#this angsty boi has some serious childhood trauma

[dgalerab]

alright here's my thoughts on how you'd fix stranger things (starting at s3 bc my stance was always that i could deal with how s3 did s2 dirty if it was building up to something properly in s4 and haha. hahaha. hahahaha. ahahahahahaahaha.)

mostly in vague terms of character arcs bc i'm still niggling at the idea of writing some screenplays for alternate episodes as a writing exercise

max vs mike: honestly the max/mike as foils aspect was GALAXY BRAINED and UNDERUTILIZED but it should have been mike's hypervigilance vs max's rebellion. *me dry heaving with the urge to not go on a rant about how the duffer bros see anyone with a gf as Normal and this blinds them to the traumatic elements that--*

mike should have been, honestly, on the same side as hopper. like, he's an angsty pre-teen so he won't ADMIT that he's on hopper's side but i think his friction with the party should have been that he's constantly overthinking where el can go without being noticed. you could still have the hormonal teens aspect with some grumpiness vs hopper but i think the overall aspect should have been that mike and hopper are very similarly overly protective

meanwhile max is going through it at home with extremely overbearing patriarchal figures. setting up for her grief arc in season 3, we really should have seen how billy is being abused, how he hands it down to max (by being biting with her from a safe distance since she laid down the law) and how she then struggles not to hand that down to lucas (also she should have had another moment where she again threatens billy away from lucas, showcasing the fact that she's as protective as mike is, despite her quarreling with lucas). so coming off this oppressive environment, she pushes to get el into freedom, being a little bit reckless, bc honestly who's gonna know? wound up with teenage overconfidence for taking on billy + a little bit of a self harm undertone because of her frustration with herself for inadvertent curtness with lucas bc of her struggles at home

the nancy/jonathan subplot is pretty good, but honestly? i think both of their sides should have been legitimized. keep and possibly even amplify all the moments with karen and nancy and the very serious fact that nancy is the victim of misogyny, but also give the byers more money troubles!! give jonathan and joyce moments where they're struggling financially! give joyce struggling to find work bc everything is shutting down because of the mall!! *slams fists on tables* lean into the horror of the mall!! the mall devours!!! the mall is the flesh monster, devouring all!!!!

ANYWAY

shut the absolute fuck up with making hopper unlikable so he can be redeemed by *checks notes* being tortured in a russian prison. fucking christian-ass hellsinner nonsense. give me hopper floundering trying to give joyce a sense of safety. taking her seriously but not knowing how to help. knowing she's thinking of moving away for money and trauma reasons. being scared to ask her to stay. being scared to offer to protect her. and honestly, i think he should have moved to cali with them, purely bc joyce felt safer that way and that's part of his redemption arc is just to trust her

make will less uwu babey boy. boy's been possessed. let him be fucking sloppy and mean. have him fighting not (entirely) against his friends to keep his lost childhood, but also himself. give him a crushes he doesn't want to have. make him be a dick about lucas and mike trying to get el back after the breakup. make mike be a dick back bc will started getting personal. FUCKING INCLUDE LUCAS IN THE ARGUMENT BRO

speaking of lucas has such an underdeveloped character arc in season 3 you'd have to invent it from scratch and tbh i'm still fucking noodling on this one. i feel like it'd have to contrast max and mike's different takes on overprotection. honestly, i feel like lucas' entire thing is the competition for hero with mike in s1, which would be an interesting arc - like, honestly, it would be fun if lucas was getting REALLY into tactics and it's part of the reason he hard commits to fixing mike and el's relationship but he's also weird about d&d now. it would make an interesting shift from the whole "sorry will lol we have GIRLFRIENDS now so we don't have TIME for interests, that's how PUBERTY works bc what 13-14 yos are really known for is being really normal about their interests and only being into girls). like maybe they've been straying from d&d bc mike's overvigilance is leaking into his dming and lucas' tactical special interests are leaking into his rp and dustin's over it and will wants them to just play d&d NORMALLY bc he doesn't want to face that he's not normal anymore and never will be again and this is deeply intertwined with the horror of puberty and queerness and trauma

i like the scoops troop dynamic but i think they shouldn't have been so disconnected from the party. i think there should have been this chaos with mike and max's war of the different flavors of the same person and lucas' Operation Get My Bf and Gf to Agree campaign and meanwhile dustin is like "so anyway there's a russian base underground" and they're like "DUSTING THERE'S NOT A RUSSIAN BASE UNDER THE MALL"

i don't care about alexei get rid of him

honestly i don't care if this is my get babygirl steve a boyfriend agenda, i think eddie should have been introduced in s3 as a direct foil to billy and a queer puberty parallel for will. i'm too winded from my other thoughts to elaborate but i'm right

karen should have divorced ted. instead of being like "what am i doing nearly fucking a teenager i have a family" she should have been like "what am i doing nearly fucking a teenager i gotta GET OUT OF THIS FUCKING MARRIAGE"

anyway tbc i need a breather before i deal with season 4

#words of ain #st

[silverquillsideas]

Hi...if you don't mind me asking who are your top 10 favorite anime couples (can be canon or fanon)? And why? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....

Hi! Oof this is another tricky one lol.... The way I ship is basically in two ways : obsess over ships from shows I'm currently watching for a few weeks/months, and then the love sort of fades away :3

OR find my OTPs and consistently obsess for years :D

So, the following list contains both my current/older ships and some of my OTPs :P

Naruto/Sasuke

My OTP of all OTPs. The love of my shipper life 😍 I have so many bones to pick with Naruto as a media/show, but I'll be grateful it gave me SNS, I'll never stop being in awe of their unparalleled story :')

Victor/Yuuri

Canon, comfort pairing, sweetness to the max. Victuuri is like that soft blanket u tuck yourself into in winter mornings, or that cup of hot cocoa you sip while sitting on a windowsill. They warm my heart <3

Bakudeku

Lolll can u tell I have a type? I'm a goner for childhood friends (+rivals) to lovers tropes, and bkdk has that and SO MUCH more. Someday, I'll read the bnha manga from start to finish just because of these two :')

Royai

The only het ship in anime I can respect, besides Sakura and Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura 😌 they are the royal couple, so to speak. So much of shared history, trauma between them. Yet will give up their lives for each other, the trust and faith and sheer badassery of this ship is just ❤️

Touya/Yukito

My first ever ship at age 14, the very first time I discovered that two boys can fall in love w each other and that's okay too!! I can't express how grateful I am to Cardcaptor Sakura for being basically the show which made me fall in love w anime, and introducing me to the glorious concept of *ahem* BL 👀

Iwaoi

Another freaking amazing ship. My favourite ship in haikyuu!! This one ticks so many of my boxes : childhood friends to lovers, teammates who trust e/o unconditionally, and pull each other up, the idiot A and serious/responsible B 😂 Two people who basically spend their whole lives together :*3 and look at them!!! The dorks!!! 😍

Miyuki/Chris

This one came outta nowhere and totally hooked me in. Idk what it is about them : the potential angst, the misunderstandings, the rivalry and respect as fellow teammates, Chris' trauma about having his place snatched by this brilliant kid he helped scout....just...so much shared past :3 I'm sorry miyusawa fans, while I like it too, this one just took the top spot for me from DNA :')

Soukoku

BSD was a huge obsession in 2019, and soukoku undoubtedly became one of my fav ships. Self explanatory : rivals / long time friends / only two ppl who keep each other sane / the daily bickering like a married couple / Dazai giving awful nicknames to Chuuya and teasing him all the time and so much more 😂 they're simultaneously both clowns, as well as two traumatised individuals complementing e/o

Saigenos

Cute and hilarious ship honestly. But has the potential to be angsty and serious too. This was a short hyperfixation a while ago, and I still remember it fondly ❤️

________

A confession at the end : I had to exclude some of my other, more beloved ships, because the tumblr crowd is.... Let's say, too delicate to handle those lmfao 👀 I don't want delusional antis to come screeching with pitchforks at my blog, so I'll stick to the softer ships 😂

#yuri on ice #victuri #naruto #opm #bnha #bakudeku #daiya no ace #bsd #soukoku #toyuki #cardcaptor sakura #haikyuu!! #iwaoi #fmab #royai #asks

[lilyofthesword-writes]

Hunter (Kurama Oneshot)

Summary: Kurama reminisces over his early human childhood memories while he waits for you to regain consciousness from your comatose state.

Pairing: Kurama x F!Reader (Can be read as platonic)

Word Count: 1,864

Disclaimers/Warnings: Short depictions of bullying, childhood trauma. Angsty but there is still some fluff to be found.

A/N: Set post-canon. This pulls in bits of Supernatural lore, specifically some of the creatures seen in the series, but is not actually set in the Supernatural universe. This is something I’ve had in my head ever since I started the series over five years ago. Feels awesome to finally have it written out! Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Your breath was slow as it filled your lungs, almost as though it were fueling your comatose slumber. Kurama stood idly against the wall, watching over you in the hospital bed. He didn’t necessarily need to be there, but he felt like he should. For what it’s worth, he hadn’t seen or heard from you since you were children. He wondered if your eyes still held the same fire that coursed through them all those years ago.

In his younger years before puberty, he hadn’t been the most popular amongst the children at the playground. His bright ruby hair and green eyes made him stand out and not in a good way. While the parents found him adorable, most the kids did not. His mother, Shiori, always did her best to keep a close eye on him, but being a single mother presented various challenges for both of them. She was unable to catch every moment when the other children would pick on him, purposely leaving him out of their fun. His first true glimpse into humanity should have left him jaded, and it did, at least until you showed up.

One morning, while his mother was preoccupied, one of the boys shoved him onto the gravel, scuffing Kurama’s hands as he braced himself for the fall. It hurt, just not enough to make him cry. He was still a demon of the Makai after all. It would take more than that for him to show pain. He glared up at the boy, but his view was blocked by the small back of another child.

“Why do you have to be so mean?” Although your voice was quiet, it still managed to express more rage than a yell or scream ever could.

The boy’s retort died on his tongue. He could have said something. Any child would have, however lackluster it could have been. There was just something about that situation that made him turn tail and run back to his friends.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Kurama’s voice was just as soft.

Spinning on your heels, you swung around to face him. Your face was serious with the twinge of a pout on your lips. “But neither did he.”

You watched his confused expression curiously, the brightness in your eyes not dimming for a single moment. He wasn’t sure if he should thank you or just leave, still unsure of this being human situation.

“What’s your name?” You cut through his thoughts.

“Shuuichi.”

Your hand shot out to help him up as you gave him your name. He accepted it reluctantly. The warmth of it seeped through his skin, a warmth he still remembered as he stood by your side in the hospital.

Reaching his feet, he continued to study you. Why didn’t you act like the others? You grinned and squeezed the hand you were still holding for whatever reason. “Wanna play on the swings, Shuu-chan?”

He didn’t really like the nickname. Others kids tried to call him that and were shot down immediately. Yet from you... It sounded right, like you were the only one meant to call him that. He joined you on the swings every day you two met up at the park. When he learned you and your family moved in next door, the days you weren’t at the park were spent at one of your houses.

He wouldn’t be adverse to hearing you say it again. Kurama thought about what it would be like now that you were an adult. Would it still sound just as right? Would you even remember the nickname, or even him for that matter? You had only known each other for a couple of years. Did he make as much of an impression on your life as you did his?

The day you had to leave was one of the most upsetting in his human life, second only to his mother’s terminal illness he and Yusuke had managed to cure with the Forlorn Hope artifact. He had woken from a light sleep, sensing a demonic entity nearby. Then, there came a faint smell of smoke. Fully alert, he dashed to the window to peer outside. The smoke was coming from your home.

By the time he flew down the stairs and out the kitchen side door, the house was already engulfed in flames, no doubt due to the demon. He flung himself over the fence and ran to the large tree that grew beside your window on the second floor. You had your window thrown open when he started climbing, your choked coughs and sobs were engulfing all of his senses. You couldn’t reach the branch that protruded out to you, but he could close the gap. He could get you out of there.

And he did. He grabbed your hand and pulled you onto a sturdier part of the branch before the end broke off and fell into the grass below. The way you sobbed in his arms... He couldn’t bring himself to pull away and have you climb down the tree with him. No. He opted to wait for the fire department to safely bring you both down.

Shiori cradled the two of you in her arms after the firemen brought you to the paramedics for a check-up. Other than smoke inhalation, you were physically fine. Emotionally? That was an entirely different story. Losing your parents and the newborn baby brother you had been so excited for was not something you should have had to experience. You had stopped crying, but it was like you weren’t even there. The light in your eyes had dwindled to nearly nothing.

Over the following few days, you stayed with the Minamino’s. You barely ate and your sleep was plagued with nightmares. Your dreams were filled with the demon that destroyed your life. You had caught a glimpse of it before you were rescued but that was all it took. Kurama desperately wanted to help you sleep, help you live. His abilities had not yet amassed to their full potential, so the plants he knew would work, he could not grow. For the first time in his long life, he felt truly hopeless.

Your aunt and uncle, your only living relatives he quickly learned, were at the Minamino’s doorstep later that week. They had come from overseas for you as soon as they had heard about your family. While they were clearly apprehensive at the thought of staying any longer than necessary, they still allowed you enough time to say your goodbyes. Shiori embraced you as any mother would, full of warmth and love. When you hugged Kurama, you poured every part of you into it. You didn’t want to leave but understood you had no choice.

“Goodbye, Shuu-chan.”

The last words he heard from you echoed in Kurama’s head. He had thought that goodbye was permanent. It never once crossed his mind that you would find your way back into his life.

“Kurama?”

His mind snapped back to the present.

“Botan,” he greeted casually.

The blue-haired reaper was tentative in her response. “How is she doing?”

“Still dreaming. She should wake soon.”

The djinn Koenma sent him after should be dead before dawn if the carnivorous plant he seeded in the creature’s chest had anything to say about it. Then, its spell would be lifted.

“Good...” Botan stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Did you find out anything?”

“We... We found a lot on her, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“Will it explain why she was there?”

Botan relented with a sigh. “Yes.”

Kurama stepped forward, gently swiping at the hair that had fluttered onto your face because of the air conditioning vent above you. “Then, tell me.”

She huffed and came around to stand on the other side of your bed. Gripping the railing, she watched your peaceful form. “Kurama... She comes from a line of hunters. At least on her mother’s side, she does.”

He glanced up at Botan before placing a large hand over yours.

“Against her mother’s wishes, her aunt and uncle trained her to continue that line. She excelled at it for quite a few years.”

No... Not you of all people.

“Why past tense? What has changed recently?”

“She started working alone after her caretakers passed away. We’ve found instances of her starting a hunt but not following through. The most recent was a small nest of vampires in the United States. They were breeding cattle to feed off of, never once having a drop of human blood. She... She wound up defending them against other hunters.”

Despite the short couple of years he spent with you, that sounded more like you. Kurama held your fingers so delicately as though they were glass, stroking your knuckles with his thumb. “So she was hunting tonight...”

Botan nodded nervously. “I believe so. It wouldn’t be hard for a skilled hunter to put together the pieces from all the news reports of missing women.”

Yes... The missing women found dead a week later after they had been reported, drained of blood with only a tiny needle wound as the culprit. Had you beaten him there only to be captured yourself?

“I wonder what you are dreaming about...” Kurama muttered more to himself than anyone. Most djinns preferred their victims to have pleasant dreams as they fed on their blood. Complacency lowered the chance of the human waking up and escaping.

Silence settled in the tiny room, tense and thick. Botan’s head hung low with her gaze still on you. You certainly did not look like a hunter by any means. Then again, your unassuming looks could aid in how dangerous you really were.

“You know Koenma will want to see her when she wakes up,” Botan’s quiet voice still felt too loud for the room.

“Yes... However, I would like to speak with her first.”

“Of course. I will leave you to it.” Botan left and returned him to the quiet of the room.

About an hour later, sunlight was just barely beginning to peak over the horizon. He had sat himself in the chair next to the bed, waiting for you to open your eyes. He had spent most of the time racking his brain on how he would explain everything.

You had caught Spirit World’s attention with this one. It sounded like you had been trying to atone, but Koenma still needed to do his job. Maybe, if he took a liking to you, then you would be more like Kurama or Yusuke and be assigned random missions to protect the three realms. Although, that may have been wishful thinking on his part.

He heard the sheets rustle ever so slightly. Your eyes flitted under your eyelids. Kurama surged forward, taking your now twitching hand in his. A dry, raspy groan left your throat as you slowly woke. Even in the low light, your eyes had trouble adjusting. Yet, they settled on him regardless. Confusion turned to recognition when you were finally able to focus properly, his original question being answered.

“Shuu-chan?”

#Kurama x reader #kurama x you #shuichi x reader #shuichi x you #shuuichi x reader #shuuichi x you #suichi x reader #suichi x you #shuichi minamino x reader #shuichi minamino x you #shuuichi minamino x reader #shuuichi minamino x you #suichi minamino x reader #suichi minamino x you #kurama #shuichi #shuichi minamino #suichi #suichi minamino #shuuichi #shuuichi minamino #yu yu hakusho #yu yu hakusho fanfic #yu yu hakusho fanfiction #kurama fanfic #kurama fanfiction #shiori minamino #botan #koenma

[stitch1830]

Hey, so I don't know much about Kantoph but I love what I know about them.

I think Kanto's a cop, he has PTSD, he and Toph co-parented Lin—

Could you give a new sailor a guide to this ship?

:O

Well hello! Welcome to the ship that is Kantoph, and we are happy to have you aboard! There are many different ways that they can be shipped together, so really it’s about personal preference haha. Some like all the angst and have them together briefly but then they either break up or Kanto dies, some like a more long-term, fluffy/romantic take on their relationship. I’m happy to provide context for the two main AUs that I typically think of, and then we also have a character sheet for a nicer version of Kanto. So if you wanted to make your own stories and wanted guidance on how his character could’ve been portrayed, feel free to use some, all, or none of the characteristics on the sheet haha!

The basics are that Kanto is the newly promoted Deputy for the Republic City Police Department, and he’s got a smug attitude that drives Toph nuts sometimes. But, he’s got a great work ethic so she really can’t complain too much. And it turns out that his cocky attitude and everything is mostly a facade, because when he’s actually talking with Toph about things that matter to him, he is very open and honest with her. Eventually, they find that with the time they spend together on the job, they have a lot more in common than they realize, and become great friends. It’s not until there’s a dangerous situation that puts one of them in danger that they realize they actually like each other. And when they figure this out, things get serious.

They’ve never been with someone and been this close to them before. Casual dating sure, but both Toph and Kanto have rough exteriors and it takes them time to open up. But with each other, they trust each other and fall in love pretty quickly. After they’ve been dating for a while, they find out that Toph is pregnant. Not what they were expecting, but Kanto is so excited and Toph can’t help but be excited too. The pregnancy stage is full of fluff and love and PDA. And then Toph actually goes into labor on Kanto’s birthday, so Kanto and Lin are birthday buddies! :D (I mean they don’t have to be but just a fun anecdote we made up lol).

If you prefer an angsty story, our take is that Kanto dies when Lin is 6 months old (perhaps at the hands of Yakone?) Toph is pretty inconsolable for a while, and I’ve been trying to portray that story in one of my fics, The Long, Winding Road To You. That one can be pretty canon compliant, so if you like canon, this is a good route to go and the angst can be adjusted quite a bit if you like that!

For fluff, we usually say that Toph and Kanto have Lin, there’s a couple years of domestic bliss and they decide to actually get married, and then 9 months after their wedding…. They have a baby boy named Jian Haha!!

But as far as what you know about the ship, you’ve got the right idea! Kanto is a metalbender that works with Toph, he does have trauma from his childhood, and there are plenty of opportunities in both AUs for him to have PTSD that Toph helps him get through.

There is definitely no right or wrong way to ship Kantoph, this is just what I’ve really enjoyed thinking about for them and giving Toph a loving and supportive partner and father for her children. It’s also just a fun ship to explore since it’s actually canon and he’s only mentioned once! He could be a douche, or he could be the love of Toph’s life that was gone too soon. Or the love of Toph’s life, but circumstances kept them separated 0-0

If there are any specific questions or headcanons you want to explore, feel free to ask! We’ve got a couple Kantoph shippers are around, and we’re always happy to chat about our Best Boy Kanto :D Thanks for sending in the ask, and I hope you have a great day!!

……

Send me asks about ATLA, or anything, really! :D

#kantoph #toph #toph beifong #kanto #atla #lok #Lin #Lin beifong #oc jian beifong #headcanons #my asks #thanks for the ask! #deriroga #there’s many different ways to ship kantoph #and many stories I’ve written that either all work together or not at all #I’m a disorganized mess sorry LOL #but yeah feel free to ask questions whenever! #most recent kantoph tags and stories are by my friends and me hehe #we’ve got that kantoph brain rot 0_o

[latraviesascott]

What kind of dreams (or nightmares) do you think the Avatar characters have? Obviously Aang's got some wild ones and Sokka dreams about food eating people xD but what do you think The rest of the gaang and the Fire Nation kids dream about?

Okay so this is just my opinion but, even if Aang's dreams and nightmares in Season 3 were funny, they all came from the fear of failing that Aang had. So if the dreams/nightmares are influenced by the character's feelings/ insecurities then this is what i imagine each of them would dream about:

Katara- even though the fandom jokes about it a lot, she does mention/talk a lot about her mom in the series, and that is completely understandable considering the fact that she's dealing with that trauma since she was a kid. The North and South comics begin with Katara dreaming of her mom back in the SWT, and the dream was both happy and sad for her. She even woke up feeling nostalgic. Therefore i feel like Katara's more significant dreams consist of memories of her mom , and the good times she had in the water tribe before the Fire Nation altered that forever. Her nightmares could be heavily influenced by the amount of stress she has with being the "mom" of the group. She truly does act motherly with her friends, but it's all because she cares and she's has been doing so with Sokka since she was a kid. The idea of not being able to protect them probably haunts her dreams..

Sokka- i sometimes feel so bad for Sokka. Many people often overlook the fact that he was also a child personally affected by the war. In Season 1 we see that he feels this big responsibility to protect his tribe. After all, he is the oldest "man" left. That's a huge responsibility! He also has this need to prove himself as a warrior to Hakoda. Not only that, in the episode "Sokka's Master" we see that he also has this issue with being a non-bender in a group of powerful benders. This doesn't come from him being selfish, but he feels bad when he sees that he can't help people as much as the rest of the gaang does. So if you add that to his usual easy going, fun personality his dreams could honestly range from silly things like him being eaten by food, and him being awesome with Suki, to more serious nightmares that involve him not being/doing enough to protect those that depend on him.

Toph- out of all of the Ember Island players i feel like Toph's representation is most accurate 😭 that kid is tough as nails. The many statues she makes of herself in both Imbalance and later on in Legend of Korra make me think her dreams mostly consist of her being awesome in super badass scenarios! Or her being MELONLORD!!! Her nightmares however are the complete opposite. In "The Blind Bandit" she says she hasn't had a single friend in the 12 years of her life! like omgg bby let me give you a hug!!! And I thought it was super interesting how vulnerable she looks in the episode "The Avatar and the Firelord" when she asks if its truly possible for friendships to last more than one lifetime. She found more than friendships, she found a family with the gaang. In The Rift, her own father denied knowing her, which proves that family is not defined by blood ties. So letting go/ losing those friendships is a concept that seems to scare her. I feel like this is something she might have nightmares about.

Suki- because Suki is part of the gaang!!! She does have her own group with the Kyoshi warriors, not trying to erase that, but i consider her to be a part of the gaang too! With that being said we really do not know much about this queen, and i am so glad that she's getting her own comic! Hopefully we learn more about her! But from what we know, she began training since she was 8 years old! She is a brave warrior and a great friend. I feel like she takes her job as a Kyoshi warrior super seriously and is honored to be their fearless leader. I imagine that her happy dreams consist of her meeting Kyoshi herself. As for her nightmares, we do not get a lot of her (unfortunately) to really perceive her fears, but if Azula's taunting in "The Day of Black Sun Pt.2" are true, then Suki has been waiting on Sokka to rescue her for some time now. Seeing that time passed must have been hard for her. Her nightmares might have been influenced by her feeling abandoned, or her worry about the other Kyoshi warriors. (Also i love Azula, but Suki probably also dreamed of dragging Azula's big head on the ground.)

Zuko- omggg where do i even begin with this boy?! I feel like the Fire Nation teens are just so angsty! But when one's father burns off half of your face then that's the way it is igs. So I feel like the show was pretty in detail when it came to Zuko's character and his personality. Throughout the show, we see how he sometimes gets this flashbacks whenever he's feeling a specific way or when he's reminded of something. This was seen most in "The Beach". Despite being this angsty, emotional guy he is always remembering his early childhood very fondly despite being part of the most dysfunctional family in the Fire Nation. During his fever, we see his nightmares being this representation of the constant fight between good and evil inside him. Therefore i think this is what Zuko most likely sees when he has nightmares. (It is quite interesting how the "evil" blue dragon in his nightmare seems to represent Azula and the "good" red dragon is Iroh. That kind of made me wonder why Zuko seemed to associate the evil aspect with Azula rather than Ozai🤔). But back to the point. If the flashbacks he has are any indication, then his dreams most likely involve the good times he had with his mother and family during their vacations on ember island. (And because of his trauma, he might also relive the Agni Kai with Ozai in his nightmares.)

Azula- i could write essays on this girl. Her character is just so complex! And literally nothing in this world is gonna convince me that she didn't deserve better. Im gonna try to keep it as short as possible with her because quite honestly i could go on forever. But im having a hard time figuring out what a happy dream might be for Azula. Conquering Ba Sing Se?? Mastering Firebending at a young age?? Oh right she did do that! She wasn't like Zuko, in the way that she could look back on the past and remember it fondly. Quite the opposite actually, she refers to their beach house as "depressing". Then, later on in the bonfire, she treats everyone's emotions and confessions as a "performance". It's quite interesting to think that truly the only one who was trying to perform was her. Everyone else was very honest and open with their insecurities even if they didn't realize it. The fact that she thinks showing emotion is a performance of some sort makes it clear that everything she does is a perfectly put-together performance. Her nightmares could consist that facade falling apart, and her status as the perfect daughter being reduced to nothing along with her many achievements. The difference with Azula is that just as she became everything she dreamed of, she also ended up being everything her nightmares doomed her to be. ( I also have this hc that she dreamt of having a cat with ty lee and just living together at Ember Island after she got help and just lived their happy gay life of wtvvvv)

omggg this post is gonna be super long, but i had so much fun answering this! thank you for that! it was a nice surprise 🥰 i can do ty lee and mai later if you'd like just lmk! im just giving my thumbs a lil rest rn. hope this sorta answered the question😌

#katara #aang #sokka #suki #zuko #azula #atla

[tuiyla]

She-Ra’s like, really good, people

It’s been over a week since She-Ra season 5 came out and I binged it and this is not going to be coherent but I just want to rant about it a bit before writing some more structured metas. I deffo wanna write about Catradora and how I think SPoP is the true spiritual successor to the Avatar.

But first, let me just scream about how good this show is. I already started rewatching it, pretty much straight after finishing it, and I don’t rewatch tv shows often. The exception is Avatar (seen it like 15 times) and sitcoms. But She-Ra is so layered that I felt like I needed to watch it again just to appreciate the dynamics even more.

I already enjoyed the first season but it kept getting better and better. I’m not in love with the art style and it’s definitely for a younger demographic overall than my other favourite animated shows, but like any good kids’ show it balances tone well. It doesn’t talk down to its target demographic but also includes more traditionally mature themes in a digestible and entertaining way. Not all the jokes landed for me but as the series went on I learned to appreciate the tone and the type of humour She-Ra goes for.

It’s funny to me because this is definitely the type of show I would have rejected as a kid, with all the princesses I would have deemed it “too girly” and therefore not for me because screw gender roles. There’s a degree of internalized sexism to that, for sure, a rejection of the feminine because it’s always been seen as less somehow. But there’s also a truth that, at least in my childhood of the late 90s and early 00s, children’s media targeted at girls often had a poor quality to it, at least when compared to “boys’ stuff”.

She-Ra is not only a clever, heartfelt, complex story, it also transcends that binary of having to be either for girls or boys. I know most of modern animation rejects that as well, but She-Ra embraces so many traditionally feminine qualities while also going beyond gender roles and even the gender binary. This show is so queer, man, and I love it. It’s especially impressive when you consider the source material that was literally just the girly version of He-Man. I have no beef with 80s She-Ra, haven’t seen much of it, but this is such an upgrade.

That being said, I would have loved to watch She-Ra as a kid. I’m so incredibly envious of kids, aged around 10, who get to watch this show as they’re growing up. But I am so, so, so happy for them and for the future of animation that shows like She-Ra can be made now, that they’re being made. I’m going to go into spoilers soon, but just before that: She-Ra’s a perfectly enjoyable show in many aspects. I think the worldbuilding’s pretty cool, the story feels coherent and planned out, it’s lighthearted and so genuine. That’s the word that I ultimately choose to describe the series: genuine.

I feel like so much of TV aims to be dark and gritty nowadays, animation included, and though that’s slowly turning to dark comedy or a balance between fun and serious, it’s still the norm. At some point in the last decade, creators became terrified of being judged as cheesy. Even something like the MCU bathes in bathos to avoid being cheesy. But She-Ra proves that creators shouldn’t be afraid of being genuine, of basing characters and storylines on the simple power of love. Like, it’s such a cliché trope but I think that’s mostly because it has become stale.

Noelle Stevenson has talked about the importance of love in her story and I’m so grateful for that. Through, She-Ra, she’s truly proven how powerful love can be in a story and how it doesn’t have to be cheesy. It’s just so unabashedly genuine. The power of love and friendship literally saves the day several times but it’s always so genuine and more importantly it always makes sense that it doesn’t get boring. If the foundation wasn’t there, then I’d say “well this is just super cheesy”. But the show makes a point of building relationships and making them the focal point of the story.

Alright, so, spoilers because I need to talk about character arcs and THAT KISS and just everything. I really need to write more in depth about Adora and Catra and their relationship but for now I feel like it’s so important to appreciate how they’re developed. Everything from their shared childhood to their trauma with Shadow Weaver and the finding their way back to each other, it’s just *chef’s kiss*. It’s so well-written and believable. Ngl, I do have some minor issues with Catra’s redemption arc. Let’s just say that on a scale from Kylo Ren to Zuko, she’s definitely closer to Zuko. I also appreciate Shadow Weaver’s death scene and how it allows them to move on. I didn’t see that one as Death as Redemption and it shouldn’t be. Again and again the show made it clear that she was abuse towards both girls and nothing will negate that.

From what I can tell, the fandom really latched onto Catra, even when it wasn’t clear whether she’d get a redemption arc. I think that’s important, because unlike some characters in animation, Catra’s actions were almost always framed appropriately. There was always an understanding as to where she’s coming from, how she’s acting from a place of hurt, and yet her actions weren’t justified. They weren’t suddenly all okay just because she’s hurt, too. I especially loved in the season 3 finale when Adora was allowed to finally say no, to say that Catra’s actions were not her fault. That season as a whole was beautiful, like, episode three when Adora’s struggling so much and Catra has the opportunity for a better life but she still fails to choose her own happiness because she’s too bitter over SW and Adora? It’s poetic cinema. I love that angst, so well done.

It would be so easy to misfire in Catra’s storyline and either a) write off all the awful things she does because she’s just “misunderstood” or b) irredeemably stuck in her abusive environment with no hope of escape. They balanced quite well there and managed to handle such a complex character with delicacy. I’m quite happy with how Catra was portrayed because on the one hand, she’s painfully relatable to me and I assume to many others. The audience can see their own mistakes reflected in her character because we’ve all been too stubborn, done things out of spite, refused to acknowledge that we were wrong because we were hurting so much. At the same time, I always felt like the show gave me enough space to judge Catra’s actions and acknowledge that she was in the wrong. I honestly think I would have been a better adjusted teenager is if saw this show just before my angsty years, lol.

I’m going to write more about Adora at some other point but I love how vulnerable she’s allowed to be. Protagonists never used to be my favourite characters because they all seemed the same, with two major categories: the stereotypical male hero who can do no wrong or the angsty boi who can be shitty and the text still frames him as awesome. It’s only recently with series like The Legend of Korra and She-Ra that I go “damn, protagonists can be like that, huh.” Adora is a dumb jock who tries so hard and she deserves all the hugs in the world.

Also, Catradora? Breathtaking, amazing, groundbreaking. No doubt She-Ra needed shows like Adventure Time, LoK, Steven Universe and the likes to pave the way but still, it went there. I saw people be anxious about whether they were gonna be queerbaited, but I always, idk, knew? Trusted? That She-Ra would follow through. I didn’t wait six years for Bubbline to happen for Catradora to not get their big damn kiss. The series has been so effortlessly queer from the get-go that it just made sense that they were always heading there. I did see a gif of the kiss before watching s5 and ngl, that spoiler kind of bummed me out in a way that I wanted to be surprised. But even before I saw that I wasn’t worried. And the context of their journey in season 5? That cannot be spoiled by a simple gif. You have to experience that to fully appreciate it and that is the marker of good storytelling.

I understand that, though this should be the norm by now, Noelle Stevenson still had to be smart about how she approached the execs and she wasn’t sure this could happen. I cannot tell you how happy I am about what she said regarding how Catradora was so integral to the story that the execs couldn’t not allow it. That’s so brilliant, and it feels so natural in the story. Queer love saves the day and it’s not ambiguous, it cannot be censored because you lose a part of the story without it. You did it, Noelle, you funky little lesbian, what an icon. I can’t wait to see more stuff from her.

In other news, I appreciated other characters as well, like how all the princesses got to be different and awesome in their own unique way. Season 5 was great for so many characters, Mermista got so much to work with and Spinnerella and Netossa got so much more characterization than in previous seasons. Glimmer continued to be the third most important character in the story and I’m happy about all the relationships that also got to be canon. Good characters and dynamics all around, no wonder since the show is built on that.

Such a satisfying conclusion and one that makes you feel like this is just part one of a much bigger story. Such genuine, heartfelt moments, well-developed characters, complex themes explored in a respectful and digestible way, and such an unapologetically fun show. Melissa Fumero as a side character? Yes please. Catra’s new haircut? Heck yeah! She-Ra’s new design? Oh my.

I’m not even like, super into She-Ra, and I usually don’t write so much about things I only watch casually. But this show is so good and important that I had to rant. And I will write more about it eventually, but for now I needed to get all of this out. I’d give it a better structure but if I really get into I might never end up posting it so for now here, have this ramble of love. She-Ra, of all shows, deserves that.

#she-ra #spop #she-ra and the princesses of power #catradora #spop spoilers #my thoughts #that's pretty much it for now

[lattewithatwistoflemon]

Gundam Wing Essay

January 25, 2021

Gundam Wing has this powerful nostalgia for me, even though I didn’t actually watch the show when it came on television when I was little. I just shrugged it off and said I didn’t like Gundams. Yet I’m finding myself drawn to these characters and wondering if, in some subconscious way, this show influenced who I’ve become. From my love of damaged, traumatized bishounen to my inclination to dress exactly like Relena, despite never consciously thinking about her in all these years... I feel like maybe aspects of this anime molded me into who I am today. 

Every time I heard one of my favorite songs, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, there was a couple there in my head, and I couldn’t pinpoint who they were... But after looking at the Gundam manga issue I got when I was 7, where Heero and Relena are in a romantic garden together, and seeing the ending sequence of the anime, where Relena stands in a field wearing that dress and that hat, I can’t help but think “it’s them”. It’s been Heero and Relena in my head all along, as this idealized fairy tale couple, every time I heard that song. Thinking back on my childhood impression of them, I realized I always imagined them as being like Romeo and Juliet, talking to each other over a balcony, over a courtyard garden, in a star-crossed, Shakespearean romance. In my head, they were always so deeply in love. Perhaps they were a symbol of romance itself. I don’t remember if I had seen a specific scene in the anime as a child that made me see them as a couple, or if my memory is just based on that one chapter of the Ground Zero manga, but either way, they were imprinted on my mind as the most quintessential, devoted lovers. She was a fairy tale princess, and he was the gallant knight who would come rescue her. 

Zechs feels like an ideal fairy tale prince... the kind that will kiss my hand, give me roses, and carry me bridal style through a beautiful European garden, to a sweet little white outdoor table, where we drink tea out of fine China teacups, while the sun shines brightly, and the leaves of the trees around us cast shadows upon us that sway with the breeze. Yet Zechs also possesses that same dark, seductive quality of the Phantom of the Opera, whispering in my ear with that voice that’s both sinister and incredibly romantic at the same time, as if luring me into his embrace. Zechs has this beautiful duality to him. He goes down a dark path on multiple occasions, but even so, he feels terrible guilt for what he does. Because of this, he still comes across as honorable and chivalrous to me. Other anime characters that I’ve seen since then have had a similar feel, such as Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura and Griffith from Berserk. I’ve even created original characters for my own stories who are long haired, princely men with ambiguous morals, who I now wonder if they were subconsciously inspired by this one, long-forgotten figure that I had briefly seen as a 7-year-old. I tended to like blonde characters when I was little, and like most little girls, I loved the idea of a perfect, gentlemanly prince charming. I’m genuinely surprised that I didn’t remember him from when I was a child. Perhaps if I had seen those gentle blue eyes beneath the mask, I would’ve fallen in love.

Duo has a much different quality from Zechs. He feels familiar in a way that’s hard to pinpoint. He’s brash, energetic, and laid-back at the same time. He has this friendly, approachable quality to him that the other characters don’t possess. It feels like I can actually get close to him, while all the others feel like they’d push me away. I’ve realized Duo reminds me of various other characters, most of which are from video games, such as Sonic, Dante, and most importantly… Link. Link was my very first crush. My attachment to Link stemmed from the Ocarina of Time game. It wasn’t until many years later that I watched the animated Zelda series, in which Link is very much like Duo. I never thought of myself as being particularly attracted to that version of Link, yet now, when seeing an actual anime character who resembles him in appearance and personality, I find myself incredibly drawn to him. I can’t say for sure whether my attraction to Duo is due to his similarity to Link or to any other character or if it’s simply because of how warm and approachable he feels compared to the other gundam pilots. I remember that Duo’s design always stuck out to me the most, as the cute one with the braid.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in angry, angsty characters who have traumatic backstories. For the longest time, I was under the assumption that Heero would be a basic, friendly protagonist. So when I finally started watching this show 20 years later, I was surprised by him being the type of angst-ridden anti-hero that I love nowadays. When I was 13, I discovered Saiyuki, and instantly obsessed over Genjo Sanzo, who’s exactly like Heero in that sense. His past trauma turned him into a cold, ruthless killer, who, despite his self-loathing, came to the decision that he must continue killing in order to live. While watching Gundam Wing, I saw these same qualities in Heero. Whatever he’s experienced before the start of the anime must have damaged him so badly that he’s become this cold-blooded killer. Judging from how quick he is to throw away his life for his mission, I conclude that he despises himself for all the people he’s killed. Just like Sanzo, he pushes aside that self-loathing to live on and continues fighting for what he believes is right. In addition to Sanzo, another character that I love with a similar personality type is Kai from Beyblade. Although his circumstances aren’t as extreme as Heero’s and Sanzo’s, since he hasn’t killed anyone, he also has a chip on his shoulder from his past trauma that causes him to be cold and put up a wall between himself and the people around him. Out of the characters that I know of who have this personality type, Heero would have been the first one I had seen. Even though I don’t remember knowing that Heero was like this, since I had assumed he was completely different all along, part of me gets this feeling of “what if he was the start of this? What if he’s the reason I love this type of character?” I wonder if it’s possible for him to have influenced my inclination towards these characters without me having any memory of it.

Adding to this topic of traumatized characters, Trowa also fits the bill. His trauma isn’t portrayed as anger against the world, as with the characters listed above. Instead, he’s often depicted as depressed and sometimes frightened, in a way that makes Catherine and myself feel pity for him. When he loses his memory and holds himself, shivering, that is a perfect illustration of the type of characters that I like, due to their vulnerability and need for protection. My very first favorite anime character was Hotaru from Sailor Moon, who very frequently displayed these same actions, which made me instantly love her. Also, Trowa reminds me a lot of Hakkai from Saiyuki.

Both Heero and Trowa are suicidal. Trowa had one or two moments highlighting this, but Heero has had at least 5 instances where it looked to me like he was trying to kill himself. He would often do something incredibly dangerous, without any regard to his own life. In one instance, he very nearly blew himself up, which resulted in him being bed-ridden and covered in bandages. I’ve always had a strong interest in suicidal and self-loathing characters like this. Whether this is from some sort of motherly instinct that makes me want to protect them or some sort of sadistic interest that I have with fictional characters, I’m not entirely sure. But either way, these two Gundam Wing characters stuck out to me very strongly due to their trauma and suicidal intent. Since Heero had always given me the impression of being the epitome of a shounen hero, him being suicidal struck me especially hard, and this just made me like him all the more. Even when I watch more lighthearted shows, I like to headcanon these kinds of things. For instance, I headcanon multiple Beyblade characters to be abused, suicidal child soldiers, so it was interesting to see that these things were canon in Gundam Wing. It’s rare for me to find an anime that focuses on traumatized bishounen characters similar to Saiyuki, so when I realized Gundam Wing was like this, I felt like it was written for me. I’ve come to call this the “pretty boys in need” genre.

Another reason this anime speaks to me is that, whenever I see Relena, I feel like I’m looking at myself as an anime character. Over the years, from high school to college especially, I’d developed my own fashion sense and aesthetic. This consisted of me wanting to wear ruffled blouses and long skirts. I loved feeling like a proper Victorian lady. I wore puffy sleeves, bows, and frills. My favorite colors to wear, which people have said look the best on me, were shades of red, pink, or maroon. I’d also wear a lot of white. My favorite hairstyle has always been straight cut bangs with my hair partly tied back, just like Relena’s. The hairstyle was consciously inspired by Gabrielle from Xena Warrior Princess, but I can’t help but wonder if Relena had some subconscious influence on it as well. My hair is naturally brown, but I was born blonde, and I often bleach my hair, so it’s usually somewhere close to her dark blond/light brown hair. My eyes are also dark teal, like Relena’s. Although I’ve lately been working a lot and hardly have the chance to dress up, I still see this Victorian princess image as my ideal appearance, which makes Relena feel like an idealized anime version of myself. I feel like I’ve grown to become her. Although, this comparison is almost strictly appearance-based. Some people say I’m serious, but in general, I don’t feel like I’m nearly as serious as she is. My life revolves around anime (certainly not politics), and I’m known to be very giggly. Although Relena and I do share an interest in angsty bad boys. I can’t help but wonder if maybe, somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I always wanted to be like her?

Lastly, the entire aesthetic and feel of this show feels incredibly nostalgic to me. There’s a scene in the second opening, where Heero suddenly looks up at the camera in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. I’ve been having trouble figuring out exactly what the feeling is that this evokes for me. I’ll say it’s a mix of sweet nostalgia and perhaps guilt. The characters’ faces and art style are so incredibly familiar to me. I’ve known of them since I was 7, but I never gave the show a chance by trying to watch it. I told myself I didn’t like it, after seeing a couple minutes, because I very quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t like mecha anime. I was only 7, yet this opinion stuck with me for 20 years, without me ever trying to change it. Over the years, I had almost completely forgotten about Gundam Wing. I shunned the show. Perhaps I shunned Heero most of all, with my assumption that he’s a normal, cliche shounen protagonist. So when he looks directly at the screen like that, while I’m captivated by the familiar beauty of the art style, I also feel a pang of guilt for neglecting him all these years. 

I think the best way for me to conclude what it is about this series that makes me feel so strongly is that this space opera genre possesses the feeling of an Arthurian romance or a Shakespearean tragedy. While watching this show, my mind isn’t focused on the battles or the gundams. What draws me to this show are the characters’ relationships, emotional trauma, and the visual allusions to times long ago. Because of this, the small, barely remembered bits that I had seen as a small child had left such a big impact on me that, now, when I watch it for the first time, it feels like it’s been living inside my soul all along. When I watch this anime, I get this feeling that I can’t believe I’m actually watching it. As something from a bygone era that I had quickly discarded and never thought I would ever get back, it feels like some sort of miracle, as if I had gone back in time to watch this long-forgotten relic of my past.

Leah Marie

#if anyone takes time out of their day to read this... thank you so much! #i wanted to write something small but #it turned into a 2k word essay #i wasn't sure if i was going to like this anime but #it's safe to say i do #gundam wing #mobile suit gundam wing #gundam wing essay

[sincerelyreidburke]

Not to be angsty on main, but what’s Quindo’s first serious fight like? How long does it last?

Okay, anon, rest assured I have been meaning to answer your ask for quite some time, and please do forgive me for the delay. I was trying to figure out if I was going to write this or do a bullet-fic thing, and I’ve decided on a bullet-fic, mostly because writing it out would require me venturing into territory I’m not sure I could do justice.

But yes, let’s talk about this— because every couple comes to that point where they have their first Really Big Fight, and Quinn and Nando are no different. We’ll head under the cut for this. A little heads-up: this post has implied spicy content, but nothing at all that’s explicit or detailed. Also, there are references to alcohol and drug use pretty typical of a college party scene.

(Ask me anything about the crickets!)

- So the first thing we have to establish is that this takes place during junior year. Obviously, they have been dating for 2+ years by that point. And what I should note is that two years might seem like a long-ish time to date before having your first serious fight...

- Quinn and Nando have this very healthy thing going on where they bicker literally all the time. We know that Quinn constantly gets mad at him for stupid reasons, and that those instances ‘dissolve’, so to speak, just as quickly as they come about.

- Basically, Quinn and Nando— and this applies all their lives— function like a married couple who have been together for, like, 40 years. They don’t fight over petty things or keep any issues that arise bottled up like unhealthy teenagers; instead, they tell each other when there’s a problem, and they work it out.

- So the best way I can describe the way “fighting” manifests for them typically is “robust and healthy bickering”. I think it bears a little similarity to the way a lot of us imagine Nursey and Dex in a romantic relationship. They love each other, but of course they get on each other’s nerves.

- Do I mean that Quinn and Nando fight all the time? No, of course not. They love each other, and they’re very soft, and 99% of their bickering is rooted in very solvable problems.

- Also, Quinn is the instigator. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that Quinn is the pain in the ass in this relationship, and it’s really rare that Nando will initiate a bickering session.

- All this is to say that the reason they don’t have any kind of big fight until junior year is because their disagreements manifest instead in little spats that start and end quickly.

- But anyway. Onto this actual fight that takes place, because it’s distinctly different from the usual bickering they do.

- It’s, like, February of their junior year. For a little context, here are some things that are going on around this time— Quinn’s grandparents kicked him out around November, and he went home with Nando for Christmas break. I need to emphasize that everything about Christmas break in Arizona went very well, and the reason they fight early on in spring semester has nothing to do with that.

- There’s no big underlying issue that causes this. In other words, this isn’t the explosion of long-coming tension that results in a relationship breakdown. Because, spoiler alert, obviously this doesn’t break them up; they don’t even fight for more than a night. The fight is more just a product of each of them being stressed out for their own reasons, a case of poor communication, and frat party culture.

- So allow me to set the scene. The way this starts is at a Haus kegster. Nando lives in the Haus and has since sophomore year, and even though Quinn doesn’t, he’s manager by this point, and he spends a good deal of his time at the Haus. I should emphasize that Quinn has friends outside of SMH, mostly consisting of his theatre social circle, but he does spend a lot of his free time with the hockey boys, for obvious reasons.

- It’s a typical kegster, for the most part. But Quinn is a little on-edge. He has a number of things going on: first, the lingering awful of being disowned, which, despite the fact that he has a wonderful found family, is still something he thinks about. Then there’s school-related stress, because the boy does, after all, want to go to medical school, and he’s now reached the point where he’s prepping for the MCAT and his grades are very very important and on top of it all he’s a double major, so the academic stress is... well, it’s getting to him.

- Plus, he’s manager of the team, which requires a lot of work of him, and he has the drama club, which he could never imagine giving up for a second, but they’re in the heat of spring musical rehearsal season, and the short and the long of it is: Quinn is busy. So busy. And so stressed-out. And this kegster is one of the first times in awhile he’s emerged from his academic/theatre/manager cave to do something social.

- What does any of this have to do with Nando? Well, it doesn’t... until it does. The thing about Quinn being so busy is that it’s made it so he’s having trouble seeing Nando at times other than, like, bedtime. If they’re not falling asleep or waking up together, they’re probably rushing off to one of their million obligations. It’s made it so they haven’t been on a date in a little while, and things have just been busy ever since the semester started.

- They also haven’t really gotten, like, private time, if you know what I mean by that, where they’re both feeling up to it, in maybe like three weeks or so.

- So at this kegster. Nando is playing pong with Rhodey, because, as a frat boy, it is part of his brand. And he’s having a grand old time. Quinn is nearby, because he sticks to his side at parties.

- Quinn is straight-up not having a good time, as the kids say. Everything is really loud and he’s feeling sensitive to it, and he can’t stop thinking about all the schoolwork he has to catch up on tomorrow, and he has lines to memorize, and he feels guilty for even being here at all right now, but all he wants is Sebastián’s attention. He needs some comfort. There’s also maybe weed at the party (Nando doesn’t smoke but Rhodey probably does), and Quinn is not a fan of drugs, for childhood trauma reasons.

- So he decides he wants to leave. Here’s the problem. Nando has been drinking a little, like he typically does at kegsters, and Nando is having fun. Nando is also a little too under the influence to realize how stressed-out Quinn is.

- So when Quinn is like, Sebastián, I’d like to leave now, Nando is like, babe, I can’t just leave in the middle of a pong game.

- And this upsets Quinn. He gets more emphatic. Like, I said I want to leave. And a little disclaimer: if sober, Nando would understand right away that something was wrong with him. Quinn isn’t the type to get overwhelmed at parties super easily, and Nando just... I’m not saying that being drunk is an excuse for failing to pick up on cues of your partner’s distress, but I’m just providing an explanation for why he does so.

- I also don’t think either of them is really “in the wrong” in this situation. I just think it’s an instance of Quinn being upset, and Nando not realizing how upset he actually is. Nando doesn’t deliberately ignore his stress at all. He just does not register that it’s actual stress and not just Quinn deciding randomly that he’s done with the party.

- Because Nando’s (slightly drunk) rationale is, okay, we can leave in like five minutes; I just want to finish my pong game.

- Quinn maybe overreacts just a little. As we know, Quinn Cooper is a little dramatic. Is his stress valid? Of course. Is him wanting to leave a party if Nando isn’t ready to leave a crime? Absolutely not. I’m just saying, the boy is a little dramatic.

- So he leaves, and Nando doesn’t actually realize that Quinn is gone until he sinks a shot and turns around to give him a kiss or do whatever he does when a pong game is going well.

- And oh, shit— Quinn is actually gone.

- Okay, now he’s leaving mid-pong game. He looks all around the Haus, and when he doesn’t find him, he goes outside, where he can see Quinn on the porch. The cold combined with the realization that Quinn is mad at him sobers him up a little.

- They fight on the porch. It’s not so explosive of an argument that it’s embarrassing or makes other people uncomfortable, but it’s definitely a disagreement. It’s kind of like, baby, why did you leave? / because I want to go, and you were being an asshole. / I didn’t even know what was wrong! You can’t just walk out like that without telling me— / I shouldn’t have had to explain. I wanted to leave, and you should have listened. / but I didn’t realize you were actually upset— / I know! I get it. It’s fine. I didn’t even want to come to this stupid party. / Why are you so mad right now?

- Et cetera. Blah blah blah. This goes on for quite some time. Quinn basically tells him that he’s really stressed out and that coming to this kegster was a bad idea and he’s sorry he disrupted his night, and that he’s going back to his dorm now. He walks away, and starts down the street.

- Nando runs down the street and yells after him. It’s a little dramatic, like they’re in the obligatory fleeting angst part of a rom-com.

- But Quinn has shut his hearing aids off, because he does not feel like listening, and Nando realizes this pretty quickly. Quinn is aware of the moment when Nando falls into step next to him, and they walk back to Quinn’s room in total silence. It’s relatively tense, but Nando feels a little more clear-headed now that he’s realized they’re actually having an argument, and he wants to fix it. He’s aware that a little more fighting might be necessary in order to do so.

- When they get back to Quinn’s room, and the door is shut behind them, Quinn takes this long breath and turns his ears back on, and Nando is convinced he’s about to get yelled at. He’s used to getting ‘yelled at’ by Quinn in a bickering, loving way (*swat* Sebastián!!!!!!!), but what happened on the Haus porch felt a little more serious, and he thinks this might be similar.

- Instead of yelling at him, Quinn kisses him.

- They work out the tension in an alternative way, let us say. I think we can imagine what happens. I won’t elaborate on it, but it’s, like, a little rougher of an encounter than is typical for them, and it’s charged with whatever has been building up during the argument.

- They don’t talk about it that night. Instead, they fall asleep.

- In the morning, they talk about it. Quinn apologizes first. Nando tells him he doesn’t need to apologize, and that he’s sorry he didn’t pay more attention when he was obviously not doing well at the kegster.

- Because this is Quinn and Nando and I am incapable of writing angst that doesn’t get resolved in some way, it basically ends in this talk under the covers in Quinn’s bed where they air all their recent stresses and confess that they miss the time they always spend together that has been lacking in their recent busy lives.

- Also, they’re both a little roughed-up. They take care of each other’s, uh, evidence of the night before, shall we say.

- Nando promises he’ll pay special attention from now on and take into account everything that Quinn has on his plate, and Quinn says he won’t take his stress out on him.

- By the way, Nando is a really good boyfriend to Stressed-Out Quinn. This incident is a very specific exception.

- So is this a pretty trivial disagreement? Yeah. But sometimes, you have big fights over trivial disagreements. I’m counting this as their ‘first big fight’ because it’s the first time that either of them is genuinely afraid it might escalate into something that keeps them not speaking for multiple days. And I think if Nando had let Quinn walk away from the Haus and not gone after him, instead returning to the kegster, it would have been a bigger deal.

- Anyway, they’re okay, because they really do tend to turn out okay. 

I hope this satisfies your need for angst, anon, because I do know it’s not the world’s most angsty thing. There is, of course, other angst between the two of them, as they do spend their lives together. But they have a really healthy relationship, and huge blowout fights are pretty hard to come by.

Thank you for the ask!!!

#oc taddies #crickets #quindo #mini quinny #nandoooooooo

[bubonickitten]

i am praying for u and the su fandom in these trying, painful, angsty times. i dont watch the show, but its very clear that u r all going through it rn

Oh, there was pain and angst but honestly?? Overall I’m pleased with where/how it ended. (I also do recommend the show if at any point you find yourself wanting a new series to binge.) 

Also, Connie riding in on a lion and telling all these nigh-immortal aliens to Stop Parentifying That Teenager was *chef’s kiss* Delicious. 

Speaking of, I guess I can use this as an opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the series ending though. (Spoilers ahead, obvi.)

The fandom has been saying for awhile that Steven basically has PTSD, and it was cool to see the show address mental health issues in such a direct and (quite frankly) raw way. They didn’t sweep it under the rug. And I heard some people were complaining that it made recovery seem too simple, but the very ending scene was fast forwarded several months – it’s made clear that Steven had months’ worth of his family and friends giving him support and paying close attention to him, and!! him FINALLY getting therapy was at the very top of my list of things I wanted for the series ending. 

The whole series we’ve seen Steven be the emotional shoulder for everyone, and although his compassion and identity as a healer are some of his most lovable and praiseworthy character traits (and it’s really nice seeing a boy character who is so in touch with the emotional side of life and allowed to cry without being shamed for it and so willing to wear his heart on his sleeve), it’s become clear throughout the series that his entire identity became hinged on what he was able to do for others, and he never really learned any sort of long-term emotional self-care. 

Steven Universe Future was about his realization that he didn’t feel like he had a purpose beyond saving the world, that he didn’t know how to be a friend without having a problem to solve, that he didn’t know how to exist in a world that wasn’t constantly on the verge of ending. And it’s been a running fandom kinda-joke-kinda-not that Steven Has To Be His Own Mom AND His Own Therapist, but like… it’s true. Gems don’t really understand humans very well, let alone human child development, or even the concept of mortality as it applies to humans, so even though the Gems love him, there have always been some gaps in their understanding of how to best provide for his emotional growth and wellbeing. And likewise, Greg is a good dad, but he’s always been at a loss regarding the Gem side of things. There’s never been anyone like Steven, so he’s kind of caught between two worlds and the adults in his life don’t know how to provide for him in any sort of well-rounded way. 

And like, Steven’s spent so much time trying to figure out who he is in relation to Gem stuff – is he Rose Quartz or Pink Diamond or Steven? – and so much time trying to fix all the problems the Diamonds caused, that he never really got a chance to figure out who he is as a whole person. He didn’t have a normal childhood even before he started Gem training. He never went to the doctor, never went to school, and we never see mention of him hanging out with other human kids before Connie. Now that Connie’s going off to college, and Steven sees what Greg’s childhood was like, Steven realizes that a big part of him wanted to be able to experience those normal human milestones and rites of passage, but he was never given a choice. Greg and the Gems gave him a lot of freedom, especially wrt freedom of expression, which is great, but Steven also rightfully points out that he also hasn’t felt physically safe ever since he started doing Gem stuff. 

Now that he actually has time to put some thought into what he wants to be/do in this new world he’s helped usher in, rather than just trying to live up to others’ expectations – whether it’s trying to be like Rose Quartz or trying to make up for the Diamonds’ fuckups – he doesn’t really know how to just live. And on top of that, he’s lived through a lot of trauma that hasn’t been properly addressed until now. 

One of the neat things the show did toward the end was to represent trauma in a very visual, physical way, by having Dr. Maheswaran show him X-rays of his healed fractures. Steven (and the people around him) never realized how much damage he’d been doing to his body since he heals so fast, but that doesn’t mean the damage wasn’t accumulating. A lot of adults watch this show, but it’s first and foremost a kids’ show. Portraying trauma in a visual way like that alongside the discussion of psychological trauma could make it easier for younger kids to conceptualize what trauma does to a person. We see trauma manifest in a very physical way (i.e. Steven’s body responding to his emotional states) as well as in behavioral and emotional ways (i.e. Steven lashing out both at himself and others, Steven trying desperately to find a new purpose for himself, Steven accidentally hurting others and coming to believe that he’s a monster because of it). 

It was just… really cool to see a kids’ show tackling these topics in a serious way. I mean, the series has always portrayed trauma – Pearl’s compartmentalization and flashbacks (and her entire identity and self-worth being tied to Rose Quartz) in particular stand out, as well as Lapis’s entire character arc, and Garnet’s visceral reactions to Gem shards forced to fuse, and Amethyst’s low self-worth, etc. etc. – but I was really glad that Steven Universe Future revisited Steven’s trauma in particular. I feel like it rounded out his character arc and personal growth in a really important and much-needed way. And it was nice to see the series end in a place where he felt safe and assured enough to go explore the world for himself – in much the same way that Greg and Rose always wanted to do – while also knowing that his support network would be there to catch him if he needed help. Most importantly, now he knows it’s okay if he’s not okay and that he’s allowed to ask for help and his friends and family won’t judge him for it. 

#steven universe #steven universe future #suf spoilers #su spoilers #Anonymous

[maddie-grove]

Bi-Monthly Reading Round-Up (November/December)

Playlist

“Fallin’ for You” by Sheila Nicholls (The Perilous Gard)

“Come on Over to My Place” by the Drifters (A Gentleman Never Keeps Score)

“Bobby Jean” by Bruce Springsteen (Eleanor and Park)

“Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks (One Perfect Rose)

“A Sailor’s Prayer” by Ann Price and Marilyn Maltzer (Broken Wing)

“Winter Lady” by Leonard Cohen (When a Duchess Says I Do)

“Dance Music” by the Mountain Goats (What Hearts)*

“Sweet Talkin’ Guy” by the Chiffons (Jean and Johnny)

“Know Your Onion!” by the Shins (Lost at Sea)

“The Snake and the Bookworm” by Cliff Richard (Tempting the Bride)

“Everybody Loves Me but You” by Brenda Lee (Someone to Remember)

*I also seriously considered both “I’ll Meet You Halfway” by the Partridge Family and “Sports Analogies” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s a complex book!

Best of the Bi-Month

The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974): In the late 1550s, grave, awkward Kate Sutton is banished to a remote castle in the east of England. She’s greeted by superstitious locals, shady servants, an often-absent lord, and the lord’s guilt-ridden (and hot) younger brother. Bored and irritated by all the drama, Kate questions the circumstances of the tragedy that haunts the family. I didn’t have high expectations for this book, which I bought primarily for the gorgeous Richard Cuffari illustrations, but I was blown away. Pope creates a sublimely uncanny setting in a surprising way, and Kate is a wonderful protagonist: principled, rational, and compassionate beneath her no-nonsense exterior.

Worst of the Bi-Month

Someone to Remember by Mary Balogh (2019): In her youth, Lady Matilda Westcott rejected Charles Sawyer’s proposal at the urging of her parents, who thought him too wild. Now she’s fifty-six, loved by her extended family but stuck caring for an unappreciative elderly mother. The marriage of her niece and Charles’s estranged illegitimate son brings them together again, but she never expects anything to come of it...like a total fool. This is a cute novella with compelling family dynamics. I also appreciated the solidly middle-aged protagonists, although Balogh presents them a little too timidly, like a mom trying to get a picky eight-year-old to try asparagus.

Rest of the Bi-Month

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (2018): Once-popular Hartley Sedgwick is languishing in the huge townhouse his godfather left him, shunned by nearly everyone for his sexuality. Then Sam Fox, a black pugilist-turned-tavern-keeper, tries to sneak into the house to find a nude portrait of an embarrassed friend. Moved by Sam’s decency, Hartley offers his assistance in finding the portrait. As I explained in my post about my favorite Regency romance novels, I adore this book for the way Hartley and Sam’s love story is mirrored and enhanced by portrayals of many other kinds of love, between brothers and friends and parents and children and neighbors and also one very homely dog. 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2012): Park, a geeky half-Korean teenager in 1986, keeps his head down and barley avoids outright ostracism in his poor, mostly white Omaha neighborhood. Eleanor, the weird white girl who shares his bus seat, is tormented at school and at home. They have no interest in being friends, but they slowly bond and fall in love over music and comics. What I liked most about this bittersweet YA novel was the ways in which the protagonists improved each other’s lives. With Park and his loving family, Eleanor gets to let down her defenses, while Eleanor’s boldness inspires Park to embrace his differences. I do wish that Park’s side of things had been developed more, however.

One Perfect Rose by Mary Jo Putney (1997): Upon learning that he’s terminally ill, Stephen, the Duke of Ashburton, freaks out and goes on an incognito tour of the English countryside without telling his family. He ends up joining an acting troupe run by the boisterous Fitzgerald family and falling in love with their adopted daughter/stage manager, Rosalind, despite the many reasons they have no future together. (Or do they?) This is a good, old-fashioned weepy romance that’s elevated by Putney’s serious attention to the theme of reconciling with one’s mortality. There’s also some extremely late-1990s New-Age-ish stuff going on, which sometimes felt a little silly but was still charming.

Broken Wing by Judith James (2008): When unconventional countess Sarah finds her long-lost little brother at a Parisian brothel, she’s overjoyed, appalled, and relieved that he was protected by sex worker Gabriel St. Croix. Grateful, she offers Gabriel a reward and insists he come to live with her and her family. This is another tear-jerking, charmingly dated romance; I felt like a teenager again, reading top-shelf angsty fanfiction. It’s best in the slow-burn first half, during which Gabriel must adjust to a massive reversal of fortune after a lifetime of trauma. The more action-packed second half makes great use of the unusual late 1790s/early 1800s setting, but it does feel hurried.

When a Duchess Says I Do by Grace Burrowes (2019): Widowed Matilda Wakefield, the Duchess of Bosendorf, has been on the run since getting mixed up in her diplomat dad’s clandestine activities. An encounter with scholarly Duncan Wentworth lands her a live-in secretarial position at his rural estate. They connect with each other, but how can love grow when they’re the object of multiple sinister plots? While this entry in the Wentworth series is not as incandescently lovely as My One and Only Duke, I’m still a sucker for spooky country houses, responsible-household-management plots, and sad early-middle-aged heroes. Burrowes is also an excellent writer, and I’m glad that I discovered her.

What Hearts by Bruce Brooks (1992): Sensitive Asa excels at school but struggles at home, thanks to his mother’s severe mental illness and his stepfather Dave’s emotional abuse. Divided into four novella-like sections, the novel follows Asa from his parents’ divorce in first grade to his first love in seventh. I liked parts of this weird, sober book when I read it as a kid, and I felt the same this time. It’s got brilliant moments, most involving Asa and Dave’s relationship, but there’s a lot of telling-not-showing in between. Brooks also can’t seem to decide on the time period; it’s probably supposed to be set 1965-1971, but it always feels like 1963, and you can only blame so much of that on the North Carolina setting.

Jean and Johnny by Beverly Cleary (1959): Short, bespectacled, and working-class, fifteen-year-old Jean feels invisible at her high school until handsome upperclassman Johnny Chessler starts paying attention to her. She’s thrilled, but her parents and sister warn against chasing him. I didn’t like this book much in middle school, but I revisited it because it occurred to me that Jean was a lesbian. Having reread it, I know I was wrong on two counts: Jean is unfortunately not a lesbian (she clearly thinks Johnny’s hot), and the book’s not that depressing. Jean’s no sad sack who’s doomed to a life of grimly chaste square dancing; she’s a legit snack who becomes increasingly self-assured and assertive. 

Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley (2003): Raleigh, a Canadian eighteen-year-old, hitches a ride back home from California with some classmates she hardly knows after a meeting with her long-distance boyfriend ends in heartbreak. Lonely and a little disconnected from reality--she maintains the belief that her mom somehow sold her soul, which now resides in a stray cat--Raleigh slowly makes friends with her travelling companions and finds some piece of mind. Although nothing much happens in this short graphic novel, it’s one of the most authentically just-graduated-high-school stories I’ve ever read. I could relate to those feelings of fear and disappointment even in the face of exciting new possibilities.

Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas (2012): David Hillsborough, Lord Hastings, has desired Helena Fitzhugh, first-wave feminist and successful fiction editor, since they were kids together, but he’s always hidden behind insulting remarks. When Helena’s affair with a married man ends in scandal, though, she unhappily accepts David’s offer of marriage in order to cover it up. Then she gets hit by a carriage and loses every memory she formed after her mid-teens, which happens to be when she met David. Thomas always has an engaging style and deals with even outlandish plots in a sophisticated way, and her take on the 13 Going on 30 plot is enjoyable. However, it is rushed at the end.

#theme of the bi-month: oh no he's hot #books #reading

[heartofstanding]

Hi! For the OC prompt : 10, 20, 29, 39, and 41 for Henry VI (to give you some angsty prompts). Thank you!

Thank you for the asks :) It was really helpful for me to sort of get a grasp on his personality/character - once I got over my nerves, that is. Because I’ve only written Henry VI once and that’s as a four-year-old boy filtered through Humphrey’s POV, I was really nervous about getting him “right”… so I hope this works?

10. Neuroses? Do they recognize them as such?He inherits his father’s depression and low self-worth (which Hal inherited from his father) but whereas Hal coped by basically overworking himself in effort to bury what he saw as his true self (I could go on but this is meant about to be about Henry VI, not V), Henry copes by mainly trying to avoid things he doesn’t do well and, if asked/forced to, curls up and goes “I can’t do it”. He tends to take failure as definitive proof that he can’t do the thing, even when that’s far from the case (like, Henry, darling, you can feed the ducks, you just need to throw the bread far enough that they can see it). He’s also a fairly anxious person, especially as he gets older and begins to be given more and more responsibilities (I was reading he was about eight when he was declared old enough to rule by himself which is frankly absurd). I don’t think he’s really aware of it as such, it’s just something that’s always there and it’s only when people start getting frustrated with him that he probably realises that not everyone feels the same way he does.

He goes quiet when he’s really upset and people probably don’t notice because he’s a pretty quiet person which only adds to the upset because now he feels invisible.

(that was long so I’m going to put the rest behind the cut)

20. Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?Nothing serious, nothing beyond normal childhood illnesses like colds/flu and occasional stomach upsets, etc. He always resented when he was more on the recovery side of sickness because everyone was so nice to him and didn’t make him do things he didn’t want to do and fussed over him while he was sick and now it’s back to reality. Like, he got Uncle Humphrey being soft around him again, not “you need to be a great warrior king now” and “oh god you’re giving up territories your father and uncles died for and you tell me not to get angry?”

29. Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)His first reaction is blind panic. Like, if the house is on fire, Henry is sprinting to the people he cares most about, gabbling at them and then grabbing their hands and sprinting out. In the immediate aftermath, he might be able to knuckle down, deal with the practicalities and ‘take charge’, but he really doesn’t want to and sooner or later, he’s going to crack. Then, existential terror and depression sets in - it’s not really extrapersonal for him. That was his home and it’s gone and it’s a sign from God. He doesn’t really care much about losing the material things - but his house is his safe place and that was destroyed and he has trauma.

39. What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?Hmm. I think he retreats to bed, to under the bed, and sleeps or lies there, cuddling with his cats/kittens until someone comes to force himself out or comes to cuddle with him or until he feels like he’s ready/has to go and face the world.

41. How misanthropic are they?Henry’s far too nice to be ever labelled a misanthropist. Like, he would not meet Bernard Black of Black Books and think “my soulmate!”, he’d probably just cry and run away because how can you be that horrible a person. But, on the other hand. Henry’s not very sociable and probably has significant anxiety about meeting people and talking to people, especially people he doesn’t know or barely knows. He finds it hard to really bond with anyone because there’s been a lot of disruption in his life and a lack of privacy - the people he meets tend to always have motives. But there are a select group of people he does like and trust (his mother, his wife, his son and briefly, his uncle of Gloucester) and he loves to hang out with them - through preferably in small/quiet locations. 

(please imagine him being nervous/scared during his coronation feast and Humphrey making faces at him to make him giggle and relax a little bit)

#henry vi #asks #text posts #headcanons everywhere #harry leroy #please forgive typos

[briirens]

the noragami writers’ chat according to the creator

Okay, so you have probably seen other accounts summarize our lovely chat before. And if you’re curious to know who started the whole thing, it was me! And in the six months the chat has been up, I have seen so many personalities come together. Now, I will summarize each member how I see them everyday.

@kurisuumakise - Has a cookie jar we are not allowed to touch, writes angst that kills us all, is the English major student you go to for tutorial, says she’s the saving voice of the chat but really edges us on, will make a power point out of you, has the longest iTunes and manga list I have ever seen in my entire life, cannot call her unnie, and has four hour long art streams.

@yatorihell - (Fake Brit) Drunk aunt, also a grandma, loves Game of Thrones, models her fics after said show, eyebrows be on fleek, has a liver made of steel, will drop a class is she learns only the basics, writes angst when fluff is demanded, is the only person who would kill over ten people in a fic, have to spray with water daily, makes dark deals with pip, and will call you babe or nerd.

@paperypiper - (Munchkin, Smol, Pip, Pippo, Pipper, Pippin) Smol human being, loves cats, has a wicked art talent, can connect with you over any musical or book, or show, gets hella sassy, has actually dragged my ass more than once, is the one who looks into the camera, or screams no, makes. all. her. snaps. three. seconds. long, will stay up till five am but yell at you if you do as well, and has the cutest voice ever.

@eerna - VERY PRETTY AND CUTE, gets excited over smol and meaningful things, is cute when excited, DRAWS SO HELLA WELL LIKE GIVE ME YOUR TALENT, is the savior of the chat, the responsible sister who gives you health facts when you’re about to do wrong, writes really well too, is so created like pls, lives in a place we like to assume is not real, and is open to share new ideas.

@skyheaven1231 - Rose trauma, still can’t believe I have to put a trigger warning on that, literally will disappear for weeks but somehow summon the second her art and name are mentioned, has this v soothing accent, DREW A COVER FOR MY FIC AND THANK YOU, you could honestly tell her any idea you have and she will love it, is the older sister you can go to for anything, and is the sweetest person I know when not writing angst.

@skadventuretime - Hey mom, is legit the mom of the group, she is not in often, so we’re actually partying in her absence, but when she appears the whole chat acts like angels, has written character death before, we act like angels but she writes angst frequently, is the inspiration to us all, if she saw what we all did for a living... we would be grounded, and she’s a hard working grad school student.

@hiyoris-scarf - Writing senpai, likes to pretend that fanny packs are not fanny packs, has a habit of pulling apples outta nowhere, is high on alcohol life, sends videos of her cat, IS SO FUCKING PRETTY GOSH, went to Europe and came back a different person, is the definition of tumblr aesthetic, is extremely bad at lying over message, has had experiences in airplanes and writes smut for a living.

@moonemi - LITTLE SISTER, is honestly so BEAUTIFUL, the cutest person ever, is the definition of relationship goals, has a lotta knowledge in Korean dramas and music, has a v cute drawing style, cares so much about others, has the cutest British accent ever, how many times can I say cute in a sentence, cusses when v serious, is very aesthetic wth teach me, and is the first person I will visit outta the country.

@shadownightes - SASSY DAUGHTER, is the kindest person ever, drew a picture of my OC and I wanna lay down, will text during class, is there when you need her to be, honestly also lives in a place that is not real, draws the good stuff, is the biggest OC fan I have ever met in my entire life, is so precious, takes care of her mama, and knows what goods to send.

@dr-gothtastic - (Inku) Angst Queen, your local Kazubisha nerd, makes the best edits ever, can catch her playing video games for hours, will one day come to NYC with me, FELLOW KPOP FAN LIKE HELLO, tells the best stories in the whole universe, the person who has a nerd party that is fucking wild, has a beautiful laugh, literally is the cousin who knows how to party in the best ways, and will always give advice,

@bishoujohiyo - Your friendly neighborhood nurse, looks like an actress, wil fucking diagnose you if you mention you have cold, tells you all the things you should be eating... but you don’t have them, has the best typos in the world, will come up with the most unique insults, is the concerned mother for all of us youngions, knows how to calm someone down, and I would be hella sick without her. 

@wolfisyatotrash - RP buddy, took two months just to join the damn chat, is the voice of reason for most of our actions, awoo, is up at 12 am when she has school the next morning, is literally the most indecisive person in the chat, screams with me over random aus, literally is the manga page finder, finds everything before everyone else, says she can’t draw but can, and we just celebrated our one year anniversary for being friends.

@themusicalbookworm - (Geo, National Giographic) BEST SINGER EVER, is honestly the nicest person in the world, will meet up with me soon, writes the best and most angsty songs, can talk to you on just about anything, will write a song just for kicks in an au, gets my Florida problems, is also the mom of the group, comes up with the best ideas ever, and is like E V E R Y T H I N G.

@omnismith - Local kazubisha fan, swoons at many things, fact checks everything, looks up the meanings of Adachitoka detail, comes up the best headcanons and imagines for Noragami, also says some painful things about kazubisha, slowly became corrupted by the chat, judges the chat when she’s on, and is honestly the nicest person ever. 

@godinatracksuit - WIFEY, likes to go on walks, takes pictures of her dogs and nature, is very outdoors-y aesthetic, will literally send me a box of potatoes one day, judges the beaches in Florida, HAS THE BEST AND CUTEST AU EVER, can also sing like multi-talented, has to make us all coffee one day, first started out in the kazubisha chat and the moved over, and we have corrupted her.

@carrotcouple - My go to sleep alarm clock, is up when I go to bed, has to go through 1000 messages each morning, also looks up details about Noragami, is also a big KPOP fan, writes a fic that was translated into Chinese, likes to kinkshame me on the daily, kinkshames everyone on the daily tbh, inspired a new fic series of mine, and is a part of the Kdrama group.

@yes-campaign - WROTE ME THIS LONG ESSAY ON WHY I MATTERED AND HONESTLY SHE DESERVES A FUCKING GOLD STAR TYVM, sassy daughter, literally sasses everyone, you will probably think she is from England, can probably give you a detailed report on how to do something the simple way, is the youngest one in the group, and she acts nineteen.

@sunflower-yukine - My son, he was so innocent, now he is nothing except bees and shrek, sends me daily snaps and I am v thankful, is the only boy in the chat, likes to torture us all with memes, is the best friend nobody can control, knows how to get under everyone’s skin with memes, teams up with the meme team to attack us, and is honestly the funniest person to be around.

@rest-in-bees - Talks to me on the daily, has literally been taken over by memes, made a shrek cake, is the voice of reason when I am down in the dumps, loves listening about aus, I get to see her very soon, is so funny that it hurts, has a lot of childhood shows that she needs to watch, IS THE VOICE BEHIND THE RELATIONSHIP OF MY OC, and helps me out with Tinder.

@kiun & @blessedburial - NEWBIES, i have yet to really experience their full extent, caring children, also tell me to go to sleep or lay down, slowly are becoming corrupted from the chat, salty savages and I love them so much, still adjusting to Cat writing angst, and me killing characters, newest additions, and they fit in perfectly!

#brii rambles #noragami writers' chat

[iamacolor]

yousana secret santa again! wow, that light exhibition sounds lovely!! I'm sure you had a great time. so a little q/a, I'm good with fanvideos or fanfics, is there any preference for one or the other for you? also do you like soft songs or something a bit high tempo? and lastly, totally unrelated but I see you watch kdramas from your blog, so many of my friends have been wanting me to watch them, which one would you recommend?

hello dear secret santa, hope you’re doing well!!!

oh I very very rarely watch fanvideos (i don’t really know why tbh? I have friends who’ve made some and I’ve loved them, I think it’s just that I’ve never really searched for it) but I do read fanfiction and I think I prefer reading about scenes/moments/dialogue that can’t be found in canon

that song question is very tricky because although I listen to a lot of soft songs, I’ve recently come to enjoy different styles so I think it depends why I’m listening to music for (in the street, while working on writing or on designing, while reading, just listening..) - not a very clear answer I’m sorry!

oooh nice question!!! i’ve started watching kdramas less than a year ago now so I’ve mainly watched shows that came out a few years ago and few that came out this year, I only followed one in real time but that means all the ones I recommend are easily found online with english subtitles!

recommendations are quite tricky because I’ve watched some very different genres so I guess it also kind of depends on what you like? but still here are some of the ones I’ve enjoyed the most/that touched me the most (oh there’s always a love story more or less important to the plot):

- just between lovers (quite sad because it deals with a lot of trauma and survivor’s guilt but in a way I found very respectful and not too “drama and tragedy for the sake of it” and the dynamic between the two leads was really good! despite the pain the characters go through you finish it feeling soft)

- catch the ghost (not the best plot and pacing for a crime show let’s be honest but the characters and their dynamics were so great and made up for it!! I loooved the two leads so much each individually as well as their pairing - my blog’s been full of them lately lol there’s so much care and understanding between them and aslo the show can be really really funny)

- her private life (a very, very, very nice rom-com, just enough tropes and new twists on fake dating and hidden identities, well crafted-well written-complex main characters!! I coul’ve done without a few stuffs but overall it was a really great and sweet show -without being too sweet!)

- 100 days my prince (the only historical drama I’ve watched so far and I like the balance between the romance and the political/court plot, one of the lead has amnesia for a long part of the show which can be a tricky subject but I thought the show dealt with it well and the use of tropes (romantic or dramatic) didn’t bother me as I liked the characters)

- Weightlifting fairy kim bok-joo (the first one I watch so it’s special to me, it’s a very nice and soft one even if it’s not always super happy, but it has a great “ennemy-quickly friends-to-lovers” relationship and great representation of friendship and what it’s like to go through college)

- fight for my way ( this one has a great childhood-friends-to-lovers relationship without it being the center of development for the characters as I felt it mostly dealt with young adults trying to figure out how to live out their dreams and to make choices for their lives and career in today’s world)

- miss hammurabi (didn’t really think I would like this one at first as it’s set in court, it’s set in a group of judges dealing with civil cases when a new young female judge full of empathy and desire to change things start working there, the issues that they dealt with in their cases and the debate over the ethics of their work were super interesting and touching and felt very contemporary, the intrigue of the court behind-the-scenes and the power of the hierarchy were sometimes shocking but very well discussed and if I remember well it was written by an ex-judge, the romance is quite low-key in this one but the relationship between the different judges and the court personnel is very rich and I was touched by a lot of cases they dealt with. The only thing I’m uncomfortable with in this drama, is that in the 1st episode when trying to prove a point about how women should not be criticized for what they wear the lead female character wears a burqa and one of the judges get overly scared of her but it’s never dealt with)

- healer (from what I understand it’s a classic even if it’s not really old but it’s got everything!!! great heros, some good, some more morally grays but all well written and touching and going through a learning/self-discovery curve, great balance of the plot between action-journalistic investigation-romance-team building, there are a lot of flashbacks as it often deals with the outcome of the actions of a group of people in the 80′s and there are great relationships developped over the generations and between characters that can seem too different but work well together, i really liked the main pairing!! and the main team was really great)

- my id is gangnam beauty (the synopsis intrigued me as it tells the story of a young girl starting university after having a full facial surgery, she still has issues with her self-esteem and how she views herself and when she enters college thinking no one will recognize her, a boy does. It deals with some serious themes over the expectations put on women to look a certain way and the behaviour they adopt because of it while also dealing with a first love experience (really like the pairing and the way the relationship developed) and getting into college)

- one spring night (it’s one that felt very “grown-up” to me without being too heavy, the story can seem quite simple - a woman who already has a boyfriend that she doesn’t really get along with anymore and whom she doesn’t plan on marrying meets ayoung pharmacist who is a single father. From there the relationship is explored in a very delicate way even if they face many obstacles from the “ex”-boyfriend and the family - just wanted to slap them sometimes- and I loved the production and the directing, the characters aren’t tropes)

- age of youth (i’ve only watched the first season -it’s evry rare that kdramas have more than 1- and I loved it but the second season changed the casting for one of the main character and it put me off since she’s the one who starts the story- it’s about 5 girls living in a shared house in seoul -most of them are college students and they all have very different lives and issues to deal with but a certain camaradery and care is built between them as they live together and support each other, it’s got a bit of everything and none of the girls felt like tropes of clichés to me and all were very interesting)

- coffee prince (this one is a real classic from the 2000′s and it deals with the story of a young woman who pretends to be a man for her job, problem is her boss and her develop a very special connection and she doesn’t want to reveal she’s a woman while he questions himself, it’s also about how they work togetehr and with a team to create a new coffee place and the bond between the team members and how their relationship affects that - it’s very well acted and despite the touchy subject it never feels like it’s too much, it’s always very touching and it’s very angsty!)

- father is strange (this one is a loooong one, most kdramas last 16 episodes, this ones has 52 I think? I definitely didn’t bing that one but I highly recommend it. It’s a great story about family - both blood family, living with your relatives and growing up to see your parents as people and not just your heroes and found family, what makes a family? a young actor goes looking for his father and the man he finds has a family and 4 grown children - one of his daughter being the actor’s assistant- he starts living in with them only he doesn’t know the man isn’t actually his father. You follow the story of each daughter and the actor as well as the parents dilemmas over revealing their identity or taking care of the actor. Each relationship is well crafted and goes through highs-and-lows - there’s one very annoying couple, the in-laws of one of the daughter- and despite the lenght I never felt bored because each character was well taken care of and well written)

I can’t make short lists and short presentations I’m sorry, I tried in the beginning but kind of gave up by the end! I hope you’ve found something to watch in these recommendations, if you want more infos on some of these shows or want to know about the others I’ve watched (I might’ve forgotten a good one that I liked and that would fit you more) don’t hesitate to ask! and if you start watching one of these, please let me know what you think!!

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