#there may be one regard in which they could maybe grow some mutual respect but

[seyaryminamoto]

From what I remember in your story, even taking Iroh's initial biases into account I thought part of his intense hostility leading up to his report to Ozai was that he was truly convinced that Azula's true nature was either no better or even significantly worse than Ozai's due to the Iroh's suspicions arc. Azula herself told Sokka she was worried that by throwing him of the trail of their relationship that she may have brought the worst out of him. Honestly this was probably my favorite exploration of their conflict, because if they were truly able to trust each other and talk they could have avoided so much pain and trouble, but both of them over the course of the story had developed genuine and/or biased reasons not to trust one another and viewed themselves as doing the right thing despite their actions ultimately resulting in the worst outcome. Azula was trying to prevent a known adversary from having ammunition to ruin their lives and future plans, and Iroh believed that he was essentially hindering the fire nation by turning what he thought were essentially two Evil Ozais with a good relationship with one another into enemies. I can't lie that I'm not slightly disappointed that in the latest chapter that this aspect of their conflict wasn't brought up more explicitly in the conversation with Zuko when Iroh was talking about his biases. Was I personally thinking that the dynamic was more significant than it actually was or is that dynamic being saved for a future conversation Iroh may have with Sokka and Azula?

Uuuuuh, as for the last question... I don't really know if I'll bring it up some more since I do think I've had Iroh acknowledge why and how he fucked up in that respect in the past + exteriorized that if Azula had acted differently he might just have done it too? Am I crazy for thinking so? Did I write that or didn't I? That's a complicated game to play when you're almost at 5 million words of a story... 🤣

Azula and Iroh miiiight have one more conversation in the future and maybe this will come up there, but I haven't written it yet so I won't make any promises on that front. Admittedly, I don't expect their future encounter to be particularly fruitful. Iroh is 100% genuine in what he has understood and learned, though, that can't be denied and I always have hoped to portray him not as a super wicked villain but as a character who thinks he understands far more than he actually does, with motivations that push him into making mistakes he very much comes to regret.

This being said, the Azula-Iroh and Zuko-Ozai parallels in this story are and always have been 100% intentional. Those two tugs-of-war have been going on forever, and the crux of them was very much the fact that Azula and Iroh distrusted and second-guessed and suspected each other soooo much... because they have similar natures, similar thought processes, and they're both intellectual, suspicious, hiding what's REALLY going on underneath the surface, and immediately wary when they recognize all those traits in each other too. Likewise, Zuko and Ozai have some REALLY ugly parallels and one of those parallels, already given away by the chapter you sent this ask over, is going to be the driving force of the conflict between those two, much as a similar thing was the driving force between Iroh and Azula, in its own way: the more they fight to push the other away, the harder they reject the other, the more they end up embodying the flaws they see in that other person, to an extent where they could do absolutely TERRIBLE things just out of wanting to push the other one as far away as possible.

So yeah, the point was never for Iroh to feel like some sadistic mustache-twirling villain who wanted Azula to suffer just for shits and giggles. He had his reasons to do what he did. Doesn't mean he was right. Doesn't mean he should've done it. What it means is it made sense in his head due to his biases, the information he had at hand at the moment, and the particularly awful relationship he had with Azula. Likewise, Azula's rejection of Iroh back in "Iroh's suspicions" caused her uncertainty and anguish because she KNEW she had taken it too far. She was afraid of the consequences. A part of her KNEW that if she acted differently, there was a chance, however slim, that Iroh might not have made the choice he did. And that's why this is such a messed up situation! :')

Ultimately, I want my characters to have motivations that just... add up. That can be traced. That, upon looking at their actions and choices, anyone can go "oh yeah, this is why they did whatever they did". This is good when it comes to establishing ultimate goals, and it's also good when you want to put characters to the test: how far are they willing to go, what are they ready to do to achieve whatever they're trying to achieve? How much are they willing to sacrifice for it? And the answers to those questions can be VERY extreme and painful. Just so, we can find characters who decide to back down and simply surrender over their goals when they realize that there are other things that matter more. But it's a manner of game a writer plays when it comes to gauging and figuring out what a character wants vs. needs, what a character will fight for and what it will take for them to surrender, and so on. Fundamentally, that's how I built up Iroh and Azula's chaotic dynamic. Whatever comes from that in the future, ultimately, their biggest problem may just be that they were just too smart for their own good, tried to outsmart each other a little too much, and never allowed themselves to just... accept each other properly. They came close to it once, yes! But... they failed. And it's depressing as hell, but complicated characters will always be challenging this way...

#anon #gladiator #those two parallels will never stop making my brain go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr #the Zuko-Ozai one though #is just so damn good #I can't wait to get there #because my god you guys #the KEY to breaking the FN royal family cycle of toxicity #is actually in that specific parallel and how I'll deal with it #I never thought it would be until I realized that's where it was #one thing #just the one thing #is going to be a key to giving Zuko a chance to break free from the exact spiral he's falling into #and of course Zuko is a better person than Ozai and of course he hasn't been anywhere near as powerhungry as his father #... but that doesn't change the very dark truths that Ozai and Zuko very much mirror each other #every bit as much and every bit as painfully as Azula and Iroh do #there's not as much of a salvation aspect for those two unfortunately #at least I haven't unraveled it yet #there may be one regard in which they could maybe grow some mutual respect but #I can't see that going too far #so unfortunately zero promises of reconciliations here #Ursa is one thing Iroh is a whole other rodeo #even though Ursa has also done some very fucked up things but... #... fucked up things Azula actually can accept a lot more than the fucked up ones Iroh did so... #it is what it is

[honeypirate]

In Madness lies Sanity

Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader - College AU

Based off the bit by Allan Watts. I read the transcript and I thought— Ushijima in love with his best friend listening to this talk about love in one of his classes and realizing that he needs to tell them the truth. Allan watts bit is in blue, the fic is in white.

Ushijima wasn’t one to dwell too long on trivial matters. He works through them and then forgets them. He focuses on what is important and what will bring him closer to his desired future. He isn’t one who is sucked into madness and drama, he has a strong level head and it’s something he takes pride in. So he’s trying to apply his ideas to how he handles his feelings for you, is it trivial? Is it important to tell you? He was struggling before he walked into class Monday morning and had his eyes opened by the video played during lecture.

- I’m going to talk to you about a particularly virulent and dangerous form of divine madness which is called falling in love. Which is, from a practical point of view, one of the most insane things you can do, or that can happen to you. Because in the eyes of a given woman or a given man, an opposite who go to the eyes of everybody else a perfectly plain and ordinary person can appear to be God or Goddess incarnate .... And this is an extraordinary disruptive experience a subversive experience in the conduct of human affairs

You were never a plain and ordinary person to him and he believes that’s where it got confused. He always has and always will see you as an extraordinary individual, regardless of things that may be seen as flaws or imperfections, regardless of your mistakes. You didn’t transform from one thing to the next, you were the same angel he knew, so when his heart flipped from friendship to love, he wasn’t paying attention.

- Because you never know when it will strike off for what reason. It’s something like contracting a very chronic disease once you get into it

If anyone asked Ushijima who his best friend is his first thought is you. His first thought thought is always you. His constant. His true best friend who is there for him through anything. He’ll open his mouth and say “y/n is my best friend” and when people would point out just how close they are he just shrugged, weren’t friends supposed to be close?

When he thinks back now, now that his feelings are obvious, he realizes that it was just a matter of time until he fell in love with you. He can pinpoint every moment along his life where love was obvious, every joke and hug that at the time he thought was just nice, when he loaned you his sweatshirt and then didn’t wash it because it smelled like you. When he would spend all his valuable and limited free time with you just because he liked the way you would smile as he walked you home. He thinks back to all of his dates in high school and college, of the dating app conversations he’s had or blind dates his friends had set up, and they all failed because of one simple reason- none of them were you.

- I would like to make some reflections on this particular form of madness, and to raise again a very disturbing question. And this disturbing question is as follows: Is it only when you are in love with another person that you see them as they really are? And in the ordinary way, when you are not in love with people you see only a fragmented version of that being.

He’s spent hours turned to days to weeks as he keeps thinking about whether or not he loves you or if he just thinks he could because of how close you already are. He’s lost track of time connecting different dots and making different lists and theories, replaying you’re entire friendship back in his head. He’s thought about the times he saw you drunk in college and puking on his shoes as he helps you home, when you decided you wanted to try and longboard and turfed it so bad your arm was gashed from wrist to elbow and he had carried you to the urgent care. all your reckless and crazy ideas you dragged him along with, you were almost as bad as tendou but he just wanted to take care of you as best as he could. He can feel the desire in his bones to make sure you were always taken care of, a feeling he knows he’ll have until he dies.

He thinks about when you had dated Oikawa and for the entire three months he had an ulcer but didn’t know why. He thought it was because of his pain relievers and quit them the week you broke up with him, not realizing the connection. When he’d get acid in his throat when you talked about dating someone else, he thought he just needed some milk. How blind he had been.

-Because when you are in love with someone you do indeed see them as a divine being. And suppose that’s what they are truly. And your eyes have by your beloved been opened in which case your beloved is serving to you as a kind of guru. An initiator. And that is why there is a form of sexual yoga, based on the idea that man and woman are to each other as mutual guru and student. And through a tremendous outpouring of psychic energy in total devotion and worship to this other person who is respectively the goddess of the god.

Being someone’s best and closest friend consisted of seeing their entirety and choosing to stay and love them anyway. To care for them. He can’t say for certain where he crossed over into love, into wanting to hug you and kiss you, wanting to be the only one you think about, but there’s not much he can do about it now and he doesn’t want to.

Ushijima sees you. He sees your good and your bad and everything in between, he sees you for you. Your ordinary mundane ways of life that he can’t help but want to share with you. Grocery shopping, library trips, post office runs, he wants them all to be done with you. He truly cannot imagine anyone else taking that spot in his heart.

Wanting to show you what he sees. What he knows to be true about you. he wants to scream from the rooftops how amazing you are and he’s not a very loud person. He sees the way you care for your friends selflessly and give and give all you have just so that others can be happy and you never complain. You do what you can when you can and still have time to take care of yourself he never knew how you did it so effortlessly, even when you’d vent to him you never regretted helping others.

He sees the way you lift up those around you. How you leave everyone a little more positive than before you talked to them. He doesn’t know how you do it. He’s convinced you’re an angel and he’s dying to show you just how amazing he knows you are. But he doesn’t want to ruin your friendship. He sees your entirety, your full book instead of just the cover, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He wanted to give you this energy and receive it in turn and he’s never been so absolutely terrified.

-You realize by total fusion and contact with the other organism. You go down to the divine center in them and it bounces back and you discover your own or you could put it in this way which is another aspect of it that by falling in love and regarding falling in love not just as a sort of sexual infatuation, because it’s always more than that, isn’t it. I mean you can have a great sexual enjoyment with a pleasant friend, you know. But you may do so simply because he or she appeals to your aesthetic senses. But when you fall in love, it’s a much more serious involvement, you just cannot forget this person. You feel miserable when not in their presence, you’re always yearning, that’s get to see more of each other let’s get together that’s we’re completely entangled and then you see you’ve actually kind of out what I would call spiritual element has been introduced. And the Hindus were sensible enough to realize that this was a means of awakening, enlightenment, and therefore it was. Surrounded. With a sort of rigid religious ritual meditative art, with a form of sexual yoga that is designed to allow the feeling of mutual love to the extent of grand passion to have an extremely fitting fulfillment and expression.

Ushijima has always thought you were beautiful. Any human with eyes would think that. But your beauty and attraction went far deeper than that. Sure he’s had fleeting thoughts about how good you looked in a dress but he never let them linger. It felt wrong to think of you like that. But now that he’s an adult, a grown man and not a teenager anymore, he wants to kiss you, to hold your hand, maybe more but it wasn’t about that. It was about the intimacy, the closeness, the vulnerability.

Awakening. Enlightenment. Two words that before he didn’t really think about. But now he feels changed. Now that he’s realized how much he loves you has lifted his spirits, made him dream of the passion and happiness you could have together. He feels himself slipping into the joy of being in love with his best friend and imagining all the ways that love could grow. He feels only half of himself when he’s without you, always needing to see you or be around you, but you never made him feel clingy or bad. You met him in kind, telling him how much you wanted to be around him too.

At first he thought that this love was a trivial thing, something he could push from his mind, but after his weeks of thought he knows this is a lot more serious than he’s experienced before.

-Falling in love is a thing that strikes like lightning and is therefore extremely analogous to the mystical vision. We don’t know. No how really people attain the mystical vision. There is not as yet a very clear rationale as to how it happens because we do know that it is opened to many people who never did anything to look for it. And many people especially in adolescence have had the mystical vision all of a sudden without the slightest warning and with no previous interest in that kind of thing

He remembers what he was doing when it dawned on him that he was in love, when he felt the air leave his lungs and his eyes widen softly when he realized how nice it would be to kiss your temple and he couldn’t even finish the thought as the feeling ran from his head to his toes.

He was standing in your kitchen as you finished making your lunch for the following day and you made a joke that made yourself laugh, he didn’t think it was a very funny joke but you didn’t care. You giggled to yourself and he couldn’t help but wish he could witness that forever. It hit him like a brick that he would, in almost an instant, give his entirety to you. It terrified him when he imagines you and him ending like his parents. But behind the terror, the fear of divorce, was a softer and quieter emotion that he tried to focus on harder than the insanity of his anxiety. A softer, lovelier, hopeful feeling that he usually gets every time you smile at him. That was the feeling he was searching for, everything else was irrelevant for a few glorious moments.

-But as yet we are not clear as to why it comes about and if there is any method of attaining it the best one is probably to give up the whole idea of getting it…. you see it is completely unpredictable and so it is in that way like falling in love, capricious and therefore crazy. But if you should be so fortunate as to encounter either of these experiences. It seems to me to be a total denial of life to refuse it. And what we therefore have to. Admit in our society is so that we can contain this kind of madness.

He called Tendou that evening, telling him that he thinks he loves you, and Tendou about had a conniption. He was in Paris as his best friend fell in love for the first time. He talked him through it, told him how good it can be. That yes it was going to be work but the reward would be worth it. To not sell himself short out of his own fears. He deserves much more than that. Tendou’s last phrase is what sunk in deep “I know it was unpredictable, that it feels so fickle, but that’s what love is like buddy! You can’t deny it Ushi, you can’t run from it or hide from it, it will only hurt you in the long run”

- You see, in this way we can think about and structure the necessary stable social institution of family sometime without it being constantly threatened of foundering on the rocks of love. Now you see this then means that when when people marry they take any vows at all to each other instead of saying that they will always be true to each other in the sense of meaning I Will Always Love YoU, It means I will be true to you in the sense of I will always be truthful to. I will not pretend that my feelings towards you ARE other than what they are. Because I marry you, because I think that you are a reasonable person to live with and therefore I want you to be you I want you to be someone else I want to be a rubber stamp of me–how boring that would be?! an arrangement in which people set each other free and make an alliance to cooperate with each other in certain ways. Now if it should so occur that they are of immense sexual attraction to each other, so much the better? That this should not be a primary factor in entering into marriage. Admittedly, you must be to a certain extent attractive to each other otherwise there will be no progeny. But this is this is seems to me to be a sensible and reasonable view and just because it is sensible and reasonable it can accommodate what is not sensible and reasonable which is falling in love.

Ushijima is terrified. He’s terrified because the instant immediate joy he felt when he realized he loved you was almost overtaken by worries and stress. He loves you! Now what? He loves structure in his life and he values stability but he knows how rocky relationships can be and how they can ultimately end. He knows he won’t deny it, he won’t back away because of his fear but he needs a plan. A plan to take to you and talk about it, he knows you’ll have the right thing to say but he doesn’t even know what he’ll even say to you yet. He loves that you are so carefree and goofy, a breath of fresh air to his stoicism. You’ve even gently worked your way so deep into his soul that you feel like his other half, his complete other in every way, someone who wasn’t like him at all and how wonderful that is.

Once in his life he thought that arranged marriages were smarter, you did it out of logic and bloodline and family, nothing messy to deal with. But that structure, that boring empty rocky foundation that an arrangement might bring made his mouth taste bad, although at the time he convinced himself it was because it would be more like another job that takes up his time (away from you)

Sensible and reasonable was right up his alley, he thought how nice it would be to have a mini him but he couldn’t think about having that with anyone. He couldn’t think of another half of dna that baby would share that would make it worth it. Not until he saw a picture of you holding your nephew, now whenever he thinks of his babies they share your genes. He thinks of a chunky baby with your eyes and his hair color, a mix of your personality and he’d share volleyball with them. He’s never wanted kids as much as he does when he thinks about sharing them with you. And that’s the part that feels senseless, the love part, the part where you give your entirety to someone and trust that they will care and keep you, no matter what happens, save its not infidelity or other deal breakers of yours he already knows.

Ushijima’s theorizing and thoughts about you over the course of time went from being about understanding why he feels like this to imagining fake scenarios where he wants to take you abroad to travel together, to be together every day and share the hard times and good times, babies or not, marriage or not. He just wants to make you happy for the rest of his life no matter what and he can’t go on much longer without knowing he has a chance to do so

- Well now really when we go back then to falling in love. And say it’s crazy falling. You see we don’t say rising into love. There is in it the idea of the fall. And it is goes back as a matter of fact two extremely fundamental things that there is always a curious tie at some point between the fall and the creation. Taking this ghastly risk, is the condition of there being life. You see, for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble

And so here he was. Sitting on a bench outside of your dorm, feet bouncing as he stared at the small patch of grass growing in between the sidewalk crack. It’s been a while since that class and he’s been thinking about this constantly.

He knows the risk, feels it in his heart every time he meets up separately with his parents since their divorce. He sees it every time he remembers his childhood and the messy separation. That mess he never wants to repeat. The fall that comes with this love is like that class video had told him, ghastly. He doesn’t know if this could ruin it all, if he takes the leap of faith and it all comes crumbling down years later he’ll be just another divorce. He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want to end up like his parents and have a child who feels the same. But when he imagines his life he doesn’t think he could be haply without you by his side.

- the moment you take a step, you do so on an act of faith, because you don’t really know that the floors not going to give in to your feet. The moment you take a journey what an act of faith. The moment you enter into any kind of human undertaking in relationship what an act of faith you see you’ve given yourself up. But this is the most powerful thing that can be done surrender see and love is an act of surrender to another person. Total abandonment. I give myself to you. Take me, do anything you like with me. So, that’s quite mad because you see it’s letting things get out of control all sensible people keep things in control.

You know something is up the moment you open the doors and see his back on the bench. You were going to his place since he wasn’t answering his phone, you freeze at the doors at watch him for a moment as your anxiety spikes in your stomach. His shoulders are tense as he leans forward, elbows on his thighs and hands clasped together as he looks down between his bouncing feet. Before you really think about it, you follow the urge to comfort him, to talk to him and make sure it’s all okay. Your feet carry you quickly to his side and you sit down, pulling him into a side hug and wrapping your arms around him.

He gasps when you sit and as you’re wrapping your arms around him he furrows his brows and hugs you back. His heart racing As his fears take the back burner. He didn’t expect you to find him but he also didn’t know how long he’s been sitting here. He buries his face into your neck as he you hold each other in the cool spring evening.

“What’s wrong?” You ask as you hold him and feels his walls break down, his arms tighten around you

“I’m scared” he says quietly and his voice cracks

“Of what Toshi? You can always talk to me” Your fingers run through his hair softly and it soothes his nerves.

He pulls back and cups your cheeks, his eyebrows were still furrowed and his stoic expression was broken by his eyes that were swimming with worry and insecurity.

You saw everything in his eyes and you met him with your determination and steady unwavering love he finds in your eyes. God he feels so mad. So incredibly and undeniably mad and insane and like he isn’t in control. He needs to tell you. Needs the words to come out of his throat so he can calm his heart and soothe his ulcer. The anxiety felt like it was immeasurable and his breathing was starting to get faster until you placed your hands on his cheeks, smothering the bad feelings completely “it’s okay Wakatoshi, I’m right here”

Ushijima feels the exact moment his heart relaxes into the faith, the surrender into love trusting that the floor isn’t going to collapse under his feet, the moment he gives his whole self, body and soul, to the fall, and that moment was when your lips touched his for the first time. Then he let go, the madness left his body and was replaced with a calm assurance that yes, yes this was it, what he’s been waiting for, what he’s been yearning for.

- for all the cost and wisdom what is really sensible is to let go that is to commit oneself to give oneself up and that’s quite mad,

-so we come to the strange conclusion that in madness lies sanity.

#ushijima wakatoshi x you #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #ushijima #ushijima x y/n #ushijima x reader #ushijima x you #haikyuu xreader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu ushiwaka #haikyuu ushijima #haikyuu wakatoshi #wakatoshi fluff #ushijima fluff #ushijima fanfic #haikyuu fanfiction

[alliterative-albatross]

So, I sent you (@disgruntledspacedad) a pretty long ask a while ago (back when you had anon on) and I'm decently sure Tumblr ate it (or maybe you ignored it, in which case, feel free to ignore this one as well). But then I saw one of those "writers appreciate feedback no matter how long" posts, so I'm back here. Here is my mediocre attempt to rewrite my original review of your work. Bear in mind that English is not my first language, so if at any point my phrasing sounds weird to you, you know why. Mandatory disclaimer/apology: this might get a little too long 😅

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

I remember being SO mad at myself for not finding this sooner. I binge read it one afternoon with no thoughts for any real life responsibilities I might have had (and no regrets). Javiears is one hell of an unconventional relationship in the beginning, and I really love what you did with them. The whole premise of your story is quite refreshing, and you somehow manage to convey the trust and mutual respect there two feel for one another without explicitly showing us the beginning of their "entanglement".

Also, fuck you for what you did to poor Emilio, that man was a saint and he deserved better! I honestly can't believe that I got so attached to a character that appeared so little in the story, but it happened, and his death kind of broke my heart.

But the Javiears reunion + mild confession was lovely, and felt completely deserved. And of course the sex scene. I won't lie, I expected a bit better from Javi there, but I did like how utterly /human/ it was. Capturing that humanity, the imperfections in each character is something you're really good at (more on that later).

AFTERSHOCKS

Ah, my emotionally constipated babies who really need to work out their communication issues. I do love them, though. And this short series did a really good job of delving a bit deeper into Ears's and Javi's psyche. Kudos to you for dealing with the medical "aftershocks" of living through an explosion AND using that experience to move your emotional plot forward. These two need to grow a lot before they can get to a stable point in their relationship, and you really manage to convey their insecurity and fear of commitment/intimacy while making it clear that they're in it for the long run and that theirs is a relationship that WILL work out so help them God.

IF I FALL

Ouch. Punch me in the gut while you're at it, why don't you?

But seriously, "If I Fall" is SO FUCKING GOOD. Don't get me wrong, it's angstier than an image of Jesus on the cross (don't judge me, it's Holy Week and I just got home from accompanying my grandma to church), but it somehow works beautifully. You, my dear, play heartstrings like they're a fucking guitar and I AM HERE FOR IT.

You're doing an amazing job at making me feel everything these characters are feeling, which is both awful (bc pain) and impressive.

Also, if anything happens to Ana I will cry, because she is adorable and wonderful and has suffered way too much already and really deserves a break and some cookies.

Also also, if anything happens to Ears I will cry, because she is badass and wonderful and has suffered way too much already and really deserves a break and some cookies.

Also also also, if anything happens to Javi I will cry, because he is loving and wonderful and has suffered way too much already and really deserves a break and some cookies.

Basically, I am really invested in the well-being of these characters and can't wait until they're happy and safe again (please tell me they will be, my heart can't handle much more pain).

A quick note on the angst complaints: yes, this story is way angstier than most other fics out there and it can be a bit too much at times, especially considering how many chapters of pain it's been. BUT it's obvious that "If I Fall" NEEDS this amount of angst to get where it's going, to send the message it wants to and to properly develop its characters. The pain is as important to this story as flour is to bread. You may not like eating flour on its own (I don't think anyone does), but you love bread (because bread is amazing) and you must recognize that bread NEEDS flour to work. It wouldn't be bread otherwise. And eating the flour as part of the bread even makes you like the flour because the bread is just DELICIOUS.

I fully understand and sympathize with the people who have elected to table "If I Fall" until it's completed so they can binge read it knowing there's a happy ending in sight, but in case you're feeling a bit self conscious about all the angst, please know that your story is beautiful not in spite of the pain, but rather /because of it/.

PS: No, I'm not high/drunk, I just really like bread

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Silly thing to comment on, I know, but I do feel like it's important that you know how useful your ANs have been. There are many details in the story that I simply wouldn't fully get without reading your comments at the end of each chapter, and I appreciate your writing a hell of a lot more knowing how deeply you understand and care for each one of your characters. Plus, it is obvious how much work you've put into researching a country and a time period that are (from what I gather) unfamiliar to you, and I really do believe you've done an amazing job of it.

JAVIER PEÑA

My boy. I love your characterization of this complicated character, and I have eagerly read each and every one of your headcanons about him. I can't really say if your version is fully faithful to the source material because it's been a while since I saw Narcos, but your Javi most definitely reads like a real person. He's fairly consistent as a character, and I feel like everything he does is perfectly natural for him to do as a character. He makes for an unconventional yet deeply interesting romantic lead, and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed all his POV chapters/scenes.

OCs

I know you've gotten some flack for making her into an OC halfway into the story, and while I get why the sudden change may have felt like a disappointment for some, I don't share that sentiment. I firmly believe that this fandom is unfairly harsh towards Original Characters and their creators, and I don't really understand why. Listen, I love Reader fics, and consume many Reader fics. I have read dozens, maybe even hundreds, and I can safely say that I've only ever "inserted" myself in approximately 10% of those stories. Reader characters are not as blank as their writers may want them to be. They can't be. They're characters, and character have personalities and moral values and senses of humor and a bunch of other things. Reader characters may not have a backstory or a physical description attached (and even that's not guaranteed), but they're still characters.

And on a more personal note, pretending they're actual blank slates is naive at best and insensitive at worst. Reader characters are American coded 99% of the time, and white coded 95% of the time. Not every readers is white nor American, even if that's the predominant demographic on Tumblr. When I read a JavixReader fic about a woman who speaks exactly zero Spanish, I know she's not me. The story may be beautifully written and have an amazing plot and character development, but the Reader *isn't me*. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and some of my favorite xReader stories feature a "reader" who couldn't be more different from me, but it's something that enemies of OC fics should take into account. Particularly if they are white and/or American. But I digress.

HANNAH AARONS

Your character is amazing. She's strong, smart, confident, independent and an all-around badass. She gets kidnapped while pregnant and still focuses on problem solving and survival. But she's also overly guarded and mistrustful, and really needs to work on her communication skills. There are times when I absolutely love her and even admire her, and other times when I want to whack her with a slipper. She's no Mary Sue, but remains interesting and likeable throughout the story. She feels wholly human and real, and that's no easy task. I like her, I am invested in her, and I can't wait to see what's next for her. She's a compelling and three dimensional protagonist in a complex story who never fails to draw me in. I love her. She's your baby, and you should be proud of her.

Also, quick question about personality types: I know you've typed Javi as ESFP and Ears as ENTP (100% agree on both, btw), but have you given any thought to their enneagram types? I personally have always seen Ears as being somewhere on the thinking triad, maybe a 7 or even a 6w7, but I'm not too sure about Javi. 9w8 maybe? He could also be a 6w5 🤔

PARTING THOUGHTS

Basically, I love your story, your characters and your writing in general. You are a fantastic storyteller and wordsmith. You get into the heads of incredibly different characters personality-wise (Ears, Javi, Berna...) and manage to capture all of their complexities and quirks every single time. And it doesn't feel like it's something innate for you either. To me, it seems that you have put a lot of work and effort into understanding each and every one of your characters, who they are, why they do what they do and what they want. And let me tell you, all that effort has been more than worth it. "Better Love" is a fanfic, but it wouldn't be out of place in a regular bookstore, if I'm honest. I don't know what you do for a living or if you've ever considered writing professionally, but you clearly have the skills and the drive to create some masterpieces.

You are amazing and your writing is a gift. Thank you for sharing it with us, and have a nice day! ~ 🍪

~

My friend, I apologize for hoarding your first ask. I’ve been sitting on it because I’m not gonna lie, I enjoy going back and rereading it. It gave me a lot of comfort when I was in a pretty dark place, both personally and in regards to my writing, and I was reluctant to send it out into the the abyss of Tumblr where I might never see it again. 

That’s not fair, though. You put just as much effort into sending me that review as I put into my writing, and I apologize for never responding to you.

Okay, anyway, so twice now, you’ve made me cry. In a good way, I promise! 

I absolutely love your bread/flour metaphor. It made perfect sense. I want the emotional release of Javi and Hannah’s reunion to be earned, and in order to do that, the angst has to come first (there are also a few plot “ingredients” that have yet to make their appearances). Thank you very much for understanding that, and for voicing it so eloquently.

I appreciate your comments on my research and characterization. You’re correct that I’ve put a lot of time and effort into crafting a universe. In a lot of ways, I’m doing my best to stay true to the source material (regarding culture and timelines in particular), and in others, I’m branching into my own territory. 

On that note, I’ve never once regretted fully embracing Hannah Aarons’ identity as an OC. She’s stayed consistent in my mind from the beginning, and it was a relief to finally share my vision of her with the audience. And for the record, I totally agree with you regarding “reader” characters. Every reader insert echoes the perspective of their author, no matter how vague the physical description. I can only imagine how grating that must be from the perspective of a non-white, non-american reader. Thank you so much for sharing your insight! I will certainly keep it in mind the next time I write a “reader insert” fic.

Okay, enneagrams! I am much less familiar with enneagram than I am MBTI, but I agree 110% that Javi is a 9 with a strong 8 wing. I waffled back and forth on Ears a little, but eventually landed on 8w7 for her. It came down to the eight’s deepest fear, which is being controlled. That’s Ears all over, and the fact that she and Javi share that eight willfulness means that they might butt heads a little, which also seems very appropriate for them. Big thanks to @remusstark for her insight into the eight frame of mind - our conversations helped solidify my decision on this. :)

Anyway, I’m just rambling now. The big take-away point that I want you to get is that I am so, so grateful to you, both for your insightful feedback and your dedication in making sure that I actually saw it. You are an absolute gem and a deep thinker, Cookie-Anon, and if you ever feel like sliding into my DM’s, I’d welcome the opportunity to get to know you better.

Mad love and soft hugs, 

~ Jay

[sepublic]

One of the weird things about WiLW is that, despite everyone canceling Boscha and declaring Boschlow dead (even as a crackship), it kinda makes the best case so far for why it could be made to work. If that makes sense? Like it was my nOTP before, but I saw how both of their biggest flaws is the other's greatest strength. And a fiery odd-couple opposites-attract pair would be a good foil to the sweet pining soulmates that are Lumity. Their history gets in the way, but not insurmountably so.

           Now, this is an idea I hesitantly consider and tread upon, for obvious reasons… Boschlow was a fun crack ship back during the mid-season hiatus, as the only thing we saw Boscha do to Willow was mockingly call her out for not being invited to the Moonlight Conjuring, and that was about it. But then Understanding Willow revealed that Boscha had in fact been bullying Willow for quite a while, and clearly it left QUITE some damage on Willow’s psyche… And while Boscha’s bullying in WilW was implied to be more intense than her usual torment, that doesn’t change the fact that she literally dumped garbage on Willow! I’m not opposed to seeing the two reconcile… But clearly, Boscha owes all of the apologies here, and has a lot to make up for, and Willow would be justified in not wanting to ever contact the girl, ever again.

           Honestly, I don’t necessarily see Willow and Boscha as two sides of the same coin, like I do for Luz and Amity… The two of them are mostly just foils and contrasts to one another. Though, I AM always eager to hear others’ takes on the two, and how one might interpret Willow and Boscha as such! At the very least, I think Willow and Boscha, initially, had an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ principle to how they dealt with things that troubled them, to varying degrees… There’s Willow not wanting to dwell on her bad memories with Amity, which she does in a healthier sense than Boscha- Who will sometimes dismiss her issues about something, because the thing in question is actually just dumb and doesn’t matter anyway!

          But as we can see… Boscha doesn’t always entirely ignore things, either- She’ll dredge up drama and go out of her way to antagonize others like Willow, instead of simply ignoring her feelings on the matter and letting it be done! She’ll LET her displeasure be known, and while it’s good for Boscha to sometimes acknowledge her unhappiness, she unfortunately proceeds to deal with it in a less than constructive manner… I feel like an actually healthy relationship/dynamic between the two would also require Boscha to tone herself down quite a bit, even if she can still maintain that sense of fiery competitiveness and boldness that she’s always had.

          Likewise, while I think Willow has EVERYTHING to give and provide to Boscha, more on that later… I’m not sure there’s really anything meaningful that Boscha could give her, that others don’t already do and better? Boscha’s strength is artificial and toxic to herself and others. Superficially it might make Willow feel better initially, but in the long run Boscha’s ideals are harmful. Especially if she tries to imply to Willow that she’s ‘worthy’ specifically because of her prowess with Plant magic, and not regardless of it. But, I am liable to others’ takes and interpretations on the two!

           Personally, my read on Boscha is that she’s afraid. She doesn’t want to be a ‘loser’, she’s afraid of the potential loneliness and emotional turmoil that may come from that, and she thinks that losers ‘deserve’ their own pain, no less… So Boscha is actively trying to compensate for who she is, so she can ‘prove’ herself as better than that, both to her own personal concepts, and maybe to someone else…

           She also seems fixated on pain, in a sense- Her own, and causing retribution towards those who ‘hurt’ Boscha. There’s a quiet moment where Boscha is impressed by how mature Luz is, for taking all of the blame… And she briefly seems to reevaluate her stance on Luz, before stubbornly sticking to her previous dislike. It’s like Boscha felt actual sympathy for Luz in that moment, but then closed off any room for reconsidering who Luz was and respecting her. She doesn’t want to change her mind on ‘losers’ like Luz, because surely there was a good reason for hating and bullying people like that…

           Boscha doesn’t want to reconsider her stance on Luz, not let the girl get into her head and ‘infect’ her with weakness. She’s lowkey afraid of the kind of people that Luz and Willow are, or what she sees them as; And it’s why she’s so vehemently livid towards ‘losers’ like those two! And, I think Willow could be interesting for Boscha, because Willow was obviously who Boscha hated the most, or at least much longer, compared to others. She singled out Willow, almost like she was projecting her own insecurities onto the girl, that hurting Willow would be like gaining retribution upon the insecurities and flaws that Boscha saw in herself, and the girl.

           Going back to what I said about Boscha focusing on retribution, how she doesn’t seem willing to repair and heal over mistakes together, and would rather punish… I think Willow is someone who can teach Boscha how to forgive, withoutforgetting. And let’s be real here, can it even be said if Willow and Luz ACTUALLY hurt Boscha in a serious sense, and/or their actions weren’t justified, plus completely innocent? Not to mention, Boscha is ignoring that all of those other students chose to prioritize attention to Willow over Boscha? Aside from Boscha recognizing that a lot of her own pain came from herself and her own exaggerated reactions to Luz and Willow’s innocent actions…

           We saw how Willow dealt with pain, regarding Amity. I feel like she’s someone who can show Boscha how to deal with that sort of thing, how one can actually be mindful of the circumstances of what happened, and really take that into account, while considering one’s feelings and the source of those emotions. Clearly the situation was different, as Willow did nothing to deserve Amity’s rejection, while Boscha MORE than earned some negative karma on her own end… But you get the idea.

           Boscha needs to actually get over her apprehensions about ‘losers’ like Luz and Willow, before she can truly heal… Instead of just ignoring those feelings first and getting along, because that kind of friendship would then be superficial. Boscha changing her apprehensive stance on someone like Willow, especially, is important- Because to Boscha, Willow is emblematic and definitive of the kind of person she doesn’t want to be… Or at least, she’s the one closest to that definition, that Boscha can actively get away with tormenting.

           Changing her stance on Willow would show so much, how Boscha has learned to improve and open her mind to other people and their ways of living and existing, and feeling. Perhaps it would be THE final step/accomplishment, the ultimate proof of Boscha having changed… Not making the same mistakes, when presented the chance to. Willow is someone who can show Boscha that the kind of person that she doesn’t want to be… ISN’T so bad after all, that there’s nothing to be afraid of, you aren’t necessarily going to become that kind of person by being with them- And even if you do, it’s not so bad! It’d be incredibly relieving to Boscha, and I can see her being grateful to Willow…

           Likewise, I can see her admiring Willow- Boscha can now appreciate just how strong and vigilant Willow really is, and how inspiring the Park girl is to her. Willow proves to Boscha that the kind of person she is, isn’t just someone to accept- It’s the kind of person to learn and take cues from, to strive to be like! Boscha is going to be amazed at how strong Willow was, withstanding all those years of abuse when Boscha herself likely couldn’t even IMAGINE handling that… She’s going to show Boscha that there’s more than one way to be strong, and arguably, Willow’s way is better. Willow can show Boscha that you can be soft and open with others, while being even stronger and more resilient to pain, than the kind of person Boscha was…

           And, it can show Boscha how to truly defend herself. How to be strong in a way that REALLY matters, and then Boscha can feel safe in a real sense, VS barricading herself past several walls she’s built up, but otherwise never overcoming her fear and adversity. Really, I think Willow has WAY more to teach Boscha, rather than the other way around… While I’m all for people mutually teaching one another different things, it’s worth noting that Boscha was entirely in the wrong for bullying Willow, and that Willow was certainly not ‘guilty’ of anything that warranted this kind of torment whatsoever.

           Willow has definitely ‘outgrown’ Boscha and her destructive fire. And, considering what Boscha did to her… Like I said, Willow has a lot to offer Boscha. But Boscha isn’t owed that, Boscha has had an issue with thinking she’s owed reverence and glory for being ‘strong’, for having suffered and endured and used that pain to forge herself into a ‘superior’ kind of person… But in the end, Boscha needs to not be entitled, and realize that she’s no better nor worse than anyone else. And she can’t work to change this fact, either- It’s just how it is!

           Willow doesn’t owe Boscha anything. She’s not the girl’s caretaker, she’s not her savior unless Willow wants to be… Which leads me to the idea that to start, Boscha needs to just let Willow exist. She needs to be mindful of Willow’s existence, give the girl room to flourish and grow… And Boscha needs to apologize, with no expectations attached. Only by healing their relationship, and getting it to a point where Boscha won’t hurt Willow, nor does she expect anything from Willow because of this… Only then can Willow feel safe about teaching Boscha a thing or two on how to live, and even so, that’s entirely her choice. Boscha needs to prove that she’ll respect whatever decision Willow makes, even if it prioritizes Willow and/or others over Boscha herself. It’s not some personal insult towards Boscha, people have their own lives that don’t revolve around her, and they don’t owe the girl anything for being ‘better’ than them, not that Boscha actually is to begin with!

           This is, of course, all speculation- Most of which hinges entirely on my specific read and interpretation of Boscha and her character. Honestly, this could prove very wrong if we learn more about Boscha’s character, and I’d have to reevaluate how a relationship between her and Willow would work. But first and foremost, Boscha needs to respect Willow as her own person, and not just a potential girlfriend, nor as someone she should idolize, either… Willow doesn’t have to be ‘cool’ in Boscha’s eyes to gain her respect. And similarly, I can see Boscha getting close with Willow, but then trying to play up how cool she is to others, and maybe how cool Willow is… Because she wants to justify being with a ‘loser’ like Willow.

           And Willow will rightfully take offense at that. She’s going to tell Boscha to stop trying to act like Willow herself is so ‘lowly’ that Boscha needs to socially compensate for being friends with her. Willow herself, on her own, is perfect as-is, and Boscha doesn’t have to act like she isn’t- She needs to stop caring about appearances or the opinions and reverence of others, so much! Boscha needs to value her own opinion of herself, her own self-worth, without making it dependent on whether or not others fear/adulate her.

           It’s kind of like Amity or Lilith, in a sense- Where Boscha doesn’t believe in her own evaluation of herself nor trust it… So she looks to others as a judge, as a litmus test to decide if she’s ‘worthy’ or lovable and whatnot. Boscha looks to how others reverentially regard her in order to decide if she’s good enough, instead of just looking at the mirror and deciding that if Boscha is happy- Then she IS good enough! All that should be required is for Boscha to be happy and content with herself. Her own opinion of herself DOES have value, believe it or not… And that’s something Willow herself learned, too, though unlike Boscha she didn’t try to cope with feeling ‘unworthy’, by hurting others- Instead Willow just ‘accepted’ this alleged lowliness of herself before Luz pointed out otherwise, that Willow was never unworthy to begin with!

           So, yeah- Boscha needs to stop being afraid of the kind of person that Willow is. She needs to see that people like Willow and Luz are perfectly valid as-is, that there is no hierarchy where a certain type of person is better or worse than others. Boscha needs to trust in her own opinion and self-confidence in herself, and not be so reliant on what others have to say. She needs to stop being entitled to power and adulation, even if Boscha went through the effort to ‘earn’ it… Because nobody agreed to compensate Boscha in the first place. It’s like working so hard to give someone gifts without them even asking, and then expecting to be rewarded. Boscha needs to be mindful of others and their existence, and see it as not that bad anway… And that it’s okay to be like others. Boscha can still hold onto her own identity, and remember her own feelings while still working past them.

           Honestly, this could be but the tip of the iceberg, regarding the many issues that Boscha has, and how Willow could help her. On the flipside, I can see Boscha being the kind of person to mercilessly give Willow encouragement… And tell Willow that yes, Willow IS strong, and she did earn the right to be beloved by others! But again, this ties back into the idea of love being conditional, which seems contradictory to what this show has to say. Like I said, Willow has so much more to teach Boscha, and it’s up to her to decide if she wants to- And even so, Boscha needs to recognize that her existence isn’t exactly reliant on whatever decision that Willow makes, either.

          Really, I’m not at all against seeing Boscha’s character be explored and given depth, maybe even reformed for her own sake? I guess I’m a forgive and forget type of guy. I’m willing to forgive Lilith, who cursed her own sister, and was also Head Witch of the Emperor’s Coven- So she hurt a lot of other people BESIDES Eda, and that’s something Lilith herself and some people in the fandom need to recognize more. And I feel like government persecution is worse than bullying, not to say the latter isn’t bad either- If anything, bullying already being bad, as-is, just says a lot more about how terrible persecution is by being worse!

           And me, I’m willing to consider motives and introspection for freaking Belos, who committed genocide upon wild witches just for existing, and set up the toxic coven system and environment that contributed to Boscha’s own toxicity in the first place. I guess for some, Boscha’s bullying hits closer to home than Belos’ persecution of people, hence why they’re justifiably angrier at her particularly. Those feelings are absolutely valid… Unfortunately, recent events have led to government persecution becoming a lot more relatable as well. Which, gets me to my point that if I can consider Belos’ side of the story, I can at least do the same for Boscha. Not to mention, it’s worth noting that Lilith and Belos are fully-grown adults, but Boscha is still a kid- So she’s got room to improve and change people, let’s remember that amidst still holding her accountable!

#the owl house #owl house #boschlow #the owl house boscha #the owl house willow #willow park #character analysis #speculation #ask

[rhub4rb]

Project: Null

AO3

Chapter 1 - [Chapter 2]

It’s here! Expect slow updates though.

-_-_-_-

“This is your apartment Marinette,” Audrey said, unlocking and opening the door. “I know this is probably a bit drab, but you will have plenty of time to decorate it and make it your own.”

It really was a simple place at the moment, a two-bedroom apartment with a living room connected to the kitchen. The windows in the living room where an attest to who Marinette’s employer was however, with a wide city view.

“I’ve added some things in one of the bedrooms so that you can work from here if you want. You won’t be with me all the time,” Audrey reminded.

Breathing in, Marinette took her first step into her new home. Or, well, what she hoped would become her new home. She was still incredibly grateful that her parents let her do this, but she supposed that after everything Paris had gone through, sending her away from the city would make them feel safer.

The apartment was mostly bare, save for some furniture like a gray, fabric couch and a coffee table. There was a kitchen island that separated the living room from the kitchen that Marinette was unsure what she would do with, but she supposed she would look at that later.

“A week has been put off for you to settle in,” Audrey said from the doorway. “Take the time to get to know the area. If you need anything, contact me or my assistant, and I’ll call you if there are any change of plans.”

Marinette turned to look at Audrey, and she nodded in affirmative. A week felt like a generous amount of time to get settled, but after how Paris was almost completely destroyed only just a week ago… Marinette clenched her fist and forced her thoughts elsewhere.

“Well, I’ll see you in a weeks time,” Audrey started, clapping her hands and walking out the door. “Oh! And, Marinette, I know that all this may seem like a lot but you have a lot of promise, I’m sure that by the end of this apprenticeship that you’ll have finished a wonderful collection. Au revoir!” And just like that, she was gone, leaving Marinette alone in the mostly empty apartment.

As soon as the door closed, Tikki flew out of Marinette’s purse and looked around the living room.

“Everything is really changing, huh Tikki?” Marinette asked, not expecting a proper reply. She put down her backpack and opened it, revealing an intricate red and black box. The sight of it made Marinette frown.

“It’s gonna be okay Marinette. Tomorrow you’ll meet your new team, and you’ll be able to practice your new powers with proper supervision,” Tikki said optimistically, Marinette nodding along as she put the box on the coffee table.

Marinette had tried out her powers a little before the move to Star City, and she had a basic understanding of them now, but that was only when she was transformed. It seemed like transforming put a damper on her abilities, or locked away her access to the rest… whatever the rest were. It was weird, but Marinette felt comfortable fighting when she was transformed at least.

Touching her newfound powers now, when she was just herself… it felt too risky. Unstable. She needed a little more practice and soul searching before she would begin to mess with any of that. Not that whatever it was wouldn’t act out at times.

“It still feels weird though,” Marinette said, sitting down on the couch with a sigh. She had some clothes that she would need to unpack, but that could wait for a bit. “Especially the new team thing. It’s not like in Paris where the others just trusted me, these guys will know even less about me than the Miraculous team.”

Which was really saying something, considering that the Miraculous team was made up of her closest friends.

Her friends…

She hadn’t seen them since “Armageddon” as the public had taken to calling it. Marinette didn’t have the heart to face them before she left. Maybe she would one day, but for now, the memories were still too clear for her to look them in the eyes. Sure, they didn’t know she was the one who caused all of that chaos, but Marinette knew, and that was enough.

“I’m sure your new team will be nice Marinette. They’re heroes!”

“So was Chloe technically, and she caused a train wreck and almost managed to get Hawkmoth all of the miraculous,” Marinette argued.

Tikki just shook her head, “Your new team won’t be like Chloe.”

“We don’t know that,” Marinette said, checking the time and getting off the couch again. “For all we know, they might end up hating me!”

Marinette hoped they wouldn’t hate her, but her previous experience with meeting new people in a place that could turn competitive showed her that it was most likely the case. It was part of the reason why she didn’t want them to know anything about her life in Paris, particularly her being Ladybug. The Young Justice team was surveillance and supervised by the Justice League, and while she envied them for that, she doubted that they would see it the same way.

That would be another thing she would have to get used to. She was following other peoples rules now, not her own or that of the Order. That didn’t mean she had abandoned the Order though. If the Justice League were to give her a mission that went against what the Order stood for, Marinette would simply refuse to do it. She doubted that would make her all that popular with the rest of the team either.

“Alright Tikki,” Marinette said, clapping in an effort to cut Tikki off before she decided to argue further. Marinette didn’t want to continue the conversation, even if it was a rude way to end it. 

“Food first or unpacking first?”

It was a good distraction.

-

“Tomorrow, Abyss will be introduced to the rest of Young Justice,” Batman said, as the meeting with the Justice League began. “She arrived at Star City today.”

The atmosphere was oddly stifled at the Justice League meeting, but Batman wasn’t surprised. Everyone in the room found it uncomfortable to talk about Marinette or anything surrounding her, but with her joining the Young Justice team tomorrow, it was hardly an avoidable topic.

“Isn’t the day after arriving a bit soon? I mean, doesn’t she need to settle down first, get over jet-lag?” Green Arrow asked.

“She insisted on it herself, apparently her internship with Audrey Bourgeois starts after this week and she wants to meet the team before then,” Batman explained.

“But why the day after she arrived?” Wonder Woman questioned, to which Batman simply shook his head.

“She wouldn’t say.”

The meeting continued on, with reports and missions being delivered, though it got slightly more lighthearted after moving away from the topic of Marinette. The topic was like a weird black hole in the Justice League, with no one being truly willing to talk about it, but forced to acknowledge none the less.

“Wally asked about our disappearance again,” Flash suddenly added. “I told him that it was still classified information, but I can tell it’s starting to get on his nerves.”

It had been mutually agreed amongst the Justice League that they would wait with discussing the details of where they had gone until Marinette felt ready, which they could understand. Black Canary had already made a plan to speak with the girl about her shame and guilt regarding the situation.

“We won’t tell them anything until Marinette decides to. She’s their new teammate, she should have the chance to tell them herself,” Batman said with an air of finality.

None of them liked keeping something like this secret, especially because to them, it must just seem like their keeping something from them because they may not be ready yet, even if that wasn’t the case.

Still, they would respect Marinette’s decision. Being introduced as the girl who brought Armageddon upon the city of love was most likely not the first impression that she wanted to make.

-

The diner was a nice little place, a surprise find by Marinette as she walked down the streets in the search for dinner. She would begin to make her own dinner after she had unpacked and everything.

Marinette fiddled with her straw as she kept her eyes on the dark phone screen, on occasion picking up a french fry to munch on. She had messaged her parents to update them on how she was doing, that she had been to the apartment by now, that she was eating dinner.

It was somewhat lonely, now that she thought about it. Next time, she would take the food home with her, then she would at least be able to eat with the kwamis. Still, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, so at least there was that. It could have been worse. At least she knew an akuma wouldn’t attack.

Marinette sighed, looking out of the window dejectedly. She would be able to get out her pent up energy soon though. Not doing anything was really starting to make her antsy. She wanted to run across the rooftops, though she didn’t know if the Justice League would let her do that now.

The thought made her frown. After having looked after a city all on her own with a partner, not doing that anymore felt… unnatural. Maybe she could get them to allow her to have a little more freedom than the others when it came to that. She wasn’t inexperienced like them, not that she didn’t think they were capable! It was just different, she supposed, though that was probably something that was better kept for herself, rather than something to be said out loud with the rest of them there.

Nervousness bubbled in the pit of her stomach, but she trampled in down before it could truly grow, more out of habit and reflex than anything else. Maybe it would be like starting at a new school or a new class. They would probably be the only other people her age that she would interact with for a while, so for them to get along would be a dream come true. Sadly, the only aspect of her that she let herself dream that way was designing, but that was because she had genuine success in that part of her life. Everything else could probably handle an improvement.

She let out another sigh as she went up to pay. No point in staying for longer than she needed to, and she still needed to feed the rest of the kwami and unpack.

The setting sun was a nice sight to see though, and Marinette felt the tension in her shoulders slowly seep out as she took a deep breath, letting the little warmth of the sun rays kiss her skin as she walked towards her apartment, towards what she hoped would become her new home, if everything went right.

Things rarely did go right though, didn’t they? 

 -_-_-_-

@skyel0ve 

#maribat #project null #not sure about the ship yet

[butterfly-winx]

Zenith

- Do you know about Zenith? No? I mean you own a computer so you must. I hear the whole planet is covered in one large city.

- Zenith lives up to its name, as it is regarded to be the home to the height technological development in the Magic Universe. It houses the more universities, research institutes and engineering testing fields on its tiny surface than Magics and Earth combined.

- Though it is true that the planetoid is covered with a seemingly uniform cityscape, there are patches of untended ground peeking through, mainly the polar seas.  Antitheva and Bitheva may only classify as large lakes elsewhere, but they are perfectly fit for a small planet of Zenith’s size. They even help populations of merfolk at some point in time.

- The overwhelming amount of construction covering the planet’s surface has long become its vice. With no reflective surfaces left and with machinery forced to operate day and night to fuel the latest technological advancements, the whole planet has become a singular heat trap. The seas were boiling and the air was unbreathably hot. What got research going however was the failing performance of their heavy duty machinery, screws sweating and bending out of shape, lasers blinking tired and unfocused. They devised a plan to cool down the surface of the planet by releasing agents to shield them from the thermal effects of solar rays, and achieved the impossible. Zenith’s climate has since then settled on a comfortable average of 250 K.

- The seas froze over and the merpeople disappeared - or maybe they did already during the boiling phase, out of their luck living off already dead fish. Urban development was given final approval and the last patches of earth disappeared from sight, buried under the striving for more.

- Despite its  aforementioned properties, Zenith is no monolith and it would be amiss to describe it as such. Zeniths countries and cultures are diverse, only connected by their burning need for advancement and their fight against the cold. They have a spectrum of governance forms in the different countries ranging from democracy, constitutional monarchy to representative republic and in some cases even direct democracy of people.

- As cities cover all of the planet, it is difficult to determine where individual settlements in a country begin and end. Country borders are the only demarcations, each government shielding itself with force fields, trenches or physical walls from imagined spies and malevolence.

- Techna’s home of Haikar is in a country that still tries to honour the memory of the separate settlements that have melded together. So Haikar is not a separate town as much as it is just a borough with its own town governance, and is considered to be the capital of Transjordan.

- Other Zenith country names with capitals where applicable: Tribilisi (Kandu), Gorgan, Nuzul (Xihat), Tbaku, Navyol, Urzghar

- Most of these countries don’t get along with each other too well. As is understandable, seeing as they are very culturally diverse. Each wants to be the best though and their most bitterly fought battles are usually over patent rights and the tenure of well-respected scientists. As banal as these reasons seem, as brutal are their methods of mutual sabotage to keep the leading edge.

- Transjordan unfortunately is quite small and has many neighbours, so their paranoia and battle readiness is markedly large even on planet. Growing up, Techna went through disaster and terror awareness training regularly, to the point where they could probably recite what to do in case you found a car bomb better than they could explain a simple recipe.

- Oh and are recipes important! As clean edged people think the inhabitants of Transjordan are, there is nothing minimalist about their food choices. They love combining spices and textures and always serve feasts with generosity rivalling Eraklyon’s. Deserts usually have some sort of fruits, nuts AND some preserve in them, the combinations endless.

- While it is true that for the most part, cultures on Zenith value a simple approach to things. If it can be done in a few words, why waste a sentence on it? Bureaucracy is usually a two-click-formula affair, their whole lives are condensed on a sigle digital display ID, shopping comes to you at home. Hell even marriages are just an affair of simple form signing.

- But food is where they really go full ham. It is not seen as frivolous to waste 10 eggs on a cake, because what you are doing creating nutrition and enjoyment. It is simply reasonable and efficient to go to the max when you do that and create an absolute delicacy you can gorge yourself on in one slice or less.

- So if they are so into feasting and enjoying things with purpose, what gives Zenithians such a bad name? Well, it is just that. People of Transjordan for example, like to enjoy things with purpose. They don’t really care much for music or theatre, they are just activities to air your brain out. They will import off-world made products, but there isn’t a lot of room for cultural arts on Zenith because they channel their passion elsewhere.

- Yes you heard right, Zenithinas have passion galore. They just, in the Universe's most efficient move, channel that passion into the work they already do. The majority of scientific discoveries have been made because somebody cared enough to look deep into a topic and push further, because previous answers were unsatisfactory. Children are coached to find something that inspires this level of devotion in them and have extensive education and support networks to get them there.

- On the topic of children: most of them aren’t the genetic descendants of their parents, rather a random selection from the common gene pool. The public gene pool is a hotly debated topic, but a long established structure of procreation that only the very wealthy have the option to contest. (There is a way to gain approval to sire an own baby from just the genes of two people, but it is extremely costly.)

 In some research some time ago it was determined that for the optimal survival of people on the planet, genetic relation to the parents raising the child was not only suboptimal, but actively detrimental to overall population survival. In this “more civilised” approach, parents apply for a baby who is conceived and birthed in bioreactors. This way no people who can conceive are put through undue stress and the public gene pool babies also carry less hereditary health conditions. It is supposedly a win-win situation, yet it leaves a sour taste in most people’s mouth. No wonder less and less Zenithians plan families if that is the process they have to do it by.

- As straightforward as they are, Zenithians often struggle when communicating with people from other planets and not only because of arising cultural differences. Sure any Zenithian would blush and pale when forced into a situation dealing with overly expressive Solarians, but in any other regular case, the Universal Translation Spell is not on their side either. Jordan is a very logical and to the point language and the floralitiy of other languages is impossible to be transferred to it. The UTS instead produces blocky, difficult to parse translations that often leave Techna confused to the intentions of others.

- It is of course evident that the main industry of the planet is electronics production and R&D. Companies on Zenith produce all manners of gadgets, but they are best in creating refrigeration technology (ironic, right?), astronomic instruments, self-propulsion transportation (vehicles) and medical diagnostic tools and applications. The associated application programming industry is also booming with server houses the size of smaller cities. It is no surprise that Zenith’s electricity consumption is through the roof with such a vital sector to support.

- Before their trade for electricity with Solaria, Zenithian people used static electricity discharges to harvest energy. Their planet being covered with one gigantic city didn’t leave much space for utilising the natural resources of their planet. All the mineral ore having been exhausted, no major flowing waters left and stranded with miserable and cold weather the options for energy sources were limited. What they had however was tall buildings and thunderstorms, so they used lightning harvesters for ages.

- With the storm and snow clouds obscuring the sky most days, Zenith is quite dark. The cities illuminate themselves, kind of like year round festive ornamentation.

- Spirituality is an interesting topic on planet that everyone you ask will have a different answer for. Major parts of Tribilisi and Urzghar for example believe in machine assisted immortality. They see machines as superior to biological matter and work towards the unfallability and omniscience of artificial intelligence in which part of their conscience will be able to rest after death. The predominant belief in Transjordan that Techna grew up with is that after death, there is nothing. Based on the theory of energy conservation, what one doesn’t use and convert into heat will be redistributed into the rest of the world. It is selfish to think one could hold on to any energy after death.

- Most people also don’t care for magic. Sure some magic users crop up among them here and there, but they most likely remain untrained. This is why Techna chose a school off planet to pursue their passion and why they weren’t claimed as a Guardian fairy of Zenith after they graduated. (Since this position doesn’t exist.)

- Almost all things on the planet are solved non-magically accordingly. Their transport systems are unparalleled with some regions using small-distance whole structure replication, aka honest to god matter teleportation. The frozen over seas are also fully utilised with air cushion containerships cruising the flat expanse. Along a certain longitude Zenith also sports a unique feature: the longitudinal crust train. A four meter wide segment of the planet, as if cut out of the surrounding cityscape, moves on straight rails around the whole circumference of the planet. It is the fastest mode of civilian transport available.

- They need all the good transportation and radio transmission they can get - by the way, the Universe Wide Web is also a Zenithian invention, who would have thought - as with their living space limited, Zenithian countries have spilled over onto nearby moons, essentially colonising and terraforming those.

- So, you see, Zenith and either of its countries aren’t by far as boring as one might think on the first glance and most of them certainly don’t shy back from showing emotion.

#winx club #winx club zenith #zenith #just to clarify: zenith is the planet transjordan the country and haikar the city techna is from #repost because tagging didn't work with the last one #the bonus points for finding which town names I derived the Zenithian countries from is still on #butterfly fic #worldbuilding

[shihalyfie]

Everytime I see someone else that ships Daikeru, I’m filled with this light and do a tiny nerdgasm and I also feel like I have to ask them for any super fluffy and/or (if your up for it) smutty headcanons. Care to help a fellow shipper out?

Hello! It’s nice to see another Daisuke/Takeru shipper out in the wild here! Sadly I can’t help you much with the smut because it’s not my personal cup of tea (no shade against those who do it, it’s just not something I can specialize in) so you’ll have to take the other headcanons instead. Hopefully that’s good for now!

In regards to Digimon, where we’re talking about kids who were in elementary school as protagonists, I have a very hard time seeing them entertaining anything really serious until some years later (I feel like the existence of the epilogue and now Kizuna really helps stimulate the imagination, haha). This leads me to think less in terms of “are they into each other now?” and more “do I think they’d be able to get together in the future?” Which means that a lot of this is really theoretical, and because these kids really did love (loosely using the word “love” here) and respect and care for each other so much in the end, I don’t think of it in terms of “I see it happening/I don’t see it happening” (with the exception of a few that hit some “okay no” taboos for me) as much as I like to look at it in terms of, what would it take to for them to build a proper relationship in the future? And if those “requirements” are things I can easily write or get behind, then it becomes a ship I vibe with and like to write about 😅

Generally you want some kind of attraction (otherwise you might as well classify that as a very deep platonic relationship), and you also need the ability to maintain a relationship -- as in, a long-term, ongoing relationship with proper communication. Can you resolve disputes easily and have proper mutual understanding? That kind of thing.

I had a few reasons for taking an interest in Daisuke/Takeru, one in that it’s recently gotten quite popular on Pixiv and has led to some very adorable comics that bring out a beautifully wonderful tsundere side out of Daisuke, and two in that my last rewatch of 02 left me emerging feeling like Takeru had been trying to flirt with Daisuke the whole series, only for Daisuke to be too dense to notice. This only escalated with the recent Kizuna BD digipak cover, which has Takeru clearly enjoying teasing Daisuke a little too much like 02 was only yesterday. But really, the very first episode had Takeru calling Daisuke’s goggles cool right after meeting him and then teasing him “you’re so funny~”...so I think it’s pretty clear he finds Daisuke very amusing. Plus, Daisuke is the sort who’s straightforward, and honest, and that kind of transparent honesty is probably very appealing for Takeru, who himself has a lot of trouble being entirely honest with himself under the playful exterior.

On Daisuke’s end, things are a little more complicated -- I personally do take the stance that his interest in Hikari as of 02 is genuine (he’s not wrong, she is cute and nice), but that a lot of his trying to endear himself to her is based on the fact he was also very needy for validation during the series, and, not really knowing her all that emotionally well, he never really put proper thought into the “now what?” if he did manage to get her favor. But that’s something that I think he’s capable of settling out as he gets older and more mature, and especially since the events of 02 left him with a proper friend group that he can get that validation from. Because of that, I feel like he would definitely be able to stop being so defensive and maybe start more honestly accepting that Takeru’s just teasing and that he really does like him. Moreover, Takeru is playful, endearing, and good-looking, so all of those are appealing characteristics that I don’t see why Daisuke couldn’t eventually start getting into it. But of course, because he’s still trying to grow out of that abrasive exterior, that’s where the tsundere comes from -- he’ll take a hell of a time to admit it! That kind of banter is really appealing to me, especially because I love the pining aspect of the attraction portion, so that’s why it became something I personally like thinking about and working with.

Long-term relationship-wise, I do think there’s actually a solid base, even with what we have now. The 02 kids in general learned to trust each other a lot, and the good thing about Daisuke is that, because he’s so straightforward and so willing to reach out to others, he’s actually pretty up there in people who can be able to get through the maze of emotions that is Takeru (the fact that he wasn’t particularly invested in it during 02 is probably why Iori had to do it instead, but if you could get Daisuke up to it, he may actually do a pretty good job getting to the heart of things). So it means that if a dispute or a conflict of feelings happened, Daisuke is capable of the kind of emotional outreach needed to get to the heart of the problem, and it means they could probably get through a lot of things together with a lot of success.

(By the way, this is a side note, but I’m totally willing to try an analysis like this for a good number of the Adventure and 02-based ships, even if it’s not one I usually write for! Anything with a 2 year age gap or less and doesn’t involve Iori -- not that I don’t have absolute confidence in my son’s future relationship prospects, but more that I feel that with him at literally nine years old during 02 and with everyone in elementary/middle school, the age gaps in question were large enough that it had a significant impact for kids of that age, leaving me in a situation where I don’t feel personally comfortable even doing future projections.)

Headcanon-wise, I was recently planning out what high schools I thought the 02 kids would go to and headcanon ended up putting them in the same school (it actually wasn’t because of the ship, but rather something I figured based on what everyone’s likely academic tracks would be). I think that would be a lot of really good bonding time for them to hang out and for Daisuke to get some “alone time” with Takeru outside Hikari’s reach, so that Takeru could properly reach out to him...and maybe train himself on how to flirt with Daisuke without setting off his defense mechanisms. It also means that Takeru has a lot more opportunities to be kinder to and dote on Daisuke -- again, 02 established that everyone in the group really does respect and care about each other a lot, and these two are no exception -- so I really do think that time for Daisuke to mature a little bit and time for them to bond without other people to take away either of their attention would be really helpful here.

#shihaheadcanon #bobgoesw00t #takedai #daikeru #shiha's ask box

[abri-chan]

Did Jolyne need to forgive Jotaro?. Why did araki do this ?

I watched an amv on this and skimmed Wiki a bit. Correct me if wrong, but Jotaro’s take is that he ignored his wife and daughter to keep Jolyne away from the Joestar fate? The less she had to do with him, the further her destiny would stay?

Personally cheap redemption is something I dislike in anime/manga: in short a character’s death makes up for all the shit they did while alive, because heroism. But it doesn’t make up for the damage done in life, and Jolyne shouldn’t have to forgive her father. The road to hell can be paved with good intentions, but the truth remains, that while a good man, Jotaro was a bad father, and they’re not mutually exclusive. I think a lot of shows betray abuse survivors, because a lot of childhood abuse survivors grow up with the perplexity of how decent people could have hurt them so badly-- a lot of times no one outside the house could guess how bad their parents were to the child. (I’m not counting cases where the parents did things society would condemn openly: stealing, drinking, etc). 

FMA did a good job at handling child neglect: when Hohenheim shows up to save the day, he’s not openly accepted by Ed and Al. Ed especially, he understand why his father left, but can’t forgive him. That’s why even during the fight he says “don’t go dying you shit of a father”, and even Hoheheim acknowledges that to his wife’s grave. “He did call me a father, but said shit of a father”. Hohenheim knew he couldn’t get redemption with regards to his kids, but at least could save their lives. 

The issue with Araki is aesthetics = morality, and since he knows, and we as readers know the real reason for Jotaro’s neglect, Araki assumes Jotaro being heroic and a good man must mean he gets redemption in the end. Also, i don’t know about Araki’s family life, but if he comes from a happy family, I can see why he would minimize the psychological damage neglect and abuse survivors face. It’s basically people saying it’s ok to forgive parents bc parents always love their kids; it’s basically a social script (there’s probably a survival reason for that, a lot of society is based on respect for the older generation, and social taboos are used to punish those who deviate, in this case abused kids). It’s not Araki being a bad person, it’s Araki and many other creators following society’s “rules” which since old times have been to respect your parents. 

Granted, Araki decided Jolyne’s actions, since he wrote. But he could also justify it, saying that under extreme psychological stress people tend to act nicer. As in if you witness someone die you’d feel bad for them and maybe think you can forgive them in the moment for what they did. It’s why people in funeral talk only about the good things someone has done. In retrospect, Jolyne may have found it hard to actually forgive, because despite his reasons, Jotaro did hurt her. And since Jolyne is still very young, maybe she still held on to the hope that her father cared for her in some way. Usually, people cut ties with neglecting or abusive parents in adulthood. There’s a financial aspect to that, but also as you mature you grow out of your instinctual habits: as a child you are supposed to trust your imprimer (aka adults around you) for survival. So you find ways to justify your parents’ action, even when those are bad. But once adult, you can survive on your own, so you revisit how fucked up things really were. It could be Jolyne is 19, so not far away from a teen, and she still has to come to terms with how bad Jotaro’s neglect was. 

At the same time, I would understand Jolyne forgiving her father if she were a real person. But she’s written by Araki, so the responsibility does fall on Araki to portray neglect and abuse correctly: he portrayed it from the perspective of Jotaro only. From Jotaro’s perspective, he did his best, and had a reason for neglect and loved his daughter. But Jolyne’s narrative is that she was never consulted in those decisions, did Jotaro consider what she would have liked (let’s say when jolyne was 15 or so, and could think about what she wanted in life)? She was in her dark all her life as to why her father was neglecting her and even if she knew, she still had an unhealthy childhood and teenage years. In a way, Araki decided her sorrow was less important than Jotaro’s, so it never came out as a balanced take on child neglect. 

#anime manga rambles #Jotaro Kujo #Jolyne Kujo #jojo #jjba #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Stone Ocean

[metasnkpotato]

Levi and Mikasa - The same

Hello ! In the (very) long block that follows, I will talk about some things I noticed about the parallel between Levi and Mikasa (and to do, use some elements of comparison between manga and anime, english and japanese version, with the two other protagonists, Eren and Armin, and their third parallel : Annie).

I planned it randomly so it could be pretty messy. If this is the case, sorry in advance. I’m hoping that even so, it will help some that this relationship is interesting, for the understanding of its stakes, or see what we could expect about it in the current arc !

The same since the first time

The erroneous look they have on their parallels is the same as on themselves

Levi breaks the cycle of hate, Mikasa’s opening remains to come

                                                              First appearances in SnK are often essentials to understand a character. These concentrate generally, the problematic of the character, his role in the story, the angle from which we'll have to look at it to analyze him and a condensed of everything he will embody. 

Recently, I was rereading the meeting scene between Levi and Mikasa in the titan forest, at the time of the Female Titan arc. I had never saw it because I began Snk with the anime, probably like many fans. And something surprised me :

This line of “I’m with you” has been removed in the anime.

It may seem unimportant because it's just Levi's attempt to calm Mikasa and  make her understand that even if he’s stopping her at that moment, he has the same intention of going to fight against the Female Titan. EDIT : I’ve been told in comments that it may also imply a way for Levi to tell Mikasa that her attacks will not have much effect in any case, that it is the same and therefore must be withdrawn for the moment.

 At the first reading level maybe, but the connotation in it makes this as a kind of hint about the mirror effect that was about to happen between them. And moreover, without this sentence, it makes their relationship more arid than it already is, since it begins with Levi's order as he tries to position himself as his superior / mentor by placing Mikasa underneath.

[Small digression : It is also interesting to note that the similarity between Levi and Mikasa was made even before they actually met, on two occasions : the first when Levi saved the main trio, by Armin confusing him with Mikasa, and the second one there ]

Anyway, “I’m with you” doesn’t sound very Levi’s character likely, it’s too direct, too polite and too explicit. I thought it were perhaps a clumsy translation so I went on the raw to see what it gave.

In fact, the line is “同じだ “, “onaji da” in romaji, which basically means “It’s the same”, implied “we”, so “we’re the same” can be understand as well, or “the same as you”.

It's pretty remarquable to see that it's those words of “the same” that opens up their relationship, because that's the whole point : they're incredibly similar, and yet very far in terms of opened relationship. 

The same blood, the same behavior, the same personality on many aspects, but not the same level of mutual acceptance. 

We might believe that two characters which are so alike would have a pretty fusional relationship, but in SnK, it’s not how it works. It is perhaps even one of the most important point of the story and all the themes touched in this manga : the difference, for the interaction between people, is essential. After all, it is often the farthest characters in behavior that are closest (Eren - Armin, Historia - Ymir, Uri - Kenny...). And despite the difference between Marleyans and Eldians, some of the most established relationships in the current arc are a mix of both (Sasha - Niccolo, Hanji - Onyankupon etc).

In the relationship Levi - Mikasa, if there is not a medium that comes to help them communicate, it is difficult for them to do so. Ironically, the medium often happens to be someone very different : the first time was Armin in trial, and the second time Hanji in serumbowl, the opposites in terms of personality of Mikasa and Levi.

But with Mikasa it is still more marked : while Eren and Armin both have characters parallels to them (Hanji and Reiner for Eren ; Erwin and Bertholdt for Armin), they accepted them and that made them grow while Mikasa's relations to her parallels are tinged with hatred and rejection. 

One of the interesting thing between these three parallels, Annie, Levi and Mikasa, is that they share in common the negative view they have of each other.

Mikasa sees Levi as a man, certainly strong, but abnormally violent, without seeing his kind side.

Levi sees Annie like a pure sadist which acts only because she’s enjoying pain and violence, without consider the necessity that guides her actions.

Annie sees Mikasa like a wild beast, with no emotion and who would act only coldly and impulsively, without her human side so.

The negative view of these three parallels between them reflets the fact that it’s themselves they see in each other. Levi can’t only think of him as a strong person who must, because of this, be necessarily violent ; and that's why he relies heavily on violence to resolve conflict. Mikasa thinks she’s indeed a wild beast who must be guided by her strength and violents instincts in order to protect her beloved ones. 

[Small disgression again : It's one of the things that Armin is reproaching her at the beginning of the Uprising Arc “Mikasa, rest yourself, you’re still injured and you’re not a beast” , and it's funny to note that Eren picked it up in his hurtful words in Chapter 112 by designate her as cattle, to kindle his rage.]

And Annie has tried to shut herself up as much as possible of all human emotion to fulfill her task, so much that she persuaded herself that she was enjoying killing people - what her strange smiles in fight let slip - when that's not the case.

But fortunately, Levi’s point of view on Mikasa breaks this cycle of hate. After all, as the parents of Sasha mentioned, it's up to adults to break the cycle of hate so they do not let children lock themselves in. It is too late for them, the adults, but not for the children, who represent the future.

That's why during their first interaction, while Mikasa acts inconsistently, insulting him, blaming him for everything, and ignoring his orders, Levi does not give the change and on the contrary, takes on him, even receiving the hit in her place. Here he was, the adult in charge of the child. While he was still shocked by the loss of his entire squad, ready to give up on Eren in considering the worst possible scenario :

He regains the will to fight when he sees a younger version of his self in Mikasa, decided to not let her go through the same pain as him by the loss of her beloved one.

That’s why Mikasa's arc will probably reach one of its outcome when she will stop impeding the fact that Levi and her can make a further connection by recognizes during the Ackertalk that indeed, she is the same as Levi, in many ways. 

And this is not only due to their shared blood but also to their own person, Isayama even stated it in a interview which can be found in Answers Guidebook :

– Regarding Mikasa and Levi’s Ackerman family mystery, we’re also receiving more clarity! Can we say that Mikasa, Levi, Kenny are all part of the same Ackerman bloodline?

Isayama: They are all part of the same Ackerman bloodline. However, their reasons for protecting their respective counterparts don’t have anything to do with the bloodline itself - it’s just their nature (laughs). Within the story, Mikasa and Levi almost have the guardian/knight-like roles, right? That’s because they encountered the existence of a “boss”-like individual, and the desire to work for that person is very in line with their personalities.

As Armin by being invested with the spirit of Erwin symbolically, and the titan of Bertholdt, as Eren by going beyond Hanji on the knowledge and recognizing to be the same as Reiner, Mikasa will be the next to face her parallel, and would have to recognize what binds her to him in order to fulfill herself.

                                                            *

#shingeki no kyojin #snk #attack on titan #aot #shingeki no kyojin meta #snk meta #attack on titan meta #aot meta #shingeki no kyojin analysis #snk analysis #attack on titan analysis #aot analysis #ackerman parallels #ackerman #levi #levi ackerman #mikasa #mikasa ackerman #rivamika #levimika #annie #annie leonhardt #ackertalk #parallels

[zer0pm]

Imagine Dante flirting with you and V gets jealous

Based on this ask by @krazy06:

I chose Dante ‘cause 👀👌 I’m thinking of creating this piece into a sort of Diverging Point mini works. Those who have played the game will know what I mean. Leave a comment/ask on what you think ;3 Enjoy!~

.

.

.

Dante: “So, when are you gonna admit that you’re falling for me?”

You: “Maybe when you actually lend a hand.”

The ring of your blade hits the air as you fell the last of the demonic wave that was in your path. Your partner in the business who is also your boss, the Legendary Devil Hunter Dante, was lying atop the hood of one of the wrecked cars lying around the city watching you do your work with amused interest. The man always tends to run his mouth even when the situation doesn’t call for it, but you suppose that’s what made the job so fun. Finding the bright side in an otherwise hellish scenario. Literally. He scoffs, a playful smirk on his roguish face.

Dante: “Saving my energy for the big target, you know how it goes. Besides, you had it handled here.”

You: “Uh huh. I’ll remember that when we reach the big douche in his treehouse. Whoops, was that my bullet in his skull?”

Dante: “You wouldn’t.”

You: “Try me.”

The man wears an expression of faux terror and you laugh in turn. You turn your back towards him to scavenge through the kills, hopeful to find something useful for Nero’s friend Nico who served as the devil hunters’ lethal artisan, as she liked to put it. When you weren’t looking, Dante took a moment to appreciate the view himself. The man prided in not letting distractions get in the way of his work, to remain strictly professional despite how he carries himself, but you proved yourself to be an exception for as long as you two have worked together and he relished in the thought and challenge. Between you two, it was playful banter although Dante entertained the idea of taking the flirting a little further.

He got up from where he sat to have another go at you when something fast goes flying straight towards his head. His devil instincts kicking in, the man dodges with ease and pulls out his pistols cocking them with a click. You too went on the alert and point your blade towards the intruder only for you to loosen your guard at the familiar squawking voice.

You: “Griffon?”

Griffon: “The one and only!”

Dante: “Whoa! Almost took my head off there, little birdy.”

Griffon: “My bad, my bad. We thought you were a demon, Dante. Didn’t want our mutual friend here to be hell chow, ya know.”

We? You turn your head to see another familiar face, the mysterious client of Dante’s who you’ve found yourself growing curious about more and more with each passing day. V, a self-proclaimed devil hunter, who also happens to command demons with a snap of his fingers. As he got closer, you found that the man had his nose glued to his characteristic book. Dante furrows his brows in mild annoyance and regarded the him.

Dante: “Mistook this handsome face for one of those ugly things? Maybe you strained your eyes too much from reading, Mr. Poetry.”

V: “Pardon us for the misunderstanding. I reached one of my favorite parts and did not think to validate my flying companion’s claim. You may punish him as you see fit for recompense.”

Griffon: “Wait...you’re blaming me for this, V?”

Dante: “Sounds like it. Now, dance!”

Suddenly you hear gunshots firing and laughter filling the air with the sight of Griffon flying around for his feathery life. You almost had to facepalm at the scene but then you glance over at V, who has not once looked up from his book. The dark-haired gentleman was smirking. It added to his refined, enigmatic aura in a rather mischievous way.

You: “That was all your idea, wasn’t it?”

The tattooed man finally glances up to look at you.

V: “I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”

His playful drawl suggests that he has no intent on admitting to anything and you shake your head, smiling at the strange company you keep.

You took a moment to take in V’s appearance, sizing him up and remembering how you met him. Not too long after Dante took on the job, he personally added you to the roster and V himself became interested in you as you were not mentioned by Morrison when the two met. He verbally expressed his desire to observe your skills, curious to what made you different from Dante’s other partners like Trish and Lady. You returned to the agency at Dante’s call and was introduced to V. And by introduced, V sicced a black panther onto you.

Quick on your toes, you subdued the shadowy familiar with blade and guns in hand. It was tough as you were careful not to wreck the already-trashed building but at some point it seemed V was satisfied with how you held yourself against him and offered his hand along with his name. Since then, you found yourself constantly thinking about this mysterious figure. Who he is, his motives, his connection to the current big bad demon and the tree that erected itself in the middle of Red Grave City. It probably didn’t help that you found him extremely attractive as well, but you chose not to divulge that aloud. “You two had a business relationship afterall” is what you told yourself. A month passes by and you spent a lot of personal time with the mysterious V, convincing your nagging thoughts that it was integral to the job.

You: “So, which of Blake’s works are you indulging in this time?”

Yeah, that is totally relevant to the job.

V lifts his head entirely, genuine surprise and, if you see not mistaken, respect alights his usually stoic demeanor.

V: “You are familiar with William Blake?”

You: “Literature was my favorite course. Poetry, my weakness.”

Your ears hear a slight chuckle from his throat that made you feel a little giddy inside, taking it as a sign to press forward. You move to stand right next to him, glancing at the pages he left open.

You: “Auguries of Innocence.”

V: “Impressive. The fact that you recognize the verses with a single glance shows how well-read you are.”

You laugh, flattered by his compliment.

You: “I really just remember these lines.”

Your fingers brush against the words on the page, you were so engrossed in the poem that you missed that small grin that snuck its way onto V’s face, missed how his eyes roamed over your visage with what can only be defined as admiration.

V: “That happens to be where I left off.”

With piqued interest, your eyes snap up to meet his and the words fell from your lips long before you can bit your tongue at the request.

You: “Read it to me?”

It was such an odd thing to say, but traveling the ruins of the city alongside V developed within you an appreciation for the man’s voice and articulation. His voice sounded like silk, and each word from his mouth was like honey. How could you deny the chance to hear him recite the works of a master author?

V himself was taken aback, turning his head to look into your eyes, seeking for any hint that you were merely being jocular and not serious at all. You were not joking and were completely serious. At this, he composed himself quickly, hiding the growing warmth that was beginning to swell within his heart under the guise of him clearing his throat.

He shifts around you slightly so that he held his open book in front of you while also placing himself behind you. A single step back and your back would touch his chest. Your bodies were so close to one another and there was a gradual fluttering in the pit of your stomach that you could not shake off and with each passing second, you found no reason to complain about it and instead welcomed it.

From the corner of your eye, you see V lean over your shoulder until his head dipped to your level. Your ears pick up the soft sound of him taking a breath-

Specks of black suddenly fly across the air, moving past you like a gust of wind and hitting V straight on. The color merged within his skin, darkening the faded tattoos to its full, lustrous color. Griffon came back, which meant one thing. Instinctively, you look up and spotted Dante walking over, his sword in hand and rested upon his shoulder. A pleased, smug grin creeps its way on his face and you knew that meant trouble - or rather “fun”, as he affectionately calls it.

Dante: “Brace yourselves, friends. Here they come.”

Sure enough, you see the all-too-familiar hell gates open from thin air, all around you three, and from them, masses of empusa demons come crawling forth in throes. The numbers that were approaching were staggering. They must have been drawn to Dante’s rambuctious roughplay with V’s familiar and you shot him an annoyed glare. The white-haired man meets your eyes and shrug, deflecting your aggravation with a wink which only frustrated you even further and tightened the grip on your blade.

Dante: “Don’t fall behind, partner. I’m not gonna slow down. Even for you.”

You scoff, swinging your sword in your hand and step into your stance.

You: “That’s my line, old man.”

Dante: “Ha! I’ll show you old.”

You roll your eyes and return your attention back to V. He already moved away from you and you felt yourself grimace at the apparent distance between you two. His book stowed away and his signature cane in his hand at the ready. He wore a serious expression again and if you didn’t know any better, he seemed rather...disappointed? His eyes meet yours, sensing your staring, and you offered him a small smile.

You: “Looks like the reading will have to wait.”

His green eyes glisten subtly, apparently pleased at the suggestion that you wished for his company. The apparent irritation on his face ebbing away slightly to make way for an upturn quirk of his plump lips.

V: “The most sublime act is to set another before you.”

You did not miss the way his eyes were pinned to you as he said this and it sent a pleasantly shivering sensation throughout your body.

V: “Let us be done with this swiftly.”

You nod in agreement and went into position. You, V, and Dante were back-to-back-to-back, ready to take on the ravenous horde.

You: “Watch my back, gentlemen.”

Dante: “Don’t mind if I do-”

V: “Without question-”

If only you would have seen the challenging glares Dante and V had for each other, but no. You were too busy running your sword through your demon prey. Too busy to realize that the entire time you fought, the two devil hunters were side-stepping and tripping each other to get physically closer to you while also slaying through the horde.

#v devil may cry #dante devil may cry #v x you #v x reader #v dmc5 #dante #devil may cry 5 #dante x reader #dante x you #anon #multipart? #v imagine #devil may cry imagine #dante imagine #son of sparda #i love them both #but left the ending ambiguous #so you readers can choose #;) #thanks for the ask #hope you like it #my writing #sibling rivalry #spoiler tag #sorry!!

[flrtips]

Choosing a Chastity Cage

FLR Tips is the sister site to FLR Info, where you’ll find introductory information about Female-Led Relationships. If you’re new to this, you should head over there. This site is about the practical, day-to-day aspects of FLRs. It is much more explicit and quite sex/femdom-oriented.

By making your man wear a chastity cage 24/7, you can control his erections and orgasms. 

Stated matter-of-factly like that, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but make no mistake - it is! Not only do you control his erections and orgasms, but he’ll be walking around with a constant reminder of your special arrangement, which goes a long way towards fulfilling his need for the arrangment to be rooted in something sexual and kinky.

In fact, I believe many FLR-leaning couples could simply add a constantly worn chastity device to their relationship and reap 90% of the benefits of a more elaborate FLR setup. The man gets his kink while at the same time building up his desire to serve, and the women gets her worshipping/pampering/sexual attention, without the ups and downs that comes with a man who can decide for himself when to become erect or have an orgasm.

But all of this hinges on the requirement that the man must wear the device constantly. Whenever you aren’t actively using his penis for something, it is securely locked away. In order to do this successfully, you’ll need a cage that works well with long-time wear, and that’s what the rest of this article is about.

***

There are several factors you’ll need to consider when choosing a cage. Let’s go over them one by one.

Size

Men and their penises come in many different sizes, and you should choose a cage that fits your particular man. But what, exactly, makes a chastity cage fit?

In our experience, the most important factor when it comes to size, is that the part of the cage that holds the penis itself should be pretty short, so that even when his penis is in its most shriveled-up state, the tip of the penis will almost never have any clearance with respect to the tip of the cage - there should be contact at all times.

There are several reasons why this is a good thing. The most important one is that it makes night-time erections less painful. Somewhat unintuitively, the less room his penis has to grow, the less it hurts. When he can’t even get semi-erect, it prevents the cage from pulling too hard on his testicles (which is what causes the most pain).

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the thought of him having some discomfort during the night, while I am sleeping like a baby after receiving my massages and orgasm(s) for the night. Even a small cage hurts a little, especially in the beginning, but not to the point that it causes a real issue. I want my husband to sleep well too, for the most part - it’s important for his long-term health.

Another reason we like a small cage is that it really does prevent him from getting an erection. It’s not just a slightly crippled erection that hurts in that good way - there is no erection, period. He’ll swell up, of course, and push the cage away from his body a little, but that’s it. And we enjoy the fact that the control I assert over his erections is real.

Finally, a small cage is easier to hide under clothes, especially if you get one with an integrated locking mechanism (ie. no padlock required), which I highly recommend.

Material

Chastity cages typically come in three materials: Plastic, silicone and metal. 

My distinct impression is that most people start out with a cage made of plastic. For the most part, they work really well as far as restricting the penis goes, and they are excellent starter cages to get a sense of how it feels to have one’s penis locked away, or how it feels to hold the keys to a man’s penis. And if you just want a chastity cage that you can use as a fun sex toy, they do the job admirably.

BUT, I do not want you trying to establish a long-term chastity regiment using a plastic cage. You see, the thing about plastic cages is that they are terribly unhygienic, in our opinion. After just half a day or so they’ll acquire an unpleasant odour, and they are notoriously hard to clean without being removed, which makes them simply unsuitable for our purposes.

Luckily, there’s a simple solution: Metal cages. I don’t know the chemistry behind it, but metal cages just don’t have any issues in this regard. And they are typically much more open, so my husband simply cleans the cage and its penile occupant every night with soap and water, while remaining locked, and it works like a charm. Both the cage and his penis dry up within minutes, with no moisture trapped inside the cage.

Not only that, but aesthetically speaking, metal cages are the only ones that work for me. They look masculine and shiny and incredibly solid (which they are), not to mention that they feel much better to touch and play with.

We have very little experience with the silicone ones, to be honest, and a big part of the reason is that they just seem too flimsy, too flexible. I’m sure they work for some people, but our tastes lie elsewhere.

So, metal it is. I’m sure you’ll find people who use plastic cages for long-term chastity with no issues, but this was pretty clear-cut for us. We moved on from plastic very quickly and haven’t looked back (or even sideways).

Security

By “security”, I mean the ability of a cage to ensure that the man is not able to free or stimulate his penis. The importance of this particular parameter probably varies wildly from couple to couple. 

For us, it isn’t terribly important. I can certainly see the appeal in having a 100% secure cage, but not if it complicates things in any way.

Most regular cages can be escaped from. It might not be easy, and it might hurt quite a bit, but most determined men can find a way to pull their penis out and do the deed. It might be very difficult to put it back in without the key, though, so those who hope to be able to slip it out at their convenience and then put it back unnoticed may be in for a surprise. But frustrated men are resourceful, if anything, so I’m sure there are those who can do that successfully too.

It boils down to trust and intent. If the cage is intended to be a tool to help you as a couple to achieve the amazing life hack that a successful FLR relationship is, then the hoops he would have to jump through to free his penis without the key should be enough to remind him that he is not supposed to do that, and continuing on that path could easily end up damaging the relationship - not because chastity is important in itself, but because it is a violation of trust, which is bad for any relationship.

It’s very simple in our relationship: By mutual understanding, any attempt to escape or cheat when the cage is locked means jeopardizing the entire FLR part of the relationship. Others might have a more playful attitude towards this, maybe even develop it into a sort of cat-and-mouse game where he is always trying to escape and she is always trying to come up with ever more secure cages. That’s fine, of course, but not for us.

So why not dispense with the cage altogether, if it’s based on trust anyway? Many reasons! It’s not all based on trust, there is a real barrier to cross to be able to circumvent the cage. And even the most devoted man cannot just decide to never have erections, simply to please his woman. Not to mention the joy of having an actual, physical cage and an actual, physical key, that, for the most part, work exactly as intended. We get a lot of pleasure from the chastity cage.

If security is very important to you, and you are not afraid to take things pretty far, you should do some research on urethra cages and/or Prince Albert piercings and cages that are designed to integrate with them. I’ve also been told that there are outfits that make custom-built cages that can be very secure. These apparantly cost several hundred or even thousands of USD, but go nuts if that’s your thing!

Other considerations

Price is obviously a factor for many people. A quality metal cage actually costs less than many of the plastic ones, typically in the range of 25-50 USD.

Where to get one? We have bought all our cages from an online store with the rather silly name Toys 4 Naughty Boys in the UK. Another company with a very nice selection is the US-based Lock The Cock, which also has a presence in Europe.

And, since I have already gotten this question many times, the cage we currently rely on for day-to-day use is the Tight Squeeze III.

[salmonthestoryteller]

That Darn Love Triangle

So I’m going to throw my two cents in on the love triangle of Alex/Michael/Maria. But first a few quick links to relevant previous posts:

My previous A/M/M thoughts (Mid season):

My post about Maria’s POV: 

My post about Michael’s Headspace in 1x13

My post about Maria’s plotline with her mother:

And I did highjack this post about small town dating:

All of which are relevant to my final view.  I also have two views - that as a storyteller viewing the narrative and as an audience member trying to understand the characters headspaces and interactions. This got really, really long.  Here’s the short version.

Storytelling - I don’t like the choice of a love triangle involving these three characters. I don’t really see it as moving the plot or character development forward right now - which is the whole point of a plot device.  Not just random drama, but plot and character development.  I’m a ship and let ship gal - I can see the appeal in both ships - I’ve written fics for both ships.  I just wish things had been handled slightly differently.

Character Headspace:  All three characters are to blame for the mess they’re in.

Then there’s the long version.

When it comes to the set up for the love triangle, it all comes down to one main factor.

Alex and Michael’s complete silence over their relationship

While Max and Isobel seemed to have figured out Michael’s feelings for Alex over the years (possibly due to the pod squad’s psychic connection), the relationship doesn’t truly come to light to anyone else until the present day.  The silence when they were younger is pretty understandable - especially given Jesse Mane’s actions.  However, there’s definitely a hint that they’ve met up since that fateful day as teenagers, and that comes from their words at the drive in:

Michael:  Guess you’re still the guy looking for any excuse to walk away

Alex:  Maybe, but you’re still so good at giving them to me.

Seeing as I don’t see these lines referring to Jesse attacking them in the shed, this hints that there’s definitely been at least one more meetup.  Either before Alex joined the Air Force, or some time during the ten years that followed.  Their continued silence into the present day is part of how the triangle is set up.  With nobody knowing how Alex and Michael are connected, it changes viewpoints and dynamics that otherwise would have existed between them and their respective friends and siblings.

Which brings me to the second part of the set up, and I am firm on this.

Alex ends their relationship at the drive in.

Sorry, but the words:

Alex:  This isn’t going to work out.

Is pretty much classic break-up speech.  I count the drive-in as a date for them, despite the three feet retained between them on the truck flatbed.  (Feel like making a Quiet Man reference here.  The proprieties shall be observed at all times. No patty fingers.)  (And the lack of shared funnel cake.  No, I’m not letting that go.  Seriously, who doesn’t share funnel cake with their date?)  So I feel they were viewing their latest interactions as the start of a relationship.  Alex actually refers to them as us in the trailer that same morning.

Alex: Wait, does she know about us?

If they didn’t consider themselves in a relationship, he could have asked that question in a variety of ways.  Does she know about this?/Does she know that I’m here?/Does she know we’re having sex?  All phrases that could have easily been used to indicate he didn’t consider them to be anything serious.  Instead he terms it like a relationship -  Does she know about us.  So when Alex then says it’s not going to work out, that’s a break up.  He follows it with a line I actually find a lot of fault with:

Alex:  I’m an Airman, I can’t be with a Criminal.

His line about Michael’s side hustle is fine with me.  If he doesn’t approve of how Michael is living his life - than, sure - it’s a legitimate excuse to end a relationship.  These words, though?  They cross a line for me.  They aren’t - I don’t like what you’re doing.  They’re - I’m better than the likes of you. Which, whoa, objection.  Alex basically just called the guy he’s in love with trash, which is not okay.  I definitely feel this is Jesse getting to his head, but like with so much of what follows for all the characters, the reason why may give the audience an explanation, but it’s not an excuse.  It’s still a shitty thing to say to someone.

Despite this, Michael attempts to approach Alex again over two months after the drive in, and Alex won’t even engage him in a conversation.  When he goes to leave, Michael asks where they stand and if it’s really over.  And Alex confirms that, yes, it is.  Which leaves Michael in a position to pursue a relationship, regardless of who either still have feelings for.  Feelings are not a relationship.  Relationships require mutual consent, not just mutual feelings.

Small Towns Views Dating in Social Circles Differently

Because of my viewpoint of small towns - which given Liz’s soliloquy in the pilot as well as the general atmosphere of the town during the show I feel Roswell is presented as - I don’t really have an issue with Michael choosing to pursue Maria.  If Michael had ended the relationship, I may have thought it was a questionable choice.  But he didn’t - Alex did.  That changes the dynamic.  Especially since Maria occupies a space in both their social circles.

Frankly if I had friends/acquaintances  A, B & C, and A broke up with B, then B got into a relationship with C months later, and A came to me to complain?  I’d tell A they were being a little bitch, and to grow up. Considering workplace relationship drama, I probably am guessing I may even have said that sometime in the last ten years.  If A was upset about it, I’d tell them to reconsider their feelings for B, but that they really still had no claim on B.  That’s kinda part and parcel to the whole dumping thing.

That brings us to Michael and Maria, for which I have two things to stress.

Maria does not know about Michael and Alex’s history at first

Michael and Maria’s relationship is not based on a one night stand

I think the second part is what is throwing some people off.  All they want to equate is that Maria and Michael slept together.  To me Maria crying on Michael’s shoulder was in no way romantic, and more about Maria shattering under the realization she can’t save her mother and Michael shoving his own pain about Isobel aside to comfort her - making the scene doubly tragic.  However, it’s a scene that changed both characters views of each other.  Michael had never seen Maria vulnerable til then - and let’s not forget that MIchael has a positively huge hero complex - and Maria had never seen Michael as someone capable of kindness and selflessness til that moment.  That starts the change to their dynamic, which then continues into friendlier banter when he fixes her sign, followed by them flirting in Texas.  All this leads up to the one night stand, which isn’t truly romantic, either.  Both are upset about the outcome of the trip in regards to helping their mother/sister.  In that moment both of them are looking to grab onto something to take away the pain.  Let me stress that, even.  Both are looking to grab onto something to take away the pain.  Remember that, because I feel it’s very important for what happens in 1x13.  However,  the moment their viewpoints of each other change, that’s what starts them towards a relationship - not the one night stand.

Honestly, from a storytelling standpoint, I think this is actually not the best choice for setting up a love triangle.  I see plenty of relationship set up, if this relationship was set between two characters whose relationship stands alone.  However,  I think having the relationship between Michael and Maria be new wasn’t a smart storytelling choice in this case.  They could easily have had them have a previous relationship during the ten years Alex was away, and fall back into the relationship after Alex dumps Michael and Michael comforts Maria.  I just feel in terms of a love triangle, the two relationships are unbalanced because more history and episode time are given to Michael and Alex.  You don’t generally build that big a back story, and have huge moments involving romantic confessions in the middle of a building that’s about to explode with a couple you don’t intend to end up together. (Short of killing one)   That makes how the love triangle will play out transparent, and makes me doubt how useful it will be as a plot device. Moving on.

Alex claims his feelings are past tense to Michael

After Jenna brings the Alien Serial Killer to their attention, and Kyle knocks some sense into Alex both about teetering on the edge of drinking his father’s kool-aid about the pod squad and his feelings for Michael  (Thank-you, Kyle.  Everyone is seriously hopeless on this show.  At least someone has perspective.), Alex does go talk with MIchael.  Despite Kyle calling him on the fact that his feelings are current, twice, Alex places their love in the past tense when talking to Michael.  I’d say he’s both right and wrong about how well they know each other, because while his only known random fact about Michael is his dislike for Mars Attacks, the conversations they did have when younger were far deeper than fav movies or foods.  Alex shared that his own home life was bad and offered his bolt hole. Michael told him about his chaos and music, and his lack of belief in humans just being kind to each other.  Those are heavy conversations, tbh, and worth more than fav colors.  Still, starting to get to know each other from scratch isn’t a bad idea.  However, I still feel a miscommunication is going on over what Alex wants from Michael in this moment, and I feel Michael misunderstood why he chose to leave when he did.

Maria lies to Alex about her feelings

This is one of Maria’s biggest errors.  While I feel it comes from two places.  (Guilt and denial over her own feelings) - she still left Alex with the impression that she doesn’t care about Michael.  At all, really.  Do I think Alex suspects she’s lying?  Yes, I do think so.  I also can see why Alex wouldn’t have pressed that matter.  He doesn’t want Maria to admit she likes the guy he’s in love with.  I think overall this is Maria’s biggest contribution to the mess of the love triangle.  At some point, when she began to realize pushing Michael away was hurting her feelings, she should have come clean to Alex. This is her moment of an explanation is not an excuse.

Storytelling wise they don’t give them a single scene past that confrontation, which makes the confession impossible.  They could have made time for it, though, and I feel a second conversation on the subject would have gone a long way to making this love triangle less about random drama and open the door to it actually being used for character development.

Michael tells Maria he and Alex are over

Because their relationship is over.  Refer back to previous facts.

Alex dumped Michael

Alex confirmed they were over when Michael flat out asked him

This is why breakups can be messy.  One party can still have feelings - even both parties can still have feelings.  Relationships require more than feelings.  They require consent, the ability to build a life together, effort; communication. (That last one is a huge issue with these two)  Michael and Alex are not on the same page at any time post breakup.  So, Michael was telling the truth to Maria.  Alex feeling hopeful is great for Alex.  If Michael doesn’t feel that way, even if he still loves him - that’s Alex’s tough luck.  Love isn’t an obligation.  Until Michael is ready to be in a relationship with Alex again, Alex doesn’t have any say in Michael’s life.

Alex confesses at Caulfield, and seeks him out a few hours later

While Alex’s confession is huge, especially for his character, it comes at a desperate time.  They are both minutes away from dying when Alex manages to finally tell Michael how he currently feels, but Michael fails to return Alex’s confession, instead focusing on trying to shut him down and send him away to safety.  MIchael is desperate to save his people or die trying - until his Mother talks sense into him.  (Thank-you, Mara.  Damn, for such a short scene you really steal everyone’s hearts.)

This leaves their relationship on an edge, with Alex being the one whose put his heart on the line, and not sure where Michael stands.  It’s not surprising he seeks him out again, both to ensure he’s alright and to try to get clarification on that.  The problem is, they are again not on the same page.  Alex is messed up about Caulfield because his family was running a house of horrors, and he nearly lost Michael.  MIchael is traumatized by what happened to the rest of the people on their ship and the loss of his mother after finally finding her.  Alex’s desire to finally talk about his past choices and the problems he’s currently wrestling with would be a great step in their relationship, if it didn’t occur at a time when Michael is not in a good mindset to receive it.

Michael tells Alex they will talk the next day, but doesn’t speak to him before going to Maria

While I admit, Michael is traumatized, and storytelling wise I don’t like him being in a relationship with anyone right now, this is another of those an explanation is not an excuse moments.  Alex was definitely going to kiss him, and Michael did not look like he was planning on pushing him away.  While I do have objections to Alex approaching him in that moment when Michael is pretty messed up in the head, Michael should have spoken to Alex first the following day.  Even if it’s just to tell him he can’t be with him - it still should have been his first stop.  Trauma or not, it’s a jerk move.

Maria accepts Michael’s overtures to a relationship in 1x13

I see a lot of people saying they don’t understand her choosing Michael over Alex.  That’s how they see this choice. Friendship vs Crush.   That’s not what I see.  To me, she isn’t choosing Michael over Alex.  She’s choosing herself over Alex.  That’s a very different thing, and occurring for a very different reason.

This choice is likely to damage her friendship with Alex, and hurt his feelings.  So in terms of her friendship with Alex, it’s wrong.  However, all of them are single.  This isn’t adultery.   She is not “stealing” Michael.  He is not an object to be stolen to begin with. Her accepting a relationship with him is not inherently wrong.  Nor does it make her a bad person. It means, just like Alex and Michael through this whole love triangle mess, she’s making a call that’s going to hurt somebody else.   It means she’s human.

So, the real question is - why is she making this choice?  Let’s refer back to my earlier statement of why they slept together in 1x09:

Both are looking to grab onto something to take away the pain.

Every complaint I read about Maria’s choice seem to look upon this action as if Maria is in a happy, chipper place.  Like her life is hunky dory, and she has no reason to be in anything but the best headspace.  I’m really baffled by this interpretation.  So, let me enlighten you.  She’s not in a good headspace.

Will you step away from alien drama and take a good hard look at Maria’s life?  Let me give you the shorthand.  She has been solely responsible for her mother as her health failed for years.  She’s emotionally and mentally exhausted from that - we witness that in 1x07 and 1x09.  She is financially unstable despite owning the bar she also works at due to her mother’s medical bills. (Mentioned in 1x07)  Her own mother no longer recognizes her. (Stated in 1x09). And three days ago, considering the only questions Deputy Evans asked her that evening, she believes she was targeted and drugged by a serial killer.(Noah taking control of her and using her to steal the serum in 1x11)

Seriously?  How good a headspace do you think she’s in?  Chipper and well adjusted right now? Hell to the no.  Just like Michael, she is falling to pieces right now.  They are both in pain, both experts at fake it til you make it,  and choosing to grab onto something new that seems to promise happiness with no pain attached.  Do they honestly care about each other?  Yes.  Is it love?  No, I don’t think it is anywhere near that level yet.  If it weren’t for life really sucking right now, would they make this choice?  We don’t know - because that’s not the story we’re given.

From a storytelling standpoint, I actually wonder why they chose to reveal Alex and Michael’s relationship to her in 1x10, rather than hold out for second season.  It would have been easy not to do that scene, and have them get involved in an actual relationship before she found out.  I really don’t see how that would have hurt their relationship more than them putting them into a relationship and then her finding out, say,  Michael is an alien. (Still do not approve here.)  Liz found out before she got into a relationship with Max present day.  Alex found out during their break up, and before he chooses to pursue Michael again.  Even Cam found out after she split with Max.  Other than Noah, who doesn't really count anymore due to being an evil manipulative murderer who already knew anyway, nobody found out during a relationship.  How is that not going to be way worse a secret to reveal in the middle of a relationship?  Not to mention that her two best friends are also keeping this secret from her.   Right now I don’t see this plot ending happily for Maria, on any fronts.   So from a storytelling standpoint, especially as a fan of Maria, I hate this love triangle.

From a character headspace - All three are having potentially the most miserable year of their lives since they were seventeen, and are really effing things up.

#roswell new mexico #alex manes #Michael guerin #maria deluca #love triangles #malex #miluca #marichael #roswell nm #roswell cw #everyone is to blame for this mess #I still don't like this triangle set up

[diveronarpg]

Congratulations, JULIE! You’ve been accepted for the role of AJAX. Admin Minnie: Armand came to me out of nowhere, born out of a few concepts I thought could be interesting. But Julie, you brought him to life. I didn't think I could love him more but you added dimension and depth; you brought all his darkness to the table and paired it with all of the light he still carries. I genuinely think you may understand him better than I do, and I trust you with him completely. I can't wait for you to bless us and ruin us in the same breath. I can't wait to fall in love with him just a little bit more, with every word you write. Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

Alias | Julie

Age | 20 (!!!)

Preferred Pronouns | She/her/hers

Activity Level | Like a 5/10? Things have genuinely settled in life and I have a sort-of routine, since I’m working regularly, so while I’m not always here, the chances of me being active on a daily-ish basis are much higher. I’m also always lurking on Discord.

Timezone | MST

How did you find the RP? | I made a blood sacrifice asking for a good group and lo and behold, there you were. Thanks, roleplay deities!

Current/Past RP Accounts | Santino, Loretta

IN CHARACTER

Character | Ajax / Armand Giordano

What drew you to this character? | “He rises from his own ashes and abandons his humanity — as Ajax, and Ajax alone.” This line right here is really what did it for me. The concept of Armand shedding an old identity, a personal one, and taking on a new one is fascinating to me. I think a lot of characters within the mob don’t necessarily identify themselves by their nicknames, personally. Santino doesn’t think of himself as Sebastian, he thinks of himself as Santino, is what I mean. Armand, on the other hand, identifies closely with the name the Montagues have given him, because in his head that’s all that he has. The lines are very much blurred between Armand and Ajax. Armand is a direct result of catastrophe, pain, betrayal on two sides of a war he hadn’t even known existed up until it was forced upon him. Ajax, on the other hand, is the outline of his own actions, even if those actions were taken out of a need for survival. I don’t think it was intentional on his part, exactly, that cleaving of the past and the present in two, but I think he relies on it now heavily enough that he might feel lost without it.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

I WILL BEAT THEE INTO HANDSOMENESS. I’d like to explore just how Armand got the reputation of being the person not to fuck with in the Montagues. When you have a slate of powerhouses like Marcelo, Matthias, Grace, or even Valentina, when she’s not traipsing around on the other side, garnering that sort of reputation has to be difficult. He focuses intensely on physical prowess and I’m sure that it shows. How he uses it and the way he occupies a room is equally as important. I’m not saying it was achieved through blatant bloodshed, but delving into how it is that he’s established that sort of fear in saying the name Ajax sounds like a lot of fun. This also sort of opens the door to relationships with the Capulets. I’m sure he’s beaten the fuck out of a Capulet at some point, right? Who would that be? Was it because they were threatening Roman, or was it a hairstring reaction?

BUT BE AS AJAX. Armand takes his role of protector to Roman very seriously, as he should. I don’t think Armand’s necessarily the most book-smart but he can see the paths laid out for Roman in front of him, and Armand’s ready to clear the way if necessary. His silence around Damiano doesn’t indicate a fear of the man, only distrust, which I feel like is only growing after Damiano endangers not only himself but his own son after the death of the Witches. He’s focused so incredibly intently on Roman that most other priorities just fall away, because Armand believes Roman is the key to peace in the city. I don’t think he sees it as key to a mutual relationship between Capulets and Montagues in some sort of new age, because look at what that made out of a boy as young as sixteen. But he wants to lift Roman as high as possible to ascend upwards within the Montagues and claim his rightful seat on the throne. Armand discovering that Roman and Juliana are corresponding could either make or break that belief. I don’t think he’s emotionally capable enough to handle that sort of betrayal, because in that, he would only see his parents. I’d love to see how that route plays out in whatever direction it goes, whether he feels betrayed by Roman’s correspondence (whenever it comes to light) or more at peace with himself knowing that his parents weren’t the only ones in the city doing what they had done.

SHALL PRIDE CARRY IT? Armand protects others; it’s the key element of his personhood. That’s just what he does. It’s a natural role that comes to him with equal pride and ease, and how he feels about himself is largely reliant on how well he can keep those he cares about safe. But I’d love to see a situation where it’s less about the wellbeing of others, and more of his own, especially in the capacity of his parentage and emotions regarding that matter. Sure, Armand can hold his ground in a fight, but the use of his own parentage against him more or less broke him. And sure, he was young, but that sort of trauma changes a person vastly. He’s never looked love in the eye again, only violence and destruction of those who threaten what he cannot directly comprehend (read: love). I don’t know that it’s necessarily a secret, his birth, but I’m sure someone knows, and I feel like that could be used against him. How he reacts to that being used would be interesting to explore, and could be a potentially catalyst for greater overarching plots as well as his pride in his job and his role within the Montagues.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Sure!

IN DEPTH

In-Character Para Sample:

The ride back from the whole fucking affair is silent. The little prince is practically fuming in his seat across from Armand, and Armand is touching gingerly at the tenderness at his brow. He’s shocked that the drunkard got in any sort of a hit at all, but he had to respect the force of the swing. There’d been a blistering moment of pain-pleasure-pain before he’d swung the whole weight of his body forward to crack his skull against that of his opponent. The Capulet had crumpled to the ground with a groan, and his friends were quick to collect him and go running. Armand had laughed as they’d been dragged away, crowed in victory, called out after them: it won’t happen like that next time!

And then he’d turned, eyes searching for Roman in the gathering crowd, and Roman had looked at him so strangely, like he’d done something wrong, when this was all Armand knew how to do right—

Roman alternates between looking at Armand, huffing, and looking out the window, huffing still. The fight with Damiano earlier had been bad enough. A brawl in the streets between Capulets and Montagues sat as the cherry on top of the cake. He wants to say it was you who wanted to go so badly. Even so, Armand’s not a complete idiot. He knows how that would go. Rebellious or not, he’s not sure that this is how the heir saw their evening going. He’s sure the lashing words from Damiano tomorrow will be harsh, if not outright cruel. He’s only seen the man lecture his son once or twice, but it more or less follows the same pattern: you have a legacy, you’re important to Verona, and to me, blah, blah, blah. Armand usually just tunes him out.

The divider between the passengers and the driver is up. They could get it all out now, if they wanted to. Armand’s not sure he knows where to begin. They’re both new to this whole thing, though, that’s clear enough. If he looks out the window, he can see the Castelvecchio glittering in the distance, a jewel of architecture and stone. That’s what his fathers had called it, at least. He clears his throat. “Roman, it’s-”

“Don’t.”

Armand’s mouth snaps shut. Fine, then. If Roman doesn’t want to talk, then they won’t. He’s not sure how long he can endure this bubbling of emotions in such a small space. He knows Roman is passionate — almost passionate to a fault. But that could very well kill him, if he’s not careful. He could say I worry for you, it’s my job to keep you safe. He could say a thousand things. He’s just not sure it matters. He’s never been any good at this sort of thing, doesn’t think he ever will be. He opens and closes his hands, clenches and unclenches them into fists. Anything to be anywhere else but here.

Roman won’t look at him for the rest of the drive, and Armand’s almost grateful for it. He says nothing to him once they reach the grounds of the Montague family home. It’s late in the night. Damiano is surely asleep. No one greets them at the doors, and Armand makes sure that Roman makes it into his bedroom before moving into his own small space at the end of the hall. He has his own place, although less time is spent there, and more here. His days revolve around Roman, now, and he’s almost thankful for the distraction from everything else. The world gets a little too loud, sometimes, and it only ever quiets when he’s slamming his fists against the weight of a bag, or something hurts, or running hard enough that all the thoughts drain out of his head. Or, as he’s now found, when he’s with Roman. He knows it isn’t the same for the little prince, but Armand worries that if he gets caught up in his own thoughts, he’ll lose it. Do something stupid. Go mad, maybe. Wouldn’t that be a laugh: Ajax didn’t die doing his job. He died from insanity.

He slips his running shoes on and steps into the cold night air, stares up at the window of Roman’s room. The lamp-light is on, and besides, he won’t be gone long. One foot after the other, then the next, until all he can think about is the weight of his steps against the ground, until it starts to ache. When he can’t go any longer he forces his body to pick itself up and keep moving, until he collapses on the ground, gasping for breath. (It’s been a while since he’s done that, he realizes).

The sky is full of stars. He pants, tries to connect the lines between every one, synchronize his breath with the dull thrumming coming from the side of his head. There might be a cut there. He’s not sure. He hadn’t felt any blood.

The drumming of his own blood soon calms. When he stops gasping, Armand pulls himself up and stretches. Focuses on the lamplight in the distance. Starts running again. All his thoughts empty out of his head, and for once, the world is blissfully quiet.

Extras: N/A

#accepted: ajax #accepted

[sponfawn]

MTH - Buttercup & Mitch, Floyd, Lloyd, and Harry

This one goes out to a certain anon~ So this is surprisingly one topic that I haven't thought about extensively regarding MTH, but it’s a really interesting dynamic to think about. I wasn’t sure if by pre-breakup interactions between BC and the guys, anon meant like pre-relationship as a whole, or post-relationship but pre-breakup. So I thought about both. Disclaimer: because we don’t really have much to go on in terms of pre-relationship interactions, this is gonna be a bunch of conjecture based on how the characters currently behave and interact. I also gotta be honest, Harry and the twins tend to kinda clump together in my mind. I know what they looked like at 5yo, but in terms of current characterization they’re similar enough that they exist as a group in my head. Tho Harry does end up as the butt of a lot of jokes, more so than the twins. I guess that’s to be expected when your name is Harry Pitt.

This may have been stated in MTH in one of the early chapters, in which case, nevermind. But I feel like Buttercup probly started hanging out with the guys more starting at around when the Girls were 7 or 8? Blossom began her dance lessons at around 6 or 7, and I think 7 is around the age where kids in school start solidifying more who they consistently hang out with, and start subtly drifting a bit from siblings of about the same age. And as they got older (like maybe around 11/12) is really when Buttercup more clearly diverged from her sisters’ friends. In middle school, Blossom and Bubbles were both in choir apparently, and Buttercup rejected that completely. I’m guessing around that age or a year or so older is when they started wanting to form a band together, and then freshman year they actually started to play together as No Neck Joe. I think the guys started liking her pretty early in their collective friendship. I can imagine them all kinda realizing that they all had a crush on her. It’s possible it caused some mild conflicts between them, but I can’t imagine it lasted long at all. Then they came to a mutual agreement to prioritize their respective friendships with her. Honestly when Mitch and she started dating, I feel like Harry and the twins saw it coming and resigned to it without fuss. I just can’t see those 3 getting all pissy over it. Awkward? Yeah. Disappointed? Yeah. But not angry.

From what we see in their interactions after Butch becomes their buffer, I think they used to interact as a group much like how they did in chapter 9 at the Boys’ apartment, and in the video clip. Lots of ball busting, ribbing, general goofing off, and comfortable banter. Tho obviously with one difference being the current distance between Mitch and Buttercup. At this point in the story, while Buttercup and Mitch are starting to relax slightly around each other, they still kinda skirt the edges of the group and avoid much direct interaction. In group settings, Mitch was probably in a similar position that Butch currently inhabits, at least in terms of his closeness to Buttercup. That’s not to say that Butch is just a Mitch replacement tho. More that Harry, Floyd, and Lloyd are both relatively close to, and distant from, Buttercup. They’re in her closest friend group, but were never the closest to her within said group. Mitch and BC were BEST FRIENDS before ever going out, and that is the most obvious shift in the group as a whole. In my mind, Mitch likely interacted with her in less rough ways compared to Butch, both in term of rough housing (knowing that even if he could dish it out he wouldn't be able to take it), and dirty jokes aimed at/about her. I mean the guys have probly liked her for many years, and since they all were trying to hide their crushes i doubt any of them made many jokes suggesting any kind of attraction towards her. After Mitch and Buttercup started going out, that inclination would have probably increased (at least for Floyd, Lloyd, and Harry). Tbh, from the video Mitch was so earnest and sincere that I doubt he ever made dirty jokes about them as a couple, anyway. I feel like he’d be shy/awkward about that, especially knowing that she’d be flustered about it.

Based on the scene in the mall where the guys ask Buttercup to hang out with them for anti-prom, it’s pretty clear that not only is she just as shitty at communicating with her friends as she is with everyone else, but Mitch is as well. (To refresh memories, they're like “We don’t know what we did to piss you off, but whatever it is we’re so sorry and please be our friend again”, and she’s internally like “oh shit, that’s right they didn’t actually do anything and it’s not their fault, it was Mitch who told me”). I can understand why Mitch wouldn’t wanna talk about their breakup and the fact that he spilled the beans on all of them. But I bet it’s been lonely for them. Aside from the jealousy they probly had over Mitch being the one she chose to go out with, it was probly like being 3rd, 4th, and 5th wheels around them at times, cuz they were best friends even before dating. And in this situation, it wasn’t just feeling like an awkward entourage, it was like they fully lost one friend and the other one refused to clue them in as to why. I think if given the opportunity to be emotionally supportive in some way, theyd be fucking dorks about it but they’d try their best. But they were never given that opportunity by Mitch or BC, despite being friends since kindergarten. I feel like that probly hurt them, to be treated like it had nothing to do with them, even tho they were all friends. They haven't really addressed it, partly out of not wanting to accidentally push Buttercup away again, and partly cuz they’re just so relieved that they’re all friends again. I doubt they’ll ever decide to bring it up. Tho i could see Harry having a sudden outburst about it if she ever tries to ghost on them again. Idk why exactly but I feel like he’s the one most likely to have the guts to be vulnerable like that (both in expressing discontent/anger about something like that, and in terms of possibly invoking BC’s wrath). He seems slightly more assertive in some ways than the twins, and I feel like the twins look to each other a lot to decide what to say and when to speak up about something, which makes both of them hesitant to be the first to bring something up. Whenever I imagine who first brought up the idea of them forming a band, it’s always either Mitch or Buttercup, and Harry and the twins jump on the bandwagon. I think all 3 of them are less inclined to take the lead, but when necessary, Harry nervously steps up to the plate. After all, he is “the most determined drowning man of them all”, who spoke up first and ended up actually inviting her to their mini anti-prom.

I’ve been in BC’s position before, unwittingly pulled into the crush zone by friends, and I know the heartbreak over finding out someone just hung out with you cuz they wanted to get in your pants. But I don’t think that's fully the case for Harry and the twins. I’m sure they fantasize about it, but I think they genuinely care about her and value her friendship. At one point, she’s thinking about how she thought the guys “saw her” as a person, but after finding out they all liked her she feels like they didn’t actually see or like her as a full person at all, just as a “girl”. And again, I fully understand that feeling. But I think it also speaks volumes about how she perceives crushes and guys who have them. She knows that guys objectify girls, and I think she’s really internalized how attractive women are portrayed in various media, as well as how her sisters are perceived by virtual strangers - girls/women are not attractive due to their athletic feats, their sense of humor, their thoughts, their personalities, or their strength. They are attractive due to physical looks and femininity, and she equates being seen as “attractive/desirable” with being seen in a 1 dimensional and objectified way. She’s surprisingly like Blossom in that way (I’m thinking specifically about the scene in the diner and how she reacts after the photoshoot where she was asked to pose on the cover of a men’s magazine - “I don’t have a problem with people thinking I’m pretty... But... I do all this other stuff”), altho the way it manifests in their behavior is different. With Mitch she was ok with him liking her, and I think that’s partly cuz she liked him back but also cuz of how close they were. As best friends, she felt he saw her more completely than anyone else - until she realized that he thought she was interested in the other guys as “backups” and didn't see how much she loved him. (Which is interesting to me, cuz while she didn’t voice her feelings much to him, even Butch “emotionally constipated” Jojo could see how much she loved him through the videos and pics. It’s normal to feel insecure or unsure about someone’s feelings if they don’t communicate them, but I wonder if Mitch ever looks at those pics and realizes in retrospect how much she loved him.)

It makes me happy that she’s at least marginally getting better about communicating, even if it’s just with Butch (I hope that ability grows to other ppl for her as well). But for me it just highlighted how Buttercup doesn’t really have a support system. With the guys, she never talked about the tough stuff. I mean they didn’t seem at all surprised that she wasn't telling them why she was upset with them. She is very adverse to showing any sign of what she perceives as weakness, and since even Mitch had a hard time understanding her feelings, I’m sure it hasn’t been easier for the other guys by any means. They have fun together and share common interests, which is great, but she really keeps them at arm’s length. This is another aspect that's similar with Blossom, even tho Buttercup goes out with friends more often. They’re both quite emotionally isolated, tho Buttercup is now sharing more with Butch and Blossom is quite close with Bubbles. Of course, this isn’t due to a shortage of ppl around them who want to be close to them, but their own issues with showing vulnerability. I hope we get to see them open up a bit to more people. Now I’m honestly really interested in seeing how Harry, Floyd, and/or Lloyd would respond if Buttercup had like a serious conversation with one or all of them.

#sbj more than human #sbj more than human amv #meta #i guess? #for anon

[butterfly-winx]

Zenith

- Do you know about Zenith? No? I mean you own a computer so you must. I hear the whole planet is covered in one large city.

- Zenith lives up to its name, as it is regarded to be the home to the height technological development in the Magic Universe. It houses the more universities, research institutes and engineering testing fields on its tiny surface than Magics and Earth combined.

- Though it is true that the planetoid is covered with a seemingly uniform cityscape, there are patches of untended ground peeking through, mainly the polar seas.  Antitheva and Bitheva may only classify as large lakes elsewhere, but they are perfectly fit for a small planet of Zenith’s size. They even help populations of merfolk at some point in time.

- The overwhelming amount of construction covering the planet’s surface has long become its vice. With no reflective surfaces left and with machinery forced to operate day and night to fuel the latest technological advancements, the whole planet has become a singular heat trap. The seas were boiling and the air was unbreathably hot. What got research going however was the failing performance of their heavy duty machinery, screws sweating and bending out of shape, lasers blinking tired and unfocused. They devised a plan to cool down the surface of the planet by releasing agents to shield them from the thermal effects of solar rays, and achieved the impossible. Zenith’s climate has since then settled on a comfortable average of 250 K.

- The seas froze over and the merpeople disappeared - or maybe they did already during the boiling phase, out of their luck living off already dead fish. Urban development was given final approval and the last patches of earth disappeared from sight, buried under the striving for more.

- Despite its  aforementioned properties, Zenith is no monolith and it would be amiss to describe it as such. Zeniths countries and cultures are diverse, only connected by their burning need for advancement and their fight against the cold. They have a spectrum of governance forms in the different countries ranging from democracy, constitutional monarchy to representative republic and in some cases even direct democracy of people. 

- As cities cover all of the planet, it is difficult to determine where individual settlements in a country begin and end. Country borders are the only demarcations, each government shielding itself with force fields, trenches or physical walls from imagined spies and malevolence.

- Techna’s home of Haikar is in a country that still tries to honour the memory of the separate settlements that have melded together. So Haikar is not a separate town as much as it is just a borough with its own town governance, and is considered to be the capital of Transjordan.

- Other Zenith country names with capitals where applicable: Tribilisi (Kandu), Gorgan, Nuzul (Xihat), Tbaku, Navyol, Urzghar

- Most of these countries don’t get along with each other too well. As is understandable, seeing as they are very culturally diverse. Each wants to be the best though and their most bitterly fought battles are usually over patent rights and the tenure of well-respected scientists. As banal as these reasons seem, as brutal are their methods of mutual sabotage to keep the leading edge. 

- Transjordan unfortunately is quite small and has many neighbours, so their paranoia and battle readiness is markedly large even on planet. Growing up, Techna went through disaster and terror awareness training regularly, to the point where they could probably recite what to do in case you found a car bomb better than they could explain a simple recipe.

- Oh and are recipes important! As clean edged people think the inhabitants of Transjordan are, there is nothing minimalist about their food choices. They love combining spices and textures and always serve feasts with generosity rivalling Eraklyon’s. Deserts usually have some sort of fruits, nuts AND some preserve in them, the combinations endless.

- While it is true that for the most part, cultures on Zenith value a simple approach to things. If it can be done in a few words, why waste a sentence on it? Bureaucracy is usually a two-click-formula affair, their whole lives are condensed on a sigle digital display ID, shopping comes to you at home. Hell even marriages are just an affair of simple form signing. 

- But food is where they really go full ham. It is not seen as frivolous to waste 10 eggs on a cake, because what you are doing creating nutrition and enjoyment. It is simply reasonable and efficient to go to the max when you do that and create an absolute delicacy you can gorge yourself on in one slice or less.

- So if they are so into feasting and enjoying things with purpose, what gives Zenithians such a bad name? Well, it is just that. People of Transjordan for example, like to enjoy things with purpose. They don’t really care much for music or theatre, they are just activities to air your brain out. They will import off-world made products, but there isn’t a lot of room for cultural arts on Zenith because they channel their passion elsewhere.

- Yes you heard right, Zenithinas have passion galore. They just, in the Universe's most efficient move, channel that passion into the work they already do. The majority of scientific discoveries have been made because somebody cared enough to look deep into a topic and push further, because previous answers were unsatisfactory. Children are coached to find something that inspires this level of devotion in them and have extensive education and support networks to get them there.

- On the topic of children: most of them aren’t the genetic descendants of their parents, rather a random selection from the common gene pool. The public gene pool is a hotly debated topic, but a long established structure of procreation that only the very wealthy have the option to contest. (There is a way to gain approval to sire an own baby from just the genes of two people, but it is extremely costly.) 

  In some research some time ago it was determined that for the optimal survival of people on the planet, genetic relation to the parents raising the child was not only suboptimal, but actively detrimental to overall population survival. In this “more civilised” approach, parents apply for a baby who is conceived and birthed in bioreactors. This way no people who can conceive are put through undue stress and the public gene pool babies also carry less hereditary health conditions. It is supposedly a win-win situation, yet it leaves a sour taste in most people’s mouth. No wonder less and less Zenithians plan families if that is the process they have to do it by.

- As straightforward as they are, Zenithians often struggle when communicating with people from other planets and not only because of arising cultural differences. Sure any Zenithian would blush and pale when forced into a situation dealing with overly expressive Solarians, but in any other regular case, the Universal Translation Spell is not on their side either. Jordan is a very logical and to the point language and the floralitiy of other languages is impossible to be transferred to it. The UTS instead produces blocky, difficult to parse translations that often leave Techna confused to the intentions of others.

- It is of course evident that the main industry of the planet is electronics production and R&D. Companies on Zenith produce all manners of gadgets, but they are best in creating refrigeration technology (ironic, right?), astronomic instruments, self-propulsion transportation (vehicles) and medical diagnostic tools and applications. The associated application programming industry is also booming with server houses the size of smaller cities. It is no surprise that Zenith’s electricity consumption is through the roof with such a vital sector to support.

- Before their trade for electricity with Solaria, Zenithian people used static electricity discharges to harvest energy. Their planet being covered with one gigantic city didn’t leave much space for utilising the natural resources of their planet. All the mineral ore having been exhausted, no major flowing waters left and stranded with miserable and cold weather the options for energy sources were limited. What they had however was tall buildings and thunderstorms, so they used lightning harvesters for ages. 

- With the storm and snow clouds obscuring the sky most days, Zenith is quite dark. The cities illuminate themselves, kind of like year round festive ornamentation. 

- Spirituality is an interesting topic on planet that everyone you ask will have a different answer for. Major parts of Tribilisi and Urzghar for example believe in machine assisted immortality. They see machines as superior to biological matter and work towards the unfallability and omniscience of artificial intelligence in which part of their conscience will be able to rest after death. The predominant belief in Transjordan that Techna grew up with is that after death, there is nothing. Based on the theory of energy conservation, what one doesn’t use and convert into heat will be redistributed into the rest of the world. It is selfish to think one could hold on to any energy after death.

- Most people also don’t care for magic. Sure some magic users crop up among them here and there, but they most likely remain untrained. This is why Techna chose a school off planet to pursue their passion and why they weren’t claimed as a Guardian fairy of Zenith after they graduated. (Since this position doesn’t exist.)

- Almost all things on the planet are solved non-magically accordingly. Their transport systems are unparalleled with some regions using small-distance whole structure replication, aka honest to god matter teleportation. The frozen over seas are also fully utilised with air cushion containerships cruising the flat expanse. Along a certain longitude Zenith also sports a unique feature: the longitudinal crust train. A four meter wide segment of the planet, as if cut out of the surrounding cityscape, moves on straight rails around the whole circumference of the planet. It is the fastest mode of civilian transport available.

- They need all the good transportation and radio transmission they can get - by the way, the Universe Wide Web is also a Zenithian invention, who would have thought - as with their living space limited, Zenithian countries have spilled over onto nearby moons, essentially colonising and terraforming those.

- So, you see, Zenith and either of its countries aren’t by far as boring as one might think on the first glance and most of them certainly don’t shy back from showing emotion.

#winx club #worldbuilding #winx club zenith #zenith #butterfly fic #winx techna #I held onto this for so long I think this has the longest collection of hcs of all of the planets posts #just to clarify: zenith is the planet transjordan the country and haikar the city techna is from #also bonus points to anyone who can find the cities/places on a map that I derived the Zenithian country names from

[trentteti]

Which Schools Are Accepting the GRE Now?

For years, law schools were wedded to the LSAT. Like any marriage, it had its ups and downs, but it was a bedrock relationship. The LSAT, after all, was the test developed for law schools. The LSAT pledged to help law school assess the lawyerly mettle of applicants; law schools promised to use the LSAT as its primary means of applicant appraisal. Through these vows, a mutually beneficial partnership was forged.

But, as stories as old as time have told us, the heart wants what it wants. As the LSAT and law schools hit a rough patch of dwindling applicant pools, some law schools began seeking romance outside the homestead. Law schools began gazing towards the LSAT’s neighbor, the GRE. They saw in the GRE the saw a slightly more free and easy alternative to their spouse. They imagined a road not taken, a life not lived. Some, in fact, imagined taking that road now. The University of Arizona, in particular, couldn’t contain itself — its fiery passion for the GRE perhaps stoked by the sweltering heat of Tuscon, Arizona. It became the first school to step out on the LSAT. A messy fight ensued, but when Harvard Law — a respected pillar of the law school community! — declared it too would tryst with the GRE, the LSAT realized it might be permanently sharing its partner’s affections with the GRE.

Since then, many law schools have been either making flirty eyes towards the GRE, if not outright proposing an extra-marital affair. This year, both UCI and Bama Law made their dalliances with the GRE public. And earlier this summer, Yale — whose relationship with the LSAT has in part taken it all the way to the top spot of the U.S. News & World Report rankings — tweeted that it too will become a polyamorous law school. For those keeping track of these affaires de cœur at home, here’s a full list of all the schools accepting the GRE or another non-LSAT test, in the order of their U.S. News rankings:

• Yale Law School (#1) • Harvard Law School (#3) • Columbia Law School (#5) • New York University School of Law (#6) • University of Pennsylvania Law School (#7) • Northwestern School of Law (#10) • Cornell Law School (#13) • Georgetown Law Center (#14) • UCLA School of Law (#15) • USC Gould School of Law (#17) • Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (#18) • University of California, Irvine School of Law (#23) • Alabama Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law (#25) • Wake Forest School of Law (#31) • BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School (#39) • University of Arizona James E. Rodgers College of Law (#39) • Florida State College of Law (#48) • Cardozo School of Law (#52) • SMU Dedman School of Law (#52) • Penn State Law at University Park (#64) • Brooklyn Law School (#71-Tie) • Penn State Dickinson Law (#71-Tie) • St. John’s School of Law (#77) • Texas A&M School of Law (#83) • Chicago-Kent College of Law (#87) • Florida International University College of Law (#91) • University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law (#91) • Buffalo School of Law (#104) • Pace Law School (#122) • John Marshall Law School (#146)

(The University of Chicago (#4) and University of Georgia (#27) will waive the LSAT requirement if you’re getting a dual degree program; Berkeley Law (#10) will let applicants in concurrent or combined degree programs and specialized practice fields like patent or energy law use a GRE score).

So there are quite a few schools that are accepting the GRE in lieu of the LSAT now — it’s like its the swinging 70s in law school, to further that already strained metaphor. Expect this number to grow, too. Making a public announcement that your law school will accept the GRE is a no-brainer for law schools. They’ll get their schools’ name in the news, make statements that espouse unassailable ideals like diversity and accessibility and inclusion and innovation, and maybe slightly increase the quality of their applicant pools. If I were a law school dean, and my school could afford the testing process required by the ABA’s Standard 503, I’d make this announcement in a heartbeat. Even though I love the LSAT — enough to start this blog post with some weird fanfic equating the LSAT to a spurned spouse.

But we’re not here to strategize as hypothetical law school deans. We’re here to talk about what this means for you as a future law school applicant. What does it mean now that a bunch of law schools are letting applicants in with a GRE score? Is that dramatically going to change the applicant field? Should you get in on some of the GRE action?

If you’ve already taken the LSAT and are going to use that score to apply to law schools, and you’re worried that an influx of GRE-takers might make the field way more competitive, fret not. Admissions consultant Mike Spivey recently spoke to a bunch of deans of schools that are accepting the GRE, and the general take-away is that there aren’t that many applicants applying to law school with the GRE. A “fairly small volume[],” according to Wake Forest’s dean. At Harvard — that bellwether of GRE acceptance — only 18 out of 566 students in its entering class in 2018 had a reportable GRE score. And that number likely includes some who had both an LSAT and a GRE score. And Harvard has the most students admitted with the GRE. USC, George Mason, Washington at St. Louis, and Cardozo each admitted just one student with a GRE score. So any effect GRE may be having on the admissions field is really small, at least for now.

But what if you’re studying for the LSAT, but want to keep your options open? Maybe try out the GRE instead of, or in addition to, the LSAT? Is that a good idea? It’s a great question; as is true for all great questions, the answer is “it depends.” Studying for the GRE isn’t uniformly easier or harder than studying for the LSAT. It tests skills that are different from, but somewhat adjacent to, the skills the LSAT tests. Plus, it has math. Maybe the GRE skills are slightly more in your wheelhouse, maybe your skills are better suited for the LSAT. If you haven’t started studying either, it may make sense to try out both exams, and see which one is your cup of tea. For what it’s worth, a former Blueprint instructor and supreme standardized test-knower thinks the GRE is an exceedingly stupid test.

If you’re open to taking the GRE though, you shouldn’t assume that you can prove your fealty to the legal profession by taking both the GRE and the LSAT, or that you can rescue a so-so LSAT score with a high GRE score. We’re still in the admissions-offices-are-getting-the-hang-of-how-to-deal-with-the-GRE-phase of things, but in that Spivey article, one of the few points of agreement amongst deans was that admissions officials will not draw inferences — positive or negative — about your choice of test. They won’t think you’re less committed for taking the GRE instead of the LSAT, and they won’t think you’re more committed if you take both.

You should also be aware of the fact that if you take the LSAT, the admissions offices will see any and all LSAT scores you received in the last five years. Even if you’ve taken the GRE and would prefer the law schools to just judge you based on that. In fact, some law schools, like Wake Forest and Chicago-Kent won’t allow you to apply with the GRE if you have a reportable LSAT score. If you are able to apply with both, some schools, like UCLA, BYU, and USC, claim that they’ll evaluate you based on both scores. At other schools, it seems like the LSAT score will weigh more heavily in their decision. Some schools, like Harvard, claim they’ll even consider your GRE Quantitative (read: math) score. And what if you try out the GRE, and get a substandard score? Can you just hide that from law schools? As in, not report it to schools you apply to? Well, multiple deans in that Spivey article claim that hiding reportable GRE scores may raise red flags regarding your character and moral fitness.

Since you can’t just take both tests and apply with the better score, there really aren’t any advantages to taking both tests. So we recommend just choosing one, and dedicating all your effort into it. We’d recommend the LSAT, since it is still the only exam accepted by all 203 ABA-accredited law schools. But this is your path, and thus your decisions to make. Try both out, pick one, and then fully commit to it. Because unlike law schools and the LSAT, your commitment should be unwavering.

Which Schools Are Accepting the GRE Now? was originally published on Blueprint LSAT Blog

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