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rawliverandgoronspice · 1 year

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THE GERUDO POST

(aka an attempt at a critique of how gerudos were handled in BotW and before)

Oh no. TOTK being right around the corner, it might finally be time for the Gerudo Post.

(aka half of the reason why I made a Zelda sideblog in the first place)

So I want to preface all of this by saying that, as you could probably tell already, I’ve always adored the gerudos. They have fascinated my small child brain when I was 7; then the obsession made its comeback when I was 14, and now, here we are, almost 28, and I’m still thinking about the gerudos. I think they might be among my favorite fictional cultures for their potential and their understated storyline. I guess growing up in a very Arabic neighborhood, coupled with being bi-culturally latinx (?? does Brazil count?? you tell me), also always made them feel like home to me –especially when I was very young and there was not a lot of cool female representation flying around that managed to involve fiercely independent PoC women, flaws and teeth included.

This whole weird-essay-thing tries to do two things. First: analyze the place gerudos have occupied in the series, their initial problematisms and their subtextual narrative arc during the Myth Era coupled with their relationship to Ganondorf. Second: tiptoe to Breath of the Wild and poke it with a stick to see what happens –and in doing that, explain why I believe a lot of their characterization was defanged in service of smoothing their past with the hylians instead of deepening the culture on its own terms, and why I’m a little apprehensive about what that might mean for TotK even though I adore seeing the best girls at it again.

Those are the uhh terms of service??

And now, we must go back to 1998.

OCARINA OF TIME ERA

There’s so many things about the gerudos that are noteworthy and rich, and they’ve made for a complex piece of Zelda lore ever since their introduction –and when I say complex, I don’t 100% mean it as praise. The very racially charged decisions made about their inclusion have been discussed at length by the fandom, especially when it comes to orientalist and Islamophobic tropes being deployed pretty thoughtlessly in Ocarina of Time (their sigil being literally a crescent moon and star originally, the parallels are pretty obviously there).

We’re talking about a band of amazon-like, big-nosed brown women from the desert ruled by a single Scary Evil Man born once every hundred years hellbent on conquering Hyrule who they apparently worship like a god, characterized primarily as thieves, decked in jewelry and orientalist-inspired harem/belly-dancing clothing, hostile to the white good guys of Hyrule (especially men), unblessed by the Goddesses and so deprived of elongated ears (this is true for OoT –we’ll come back to that), also known as a demon tribe with their deity straight-out described as evil-looking by Navi (on my way to cancel you on twitter Navi you watch out), and secretly led by evil twin witches who can turn into a single seductress and, as two mothers, raised their Scary Evil Guy king who happens to basically be the devil.

In so few words, gerudos are the future that liberals want.

It’s worth notice, also, that Ganondorf’s characterization in this game is… kind of relentlessly uncomfortable to play through, especially before the 7 year skip. The utter assumption of depraved and evil intents from every character surrounded by dialogue that does little to hide its biases in spite of having generally very little proof to back them up –even though, in the game’s context, every character is correct to call his eyes evil and the darkness of his skin a moral judgment in on itself. The scene where Zelda demands that we believe her conclusion that the sole and only brown guy in the entire kingdom is evil and will do harm, and the game straight out refuses to progress until we concede that her dreams are prophetic and that this man must be stopped at any cost even though she has no more proof than her discomfort… hits different on replay.

I’m restating all of this not to pretend I’m making a novel and thought-provoking point, but to bounce back on a tumblr post I saw a while back (that I can’t find anymore!! I’ll link it if I find it again) –and so express what it is that gripped me with the gerudos in spite of their pretty damning depiction… and actually maybe thanks to it.

There’s a surprising amount of texture to Ocarina of Time’s worldbuilding that exists folded within the things introduced and left hanging, or in its subtext –and whether on purpose or not, I believe it is why people keep coming back to this iteration of Hyrule.

What was that about the king of Hyrule unifying a war-torn country? Why did the gerudos break the bridge connecting them to the rest of the kingdom during the 7 year timeskip while still worshiping Ganondorf, and why are the carpenters trying to rebuild it against their apparent wishes? What was that about gerudos imprisoning hylian men trying to force entry into their lands? What was that about the secret death torture chambers right next to the Royal Family’s tomb and connected to the race of people who were, apparently, born to serve them?

Nothing? Oh okay… okay… okay….

The same can be said about this strange depiction of this hostile tribe, consistently described as wicked yet suddenly friendly once you prove you deserve their respect once you... defeat them, so you now have joined them? Ocarina of Time isn’t very consistent when it comes to characterizing them as their occupation (thieves) or as a proper culture, with a king and a strange system of rulership that seem to involve at least 5 people: Ganondorf, the Twinrova, Nabooru and the unnamed random woman who decides you’re now part of the gerudos because you slashed enough of them with your sword and hookshot, which, uhh ok.

They’re but a ragtag and negligible group when discussed next to gorons and zoras and hylians, but they also clearly have their own religion and at least a 400-hundred years old history (probably far longer than this) and hints of a written language of their own. I’m not sure the game itself knows what it wants them to be, beyond: intimidating and hot and cool, but also wicked and, because of Ganondorf and the way you barge in their forbidden fortress (heh) with the explicit intent to dismantle their king, in apparent need to be saved from themselves.

Speaking of rulership and the Spirit Temple, let’s have a quick tangent about Nabooru: I always found her characterization when meeting with Child Link pretty strange. I refuse to mention the promised reward, which feeds into everything orientalist mentioned above, but I always found her moral compass so extremely convoluted for someone coming from gerudo culture. Nabooru says that, despite being a cool thief herself, she resents Ganondorf for killing people as well as stealing from women and children. Stealing... from women. Nabooru. Why are you this pressed that he steals from women!!! This feels so out of place, that the only girl of that hostile culture that betrays her king and befriends you, is the one that upholds moral values that only a hylian could possibly hold.

Either way: the strange unquestioned contempt of the game for them as a culture, mixed with the occasional bouts of heart, friendliness and badassery, makes it hard not to consider their depiction as pretty biased in favor of the hylians finding them at once exotic, scary and exciting, and could hide a more complex reality you might only get one side of –especially when you know there were originally plans for Ganondorf’s character to be more gray and motivated than what the campy final version ended up being. To be blunt: even in the context of a game for children, and maybe because of that fact, it all reads like a reductionist and imperialist/colonialist reading of a more complex situation.

This might seem like A Lot coming from a game where the actual game writing can be this overall flimsy and simplistic due to the standards of the time (it’s rough, it's so rough). But I would have never dwelt on that thought about a little children’s game if not for the mainline entries that came soon after, because... ooo boy.

The sense you’re not getting the whole story was certainly not helped by the introduction of Wind Waker Ganondorf, and the chilling emptiness of Gerudo Desert in Twilight Princess.

AFTER THE TIMELINE SPLIT

(I’m skipping Majora’s Mask, not because I dislike them in the game or think they’re not worth talking about, but because it’s a parallel universe and they’re never even called gerudos and their reality seems extremely different from their sisters in Hyrule so I think it’s okay to call them tangential and not dive too deep in this particular depiction)

Here’s something I want to highlight about gerudos and how they were characterized before BotW came along: their absence. Not only their physical absence, the lack of any gerudo character that calls themselves gerudo, but their absence from the text itself.

It’s not that Wind Waker and Twilight Princess retroactively scratch them off existence: we can clearly see Nabooru’s stained glass art in WW as well as recognize them being mentioned in Ganondorf’s final boss soliloquy, and WELL there’s quite a lot to say about their imprint over the world of TP. They are there –or at least they... were there. But nobody ever talks about what happened.

In Wind Waker, there was the deluge. It’s assumed lots of people died then, and those who survived scattered across the Great Sea. Are they sealed under the waves? Have they drowned? Is Jolene, Linebeck’s ex-girlfriend in Phantom Hourglass, a distant relative of one of the rare survivors? It’s unclear, beyond the fact that Ganondorf is the only living gerudo we see in this entire branch of the Timeline split.

In Twilight Princess, the desert which bares their name is empty. The hylians never mention that it used to be the name of a tribe: they’re not even named when Ganondorf is introduced for the first time, reduced once again to a mere band of thieves. We learn his plans to steal the Triforce in OoT were foiled, and that he may have turned to war. Then he lost the war, and was executed in Arbiter’s Ground: a strange structure in the desert, a mixture between a temple, a prison and a coliseum. What looks like gerudo writing coexists with hylian symbols, which often look much fresher. This dungeon is the Shadow Temple of TP: a prison hosting the worst criminals the kingdom has ever known, now haunted and cursed. Besides the locations, the only character that vaguely look gerudo in the entire game besides Ganondorf is Telma, a character with pointed ears that never seems to identify as anything but a hylian. What happened? Who’s to say. Nobody ever says anything. Not even Ganondorf bothers to mention them the way he did in WW –and though the game’s story is quite focused on another exiled tribe seeking revenge and dominion over Hyrule as retribution, the parallel is never explicitly drawn. So who’s to say what happened there. Who’s to say.

And in A Link to the Past and the games forward? The only mention of other gerudo characters are Koume and Kotake, resurrecting their son in the Oracles games through their own sacrifice and failing to bring anything back but a monstrosity incapable of making conscious decisions. Granted, most games in that extremely weird Fallen Timeline predate OoT and therefore had yet to make gerudos up at all. Still: canonically, between the gap of OoT and ALLTP, whatever it may be, gerudos disappeared here as well.

I think there’s something subtle and a little heartbreaking about the fact that no matter what Ganondorf does, the gerudos always end up dying out. His yearning for Hyrule, its gentler wind and the Triforce blessing its lands always costs him the kingdom that he does have already.

Now, does he care? A lot of people would argue that he doesn’t, that he used them like pawns for his own ambition and saw them as servants more-so than sisters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Nintendo’s official opinion, but… One very powerful thing about most of Ganondorf’s incarnations (focusing on the human ones) is that he never seems to reject his cultural heritage. They could have gone for him wearing more kingly hylian stuff given the whole underlying theme of envy and pride surrounding his character, but never once does he try to look more hylian, beyond the ear situation that seems to be tied to the Triforce of Power? Either way: he is gerudo. Several of his outfits reference his mothers, as well as general gerudo patterning and jewelry. His heritage is something he proudly displays, even hundred of years in the future when there is no one left to remember what it means but him. I think it’s a very potent piece of characterization, an arc that crosses over multiple game and says something pretty intense about this character’s fate and his inherent destructiveness over the things he touches –starting with the Triforce, all the way up to his very own body and mind. His mental breakdown by the end of Wind Waker, when the king of Hyrule himself forces him to give up on the thing he sacrificed everything for, takes a new kind of weight with the whole picture taken into account.

(not to excuse genocide or general egomania-fueled madness and violence, but one thing doesn’t mean the other isn’t also relevant)

Regardless of whether this is a tragedy for Ganondorf as their uhh complete failure of a king, honestly, it is undeniably a tragedy for the gerudos themselves: a once-in-a-lifetime joyful event turned into a never-ending nightmare from which there seems to be no escape, their legacy now condemned to fade to black, leaving nothing behind but a demon boar forever laying ruin upon the world.

One may say I’m taking on the bleakest explication for the gerudos’ absence when there could be others. It’s true! Perhaps the gerudos are just chilling off-screen, completely fine, not interested in whatever is happening in the kingdom nearby and their disaster child having yet another temper tantrum about not being the Goddesses’ favorite boy. It’s possible! But regardless, what little elements we do possess as players doesn’t seem to support this, even if it remains possible –and regardless of actual gerudo lives, gerudo culture is definitively a goner in every single timeline.

Even if they did survive... Hyrule still won its unification war.

(I won’t mention Skyward Sword as they are not really a thing there, except for a butterfly that seems to suggest the Gerudo Province was a thing before the gerudo people –I don’t know what to do with this honestly– and the whole Groose situation, which, I’m not sure what to make of either beyond the fact that he may have gotten cursed by opposing Demise? And then went on to start the gerudo tribe, which ended up being an all-women group for some reason? Maybe? It’s not confirmed? I feel like it’s more of a fun tidbit than a central piece of the gerudo puzzle, so I’ll leave it there like I would a cool rock I brought back from a walk and that I don’t know where to put in my house)

Then, Breath of the Wild happened and changed things.

BREATH OF THE WILD

(Additional short note, but: while I won’t mention Four Swords Adventure, since it’s a weird one that almost nobody has played and severely messes with the Timeline, we kind of see the beginnings of what is about to happen in Breath of the Wild in this game –gerudos coming back without much explanation, then distancing themselves from Ganondorf to become friends with hylians because he was too hungry for power and now they are nice and have good reputation because they are our friendsss)

I was actually so happy to learn gerudos were making a comeback in a mainline Zelda game, and this got me more excited about Breath of the Wild than basically anything else the game involved. And getting to explore the Desert once again, meeting this new batch of impossibly tall buff girls, getting more about their language and their culture, Riju and the rest of the little girls are adorable, the grandmas are so cool, the sand seals??? sign me the fuck up??? And above it all, hanging around Gerudo Town at night and feeling as warm and cozy as little me liked to imagine how freeing it would feel, to stay there and watch the desert behind the safety of their walls in OoT… This was great. I loved it.

It was a huge compensation for the criticism I’m about to make, but did leave me with… questions regarding how their culture was going to be handled moving forward.

I’ll start with something small yet deeply revelatory, then work my way from there.

So... gerudos’ ears are pointy now.

This is pretty significant. Lore-wise, it’s been said that the elongated ears of hylians are there so they can better hear the voices of the gods. It’s considered a sign of holiness in-universe. There's a bunch of really thoughtful analysis on tumblr over that whole Ganondorf ear situation, which is a mess but also very interesting, but the short answer is: I think the absence of pointy ears was a clear design choice to originally signify them as Less Good. Even when Ganondorf gets pointier ears, they never get as long as hylians’. Worth noting: not every non-gerudo character has pointy ears: gorons, zoras and ritos (among others) do not possess this trait, and there are even some humans that have regular rounded ears in the series –though they always seem to be of lesser relevance, if not downright peasants in Twilight Princess. Pointy ears always tended to implied a strict hierarchy in the series: basically, the more pointy, the more Protagonist you become.

(also their eyes becoming green instead of the traditional yellow/golden, which looks more wicked and demonic --and cooler also tbh)

The pointy ears imply two things. From within the game, this could be interpreted in two ways: either that gerudos… converted, for a lack of a better term, and are now considered holy through their worship of the Golden Goddesses and/or Hylia, or that their mingling with hylians through tens of thousands of years had them acquiring this trait out of sheer genetic override (though they have kept their mostly-women birth rates, their big nose, darker skin –for the most part– and red hair). Probably a healthy mixture of both. Design-wise, it signifies something quite simple to the player: they are on hylians’ side now. They are good guys. We can trust them, even if they still have a little spice in them. They aligned themselves with us and against Ganon in all of its manifestations (even if he’s but an angry ghastly pig being parasitic to everything it touches in this iteration). They are on the side of Good, definitively, and will fight evil by our side.

On that note, I think it’s worth bringing out another major change from their initial iteration, which is their overt friendship with Hyrule as a whole, and with the Royal Family in particular. Despite not allowing any voe inside their walls (we’ll come back to this), their relationship with hylians is pretty neat. They have booming trade roads, travel and meet with the rest of the cultures, and are fierce enemies with the Yiga clan, who are renowned for being huge Calamity Ganon supporters. The tables certainly have turned. I want to bring out, in particular, Urbosa’s friendship with the queen and her role as the cool aunt taking care of Zelda and protecting her from evil (to be noted: I am not familiar with Age of Calamity so if I’m mischaracterizing her in any way, please let me know). The gerudo sense of sisterhood has been extended to the royals they used to fight against. I would go on and say the cultures peacefully coexist, but I think that what we’re looking at here is a case of vassal behavior, just like we used to have from zoras (in the non-Fallen Timelines) and gorons. This is a huge departure from gerudos being openly rejecting of Hylian culture in their initial iteration, and something that is worth returning to later.

Okay. Now it’s time to mention the weird obsession BotW gerudos have with romance. I didn’t take notice of my issues with their writing until I realized how prevalent of a theme that was. Now, the reason given for gerudos to refuse entry to males (of every race) has much more to do with preventing young gerudos to make mistakes than anything else, and is actively being put into question by the younger generations –which would make sense. But the amount of NPCs that either lament their lack of match, talk about their husbands (because they marry now apparently) or are invested in romance, and a very limited understanding of romance at that (heterosexual, closed, etc), makes for much more of the population that I initially expected. There’s no mention of what’s going on with their males, if there are new males being born and either exiled or abandoned, or if Ganondorf being technically still alive have have cut them off male heirs. Either way: no more kings, only girlbosses chiefs.

To have the gerudos so interconnected with Hyrule, not only through trade but through extremely coded romance where they have to make themselves palatable to a future male partner and enforce fidelity, was… a choice. The extremely brief and skippable mention of gerudos sometimes going to Castle Town in search for boyfriends in OoT became half of their personality traits in this game. We went from a race that was fiercely independent and mocking of the unworthy men who tried to mingle with them, to… this. Now I’m not saying some of the sidequests aren’t cute, or that I didn’t like the wedding, or that the grandma near the abandoned statue of Hylia (so she was worshipped at some point) clocking us and talking about her love life wasn’t one of my favorite gerudo conversations. I’m saying that the vibes have definitively changed. For the better? I’m not sure.

I once stumbled upon an article that said that Breath of the Wild gerudos were a huge improvement compared to their original introduction, because they were no longer presented as evil and hostile thieves groveling at the boot of a single man, but as a full culture allied with the protagonist and actively involved in the story, while still getting their Cool Girl Badass moment (again can’t find it anymore, I’ll link it if I stumble upon it again). I see where this comes from, but I honestly can’t help but consider it a reading that assumes something pretty major (though through no fault of their own, as the games tend to hammer this down as hard as they can), and that being hylians as the unquestioned anchor of Good.

Which, in spite of what the games want me to believe, I… feel uncomfortable taking at face value.

To me, regarding how gerudos are being incorporated in that goodie narrative, this is kind of a case of surface-level feminism trumping over colonialist/imperialist concerns. It becomes more important to perform the aesthetics of being cool and friendly and independent than scratching at any deeper problem that would risk making people uncomfortable. This is kind of Green Skin Ganon all over again: oh wait, isn’t it a little icky to have the evil bad guy being brown while faced by the most aryan-looking ass heroes of all time? Okay, then let’s take the brown guy and make his skin green so we don’t have to feel bad anymore that the conflict has racial undertones!! Solved!! There’s nothing questionable about changing a PoC's features to make it more monstrous and less human, right?

To me, it’s kind of the coward option: instead of accepting the messy reality those initial choices created (and their interesting nuances if taken at face value), let’s just… rewrite the PoC culture’s history to make it feel less uncomfortable for the white heroes. In many ways, it is an extension of what hylians have always done: scrubbing the weird and messy things about the past and shoving them deep down into the spooky well and far into the desert prison and away in alternate hellish dimensions, and then make up a very simple story where they get to feel good about themselves –except this time, it’s the fabric of the games, the literal reality, bending backward to make it happen. Which, in my opinion, makes it much worse than before. Now, there’s no conversation. The fabric of reality is changing their own history so that there is nothing to discuss anymore. Ganondorf was always evil incarnate. He never had any point. It was always 100% his own fault, his own hubris, his own fated wickedness. He was always demonic (and green, very important –having a flashback to people on twitter accusing artists restoring the TotK green skin to the original brown of wanting to make Ganondorf black, and like….. how do I put it gently…..)

And, above all else: gerudo are to distance themselves from his legacy so they can stay in the club of the Good and Just and Holy.

Because here’s the messy thing: as much as I love seeing the gerudos again in Breath of the Wild and as much I love for them to have survived the Era of Myth (??? somehow ???), this… kind of changes Ganondorf’s character arc. No longer do we have the story of a king who wanted more, either for his people, for himself or both, and led his culture to its destruction in his search for absolute Power, while remaining ironically incapable of maintaining what little he already had. This starts from him kneeling to the king of Hyrule in OoT and leads to the deluge, Arbiter’s Ground, his own mothers dying for the sake of his failed resurrection. Breath of the Wild changes this: now, the gerudo were apparently fine without him? They apparently did their own thing and became suddenly and inexplicably disconnected from his actions? I know it’s kind of implied they side with hylians at the end of OoT, but it’s honestly never really explored why they would cheer for the death of their king while never seeming to resent him before except for Nabooru –there are mentions of brainwashing for those who resist him (as well as “other groups in the desert”, tho they are never mentioned again), but it’s hardly a proper plot point for the majority of the tribe, aaaand they still die by Wind Waker in the Adult Timeline, in spite of their potential alliegance…

(again, this shift towards submitting to Hyrule actually started with Four Swords Adventure, getting crisper with each iteration)

There used to be this polite blur regarding Ganondorf’s relationship to them, how much he used them and how much he acted in their name (with arguments for both sides), and I think this messy and debatable question mark was one of the most compelling aspects of his character. Gerudos rejecting their relationship at a near-cosmic, reality-bending level, removes a huge layer of complexity to both parties… all for the benefit of making hylians come out cleaner out of this whole exchange, their moral grayness barely a whisper in the distance.

I’ll kind of go on the record and say that I suspect the addition of Demise to the canon to serve a similar purpose (at least in part): if Ganondorf becomes but the manifestation of a demonic curse, and is no longer an extremely messy character brimming with agency and drive, forcing the heavens to reckon with said agency in a way he was never meant to access, born from a complex set of circumstances from which we clearly get only a limited and biased perspective, then it becomes extremely clear that he’s a Bad in a way that isn’t worth exploring further. Even if he does have some points, he is a Bad. It’s what matters most. Not to say I even hate what this angle can bring to the table or that I want him to become Good (I don’t –I’ll talk more about why I dislike most takes on him being a helpless victim to the curse), but once again, who benefits from adding another Unquestionned Baddie to the equation to rest upon? Not him, and not the gerudos, that’s for sure.

So. Why did I, me, personally, like the gerudos in the first place?

Beyond the inherent coolness factor of their culture and the fascinating mysteries of what is merely suggested, I think… I think I loved gerudos because we were obvious outsiders. Because their rejection of Hylian culture was so sharp and extreme, their value system so different, and their writing, their religion, their relationship to power and hierarchy and worth wanted nothing to do with hylians. They didn’t need hylians, beyond them having potential resources to steal. In fact, the threat of hylians influencing their culture was such that the entry to the Fortress was forbidden to everyone (I don’t think men were ever singled out, by the way, even though they are mocked relentlessly). I think there was something inherently hopeful about this semi-matriarchy resisting the outside world, and especially its notions of what girls were meant to be –it was 1998, and every other girl character in OoT, besides Impa and Sheik that?? is another can of worms entirely, is either helpless or someone to save. For them to reject this narrow vision of femininity was, in my opinion, much more radical than what we got in BotW. Less nuanced, more problematic perhaps? But also much more powerful. Gerudo Valley is home, not to a town, but a Fortress.

Hylians were worth being resisted.

In Breath of the Wild, their refusal to let men enter their town is kind of boiled down to a fading tradition over-focused on romance, a meek little game of chase. Their entire goal seems to be finding a hylian to settle down with. Say what you will about the single man and the many girls (never explored and completely open-ended in its implications, btw), but at least it wasn’t… that. At least it opened the way for different ways for people to exist and imagine culture and civilization, outside of the heterosexual couple, the christian-infused patriarchy and its trickling down implications. What I want to say is: let my girls tell hylians they ain’t shit!! That they aren’t the end all be all of reality! This is what made gerudos so compelling in the first place! Where is that bite now? Where is that self-definition?

It’s gone, because hylians need to be Good. So we tee-hee at the creep running laps around the town, we disguise ourselves to breach their trust and infiltrate their town (though there is nuance to be had there, gender be complicated etc), we watch them pine after shitty dudes and take classes to become the perfect approachable woman and make love soups with ?? strange ingredients honestly, and we witness them get very friendly with the Royal Family they used to conspire against, dying to protect the princess against the manifestation of their ancient king reduced to a raving puddle of Bad Boar.

Hyrule, unified against him.

TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

For posterity’s sake: this post was made before the game was released. I’ll probably update my thoughts on a separate thing later on.

I don’t think gerudos allying with the hylians and burying their own legends about Ganondorf as deeply underground as they can until it blows up in their face is a bad setup at all. It’s actually pretty juicy, and there’s a ton of fascinating stuff that could happen here –even some involving gerudos taking a firm stand against him while still reconnecting with their past and the choices they made once. This is my hope with the title of the game: Tears of the Kingdoms. Let’s examine them all, account for the damage, and decide how we move forward from there with the full knowledge of where we come from.

What I am afraid of (and I already made posts about that) is the scenario where gerudos rallying against Ganondorf, which I expect will forcefully try to take back his place as their king, is used for cheap feminist points that completely fail to examine, well. Everything mentioned above. Where reality bends itself out of the way of the Goddesses, and hylians’ responsibility in any of this mess, so that everything bad is 100% Ganon’s fault and so he must be cast aside and torn away from the Cool Gerudo Girls and this is 100% justified and deserved because we are Independent Women Who Take No Shit from No Men (unless they are the king of Hyrule or any random hylian they wish to marry apparently).

I’ll say this here because it’s been burning my mouth every time I see discourse about Ganondorf and the gerudo: gerudos declared him as their king. To make a really bad comparison that I dislike: he didn’t run around to assemble girls and make a cult around himself, he was born with the cult already formed around him (and it’s not a cult, it’s just a different mode of governance –hylians also revere the Royal Family like gods, don’t they?). This heavily changes the dynamics at play. Not to remove any agency from him to do a little invasion about it, but chances are the ancestors to BotW’s gerudos fully expected him to behave in this way, at least to a degree –in OoT you see very plainly that they value physical prowess, feats of thievery, witchcraft and general violence. It’s more complicated than him being a Bad and making the poor helpless women go along with the plan uwu –even taking the brainwashing into account, AND Koume and Kotake counting as gerudos too, even if they might not be not fully innocent in shaping the culture and the man himself. If manipulation and forced servitude is the explanation given, I’ll be genuinely mad –because, once more, all the nuance and messiness would be flattened for the sake of making Ganondorf Bad and the gerudo Good (= on hylians’ side).

It bears to be said: I think feminism stances that require, not to criticize (which is fair), but to fully dehumanize and bestialize men of color to make any sense are uhhh bad, and it's worth questionning who they end up serving in the end.

The flip side of this would be to make Ganondorf a poor little meow meow that was secretly controlled by the evil Demise all along, and... I’ll be real. I really don’t think it solves our problem at all. It might even make it worse.

My problem with how gerudos have been handled thus far, being mostly connected to how they behave in relation to hylians Good, is that they’ve been systematically defanged not to threaten the status quo as much as they used to. I think it’s pretty clear why I’m not a fan of Ganondorf being a mere victim of cosmic circumstances; I have a post that goes more in depth about this, but to simplify: my man has legitimate grievances. To make him a mere puppet to Evil Incarnate would, to me, be just another attempt to erase the despotism of the Goddesses, the unjust hierarchy of the world, what hylians have historically done to the races they were in conflict with (looking at the Yiga for the most recent example…)

I’m not saying his fight is clean or even legitimate, that he isn't driven by his own sense of self-importance above anything else, or that he should win (he has no plan beyond domination and victory, that's not a future). But I think there’s something really important about having someone being willing to fully consume himself and everything around him for the simple fact that someone should resist the order of the world. Even if that makes him a heartless, cruel, and egomaniac demon-pig. Even if there’s no Hyrule left to rule. Even if his own people despise him, or are long gone and forgotten.

Is it a little heart-wrenching? Uhh yes to me yes most definitively. This is why Wind Waker Ganondorf hits so hard, and remains (I think) his favorite entry in the series so far. But… I still find this fate of eternal resistance more resonant and empowered, and far less grim, than if Hyrule’s lore absorbs his hatred and rage, gives it to another entity that would be Badder (= more opposed to hylians and the goddesses), and scrubs it off anything icky and uncomfortable, rendering it completely domesticated and non-threatening to hylian domination; rubbed of his skin color, of his complexity, of his own emotions, even made... kind of sexy now, in the same way his sisters have been made before him? I am very, very afraid of him being turned from furious and an unapologetic subject in his own legend to a "redeemed" (according to whom??) and palatable object in somebody else’s, that you now end up having to… save from himself.

Again, I want to trust that Tears of the Kingdom can walk that line and preserve everything sharp and contrasting and profound and thrilling about this fascinating setup. I don’t expect a philosophy course, this is a game for children –but it doesn’t mean Nintendo didn’t do an astounding job with similar setups in the past. Again, I’ll invoke the Wind Waker conflict, but Twilight Princess did a lot of great things as well (Zant’s speech, if you can get past the weird stretches and stumping and NNHYAAAs, is pretty fantastic) –and the subtle writing of Majora’s Mask is also proof enough this series can be complex without being impermeable.

So this is where my hope lies. Not really with BotW’s writing, which, I’m sorry to say, but I found to be below what the series has done in the past (I have no problem with the setup and how the story is explored, I think it was a great idea, but wasn’t ever sold on the actual writing the way I may have been with previous titles –it felt… very tropey to me overall, with a couple of highlights). But Nintendo has shown to know how to write compelling stories for children that know where to sprinkle its darkness and how to preserve its hope, and this is this side I’m relying on for this delicate storyline moving forward.

And now? Now… I suppose we wait and see.

(thank you for reading my impossibly long essay what the actual hell, at least I got it all out of my system, see you in part 2 for when TotK comes out I suppose aaa)

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kitten4sannie · 2 years

Text

【ＨｉｄｅａｎｄＳｅｅｋ】

Boyfriend! Yunho x Fem! Reader

Genre: smut

Summary: You and Yunho play your favorite game together.

W.C: 5.2k

Warnings: *possibly triggering content*,established relationship, role playing, hard/soft? dom! Yunho, sub! reader, cnc, pet names, name calling, degradation, size kink, filthy dialogue, manhandling, rope play, fingering, biting, pain kink, blood play, forced orgasm, hair pulling, praise, oral (giving), deep throating, overstimulation, brief use of the color system, rough (unprotected) sex, brief use of a gag

Author's Note: Hope you all are enjoying the spooky season 🖤 I’m literally never going to recover from the picture of Yunho I used, like are we seeing him??? Mark me down as scared and horny dhskshdj. Also, I’ll be posting the teaser for my last spooky fic on the 23rd :) Enjoy 🖤

Song Recs: Running Up That Hill by Placebo, Bound by Key, and Angel by Massive Attack

Masterlist

➽───────────────❥

You came home after a long day at work, unlocking the front door and slowly pushing it open with your palm, letting out a sigh. You froze for a second, noticing that every light was off inside the house, despite knowing that your boyfriend was home already. “Oh boy…” you murmured to yourself, eyes slowly adapting to the surrounding darkness.

After kicking off your heels near the door, you walked up to the kitchen table, noticing there was a note that Yunho must have left for you. You brought it up to your face and held your phone up near it, using the light from the screen to read what he had scribbled on it.

You have two minutes to hide :) Then I’m gonna come find you ♡

A small, sheepish smile formed on your face, as you tossed the note back down onto the table, a noticeable knot forming tightly inside your stomach. It was finally the night you had been looking forward to all month; the night where you and Yunho would play a little game of hide and seek, only if he caught you, he was allowed to do whatever he felt like doing to you.

To add to the excitement, Yunho never told you when he wanted to play; he only made it obvious by turning all the lights off in the house, like he had done just minutes ago. This resulted in you always coming home with butterflies in your stomach, eager to experience the game again, but never knowing when he’d initiate it.

You set your work bag down onto the kitchen table, using two fingers to pull your hair free from the hair tie you had on. Sighing gently, you took a few extra seconds to prepare yourself mentally for what was awaiting you.

Once you were in an appropriate headspace, you began to walk down the hallway, the tips of your fingers feeling tingly. Taking in a deep breath, you quietly made your way up the stairs, only stopping when you made it to the banister. You looked down at your phone, realizing a minute had already gone by.

“Shit…” you whispered to yourself, eyes darting back and forth between the left and right side of the hallway, wondering which way you should go. Hearing what sounded like the garage door opening and closing, you quickly scampered down the left side and into your shared bedroom, which was located at the very end of the hall.

“Okay, where to hide?” You looked at the bathroom door, shaking your head almost immediately. The bathroom was too confined; you would be instantly cornered if you hid there. Looking towards your bed, you briefly wondered if hiding under it was the way to go. No, it’d take too long to maneuver yourself out from under there, once he found you.

Your breath got caught inside your throat when you started hearing a creaking sound coming from the staircase down the hall, sending your brain into full-blown panic mode. Your nervous gaze settled on your closet, your legs moving in its direction, before you had even fully made up your mind. Quietly sliding the right side of the closet open, you slipped inside, opting to hide in the far left corner, once you had shut the closet behind you. You moved some boxes in front of you and pushed yourself up against the cool wall, your heart beating wildly inside your chest.

Sure, you were frightened, but not truly; you weren’t in any real danger. It was just a simulated version of it, but sometimes Yunho was very capable of making you question the situation. You loved this, however, and he did as well; it allowed you to bring some excitement into your otherwise mundane lives.

“Is my angel hiding somewhere over here?” you heard Yunho say in a low, calculated voice, your fingers unconsciously gripping the carpet below you. The volume of his voice was somewhat muffled, so you assumed that he was still somewhere in the hall.

Yunho suddenly kicked the office door open, the impact of his foot hitting the door making you jump. He scanned the room thoroughly with his dark eyes, sighing softly when he didn’t see you. “Not here…” he murmured, sounding disappointed. He eventually found his way into your shared bathroom that was connected to your bedroom, standing there silently for a minute.

Sensing his presence inside the room, you tried to make your body appear as small as possible, bringing your knees up to your chest and holding your legs securely in place. You could hear your boyfriend take in a deep breath, then slowly let it out, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

“I bet your pussy is already soaking wet for me, angel,” he exhaled, leaning one hand on the bathroom door frame he was standing near, peering inside to see if you were dumb enough to hide in there. “I know how much you love playing hide and seek with me.”

You let out a barely audible sigh, before quietly slamming a hand against your mouth to prevent yourself from making any more pleased noises in response to his words. You sat there for a moment, waiting to see if Yunho had heard you. Your body eventually relaxed, when you didn’t hear him respond verbally or physically. You internally gave yourself praise, proud of yourself for being able to mask the sounds that so desperately wanted to escape your mouth. However, this mini celebration of yours didn’t last very long.

You almost jumped out of your skin when the right side of the closet came flying open, Yunho's large frame coming into view. He placed one of his hands on the edge of the wall and the other on the opened closet door, slowly leaning his body into the space you were in, quietly admiring your frightened, doe-like eyes. “Found you,” he said, in an almost melodic tone, giving you an ominous smile.

You stayed completely still initially, feeling your heart stop beating for a split-second. He was almost too good at appearing like he was a psychopath, but you knew that he was just very enthusiastic when it came to roleplaying. Yunho always made sure to stay in character during these interactions and you loved it; you couldn’t have asked for a better partner.

“D-don’t even think about touching me,” you murmured in a small voice, maintaining eye contact with him, as your fingers gingerly slid in between the left side closet door and the door frame. Your eyes narrowed with feigned anger, your lips forming a small scowl. “I’m serious, Yunho!”

A dark chuckle erupted from Yunho’s throat, his fingers wrapping around the jute rope that he was holding, his hands closing into fists around the rough material. He then spread his hands apart, causing the rope to be stretched.

This action alone sent heat straight to your core, your legs involuntarily pressing against one another. You gritted your teeth, trying not to let him see how truly excited you were about the situation. “I’m not joking! Fuck. Off.”

Another pleased laugh escaped past Yunho’s lips, this one being more light and airy, almost like he had just been told a joke. He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and sighed, his joyous expression suddenly melting away and being replaced with an eerily neutral one.

“It’s so amusing to me that you believe you have any sort of authority in this situation, angel. You’re simply my prey, my play thing, my little toy, that I'll use, abuse, and fill up with my cum,” he stated, his eyes devoid of any compassion, and instead filled with fervid lust.

You swallowed harshly, already feeling your wetness soak through your thin panties. You remained quiet, unable to come up with a response, aside from just looking up at him with wide eyes. For what seemed like forever, the two of you just stared back at one another, waiting for either one of you to make some sort of move.

“Come here, angel,” was all that Yunho said, as he suddenly pushed his way into the closet, reaching for your leg to grab it.

You quickly opened your side of the closet, scrambling out of it and out onto the floor of your bedroom. Breathing heavily, from the adrenaline already coursing through your veins, you jumped up onto your feet and started sprinting down the second-story hallway. You heard a satisfied laugh echo from the bedroom, your successful escape plan clearly bringing Yunho some kind of fulfillment.

Just as you looked past your shoulder to catch sight of Yunho’s tall figure appearing outside of the bedroom door, you suddenly felt your foot sliding across the slick wood flooring you were running on, causing you to lose your footing. “Shit!” you gasped, unable to regain your balance and, in turn, instantly falling on your ass.

The loud, rapidly increasing footsteps heading in your direction threatened to stop your heart permanently. You let out a small cry of fear, reaching up to grab the edge of the banister and using your momentum to propel yourself upwards. You just narrowly escaped your boyfriend’s grasp by ducking and sending yourself down the stairs at a dangerous speed, almost missing a step on the way down.

The only sounds you could hear coming from behind you were a couple quiet giggles, as well as the occasional call of your nickname. You ignored his attempts at freaking you out further, solely focusing on getting to the front door. If you did so, that would mean you had finally won the game for the first time. Even though the two of you had played countless times, you could never seem to win, due to how much faster and stronger Yunho was than you. Not to mention, how much larger. Something about him being 6’1 and running towards you at a rapid speed with a smile plastered on his face always sent fear and arousal straight into you, without fail.

“Angelllll, stop running from me! Let me play with you!” he shouted after you, fast-walking down the first five steps of the staircase, before easily jumping past the last five, his feet landing on the wood floor with a thud.

You let out an involuntary scream, running towards the front door, as fast as your legs could carry you. Just as your hand reached out for the door handle, you felt all the air inside your lungs suddenly disappear. Your boyfriend’s sturdy body had made a rough impact with your significantly more delicate one, his large hands grabbing the back of your shoulders and shoving you chest-first into the front door, your head hitting the door, causing a dizzying sensation to overcome your senses.

“Caught you…” he exhaled, near the side of your upper jaw, tongue flicking out of his mouth to drag up the shell of your ear, causing you to shiver. “Now, it’s finally time for the fun part.”

Once Yunho had stripped your top half, he wasted no time to tie you up, so that your arms were held taut behind your back. He also made sure that the rope was wrapped securely both above and underneath your breasts, as well as in between. He was quite experienced with this sort of thing, so he knew how tight he wanted certain sections of the rope to be, as well as how loose other areas should remain, so that it didn’t cut off your circulation and make your body go numb.

“Mmm, my beautiful angel, all tied up just for me…” he sighed, running a finger down the knotted sections of the rope, admiring his work. It was an art, in itself. He felt the same way about your body; he loved observing your skin, as it slowly grew more visibly irritated and tender over time, the way your breasts would become swollen and sensitive the longer you were tied up, but his favorite thing was how you had to hide your rope burns with long-sleeved shirts, before you went to work the next morning. Everything about this dynamic that you shared together never failed to turn him on immensely.

“P-please let me go…” you murmured, turning your head, so that you could look up at him with pleading eyes. You made a small squeaking sound when Yunho responded by grabbing the back of your head and pressing it against the cold wood of the door, his free hand finding its way down to your work skirt and pulling it down in one swift motion.

“I’ll let you go when I’m done using you,” he murmured against your ear, letting go of your head and hooking his fingers into the material of your pantyhose around your ass and crotch area, before tearing them open, without a second thought. He groaned at the sight of your soaked panties, instantly grabbing the thin material and ripping it off of you as well, tossing them onto the nearby couch.

You moaned in response, feeling a significant amount of wetness begin to leak out of you and down your inner thighs. Biting your lip, you desperately squeezed your legs together to prevent more from coming out.

“P-please, stop! I’m begging you!”

Yunho earned another moan from you when he kicked the insides of your ankles, forcing your legs to spread open for him. “You thought you could hide your wet little cunt from me? You’re so precious, angel,” he chuckled lightly, petting your hair in an oddly gentle fashion.

You were about to answer with something bratty when you felt your breath get caught inside your throat, due to feeling the overwhelming sensation of Yunho’s long fingers pushing deep into your pussy. You squirmed around helplessly, as he began pumping them in and out of you, at an alarming pace. “Oh my fucking god!” you cried out, unable to hold back the constant need to whine and whimper. “Yunho…ple-aseee…!”

“Please, what?” he questioned, adding a third digit inside you, chuckling when you only answered with another moan. “My poor little angel…you’re so much of a cock-hungry little whore that you’ve already lost your ability to form basic sentences…” He grabbed one of your hips roughly with one hand, forcing you to arch your back to a certain extent, allowing his fingers to reach your g-spot with ease.

“A-aah! Fuck!” you cried out, the muscles in your upper legs tightening in response to the sudden increase of pleasure you felt, your eyelids fluttering shut.

“That’s it…That’s the spot, huh? You like it right there, baby?”

Yunho pounded his fingers into you, his body pressing heavily against yours. He whispered more obscenities directly into your ear, pulling it roughly with his teeth afterward, earning a small whine from your parted lips.

“That’s my good girl…”

When he tilted your head in his direction, so that he could see how euphoric your expression was and how beautiful you looked in general, he was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to bite you. He did so, without any hesitation, sinking his teeth into the side of your neck.

“F-uuck!” you choked out, feeling your blood begin to trickle down your neck. You cried out again when he bit into your shoulder this time, even harder than before. “Yunho! Oh my god, Yunho!” Your eyes rolled back into your head, the pain almost too overwhelming, but still just as pleasurable as it was being finger-fucked by him.

“Fuuuck, I love hearing you cry out my name like that, baby…It makes me want to bite you again and again…”

Once Yunho felt your pussy tighten significantly around his fingers, he grunted, shoving them as deep as he could and sliding them almost all the way out, before repeating the cycle. “Yeah, that’s it…”

This almost drove you to the brink of insanity; your head was pounding from the intense stinging sensation of your wounds, as well as from the dizzying amount of pleasure you were overcome with. “Yun…ho…” you exhaled, a bit of drool escaping your mouth.

“Are you gonna cum, angel? Hmm? Are you gonna cum just from being bitten? Or from the way I’m fucking you with just my fingers?”

“B-both,” you whimpered, looking back at him through your peripheral vision. Feeling yourself getting closer and closer to your high, you almost didn’t realize when Yunho had sunk his teeth into the other side of your neck, feeling him bite down hard enough, so that you felt a lightning bolt of pain inside your head.

“Fuck!“ you yelled, the combination of his rapidly moving fingers and teeth slicing into your flesh proving to be too lethal, immediately bringing you to orgasm.

Yunho pulled his fingers out of your pulsing hole and brought them around your shoulder up to your trembling lips, sliding them into your mouth.

“Suck them clean, angel.”

You closed your eyes, your mouth closing around his fingers and sucking on them just as he asked, only to gasp on them, when you felt Yunho’s tongue lapping at the remaining blood left on your neck and shoulder where he had bitten you.

“Mmmn…” he mumbled, pulling away from your neck and licking his lips, just as he pulled his fingers out of your mouth. He grabbed you by the hair and yanked your body back into his, caressing the side of your jaw lightly. Without another word, he slammed his lips against yours and forced his tongue into your mouth, making you taste an overwhelming amount of iron.

You struggled against him, trying to do your best to free your body from its restraints, but failing miserably, not that you really wanted to escape. You just loved playing the part.

“Mm..! Mm-mmm!” you reacted, feeling Yunho’s large hands grope your body up to your secured breasts, squeezing them as roughly as he could, prior to pinching and pulling at your sensitive nipples.

He chuckled into your mouth, pleased with how you were responding, using the tip of his fingers to roll around your nipples, just before flicking them as hard as he could a few times in a row.

“Y-Yunho…” you murmured softly, just as he broke the kiss and pulled away. You could barely function at this point and he wasn’t even close to being done with you. It frightened you, but not nearly as much as it turned you on.

“Angel.” Your boyfriend ran a finger down your back and along one of your bound forearms, informing you, “I think it’s time for you to show me what that pretty little mouth of yours is capable of.”

Within a few moments, Yunho had placed you down on the leather sofa, so that you were laying on your back with your head hanging off the edge of the elongated arm rest, a large pillow being positioned underneath your body to prevent you from straining any muscles.

You studied Yunho from below, watching as he hastily pulled his sweatpants down, revealing his large, throbbing cock. “Holy fuck…” you mumbled to yourself, as a few drops of pre-cum fell from the tip of his erection, landing on your cheek and slowly rolling down it.

Yunho’s lips curled into a gratified smirk, always loving when you fed his ego. “You act like you don’t see my cock every day, angel. Or do you just love it that much? I bet you daydream about it all day at work, don’t you?” He reached down to gather up the pre-cum with his thumb and rubbed it all over your lips, letting out a sigh.

“Of course I do…You know how much I love worshiping your cock, Yuyu,” you purred, feeling pleased when you saw how his smirk turned into a lewd smile, very aware of how much he loved it when you called him by his nickname.

“Then show me how much you love it, angel,” Yunho requested, holding his dick near your mouth, immediately drawing in a sudden breath, when he felt your tongue teasingly swipe over the slit.

“Then hurry up and shove your cock down my throat, Yuyu,” you responded in an impatient tone, prior to opening your mouth as wide as you possibly could.

Yunho’s dark irises instantly dilated upon hearing your bold words, prompting him to push most of his length into your mouth, the tip of his dick sliding past the entrance of your throat. “Angelllll, you look so pretty with my cock in your mouth,” he praised, his long fingers holding your neck from either side, making sure to apply some pressure, but not enough to hurt you. “So, so pretty.”

“M-mmmnn…” you moaned around him, carefully drawing in air through your nose and slowly relaxing your throat, so that you could take him, without any issues.

Yunho gazed down at you, waiting for you to adjust to his large size. Once you had done so, he began pumping himself in and out of your mouth, groaning deeply when he felt your moans vibrating around his member.

“Fffffuck, I can never-unhh-get tired of this. I love fucking your tight little throat, angel…” he exhaled somewhat shakily, unconsciously speeding up his movements, instinctively wanting to increase the amount of pleasure he was feeling as soon as possible.

Your eyes were beginning to roll back behind your closing eyelids, the sensation of being throat-fucked in such a lewd position proving to be too pleasurable for you to keep a proper grasp over your facial expressions. Your tingly arms and hands twitched beneath your back, desperately wanting to escape, so that you could touch yourself, in order to ease the throbbing you felt between your legs.

Yunho let out a long groan, noticing the small puddle of arousal soaking into the couch near where your legs were spread open, commenting, “Something tells me that you’re loving this just as much as I am, angel…You just love being a good little cocksleeve for me, huh?” He suddenly looked down towards your neck, instantly distracted. “Fuck, would you look at that…” he breathed, admiring the way his cock looked moving in and out of your throat, his eyes zoning in on the outline of it.

You squeezed your legs together, the aching you felt inside your core being almost unbearable at this point, causing you to groan a bit around his cock, knowing you couldn’t do a single thing about it.

“What’s wrong, angel? Do you want me to touch you? Is that it? Cumming once wasn’t enough for you?” he questioned in a low voice, leaning forward onto the couch a bit, so that he could shove himself further into your throat and at a faster rate, without requiring as much hip movement as it previously did. “What a needy little slut you are…”

“Mmm-hmm…!” you moaned, wondering if Yunho could even understand you over the constant squelching sounds of his cock going into your throat over and over again.

“Mm, since you're being such a good girl for me, I’ll help you out, okay?” Yunho used his core strength to lean down over you a bit further, reaching his hand down to your already-soaked pussy, using his middle and ring finger to rub rapidly against your swollen clit.

“Mmmmn!” Your back arched almost instantly, so fast and so abrupt, that it hurt your spine. Feeling his fingers push down harder against your clit and move in a side-to-side motion, you knew that your orgasm was already imminent, as was Yunho’s, considering the way his cock was throbbing inside your throat.

“Mmm, look at you…that feels good, doesn’t it, baby?” Yunho sighed, gripping the side of the couch with one free hand, shoving his cock relentlessly into your throat and admiring the way your spit was consistently dripping from your lips and slowly sliding up your face, then into your already-damp hair. “Fucking take it…take this cock…”

You couldn’t handle it anymore; Yunho’s filthy mouth and actions had finally taken their toll on you, causing you to reach your second orgasm. “Mmmfff…!” You bucked your hips up against Yunho’s hand, as cum spilled out of your hole and onto the couch below you.

“Good girl…I want to see that again,” Yunho observed, placing his fingers back down onto your pulsing clit and rubbing it rapidly once more, sending shockwaves of pleasure throughout your body.

You let out a consistent flow of muffled moans, your lower half twitching periodically, due to Yunho’s unfaltering hand movements. Within a few moments, you came again, this time harder than before, causing the edges of your vision to blur temporarily.

“My pretty little angel…I bet that felt nice, didn’t it? You know what else will feel nice?” Yunho started, both hands going back to your neck and holding it securely, as he rammed his cock down your throat at a brutal pace. “My cum shooting down your slutty-aah-little-unh-throat! Don’t you want it, angel? Don’t you want my cum?”

You couldn’t even respond at this point; how could you? Your mouth was occupied and your body was bound. The only thing you could do was moan weakly a few times around Yunho’s cock, knowing he probably couldn’t even hear you over the sound of his groans and the sinful sounds coming from your throat.

“Oh, godddd, I’m gonna fucking cum…” Yunho announced in a strangled voice, suddenly stopping his movements and holding you in place, just in time for hot ropes of cum to pour down your throat, forcing you to swallow it, so that you didn’t choke. “Mmhmm…drink it all, baby…Show me how much you love this cock…”

You did just as he asked of you, drinking down his slightly bitter release in gulps, until there was no more left. Your body rested against the pillow you were laying on, feeling drained of your energy, but still having the motivation to continue your roleplay.

Yunho pulled out of your mouth and wiped the tip of his cock on your swollen lips, sighing softly. “What color are you, angel?” he questioned, running his fingers through your hair.

“Green,” you replied confidently, looking up at your boyfriend with a smile, just before he grabbed you by the shoulders and laid you down the other way, so that you were on your stomach with your head down and your ass up in the air.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Yunho responded, his large hands grabbing hold of your hips from both sides, squeezing them roughly. “You ready for this cock, baby?”

“Yes, now give it to me!”

Your eager response sent Yunho back into a darker mindset, already shoving his throbbing length into your tight hole, groaning when he bottomed out right away. “Ffffuck, my baby’s always so tight…” he mused, letting out a small satisfied laugh, before he began slamming himself in and out of you at a brutal pace, right out of the gate.

“Jesus, fuck!” you choked, your voice cracking unintentionally, almost feeling dizzy from the way Yunho was fucking you. Your body went completely lax against the couch cushion, feeling more drool leaking out past your lips, your fingers twitching slightly behind your back.

“Oh my goddd, just look at you taking it like a good little whore…You love it, don’t you?” Yunho lowered himself and laid directly on your back, his arms moving past either side of you and resting down on the couch cushion, his body heavy against yours. “You like being my little fuckdoll, baby?” he asked against your earlobe, his harsh breaths sending shivers down your spine.

You nodded your head weakly, barely able to focus on what Yunho was saying, due to the waves of fire that were ripping through your body, threatening to send you over the edge. You abruptly gritted your teeth when you felt him pounding into you even harder than before, if that was possible. Your hands formed into fists, feeling like you were genuinely going to lose it, thanks to the mind-breaking amount of pleasure that was flooding your brain and body. “W-wait, no more! It’s-aaah-too much, Yuyu! Please…! I’m gonna go fucking crazy!”

Your boyfriend let out a dark chuckle, reaching for your panties that were crumbled up on the couch and grabbing them, muttering, “Sorry, angel. You’re gonna have to be a good girl and take it.” Before you could protest, Yunho shoved your panties into your mouth, in such a rough manner, that you gagged around the thin lacy material.

You instinctively tried to move your arms, letting out a muffled whine, knowing you had absolutely no control over the situation. This only served to increase the intensity of your high, encouraging you to unravel completely, feeling Yunho fucking your abudant wetness out of you, and, in turn, hearing him groan loudly above you.

“You just came, didn’t you, angel?” he questioned, in between breaths, finding it amusing that you couldn’t even answer him, causing him to let out an airy, pleased chuckle. “My beautiful little rope bunny…Both of your holes stuffed with my cock and your own ripped panties…Oh my goddd, I think I’m gonna cum….!” Getting himself worked up with his own words, in addition to your pussy constricting around his length like a vice, he let out a long, strangled moan, his cum spilling out deep inside you. However, he continued to thrust into you, refusing to stop, until your pussy milked him completely dry. “Ahhh, goddd…baby…take it allll…”

You moaned around the makeshift gag, along with Yunho, your thighs trembling from the overwhelmingly warm and comforting sensation you felt within your core, letting you stay in a state of pure euphoria for a significant amount of time. “Mmmfff…”

After the both of you had finally come down, Yunho took his time untying you, and in turn, admiring the rope burns littered around your skin, running his fingers along some of them, sending shivers up your spine. “So pretty…” he murmured to himself, before pulling you up and into his arms, relaxing his body against the couch. “You did so well for me, angel.” He kissed your forehead and your temple a few times, mumbling onto your skin, “Are you okay, angel? I didn’t go too far, did I?”

You shook your head, wrapping your arms around him and hugging him as tightly as you possibly could, replying, “I’m more than okay, Yuyu. I couldn’t be better.” Hearing Yunho’s sigh of approval, you opted to stay in his arms for a prolonged amount of time, enjoying his warmth.

“Yuyu?” you eventually spoke up, something on your mind.

“Yeah?”

You pulled back slightly, so that you could look up at him, a small mischievous smile on your face. “Do you think you can dress up as Ghostface next time?” You patted his shoulder a couple times, out of excitement. “Oh, and call me on the phone when I get off of work and ask me what my favorite scary movie is!”

He smiled at you, nodding his head and rubbing your back in gentle circles, wondering how you could be so cute. “Of course I can, angel.”

Your lips formed an ‘o’ shape, as if you had another idea, your smile becoming brighter. “And Michael Myers after that!”

Yunho reeled back, his eyebrows raising up. “Angel,” he started, letting out a surprised chuckle, shaking his head. “Really? Michael Myers?”

You got defensive almost immediately, holding up an accusative finger in his direction, your eyes narrowing.

“Don’t you fucking judge me!”

➽───────────────❥

Tags: @dazzlinglight @thefinerthingz3 @cloudysannie @aryraaaa @za-con @cosmiczen @choerryge @aikyubi @arusio @gueritaybonita @i-l0v3hands @ethicalz @jinsonaz @kitty4hwa @jexidamulti @as-she-pleases @just-a-simp @purplechannie @lilactiny @jazzymoore @kodzukein @asjkdk @cherryxsang @namsloverr @chanst1ddies @woo-stars @createyour0wnworld @roarmingi @simeonswhore @k0rean-big-mini0n @fairyoftaehyun @bls-luv-me @lavanyasingh04 @igotlockedout @fl0r4f4wn

Apply for the taglist here ⇢ ♡

#ateez #ateez smut #ateez yunho #yunho ateez #yunho #yunho smut #yunho x reader #ateez x reader #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez x y/n #kpop smut #ateez oneshot #ateez hard hours #jeong yunho

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pepsiiwho · 8 days

Text

ROMANCE REAL!

I'm a heinous, devious multi-shipper and I always have been and always will be but for now I won't get into sleep's harem. Right now I'm just gonna word vomit about my two biggest Hypnos ships and what im thinking of writing for them with the information we have currently with the new teaser.

If you don't like Zagnos, Arenos or Hypnos getting some well deserved loving (in which case, you can fuck off now) then skip this one. If you'd like to avoid spoilers for my next possible wip (not that this is nearly coherent enough to explain anything I'll write) run away. Now.

Okay. Anyway. Hi true believers.

So, the dynamics of both ships are different to me fundementally but on the outside they look incredibly similar (I have a type). the basics being that Zagreus and Hypnos is more a will they/ won't they childhood friend romance with a twist of like "you stole my whole family and I resent you for that" and "you're the one person in this literal hell hole I can't just fix and it's driving me crazy". Initially Zagreus was like, the one constant nice, polite and understanding person Hypnos had in his corner. Because of like 3 lines of dialogue in the first game (of which I shan't even speak!) I fell out of love with the ship just because of how jarring and heart breaking it was. But I have love for them and have worked in tandem with cano, for once in my life, and can fix it all.

This was a long way to say, Zagnos exs. They dated and it was great. Very puppy love but after a point Hypnos got comfortable enough that he felt discontent with the fact his boyfriend was more beloved in his family then he was. They clash over it, Hypnos gets upset that zagreus gets THREE sets of families, HYP'S INCLUDED, while Hypnos can barely manage one on a good day and Zagreus just does NOT get it. Eventually they break up because they're just too different. Hypnos bows out, in his self-deprecating way, and they're done. Considering the second game, I think this happens shortly before Mel is born/ or conceived. One of the two because news/birth is a whirlwind that takes all of Zag's attention so they have a lot of unfinished business.

Obviously the titans attack only like a year or so after Mel is born and then everything goes to shit and my scene of the escape happens. At this point, Zagreus is still very in love with Hypnos— he never really stopped oops— but their time has run out and it's too late. He goes into the fray. Womp womp. We're caught up.

Arenos, on the other hand, was always an escape from the mess of the house and the family drama happening there. Hypnos the forgotten and unloved son paired up with Ares the forgotten and unloved son. They are very different yet have a shared loneliness no one else really gets? It helps Ares has his weird fixation on the chatonic gods and their entire lineage. So they meet at the post game dinner and Ares is instantly smitten and wants to wisk Hypnos away. This is, surprisingly, the significantly more affectionate and fluffier ship in my mind. He wants to adore his god and obsess over him as Hypnos deserves. Ares is a lover boy to me and Someone who's been deprived of such love his whole life needs someone who's too enthusiastic about his mere existence. Anyway, when the titans attack and Hypnos gets out with Mel, he loses contact with Olympus because they go off the grid and he's too weak to reach ares in his dreams or anything. Until Mel begins communication with her kin up top, Ares assumes Hypnos is dead. He is not normal about it. WOO!

Which brings us to now. The scene I have in mind is post game or like later in the game? In this idea Zagreus has been freed and olympians can come and go from the crossroads without alerting the enemy faction.

The concept for both ships is the same: X goes to crossroads and finds Hypnos sleeping, unwoken for (long period of time here) and unreachable. Im imagining the scene from Snow White. X walks up, ruminates on Hypnos and their past together and then kisses him before crumpling on his sleeping form, overcome with grief.

Naturally, the grief is different. Zagreus for lost love. For another thing lost to him through this conflict but due to his own negligence, not the Titan's whims. He chose to ostracize his love, he chose to ignore him when they were all of 30ft away from each other at any given time. His Hypnos, his sleep, who protected his little sister and (perhaps) helped guide his family to safety/defeat the titans whatever. The fates were as cruel as ever.

Ares, in my mind, would find Hypnos earlier. Before the titans are defeated fully. Seeing his lord sleep, his beloved, his heart and dreams left comatose and out of his reach enrages him. He has a new resolve coming out of the meeting, unable to do anything but wish for the utter decimation of any and all against him and the head of whoever put his love in this position.

The crossroad I'm at though (ha) is If true loves kiss can prevail... I love happy fluff good ends but tragedy is so lovely... Id love to hear other's thoughts as well. Feel free to send asks to continue the convo or reply ... or tags of course... sigh... they're so important. Also more Hypnos ships soon.. first on the block: Apollo and Hermes!

#the funnies #hades hypnos #hades 2 #hypnos hades #zagnos #arenos

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cpunkhobie · 6 months

Text

what if we do that transcribing system conversations thing again

jonah if you do that I will actually fucking kill you it was so goddamn awkard

and you're typing

yeppp ^_^

OOH OOH LEMME SAY SOMETHING

ass

that was not funny

you're not funny so I don't see why you get to talk -

hey I'm funny!

no you're not . Being blunt does not count

listen in certain circumstances blunt is the funniest thing you can be

this is really going nowhere

Stop pointing out we're typing out a conversation it's going nowhere

I don't think we've talked this much collectively in ages

Yeah it's usually just like. Quick internal communications. We don't differentiate or worry about whose saying what much

Donna is a bitch (name edited for don's sake)

You can't call Don, ****** remember cause they hate it when non headmates do that (we try not to call Don by this name externally because it implies other people can, when they cannot)

oh right sorry don

it's ok angie

I feel like we're gonna forget who said what as we're writing this since we didn't color code it immediately

eh it'll be fine

I think that is the first time I have ever heard you say that

yeah it's because you take so damn long to type I forgot what I said before

ssshhhhut up

a few minutes later:

(replying to what elle said before) you say that like you're ever in front

hey I'm in front all the time!

those 2 days a week ago do not count

i'm near front all the time i just don't talk as much as you guys. Because I don't have to

mmmkay

---

donna (purple), angie (orange), jonah (pink), leo (blue), elle (red)

OK EXPLANATION AT THE END. This is a "transcript" of an internal conversation between me n my headmates. We did one of these a looong time ago, but it was very stilted and awkward since we were trying to color code the dialogue as we went along. Luckily we're now more familiar with our speech patterns and are able to guess whose who now without having to initially label it. That's why this might flow more naturally and is longer.

Jonah's giving me full reigns of the explanation to further display how speech patterns can differentiate between alters, which is why this is so long-winded. Anyway, the explanation of what this is for non-systems: a form of inner-system communication is when two alters have a conversation with each other. What you see here is internal-system communication during co-consciousness - when multiple alters are near front at the same time. For us, this is usually someone having full-control of the body, and another person having partial to no control of the body, while commentating on what the other person is doing. Or, y'know, just chatting with them. Here, the four of us each had partial control of the body to type what we were saying.

Jonah is cutting me off there before I double the length of this post - Donna 🧬

WOO. ok. But yeah Donna basically explained it LOL. This is just a conversation we wrote down between me n headmates. I wanted to try it again since it's been so long - Jonah🍓

#jonah with a megaphone #don txt #leo txt #elle txt #angie txt #system stuff #🍓#🧬#🦋#🍊#🍒

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rebornologist · 2 months

Note

Gosh, do you know how much your works are valued??? I hope you do since for some, especially me, these works have been the only thing fueling my ten year long love for khr~ Anyways is it OK to request for college and romantic headcanons of Giotto?

♡♡ hiii dear! Thank you so much for your kind words. If you don't mind, I've just compiled all of my Giotto HC reqs instead of making multiple posts, since there is a (variable) amount of overlap between them.

♡ Giotto in College & in Love ✧

༚✧⁺˳₊˚‿︵‿︵‿୨୧ ⁺˳₊ ♡ ₊˳⁺ ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿˚₊˳⁺✧༚

Giotto was not particularly outspoken in class settings, but he was a fine student and fairly active and keen to engage with the local community. He went in undeclared and eventually settled into political science because it was simply what interested him, in addition to a lot of philosophy and some studio art electives. He’s a good writer, and can whip up a crazy effective grant proposal. He enjoys creating things with his hands, such as pottery, forging simple metal jewelry (namely rings), and painting. As he got caught up with work more, he got less and less time for those creative hobbies.

He participated in a lot of direct action groups on campus and ran for some position in the legislative branch of the associated student government. He had a group of close friends that included G and Cozart, and the group would be found floating around, sitting on grass in the quad or in the student community building’s meeting rooms, discussing various things that may or may not be related to student gov.

Giotto is a pretty hopeless romantic, in the way that.. he has a tendency to see the world through rose-tinted glasses, firmly believing in the good of humanity. While he romanticizes the grind, his partner would likely be the one that reminds him to take a step back and rest. He’s surrounded by people with big hopes and dreams, as he should, but it can be a little too inspiring. He’ll lose a lot of sleep because he spends time thinking about the good and the bad and the ugly and the beautiful.

His partner is always there to listen to him ramble about his hopes and dreams, but they’re also there to ground him, remind him to pay attention to them, to get ready for bed, snuggle up, meditate, literally anything to take his mind off of what his next move is. Sometimes, the next move should just be.. nothing, for now.

They remind him that they want to go into the ceramics studio next week, and he pauses. His breath is held still in his chest as the constantly turning gears slow almost to a stop, and he takes a moment to process before he exhales audibly, with a soft smile “...it’s been a while, huh?”

Initially, he was very formal in the way that he pursued his s/o-to-be. They started as colleagues or friends, and something about them just.. caught his eye. For being such a well-spoken man, he cannot put to words what exactly made him feel so strongly about them, but he feels it very viscerally. He opens doors for them, bringing them tea and coffee, gifting them a little painting or a handmade mug, before finally mustering the courage to ask them out to dinner with a whole ass bouquet of flowers.

I don’t see him as anything but a friends-to-lovers type of man. Even on a first date, the dialogue and banter flow as usual, and there is a natural chemistry on top of their preexisting friendship. He tries his best to pace himself in terms of what is considered a “natural” progression of the relationship, but it’s almost as if he knows that he’s all-in with his partner from the get-go. His loyalty and devotion is unmatched.

One time, as a joke, his partner referred to him as their husband. He malfunctioned right then and there. If he had a tail, it would have been wagging. He laughs it off in front of his friends, as if that was a regular occurrence. Afterwards, on the way home, he hits them with the “Do you really think of me like that?” silence… 30 seconds later, he speaks up again as he is driving, “Hypothetically, when do you think is a good time to get married?” It’s adorable. It does become a regular occurrence after that.

I have written a bit on this before, so ngl.. idk what other bases.. to cover

He’s confident, but he doesn’t have a huge ego. The times where he feels most egotistical, actually, is when his partner is so painfully attracted to him. He’ll catch them gawking at his hands as he adjusts his watch and jewelry, and a playful smile dances across his features, golden eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Like what you see, dear?” He fans his fingers out, displaying the rings on his finger, before flipping his palm upward and gesturing salaciously for his love to come closer.

Is really sweet and enjoys teasing and worshiping every inch of his lover, just so that he can take note of every reaction. He’ll notice every little gasp, every flinch, twitch, whimper, etc. He loves a vocal partner.

Sex is something that he enjoys taking his time with, so if there’s something that you want to leverage to pull him away from his work, that might be it. He tries really hard to stick to his scheduled activities, but he doesn’t mind getting distracted by his s/o for longer than planned. At some point, he starts to account for that when he plans for the day or the week.

It’s really funny when he hits them up with the, “hey babe… my sweet.. angel, darling… I know that we have our date tomorrow afternoon, but.. I have a meeting that evening..” his s/o knows exactly what’s coming, “are you available to.. start earlier so that we can have more time together?” UM YES.

Is not particularly kinky himself, but super open minded to trying out anything that his partner may be into. He loves to please, so he’ll definitely at least be open to hearing about any fantasies they would want to fulfill. Some things are off the table, he’s not a huge fan of play that revolves around non-consent because he’s kind of.. a softie through and through, but he dabbles in praise, gentle degradation, being a pleasure dom, etc.

He’s a little more interested in group play than you’d expect, because he’s fairly romantically monogamous, but if a partner asked to bring other people into a sexual scenario, he’d be like, “oh.. oh, yeah.. are you thinking of [redacted]?” IDUNNO Y/N ARE YOU?!?!

✧ a/n: rb with who u think redacted is

#khr #hitman reborn #khr headcanons #katekyo hitman reborn #khr imagines #khr x reader #giotto khr #giotto x reader #freeing myself from writing about giotto purgatory

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choices-binglebonkus · 1 year

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Every 2022 Choices Release – Rated on a scale of 1-10

Several people have said that 2022 has been the best year for Choices since 2018. And…as sad as that is, it’s pretty true. Like 2020, 2022’s releases had high highs and low lows. As I’ve said once before, the good books were awesome and the bad ones were really, really, REALLY bad. This post is going to be covering every 2022 book release and rating them on a scale of 1-10 because I haven’t done that on this blog and felt like spicing things up. It’s the new year, bitches!

Quick disclaimer: to qualify for this list, a book must have been initially released to wide audiences (non-VIPs) in 2022, because we don’t do that VIP shit here. So, for example, Wake the Dead was released on December 29, 2021, so it doesn’t qualify for this list even though it ended in 2022. With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Ms. Match: January 28, 2022 – April 29, 2022

Ms. Match’s story itself was not terrible, but the general skeleton of the plot is super overdone. I am sick to death of the plots centered around rising to the top of the competition and blowing everyone else away, and that’s pretty much exactly what Ms. Match does. The idea behind it is cute, though: we join a matchmaking company and compete in matchmaking contests and challenges to determine who the next CEO will be. My biggest complaint is that the love interest is…not great. The Rival Matchmaker is far from the worst love interest, but my god, they’re so cocky, full of themselves, and overall annoying as hell, not to mention totally uninteresting. Quite frankly? The cutest couple in the book, as unexpected as it was for me, was Veronica and our character’s dad. 4/10, not a terrible book, but it was a chore to play through at times.

Surrender book 1: February 11, 2022 – June 10, 2022

There are a lot of bad books in Choices, but Surrender is definitely one of the worst. We play as a vulnerable divorce-seeking woman whose spouse has cheated on her, which got her into BDSM. As soon as I saw that that was going to be the plot, it was all over. It was not a great look for the BDSM community, which is already stigmatized enough as is. But it gets worse. Our love interest is Reagan Thorne, our billionaire lawyer who’s also into BDSM and agrees to dom for the MC and teach her about BDSM even though she’s a client, which already introduces an imbalance of power. Barring the shitty plot, terrible love interest, and horrible misrepresentations of BDSM, the dialogue is all sorts of fucked in the book. Reagan utters some of the cringiest lines in the entire app and calls us such embarrassingly bad nicknames like…ugh, little lamb. 1/10, horrible book, horrible story, horrible love interest, horrible everything. Some of the outfits were cute. That’s it.

Crimes of Passion book 1: April 6, 2022 – July 20, 2022

Crimes of Passion is one of the best books we’ve seen in a while. Sort of like Most Wanted, it has us teaming up with a love interest (in this case, Trystan Thorne) to investigate and stop a string of murders tied to a serial killer. Unlike Most Wanted, however, the murders in this book are much, MUCH grislier and more visceral, and are tied to a cult as we come to find out. The plot was very gripping and every clue we uncovered was exhilarating. I cared about pretty much all of our friends/coworkers: Mafalda, Ruby, Luke, and Trystan. I wasn’t totally sold on Trystan as a love interest, though, and I’m still not. 9/10, really good story, crazy fucking shit, love it. One point off for Trystan because I’m not really into the whole cocky/flirty and stubborn partner pairing, and I think we should’ve been able to romance Ruby and Luke.

Untameable book 1: April 15, 2022 – August 5, 2022

We return from college to help out on the family ranch which has been barely kept afloat by our controlling misogynist of a brother. We spend the whole book sneaking around with Kit Jackson, our bland-ass cowboy/cowgirl love interest because we don’t want to upset our brother. The ranch is on the brink of failure and we also have to deal with that too, but we’ve already had this same plot a whole bunch in other books, so it’s not super noteworthy. That’s it, that’s the book. 1.5/10, no interesting characters, plot is uninspired, dialogue is SUPER cringey, and goddamn it, stop reusing cowboy shit, PB! You’re never going to make it happen!

The Princess Swap: May 13, 2022 - September 2, 2022

The premise of this story is that our character studies abroad for a semester in the kingdom of Monterre, where she accidentally stumbles upon another girl, the princess, who looks just like her. Spoiler alert: they’re twin sisters and don’t know it until much later in the book. The two switch places The Prince and the Pauper style: the princess takes on the role of college student and sorority girl while our character takes on the role of princess. Both grapple with challenges unique to each other’s lives and navigate them as best they can. Yes, the story was cheesy as hell, but you know what? It was a really pleasant read. I liked Devin all right, but only as a friend for the princess, and I didn’t care for Clarke at all. Otherwise, The Princess Swap was a lighthearted, feel-good book. 6.5/10, by no means is this book amazing, but I’m a sucker for princess stories, and like I said, the book was pretty light and enjoyable.

The Cursed Heart book 1: June 8, 2022 – September 14, 2022

Let me preface this by saying that I did not like Kieran at all. They were ugly, creepy, and possessive, and yes, I’m aware they eventually change for the better, but they really left a bad taste in my mouth. The plot was centered around us being claimed by Kieran and eventually trying to find their missing heart pieces to cure them of their beastly form and general hollowness. That being said, I love the rest of the book. The outfits, backgrounds, character designs, and music are all gorgeous. No joke, The Cursed Heart, in my opinion, is the most aesthetically beautiful book in the app. Not to mention, we meet Leaf, who is absolutely precious. 5.5/10, the rating would be MUCH higher, but Kieran really takes away from the book since the plot is centered entirely around them.

The Nanny Affair book 3: June 24, 2022 – November 4, 2022

The only good things about this book were Carter, the twins, and the fact that this was the last book in this wretched series. We deal with Sam’s former wife coming back from the dead and contend with forced, trashy interpersonal conflict with her while we plan our wedding. Sam and the MC’s relationship continues to be toxic as hell, unpleasant to watch, and impossible to root for. Even worse, Jenny and Aditya start their own affair because Sam and the MC have enabled them, and unsurprisingly, we’re forced to continue enabling them. I can’t even do the horrid quality of this book justice so I’m not even going to try. 0/10, yes I know it’s a 1-10 rating list but fuck it, this book is just that bad. As I said, the only redeeming qualities of the book are Carter and the twins, but not even they can get this book any points. Speaking from experience, falling into a hole is more fulfilling than engaging with this content. This book and series as a whole are so transcendently bad that if they were an actual real-life book, it would be a Worstseller, and I’m so happy this two-year-long nightmare is finally over.

Immortal Desires book 1: July 6, 2022 – October 12, 2022

Immortal Desires is kind of a weird one for me. On one hand, the beginning to early middle is so slow and such a huge chore to play through, but on the other hand, the rest of the book plus Gabe and Cas are so awesome. The premise of a vampire serial killer and cult is honestly kinda metal as fuck, but Gabe and Cas are where the book REALLY shines. They’re each other’s perfect foils and I love interacting with them and seeing them interact with each other. Plus, my parrot loves M!Gabe. And, full disclosure, Gabe and Cas were the only love interests I actively wanted to pursue since Tom Sato from It Lives Beneath. 8.5/10, the story’s pacing was kind of fucked but Gabe and Cas are priceless.

Slow Burn: August 19, 2022 – November 25, 2022

Not much to say about this one. Generic and repetitive contest/competition plot, bland MC, uncompelling Big Bad. I didn’t care about Julian/Julia, and Everett/Yvette had absolutely ZERO chill and always got on my nerves. 3/10, super boring and uninspired, Chef Flynt Stop Losing Your Fucking Temper Challenge 2022.

Murder at Homecoming: September 14, 2022 – December 21, 2022

This one really got my attention when it was announced: our character investigates a murder at homecoming, but I bet you couldn’t guess that from the title. Our character is sort of a busybody and they’re absolutely not perfect in any way, but I truly do think they’re the best MC we’ve gotten in a very, very, VERY long time. Also, they’re named after Valentine from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and I am a shameless sucker for Shakespeare. I also like all the love interests, and I love the non-binary rep we got. The love story between Gabbie Navarro and Joanna Morgan was incredibly tragic and really made me stop and think for a while. But unfortunately, as is the case with most modern Choices books, the ending was very…lackluster, to say the least. 8/10, I love a good murder mystery and the high school setting actually made it considerably more interesting. The ending was a letdown, though.

Laws of Attraction book 2: September 30, 2022 – present

I was originally very worried about this book, because the cliffhanger at the end of book one made it seem like it was going to be an us vs. Martin book. In a way, it is, but Pixelberry really threw us a curveball when we, Aislinn, and Gabe left McGraw-Byrne and formed our own firm. We spend the book uncovering a conservatorship conspiracy which runs all the way up to the mayoral candidate of New York City. I’ve always loved the MC, and they only get better in this book. My only complaint is Joaquin. As someone who has repeatedly hooked up with him in diamond scenes, he is creepy as hell to people who aren’t interested in him. Otherwise, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the book so far, and though it still has one chapter to go, my rating isn’t going to change unless they REALLY fuck it up somehow. 9/10, likable cast of characters, interesting plot and mystery, badass MC, Sorcha fucking Flannery.

The Phantom Agent: October 19, 2022 – present

Not much to say about this one either. The Phantom Agent is basically an amalgamation of Most Wanted and Crimes of Passion. Agent Gray is an incredibly dull love interest and I can’t stand their dynamic with the MC because it’s that super boring cocky/flirty and stubborn partner pairing again. I also can’t stand the MC either because they’re so goddamn annoying. I find myself very bored and unimpressed as I progress through the book and at this point, nothing can save it for me. 3/10, everything is boring. That is all.

Surrender book 2: December 28, 2022 – present

I hate that we have to have TWO Surrender books on this list, but this one unfortunately barely meets the date cutoff. Solely based on the two chapters I’ve read so far, this book is shaping up to be just as awful as the first. 1.5/10, all the same reasons as the first book, but that extra half a point is because I think this book has the potential to improve on the original material. Because let’s be honest here, I don’t really think they could make the book worse.

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random-imaginess · 2 years

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OMG OMG so I found this amazing prompt list.

And I was wondering if you could write Ander Munoz x Reader piece with this one:

the couple have been dating for a while but try to keep it a secret from their friends because of how they would react (positively or negatively). ensues a lot of sneaking around, secret touches, and kisses when nobody is looking.

Please and thank you, love <3

This is really cute! There's so many different things that they could do and I can't decide which one I want to do more! Also, thank you so much for sending something in! I really hope I do him justice! I've thought about maybe doing like a continued thing with this pairing where I can post other drabbles that might go into more of their sneaking around. If that's someone people would want to see! I don't think there's any warnings, just fluff!! A bit of a disclaimer, I've only seen this show once all the way through so far, so I'm still not too familiar with how their school is run or how their classes work. So I'm just kind of winging that part... I'm going to be using one of the dialogue prompts as well! "We're supposed to be focusing." "But you're just so distracting."

The best part of your day was when you got to see your boyfriend, Ander. It didn't matter what time of day, you just constantly craved seeing that beautiful face of his. You had always hung out in the same circle, were always friends, but it wasn't until last summer that the two of you got even closer. You spent nearly every waking moment together, and if it wasn't for the fact that your bodies needed sleep, you would have probably spent those hours together, too. It was an incredibly hard adjustment when school started back up again. Right before you both had to come back to reality, you agreed that you would keep your relationship a secret. It wasn't that you were embarrassed to be seen around each other, that part wasn't anything new. But you both knew the shit that your friends would give you if they found out you were dating, and neither of you wanted to deal with that yet. You liked the bubble that you were in and you wanted to stay in it a little bit longer. So the agreement was, when you were at school or a party or anywhere you could be seen by your friends, you kept things on the down low. That didn't stop you from sneaking around and spending a few minutes together before classes. Or quick kisses in the hall when the coast was clear. It was also a bit exciting, sneaking around. The adrenaline of trying not to get caught fueled a lot of heated moments when you were hidden away in the boys locker room during lunch. The second best part of your day was when you were in the same period together. It was almost like a study period where you were able to work on homework, and it was four people at a desk. You and Ander always sat adjacent from each other. Every now and then you'd feel his shoe nudge yours, other times you would initiate the foot flirting. On this particular day, it was hard for you to focus on anything you were supposed to. You wanted class to be over so you could meet at your regular spot and be held by him, and you honestly wouldn't care who saw. You just wanted to be enveloped in him. Ander could feel you staring at him while he worked. It wasn't until the other student who was seated at your table got up that he acknowledged you. "We're supposed to be focusing." He said quietly, not looking up at you right away. You ran your foot against his ankle, a mischievous smirk threatening to break free. "But you're just so distracting." You whispered back. He looked up at you then, fighting to hide the smirk that spread across his face. He looked at the other student as they returned and sat back down, looking at his work again for a brief moment before stealing another glance at you. The period couldn't end fast enough and both of you were growing inpatient. Ander was the first to leave the room when the bell rang, the unspoken understanding of where you were both going to meet up at. You took your time just a bit before finally arriving at the secluded area behind the school. He was standing under a tall tree, his shoulder pressed against the bark.

You kept your eyes locked on him as you got closer, taking in the sight and the feeling it gave you every time you looked at him. Stopping in front of you, you both stood there silently for a long moment. It wasn't until you saw a smile breaking at the corner of his mouth that you broke your gaze to take a quick look around before smiling wide and wrapping your arms around his waist. His arms wrapped tightly around you and you nestled your head into his neck. "It's so brutal not being able to do this whenever I want to sometimes." You said, breaking the silence. His grip around you tightened as he kissed the top of your head. "All the sneaking around isn't fun for you anymore?" You smiled at the thought of all the shenanigans that you two got up to and you let out a laugh, shaking your head no. "Of course it is," you looked up at him, seeing the smile on his face. "Sometimes I just want to be able to grab your face and give you a big ol' smooch in front of everyone. I want to walk hand in hand proudly down the hall, and who cares what anyone says." "Mm, sounds pretty nice. You know I'm not opposed to it. But are you ready for all the taunting and jokes our friends are going to do when they find out?" You let out a quiet groan as you rested your head against his shoulder again. "Not really, no... but can you imagine the looks on their faces when they do finally find out? Their brains will probably explode, and all the teasing will be worth it." You both laughed at the idea. "That's probably true. But...." he placed his hand on the side of your cheek to get you to look up at him and placed a gentle kiss on your lips. "I've been enjoying keeping you all to myself." There was no denying that all of the sneaking around was fun. There was a thrill in knowing you were the only ones who knew about this secret. The knowing looks in the hall when you pass by one of your spots and your friends are none the wiser. "I have too," you kissed him again. "Alright, fine. We'll keep our secret a little longer."

#I feel like the ending was a bit rushed #I'm sorry!!!#ander munoz x reader #ander munoz imagines #elite imagines #aron piper imagines #aron piper x reader

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ratcandy · 2 months

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Very hard to specify fandoms but.. lemme try. A wonderful selection of numbers for you to pick and chose and sift through at your leisure… if you don’t feel like answering any don’t make yourself / wanna answer a question for another fandom, not the one mentioned, ummm go for it.

Cotl - 1, 9, 10, 21

hk - 3, 8, 12

And a few I just wanna hear your take on but I don’t know what fandom to attach 🥺- 7, 13, 16, 18, 24, 25

GO !!!RAMBLE AND VENT!!

clover I'm grabbing you by the shoulders this is the WORST!!!! THing u could've done to me (extremely positive overwhelmingly positive). the things I should be doing are looking over my shoulder in horror at this ask.

but good lort I sure did spend my time answering all that insted aof my homework and it felt so good. Fuck yeas.

ok. let's go extremely long post ahead

__ COTL __

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Well as I said in another post, COTL's canon characterization is extremely vague, so the fanon characterization is kinda all over the place and hard to pin down! So it's hard for me to say "everyone gets [x] character wrong" because everyone has a different interpretation of That Guy.

I think I should just say everyone gets EVERY character wrong except ME, because I'm the smartest person ever and always right. So there /j

actually one (1) criticism I have is that not nearly enough people are portraying Shamura as having almost complete memory loss and I think that's a shame. because there's so much more potential in that. there's so much more agony present there, from all sides involved. there is no just punishment. there is no way for them to ask for forgiveness OR apologize, or make up for it, or even know they did anything wrong.

cmon . cmon. stop making them remember. you cowards.

9. worst part of canon

Ooo! Easy answer!

Narinder/The Bishops just immediately being chill with being in the cult!

like what! Why?? The extent we get for any amount of backlash from them is Heket's offense towards being gifted mushrooms and Shamura showing up as a dissenter, the latter of which is especially confusing because. They're literally the only one it would MAKE SENSE FOR for them to not have any issue being in the cult!!!!! They can't remember anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are they the one that dissents!!!!

Why are they all chill. Why do they just immediately obey and get to worshipping or other chores around the cult. Why do they act like every other follower save for three or four extra lines of dialogue.

Even if Narinder has more dialogue in which he expresses some amount of distaste at first, he still just ... Does all the cult work.

I wish I wish more than anything that the Bishops at least had special mind reading dialogue. Like, SOZO gets that!! AND Sozo doesn't do any work around the cult when he initially shows up!!! He runs around and eats mushrooms!!!! So why don't the Bishops get a similar treatment!!

You're showing me you're CAPABLE, DEVS!!! COME ON!!

10. worst part of fanon

Not as easy answer for reason stated before!!!!!!!

Though I guess maybe the intense fixation on Narilamb as opposed to anything else. I just...... can we . Can we get other things in the ao3 tag.. maybe... Pleas...

Not that I even dislike the concept of narilamb I j.............. it's everywhere. can we . can i have something different. something that's maybe also not ships either pleas....

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Uhhhhhhhhh ppphgfmb. Had to think on this for a while, but honestly, I do not like Narinder's eldritch form SDHGKSHDG

I dunno man I'm a massive sucker for face opening up in a gross yucky way but there's something about how Narinder's face opens that's jus. Not. Appealing to me

I think if I configure it enough in my brain I can make it work for me......... but as it stands. I do not like it. I think it looks somehow... wonky? I like all the other Bishop's eldritch designs a lot! And ESPECIALLY the purged versions! But Narinder's... just... I dunno. Feels off somehow

__ HK __

Already answered 3!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Feels like I'm being baited into an answer with this one shDGKLJSDHGKLH EVERYONE KNOWS MY STANCE ON ZOTE I don't need to be any louder about it. He's not a bad character you all (referring to general hk fandom) just don't like it when a fictional guy is mean. because ur cowards./j

He's also not a vessel nor is he the same species as elderbug and saying "he's just some guy" is a COPOUT ANSWER, because he can be just some guy while also being a nosk. Sorry what was I saying

Everyone is wrong about Zote in general except for me is what I'm saying.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

OK CMON YOU'RE 100% BAITING ME WITH THIS ONE.... COME ON.....

I don't need to explain anything. Zote is the only character in the game actually. I don't need to defend myself on this it should be obvious.

__ MISC __

Already answered 7!

13. worst blorboficiation

looks at the ahit fandom for a second LOOKS AWAY AGAIN REALLY FAST i can't go back there. I can't do that again. iam side-glancing the folder on my desktop for the old AHIT rant and breathing through my nose about it.

In a more general sense something i've seen across multiple fandoms is aggressive sand-papering of characters and I cannot stand it. And I'm assuming that's what blorbofication in this instance is referring to. Like, taking a guy who sucks, or just has very prominent flaws, and . Getting rid of them.

W. Why. You're taking away everything interesting about them. Looks at the object show fandom for a split second before looking away .. solemnly.......

I haven't seen that as much in the cotl fandom. Like I'VE SEEN IT but not AS Much as other fandoms. I'm saying that because this morning I saw a post characterize literal actual god of Chaos Leshy as a soft sweet uwu boy and I .......................... felt something within me shrivel. for a second.

buT I KNOW THAT'S NOT the general consensus of his character so whatever

also i'm. Hmrnm. Man. It really sucks being a fan of a lesser appreciated character, because more often than not, what little content there IS of that character is........................ not. that guy Like, it's that guy on paper. He looks like that guy and has that guy's name. But everything else is just.......

In the nicest way I can say it, it is an OC dressed up as that guy.

and when there is very very little content of that guy to begin with, it's Very Disheartening for me when what little content there is portrays a version of him that is not. Him. That's just not the same guy

Blorbo'd him to the point of being barely recognizable. WHICH IS VALID AND FAIR, I get it, I understand doing that, but for me it's. I cling to (even vaguely) canon characterization too much unfortunately.

I'm not saying any specific character for this becuase 1) it's happened more than once hdgkJH and 2) I really don't want to seem like I'm targeting any one person's interpretation specifically, because again, lesser appreciated character curse.

ok that kinda went all over the place. I hope that answer makes sense

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I already answered this for cotl specifically, but in general, often the way ships are treated in fandom jus doesn't do it for me

And. It's probably the tragedy liker in me talking. Wherein I only get super into a romantic pairing if I can imagine 1 million horrors being involved.

That or if it's funny,..........

BUT like. the HK fandom specifically had this a lot. Lots of these bugs always being shipped together. And I politely nod my head about it but it's... I don't . A lot of it I just don't get

It feels like a lot of the pairings in the HK fandom are popular due to aesthetic rather than the potential of it, and that's............... I don't get that. For instance (bear with me) any ship with Grimm outside of with Brumm doesn't click for me. Brumm clicks because Duh, Tragedy potential, but the rest...?

I mean, yeah, sure, equally as likely tragedy potential, maybe, but I don't see that explored as much. I see Grimm paired with anyone and 9 times out of 10 it's because ohh look at how pretty they are together wow

and I can respect that for the prettyness because I won't deny the artists of that fandom do make him a pretty Guy, but it's like. I don't get it past that.

I dunno, maybe it's just me having fallen hard out of shipping over the past few years. Was super into it when I was like, 15 and younger, maybe, but then I jus sorta lost interest

ok except for leshycat in cotl. because it's funny. sorry

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on…

SOZO sorry. sorry I'm normal

I feel like one of the only people who is looking at Sozo and recoiling in horror because of the potential of him and it HURTS it HURTS ME why is NOBODY ELSE LOOKING AT HIM

and I KNOW OTHER PEOPLE ARE I've got people following me now that are showing me that <3 Hi <3 if you've read this far <3 BUT IT'S NOT .. ENOUGH FOR ME

combing through art and fanfics and gritting my teeth and feeling like screaming because GUYS.................. GUYS HE'S... OAOUGHHEHHGHA

i need to write it myself or no one will. i need to write the horrors myself or i'll just have to suffer with it in my head. i need to write. i need to write it. no one else is going to. i need to fucking.c ogr him

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

shipping in general in all fandoms . idk if you needed me to tell you that though

but also literally any morally grey character for any purpose. you get huge splits in fandoms on either "that guy is HORRIBLE and deserves DEATH!!!" or "this guy has done nothing wrong in their entire life" and I want to put my head thru a wall. towards both sides

please please please please can we just. can we ... can we like characters for their flaws <3 and acknowledge them <3 without emphasizing them beyond reason <3 not in spite of them <3 p

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

idk how common this is but I know I saw it enough in the cotl tag to make me horrendously uncomfortable when i first started looking through fandom stuff .

hey so why were so many people mad you couldn't breed the bishops in the mating tent. or narinder with aym and baal. hey why were people mad about that. hey. hey why were people genuinely trying to argue that the bishops weren't actually siblings because they weren't blood related. hey. hey. hey. hey. hey.

again I don't know how actually common these complaints are especially since I blocked quite a few of the common offenders I saw in the tag (because good lird. guys.) but . again. I saw it enough to make me 😦☹🙁

also can everyone in the hk fandom shut up about silksong "taking too long" pleeeeeease it'll be out when it's out i'm tired of people whining about it taking forever. can u people lay off the devs for like two minutes. pleas

#ok got everything outo f my system i'm so normal now.#ask #violence ask game #zote #<- he's mentioned in there i swear #among all other things that I'm too lazy to tag

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teaandcrowns · 2 months

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Live Action: Thoughts and Etc. Episode 1

Whenever some new AtLA surge happens, whether animation renaissance or new series, I rise again from the grave and this time is no different.

This isn't anything formal, but I wanted to collect my thoughts as I go through rewatching episodes. I'm still not done with an initial watching of the new live action, but I've started rewatching the first couple of episodes anyway to note down what I liked about what the new series is doing and also where I think the narrative could have been stronger.

I don't mean this as a critique of the show on any other level other than on a narrative level—I'm not a film or visual studies person; my forte is in storytelling.

I also didn't want my reactions to just be seeming criticism, because there is a lot that I really like about the show (especially as I get deeper in episodes), so just consider this an initial reaction & thoughts on what could have been improved upon. So far, the first two episodes have been the weakest to me, which is really unfortunate because I worry a lot of people won't get beyond them. I know my opinion and thoughts don't matter because a) I'm not part of any kind of decision-making group that could actively affect this and b) it's already done with and out and it's not going to be changed, but we all love meta and thoughts around here, right? Right.

The format of these I'm imagining as follows: I'll go over what I liked or loved first, because there's more and more as episodes go on, and you should always, always start with what you appreciate and enjoyed about a work first before going into what might be improved upon. Next, I'll go into where I felt the narrative could have been improved upon, just from what I know with my Literature™ and in-progress MFA™ eyeballs. Finally, if applicable, what I personally didn't care for that doesn't actually impact the narrative one way or another. This final section will be potentially be under a cut if the post is too long. Everything will be noted as I do my second watch of the series, and will be in chronological order. I don't know that I'll have time to do proper paragraphs, so I hope a list format will be acceptable to anyone who's made it this far and remains interested in my thoughts.

Of course, this will contain spoilers for each episode, and all posts will be tagged "atla la ep#" and "atla la ep# spoilers" (where the # in each tag will be the corresponding episode number) so folks can blacklist as needed.

Now, on to the main event—

What I liked:

-The settings are lush and gorgeous! Holy moly! -The costumes are phenomenal so far. Absolutely fantastic. -Even if some of the actors are a little stiff, I am loving all of them. -Loved the airbenders fighting back. No notes. -The dialogue between Iroh and Aang in the brig is actually perfectly nuanced. I really like it. -REALLY love Aang pilfering Zuko's Avatar journal -Also love Katara being the one to extinguish Zuko's final fire blast with her waterbending. Setting up that good rivalry between them in s1. -I like the expansion of the SWT village and Katara being in the old FN ship in lieu of the otter penguin sledding scene -Love Zuko being an artist. I like to think it's a nice, early nod to learning under Piandao

What Could be Improved Narratively:

-Stop the Sozin scene right after he burns the earthbender -When Gyatso has Aang in the room with Yangchen's statue, the exchange should have stopped with: "You have always been special." "I never asked to be special." "But you are," and the writing should have allowed Aang to put together that he is the Avatar without explicitly saying "Aang, you are the Avatar." If they took that line out and let the silence hang and then taken out all explicit statements of "You are the Avatar," so they would have been talking around actually saying it, it would have improved the scene. -Remove Aang's little monologue with Appa before the fly off except for maybe hugging Appa and saying, "I'm scared" -Show Aang and Appa getting caught in the storm. There's a very small missing piece of that scene. -Could pare down the exposition in Zuko & Iroh's argument about following the light to not explicitly say "and take my rightful place as heir," as Iroh saying "it may be time to consider the throne isn't everything," and Zuko replying, "Maybe it wasn't to you" does that work. BUT I actually don't think this is as clunky as other dialogue-exposition parts. -Either excise Aang's flashbacks to saving himself with the Avatar state before he wakes or remove it from earlier in the episode; we don't need it twice. -the WT kids running outside of the village to play is awkward. Why wouldn't they play inside the walls? If it's so Appa wouldn't land inside the village, this is easily solved by having Aang airbend over the walls when searching for Appa. -I know Kanna's monologue about the FN attacking is an homage to the original, but it feels hamhanded. I would excise it. Remove everything she says in this scene in the tribe meeting except, "The last time a comet was seen was 100 years ago." -Honestly, excise most of Kanna's dialogue. It's all hamhanded exposition; we're seeing the "hand of the author(s)" here. When Zuko's ship arrives all she has to say is, "They're looking for him." Let the reveal be Katara saying it to Sokka when he's going to give Aang up. -Replace the repeated scenes with Gyatso when Aang discovers his skeleton with other memories. We don't need a rehash of something in the same episode.

What I Personally Did Not Care For:

-I want bigger fire from the firebenders. It's a comet that powers them up ffs. -Katara needs to express a great desire to learn waterbending in this episode somewhere -Sokka and Katara being caught in a current should have been from Katara's angry paddling to echo her angry waterbending from the original -I also wouldn't reveal Kya's death in flashback flashes so early -When Zuko sees Aang for the first time it's a perfectly missed opportunity for "You're just a kid!" "Yeah, well you're just a teenager!" -Unsure why Katara said, "The thing about losing everything is that's when you find out how strong you are" instead of something like, "I can't imagine how this must feel. But you don't have to be alone. We're here with you."

#atla la ep1 #atla la ep1 spoilers #i hesitate to tag this #atla meta #or #atla analysis #because it's not really either but for internal blog searching purposes i'll do it #i'm not at the point where i'm ready or prepared to do a close reading of the text yet

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outrunningthedark · 2 years

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I'm sorry beforehand, but can you please explain why Ana's talk with Eddie about horse is considered an ableism? I read it once in your post about it being rooted in one but is easy to miss by general audience because "she's being realistic about Christopher's disability" but I don't really understand?

I'm not sure I can explain it any better than I already have, but I'll do my best. The dialogue: "There's a lot to be said for getting back on the horse, but there's also some value in learning that you don't like horses. (Eddie: "I'm sorry?") Sometimes, our limitations tell us when to stop. But sometimes, they can show us where to look next.

Ana was suggesting that Christopher falling off the skateboard is a sign that he should find a different interest, one that is safer and more realistic given his "limitations". To the able-bodied viewer, her opinion seemed reasonable because (in their mind) it makes sense that a child with CP wouldn't have the necessarily balance and strength to ride a skateboard the "normal way". There's two problems with what Ana said, however: - Ana was employed by an inclusive school. The definition of "inclusive education" has expanded over time, but it was initially used to refer to school settings that allow disabled students to have the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers by bringing the two groups together both in and out of the classroom (think recess or field trips, for example). If a teacher at an inclusive school decides one of their disabled students "can't" or "shouldn't" do something...they're not the right person for the job. Inclusive educators are supposed to adapt to students needs and figure out how to make sure nobody is left on the outside looking in. Ana should have been the one to mention researching adaptive skateboards because she should have had experience in helping students with physical disabilities feel like a "normal kid". But she wasn't. Because she was never going to be the "perfect partner" for Eddie. - Even if Ana didn't work at that particular school, her comments would still be ableist because the whole point was that she came to her own conclusion about Christopher without actually knowing what his "limitations" were. All she saw was a boy with CP fall off a skateboard and decide that was enough proof he shouldn't try again.

This is all too common for the disability community. Able-bodied and neurotypical folks think nothing of telling us what we are/are not capable of just by observing us. And if you make your diagnosis known, they will use that information to come up with their own idea of how it "must" impact our daily lives, but then act surprised when we say the opposite: (These are some of mine) "You went to a regular school? And were on the honor roll? Wow." "You can dress yourself?" "You're very articulate." (As opposed to...) They're even shocked when I can transfer myself from surface to surface without assistance as if I didn't start learning how between the ages of one and two (when my parents could recognize something was different about me compared to my sisters). When a nondisabled person makes remarks like that, they're exposing just how little they pay attention to those of us that are "different", and in doing this, they're also telling us our existence - and the struggles that come with it - doesn't matter. [And before anyone hops on this post to say "Eddie was against skateboarding, too!!!" We know. But he eventually put in the work to see if there was a way to make it happen because he realized his opinion was rooted in fear rather than facts. There's your difference.]

#anonymous #tina speaks #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #anti ana flores #christopher diaz #eddie diaz

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fleshing-out-fodlan · 4 months

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Crimson Flower Lysithea Story

I think the Three Houses writing is really held back by 1. the lack of impact non lord characters have on the story post time skip and 2. the lack of in depth unique development for characters on different routes. I understand why this was done from a game play perspective (perma death and also giving every single character 3-4 unique story lines is a lot of work and just unrealistic) but from a story telling perspective it definitely isn't ideal. So I wanted to take a swing at giving a non lord a unique story on a route that isn't their own a way that makes sense from the perspective of the developers.

Crimson Flower Lysithea is probably the most obvious place to start, she was also experimented on by TSWITD so there's so much potential for where her story could go. In Crimson Flower, you are working with TWSITD, something that will stir up strong emotions in Lysithea, even if she knows the plan is for the alliance to be temporary. I think this can tie into Lysithea's need to rush everything. We all know Lysithea's life span is shortened, so maybe she's afraid she won't live to see TWISTD destroyed. TWISTD is what destroyed her family and if they're still so powerful when she dies, she has no way to ensure her family is safe from their torment. So, she comes up with all these plans to prematurely bring them down. We get a cutscene at some point of her talking to Hubert, saying she has to have a meeting with Edelgard and Hubert refusing to let her through because he believes it will be a waste of Edelgard's time so he instead tells Lysithea to just tell him whatever she wants to tell Edelgard and he'll pass the message along if it's worthy of her time. Lysithea tells Hubert her plans but he quickly shuts them down, pointing out some flaw that will hurt their team's chances at succeeding. Lysithea gets frustraed and starts hurling her immature insults at Hubert (I'm imagining similar vibes to her Ignatz support here) but Hubert hardly reacts, finding her more amusing than offensive, causing her to get angrier and just storm off. I imagine this cut scene happening after chapter 14 (so right before the battle where you meet Cordelia). After this, you get the explore dialogue for chapter 15. Lysithea's original dialogue here isn't that important in terms of character development (it doesn't really tell us anything new about her character, generally just that she wants to protect her family which is also established by the stuff I'm adding anyways). So, her explore dialogue will now involve her mumbling to herself about Hubert being an idiot and how she knows what she's doing. Then, she notices you listening and gets annoyed, commenting on how eavesdropping is a childish activity.

Then, we have the "Seige at Arianrhod" battle. If Lysithea and Linhardt are both on the field you'll be given an optional quest (kind of like in Remire where you have a quest to save all the villagers but can still win the battle if you fail that quest). The quest is to have Lysithea be the first on to attack Cornelia. If you don't do this quest, nothing else will happen in Lysithea's story. If you do this, it will trigger a mid battle cut scene showing Lysithea attacking Cornelia but Cornelia is much stronger than she initially thought. After putting up a good fight, Lysithea gets severely injured. Edelgard steps in and stops Cornelia from landing a fatal blow and calls Linhardt over and he then teleports away with Lysithea. You then go back to normal battling mode but you can no longer use Lysithea or Linhardt. There will be two options for what happens after the battle.

Option A. Linahrdt and Lysithea did not reach their A support: In this timeline, Linhardt is not able to save Lysithea. In a cutscene where the battle is being discussed, Edelgard asks Linhardt about Lysithea's status and he says that she died. In the midst of the mourning Edelgard makes a comment about how Lysithea didn't seem like herself, how she's usually so well calculated but in this moment seemed to be driven purely by her emotions. The camera zooms in on Hubert's face, showing one of his more contemplative profiles, as Edelgard announces that they can't dwell on the past and must get back to working hard to secure the future Lysithea was fighting for in honor of her memory. All the characters disperse except Byleth and Hubert. Byleth makes a remark about how Hubert seems like he's thinking about something and Hubert makes a comment about how Lysithea had mentioned a desire to take down TWISTD as soon as possible but that he had stopped her from talking to Edelgard. You're then given two dialogue options. You can either say he should've let her talk to Edelgard which will cause you two to lose support points and Hubert will say something about how Lysithea's actions today proved she was not worthy of Lady Edelgard's time. The second dialogue option is remarking on how Lysithea had so much potential. Hubert will respond to this by somberly agreeing and then the cut scene will end.

Option B. Linhardt and Lysithea did reach their A support: In this timeline, you will see a cut scene between Linhardt and Lysithea before seeing one with Edelgard and the Black Eagles recapping the battle. This scene takes place just after Linhardt finished healing her and Lysithea makes a comment about being so exhausted she's about to pass out. Linhardt then says something about how he's going to pass out too after seeing all the blood. Lysithea simple respond with a "..." and Linhardt realizes something is wrong. He makes a comment about how Lysithea's actions were stupid and how she was unnecessarily risking her life and asks what she was thinking (but he does it in his Linhardt way where he's not saying it angrily just very matter-of-factly). Lysithea talks about how she wants to see TWISTD destroyed in her lifetime to make sure they can't torment her family anymore. Linhardt makes a comment about how powerful groups can never be overthrown quickly (maybe he could make some reference to a similar event in Fodlan history but I'm not knowledgeable enough about the history to think of an example off the top of my head) and also says that her dying early to accomplish this goal would be counterproductive. She asks what he means and he explains how she's one of the best mages on the side and how Cornelia was only one person. Even if she succeeded in taking down Cornelia, there'd still be the rest of TWISTD and the black eagles would be at a major disadvantage without Lysithea. He says she may not live to see the end of TIWSTD, it's possible none of them will, but if she focuses on taking multiple, smaller steps, she can make a greater difference than if she just tries to make one giant, risky leap.

After this, you can now unlock the Lysithea Byleth A support. This support will stay pretty similar, I like how it discusses her feeling a need to rush things due to her shortened life span. The main change would be that now she would mention what had happened in the last battle and discuss it and how it ties into the her desire to rush things and how she's starting to make peace with the fact that she may not be able to accomplish everything she wants.

This is where I imagine Crimson Flower Lysithea's arc ending. There are only six post time skip Crimson Flower chapters I believe, so I didn't want to add too many new cut scenes, especially considering that Lysithea is a side character who isn't even native to this route. I wanted the story I wrote to be one that could realistically be added into the game while maintaining good pacing, so I left out some scenes I would've liked that narratively just didn't fit in as well. If anyone has any head cannons for their version of Crimson Flower Lysithea, whether that be a written out story or just small head cannons you like to imagine, I'd love to hear them either in a reblog or an ask!

#fe3h #black eagles #crimson flower #fe3h au #fe3h lysithea #lysithea von ordelia

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bettsfic · 1 year

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Your advice is always so helpful! I'm in the process of trying to organize my own WIPs based on your tips from your newsletter. Now that I've successfully convinced myself to finally abandon some work, I want to follow your advice of holding onto writing for later reference in case you ever find a new use for it. Out of curiosity, do you format that type of writing in any particular way or just have one large document of it?

that's something i'm working on. right now i keep separate trash documents for each fic, and for specific sentences and paragraphs i've gotten rid of but still like, i highlight them in yellow. and if i think "hm hold on i've written that sentence before" i just keep searching my drive until i find it. otherwise, most of time i only end up writing the flavor of what i'm taking from my abandoned works and rewriting it completely.

here's an example. this dialogue is from an older draft of Acquittal, which i just posted but wrote before Digging for Orchids in 2020.

the original exchange, which didn't make the cut for either fic:

“What if I want something you can’t give me?” Xie Lian asks. “There is nothing I can’t give you.” “You would really give me anything?” “Anything.” “What if I wanted to cut off your pinky finger?” He holds up his pinky. “It’s yours.” Xie Lian hooks his own pinky into it. “Where is the line, San Lang?” “With you, I have no lines.” “You would let me kill you?” “My life is yours to take.” “You’re just saying that. You’re not serious.” “I have never been more serious about anything. Let me prove it to you. Cut off my pinky.” “I’m not going to do that.” “Then do something else.” “Like what?” “Something you think you’re not allowed to do.”

even though i like this bit of dialogue, i rewrote it multiple times and it became this:

“Last night,” Xie Lian says, “you said I could do what I wanted to you. Did you mean that? I can do what I like to you?” “Anything.” San Lang squeezes his hand. “Even hurt you?” The dim lamp light seems to glint off his wide smile. “I am yours to hurt.” “San Lang,” Xie Lian says, taken aback. “You can’t say things like that.” “Would gege like me to stop?” Yes, he tries to say. That would be the right thing to do, to stop…whatever is happening before it goes too far. “No,” he admits. San Lang leans a little closer. “What else would gege like to do to me?”

in 2020, i lifted the original exchange wholesale for an early draft of Digging for Orchids, thinking i was never going to post Aquittal. but after multiple revisions, it turned into this:

“My husband’s pleasure is all that matters to me,” Hua Cheng said. “I would do anything he asked.” “Anything? No limits?” “None.” “I’m being serious right now.” “As am I.” “You would really do anything.” “Anything, at any time, for any reason.”

both exchanges started from the same dialogue in my trash doc, but the initial exchange never made it to either. and even then, that came from an original story i wrote in 2017:

Two months into their arrangement, during the snuggle portion of the evening, Cody asked, “Would you cut off my pinky if I asked you to?” “Sure,” Todd said. “But I’m not driving you to the hospital."

this makes me sound like i have some kind of fetish for cutting off fingers, but really it's just an image to connect to my ongoing exploration of codependency and boundary issues.

i'm not sure if this is helpful at all, but hopefully it made sense. in the next issue of my newsletter i'm hoping to write about keeping a disorganization notebook, which is different than an abandoned WIP trash doc, but might have some helpful principles in terms of how to organize the unorganizable.

#writing advice

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homielander · 1 year

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hey! hope you’re doing well! <3 wanted to ask, what about cole’s depiction did you not like after hotd ep. 5? cuz i totally agree; felt like the writing in terms of his character was more compelling earlier in the season, and i am bitter with the timeskips basically robbing us of a lot of character dynamics (love alicole dynamics and cole/ali’s kids, but i wanted more!!) hoping next szn will be better esp since fabien said a lot of his scenes will be with a certain actor (i’m predicting ewan)

hello! thank you, and i hope you're doing great <3

we can't have any discussion about criston in this show without first considering his encounter with rhaenyra, and the dubious consent on criston’s part.... it's been discussed to death already, but i will reiterate: he only went inside her chambers to get his helmet. he asked her to stop. then he tried to go for the door (and was blocked from leaving). he was visibly uncomfortable. she was in a position of power over him. i'm not saying rhaenyra intended for him to feel this way, but that doesn't change that their perceptions of the situation seemed very different. i need people calling him an "incel" for hating rhaenyra to be sooo for real right now.

the problem is (and this has happened more than a few times on this show) that the writers clearly intended to communicate something different with that scene than what came across to a bunch of viewers. so i suppose based on what they intended to portray, criston couldn't resist temptation, slept with rhaenyra, then blamed her for his own poor decision. the issue is that it's difficult to show this considering we don't have access to criston's thoughts in a tv format, so after ep 4 aired i was pretty squicked out but decided to reserve judgment until we got to witness the fallout. and ooh boy what a fallout it was

when rhaenyra refuses his offer to flee to essos, there is literally no sign of heartbreak on criston's part (and i never got the impression that either criston or rhaenyra harboured any romantic feelings for one another, they seemed very friendly). instead, he's upset because he realizes rhaenyra initiated and pressed for sex when she didn't truly value him. for him, love is the one thing that might have surpassed the importance of his vows, and when he realizes rhaenyra doesn't actually feel that way about him -- that she put him in a situation where he felt pressured to taint the sanctity of his kingsguard station even though he told her it was the highest honour ever bestowed upon him or his house -- he stops deluding himself into believing that he feels that way about her too. that's why his dialogue in that scene explicitly spells out "i thought All That could have been worth it but clearly i mean nothing to you" instead of "my love and devotion was all for naught :(" (moreover, she refuses his offer by talking about her duty and her obligations, after undermining his, like, the night before. i'm sure he appreciated that lol)

i really think that scene on the ship was the moment the writers could have recontextualized for us whether their encounter was criston giving into long-held attraction or criston being violated (and subsequently doing his best to cope), and nothing about it gave me any reason to believe it was the first. (he felt immense gratitude towards her, sure, but that only intensifies the power imbalance)

so the issue is that post-episode 5, criston is bitter and resentful towards the woman who effectively coerced him into sex -- and he is villainized for it! (like that scene where he called rhaenyra a cunt... seriously? of course no one should be using that word offensively in reference to a woman, but how many times has daemon called women -- who have done nothing to him btw -- gross things only for every character who heard to ignore it?) it's the same deal with the madonna-whore complex they've attempted to show. i take serious issue with extrapolating that criston actually hates all women who are sexually promiscuous because of his feelings towards a woman with whom he had an awful experience (that, if it were up to him, never would have happened). it should be noted that the only woman aside from alicent and rhaenyra he's interacted with is the prostitute in 1.09, and he was perfectly polite with her. of course he has strict ideas about what rules women should abide by, but these strict ideas are not limited to the opposite sex. he's even more harsh with himself to the point where he nearly commits suicide when he breaks his personal code.

the other major part of his characterization that i hated after ep 5 is that he's been turned into, like... a dumb thug?? (also why does everyone behind the scenes describe him as a thug. that word for him bothers me a lot.) i'm specifically referring to criston in ep 9, which was supposed to be his crowning moment (pun not intended, but you know, he becomes the kingmaker!!) and ended up being a huge letdown. he randomly wanted beesbury to sit down and applied such force to the action that beesbury died over it, he drew his sword on the commander of the kingsguard because of an insult, and his scene with alicent where she mentions what he feels for her did somewhat give the impression that she was using him. (olivia cooke has since talked about that scene and i don't think that was intended. which is a common theme)

i can't really figure out a way to reconcile 1.09 criston with earlier criston, but the biggest problem here is that he hasn't been given enough screen time for the character to be fleshed out and have too many consistent character traits. he's shown the ability to be calculating (like when he provoked harwin into beating him up which resulted in the bastard allegations spreading), but he's also prone to emotional outbursts (though prior to 1.09 i would have just said killing joffrey in 1.05 was a one-time breakdown). he's definitely not supposed to be a blind dog that follows orders -- he immediately refuses when alicent asks him for the eye of lucerys -- but in 1.09 he lashed out at westerling for saying a bad word against her. (if there was more time devoted to his relationship with alicent, i think the green council scene would have played much better.) i'm not entirely sure what the writers are trying to achieve with him.

my impression of criston on the whole is he's a guy who deeply values his honour because it's what got him out of a period of his life when he was undisciplined and floundering (he mentions to rhaenyra that he had a wild youth in 1.03) and helped him, the son of a steward, rise to the position of kinsguard. but, that being said, his sense of honour is pretty unconventional. that's why we have him attacking daemon from behind in the tourney in 1.01, but only after daemon already used a dirty trick to beat gwayne hightower. that's why he is content following the orders of the green council in 1.09 -- because unlike harold westerling, who requires the king to be present -- criston is not doing any of it for aegon (the official monarch they’re attempting to install). he's doing it for alicent. alicent showed him mercy, alicent saved his life, alicent is the embodiment of the mother, alicent has ruled over the realm competently for some 6 years -- and he sees all of that and trusts her and really does think her leadership would be best! i generally just really like the characters in the asoiafverse who struggle with concepts like knighthood and honour, and i appreciate that from the get-go criston has been someone who makes the rules for himself.

so yeah he's so neat to me and i love him. also his little family unit with alicent and her kids is EVERYTHING. i'm desperately hoping and praying that we get more screen time and focus for him in the second season but i won't hold my breath </3

(also... super interesting that most of criston's scenes next season will probably be with aemond! i'm honestly extremely upset that the gang is splitting up already, but i really liked the chemistry between ewan and fabien in 1.09 so i am excited to see more of that!!)

#sorry i responded so late btw ive been very busy </3 #asks #criston cole #house of the dragon #anti rhaenyra #<- not rly i feel like i'm just saying it how it is but just in case #anti hotd

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