#WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO PETTILY TERRIBLE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

artist-issues · 5 months

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Hello! My ask is about The Rise Of Skywalker. I would like to read your analysis of Reylo's scenes such as their dialogues in the film, Rey's declaration to Ben ("I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand."), Ben's return to the light side and the reylo kiss. The declaration, Ben's return and the kiss, for me, are the only good things about this film.

I thought all of the Rise of Skywalker was really terrible. Terrible writing, terrible plot, and even some pretty terrible characterizations. (I thought the actors did their best, though.)

Basically, ROS had several threads that TLJ and TFA had braided together. All it needed to do was tie those threads off. But instead, it unraveled them and tangled them up and said “done! All tied up!”

For example:

Thread 1: Finn’s journey from fear to faith.

Thread 2: Leia’s hope for her son.

Thread 3: Poe’s journey from hero to leader.

Thread 4: Hux’s growing, rabid desire for control. (It’s why the organization’s called the First “ORDER”)

Thread 5: Kylo Ren’s learning that power won’t make him feel secure.

Thread 6: Rey’s learning that she doesn’t need to be “somebody” because it’s all about something bigger than herself.

Thread 7: Kylo Ren and Rey learning their respective lessons by finding the answers in each other.

TLJ took what TFA started and got you those threads. Then TROS said “never mind, we don’t like those threads” with most of them. For example, Poe and Finn suddenly have nothing to do. For example, Finn is not doing anything that requires the faith he began building at the end of TLJ; he’s just following Rey around. Poe is not learning how to lead, he’s just info-dumping and trying quick three-man hero missions, unlike the lesson he learned at the end of TLJ. Hux is not strategizing with rabid extremism for control; he’s just pettily throwing his life away to get back at Kylo Ren. Et Cetera. The threads all get unraveled or tangled up or left dangling uselessly.

EXCEPT for Thread 7.

They make an attempt at “Kylo Ren and Rey learning their respective lessons by deepening their bond.” The problem is, without the other threads, that one just doesn’t fit any better than the rest of the story.

First off, I 100% agree that Kylo Ren and Rey would be involved romantically, in some way, eventually. There’s literally no way around it. Romantic attachment is choosing to commit to someone on an intimate level. Because they’re Force Bonded, and because they are the only people in the universe who have similar identity crises and deep family-related angst, they were bound to intimately understand each other. They started caring about each other in TLJ. All TROS had to do was fan the flames of that care up in a way that led to their character developments concluding.

Rey just needed to demonstrate more of the letting-go she demonstrated at the end of TLJ: she wants Kylo Ren to be Light, but she realizes there’s nothing she can do to force it, even if she begs and pleads, so she just keeps doing the right thing on her end and trusts the Force, believing he’ll come to the right conclusion in the end no matter how much evil he’s done. What’s that ladies and gentlemen? It’s called ✨ unconditional love. ✨

Then Kylo Ren just needed to see that love. Literally, just see and continuously experience it. Even if he’s trying to hunt her down and kill her or take everything from her or whatever, she just keeps refusing to kill him and believing he’ll turn good. After all, that’s more than his parents did for him back when they sent him away—and since then, whatever unconditional love Rey shows him is strengthened by the examples of unconditional love Han Solo and Luke showed right before they died. Plus the alternative to accepting unconditional love—murdering everything that might give him a sense of power—hasn’t been making him feel any better. So he was primed for redemption via Rey.

That’s all they needed to do in TROS. Not so hard, just write a reason for her to save his life or spare it again, even after their previous encounter and even given his new status as Supreme Leader. He’s halfway there. Continued pushes are all that’s needed.

Just like Luke Skywalker in the Revenge of the Sith, Rey and Kylo Ren don’t really need to develop much more in the final movie of their trilogy. They just need to put what the first two movies taught them to a big final test.

Anyway. With that in mind:

Let me give you the bite-sized version 😅

The Force-Searching Scenes - I don’t like these because they’re all Kylo Ren searching for Rey, with little to no engagement from her. She feels more like she’s given up on him in these scenes and is just trying to win an argument whenever he barges into her brain. He, on the other hand, might be looking for her, but it’s with one hand on his grandfather’s mask. Which is totally the opposite of him “letting the past die. Kill it, if you have to.” So he’s taking weird steps backward, toward TFA, as if TLJ never happened… and that tarnishes his motives for finding Rey, in my mind. If he’s going back to trusting the past and the idea of his grandfather, then why does he want to turn Rey to the dark side? When Vader failed to turn Luke, he tried to murder him. Kylo Ren knows that. So meditating on a mask he should be giving up on in order to find and turn Rey makes no sense, so it takes the tension out of those scenes for me.

Fight Scenes - Again, it makes no sense that Kylo Ren would still be pursuing turning Rey to the dark side so doggedly. Neither of them could convince the other at the end of TLJ. They split a lightsaber in half to prove it. Now, that doesn’t mean they should be giving up on each other completely. But Kylo Ren should be acting like he’s given up on her, even if just to convince himself. That’s what he’s done this whole time: turned to killing the people who fail him to make himself feel more powerful. She has a reason to keep believing in him: she’s on the Light Side of the Force. But instead, she’s the one acting like she wants nothing more to do with him. He mentions how he’s going to turn her to the dark side multiple times in the movie. But she doesn’t say more than one quipped question hinting that she still wants him on the light side. So the “attachment” focus of their fights loses all it’s tension because again, it doesn’t make sense. After TLJ, he should be at least trying to give up on her and pursue killing her, if anything. And she should be steadfastly believing in him, while pursuing doing the right thing no matter what he does. That’s where they were in their character development. More fighting barely makes sense.

Healing Scene - I liked this scene only when Rey heals Kylo Ren. Their fight beforehand, and her ramming his lightsaber into him, still makes no sense. She’s angry at him because of her connection to Palpatine and she’s fighting him like that’s going to exorcise her identity…but Rey being a dark, angry descendant of Palpatine never made sense (it unravels her whole character development.) So her motivations in this scene don’t make sense…until she heals him. Then, suddenly, there’s a glimpse of that Rey we left on the Millenium Falcon in TLJ: she’s healing him, even though he might just stand up and attack her again, because she genuinely believes he’s Ben and she just needs to show him mercy until he comes around to believing it. And THAT is part of what turns him. So I like that: I just think it was executed really poorly. She should never have been healing him from a wound she caused.

The Kiss - The kiss was just basically the TROS storytellers confirming that they were romantically attached instead of just enemies-to-friends/Allie’s attached. Because…for some reason they had to confirm that visually. I just think, again, that they didn’t set it up and execute it well. They have no conversations and no significant attention paid toward each other between the healing scene and the final battle. They might be force-linked, but the audience needed to see that bond turned romantic, or him turned good before any overt romantic gestures, much earlier on. Other than that, I like that he healed her. I love Adam Driver’s acting in that whole scene. Makes me wish they gave him more to do.

The Death Scene - This should not have happened. It was lazy. Kylo Ren is a character who has been trying to fulfill himself by making BIG, final (emphasis on “final”) choices. Having him make one more big final choice, to end his own life, was not good character development. He should’ve had to live with what he’d done so he could learn from his mistakes. That’s where his whole character was headed. He’s always failed to learn from his past: he thinks he can just erase it. You know what giving up your life for a different hero and then fading away is? It’s nice, but it’s just another “erase” choice. Additionally? It’s terrible for Rey’s story, too. She finally had someone she chose, someone she waited for who actually came back, somebody who understood her…somebody who’s redemption rewarded her long faith…and she’s left alone again. That’s just the worst. Plus, what did she need him to heal her for? What exactly did she die of? He was way more injured than she was.

What they should’ve done was, Kylo Ren and Rey save the day, and then he’s condemned to death for his crimes by the New Republic, but in honor of Leia’s life of sacrifice and belief in him, he’s given enough of a pardon to simply be banished to the unknown reaches. And Rey goes with him, because she can finally stop waiting, she loves seeing the galaxy, and they can learn about the Force together…plus, they’re obviously deeply connected. And that would be a great homage to Leia’s legacy as a character who never gives up on hope, and that hope is ultimately rewarded. Instead of having her give her life to reach him…so he can live for an hour or so before also dying.

Long story short…you’re right! I just think all the elements you liked should’ve been way more central, built up to, and placed where they fit in a better movie!

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ghostenluvs · 2 months

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story where some random woman becomes queen of a kingdom where the throne is said to be cursed because of all the coincidental heir-to-the-throne deaths and is absolutely not on board with this, she was perfectly content with her edge of the land territory where she could actually have a moment of peace bc people weren't constantly kicking down her doors all day about the land's horrible management problems because she actually did her job looking out for the welfare of her citizens and the entire kingdom wasn't aggressively debating her legitimacy.

so what does she do? abdicate like a normal person? no. she's extra and I want her to do things impractically so I can have a story.

so girlboss just engages in incredibly and increasingly convoluted plots to stage her own dethroning and every single time it just does the exact opposite of what she wants it to do.

fake someone else having more legit claim to the throne? accidentally uncover irrefutable evidence of the next five people in line actually having committed treason.

try and hire someone to stage a fake coup? the guys she hired fail so badly at it that they accidentally storm the wrong castle and now they're wanted next kingdom over for the most pathetic attempt at a hostile takeover in the past 600 years of recorded history.

try and get a fortune teller to fake prophesise that she'd suck as queen and needs to leave? the wizard advisor who got rid of the last 16 heirs because their vibes all sucked slides the fortune teller 20 bucks extra to prophesise the opposite.

so these two people are engaging in barely concealed to the court antics in attempts to either Not have to deal with all the crud rulers have to deal with or keep the current one in place because the past guys were all pathetic and she may hate it but she actually does her job pretty okay.

she may hate being queen but it's not like she's going to screw over the kingdom at large and it's citizens to get out of it.

eventually she gets desperate and tries to fake her kidnapping by like a dragon or something in exchange for some gold and the dragon and the wizard are old pals from fantasy hijinks college and this woman is halfheartedly yoinked from a picnic and dropped in a really tall tree literally anybody with rope and a ladder could get up and she's back grumpily drawing up ethical infrastructure upkeep plans in less than two hours.

wizard advisor grinning smugly at her while she, exhaustedly and frustrated that nobody would do this before her, signs union protections into law while her attempt of the day to go off and live in a cottage somewhere fails loudly in the background.

she just wants to sleep in past 6 am and not have to deal with big social minefield parties and also not have to deal with assassins from the families of the past 16 terribly pathetic rulers for ten seconds meanwhile court wizard ameilia is forcing her to attend alliance meetings and bringing to her attention the egregious policy failings of the past rulers that she can't just LEAVE LIKE THAT.

so this goes on until eventually most of the glaring issues have been addressed and she just realizes hey wait why didn't I just coordinate a coup with wizard ameilia so she could do all this instead since she's so insistent on fixing everything.

and then she asks and wizard ameilia admits that she also hates paperwork but somebody had to do it.

and then she just pettily throws the contents of her inkwell at her and goes back to reversing some random past king's dumb law he made because he wanted to save face for some dumb embarrassing thing he did while also writing herself a not to assign wizard woman ameilia nine extra court responsibilities and an apprentice so if the next ruler after her sucks at their job they can force some random person with some level of morals into enacting ethical policy too.

this probably makes no sense and I am writing this 46 minutes past midnight but I think it's funny and if I actually put this into chaptered writing I am not really focusing on the ethics or political side of things. I am entirely doing this just to see how far into absurdity I can push this woman's 'someone please dethrone me I need a nap' plotting.

#<!3 #writing tag #my stories tag #ameilia and the queen #< working story title.#writing #wizards #sillies tag #my ocs

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mayo-advance · 1 year

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Well if it’s a Peter Maximoff request you want then how about one of him with a reader who is notoriously bad at card games and always loses, so one day she just goes to Peter and is like: I need your help to hustle these guys. And then through the excitement and intimacy of being partners in a (pettily small and low stakes) con they grow to become partners for real.

Luck of the Draw

Peter Maximoff x Reader Blurb

A/N: I know its been a month im so sorry bae schoolwork has had me in a chokehold. Anyways I didn’t have time to write the full fic but heres a blurb that I may or may not finish someday. I hope you like what I did manage to write.

~500 Words

————————

Just give it up, I’m not ever going to be any good at this”

You had just lost your fifteenth game of Go Fish… After losing about twelve games of Crazy Eights… And ten games of Poker. It was time to admit it, you fuckin’ sucked at card games. Even if you had good strategy, you never got good cards.

“I told you Pete, I can’t win at card games. Not even the baby ones. How the hell do you expect me to win against people who do this all the time?”

Peter looked across the table at you while shuffling with his super speed. “You asked for my help sweets.”

“Why can’t you just use your speed to swap out my cards? Aren’t you a kleptomaniac or whatever?” You knew that he was but-

“First I need to know you can at least appear to be winning.” Peter started dealing a new hand. “Here, lets try BlackJack, since thats what you’ll actually be playing.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. He’s never been a stickler for the rules, so why start now?

He shuffled them one more time and smiled cheekily back at you as he dealt you your cards.

“Ace low or high?” He asks.

You shrug, “high.”

Peter smiles and places a card in front of you. A King. 10 points. “See? You might not be out of luck yet.”

You stare down at the card, briefly glancing up at him. “Watch my other card be a two.”

Peter pulls a second card from the deck, looking at it where you can’t see it. He smiles a cheshire grin, and places the card down.

An Ace. 21 points. A BlackJack.

Fucking finally.

“You did that on purpose speedy.”

Peter shrugged, playing innocent, “maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”

“And whats your hand?”

Peter turns over two twos.

You let out an exasperated sigh, trying not to smile. “Damn it Pete. The one game I win and its because you cheated.”

Peter put his hands up defensively. “How did I cheat???” A smile tugged at the edge of his lips. “The cards have spoken, and it looks here like you have officially won.” He taps your cards.

“Wow, yeah, one win is really how I’m gonna get the information I need.” You were smiling now.

Peter gave you a wide grin, “Well, I suppose since you’ve beaten me so terribly, I could help you hustle these guys.”

#peter maximoff x reader #peter maximoff fluff #peter maximoff #quicksilver

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tarisilmarwen · 11 months

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Rebels Rewatch: "The Forgotten Droid"

Chopper goes on an adventure and makes a friend!

Already putting our Quasar to good use I see.

And Hera's using the map data from the ritual in "Legends of the Lasat", nice nice, love that that little element came back.

Hi Ketsu, not that it's not nice to see you but again I am sorely missing the legwork behind why you're buddy-buddy with the actual legit Rebellion this time. And NO the Forces of Destiny shorts do not count, you can't rely on outside material to fill in the gaps for you in a story that you're supposed to be telling in the main work.

The Sequel Trilogy was really bad about this and frankly some of the live action shows suffer a bit from this as well *coughbookofbobafett*.

Rebellion immediately running into the logistics problem that their carrier needs a lot of fuel, lol.

You know what I'm going to say, this is a really pretty location.

-squint- Do we revisit this station in "In The Name Of The Rebellion" or did we just reuse these assets?

Sabine patting Chopper on the dome. <3

Lol Chopper just full-body yanking on Ezra's leg to get his attention. And then Zeb and Ezra roasting Chopper. Such a sibling thing to do. XD

Chopper shows a remarkable array of emotion for an orange box.

Oh hey a fanfare! Haven't had one of those in a while.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Leftover smoke from Chopper's rocket following his wake.

Offscreen blaster shots immediately after the scene where Kanan cautions them to do things quietly lololol.

I love this gag. This episode is hysterical.

The little "arm movements" with Chopper's manipulators is really good, like right here it's a very clear, "Uhhhhhhh-oh." gesture.

Lol the Stormtroopers immediately assuming that the leg strut theft and the fuel theft are related.

I mean they are but still.

I really like this location.

These background Stormtroopers sound so tired at the constant Rebel activity lol.

Right, at this rate I'm just going to be laughing at everything I guess.

AP-5! I love him, he's so deadpan and anal-retentive about everything.

People are so mean to the droids in this universe sometimes.

And thus begins a beautiful friendship. <3

You can absolutely make out Chopper's dialogue in this episode.

Chopper and AP-5 bonding about being in the Ryloth campaign. <3

Oh hey, more examples of the Empire as the bloated state wasting useful valuable resources on menial tasks. (Applicable!)

Awww AP-5 telling his first lie.

I love the sheer Looney Tunes silliness of how Chopper "fights" the officer.

"Still a terrible plan." AP-5 how I love you.

Chopper's triumphant dome twirl when they jettison the cargo and troopers. <3

"No, the first one to the bridge is not the captain!" Chopper is an actual child lololol.

Ooooh that pissed look on Hera's face, ha ha.

Ezra still not enjoying leaving people behind.

They don't have time to debate it further as the Empire found Phoenix cell in the middle of its wandering through open space. (How it's not revealed but I don't blame people back when this first aired for thinking there was a mole and it was Ketsu, since she's the one who suggested the Yost system which we later find out was already compromised.)

AP-5 pettily dropping the leg so he can cheat and take the captain spot LOLOLOLOL.

Chopper calling AP his friend awwwwwwwww.

Ketsu's assistance gets the TIEs off their back long enough to dock with the stolen fuel.

"You owe me one." I mean... she really doesn't.

Hera just looooves her exciting landings huh?

Hera fullnaming Chopper lol.

AP-5 already being super useful to the Rebellion by relaying that Yost is Imperial-occupied and finding them a new planet on the fly.

LOL Chopper just whapping the officer with the leg.

Awwwwwwww AP-5! Choosing to help Chopper and calling himself Chopper's friend in return. <3

Ooof, ah yep, he dead. With a blunt force hit like that to the chest and head that officer is definitely 100% dead.

:((((((((

ATOLLON, YAY!

AP-5's okay! :D

Lol the confused looks on Kanan, Zeb, and Ezra as the droids immediately fall to bickering.

Droid shenanigan episodes can be hit or miss (see TCW fandom's hatred of the droid arc) but this is all win material for me, Chopper making a nuisance of himself is hilarious and adorable and his budding friendship with AP-5 makes the episode unexpectedly heartwarming in places.

Plus! We resolve that pesky season-long problem of needing a safe base and collect another ally. AP-5 doesn't get to come to Lothal alas, but I'm sure the Alliance put him to very good use doing inventory on Yavin. :)

Gonna see if I can knock out "Mystery of Chopper Base" today too.

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #liveblog

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altblock-tm · 10 months

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OH WAIT lemme post that infodump from Discord I had about some cool OC ideas I had

So I have had slight story/worldbuilding ideas after the fact, but this was all the base stuff. the below is copied directly from Discord

Okay so I got some OC ideas from a dream

It was a little complex but let me just go over the basic outline

The thing took place in a castle repurposed into an theme park. there were a lot of circus/clown aesthetics, which ties in to one of the characters I dreamt about

The main character wasn't me. The person experiencing everything was this unnamed silver-haired femboy. But not much about their character was shown in the dream

The other characters were ghosts

The first one was named in the dream. His name was Castarian, and I LOVE HIM he's a sweetie. so nice and anxious and sad but still helpful to the protag. He stayed in one room and never showed himself, but did his best to direct and give hints to the protag. I was starting to get hints on why he hid himself when I woke up, but I still knew enough to come up with stuff on my own

The second one wasn't named, but I decided he should be called Drisco. This BITCH. he was trapped in a mirror, but an essential part of the dream was talking and interacting with him. he's one of the classic jester type characters, and he looks kinda like Harlequin (he has a black and white mask, his stupid little clown clothes are black and red, and he has the aesthetic of card suits). his main goal was to be freed from the mirror, but since the protag didn't trust him, he just played games with them in there instead

Despite him being dead and stuck in a mirror, he has incredible access to dark magic. literally the darkest part of the dream was making a goddamn blood sacrifice to him so the protag could revive someone from the dead. option one was the protag's own mother (if I remember correctly, the protag's main goal of the dream was to find someway in the castle to bring her back from the dead?), next was Drisco himself, and the third option was Castarian

the protag didn't trust their mother in Drisco's hands and didn't want to release him, so they chose Castarian. they wanted to see what he looked like and thank him for he help :)

Drisco just laughed and was like "Cassie? Him? Really? Okay, I'll go talk to him!"

and Drisco disappeared for a while to talk to Castarian. Castarian was not happy to talk to Drisco, but when Drisco talked about reviving him and why the protag wanted to do it, Castarian got really anxious about them seeing him.

Drisco got bored and reminded Castarian that in order to complete the ritual, they needed something intangible in exchange for reviving him. Castarian told him that he'll owe a favor, because he wants Drisco to cover up what he looks like with an illusion as well. Drisco started to demand more, but Castarian demanded he do that. Reluctantly, Drisco complied

and then I WOKE UP. So mad about that I wanted to interact with Castarian more :( he's my boy

but I did get a glimpse of what Castarian looked like! he was part human, part boar. kind of looked like how people draw Technoblade, but the burly version where he's big and furry. his fur was a light brown and he was very VERY fluffy and soft

he was so anxious to hide himself because he thought the protag would be scared of him. he was killed by people who thought he was a monster, stabbing him through the heart. so when Drisco did revive him, Drisco hid him in an illusion of a human. Drisco would pettily antagonize Castarian for this

Castarian used to be human, but he gained the favor of a fey who blessed him with the strength of a boar, and welp here he is. they also blessed him in another way- to help with how terrible he was at being assertive, every demand he made to someone magically enforce someone to do what he ordered. Castarian learned to be careful with his wording and instead phrase things as helpful suggestions so he didn't accidentally force someone to obey a command

but Drisco's illusion wasn't even Castarian's true human form? he had long messy hair as a human, but Castarian has become so anxious about his self-image that Drisco covers him up with a neater, clean-cut, "perfect" version of him.

my conclusions from the dream are that Castarian is a lovely boy. he's anxious because he's like 9 feet tall in his boar form and super burly and strong now and horrifying enough for people to kill him for being a monster. but he's so fluffy and so sweet,,, I wanna pet him fr

Drisco's a bitch. funky little gay guy with some nuance to him, but has that chaotic clown bastard energy.

he and Castarian's interactions have a weird divorced vibe. these bitches have so much tension between them and it's so funny. Drisco knows he'll get destroyed in a fight with Castarian (especially while he's in boar form) so he manipulates Castarian's self-hatred to make him feel bad :(

#artbabble-tm #long post #ocs #oc: Drisco #oc: Castarian #to this day I haven't had any ideas about that aforementioned femboy protag #and I had this dream in march #I'll reblog this later with notes on additions/revisions I made to worldbuilding and story #they aren't much but they're really fun to play around with

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existentialmagazine · 9 months

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Review: Dansy’s storming alternative-pop anthem ‘Bad Actress’ dances through self-confidence and frustrations with an unapologetic air

The unapologetic upcoming alternative-pop artist Dansy has been busting down the doors of the music scene since she entered it in 2021, plowing through with groundbreaking singles you’ll be glad you heard before they blew up. As a self-proclaimed “strong, thick, queer woman of colour”, this tour de-force of an artist looks to show you what you’ve been missing out on, and her newest single ‘Bad Actress’ does just that.

Thundering through an alternative-pop angst and undertone of empowered angsty Avril Lavigne-esque pop-punk, ‘Bad Actress’ storms into your eardrums with an all-consuming desire to be heard and truly listened to. Wrapped within the openings of a looping, moody electric guitar riff, ‘Bad Actress’ right away establishes a tenseness on the surface, building up to something you can tell is going to be grand. Gravelly distorted guitar strums soon pound in along with intermittent drum clashes as the staple guitar riff fades out, adding a darker edge to the track’s continuing calm before the storm, all the while Dansy’s strong, self-assured vocals find themselves rightfully taking your full focus. Half pettily, half proudly delivering each line, ‘Bad Actress’ spills from her confident tongue with an ease you can’t help but feel empowered by. The chorus clashes into a euphoric high, rising from these murky undertones into a full-fledged moment of high frictions and a wall of sound determined to break out of the nearing three minute shackles it’s created within. As her vocals leap into a dominant higher range, Dansy really shows off the extent of her commanding singing and how utterly infectious it can become. Between her crazy rhyme schemes and a beat you’ll find yourself dancing and head-banging along with, Dansy has woven a song that’s vigorously exceptional, recreating any expectation of what you’d expect from alternative-pop and bringing her own flair to the table.

The multifaceted lyrical unfolding of ‘Bad Actress’ is one that’ll surely leave you thinking for a long time after pressing play, delving through Dansy’s unwinding streams of consciousness. As she runs through judgements on those who are consistently dishonest and twisting the truth to their own benefit, Dansy explores the way many manipulate those around them and can never accept their faults: ‘I don’t understand why people practice saying things they know deep down never happened.’ Merging these behaviours with Dansy’s own contrasting experiences, she sings ‘I’m a bad actress, I’m terrible at lying’ , finding herself swept up in others’ strings of exploitation and expected to play the part. But her character simply never allows her to follow through with it as lines like ‘there’s always consequences to my actions, consider it a blessing and a curse, call it drama, call it karma, call my bluff’ make it pretty clear that her speaking the truth will always come to fruition. Further continuing ‘my opinion won’t stay hidden’, Dansy makes it clear she’s quite the character, candidly herself regardless of the wreckage it may cause to be so blunt and honest. As people attempt to blur their truth into reality and leave her second-guessing herself, lines like ‘you’re trying to confuse me’ show the deep-rooted strength Dansy bears, trusting herself always and letting no one deter her from the reality she’s lived through. With a lot to unpack inside of ‘Bad Actress’ , there are really many ways you can interpret what is being explored, and that of course makes it all the more fun to listen to.

Check out ‘Bad Actress’ here to appreciate Dansy’s powerful narrative and anthemically loud sound.

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Unknown

// This coverage was created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.

#music #singlereview #dansy

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veliseraptor · 2 years

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💣

Ship that pisses you off: 💣

"pisses me off" as opposed to "don't like"? is I assume what this is talking about. because there are definitely ships that - idk, I have a viscerally bad response to, but I don't know that I'd describe them as making me angry. Frustrating me, perhaps. I'm probably mincing words here and I should just think of this as major notps because this is the closest question to getting at that than others on this meme.

leaving off "ships that piss me off in certain specific iterations of them, it's not that I feel that way about the ship itself but every so often versions of it do provoke that response" and also "ships I don't like but they just sort of mildly irritate me more than anything." also putting this under a cut because this is going to be the most blatant/overt ship negativity I've had for these asks and - yeah

(it's actually a pretty short list. might be forgetting things but here goes)

Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue. I suspect there are several reasons for why I have such a viscerally negative reaction to this ship but I don’t think I need to go into them, it’s not terribly relevant, I just know that I just realized I don’t have this ship tag filtered and I probably should.

There are a couple other CQL/MDZS pairings that verge on this for me but none of them that have quite crossed over from “vaguely irritating” to “actually makes me upset” with the exception of, I guess, Songxiao but that’s less “pisses me off” than it is “makes me unhappy” which isn’t quite the same thing. Sangcheng is getting close but hasn’t quite hit that point yet. Xicheng is...irksome to me mostly because of the combination of its popularity with the fact that it feels nonsensical to me but it doesn’t make me mad.

Loki/Tony. I’ve talked about this before and it’s not as much of a thing as it was once upon a time when I was more in the MCU fandom (see the two below for the same), but boy for a while did I get extremely annoyed when I saw this one. I think it was a combination of oversaturation and “I don’t like how people are shipping this.”

Steve/Tony. Same here! It was everywhere for a period of time and, as so often happens with ships I don’t much care for, I started getting really pissy about it. And then it was succeeded with pretty much the identical reaction/response by:

Steve/Bucky. Still feel bad about this, in a vague sort of way. But it’s not like I was ever mean to anyone about it. I was just kind of pettily bitchy occasionally on my own blog and mostly in my own head.

Valkyrie/Carol. I just remembered this one actually! It annoyed me so much. And I think there were a few reasons for that, some of which boiled down to “Maria Rambeau is right there” but also just...the way that people wrote/talked about it...irked me.

Sam/Gabriel back when I was in Supernatural was a pairing that I legit hated for, again, a few different reasons. I had an overpowering resentment of Destiel at the time that still lingers a little bit, but I actually think now I feel more strongly negative feelings about Sam/Gabriel than about Destiel. And I feel like it’s unfair of me to blame Destiel as a pairing for certain segments of its fanbase, which is probably why it doesn’t bug me so much anymore (because I’m not interacting with the fanbase).

I feel like there were pairings from A Song of Ice and Fire fandom I felt this way about, but on those I feel like either I've changed my mind or my rage has cooled sufficiently that I wouldn't put them on this list anymore.

#ship negativity #lise memes #conversating #anonymous

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hiraemy · 3 years

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Lumine and the Goblet of Fire [part 2]

[part one]

word count: 2.7k

Act Two: Lumine and the stupid rumors

For some reason, it seems like Hogwarts students liked to gossip. A lot.

Really. It hadn’t passed a single week since the champion announcement, but it seemed like they had already traced a rough profile on all three competitors.

According to rumors, Albedo was the incredible handsome prefect of Ravenclaw. He was nothing but polite to teachers and creatures that lived in the school, however, he didn’t seem to be interested in anything that didn’t catch his attention, and liked to keep himself at a safe distance from other people. He did have a little sister named Klee, a Gryffindor first-year infamous for her pranks and for being at detention constantly. Also, some people claimed that Albedo was secretly Miss Lisa and Miss Jean’s secret love child(?)

In contrast, the rumors surrounding Childe were more… Disturbing, per say. Everywhere he went he attracted a bunch of girls who thought that could stalk him without anyone noticing— including the guy himself. Those girls, in turn, were the responsible for telling the whole school that Childe had some scars in his arms and back and trained his body a lot (not the magical kind of training though), and that he was part of a delinquent gang. Also, he apparently had at least three siblings, all of them taking their studies in Durmstrang and visiting Hogwarts for the time-being. When asking other students from their academy, it was confirmed that Childe’s best subject was the Dark Arts. Not the classic Defense of the Dark Arts, the one that was teached in Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, but the Dark Arts itself.

How reassuring.

However, when it came to rumors about herself, Lumine was lowkey salty. Not that she wanted to have a bunch of creepy stalkers following her into the Beauxbatons chambers, like Albedo and Childe probably had to deal with, but it was some kind of disappointing that the only thing that people could gather about her was her name, Paimon and Aether’s names, the fact that Aether was her twin and that Paimon was a half-fairy. Not even her favourite subject was discovered! How... disappointing.

“As cute as you are when you’re upset, stop pouting.” Aether shoved a finger in her cheek playfully, a teasing smirk gracing his lips.

“I’m not pouting!” Lumine glared at him, pretending to bite at the offending finger pettily.

“Yes, you are,” Paimon chipped on her twin’s other side, stuffing her mouth with the delicious breakfast offered by the school. “Shouldn’t you be more upset? Paimon is really glad that you’re not angry about the Tournament anymore, but—”

“And who said I’m not angry?” Lumine bickered, narrowing her eyes and chewing the bread with a pissed look. She gathered all the sarcasm she had in her body to rant. “I’m the only one in this group that has the brain cells to actually know that getting angry with you two will take me nowhere, especially that now I need to beat down god-knows-what fucking creature because certain someone made me enter this shitty competition and now I need to win against the genius of the century, which coincidentally, comes from the Hogwarts house that is clearly known for being full of prodigious geniuses, not to mention the smiling psychopath that comes from a school who teaches the uses of Dark Magic and also specializes in that same art, so the chances that he could curse me to the point that I drop dead in the blink of an eye makes me really confident that nothing could ever go wrong—”

Aether shoves another loaf of bread into her mouth, interrupting the stressed rant and earning himself a hateful glare from the blonde.

“Just go and say that you’re jealous” He said nonchalantly, Paimon nodding along. Lumine felt her cheeks flare up in anger, her eyebrows shooting upwards

“What? No! I’m not upset about that! Why the hell should I be mad about not getting enough attention for my skills?” Immediately after the words escaped her mouth she regretted them, Aether sending his best deadpan look.

"There you go. See? Wasn’t that hard, was it?”

Lumine sighed.

Two weeks passed in a blink. Really. At some point, Lumine learned that she was terrible at controlling her thoughts— even more when she went to sleep. It was like a switch was flicked on her head, allowing her brain to go downhill with each possible way things could go wrong. An Abyss Mage invading her exam and burning her to death, a Whooperflower blooming out of nowhere and killing her with ice spikes or the air currents suddenly blowing her off her broomstick while in air. She felt like she woke up breathless too many times in those last weeks.

A bit too soon for her liking, the day of the first trial came.

The three Champions were led into a tent at the back of the arena with Mr. Alberich. No visitors were allowed, meaning that Lumine didn’t have Aether or Paimon to soothe her nerves— even if outside her face was still as stone, she felt like screaming on the inside. Albedo and Childe didn’t seem nervous, although she could notice Albedo messing with his fingers like a nervous tick. The Durmstrang student, however, seemed more bored than anything else.

At some point, there was a reporter trying to make her give a statement about how she felt about the tournament and what she did think about her peers— no, no way in hell she would ever admit being intimidated by them, thank you—, but her quiet answers probably made her quickly uninterested, so she went to snoop on Childe and Albedo. Did she feel guilty? No, they had seen it coming. That’s on them for being attractive, right?

“Enough talking, let’s take our draws for now.” Mr. Alberich interrupted the woman with a sigh, saving Albedo from his torture and showing a dust bag in front of Childe. “We’re going in the order decided by the Goblet—so, Mr. Childe, then Mr. Albedo and then Miss Lumine.”

The reporter left the tent after being shoed away and Childe put his hand on the bag. The way Kaeya held it made it impossible to see what was inside. His arm went deep until his elbows, and then he pulled something in his closed fist. Opening his fingers dramatically, it revealed a pretty heart-shaped crystal that was slightly transparent as water itself.

“Mr. Childe, your opponent is going to be Rhodeia of Loch, also known as Oceanid of Qingce. I’m expecting a good demonstration from you” He stated with a slight smirk, moving quickly so he was in front of Albedo. Lumine didn’t miss the satisfied look from Childe, but she preferred to not overthink too much.

Albedo repeated the same action from the ginger boy, pulling a dark blue fang from the bag. Kaeya’s eyes darkened slightly, before announcing, his shoulder tensing slightly.

“Mr. Albedo, you drew the Wolf of the North, Andrius. While I wouldn’t underestimate your abilities, I must warn you that this one is a particular feral beast. Wish you the best of luck” Lumine furrowed her eyebrows. The difference between Childe and Albedo’s speeches were so strikingly obvious that she knew that besides the magical abilities, the trial had a luck factor. She wasn’t happy with that.

Her luck nowadays was... Abysmal.

“Miss Lumine,” Mr. Alberich stood in front of her with the bag open, and she nodded, not wasting any time before shoving her arm down.

Her fingers brushed at the bottom, her mind providing that the bag probably was enhanced by a space spell, and she could feel various objects at the fingerprints, but wasn’t able to recognise any of them. Deciding to rely completely on her luck, she pulled the southwest one, rectrating her arm with a light-blue feather on it. Mr.Alberich’s eyes went wide at the sight before quickly recomposing himself, his shoulders heavy and lips pressed.

“This… Miss Lumine, this is Dvalin’s plume. Your opponent will be the dragon Dvalin, also popularly known as Stormterror, the Erstwhile King of the Skies. Good luck”

She shivered. Luck was never on her side, wasn’t it? Kaeya shifted, making the bag disappear from his hands with a flick of his wand, properly turning so he could address all of them with a professional tone.

“The goal in this first test is simple. You need to obtain those objects you drew from your opponent. It could be easily achieved when the beasts are dead or unconscious.” He explained, face stern. “Any questions?"

"Is it really necessary to defeat them?" Albedo asked, receiving a raised eyebrow from almost everyone in the tent.

"Not exactly, but I wouldn't count on that. I really doubt you convince the Wolf of the North to give you a fang, genius or not. However, if you can manage to collect, the trial will be considered a success even if you don’t take Andrius down. Is that all, Mr. Albedo?" When he didn’t protest any further, Kaeya proceeded, nodding to himself. "Okay. Now, we will shortly begin the preparations. There will be a screen on here so you can watch each other’s performances, but you won’t be allowed to leave the tent until the last champion completes her test, understood?”

“Yes!”

“Great. Now, give me a second. I’ll come fetch Mr.Childe shortly.”

"Hey, girlie"

Lumine flinched. A loud laugh came from behind her and she felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment, immediately correcting her posture so she could at least pretend that she wasn't daydreaming. Yeah, it didn’t fool anyone, but who cares?

"Calm down a bit, wont'ya?" The man, who she registered a bit too late as Childe, shot her a teasing smirk. "You look like a scared rabbit trying to gather their guts. It makes me uneasy, like I’m throwing you into the fire pitch or something,"

"Shut it!" Lumine glared at him, making the ginger haired man let out a laugh. From that angle, she almost could forget that he exhaled some dark vibes. Almost. She liked to think that she was a rational woman, not one to be allured by some good looks, and she trusted her gut enough to suspect when things were shady, even if it came from a pretty boy like him.

Yeah. She wasn’t going to be charmed by a smirk. Even if Childe was handsome.

Yeah, no way.

"You shouldn’t worry too much." He continued, obviously ignoring how Lumine glared at him.

"And why do you say that?" She crossed her arms in her chest, her hand palming the wand hidden in her clothes. Just by precaution.

"Because I heard of you, Lumine. I know who you are, a rough profile of your brother and your strange fairy. I also know a lot about your habits, the subjects you like the most, your strengths and weaknesses, the things you’re allergic to, and even some psychological analysis."

"...you realize how disturbing that sounds, right…?"

"I'm a kind of a bad guy, but I won’t give you that kind of trouble" He laughed again, ignoring the way she squinted her eyes.

"So you admit you're suspicious." Lumine deadpanned.

"Let's say that I just happen to have a really good network. Naturally I know a lot of things, especially from you and from that other Hogwarts champion." Childe dismissed smoothly, waving his hand.

"That doesn't help at all"

“Hm… What about this? It seems like Albedo has something like a girlfriend. Or not. Everyone knows that they like each other, but for some reason, they aren’t together yet. Also, his little sister is a little terrorist who goes around the castle bombing everything, so the teachers are pleading for him to do something about her—” He mindlessly rambled with a shit-eating grin, making Lumine raise her eyebrow in confusion.

“And why you’re telling me that?” She interrupted Childe before he could go on something more personal about the blonde boy.

“If I prove myself to not be interested in you in a creepy way, just a professional, rival-like way, would you cut me some slack? I mean, you always look at me like I’m going to cut your head or something, so—”

“Can you blame me? This is the first time we’re talking and you admit you have been stalking me— or at least you made someone do it for you. That’s not a good first impression”

"Well, I—"

"Not to mention that you probably sent someone after Albedo's little sister. Isn't she in her first year? Yikes…"

"Now you're just making me feel bad…"

"Yeah, you should—"

"Mr. Childe, it's time to go." Mr. Alberich entered the tent, interrupting Lumine. She sent Childe a look, expecting him to just turn and go, but he stood there with a glint in his eyes. She raised her eyebrow questionably.

"Aren't you going to wish me good luck?" He tilted his head, smirking.

"Why should I? You're my opponent." Lumine pressed her lips stubbornly.

"You got me there" Childe giggled unaffected by her dismissal, turning around and giving her a lazy wave.

"You probably don't need it anyway." Lumine muttered, not expecting him to hear it. The ginger haired man smiled.

A sincere one.

"What is this…?" Lumine frowned, looking at the suspicious looking vase. Kaeya gave her an amused look, raising his visible eyebrow.

"Never seen an abode portkey before?" He smirked, standing in front of the vase. "It's an adeptus technology, Miss Lumine. It allows the existence of a pocket size alternative dimension, with different laws regarding time and physics. We can watch you from the outside, but you can't see us from the inside. The ministry provided these portkeys exclusively for the Tournament, so each Trial could be held safely, without any risks for the viewers and reducing the collateral damage."

"That's lowkey terrifying." She deadpanned, earning a laugh from the older wizard. "So, how do I use it?"

"Touch the vase and you'll be pulled into it. The abode will reveal it's exit once you defeat Stormterror and collect his plume. Worst-case scenario, you'll be teleported outside if you forfeit the challenge." He explained cooly, crossing his arms above his chest.

"And what if I can't forfeit?" It was Lumine's turn to tilt her head, golden eyes analysing carefully the older man's face. He narrowed his eyes and his lips pressed together.

"Let's hope it doesn't reach that point, right? As stated in the Triwizard Tournament's rules, outside interferences are not allowed, even if it is to guarantee the Champion's safety. So, unless you give us the go to rescue you, there's nothing we can do about the trial."

"... got it." She grimaced, ignoring the mental images the warning gave her. Kaeya gestured to touch the ceramic, guiding her hand so her fingertips touched the ceramic.

"Good luck, Miss Lumine."

She opened her mouth to thank him, when everything spun. She felt her hand glue itself into the vase, the sheer force of it sucking her limbs into a dark hole until all of her body parts folded into each other and flew into oblivion. Lumine felt her insides shake, wanting to puke her lunch, but as fast as it came, the sensation left.

When Lumine finally felt her toes touch the ground, she builded the courage to open her eyes(when did she close them?). Instead of the tent she was before, now she stood on a stone platform that seemed that it could be destroyed with a few hits. She couldn't see the ground from there, a lot of clouds and fog covering her view from how high it was. The winds blew aggressively, making her hair whip in her face leaving a bit of a sting in her cheeks, and her clothes couldn't be tamed on her body. She was suddenly glad that she chose a more practical outfit for this trial instead of the blue skirt from Beauxbatons uniform.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a roar. A loud, excruciating cry that echoed in every bone she had in her body. She couldn't exactly place it, but somehow… It was familiar. A painful and lonely sound that fell deaf to the void. From the deep bottom of the abode, Stormterror charged upwards, his wings cutting through the clouds and leaving behind harsh currents of pure power. Lumine covered her eyes with her arm, but even so, it was impossible to ignore the sheer beauty of the King of the Skies.

Fuck. She had to fight it.

#genshin #genshin impact #childe #lumine #aether #paimon #chilumi #albedo #kaeya #hogwarts!au #tartaglia

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bgb16999 · 3 years

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Aether Chapter Six Reread

I am posting comments on each chapter of Aether: Earth and Sun, a fantasy webcomic by Gillian Renk. Spoilers for chapter six follow!

I first caught up with Aether mid-way through chapter six. Sadly, it is the last complete chapter of the series. Merynna starts the chapter by confirming once and for all that she is an awful person, who nonetheless is an enjoyable character to read. She wants to be seen as the anti-Torginal: Merynna is pettily against anything Torginal is for, just for the sake of being against him. While Torginal enacts a secret long-term scheme, Merynna seems to have trouble thinking five minutes ahead. On the other hand, neither Torg nor Merynna care at all about the well-being of other people, so in one sense Seynir is a much better arch-rival for Torginal than Merynna could ever hope to be.

Merynna insists on being involved when Seyn convinces Jynad of Torg's villainy, despite the fact that Jynad already has some degree of trust for Seyn and also knows that Merynna is a terrible person. Merynna doesn't explain why she needs to be involved: I guess she just can't stand not being the center of attention in anything that involves opposing Torginal. And, she still hides some of what she knows from Seyn and the others until meeting Aneia and Jynad. Juda probably realizes within five minutes of meeting Jynad that signing up with Merynna was a mistake.

The reunion of Seyn and Jeth with the others from their village is heartwarming in an otherwise tense chapter. In her characteristic style Renk manages to convey all of the emotions in the scene without words.

The summit of the wizards, and the subsequent chaos, is everything I could want in the penultimate arc of the story. I think I'll refer back to the comment I made more than two years earlier when the chapter ended.

Excellent chapter end. I feel like this arc has been a major turning point in Aether. For the beginning of the story, it was all about figuring out what was going on. Sure, there was the occasional fight, but for the most part Seyn and the others were focused on discovering information.

All of that changed at the end of chapter five, when the protagonists finally discovered not only the true villain's identity, but also his plan. In this chapter, they shifted gear from figuring out what Torginal is plotting to stopping him, starting with revealing his scheme to their most powerful allies.

Now, Torginal's secrets (the ones we know about, anyhow) are out in the open, and known to the other aether mages. Thanks to Seyn's efforts, everyone who wasn't already on Torginal's side is up to speed on focused on stopping him.

The only thing to be sad about is that this isn't really the penultimate arc, since the next chapter was never completed.

#aether: earth and sun #gillian renk #asexual webcomic #aromantic webcomic

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tiaragqueen · 5 years

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may i request a scenario for yandere todoroki thats in a relationship with a reader that is powerful and older than him? (a third year) no violence tho. sorry if its a little weird :( i think a two year gap aint that bad. love your writing, thank u !

Eating His Heart Out

✂ Pairing: Yandere! Junior! Todoroki Shouto x Senior! Reader

✂ Word Count: 2k+

✂ Trigger Warning: Jealousy, possessive behavior, yandere theme.

***

The first boy who got me into BNHA fandom and because I’m a curious girl. I’m not sure if this what you wanted, since I quickly thought about violence when I saw the powerful part. Nonetheless, I hope you like it!

If you like my writing, please support me on ko-fi!

“Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.” – Joseph Addison

Never once in his life had Shouto doubted your love. He knew you were loyal, although a tad bit quiet at times. The latter was what connected the two of you in the first place. It allowed you to be together without the pressure of having a conversation to fill the silence and be completely content with peace. You could stay quiet for hours, just minding your businesses. You also never forced him to talk about his problems; instead opting to sit beside him until he was ready to speak.

Shouto loved you through and through. He accepted you as a whole, despite the two-years age gap and powers between you. The disparities weren’t something that he minded much, simply because he knew that everyone was different. In fact, he was kind of glad that you were able to protect yourself and matured enough to not be provoked easily. You were more of a peacemaker; preferring to negotiate instead of rushing headlong into a fight. Many of your classmates had mocked your ‘disgustingly pure’ way, but you remained stubborn. And Shouto admired you for it.

However, aside from the age gap and powers, there was another difference between you.

Interests.

Shouto wasn’t one to like mysterious, esoteric stuff such as supernatural or the afterlife. Not because he was a scaredy-cat, but because he simply wasn’t interested. He preferred being realistic and think about the future, instead of contemplating the existence of spirits and such.

You, however, were wholly fascinated by the idea of mystery. Very few people knew about your inquisitive nature; a side that you often concealed under a reserved facade. You were fond of learning about everything that spiked your interest, be it trivial or strange. The weirder a stuff was, the more curious you become. You liked to think that it was one of your many, hidden charms.

And you weren’t wrong.

Shouto did love your thirst for knowledge and was pleasantly surprised when he first found out. It was better than being with a jaded person who thought that they knew and had experienced everything from this world. He was supportive and often urged you to search more about a certain topic. After all, he only wanted the best for his beloved.

But there was one thing that he disliked from you.

“Hawks-san, where’s [Name]-senpai?”

The blond paused eating his favorite chicken wings that Shouto deemed rather ironic, considering his bird-like quirk, and looked up. “She’s left with Tokoyami just a while ago,” he replied with a mouthful of meat.

Shouto’s face hardened slightly, not that anyone could tell from his already stoic expression. “Is… that so?”

“Yeah,” Hawks nodded, averting his gaze back on to the food. “Should’ve seen them, y’know? They keep talkin’ about weird stuff, and Tokoyami-kun even chuckled. I’ve never heard that kid laughing before. Guess [Name]-chan just have that kind of influence on him, eh?”

The second pro hero giggled, but Shouto couldn’t bring himself to laugh as well. Not when his stomach kept churning at every word that left Hawks’ mouth.

“I see,” Shouto finally replied, breaking the one-sided conversation between them. “Thank you for the information then, Hawks-san. I should take my leave now.”

“Y’know, Todoroki-kun,” Hawks spoke up, watching Shouto’s rigid form stopped to listen to whatever he wanted to say. “Tokoyami-kun and [Name]-chan can make a good pair, don’t you think? She’s just as quiet and strange as him.”

Shouto was well aware that Hawks loved mocking people, and although Shouto hadn’t told him about his relationship with you, he knew that Hawks knew. After all, he was the only person who asked about you every day. Hawks was bound to pick up the connection anytime soon. He wasn’t dense to think that he was a mere friend of yours. Nobody would bother to wait on someone for so long like that.

That, and because Shouto could feel Hawks smirking at him. He didn’t need to look to confirm it.

“No,” Shouto muttered, clenching his fists. The act didn’t go unnoticed by the pro hero, who silently relished in his victory of ruling him up. It wasn’t every day that you would able to irritate the one and only Shouto Todoroki due to his ability to remain calm and composed at pretty much every moment. “[Name]-senpai is dating me, not him.”

“Oh, is that so? Well,” Hawks twirled a strip of meat in his hand. “I think [Name]-chan is more interested in Tokoyami-kun. After all, love is quick to blossom through similar interests. Am I right, Todoroki-kun?”

Shouto gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to attack the hero. Hawks was undeniably stronger than him, and to attack him would be a stupid move on Shouto’s part. Therefore, he decided to opt for a more… passive way, even though it hurt his pride a little. At least, it was better than being a fool in front of his superior.

Bowing to the man, Shouto left without another word. Thankfully, Hawks didn’t make anymore taunt, instead of simpering in triumph. Shouto tried his best not to take his attitude personally and went to search for you. It was rather hard to ignore what he said, especially the ‘good pair’ part.

It was indeed true that you have been spending more time with Tokoyami more than him. On one hand, Shouto was glad that you could get along with his classmate. But on the other hand, he didn’t want you to be focused solely on Tokoyami. Shouto was, and would always be, your boyfriend. He deserved your attention and affection too.

Hiding behind a corner, Shouto watched you chatting animatedly with Tokoyami. The way your hands flailed around to emphasize a point, the way your eyes twinkled under the setting sun, and the way your lips stretched into the widest smile he’d never seen before.

Shouto had never felt jealous before. He knew that you belonged to him, just like how he belonged to you. So, why? Why did his chest hurt so fucking much? Why did he feel like stomping over there and rip you off from that… that nasty bird? Or worse, doing all the terrible stuff that swirled in his head?

No, that wouldn’t be right. You had lectured him a hundred times before to always choose peace over violence, and to see him being careless – especially for the sake of quenching his jealousy – would greatly disappointed you. And he refused to let that happen. Shouto wanted you to be proud of him. He wanted you to be the boyfriend you’d always wished for; an honorable and peaceful guy.

But it was so fucking hard when you were there, laughing with someone other than him.

“[Name]-senpai.”

You quickly turned around when a deep voice called out to you and sighed in relief. “Oh, it’s you. I thought it was a villain or something.” The sound of your chuckle ceased after you noticed his solemn features. “H-hey, Shouto-kun. Are you okay?”

Shouto said nothing in response. Instead, he stepped forward and grabbed your hand that was unknowingly lying on Tokoyami’s shoulder.

“Oh, sorry.” You grinned and rubbed your nape sheepishly. “We were just talking around and I guess I was being too excited. Sorry if it makes you angry, Shouto-kun. I assure you I don’t like Tokoyami-kun that way.”

“’kun’…” Shouto muttered the seemingly intimate nickname with pure distaste as if the word itself left a bitter sensation on his tongue.

You sighed, shooting your clueless junior a weary smile. “Hey, uh. Sorry, Tokoyami-kun, but I need to go ahead. We can resume our conversation tomorrow if you’d like to.” You didn’t know why you were being apologetic when Shouto should be the one who apologized to you both for interrupting your little discussion.

Not that you truly minded; you missed Shouto and couldn’t wait until you meet him. But the way he appeared out of nowhere and snatched you away was a bit rude in your opinion.

“Of course, I’d like to. Have a pleasant evening, [Name]-senpai.”

Tokoyami bowed before taking a turn towards his house. Once he was far away from you both, you immediately snapped your head to Shouto.

“What the heck was that?!” you hissed.

“You were talking to him,” the bi-colored haired boy stated the obvious. “And you went ahead without me.”

“I thought you wouldn’t wait for me,” you frowned in both frustration and confusion. “You didn’t even reply to my message!”

“My phone’s dead.”

You stared at him for a moment, searching for any sign of a lie. As always, his face remained unreadable. But you didn’t need to look deeper to know that he was telling the truth, and that was irritated you the most.

Sighing for the third time in mere minutes, you snatched your hand from his grasp and walked ahead of him. You wanted him to know that his actions weren’t appreciated by you, and luckily, it didn’t take long for him to take the hint.

“Look,” he exhaled tiredly. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to be rude like that.”

“You certainly shouldn’t,” you said pettily.

“But you looked so happy around him and I’m just…” Shouto bit his bottom lip, ignoring your piercing gaze. “I was… jealous. I thought you didn’t love me anymore. Thought you liked him more than me. I was… I was afraid that you might choose him over me because… he shares the same interest as yours.”

You opened your mouth to counter his shocking statements, but he raised a hand to shut you up.

“Hawks-san even told me that you and Tokoyami-san made a ‘good pair’ and I guess, I kind of lost it in there. I know you’re dating me, and I know you’re loyal but–”

“Then, why are you doubting my loyalty?”

Shouto curbed his tongue in fear of accidentally blurt out the wrong things. He didn’t want you to misunderstand him, but he knew that your question was valid. Being jealous meant that he was doubting your love and loyalty, although that wasn’t what he intended for. He was merely afraid that you would grow bored of him due to not having the same interest as Tokoyami did.

It was ridiculous. Then again, what part of jealousy was logical anyway?

You shook your head, finding the whole situation to be rather humorous. However, you still had the decency of refraining from laughing. As laughable as the matter sounded, you needed to take him seriously because it had a connection to his deep-rooted fear. He had been hurt again and again by his closest ones, and you didn’t want to be a part of them. Shouto, however independent and stoic he seemed, looked up to you a lot. Therefore, it was already your duty to lead him to the ‘right’ way.

“Shouto-kun,” you put a hand on his shoulder, pursing your lips in contemplation on how to word your sentences correctly. “I am, and will always be, yours. Tokoyami-kun is just my junior. Sure, we have the same interest, but our relationship doesn’t go any deeper than that. He already knows that we’re dating, anyway, and he’s been very respectful in keeping his distance. So, please. Don’t stress yourself, okay? I don’t love him as I love you. I belong to you, remember? Just like you belong to me.”

Perhaps, a time would come when you regretted your words. But today, you just had to prove to him that you were still his.

“You promise?” he whispered, looking at you through his long eyelashes like a bashful child.

“Absolutely.” You slung an arm around his neck and pecked him on the lips. “Now, let’s go home. I’m hungry and sweaty. Maybe we can watch that movie you’ve been wanting to watch too.”

Shouto smiled; a beautiful sight that he reserved for your eyes only. “Okay.”

While you were busy listing off the activities that you would do tomorrow, the thin smile slowly disappeared from his face. You might have promised him that you still loved him, but who would say that you wouldn’t stray from him?

“Should’ve seen them, y’know? They keep talkin’ about weird stuff, and Tokoyami-kun even chuckled. I’ve never heard that kid laughing before. Guess [Name]-chan just have that kind of influence on him, eh?”

“Tokoyami-kun and [Name]-chan can make a good pair, don’t you think? She’s just as quiet and strange as him.”

It was decided; he needed to talk to Tokoyami soon. And, possibly, teaching him to keep his distance even further from you.

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noodleydoo · 5 years

Text

These are more just AU notes for myself than anything else

Aaravos is trapped in the cube Callum has, and the mirror Viren uses to talk to him was made as a way to check and make sure he hadn’t escaped. So Aaravos is able to be in contact with Callum and Viren at the same time, and communicates with both.

And basically what’s happening is he’s studying their magic. His whole motive is that he refused to believe that humans are completely disconnected from magic like elves are taught, and he’s curious about how human magic might work. Maybe he wanted to help humans, and thought he’d be hailed as a hero by humans, dragons, and elves alike. But people ridiculed and censored him when he tried to share his ideas and theories, because of course humans couldn’t use magic, they were lesser beings. And the humans were untrusting and closed off due to the tensions between their species.

Then Aaravos discovered dark magic.

He probably justified it to himself by comparing it to hunting animals for meat. Dragons, elves, and humans need to eat meat to get proper nourishment. While it’s possible to use herbal supplements instead, those are difficult, and sometimes impossible to come by. So for most, killing animals is necessary. But a good hunter is taught to be grateful towards the creatures they kill and respectful of their death. Dark magic works the same way-- the death of a magical creature provides the energy necessary to heal illnesses and ensure bountiful harvests for the humans, and improve their lives. They just need to remember that death holds weight, and respect the creature’s sacrifice.

With this in mind, he shares dark magic with the humans. He cautions them to keep it secret, likely worried about how others will react. But then maybe it has a strange intoxicating effect on them. Or maybe most of his students take his teachings to heart, but a select few let the power get to their head. They start turning to dark magic when there are other, better solutions available, using it frivolously, or pettily, to spy on or sabotage people they don’t like. And then one of them does something too big and too terrible to hide, and the dragons and elves find out about dark magic.

Their first reaction is horror and fear. This is a form of magic that draws powers from the deaths of magical creatures, so of course it would scare them. But they overreact. They condemn all humans for the actions of a few individuals, and banish them from their kingdoms, sparking the war. Aaravos is identified as the inventor of dark magic and locked away for good, his name tarnished. There he remains for who knows how many years until Viren contacts him through the mirror.

He decides to study Viren, and the way he interacts with and is affected by dark magic. His plan is to try to figure out what went wrong, why dark magic has such a negative effect on its users, and maybe figure out how to fix it. In the meantime, he works on figuring out a way to escape his prison. He might sympathize with Viren, because they both are punished for trying to help others (he only gets to hear Viren’s end of the story, it’s possible he’s under the impression that Viren was pushed to drastic measures by others, when in reality he’s just paranoid and unwilling to compromise) or he might just be using Viren as a means to an end (maybe he saw through Viren’s glorified stories same as Aanya), or maybe he might even be planning to free Viren from dark magic’s corrupting influence (Depends on how good a person he is).

Then Callum makes contact with him for the first time through the cube, and Aaravos is suddenly presented with someone, a human, who was able to connect with a primal arcanum all on is own, who figured out how to use magic without resorting to dark magic, who proves his theories just by existing. And now he has hope. Using Callum and Viren as points of reference, Aaravos can figure out what went wrong and right it. Hopefully, with their help, he can finally clear his name.

#tdp #the dragon prince #aavaros #callum #viren #dark magic #dark magic tdp #aaravos tdp #callum tdp #tdp viren #sol regem #probably #primal magic #tdp theory

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prorevenge · 5 years

Text

Karma is a girl's best friend

So, this isn’t particularly me getting revenge, as much as Karma helping me out. But i figured it belongs here and is pretty pro, considering. TL/DR at the end.

So, I met my now ex-husband, let’s call him X, on a dating site, and he seemed decent enough via the emails and texts and phone calls we exchanged for the first few weeks. Well, I fianally agreed to meet him in person, at a public place. When I laid eyes on the man in person, every fiber of my being said, “No, this doesn’t feel right.” I should have listened.

Several things threw up red flags in the time we were dating, to which, again, I should have listened. Oh, well. Hind sight is 20/20, isn’t it? I won’t list those, other than he lied to me from the start about little things in his life, so our relationship started on lies I wouldn’t discover until it was too late. We dated about a year, before I had to move in with him and his mom (I was 19, he was 21), due to a situation with my mother.

Everything was fine (as I can recall) in the time we lived there other than I HATED his mother, and she equally hated me. We got our own place, and a month later, got married in a simple courthouse wedding (we had been together 2 years at this point). …. Then it started going downhill. Anytime I didn’t want sex, he would flat out DEMAND it, saying it was my “wifely duties”, would be a pissy man child for 3 days after if I still refused. (That is technically a form of rape, for those who don’t know.) He also wouldn’t stop if we were in mid intercourse and I told him to stop because it was hurting… I should have gotten out then. I thought it was just me.

A little over 2 years of being married, we have a kid. X refuses to get up during the night to help with the baby, stating that since he was the only one working until after I got back from maternity leave, he shouldn’t lose any sleep. So, I learned to nap when the baby napped. At this point, our son is too little to truly play with, so his constant gaming is somewhat excusable. However, if I wanted to spend any time with him at all, I had to do what he wanted. He NEVER did things I was interested in.

Well, time goes on, and our son starts growning up, and is really actively wanting to play. Great! I stay home with him during the day, being super mom, and work a part time in the evenings. Hence, very little sleep for me. X works full time during the day, and immediately when he comes home says hi to us, showers, grabs food, then heads off to his gaming room. Doesn’t play with our then 3-4 yr old, who litterally brings him toys and says, “Please play, Daddy?” . All he does is take the toy, and says “in a bit, buddy.” But never does. When I was home on nights I was off work, he expected me to still do everything in the house (NEVER helped with housework, unless I specifically said “please have this done before I get home.” Rarely does anything with our son, then complains when son doesn’t want to be with him, and cries for me.

About the time our son was 4, we moved half a state away, to my initial home town ( one set of parents lived there, my other set lived where i was raised from 13, up), and into that set of parents’ home, until we could find something. Was only supposed to be maximum 3 months. We were there over a year…

About a month after moving there, i got pregnant again, and we were excited. I thought this would complete us, make me happy, finally, etc. Well, my parents one night asked me why I would even want another kid with him, as he clearly never helped me, and was on his video games all the time. That struck a nerve, and I realized I DIDN’T want another kid with him, but as I was almost 3 months along at this point, and don’t agree with abortion unless it’s medically necessary, I was stuck. So, on the night before MY birthday, he insisted on birthday sex. I told him no less than 4 times that I didn’t want to, before saying, “Fine, get it over with so you leave me alone about it.” I had some spotting the next monrning, didnt think much of it. Then, on MY BIRTHDAY, miscarried. I spent from 3pm-2 am in the hospital, with my grandmother and parents tending to my son. X was there, so worried, upset, etc. Honestly, I was relieved, I just couldn’t say it.

A month later, my ex fiance, from high school sent me a message that he missed me. In truth, I had missed him the whole time as well. We reconnected. A month later, I told X I wanted a divorce. He begged me to give him to our anniversary to fix it. I told him I knew he wouldn’t change, he hadn’t any other time I said I was unhappy, so why should this be different?

During this time, he orders a couple thousand dollars of new things for his new apartment (leaving me, as caregiver of our child, in debt). He tried to tell people the reason I left was for my ex. No, Asshole, the main reason i left was because you made me fucking miserable. I had to work 2 part time (27hrs each) per week, working litterally every day, just to try to keep my head above water, while he paid the bare minimum in child support. (Half of our son’s daycare + 20$ per week, that’s it.)

So, I eventually move back to my other parent’s home, 3 hours away, because I started getting sick, and needed help with my son. Turns out, all that stress I was put thru DESTROYED my already compromised immune system (thanks, genetics!) And I have ulcers covering the left side of my intestines. Anyone with ulcers can tell you, this compromises daily life, as ulcerative colitis is pretty much just as bad as Chrons disease.. well, fucking great. So, not only did this asshat treat me like crap when we were together, but the stress caused me to have a condition where i now have to take pills and shots for the rest of my life.

On to the karma: Being back home, my life (other than still having health trouble) has drastically improved! My parents here help with my son more than his father or my other parents EVER have; I’m now very happily married to the fiance from high school, who is more of a father to my son than his own dad ever was; we have a huge apartment, with my loving dog getting to finally live indoors again. All in all, I’m in a better place than I ever had been in the past 10 years. X, however, isn’t doing as well. He had a mental breakdown over the divorce (or at least faked it well enough). He is on meds that habe made him gain more weight than I have ever seen on that man, and he ACTUALLY has to take care of our son when our son goes to his place. Which, since X works a weird schedule, is rare as hell except in summer.

So, not only did he lose a caring, good wife to someone who treats her way better, but he also rarely gets to see his kid (who, tbh, is doing better without seeing him all the time). AND he has ballooned up weight wise, which makes me feel so pettily happy when I see him whenever we meet to exchange our son. ^_^

TL/DR :: Now ex-husband used to rape me, not help at all around the house or with our son, and flat out ignored our son and myself. Now he’s having major depression and mental issues, living in a terrible apartment, and has gained a crap ton of weight, while I’m doing so much better with my now husband, who treats me like an equal, not an object, and who loves my son as his own.

(submit your pro revenge story) (story by irishlady)

#submission #prorevenge #pro revenge stories #revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story #last10

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heartslogos · 5 years

Text

newfragile yellows [655]

“Listen,” Theron goes to put his hand on Mahanon’s shoulder but the other man practically bristles, teeth bared.

“Mahariel,” Mahanon growls out in warning, “I have a strict no touching unless it’s for malicious purposes policy.”

Theron wisely takes his hand back.

“Listen,” he repeats, trying to emphasize how important this is through words alone, “I love you. I love your sister. You both are family to me. Both literally in that we share blood and DNA, and also spiritually because I am the alpha werewolf of your pack. You live in my house.”

Blackwall makes a disapproving grumble from the front room, the sound of whatever new project he’s working on pausing as he takes a moment to be pettily disapproving of Theron while Theron is doing the, possibly, hardest task an alpha werewolf has ever had to do in the modern centuries.

“Our house,” Theron corrects, “Our shared house. That we all definitely pitch in for. Who all are jointly listed on the deed of ownership. Who pay taxes for it. And utilities.”

“Get the point.”

“You need to put your foot down and tell your sister she can’t date a vampire.”

There. He’s said it. Gone and ripped it right off like a band aid. Or another layer of skin. Both. A scab. All three at once. You can definitely get all three in one go on a certain type of wound if you’re awful enough.

“One,” Mahanon flips Theron off. This was to be expected. “You think I can tell my sister what to do? Two.” Mahanon raises his other hand to flip Theron off on two hands at once. Also to be expected. “If it’s so important you tell her since you’re our alpha and whatever.”

“Not and whatever,” Theron says. “You’re making the sacred duty of being leader of a pack sound so trivial.”

“Back in ye olden days when you were leading our kind in putting fish on people’s windowsills and occasionally stealing a couple of sheep I’m sure your role was very important. Now that you’re essentially a glorified landlord and RA I don’t think there’s much of a scared duty to it,” Mahanon points out.

“He has you there,” Blackwall says.

Theron scowls at the wall that separates them.

“If you’re going to be part of this conversation you need to be in the room. Stop back-seat conversationalist-ing me!”

“That cannot be the right conjugation for that,” Anders says from upstairs.

“Anders, if you’re not going to respect the rule of participating in conversations by being in the same room you should probably go back to your own pack house.”

“I can’t,” Anders says, “Carver and Varric had a party and it reeks.”

“Well aren’t you sensitive, they’re clearly not complaining.”

“They’re the ones that reek.”

“Ouch.”

“Hawke’s an alpha werewolf and he dated a vampire,” Mahanon points out. “Actually. I’m not sure who dated whom in that house. I’m…I’m pretty sure that they all dated each other at some point. And at least half of them are vampires.”

“That’s Hawke’s pack which is an exception to the rule and a complete outlier who should ever be counted for any type of census or data gathering,” Theron says.

“Agreed.”

“Anders! What did I just say?”

“I was agreeing with you!”

“I get no respect in this house.”

“You don’t get respect outside of this house either, get used to it. Maybe you’d get some more respect if you didn’t go around my sister to tell me to tell her to stop dating a vampire. Go own up to that one on your own, oh great alpha werewolf.”

“But…it’s your sister,” Theron whines. Just a little bit. He thinks he can have at least this much whining. “Mahanon. It’s Ellana.”

“Thank you for reminding me what her name was, I forget sometimes,” Mahanon rolls his eyes so hard that Theron imagines that his healing factor must kick in to repair the damage.

“She’s…she’s got the puppy eyes. And that youthful bounce. And the ability to steamroll the undead into being back to regular dead by sheer force of…chatter,” Theron says. “And s he has this way of looking at you that just guts you. And if she’s upset with you it’s like the world turns against you and everything is awful and terrible and gloomy.”

“That’s just your weak push over personality showing.”

Theron punches Mahanon in the sternum.

Mahanon, good sport that he is though he pretends not to be, lets him. He just raises an eyebrow as if to say, feel better now?

A little.

“Please?” Theron whines. “Mahanon. I’m begging you. Don’t make me do it myself.”

“Why haven’t you asked Lyna to do it? Lyna doesn’t have your lack of spine,” Mahanon points out.

“I can’t ask Lyna to do it because while Lyna doesn’t cave as easily as I do she’s got a self preservation instinct stronger than mine so she’s not going to try and do something counter to her general wellbeing. Like. Say. Telling Ellana Lavellan what to do.” Theron pauses and considers telling the rest of it. What the hell. They’re already fucked. “Also I guess Ellana told your mom who told Lyna’s mom and they’re really happy that Ellana’s dating at all so they’re willing to put up with it being a vampire. So…there’s that.”

“And you think I’m going to defy my mother? And my sister?”

“Mahanon,” Theron gestures to all of Mahanon. “Look at yourself. What kind of question is that?”

“I’ll have you know that I’m an obedient son,” Mahanon protests. “If we’re talking about disobedient sons I’ll have you look in a mirror. You moved across national borders to avoid having to take out the garbage.”

“Do you even know what they were throwing away, cuz? I swear it was like my own parents were putting me through a hazing ritual. Every day since I turned ten. I was dying. It was like a million corpses sprayed with skunk and dead possum with a dash of sweaty gym clothes.”

“Mahariel, you wuss, that’s just what people smell like. I’m losing my respect for you by the second,” Darrien yells from his room. “No wonder grandpa pushed you out of his living trust.”

“That’s rude, Darrien. And hurtful. And he didn’t push me out, he just put really weird conditions on how I’d receive my inheritance. And don’t turn on me for this one! You’re just as much of a wuss as I am! You wouldn’t even come with me to ask Mahanon to tell his sister to stop dating the vampire!””

#heartsfic #gather your party and venture forth

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l0chn3ss · 5 years

Text

Morpho Menelaus

Written for @mastar-week MaStar Week 2018 Day 2: Training

She was born with ash blonde hair and eyes that matched neither of her parents’. The wee tuff of grayish yellow was to be expected: her grandpa had always said that blond ran through the veins of the family. But the eyes? They were a dark earth, a swirl of brown that wasn’t present in either of her family lines.

“So she has a soulmate in this lifetime,” the doctor chuckled. She passed over the newborn daughter to the father. “Be wary for people with sunshine eyes and milk chocolate hair,” she teased.

Spirit sniffed indignantly. “My little Maka is too good for them, who ever they are.” He went on a tangent while simultaneously coddling her all at once.

They, the entire population of humans weren’t always so certain of the presence of a soulmate. Some were born without a trace of a bond, while others’ were so carefully hidden in plain sight that it was often times never realized. But a strong history of genetics and a well kept record often suggested the fact when the child’s eyes opened for the first time. And then when it changed colors? Indisputable.

Maka’s hair grew different with time, getting more bright and yellow as she grew older rather than in the opposite direction. Save for the strange green tint that she would get every summer from swimming classes, her locks became consistently lighter with age. With her mother’s blonde-turned-brown and her father’s tomato red, Maka hardly looked connected to any of her parents. She didn’t mind all too much after a while, because color was only just one thing. The shape of her face and outline of her features were the proof that settled her doubts.

Forgetting about the soulmate bond, Maka was rudely reminded in one college morning. Just a quarter past nine she shocked herself awake. There was a tingling sensation in her skin, and a presence that shadowed over her eyes. She leapt towards her bathroom mirror, seeing her irises already midway changed. There was a drop of wispy liquid like food coloring dispersing in water, but rather than clear, it was her brown that was fading away. Replacing it was a shock of electric blue, closer to neon and brighter than the morning sun trying to flood her bathroom.

Maka couldn’t look away for a long time, until the transformation was completed and not an ounce of chocolate brown was left in the mirror. Then she screamed loudly in her dorm, waking her roommate and adjourning neighbors. “Are you fucking kidding me? I have team portraits at one!”

Her friends all cooed at the change, calling the color beautiful, but only after they were done scolding her noisiness. It was unlike anything that any of them had ever naturally seen-- hard to miss.

“Well, it will be easier to find them now right? Your soulmate.”

She groaned, “A soulmate is troublesome. They could be halfway around the world and I may never find them. What if I don’t even like them once I do. Why wait?”

“Or maybe they’re close, you know?”

“I guess that’s just the problem. I really don’t know.”

She pettily wore her sunglasses for the rest of the day, even indoors, refusing to acknowledge the bright blue.

A few weeks later, her volleyball coach announced a joint practice session with a school close by. They would be coming here for the next few months as their school’s facilities were in construction, so tomorrow would be a test run.

“I expect you all to be on your best behavior,” the coach glared at Maka’s group, playfully. “That includes you girls.”

A cascade of giggles followed.

She came to practice the next day armed with extra tape and water, for courtesy. But before she could step into the room, her friends swept her away in hushed tones.

“Everyone’s talking about it, Maka. You won’t believe it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Are all the boys hot or something?”

Tsubaki and Liz met eyes, but Patty was the one who answered her. “Not that, my dude.” She reached over to gently lift Maka’s sunglasses off of her nose. “One of them... their hair is blue.”

As Maka ran off, she heard behind her, “None of us can catch his eyes though! It might not be him!”

Her heart raced and her hands were shaking. The group of girls crowding at the door saw Maka and parted like a curtain. Such a motion attracted the eyes of the newcomers, but the one person that she wanted to see was already staring back at her. Blue hair, and liquid gold eyes.

She couldn’t hold back her first thoughts, letting them slip out and into the silent gym.

“Ew.”

Those were the first words that he heard from his soulmate’s mouth.

She was out of breath as if she’d just sprinted a marathon, hair tossed and her clothes askew. And her eyes, her wild and bright blue eyes, were wide.

As if she was slapped, she winced, realizing what she’d just said to a stranger. The girl doubled back and started stammering, bumbling over her words and looking down to her feet instead of at him. The silence that had formed in the gym caused her words to bounce back loudly, echoing. In the meantime, Black Star’s eyes darted from her face to her hair, and from her hair to her to her ears, and from her ears to her nose, and from her nose to her still rambling mouth.

She was an adorable specimen. While small, her build was noticeably lithe, yet athletic. She stood with her feet apart, hands unable to keep still, and shoulders confidently squared even as she was doubting herself. The other teammates around them watched her, entertained-- lovely so.

Black Star, after taking her in, slowly revealed a big, shit-eating-grin. He also couldn’t hold back his thoughts, showing them in the form of a drawled, “Awwww shi-et.”

His cackling stopped the girl in her tracks.

So maybe in hindsight, it wasn’t the correct reaction to the situation, but Star had been waiting for her-- his soulmate-- for so long. He dyed his hair weeks ago because he was tired of the people who pretended they were his match, revealed otherwise in more ways than one. A life partner should not try to fit themselves into a mold, and on that note, they shouldn’t not force him to either.

Still, he was impatient to find the person destined to be his. The blue that he chose was a desperate move, not as desperate as what he’s seen on the internet. There were people who dyed their hair to show numbers and addresses, even going as far as to print obscene words or icons out of spite. He decided that the color was harmless enough, but wild and unignorable, unique and matched the blond that his soulmate had. If anything, Black Star was the one who was taking the brunt of his decision. He wanted to find them though, at least meet them once in their lifetime.

Luckily, the host school’s coach stumbled onto the scene then.

She took one glance at Star’s hair, and in an act of mercy, she called out, “Albarn and, uh.”

“Braxton,” he supplied.

The coach nodded. “You two, out of my gym. Don’t come back until you’ve had a proper chat.” With that, she met eyes with the girl, Albarn, and tilted her chin towards the door. “Out.”

Reluctantly, Albarn followed Star out where they settled beside the wall. He didn’t plan what to say next after they’d left, much less expect to have a chance alone so suddenly, but he couldn’t erase the smile off of his face for the life of him. She sat an arm’s length from him, and he scooched closer to make up the difference.

“So,” he offered. “You’re a volleyball player, too, huh, Albarn?”

“Maka,” she said quickly.

“Huh?”

“My name. It’s Maka. Albarn is my last name.”

“Oh,” he replied, but undeterred. “That’s a nice name, too!”

She thanked him, uncertainty laced in her tone. The feeling that she was being too guarded weighed on Black Star. He wondered why it was so, or why it bothered him so much. Maka showed she was impatient in the form of her body language, but not in the way that he was to get to know her. She continued to glance into the gym where their friends and team were warming up, stretching and slapping on their gear. Did he really spark that little interest?

“So, you got a partner?”

Maka sighed, finally looking at him since they’d left the building. He could tell that she was finally studying him. “Not right now, no.”

“Great! Let’s—”

She cut him off, voice already tired. “Come on, Braxton. Are you serious? We’ve only just met.”

“I know,” he tried. “My friends call me Black Star, not Brax. And why wait? I already know that I’m into you.” He saw her withdraw. “I’m serious, I am.”

Was he earnest enough? Did he sound firm?

She hesitated for too long for him to be certain.

“I’ve been waiting for you my whole life,” he said softly. “We don’t have to jump into it. Just be my friend. Just try for a little.”

Maka uncrossed her arms, letting out a breath that she was holding for too long.

“Alright. I- I’m sorry. I’m not usually this… wound up.”

He wanted to touch her hand, badly.

She continued, “This is just a really big surprise. And uh, your hair. No offense, but what is that color?”

Black Star ran a hand through the top, chuckling. “You noticed it though, right? Was that why you said what you did?” Her nod confirmed it. “It worked the way it was supposed to, then! Well, it definitely looks better as your eye color, doesn't it? I dunno. Fuck it, man, I was desperate. I wanted to find you that bad.”

A faint blush splashed her cheeks. “But, why?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Find out with me.”

Maka mused it in her head. “Alright, fine. But just to make sure, on three, we say the date that the blue appeared. You remember it, right?”

He nodded.

“Ok good. Ready? On three. One, two—”

“Wait, like on three or on go?”

Maka squinted while Star gave a sheepish grin.

“Three. One, two, three.”

“February seventh,” they said simultaneously, unsurprised.

“I don’t know why I even bothered,” Maka sighed. “It was pretty obvious what this is.”

“So, we can keep seeing each other?”

Smiling, she answered, “Why not. You’re not terrible.”

“And we’re soooulmaaates?”

“Don’t push it.”

“Come on, say it.”

“Fine, we’re soulmates.”

“Awwww shi-et,” Black Star said, breaking into another wide grin.

#fic #soul eater #soul eater not #mastar week 2018 #makaxblackstar week 2018 #mastar #mastar week #makaxstar #makaxblackstar #maka x blackstar #blackstar x maka #blackstarxmaka #starxmaka #maka albarn #blackstar #black star #nessie spills

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words-writ-in-starlight · 6 years

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hi, it's the adhd anon again. according to the dsm-v, i think i have it, which is weird bc i've never seen myself as having more trouble than others. (my grades are better than almost anyone else in my grade.) (although that might just be bc i'm interested in what's being taught - when something's not interesting or too hard, i have a pretty hard time doing it.) anyway, if it's not too much trouble, what does feel like to stim/hyperfixtate for you? (i'm so sorry to bother you in advance)

Hey, dude, welcome back! So, okay, first things first: the stereotype of someone with ADHD automatically doing terribly in school is based heavily on the original diagnostic criteria, which categorized ADHD strictly in terms of “young hyperactive white boy who has violent outbursts and/or disciplinary problems and Just Doesn’t Do Well in academics.” And there are people who manifest ADHD like that, it’s a stereotype with roots in reality--a lot of people with ADHD either consistently struggle with academics or eventually reach a point where their previous focusing techniques fail them.

However.

I left high school for college two years early, and if I hadn’t, I would probably been valedictorian of the graduating class, because I had a GPA well above 4.0 due to my general habit of doing extra credit whenever it was offered. In college, I had a reputation for turning in beautifully complete lab reports and essays five pages over the minimum requirement. I got high honors on my thesis, graduated magna cum laude, and finished a pre-medical major in half the recommended time period. When I was a kid, the phrase “savant syndrome” got thrown around a lot, to give you some context.

On the other hand, I manifest a lot of those stereotypical ADHD symptoms: I’m loud, I interrupt people a lot, I have erratic and overwhelming mood swings that I struggle to control, I fidget incessantly and can’t stand silence, I have a tendency to get destructive when I’m angry, I have managed to seriously injure myself because I couldn’t resist a stupid impulse more than once, and if we’re all being honest, I would never have graduated high school at all, because I was on the brink of expulsion for getting into fights during class periods.

It’s easy to feel like “I never really struggled academically” is somehow a counterargument to any and all symptoms of ADHD that you might manifest, but it’s really not. (Heck, sometimes ADHD is even helpful--I finished my thesis a full week before anyone else and had time to fix my citations, mostly because my ADHD responds well to pressure and that crunch time hyperfocus Had My Back.) It might take time for you to come to terms with this idea, and that’s okay! But try to at least consider it.

All that being said, I am actually gonna answer your question, I just got distracted because the amount of time I spent making the statement “I’m faking having ADHD because I did well in school” is mindblowing and I have a Thing about it. Forgive my ramble.

Stimming: I’m going to answer this first because the answer is going to be the most useless. The ways I stim tend to be vocal/auditory stuff (I talk a lot when I’m alone, I sing and play music when I’m doing menial tasks, if I’m really anxious I’ll hum a single note until I calm down) or tactile stuff (sometimes destructive things like scratching my arms, sometimes neutral stuff like tapping my fingers in specific patterns or rubbing my palms over my jeans or the leather of a jacket or something). It’s mostly things that ‘pass’ for neurotypical with very few exceptions, because I trained myself out of a lot of my ‘non-passing’ stims (rocking back and forth, knocking into walls, hand-flapping, that sort of thing) really young. As for what it feels like to stim, it’s just...good. It’s sort of like the brain equivalent of running your hand the right way along velvet, and discovering that you’ve been rubbing it backwards all along. Or like the equivalent of stepping into a cool shower on a really hot day--it’s not that it’s miserable outside the shower, it’s just that the shower is extremely good. I have a playlist of music that, for whatever reason, hits the right combination of voice and rhythm and notes and words to make my brain suddenly get calm, and it’s not necessarily my favorite music or a cohesive collection of tunes or anything (featuring Six Shooter by Coyote Kisses and also Human by Rag’n’Bone Man, which have nothing in common), but it’s Good.

Hyperfocus: You didn’t actually mention this, but I think it’s worth mentioning because it’s one of the hallmarks of ADHD. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the concept of “flow”, but turned up to 11. Hyperfocus is the state of being so overwhelmingly tuned in to the thing you’re currently doing that everything else falls away--which is fine, unless you’re one of us folks who can hyperfocus ourselves right through meal times. It’s inexorable, it’s all-consuming, and it can feel pretty fucking great, which is why it’s important to be careful and find a way to hydrate yourself. The primary difference between hyperfocus and flow is that hyperfocus is generally involuntary and does not necessarily tune you into something you planned or wanted to pay attention to. If you ever see me publish a fic that includes a note about “I didn’t mean to write this but it’s 2 AM so here”, that’s code for “please validate me, I’ve been hyperfocused on this for two or three hours and I failed to do a lot of important things as a result.” The other thing about hyperfocus is that afterwards, the drop coming off it is a real bitch. It leaves me feeling hollowed out, exhausted, and kind of pettily disinterested in anything that would usually hold my attention. Being hyperfocused is like being a machine designed to do one thing and one thing only and doing that thing feels incredible; coming off hyperfocus is like being an overtired toddler.

Hyperfixation: Hyperfixations are the ADHD equivalent of a special interest, aka: that thing you’ve been struggling not to pester every single person you know about, every single second of every single day of the past two and a half weeks. Were you around, dear anon, when this blog was Only Animorphs, All The Time, and if you didn’t give a shit about morphin’ teens you just had to sit down, shut up, and learn some stuff, or else unfollow me? That’s what hyperfixating looks like. Sometimes it’s useful stuff--do you know how unbelievably useful having a hyperfixation on triage techniques is to me? I crushed my triage training, I owned that shit, I wrote a whole chapter of my thesis on it. Other times, it’s...well, Animorphs. Or the American Revolution. Or X-Men. Or dinosaurs. Some random shit like that. Learning about hyperfixations, talking about them, is generally pure unadulterated joy. On the other hand--oh, God, listen, I know how annoying I am, but I cannot stop myself. I know I haven’t talked about anything but Animorphs in three weeks, I know I’ve made forty-five TAZ posts today, whatever you’re about to complain about, I already know, okay, I am aware, and there is nothing more painful than to have a fucking out-of-body experience watching yourself rattle on about a hyperfixation while the other person obviously gets bored in front of you. And then you try to keep your mouth shut and it physically hurts not to talk about the thing. It’s hard to describe what it ‘feels’ like except that ADHD brains are magpies at their core and hyperfixations are the shiny, shiny objects your brain wants to take home.

Anyway, I’m not sure how useful ANY of this has been, but like. After a certain point, you kind of have to trust yourself enough to decide, once and for all, whether you really, truly believe you’re faking a neurological disorder for the attention. If the answer is no, then great! You have sussed out your symptoms and can start managing them accordingly, whether that’s some helpful apps on your phone or medication or something in between. If the answer is yes, then you probably need some therapy, and your therapist will be able to help you get to a point where you feel able to trust yourself.

Go with the neurodivergent gods, my dude.

#adventures in adhd #actually adhd #stimming #hyperfocus #hyperfixation #advice from starlight #HELLO FRIENDS THIS IS UNDER A CUT BECAUSE I RAMBLE #LIKE #CONSTITUTIONALLY UNABLE TO NOT RAMBLE #anyway ch'boy wrote some stuff today #and now i'm answering some asks #so really what i want is a pat on the damn back for getting shit done THANKS #idiot teenagers with a queue #anonymous #asked and answered

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