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writingquestionsanswered · 2 months

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How do I plot a romance story?

Most advice and plot structures I have found seem to be focused on quest-type stories. Do you have any advice or templates that are mpre easily applicable to romance stories? Do I need to include another major plotline?

Basic Romance Structure

Like most stories, there are different theories and methods about structure, and you can find these by Googling "romance story structure." However, let me walk you through a basic romance structure to show you the differences and similarities with the kind of structure you'd use for something like a quest story or an adventure story.

Introduction/Normal World - Like most stories, romance stories usually open with a peek at the protagonist's "normal world" as a means of introducing who they are and what their life is like. And, as with other stories, this also introduces us to the both characters' internal conflicts. In romance, rather than resolving the internal conflict with growth in relation to the story events, the internal conflict will be resolved via change/growth in relation to the romance. [Example: Sandi is a florist with a four-year-old daughter, navigating single parenthood after her husband filed for divorce and ran away to chase a dream.]

The "Meet Cute" - This is essentially the inciting incident... the moment the two characters meet for the first time, or the first time in a long time. All in one moment, we see how undeniably right they are for each other, but due to their individual internal internal conflicts, they're butting heads big time.

[Example: Sandi meets Brent, the new flower supplier who is adorable, sweet to Sandi's daughter, but infuriatingly inept at doing things the way she likes them.]

Forced Proximity - After the "meet cute," something will inevitably force them to spend time together. They get partnered together on the same job, stuck together in the same place, keep coincidentally bumping into each other... whatever. All that matters is that they're forced to get to know each other despite their head butting.

[Example: they get roped into working together on the town's rose festival.]

Resistance/Rejection - Now that they're forced to interact for whatever reason, they're going to spend a lot of time resisting their mutual interest/desire for one another due to whatever obstacles exist, like being from warring factions or one being in the middle of a divorce. But despite this resistance, we can see the sparks flying between them, even if they can't or don't want to admit it.

[Example: Sandi wants to focus on running her business and raising her daughter; Brent just got out of a long relationship and isn't ready for romance.]

Waning Resistance/Giving Love a Chance - Eventually there's a breakthrough... the obstacle gives way... they have a really fun time hanging out at the Christmas market and almost kiss... they move past the misunderstanding between them... or maybe they just slowly get over their issues and start to fall in love. Either way, they decide to give the relationship a go.

[Example: as they get to know each other and bond through working on the rose festival, they can't deny how compatible they are and an unexpected first kiss gives Brent the courage to ask Sandi out on a date, to which she agrees.]

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back - This is essentially the first date, then another one, then another one... though it doesn't have to be actual dates. It just needs to be some interactive scenes when they're in relationship mode. Each of these interactions will deepen their feelings for one another while at the same time raising new obstacles or re-raising the old ones.

[Example: the first date goes well except that Sandi is preoccupied with the fact that her daughter is staying with a new sitter. The second date goes okay, except Brent is in a bad mood after his ex came to town to pick up the last of her things. Then they pull an all-nighter to make some final preparations for the upcoming rose festival, which leads to a philosophical conversation about the future, wherein Sandi says she sees herself getting remarried one day and having another kid or two, and Brent says he can't ever see himself getting married or being a father.]

This Isn't Going to Work - This is the midpoint crisis... the "all is lost" moment where one or both put on brakes and say, "I can't do this," citing whatever obstacle/s that now stand in the way of their happiness. Sometimes this follows their biggest act of intimacy yet, whether that's simply their first kiss or going all the way. It could even be the first declaration of love, being introduced to family, or some other important early relationship milestone. But then it all falls apart... maybe because one or more of the obstacles become too much, a fear-based retreat, or some other external force

[Example: the rose festival has arrived... Sandi is there with her daughter and parents, Brent is there with his mom and sister. Everyone meets, Brent continues to be great with Sandi's daughter... it's obvious Brent and Sandi belong together. But then Sandi's wayward not-yet-officially-ex-husband shows up and wants to get back together. Although she's ambivalent, seeing him interact with their daughter and her parents makes her realize giving him another chance is what's best for their daughter. Meanwhile, Brent witnesses this from far away, thinks, "I'm not good enough for a family like that," and he and Sandi go their separate ways.]

On Second Thought... - This is the moment when something happens that makes one or both characters realize they belong together... that the obstacles aren't real or don't matter... [Example: Brent finds a drawing Sandi's daughter made of the three of them together that makes him realize he really is worthy of their love. And Sandi sees that her husband hasn't changed, that he's still focused on chasing dreams that aren't what's best for their daughter... or herself, for that matter. ]

The Moment of Declaration - This is where the one character finds the other, or they find each other, and one or both declare their love and commitment to the other, despite whatever obstacles there may be. This is the run through the airport to catch the other before they fly away to a new life. It's the objection at the wedding before the other can go forward with the less-than-ideal marriage. It's the boombox on the shoulders, the kiss in the rain, the "I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on" declaration in a foggy field at sunrise. [Example: Brent hears from a friend that Sandi's husband left again. He goes to the last night of the rose festival, finds Sandi, and tells her he wants all of it... her, the daughter, her quirky parents, the flower shop, marriage, more kids... he is ready to take on the world with her, and she couldn't be happier.]

The Happily Ever After or "HEA" - This is the story's denouement, where we flash forward a few days, weeks, or more and see the happy ending. This is the jump ahead a few months to see the happy couple living their lives together, the one year leap ahead to the wedding, or a leap ahead to a moment even further down the road when the couple is firmly established in their HEA.

[Example: two years later, Sandi and Brent have been married almost a year, and are at the rose festival with the now six-year-old and their newborn twins, Sandi's parents, and Brent's mom and sister, one big happy family.]

Now... like I said, there are a variety of different structure templates for romance as there are for other genre stories. Don't feel like you have to pick one, and if you do, don't feel like you have to stick to it exactly. Story structure is just a guideline to help make sure you hit the important points to help the story unfold.

Happy writing!

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txttletale · 4 months

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youve previously spoken about i was a teenage exocolonist and its confused politics, and i agree, and now im thinking, how would one revise the story so as to improve them?

i think the game would have to either not be so proudly About Colonialism or would have to revise its story so that the theming actually matches the events. like imaginining that my proposed rewrite aims to 1. make the game's politics coherent while 2. changing as little as possible and 3. keeping the game's intended themes, i think the things that are most dissonant and jarring are:

the game not understanding what colonialism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what fascism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what capitalism is &c. &c. &c.

the bizarre unexamined eugenicist elements

so let's start on the first thing. you would want to lean much more heavily on the colonists as 'refugees' rather than 'colonists' -- the game treats 'colonizing' a place the exact same way as 'living there', and that kind of sucks (a common problem when using 'Space Colonization' as a 1-1 metaphor for actual colonization). so while we want to keep the weird culty aspects of the colony's society we'll ditch most of the colonial intentionality until the Helios arrives. secondly, we need to have the planet's indigenous people, like, actually present and not secretly hiding away as supercomputers.

so, like, let's keep the Gardeners as artificial life forms dedicated to protecting the ecosystem, but let's make them biotech. let's make them giant, imposing trees that reach up into the sky, with root networks that span the whole planet. then, rather than the colony being colonialist because it straight up doesnt know indigenous people exist (because they're secret computer people), we can make a much more interesting conflict by having the colonists be ignorant (and, as the game progresses, willingly ignorant) of the gardeners' sentience. have the raids start after the colony fells one of the trees (killing a Gardener) to make room for their own expansion, maybe really lean into the nasty parts of the colonial metaphor by having the Gardener's wood be the construction material of the new wing of the colony.

then Lum arrives as part of an intentional colonization project from the Earth we fled, assumes military command as in the current story, and immediately ramps up existing exploitation and destructive enviromental practices. his administration deliberately suppresses information of the Gardeners' sentience and spreads propaganda about them being 'monster trees'. have Lum clearly backed by Earthbound corporate interests, seeing the colony as an excercise in extracting value and using fascist dictatorship (usurping elections and the council with a permanent state of emergency and martial law) as a tool to maximize that value.

instead of defeating Lum at the ballot box, you can remove him in a coup. you can keep the getting-the-councilors-on-side minigame, you can even make it a bloodless coup if you don't want to put revolutionary violence in the game (but considering how much other violence there is in there, including terrorism, genocide, and murder, seems like a strange omission tbqh). and dont make him your fucking tiktoker put the guy in Jail. hes killed people sol.

have Sym still have his humanboo interests but also hint at an internal power struggle within the Gardeners, make it clear that there is a real and thriving culture among these indigenous gigantic environmentally networked tree-ecosystem-people, make his motivations for seeking peace more multifaceted.

then make the peaceful resolution to the whole colonialism issue to integrate the settlers into Gardener society rather than the weird siloed reservation thing going on in the base game. the head of the settlement or an ambassador (probably Dys) gets to go to the big fancy Gardener meetings where they decide things, the settlement gets permission from the Gardeners to farm and expand sustainably and is integrated into the ecosystem rather than neatly separated from it. the excolonists stop being colonists and become citizens of the planet.

as for the capitalism stuff, you can just drop that from marz' character, honestly. or if you want to make it make more sense without having to get into What Capitalism Is (which i think would be outside the mission statement of these proposals), make her thing wanting opulence and excess (it already kind of us, the game just keeps saying 'Capitalism'), have her excited when Lum starts giving people the opportunity to have that, then have her moment of excitement turn sour when she looks into Earth history and realizes how destructive this kind of extraction is in the long term.

and the eugenics--i think the simplest case here while still keeping all the cool genetic mutant character tics is just to make the genetic mutations a random glitch in an artificial womb system the refugees were using to have kids in space. this lets you keep the weird and wacky stuff going on with tangent and dys without raising questions like 'hey isnt this society insanely fucking dystopian'.

that's my in-a-nutshell rewrite of the game. obvsies an actual rewrite would need to change some more in-depth things, but i think off the top of my head these are the changes to the narrative that would make the heavyhanded attempts at political commentary work for me (that said, you could also go the opposite route, stop trying to draw parallels to colonialism and fascism and keep all the weird shit as is. but i think that's less interesting and more like stuff that already exists)

#ask #rain-rome #hi rome #i was a teenage exocolonist

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laisai · 2 years

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So this OTW Election drama is getting out of hand...

I see a lot of panic and fearmongering, and I think some facts need to be stated to help put things into perspective.

The OTW, which operates AO3, has yearly elections for the Board of Directors. This is position which is occupied by SEVEN PEOPLE total. You can see the members of the current board here: https://www.transformativeworks.org/board-directors/

The entire Board of Directors works together to oversee the OTW as a whole. They cannot and also do not oversee the details of day-to-day operations, such as your tags being wrangled, or keeping track of donations, or responding to support tickets, or keeping the servers working, etc. (https://elections.transformativeworks.org/what-the-board-does/)

Therefore, ONE person being elected to the Board will not be able to completely shift the direction and goals of the OTW as a whole. You would need a 4 person majority at the very least, and the maximum number of seats up for election in any year is usually 3.

The requirements for running for the Board are fairly simple: 9 months in the previous year as a volunteer (everyone in the OTW, including Board members, are volunteers), not being in the Elections committee, being a legal adult, and being a paying member (basically the same as being a voter in the election). More info: https://elections.transformativeworks.org/becoming-candidate/

There is no nomination process or any sort of internal popularity contest at play here. Any views being expressed by a candidate therefore doesn't mean anything about the OTW's culture internally as a whole.

There is a period of time before the election where all eligible voters get emails at the same email address they will send the ballots to, with instructions to a mock-up page of the ballot so that people can work out technical issues if needed. People who need accommodations for any reason are also able to request them during this period weeks before the election. So asking for a "tech testing" period before the election happens is... pointless. It's already there!

Asking for more "screening" of candidates is reasonable on the surface, but the truth is, it could be ripe for abuse by people in charge of the process. Sure, perhaps the people who put these rules into place won't use the process badly, but who's to say nobody will ever be tempted to do so? It could lead to a Board and Elections Committee that works together to keep new ideas and changes in the OTW from ever coming to fruition. Just imagine the Board of Directors we hate in movies: old white men in suits who never want anything to change, and only let in people who are just like them. Also -- the reason we have elections AT ALL is so everyone gets a voice in how the OTW will run.

This isn't like the US Election (or British, or wherever you are) where your vote is one drop in an ocean of millions. The OTW and AO3 are actually not that big in the wider world, and that means each vote counts more. Also, the ranked voting system means peoples' votes can count towards their second- or third-favourite candidate, or so on. It's not all or nothing here!

I know a lot of people are worried seeing what seems like anti views coming from "within" the OTW itself, but it is still one person out of hundreds. People are always going to have varying opinions; the GOOD thing is that people are voting against opinions that they don't agree with. That means the voting process is working.

There is a conversation to be had, perhaps, about changing some policies and requirements for candidates and members future elections. But right now? Breathe.

There is no risk of the AO3 censoring and banning fic overnight, even if you personally cannot vote this year. After all, the candidates weren't revealed until after everyone donated, and we know antis would never give AO3 their money.

(And for the conspiracists out there: ballot-stuffing is not 100% impossible, but EXTREMELY UNLIKELY. You would need to have paid 10$ donations for HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of fake people (which is $$$$) months in advance and also set up hundreds/thousands of email accounts for all these fake people, or for real people with nefarious aims. The reason we know the moon landing wasn't faked is because that many people could not have realistically kept a secret for that long. We would have heard whispers about it. The same applies here. This entire debacle came out of left field over the course of a few days!

And all that work, for ONE member who can't unilaterally change anything? Please.)

#just leave candidates you don't like off your ballot #ao3 #otw #fanfic #fanfiction #fandom #elections #archive of our own #psa #signal boost

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brigdh · 7 months

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Okay. My thoughts on the Our Flag Means Death finale. Obviously I'm not very happy with the ending, though I'm also not as upset as some people are. I would say I'm discontent. Unsatisfied. Too aware of how it could have been improved, and a bit bitter that we didn't get a better version, but I also don't hate what we did get.

I know a lot of meta has attributed the problems to a shorter season, and absolutely I would have loved to get 10 episodes instead. I would have loved 22 episodes! Why don't we do that anymore? But I don't think the 8 episode length was the ultimate problem. A) The showrunner and writers knew they had only 8 episodes, so they needed to choose a story that fit into that length, but even more importantly, B) my problem is not that they had too much story for too little time, but actually that they had plenty of time and chose to fill it with too little story.

As I've sat with it over the last few days and thought more about the season's arc, it feels to me like we got eight episodes of filler. Filler episodes can be great! Filler episodes can have some of the funniest lines, the greatest scenes, the most intriguing ideas. But filler episodes do not progress character arcs or major themes, and that's exactly the problem this season had.

The only characters who got arcs this season are Izzy, and to a lesser and more rushed extent, Lucius. Which sure is a choice.

Ed and Stede and their relationship did not meaningfully change from S1. (Okay, yes, they had sex, they said I Love You – but these are external changes, not internal. They don't represent character growth. Stede realized he loved Ed and was telling everyone back in 1x10. Ed clearly would have slept with him in S1 if they'd had a little more time.) Ed and Stede in 2x08 are not different from who they are in 2x01. If Ed had asked Stede to be innkeepers in 2x01, does anyone think Stede wouldn't have immediately agreed? One of the big moments in 2x08 is Ed reading a letter that Stede wrote in 2x01! Stede's exact words from the very beginning of the season! What better way to underline that none of the subsequent seven episodes had important growth or changes?

Another one of 2x08's big shippy moments is Ed and Stede running to each other across a beach – deliberately paralleling the dream Stede had in 2x01. What are we supposed to take from this parallel? My original thought was that we're supposed to see how different the real version is from the dream, but there's honestly not many differences. Neither one has a beard, now? The dream mocked how Stede knew they needed to have a conversation about their relationship that he wanted to avoid, but they don't have a conversation in the "real" version either. They exchange about two sentences (which includes Ed's I Love You, yes, which is a big deal but still isn't a conversation) and then they charge right back into the fight, without discussing anything like Ed abruptly dumping Stede to go be a fisherman, Stede killing Ned Low when Ed asked him not to, their differences of opinion on being pirates, if having sex was a mistake or if that's only a thing Ed said because he was panicking, etc etc. They have just as many issues to address as they did in the dream, but just like the dream they act like everything is magically okay without talking about it!

So I think we're meant to take the beach-run parallels as "here's what Stede's been wanting, and after waiting for so long he finally gets it". Which is fine, a very sweet take-away for a finale. But it underlines what I'm saying is the problem of the season: Stede has just been waiting for eight episodes for his dream to come true. Not changing. Not growing. Not doing anything to bring the dream about, other than trying to get himself and Ed into the same physical location. Just... waiting.

This is an extra surprising development, because the show was really good at giving Ed and Stede character arcs in S1! Ed and Stede in 1x10 are significantly different than they were in their first introductions. Also, just to preempt some criticism, by 'progressing' I do not mean 'wrap up literally every loose end and make a firm final ending' – S1's finale is an excellent example of both moving the characters forward and leaving a ton of room for future stories. I wasn't expecting for 2x08 to show us a Stede and Ed who were perfectly on the same page and would never again have a problem. I was expecting them to be somewhat different than they were in 2x01, and I just don't see that.

Instead of arcs, we got little pieces of single-episode growth here and there that never added up to an overall whole. The season brought up a ton of potential arcs for Ed – violence, piracy, guilt, suicide, daddy issues, self-loathing, apologies, redemption, his tendency to idealize escaping into a different life – but didn't do anything with any of these options. Stede had nothing resembling a season arc at all.

Stede works to improve as a captain! Stede kills someone and has regrets! Stede confronts Ed's dark side! <- All potential arcs, but none of which lasted for more than an episode or had consequences. We don't even know what the ending means for Stede: does he want to be an innkeeper because he failed as a pirate in 2x07? Because piracy was always just a displaced search for love, and now that he has love, he doesn't need piracy? What does the crew of the Revenge leaving mean to him? Stede's understanding of their new arrangement literally happens off-screen and we're left to fumble at guesses for its significance to him as an individual.

Ed and Stede's last big conversation in the season is their break-up fight in 2x07, which is a shocking way to send off your main couple in a rom-com. Yes, there's the I Love You on the beach (again: two sentences) and the brief 'let's try to be innkeepers' conversation at the very end, but that's it for them in 2x08, except for their inclusion in some brief large group conversations about their fighting skills and the plan for escaping the British. How can you end your rom-com with the main couple exchanging only a paragraph's worth of dialogue in the finale? None of the stuff was brought up in the fishing fight in 2x07 is ever addressed at all!

Again, I don't think this is solely a matter of time crunch. Instead of using the eight episodes to progress the two main characters, we got a bunch of filler episodes that used the time in amusing side tangents instead of forward progress. I don't think that's the inevitable result of having to work with eight episodes.

Look, I can come up with a better Ed/Stede relationship arc without needing more episodes, and despite only thinking about this for a couple days and not having an entire writing room to work with:

(Note: this only addresses the Ed/Stede relationship. It doesn't fix Stede completely lacking an independent character arc and Ed having about ten thousand of them, none of which went anywhere.)

In 2x05 to 2x07, I would make Ed's motivations in their relationship very clearly that he's pushing Stede away so he doesn't get hurt again. Basically play up Ed's comment about "I was all in" in 2x04, and make him determined not to get 'all in' this time around. This aligns the "let's take it slow" conversation in 2x05, the "sex was a mistake" in 2x06, and Ed running away to be a fisherman in 2x07 into a single arc. He wants Stede, but he's afraid of what that wanting will do to him. He's trying to find a way to have a relationship without making himself vulnerable. He keeps pushing off commitment and openness.

Then, in 2x08, I'd make it more explicit that Ed thinks/fears Stede is dead when he sees the pirate ships burning. I think it's subtext in the episode as-is, but give him a line or two to make it really clear. Ed and Stede still see each other on the beach, have their dramatic run to each other, and Ed says, "I love you". Now this moment is Ed acknowledging his love, exactly what he's been avoiding for the last three episodes.

Near the end of the episode, Ed and Stede have a conversation where Ed says something like, "I didn't want to get hurt again, I was afraid of the risk of falling in love and you leaving again, but thinking you were dead made me realize that never loving you would be worse" (but better written, ha, this is a tumblr post that's already too long). (Also possibly you could tie in Izzy's death here to underline both Ed and Stede not wanting to lose another person they care about, if we must have that plot point for some reason.) We actually get to see Ed asking Stede to come be innkeepers with him, paralleling asking him to run away to China (and paralleling NOT asking Stede to a fisherman), Stede voices some of his worries (paralleling him keeping them inside in 1x09, but also giving him a chance to explain what piracy and love mean to him and why he'd give up one for the other), but ultimately they agree that they at least want to try.

This both puts them into a much clearer place for a happy ending, has clear growth from S1 and the beginning of this season, but also leaves open a ton of room for S3, because welp, it turns out trying to have a relationship entails all sorts of problems! Especially with these two. It also would make me feel like they'd at least addressed some of the issues between them.

Right now I feel like S3 will have to spend at least the first few episodes running through exactly the same "don't talk – break up – get back together dramatically" arc that Stede and Ed have already done twice but have never discussed and never learned from. I liked it, but I don't need to see it yet again. That will – ironically – feel like yet more wasted time, more episodes that are just churning through beats without moving the characters forward. I wanted them to have new, different fights in S3, but now I don't even feel like they've made enough progress to have a fresh set of problems.

#ofmd meta #our flag means death #ofmd 2x08 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd critical #(I guess)

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lovelyherruins · 2 months

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omg sometimes I forget team black ARE real people and not just mindless bots.

half the issues in hotd didnt even involve alicent, if anything they already existed before she entered the picture. antis says she should've minded her own business but then not mention Harwin, Larys, and Joffrey.

If Harwin just kept it in his pants instead of becoming the crown princess' side hoe (because that's what he is) then the whole Strong boys and arguements wouldn't have happened.

Do I have to explain Larys??

I brought Joffrey up for one reason and it's this:

it wasn't necessary but did it cause the riot that happened? no, you know what did tho? Joffrey openly talking about his and Criston's "relationships" with the people getting married. was that necessary for him to do? no it wasn't because it what world WOULD it be needed for some guy to talk to Kingsguard's secret relationship with the princess?

Those three MEN should've minded their business not alicent. when she asked Rhaenyra questions it was her job or her being a friend which leads me to :

perhaps alicent wasn't but the same thing could be said about Rhaenyra (lying on her mother's grave anyone?? just being over all Brat when Alicent TRIED to fix them??). the thing is they were both in bad situations in which they had little to no control in. Neither can be blamed for how they tried to help themselves or how they acted under pressure as KIDS. people seem to forget that alicent was also a child and always say "she was older in the books!" tell me when you ever picked up that book. the show is clearly different to the books why keep bringing up alicent's age? to justify hating her as a child.

HER PROBLEMS WAS CAUSED BY THE MEN IN HER LIFE!!!!

who forced her to go to the king's chambers and wear her mother's dress? Her dad. Who had the power to NOT marry her but did it anyway? Viserys. Who mistook her (understandable) missing of her father as a reason to kill his father and brother? fucking Larys. Who impregnated her and when she had sons, did nothing to support her or to fix the problems arising with the birth of male heirs? Viserys.

"they were friends not lovers"

friends not lovers, guys!!

friends not lovers.

of course it's never openly stated that they were in love but considering that the actors (who know the characters best) said there was an underlying romance between them and it was purposeful... you can't blame others for shipping them because as they said it was THERE.

while it was a big jump that alicent took with his words, I prefer to see what she did as less of a cunning act and more of an act of desperation. a way to avoid the incoming fighting that'll happen when the word gets out.

I'm not sure if the commenter is blaming the dance on alicent but can we for a second remember that alicent was going against her dad to bring back aegon? the council already had plans to sit aegon at the throne, alicent's misunderstandings did nothing to change that.

if rhaenyra ascending the throne wouldn't have cause a civil war, then Jace ascending it definitely would have because let's not forget being anti-bastard was not a thing Alicent created, everyone was against them.

Team black stans will call themselves feminists and say they support women's rights but when Alicent is shown to them, they scream internalized misogyny and call her a cunt. are you a feminist or do you just like seeing women agree with you and your views? to fit into the mold you made for feminism

alicent is a great example of the oppression of women in any time period and the greatest show of WHY women need feminism, and antis don't even give her grace

they uplift and praise the women who already have power and freedom and put down everyone else who doesn't have those things. that tells me more about their character and beliefs than whatever color they identify as.

#house of the dragon #alicent hightower #anti team black stans #rhaenyra targaryen #rhaenicent #i cant believe im making apost before the 2nd season even starts

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andypantsx3 · 4 months

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Ok Andy this had been on my mind for a while now and I really want to hear your thoughts on this!

So we all know that Shouto is pure husband material, the kinda guy you'd be proud to introduce to your parents! But yk all those years of abuse and trauma (our poor bby ;-;) would definitely take a big toll on anyone, right?! So I was reminiscing about the earlier episodes where he is all closed off and cold to everyone, and that really got me thinking... what would dating Shouto REALLY be like.

How much of his behavior in a relationship really be affected by his past? Obviously nobody is perfect and even though our princess man comes close what do you think his shortcomings are as a person/partner? What do you think his toxic traits would be? What could be some of his bad habits? How would he react during an argument? I used to hc that he would be really calm and passive but then I remembered this scene

Ofc us being his partner would change things, but he DOES lash out at times. The police officer hadn't yelled at them, he was just explaining what they did was wrong according to the law (which could be unfair but thats his job) and he straight up called him a slur 💀 (well yk in this society where so many ppl have animal related quirks it probably is a slur? Idk tho). He was sorry later but still. I was so shocked when I internalized the fact that Shouto does infact have quite a temper, even when he's not rude/ aggressive about it. It doesn't make him bad or anything because 9/10 times it's well warranted and I am just a pussy who doesn't handle other's anger well but yk...

WHO WOULD EXPECT A TEMPER FROM THIS LIL FACE?!

I am really wanna take his character and study him under a microscope and I am really interested to see your pov on this. Also don't feel inclined to agree with anything I said if you dont, I asked you precisely cuz I wanted a different way of looking at him from mine.

Btw none of this is to paint him as a bad person or partner because of a few shortcomings or his trauma. We all know he's too precious for that and that would be hypocritical of me especially since I have many of my habits and unhealthy ways of dealing with stuff that I dislike, but I also feel like he has so much angst potential in issues that aren't necessarily rooted in his family but moreso his own personality. Healing is often a "one step forward and three step back journey" and while I hate to watch him struggle, his perseverance gives me a lot of strength. Also obviously people change over the course of time and character development and all that, but we see even after the MASSIVE amounts of character development Bakugo has he still retains a lot of his previous qualities and obviously still struggles with a few things. I wonder if it's similar for Shouto. I wonder what he struggles with 🤔 (idk why I am scared but I don't want ppl to take these dumb sleepy thoughts of mine the wrong way yk lol)

I support my mans rights, his wrongs and everything in between :>

(p.s. I am so sleepy rn I don't even know if any of this is coherent cuz the points are flying all over the place but I hope you get a gist of what I am trying to ask. I love myself some sweet angst when it comes to all my blorbos but when I think of Shouto nothing obvious comes to mind. Also whenever I write even an ask or question like this my respect for writers keeps increasing tenfold! How do you guys write fics at like 4 am and it's still a masterpiece and I can barely string my thoughts together... )

Yes!!! I have so many thoughts about this, particularly as someone who also has daddy issues and a hot temper but actively works to be better as well lol.

I do think for the most part we've really seen Shouto move past who he was in those earlier episodes. That is not to say he still doesn't have those feelings, but he arguably manages them in a more regulated way. He has the temper but now he also has the tools and the perspective to better articulate himself.

I think generally Shouto would work hard to be calm and patient during an argument, but as with any human being, mistakes will be made and tempers will spike. I think during particularly bad arguments he'd get more closed off, like in those earlier episodes, would try to go off by himself so that he doesn't explode with that white-hot rage.

I do think, thankfully, that Shouto's ability to show empathy and compassion even in the middle of what we know are the most emotionally trying times of his life (the fights with Dabi), bodes well for his future ability to communicate and regulate himself on the whole. I do not see him as the kind of man who would yell or break things; I see him as the kind of man who now does everything in his power not to be like that.

And also with a face like that, would we not just let him win any argument anyway?? LOL

#ask andie

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creature-wizard · 1 year

Text

Lauren Stratford claims modern witches are satanic abusers. (If you're part of Witchblr, she means you.)

(A heads up, this post is talking about exposed fraud Lauren Stratford/Laurel Rose Willson, who claimed to have been an SRA and CSE victim, and played a large role in perpetuating the Satanic Panic. There will be disturbing topics discussed in this post/thread.)

We're now reaching the point in this book where Stratford is getting her Harold Hill on and telling us what sorts of things in our society are tools of Satan.

She claims that if you have participated in any of the following, then you, YES YOU, are a victim of satanic ritual abuse or are at risk of becoming one:

Playing Dungeons & Dragons

Wearing pentacle jewelry

Making the sign of the horns

Experimenting with ESP, astral projection, guided imagery, or meditation.

Using a ouija board or tarot cards.

Healing via pyramid power, crystals, or colors

Participating in polytheistic spiritual rituals

New Agey/New Age adjacent self-improvement/empowerment

UFOlogy

OBEs

Channeling

I think most of us would agree that some of these things have... issues (EG, crystal healing) and do in fact connect to some very unsavory politics (EG, New Age), but they are very much not satanic, much less do they have anything to do with some grand satanic conspiracy that can only be defeated through the power of Jesus.

As for the rest, it's very clear that Stratford is lumping all modern witchcraft, all modern paganism and polytheism, and all unconventional spiritual practices together as satanic, and therefore, tools of satanic ritual abuse. Oh, and do you enjoy modern fantasy games? Yeah, no, that's satanic, according to Stratford.

(Satanic Panic peddlers really hate fantasy media.)

But if you disagree with Stratford at all:

Of course you didn't think of yourself as a victim. That's where the deception begins. In each of these areas, you are being directed toward the power of self, the power of nature, the power of another god or other gods, or the power of Satan, and you are being pulled away from the power of God. You are becoming a victim of Satan's deceptions.

And she claims that:

Your only answer, your only hope, your only real freedom is in Jesus Christ. I've shared with you how I found Him to be my answer. Now I long to share with you in a simple and practical way how you can find Him to be your answer.

If you're reading this post, odds are good that you're among the people Stratford claimed was a victim in need of saving from Satan. The Satanic Panic was never about saving people from any sort of abuse; it was always a hate movement targeting anyone who wasn't a conservative Christian. There was never a single shred of evidence found for the grand Satanic conspiracy people claimed existed, but there were lots and lots of frauds like Stratford who were relied upon as authorities on the existence of this conspiracy.

The tropes of the Satanic Panic itself were rooted in witch hysteria and antisemitism. It's the same old violent conspiracy theories repackaged for a new generation, for the same purpose of asserting conservative Christian dominion.

Among many other allegations of SRA that may or may not be rooted in something that actually happened, that were likely as not embellished by law enforcement officials desperately looking for satanic crimes, Stratford claims that:

In 1981 the Witches International Coven Council (WICCA) listed several goals at their convention in Mexico. This list was intercepted and confiscated by law-enforcement officials. Among their objectives are:

To bring about personal debts, causing discord and disharmony within families

To remove or educate the "new-age youth" by: a) infiltrating boys'/girls' clubs and big sister/ brother programs b) infiltrating schools, having prayers removed, having teachers teach about drugs, sex, freedoms c) instigating and promoting rebellion against parents and all authority

To have laws changed to benefit our ways, such as: a) removing children from the home environment and placing them in our foster homes b) mandatory placement of children in our daycare centers c) open drug and pornography market to everyone

Yeah, so, if you're a modern witch, Stratford says that you're involved in a conspiracy to destroy society. She claims that people like you are targeting children in preschool for horrific abuses:

These goals are being systematically pursued, and one of the primary avenues is through preschools. Apparently satanists are actively training and seeking employment in preschools throughout the country, and using this as a base for recruiting and programming children for satanism. What these children see, hear, and endure is practically beyond belief: people in robes; sexual abuse; drugged lemonade; animal sacrifices; human sacrifices.

Anyway, it's a good time to mention that no evidence whatsoever was found for any of the allegations of satanic abuse made during the McMartin preschool trials, adults coached children on what to say, and some children made things up because they were put under pressure.

#lauren stratford #laurel rose willson #satan's underground #sra #satanic ritual abuse #witchcraft #conspiracy theories #conspiracism #conspiracy theory

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cursedvibes · 4 months

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I agree with everything in your post about Megumi, I really wish Gege would remember to show more about the characters and what they're feeling. I don't even expect much because something shifted in his storytelling and he's been focusing on fights (and that weird love storyline because why do we have more insight on secondary characters rather than the main characters?) but a page here and there would go a long way. As a Megumi fan the fandom has been a blessing with everyone sharing their speculations or headcanons so it does hurt a lot but for anyone just reading the manga that doesn't really pick up the characterization crumbs Gege drops once every blue moon I really do wonder how much they empathize with the characters...

That Shibuya Yuuji scene still haunts me so we know he can write good emotional and impactful scenes ;;

You can definitely tell that Gege wants to wrap things up, but I think overall, there isn't really an overly big focus on fights compared to how earlier in the story or that we're lacking character moments. Shibuya was all fights and it makes sense that the Culling Game and final fight in Shinjuku would be like that too. We still always get a break though to not make things too monotonous. Like the Perfect Preparation arc, the beginning and end of different colonies, Kenjaku's whole plan with the international military and setting free of curses, Hana's & Angel's introduction and then the meetings to discuss the Culling Game before Megumi got possessed. It can get very exhausting on a weekly basis (with additional breaks), I definitely feel it with Sukuna's fight in Shinjuku at the moment, but looking back on it, Gege always makes sure to include a couple of chapters for characters to discuss plans, bring in more world building, reflect on what happened or just give backstory etc. Even with the final fight in Shinjuku we have Kenjaku vs Takaba as a break between two major confrontations. I guess you could call their meeting and comedy show a fight but only in a very abstract sense. It is a much needed break from the pretty formulaic fight Sukuna has going on, where he's essentially just standing around and waiting for people to jump him.

Similar with character moments. Megumi and Tsumiki definitely got the short end here. We saw Megumi kill for the first time and worry a bit about Tsumiki, but after the fight against Reggie, he didn't really get much focus or development and then he just became a sad damsel in distress for Yuuji to save. I'm sure we will find out more about his changed mental state in the following chapters, but there was very much a lack of groundwork beforehand besides "what Sukuna does makes him sad/suicidal". I mean, I would've guessed that anyway.

I don't think that's a general problem though, which makes Megumi's situation and Tsumiki's relegation to being just a cardboard cutout for Megumi to project his issues onto with no depth to her own character all the more frustrating. For example, the Culling Game was what made me care about Noritoshi and even put him in my top 10 faves. He was pretty forgettable for me beforehand. Maki also had a major focus on her with her own arc and character development both in Perfect Preparation and the Sakurajima colony. The Baka Survivor mini-arc did massive improvement for Takaba and Kenjaku's characters (killing Kenjaku was a ludicrous decision, but that's it's own issue, they definitely got some much needed character development). Same for Kashimo for example and by extension Sukuna. We learned more about Sukuna's philosophy and how hollow it really is, plus he has shown the first signs of reflection about his world view. Megumi's possession has kickstarted a big change in Yuuji's character too. He's become much more forward and self-sufficient, now even being the one to formulate and lead the plans to save Megumi. His first fight against Sukuna was also a big character moment (still kind of missing that energy in the current fight).

So I think generally we don't really have a problem with not knowing what certain characters, even main characters, are feeling or them not having enough focus. The only ones where I noticed this is Megumi and Gojo. With Gojo, Gege seems to have switched to Basic Shonen Battle Autopilot and giving us essentially no character focus in Gojo vs Sukuna besides Gojo's death scene. There was barely any focus on Gojo and his changed mindset (or not, not even that we can say with certainty due to how he was written) before or after his big fight. I assume it had to do with Gege not knowing what to do with him and just somehow wanting him out of the way, but I don't know what's up with Megumi.

I think the characterization crumbs we did get for Megumi aren't that hard to pick up on, but they're just that: crumbs. When they don't have to be. The glimpses we see of him do look very depressing and you can feel for his situation, but it requires a lot of heavy lifting done on the side of the reader, when you could've just shone his reaction during the Yorozu fight and things would look less like a one-dimensional "Princess locked in ivory tower waiting for rescue" type of situation. Megumi's predicament has given Yuuji a lot of development and I really like that, it's honestly what I care about most, how this affects Yuuji, but especially with the big moment we just got the lack of preparation for that from Megumi's side becomes pretty obvious.

#asks #jjk spoilers

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olderthannetfic · 2 years

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i saw a thread on twitter saying that otw elections being only for $10+ donators is intentionally leaving out people from the global south and other financially challenged people. i know that it's kind of BS but i cant exactly put my finger on why

It's not entirely BS.

Literally any price point has this issue. $10 is quite a chunk of change for some countries and is less than 2 fancy coffees for others.

We discussed this when we were setting up OTW. We opted not to have a labor-instead-of-money thing because it would involve keeping "Fannish name X is wallet name Y" records. I think we can all see that this practice would lead nowhere good.

(In nonprofits that are some uncontested "save the children" stuff, I think it would make sense to allow people to donate services instead of $10. People serve in those under their wallet names anyway.)

We also opted not to make it $1 because if you put it very, very low, it's not an effective deterrent to people from rich countries who would misuse it.

People do try to game the Hugos, which is expensive, but it's people who might well already have attended those cons or bought the supporting memberships. For a lot of things, once you get above a couple of dollars, the temptation to buy 5 in your friends' names goes away.

Moreover, this is not the only way that money shit is unfair internationally.

In the early days, we couldn't accept donations from a lot of places. I'm sure there are still some where it's an issue. There are tons of fans who could save up the equivalent of $10, but they can't get a credit card or access to Paypal or any of the easy ways to send money to the US.

Being an international organization of this type means providing services to a wide array of people who simply can't participate financially.

Building something like AO3 is inherently the work of people with more resources for the purpose of benefiting a larger community with fewer.

It sucks that some passionate people simply cannot participate in voting. But that's the reality of organizations: sometimes, practicality has to trump being scrupulously "fair" about giving absolutely everyone a turn.

Making a system where the barriers to entry were so low that douchebags in the US could flood in with spurious voting accounts would also not be fair to people from the global south who just want an uncensored archive that stays up.

I think it's less that the OTW rule itself is unfair and more that it highlights inequality that already exists and is a fact of life.

In an ideal world, sure, OTW would find a way to charge different prices depending on local cost of living. Maybe they will one day. But doing that requires time and resources. There is no magic "Be fair and nice to everyone! It costs nothing!" answer here.

So basically, I think that observation is true as a literal fact.

The reason it smells fishy is that you can tell the people saying it have ulterior motives.

They want to pretend that the ~noble oppressed people~ of the world would side with their pro-censorship message. Or they want other whiny people from rich countries to agree that OTW is Big Unfair Meanies. It's not actually about figuring out how to get the ability to vote to specific fans who genuinely want it.

I'll also note that you don't have to be a voting member to be a volunteer or a staff member or to run for the Board. Someone with few financial resources but with time and skills could still have a fair amount of power in OTW.

There are other practical realities aside from money that are also not fair, like many volunteers being in one time zone and not another, so realtime meetings will suck for the outlier. OTW operates in English and has a strong American contingent; culturally and linguistically, that excludes people who are nonetheless welcome to post works on AO3. Working for OTW requires a lot of free time and specific skills. Not everyone has those.

Life ain't fair.

#always a typo #I swear to god

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burning-sol · 7 months

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Me thinking about how Ayva joined the crew like oughghgh. I think maybe me and Twigg has had a different image of how it happens, and I've never really talked about how I conceptualised it, SO HERE IS A POST FOR YOU.

So Ayva and the Riptide Pirates first came in contact at Joaldo. Ayva is very firmly on the side of the Navy and actually sets fire to the boats of the pirates to trap them on the island and leave them stranded, like they're NOT playing around here, it's all bad vibes. A lot of panic sets in but Gillion is like. Champion of the Undersea, Hero of the Deep, and with the big fuck you power of Destiny is able to put it out.

Ayva and Gillion basically just lock eyes and get in a fight, and it's really intense, but Gillion notices that Ayva isn't really.. Evil. Listen, he checked, and for a split second he saw kind eyes, and he is therefore legally obligated to give Ayva a chance to redeem themselves. This makes Ayva even angrier and she looks right about to maybe kill him, but while they've been distracted the pirates have organised their getaway, and Chip intervenes to drag Gillion away. Ayva thinks about stopping them but Gillion's words did hit her in a certain way, and they just decide to leave them be, letting the pirates get away. Ayva basically tells themselves that the Navy took over Joaldo anyways, which was the goal, so it doesn't matter (the first stage is denial).

Ayva probably takes the opportunity to interrogate people to try and find out more details about Jay's death, but it doesn't get them anywhere, and they're just left thinking while they get everything in order at Joaldo. Gillion's words have definitely had an affect on her, and it starts to sink in that Ayva hasn't been getting anywhere with their current strategy. Ayva thinks a lot before having the brilliant idea that they SHOULD take up Gillion on his word, and just fucking infiltrate the pirates!! Uh oh!!! So Ayva tracks down the Riptide Pirates!!!!! UH OH!!!!!

Ayva ditches the Navy without telling anyone the reason why except their family, so RAFT is basically having some... Internal issues while they try to cope with the disappearance of a pretty important Navy figure. Surely this will have no consequences later (KIRA......)

Anyways, Ayva catches up with Gillion and Chip and is like, "Oh hey, you really changed my mind and I realised the Navy is bad, you should make me a part of your crew." It's super sus but news has already spread about Ayva ditching the Navy, so it is a bit more believable. Gillion is like, "Wow, this is great, I'm glad you changed your mind!! Sure!!!" but Chip is soooo suspicious. For obvious reasons. And he is right. But Gillion manages to convince Chip that they should give Ayva a chance, so Chip reluctantly agrees. Do you want to add Ayva to your crew? WARNING: the following decision may have significant consequences.

Anyways, yeag, so then they proceed to go on some fun adventures. I'm aware if we went by the original timeline there wouldn't be that much time for them to bond, so events are probably shuffled around or maybe some original stuff is added.. But yeag, basically they get to have a lot of fun, do some stupid shit, and Ayva's weakness is revealed. Gillion shows that he really trusts Ayva and gives her the third necklace from Desire Island that him and Chip hadn't known what to do with, and Ayva realises just how fucked they are. Whenever Ayva thinks of them getting hurt, she's scared, because they don't want them to die like Jay. Ayva is really attached to the crew, and so they know they have a really difficult decision ahead of them.

THE BLOCK MAN THE BLOCK..

Okay so this is closing the end of this little tangent. But I think in the room where the Albatrio had initially spilt their secrets, Ayva also doesn't answer what her biggest secret is, but for a different reason. Ayva doesn't usually freeze up, but probably the biggest ultimatum of their entire life is flashing right before their eyes and they don't know how they're meant to deal with that, so she doesn't say anything. Chip gets REALLY mad at Ayva, he still doesn't entirely trust them and this basically just affirms his mistrust, but Ayva doesn't even say much of anything. She just becomes quiet and they keep to themselves.

When Jayson comes out, and the truth comes out about what had been Ayva's intentions, Gillion is just destroyed and Chip is ready to ditch her. Jayson tells Ayva to leave the pirates behind and to come back to the Navy, and Ayva is still quiet. And then Ayva is just like "FUCK YOU" and 1v1s their dad and tries to beat the shit out of him. Gillion and Chip get the most intense whiplash of their life as Ayva is just absolutely trying to knock out their dad, Gillion is left pogging and champing and Chip is staring like so surprised. Anyways, FUCK JAYSON, they escape the BLOCK and Ayva is undeniably a fucking Riptide Pirate now.

Chip and Ayva have not been getting along, but yo Chip daps Ayva up because that was the most METAL shit that's ever happened. And Ayva is so like utterly done with the Navy man, they're not going to let anyone hurt her boyz, they're her boyz.

Anyways, yeah. Hope that helps contextualise this post.

#jrwi spoilers #jrwi riptide spoilers #📚 my posts #📌 thoughts #jrwi canary au #tried to infiltrate the pirates but now ive adopted the pirates as my boyz and i wont let anyone hurt them #anyways im sure there will be no consquences relating to joaldo (LIELIELIELIE)

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ask-agent-rapzutin-vodello · 5 months

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Interns I have a very touchy, what if question. What if Milla never found Raz that day, or what if Raz never got into that accident that caused his amnesia to begin with? I guess what I'm trying to ask is what if Raz or his family never came into your lives at all?

[Norma] That's ...a loaded question, indeed.

[Lizzie] Yeah, I can see why you wanted to put this one off for so long, Norms.

[Adam] I must say, I feel like you two have been affected the most by Raz being in our lives.

[Sam] Yeah, I already had a little brother. And Morris has a thousand cousins, or something.

[Morris] Less than a dozen, muchas gracias. I do agree with Adam, in fact. We didn't really have that much changed in our lives.

[Lizzie] How about you, Gisu?

[Gisu] Well, I think that the biggest thing would be that Dion wouldn't be in my life. Or maybe live would find a way, we'll never know. It's not like the multiverse theory has any legs to stand on, y'know?

[Lizzie] Meta-physical phenomena theories aside, I think you guys are right. I know that I was a bit more ...anarchistic when I first got here. I was a carefree slacker.

[Norma] You still are.

[Lizzie] (Chuckles) Yeah, but not as much anymore, am I? Acting as Raz's big sister really made me more ...responsible, if only a bit. I believe my social skills got a bit better, seeing I felt that I needed to show Raz at least a bit of my mature side. But Norma, you sure got the biggest change out of it, don't you?

[Norma] You mean, besides having an amazing girlfriend in the shape of Frazie Aquato? I think that it's a bit the same as Lizzie said. Being more responsible - especially for my own actions -, better attitude around other people - don't make a joke, Lizzie. I can see you smirking. - opening myself up to others. Raz did make that possible, in some way. Don't say I said that. His ego is already big enough as it is.

[Adam] You know, come to think of it, we might never had met if it weren't for Raz.

[Morris] How come?

[Gisu] Oh yeah, I remember. The Psychonauts had funding issues in the past, but after Milla and Sasha found Raz, the Oversight Commission really started to pour money into the Agency.

[Sam] Oh, because they feared that Raz was a victim of an organisation that targeted Psychic children, or something, right?

[Adam] Yeah, which led to Agent Forsythe starting up the Advanced Intern Program, which we all joined a couple of years ago.

[Gisu] Huh, weird to think that one little thing - like Raz falling in a river and getting amnesia - leads to such big changes. Domino Effect if I ever saw one.

[Raz] (Entering the room) Hey guys, what are you doing?

[Norma] (Smiles) (Gestures Raz to come closer) Oh, just talking and answering some asks.

[Raz] About what?

[Norma] (Pulls Raz into a hug) About how lucky we are to have you in our lives as our little brother and that we love you very much.

[Raz] (Slightly flustered)(Returns the hug) Oh, I, eh... (Chuckles) I feel the same way. Thanks, Norma.

[Sam] Aww! (Wraps arms around Norma and Raz) Group hug!

[Gisu] (Does the same) Read my mind, Sam. Join in guys!

(Everyone joins in on the hug) (Raz is extremely flustered and blushing up a storm)

[Raz] C'mon, guys. (Nervous chuckle) Eh, Lizzie, you're not gonna call a tickle fight while I'm all vulnerable, right?

[Lizzie] (Soft Chuckle) Tempting, but, not today, Poots. (Ruffles his hair) Not today.

[Raz] Oh... (Relaxes into the hug) I love you guys.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #razputin vodello au #razputin vodello #lizzie natividad #norma natividad #gisu nerumen #sam boole #adam joseph gette #Morris martinez #end of an era

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dulcewrites · 2 years

Text

Flew too Close to the Sun (Pt 2)

Pairing: austin!elvis x black fem oc (Faye)

Content: It’s been two weeks since shows at The International Hotel have began. During a party, Faye comforts a distraught Elvis (wc: 2103)

Warnings: mentions of drug/alcohol abuse, illusions to elvis having attachment issues

A/N: I just want to thank everyone who supported the first part of this series. The first part was focusing on the girls, so now we are getting into more Faye/Elvis stuff as we go on. But it is important to me to build a realistic world around the sisters; their bond is important to the story towards the end. It will be a bit of a slow burn toxic messiness for faye and elvis. I keep going back and forth on how naive I want to make faye. Anyway you guys have any questions about the fic or the sisters please send them in. Also don’t forget to reblog, like and follow 🫶🏽. And let me know if you want to be tagged in other parts

FTCTTS pt 1

Series Masterlist

Blog Masterlist

Faye has missed this. The sweet monotony of shows and constant performing; it’s the only thing she missed about the chitlin circuit. Constantly being around like minded, artistic people. It also doesn’t hurt having the best seat in the house seeing Elvis do what he does best. It’s hard not to get caught up in the star power that is Elvis Presley. The way he sings, the way dresses, the way he moves; it’s hard not to get caught up in him and his orbit. An orbit of talent, stardom, and coolness.

Faye appreciates her gospel background, and everything her and her sisters have accomplished but something about the world they have been welcomed into is so… tempting. Maybe it’s the difference in costumes, the venue, the type of people that come to see Elvis, or the nature of the songs they help sing. Everything is so different, and Faye loves it.

And she can see the attitude of her sisters changing. Dawn even agreed to come to the party that the rest of the Memphis Mafia are throwing to celebrate 3 years at The International Hotel. A party that would include not only the rest of the band, singers, crew, and staff but also big names in the music and movie industry. These are the connections that Faye thinks they need to make their transition into different music sounds. A modern disco sound with the flare of Motown soul.

“Do they have anything that’s not so… in your face?” Dawn says plucking through the dresses they could wear for the party. Each one being more shimmering and sparkly than the last.

Faye laughs as she eyes the clothes, especially a silver spaghetti strap number. It’s perfect. They all spend time trying on different dresses till they finally choose which ones they want to wear for the evening.

“I was talking to Bill, from horns, and he heard from Mike who does the lights who day drinks with Richard, and he said that Priscilla is not gonna be at the party,” Shirley says absentmindedly while checking out a pair of heels.

“No way! Did he tell you why?”

“I knew something was going on with them!”

Faye and Dawn say at the same, and Shirley laughs at their different perspectives on the matter. The girls were born and raised in the church; gossip is in their blood. It’s not always polite or lady like but they just can’t help it.

“He didn’t say why, but I think they’re trouble in paradise. Like they’re done for good,” Shirley says lowly as if there’s others in the room with them.

“Makes sense. Rockstars probably make awful husbands,” Dawn shrugs. “Imagine having to see your husband tongue kiss his fans or having women write how they want to have his children.”

Yeah, that’s not… great. But if it’s all true, Faye can’t help but feel bad for everyone involved. That’s still his wife and the mother of his child.

“Maybe they just need a break from each other,” Faye says softly. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Or a large alimony check.”

Faye rolls her eyes at Dawn’s cynicism. How she has that attitude but is with someone like her boyfriend, Julian, is still shocking to Faye. But then again, maybe they cancel each other out. Julian: overly attentive, romantic, hopeless romantic (it might be the reason why him and Faye are so close). Dawn: aloof, the ultimate realist.

“I wonder who he’ll be with next,” Shirley wonders out loud.

The room gets a bit silent as they all mull over what Shirley just said. Maybe she’ll be an actress, or a dancer, or maybe some random woman he meets at a diner.

“Well, god help her whoever she is,” Dawn says simply.

The subject of Elvis’s love life gets dropped after that, but Faye’s mind still wonders back to relationships. Maybe it’s her lack of luck in the dating the department that makes her curious or makes her crave what her sisters have.

The party is in full swing by the time the girls get there. The high-rise restaurant in the hotel had been renovated to a dimly lit, tightly packed club atmosphere. The only light coming from the bar area and the technicolor lights bouncing off the walls.

“I’m gonna go get a drink,” Faye raises her voice over the pumping music.

“Remember no dark liquor!”

Faye nods pretending to care about Shirley’s warning. So, she got a little tipsy one time after drinking a couple scotch on the rocks. She was 21; she can hold her liquor better now. She slides up to the bar, asking the bartender for an old fashion. One can’t hurt.

“I expected you to be more of a martini girl,” a familiar voice sounds off next to her.

Jerry. His eyes are covered by aviators and his smile is easy. He’s always been kind to the girls. If any of them had a question, they knew they could go to him.

“And what made you think that?” Fays asks with a laugh.

“I don’t know. Something dainty and sweet would just suit you.”

He’s flirting, and Faye is sure of it. She tries to think of something flirty back but Dawn’s voice rings in her head.

We are gonna do this right

Despite how fond her sisters are of Jerry; she can only imagine the stern talks she’ll get if she starts anything with anyone in that inner circle. Then again, she could just not tell them.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Faye gives his shoulder a squeeze before taking her drink and going back to the dancefloor where the girls are. She can feel Jerry’s eyes on her back while she walks away.

She dances with her sisters and members of the band for what feels like forever. A part of her forgets why this party was even thrown till she realizes she hasn’t seen Elvis all night. They play his music and they’re giant, and honestly obnoxious pictures of his performances from his time at the hotel. But she’s yet to see him in the flesh. The dancefloor is insanely hot, and despite the fun she’s having, Faye needs air. She pushes through the crowd to get to the crowd to get to the outside patio of the restaurant.

Faye is a little shocked when she sees the back of Elvis. She waits for him to notice that she’s walked out there but, he’s sitting at one of the tables, focused on the bright lights of Vegas. The slumped shoulders and almost empty bottle of whiskey give away he is not necessarily in a partying mood. She debates in her head if she should see if he’s ok or just turn back around and pretend she never saw him. Faye thinks about what she would want someone to do for her and walks towards the table.

“You throw a mean party,” Faye says softly

Elvis only turns slightly to her, eyes rimmed red, and he gives her a halfhearted smile. She sits down in one of the chairs next to him. They sit in silence for a moment before he breaks it after finishing off the bottle of liquor.

“The party isn’t for me,” he says lowly. “It’s never for me. It’s all about the show.”

Faye’s mind goes to the booze. She wonders if he knows that people outside his circle know about his “habits”. He must know people see the doctor and the yes men that follow him around. A part of her feels guilty; she thinks the treatment is wrong but here she is benefiting from it; the shows, the clothes, the meeting new people.

“No one actually cares about me,” he continues, bitterness in his voice.

She knows who that is pointed towards. What Shirley heard must’ve been true because Priscilla is a no show and has been for months. Faye really can’t blame her. She knows better than to bring Priscilla up by name, so she tries a different approach.

“People do care about you, even the ones you think don’t right know,” Faye reassures him, reaching out to grab the hand that’s resting of the table. “Your family, friends, and fans all care about you. Everyone who gets to work with you cares. I care about you.”

She squeezes his hand; Elvis’s eyes travel from where their hands are to Faye’s eyes. There’s an earnestness in her big doe eyes that he hasn’t seen in a long time, and earnestness he wants to get a bit lost in. He squeezes her hand back in response, and they share a smile.

The moment is interrupted when the door open and a head of shaggy hair appears. Jerry’s eyes go from the empty bottle to their hands joined together and raises an eyebrow. Faye removes her hand feeling a bit embarrassed by how it probably looks.

“EP, I think they’re want you to say something soon. Just a quick thank you,” Jerry says in a tone completely different from the one she received at the bar.

Elvis sighs before getting up and straightening out his suitcoat; it is the first time that Faye is noticing he doesn’t have a shirt or tie underneath it. Her eyes go from his chest to his eyes that are still on her.

“Thank you for the talk sweetheart,” he says voice much warmer than before, giving her a wink. And just like that Elvis the charmer is back, and Faye can’t help but be thoroughly charmed.

She watches him slide past Jerry before standing herself. She prays in her head Jerry doesn’t say anything and lets her get back to her sisters. Anxiety spikes a bit when he doesn’t.

“You ok,” the question is seemingly short and to the point, but it could mean so many things.

Is she ok in general, is she ok with comforting someone who is technically her boss, are they ok? Faye just nods hoping the conversation would be dropped. Jerry tilts his head, his eyes searching for something in hers.

“I don’t want overstep my boundaries,” Jerry starts slowly.

“So don’t,” Faye says back quickly.

He sighs and looks down at his shoes before look back up. He stands square in front of Faye’s way to get back to the party.

“I just want you to be careful is all,” he lowers his voice. “Elvis is in a fragile state right now, and I know how he gets once he… takes a liking to someone.”

Faye can tell he is trying to choose his words wisely, and she knows how to read between the lines. Elvis and Jerry have known each other for a long time, and they’re good friends. But Jerry has also been there for just as many bad times as good.

“Jerry, I’m fine, and nothing is going on between him and I,” Faye says. “Now let’s go back inside please.”

Jerry doesn’t budge for a moment, as if he’s gonna say something in rebuttal but the sound of cheers breaks the tension. He gives once last fleeting look to her before shaking his head wordlessly and open the door to let Faye in. The walk to Elvis on the mic thanking the owner of the International, as well as couple other bigwigs. Elvis’s eyes wonder across the room till they meet Faye’s

“I want to especially thank all people who help me put on a great show,” his says, smile soft as his eyes don’t leave Faye’s. “I have very special people behind me.”

A part of Faye knows he’s talking about the talk they just had, but she tries to push that aside for the rest of the night. He was down on his luck and just needed a friend. Nothing more, nothing less… Right? Being reconnected with her sisters helps take her mind off both chats she had that night. That with the help of a couple more old fashions, and few shots.

The greatly regrets that choice the next morning she has a pounding headache. Pounding that matched the vigorous knocking on the door that wakes her up. She opens the door to someone recognizes in Elvis’s inner circle. She raises an eyebrow at the giant, and beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hands. She asks him if he has the wrong room, and he says he was supposed to take them directly to Faye Williams room 809.

Her throat tightens a bit when she reads the note.

A special woman deserves special flowers. EP

Jerry’s words pop back into her head. Be careful.

#austin!elvis x black!reader #austin!elvis x black!oc #austin!elvis x reader #austin!elvis x oc #elvis 2022 #elvis imagine #elvis fic #black!reader #black!oc #my writing #flew too close to the sun #austin butler imagine

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royalsunshinehotel · 2 years

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Kinktober Headcanons #3: Somno with Saroo

(A/N: Lemme tell you. Whew. Girl)

First thing to know is that Saroo's internal clock is so weird. It's all the travel and time changes, but he's up a lot when your sleeping, and bored.

He's splitting his time between AUS and India while working on a book about his experience. You've had to make adjustments to your current relationship.

You agreed to somnophilia on the condition that he didn't use a condom. You wanted "proof", and he is thrilled. And he had to bite you for being filthy. You're on birth control, so it's not quite an issue.

His flights are always at absurd times, so he misses out on time with you.

When he's about to leave, he goes slow playing with your clit for a minute, inching his way into you so he doesn't disturb your sleep

You whine, stirring a bit, as Saroo inches his way in, feeling you stretch for his length.

He keeps a hand on your hip to keep you steady as he slowly rolls into you, memorizing the faint whines and moans you give him. You're so sweet like this, all helpless and trusting him.

He takes a moment, before going to the airport, to savor how warm and safe you feel, and he loves to feel your sleepy body tense and tighten before releasing and melting into him.

If you weren't sleeping well you are now.

However, this somno agreement also covers whenever Saroo returns home to you. Almost always is he worked up.

Now Saroo loves his family, his full family. Sue has been questioning him about grandchildren and his Mother had been asking about the girl back home.

So when he sees you, he has to tear into you. You'll fully wake up with the comforter torn away, your t-shirt gone, and Saroo pinning you down.

He's so big and strong, he'll hold you tight while giving you head.

But if the breeding kink is as heavy as I think it is, it's not uncommon for Saroo push right into you, after some teasing.

If he wasn't so distracted, he'd tease you about how your body reacted to him, welcoming him in like he belonged there.

But he just wanted to be inside of you. Not a want, a need.

You get pounded into the sheets, and while Saroo rests, he plays with your tits. It's something of a game to see how harsh of a bite he has to give you to get you to stir from your dream.

It's a way to get you wet, and gauge how used to his love bites your getting. The longer he sucks on the sensitive skin there, the more wriggly you get, and he thinks it's fucking cute.

Cockwarming is a big thing for you guys as well. He'll et home, fuck you awake, fall asleep inside you, and fuck you awake again.

He enjoys it because all he has to do is move ever-so-slightly and he can have his way with you. He loves being behind you, and he can paw at your breasts as he pleases.

On nights like these, cockwarming does escalate.

The two of you go back to sleep, and you wake up again on your front, with your ass in the air. Saroo's pushed into you, and has set a quick pace, grumbling to himself about 'grandchildren'

Saroo's behind you, taking advantage of your sex being soft and creamy still, and he intends to keep it that way.

You like waking up with your shirt gone, and Saroo, big and strong, rolling his hips and making you lose your breath. Something about

Saroo playing with you however he wants made your hair stand on end.

This means you trust him. Maybe even love him, but you two haven't gotten to that point yet.

#saroo brierly #lion 2016 #smut #dev patel #dev patel smut

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alovelyburn · 1 year

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I have to agree with your assessment that, whatever confrontation Guts will have with Griffith in the future, it sure as shit isn’t gonna be some Dragon Ball Z style fight.

I don’t mean to powerscale, but bleeding hell, does no one remember that Guts could barely stand against Ganishka, the person Griffith wiped the floor with? Does no one remember that Griffith didn’t care the slightest bit about Guts’ attempts to kill him because they just went through his body?

Some fans have speculated that Griffith is preparing to assault Guts and his friends, but from what we’ve seen, if Griffith actually wanted to do that, he could do it all by himself, no army needed.

This situation isn’t like the one with Zodd, Guts actually gave him a challenge, there was a possibility of victory there, but with Griffith, no amount of training or preparation is gonna close that gap in power.

So, yeah, I’d say that beating hearts and leftover emotions are gonna be more important than strength in the last leg of the story.

I just feel like people think they're reading Naruto or something sometimes. Mind you, that's not a dig against Naruto or shonen as a whole - I do like shonen a lot myself. I'm just saying that I don't see this specific series being about a big fight where Guts beats down the villain. I tend to feel like that's mostly a combination of the fans who really hate Griffith wanting to see him beaten up and humiliated and the assumption that the story boils down to a big fight because that's what people are used to, but....

Ultimately it doesn't make much sense. Sometimes powerscaling is actually relevant, and people do seem to realize (at least post-Elfhelm) that at the moment Griffith is completely unreachable from where Guts is. That's why so many people think Guts is going to get some kind of huge powerup, but Miura had also said he didn't want to do big powerups because it defeats the purpose of Guts' continued humanity.

Also where's the powerup going to come from? A lot of people think he'll become an Apostle, but that makes no sense because

Becoming an Apostle would just make him join Griffith's side! Ganishka's rebellion was literally part of Griffith/The Godhand's plan, because he had to re-reincarnate himself in order to turn into that huge tree thing!

No Apostle has anything like the ability to hurt the Godhand anyway. So what good would that even do him? And

The Godhand are the ones making the Apostles! Why would they create something that's able to kill them, unless getting killed was a desirable outcome?

It doesn't make any sense - I feel like a lot of people kind of assume that the Godhand are super-apostles, but that's clearly not the case. You've got Slan forming her body out of entrails and whole landscapes, Ubik manipulating timespace and invading people's minds, Femto grabbing tears in reality with his hands, Conrad exhaling plagues from his face made of rats, like come on man.

So yeah, if Griffith is literally going to lose a fight with Guts, the way that probably happens is through some kind of internal issue within himself. And this is actually pretty common in Japanese media - even stories that end with a big fight, e.g. Ichigo saying Aizen lost because for a moment he felt like he wanted to be a regular shinigami again. Manga and Anime do a lot of that... "the villain secretly wanted to lose because they are internally tormented by something we're not wholly aware of and thus self-sabotaged" thing, which is absolutely appropriate for Griffith but even more than that... even more than that!!!

I'm not 100% sure Griffith is even the actual villain. One of the things Miura had said some time ago was that the Guts-Griffith relationship is not static and Guts will remain this way as long as Griffith remains the way he is. He also said he was less interested in the relationship they have than in portraying how it changes. He's no longer here to do that, but I assume for the moment that something as serious as the movements of the primary relationship in Berserk would be something he'd share with Mori.

On top of that Miura also said some things that make me wonder how much of a "villain" Griffith is actually intended to be. Obviously, he had the one comment that was literally about not wanting to have strict good/evil or enemy/ally designations, but he also referred to Griffith as representing the collective/humanity as a whole... which doesn't seem to be something one generally says if they think of a character as a horrible monster. Especially if we're defining "horrible monster" the way most fans do - as someone sent by Evil to create some kind of Evil Trap to hurt humanity. I feel like Miura was implying that their difference is more one of perspective than anything else - which tracks with the way they're actually portrayed in the series. He also expressed some surprise that women liked Guts more than Griffith, which isn't surprising to me, but it does kind provide a clue as to where his head was regarding Griffith's standing.

So I mean, it depends on how that relationship changes. Griffith may end up being more like a Sasuke - many people thought he was irredeemable too while Naruto was still ongoing. I know for a lot of people - especially those in the West - the things Griffith did were effectively a point of no return, but inasmuch as that isn't the case in a lot of Japanese fannish circles, I do wonder.

Now, in fairness, I've seen people suggesting that he'll lose because of an internal issue but usually the internal issue they expect it to be is "the Moonlight kid working against him from within" or "his arrogance biting him in the ass" and... the former is possible although I D K if I think that whole situation is going to play out the way people expect it to. But the latter is silly because he's not actually arrogant, something that differentiates him from the shonen megapowers like Aizen or whatever. It also doesn't fit his character at all - his confidence has never been his undoing, if anything it’s always been what allowed him to succeed. It's been his heart that fucked him over every single time.

If I were forced to put money down on something, I'd choose "Griffith dies but in a redemptive way that makes his passing bittersweet and painful especially to Guts himself," but I wouldn't be surprised by much of anything.

Except for "Guts is simply more powerful than this cosmic being." That would surprise me.

#ariel talks about berserk #ask #wechaoticblazebouquet #what a fascinating username

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frosty-the-killer-doll · 4 months

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Do you have any qpr Karolsen headcanons? Also ever since you posted that webweave I’ve been thinking about them

HOORAY !!! [web weave xe's talking abt btw]

okay, so. the way they even get together in this way in the polycule au is something i haven't worked into a fic yet. but, when barry and kara first meet, barry is reeling after learning iris, eddie, caitlin and cisco are in a polycule and have been hiding it from him until caitlin drunkenly spills the beans on their summer lovin' night out. and barry vents this to kara as they munch on donuts, and basically introduces her to not only polyamory but queerplatonic relationships as well via caitco.

at that point, kara and lucy and james are still in their love triangle, and kara thinks this is the big solution she's been looking for- james doesn't have to choose between them, she and lucy don't have to resent each other, they can all just be together!

so, eventually, she actually works up the courage to bring up polyamory to them. and lucy knows that james loves kara, so she agrees to see how it plays out. she wants james to be happy, even if it means that once james gets a taste of what a relationship with kara is like, he'll decide he only wants that and not lucy…

[i should mention: lucy never disappears in the polycule au. she stays in national city as the director of the desert facility, and is a superfriend throughout everything. so, she's in s2, obviously, when karolsen begin to actually date, lucy and james never broke up.]

so karolsen try the romantic thing. and, like in canon, something doesn't feel quite right. something has changed in kara's heart. she still loves him, but she knows they're "best as friends." and james knows they'll always be friends.

so he's relaying the kinda-sorta-breakup to lucy, and she gets stuck on the "friends" bit of it all. hey, didn't kara mention a queer kind of friends when she was explaining polyamory…?

and they bring it up to kara together, flashbacking to when kara first came up with the poly idea. and wow, yeah, that's exactly the type of thing kara wants out of her relationship with james. and while this wasn't what james was initially expecting, he just wants to be with kara in any way she'll let him.

so [to spare a moment on my superlane bullshit] that leads them to asking, like, does that count as polyamorous? james having a romantic partner and a queerplatonic one? according to caitco, it's really up to them if they wanna label it that way, there's no rules to qprs. and something still doesn't quite feel right between them. james and kara are happy together, james and lucy are happy together. watching kara fall in love with james has made lucy appreciate him, too, just like how watching james with lucy makes kara's face hot.

and soon kara starts to notice that she's not just falling in love with the way lucy sees james, she's falling for the way james sees lucy and lucy is doing the same, and that's what doesn't feel quite right. and bc kara's never been with a girl before, they try to brush it off as the same alterous feelings and be platonic with their queerness, but. james knows what it's like to love lucy romantically, and he can see that's how kara loves her, and he says so. until, finally, the girls switch to being romantic-style girlfriends all because james loves them and they love james~

considering they've canonically kissed, i think their qpr has some physicality. they're sexually attracted to each other. karolsen cuddle, make-out, have sex… kara feels a bit subconscious about banging it out with someone that she's not romantically dating, but james likes to joke that besties with benefits is feminist, and distracts her from her internalized issues by daring her to day that five times fast.

to straight-up copy what i said in another ask: "the writers admitted that they basically wrote themselves into a corner with karolsen, saying they're both too "noble" for tv-worthy relationship drama post-canonization. they're too noble, you say? okay, make that the drama. make them repress their emotions for the sake of their relationship, make them start to resent each other because of it, make them passive-aggressive and secretive and feel like they have to walk on eggshells together."

so, on that point: queerplatonic relationship drama. bc they're both so caring and yes, noble. they've argued before, but never in this context, they were trying so hard to be what society considers 'normal' friends back then. but now they're together, queerly, while james is with lucy and kara is trying to work through realizing she likes girls and everything is confusing enough.

i think, at the start, everything would be so rocky. they don't know how to do anything anymore. they don't even come out to their friends. they're this secret thing, which is as comforting as it is stress-inducing, because right now it's just theirs which also means if anyone was to leave there wouldn't be any fallout for a bit. sometimes that seems enticing.

but it's all a learning curve. luckily, even if they're not out to anyone in national city, they have friends like team flash that are determined to keep them from crumbling altogether. and considering how noble the three are, they're always there for when someone begins to falter. so. again: learning curve. the longer they let themselves be, the more normal it feels.

this is all happening in s2 before alex comes out to kara, btw. so, like, in five episodes? so, about, the span of about five or so weeks. i mean, alex didn't immediately tell kara when she was questioning, so, ha, kara doesn't either. by then, she and lucy have just started dating and james really does feel like he'll always be her platonic boyfriend. it's not until alex and kara are on that couch talking, when canon kara talks abt keeping a part of herself turned off… that she finally tells her sister that she's not just talking about being an alien.

alex is. hm. suspicious. she doesn't really get the platonic dating thing. i mean, according to maggie, platonic dating is a part of queer history, she just didn't know aspecs gave it a real name. so. idk, i don't think alex would get it right away, similar to how awkward kara was canon-wise during alex's coming out, but that only lasts, like, a week (what would be an episode) for alex. she can see how happy karolsen are in this way, and her whole life has been about keeping kara happy, so if this is the way she's happy, well, fuck it. alex doesn't need to perfectly understand it to support them.

james says in a flashback that he has 16 scars from being tortured by lex luthor. now, we've seen our dear jimmy james shirtless, and i love shirtless men, so you know i've put a lot of hours into staring at him. it seems none of those scars were particularly lasting. i feel this doesn't make sense canonically, as i don't believe lex would go soft on him enough for every scar to heal within a few years. i think the scars would be with him for a long fucking time, both mentally and physically. how does this relate to karolsen, you ask?

well, kara likes to trace his scars with her fingertips in such a sickeningly soft way. extra careful, forcing her superpowered touch to be as light as a feather. it makes james choke up. she's so determined not to hurt him- so determined to be tender- so different from how he got the scars. he doesn't realize how much pain he's been hiding in those parts of his body until kara's caressing him all lovingly. she holds him when he starts to cry- he doesn't even understand why he's crying until later- but he assures her that he likes it. he needs it.

they love calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend. sometimes they add "platonic" but, to them, it being platonic is just always so implied that they forget how deeply those words have romantic connotations. which leads to them getting confused and being shocked.png when someone assumes they're in a romantic relationship.

james: been there-

kara: done that!

*holds hands so fiercely that there's a queerplatonic beam of destruction like in carebears*

that's all i got rn, i hope this satiates ur brainrot<3

#frosty answers #arrowverse asks #arrowverse polycule au #karolsen #kara danvers #james olsen #supergirl #supergirl cw #cw supergirl #arrowverse #queerplatonic #qpr #qpr karolsen

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