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stellaaarree · 11 months

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some atsv characters with a reader that dresses bimbo, w/ the makeup and nails ect :)

MIGUEL

instantly your gonna get called “diva”.

loves the opposites looks though

he pays for all your expensive mini skirts.

insert miguel’s shocked face. “mi amor?! this skirt is the size of a belt! £35 for a piece of stripped fabric?? dios mío.” he groans, swiping his card at the register.

will just lean in the door way watching you do your makeup. loves it nowhere near as much as your natural face but if you’re happy hes ecstatic (secretly. we all know he has to keep the badass exterior.)

occasionally pulls your skirt down a little so it’s covering more. that place is only for him to see >:(!

sugar daddy vibes. dropping you off at the nail salon and picking you up all fancy with your starbucks order in hand😚😚

MILES

is way too scared to touch you in fear of messing up your pretty hair or makeup.

ADORES EVERYTHING.

something about you getting cold in your skimpy pink outfit and his black hoodie is going over your shoulder gets him giggling. everyone knows it’d have to be his.

asks his parents for money so he can pay for your nails😭😭

you assure him that he doesn’t have to pay and when he’s not allowed money he’s the one that swipes your card so it looks like its his. delusional king.

will 100% have your starbucks order memorised and when he hears you say for the first time just pauses with a “…how did you say all of that in the span of ten seconds?..”

brags 100%. if he has his other friends round his place and you’ve left one of your bright pink shirts there will go, “oh! sorry guys don’t mind the pink shirt over there.” knowing damn well he doesn’t wear pink..nor baby tees.

GWEN

you’re the reason she dyed the ends of her hair pink. always has a bit of your sweetness around🫶🏻

shopping sprees!!! then after y’all go to mcdonalds and she’s tucking napkins over your shirt so the sauce doesn’t ruin it.

feeding you fries so your lipstick doesn’t smudge.

genuinely just loves to be up close with you.

she’s taking out your perfectly clipped and bumped up hair at the end of the day. being oh so gentle as your head falls asleep by her shoulder.

when you go to her place she empties out all the things she feels you’d like from her closet and now you have your own drawer. spare makeup, hair clips, a mini straightener and her brightly coloured hoodies and jumpers.

y’all share socks. shut up its cute!!!!!!!

she’s got ones with stars scattered on them and you’ve got hearts on yours.

HOBIE

as we’ve noted, he doesn’t believe in consistency so the stark contrast between you two is adorable.

always holding your hand, thumb going over the 3d details on your nails.or he’s straight up staring at the glittery gloss as you talk while making hand gestures.

‘darlin’ and doll’ are now your new names.

you give him hair inspo and he gives you hair inspo😭😭

has a special pink guitar pic that he uses when you’re around!!!!

absolutely enamoured with your nails, you know the questions coming. the dreaded question.

when y’all are comfy, cuddling he speaks the dreaded moment. “doll, …how’d you wipe your arse with those.” and the cute moment is ruined. you obviously where not gonna share your struggles so you hit him back with the “girls don’t poop, idiot.”

PETER B PARKER

when you babysit mayday she always comes back with painted nails + toes. peter always having the same question. “how’d you get her to stay still for that long?!” with a smile you reply. “she makes exceptions for her favourite.”

if you guys are eating and sauce or something gets on your painted lips, he doesn’t even mention it. just straight away wiping it off and going back to the conversation at hand.

is the main funder for your clothes.

miguel and him fight over it all the time. miguel’s usual comeback “spoil your own kid! this ones mine!” and peter rolling his eyes.

peters the kinda guy to fund your usual things. his price range going from £5 - £25. as it happens more oftens.

miguels on the other hand. £35 - £200. and it obviously is a rare occasion.

to give extra thanks to peter you’d kiss his cheek. leaving a pink kiss stain behind and him proudly showing it off.

obsessed with the style. he’s a pretty chill guy so when asking you to come down to the store with him and you walk out in full glam, plans change. “yeah, no, we’re going to dinner instead. cmon pretty.” there was no option that was an order😭

you guys ended up stealing the pink coasters at the restaurant.

BONUS!! you’re maydays personal stylist. nails, done, hair? done, needing an outfit? done. and she sits still and pretty the whole time. completely shocking everyone else how you’ve kept her quiet. she just focuses on your pretty glittered eyelids as your big fluffy lashes bat at her sweetly🫶🏻🫶🏻

you after atsv spoils you rotten😭😭

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zedecksiew · 2 months

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(Don't) Incentivise Ethical Behaviour

In the ongoing project of rescuing useful thoughts off Xwitter, here's another hot take of mine, reheated:

"Being good for a reward isn’t being good---it’s just optimal play."

The quote comes from Luke Gearing and his excellent post "Against Incentive", to which I had been reacting.

My thread was mainly intended as a fulsome nodding along to one of Luke's points. It was posted in 2021, and extended in 2023 after Sidney Icarus posed a question to it. So it is two threads.

Here they are, properly paragraphed, hopefully more cleanly expressed:

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(Don't) Incentivise Ethical Behaviour

This is my main problem with mechanically rewarding pro-social play: a character's ethical choice is rendered mercenary.

As Luke Gearing puts it:

"Being good for a reward isn’t being good---it’s just optimal play."

Bear in mind that I'm not saying that pro-social play can't have rewarding outcomes for players. Any decision should have consequences in the fiction. It serves the ideal of portraying a living, world to have these consequences rendered diegetic:

The townsfolk are thankful; the goblins remember your mercy; pamphlets appear, quoting from your revolutionary speech.

What I am saying is that rewarding abstract mechanical benefits (XP tickets, metacurrency points, etc) for ethical decisions stinks.

A subtle but absolutely essential distinction, when it comes to portraying and exploring ethics / morality, in roleplaying games.

Say you reward bonus XP for sparing goblins.

Are your players making a decisions based on how much they value life / the personhood of goblins? Or are they making a decision based on how much they want XP?

Say you declare: "If you help the villagers, the party receives a +1 attitude modifier in this village."

Are your players assisting the community because it is the right thing to do, or are they playing optimally, for a +1 effect?

XP As Currency

XP is the ur-example of incentive in TTRPGs. It began with D&D's gold-for-XP, and has never strayed far from that logic.

XP is still currency. Do things the GM / game designer wants you to do? Get paid.

Players use XP to buy better mechanical tools (levels, skills, abilities)---which they can then in turn use to better perform the actions that will net them XP.

Like using gold you stole from goblins to buy a sword, so you can now rob orcs.

I genuinely feel that such systems are valuable. They are models that illuminate the drives fuelling amoral / unethical behaviour.

Material gain is the drive of land-grabbing and colonialism. Logger-barons and empires do get wealthier and more privileged, as a reward for their terrible actions.

If you want to present an ethical choice in play, congruent to our real-life dilemmas, there is value in asking:

"Hey, if you kill the goblins you can grab their treasure, and you will get richer. There's no reward for sparing their lives, except that they are thankful."

Which is another way of asking:

"Does your commitment to the ideal of preserving life outweigh the guaranteed material incentives for taking life?"

The ethical choice is the difficult choice, precisely because it involves---as it often does, in real life---sacrificing personal growth and gain. Doling out an XP bounty for doing the right thing makes the ethical choice moot.

"I as the player am making a mechanically optimal choice, but my character is making an ethical choice!"

A cop-out. Owning your cake and eating it too. The fictional fig-leaf of empathy over a calculated a decision to make profit.

Sidney Icarus asks a question which I will quote here:

"... those who hold to their beliefs of good behaviour don't feel rewarded, and therefore feel punished. And that's not a good feeling. It's an unpleasant experience to play a game where the righteous players are in rags, and the mercenary fucks have crowns and sceptres. So, what's the design opportunity? How do we make doing the right thing feel pleasant without making it mercenary? Or, like reality, do we acknowledge that ethical acts are valuable only intrinsically and philosophically? I have no idea how to reconcile this."

I would suggest that the above dichotomy---"righteous players in rags, mercs in crowns"---is true if property is recognised as the only true incentive.

Friends As Property

Modern games try to solve the righteous-players-in-rags "problem" in various ways. Virtue might not net you treasure or XP, but may give you:

Contact or ally slots, which you can fill in;

Relationship meters you can watch tick up;

Favour points you can cash in later;

etc.

How different are these mechanical incentives from treasure or XP, really?

Your relationships with supposedly living, breathing beings are transformed into abilities for your character: skills you can train; powers you can reliably proc. Pump your relationship score with the orc tribe until calling on them for reinforcements becomes a once-per-month ability.

Relationships become contracts. Regard becomes debt. Put your friend in an ally slot, so they become a tool.

If this is what you want play to be---totally fine! As stated previously, games say powerful things when they portray the engines of profit and property.

But I personally don't think game designers should design employer-employee relationships and disguise these as instances of mutual aid.

Friends As Friends

In the OSR campaigns I'm part of, I keep forgetting to record money. Which is usually a big deal in such games, seeing as they are in the grand tradition of gold-for-XP?

In both games, my characters are still 1st-Level pukes, though it's been months.

I'm having a blast, anyway.

My GMs, by virtue of running organic, reactive worlds, have made play rewarding for me. NPCs / geographies remember the party's previous actions, and respond accordingly.

I've been given gills from a river god, after constant prayer;

I've befriended a village of monsters, where we now live;

I've parleyed with the witch of a whole forest, where we may now tread;

I've a boon from the touch of wood wose, after answering his summons.

I cannot count on the wood wose showing up. He is a character in the world, not a power I control. Calling on the wood wose might become a whole adventure.

Little of this stuff is codified my stats or abilities or equipment list. They are mostly all under "misc notes".

Diegetic growth. Narrative change that spirals into more play.

This is the design opportunity, to me:

How do we shape TTRPG play culture in such a way that the "misc notes" gaps in our games are as fun as the systemised bits? What kinds of orientation tools must we provide? What should we say, in our advice sections?

A Note About Trust

The reason why it is so hard to imagine play beyond conventional incentive structures has a lot to do with trust.

Sidney again:

One of the core issues is the "low trust table". I'm not designing just for myself but for my audience. For a product. How much can I ask purchasers and their friends to codesign this part with me?

Nerds love numbers and things we can write down in inventories or slots because they are sureties. We've learned to fear fiat or player discretion, traumatised as we are by Problem GMs or That Guys.

The reason why the poverty in Sidney's hypothetical ("righteous players are in rags") sounds so bad is because in truth it represents risk at the game table. If you don't participate in the mechanics legible to your ruleset (the XP and gear to do more game things), you risk gradually being excluded from play.

You have no assurance your fellow players will know how hold space for you; be considerate; work together to portray a living world where NPCs react in meaningful ways---in ways that will be fun and rewarding for everybody playing.

You are giving up the guarantee of mechanical relevance for the possibility of fun interactions and creative social play.

The "low trust table" is learned behaviour--the cruft of gamer culture and trauma.

When I game with folks new to TTRPGs, they tend to be decent, considerate. I think there's enough anecdotal evidence from folks playing with school kids / newcomers / etc to suggest my experience is not unique.

If the "low trust table" is indeed learned behaviour, it can be unlearned.

Which rules conventions, now part of the hobby mainstream, were the result of designers designing defensively---shadowboxing against terrible players and the spectre of "unfairness"?

How can we "undesign" such conventions?

Lack of trust is a problem that we have to address in play culture, not rulesets. You cannot cook a dish so good it forces diners to have good table manners.

This is too long already. I'll end with an observation:

Elfgames are not praxis, but doesn't this specific dilemma in the microcosm of our silly elfgames ultimately mirror real-world ethics?

To be moral is to trust in a better world; to be amoral / immoral is to hedge against the guarantee of a worse one.

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Further Reading

Some words from around the TTRPG community about incentive and advancement in games:

However, the reason there is a big debate about this is that behavioural incentives in games clearly do work, either entirely or at various levels. This applies outside gaming, as well. Why do advertising companies and retail business use "rewards" structures to convince people to buy more of their products? Why do people chase after "Likes" on social media?

A comment by Paul_T to "A Hypothesis on Behavioral Incentives" from a discussion on Story-Games.com

the structure and symbolism of the D&D game align with certain structures and values of patriarchy. The game is designed to last infinitely by shifting goalposts of character experience in terms of increasing amounts of gold pieces acquired; this resembles the modus operandi of phallic desire which seeks out object after object (most typically, women) in order to quench a lack which always reasserts itself.

D&D's Obsession With Phallic Desire from Traverse Fantasy

In short, my feeling is that rewarding players with character improvement in return for achieving goals in a specific way impedes some of the key strengths of TTRPGs for little or no benefit in return.

Incentives from Bastionland

When good deeds arise naturally out of the players choices, especially when players rejected other options that were more beneficial to them, it is immensely satisfying. Far more than if players are just assumed to be heroic by default. It gives agency and meaning to player choice.

Make Players Choose To Be Kind from Cosmic Orrery

Much has been made about 1 GP = 1 XP as the core gameplay loop driver of TSR D+D. But XP for gold retrieved also winds up being something of a de facto capitalistic outlook as well. Success is driven by accumulation of individual wealth -- by an adventuring company, even! So what's a new framework that can be used for underpinning a leftist OSR campaign?

A Spectre (7+3 HD) Is Haunting the Flaeness: Towards a Leftist OSR from Legacy of the Bieth

Growth should be tied to a specific experience occurring in the fiction. It is more important for a PC to grow more interesting than more skilled or capable. PCs experience growth not necessarily because they’ve gotten more skill and experience, but because they are changed in a significant way.

Cairn FAQ from Cairn RPG / Yochai Gal

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Thank you Ram for the Story-Games.com deep cut!

( Image sources: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/neuron-activation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty:_The_Fantasy_Kingdom_Sim https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/special-reports-pdfs/10490978.pdf https://varnam.my/34311/untold-tales-of-indian-labourers-from-rubber-plantations-during-pre-independence-malaya/ https://nobonzo.com/ )

PS: used with permission from Sandro, art by Maxa', a reminder to self:

#theory #ttrpgs #d&d #politics #ethics

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spiderlyla · 7 months

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Omg since it's fluff and it's October...

Cuddling up with Miguel and watching scary movies

(I'm such a baby with scary movies 🫣)

Day 1 of Flufftober

tags: gn!reader × miguel o'hara.

join the flufftober taglist here!

when the weather gets chilly, and when the leaves start changing colours, miguel deems it the perfect weather to cling to you.

don't get it wrong, he always is clingy, but it gets a little less subtle when the first hints of fall roll around the corner. especially if it's the two of you, alone in your apartment.

one of miguel's arms was wrapped around you, hand resting on your waist, occasionally tracing your skin or lightly tickling you, just to hear the sweet sound of your giggles and funny snorts. he pulls you closer, and adjusts himself, making sure your head is laying comfortably on his chest, while his is set on top of yours. your arms wrap around him, in a side hug sort of position.

there is a soft, velvet blanket around the two of you, and the apartment is pitch black, except for the faint light of the TV, lightning up the spot infront of it and leaving the corners of your living room looking like a black void.

"mig, i don't like this." you whispered, eyes glued to the TV as the main character on the screen took baby steps down a dark hall. miguel thought it would be a brilliant idea to put on a horror movie, saying he always lets you choose which movie to put on and that he wanted to see something other than the Pride & Prejudice remake of 2005.

though that was not true, he put on this shitty horror movie just because it'll make you hold onto him like how you very much were as of this moment.

"amor, 'is just a movie.." his hand travelled to your hair, messing with it ever so gently, occasionally letting his claws protrude just to give you a nice massage. he was not paying attention to the actors screaming on screen, eyes fixed on you, and how you let out those squeaks and how your eyes widened at the frankly expected jumpscares. "c'mon, that was too obvious."

"It's still scary!—She appeared out of nowhere!" A deep chuckle erupted out of him, his free hand squeezing your thigh comfortingly. "They were building up to it, didn't you notice?"

you let out an annoyed huff and miguel laughed, leaving a kiss on your cheek. "just teasing, don't pout." he held your chin between his index and his thumb, making you look his way. you rolled your eyes, but smiled nevertheless, how could you not what that handsome face infront of you?

he tilted your head up a little bit, placing his soft lips on yours for a brief second, distracting you wholly from the bloodcurdling screams on the TV. he moved his hands and placed them on your waist, just to pull you onto his lap and hold you even closer. your eyes look back at the screen, just in time for another jumpscare and you almost fall off the couch if it werent for Miguel's strong arms holding you down.

and he laughs, again. you groan and bury your face into the crook of his neck, and he squeezes your sides. "what? you're not watching the rest?"

"what is there to watch! they keep scaring the viewers, that's no plot." Your voiced sounded muffled, and you refused to move from the position you were in. seems like miguel's plan worked a little too well, because you really weren't letting go of him any time soon. "there is a plot."

suddenly, he finds his eyes meeting yours, as you arch a questioning brow at him. "mhm, then what is the plot, mig?"

frankly, he had no idea, too focused on your rather adorable reactions and the way your hands tightened around him whenever you got scared, still, he pretended to think for a moment.

but when he glanced back at you, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I...wasn't paying attention."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm a man with alot on my mind, amor," He defended, grinning ever so slightly you could see a pearly white fang showing. "If it's not to your liking at all, I could change—"

"you know what, no." You placed your head on his chest, and a hand around his neck. "You could watch it, and tell me what happens next morning."

"Hm? And what will you be doing?" He saw you shut your eyes, and a soft smile made its way onto his lips. "I'll be sleeping on you as punishment."

Miguel chuckled, the vibrations from his chest making you a little light headed already. His arms wrapped around you protectively, as he pulled the blanket over your shoulder a little bit.

His lips pressed a kiss onto your forehead, and his eyes lingered on you for a moment before he looked back at the TV.

"What a punishment it is."

🏷: @lizard757 @thevoiceinyourheadx @lulu-baked-beans @obi-mom-kenobi @bibikaiherau

@thechloralkatniss-blog @sukunamoon @crazy-ravioli @autismsupermusicalassassin @dangerousness15 @dumb-gemini12 @telefood @unear7hly @deffnotnia @ginger23 @vicravluv @sakinetic @longer-than-i-should-admit @dbiebxiwns @sweetlemongrove @currentlyinflames @minalovesyoubabes @lili-lilac @graves4girls @spineyy @barotaro @softcrayon @nerdyninjaprincess @spooookyqueen @jellyfishxxi @champa1n–problemss @levrenes-space @swampedboy @coolbbruh @numberonetyrantyouth @boringpersonality @parapsycholozka @heyohalie @johfaam @bubbsieeee @iite-cool @oharasmommymilkers00 @mousettea @jokmi @nayylas @namjoons-baby @liviiyyy @viriexo @vermillions @deltaworkwarmpepsi @number1gal @swiftyangx12 @millswifeyofkeigo @library-lunatic

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janearts · 2 months

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Did Roisia run into Nina Dortmell in the Graveyard in the Lower City of BG3 during Act III? Did she encourage the child to use necromancy on her brother, or discourage her given Kelemvor's influence within the Graveyard? (Apologies if this is the graveyard that Roisia's family tends and I forgot--I wasn't sure, but I just got there and it made me think of Roisia and wonder what her reaction was.)

Yes and yes! (And don't apologise! The in-game cemetery isn't Roisia's. Roisia's looks something like this.) Details below the read-more.

Let me start off by saying it would feel SO bizarre to "claim" any in-game space exclusively for my character. The very thought just gives me the ick. More importantly, BG3's Lower City mushes all the districts together. So Candulhallow's Funeral Arrangements (in Heapside) is placed right across the damn street from the Elfsong Tavern (in Eastway). My guess is that they did this to include popular locations (Elfsong + the Maid vs. Jopalin's & the Smiling Boar) into the game without having to build spend the time, money, and labour on building each individual district. I actually chose the Eastway District for Roisia's cemetery because I didn't want to put her in direct competition with Candulhallow's Funeral Arrangements in Heapside. Hah! Anyway, my point is that Baldur's Gate has multiple established cemeteries so Roisia's is off screen somewhere.

But to answer your main question, Roisia absolutely encouraged Nina without a second thought and helped the girl raise her brother. Turns out, Roisia hadn't learned a damned thing from her debacle with Mayrina! I can't tell you what she was thinking, save that sometimes Roisia forgets that not everyone is as comfortable as she is around the dead and decaying and that sometimes amor does NOT vincit omnia for others. She was grateful to have her father back in whatever fashion; she couldn't envision anyone quibbling over whether their loved one has their skin or not. That's merely a technical detail. Although... that being said, the fact that the girl was praying to Myrkul should have tipped Roisia off that perhaps the girl hadn't considered that the Lord of Bones would deliver her brother back to her in the form that pleases Myrkul most. Oops!

#Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 #BG3 Roisia #Act III Spoilers #BG3 Spoilers

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dcvina-claires · 2 months

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saw this screenshot on twitter earlier and wanted to elaborate on it. more specifically, i wanted to elaborate on the order i think the remaining survivors will die in if this theory is true. to start off, i think the next to die will be lottie. while lottie isn’t the pinnacle of innocence like laura lee or the moral compass like jackie and nat, she’s not completely irredeemable either. she does bad things, yes, but most of her actions (starting a cult, manipulating the group) come from a place of wanting to help others. she’s horrified when she finds out that the others hunted nat and let javi die instead and she’s willing to get beaten half to death just so shauna would feel better. that being said, she’s the one who leads in sexually assaulting travis, making her more guilty than laura lee, jackie, and natalie who didn’t partake. after lottie, i think taissa will be the next to die. it’s undeniable that tai has done some horrible things. she sacrificed dogs, purposely injured allie because she wasn’t a good enough player, and abandoned her comatose wife and child to hook up with her ex. that being said, a fair amount of the horrible things she does are when she’s the other version of her. tai wants to be good, but whatever is possessing her won’t allow her to be. out of all the yellowjackets, she’s the only one who was not conscious during jackie’s cannibalism, and was disgusted when van told her that she ate someone. which brings us to the third death: van. now, i know that this may seem odd. after all, what has van, who’s actions (affectionately) have had very little impact on the plot done to make her worse than tai or lottie or even nat? the answer is that van is the only one who doesn’t feel any guilt over what she did in the wilderness. it becomes especially apparent in her conversation with travis (“you should be ashamed” “i’m not ashamed travis. i’m glad i’m alive”) that she will do whatever it takes to survive. when javi is dying, the look that van gives him is bloodthirsty, eager. while she may not seem like the most important player at the moment, i believe that van will continue to go down a very dangerous path that leads her to being one of the more amoral survivors by the time of her death. as for misty and shauna, it definitely seems like shauna will die first. yes, they’ve both killed people, but shauna isn’t the abusive kidnapper that misty is. however, shauna is the main character, and i simply cannot see any version of the show where she isn’t the last to die. this leads me to believe that something is going to happen later on in the show that somehow makes her worse than misty, and she will be the last survivor following misty’s demise. and even then, at the end of the show, she will die too

#yellowjackets #yj #lottie matthews #taissa turner #van palmer #misty quigley #shauna shipman #shauna sadecki #laura lee #jackie taylor #natalie scatorccio #nat scatorccio

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vamossainz55 · 1 year

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sunny days - carlos sainz jr.

request: could you write something short about a date with carlos? it can be day or night. just wanna know what your ideal date with him would look like!!! a/n: requested by my lovely @scuderiasundays. my ideal date is literally just lounging/relaxing, and just enjoying eachother's company. i hope u enjoy this little piece of my brain + bonus of insta au at the end? huh??? what?? warnings: little bit sexual at the end! so minors dni

please don't be a ghost reader<3

The sun’s light shines between the trees’ limbs, patterns of leaves and branches adorning everything the sun can’t touch. You’re tucked nicely under the shadows using your boyfriend’s lap as a pillow. Despite being in his hometown, he’s also hiding away from the harsh Spanish heat, a baseball cap settled nicely on his head to shy away the rays from his eyes.

Your sunglasses are resting at the tip of your nose, just enough to allow you to clearly read the book you have hovering over your face. You’re entranced in the story line, eyes wandering over the page as your mind pieces everything together. You’re wondering what the main character is about to do next, finger gently bending over the corner of the page. To your dismay though, your boyfriend’s face appears into view right before you can flip to the next page.

“Mi amor,” He says, dragging his words with a soft sigh. It’s the third time he’s calling for you, waiting for your attention to shift back to him. You smile at how dramatic he is, resting your book on top of your chest.

“Dime,” Tell me, you muse him for a bit, smiling when his hands go down to play with your hair. As always his touch is gentle, fingers carding through the strands as he watches over you.

“Nada, solo te quería decir que te amo.” Nothing, I just wanted to tell you I love you. His lips pull into a wide smile when he sees your cheeks flush red, and his head leans down to press a kiss to your forehead. Instead of his lips though you feel the bill of his hat hit your chin instead.

Your reaction is instant, a wave of warmth washing over your chest as you hold back a laugh.

“No te rias,” His voice comes out as a whine, but it’s too late, you’re in one of your fits. He can’t even be too mad, sees the way your hands go to your face to stop yourself from laughing.

“Vamos,” Come on, you say in between giggles, gesturing to him to lean down. He wears a pout as he does so, watches as your hands reach up this time. Instead of cupping his cheeks they snake to his hat, turning it to get the bill facing backwards. “Eres demasiado mono. Dame un beso, porfa,” You’re too cute. Give me a kiss, please.

Your hands cup his cheeks just as your lips touch, and Carlos could care less about the weird pull of his back as he leans down further to deepen the kiss. Your fingers gently rub at his stubble and his hand goes to hold your thigh. Teasingly, he rubs in circles by the edge of your dress, wishing he could sneak his hand up higher.

By the time he pulls away he’s wearing a small but smug smile, loving the way you’re both breathless. He thinks he has your full attention, but instead of your hands being on him, they are returning back to your book.

You're nice enough to steal a peck back before your eyes leave him, going to the pages to search for the last word you’ve read.

He realizes he needs to act quick, before he needs to fight once more for your attention. He goes for what he can see first, your sunglasses. Expecting you to fight back, he swats your hand away as soon as you reach to get them. He smirks just as he puts them on.

“Oye, devuelvelo,” Hey, give it back. Carlos simply shakes his head moving away when your hand tries to swipe at his face. You expect him to dodge you though so before he even has time to think of his next move you’ve sat up, turning to him with determination.

He goes to defend your glasses, but he doesn’t expect you to go for his shoulders, pushing with your entire weight. You both land with a loud thump as Carlos’ back hits the ground.

“Ay,” He groans, but you figure it can’t be that bad if his hands are still focused on defending your sunglasses, so instead of those, you go for the second best thing.

The cap is a bit loose on your head, hanging low over your brows, but your main goal was to make a point, not be comfortable. “Pues me quedo con la gorra,” Well, I’ll keep the hat.

Carlos smiles, rolling his eyes as his hands go to hold your thighs instead. With all the commotion you had ended up straddling him, face hovering over his with your necklace swinging above his face. He doesn’t seem to mind though, not with how high your skirt has ridden up and how you feel on top of him. He squeezes your thigh, gives you a mischievous smile as his hand snakes itself further up.

He can hear the hitch of your breath and the way your eyes skim around for others. You don’t stop him though, not when his fingers are toying at the band of your panties, or when his lips mark up your neck.

He revels in it, enjoying having every little bit of your attention.

You never did find out what happened next in your book, but you realize that you don't mind that much either.

yourusername

liked by carlossainz55, landonorris, and 38,726 others

yourusername sunny days and good times! never got to finish my book though ): 58m ago

carlossainz55: you weren't complaining earlier 😏🤫 54m ago

yourusername: shut up omg. 10m ago

sainzcalaruega: WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN 3m ago

landonorris: who was better company? carlos or piñon? 40m ago

yourusername: piñon, duh 11m ago

scuderiasundays: oh to be yn and have a picnic date with carlos 😭 5m ago

#ooo #my first insta au at the end?#how are we feeling?#i hope you all enjoy <3 #carlos sainz jr #carlos sainz drabble #carlos sainz fanfic #carlos sainz x y/n #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz x you #f1 fiction #f1 x reader #f1 x you #formula one x you #formula one x reader #formula one imagine #carlos sainz imagine #f1 imagine #cs55

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comiccaps · 7 months

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Roxana | Kin, Summer Light, Baek Ji Young, 킨, 여름빛, 백지연

#The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother #How To Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother #Roxana Agriche #Roxana Agrece #ongoing #villainess #isekai #fantasy #psychological #powerful female lead #female x male #bamf mc #amoral main character #female lead #pretty art #favorite #manhwa #toxic relationship #transparent

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 4 months

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One massive difference between the western vs JP TWST fandoms that I haven't seen anyone else talk about is that the Japanese fandom seems to dwell in "grimdark" territory while the western one tries to see the best in these characters. From my glimpses into the Japanese fandom, they seem to see these character's darkness as the main appeal. That's reflected in their fanworks, since yandere works or things that dive into their dark sides are more popular there. While there is plenty of yandere content in the west, it seems more like a niche than the most popular way to portray the characters in fics where as in Japan that seems to be the norm on Pixiv. The JP seem to LOVE their grim dark fan theories WAY more than the western one. The western fandom seems like the opposite. Works seeing their humanity, them being decent partners, etc is the norm. Thought?

“I can fix him” vs “I can make him worse”—

Mmm, I have many thoughts on this but before I get into them I want to clarify some things. This is so everyone reading is running with the same definitions and thus can better understand (and perhaps contribute to) the discussion.

Firstly, “grimdark” can refer to any and all materials which people may find disturbing, amoral, and/or violent. Grimdark is NOT just yandere content. Although yandere content is an example of grimdark, not all grimdark is yandere.

Secondly, I want to dispel the notion that “grimdark” and “seeing the best in the characters” are opposites. They are actually not mutually exclusive; it is entirely possible to have the two overlap. For example, it is common for assassins to be after Kalim’s life (which is dark). However, Kalim himself is very cheery despite being cognizant of this (which is not dark, he is able to see the nest of this situation and is often praised for being a spot of sunshine in the cast). There are also much darker takes while staying true to Kalim’s caring nature, such as fandom works which portray his big heart (a strength) as a detriment, causing him to fall into deep paranoia and/or guilt. For the purposes of this discussion, I will still refer back to those two original viewpoints, just be aware that they are not truly “opposites”.

Lastly, the ask is phrased such that it suggests that dark content is “the norm” in Japanese circles. In actuality, the content you see is dependent on personal biases and what the algorithms feed you based on your likes and communities. While it’s true that perhaps Japanese fandoms have more dark content than the western fandoms, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is “the norm”. It is still considered niche, it is just that the fandom culture of Japan is more open-minded about these depictions, as well as fans’ choices to filter out dark content if they do not wish to encounter it. Western fandoms are very different in this regard. Rather than ignoring content they dislike or find disturbing, western fans tend to adopt an attitude of openly renouncing that which they dislike and, at times, calling out those that do enjoy that kind of thing. It is this social stigma and pressure within western fandoms which creates a less welcoming space for dark content to exist and to be publicly shared. Rather than saying one type of content is “the norm”, I think it’s more accurate to say certain types of content are deemed as being “acceptable” or “unacceptable” depending on the fandom culture.

Now then, as to why the western fandom in particular tends to favor works that show the TWST characters in a favorable light rather than focus on their darker aspects? There are many possible explanations for this:

Cultural differences in fandom spaces. I already mentioned this in the opening paragraphs, but it warrants repeating here. Japanese fans are much more reserved in how they express themselves and tend to keep quiet relating to content they dislike or don’t care for. Western fans are more outspoken and may actively “call out” what they dislike. This is typically observed in collectivist vs individualist countries, as conformity with the group/not causing disruptions to the group harmony and standing out and being one’s own individual are opposing ideologies and values.

Japan’s culture is one that stresses the importance of politeness and being proper. The country has strict social expectations of people and especially women (which makes up the majority of TWST’s fanbase). It is only in the realm of fiction where Japanese women are able to freely express themselves and to explore subject matter deemed socially inappropriate, however dark it may be. Fandom is their creative outlet. Meanwhile in the west, it’s the opposite. Overt uniqueness is more acceptable overall, but there is also a present effort of policing online content, often in the name of social activism and inclusion. This makes sense for western countries, many of which sport much more diverse populations than Japan.

Going in with the certain expectations of the game. Many western fans mistook Twisted Wonderland for a dating sim when its marketing materials first released, maybe due to a language barrier. This set them up for the wrong expectations about romancing and potentially “fixing” a villain, even when the game finally came out (due to residual feelings; I know for a fact there are still a handful of fans who want TWST to have a dating sim spinoff or wish the game had been a dating sim from the start).

Changes made in the localization.

I’m not sure what the ratio of westerners playing EN to JP, but the official localization made several changes which “blunted” some details or changed the context of some characters’ stories. For example, Jamil is no longer a “servant” but an “employee”, Kalim is his “employer”, not “master”, and Jamil complains that his parents will be “so mad at him” when he is asked why he doesn’t rebel against the Asims whole the consequences are made much more explicit in JP (his family will be thrown out onto the streets). Cater, Floyd, and Idia have also notably gotten a lot more memey dialogue that was not there in the original. These softened versions the characters may make western fans more likely to see the a less severe backstory or have goofier interpretation of certain characters.

Popular western media’s interpretations of villains. A lot of western media nowadays tries to redeem the bad guys. For example, in many young adult and adult romance fantasy novels, the love interest is often presented as a misunderstood bad boy that has a change of heart because of the protagonist. Disney themselves is also guilty of “softening” many of their more recent villains and giving new backstories to older villains to make them more sympathetic (Maleficent, Cruella, etc). Compare this to “classic” era Disney villains, who are just evil for the sake of being evil. These will naturally inform the general public’s views on villains. (It is also to be noted that Disney villains and specifically their evilness are extremely popular in Japan. They are adored for being fun characters, not necessarily admired for being bad.)

Disney’s reputation, especially in the west. The company is closely associated with fairy tales —and, more importantly, with magic and happy endings. This, too, may contribute to western fans wanting to look on the “bright side” of things and wish for happy endings for characters that are, in fact, part of the Disney brand. The Disney message is perhaps strongest in the west due to having its origins there:

The age differences between the Japanese and the western fandoms. The western TWST fandom skews young overall whereas the Japanese TWST fandom is older (which is why a lot of TWST merch you’ll see is expensive household goods and fashion; this is to appeal to working Japanese women). As I mentioned in the previous point, this means younger audiences in the west may mostly encounter media which presents villains in a more sympathetic light, or at least much earlier (which leaves a stronger impression). This makes them more inclined to view other media in a way which is more flattering for the villains even when they are dark or morally ambiguous in canon.

Younger fans may also be not as informed and thus lack some perspective, which means they may have more limited views. A 15 year old wouldn’t have as much life experience as a 20 year old—that’s not a bad thing, it’s an objective truth that has an impact on their perspective. They may see things more simplistically or see easier solutions to complex problems. Younger fans may, for example, be able to identify circumstances as being traumatic or unfair (such as the case with Jamil’s past and Leona’s desire to introduce new technologies to his home country) but may not understand the full ramifications (ie why Jamil cannot just leave or have Kalim to speak with his dad about it, how difficult Leona’s plans would be to implement as well as the social pushback due to the harm the advances could pose to the environment). This leads to more of a lean to positive content, as dark content would inherently mean problems are much more difficult to resolve and have more factors to them than what was originally considered.

I want to also point out that younger fans are especially concerned with what their peers may think of them, and so they may feel too embarrassed to dabble in darker content. Some dark content may also not be perceived as appropriate depending on the fan’s age. Alternatively, some fans may just not feel comfortable exploring those ideas (and that’s totally fine!).

Western fans project onto/relate to the characters they love. I’m not saying that Japanese fans don’t do this, but I feel like western fans tend to do this to a VERY strong and sometimes parasocial degree (which has its roots in comfort character and kinning culture, things which largely do not exist in east Asian fandoms). Like… western fans can relate to a character so deeply that any criticism of that character can feel like a personal attack on them, the fan. Likewise, if that character is presented as having flaws or doing questionable things (even if it is canon), the fans that are strongly projecting onto the character may feel that they themselves are flawed or somehow “bad” too. This can lead into trying to defend or justify the character’s flaws or actions. Maybe a fan that has shared trauma with a character sees them as a proxy and want to see the character (and thus, themselves) in a positive way or in good situations. In eastern fandoms, it is more appropriate to consider the character a separate entity rather than relating to or projecting onto them.

The western rise in moral justification for the content one consumes. This is a big one, and it has been alluded to in some of the other points. There is this belief circulating in western fandom spaces that “the content you consume reflects your real world values and morals”. So… if you believe that (or are in a social space where it is believed) and happen to like evil or morally grey characters, what does that imply about your own character? Does that mean you are morally bankrupt or that you condone bad things? Personally, I don’t think so but I understand why this way of thinking could make people feel ashamed. They may avoid looking at “dark” interpretations of a character and instead focus on wholesome feel-good content so that the content they consume reflects “well” on themselves. In other cases, fans may try to twist the bad points of a character to make it “morally okay” to like them.

That’s everything I could come up with off the top of my head!! I hope this was interesting to read and maybe helped you see the international TWST fandom from a new perspective. With that, I’ll leave you with this relevant Wreck-It Ralph quote: “I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

#twst #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland en #twst en #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #notes from the writing raven #question

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morallyinept · 1 month

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Door Number Three - A Javi Gutierrez GIFLET

Uh, Jett, what the heck is a GIFLET?

Just a short 500 words or less drabble, based on inspiration that I got from a GIF. Simples.

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x GN!Reader (No name, physical description or sex of reader. It's you, bub.)

Word Count: 499

Scoville Smut Rating: None, you're safe. Character talk alludes to sexy things.

Check out my Scoville Smut Ratings here.

GIFLET MASTERLIST | MAIN MASTERLIST

Enjoy! 🖤

This GIFLET was inspired by the below GIF 👇🏻

“When you see what is behind this door, it could change the way you feel about me. Our entire relationship could change.”

He looks terrified. The most scared and reluctant you’ve ever seen him, but it only spurs you on to uncover the secrets behind door number three, as you’ve often called it.

A secret to the villa, behind a mirrored door with a keypad, just like in some spy movie.

This is the only secret standing between you both now, and Javi knew at some point he would have to show you, the more he fell in love with you. It was inevitable.

“Javi. Just open it.” You press, as his face pulls even tighter into a worried frown. He looks as though he might cry.

He punches in the code slowly, the keys beeping, and pulls the door open and you step inside.

“Oh, Javi... Jesus.” You say, looking around, stopping in your tracks.

This was not what you expected at all.

“I know. I am sorry if it is weird.” He says, his voice a timid mouse behind you as he steps in and closes the door.

Your eyes try to take everything in. “No. Not weird. It's... amazing.” You say in wondrous awe.

“What?”

You turn to look at him. “Why didn’t you show me this sooner?”

“I thought you would not like it. You would not like… me.”

“I love all sides of you, Javi. But I’m keen to get to know this one.”

“Y-you are?”

He watches as you step down into the playroom, fingers brushing against the armoury of whips, ropes and paddles hanging up. There’s a rack with cuffs, clamps and shelves full of vibrators, dildos and butt plugs in different girths and shades of purple on display.

A large Queen bed sits to the left with silk sheets with a giant mirror spanning the ceiling above it.

“Are you a Dominant?” You ask him curiously, as you stroke the tassels on a cat o’ nine tails.

“Submissive.” Javi whispers with his cheeks burning red.

“Hmm.” You smile, pondering it. Pondering how this shy, giggly man harbours this intense, thrilling side to him. A side you’re only too eager to explore.

“What are you thinking? Please tell me. Even if I don't want to hear it. I can take it.” Javi says as he looks at you with apprehensive, watery eyes.

“I'm thinking...” You step towards him, and take his gorgeous face in your hands, his curls sticking out between your fingers. His own hands settle on your waist. “Which rope shall I tie you up with first?” You grin with a gleam in your eye.

“Oh.” He blushes again in sweet relief. “I really like the red one. Silky.”

You nod smiling, and he kisses you with a hastened passion and hunger.

“Dios mio, I fucking love you,” Javi pants into your mouth.

“No more secrets, okay?” You say as you break the kiss.

Javi smiles. “I promise, mi amor.”

🖤

#pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal #javi gutierrez x reader #javi gutierrez x you #javi gutierrez x gn!reader #pedro pascal characters #jett's writing #jett's giflets

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nerdieforpedro · 1 month

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My Teddy Bear enjoys Leather

Javier Gutierrez x plus size female reader

This fanfic is for 18+ MDNI

Word Count: 892

Warnings: established relationship, unprotected P in V, riding, oral sex (male receiving), fingers and HANDS (did we expect different from me?), the color red, edging, cockwarming, breath play, Javi G is his own warning (I’m not sorry I had him say any of it!)

Summary: Your boyfriend Javier has deemed it appropriate to finally ask you for something important to him.

Notes: I am a sponge. There was talk of what one might do with a different Pedro character’s nose. I was being a menace in a friend’s DM and thought: “I should take some of these mini drabbles and make something with it.” That friend of course was @lady-bess and she encouraged me. 😆 So here we are with splashes of noses, @morallyinept ‘s Javi’s special room and my own spin on things because Javi’s color is red baby. ❤️ @rhoorl helped me with some translations because I already have trouble with English, I need all help I can get for Spanish because fee be it from me to butcher a beautiful language.🥹

Main Masterlist / Javi Gutierrez Masterlist

You’ve never been one to kink shame. You’ve also never been asked to use leather in this manner either. Javier Gutierrez has been the sweetest boyfriend you’ve ever had. He only raised his voice in bed when your hand slipped off his chest while you were riding him and grabbed his neck. You apologized but he of course told you not to worry about it. Javi never wants you to fret or feel bad about anything.

He spends an equal amount of time between your thighs and buried in your cunt. It was after spending another night with him, your tongue slid down his shaft following the vein on the side of his cock down to his balls, waking him by nibbling on the skin lightly with your teeth. So there was another time Javi raised his voice waking up with your ass and swollen pussy from the night before staring at him. He reached out, two fingers parting your folds to see your core twitching while your moans were muffled by your lips nipping at his foreskin. Pausing to raise your head, you looked up at Javi whose chest was heaving along with the soft swell of his belly.

“Buenos días mi amor (Good morning my love). Te estoy dando besos dulces (I’m giving you sweet kisses). I need to focus. Don’t touch me yet Javier.” You said plainly, watching him to ensure he took his hand back. “Put them behind your head.” Javier’s eyes dilated as he interlocked his fingers and placed his hands behind his head, watching as your mouth took in his cock swirling your tongue about the head before starting to swallow more, bobbing your head. Javi resisted the urge to thrust his hips, trying to keep still as possible. He needed to keep from cumming, to watch your thighs drip with slick arousal from taking him so deeply, your fingers grasping his thighs where your nails were digging into his skin. The sensation was too much for poor Javier.

“Quierda (sweetheart)!” Was the only thing he was able to say over and over, watching you drink his spend and it dripping from your mouth.

This was the moment Javier decided to ask you into his special room - private room. He’s never shown this room to anyone, just collecting pieces to use, many of them he couldn’t use by himself.

It was a beautiful dinner, you wore the red dress that Javier enjoyed on you, it was strapless with an asymmetrical split. Exposing much of your thigh and leg when you walked and sat, jiggling as Javier watched you walk across the room to the sealed door that had a keypad on it. He entered his code and opened the door. All manner of leather straps, flogs, bells, lined the wall, two harnesses hung from the ceiling. Your eyes were wide from shock.

“Mi vida (my life). I want more of you did the other night. Command me. Restrict me. Some pain is fine, so long as it is from you. This room has all the tools you will need for this.” It’s not something you’ve ever done, never really entertained the idea of it. But if it’s for Javier, your sweet, never asks your for anything except your time, boyfriend. You could at least try.

Now you’re on a circular bed in this sealed room with Javier Gutierrez, a red leather collar placed around his neck meant for breath play. You’ve told him not to touch himself and not to touch you either, even though you long for for them to knead your rolls and folds like he always does, you’ll abstain for him if it brings him greater release. Standing above him naked, you just have him using his perfectly angled nose to tease your clit, but he cannot use his mouth, “Javi, mi bueno niño (my good boy). I’m going to take you in now. You listened so well.” A kiss to his forehead earns you a sigh from him, your palms run along his arms up to his shoulders, centering yourself over his dripping cock. Using him to soothe the ache inside you, your hips became flush with his. “Let’s sit together in your special room. Touch me but don’t move me or your hips.”

Javier’s hands kneaded your back and hips as his mouth, being careful not to move you as instructed. He had a request, he wanted you to do it for him, to him. The breath play worried you, is there a possibility you could hold it too long?

“Cariño (dear). Please, just one time.” Javier pleads with you. Explaining that you’d never done that before and you didn’t want to hurt him, he shook his head. “Mi amor, you could never hurt me. Just pull on my collar enough to make the bell jingle at the end while you sit a top of me, taking me so deeply.” As you warm his cock, you grip the red leather strap connected to the collar, wrapping it once around your hand you pull, cutting his air a bit as his cock twitches wildly inside of you. “Más por favor mi amor (More please my love). You hold my life in your hands. Milk me, have my air, use my cock to come.” Rolling your hips slowly, begins a new chapter with your leather teddy bear Javi.

The fic by @morallyinept is called Door Number Three that helped inspire this. One of her giflets. ❤️

Some peeps who may want to see Javi in red and working that nose 👃: @secretelephanttattoo @maggiemayhemnj @magpiepills @avastrasposts @pedroshotwifey @megamindsecretlair @alltheglitterandtheroar @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @yorksgirl @goodwithcheese @for-a-longlongtime @legendary-pink-dot @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @trulybetty @fhatbhabie @readingiskeepingmegoing @harriedandharassed @survivingandenduring @soft-girl-musings @heareball @rhoorl @mysterious-moonstruck-musings

#pedro pascal characters #fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #javier gutierrez #javier gutierrez x reader #Javier Gutierrez x plus size reader #Javier Gutierrez smut #a Nerdie fic

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comradekatara · 12 days

Note

It’s me again, and I’ve got another ask for ya @comradekatara

And no stupid pol meme’s that I gave only a cursory glance too and stupidly screenshotted this time!

I’ve seen a few of your post (at least I think it was your’s) about LOK. So I was wondering. In regard to the main villains, who is your least favorite/most disliked?

And what would you change about their motivations and perhaps their “villainous” means to make them a more compelling and/or sympathetic character?

lol this is a pretty big ask. i mean basically every villain in lok is completely incoherent thematically, politically, ideologically. people will call amon a communist but he doesn’t actually give a shit about economics or class in any capacity. people call unalaq a theocrat but as far as im aware he isn’t exploiting people’s spiritual faith to gain power, (maybe that’s what he was doing at first, but) he literally wants to submerge the world into “darkness” for one million years for… reasons and purposes. unalaq/vaatu is by far the worst lok villain, but that’s not even saying much because it’s so patently ridiculous and cartoonish. the red lotus are actually compelling but they also love chaos for the sake of chaos (because anarchism!) and want to violently murder a teenage girl and hold a genocided people hostage to do so (despite zaheer’s supposed respect for air nomads). and kuvira is an ethnonationalist who declares herself emperor, so i guess she’s at least a somewhat coherent portrait of a real type of person who actually exists, but the fact that the fascist despot is the ONLY character who points out that republic city was built on colonized earth kingdom land is um….. not a great look?

and then side characters like tarrlok, hiroshi, varrick, queen hou-ting, suyin(???), wu(???) who aren’t really the primary villains even though in many ways they’re more ideologically coherent, are just also kind of weird for their ambiguous framing. like hou-ting is literally kidnapping airbenders and putting them in underground labor camps where they’re tortured and ruthlessly trained into forming an army, which is something that chaisee does in the yangchen novels and is regarded as utterly reprehensible and heinous for it (because it is), whereas we’re supposed to feel bad for hou-ting when she dies because murder is bad uwu. and we’re supposed to forgive hiroshi for [checks notes] attempted filicide. and varrick is just some fun wacky little guy who is a ruthlessly amoral capitalist but also he does the charleston! and isn’t him marrying his overworked, exploited assistant cute?? and not at all grossly misogynistic and horrifying???? LOL!

so i don’t think going through every villain and antagonist individually and imbuing them with depth is really a worthy use of time, since the show largely suffers from incoherence due to the fact that it isn’t cohesive at all. besides korra’s character development (which is excellent), there’s no real central idea that ties every season together. take atla instead: it’s a very linear narrative, with an established goal that is always being worked towards and once it’s ultimately completed, the show ends. lok has no idea what that central goal is. so instead of trying to fix every character, it’s better to work from the center out and first simply define that goal. the central political tension in lok is, fundamentally, a question of whether it is better to alter the status quo in various radical ways, or whether it is better to maintain the violently upheld hegemonic norm by virtue of it being the status quo (and spoiler alert, it’s the latter!). and these radical ways, whether it be the terrorist movement of a fraudulent right wing populist dictator, or the terrorist movement of a bunch of commies, is always presented as equally dangerous and in need of korra’s gaggle of cops, liberals, and capitalists to suppress. what a great show.

however, the lok that lives in my head does away with most of that, and simply focalizes the conflict between the white lotus and the red lotus as diametrically opposing forces both vying to control korra’s position in the world as avatar and reconstitute her legacy on their terms. because korra’s arc is fundamentally about learning to define her selfhood and her role in the world on her own terms, and the one commonality between every villain is that they’re trying to suppress or control her identity in some way. because it’s also, incidentally, a show primarily concerned with the value of identity politics, and doesn’t actually give a shit about any of the class struggles that underpin the show’s worldbuilding and inform so many of its primary characters. so while i’m not opposed to korra’s struggle of identity, and in fact appreciate it a lot and find it personally affirming in multiple ways, korra deserves a show that is actually worthy of her brilliance as a character.

it’s not that korra shouldn’t struggle to establish her identity on her own terms, but that the politics through which they attempt to communicate this struggle are incoherent. so i would simply reframe the conflict as one primarily between the white lotus, who are reformist liberals at best, and neoconservative reactionaries at worst. we see the best of the white lotus in atla (arguably), and the worst of the white lotus in the yangchen novels (which are fascinating and excellent and everyone should read them). xai bau is only ever mentioned in a single exposition dump (in one of the only truly great episodes of lok, i might add), but his philosophy and role in the narrative is nonetheless fascinating to me. the idea that the white lotus becomes more public facing after the war, leading to its detractors also growing more vocal, is genuinely interesting. the conflicts established between the white and red lotuses are genuinely compelling (to a point). but they never truly address how the white lotus kept korra locked away in a compound for the first 17 years of her life, they never meaningfully address the harm the white lotus has done to her and to the world.

like, of course korra couldn’t master airbending, the element of freedom, if she’s never been truly free. korra spent her entire life in a gilded cage, her role in the world and legacy defined for her by liberals who wanted her to be some kind of supercop instead of a genuine spiritual leader. it’s not korra’s fault that spirituality and harmony and meditation are difficult for her, she was literally denied those facets of herself for her entire adolescence. the white lotus constitute a microcosm of the ruthless neoliberal society korra encounters when first arriving in republic city. the white lotus are a metonym for the liberal identity politics centrist reformist vision of the world that lok uncritically presents as the ideal. in a better show, korra would question those systems, disavow them, and even perhaps attempt to dismantle them. korra would define her freedom of self on her own terms by realizing the ways in which the white lotus and their broader ideology has harmed her.

that said, the red lotus is also flawed. and i don’t just mean because they’re chaos-hungry terrorists who love to murder with impunity, but because they’re in the business of denying korra’s agency as a human being and not simply as the avatar. they want korra dead because they don’t believe in the role she embodies. and you know, they can want that for understandable political reasons without being completely evil about it, but obviously in a show as facile and shallow as lok, no they can’t. i think that korra’s brief pause in considering zaheer’s point of view should have lasted longer. i think that korra should have become disillusioned by the white lotus and the stipulations of capitalism (as early as book 1, frankly), and she should have genuinely considered joining them. and once she does eventually disavow them too, it’s not because of their evil commie politics, but because they’re also in the business of dictating her role in the world, and korra can’t stand to be boxed in by anyone, certainly not from people who claim to be in the business of dissolving borders.

so pretty much every villain in lok would fall under either the umbrella of white lotus operatives (whether direct or indirect) or red lotus (whether direct or indirect). people who want korra to be the world’s ultimate cop who upholds the systems that benefit them, or people who think that the avatar has no place in a truly just world, for (honestly) kind of valid reasons. the red lotus would be antagonists who work against korra’s arc of establishing her own freedom and agency, but the white lotus would be the “villains.” and the capitalist juggernauts who mistreat and exploit their workers (and their assistants and their daughters etc etc) would not be let off the hook so easily either. the neocolonial tensions in republic city wouldn’t be framed as an issue of the distant past. the issues of class and colonialism would be foregrounded alongside korra’s struggle to establish her identity. and then, perhaps, the narrative would finally cohere.

#745voiceofthepeople #asks #lok crit #analysis #korra #white lotus #red lotus #oh lok that lives in my head…… save me korra save me…..

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justsomerandomfanfic · 7 months

Text

Blue With Envy - Jaime Reyes X GN Reader

Title: Blue With Envy

Jaime Reyes X GN Reader

Additional Characters: Batman (Mentioned), Khaji-Da (Mentioned), Knifemare OC (Mentioned), and The League (Mentioned)

WC: 2,493

Warnings: Bantering, teasing, use of Google Translate (translation featured at the end of fic), jealousy, Blue Beetle/DC canon fighting mentioned, nicknames, cursing (only one or two words), blood, hallucinations mentioned, knives mentioned, wounds, main character death mentioned (nothing bad), yelling, confessions, slight angst, cuddling, and fluff

"D9..."

You threw your hands up in the air in defeat, "You sunk my battleship." You watched as Jaime grinned cheekily, placing the red pegs on the plastic map on his side.

"Well, I win." He replied, as you just let out a huff, crossing your arms.

"Yeah, again. You cheater." You pouted, as Jaime began to collect the pieces on his side. Even though you were upset, you couldn't stop from admiring him. Jaime was the most beautiful man you had ever known - from his mesmerizing eyes that always sparkled when he smiled that beautiful smile of his. His dark, curly brown hair fell perfectly across his forehead, and was soft to the touch. You could stare at him for hours and hours.

He was not only beautiful in the physical sense of the term, his personality was beautiful too. He was sweet, super compassionate, and always there if you needed someone to just talk to. He was so selfless, and would do anything for the people he cared for. He was always there for you, through everything. He was there if you needed a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to hold and be held by. Being in his presence was overall calming and peaceful; he was perfect.

He paused at your words though, looking up, snapping you out of your daydreaming, "Cheater? I never cheated." He shook his head lightly, tilting his head to the side. A hint of confusion showed itself in the slight crease between his brows, making him look even more adorable than he already was. Gosh, you were whipped.

You shook your head, trying to clear the thoughts away, and you just waved your hand toward him, "Yeah, but you're so tall, you can probably see over my board." You reasoned, and Jaime knew you were just being stubborn.

Setting the pieces he collected in the small zip-lock bag, he looked over at you, watching as you began to collect your own pieces. The corners of his lips twitched upwards slightly, his gaze softening with fondness. It was kind of cute how competitive you got, how you'd bite your bottom lip when concentrating, your eyebrows furrowing as you sometimes muttered to yourself. Jaime was never really able to hear what you were mumbling to yourself, but he found it cute nonetheless.

Jaime wished that he could spend more time with you. But, being a superhero was hard work, and it hardly gave him enough free time to see you, or his family for that matter. He hated having to cancel dates or leave early when he got a call from the League. But, he couldn't tell you who he was. He didn't want to endanger you. But, coming to your apartment when he did have that free time, seeing your smile... It was all worth it. Jaime smiled softly, shaking his head again, "We're sitting on your bed, mi amor, we are practically the same height." He pointed out, and you sighed, resting your chin in your palm, leaning forward, your elbow being propped up on your crossed legs.

He had a point. Maybe, just maybe, he was just better at the game than you were. "Yeah, sure, whatever, cheater." You grumbled, but you weren't mad at him. If anything, Jaime made your frustration go away.

Falling back against your pillows, Jaime quickly followed suit, the mattress bouncing as he did so. On his side, he held his head up with his palm, his arm resting across his pillow; leaning over you a bit. Looking at you, he said softly, "What do you wanna do?"

Turning on your side, you let out a small sigh as you looked at him, shrugging your shoulders, "I don't know. Do you have any ideas?" You asked, your hand reaching out to fidget with the gold necklace he wore. This position allowed Jaime to get close enough to brush a strand of your hair away from your face with his fingertips; causing the strands to fall gently over his hand as he moved them back behind your ear. You leaned into his touch, shutting your eyes.

Jaime let out a deep breath, "Not really, I got nothing."

You let out a hum, your hand letting go of the necklace to take his hand. Opening your eyes, you moved your attention to his hand in yours, running your fingers along his palm, tracing a random pattern. "Hey Jaime," You spoke quietly, still gazing at his skin. Jaime's eyes shifted from what you were doing with his hand to you, waiting for you to continue, "Who's your favorite superhero?"

Your question sort of surprised Jaime, but he was happy to answer it, "Blue Beetle." He slowly intertwined his fingers with yours, his warm hand pressed against your palm, "Who's your favorite?" He then asked, dropping his arm and pressing his cheek into the pillow under his head. Jaime would be lying if he didn't want you to also say that Blue Beetle was your favorite hero too. He wanted to hear you say that.

You pursed your lips, your eyes leaving your hands to look up at him, "Batman." Not even hesitating.

Jaime's smile dropped slightly, but he quickly hid his disappointment, "Really? Why?" He inquired, really wanting to know your reason. Not that Batman wasn't awesome, no. He liked Batman but Jaime was pretty biased. Since he was Blue Beetle. He watched as your face lit up, which was a beautiful sight.

"Oh, gosh, where do I even start?" You exclaimed, and Jaime couldn't help but smile at your excitement, "Okay, okay. Well, I like how even though he doesn't have any powers, and he still goes out and saves people. Like, he's just some regular guy under that bat suit, going out and beating up villains, when he doesn't have to. He's so selfless, you know? And he's such a smart guy too! He makes all of his own gear, and I just think that that is super amazing." You grinned, letting out a deep breath, as Jaime nodded thoughtfully.

Jaime couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous, but he pushed it down. "What do you think about Blue Beetle?" He asked, hoping that you'd say at least one cool thing about his superhero persona.

You hummed, narrowing your eyes slightly as you thought, "Well, I haven't seen much about Blue Beetle, but his suit's kind of cool. The whole bug thing. Why do you like Blue Beetle?" You asked Jaime, watching as he glanced away from you briefly, making you wonder what he was thinking.

He opened and closed his mouth before speaking, feeling the jealousy that he was trying to hold down, came right back up, "I mean, I think Blue Beetle is super cool. He can create anything to protect and defend himself, and his suit is cool too. I agree with that.” You narrowed your eyes slightly as he spoke, noticing something off with his tone. You couldn't help but think that Jaime was upset that you didn't like Blue Beetle like he did.

"Jaime, honey," You began softly, slowly after he was finished, "Is everything alright?" You asked, propping yourself up on your elbow.

He took a deep breath before releasing it, "Yeah, everything is fine… Good, yeah." Shaking your head lightly, you freed your hand from his, reaching up and cupping his cheek; bringing his brown orbs back to you.

"Jaime..." You began, brushing your thumb over his cheekbone as Jaime averted his gaze from you again, "Are you upset that Blue Beetle isn't my favorite?"

"No, no, it's not that." He muttered before meeting your eyes. Jaime let out a small breath, captivated by you as his heart beat rapidly against his chest. God, you were killing him. With your caring attitude, your genuine smile, your laugh, being so effortlessly damn stunning; everything about you. "Estoy muy enamorado de ti,.." He muttered, not even fully recognizing what he was saying, as you just raised an eyebrow.

"I don't really know what you said, I really have to start learning Spanish…" You laughed a little, Jaime just continued to look at you as if you hung the stars in the sky; he couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have you.

Calming down a little, you snuggled into Jaime's chest, digging your face into the crook of his neck; Jaime's arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer until you were completely flush against him. He rested his cheek against the top of your head, listening to your steady breathing as you both lay there in silence for a few moments, enjoying the calm atmosphere between you two.

~~~

Jaime breathed heavily as he made his way up the fire escape, holding onto his side, he had to stop to take a breather; his chest heaving as he let out a pained groan. He had just finished helping some of the League with a new villain, one who could fight like Hell and make him hallucinate. The villain, who called herself Knifemare, had the power to make someone hallucinate before stabbing them with sharp knives and swords while they were distracted. Jaime couldn't stop as the plethora of sharp knives flew through the air. Khaji-Da was able to protect most of him, but a stray knife had cut into his side. His healing was taking care of the scratches that he had sustained from the fight, but larger cuts took a bit more time.

Jaime needed to see you though, even though he knew that you would ask questions about why his shirt was covered in his blood, but he didn't care. He needed to see you. Knifemare's hallucinations got to him, even though he tried to fight the searing pain that he felt as she tried to enter and mess with his mind. For a moment, Jaime thought that he saw you, dead, on the ground a few feet away... Before he knew it, he was struck and Khaji-Da was successful at snapping him out of it.

Letting out a breath, Jaime winced as he pushed himself the rest of the way up to your floor, almost collapsing on the metal balcony before he knocked on your window. Jaime pressed the side of his face into the brick wall beside the window, closing his eyes at the cool feeling of the stone. He heard shuffling before the window opened and he heard you gasp.

"Jaime! Are you alright!?" You called to him, his eyes opening slightly as you took his arm and helped him inside. Jaime let out another soft groan as you led him to your bed. Sitting down, Jaime let out a sigh, looking over at you, noticing your wide, worried eyes. Your eyes raked over his body, eventually landing on the blood stain on his blue shirt. "You're bleeding! Jaime! What happened!? Let me see it!" You began to reach out to lift his shirt but Jaime grabbed your hand.

It was heartwarming to see you so worried about him, but he didn't need your help; he could feel his side slowly stitching up. "Y/N, cariño, I'm fine. You don't have to worry-"

"If you're fine, then let me see it." You insisted, your hands balled into fists; knuckles white as you stared at him. Jaime stared right back at you for a moment, debating internally with himself. Finally, giving in, Jaime pulled his shirt off. You gasped at the injury, staring at his torso, "God, Jaime, what happen-" You scooted towards him, reaching your hand out, but hesitating, watching as the large cut slowly began to heal itself, blue wisps swirling like electricity before it completely closed up. Staring at his side, it looked as if there was never even a large gash there in the first place. Licking your lips, you slowly sat back, looking up at Jaime with your wide eyes. "Jaime... What's going - What's-" You couldn't even speak, you were so shocked.

Jaime looked down at your hand on the bed, slowly inching his hand over to cover yours. Looking back up at you, he let out a sigh as he saw tears beginning to develop in the corners of your eyes. "I-" He started before pausing as he realized that he couldn't form words. He couldn't explain this. All he could do was stare at you with those puppy dog eyes.

You let out a shaky sigh, "So... I’m trying to be calm here. I know that stressing about whatever is happening won't help either of us." You said, biting your lip, watching him for any sign of disapproval.

Jaime swallowed thickly before nodding, sitting up straighter, "I can explain.... Everything..." He mumbled, staring at you as you continued to chew on your bottom lip, your brow furrowed. "I'm... I'm..." Letting out a sigh, he dropped his head. "Khaji-Da? Can you show them?" He muttered quietly, closing his eyes as his suit started to materialize.

Your eyes widened as you watched his suit appear in front of you. Your jaw dropped, "You're Blue Beetle..!" You exclaimed as you watched the mask disappear, revealing his face. You shook your head, unable to comprehend that he was actually Blue Beetle.

"Yeah, I'm Blue Beetle." Jaime stated with confidence as he looked down at you, beyond nervous, but his nerves dwindled when he saw a smile spread across your face.

~~~

"Wait, so if you're Blue Beetle... Does that mean you know Batman?" You asked softly, now cuddled close to Jaime in your bed, your arms wrapped around his waist as you both gazed at each other.

Jaime hummed a bit, "Yeah, I’ve met him, but only a couple of times when I get called to go to Gotham or Metropolis." He answered, his fingers dipped under your shirt, brushing against the soft skin of your waist; his other arm under your head as he held you close to him.

"Does that mean there is a possible slight chance that I could meet him?" You asked excitedly, making Jaime chuckle.

Wetting his bottom lip, his fingers pausing on your waist as he thought, "I mean, I could try and see, but I'm still new to everything." He placed a soft kiss on your forehead as he pulled you closer to him.

You let out a small, content sigh, closing your eyes and snuggling the side of your face into his chest, "Either way, it doesn't matter..." You murmured, "I got my hero right here." You grinned, turning your head to place a kiss right over his pounding heart.

Jaime's said-heart fluttered in his chest at your statement as a sense of pride engulfed him. He pressed another kiss onto your head, closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply, the scent of your strawberry shampoo washing over him. His lips quirked up in a smile as he pulled you impossibly close to him and finally closed his eyes.

---

Translation:

Estoy muy enamorado de ti

I am so in love with you

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