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burst-of-iridescent · 2 months

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I’ve been reading a series where a guy is in a near identical situation to Katara was in The Southern Raiders. But what I find interesting is that no one really tries to stop him and the fandom considers it completely justified. I can’t help but think despite it being two different series and fandoms that Katara’s gender has at least something to do with this. When a male character wants to seek revenge and kill the murderer to do it, the narrative and fans justify it but when it’s a female character she’s vilified, seen as out of control and letting her emotions get the better of her. I hate when people say Aang was right to say what he did and try to stop Katara from making her own choice. It doesn’t help that we know Bryke is misogynistic based on well everything to do with their female characters post series after they didn’t have the talented writers who actually understood the characters helping them. And sure I know Bryke themselves didn’t write The Southern Raiders but we know from script leaks that there were more shippy Zutara moments that were cut and I think we know who’s to blame for that. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they still influenced the more problematic parts of that episode. Such as Aang and Katara never talking about or resolving their conflict, Sokka calling Aang wise beyond his years and never talking about or resolving his side if things with Katara, and even Zuko weirdly agreeing with Aang at the end that “you were right about what Katara needed.” Even though she literally just told Aang a second ago that he was wrong and she would never forgive him and doesn’t know why she couldn’t kill him. If you couldn’t tell I have rather mixed feelings about TSR episode.

Sorry for the ramble. How do you think their conversations (Katara, Aang, and Sokka) would go if they were to talk about it all after the episode?

oh misogyny definitely plays a part - just compare the way people react to inigo montoya from the princess bride vs katara in tsr - but i think the bigger issue is the overt narrative framing of the episode.

on a first watch, tsr appears to push a very simplistic idea of "violence = bad" and strongly favours aang's perspective, which encourages the viewer to see him as being in the right while katara and zuko appear to be in the wrong. the fact that aang never changes his perspective and both zuko and sokka are (forcibly and very uncharacteristically) made to take his side by the end naturally inclines the audience to do so as well.

it's only with a closer reading that you see a more nuanced take which highlights the flaws in aang's thinking and treatment of katara. katara herself makes it clear that what aang wanted her to do would not have helped her find closure, and she began her healing process without ever forgiving yon rha - which is exactly why i hate people attributing her decision not to kill yon rha to aang when she explicitly stated she did not and would not ever do what he wanted her to!

these are the same people who will also blame zuko for being a "bad influence" on katara, as if the only reason she hunted down her own mother's killer is because zuko convinced her to do it. katara isn't some weeping willow to be bent to the will of zuko and aang; her decisions are her own, not based on the whims of the boys in her life. can we please stop stripping katara of all her agency in the one episode that actually focuses on her trauma and healing?

rant aside, i do wish that katara had talked to sokka after this episode and i imagine there would be some apologising on both sides. sokka - a realistic sokka, because my god was he wildly out of character - would probably check in on her and admit that he was afraid for her safety and well-being. katara would likely apologise for the "you didn't love her the way i did!" remark and i think it would've been nice for them to finally talk about kya and for katara to bring up the conversation she overheard from the runaway about how sokka confessed to seeing her as a surrogate mother.

(imo the impact hearing that would've had on katara was largely downplayed in the show, and is likely part of the reason she reacted to sokka the way she did in the southern raiders, but that's a post for another time.)

the katara-aang conversation would probably have gone the same way that it did in canon, because the issues with their dynamic in tsr are part of the underlying problems with the kat.aang relationship in general. i would've liked to see aang have a little more of a reaction to katara saying she never forgave yon rha (he doesn't seem affected at all in the show), and for that to maybe prompt him to really reflect on what he said.

but ultimately what really has to be tackled here is aang's idealization of katara and his focus on clinging to air nomad values at the expense of those from the other nations - and those problems run too deep to be fixed in a single episode or conversation. the southern raiders would have been a good starting point, but unfortunately the finale never engages with these issues, and so what could've been a great arc ends up going nowhere at all.

#anti kataang #zutara #katara #the southern raiders

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gffa · 10 months

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I know this has been talked about many times before, but I still don't know what we are supposed to think of Padmé's actions when she comforts Anakin after he confesses to murder in cold blood. He feels guilty and all, but he continues his shitty behavior even before he became Darth Vader, and then does it again. It's just hard for me to see Padmé as some sort of saint in that scene. And are we even supposed to see it that way anyway? There's no official answer, which makes it all the more mind boggling to me. When people say she forgave and did the right thing, it's seems unjustified because he still did it, he regretted it, but he also said "I hate them". Idk I'm sorry if this is too long. I just have a lot of thoughts on this scene.

Hi! For me, I've settled into a balance between "there's no hard narrative intention here, so I just have to let it go" and "here's my best guess at a look into what little has been said about her" and "here's what makes sense to me as someone speculating about her character on my own". I think it comes down to two things: 1) Natalie Portman's comment about how Padme thinks she can save Anakin as a motivation for her character and 2) that as complicated as it can be in some ways, the Tuskens were written in an extremely racist way, especially in that their deaths do not register with Lucas the same way other races/cultures would. Which means that while this should be a point-of-no-return moment for Anakin's character, while it should be recognize that he's murdering children here (and I do think that's meant to have weight, that the dialogue specifies he knows he's killing innocent lives), I don't think the narrative fully does so, and instead treats it as his "first step" onto the path of darkness, one that he can come back from. And I do think a lot of that comes from Lucas, much as I applaud him for being progressive in other ways and genuinely seems like someone who was trying to do better, does portray real world elements in a racist way in the movie, they're treated as less than human here. (I will say that Padme also is willing to take Anakin back even after he murders the Jedi younglings, so there's a little wiggle room here, in the way she reacts, but the racism is pretty undeniable and a big motivation here.) But because the narrative and the author don't treat his murder of the Tuskens as a point of no return, Padme can't treat his murder of them as a point of no return, so instead her reactions are based on the idea that, yes, this was bad, but it was something that still left good in him and she's trying to reach out to that good, she's trying to save him. As much fun as it is to examine these characters from a more realistic lens, so much of Star Wars makes a lot more sense when you consider what Lucas was going for on a thematic level--in a lot of ways, Padme isn't written for herself, she's written as a baromter of where Anakin is at. When she comforts him, it's because we're meant to see Anakin in a place of emotional turmoil. When she backs away from him on Mustafar, we're meant to see him as having crossed a line, unwilling to come back. When she says, "There's still good in him." on Polis Massa, we're meant to understand there's a glimmer of hope for the far-off future. I don't think it's really about Padme's character at all, I think she's written--as SO MANY of the elements of Star Wars are--to be an extension of Anakin's character, because the story of Star Wars is the story of Anakin Skywalker. I love love love some of the excellent meta that examines these scenes through the lens of what Padme is thinking and feeling and what her character arc is about. And I may be being uncharitable to the writing for her, but it's largely where I've settled just so I can stop itching over it. For me, I don't think Padme was "right" or "wrong" on Tatooine, I don't think we're meant to see Padme as any kind of saint. I think she's balanced between "Padme thinks she can save Anakin, but ultimately she cannot, Anakin has to be the one to choose to come back himself" and "Padme is basically a symbolic dark side meter, as so many of the characters in SW are symbolic of various aspects of Anakin".

#anakin skywalker #padme amidala #meta

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a-dragons-journal · 9 months

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On Questioning An Archetrope

So I'm turning over the concept of a potential paladin (or something similar) archetrope in my brain now.

I have... kind of always viewed myself as a guardian. I've been the Mom-friend, the one people go to for advice, for practically as long as I can remember. I have a protective streak a mile wide, partly due to my territorial instincts from my dragonself. I don't really want to talk about it publicly, but suffice to say that growing up I had what I would now, for lack of better words, call a rich imagined reality wherein I (and my few closest friends, though I hung onto it the longest) was a capital-G Guardian, a hero of blade and armor, a protector of the world.

Later on, in high school, those same friends and I took on a more realistic protective streak, primarily in the form of a habit of adopting girls who a) had just been through bad breakups and/or b) were being harassed/stalked by creepy boys and literally bodyguarding them throughout the day. I still fantasize about scenarios where I get to protect people, often strangers, on a regular basis, for no real reason other than it makes me feel good. I want to be that. I want to be a protector, a shield and sword for those who need it.

My first D&D character was a paladin, and a fairly stereotypical one (although not fully Lawful Stupid). Shail is a tiefling who was abandoned at a temple doorstep as a baby after they were born, raised by one of the priests as their father, and later took up arms after being inspired by a visiting paladin and took the Oath of Devotion. They were my first experiment with they/them pronouns. I am realizing their choice of class may also have been a bit of projection.

I don't know how much of this is inherent to me and how much is something I chose and how much is something I want to choose.

A brief tangent: it so happens that I very recently saw the musical Man of La Mancha, which is based on Don Quixote. While I was vaguely familiar with the story of Don Quixote, I'd never actually read or seen it in full in any form until now. I did not expect to be as touched by it as I was. Don Quixote is... for all we often make fun of him for the windmill incident, ultimately I think Don Quixote is someone we could all stand to learn from, and perhaps even to aspire to. To stubbornly, doggedly, adamantly adhere to honor and justice and a view of the world where good prevails in the end, to fight for what's right no matter the odds, to swear yourself to these things despite the way the rest of the world laughs at you - perhaps the world would be a better place if more of us were Don Quixote in this.

"A quest?" "How you must fight? And it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, if only you follow the quest."

"To dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe. To bear with unbearable sorrow. To run where the brave dare not go. To right the unrightable wrong. To love pure and chaste from afar. To try when your arms are too weary. To reach the unreachable star."

Perhaps the recency of this exposure to Don Quixote, and my thoughts and feelings about it and about him as a character, is influencing how I'm reacting to the exposure to archetropy. Or perhaps my reaction to Man of La Mancha is indicative of my resonance with Don Quixote as someone I would argue has an archetropal identity (if of the Knight Errant rather than of the Paladin, though the two really aren't that different) himself. Perhaps both.

Either way, I think it's an admirable thing to take up such a mantle in the face of the world's cruelties - to take up the Guardian's armor and sword again, illogical as it may be, and to aspire to such a lofty ideal as this despite the way the world may consider it foolish or daft.

(And there I go getting poetic prose-y again. Perhaps that's also part of why the paladin archetype appeals to me, ha. I have been known to monologue.)

Even my job can be argued to fall into the paladin - a healer, a helper, a servant who at least tries to value The Good Of The Patient above all else. it's not quite a guardian role - but then, a paladin is often a healer as well.

On top of all of that, there's the fact that when I, out of curiosity and experimentation, put a major problem of indecision I've been facing regarding my current job hunt through the lens of "what would a paladin do," it immediately answered the question with "wouldn't let the difficulty of the task scare them off." Which didn't completely solve my problem, but solves a good solid chunk of it.

So it appears that this may be a helpful tool for me. Even if the thought of "what would Xenk Yendar do" is a slightly silly one. (And yes, Xenk Yendar is an extremely good representation of what paladin looks like to me - and perhaps it's telling that I really latched onto him as a character almost instantly upon watching Honor Among Thieves.)

Perhaps my one big hesitance to latch onto the paladin archetype is the religious connotation of a paladin - while I suppose my relationship with Asclepius could qualify, under the "paladins are also often healers" thought, Asclepius does not cover most of what draws me to the paladin archetype. But a paladin doesn't always have to be religious; in D&D paladins technically draw their power from their oath, Xenk Yendar comes up as an example of a paladin who doesn't obviously seem to have a particular god, and besides none of the alternative archetypes I'm finding or coming up with fit quite as well. The Knight Errant is close, but requires wandering in a way I am thoroughly uncomfortable with (I am still a territorial beast at heart) and also implies seeking evil rather than defending from it.

So... perhaps that's not as big a block as one might think. I'm going to chew on this a while longer, and I'm certainly open to suggestions on similar archetypes for my consideration, but... I might have tripped into a new alterhuman identity. Oops.

#archetrope #paladin archetrope #rani talks #alterhuman #journaling #community writings

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lol-jackles · 8 months

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The original Snow White is my all time fave Disney movie. I saw it in theater as a kid when they rereleased it. I hate when people who were born after 1985 take something made before the 21st century and apply a 21st century mindset to it. They talk like they want a Snow White who will make an impact as if she didn't make an impact in the original film. If you actually pay attention when watching the original movie you can see the impact that Snow White has on those around her.

I didn't realize how much I liked the OG Snow White until we got a VHS tape of a stage musical that was nearly scene to scene of the OG Snow White. I watched it over and over again with my younger cousins. It held us over until Disney finally released the original Snow White to VHS in 1994, when it broke records and sold 50 million copies worldwide. I ask again, why would current Disney think it's a swell idea to change Snow White so much in the live action remake?

Looking back I really liked how Snow White was mostly show not tell, which is the most important aspect of any movie. But a lot of movies nowadays are full of monologues of what a character needs to do and what's going on and how they're feeling instead of showing us and letting us discern for ourselves.

Snow White's value is timeless, that's why she's endured for so long because she resonates with people all over the political spectrum and why they badly reacted to Disney's remake of Snow White based on Rachel Zegler's words. Snow White epitomizes values about hard work, not being entitled, and choosing a survivalist mentality instead of a victim "woe is me" mentality. Moreover, it is realistic to have hopes and dreams, but not at the expense of shirking your present responsibilities. Her world was pulled out from under her and she lost everything she knew, but she got right back up. Many adults have rent and bills to pay so they couldn't just wallow in their self pity and misery. They have to go to work and carry on, just like Snow White did.

Snow White is relatable. Many abuse victims grow up to be abusers at worst or assholes at best. Not their fault but still people like Snow white should be admired, she didn’t expect to receive refuge without earning a living. And Snow White helped the dwarves become better people, she even broke through Grumpy and won his affection. The dwarves answered to NOBODY, and yet they had to answer to Snow White because they loved her, and then would kill for her by chasing the evil queen to her death.

Snow White is a great example of “the kindness you give to others comes back to you” i.e Snow White helps the baby blue bird find her parents, who then return with her parents to help Snow White. Often times the best indicator of strength isn't whether you reject your circumstances but how you choose to live with them. Snow White (and Cinderella and Aurora) teaches lessons about emotional strength, optimism, and kindness. Not only are these important lessons, but they should be on par with the lessons that Mulan, Tiana, and Moana teach. Kindness and optimism are just as important as bravery and leadership.

Femineity is not weak or bad, and masculinity isn't either. Snow White was strong because she is feminine, not despite it. While it is important to show that women can have masculine traits, it is even more important to show that it is okay for women to have feminine traits.

Side note: The Disney renaissance in the '90s was shaped by a man for whom a large part of his identity was rejected by society, and he was unable to express it, which makes the Renaissance make sense for why there are so many stories about self discovery. But the older films were shaped by a man who had to work hard to keep his company afloat during extremely rough times (World War I and The Great Depression), so those stories featuring hard work and resilience make sense. Walt had said that Cinderella was his favorite heroine and the fairy godmother represented the "miracle" (through Snow White) that launch the company to success.

#snow white

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moonilit · 4 days

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Shouta handwriting analysis

This been in my drafts for forever so i hope you enjoy?. I thought I could try analyzing these characters handwriting since they get unique signatures lol

Disclaimer: This is just for fun, by a hobbyist, not an expert. HEAVY assumptions were made here as I only have one word for each, again this is just for fun

The first thing I can notice is the loops in their signature, typically loops indicate imagination, and where the loop occur is the type of imagination, you can see huge loops in Joshua’s signature under the baseline indicating practical imagination, with middle loops which for realistic imagination, he is not very abstract, but would bring practical thoughts into reality, Jote on the other hand does not have big loops in her writing so she is not naturally an imaginative person

Both have a more vertical upstroke (55 - 90 degrees) which is an Objective detachment: does not readily react to immediate circumstances or not influenced by inner feelings, impartial, action based more on reason than emotion, indifferent to the emotional content of situation and feelings (with Joshua final two letters leaning to the right, which can show a bit of impulsiveness but only at the end)

Jote final stroke is probably the fadingfinal: indecisive, vacillate, does not bring matters to a conclusion (couldn’t tell him her feelings), Joshua, however, ends with a heavy downward/forward middle area which is bluntness, brings matters to a conclusion and thrust it upon others (do you really need an example …)

Im treating her J stroke as a T stroke here (because they don’t have a stroke for t in their written language) and her stroke is 3/4 way her J: having reasonable expectation of herself, clearly knowing what weight on her shoulders (Joshua’s safety and health)

Joshua makes an Initial straight upper area down stroke to baseline (J): Direct, operate efficiently and only with fundamentals, the hard angle he makes with the J could also mean Temper: prone to verging on anger over a considerable injustice or in action

Jote on the other hand seems to do an Initial wavy upper area down stroke to baseline which you see in humorous people, provoking amusement from the contrast between reality and assumed values, she has a tiny loop on in her upper stroke which means Henothesim, meticulously distinguishes one faith and excludes other beliefs, suggestible to religious obsession

The space lines in cursive writing can tell you how they connect to people, they both show a garland shape, which is for nurturing and desire for help, they both can be empathetic with others and connect to them emotionally

Jote writes a plain middle O circle which is Sincere, honest, free from falseness in approach to life, and lacks deceit, while Joshua makes an open top middle O circle which is Communicative, readily conveys information or feelings, talkative

For line or stroke quality, Jote shows little pressure variation above average pressure, this is Emotional intensity, slightly active, expends little available energy, while Joshua shows Much pressure variation above average pressure which is also emotional intensity but very active and expends ALL available energy

The baseline is not very clear here but I can see Joshua telt his signature slightly upward, which means Optimism or the desire for a routine (very unclear)

Lower loops only show in Joshua's writing (sadly), he has a straight lower backward down stroke, Restraining determination overly careful in completing a job, places extra burdens before completing a job

Finally, the Underline in his signature can mean Fulfilled with particular ideas and thinking, Having a confident and healthy ego.

#Feel free to share #Shuta #Ffxvi #fina #final fantasy xvi #joshua rosfield #jote #I compiled it from different sources and im not an expert so again just for fun

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tiniestbee · 10 months

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Make Me

Daichi liked the little things in life; a nice dinner with his old teammates, a kiss goodbye before he left the house, and of course, the vivid recollections of you sobbing as he forced another orgasm out of you with his tongue and fingers before he had you absolutely wrecked on his cock.

Or, Daichi is a pleasure dom and no one can change my mind.

tags : not sfw, pwp, reader insert, afab reader, attempted bratting by reader, daddy kink, feminine nicknames used for reader(darling, princess, sweet girl), established relationship, established dom/sub relationship, overstimulation, forced orgasm, multiple orgasms, stop light system, mention of safewords(not used), aged up characters, not canon compliant, author does not use y/n

a/n : originally posted to AO3 on 9/5/20. vaguely self shipy in terms of reader's height, but otherwise it should be fairly neutral. also, is this realistic? probably not. was it hot when I wrote it? absolutely. this was the first explicit fic I posted to AO3, and also the first I've posted to Tumblr since crossposting, so if you notice a tag I should have included, please let me know, and thanks so much for reading!

minors, ageless, and blank blogs DNI, you will be blocked!

Normally, Daichi wouldn’t bat an eye at your antics; twirling around in a too short skirt you picked out just for him, brushing up against him while he worked on dinner and rambling a mile a minute. But when you started getting mouthy, asking him “why should I?” and “can’t you do it?”, his patience started wearing thin. It wasn’t until you dropped this particular bomb, however, that he finally snapped.

“Darling,” Daichi sighed, “I’m going to need you to be a little quieter for me until I get this done. Can you do that for me?”

“I dunno. Why don’t you make me.”

Daichi all but froze, arching an eyebrow even though you couldn’t see it, and finished chopping the vegetables you’d need for dinner. That done, he put them into tupperware, studiously ignoring you for the time being, and set them in the fridge. You couldn’t help squirming while you waited for him to acknowledge you, thinking you had probably gone a little too far and maybe regretting it just a little.

“Oh, don’t get all shy now. Get over here,” He ordered, leaning back against the island while you made your way over, trying to fake a confidence you didn’t really feel. Throwing your arms around his waist, you shot him what you hoped was a blinding smile, pressing as close as you could into his chest.

“Yes Daddy?” You knew what it would do; you were already too far in to back out now, might as well enjoy the ride. Grabbing you by the upper arms, he spun you around and pinned you to the counter, hands flat on either side of you. It happened so fast you almost couldn’t react, breath caught in your throat as he pressed his forehead to yours, eyes squeezed shut while he attempted to steady his breath. Opening his eyes, he smirked down at you, straightening up until it felt like he was towering over you.

“Fine. You wanna play? Let’s play.” It was like a switch had flipped, and he was a whole other person standing in front of you. He reached down to grab the backs of your thighs and hoisted you up onto the island, pressing his mouth to the base of your neck to suck and bite little marks into the skin. His hands slid up your thighs and under your panties, fingers hooking into the edges and pulling until they fell to the floor on their own.

His target freed, he moved back to fall to his knees, pushing your skirt up to reveal your pussy, wet and waiting. Wasting no time, he took each thigh in a bruising grip and licked a thick line up the center until he reached your clit, closing his lips around it when he did. You couldn’t help the jolt of your body when the heat of his tongue touched you, a shiver shooting up your spine.

As annoyed as you knew he was, he was surprisingly gentle, fingertip shaped bruises notwithstanding. You couldn’t help a giggle when his tongue swiped across your opening and his brows furrowed, clearly not expecting the liquid already seeping out to stain your skin. The giggle quickly morphed into a moan when he slid his index finger in, down to the knuckle in one slow glide. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Daichi was smirking down there.

He started a slow rhythm in and out, focusing his tongue on and around your clit to get you warmed up, thoughts of how best to get you sobbing on his cock as quickly as possible warring with how much he wanted to wring as many orgasms out of you with his mouth as he could. Shrugging internally, he decided he’d make you come as many times as it took to make you cry, then go from there.

With that in mind, he started eating you like a man starved to try and get you to orgasm as quickly as possible, carefully pressing in a second finger when he felt you were ready for it. With the extra stretch and added stimulation, it took only a few thrusts and you were gone, crying out and clenching around his fingers while he worked you through it. When he looked up at you, tongue still dragging over your clit even as the aftershocks began to fade, the glint in his eyes let you know you were in for a long night.

It felt like he knelt between your legs for hours, bringing you to orgasm over and over until you could barely think straight, and when he asked if you wanted him to stop, you’d say no, but when he asked if you wanted to come again, you’d say no too. After his most recent inquiry, he sat back on his heels to give you a bit of a breather, rubbing his hands up and down your thighs to let you know he hadn’t left. Leaning his forehead on the edge of the counter, he figured now was the time to get you on his cock, tears be damned. He’d get you crying one way or another.

You had laid back on the island somewhere between orgasms four and six, maybe 20 minutes ago, maybe an hour, you weren’t sure, finally letting the built up tears spill over and leak down your temples and into your sweat soaked hair. Your whole body felt wrung out and sore, but nowhere more so than your swollen, sensitive clit. Even the slightest brush of your thighs sent a shock up your spine.

Daichi called your name to get your attention, watching you slowly sit up with a soft smile. Instead of answering, you merely cocked your head and looked down at him, making grabby hands in his direction. After searching your eyes to confirm you were still there with him, he chuckled and gathered you into his arms for a hug, one arm around your waist and one hand stroking your hair.

“How’re we feeling, princess?” Again forgoing words, you just nodded into his chest, humming a little tiredly. You felt really good, honestly. Somehow both tense all over and utterly relaxed, something only Daichi could manage to make you feel. Letting out a good natured huff, he carefully separated your limbs and held you at arms length, eyebrow raised. “I need your color.”

“Green Daddy. I’m green,” you answered, making eye contact to reassure him that yes, you were there, everything was good, you were fine. He still hesitated a moment, squeezing your upper arms a bit before he let go.

“You know I have to ask. I’ll be right back. Daddy’s gonna take real good care of you, alright?” He didn’t wait for an answer, not really expecting one, and disappeared into your shared room. He exited fairly soon after, one hand behind his back like he was hiding something from you. Nothing could scare you at this point, what could it possibly be? Opening one of the drawers below you, he dropped the object in and closed it back, giving you an innocent smile.

“You’re ridiculous,” You laughed, pulling him in for your first kiss since he’d pinned you to the counter a good hour or two prior. Daichi wasted no time in tilting his head and licking at the seam of your lips, teeth catching on your bottom lip when they opened. Otherwise he kept it slow, just deep enough to keep your attention while he stepped closer and dropped his hands to his jeans, popping the button and lowering the fly. Hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers, he shoved them both down just far enough to pull his dick free.

One hand gave himself a cursory stroke or two then just gripped it at the base, groaning into your mouth when it felt better than he expected. You couldn’t hold back a choked gasp when Daichi reached his hand down between your thighs, carefully avoiding the swollen nub as he trailed his fingers up and down, occasionally dipping a fingertip into your slick pussy to tease. You weren’t sure how much more you could handle, but safewording out never crossed your mind. Daichi would take care of you. He always did.

Finally breaking your kiss, he moved back, tapping your thigh and gesturing for you to get off the counter. Thinking he meant for you to get on your knees, you did as he asked, starting to kneel when his hand gripped your arm to stop you. He appreciated the thought of course, and maybe were this a regular day he would have you choke on it, but he had plans, so that would have to wait.

“Just turn around, love,” he explained, guiding you to face the island and gently pushing you until you were bent over it. You reached back and flipped your skirt up to expose your butt, shaking your hips as you looked back at him over your shoulder and absolutely beaming when he brought his free hand up to rub his face. “You’ll be the death of me, you know.”

Daichi pressed up against you and leaned down, your back to his chest, to press kisses down your neck and across your shoulders, sneaking his hand between you to circle your clit in earnest. Your body jolted underneath him, desperate to get away with nowhere to go, pinned between him and the counter again. A high whine forced itself out of your throat when he didn’t let up, squirming even as you felt the heat stirring low in your stomach.

“Daiichiii,” You cried, your legs twitching as the feeling teetered between pain and pleasure, too much and just enough. You had a feeling, likely a correct one, that he was trying to get one more out of you before he finally fucked you. How he could wait so long when he was rock hard and leaking, if the dampness on the back of your thigh was any indication, was beyond you. Your hands fluttered uselessly at your sides, curling and relaxing on thin air, until you stretched forward and grabbed the other side of the island, knuckles going pale from the pressure.

“Please, I don’t know if I can, I don’t, it hurts,” Your rambling devolved into meaningless sounds, the occasional yelp breaking the stream when he pressed a little too hard or moved too quickly. Body flushed from head to toe, you felt like you were on fire, a white hot ball condensing inside you that was egged on by the edge of pain.

Daichi could tell you were close by the way your muscles were tensing, and your moans had taken on a desperate tone, breaking off halfway through more often than not. Keeping his pace steady, he kissed his way back up your shoulder to the base of your neck and bit down, just hard enough to leave marks. The pain sent electricity down your spine and you came with a bitten off shout, mouth hung open as tears rolled down your cheeks and your muscles seized. Satisfied, he drew back, kissed the red indents left by his teeth and eased the pressure on your clit but kept the same pace, waiting until the initial shock died down to let your muscles relax.

“There’s my girl. I knew you had it in you,” He soothed, retracting his hand from underneath you to rub both hands up and down your sides, letting you come down in your own time. Once you had relaxed enough to lay mostly flat on the counter once more, he reached down to grab himself, rubbing his cockhead up and down your slick center while he waited. “Color?” He questioned once more, putting the slightest bit of pressure on your entrance as he passed it, not enough to slide in but enough that your pussy clenched every time he did.

You gave yourself a moment to think about the answer, which was unnecessary really, but for the sake of honoring the question, you did anyway. Tears aside, you felt pretty decent. Nothing hurt too badly, the stiffness in your fingers aside, you still knew where you were and who you were with, even if time had ceased to matter well before your third climax of the evening. So you answered green, a little hoarse from the crying but otherwise clear. Daichi let out a sigh of relief at your answer and tilted his hips forward, pushing until the head made it past the initial resistance with a little pop that caused a tiny jolt of your hips.

“Fuck, I forget how much I love your pussy sometimes,” He mumbled into your shoulder, pressing a final kiss into the skin before straightening up, letting out a weak laugh when you squeezed around him. You flushed at the words but couldn’t help the smile they caused. Daichi could dirty talk with the best of them, but somehow he very rarely swore. He hated how endearing you found it.

He cut your train of thought off in the best way possible, by starting a slow press into you, the same painfully steady pace from tip to base, until he bottomed out with a deep moan. Fully sheathed within you, his hands moved to your hips, holding you down until your hip bones ached from the pressure. It was a good ache though, one that meant you would bruise.

Your breath came out shuddering from the tears still leaking down your face, every single movement he made heightened by how sensitive you were. Shifting on your toes, you arched your back a little to let him slip just that last bit more in and groaned quietly, feeling like the head was pressed right up against your cervix. Your walls fluttered weakly around him as you acclimated to his size, still a little surprised you weren’t used to it by now. Relaxing your grip on the counter’s edge to spread your fingers a little, you let your hands lay flat on the counter before letting out a deep breath.

“You can move. I’m alright.”

Daichi needed no further encouragement, immediately drawing his hips back and thrusting forward, the sharp sound of skin on skin echoing around the room. Like in most things, he was steady but unrelenting; every thrust measured but giving you the full length of his cock again and again. The feel of him dragging against your insides was enough to cause a fresh wave of tears, keeping you from paying much attention at all to what else Daichi was doing until something cold and hard pressed directly onto your clit.

Daichi pressed the on button and the vibrations assaulting your swollen peak threatened to overwhelm you instantly, a scream ripped from your throat as the sensations finally registered. It was absolutely too much, you were sure you were going to fall apart right then and there. Every muscle in your lower body tensed, your pussy included, clenched so tight around his cock Daichi almost struggled to keep moving. He stopped moving when he was fully inside you once more, curling himself over your tight form to press his mouth to your ear, trying to sooth you as best he could.

“You’re okay, I promise. You can give me another, I know you can,” He murmured, giving a few experimental half thrusts before settling on slowly grinding against you, every shift sparking heat inside you. For some reason, that’s what did it; breaking down into sobs as you came so hard your vision spotted. Your hips started moving of their own accord, twitching back to try and push Daichi ever deeper then up to get away from the vibrator before starting over again, everything feeling like it was all too much. He didn’t stop his hips or remove the vibrator, all the while whispering sweet nothings in your ear, moving his free hand up your body to thumb away what tears he could reach.

Finally, just when it seemed like Daichi might leave you suspended in limbo between orgasm and let down, he clicked the vibrator off and you sprawled out on the counter like someone had cut your strings. It felt like you came forever, and even when the initial wave faded, aftershocks traveled up and down your entire body for a good minute after, each one causing you to clench around Daichi’s still achingly hard cock. You had the wherewithal to feel bad about that for a moment or two, before he was pulling out and helping you upright.

“I’m so proud of you, my sweet girl.” You hummed at the praise, wrapping your arms around his neck to keep yourself standing. Your whole body felt like it was shaking, your legs from the now released tension and your chest as you tried to settle your breathing now that the tears had abated. Bending his knees, Daichi scooped you up and carried you to the bedroom, setting you down on the bed with a chaste kiss before disappearing into the bathroom. You flopped back onto the pillows as soon as he let you go, wriggling until you were comfortable and waiting, eyes half closed, for him to return.

He did not too long after, soft shorts slung low on his hips and a warm washcloth in hand. He pressed one knee into the bed and leaned over you, carefully wiping your face before moving to the rest of you. He made sure to clean off any lingering wetness before tossing the cloth and crawling onto the bed. Flipping the covers back, he slid down into the sheets and beckoned you closer, an offer which you took gladly.Throwing your leg up over his hips, you laid your head on his chest and flopped your free arm over his stomach.

“That was good. Thanks Daddy.” Daichi grinned at the slur to your words, pressing a kiss to the top of your head as your breathing deepened with sleep almost instantly. He should be the one thanking you, for putting up with him and his obnoxious need to have his mouth on you, but that could wait. Pulling the covers up and over the two of you, he murmured your name and pressed his nose to your hair, holding you close as he too descended into sleep.

#sawamura daichi x reader #sawamura daichi x you #sawamura daichi x female reader #haikyuu x reader #not sfw #tagging on tumblr is scary #i don't want to end up in the wrong place and get yelled at #hope you enjoyed daddy daichi!#🐝 bee’s fics 🌼

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writingquestionsanswered · 1 year

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i've been writing for a few years now, and i've come to the conclusion that the hardest thing for me is writing complicated emotions and reactions to big events. like, i can have characters go through a very traumatizing experience, but i'll never know how to have them react to what they just went through, so i usually end up just glossing over it when i'd rather explore them breaking down and processing everything.

tl;dr do you have any advice for writing characters dealing with extreme emotional turmoil in a realistic way without dragging it out and/or making it annoying to the readers?

Struggling to Show Character's Turmoil Response

Here's the thing... people aren't robots with a universal factory setting dictating how we all behave and react in various situations. Our personalities, behavior, emotional reactions... all of that is based on who we are as individuals. It's a culmination of individual physical and environmental factors, everything from neurological wiring to how we were raised. So, the only measuring stick for what's "realistic" is what you've laid out specifically for that character.

If you're struggling to write how a character would deal with extreme emotional turmoil, or if you're writing it but it just doesn't feel realistic to you, it's because you haven't taken the time to do the character development necessary for you--and the reader--to know what a realistic reaction would be for this character. The best place to start is with their backstory... what has this person's life been like up to the point when the story starts? That can tell us some things about how this particular character responds to emotional turmoil. For example, if they were raised by a military general who treated his children like soldiers, this person my have a very stoic response to any turmoil because they were raised that way. On the flip side, if they were raised by three very emotional, sometimes hysterical aunts, they might have equally big responses to turmoil. From there, think about their personality and any physical things about them that might affect how they handle emotional turmoil. For example, if they're a very upbeat, positive person, they might react to turmoil with a positive outlook. If they're someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, they might have particular coping mechanisms that affect their response.

It's also important to consider each individual situation, and more specifically, what's at stake for the character. When bad or scary things happen, a big part of our emotional response has to do with what's at stake. What do we feel at risk of losing and what does that loss mean for us? If the emotional turmoil is a friend who cancels tonight's plans to go dancing, and the only thing lost is a fun night out, that wouldn't seem to warrant a very big response. But if the thing lost is the character's opportunity to meet someone they've been waiting a year to meet, and that's the only opportunity to meet them ever again, those are much bigger stakes so a bigger emotional response might make sense for this character.

Ultimately, what makes a character's emotional response to anything feel unrealistic, dragged out, or annoying is when it doesn't make sense for the character. If the reader can't look at that response and see why it makes sense in that situation for that character, based on what the character development so far has laid out for this person to be like, then they're not going to feel like the reaction is authentic... and inauthentic can quickly become drawn out, boring, and annoying.

So, take some time to make sure you develop your characters, both inside your own mind as well as on the page. Doing so will ensure you (and the reader) will know what behavior and responses are believable for this character.

Have fun with your story!

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susandsnell · 1 year

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You're so right about Katniss! Her feelings for Peeta always felt like obligation - because he was kind, because he loved her and he deserved to be loved back, because he was what she was supposed to want and she'd be crazy not to - and she had mad vibes with Joanna. (The Katniss thing is also why I hated all of the MCU Natasha ships with guys. She's my second pick after Nina for character I am convinced is a lesbian.)

Thank you so much for articulating all this and sending it my way because I've felt nuts for years reading it this way (+ it's a pleasure to hear from you)! And that's with Joniss as a relatively popular ship, lolol.

I won't deny that him saving her from starving and later all they did for one another during the Games isn't meaningful, but you put it perfectly; the text keeps telling us he deserved to be loved back, he's what she ought to want. It makes a point about why she doesn't owe Gale, but wholly kind of sells us on her owing Peeta. The text makes a point of how Katniss, very realistically, has hang-ups about debt, and how the nature of Panem's totalitarianism is such that all kind acts are viewed as transactional rather than genuine, but then completely undermines this by providing little to no meat to how Katniss' real feelings developed from the ones staged for the Games. It's one of those cases where even if the guy isn't a Nice Guy, there's textual Nice Guying going on lolol. (I do also acknowledge that these books were products of the aughts and queer characters in YA were almost nonexistent, but having recently read Moth Diaries from 2002 which actively engages with comphet, I'm feeling spoiled lol.)

Likewise, the having children thing is like -- I get it, people can change their minds and her not wanting to be a mother was a product of the dystopian society they subsequently rebuilt as well as her own experience of maternal neglect, but given what the real world has always been wrt reproductive rights and just in general treating female queerness/nonconformity as a "phase you'll outgrow"/"you'll find the right guy and want kids eventually", I don't think I'll ever not feel gross about a character who does not want kids eventually ~embracing motherhood~ lmao. It could happen, but when the characters are fictional and hence in the author's control...it feels like propaganda, especially coupled with her repeatedly stating she didn't want a husband. And the quote from the epilogue is literally "It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly." Which. Ew.

Contrast with Johanna, where things felt a lot more organic, less based on a sense of debt and more on some classic rivalry tropes that evolved into a sweet balance between an organic camaraderie and Stupid Sexy Flanders (I mean, the elevator scene? Straight girls do not react like that! "Johanna's motivational insults" and the relationship shift?)

Anyhow, thanks again for the message and sorry for the mini-essay/rant this turned into, haha. I'd be mega interested to hear your MCU Natasha thoughts, though, since your Nina tags were so accurate! (Equally biased because she was an early sapphic crush for me, haha.)

#the hunger games #lesbian katniss truther hours #allthestoriescantbelies #thanks for the ask! <3 #pregnancy cw

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syoddeye · 25 days

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For Talk Shop Tuesday - specifically for my fav For The Record - how did you decide on the trio of Amos, Fran and Animale? Why a trio and not just a best friend? I think it works perfectly and they play off each other giving depth to their shared history together but just curious if there was any deeper reason for that particular choice. I have minimal people to keep track of in my fic and I find writing in their distinctive voices challenging! You have many more characters, and do it so well, so I'm curious if the choice for a trio was just to simplify your life or maybe the characters are based off real people? Are the dynamics of a group of three easier to write than a group of four? Anyways love your work, this was kinda long and rambling, sorry!

Eee hi friend! Thank you for the question. I love your work, too, and I'm so glad we crossed paths. I'm gonna answer this in chunks!

> how did you decide on the trio of Amos, Fran and Animale? Why a trio and not just a best friend? I think it works perfectly and they play off each other giving depth to their shared history together but just curious if there was any deeper reason for that particular choice.

When I was kicking the idea around, I originally only planned for Fran to be Animal's best friend. But as I continued to outline the plot and characters, I realized that if they were going to be in a band, the duo needed to grow into a trio at least. I didn’t want to pretend as though the rest of the band didn’t exist or their lives didn’t intersect with Animal’s and Fran’s. I also wanted to provide balance to the dynamic. Animal is all over the place and messy. She's the kind of person whose mouth writes checks it can’t cash. Fran is glamorous, confident, and charismatic, but messy in a different way. I wanted to bring in a calmer personality, not a doormat, and Amos came out of the ether.

> I have minimal people to keep track of in my fic and I find writing in their distinctive voices challenging! You have many more characters, and do it so well, so I'm curious if the choice for a trio was just to simplify your life or maybe the characters are based off real people?

💙 Thank you! Fran and Amos are amalgamations of real friends, past and present. I spent a lot of time outlining them before I wrote the first chapter to get a feel for their personalities, speech patterns, and behavior. The goal was to have them feel as ‘real’ as the 141 - supporting characters that you might meet in real life. For what it’s worth, I don’t think I simplified my life 😅 CF is a close-knit group and I had to think of how they’d realistically react to more…recent events. 👀

> Are the dynamics of a group of three easier to write than a group of four?

Yes, at least in this story. I think because CF is my own creation, they live in my head and I know what they’d do or say in a given situation. I know their relationships best. I think I’m still finding my rhythm with writing all four of TF 141. They’re fun to play with and a good challenge, but I’m more confident in writing for the band.

Talk Shop Tuesday

#sy asks #for the record

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haleigh-sloth · 2 years

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I'm not a troll no I was being serious, I understand there is trolls going around but I was being serious!

Thanks for clarifying!

Um, we saw Endeavor beating the crap out of his 5 year old. Hitting him with hard objects, punching him so hard he puked. It was pretty black and white. I’m honestly not sure what else is needed to classify it as abuse.

These aren’t real people but to me personally, working in the field with this specific population of families, it’s very obvious that Hori is going for a very complex and realistic portrayal of abuse in a family. It’s not just convincing, in my personal opinion based on professional experience, it’s realistic. Which makes the Todoroki plot really hard to swallow for some people. (The Shimuras were incredibly realistic as well imo) People react to abuse differently. Each sibling shows those different reactions, and Shouto doesn’t voice his own victimhood. He knows his father is an abuser, he knows his father destroyed their family and home. But he doesn’t direct his frustrations at his own situation, that’s correct. However that doesn’t mean he doesn’t consider it abuse, just that he’s more angry at how his mother was treated and how it’s affected all of their lives in general. He really doesn’t talk about himself much, and I think Shouto refusing his victimhood to an extent is definitely an issue. But it manifests in Shouto just wanting to have a restored family, finally. But—

If you’re thinking that you need the child’s confirmation to consider it abuse, then the world would be a lot uglier.

If the world worked that way, if the investigation and disposition of abuse worked that way, hardly any interventions would ever be done for families. The fact of the matter is, in reality kids cover up for their parents all the time. You send investigators out to homes and they lie, say nothing happened, say nothing is happening—IF they’re smart enough or old enough to understand what’s happening. Younger kids may tell the truth of what happens, but they’ll still say they feel safe at home, because to them they are safe. It’s their home, it’s where they live, and they don’t want to be taken away. A lot of kids who have been removed (which means abuse or neglect undeniably happened), those kids are legitimately terrified of CPS workers. Because they don’t want to be taken away again. Even if their home sucks, they don’t want to go. Much of the time when kids are taken from abusive homes, they aren’t happy or excited or relieved. Not at first at least. They’re upset and scared and want to stay home with their parents. It’s a hard pill to swallow and a lot of people may not understand it, but it’s the reality for a lot of families.

Not so fun fact: During my time with CPS we had to file many run away reports because foster kids and even adopted kids ran away from their foster placements and adoptive families and, amazingly enough, ran back to the birth families they were taken from. Seriously, it happened many times.

So just because those kids wanna stay home and wanna be with their abusive parents, does that mean it’s not abuse?

Um, no.

Kids are unreliable narrators. Their world is small and at that point their families are their entire world, so no they’re not gonna want to lose that. You can’t just go off of a kid’s POV. That’s why we’re shown the Todoroki situation from an outside perspective as well as the characters’ perspectives. That way it’s undeniable that regardless of how the siblings react to the situation (i.e. Fuyumi’s reaction to be considered here) you know it was an objectively bad situation. No ifs ands or buts.

#cw abuse #abuse #anonymous #bnha asks #todofam

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mecharose · 10 months

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Okay, I once historically hit that same roadblock re:historical transness (rambly, apologies). And from what I can tell, there was...really nothing standardized. Even in terminology, or if it was, someone has gone and made it REAL hard to find. Everything from "This was NOT a thing," to "Well, this person did it and everyone just let them so ???" But the era DID seem to have a visible uptick in like, extreme nonconformity (rumors have it the Georgian era might have been more fun with it though). BUT I also feel like it would have been...simple to be? Depending who you were. Easy to just show up somewhere as someone new with nobody knowing. And while medical stuff was totally not there yet, Glory to the artificial body type adjustments made by clothing structure. Padding and illusions for literally everyone. But overall, would probably be more of an "open secret with people who know me" thing than something widely known socially, unfortunately. Anyone feel free to correctly if I'm wildly incorrect or out of date on my notes, though, they are Old(tm), so who knows what's been dug up in the records since then?

dw about the ramble the more info the more helpful tbh!! thank u!! :D

and yeah!! it's my pirate character so I'm assuming everyone (except the people she explicitly tells about it) would think she had been just dressing like a guy to get away with being a pirate until she became captain, rather than thinking she transed her gender

i'm trying to write a scene where she does explicitly tell her sort-of adoptive father but I have literally zero idea how anyone at that time would react. honestly based on what I'm reading maybe he would realistically just be like "oh ok my bad" and not think it was a big deal, BUT im gonna do more research and hopefully will have updates for u if I find anything helpful o7

@jacqueattack gave me a lot of good info in this post already if u think any of that might help u!! ^-^

that being said, this is a pirate in the 1890s we're talking about. so obviously historical accuracy is very important to me here

#like would someone even have context for that info? he is like 'ah yes. my daughter' but how would it go yk?#bc being accepting now when its like a very socially established thing would look different than a time when no one knew being trans existe #she is an enjoyer of the victorian body-shape-wizardry outfits tho I've been watching a lot of historical costuming vids #character: the light pirate #thank u anon we r holding hands looking for historical info rn

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burgundy-and-navy · 2 years

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once again talking about ben mitchell

One thing I'm really appreciating about ben's storyline is that at this point, it really couldn't be done with any other character besides ben mitchell. Yes it is an issue based story, but it so utterly character driven. Obviously I've written extensively about why, if the show wanted to address specfic issues like withdrawl of consent and sex as a trauma response/chemsex, it makes sense to use ben's character. Realistically eastenders could have used any character to explore things like chemsex, but it would have seemed forced. Then it would have been box ticking, but with ben's history it seems natural. We've seen his relationship with both sex and alcohol turn unhealthy when it's been used more as a coping mechanism, we know there are addiction issues in his family and a history of turning to substances for escapism, which ben references in his talk with phil. This is behaviour that ben was taught growing up so of course he would end up turning to drugs whe struggling so much. Instead of watching it thinking well I guess this is eastenders new talking point of the week, we are seeing a understandable character progression. It's like the show isn't just including these things because they want to include them, they are including them because this is how that character would react when going through something like this, if that makes sense.

But it's not just that, they are bringing in the entirety of ben's history into this. There's the fact that in that stunning scene with kathy ben links his feelings of powerlessness back to Paul's death, when he's high and talking to his parents about how he deserves if for being a bad person and heather's death (devastating). These are not just narrative beats that exist as part of an issue-based storyline, they are narrative beats made specific by referencing that character's history. The hospital scene is not just a father and son talking about rape, that is very much ben and phil mitchell talking and carrying the weight of the complex, tragic relationship. When ben tells phil he thought he would be ashamed of him that is not only representing feelings of shame that are unfortunately true to life for some people, its backed by that history. Likewise when phil tells ben that he's his son and he loves him, it references decades of ben feeling like he's not man enough to be phil's son (and when I tell you I sobbed when phil, who is always finding these surrogates sons because he couldn't understand ben and to look to closely at ben would just break his heart, looked his son in the eye and made sure that he knew that he was loved and that no matter what ben is and always will be his son. It was the only thing he could do, and in that moment it was all ben needed (but long-term please let that boy get some therapy)).

(I can't help but compare it with Stuart's stories and to me those seem a little more issue of the month. Firstly I think combining the cancer and depression is doing a disservice to both those things, because the show isn't really doing much with either. Really the postnatal depression is little more than hey men can get it to and it's bad, but hey stuart also has chemo to get to. It deserves more and the thing is when that and ben's stories were announced I was way more unsure how they were going to link ben's ptsd to this. I'll admit I was wrong, they did that beautifully, stuarts issues are just distracting from one another. And I know that stuart doesn't have the history ben has, we know his a fair bit of his backstory but we didn't see all the nuances of it, plus he is not a consistent character, he straight up changed (and as a ben fan I am a bit bitter about that fact that the stuart doesn't face the same backlash considering how much of a villain he was and it's not like he developed. Development involves a slow progress, things get better, things regress but there's always effort put in (you know like ben) stuart magically changed one year to the next and I like stuart well enough its just annoying how he is treated in comparison). But really stuarts postnatal depression could involve any character who became a father, timing wise it just had to be stuart. There just hasn't been the same amount of depth).

And it's not just the ben's story is character driven on ben's part, we are seeing both kathy and phil react in ways that are completely character driven. Again we are seeing the representation of an issue that does exist, the struggles that parents go through when something like this happens, but it made specific because everything that those characters do makes sense in the context of their respective histories, both as individuals and their histories with ben. Phil wants to go after lewis because well you would, I mean he hurt his kid, but also because that's what phil was taught. Likewise phil has to sit in that hospital room and reckon with his past parenting (that stella mention) and work to be better. Kathy is trying desperately to keep ben afloat, and is trying to be to ben what she would have needed, but there are moments when she just doesn't understand ben's behaviour. And I really love the fact that the show has taken the story in the direction of exploring how this little family unit copes with everything that is happening. And that's not to mention that if there's a story to do with masculinity, or something that challenges someone's like self-perception of masculinity, it was always going involve ben because that's the character's history, but that's a whole other post. Basically although this is absolutely harrowing to watch I think it has been so well written and carefully considered. You can't say well this is just eastenders tackling another issues of the week when every single moment is informed by what type character ben is.

#eastenders #ben mitchell #ben's sl #phil mitchell #ballum #tw: rape

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chdarling · 1 year

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Do you like tlou2 ? :)

Ahhh, I have such conflicted feelings about TLOU2. 😩 There are things I love about it! And there are things I…emphatically do not love lol.

Putting this under the cut because I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t played. This is your warning that major spoilers are ahead!

The things I love:

Game design and mechanics - simply so stinking good. The graphics are incredible, obviously but the damn mechanics are just…fun. Like, yeah, the rope mechanics were cool, but even more I loved how expansive they made the world by the ability to break glass and squeeze through cracks — and all the implications of those choices during gameplay. The first time I was hiding under a bed or something and an enemy yanked me out? Blew my mind (and scared the shit out of me).

Likewise, how frickin realistic the game’s Seattle felt sometimes. There was one point during the game when I was wandering around (near the first Scar attack in the park) and I was like “I’ve been here before. I KNOW I’ve been here before.” And after a little I realized I was wandering around post-apocalyptic Pioneer Square. Bananas.

Accessibility - I’m really interested in this stuff so maybe this seems random, but the accessibility features on TLOU2 are next level. I think they won awards for it too? Just an incredible feature that I hope more games adopt and that Naughty Dog continues to improve.

The new characters. Dina, my beloved. Jesse, love of my life. sweet angel Yara. 🥺 And personally, I liked Abby and thought the relationship between her and Lev was one of the strongest parts of the game.

Getting to see how different communities reacted to the outbreak. Really interesting world-building stuff.

Gays

Things I like significantly less:

The plot — okay, I do give them credit for not taking the easy way out. They could’ve just cranked out a basic story and people would’ve eaten it up, but instead they decided to try something daring, alienating a huge portion of their fan base. Props for that! Narratively, the structure was really interesting! As previously stated I liked the Abby stuff! I didn’t even hate that Joel died. What I didn’t like was what they did to Ellie. It was just…..miserable. I get that that was the point, and they had their whole Vengeance Bad! theme, but like…idk a lot of the time it felt to me that the characters were in service to the theme rather than the other way around. Like, the Vengeance Bad! narrative at times felt so on the nose as to be annoying. Like at one point in a throwaway bit of (optional) dialogue Abby talks to another Wolf about reading the Count of Monte Cristo. That’s not an Easter egg, that’s beating your audience over the head with your theme. We get it!!! Vengeance is bad!!!!

And I’m sorry I just didn’t think a lot Ellie’s choices made sense. I couldn’t understand why we (we being me and Ellie) were doing any of this. Why we would risk Dina, why we would leave Dina. Ellie whose biggest fear was ending up alone, essentially choosing to end up alone.

And yeah okay! I get it, we make bad choices for ourselves, the self-defeating cycle of trauma, revenge, etc but like

Look I love gritty depressing stories, I do. But I need just a touch of hope in them. Even if that hope is an entirely destructive love, like in the first game. Joel’s hope was Ellie. Abby got that hope in Lev. What did Ellie get?

These bullet points are no longer structurally useful but final point

The rat king

#ch answers #tlou2

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mollrat101 · 2 years

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I think I saw someone say that Jean said that Deborah doesn’t sleep with Marty when he’s married or partnered.

No offense to Jean but I find that hard to believe. Not only because of things we’ve seen so far, but because the idea she’s cheated with him actually makes Deborah more interesting as a character, not less. Of course, that’s just my headcanon and there’s a strong possibility I’ll be proven wrong in season 3 but allow me to make my case.

First off, there are a couple of instances that suggest Deborah and Marty have been intimate with each other when he’s with someone else.

In 1.04, they spend the whole time in the wine cellar and are about to kiss but are interrupted by Ivy, Marty’s girlfriend. Would Deb have gone through with it? Maybe not, but it sure didn’t seem like she was going to stop him. It’s possible that Deborah may say kissing isn’t cheating, but honestly hardly anyone would agree with her and that just sounds like an excuse.

In 1.07, she invites Marty to DJ’s birthday party and her body language and tone suggests she’s inviting him with the intention of sleeping with him which she does later that night. She only finds out Marty and Ivy broke up when he shows up which means Deborah assumed they were still together when she invited him. Again, would Deborah have not done it if they hadn’t broken up? Maybe not, but I’m not convinced.

Deborah mocks Marty’s partners constantly. She has a clear disrespect and contempt for these women. She doesn’t take their relationship with Marty at all seriously so is that hard to believe she wouldn’t feel she’s doing anything wrong by cheating with him? She clearly didn’t care they were being screwed out of alimony in 1.05, she only cared that she could use it as blackmail. Maybe Deborah doesn’t need to respect them to not cheat, but it certainly would make it easier for her to justify it to herself.

She answers his FaceTime call in 2.04 in a very flirtatious manner. Flirting isn’t really cheating and I get that, but it’s clear based on her body language she still has romantic intentions towards him and again she knows he’s dating someone.

Marty almost always seems to be partnered, so the windows in which he’s single are likely very short. Realistically, would Deborah just wait until that brief window happens to sleep with him? Maybe, maybe not.

But the greater point about all of this is that this being true gives a lot of juicy character information. The fact that one of Deborah’s greatest emotional wounds was being cheated on and she’s the other woman for a guy on and off for 30 years? That makes for an interesting story. Good characters, like people, can exhibit paradoxical behavior. They respond to their past in interesting and contradictory ways.

To me, it would make complete sense that Deborah would do this because being the other woman could give Deborah a false sense of control and security. She can’t ever be the one cheated on again because she never allows it to get that serious for that to happen (i.e. rejecting his proposal). It’s a way to shield herself from potential hurt.

But it also aligns with a theme in Deborah’s character arc which is that her reaction to her past hurt has been for her to go against her morals. Not only has Deborah closed herself off to connection with others, she’s also closed herself off to her true essence which includes her moral convictions. In the unaired pilot, she has clear feminist values but after her life implodes, she spends the next few decades making misogynistic jokes. The way she’s reacted to being a victim of abuse and misogyny herself has been to internalize the prejudice thrown at her and projecting onto others. And all of this has clearly worn on her.

It’s not a great leap to assume this extends to sleeping with a married or partnered man despite, in theory, never wanting other women to experience what she did.

#hacks hbo #hbo hacks #hacks #hacks thoughts #deborah vance #idk that's just my belief #this being true is also what frustrates me about the 'resolution' of their relationship #deb makes no personal or moral choice to stop engaging with him #if he's a foil than you have to make an argument why she's not like him #maybe she chooses to be a better person than him #i guess she is but i would've liked that to have been clearer

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oursonwithagirl · 2 years

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the issue with mike’s love confession to el in season 4

this all revolves around michael wheeler. mike’s recurring problem in seasons 3 and 4 has been vocalizing his love to his girlfriend. he’s said it when he was surrounded by people which he claims was “heat of the moment”. yet it’s shown time and time again that he can’t get it out to eleven unprompted. (keep in mind that the only other person shown on the show to also have this issue is nancy, who couldn’t express her love vocally to steve because she wasn’t actually in love with him.)

this perspective contrasts greatly with el, who can vocalize it and mean it. this says a lot based on her neglectful and abusive childhood and how she really only starts to learn what love even is at the age of 12. eleven is being open and vulnerable in the relationship and this is clear in the show. mike shouldn’t have any reason to believe that his love isn’t being reciprocated by her.

mike’s monologue to el in the s4 finale is riddled with cliches “i feel like my life started the day i found you in those woods”, untrue statements “i’ve never felt scared of you”, and overemphasis “i’ve loved you every day since. i love you on your good days. i love you on your bad days”. overemphasis of phrases is used a lot in persuasive techniques to convince people of things. (kinda like the “we’re friends. we’re friends.” in which mike was trying to convince himself.) within mike’s confession, he finally gives his reason for not being able to say ily to el. it’s this: “i’m scared one day you’ll realize you won’t need me anymore. i thought that if i said how i felt, it would somehow make that day hurt more”.

based on mike’s excuse, he knows that he loves el, he just can’t say it to her, but he still wants her to know it. he tries to make her feel loved more through his actions than his words. by this point, eleven also knows mike loves her, but she wants to hear it. mike is hyper aware that he’s dodging these words: “i’m sorry i don’t say it more” ummm you never do. mike is anticipating that eleven will eventually leave him and when it occurs, he’ll feel better knowing he didn’t tell her that he loved her. 🤔 but the thing is, the day she leaves him will already hurt mike bc he understands intrinsically, without speaking aloud, that he loves el. interesting.

it’s important that this issue doesn’t have at all to do with will specifically, it’s about mike himself and his internal battle with the way he feels about eleven. mike’s character during the past 2 seasons has been about obsessing over his girlfriend, unless there is something deeper there (internalized homophobia, repression, and hiding from truth).

there were many other ways for mike to explain why he was not able to vocalize ily to el, and here are a few

- the whole parents not loving each other reason. this explanation actually circulated around quite a bit on social media before volume 2 was released. this really could’ve been given some time had it been explored. however it wasn’t mentioned in the slightest.

- vulnerability: it can be hard to say the word “love” bc the person trying to say it can feel weak and exposed to the people that they’re admitting it to or even any people that happen to hear them say it. but mike does say that he loves her in front of many close family and friends in s3 so this argument has no support.

- ptsd and trauma: again, another super valid and realistic way that his inability to express his love verbally could’ve been shown. yet in mike’s case, he’s one of the characters on the show that is seemingly unaffected by his life events. as finn once said in an interview “deep down there’s some trauma, but that doesn’t come out”.

basically, mike doesn’t mean it, not in that way. which he doesn’t think is okay or acceptable. given the way he reacts so hurt to the bullies in s1 when they make fun of will by insinuating that he’s gay, i’m sure mike’s at least partially aware of what will was subjected to by lonnie. bc of the time period and what his best friend went through, he does not want that for himself. so he pushes it back, and tries to reverse his thinking, his actions, his feelings. and when the opportunity arises for him to be normal and get a girlfriend, he jumps at it.

but why doesn’t he just lie about it right away then? maybe cuz of what happens early in season 3. with the help of max, el establishes that lies in relationships are bad, mike eventually stops this and isn’t able to vocalize romantic love to el. but in s4 he learns through will that el lied to him while she was away and even on their first day back reunited, so maybe he takes that as being okay to also lie and do the same to her again. at least in a moment where it comes down to saving her life right ? 😃 also… anyone else curious if mike is gonna be able to say it to her in season 5 just normally now?

this season seemed to showcase that mike ultimately would’ve rather had el leave him than live his life even further in a lie by not meaning what he’s feeling and what he says to her. it was building up to this in episodes 1-5. the desert scene with will was really helping him come to this realization, and after all, in a week he’s flying back to hawkins for who knows how long and spending more time away from her. the only time he would put up with this big of a lie, worst case scenario, is if it were to possibly save her in life or death situation. voila monologue

but idk lol

#byler #byler proof #mike wheeler i know what you are #will byers #mike wheeler #el hopper #stranger things analysis #stranger things season 4 #mike wheeler analysis #mikes monologue

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