#I don't want to risk giving her a poor plot line just so that she exists in au.

[starry-bi-sky]

tales of the passerine - danny fenton being bruce wayne's first kid

okay okay. so this is like a continuation/elaboration of my oneshot/prompt i wrote about the idea that Danny was the first batkid. We have a lot of aus where he joins the family after the rest of the bats do, right? So hey! Lets shake things up a bit. Danny is the first to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.

Danny's parents and unfortunately Jazz die shortly after the events of TUE -- how so? I was gonna say an ecto-filter explosion, that would call back to the TUE explosion and trauma behind that. But lets do something new! Carbon-monoxide poisoning.

It's not too unexpected for something to break in the Fenton house, especially with the Fenton parents' questionable understanding of proper weapon handling and lab safety. The water heater broke from a stray shot by one of the weapons, and was promptly MacGyver'd incorrectly. Danny went to stay with Tucker for a guys' night, and came back to a dead silent house.

(Danny's neighbors got a very unfortunate shock when he ran to the next house over in hysterics.)

There was a lot of shuffling around with CPS, the police. People had to be called in to handle the equipment in the lab, and the GIW was rumoring to show up in aid to clearing the scene. When Danny heard of that, he immediately went and dismantled the ghost portal to the best of his abilities. He burned the physical blueprints of all his parents' inventions, their blueprints on the ghost portal, and their most dangerous weapons were destroyed beyond recognition. Anything to prevent the GIW from getting their hands on his parents' tech.

It opened up another investigation, but he was not under the list of suspects. He was placed in the care of Vlad Masters, where they then went back to the rebuilt castle mansion in Wisconsin. Danny, terrified of the future that has once passed and may do so again, shuts down in his grief. Inadvertently, he ends up somewhat repressing his ghost half. Something Vlad, who is grieving Madeline but relishing in Jack's demise and his custody of Daniel, is not very happy with.

Vlad's... gone into a bit of a mental health spiral. He's becoming increasingly possessive over Daniel, the final remnants of his friends and a liminal being like him. He doesn't like that Danny's repressing his ghost half -- both out of genuine concern as a ghost, but also because of his desire to control Danny and groom him into the perfect son. If you ever had a phase where you read Dark SBI found family fics, first off; me too bro, and second off; those are the vibes I'm thinking of.

Danny's mentally shut down from grief! And fear. He's dropped into a bad depressive state -- paralyzed with grief and the terror of the inevitable. Clockwork saved his parents because he believes in second chances, but what's the point of that when his family ended up dead anyways? Danny doesn't wanna believe that he's destined to become evil, and he's holding out onto that hope, but it's a thin line, and he feels utterly hopeless and trapped. He hasn't used his powers or ghost form since he trashed the lab, and Vlad has alarms set up to prevent him from trying to escape.

He's also unintentionally cut off Sam and Tucker -- both of whom are so scared and concerned for Danny too, and are trying their damndest to reach out to him. He keeps ignoring their texts. Danny basically haunts Vlad's manor. He goes out to eat if he has to, attends parties Vlad drags him to, and stays in his room all day if he can.

At parties, Vlad doesn't allow Danny to leave his side, or really talk to anyone -- not that Danny wants to. A product of Vlad's increasing possessiveness. Well, he almost doesn't let Danny leave his side. Danny has a habit of slipping off to hide somewhere for the parties whenever he can, and Vlad reluctantly allows it so long as he stays alone.

This becomes an advantage when eventually, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after missing for years, and holds a bright charity ball to celebrate the return. Vlad has been chomping at the bits to get his hands on Wayne Industries, and with the return of its owner there is no better opportunity to wipe out his rival. He goes, and he as normal, brings Daniel with him.

Vlad thinks Wayne will bleed his little heart out for Daniel's poor orphan sob story -- he's a fellow orphan himself, after all. He's not wrong; Wayne's little heart will bleed, just not in the way that benefits him.

Bruce sees Vlad and Danny approaching before they're even close enough to introduce themselves - and like with many of the children he will soon come to care for, it's like someone set a mirror into the past right in front of him.

Danny Fenton's suit is tailor-made for him, and despite the fact that it's his perfect size, the sag in his shoulders, the ducked down head, and the way he hunches into himself all pictures the image of a child in shoes too big for him. There's a far away, glazed over look in his eyes and grief marble-cut into the lines of his face. There's not enough makeup in the world that will hide the dark circles under his eyes.

("My nephew, Daniel Fenton." Vlad's hands are possessive on Danny's shoulders. Bruce immediately notices the way the boy tenses under his touch. "His parents passed recently, and as his godfather I was designated his guardian.") ("I'm so sorry, the loss must've been terrible.") ("Yes, carbon-monoxide poisoning caused it. Daniel was out with friends, when he came home... they had already passed.") (Bruce immediately dislikes that Vlad shared the details of their death unprompted -- he likes it even less when Danny flinches at the reminder and hunches into himself.)

Danny runs off at some point earlier into the charity. At this point, parties are still being held at Wayne Manor (because iirc google search mentioned that was a thing at first before it was changed), so he disappears and hides in one of the empty rooms nearby. It just so happens to be the same room Bruce Wayne hides in when he needs a break from all of the socialization.

Thus begins a long, long process of trust. Bruce can't reveal his hand as being smarter than he looks, but he can be compassionate. Kindness needs no measure of intelligence. He keeps Danny company for as long as he can before he runs the risk of being found.

Rinse and repeat. Vlad insistently wants Wayne Industries, and he'll go to as many Wayne parties as he can to get his hooks into the man. The problem is that Bruce Wayne is never alone, and getting him alone is impossible. Finding him too. It's like the man never stops moving. Always talking to someone, always circling somewhere. He orbits around the room as if he isn't the sun of the Gotham Elite's solar system.

Danny's had such repetitive behavior that Vlad never thinks to believe that Bruce Wayne is disappearing to go talk to him. That "Vlad's" son is even interacting with him at all. Danny never gives him a reason to think so, and neither does Bruce.

Danny doesn't actually acknowledge Bruce until a handful of parties in, where he hands Bruce a small slip of paper he smuggled in that says; "don't trust Vlad". Danny's face stays carefully blank, but he's so tense that his hands are trembling, and he's purposely looking away from him. Bruce plasters a smile onto his face, slips the paper into his pocket, and tells him "okay".

(he's been busy with his own goals with the mafia, but he sets aside time to investigate Vlad Masters. He was holding off. Until now.)

Danny does eventually start speaking to Bruce, he's starting to really like the guy. He's starting to see a little hope, even as Vlad is starting to get more and more agitated with him the more he refuses to use his powers.

He reaches out to Sam and Tucker again, and starts trying to reconnect with them. Vlad has spyware on his phone, and he limits the amount of times he can talk to them. A weird parental control lock of some sort that leaves a time limit on how long he can talk to them for. 30 minutes. Danny doesn't tell them anything about Mr. Wayne.

Danny, slowly, wants out of here, and he's slowly gathering the motivation to do it. Vlad is genuinely scaring him -- and Danny wonders just how truthful the past-future Vlad was when he told him that Danny wanted his ghost half separate. He starts trying to come up with an escape plan.

Vlad has anti-ghost wards everywhere around the mansion, and while they're always on, they boost to full power at sunset. The doors and windows are always locked, all main exits have alarms set on them. The only reason it's not super extensive is because Danny hasn't tried leaving at all yet, so Vlad hasn't had to tighten anything.

At night, Vlad locks the door to his room and puts up an anti-ghost ward around the room. The mansion is on the outside westward side of Madison, more entrenched in rural Wisconsin. The closest town is a four-way stop sign with one house on three corners, and an open bar on the fourth. Not much to go.

He refuses to go to Sam and Tucker; Vlad would look there first. It's too dangerous. Vlad would sound alarm bells and have a manhunt looking for him, Danny can't risk going just anywhere. Too much risk of being found, sold out, or caught. There's really nowhere for him to hide.

Until there is. Bruce is telling Danny about the history of Wayne Manor, and says, as casually as saying the weather; "The manor has dozens of empty rooms, I'm sure Alfred wouldn't mind filling another one if he could." And quietly, hesitantly, Bruce places a careful hand on Danny's shoulder, unrestrictive and gentle; "He wouldn't mind getting one ready for you if you need one."

And there it is. There's his out.

Danny, just as quietly, replies; "I'll keep that in mind."

The ball starts rolling.

Now I've been trying to summarize this au as much as possible for length convenience, but Vlad has been steadily growing more and more controlling. More emotionally manipulative. More agitated at Danny for not using his powers.

He wants Wayne Industries under his thumb but he's been steadily growing more and more concerned with Danny. He's started grabbing him, yanking him around, shaking him; trying to goad him into using his powers. He gets angry when Danny doesn't react, or tells him he doesn't want to use his powers. He hasn't outright attacked him, but he's getting there. This has been happening over the time it takes for Bruce to indirectly offer Danny sanctuary at his home.

It all comes to a head when Vlad stops going to parties at all -- something Danny has to pretend he isn't upset about -- because Vlad doesn't want him around other people anymore. Vlad rarely goes now without him, and only leaves to go to a Wayne function or to handle something at VladCo.

Danny can't wait for Vlad to leave long enough to escape. So he leaves during the night of a big storm. Vlad's locked him in his room, but Danny doesn't bother trying to go for it; he goes to the alarmed window instead. Danny's been repressing his ghost half so long that he can't access his powers immediately anymore -- he can feel it, he knows its there, but he can't quite reach it.

He breaks the lock by hand.

Immediately the alarm goes off through the entire castle, filling the room with red, and he scrambles for the rope the Wisconsin Ghost left for him a few months back. Danny's already out and climbing down the side of the castle before Vlad even reaches his door -- the only good thing about the entire room being ghost-proof is that Vlad can't get in that way.

The rope ends before it reaches the bottom, and he's still twenty feet in the air. It won't kill him if he lands it right. Danny takes his chances, and drops. He breaks his ankle, but he survives.

And he fucking books it to the back garden. He hears Vlad shrieking over the thunder and rain.

I'll save the full experience for a future oneshot, but Danny makes it out into the nearby woods and forcibly experiences what it's like to be in a horror game, trying to hide from the thing that's hunting you. There's only one thing going through his mind; "i'm going to die"

I have this mental image for this scene. Very stereotypical horror imo. Where Danny is hiding behind a tree, with a hand over his mouth, and Vlad is a few feet away from him, glowing ominously red through the trees, trying to search for him.

Danny doesn't get away from this unscathed, but he does get away alive. That's all he could ask for. He gets away by getting his ghost half awakened long enough to transform into Phantom and fly to Gotham.

But he gets to Wayne Manor, he gets to Bruce. Or, at least, Alfred answers the door from his insistent pounding. Danny's just in tears and Alfred gets him in the living room, wrapped in a towel, with ice on his swollen leg before he has to step out and alert Bruce.

Bruce already breaks multiple traffic laws on a nightly basis. And that's just with the sheer existence of the batmobile itself, not including the speeding and military artillery attached. He breaks double the amount trying to speed back to the cave and get out of the suit.

Right off the bat: Bruce will know, at least before Dick enters the picture, about danny's powers. He'll figure out something considering the fact that Danny traveled from Wisconsin to New York in a single night. That'll be a bit of complicated affair, but I've already got something in mind.

Actually it'll probably be very soon after Danny joins the family, because Bruce tries to offer to fight for custody for Danny - the state Danny was in at arrival is clear enough evidence for a trial. But Danny immediately shuts it down, says it's not going to work and then Vlad will know Danny's with him and he won't be safe. He tells him that Vlad cannot know Danny was with Bruce.

Danny's biggest regret was not telling his parents he was a halfa, and while he doesn't want to tell mister wayne (yet), he does tell him about Vlad being one. He needs to know why Danny can't be seen with Bruce. So he tells him, and Danny's current plan is to just hide out from Vlad until he turns 18. That way, he has no more legal jurisdiction over him. After that? He's not sure.

And to wrap this up, since this has already gotten very long and I can make more posts about this au later; I've thought about it, and I'm going to say that Danny does become a vigilante before Dick enters the scene. He goes by, as you probably guessed; Nightingale. "Gale" for short.

#dpxdc #dp x dc #danny fenton is not the ghost king #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #tales of the passerine au #i dont want to overemphasize how much vlad sucks but also i dont want to downplay it. but also i didn't wanna make this post too long #i didn't emphasize enough on vlad's possessiveness but i wanted to make this post as general enough as possible for the au. #for some more wiggle room in the future if i make more posts about this au. #the consequences for Danny repressing himself was not a concern i was focused on for the post but i am thinking about it and mulling it ove #i'll be blunt my main specific reason for why this occurs shortly after tue is bc it means dani doesn't exist yet and it means i dont have #to include her in the continuation of this au. i love that girl but she's a dead weight. i dont wanna come up with an elaborate reason as #to why she's not in the picture when i can just say 'she never created in the first place' instead. i don't have anything for her to do #I don't want to risk giving her a poor plot line just so that she exists in au. #sometimes i really hate just how long my posts get. i feel like it kills my engagement. but i also don't want to make posts that have #a part 1 and part 2 just because I think it got too long. #i feel kinda bad for having Danny take the spot of 'first partner' from Dick. But that was part of the reason i was inspired to make this a #i've already got the skeleton of a reasoning for danny becoming a vigilante being made in my head. #He can't go by Phantom since that risks drawing Vlad's attention -- a new vigilante showing up in Gotham. a place the visited frequently #who goes by the name Phantom? He'd be on that faster than chickens on meat. and nightingale has familial meaning behind it due to being #part of an ancestral name. it follows robin's theme of using it to honor his parents while still having its own unique enough lore to stand #on its own without feeling like a cheap copy. plus the bonus meta reason that it follows the bird theme. which personally is vital to me #my other alternative to Nightingale is Sparrow. mostly because it has good phonetic structure for a hero name. not too many syllables #a good balance of consonants and vowels. dont want a hero name with too many syllables or unbalanced consonants. or worse; both. #my reasonings is that hero names should be easy for a civ or teammate to yell while still being understood. max amount of syllables before #it threatens to become too wordy is 3. If it goes over 3 it should have a balanced consonant-vowel ratio. Wonder Woman is a good example #some things got cut here that were in the initial oneshot. like danny giving bruce his physical ghost core and showing up bloody. #the first son au

[eriexplosion]

Since I'm rapidly running out of time to catch up we're doing EVEN MORE TBB TODAY, so off to The Clone Conspiracy

GOD CORUSCANT LOOKS. AMAZING ACTUALLY. SEEING 79S AGAIN ALL GLOSSED UP, GODDAMN. Love when the future is Neon.

Slip and Cade ;A; I'm already preemptively sad knowing what's going to happen to them. Cade talking about destroying Kamino, their home... I'm of course thinking back to the trooper that reported that Kamino had fallen to Rampart, voice hesitant as he reports the destruction of his own birth place. Slip says later he was on board when it happened. I wonder if that was him.

God though, sending a message to Rampart to give him "the chance to tell the Senate the truth before I did it myself." Cade, Cade, Cade, that is an insanely stupid move WHY did you do that and not just tell the senate directly? I know it's the urge to follow orders and chain of command but oh god of course Rampart has him killed.

Listen the first time I watched this I was SO scared for a hot second that it was Crosshair taking those shots, the last time we saw him he had killed Tawni Ames and the rapid shooting Cade and then shooting the blaster out of Slip's hand got me CONCERNED. Only when he started missing constantly did I go 'okay yeah this can't be him'

Still they really do let you think that, with how little we see Crosshair this season, it wasn't out of line to think he was there with new armor.

Can't believe "Cataclysmic Storm" is what they went with. Yeah it was such a big storm on the planet known for storms that it destroyed every single city on the planet simultaneously, very tragic.

"Shifting to a military of citizens swearing loyalty fundamentally goes against the principles of this body." I'm sorry I can't get over the fact that like, I get why the troopers don't want to retire (this is all they've ever known, they don't know how else to function, they have no other support) and the bill is objectively meant to push them out of service to essentially be abandoned but this is still an insane argument. We can't shift away from our slave army to a military of volunteers it goes against the Principles of This Body. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Riyo coming in with the actual 'hey what if we take the secret third option of treating them like people?'

I hate Rampart being so blandly pleasant, playing like he's soooo reasonable and understanding when we know he doesn't give a SHIT about the clones.

"If anyone were to dig further into what truly happened to Kamino" which I am happily discussing in a public hallway.

The scene in the bar HURTS because like, Riyo is trying but she's still locked into not treating the clones like people who should have options. She's trying to soften the being forced out plan, but they're still being forced out and thrown into a situation they were never trained for (because they were never supposed to be people) and they're pushing back against it because it takes away their choices in their own futures. There's just no option on the table that lets clones make their own individual choice whether to stay in the military or retire, and they always expected to be dead before they were too old to fight.

I want every clone to be given all the love and support in the world, all of them no exceptions.

Still the little nod at the end when they agree to work with her, my heart <3 Riyo really is trying her best she's just limited by both the Empire and the plot restrictions of how much they're allowed to criticize the Republics use of the clones in the first place and not just the Imperial treatment of them.

Riyo has been given the worlds worst and most alarming info dump and everything is happening at once, congrats your assassination risk just went up like 500%

God Slip calling Rex to try and get him out ;_; god this poor boy

Oh no not full pensions for millions of clones, god forbid we take care of the millions of clones that we literally purchased as cannon fodder.

"If I had been present, maybe more could have been saved" yeah bro your presence totally would have stopped the storm in this story you're building that makes total sense.

Bail pointing out the blatant insanity of blaming it on, of all things, a STORM.

I'm sorry I get stuck on that how was that the lie they went with how is Rampart SO stupid?

Godddd the tension of this scene with Riyo and Slip is so good, the building musical tension, the way it peaks a few times and nothing happens to keep you extremely on your toes and then Slip gets taken out just. DAMN they're good at this.

The way Riyo's guard gets shot and he KEEPS GOING.

I just realized that last time we saw Rex he disappeared into the fog, and when he comes back in he appears out of the fog. Turns out that whole time he was just in the fog.

HATE THE SCENE WITH THE BELIEVER CLONE. EVERY PART OF IT IS CONCERNING AS HELL. Including the part where he electrocutes himself to death and we get to see flashes of his fucking SKULL.

#the bad batch rewatch

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 6

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 6 below.

PLOT

Count Glouster is based.

You know what's weird? I think Claude would annoy the hell out of me in real life. Like, I may dunk on Edelgard around here a lot, but I think I'd be more annoyed with Claude if I had to work with him than her. Like, I don't know, he strikes me as one of those guys who thinks he's funnier than he actually is.

All this hesitancy to kill other students is kind of weird. This is for all routes. Like, they only spent a month at the Monastery in this timeline, right? So why would they be so broken up about fighting Bernie and Ferdinand just because they know them a smidge more than every other soldier? I just wanna see someone furious and not minding killing the enemy at all because they like their goals more.

Monica can't believe Glouster betrayed someone. That . . . doesn't bode confidence in her intelligence.

Monica being like, what on earth could've unified Glouster and Reigan?? I. Can't. Imagine. What. May. Have. Caused. That. /s Dumbasses. They're all dumbasses.

Ok, so I'm not super into Ferdiebert, but seeing Hubert so distressed about Ferdinand being stuck behind enemy lines is doing things to me.

😂🤣 Huburt didn't even tell Edelgard, lamo. He really went and sent reinforcements without asking her. But given what happens to Ferdinand here in Houses . . . probably saved his life.

Edelgard, girl, you need to rethink your advisors. One can't fathom why Glouster and Reigan would team up right now, and the other is too busy saving his "boyfriend" without even bothering to tell you about it. Her side is a mess right now.

And Hubert did it because he doubted Ferdinand. 🤣😂 Lies. It's his love. And sent reinforcements with his own funds. Yep, he's just in love and in denial.

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

Wait, why doesn't Balthus support Hilda???

Poor Lorenz is still beating himself up.

Edelgard claims she's fighting for the people, but the NPCs of the Alliance never want to see her army again lamo.

OMG Lorenz is already level 21. I think my highest level Black Eagle after ch 6 was already done is like 22, lamo. That's because I don't use anyone BUT Lorenz, whereas in BE I jump between Hubert and Manuela with some Edelgard and Shez on the side. Scary story. I think Dimitri's already a higher level before ch 6 even starts than any BE by the time it's ended because Lorenz might not take damage, but Dimitri just kills . . . everything.

Claude knows that Edelgard won't stop trying to invade them after these loses.

I don't know why Claude, Dimitri, and Rhea aren't talking to each other though. Seems a bit forced.

Shez is like - you can do it! I can't imagine that's super helpful to someone stressed out.

Arval is like, hello? Let me help! Lamo.

Shez and Claude had some cute moments there with Shez supporting Claude and then joking (?) about charging him.

It's so funny. I feel so guilty and dirty attacking Leonie or Ashe or what have you, but Randolf shows up and I feel absolutely nothing.

LORENZ & CLAUDE C SUPPORT

Claude's willing to apologize to Lorenz for what he did. But you know he's also the type of person who would do it again anyways.

Ohhhhh Lorenz asking if he can really trust Claude. I like this honest challenging of a lord. Makes both characters better. And so glad the writing is treating Lorenz as if he has a real point.

Claude giving Lorenz an honest answer is refreshing too. And admitting he doesn't even trust himself. Poor Lorenz is speechless lol.

Lamo, Lorenz doesn't trust him.

This is the most vulnerable Claude's been the whole game. One of my favorites for him so far.

SHEZ & LORENZ B SUPPORT

Their hair matches.

Lorenz is upset that Shez risked her life to save his when he's the noble, so that's his job.

This would go over better if he wasn't talking to a career warrior lamo.

Glad Shez can call Lorenz out for seeming ungrateful.

One thing Byleth and Shez have in common. Taking 0 fucks from Lorenz. No one tops Mercie.

Oh dear God, Shez just called Lorenz weaker than her. Honestly, if this was any other Golden Deer, I would've agreed. But Lorenz is just disgusting.

SHEZ & IGNATZ C SUPPORT

Lamo, so Shez walks in on Ignatz reading and two questions she can ask are about what he's reading and "those noises" which my mind went places

Man, Ignatz likes travel and art, so why is he so interesting?

I want to hear more about why Fodlan's architecture is found on other faraway places. Where Sothis came from?

Oh at least he's not losing the conflict about being a knight here. Kind of. I hope he's lying about being just ok with it. I think that's where this is headed.

CLAUDE & IGNATZ B SUPPORT

I hope this is more interesting than Claude and Raphael was.

They make small talk and then Claude guesses Ignatz wanted to be a painter.

It's depressing to see Ignatz deny even his own desires this much. It's one thing to make him be a knight, and another to make him pretend like he's ok with it.

Aw, Claude finding a job that lets Ignatz travel around the Alliance.

Claude wants an extra grand picture of him. Funny thing is I don't know if he's kidding or not. Dimitri would be mortified.

Yep, this one was better than Claude and Raphael.

SHEZ & RAPHAEL C SUPPORT

Oh, Raphael coming right out of the box and asking if Shez is an orphan.

You know what my favorite thing about Shez's supports are? Sometimes they actually deal with Shez. I wish Byleth got that.

Orphan bonding happening.

It's kind of cute. Raphael is so sweet when they let him talk about something other than food and muscles.

Aaaaand now we're back to muscles. Whyyyyyyy?

I swear Shez has like a backbone on her shelf.

Cool if basic discussion of army vs mercenary life.

Am I a bad person for thinking Ignatz and Raphael are the two most meh characters who just sort of exist in the Fodlan games?

MAIN BATTLE

Ferdinand is really pretty in this game.

Holst is asking them to retreat and quit trying to kill everyone. But Ferdinand and Ladslaviya (dragon lady) turned him down.

Claude calling Ferdinand out for willing to sacrifice people for a fight he can't win.

So I'm predicting I can recruit Bernedetta since she's hiding under tables right now lol. Yep! After Edelgard burned her to death when I didn't recruit her, I'm never not recruiting Bernie. She deserves better than that.

Man, how many times is Jeralt and Co going to show up in this game?

Wait, dragon lady died for real? I think that's the first actual death

STORY

Shez called our campaign a miserable failure, why? Lorenz punted everyone to the curb. He doesn't even know what weapon triangle means.

Yep, this is more or less the same dialogue as SB.

Arval really wants us to kill Byleth lol.

At least we sent Ferdinand fleeing. Hilda's relieved he's still alive. Girl, you're at war. Claude too. At least Claude realizes Ferdinand won't stop trying to kill everyone Edelgard points him at.

Nice they defeated the invasion force though.

Ohhh Arval wants us to invade the Empire, niiiice. Shez can pick that or reinforce borders. Fuck that, my Three Houses knowing self knows the Empire is bent on imperialism hell or high water.

That said, it's laughable that the Alliance could take the Empire.

I'm surprised there's no "help Dimitri" option. It's weird that no one is even bringing it up at all.

Glad everyone is acknowledging that the Empire is the aggressor and won't stop. The only people against invasion are only doing so because everyone's tired and not "uwu, but eDeLgArD."

So Bergliez is the Empire's best warrior. And Holst is the Alliance's, based on how everyone is afraid to fight those two. Who is the Kingdom's? I haven't heard anyone talk about anyone from the Kingdom like they do Holst and Bergliez. Please tell me it's Dimitri.

Ohh, Lorenz and his dad finally having the convo. Glad Lorenz is asking this.

He wanted Lorenz's hands to stay clean should Gloucester actually fall and turn coat. I figured it was something like that.

Gloucester - "An Alliance leader who dismisses any amount of suffering is unfit to bear the title. I am convinced that Claude will never understand this." Dude should meet Edelgard.

Cool to see someone calling Claude out and not being portrayed like he's in totally in the wrong. It makes faults less irritating when people call them out and are treated as valid.

Lorenz is in charge now, woot!

You know, I think Gloucester and Dimitri would get along.

XXXXXX

#golden wildfire #fire emblem #fire emblem three hopes #three hopes #three hopes spoilers #golden wildfire spoilers

[airasora]

Ohhh ok I saw the long rant post and please when you’re able, I’m dying to hear about the thraxette death note au where Odette is toxic? I’m so curious :0

I am loving how much you guys are into Thraxette so throw all your questions at me 👀

For those who don't know what Death Note is, read this paragraph first:

Death Note is a very popular manga and anime (and Japanese musical) where the major plot is that there is a notebook where if you write someone's name that person will die. The default is death by heart attack 40 seconds after you've written down their name, but you can control a lot of their actions leasing up to their death as well so you can basically freely control people as long as you know their name and their face. There are plenty of rules, but those aren't important to know right now.

In this AU, Odette just married Derek, a prince from a neighbor kingdom whom she's been betrothed to since they were children. Odette's kingdom is poor and struggling so their union would benefit Odette's kingdom. She never doubted that she wanted to marry Derek for that exact reason as she is very loyal and caring towards her subjects, but she didn't love him and had found peace with the fact that she probably never would.

To her horror, after marrying Derek she realizes that he's the most useless king in the history of useless kings. He doesn't care about his subjects, he just wants to hunt for sports and that's all he really cares about. He doesn't even want an heir, which would mean the next in line is Odette's horrible nephew who is even worse than Derek. While Derek just doesn't care about his subjects, Odette's nephew would actively go out of his way to make the kingdom suffer for his own benefit. So they need an heir BADLY, but Derek doesn't understand the severity of the situation.

One day, in complete frustration after once again trying to seduce Derek into bed, she rides off towards her father's grave to mourn her loveless marriage and her suffering subjects. After crying her sorrows into the dark night, a book appears next to her titled "Death Note". The moment she touches it, a red, monstrous creature appears before her. He explains that he is a Death God and what the Death Note can do for her.

And, without giving TOO much away... Odette kinda falls into the "Daenerys from Game of Thrones" fate where her intentions are good all the way through, but she slowly becomes excessive and destructive with the newfound power and becomes more and more of a dictator.

And she doesn't really love nor care for Thrax who is utterly devoted to her to the point where to prove his love, he even cuts off one of his fingers just because she tells him to. And he's breaking all types of rules for her, risking his own life since Death Gods aren't allowed to interfere. But being the son of THE God of Death, he takes chances. But that probably won't end well for him 👀

And that's all I'm sharing for now. This is one of my Thraxette AUs I could see myself writing a fanfic for fairly soon since I already know most of what's going to happen etc, the notes for it is pretty detailed already 😂

#Thraxette #Thrax #Osmosis Jones #Odette #The Swan Princess #Crossover #Fanfic #Future fanfic #Death note AU #Thraxette death note au

[thelonewolf48]

MSHD Season 3, Episode 3

Let's see how wrong this series can go and still give us our ship.

This post got out of hand so, be warned that is LONG!

High Hills and the whole teaching three languages, robotics and computer science gives me war flashbacks to my own school (I went to a private catholic school up until 6th grade). But they did teach us a little about ecology and horticulture... as for the meditation, well, we slept around at least two hours in kindergarten and had like an hour for ourselves (aside from lunch break) for reading and doing other things... so, I don't see a problem there.

But I do know where this is going and I mean, sure, there are schools like that, but at least in my city public and private school accept everyone. Gay or not. NOW, that they discriminate the kids and their families... yeah, that happens everywhere in our conservative and religious society.

I don't like the translation change they did in Alta's comment: The subs read "Ah, wonderful, Miss Ana. They're gonna be as smart as their ma." To which Mariana and Ana simultaneously answer "Oh, God, I hope not" and "They will."

But what Alta really said was "How cute, Miss Ana. Are they going to attend the same school as you?" (Or, I guess, it sounds better as Are they gonna attend your alma mater?") Whichever it is... I don't like that they changed the comment because it seems that Mariana doesn't want the girls to be as smart as Ana, even though she tells everyone that Ana is really smart. Anyway, little easter egg.

You know what? I love Victor and Tere's dynamic. I've seen men like him, my dad and one of my uncles. My aunt had a high risk pregnancy and we all helped her out so, I kinda understand Victor but I don't think Tere isn't that bad... she just needs rest lol But I love them and the whole plots Tere does to try to go outside, while Victor tries to prevent her to escape. LOVE THEM!

Ro, cutie pie, I understand your hate and bad behavior... but the fact no one is telling him to tone down his comments is off. Especially, coming from a Mexican mom. Which, fair, not all moms are the same but if I ever said something like that or raised my voice or even rolled my eyes, my mom (and aunts and basically any grown up) would scold me and maybe ground me for a week (to say the least)

Again will rant about the subs! It sounds so damn aggressive, in the subs JC says "Did you not learn the lesson?" and Ana answers "I learned you're an asshole." WOW, WOW, WOW! JC actually says "See why I sued you?" and Ana answers something along the lines of "because you're stubborn" or "you're a fool." To tell someone asshole, here in Mexico, is like a really big thing and Ana didn't insult him here... so, I wonder why they decided to write asshole... I need answers!

And then, the next comment seems a bit off because she's not being as aggressive as the subs make Ana sound... (or maybe it's me who feels it's aggressive?) Anyway, the subs read "And you don't need to know everything if it's what's best for the girls. I figured it'd be okay" and in reality Ana says "Because I do include you in everything, but in due time. I don't even know if there's an spot available."

Subs, you're sus!

They did not just dressed a girl in a cosplay, right? ... No, they did... because of course that's how everyone looks like inside a japanese company... Never change, Mexico. Never change. LOL

Ferran and Mariana, sighs. I'm not gonna dig into that and I will rant about JC and Ana but that a few paragraphs later.

Subs... you're giving me a headache... It sounds so wrong how JC sounds when he says "if you come, dress nice" when in reality he tells Ana "think about it and let me know" SUBS YOU'RE ON THE AGRESSIVE SIDE!

Hmmm, eating soil strengthens the immune system, really? THEN WHY I GET SICK ALL THE TIME?!!!! I've eaten my share of soil and still get sick all the damn time! /sighs/ anyway, Ana throwing chocolates to the kids is so funny though!

Cynthia really is a mini Ana in the making lol, poor Pablo though.

I gotta love Romelia's guts and clever ideas, she doesn't buy that Mariana and Ana are dating but also wants to prove that Mariana and Ferran are together. I love her lol

SUBS HOLY SHIT, WHAT?

The subs: "I never want you to be seen in public with that dumb little slut ever again"

What they really said: "I never want you to be seen in public with that girl"

And the subs called Mariana little slut twice in the same scene... and he never said that...

Then, subs go into a different direction. In the subs, Ana says "With that mouth, I hope it all burns to the ground" JC says "Ana, come on, it's for the children", then Ana "No, this is for you, Juan Carlos" and Ana in reality says "I will not follow your discriminatory rules" JC's dialogue is the same but then Ana says "No, it's because of the children (that I'm saying this)"

And then, it's interesting that when Ana is telling JC's father off that again in the subs, Ana is attacking him when in reality she is defending JC and accepting part of the blame for their failed marriage. In subs, Ana says "And because you're an incompetent sorry old man, I will never help you" vs what she really says "Just because I don't fit into your old-fashioned, conservative mold."

Ana isn't just angry telling him off, she is also telling a message to everyone who thinks like him, viewers included (or at least, I hope that was the writers' intentions)

Subs being sus, again!

What's up with the subs and them calling everyone assholes? JC calling his father an asshole in the subs is totally wrong because he doesn't insult him... but I'm not gonna continue ranting about it.

Subs... I'm...

I don't know what to do with these subs... They're aggressive when they shouldn't be and then they aren't when they should!

Subs: Tere: "And you won't tell me what to do with my body! Or what I want with it! A body you won't touch! Even when the doctor says so. Get it out of your head, or it's a problem, hmm?"

Reality: "I'm a woman with her own life and body! A body you won't touch! Even when the doctor said we can fuck without problems, hmm?"

Subs: Tere: "Look at me. I am a woman. Never ever again say that! I am anything other than what you see right here. And now get out of my face, hmm?"

Reality: "I am a free, funny, and sexy woman! And I will not allow you to stop seeing me as such! Nor will I cease to be!"

Although similar in it's message, I think it gives the scene very different messages. Although, again, maybe it's just me.

Business partners with benefits... I need a business partner, anyone available? LOL

Cynthia and Pablo, 11/10

The other issue I have is that after Ana and Mariana crashed the school entrance, Ro goes back into a loving kid and we never see Ana acknowledging the bully Ro was suffering, nor we see Ro telling Ana he is sorry for the way he behaved... and now it turns out Ro was only trying to protect the babies... THAT'S... THAT'S... /sighs/

And I need to go, but I love that JC finally see the light and pulled the law suit off! YAAAAAAY now I wonder what mess will the writers throw at me... lol

#mshd #daughter from another mother #mshd spoilers #SEE ME RANT FOR A WHOLE AFTERNOON ABOUT SUBS #The subs are weird #subs are sus #who wants to be my busines partner with benefits? #madre sólo hay dos

[anarmorofwords]

Hi! You're probably not going to like this ask, but before getting into it I'd just like to say that this isn't meant as Kamala hate or anything, and I don't really want to offend.

Having said that, wouldn't it make sense that we get to see how Kamala treated Anna after she came out? It's in all likelihood one of the things that's weighing on Anna the most.

Obviously Kamala had her valid reasons: her parents aren't as liberal as the Lightwoods, she believes (knows?) their love is conditional as she's adopted, she's not white and not being heterosexual could further any treatment she's suffered from being different... Her reasons have already been listed multiple times by multiple people. Kamala has the right to stay in the closet and fear coming out. And while that shouldn't be villianised, we can't forget that closeted people can harm those around them.

If Kamala had kept treating Anna like a good friend, rumour would've sparked, and even if it was denied, she'd have been harmed by merely associating with Anna. Especially with the life Anna began leading; she could have been labelled as one of Anna's 'conquests' by the Clave. That, as we've established, is detrimental for her safety.

But at the same time, it would create a breach between Anna and Kamala. And Anna had the right to be hurt by it and weary of it when Kamala said she wanted a relationship.

If we look at it from that perspective, Anna's actions (though inexcusable in how they treated Kamala --who was also at fault for not accepting a negative for four months) make sense. Kamala wasn't only a fling of a week*, but also the girl she lost her virginity with, who asked her to be her secret (until she married Charles, after which Anna's affections would be discarded), who hid her sexuality for two years and sat back while Anna suffered from homophobic commentary, and who now wants a relationship hidden from most of the people that know her.

Kamala shouldn't be forced to come out; but the harm that can do to the women she may engage with is reflective of what happens nowadays. I can mostly think of examples with gay men, so my apologies in advance. But how many women have seen their marriages ruined by their husband having affairs with men?

Creating characters that reflect a toxic part of the 'hidden' LGBT community shouldn't be seen as hating or villinifying. Thomas isn't out and he isn't labelled a villain by the narrative --because his actions don't harm anyone. The hate Alastair gets in-universe is because of his past as a bully, not because he's gay. Matthew's not fully out and he isn't villianised --like Thomas, because the decisions he makes to keep his sexuality hidden don't impact anyone negatively.

I'll even go as far as saying that not even the narrative villianises characters like Kamala and Charles. If it were, they'd be seen more like Grace in Chain of Gold. We'd see how Kamala's actions are affecting Anna's in more ways than anger (that in itself put the fandom against Anna), and the characters would note so. We wouldn't see scenes were Cordelia empathised with Charles, nor Matthew said he loved him.

Be it as it may, Kamala and Charles represent ugly parts of being closeted that can naturally occur when someone is in their position. LGBT people are human. Humans, when put into very difficult situations (and Charles risks his career; Kamala her safety), can make decisions that harm those around them. Consequently, the people they're harming have a right to feel, well, harmed in whatever range of ways --this goes mostly for Alastair, and very partly for Anna, whose treatment of Kamala was horrible.

Readers need to understand what is pushing these 'villianised' characters to harm (again, mostly for Alastair) the more prominent characters and go beyond how they are instantly depicted. Because these are complex characters based on complex real people influenced by very ugly realities we will move on from someday, but sadly not yet.

By the way, Charles and Kamala's situations aren't that similar beyond the closeted thing, but I crammed them together because of a post I saw you reblog.

Please understand I'm not justifying Charles's actions; that I understand the pain he's put Alastair through, and know that he shouldn't ever be near Alastair. Nor am I trying to justify Anna's actions nor hate on Kamala.

I'll just finish my pointless rant by adding that I do think cc has sensitivity readers. I think she asked a gay man to go through tec (I don't know if he still revised her other books, though), and know she asked POC's input when writing someone for their culture. I don't know much beyond that, but I doubt who revises her stuff is up to her. Wouldn't that be something the publisher is responsible for (honest question)?

*I've also noticed people using the argument that they didn't know each other long enough for Anna to harbour such ugly emotions towards Kamala, but Kamala also remembered Anna pretty deeply and is 'in love' with her. I just wanted to say that considering cc writes (fantastical) romance where someone can ask a woman they met two months ago marriage, stressing over time spaces doesn't make much sense. Just my take.

hi!!

alright, where do I start? probably would be best with stating that while I can analyse Kamala's situation with what I know/see/read about racism and discrimination and reasonably apply things I've read/heard from PoC to the discussion, as well as try to be as sensitive about it as possible, I'm still a white woman, so not a person that's best qualified to talk about this.

that being said - if someone wants to add something to this conversation, you're obviously more than welcome to, and if there's something in my answer that you don't agree with or find in some way insensitive or offensive - please don't hesitate to call me out on that.

back to your points though: (this turned into a whole ass essay, so under the cut)

I don't think Anna shouldn't be able to reminiscent on Kamala's behaviour/reaction to her coming out, or be hurt by it. what bothers me is the way CC talks about it - I can't remember the exact phrasing, but the post where she mentioned this suggested something along the lines of "you'll see how Kamala sided with the Clave and didn't defend Anna after her coming out", therefore putting the blame on Kamala and completely disregarding the fact that Kamala wasn't in position to do much at all. It suggest that their situation was "poor Anna being mistreated by Kamala". therefore I'm afraid Kamanna's main problem/conflict will remain to be portrayed as "Anna having to allow themselves to love again and forgive Kamala", while Anna's shortcomings - and Kamala's vulnerable position - are never discussed. I think it would be possible to acknowledge both Kamala's difficult situation and the possible hurt her behaviour caused Anna without being insensitive towards Kamala's character, but it would take a really skilled - and caring - author to do both of the perspectives justice. CC would have to find a balance between being aware of the racism/prejudice Kamala faced/ writing her with lots of awareness and empathy, and still allowing her to make mistakes and acknowledging them. As it is however, I'm under impression that she's just treating it as a plot device, a relationship drama.

I'd say no one expects characters of color to be written as flawless or never making mistakes, it's mostly the way these mistakes are written and what things these characters are judged/shamed/

And that's - at least in my understanding and opinion - where the problem is. it's that the narrative never even addresses Anna's faults, and portrays Kamala as the one that caused all - or most of - the pain, without ever even acknowledging her problems and background.

White characters in TLH make mistakes and fuck up - because they're human and they're absolutely allowed to - but the thing is, non-white characters aren't afforded that privilege. Anna's behaviour is never questioned - none of it, shaming Kamala for not being able to come out, dismissing her desire to be a mother, or any of the questionable things she did in ChoI. Same with Matthew, James, Thomas. Alastair and Kamala however? they're constantly viewed through their past mistakes, and forced to apologize for them over and over, forced to almost beg for forgiveness. Moreover, those past mistakes are used as a justification of all and any shitty behaviour the other characters exhibit towards them now, which is simply unfair and cruel. They're held to a much higher standard.

So I'd like to say that yes, Kamala was in the wrong to keep nagging Anna after numerous rejections, and she was in the wrong to not inform Anna about Charles prior to them having sex - but that doesn't give Anna a free pass to constantly mistreat Kamala. And let's be real, Anna isn't stupid - while at 17 she could be naive and uninformed, I can't imagine how after years of hanging out with the Downworlders and numerous affairs and being out and judged by the Clave she's still so ignorant about Kamala's situation. I definitely think she's allowed to be hurt, but to still not understand why Kamala did what she did? Anna isn't blaming her for not telling her about Charles earlier - which would be fair - but instead for refusing to engage in an outright romance with her. She's being ignorant - and consciously so, I think.

Overall, I think you're definitely right about how coming out - or staying closeted - can be messy and hurt people in the process, especially in unaccepting environments/time periods, and I've seen enough discourse online to know there will never be a verdict/stance on this that will satisfy everyone. I, for one, would really like to refrain from putting all the blame on a single person - but, at least the way I see it, CC is pointing fingers. maybe not directly, but she is. Kamala, Alastair and Charles have no friends or support systems, and the only people in the narrative that defend them are themselves (ok, Cordelia does defend Alastair from Charles, but not from shitty takes about him and his "sins"). Also, sorry, but I don't like how you say "hid her sexuality for two years and sat back while Anna experienced homophobic comments" - it sounds very much judgemental. Kamala had every right to do that? The fact that she slept with Anna doesn't means she owed her something, and certainly not coming out and most probably destroying her life, or even defending her at the - again - expense of her own reputation, or more possibly safety.

As for Charles - it's a different issue here, at least imo - I fear that it'll be implied that his refusing to come out will is his main "sin", and therefore not something he can be judged for, which ironically, will be villainizing, but mostly will mean his actual sins are dismissed. This is where the scene with Cordelia feeling a pang of sympathy for him comes into play, and it worries me. I've never hated Charles for not wanting to come out, but rather for, let's see - grooming Alastair, disregarding Alastair's needs and feelings, disrespecting his mother, being a sexist prick, being low-key far-right coded "make Shadowhunters great again" etc.

As for sensitivity readers - I'm no expert, so I don't think my input is worth much. From what I've gathered from multiple threads/discussions on twitter, tho it is probably consulted/approved by the publisher, many authors push for that - and authors less famous and "powerful" than her. I'm not a hater, but seeing fandoms' opinions on much of her rep, I think she could do better. Because if she does have sensitivity readers, then they don't seem to be doing a great job - maybe they're friends who don't wanna hurt her feelings? Or maybe she thinks a gay guy's feedback will be enough for any queer content - which, judging by the opinions I've seen from the fans, doesn't seem to be true.

Again, these are mostly my thoughts and I'm more than open to reading other opinions, because *sigh* I really don't know how to handle this.

Bottom line - I really really don't want to be hating on the characters in general, playing God in regards to judging the struggles of minorities, or even criticising the characters too harshly for being human, flawed etc. What my main issue is is how CC handles those complex and heavy topics.

I hope I make sense and this answer satisfies you somehow - I also hope someone better equipped to answer might wanna join this conversation.

* I desperately need a reread of TLH before I engage in any more conversations like this, but I didn't wanna leave you hanging. So yeah, I might be remembering things wrong. Again, let me know, I'm very much open to being corrected as well as to further discussion.

* I use she/her pronouns for Anna because that's what she uses in canon

#the last hours #tlh #alastair carstairs #shadowhunters #the shadowhunter chronicles #anti charles fairchild #is this anti anna? #kamala joshi #ariadne bridgestock #chain of iron #chain of gold #spilling the tea

[cheelduh]

How to bet your way into someone’s heart. (Highschool AU)

Pairing: Childe x fem!reader

Warnings: Fake weed. Poor Signora smh. Oh yes, lots of swearing. UNEDITED ASF IM LAZY BYE.

Synopsis: Childe is being an infatuated idiot, Lisa has eyes for vending machine chocolate, and Kaeya is desperately in need of a pencil. With all these distractions, there’s no way in hell you’ll be able focus on the task at hand.

This is crack.

I don’t have time.

You think as you race down the hallway, shoes slapping against the floor as you expertly dodge multiple students in your way.

Bullet. You're as fast as a bullet, because everyone around you is a blur and you don't stop, can't stop, not until you meet your target.

It's funny how one can accomplish many challenges and feats they were unable to, merely due to pressure. Pressure is a twisted ugly thing that can gnaw its way into the pit of your stomach and grow like a parasite. Pressure is a parasite that can either bring the best in you, or the worst, but at the cost of one's peace of mind.

"Move it Signora!" You shouted a warning at the senior blocking your way. There wasn't any time for you slow down at that point, and you'd risk bumping into the breakfast club's stall if you swerved to the side, sending juice flying everywhere.

Signora's eyes widened momentarily, getting the gist albeit her anger, and choosing to back up flatly against the locker.

Her lipstick nearly slips from her fingers as you swerve past, a thick gust of wind in your wake.

It messes with the hair she woke up two hours early for.

Signora plots her revenge. You still don't have time.

You nearly kick the door to your home room down, but you can't risk the perfect image your teachers have of you. So you pat down your t-shirt, take five tempting deep breaths, and tentatively knock the door.

The door opens and you're met with a young man, familiar amber pupils welcoming you.

You try not to huff and puff at the cost of your stamina. Thinking back, there's no way in hell you could have physically been that fast.

"Good morning Y/N," Your homeroom teacher gives you a small smile, moving aside to let you in. "Class is just about to start."

You check your watch, then turn to him with an apologetic tone, trying not to crack under the eyes of your classmates. "I'm so sorry Mr.Zhongli, I slept through my alarm."

Your idiot ass forgot to set one because you studied till four in the morning.

"You're like thirty seconds late, cut the shit." Beidou boos from the back, causing your stance to stiffen.

"I don't wanna hear it Beidou. If anything, you're two periods earlier than usual." Ningguang calls her out for you, but you have a feeling it's more so on behalf of a personal vendetta.

Ignoring the two bickering, Mr.Zhongli gives you the handout. "Take a seat. Do not fret over such minuscule things dear."

Relief washes over you. Your impeccable attendance is not on the line.

Childe tries to flag you down next to him but you send him a pointed glare and sit next to Lisa instead.

"You should give him a chance you know." Lisa doesn't even have to open her eyes to know what's going on.

"Please," You scoff, digging through your bags to collect your notes. "As if I have the time to fool around with a shady kid like him."

Your friend sighs in disapproval, and makes no move to take out her own notes as Mr.Zhongli begins the lecture on the Archon war.

"You should really pay attention." It bothers you that she doesn't, but then again it's not your place to tell her what to do or not to do.

"I don't need to." She yawns, blinking an eye open towards you. "I have you after all."

"I'm tired of saving your ass." You groan and pull a pen out of your pocket to get started on the exercises as Mr.Zhongli talks in the background.

The course outline contained all the topic, and you made sure to teach yourself as much as you could before class to stay ahead.

Immersed in the worksheet, you blinked away your sleep and tried to answer as many questions as you could at the moment. You didn't hear the slight shift next to you, and the change of breathing, or the rate of which time went by.

A familiar scent makes its way into your nostrils.

"Lisa. Why do you smell like mango juul juice." You know the scent from when Signora blew a mango flavoured fog in your face yesterday at lunch when you said you were hungry.

A chuckle erupts and you freeze in place. "That's because I'm not Lisa."

You blink. Once, twice, and then crane your head to the side to meet a pair of teasing cerulean eyes.

Fingers loosening in shock, the pen drops on the desk with a short thud.

You whisk your head towards the front of the classroom, and Mr.Zhongli is nowhere to be seen.

"There's no saving you now." Childe's smirk widens, and he scoots closer to you. "Mr.Zhongli had to get something from the staff room. The staff room is near the cafeteria."

"Which is also near the merch stall." You grumbled, bringing both hands to massage your temples as a headache is beginning it's reign.

"Tsk tsk. Smart girl. I'd like to add that he's forgotten his wallet in his office as well, which is in the south wing."

"Son of a..." You mutter underneath your breath, and opt to scoot further back, but your efforts are futile because your desk is in a corner.

Your next beacon of hope is Lisa, so you scan the room full of chattering students, only to find her pestering her crush, Jean.

Shit...there's nothing getting you out of this one.

"What did it take?" Is your only question, the despair starting to brew. How much did it take for your best friend to betray you?

"A dollar and fifty for vending machine chocolate."

You take a moment to breathe, calming your nerves and burying down the urge to screech. "What will it take?"

"For what?" Childe replies back innocently, and you can't believe how fast he can change masks. You almost give in.

"For you to leave me alone."

"Aww come on girlie," He whines, closing in the distance. "Don't be so cold."

What did your mom tell you that one time? Oh yes. That if you were ever backed against a wall, then just break the damn thing down.

Too bad it's figurative. You're just about ready to sock him in the face if you didn't know he was into that sort of thing.

"I'm serious about you," He says, and it sounds so real, so genuine, nearly makes you sputter. "See? I've even bought school supplies.

He unzips his light backback and spills the contents on the table.

A lone piece of paper flies out, a lighter, and a mechanical pencil with no lead that follows straight after. There's also a pocket knife that you choose to ignore.

You're not the least bit surprised.

"First of all, how the fuck are you passing this class. Second, do you really think I'm into nerds?"

"Well, considering that you are a nerd—"

"You're making things worse."

"My bad, my bad." He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "But on a serious note. I'll do anything."

You cross your arms. "I'm not just another one of your conquests Childe. It's not like I have the time. There are better things to do."

"You need to relax." He says so simply, with complete disregard as to what you are trying to say.

"I am relaxed." You reply, picking up your pen to continue your work. If he's going to annoy you, then you might as well get shit done while he's at it.

You're not wasting any more time.

"When was the last time you got a full eight hours of sleep?" His voice is soft, too soft, and it's not at all like the Childe you know.

Your pen stops momentarily, but you will yourself to continue writing. The words look fumbled, but you don't care. The best thing to do is get your work done and ignore the idiot next to you.

"C'mon, Zhongli won't be back for another half an hour at least. Let's go." He kicks the bottom of your chair to urge you.

The pen shakes in your hand, and you narrow your eyes at the paper, digging holes into poor question eight. "I'm trying to work here. Let me work." You'll say anything to get him off your back.

"Fine fine fine..." He raises both hands in mock surrender. "I'll stop bothering you."

Your ears perk up at that, and you turn to him so fast he has to hold in his laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah," Childe nods along, bringing your hopes up. "If you win a bet, that is." And they're back to ocean level.

You roll your eyes. There's always a catch. That doesn't mean you're any less interested.

"What's the bet?" You ask curiously, all your focus now on him. Just as he longed for from the very start.

He flicks a thumb towards the door, leaning closer to whisper next to your ear. "We bet when Zhongli comes back."

"Are you kidding me?" You aren't bothered at all at the close proximity, mainly because you're too tired and only care about the freedom that will come with your win.

Childe, however, is a completely different story. His heart is beating a thousand times a second, but his face doesn't show it. Not one bit.

Kaeya leans in from the seat behind you two, interested in what's going on. "Ooooh secrets."

"Shut up Kaeya." Childe and you monotonously drone in sync, still having your little staring contest.

The captain of the skating team smiles, about to ask—

"No. We don't have an extra pencil. Even if we did we wouldn't give it to you." Childe finally breaks his gaze to scare off Kaeya.

Kaeya raises a smug brow, and leans back in his chair like the jerkwad he is. "Then don't let me keep you two love birds."

That's all it takes for him to earn Childe's unwavering respect and loyalty for as long as he lives.

After the two are done creating an elaborate handshake as a mark of their newfound friendship, you decide to just forget about the handout. It's not like you're getting anything done anyways.

"Anyways, back to the bet." Childe says, resting his cheek on his fist as he stares at you dreamily. You try not to break under his gaze.

"If I win, you have to go on a date with me."

"No way in hell—"

"Then I'll bother you for the rest of highschool."

Highschool is eternity. You don't want to live through an eternity of this.

"Fine." You answer, and for the first time he sees genuine fear in your face, it makes him waver slightly. Not enough for him to pity you.

"If I win..." You trail, thinking loud and clear as you ignore the excited chatter of your classmates. "I want you to pay attention to class."

"What?" He exclaims incredulously, blinking in disbelief. "I thought you'd get me to stop talking to you altogether."

"If you're paying attention in class, you don't bother me as much and your grades go up." You grin smartly, and oh archons it livens his entire day up, and it's only nine in the morning.

"You care about my grades?" Childe bites back a smile.

"Not at all." You lie, and quickly look away. Woah the floor tile looking trippy.

He decides it's better to get on with the bet without causing you any more distress. After all, you've given him such cute facial expressions today. He's feeling quite generous.

Pulling out his cracked-as-shit latest model phone, he unlocks it and tinkers with it a bit before turning the screen towards you.

"We'll be using this to time both of our predictions at the same time. Whoever has the closer time to when he finally swings by is the winner." The rules are simply put, no room for error.

You tilt your head in confusion. "Why am I seeing a slime review?"

"SHIT!" Childe fumbles with his phone, aggressively tapping on the screen. He lowers his head and voice as if he's been through fifty consecutive hits in the face. "It's uh, Teucer's account."

"Yeah...okay." Is all you can say.

"Ok what do you bet?" He changes the topic to unfuck the situation.

Putting a finger in your chin, you think for a minute, calculating the average of all the times Mr.Zhongli has left the classroom for a considerable amount of time.

"Fifteen minutes." You're sure of it. It's like clockwork every day.

"Hmm..." Childe crosses his arms, seemingly in deep thought. "Five minutes." He places his bet, and both timers start simultaneously.

Five minutes?! Is he serious?

You laugh inwardly. This challenge is in the bag.

The sense of victory you feel dulls when your ears pick up the echo of footsteps nearing the classroom.. Both your heads snap up to the doors.

There's something scary about Childe once his competitive side comes out. "Looks like I've won." He turns to you, eyes darkening evilly.

"What? There's no way in hell a ginger is right." Your palms are clammed up, eyebrows furrowed in panic. You calculated every single variable, how could this be?

You race to the front, Childe right on your tail as the entire class clamps up. The footsteps get louder, causing even whispers to become total silence.

Then it hits you. The shitty music about getting bitches and bars playing on the other side.

The door is swung open by Childe, and you're face to face with an idiot sophomore with a speaker in his pocket.

Childe’s grin is long gone, and you sigh in relief.

The false alarm encourages the class to return back to their idle chatter.

"Scaramouche?" Childe spits, narrowing his eyes at the unamused boy. "I thought it was Signora's shift today."

By "shift" he means being a complete dickwad and scamming fake weed to students in return for their souls. It only really works on the freshmen.

The only reason the club still runs is because Signora threatened the principal with some sus pictures she snapped of him and his assistant.

"Apparently she had an emergency." Scaramouche explains, lowering the volume on his outdated beats pill. "Something about a hair appointment because she got ran into by a, and I quote "lecherous imbecile.""

You steer clear of the conversation, finding the whiteboard far more fascinating and worth your while.

A loud cough is heard from behind the kid, and you're met with a crestfallen look on your beloved teacher's face.

You go through a whiplash of emotions, becoming completely numb towards your loss.

"They were out of slow cooked bamboo shoot soup." He sighs, handing a stack of papers to Childe, who is wearing the fattest smirk on his face at his victory. "Please hand these out to your classmates Childe, and we will begin shortly."

You check down at the timer despite knowing who’s won. Five minutes and twenty five seconds. Somehow, you don't feel as dejected as you thought you'd feel.

Maybe the date will be fun. Maybe Childe isn't so bad. Maybe...you do have time to indulge in these sort of things. If he’s so hell bent on getting your attention, perhaps it’s possible that you can make some room in your heart for him.

However, all those thoughts fly out the window when Childe hands you the new worksheet.

“I hope you're ready for our date tomorrow. We'll be sparring till sundown, and after you’ll be feeding me with chopsticks." He winks, and it makes your heart flip even though all you want right now is to go to the bathroom and barf your guts out.

Feelings are complicated.

You smile back at him nauseously, tight lipped and all, then you pull out your phone, go on maps, and search for the closest cliffs to jump off of.

After he's done, Childe slouches back in his original seat with a different kind of enthusiasm, and opens up his messages. He texts Zhongli a "thank you <3".

#childe x reader #genshin oneshot #genshin impact oneshot #genshin imagines #childe #tartagila #kaeya alberich #fanfic #genshin impact #genshin tartagalia

[capriciouswriter207]

I was always suspicious of Emma

It's okay to have comfort oc, just make sure that Rick is good. Please.

Yes Katherine, when you suspect someone is in your closet you just sit there staring at it. No blame I guess, I would simply pass away. My spare treatment masks are in my closet. They have fish fins.

Poor Shrub. Do her parents know she's alive? Or is she a different dimension? Also all of y'all thinkin Pix’ll be bad, I think the lad might be the unconscious dude. Maybe he's bad, that'd be a twist, you like those.

Again, Shrub doesn't understand anything. I mean, kidnapped in the void probably does that to ya.

Never trust an abandoned lab in the woods, why do they make it a picnic spot? It just radiates bad danger place, destroy that door and just look at it, it smells like evil and I can't even smell.

Monopoly seems weird, I say, never played it. Also *forgets thought* nvm.

Don't worry Sausage, I don't trust any kitchen appliances, fire risks and also loud. Dark spiral though, get these kids some therapy.

Is fWhip the next target? Or is he out walking for like therapy or something? That doesn't sound like him, should keep an eye on him.

What if Jimmy is actually the bad guy? He hyponises people and acts confused, literally perfect bad guy material, the owo innocent person no one suspects. Just sayin.

I'll probably have more thoughts later. Also, sneak peek? I'll give two week old kitten a pat for you :3

-Kitty (｡･ω･｡)

Everyone is suspicious of Emma. That's her one defining character trait, I guess - makes everyone who reads about her suspicious. Can't say I didn't build her that way, though, so I'm glad it's working.

Don't worry, Rick's a good kid. Fern takes good care of him and he's got a good relationship with his cousins, so he's fine. Mostly, but who isn't struggling with something in their early twenties anyway?

Shrub does indeed not have the best life up until her escape. I'd say one of her parents knows that she is alive. At this point, more like hopes that she's alive. She can't know anything about a world she hasn't seen for at least a decade. And Katherine was just stunned to see someone sitting in her closet, too stunned to do anything but stare. I thought it was a funny moment.

I do like my twists, yes. Pix could be a villain, could be the unconscious guy. Who's to say the unconscious guy isn't also a villain who's juicing up on corruption? Everything is possible.

Closed-off bunker in the middle of the woods. Not a lab. The town had the entrance sealed and though sometimes kids try to pull open the door as a dare, its firmly shut. Nothing can open that door. And the town didn't necessarily want to turn it into a picnic spot (as in: it was neer their intention), people just started picnicking there and it just kinda happened.

Monopoly is a weird game. I just looked at the games that cc!Jimmy played on his livestreams and I remember him playing monopoly with some friends so I chose that game. The game itself isn't necessarily important, but the events before/after that game are.

At this point, I'm pretty sure everyone in the Caesar House could be a target. You know, "there's plenty of replacements at the House". So, that would logically include fWhip as well. Or maybe fWhip had something he wanted to discuss with Emma without risking anyone else overhearing it. Also an option.

What if Jimmy is indeed the bad guy? A wolf in sheep's clothing, presenting himself as harmless. The hypnosis is harmless, guys - Don't look in my direction, I'm just confused and harmless. A good actor at that, too, if he manages to keep convincing everyone (including Pix) that he can be trusted. Good thought.

And sneak peek? Let me think... there will be more goat-related drama. They Joel and Joey B-plot will return soon. Some panic attacks and shenanigans ensue. Ren & Doc have lines.

#empires smp #caesar house au #caesar house rick #caesar house shrub #caesar house pix #caesar house katherine #caesar house jimmy #lot of people discussed this ask. #pls give the two week old kitten a pat for me #very good points you made

[lisbonsteresa]

HEY! ND anon again just dropping into say YOU ARE TOO KIND and curious to know NOT ONLY your hopes/wishes/theories for season 4 are?? How do you want Ace to find out about the curse?? Will we actually have a real life confession/kiss (bc they’ve done a dreamscape, an alternate reality, another line life, a whisper box idk what else they could do to not make Nace happen in real time) what do you think will be the main plot this season? Drew Crew future thoughts? Road back? Those bodies? (1/)

ND anon! hello!! (and omg thank you 🥰)

oh god, i've just been sitting here trying to formulate all my s4 thoughts...there's so many possibilities (so let me add a read more in case this gets long)

Regarding the curse, I think the best thing is we're going into s4 already knowing that Ace knows something's up. He knows Nancy too well to take her 'rejection' at face value, and he cares too much about her to not try and figure out what's going on himself. Now how exactly he gets from 'something's wrong' to 'oh a curse'...I'm not sure. (mainly because I don't know if anyone would actually get to curse without nancy telling them, and with the terms of the curse being so vague I'm willing to bet that Nancy will be playing things as close to the vest as possible at least until she potentially reaches her breaking point and just can't keep it in anymore, which like....poor girl is long overdue for a breakdown)

All of that being said, I can very easily see Ace working on finding a solution to the curse at the same time Nancy is, but both of their investigations faltering because Ace has help but no information and Nancy has information but can't risk asking for help. In my head, Bess is the one who bridges the gap - she's ideally suited with her new job at the historical society to be the person they could both go to for help, and being 1. someone who loves her friends dearly and 2. a meddler at heart, I can see her doing something to bring everything (and everyone) together. and again in my head this something involves the truth serum because like why else have that be such a big part of her ending sting but i digress

In terms of a confession/kiss, I mean....they have to give us something real this time. (they just have to) Like you said, they've literally done every other kind of fake out I can think of (unless they want to pull some kind of memory loss/time loop kind of thing, which they have done before but not with nace specifically but also let's not give them ideas) and they know how popular nace is as a ship - as much as they seem to enjoy yanking our chain with them, I'm all but convinced that next season will at least end with them happy/de-cursed/having at least one irl kiss.

I think the main plot (at least based on what we know so far) is probably going to come down to the bodies and the crew. The curse is obviously a big thing for nace, and that will almost definitely snowball to include/impact everyone else too, but if that becomes a main focus I think it'd be during the latter part of the season. (actually i could see the bodies being the focus for the first half and then the curse, or vice versa, and whichever is the focus for the back half of the season being revealed to be part of something bigger because the writers do have a very good track record for that kind of thing). I'm excited to see where things go with the bodies because as much as I enjoyed a lot about s3, I am very excited at the thought of a more 'back to basics' season, where the main focus is on the mystery of it all and the supernatural elements add to that mystery. That, and/or finding out how much they impact the mystery as the season goes on (a la Lucy in s1). And I would love to see the crew and their dynamic be a major focus this season. They've always been such a tight group and they've always been so...around each other (murder suspects together, cursed together, all working in the same place) but where s3 left off they're all fairly split off from each other. I'm honestly really grateful that it wasn't a result of a big fight/breakup - although obviously that's a factor - even with how fanson and nace ended up in s3, it's clear that the crew and their friendships still matter to them all. But even putting aside romantic turmoil, they're growing up and finding their way in the world and Horseshoe Bay. They've set up the crew to, for lack of better wording, be tentpoles for the town and with that and their new positions/pursuits there's new responsibilities and things to worry about. Things next season won't be as simple as 'close the Claw for inventory while we chase down a ghost' - there's a lot more moving parts, and once you add the romantic dynamics back in things get even more complicated. We have word-of-god confirmation that the crew definitely will be coming back together - and as they're the people in HB most uniquely qualified to deal with the supernatural threats that won't leave their town alone thank goodness for that - but I'm so so interested to see how they come back together, and how they each develop as individuals. I love these characters and I'm very excited to see them continue to grow, together and apart.

#i'm sorry anon this did get long (and ramble-y lfdkajds) #and there's still one ask to go #but hopefully i'm making sense at least #asks

[alo-piss-trancy]

Ok hi, I didn't wanna say anything, but please don't write knifeplay/bloodplay for Yuri. I def don't wanna spoil anything, but it's learned on a certain route that Yuri has a s*lf h*rm problem (I'll leave it at that).

You honestly seem like you're not trying to be a jerk with this ask, so I'm going to do my best to answer this as politely as possible without compromising my personal beliefs on the matter. This is going to be long and a little serious, but please note I'm not attacking you or trying to start a debate. I'm just laying all my thoughts on this down at once so I make myself clear, because a short answer would leave a lot of nuance out.

I understand what you're trying to do here. For the record though, I also considered that a pretty massive spoiler and I did not appreciate that at all. Even if you all think you're 'helping', don't do that again. Y/uri was pretty much the only character I'd managed to avoid most spoilers on and you killed the surprise for me. This game is already so full of fluffy 'filler' in the beginning that I don't have a ton of big plot points to look forward to in each route.

Now, I realise this is a very delicate topic and incredibly triggering to some people, especially with those two things combined. I am 100% willing to tag it with just about any variation needed to ensure you or others affected can blacklist/block it and never have to see a word of it in the future. I'd also be happy to go back and tag that original text post I made if needed. I mean that. You all are welcome to ask me to tag things anytime, and so long as you're polite about it I'm perfectly willing to oblige to the best of my ability in future posts! If I occasionally forget, just toss me a light reminder and I'll jump into editing and add it in.

That said, I want to make it clear that I am very firmly against censorship. I'm willing to take all necessary precautions to ensure people can curate their experiences on this blog and AO3, but at the end of the day I can still post whatever fictional stuff I choose to. As can anyone else. Same goes for more formally published media.

Now, it's entirely possible I would have gotten to that part of the game and decided 'oh dang, I'm not so enthused about that fic idea anymore...'. My whims and ideas change frequently, and what you mentioned is a heavy topic with a lot to unpack and process. It's also entirely possible that future plot would only provide more fuel.

Fyi, when I originally mentioned the knifeplay I was actually thinking a lot more along the lines of her doing it to the protagonist, not the reverse. But for the record, if I did choose to write it with focus on Y/uri, I would still be well within my rights to.

This next part of my answer is going to address some heavy topics, this is your warning!!!

Sometimes people's kinks are a way to take a thing that is personally scary or upsetting to them and find a way to reverse it. To find pleasure or power or get used to the idea of the awful thing in a safe, controlled fashion. I'm not going to go into the full details on this because there's plenty of explanation and research elsewhere already written up, as well as an excellent book on the subject, and I'm not turning this blog into a discourse debate. But I needed to mention it for my point.

There are plenty of stories that could be explored with Y/uri in this context. Did she have this kink before the self harm events started and it was completely unrelated, or did she develop it afterwards? How did she discover it beforehand? If developed afterwards, did it start out as another way of harming mixed with pleasure in a self-destructive way, often done sloppily and without proper technique? Or was it strictly used as almost exposure therapy to deal with those urges and thoughts in a safer, more contained scenario, maybe even allowing the partner she trusted to wield the knife to prove their bond/reinforce that she can be loved without being hurt deeply, that she is worthy of affection and trust and loyalty. Maybe this finally helps give Y/uri a tool to embrace her 'weirdness' without harming herself and others. Or, what if she thinks it can be a useful tool and is sure she's ready, but partway through the scene she gets triggered or has flashbacks... how does she deal with it? How does her partner? Can it be overcome with effort, research, and taking things slowly, or does she realize this kink is actually completely off the table for her?

What if she has this kink and is excited to try it, but her partner isn't? How does she take that rejection? Or do her poor social skills mean she skipped negotiation to begin with and attempted it in the middle of a vanilla session? Would her partner freak out or even get mad, or try to swallow their fear and let her do it so they don't hurt/offend her, even at the cost of their own comfort?

This topic also opens a ton of potential plots for darkfic, but I'll refrain from discussing that out of respect for you and others.

So as you can see, there's much more to explore than 'Knife=Hot'. I believe those discussions and ideas are necessary and provide important fuel for thought when explored fictionally, especially since mainstream media doesn't cover a lot of them.

~~~

I feel I should take a second to clarify knifeplay for those who may be unaware. It doesn't always equate to actual cutting/drawing blood. That can be an aspect, but usually only by those far more experienced and, you know, actually into that. A lot of participants don't actually go that far. Mostly, it's either about the physical sensation of the knife touching you at all, or the adrenaline/controlled fear and intimate trust of a partner bringing an object like that so close/teasing you with it.

In fact, it's frequently advised in those circles (especially to newcomers) to use a dull butterknife instead, because it simulates the same feelings of metal on skin/can dig in a little without any real risk of cutting/drawing blood. Even if one chooses to use a different knife, it's still pretty common to dull the blade, or some people even substitute with a closed pair of scissors (combined with the partner blindfolded, you can't really tell it apart from the real thing).

These versions of knifeplay are well controlled and ultimately pretty harmless, so long as both parties know what they're doing and stay alert. And more experienced players with sharper knives are even more cautious/have studied extensively to know where/how deep to go without risking scarring/serious injury.

Remember the golden rules of kink: Safe. Sane. Consensual.

With those in place, it is not nearly the same as self harm. Just as controlled, consensual, well-negotiated BDSM with safewords, respected boundaries and a trusted partner is never in the same league as abuse.

~~~

Now that that's out of the way, back to my point:

There's no perfect representation or narrative for everyone, in any group (be that gender/sexuality/triggered by certain things, etc). Every human being is different, everyone interprets media differently, and everyone takes away different elements from stories.

What one person in a particular group may find cathartic, relateable, or painful but necessary food for thought, another may find completely repulsive, personally hurtful, offensive, something they can't stand to hear. And guess what? Both of those can be true at the same time. One side is not immediately right over the other.

There are queer characters or interpretations of them in fics that I vehemently despise, might even find hurtful or sickening and think 'how can anyone create this, it's insufferable! People in 'my group' aren't like that, it's a horrible representation. I can't relate to it at all!' But you know what? Other people can and do, may find comfort in those exact narratives and experiences, may heal their pain instead of inflicting more. And that's great. It's what they needed or wanted and if I don't like it, I click away and do my best to avoid it.

There are specific tropes and narrative themes I personally cannot get through without being triggered into anxiety attacks or dragged back to bad times and places in my life. Sometimes I see them tackled in ways that are hurtful or seem insensitive to me. But I recognise that for someone else, it's exactly what they needed to see to get through that or come to terms with it, or see a way they wish that thing could play out. I would never dream of telling those people they aren't allowed to enjoy it, OR telling the creator of that piece of media or a tv show 'Hey ummm please don't use this plot because it turns me into a human wreck for a week'. Because it's not remotely my place to do so. They can create whatever they want, they have no responsibility towards me or my well being. A few might be kind enough to include a warning at the beginning of that episode or in the description, but they are in no way required to. It's up to me to curate my experience and try to keep my guard up/research what might have those tropes, and in the rare occasions I get blindsided, yeah, it hurts like hell. I struggle, I might even backslide a bit. But I just have to try my best to deal with it and make a note to be more careful next time. Because you can't control the world around you, not even the online world, and you have absolutely no right to. The only right you have is to protect yourself without infringing on other people's boundaries/rights.

And there's also another important point. There doesn't have to be a big important point or explanation for why a creator creates something, or why consumers can enjoy that creation! If someone wants to create a plotline with all of my triggers used in the most 'insensitive', 'wrong', pointless ways possible, strictly for Entertainment or pure kink material instead of some deep dissection of the issues involved? They can go hog wild!!! They are 100% allowed to do so on this earth, and I can't (and wouldn't want to) do a thing to stop them.

One person can read a kink fic and it hits a very emotional theme for them/they think it explores a deep topic well. Another person can read that same fic and get nothing out of it except their rocks off. Both of those readers are completely equal and 'allowed' to enjoy that fic. Both reasons are completely valid reasons for why the creator was 'allowed' to post/create that fic in the first place. Nobody needs permission, nobody has to answer to anybody except themselves. Period. This extends to any topic, any type of fic.

Yes, even for things I find absolutely abhorrent and insensitive and don't understand/want to read ever. I may resent everything about its existence, but I will defend to death the creator's right to make it exist in the first place.

It only affects me if I let it affect me. If someone's making content I despise or am upset by and can't handle, I can choose to ignore or avoid them, blacklist those tags, I can block them and move on with my day. I can do anything within my own bubble, but the second I consider going into their bubble and saying they can't make that thing, I am in the wrong. Because I'm not respecting their space and rights.

If someone makes cookies with ingredients I'm highly allergic to, pastes the ingredient warnings all over the box where I read them, and I still eat one, would anyone cheer me on for blaming them when I have a reaction? Would anyone think it was remotely okay of me to start calling up every bakery in town and saying they weren't allowed to bake those cookies EVER, because some people somewhere might be allergic?

No. They'd tell me I was crossing the line, because I'm infringing on other people's boundaries and lives. I'm expecting everybody else to take responsibility for something that, while horrible and painful, was my fault for touching.

Now, if someone sets out unlabelled cookies not realizing I'm allergic to something in them, and I eat it and have a reaction, that sucks. It's an awful experience. But is it the baker's fault? As long as they didn't do it maliciously, not really. They can be advised politely to label it in the future, and I can do my best to remember to ask/be more cautious next time I come across something I'm unsure of, but they're still allowed to bake those cookies for themselves and others.

Now, if I deliberately baked cookies with an ingredient that people are very frequently allergic to (ex. peanuts) and set it out in a crowded buffet without a warning label, that's a jerk move. That's intentionally trying to cause harm to others. But simply baking that flavour of cookies still isn't a crime or harmful by itself.

~~~

I'll be honest, I'm running out of steam and I think I've said most of what I have to say, so I'll wrap it up. I want to reiterate that I'm not ripping into you with this long answer, anon! I understand why you sent me what you did and I'm trying not to come off as harsh. I'm happy to go back and tag things and will tag anything else similar in the future!!! But at the end of the day, regardless of whether I personally end up writing that fic or not, or even want to after I get to that plot, I don't agree with telling anyone they can't/shouldn't write it at all. I wanted to try and explain my viewpoint thoroughly, and I hope you can respect that, just as I'll respect and try to accommodate you and other followers. This is the only time I'll really get up on a soapbox like this, and I have no interest in debating these things on my blog further, but it is a topic I've been passionate about all my life so I'm afraid I'm not budging on it.

#bear gets a letter #not omo #tw knives #tw knifeplay #tw cutting #tw self harm #d/dlc spoilers

[littlemisssquiggles]

So I recently sent a response to Shannon McCormick, Oz's voice actor: "I know you said the group is gonna trust Oz again and reconcile, but I'm not feeling very hopeful. They're still so bitter towards him and not trying to understand him... and are doing the same things they demonized him for, yet it's being treated like it's okay. I know you can't give spoilers and I don't expect you to, but it's something that's got me really down." He responded with: "Keep the faith."

Hey Miki-chan. Ah yes, good ole Shannon coming in clutch with that boast of optimism. I’m actually curious as to whether or not, we will even get to see Oz return for V7. The opening certainly didn’t give any indication of it; sadly to say. If I’m expecting Oz to return at all, it’s probably by the end of the season.

While I do want Oz to return and reconcile with the group, I’m skeptical about having it go back to the way things were before with Ozpin constantly taking control of Oscar’s body and more or less eclipsing his development. I miss Oz but I don’t miss that. This is why I liked how they showed him as a more of guiding voice for Oscar at the end of V6 with the airship crash.In my opinion, that’s what I initially assumed their dynamic was going to belike until the show revealed the soul swapping technique in V5.

I want Oscar to shine on his own, if possible, for V7. If Oz were to return to the story, I hope his role is relegated to being more of a literal voice of reasonand guidance taking up full residence inside of Oscar’s head; not really takingover as much as he used to but lending instructions to Oscar on how to moveespecially in combat while allowing the young boy to think on his feet and makeuse of that good ole muscle memory he is expected to inherit. If Oscar isbecome Ozpin’s successor and successful one to boot, Oz can’t keep holding his hand. He’s got to let Oscar grow into the role and I think he’s being goinggood so far. But he still does need Oz to be there to help. Hence why I’mhoping that, if Oz is to return, I really wish for Oscar to be the one to go inafter him to bring him back.

Since Oscar was the only seen to show Oz a bit of sympathy last season, I wish for this to continue as it can definitely push the growth of the bond between the Two Souls. If there is one person I’m expecting to vouch on Oz’s behalf at this point, it’s Oscar. Ruby was another character I was hoping would certainly join him in that court. However…things are a little complicated right now with our little red rose and the path she seems to be taking this season.  I’ll discuss this more under thread.

While we’re on the topic of Oz’ reconciliation with the hero group, I’m really sorry to hear that this development has had you disappointed and feeling down, Miki-chan. I get where your frustration is coming from but at the same time, I also agree with Shannon on keeping the faith.

Similar to how Oz’s skeletons coming out of the closet was a narrative slow-burn that’s been churning since as early as V5, I feel as if it’s going to be the same forhis path to redemption with the team and regaining their trust. The only thingI dislike about this plot point is how we still have everyone more or less sharingthe same opinion of Oz with little indication on whether or not anyone isreally starting to consider that the other side of the coin where Oz wasjustified in his actions.

When this plot point first dropped back in V6, what was fascinating about it was how divided it made the fandom. It opened the grounds for discussion and debating with everyone sharing their different outlooks on the scenario and that was quite neat.

I just wished that the Writers had mimicked that in the series; y’know? When I first saw the V6 volume poster, art with Oz and Oscar at the centre while Team RWBY were all divided around the two of them; I figured that that was what the season was going to be like more or less.

With the team being divided on their overall trust Oz and growing trust in Oscar with some folks, such as Ruby and possibly Blake standing in the court that defended both souls whereas Weiss and Yang weren’t as convinced.

It would’ve been great to see everyone sharing different outlooks and reactions to the news about Oz’s past with Salem and her immortality; Team RWBY’s as well as JNR’s.  

It would’ve been great to see that because it could have even leant itself to paving the road towards Ozpin’s eventual reconciliation in this new season or whenever the showrunners decided to have it happen down the line.

However, instead, thus far it’s mostly been everyone sharing the same opinion—Oz was wrong and is not to be trusted anymore.This is now made even worse by the notion that the heroes are currently committing the same action of ‘deceiving and/or withholding vital info from your allies’ as Oz once did with them.

However what’s almost comical is how the narrative—the PLOT—is trying to get us as the audience to think that the heroes are in the right when really…they’re not?

At least to me, they’re not. I’ve seen examples of other FNDM fam members taking a supportive stance for the actions of Ruby and the other heroes’ deceit with Ironwood and their Atlesian allies. This squiggle meister, on the other hand, has not been that easily convinced. Sorry.  

I think what bugs me the most regarding the execution of this subplot is how much the heroes are able to get away with when it comes to their actions. I understand that the Writers are more or less attempting to show a parallel between our gaggle of heroes and Ozpin by having them take greater risks for the sake of fulfilling their mission while additionally making questionable choices. 

That idea is fine and I like that they’re doing this with them especially since I think it could still lend to them eventually making up with Oz by understanding why he did the things he did since now they’ve been in his shoes. That part of it is good. Great even.

However, somehow, I dunno—for me, our heroes’ recent actions don’t have the same kind of impact on me as Ozpin’s did. I guess where I’m really getting at here is that when I learnt the truth about Oz last season, my main reason for staying in his court was because I understood his reasons for doing the things he did.

While I’ll call Oz out for his wrong in lying and keeping his secrets from people he believed were his most trusted allies, I was still sympathetic towards Oz because I genuinely felt that his actions were justified especially following the events of the Lost Fable.

The PLOT wants me to believe that Oz is this morally grey type of man and he is, to some degree. However the PLOT also wishes for me as the audience to believe that Oz has been nothing but this deceitful person throughout history and that the heroes are perfectly in the right for choosing to never trust in him again. But here’s the thing with that—I see Oz as being more…smart than fraudulent.

Yes Oz told lies and half-truths and kept important secrets that could shake the world of Remnant—but what some people seem to be forgetting is that there was good, valid reason behind the way Oz chose to do things. Oz was careful. Meticulous with the kind of people he chose to disclose the truth to as well as the information he chose to tell them and the right time to revealsaid information as well.

I’d like to think that this is how Oz was able to successfully keep things under wraps for so many lives as a means of more or less keeping the peace. Because of how careful he’d chose to move along with the kind of people he decided to place his trust in. Oz was cautious and as he explained in V6, his vigilance was backed up mostly by his experience over the centuries especially his first one with Salem

This is the issue I’m having with our heroes. Although they are committing the same actions as Oz, especially the part of choosing to hide the truth from Ironwood—their actions feel reckless and unwarranted in my opinion and I can’t get behind it as well as I did with Ozpin because I personally don’t feel the heroes are as justified in their actions as Oz was.

Even though the PLOT is trying to paint this picture that James shouldn’t be completely trusted and our heroes are in the right in not trusting him fully with the truth about Salem, for me, I honestly felt like our heroes jumped the gun on that one, just like how they jumped the gun back in Argus in choosing to illegally commandeer an airship to Atlas as opposed to trying any other means that could’ve rendered them the same results with less repercussions involving trouble with the military and the safety of the citizens of Argus.

According to the PLOT, Ruby was correct in making the call to not reveal the whole truth to Ironwood given how he and his forces have been treating the poor people of Mantle; not to mention our heroes upon their arrival in Atlas. This isevidenced by Ruby in V7CH3 in her response to Yang’s questioning.  

“Can we talk about that again?”“What about it?”

“We’re really not going to tellIronwood about what happened to Oz? What we learned about Jinn? About Salem?”

“…We are! We…will. But you saw howthings looked when we flew into Atlas.”

“The General’s heart seems to be inthe right place but…that doesn’t mean we should trust him yet.”

“Why don’t we play along for a whilebefore we make any major decisions?”  

I’d like to highlight Ruby’s indifference to her own actions again. Just something I pegged noteworthy since it reminded me of her attitude towards revealing her true feelings regarding the Aftermath of the Fall of Beacon—how she nonchalantly seemed to shrug away Oscar’s attempt at telling her that it’s alright for her to be open with him about how she’s truly feeling… right before Oscar switches his approach and firmly calls her out on his indifference which in turn finally forced her to come clean and be straight with him.

While I understand that the whole Mantle situation is a complicated matter, to me, that still doesn’t rule out it being a good reason for the heroes to lie to Ironwood.

I’d understand it more if it was a matter of Ruby being strategic in the information that she discloses to Ironwood but that’s not what the case is here. It’s not to saythat Ruby told James some of the truth and was very careful with what she chose to disclose and how she worded said information. It’s that she flat out liedand then repeated the same lie that Oz had fed them about the Relic ofKnowledge back in Mistral.

I know Ruby is trying to say she can’t trust Ironwood 100% because of how things are looking in Mantle and Atlas because of his actions. But on the other hand, I’m surprised it didn’t inspire her to be more upfront rather than the opposite take.

Based on what Pietro said in the first episode, Ironwood has been paranoid and on higher maintenance since the Fall of Beacon. That being said, why chose to withhold information from a man who is already fearful of being betrayed again by those closest to him since it was mentioned earlier in the season that it was one of his Atlas’ own—someone who worked closely with Atlas’ security and the military (Watts)  that contributed to the destruction of Beacon Academy and so much more in chaos in Vale?

“The Fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is he saw there, but it changed him. He’s—”

“…He’s scared.”

“Paranoid would be the more appropriate term. You have to understand, it wasn’t just the Grimm. Someone completely dismantled Atlas’ security code. Made it their plaything and made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that is either a genius or one of our own. I fear the answer may be both and so does the General.”

Again, with that thought in mind I ask again, why did Ruby think it was a wise choice to lie to Ironwood given what she learned specifically from Pietro regarding his frame of mind right now?

See why the hero’s actions are having the opposite effect for me?

While I get why it’s a possible motive, I still think what the heroes are doing with James is unwarranted. As a matter of fact, I feel like they’ve only made thingsworse for themselves by withholding info from Ironwood given his current frameof mind.

I’d like to think that Ironwood’s experience in Vale has made him more than just paranoid. He’s become more…I wouldn’t say soft but emotionally vulnerable than he was when we first met him.

This is why I don’t wish for Ruby’s mistrust of Ironwood to come back to appear as if she took advantage of Ironwood in his vulnerable state. Because I feel like that could easily feed into Ironwood’s paranoia—to learn that he couldn’t eventrust the people he placed fate in and showed kindness to. To show that heextended them his hand in reliance only for them to not do the same of him.

I know one of the common FNDM theories is that Ironwood isn’t being completely honest with our heroes, however I’m starting to think otherwise. Up until this point in the plot, Ironwood has been upfront with JNR_RWBY and Qrow about everything. Every question they’ve asked of him, he’s told them in full confidence. So far, I haven’t gotten the impression that James has been lying to the heroes at all.

Since he returned the Relic of Knowledge to Ruby and reassured her of his trust,I genuinely feel like he’s been nothing but upfront with the group abouteverything including all that’s been going down with him and his kingdom—bothsides of it.

If Ironwood was shown to be shady as well then I could’ve easily bought into theheroes doing the same thing with him because then their actions would’ve beenreasonable. If Ironwood was the same man he was shown to be back in V2 and was shown to be withholding important information from our heroes especially when they asked him vital questions in need of clarification, similar to how Oz had done with them, then I could’ve gotten behind our heroes taking that mindful approach.

However, this isn’t what I’ve seen from the show’s execution. Instead I’m seeingIronwood behaving pretty trustworthy while the heroes are the ones beingdeceitful and it all feels so very wrong on the heroes’ part. Especially when you have some of them behaving that they were right in keeping secrets from James. What especially bothered me a little was what Qrow told Ruby in the recent CH4.

“I’m trying to do what I think is best but…I really can’t tell if what’sbest is what’s right or if I’m no different from Oz”

Then is an excellent question for Ruby to ask of herself. It’s great because it highlights that she’s taken into consideration what her teammates have toldher—particularly Oscar. It shows that Oscar’s questioning of her actions mimicking Ozpin’s has weighed on her mind-set. So I’m pleased with this frame of thinking from Ruby. However, this moment is short-lived for me by what Qrow says next in response to Ruby’s statement.

“…Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You’re trusting others, making sure they prove themselves first. I think that’s a pretty big difference.”

…Okay….One thing admittedly right about that statement, yes. Yes; Oz did only trust himself with the whole truth. That is indeed correct. But, there’s also some clear wrong in that statement as well.

Qrow…I get that you’re probably still very, very upset that Oz deceived you and hurt you on a personal level. However, what I am in completely disbelief of is—how could Qrow say that Ruby is no different than Oz because she trusts in others, making sure that they prove themselves worthy of her trust before giving the whole truth?

I’m sorry…WHAT! But…but…Qrow; how can YOU of all people say that with a straight face? How can you remotely imply that at all? Especially the line about Oz only trusting himself and putting his faith in those he believes trustworthy. I’m sorry but that line comes off like utter rubbish to my ears.

Qrow Branwen—you are a living, breathing exemplar of earning Ozpin’s trust. Oz trusted you! He trusted James. He trusted Glynda. He trusted LeonardoLionheart. The entire Inner Circle of Oz only exists because Oz decided to place his trust in a handful of people he deemed worthy of knowing the truth.

While he kept the main truth about Salem’s immortality to himself; that doesn’t erase the fact that he trusted his Inner Circle with everything else. The Maidens. The Relics. Even his own immortality curse and reincarnation cycle. Oz told it all to this particular small group of people because he believed he could trust in them. Oz believed in the integrity of ALL members of his Inner Circle because he trusted each and everyone of them….EVEN when they stab him in the back. Right V2 Ironwood? Right Lionheart?

He even believed in Team STRQ! I’m actually curious to know how muchdid this team know about the truth. We know he trusted Raven and Qrow byturning them into birds with his magic. So I’m curious to know if Summer andTai were also fully aware of ¾ of the truth that Oz trusted his main peoplewith. I’m assuming they did and they kept it as part of their secrets as well.

Speaking of—Qrow, are you forgetting that you also helped Oz keep and uphold some of those secrets?  He entrusted you with ¾ of the whole truth and you’ve been sitting on it as well as your own secrets that you were keeping from your family; particularly your young nieces.

In a nutshell, Qrow’s statement to Ruby further highlight’s the hero’s hypocrisywith Oz. For me, this line didn’t serve to debunk the fact that Ruby is turningto Oz. It only embellished it for me. It affirmed it.

Ruby is indeed turning into Oz and what’s sad is that Qrow, her own beloved uncle and mentor figure, is oblivious to this fact because he’s currently too blinded by both his sustained resentment towards Oz and his love for his niece.  

And it’s pretty much the same for everyone else. Weiss and Blake are pretty complacent with following Ruby’s lead and backing her up on her actions with Ironwood. Yang shows uncertainty but is otherwise complacent too. We still don’t know how Jaune, Nora and Ren feel in regards to this. I’d actually like to hear them weigh in their thoughts on Oz and Ruby’s actions towards James. But I’mconcerned we might not get that since, as evidenced by the PLOT, I think it’spretty clear who are the key drivers of this subplot for V7.

I feel like it’s going to be mostly our veteran Rosebuds—Ruby and Oscar—presenting the two differing sides of this subplot with deceiving Ironwood and I feel like Oz’s reconciliation is prevalent on the results of it.

My theory is that Oscar will be the key to jumpstarting the path to Oz’s reconciliation with the team.

Moreover, I feel like Oscar is going to need Ruby’s support in vouchingfor Oz with the rest of the team; especially with Qrow and possibly Yang and Jaune.

Since the running thing is that most of the hero team follow Ruby’s leadership, I think it can be safe to say that so long as Ruby still shows uncertainty with Oz, it’s going to be mirrored by the others. I think if Oscar gets Oz to come back fromhis isolation in his mind and then gains Ruby’s full trust by helping see thewrong in what she’s doing now by doing the exact thing Oz did while alsohelping her to understand where Oz was coming from.

The only person I think this isn’t go to win over is Qrow. At least, I think Qrow might end up needing more time to work out whatever is going on with him before he can “forgive Oz” since his anger towards him is all wrapped up in his issues with himself and his semblance which encompasses his entire life thus far basically. 

Before, Qrow looked to Oz for validation in the good that he was doing which was why the revelation hit him harder than anyone else. So until Qrow works out his inner skeletons, I think he’ll still be resistant to facing Oz again. Thisseason teased Qrow sharing good “comradery” with Clover. I’m curious to seewhere that will go and whether or not it will lead into Qrow dishing out somedetails on what his past was like with Oz back when he met him as a student ofBeacon.

As a matter of fact, I’m intrigued by any info regarding what Oz’s relationship was like with all the members of his Inner Circle since I believe it can lend to Oscar’s turn with the Merge. 

Like I have a Tin Solider headcanon that Ironwood has actually known Oz from since back when he used to be old self—meaning the man I’ll dub Zoroaster Ozpin, nicknamed ‘Zo’ for short BEFORE he became the man we know as Professor Ozpin.

We know who Oz is but…who was Oz before he became Oz? Who was Zo and did Ironwood know him personally?

Ironwood’s remark to Oscar about Oz’s disappearance not being normal definitely gave me that impression. I think it could be pretty cool if one of Oz’s closest known allies actually knew him before and after the Merge. It could help shed some much needed perspective for Oscar on what the Merge entails for him especially if he heard it from the mouth of someone who knew Oz closely for basically two lifetimes? I’d really love to see something like that done for the canon.  

But that’s only my hunch.

I’d honestly wish to discuss more on this subject since there is surprisingly more I can say about this. However this is getting a little too long for a simple response post. Just another day, am I right? XD So I’m going to end it right here.

I know you didn’t really ask me a question Miki-chan but I still wanted to provide my take on the subject matter you presented and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Feel free to answer or inbox me another message if you’d like as always ^u^)b Peace!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#miki-13 #squiggles answers: rwby #professor ozpin #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ozpin #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories

[bakugou-ou]

Ik I'm anon and all, but I don't wanna get off it because the embarrassment would probably make it worse. I'm just tired of life… mines is pretty useless if you ask me, and according to everyone else who if ever met, I'm ugly too, I wouldn't kill myself because I'm too much of a coward to do that, but I don't know what I wanna do with my life and I can never be happy without someone ruining it That's why you and other creators' story helps me, it makes me think about my dram life I'll never get

Listen, friendo, whoever you are, you’re not ugly, and not useless. You don’t need to come off anon if you don’t want to, I get it. This is gonna get v personal here in a sec, so I’m putting the rest of this down under a cut in case no one gives a shit about my personal life and doesn’t wanna see my tragic anime backstory, but I’m sharing it with you because you said that you like my writing. This is the story of how I ended up running this blog, it’s got lots of talk about suicide, mentions of rape. It’s not pretty, so read at your own risk. Also, it’s long.

When I was four years old, I tried to jump off the balcony of my apartment, I wanted to die. It wasn’t a kid doing a stupid thing, I literally thought if I fall from this height and hit my head on the ground, I will die and then went for it. I fell onto a 7ft tall cinder block mailbox on the way down, four feet below my balcony, crawled off of it, and walked back upstairs to my parents like nothing had happened. 

What was wrong that someone barely past toddlerhood wanted to kill themselves over? I don’t know, maybe it was just that my parents were fighting all the time and hated each other, maybe it was because I have the genes for it. More on that last bit later.

When I was six, I tried to throw myself in front of a car, thinking that if a small child like myself got hit by a car going 25+ mph, I’d die. The driver hit the brakes, I played it off like I’d tripped into the road, no one knew how I really felt. When I’d told my parents I wanted to die, they thought I was being dramatic, they didn’t think a kid my age even knew what that meant, the finality of it. But I knew, and I craved it.

When I was eight, I tried to hang myself in my older sister’s bedroom with her sheets. She found me, took me down before I blacked out, and we never spoke about it again after that night. I was pissed with my sister for saving me, I cried and punched her as she held onto me.

When I was twelve, I tried to eat a bottle of Xanax, thinking it would kill me. It didn’t, it just made me really, really fucking sick. Not sick enough to go to the hospital, but very sick. I had no lasting organ damage, but I still wanted to die.

When I was fourteen, my boyfriend dumped me over the phone on a day he was supposed to come to my house, and ignored me while I cried. He had me on speaker phone, actually, and his friends were laughing about it and I could hear them. I could hear him laughing along with them. So, I decided to eat a bottle of asprin for dinner a couple of weeks later. I was stupid, it didn’t work, and I was hospitalized in the mental ward for 2 weeks.

When I was seventeen, I had just left an abusive relationship, graduated high school, and my mom told me that my ex raping me repeatedly for 9 months was my fault and that I was asking for it by continuing to date him the whole time. I was too scared to leave, I had been told by a counselor at school that no one would believe me. I tried to eat all of my antidepressants. I was hospitalized for 3 weeks in the mental ward.

When I was eighteen, I tried to do that same thing again, in conjunction to another thing my mom said about my abuser. My cousin had been raped while studying abroad, and she was talking about poor cousin, your poor cousin, it’s so traumatic, but when I mentioned that I’d been abused for three quarters of a year and no one batted an eye, she told me I was being selfish, and that my time for being the victim was over. How dare I detract from my cousin. So, again, I tried to eat a bottle of pills. I was hospitalized for one week in the psych ward.

Earlier this year, at the age of twenty, I was hospitalized because I felt like I was going to slit my wrists if I stayed home. So I checked myself into the hospital. I was there for a week while my doctor tried to find better meds for me because clearly mine weren’t working. My mom had told me that she was ashamed of my sexuality and my gender identity, and the rape issue came up again, with her saying I wanted it, that I let it happen.

I have bipolar II, borderline personality disorder, OCD, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and selective eating disorder. A lot is messed up with me. I get the anxiety from my mother, and the bipolar II from my father. The PTSD was a gift from my ex boyfriend, and the rest I just ended up with.

When I was a little kid, I loved books; my father read all sorts of books to me, all the time. Artemis Fowl was the first series we read, then Harry Potter, then my mother read me the Chronicles of Narnia, then my father read me A Series of Unfortunate Events. We also read other books, things that weren’t series. I loved reading, and I wanted to write things that made people feel the way I felt about the stuff I read. 

Both of my parents are naturally talented writers. At the age of six, I began to write fan fiction for Harry Potter. I was way too young to be on the internet, but I was online writing fanfics on snitchseeker. Some of the only validation I found in my life was from random strangers on the internet, encouraging me to continue writing and complimenting my plot lines, even if my grammar and spelling were atrocious; on the internet, no one knows you’re a little kid writing Drarry fanfic.

I was a really athletic kid, so I didn’t spend all my time writing, but a good chunk of my free time was spent writing if I wasn’t surfing, playing soccer, or skateboarding. I didn’t have a lot of friends, I wasn’t likable, apparently, and I had a really hard time in school. I got into a lot of fights because people picked on me, but I was always the one who got in trouble for defending myself. It pissed me off. I developed issues with authority. I wrote in composition books to escape all the crap around me.

By the time I turned 11, writing was my life. I had just moved to California from Hawaii, my life was basically turned upside down, and I was miserable. So, I made a myspace account, wrote fanfic on there, and threw myself headlong into it. I have a fanfiction.net account I’ve long since forgotten my username and password for, but it’s out there with dramione fanfic, sasusaku, things that I liked at the time. I need to escape everything happening around me. My dad, my best friend, wasn’t anywhere near me, my mom was a bitch, and my demented grandmother moved in with us. It was miserable.

By the time I was 15, the only hobby I had outside of practicing for orchestra, was writing. I laid in bed on days off and just sat on my laptop, writing. I stopped publishing things after I got a mean comment once, my first one ever. It bruised the ego I didn’t even have so badly that I refused to publish anything for three years.

When I was 18, I published my first fanfic in 4 years. It was a Criminal Minds fanfic, featuring an OC and Spencer Reid. I was so fucking proud of it, and while lots of people loved it, a lot of people said mean shit. So, I posted Loki fanfic, which got infinitely more love, and then I did an alternate version of my Criminal Minds fic, that one got even more hate than the original. Then I published a Wallander fanfic. I haven’t touched them in 3 years, despite people asking me for more.

Up until this time last month, I never showed my writing to anyone. I kept everything to myself, hidden, I was ashamed of it. It is my only coping mechanism, but I couldn’t share it with anyone. My parents had my computer passwords up until I was about 16, sometimes they’d look through my text files and come to me later and tell me how amazing my writing was, and encourage me to publish it. But I never believed them.

On a whim, I started this blog; I love Boku no Hero Academia, it has given me something to look forward to every week. I live Chapter to Chapter, episode to episode, I track my time with it, it’s a coping mechanism. I saw that there was a decently active fandom on here, and I wanted to be a part of it. I hesitated on making the blog for a few weeks, thinking that no one would want to read my writing.

A month later, there are nearly 600 people here, constantly asking me to write scenarios and headcanons for them, telling me they love my writing, and think I’m a nice person, and that they’re glad I’m here. Every time I get a message like that, I cry. I never thought anyone would ever care about my writing, let alone write it. When I got a single follower that wasn’t a friend I know in real life, I cried. I was so excited. When I got my first request, I was so, so excited. When people began sending more stuff in, when people started talking to me and wanting to be friends, I cried. I’ve made a dozen friends on here as a direct result of their writing, and my writing.

I love running this blog, and I love writing for everyone. I have felt useless and like a waste of space my entire life, I’ve been told that my entire life, I’m made to feel like that every day of my life even now by the people around me, save for my friends, but when I log on here, I’m reminded that hey, maybe I’m not useless. If I manage to make even one person happy with what I do, that’s all I want.

So, you saying that my writing helps you, helps me. All I’ve ever wanted in life is to make other people happy, to please them, and my writing is apparently doing that. I’m really, really lucky to be in this position.

Even if you don’t have something like this, you’re not useless. You should be here. I know you said you’d never kill yourself because you’re too cowardly, but I’ve never seen suicide as cowardly, but that’s probably because I’ve tried to do it so many times. I’ve made a total of 8 attempts in 21 years. I don’t think I’ll be trying it again, though. It’s taken me 21 years to find something that I’m kind of maybe a little good at, that makes me even a tiny bit happy, and that does some good for other people, too.

Shit sucks, life is really awful, and I completely understand the plethora of reasons any given person would feel like wanting to die. I’ve never thought it unreasonable or dramatic to feel that way, it’s just how some people feel. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life until 3 years ago, and even now I’m unsure if it’s really what I want to do with my life. I’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes that makes me feel like shite, and a lot of the time, the people around me try to ruin what little I have that I enjoy and that makes me happy…

Even with all that happening, somehow, I’m still here, and I’m writing this. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I get your feelings, I hear you, they’re valid, and I love you, stranger. Because I feel the same way as you all the time. This blog is my escape from that. It’s really the only thing I have keeping me from my intrusive thoughts.

If you never come off anon, that’s fine, but if you need to talk about things, I’m here for you, or anyone else who needs it. Really, if I can even try to help, I’ll do my damnedest to help. I hate seeing other people feeling as junk as I do on a daily basis, I want to try and make it better. If being a friend, even if I don’t know who you are, helps, I want to help. If writing things helps, I want to do it. But, for me, it’s not just helping other people, it’s helping myself. You coming into the box helped me. So, you’re not useless. You’re keeping me here, too.

#anon #not a request #chiichat #admin post #tw suicide #tw rape #read at your own risk

[myracingthought-s]

Why do we praise narcissistic characters?

I've had some free time on my hands and since I love watching TV shows I decided to give Gossip Girl a try. It is a highly talked about show though I did not expect much from it as it is a teen drama. I sat back and tried to enjoy a simple show.

With this mindset I was able to go through the first season just fine. But come the second season, I couldn't keep my judgements to myself anymore. A lot of characters were extremely poor decision makers that it was impossible to root for them, the plot line was terrible, and the intentions of the characters were unbelievably ill. It made me wonder why people loved this show so much.

Why do people "stan" characters like Blair Waldorf? She reminded me of another fictional character: Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada.

At the risk of sounding self righteous, I think it's deeply problematic that people are "stanning" characters like Blair Waldorf and Miranda Priestly. Not to mention they are considered as "icons". Why? Because they look great? Because they're "Boss"?

These two characters represent Narcissism. They take what they want using the power and privilege they have and never think about anyone else. In fact, making the people around them miserable seems to be their goal. How can they keep their power if they don't step on any toes right?

They continuously prey on the weak and they treat those who they deem "lesser" with zero respect.

I feel like there is a bigger issue here. People, meaning the audiences, want to be them. And it makes me wonder: if they were given the same power and privilege, would they act the same way?

Remember, it's people like them that make life more difficult than it already is. Blair Waldorf only had Constance to conquer but imagine those who are given bigger land to rule.

Bullying creates a lifetime of trauma and this is what Blair Waldorf did besides her constant manipulation. Blair's mindset is comparable to many of our leaders'. They use their power, manipulate people with their agendas, and take what they want, in the expense of other people. This kind of greed and narcissism of one man or family is the reason why we can't have nice things. It's people like Blair Waldorf.

And yet she is praised on the internet and considered an icon. The same goes for Miranda Priestly on The Devil Wears Prada. A lot of kids who pretend to be woke on the internet are always pointing out that the boyfriend was the real villain in this movie and not her. And I get that he has his faults but he had such a small role on the movie. How can you not see what was wrong with Miranda Priestly who thought only of herself and keeping her status, and who seems to have never heard of the word loyalty?

Which brings me back to my point. Why do we praise narcissistic characters?

[rachelzengmoviesreview]

Casablanca(Rate: 7/10)

A man's love is deep love. Especially when a man sacrifices his future, life and happiness for the one he loves, this love becomes the greatest emotion of mankind. Rick is not a hero in the traditional sense. He had no clear political position in World War II, and he seemed, like many war profiteers, concerned only with his own business and emotions. However, it is such an ordinary person who shows his heroism in the face of great right and wrong. He is willing to give up his personal pursuit and selfish desires for the sake of his loved ones and the cause of justice. Isn't that all the more impressive? Rick and Ilsa are not together in the end, but at the end of the separation, the fleeting moment of love between the two of them becomes eternity. Rick's final choice not only reached the peak of love, but also showed the victory of human freedom to people all over the world who had been ravaged by the war at that time. It also enabled Americans to show their attitude and stand to the world.

Everybody in Casablanca likes Rick, but nobody knows him. Casablanca is a mixture of celebrities, rogue thieves, military and political officials, civilians who have eloped, the Nazi secret police, underground revolutionaries, and a lot of people like Louis who rely on their economic and political capital for profit, and Rick is different from them. Rick was looked down upon by the revolutionaries because he did not protect the revolutionaries at all. Louis and the Germans arrested people in the bar. He was a coward who dared not speak up. Rick's boss is the one I can count on in this troubled time. In the eyes of the Nazi officers, Rick is just as shrewd a speculator in the troubled times as they are. There is no impossible business if the price is right. After all, it was Louis who seemed to know Rick the best. He asserted that Rick was cynical on the outside but sensitive on the inside. They were all wrong.

Rick is a smooth man with a strong heart. Though outwardly detached from military and political affairs, he secretly supported the revolutionary cause. He had sponsored rebellions in North Africa and Spain, and tacitly allowed his own staff to participate in underground revolutions. This led even the revolutionaries to turn to him at the most critical juncture. But Rick wasn't that simple. In the face of Ergatt's request, he does half, hiding the pass, but did not save Ergatt's life. For this human trafficking murderer, Rick will not be because of his involvement in the revolution, he will despise this kind of unscrupulous people from the heart. He doesn't mind Louis's shameless freeloading; An ordinary girl's plea, and let him give up the principle, secretly lose money to them, solution as pressing danger. He is a rationalist in troubled times, a businesslike man with a straight face; But under his rational exterior there is also a fire of freedom and sensibility, he is willing to risk for love, sacrifice everything; However, his passion is also principled and bottom-line. For the sake of his loved ones and the just cause, he finally chooses to give up his selfish desires. The brilliance of his humanity even infected Officer Louis. So at the end of the movie, Louis doesn't arrest Rick.

There is real love between Rick and Ilsa. From Paris to Casablanca, they fall in love with each other and miss each other. However, just like Rick's self-deprecating line, "Fate always appears at the right time". Fate plays a strange role in the movie. Although Ilsa chose Laszlo under the influence of social ethics, when she faced up to her heart, she could only put down her gun, admit her love for Rick, and promise to leave Casablanca with him.

It was a triumph of cherished humanism at the time, but the classic is that it doesn't stop there. A common girl's question, let Rick change his final choice. "If a girl does something bad behind her husband's back for the sake of her future happiness, will her husband forgive her?" Ilsa was Laszlo's wife, and that's a fact of life! What would Laszlo think of Ilsa if he and Rick left? Will ILSA be happy with her choice? Do you want Ilsa to be haunted with remorse for the rest of her life? Poor women in this day and age don't have the right to make their own choices. Rick has to make that choice for her. Let her have nothing but love, or have everything and keep a memory of love? Rick makes the best choice for ILSA at the expense of his own happiness.

A film with the theme of love, but everywhere breaks the rules of love movies. There are not many sweet scenes between the hero and the heroine, and the final ending is not together. Their time together is even brief, but it is this subtlety of nearness and farness, of instant and eternal harmony that elevates love to another level. It's the kind of cliched drama that's played out so relentlessly that it even paid homage to the 2016 hit La La Land; It is this kind of cliched plot bearing thousands of years of human longing for love; Is this kind of cliched plot often tremble the heart, let a person move. We all live in Casablanca, and the same old story plays out in our lives from time to time. It is interesting that every moment makes our heart move. It is these beautiful moments that light up our life. It is these beautiful moments that interpret the most beautiful emotions of human beings.