Bonnie Is Hot In Theory But Something Is Off. I Really Like The Long Part Of Her Hair, But I Wish She

Bonnie is hot in theory but something is off. I really like the long part of her hair, but I wish she had an undercut like Elladine. So here's my sad attempt at fixing Bonnie. I tried to give her the look of an undercut, darkened her eyebrows and lips and added just a touch more eyeliner to make her blue eyes pop more. Don't know if it really helped, but I think it's better? I also think she should have black hair but it was outside my wheelhouse to make it look nice.

Those tags are running a cold, clammy finger up and down my spine.

I love when you’re reading multiple fics by the same author and you start to spot all the phrases and adjectives they like to use

The Inscrutability of Alex

So I might be working on an S7 Alex fic. I mean, I'm probably not working that. But I could be. Maybe. Anyway, for mysterious reasons, I decided to replay the current episodes because I found myself confused by a couple things with Alex. And a second playthrough left me even more confused. I sent @mrsbsmooth a nearly three minute, babbling voice note, asking her if I was missing something, because I cannot figure out how to write him.

This character is described by multiple others as having "golden retriever" energy. Something he absolutely does not have. I'd say he's not even that playful. It's just bizarre for anyone to say that. Nothing about him is overly energetic. Both Raf and Bryson are much better described like that. Alex has the most whistle-whilst-mowing-the-lawn-in jorts-dad energy ever. Golden retriever he is not.

So okay, his energy doesn't match the description. That's not a huge issue on its own. But like...who is he? He says he's not cocky, just confident.

Hmmm. Never is a strong word, innit?

Now, a less cynical person might say that Fusebox is just writing a realistic depiction of someone who is unaware of his own cockiness, but since I am a cynical asshole, I'm saying that Fusebox is not in the business of nuance. They make the same amount of money whether they spend the extra energy to give it depth or not. So they're never gonna bother with that. This is just inconsistent writing. Now, we all know that Alex's most overtly acknowledged trait is his desire to "Take things slow." He says he's looking for the one, and he's not gonna rush that. He knows things move fast there, but he still wants to take his time. He didn't kiss Estelle on the first night. He was uncomfortable with Summer being so forward before he knew anything about her. So how does a guy who takes things slow answer a question from a virtual stranger about what he does for a living?

A dirty joke. Yes, very much setting the tone for his lack of cockiness and his desire to take things slow 🙄 Though I do enjoy MC responding with "Very presumptive, but good to know." 😆😆😆 Not to mention, when he finds out you can snog during the icebreaker, he's not like, "Um too soon." Instead his eyes light up like he can't wait. It's so baffling. So let's say maybe he's just a slow mover who is also really flirty by nature. That feels like he's sending mixed signals at best and manipulating you at the worst. Now this one really threw me for a loop. There's a gem scene where you can ask the boys to tell you something cute about themselves. Alex tells a story about having a crush on a gym bunny and how it led him to weightlifting in order to ask her out. But he kept putting it off and by the time he finally got the nerve, she was already dating someone. So he learned not to hesitate. He learned to just go for it.

Um... what? That's a strange perspective to have for someone whose entire ethos is "Take it slow." Now, I'm aware that he is very straight forward with MC about where his head is at, so perhaps he just meant that he doesn't waste time letting someone know he's interested, but he still wants to take the relationship slow? I don't know. Last, but not least, on night one, you couldn't even kiss Alex (unless I'm misremembering). You could only snuggle. But on night two, Alex says he still wants to take it slow, but he wants to a little something. So the game gives us some options. And the first choice was to do bits. Now, this might be my fault, but I assumed that "bits" in this case would be some kissing and making out. Heavy petting. Maybe some under the clothes touching. But, to my utter shock, no it's not just a heavy make out sesh. Nope. He finger blasts you. He straight up bypasses the face lips and tiddies, and goes straight to rubbing the bean and shoving a digit inside of your person. It's an awfully intimate act for someone like him who's only been alone with you three times, and beyond challenge smooches (if you chose to even take those), has still never really made out with, nor kissed you privately. I would like to clarify that I'm not judging how fast or slow anyone goes in their personal lives. But I am I'm judging this character's pace in relation to the things he's been saying about his pace.

I wrote most of this before the last batch of episodes so I'll only lightly touch on the fact that Alex seems nearly ready to ask you to marry him the day after bringing you to the villa. So "taking it slow" really went out the window altogether.

Long story long, there are aspects to Alex I like. I mean, I'm writing him right now (OR AM I?) so it's not all bad. But it's really hard to attempt any canon reinterpretation, when I can't even sort out what canon is.

It just doesn't make sense. Is he cocky or not? Is he a slow mover or does he believe in not wasting time? Is he an inner city gym rat bro, or is he a home-on-the-range papa who wants to build you a cottage, and make babies? Is his whole "slow burn" thing some kind of manipulation to hide that he's a fuckboy (which would be hilarious) or he's just very badly written?

I love a good, lively conversation, so go ahead and let me know your thoughts. But for those who are rather... overly invested in Alex, feel free to yell at me about his perfection and how wrong and dumb I am. I look forward to deleting your vitriol.

new chapter

Chapter 2 is up!

I wanted to fuss with this more and I could have, but I didn't. I figured it was better to post it a little bit rough than to obsess over it and keep people waiting. This might be progress! ao3 | wattpad Also, thanks to @operationnope for reading my yoga over and making it way more believable. Sorry I'm a neanderthal that hates both stretching and breathing with intention.

In terms of inconsistency when it comes to Alex’s pace, I would like to draw your attention to the reassurance scene you can have in the Villa with your boy, where they can assure you of their intentions after their original partner has been all over them. Alex notably says at some point in that conversation (and this is a bit that’s unique to Alex’s route) that he’s “husband material”, and when the MC says something like “not boyfriend material?”, Alex doubles down on how he wants that next level kind of thing.

Keep in mind during this point in the convo, your LI is trying to convince you to stay with them in case your having doubts. So a man who says they “move slow” has told a person he’s interested in that he’s “husband material” on like day 5 of knowing them. (And yes it’s a reality show where they’re isolated with only each other but STILL)

Now in Alex’s defense, and I highly doubt Alex is intentionally written this way and not just suffering from authorial inconsistency, BUT I DIGRESS. In defense of saying he wants slow but acting in a fast manner, I myself and a few other people I’m close with kinda do this in real life. For me personally, I’m usually quite slow with about 96% of the people I dated, doing the same things Alex did of being upfront about where my head’s at but going slow in the physical aspects and other things you would expect in a relationship. But that 4%, again for me personally, was fairly fast paced because I myself ended up being down bad and not even realizing I was on a speeding train towards feelings.

Long ask long, It’s more than likely Alex is just suffering because of bad writing, but there is the chance that Alex is a slow burner usually so that’s what he’s expecting, hence why he’s saying it. And MC is just that like, 4% person that he isn’t even aware he’s falling for at the speed of light. 🤷‍♀️

Thank you for drawing my attention by sending this twice 😂 I received the first one, but I ended up with a lot of anons and didn't know where to begin.

Yeah, I played the new eps and I referenced this very thing in my post. He went ALL IN once we were in the main villa. It's not like I don't think there's a world where a person *could* be this way, it's just that it doesn't really work in fiction. At least not the way it's presented in the fiction of the game currently. The tricky part of writing is that it has to be both more real than real and then less real than real. For instance, I have a best friend who is a BIG personality. I mean over-the-top. Love her and love her gigantic energy. She has amazing stories. But she's also surrounded by friends who are writers and every one of us has attempted to base characters on her and they never, ever work. Like no one has managed it. Because no reader ever believes that her antics are "realistic." She even took a writing class herself and wrote a paper that was essentially just a story about herself and no one in the class found it believable 😂 Sometimes reality doesn't play in fiction.

I love the idea of Alex just sort of losing his shit when he has a super strong connection, so I don't disagree that it *could* work. I just don't think it's working right now, because yeah, I 100% think it's just poor writing. Nothing about it feels intentional.

That said, I still think even if he was coming at it from that perspective--like he's 96% slow-motion in relationships and MC is just part of the 4%-- it would still cause problems. Mainly that any MC worth her salt is gonna view him as being manipulative. Telling her what she wants to hear while still trying to get inside those underpants. Which would be interesting, but I just don't think that's what Fusebox going for. Though to be fair, I'm not sure Fusebox even knows what they're going for either.

Thanks for the message, Anon!

For real, though. I'll go to second base with you 🤣

getting comments on ao3 makes me go so power hungry like. oh yeah you read the thing?? you read the WHOLE thing and even took time out of your day to give your WRITTEN INPUT on it???? make out with me.