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#until death do they part
everysongineverykey · 5 months
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genuinely killing undyne in a neutral run and then walking through hotland later and seeing alphys' posts go "just realized i didn't watch undyne fight the human... well i know she's unbeatable i'll ask her about it later v . v" completely unaware of what's happened is one of the most unpleasant and harrowing experiences in undertale and i am not kidding even a little bit
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shit-talker · 3 months
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I feel like people dont lean into just how complicated dick and jasons relationship could and should be.
Give me these two boys who were thrown together, who didn't really fit together or get along, whose age gap was just a little too big for them to fully understand each other when they met, forced into this role of brothers even when they didnt feel that way.
Give me a young jason todd, so confused and annoyed that the guy who's supposed to be his big brother, his mentor won't even come home once a week to have dinner, who doesn't talk to him, and ignores everything he does.
Give me a hurt dick grayson, who is so angry with bruce and pissed off at the idea of being replaced that he just cant look at his new brother, even though he doesn't blame him.
Give me a dick grayson who never fully saw jason todd as his brother until it was too late.
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omgcinnamoncakes · 9 months
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I am on hour 32 of no sleep because of work, and I had this idea to cope with the fact that I had to spend two hours in the ICU doing resuscitation after spending the day before watching all of the John Wick movies.
EDIT: part 2 here.
Dreamling, hitman AU, tw: character death (except not really?)
Hob who was one of the best in the business. The Immortal, they called him, and after years the name stuck, spoken in quiet whispers behind closed doors, in the darkness of the night, the one who always got the job done and came out the other side.
It was a good life and Hob enjoyed it for a while, lived off the adrenaline and the power. Except. He wanted more, craved it like a hunger that never left him for something more.
And then he meets Dream. He’s halfway through a job in London, a bruise still healing on his thigh, when he literally bumps into the most beautiful man he has ever met.
“Oh,” he says, hand coming up to catch the stranger by his elbow. “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought there for a moment.”
The stranger smiles, just the smallest upturn in his lips, and Hob’s stomach swoops like it does when he’s a second away from pulling the trigger.
“It is no problem,” he says, and gods, his voice. Soft velvet that curls around Hob’s chest and squeezes. The man tilts his head and glances at Hob’s hand still on him, but he looks amused when Hob pulls away quickly.
“So. Come here often?”
Hob wants to smack himself because he has never been like this, stumbling and stuttering through his words, but the stranger just smirks.
“Is that the best that you’ve got?” It’s almost challenging, a little mean, a spark in his eyes that are so blue Hob’s sure he’s pulled them out of a dream.
He laughs through the flush of his cheeks. “Would you judge me too harshly if I said it is?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
“On what you’ll say next.”
The challenge again, a fiery spark under Hob’s ribs, the stranger leaning forward just an inch but enough for Hob to feel the heat of him.
“Well, if we’re going with the classics I would ask if you’re interested in getting a coffee,” Hob says. “Or maybe dinner, if I were to say what I actually mean.” He lets his gaze drop to the strangers lips, then back up. “And if I were feeling brave…”
“Yes?”
And Hob has always bitten off more than he can chew, that’s how he is, wants and wants, more every time.
“I would say you are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen and I would give anything to keep you, even if for one night.”
The stranger’s eyes widen. This close Hob can hear the small intake of breath, a song in the middle of the chaos. And then he smiles again, even more beautiful than the first time. Hob wants to have it tattooed on his skin, right over his ribs so he can remember the way it made his breath catch.
They spend the night together, Hob taking all the stranger can give him and the stranger giving him all Hob wants. They fuck in Hob’s hotel room until Hob’s thighs shake, until his mouth tastes like the strangers skin and sweat and cock, until he makes his stranger scream until his voice is hoarse.
“Call me Dream,” he says, the name whispered against Hob’s mouth, and oh, Hob thinks, isn’t that fitting. Because that’s how he feels, like this is a dream that he’s managed to catch in the confines of his hotel room, a dream of want and need come true.
“Can I see you again?” he asks in the morning, cheek pressed to the soft curve of Dream’s thigh, mouth grazing the bruise he left there a few hours ago.
Dream’s hand stills in his hair. “I will not be in London long. Just this afternoon.”
Hob takes a deep breath, the stench of sex and the sweetness of Dream’s skin sticking to the back of his throat. “Next time you’re here then.” He turns his head and catches Dream’s eyes.
“I do not know when that will be. My work moves me around constantly.”
And Hob knows what rejection sounds like, knows when not to push. But there’s something in the way Dream’s gaze lingers on him, an edge of sadness that looks like Hob’s, so he says, “I’ll wait for you. No matter how long it takes.”
It’s too honest, the raw scrape of it on his throat, but Dream’s breath shudders out of him and he pulls Hob up, his mouth hot like wildfire, desperate and wanting. The memory stays with Hob all week, a high he never wants to fade, and he feels so happy he isn’t even bothered when his mark turns out dead before he can get to him.
They meet again. And again. And again. Sometimes after weeks, sometimes after months of silence. Hotel rooms that bleed into one another, Dream’s touch always as desperate as Hob’s, his smile when he meets Hob’s eyes always sweet like ambrosia. They start meeting outside too, Hob taking Dream on a walk in the park, kissing the taste of ice cream from Dream’s lips. Dream takes Hob to his favorite bookshop, holding his hand as they walk between rows of stories.
Years pass and Hob falls in love, crashes into it with reckless abandon.
“I love you,” he says one night, mouth pressed to the pulse point of Dream’s throat. Dream shudders under him, nails digging into Hob’s back.
“That is a dangerous thing to feel,” Dream says, and Hob can feel the spike of Dream’s pulse under his mouth so he says, “And yet, you love me too.”
Dream breathes out, the shake of it like a summer storm in Hob’s grip and says, “Yes. Yes I do, Hob Gadling.”
Three months later, Hob does his final job. He pays for it in blood, in gold, he pulls every favor he’s ever owed, but he gets out. Three months and one day later he asks Dream to marry him.
Dream laughs and kisses him and says, “Yes.”
It’s easy to fall into a normal life, in the alias that has become Hob’s true life, in the flat he owns in London that now becomes home, in the job that was always just a cover that he now falls into like he always belonged there. Because he has Dream.
Their life is good. Hob teaches in the morning at a middle school, Dream works from home in the afternoon, they have dinner every night, they fight over who has to take out the trash, they make up with kisses and touches, fucking in their bed, on their couch, in the shower.
It’s a good three years.
And then one day, Hob’s perfect life that he has paid for in blood, stops so suddenly. He’s halfway through grading papers when his phone rings.
“Hello, is this Robert Gadling? We’re calling from the London Royal Hospital. It’s about your husband.”
A car accident, they say. There was nothing they could do, they say, his wounds were too severe. We’re so sorry, they say.
Hob listens to the doctor talk, and he feels like he’s underwater, numb to his core. It’s a joke, it has to be, because Dream can’t be dead. Dream would never leave him. Dream loves him, he said they’d be together forever.
He follows the doctor to the morgue like he’s sleepwalking, signs the papers they give him, and then sits in the cold room for an hour staring at the body.
“Wake up,” he says, whispers the words against lips that are so cold, so unmoving. “Please wake up, love. You promised me forever, Dream. You promised.”
When Dream doesn’t open his eyes, Hob sobs and sobs and sobs until his body gives out, until there is no more anger or anguish, just emptiness, cold and gnawing at his insides.
Six months pass in a blur. Hob cries until he cannot cry, he sleeps until his bones ache. He eats when the hunger gets so bad he thinks he’ll die, and then crawls back into bed and lets the nightmares take him. In his dreams, all he can taste is the coldness of Dream’s skin, unmoving.
It all changes one night.
He’s at an all night supermarket, basket stuffed with instant ramen, when he hears the commotion. A groan of pain, a cold laugh. His chest tightens and he tells himself he should just keep walking as he passes by the isle, as gaze falls to the man on the floor clutching his stomach, the two others standing above them.
What he does is say, “Come on fellas, break it off.”
The two men turn to him, and the one on the right scoffs. “Fuck off,” he sneers, and Hob sighs. He stares at the man on the ground who’s still groaning.
“Are you alright?” Hob asks him, and the man shakes his head.
“Hey,” brute number two snaps, taking the few steps towards Hob. “You better walk away, mate, unless you wanna get hurt.”
Hob huffs out a laugh. “Sure.” The brute makes an angry growl and lifts his hand. He was probably planning on punching Hob, yet he doesn’t get that far. Hob catches the side of his arm and twists, using the moment of surprise to kick the guy's legs from under him. The sound his skull makes as it hits the floor is loud even under the pop music blasting through the speakers. The second one swears and moves towards Hob, clutching a knife. It ends up stuck in his throat a few seconds later.
“Holy shit,” the man on the floor says, staring at Hob with wide eyes. “Who the fuck are you?”
“No one,” Hob says, and drops his basket. He pulls his hood over his head and walks away but the man follows him, tripping on his own legs.
“Seriously man, that was like some superhero shit. They didn’t even know what hit them, that was awesome.”
Hob walks out of the market, head held low. “No it wasn’t.”
“Are you kidding me?” The man says, still stumbling after Hob. “That was amazing.” He jogs after Hob when Hob quickens his pace, and he won’t shut up. “I’m Matthew, by the way.”
“Don’t care.”
Matthew does not seem to care either. “Like, you just saved my life.”
“Cool, now fuck off.”
“Those guys were really out to get me,” Matthew continues like he doesn’t care Hob is not listening. “I’m a researcher, you know, a really good one. I work - or, used to work, I guess - for a guy who is like, bad. Except he paid well, and I thought he would appreciate the shit I do. But noooo, one little mistake, and suddenly I’m out, can you believe it?”
Hob grits his teeth to keep from punching the man.
“Except it was not a mistake, I did what I was supposed to do. They say, ‘hey Matthew, we need you to find this shit’ and I did, except how is it my fault I also realized the shit they want is connected to other shit, and then other shit. You know when you find the exact string you need to pull to make everything make sense?”
Hob groans and counts to ten.
“But like, I’m not an idiot, you know? I’m not gonna share the shit I found because I know what I just got myself in! And if boss guy thinks I’m stupid enough to give away the fact that I found out who the fucking Sandman is, he’s lost his marbles!”
“Shut up, please. Just shut up.”
“The Sandman, can you believe it! Guy’s a fucking legend, trust me. You know people thought he was just a myth, cause no one even knew his face? And here I am, finding not only that but his name too.” A pause where Matthew makes a choking sound. “I am so dead, oh my god, I am so freaking dead.”
“Good riddance.”
“He’s back, you know? The Sandman. Three years and no sign of him, and I had to find out about him right when he’s back. He’ll kill me, he will.”
“Sucks to be you then.”
“Fucking Dream de Endless. Why couldn’t he stay fucking dead?”
Hob feels his entire body still, a shudder and then numbness shaking him to his core.
“What—“ his voice cracks in anguish. “What did you just say?”
Matthew stares at him with wide eyes. “Shit, I should not have said that. Forget I said— aaaah!” Matthew’s head thuds loudly as Hob pushes him against the wall, his hands fisted in Matthew’s shirt.
“That name,” Hob growls, feels his whole body shake. “How do you know that name?”
“Hey, what are you doing?” Matthew yells, and then lets out a painful groan when Hob shakes him. “Ouch, okay, okay! The Sandman, that’s his real name, or the realest one he’s had.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Fuck you, man! I know what I found out, and it’s the truth. He’s—“
“I know what The Sandman is.” Because Hob does. He was always the thing that went bump in the night, the closest thing to a nightmare in their world. Hob never met him, but it was hard to not be impressed with the greatest assassin that ever walked the earth. “And he is not Dream.”
Matthew watches him with wide eyes for a long moment. “And how the hell would you know?”
And Hob laughs. It’s hysterical, pulled out of his chest like a knife. It’s a laugh, and it soon turns to a sob, because it cannot be true, it just cannot. He feels the sting in his eyes, his chest, like the day he got called to the hospital, the wound made fresh and bleeding in every crevice of his chest.
“Are you okay?” Matthew asks, staring at Hob with wide, scared eyes and Hob shakes his head as the tears fall.
“No,” he says. “I don’t think I am.” He wipes at his face with angry hands and pins Matthew with a look. “You are going to come home with me and then you are going to tell me exactly what the fuck is going on.”
An hour later, he’s sitting at his kitchen table, listening numbly to Matthew as he tells Hob everything he knows, of how he stumbled over the flimsiest paper trail, a few puzzle pieces that clicked together, of how one thing led to another.
“And then the guy I work with, he’s like big, I mean big with the underground drug business. But I’m not stupid, I can’t just let him know what I know, because then I’m painting a target on my back. Cause he’s back, and has been killing left and right.” Matthew takes a sip of his tea, shakes his head. And then his eyes fall to the fridge door, and he stops. Swallows. His hands shake with fear as he says, “Umm. Just a weird question, but why do you have a photo of the fucking Sandman on your fridge?”
His voice goes high, croaky. Hob takes a deep breath and stares at the photo. It was their one year anniversary and Hob had taken them on a picnic. He can still taste the sweetness of Dream’s mouth as they sat under the shade of a tree, Dream’s happiness a bright bursting thing under Hob’s fingers.
“Because that’s my husband.”
Matthew drops the mug he’s holding and it breaks into jagged pieces on the floor.
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writer-room · 11 months
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You ever just see people talk about the Percy Jackson books and know somewhere, deep in your heart, that none of these people have understood that this is a series made for middle schoolers. And that fandom will very frequently lie to them like, all the time. No, that character probably isn’t ooc, you’re just thinking of what the fandom turned them into. No, this book isn’t a horrible stain next to the others before it, literally all of them were like this. It’s Percy Jackson. It’s cheesy and occasionally makes a very questionable writing decision.
You gotta be in this for the long haul or jump ship my guys. Be cringe and free or be gone
#percy jackson#tsats#solangelo book#rick riordan#percy jackon and the olympians#pjo#the sun and the star#text post#yall are astounding me in ways i didnt know was possible god bless#also this was mostly written by mark not rick. like yes he signed off on it but still this is mostly mark#but its still Fine??? its fine?????? besties a book abt our favorite gays not being perfect is not the end of the world#did i cringe? hell yes. but was i free? tremendously. and i had a lot of fun i think#'bianca is in elysium but she was reincarnated??' yeah thats odd. anyway that scene was cute wasnt it#'everything is so on the nose' yeah its for middle schoolers and percy jackson isnt known for subtlety. its very rare#'will was ooc' weve literally barely gotten anything on him and no povs until now this IS establishing his character#'the puffs remove nicos whole trauma' no it doesnt. its a fantasy way to sort of explain that nicos trauma is now open instead of repressed#do i wish it wasnt sometimes explained as 'now the trauma is gone'? yes. but i think its moreso meant to be a way of nico dealing with them#he still HAS that trauma fellas. hes still going to be living with it. its just gonna be easier now. thats part of healing besties#also we dont know how these puffs are gonna act in the future so like. hush. shhhhhhhhhh. shut. it was literally never going to be perfect#its pjo. i love this series to death but. its pjo. it is. in fact. sometimes badly written. as it has been many times before in books before#and what else??????? it may not be written the greatest but its MY series that isnt written the greatest square up
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nelkcats · 11 months
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Garden of Souls
There are people who, when they die, do not really want anything else. No reincarnations or second chances. People who did not wish to stay longer than necessary.
When they die, the universe usually grants their wish. And a flower is born in the Ghost King garden. Pariah Dark never paid attention to all the flowers (each one unique in its own way), and left them to die. Although many of them prevailed, a lot of souls were lost.
Danny was different. He loved and cared for each of the flowers. His own sister had become one of them after all. Every day the King went out to the garden and closed his eyes, listening to Jazz's voice speak to him, he watered the flowers and smiled. Danny knew that his sister was no longer in the Realms, that she was resting, but her memories were imprinted on the flower, and her soul had become something beautiful. It was nice to talk to what was left of her.
That is why when John Constantine dared to step on one of the flowers in his garden the King was enraged. The Justice League had reached the Infinite Realms, investigating about it; What at first was a casual conversation turned into a fight as the heroes became fascinated with his garden, one of them daring to pluck one of his beloved flowers while Constantine unceremoniously stepped on another.
Although they had just discovered the dimension, Danny didn't plan to receive them again for a long time. No more help or peace deals, no one messed with his garden, the poor souls must have been terrified.
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salemsimss · 11 months
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cię nie opuszczę aż do śmierci
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s0fter-sin · 3 months
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metalhead ghost who’s been in moshpits since he was a kid and is now a veteran of the scene and the self appointed look out. he keeps an eye out for anyone falling or passing out, kicks the shit out of anyone crowd killing or putting their hands where they shouldn’t
and he’s been keeping an eye on the punk in the kilt since he saw him throw himself headfirst into the wall of death
he looks like the type to start shit - loud and aggressive as anyone else here but a punk doesn't end up at a metal show for no reason - but there's also something niggling at him that he's gonna end up getting himself hurt. and ghost can’t tell if he’s going to do it on purpose
if he does, ghost needs to know. he uses these places as an escape - the music, the violence, the community - always has and he knows all to well how easily an escape can curdle and become destructive. he’s seen too many people lost to the darker parts of the scene, almost lost himself to it; he doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else if he can help it
so when he sees the punk sweating his mohawk off, his movements becoming looser and uncoordinated, he has no issues with yanking him out of the pit and pulling him away from the crowd; pushing him up against the venue wall and ordering him to open his mouth
the glaze that falls over his eyes concerns him even as he obediently lets his mouth fall open. he was right; the punk’s severely dehydrated, tongue and gums far to pale and along with the look in his eyes, he half-thinks he’s about to drop
he reflexively tightens his hold on his jaw to keep him up and the punk shivers, a flush creeping up his neck. an almost confused arousal joins the haze in his eyes and ghost smirks beneath his mask
looks like metal shows aren’t the only thing the punk is new to
#soapghost#ghostsoap#ghoap#ghost has a split tongue bc i said so#and soaps mohawk is overgrown and fluffy as hell running down the back of his neck#once ghost forces water down his throat soap comes back online and is his usual self and ghost starts to like him even more#he likes having someone that can go toe to toe with him#i wish i knew more about the scene so i could expand this but i dont know shit about punk or metal culture lmao#i do know itd be mid 20s soap and late 30s early 40s ghost and soaps just self destructing#wanting to be an artist but hes being strangled both by his family who think its a waste when hes so mathematically smart#and by the artistic community who hate his pieces for being too chaotic and non traditional#ghost keeps running into him at shows and he recognises that self destruction all too well#and he sees him declining and knows if he doesnt step in no one will#he was a drug addict after getting caught up in abusive relationship with roba#and it was only his brothers death that pulled him out of his spiral#he doesnt want death to be the end of this spitfire punks story#soaps also got that classic catholic guilt internalised homophobia going for him#hes only ever known the bad parts of the scene he didnt know there was anything different#until ghost introduces him to price and nikolai whove been together longer than hes been alive#and to gaz and farah and alex who make no secret of their love for each other and soap realises just how deprived he is of healthy love#not when his parents barely stand him not when his sister only got married when she fell pregnant and they forced her into the church#with a man she hardly knew just so they could keep their reputation#just ghost showing soap theres more to life than violence and hatred and theres so much love for him to discover#coming out of my cage and ive been doing just fine.txt#we’re a team. ghost team#simon ghost riley#ghost cod#john soap mactavish#soap cod#save post
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rosaacicularis · 11 months
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what’s your favourite part of the whole 3rd life series :0?
when scott called scar grian’s husband <3 😌
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funnyao3 · 11 months
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“I’m going to stab someone,” Kaz said with a real warning in his voice. “Anyone other than Inej is a viable option. Jesper is looking the most likely.”
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gentrychild · 2 years
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Au where Inko kills afo when pregnant with Izuku
Inko didn't plan on getting pregnant but she was very relieved when Hisashi was so enthusiastic at the idea of having a child and offered to marry her. It didn't last for long as Hisashi quickly showed his true colors and suddenly, her schedule was completely controlled by him, she was fired from her job out of the blue, she was financially dependent on him, and so on. Since she couldn't call for help, she adhered to a time-honored-tradition and poisoned him. Since he didn't die from a truly impressive amount of arsenic, she finished the job with a frying pan. She might have panicked a little.
In any case, she now has a body she needs to dispose of ASAP. Fortunately, she gets the help of her two very strange neighbors, Takami Tomie (shut-in with a very nice, though sticky-fingered seven-year-old) and Himura Rei (very nice woman with three kids, recently separated from her husband from what Inko understands) who found a nice place to bury the body, helped her clean the apartment, and so on.
Things start to become more complicated as villains show up at Inko's door, asking about her husband, and she plays the heartbroken spouse very well. Then heroes, suspecting Hisashi of being a member of AFO's organization, show up too. I am just going to say that Inko should have won an Oscar.
There is a plot point about Inko having no money since AFO hadn't anticipated his demise and had kept her account separated. Rei helps her ask an order from the court but it will take months to a year for her to get access to his account because Ujiko and other lawyers are fighting her tooth and nails.
In the background, Kurogiri grabs Tomura and leaves. He raised him into a semi normal child.
+1. All Might and Gran Torino eventually figure out the whole thing and gives her a medal.
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kweza · 9 months
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i definitely will have to talk extensively about the topic of divorce with my future husband because if he thinks waking up one day and deciding he doesn't love me is valid grounds for divorce, i am not marrying this man.
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rabidline · 1 year
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ALL JAPAN FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS (2014 - 2022) 全日本フィギュアスケート選手権 SHOMA UNO // 宇野昌磨 5-TIME SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPION CONSECUTIVE SENIOR NATIONAL MEDALIST FOR 9 YEARS
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thejasontoddarchives · 9 months
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DC is just so silly! This:
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Batman #423 (1988)
Came exactly one issue before this:
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Batman #424 (1988)
But we get this little reminder at the end of 423, of what the core of Batman really is and what we should ultimately keep in mind:
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Meanwhile the latter was left to be framed in this light:
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Batman #425 (1988)
Ah yes. The established empath calling a SA victim foolish.
If we take what Jason says at face value then what he did to Garzonas the rapist isn’t much different from what Batman did to that addict/thief (and what he does to countless other opponents he doesn’t deem deserving of salvation). The difference is Jason didn’t have a police officer pat him on the back and vouch for the goodness of his character for wanting to protect women and children.
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starheirxero · 3 days
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*slams hands down on table*
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XERO????
AHAIAHSIWHF HAIII MINUTE. CLASPS MY HANDS TOGETHER VERY POLITELY. I put Eclipse in a time loop that starts from the first day of October and restarts on the day he dies 😁 The loop can only be broken when he starts to heal from his trauma and ties up loose ends :3
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aroaceleovaldez · 11 months
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Okay these tags on this post reminded me of a HoO/TOA thing that I complain about a lot but I don’t think i’ve ever elaborated on here:
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[Image ID: Tags from @fr0zenpepsi​ reading - “#and jason fUCKING DIES before he even get fixed like #you dont know how excited i was when the diorama thing was mentioned like #make him artistic too!! make him be into architecture too! #and he plays lacrosse???? #like his character has sooo much potential yet hes just a boring white guy :< #thats prolly why his death is pretty lame #it meant a lot to the plot but like do we even know who we lost?? #more than half of the fandom doesnt even like him bc hes just so plain :/ #also hazel is a queen and i love her shes literally the best” /end ID.]
One of the big issues I take with both HoO and TOA is that literally every death in both series feels cheap because death has lost consequence. For the majority of HoO it’s at least somewhat still of a risk, but even things like Tartarus feel extremely lackluster when we actually encounter them - Tartarus especially after we saw how much it affected Nico, but then Percy and Annabeth’s plot armor kind of negates all of the threat and it feels like they don’t actually experience much more than their usual threats down there or that it has any lasting effect on them. And after Leo’s “death” we’re basically solidified into “Death has no consequence” because we just finished a series with at least SIX INSTANCES of major or minor protagonist-aligned characters notably directly cheating or miraculously avoiding death (Jason, Hazel, Gwen, Frank, Jason again, Leo), not including also miscellaneous minor antagonists. Which is aggravating because you can make a “Hey, these characters can’t die!” plot work, especially if that’s the root problem they’re trying to solve! It does work in TLH and SoN! And we’ve even seen it before in Battle of the Labyrinth when Percy fights his half-brother!
But HoO basically nullifies all consequence the characters face from MoA onwards and post-BoO “death” carries no weight, because by this point we have so many excuses to get around it or avoid it or come back from it that who cares! And this continues to be a thing post-TOA! Even just in the plot summary of Chalice Of The Gods we’re introduced to YET ANOTHER “Cheat death!” item! And I’d bet we’re gonna get one in TSATS too cause we’re almost guaranteed to see Damasen again, and the like one singular myth that exists referencing Damasen also specifically mentions an herb called “the flower of Zeus” that can revive things from the dead.
And it’s extra annoying because in TOA we keep getting character deaths shoved in our faces and told we should care about them, but either they’re characters we have little to no emotional connection to (such as, like, All Of Camp Jupiter in Tyrant’s Tomb when the camp is threatened and we’re told we should care, but we’ve barely seen the camp at all besides beginning of Son of Neptune and beginning of Mark of Athena, and the only living characters we get to actually see in Camp Jupiter from before TOA are Gwen, Dakota, Don the Faun, and our HoO protagonists.)
And Jason’s death is particularly annoying because a.) He’s essentially cheated death twice already [Piper bringing him back from either death or near-death when he accidentally witnessed Hera’s true form, and then his whole spear injury that was slowly killing him but was healed with [checks notes] the power of friendship], and b.) the scene DIRECTLY PARALLELS HIS FIGHT WITH MIDAS. Which, you know, he WON. VERY EASILY. And you can’t even argue “oh but this time Piper and Apollo were right there so he couldn’t have done the same thing!” because PIPER AND LEO WERE THERE WITH MIDAS. Heck, so was Lit! Who also survives and comes back in TOA! So not only is there no excuse for Jason to have not somehow miraculously avoided death (alongside every other TOA character, basically), but he SHOULDN’T HAVE DIED IN THE FIRST PLACE because THAT’S NOT A FIGHT HE SHOULD HAVE LOST! Him losing that fight is directly contrary to what we know about his character! And “he shouldn’t have lost that fight and died” doesn’t feel tragic here, it’s just aggravating! It’s just bad writing! And there’s no way around it because nobody cares about characters dying by that point in the series anyways because it doesn’t mean anything! We’ve had too much random death fodder in HoO (like the Hunters) directly alongside characters experiencing little to no consequence when they should from their experiences (Percy & Annabeth in Tartarus, literally every character nearly dying, etc.). The only characters we do see experience any kind of lasting consequences from near-death experiences are Hazel having blackouts in Son of Neptune (which are magically erased by Mark of Athena) and Nico being heavily implied to be permanently physically disabled after Tartarus (which is half-ignored when not plot relevant in TOA and completely ignored in the short story Un Natale Mezzosangue, which gives me reason to suspect it will also be ignored in TSATS). Not to mention Frank’s curse is also randomly erased in Tyrant’s Tomb, which is extra stupid because by following the logic of that scene his curse should have been lost back in Son of Neptune when he freed Thanatos, because he was using his curse for the same exact reasons with the same exact mindset. He literally did his character arc twice. Whatever.
HoO and TOA are just such a mess writing-wise of Rick trying to haphazardly incorporate as many myths as he can with zero attempts at cohesiveness that it doesn’t make any sense (I invite you all to read just the Team Statue chapters of BoO and take a moment to process how absolutely nonsensical it is) and he fails to consider the consequences of including certain myths, both in terms of how their aspects will impact the larger plot and also the historical context behind those myths and if how they’re being applied is offensive.
TL:DR: Jason’s death is stupid from literally every angle and HoO and TOA have a problem with literally any kind of narrative consequence.
#riordanverse#pjo#hoo#heroes of olympus#toa#trials of apollo#jason grace#meta#long post#fr0zenpepsi​#sorry to hijack your tags lmao#i just have a lot of thoughts on why Jason's death is lame and i 100% agree with you the fact that we barely *know* Jason is part of it#ergo the same problem in Tyrant's Tomb when we're literally just told we should be sad about all these background death fodder romans#but we've only seen Camp Jupiter like twice up until that point so there's literally no reason for us to be emotionally attached to anything#like. oh nooo CJ's in trouble.... why do we care?#CHB we care about because it's a major setting we see often and we've developed a connection to#if we had another series focusing on just the romans then it'd probably be different and we'd care a *lot* about CJ#but we. don't. so we don't. and putting CJ in any kind of peril is meaningless#not that the peril TOA puts on CHB is actually anything at all either. in Hidden Oracle it's at most the same peril as the desert in TTC#and it gets nullified extremely quickly with even less tragedy. its downright humorous actually. which is almost worse#and then same thing in ToN when the demigods fighting in the building are literally being treated like theyre on a field trip#this is supposed to be the BIG FINAL BATTLE and the forces of CHB are... a bunch of 12 year olds playing?#honestly HoO and TOA almost feel like Rick got scared of actually having CHB be threatened and so turns to humor instead#and so every fight that happens there post-first series feels like it's not being taken seriously#or that it's extremely rushed. or both. and fights involving the majority of camp doesnt actually put the campers in danger#like okay Camp Jupiter gets a zombie apocalypse and tons of death.#CHB? the kids go on a field trip to beat up the Tri's lackeys and nobody gets even seriously injured#besides the characters who arent campers or like. our protagonists get a little thrown around but thats it.
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lavenderjewels · 2 months
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I appreciate the love for Shoko but all the theories about her somehow resurrecting gojo from death is really setting her up for disappointment
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