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kikyan · 1 year

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Yandere Octavinelle Headcanons

TW/CW: Dark content up ahead!! Yandere content specifically, mentions of abuse, manipulation, violence towards the reader, mental instability, etc. Proceed with caution!

Mini side note because of the comment (that is now deleted or either I’m blocked) from my Savannaclaw Headcanons. This is yandere content, granted a quick glance at all my headcanons and other pieces by creators, you’ll see how different everyone’s interpertation and writing is different. Not every yandere content out there is yandere simulator. I don’t think all of these character is gonna pick a weapon and start going to town on half the cast. I like to focus on how they’d be in a relationship, how they’d react, and what I think they are capable of. So no, a lot of my content doesn’t have someone stalking their S/O and killing potential suitors but that doesn’t mean it’s not yandere? Sorry it’s just that I tried adressing it but I guess the OP blocked me, oh well. Enjoy!!

DISCLAIMER: These are my interpretations of his/her/their persona and none of these is 100% accurate. I don't condone any of these actions in real life and all of this is purely fictional and should be taken as such! Underage characters will ONLY be given SFW headcanons, please respect this decision!

Banner made by @herestrish! Pls don’t steal!

Azul Ashengrotto

Long overdue headcanons, but I shall deliver. Azul is complicated. I think all of Octavinelle is complicated because I can see them acting in two different ways. Azul was bullied for being overweight and it had an impact on his character. He worked hard to get people to see him as someone for his abilities rather than his appearance, even if the means were shady. Post over blot he still has some insecurities, but he doesn’t shy away from them and chooses to face them head-on. As for his yandere type, I can see him as a very manipulative person (no matter what) but I can also see him as very overprotective and clingy.

I’m torn between seeing him as someone who loves his S/O but clings on to the fear that someday they’ll leave him. Resulting in him trying to strike a contract with you without you knowing until after you try to leave him (if you do). He’s confident and prideful, but just like his over blot, he’s horrible at handling his emotions (he just like me fr). The manipulation at first isn’t anything too extreme, just casually bashing others to bring himself up. “He won’t pull his weight on the project, I’ll help you”, or “He’s bad news, nothing good from hanging out with them.” Little by little he’ll limit who you hang out with, and what you do, and he’ll build himself up as the ever so reliable and helpful Azul.

Overprotective, almost all of them are tbh. He cares for you, genuinely. He just can’t express himself truthfully, he might see the relationship the same he’d see a deal. He holds himself to a high standard, the type to never break a sweat in public but deep down panicking the whole time. He’d probably have the Leech twins be your bodyguards from time to time and they’ll agree for the most part. It’s interesting to see what Azul finds intriguing about you. Besides, it’s amusing to see Azul care for you in his way, even if he gets embarrassed and fumbles the bag. Cares for your education and your reputation!

This is where it gets me, I’m not quite sure how this happens. If you meet Azul and you guys develop a relationship, kudos! If not, he might strike a deal. I’m conflicted because I see Azul as someone who cherishes the type of relationship where they get to know each other and see their true selves, but I also see him as the type to be afraid of that. He’s worked tirelessly to build himself up but if he confessed to his S/O and they said no, I don’t think he could ever recover. To avoid being hurt, he’d probably use shady means to get his S/O. This is where he might strike a deal. He’ll catch you in a shady deal, an embarrassing situation, etc. He’ll use it as blackmail, forcing you into a relationship with him. He’s not that clingy though, don’t mistake him. He’ll wave it off as a business deal, it benefits us both so what do you have to lose? It’s confusing really, Azul doesn’t seem to care (if you happen to go down this route only) so why did he propose this deal? If his S/O just can’t stand it and proposes to cancel whatever deal they have that binds them to him, he’ll snap.

He’ll cry, reverting to his crybaby self. He’s so insecure he can’t stand the idea of your rejection. He’s clinging, begging you to reconsider. He’ll do anything you ask of him just please, please don’t leave him. He’ll rewrite a contract, he’ll show affection, he’ll give you anything you want just don’t say that. Don’t even think of leaving him. It’s quite a sight really, you never thought the same man who once held himself up so high is on his knees begging for forgiveness and to make it right. This is why he’s a bit complicated, I feel like the very manipulative ‘read the fine print’ man suits Azul, but at the same time, he’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Granted you’d have to push his buttons a lot for that to happen, but it’s a possibility.

In terms of scale, I want to say it’s a 6/10. His contracts are where he gets you hence why it’s a bit high. The contact that he can use to steal any ability you have is quite a tricky one. He’s powerful, and he knows how to use it but it doesn’t help much when he’s not so great himself.

Floyd Leech

Run. No kidding, as a yandere the Leech brothers are fucking scary as all hell. I want to start and say this, in normal general relationship headcanons do I see the Leech brothers as genuinely loving their S/O? Yes of course, but these are yandere headcanons and while it’s not impossible don’t hold your breath. As yanderes, these brothers are out for blood. They’ll share similar traits with a few exceptions, I see Floyd as being clingy, possessive, and sadistic.

The leech brothers don’t see their S/O as a partner for now, they’re only a pet for now. Floyd would be clingy in the sense that he sticks to you like glue. He’s always there, whenever you think you have privacy, you don’t. While they both act like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, Floyd is that gum that’s visible but won’t come off. Meaning, you see him and know he’s coming, just that you can’t stop him. He’s always there, meaning the torment never ends. He drives people away, nobody comes to your rescue because nobody wants to mess with him.

He sees his S/O as a toy. While both want to see your reactions, what makes you tick and you’re there for their amusement, Floyd is restless. As long as this doesn’t interrupt Azul’s work, don’t count on him for saving. He’s sadistic, he wants to hurt his S/O. At first, we’re under the impression that he doesn’t know what's wrong and that he just needs to be talked to. It spirals when you notice that he does know what he does and fully intends to continue. The type to push you to the cafeteria floor and then ask, “Is everything okay? Don’t get my shoes dirty shrimpy. . .” He hides behind that fake concern and laid-back persona. Any ‘accident’, I can assure you is not one. Your report that you worked tirelessly on is suddenly missing? Your project is in ruins? You didn’t finish your presentation? All of Floyds doing, he simply enjoys seeing you in uncomfortable situations. He smiles when you make eye contact with him mid-scolding from Trein. He offers false condolences when your project is broken, earning praise for being so concerned for you. What a nice friend isn’t he?

Despite all his flaws, he doesn’t let anyone mess with you. He rather be the cause of your suffering. Possessive in the sense that you belong to him. You don’t belong to anyone else, your face of sadness? He’s the only one meant to see them. Your faces of anguish and frustration, he’s the cause of it and he lives for it. You can go ahead and tell someone and they’d respond the same, “Sure Floyd is eccentric but he’s not evil, you sure you’re not just making it up?” Anyone who does believe you aren’t strong enough to go against him. On the yandere scale, he’s a 10/10. He’s dangerous, if you haven’t caught his attention, run. I also want to add, that their S/O is mostly going to become stress relief. They’ll be on edge with any sudden mood shifts because they already know that they’re their go to stress ball. The Leech brothers are not the best, they’re VERY dangerous.

Jade Leech

Don’t bother running, you won’t get far. His are manipulative, obsessive, possessive, and sadistic. The issue with Floyd is that he makes his nature apparent, Jade conceals it. Quite frankly, Jade is scarier because he’s unpredictable. He’s seen as a super reliable and respectable person, very professional. The type to take on extra workload if needed but professional enough to stand up and know when to say no. He’s the manipulator of the two, he has a way with words that makes you genuinely think he has your best interests in mind. Masquerading his true intentions behind his smile.

If you’ve ever seen Drrr!!, he reminds me a lot of Izaya. The type to observe you in difficult situations to see what kind of person you are. How do creatures like you work? What is your design? You’re quite a fascinating subject. He loves to see how you react to any situation. He’s quite obsessive, he wants to know anything and all there has to do regarding you. Often stalking you or inviting you out to the monstro lounge to observe you. Down to how you hold your glass he’s invested. He knows your likes and dislikes, your phobias, your friends, your social life, and what goes down at your dorm. He needs to know after all to create your life trials.

He’s possessive. Unlike Floyd, he lets others do the tormenting for him. Though he still believes your expressions are his alone, he would rather stay in the shadows to keep up his reliable facade a bit more. You’re his, he doesn’t like sharing and Jade makes that quite clear. The moment anybody wishes to get close to you he’d get rid of them. Either feeding them lies about you or simply scaring them away. He’s sadistic, he wants to hit you where it hurts. While Floyd prefers physical pain, Jade prefers mental pain. He enjoys the little things that bring you anguish. The betrayal of a friend, watching everyone turns against you, rumors destroying what little reputation you have left leaving Jade as your only companion.

To add more to both, they see their S/O as a form of entertainment. They have no means of leaving you or letting you leave. The only way I can see their S/O leaving is if they got too boring. They stopped fighting. They no longer had any fight left in their eyes but while Floyd would be the first one to suggest leaving you, I think Jade would still find use. They want to light the spark. The torment stops, even for a while and you suddenly think all your efforts have paid off. Finally, they lost interest but what a scary sight it is to see them waiting for you ready to continue their torment. As far as the yandere scaling, I say Jade is an 11/10. Floyd is a danger, yes, but you already know he is. Jade hides that part of himself until he’s ready. You won’t know when he’ll strike. Both are true to their nature, suffocating. Their presence alone makes you stop breathing, they’re just too much and at some point, you start to think that maybe it was better if you met the eyes of somebody else.

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tgmsunmontue · 5 days

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More than movie magic... 17/?

Hangster AU. Explicit (eventually). Jake is a Hollywood actor and Bradley is a stunt coordinator. Jake's about to make a few self-discoveries. So is Bradley.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN

Chapter 16 is pretty much the only explicit chapter (so far), so you can skip it if you like, but it's not explicit by my standards, and it's very soft/tender.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

There’s an annoying buzz and he knows it’s not his alarm, because he very carefully ensured that all four of them were turned off last night before going to the barn and meeting Bradley. It’s not stopping and he wonders if maybe Bradley has an alarm set, but Bradley’s glaring at the ground, specifically the pair of pants holding the phone that’s vibrating and he groans. They’re his pants, so it’s likely his phone ringing.

“I just want to ignore it,” Jake mutters, letting his head thump back onto the pillow.

“At least get it and turn it off. It’s not even seven,” Bradley says, pushing him slightly, but still kissing his shoulder and it’s clearly a promise for something if he hurries back to bed and he rolls out, reaches for his hastily discarded jeans and pulls out his phone. The front screen is lit up with the image of Karina and if she’s calling this early it’s potentially not a good thing.

Fuck.

“Sorry, it’s my PR manager. I better take this.”

“You want me to go?”

“No. No, not at all,” Jake says, giving him a quick kiss before sitting on the edge of the bed and Bradley rests his hand on his thigh, fingers running through the fine sprinkling of hair, and it wavers between ticklish and turning him on and he has to ignore it either way, thumbs over to answer the call.

“Hello? Karina?”

“Yeah. Hi. Morning Jake, sorry for the early call, but I left it as late as I could. Would have called earlier, but well, was trying to figure out how far the photos had spread.”

“Photos?” Jake asks, because there aren’t any photos he can think of that would make Karina need to call him so early, and she’s in California, it’s even earlier there.

“Yes Jake. Photos. You know, you’re meant to be one of my easy clients.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Photos got leaked of you dancing and kissing a guy. Now –”

“Not just a guy. My boyfriend,” Jake says, turning to Bradley to ask the silent question with his eyebrows. The smile he gets back is all the answer he needs. “It’s fine.”

“Oh. You couldn’t have given me a heads up?”

“It’s like… two days old? Three I guess?” Jake asks, rubbing his eyes before dropping his hand to cover Bradley’s one, although he turns it and links their fingers together. The reassuring touch makes the tension melt out of him before it even has time to build, Bradley shifts and wraps his arms around him, legs also stretching to be either side of him and he lets himself lean back into his solid warmth.

“Oh great. Then I’ll go for the whole invasion of privacy thing –”

“No. No… you don’t need to do that either. My entire family were there. It was probably one of them that took photos and posted it to their Insta account or something. Just. Confirm I’m in a new relationship with someone and I’d like people to respect our privacy going forward.”

“Okay. I can do that. Do I get a name?”

“I don’t want his name coming out until he says it’s okay.”

“Of course.”

“It’s Bradley Bradshaw.”

“Oh.”

He’s not sure how to interpret that single word, but then she’s telling him she’ll handle it and hanging up on him and okay, so today is going to be a shitshow for her, but he’s far away from it and can probably ignore everything for a few days. He twists his head to try and meet Bradley’s eye.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t want you to get caught up in all this.”

“Were you planning on me being a secret?”

Jake frowns.

“You think I dance with people like I danced with you in the hope that it’ll stay a secret?”

“You think I let famous people dance with me like that with the expectation that it will be a secret?”

“Yeah. Okay. Point taken. But there’s a difference between wanting to protect you from media scrutiny and keeping it a secret. You’ve met my parents. Everyone here probably thinks we’re sleeping together…”

“We are sleeping together,” Bradley states.

“They might think it’s only sex.”

“Well, then they’d be wrong. Jake… they’re going to dig shit up on me. I was a child actor, my parents both died when I was young. However I was raised by two people who guarded my privacy like hawks…”

“Two people?” Jakes asks, doing a double take.

“Yeah. Pete and his partner…”

“Pete Mitchell has a partner?”

“Yep.”

“That private huh?”

“Yep. You’ll meet them soon enough…” Jake isn’t an idiot, knows Bradley is being deliberately vague with the pronouns, although they could just prefer those pronouns of course.

“Jake. I knew what I was signing up for. Media circus and all. If it bothered me that much I would have said something, or simply stayed away from you. But I’m right here. And I’ve got no plans on going anywhere.”

Something uncurls inside him, because knowing that upfront is a relief, although he knows Bradley could change his mind, or simply get over it, being the center of said media circus.

“Also, while we’re having this conversation, they’ll dig up my net worth and all the people saying I’m a gold digger will have to shut up.”

Jake twists further around to stare at him, because that’s surprising. Bradley just grins, presses a kiss to his shoulder and Jake keeps twisting, pushing back until Bradley is lying on the bed and he straddles him, places his hands on his shoulders and Bradley just looks up at him, smug and arrogant like he knows what he just said is going to annoy Jake and he’s done it on purpose.

“You’re kind of an asshole.”

“I grew up in Hollywood, when you think about that, then it’s a miracle I’m as normal as I am.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. What is your net worth?”

“I don’t know. Probably more than yours.”

“Really now? You don’t know?”

“Meh. I don’t care. But I’ve been around a lot longer than you, and I’ve had people managing my money very carefully for longer than you’ve been in the business.”

“But you work…” Jake says.

“So do you. I work because I love my job. Not because I have to. It’s why I can afford to be picky about the jobs we take.”

“You took this one.”

“Well. Yeah.”

They just stare at each other for a few beats and Bradley shrugs and Jake lets out a pleased laugh and sprawls over him, kissing him and feeling like everything will be okay.

“I’m not going to be reading the press okay? Let alone believing any of it or letting it bother me. If I have any issues with anything I’ll raise them directly with you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

… … …

He has to leave Jake, there are no spare clothes and his shirt is definitely not fit for wearing, so he’s going to have to walk back to the bunkhouse shirtless, which is definitely not ideal but he refuses to be embarrassed. Of course, when Rueben lets out an ear-splitting wolf whistle, drawing attention he has no choice but to flip him the finger, but Jake has people. Well. His mom. She’s bringing him a change of clothes, and Bradley might like Aunty Kaye but he is not hanging around naked in bed. He’s also not accepting the offer for her to bring him clothes either, no matter how kindly the offer was made. Especially with how Jake’s apparently sensitive all over and it looks like Bradley left no stone unturned last night. Or this morning.

It’s still early, and while he’d have very much liked to spend the day in bed with Jake, it’s still a workday, the filming schedule tight and he’s meant to be on set in thirty minutes to oversee Rueben, Natasha and Jake carry out some corralling. He showers quickly, scrubbing himself clean and steps out to his phone ringing, toweling himself dry with one hand as he accepts the call.

“Hey Mav.”

“Bradley. Hi. You okay?”

“Yeah. Of course,” he says, pulling his underwear on with one hand, swapping over hands holding the phone so he can wiggle a little.

“Uh. Really?”

“Yeah. Really. Why?”

“Oh. Just. There are some photos circulating. Have you seen them?”

“Oh. You’re ringing about those. It’s fine. I don’t need to see the photos. I was there. It’s fine. Nothing we’re hiding.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh indeed,” Bradley says, and he knows Mav can probably hear his smile.

“He… he doesn’t drive you absolutely mad?”

Bradley laughs, because Jake doesn’t drive him mad at all, drives him to distraction maybe, but not mad. He puts the phone on speaker and sets it down, continuing to get dressed.

“Nope. Well, not in the way you’re thinking. He’s… God Pete. He’s sweet and caring and such a momma’s boy. His mom is his best friend she gives him absolute hell and he lets her.”

“Oh. Bradley. You are gone gone…”

“Yeah. I am gone gone,” Bradley agrees, because there is no point in denying it, and he’s pretty sure Jake already knows, and if he takes away Pete’s ammunition now he has less material to wind Bradley up with.

“Huh. Okay then. I’ll tell Ice to cancel the job.”

Bradley rolls his eyes.

“Don’t say shit like that. He’s not in the mob. Tell him to reign in whatever crazy plan you’re concocting. I’m fine.”

“Uh… well…”

“Mav? What crazy plan are you concocting?” Bradley asks, letting out a sigh.

“Nothing. Really. Just. We thought we’d come out for a visit.”

“No! I’m working. You don’t need to come and visit. I’m fine.”

“Okay. Well. How do you know it’s not a one-night stand?”

“Because we communicate Mav. Like adults. I know it’s a foreign concept for you.”

“Hey!”

“Also, pretty sure Jake doesn’t make his one-night stands have dinner with his parents the day before. And I met so many of his family last night I lost track…”

“But I haven’t met him!”

“Maverick! Pete. You worked with him for months!”

“I mean I haven’t met him as your… boyfriend.”

“You’re on a plane aren’t you,” Bradley states, realizing the truth of it as he says it and okay, at least Jake might feel like Bradley’s getting the better side of the bargain once he realizes how unhinged Mav can be when it comes to him. “Tell me you’re alone.”

“Well, there’s the pilot,” Mav says, totally deflecting and Bradley knows.

“Mav.”

“Well, you know how protective he gets!”

Fuckity fuck fuck Bradley thinks internally, because it’s one thing to have Pete Mitchell as a father figure, it’s totally another to have Tom Kazansky. And he’s already alluded to Jake that Pete has a partner, although he has no idea what phase of their relationship they might currently be in, with it waxing and waning as sure as the moon, but always there even when they weren’t together. And they’re both enroute here. Because of fucking course they are, although he knows Tom is only really coming to keep Maverick inline.

EIGHTEEN

#Hangster #Sereshaw #more than movie magic #Top Gun Maverick

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incorrect-nevermore · 11 months

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Nevermore headcanons-

• Morella is fluent in Irish and Pluto speaks just enough, Gaelic that they can hold a conversation, just barely.

• Lenore and her entire family are fluent in Dutch, with the exception of Lucille, who can understand it most times, but cannot speak or write it. Lenore and Theo would talk shit about people at parties in Dutch.

“Mijn heer, wat is dat voor verspilling van fijne kleding die meneer Asher als jas draagt?”

“Echt, heeft hij dat geblinddoekt uitgekozen?”

• Lenore of course also curses in dutch.

“AH! Neuken!”

“Wat doet deze klootzak nu?”

“Ik ben deze shit beu.”

• Annabel smokes cigars, but of course has to hide it as women smoking in 1800s and early 1900s was scandalous. You guys seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Ya know the scenes with Amy trying to hide her shame cigarettes? Yeah that was what she had going on the entire time she was alive. Lenore is very homo about it. (Thank @likeastars for this one lads)

• Lenore has the alcohol tolerance of like a rhino or something, she’s probably got a bit of nordic ancestry in there somewhere, what do you expect? Same with Berenice and Duke. Annabel however, she’s not exactly a lightweight, she’s English, has pretty decent alcohol tolerance, however, compared to these guys? She’s out. Ada and Will on the other hand? Are absolutely lightweight. First place is a tie between Pluto and Morella for strongest alcohol tolerance. Pluto doesn’t even drink often he’s just from the north.

• Lenore doesn’t get drunk very often on account of her mother’s possible drinking problem and it sometimes reminding her of the effects of ether, every now and again, maybe? But she avoids it most of the time. She’s the designated sober person at most of the misfits parties.

• Theo does not enjoy smoking, he does not like the taste, the feel, or the smell of it. But since it was a thing in the 1800s for gentlemen to smoke and drink together, he has to just awkwardly put up with it, since denying to smoke with someone could be interpreted as not considering them good company, and not wanting to spend time with them. Or not enjoying smoking, could be considered “unmanly”Lenore is trying not to laugh at him as he’s like, resisting the urge to throw up his lungs.

• Since Annabel apparently DOES NOT ACTUALLY LIKE EARL GREY TEA OR SCONES - (I know I was shocked too). I have decided to her give a sweet tooth and say she prefers sweeter drinks and pastries. Hot chocolate and chocolate croissants or churros kinda gal.

(But those didn’t exist at time- *gunshot* HUSH)

•Modern au! Lenore tries a sip of Annabel’s drink order and gets blasted back Halloween as a kid with the amount of sugar, cream, cinnamon, and chocolate in the thing

Lenore: Holy- Annabel this is enough sweetness to put someone in a coma! I mean it’s great, but still-

Annabel: It could be worse I could be insane like Prospero and just get a shot of plain, bitter espresso.

Lenore: heh, Fair enough!

Prospero: It’s not my fault you have the taste palette of an 11-year-old, Annabel!

Pluto: I fuckin’ wish you did too! No, seriously I don’t know what he drinks, at this point I’m not even sure it’s espresso! Because I’ve tasted plain espresso, right. It’s just really bitter- I can handle that fine. But i literally will not kiss him after he’s had his morning coffee, because I can still taste it and it. is. shite.

Annabel: HA!

Prospero: ..Why would you do that?

Pluto: You need to be checked sometimes, love.

• Pluto is a pretty good game for Annabel. She still always wins, of course but Pluto is one of the few people that can manage to make her sometimes switch up her strategies or improvise new ones on the spot.

#nevermore webtoon #lenore vandernacht #annabel lee whitlock #incorrect nevermore quotes #white raven #pluto nevermore #prospero nevermore #Cat n mouse #theo vandernacth #headcanon #headcanons

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undercovergamer · 4 months

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✨Klee’s Friendly “Monster”✨

(Requested by an anonymous user)

It’s a busy day in Mondstadt, and none of the Knights have enough time to watch Klee. However, luckily for them, a certain oni just so happened to be in Mondstadt because ✨lazy writing✨, so not all hope was lost. Itto ends up babysitting and playing games with Klee, as per Kaeya’s recommendation.

‼️This fic is strictly familial, do not interpret otherwise /srs or I’ll eat your knees. /neg‼️

⚠️Also contains tickles so if ur not comfortable with that, do not read more than like… half, ok?⚠️

Anyway, I’m so sorry for the wait and enjoy this wholesome family fic 😛

I better not despawn again or istg :((

Word Count: ≈4157

It was a sunny day in Mondstadt. Master Jean needed someone to watch over Klee for the day while she took care of some important work. She’d asked Kaeya for help with this, but he had other plans this day. Of course he didn’t mind playing with Klee, but he was too busy to watch her properly. Hmm, what to do…

Jean sighed, trying to come up with solutions. “What should we do then? Maybe… maybe Lisa could watch her?” she suggested.

“I’m afraid she’s fully booked at the moment.” Kaeya replied with a slight smirk, making Jean narrow her eyes. “But, I do have another suggestion.”

“Go on.” It seemed as if everyone was busy, who could he possibly suggest?

“I’m sure you’ve heard about that new guy in town. Y’know, tall, white hair, red horns..?” Kaeya explained, hoping Jean knew about him already.

She looked at him in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious…” Surely he of all people was not the most responsible choice…?

“Of course I am. I’ve gotten to know him quite well, actually. He already gets along great with Klee.” Kaeya said confidently.

“I’d argue his grandmother is a better choice. I mean, if she can handle Itto, she could handle anyone.”

“Aw, come on. Give him a chance, he’s an adult! I’m sure they’ll be alright.”

Jean wasn’t too enthusiastic with this idea. Especially not since Itto had already caused trouble, despite being in Mondstadt for just over a week. Two days ago, he had refused to leave the Cat’s Tail after closing hours, arguing that the cats wanted him to stay. And a day before that, he and his gang were caught placing posters around the buildings and walls without legal permission. If it wasn’t for Kaeya taking a liking to him and his granny, he’d be in jail by now.

It took quite a while, but after some back-and-forth, Kaeya finally managed to convince Jean to let the oni babysit.

“Ok, fine! But you will also be held responsible if they cause any trouble.” She said, still a bit anxious about the idea.

“He’s responsible when he wants to be. Please trust me on this.” Kaeya reassured with a confident smirk.

After their conversation, Kaeya went to look for Itto so he could tell him the news. He was already hanging out with Klee, who was showing off her cool witch outfit, so it didn’t take long to inform the two. Already besties, they happily agreed to the idea, so Kaeya decided to let them wreak a little havoc on their own for a while.

Eventually, the two sillies left the city to play in Windrise instead. Klee sat on Itto’s shoulders and used his horns to steer him in the right directions. Once they arrived, Klee helped him explore the area so he’d know where everything was before hanging out around a nearby fishing spot.

“This place is pretty chill. It’s so peaceful here!” Itto said, looking at the little fishies swimming around. He thought they were pretty cute.

“Yes! This place is the best!” Klee exclaimed, happily jumping up and down.

“Hahaha! You have good taste, lil’ dude! Er… dudette! What’cha wanna do now?” Itto had plenty of ideas already, but he wanted to know Klee’s thoughts first.

“Klee wants to show you how to go fish blasting! It’s lots of fun, and we get delicious fish at the same time!” Klee exclaimed, getting ready to throw some of her signature dodoco bombs.

“Ah, er- how about we play something… less explosive? You know, like Jean said, we can’t blow anything up…” He’d been told to keep her safe, after all.

“But-! Aw… ok…” Klee said sadly, looking down in disappointment. How can grown-ups be so cruel?

“Aww, why the long face? It’s ok! We could play tag instead! Or how about hide-and-seek? Whatever you want!” He tried to suggest some other fun activities to cheer her up.

“Ooh! Yes! Klee loves those games! Let’s play both!” It worked like a charm as she looked up at him with a beaming smile.

“Ooh, both? Like at once? … Oh! Then maybe we could add new rules and stuff, right?” Itto suggested with excitement, curious to see what they could come up with together.

Klee gasped. “Yay! We can make our own game!” she cheered. She loved making up games with her friends, so this idea was perfect!

“Yeah!! Exactly! So what do you wanna add? I think we could go with regular hide-and-seek rules, but the hider can run away and change spots ‘n’ stuff…” Itto was more than ready to cook up some rules, but he quickly realized he’d have the upper hand…

“How about this: You hide, and run, I guess, while I seek! It’s more fair that way since you’re tiny.” Itto said with a chuckle, feeling proud of his idea and giving Klee a playful pat on the head. Winning too easily would be boring for both sides, after all.

“Ooh! Okay! But Klee wants to play pretend, too! How about you play as a big, scary monster? It’ll be fun, teehee!” Klee suggested, feeling excited about her idea. She wanted to be a witch that could cast spells to protect herself from the “mighty beast” before her.

“Hmm, good idea, little witch! We could have different safe spots too, like that tree! So basically if you touch it, you’re safe and I can’t get you.” Itto explained, looking around to decide on some other areas too.

“Yes!! Let’s go find more safe spots!” Klee exclaimed, excited to expand their play area.

After lots of planning and walking around to mark safe spots and barriers, they put their heads together to imagine where exactly their play area was. Klee had two spells at her disposal: one to freeze the monster in place, and one to turn herself invisible. They last ten seconds each and give her more control over the game, making it more fun and exciting. The different safe spots were marked with little rock piles and sticks. How cute!

Once the planning had finished, the sillies went back to the lake to officially start their game.

“Alright! I’ll count to 20, right? Heh, I won’t go easy on you, so you’d better find a good hiding spot!” Itto said playfully, covering his eyes to start counting.

“Eeee! This is so much fun!” Klee cheered, jumping up and down with excitement. She could barely wait for the game to start!

“Hehe. You ready? One… two…” Itto started counting, and Klee quickly ran off to hide somewhere… The games had begun!

“18… 19… 20! Ready or not, here I come!” He called out, looking around himself just in case the little witch had hid nearby. “Where did you go…?” he said playfully, searching around the area.

He checked behind a tree… but no one was there.

He checked in some bushes… but no girl was found.

He checked behind a large rock…

“Aha! There you are!” …and found little Klee crouched down behind it!

“Eep! Oh no! Hehehe!” She quickly got up, making some dramatic motions with her hands before shouting “Freeze!”

“Ack- noo!” Itto dramatically acted as if he got frozen in place by her magic.

“Hehehe! Can’t catch me!” Klee taunted playfully, running away to hide somewhere else.

“J-Just you wait!” Itto stuttered, pretending to feel cold from the “spell.” After ten seconds had passed, he shook himself off and sprung back into action, searching once again.

He checked near some trees, looking behind them.

“Where could she be…?” he asked himself, but then.. he heard a giggle coming from some nearby bushes. He could’ve sworn he saw a little red hat sticking out! So, he got an idea.

“Oh noooo, where did she goooo~? Ah, she’s too good at hiding! I’ll never find her at this rate~!” he said, louder than necessary in a silly voice to make Klee laugh.

“Pfft- hehehehe!” she tried to hold it in, as to not reveal her brilliant hiding spot, but Itto was simply too funny. He grinned and moved closer to the bushes, hearing the giggles increase.

“Oh? Who put this giggly bush here? That’s so strange…” he said, pretending to inspect this mysterious bush. But then…

“BOO!!” Klee suddenly jumped up, scaring the mighty “beast” before her.

“AAH!!” Itto actually got spooked and stumbled backwards, making Klee laugh.

“Hehehehe! Are you okay, Mr. Monster?” Klee asked, giggling at the oni’s dramatic reaction.

Itto cleared his throat and composed himself, nodding at her question. “Hahaha… y-you little rascal! Just you wait ‘til I-”

“Wooosh! I’m invisible!” Klee interrupted, casting her little spell and giggling as Itto pretended to lose track of her. He seemed so confused, looking around dramatically.

“Wha-?! Huh?! Where did you go?“ he said, turning around to look elsewhere. “Little witch? Come back!” he called out, being a master actor.

“Hehehe!” Klee ran around him, poking his sides suddenly, which made him jump.

“EEP! Hey! Wh-?! Who did that?!” Itto exclaimed, turning around, but Klee wasn’t behind him anymore. She giggled and ran around him, poking and tickling him for the funny.

“Ack- pfft- h-hehehey!” Itto giggled, trying to shield himself while pretending not to see the little witch poking him relentlessly.

“Hehe! Tickle spell!” Klee said, poking and tickling every time Itto looked away from her.

“Th-Thahahat’s n-not a spehehell!” He said, trying to step away from the little attack without squirming too much. “Y-You m-mahahade thahat uhuhuhup!”

“Hehehe! The monster is ticklish! You’re funny!” Klee said, giggling at the revelation and giving him a playful hug.

Itto quickly composed himself after that adorable attack. “Eheh… y-you know you’re not invisible anymore, right?” he said, smiling playfully and looking directly at her.

“What..?” Klee looked confused, but then remembered the ten second rule. “Oops..!” Oh no, he could see her now!

“Heheh, imma getcha!” Itto said, getting ready to capture the mischievous little witch once and for all!

“Eek! Hehehe!” Klee playfully ran away, running towards a safe space.

“Ohohoho! No you don’t! Get back here!” Itto said playfully, making his voice a bit deeper to fit his role.

Klee ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, giggling with anticipation as she was about to reach the safe space in front of her. But then… she tripped, barely missing it, and fell to the ground with a thud causing her hat to fly off. Itto gasped, catching up and quickly crouching down beside her.

“Whoa! A-Are you alright there, kiddo?” Itto asked, carefully helping her stand back up. She looked up at him with big, teary eyes. Oh no…

“Aw… hey, are you hurt? You ok?” he asked softly, checking if she’d scraped a knee or something.

“Th- *hic* That was so scary!!” Klee sobbed, sniffling and covering her eyes.

“H-Hey, don’t cry… you’re ok! It’s ok! C’mere, lemme give you a big ol’ monster hug!” Itto said, grinning playfully to lighten the mood. Klee hugged Itto, getting herself lifted into the air in a playful bear- I mean- monster hug.

“Hey, you okay, little witch?” Itto asked, patting her head softly.

“Mhm… Klee just got scared…” she said, wiping her tears and smiling a little, hugging her not-so-scary monster friend.

“Aww… it’s okay, little one! Uncle Itto is here to cheer ya’ right up!” Itto crouched down to pick up Klee’s hat, gently placing it back on her head.

“Hehe! You’re the best!” Klee said, smiling and hugging him tight.

“So whaddya say? You wanna keep playing?” he asked in a playful tone.

“Hehe! Yes!” Klee said, smiling happily.

“Alright! One sec.” Itto said, clearing his throat. “Rawr! I got you now! Mwahahaha!” he said, getting back into his role instantly and playfully holding the little witch in his mighty monster hug.

“Eek! Oh no! Hehehe!” Klee started giggling, but hugged him back tightly anyway.

“What will you do now, hm? There’s no escape from the almighty Arataki ‘Playful Tickle Monster’ Itto!” He kept his speech dramatic to make their game more immersive and fun, sitting down to lean against a tree, with Klee in his lap.

“Hehehehe! Freeze!” She exclaimed, giggling lots and flailing to escape that playful trap.

“Heh, nope. Sorry, little witch, but your spells don’t work on me now!” Itto said smugly, pointing back at the tree he was leaning on.

“Oh no!” It was one of the safe spaces they’d marked! Klee had lost the game!

“Hahaha! Brace yourself, kiddo! Cus imma getcha!” He teased, playfully wiggling his fingers above her. “You alright with that?” Itto asked with a playful grin, making sure Klee was still having fun.

“Hehehe! Yeah!” She exclaimed, playfully giggling as the tickly hand came closer.

“Alright then! Stop me whenever, ok?” He said before playfully tickling her tummy, keeping it gentle since she’s so tiny.

“Kitchy kitchy coo~” he said in a silly way.

“Eep! Hehehehehe!! That tickles!” Klee squeaked, giggling happily and playfully squirming. Itto wasn’t holding her or anything, so she could escape whenever she wanted to.

“Tickle tickle~” Itto said playfully, giggling along with her. She was so cute!

“Ehehehehehehe!! Eek!!” Klee squealed and pushed his hand away.

“Haha! You alright?” Itto stopped for a moment, being careful not to overwhelm the kid.

Klee panted a bit. “Hehehehe! This is so much fun!” She exclaimed.

“Really now? Guess you’re in for more tickles then!” Itto said, playfully tickling the little witch.

“Eeeeee! Hehehehehehehe!!” She had the sweetest little smile on her face, and she was having an absolute blast!

“Ehehehehe! Help! Help! It’s the tickle monster!” Klee squealed for dramatic effect, playfully trying to squirm away.

“Hahaha! You having fun, kiddo?” Itto stopped tickling again to let her catch her breath.

“Hehe… Yes! This is fun!” she said, happy to take a little break now.

“Hehe, alright! Just lemme know when you’re ready, m’kay?” Itto said, making a funny face at her.

“Hehehehehe!” She thought it was funny and gave him a hug again. “You’re the best!” she said, melting his heart. So cute!

“Aww, you two are getting along quite well, I see.” A familiar voice was heard, as a man walked towards them.

“(Gasp) Kaeya!” Klee smiled and sprang up from Itto’s lap, happily running towards him.

“Haha, hello there, little one!” Kaeya crouched down to hug her while smiling softly as she ran into him with open arms.

“Oh hey man! What’s up?” Itto asked, standing up to greet him as well.

“Ah, well, I just came check on you both. You should tell me where you’re going next time. Though, I figured I’d find you two somewhere around here.” Kaeya explained.

“Ohh, right. Haha! Sorry, I totally forgot!” Itto said sheepishly, chuckling a bit at his error.

“Kaeya! Please join our game! It’ll be lots of fun!!” Klee chimed in excitedly, tugging on his shirt.

“Oh? Well, what are the rules?” Kaeya asked.

“Hehehe! You have to protect me from the tickle monster!” Klee said, giggling and pointing over at Itto, who chuckled and made a “scary monster” pose, grinning at Kaeya with a playful expression.

“Ah. I see.” Kaeya had already guessed what the game was, and he didn’t need a detailed explanation. He simply chuckled and accepted Klee’s request. “Very well, then. I’ll keep you safe!” he said with dramatic effect.

“Yay!” Klee cheered, bouncing up and down.

“Aw yeah! Let’s get this thing started!” Itto chimed in, excited to have Kaeya join.

Soon enough, round two began as the little witch ran away, laughing happily.

“Eek! Hehehe! Help!” Klee giggled, running around the field.

“Grr! Imma getcha!” Itto said playfully, laughing and trying to avoid Kaeya as he playfully chased after her.

“Not to worry, little one. Cavalry Captain Kaeya is here to rescue you!” Kaeya replied, taking his role seriously and blocking Itto’s path once he caught up.

Itto was failing to maneouver around properly as the knight kept grabbing him and spinning him around, back to where he started every time he slipped past. It almost looked like they were dancing.

“C’mon, man! Get outta the way!” Itto protested, trying to act fierce despite the silly smile on his face.

“Nope. As Klee’s personal guard, it is my duty to protect her.” Kaeya replied with a smug look.

“Tch. Guess I’ll just have to capture you too then!” Itto said, trying to wrestle Kaeya instead. But, after a few seconds of their playful scuffle…

“Freeze!”

…Klee said the thing, causing Itto to freeze in place with Kaeya stuck in his arms. Oopsie. He had no choice but to follow the rules of the game.

“H-Hey! No fair!” Itto complained, arms wrapped tightly around Kaeya.

“Oh? Oh my.” Kaeya couldn’t help but laugh softly as Klee used his catchphrase like that. It was adorable.

“Oh no! Kaeya, I froze both of you by accident!” Klee said in shock, gasping with a dramatic look on her face. How could she have done this?

“Ah, how unfortunate. Haha, does that mean we’re stuck here?” Kaeya asked, unsure of what to do now.

“Yup! But only for ten seconds.” Itto said, as Klee started counting down from ten.

“… sooo, this isn’t awkward, right?” Itto asked Kaeya.

“Heh, no, not at all. I think it’s quite pleasant for friends to hug each other like this. Even if we’re frozen.” Kaeya replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, phew! I’m just glad you’re not uncomfortable or anything.”

“Hehe, I don’t mind this at all, actually.”

“Wooosh! You’re free!” Right as their conversation ended, Klee was done with the countdown and the two men were freed from their icy prison, except…

“Oh no! Kaeya!”

… Kaeya was still stuck in Itto’s hug, and Itto started tickling him.

“Pfft- ahahahahaha! Hehey! L-Lehet goho!” He wasn’t too surprised with this turn of events, but had nearly forgotten he was ticklish.

“Nah-uh, you’re my nearest target~ hahaha!” Itto replied with a grin, hugging the squirming man in place while tickling his waist.

“Ahahahahahaha! Kleehehehee! Hehehelp!” Surely one of her spells would do the trick…?

“Um… Klee can’t cast that freeze spell yet. Sorry! Hehehe!” Klee said, giggling at the scene. It was funny to see them both play like this, and certainly quite rare for two adults to act so silly.

“Ahahahah-AH- pfft..! H-Hey…!” Itto brushed over a rather sensitive rib area, making Kaeya yelp.

“What’s wrong, weak spot?” He tried finding it again, making the poor man laugh more.

“Tch-.. bh- bahahAHAHA! AhahahAHAHA!” Kaeya squirmed in failed attempts to escape, and he slowly made his way to the ground.

“Tickle tickle tickle…” Itto found it hilarious how much this man could squirm and laugh. Who would’ve thought Kaeya would be so ticklish?

“AH! Ahahahahaha!! Stop! StohOHOhop! I- I yield!” The knight felt a bit embarrassed to get overpowered so easily, but thankfully Itto listened to his plea and stopped tickling him.

“Hehehe! You’re so funny, Kaeya!” Klee said, laughing at the goofy tickle fight before her.

“Hahaha! Who would’ve thought someone as tough as you could be so ticklish, huh?” Itto teased, helping him sit up.

“Ha ha, v-very funny, Itto…” Kaeya replied, chuckling a little while he caught his breath.

“So, uh… do I win? I mean, I got both of you already, so…” Itto asked, a little confused on the rules.

“I guess so… but it was so much fun!” Klee said, smiling brightly at the two of them, hopping up and down.

“Heh, indeed it was.” Kaeya said, totally not planning his revenge already.

“Hehe! Let’s play more!” Klee cheered, running up to them.

“Yeah!” Itto said, still full of energy as always.

“Good idea, Klee. Hmm…” Kaeya already had an idea. “Hey, would you like to help me get some playful revenge?” He asked the little girl.

“Huh?!” Itto wasn’t having it.

“It’ll be funny, I bet.” Kaeya said with a smug glance at Itto.

“Ooh, hehehe! Yes! He’s ticklish too!” Klee said, smiling up at Itto, who now seemed rather nervous.

“Whuh? Me?? No way! That’s just sillEEHhehe! Hey!!”

“Oops. My hand slipped.” Kaeya teased. He definitely didn’t slide a tickly finger up Itto’s side or anything. And he totally didn’t do it on purpose to make the man yelp.

“Pfft, as if! I’m not ticklish, I was just surp-prihihised! Hehey! Hahahaha!”

“Tickle spell~! Hehehehe!” Klee unleashed her tickle attack upon his tum, making him laugh again.

“Hm?” Kaeya noticed her words, seeing an opportunity…

“Stahaha-! That’s not a thihing!” Itto protested, and he tried tickling her back. But before he could, he felt Kaeya grabbing his arms with his own, rendering him unable to move or defend himself.

“Not so fast. It’s our turn to win now.” Kaeya said, as he proceeded to join the little witch in an act of silly vengance. “Get him, Klee! Time to defeat this tickle monster.” he says with a playful tone.

“Wh- Huh? Wahahait!” How dare they do this? Two on one isn’t fair!

“Hehehe! The tickle monster is ticklish too! You’re funny!” Klee said, giggling as she tickled and poked his tum and ribs.

“Pfft- hngh…” Itto didn’t know what to do at this point. He held back his laughter due to embarrassment, but at the same time he didn’t want to escape and disappoint little Klee.

“Hmm… Itto, are you going to laugh? Or do I need to help her?” Kaeya asked, smirking deviously.

“Pfft- eheh- pffwahahahahaha!!” He had no choice but to give in after that threat, and he couldn’t squirm very far anyway with Kaeya holding him like this.

“Hehehe! Tickly tickly!” Klee said, smiling as she played him like a piano.

“Ahahahahahaha!! Nohohoho!” It wasn’t that bad actually, but he was being dramatic anyway for the fun of it.

“Great job, Klee! I’m sure he’ll surrender in no time.” Kaeya said, chuckling as he tried to prevent the oni’s squirms.

“Nohohohoho! Never!! Hahahaha!”

“Oh, come on. You’ll have to yield eventually… right? Otherwise I’ll have to join…” Oh, he’s just mean.

“Hehe! Klee will lend her spell to you too, Kaeya!” Klee said, giggling at the nervous expression on Itto’s face.

“Really? Why, thank you, little one.” Kaeya said, but once he let go to shift his grip, he didn’t have enough time to tickle before Itto tried to escape.

“This is so unfair!” the oni cried, failing to squirm away as Kaeya pushed him down.

“Sorry, buddy. I’m not quite done with my revenge just yet…” The captain said, before tickling his ribs.

“Ahahahahahaha!! Yohohou ahahahahahass! Hahahahaha!!” Itto laughed and squirmed, but he also tried to hold still so he doesn’t accidentally squirm into Klee.

Kaeya gasped. “Itto! Language!” he scolded, tickling harder and faster as a punishment. How dare he say such a word in front of a child? Unacceptable! Tsk tsk tsk.

“NahahAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Itto’s squirms and laughs involuntarily increased, but Klee had already moved back to a safer distance, laughing at his dramatic reactions. He’s so silly!

“Hehehe! What did he say?” Klee asked in a playful tone.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Kaeya replied, casually murdering the poor oni below him. It was no use though. Klee knew exactly what Itto had said and found it hilarious.

“STAHAHAHAHAP!! I’M SOHOHORREHEHEHEE!! Plehehehehehehease!!” Itto pleaded, curling up and laughing loudly as Kaeya kept tickling him mercilessly.

“Hmm… I dunno. Klee, what do you think?” Kaeya asked, easing up on the tickles to a more gentle and playful one to keep him giggling.

“Don’t be mean to him, Kaeya! He said he’s sorry. That means he’s friendly!” Klee said, moving closer to the two of them to pat Itto on the head.

“Whah..?” He seemed confused, covering his ribs with his arms to make Kaeya go away.

“Ah, I suppose you’re right. My apologies.” Kaeya said, chuckling as he released and stopped tickling Itto.

“Ehehe..! You meanie…” Itto said with a playful tone and smile, making Kaeya chuckle.

“This is fun! Let’s play more! Klee wants to be the tickle monster now! Hehehe!” Klee exclaimed, giggling at their banter.

“Oh dear. I suppose we’d better escape then, right?” Kaeya suggested.

“Ah, well… she never said I couldn’t also be a tickle monster, sooo…” Itto replied with a menacing grin.

“Ah…”

Oh dear, someone’s in trouble.

“Hehe… ready, Klee?”

“Hehehe! Ready! Raaawr!”

“Ah- ahahahahahaha!”

Needless to say, the knight fell victom to their “vicious” attacks as the two sillies tickled him playfully. It didn’t last too long though, since neither party wanted the other to suffer. As the day went on, the three kept playing games together until it was time to head back to Mondstadt. They had a real fun time together that day, becoming best friends forever!

#my private twashcan #genshin tickles #genshin impact tickles #ticklish!itto #ticklish!kaeya #ticklish!klee #tickle fluff

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randomfoggytiger · 6 months

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Mulder’s Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part IV): Passive Mulder Turns Passive-Aggressive

As always, interpreting Three Words 'accurately' hinges on the littlest details in every shot, since the writers chose to be overly covert when translating the scripts onto the screen (post here); but the following scene is of paramount importance. It establishes Mulder's reawakened unhealthy routines, his ignited jealousy of Doggett, his distrust of Scully’s judgment, and his choice to push away from recovery and into the pitfalls of from-the-hip reactions. This pattern waxes and wanes the rest of the season until the birth of his child.

Hanging Out in His Apartment

The day after Mulder's return to his apartment, Skinner drops in and relates Kersh's reassignment refusal. Mulder spends the majority of the conversation letting them ride out their steam, shooting down other avenues to get him back, and ultimately revealing he hadn't cared to get back to work, anyway... until Doggett is mentioned.

Mulder is lounging on his couch sporting casual wear and bedhead, likely roused from sleeping-in (or taking a bonus nap) and dressed in presentable clothes for Skinner's sudden visit. Scully is also in comfy loungewear; and wouldn’t have had enough time to drive home, get changed, and drive to Mulder's apartment if she and Skinner left directly from work. Logically, this means she and Mulder were at his apartment all morning.

So, we know Scully was hanging around (either she spent the night, changed at either apartment, and stuck around or she went home for the night and came back the next day) and Mulder was letting her-- but how does Skinner fit into this domestic (un)bliss?

It’s hard to know for certain if Mulder had previously talked with Skinner in the hospital or if this is their first time catching up:

1. We were not privy to their opening “hello” or “good afternoon” scene; and are shown only Mulder’s tailend reaction to Skinner’s news.

2. Skinner is a consummate professional; and having seen Mulder at his literal worst, nothing afterward would, perhaps, faze him as much. At any rate, it’s in Skinner’s nature to keep a cool, professional demeanor when dealing with his agents about business; and that would be the easiest go-to when handling this situation now.

3. Skinner has behaved this way before when discussing his own PTSD and trauma: in One Breath, he put aside his professionalism temporarily to appeal to Mulder; but swiftly packed it away and went right back to his work mode. He knows trauma, knows his agent, and probably assumes this is the way Mulder would want it to be. And he’s not wrong.

What we do know is Mulder, while not himself, is at least acting like himself: trying not to seem aloof; including Skinner in his jokes, ideas, and ruminations; and relying on him-- though in a different way-- as much as he does Scully (and later The Lone Gunmen.)

The only change is the loss of that touch of vulnerability Mulder often showed Skinner in moments of crisis or great emotion. Now, he keeps a wall up, trying to block in what he considers corrosive parts of himself and block out the sympathy of others so he doesn’t have to address the compiling PTSD. Vulnerability comes with a price at this point; and Mulder-- excepting his brief confession in the previous scene (post here)-- is avoiding it at all costs.

The Pivot from Passive Mulder to Passive-Aggressive Mulder

The scene starts out with Mulder sitting, solo, on his leather couch-- more accurately, sinking into it heavily, his normal vibrancy zapped by exhaustion. False bravado is hard to maintain, especially when one has been dead a few days before, is battling worsening PTSD, and now suffers from recurring flashbacks that likely disrupt whatever sleep he can get.

“Kersh wants to put me behind a desk? That is not what Kersh wants.”

He looks over at Scully and Skinner who hover together a few feet from the couch. It appears that they had just finished their conversation about Kersh, pivoting towards him when Mulder piped up. This establishes a few things:

1. Mulder can already sense how close the two have gotten in his absence-- more accurately, that they've formed a tighter bond over trying to find him and battling Kersh in the meanwhile. (Scully picks up on this, and continually draws back to his side at every available opportunity, reinforcing how much she needs him.)

2. Mulder doesn't appear jealous during this exchange or any future one, seeing it as simply another marker of his time gone.

3. Mulder most likely assumes Scully didn't accomplish much on the files without him, his absence and her pregnancy holding her back (he botched one case in the two months she was gone, after all.) He even slips in the reality that she won't be on the X-Files much longer once her baby is born-- something he's already thought through and assumed she had, as well (which she hasn't, as later revealed in Alone.)

Overall, his consternation is at Kersh, not Scully or Skinner.

Scully strides over, silently asserting that her place is by his side, not their boss's. “Well, I think Kersh wants you to quit, Mulder.”

An interesting detail: while Scully spends this scene trying to get a pulse on Mulder’s listless mood and doubting whether she should push him forward or let him hang back, Skinner keeps an eye on Scully, judging (correctly) that he will better understand where Mulder’s coming from by reading how Scully reacts to her partner's responses.

And here’s a crucial detail: this scene sets up Mulder’s back-and-forth when it comes to reaching out and withdrawing from his impending fatherhood. As Scully walks over, her eyes flick down and away; and the camera reveals why when it cuts to Mulder, who has turned away and closed his eyes while she approaches and slowly levers onto the couch.

Throughout Three Words, Mulder does want his child, doesn’t dislike or hate it; but he’s so battered and drained that he can’t bring himself to reach out. In future episodes he bounces between excited father-to-be and man obsessed with answers because he needs to stop what happened to him from ever happening again-- trying to escape his trauma by attempting to stop the source. He begins repeating the past nearly thirty years’ mistakes-- avoiding reality (“life on this planet”) by charging at windmills-- except this time he’s had his peace, had happiness with Scully, and knows he has a kid on the way. It all rings false-- he'll be jumping back into work not because of the wonder of exploration and discovery but because he's using government conspiracies to hide from reality, giving up and reenacting his ‘I did what I could and can’t do any more’ fall back in The Red and the Black, One Son, and Amor Fati. In essence, Mulder is trapped in his trauma response (post here); and-- unable to take a progressive step forward-- he regresses backward to unhealthy Freeze-Flight loops, caught up in unessential “busy work” to distract from the bigger problems he feels he can’t fix. A way to feel in-control in his out-of-control life.

“It’s more than that,” Skinner asserts; and only then does Mulder turn his head, “He wants to punish you. To hurt you.” Another interesting detail: Skinner focuses on Mulder’s emotional well-being, directly stating “hurt you” with venom at Kersh and protective assurance towards his recovered agent. No longer is Skinner willing to be oblique about his care and concern about either agent-- and Mulder responds to this, and lets his boss back in a little bit more.

Another crucial detail (there will be a lot of these): when Mulder rattles off “And you by putting you in this position--” to Skinner, his voice is solid, stable, ‘normal’; but as he continues “--and Agent Scully”, Mulder falters, his voice sinking, some more of his pain and a little bit more vulnerability bleeding through. The thought of his partner being punished-- in his absence, after his return, for his absence and return-- churns his gut and effortlessly draws out his empathy towards her, despite his erected barriers and avoidance of more personal reconnection.

Even more crucially-- and touching-- is that Mulder slows his spiel, staring longingly at his partner while he says, “--for not giving up on me.” He then pauses, giving her his full attention and gratitude through their unspoken: he’s moved by her devotion, words not adequate in his beaten down state; and, in his own way, wants her to know he’s seen her efforts, understood the lengths she must have gone, and is overcome by them.

And Scully knows this, shyly ducking her head down and slightly pursing her lips (a Scully tell of “I heard you, but I don’t know how to respond yet.”)

Back to business, Mulder’s voice loses that soft quality once again: “Truth is, this was a bullet that was fired about eight years ago.” Sardonically waving his pointer finger around for emphasis, he continues, “It’s a magic bullet that’s been going round and round and right now it seems poised to hit me in the back of the head.” He grimly stares at Skinner, who stares grimly back.

Scully cuts in, determination in her voice. ”I think the question is, Mulder, are we going to sit here and let this happen?”

Mulder is amused in spite of himself: he doesn’t lose his edge, but he softens at the corners, shooting incredulous smiles at his five-foot-two battle warrior while he ruthlessly (read: affectionately) tears apart her predilection for war with the facts: “Scully, you’re going to give birth in a couple months.”

She shifts, acknowledging his point, while Mulder keeps talking. “You can talk as tough as you like, but you know and I know and they know that in a little while you’re going to have more important things than whether or not the X-Files remains open.”

But it’s more than just the facts: Mulder doesn’t want to fight.

Mulder is not only traumatized but also willfully passive, seeing no hope in struggling for victory when all options are played out before they’ve even begun. Kersh reassigned him, Scully's leaving, the X-Files are doomed; and because they are doomed, he doesn't want to go back to work (and later doesn't want Scully to go back to work if Doggett is there and he's not.) It’s a cynicism that is hand-in-hand with his eternal optimism: when that optimism burns out, he quickly reverts to cynicism and Freeze-Flight loops.

Mulder has always responded well to Scully’s logical deduction or scathing criticism-- and it is scathing, at times-- because he needs to be told straight, in no uncertain terms, how he’s messing up and how he can fix it and move forward (ex. Scully reaming him about giving up on the world and himself in One Son and Amor Fati.) Scully, however, doesn’t trust herself to advise or even unleash on Mulder, knowing the pain of this specific violation but without the full horror of her memories to contextualize and fully understand it. Likely, she doesn’t even know Mulder can remember, assuming he was returned ‘blank slate’ like herself; and Mulder’s reticence and withdrawal compared to his previous vim and vigor whenever the government or aliens tampered with his memory utterly baffles her. And so, they coast… (until an off-screen scene right after this episode ends. But I digress.)

Scully looks away, knowing Mulder has her dead-to-rights but also knowing a piece of information he doesn’t: that Kersh still wants Doggett on the files. This means she and Skinner talked over Kersh's meeting before Skinner told Mulder; and that Scully still had not shared about Doggett, yet.

“Agent Who?” Mulder asks, intrigued more than threatened.

And then he’s met with silence; and realizing that’s never a good sign, he looks toward the one person he trusts to give him a straight answer… and realizes Scully hasn’t told the entire truth.

“I’ve had a partner… for the last seven months,” she reluctantly admits.

Mulder, struck, doesn’t even realize his head has wobbled back on the headrest while staring (blankly then angrily) at his partner.

The fact that Scully withheld this information means two things to Mulder--

1. Scully and Skinner kept him out of the loop about his job-- which is very different than wanting him back but respecting his distance.

2. Scully intended to keep important information from him, period.

--and sets fire to those old insecurities: Scully “I’m fine”ing through the years, Scully not admitting to what she saw because she was afraid, and Scully not relaying details to him to either protect him or herself. It’s the worst thing to reignite now because Mulder had thought she was the only certainty-- such as it is-- in his new, uncertain world; and now he wonders if he can rely on her, wonders if she trusts this ‘new’ him as much as the ‘old’ him.

“He was assigned to help me find you,” Scully adds.

Increasingly uncomfortable, Mulder pulls his legs into a pseudo-ball and wraps his arms around them, creating a soothing embrace of a sort for himself as well as another barrier to shield his anger at her and Skinner. “Mission accomplished.”

His act isn’t quite good enough-- Scully, dismayed, sees right through it; but doesn’t comment while he continues his questions to Skinner, not to her.

When Doggett doesn’t measure up to Mulder’s paranormal expertise, his dark suspicions become darker and more suspicious: “I see. Then maybe the question is not ‘who fired this magic bullet’ but whether or not it was a lone gunman.” He smirks, a wonky facsimile of his old, self-abasing, conspiratorial humor.

Again, Scully cuts in, not wanting Mulder to waste precious energy on an ally. “Agent Doggett is above reproach, Mulder. He’s being maneuvered just like you.”

Mulder is not convinced. “Good. At least he’s maneuverable.” With that, he immediately launches out of his seat and rushes off.

Mulder no longer trusts the angle of Scully’s judgment, translating her hesitancy to share Doggett as another clue of her blind belief ala religion, science, and some supernatural experiences (as well as her indignation over Diana Fowley in One Son, post here.) To Mulder, Scully was loyal to him and did her best in his absence… but she also let a wolf waltz into their office and remain in her midst, a part of their work, and next to her and her child. From here on out, Mulder chooses to follow no one’s council but his own, his trauma taking on a new shape: thrashing self-protection-- channeling his helplessness into hostility against Doggett and willfully disregarding Scully’s warnings as an effort to ‘save’ her from herself. He’s seen things she hasn’t, he remembers what she doesn’t, and he won’t let it happen again-- for her sake, but really for his own.

The last part of this scene is important, as well, hammering home how disconnected Mulder feels from himself before the Kersh madness was even brought to his doorstep:

“Where are you going?” Skinner monotones, talking down a crazy man.

“Gonna get dressed. For the first time, I feel like getting back to work.”

And for a man who felt alive and as close to whole as possible when chasing down leads with his fearless partner, this is both an alarming tell of his present feelings and a warning sign for his future recklessness.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

#Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma #In-Depth #Part IV #Passive Mulder Turns Passive Aggressive #txf #meta #xf meta #Mulder #S8 #Three Words #mine #xfiles #x-files #the x files #analysis

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bestworstcase · 1 year

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Salem said the Hound was "an experiment", but she never specified for what. Maybe it's her attempt at Ascension...?

the purpose of an experiment is to substantiate or refute a hypothesis, yeah? the hound exists in answer to a question. something salem didn’t know, but knew enough about to make what seems to have been a pretty good guess. she says she’s “pleased with the results [so far],” meaning the hound is evidently an at least partial success.

salem also spends quite a lot of V8 attempting to fill gaps in the information she has—throughout most of the volume her top priority is gaining access to the lamp’s knowledge. capturing the staff seems to be a secondary concern. thus, the hound belongs to a narrative arc which tilts on the fulcrum of questions salem wants answered.

so… what most interests me about the hound is the unknown hypothesis. what didn’t salem know? what was she trying to learn?

here’s some things to chew on:

#1: the audience knows something that disproves (or at least casts into serious doubt) ruby’s conclusion.

she thinks salem has been making hounds out of silver-eyed people for a decade or more, starting with summer. this cannot be true, because the hound is very new. salem isn’t experimenting ten+ years ago, she’s experimenting NOW.

#2: why now?

the nature of an experiment is that it begins with an idea of what might happen. that salem is doing this NOW isn’t, cannot be arbitrary—something gave her the idea. it is unlikely that “something” happened over a decade ago and she’s only just now getting around to it; salem is patient, but she does not waste time. doesn’t it make more sense to suppose that some recent event revealed a gap in her knowledge that she is now attempting to close? something like, oh, i don’t know—

#3: everybody knows that silver eyes only work on grimm…

…and cinder, that one time.

the question of why ruby’s first glare mutilated cinder is a textual mystery—in the sense that none of the heroic characters know the answer, and it’s inexplicable by the common in-universe theory of how this kind of magic works. the general assumption in the wider fandom is that the grimm beetle is to blame and salem knows it, but ruby hits cinder with a second fully-fledged glare at the end of V7 and cinder walks away completely unscathed. while grimmness may be a causal factor it seems not to be the only one.

we also don’t know exactly what happened in between the fall of beacon and cinder’s next appearance months at the top of V4—we don’t get to see how salem reacted, we only know the broad strokes of what information got reported back to her, and we don’t know anything about the circumstances surrounding the grimm arm being grown or grafted.

aside from a couple relevant details which i expect to be explored later (chiefly, to what extent cinder chose the arm) this is not information that we need to know—but i think it IS worth keeping in mind that we don’t know it, because it means we don’t know the extent of salem’s knowledge.

and that question—how much does salem know, and is her understanding accurate?—is key.

salem states that becoming the maiden is what made cinder vulnerable to the silver glare, and loosely implies that it’s a vulnerability cinder can defend. this is generally interpreted as a manipulative lie, but… we don’t know a lot about silver eyes, what we do know is mainly folklore, and cinder seems to be developing a resistance to the glare, which is a strong point of evidence in salem’s favor.

anyway, the point being: silver eyes are supposed to only work on grimm, but ruby’s glare maimed cinder. the lion’s share of salem’s screen time in V4-5 involves cinder’s recovery—salem provides an explanation, devotes months training cinder to achieve basic control over the grimm arm, and handles cinder’s feelings about the order to leave ruby alive. this is the focal point of salem’s character during this leg of the story.

then cinder falls from grace and salem is blindsided by the news that ozpin reincarnated way faster than anticipated, and… salem sort of recedes into the distant background of the narrative. we barely see her in V6. she’s not in V7 at all until the very end. we know she spends this time churning out an army, but That’s It—and then she turns up in atlas with the hound.

you see the dots i’m connecting here? salem’s path through the narrative goes like like: heavy involvement with cinder’s recovery after the glare and grimm arm -> months of radio silence -> kicks in the door with an experimental silver-eyed grimm in tow. why now? what gave her the idea? what hypothesis is she testing?

the explanation that makes the most sense to me is that salem doesn’t fully understand why the glare maimed cinder. i think she might know (or suspect) some things that give her a solid general sense of what happened and why, but she’s still in uncharted territory and she’s trying to figure it out. i think the things she tells cinder in V4-5 are theories—and the hound was meant to test those theories, evidently successfully.

which tracks with what we see play out in V6-7; maria’s silver eyes theory is inadequate to explain cinder, salem appears to be wrong about the maidens being vulnerable to the glare but broadly correct about cinder’s vulnerability being a consequence of something other than grimmness.

#4: death and resurrection

by this point it seems… pretty evident that silver eyes are connected to death in a more-than-symbolic way. there’s the flashbacks ruby experiences of pyrrha’s last words in V4. there’s the glare taking the hand cinder killed pyrrha with and the eye that didn’t get the maiden-eye-flames until she killed amber. and there’s ruby returning from her (symbolic) death being heralded by an explosion of white light, in contrast with the white-gold we see when the herbalist is reborn. and of course there’s the white void that people from remnant pass through when they die. and silver eyes themselves derive from ozma + resurrected humankind.

whether or not salem knows of ascension, i’m positive that she made this connection after the fall of beacon.

i think that’s probably why the question of whether cinder killed ozpin is a point of contention: cinder says she killed three people. the glare maimed her twice over, taking the parts of her that physically or spiritually touched two of her victims at the moment of death. if that isn’t coincidental, it leaves ozpin unaccounted for.

and i think that’s probably the line of reasoning salem followed to get to “it’s because of the maiden’s power.” she’s drawing a connection between the glare and the maiden power through the death required to inherit the magic. hence, also, the implicit association salem draws between “be patient about the maidens” and “be careful of ruby’s eyes” in V5.

so i figure that salem developed the hound to test that connection. its core is a silver-eyed faunus who should be very dead but isn’t. the… general assumption is that salem accomplished this by dipping the guy in a grimm pool, but… silver eyes are vanishingly rare! where did she find him! which is why i’m more inclined to think that he didn’t have them when salem found him, and part of the experiment involved turning his eyes silver, possibly by killing and reviving him.

(that or she straight up personified a grimm somehow. or borrowed one of summer’s eyes.)

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sweetqueerinthesummer · 7 months

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The Archer

The Archer was one of the first songs I wanted to take a deep dive into when I thought about analyzing Taylor’s work, so here we are. Here I’ll focus on the interpretation of the song as being about the closet, it’s not the only understanding there is, but it’s what makes it so so beautiful to me. Handle with care, we are about to get emotional.

And obviously, this is an analysis but I’m not in Taylor’s head, so even if I affirm something I can’t know for sure what she meant when she wrote those words.

Combat, I’m ready for combat I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?

I think this was written before she discussed the idea of coming out with anyone, or at least it reflects on that time. She knows that it will be hard, and she pretended for a long time that she doesn’t need it, that she’s okay in the closet, but she’s not. She wants to be her true self, and even if she pretends it doesn’t matter, she always comes back to the hope that she could someday come out.

She has changed the line in at least some live version of the songs (including the live from Paris), where she says “Combats” (plural), which I would understand as a reflect of her realization, since she failed to come out, that it’s not something that can be done once and be accepted forever (I’ll come back to this idea when I’ll talk about evermore, but the line “is there a line i could just go cross” is also about that in my opinion).

‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies

She saw people suffering from being out so many times, it led her to believe that she didn’t want to be, but she now realizes that she does and of course she is afraid.

I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

She doesn’t know the right way to come out, and her anxiety makes her rethink every word she might have written about it.

Easy they come, easy they go

She knows how fast the public opinion can turn its back on her, and that’s what she fears if she comes out, that she would lose her fans, and that everything that she has worked for would be lost because of who she is.

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

Trains have often symbolized love in Taylor’s music, and more specifically, she almost exclusively uses them to signify relationships that don’t work out (Sad Beautiful Tragic, New Romantics, willow, champagne problems…), which leads me to believe that she’s talking about leaving her (ex-)girlfriends to keep her career safe.

I never grew up, it's getting so old

She might have had this debate for long, and feel like she isn’t evolving on the matter. It might also be about the way some people consider the closet to be a temporary state, that changes as soon as you have the ability to be out, which could make her feel like she is perpetually stagnating and can't fully grow.

Help me hold onto you

This can be understood as being directed both to her lover or her public, but anyway, she fears people will leave her when they learn about her queerness.

(Btw, this would be my answer to the way some people react by saying “it doesn’t matter if she’s queer”, if we’re right about that, it does matter a whole lot to her and she seems so afraid of the way we all would react, that saying we see her and that we’re still here does actually matter.)

I've been the archer I've been the prey

She is the archer, the one in control, she is perpetually trying to get people to listen to her music, and she’s good at it, she’s a mastermind. But she’s also the fox in I Know Places, her private life is always hunted and if she ever came out, she would be the target of bigots who would see her as a threat. She made herself both the archer and the prey by choosing this career.

Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?

She knows that she has fans, that people love her, that she is (and already was when the song came out) one of (if not the) most influential artists of her generation. But what would last if she lived her truth? What would happen once she shared her most dangerous secret?

Dark side, I search for your dark side But what if I'm alright, right, right, right here?

She’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop, to find out that her public will leave her, but she thinks that she’s the one who would lead us to the dark side. By lying about herself, I think she might feel like she’s the dark side of her relationship with her fans.

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face Then I hate my reflection for years and years

She changes the way she appears, and then hates herself for it. She hates that she is stuck in the closet and the way everyone perceive her because of it.

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost The room is on fire, invisible smoke

She is panicking but no one sees it, no one understands what she feels, and no one believes that the danger is here because no one can feel it like she does.

And all of my heroes die all alone

This could be a reference to the way gay people were often believed to be single when they died because no one understood who they really were, but it could also be about the way so many queer historical figures had tragic endings.

Help me hold onto you I've been the archer, I've been the prey Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?

‘Cause they see right through me They see right through me They see right through Can you see right through me? They see right through They see right through me I see right through me I see right through me

She is so used to people not seeing her, not listening to her, that she feels like she doesn’t even see herself anymore. Maybe she sometimes catch herself forgetting who the real her is, lost behind the public figure.

All the king’s horses, all the king’s men Couldn’t put me together again

She has separated herself in so many parts between her public and private life, that no one would be able to see her as a whole, even herself, she is lost between too many masks.

‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends

She is making enemies out of her friends because she is never truly honest, and therefore they can’t “put her together again” since they don’t know her whole truth.

Help me hold onto you I've been the archer I've been the prey Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay? (I see right through me, I see right through me) Who could stay? Who could stay? Who could stay?

You could stay You could stay Combat, I'm ready for combat

Even through the anxiety, she still wants to do it, she finds it in herself to overcome the fear and believe in her fans and her loved ones. She showed a part of her mind, she shared this anxiety, but what comes out of it is that she can’t stay in the closet. This is what makes this song so tragic, if I'm interpreting it right; she wanted to come out so badly, but she wasn’t able to, and now all that is left from that time is her anxiety.

EDIT: I wrote an analysis of evermore, it's a continuation of what I said here.

#gaylor #friends of dorothea #lgbetty #taylor swift #the archer #failed coming out theory

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aconstantstateofbladerunner · 1 year

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Something I really appreciate about your writing is that you make the kids feel like actual teenagers. I have to ask, how do you get the characterization down when your writing? It's something I struggle to do, even when I go back to the original source.

Going back to the original source is a good start. Characterization goes deeper than simply ‘this character is nice’ or ‘this character is funny.’ Let’s look at Izuku for example. He’s kind and smart, but so are several other students. Something specific to him is that he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor; he doesn’t tell any jokes and rarely laughs at those made by others. Compare this to someone like Uraraka, who occasionally makes teasing comments about her friends, versus Sero or Mina who make jokes at the expense of their classmates pretty often. Back to Izuku, this fact about him contributes to a general sense of his social awkwardness, which my writing interprets in a few additional ways. I feel like his lack of humor and awkwardness would extend to trouble with nicknames, giving or receiving, further evidenced by his struggling in canon to call Tsuyu by the nicknames she wants to be called by. Kacchan on the other hand is out of habit, which combined with his issues visualizing One for All as a part of himself early on indicates he has a hard time breaking habits once he’s set on them. Even the fact that it took him so long to realize that he could adopt a kicking fight style is more evidence of this. And then a reoccurring feature in my fics is that Izuku isn’t a touchy-freely person. There’s not much evidence in canon for this, except that despite him and his Mom being close, they don’t touch often. This might not actually be the case, but that’s part of where my idea came from, and it fits back into that awkwardness. Little things like that can say a lot about a character and how they approach different situations.

As for writing teenagers in general, a common mistake i see in both fic and original content is the assumption that all you need to write believable teenagers is to throw in a bunch of modern slang and references. Think Riverdale, bad crack fics, and 90s anti-drug PSAs. Not only is this often handled poorly (incorrect slang use or misjudged references) it also quickly dates the writing. Memes can take years to reach big names in the entertainment industry, and then it takes another few years for a movie featuring those memes to come out. By then, the meme is dead and cringe. In this day and age, memes can have a much shorter shelf life, living and dying within a week. Even if you release an fic chapter during the peak of a meme’s life cycle, it’s only going to be funny to the people who read it then and there; everyone who jumps on the fic later will just cringe. And there’s no way to tell which ones with have the staying power of something like a rickroll or a classic vine.

The solution: don’t do this. Avoid overusing slang and meme speak, and instead implement more general/timeless dialogue. Slang like ‘dude’ has been in the lexicon long enough that it feels normal, and while ‘mood’ and ‘vibe’ are fairly new, they aren’t as obtrusive as ‘bae’ which is falling out of style, or ‘boomer’ which references a specific group of people. Basically, the more general and common, the better. And keep the time period of your story in mind; MHA for example takes place at least a century in the future, why would the kids of that era still be complaining about boomers? Teenagers still act immaturely sometimes and make jokes, but try and find the humor in the specific situation of the story rather than quoting something else. Teens are also more openly casual than adults. Teasing, touching, maybe saying something rude or inappropriate. One simple way to convey casual speech is to use more contractions; i.e. ‘can’t’ instead of ‘cannot’ or ‘we’re gonna’ instead of ‘we are going to.’ This is my advice for all dialogue: read it to yourself outloud and ask if it sounds like something a real person would actually say. Exaggeration is also good. ‘My life is over!’ when their crush doesn’t like them back, or a big group groan at a pop quiz.

As for the internal experience of being a teenager, the thing i remember most about being that age in the tension between suddenly being expected to be ready for things and take care of myself when i didn’t feel ready, but still being treated like a dumb child in other ways i thought i was ready for. You start understanding more things when you get older and want people to take you seriously as a result, but you’re also insecure about the things you don’t understand and maybe overcompensate. In short, being a teenager comes with a lot of confusing, frustrating changes, some of which are absolutely unfair, but there are a few you genuinely bring upon yourself.

Hope this helps you get started. If not, or you have other questions, the ask box is always open.

#writing tips #answers

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skaruresonic · 3 months

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Honestly, it feels like a lot of this mandate discourse is just a natural consequence of Sega trying its darn best to organize nearly three decades of confusing, conflicting Sonic media. Like, we know they were comfortable letting Archie kill off Robotnik in the original comic, but still considered Sally popular enough for the franchise to demand her ressurection, even though that was not a character they came up with. It really feels like they had no idea how to control their IP and just went with what stuck to the wall in the 90's and 00's, which culminated with that infamous lawsuit case.

It's good that they now have a specific team that oversees how Sonic the Hedgehog is used and portrayed (which is an industry standard nowadays), but since the fandom is already used to wildly divergent interpretations of the IP, it may take a long while to accept those guidelines (I'm assuming they didn't exist or were not seriously enforced before).

Honestly, it feels like a lot of this mandate discourse is just a natural consequence of Sega trying its darn best to organize nearly three decades of confusing, conflicting Sonic media.

Which is a fool's errand. This is why I'm always stressing the games as the core canon: if you ignore all offshoot media (and I mean all of it) and focus solely on the games, then a lot of confusion automatically clears up. The games are actually fairly solid about explaining themselves and tying up loose ends. It's only when you consider everything canon that things get dicey.

Of course, that's not to say the games handle everything perfectly. I feel Knuckles' character in particular has been rather inconsistent across the years. But even then, it's not like he changes so incredibly drastically that I might as well say he has no character at all. The latter approach, that throwing the baby out with the bathwater, is what we tend to deal with.

When others muck up the canon, it's always SoJ who are to blame. And while I don't agree with Iizuka's current, rather naive approach of unifying everything because I feel like he's trying to ingratiate the series to bad-faith actors, I also can't begrudge him too much. We're marinating in a fan culture desperate to make Sonic anything and everything but itself.

---

Honestly, I feel like a lot of this aversion stems from an allergy to the games on the basis that they're embarrassing. The mainstream has made it painfully uncool to like Sonic games, therefore we have to move as far away from the games' "cringe" as possible. So then you have comic book and film and SatAM fans swearing up and down their offshoot media du jour is so much better and more fleshed-out than the games. Of course they're going to chafe at the notion of making their preferred niche more like something they actually hate. Maybe it's the game purist in me, but I have no idea why anyone would feasibly want to consider everything canon, because the immediate consequence of that is trying to fit square pegs into round holes, which just doesn't sound fun. It sounds like work. In addition, more often than not it's the games universe that gets retooled to fit the offshoot media, not the other way around. The cold hard reality is that the offshoot media would have to change on such a fundamental level to even begin to fit into the games, it might as well be something new entirely. And complete change is a risk many people just aren't willing to take, as Daniel Barnes illustrated with his tweet about Sally.

Not to mention the constant disappointment that would entail: Rally4Sally needs to hang up its hat because it's been three literal decades at this point, not because Sega's dangling her in our faces just out of reach. They already did their job in making Archie revive her. She's had her time in the sun.

My personal attitude towards the matter is that there isn't as much confusion and inconsistency in the games as people say; rather, the problem tends to be a lack of good faith and literacy.

Yes, literacy. There's a lack of critical thought about what happens in Sonic games because many people either paint their own version over it, or else assume nothing of importance happens because Sonic Games Are For Kids(tm).

That may sound harsh, but considering I frequently find myself explaining the most basic plot points screenshot-by-screenshot, I'm inclined to think there's a shortage of understanding somewhere. Most of the games are largely self-contained pieces of work. Some build on previous entries, such as Adventure-Adventure 2 and Battle-Advance 3, but I don't need any given Sonic game to do that in order to enjoy it; I just need it to be a good story on its own merits. The references are just nice cherries on top. It shouldn't be the main dish to the detriment to all other parts of storytelling.

This might also be a side effect of me getting older, but I find I don't really care about the nitty-gritty like I used to. "How come ShTH shows a whole moon in the opening cutscene when it was destroyed in SA2?" Well, aside from later games establishing that Sonic's world has two moons (therefore it's not an inconsistency), it's a detail not worth stressing about when the moon doesn't factor into the game at all. It doesn't play into the game's themes of moral agency. It's not like Shadow goes on a mission to repair the moon or anything.

To be frank, many "inconsistencies" fans point out instead imply a basic failure to understand the fundamentals of storytelling. Gerald's original motives for the Eclipse Cannon are meant to be ambiguous in SA2; we're meant to ponder the question because anxiety about WMD development was rife back in the early aughts. Shadow is not inconsistent, he's always been a little aggressive. Mania's place in the timeline becomes a lot clearer when you recall how, in Generations, Classic Robotnik decided to "dedicate the rest of his life to forgetting" Modern Eggman's failures and therefore rewrote history. Thus Robotnik dug up the Phantom Ruby earlier than he "should" have.

But nowadays, it's like everything that doesn't receive an immediate and concrete answer gets painted as an "inconsistency." CinemaSins style "critique" coupled with anti-games bias makes games discussion a huge headache.

#asks

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blueberry-macaron · 9 months

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Do you think people who always hated the LS have an easier time hating on Movie!Adrien than people who used to ship it?

From what I've seen anti LS peeps like movie!Adrien, while fans of the show hate him. I thought that was weird at first, but after thinking about it, I think I have an explanation as to why.

The focus of Movie!Adrien's sad backstory was the death of his mother and that causing problems in his relationship to his dad (who wasn't as much of a horrible person as in the show, so abuse wasn't really an issue the movie touched on) but also affecting him as a person. He was closed off and afraid of getting close to people. Basically you could say he was more like his PV version. That's already a strong contrast from his show self with the strong craving for human friendship and love, so that probably already threw people off who liked show!Adrien.

We first learn about his mom when he goes to that theather where she used to perform. It's his place where he feels closest to her. Then he starts talking about it with Marinette/Ladybug and in the end he reconsiles with his dad, telling him that "yes, mother's gone, but we're still here" and they hug it out, accepting things for what they are. Now I don't want to give the movie too much credit because this "arc" was not fleshed out at all. Most of that happens in the montage. The basis was there, but after establishing that, they rush through the movie and put their focus more on fights, the romance and the music. And I think this rushing through things is the reason Adrien enjoyers couldn't connect to this other Adrien. Basically "The first one was great, so why should I care about this new one that is so different? He's less outgoing despite his dad already pushing him away and him hating loneliness? He's more mean to LB during their banter for no apparent reason? Where is Chat being a shoulder to cry on when LB looses her self confidence?"

If you present a new interpretation of a character to fans of said character, you'll have to try a little harder to convince them this interpretation is good with actual good story telling, which this movie severely lacks due to the very simplistic plot, and also... not relying on the show and the audience having to fill the blanks with information from the show as much as the movie did.

Meanwhile salters see show!Adrien as someone who gets a lot just handed to him because he made a sad face, generally has no agency and makes Marinette's life harder than it has to be and they don't like that. Then along comes this other version where his emotions don't feel like a constant pity party but are something he learns how to deal with, he doesn't constantly makes missions harder than they have to be (expect the ending sort of) and he finally has some agency. That's what I like about the way he's being portrayed. And as I said, the movie doesn't flesh those aspects out, but the premise alone of Adrien having to overcome his mother's death with the help of people around him is so much more interesting and likeable for me and probably others too, unlike the constant whining about how hard his life is until somebondy (Marinette) comes along and bends over backwards to fix it for him while he stands around and looks pretty.

So yeah, that's my take on the situation. I do find it pretty funny though how some stans act like Movie!Adrien is some alpha dude bro while show!Adrien drinks his respect women juice. Not to burst your bubble but both handle LB's rejection very poorly and are dicks to her about it. At least movie!Adrien still jumped to action instead of immediately abandoning his miraculous

#ask #anon #ml salt #ml movie spoilers #Adrien salt #ml fandom salt #I guess #of course this doesn't apply to everyone #there are people who hate both #there are probably also people who like both idk #but this is my general impression from the salt tag

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galwithalibrarycard · 6 months

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Hello, how r u? Soo, I just discovered love little losers (I was a huge fan on nmtd, but didn't know about lolilo). And I love your blog, thanks for keeping the fandon alive. Argh so, Freddie, does she gets better? Cause she's a little bit annoying. Pedro and Balt, I'm jumping out of my sits for them, the backslash? Really. I'm so excited to see more beadick. Anyway, I just wanna vent, thanks for the blog

I’m good thanks, hope you are too. And thank you! I’m definitely not the only one still here keeping the fandom alive, there’s still a few of us out here, but I appreciate the love! 😁 it’s nice to know people are enjoying my posts still!

We’re actually having a small resurgence in the tags with new people watching both series, which is fun. Those people inspire me to keep posting too, it’s all full circle.

I am… not really sure how to prepare you for lolilo tbh. It’s a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labors Lost, and it’s a lot heavier and angstier than NMTD for one thing, so be warned. Pedrazar is a very slow burn, be prepared for a journey! I liked Freddie right away bc I relate to her anxious energy, but you might take some time to warm up to her, that’s fair.

I recommend you head to @beatriceeagle and check out the series of Lolilo meta analysis posts she made with her sister a few years back. It’s a show that trades in subtext and has a lot of important stuff go down offscreen. Reading the metas really helps give a more thorough understanding and insight into the characters and why they behave the ways they do. It might help you understand where Freddie’s coming from, and the others too.

As far as Beadick, I’ll tell you they will break your heart, but it will be put back together again. If you need more of them, the missing offscreen moments and development of their relationship are kind of my specialty in terms of fanfiction. I wrote “the world is too quiet without you nearby”, a 16-chapter fanfic covering the time period between NMTD and Lolilo when Bea and Ben are in a long-distance relationship (plenty of fluff to pad the descent into angst). I also wrote “And We Are Finally Home”, a fic that covers the Beadick relationship arc from the lolilo episode “Confrontation” on through the end of the show- and I WILL be finishing and posting the epilogue to that fic as soon as I can, but you can read the chapters that are already up and still get a pretty complete story there. You don’t have to read them, but i wanted to share because I’m proud of them and I think they’re a good companion to the show if you like Team B! Mind the tags, but there shouldn’t be anything in the fics you can’t handle if you can handle the actual show.

The most important thing you might not get from the videos themselves: it’s canon from the creators that Benedick and Freddie and Balthazar are all dealing with anxiety disorders of some kind, though the creators didn’t actually intend to write that going in- it just happened that they agreed with the fandoms interpretation later on. So everything Ben does is colored by anxiety constantly telling him that he’s too much and that no one likes him and the only thing he’s good for is a laugh- and the (false) worry that Bea is getting sick of him and can’t wait to leave on her travels to get away from him. He’s trying to keep people from leaving him. Freddie is the way she is because she’s desperate for control in life, it’s the only way she feels calm. And Balthazar is petrified of confrontation and retreats into himself when he’s stressed. A lot of this is covered in much better depth in the metas I mentioned, but I wanted to let you know. Not as an excuse for any of their actions, but as an explanation that might make it a less frustrating watch.

I hope that answer wasn’t too overwhelming. I am just incapable of being normal about these webseries and especially about Benedick Hobbes (look, you don’t simply forget the character who got you through your own social anxiety diagnosis, and this is the obsessing-over-fictional-characters website. I talk about other things too, I promise! xD)

Anyway, thank *you* for allowing me to share some thoughts right back! I hope you enjoy Lolilo! 😊💖🦩

#asks tag #welcome and good luck to you Anon!#i also have a whole meta about Ben’s social anxiety it’s linked at the top of my blog

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thelifetimechannel · 5 months

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What are your thoughts on Hussie's statement about Rose's arc here(https://www.tumblr.com/the-meat-machine/734661517556006912)? I see the typical attitude of the book commentary beyond the technical as "no I swear this was totally all planned out and VERY DEEP and I deserve ALL THE CREDIT for the most positive readings because my ideas are TOTALLY INTENTIONAL and I am not just a shitposter who took fame poorly I swear", but what do you think of the interpretation itself? It's certainly a basic idea about her arc that you don't exactly lean into, and while your handling of Rose was of course more satisfying and coherent in execution than Canon's, do you feel like this is an idea you agree with that you might have "left behind" when plotting her arc out, as it were? Or as a less-than-coherent post-hoc justification? Also do Asks have a size limit I'm sorry thus is so long

While I found lategame HS's 'real people don't have arcs' stance to be a handwavy way to excuse dropping all the characters the author didn't care about, I'm fairly content with this commentary, actually. Rose's rejection of SBURB starts early, and her choice to destroy her gate and start ripping apart her land's nice themed puzzles was a good turning point for her and the story. SBURB does not play fair. It does not have your best interests in mind. Why not start gutting it?

You might reasonably ask, if I feel this way, why did we go back to the planet quests in TLC? Three reasons:

Structure. As should be extremely obvious from TLC's everything, we were far more interested in character-based emotional exploration and closure than Dramatic Plot Shit. However, we were trying to bring a very long and increasingly messy story to a conclusion in a reasonable number of pages, and SBURB's tasks and quests provided meaningful goals for the characters to accomplish. They were, in many ways, busywork that we could use to force the characters to act and interact.

An excuse. SBURB's attempts to reflect players' psyches and anxieties meant we could use the land quests to force the characters to confront their issues in very direct ways while lampshading it the whole time. Yes this whole adventure is very metaphorically on the nose! Blame SBURB!

Spectacle. Because our goals for TLC were so character dev-oriented, and because I am so longwinded I never established a twitter presence, we wanted some kind of visual interest to break up 1500 pages of characters having long-winded emotional discussions. Whatever your thoughts are on Rose's obligation to play the rain, it looked pretty cool.

So having Rose play the rain - and forcing the other kids to complete their planet quests - was mostly a choice made out of narrative convenience, and although I have many problems with canon's ending, Rose ditching her quest for good is not one of them. However, I definitely did not want to force Rose to become a good, obedient SBURB player who happily ushers a new world into its clutches. Which is why the true final boss of TLC is SBURB/Skaia itself, and Rose gets to lead the effort to dismantle it.

#tlc mail #also now that we have reached the weekend I will start thinking about act names

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alotofadhd · 10 months

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Big ramble about Fabiniku…

Okay so this LONG ass post is gonna focus on my interpretations of fabiniku aka “life with an ordinary guy who got reincarnated as a fantasy knockout” buckle up I got a lot of thoughts and I’m trying to get it all out in one(ish) post and I don’t think the thoughts all make sense:

I also feel like I’m saying the same thing 5x before I get to the point so apologies in advance….

Tachibana is the reason that Jinguuji has the power that he has. Tachibana loves Jinguuji and currently I am not talking about Love in the romantic sense. You can love family and friends just as deeply as a romantic partner. And this love is why the goddess was drawn to him and this love is why Jinguuji is so dang strong day one. But I also believe we can pinpoint exactly where the turn from platonic to romantic happened and what that means for jinguuji’s strength.

This also plays into my theories on tachibana’s lack of strength.

At the start of the whole story the curse makes both protagonists “see” each other but it’s way easier for Tachibana to get past and ignore it seemingly than Jinguuji. It is theorised by many that that’s because Jinguuji has loved tachibana the whole time pre-isekai and is too repressed to understand any of it. Tachibana being a pretty girl and the two of them being cursed to actually “see” each other just punches him in the face with his OWN feelings. on the other hand Tachibana is just like “okay I’m totally into my friend now and I’ll be keeping that nightmare to myself(ish)”. We don’t see Tachibana struggling a much as Jinguuji does. (Tho they do struggle)

But then the robot fight happens and Jinguuji praised the shit out of his best friend and Tachibana can barely take the embarrassment of it all which causes Jinguuji to fully and genuinely laugh in front of Tachibana for probably the first time EVER. That whole moment put Jinguuji to Tachibana’s heart in a way he previously wasn’t. This is when we see Tachibana get charmed for first time too.

After this In the Manga, when the two encounter the elf on the ship Jinguuji strikes a major hit against her new weapon that mimics what heart beam would look like later in the arc. I believe this is because Tachibana’s feelings for him have grown and he is now capable of even more than before.

Then the single time we have seen the two be emotionally vulnerable with each other (in terms of their feelings for one another) it has resulted in a power boost for Jinguuji and him using heart beam. Tachibana refused to let jinguuji get away with his bullshit and made him call them cute! This moment tho was all spurred on by Tachibana. The blessing was given by Tachibana. Tachibana is the source of it all.

So long story short: Tachibana’s love makes Jinguuji strong.

But then the question is if Tachibana’s platonic love alone was enough to make jinguugi strong why isn’t the reverse true? Jinguuji clearly cares for Tachibana more than anything just because he refuses to call it love doesn’t change that the feelings are there? Well…

Tachibana, being the Hero, is the source of Jinguuji’s power, as the weapon, and I doubt the weapon can affect the hero directly. This is why I don’t think jinguuji’s love for tachibana wether named or not matters in the magic sense of it all.(tho it definitely matters over all)

I think Tachibana’s love is the source of Tachibana’s power and the one thing we truly haven’t seen is Tachibana Loving themselves. They didn’t love themselves before being isekai’d and they don’t now. And being put in a strange body with what look like only hinderances attached to it doesn’t help. The one time we’ve seen strength/skill come from Tachibana was again when they were being emotionally vulnerable and demanding the acknowledgment they felt they deserved.

1. They had a handle on a robot they should have had no idea how to use. Also they were good strategic attacks

2. Over powered Jinguuji for the forehead kissy.

I don’t think Tachibana is going to grow in skill and strength till they’re able to truly accept and love themselves.

And I think that Jinguuji is as much a part of the problem as he is the solution.

Well intentioned or not, Jinguugi does not accept Tachibana as they currently are and hasn’t made it a secret AT ALL. Even if Tachibana was in agreement the whole time after a while the constant reminders that “you are wrong” would get to anyone.

It’s a weird way to put it but I think they have a co-dependent relationship and time a part would strengthen there relationship and by extension Tachibana’s power maybe? Like self love plays into any relationship and I feel like the two of these idiots are growing more unhealthy in the relationship by the day… idk

I think Jinguuji is going to have to at minimum accept his friend where they’re at and commit to taking the journey with them and emotionally support them thru this genuinely tough time. But I also know Jinguuji is an idiot and won’t do this…

I’m cutting my self off if y’all want more ask…

FINAL NOTES: Jinguuji during the robot fight didn’t regain strength unti AFTER he acknowledged he was jealous of Tachibana’s attention and when he agreed to start praising Tachibana. Idk if that mean that Jinguuji’s had to comply with tachibana to keep his strength or if it is more of a reflection that their relationship needs to be strong in order for him to be strong… I feel like I am still close with my above interpretation but also I think I have thought myself into a hole… save me I’m stuck down here…

#fabiniku #life with an ordinary guy who reincarnated into a total fantasy knockout #long post #ramblings #a lot a lot #interpretation

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