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winterrrnight · 7 months

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hey angel, please could you write a fic with soft rafe x reader where they have been best friends for years and are finally in a relationship after admitting feelings for eachother and they have cute happy moments where they remember they’re not just friends theyre finally in a relationship now?

Tysm x

oh my goodness, this took me so so long than it should've and I'm so sorry about that! I love and adore this idea so much, but for some reason I never felt satisfied with how I was writing it so there were too many restarts. But we finally have the final product! It's inspired by your request, I don't think it's exactly what you requested, but the main idea was kept in mind throughout. I hope you like this and is up to your expectations 💞

memories

PAIRING: soft!rafe cameron x gn!reader

SUMMARY: a little collection of some of your favorite moments with your best friend, lover, partner in crime all rolled in one: rafe cameron.

WARNINGS: small mentions of alcohol, but mostly fluff and two lovers being mean to each other because it's their love language 🫶🏻🤭

EDITH SPEAKS: thank you to my bestie @runningfrom2am who helped me out with this fic! she told me all her favourite memories with her own boyfriend and that resulted in this very cute fic so thank you sooo much raye 🥹🥹

There is a little KC Undercover reference in the fic, which is like, probably one of the most iconic dialogues of Ms. KC herself and I had this beautiful opportunity to use it so I just couldn't pass it up 🤭

I hope you all like this!! Please ignore any little grammatical/spelling errors. And please like and reblog if you like this 🪂

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It's so easy for you to say how your life has changed for the better when you and Rafe finally became official. He has been your best friend since you both were little, and now to see you both expand your relationship which you had formed since such a small age, always makes you feel like the happiest person on this planet.

It's no lie that it took you some time to finally get to the dating stage. After realising your feelings for each other, you both needed a lot of pushing from your friends to finally confess.

"He looks at you as if you're his whole world! Why aren't you telling him?" Your friends would groan, as they would catch you with your mouth almost agape as he walks past you and gives you a smile.

"No, I don't think he does," you would dismiss your friends' thoughts and before they could say anything else, you would be rushing to your class.

Now, fast forward to three years later, you both are in university and live in a shared apartment. You took your own time to reach to this stage of your life with each other, but you're so grateful where you are now, because there's no one else you'd rather do it with.

"When we'll grow old, we'll be roomies forever!" Rafe would tell you in his little squeaky voice when he wasn't even seven years old. You would giggle at him and eagerly nod. Who knew those little dreams will come true, and you both will be a lot more than just friends?

Sharing an apartment with Rafe is everything you've always imagined it would be, each night feels like the sleepover you had when you were little. Except this time, you don't have this fear of laughing a little too loud that a parent is on their way to scold you for being up for so late. You can laugh and talk as loud as you want to, eat whatever your heart desires and talk about any topic you feel like.

You both have your moments where you tend to forget you're dating and aren't just two best friends who share an apartment solely because they thought it would be fun. One time, you had one of your oldest albums in your camera roll opened, and you were laughing at all the pictures.

"Dude look at this one!" You laughed, finding a hidden gem. Rafe feigned shock as he looked at you.

"You did not just call me dude." He said, deadpanned. You pop a crisp in your mouth from the packet you're both sharing.

"What's wrong with that?" You asked shrugging.

"I'm your boyfriend, that's rude,"

"Whatever bro," you giggled, averting your attention to your phone.

"That's even worse!" He whined.

"OH MY GOD!" You yelled as you laughed out loud, the next picture on your phone seeming pretty unbelievable. It's from a Halloween night years ago, and you both totally forgot you dressed up very poorly as Barbie and Ken. But the thing is, you were Ken and he was Barbie.

You both were dressed in a hot pink from head to toe, and your make up is loud and proud. "You need to be Barbie again," you laughed, as you teased him by nudging his arm with your elbow.

"Definitely not," he chuckled, shaking his head.

It definitely doesn't stop here. It was your aunt's birthday and she had a big party, inviting a lot of your family. It was towards the start of your relationship, and you definitely weren't used to calling this idiot your boyfriend.

"And this is Rafe! He's my uh, my boyfriend! Yes, boyfriend, oh my god!" You said out loud, your aunt laughing at your reaction.

He only shook his head at you and flicked your ear. Your reflexes acted up instantly and your hands went to his hair to completely mess them up.

One thing about you both is that have been extremely competitive since you were little. You've always wanted to beat him in whatever game you're playing, bowling, basketball, or even just Uno. And when one wins, they make sure to remind the other about it every minute.

"Oh my god I totally crushed you!" You yelled, attracting attention from people around you as you jump up and down, looking at the final score of your bowling match with Rafe.

"I won, you lost, I won, you lost," you sang as you danced in front of him, and he just stood there, looking at you.

"Oh shut up," He groaned, walking away as you're there dancing to yourself. You laughed and ran to catch up to him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and he instantly picked you up, you now on his back with your legs around his waist.

"I'm sorry bub, but I did crush you big time," you mumbled kn his ear. He groaned again, and then threatened to drop you on the ground. You let out a squeal and tighten your grip on him, which in turn made him laugh.

But you both are a whole another level of competitiveness when you are a team. There's not a single game invented which you both cannot win as a team, and the adrenaline rush you both get after you win results in some of the most crazy victory couple dances.

You found yourself at a party, and the game of beer pong is at an edge as people are watching you and him compete against another couple. It was the tiebreaker point, and if Rafe made the shot, you both would win.

"You can do this yeah?" You said, your hands holding his face as you looked him straight in the eye. "Just take a deep breathe, and shoot." He nodded at you and you handed him a ping pong ball.

He took his position and took a deep breathe in, clutching onto the ball in his hand. He shot the ball, and you watched from the side expectantly, your hands clutched together. It felt as if everything was in slow motion as the ball made its way to the other end of the table. You heard a soft plop as it landed in a cup of beer, and everyone around you started to cheer out loud.

You ran up to Rafe with the biggest grin on your face and he picked you up and spun you around. One of your friends came up to hand you the cup of beer. Rafe drank half of it, and then gave you the beer left to drink.

Everyone came up to you to congratulate you and hype you up even more, getting an occasional pat on your back. You looked at the couple who you both defeated, and Rafe made his way to them with you on his heels.

"Ding!" He said out loud. "That's the sound of the elevator, because you're not on our level!" He teased them and everyone around you gasped and cheered out loud, as you hollered around. The couple just gave you both a dirty look and leave, and you just looked at Rafe and gave him a high five.

"That'll tell 'em not to challenge us anymore," he said, wrapping his arm around your waist and kissing your head.

But what was the most concerning yet your favorite moment between you two was when he had this urge to be your knight in shining armor, but he also wanted to be the reason you needed help.

You were planning to take a little boat ride with all your friends, and as you all were standing on the dock, Rafe gave you a little nudge and dropped you in the water.

You screamed out loud as you went into the water, but quickly resurfacing as you swam up. You wiped your face with your hands as you pushed all your hair back, and when your eyes regained their focus, you saw everyone on the dock looking at you with utter shock.

You were gasping as you felt the cold water on your skin, when Rafe quickly removed his t shirt and came closer to the edge of the dock.

"Don't worry darling, I'm coming to save you!" He yelled with his chest wide as if he's a hero. You watched him jump into the water and swim up to you, and just as he reached you, you punch him in his arm, hard.

"What the fuck is this?!" You yelled, and Rafe came closer to you and wrapped his arms around you.

"What do you think this is? I'm here to save you," He said with a proud smile on his face.

"You asshole, you dropped me in the water," you said as he started to lead you towards the dock.

"What are you saying? You tripped off the edge and I'm here to save you. Did you hit your head on a rock or something?" He shook his head. You scoffed as he helped you get onto the dock. "I'm your knight babe, I'll always save you whenever you need to be rescued."

"What a relief." You said, rolling your eyes.

What he said that day is totally true though, all these times you've wanted help from someone, he's been there for you without fail. He picks you up everytime you fall down, even literally (but after he finishes laughing at you).

He makes you the happiest you have ever been. You'll always be so grateful for him.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @saccharinesammie @maybankslover @totalswag @madelynie @chenslucy @ietss @elle-mp3 @viawritesstuff @wallsdreams @tahliac11 @sadfury

(If you want to be added, check out the 'join my taglist' post on top! + send in requests if you have any, but please read the 'requests' post first!)

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lovingdabeessss · 6 months

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Ok so in v3 when Nora is having her breakdown she mentions that 'Glynda doeant yell at them As Much anymore' and Im still reeling at this piece of info(im in my lonely team jnpr being glyndas fave team camp) but basically imagine Pyrrha going to Weiss and Yang for help bcs her teammates are like Blake and Ruby But Worse and Pyrrha is kind of at her wits end. Yang whos a pro at this point is like 'girl, I gotchu. Weiss get planner'

I feel for you in being a only believer of a amazing hc especially because in this context it makes SO much sense for them to be her favorite like

She’s in charge of all the student to student sparring which is Pyrrhas specialty so she interacts with her a lot there we’ve seen Glynda clearly being investigated in them from day one on her comments on Nora and ren’s team up and if they get in trouble all the time with her it could be a sign of how much she cares but I can TOTALLY see them having the “you get in trouble so much that I see you so often that we now have a positive relationship”

Jaune broke into beacon and Nora and ren are lawless orphans and none of them have any idea how to tackle the curriculum jaune at least had been going to a school even if it wasn’t one for this and Nora and ren at least know how to fight even if it was more like a “if we have to” situation when they ran into grim or if Nora was bored so all of them together even out pyrrha being actually perfect

I can totally see jnpr going to Weiss and Yang for help

Good news is Yang is the kinda honors student that would let the entire class cheat off her like she wouldn’t do someone’s homework for them (except for Blake’s she definitely did Blake’s when Blake spent like several weeks trying to take down a crime empire on zero sleep) but everyone can take a picture of her work and copy it

Weiss is NOT the kinda person you can cheat off of Pyrrha is really determined to help people succeed on their own however that’s really hard to do with her entire team

JNPR being glyndas favorite team makes a lot of sense they’re very entertaining

I think her relationship with team Rwby is interesting because two of them are her coworkers/ friends children who were raised to be this one of them is a teenage wanted terrorist trying to escape from the terrorist organization and one of them is Weiss schnee which is it’s own thing

#rwby #rwby jnpr #team jnpr #JNPR #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #pyrrha nikos #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #weiss schnee #star students #glynda goodwitch #Ruby rose

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andrewwtca · 11 months

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the Aubrey problem (or how Omori's writing failed her)

Also available to read on Archive of our Own.

I really like video games. If the fanfiction, theory posts, and occasional essays weren’t enough, here’s me saying it—I really like video games! They’re a conversation between writing, art, music, and human interaction, between the player, the game, and the characters in them. Of course, not all games have all of that, some being only text-based, some being lifeless wastelands, but whatever they end up choosing to work with, they often do something amazing.

Sunny is one of my favorite protagonists in any realm of media—video game, movie, book—and he genuinely changed the way I view the world. Not just him, but the entire world built around him, Headspace and its charming inhabitants and the wondrous sights and music, the creative bosses that leave so much insight, the beautiful overworld that is Faraway and a nostalgic look into what we leave behind, and what we return to.

So that’s why I’m so disappointed I don’t like Aubrey.

This game blew my mind away when I first saw it—my first experience with the game wasn’t even my own playthrough, but sitting through a 20-hour longplay!—and I lost so many hours of sleep twisting and turning and trying to make peace with the grief it left me feeling. And after finishing, I realized that its flaws were plenty, but not enough to drag me out of my enjoyment. But Aubrey? Aubrey didn’t make me feel the way I knew she was supposed to.

That frustrated me, especially as I became a bigger and bigger fan of the game. I had no qualms about liking her archetype, the feminine bully with a tragic backstory, and yet I do with her.

As someone who craves literary analysis and in-depth looks into every media I consume, I just needed to know: what made me dislike Aubrey?

And after over two years of being a fan of the game, I’ve finally figured it out: it’s a good mixture of 1) lack of explanation, 2) rushed self-awareness, and 3) lackluster narrative choices. And I’ve found the words I needed to explain these concepts, so please join me on my messy journey to understanding what went wrong with Aubrey.

preface

If you’re an Aubrey apologist, this essay is not for you. I’ve heard plenty of arguments about why Aubrey was actually in the right, not limited to “Basil deserved it,” and, “Aubrey was hurting too,” so I’d like to begin by stating that Aubrey was a bully very clearly.

Rejecting the notion that she actively harmed others is rejecting a core component of understanding her character. Before we dive into her character and how the writing failed her character arc, I would like us all to be on the same page: she physically, verbally, and socially bullied Basil. It was not Basil’s fault, and it will never be a victim’s fault to get bullied. She is not the victim of her own crime, just like how Sunny is not the victim of Mari’s death, and Basil is not the victim of Mari’s hanging. We, as the player, are to recognize their responsibilities in their actions. The same must be extended to Aubrey.

Some people feel the need to deny this aspect of her character to justify her actions and/or justify liking her. Firstly, the purpose of this essay isn’t to villainize anyone for liking Aubrey. I’m simply analyzing what was attempted with her character and why it didn’t strike a chord with me and so many others. Secondly, as Kel wisely said, “Just because you did something bad, doesn't make you a bad person.” I’m not here to say that Aubrey is a bad person—no, nobody in Omori is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and labeling characters as such is taking away the nuance they possess. And I’m certainly not saying liking a character who did something bad makes you bad, either!

Liking Aubrey is in no way a problem (which makes me a tad bit sad that I need to clarify), and I’ll even go as far as to say kudos to you, but if you bend and twist to stop her from holding any responsibility for her actions, that’s when problems arise. Basil is a fictional character and won’t care if you think it was his fault he was bullied, but for the people around you who may have been in similar positions to him?

And lastly, I want to say that if you cite sexism as the reason people don’t like Aubrey… actually, this is the perfect transition into the analysis.

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss

Femme bullies are not a new phenomenon. Perhaps it’s the break from the stereotypical sweet feminine girl that makes them so fascinating, using their femininity to not sing to animals or wish for a man, but pull down others and advance their status.

I, for one, adore the femme bully trope. Especially if they’re one who used to be extremely kind and underwent some sort of ‘fall from grace’ that led to a bastardization. But, as for all bullies, if they are left without a proper backstory and motivation, I’m turned off from them. Most humans are not mean just because they can be but rather are products of how they were raised. When these causes are ignored, the trope falls flat, and instead of being a good reconstruction, it’s a flat stereotype.

The best way to analyze this is by comparing Aubrey’s character to good examples of femme bullies in the past. Specifically, I’m picking my favorites: Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Sophie from The School for Good and Evil. I’m going to do a quick (and a bit sarcastic) overview of their characters in their respective media, but a quick warning for suicide in Asuka’s overview, and animal cruelty in Nanami’s.

Asuka is a pilot for one of the mechas, the Evangelion, and she always thought of herself as better than everyone. Well, of course, she would: she studied hard, worked harder than everyone around her, and she’s just naturally talented. And yet, she’s still always threatened by others and how they can ruin her status. Specifically, for the course of the show, she targets Shinji—he’s this nobody from nowhere who could suddenly pilot an Eva, while she had to fight her whole life to get here! How is that fair? And what has that asshole been through anyway? Did he have to see his mother’s corpse after she committed suicide as a small child? Did he fight for his mother’s love his entire life just for her to kill herself? Does he have to fight for male attention just so he isn’t thrown aside? No, of course not! So how is any of it fair?

Nanami is the sister to the wonderful student body president Touga, and she wants nothing more than his attention. And with her being the youngest of the cast, one cannot be mad at her for not understanding the severity of violence and finality of death, so her anger as a small child with a kitten whom Touga adored is also understandable. One simply cannot be mad at her for drowning it. So, of course, you cannot blame her for wanting to punish the ever-elusive Anthy and Utena, who Touga has become fixated on. What does Anthy or Utena have that Nanami doesn’t? They’re stupid girls, not Touga’s sister. No matter what, Nanami is going to win her brother’s affection (and in her pursuit, ignore how horribly he’s been manipulating her the entire time).

And Sophie is the Witch of Woods Beyond, capable of powerful spells beyond the imagination, from a place that few know of. And she wants nothing more than for her own fairy-tale ending—why do all the princesses around her get princes and castles and beautiful dresses, and she’s doomed to being hideous and alone for the rest of her life? Who decided that for her? She’s beautiful, after all, so she should be a princess! It doesn’t matter who stands in the way of her happily ever after; especially not if it’s Agatha, her lifelong best friend. No matter what, Sophie will not end up like her mother who died all alone, with her husband forgetting her and moving on. Sophie will be loved, no matter who she has to hurt.

What do they all have in common? Firstly, they’re all girls. As stated, femme bullies are different from masc bullies, especially as they reveal aspects of femininity and womanhood in general that many people—see, a male audience—will neglect to face, and overall uncover sexism that's still present in both media and society. Secondly, they’re all bullies, and they targeted someone in particular who they saw as detrimental to their happiness. And thirdly, they all had specific upbringings that conditioned them to have their ‘falls from grace’. What is this third, unidentified thing?

Mommy issues!

(Sorry, I know Nanami technically has a brother complex, but I just wanted to say mommy issues.)

A pattern has been developed with all of these girls. They all start fairly, what one can call, ‘feminine’ or at least, per standard stereotypes. They’re gentle and sweet and shine when needed. And they all have a ‘fall from grace’—a moment, or sequence of moments, that leads them to reject traditional femininity and embrace a more vengeful version of it. And a final moment, where they are faced with their opposite, who represents all that they do not have.

Asuka was sweet and kind and bubbly until her mother killed herself. After that, she dedicated herself to her studies and getting adult male attention through means of the over-sexualization of herself. And then, she began to bully Shinji.

Sophie was sweet and kind and bright until her mother died. After that, she idolized her mother’s false display of femininity and became obsessed with becoming a princess. And then, at the School for Evil, she began to bully Agatha.

Nanami was assumedly sweet—she deviates from this pattern slightly, being built off assumptions of a good past rather than showcases—until she was brought into this family and became obsessed with her brother and was manipulated by him. After that, she became desperate for his attention, fighting any other who could take it. And then, she began to bully Utena (and Anthy.)

While Nanami does deviate from this pattern, they all have clear origins. They were not bullies from the start. As aforementioned, in the face of an adversary, the majority of people do not turn to hurting one another. Something in their pasts, their ‘falls from grace’, was the foundation of their actions, what led them to believe what they were doing was okay. It’s not justification—it's a much-needed explanation. After all, if you do not understand, how can you empathize?

Still, you may fail to see my point. The game has lots of hints of Aubrey’s troubled upbringing. And that’s exactly what the problem is. These girls have clear origins while Aubrey’s is muddled.

Of course, I don’t expect Omori to have spoon-fed me details of her past. You can put the pieces together by walking through her home and seeing bottles laid on the ground. But, even in a game dependent on nuance and having the player put certain things together, it’s better to leave things out directly rather than to work a way around.

To build up a good femme bully, we need a good origin story. What happened to her that made her turn to violence? Why should we care? We know Aubrey probably had a troubled childhood. But the game doesn’t supply enough. It leaves too much to fill in the blanks. I know that Asuka saw her mother’s corpse, I know that Sophie was forced into a misogynistic viewpoint upon her mother’s death, and I know that Nanami was manipulated to hell and back. I know what these girls have been through so I know why they ended up walking their paths.

But the game simply doesn’t reveal enough about Aubrey. Fan speculation is not enough. Canon interpretation should not be confused with fan interpretation—according to the fans, Aubrey’s father is a deadbeat, and her mother is an abusive, neglectful alcoholic. According to the game? Aubrey’s dad is “strict”, and her house is an absolute disaster. The house is one of the biggest clues as to Aubrey’s childhood, and while some may praise this as ‘showing and not telling’, the game never tries to make workarounds for the other characters (which I will dig deeper into later). I can assume what happened in her house but it’s not my job to find ways to empathize with the character; that is the story’s job.

This is the first of Omori’s three sins and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

actions speak more than words, or something like that

I recently saw a post that I thought would make a good intro for this section. It’s an apologist post for Aubrey, discussing how the game did treat her with just enough harshness—that because she’s been beating herself up, because she’s suffered a public breakdown, because it took kindness to help her heal, it’s proof of her regret. There’s some good Basil blaming in there too, with a strange turn saying that she refused to leave Basil’s house because of her willingness to turn over a new leaf. And it ends with a weird claim that she was a “good person all along,” (implying an argument otherwise), but I’m not here to rat on that post.

Despite how frustrated the post made me, I am inclined to agree. It’s black-and-white to state that Aubrey didn’t change at all. If you compare her first Faraway appearance to her final scenes, she’s a completely different person. Which would've been nice if the change didn’t take two scenes.

Much like how I compared Aubrey’s backstory to that of other femme bullies, I’m going to compare Aubrey’s redemption to that of my favorite redemption story in all of media: Riku from Kingdom Hearts (the fact that I’m so in touch with his story may also explain some of my disappointment with Aubrey’s).

Riku starts off his journey on Destiny Islands. He’s always wondered what lies beyond his small home and dreamed of taking a sailboat with his best friends, Sora and Kairi. However, jealousy is an awful thing—Sora and Kairi are close. And it seems that Riku has been hearing about how they’re thinking of leaving him behind. So, he does what any teenager dealing with larger-than-life feelings does: he gives in to the magical Darkness and effectively kills everyone on the islands, separating him, Sora, and Kairi (don’t worry—everyone comes back.)

By the end of the game, he’s come to his senses, but it takes a lot of time. He fights with Sora a lot because he just knows, deep down, that he’s right and Sora is wrong, and if Sora would just listen…but no. Sora keeps abandoning him. So he has to work through that and all the feelings that accompany those abandonment issues, he has to work through the question of “What is even making me want to kill my best friend, anyway?”, and he has to work through “Wait…can I kill my best friend?” So, it takes a lot of time for him to get to his senses.

And then, he goes through hell. Literally and metaphorically. He dedicates himself wholly to making up for what he did. How? Well, he first identifies what he did wrong—he separated from his friends, he gave in to his jealousy, and he submerged his home in Darkness. He apologizes for it directly—although he doesn’t have a chance to speak with Sora right away, he's constantly apologizing for the fact that he gave in to the Darkness, so much that it became a running gag to some fans. He put up distance—he didn’t feel like he was owed forgiveness right away (or at all, but that’s a different matter) and didn’t stick at Sora’s side to wait for his best friend to forgive him. He worked hard to show that he’s changed—it would be a much longer essay if I attempted to explain the lengths he went through, but it’s not limited to allowing himself to be possessed, going to literal Hell, forcing himself into isolation, and enduring multiple handicapping injuries.

Long story short? He really, really tries to make it up to Sora. And when he and Sora finally talk (it took three years in real life, took perhaps a year in the game), Sora doesn’t even hesitate to forgive his friend…though it may be in part to Sora just being Sora. Nevertheless, Riku had earned that forgiveness.

And then, after that, Riku continues to give himself hell! He never stops to sweep what he did under the rug. It’s a part of him, after all, an ugly past but his past nonetheless. It does not define him but it cannot be forgotten, otherwise, he hasn't learned anything at all.

Deep breath. We talked a lot about Kingdom Hearts in an Omori essay. But it’s important to understand the sheer depth put into his redemption: identification, distance, and work.

What’s most frustrating about Aubrey’s arc is that fragments of this good writing exist, but that’s what they are: fragments. I would like it to be stated for the record that everything I explained for Riku’s arc wasn’t me creating speculation based on what the games said. It’s what the games literally came out and said. Aubrey however…

Identification—she apologizes to Sunny, Kel, and Hero by saying “I’m sorry, guys… I’ve been acting like such a jerk.” While I may give her grief for the usage of the word ‘jerk’ when perhaps a stronger, more evocative term would’ve done a better job, it’s certainly better than what she said in front of Basil’s door: "I just wanted to say that… I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you.” Completely separating herself from the issue at hand.

Distance—none. She's immediately reintroduced to her old friend group, at a rate that ended up giving me whiplash the first time around. The question, “What about the Hooligans?” is never brought up, and things are back to how they always were, with no problems at all.

Work—Aubrey stayed the night at Basil’s house, wanting to make sure he was safe. To which, if you end up getting the neutral ending, you get the most insightful message of Aubrey’s arc (which is technically non-canon): “I'm so sorry, Basil. Please forgive me…” If getting the good or bad ending, her staying the night meant literally nothing, as Sunny’s fight took the reins.

These are fragments of a character arc. These are fragments of good characterization. While I praise Omori for how often it appears realistic, this kind of exponential growth simply isn’t. In what world, does someone who’s been bullying someone for four years, take less than two days to realize she’s been a bully and decide to change the entire course of her life?

While I could rat on Aubrey, this isn’t her problem. This is the game misreading what makes a good redemption. Redemption means work. It means effort. It is not a character simply changing their ways. Those characters feel cheap and empty—there’s a reason, after all, why the majority of fans always characterize Aubrey as the mean girl she’s shown to be when she first appeared in fan works. It’s because the ‘new’ Aubrey, the Aubrey buried under layers of hurt, hasn’t earned the right to exist.

The Riku I love in Kingdom Hearts III has earned the right to be angsty and gay and happy and his new self because he’s put in 17 years' worth of effort to become that person. It’s beautiful, it’s inspiring, it’s hopeful—you can make a mistake and go past it. It doesn’t define you. You can be forgiven. You can have hurt and have been hurt and still be worthy of love and loving.

The Aubrey at the end of Omori has not earned the right to be there, simply put. She’s the product of lazy, or ignorant writing, and it feels harsh to type out, but there’s no other way to describe it. Her self-awareness happened too quickly. She passes by Sunny’s house every day, sees Kel playing basketball every day, and could freely visit Mari’s grave whenever she wants—there were four years for her to change who she was. If Kel wasn’t able to give up his toxic positivity until the bitter end of the neutral ending, it’s quite hard to believe that a few hours of just talking made her change her ways. Especially considering that the Hooligans were characterized as her new, accepting friends, who love her and hear her out.

And again, the best fragment of an arc that could’ve been appears in the neutral ending! While it was not directly Aubrey’s actions that led Basil to take his life, it’s very impactful to see her begin to blame herself. It’s not right for her to blame herself—but that’s perhaps the only scene in the entire game where I really sympathized with her. It’s the only scene in the entire game where I truly saw that she wanted to change.

A quick note I wanted to pull out before finishing: the inclusion of the Hooligans. They were, again, fragments of an amazing arc. While they could’ve been a good way to show how kind Aubrey still is, they are thrown aside and mainly included in scenes where Aubrey is still being a bully. It’s in content outside of the game (see: Aubrey birthday comic) that they contrast Aubrey’s harsh exterior and show her sweet insides. But no, they’re underdeveloped and unutilized to make Aubrey’s arc feel doable.

There seems to be a very clear culprit to both this and the femme bully problem, and a solution that should’ve been considered more deeply.

rome wasn’t built in a day

There’s a loud rumor in the Omori fandom that Omori was originally supposed to take place over ten days rather than three days. While I’m not sure how much merit this rumor has, the fact that it exists leads me to my ultimate point:

Omori should’ve been longer.

Specifically, Omori should’ve taken place over a longer period.

EDIT: Before we continue, I just had an excellent conversation with a friend ( /ᐠ ._. ᐟ\ﾉ ). This solution only applies to if one is unwilling to change Aubrey's core character; essentially, the extent of her bullying. By making her someone who goes out of her way to torment Basil, significant screen time is going to be needed to properly unpack all that's been given. Making the base game ten days is only my opinion of the best choice, but there are other ways to solve this. However, the best course of action would be to change the extent of Aubrey's bullying on Basil—in other words, changing how Aubrey's anger presents itself.

For example, she would simply hold a grudge over what she believed was Basil destroying the photos, being extremely passive aggressive towards him. It would make a reconciliation between her and Basil, much, much more doable as well, perhaps him seeking her out in the first place in a peaceful manner to look for the photos. The lake scene could be an emotional explosion for her, perhaps finding out Basil just gave the photo album to Sunny, who is literally about to leave, and then pushes him into the lake. Then, the reflection she has next would fit what has tonally been established, seeming doable. She had, after all, been on good terms with Basil, even if for a little while.

By ‘lackluster narrative choices’, I am referring literally to the belief that Omori should not have been a game that took place in three days. I’m not here to argue about the game's mechanics—should Headspace have been that long? What is the point of a world created to serve as escapism, which should be fleeting moments of happiness, when it ends up being longer than the real world?—as much as I’m here to argue that this is a flaw of the game’s writing as opposed to a game design standpoint.

I’m not going to pretend I know how to make a video game. I’m enthusiastic about them, I follow their development and creation, and I strive to learn as much as I can about the ones that are dear to me, but I’m not going to pretend I know the first thing about making a video game. Omori’s development is one of the most infamous parts of its legacy, and the notion of extending the game would’ve only been another strain on the extended period between its announcement and its final release.

But, I know how to tell a story. Or, at the very least, I know what makes a good story. Now, the three days format of the game serves its other protagonists amazingly.

Sunny, whose arc mainly develops through the interfering ideas established in the real world and the ones previously established in Headspace, doesn’t need an extended time in the real world. His story takes place in his dreams, and the foundations of Headspace are already extremely insecure, based on the idea of covering up the truth. But when faced with a separate truth in reality, despite only a brief exposure, the lies created to protect Headspace fall apart. So Sunny’s arc does not depend on how long he spent in the real world.

Kel and Hero, on the other hand, have a very small arc. They are not flat and are very much dynamic when you compare how they started and how they ended up. However, the majority of their arc had taken place off-screen. The majority of their characterization does not occur through direct interaction with Sunny—we don’t learn about Hero’s depression because of him having a breakdown, but rather Kel discussing it. And in that same scene, we learn about Kel’s toxic positivity and the strain it’s taking on him, rather than through the game. This recontextualization is perfect for Kel and Hero. The change that occurred after Mari’s death is not easily seen by Sunny, and through it being slowly revealed instead, we learn the nature of their changes. Nonetheless, their changes occurred after Mari’s death and another change will occur most likely after the revelation of the truth—either way, their character arcs do not depend on the length of the three days. No amount of time would’ve changed them without Sunny revealing the truth (and as aforementioned, Sunny’s time was well spent in Headspace).

And finally, Basil. He's in the same boat as Kel and Hero, having an arc that occurs entirely off-screen. The difference is, however, the amount of emphasis the game puts on what happened to him as opposed to a few cutscenes with the brothers (though it is understandable, given his role as the game’s deuteragonist). His arc is a downward spiral, from an already unstable boy to an insecure mess who becomes obsessed with the sole idea of keeping his best friend safe. While it’s a progression of who he used to be, it’s development nonetheless, and it also happens off-screen. Given Basil’s fragile mindset, furthermore, the appearance of Sunny suddenly was enough to throw him off, given he was already planning on taking his own life. His rapid spiral into an even worse mess which leads to the fight between him and Sunny, therefore, is understandable. And, similarly to Kel and Hero, his real change will only occur after Sunny reveals the truth. Basil’s character development does not at all depend on how long the game would be.

The simple fact is that the other characters do not go through a drastic change on the days that Sunny comes out, and Sunny’s change was fueled by the existence of Headspace, not by the real world. The game taking place in three days does not affect the others. That is good storytelling. Using the game’s time frame to properly convey their arcs having occurred off-screen.

Aubrey, however, is not subject to that same praise. Her arc occurs on screen—while she descended to becoming a bully after Mari’s death, the arc we the viewer are supposed to acknowledge is her redemption. And three days just isn’t enough time.

The last two problems I covered, a lack of detailed backstory and a general lack of redeeming actions, lie in the same problem: the game went past those scenes far too quickly, as though Aubrey’s redemption is not essential to understanding her. It’s as though the game is trying to place importance on relationships and the joys of rekindling, rather than having to actually rekindle a relationship, having to put in the work. If the game had been slightly longer, Aubrey’s story could’ve been dealt with in a far more effective manner.

I am not Omocat, nor am I a part of the development team. I do not have the ideal solution for what could’ve been. I do, however, have a few ideas that I’d like you, my audience, to consider. How much do you think the game would’ve changed if it was ten days instead of three?

As already explained, Sunny, Kel, Hero, and Basil would not have had any significant difference if the game took place longer. Perhaps, there would’ve been a more natural awkwardness present that accompanies talking to someone for the first time in four years, but aside from that, the events of the game would’ve just taken longer.

Aubrey, however, would’ve had some actual thinking time. Her fight in the church would be her turning point, and her then isolation would feel like she had time to think things over. For a few days, Aubrey would have to be absent, and given the impression she left on the players, this absence would be heavily felt. It would be her return so much more effective, especially if she returns as someone who is unsteady due to their actions.

For the next few days, leading up to Aubrey deciding to stay the night at Basil’s house, we have the chance to know and forgive her better—perhaps, similar to Kel talking to Sunny about Hero’s depression, Aubrey can explain what it was like growing up in her household. Not as a defense, but as an explanation. She would do things with the rest of the group, and she would at a more natural rate, be integrated once again. And not just anything! She would actively help them with whatever the ten days would have to offer, and it would show that she is hurting over her actions.

And, finally, when she would decide to stay at Basil’s house, it wouldn’t feel like the game was just trying to have the cast together for one last moment, but it would feel like she’s trying to bridge the gap of all the hurt she created. When she would go to Basil’s door, it wouldn’t feel like the game was just trying to convince us to forget about her actions, but it would feel like she’s reflected and attempted a new leaf. And hopefully, the game would offer a more heartfelt apology, given more context and material to work with.

Four years of bullying can’t go away in ten days. But that’s not what the game was trying to argue in the first place—it wasn’t fully erasing Aubrey’s action, but trying to create the stepping stone for a way back. But the three days poorly argued her case, with a rushed and lacking version of redemption, and it made her ‘final character’ feel poor.

At the very least, ten days would have allowed the audience to empathize and begin to understand her. And, more importantly, it would’ve made sense that she understood the weight of her actions. And the Aubrey she became, whoever that girl would be?

She would’ve been so, so loved.

a little love in our lives

This has been on my mind for an awful lot of time. Sunny, as aforementioned, is one of my favorite characters of all time (if not my favorite), but the entire cast has a spot in my heart and is very dear to me. That includes Aubrey, but she benefits from association, which hurts me—I hate when girls in media are defined by their relationships with other guys. I wanted to get to the heart of why I couldn’t get her to stand on her own.

To summarize: Aubrey’s character was criminally mismanaged. Instead of it being a hopeful story of redemption, someone finally breaking the cycle of abuse and breaking free of her toxic household, seeking forgiveness by taking an active part in Basil’s healing, she is let off too quickly and makes all her further scenes feel twice as empty. The ideal solution would have been to have the game take place over a larger period, rather than a rushed three days, to allow the audience to empathize and relate to her.

Aubrey apologists truly astound me. I find so many flaws in her writing, and yet other people manage to see those flaws as perfections. I see people making very absurd, ableist arguments, and it makes me question the humanity of many fans, but I’ve always been intrigued by how many different perspectives there are surrounding her. I’ve seen some who relate to her because they were bullies or because they’ve been abandoned by others; so some valid reasons, and others very concerning. But it’s telling how our own experiences make us relate to different characters and help us understand why someone stands in the places they do.

…do you see what I did there? I started talking about relating backgrounds and how that benefits our understanding and— yeah, I suppose you understand, if you got this far (almost 6k words, you should be proud of yourself). If you’re still unfazed and believe that Aubrey’s writing was splendid, all the power to your fannish behaviors. But if I’ve opened your eyes a bit as to the flaws in her writing or if I’ve been able to explain your dislike of her, then I’m glad. It’s important to discuss things that didn’t stick the way they were meant to so that we can do better and we can learn.

Omori’s writing failed Aubrey. Some fans took that as a challenge. I’ve said before that canon interpretation should be separate from fanon interpretation, but I’d have to be heartless (Kingdom Hearts pun intended) to say that many fan’s interpretations didn’t get me to feel with her. I think Aubrey could’ve been brilliant, and while Omori didn’t fully capture that, a lot of fans did. So to everyone who makes art, whether it’s a drawing, a written work, a video, a song, an edit, or whatever, thank you for sharing it. Thank you for telling your stories.

I feel like writing these analysis pieces without connecting them to our own life experiences is pointless. So, to everyone else, please tell your stories. Tell your stories of redemption and love and forgiveness, because that’s what Aubrey’s story was meant to be about, and that’s what we all need in this world. Tell your stories, no matter what they are, because that is what ties us all together. We are made of stories and we return to them. We learn from them and we become better people. We become kinder—and we could all use a little more kindness in the world.

Thanks for reading!

#omori #omori meta #omori analysis #aubrey omori #media analysis #meta essay #literary analysis is my special interest #andrew's essays

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theshadowrealmitself · 6 months

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Whenever I think about the fact that Gotham had the Valeska twins as Joker (except I think they couldn’t actually call them that?) my brain always goes into two different directions:

1) Bruce just has to keep dealing with weird clown people all his life, just a new one pops up every couple of years or so

Makes for great angst in my opinion, like if everyone’s like “you need to kill the Joker so he stops” but Batman knows that it wouldn’t actually matter, even if he went back on his no kill rule and offed him, it wouldn’t actually stop anything, because it’s not “The Joker,” it’s a different person proclaiming themselves as the Joker every few years, there is no stopping “him,” the Joker always comes back

(Also adds a new layer of the Joker not really having an identity that’s known, like the other rogues do)

And

2) There’s 3 Jokers when he’s an adult as Batman (v much diverges from Gotham canon), there’s both of the twins and then Jack Napier

And No One Knows

They actually each have their own unique way of being the Joker, like one of them is the really messed up version that killed Jason Todd and attacked Barbara, one of them leans really heavily into the clown aspect of it and his crimes aren’t actually that bad, they’re just really,,, wacky,,, and one of them is more in the middle of it, trying to prove you can be a terrifying murderous clown and a fun wacky clown!

All 3 Jokers are Aware™️ of each other, but they don’t acknowledge each other, each thinking that their way is the best way of being Joker, and that Batman is aware that there’s 3 of them and they each think they’re Batman’s favorite

Batman has no idea about this, no one does, everyone just thinks that the changes in makeup, suits, and temperaments are due to “The Joker’s” change in mood, and they think sometimes he also just does different voices for kicks

Depending on which version of Joker a person usually interacts with, it paints a specific picture of what the Joker’s like which makes for some funny misunderstandings when they talk to someone who mostly knows a different Joker

(Nightwing, mostly knowing the really wacky Joker that’s more on the Riddler’s level of danger, finding out about Jason’s death and Barbara’s attack: ??????????)

#it feels weird to me when talking about Joker’s crimes and bringing up Jason to not bring up Barbara you know?#like she didn’t die but that was still awful #especially depending on which version of it is you know?#anyways #the joker #jack napier #jerome valeska #jeremiah valeska #Batman #Bruce Wayne #Jason todd #barbara gordon

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theerurishipper · 6 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/jacquesthepigeon/731353272698486784/you-know-it-must-be-said-as-someone-whos-only?source=share

Of course this is said from someone who has never seen the show. God forbid folks favorite character, is THE SECOND MAIN CHARACTER AND IN THE TITLE OF THE SHOW.

God forbid abuse survivors find Adrichat’s story relatable and react negatively to people who salt on him for, checks notes, being a rich white boy? Because being rich and white protects you from abuse lol okay

Someone go tell Kesha that the horrific abuse she endured for years doesn’t count because she’s rich and white.

Someone go tell Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes that they deserve their conservatorships because they’re too volitile and emotional and need someone else to control their entire lives. Also they’re rich and white so they should be thankful for their privilege.

Also as a fandom veteran, I’m also baffled that this anon says they’ve never seen fandom go this feral over a white boy so I guess the whole Superwholock thing doesn’t exist in this person’s universe. I’m getting war flashbacks…

I really hope this doesn't come off as rude, but I just have a small request for any anons in the future: if y'all want me to comment on someone else's post, please send it in a separate ask. I just don't want to post someone else's post and start an argument or something.

That being said, I do agree. My detailed thoughts under the cut.

"Adrien stans are white people who get unhinged over a white boy," say the Marinette stans and Marinette stan observers, not realizing that they espouse disgusting abuse apologism on a daily basis and victim blame a character who is a victim of abuse for being traumatized all because he made a few decisions that weren't about Marinette and her well-being alone.

This is ridiculous on so many levels. First the assumption that all Adrien stans are white people. Second, the assumption that we must be Adrien stans because he's a white boy and we don't care about POC characters as much as we do the white ones. Which is actually quite insulting to me.

Maybe these people should actually read what Adrien stans have to say. Maybe they should actually understand why we love Adrien so much. Maybe they should understand why we get so heated over him.

Know what? I'll tell you why. It's because Adrien is despite the writers' best efforts to undermine him an interesting and likeable character. He is a canonical abuse victim, and he struggles with his self-worth and his identity, which is a relatable story to many people. He's an entertaining and interesting character. He's the deuteragonist of the damn show. People are bound to love him. There's more to him than being a white boy and it's very insulting to imply that people obsess over him because he's white or because his fans are white.

And about how Adrien stans get "unhinged" about Adrien and not about other characters... we're literally Adrien stans. Which means Adrien is our favorite character. Naturally, we're going to talk more about him. This is basic common sense. I don't understand the problem here with liking Adrien more than other characters. Are we not allowed to have faves anymore?

And you know why Adrien stans get "unhinged" over him? Because the show treats him badly! Why shouldn't we get mad that a character whom we love is being treated poorly by the writers? Why can't we get heated about that? Marinette stans get heated about their fave being victimized by the narrative all the time, so why is it a crime if Adrien stans get upset if Adrien gets the same treatment? Adrien's story in the show ended with him being reduced to an object and a prop for his girlfriend so that she could side with his abuser and start controlling him instead. Why can't we get angry at that?

Marinette stans will talk about how both Adrien and Marinette are written badly but only Marinette gets criticized and how that's racist and shit, and will ignore the fact that our criticism has nothing to do with race and everything to do with Marinette siding with Gabriel to lie to an abuse victim, and how the show frames this as correct. We criticize Marinette because she's making an awful mistake and doing bad things! This is like, the worst strawman I have ever seen. At some point, it really feels like they are being willfully ignorant.

And about how Adrien stans treat other characters, riddle me this. Who has a proper tag dedicated to bashing them on AO3? Who was the character who was salted on so much when Syren aired? Who was the character being raked over the coals when Chameleon aired? Who was the character who was salted on in Season 4 for breaking a damn fucking chimney? Who was the character whose struggles in Season 4 were overlooked by Marinette stans who criticized him for "being entitled to Ladybug?" Who was the character who was relentlessly salted on whenever he did anything that didn't completely attend to Marinette's needs? Who is the character who was labelled a "sexual harasser?" Who is the character on whom these "fans" rain down their victim blaming and abuse apologia? Who is the character who has the longest history of being salted and bashed by the Marinette stans?

And I will laugh at the audacity of Marinette stans to argue in favor of POC characters and blame Adrien stans for "obsessing over a white boy while not giving the same treatment to characters of color" while their legacy includes salting Alya for not being Marinette's perfect emotional support BFF. Who has their own salt tag apart from Adrien on AO3? Alya does. It's laughable to me that Marinette stans harp on about how Adrien stans prefer the white boy over the POC characters when they spent the better part of the last few years bashing Alya and even devolved into outright racism against her. To say nothing of how they treated Kagami after Frozer dropped.

And these people accuse Adrien stans of showing preferential treatment to white characters? Marinette stans have no leg to stand on when it comes to calling out other people's treatment of POC characters. And I'm not saying that the anon or OP of the post are racist or that they personally contributed to this. But if they are going to make sweeping statements about Adrien stans accusing all of us of going unhinged over a white boy and treating POC characters unfairly, they should maybe take a look inwards at their own community.

Marinette stans have spent years bashing every other character for the smallest perceived slight. Marinette stans created a whole new genre of Miraculous fanfiction dedicated to propping up Marinette like their personal goddess and punishing other characters for not being her devoted slaves. Marinette stans have contributed greatly to the racism in this fandom. Look at all this and tell me: who really seems unhinged here?

So yeah. Ice cold take imo. Also, obligatory disclaimer: Not all Marinette stans are like this! Most of them are nice and sweet, but there are also plenty of bad apples who have been responsible for a lot of toxicity in this fandom.

Thank you for your ask!

#MLB #Adrien Agreste #Chat Noir #Adrien Sugar #Marinette Salt #ML Salt #ML Fandom Salt #ML Writing Salt #ML Writers Salt #Meta #My meta #Asks #Ladybug Salt #Seriously Marinette stans do not look at this post

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ddesertmoon · 5 months

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Batman Fic Recs Feat. Jason Todd’s Return

All my favorite fics about Jason’s return to the family. Gen, and mostly hurt/comfort.

Red Hood by envysparkler

“Gotham doesn’t relinquish her soldiers, no matter how far they’ve fallen from the nest.”

In my opinion, this is THE quintessential Red Hood debut fic. It’s got this one trope I love: regular civilians take a chance and protect their protector (it happens a lot with Spider-Man and its really great to see crime alley thanking Jason in the same way).

Vermillion by xandromedan

“Jason Todd returns to Gotham with a bang. In between setting up a criminal empire, dealing with national conspiracies, and the Joker, he re-learns how to be a person.

When the Bats learn of a new face in Gotham's underground, they get interested. Some of them get friendly. His plan becomes... complicated.”

I love when Red Hood becomes close to the bats without revealing his identity… idk something about how he BELONGS with them even though he’s changed…

hang on ‘til the chaos is through by JustGail

“BEFORE:

Jason likes Tim. Or, he thinks he does. Tim has spent most of the week since he moved in locked up in his room, only coming out for meal times and sometimes to use the big TV in the media room, but the few words Jason has managed to extract from Tim show a bright kid who can clearly easily keep up with the best of ‘em, despite his young age. So he’s pretty sure he likes Tim, or at least will, with time.

AFTER:

Tim knows there’s something going on, and the worst part is that Batman isn’t even trying to pretend there isn’t something going on.

Stay out of it, he’d told him. Like something as big as a new player in town is something that Robin could stay out of. That Tim could stay out of.”

So so SO good. The story focuses on Jason and Tim and how they both join (or return, in Jason’s case) to the family. Both of them are characterized perfectly.

ghost story by envysparkler

“Jason Todd dies in Ethiopia. Well. Kind of.”

After Jason dies, he’s forced to watch his family grieve as a ghost. This gives him a new perspective when he returns to Gotham (which changes everything). I LOVE this fic. It’s suspenseful and emotional, AND there’s found family.

Twists And Turns Will Take You Home by Sun_Moon_Stars_Jedi

“Bruce Wayne is used to getting kidnapped. He's used to Gotham's villains hating him.

So why does this new crime lord come to his aid when he can't defend himself?”

Short and sweet. A little identity reveal fic because Jason Todd + identity reveal is my favorite combination of things. The fact that it’s told from Bruce’s perspective and you can see his slow realization… perfect!

miss me? by envysparkler

“Jason’s plan to observe his family’s reactions to his resurrection…does not go as intended.”

Basically, Tim, Dick, and Bruce assume Jason is a hallucination because they’re all so fucked in the head that them hallucinating him makes more sense than like. Magic or something. Very good! I love it when characters are fucked up and sad.

Late Night Encounters by paperxcrowns

“Not long after Jason comes back to Gotham and asserts himself as the Red Hood, Tim meets Jason in a diner late at night and by some miracle he doesn't recognize him. After another chance meeting where Jason still doesn't make the connection between him and Robin, Tim decides that this might just his chance to get to know Jason Todd.”

Pretty much exactly what it says in the description. Red Hood hates Robin, but he befriends the sad teenager named Tim. The secret identity thing causes issues which cause explosive emotions and slight agony for the characters!

best laid plans by Valkirin

“Tim Drake knows that Batman needs a Robin. When Bruce and Dick aren't interested in what he has to say, Tim makes his way to the cemetery to say a few words to the boy he's trying to replace.

Tim has the chance to say far more than he expected when Jason digs himself out of his grave that night. Tim does his best to get Jason home to Bruce. The League of Assassins finds them first.”

This one’s more about both Jason and Tim “coming home” but I’m going to count it because I love this fic. In the end, they’re all together which is all I can ask for.

dead ringer by punkrockhades

“‘Oh, are you guys talking about Jason?’ said a familiar mechanized voice from across the rooftop, and the Bats spun around to spot the Red Hood casually leaning against the rooftop access door. ‘I miss that kid, he was a riot. Hope he’s doing alright.’

There was a moment of silence as the entire group stared at Red Hood, processing his words, and then Red Robin blurted, ‘Wait, you know Jason?’

‘Sure,’ Red Hood responded breezily, amusement written in the lines of his posture. ‘We got pushed into the Pit at the same time. He went a little crazy and fell off a cliff, but shit could only go up from there, am I right?’”

Basically Jason (as Red Hood) pretends to be his own friend and casually makes the batfam lose their minds. Very funny!

Aftermath by ivy_and_ivory

“Now: Batman is in Paris, pulled there by a case that extends beyond Gotham’s borders, when circumstances lead him to a badly injured Red Hood – who might hold the key to Batman’s investigation.

Then: The Red Hood storms into Gotham, begins to stake his claim on the criminal underground, then abruptly disappears – but only after he breaks into Arkham Asylum and leaves the Joker dead in his own cell.”

You have to have an ao3 account to read this fic (sorry) but if anyone wants to know how to make one I can help! This is a really great case fic. Batman doesn’t know who the Red Hood is, but their relationship is complicated from the start because he was able to do what Batman never could: kill the Joker.

Tap by CKBookish

“Bruce returns home from the time stream, haunted by phantoms and dreams. Dreams of a past that can't be real.

But all of that wouldn't be so bad if his home didn't feel so empty in the absence of one of his children. Jason, refuses to talk to him or even answer his calls and Bruce can't figure out why or what he did wrong, not after they had mended their fences before his disappearance.

Meanwhile,

Catherine struggles to hold it together for her and Jason as life falls apart around them. When all she has to give is love she does her best to give it all.”

I really love this fic because it shows vignettes of Jason’s life with his mom without shitting on her as a character. Also, it’s a bit different from the other fics here because it takes place after Bruce comes back from the timestream instead of at the beginning of Jason’s stint as Red Hood.

when my cage is by the window (I can see the sun) by mikkal

“When he was seven, Damian finally escaped the League of Assassins - but not without his brother sacrificing himself to give him time. Now, six years later, he's Robin and Tim's been captured by Ra's in his latest plot. The family goes to Nanda Parbat to rescue him only to run into a revelation that might just break them.”

This fic is INSANELY well written. The small snippets of Jason and Damian’s time together are beautiful. It doesn’t have a happy ending necessarily, but you could probably interpret it as a happy ending!

robin’s roast by envysparkler

“There’s a new coffee shop in Crime Alley. It’s called the Red Hood.”

Jason gets to establish himself in Gotham as the owner of a new coffee shop instead of as a crime lord. This ends up being more effective in completing some of his goals than being the Red Hood would have been.

grave secrets by envysparkler

“Jason only came back to confront Batman and kill the Joker. His job is done.”

Be sure to mind the trigger warnings in the tags. This fic is very different from a lot of the ones on this list, but it’s VERY good.

The Long Road Home by BumblingBeesAndWillowTrees

“The first time Jason held Damian in his arms, the green abated and he knew he had never loved anyone else so fiercely before.

The thing about love is that it is so rarely enough.”

Jason raising Damian!!!! The family meeting Damian and not knowing that Jason raised him!!! Identity reveals! Aaaaaaaaa!!

Also, you need to have an ao3 account to read this fic, sorry.

prodigal by punkrockhades

“Dick liked to think he had a pretty good handle on the whole ‘big brother’ thing by now, even if Tim still saw sleep as optional and Damian still got a little stabby when a hug lasted too long.

But then Damian’s other big brother comes to town, mysterious and red-helmeted and oddly familiar, and seems to want nothing to do with the Bats sans Damian. Damian is strangely close-lipped about his other brother's past, but Dick is determined to find out more about the Red Hood - he could always use more little brothers, anyway!”

The batfam knows the Red Hood as a violent vigilante (and as Damian’s mysterious brother) but then they get to meet Jason!! Identity reveal and all that jazz!

the bird, the fog, the mist by bacondoughnut

“Jason Todd returns to Gotham with a foolproof plan, to kill the Joker and protect the city as the Red Hood in a way that Batman never could. But when he gets there he makes one major decision that's not a part of the plan. He goes home.

aka; The one where Jason tries to balance being the Red Hood with repairing things with his family, and maybe learns a thing or two about forgiveness and family and love along the way”

Jason comes home but he’s still the Red Hood and there’s a WONDERFUL amount of secrets being kept. I like this one because it’s the opposite from a lot of the other fics on this list (in that the family meets Jason Before they meet Red Hood)

You need to have an ao3 account to read this fic

forward tho’ I canna see by nex_et_nox

“One of the thugs trying to sneak up behind Robin stoops low, comes back up swinging at Robin's unprotected back with a fucking crowbar—

Metal clatters against the ground; the body follows it a second later.

Jason lifts his finger from the trigger.

Robin whirls, taking in the body dropped with a headshot. With a scowl, Jason kneecaps the idiots trying to take out Robin from behind again.

[or: Jason, newly returned to Gotham as the Red Hood, keeps accidentally helping out the Bats. It's really frustrating.]”

Oneshot with a bunch of interactions between Red Hood and the bats. Identity reveal that’s soft and sweet and everything I’m looking for <3

Bonus: Incomplete Fics (at the time of this list’s creation)

riptide by punkrockhades

“Jason’s first mistake was hacking the Bats’ secret comm channel.

Although could it really be called hacking when they’d never bothered to change their frequency since his Robin days? All he’d had to do was log on, and boom – instant access to the best ways to avoid meddlesome Bats while he got shit done. And since his end was carefully muted, they wouldn’t even know anyone was listening.

His second mistake was thinking he could listen without getting sucked back into their drama.”

I love this fic SO much. It made me feel so many emotions… the buildup to Jason’s reveal is amazing and the reveal itself is perfect. The last chapter is (as of right now) not posted, but that chapter is an epilogue so the story is able to stand without it! A million out of ten, would recommend.

Chapters: 5/6

what you’re longing for (you claim to abhor) by Ghxst_Bird

“He smiles, all teeth, ‘Come on Replacement, I even got to the door with both legs busted. This should be nothing.’

‘You’re right. Jason… Jason wouldn’t have given up. He would fight, I can still—’

The boy wobbles, and Jason has to suppress the mortifying impulse to jump to his aid.

‘I can still fight. Batman needs me.’

‘That’s a terrible idea,’ he muses aloud, and if there’s a hint of real concern somewhere under all the roiling green, well, nobody can prove it.”

AAAAAAAAAGH THIS FIC. This fic is SO good. There’s a ton of interactions between Jason and the family when they don’t know his ID because they assume that Red Hood’s relationship with Jason Todd isn’t “of course I know him, he’s me” but something Very Different. Angst, humor, the whole shebang.

Chapters: 10/11

(likely to update soon as the author has been posting a lot recently, but who’s to say. Either way, great story!)

Welp, there they are! Hope everyone enjoys because this is my favorite trope :D

#fic rec #batfam fic rec #fanfiction #jason todd #bruce wayne #red hood #Batman #batfam #dc #batman fanfiction #dick grayson #damian wayne #tim drake #Jason Todd returns home

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twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat · 17 days

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just out of curiosity – why do you like sukugo??

i've just never seen any of the accounts i follow/my mutuals celebrate this pairing so i'm really curious!

:))))))))) i smiled so wide getting this ask anon. PLS DON’T BE ALARMED just take my hand and let me tell you abt two deeply violent homoerotic men….

okay so when it comes to sukugo i just. ADORE their dynamic and relationship. it’s one of my favorites in the entire manga and i truly think akutami COOKED with it . not only the shinjuku fight itself (which is, ofc, what sold me on the ship) but also the foreshadowing beforehand!!! like sukuna telling gojo that he’ll be the first one he kills…. the two of them making the same kind of pose in their respective volume covers (vol. 4 & 14….. another parallel which is even more devastating when you remember that the number four is associated with death in japan)….. both of them being referred to as ”the strongest.”

i actually didn’t pick up on a lot of it until we got to shinjuku!! but i just think akutami teased at their importance to each other so well and so early on.

WITH THAT BEING SAID . their dynamic. their parallels. yes. they’re both the strongest and the most isolated and those two things are synonymous. it ties into one of the most central themes of jjk that equates absolute strenght to absolute solitude — it’s a kind of curse. a curse and a blessing. and they both have it.

the main difference is that gojo knows what it’s like to be understood and loved — but sukuna doesn’t. so he can’t feel lonely. he’s never known what it’s like to not be alone. but gojo has!!! gojo has felt love and felt what it’s like to be understood, and when geto died a part of him died too. he’ll always be lonely. he’s the loneliest character in the series. and when he looks at sukuna he sees the exact same isolation that’s plagued him since the moment he was born. so what does he do about it?

he tries to teach sukuna about love.

^ and THAT’S . the most delicious dynamic ever. i take no criticism. i’ll die on the hill that this concept and their dynamic is one of the absolute highlights of jjk. it’s so GOOD. it’s so insanely good. gojo wants to teach sukuna about love/cure him from his solitude by killing him. and vice versa. it’s inherently violent and inherently tender and it makes me INSANE. to me that’s the greatest appeal of sukugo!!!! violence as tenderness is a trope very near and dear to my heart (and also VERY frequently associated w queer subtext in media…. just putting that out there……) and they do it so good. they have a blast killing each other.

also i just NEED to say how much i love the ”teach you about love” line. it’s one of my favorites in the manga and akutami utilizes it so well!! he repeats it over and over as foreshadowing and to build up the sukugo dynamic. the final reveal that gojo is ”the one who will teach [sukuna] about love” made me weep (even though it was so obvious)…. it’s just so deeply. idk. it just says so much about gojo as a character :(( the fact that he wanted to teach sukuna about love. i’ve seen some people who think that part is ooc but i disagree completely!! gojo has never concerned himself w the morals of others. not really. toji kills riko but gojo still has a respect for him and allows him to say his final words. he never hated geto despite his crimes. he supports yuji fully no matter how many people die because of him. etcetc. same with all his students.

gojo looks at sukuna and sees someone who is just as alone as he is. so deeply, deeply alone. him wanting to change that is not ooc in the slighest because that’s quite literally what drives gojo as a character:

he’s just such a genuinely good person at his core. and it coexists with the way he sometimes disregards morality. this is a hot take but i genuinely think gojo’s character blossomed fully in his battle with sukuna….. i don’t see him as ooc in it at all. he genuinely wanted to reach sukuna!! he knew he was the only one who could even hope to do so. and he tried his best.

and, i would argue that he succeeded.

SEGWAY TIMEEEEEEEEE LET’S GO. okay so let’s talk abt one of my favorite panels in the jjk manga, the panel that solidified sukugo as one of my favorite pairings Of All Time:

(two diff translations bc i love them both :3)

THIS. wow. wow. wow. i could talk abt this panel alone for hours and hours but i’ll try to be coherent……

there’s just? so much meaning to be found here??? for both of them????? not only is it a fundamental moment for gojo — being praised and acknowledged and accepted as himself rather than the strongest — but it’s also proof that gojo did reach sukuna!!! he’ll remember him forever. sukuna will never fully be entirely isolated because even millenia into the future he’ll still remember gojo. gojo nestled his way into sukuna’s heart.

and that’s just . so romantic isn’t it???? so beautiful???????? this is the culmination of gojo’s efforts; the most genuine expression we’ve ever seen on sukuna’s face. he actually looks happy.

i cried seeing that panel btw 😭😭 not a joke!! i was already crying when i started chapter 236 bc i knew how it’d end but this panel (+ the one w geto cheering gojo on in his cult leader fit) made me SOB. not exaggerating. i’ve never cried so much reading a manga… T_T

so!!!! yeah. i just love sukugo. their dynamic is so interesting and beautiful and i can never get enough of it. sometimes i love it more than stsg… don’t tell geto that though……..

#i also really love the idea of sukuna getting seduced by a lanky gay guy #but that’s besides the matter.#TYSM FOR ASKING ANONNN ILY #i love talking abt these silly guys #i miss them :((((#ask tag ✩#sukugo

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spriteofmushrooms · 5 months

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Gonna be honest, I just saw a SJ Stan bitching about JC being a horrible person and I can’t help but wonder if they have them flipped? I love SJ, but he was definitely a horrible person and all the traits they’re describing are ones JC actually has. But they were also saying LWJ should cut LXC out of his life because he allowed genocide and complaining that YQY was a bad person so I think I can safely dismiss their opinion.

First, you're always allowed to ignore people who hate Jiang Cheng and feel, for whatever reason, that you need to know this. (Unless they're your friend, in which case you should be like me pawing at my friend Salem's chat window, saying please please please be niceys to Yue Qingyuan, he has a whole entire brain damage cave!! while Salem rolls his eyes.)

Second, I think a lot of people want their favorites to not be complicit in the various war crimes of mdzs. Wen Qing ruled a territory during the occupation; Wei Wuxian tortured dozens and killed hundreds, if not thousands. Lan Wangji didn't speak up for the Wen remnants, but he was perfectly capable of saying Wei Wuxian wasn't disrespectful of Jiang Cheng (lmao) in the same meeting. Lan Xichen, head of a weakened GusuLan, at best deferred to Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangshan about placing the Wen survivors in the camp; yet he at least seemed willing to be persuaded about Wen Ning and Wen Qing before the avalanche that was post-Sunshot Chifeng-zun descended and Jin Guangshan took back the advantage.

Other than Mu Qing who has never done anything wrong ever in his life, every character in MXTX novels is fairly gray. Which is why I propose that each character must battle all of the others to prove once and for all who is the morally superior gay representation. Here is the scoring rubric:

killed nameless cultivators: 1 point/dozen

hurt Jiang Cheng's feelings: 100 points

torture (regular): 1 point

torture (misogynistic): 20 points

bullied Jin Ling: 20 points

be Jin Zixun: 1,000 points

ruined Nie Huaisang's treasured nonsense: 10 points

killed your dad: nil

killed kitties: 50 points

kept Nie Mingjue's head around (regular): 10 points

kept Nie Mingjue's head around (romantic): minus infinity points

participate in or benefit from a society that reinforces harmful hierarchies, unlike our modern societies which are all so good: 1,000,000 points

#pallas.rtf #mdzs #hi anon

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nerdieforpedro · 1 month

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🦴

🍓

🥤

Please!

🦴 = a piece of media that inspires my writing?

Not really one set piece. More like music in general does. I often listen to lofi beats when writing or my writing playlist to set the mood of what I’m trying to write. Or it could be music I’m listening to in the car or waiting somewhere could lead to some bullet points that become a fic. 😆

🍓= what led me to write fanfic in the first place?

Going deep here aren’t you Em? 👀 lol I’ve enjoyed writing since I was little as an extension of my love of reading. First with poems and the anime fanfiction when I actually watch more anime. Now I read more manga and don’t write fanfiction about it. If one squints on A03 - I may have dabbled in Marvel characters and actors for a short time. 🫢 The took a long pause as life happened. Sometime last year as my mental health improved so did my love of writing and I hyper focused on Pedro Pascal so here we are. 🤣 I write more the better my mood is. Maybe a bit too much background 😵

🥤= recommend and author or fic you love

Ugh just one? Dammit. 😒 I shall not! I’ll do eight because there are no favorites! Only peeps we support! And I can’t really call any of them number one I enjoy them all too much. 🥰

1. @morallyinept Pretty much anything you read of Jett’s will be beautiful, sensual, take you to a far away place or have needing to remove clothing - possibly from reading the same fic. 😆 She covers a wide variety of Pedro characters and is a wealth of knowledge on them. She also is just really talented and sweet.

2. @maggiemayhemnj Sure Ms. Payday doesn’t have a long Masterlist but every fic on there is worth reading for her turns of phases, vivid descriptions and her love of both Joel and Ezra. ��

3. @megamindsecretlair One of my fellow black writers who keeps readers thirsty and eager for more with her Sam, Bucky and Loki series (all of which I need to catch up on or finish 👀) and is a hilarious person as she is kind.

4. @soft-girl-musings Another fellow black writer who’s “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” 1920’s or 40’s (I’m not great with telling time obviously 🙄 ) has me wondering what’s going to happen next, what is going on in that club and where else am I going to see curly haired Marcello is going to pop up at. 🤣

5. @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin The Mistress of Agnst. Her masterlist is for those who aren’t afraid to explore the darker side and stories that may not have happy endings but you’ll still feel satisfied that to finished it. To feel another type of satisfaction, you’ll need to read her smut and seek your other completion there. ☺️ You’ll be thankful for both rides.

6. @pedroshotwifey A newer moot to me who has equal parts smut, agnst and dabs of darkness in there. What can I say? I like dark fics if they’re just right. Like I like my crime dramas and cop procederals. 🤣 She and I have a good time supporting each other and exchanging thots. Her “To The Flame” series has set the reader up for what may be a spectacular fall or maybe she’ll find her way out? Only she knows.

7. @magpiepills Ezra’s second wife (because @morallyinept is his first wife and I think @maggiemayhemnj is the paramour - because it sounds fancy) The amount of filthy things she’s had him do both with one arm and two is something everyone should read twice. I also especially enjoyed her fic “Aquarius” which a whore version of Javier Peña that spoke strongly to me. Or maybe parts of me, let’s not split hairs. 🤭

8. @angelofsmalldeath-codeine She’ll say she’s not a writer. BUT as all writers know, we don’t do very well if someone isn’t reading stuff we toss out into the ether. Hemmy is as supportive as they come, reblogging and offering many a thot as both the High Chancellor of the Horny Delegation and as a friend. ❤️ Plus she supports my very soft bois Dieter and Javi G. 😆 She I think was one of the main reasons I wrote more of “Weddings 101 with Dieter.” She asked me something along the lines of, “is there more to this? This is a very cool or unique premise.” As she well knows, just tell me I did something well and I’m happy as a pearl in a clam. 🤣

Fanfic author ask game

Thanks for the ask Em! Just know I pretty much write paragraphs because I gotta explain. 🤭 I’m Nerdie and I’m wordy. 😚 I had to make one bad joke. You have to be able to tell it’s me.

#fanfic authors #fanfic author ask game #fanfiction #such fun #i wanted to make sure I answered as best I could #there’s so many more writers I could mention #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal fanfiction

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linkspooky · 2 years

Photo

My Hero Academia, Chapter 370 Thoughts.

Admittedly, I was very confused by Shoji’s response to the PLF members legitimate complaints about the discriminations that heteromorphs have suffered with a question that is off topic and tone deaf at the best, and deliberately undermining the legitimate suffering that heteromorphs have endured at the worst.

But let’s give Shoji the benefit of the doubt as we discuss his argument and point of view underneath the cut.

However, Shoji’s response reminded me of one of my favorite posts observations made by another tumblr user. @yugiohz on this panel featuring Shigaraki and Deku from the war arc.

“I love this paneling because it shows the contrast of the character’s world view, deku thinks this conflict only happens on a personal level when shigarki is aware that it’s a systemic one.”

Shoji’s arguments seem arguably tone deaf and oblivious to both the bigger picture that the PLF commander is getting at. The existence of entities like the creature rejection clan, and the atrocities committed against heteromorphs which is apparently, still so prevelant an issue that fifteen thousand people showed up to the riots. So this issue is not only still relevant, but wide affecting.

So to respond to all of those legitimate questions with the question of why didn’t thiey think of evacuating the hospital first like the heroes did, and the implication that if they didn’t, they are just as bad as the people they are protesting against is just a little bit ignorant. Or maybe a lot of bit.

In all fairness, of course even in a war it’s considered a crime a target full of innocent people uninvolved with the conflict as a part of your battle strategy. From Shoji’s perspective, these people are attacking a hospital full of sick people unable to defend themselves which are unrelated to their grievances against society at large. Even in war times it’s considered taboo to attack people who didn’t sign up for the conflict and are also unable to defend themselves, civilians, sick people, the wounded, children.

t’s fair to point out that it’s wrong to target people who aren’t combatants who signed up for the fight, but at the same time if you point that out it’s also fair to point out it’s the heroes who decided to shelter Kurogiri in the first place. The mob isn’t attacking the hospital of a whim, they’re trying to seize an objective to win a battle against the society they think wronged them, and the heroes are the one who decided in the first place to hide Kurogiri in a hospital full of innocent civliians. It’s the heroes who knew that this hospital would be attacked hence why they posted guards there, but apparently didn’t evaucate the hospital. So, if we’re splitting hairs here, the split hairs still don’t come out in favor of the heroes.

However, as tone deaf as Shoji’s question comes across, it also resembles a lot of responses his fellow hero students have had whenever they’re face to face with the villains trying to explain how they’ve suffered against hero society.

When Toga tries to explain herself to Uraraka she’s immediately shut down with this argument. That if she chooses to live as she pleases and threatens with people, then there’s also consequences to that.

As referenced above, when Deku says that he won’t ever forgive Shigaraki, Shigaraki replies with I won’t forgive any of you people. When Dabi tells Shoto about how he tried to come home, but in the end was shown that his family just moved on without him and that he had no replace to return to Shoto responded with this.

It’s three flavors of the same response. It frames Toya, Toga, Shigaraki, and Spinner + the Mob’s Choices as a whole like they woke up and one day decided to be a villain.

LIke, do Toga and the rest have agency and responsibility to their actions? Yes. THey chose to become violent. They chose to fight. They are still people making choices no matter how driven by their own trauma and they are responsible for those choices. However, there’s a difference between an influenced choice, and a choice made entirely of their own free will.

Here, let me demonstrate. Absoluetly nothing forced Enji to abuse his own family. Enji decided on his own to place his career as a hero above everything else, he decided to arrange a marriage with Rei for the entire purpose of giving birth to a child with a hybrid ice and fire quirk and also ignore his children who didn’t suit that need.

However, Toya had no agency in this choice. He was born into these circumstances. Through no choice of his own, he was born to a father who ignored him the moment his quirk started failing, and a mother who blamed him for the discord of his household for not simply giving up on his quirk training and his attempts to earn his fathers love because she was too afraid to conront her husband. Toya was a helpless child when this happened to him, he’s a fully grown adult now, but when the inciting incident of his trauma happened to him he was as those innocent as those imaginary innocent people that heroes keep parading about as a reason tto not sympathize with the villains.

Rei had no choice but to marry Enji because her parents pressured her into it, she became a victim of his abuse, but you know who was even more of a victim? The twelve year old helpless child who was born into these circumstances, who was also completely defenseless at the time. Who’s father ignored him, and mother wasn’t strong enough to protect him, whatever Rei suffered, Toya suffered more and at a much younger age.

Basically every argument the villains make is dismissed with “cool motive, still murder”, which is a completely ignorant argument to make when these villains only started choosing violence as an absolute last resort in the first place. Toga did her absolute best to fit despite her parent’s abuse. Toya tried over and over again to please his father, only to be told to shut up by his family. Tenko wanted to be a hero originally, and was beaten by his father, for having the same dream as Deku. Tenko spent days wandering the streets waiting for just one hero to help him after he lost his family. Spinner locked himself up in his room and just wanted to believe he could become someone important like Stain and make a positive change in the world rather than wasting his life.

These arguments are in bad faith, because they’re taking a false equivalence. The villains arguments about how hero society is wrong, because they too, are hurting people in their attempts to change hero society. The thing is twice already completely dismantled the argument that the heroes use to shut down the villains.

The heroes only care about saving the kind of completely innocent victim who cowers in the face of danger and waits to be saved, if they think of fighting back against their circumstances, or *gasp* lash out in pain like some kind of imperfect victim then the heroes give up on trying to save them. It’s important that Jin brings up Toga’s kindness to him, because Toga is one of the people that Hawks wrote off as someone who can’t be saved, while at the same time trying to save Twice because he considered him “A good person.”

The thing is the moment you start dividing people into categories of who is worthy of being saved, and who isn’t, people are already going to be lost. If the function of heroes are to save people, and they’re not saving a goood chunk of people then they’re not doing their job. Rather than addressing this fact and striving to say more, they just create arguments that are these false equivolencies. Well, this person chose to become violent, so obviously they’re just as bad as their abusers. Well, Dabi chose to kill people in his attempt to discredit Endeavor and expose him as an abuser, so obviously he’s just as bad or even worse.

There’s a difference betweeen saying “I understand your argument but I believe there are better more peaceful ways of solving this issue” and just shutting down the argument, which is what the hero kids are doing over and over again. And this is a common theme in MHA. THat the light of heroes, and the flawless image of heroes is being used over and over again to hide the corruption in society. Nagant brings it up, Shigaraki brings it up, that over and over again the public only sees the good side of heroes while the corruption of society is ignored.

Yes, it’s bad to hurt innocent people even if you’re trying to use your violence for a good cause to make a better world. People who have nothing to do with it don’t deserve to get dragged into a conflict. However, there’s also this continued pattern of heroes just dismissing the legitimate criticisms of villains outright, because of the faceless imaginary people that are also being caught up in their rebellion against society.

This is why Hawks killed Twice. Hawks had to kill Twice, because of the imaginary body count of innocent people who might have been hurt with his quirk. The heroes continually have to put down the heroes in favor of there imaginary innocent people that they might be hurting, Uraraka even says that she has to look at the destruction wrought by the league of villains to stop herself from sympathizing with Toga.

But once again, this innocent / guilty dichotomy is a made up false dichotomy. When exactly does a person stop being innocent? What actions do they have to perform where they are no longer worthy of sympathy? Quantify it. What is the point of no return? At what exact moment do they stop being a victim and become a villain instead?

Think of the people who joined Spinner’s mob in support of Heteromorph discrimmination? They were innocent victims of what is a thinly veiled allegory for racism. They did absolutely nothing to earn the ire of the people around them. Are they now guilty because they decided to fight back against it? Is their action to riot against the issue, to try to draw attention to their suffering what makes them now guilty? Is the only way to remain innocent to just shut up and endure it, and never fight back no matter what happens to you?

To return to the argument made at the start, it really does seem like that kids are equating what is a personal conflict with what is happening on a societal wide scale. The perspective of the hero kids is almost like, even in the middle of what is called the first and second war arc, where they are fighting a battle over the way society should be run, that somehow this is just standard hero vs. villain in the conflict. That the good guys are infallible and the bad guys are always violent and they are because they decide to be. However, the villains are fighting back against a society that has wronged them. It’s a difference in perspective that damns any attempts for heroes and villains to understand each other.

The kids aren’t facing the injustice of society, the kids aren’t fighting for survival, for them this is another hero vs. villain battle. They defeat the bad guys, and the good guys win.

It’s a conflict fought between two sides who are occupying completely differnt positions of power and privileges'. It’s a personal conflict for the kids, they are fighting against villains who have personally hurt them and all of their friends, SHigaraki is someone who maimed Grant Torino in front of Deku, and led attacks on his friends several times. However, at the same time Shigaraki was wronged by hero society several times, an argument that Deku pretty conveniently ignores because he’s never lived that experience or been subjected to it. He’s allowed to keep it a personal conflict, because he’s not subject to societal rejection the way Shigaraki is.

Even if the kids think that human life is so sacred that no matter what you can’t take a life, even if you have a legitimate cause like fighting for a better society, the kids refuse to apply their rules fairly. Shoji yells at the crowd for attacking a hospital full of innocents, but what about the death of Twice? If villains are bad and beyond redemption because they have killed, then why is Hawks still allowed to be a hero? If the villains have to think about the people they hurt as a part of their conflict, then why hasn’t a single hero kid even mentioned twice?

This is what I mean by injustice. It’s okay to be disgusted by murder, human life is sacred and should always be protected, murder is a serious crime, but these rules aren’t being applied fairly. Hawks can commit the same murder and compeltely get away with it, because he’s considered one of the good guys.

The kids aren’t so digusted by any murder that they can’t tolerate any injustice, they’re just repeated the same values that they’ve always been taught, heroes good and villains bad. They are drawing the same line on who is worthy of saving and who is not worthy.

Which is why this chapter is so sad, it illsutrates that Shoji and Spinner have suffered the same way as being prejdugiced against by hero society, and forced to hide because they are heteromorphs. So, why are they fighting in the first place? If they are both vicrtimized why does one of them have to be the good cictim and the bad victim? If they are both suffering similarily can’t they come to some understanding and work together, rather than fighting against each other? Isn’t it tremednously sad that Shoji had to fight against several heteromorphs who have suffered the same as he as, and defend the society that has outcast him and fored him to wear a mask his entire. Shouldn’t there be a better way then just Shoji putting down the rebellion of fellow heteormoprhs and then society continuing on the same way as it always has? Couldn’t they work together?

I don’t really have an ending to this post, so I’m going to close out with a quote from Frankenstein which I believe is relevant to this topic at large.

“You, who call Frankenstein your friend, seem to have a knowledge of my crimes and his misfortunes. But in the detail which he gave you of them he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured wasting in impotent passions. For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were for ever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me? Why do you not hate Felix, who drove his friend from his door with contumely? Why do you not execrate the rustic who sought to destroy the saviour of his child? Nay, these are virtuous and immaculate beings! I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my blood boils at the recollection of this injustice.”

#mha meta #mha 370 spoilers #bnha 370 spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #mha 370 #bnha 370 #spinner #shuichi iguchi #mezou shouji #mezo shoji #plf #heteromorph discrimmination #plf meta #mla meta

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bunnysficsnstuff · 1 year

Text

Act 3 Baby! Polyam!Ghostface {Billy&Stu} X Fem!Reader

Wordcount: 1382

AN: Hey yall!! This is just a fluffy thang I wrote bc I have Polyam Ghostface brain rot rn :D Thanks and Enjoy!

It had been 2 weeks since the first murder, it was a tragedy to the sleepy town of Woodsboro. On the other hand, it had been eight days since you started getting unannounced visits from the killing team. They’re always in their costumes and they never let you see them without the mask but, you figured out that they were not the same person quite quickly. They were similar heights and statues but, they had way different personalities, even with the voice modulator through the phone you could always tell which was which. The first ghostface that came barreling through your window was rougher with you. Don’t get him wrong, he cares so deeply for you but, you’re his, he should be able to do what he pleases with his things. He has always been very possessive over you, it seems like the only other person he will let get near you is ghostface #2. He, the second ghostface, is so soft and gentle with you. If he wasn’t a masked killer you would think that he could never hurt a fly. The second ghostface also seems to trust you more, when he comes to visit you he’s not as strict about keeping the robe on, moreso just the mask. He will let you treat any wounds he contracts and has also made a habit of sleeping next to you during his visits. He always puts a sleeping mask over your eyes before taking the mask off to fall asleep but, even if he didn’t you would never dream of betraying the hard earned trust from the pair.

The team has never seemed to get jealous of one another, you have only been visited by both at the same time twice but, they seemed as happy to be with the other as they were to be with you in those moments. Even when you were with only one half of your beloveds, they never got annoyed or jealous if you would ask about the other or want to know how their wounds are healing. It is a bit hard to connect with the pair in person, they can’t talk to you for fear of having their identities revealed so conversations are tricky to get the hang of. It usually turns into ghostface pointing at something in your room or seeing something on your phone and having you talk about or explain it to them. Neither of them seem to mind this barrier, they love listening to you gush about all your interests, especially when you get into one of your true crime spirals. Truth is, they found you from a post you made about them. You had a secret blog online, tracking the killings, the pattern, possible motives, you were a total fangirl. They decided they needed a fan like you in the circle in case there were any hitches in the plan, and there were. It started off as cryptic and albeit flirty phone calls and then it turned into midnight visits and sleepovers.

Tonight you got a phone call from No Caller ID. Your heart flutters when you read the words on your screen knowing one of your boys will be on the other end. You clear your throat before adjusting yourself upright in your bed and answering the call.

“Hello?” You ask innocently

“Hello, bunny” The raspy voice coos

Your heart skips a beat at the words. You try your best not to be clingy with your lovers but, you worry deeply about them, especially after all the near misses they’ve patched up in your bathroom.

“How are my favorite reapers?” You ask

“This one’s better now that he’s talkin to you” He pauses for a moment

“Look bun, we’re wrapping up the big show tonight…” He trails off. Even with the voice changer you can tell that he's anxious about it

“Okay…What about it?” you ask

“We want you to be there…” He pauses “The other one knows how interested you are in our…work, and he suggested that you could help.”

There's dead air on the line, you have dreamed of seeing the boys at work and now they want you to be a part of it. You must have been quiet for too long daydreaming because he cuts in again,

“Only if you want bunny, we just thought you may be interested” He anxiously explains

“Oh! No! I mean, Yes!! Yes I would love to be there!” You squeal out.

“Alright, it’s all going down at Stu’s house party. We’ll be at your house in 15 to pick you up” He says

“What? What about the masks?” you ask, they’d never get away with driving around in the get up.

“No masks, No costumes, We trust you bun” He says softly.

Your face goes warm and pink at the words, “Okay! I’ll be ready in 10!” You practically scream.

You search through your closet for what feels like forever before deciding on a black off the shoulder dress with lacey bell sleeves, it feels just ghostface-y enough for the boys to get the reference but not too much that it screams “I’m fucking the killers!!” You throw some first aid supplies in your purse in preparation for the festivities and wait patiently on your bed.

Soon enough you hear wrestling near your window. You turn around facing away from their entrance as you hear the killers climb in. You’re basically shaking in anticipation as you hear the footsteps walk up behind you. You feel a set of hands snake around your waist and another set move your hair away from your neck to make room for his lips to connect with the sensitive skin. You feel the hands round your waist slowly spin you around as the other set lets go of your hair. When you’ve spun around you’re almost afraid to make eye contact with them staring at the ground. You feel a hand grab your chin and slowly lift your face to meet theirs, “What’s the matter bunny, shy?” His voice is smooth and thick. When you make eye contact with him you realize, Ghostface 1 is Billy Loomis.

You feel the other man wrap one hand around your waist and the other cup your face, “Surprise, darling” the other man says, When you meet his gaze you recognize Ghostface 2 as Stu Macher. You’re a little stunned to say the least but, a few moments after their faces settle into your brain you practically jump into Stu’s chest and crash your lips into his. You pull away and reach out to Billy pulling him close to you and Stu, connecting with his lips just as hard. There are small tears prickling in your eyes as a wave of happiness washes over you. They’re finally all yours, they trust you and you trust them.

Billy pulls away from the two of you, “We have a present for you bun” He says gesturing to Stu. Stu gently pushes you off of him and reaches into his back pocket. He pulls out a familiar looking object. You stare at it in disbelief, taking it out of Stu’s hands. You pull the handle of the object out of its sheath, it’s one of their knives. You gawk at the reflective metal holding it tightly, as if it would disappear just like Stu and Billy used to disappear out your window in the night. You look up at the boys with doe eyes “Thank you so much” you say softly.Billy takes the knife and sheaths it for you before attaching it to a garter under your dress.

“You look beautiful darling” Stu says as he watches Billy fasten the blade to you.

“God damn right she does” Billy says patting your thigh once the blade is secure “She's our pretty girl”

You blush at all the compliments you’re being showered in, “Thank you boys” You say softly.

“Well sweetheart, you ready for act three?” Billy asks, a grin snaking across his face

“I was born ready baby!” you say

“Lets fucking go baby!” Stu yells, sticking his tongue out.

For the first time ever, Ghostface guides you out of your window on your way to play your role in their movie, and you wouldn’t change it for anything.

#ghostface #slashers #poly ghostface #stu x billy #stu x billy x reader #billy loomis #stu matcher x reader #stu macher #billy loomis x female reader #scream 1996 #stu x billy x you #ghostface x you #ghostface x reader

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