#listen i can appreciate fanon just as much as anyone else but please. just please. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kazuwhora · 3 years

Note

hello hello, i see your requests are open now and can i request izana, wakasa, chifuyu and kazutora with an akutagawa!s/o? hope you have a great day/noon/night! ✨🤗

hi anon! sure! I will try my best with izana and wakasa since there's not tons to work with personality wise so forgive me if theirs are a little shorter heh. im gonna include a little blurb from the bsd fandom wiki for anyone not familiar with his character! I like these kinds of headcanon requests so if anyone wants to see more please feel free to request!

"Akutagawa has a black and white "survival of the fittest" view of the world, claiming that weak people should die and give way to the stronger ones. He is not afraid of pain and defeat His ruthless, vicious nature makes him one of the Port Mafia's most dangerous members, feared by both ally and foe. As violent as he is, Akutagawa maintains a generally composed and detached approach. Towards subordinates and superiors alike, he acts aloof, distancing himself from social interactions however possible. Nonetheless, his composure is fragile. Akutagawa is quick to lash out, ridiculing him for risking the bounty by acting recklessly. This quick temper often gets in his way, fuelling his actions to the core of his very being."

SUMMARY: izana, wakasa, chifuyu, && kazutora with an akutagawa!so

CW: hints of toxicity and violence, mentions of sex but not really all that nsfw-ish so otherwise not much else!

IZANA

- this is an interesting one because from what we know about izana, he is very similar in personality to akutagawa in terms of ruthlessness that stems from childhood trauma and isolation.

- in the case of a s/o with this personality, I think it would be a troubling relationship. lots of bitter fights fuelled by nothing but an inability to express vulnerability, while leaving both of you torn up inside and begging for someone to nurture the trauma and allow space for emotions.

- that being said, with toxicity and trauma also comes intense passion and desire. this relationship brings a lot of fire both in the bedroom and outside of the bedroom, with simple arguments often spawning into intense desperate (and lengthy might I add) sex. like, intense. it's almost like sex is the only safe outlet of these pent up emotions, providing a sort of comfort and also distraction for both parties.

- however as I said in general, this is definitely a toxic relationship. one where neither can help the other when it comes to growth and improvement on a personal level. it's unhealthy and enabling, but for a short lived fling it is hot as fuck im not even gonna lie. lots of hate sex too.

WAKASA

- so wakasa is another interesting one alongside izana given the lack of information and content we have about his character so please excuse the slight kc fanon version I have in my head of wakasa lol

- wakasa has a "don't fuck with me because I do not fucking care" type of vibe to him. I definitely think he's the type to completely disengage from the type of behaviours an akutagawa-type s/o might display. this leads to sort of a sense of competitiveness in trying to get some kind of reaction from him, and it has the potential (much like izana) to become toxic in nature

- any attempts to get under his skin are failed attempts, and the way he looks at you with that half bored expression is something that only triggers more of a somewhat emotional response from you.

- with that being said, my fanon version of wakasa is someone who while cold and aloof, is also quite a rational person. he's been typed by the fandom as INTJ which is quite a quick thinker, and I think he probably (despite not showing it very well) has a soft spot for you. but your passion and intensity (as well as your easily triggered dynamic) keeps him from completely being able to express this care in any way other than not engaging with your antics

- as much as there are some similarities with the type of toxicity in this relationship with both wakasa and izana, the intense passion isn't quite the same as it is with izana. instead, feelings of passion are more to the point and driven by pure instinct and desire rather than toxic passion. wakasa seeming like a very literal person, is actually quite mysterious deep down and has a lot (I mean a lot) of hidden desires and kinks that begin to emerge with time. it's rarely a conversation, and more often just something that happens that surprises you. you just have to go with the flow here, and let him take the reigns for once. it might actually be a good opportunity to allow for vulnerability to take the spotlight for once, which is something wakasa is surprisingly in tune with and quite to the point about.

CHIFUYU

- this is something much healthier than the last two. chifuyu, being an enfp is someone that's able to handle this level of intensity in a person while still being able to understand what's really going on.

- call him the trauma counsellor king. he values each and every response to a trigger that you might have. he notices patterns, he makes mental notes of things, and he does this all without making it seem like he's analyzing.

- to be honest he actually loves the spunk you bring on a day to day level. even though most of the time it's driven by bitterness or hate (not always towards him just in general) he is still able to see beyond that and appreciate you for what you are.

- with that being said, chifuyu will not stand for any toxic behaviour towards him. no sir he will not. threats and pushes for fights wont be tolerated, and he will either disengage or try to expose your vulnerabilities in an attempt at forced submission. this can be hard to get used to, especially with having a personality characterized by the inability to accept being vulnerable. but with time chifuyu is one to create a safe space for you to allow yourself to feel emotions beyond anger and resentment, and he encourages this.

- because of this very feelings based approach, intimacy with chifuyu is just that: intimate. he's extremely loving and doting, hoping that his sweetness can rub off on you a little bit. however he's also very accepting of your need for power over him (especially during sex) and will absolutely submit to your needs in order to please you.

- he really likes to put you in a place of pleasure though, so however that may come to you chifuyu is the one to deliver it.

KAZUTORA

- oh boy. this one is a doozy. listen. if we're talking about timeskip kazutora (as is the case with all characters i write about but I feel it especially important to remind ppl of here given his history), we're talking about someone who is quite literally walking on eggshells in terms of his trauma and emotional vulnerability.

- he's pretty good at being emotionally aware of his needs and struggles as well as the needs and struggles of those around him, but that doesn't mean that he's entirely healed or capable of managing toxicity or his triggers. he still slips up from time to time especially when things get hard, and sometimes finds himself falling into his old patterns. after all, he's only human. but this is where things could get messy in a relationship.

- for the most part, like I said, he's pretty good. so let's focus on that part first since I want to give him credit where it's due. he is very desperate for love and dedicated to providing something to his partner. in this case, he will seek to tap into his emotional vulnerability to provide some sort of comfort for you. he wants to see you happy, and calm, because he sees so much of his old self in you that it gets to him sometimes. but at the same time, he struggles with your relentlessness and can become emotionally drained when things get tough. he'll beat himself up for not being good enough to help you, and this is when he'll isolate and fall into old patterns.

- however, akutagawa's personality type isn't all bad. with a s/o like akutagawa, comes an immense amount of protection and loyalty for their loved ones no matter how tough things might be. in this case it might be hard to communicate this, but there will be times when it's needed in order for kazutora to restrain from old habits and ways of dealing with hardships. but he wants to share his healing with you, he wants you to be happy, and more than anything he understands the struggle of wanting to be happy and healthy but being afraid of losing the one thing that makes you you: your attitude and relentlessness. nobody understands this better than kazutora, which is why things between you can get frustrating and very personal for him.

- much like chifuyu, sex is driven towards pleasing you and only you. chifuyu leans more into switch territory however, while kazutora is 100% submissive. in this case it works out well, however he has a lot of boundaries and limitations when it comes to the way in which you function. he doesn't like degradation. instead, he thrives from praise and any sign of love and care. this might be tough for you to execute 100% of the time, but when it comes down to it the way his eyes twinkle for you is enough to make the ice around your heart melt just a little more each time.

157 notes · View notes

millenniumblog · 3 years

Photo

[ID: A chart describing the core values of each of the nine Enneagram personality types with YuGiOh characters correlated to each of the types.]

YuGiOh Enneagram Analysis, Part #1

Please note that this is the “boring” informational post about Enneagram with the Types listed and explained as well as a few other things. The next post is what has the actual, in-depth character profiles promised!

Introduction & Motivation

Over the past several months, I have been trying to analyze my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and learn more. I have been writing fanfiction since I was a little kid, making my first FF.net account in 2003 when I would have been twelve years old. Even before that, I was a lurker and wrote fics to share with my childhood best friend on paper or floppy discs.

YuGiOh came into my life at some point shortly thereafter. I know this, because I spent my thirteenth birthday in a comic book shop, mostly watching some of my male friends play the trading card game. I had some of the cards, but I was never much of a player, unable to keep up with the seemingly rapid rule changes. Besides that, I was always way more interested in the story and characters than I was in the card game. I remember I even wanted to call “YuGiOh cards” “Duel Monsters” instead to make it seem a little closer to tween-y LARPing.

Eventually, I gave up on collecting cards or trying to ply the game. I felt that while my male friends didn’t mind me being around when they played, they weren’t extremely interested in helping me learn or keep up. I felt I had other strengths, so I started carrying around a notebook even more than I already did. I started my fledgling forays into online fandom. And YuGiOh was a big part of the beginning of that.

I can’t remember posting any YuGiOh fic in particular, and I’m sure that if I had it would make me cringe now. What I do remember is reading some and also spending a lot of time lying on my bed, headphones plugged into a small purple stereo, listening to the first of the two American-released CDs with YuGiOh-inspired music on them. In particular, the last three tracks were pieces of music from the original score composed for the 4Kids dub, which is - for some reason - different from the original Japanese music.

During that time, I would fantasize and conjure my own YuGiOh plots in my head, most of which were focused on the Ancient Egyptian and more spooky, spiritual, and horror themes in the show. I was really fascinated with the reincarnation angle, though my understanding of and opinions on how that works have grown with time.

Years went by, and I didn’t think about YuGiOh much at all. Then, something happened in 2018. I don’t know what got in my head, but it was like all the joy I once found in thinking about the YuGiOh characters came back in a giddy conversation with my childhood best friend. Then, for a little while, it wouldn’t leave me alone.

I started writing for the fandom then, and after several detours, I’m trying to get back in the groove of it.

My approach to the tone of YuGiOh-fanning is that it’s a bit serious, but it’s also with a tongue placed in my cheek because of how incomprehensible or silly the plot can be on a meta level. Sometimes, it almost brings tears to my eyes by being so over-the-top about something that, in the real world, would make no sense at all. But the drama, in the context of the universe, somehow rings true.

I think that’s all owing to how most of the primary characters are just... really freaking great characters.

It has often puzzled me. Like, did Takahashi do all this layering on purpose? Is it really there, or did earnest fanon just make it seem like it? And, as a person, I am always here for a good fan-and-canon symbiosis.

This post is going to be, from here on, an effort to match the YuGiOh characters to the 9 Enneagram Personality Types. I am writing this for my own benefit as I continue to work on my pet YuGiOh fanfiction project, It’s Always Sunny in Domino City, which is a mixture of YGOTAS-vibes-and-concepts taken seriously and a sincere take on fanfiction for the actual canon. It’s dramedy about a sizeable chunk of the main cast a few years post-canon with some canon divergence such as the Memory World arc not yet and possibly never-happening. If that sounds like something you’d like, I would humbly request you check it out!

Either way, this will be an in-depth character analysis cheatsheet for all of the characters above, based on my observations, opinions, and feelings. I invite discussion, but it’s fine if we need to agree to totally disagree!

If you are interested and enjoy what’s below the Read More and in the coming second post, then you are welcome to utilize the character analyses to aid you in your own fanwork!

Enneagram

What is Enneagram, and why am I using it?

Enneagram is a personality categorization system that one might compare to the somewhat better-known MBTI. However, in the words of excellent writing-advice YouTuber, Abbie Emmons:

MBTI shows us how we behave.

Enneagram shows us what we believe.

I will be referencing Abbie’s video Using The ENNEAGRAM To Write CONFLICTED CHARACTERS and her free Enneagram-cheatsheet, available in the description of the linked video. Whether it’s before you continue reading or after, if you’re interested in writing, I would highly recommend you check out her channel!

The Enneagram system has nine basic personality types that overlap and interact in really interesting ways. It is not a hard science, and it’s not a horoscope. Instead, it’s supposed to be “based on conventional wisdom and modern psychology.” All I can say is that with every set of characters I’ve tried it with, it works! Once you get the hang of it, it feels kind of like ~✰~magic~✰~!

Below, I will list Abbie’s simplified definitions of each of the personality types, in order:

Type 1: The Reformer

The Rational, Idealistic Type:

Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic

Basic Fear: Of being corrupt/evil, defective

Basic Desire: To be good, to have integrity, to be balanced

Key Motivations: Want to be right, to strive higher and improve everything, to be consistent with their ideals, to justify themselves, to be beyond criticism so as not to be condemned by anyone.

Type 2: The Helper

The Caring, Interpersonal Type:

Generous, Demonstrative, People-Pleasing, and Possessive

Basic Fear: Of being unwanted, unworthy of being loved

Basic Desire: To feel loved

Key Motivations: Want to be loved, to express their feelings for others, to be needed and appreciated, to get others to respond to them, to vindicate their claims about themselves.

Type 3: The Achiever

The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type:

Adaptable, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious

Basic Fear: Of being worthless

Basic Desire: To feel valuable and worthwhile

Key Motivations: Want to be affirmed, to distinguish themselves from others, to have attention, to be admired, and to impress others.

Type 4: The Individualist

The Sensitive, Introspective Type:

Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental

Basic Fear: That they have no identity or personal significance

Basic Desire: To find themselves and their significance (to create an identity)

Key Motivations: Want to express themselves and their individuality, to create and surround themselves with beauty, to maintain certain moods and feelings, to withdraw to protect their self-image, to take care of emotional needs before attending to anything else, to attract a "rescuer."

Type 5: The Investigator

The Intense, Cerebral Type:

Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated

Basic Fear: Being useless, helpless, or incapable

Basic Desire: To be capable and competent

Key Motivations: Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.

Type 6: The Loyalist

The Committed, Security-Oriented Type:

Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious

Basic Fear: Of being without support and guidance

Basic Desire: To have security and support

Key Motivations: Want to have security, to feel supported by others, to have certitude and reassurance, to test the attitudes of others toward them, to fight against anxiety and insecurity.

Type 7: The Enthusiast

The Busy, Variety-Seeking Type:

Spontaneous, Versatile, Acquisitive, and Scattered

Basic Fear: Of being deprived and in pain

Basic Desire: To be satisfied and content—to have their needs fulfilled

Key Motivations: Want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.

Type 8: The Challenger

The Powerful, Dominating Type:

Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational

Basic Fear: Of being harmed or controlled by others

Basic Desire: To protect themselves (to be in control of their own life and destiny)

Key Motivations: Want to be self-reliant, to prove their strength and resist weakness, to be important in their world, to dominate the environment, and to stay in control of their situation.

Type 9: The Peacemaker

The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type:

Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

Basic Fear: Of loss and separation

Basic Desire: To have inner stability, "peace of mind"

Key Motivations: Want to create harmony in their environment, to avoid conflicts and tension, to preserve things as they are, to resist whatever would upset or disturb them.

Now that you’ve seen all those, what do you think your favorite character is? In YuGiOh or anything else! It works great for original characters and even yourself and your loved ones.

The actual Character Profiles will be in coming post(s), but continue reading if you want me to explain more about how and why the Enneagram is a great personality typing system. #nonspon, or whatever.

The Enneagram Chart

Now, you could just go to the Enneagram Institute’s page on How the System Works, but below I’ll cut it down to only the parts I’m interested in and explain those in a way that helps me.

Unlike in astrology or MBTI, which are both more restrictive in different ways, the relative position of each type matters a bit on the Enneagram chart, because it can be used to visualize a lot of things about a person!

The Basic Chart

The Types are shown in a clockwise fashion with “1″ in the 1 o’clock position on an analog clock. The interior lines mean things, but I have trouble reading it without further delineation.

Centers of Response

Below are two small charts, displayed side-by-side. (If it’s too small, try right-click, open in new tab!)

The chart on the left shows the three “centers.” The “centers” indicate the first ‘processing language’ a person would use to respond to stimuli.

Type 8, Type 9, and Type 1 respond first based on instinct (primal, gut-feeling). If you want to go Freudian, this is from the id.

Type 2, Type 3, and Type 4 respond first based on feelings (social or personal desires, the heart). If you want to go Freudian, this is from the ego.

Type 5, Type 6, and Type 7 respond first based on thoughts (analytical rather than emotional, the head). If you want to go Freudian, this is from the superego.

Remember that, of course, every single type and person engages their instincts, their emotions, and their thoughts at different times and to different degrees, and some of these are learned or changed behaviors. This is about what their innate drive toward that would be.

Likewise, the same “centers” can also be used for the chart on the right. You will notice that all three of these are defined by what is typically considered a negative emotion. This is because this is about a person’s instinctive, not particularly conscious emotional response when they are backed into a corner and deprived of something that is core to the needs of their personality type.

Type 8, Type 9, and Type 1 tend to respond to a threat to their psychic well-being with anger/rage.

Type 2, Type 3, and Type 4 tend to respond to a threat to their psychic well-being with shame.

Type 5, Type 6, and Type 7 tend to respond to a threat to their psychic well-being with fear.

Stress vs. Growth

We all know that there are times when a person isn’t acting like themselves, for better or for worse. Usually, “You’re not acting like yourself,” means that a person is behaving badly. Of course, it’s way easier to withdraw and bristle and defend rather than growing in the midst of adversity. However, it is certainly possible to experience character growth in response to experiences, good and bad. Unlike a lot of other personality typing schemes, the Enneagram has a way to display and predict what stress and growth do to a person.

The Enneagram never suggests that any Type is an island unto itself. Every person contains multitudes, but a person’s Type is likely to remain relatively stable throughout their lives, once they have had a chance to develop any personality at all. This means that when a person is stressed or growing that they do not become the type they emulate. Rather, they are more highly expressing that aspects of their personality that reflect those drives and desires but in a way that is either fraught, sickly, or unwell (in the case of stress), or aspirational, flying-high, and incorporating the hard-lessons into who a person is going to be going forward (in the case of growth). The latter, especially, isn’t a sustainable mode, while a stressed person can become more entrenched in their bad habits and defensive coping mechanisms.

Stress

Note the white, directional arrows. Each number has an arrow point pointing to it and an arrow leading away from it. The point indicates that this is the stress manifestation for the Type at the origin of that arrow. The origin of each arrow indicates the Type being described.

Confused? Let me finally give you a YuGiOh example.

When I was trying to identify the Types of the characters, defining Marik was difficult, because he has a “Yami,” or Dark Side, which has its own personality and will but which is not its own separate soul or person than Marik himself. Rather, it’s a kind of fantasy/magic-assisted personality splintering where Yami Marik is a full manifestation of the negative traits Marik needed to embody to survive.

So, for reference:

When stressed, Type 1 behaves more like Type 4.

When stressed, Type 2 behaves more like Type 8.

When stressed, Type 3 behaves more like Type 9.

When stressed, Type 4 behaves more like Type 2.

When stressed, Type 5 behaves more like Type 7.

When stressed, Type 6 behaves more like Type 3.

When stressed, Type 7 behaves more like Type 1.

When stressed, Type 8 behaves more like Type 5.

When stressed, Type 9 behaves more like Type 6.

Alternatively, you can use these sequences to follow the stress lines:

1-4-2-8-5-7-1

9-6-3-9

Growth

Think of the above-explanation in reverse.

The sequence:

1-7-5-8-2-4-1

9-3-6-9

As a Type 1 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 7.

As a Type 2 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 4.

As a Type 3 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 6.

As a Type 4 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 1.

As a Type 5 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 8.

As a Type 6 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 9.

As a Type 7 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 5.

As a Type 8 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 2.

As a Type 9 grows, they incorporate more positive traits of Type 3.

Wings

The final thing to know about the Enneagram chart for my purposes is about wings. The wing of your personality traits accounts for the complementary and contradictory aspects of your personality. They are the inconsistencies that make you human, predicted and jumped in. Typically, a person is not thought to have both possible wings but one or the other. A wing is one of the two adjacent Types to yours, the number before, or the number after, and it is annotated, for example:

Type 1, Wing 2: 1w2

Type 1, Wing 9: 1w9

Link to Part 2 Here!

37 notes · View notes

hello-yue-here · 3 years

Note

About your atla ship songs, I have a couple of questions (sorry if my phrasing comes out wrong, english isn't my first language and I worry it might across as accidentally defensive): how did you end up with the choices for zukka, jetko and yuekka (note: I haven't seen the great comet, so feel free to obsess over it, I'm intrigued now and the hype is appreciated!)? Sidenote: I think the mailee choice is HILARIOUS and the tokka one just make me sad, I didn't expect to be attacked like this😭

kdjfha;s i love you im gonna obsess SO HARD over great comet now. you may regret this

this is gonna be so long so the rest is under the cut whoops

yuekka: no one else from great comet

where do i even begin. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN

okay so background information on this show: it's based off of a 76 oages excerpt from war and peace and its centered around a woman named natasha (and this guy pierre but he's irrelevant to this song so we wont worry about him) and natasha's bethrothed is off fighting in the war right now. she hasn't seen him in a while but she is in love with him.

every single lyrics of this song SCREAMS yuekka to me. the innocence and purity of their love. the love at first sight. and even the melancholy ending just- i go apeshit for this song. i love this song so much. and denee benton's voice??? kljsdhflwksugf please listen to this song if you haven't already. listen to the whole show. your life will be changed forever.

onto the lyrics (i stg this is ab to be the whole song whoops)

"the moon"

THOSE ARE THE FIRST WORDS ON THE SONG. natasha and andre (her bethrothed) met underneath the moonlight. Sokka and Yue first spoke to eachother at night and always met each other for their most intimate moments under the moonlight. also yue is LITERALLY the moon so like: right of the bat with those two words it's yuekka.

"and i saw your eyes / and i saw your smile / and the world opened wide"

sokka fell in love with yue the moment he saw her in the canal. she literally enchanted this motherfucker. everything about her made his heart go crazy. and 'the world opened wide' to me is from yue's perspective. Yue had never left the north pole and sokka had seen a good chuck of the world at the point. He took her on appa, he told her about his adventures. he saw the world yue wished to see and you know damn well that Sokka would have done anything to give it to her.

"oh the moon /oh the snow in the moonlight / and your childlike eyes and your distant smile / ill never be this happy again / you and i and no one else"

natasha sings fondly about the moon and the snow, seeing as it was where she fell in love with andre. yue and sokka LITERALLY fell in love in the same place: in the snowy nothern water tribe under the light of the moon. childlike eyes: THEYRE CHILDREN!!! distant smile: this is where it gets a little sad. theyre both children with way too many duties during a world that has known nothing but war for the past century. they want to be happy but yeah, theyre smiles are distant and far away because happiness seems out of reach for them most of the time. i'll never be this happy again: the moments yue and sokka shared together were probably the happiest either of them ever were. they were able to ignore the war and the world in the moments they shared together. and with no one else. no one else would be able to give each other this sense of peace and happiness and love.

"joy and life inside our souls / and no body knows just you and me / it's our secret"

Yue and Sokka had to sneak out in secret at night to go and see each other. Yue and Sokka couldn't be together for real because Yue was already engaged, but they were literally in love so she decided to see him anyways in secret. kasdjfhklasjd im losing my mind over them at this point.

"this winer sky / how can anyone sleep / there was never such a night before / i feel like putting my arms around my knees / and squeezing tight as possible / and flying away"

these are my FAVORITE lines in the entire song. yue and sokka had never felt this strongly about anyone before and that's why they are so drawn to each other. they had never experienced love before and they wanted to hold onto it for as long as they could even though they knew they couldnt. Sokka takes yue up on appa and she is wistful and wishes she could live like he does every day: ie flying away. oh my god these two deserved so much better. so much fucking better.

now for the saddes part. the saddest fucking part.

"maybe he'll come today / maybe he came already / and he's sitting in the drawing room / and i simply forgot"

natasha misses andre so intensely at this point. when i first listened to this show and heard this song i was like "wait a min... is andre like... dead?" and im sure i wasnt the only person who assumed that this was why natasha felt so sad by the end of such a beautiful song. (spoiler alert andre is fine)

but this line really exemplifies how sad natasha is, and hints at the fact that andre may never come back. it implies that their relationship is doomed (at least in my opinion) and that's all yuekka. Sokka misses yue intensely when shes gone. Yue accepted her fate almost immediately but sokka was in denial. he thought there had to be another way. but in the end it wasn't meant to be. and sokka will go on, loving yue, wishing for her back, even though it's not possible.

fuck im gonna cry.

zukka: all i've ever known- hadestown

"i was alone so long / i didn't even know that i was lonely / out in the cold so long / i didnt even know that i was cold"

sokka is from the swt so theres where the cold comes in. also in the gaang (initially) it was just him katara and aang. and katara and aang were much closer to each other than sokka was with aang and the two of them were benders so sokka was kind of an outsider with the two of them. He also represses a lot of his emotions and feels the need to do everything himself so i do see a lot of loneliness in sokka. and the fact that so many people in his life have left him (his mom, yue, his dad, suki briefly, etc...) he is known to keep people at an arms length. i see a lot of loneliness in sokka.

zuko's loneliness is a lot more obvious: he has literally been cast out and abandoned by everyone except iroh. and even then he still feels the need to be alone (remember zuko alone? thought so) these boys look after themselves and push others away and revel in their loneliness in order to keep themselves from getting hurt. at least in my opinion on canon and also some fanon because id be a liar if i said fanon didnt influence how i view ALL my ships (not just zukka)

"all ive ever known is how to hold my own / but now I wanna hold you too"

COME ONE MANNNN, they just wanna hold each other. theyre both very big protectors as well and kljhflkasdhg they wanna protect eachother like kljdhfl im gonna lose it rn.

"You take me in your arms / And suddenly there's sunlight all around me / Everything bright and warm / And shining like it never did before / And for a moment I forget / Just how dark and cold it gets"

SUNLIGHT SYMBOLISM. zuko is literally powered by the sun. i don't think i even NEED to elaborate on this one anymore lol. They find comfort in each other away from all of their trauma. when they're together nothing else matters and i personally love that for them. they both deserve love.

"I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet / All I know is your someone I have always known"

these two are extremely similar in canon. many parallels. older brothers overshadowed by their prodigy little sisters. longing to make their fathers proud (granted one dad is good and one is fuckin evil), both are pretty bad with emotions. both are seen protecting others before themselves (sokka protecting suki during the serpant's pass, sokka protecting toph on like multiple occassions, zuko protecting katara in the final agni kai), the list goes on. they know who the other is because they see themselves in the other person. they already know each other because they are each other (in a way, not entirely, but the similarities are strong in my opinion)

"I'm gonna hold you forever / The wind will never change on us / Long as we stay with each other / Then it will always be like this"

i just think this line is so cute and sweet (ignoring all the symbolism and foreshadowing that comes with the last line in the musical itself. im gonna pretend this is nothing but happy) and i think these boys deserve happiness so yeah. this song is zukka to me lol.

jetko: thrill of first love- falsettoes

if you've never listened to this song go an do it now. you will know INSTANTLY that it is jetko because of the dynamics alone. marvin and whizzer are pure jetko and i take no crticisms.

marvin and whizzer are both extremely stubborn, and they don't always get along, and they fight a lot, and they get mad at each other a lot, and they are both passionate as hell, and they will bring this passion into everything. they love each other that is without a doubt, but they arent perfect and they are once again stubborn and determined as fuck.

sound familiar? it's literally jetko.

the lyrics aren't what remind me of jetko, but the dynamic itself. the lyrics are too on the nose for a gay couple in 1970's america so that rlly cant apply to jetko all that much. but the way these two characters bounce off of each other and get annoyed with each other and argue with eachother reminds me of jetko. because let's be honest: these two are the most stubborn characters in the whole show. they will fight for what they believe and it will take literally everything to change their minds.

i love jetko but i think they would have petty arguments all the time and get aggravated by one another so easily. and this is even seen in canon: they work so fucking well together but they did not even HESITATE to fight one another after neither of them would give in and let the fight about whether jet was right or wrong about zuko being a firebender. like i cannot say it enough they are stubborn as fuck.

but underneath all that stubborn pettiness and bickering: marvin and whizzer still love each other. and jet and zuko would still love each other. because even though they are stubborn when it comes to arguments, they are even more stubborn and determined when it comes to each other. these two passionate motherfuckers are in love.

(now when i chose this song i decided to ignore the fact that this song literally spells out the fact that marvin and whizzer's relatinoship is doomed because they literally say passion dies. thats the difference between jetko and whizzer and marvin because i dont think passion dies. i chose this song strictly for the bickering lmao)

and i know you didnt ask about tokka but,,,,

i rlly wanna talk about the tokka one

so im going to

tokka: on my own- les mis

look. i KNOW this song is about unrequited love and i love tokka as a couple but,,, the unrequited love in this song just SCREAMS unrequited tokka to me so thats what i went with.

eponine is a girl who has neglectful parents who lives life by her own rules: toph. eponine is shown to be tough and confident and spunky to others but behind all of that she has emotions, she feels love, she hides her vulnerability so much: toph. she is in love with a guy she cant be with because he loves someone else: TOPH

eponine is toph to a t and toph is eponine to a t. this is not up for debate lmao

"without him i feel his arms around me"

toph is always seen grabbing onto someone (and its almost ALWAYS sokka) when she's somewhere where she can't use her feet to see. FEEL and ARMS cmon. look at it.

"and i know / i know that he is blind"

COME ON. IMAGINE TOPH SINGING THIS LINE. this line is already powerful enough in les mis but having toph, a blind character, sing it just makes the symbolism even deeper. toph sees the potential relationship they could have together. toph sees that sokka is oblivious to this. toph is not blind to the truth or the potention, but sokka is blind to her feelings. im about to lose my mind over this line.

"I love him / But every day I'm learning / All my life / I've only been pretending / Without me / His world will go on turning / A world that's full of happiness / That I have never known"

i need to sit down for a moment. toph grew up in a household where her parents did not understand her. she has learned to hide her true emotions and vulnerabilities from everyone. and its the fact that toph knows that she and sokka will never be together and the fact that she still loves him in spite of that is what makes this even more heartbreaking.

"but only on my own"

TOPH AND EPONINE SWEETIES I LOVE YOU

thank you for indulging my theatre kid nonsense. you are very sweet and kind and lovely and awesome and i hope you have a lovely day bestie :) <3

ask me why i think these songs go with these ships

#asks #liv is a theatre nerd #liv is an atla nerd #yuekka #zukka #jetko #tokka #ask me about my ship songs

12 notes · View notes

gallavictorious · 3 years

Text

11x01 Reaction Post

Random thoughts on and reactions to 11x01; no careful analysis or anything, just the bits and pieces that's not likely to make it into meta proper but which I still want to make note of so I can go back later and remember what my initial reaction to the episode was (since my impressions are likely to change as the season unfolds). Mostly Gallavich related, because duh, but there's disordered rambling on a bit of everything. Under a cut (God I miss LJ sometimes) because this got long.

Ian looks damned good as the homocidal muscle. I don't do AU:s, but if I did... On the other hand, Frank as a member of the Chicago “Eight” looks like a werewolf. Less interested in that AU. And listen, I get that they couldn't get Emmy Rossum for this, but I really miss Fiona showing up in a few random olden day pictures. She's gone, but she's still a Gallagher dammit! Carl at the slaughter house looked weird – and part of me thought that was appropriate because slightly off editing would be a sweet way of communicating that it's all bollocks, but the rest of shots looked okay (Debbie as a milk maid and Frank as the aforementioned werewolf) or good (everything else) so no.

The sound of a baby crying is a horror matched only by persistent lack of sleep so I feel for Lip and Tami so much. Here's to all parents who managed to get through the first year without murdering anybody! I think that maybe you don't get enough credit... I, for instance, want to kill someone just hearing Freddie cry in the background for half a minute. Not sure it bodes too well for their relationship for them to be so ready to spend every night apart like Lip suggests, but a, what wouldn't you do for a good night's sleep, and b, love the thought of Lip spending more time at the old house. Could see them breaking up during the course of the season, though. Not sure how I feel about that – Tami's my favourite out of Lip's love interests, but having too many of the couples staying together all through the finale wouldn't feel quite right (for Shameless) and I don't see them breaking up Ian and Mickey or Kev and V. Don't really expect Sandy or Debbie to last either, but since it's more of a casual thing it might have more of a casual end.

Do you remember when the promo dropped and there was Concern about That Look on Ian's face after he kisses Mickey, and I tag theorized about it being because Mickey stole his coffee? Turns out there wasn't really A Look in the actual episode, but I sure as hell was right about the coffee, and I want noted somewhere. Maybe there should also be a small diploma? A golden statue seems a little over the top, but I mean, if you insist...

I appreciate that Ian is very adament about it being their money but when Mickey thinks it's their breakfast it's suddenly every man for himself. Do you share or not, Ian? Hmm? (Let the record show that I'm joking, please. Ian is damned right to take his toast back, and I say this as a “person most likely to steal their partner's toast right out of their hand”. I also love that Mickey completely gives up on breakfast when he can't have Ian's toast and just grabs a beer instead.) The kitchen scene is glorious and I just really like their dynamic here; the casual kiss, “I only make breakfast for husbands who have jobs”, how relaxed it is even when Ian's a bit annoyed, Mickey being so... Mickey. I do wonder what went through his head when Ian started talking about their wedding present money, though – he seems worried for a moment, but then shrugs it off, and that could be either bravado or just actual lack of concern. I tend mostly towards the latter, since Mickey quite genuinely figures this isn't a big deal (even though he still recognizes that Ian will probably think it one). Please note that he immediately offers to get money when Ian mentions that they need more of it coming in. Not his fault Ian vetoes his methods, right? (Also love that Ian's objection is due to him not wanting to be separated from Mickey, rather than any moral qualms about robbing stores.)

Okay, the gag ball. Would they really keep it like that if they were actually using it? Maybe either of them just tossed it there after taking it off, I suppose... Yeah, I don't know. Not what I'd imagined them being into, but that might be my own extreme lack of enthusiasm for gag balls and harnesses talking. Either they're into it and if so, you do you, boys, or it was a gift and they're keeping it around and semi-prominently on display for shits and giggles. (But if it was a gift, they did try it at least once, right?)

Mickey in the bath remains stupidly and surprisingly gorgerous. Incidentally, I really don't think his question about the meds is any indication of him not thinking them important, but there's little wonder that Ian bristles at the mention of them. Maybe not be an ass just to prove a point, eh, Mick?

I've already talked about how hard Ian is trying here but let's just take another moment to congratulate our boy on his persistent attempts at mature communication. Though he might have given some actual consideration to Mickey not wanting to save the money if he's really serious about them making decisions together... But he gets there! I think this whole situation – which would royally piss most people, including me, off – is actually particularly difficult for Ian, because he might well see Mickey's behavior as uncomfortably reminiscent of Frank and Monica's destructive habits and yeah, that would fuck him up. And still! He forces himself to calm down! He takes Mickey's hand! He refuses to let himself be distracted by Mickey looking SO INSANELY PRETTY I CANNOT EVEN UNDERSTAND IT! Ian, I salute you!

[starwars_eu_nerd_mode]KORRIBAN! YES! HA! TAKE THAT DISNEY! You take your new so-called “canon” and your “Moraband” and you fuck right off. I salute you, Bitcoin Boy![/starwars_eu_nerd_mode]

Ah, the porch scene... This one I do have a bunch of thoughs on that will probably make it into meta proper one day, so I'll leave it for now. It was the one that took the most thinking about for me to square (still not a lot, it should be noted), but now I'm actually very happy about it. (Full disclosure: none of their scenes feel quite right the first time I see them these days, because I'm just so very on edge about what's to come that I kind of miss the forest for all the trees you know? It's not a Shameless thing – it's always like this when I'm extremely invested in something and have waited for it for some time. Will it fit with how I see the characters? Will it be cringey? Will Mickey suddenly profess a love for hideous Hawaii shirts? Also, what are they saying because English is hard... But then I watch them a couple of times and they sink in and I start to get giddy over them. I guess watching actual canon unfold always requires a little bit of re-calibration if you've been busy fanoning while waiting for it to arrive, and while I love that sort of interpretative work, there’s also the fear that the show will veer off into a direction I cannot easily follow.)

Mickey's insistence that he spelled monogamy wrong does genuinely amuse me. Not to mention the whole “No more parking tickets for me!” - “You don't have a car, dumbass.” Also, Mickey being friendly with Carl kills me, in a good way. Family FTW!

Frank's storyline fails to stir even the vaguest hint of interest in me, as per usual. For all his talk of family in this episode, the lack of interaction with any of his kids is striking. If he's to have any value at all this season I'll need him to get involved in the rest of the Gallagher's storylines (which seems like it might be happening at least for a bit later on, so I'm vaguely hopeful?). I find but faint intrigue in Carl's and Debbie's stuff, but it doesn’t annoy me either so I'll call it a win. Kev and V are (almost) always a delight, but do anyone else feel like their kids are only props, even to them? I don't know... I just don't think there's a connection or sense of realness to their relationship, you know? Maybe it's just me... Anyway, here's to hoping V turning pageant mom changes all that! Oh, and I'll need Liam to have some more screentime and stuff to do.

The Tommy and Kermit thing was weird. Eh. Whatever.

Sandy is so gorgerous. I can't. The Milkoviches really be bringing it this episode.

This is only the second season I've watched episode by episode as it airs (other one was S6) and it's a curiuos experience. I think that by and large, and particularly in later seasons, Shameless works better when you binge it, but I love the delightful anticipation of waiting for a new episode and the feverent discussion that follows. Sometimes I also despair over the ferverent discussion that follows, but... you know. It is what it is. Admittedly, any attempts at meta this early in the season is a precarious venture at best, since we don't have the whole story, and it might be wiser to abstain but it's just so much fun, so I'm not very likely to stop.

All in all, I love the Gallavich stuff, am intrigued by Lip & Tami and Kev & V's lives, okay with whatever Debbie and Carl's got going on, hot for Sandy, bored by Frank, and missing Liam. It sets up a lot of promising things, but as an episode all unto itself it felt a bit empty – probably because there were no real plots and the storylines didn't intersect as much as I would have liked them to. Shameless is best when it's about family, which both the show and Frank seems to recognize, but there's little narrative follow-through on that realization in this episode; everyone is pretty much doing their own thing. Adored the Lip and Ian convo, and that house party scene was wonderful, but so short. Think we'll get more of all of them together going forward, though, and more actual plots too, so I'm very excited about it all. Can't wait for Sunday!

#11x01 #shameless spoilers #episode reaction post #random ramblings #my stuff

27 notes · View notes

ravenhilarious · 4 years

Text

sometimes I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

elaboration under the cut. this will discuss the Harry Potter fandom, the sanders sides fandom, and some comparisons of my personal issues within them. there are some mentions of violence, abuse, bigotry, and death, and it is very long.

that’s what they said

disclaimer: I love Harry Potter even if jk is a bigot, I love Hermione, I love sanders sides which fortunately is not created by a bigot, I love Logan, so there’s no intended negativity about any of these

now, back to the point. I repeat: I fear that Logan is becoming the Hermione of this fandom

which should be a good thing, because I love Logan and I love Hermione. being “the Hermione” shouldn’t be seen as something negative, but the reason I'm referring to it as that is:

there was a time where Fanon Hermione basically became, for a lack of a better term, a Mary Sue (I know this term can have problematic and misogynistic elements but I couldn’t find a better way to describe it)

lots of it was based on the movie adaption’s version of her. lots of her flaws were either stripped away or justified – she became more fearless and confident, her condescending attitude towards mainly Harry and (especially) Ron was exaggerated, and, again, seemed more justified here. and of course, it didn’t help that she was played by the gorgeous Emma Watson.

then came the fandom portrayal of her. while her movie counterpart was definitely more “perfectilized” (is that a word? now it is) than her book counterpart, she still had elements of being a teenager, and, well, a human. but on the internet, there were so many claims of her being the sole reason that Harry was alive, and that she was way out of Ron’s league, and lots of other stuff. if you’re in any way familiar with the Harry Potter fandom around... well, anywhere before like 2016, really, you probably know what I'm talking about. she was basically this “perfect does everything right keeps saying everyone the best at everything” kind of character. that was kinda annoying, both to people who didn’t care that much for Hermione as a character in the first place, and for the people who enjoyed her (more flawed and realistic) book counterpart

and don’t even get me started on the dr4m10ne shippers who claimed that “she deserves better than Ron (or Harry, or Neville, [heteronormativity was still a big thing back then] or really anyone who treated her with respect) and dr4c0 would be so much better for her!”

and oof, the “Hermione joins the dark side” au’s where her actions were still justified by the narratives (why would a muggleborn join the people that discriminate against her lol)

during the last few years, she’s gotten some backlash because of this. more potter heads started realizing her flaws, or stopped justifying them. the shocking realization that the fan favorite was not perfect made a large part of the fandom go in the opposite direction. which I understand.

now, I am still able to enjoy the (canon) character Hermione Granger, despite the sue-ification she went through (maybe it’s the autism that helps me not to get so affected by public opinion, idk), but not everyone is that lucky. so many potter heads had gotten a very good character ruined for them, which is sad.

I don’t want the same thing to happen to Logan Sanders.

Now, he wasn’t always one of the faves – in an early episode, he literally gets told that he’s the least popular character in the series (which does get played off as a joke, but I assume – I wasn’t in the fandom back then, so please correct me if I'm wrong – that for many fanders back then, that was very much the case) and I wouldn’t say he’s a “fan favorite” the same way that Hermione used to be.

however, he has by now gained quite a large fanbase here on Tumblr. which is great! I, myself, really enjoy Logan, and most of his fans are really cool.

but there are some stans who, in my opinion, have started to give him The Hermione Treatment. who claim that he is the one constantly helping Thomas. who feel the need to bash some of the other sides in order to prove that Logan is the best. the main complaint being that “they ignore/silence him too much”. and yes, they definitely don’t listen to him nearly as much as they could and should. I agree with that.

what I don’t agree with is when fanders start wishing for him to “snap” at the others. I'm putting “snap” in quotation marks, because what they usually mean is just him straight up verbally abusing them, sometimes being physically violent toward them. all because they... didn’t pay enough attention to him?

it gives me the same vibes as when Hermione’s acts of violence (I'm talking about, like, the bird attack toward Ron or the acne scars she forced on Marietta Edgecombe [another thing that got removed in the movie adaption], not the “fighting death eaters” parts) were considered “girl power” or something by the internet.

now, I'm not saying that Logan in canon is super aggressive and violent, but he definitely has his moments – and that’s fine. a character does not have to be nice 24/7. but the fandom seems to, idk, romanticize (for lack of a better word) these moments, his outbursts of anger and violence, both the canon and Fanon ones.

furthermore, there seems to be a double standard, in that lots of the things he’s praised for or that gets ignored about him, are the exact same things that would (or do) get criticized when other sides do it.

Patton gets flack for being controlling and guilt-tripping the others, which, yes, that is true, but Logan can also be controlling (Growing Up, Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning, arguably in Moving On too) and guilt-tripping (”not that any of you care, but I am unharmed” in Putting Others First)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that fanders have started seeing the less perfect aspects of morality. Even cinnamon rolls can do not so nice things at times.

Roman is considered to be too proud and condescending, and yeah, he is, he is literally Thomas’ ego. But Logan? “I know I'm smarter than everyone else”? nuff said.

Virgil gets criticized for being too aggressive, and boy is that true, but again, you can not bash one character for a trait that you praise (or even wish more of) in another character.

now, I know that there are fanders who also give Virgil a free pass for violence etc. (he was the ultimate Fan Favorite for a very long time), but they seem to be fewer today than they used to be – which is great! it’s just sad that instead of disappearing completely, this character treatment has now moved towards Logan.

(funnily enough, these certain Logan Stans tend to be less critical of Janus’ and Remus’ flaws too, which I will cover later on)

no, I do not want Logan to be flawless, just like I don’t want Hermione to be. I just wish this double standard wasn’t so common in the fandom.

unlike with Hermione, however, the narrative (and the writers) doesn’t seem to favor him over the others – the sides get a relatively equal treatment in that way. but the biggest problem with Hermione was not the writing, or even the movie adaption (though that definitely played a factor too), but rather the fandom. the fandom was the one who claimed Hermione to be some perfect goddess, talented in every way, too good for this world, etc. And I really don’t want this to happen with Logan!

another parallel I'll bring up is the “going dark” thing, more specifically, “going dark because the light is not good enough for me”. I mentioned dr4m10ne earlier, and Hermione joining the death eaters because Harry and Ron and the rest of the “good guys” weren’t good enough. not smart or talented enough. didn’t appreciate her enough. because Ron would at times make fun of her nerdiness, because they sometimes bickered.

but for some reason, these dr4m10ne shippers and dark!Hermione Stans would gloss over the fact that Dr4c0 made fun of her heritage and that the death eaters literally fought for genocide of people like her (which, imo, is a bit more serious than “haha ur a nerd”)

similarly, it’s become common to head canon Logan “becoming a dark side”. now, I am in no way trying to imply that “the dark sides” are in any way similar to death eaters, or that Janus and Remus are anything like Dr4c0.

but there seems to be, yet again, a double standard. Patton, Roman, and Virgil ignore or silence or under appreciate Logan? oh yes, they definitely do.

but so do Janus and Remus. I see so many au’s of Logan joining the “dark sides” because they are more likely to listen to and appreciate him, which, if we go by canon... is not true? Janus literally excluded Logan from the courtroom, and Remus has repeatedly threatened and physically harmed Logan because he didn’t like what he was saying. but people gloss over that because ?????

I don’t really have a conclusion or anything, I just wanted to get this out

#sanders sides #logan sanders #Hermione Granger #logan Hermione parallels #fandom criticism #raven rants #abuse mention #violence mention #death mention #bigotry mention #genocide mention #anti dramione #tagging it just in case #there is so much I rant about in this post #I should probably make separate posts for some of the points #long post

43 notes · View notes

dramionediscussion · 3 years

Text

About Ron in the Dramione Fandom

*Note: This is LONG and I understand if people don’t want to read all of it. So I wrote the parts that I think are important in bold [though they might not make much sense by themselves lol]. Also these are all just my opinions.*

I have recently been reawakened to the fiery hate that non-shippers and a considerable number of Romione shippers have towards Dramione, Drarry, and other non-canon-ships. While I understand people not liking Dramione due to the characters’ history and finding it difficult to see Draco as anything more than the bully and Death Eater that he was, I think part of it stems from the fact that there are a lot of Dramione shippers who ignore how Dramione is improbable if we were to go from canon material alone. And how a lot tend to blindly hate on Romione and openly ignore how Ron is actually a good character with flaws just like anyone else.

I see why non-Romione shippers don’t buy Romione [not being heavily focused on as a romantic sideplot, Hermione being hurt by Ron various times, etc.], but I‘m surprised how far some people have blown their anti-Ron arguments out of proportion. It’s different with Ron-bashing fics, since it’s more of a plot device than anything, and it isn’t reflective of how every Dramione shipper feels about Ron since I, amongst many, actually like him. Can I please get some opinions about where Ron stands in the DHr fandom?

Also, don’t people realize that if every fanfic adhered to canon or aren’t allowed to stray from it too far, it would narrow down the fics that could be considered ‘valid’? In ‘Dark!Harry or Hermione‘ fics we obviously have Dark!Harry or Hermione, and in ‘Wrong Boy-Who-Lived’ fics, Weasley, Potter, or Dumbledore bashing is a common element, but it doesn’t mean that those OOC portrayals are how its creators and readers see the characters.

That line is just thinner or downright nonexistent when it comes to Ron in some fics — which makes me wonder, as a Dramione lover, just how many Dramione shippers actually believe in or see Ron’s goodness. Not every single writer who’s written Ron-bashing fics hate Ron, and not every person who’s read and enjoyed them think that’s who Ron truly is — it’s just a part of his role in the story after all.

So this got me thinking…

Should more anti-Ron Dramione shippers strive to learn Ron’s character in canon better? They’re not obligated to like him, but at least recognize his positive traits and acknowledge that he isn’t purely his mistakes. I just feel like doing so could quell a fair portion [certainly not all] of the flames between Dramione shippers and non-shippers who are willing to understand. [If you can’t tell, I’m a sucker for the impossible — like peace between different ships in a fandom. I’ve given up on it tbh, but I entertain the thought occasionally.]

Of course, it’s completely impossible for the haters to change their minds about Dramione, but I hope that those who will listen know that not every Dramione fan blindly hates Ron, and that we know where Hermione, Ron, and Draco stand in canon. And hey! Dramione fans [Drarry, Ronsy, Pansmione etc. fans too ofc] simply love to imagine a Post-War world where those raised in extremely bigoted households have mended their beliefs, are trying to make up for their mistakes, and are coexisting happily with people from the Light! I don’t know about them, but to me that sounds like a pretty amazing and wonderful place [that Hermione would like to be a part of, but some aren’t acknowledging that]!

*Lastly: I know this long ramble was Ron-centric, but people do also assume that Hermione is always treated like a prize or Draco’s key to redemption, but that’s a whole other untrue assumption that would require its own essay to debunk. I don’t know if I should or want to write one lol.*

___________________________

Thank you, Wondering Anon, for submitting the above post.

Lots of things to unpack in this ask! Some readers DO hate on Ron more because of fanon//what they’ve read in fanfiction than what’s in canon, but there are plenty of reasons to dislike Ron based on canon. But here’s the thing: how I feel about Ron has NOTHING to do with how I feel about Draco and vice-versa. I can point out the flaws in both of them and still think that Draco might be better for Hermione. Heck, based on Cursed Child alone, I think Draco would have been better for Hermione. But again, Ron and Draco aren’t connected. I don’t have to point out why Draco is better in order to think Romione was a terrible idea. I can think it was a poor match regardless of with whom I the fanfiction writer want to write her.

You asked “ Should more anti-Ron Dramione shippers strive to learn Ron’s character in canon better? They’re not obligated to like him, but at least recognize his positive traits and acknowledge that he isn’t purely his mistakes. “

I think a lot of us DO know who Ron is as a character, and we still don’t think he’s a good fit for Hermione. Anyone who has read the books with a discerning eye can appreciate the nuance and the layers. All of JK Rowling’s characters are grey. As Sirius said, “We’ve all got light and dark in us.” And that’s part of what makes writing them so much fun. BECAUSE the canon characters are so layered and written in so many shades of grey, you as a fanfiction writer can take them in a lot of different directions. I can come up with plausible reasons Draco might go dark and be evil. I can come up with plausible reasons for Hermione to do questionable things. I can come up with reasons why Ron might cheat on Hermione or make her feel bad about her career and her success because of his own insecurities - because the roots of it are there in canon.

It’s up to the writer to decide which characters they want to use and which canon characteristics they want to play up and expand upon in their story.

As someone else submitted, a Dramione story isn’t about Ron. It’s about Hermione and Draco and often about how they get together and fall in love. For post-war stories where the characters are adults, a writer may or may not want to re-hash everything that happened during the intervening years between the end of the war (when in canon it seemed like Romione would be a thing) and present day (discarding the epilogue), so they may choose to write in a Romione relationship that fell apart for a variety of reasons. They may slot him into the story as the ex who broke her heart because he was there in canon, and it offers readers a bridge from canon to the fanfiction story, but the story ultimately is not about him.

A Dramione story, especially a novel-length one, usually involves a lot of secondary or background characters, and how they are interpreted and used is entirely up to the author, even if it deviates from canon.

As an example: Lucius Malfoy. Now, I happen to like that pompous jerk, as I’m also a Lumione and a Lucissa shipper, but I know a lot of Dramione fans don’t care for him. In fact, the “evil Lucius” secondary character is part of MANY Dramione stories! The thing is, there’s NOTHING in canon to indicate that Lucius was EVER abusive to Draco. Regardless of his failings as a human being, Lucius Malfoy loved his child - even JKR acknowledges that the Malfoy family’s love for each other is their primary redeeming feature. Jason Isaacs himself decided to play up the role as a bully and bully Draco in the films. But he’s also the bad guy in a lot of Dramione stories. He’s written as abusive. I’ve seen him written as literally beating Draco or putting him under an imperius curse. I’ve seen him written as raping Hermione or doing whatever he can to keep Draco and Hermione apart.

Is that fair to his character? Not really, IMHO. However, I also acknowledge that in most stories, Dramione needs a foil. There needs to be someone trying to keep them apart or cause drama in their relationship.

In a lot of stories, that’s Ron. In some stories, it’s Astoria (as Draco’s canonical wife) or Pansy or Daphne or some other witch Draco’s been seeing. In some stories, it’s his parents or his father specifically who act as the foil. Lucius works because there’s a lot more bad than good shown about him in canon. Astoria works because she’s a total blank slate. Pansy was a ‘mean girl’ in canon, so she’s easy to turn into the antagonist. But again, the story isn’t usually about them - it’s about Dramione. As a writer, I can’t really fault anyone for not wanting to spend a lot of time and space delving deeply into the psyche of the character attempting to ruin my OTP.

If you as a reader happen to really love Ron but also ship Dramione, great! This fandom is huge, there’s room for everyone, and we are blessed with an abundance of stories. There are plenty of Dramione stories where Ron isn’t a character or where he’s written as more supportive of Draco and Hermione getting together.

- Elle

#dramione #hp fandom #submission

8 notes · View notes

pinkdogplushie · 4 years

Text

Sanders Sides Headcanons: animal traits and the concept of "darkening"

Anyone who likes Sanders Sides and doesn't live under a rock knows that the Dark Sides possess animal traits and motifs. Let's see:

Janus's animal is the snake. It's quite clear just by looking at him: half of his face is covered in scales, one of his eyes is snake-like, a two-headed snake is his symbol, etc.

Remus's animal is the octopus. This is not as obvious as with Janus, but his symbol features octopus tentacles and his costume has green octopus-like details.

Virgil is the spider. While this hasn't been shown on the show, it's a popular fanon, and there's plenty of fanart of Virgil with spider traits (multiple eyes, spider legs, fangs etc.). Aside from that, spider imagery tends to be seen around Virgil: his room is full of spider webs, he has a (toy) pet spider, his curtains have spiders printed on them, he hisses, etc.

However, recently we've seen that animal traits are not exclusive to Dark Sides: Patton, in a great moment of stress, transformed into a giant frog. While this was just to keep with the running gag of Patton's love for Frogger, it's also the first time we've seen a Light Side explicitly taking animal traits. Nevertheless, we must analyze the context where these traits were revealed.

Which takes us to the concept of "darkening".

To discuss darkening, we must see what exactly is a 'dark' Side.

Dark doesn't mean "evil", or at least not irredeemable evil. All Sides mean well and want to help Thomas or get more recognition. Yes, even trash boi Remus.

What dark means is "counterproductive". Even if they mean well, Dark Sides don't seem to help Thomas; or at least, not in an obvious way.

Janus wants Thomas to take care of himself, and that's a noble endeavor; but he still prefers sabotage and manipulation to being upfront with his intentions and helping straightforwardly, which led to Thomas making bad decisions and being confused by his actions. It was only when Janus was actually honest and worked with the other Sides instead of against them that Thomas finally understood what he was trying to do and the others (sans Roman and Virgil) felt more at ease with him around.

Remus wants Thomas to acknowledge the dark parts of himself and be more risqué with his creative content; but he doesn't understand that the reason Thomas doesn't want to acknowledge the thoughts Remus produces is because they disturb him, and it's not that he doesn't want to delve into more "edgy" stuff, but he'd rather approach them from a more serious and philosophical angle. Thomas (both Sanders Sides Thomas and real life Thomas) doesn't shy away from discussing mental health issues, showing the impact of a religious upbringing in a person's moral code, researching topics like intrusive thoughts and the ambiguity of selfishness, or even showing himself and his friends (and Leslie Odom Jr.) dying in the name of being 'altruistic'. Remus just doesn't understand that, and that probably has to do with the fact Roman took King Creativity's moral compass when the Moral Split happened, resulting in Roman being mindful of people's sensibilities and Remus being completely amoral.

Finally, Virgil, prior to reconciling with Thomas and the Light Sides, only wanted to protect his charge, and still does; but acting antagonistic and scaring all the others so they'd pay attention to him only worked against him: Logan didn't understand him, neither Janus nor Remus took him seriously, and Thomas and Roman resented him for doing his job. Sure, most of the blow came from the others not really appreciating Virgil or making the effort of understanding his actions, but part of it - as he himself admitted - was Virgil acting scary so he would be listened to. The moment Thomas actually understood his function and accepted him just the way he is, Virgil eased up and started to relax around the others, leading his input to be seen as helpful and he himself to try and keep a more friendly stance towards the others.

So, having established that, to Sides, being dark is being counterproductive towards the charge (Thomas), we can say that "darkening" is the process of a Side accidentally or deliberately being unhelpful to the point Thomas is badly hurt, at least from their perspective. Darkening is a corruption or bastardization of a Side's core function caused by incredible stress and confusion: when a Side doesn't know what to do anymore, when everything they do or say is wrong, their own domain of thought turns against them and transforms them into an extreme version of themselves.

Darkening is like a Steven Universe corruption or magical girls witching out: despair, stress and confusion warp a Side's mind until they don't know who they are anymore, and their state of mind is reflected in their physical form.

Which brings us back to animal traits.

Because what happens when Patton finally has enough and refuses to listen to more moral dilemmas?

He gains animal traits, just like 'dark' Sides have. He becomes unhelpful, useless (from his own perspective). Patton darkens in that moment. Darkening is a fall from grace.

You know who else become animal-like when they fall from grace?

Christian demons.

That's right, folks: Remus is not the only one who reflects Thomas's Catholic upbringing. Subconsciously, all Sides are bound by religious beliefs, and these affect them when they're at their lowest. Patton, being the one who received and internalized the Catholic moral code when Thomas was growing up, is the first to show how 'falling from grace' affects a Side's physical form.

When an angel falls and becomes a demon, they gain animal traits to reflect their more violent and primal nature (ignoring the fact many of these demons had actually been Pagan deities before Chistianity took them and turned them into incarnations of evil). This also comes (at least, according to Good Omens, I don't know much of real-life demonology) with a change of name. Fanon gives different names to Light Sides's dark versions: @parano-vigilant-snake-boy, in response to my "King Creativity Rex" theory, called dark! Roman Burnout.

So, in short, when a Side (again, and I cannot stress this enough, from their point of view) fails to live up to Thomas's needs, they fall from his grace. They turn from guardian angels to demons and adopt the traits of such. They darken. Those who never believed themselves to be angels in the first place, like Janus, Remus and Virgil, adopt the traits from the get-go. It must also be noted that the animals that the Sides adopt are regarded as demonic or spooky, such as snakes, octopuses and spiders.

With all this said, what would other Sides' dark forms be if they believed they've fallen from grace?

Patton, as seen, takes on frog traits. Frogs, or rather toads, have been regarded as demonic animals: one of demon king Bael's forms is that of a toad. It probably has to do with their rather unpleasant appearance. There's a post here on Tumblr (I don't remember the author, please tell me if you're it or know who it is) that says that some frogs have heart-shaped pupils, which suits our sweet boi Patton. His name, based on his extreme, insane altruism and to keep with the religious themes, would be something along the lines of Martyrdom.

Logan takes on owl traits. This has been already explored in @parano--vigilant reverse au. The owl is considered an animal of wisdom: one of the goddess Athena's atributes was the owl, and the character of Owl in Winnie the Pooh is supposed to be wise (but kinda falls short). However, the owl has also been considered a demonic animal: Great Prince of Hell Stolas was depicted in the Ars Goetia as a crowned owl with long legs. In the Middle Ages, certain types of knowledge, like medicine and astronomy (the latter of which Logan adores) were forbidden because they were 'demonic' in nature. So, in a certain way, the owl also represents forbidden knowledge, and being a creature of the night only adds to the spookyness. Logan would relate a lot to the owl, given the others often don't want to listen to him or don't like what he says because it's the cold, hard truth. His name would probably be something along the lines of Forbidden or Secret Knowledge, if anything to reflect an attitude of 'I know something that you don't' or 'I could tell you but I don't want to'. His owl imagery might also be related to Thomas's love of Disney and based on the character of Owl.

Roman takes on goat and/or ram traits. Not only are these common traits for demons (including Lucifer himself), but goats also represent the wild, untamed and lustful side of humanity. Fauns and satyrs, for example, were half-goat mythological creatures that spent their time chasing women and accompanying the god of hedonism himself, Dyonisus. Roman is Thomas's passionate and fanciful side who likes to indulge and enjoy the pleasures of life, as well as the most romantic and the most concerned with courting Thomas's crushes. Besides, you need to be pretty extra to give yourself goat and/or ram horns. His name would vary depending on how rejection affects him: he could turn into Wrath or Revenge if he lets his more fiery side take hold, or he could turn into Burnout if he finally gives up and refuses to help Thomas anymore after his charge seemingly betrayed him.

The Orange Side has been headcanonned around as a butterfly. Depending on his nature, this could go two ways: if he's an independent Side, then he would be a moth, keeping up with the spoopy theme; if he turns out to be King Creativity/Rex (please visit the post with my theory of who the orange Side will be), then he would probably be a butterfly, the animal of metamorphosis (reflects how Rex is the fusion of Roman and Remus) and a 'pretty', flashy counterpart to the rather drab moth, reflecting how extra the Creativitwins are and how detached from both the Dark and Light Sides he is (because he's a mix of both, he gets to pick an animal, like a Dark Side, but he gets a non-demonic or spooky one, suited for a non-darkened Light Side).

Hoo wee, that was a long one. This might be just baloney, but please tell me what you think. If you've made it this far, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I spent a lot of time in this theory.

14 notes · View notes

eyeslikefoxglove · 4 years

Text

Episode 18 - Baby!Yunmeng Sibs & thoughts all over the place

Hey there, I’m doubling up today, still super tired, still scatterbrained, still not holding out hope that you’ll get very much insight from me today. I hope you enjoy!

Oh it is going to fuck WN up when he realises exactly what he just encouraged his sister to do.

... that’s not a chicken. Wyd Netflix translators?

A wild SL appears!

I’m not going to make a joke about foreign bodies in eyeballs because Not The Time. But god do I want to.

Those are big fucking needles to go sticking them into someone’s skull.

Is this again a cultural thing I’m missing? My first instinct is to think that WWX is giving his back to JC when he’s spinning his tale about BSSR because he doesn’t have the emotional strength to lie to his brother’s face. But maybe it’s just a Chinese thing to give you’re back to people when you’re the only one eating, idk, in Spain is super rude to not wait until everyone is seated and served to start eating.

Listen, the only reason I’ll accept as to why JC didn’t clock in on the lie and call WWX on his “if I’m ever in a dire situation go up the mountain and ask the immortal for help” bs is because he’s grieving so much right now. He knows his brother lived on the streets as a kid fighting dogs for food, that’s fucking dire and he’s aware of it.

(He’s eating the chicken’s skin, I can’t, chicken skin grosses me out so fucking much. I will eat blood sausage and cow’s tongue, but fuck chicken skin my god)

At this point I’m so deep in fanon that I don’t know if it is true or not. But I remember reading a fic in which JC found out WWX had turned to demonic cultivation because he’d lost his core, to WZL he assumed, and he kept wondering if it was his fault that WWX couldn’t get it fixed because he (JC) used WWX’s name with BSSR. Obviously we all know what happened and I don’t remember if the transplant was revealed or not but yeah, imagine thinking it is your fault your baby brother lost his core and then you went an led an army against him.

And no, I don’t consider the transplant JC’s fault because as the amazing drwcn (god I really want to write is as Dr Wen) pointed out here, his consent was never given, and make no mistake, it should’ve been asked and he was absolutely sound enough of mind to consent. I’ll bring that post up several times, fear not, you’ll get sick of it.

BABIES!

Bless Shijie’s soul, she took a look at baby!WWX and went “MINE. MY BABY. YOU CANT HURT HIM NOW”. (Of course the same happened with JC, but like, when he was born).

I AM NOT CRYING.

(Who tf am I kidding, of course I am, I don’t think anyone can’t watch the “we must always be together and never be parted” scene knowing how it goes and not cry)

You can see that JC and WWX are having two very different conversations when they’re putting Shijie in the carriage. Again going back to my WWX and Jaime Lannister parallel WWX is not afraid Shijie isn’t going to forgive him, he’s afraid that both her and JC will see him as useless when he can’t deliver his usual results. And I know he knows they love him but *points at his trauma conga line* that. Also, at this point he’s fully convinced he’ll meet JC down the mountain and they’ll go hopefully mount an offensive against the Wens; he isn’t thinking about demonic cultivation yet (he probably is, but more in abstract) so he’s probably trying to come up with something that will help him hide he’s coreless.

SL can’t find the words to apologise to his boyfriend and like everyone else in this damn drama why would they communicate like grownups?

It isn’t a particularly helpful observation but at least we can appreciate WQ’s braincell recognising they’re self-sacrificing idiots.

Can I take a second to point out that I love LWJ in a cold fury? Not only is he badass, but he knows where to hit where it hurts the most (stepping on the flag, “you’re not qualified to talk to me”, “what is black and what is white”) yes please I’ll take all of it. Btw same way I think he’s got a Yiling Patriarch kink I’m pretty sure WWX has a HGJ (that’s how I call this iteration of his character) one. And I can’t remember if our gremlin has ever seen him go on his cold righteous rage mode but please, tell me some of you remember and we’ll get WWX’s version of “yes fuck me up please” eyes (you know what I’m talking about, that face LWJ makes when WWX drinks his wine for him at the Jin banquet). I need to know. For science.

(Also, that would’ve made a great incense burner chapter instead of the mess that’s the library one. But then again, I’m basing my dirty thoughts on YiBo’s expression so ignore me. But yeah, can’t believe there isn’t a bunch of smut one-shots written with that scene in mind)

Knowing that JC is going to find out it is all a farce in the future I just want to give him a hug in all these scenes.

That’s all, thanks for reading, I’m gonna go waste the rest of my Sunday. Have a nice day!

#the untamed #cql #mdzs #mdzs live action #foxglove watches cql #foxglove watches the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #jiang yanli #jiang cheng #wen qing #wen ning #yunmeng shuangjie #yunmeng trio #yunmeng siblings #yunmeng bros

8 notes · View notes

bionicdragonguardian1 · 4 years

Text

Ranma 2/4

Part Two: Chapter 13 - 25

Unless someone comes up with a better name I’m sticking with this one

HOW tf is the principal crazier than before?!

Yup, spreading out the Kuno-Principal thing

Is Sasuke seriously an anime-only?!?

Like I said Ryoga needs to chill a little first

Main reason I don’t like Ukyo That scene where she blatantly states she’s fine with turning Ranma into something he’s not rather than helping him

(Ignoring the near constant amount of undermining his abilities)

“I’m gonna cheer him up” as she holds a sword! Why?!

Ranma you dummy, hug Akane!

I hate this demon/ghost cat

Shampoo, you manipulative bitch

Akane learns to swim like a normal person

The lifeguard in me can’t do it

The principal is background shenanigans

Totally forgot about the kid who wants to play video games and is “weak” bc of it

Definitely need to find a different reason tho

Lazy little shits are a pain

Also his mom is crap

Akane… why you be dumb?

Weird Happosai is Santa plot…

What is with the Excalibur meets lucky 1000 meets fairy godmother?

Good news is, with what I’ve done to Kuno’s understanding of Ranma’s curse Ranma knows Kuno wouldn’t give him that wish and calls it quits sooner

Someone just needs to explain Ranma’s really confusing sense of morality to me

Cuz it’s either on 110% or it’s nonexistent, now normally nonexistent is for Kuno but still

Look Ranma’s got ego problems but he ain’t stupid

No betting the Tendo Dojo at five!

On what planet is that a legal document?!?

Some1 tell me why Shampoo using Ranma as a stop ramp bugs me so bad

That mo when you can’t remember if the Hot Spring Challenge is when Ukyo met Shampoo in the anime…

I don’t think so…

Akane you made me need to google a word

That like never happens Ranma you idiot

So close but so far

So much more logic, thanks

I mean more insanity, but it explains why Ranma swapped clothes

Finally! Ranma apologizes

Jesus Christ someone would think I won the goddamn lotto with how loud I cheered when this happened

600% approve of this over what happened in the anime

Oof poor Ranma

Hahahaha in your face Shampoo, but I also think I know why Ranma chose it

Poor Ryoga

I KNEW this guy was coming I still hate it

YEET you can’t PAY ME to do this arc

Look, is it the fact that I had etiquette and dance classes as a child and everyone assumed this is what it was like? Probably.

It wasn’t so I won’t.

Any1 else notice how Nabiki is one of the few ppl that uses she/her when Ranma is in his cursed form no matter what?

Why does this bug me?

Akane, stop beating Ranma up, honestly

This is closer to abuse rather than teasing

*sighs*

Gotta work that out of the narrative, intentional or not

Every1 sayin she’s violent isn’t helping

Like I said really fucking morally GREY Nabiki

How grey can you go before you get black?

Let’s find out together

Can everyone PLEASE stop treating Ranma like an object?!

I literally can’t tell if Nabiki is fucking Aro or not…

STRESS

Why is this so hard?!

I hate seeing Akane cry

I know she’s playing Ranma like a kazoo, but the point still stands

WHY ARE YOU TWO SO DUMB?!

Nope, nevermind it’s just Ranma that’s a fuckin idiot I blame Genma

No, I’m not kidding

*sighs* I don’t condone Nabiki doing this in any way just for the record THAT’S not an apology Ranma!

This mess is totally your fault Nabiki

STRESS

am I intentionally pointing out where this work of fiction is stressing me out since I’m now online schooling and suffering for it? Yes, fuck off.

Actually, don’t.

But Fuck Covid19

Aww his hat’s back!

Why do I love his hat so much?

No, seriously Akane’s so cute!

Oooww tree

y’know the sec she realized what Ranma was doing Nabiki should’ve TOLD him!

Congrats Ranma ya got the wrong sis- I mean the right- but wrong- dammit y’know what I mean

Some1 give me a logical explanation for why Ranma goes on a date with a panda doodle, PLEASE

I do appreciate the epic battle background fight for the anime

Further proof that Happosai sucks

Manga name’s somehow less believable I think it’s the use of “snowman” rather than “yeti”

Did Soun just find out that Pchan is Ryoga, and say nothing?

Ooo, Imma commit arson

Remember when I said obey Physics and Medical, I meant it

Arson is wrong and I know this but “transgender bitch” crosses the line

I will do it

Shampoo is a fucking yandere psycho

Just sayin “we’ll see who can get him first”

honestly, any other group and I’d be annoyed, but these four can’t work together for shit I

’m still pissed at Taro, but he can kill Happosai, please

I can’t tell if Shampoo, Mousse and Ryoga are being purposefully obtuse or not

I just reread their names I know the answer to at least two of them

Idk how I feel about Kuno-amnesia we’ll see

yep, Kuno gives me the creeps w or w/out his memories

kinda wish this was anime

jesus christ, poor Ranma

press f to pay respects for Ranma’s stomach

InstaRegret

Also Ukyo’s assumption that some1 can make Ranma doing anythin he doesn’t want to is crap

Like HELLO! Wake up moron!

Nabiki, I mean this in the nicest way possible, shut the fuck up

You’re making it worse

Also TALK to each other you ding dongs!

OH RIGHT! I almost forgot about the biggest fucking insult that Ukyo said of her own freewill!

It also proves that she doesn’t know Ranma as a person AT ALL!

It’s not a pick one or the other kind of thing

The fact that she thinks Ranma would accept that is insulting

The fact that she thinks that is insulting and makes me hate the patriarchy

Again, treating him like a prize than a person

*tries not scream, sighs*

Nabiki, you’re the cause of at least 30% of the stress I get from this

You having feelings ain’t the fucking problem here Ukyo, you not acknowledging Ranma’s is

I hate fake criers, anyone who does this I hate you

Always let others in on your plans, kids

When’s every1 gonna realize Ranma’s “wishy-washy” cuz no one’s ever committed to HIM before?

This episode confused me, I’m prepared to be MORE confused

Less confused, I’m surprised

Gonsunkugi, you creep

There is SO much wrong with this

*shudders*

WHAT?!

Y’know I didn’t think Gosunkugi could surprise me, I was wrong

Happosai still sucks unfortunately for all of us he’s now weird on top of it

I love how much Ranma needs to be kicked in the teeth to get any character development out of him

Ryoga is my #1 choice for it, always

Ranma… why are you like this?

Genma, emotional range of a goddamn wall

I am jealous of Ranma’s brain

I could be SO mean with the Shishihokodan

Also, are they implying that Ryoga has depression?

Gimme Ranma’s brain

I won’t ask for his confidence cuz that’s impossible but I want his brain

In Akane’s defense, given what she knows she couldn’t’ve known how badly that would affect Ryoga

I ain’t gonna say “leave Shampoo” cuz that’s cruel

I like the “turn into a Cat” rather than the “Can’t Cross” & the use of New Year’s rather than random but this still brings around the fact that she doesn’t LISTEN to him

Mousse you’re NOT helping in fact you’re actively making it worse did you miss when he said blatantly “I don’t wanna”

oh, sure, NOW you’re ok with it

ugh Mousse, you have a brain, I’ve SEEN you use it. Do so now.

This entire episode weirded me out

IDK if it’s the age-dff or the fact that he was makin it up and somehow everyone thought this was okay …

I won’t YEET it but MASSIVELY change

heheheh

Light bulb

NOPE I’m keeping this surprise to myself

it was a rather sweet end tho

Oh, this episode is a mess and a half, honestly

Also Nabiki, congrats you’ve literally enabled a stalker S

o many laws are broken here

okay, so Kodachi not being in on Ranma’s secret after so long makes sense purely because she doesn’t go to their school

however, with what i’ve done to make Kuno marginally less dumb it makes a little bit less sense…

I literally hate Kuno with what I’ve done to his logic of Ranma’s transformation, but that’s the point Kodachi… how do I handle you… oh, duh!

Ok, so Kodachi is now also terrible

I’m trying to figure out where this is in the plot since there is ZERO

Ok, there’s a LINE, Nabiki

This one would be touching, if it didn’t end the way it does

TALK gentlemen!

It won’t kill you

Fuck a parent that says they’re not your parent for no reason, EVER

I am going to make this hurt

Also gonna take out Genma’s fail at stealth

Remember I said Akane’s going to learn to cook

heheheh

sorry, I just love this idea

Oh this is SO against the rules it’s not even funny

tiny adjustment so they actually have quasi-competent referees

Crazy wants crazy?I won’t stop ‘em

I reiterate: CHEATING!

I am aware that the “ending” apparently sets them back to the start in terms of their relationship but I swear to God if they pretend shit like this didn’t happen I will scream

Someone ships something other than Akane x Ranma PLEASE explain why/how

don’t ship bash but I would insight when you explain

STICK TO CANON

please trust me, I’m a multi/poly/crack shipper

(for frame of reference to a bnha I ship DabiHawks)

I understand the appeal of Fanon

however, I would like to stick to Canon here

so no Fanon

Canon Only

Fully love that high kick

Genma shows Ranma’s secret here, but they already know… so… I shall find out

Ooo, you’re not getting out of this Ranma

Do you know how tempting it is for Akane to at least tell Ranma she’s a girl- oh wait gendered sports… right…

Ranma…

if you didn’t realize it was Akane when she hit you for calling her klutzy I can’t help you

I want to commit arson at some of the comments…

but can confirm that these are HS boys

Doesn’t mean I gotta like it

I was wondering how long I was going to have to wait before tearing into Nodoka

FINALLY

Took me WAY too long to remember that Nodoka calling Ranko tomboyish is due to how he speaks in Japanese

I’ll need to figure that out since… English

Can I explode on Genma’s choice to take Ranma at TWO?!

Can I further explode on both of them for making a TWO YEAR OLD “sign” a Seppuku Pledge?!

I hate both of them, honest

ALSO communication!

Genma! Just fucking TELL HIM!

Making her transphobic is SO tempting

I don’t mean in a “i hate you” way I mean in a “I sheltered my whole life” way

It’s still bad, and painful, but she can easily learn from that

Or be worse, this could go 2 ways

I feel so bad for Akane for this entire conversation

Also poor Ranma like ouch…

Awkward

I’m going to make this hurt something fierce

Slight change since I’m hoping Ranma isn’t as “peak fight or flight” by this point

Genma don’t be an asshole for FIVE MINUTES

Please, that’s all I want

If she doesn’t learn the truth before the end I will make a bad decision

Really, I will

Don’t kill Genma, you can’t

Akane, don’t say like you wouldn’t… honestly

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, honestly, just look the other way Ranma

*sigh*

Ranma…

See, this kind of crap here is why I really don’t like Cologne

any other day Akane’d be right

oof, that means he self aware that girls flock to him

I’m quite frustrated by that if I’m honest

Ranma is clueless about all the wrong things

I love him but God I wanna punch him sometimes

Why is there a swing from the ceiling?!

I had a jolt from the way they set that panel up, thanks

Are you trying to kill me?!

Thank you Cologne, now fuck off

Oh thank God, at least he learned

This is nonanime stuff so I have no clue what’s happening but anything to make Happosai miserable

I’m enjoying this immensely

ugh, “think of it as a compliment” ghost

Eat me

okay, yeah, as much as I want him dead, that’s worse

I’m glad he’s not a one-and-done character

I will forever ONLY call him Taro when it is NonDialogue

Wait Saffron as in big-bad Saffron?

I literally only know pieces of the end so I’m just pulling from what I know

Lol, wait… was that soldier Anime only too?

I almost liked you there for a sec Taro

Now I’m pissed again

bravo

Oh, YIKES

… if Ranma falls into the Spring of Drowned Twins would he split?

I’m not going to DO IT, obviously!

I’m just curious okay…

that answers that… and kills anyone other than Ranma’s plan to turn back to normal I hope everyone is aware of that

oof

Since when is there a castle on an island in Japan

tis just a scratch, I’ll admit that was funny

Ranma… your stomach gets you in so many problems

ok, that was wholesome

I approve

Okay, so my understanding is that Mrs. Tendo got sick, so I can understand the reactions to Kasumi

BUT I still find it odd because… well… anyone in my house gets sick and you mostly can’t even tell I mean, minus a worse attitude and a mask, other than that though, nope we keep ‘er movin’

I’m moving this section sooner EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!

I like her mom’s cookbook tho

I could make a Ranma x Ryoga joke here, but I won’t

I also won’t make a Ranma x Ryoga joke chapter cuz I’m nice like that

Actually I might have no choice

I’m FINE just dying

Help

my multishipper heart is dying here

I love this

InstaRegret for THREE people

If nothing else, I’m impressed

(well three once Ranma’s back to normal)

I need help

Fangirling/Fanboying/Fanpeopling is dangerous folks, remember that

Poor Ryoga

Though I too feel that right now like where do I look because everything coming in at mach 6

I’m changing that one scene tho cuz I can’t justify the aftermath without it

This… is… weird to say the least

I feel like I should just expect anything with Gosunkugi remotely involved to be weird at this point

okay, not as weird as I expected

glad it was short tho

I think I am officially out of anime terf

YAY, new content!

This is why I ask about any ship that isn’t Ranma x Akane

Also, names?

That- that- that can’t...

I DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW THAT!

EWWW

gross

WHY?!?!!

also, biology, that’s not how that works!!

You two ARE idiots

Ryoga you die I’ll kill you

Well… that hurt to see so quick…

Ranma, get up!

I officially hate this Herb guy

ok, so if you put HOT water in the ladle do you stay that way forever?

Alright! Way to go Ryoga!

I need to stop shipping Rivals it’s bad for my health

fucking eat it you dick!

Poor Akane

nevermind, Ranma you idiot

awwwww

ok, so that whole no more Anime-content… I was wrong, and I admit that, but still

I’m just thinking of my bff when they realize she’s an adult cuz, yeah, she’s like that too

except like physically an adult unlike tiny-Hinako

oh MY GOD Ukyo you’re driving me up the goddamn wall I swear!

THANK YOU AKANE!

“You’re all Ranma’s fiancées” when only one of them actually is

GIANT SIGH OF ANNOYANCE

Ranma, learn to communicate, PLEASE!

Okay… so is this where they figured it out or are some ppl still in the dark?

TIMELINE!!

Honestly, mood Ranma, mood

This entire plot line confuses me if I’m being totally honest

I mean I live for the Akane focus, but there are so many better ways to do this

#ranma ½ #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #ranma #akane tendo #nabiki tendo #kasumi tendo #soun tendo #genma saotome #nodoka saotome #tatewaki kuno #kodachi kuno #full series au #bc I know no restraint #I'm doing this to distract from stress shut up #don't judge me #COVID19 binge watch

6 notes · View notes

flyswhumpcenter · 5 years

Text

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. I don’t have any request left, so feel free to send in suggestions for this card!).

I still don't know what I'm doing.

I need to respect my BTHB prompts more than that, this is a catastrophe in terms of prompt filling. My characterization is literally all over the place with this one, but you can consider it a way to break the ice with new characters I don't know entirely yet. I've also taken great inspiration from my friend Azure's fanon (which is a nicer way to say I fucked up trying to write for her fanon) It's been a struggle coming up with interpretations for these two, so this is... meh at best, but I hope someone out there will like it anyway; At least, I hope it'll be a stepping stone towards better writing. I am very sorry for this, FE3H fandom, this is weird and experimental in nature. I was kind of trying things out and I've been in the wrong mood for this fic (as in: Inazuma Eleven mood sksk), but hey, if my friend and/or someone else likes this, then it'll have done its job.

I may come back to this ship another time with better ideas as to how to write them, but at least, the painful first approach is done and over with. Phew.

------

Shifting Temperatures

Summary:

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses (pre-Timeskip, fanon-heavy) Ship: F!Byleth/Claude

Wordcount: 2K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

--------

The monastery was a place he didn’t like and had never liked. He also didn’t have the intention of ever liking the place, this much was obvious: it was cold, so cold, and it was a prison he had been confined to. Yeah, sure, as if that was going to motivate it to become some kind of king over a kingdom.

Being forced to remain in just one room of that monastery just made things worse.

It was all because of the weather that never knew what it wanted and the monastery’s absolutely garbage isolation. It was always cold, in that damn thing: stone didn’t protect them from the outside temperatures as much as these people thought it did. Spend more than a week in this place without falling sick, he dared the sky above: even a god couldn’t withstand the shifts in temperatures and the rain that kept pouring at the wrong moments.

Curse that thing, and curse having to live with an ailment of any kind. That wasn’t fun, that wasn’t the way he wanted to live his life! Being stuck in this place wasn’t enough, did they have to add on top of everything sicknesses?

Nobody had ever been served better than by themselves, so Claude did as he usually did: feign normalcy and continue on with his day as … “less worse” than possible. It shouldn’t have been this hard to ignore a lingering headache and slightly stiff limbs. After all, they were all warriors in the making, post-training hours always felt sore.

Classes sored them dry, at times, too, but he minded them less. Well, he still minded them enough to skip on some of them from time to time, but it was the lesser evil of the monastery’s lifestyle. Attribute that to the teacher: she was gorgeous, quirky and always there for them. If there was one other person he’d have trusted with his life, aside from his parents, it’d have been her; and he was grateful for her to be with the Golden Deers.

He may have also had the tiniest crush on her, but that was a mere detail.

The illness didn’t subdue, to his misfortune. As if the world was out to get him, the lingering feeling had turned into a full-blown headache and he could only describe himself as “intensely lethargic”, if the mess his mind was in had allowed for clear words. Instead, putting together a full sentence and not wanting to immediately sleep for three days was close to impossible, so skipping class it was: he’d just pretend he had been concocting poisons or something in the meantime.

He didn’t like skipping the opportunity to show off to his classmates, but what could he do about it? It wasn’t like he’d be able to pull out anything extraordinary with the pitiful condition he was in. A sneezing archer was ridiculous, he’d only get laughed at, or worried over, and he wanted neither of these options.

But the Professor had her eyes everywhere. She had hands and feet in every room of the monastery, even if she wasn’t conscious of it, and he felt disappointed in himself not to be relied on by her.

And there began a paradox. He missed her company, her eyes, her words, her scent; but he couldn’t let himself be seen by her. In a world where he could only really trust her, he didn’t want to her get concerned over him and call someone else because she was no doctor. He was much better off taking care of this on his own with what knowledge he had and compose with bits and pieces he could gather, and just showing up for her classes. Sitting on a chair and listening to someone couldn’t be a chore, right?

Wrong. As it turned out, he wasn’t made to be a cleric, and everything felt blurry around him. It was weird, fuzzy feeling: the faces of his comrades were unclear, their voices muffled and more and more distant, and his vision was severely hindered. Keeping up the façade and nosing around weren’t options anymore: he had to focus just to remain afloat, it was no time to be sneaking around trying to find new information he had never heard of before.

And he knew his façade had been shattered when the professor asked him to stay behind after a class he was regretting attending.

He was, either lucky or the polar opposite, to have seen the world spin around him in unimaginable speeds, spots invading his sight, passing out right before she could tell him anything.

Not that coming to hadn’t been a bad decision all in itself afterwards. He had managed to get himself landed in the very room he had been avoiding for an entire week: the infirmary. His head was still felt with lead, lolling on a pillow, as his eyes tried to focus on whatever the hell was around him. The summer sunlight passing through the window was doing no wonder to his shivering skin, but that discomfort had nothing on the humiliation that washed over him when he noticed Byleth was sitting next to the bed.

It couldn’t possibly get worse, and she looked pensive, almost lost in thoughts. If he didn’t know better, he’d have supposed she had fallen asleep sitting there all alone, perhaps speaking to a wall. He cleared his throat as to get back into the swift of things and still look cool (there was no way he was letting the situation slip away from him entirely).

“Didn’t see you there, Teach,” he greeted her with a hoarse voice that hurt to use and the least pitiful smile he could pull off. It helped that it was Byleth gracing his eyes and not anyone else, truth be told.

“Ah, you’re awake, Claude,” she broke out of her daydreaming, face obviously bothered by something, undoubtedly him. “How you’re feeling?”

“Take a guess,” he avoided the question with.

“…terrible, then?”

“I wouldn’t have used that word,” he replied as he learned his back against the wall behind it, “but not too far, I suppose.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Byleth closed the book she had held in her hands all along, before putting it aside and tensing suddenly. At least, it seemed sudden: truth be told, his swimming vision and sudden wave of dizziness didn’t help him decipher her body language more accurately than a soldier bleeding to death trying to guess where he was hitting with a desperate sword.

“You’re still burning,” she mumbled under her breath, sounding further than she should have.

“That’s just because I’m hot,” he tried boasting, without any success, and what he could see of her face only confirmed his wittiness wasn’t at its best today.

Sucked to be there, sucked even more to be stuck there.

Right as he tried to muster an argument to let him escape from the infirmary when he knew he was doomed to stay there, he got a glimpse of his mother’s concerned face, before the vision broke off and he was left with his teacher again, his heart having missed a beat and a tear wanting to take shape.

“Is there something wrong?” She asked.”

“No… Nothing, Teach.”

“It… better be that way.”

Her hands nervously grabbed the book back, fingers clutch around it. Typical Byleth, he thought as he felt a small smirk appear on his face, but he coughed before he could even try telling himself he felt better.

“You’re on bed rest for the days to come,” she told him without making eye contact. “Take that as an order from your teacher, please.”

“You’ve noticed?” Nobody would have cared before if he was sick or not.

“Of course I have. I may not be the best professor, but I’m trying. You’re the one who told me a teacher was supposed to be invested in their students, aren’t you?”

A butchered giggle got out of him as he remembered the conversation. “That’s… actually right.”

Byleth crossed her arms, finally facing him again. Her cheeks were a little red, the expression not letting go of its sternness by much.

“The class kind of freaked out when you fainted. I’d appreciate it if you never did that again.”

“Huh… Same,” it was his turn to look away. “That wasn’t an ideal experience.”

“I’d also like it if you took this more seriously… You don’t know how concerned I got for the past week.”

“I know, I know, not that glorious for a future leader, huh?” He coughed again, case on point. “I promise I’ll be a better student, or at least try. I don’t like to see you with such a long face, Teach.”

Almost as much as being confined to bed because of some silly cold.

He sighed.

“…how many days am I supposed to stay here, Teach?”

“I’m not sure, I’d say a couple days… Just the time to see how you’ll be holding up, I also guess.”

“You don’t have actual information?”

She gritted her teeth on the inside, her fingers clutching the book harder.

“I really don’t, Claude. I don’t decide how long people spend in an infirmary.”

She sighed back, as if to respond to his earlier one.

“Moreover, I don’t think we should have this conversation right now. You look exhausted, you should be sleeping. I promise nothing’s going to happen to you here.”

“Yeah, I’m sure of that…”

He felt faint.

“On second thought,” he picked himself back up, “I’m not entirely against this idea… Does it need to be here.”

“I’m afraid that yes.”

Resigned by the circumstances, he shrivelled back into the bed, trying to make the most of what was offered to him (at least, it could only be better than dying on a battlefield without having the occasion to see the end of his project coming to fruition, right?). There was a feeling that he couldn’t win that fight, at least not when he felt this weak (a disgusting thought), so he cancelled on his plans.

Not when he could see the face of his mother on that of his teacher’s just because she happened to glance at him when he was doing less than superb, not when he was aware of how sensitive he’d get at the first opportunity given. That was unsightly to say the least.

Yet, his entire character shifted when he saw Byleth get up. Before he knew it, before he could keep himself from doing such an embarrassing thing, his hand grabbed her wrist and he looked at her with all the intensity he could muster in his eyes. Must have been quite the sight…

“What’s wrong?” She asked in this shy, soft voice of hers that never failed to sooth him.

“Could you… stay?” It hurt to get out of his already sore throat. I think I need to… discuss some things with you…” Wow, even lying was failing on him now! What the hell was he doing!

“I suppose I can always grade papers in this room… It’ll be calmer than the library, in a way.”

The smile she gave him made it sound less like an excuse and more like her intentions.

“I simply would have never expected you to ask that from me, Claude.”

Now was a chance to redeem his credibility.

“I’m always unpredictable,” he proudly tried to state before coughing.

“I also believe you should be resting, instead of, huh… Talking to me.”

Still, she sat back down, and he had a feeling of safety that had been missing from the air around them until now.

“If it takes me being here for you not to pull this again, then I have no choice, don’t I?”

“…most likely…”

Everything turned to black again, and the voices Byleth told him at last didn’t make it to his ears, but they sounded nice nonetheless.

He was out like a candle blown by the wind.

#bad things happen bingo #fire emblem three houses #byleth (fire emblem)#claude von riegan #claudeth #sickfic #hurt comfort #ship: golden starry sky

22 notes · View notes

zig-a-zow · 6 years

Text

As told by Aiden [Chapter 1: Come hang out]

Summary: Aiden Zhou had everything figured out. He was a Junior at high school, he would graduate in two years, attend a prestigious school such as Juilliard and become the best musician he could be. Of course, despite being practically a prodigy at what he loved, he had a lot to learn yet, especially the most important lesson: there was more to life than what he once thought.

Pairings: Aiden x MC (Grace Ashton)

Word count: 3123

Notes: Hello there! What is this, you might be asking yourself? Well, nothing other than what the title says: High School Story as told by Aiden. The events from the book, but from his perspective, plus extra scenes/fanon lore. There are significant changes in this story, though. For once, I have two MCs, best friends Grace and Callie. However, one of them will be significantly more prominent due to being Aiden's love interest. Also, each chapter has its own song, cause how could I write about Aiden without music included? Click the lyrics to listen. Without further ado, let’s begin.

Ch. 1 (It's right here!) - Ch. 2 - Ch. 3 - Ch. 4 - Ch. 5 - Ch. 6 - Ch. 7 - Ch. 8 (Coming soon!)

And all my friends say

Come hang out , 'cause you're out of your mind

You're working so damn hard you forgot what you like.

"Aiden... Aiden!"

His eyes moved quickly from his music sheet to his mother's face when he heard her voice. He sighed deeply. She was giving him that look again.

"Yes?"

"Darling, could you maybe leave your music sheets aside for a moment?" she asked as softly as she could, smiling slightly. "You haven't even touched your breakfast!"

"Mom... this is very important. I need to figure out this next piece, soon."

"Aiden, listen to your mother."

He casted his father a single, subtly exasperated glance. Of course, Glen Zhou wouldn't notice, since his face was hidden behind today's newspaper. Aiden sighed yet again as he reluctantly put his music sheets back in his bag.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his mother's effort to feed him, but his mind was elsewhere, as usual. He had to show Ezra that he was much more than his first chair trumpet, he was also a composer, and a very talented one at that.

The fact that he had been trying to impress his student director for two years now, to no avail, really got him on his nerves.

He jumped slightly when the alarm on his watch went off, and immediately stood up. It was time for him to leave.

"Aiden, you're forgetting your lunch."

He returned a few steps with a sigh, and his mother gave him a small smile as she carefully tucked the paper bag on his backpack.

"Thanks, mom" he muttered, and pressed a brief kiss on her cheek. "See you later."

He barely heard her reply as he rushed outside, towards his car. No, he wasn't late at all, he just enjoyed being early. The ride was short, as always. It was a relatively small town after all, which had its perks. For example, he knew practically everyone in the neighborhood, at least by name.

He was just parking when he could see Myra waiting for him on the other side of the parking lot, a wide grin spreading on her face as she spotted him as well.

"There he is, the Piano Man!" she exclaimed as she approached and he climbed out of the vehicle. "Any progress on your masterpiece?"

"I know you're being sarcastic, but I will take it anyway" Aiden couldn't help but smile slightly as he hung his bag on his shoulder. "And no... I keep writing a few notes just to erase them five seconds later."

"Mhm... maybe composing isn't your forte after all, huh?"

Aiden didn't even reply, just rolled his eyes and sighed. He was more than used to those silly puns and jokes from her, so it was better to roll with it. Since he had met her, last year at band tryouts, she had always been that cheery, loud, and sometimes obnoxious self.

He still wasn't sure why they were friends at all.

"... never seen that car before!"

He was barely hearing her, but he followed her gaze anyway. He had to agree, that bright red car wasn't one he was familiar with, and he had seen all of them by parking there every single school day. That meant someone had a new car, or there was a new student. Maybe two.

A pair of girls climbed out of the car almost at the same time. The first one was practically bouncing on her heels, her bright blonde hair jumping around with her.

"C'mon, c'mon...!"

"You seem way too excited to be the new kid again" the second girl shoved her car keys in her bag carelessly as she followed her bouncing friend, not paying attention to the only other two people in the place.

But they were paying attention. At least Aiden was. He found it a bit difficult to stop staring at the second girl's perfect dark curls, which bounced with every step she took as she walked away, until she was out of sight.

"Hey, hey!" Myra snapped her fingers in front of him to get his attention, a sly smile on her face. "Already crushing on the new girl, are we? Which one was it?"

"Oh, please" he muttered as he frowned slightly, brushing her words off with an indifferent wave of his hand. "You know very well that I have no interest in... 'crushes', as you like to call them."

"Sure, uh-huh. We'll see about that."

"No, we won't. Now come on, I don't want to be late."

He was painfully aware of the red tone on his cheeks, so he rushed towards the school as quick as he could.

Aiden was very, very thankful that his classes were enough to distract him. He really didn't want to think about that girl's face, her long eyelashes that batted slowly, her dark skin which seemed to glow under the morning sunlight, her chocolate eyes that...

... dang it.

The bell before lunch rang and he let out an exasperated sigh as he headed out of the classroom. He was not 'crushing' on that girl.

No. Definitely not.

He just... appreciated her beauty? Like one would appreciate a painting at the museum. It was an objective feeling.

She was pretty, and he was mesmerized by her. That was it.

"Aiden, my man!" he startled slightly when Ezra Mitchell, his student director, placed one of his arms around his shoulders. "It's good to see you."

"Ezra! The feeling is mutual, believe me" Aiden sighed with relief, a new distraction was just what he needed. "I've been working on a new piece that could really... how would you say it, 'spice up' the band's upcoming performance."

"Look at you, learning today's slang! Good for you, buddy."

Aiden frowned slightly as he slipped out of his embrace, though Ezra didn't seem to notice or care as they continued walking toward their usual table, Myra joining in a few seconds later.

At a nearby table, most of the band was eating and chatting. Aiden wasn't exactly close with any of them, however. He mostly interacted with them only when necessary, so it was a relief that both Ezra and Myra found his company appealing enough to get their own table.

Ezra spent most of lunch talking to Myra about an action movie he watched with his brother on the weekend, Devil's Canyon.

"... he took his shirt off every five minutes! I'm serious, I even counted!"

"Hah! You say that like it's a bad thing!"

Aiden sighed heavily. He had given them more than enough time to talk about such trivial things. He cleared his throat loudly, getting their attention.

"If you're quite done... I would like to direct your attention to more important topics."

"Is this about the music we'll play at halftime, again?" asked Myra, rising an eyebrow at him. "'Cause I'd rather keep talking about Matt Rodriguez and his awesome... acting skills."

"No, Myra, let's hear him out" Ezra turned to him and finally gave him his attention. "What's on your mind, buddy?"

Aiden proceeded to take two different music sheets from his bag, a slightly pleased smile on his face.

"I've got a few new songs we might want to consider for the next halftime show..." he said then, and offered the sheets to Ezra, who began to read them curiously. "There's, 'The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs' by John Cage... or how about 'The Gadfly Suite' by Shostakovitch?"

Ezra shook his head as he read the sheets once again, grimacing slightly.

"I ain't gonna lie, Aiden, these sound pretty obscure."

"You haven't even listened to them yet!"

"Exactly. If I don't recognize them, no one else will either."

Aiden frowned in frustration as he stood up to pace in front of their table, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Very well. Let's suppose that you're right..."

"I am."

"... and most of the school doesn't recognize these pieces" he ignored the interruption, his frown deepening. "Does that really make a difference? I don't think anyone at this school can recognize anything but the fight song, aside from us band members, of course."

"It's not about that, Aiden. We've been playing the fight song every year, and we're not stopping now. End of discussion."

Aiden couldn't help but scowl this time, placing his hands on the table as he leaned forward just slightly. Now he was pissed.

"How can someone self-taught be so conservative? You should be the bold one."

"That's funny. I was just about to ask how someone so classically trained could be so eager to change things up."

Myra rubbed her temples for a second before she raised her own voice in an attempt to stop their argument.

"Let's keep it civil, okay? This is real life, not a Reddit thread" she said with a frown, obviously deciding not to take sides. "Besides, it's just a song."

"Just a song?!"

Aiden heard that his voice go a few notes higher than intended, but he didn't care. He was too busy feeling indignation towards his fellow band member.

"Hey!" a feminine voice shouted, startling the three of them at once. "There's a new person standing here. Pay attention!"

They all turned toward her, and Aiden held his breath for a second.

There she was, the pretty girl with the perfect hair that had mesmerized him earlier. She was frowning at him, arms crossed above her chest. He found her strangely intimidating, taking into consideration that she was at least a few inches shorter than him.

"Uh... my apologies. We didn't notice you there."

"Yeah, I kinda picked up on that" she muttered, although her expression softened slowly.

"... wait a minute, I know you! You're one of the new girls on my homeroom!" exclaimed Myra with a smile, standing up as well to have a good look at her. "You're Grace, right? Grace Ashton."

"Yeah... you must be Myra. I could hear your voice from the front row."

"Hah! Guilty as charged!"

"Ahem. Welcome... Grace. Are you a musician?" Aiden regained the girl's attention with ease, before he shook his head slightly. "Wait. Don't tell me. Give me your hand."

Grace raised an eyebrow, and he could feel his cheeks burn just by the sight of the smirk on her lips.

"I don't think so. You'll have to buy me dinner first."

"I... uh..."

Aiden swallowed hard as he looked away for a second, feeling the heat on his face rise even more. Was she... flirting with him? Why? And how was he supposed to react?!

He cleared his throat as he addressed her again, ignoring Myra's giggle and Ezra's chuckle.

"I... didn't mean it like that?"

"You sure about that, buddy?" Ezra's voice called for Grace's attention, much to his relief. "You'll have to excuse him. Aiden here is much better with instruments than with actual human beings... I'm Ezra, by the way."

Grace nodded and finally decided to take a seat with them, casting Aiden a curious glance. He sat beside her as he regained his composure. Maybe changing the subject could help.

"Please tell me you play the saxophone."

"I do play the saxophone. And a little bit of piano, but mostly sax."

"I knew it. Your lips told me everything" he beamed at her, and she smiled back, her eyebrows arching until he realized what he had said. "Er. Not literally. But, you know what I mean."

"Heh. Yeah, I do" she turned toward Myra, who seemed to be bouncing on her seat from excitement. "I take it you were in need of a sax player...?"

"Ah, yes! You're a gift from heaven!"

"You should totally come to the band room and play with us" Ezra shoved the remainings of his lunch on his tray and stood up with a smile. "Put your sax skills to the test, what do you say?"

"I say bring it!" Grace almost jumped out of her seat, a confident smile on her plump lips. "Lead the way."

"Alright, alright! That's the spirit!"

The two of them walked away, and Aiden found himself alone with Myra, still slightly stunned by what just had happened. Myra was giving him a significant look.

"What?"

"Are you gonna buy her dinner, Aiden?"

He scoffed as he stood up as well, carefully tucking his music sheets back in his bag before following both Ezra and Grace, hearing Myra's laugh and steps right behind him.

When they arrived to the band room, Ezra was already handing Grace a saxophone, which she took on her hands with obvious expertise.

"Don't worry, it's totally clean" he assured her, patting her back with a friendly smile. "It hasn't been used since our previous sax player graduated last year."

"Okay, but I'll bring my own next time."

Both Aiden and Myra prepared to join her, as Ezra stood in front of them with a music sheet that was identical to the ones in front of them.

Preparing his trumpet, Aiden turned to Grace.

"Try to keep up. The key thing is to time your cues with the rest of us."

"I know. But thanks for the reminder" she offered him a tiny smile as she took the instrument to her lips. "I mean it."

"Enough" Ezra spoke firmly from the front, commanding their attention. "I think Grace is ready."

And just like that, they started playing. And while their sounds blended together perfectly, Aiden was having a hard time concentrating on his own instrument.

He really was trying to find some kind of flaw on Grace's sound, but he wasn't very successful. She did sound very good.

"Not bad!" exclaimed Ezra as they put their instruments down, grinning at them. "Just a little bit more practice and I can see you joining us."

"I'll admit the notes were... technically correct" Aiden gave her the slightest of smiles, but she scoffed as she shook her head.

"Wow. High praise from Mr. Fancypants."

"I'm wearing regular pants."

Grace couldn't help but laugh briefly at that, directing her attention to Ezra and handing him back the saxophone she had played.

"What they're trying to say is that you should totally audition for the band" said Myra with a smile, grabbing her arm gently. "Not only would you be saving our butts, but you'd also get to spend more time with the best musician here... me!"

"Ha. Can't argue with that."

"No need to answer now. You've got a week to think about it" assured Ezra as he placed the music sheets they had used back on their binder.

"... and to practice" Aiden took the chance to pipe up, getting her attention right back. "Auditions are... competitive."

"Even if I'm the only sax player you can find?"

"Even then."

"Great, I love a good challenge."

"I can tell you and I are gonna get along" Ezra placed an arm around her shoulders with a grin. "By the way, are you going to Brian's party tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll be there."

Myra gasped.

"But I thought Brian said you were not invited!"

"So?"

"Oh... oooh! I like you already!"

Aiden was barely hearing their conversation. He was deciding whether he would attend that party or not. He wasn't specifically invited, but that was because it was implied that everyone was invited.

Except those that weren't.

He decided he had better things to do than staying up late out of his house, engaging in annoying small talk and pretending to have any sort of interest in anyone outside his inner circle.

"... see you there!"

He looked up when he heard Ezra's voice, and saw him walk out of the room with Myra close behind. Grace followed suit a few seconds later, and he hurried to reach her. She stopped when she heard his steps, turning around with an arched eyebrow. "Hey... I just wanted to say. I'm sorry if I came off a bit harshly back there."

"Don't sweat it" she said then, shrugging slightly. She smiled. "Like I said, I love a good challenge."

"Still. I guess you could say I'm a bit protective of this marching band. It's very important to me" Aiden sighed deeply. He considered what he was about to say, thinking maybe she would think it was silly, and decided to take the risk. "The truth is, I thought we had a connection."

"Mhm... is that a 'love' connection or something like that?"

Aiden took a step back as he felt his cheeks begin to burn once again as he looked for words to say. There it was again, that feeling of intense embarrassment and vulnerability that he loathed so much. He couldn't help but frown.

"That was not my intended meaning" he uttered after a moment, scowling as he looked away. He scoffed. "I'm far too busy with my music to concern myself with romantic frivolity."

Grace remained silent for a moment, seeminly unfazed by his clear aversion to the topic. A few seconds later she snorted, covering her mouth with her hand as she shamelessly laughed, right to his face.

"S-Sorry, I just... oh boy. I never heard anyone call it that way. Romantic frivolity" she repeated with an amused tone, shaking her head as she regained her composure. "Ah, you're something else."

"Are you done mocking me?"

"I'm not... alright, sorry. That was genuinely funny though."

"I beg to differ" he muttered, but had to look away once again. Her face was flushed and her hair was disheveled from laughing, and he wasn't about to give her appearance another chance to render him speechless again. "Anyway... I truly do hope you try out for the band. We could use you."

Grace opened her mouth, a glimpse of mischief in her chocolate eyes, but she refrained from speaking, pressing her lips together. She was containing herself from saying something that would probably embarrass him, and he was thankful for that.

"Alright, I'll think about it. See you around."

Finally, the final bell had rang and Aiden was heading toward his car to call it a day. He wasn't as tired as he could be, but couldn't wait to reach the peace and solitude that his room represented.

He was adjusting his seatbelt when his phone buzzed. It was a text.

Ezra: r u coming 2 the party or what???

He only took a few seconds to reply.

Aiden: No.

Aiden: See you tomorrow.

Ezra: awwww come on man!! u GOTTA go!

Ezra: every1 will be there

Ezra: grace said shed be there yknow

Ezra: 👀

Aiden huffed as he decided to ignore his incoming messages, which didn't stop as he drove silently, frowning to himself. However after he finally got home, briefly talked to his father and headed to his room, he couldn't help but grab his phone again.

Aiden: What makes you think I'd suddenly be interested in attending just because of her?

Silence. A minute. Two minutes. Suddenly he found himself feeling impatient. Why was everyone acting so strange? Insinuating things that obviously weren't correct? It was getting on his nerves.

Finally, a reply.

Ezra: see u there buddy

Ha! As if he was actually going to that party! It wasn't like he would take a quick shower, try to distract himself with homework and composing, only to give up and head out with a frown and a sigh of defeat.

That wasn't going to happen.

He was still in denial as he drove toward Brian's house.

And come hang out, don't you leave us behind

But, I'll be there next time, I'll be there next time.

So... that was chapter 1!

I hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is appreciated and encouraged. Thanks for reading!

#playchoices #high school story #hss #aiden zhou #aiden x mc #myra khandaar #ezra mitchell #hss mc (grace ashton)#zig writes #oh boy oh boy #i'm quite excited about this fic y'all #i have many things planned #tell me what y'all think #💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕#long post

88 notes · View notes