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mittensmorgul · 3 years

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Hi Mittens! Happy holidays! I love your meta and I had a question: I've seen you make a couple posts about Miracle lately, and while I'm definitely angry at canon replacing Cas with a dog, I was kind of taken aback at some of your comments about Dean and dogs (specifically how much you seem to hate that combination; I've never felt strongly about it one way or the other). Do you have a tag or post about your feelings on Dean and dogs? Or could you explain in a little more detail, please?

Hi hi!

Dean... has never been associated positively with dogs on this show-- up to and including that scene in Scoobynatural where he does the SCOOBYDOOBYDOOOOO! and Cas rolls his eyes and tells him flat out he’s not a talking dog. I mean, even in one of Sam’s heaven memories, he’s effectively replaced Dean with a dog... so while Dean was being implied-harshly-punished by John for “losing” Sam, Sam had been having the time of his life with a dog instead... Sorry, I’ve got a lot of resentment for dog symbolism in the show...

Cas has also been associated with dogs in a lot of... let’s go with derogatory comments, and since this dog in the finale was SPECIFICALLY a replacement for Cas in Dean’s life... I find it particularly insulting, you know?

5.14: We get dog comments about Cas and Dean both in this ep. Famine refers to Cas as Dean’s dog... “You sicced your dog on me, I threw him a steak.” And we see Cas crouched on the ground eating meat. Earlier in this ep, Sam teased Dean about his lack of any “appetite” for anything with the comment, “when a dog doesn't eat-- That's when you know something's really wrong.“

7.21: after being banished, he reappears at a dog track, where the dogs were unhappy. so... Cas was basically just another unhappy dog in this part of the story.

10.22: Rowena compares Cas to a “dog who thinks he’s people” for being an angel who rejected heaven and chose his family with the Winchesters.

10.23-11.03: Cas is literally under a spell referred to as “Attack Dog,” which he fights against but is slowly turning him into a killing machine. He seeks help from Heaven, but they only want to use him, to torture information out of him and then kill him once they get what they want. It’s implied he even kills a dog in 11.01.

11.06: when Cas is in the bunker still suffering from trauma related to the attack dog spell, lying in bed and watching tv, he changes the channel to a news story about a dog riding a skateboard, and the newscaster uses Rowena’s line from 10.22: “Aw, that dog thinks it’s people!”

12.19: Lucifer refers to Cas as the Winchesters’ “purse dog,” and s12 is littered with dog references, especially between Lucifer and Crowley (which started back in s11 when Lucifer was using Cas’s vessel and treating Crowley like a dog... there’s a lot of negative baggage attached to dogs on this show)

13.16: Scooby is obviously the one dog Dean’s okay with, having positive childhood associations with him. But when comparing themselves to the scooby gang, Sam says they don’t have a talking dog, and Dean replies that Cas is sort of like a talking dog... which is interesting because at the end of the episode Cas tells Dean he’s NOT a talking dog. And this, in a scene that was directly foreshadowing Dean becoming Michael’s suit...again, more negative baggage for both of them.

The Dean vs Dogs imagery really kicks in when Dean’s soul is destined for Hell in s3, though.

3.10: In his rant to his dream self, Dream!Dean accuses Dean of being as “mindless and obedient as an attack dog,” just a few lines before he gives the “daddy’s blunt little instrument” line that Cas reminded us of in 15.18. So I do think this is something that the writers couldn’t possibly have been unaware of in invoking that specific line and the specific baggage attached to it.

3.11, one of the MANY deaths Dean suffers is from a seemingly nice dog he tries to pet in a friendly manner. The nice golden retriever mauls him to death, like the hellhounds are due to do to him in just a few short episodes...

3.16: literally torn apart by hellhounds... don’t know how else to make it clear that Dean Is Not A Fan of this.

4.06: suffering from Ghost Sickness, and being magically forced to experience heightened levels of fear, he runs from a lil Yorkie with a bow in its hair, pausing only long enough to warn another person on the street to run before it kills them. We are invited to see how his biggest fear-- of Lilith, of being tortured in Hell, and having been dragged there by hellhounds-- is literally tied to his feelings toward actual dogs, including nonthreatening little lap dogs.

6.01: When Dean falls under the djinn’s spell, he hallucinates an unseen monster, presumably something akin to a hellhound, but when he thinks he’s caught the monster, it’s the neighbor’s Yorkie. Just like in 4.05, Dogs, Hellhounds, and Things Dean Fears In His Soul are all tangled up together.

6.08: aka that one episode I forget exists until it comes back around on the loop (actually I don’t forget it exists anymore, I’ve seen the show too many times at this point, but meh...). But it does plant this fear, that any dog anywhere might not really be a dog. The “sleeper cell” skinwalker packs in cities all over the world? Yeah, not a happy thought for someone who really doesn’t like dogs. Or at the very least has a low-key fear of them.

7.15: I would qualify this one as just “symbolism,” but since this episode is full of anvils, it feels legit to mention that the spell Jeffrey uses to summon his demon back to him involves using Dean’s blood and a dog’s heart. Not really a dean/fear thing, but Dean AS a dog-- and a sacrificed dog at that.

8.01: When Dean gets back from Purgatory, he gets in the Impala and smells dog. Bringing on the famous rule that he’s quite angry about Sam having clearly violated even when he wasn’t on the same plane of existence at the time-- No dogs in the car. He’s still clearly not a fan. Early s8 becomes a long string of “Sam hit a dog” comments, too.

8.15: for all this episode’s grossness, it does remind us over and over again that Dean really does not like dogs. Even flat out having Dean say he likes dogs, and the woman who literally is a dog familiar tells him that no, he doesn’t.

9.05: Dean... is basically a dog. He bonds with the Colonel a bit, even identifies with the dog while he’s under the spell, but all that good will that built up between them effectively shatters again with the ominous last words he gets before the spell wears off and the knowledge that dogs were not created to be man’s best friend, but had some other-- and in this context seemingly sinister-- purpose.

And then we have every other ep that deals with Hellhounds, Dean’s failure to kill one leading to Sam taking on the trials instead of him, tied up in their mutual discussion of what they see as their respective futures-- Sam wants to live, and he wants Dean to live, too, instead of Dean constantly running toward death and self-sacrifice. So like, these themes are all tied up together, and makes all the dog stuff incredibly not fun when it comes to Dean specifically.

So when Dean does lose Cas-- and everyone else on the planet-- the dog being the ONE living being they’ve found, Dean picking her up and putting her in “Cas’s place” in the car, only to have Chuck snap her away like she was a manipulative trick the entire time? Not even really real, just one more thing to give Dean a tiny bit of hope only to maliciously snatch it away again?

And then for the SINGLE thing Dean asked for from Chuck being to bring Cas back?

And then he doesn’t get Cas back, but apparently kidnaps this random dog instead?

It’s just... indescribably weird to me, and so entirely out of character and insulting to Cas on top of it all. Like this was the only happiness Dean was allowed after saving the universe. No found extended family, no life outside of Sam and hunting, no dream of retiring and finding a beach to sink his toes in the sand for a little while. He just gets a dog, which he canonically doesn’t like and has a lot of issues with for entirely understandable reasons. So like.. .how is this cute or happy or nice?

#dean vs dogs #spn 15.20 #i'm sorry the dog thing is just making me irrationally angry on dean's behalf but dammit it's just gross to me #Anonymous

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tuff-and-fluff-archives · 4 years

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Okay I am hyperfixating HARD on Tom and Jerry and all my emotions from childhood have FLOODED forth, so now that I’ve finished watching (almost) all 161 original theatrical Tom and Jerry shorts from 1940 to 1967, I would like to force you all to endure my insane ramblings about this franchise. Although before I begin, I’d like to share where I’ve been watching all these! Here’s a Dailymotion playlist of all 161 shorts, put into the correct order by yours truly :3 OKAY NOW THE INSANITY BEGINS 💖💖💖

1) The Messy Formative Years: Shorts 001-017 (1940-1944)

So obviously, when a series is first created, especially an animated series, the first few episodes will always be a bit odd as the directors and writers find their footing and establish the rules of their own universe, and Tom and Jerry is no exception! In fact, these episodes can be a bit weird and even jarring to watch because the designs of the titular characters are so drastically different from how they look even ten years afterwards. In fact, in the very first episode, they don’t even have their official names yet and are instead named “Jasper and Jinx.” Also, there’s a LOT of talking in these beginning shorts before they decided to make Tom and Jerry almost entirely mute. Shorts 010 and 013 stand out the most, as they feature characters regularly speaking full sentences and it’s just... ohhh it’s SO weird to watch and it feels almost wrong 😅 Of course that’s not to say these shorts are bad, far from it actually! They’re still super fun and fascinating to watch and I think it’s quite interesting to see how such an iconic franchise got its start!

2) The Golden Years: Shorts 018-097 (1945-1955)

Oh. My. GOD. THESE ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST. I guarantee that when you just think about Tom and Jerry, THESE are the shorts that come to mind. By now William Hanna & Joseph Barbara fully had their formula down and were just pumping out hit after hit afTER HIT HHHHH I LOVE THESE SO MUCH. I’m not kidding when I say that these shorts still make me laugh really hard and I absolutely adore nearly every aspect of them: the fluid and extremely expressive animation, the excellently timed music paired with each short, and the humor that’s constant and lands almost every time. My absolute favorite ones are around 040-080 but really all of these are just sooooo good. I know that this is stating the obvious but one thing that I especially love is just how VIOLENT these cartoons are, even more than the Looney Tunes shorts that were coming out at the same time. Characters are constantly picking up knives or axes or straight up GUNS and ngl I feel like half of the humor comes from that shock factor of the insane absurdity of that violence. Okay I’m starting to sound rly dumb, I know explaining the joke is never fun, but the directing and animation just NAILS every joke; I think the secret behind it is that there’s always a buildup and anticipation before the impact, and that buildup just makes the impact all the more intense! I was going to list my top 5 favorites but it’s impossible to choose so lemme just recommend a random five out of all of them: 026 - Solid Serenade, 048 - Saturday Evening Puss, 067 - Triplet Trouble, 069 - Fit to Be Tied, and 076 - That’s My Pup!

Also, I don’t know where else to mention this so I’ll just say it here: there’s a gradual change that Tom’s design goes through where he’s slowly drawn to be less and less fuzzy. At first his outline was drawn with a lot of points to emphasize his fur, but over time they abandoned doing that, my guess is because it was harder to animate. I’d say that they fully transitioned to Smooth Tom around short 030. That’s just a little detail I noticed and wanted to share! ^-^

3) The Slow Decay: Shorts 098-114 (1956-1958)

*heavy sigh* Well... a good thing can’t last forever. What’s kinda strange is that I can’t really nail down a specific reason caused a decline in quality after 1955; short 096 was the last to be produced by Fred Quimby, with Hanna & Barbara being given the producer credit as well as director credit for the remaining 18 shorts, and MGM animation studios had major budget cuts in the late 50′s and was shut down in 1957, and perhaps the studio shutting down had also taken the joy out of the crew, which would certainly have an effect on the cartoons. Now that doesn’t mean that these last 16 shorts are bad- they’re still quite entertaining, but they just don’t have the same energy as the shorts made in the Golden Years. They’re also nowhere near as cartoonishly violent as the past shorts had been; weapons are almost never used anymore and there are barely any efforts from Tom and Jerry to straight up kill each other, and more often than not they’re working together and even acting like close friends. I think that’s pretty fair evidence that even if these later shorts were much tamer and friendlier, that meant that they were lacking the same chaotic energy that made the other shorts so hilarious.

Also I just need to vent this here cuz this era also contains the two most absolutely infuriating shorts in the Hanna-Barbera era, that being 100 - Busy Buddies and 114 - Tot Watchers. These two shorts consist of Tom and Jerry attempting to stop a baby from accidentally dying cuz it’s just a dumb baby that doesn’t know anything, while the babysitter is just totally ignorant to everything happening. Now I can’t quite explain why and I’m probably just making myself look like an asshole but these shorts are just... so frustrating to me??? Like its bad enough that this stupid baby whose face NEVER changes from that stupid little smile just keeps wandering into dangerous situations (in Tot Watchers it straight up crawls into a CONSTRUCTION ZONE) but every time Tom rescues the little bastard and puts it back in its crib, the babysitter thinks he’s “bothering” the baby (probably because of that one myth about cats laying on babies and stealing their breath) and so poor Tom is just punished for doing literally nothing wrong!! It’s just... very frustrating to me for some reason I’m sorry... (Although I have to admit that it is interesting and kinda cute that Tom knows how to change a diaper, like wif the safety pins and everything. Why does he know that...?)

4) The Gene Deitch Shit Shorts: 115-127 (1961-1962)

OOOH BOY. I don’t think... that I can really describe how purely and utterly I dislike the Deitch shorts. Okay so, to explain, in 1961 MGM decided they wanted to revive the Tom and Jerry franchise, so they contracted an animation studio based in Czechoslovakia to create 13 new original shorts. All of these shorts were directed by Gene Deitch, who before being commissioned for these cartoons, was open about his disdain for the original Hanna-Barbera shorts that he described as “needlessly violent.” After he was assigned to the series, he did come around to somewhat realize that the violence was intended to be overly cartoonish and humorous, but his initial opinion still had an influence on his directing decisions. In addition to these facts, the foreign team behind this series had only collectively seen a handful of the original cartoons, and each short was given a budget of only $10,000, compared to the $50,000 that the Hanna-Barbera shorts had all been given.

SO. To recap, these 13 new shorts were being made by a foreign team who had barely seen any of the source material, directed by a man who had disliked the original cartoons, and being made on 1/5 of the budget that the Hanna-Barbera shorts were given. Needless to say, the end results were a DISASTER. I’m not kidding when I say that watching these shorts feels almost like a fever dream with how completely baffling and surreal they are. I honestly don’t think they could be any more different from the original series; the music and sound effects are extremely minimalist and usually completely absent, the animation is so jerky and totally lacking the fluidity of the originals, and the character design is also drastically different and, in my opinion, kinda ugly too. These are universally considered to be the worst of the theatrical shorts, and Deitch himself has even stated that he and his team “hardly had a chance to succeed” and he fully understands the negativity directed towards the shorts he directed. I have to confess that when I rewatched all the theatrical shorts, I only got through two of these before outright skipping the rest of them. These 13 shorts are a complete disgrace to the majesty of the Hanna-Barbera series, and while I don’t hold anything against the people behind them, I can’t lie when I say that I hate these shorts.

5) The Chuck Jones Era: 128-161 (1963-1967)

I have an odd love-hate relationship with these shorts. I don’t think I need to explain to you the legacy of the great Chuck Jones, the creator of Marvin the Martian, Pepe Le Pew, and the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote whose name is nearly synonymous with the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 30′s, 40′s, and 50′s. He’s an absolute legend in the animation industry, and yet... the Tom and Jerry shorts that he directed are still significantly weaker than the original series. Let me start with the things I like though! The slight changes in the character design to match Chuck Jones’ signature style are super appealing (I especially like how at times, Tom will almost resemble Jones’ design for the Grinch) and the animation is of course very well done and a joy to watch, but despite these positives, the humor is sadly lacking. There are still quite a few jokes that land, but they’re more restrained and just don’t have the same high-energy oomph! of the impactful gunshot sound effects and violent screams of the original cartoon. I’ll always have an appreciation for this era of shorts and the man behind them, but they sadly didn’t even come halfway close to the Hanna-Barbera series.

WELL. ANYWAY, THAT’S MY RANT!!! Thanks for reading this far, all two people that did. It just felt good to get this outta my system! 💖💖

#long post #💜: you're the cat's meow!#ruby rambles #i implore you i am begging you PLEASE interact wif this post #legit it will make me SO happy if someone leaves a little comment or ask for me and a reblog would actually kill me 💘💘#JUST PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT THE CARTOON I LOVE IT SM #maybe if people wanna talk about their favorite episodes and stuff!!! im more than willing to respond!!!#i just have so much to say im sorry jhfsjhd 🥺🥺🥺

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365daysofsasuhina · 4 years

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[ @sasuhinabigflash2020 || Day Eleven: Total Silence ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Hyūga Hiashi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Divine Light ] [ AO3 Link ]

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Noise, noise, there’s always only noise.

No matter how many times she tells her father she hates these social gatherings and publicity preening parties, he still strong-arms her into coming. You’d think as an adult herself now she’d finally find the guts to tell him no, but...well, a childhood and teenage years of a controlling parent that forced obedience through a constant threat of removing what you hold dear birthed a fear of that power still lingering after maturity.

...or so she tells herself.

Hinata Hyūga knows she’s mostly just a pushover no matter who it is she’s dealing with. Whether it’s her father, or her cousin, or even her little sister. Making waves and starting arguments just...isn’t in her skillset.

Hence why, more often than not, she ends up at her father’s obnoxious gatherings. His business in the medical technology industry means rubbing all the right elbows. And while Hinata’s choice to pursue journalism isn’t exactly in line with his expectations or standards, he still portrays her in the best light he can...in order to make himself look better.

And through all of that, his company...and its stocks.

For most of her time at these get-togethers, Hinata sticks to the walls, socializing only when necessary and otherwise trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, and evade such interactions in the first place.

But for some reason...tonight is just more than she can handle.

Not only is there music pulsing through speakers, but conversations, laughter, and even some shouting fill the air to a staggering degree. Ugh, she can feel a headache coming on...maybe she’ll just -

“Hinata.”

...wonderful.

Turning to her father, Hinata forces a smile. “Yes?”

“I’ve been talking to a young up-and-comer who would like to speak to you about a possible piece you could write about his company.”

She blinks. “...a piece?”

“Yes, a degree of publicity to help him get things off the ground. Say a few nice words, interview him...that sort of thing.”

Immediately, something in Hinata’s stomach churns. This sounds a lot like a piece of bribery, and that’s the last thing she wants to get herself into. “I...could look into it.”

“He’d like to speak to you now.”

Oh no...no, not now. Not with her head spinning and senses overloading. “I...I’m sorry, I’ve been fighting a headache, and -”

“It will only take a few minutes, Hinata.”

“Could -? Could you give him my email, and I’ll just -”

“No, now.”

The brazen order actually makes her catch herself in a lurch. Her vision is swimming, her skin feels clammy - she has to get out of here, now.

So, without a word, she holds up a hand and just...stumbles forward toward the door.

“Hinata…? Where do you think you’re -?”

For once in her life...she ignores him. With a push, she urges the door open and steps out into the cool air of the city evening. It washes over her like a relieving tide.

But it’s not enough. If she doesn’t move, he’ll just drag her back inside.

So she flees.

Turning to the right, she keeps on down the sidewalk, heels clicking. Thankfully she’s so used to them, even an unsteady gait born of dizziness doesn’t twist her ankles. A few curious passersby give her strange looks, but none make to stop her.

Good.

It’s late enough most other doors are locked and lights out, but by some grace she finds a place alight and open. An old brass handle turns in her hand, letting her into...wherever. At this point, it doesn’t matter. Anywhere is better than there.

Once in, she pushes the portal closed, leaning against it and heaving a weary sigh.

...and then notices something odd.

It’s completely and utterly silent. Such a change from her prior surroundings, her ears begin to ring.

Lifting her head, she takes in the building properly. At first glance, it appears to be nothing more than a second hand or antique shop. The building itself is also old, with crown moulding and rich wooden floors, worn but shining. The smell of old paper permeates the air.

Feeling almost like she’s stepped into another world, Hinata then realizes the door has a glass panel, through which she can be seen. Hefting upright, she moves between rows of shelves to better hide herself from view. And, with nothing else to do, she starts looking through the merchandise.

In truth, it...doesn’t look like much. Random knick knacks, decor, old-fashioned tools and kitchenware. It’s like someone went through every grandmother’s house and looted them, putting whatever they can find into the bins and rows.

It’s...bizarre, and not at all what she expected to find on the same street as the fancy hotel her father almost always rents for his parties. But at least that means it should be one of the last places Hiashi or his goons think to look for her. She walks slowly down the aisle, wondering if something might catch her eye while she’s here.

“...what are you doing?”

Jolting with a gasp, Hinata turns to see she’s no longer alone. At the head of the aisle where she came from, a man about her age eyes her almost suspiciously.

What an odd way to treat a customer, but...well, on second thought, she’s a little overdressed to be shopping for...whatever this stuff is.

“I, um…” How to explain…? “Someone was...following me, so I stepped in. Are...are you open?”

“...yes,” he replies after a pause, clearly weighing her story. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yes - I’m fine. I’m sure they won’t think to look for me in -” She catches herself, not wanting to be rude. “...here.”

That earns a hint of a snort. “Well...I’m open another half hour, so...stay as long as you like until then.”

“Thank you…” She watches him turn back and vanish from view.

A nagging in the back of her mind sees her follow.

“May I...ask what your store is called? I, um...I m-missed the sign on the way in…”

“Curiosities.”

“...is -? Is that the whole name?”

“Did you expect something more?” he counters, stepping behind a register at the rear of the room.

“I...guess I didn’t know what to expect.”

He leans on his arms, looking her over. “...I find things that are unwanted, and try to find the person who’s meant to want them,” is his cryptic explanation.

“People look for -?” Again she cuts off, realizing she’s...about to be very rude. “...I’m sorry. I’ve, um...I’ve never been to an antique shop before…”

“That’s not exactly what this is, but...a close enough guess.”

Something about his refusal furrows her brow. Is he...hiding something? “How do you find these...curiosities?”

“Most are happenstance. Some I look for specifically. Though those sorts of wares are kept in the back.”

“Because they’re...valuable?”

“To the right people, yes.”

Another pause at his odd reply. “...I should introduce myself,” Hinata then backpedals. “I’m Hinata. Hinata Hyūga.”

“Sasuke Uchiha. And what do you do for a living that’s clearly above the par of a humble shopkeeper?”

His jab makes her go pink. “...I’m, um...I’m a journalist.”

“Hm...you have the air about you. Maybe that’s why you ended up here.”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“It’s Curiosities,” he replies, a grin curling one corner of his mouth. “Only people who are looking for something tend to find their way to my little shop. And journalists are always looking for something. A new story, a new point of intrigue.”

“Well, this...place is rather intriguing,” she agrees, glancing around again.

“One way to put it, yes.”

“As is the man behind the counter.”

His smirk seems to grow, and for a flicker of a moment, as his head tilts, Hinata swears there’s a ruby-red shine to his otherwise dark eyes. “I’d argue that my wares are the true point of interest, but...I can’t deny another’s observations.”

Suddenly, Hinata feels her inner writer coming out. “So...is this a family shop?” she asks casually.

“You could say that. It’s been in the line for quite some time.”

“Anyone else help run it?”

At that, Sasuke seems to hang up for a moment, and an unreadable look passes over his face. “...no, just me.”

“...was that a bad question?”

“No. I...had an elder brother, but...he passed some time ago.”

Shocked sympathy wilts her features. “...I’m so sorry.”

“It’s in the past. Feels like it was centuries ago now, but...well, even old scars can ache.”

She mutes for a long moment. “...seems awfully quiet.”

“Yes, my clientele tends to be...sporadic. Or by appointment.”

“Appointment?”

“People call looking for something in particular, and I...acquire it. We then arrange to meet.”

In spite of herself, Hinata gives a soft laugh. “Sounds suspicious.”

“Any business dealing is, in the right light. But I can assure you, it’s all perfectly legal.” His smile begins to return.

Opening her mouth to speak again, Hinata hesitates as a buzz sounds in the little handbag she’s miraculously kept ahold of. “Oh, sorry...my phone…”

“No apology needed.”

Bringing up her mobile, Hinata grimaces at her father’s name.

“...unwanted conversation?”

“Unwanted lecture,” she sighs, muting it. Guilt and apprehension grow, but...she’ll find some excuse. Her headache is gone, but...well, Hiashi won’t have to know that. “Still, I...should probably be going. It’s getting late, and...I’m doing l-little more than pester you.”

“Pester away. As you said, it’s quiet...a bit of conversation is nice now and again. Perhaps you can do a proper piece about the place another time, since you seem to find it so curious.”

His quip earns a laugh, then a pause. Right...there’s that other piece her father wants her to write.

...she’ll think about that in the morning.

“It was nice to meet you, Sasuke. Um...thanks for letting me hide out in here,” Hinata then offers sheepishly.

“Of course. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting a gown-clad maiden in tonight, but...you’d be surprised what other sorts of characters I end up with in here.”

“You’ve already sold me on the place, you know,” she replies with a smile. “No need to keep whetting my appetite. I’ll be back.”

“Just being thorough,” he replies, giving a wave as she peers out the door, and then trots back the way she came. “...hm…”

With a trill, a feathery figure alights upon a stand that rests atop the counter.

��Yes, yes...she’s gone. Thank you for behaving yourself.”

A bird of gold and auburn plumage blinks vermillion eyes at him, a small comb of fire flickering along her regal head. But as Sasuke gives it fond strokes, it doesn’t burn him.

“Yet...I wonder…” Looking back to the door, he seems to sink into thought. “It’s very rare we get anyone el’tahl in here. Maybe she has some ven buried in her bloodline, hm?”

In response, the phoenix gives another melodic flow of notes.

“You liked her, did you? Well, that’s all the convincing I need. We’ll have to see how deep she manages to dig when she comes back. But for now, time to call it a night.”

With a snap, the lights extinguish, lock bolting shut at the front. In his hand, an orb of revolving fire lights his way through the back door. Here, objects clearly not meant for unenlightened human eyes glow, spin, float, and hum.

“...how deep, indeed.”

So this is very late because wow my toothache is...unreal. I’m so sorry, guys. It’s also not what I first envisioned but sometimes characters just veer you off course! I was going to have this be vampire-themed but instead we got...this! Which is...technically another crossover with a work of my own. DL is mostly a medieval-fantasy sort of world, BUT I do have one story in it so far that’s modern. And Sasuke is being directly crossed with one of the characters, but uh...it’d take a lot to explain and possibly spoil things so we’ll just leave the mystery intact xD Anyway, I’m...totally exhausted and technically still in pain. Might be going to a dentist tomorrow, no idea, so...I dunno when I’ll get more done since I’m still behind. Thank you for your patience - I WILL finish this event one way or another, it just might be delayed because life things, woo. Buuut on that note, I’ll be heading off. Thanks for reading!

#sasuhinabigflash2020 #shbf2020 #sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #hyūga hiashi #divine light [ au ]

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make-me-imagine · 4 years

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Could I have a special ship for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek DS9? I’m Sav, and I’m bi, leaning more towards guys. I’m autistic, and I have intense special interests, my current one being A:TLA. In addition, I like cats, watching TV shows, listening to music, drawing, daydreaming, and writing stories. I have low tolerance for bullies, annoying people, and certain sensory situations. I’m usually pretty shy and quiet, but once I’m comfortable around someone, I become more talkative. (1/2)

Ships are now Closed

Hope you like them!

Voyager:

I ship you with Tom. Tom enjoys your company the most out of everyone on the ship, always seeking you out during breaks to talk or eat lunch/dinner. You two share similar interests in regards to music, shows, movies; as well as your annoyance towards bullies. Tom can get on your nerves on occasion, but he never makes you genuinely angry, not unless he gets himself in trouble or hurt when doing something stupid.

Prompt: First Kiss

You were quietly humming to yourself as you sketched in your notepad, not paying attention to your surroundings. You were sitting in the cafeteria of the ship, very few people around you as it was growing late in the ‘work day’. As you sketched, part of your mind drifted off as you began daydreaming, before your thoughts slowly started to go over some interactions you’ve been having with Tom over recent weeks.

Your relationship had changed recently, as he got more flirty and bold around you. You weren’t so confident with flirting, but you never rejected him. Mostly because you had a crush on him, that had formed months prior. So his recent actions towards you, expressing he may have a crush on you as well was exciting, yet terrifying. Part of you wasn’t entirely sure if you were seeing things correctly, or just how you wanted to be seeing them.

As your mind wandered over the possibilities as you sketched aimlessly, you were completely unaware of the object of your thoughts entering the room.

Tom’s eyes landed on you, he admired you for a second, taking note of the way his heart skipped a beat when he saw you. He smiled fondly as he watched you, engrossed in whatever it was you were sketching.

He noticed his own feeligns towards you over a month ago, but refused to act on them until it was “hinted” at by others on the ship -B’Elanna- that you liked him too. So he decided, ‘what the hell’, and stopped hiding it. Though, he knew you were a bit to shy to react or flirt back.

Walking over to you he sat beside you, fully aware that you still had no idea he was there. So he just leaned back in his chair and watched you, the intense gaze on your face as you continued your sketches.

You weren’t sure how much time passed before you finally broke away from your own thoughts, sighing as you finally looked at what you sketched. Setting the pad down on the table, something in the corner of your eye made you snap your head in it’s direction.

Silently gasping when noticing Tom sitting there, watching you, you placed your hand on your chest “Jesus Tom”

He chuckled “Sorry”

You smiled in amusement at your own fear “How long have you been there?”

“Uhh, oh, I don’t know, maybe like ten minutes”

“Ten minutes? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He smiled “You seemed to be in a groove, and I didn’t want to break it” he said sincerely, though it was also for his own sake. He loved the way you looked when you were doing something your enjoyed.

You returned his smile as you looked at your pad, it was covered in random sketches, nothing really of importance. You blushed slightly at the fact that what you were really doing was thinking about him.

He noticed the slight blush and smiled as an odd feeling of affection took over. Suddenly leaning forward he kissed you on the lips, catching you by surprise.

When he pulled away a few seconds later you stared at him wide-eyed as he smiled ad chuckled at himself “Sorry, I wasn’t really expecting myself to do that, my body just kind of took over” he cleared his throat at he sat back in his seat, glancing at you nervously.

You started at him “Oh, um, i’s okay...I think”

“You think?”

“Yeah, well, I mean...I wasn’t quite sure if you...really felt anything for me or if it was...my, imagination. I guess” you spoke nervously as you looked around the room, seeing very few people, all of who were too lost in their own thoughts to notice what just happened.

He smiled slightly “It wasn’t your imagination” you made eye contact for a moment before he leaned forward again, slower this time. You met him half way as you kissed, slower this time.

When you pulled away, you smiled at each other as he quickly glanced down at your lips “Yeah, I’ve been wanting to do that for a while”

DS9:

I ship you with Jadzia Jax. Jadzia is very smart and kind, and finds that you match her personality well. She loves being in your company. Whenever she learned of your sensory issues she made everyone else aware about them as to not accidentally cause you harm. She is very caring towards you, and was one of the first people on board you actually bonded with. She also loves that you write, and loves talking to you about your stories, or helping your through writers block, or coming up with unique characters.

Prompt: Sick Day

You groaned as you turned off the screen of your pad, the light hurting your eyes too much as your head ached. Sniffling you adjusted yourself in your bed as you looked around your quarters, unsure of what to do with yourself.

Hearing the sound of someone at your door you rose slowly as you wandered over to the door, opening it. You smiled when you were met with a wide smile from your girlfriend.

“Jadzia” you greeted.

“Heeyy” she greeted in response, her voice gentle, knowing that your sensory issues might be worse when sick.

You moved aside as she came in, your eyes dropping to her hands seeing her arms full of stuff. “What’s all that?”

“Stuff to make you feel better” she responded as she set them on your desk “And some medicine I got from Bashir”

Moving to her side you looked at the array of objects, seeing various forms of medicine or home-remedies. You smiled at her kindness “You didn’t have to bring all of this, it’s just a small virus”

“I know, but I hate seeing you sick” she said as she moved a piece of hair back from your face “Plus I feel bad that I’m the reason you got sick anyway. If I hadn’t been asymptomatic we would have seen this coming, and stopped you from getting sick” she frowned slightly

“I don’t blame you” you responded picking up a bundle of herbs and smelling them, recoiling slightly from the smell.

She smiled before he moved towards you, gentle grabbing your shoulder and moving you back towards you bed “Now sit down and relax, I’m gonna prepare you some of this stuff okay?”

“Don’t you have to go back to work?”

“Benjamin let me off early, he knew that I was worried about you, and that I felt guilty. Also, I wouldn’t stop nagging him about it” she smirked, earning a chuckle from you as you sat back against the wall.

“Now we can hang out, until you get tired of me, then I will leave” she smiled

“I never get tired of you” you commented, earning a fond smile from her before she went back to preparing the medicine.

You smiled to yourself as you watched her meticulously and carefully work, knowing that she was doing her best so that she could take care of you. You hated getting sick, but you loved feeling taken-care of, especially by her,

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ilovereadingandilovebreathing · 5 years

Note

Ooo I have a few weakness for irondad stuff ._. Could you maybe write Peter taking care of his dad? Or maybe Tony noticing how strong Peter is and how much he has to hold back during hugs? Or hmmm what about comfort cuddles? Honestly anything would be fine though ^-^ cause I love what you write and as long as you have fun with it I'm pretty sure I'll love it! But yeah! I hope maybe these suggestions help ^-^

IronDad writers have literally been making and breaking my whole life these last few months LOL How about all 3?? Great suggestions, Nonny! I appreciate you. This helped immensely.

Random AU in which May is dead and Tony adopted Peter. Shocking, I know, but you said dad, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Characters/Genre: Tony Stark & Peter Parker (IronDad & Spiderson); mostly hurt/comfort, tbh

⚠️ warnings: mentions of gun violence (yes I brought up Ben. Don’t hate me.), crying, broken body parts

•••••••

“Hey, Pete.” Tony tried to keep his tone light as Peter fluttered around him like an anxious little bird; the boy muttered quietly to himself as he pushed various pieces of furniture a few inches to one side, looked over the set up, and then pushed some of them back the other way again.

“Pete.” Peter seemed to not hear Tony at all as he breezed toward the kitchen at a brisk pace, quickly returning with a cold compress which he absently laid on the coffee table just out of Tony’s reach.

“Peter!” Tony’s tone was loud but not angry as he called out to the teen; Peter jerked to a stop, seeming to come out of a trance as he stared and blinked at Tony for a good five seconds before speaking.

“Yeah? Why’re you yelling?”

“Because I tried to get your attention in a normal person way, but apparently you’ve focused all of your energy on scuttling around like a frightened hen instead of allowing your ears to pick up sound outside your own head.” Tony accentuated his comment with a grin to show Peter he wasn’t truly upset with him, but Peter’s face fell anyway, his eyes wide and shimmering as he pointedly only looked at Tony’s face. “Oh, sh- Awh, buddy...”

[[MORE]]

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Tony. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please just relax. I can go to my room if that’ll make you feel better. Or I can just leave all together, I guess; I’m sure Rhodey or Happy could-”

“Kid. Stop. Before you give yourself whiplash.” Tony sighed and gestured for Peter to walk toward him. “Come here.”

Peter stayed frozen in place, a look of horror washing over his features that might have been comedic if Tony didn’t know it was genuinely wrought from a place of fear.

“Pete. You’re not gonna break me, kid.” Tony grimaced when Peter flinched, catching the mistake far too late. “You know what I mean. Just get over here or I’ll come over there.” Tony reached for the crutches propped nearby, wrinkling up his nose and making a mental note to get to the lab to make a suitable replacement when Peter wasn’t looking. If that was possible.

“No! No no no! I’m coming; I’m coming. Don’t move!” Peter scurried over to Tony and stopped inches from the side of the couch; his eyes shone even brighter than before, and Tony braced himself for the inevitable flood. Peter hadn’t cried since everything started, and he knew it was only a matter of time before the kid’s guilt shattered him to pieces.

Tony shimmied back so that his side was against the back of the spacious sectional sofa, patting the now empty space beside him. Peter eyed him warily, finally looking at all of Tony before letting out a shaky sigh.

“Please, Tony.” Peter whispered, his voice catching painfully. “I....I can’t. Not yet.”

“Okay.” Tony reached out a hand, and Peter took it slowly, eying Tony in case he tried anything. Tony smiled stiffly and rubbed his thumb over the back of Peter’s hand while studying the boy’s face carefully. “It’s not your fault, Peter.”

Peter jerked violently and dropped Tony’s hand; he stared in disbelief at his mentor-turned-father, his mouth slightly agape and nostrils flaring. “That’s...how can you say that?” His voice was low, but his tone was bitter and biting though Tony knew Peter’s ire was not aimed toward him. “You wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for me.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong.” Tony sighed at Peter’s shocked expression. “You definitely played a part in this situation, but so did I. And so did the idiot who didn’t know how to stop or redirect a pair of ice skates. I guess he was shocked that a toothpick could pick up such a hunk of meat.” Tony snorted but immediately ground his teeth together when his comment didn’t soften Peter’s gaze at all. “Look, Pete. Times were had. Mistakes were made. Tonys were dropped, and a foot was broken, but it’s not the end of all things, okay? I’m not a fragile little porcelain bird; I don’t always shatter when I fall, but this time just happened to be a bad break. No pun intended.”

“But that’s the point!” Peter was actually on the brink of a breakdown, his voice manic with fear and guilt. “You’ve done so much in your Iron-Man suit, and you’ve ended up okay. I’ve been so careful to control my powers, but the one time I decide to have a little fun, I screw everything up by being careless, and now you’re hurt!” Peter threw an arm toward Tony’s left foot which was encased in a red cast and propped on a stack of throw pillows that had come with the couch.

“It was fun, though.” Tony drew up a fond if not slightly devious smile. “I haven’t been carried around like that since I was a kid. I felt like a five-year-old. And the look on that guy’s face. I’ve never seen a man more terrified of me. Did you hear how he said, ‘T-Tony Stark?!’” Tony brought his hands to his mouth in a cartoonish manner, eyes comically wide and teeth chattering like a frightened Scooby Doo. He quickly dropped the façade and smirked devilishly. “I wonder if he thinks we’ll sue. We’ll hold off on making a statement; that’ll be plenty of karma for my foot.”

Peter’s brow creased at “we,” but he stayed silent, pulling and twisting at the edges of his sweater’s sleeves and worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Pete, I can’t truly have fun with the situation if you’re all pouty like that.”

“What’s fun about this?” Peter grumbled and slouched with his arms crossed.

Tony laughed out loud, startling Peter with the boom in his tone. “Now you look like the five-year-old. There’s plenty that’s fun. I can order Happy around in a way I haven’t been able to since Afghanistan. He’s even better than you at the worried hen impersonation.” Tony just wrinkled his nose at Peter’s sidelong glare. “Pepper won’t dream of getting on my case right now; at least, not like normal. A short break from Stark Industries stuff is a nice change of pace. Definitely no Avengers stuff for a while which is fine with me. I need time here to settle in with my kiddo.” Tony’s features softened when Peter’s cheeks heated with a blush; the teen refused to meet the billionaire’s gaze, so he continued on quietly. “My son. My adopted child named Peter Parker who is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, regardless of what has happened or will happen. Sleepless nights and broken feet and all.”

Peter worked his jaw painfully, his lips curling and uncurling as he fought with himself.

Tony lightly snapped his fingers and gestured for Peter to meet his gaze, smiling a closed-lipped smile that reached to his eyes before quietly but firmly declaring, “I forgive you, Peter.”

Peter didn’t react at first. He stared at Tony for a moment with his jaw clenched so tight Tony worried he might break a tooth, but then twin tears broke free when Peter blinked for longer than normal, and his face crumpled. He let his head fall forward into his hands as quiet, broken cries tore up and out of his throat.

Tony reached out and tugged lightly on Peter’s sweater until the boy finally acquiesced and dropped onto the very edge of the couch, sitting parellel to Tony. Rolling his eyes, Tony sat up and pulled Peter into his arms, cupping his son’s head with one hand as he cried into Tony’s shoulder. “I know, buddy. I know. It’s okay. I’m going to be okay. And so are you.”

Peter finally wrapped his arms firmly around Tony’s midsection, clinging to the back of his sweatshirt, and Tony tilted his head to rest against Peter’s.

Tony gasped when Peter’s hug became just a bit too hard, squeezing the air out of him, and he felt Peter stiffen in his hold and try to pull away. Tony, however, had no intention of letting go of his kid until his cries died down, so he held Peter tighter and reclined back against the couch, giving them both a second to readjust before sliding his hand back into Peter’s messy curls.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Peter was muttering repetitiously into one of his hands which was balled in a tight fist against his mouth, trying in vain to keep in his cries.

“I forgive you, Peter. For everything. I’ll never get mad at you for loving me.”

“But I hurt you.”

“On accident. While showing how much you love me by having fun and hugging me. I’m not mad, buddy, so I need you to get out whatever guilt you’re feeling, okay?” Peter took in a gasping breath, and it finally clicked for Tony; he rested his chin on Peter’s head and murmured into his hair. “Not that I don’t think you love me or anything, but what’s really got you so worked up?”

“What do you mean?” Peter stuttered quietly.

“I know you feel bad about dropping me, but we both know I could’ve gotten out easily and that it was the other guy’s fault, not yours.”

“But I snuck up behind and surprised you.”

“So? I could’ve told you to put me down, and I know you would have. Please, kid, you gotta tell me what’s had you creeping around me like a hand-shy stray kitten for the past few days.”

Peter was silent save for his cries, and Tony looked toward the ceiling and closed his eyes, willing himself to be patient.

After a full minute of silence, Peter sighed heavily.

“...You know what happened to Ben?”

“Only what you’ve told me.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Tony had definitely dug up what he could on Ben Parker’s murder, and, putting Peter’s and his pieces together, he knew Peter had his powers when his dad’s brother, a police officer and Peter’s guardian at the time, was shot outside of a gas station in Queens while trying to stop a mugging. Unarmed. Tony had come to understand so much about Peter after reading about Ben’s case.

Tony’s wandering thoughts halted when Peter cleared his throat.

“It’s just...I was there...the night he died. I was in my crummy old Spider-Man costume, watching Queens from a building near the gas station.” Peter sighed a deep, trembling sigh, and Tony felt tears drip onto the hand that held Peter against him. “I heard them yelling, but I figured it was some drunk guys fighting over a lotto card or something, but when I really listened, my enhanced hearing picked up his voice. I tried to web over, but...it was too late.” Peter’s voice cracked and trembled. “So now, knowing that I have these powers that can do good...that could have done good...I don’t want to do anything else, you know? I never want my powers to be a bad thing, so it just sucks so much that I hurt my dad-” Peter cut off with a sharp intake of breath, biting his lip hard and squeezing his eyes shut though tears still leaked out. “That I hurt you, especially after everything you’ve done for me. I just feel so bad.”

“I know.” Tony readjusted them so that Peter’s head rested against his shoulder; his tone was low and even in Peter’s ear. “I know you get your moral compass from Ben and his self-sacrificial nature, and I’m so glad you had someone as loving and dedicated as Ben to raise you during your formative years.” Peter shook against him, his breath coming in short bursts, and Tony wrapped both arms around Peter to secure him as closely and tightly as possible. “But, Peter, you have to drop this guilt, okay? I know I didn’t know Ben, but he wouldn’t want this for you. He’d want you to be living it up and happy with me. Not mulling over something you didn’t have control over. Multiple somethings.”

Peter continued to whimper into Tony’s neck, and Tony just held his newly adopted son, hoping his words sunk in as he allowed the boy to cry himself out as he needed to. The stress of the last day, really the last year since May’s passing, had really worn Peter down to the bone. Despite his healing abilities, Tony had noticed the frequent glaze that settled over Peter’s eyes and the hoarse undertones in his voice. The kid was sleepless, running himself ragged at night being Spider-Man and searching for May’s killer. (Peter has never confessed this, of course, but Tony knew there was a reason Peter just couldn’t seem to make curfew....Plus he’d used FRIDAY to make Karen tattle, but for now, Peter could believe she was keeping it all on the down low.)

Tony had heard (read: read online) some teenager adoption stories that were outright horrific, but the majority of adoptive parents just warned about emotional instability, pushing boundaries, and the critical step of forming strong relationships. Tony had definitely experienced the first two, mainly before he’d even had a reason to adopt Peter, but he often worried about that last part. Was he forming a strong relationship with Peter, built on boundaries and actual bonds? He doubted this often, especially when Peter exploded or they disagreed loudly, but right now, with his kid in his arms and finally, if not too carefully, hugging him back, Tony told those fears to back off.

Peter was his kid, and Tony loved Peter Parker more than any other teenager in the world.

Superpowers, broken foot, crying mess, and all.

#irondad #spiderson #irondadfic #irondadfanfic #irondadandspiderson #mine #spiderbabyfic #irondadfanfics #mcufics

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timetravelingheart · 5 years

Text

Consequences Chapter Five: A.M. Imagine

I guess I probably should have included some type of warning when I started this series. I’m not much of a smut writer, but I may attempt it, and even if don’t, there will definitely be allusions to sex. My characters also swear. I don’t think there are any other warnings, but if there is anything that upsets you or you think deserves a warning, please let me know!

“I can’t believe you convinced me to come here,” Tessa nervously ran her fingers through her hair as she and Lydia got out of Lydia’s car.

Auston had been badgering her for weeks about going out with the guys or attending one of their parties and she had been giving excuse after excuse (some legitimate, some not so much) to not attend. Somehow, over the course of the past few weeks, it appeared that the guys on the team, Auston included, had added Lydia to their socials and decided to hit her up instead, hoping for a different answer. And Lydia, being Lydia, was definitely not going to say no to a party.

“Oh, whatever,” Lydia brushed her off. “It’s about time you hang out with Auston again. He cleared up everything about the girl at the bar, yeah?”

“Yeah, he did, but-”

“Then no buts. Just let loose and have a good time. No one is saying you have to sleep with the guy, T. But it doesn’t hurt to make more friends.”

With that, Lydia linked her hand with Tessa’s and pulled her towards the massive double doors of the Marleaus’ house. Tessa wasn’t sure what kind of party a married couple with three young kids would be hosting on a random Sunday afternoon, but she was told to bring a bathing suit and just wear comfy clothes so she figured it couldn’t be too wild.

Before they could ring the doorbell, a beautiful woman opened the door with a big smile on her face. Christina Marleau, Tessa realized.

“Welcome! I’m so happy you two could make it,” Christina beamed, reaching out to pull each girl into a hug. “You must be Tessa and Lydia. I’ve heard so much about you!”

“You mean you’ve heard so much about Tessa,” Lydia laughed. “It’s okay, I’ve seen the way Auston looks at her in person, and now it’s your turn.”

Christina let out a laugh, appreciating the Lydia’s bluntness.

“Honestly, I have been so excited,” Christina pulled each girl into the foyer of her mansion. “I have never seen him like this over a girl. He’s been talking to Patrick about you ever since you turned him down. Good for you, by the way.”

“What do you mean?” Tessa asked, following her towards what she assumed was the backyard where she could hear splashing, laughter, and music.

“Auston is used to getting what he wants with girls. I’m not saying he abuses that ‘power’ for lack of a better word, but just that if he’s interested in a girl, there’s a 99.9% chance that she’ll be interested back, sometimes just based on his name alone. So for you to come in, know who he is, and still just say no because you felt like it - that’s almost unheard of around here.”

“I wasn’t doing it to make a point,” Tessa felt uncomfortable under this stunning woman’s gaze. “I honestly just didn’t feel like saying yes. I didn’t even know anything about him at the time, other than what he does for a career.”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant at all,” Christina offered each girl a red cup for their drinks of choice. “I just meant that it was nice to hear that there are still some young girls out there who don’t just fall at the feet of a star athlete just because. Let’s join the rest of the group, shall we?”

Christina lead them through another set of large double doors, leading to the backyard where children were swimming and playing in the pool, and many players and their significant others were all scattered around talking and drinking. It definitely wasn’t a rager, but Tessa still felt uncomfortable. This felt intimate. She almost wished this was a kegger with a bunch of random people.

Mitch spotted the girls before anyone else, immediately standing up from his seat and pulling yet another beautiful blonde their way.

“Ladies!” he made his way towards them and pulled each into a big bear hug. “It’s so cool that you could finally make it to an event.”

Tessa chose to ignore the ‘finally’ comment while Lydia snorted loudly.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you both after hearing so much about you. I’m Steph,” the blonde also pulled the two girls into warm hugs.

After chatting with Mitch and Steph for a little while, Tessa couldn’t help but wonder where Auston was. He had said to arrive for 2pm, and it was now 2:30. She did a quick scan of the space, not catching sight of him.

“Looking for me?” Auston appeared behind her, making her nearly jump out of her skin. Tessa couldn’t help but take in his appearance, trying to convince herself that her racing heart was just from the scare, and not from being in his presence. She hated how good he looked, and when he smirked at her, she hated even more that he knew how good he looked.

“No, I was looking for a quick exit, just in case,” Tessa turned away from him and back to the group, trying not to be obvious in her momentary attraction to him.

“Just in case what?”

“Oh, you never know. You should always be prepared.”

“Uh huh, I see,” he nodded, playing along. “Hey Lydia. Have you girls met everyone yet?”

“We’ve met Christina and Steph so far,” Tessa nodded towards Mitch and Steph.

“Well, let me introduce you to the rest of the tribe,” he put a hand on the small of her back and guided her away from their small group. Tessa instinctively reached for Lydia’s hand to drag her along as well.

After meeting most, if not all, of the team and their significant others, Tessa was offered a seat between Auston and Freddie in a small group of them, Lydia, Will, Kasperi, Mitch, Morgan, and Steph.

Tessa immediately felt everyone’s eyes on her, as if they were all ready to pounce. She shifted uncomfortably in her lawn chair, knowing what was to come.

“So, Tess,” Kasperi started, winking at her, “I feel like we don’t know anything about you other than that you’ve been occupying all of our boy’s free time lately.”

“I’m sorry?”

“He means that every time we want to play video games with Matts, he either can’t because he’s on the phone with you or he quits halfway through because you’ve finally started replying to all of the messages he sent you throughout the day,” Will offered.

“That can’t be true,” Tessa shook her head in disbelief, eyeing a sheepish Auston. He never said anything about video games when they talked.

“Oh, it’s definitely true,” came Freddie’s soft voice to her left. Tessa turned to him and caught his little smile. A gentle giant with a mischievous glint behind his eye. No wonder he and Auston got along so well.

“Anyway,” Steph piped in to save her, “I think what Kappy was trying to say was that we all would like to know more about you. Auston said you were getting your Masters. What’s the plan after that?”

Tessa smiled gratefully at Steph. Even though she hated being the centre of attention and didn’t feel like talking about herself, at least school was an easy topic.

“I’m not 100% certain yet. Lydia and I still have the rest of this year, and then we’re both considering getting our doctorates. I could move up at Launchpad, but I don’t know if I see myself there beyond the next couple of years. My focus is on child development, and if I do my doctorate, I’m interested in a fellowship at SickKids.”

“Wow, that’s really impressive,” Steph replied genuinely. “What about you, Lydia?”

“Like Tess said, we’re both considering doing our doctorates. My focus is primarily on behavioural development though, so right now I’m leaning towards becoming a Behavioural Therapist. It will depend on how the rest of this year goes,” Lydia explained.

“No wonder you turned down Matts, Tessa,” Willy laughed. “You two are way too smart for your own good. That’s really awesome.”

As the afternoon went on, the group asked Tessa and Lydia more questions about themselves, and Tessa and Lydia started to ask some back. Auston loved watching Tessa get comfortable with his friends. These people were his family for most of the year, and he wanted to make sure they liked her, though he had no doubts that they would. He was more doubtful that Tessa would still like him after his well-intentioned but annoying friends shared any and every funny story they could think to embarrass him with. Fortunately, she seemed to take it all in stride and even joined in on picking on him once in a while. He loved it.

By the time the sun was setting, the group started to dwindle and those remaining helped clean up the backyard and the kitchen so their generous hosts weren’t left with a huge mess.

As Tessa was walking into the kitchen to bring in some more dishes, she heard two voices and stopped in her tracks. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when she heard her name, she needed to hear what was being said.

“So you like her?” she recognized Auston’s voice asking the other person.

“I really do, man, she seems great,” Tessa now recognized that voice to be Patrick’s. Over the past few phone calls, Tessa learned how important Patrick has been to Auston and the other young guys on the team. She knew he relied on Patrick for advice on being a professional athlete, but apparently that extended to his personal life as well.

“But?” When no response came, Auston pushed. “Come on, Patty. I really like this girl.”

Patrick sighed. Tessa braced herself.

“I can see that you like her, bud. She just seems a little hesitant and withdrawn. She opened up quite a bit today as the day went on, and I could see that she was having fun. But she seems a little hesitant.”

“Yeah, she is. Apparently, she’s heard about my ‘reputation’ or whatever and it freaked her out. I’ve been fighting for a chance just to get to know her, let alone date her.”

“Ah, that makes sense. So she thinks you’re just going to mess around and that’s what you want with her?”

“I hope that’s not what she still thinks, but yeah, I think that’s the main reason she’s been keeping herself at a distance. She thinks I’m going to hurt her.”

“Well coming here today must have been a huge step for her then,” Patrick offered.

“It really was! I had to go through her best friend to get her here, but I was so happy when she agreed. I think she might be willing to really give me a chance. I really like this girl, Patty. She’s all I can think about.”

Tessa sighed, not wanting to hear any more. She could hear the hope in Auston’s voice and while it was endearing, it also felt like a lot of pressure. She jingled plates in her hand purposefully, so they would know someone was entering the room. When she turned the corner, the two men looked up at her in surprise. Patrick fixed his face immediately, turning it into an easy smile, while Auston looked like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

“Here, let me take those from you,” Patrick reached forward to take the dishes from Tessa’s hands. “Thanks for coming, Tessa. You and Lydia are welcome here any time.”

“Thank you so much for having us! You have a beautiful home and your family is so kind,” Tessa smiled sincerely, accepting a hug from the much taller man. She understood from the second Christina opened up the doors why Auston considered these people his family. They were amazing.

“Are you heading out?” Auston asked.

“Yeah, Lydia just went out to get her car.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Okay, thanks again, Patrick,” she turned to wave one last time.

“Any time, Tessa.”

Auston and Tessa walked in charged silence to the front doors. Auston couldn’t help but wonder if Tessa had overheard them talking; Tessa couldn’t help but feel like she should tell Auston that she listened in.

Neither said anything until they were out the doors, standing on the front step.

“I’m so happy you came out today, Tess,” Auston spoke softly. “It was really good to see you again.”

“It was good to see you, too,” she spoke just as softly, not sure what was going to happen next, let alone what she actually wanted to happen. She hated that she kept thinking about what his lips and hands felt like. She hated how much she loved what he said to Patrick, and how sincere he sounded. And most of all, she hated how much she was starting to like him.

“So, do you think I could see you again? Maybe this week some time?” Auston’s hopeful voice broke her out of her reverie.

“I have to submit my lit review by Friday and I’m working most of the week, so I’m not sure.”

“Well, you have to eat dinner regardless, right? I could swing by and pick you up and take you somewhere, or I could even just swing by with take-out for us?”

“You’re not great at taking no for an answer, are you?”

“I didn’t hear a no anywhere in your statement,” Auston winked.

“Touche,” she laughed.

“Tess, I’m not trying to pressure you, and if I thought you weren’t even remotely interested, I would back off,” Auston hesitantly reached for her hand, pleased when she didn’t pull away, and linked her fingers through his. “But we talk every day either through text or calling, and you came today and hung out with everyone even though it was more of a family setting. And I know you have no problem saying no if you want to say no, so that’s gotta be a good sign. I mean, am I reading everything wrong right now?”

Tessa hesitated, looking down at their linked hands. The calmness that washed over her at his touch terrified her, but she didn’t know how to express that.

“No, you’re not reading everything wrong,” she finally answered, still looking down.

Auston squeezed her hand gently and reached out with the other hand to raise her chin to connect their eyes.

“We can go as slow as you want, Tess,” he whispered, moving closer to her. “We can start with dinner or just an ice cream date or something simple. I really don’t care what we do or where we go. I just want to spend time with you. You’re all I’ve been thinking about besides hockey ever since I met you. I don’t get it, but I’m not gonna fight it.”

Tessa let out a shaky breath. Auston squeezed her hand twice.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Auston repeated, unsure if he heard her correctly or if his ears were playing tricks on him.

“Mhm. Okay.”

Tessa couldn’t help but laugh as Auston’s eyes lit up and he pulled her into a tight hug. He dropped a light kiss on the top of her head, unable to hide his excitement. He pulled away from her, keeping their hands linked.

“Okay! So what day works for you? I have games Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and I know you mostly work days-” he paused at her sideways glance. “Do you really want to know how I know that?” Tessa just shook her head, thinking better of it. “Didn’t think so. Anyway, I know you work mostly days so that leaves Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday evening. You pick.”

“What works best for you?”

“If I pick, I’m picking Tuesday so I can see you as soon as possible. But if you have your paper due on Friday, we could do Friday instead so all of that is off your mind.”

Tessa loved and hated how accommodating he was being. She never would have pegged Auston Matthews as the thoughtful type. Her developing endearment was the only excuse she had for the answer she ended up giving.

“Well, why not both?” she offered. The look of pure glee that crossed Auston’s face was enough to let her know that she made the right decision.

“That fucking made my entire day,” Auston reached down to pull her into another hug, lifting her slightly off of the ground and swaying gently. “How about Tuesday we do something simple like ice cream after work, and then Friday I can plan a real date for us? Gives me some time to plan!”

“Oh god, don’t go to too much trouble. I don’t need or want anything fancy,” she cringed. She definitely wasn’t the fancy type, and while she knew that money wasn’t an issue for him, she didn’t want him going out of his way.

“Noted. I’ll see what other information I can get out of you this week to plan your perfect date,” he winked, leading her over to the passenger side of Lydia’s car.

“Good luck with that. I’d like to see what you come up with! See you Tuesday.”

“See you Tuesday, Tess,” Auston closed the door behind her as she climbed in next to a patiently waiting Lydia, who had clearly heard the whole conversation.

Instead of pulling out of the driveway right away, Lydia rolled down her window and stuck out her head.

“Hey, Auston,” Lydia shouted, watching as he stopped in his tracks and turned out curiously. “I’ll take my thank you in the form of two tickets to a home game,” she winked.

Auston barked out a laugh. He really did have Lydia to thank for a lot of things, most recently for getting Tessa to come today. Tickets were the least he could do. Hell, he was so pumped that he’d be willing to get her season tickets if she really wanted them.

“You got’em!” he laughed as she honked the horn and pulled out of the driveway. He raised his hand to give a little wave, his heart tugging when he saw Tessa’s shy smile back.

#auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #auston matthews fan fiction #nhl fan fiction #nhl imagines #hockey fan fiction #hockey imagines

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simplylove101 · 4 years

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Random Tangent About Ships & Cheating SLs

So, I was talking with my friend Lauren (@backtothestart02) yesterday about how when it comes to watching our shows and seeing certain ships of ours having cheating sls & how that affects how we feel towards them. This convo kinda came about cuz of the recent development we’ve heard about on Riverdale where Betty & Archie are gonna be cheating on their respective significant others with each other in the next episode... Which, okay, at this point I don’t even watch the show anymore since it sounds like it’s pretty much on crack these days (at least more than usual lol) so this isn’t your typical rant about “OMG HOW DARE YOU MESS WITH MY OTP LIKE THAT” in regards to that sl (re: yes, Bughead was my ship when I watched it but my investment in the show has been pretty much non-existent for way over a year now so that’s not my goal with this rant fyi lol) It’s just more the frustration of the excitement I’ve seen from people being all “YAY CHEATING” Cuz, yeah ok, it’s a silly TV show. Obviously. I get that lmao It’s just the reactions I’ve been seeing that are funny cuz there’s people who talk about toxic relationships and normally how cheating is a dealbreaker but in this one specific case we’re all suddenly cool with it... Okay lmao but yeah, if the ship has to happen because a character died or cheating is involved... doesn’t that already cheapen that new relationship too (and their character development along with it? lol)

Anyway, I actually just really wanted to use this as a chance to rant about my ships that made me deal with cheating sls and why those are basically the worse “obstacles” a show can throw at ships. At least that is, if you want people to root for them long term. lol Cheating obviously happens in real life, but then that’s usually the end of a relationship. Which is why I don’t think it’s surprising that when it comes to fiction, I find the element of cheating to be something that kinda taints my otps for me if it occurs in the story.

I can think of a couple of cases where I was able to accept it cuz the show mostly did right by them after the situation by showing the growth and how that would never been an issue again. But the cases where the cheating happens and it just feels like this thing that makes it so you can’t enjoy any of the things that came before it with that couple? That sucks. It feels cheap and like, really bad writing.

I think my thoughts on this subject stems all the way back to my very first TV ship: Jackie & Hyde from That 70′s Show. Anyone who really watched that show remembers that 2 episode arc of where Hyde thought Jackie cheated on him with Kelso (she hadn’t ofc but he did see her comforting him in a way that would be suspicious considering Kelso had wanted her back) so he cheated on her with a random nurse as payback. I remember watching the next episode heartbroken at the scene where Hyde has to tell her what he did after he realizes that he pulled that move for no reason at all and Jackie ultimately breaks up with him on the spot. Which I applauded her for. Because the girl had gotten cheated on by Kelso so much that she vowed that she wouldn’t let that happen to her again. Her relationship with Steven was supposed to be different, and up until that point, had been. It was a step back for all the development they had spent with them all season, but with how raw Hyde was during that scene and the scene where he tells Jackie that he loves her (evidenced by the fact that he actually isn’t wearing his usual sunglasses in either of those scenes), it can be said that it was clearly just a momentary regression. Do I think they could have handled it better towards getting them back together? Yeah. But then it was a sitcom so you gotta keep that in mind too. lol Otherwise, they mostly did right by them once they were back together until things got shaky again. But then this rant isn’t about how they deserved the endgame they were supposed to get and were robbed of. LOL But yeah, this is one of the rare cases they weren’t completely tainted for me.

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(For those of you that have never seen this ep....)

Another case of a ship where cheating happened, but in this case did have my ship pretty much tainted for me at the time was Joan & Adam on Joan of Arcadia. This is more a lowkey scenario cuz nobody who sees this will know them basically but I loved them dearly and I watched that show (pun not intended at all lol) religiously when it was on so when that sl came very much out of nowhere I was (I’d say) rightfully upset about it. There was no reason to have Adam cheat on Joan. It was just plain character assassination of a fan favorite, and for what? Drama??? I still have no idea. All I know it was a far cry from the boy who charmed his way into Joan’s heart in S1 who wasn’t even thinking about sex when they got together (Heck, *she* was the one who thought they were supposed to have sex in S1 at one point and again, that wasn’t even on his radar at the time lol). Enter later S2, he makes her feel pressured about them doing it a bit and then later he cheats on her with this random girl that we saw a couple times talking to him because of this... Um?? That’s just bad writing cuz it’s OOC. lol What’s worse is that Joan found out about this in the 19th episode of the season so when the show got cancelled, there had been barely any development after that. There was some since there was like 3 episodes or so after that, which meant there was just enough time to get them to a sorta neutral place with each other since they had the same friend group but otherwise, not much closure for shippers. Which was frustrating. You can’t just take that sharp of a turn in the story that late in a season with an unguaranteed next season with your main couple, especially if the cheating is coming out of left field. You just can’t, not if you want me to root for them at least. So.... yeah. That was bad. lol Definitely an example of why sometimes cheating does not need to be a storyline on a show.

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(For context...)

I was trying to think if there were any ships before this one that i would want to mention, and there might have been, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Which means next on the list is Zoe & Wade on Hart of Dixie. They’re still a big otp for me, which does show I was able to move past their cheating sl but again, they did get tainted a bit too. In some ways, their sl gave me some deja vu with Jackie & Hyde. At least in the way that the guy chooses to sleep with someone in a very rash way, and you just know this is gonna lead to an automatic breakup the second the girl finds out. There was no denying Zoe was gonna break up with him. It was heartbreaking to watch her come to the realization that he had cheated on her. And it was frustrating because it felt like they only got to be a proper couple for like maybe 4 episodes and then they pulled that move. It was like, you’ve been setting me up to root for this couple and... now what? They had undeniable chemistry so I guess the writers always counted on that for when they would ultimately bring them back together and they were right. I was able to root for them again, and it helped there had been some time that had passed (a whole season of them not being together!) and I was missing them a lot. But that said, it still felt like a misstep. Because when you wanna write a breakup, we should just throw in a cheating sl then? There were plenty of other ways to break up Zade, but they went in that direction. It just felt very lame, lazy and pure character regression in a way that didn’t make sense with the story they were telling imo. They were able to show that Wade had matured later on so it worked out, but this is one that made me upset so thank goodness they made up for it. lol

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(I dare you not to tear up lol)

Okay, the last ships I’m gonna mention briefly are both on The Bold Type.

Everyone in that fandom has expressed their frustration with how they handled the Kadena sl where Kat cheated and then they tried to have a open relationship to let her explore a bit or whatever in S2. I actually get where it wasn’t that bad cuz Adena told her she could see the other girls. Enter the next season, Kadena have sex when Kat is still in a relationship technically (I don’t care if she got the approval to see if there were still feelings there or not from Tia, that didn’t mean sleep with the ex. That meant talk) This is one of those cases where for me, cheating is never the ideal way to bring a ship back into the story. I know it happens but this didn’t make Kat or Adena look that great as characters for me. I know shit happens, just saying from a preference. Not gonna get deep into the awkwardness of S4 between these two, beyond saying that after S1, it does seem like the writers don’t fully know how to write them now still. They were a fan favorite ship for the show, and I think despite the bad writing for them sometimes in these later seasons, still are, but they really gotta start being more consistent with them if they want them to be rootworthy again. And please write Adena in character my goodness. The way they wrote her in 4x07 was just not it.

Which brings me to Janestripe,

They seriously dedicated a whole first half of a season dragging out the reveal that Ryan did more than kiss the lady he cheated on Jane with. I know beforehand the majority of the fandom hated Ryan already and thought Jane should have been with Ben instead, which honestly... ok, whatever. I still say Jane was having doubts about Ben so she was already starting to check out of that relationship a bit before Ryan declared his feelings for her at the end of S2. That said, once again, cheating isn’t ideal so I liked that Jane turned him down until she broke things off with Ben. I think people forget that the person in the middle of a triangle is making a choice and just cuz it’s not the choice you the viewer wanted doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be the wrong one. Frankly, Ben was kinda dry for me. Idk. Anyway, I appreciated that they were trying to tell a story of growth for Ryan... Until they weren’t. lol They really could have kept it as a kiss but they started planting those little signs that it wasn’t between Ryan looking guilty during convos and then him telling the story again about what happened & it sounding like bullshit. We all knew but they made us wait 9 eps for Jane to figure out. Which was frustrating. I get what message they were trying to send in the end and I respected that but they couldn’t do it faster?? They were sending a lot of signs they were making them endgame by showing how serious they were getting but now? I don’t see them ever interacting again, unless they did find a reason to bring Ryan back but Idk. I just don’t get painting them in that kinda light if you were just planning to tear them down before the season was even over, you know? They could have just ended them in S3 and I would have got it. But they dragged it out into a whole another season and why??? lol

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I’m trying to figure out what more I wanna say about this topic. lol Beyond just thinking that I can’t stand cheating sls. I can barely stand any kinda love triangle sls as it is. Why must these tropes exist?? All they do is cause drama in fandoms. Which is prob why I don’t do them in the first place. lol

Anyway, I’m done now. lol

#shipper rant #don't mind me idek if any of this was coherent #i just had to get it out lol

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jeanjauthor · 4 years

Link

I want people to read the creator’s message below today’s webcomic, and then I want folks (who have the spoons to spare for it) to read the commentary below, and especially Mr. Morris’ replies to many of those comments. These dialogues between creators and viewers are very important when it comes to messages like this, ones which could be misconstrued when encountered without context.

For my part, I deeply appreciate that he posted his remark. He is a good guy, he does try to “mix it up” to diffuse & disperse bigotry moments (not perfectly, but nobody is ever going to be perfect)...but that isn’t the point. And it isn’t a point of “performative” apologizing. It’s not a performance; he genuinely feels bad about the timing of all of this and the potential for someone who hasn’t read the (massive) backlog of stories in the archives to see only surface images.

Regardless of what longtime or even shortime fans know about the story, regardless of utter newbs coming to the webcomic to view it...that statement needs to be there.

As I posted to Anonymous earlier regarding whether or not to include racial slurs in historical settings...to ignore that it happened, to ignore what it looks & sounds & feels like, is to try to deny the pains of the past, present, and future.

By pinning that particular message to this particular comic, Rick Morris is assuring people for generations to come that he knows the differences between fiction, reality, longterm plotlines and surface appearances. He knows, he acknowledges, he pledges to keep working toward being a better storyteller & artist...and that’s an important message for everyone to receive. Not just to inspire others, not just to apologize and explain context, but to renew his own pledges to himself & his readers that he’ll keep working on being better.

Storytellers don’t always tell comfortable stories. Sometimes we tell ones that are meant to hurt, in order to evoke emotions that can create not just sympathy but empathy for the suffering of others...and sometimes that backfires. Sometimes we tell ones that hurt in additional ways, in very unexpected and unfortunate and/or badly timed ways, increasing the pain for some.

Intention is an important part of storytelling, because most stories have a lesson to teach to our audiences. (Not all need to have one, but most have something for others to learn.) Intention also includes trying to be aware of unintended outcomes.

One of those lessons occurred today in a storyline that has been building to this climactic moment for literally the last four-plus years. No one could’ve predicted how real world events played out. At the same time, it would be wrong to stop telling this story to “wait for a better time.” There won’t be a better time for it.

Changing systemic racism will still take years and decades more to come, even if this is a manual-transmission-clutch moment, where we could wind up going faster in our forward progress, or find ourselves dropped into reverse, with a possibly broken transmission. (Hopefully not, but not holding my breath. I got better things to do with my energy.) So there literally won’t be a better time for this story.

Instead, we need to acknowledge that these visualizations do exist without proper context, and that even with context it can still cause some folks to feel hurt. Mr. Morris understands if new folks won’t want to start reading the rest of the story because of this one scene (and the following pages involving the rest of this scene). That’s part of the message that needs to be told.

That’s part of the pain that needs to be acknowledged. It is not intentional, it isn’t the best timing, but it is acknowledged...and all he asks is that folks consider giving the whole story a try.

I’ve been following his webcomic for a very long time, and I can personally say his characters are vastly diverse, and that he does tackle bigotry head-on in multiple ways with multiple races, genders, social classes, and more. Is it completely problem-free? Nope! But like reality, the characters do learn & change & grow, the creator does, too...and many of his characters have some absolutely outstanding character growth.

You don’t have to give YAFGC a try, but I do hope you’ll read the message & the comment interactions if you’re a writer (or an artist)...because these interactions are a good set of dialogues about this subject, how to handle it, how to agree or disagree, and how to be polite when the latter happens.

Personally, I am deeply pleased to see he didn’t shrug off his responsibility to post that note, and isn’t shrugging it off...like a number of the commenters imply he could’ve done instead, via their absolution-style comments. Instead, he’s doing the work that is necessary, even if it’s seen by some as extra, unnecessary work. That’s something all of us need to step up and do, for this kind of topic. Acknowledge the inadvertent visualizations, and apologize for them.

...

Speaking of which...in The Song, I created the character of Duke Finneg, Councilor of Conflict Resolution for the Empire of Katan. The continent of the Empire of Katan is longer than it is wide, stretching from the Sun’s Belt (equator) in the north toward the Ice Sea in the south (separating Katan from the southern polar landmass, smaller than Antarctica and just as uninhabited).

When I populated the landmass that was Katan, I knew that there would be dark-skinned folk in the northern regions close to the Equator, and pale-skinned folks in the southern regions close to the south pole, because that’s literally why we have skin color variations. Those that live in the middle lattitudes have a mix of skin hues, some paler, some darker, and plenty of people have traveled all over and settled in different areas than those their ancestors were born & raised in, even if the majority of everyone really don’t move very far. (If you look at the real world, this is basically how reality works, too.)

This logical pattern is repeated all over the world of the DestinyVerse. In areas with thick rainforests like Natallia, which are tropical to subtropical, the people are tanned but paler in melanin coloration than Sundara, which is a desert environment with few trees for shade (again like the real world we live in). There are slaves in some countries & cultures, and there are anti-slavery laws in others. There are good people, and there are bad people, and there are indifferent or self-focused people who just are either apathetic or oblivious to what’s going on around them...exactly like the real world. But it is not our world

So when I designed the appearance of Duke Finneg, a Katani mage of important political power who was destined (plotwise) to have a high-strung temper and an increasingly unhinged world-view because of self-delusional closed-minded thinking...I was tempted to make him white, to be honest. But since he’s from Katan, he could’ve been from any point on that continent.

The Corvis brothers are mid-lattitude with a variety of transcontinental intermarriages in previous generations, but in general are lightly tanned, almond-eyed, and have hair from light blond to jet black, because that’s how genetic inheritances work in their particular bloodline (and I needed a way to easily tell brothers apart description-wise...but I honestly have seen some families with blond, brunette, & redheaded members). (That, and it’s a non-Earth world, so, I could make shh up like that.)

(If you honestly want to know what the Corvid brothers look like, they’re a blend of East/Southeast Asian & European, with more in the way of Asian features and that wider range of European haircolors, same as most Katani from the mid-latitudes...though some on the east coast mid latitudes look more Latinx than Asian, like the folks from the western side tend to look.)

So when it came to the main protagonist for the fourth book in the series...I decided to roll a dice for his origination point, low for somewhere in the south (pale & blond), high for up near the equator (dark & brunette). I wrote down the general characteristics for each of the numbers/regions that might come up (I don’t have the paper anymore, alas, it got lost in one of my household moves)...and I rolled. (With real D&D style dice, because I’m a frikkin nerrrrd, duh.) The dice rolled high, aka his family is from a region up by the equator region where there isn’t much shade and dark skin tones are needed to ward off skin cancer...so I wrote him to be dark-skinned, etc. It was literally a random dice roll.

There are other characters in The Song and in other books of the DestinyVerse, showing various skintones & social backgrounds. Some are high-ranked, some are low-ranked. There are skin hues and hair colors in a wide range of hues. There are cultures with social equality, and cultures that are extremely bigoted (yes, Mandare, I’m talking about YOU)...but they’re not Earth cultures, and they don’t necessarily have real-world problems.

But I can see how they can be seen that way if you just pick up the book, rifle through it, see that Duke Finneg is an increasingly unstable hardass with a hate-on for the people on Nightfall Isle (spoiler alert, if a bit late)...and read that he’s got dark skin and brown eyes, etc, and perhaps feel hurt that he’s a Black Man being typecast as the Bad Guy from reading just one scene, with nothing of any further context than just that.

So I apologize for that. I was trying to write a story set within the context of its own universe, with its own distinct and different cultures, and viewed that particular character--the same with everyone else in the book--while writing the story from that viewpoint. Literally, I rolled up the physical characteristics for most of the Katani characters on that “this is where they’re from” sheet, which is why the harbormaster and his husband in the later books look the way they do, why the various other Councilors look the way they do, etc, etc.

But that doesn’t negate the fact that one of my villain characters is an increasingly unstable darkskinned male, and for anyone who has been hurt or offended by that description for my antagonist/villain character, I apologize. It was not my intent to perpetuate a false, harmful stereotype from our own world. It was just a random description roll for a stereotype that (in my mind, at least) has nothing to do with race--and nothing to do with genuine mental health issues--and everything to do with closed-minded attitudes toward “inferiors” and clinging to those mental dogmas rather than releasing them and admitting one has gotten an opinion/viewpoint of others deeply wrong.

I’m working on being better, as a writer. And to be fair, when you look at the whole context of all my writings, I’m doing a better job when it comes to ensuring diversity for protagonists and antagonists than the majority of published authors (most of whom are white). I’m particularly pleased with my IaVerse, where the main & secondary & other important Human characters come from a wide variety of backgrounds, the chief villains aren’t relatable to anything stereotypically Human, and positions of authority & power are not only achievable, but also removable and/or punishable if one steps too far out of line when it comes to acceptable/forgivable behavior.

The one thing I will always try to do is to try to tell a better story. People may still get hurt, but my stories will have context, and lessons, and the message that respect, tolerance, and compassion for nearly everyone is very important.

(I will, however, uphold the paradox of tolerance by asserting the lesson of refusing to tolerate the intolerant in order to preserve the existence of tolerance, and I will always encourage the metaphorical/allegorical punching of Nazi types. Or actual punching in stories, particularly the milSF ones...but then that is a genuine official trope of the military fiction genre.)

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uhhhhhhokay · 5 years

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My Unpopular Opinions of 2018

This is messy, a bit mean, and full of my mad/irritated feelings. You’ve been warned. No slipping into my asks as an anon to fight with me because I’ve posted this on my account. These are my opinions and I’ve already said that they aren’t that nice to some shows

1) Charmed and Black Lightning are the only good CW shows and it has the best lesbian rep of 2018 (and Rosa from b99 would be the best bisexual rep)

2) Melanie Scrofano/Wynonna Earp is the best part of Wynonna Earp. Honestly lately the rest of the characters for me have either awful or boring or funny but given nothing to do

3) Also even though she’s the main actress, Melanie is somehow the most underrated actress/character in the show. She’s disregarded by so many fans, either in favor of Wayhaught or Doc, and the show treats her like shit by constantly putting her with Doc

4) Descendants fans who pit Dove Cameron and China Anne McClain against each other in the hopes of making the other seem superior are doing absolutely nothing for their careers and are contributing to the unnecessary comparison between successful women

5) Also I don’t care if you don’t like Dove Cameron, but hating her for that Mal/Harry comment she made months ago is so fucking ridiculous. She’s a girl in love who also loves her character, god forbid she make her own headcanons for it, and it wasn’t like she was asking for it to happen (and no she wasn’t disregarding Mal’s current relationship Ben because she was talking about Mal and Harry being exes god damnit)

6) I can’t believe i have to say this in 2018 BUT STOP WITH THE INCEST STORYLINES! IT AIN’T CREATIVE OR SURPRISING BITCHES JUST GROSS

7) ALSO STOP SHIPPING INCEST GOD PLEASE STOP

8) Timothee Chamalet or whatever his name is, isn’t that great. Like he’s fine I guess but like....Have you seen other actors? I mean, there’s Fady Elsayed, Jack Black, Jordan Renzo, Greg Austin (rip Class), and so many more actors that are, in my opinon, significantly more talented

9) Letterkenny and Galavant are the best comedies out there

10) Riverdale is shit for erasing Jughead’s asexuality and queerbaiting fans at the beginning with Beronica

11) I’ve said this before, but people disliking Cole Sprouse because of the abuse allegation against him is incredibly valid.

12) Mike Flanagan, Jordan Peele, and Kate Siegel are the only people I trust to write some bone chilling horror stories

13) The Haunting of Hill House is better than American Horror Story and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrine combined

Now it’s time to get serious.....

14) I have no respect and cannot get along with people who talk about how ugly people are

15) The hellsite is shit for so many reasons but some of its worst qualities are when people take a situation and make it black and white, have zero sympathy or empathy for other people, and twist peoples words and put in meanings that were never there

16) I also hate how how people only care about mental illness when it doesn’t come to their jokes or memes. For example, mental health has been talked about a lot in regards to Ariana Grande, which is good, but once her engagement with Pete Davidson ended, no one hesitated to attack him in almost every way possible even though the man has been very outspoken about his depression. I don’t know shit about Pete Davidson but I’ve seen him relentlessly be attacked and have his depression and suicidal thoughts be joked about.

17) Stanning is a fucked up culture that we need to leave behind in 2018. There are some celebrities who have a lot of projects that I love and I admire their talent, but the concept of stanning either includes an unhealthy amount of devotion to a celebrity or it erases them as a human being and reduces them down to objects. In some cases, both of these are true. It’s a sick thing for both fans and the celebrities. If a celebrity does something wrong, call them out, and if they don’t listen, well forget it or move on. Cancelling them as if they can be thrown in the garbage and disposed of promotes negativity and hatred, which is doesn’t solve anything, and it can inhibit any growth from that celebrity. They are human and will inevitably fuck up. It’s the only way to learn and grow.

18) This is about Wynonna Earp but it’s a serious post. I’ve made my thoughts about this show abundantly clear but there is one thing I haven’t talked about at all and that’s the racism in the show and in the fanbase. Disclaimer: I am white. This show hasn’t treated any of their poc or black characters well. The latest example would be the treatment of Dolls and Kate. The last two seasons Doc has had two women of color as his love interests, and both of these characters have been treated as objects to make Wynonna jealous. There is also the lack of story and villainization of these women. There is also the major lack of story with Dolls, which most likely led to Shamier Anderson’s decision to leave. I won’t get into anymore, this is how I’ve always viewed these poor storylines, but I will say this: white fans of Wynonna Earp, we do not get a say on how black viewers should feel about any of these storylines. White lesbians, you would be livid is Waverly or Nicole were killed, and rightfully so. Black people or people of color probably felt the rage you would’ve felt if you lost one of those characters when Dolls was killed off. Telling people to get over it is cruel. If people want to stop watching, that is their right. We have no place in telling them how they should feel about the treatment of their representation.

19) I made this post a while ago but it holds true: https://uhhhhhhokay.tumblr.com/post/179314393735/shows-with-good-lgbt-rep

20) Everyone needs a break from social media. I know that for some people, it really helps because we have friends on here that we can talk to, but it also has so many negative effects. The real world is nothing like this toxic website. You should take breaks from it every once in a while. You need to get hobbies. You need some other past time than this website. The majority of people on this site aren’t good and everyone should take a breather from it. I take breaks from this site on a regular basis and when I do it feels so fucking good.

21) Random but The Lodgers is the worst movie ever and it’s an even worse horror movie. Would not recommend. Unless you feel like roasting something for an hour and a half. The only good part about watching that movie was that I watched it with my roommate who I am good friends with and we laughed our asses off and made fun of it so much. It is truly awful. Even though I had a blast roasting it, I will never get that time of my life back.

22) The Last Jedi does not deserve that 91% on rotten tomatoes. Just like how The Lodgers deserves far less than 56%.

23) Time to get serious again. I get that a lot of us wished that the shows we loved were real, but they aren’t. That’s a fact that everyone needs to realize and accept. To me, hating an actor for their character’s actions is just as fucked up as stanning. They aren’t their character. They are not responsible for the shit their characters pull. They are carrying out the story written for them. As for writers, sometimes the writers do not support their characters actions either. Just because the character is evil or mean or whatever does not always mean that the people who work behind the curtain support that.

24) Shipping real people and harassing them is sooo inappropriate and messed up. I shouldn’t really have to explain this one but too many people on this site don’t seem to grasp it. I mean, didn’t Harry Styles say a while ago that all the smutty fanfics, tweets, and fanarts about him and his bandmates effect his friendships with him? Him reacting that way is not homophobic, btw. It is him reacting naturally to people fetishizing and sexualizing him and his friends. These are real people. Their relationship, sexuality, and god just so much of their lives is none of our business. They don’t owe us any information about their personal lives. We don’t own them. They are their own people, which also means that they make their own mistakes.

25) Random again, but original Charmed fans put their show too high of a pedestal. I never got really into show. I tried it, think I watched half of the first season, and I did a little research on it and I was in the fanbase for a hot sec but it was very short. From my research, it seems to me, that for a feminist show, the cast (except Shannon Doherty) was the opposite behind the scenes. I know you can’t help who you don’t like but you can control how you talk about someone, especially to the public, and from what I’ve seen there’s been more negative comments from them about their castmates than positive. I don’t think anyone will know the whole story but to me the feud between the og’s leading ladies has always very catty to me, and it’s gotten even worse with the remake. You can be protective of your show without being rude. You don’t have to support the remake, and you can do that without being rude either. By the way, this is more directed towards Holly Marie Combs, who I believe has been the most outspoken about being against it. Three young actresses are doing the job they love and they were given a chance to be the new charmed ones for a new generation. There is no reason to be so negative about it. It looks even more immature when you see the cast of the original Sabrina who gleefully gave their support to the new cast.

26) Adults please stop thinking every show is for you. it’s not. Some shows are for kids, some shows are for teenagers, and some shows are for you. If you enjoy the show that’s directed towards a younger audience then that’s great. If you don’t enjoy it, then that’s fine too. What is not fine is you acting like that show was meant for you and tearing it apart and bullying people of that directed age group online. I can’t believe the amount of times I’ve seen some 19-40 year old dipshit on the internet go and bully a 15 year old only because they said they loved a show. That is not only sick and immature but it’s uncalled for.

27) Also 15 year olds or younger, do not use your age as an excuse to be mean either. You might be young and you will definitely make huge mistakes, but there’s is nothing to justify you telling someone to kill themselves or insulting them just because they don’t like your favorite character or something. You might not be as experienced as some adults, but you’re old enough to know what the fuck you’re doing and how wrong it is. Don’t be cruel and blame it on you being young and stupid. You maybe young and all of us will always be a bit stupid, but that does not excuse your behavior. And @ older people who do that shit too, your older age and power does not excuse your cruelty either. Nothing excuses telling someone to kill themselves. Ever. Especially if it’s over a goddamn tv show.

28) Can Ryan Murphy please just make one tv show and stick with it until it ends? He has so many great concepts but because he wants to do all of them at once they all go downhill after one season.

29) On the same but different note, fuck Ryan Murphy for having Violet and Tate get back together. My girl deserves better than a serial killer/rapist that also got her mom killed because he impregnated her with the anti christ. Fuck that.

I never intended this to be so long lol no one will read this

30) The Hormone Monster is literally a metaphor for hormones. Stop twisting it into pedophilia. That show is so sex positive and is so much better than most of the sex ed that we got.

31) Let’s leave monster fucking behind please

32) Puzzles are a treat to do

33) Funko pops are cute but they make a lot of dumbass decisions regarding which ones to make (like I saw pops of that new nutcracker movie a while before it was released like maybe wait and see how it does first????)

34) Also lets stop thinking of ships/shows as a way to up yourself as more progressive or whatever. We all have our trash shows and ships, stop acting like a saint. Just because someone has a trash ship, does not mean they are lesser than you.

35) Fanbases are usually always trash. This didn’t change at all in 2018.

36) Class’s first season was significantly better than Torchwoods first season. You guys are just mean.

37) While I adore Class, Patrick Ness’s dialogue was really YIKES sometimes (the Charlie April deleted scene nearly killed me). Overall it was good though because it was the closest depiction of how teens speak.

38) Also any teen drama show that has a teen speak seriously in a hashtag should burn in hell (if a hashtag is used in dialogue as joke then it’s fine because it’s funny)

39) An actor being on a show you don’t like does not warrant hate

40) It’s been two years since Class but still, fuck the dw fans who were/are so mean to the class actors, especially Vivian Oparah and Sophie Hopkins.

I think that’s it.

#40 points long #bbc class

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stupidnephilimlove · 6 years

Text

Office Hours P15

Tagging @irisphryneadler @kindaresilient @ifthingsgetcrazy & @shiningalec as always. Read on ao3. Or start at the beginning.

Magnus keeps texting over Christmas, and they just carry on right into January. Magnus arranges for Alec to meet Cat.

Magnus (10.01.18 7:27 PM): How’s the 3rd of Feb to meet with Cat?

Alec (10.01.18 7:28 PM): The 3rd is perfect. Just let me know when and where and I’m there.

They talk about random things. Like the books Alec’s been reading.

Alec (15.01.18 9:07 AM): I got addicted to the author of Adept, but somehow all their other work is more chilling!

Magnus (15.01.18 9:15 AM): Well, thanks for the warning. I don’t think Chairman Meow will appreciate me sleeping with the light on again.

The new class Magnus is teaching.

Magnus (22.01.18 3:54 PM): It’s official. I hate first years. I’m sure I was never that annoying as a freshman.

Alec (22.01.18 3:56 PM): Oh no, what are they doing? Pretty sure I was the most bookish freshman ever.

Magnus (22.01.18 3:58 PM): Oh really? Showing up not a little late… but halfway through a lecture! Just walking in like they’re right on time. Had to pull a few of them up on it. Honestly, I’d rather they didn’t come at all than disrupt me like that.

Alec sends Magnus tales about his crazy siblings and Magnus replies with ones about his crazier cat.

Alec (27.01.18 7:05 AM): Izzy just heated her cornflakes in the microwave. I can’t decide if she did it on purpose or not. Dunno which is worse.

Magnus (27.01.18 7:11 AM): That is… a little strange. Then again, Chairman Meow is currently licking the lampshades, the same way he does every morning.

Alec (27.01.18 7:12 AM): I guess we both just have crazy housemates.

Alec feels giddy with every text he receives. He spends his days constantly distracted, just waiting for a reply from Magnus, and as soon as he gets one he’s instantly replying. It’s as if they’re dating, and Alec, on more than one occasion has had to remind himself that they’re not. They’re not even friends.

While the texting is fun, Alec wants to see Magnus in person. Alec hasn’t been in the same room as Magnus since December and he’s not sure how he’s managed to survive. But as Alec sits in the little coffee shop, he’s thankful the wait is over. Nerves flutter in his stomach as he waits and his palms are sweaty. He wipes them on his trousers and tries to compose himself.

He was early, ridiculously so, so he spent an hour or two (or three) in the library. He wasn’t able to get any work done though. Too excited for this meeting. And then the door opens, and Magnus is pushing through it, eyes scanning the shop until they land on Alec. Has Alec really been living off his memories of Magnus for all this time? Because they can’t do Magnus justice. Not at all.

Alec’s made a study of Magnus’ wardrobe, but he’s never seen Magnus wearing anything like this before. A blue tunic, with silver metallic thread woven through it, hangs open in a deep V, allowing Alec to get a glimpse of Magnus’ firm chest. Long chains drape around Magnus’ neck drawing Alec’s eyes to that expanse of bare skin.

Alec manages not to drool as Magnus walks over. Though, it’s a close call. He forces his eyes up to meet Magnus’.

“Hello, Alexander,” Magnus says as he nears the table.

Alec scrambles to stand, then wonders what the fuck he did that for. He holds out a hand. The gesture has Magnus raising a brow but he accepts it. And would the floor just swallow Alec whole already?

“Hi,” Alec manages to get out.

Alec savours the feel of Magnus’ fingers wrapped around his own, the grip is firm and it sends pin prickles of sensation skittering along his arm.

“Coffee?” Magnus asks, but before Alec can refuse, Magnus’ eyes dart to the table. “No, you’ve got one. I’ll be a minute.”

And then he’s walking away and Alec’s going to need more than a minute to find some kind of equilibrium. Alec’s eyes are glued to Magnus as he walks away and Alec can’t help but watch as Magnus flirts good-naturedly with the staff, it’s clear they know each other. He just can’t drag his eyes away, and he’s still standing there. Fuck, why is he still standing there? Alec hurriedly sits in his chair, picks up his drink and instantly scalds his tongue.

It takes a few minutes for Magnus’ order to be made which gives Alec some time to compose himself. By the time Magnus takes a seat at the table, Alec’s got a handle on his desire. Mostly. It’s like the first time Alec ever saw Magnus, desire overwhelming him without warning. Being able to see Magnus weekly, Alec’s perhaps become desensitised to it. But now that he’s been deprived for weeks, it’s like it’s just been accumulating, waiting to hit him all at once.

“How’s your semester going so far?” Magnus asks. “Don’t remember which courses you’ve got this semester.”

Alec lists off his courses, then adds, “History 104 as well.”

Magnus sucks in a breath. “Aldertree?”

“Yeah.” Though it’s only one word, he knows he sounds as resigned as he feels about that whole course.

“It’s not going well?”

Alec means to say ‘ it’s going fine’ , but when he opens his mouth, those aren’t the words that come out. “I had some questions, and I went to his office to ask during the directed hours and he wasn’t even there. So… I emailed him and he never responded. Then this week... he made some comment… about how ‘everything that’s needed to pass this course is covered in the lecture ’. Apparently, he doesn’t ‘ believe in holding student’s hands’ through the course.”

So, it turns out that Alec might have some feelings about Aldertree. A simmering pit of frustration he’s been trying to not hold on to, and it just spills out of him, assaulting Magnus.

Magnus takes it well though, nodding in agreement. “Aldertree has a dislike of anyone whose major isn’t history... I’ve heard he’s purposefully obtuse with those taking the course for credit.”

Well, fuck. He signed up for these courses for extra credit, not to fail.

“Ugh… Maybe I should drop it. Can’t really afford to fail a class this close to graduation,” Alec says, thinking out loud.

Alec tries to recall the date for dropping a course. It’s not really as simple as that though because then he’ll have to find another course to pick up that isn’t already full. Then he’ll have to catch up on the weeks he’s missed. Or if there isn’t another course he’ll have to postpone his graduation.

“Got a copy of the course schedule?” Magnus asks.

“Yeah.”

“With you?”

Alec digs around in his book bag. He’s sure he has it; he was looking at it in the library earlier. There, Alec pulls it from his bag and slides it across the table. Magnus looks at it for a while.

“Hmm… okay, I can help you out,” Magnus eventually says.

“You can?” Alec’s reminded that Magnus might just be the most perfect person in the world.

“Yeah,” Magnus is about to continue but then someone calls his name from the door.

“Magnus,” a woman says, and Alec assumes this must be Cat.

“I’ll text you about it later,” Magnus tells Alec before he rises from the table and presses a kiss to the woman’s cheek.

“Cat,” Magnus greets. “This is Alexander.”

Alec stands too, and Cat raises an eyebrow as she gives him an assessing look. What is it with Magnus’ friends looking at him like they’re trying to figure him out?

“Alec is fine,” Alec says as he holds out a hand. Cat shakes it.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Alec. Drink?” she says, and her voice is warm and lovely.

“I’m good,” Alec tells her.

“Me too,” Magnus says. “In fact, now you’ve met I’ll head off. Don’t want me hovering.”

Alec, as always, wishes Magnus would never leave, and he savours the last few minutes of their time together while Cat orders a drink.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Magnus says to Cat before walking away and Alec’s eyes linger as Magnus does. And just, wow! Had Alec really thought those trousers that distracted him in that test were tight? Because these, well, Alec’s not sure they’re even decent. And when it comes to Magnus Bane, Alec’s given up on trying to control his responses. He knows his stare must be obvious. Especially when he turns to Cat and she’s got this amused smile on her face.

“So, Magnus tells me you’re interested in working in a publishing house?” Cat asks.

“I’ve… um.” Alec flounders for a minute before remembering that Magnus set this up as a favour for him, and he doesn’t want to come off as some bumbling idiot. He doesn’t want to reflect badly on Magnus. “Yeah, I want to be involved in publishing books. I’m just not settled on what role, or like… where my skills would be best utilized.”

That is a good answer, Alec thinks. Well, he hopes.

“Do you write, yourself?”

“A little... for fun in my free time. But I don’t really see myself as a writer.”

Alec uses writing to deal with everything going on in his life. He’s got a number of short stories that have never seen the light of day. They explore discovering sexuality and the way it affects not only the character but the world surrounding them. They’re personal. A little too much of himself in them, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever have the courage to share them. He doesn’t need to.

They talk for a long while, Cat outlining the different roles at most publishing houses, before going into more detail as she explains the job roles that make up Epeolatry.

“What type of books do you like to read?” Cat asks.

“I like to read a bit of everything, you know... But I tend to gravitate towards historical fiction, where it’s a mix of fact and fiction, or I read books with LGBT+ themes. It’s nice to read something you can identify with.”

Alec’s not sure if he should have said that. Not all employers are accepting of different sexual orientations, but Alec doesn’t think Magnus would be good friends with someone who was homophobic. Magnus is always very accepting.

“I adore historical fiction too, I keep trying to get Magnus to head more in that direction with his writing, but he’s firmly rooted in the non-fiction... or so he tells me.” Alec likes the way Cat talks about Magnus with such easy affection. It’s clear the two of them are close. “We’re actually working with a few LGBT authors currently… I guess it’s a pet project of mine.”

“Oh?”

“I think you got it right when you said it’s nice to read things you can identify with.”

Alec processes that. Magnus always used the word partner, never boyfriend or husband and Alec now wonders about Cat’s orientation. Maybe he’ll ask Magnus about it later. He doesn’t want to pry. And fuck, now he’s just expecting to be able to talk to Magnus? This texting thing they’re doing is really messing with his head.

“Anyway…” Cat continues. “It’s a new branch of the business and we’re just starting out. I wonder… maybe it would be beneficial for you to come see the offices and what we do?”

Really?

“That would be okay?” Alec asks.

“Of course. I’m always showing people round, but you could talk with a few of the staff and see whether you think it’s for you.”

Alec considers it for a minute, but he can’t take her up on it.

“Thanks, but… um. Don’t feel like you have to offer because Magnus is your friend,” he tells Cat. He appreciates it, but he just can’t accept it.

Cat shakes her head. “That’s not the reason, Alec.” She leans forward on the table, eyes on his and a smile he can’t identify the meaning of on her lips. “We have some internships in the summer with possible full-time positions, and maybe I’m considering how to get you to apply.”

What? Him? He’s got no experience. Although, that’s probably why internships exist.

“I’m a quick judge of character and I like you. I’m not saying you’ll get the internship, it depends on the application process… but... given our conversation and the things Magnus has said about you…” Wait. Magnus talks about Alec? To his friends? What does that even mean? What does he say? “...I think you’d be a good fit for our company.”

Alec seems to have lost his voice, and Cat must take that for disbelief in what she’s saying because she adds, “Okay, let me make you a promise. If you apply and we take you on, it will be on your own merit.” Then she waves a hand. “Wait... that’s too much... I’m sorry, got carried away.”

Alec has to smile. He really likes her. He can see why Magnus is friends with her.

“The offer to come and look around still stands,” she says.

It’s… well, it’s really sort of perfect. Almost too perfect an opportunity to turn down, but still. He feels hesitant about it.

“I’ll… can I think about it?” Alec asks.

“Of course. Here.” Cat passes him a card and Alec tries to keep his fingers steady as he takes it from her. “Just give me a call. And… though I shouldn’t push it, go take a look at the internship? The application is all online.”

Alec shakes his head with a laugh and gives in. “Okay, I’ll look it up.”

They talk for a little while longer, but about more general things and when Cat leaves Alec turns the card over and over in his fingers. He’s seriously considering her offer.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:27 PM): How’d the meeting go?

Alec (03.02.18 5:28 PM): Well. I think. Cat’s great.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:32 PM): She liked you. Take her up on the offer to look around.

Alec’s a little stumped by that. Magnus must’ve already spoken to Cat to know that.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:33 PM): If you want to. No pressure.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:33 PM): History 104? If you’ve got questions we can meet up next week and I can help?

Alec (03.02.18 5:35 PM): I’m thinking about it. You sure?

Magnus (03.02.18 5:36 PM): Yes, that’s why I offered.

Alec (03.02.18 5:36 PM): Okay. When’s best for you?

Alec doesn’t mention that he’s not on campus on Thursday. He’ll take any opportunity to talk to Magnus.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:37 PM): Monday? I’m free at five.

Magnus (03.02.18 5:37 PM): Or is that too late?

Alec (03.02.18 5:38 PM): No. It’s perfect.

P16 is here

Now Alec just has to break it to Jace that he’ll have to miss their usual Monday night burger and beer. Jace can still go and ogle Maia. He probably wouldn’t even notice Alec was missing.

#malec #malec fic #shadowhunters #professor!magnus #student!alec #oh look i wrote a thing #fic: office hours

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farfromsugafanfic · 5 years

Text

glitteringconstellations interview

Before we get started with the interview, do you mind introducing yourself (whatever name you are comfortable with) and telling us a little about yourself?

Hi everyone! I’m glitteringconstellations, Glitter or GC for short. I’ve been writing fanfiction for well over 15 years now, though I only started sharing it around 2005. I minored in Creative Writing in college and I love writing in pretty much any capacity! When I’m not headcanoning one new story or another, though, I’m either adulting (ugh, adulting) or playing video games. These days it’s mostly Skyrim. I’m fluent in Korean and passable in Japanese and Spanish. I drink way too much pop to be healthy and I hate most fruit (though, give me any kind of melon and I’ll be a happy girl). Oh, and I’m a fledgling figure skater! I’m just a hodgepodge of random hobbies haha!

Q1: What kind of fan fiction do you normally write? Have you ever written fan fiction for other fandoms other than your current one?

A1: I tend to gravitate toward angsty fics. It’s long been my outlet of frustration, to put the character I love in harm’s way. The more pain, the better, haha! Though I do love the hurt/comfort aspect of it. Recently (as in, the last year lmao) I’ve been writing for the Voltron fandom almost exclusively (and sometimes YURI!!! On Ice), but before that I was in the k-pop ficdom (Super Junior, for the most part) for a looooong time, nearly 10 years. I won’t be opening that particular can of worms, though--I have Feelings and Opinions lmao. Before that I jumped around from anime to anime.

Q2: I see in addition to fan fiction that you do commissioned fan art! I’m not an artist myself, so I find it really interesting and cool. Do you want to talk a bit about that? And, feel free to plug yourself!

A2: This is actually a common misconception--I can’t draw to save my life!! I took commissions for fan fiction back in late June as a last resort to pay my rent. Typically though I’m horrible on a deadline so I don’t like to do it too often because I feel terrible making my commissioners wait. The art you’re referring to is the comic spread for The Parting Glass, if I’m not mistaken? I actually commissioned another artist by the name of Cota (@ccooooostuff on tumblr, go check her out she’s amazing at what she does and super sweet!) for that comic with the money I got for my birthday this year.

Q3: Do you write anything outside of fan fiction?

A3: I do! I journal a lot, or I try to anyway. This year I’m hoping to tackle an original novel for Nanowrimo, but more than likely, that particular project will start as fanfiction and we’ll see if I turn it into original fiction or not. I spend more time thinking about the things I want to write than… actually… writing them lolsob. My notes will be this gigantic document but when it comes to putting things together in a cohesive manner? Haaaaaa….haha…. The blinking cursor mocks me, I swear.

Q4: I see on your profile that you are 26. I think when most people think of fan fiction writers they think of someone younger, usually a teenager. Do you encounter younger writers a lot? What do you think of this assumption?

A4: I do encounter younger writers a lot! Surprisingly, though, most writers I know are either in their late 20s or late late teens (say, 15~19). Most people tend to think I’m young anyway just because I look a lot younger than 26, but as far as fandom goes, it doesn’t really bother me if people think I’m younger than I am. Usually I’m pretty forward with how old I am on my profile anyway! But yeah, I’ve been around the fanfiction scene a while. The k-pop fandom in particular had a way of reminding me just how long on a pretty frequent basis lol.

Q5: Why did you begin writing fan fiction? If it was for a fandom, why did that particular thing make you begin writing? And, for your current fandoms?

A5: I used to tell myself stories to get to sleep or on long car trips as far back as I can remember, and most of the time they involved characters from my favorite shows of the day. Pokemon and Digimon were two big ones for me before I hit those fun preteen years. As far as what got me started actually putting those stories to paper, it was born of frustration with shows not going the way I wanted them to, so I’d write the ending I wanted to see. For Voltron in particular, it’s just SUCH a fun sandbox to play in, be it by utilizing the incredible world-building or the plethora of interesting characters to play around with. So many possibilities! *3*

Q6: Do you ever want to be published in a professional capacity one day?

A6: Yes and no. I flip flop on this ALL the time. I’d LOVE to see my stories on shelves, but I’m actually very insecure and sometimes the thought of people reading my stories makes me want to die of embarrassment and sink to the center of the earth. That said, if I win Nano this year, I may run it by some publishers, even if only to get feedback. (Although if you want to get TECHNICAL I am officially a published journalist; I was an assistant editor for one of The Big 3 kpop news sites for a while. The one that starts with S. Also another can of worms.)

Q7: Has writing fan fiction taught you anything? About writing? Reading? The fandom? Etc.

A7: Oh absolutely. I definitely would not be the writer I am today without fan fiction. I wouldn’t say I’m super skilled, but the critique I’ve received over the years has helped me more than I have words for, honestly. Not even just in the capacity of writing fiction; my academic and professional writing has improved too. Also, just like reading anything in high volume, reading fanfic has helped me learn to read like a writer, how to pick out things that authors do that I admire and try to emulate that, and conversely what doesn’t work for me so I can avoid those things.

As far as fandom goes, fanfiction can be quite polarizing, as I’m sure you’re well aware. Just in my experience by and large it can be kind of toxic, to be quite honest. The particular issue Voltron faces that I experienced to some extent in other fandoms but not quite to this degree, is fandom policing. I find that certain members of the fandom (which, in my experience, tends to actually be mostly among those younger demographics, though not exclusively so) see certain topics as morally wrong and therefore anyone who writes those topics are 1) romanticizing said topic and 2) automatically a disgusting, horrible person and they have no problems telling you about all about it. The number one thing I try to put out there in my interactions is live and let live, ship and let ship. If it makes you uncomfortable, that’s okay! But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong, and it’s definitely not okay to go around purporting hate in the name of “morality.” Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there haha...

Q8: What is a piece you’ve written that you’re most proud of?

A8: Just in the Voltron fandom, I’d say the fic I’m most proud of is The Parting Glass, by far. Funny story about that one; I’d never heard the titular song before I came across a cover of it on Facebook one day around St. Patrick’s Day, and let me tell you something. The reaction I had was almost a spiritual experience, it was so visceral. I was in tears when I heard it, and the story came so hard and so fast that I wrote it in 2 days. It stayed with me until I got it down in writing. It was an interesting challenge for me, exploring the grief part of a character death fic while almost entirely omitting the actual dying part. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had such a vivid vision of exactly how a fic is going to go from start to finish and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. Which is why, when I had the money to do so, I commissioned Cota to illustrate what had to be the hardest and yet my favorite part to write. She brought the scene to life so beautifully too, I’m really happy with how it turned out. Months later I still go back and stare at it!

Q9: Do you notice any stigma surrounding fan fiction or fan fiction writers?

A9: Without a doubt. People hear “fanfiction” and they think one of two things: the pudgy neckbeard who lives in his parents’ basement, or the rabid tween/teenage fangirl. It’s a rather unfortunate stereotype, because some works of fanfiction are truly works of art, more masterfully crafted than some novels I’ve seen published. Yet they get dismissed simply on the basis of being fanworks and not “original” (which, let’s be real, nothing is truly original anymore). One such example that comes to mind of a beautiful fic is those glittering instruments in the EXO fandom, which was based on the real-life destruction of the Library of Alexandria. If you can find a copy of it floating around the interwebs I HIGHLY recommend giving it a chance no matter what fandom you’re in!

Q10: If so, how do you feel about this stigma?

A10: Like I said, it’s really a shame. The thing, too, is that as young girls we’re often shamed for the things we’re passionate about, like boy bands and, well, fan fiction, while boys don’t get that kind of shame to such an intense degree (at least, not about the usual suspects, like sports and girls and such). Not to say that it doesn’t happen, but there’s something terribly sad about seeing more young people afraid to talk about a hobby that makes them happy because they’re afraid of being perceived as weird or gross or something like that. Hell, even to this day I have very few friends from outside the fandom sphere that know I write fanfiction, because they still talk bad and make mean jokes about fic writers. It’s such a silly thing, because a lot of famous works are derivative fiction and people don’t even realize it! So I hope the day comes soon that we can get over this silly stigma and just enjoy what people share (for free!! Seriously!! FULL NOVEL LENGTH WORKS. For FREE.)

Q11: Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to talk about or be asked that no one has asked you about or given you the opportunity to talk about? (And if so, feel free to answer/talk about it).

A11: I really had to think about this one! I couldn’t really pick one topic that I’ve really wanted to talk about that I haven’t already discussed, but no one has ever asked me if I was okay with having fanart of my work. Which I would answer with a resounding YES. I am more than okay with it QuQ

Oh, I guess I do have something!! It’s unrelated to writing (well, I guess it could be related, depending on how you look at it) but since I have your attention, if you’re an American citizen GO OUT AND VOTE. The midterm elections are one week from today in the USA and it’s important you go vote!! I won’t tell you who to vote for (a third can of worms I’m not opening up. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY WORMS) but I assure you, your vote matters, now more than ever. I believe in you!! Go vote!!!

Q12: What is your prefered site for writing/posting fan fiction?

A12: These days I prefer to use AO3. It’s a work in progress, but it’s far and away the superior fic platform of the time. Back in ye olden days (circa 2010~2012) Livejournal was my platform of choice, and FF.net before that. A surprising number of people prefer to post their fic on tumblr, to which I say, are you out of your flipping MIND?!?! Tumblr is soooo temperamental, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to restart a post or go into the HTML editor because the rich text editor decided to be stupid. Noooooo thank you. I’ll stick to AO3 thanks ahaha!

Check out Glitter’s Tumblr and AO3.

Interviewer Note: Glitter used her free question to encourage everyone to vote and I would just like to stress the importance of this, especially if live in the US. Young people are the demographic that votes the least, despite being the demographic that will have to live the longest with the outcome of the vote. If you are currently not registered, please register as it is important for all of our futures. And, remember the deadline for the upcoming US election is Nov. 6th, so make sure to get to those polls and/or turn/send in your ballot. If you need information on how to do any of these things, do not hesitate to reach out to my page and I will point you to trustworthy resources.

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mst3kproject · 6 years

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504: Secret Agent Super Dragon

Let’s move on to another oft-overlooked subset of MST3K – the Budget Bond films. These are always very bad, but often a lot of fun if you’re in the right kind of mood.

Brian Cooper is Super Dragon, pulled out of retirement to find out who’s distributing poisoned chewing gum to co-eds! Boy, if that doesn’t sound like the setup for a thrilling spy caper, nothing does! The plot seems to revolve around a Dutch student named Christine Bruder, so Cooper goes to Amsterdam looking for her. There, in between fucking his female colleagues and flirting with every woman he sees, he learns that Bruder was part of a plot to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States, hidden in fake Ming vases. An evil conspiracy is planning to dope the free world on a chemical that will cause us to violently attack one another, and then… uh, I don’t know what happens after that, but it’s probably safe to assume it’ll end in the bad guys ruling the world. That’s always the goal.

What’s with that spy movie cliché about the glamorous secret agent who sleeps with every woman he meets? Friends, enemies, co-workers, random waitresses… our suave hero loses no chance to insert Tab A into Slot B. He can’t walk down the street without having women throw themselves at him. This trope has been parodied to hell and back in everything from Austin Powers to The Million Eyes of Sumuru and it’s actually sort of weird to see it played straight, as it is here. As a PSA to my readers: never sleep with a glamorous secret agent. He probably has like nine venereal diseases.

The weirdest thing in the movie is a facet of this trope: it’s the bit where Cooper and Agent Farrell are busily smooching when a man breaks into her apartment and tries to kill them. They fight him off, and he commits suicide so they can’t question him. Cooper then throws his body out the window, turns the soundtrack back on, and the couple just pick up where they left off! Maybe it’s because I’m not a glamorous secret agent but I gotta agree with Tom Servo on this one: I don’t think I could have sex in the same room where I just watched a guy kill himself. It wouldn’t be right, you know?

I will say that this indifference towards death bothers me less here than it did in Master Ninja I, but the characters in Secret Agent Super Dragon have presumably have years of both physical training to kill and psychological coaching to deal with the consequences. Even so, just getting right back to the makeout session before the body’s even had a chance to cool seems unnecessarily callous.

The other trope I notice a lot of in Secret Agent Super Dragon is the death trap. Our hero’s life is threatened repeatedly but always in some contrived way that allows him a chance to escape. The first time he’s tied to a rail so some machine can come along and roll over his head. He gets out in the nick of time and it crushes a can of red paint instead. The second time he’s nailed into a coffin and thrown into the river. He holds his breath and inflates a flotation device. The third time, he’s trapped in a building rigged to explode. His buddy flies in with a helicopter. Why doesn’t anybody just shoot this guy? Villains that stupid don’t deserve to take over the world!

Yet another thing that stands out as remarkably dumb is the cause the charity auction is supposed to support – ‘an International Hospital for Babies with Malnutrition’. Okay, so, imagine you’re somebody whose child is starving, which probably means you’re dirt poor. Instead of sending food to you, these people expect you to bring the baby to a hospital, which may be in another country, so that they can feed the kid there. Is the complete impracticality of this supposed to be our clue that it’s a scam? The script never references that, though. Did somebody just pick a bunch of charitable-sounding words? Was it a bad translation of something that actually made sense in the original language? Are the writers just that stupid? We’ll probably never know.

Beyond that… it’s honestly really hard to say anything deeper about Secret Agent Super Dragon, because this is another movie that’s not very ambitious. It has some vague themes about drugs as the downfall of western civilization, but its characters don’t have appreciable arcs and there’s not much by way of symbolism for me to analyze. All it wants is to keep us mindlessly entertained for an hour and a half – and there’s nothing wrong with that, honestly, but Super Dragon isn’t even any good at it. Trying to watch without Joel and the bots I found myself drifting repeatedly. There’s the charming super-spy, the parade of blandly beautiful women, the evil mastermind with a vague plan to take over the world, the easily-escaped death traps… we’ve done this all before, and Super Dragon doesn’t even use the stereotypes in skillful or interesting ways.

The thing about spy movie tropes is they’re so easy to parody, and have been parodied so many times, that even somebody who doesn’t actually watch spy movies can spot them because we all absorb them through pop-culture osmosis. Playing them straight therefore runs a very serious risk of boring the audience. Of course Agent Farrell is working for the bad guys, because in a story like this, a character like her does – and of course she falls in love with Cooper and betrays her bosses for him. None of this stuff is even really foreshadowed (except that Farrell dyes her hair – can’t trust those unnatural redheads!) but we still know it’s coming because we’ve seen the same shit in fifty other movies. The bad guy wants to cleanse the world so it can be made anew? Been there. The movie wallows in misogyny but in all the same old ways, so I’ve got nothing new to say about it.

Throughout the film people talk about the ‘legendary Super Dragon’ but I don’t think we ever get a reason why Cooper’s so great. Bond films begin with a breathtaking action setpiece to show us that our hero has nifty gadgets and balls of steel – Secret Agent Super Dragon begins with Cooper playing dead by the pool. His most remarkable ability seems to be holding his breath for a really long time, and his gadgeteer, the kleptomaniacal Babyface, makes most of his gadgets out of literal toys. I think this might be a joke about the obvious miniatures some of these movies use… but I’m not sure. All I’m sure of is when that dinosaur waddled into the room I was halfway expecting it to demand the return of the Golden Ninja Warrior.

About the only place where the movie seems to accidentally brush by a real statement is in a moment that resembles a historical reference. Cooper has infiltrated a conspiracy meeting (by wearing a half-mask that leaves his rather distinctive chin fully visible) at which the Big Bad, Mr. Lamas, is delivering an expository monologue: their factory in India is in full production of the drug, which will be shipped to America in phony Ming vases and bring the world to its knees! If you’re going to talk about drugs making and breaking empires, China and India are where it happened.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the East India Company fostered opium addiction in China because they wanted cheap tea and because the British government had vague plans, which never came anywhere close to fruition, to add China to their empire. The opium to feed this addiction was grown in India, often by farmers who would rather have been growing actual food but owed too much money to the EIC. This all led to the Opium Wars and a lot of other unpleasantness in which the British Empire came out looking even more like assholes than they usually did. In a story about conquering the world through drug addiction, then, having the drugs created in India and slipped into something Chinese looks like a reference to history repeating itself.

It may also mean something else. Secret Agent Super Dragon is relentlessly white, set mostly in a city in northwestern Europe, where conspiracies of middle-aged white guys drink booze and decide the fate of nations. The actual work that makes this possible, however, is being done by people of colour in the east. Not only does this seem to reference how western nations use other countries as battlegrounds and bargaining chips in their own power struggles, it can also serve as a reminder of something we frequently forget: a lot of what makes our comfortable lives possible comes from other countries, made by people who could never afford to buy it. My eyeglasses, the sweater I’m wearing, and the chair I’m sitting on were all made in China. Our entire economy depends on cheap foreign labor, and I wonder sometimes how much longer that can last before the whole thing falls apart.

Is any of this the movie’s intentional theme or message? I doubt it. The historical reference seems to be just a ‘hey, look how clever we are!’ moment and the rest probably goes no deeper than ‘oh, no, our children are doing drugs!’, which has been on the verge of ending civilization since at least the thirties. Secret Agent Super Dragon is just a dumb trashy Eurospy movie, and not even a very good one. I don’t hate it, but mostly because it’s not worth that kind of effort. The MST3K treatment renders it infinitely more enjoyable, especially when Tom and Crow do Jazz.

Agent Cooper was played by actor Ray Danton, who died in 1992, a year before the episode aired. Probably all for the best. I doubt he’d have been into all those jokes about how his character is perfectly smooth.

#mst3k #reviews #secret agent super dragon #60s

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tochiko · 6 years

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S6 Review

It seems I overreacted big time before s6 with spoilers and underestimated the writers with my author wanna be 15 yo ass. Post s5 I was a lotura stan post s6 I'm an Allura stan. With spoilers alone I thought they ruined Lotor's character but now that I've seen the season he isn't that awesome but they didn't ruin him. Before s6 with only the spoilers I got throughout yesterday, I thought they had ruined his morally gray character to an entirely black character but no they didn't. Btw I kinda hate Lotor right now but I believe either lotura's gonna be endgame 30% or he's just gonna help them or they're just gonna help him without that kinda relationship but just a bit less hostile one 70%, if nothing like this will happen (it doesn't have to be how it ends, they should make things right about Lotor) DreamWorks really did fuck up then. Let's start:

Lotor (and a bit of Allura): Lotor is an oppressor. He killed many. But this doesn't make him an entirely black character because his motives were "white", he believes he has right to sacrifice many to save many more and he did, he didn't't do these for evil but "good" so ya boy isn't morally black. I personally highly oppose to this ideology, I believe everything can be done without killing with hardship or not but eighty percent of the random as well as all humans have Lotor's view on this subject. Lotor didn't betray Voltron, we're gonna come to this right after to finish about his triggers. What triggers Lotor? We all obviously know he gets unnaturally "evil" or overly emotional when his parents are mentioned, but in what way? It doesn't matter, he hates people talking about his parents generally. He doesn't hate his parents as much as he thinks he does, he respects them dearly, he knows these aren't his parents but shells with monsters inside but he can't help but blame them because in a sense it didn't have to turn out like this, he didn't have to be raised but monsters and all his life he was either told he was definitely like those monsters (which is something he probably agreed to as well or was mocked about his heritage who wasn't of a monster. He has complicated feelings about his parents and no one can understand him on this topic so he gets triggered whenever someone thinks they know about his parents soooo much. You saw how he wasn't hostile at all towards Allura until she told him how he was like Zarkon, eveb then he didn't deny how he wasn't like him but started to talk shit about Alfor, he was protecting Zarkon's name. How can you say he didn't betray Voltron? Just think, the moment the others turned on to Lotor Allura immediately started protecting him but after that she was against him as well, but what got me thinking is why someone powerful enough to kill Zarkon could be unconscious from something like that, the only reason can be him being emotionally strained. (I'm not saying this to go awww baby boy don't be sad we'll love you even though you're a murderer, I'm just stating the facts) Lotor loves Allura deeply. When she learned about his past he was calmy explaining to her why he found his plan very much justifiable, how he was trying to save millions, he didn't have to do this, his face wasn't of a liar and the producers themselves told about how he never lied, just half truths. He isn't manipulative, he's broken. In episode four I think Pidge said how he was no different than his father "You know nothing of you speak." he didn't do anything hostile even though Pidge wasn't a significant person for him but he was working for a good cause and didn't want to hurt more than necessary. Back in the last two episodes they were more than enough to demolish Voltron but he tried to explain himself to her, he had more than enough power to kill them all but in the end even Allura thought she knew what he went through and who Zarkon actually was, as if her father was better! It's like how we compare our fathers in elementary school. He loves Zarkon his father but he despises Zarkon the emperor. He tried everything he could to explain to Allura, was peaceful towards them even though they were angry about something normal to him! He lived in an environment where killing was an honor but he never killed for Honor, only for peace now why would they get so angry about this! And in the end he was corrupted just like his parents with quintessence and Allura realized this and she also insisted they take him back but they couldn't. At the last moment Allura understood what was wrong with Lotor and knew how he was corrupted in a way he criticized greatly, she pitied him. Long story short they didn't have to make Lotor "evil" again to teach us how not every morally gray character didn't do anything, there were better ways to umm maybe not put Lance as a second option? Hmmmm?

Allura: aka QUEEN. Before s5 I didn't understand why people liked Allura so muchand in the sixth season she's one of the most awesome characters in fiction ever. Allura really likes Lotor but she knows such a relationship they built in little time couldn't be considered love. That's the reason she can immediately turn against him in ep 4. My queen yote that bitch across the room while he was still dreaming about her beauty. She denied his ties and was the first one to understand his situation, it was late but she was the first and the only one. They had to step up their game tho about Lotor I mean I believe the only reason they actually damaged Lotor was cuz he wasn't stable, firstly because he was triggered all day and secondly bc of the quintessence, with his normal cool self they wouldn't stand a chance so they should start having a more cold stance about emotion though I don't think that will ever happen bc of their hero characters. I love how she doesn't tolerate cruelty in any sense, she's awesome but for a show about space wars a bit too idealistic. She should have understood Lotor's issue with triggers and about quintessence at least a few seconds before so he wouldn't be left behind. Back at Earth they're gonna bring doom but I believe we might see Lotor there for some reason, or it's just my wishful thinking. I don't blame her about Lance it's the writers' fault; she likes Lotor, they were even in kind of a relationship it isn't her fault Lance liked her. I want Allura to be either with Lotor or with no romantic interest because the others would be a second choice AND she would have a romantic plot forced upon him, one plot is enough for any character. 12/10 would adopt.

MFING Lance ma boi: Beautiful child thrown into something so fucking stupid. They could make Lance so much more but noooo let's make him a second option. I'm not talking about how he doubted about Lotor cuz he didn't, being irritate for romantic reasons and insulting his culture doesn't mean doubting, it's a child's way to hate someone without reason. He was a character with potential but now it's gone. I still like him.

Pidge: She's actually my first ever queen. She's awesome, she can think objectively and she can put her feelings aside if she has to. She had an emotional connection with Shiro like Keith (bc him being the only person who knows about her family in the first few seasons), not as much as Keith but she had something with Shiro as well. She reacted rationally about the situation, was ready about the code stuff too. I want a romantic interest for her so much but that's not possible. 100/10 would be sistahs with.

Kogane Family: I can't take Papa Kogane seriously and I can't get how someone can lust after him with that accent. I like big men too but omg really??? Keith has boobs and has a mama and knows their past, had a major role in the season wasn't like a boss but was good enough. Big enough to get married let's marry him off and see if his babies will be purple.

Kuron: The dnd ep, omg this boy is a major loser and is a Shiro wannabe, though I think Shiro is a major loser too. He's the awkward adult surrounded by teenagers and doesn't know gen z culture, 10/10 would smash.

Anyone left? Right HUNK: I though he was gonna have a major re but didn't, just had a bit more screen time. WHY DREAMWORKS WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THIS WHOLESOME BOY AN ARC GODDAMIT. Btw 12/10 would smash for some reason

Anyways this season wasn't as bad as I thought it would be with spoilers alone but they really should make the Lotor issue better, if it's gonna stay like this I might as well drop the show cuz Lotor is one of their most complex characters. I just want more of Hunk and Pidge holy shit Galaxy garrison is gonna snap. I swear to God if Allurance is gonna be canon I'm gonna collapse and not wake up until something god happens. But overall a good season 8/10

#vld #vld s6 spoilers #vld lotor #vld s6 #vld lance #vld keith #vld shiro #vld allura #vld spoilers #voltron legendary defender #voltron galra #voltron #texas kogane #keith kogane #vld krolia #krolia

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feynavaley · 6 years

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Tag Game

Rules: Answer 11 questions – Add 11 of your own – Tag 11 people I was tagged by @mandelene, thank you so much!

1) If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? I would love to visit Canada, I’ve been told by basically everybody that it’s the most beautiful place they’ve ever seen. But, I would need somebody driving me around because the beauty is more in natural landscapes than a single city. If, instead, I were to stay in a single place for as long as I wanted I would love to visit Paris or Saint Petersburg, I can’t choose. (there are actually a lot of other places I haven’t seen and would love to visit... Japan, Ireland, London, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, New York... but the three above would be my priorities.)

2) What’s your favorite type of music to listen to? I don’t truly have a favourite kind of music, it’s mostly random songs and the genre varies along with my mood. Looking at my playlist, however, I can see that the top places are occupied by Disney soundtracks...

3) What’s your favorite book of all time? Oh wow that’s a hard question... picking only one book is extremely hard. I’ll go with a book that holds a big sentimental value for me, L’ultimo elfo (The Last Elf) written by an Italian writer, Silvana De Mari. I read it when I was a child and I still re-read it every now and then. I’ve read Fantasy books with a far better plot (and writing, too), but that one carries a lot of positive feelings.

4) Mountain or beach? Mountain, I absolutely loathe the beach in summer. It’s way too hot for me. Mountains, instead, give the opportunity to see such gorgeous sceneries... (I’m particularly fond of the Dolomites). I’m talking about rocky mountains though, woods aren’t exactly the best for my asthmatic lungs. And if I can climb instead of hicking it’s even better.

5) What’s one thing about yourself that you really love? There’s nothing I really love about myself, but it has been brought to my attention lately that I’m quite good at explaining school subjects (I’ve been volunteering in an association that help kids with their homework, and I usually stay with high-schoolers). I guess that this is positive, I mean, at least I’m useful at something.

6) If you could learn another language overnight, which language would you pick? Japanese, probably. It has always fascinated me, and belonging to a completely different family it would be harder to learn by traditional means than other languages I would like to know.

7) If you could give your past self a piece of advice, what would you tell them? Take some time to rest, you’re truly overdoing it. You won’t make it to the end this way. Better slow down a bit now than completely collapsing at one point later when you can’t afford even a day of rest but at that point you’ll need a month at least.

8) What’s something you’ve always wanted to do/learn? Drawing, traditionally and digitally alike. When I was in middle school, my art teacher told me that I had a bit of inclination towards that, but I never had enough time to pursue it properly and my skills never grew from that (basically, now I’ll say that I can’t draw, because what was acceptable for a middle-schooler is ridiculous at my age). I wish I could learn to do it properly, instead.

9) Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island? A friend of mine who’s great at practical things and has good survival skills, so she’ll know what to do. Plus, she’d be good company until we’re rescued :)

10) List two pet peeves.

I hate people smoking right outside of buildings, at the bus stop or in other places where I’m forced to inhale their poison. Them smoking while they walk around bothers me as well, because if I’m walking behind them I’ll have to breathe their smoke. (essentially, I’m of the opinion that smoking should be forbidden everywhere aside from some designed area)

I absolutely can’t stand people making noises when they could avoid it. (screaming when they could talk, watching a movie from the laptop without hear-buds when somebody else is in the room, listening to music without ear-buds on the train...)

11) How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? If I’m taking it easy around 40 minutes, but I can easily bring it down to 15-20 at need. 10 only if I don’t have to put on contacts or wash my bangs.

I’m tagging: @verymemeingfulart, @tyto11, @shinysteph, @sandwich130, @meet-the-mun-spaz, @servuscallidus, @headphonemaiden, @katie-kayta , @scarlet--holmes , @missnimbus , @grace-grace-fox . There’s no obligation of course, only if you feel like doing this! And if anybody else wants to try, feel free to!

My questions:

What’s the last dream you remember?

Which colour would you paint your room if you could choose anything?

Would you rather live in an independent house or a flat?

What are your favourite names? (you can choose any language for this one)

At what age did you get your first mobile phone?

One thing that you would absolutely do if you didn’t have any monetary/time restraint.

Are you afraid of heights?

What is your earliest memory?

How many languages can you speak fluently (or semi-fluently)?

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

As a child, what was your favourite game?

#tag chain #about feyna

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enter-the-phantom · 6 years

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Hi! I hope this question isn’t annoying but why do you say Snape is ooc in Hogwars Mystery? I find him pretty accurate (and I love the sassy remarks he makes). I know in the books he’s not as hard on slytherins but still the only student he’s actually nice to is Draco. I also find very interesting the moment in the timeline the game is set, Lily just died 3 years before which makes me think Snape should be extra bitter because he’s hurting a lot. What do you think?

First, wanted to say don’t take this next part the wrong way, but I sort of have a policy on my blog that I don’t discuss Snily in any way, shape, or form. ^.^” It’s a severe emotional trigger for me (if you want you can check my FAQ’s). This isn’t a reprimand against you, it’s more of a notice to anyone else who might come to my blog to ask something similar to this and not know!

Also folks reading this: please, please, DO NOT REBLOG OR DISCUSS. If you haven’t read my FAQ’s and you’re a new follower, I suggest you do so. There’s important info there about why I don’t like to discuss Snape’s character in detail and why I get touchy about it. I’m answering this ask because it’s a fair and polite question, but I do not want to discuss this further or I could go to a very bad place mentally and emotionally. Thank you! :)

There’s a lot of reasons he’s OOC. I will admit I’m not very far in the game yet, so I’m sure I’ll find a LOT more, but here’s what I’ve got so far:

-The “correct” choices are things Snape hates. One of the big things I noticed was that the way to get Snape to not absolutely despise you was to give excuses, blame others, and suck-up.

We see pretty early on in the books that Snape hates it when his students give excuses. He has a deep respect for authority and expects the same from his students. When he scolds you for something, he expects a polite apology and a “yes, sir”. But if you give that to him in this game, he just gets even more upset.

Snape also isn’t big on suck-ups. We’ll look at that in our next point.

-Snape and Merula. His odd favoritism towards her is very OOC. And I know what you’re thinking: “What about Draco?” Let’s examine Snape and Draco to further look at Snape and Merula.

Snape knows Draco’s father. Draco’s father believes Snape to still be a Death Eater. He needs to stay in his good graces, both for his own safety and to further serve Dumbledore and the Order. Of course he’s not going to get on Draco’s bad side. His favoritism of Draco can also be easily explained as him wanting to protect Draco from what happened to him. Draco is a very vulnerable kid, and Snape knows this. By favoring him and hopefully gaining his favor, Snape can influence him not to go down the same path he and his father once did.

But what about Merula? We know Merula’s parents were once Death Eaters, but in the game, it’s mentioned they’re in Azkaban. Snape doesn’t need to fear them the way he needed to fear Lucius. Maybe he’s trying to protect her the same way he does Draco later on, but it seems a bit extreme. And let’s not forget that if there’s one thing Snape despises, it’s bullies (yes, I can hear the antis calling hypocrisy now).

And yes, I know he didn’t care about Draco’s bullying, but don’t forget who Draco was bullying. I’m not so sure he’d be so apathetic if it was just a random kid to whom he had no personal grudge. Rowan, Ben, and the player have no connection to Snape. They’re innocent bystanders, just as he once was. I find it very hard to believe that he would turn a blind eye to, and even protect, Merula in this situation.

-His physical appearance. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but in actuality, it’s vital to how we perceive him. And before we begin, yes, I do understand he is based off of Alan Rickman’s version of the character. The problem is that Alan’s version wasn’t at all physically accurate. So really this will also be a sort of critique of the film’s portrayal, lol.

There’s a lot to go through here, so let’s start with age. In this game, I believe Snape is around 27 (he’s got a January birthday and I’m not good at math, so I’m probably a year off). However, he appears to be around 50.

For better or worse, we all have preconceptions about people based on the way they look. Any character designer can tell you this. An older character is going to seem more emotionally mature, strong, and able to handle themselves. In book canon, Snape is none of these things.

Now it is true that he probably looks older than he is due to stress and malnutrition. But he wouldn’t appear to be in his 50′s when he’s in his late 20′s. Making him appear older not only makes us subconsciously view him as more mature and high-brow, it also takes him out of the world of the Marauders. He looks much older than the other Marauder-era characters, which is a problem. It makes him seem more removed and distant from them, when they were a huge part of why he became who he is.

Next is his size. In the books, Snape is very often described as being very thin, almost appearing malnourished, and actually rather short (he’s described as being “quite a bit shorter than Sirius”, and in the opening scene of DH he’s “the shorter man”). This is actually very important. A tall, broad-shouldered man in his 50′s having bad memories of being bullied seems more like someone who just needs to let a few mean words roll off of him. But a short, skinny man, once a short, skinny teenager, going through the same thing tells a very different story. Sirius and James may not have been able to physically intimidate the Snape shown in the movies and Hogwarts Mystery, but they could snap book-canon Snape like a twig.

Now in the films, we can overlook this more easily. It’s not Alan’s fault he was in his 60′s–twice as old as Snape is in PS/SS–when he first took the role. And it makes sense from a cinematographic standpoint to make Snape larger: someone of book canon’s size would be very un-intimidating on camera without the descriptions in a novel to set the tone. But in a game, it’s much easier to give the player a moody, immersive setting. It would have been possible to make him his original book-canon size and not lose anything.

…Of course, this could have just been done to keep him recognizable for film fans and I just wasted twenty minutes typing all that, lol.

-His undermining of other teachers/authority.

As we’ve already discussed, Snape has a deep respect for authority. And yet there are in times in the game when he directly goes against what his colleagues say and do. When Flitwick stands up for you after the duel with Merula, Snape ignores/shoots him down.

Flitwick, as far as we know, was one of Snape’s teachers at Hogwarts (another problem with changing his age appearance-wise: he appears older than the very teachers who taught him as a boy!). Snape would never undermine one of his own teachers, even as an adult. Let’s not forget all the times he backed down to McGonagall in the books (she mentions teaching James, so we know she taught Snape as well).

He also speaks ill of Dumbledore several times. As you said, this is 3-4 years after Voldemort’s fall, after Dumbledore has taken Snape in. Although he does have a few remarks to make in the books, we need to remember this is after Harry has arrived at Hogwarts and Dumbledore has begun favouring him. At this point, Snape doesn’t have a lot of reason to get on Dumbledore’s bad side, especially when his position is so precarious.

-His teaching style. I’ll admit, this is more of a nit-pick than anything else. But Snape is very adamant in the books about how precise the art of potion-making is. He doesn’t really allow/encourage the use of magic in his classroom for things like levitating bottles or cutting ingredients–there’s too much room for error.

And yet in the game, there’s magic flying everywhere in his classroom. Maybe it was just a design choice, but it’s annoying. In other HP games, such as the LEGO series, potions was kept non-magical and the fun was still there!

-But the big one for me so far is his use of the word “sniveling”. This may not seem like such a huge deal, but it’s actually pretty important. We’ve seen his reaction to variants of this word in the HP book series, and it’s always angry and emotional. I don’t think he’d use this word lightly to reprimand/bully a student, and I think we all know why. To me this shows that the writers don’t really know or understand his character.

And that’s my main issue: they didn’t understand his character before writing him into the game. This man is incredibly important to me. Seeing him reduced to a caricature of who he is, someone representing only one facet, the worst facet, of his complex personality, is terribly offensive. I’ve even seen him compared to versions of Snape cooked up by anti’s.

I think it’s important for people to understand that it’s personally difficult for me. Because of my story, I’m going to take greater offense to anything regarding him than most people would. If I make comments about him being OOC, it’s not really a critique of the game or those who play it. It’s just me venting my frustration at…a lot of things.

#ask enter #sorry if I sound rude but you guys really need to listen when someone says their faqs are important #not using my usual tags because I dont like this post

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