stair, just after he's almost died and fucked everything up, not only is he forced to learn that he can rely on his friends, but that he should.

5. Replacement for Ragou

It's briefly mentioned that there's a new magistrate in Capua Nor and that he's much better than Ragou and the city is so much better off now. This feels like a wasted opportunity to me.

I propose the group returning to Capua Nor in early act 3 to discover that Ragou has been replaced, but that the new guy is almost as bad. Maybe not "feeds children to monsters for the fun of it" bad, but still corrupt, still oppressive, still another head of the Empire's rotting body.

This forces Yuri to confront the idea that while he solved the immediate problem of Ragou not being punished, he didn't actually create any sort of system change. His methods alone are not the solution to justice because picking off the worst of the worst does nothing to change the system that produces and enables those people. While Flynn's focus on changing the system abandons people who suffer while he slowly reforms things, Yuri's focus will never create lasting change and just leads to him playing whack-a-mole with whatever pieces of garbage the corrupt system spits out next.

They need each other, and neither their methods are the solution in isolation. They can't do it alone. In the very last scene of the game, Duke tells Yuri that he's strong, and he replies, "That's because I'm not alone." That's the main message Yuri learns over the course of the game! Yuri goes from a lone wolf to someone who supports the help of his friends and that he's stronger when he's backed up by bonds of friendship. Showing Yuri that simply killing Ragou on his own was not enough, that he needs the cooperation of his friends all working on the same problem from different angles, strengthens that message.

6. Same Choice, Different Decision

This is one of my favourite literary tropes and such a simple way to demonstrate character growth and change.

With either some or all of the proposed changes above, let's end the game with Yuri having the chance to go after Duke alone. He has an opening to break off from the others, but this time, he doesn't. He takes everything he's learned about the necessity to work together and the importance of relying on others chooses not to be a lone vigilante this time. He proves that he has internalized the idea that he is strong because he's not alone.

7. Dark Enforcer

This sidequest could (should?) have been incorporated into the main plot. There's no reason for a storyline that directly parallels the main protagonists' journey and confronts him with the possible downfalls of his approach to be an easily missable sidequest.

---

So, there are some of my ideas! I've thought a lot about this over the years and tried to cut this down to just my plot changes that would directly address Yuri's vigilantism arc.

I think Yuri is often unduly criticized for having "no growth," because I think that just isn't true, but I do think the game flubbed the development of it. He's clearly changed his mind about being a lone vigilante by the end, but when did he emotionally process this? The pieces are there, they just aren't utilized to their full extent.

These are also all ideas about changes to the game itself, but I think most of them would also work as the basis of a fic, either canon divergent, post-game, in squeezing some scenes in.

#Anonymous #tales of vesperia #yuri lowell #nightfoot overthinks things

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scarrletmoon · 9 months

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im not trying to start shit so im not tagging this but i'm just thinking about ed/izzy and how it doesn't make sense

like. izzy feels like the shitty ex who's convinced you that no one else gets you and no one ever will, so as uncomfortable as you feel with him, as much as it feels like you're missing something, you don't know exactly WHAT you're missing. plus, you've never had a relationship that's lasted as long as this one, and everyone says relationships are hard work. so maybe this IS what you deserve. at the end of the day, yeah he's an angry little fucker but he's loyal. you know he'll always have your back bc he's dedicated like no one else. and what's a relationship if not respect and loyalty?

except izzy has a very concrete but wrong idea of who ed is. he wants ed to fit a certain mould, which has severely stunted ed's growth and made him miserable.

i get ed/izzy as like, a terrible toxic relationship where two people stay together bc they think they have no one else -- izzy clings to ed bc blackbeard represents everything he wants to be as a man, ed stays with izzy bc he's useful and like, look at the poor guy, you can't just ditch him after 20 years. ed's not HEARTLESS. izzy's good, deep down.

deep, deep down

but then you see how stede immediately sees the best in ed, knows that ed can do better. stede brings out the softer parts that ed's been unable to access for years, doesn't shame him for not being a paragon of manliness or whatever. ed is HAPPY with stede.

and like, stede is a BITCH. he's selfish, obnoxious, shamelessly grandiose and loves being the center of attention, will happily ignore other people's needs to serve his own and also somehow has such terrible self esteem that he thinks he doesn't actually matter at the end of the day

but stede CARES. he never tries to really change anyone to fit an image he approves of. he doesn't go out of his way to harm anyone unless they've harmed him or someone he loves. his loyalty isn't conditional; when he loves ed, he loves him exactly as he is. and i think the reason why he dislikes Jack so much is bc jack turns him into this dumb frat boy who doesn't think for himself and he knows ed is better than that. ed reads it as judgement bc that's all he's ever gotten from others. but stede means it as "there is so much good in you already" rather than "i wish you would change into a shape i approve of"

so like. WHY DO PEOPLE THINK ED WOULD BE HAPPIER WITH IZZY. ed isn't even romantically attracted to izzy? izzy clearly, obviously, is HOPELESSLY in love with ed. but it's worse for both of them if they stay together, as friends or romantic partners. if they stay together, they stagnate. apart, ed can flourish. idk about izzy but maybe he'd be less of a cunt if he loosened his sphincter and learned that he doesn't ACTUALLY have to control everything in his sight

i get relating to izzy as someone who's been in love with someone who'll never love them back, but like. i'm sorry. im so sorry. but you should think better of yourself than izzy. you don't have to be miserable, and part of finding your own happiness might involve leaving the person you've been in love with for years who's never going to give you what you need

not saying you can't like the little gremlin but i'm just very confused about people who impart this softness onto him that doesn't actually exist, and won't exist until he exhibits some desire to change as a person

anyway if anyone comes to this post or my inbox cussing me out for this, im just blocking on sight bc i'm not fighting with izzy fans again who'd rather be cruel than either engage respectfully or just ignore me

if you dont like what i have to say, the block button is literally!! right there!!

#scarrlet rambles #having Thoughts #i dont think any of this should be controversial but i bet it will be!#im already tired lmao

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liuvli · 1 year

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Critical Darling

pairing: eddie munson x fem!goth!reader

summary: It's your senior year. You're a "goth freak" and you definitely stand out, but it doesn't bother you. You're proud of who you are, and nobody is going to change that. Not even the person that motivated you to be so proud in the first place. Eddie "The Freak" Munson.

warnings: she/her pronouns, slow burn, cursing, alcohol, smoking, eventual smut, minor use of y/n, slightly bitchy reader, work in progress

tags: first meetings, pov second person, s4 doesn’t happen, goth!reader, tradgoth!reader, fluff, angst, eddie & chrissy friendship, reader is a little fruity

all fic chapters & ao3 link

chapter wc: 4.5k

Chapter Two: Pens and Picks

A cloud of light grey smoke filled the air as you exhaled the drag you had taken of Kace’s cigarette. You absentmindedly waved your gloved hand in the air as you sluggishly tried to disperse the cloud, a half-assed attempt at making sure none of the smoke would be seen seeping through the cracks in the bleachers. Your eyes traveled through one of the gaps that were eye-level with you from where you were sitting on the gymnasium floor, your back leaned against the brick wall behind you, and you could see a group of boys stumbling around with a basketball, blocking each other as their sneakers made horrific squeaks against the floor.

Not really caring about a group of sweaty 17 to 18-year-old boys, you slowly dragged your eyes away to turn your attention back to Kace who was laying down on the floor, head resting on a rolled up gym-mat.

“A Halloween party?” kissing your teeth, you wait for a response as you fiddle with your hands in your lap, your long painted-black nails clacking together as you did. Kace turned his head to the side to face yours, one of his earrings dangling down onto his cheek as he brushed it away.

“Yeah! Make it the first freak party of the school year. And it’s fitting, seeing as it’s Halloween. Yeah, yeah?” The boy’s white toothy grin appeared as he enthusiastically proposed the idea to you.

It’s not like you had an issue with parties or anything, and you had definitely hosted one or two, but you were still an academic try-hard at times, and it was also your last year at Hawkins High. You didn’t want to make any choices or do anything that could risk you not getting that diploma at the end of the school year, and saying a final “fuck you” to principal Higgins as you walk off that stage, never having to see the miserable old bastard ever again. There was a lot on the line, truly.

“Tch, I dunno, man. I need to book my ideas up this year. Can’t give in to distractions or waste any time,” your flat, fully-serious tone made Kace’s grin drop, a dull, somewhat-bored expression playing on his pale face.

“Blah, blah, blah. I get it, I do! You wanna get the fuuuck out of this Hell-hole, I do too! But it’s only a single party, love, it won’t hurt your academic streak of straight A’s too much. Unless, of course, you take some complete mind-fuck of a drug at the party and scramble your brains for the rest of your life,” you both blankly stared at each other, “just don’t do that and you’re set.” Unsure of whether or not he was being serious, you allow yourself to snort at his comment, leaning forward to pluck the cigarette between his index and middle fingers out of his grasp. You hold the stick up to your lips, taking a deep drag in, holding it in your system for a couple of beats before slowly exhaling.

It is Halloween… and the freaks hadn’t had a good party in months, as the summer season was mostly busied with parties held by the “other” groups at Hawkins. Jocks, cheer squad, party-goers, the band freaks, for some reason. But now that October had finally rolled around, it was finally back to being the freak season. Late, private parties in the cold fall and winter season, hosted by the different “freak-ish” cults at Hawkins High while all the prissy popular groups stayed bundled up inside with their… lovers, or something. You didn’t quite, but you knew it couldn't have been as good as the parties the freaks held in the cold seasons.

Whilst deep in thought, you hadn’t noticed that you had kept the cigarette held up to your lips, but not taking a drag, just keeping it there without really thinking. Kace noticing this is what eventually snapped you out of your thought.

“You gonna actually smoke that or just make out with it? Because if so, give it here instead.” You rolled your eyes at the idiotic comment, leaning forward as you gently placed the filter-end of the nearly finished cigarette between Kace’s lips, the boy nodding at you as you did so.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Your house or mine?” Kace sat up as you agreed to his proposal, clapping his hands together like an overjoyed child, his rings clanking together as he did so.

Despite his appearance; the heavy, dark makeup, the matching leather jeans and jacket with varied different shirts every day, the silver jewelry he never failed to crowd his outfits with, and his spiked, maroon, almost-black hair, he had always been the most upbeat, cheerful person you knew, and he had never once failed to make you smile. Except for that one phase in middle school where he went full anti-social freak, “I hate my mom” type thing. Thank God it was short-lived.

The lanky boy crouched as he took one last drag of the cigarette, dropping it on the floor and stomping it out as he finished it.

“I’d say your house because, one, it’s bigger, and, two, I don’t know if my parents have any plans to leave the house for long enough on Halloween night or any day around the 31st. But, what about your sister? I'm willing to bet you don’t want your sister in the house if you’re planning on hosting a party there, right? Am I right?” Groaning, you rolled your head back as you rubbed your palms together, the lace of your elbow-length, fingerless gloves rubbing together. It didn’t take long for you to think of a solution.

“She’s 15. She’ll wanna go stay round her friend’s house, or something. If she doesn’t already have plans to do so, which I’m willing to bet on, I can easily convince her. Or just bribe her, either work.” You raised your eyebrows at the simple solution, and after thinking over it in his own head, Kace nodded, bobbing his head up and down with a hyped grin on his face. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something else, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Through the bleachers, you could hear the basketball players running toward the locker rooms to change, and Kace groaned.

“Christ, I’ve got math next. Wish me luck, love.” The raven-haired boy leaned down from where he was standing, slouching slightly to avoid hitting his head off the bleachers, as he planted pecks on both of your cheeks, your lips ghosting the action to do the same to his. As he leaned back up, you slipped your fingers into his front pocket and pulled out a fresh cigarette, holding it up to him as you immediately began to light it. He rolled his eyes.

“Using me for my cigs, you wound me.” You clicked the lighter shut and stuffed it back into your pocket as you let the cigarette sit between the corner of your lips.

“Payment, for my time and attention,” you smirked up at the boy as he reciprocated the expression, waving goodbye as he ducked under the framework of the bleachers, leaving your sight in just a small second.

You were now sat alone leaning against the wall under the bleachers in a now-empty gymnasium, grey clouds of smoke wafting through the air as you took drags of the cigarette you had stolen from your friend.

Your friendship with Kace had always been perfect. Completely platonic, grew up like siblings, and you both had an undying trust for each other. There had never been any sort of issue between the two of you, and although there were times when you barely saw each other due to different friend groups or just not even sharing classes, you still pulled through all the way to senior year.

...

Senior year.

It was finally your senior year, and you just had to get through it, and then your time at Hawkins High would finally be over. No more shitty cliques, no more shitty grades, no more shitty people. Your first year at Hawkins High was mediocre; not too bad, but not really eventful. Your sophomore is when it started to go downhill, as you were severely lacking in the friends and personality departments. That one day you got jumped by those shitty cheer squad girls was probably the most memorable. Assholes. Who the fuck sprays PERFUME in someone's eyes? Couldn’t that, like, make them go blind, or some shit? Fuck them, they’ll end up graduating and being fucking miserable when their cliques dissolve. Stupid, fucking-

“Shit-” Your eyes snapped open as you simultaneously snapped out of your thoughts, immediately looking over to the source of the sound.

...

Eddie Munson?

The metal head was frozen in place, posed like one of those creatures in a “bigfoot sighting” photograph, his body looking as if he was frozen mid-step. The silver chain on his hip dangled as he failed at remaining completely still as if staying still would mean you wouldn’t see him.

Still frozen, you took the chance to look the boy up and down. A sleeveless denim vest layered over a leather jacket Kace would be envious of and an Iron Maiden tee, blue, ripped jeans, and white high-tops. Not really your style, but not the worst you’ve seen, especially at a stuck-up school like Hawkins. As your eyes traveled upwards, you noticed how frizzed and knotted Eddie’s hair was, more than usual, as if he had been running from something, or someone, as the small amount of sweat on his forehead meant his bangs were damp against it. His cheek was also red and somewhat bloodied, a dark, small cut on the corner of his bottom lip catching your eye. He reeked of distant sweat, weed, and cheap cologne. Surprisingly, not anything like blood from the satanic, sacrificial rituals he was rumored to take part in. Or, more specifically, take control of. Rumors, am I right?

Tired of him standing dead-still like an opossum playing dead, you decided to break the silence, taking a drag of the lit cigarette between your fingers.

“What do you think I am, a fucking t-rex?” Although mostly hidden by his dark, sticky bangs, you noticed his brows knit together in confusion at the comment, his stance releasing a small amount of tension as you finally spoke.

“Wh-what? Why would you-” You roll your eyes.

“You’re standing there frozen as if I won’t see you or some shit if you don’t move a muscle, like a t-rex. You don’t know your dinosaur facts or some shit?” For some reason, the sound of those words leaving your mouth caused you to chuckle at yourself. You took a drag of the cigarette, exhaling the smoke out of your nostrils.

The blood, the tousled hair, the whole out-of-breath thing; he was definitely being chased by someone. Or, some people. You wouldn’t normally allow fellow freaks to be harassed by some stuck-up jocks, especially if they were actually throwing punches at one another, but it was a Thursday morning, and you didn’t really feel like having your hide-out being discovered finally by a group of amped-up assholes looking for a fight.

Just as you were trying to come to a decision, the sound of the gymnasium doors swinging open and a voice shouting out to the freak just stood a few meters in front of you was your call to make up your mind.

“Get lost, Munson. I don’t need your shit disturbing my peace. Take the circus’ monkeys with you too, if you don’t mind.” Ash fell from the end of your cigarette as you waved your hand towards the out-of-breath brunette, signaling him to leave. He groaned as he flipped you off, maneuvering his head from under the bleachers to check if the coast was clear before setting off. It, in fact, was not, as you peeked through a gap in the seats and spotted the group of boys chasing after Munson out of the gymnasium doors onto the field. You snorted at the almost comedic-looking display.

The remainder of the school day passed by smoothly and quickly as you spent lunch with your clique and Kace, opted out of 5th-period Chemistry to hang out with one of the girls from your group in the bathroom, and happily attended your last period art class, the teacher, Miss. Coeur, always being a favorite of yours.

When you finally were allowed to leave school at the end of the day, you arrived home and were greeted by your younger sister, April, who was sitting on the couch flicking through tv channels. You placed your bag on the dining table, taking a seat next to the blonde girl on the couch. Sensing something was off, you looked up at the clock on the wall next to the kitchen door. 3:34 pm. Strange.

“How come you’re home before me? You normally take, like, 50 minutes to walk home from school despite it only being a 30-minute walk.” In the appropriate fashion of a true 15-year-old girl, April rolled her eyes, not bothering to look your way.

“My class got sent home early because some kid made the teacher cry and she walked out. She’ll probably end up quitting. ‘S a shame, I liked her,” she mumbled out, continuing to flick endlessly through the channels on the tv. Clearly, nothing to her liking was on.

You snorted, replying, “You got problems, man. That kid must’ve been a real asshole to make the teacher cry. Freshmen… What’d the kid even do? Or say.” She shrugged, finally glancing in your direction as you place the tv remote on the armrest, letting a show quietly play in the background.

“‘Not sure, I wasn’t really paying attention, honestly. It was that Brad guy again, as usual. He’s funny, though, I’ll give him that.” As she spoke, you perked your eyebrows up, a smug smile spreading across your lips. April looked up at you with pure confusion written on her face before something clicked and she grimaced.

“No- no, do not. Don’t even go there.”

“You got a… cruuush? A tiny, weeny crush, maybe? Huh, Apricot?” You wiggled your painted-on eyebrows before you could react to the couch cushion being tossed your way. At the impact, your bangs flew out of your face and you widened your eyes in fake shock.

“I told you to not call me that! And ew, gross, Brad is gross! I do have standards, actually.” You chuckled.

“Okay, okay. You totally don’t like Brad. I get you. So sorry, Apricot.” April huffed as she went to grab the cushion she was leaning on to fling at you but you beat her to it as you deflected hers with the one she had thrown just moments before.

April’s blonde parted bangs swayed as she shook her head, readying herself as she declared war, “You’re so dead.” You swallowed, faking a scared gulp as the girl grinned across at you, her hands gripping onto another cushion.

The plate you were holding clattered against another as you slotted it into one of the gaps on the drying rack, grabbing a cup to clean as you did so. After another 5 minutes, the dishes had been done, April was up in her room sleeping (hopefully), it was dark out as the clock struck 10:30 pm, and you were just about ready to head upstairs to bed too. You dried your hands off by shaking them as you walked through into the living room, grabbing your lace gloves from the dining table as you made your way upstairs, checking that the front door was locked as you passed it.

After a long shower, spent mostly cleaning the black, thick makeup off of your face and shampooing copious amounts of hairspray out of your hair, you were finally ready to sleep. Homework for classes you cared about was completed, your alarm clock was set, and you had managed to get a proper meal into your diet for once, cooking for both you and your sister.

Your bed was cold as you climbed into it, the window being open right next to it as the obvious cause, and you shivered as your rubbed your legs together hoping to warm up. Finally, you began dipping in and out of consciousness as your eyelids grew heavy. And, as always, just like clockwork for the past however many years, that itch was in the back of your mind as you drifted into a deep sleep.

The silver rings on your fingers glinted in the morning October sunlight that shone through the classroom window as you fidgeted with them, waiting for your 4th class of the day, English, to start. As students began to pile in, you silently watched from your seat at the back of the classroom, not having anyone in that class to talk to as none of your group had managed to join you this year. It was fine with you, though, because you weren’t bad at English; you knew how to do the work, and reading and literature, in general, was something you had always enjoyed. Being alone in a class you actually liked wasn’t an issue for you.

After only a few short minutes, it seemed as if everyone had arrived, Mrs. O’Donnell stepped towards the door to close it but as she did, an arm stuck itself through the small gap, getting trapped due to the older woman not realizing it until the very last second. The door swung open as a familiar face pushed his way through, and O’Donnell crossed her arms in disappointment as she looked at the boy.

“Apologies, ma’am.” The brunette’s untamed curls bounced as he dipped his head, trying to avoid O’Donnell’s killer glare.

For whatever reason, up until now, you hadn’t realized Eddie “The Freak” Munson was in the same class as you, despite the fact that it had been an entire month since school started. He wasn’t hard to miss, as it wasn’t unusual for him to be making some sort of scene wherever he went, something you found yourself rolling your eyes at regularly. Standing on tables in the cafeteria, screaming in the halls to his little nerd clique about whatever, and arguing with hall monitors about being “late” to class (he was, in fact, just completely skipping his lessons, and getting caught whilst doing so). The obnoxious metalhead had made a name for himself as the freak of the school, but you never found yourself grouping him in with the other “freak-ish” cliques you were a part of. He was different, and in your mind, made shit hard for himself.

When he bee-lined over to the desk behind you, his head still dipped as he did so, you knitted your brows together as you wondered how you seriously hadn’t noticed him in your class until now. It wasn’t like he kept a low profile or attended classes on time. Christ, he sat directly behind you, for fuck’s sake. You weren’t that oblivious, were y-

“Psst, Patricia Morrison.” Two fingers tapped your right shoulder as the voice piped up, snapping you out of your thought. You turned around at the disturbance, a mixture of confusion and annoyance plastering your face as you locked eyes with the boy behind you who was leaning over his desk to bring his face close to yours. Why Mrs. O’Donnell wasn’t taking notice of this, you had no idea.

“Why-” As you went to question the name he had called you, the name of a bassist in a band you knew Kace liked, Eddie brought his finger up to your face, just ghosting your lips as he shushed you.

“You got a pen I can use? I forgot my shit in my locker,” you started to turn your body so you could rummage through your pencil case but halted as he spoke again, “oh, and thank you so much for helping me out yesterday, by the way. Got my shit rocked because you basically told me to get lost rather than letting me hide out in my smoke spot.” With unfiltered annoyance and your face now, you kissed your teeth at the last comment, squinting your eyes at him.

“It’s not your ‘smoke spot’, it’s the space under the bleachers, fuck head. You got some ownership over it like a dog that’s pissed on a fire hydrant or something?” you snorted, grabbing a pen from your desk.

“Yeah. Yeah, maybe I do.” Rolling your eyes into the back of your head, you quickly turned in your seat as you heard Mrs. O’Donnell clear her throat, her attention on both of you and Eddie as your quiet bickering finally caught her attention.

“Got something you two need to say? Share it with the class, maybe?” Her drawn-on eyebrows were high and arched as she expectantly tapped her shoe against the floor, half of the class's attention turning to you and the boy behind you. You shuffled in your seat uncomfortably as you took notice of all the eyes on you.

“Sorry, ma’am. Munson was just asking for a pen.” The older woman turned her nose up at you, a subtle gesture to show that she was accepting of your excuse, her eyes lingering on you for a second as she turned her attention back to the class. As everyone turned back around in their seats, all of the tension in your body left simultaneously.

Rummaging through your pencil case, you finally pulled a pen out as you twisted your arm around to place it on the corner of Eddie’s desk. With your head turned slightly and your voice quiet, you ordered, “Return the pen after class, or I’ll hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands.” He snickered.

“Will do. Forever grateful, doll.” The nickname made you shiver as you grimaced in disgust, tuning back into Mrs. O’Donnell’s rambling as you tried to push the horrid thought that was Eddie Munson to the back of your head.

Without any other disturbances, the class ended almost as soon as it started, and everyone rushed to push their way out through the small door at once, wanting to get to lunch sooner than usual as it was Friday, and everyone seemed to act more rushed to finish classes the closer the weekend got.

As you were packing your things away, not bothered by the allure of lunch finally arriving, your eyes widened as you remembered the pen you had sworn to get from Eddie. But as you turned to claim your pen back, the boy seemed to already be long gone, no trace left of him in sight. That was, however, except for a red guitar pick that he had managed to forget on his desk.

All throughout the duration of the class, you had to refrain from turning around in your seat and (somehow) killing him with the small piece of plastic he had been non-stop flicking against the edge of the wooden table. It seemed that, in the rush to get to lunch as quick as possible, he had forgotten the tiny plastic pick. Without another thought, you picked it up, tucking it in the small pocket of your black dress, walking out of class as you avoided eye contact with O’Donnell, who was staring you down for whatever reason.

You slid into the seat next to Kace as you finally made your way to the cafeteria, the boy’s numerous bracelets and chains jingling as he waved his arms in excitement.

“My love! Oh, my dearest girl, I’ve missed you today. I hate how Friday is the one day we don’t have a single class together. I’m blaming it on the Gods.” Kace turned his body to fully face you as you brushed your combed-back hair out of your face, pulling a bag of chips out of your bag as the boy held his hand out. You placed a few of the salted chips into the palm of his hand as your eyes drifted across the cafeteria but not really looking at anything specific. Apart from Eddie Munson who was, once again, causing a scene, and his loud shouting muffled to quiet rambling due to his position on the opposite side of the cafeteria to you.

“Munson stole my pen.” Crunching loudly on the chips you had given him, Kace quirked an eyebrow upwards, not stopping his chewing to verbally ask you to continue. You didn’t need him to, though, as you knew just from his expression that he was waiting to hear more.

“Apparently, it’s taken me an entire month to realize he was in the O’Donnell’s class sitting literally behind me. But because I didn’t let him hide under the bleachers when he was being chased down by some jocks after you had left yesterday, he’s got a grudge against me now. I also let him borrow a pen because he asked, but he didn’t give it back.” In the fashion of an angry child, you popped a chip into your mouth, chewing with a more than disgruntled look on your face as you stared the metalhead down from across the cafeteria.

Kace chewed the last of the chips you had given him, pointing a finger at you as he readied himself to reply before swallowing with one big gulp.

“Asshole. That’s what he is.” You nodded in enthusiastic agreement. However, just as you thought you were on the same page as your long-time best friend, Kace rubbed his hands together off to the side, getting rid of any crumbs the chips had left.

“Actually, you’ve reminded me that I actually need to go talk to Munson,” your eyes widened as you harshly swallowed what was in your mouth, “don’t stress, love. I’ll only be second.” Waving your arms around frantically as you stared at the boy sitting next to you with nothing but a face of betrayal, you couldn’t help but be confused at Kace’s sudden switch-up.

With his chains clattering against themselves and his earrings dangling from the sides of his head, Kace stood up as he smoothed out his shiny leather jacket, wasting no time before taking long strides across the cafeteria over to the table where the entire Hellfire club was sitting. Defeated, you leaned back in your chair, unable to do anything apart from observe in silence as Kace started a conversation with Eddie, who was sitting at the head of the table surrounded by his goons.

“What the fuck…?” you muttered under your breath, crossing your arms over your chest as the lace of your sleeves draped off the sides of your torso.

“It’s like when worlds collide. Looks freaky as shit and could only ender shittier,” the girl sitting behind you chimed in. You nodded, pouting your lips like a spoilt child who watching their only friend make new friends. It kind of was that, in a sense, but you weren’t a child, so you had no other choice but to suck it up and shut up.

I swear, Eddie Munson. You better not indoctrinate my only friend into your weird nerd cult. It’ll be the last thing you ever do.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #stranger things #st4 #goth!reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female character #eddie brain rot #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fanfic

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riddlerosehearts · 3 months

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🐍No worries! I'm likely going to be slower at responding too since school's getting busier again, but I always enjoy reading your answers!

Oh man I didn't even remember that part about Athena kids (it's been really long since I last read the series) but yeah that'd make things even more complicated... especially if like, Jamil has to learn to fend off these monsters on his own since a young age and be able to take care of Kalim, I'd think he'd have to quickly learn to be just far away enough from Kalim so that if any monsters attack, he'd be the only one harmed instead of Kalim, which is just awful. I love your suggestions for their godly parents though, they all fit so well but nemesis kid jamil is like extra angst: he's a child of revenge, he probably wants revenge for his life being the way it is, yet he's bound by his position and can literally do nothing about it unless he snaps from the pressure.

I went through your valdangelo tag and there's so much good stuff there! The heavy focus on romantic relationships in HoO felt like Rick just really wanted to pair everyone off before everyone had a chance to develop as an individual or explore other types of relationships with the rest of the cast. I found myself disappointed in several characters and longing for what could've been, even though the pjo series is dear to me. But the beauty of fandom is people can fill in those gaps or rewrite things and the valdangelo stuff definitely counts.

I think Leo wouldn't be putting tons of outward accessories on his uniform but he might add several secret pockets to stores things in, since in this AU I assume he doesn't have the toolbelt. If it's hotter outside he might just wear the vest unbottoned and no blazer, just bc I don't think they allow students to wear zero dorm colours haha. I do think he's likely the type to roll up his sleeves a lot though! And he likely enjoys the PE uniform far more than the usual one. Speaking of which I think Leo'd enjoy the lab classes more since they involve getting hands on and making stuff! And Nico might enjoy the ceremonial robes while Leo'd find them too bulky and stuffy and be on his way out to change the moment any ceremony is over.

I feel like I'm running out of interesting questions to ask about the AU (curse my lack of writing creativity) but I'm starting to work on some doodles and hope to show you eventually! In the meantime if you have any more headcanons for either of Leo or Nico or literally any other PJO characters in TWST please feel free to share them/make posts! I don't get lots of posts on my dash these days so it's easy to find yours, I'd love to hear more of your ideas. (Did I mention I was living vicariously through your PJO reread since I want to do it too but just can't make the time? Your commentary is great ❤)

sorry this reply took even longer LOL, if you've seen me keep posting but not replying i hope it didn't seem like i was ignoring you. just gotta find the time/energy to answer asks and messages sometimes.

yeah, annabeth talks about it when she's telling percy how much she hates her dad and her stepmom in TLT and it lowkey made me feel sympathy for frederick chase on my reread, just because i really don't know what i would do in the situation that athena put him in lol. of course, he still should've done better to make sure annabeth felt loved and secure even if he hadn't wanted a baby. but i also got to thinking about how that would affect riddle and i feel like it'd be so rough because it's like, at first his mother might think it's good that her child is blessed by the goddess of wisdom because he'll be a natural genius and easily be able to become a doctor just like she wants. but then monsters would start to attack and she'd see it as him bringing danger to their family and anyone else around them. just imagine what it would be like if when he sneaks out with trey and chenya, they get attacked and she finds out about it... also agree with what you said about athena kid jamil. nemesis kid jamil would also be crazy though, because just look at the list of powers we know nemesis herself has:

and while we've only ever seen two nemesis kids in canon, one of whom we know basically nothing about, we do know that ethan nakamura may have tychokinesis because as also explained by the riordan wiki: "this might explain his lucky hit to percy's weak point, which nobody but percy knew at the time."

so like, imagine if jamil inherited that ability too and he knew that in theory he could give himself just a little bit of good luck or give kalim a little bit of bad luck, just to get a tiny bit of revenge, but he doesn't know what exactly might happen and his position makes it too risky to try anything.

honestly, i think i would've been happy if every single romantic relationship in HoO (aside from percabeth of course because it was pre-established. and i guess maybe jasiper too just because it has relevance to piper's arc) had just been developed as a friendship, with hints of it becoming romantic toward the end. like how blood of olympus hints that nico and will like each other, but they really aren't clearly established as actually dating until trials of apollo. and speaking of trials of apollo, i know all of rick's post-PJO series are kind of contentious in the fandom, but i love TOA and this is a big part of why: while there is some solangelo and caleo stuff and of course apollo's past romances are discussed, the platonic/familial dynamic between apollo and meg is by far the most important relationship in that series. and i wish the friendships between the seven were written as well as i feel like theirs is. they all just don't feel nearly as close as they should for the most part.

this discussion about how nico and leo would wear the school uniform reminded me that i once came across a chart of how all the canon students wear it. i went back and found it just now: link. and from the looks of it, yeah, everyone, even kalim and jamil despite how much extra stuff they've added, wears either the blazer/coat or the vest so that their dorm colors are visible somewhere... except for idia lol. even ortho basically wears it post-book 6 but idia is the only student who literally wears just absolutely none of the uniform except for the pants. i agree with everything you said about leo! also, i love the cermonial robes, they are peak aesthetic. i had ceremonial robes idia on the home screen for weeks when i first started the game.

if you wanna ask me about anything else related to pjo or twst or other things i post about feel free to! i'm glad you don't have trouble finding my posts because i usually post so much that i worry about anons i reply to getting buried haha. also, glad you're enjoying my silly little commentary on my reread LOL. i've been going a bit slower than i'd like because i've had some stuff going on irl + started reading another book at the same time as well. but i'd been wanting to reread the series for a while and finally got started because i felt disappointed at all the stuff the tv show left out or changed. somehow the lightning thief musical still prevails as the most accurate adaptation.

hmm, as for other thoughts about the crossover... i just remembered that in one of my earlier replies i said i wanted to sort luke castellan and alex fierro into dorms but couldn't decide where to put them! so, here's some thoughts on that now:

luke - based on the dorm analysis i linked before, i keep getting the vibe that savanaclaw makes the most sense for him. he certainly has the tenacity, ambition, and athleticism to fit in there, and with how admired and respected he was at camp half-blood prior to his betrayal, i could see him becoming dorm leader. i also feel like to mirror PJO canon he would eventually overblot... and probably die from it in an incident that the school would absolutely try to cover up.

alex - she's genderfluid and is a girl most of the time but again we'll let her into NRC for AU purposes. alex is very clever, cunning and sharp-witted and is even associated with snakes. so i initially wanted to place her in scarabia before remembering that she's also pretty reckless and hotheaded lol. not exactly the embodiment of scarabia's emphasis on careful planning and deliberation. he even canonically hates big parties. i actually think he'd also fit well into savanaclaw! i can see him getting along well with ruggie.

and another random thought i had about nico: i bet he loves what a big deal halloween is at NRC. whether he stays in ignihyde or goes to ramshackle, he's going to be so ready to go all out with decorating the dorm and picking out costumes. and i can imagine him hanging out with the ghosts, trying to give them the best halloween they could have.

#asks #anonymous

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blackberry-gingham · 2 years

Text

Be Still My Foolish Heart (Don't Ruin This on Me) | Otto Octavius x fem!Reader

<... Previously | Chapter 4 | Next...>

The power is stille out, but sure to return soon enough. With one last day without it, you choose to spend the time trapped at home with your new found acquaintance. But after tonight... that title between you two might just change.

(Fic concept by my dear friend, @samatedeansbroccoli 😌🤲🏻)

Tag list: @smokeywhalee @stupid-stinky @busybeingtrash @momos-peaches @pinkieperil @amongpresidents @bimboshaggy @nanjalee @mickeyperkins @tolovaj @omgbrainstorming @bad-bitch-bisexual @push-lennon-off-stage @doctoraceus (tag list open to additions! Or, lmk if you want off, all good!)

tags: slow burn, music au, age difference

---

It's another full day at least until the power is restored. You can't get to school. The doctor can't get to work. There's nothing to do but make a choice.

Spend the time alone, or keep one another company.

It's an easy decision as far as you're concerned. The doctor is only too happy to have you over again. He sits with his calculations, while you work out of your textbooks as best as you can. Peace and quiet. You have no idea how he does it, but the man the most infectious air of calm to him.

At first you felt a little strange coming over to ask if he would like the company. Even stranger still, when you both ended up on the same couch doing your work. But, it turns out you don't mind it. In truth, Otto seems like such a sweet man... It almost makes you sad that he doesn't have much going on socially outside of work.

You can't imagine being so lonely.

Scratch scratch scratch

Quick pencil marks make their way along the doctor's notebook. Rhythmic and hypnotic, it's easy to get distracted. He's just so... Focused.

The first thing you did when you came over was offer him back his sweater. It's the least you can do since you've practically invited yourself over, but the doctor will have none of it.

He scoffs nonchalantly, "You know what? Keep it. I have too many", he laughs, "Besides, it looks better on you". That takes you by surprise. You're embarrassed to say that you almost blush. That is... Until you realize he's holding back a snicker at how incredibly baggy and ill fitting it is for you.

Ah. Of course...

You laugh and offer your thanks. That was hardly fifteen minutes ago.

Try as you might, you do your best to keep your eyes on your papers, but it's only too easy to sneak a look at your new found acquaintance.

It's interesting really. He's put together all from large, bulky shapes. Sturdy and solid, but soft and warm. From a distance he looks so imposing. So intimating and unapproachable... But up close, you're not sure you've ever met such a gentle and welcoming soul.

You love that about him. The duality.

Like a great, monstrously sized dog that refuses to be told it's too big to sit in it's master's lap. Like a hard, metal park bench that's been warmed just right by the morning sun...

Even in just the short time of knowing him- It gives you a sense of respect for him. A feeling only doubled after learning the truth behind his line of work and the magnitude of his intelligence.

Here is a man lacking a single stuck up bone in his body. His great, strong, delicious body...

No.

Your eyes snap back to your own work. You give your head a little shake to clear your thoughts. Silly, stupid girl... You sneer in spite of yourself. How can you even think such thoughts? He's easily twice your age and you just met yesterday. You don't even know him.

And yet...

With his big, thick hands. His auburn curls, his deep set laugh lines, the cute little double chin, his round, warm belly...

You want to.

But, gah. Surely he doesn't feel that way. He's a busy man with a life of his own. Hell, you two wouldn't have even met if not for the strange fate of being neighbors. Even then, maybe not unless if for this damnable storm. You're lives are so different... What common ground do you possibly have?

You give a tiny sigh at that. Small enough to blow off, almost barely enough to even be heard. It takes you by surprise that the doctor caught it.

"Are those equations giving you trouble?", he huffs a laugh.

Chemistry wasn't quite what was on your mind, but... You glance down at the empty space in your notepad. He's not exactly wrong.

You politely decline the assistance however. If you can't figure it out alone, you'll never get it. Besides, you're quite confident you can see it through if only you'd stop allowing yourself to be so distracted.

The doctor kindly nods and goes back to his work. He works silently for a moment more, as do you, before casting a few little glances your way. Before you can ask about it, he speaks up.

"Your answer for 15 is completely incorrect by the way"

Without waiting for you to respond, he talks his way through your work and points out where things went off the rails. He then brushes over the mistake and sheds some light on the correct formula to use instead.

Well... You were afraid he'd end up just giving you the answer, but you must admit, his teaching skills are surprisingly adept. Even more interestingly, he seems more then happy to help. Excited, even.

Eagerly, he leans in over your shoulder as you correct the problem, "What else have you got?"

A part of you feels you should let him off, but... Should you really be turning down the help? It can't hurt after all.

"Well... I'm a little confused over here, actually..."

The doctor seems to completely forget about his own notes and calculations. Together you work through your questions one at a time. The work flies by. Everything sounds like such a cinch when he explains it.

When all is said and done, you thank him of course, but... You make an apology too, "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you from your work"

The doctor brushes it off, "Pft, please. This stuff is easy, er- no offense... But compared to my usual work... Well, I'm more then happy to have a little distraction"

You laugh, no offense taken. Otto heaves a sigh and goes back to his work while you take a minute to relax. His mood visibly drops as he works. Curious, and with intentions to help uplift his mood, you trouble him for a little more distraction time and ask him what he's working on.

He spares you the tiresome details, but does his best to explain his clean energy project to you in layman's terms.

It sounds fascinating... Impossible, but incredible too. The doctor takes any cue you offer to give you more details on it. He's been working at it for decades, and he's so close to being ready, but...

This damnable containment field-

As it stands, the mini sun will swallow everything in it's path if he can't find a way to balance it out. Right now all he has is plans for a black hole on his hands.

You hardly have a thing to say as far as advice on the matter, but he seems content just to talk at you about it. He goes on for nearly half an hour discussing things that he thinks could work. Despite your best efforts to stay engaged... After all the work you've already done, you're falling asleep rather quick.

The doctor however, hardly seems to notice.

If you were more awake, you'd probably come to the realization that he must not get the opportunity to talk about his work much. Neither to brag about his incredible achievements so far, nor to bounce ideas off of a patient ear. You've heard the words tritium and adamantium so many times, you're sure you're going to dream about them.

In fact, the only thing that stops the doctor's brainstorming is the gentle pressure of your head sloped against his padded shoulder.

The sudden contact makes him jump a little. He snaps out of his speech and turns to look at you. Suddenly, he feels quite embarrassed. He's literally put you to sleep with his project ideas...

It's a good thing you're sleeping, honestly. He wouldn't want you to see the terrible spread of blush he's caught.

And yet... You look so peaceful, sleeping there. Besides, you've been working hard on those problems earlier. Even with his help, you insisted on doing most everything yourself. That's the kind of initiative he admires. There are few things he finds more attractive then a driven, ambitious woman after all.

Especially one so be-

No.

What is he saying?

He looks at your small face. You're just about old enough to be his daughter, for Christ's sake. And yet... Never before has he felt such a connection to someone. Someone who wants to be around him. To listen to his ideas. To hold conversation. To listen to his music...

Yes. He knows now that that treasured request came from you.

After doing all that work with you, it's obvious now. The way you slant your "a" and cross your "t"s is identical to the ones on the note. Add in the simple fact that you have indeed been living next door and listening to him all this time, and well... It's far too much to be a coincidence.

He's...

Well, it's rather pathetic to admit he thinks, but...

He's always wanted someone who appreciates him for his artistic side too. Everyone else seems to see him as nothing more then a walking computer. All brain, no personality, no personal life, no feelings... Just some robot that you point at a mathematical problem and wait until it's solved.

That's certainly how Norman prefers to treat him anyway.

You know, that angle your leaning at can't be too terribly comfortable for your neck...

Feeling daring, the doctor scoots a tiny bit closer to you. The displacement of his weight is enough to slide your bottom over just that little inch to make you two hip to hip. He wasn't planning on getting this close, per say, but... At least you seem more comfortable.

With a happy little sigh, your face snuggles up against his chubby bicep. It's firm with muscle, but soft as a pillow between his fine sweater and natural layer of pudge.

The doctor looks around his immediate vicinity. He wonders if you're cold still... Close enough for him to reach, he grabs a little throw blanket and drapes it over you. The placement is a bit rough considering he has to do it with a single arm, but after a bit of fixing... He's satisfied.

While you snooze, the doctor watches for just a moment before returning to his work. He wonders if you're alright with this... Would you prefer if he woke you up and sent you off to sleep at home?

For a little while there, he considers it...

He comes to the conclusion that, no, if you wanted to leave you would've. Although, admittedly it doesn't make much sense to him as to why you'd want to sleep here with him... You don't quite strike him as the passive type.

Surely you wouldn't let him wrestle you into a dull conversation if you weren't a least some what interested in listening.

And even if he's wrong... The thought that you, or anyone really, enjoys being around him makes him smile. At least it gives him the boost he needs to get back to his current problems.

The doctor works studiously for hours more. After a while, he almost forgets you're still there. You've been so quiet. So still... The thought that you might be legitimately sleeping rather then just napping suddenly hits him.

He checks the time. Well... It is far after midnight.

The doctor yawns and puts his work aside for the night. This is about the time he'd turn in himself, he admits. No sooner does the thought of sleep come to him then is it interrupted by the growling of his belly.

...This is also about the time he'd grab a midnight snack before bed.

He tenses, a little embarrassed, as he glances over to you. He lets out the breath he'd been holding. Still asleep.

The doctor throws a look over his shoulder to the kitchen. So close, yet so far... He can't bring himself to get up and disturb you, so... He supposes he'll just have to sacrifice his snack time tonight.

Only slightly disappointed, the doctor shimmys down to rest more comfortably on the back of the couch. Without thinking he lifts his arm to fix the blanket he's given you to cover himself a bit as well.

That's about when he realizes your head has slipped off his arm and down to his chest. Panicked, he watches silently as you lay more or less face planted into his pillowy pectoral. Damn it... He turns bright red, not sure what to do now with this mess he's gotten himself into.

Well, he certainly can't keep his arm suspended in the air all night long...

With a tired, resigned sigh, he has no choice but to rest it along your back. Ah, how very adolescent. Under different circumstances, this would be the absolute picture of young romance. If only he were actually young.

The doctor winces and tries to push that thought out of his mind.

This will have to be an issue for later... It's far to late to do anything right now. Besides, he's tired and starving and right now he can only remedy one of those problems.

He huffs a sigh, and tries not to tense as his stomach growls beneath you again. Hopefully he can fall asleep quickly...

Thankfully, it would seem he can.

A good thing too... He simply wouldn't be able to handle the adorable way your hand grabbed onto his sweater in thanks.

#doc ock x reader #otto octavius x reader #music au

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bookofmirth · 3 years

Note

Due to your love for Lucien, I figured you could help me out since you probably know more about him than I do. I'm trying really hard to grapple with how a Lucien & Vassa story would unfold. Let's entertain the idea for a sec pretty please.

We know Vassa has to return to Koschei at some point. In the meantime, she's cursed with turning into a firebird by day and human by night. Either Koschei has to be dealt with at the beginning, which doesn't seem likely if he's indeed the final boss or at the end, in which Lucien & Vassa will share their POVs with Vassa being in bird form half the time, unless Sarah opts to only share Vassa's POV when she's human.

Lucien has ties to the Autumn Court, Human lands, Day Court & Night Court. That's a lot to unpack in one book which means some of these issues need to happen in ACOTAR5 to balance everything out and leave room for Vassa and Lucien to become a thing as well. Though it pains me to say this since I believe this issue deserves Lucien's POV, but is it possible the Autumn Court business could be handled in ACOTAR5?

Vassa doesn't have anything to really do with the Day Court so it's weird to see why she would leave the human lands. I suppose if Lucien's true parentage is revealed, he could ask her to tag along to see if daddy Helion can break her curse.

Omg, I totally forgot about the spring court. Yeah, that needs to be handled too and I'm not sure how Vassa will tie into it unless she's there for support. Lucien will still be dealing with the aftermath of the mating bond rejection (I think it's important we get his POV on it). Ugh and there's the problem with Vassa's mortality.

It's all soo confusing I feel like I'm being played. I genuinely believe there are people who ship these two but man, writing this all down and trying to make sense of it hurts my head. 😅

Hi!

The major issues that I see Lucien needing to deal with are:

His paternity/learning he's heir of Day or becoming HL?

The mating bond

Reconciliation or an apology with Tamlin - at the very least he needs to hand the reins back over.

As a side thing, I think he will help Vassa get free. But since Koschei has much bigger fish to fry than just Vassa, her becoming free seems more like a free gift with purchase. A bonus on the side of everyone defeating the Big Bad.

I think what you are getting at, overall, is why/how would a vucien/vassien/whatever plot make sense. tl;dr - it wouldn't. Not with everything that you have shown still needs to be dealt with. Of course sjm could pull a 180 and change everything, but...

I don't have anything against people who ship it. Ship whatever, I don't care. I just don't think it's likely to happen in canon. People have been into it since Lucien smiled that one time in acowar, but it's never been a big ship. I don't blame people for jumping on it if they feel like it would fit what they want, I just don't think anything will come of it!

Vassa has little to nothing to do with anything going on in Prythian, in any court, and so if she were to get a supporting character/love interest POV, what would it be? Her cheering other people on, people who do have a larger stake in those issues? She's human. She's one of the mortal queens. She has something going on with Jurian, from what we can tell, and Jurian is surely fed up with the fae. It makes sense for her to stay on the Continent and regain her queenhood and break her curse. None of those things would fit with Lucien, who is High Fae and immortal and eventually will be a High Lord on another land mass. Could it happen? Sure. Will it? I'd bet my original acotar hardcovers that it won't.

Re: the Autumn Court, it's possible that the issue with Beron is dealt with in the next book. The issue with Beron is political, not necessarily personal. That means that Azriel could do his spy thing, helping Eris, perhaps working out his issues with the Illyrians in the meantime (much in the same way that Nesta had to deal with, or started to, her feelings about her father).

But as a result of all of that conflict, the truth of Lucien's paternity could come out.

All of the stuff going on in Autumn only affects Lucien peripherally because he has zero plans of becoming HL of that court. It's kinda like watching other family members squabble over an inheritance you know you have no hope of getting. Amusing and it will affect you somewhat, but at the end of the day your life won't be any different. Until someone spills the beans à la Gossip Girl.

So that's the part that most affects Lucien in Autumn, the fact that Beron isn't Lucien's father. To me, it that would make more sense for him to deal with that having the third person close narration focus on Lucien, rather than having it tell us how someone else is watching the situation. If it is revealed in acotar5, then in acotar6 (when I think he will be the LI), we would watch him deal with that information.

That would also leave Vassa/Koschei for the last book. It would make sense for the HL stuff to get resolved before they have to deal with Koschei because I get the sense that all the High Lords are going to need to band together to defeat him. That will be kinda difficult when you have Eris standing in the background plotting Beron's demise. Just kill him in acotar5, then have everyone, including Eris as new High Lord of Autumn, come together to cooperate in acotar6.

I still don't see Vassa being a big part of that book as one of 2 main characters because Koschei's plans don't revolve around her, just like Azriel's entire life doesn't revolve around Elain. Even if there was an entire book dedicated to taking Koschei down, like I said, Vassa isn't the reason why they are doing that. She is just one of his unfortunate victims. There are bigger issues, like... the Dread Trove and the destruction of Prythian. Bigger issues than one mortal queen who was betrayed.

I do wonder if - hear me out - while more stuff about Koschei is revealed in the next book, Vassa becomes free sooner? It was the mortal queens who traded her in on some bargain, right? And we still need to deal with the remaining three who are living. Perhaps we will learn what they want, how they are helping Koschei, and why they sold her out? I could see that happening like a secondary or even tertiary plot, sorta like the feysand pregnancy was in acosf.

I honestly have no idea if that answered your question haha! I haven't really put much thought into what will happen with Vassa because I don't see her as a major player in the future.

#acotar #acosf #lucien vanserra #vassa #ask #anon #acotar5

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angelswithcigarettes · 3 years

Text

“A new connection”

Summary: Spencer's father comes back into his life.

Series: The journey of finding a home [Part 4]

Series Summary: With getting Spencer on the team, Gideon gets him out of the hands of his abusive Father. He knows his team are the right people to show him the kindness of this world but even if he was supposed to be one of the greatest profiler ever seen he didn't expect Morgan to be the one that puts the most effort into it.

Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Past Child Abuse, Emotional/ Psychological Abuse

Relevant Tags: Autistic Spencer Reid

Word Count: 8579

Chapters: 6/6

First Chapter:

[I advice you to read the other parts first]

If there is something Spencer loves when it comes to Morgan touching him it is when they lay in bed and he takes his finger and gently moves them over his cheeks, mostly with his knuckles and moves sometimes around his face and Morgan adores how Spencer will first giggle and the eventually relax, maybe humming slightly.

"I want to -" Spencer stops himself and then opens his eyes and dares to lock Morgan in the eyes for a second and then looks at the ceiling again.

In the beginning this would make Morgan insecure but by now he is used to him looking past him. Or on the floor. Or ceiling. More on the floor than on the ceiling.

There are rare occasions were he looks him directly in the eyes.

"Can we go get ice cake from the café down at the - at the park? At the park with Clooney?"

"Of course."

"All of the things?"

"All of the things." Morgan could break out in tears out of pride caused by Spencer asking to do things or for things.

When he first met him, Spencer would just not ask for anything. If no one would offer he would just go the whole day without food or water.

Gideon had told him that Spencer on many occasions fainted in the academy because he over did himself with physical exercises or got to caught up in reading the manuals.

Seeing him sitting on the grass, with Clooney laying next to him putting his head on Spencer's legs while he sits crossed legged, he can not understand how he could have let himself get so insecure about this relationship based on the option of people who have meet him for a few hours.

Morgan tears his attention away for a second chatting with a women next to him waiting for her order too while Spencer gets approached by a man causing Spencer to put an arm around the dog.

"I thought I recognised you." The man says looking down on Spencer. "Who is that friend of yours?"

"Clooney" Anxious but also feeling comfort in the familiar warm of his father's face.

"Can I pet him?"

"Yes" William reaches down wanting to pat him but the dogs starts barking causing the man to stand up straight again and to catch Morgan's attention.

"Excuse me, I will be right back."

"Oh he is a violent one." William says with a smile a little bit surprised by the reaction.

"He isn't." Spencer holds the leash. "Morgan will calm him down."

"Morgan?" The man turns around, seeing Morgan approaching them. Not running but also not walking like he has much time. "Is he here with you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, listen buddy I have to go."

"You can meet him!"

"No don't tell him I was here. I was a stranger asking about your dog." And as fast as he was there he was gone again and Morgan was there in front of him, talking to him but not making any sense and Clooney is there. Clooney is there. Clooney is putting pressure on his stomach. He likes that.

"There you go, pretty boy." He is sitting in Morgan's lap now. "That's good, look at you, breathing like the genius you are." He tries cheering him up, his fingers just like this morning running up and down his cheek and Clooney nudges Spencer's hands. "I think someone wants cuddles."

"A stranger asked about my dog."

"He is a cute dog what can I say?"

"A stranger asked about my dog."

"I know, it's nothing to be embarrassed about that that didn't went well."

"A stranger asked about my dog."

"Clooney is fine, come on" Morgan takes Spencer's hand and places it on Clooney's head. "I am sure he just wanted to know something about him."

"My friend."

"Absolutely"

"My friend."

"And what did he do? He protected you nobody will touch you when he is there." Morgan jokes even though its actually true.

He has heard about dogs being sensitive but he always thought people exaggerate to integrate their dogs into their family, but whenever they are out outside of their job, Spencer takes the dog with him and if he gets overwhelmed he will sit down with him or play with the leash.

What Morgan finds the most heartwarming is when he hears Spencer talking to him, full on monologues about everything. About cases, about the team, about his newest hyper fixation, about Morgan when he thinks he isn't around and even sometimes about his family.

The amount of information Morgan got from just standing around the corner is something he is not proud of.

"I am sorry - I just wanted to let you guys now that the lady in the stand put your order in the freezer you can pick it up whenever you are ready. Or I can bring it to you." The women Morgan talked to before he saw Clooney barking at the man offers kindly after approaching them.

"Thank you for telling us." Morgan waits until the women is gone. "You want some cake?" Shyly Spencer nods and ensures Morgan he can be left alone if Clooney stays.

What neither of them expected was that the moment he turns his back around William starts approaching him again and then hands him a business card. "Call me okay?"

He is gone again before Morgan can even get the cake. He isn't suspicious at what happened, interacting with strangers, especially men that are older in physically advanced in comparison to him, does often not end well if no one he knows is with him.

Morgan would go as far as to say he worked out a pattern.

Women are fine unless they are in their fifties and have reddish hair, he assumed that someone this age with this specific hair color at some point in any way harmed him.

Men his age and younger are usually fine unless they are wearing a blue uniform which is unfortunate on the job.

What never plays out are men in their late fortys already having light hair or gray hair just like the man or slightly younger man with brown hair.

Which is a problem because Hotch fits this criteria but its better than in the beginning.

Will went through that too, but they are pretty sure it was the name that caused the panic.

There are a few things that Morgan avoids wearing as well.

For starters grey suits, they tried it multiple times, not working out. It took quite some time to realize that.

Secondly a different cologne. Spencer takes immense comfort in familiar smells, and if Morgan smells different he tends to get a little bit unsettled.

Change in general is not something he appreciates.

In other people it just doesn't fit him but he knows that he is not allowed to be rude because of it and he really tries not to. But he also doesn't understand why he is not allowed to be honest, JJ had cut her hair short a few ago and Spencer had, after she asks what he thinks, told her that she doesn't look as pretty as before and thanks to the aftermath of her pregnancy she just started crying.

He got overwhelmed trying to comfort her because that wasn't what he wanted to do. He awkwardly told her that it will grow back and that people who haven't met her doesn't know that she looked better before and he really tried his best but was just making it worse.

Emily stepped quickly in and sat down with him and not in an offensive way asked why he would say something like this and then proceeded to make it more clear to him by asking him how he would feel if someone said that to him.

When Spencer in the evening prompted how he likes "that there isn't much you can change with your hair" towards Morgan because "people don't know what they want when they ask for an opinion on their hair" he maybe couldn't hold back a laughter.

What Morgan did not in any way put in consideration is his reaction to him shortening Clooney's hair for the summer because when he picked Spencer up from Rossi's in the evening he did not like it at all and it took a long time of him crying and Morgan patiently waiting for him to welcome the dog and Rossi got reminded of the time Spencer lived at his mansion and when almost everything would send him over the edge.

"Here is the ice cake we so well deserve." Having a day off is not something they are used too and for a long time not something Spencer liked and just ignored by coming in with Gideon who never took a day off.

"A stranger came over and asked about my dog."

"I know" Morgan leans down kissing him on the cheek and then hands him his plate.

He improved a lot. Both of them. Spencer in speaking and Morgan in understanding but there are still many things that go missing.

"A stranger came over and asked about my dog."

"What have you got there?" Morgan asks pointing at the cards he holds in his fist.

"What have you got there? A stranger came and asked about my dog." Sceptical Morgan takes the card out of his hand and reads the ingredients.

"A stranger? Are you serious right now?"

"A stranger came and asked about my dog."

"Yeah I don't think so." Morgan holds the card up in front of him. "William Reid? Doesn't sound like a stranger to me."

More chapters:

#criminal minds #spencer reid #derek morgan #ao3 author #aaron hotchner #moreid #criminal minds fanfiction #david rossi #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #cm #penelope garcia #derek morgan x spencer reid #autistic spencer reid

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bulkyphrase · 3 years

Text

Everybody & the Avengers Team

I've got a new fic rec list for you!

The stories in the "X & the Avengers Team" tags focus on one person's relationship to the Avengers team as a whole. Courtesy of AO3's tag browse and Excel, here's a ranked list of the top 20 most popular pairings:

Tony Stark | 2470 total, 240 OTP

Peter Parker | 2255 total, 85 OTP

Steve Rogers | 602 total, 56 OTP

Loki | 387 total, 26 OTP

Natasha Romanov | 308 total, 35 OTP

Clint Barton | 268 total, 46 OTP

Bruce Banner | 244 total, 15 OTP

Thor | 209 total, 7 OTP

Avengers Team | 174 total, 24 OTP

James "Bucky" Barnes | 156 total, 7 OTP

Wanda Maximoff | 143 total, 4 OTP

Phil Coulson | 105 total, 9 OTP

Darcy Lewis | 91 total, 6 OTP

Matt Murdock | 60 total, 8 OTP

Sam Wilson | 53 total, 5 OTP

Nick Fury | 41 total, 5 OTP

Harry Potter | 40 total, 0 OTP

Pepper Potts | 31 total, 1 OTP

Vision | 29 total, 2 OTP

Stiles Stilinski | 25 total, 0 OTP

In chart form, if you like charts:

Notes:

The numbers after the names are the number of stories tagged with that ship. OTP means the number of stories where that is the only relationship tagged on the story. Numbers are accurate as of July 2021.

Story Recommendations

For your reading pleasure, included below is at least one fic rec for each pairing except the crossovers from non-Marvel fandoms (apologies to Mr. Potter & Mr. Stilinski). Most are gen fic, and even in the ones with a romantic pairing, romance is not the focus.

Tony Stark

As Subtle As Cognitive Recalibration by petroltogo (Teen, 8949) tumblr: @tonystarktogo

Standing inside his penthouse, listening to Rogers, Barton and Banner explain to Fury how they just happened to stumble over the Tesseract on a routine security check of Stark Tower’s roof and wouldn’t you know, they’ve managed to fight off the looming alien invasion before it could really start and secure the missing overpowered nightlight is one of the most surreal situations Tony has ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Peter Parker

the worst field trip ever by shrill_fangirl_screaming (Teen, 3420) tumblr: @i-am-having-an-emotion

"We're on a field trip," Peter said. "To here. And Tony decided to be our tour guide and absolutely embarrass me, so can you please help get him under control?"

Which is how Peter Parker, architect of his own destruction, ended up with not one but two superhero pseudo-dads being annoying on his school field trip.

Steve Rogers

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't) by GalaxyThreads (Teen, 11022) tumblr: @galaxythreads

That seems about right. He doesn't know how he knows that, though. He does have vague memories of an annoyed fondness at finding peanut butter in some sort of jam. Thor's doing, because he doesn't see the point of using two knives when one works just as fine. He knows that. How does he know that? He knows all those little details, though, almost innately. How can he know these strangers so deeply?

Everyone else below the cut!

Loki

Proprietary by TheThirdMarauder (Teen, 7639)

No, Loki simply wants the Avengers conquered. The details of whom, how, and when matter not. Unless, of course, said details interfere with Loki's plans. Then, well, then none can fault him for protecting his own interests.

Loki has always been exceptionally good at lying to himself.

Natasha Romanov

What Girls Are Made Of by enigma731 (Teen, 4613) tumblr: @enigma731

She rolls her eyes but does as he’s indicated, using his shoulders to leverage herself up onto his back, her arms around his neck and her legs hugging his waist.

“You know,” he says blithely, “this isn’t really what I tend to picture when I think of a hot girl riding me.”

Natasha groans, deciding that if his sense of humor gets them arrested, she’ll kill him herself. “Just go.”

Clint Barton

Dear Clint Barton (circa age 7) by pollyrepeat (Teen, 4221)

With a normal person, this might count as blackmail material, but a) this is a case of mutually assured destruction if ever there was one, and b) Fury is immune to embarrassment. Not just in the regular, Tony Stark way, either, oh no. Things that could possibly end up being embarrassing to Fury get somehow warped and changed until they go from mortifying all the way over into useful and/or good for his image. It’s like a superpower.

Carrying Clint’s small child self around on his shoulders more than once has probably already hit the interagency rumour mill as an example of Fury’s innate awesomeness: good with rocket launchers and small children.

Also available as a podfic!

Bruce Banner

They're Not Wrong by Trumpeteer34 (Teen, 10163)

As Tony began to pace around the hole in the road to keep himself from shooting repulsors at the nearby buildings in a fit of rage, Thor began to study the nearby area. There was no sign of either the Hulk or Bruce Banner beyond the crater. The surrounding area, aside from the rubble of the fight, held no clue as to their friend’s location.

“Guys, he’s gone,” Tony growled into the communicator on their private line, drawing Thor out of his darkening thoughts. “Someone tranqed him and took him. He’s gone.”

Honorary mention goes to the Responsible Science series by @letteredlettered - the stories don’t have the "Avengers Team & Bruce Banner" tag, but they could, and they are amazing. The best Bruce Banner writing I've ever come across.

Thor

Fortunately, I Am Mighty by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 3062)

Steve was the first one to speak. “Are you okay?”

Thor nodded. Which was a bad idea, as it turned out, because now there were little gray lights flashing in front of his eyes. “I’m fine.” Absolutely everyone narrowed their eyes, and he added, “But, uh. Could we possibly not get back in the car just yet?”

Avengers Team

Civil Wasn't by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 7123)

"We're having an ideological conflict here," Tony stated with disbelief. "Are you telling me you still want to go out to dinner?"

"It's a standing engagement, Tony," Rhodey reminded him.

"Not you too—"

"We already had to reschedule from Friday when Natasha was..." Rhodey frowned. "What were you doing?"

The question was directed toward Natasha, who shrugged and said, "Spy stuff."

James "Bucky" Barnes

You Know How I Feel, aka, The Adventures of Bucky and Muffy the Dinosaur by ifeelbetter (Not Rated, 4511) tumblr: @ifeelbetterer

“As you may have heard, Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, recently rescued a tiny part-robot dinosaur during the Avengers’ battle with Dr. Doom in Antarctica,” the other newscaster explained. “Pictures of Barnes and the dinosaur were posted on twitter by fellow Avenger, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, and immediately made Barnes’s new pet America’s sweetheart.”

“Her name’s Muffy,” said Steve."

Wanda Maximoff

and the woman was young again by Mira_Jade (General, 3669)

Tony Stark called them the Cap's Kooky Quintet, and sometimes the term amused her – causing her to lift a sardonic brow where someday a smile would truly smile. She enjoyed the presence of comrades – true comrades – and she enjoyed the way their minds wove and bound together about each other to fluctuate against her senses as one. There was something soothing about being in their midst, and even when their loud and brash ways – their painful Americaness - rubbed her raw and drained on her, it was ever the knitting of their minds that soothed those moments over, and made them inconsequential.

Phil Coulson

Coulson's First Day of School by storiesfortravellers (Teen, 3055)

Coulson looked up at him. “I like drawing pictures with Mr. Rogers. I like having tea parties with Ms. Potts. I like it when Dr. Banner reads me books, and I like it when Natasha teaches me things. And I like when you play with me. You do really good voices when we play action figures. And you’re the only one who lets me do stuff like jump off the high diving board at the pool or eat three cupcakes or play tackle with kids at the park.”

Clint didn’t realize that. He was pretty sure that meant that he was doing something wrong.

Darcy Lewis

Beginner Yoga for Dummies (Darcys) and Sad Hobos by chailover (Teen, 3434)

Darcy had a theory: crazy attracted crazy, working kind of like gravity. It was pretty much her explanation for her life after Thor. And if she had thought the type of crazy Thor attracted was bad, be it Loki or the Warrior Three and Sif, or the dark elves and the Convergence, it was still nothing against what the Avengers manage en masse.

Matt Murdock

Double Blind by smilebackwards (Teen, 2381) tumblr: @smilebackwards

Stark snaps his fingers. “You can’t see half of my inventions. This explains so much about you and why you’ve never been properly impressed by me.”

“Does it?” Matt says, ambiguously.

Sam Wilson

Bystander by scribblemetimbers (Teen, 52029)

“I just want you to know,” Sam says loudly, cautiously raising his hands, “That I’m very poor and very sleep-deprived and literally the only thing you can kill me for right now are my notes.” He pauses. Wait. On second thought: “Please don’t steal my notes.”

“I’m not—I’m not a mugger,” Not Mugger rasps out, and for all that he looks about to keel over and die, the man actually manages to sound offended.

Nick Fury

Bedtime Story by dixiehellcat (Teen, 2532) tumblr: @deehellcat

Fury snorted. “I have to check in with the duty officer. I’ll be back in, let’s say twenty minutes. I expect all of you to have whatever your pre-bedtime routines are completed, and be in here pajama’ed and ready to be read to.”

He tapped the book under his arm, then left with the usual dramatic swish of his long coat. Bruce scratched his head. “Did…he just say be ready to be read to?”

Pepper Potts

Pepper and the Avengers (Which She Knows Nothing About) by rebelmeg (General, 6696) tumblr: @rebelmeg

The Avengers, that mismatched group of hurt and heroism, was one of the most important things in Tony Stark’s life. So, naturally, Pepper had made them an important part of her life too.

Vision

039. Intoxicated by aimmyarrowshigh (Teen, 100) tumblr: @aimmyarrowshigh

It might be nice to fit in, just this once. To lose a bit of composure.

Vision floated over to the refrigerator and, with some timidity, pulled off a magnet. He stuck it to his forehead.

#marvel fic rec

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misterbitches · 3 years

Text

i had the misfortune of finally watching/getting through what happened in whatever episode where he gets raped so im gonna talk about it and tag it cos that's what a bitch fuckin feels like, got it? i do what i want aint no limit bad ass bitch aint never been timid. woopsie realized i got the nicknames confused oh well lmao

it's just logistically and plot wise like there's literal plot holes in this and i'm taking the production and set-up into account along with the actual content and development. im an ARTIST OKAY im jk i mean i am and i am pretentious and terrible but look. i didnt get that degree and im not in a house worth of debt for nothing ok. it's called writing on tumblr about my grievances of shows that dont matter and do not respect me as a fat black american woman either so it is my fault yet here i am.

anyway it was worse than i imagined and their talk after (with chengren) was even worse. that's what i mean about making the lines their own (the actors) bc teng teng sounded like a straight up motherfucking moron and im like

bECAUSE IT'S HIM EVEN THO IM LIKE WHAT THE FUCK DID U JUST SAY U STUPID BITCH? but then it's like awwww and they also care about his wellbeing obviously??? but no? but it's like ok still teng teng said it even if it's stupid because he is a character and charles puts that forth. the people that fail the most to do that are xing si's family but that's not the actors fault because it's the literal material. you're like wait what but you just said...?

so i know they have no script editors i guess i think i find this season ACTUALLY fascinating because of just how egregious it is. i also went back and watched history: obsessed which i thought i liked because of their chemistry even though god the production....but i tried rewatching it and i was like wow this is worse than i remembered and the production issues were even worse because some of the music was SO LOUD AND BAD HOLY FUCK and their whole rship isssssss a sight to behold lmao

so man i guess it really is the power of anson/charles. which is good cos we love to see it...sort of but also a lot.

i honestly....because i've been able to pay attn more to the aftermath of the rape going back and putting it into more context and focusing (just barely lmao) is hm even worse. the inconsistencies are insane. it's not even just about the act but the writers have zero idea where they are going because they have no interest in exploring it. but the way in which it happens is like fascinating. yong jie literally thinks he owns xing si and it doesn't matter if he was kissing him or not or asked for a kiss on the lips (which dude what the fuck? i'll get to that) because he was plied with "extremely strong drinks" and his mom knew about it....which girl congrats you're an accomplice to the rape of your son by your other son?

but first of all...the kissing thing. in what fucking world would he (xing si) want that unless he thought he (yong jie) was someone else. i can't say their attraction is evident because we are being lead by this team to think so; they create this false sense of sensuality already so to me that signifies that they never intended for them to have a bond as brothers. it just feels cheap and fucking lazy (which it is.) even if he did, which doesn't make sense considering the context THEY CONSTRUCTED, it wouldn't matter because he was so fucking drunk which.... at that point nothing is fun, you feel sick, who wants sex like that? does he not have whiskey dick? did they have a condom? was it not painful for him considering? even if this was something to easily get over like was the dick good? it couldn't have been. and then, on top of that, there's the fact that you can change your mind or whatever but also that people do get aroused in these situations bc it is human nature (that's if they can literally get aroused which if the drinks were allegedly sooooo strong that nigga would be out so....again like even practically here it doesnt add up. have these people ever been drunk? if not, write what you know girl. cos sometimes it's like i think some of u r trying to be cool when u dont have 2 b lmao)

so yong jie coming on to him previously may be seen as like push-and-pull but here's the thing. right after it happens (the rape and it's rape so call it that you'll be okay) xing si gets up and goes home and is terrified and upset. he acts like what we have seen or even felt after a violation. he's scared, clutching his bag, it's like...you know...decently coming off as truly distressing (the actor isn't bad at all and i like that he's dark. i just massively hate this for him but hey at least he can show some chops.) like honestly man that fucking sucks and hurts to see. if we've been there we feel it. or part of it is realizing belatedly what happened. a lot of times that drop in your stomach is the worst.

but somehow for some reason, to which i cannot understand, the three of them begin to talk as if xing si pressured him? which maybe i missed something and that is possible—dont feel like going back to look—but that also made no sense. like what kind of false memory is this? why would he think he wasn't willing? and if he thought yong jie wasn't and that he pressured him how does he remember like...anything about the sex?!?!??!? besides waking up and being with him. like i guess he felt yong jie's MASSIVE DONG imprint but ??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!!!

god then the logic of the top/bottom thing is like i said i wasnt going to get into it but it's actually really funny. this whole thing was hilarious. honestly because I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS. he could have totally raped him in that way but how did you get to this CONCLUSION FROM THAT??????? BY YOUR LOGIC THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS? IF HE IS THE BOTTOM AND PENETRATION IS THE ONLY FORM OF TRUE CONSUMMATION AND RAPE BECAUSE APPARENTLY, BASED ON ANATOMY, IF YOU HAVE A DICK IN UR BUTT UR A GIRL THEN HOW. DOES. THIS. MAKE. SENSE. AND THEN

AND THEN

this whole stupid conversation happens so we get to the conclusion that xing si violated him ok cool but that means that something is wrong. that is the CONCLUSION WE CAME TO A SECOND AGO?

also the other rapist is a villain and muren isn't in love with him so, once again, you're breaking the rules of your own world about acceptability which is why most of this is absolutely mind bogggglinG that iit's fuckign comical. like i actually when i can stomach it start laughing or my jaw is slack because it's so insulting as a viewer because there is like 0 logical followthrough.

because whatshisface barges in, kisses him in front of his friends without permission, then says whether you were willing or not which is hm. at that point how u gonna change that around but let's not bother with logic here. i am simply here to point out how this makes no sense according to the rules they set up even outside of the basic rule of life which is hm dont rape people maybe.

so now we know xing si was raped, they believe he was raped, he himself believes he was raped, and whatshisface literally says he doesn't care even if he was willing (he wasn't) so he admits to rape. i don't believe in the police and i hate them (BL industry needs the cops but dont get me down that road) but no one...thought to go?

because according to history 4 logic nothing matters so im sure if he went to the police you could handwave the homophobia since there's no actual context for anything besides their whimsy. but they dont want to do that because they aren't interested in an arc of growth; redemption isn't possible unless he is removed from the family but again no work on thinking this through or thinking about the victim's feelings. because gay sex? who fucking knows. supposedly progressive taiwanese writers of gay shit (like how supposedly progressive the world is. as in it is not and this behavior is the norm and bl perpetuates that) can't think of transformative justice?

and then they gave bad advice so we wont acknowledge that because teng teng doing anything wrong/stupid is frequent but hurts me and also that storyline is not real so i pretend they are not there outside of this post

so all of this is just straihgt up clownery now because it's fucking absurd like logically, practically, human-wise. the kissing thing is inconsequential but it was such a lazy cheap way out lmao cos they really wanted it to seem consensual but that's not how it works. on top of that their attraction makes no sense because whatshisface is just there. he is just there. he's nothing and no one so the sentiments are even more empty and on top of that he doesnt listen to a single request fucking obviously because the basis of their relationship is fucking rape so fucking listening and respecting his partner is not on his list of fucking priorities. he's literally so fucking annoying even without being a rapist it's like someone please beat his ass.

and then after all of that you want us to feel bad? with your horrible writing, poorly misplaced music, stupid costumes (those fucking SHOES THEY ARE HIDEOUS, AND MOST OF THIER CLOTHES DO NOT FIT IT'S LIKE WHY), questionable fucking editing. we're supposed to wnat them together? this sounds literally fucking crazy but bear with me lmao even with the rape they could at least have SOMETHING i mean like i cant believe im fucking saaying this. but like in addicted heroin which is fuckin tragic and awful at least there's a MODICUM of interest but honestly that show s a fucknig drag. idk they lookd good together? here we have 0. nothing. and it doesnt motivate. watching obsessed again i can see why i liked it in the beginning bc they have good chemistry but the acting and production adn like everything about it plus the rape-y vibes it's just too much. you need to pick one thing so if you're going to be a shit writer at least supplement it with something. this thing is nothing.

and even more nonsensical and what boggles my mind frankly out of all this is the mother's involvement and the father's final response. there are NO consequences? theyre all happy?

ok so lets go through this:

1. 2 boys grow up 2gether, one of the boys is fucking psycho, the mother knows but does nothing??????????????

2. one of the sons moves out so his father doesn't get a hint that's he's fucking gay. ok fine. he has 2 best friends, a job, an apt. he is fine.

3. aforementioned brother is obsessed with him for SOME REASON besides being crazy?

3.5 no one has done anything during him growing up to help him not be crazy?

4. mom says to husband who is their father also just in case we forget "im afraid he will lose his humanity"

4.5 again, do nothing. 0. just like oh man hes crazy. guess that's just our son ;)

4. who cares. plies him with alcohol purposefully to rape him. not even dubious (even though dubious is fucked and not okay or is just not. fucking real. these shows are contextless when they want to be or even movies or whatever so it's like largely not up to the task to understand complexity in human rships and then oversimplifies it constantly because that's what we do IRL. but people have fucking feelings you know and we realize when things don't feel good or right to us either very quickly after or having to process it. and once you're eyes are opened you may feel as something was fucking ripped away from you. for the modc couple this would be a very logical conclusion for the high schooler the thirty year old dated but again logic or feelings are up to their whimsy. no one cares bc everything can be counted as dubious so honestly it's a fucking stupid fucking topic like again why are we litigating what is and isnt consent when you could just like idk. read cues? consent? wait? not be a freak? like we all know what is proper human shit so even if we are watching this uncritically which u cant bc it's glaring and stupid it's just even more dumb) so it was honestly a rape plot like he literally planned it soooooooooo??!?!

5. aftermath of rape the victim is like literally fucking bereft and confused. and a rape victim. like that's what they are insinuating and what also he is to be clear.

6. boy tells him "idc if i raped u i luv u lmao"

7. mom ENCOURAGED THE BOY to get him drunk because her other son was too nice? she encouraged her adult son to rape her adult step-son (but her real son because she repeatedly says you are my son and the dad does too THEY GREW UP TOGETHER WHEN THE KID WAS IN AN IMPRESSIONABLE STATE) so THIS ALSO MAKES EVEN LESS MOTHERFUCKING SENSE

8. everyone finds out about his rape and he isnt mortified he's just concerned about himself being gay to his dad?????? except it's not really about his gayness bc now it's about his sudden love for his rapist brother? which? hm ok. understandable the dad is like wow i do not think i like this

9. dad knows all of it is fucked up, everyone does, knows the mother fucked up, knows he fucked up. doesnt like it because he is normal. so we know this is terrible? ok great so—

10. father says "i can't accept this...but i'm willing to give you my blessing" ok see here's the thing. when you write you have to think about the things you are putting on the page and what you have written previously. this quite literally made no sense how the fuck are you going to not accept them but give them your blessing? does this crew know what the fuck words are? i'm assuming they went to some sort of school to obtain jobs here bc there cannot be natural talent or experience. maybe most of them are rich. fuck i do not know but this also makes no sense. just the literal logic of it it's like fucking insane the whiplash.

10.5 apparently this father is also shitty. everyone here sucks and they are basically begging me to think xing si is a fucking idiot so i dont even want to look at him if he is an object he doesnt matter so now i want to kick him. thanks a lot you made the victim get absolutely fucking nothing

they KEEP PUSHING the brother thing it is so insane and it's liek GUYS WE GET IT WE UNDERSTAND THEYRE "RELATED" BUT NOT RELATED SO IT'S OK HE WAS "RAPED" BUT NOT RAPED but you're GOING BACK ON YOUR OWN RULES!!!!!!!!!! WE GET THAT THEY ARE BROTHERS!!! WE'RE OVER IT NOW BUT WHAT IS THIS WHEN WE ALREADY ESTABLISHED SOMETHING? I AM CONFUSION? they flip flop between my son, my brother my actual brother, and cannot fucking distinguish between love for your father and love for your romantic partner? so to me what i see is that the father wants to fuck the son. that's the conclusion i am garnering now considering nothing matters and his love for his "brother" is the same as his love for his dad lmao. they couldnt even do that in a way that made sense. like damn anybody can get anything. these ppl who are doing this have to be fucking rich and/or have connections.

also this guy sounds literally like a textbook abuser like he says constantly "im the best choice" is a rapist is awful holds capital (oh hees "saving" smh ur trapping her!!!!! RETIRE!!!!) also wears terrible shoes so i am like ur alllllllllLLLLL FUCKING CRAZY ur all literally crazy and then they are trying to set rules and boundaries in their fucking house like WHY ARE THEY LIVING TOGETHER EVEN? even tho oh my god they know he raped him and for some reason they are both allowing to live in the house but they dont want them to have sex??!?!?!??!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! i get that this is their house but this is like at this point these ppl are writing anything and now whatshisface is acting like a 2 yr old again and we are supposed to find this cute? like it makes 0 sense why do u fucking care u literally encouraged ur son to rape him so they cant have consensual sex under your nose now and have to wait four years? this is coming from the son who couldnt wait until someone was sober enough to realize hes fucking psychotic and should be killed also the fact that they act like being 20 means u have no fucking brain like this kid is in med school supposedly how do we know like hes a liar and an idiot so. also wait do they mean undergrad? how are you in med school at 20? is he a genius? girl i dont care lmao i guess i missed that but it's not like it matters so whatever

even if we ignore the stupidity of the literal acts, the grossness of the content, the absolute inability to write coherently or even remotely in a way where we would even want to see them together which is like....u set it up at the beginning so he punches "the love his life's best friend" also holy fuck im sorry remember when he punches muren because xing si got too drunk. so i'm guessing whatshisface is that good of a bartender that he makes super strong drinks and gets xing si drunk but his alcohol is magical therefore it doesn't make him sick. his alcohol is the type that gets you drunk but somehow doesnt get to your liver even though that's how we get drunk but dont ask guys he's only in med school and a bartender so i think he knows best (seriously have the main writers had a day of fun in their lives? have they ever been drunk? are they toddlers? drunk babies could probably do better tho.) i get that he was also jealous but if this kid is SOOOOOO genius (he understands social cues lmao he has the cpacity to project onto his victim so im like miss me with the not understanding shit. go to a fucking therapist like seriously did no one care abt this kid? his mother thinks he's like almost a goddamn murderer. how is she not dead? how are they all not dead? how do any of them know how to drive with this type of brain?) then he would understand that they are very clearly friends since he watched them part in a very platonic way and since he apparently knows what love is cos he thinks....he can....make someone fall in love with him bc he loves them? again, i wouldnt know hes 20 and taiwanese and im 29 and black from AMERICA so im WESTERN* so you know. different life experiences i guess XD

even if we do mental gymnastics to get it to a place where they "had sex" and he didnt rape him there's 0 ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ties to the literal story they wrote and the rules they set up. i'm going ot assume they dont know wtf theyre doing and i know for a fact we all care more about their dumb show than they do but it's actually startling how piss poor this is it's like idek what to compare it to. the continuity is awful awful awful they needed a script supervisor majorly and they are making bank and are going to make fucking bank fof this shit. and itll just continue like that until IRL material changes and that's facilitated by these very same groups they choose to profit off of and exploit by propelling it into the mainstream and litigating homosexuality through capitalism. and i'm being specific with homosexuality. i dont want a GL market like at all and i know why we wouldnt have it either and that has everything to do with the nature of BL, capitalism, coercion, and the fanbase being young girls and women. i don't think in this day and age we can safely say all the fans are straight; i'm sure a majority but many women or people on the gender spectrum and sexuality spectrum also consume it. frankly, it's possible the women who write it could be or something too. i dont rly believe any1 is str8 lmao but im just saying it's not out of the realm of possibility. but it isnt about that at all. that's why we wont see "good" female characters (like well written) often that's why we won't see trans women or kathoeys or fat people or black asians in it. a lot of it is is a choice we participate in whatever. but holy fuck dude u could at least respect the audience's fucking intelligence. i'm talking about everything i think that is encapsulated in the project but it's even more jarring and worse because it's so insanely inconsistent and poorly done. like how we jump from one conclusion to another is wild to me. even their first "night together" and he wakes up im like girl....u no ur ass felt it. this nigga broke into his house and was like "im gonna have u" like it's getting weird

just make xing si suffer offscreen not us the stupidity is staggering, mind blowing, hilarious.

how wong kar wai, a straight man from HK (or at least married to a woman), or barry jenkins, a striahgt black man, write/do stories well about people they wouldnt knw about their experiences directly is....well thinking like using their brains and like knowing all types of people? the man who co-wrote moonlight is a hOMOSEXUAL, leslie cheung was fucking gay or queer (and he committed suicide and that's important also RIP homie) both are hailed as queer cinema like WKW wanted to do something else and invested time into it, changed the way he played around with structure, moved away from his crime oriented stuff. he THOUGHT about it and this film is about their reality. it's a harsh film, idk how i feel about it (but my fav movies of his are the crime ones or the messy ones where it's clear he didnt write a script lmao fallen angels is one of my fav movies its' abt assassins kinda) but i know it means something. and he didnt like what HK had previously wasnt enough. it is not the only cinema that should be shown since it's such a stark reality and depressing but it is a real depiction so we can have all sorts of stuff. no this isnt WKW level or moonlight level but i know for a fact these people think they are doing something because artists always do i say this as one and someone who is equally as useless. you're making a statement.

i also hate the westerner component of peoples analyses. first of all dont do cultural relativism. we can critique and respect. but second of all how are we going to keep saying "dont put western ideals on this" when that is what is happening anyway because that's part and parcel for soft power and capitalism. how about taiwan's history with the KMT? what about the regimes young people fought about? aided by US imperialism which permeates through society and affects material conditions, views, democracy, identity and that goes into culture and media. hm? what about that? is that reality too fucking western for people? that we are doing the same thing again now? is that okay to talk about or is that only on your time?

then there's the argument that this is just entertainment. yea no shit but the thing is if we r gonna talk about marginalized groups and watch bc of marginalized groups and then be expected to identify then i dont see why i cant put this in context. even if it wasnt fucking serious we'd still judge it. but it's so pompous and again like i wouldnt say EYE think it's art but it is "art" in the literal sense and no self respecting artist would ever go "man this means nothing." of course im not sure if they do respect themselves so hey but u cant just go oh man it's entertainment when it literally rests on the fact that HOMOS are MARGINALIZED. it literally rests on the fact that WOMEN ARE OBJECTS. you either want progress or you dont. i dont understand being so demanding but not beign specific in the demands and not trying to use your brain. if you dont want to use your brain don't. but if you are looking , engaging, and keep making these arguments or telling ppl it doesnt matter whilst complaining about how much others care is hypocritical at best, willfully obtuse at worst. both bad. :)

(also all this + another thing; it is insulting to have this like wedding happen based off of this stupid relationship when people fought so hard and had to push it. now they can use the material conditions to their advantage but it's so ridiculous. also because there is difficulty still in getting married in taiwan i'm honestly like....the boldness of the writers...)

#history 4 #history 4: close to you #*dont call me western ever #a thot

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