#For who gets the sympathy and excuses for doing wrong and who does not

[izzyfishie]

IZZY'S PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS ON GI-HUN AND IN-HO’S DYNAMIC

some friends encouraged me to finally post this long essay, so here i am!

some pre-post notes:

this is NOT an inhun analysis. the admin of this post does not like inhun whatsoever, nor do they feel the need to be "swayed" into liking inhun. this is just a non-romantic/non-sexual exploration of in-ho and gi-hun's dynamic, brushing past the surface.

however, this is also not an inhun hate post or an attack on those who do ship them. people are entitled to their own opinions, this just happens to be mine, as well as the select people who beta read this analysis post LOL

without further ado, let's get into things.

i think gi-hun confuses in-ho. and not in the “wow i’m gay for him haha” way everybody thinks.

gi-hun makes in-ho question his morals and person, to say the least. he’s confused, and likely angry about that fact. he manipulates gi-hun as young-il to show him the way the world works, and prove him wrong. i also feel like, like il-nam, he would take his beliefs to the grave. it’s just like. when you’re religious for the longest time and confirmation bias the shit out of that until suddenly all those beliefs are being refuted by somebody. that’s probably where the “slightly rooting for him” thing came from as well

but at the same time, in-ho still has anger and likely some sort of envy towards gi-hun — he is the thing in-ho is not morally. and gi-hun is breaking the system set up and breaking his cynical beliefs. so yes, despite what inhun fans think, i do really think he does want to see gi-hun suffer.

but no matter what, even if gi-hun were to show sympathy for in-ho despite his heinous crimes, i do not think in-ho will be fully forgiven, nor do i think he deserves forgiveness. he still has/had autonomy. his trauma can be an explanation, but never an excuse.

not to mention, we forget in-ho was previously a police officer. what do police officers do? guys.. acab.. come on.. i refuse to believe in-ho was fully a good person before the games. until there is genuine concrete canonical proof, i cannot believe it. did he have good qualities? yes. everybody has good and bad qualities. but i also believe he developed a lot of cynicism and moral disengagement over the years, and the games later solidified that.

when he’s playing as young-il, he’s trying to play god, and show gi-hun reality. he does this in many ways – puts their lives on the line during the six-legged pentathlon, uses his words in ways to make gi-hun fall down a pit of questioning, etc. but gi-hun never breaks! and this confuses the shit out of in-ho.

i do firmly believe in-ho is a bad person beyond redemption. nothing can excuse the thousands of deaths he oversaw willingly. unless we somehow find out he’s being forced or coerced into this, which is highly unlikely considering his genuine beliefs on humanity, it is made evident that in-ho is willingly doing this.

at the end of the day, he still did the things he did. he still toyed with lives, and oversaw the deaths and displacement of thousands. he believes he’s doing the right thing, but does that really justify any of it? it does not.

another thing i want to say. i believe gi-hun would give in-ho mercy, not forgiveness. gi-hun is a good person. but he is not naive. he is strongly set on his morals and has been affected deeply by the games set up, and would likely show in-ho mercy without absolution. he never forgave il-nam, did he? (i know it’s not exactly the same since il-nam set the games up but in-ho is still endorsing them!! he still has autonomy despite what people will say. that’s why i said mercy.)

“but izzy,, he forgave sang-woo!”

and this is where i diverge from the topic for a moment.

sang-woo and gi-hun had a past. gi-hun knew sang-woo in ways he didn’t know in-ho or other people. also, there’s no way gi-hun would have immediately forgiven sang-woo. like i said, he is very strongly set on his morals. gi-hun would forgive sang-woo at some point because he knows sang-woo, and he knows the kid in sang-woo that wouldn’t have done this. they had a strong connection. also also.. sang-woo is a victim of the games. it’s not like he had a choice; he was just trying to survive, as was everybody in the games.

season 2 gi-hun has also learned that the players are not at fault. i think that notion would help him show more forgiveness for sang-woo. while yes, he KNOWS killing is wrong, i think s2 gi-hun has definitely realized more that they are the victims, not the ones to blame, the GAME MASTERS are (cough IN-HO). therefore, i think while gi-hun didn't forgive sang-woo right off the bat, his development, along with his genuine CARE for him would have. anybody who denies they care for each other is just pure wrong. while s1 gi-hun was fighting for himself and his mother, and FOR THE MONEY, s2 gi-hun is fighting for the players as a whole. that sentiment definitely set in after the limo scene AND il-nam and his final interaction!!

this is also why the in-ho to sang-woo pipeline comparison doesn’t sit 100% well with me. they have similarities, of course, and they’ve both done questionable things. they also have both challenged gi-hun’s morals. but sang-woo’s actions CANNOT compare to the extremity of in-ho’s situation. people may deny it as much as they want, but in-ho is fucked. up. as stated earlier, trauma is not an excuse for that. sang-woo was thrown into a situation that, might i add, in-ho assisted in. gi-hun is sympathetic of the players, seeing them as the victims in this situation. and YES i KNOW in-ho was a player so don’t jump on my dick with that argument. VOLITIONAL AUTONOMY is key here. gi-hun would physically not be able to understand why in-ho turned out the way he did.

alright. back to the original topic.

now, about gi-hun’s feelings on young-il… i don’t think he has more feelings for young-il as opposed to the other players. “young-il” made himself more visible to gi-hun intentionally, and did what he could to get closer to him, which does make it kind of impossible to ignore somebody like that. i don’t think gi-hun was more drawn to young-il. as we’ve said before, young-il made himself appear more. when somebody is in your proximity, you think about them more. also, as i’ve said before, “young-il” had a child and a wife at home!! gi-hun likely feels a lot of responsibility and sympathy. and we see this with jun-hee, too. it doesn’t feel like the same “if you die I will feel empty inside because i'd miss your company” we see with jung-bae or sang-woo. to me, it reads more as the guilt and general sympathy that this man has a wife and an unborn child that he has the possibility of losing. young-il just made those feel more personal by getting close to gi-hun and, yes, manipulating him.

in conclusion, in-ho and gi-hun have a very compelling dynamic that to me personally gets ruined when romance comes into play. people are entitled to their own opinions but the general mischaracterization of in-ho pisses me off and i really don’t see them working out in a romantic sense whatsoever.

[princess-glassred]

If i were to give my two cents on it, as a henry fan, i'd say the solution to this is just acknoweldge that Henry is not a good person and is ideals, no matter how he gets them ate unacceptable and deserve to be criticized. The losers club have every right to be mad at Henry for hurting them because of his own issues the same that Eddie has every right to be mad at Sonia and Henry has every right to he mad at butch. Butch Bowers has ptsd that has made him so paranoid he believes the entire town is against him and black people are evil, Sonia Kaspbrak lost her husband to cancer and nearly lost her newborn son to a sickness. They both have reasons due to mental health but you can't exactly excuse one mental health crisis over the other. It's not henry's fault that he's racist just like it's not a white persons fault they're born into white privilege, but it still doesn't give you leeway to use it to undermine minorities.

But also henry is a very special case, where because of how he was raised and the life he was born into it's hard to expect henry to be any different. How was henry ever supposed to change at all when there was never the resources to do such a thing? He's still hurting people and getting rewarded for brutalizing his classmates and animals, so he deserves push back of at least some kind. But you have to acknowledge said push back is just so pointless and that makes it all the more sadder. Like mike deserves to be able to get some kind of satisfaction after all the shit henry through his way, but all of that is pointless for both him and Henry because at the end of the day the system benifits from seeing them tear each other apart. Mike's not wrong for feeling angry, but he knows it's pointless, especially as an adult when he's basically a zombie.

I think Mike deserves to give Henry some kind of karma because racism hurts people and Mike deserves much better than that (as do all minorities), but it's tragically pointless in the grand scheme of things and mike knows that. It won't actually make him feel better. It won't make henry better. It's what IT and this stupid town wants.

So i guess what i'm trying to say is, maybe Henry shouldn't be BLAMED but he should he held ACCOUNTABLE by his victims. Because ofc it's not Henry's fault hes racist and if nobody did anything to stop it he's also not at fault for continuing when he didn't understand. But he still hurt mike and everybody else ans they have the right to hate him and have no sympathy and not forget, and the only reason mike does so is because mike is a kind and smart man who understands this is just part of its grand scheme. He can't and shouldn't forgive him, but Mike can understand him, and he can acknowledge that Henry needs to get out just like they do, so he will help him. Not because racism is okay but because he's vulnerable and mike is natural protector. It's his duty to protect this shitty racist town and all of the people in it, even the shitty racist people.

As a Henry Bowers fan i really don't like when people white wash his racism, not only is it a terrible message but it also lessons his role in the story and character. Henry is racist and thats a facet of who he is and if you cannot acknowledge that because it makes you feel weird then you don't really like Henry Bowers, you just like a fannon interpritation of him.

This is not at all directed at you though Naz, i know you well enough to know you actually acknowledge henrys terrible views. This is more so directed at some other bowers gang fans i've seen. I trust your heart is in the right place naz, and i see your points and agree with quite a few. Im very middle of the road in this debate tbh. I see both of your points and find this discussion honestly very interesting a complicated cause its murky.

EXTREMELY unpopular opinion:

I do not hold Henry Bowers accountable for his actions and I don't understand people that do, or that blame him for his behavior and say he deserved a punishment for it.

He was 12 years old, a literal child.

Henry was reactive and with severe mental health issues, pennywise genuinely made him schizophrenic at twelve, he was in 5th grade for fucks sake.

He was trained to act a certain way, talk a certain way, feel a certain way, and the only way he knew how to express himself was with violence, he didn't use violence with the intent of 'hurting' but with the intent of communicating, whether angry, sad, scared, frustrated, it's pretty clear he was fueled by fear half the times.

He doesn't understand his actions and doesn't comprehend they're wrong because he's never been taught they are wrong.

Beating him, humiliating him or punishing him would not help, period. Henry did not have an ego problem, he does not need to get his image damaged further, because he already thinks lowly of himself, you just can't help an abused child by hurting him further.

He shouldn't be punished anyways because it just wasn't his fault, how can you hold that kind of child accountable for what he did, the same way you'd hold accountable an adult?

How can you look at me and tell me that a fifth grader than was sent back TWICE because he sucked so bad at school, doesn't know how affection feels like and is still scared of the dark, is somewhat mentally intelligent enough to understand that what he was doing was wrong?

I don't particularly know why I'm so strong about this, but I've been there, I've been the troubled child in that sense, a lot of rage and sadness because you simply don't know what's going on and don't realize what people around you are doing to you.

[spear-carrier-number-three]

the rampant kant hate in this fandom isn't surprising but it is exasperating.

[sunseed-fandump]

Considering the kids are after the Soul Jam in the Bad Batch AU, what do the Ancients think of them?

Hollyberry Cookie appreciates their spunk and strong ambition, but is concerned when it comes to their outlook. She’s a mother, she can’t help but see them for what they are: troubled kids who don’t understand what they’re getting mixed up in. While she doesn’t know what they’ve been through, and she certainly believes they need a good scolding for all the trouble they’ve caused, she thinks they have good hearts underneath their attitudes.

Dark Cacao Cookie is not impressed with them. After all, they might be children, but that does not excuse the things they’ve done. Wizard’s blatant practice of forbidden magics especially rubs him the wrong way. They lack honor, discipline, and have shown no remorse, therefore they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. (But a part of him, that part of him that hopes to see his son again, hopes that maybe they can be turned away from this dark path like his son.)

Golden Cheese Cookie wasn’t thrilled when the kids tried to destroy the Golden City, but when Gingerbrave chewed her out, it gave her pause. It didn’t so much offer her a new perspective on herself, like the boy had been trying, but offered her a new perspective on him. She sees that he and his friends are children who have lost everything, but where she had the power to attempt to regain everything she had lost, they didn’t have the luxury. She feels pity towards them as a result, still not 100% happy with them, but she isn't as quick to condemn them as she otherwise would have been.

White Lily Cookie looks at them and knows exactly what’s going through their heads. If anyone can relate to them, it's her, the hero who brushed up against darkness and was broken apart as a result. If she were to find out about their origins, especially Gingerbrave’s suffering at the hand of the Witch, Strawberry’s horror upon seeing a cookie get eaten, even Wizard’s close call with being devoured, she’d feel nothing but pure sympathy.

Pure Vanilla Cookie has the most hope for the children, and wants nothing more than to give them the compassion they have been sorely missing. They are lost, confused, lead astray, and have hurt many cookies as a result. His wish for all Cookies to be happy extends to them. Even if the world has totally given up on them, he will not. If they are ever truly sorry for all they’ve done, and they try to seek redemption, then he will always reach out a hand for them to take. They need only find the strength to take it.

He remembers the time they spent together while he was still Healer Cookie. He remembers how they flinched away from touch as if expecting to he struck. How they thought his kindness and concern was fake, as if he were trying to get something from them. How they weren't at all surprised when the villagers of the Raisin village had tried to kick them out, as if they had experienced such treatment multiple times.

He sees their hostility is hiding deep wounds that have never fully healed, and those wounds have festered into these violent habits.

He puts his duties as a healer before his duties as a king. It is his duty to help those who are hurting. And these children are very very hurt...

[cherryxblossxms]

Hm upon posting that Beelzebub thing, realized it'd be very embarrassing to be in Hell while on your period.... Beelzebub is already bad enough, but I feel like the others who aren't as familiar with humans or human bodies and menstruation, the second they smell blood, they're freaking out 😭 anyway, here's some headcanons for just the kings:

◇ Satan probably has some general idea of what a period is, he's fairly knowledgeable, but there's a solid minute where he's ready to kill because he smells blood on you and is convinced you've been hurt. Takes a lot of restraining to get him calm enough to listen to you so you can tell him it's just your monthlies. After that he's pretty good. Doesn't like to see you in pain, and he gets very restless knowing there's not really anything he can do. It's the only time he'll let you cuddle with Ppyong, if it makes you feel better. He'll likely scare off everyone else, though, and prefers to keep you where he can see you until it's done.

◇ Mammon is wonderfully sweet when learning about your period, and is probably a rare one to ask questions about the info you give him, too. He has the wealth to get you everything you need for your period... and then some. Every new gadget out there, he's buying it for you to try. It's over the top but he means well. His master hurting causes him hurt, too. Even Bimet is a little kinder in his words (and its a good time to milk a little sympathy from him with your tears, because he panics wonderfully).

◇ Leviathan gets extra anxious and irritated around you, almost like he's having sympathetic period symptoms, but it's also just because he smells the blood and it brings up bad memories. He's a little gentler, at least, and maybe tries to keep you settled in a room of his choosing until your period is done. Brings you whatever you need because seeing you suffering does tug on his heartstrings, even if he won't admit it. He's a sweetheart, but he'd rather explode than let on that he cares. He's also going to ward off others from seeing you, wanting to be the only one taking care of you in this sensitive state, much to the disappointment of his three men.

◇ Belphegor will rub against you wrong during your period, but never intentionally. He cares, but he doesn't care like that, you know? Beleth will really be the saving grace here, talks to you in that kind Southern drawl he's got, fetches you a drink and a blanket if you need it. Probably will apologize on behalf of his king for being a piece of work when you're suffering lmao. But at least Belphegor makes for a great napping partner. If you get horny and need him, he doesn't mind the period part. But, he will leave the cleaning up to you or his right hand man. In fact, he may even sleep through the sex itself, tbh.

◇ Asmodeus.......... He's no stranger to periods whatsoever. It goes without saying, but number one thing with him will be period sex. He's heard enough about how sex could help relieve your pain, and he's more than happy to volunteer to help in that regard. But that being said, he's not entirely shameless. If you manage to resist him, he'll make do with holding you and maybe telling you some tales from his visits to Earth, raunchy or not, as a means of distraction for you. You'll just have to excuse his thing poking into you the whole time, and perhaps some wandering hands.

◇ We've already discussed Beelzebub previously, but just to keep it all together... He's a freak. Its not his favorite time, per se, but he still kind of loves when you're on your period??? He's always obsessed with your scent and it's even worse during your monthly. Another one who is happy to fuck you or eat you out during your period if you want him to. But if not, then he'll satisfy himself just hanging around. Similar to Belphegor, he may get on your nerves, so high likelihood that Bael will be the one helping you the most, not that he'll complain about it. He does have the same philia as his king so he does enjoy being around you, too, he's just much more courteous about it.

◇ Lucifer will be the most normal one, somehow, long familiar with periods and how to help them. He doesn't exactly have Midol or Aleve, or typical period products, but he'll work it out. Probably makes some kind of medicinal compound out of herbs that relieves pain, and he at least supplies you with cloths as your pads. He knows, too, what foods you should eat that will best replenish your iron, your energy, and decrease fatigue. Really, his whole squad is in on it, working to make you feel better until your period is done, and it's a little embarrassing. But they all mean well, and if anyone's ideal for care, it'll be the healers.

[mikkomacko]

Suspect Gone Wrong

A little Mob Nico blurb inspired by @angelinethompson 🫶

____________________________________________

“Where’s Nico?”

You turn to the open patio door, smiling at Jack standing there, hair damp from a shower and the clothes he slept in last night thrown back on.

“Went on his morning run.” You reply, looking back out towards the yard where Moose is roaming around. Pawing at the fresh soil you and Alex spread throughout the flower beds, nose twitching and sniffing. Nico always tries to take the poor things on runs with him, spend some father-puppy time together but Moose isn’t a running dog. He’s get him down the block maybe and then have to carry the giant pup back to the house.

So he stays with you, who also hates running.

“Lame,” Jack comments, joining you on the top porch step. You watch Moose mosey around the yard, note the budding trees and sprouting flowers that are growing with the warmer temperatures. Jack scrolls through his phone for a moment, then turns to you.

“Wanna make a TikTok?”

~~~~

Giggling, you aim the camera at Jack. He’s stretching out his muscles in a low lunge, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and you hit record, nodding for him to go.

He springs into a jog, you following him and trying to hold the phone steady. “Suspect’s biggest fear is getting something in his eye.”

Jack stops, turning to look at you wide eyed. “I can’t do eyedrops!” He defends, and you pause to switch places with him. You run this time, ducking around the bare branches of the backyard trees.

“Suspect treats her dog like he’s her son and it’s really scary.”

“Hey!” You laugh, already grabbing at the phone. Jack chuckles, getting into place and you hit record.

“Suspect got his license taken away by his boss and now has to passenger princess with his baby brother.”

His face immediately turns red, excuses falling from his mouth that you can’t hear over your own laughing. Jack ends up just ripping the phone from your hands, grumbling for you to go.

“Suspect went to an Ivy League school but gets love dumb every time her boyfriend is around.”

You bust out laughing, not at all taking Jack’s jab seriously but by the way he just grumbles at you, you think the intention was to bug you. Hesitantly, you swap places, thinking carefully about your words.

“Suspect has a longer hair care routine than me.”

Jack doesn’t laugh, but he smirks proudly, tousling his messy hair with a wink at the camera. “Worth every penny, now hand it over.”

You guys switch again. “Suspects whole personality is her boyfriend.”

“It is not!” You argue, pointing at him. “I have a dog too!”

Jack snickers, swapping with you again and you bristle. Any feelings of sympathy or playing nice has quickly faded.

“Suspect has a boy crush on my boyfriend and copies everything he does.”

Jack gapes, the two of you exchanging heated glares as you hand off the phone.

“Suspect doesn’t even have a real job but sleeps like she pays the bills.”

That ticks you off even more, anger and offense growing between you two with each role reversal.

“Suspect will give drinks to five girls every night and still end up going home alone with his baby brother.”

“Suspect gets one drink in her and is bending over in public for her boyfriend!”

“Suspect says he’s 5’11 but is actually 5’9 and a half!”

“Suspect has one friend and it’s because he gets paid to follow her around!”

You falter, heart hammering painfully in your chest and almost immediately tears sting at your eyes. Staring at Jack, the wicked gleam in his eye slowly fades as he realizes you’ve got wet eyes and your cheeks and neck have turned a splotchy red.

“Wait, no-“

“S’fine,” you cut in, yanking your phone from his hand and locking it. Then you turn, hastily crossing the yard to head back inside. You can hear Jack yelling after you, scrambling to keep up and Moose rises from his slumber on the porch as you near.

You duck into the house, Moose growling behind you and you hear Jack mutter a “damn dog.” But he doesn’t follow, most likely to smart to challenge the dog Nico trained to protect you.

Sniffling, you curse yourself for not being able to just take the fucking joke. You’ll be fine and you can shake it off in a bit but it’s too embarrassing to face Jack right now. You just need a few minutes to hide.

Unfortunately any attempts at hiding in the house are ruined when you run smack dab into Nico’s damp shirt.

“Whoa, whoa what’s going on?” He steadies you by the elbows, “what happened?”

Looking at his feet, you try to stealthily wipe at your eyes but he’s already seen your tear stained face. Nico grabs your chin, makes you look up at him. His hair is darker than usual, damp with sweat and his cheeks look all ruddy and shiny. His eyes search your face, worried and sympathetic.

Your lip wobbles and you can’t help it. You fall into his chest, curling in on yourself when he immediately wraps you up in his arms. He doesn’t smell great, not at all but you don’t care.

“Jack hurt my feelings.” You sniffle, and Nico strokes your hair.

“What did he say?”

“That Timo is only my friend because you pay him to be.”

You can hear the sharp inhale Nico takes, arms tightening just the slightest bit. Somewhere behind you, Jack has gotten back into the house.

“It was a joke Nico!” Jack pleads, that nervous pitch raising his voice. “For TikTok, I didn’t mean to-“

“Out,” Nico orders firmly, effectively quieting Jack. “Go home.”

Embarrassed, Jack mumbles “I can’t drive.”

It would be funny if you weren’t still upset about his comment. Nico doesn’t think it’s funny either by the way he sighs in annoyance. “To your room, now.”

You hear Jack scramble to get away from Nico, disappearing up the large staircase.

“I’m just being a baby,” you mutter sadly. “It was a joke but I-“

“It’s not a joke,” Nico assures, “that’s not a joke. He’s lucky you cried and didn’t swing for the jaw instead.”

Wetly, you giggle. Nico pecks a kiss to the top of your head. “Musli,” he calls softly, “guet hund.” Th dog pads away happily, pleased with the affirmation from Nico.

“You really need a shower,” you say into his shoulder and he snorts.

“Alright, let’s go.”

~~~~

Two days later you and Jack are fine. He apologized, you accepted it and told him you were just caught off guard. Nico glared at him, thumped him on the back of the head just once and then everything went back to normal.

Well almost normal.

“What are we doing Nico?”

He stops at the end of the large hallway, flicking on the light. “Making a better video.” He says casually.

Your heart warms, filling with love to the point that it almost hurts. “You want to be in my TikTok?”

Nico chuckles. “Not regularly but I’ll do it for this one, ok?”

Not wanting him to change his mind, you dig out your phone. He knows how the video works having heard about and seen yours with Jack. So he starts recording, urging you to jog down the hall with a nudge to your hip.

“Suspect is so pretty men will trip trying to hold a door for her and she’ll still say they’re just being polite.”

“They are!” You laugh, butterflies swarming your gut when Nico giggles too.

He just grins, the two of going back to the end of the hall and switching places.

“Suspect is so handsome his workers copy his haircuts and style.” You tease, and Nico shakes his head in amusement.

“What can I say? I have good taste.” He takes the phone from you, resetting for the next clip.

“Suspect has the best ass I’ve ever seen. I mean smile, the best smile.” Your cheeks flame, eyes widening in shock as you look to Nico. He’s grinning like a fool, eyes crinkled and dimples in his cheeks and you think you’re gonna melt just looking at him.

“Keep it PG,” you scold halfheartedly, willing away the blush in your face and taking the phone.

“Suspect has the prettiest baby cow eyes and dimples but refuses to smile in public.”

Nico doesn’t even argue, shrugging as if it’s common knowledge but you can see the slightest tints of red crawling up his neck.

He motions for you to go, clearing his throat and hitting record. “Suspect owns a hundred pajama sets but only sleeps in my clothes.”

“They’re warmer!” You laugh, bubbly and infectious. He laughs with you, pinching at your cheeks teasingly. Then he’s lining up, lightly jogging ahead of you.

You press record, glad you set the video to ten minutes before starting. It seems Nico is pretty good at this. “Suspect eats three servings at dinner and still has room for dessert.”

“I’m a big man,” he defends with a chuckle, patting at his belly through his shirt. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“Suspect will say the most inappropriate words I’ve ever heard and then flash her Bambi eyes to get away with it.”

Hunch over into the wall, you laugh and clutch at your cramping side. Maybe you get away with saying crazy things to Nico in public by batting your eyelashes at him, but he plays the same game.

“You’ve never even seen Bambi,” you pant, breathless from laughing and fake jogging. Nico scoffs, handing you your phone.

“I know what he looks like though,” he scoffs.

Still fighting back giggles, you take your turn. “Suspect says he didn’t go college because he’s stupid but is somehow fluent in four languages.”

It’s his turn to laugh, holding his stomach and shoulders shaking as you two swap yet again. His next one has you clinging to the wall again, that blush in your cheeks returning ten fold.

“Suspect has a lethal face card.”

“Suspect has a lethal everything.” You compliment back, looking him up and down as he laughs, like you’re proving your point. Which you are, to be honest.

Nico takes his spot, eyes lovingly looking over your flustered and smiling face. Fighting your overwhelmed grin, you move down the hall again with Nico trailing.

“Suspect doesn’t know it but she is perfect and makes everyday easy.”

He’s still recording when you stop, turning to him with moony eyes and a dropped jaw. “That’s so sweet,” you say in awe, ducking around the phone to hug his waist. Nico turns the phone, arm at an awkward angle to still record you two and he kisses the top of your head.

“Suspect is a big ol’ teddy bear and I love him.” You say sweetly, rising to your toes to kiss his jaw. He grins, bringing the phone back down and blinking at you with those pretty brown eyes.

“I love you too.”

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

I sometimes see the opinion that MXTX took the clichéd tropes she'd critiqued in Scum Villain, and played them straight in MDZS. But though a lot of them appear in MDZS, I'd argue that none are actually played straight at all!

The main point of MDZS's tropes is subversion. Yes, WWX has a 'tragic backstory', even an arguably overused one (orphaned by his parents at a young age, forced to live on the streets with nobody to rely on, etc) – but how things differ in how it's used. Tragic backstories are normally used to build sympathy for a character, to make us care and get invested in them. But... we're never actually shown any of those street days, we're never shown and never dwell upon how much he suffered during them. They're only really mentioned in passing and whenever dogs come up! If the goal was to make us feel bad for WWX, this would be very ineffective writing. But what's actually important here isn't that WWX went through tragedies – it's how he doesn't let the tragedies he went through define him. He doesn't dwell on them, the narrative doesn't dwell on them, it's never used to earn sympathy points... because what defines WWX is his choices and how he chooses to act, not a backstory completely out of his control. What gets us invested in him is his personality and the character writing of MXTX, not tragic events used as a substitute for identity.

And this trope treatment fits extremely well with WWX's personality itself – he's someone who 'forgets the pain as soon as the wound has healed'*, but also who actively chooses to focus on the present because you can't change the past; someone who holds the belief that 'gains and losses [should] remain uncommented on' when choosing what to do.

The use of the tragic backstory isn't the only thing that's subverted, either – the other main thing is the 'blackening' of the protagonist, and its impact on the protagonist's fall. After being thrown into the Burial Mounds, on a surface level it does seem like this blackening has occurred: the first thing we see when he returns is his gruesome torture of the Wen cultivators; he's 'forsaken' traditional cultivation in favour of an 'evil but more powerful' path; and frankly, Sunshot-era WWX is terrifying. But MDZS is not a blackening story, and so the events of the Burial Mounds aren't used as a catalyst for that purpose. Though it's true that WWX's not entirely the same person he was before (because how could be be?), underneath it all, his morals, worldview and core** stay the same. Though gruesome, his revenge is directed towards the ones who wronged him, not those past that and certainly not the entire world. His experience in the Burial Mounds doesn't lead to him being some evil, blackened overlord... like everyone says he is at the start! That's subverted, because again, WWX's values and choices are more important to the story than genre conventions.

But the most crucial thing? What leads to WWX's downfall isn't any blackening! It isn't any vengeance or morally dubious actions***– he was praised for those things during the Sunshot Campaign! No, what leads to his downfall is something completely unrelated to that, something which would've disappeared had the trope been played straight. It's him doing what's right by defending the Wens, it's him following his moral code when it opposes the world's, it's him standing up to the injustice of others – not others standing up to the injustice of him. That's the subversion here.

(Also, once again, the fall of Lotus Pier, the Burial Mound, etc, aren't used for sympathy points – and if it was relevant, they wouldn't have been used to excuse any actions, either. Using tragic events as an excuse for doing bad things is critiqued many times in MDZS, through characters like Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao. And that's not exactly a trope subversion, but it is a critique of badly handled 'excuses'.)

These are by no means all the tropes MDZS subverts – the nature of guidao vs the usual nature of modao being another very major one – but they're the main ones that feature in Scum Villain.

So, though at first glance MDZS seems to play the tropes MXTX critiqued there straighter, it's not a simple case of using them as cliches, and we see that by how they're used to impact the narrative, and how that differs from what they're traditionally used for. MDZS doesn't fall back into clichés Scum Villain satirised – it's the subversion to Scum Villain's exploration and critique.

--

*Which I know is generally used negatively, to describe someone not learning a lesson from a punishment, but it really describes WWX in general, too. He doesn't dwell on that pain, he does his best to move on from it.

**...heh

***And, because it's often debated – whatever the morality/culpability of Nightless City is doesn't even matter! The events happened at a pledge conference against him that was already taking place. WWX's actions there didn't make people want to kill him because that was explicitly happening beforehand.

[crackedpumpkin]

The candlelight flickers for another moment before you extinguish the flame. Sitting back in your chair, you stare at the empty seat opposite yours. The food had long gone cold. Untouched. 

“I’m really sorry, Miss, but we’re closing for the night.” Your waitress offers you a small smile. Sympathy, maybe. Pity, more likely.

You nod, standing on legs that feel heavier than before. At the counter, your fingers fumble through your bag, slow and clumsy, like they haven't quite caught up with the realization settling in your chest.

You sign off on the receipt for a bottle of unopened wine they’d packed for you to take home. The food? You tell them to throw it away. You don’t think you could stomach it now.

The walk home is quiet, but the ache in your chest gnaws at you like a dull, relentless hunger. Even as you lock the door to your apartment, the air feels heavier, pressing against your ribs. Breathing doesn’t get any easier.

How many times does this make?

Honestly, too many to count.

It hadn’t always been like this. At first, it was amazing. He’d confessed first, of course, in the middle of a water park of all places. You remember the rush of the moment, the heat of the sun, the way he laughed as he hoisted you onto his shoulders for a game of chicken. 

Your friend had shoved you hard, and you should’ve hit the water when you toppled over backwards. But somehow, he’d moved fast enough to catch you instead, arms wrapping around you like you were something precious.

It had felt like a scene straight out of a romance drama, the kind you used to believe in. The sunlight hit his hair at just the right angle, and his grin, that stupid, cheeky grin, was laced with something softer when he looked at you.

That night, you kissed him. That night, you thought you’d finally found something real.

Now, standing alone in your apartment, the silence is deafening.

The unopened bottle of wine sits on the counter, still in its paper bag. You don’t bother putting it away.

It was supposed to be a celebration. 

You toe off your shoes and set your bag down with practiced ease, like it’s just another night, because it is, isn’t it? Just another night of empty seats, cold food, and making excuses for the man who isn’t here.

You know why he didn’t show. You’ve always known.

Cole isn’t just yours. He never has been. He belongs to the city, to the people who call for him when things go wrong. He’s a hero first, your boyfriend second. Maybe even third or fourth, depending on the day.

And you get it. You really do.

But knowing doesn’t make it any easier.

You sink onto the couch, phone still in hand, the last message between you both staring back at you. I swear I’ll make it this time. Just wait for me.

You did.

And like every time before, you sat there, watching the candle burn down in the restaurant you’d made a reservation for months ago, knowing deep in your bones that waiting for him never really changed anything.

You should be upset. You should cry, scream, something. Anything to rid this pressure on your chest. But all you feel is tired.

So you do what you always do. You switch off your phone, lean back against the cushions, and let the quiet settle in.

Then, a buzz.

Your fingers twitch as you pick up the phone, thumb swiping over the screen. Something flickers in your chest, an emotion resembling hope.

And like every other time, it’s just a spam message.

You exhale, pressing your lips together, but the disappointment still lingers, bitter and familiar.

Your finger hovers over his name. Just one tap. That’s all it would take to reach out. To remind him. To ask why.

And like always, when you finally do, the line is dead.

A dry laugh falls from your lips. It’s hollow, brittle. What did you expect? 

Instead, your thumb drags over the screen, opening your photo gallery. You scroll, past months, past years. The change is so gradual, so quiet, that you almost don’t notice it at first.

The selfies, the photo booth downloads, the snapshots of stolen moments…Slowly, they dwindle. They’re replaced by pictures of food, of places you meant to tell him about, of things you wanted to share but never got the chance to. And then, eventually…

Nothing.

Just empty months. Blank spaces where something should have been.

On some days, it’s easy to let it go. To remind yourself that he has responsibilities more important than you could ever imagine, that he’s not just yours to keep. But not tonight.

Not after countless promises, each one made with the kind of conviction that used to make you believe him. Not after he swore that he wouldn’t miss tonight. That this time would be different.

And yet, you sat there in the restaurant for well over three hours, still holding out hope.

Hope.

The word alone makes something curdle in your chest.

You let your phone fall onto the couch beside you, staring at the ceiling. You can’t even bring yourself to feel angry anymore. That’s the worst part. Anger meant you still had something to fight for. But this? This is just exhaustion.

Because deep down, you already know how this ends.

You’ve spent so long telling yourself that of course he loves you, of course he wants to be here. But what does it matter if, at the end of the day, you’re still alone?

The realization creeps in quietly, and it dawns on you that you’ve had the answer for a while now. 

You don’t want to do this anymore.

Not because you don’t love him. God, you do.

But because love shouldn’t feel like waiting at a table for someone who never shows up.

Drawing a short breath, you finally type a message and send it.

[mixtape-timeout]

This is the last post I will be making on this topic. Since gimmeurtmi is back and posting again, here is yet another reminder for you that she is a Zionist. She is trying to spin the story and claim that people are witch-hunting her for being Israeli, which is just another excuse to deflect from her disgraceful behavior. Since she wants to say that we are spreading misinformation, please look at the screenshots in the link. These are screenshots of posts SHE made herself. Not my words, just hers. Read her posts without any of my commentary, and come to your own conclusions about her beliefs. Her posts speak for themselves.

((More below))

She can say she's Pro-Palestine all she wants, but her actions do not reflect that. I can't prove if she is attending peace rallies like she says she is, but what we do know is that the things she says and does are in direct contradiction of this. Please look at the tags of the original callout post and see the sheer number of bloggers (including other authors) she had blocked for being Pro-Palestine. She claims she blocked people for being Anti-Semitic, but what she perceives as "Anti-Semitic" is anything Anti-Zionist. The testimonies from people who used to follow her and used to be very close friends with her all say she is a very manipulative person who always makes herself the victim. She has repeatedly made Zionist posts, deleted them, pretended to change her views, post "Pro-Palestine" things, then go back and show her true colors once the accusations blow over. She had reblogged fundraisers for Rafah weeks ago on her blog @stuckonspidey after being called out that are now nowhere to be found. She is a liar and a manipulator who has repeatedly said things that contradict her actions just to save face.

If she's Pro-Palestine, why does she make posts sympathizing with the IDF? Why does she support the occupational force that kills Palestinians for fun, undresses hostages to humiliate them (including CHILDREN), beats hostages to death with hammers in their captivity, disguises themselves as HUMANITARIAN AID to kill hundreds of refugees, takes pictures with hostages/dead bodies and posts them on social media, steals Palestinian women's underwear and takes pictures with it after killing them/ransacking their houses, targets journalists and humanitarian aid workers, straps injured Palestinians to their trucks and uses them as human shields? This is the army that fired 355 bullets at the car that 6 year old Hind Raghab was in while she was surrounded by her dead family members, KNOWING she was in there. They are a depraved, violent occupational force that kills and tortures civilians, and one of the most basic pillars of being Pro-Palestine is opposing the IDF. You cannot be Pro-Palestine and have sympathy for the army that is killing and oppressing them. You cannot say you stand for Palestinian liberation and peace, yet mourn for their oppressors when the resistance fights back. There is proof all over the internet of the IDF's war crimes because they post it themselves. Here are a few links if you don't believe me. LINK LINK LINK LINK. Please research it yourself, too. You'll find no shortage of it.

If she is Pro-Palestine, why does she refuse to acknowledge it as a genocide? Why does she call it a "war"? Why does she call the International Court of Justice's decision to take Israel to court for its war crimes "questionable"? If she believes what Israel is doing is wrong, why would she criticize it being held accountable for its crimes against humanity? If she is Pro-Palestine, why would she call an Israeli propaganda movie that paints Arabs as barbaric savages her all time favorite and complain that it's getting RIGHTFULLY negative reviews for its blatant racism, glorification of war criminal Golda Mier, and historical misinformation? Her excuse was that "she posted about a movie because she likes movies." That is an absolutely pitiful reason and being deliberately obtuse to distract from the actual issue. When you say it like that, of course it sounds harmless, but the CONTENT of the movie matters. For example: Would you call "The Birth of A Nation", a disgustingly racist white supremacy propaganda movie your favorite? Absolutely NOT. And if you did, people would rightfully question you for that. If she's Pro-Palestine, why didn't she boycott LMB when there are two Zionists on it? One of which (Johnny Goldstein) is a former IDF soldier and attends Pro-Israel events? If she's Pro-Palestine, why would she use the well-known Zionist talking points, conflating Judaism with Zionism, and saying that when people say "Zionist" they really mean "Jew"? If She's Pro-Palestine, why would she have such an issue with Stays trying to inform Felix about the Coca-Cola boycott and say they are bullies? Do you notice a pattern here? Her labeling ANY attempts at calling out Zionism to be "bullying" or "Anti-Semitic"? This is the exact rhetoric Zionists use. Once again, she can say she's Pro-Palestine, she might even actually believe that she is, but her behavior does not reflect this. Saying "My posts aren't Anti-Palestinian because I'm not Anti-Palestinian" proves absolutely nothing. Someone who can't even call the genocide a genocide is not an ally to Palestine.

She continues to hide behind "Anti-Semitism" despite me and many of my friends who called her out being Jews or of Jewish ancestry ourselves. If you look through my blog, you will see a majority of my posts are dedicated to dismantling the idea that Jews = Zionists. I have worked so hard in my community to do this in real life, and it's incredibly frustrating to see her perpetuating this harmful stereotype when us Anti-Zionist Jews are doing everything we can to separate Judaism from Zionism. She is also saying we are racist against Israelis, which is an absolutely ludicrous claim. Israeli is not a race, just like American isn't a race. Israeli is a Nationality. 75% of Jewish people are Ashkenazim, meaning European/White, and about 50% of Israelis are White. Nationality =/= Race. Her claims of racism are, again, her using terms of discrimination to distract from her blatantly Zionist posts.

Furthermore the claim that we are attacking her simply for being Israeli is not only wrong, it makes no sense. I was not aware that she was Israeli before suspecting her of being a Zionist. A huge chunk of Zionists are actually Western Christians who support Israel for Anti-Semitic reasons, and I would NEVER sabotage a fellow Jew for their identity. I went out of my way to emphasize this in the first post. Gimmeurtmi was called out for Zionism that me and several other people in the community recognized, point blank period. We are not "painting her in a specific light", we are bringing attention to harmful, dangerous things SHE said. If I presented her posts to you without commentary, even in context, you could come to the same conclusion. The original callout post was edited many times with many additions as new screenshots/information came forward, and it was through the comments from other people talking about their experience with her that we found out that she was Israeli and had made those Anti-Palestinian posts on October 7th (which she deleted). It was her thinly-veiled Zionism that originally raised our suspicions, the knowledge that she's Israeli came after.

I know gimmeurtmi will continue to see herself as a victim no matter what. I know she will keep pretending she's being attacked for her identity just as all Zionists do. This post is just to disprove her accusations that we called her out on the basis of "racism", when the callout for her was a result of HER racism herself. I never had any problem with gimmeurtmi before she blocked me, I enjoyed her fics and looked up to her, as many others in the community did. She gave me no reason to dislike her before this. The only reason my friends and I put that post together was because we felt it was imperative that someone like her, who uses her SKZ blog to normalize Zionist ideology amidst a genocide, gets de-platformed. I cannot tell you what to believe, but I urge you to be careful and understand what a manipulative person she is. I urge you to read the screenshots of her posts for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

[tirfpikachu]

when someone says that women weren't allowed to do xyz until a certain date mainstream tras might give a side look like hmm :/ this isn't inclusive of trans folks... but otherwise leave it alone.

but if you say that specifically cis/bio women and transmasc ppl weren't allowed to open their own bank account until 1974, suddenly you're making the transfems feel a bit too privileged and it causes a riot bc you're pointing out that amab/male folks used to have an INSANE amount of privilege on the basis of being born "amab" and even if they were super gnc, they still had that privilege from birth. to this day, cis/bio men and transfems do NOT go thru many specific struggles that cis/bio women and transmascs experience. but that's somehow controversial as FUCK to say in most tra spaces. why?

fr why is that? why?? why are transfems so fucking oversensitive to anyone pointing out that they're not oppressed on every single axis of oppression? meanwhile transmascs are bending over backwards being super fucking supportive of transfem rights and having so much nuance about things without much knee-jerk defensiveness at all. could it be that perhaps... hmm... "amab" upbringing does not teach amab/male folks what it's like to face misogyny, so they often do not enter feminist spaces, and now that they enter leftist spaces they don't know that we're all about intersectionality and nuance and acknowledging the ways one might be privileged in some ways and disprivileged in other ways? instead of showing allyship to cis/bio women and transmascs, transfems and their more extreme allies instead sit on their thrones and get offended whenever anyone implies that they might need to be good allies too. why is that?? why are cis/bio women and transmascs enabling that behavior so much?

hmmm it's almost like how afab/female folks are conditioned to excuse inappropriate behavior from amab/male people from a very young age... almost like the stereotypical One Of The Boys (in this case Males) trope, trying to be a Cool Girl (or Cool Trans Boy) to be validated by the ones in charge, the amabs, who are just poor sweet misunderstood cinnamon rolls uwu. i think mainstream tras really idolize transfems. which comes from a sweet place, and might feel good, but also means you're infantilizing them like precious perfect little princesses who can do no wrong. that might be validating for transfems ─ who doesn't like being coddled every now and then? ─ but also means not holding them accountable the way we're supposed to hold EVERYBODY accountable in leftist spaces. or at least that's what we generally pride ourselves in, right? isn't that supposed to be a leftist thing? intersectionality and all that?

and this is why so many cis/bio women and transmascs are joining radblr. this is why even some transfems are saying okay, this is too much now, and actually seek out female/afab voices and hear their povs and apologize for how they're treated by tras. the tables are starting to turn. people are too fed up with this shit. we are getting muzzled for talking about the most basic feminist stuff ever, things that back in the day oldschool trans folks were WAAYYYY more likely to see as common sense and feminism 101. systems of oppression are complex. you can talk about how hard transmisogyny is, and you'll get sympathy from most of us, but you gotta listen to how hard anti-female/afab misogyny is and how we're uniquely persecuted in specific ways you aren't. and you gotta work hard to learn how to be a good ally to us, you gotta research, you gotta learn. so many transfems have no fucking clue how to do that. so many cis/bio women and transmascs are acting like their loud guard dogs too, coddling them, speaking for them, enabling them. it's leading to really bad shit to happen. it's enabling transfems-on-female/afab abuse and bigotry... and you just sweep it all under the rug, say it was just a "terf" roleplaying, it must be a troll, it doesn't matter. it's just one or two victims, why should we even care about them? why make any changes to prevent further victims? that's such a classic male apologist mindset!!! this shit is not okay. we will never accept that bs.

you need to clean up all the misogyny and homophobia in your spaces or the only sane folks will come to radfems and find actual nuanced discussions about oppression, and you'll be left with crazies. if y'all are gonna act like oversensitive toddlers then radblr is gonna be where it's at for real leftist activism. enjoy your little tra circus ig 👋

[pixel-punk-chaos]

Hey Billy Defenders !

I might have started a little discussion today with someone who claimed that Billy doesn't deserve sympathy...

It was about a post (who do you miss more Eddie or Billy )

In response I just said to the person: "Why? because he was a victim of child abuse? Wow"

To which this person just replied that Johnathan was just as much a victim of child abuse by Lonnie as Billy was, but he wasn't acting like an asshole.

Okay folks. In principle, the commentator is right. Johnathan was a victim of child abuse because of his father. But you're not seriously going to tell me that the abuse Johnathan experienced was on the same scale as Billy. Billy has experienced an extreme amount of abuse for as long as he can remember. And still is.

Johnathan was able to escape from this situation because of his parents' divorce. Billy still experiences this on a daily basis. He is humiliated, shouted at, beaten and I don't know what else.

Johnathan would probably also be so aggressive towards other people if he still hadn't escaped this circle of abuse. He was also quite cool and distant before he met Nancy.

Another very important point that sets Billy and Johnathan apart.

Johnathan has Joyce (a loving mother who looks after him), Will (a little brother who cares about him), Nancy (who loves him more than anything), and so on. People who look after him, who give him security and a feeling of safety.

What does Billy have? A mother who ran away when he was a child, a stepmother who doesn't give a shit about him and a little sister who only really realized “oh he meant something to me lol” after his death.

Can you really talk about people taking care of him? No. He is alone and has no one who cares for him, who gives him security. He is constantly under pressure, afraid that what he is doing is wrong or not okay and that he will get into trouble. So it's normal for him to attack. Approach a frightened tiger in a cage, it certainly won't start crying but will attack lol.

Dacre said himself that Billy is a very sensitive person. Just if you can look more than just in front of his head, you can see “oh yeah this guy is a broken and traumatized person”. Billy has anxiety like nothing else. The self-confidence? Fake it till you make it baby.

Like come on anyone who still says “no he's a monster and doesn't deserve sympathy” after season 3 at the latest simply hasn't understood his character in my opinion.

You can't just condemn someone for suffering trauma and building a protective wall.

And if you now come "but the Byers House scene" brooooo Billy was automatically portrayed as the bad guy. He turns on the protagonists, of course you're not supposed to sympathize with him in that scene.... (Even though Billy had more than one point from his point of view wtf ?)

Of course Billy's trauma and stuff isn't an excuse for what he did. It's just an explanation and maybe but just maybe a redemption arc would have helped there to feel some sympathy for him ?

Idk I had to let that out.

So guys I'm going to get back to drawing my Harringrove picture !

Have a nice weekend 👋🏻

[daenerys-apolog1st]

I don't like Aegon as a person whatsoever* but I still can't get over the fact that Alicent---someone who is constantly paraded by TG as someone who can do no wrong bc she's "protecting her kids" and "doing her duty as a mother"---literally forced him onto the throne after he told her point blank that he didn't want it and literally tried to run away from his own coronation, which then started a war that literally led to thousands (including members of her own family) dying...

...and then she offered his and Aemond's heads to Rhaenyra on a silver platter to cover her own ass after SHE (along with Otto) was the one who put them in their situations in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I have 0 sympathy for Aegon---he was a rapist long before he was a usurper and, bad situation or not, that's not excusable---but I still think it's absolutely insane that Alicent forced him onto the throne and is now making him pay the price in blood for her own mistakes.

Like, this is the woman that y'all parade as such a good mother who would do anything for her children?

The woman that poisoned her children towards their sister and made them think she'd kill them for no fucking reason other than her own jealousy? The woman that made her son losing an eye all about her? The woman that forced her son on the throne and is now offering his and his brother's heads to their enemy to save herself from a situation she created? The woman who cared more about covering her own ass after her grandson died than her literal grieving daughter? The woman that left her son to grieve on his own after he lost his child, even though he looked to her for comfort? The woman that spent exactly one (1) day by her injured son's side while he was in immense pain before betraying him anyway?

This woman?

And yet whenever someone points out that Rhaenyra was a better mother than Alicent---something supported heavily by the show and book---suddenly Alicent's stans start coming out of the woodwork to argue about it. It's amazing that she manages to have any kind of characterization at all, the way her stans ignore or take out of context literally everything she does that isn't crying or looking pretty.

*(I find him interesting as a character and like him in that way, but he is a terrible fucking person and should NOT be defended)

[sapphic-agent]

I think the only reason for Izu to not see the corruption anymore even when he is a prime victim of it...it's bc of bk. Really. Hori went out of his way to make BK "it's not so bad" and did the same for us, AIZAWA and Endy.

Hori shut the victim's voice.

I can say with confidence here...all Izu's issues in writing and outside steem from BK's existence and how much Hori loves him.

Bc there no excuse for a person who was abused 12 years given or take to be so naive. Izu defending ua and Aizawa is baffling as Aizawa wanted to expell him day 1

Izu worshipping am is baffling as am doesn't deserve his adoration bc the man did the abre minium (and that is better than what Inko, his mom, did)

Izu liking A1 is baffling too since they are siding with the abuser.

MHA is a story where the abuser won.

Izu is silent

Shiga is put down bc he is the bad vicitm.

Yeah, the way MHA treats its victims as opposed to its abusers is... Mind boggling.

Touya's backstory retconned so much of the Todoroki lore and anyone can see it was an attempt to make Endeavor look more human. And in the process, Touya and Rei were demonized even more

Bakugou gets sympathy and admiration from everyone. Izuku gets made fun of and ignored. Even when someone does show concern for his well-being, it's either a) never talked about further or b) made into someone else's- Bakugou's- moment

Dabi's reveal ended up resulting in the rest of the Todorokis supporting Endeavor, not a word about Rei's pain or trauma. Nope, she's just there to help Endeavor's redemption

Hawks and Nagant were turned into child soldiers and forced to kill by the HPSC. Do they get autonomy or retribution? Never. Hawks continues to be their brainwashed soldier and Nagant fades into the distance. Even worse, Hawks is used to prop Endeavor's- another abuser- redemption

Eri escaped her abuser so she should be healing in peace, right? WRONG. She mutilates herself for the so-called heroes

Izuku loses OFA, only to comfort Bakugou who's devastated by this for whatever reason even though he was the one who made Izuku feel worthless for being quirkless in the first place

Kotaro is a grown man who purposely abused his children, right? But screw that, Nana is to blame even though she did what she did to protect him. And also, no one told him to abuse his kids

The only ones who are treated fully as abusers are AFO and Overhaul. But, well, we know what a disaster AFO was and how terribly Tomura towards the finish was written so it really didn't matter in the end, did it?

[geotjwrs]

can I ask for another part of no one's home pls?

beneath of it

Pairings ; Wednesday Addams x Male!Reader

Warning/s ; none

The days following that conversation were even harder than you imagined. Wednesday's request for a second chance lingered in your mind, replaying in an endless loop. Could you trust her again? Could you forgive her? Could you forgive yourself for even wanting to?

The hallways of Nevermore felt colder now. You and Wednesday didn't cross paths often, but when you did, there was always that heavy, unspoken tension between you. She would glance at you, her expression unreadable, but you never lingered long enough to figure it out. You wanted space; you needed it.

Yet, somehow, the universe seemed intent on forcing you two together.

It was late in the evening when Enid, Wednesday's roommate and one of the few people who had noticed the distance between the two of you, found you sitting by the edge of the forest. She approached cautiously, her usual bubbly energy dampened by the weight of concern.

"Y/N?" Enid's voice was soft, almost hesitant. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

You sighed, leaning back against the tree behind you. "If this is about Wednesday, I really don't want to hear it, Enid."

Enid sighed as she sat down next to you, brushing her long, colorful hair over her shoulder. "Look, I know what happened. Not everything, but... enough."

You turned to her, surprised. "She told you?"

She nodded. "Not exactly in a heartfelt, soul-bearing way—she's still Wednesday—but she mentioned that she messed up. That she hurt you."

You rubbed your hands together, feeling the familiar sting of heartache. "She kissed Tyler. She never even kissed me. And then... she called me a burden."

Enid winced. "I'm sorry. That's... yeah, that's harsh."

"It broke me, Enid," you said, your voice barely a whisper. "I don't know how to move past that."

Enid was silent for a moment before placing a hand on your shoulder. "You know, Wednesday isn't exactly the best at handling feelings. She's never been the type to open up or admit when she's wrong. And if she told you she wants a second chance, that's her way of saying she... cares."

You snorted bitterly. "Cares? She cared enough to kiss Tyler."

Enid shook her head. "That was a mistake. A huge one. But Tyler? That's a whole different mess, and you need to know the truth."

A knot of unease formed in your stomach. "What do you mean?"

Enid hesitated, then glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "You know Tyler's the Hyde, right?"

You stared at her, your heart suddenly racing. "What?"

"Wednesday's been trying to figure out who the Hyde is for weeks. She was sure it was Xavier at first, but Tyler... he's the real monster." Enid's eyes widened, trying to make you understand the weight of what she was saying. "That kiss? I think it was part of her plan. Trying to get close to him, trying to learn more about the Hyde. She was focused on the case—maybe too focused. But you have to understand, Y/N, it wasn't about him. It wasn't even about you."

The revelation hit you like a punch to the gut. Tyler was the Hyde. Wednesday kissed him as part of her investigation. But that didn't change the fact that it had still happened, that she had said things to you she could never take back.

"Why didn't she tell me any of this?" you asked, frustration building. "I could've helped."

"Because she thought you were in danger. She didn't want you involved." Enid looked at you with sympathy. "Wednesday doesn't always know how to show it, but she pushes people away when she's scared. She thought the Hyde might come after you if you got too close."

You shook your head, a bitter laugh escaping your lips. "I don't need her protection. I just wanted her honesty."

"I know," Enid said softly. "And maybe she does, too."

The next few days passed in a blur. Your mind was a storm of conflicting emotions. You felt betrayed, but you also understood why she had kept things from you. It didn't excuse her actions, but it added a new layer of complexity to the situation.

Then came the night everything changed.

Nevermore had fallen into a tense silence as word spread that the Hyde had been captured. Tyler had been taken into custody, but the damage had already been done. You hadn't seen Wednesday since the arrest, and part of you was relieved. The space between you still felt fragile, like one wrong move could shatter everything.

But late one night, as you lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, there was a knock at your door.

You didn't have to ask who it was.

You opened the door to find Wednesday standing there, her dark eyes gleaming with something you couldn't quite place. It wasn't the usual cool indifference. There was something deeper, more conflicted.

"I need to talk to you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

You sighed but stepped aside, letting her in.

Wednesday stood in the center of your room, her hands clasped in front of her, her usual confidence replaced by something almost vulnerable. "I'm not good at this," she began, her eyes flickering to the floor. "But I know I owe you an explanation."

You folded your arms, waiting.

"I... made a mistake," she said, her voice quieter than you'd ever heard it. "With Tyler. With the case. With you. I thought I was doing what was necessary, but I hurt you in the process."

You didn't say anything, your heart pounding in your chest.

"I thought I could handle everything on my own," she continued, her voice wavering. "I thought I didn't need anyone. But... I was wrong. I pushed you away because I was afraid. Afraid that if I let you get too close, you'd get hurt. Or worse."

You clenched your fists, trying to keep your emotions in check. "You still kissed him, Wednesday. You called me a burden."

"I know," she said, stepping closer, her eyes locking onto yours. "And I regret it. I regret all of it. I didn't mean those things. I just didn't know how to handle... us."

Her admission hung in the air, raw and unfiltered. For a moment, you didn't know what to say. You had wanted this—an apology, an explanation—but now that it was here, you didn't know if it was enough.

"I don't know if I can forgive you," you said finally, your voice breaking. "Not after everything."

Wednesday looked down, her expression unreadable. "I don't deserve your forgiveness. I know that. But I do care about you, Y/N. More than I realized."

The room fell silent, the weight of her words settling between you. You stared at her, trying to make sense of everything. Could you really trust her again? Could you let her back into your heart after everything she had done?

Before you could respond, there was a sudden loud crash outside your window, followed by a low growl that sent chills down your spine. You and Wednesday exchanged a glance before rushing to the window.

The Hyde was back.

But Tyler was in custody. How could this be?

Without thinking, you and Wednesday darted outside, your heart pounding as you made your way into the dark woods. You could hear the growls growing closer, and the realization hit you like a freight train. Tyler wasn't the only Hyde. There was another.

The monster lurked in the shadows, its grotesque form illuminated by the faint moonlight. It lunged at you, but Wednesday was faster, her knife flashing in the darkness as she dodged its attack.

"Stay back," she ordered, her voice sharp. "This isn't your fight."

But you didn't listen. You weren't going to stand by and let her handle it alone—not this time.

The battle was fierce, the Hyde's monstrous strength nearly overwhelming. But together, you and Wednesday fought with everything you had. The creature was relentless, its claws slashing through the air as it tried to tear you apart.

Finally, with a well-placed strike, Wednesday brought the creature down, her breathing ragged as she stood over its fallen body. But before you could catch your breath, the creature stirred, its eyes glowing with fury.

It wasn't dead. Not yet.

The Hyde lunged again, its claws aimed directly at you. But in a split second, Wednesday stepped in front of you, taking the hit.

She gasped, her body crumpling to the ground as blood seeped from her side.

As you rushed to Wednesday's side after defeating the Hyde, you found her alive—just badly hurt. Her breathing was shallow, but she was far from the brink of death.

"Wednesday, hang on. I've got you," you said, your voice trembling with concern.

She opened her eyes, grimacing as she clutched her side. "I'm... fine," she muttered, her pride refusing to let her admit how much pain she was in.

You helped her to her feet, your arm supporting her as she winced. Despite the pain, she refused to show weakness. "We need to get back to Nevermore," you said urgently.

"I can walk," she insisted, her expression cold but faltering for a moment.

Still, you didn't let go. "I'm not leaving you to handle this alone anymore, Wednesday. We're in this together. Whether you like it or not."

There was a pause. Wednesday looked at you, something different in her eyes now—an unspoken understanding. She didn't argue this time.

Once back at Nevermore, the aftermath of the fight lingered in the air. The faculty and other students rushed to deal with the Hyde situation. Tyler may have been caught, but the existence of a second Hyde shook everyone.

In the infirmary, Wednesday sat quietly as a medic stitched up her side. You hovered nearby, refusing to leave her. She had taken a hit for you—something she would never openly admit was driven by care. Yet, there was no denying it. You could see it in her eyes, in the way she had thrown herself in harm's way.

After the medic left, the room fell into silence again. Wednesday looked up at you, her face still pale from the ordeal but her gaze as sharp as ever. "You should've left. I didn't need you getting hurt."

You shook your head. "You don't get it, do you? I wasn't going to let you fight that thing alone."

"Why?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. For the first time, she sounded unsure. Vulnerable.

"Because I care about you," you said, the words heavy with emotion. "No matter how many times you push me away, no matter how many walls you put up, I still care. And that's not going to change."

Wednesday's expression shifted, her usual mask of indifference cracking just slightly. She looked away, her voice softer than before. "I don't deserve it. Any of it."

You stepped closer, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Maybe you don't think you do, but I still want to give it. I want to try again. But this time, we do it differently. No more pushing each other away. No more lies."

She looked at you then, her dark eyes searching yours. "I won't make promises I can't keep," she said, her voice careful. "But I'll try."

That was all you needed to hear.

Over the following days, things between you and Wednesday began to shift. She was still Wednesday—cold, sarcastic, and not the type to suddenly become affectionate. But there were subtle changes. She would sit with you at lunch, even if she pretended it was because she "needed a distraction." She would find excuses to be near you, even though she claimed it was because you "were less annoying than most people."

And sometimes, late at night, when she thought no one was watching, you'd catch her glancing your way, a fleeting softness in her gaze.

It wasn't a perfect second chance. Wednesday still had her thorns, and there were moments when she reverted to her distant self. But it was different now. You weren't afraid of getting hurt, and she wasn't afraid to let you in—at least, a little bit.

One evening, as you both sat in the darkened library, Wednesday quietly reading while you worked on an assignment, she spoke without looking up from her book.

"I saw you," she said suddenly.

You blinked, confused. "Saw me what?"

"That night," she clarified, still not looking at you. "When I kissed Tyler. I saw you watching."

Your heart skipped a beat at the memory. It still stung, even now. "Yeah. I remember."

"I didn't know what I was doing then," she admitted, her voice low. "I thought it was part of the plan. But when I saw the look on your face... I realized it wasn't just a case. I had hurt you. More than I should have."

You didn't say anything at first, letting her words sink in. This was as close to an apology as you'd get from Wednesday Addams.

"I hated you for it," you admitted softly. "But I hated myself more for still caring."

She finally looked at you then, her expression unreadable. "I won't kiss him again."

It was a strange way of promising something deeper—something more than just avoiding mistakes. But it was enough for now.

You nodded. "Good. Because I'd prefer you didn't."

There was a brief silence before she spoke again, her voice softer. "I've never had this before. I don't know how to handle it."

You gave her a small smile. "Neither do I. But we'll figure it out together. One step at a time."

And for the first time, Wednesday didn't have a sarcastic retort. She simply nodded, closing her book and resting her hand on the table between you—just close enough that, if you reached out, you could touch it.

You didn't yet, but the gesture was enough. For now.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

I want to talk a bit about Kira’s character in Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night. Before I reached that episode in my rewatch, I’d seen people characterizing it as claiming that the “Bajoran comfort women were collaborators” or otherwise as victim blaming towards Kira Meru. But upon watching it again, I really disagree, and I think it presents Meru and her situation with a lot of sympathy and nuance.

Kira herself characterizes her mother as a collaborator at the end, in her conversation with Sisko:

I’ve always hated collaborators. I mean, what could be worse than betraying your own people? During the occupation, if I ever had any doubt about what their fate should be, I would think of my mother, how she gave her life for Bajor. She was a hero, they were traitors. It was that simple. Or so I thought.

Do you know how many Bajorans died in the labor camps during that time? Died, while my mother sat sipping kanar with Dukat?

But I don’t think we’re intended to take Kira’s judgment of her mother at face value. The episode is pretty clear that Dukat is the bad guy here, and draws specific attention to how he manipulates Meru into trusting him by setting up the scene where he “rescues” her from the other Cardassian (and discloses this to her himself later in a further manipulative cycle of feigned repentance). Not to mention the abundance of food she’s given after experiencing extreme deprivation, another factor in why she’s inclined towards trauma bonding with him. The fact that she is drinking Dukat’s kool-aid a little bit does not take away from the fundamentally coercive nature of their relationship. And the degree to which she’s making excuses for him is pretty clearly a result of his manipulation. He is a manipulator! This is shown both here and in plenty of other places!

Meru even gets a moment where she stands up for herself to Kira and points out that she has very limited options and is motivated in part by wanting to protect her family. And there’s the scene right near the end where she breaks down crying while listening to the message from her husband, which really hammers home that she’s ultimately in an awful situation that she never asked for and will likely never be allowed to see her family again. Also, the episode presents us with an actual collaborator - the man who’s in charge of corralling the captured women is himself Bajoran, and a much more active and willing party to the colonial and patriarchal violence on display than the women are.

Furthermore, Kira frequently falls back onto a very black and white moral framework, and experiences a very strong sense of moral injury when people she cares about or idolizes falls on the wrong side of that. You see this with Tekeny Ghemor in Ties of Blood and Water, when Kira finds it enormously difficult to forgive his involvement in the destruction of Kiessa Monastery - and, just as she saves her mother’s life as a testament to their family connection, she ultimately goes to Ghemor at his deathbed for her own personal closure re: her failure to do the same for her father, rather than because she’s fully forgiven him. Her anger is more comprehensible there, because of course there’s no comparison between Meru’s level of complicity and being part of an occupying army (even if Ghemor’s role was negligible, as Odo speculates). But that’s exactly the thing - Kira reacts to them pretty similarly, and is not really ready or willing to acknowledge different degrees of complicity, or to put the symbolic affront of her mother living in luxury during the Occupation into perspective re: actual material harm (or the very, very limited amount of power her mother actually had within that lifestyle). How Kira reacts to Odo sentencing innocent people to their deaths in Things Past is similar - she was very invested in not categorizing him as a collaborator, even though he literally did work with the Cardassians, and was not prepared to face the possibility that that work might have made him complicit in Cardassian sham justice.

She also has that exchange with Winn in Rapture, where Winn says that people who were in the resistance discount the sacrifices made by other Bajorans, and she honestly does have a point, even if the situations are different. Kira’s answer to injustice is to fight it, at every turn, and that’s one of her biggest heroic qualities - but she also genuinely has trouble comprehending or sympathizing with the mindset of other Bajorans who don’t share that response, even when their passivity is something they’re coerced or railroaded into. She was running largely on survival mode while she was in the resistance, and it prevented her from fully comprehending the complex dynamics of the occupation - and she’s forced to do that quite a bit during the show, once she’s no longer running on autopilot.

And I genuinely think it’s interesting that she doesn’t forgive her mother, and that she’s even a bit victim blaming in how she talks to and about Meru. It’s in keeping with her character, but it’s also in character for her to have genuine blind spots. And given what we’re actually shown of the situation, I don’t think the episode is presenting Kira’s perspective as the final word on how we’re meant to evaluate the situation.

[super-cupcakeboy]

Curly x Anya is weird and so is Joetastic (TW for mentions of r//pe and SA)

The whole point of mouthwashing is based around the fact that men will cover for each other in the workforce (r//pe or SA). There's more than that but that's one of the main ideas. Curly finds out that Jimmy r//ped Anya, and he does nothing. This is very common in the real world, especially if these men know each other. Curly thinks, ok, I just need to talk to Jimmy and things will work themselves out. He knows that isn't what he should do. And that's what you need to accept, Curly wasn't pressured, he wasn't put in a tough pickle, Curly knew that him talking to Jimmy isn't going to work things out, he knows Jimmy did something wrong. Anya tell Curly, she's pregnant, she's hoping that Curly, a man that is very friendly and knows wrong from right, man that is her friend does the right thing. He doesn't, he ignores her problems and doesn't do anything. Instead, this man covers for his friend and pulls the "I'm sorry you feel that way" card. Even if Curly is sorry, he's not in the right. In the entire game, he was never in the right with his actions. But we sympathise with him because, "Oh! He didn't mean it!" "He just wanted to find his place in the world, why did it come to this?" "His punishment was too harsh :(!" His punishment was justified, yes, being in his condition is harsh, but Curly needed to learn. So what if he wanted to feel like he was working towards something? That doesn't excuse the fact he's a bad person, why don't you go sympathise with murders or convicts who say the same thing then. He didn't mean it? Then why did he do it? Anya tends to Curly because Jimmy wants to keep him alive, she probably would not try to keep Curly alive, she knows that his condition is critical and he won't survive. Anya feels sympathy for Curly, but only because he's injured. To her, Curly is a man who was supposed to be her friend, but instead ignored her cries and tried to kill everyone. Put yourself in her shoes, one day, you were SA'ed or r//ped by a coworker, eventually, you work up enough courage to tell your other coworker what happened. Your coworker, who you've known for a while, says he'll handle it, you hope he does. He doesn't, he doesn't do anything, he tries to sweep it under the rug, acting like it's not really a big deal. But it is, because your also in a position where your not able to get an abortion, you don;t want this baby, but you have to keep it because by the time you go home, it's to late. The baby will be born already. Your coworker, r//ped you, and now you have to keep it's baby. Would you love, date, or be romantic to the man who did nothing, stood by and watched it happen, and did do shit? I could've worded this whole thing better, I just had to get it off my chest, Joetastic is so fucking weird for shipping Curly x Anya and thinking it's cute, it's not, there shouldn't be ANY ships in mouthwashing, that's not the point. People who are shipping any of the characters, missed the whole fucking point. Bojack horseman all fucking over again... CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU'VE ALL MISSED THE POINT!! EDIT: Don't harass anyone over this, also stop commenting that I'm new to the fandom or the I'M harassing Joetastic. I have them blocked on all my socials, I just want to tell everyone that the ship is weird. Also, it's important to make posts like these to spread information, if nobody makes posts about this then no one knows what's happening. Then people who don't know what's happening will continue to support a creator who's in the wrong.