#extremely angry in a lot of ways mostly because all i wanted was one positive friendshippy/romantic interaction between robin and raven

[blade-that-was-broken]

“Hey Clay?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I know you don’t really like to talk about your older bro-...” 

“Did he call again? Ignore it, he’ll stop. Honestly, he should know better by now,” Clay grumbled, not looking up from his project. Last week, Bruce had called him, out of the blue. It had been a weird phone call, acting as if the last several years didn’t happen. As if Bruce didn’t just pick up and move across the country the moment he could, leaving the rest of them to their mother.

He knew he was holding a ridiculous grudge. It had been years. And Clay might have gotten over it eventually, if Bruce hadn’t replaced them with his perfect family. He barely stayed in contact - even with the brothers who weren’t as mad at him. Branch had been young when Bruce left, barely six years old. Clay wasn’t a whole ton better but at least Branch knew him to an extent. Branch at least knew his favorite color. Clay doubted Branch knew the first thing about Bruce. 

“He… he’s here.” 

Bruce wouldn’t leave his resort and his wife and well, now his kids. It was like he expected everyone to pick up and go visit him just because he lived on an exotic island or whatever. As if Clay didn’t have responsibilities or Floyd wasn’t constantly traveling. As if it was so easy for Grandma to leave the house and fly across the country. Bruce barely called and he never, ever visited - much less out of the blue like this. 

Clay stopped and looked up, his head swiveling around to look back at his best friend. Her curly blonde hair was wrapped up in a messy ponytail, which was fairly normal, but the uncertain and awkward expression on her face was definitely not the norm for her. “What?” he asked, shocked. 

She nodded. “Yeah. There is a guy down in the courtyard. He said he’s your older brother.” 

Clay shook his head. Bruce would never leave his precious wife and resort to visit him, especially when he knew how much Clay was upset with him. Had been for years. Honestly, aside from one phone call a week or two ago, Clay hadn’t really heard from him in years. Clay could have chalked it up to Bruce just knowing that he was angry with him for abandoning him - them - with their mother the first moment he could, but he barely kept in contact with Floyd and Branch as well. And they didn’t hold the hard feelings that Clay did. Not that Clay was much better; he didn’t talk to any of his brothers much either. 

“There is no way,” he protested with a huff, rolling his eyes. She must be mistaken, there was no other option. “He’s never made a trip out here. He would never leave his resort. What is he doing out here?” Viva hesitated, glancing away, which was very strange for her. She was very straightforward and easily excitable. Clay felt his brow furrow a little. “Viva…” 

“He’s not… like how you said.” 

He just sighed and took a deep breath. Bruce definitely had a way with people; he always had. Granted, Clay probably painted him in mostly a crappy light, due to the fact that whenever the subject did come up - which was extremely rare - it was not often positive. Clay had a lot of anger and probably a lot of resentment. It was a work in progress. “Look, Viv. I know he’s easy to believe. He seems soooooo friendly and charming that you want to just swoon or whatever. He’s got that effect on people but…” 

“No.” 

“No?” Clay asked, confused. She said it so strong, so flat, so sure and Clay wasn’t sure what to make of that. 

“Clay… he’s not like that at all. He was actually really quiet and awkward and super uncertain but held him with some kind of…rigidness? At least as much as he could,” Viva looked uncomfortable, like she had seen something she really didn’t like. He wasn’t sure what that was about. At the moment, he was more hung up on the description which did not sound like Bruce at all. 

He scoffed. “Bruce?” 

“He didn’t say that was his name,” Viva continued, still uncertain, glancing towards the window. “But you only have one older brother right?” 

Clay blinked and his whole world came to a standstill. “I….” 

“Clay?”

Older brothers. 

There was no way, though. He hadn’t heard anything from him since their parent’s divorce and when he was practically dragged away almost kicking and screaming. Clay barely remembered it; he tried not to. Everyone had been crying but Branch’s screaming, going along with everyone else's tears kind of drowned everything out. It hadn’t been a pretty memory and Clay avoided thinking about it. Coupling that with his mother’s systematic way of erasing anything that evoked him or their father from their house and their lives, it only took a few years for everyone to stop considering them entirely. 

His eyes widened. There was no way. There was no way it was possible. 

Clay didn’t even think. He bolted out the door, not even bothering to strip off his lab coat. There was no way. It had been at least fifteen years. What were the chances? After fifteen years? There was no way. 

He had to be sure. 

Making his way down to the courtyard, with Viva shouting after him, he scanned the area upon slamming the doors open. It had been a decade and a half. He had no idea what to look for anymore. They had all changed. 

“He’s by the fountain, sitting on the stone wall,” Viva supplied. 

That helped. He made his way over, still looking over the area until he spotted a more middle aged guy with short hair and bandages on his arm. When he looked, Viva nudged him, giving him the sign that who she had talked to was him. Definitely not Bruce. 

He looked over at Clay and recognized him, suddenly nervous. Clay just stared. That was all he could really muster up to do. “Uh… hi, Clay. I know you might not really remember me but…” 

Clay didn’t say a word at first, just launching himself at his big brother, knocking him into the grass behind in a hug. He clearly wasn’t expecting it but he took to the action pretty quickly, wrapping his arms around Clay’s back for support and to keep him from being tossed around. 

“John Dory.” 

Clay couldn’t remember the last time he thought of him, much less said his name out loud. He hated that. His eyes were squeezed shut, just soaking up the firm grasp his oldest - his oldest - brother had on him. He had so much to say and so many questions but only one happened to come out. It had been fifteen years and now John Dory just showed up out of the blue. 

“How did…how did you find me?”

It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say. There was a lot he wanted to say and do but his mouth had run off with him, questioning so much that he really didn’t actually care the answers to. Because he was here. After fifteen years. 

“Bruce told me.” 

Clay shifted slightly. “B-Bruce?” He supposed it might have been easier to find a resort owner before some crazy older college student. Although Clay felt like he had his name out there more than his other older brother, as he had written papers and had been featured in several journals. Although it might not have been in things John might have looked through. They could be pretty niche. 

“I…” John tensed a little and hesitated. “He found me. The hospital found him, I guess? They found him and called him. I’ve been staying with him for my recovery.” 

Clay’s heart dropped as he pulled away, trying to assess. He scrambled off his brother, stepping back. “Your what?” 

John grimaced. 

Viva nudged his shoulder and spoke quietly. “Clay.” 

Clay’s eyes were drawn downward. Sure, there were bandages on his arm but John’s grip didn’t seem to be very weak so he doubted that would be so debilitating and honestly, his legs seemed fi-… where was his leg? 

“W-Where is your leg?” 

“Sudan… I think?” 

Clay just stared. 

“Right, sorry. Kinda dark humor there,” John muttered, sitting up a little more. “I was… I have been, I guess, in the military for a while. Over ten years I guess, uhm… it’s a long story. But some stuff happened, my arm got kinda burned up but it’ll be okay. Head got banged around a bit but that should be fine too. The biggest thing was my leg which… well, that ended my military career pretttyyyy quick. The hospital found Bruce and yeah, I’ve been staying with him but…. I wanted to see you. Needed to see you.” 

There was a pause. 

“Sorry, that was… that was a lot of words.” 

“When Bruce called…” Clay drifted off in realization. Bruce had called to tell Clay about John. 

“He didn’t want to freak you out.” 

“But I hung up.” 

John nodded. “Bruce didn’t really tell me anything about what happened with you guys or anything but I just… I bought a plane ticket and well, here I am.” 

Here he was. 

“Does Bruce even know you’re here?” Clay asked, uncertainly. With John’s state, it probably meant that Bruce was kind of taking care of him, which meant he was in charge of his welfare and health. John was still on leg crutches and probably couldn’t get around super well. It couldn’t have been that long since it happened. 

John snorted. “I am a grown man.” 

“Missing a leg!” 

“So?” John asked, his nose wrinkling. Clay almost felt like he had been slapped. Floyd and Branch did the same thing. “I knew a guy who lost both and guess what? He lives alone. Does just fine.” 

“He’s probably freaking out.”

“Bruce? Probably.”

“Then why are you here?” 

John tried not to look hurt. He would have done a great job too, if he hadn’t looked away. It was a telltale sign and Clay noticed. He didn’t even realize what he had said and how it came out until it was too late. He cursed himself; he didn’t want John to think he didn’t want him here. “I haven’t seen you in fifteen years, Clay. No matter how much time passes or what happens, I love you.” 

Shit. 

“Clay… he’s so cute,” Viva sniffled. “You never told me-” 

“That I existed?” John guessed, making Clay cringe. “That seems to be an ongoing theme.” 

“JD, I just…” he didn’t really know what to say. He didn’t have any excuse, really. He could blame a lot on his mother but that felt wrong to say to him. There wasn’t any real excuse that would make anyone feel better. 

“It’s alright,” John replied, although Clay could tell there was some struggle. Which made sense. No one wanted to feel forgotten by loved ones. Especially not the ones still alive. “Bruce didn’t tell his kids I existed either. I’m getting over it.” 

He shouldn’t have to get over it, Clay thought. He shouldn’t have had to do any of it. He should have spent the last fifteen years with them. He should have been there for birthdays, for their graduations, for their important moments. He should have been there when Bruce got married. For Floyd’s first show. For Clay’s best college awards. Bruce’s kids should have known their uncle their entire life, not just now and so forth. 

“She’s dead, our mother,” Clay said, blandly. He blamed her a lot, for pretty much everything. Not the divorce itself; that was both of them, but for cutting them off from his brother. For forcing his name to never be spoken. For erasing his memory. It was one thing to keep them away from their father, although Clay didn’t like that either, but to keep them away from their older brother was unforgivable for him. 

“So is dad. Over ten years.”

Ten years. Over even. John lost his family, became an adult and lost his father. No wonder he joined the military. 

“Six.” 

“I tried looking for you,” John promised, like it was something he had to convince Clay of. Like he didn’t want Clay to think that he didn’t try. It wasn’t meant to make Clay feel worse and Clay knew it but it did anyway. Because Clay hadn’t. He hadn’t looked. He hadn’t even considered it. “Before joining the military. After too, a little, I suppose. I’m no detective I guess.” 

Clay just stared at him. Did he think…?

“I know…” John frowned again. “I know you’re mad at Bruce but I can’t… I… Clay, I want to be…to have… to be in some part of your life and I just…” 

“I’m not mad at you.” 

Clay hated the almost hopeful look that John stared at him with. It was a expression that screamed he wasn’t expecting this reaction. “You… aren’t?”  

“No. Of course not. Our parents were petty and bitter and it is all their fault. JD, you never… you didn’t abandon anyone. Dad took you away and mom decided to try and erase that part of her life. Have you blamed yourself this whole time? For years?” 

“No, no, I just… I don’t want you to think I stayed away or something.” 

“I believe you,” Clay promised. “And I’m so glad you’re here.”

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

im living for your writing🙏🏻

can you do yandere nsfw alphabet with hal? its okay if you dont, thank uuuu😭😭💕

𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓…

!!! 18+ THEMES, GN reader, dom Hal, general coercive behavior, possible non-con, Hal being a freak, this would take forever to properly warn, I’m sorry.

Omg, this is my first time ever doing a NSFW alphabet post. I can’t believe I’ve never done one. I’m kinda nervous, but let’s see.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Hal’s aftercare game is surprisingly strong. There’s a couple of minutes where he’ll hold you against his chest, thumb stroking gently against your hip as he mutters about how good you were for him.

Now, cleanup is a bit of a different story. He’d rather stay inside of you for as long as possible, meaning he might just use whatever’s closest to wipe you down so he doesn’t have to pull out. But he also likes post-sex showers, too. He’ll even carry you there. It’s the least he could do after absolutely destroying you.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

I don’t know… I’ve given this a lot of thought… maybe it’s a tie between your neck and your hips. Neck because he loves to mark it, and hips because this man loves to hold ‘em. And, hey, he’ll mark your hips, too.

On your side of things, it depends on how tolerant you are of Hal. If you’re a less than willing partner, I can’t really see you liking any of him, LMAO. And I’d hate to speak on your behalf, but hear me out. Hal has some hot hands. I will be expanding upon this later, just you wait.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He loves to cum on your face. When your nose scrunches up a bit at the feeling of his release dripping all over you, when you look up at him with one eye squeezed shut so cum doesn’t get in it… you look so pathetic. So adorable. Such an ego-boost on his part, and lord only knows he needs more of that.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

I mean, let’s be honest, is there anything really “secret” about what he likes to do to you? Dirty, yes, but “secret”? Mmm, I don’t know about that. I guess maybe the closest thing is that he’s got voyeuristic tendencies. Yes, he talks about making you feel good all the time, but it’s easy to assume he gets off on that because it’s him that’s making you feel good; an egotistical thing. And while that’s certainly part of it, he genuinely does get horny from just seeing you so worked up. You’re just hot like that.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Yeah, I’d say he’s pretty experienced. He’s gotten around a bit and knows a thing or two about having a good time. Finds out what makes you cum relatively quick (unfortunately for you; he will abuse this).

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Hal will do just about anything. Sometimes, it comes down to convenience. Though he is partial to doggy style, where he can hold your head down and just take what he wants. He also likes various standing positions when he’s fucking you in tight spaces.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He can get a bit goofy, but mostly as a way to tease you. Making you all flustered takes top priority.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He’s got thick hair, but it’s well maintained. A hint of a happy trail, darker pubic hair. He likes to keep it short.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Depends. Is this an angry fuck situation? No romance. Just rough and streamy. Is he feeling a bit more vulnerable, or it’s your first time initiating it? Extremely soft. Very romantic. Lots of kisses and praises. Loves to talk you through it, albeit sometimes with that condescending tone, but if you’re too horny to notice, then it’s whatever.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Before winning you over (or just straight-up kidnapping you), he jerked off so often. Maybe once a day, even. But having you in his life means he never has to masturbate when he can just have you! Yes, y’all fucked a lot for the first couple of weeks. He had a lot of it to get out of his system.

Afterwards, the only times he really has to masturbate is if he’s on a mission without you. But it just doesn’t feel the same now that he’s felt you.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Biting. Bites. Big biter over here. Did I mention he likes to bite you?

He has a daddy kink. I said it. And if you don’t agree, we can meet in the middle with a sir kink. I won’t accept anything less, though. This man likes to have some sort of power over you.

Disgusting somno pervert. Can’t even keep his hands off you even when you’re asleep. Absolutely no shame.

Finally, cockwarming. For the times he just wants intimacy.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anytime. Anywhere. Places like public bathrooms or alleyways are usually for when he’s too jealous to wait for when the two of you are home alone, so for the optimal Hal experience (where he can actually focus on what he’s doing better), he likes anywhere in his apartment.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Honestly, you could just look at Hal and he’d be like, “that’s hot, I want you.” He really loves your obedience. Stroke his ego in any way and he’s hard.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He does not like anything that relinquishes his control over you. Sure, he may be willing to let you set the pace, but he’s the one calling the shots.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Call him the oral master. He is wicked good with his tongue, knowing exactly what to do with it. He’ll go down on you as a reward every now and then, but if you’re nice enough, then you’ll know to return the favor.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

More often than not, he’s probably a bit more on the rougher side. Of course, this is skewed a bit due to the times he’s jealous and/or angry, so don’t get things twisted; again, he’s willing to let you set the pace. It just depends on how compliant you are.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

As much as Hal would love to believe he’d never “stoop this low,” you already know they happen a lot. He just can’t help it, okay?

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

While he’s not exactly an exhibitionist, he sure as hell doesn’t care if people know. This man has pulled you into some hella risky places for a quick fuck.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Lots of stamina. He could go for hours. Many rounds. Especially when he’s pissed off.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Ahh. Freaky Lantern ring ask, my beloved. The galaxy has entrusted him with the world’s most versatile sex toy, and he is for sure using it to its fullest potential. I don’t see him using it on himself, so you’re on the receiving end of Hal’s twisted imagination.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He’s a piece of shit. Even when you’re good, he can’t help but be a little mean. But, hey, it’s better to be good and allowed to cum than to be bad and tortured for an eternity. Pick your battles.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

While he mostly tries to keep his sounds at bay, the occasional groan does slip through. He has the potential to be loud, it’s just that he’d rather hear your sounds over his. Other than that, he does talk a lot, along with frequent curses.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

His natural sweaty and musky smell actually kinda hits different. It’s a little earthy, a little spicy. Kind of reminiscent of Russian Sage. Y’all could get done with a damn workout of a fuck and most people who get a whiff of his after-sex smell would just think he’s got an interesting cologne. Pleasant, just interesting.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Maybe a little above average in size. Girthy and leans towards the right.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Very high. He’ll mellow out a bit after initially getting his hands on you, but it’s still high. Good luck dealing with his horny ass!!

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Normally, he’d much rather wait until you fall asleep first, even when he’s super tired. But on days where he just wants intimacy and softness, there’s a chance he’ll actually fall asleep first. Either way, he’s got you in a death grip, so you’re not weaseling your way out of his arms anytime soon.

[thrown-away-opinions]

Reading up on some drama in the RPG community (not directly related to D&D this time) and getting the worst kind of deja vu. Stop me if you've heard this one before:

A clique of extremely mentally ill people with a history of being lying, backstabbing shitheads weasel their way into positions of power, fame, and authority within a community, even though none of them have actually produced anything worth a damn. Luckily they've got enough friends who will promote and glorify them as the most important people in the industry and protect them from public scrutiny on sites like reddit and twitter, that they never face any meaningful consequences for their actions, because it's more important that everyone listen and believe women and minorities, even when it's other women and minorities pushing back against them.

This was orchestrated through a few secret groups and forums that the public wasn't privy to and passed down through various useful idiots who would repeat the fabrications and spin, because they were told to. The inner circle of aimless psychos who guided these little crusades were mostly just enjoying the power trip more than having any sort of agenda, but publicly they'd claim it was about promoting diversity and intersectionality, etc etc.

Also, years after, even with most people still believing the various openly disproven lies and rumors started by well-known malicious psychopaths, people admit they knew it was wrong, but didn't want to "give the other side ammo" because they didn't want anyone to turn on them in the same way...

And a ton of people involved in this shit are or were SomethingAwful goons.

Where have I heard that shit before?

I might do a longer post about this later, but if you're curious, I'm taking about this excessively long medium post called "The Worst People You Have Never Met, or, What I Learned During A Four Year Academic Study of Online Harassment In The Dungeons & Dragons Community" which is mostly about the Zak Smith/Sabbath incident from a few years back and goes into exhaustive specifics that repeatedly amount to a bunch of people lying about one guy, who is by all accounts an exceedingly loyal ally to lefty/queer beliefs, being a sexpest and rapist and abuser. Mostly because a clique of queer personalities in the RPG community decided he deserved it and they were entitled to destroy him. Then the author of the article interviewed them about it and every single one of them admits it was bullshit and they were just making stuff up to be angry about and none of their claims had receipts.

The post itself is long to the point of being comical and the author has a lot of trouble disengaging what has likely been a decade or more of ideological conditioning. She'll sometimes go off on tangents about incels and how unthinkable it is to her that anyone would weaponize feminism and rape accusations for personal gain. But it's an interesting read if you just scroll past those sections. You'll probably need to in order to get through the damned thing in a reasonable time.

I don't really care about Zak. I was never personally invested in his story or the accusations that were leveled at him. Even when it was happening, my vague read of the situation from a distant vantage was that a guy surrounded himself with unstable SJW-types and then they turned on one of their own, as they often do. Turns out that was more or less right.

[redactedgender]

there’s a honey

ao3 link here

(15k words)

some tags: Porn with some plot ; Switching ; Flirting ; Awkwardness ; we love an enby who uses gendered language in genderfucky ways ; guy and his inability to stfu /pos ; No beta we die like xavier ; yall have met crow already. let me introduce you to sage ; Overuse of italics ; so many italics

its finally here! my 15k word guy/honey smut :] today is also (what i consider) my one year redacted listening anniversary. this series has meant a lot to me during the past year, and im very happy to have found out abt it when i did.

so, here's a fic that i hadn't originally planned on posting for my one year, but hey, guess now's as good a time as any to post it!

a reminder: this fic is 18+/NSFW.

a snippet under the cut

They hated to admit it, but kissing Guy was very quickly becoming their favorite thing to do. Not that they would ever admit that to him, of course. They had an image to maintain. But in their mind, they could think about kissing their boyfriend all they wanted. The quick pecks in the morning before he rushed off to work, the slow kisses they would share while he cooked dinner (because despite working almost every day in a pizza place making pizzas for sometimes ten hours or more in a single day, Guy liked cooking for the two of them), the multiple pecks across their face as he tried to distract them from something, mostly their work. There was something about Guy that made them act like— this . Like some kind of punch-drunk teeanger experiencing their first real relationship. Butterflies in their stomach, face constantly flushed anytime they looked at him, feeling flustered when he would say their name, all of the stuff that they had never experienced before. Guy surely was giving them the real “boyfriend experience” that they had only read about in high school. Speaking of their boyfriend— Sage looked up from their phone at the sound of the bell ringing out as the door into Max’s Rustic Pizza opened, and rolled their eyes at Guy’s frazzled grin and wide-eyed stare at his partner. Sage was leaning against the hood of their car, headphones on and blasting music, though it had been turned off and the headphones had been moved to hang around Sage’s neck. Guy looked them up and down, eyebrows wiggling enticingly, and Sage made a disgusted little noise they didn’t mean, which only made Guy laugh. Like Sage wasn’t just wearing jeans and a hoodie. He was ridiculous sometimes. “Hey there, hot stuff!” Guy called out, leering closer to his partner and arching an eyebrow. “Who are you waiting for, huh? Certainly someone as hot as you managed to bag someone as equally hot, right? I just know they’ve gotta be charming and handsome, and extremely funny, too!” He grinned, and Sage elbowed him in the arm, not hard, but sharp enough to make him recoil back and hold his arm. “Ow! I was complimenting you, what’d you do that for?” “Never call me ‘hot stuff’ again, first of all,” they retorted, adjusting their position against their car and tugging their hoodie around their shoulders tighter as a sharp wind tore through the air. Even though it was April and most of the days were getting warmer and warmer, the occasional chilly day still popped up, and today was one of them. “Second of all, I’m waiting for you , so I can go back to the apartment and finally play Zelda since you wanted to watch me play it instead of playing it yourself.” “Aww, c’mon, honey,” Guy crooned, resting one hand on the hood of the car and leaning his hip against it, tilting his head to peer at them with his (really fucking pretty, goddamn this fucking guy—) hazel eyes. “You know why I like watching you play it—you get so into the game, it’s adorable!” “It’s adorable when I’m screaming ‘fuck’ at the Lynels for killing me for the fifth time in a row? Or that one time I got so angry when I fell off a cliff and clipped through the world and lost all my gear that I had to go into my room before I punched our TV?” They deadpanned, eyebrow raised in question, and Guy nodded and grinned, biting his bottom lip like he was trying (and failing) to contain his excitement.  “Mhm!” He brought his other hand to scratch at his head, a habit he had. “I mean, you’re just so good at the game, so it’s hardly fair for me to even play it! It’s much better as a viewing experience anyway, especially with my head in your lap. I mean, the only way it would be an even better viewing experience would maybe include me on my knees. Or maybe with my head between your—” Sage slapped Guy’s arm again, ignoring the way their face felt flushed at what their boyfriend was insinuating. “Not in public, you—!”

continue reading here!

[beanghostprincess]

thoughts on transman yamato and transwomen ace? (ik yamato is already canon so this is mostly just thoughts on transwomen ace lol)

I feel like if I think too much about Ace being a woman my lesbian heart won't be able to handle it but. But yeah. My thoughts are very-- Positive. Dying of lesbianism here.

I've always considered Ace transmasc but this is so good too??? I believe Ace as a woman would like. Be the same. But woman. Kind of like Luffy ngl. The thing with ASL is that Ace comes out as a woman and the other two are like "Oh cool! *change pronouns when talking to her*" and that's kind of. The whole thing for them? They're extremely supportive and WILL beat the shit out of you if you say something about their sister. But. Like. Ace is already the one beating people up for that so they don't need to worry--

Thinking about Ace coming out like, time after the sake thing and Luffy telling her that they need to do it again because "We swore we were brothers but!!!! I want to drink sake with you again and swear you will always be my older sister!!!!!" and it melts Ace's heart completely. Not to mention that now nobody fights about who's the oldest because now Luffy has an older sister and an older brother!!

Makino would be the sweetest soul to her,,, She teaches her stuff and Ace is always asking her things to be more of a ""real woman"" and Makino is like ???????? "what do you mean real woman, sweetie, it doesn't matter what you do and how you look like as long as you're comfortable!! Don't let other people tell you otherwise!!" and Ace realizes that's the type of girl she wants to be to become a good older sister to Luffy. Supportive and kind and herself even if a lot of people won't see her the way she is.

Ace goes through life so not giving a shit-- I think she is the same except that when she wins fights and people think she is a guy she is just like "haha a woman beat you up fucking loser" and when people realize she is a girl they're all like "noooo cover your chest that's indecent!!" and she's so confused and angry because why is it okay to do so when they think she is a guy but it's wrong when they find out she is a girl???? She goes boobs out everywhere fr fr.

I think Ace is the type of saying "I can't have surgery and boobs so I'm just gonna do so much exercise my chest will look huge" and she is so committed to that. Good for her.

And!!!!!! When she meets Yamato??? And Yamato tells her he is a guy??? Ace is like "OH ME TOO ME TOO I AM A GIRL AND PEOPLE CONSTANTLY THINK I'M A GUY IDK WHY" and they have their "we the same fr" and fall in love bc no matter the gender Yamace is always canon. `You have this cool but a bit of a failgirl Ace and her tall af cute boyfriend. Boy who says teehee x Girl who laughs like a lunatic.

Also, I think her relationship with Roger would change a bit? And she already loves her mom but she would do it now even more because she would feel like-- More connected to her experience as a woman? I think Ace should wear a little flower in her hair just like Rouge, too.

And not to be depressing af but when Marineford happens and everybody treats her as Roger's SON she is having the worst time of her life for so many reasons. And Luffy just tells everybody he sees that Ace is not a guy and he might be in the middle of saving her but he will fight people so they refer to her right.

Idk I think there are more things to say but I am eepy and I just woke up. But I absolutely love this and Ace as a trans girl lives in my mind rent free.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Since there’s been a lot of yume related confessions, I want to give my whatever cents as something of an ex yume. I think that the community is misunderstood to a degree. However I think the view that most are nuts and unreasonable is also not unfounded at all, and that’s mostly why I don’t associate with the community anymore. It doesn’t surprise me that there’s considerable crossover with dolls - dolls are a really good way to have a 3 dimensional version of your FO (fictional other) and I actually got into this hobby through yume stuff! As for why I left? Well.

From the outside or to a newcomer the yume community is very welcoming and they make a huge deal about being ‘just like everyone else’ ’just normal people’. They will insist the stereotypes are not true (fighting over fictional characters, hating people over tiny things, ending friendships over head canon differences). The problem is this only rings true if you’re also a yume or until you ship their FO with another character. I’ve met people I was convinced were the nicest people to ever exist until they found out I shipped their FO with an existing character. You can truly only maintain decent friendships in that community if all your FOs are unrelated and there’s no clash, and I am saying this from years of experience in the community. If you are lucky you can find a group of people with the same FO who assure you ‘sharing’ is ok and just want to bond over a shared love of the character but you are one wrong headcanon away from ending up on their bad side, and you HAVE to be ok with the fact that at least one (often most) will appoint themselves as THE fan of that character and act like their word is law and matters more than anyone else’s, they WILL secretly judge anyone they don’t thing is as obsessed (rich) as them (usually cos they don’t buy as much merch) no matter how much they pretend they don’t (again, I know this from YEARS of being in the community) if so the stress of wondering if the person they’re subtweeting about today is you just isn’t worth it.

I admit I still check in on yume accounts on twitter for content purposes (to make a long story short I like the concept and dislike the community) so I saw yume people tearing the recent confessions apart and it reminded me why I left, it really showed me again how unselfaware they are about their own actions. One of them I recognize as a person who is extremely over protective of their FO, constantly making angry posts about how people with the wrong opinions on him should die, insulting or back hand complimenting shippers of the main ship for their FO, but they’re still insisting they’re a normal and rational person being subjected to unfair assumptions from outsiders and the confessor is the bully. Got RTs about how positive and wholesome the community is. They even accused the confessors of aphobia?! Well, this confession is coming from inside the house (as well as from an ace person confused what the hell being yume has to do with it given that the entire spectrum of sexuality is well represented in this community) although it’s a house I’m leaving because of people like you. I still sympathise with the reasons someone would be yume, including wanting a doll of their FO. It can be a very comforting thing for people. Lord knows just holding my dolls hand has gotten me through some tough days. But I regret getting involved in the actual yume community and all its rotten malice disguised as toxic uwu positivity so much. I don’t judge anybody for seeking comfort in imagining a relationship with a fictional character, that’s not the red flag for me.

The red flag is being active in the yume community itself, which I will never not associate with bullying, classism, crab bucket mentality and a persecution complex to exclude and belittle ‘outsiders’ by design. And when you add the doll community to that mix, it’s like the worst of both mixed together. I expect the usual suspects will have something to say about this confession over on twitter and elsewhere but I’ve heard it all before. I expect you to blame me for my experience and insist it’s a really positive space, because I know exactly what you guys are like and how much you love victim blaming. I know most of you won’t but if at least one of you would stop for a moment and think why people like me are saying things like this, maybe you can fix your attitudes and your community won’t stink as awful as it does.

~Anonymous

[meimeikyu]

Giving sans AUs kpop solo songs,,, an extremely self indulgent post

this is based on both the tone/lyrics of the song, my interpretation of the lyrics, and the music videos. also just songs i like

also!! a lot of these will be focused on my interpretations of both the song and the characters, as well as specific parts of them

(this will be slightly long and full of links so it goes under the cut)

Cross: Lilac - IU

this song makes me so aggressively happy and sad at the same time and its so hgksghkshgksghs i feel like itd fit him so much,,,, for one lilac being the song name bcs i associate cross heavily with lilacy purple but also just the whole theme of the song being losing a person but it being like a perfect goodbye and etc and. idk i see it in him

"Will you forget me someday?

Will you forget our faces and the scent of today?

While having a good nap

Like a faded mid-spring’s dream"

Blue: Bam Yang Gang - BIBI

okay so this is mostly based on the lyrics, and the concept of blue working with the stars but kinda being lesser than them? since hes 'only' mortal and cant keep up and yet hes expected to and. yeah i love this concept n i love this song so

"As you were leaving you turned around and said to me

"You always want far too much"

No what I’ve always wanted was one thing

Just one thing sweet chestnut red bean jelly"

Dream: INVU - Taeyeon

god so its like a sad song about forbidden love in my mind but like. some of the lyrics hit so hard n i feel like theyd work for dream so well and the mvs so pretty (and also has a bow!) but like. dream and forbidden things work so well together in my mind bcs shes the one trying to keep everything together and yet also be the perfect guardian of positivity and can never be sad or angry and never get tired or stop and. she cant even love someone because shes supposed to be a guardian and thats not part of her job </3 (also trans fem dream canon to me)

"I think I lost my mind

But it's my kind of love

Without leaving anything

Pour everything out and flop

Suddenly at one point

I see myself exhausted

Even though I'm trying my best"

Ink: water color - Whee In

okay one i adore this song two the whole song being art/painting themed!!! literally ink!!!!!! and the theme of a lot of the lyrics being about becoming/embracing yourself (in my mind) i feel like fits him bcs like, hes out of the normal hes weird but hes HIM!! he has an identity he has a life he has friends hes not just that sketch anymore!!! hes a full person :D

"Gonna make it colored

I'll pick my brush

Just dye my everything, yeah, deep in my mind

Then I will follow my heart

Draw the things that only I have

Gonna do it my way

I don't wanna stay here"

Nightmare: Animal Farm - BIBI

(warning for fake blood/gore in the mv, as well as violence and guns)

so i actually had a few ideas for nightmare tbh but idk they didnt feel quite right to be 'the' song i put as nightmare, but oh boy this song did! the whole royalty vibes of the music video plus the apple in the beginning, and just the whole tone of the song and mv felt so right. whats more fitting than the one video thats age restricted lmfao

this is meant to be a more fanon nightmare but not quite the whole 'only doing it for the balance would never do violence otherwise' nightmare but also not 'fully evil an corrupted and the real nightmare is dead' just,, some combination of the two that i like to do nightmare as. definitely bad but not cruel to those close to them, would do violence or manipulation for purposes other than the balance and for her own gain, but doesnt intend to tip the scales all the way and destroy every positive instance. also very much fancy and royal aesthetics :3

"Welcome, well done

Shameless friends of mine

Who's next?

Hang my pretty head in your room

Where is love? Where is my sympathy?

What have we lost?

Is it a farm? Is it society?

Am I a tiger or a gazelle?"

Killer: Heart Attack - Chuu

oh wow the song i drew killer with like a week ago,,, shockinggggg (silly)

tone wise does this song seem like killer? meh debatable but i associate it with him so fucking hard!! one i feel like if we go off popular like fanon-ish killer i think hed like this song <-projecting probably but TWO!!! all the lyrics about like giving his heart an the apple themes in the mv??? consider: its him about nightmare, giving his whole heart sould and purpose to nightmare and how nightmare is obviously tied to apples canon wise, and the mv uses apples to represent freedom or sin (imo) and killer 'eating the apple' or agreeing to work with nightmare for some form of freedom. also non toxic killermare has my heart and soul and this is so killermare to me btw <33333 (also the other girl in the mv is yves and for the sake of this idea she is nightmare in this context <3)

btw have i mentioned how much i fucking LOVE this song bcs i fucking adore this song i love it so much im so insane about it

"Pounding more and more

I’ll give it all, take my heart

Surely you’re my destiny

It shines fully in my heart"

Dust: 28 Reasons - Seulgi

ok lyric wise maybe less fitting than the other songs but like,, the whole mvs theme of 'good and evil exist together in a person' is like. so how i feel about dust how do i word this. what he did is bad or 'evil' killing everyone is objectively bad but in his mind hes freeing them from a worse fate (the constant resets) and doing it for the greater 'good'. it doesnt matter if thats true or not, the fact is he believes it to be,,,, combine with the idea of him sometimes feeling horribly guilty about what hes done versus comforting himself with what he does because its better for him... i feel like both dust and killer have this very skewed view of their past vs present, and where killer barely remembers his past dust VERY MUCH does, and has a massive line in his head of where sans ended and he started. idk if this makes sense to anyone else but alone those lines, picture the chorus as if its him talking to himself,,,, also this songs amazing i love it

"28 reasons that ruined you, you don't have to know

I have no bad intentions

You know all 28 reasons to run away

So, why are you leaning into me again?"

Error: Glitch - Kwon Eunbi

This ones also kinda less directly connected but i couldnt not do the glitchy song for error (i also had minimal other ideas shhh)!! The whole glitchy theme and a lot of the lyrics being based around that is perfect for our glitchy man,,,, also this song is just really good n i love eunbi!!

"I make a touch, t-t-touch the limit After crashing the steep wall again The shaking caught my eyes, wait a minute"

---

so originally this was gonna have more guys but ive run out of proper ideas for it and if i don't post it as is its gonna live in my drafts forevr n i dont want that bcs im actually really happy with what i have so far so end for now!! i may do more another time but yeah!

i do offer this bonus tho!!

Festivalverse: Apple - Gfriend

in general i adore this song but also i just associate it with my au, specifically the gods!! also the apple theme in general fitting with dreamtale, the final bit, and just how gorgeous the whole mv is! its so my au to me :3

silly thing but if ur curious about which member would be who in festivalverse: Sowon - Ink, Umji - Error, Eunha - Geno, Yuju - Reaper, Yerin - Dream, SinB - Nightmare

"There’s no turning back when the night turns restless Let the festival I dared to imagine come alive"

[yuhi-san]

Finally onto vol two of trimax, now that dokomi is over

First of all, what a messed up start to the volume. Legato really is all kinds of fucked up.

The… table manners going on here. We just let that stand as it is

Very intrigued by midvaley, more on that later

“We will cause him ultimat suffering at the hands of you humans.” Yeah hats the thing, isn’t it? Sure humans can be nasty but it always comes back to the fact that knives needs to make sure vash sees that. Always meddle in a way to make sure humans want to hurt vash or have a reason. I guess someone is afraid humans aren’t as horrible as he makes them out to be if he doesn’t manipulate the situation, huh

You can see the rage on vash face when da-rei mentions his secluded home. We know vash won’t kill, no matter what but moments like this make me wonder, do you guys REALLY wanna figure out what would happen to you if vash were to stop playing nice? Then again they seem to all have a death wish to some degree so there is that

The gun on the wire thing is soo cool tho

for all the talk Wolfwood does, it seems to itch under the nails to help vash, especially since da-rei mentioned home.

So, the whole Wolfwood shoots da-rei situation and the after…. For one I think with everything else going on in that moment we don’t focus enough on how shocked vash was that Wolfwood shot him. Yes he’s angry, the look he gives Wolfwood is seething but the expression at first makes it clear vash didn’t see that coming at all.

Which is even more interesting considering he was aware da-rei might shoot him. At first he says that the blades position suggest he wasn’t going to do it but then he admits that, yeah there was a chance but insists he would have just dodged. Vash knows there is always the chance someone wants to harm him (but decides to take the chance anyway) but he did not expect ww to kill da-rei at all.

“you talk about saving everyone but you don’t wanna dirty your own hands” we’ll be back on that later, as well as “no matter what you do, you give up so easily”. Just waiting fpr the hospital yuri for that

See, I knew almost all the key moments of trimax already but without the full context. So its super interesting to see in what order or time they play out. Wolfwoods infamous ‘shoot’? yeah I did not think they were having this conversation so soon. Mostly because that’s intense. Yeah emotions are running high and all but jesus Wolfwood, don’t you think this reaction and speech are a little extreme? This early on? Offering up his live like that, challenging Vash to shoot him? Sure, it was evident vash wasn’t going to do it but considering how afraid Wolfwood actually is of dying, gee…

At that point its clear ww doesn’t just disagree with vashs ways but also cannot fathom why would make the choices he does. At the same time vash can clearly see that Wolfwood so desperately wants to be good and kind but feels forced to play devils advocate and all. But at this time, vash is too caught up in his own worldview and codex that he cannot quite understand that for Wolfwood this is not simply a ‘deciding to give up so easily situation’

Wolfwoods dream oh man.. its another scene I knew but not the context. I didn’t realize he was dreaming this. previously I though this was actually happening, way later when they are at the orphenage. God his smile looks so sad and pained. Its so much like vash when the people throw stones at him and he’s like, I don’t know what to look like.

On a lighter note, dried up vash is so funny. What a disaster he is. Especially when they drop the lighter oh man

The line about how not everyone can just gamble their life is very important and I think it applies a lot to vash. yes he doesn’t make use of his plant powers. He tries, at least at that point, to be as human as possible. But the truth is that most humans could never survive the things he does. Vash can take gambles others cannot, including Wolfwood. Which he even says to vash’s face but again, I don’t think vash truly understands that at this moment.

Home, oof. Vash is so tense and worried what he will find and then its just… people being happy and okay. They are ecstatic to see him! Is vash! it’s a big deal! They were worried, they hope he stays a little, they are excited to introduce him to their children! It makes vash cry to be greeted like that. And yeah, its an illusion by leonof but judging by  vash reaction and his absolute shock after, this was a very accurate one. that’s how people just are with him when he comes home so that it was an illusion, ouch.

Wolfwood is mad. Like, it always seems to itch him to help even if he doesn’t give in to the urge but there wasn’t even a question on whether  or not leonof deserves his ass kicked for that sick stunt

Ww may take issues with what he perceives as vashs naivety but seeing him go through all these emotions because of leonof tormenting him has ww go, yeah no, fuck that und fuck you.

[uncaught-coolfish]

The following post is a RWDE rant that is long, angry and non articulated. If you don’t like that, don’t read it, and leave me be. Thank you.

Warning for mentions of racism, bigotry, genocide and slavery. 

RW//BY, as a show, is… I’m going to say it, actually really racist. Is it the most racist thing ever? No. Fuuck no. Not even close. But I’d daresay at least half of it is riddled with some of the most appallingly ignorant shit I’ve seen in any webseries, and yet… some people will go out of their way to harass any who dare to criticize it. 

Remnant is not real. The characters I am about to discuss are not real. But the writers who wrote these characters and the world they inhabit are very real, and the shit they wrote fucking disgusts me.

so. Rant begin. 

Something the crazies of the fandom will say (I say crazies because, the fandom isn’t all like this. many of you guys are chill and cool as fuck) in defense of RW//BY’s many problematic aspects, particularly the criticism of “75% of the show’s POC and minorities are villains”, is that “well, there’s a lot more POC and minority’s on the GOOD GUY side now! Hooray!”

And they’re technically right. I like Elm and Pietro and I love Maria (in V6 especially she was fucking golden) and Marrow. Them and all the other POC they’ve added in as of V6-7~ are, in my opinion, mostly great additions to the cast. 

The side cast. 

The thing that isn’t usually pointed out is that these characters… they are side characters. Pietro and Maria are side characters. The Ace Ops and Happy Huntresses, while playing a decent role, are side characters. 

Hell that extends to pretty much every POC character we’ve gotten aside from Oscar. They’ve been side characters. Many of whom, we likely won’t see again (Until Volume 10… if RT lasts that long)

But I want to mention one thing. We didn’t start getting characters that weren’t blinding white until the end of V2 and the start of V3. 

One of these characters in question I’d like to point out, Flynt Coal. 

I like Flynt. He’s fine. I think his design is cool. But to deny that his character isn’t extremely racist is ignorant.

One of their first. Black characters. Was basically named… “Dark rock, Dark Rock”…

and his weapon is a TRUMPET😭

Not only that, but he and Neon fight Yang and Weiss in the tournament. Let’s talk about Weiss actually. She is the second oldest child to the megarich Schnee family, whom owns the SDC, which she is heiress to. Earlier in the series she acted extremely racist towards characters of an in-universe minority group, and never really apologized on screen. Instead, we’re given justification for why the rich girl is racist. She’s scared because of the White Fang! Poor little German name “White Snow.”

Anyways, back to the fight. Flynt mentions how it was the SDC who put his father’s own company out of business in their monopoly. Does this go somewhere? Nooooo he’s a side character, who’s beaten by Weiss and her bestie by the end of the battle. 

How come they made one of their first black characters fight and lose a battle with their whitest richest character? (Obs not implying he should’ve won, just asking why they chose him in the first place) How come they named him after black rocks(which is in reference to how, in a minecraft letsplay, one mentioned the name “Flynt Coal” and another replied “He’d have to be a black guy!”)? 

Who knows. But surely this is the last time they’ll make a (minority) character be positioned oppositely from our mains. Surely they won’t ever write one as a villain! 

Surely she won’t be the Lakota girl, either!

Ilia as a character was a big stepping stone (at the time) in terms of RW//BY’s representation. She was the first canonical, on screen LGBTQ+ character. She was a member of the White Fang who, before joining, was able to “blend in” with humans due to her Faunus trait not being as noticeable, being spots on her face and along the rest of her body. Ilia was orphaned due to her parents dying in an SDC mine collapse, and when she saw her school friends laughing about it, she “punched their teeth out.” 

Hell, overall I really like Ilia. Her design is adorable, as LGBTQ+ rep I think she’s good enough (though the fact they wrote their first lesbian character to be… a villain, is a talk for another day), and overall I find her decently written on her own. Plus, she’s fun as hell to write. Love her dearly.

On her own. Because in the story, the more I think about it… the more I’m sad, and mad, about how she was handled. 

Firstly. Her name. Apparently it’s supposed to mean “Butterly Rainbow” (again, naming your first lesbian girl “rainbow” lol)… but nope. They got the name Amitola off a baby named website, when it really means something closer to “Like a blue sky.” From my understanding. Typical RT shenanigans. It gets worse :3

Ilia was also one of the very few villains in the show to be redeemed. How was she redeemed? 

By being told by the much-more privileged, whiter minority girl whom she had a crush on that what ilia was fighting for was Bad. How Ilia was fighting for it was Bad. The White Fang? Baaaad. How dare the MINORITIES FIGHT WITH NEEDED VIOLENCE for their basic living rights against the POOR WIDDLE OPPRESSORS! It’s THEIR fault they’re oppressed, because they’re making the humans uncomfortable and angry! They need to just keep their dirty mouths shut and be good, presentable minorities. 

And upon being redeemed, Ilia is immediately put on a bus. Shelved.

And let me remind you again. Who was redeemed through being told by her much whiter (I say whiter in a way not to demean Blake btw, as privileged as she is she is still a minority obviously. Just… stating facts) friend that “a minority Shouldn’t use violence against their oppressors for their rights. It’s Their fault the humans are still so racist towards them. The Faunus should stop being so aggressive and be peaceful”? 

Not only the lesbian character, but…

The indigenous girl.

The.

Indigenous.

Girl. 

I’m sure I don’t need to point out how fucked this is. Let alone the fact this whole show is written in fucking Texas. 

It’s no secret, as much as some try to make it be, how horribly Native Americans and indigenous people have been treated throughout history. The oppression they have faced stems back centuries. Their land and home was stolen from them. 

Their own culture was all but forcefully eradicated. 

Men, women, children, were all genocided. 

To this very day it’s all they can do to fight for not only their own rights as people, but the very lands that were stolen from them. 

So for this show to write… it’s Indigenous

WOMAN

‘s character being “redeemed” by learning “Peaceful protest is good, violent protest for your living rights bad!” is… sickening. Genuinely. Fucking. Sickening. 

But maybe that violent protest WAS bad! Maybe, it was going nowhere and really causing the problems. Who the hell would ever try and implement that? Who leads the White Fang? 

…You wanna know? 

Don’t bother. 

Sienna is a character we see for. One. Scene. One scene and she’s GONE. dead, stabbed, thrown down some stairs. We know very little about her, but we know a lot of her actions. 

Under her rule as high leader, she got shit gone. Through her use of violence against the oppressive humans, she did in five years what many before her couldn’t in decades: Her methods were working. Her people were being given rights.

But noooooooo!!!!!!!!! We can’t have the Woman of Color in power be CORRECT. Her methods were WRONG, MONSTROUS! How dare she end slavery and fight against oppression?! She should’ve just asked NICELY! Just like Blake told—

Wait… Blake? BLAKE?!

BLAAAAAAAAKEEEEE!!!!!

Blake is one of 4 main characters in RW//BY, and she was easily my favorite. Fierce and a bookworm, an ex-freedom fighter who was quick to call out Miss Rich “White Snow” on her bullshit. She was fun, strong, and like the show said itself, she was Feisty.

I miss that Blake, tails. I miss her a lot. I’ll be back. 

Nowadays, that feisty personality she has has been diminished so she can be all meek and quiet and sweet for her white human friends. 

(and just now in v9, she’s completely fine with being referred to as an animal. Sienna in honorary heaven: she would not fucking say that.) 

White fans and likely the writers themselves were too uncomfortable having to face that all majority people still benefit from a society built on and from deep systemic racism, so they wrote Blake to be an All Lives Matter doormat so she was more palatable Blake saw the error of the White Fang’s ways and how their justified acts of violent protest against the privileged majority were making the humans SCAWED🥺, so she stood before them all and put her status as literal Faunus princess to good use: telling all those like her who’d suffered beneath the humans’ oppression that they were wrong. How could they fight back violently? They did this to themselves. They brought the oppression, the enslavement, the bigotry and cruelty upon themselves because they just didn’t play nice enough. 

Fuck, even when she’s in the “City of Racism” Atlas, she’s too busy being uwu sad and nervous and having to rely on others (funny how instead of ever empowering her again, they write Blake as this submissive docile flower baby immediately after hey reveal she was an abuse victim. Real fucking funny. Laughing my eyes out of my skull with a toothpick.) except for when she jokingly comments how rich the Schnees are and how they own basically everything. 

Past Blake wouldn’t be laughing about that. She’d use it against the Schnees, rightfully. 

But we can’t have that. She’s the good minority, who keeps her mouth shut tight and looks pretty for the camera. 

But… about that bigotry. That oppression, that racism… do we ever see that? 

lol fuck no

We hear of how horribly the Faunus people are treated. Controversial labor forces that keep them as slaves to the SDC. Treated like dirt and beaten and killed and lynched. 

We hear. We hear of that. 

In the show, we get… a No Faunus sign put out in some background places. And the equal opportunist bully bullying a bunny girl.

That’s it. Background shit. Background shit that could easily be interpreted differently, or missed completely if you fucking blink.

There has only been one point where the true extent of this oppression is shown to us. One point which… 

we’ll fucking get to. 

But there’s one thing I’ve mentioned rather frequently throughout this rant. Two, technically. The Schnee family and the SDC. 

Let’s talk. Let’s. Fucking. Talk. 

*sighs*

So this show demonizes it’s fictional worlds only freedom fighting organization, so surely they do the same for the oppressive Amazon company that has a chokehold on the economy of an entire—

In the early volumes, Weiss, another main character, was extremely racist to those who were Faunus. She was also the daughter of the Richy Rich Bitch Family of “CEOs of Racism”. Her older sister was a cop, her younger brother out of the picture until V4, her mother a neglectful abusive alcoholic (she is a victim too but neglect. is. abuse.), her father a racist abusive asshole who looks like I could break him like a bendy straw. But her racism isn’t her fault at all! No, the dirty minorities in the White Fang who were terrorizing the richest of the rich were what made her racist. It was never her fault, only the scary minorities. 

How dare the marginalized be so evil.

But she apologizes off screen and is no longer racist! Yippee! At least we marked “Racist” off her “Racist Blood Purist Rich White Weiss” card! she’s White Savior Blood Purist Rich White Weiss now! Now we can make fun of how much shit her family owns. 

But before all that, she and her girlfriend battle… a black man! Gasp! Who… says before the fight, her family’s company put his family’s business OUT of business! 

A throwaway line before he and his bestie get beaten. Also just realized as I type: not only did Weiss battle a black character who was affected by her family company’s monopoly, but… a Faunus. Another one for the jar.

B-But Blake knows Ilia was affected by the SDC, too! It orphaned her, because in their mines Faunus weren’t given nearly as much safety. Surely she can tell Weiss and have her see—

*Ruby voice* nope. Nope! Ilia was being violent for equality, and that’s no good. So she learns that all their oppressors (likely including the SDC)are really just SCARED of them! So she’s redeemed and becomes peaceful. The Lakota indigenous girl is turned “good.”

But maybe once they’re in Atlas—

Jokes are made about how FUNNY LOL XD it is that her family owns so much, and they’re appalled by how… literally fucking normal Mantle is, as if it’s just an utter travesty to their eyes. She doesn’t want to outright abolish the corrupt SDC, which basically rides on Atlas like a parasite, but instead free it from the dirty-blooded clutches of her father, and return it to the Pure Blooded Schnees, who will use it righteously, in Santa Schnee’s name!

She’s the granddaughter of a hero, after all. A hero who monopolized and capitalized the world’s resources and began a chokehold on an entire kingdom with how vital the Resources became, all the while implementing minority slave labor.

Because we can’t have our pretty princess Weiss face any consequences. We can’t have one of ours mains face consequences. Realize her privilege and try and do something. We can’t make our writers uncomfortable!

And this extends to Winter, too! The woman as racist as Weiss was, but without the “”excuse””, who is also a cop, and who… punches, kneels over one of the characters who is both an in-universe minority of a Dog and easily the darkest skinned character, and tells him; “You want a collar? Fine.”

But the Pure Blood Schnees are good. They’re beautiful and powerful. Even if Weiss has that scar, it’s as tiny as can be so to not ruin her pretty face. Let’s give the rich white family all the angelic imagery. Let’s show Weiss with wings. 

Twice. Twice with white, huge and glowing angel’s wings. 

Looking pure and holy. Pure. And. Holy. 

But Angel imagery? Surely there’s a contrast. Demonic imagery: like the horns, black and red, something to do with darkness and the moon, who should that belong to? If the rich, white, blood purist main girl Weiss gets the angel wings, pretty face and princess aesthetic… who deserves to be the demon of Remnant? 

…Oh, I know the answer to this one! It’s—

Throughout this whole post, there’s been one character I’ve purposefully neglected mentioning by name.

 Adam.

We didn’t see the guy much. Black trailer, V2, V3, V5, V6. And he was really only reoccurring in V5, which… 😶

But from what we did see, we saw the Face of the White Fang. We saw someone who did bad things for the right causes. We saw someone who despised his oppressors, but who seemed to care for his fellow Faunus. We saw…

a fucking lie. A headcanon, perhaps. Badum tss.

What Adam REALLY WAS was an abusive cruel irredeemably evil monster jerkface asshole creep bitch who NEVER cared about his own people, NEVER cared about his people’s rights, NEVER wanted anything more than glory and power and to be lionized. 

The minority character, by the way.

Why did the writers decide to make this guy the hatesink? Why did they decide to make Adam suddenly not care about his fellow people’s rights? 

Why did they decide to make him laughably cruel to his own people whom he seemed to genuinely care for before (like in that scene in volume 3, where he only agrees to go along w/ cinder after she starts KILLING FAUNUS, but maybe that scene was a headcanon too, all in le head)

Why did they decide to make the goals of one of their in universe minority characters to be wanting nothing but fame and power?

Why did they also write him to be a former child slave?

Volume 6 is one of my more liked volumes, with it (for me) easily being the best looking, and the horror stuff was great. Also, Maria. 

But then they threw Adam in last minute. One last kick of that dead bull. 

He comes back in his finest NieR: Automata cosplay and starts spouting some of the most embarrassingly bad dialog this show has had while fighting Blang (basically that one fucking hilarious “Boobs in my mouth please please please hello You’re nothing” post as dialog), and it’s in this that, after 6 volumes, we finally see his face. 

Adam was branded. I’m not putting that shit lightly, Adam was fucking branded. 

And the brand is used to show how evil HE is. He was hurt more by his gf leaving him than ANY scar ever would. Who cares about all the trauma he surely went through in slavery, he sure fucking doesn’t! Okay, Cameraman Mike, be sure to focus a whole bunch of shots on his brand, which is still blood red and grotesque, to really hammer the point in how much of an asshole he is. 

Never mind it’s a brand of the SDC, of which one of our main character’s family owns. Who cares if this is literally the only time we’re shown the true extent of racism against Faunus? 

It’s swept aside! Because the same episode we’re given one of the most honestly depressing reveals for a villain yet is the same episode that villain dies. 

Dies with the brand facing the camera. His death. Entirely. On. Screen. 

Thank fuck Adam was written as an irredeemable monster of a villain(/j), because they literally wrote, animated, and voiced a scene where we the viewers watch a former child slave, branded and blinded over an eye, have his death be entirely on screen. A slow death, entirely on screen. 

Adam, a former slave to the SDC who, sometime during his childhood was branded and permanently blinded, died more slowly… more gruesomely… than Jacques fucking Schnee did. 

Even died before him, too.

But notice one thing. I keep referring to him as having been a “child slave.” Emphasis on child. 

Don’t blame me. Blame your fucking writers. 

I want you to read this. Read this paragraph. Twice, if you have to. As many times as you need to to get the fact into your head that THIS IS FUCKING VILE.

This is in the writers commentary track for volume 7. They tiptoe around with their words, but I’ll translate it to the best of my ability. In it, Miles shared a particular headcanon: in which the 

FUCKING VILLAIN HE WROTE TO HAVE BEEN A CHILD SLAVE TO THE SCHNEE DUST COMPANY GOT HIMSELF BRANDED FOR BEING TOO MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT TO KEEP HIS DIRTY TRAP SHUT. 

SO THEN ONE OF HIS CAPTORS HELD THIS CHILD DOWN TO THE GROUND AND JAMMED A CATTLE PROD DOWN WITH THE SDC PROPERTY LOGO ONTO HIS EYE.

THAT LITTLE BOY SURE HAD IT COMING, HUH? HE’S ALWAYS BEEN SUCH AN INSUFFERABLE LITTLE PRICK, EVEN AS A CHILD IN SLAVERY. HIS CAPTORS REALLY LET HIM HAVE IT!

LET. 

HIM. 

HAVE. 

IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AFTER HE STARTS THE FIGHT. HE STARTED IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND GROWING UP TO BECOME A HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING DEMON.

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND HIS CAPTOR JUST “LET HIM HAVE IT.”

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY BEING HATE CRIMED.

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY SLAVE BEING PERMANENTLY SCARRED. 

“LET HIM HAVE IT” IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED AS PROPERTY IN THE EYE BY HIS CAPTORS.

And I think this says it all. From the white and the black, blue and the red, oppressor and oppressed and angel and demon, Weiss and Adam almost mirror each other. 

Just look at their scars. Theirs are on the same side. 

But while Weiss’s is the smallest, prettiest scar of all,

The brand of the SDC all but covers half of Adam’s face, in all it’s grotesque, blood red and hideous glory.

I’ll let you guess the implications. 

Killing off a WOC in power the very scene she’s introduced. Showing the Lakota girl the “right way to protest”. Painting the oppressors in a more positive light than ever showing the oppressed be oppressed. Showing your hatesink character had been branded in the eye the same episode he dies on screen. And this is what broke me. 

They’d read in the history books of children forced into slavery slaves being branded

and they’d see the backstory for a villain.

Because we can’t write the minorities fighting against their oppressors to be justifiable!

We can’t face how a member of the majority will almost always benefit from an oppressive system!

We can’t write the pretty white rich family of Fantasy-Amazon owners as wrong for their horrible practices both past and present!

We can’t let the WOC be right about violent protest!

We can’t let the native girl be angry and fight back against her oppressors!

We can’t have a shred of sympathy for the ex slave who was branded while he was a boy!

Because they did this. 

Faunus. 

[stolenoc]

Villainous Nights Fanfiction

Like fully two years ago I started writing a Villainous Nights AU where MC got recruited by Optimus before the Syndicate found her. I've stopped writing it, but I've always liked this scene and I'm sick of scrolling past it in my wips and being sad it won't be used, so here it is.

3500 words, MC x Juliette (Monarch & Bat too, I guess)

When I glance at the screen, it's to find an incoming call from one of my contacts- specifically, from Bat.

I'd be the first to admit I've been pretty forgetful lately- How could I not be? Thanks to all the hit and run attacks the Syndicate have been making lately, I’ve been basically working nonstop. I’m tired in a way that sleeping doesn’t even fix but, even so, I’m pretty sure I would remember saving one of the guys who are trying to kill me as a contact.

Did he like, hack into my phone and add this? Is that a thing you can do? I guess it's probably a thing he can do. His name is listed as "Bat- Just wanna talk", which is… well, it’s in character for him, if nothing else. He does like to talk.

After taking a quick, guilty glance around to make sure I'm mostly alone (I'm not strictly sure if I'd be allowed to accept calls from the people the company is actively at war with), I answer the phone, heart pounding in my ears.

"Hey, Monarch," says Bat, even now sounding as awkwardly, inappropriately casual as ever.

I scoff. It's an angry sound, and I realise that I am angry. How dare he know who I am? We had such a good thing going, the Syndicate and I. It was like a game- A high stakes game that sometimes resulted in broken bones but, you know. It felt like there was respect there.

"You might as well just use my real name," I say, and it comes out as a growl through my gritted teeth. "What's this about, dude? Just trying to scare me? Because congrats, yeah, it's working."

A sudden intake of breath. Then, "No- no, Monarch, uh... Lana. This isn't a threat- okay so, in retrospect? I can see how this-"

"Oh, it's not a threat?" I hiss. "That's funny, because I am feeling exceptionally threatened. I swear, Bat, if the Syndicate goes after my-"

"The Syndicate doesn't know who you are, Lana!" he says, cutting me off. "I do. Just me. I haven't told anyone else. I really do want to talk, just the two of us."

Well. Okay. That shuts me up. I take a moment- there's just a lot to unpack with that. Bat knows who I am, and is calling me "just to talk", and wants to keep the rest of the Syndicate out of it. I... can probably work with this.

Toning down the aggression a notch, I say, "So, what is this, then? Are you looking for a job, Bat? Should I put you through to HR? There’s a couple positions open, actually."

I regret making the joke instantly- that particular wound’s still pretty raw for me- but Bat does laugh. He says, "No, I'm good, thanks. And I'm no turncoat- the Syndicate knows I'm calling you, just not who you are."

"Wait, so you're saying that they know that you know- and they're okay with you keeping it a secret?" I ask, dubiously. "Even Murderpants McKnifeguy?"

Bat snorts. He says, "They're... well, they can't do much about it, really. I'm kinda irreplaceable? They love me for my big genius brain and stuff. But yes, Falcon is extremely pissed."

"Yeah, I bet."

"It helps that I'm kinda keeping away from them, also," he admits. "Full disclosure? Everyone's shouting at me today, it completely blows. But that's not why I'm calling you."

Even though every suspicious instinct Optimus drilled into me is telling me to hang up, to go tell Rene or someone about the intrusion, to run screaming to Juliette's apartment to make sure she's okay, I have the strangest urge to just give Bat a chance.

It's true that he's always seemed a little different to the rest of his team. He rarely makes an appearance in person, and only seems to fight under sufferance- he's treated almost like a consultant. Could he have different goals? Goals that don't involve spearing me with ice lances or burying me under tons of rock?

I say, "Okay, I'll bite. What's this about?"

"I'd like to meet with you in person," he says, after a long moment of hesitation. He quickly amends, "In costume, obviously. Both of us. We can make it look like an accident during one of your patrols."

Oh, that sounds safe. I ask, "What's wrong with talking over the phone? And also, why would I keep this a secret from Optimus?"

"I want to give you something, and I need to make sure you actually get it," he says, then he chuckles a little nervously. "And as for the secret thing… You don't have to, but I'll be meeting you alone. Ideally, Scarlet Brighid won't show up and break my spine. I'd like it if we could both trust each other, here."

Ironically, the grisly description helps me relax. He's not wrong- even if he's lying through his teeth, I'm the one with the army of megacorp superheroes as backup. But if he's telling the truth… No, I can’t risk letting Scarlet show up to do her thing. Enemy or not, I don't want the man dead.

And so, just under an hour later, I make a tiny alteration to my patrol path, with Rene's permission. I started a little late, so I'm in a little bit of a rush- the second I cut the connection with Bat, I called Juliette to make certain that she was completely fine and un-kidnapped, and I ended up soaking in the reassurance of her voice for a bit longer than I should have. I wanted so badly to just tell her why I was freaking out, but...

Well. Lying to her sucks, but lying to Rene is starting to come pretty naturally. The trick is tying the lie to something vague that they can't reasonably predict- for example, it's easy for me to just tell them that I'm 'checking out some unusual activity' as I pass the location that Bat specified, a construction site that's nice and quiet. 

It's a tall building, probably fated to be some big office space once the walls are filled in and the scaffolding ends up wherever scaffolding goes after it's finished its job. I could use it to climb to our meeting point, on the building's roof- but flying is only getting easier with each day of training. It's getting to the point that I might just stop walking altogether.

It only takes a minute, and I'm touching down on- not actually on a roof, exactly, because there's pillars sticking up all over the floor that are clearly intended to eventually hold up a ceiling. I resolve to think of it as the ‘top floor’, rather than ‘the roof.’ 

Bat's already waiting for me, far away from the building’s edge- and he's not looking so good.

"Bat? You doing alright?" I ask, feeling unexpectedly concerned as I jog to his side. He's bent over double, panting audibly even through the mask. He holds up his hands as I approach, as though to fend me off.

"I'm... good..." he says, between desperate huffs of air. "Just... just got here, too... Underestimated... hah... how long it'd take to... to climb all those stairs…"

He looks up at me, still breathing heavily. His digital faceplate displays an emoticon I haven't seen him use before- a pained expression, with a semicolon sweatdrop running down its face. 

It's only then that it really clicks with me that Bat's just.. some guy. An extremely smart 'just some guy', granted, one with an interesting power and access to a lot of very cool toys, but he's not like Scarlet, or even Marquis. He's not like the rest of the Syndicate. He's not like me. I could flatten him to paste right here, right now, without even breaking a sweat.

I swallow, hard. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to me before now that just having powers doesn’t by itself turn you into a superhero, or supervillain. When, then, had I made the change from ‘just some girl’ to ‘Monarch’?

Welp, that's a thought for the vault. I just say, flatly, "The Syndicate could really use a flier or two, huh?"

"Oh you have no idea," he says, finally straightening up. His faceplate displays anger, now, but his tone is joking as he says, "You have it so easy, you know that? You never have to touch a stair again."

"Eh, flying has its ups and downs," I say, and even stressed as I am, I can't help but giggle when Bat's faceplate goes completely blank in protest. I have to admit, he's always fun. I say, “And you seriously didn’t bring the whole gang with you?”

He looks around, demonstratively holding out his hands. “I’m the only one here, right? Paranoid much?”

The flippant response really bothers me, for some reason, and I feel that spike of anger again. I say, bitterly, “Well, I guess I have reason to be paranoid. Apparently, I’m awful at keeping secrets. For all I know, my real name is gonna be trending tomorrow.”

He swaps his digital emotion again, this time signifying laughter- but he doesn’t laugh, himself. God, I bet you could write a book on the nuances of Bat’s expressions. He says, “You? No way. You’re great at secrets."

Then, after a beat, he continues, "That is, uh- I peeped your social stuff, you know- Facebook, Twitter, Yelp reviews, etcetera. You look so normal it’s boring.”

“Then how-”

“It was, um. Kinda an accident, honestly,” he says, displaying a blush. “Don’t tell anyone, but I work at Optimus-”

“You work- what?” I interject, dumbfounded. “No, you don’t. At this point, I’m willing to bet cash that Optimus is tracking my periods- you’re not hiding nightly corporate sabotage from them.”

“Hey, does it bother you a little that your opinion of Optimus has gotten so low that you just automatically assume they’re committing unforgivable violations of privacy?”

“It bothers me plenty,” I admit, with a shrug. “It sucks, but that’s corporations for you.”

Bat shakes his head. “Wild. Anyway, I don’t get screened, for the same reason Scarlet Brighid doesn’t get screened. I’m above suspicion.”

That’s absolutely terrifying. I say, “If that’s true, then you’d have to be a board member, or something. Couldn’t you just talk to me directly?”

A big X flashes on the faceplate. Bat says, "Negative. If you think being high on the food chain means nobody will try to eat you, then you’re not suspicious enough. Case in point: I bet you didn’t even know about all the mics on your suit.”

I blink.

"My what?" I ask, genuinely mystified. "Bat, I don't have a-"

"You have thirteen microphones on you right now- I’ve been jamming them since before I called you."  Bat cuts me off, and starts pointing at seemingly random parts of my costume. "There, there, there- that zipper there’s actually got a camera in it, not that Optimus would ever use the footage for transparency-"

I bat his hand away, irritated now. I've trusted him this far, but he could easily be just talking out of his ass. I just say, "I'm still on Optimus's side, Bat, even if they're invasive and weird. If you've called me here with the exact same 'Oh, Optimus is totally evil, trust us instead' pitch Wolf’s always trying on me, then I’m gonna get back to work."

"No, that's fine. I'm not asking you to trust my word," he says easily, before pulling something out of the pouch at his waist. It's a lanyard- the same style that important guests at Optimus tend to wear. Hanging from it is a keycard. He holds it out to me, and the card dangles there between us. "I'm asking you to trust this."

I take it, and rotate it in my hands. It's just plain white plastic- I have an identical card in one of my own pouches, since Optimus doesn't exactly go around writing things like 'SECRET SUB-LEVEL SIX ACCESS' on its keycards. I ask, dubiously, "And this tells me... what? Why do I want this?"

A cheeky smile lights across Bat's faceplate. He says, "You know how I'm sorta just, all up in Optimus's business? All the time?"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're super cool. You've aged Paris Optima about twenty years with all the hacking, by the way, she hates you the most."

"Ah." The smile fades, replaced by a blank darkness. "Ouch. But um, anyway, I've read most of your chat logs with her-"

"Creepy."

"-and I know you've been cautioned, repeatedly, for asking about a particular room on Basement Level 10. It's down the end of a long hallway, no number on the door? Is that ringing any bells?"

At some point I started gripping that keycard very, very tight. I look down at it now, and feel my pulse quicken with equal parts excitement and dread. I say, "You're kidding, right? Not even Scarlet Brighid gets in there, she told me herself."

"Optimas only," Bat breathes it like a prayer. He's looking at the keycard very intently- or at least, I guess he is. His face is kinda angled towards it? "All-access- or at least, close enough. The right person could do a lot of damage with that keycard."

It was pretty obviously the wrong thing to say, and the way he straightens right back up tells me he realises that too. I pocket the card, then say, shaking my head, "You know what, you're probably right. If this belongs to an Optima, I need to take it to one. Like right now."

"Lana, wait, listen-"

"Where did you even get it?" I demand, taking a step back, wary of any sudden lunges. "No, don't answer that. Do you have any idea how much trouble I'd get in if I was caught using some bigwig's access card, Bat?"

He holds out his hands, placating. His faceplate stays blank, but I can hear something like panic in his voice as he says, "Yes, yes, I do- but I don't think you do, Lana, that's the problem-"

"It's not a big mystery, my guy! I'd get fired!" 

"Fired?" Bat asks, with a laugh of disbelief. "They're not gonna- do you seriously think Optimus would fire you? The woman who can fight the entire Syndicate to a standstill on her own? You're irreplaceable, too."

Despite myself, I feel my face heat up at that description. I say, "That's... obviously a bit of an exaggeration." 

"No, it isn't." In another context, those words might be an encouragement, or flattery- but Bat says them grimly, like he just thinks it's very unfortunate for me. "But that doesn't mean you're safe from them, it just means they have some other way to control you.”

I don't know what to say to that, so we just... stand there, staring warily at each other. I've heard enough to know I should just turn around and hop right back off the building, but... something in what Bat just said jolts out an old, forgotten memory. What was it that Marquis had said? Something about Optimus wrapping around you like a parasitic vine, controlling your every movement? I doubt she meant it literally, but…

Well, even if I've been acting the part in front of the Syndicate, I'm not just some corporate bootlicker. I said I trust 'Optimus', but that's not really true. I trust people in Optimus, the ones I know. I trust Rene, and I trust Scarlet. I trust Juliette, too, more than anything. If I rotate the thought around in my mind, I can even say that investigating the company isn't really betraying those people- really, I'd just be finding proof that the company deserves them. Right?

Or maybe I'm just looking for excuses to go somewhere I've been told I can't. I think that might be it.

Bat doesn't seem to mix well with silence. He buckles under the pressure, first by plastering a few new emotions on his faceplate (He settles on a tonally inappropriate smiley face- I guess this is how he forces a smile?), and then by saying, in a rush, "Look, if you're worried about getting caught, don't be. I'd be right there with you, and I can delete you from any logs you end up in."

I quirk an eyebrow. "You'll be with me?" I ask, doubtfully. 

"I mean, uh. Digitally. You know. I'll be monitoring you, and inside the system," he says, and his mask becomes a blushy face. "And if what you find in that room doesn't convince you to listen, then... well, then we're done, I guess. But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't confident."

He closes the distance between us, and I let him. He holds out a gloved hand, and asks, "Whaddaya say? Frenemies?"

That's the last little nudge I need, and I won't pretend the fact that Bat's being a huge dork about this has nothing to do with it- I have a soft spot for dorks, as it happens. I clasp the proffered hand tight.

"Frenemies," I repeat, and we shake on that promise. A happy, pointless little thought occurs to me, and I say, “You know, if we’re ever not actively on opposite sides of a corporate war, there’s someone I’d really like to introduce you to.”

The handshake lingers, though not uncomfortably- this moment of truce is a soothing balm to the months of fighting each other, and I don’t think either of us want to be the one to end it. Plus, you know. I like Bat. We can hold hands a little if we want.

Finally, Bat’s faceplate changes- an angry face, again, though it doesn’t remotely match the cheer in his voice as he exclaims, “We’ve been frenemies for ten seconds and you’re already setting me up with someone? Is he at least cute!?”

“You have no idea,” I say, through a laugh. I let the hand drop, and fix the bright LEDs in Bat's mask with a stern glare. "But look, Bat, this isn't going to work twice. If this is just some kind of trick, I’ll…well, I won’t like you anymore.”

I meant it as a joke. There’s really nothing else I could do to him, revenge wise, or at least nothing I’d also be willing to do. And yet, Bat's response is completely sincere, his voice contrasting with the goofy, unchanged expression on his faceplate as he responds, “I know. I hope you can at least believe me when I say that I really, genuinely, do not want that.”

...Then he does change it, into a winky face, which kills the mood a little. I huff out a laugh and say, “Yeah, whatever, man. Listen, I have to go- they’re gonna wonder what I’m looking at.”

I take a few backward steps towards the edge of the roof (the building’s ‘top floor’, I correct myself internally), as Bat replies, “Yeah, it’s been a hot minute. When do you wanna do this?”

My foot lands on scaffolding, and I lean to take a peek over the edge of the building. It’s a long drop to the construction site below, maybe thirty floors. I say, “No time like the present, I guess. I’ve still got my patrol to finish- will you know when I’ve started?”

Bat shoots me a thumbs up. He says, “I can patch into your comm earpiece no problem, so we’ll be able to talk. Give me an hour, then just say 'hey'. We can go from there.”

I look at him a little dubiously. I have no idea where the dude lives, but just getting up here almost knocked him out. Could he even climb down and then get back to his secret bat-cave in time for that?

I gesture over my back with a thumb, and ask, “Do you, uh- do you want a lift down?”

He laughs, sounding just a little uncomfortable. Arms crossed, he says, “Um, no, I’m okay actually. Thanks.”

I insist, “You’re gonna have to climb all the way down. I can get you there in like ten seconds.”

“Or in like, one second…” he mutters, and he hesitantly joins me over at the edge. He takes a peek down at the street below, and shivers. “God, how do you do that?”

“It was scary at first,” I admit. I don’t mention that I still haven’t stopped having those nightmares where my power stops working mid flight and I plummet to the ground, because I’m not sure if that'd be much of a comfort. I step off the edge of the building, where I do not fall, but instead do a languorous midair twirl to face him (I can admit to showing off a little). I say, “Come on, you’ve seen me catch rocks big enough I think they technically count as continents. I can carry two people.”

Bat says, dryly, “Yeah, don't get Badger started on that. She says that fighting you just boils down to us finding fun new ways to give you ammunition.”

“What was it you said? You hope we can trust each other?” I ask, cutting through his nervous snark. I hold out my hand. "I’m not gonna make you, but- look, do you really think I’d just let you fall?”

"I know you wouldn't," he said, and he takes my hand, holding it tight.

[leedollop]

My Vox Headcanons + Made Up Lore List

Others showed interest in my Vox headcanons, so here they are. Yes, some of them are oddly specific, but making the character my own is one of the things I love to do in my fic writing. So I hope you enjoy these!

Living Life

Vox's father was a local hero who practiced "turn the other cheek" a little too much, while his mother was rather distant, though taught him a lot when it came to surviving through his smarts.

Vox was bullied terribly in high school due to homophobia and being a feminine man, which led him to being wary of jock types. Him being neurodivergent and having a strong drive, not understanding why others disliked discussing these things, also led to him being treated as a perv, which he later embraced.

Vox was a news anchor who spread false information and took bribes.

TW stalking and murder

A creepy fan ended up breaking into his changing room one night. Vox hit them with a lamp in self defense, causing them to hit their head and die. He felt extremely guilty at the time, and it was the first man he'd ever killed.

TW bad mental health

He was often worried he'd end up abandoned and die alone, understanding he was doing the wrong thing but being too afraid to stop.

Vox ended up dying when an old bully threatened to expose him. He shook a shelf so hard in anger that the TV on it fell onto his head and killed him. Hence his sinner form, and the way his screen sparks and his body twitches when he's angry.

This Man Is a Cat

One of his antennas (exclusively left when the right is a zig zag) flicks dramatically and rhythmically to the side whenever he wants to pounce on someone or something. This can be either because he really wants to give them affection, or he's extremely pissed at them.

He loves being scratched beneath his chin and around his antennas, which can get a bit itchy.

Whenever he's sitting on a surface, he will take up as much space as possible and dislikes sharing. The positions he lays in can also be strange.

He adores seafood. His favorite fish is tuna.

He would chase after a laser if someone used it on him.

Food Headcanons

He loves the taste of meat and, for this reason, always gets a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger whenever ordering somewhere. He believes the cheese just deludes the meaty flavor. His favorite meat his beef, sincerely and for humorous reasons.

His go to pizza order is a pepperoni or sausage pizza with extra cheese.

Vox is great at handling spice, though he doesn't tend to eat anything too spicy as he's not a big fan of the flavor. He enjoys sour foods, though nothing too extreme. His favorite type of food is savory.

He tends to dislike mixing sweet and savory foods, unless it pertains to dipping his fries in his strawberry milkshake, because he adores doing that. Fruit or fruit flavors combined with something savory is the only sweet and savory combination he will tolerate. He finds other combinations disgusting.

Vox's favorite fruit is strawberries, but he likes all fruits, except anything citrus, finding the flavor too strong. He loves lemonade though, so long as it is not too sweet or too sour (he's known as a flavor snob for this reason).

When it comes to pancakes, Vox usually just puts butter on them, along with a topping of one or two sliced up fruits. He'll occasionally put syrup on top as well, but not whipped cream, as he'd find that too sweet for his tastes.

Vox prefers cake over pie. He enjoys the way things like cake melt in his mouth and are fluffy in texture. He finds pies gross and "slimy".

Taste Headcanons

Vox publicly says his favorite music is pop or electric pop. However, his favorite music actually mostly consists of old romantic songs. That and "sad horny" songs. Although, he listens to a wide variety of genres.

He secretly loves romantic comedies and romantic novels, though he's too embarrassed to tell anyone else and keeps his collection hidden away.

He's actually been a huge fan of Dickmaster, Adam's band, for quite some time, but he'd never admit this at the risk of inflating Adam's ego or being teased by him.

Vox tends to prefer feminine clothing over masculine clothing. He'd also wear makeup if he didn't worry about being made fun of for it (I lowkey headcanon he is a transwoman, and the egg is yet to crack). He adores playing dress up for fun, and has done so with Velvette, especially around the holidays.

Neurodivergent Things

Vox can sometimes struggle with volume control, being very loud when he's excited. He can also sometimes blurt out extremely blunt or very crass things. This can sometimes make others uncomfortable, so he's very self conscious about it.

He struggles at times to read someone's tone, or understand certain social rules.

Though he is seen as perverted, he just does not understand other adults' reluctance to speak about something that is completely natural. He doesn't understand why some natural things are seen as normal to talk about and others not.

His excited stim involves him shaking his hands to his sides or stamping his feet.

He likes his spaces remaining organized and can be a major germaphobe.

Vox hates too many flavors and textures being mixed together, and is wary of unfamiliar flavors and textures as well. He also tends to dislike overly strong flavor and messy foods he is expected to touch with his hands. Because of this, his go to order at any restaurant is chicken tenders. It's the safe and easiest option.

[runawaymun]

Ohhhh Erestor for like. Everything! But if that’s too much 😅 just for the sleep one? Also glorfindel ;)

Erestor:

☾ - sleep headcanon

He's peredhel, so he sleeps... basically like a human. He needs somewhere between 6-8 hours per night, closes his eyes, and experiences REM.

★ - sad headcanon

I don't have too many of these for Erestor, but I do get sad thinking about, with regards to my headcannon that he was raised among the Haladin, that he basically watched everyone he grew up around die out while he was still pretty "young", and then on top of that-- being "Feanorian" he must have been so ostracized and lonely :(

☆ - happy headcanon

Love the idea of him going to Ost-in-Edhil and being taken under Celebrimbor's wing. I headcannon them as being very close in the second age, bonding over being basically the last of the line, y'know?

☠ - angry/violent headcanon

Erestor never yells when angry. He just gets very, very cold. He's also super calculating and tends not to react to things in the moment, but prefers to plan things out that will come to fruition later.

✿ - Sex headcanon

Sex positive ace :)

■ -  Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon

EXTREMELY tidy. Mess drives him to violence! But he does have the innate human "clutter" thing of collecting objects (books, maps, notebooks, bird feathers mostly). And keeps these all in very orderly collections.

♡ - romantic headcanon

He's not a super romantic type, but if he's fixing your clothes/hair for you or fussing a lot then he probably likes you.

♥ - family headcanon

During the Third Age he lives up in the family's wing in Rivendell (with Glorfindel), and helps raise Arwen and Elladan and Elrohir. He's a huge part of their lives (and a favorite prank target).

☮ - friendship headcanon

He's one of those friends that you always want around because he's not afraid to call you out on your bullshit. He just has a very low tolerance for it. Especially for people who are too hard on themselves (which is why he's so good for Elrond).

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Bird watcher, likes collecting bird feathers and skulls, and is super into architecture.

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

Mess, sour food, & hates hot weather.

▼ - childhood headcanon

already answered here, but have another one: he didn't have any actual siblings, but he grew up well-liked with a small posse of human friends that he'd run around with as a kid. He was very bossy but like, in the kind of way that makes you want to listen to what he says, and always had strong opinions on what games they should play and how to play them.

∇ -. old age/aging headcanon

I'm not sure whether I have one of these due to him being immortal, though I like the idea of him developing a couple gray streaks toward the end of the third age.

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

He doesn't cook a lot, mostly because he can't be bothered. Like, he can, he just doesn't like to & considers it a hassle.

☼ - appearance headcanon

I like to model his face after Lee Joon-Gi :) He looks perfect to me for what I imagine Erestor to look like.

ൠ - random headcanon

Coffee drinker. Where does that coffee come from? I guess the same place that Middle Earth hobbits get their potatoes. 🤷

◉ - Any other question of your choosing

Glorfindel

☾ - sleep headcanon

Blanket hogger. Like obviously elves don't sleep in the way that we do, but he still hates being cold & when he does walk the paths of memory he 'sleeps' like a log.

★ - sad headcanon

Has regular balrog nightmares that he doesn't admit to. He's very macho about the whole balrog/gondolin situation but that shit was genuinely traumatic for him and yeah, he gets nightmares and phantom aches about it.

☆ - happy headcanon

Has a nickname for absolutely everyone. Calls Elrond 'winyamo' (kiddo). :) Elrond calls him 'grandpa'.

☠ - angry/violent headcanon

Ohhhhh he DOES do that sexy noldorin blaze-with-treelight when he's mad.

✿ - Sex headcanon

Very worshipful partner, kind of a horny bastard tbh.

■ -  Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon

Messy. He doesn't mean to be, he just tends to leave things around and not put things away -- a bit forgetful like that.

♡ - romantic headcanon

Oh he is a mess when he's around his partner. 10/10 doting, hopeless romantic, pet names, the whole nine yards.

♥ - family headcanon

Also part of the peredhil family unit, plays pranks with the twins, and responsible for teaching all three of the kids pretty much everything they know about swordplay and footwork. It's not that Elrond doesn't train with them, it's just that Glorfindel's the main teacher in that regard.

☮ - friendship headcanon

Actually super good friends with Galadriel & they refer to each other by their Quenya names.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Very fidgety/has trouble sitting still. Tends to pace during meetings.

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

Adores animals and melts for children. Absolutely can't stand spicy food.

▼ - childhood headcanon

I don't actually have one???? 😭 I have such a hard time imagining Glorfindel as a child actually.

∇ -. old age/aging headcanon

Mellows out considerably with age and kind of just wants to retire in a cottage with his husband. Please don't ask him to rule or do any politics. He just wants to settle down.

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

Loves to cook. Is very bad at it.

☼ - appearance headcanon

IDK I actually disagree with a lot of general depictions of Glorfindel, mostly because I think they're just a bit too fem? Idk how to explain it but he's a huge kronk-y himbo in my head, and a lot of Glorfindel depictions just don't look right to me.

ൠ - random headcanon

He still doesn't braid his hair back for fights, even though he really should.

◉ - Any other question of your choosing

[peppertaemint]

This TaeKey situation is so messed up. Like, I don't blame people for being upset, or hurt, and wanting to let the guys know that the things they say can affect others negatively...  but at the same time the way this is going down is wild. I never thought I'd see shawols react to them like this.

The number of people(some of them that I've been following for a while, who always seemed mature and level headed) who were positively gleeful talking about Taemin and Key "getting their lashings". Calling them disgusting, saying they deserve what's coming to them, they don't want to see anything from them unless it's an apology "with tears" and all the other generally insulting things that people have been saying about their appearances and them as people.

It's like people were just waiting for their moment to turn. Or they're so desperate to show that they're "good" and they're not one of "those" fans that puts idols on a pedestal that they've gone tol far in the opposite direction and just gotten nasty.

Like, maybe I'm stupid, maybe I am one of those fans that's putting them on a pedestal but I'd like to think that Taekey are generally good kind people who always do their best to be respectful. Of course they're gonna fuck up every so often. There isn't a person alive who doesn't have some kind of internal bias about something, whether they're aware of it or not. But when someone I care about screws up, I would think the best course of action would be to say "hey, I know you probably didn't mean it maliciously, but the connotations of what you said are kind of shitty. Especially to people with darker skin tones and I hope you can consider that going forward" my first thought wouldnt be to call them disgusting and essentially get a megaphone to announce their fuckup all over social media so as many people as possible can see it and join the hate train.

I just hate this so much. And now stupid sm is just editing the video and the members probably have no clue about it and the people who are angry are getting even angrier and even more nasty.

I wish Taekey could address this but unfortunately I really don't see it happening and then it's like,where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here? A good question.

I think that where we don't go, but it's too late because it's already happening, is commenting on Taemin's IG that he should collaborate with Morgan Wallen. How is that helpful? It's disingenuous.

As someone from Canada, TaeKey's words were gross and not cool. But I also understand that they aren't from my culture, and because I watch a lot of Korean content, I know what is seen as acceptable there. That doesn't mean it's acceptable to me personally.

They deserve fans telling them how they feel honestly. And I think in the majority of cases that has happened. But like you say, some people are taking this extremely far and turning it into an excuse to be nasty, when I don't think TaeKey meant anything other than childish/ignorant making fun. That doesn't mean what they said was okay or should be overlooked, but intention and someone's character does count for something, does it not?

People keep leaving all sorts of remarks on IG, WeVerse, Twitter etc so I would say at this point, they should be aware there's a large swathe of the fandom unhappy. I did put my thoughts on WeVerse and Bubble - but I did that once and let it be. I'm not harassing people.

SM editing the video makes it worse because clearly management or at least the YouTube team know about the issue. But from what I heard, they didn't edit it well, and I think that speaks to the lack of knowledge around this issue. The staff members likely don't understand fully what the issue is and how it makes fans from certain areas feel, so they guessed at how to make it better and mostly failed.

Cultural exchange is full of this kind of uncomfortable stuff. It's easier when it's on a personal level, because then we can have a conversation with the person/people directly. We can't exactly do that, but fans have social media to use, which they are.

[true-blue-sonic]

all four hedgehogs for the ask game

Sonic:

My boy! I don't talk about him a lot, but I think Sonic is a great character. He is incredibly inspirational to me, and I think I'll always have a soft spot for him because it is through his games that I gained the level of English I have now. Sonic is tremendously powerful, and I like how he both just does whatever he wants, but that "whatever he wants" is helping other people. He's got far more layers to him than you would see at first glance, and that is why I think it's sometimes hard for fans (myself included! I tend to make him too idealistic imo) to get him right. So yeah, a highly intriguing character that I cherish deeply!

Shadow:

Another cool character! This is interesting, because I was wayyyyy too young to play Sonic Heroes when it came out, but I do not disagree with the sentiment that reintroducing him one (1) game after SA2 was perhaps too quick. Especially considering the four storylines and twelve characters of Heroes, it feels a bit... odd? That Shadow just appeared again with amnesia and not that much attention brought to it, not at all helped by all the confusion of the Shadow Androids and whether or not he was the real one to begin with. Then add Battle making things more confusing with him allegedly having his memory back, and then StTH on top, haha. That being said, I think he's got a solid characterisation in '06, and I like his backstory and design a lot as well. I can certainly see why he is so popular in the fandom.

Amy:

Huh... I also like Amy, but none of these statements are really applicable, haha! I like Amy's optimism and her being the heart of the team, but also her occasional no-nonsense attitude and the fact she can be hot-tempered. She's not only a sweet innocent lil bby girl, but she's also not constantly angry and therefore unlikeable because of that. I would say that the early 2000s had WAY too much of the latter, what with her constant chasing after Sonic in just an unfun way to me (still thinking of her characterisations in Rush and Battle there), but she's gotten a lot better over the years, I feel like. She's sweet and kind but knows what she wants, and I quite like seeing her appear.

Silver:

My favourite character <3 <3

Usually I am not fond of the "So Literally Me" statements, but there's quite a few things in our personalities wherein Silver and I match. But what I like about him is that he's also got characteristics that I lack myself, such as his determination and his never-ending hope and just how far he is willing to go to make everyone happy. I find it incredibly inspiring! It did not take long for Silver to become my favourite (at first it was Blaze for a few months), and somehow he always finds his way back to the position. I really cannot think of anything about him personally I dislike: it's mostly just that it seems very difficult for fans and official/"official" media alike to see just what makes him who he is. He's not a weakass bby cinnamon roll 100, but he's also not a rage-driven idiot asshole (where my hot take of the day is that in the Rivals games, they actually manage to strike a balance between both these extremes as well!), and the only game wherein he was truly shown as naive and easily deceived was '06. There's a lot going on with his personality, and I love dissecting it all.

I would love to see more of him; I understand why Sega swiftly removed him from any large roles following '06 and its reception, but I also feel that Silver is becoming more popular again, at least on Tumblr. So maybe one day he'll get a game of his own, or be featured in a larger role than in prior instalments? Iizuka did say it is not impossible, in 2018. I do wonder how they'll make it work with his powers in a game series that focuses on speed first and foremost, but perhaps it'll be less of an issue if he's not presented alongside a speedier Sonic. Regardless, I'm (almost) always happy to see Silver appear!

[godofstrife]

starter for @manxietydisorder

thomas // maesello

Becoming the newly proclaimed king in a small kingdom in the Pindos mountains had not been hard at all, Maesello had found out from first hand experience. Some compulsion was all that he needed to make the royal family believe he was their rightful son and heir. A similar trick had worked on the small population high up in the mountains. He spoke Greek, after all, which made the shift to the regional Aromanian language variants almost natural. Their structures that are influenced by Greek, as well as the fact that Maesello had an infinite amount of time on his hands, made adapting his language use quick and easy. He had taken the position of king about fifteen years ago at this point, which for him seemed still newly proclaimed. Maesello's sense of time was, however, highly distorted. He had been moving around the world for the past six hundred years, fifteen years was nothing to him. He had seen the world change, nations fall and rise, wars fought and disease spread. Now he had gotten the reigns to a little, prospering kingdom, he was not as aware of the time that passed anymore. Although each year, he was reminded of his coronation in the early 1710s, which gave him some sense of time.

Keeping a court with humans, on the other hand, was a lot harder for the new king. His nature was not helping him in this regard, but he also held a certain disdain toward the species. It was not a rare occurance that Maesello had to replace his staff after he got angry with them over something minor and killed them off. Nor was it rare for him to drink from his court and end up killing them. His thirst was insatiable, even after his six centuries on this earth. He had never been taught how to, nor did he manage to teach himself how to control himself. He had been made this way, and he had completely accepted it. In turn, his court was frequently replaced; but there was nothing that a little compulsion could not fix after all. There were more than enough poor humans that were in need of a job and more importantly, a place to stay. Maesello knew that he had an almost endless supply of humans at his disposal.

He had recently had one of his 'purges' again, meaning he needed new court staff. He had found people for most of his positions, although the position of footman was still open. This was mostly because he did not like humans coming close to him, yet not having a footman would be suspicious. He had had an eye on a human that had been in the care of the court's services for a while for this position, a poor human man who seemed completely depended yet also extremely devoted to his court. Maesello decided that this was the man he wanted to be at his side, at least for now, as a footman. He had not spoken to the younger man before, though, he had only seen him. More importantly, he had smelled the blood the young man carried. The harsh manual labour had made the young man bleed before and Maesello could not get the scent out of his mind. He was not sure if this would be a good thing for him, keeping a human with alluring blood near by, but he was going to do so anyway. Maesello had never let any sense of morality stop him after all.

He had ordered the young man over, Thomas Cullen was his name he only then learned. The few court members left from his previous purge seemed wary about letting Thomas near the king, yet they could not do anything against his direct orders. He stood in his meeting room, waiting for the young man to come in. He had thought of meeting the man in his throne room, but he did not really enjoy being there. The imagery present upset him greatly. He held a glass of red liquid, something that simulated a red wine. When he heard the door open, he turned from the window he had been looking out of, his sharp eyes meeting the young man's directly. "Thomas Cullen, I am glad you could make it." he spoke, his voice was smooth and deep as he did. He stepped closer, gesturing to the couches in the room, "Please sit down, Thomas." he beckoned, crossing his own legs as he sat down. "Because of your wonderful work, darling," he offered the human a glass of red wine as well as he was speaking, "I am offering you the position of being my Footman." As he finished speaking he sat back. "What do you say, darling?" he asked then, raising an eye brow as he waited for the human's response. He was aware that his dear servants may have warned the human, but there was nothing a little manipulation could not fix, no, his pet names were solely the beginning of that.

[bronanlynch]

once again I've watched more anime than done anything else this week but I promise I also have other stuff to talk abt

listening (podcast):

Great Gundam Project: almost done with their 0079 episodes and it's so funny to hear how confused and surprised they are that Newtypes don't get mentioned until the last 10 episodes. also, once again, hearing them talk about Char reminds me that I miss seeing Char on my television screen :/

Palisade: once again it was crazy good this week. shout out to fucked up dream sequences/visions of alternate futures, gotta genuinely be one of my favorite storytelling devices

listening (music): MakeDamnSure by Taking Back Sunday, which is going on my Partizan/Palisade playlist for Balence reasons

reading:

Imperial Uncle: got to more fun reveals that make the main relationship a lot tastier and more fun. still having a good time with this one

The Death I Gave Him: part of the appeal of this book for me (other than that I love Hamlet & Hamlet retellings) is the romance with the sentient lab AI. this should shock absolutely no one (at least no one who knows me as the Sokrates/Integrity guy lol) but I'm real into stuff that explores like, how intimacy works when you don't each have your own separate bodies

A Power Unbound: also started & finished something I've been looking forward to, A Power Unbound by Freya Marske, the third book in a romance/historical fantasy trilogy (different main characters for each) set mostly in Edwardian England. I've enjoyed the other books in the series, and I enjoyed this one too (though I think I prefer the other two for reasons that probably don't have to do with the actual quality of this book and have more to do with what I like & don't like in a main relationship, and actually it's a testament to how strong the writing was that the relationship worked for me anyway, because it did feel earned in terms of both characterization & themes, even though it's the sort of relationship dynamic that I tend to be hesitant about because I often see it done very badly in fanfic in ways that do a disservice to the personalities of both characters involved). anyway. my actual review is that I love fucked up magic houses and there are several of those in this book so shout out to that, and one of the main characters is extremely my type (short, angry, hates the aristocracy, etc)

watching:

I'm in Love with the Villainess: we're caught up now, and I do love class conflict even if I'm sure it's going to be incredibly simplistic and silly because that's the show this is (which I am fine with, to be clear, this is a romance anime based on lovingly parodying otome games, I am treating it with the same kind of seriousness that I would treat something like Scum Villain)

Bakeoff: I'm glad that this year they seem to be better about not putting way too much weight on the showstopper and sometimes deciding star baker based on other challenges like. finally some respect for people who do really well in the signature!!

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: I mean. I've been posting through it about this one so I don't think I have any new insights here just. man. I love it when a major character death is done really well. what a show (positive)

Gundam Seed: you may, at this point, be asking why Seed is our next Gundam after finishing ZZ, especially when every week I talk about pining for Char. the answer is because my roommate watched some of it a while ago and wanted to revisit it, and also because we're saving Char's Counterattack for when we get really desperate for Gundam that isn't Seed. anyway. Seed is fun so far!

the above description of Gundam Seed was written a few days ago when we first started but before we got to the info dump about what's up with Coordinators & Naturals so I'm editing this to say: oof. it really is like what if someone took all of the parts of the original Newtype stuff that I was most skeptical about, took out all of the metaphorical stuff from Zeta that redeemed the concept for me, and then explicitly added literal eugenics. don't like that!

the other thing about Seed is the misogyny which like. god. at least the misogyny in Zeta felt more interesting to think about. at least it felt like Tomino was saying things about gender even if I didn't always like it. this is just peak early 2000s misogyny where everyone including the writers hates women so much that every man comes across as incredibly gay because their relationships with other men are treated so much more seriously

at this point you might be asking what I actually like about this show since I've been complaining for several paragraphs and the answer is I love it when childhood friends end up on the opposite sides of a war. also, a lot of Seed feels like it's trying very hard to Be A Gundam Show (for better or worse tbh, I can feel myself being marketed to, I can practically hear Bandai being like, hey remember how cool it is when a blue-and-white mobile suit fights a pinkish-red mobile suit, don't you want to buy some models), and I am not immune to classic Gundam shit like "oops these kids are involved in a war now because the military was developing a top-secret superweapon right next to where they live" and "your lives are at risk and/or you might get arrested for trying to protect your friends because the higher-ups are incompetent/selfish/do not care about you." I am also not immune to squads of edgy anime boys, or giant robots that each have their own special weapon/power, or whatever the fuck Le Creuset's got going on. I love him. I still miss Char and he's not quite filling that void but I do love him

playing:

another session of my Blades in the Dark campaign, based on the image below (from here). the crew was asked to get the sea serpent to go away and leave ships alone, and absolutely no one was surprised that the secret actual mission was to protect the sea serpent (a baby one) from the coast guard who were going to try to make it leave but more violently because we're playing Blades like it's a game about befriending creatures (see also: Missy is currently trying to resocialize a former fighting goat and Xiao Yun collects extremely fucked up birds)

Ace Attorney 5: not very far into the trial but man. sorry for falling for the trilogy nostalgia but I love to have Edgeworth as a prosecutor, I love the energy that he and Phoenix have, I'm such a sucker for defense attorney & prosecutor working together to find the truth and also they're in love

making: vaguely spanakopita-inspired stuffed pastry wreath. we made it once before and put too much extra vegetable in that released too much water while it was baking so the dough just straight up did not cook. we did it better this time! the dough is actually baked! (it's store-bought crescent rolls, we did not make the dough). anyway. there's spinach and mushroom and herbed goat cheese in there, and it's tasty

drinking: the grocery store had peppermint bark creme liqueur, and it's pretty good in hot chocolate

writing: continued to pick away at a zine fic, figured out what I want to write for my Nirvana in Fire exchange fic, and also did a little bit more on the Integrity fic that I've been working on. it has been a minute since I've written an action scene huh

The Principality knows how to contain divines, to leash them, to defang them and bend their powers to its will. And Integrity is an old divine, and never among the most awe-inspiring. Integrity is a small, quiet thing, precise and intimate and not suited for flashy displays of power like many of its fellows. But it is a divine nonetheless, and when it fights, it brings death. Orbit-and-Integrity steps into the corridor where the Princept fled. Orbit bares their remaining teeth, blood pooling in their mouth and seeping through the seams that begin to open in Integrity’s armor where it no longer has the focus to keep them closed.