#I have no idea what kids of specific ages are supposed to look like tbh XD

[kasirose]

Lightwood-Bane fam has arrived!

I decided to draw another scene from GOTSM cause their lil family is so adorable

Closeups :)

Original scene inspo from Forever Fallen (GOTSM) by @cassandraclare under the cut

[welcome-to-the-end-of-eras]

Live Read - The Hymn to Dionysus

IT'S TIIIIIIIIIIIME.

Spoiler-free observations:

I WISH there was an option to get the UK cover in the US. I do actually like the US cover a lot I just like the UK cover better, and I like how much it would match with my copy of The Kingdoms

So from the description, it looks like Dionysus is going to fully be a character??? Like interacting directly with Phaidros??? Is it like a Percy Jackson scenario where they have like human forms and shit??? Inch resting.

It makes me SO HAPPY seeing the list of Natasha Pulley's work almost takes up a full page at the front of my book

The new narration style is very interesting tbh, I don't know if it's because he's supposed to be a child at this point and children are a lot more straightforward, or if it's just how he always is???

The prologue sounds a lot more like the typical narration style so I think it probably is meant to be a bit more childlike in the beginning

Maybe this is me being delusional but...is she talking about the pulleyverse as a whole in the prologue??? Starting in the middle, with bits artfully left out to Reveal Unto You Later??? Is this like the very beginning??? It is the earliest chronologically so ig it must be???

"But I was distracted by a green bird and money was boring" HE'S SO REAL FOR THAT-

I'm liking the way that everything is being explained upfront. It's probably out of necessity since the average person can conceptualize life in Victorian London or Soviet Russia a lot easier than Ancient Greece, but it also does feel a lot more child-like that really hammers home the idea that the story is in its beginning

Wait wait wait, Helios is 15??? I've been picturing him as a grown man this whole time??? Damn this is about to get sad.

This is probably going to be my shortest live read yet because I'm already getting so invested that I can't keep up

Also Helios and Agave using a KITE for the lightning rod to get rid of the baby gave very much Agatha and Missouri vibes. She's also used the word "filigree" like four times now. Inch Resting.

I really don't know how to word this eloquently but the ship turning into pear trees that eventually saved Phaidros' life reminds me of the mechanical pear tree Thaniel took from the workshop, and how Grace made the workers cut them down, and all that fun stuff. Surely that wasn't the original intention (unless Ms. Pulley is playing the long game), but the connections make me happy

Also Phaidros lowkey hallucinating for a decade because he was in such close contact with a god is giving The Salt Miracles a little bit.

Pls Phaidros is such a dad with his little knights I adore himb

My brother in christ how is your biggest op a 15 year old kid named Jason-

I like the way the narration style slowly shifts to a more adult tone while keeping the overall personality consistent (Natasha Pulley best writer on earth confirmed???)

So does Agave remember Phaidros at all??? Does she know that him breaking rank is what caused Helios to die??? Does she know that it was him and Helios who stole the baby she wanted dead??? Pls I need to know

I hope to god there are wlw in this book. Idk why I've been thinking that but I WILL start foaming at the mouth.

"...even Jason, unfortunately, failed to vaporize" MY BROTHER IN CHRIST-

Are the marvels the same sort of thing as the statues from tbs??? Helios assumed they had gears and shit but nobody has ever opened them to check???

He made Phaidros-specific sign language for "where the fuck is Jason" WHY IS YOUR BIGGEST OP A CHILD-

Wrong, he has two ops; Jason and all of Athens.

I’ve tried explaining why age gaps in the pulleyverse are generally not the toxic evil kind that people generally dismiss without a second thought, but most of the time it comes off long-winded and defensive when I don’t mean to be defensive. The way Phaidros describes his partnership with Helios just gave me the PERFECT way to word it tho: Pulley is extremely aware of the way age gaps can affect both people in a relationship, and she really does not shy away from the insecurity it brings out in people, making it very realistic and easy to empathise with while not falling back onto toxic stereotypes

“…I said, with evil in my heart.” SOLIDARITY MY BROTHER!!!

Take a shot every time the word “filigree” comes up jesus christ-

Phaidros is a little PRICK leading that guard around on errands instead of doing anything useful, I love himb sm

He gave him a mask??? Welcome to the cult of Dionysus babey

“…and I would make him eat his fucking mask” GIRL CHILLLLL MY GOODNESS

“Make him eat his mask” my brother in Christ he made you eat your WORDS!!! And now you’re in PRISON!!! Dumb bitch (affectionate)

Lowkey I’m LIVING for the chaotic x orderly dynamic they have going on, I think it’s hilarious and very cute (but also I like the idea that over time Phaidros will learn to let loose more and Dionysus will develop more of a sense of duty and honour)

“He sounded genuinely cheerful, the bastard.” I fucking LOVE Phaidros being a grumpy bitch, thank you Ms. Pulley’s brother for convincing her to make him more of a bitch

“…he would take that as a hilarious challenge and try to lick me.” PLS WHY DO YOU THINK HE’S A DOG-

Also is his name not actually Dionysus??? Does he have like a birth name and then decide to become Dionysus permanently??? This vow is 100% getting broken and I’ll definitely find out but I must say I’m interested af now

Imagine how awful it would be if you came back from a war and the government was so “happy” with your performance they forced three creepy strangers to live in your house. That’s so fucked.

Wait wait wait, didn’t a pack of wolves in tbs die the same way as the wolf and the fox here??? My theory about the marvels is looking pretty good 👀👀👀

Is Dionysus doing all of this??? And, better question, is he AWARE he’s doing all this??? Because it seems to me like he genuinely has no clue what all the stuff with the wine and the madness is, but those are quite literally the hallmarks of Dionysus, and he seemed very aware of the ship turning to ivy and all that jazz??? I’m very confused

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S GHOSTS IN THE FOG 😀😀😀 WHAT’S THAT ABOUT 😀😀😀

Chemicals in the ground are making people sick…but it’s actually a god…hmmm…it’s giving alternate thlovk ending…

“…where is this rancid shame coming from, who did this to you?” I’M LEVITATING

I haven’t counted the pages yet but I think Phaidros is the new record holder for “pulleyverse narrators refraining from mentioning their love interest” which is fun.

…well now I feel bad for calling the triplets creepy

I’m slightly more than halfway through the book now and that makes me extremely sad, I don’t want to be finished with it

Wait is Katsu like…a mini marvel??? Is that pretty much what he is??? And they just put him in a little fish tank and let him take socks and have beef with next door’s cat???

(I got wrapped up again and am almost finished oops)

So Phaidros canonically has never seen his reflection in a mirror in his life, and we STILL have more canon information about what he looks like than Thaniel. That’s so fucking funny to me-

Okay!!! Book finished!!! And…holy shit!!! I forget how genuinely blown away I can be by Natasha Pulley’s writing until I read something new she’s written but my god was that good. It had almost an eldritch horror vibe to it while somehow also being pleasant that I really enjoyed??? And obviously I was a Percy Jackson kid (if you couldn’t tell by the everything about me) so I’m thrilled about the Ancient Greek elements and the elements of stories I could recognise from all that strewn throughout. But the characters were utterly and completely brilliant, the story was so expertly crafted, and obviously this is standard with Ms Pulley but it’s just especially poignant rn. I don’t think I can be more eloquent at the moment but. Yeah. 100000/10, no notes (except there were quite a few spelling mistakes in my copy but I kinda love it)

Edit a few days later: the way I completely thought I got this post out of my drafts 🧎‍♀️‍➡️anyways no new opinions really, the aftg worms are still eating my brain, but I really REALLY want to get back into doing my pulleyverse headcanon posts so if anyone wants to send me any requests I would be very grateful.

[atopvisenyashill]

I was thinking about the characters aged-up a bit (because I feel it's necessary for a show it should also involve thinking how that would change your adaption, and some of the kids being a year or something older doesn't have to be a problem). Robb might not be engaged (boys can be older) but it would be way more marriage mart (Ned not facing Jon being the age Lyanna was). meanwhile Sansa being betrothed would be more expected talking about kids hitting certain points...

cont. re the kids being older: Ned's mental health crisis as his children start to hit Westros adulthood only prevented by the crisis that is AGOT

Yeah, I get aging them up, I think they just did it badly in the first show (and while I think they aged Alicent down too much, I like that they aged down/aged up her and Rhaenyra's kids - I think them being closer in age makes more sense thematically). I think Robb, Jon, Dany, Margaery, and Meera all being aged up to like 16 is old enough (just do like they did with Milly and Emily and cast like 17-20 year olds as the 16 year olds instead of people who clearly look like they're approaching 30. i mean hell, like half the cast of like, riverdale, was only about 19 when they started filming, it's a tried and true method of casting and if you do your job right, you can find a 19 year old who looks 16!). This way they're still teenagers but you don't have to worry about like, child labor laws when you're filming + you're hopefully not traumatizing anyone on set lol. But ALSO this way you don't have to age up Ned, Cat, Robert, Cersei, Tyrion, etc etc so severely either.

Sansa being like 13 (which is what she starts out as in the show before iirc they fudge her age specifically because they wanted Sansa to be raped by Ramsay, once again those dudes deserve to go in the contraption) I think makes sense as well, it's not too old that you wuldn't believe she's still relatively sheltered and naive. Same with Arya being 11, Bran being 9/10, those are all fine. I don't get aging Brienne up so severely either, like she's already of age, just cast a tall 20 year old? Theon as well, keep him near to Brienne's age, like roughly early 20s. I don't think the Thomas Brodie Sangster casting was bad tho, because he was plausibly playing adults literally until he started getting age lines on his face lakjdslkfj. But BACK TO SANSA lmao, I also think 13 is young enough that you can say she hasn't started puberty yet (some people are late bloomers!) while also pointing out that its weird Ned hasn't talked betrothals for her yet - because I do think we're supposed to find the lack of betrothals a weird Ned quirk tbh, I think that's part of our many "clues" that Ned is harboring some deep seated issues about Lyanna still, so the idea that Sansa is nearing Westerosi adulthood and hasn't even talked engagements isn't lost.

[llycaons]

reread ch 70-71: verge pulling out his best bratty preteen imitation since like ch20

wonder if it means anything that dante's looking extremely freaked out and everyone else is looking impassive or thoughtful. maybe not. he's the one having a normal reaction here. btw daniel's realizing they haven't been affected and is digging in deeper

NO HE'S SO CUTE!!!!!

love this visual...he's just a little floating boy...and the black supernatureal smoke around looks sick

leah realizing he's giving up a LOT of info is so funny. mikhail probably realizes this too, and that's why he's asking for more. which he gets!

do verge and them even need the demon lord fragment still? didn't they already summon baba yaga? maybe they only had her for a short time, and she vanished, and if they want to keep her there permanently they do need the full seven

...what fragment is this that verge speaks of? something of sloth, obviously, but he never says 'a piece of my being is up here' so maybe they're just seeing an opportunity and taking it without know what specifically the sloth fragment will be

STOP SHE'S SO CUTE....but yeah this IS lucky for the witches. NONE of the major players got hit! maybe powerful magic users are much slower to turn into plushies....tachibana's power was more financial/political

this and

this are make the next panel SO so funny

BUILDING UP ALL THAT TENSION AND MYSTIQUE JUST TO GO OH FUCKKKKK I SAID TOO MUCH BY MISTAKE. LMAOOO

:(

baby imuri :D

I want to be like girl. priorities. but as priest's love interest AND friend AND the demon sent to seduce him AND someone trying to stop the end of the world, actually all of her priorities line really up really well

still...it's pretty comedic

and the fact that THIS is her priority...well actually it's kind of sweet. plot be damned she's a romance lead!!!

mikhail looks a little puppyish in the back there. you know, besides his outlandish entry into the story, he's really not annoyed me in ages. I love having someone so smart and emotionally aware on the team who also wears dresses at every chance he can get

the power of dreams and imagination...

this IS cute...like a kid's drawing...

things very adjusted and healthy teenagers say. isn't christianity supposed to be ABOUT love? didn't dante talk to him about loving the world that god made in ch1? unless they used the japanese word for specifically romantic love (which they COULD have!) if sounds like he's been trained improperly as a priest and raised poorly as achild

early-chapter fluff coming back in an emotionally poignant and plot relevant way YAYYYY

dante being the one to find them...hehe. also I've noted this in the past but verge really isn't as childish as he likes to pretend. he just likes to fuck with dante - and he is, here. head tilted, big smile, sitting on his giant lolipop like that. he doesn't need to do this - we've seen him be serious and calm and grounded in front of almost every other character - but he does bc it's fun to piss dante off. and maybe verge likes playing with him too. he didn't have much chance of having fun when he was younger, after all

aw, poor becu must have been startled and fell!

ohh he finally comes out and says it. either he had the idea at the bowling alley or he knew beforehand and he was planting the seeds. with THAT bratty grin too. oh verge <3

also, I just realized his sleeves are so long and wide! his robes must be huge on him! aw, he never physically grew up....

they're so serious but verge is LITERALLY right lmao

I love her face...and she's right! ha!

this is the arc where priest literally tris to kill himself and everyone in the whole world because he's so tired and heartsick and it's weirdly one of the funniest? I mean I'm not complaining, I love the humor.

tbh this is one of the best arcs so far if not THE best, to me. the heavy emotional scenes balanced by humor, interesting and well-developed character dynamics, high-action scenes and dramatic reveals like danverge backstory and imuri's exposure, CRAZY shit like the dante and verge events....like it marries the humor and character work of the first 20 chapters with the emotional weight and excitement of the two arcs afterwards. it's REALLY good...I think it's the epitome of the writing so far and it was only possible because of all this buildup

[chernobylcatfish09]

Here's the first part of The Question List(Trigger warning, cannabalism. it is question ten, so you can skip that one if u want)

How tall are you?

Do you like flower lamps?

Who's your favorite Egyptian god?

Do you like horror movies?

Have you ever yelled at a dog or cat?

Would you yell at a dog or cat if it did something bad? (like scratched up stuff or peed on ur floor or something)

Do you like classic literture?

Have you read Dracula?

What makes a monster a monster

Is cannibalism bad? why?

Do you like roses?

Do you swear online?

Do you swear in real life?

What are some of your "catch phrases" (things you say often)

Do you like the rain?

Do you like science?

What age is "old" to you?

Do you like Marvel or Dc better?

Have you ever read Moby Dick?

Do you believe in souls?

As a kid, did you ever have a monster under the bed?

Did you ever have an imaginary friend?

Have you watched the Mandalorian?

Do you like babies and small children?

Do you have a curious nature?

How would you describe your personality?

Have you ever been in a musical?

Do you agree with Diogenes's philosophy: "in a rich mans house, there is no where to spit but his face."?

Do you act differently online then you do in real life? Why?

What are your ideal conditions for sleeping?

Do you like wordplay?

What is your dream job?

Do you like crocodiles?

Do you like the 80's aesthetic?

Is this list too long?

AHHHHH! Here's the first chunk of The Question List. Enjoy!

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO ITS BEEN SO LONG SINCE IVE HAD ONE YAYYYY

1. 5’2, but I am pretty close to 5’3

2. I think they are cool, dunno if I would ever own one

3. I don’t know many Egyptian gods, can’t remember the names well, perhaps Anubis though

4. I love the horror genre, in a broad sense I’d say yes but there are popular ones I don’t ever intend to watch; The saw series and the terrified movies, I prefer psychological horrors, but I generally don’t watch movies too often, I tend to watch horror gameplays or analog horrors, WALTEN FILES MY BELOVED IM SO EXCITED FOR MORE OF JT

5. I tend to yell at dogs and cats when they get on my nerves, I get mad easily, especially with dogs bc misophonia, I feel bad but I can’t do much bc neither of us can control it, but I can’t really get away, kinda just stuck together

6. I wouldn’t want to but I probably would, I also tend to gag if I have to clean up something, I wouldn’t be mad if they scratched something I don’t mind that, but I do have a dog who tends to piss on specific areas so we have pee pads for him when my mother goes on grocery trips bc he does it that often, if I was already pissed most likely, but maybe not

7. Not really, I’m just not much of a reader tbh

8. Not yet, dunno if I will

9. I’m not sure what makes a monster a monster, I don’t have any idea either, it’s a very good question

10. I would say yes, but it also depends on the situation, like if there are 2 people and one was dying and said the other could eat them to survive, then I’d say that’s alright bc it’s survival and the other said to was okay, but that’s specifically for humans, for animals it’s pretty much natural and I have no notes for animals, nature is brutal sometimes

11. I think roses are nice, but I prefer hydrangeas or hibiscus, i don’t actually know much about flowers

12. I swear a lot online

13. I would swear a lot more if I was allowed to freely, but yea I’d say a swear a decent amount

14. not rlly, I sometimes repeat random things but that isn’t really a catchphrase it’s a stim thing

15. I love the rain, it’s one of my fave weather things

16. I somewhat like science, only biology tho, I’m not smart enough for it

17. Maybe 40s, that’s like the start of older age but that’s a joke thing, probably 50s-60s and beyond as an actual answer

18. I don’t really care for either, whichever has Spider-Man I suppose

19. I have not read moby dick in fact

20. Somewhat, hard to say tbh

21. I’m pretty sure I did, no specific like design or look in mind but I think so

22. Pretty sure I did, if not, I def imagine fictional characters as my friends so I’ll count that

23. I haven’t, but my mother did

24. Not really, like I don’t mind if they are quiet or kept in check by parents, but otherwise they overstimulate me

25. Somewhat, I’m nosey and like to know things, I don’t rlly know if I look for actual answers too often

26. Flops between silly jester and jaded gloom beast, if I need to elaborate I will

27. I have not, most I would do is be behind the scenes helping bc I’m anxious and stop talking when I’m too nervous/overwhelmed

28. Somewhat, millionaires I’ll let slip by but not billionaires, we shall roast them on spitfires and feed them to animals

29. I do, I’m a lot happier online and talkative bc I can be myself, can’t do that irl, I’m a real hermit and jsut tend to keep to myself

30. Cold ac temp, a nice blanket, water on a nightstand near me, and something on the tv and that’s pretty much all I need

31. If it’s funny yea

32. Probably some job in an aquarium

33. Crocs scare me but they are cool

34. I don’t look a lot into it but it’s very neon, very cool

35. Nope, I love answering long things it’s very fun

Eeeee i love doing this =333

[applestorms]

4, 15, &/or 25 for the ask meme?

hehehe sure ^w^ original ask game

4. If your favorite character weren’t in Death Note, what anime/manga do you think they would thrive in?

HMM. ok, hear me out: near in mob psycho.

admittedly i still haven't watched s3 yet BUT, even w/o that context i think he would be such a fascinating character in that environment, like-- mob's Whole Thing throughout the show is about wanting to be a normal kid and figure out his normal middle-school aged boy problems, in such a way that he Doesn't have to rely on his one incredible mental ability to fix everything for him. the Parallels of being this uber-talented kid that everyone reveres for their talents but also not really giving that much of a shit about that talent themself is already present. i feel like near would make a really good enemy-to-friend rival here, like he starts off totally ascribing to this idea of Well, This Is What I'm Supposed To Do while internally suffering under the weight of the whole Legacy thing before mob is like NO!! YOU CAN BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE!!! and flips his world-shit crazy style. also ritsu n mello could totally relate inferiority-complex-wise and watching them interact would be funny as fuck👍

15. Which character’s personality do you relate to?

god =3=" i guess L? i try not to be such a fucking manchild like him but i do somewhat relate to the overall mindset of not giving much of a shit about conventional social expectations. + sweet tooth, + obsession with light yagami. lmfao. i fear i may also be quite a bit like misa in some ways, specifically when i'm really excited about something/comfortable around someone i can go Full Stubborn Dedicated and get enthusiastic about shit in a way that expresses itself more like her than L. thoughhh, i think i probably relate to light more in terms of his underlying fears/angst/etc. so. idk, some mix of those three? ^w^ (you tell me tbh how do i come across)

25. At what point did you fall in love with Death Note?

HMM. good question. there's a couple points that i think might've tipped me over the edge from general interest to one of my most dedicated fixations yet, though it probably comes down to this: reading light's death in the manga. in part because it's such a Fantastic scene, easily one of if not the best in the entire series imo, but also because i kinda accidentally edged myself and didn't read it for years LOL. like i read the manga back in high school (black edition) but dropped it due to Circumstances and never ended up reading the last half of vol. 5 + vol. 6 until a couple months ago. oops.

also once i started to really get on board w/ meronia/the wammy's kids is when i think i Really started to commit to DN as a whole. "there's a point where if you start taking interest in wammy's house in the latter half of DN it's all fucking over for you," etc. etc. or however that post goes. really, it's once i started taking a Big Look at both near and light (around the time that i wrote this post, still one of my favorite astronaut rambles tbh) that i really started loving this series <33 (also the fact that this fandom has been great in my experience, at least around here!! :3c)

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

Hello and welcome to Day 1 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

This little bunny has been born today (while I was thinking of my other OLDER plot bunnies) and I don't that that much detail about it - like how would the story continue past the premise of it - so I thought this would be a good first plot bunny to begin with.

Edit: As of February 6th, this fic has a title:

"Shen Jiu's forceful adoption" (You don't choose family, family chooses you)"

Here goes nothing:

So, this would be a crossover between SVSSS (PIDW?) and MDZS, where Shen Jiu (the original goods) either runs away from Wu Yanzi or kills him before the Immortal Allience Comference where he meets Yue Qingyuan again. And so Shen Jiu just becomes a Rouge Cultivator (I wanna put forward that Wu Yanzi may have messed with Shen Jiu's head and made him believe that Qi-ge truly just left him behind and didn't care an ounce to come back for him, so Shen Jiu is not exactly in a rush to find his Qi-ge again)

During the first few months on the road, Shen Jiu ends up meeting (a three months pregnant), Cangse Sanren, and her husband Wei Changze. Shen Jiu is not really in the best shame when they meet (he is kinda feral and malnourished + has a distrust towards people a mile long), so of course WWX's parents are like "I am adopting this kid right now".

Since they are worried about Shen Jiu and they want to take care of him, both try to gain his trust, and after maybe half a year, they are somewhat close.

Needless to say, once Wei Ying is born, Shen Jiu is hooked since who can resist baby!WY. Like seriously - Shen Jiu may be a bit too mean sometimes (which is mostly due to trauma and the fact that ancient China had no way - to my knowledge - to treat PTSD) but he ain't someone who would ever be capable of killing a child (I shudder when I think that Shen Jiu and Yue Qingyuan may have seen more children die/suffer than be born in their life).

So this basically ends with Shen Jiu gaining a family, Wei Ying having a big brother that is very protective of him (watch out LWJ) and, in Cang Qiong Sect, we have Shang Qinghua (aka Airplane) who is very much freaking out because "the Scum Villain is nowhere to be found, how is the plot supposed to progress now System".

Small things to note:

• Shen Jiu is about 14 when he meets WWX's parents and 15 when Wei Ying is born - which means when Cloud Recess happens Shen Jiu is in his 30s (tho he still looks like a 20 years old man due to cultivation)

•As a child, Wei Ying couldn't pronounce Shen Jiu's name, so he called him Sè-ge (瑟) which means "zither"; Shen Jiu does in fact learn and (tries to) teach Wei Ying how to play this instrument while he is growing.

•I have no idea how to handle Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze tbh. I kinda want them to remain alive (albeit very injured) after that Night Hunt just so that Shen Jiu isn't alone in taking care of Wei Ying and himself.

•I want Lou Binghe to be a Bai Zhan Desciple in this AU and both him (+ a few other deciples) and Liu Qingge to be present at Cloud Recess just to have them meet Shen Jiu (sorry Binghe, you are literally Wei Ying's age (if not a bit younger); Shen Jiu won't look at you. Liu Qingge on the other hand.... (¬‿¬) )

•Shen Jiu, upon meeting the Jins the first time: "I don't trust you. Get the hell away from me and my brother Satan."

•Shen Jiu immediately after Wei Ying is born: "I only had Wei Ying for less than 5 minutes but if anything happens to him, I will kill everyone here and then myself."

•Shen Jiu, after realizing LWJ likes his little brother: "I will be watching you very closely, mister. Don't you dare try anything with my little brother"

And this is all I have for this Crossover AU.

So what do you guys think?

Good? Bad? Very much looks like my brain is on Crack? (I personally agree with the 3rd one)

Either way, I will be stopping here for today, but if I get any more ideas for this specific au, I will try to expand on it. (I am 89% sure I will be expanding on it at one point or another)

Till next time,

TooManyPlotBunnies - Send Help

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

I really don't mean to offend or anything. And I realise this is a personal question so no pressure to answer. However about that post you made about wanting to have kids. I'm a woman in my early twenties and I viscerally do not want kids. And your post for the first time had someone bringing up the "watching a person develope" aspect of having children. I figure that could be at least interesting to witness. So for the first I understand any motivation to have children. This is why I'm asking you. Because what you said makes sense to me.

So very genuinely I'd like to know how you're comfortable with the responsibility of it? Of a choice you can't undo and a lifelong commitment. You said you'll get your PhD. But with children right after, it won't stop your career, but won't it definitely mean you'll have less time for a field of study I'm assuming you're very passionate about? If not that, Won't it take away a lot of time for other things important to you?

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not asking bc I want to convince you not to have children (I'm asking because you're so sure of yourself so clearly you've considered this) on the other hand nothing you could say would convince me to have children. This really is just out of curiosity.

Being a woman I've been very much bombarded with people's opinions on motherhood and sometimes felt like I wouldn't have a choice in the matter. Luckily for me I do have the choice. But I am curious because many women do make the other choice, which I find truly unimaginable. My friends are around my age, therefore even if they're comfortable with the idea of children, they're not making concrete plans and my female relatives have already had children.

Anyway. I know that was a long ask but I'll reiterate please don't feel pressured to answer, I'm really just asking because I'm curious it's very much not actually important.

So I'm interested in the opinions of a women who does have concrete and realistic plans but hasn't yet had children.

no offense taken whatsoever! this is a good question and one i think is really worth answering because maybe you're not the only person wondering about this, you know?

under the cut because my answer got equally long, whoops lol

-

anyway, first off, i am of the very very VERY strong belief having children should be something you do when you're absolutely certain you want to do it, while not having kids should be the default. our society tends to teach us the opposite, but really, like you said, it's an irreversibly life changing decision. it's gonna demolish your finances, it's gonna get in the way of your career to at least some degree, and it is a vastly huge undertaking of responsibility. having kids shouldn't be a "well, idk, isn't that what you're supposed to do?" kind of decision, or god forbid a "my partner wants kids so i guess i'll do it" decision. and tbh i think that's a massive part of why poor parenting is such a prevalent thing. if you're not REALLY REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT, how are you gonna give this new job the dedication it deserves?

all this to say: i'm certain i want to have kids because i've always wanted to have kids, even after looking at it through the lenses of "wait, do i only want this because it's expected of me? am i just afraid of growing old and getting lonely? do i just think babies are cute?"

and on the flipside, this is why i hold zero judgement toward people who don't want to have kids, in the same way i hold zero judgement toward people who, say, don't want to go into a phd for biochemistry. why would you do that if it's not something you really, really want?

in my case specifically: for a career, i can be a scientist with kids no problem, and honestly, i've always felt that my career isn't something i need to go full throttle on all the time. i don't want to be the top scientist in my field and churn out double digit publications a year, i want to teach classes and maybe run a small lab. i've always wanted a career that's not super serious, where i get plenty of free time, and raising kids is the thing that i most want to fill that time up with. also, even in my career my main goal is to be a teacher, a mentor, so i guess it all comes down to the fact that what i really enjoy most about science is helping other scientists develop, and like, that's the same concept as raising kids to develop into adults, in a way. it's just who i am and what i want to do, it's my skillset and more of a passion than the science itself ever has been (which is a pretty high bar!)

another thing to note: i had a pretty good childhood and good role models for parents. they for SURE had their issues and still do, but overall they were really, really dedicated to parenting and gave me a good impression of what parents are supposed to be like. i think i can give my kids a good childhood and raise them to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted adults. and that's not to say only people with good childhoods should have kids! my bf has a boatload of childhood trauma he's working through in therapy, and he also wants to have kids for sort of the same/opposite reason that i do: he knows a lot of what not to do, and he really feels that he can give a kid a better childhood than the one he had. plus he'll be such a good dad but talking about that makes my baby fever reach supernova levels so we'll just leave that there

lastly, on a personal/selfish note, i also want kids because i had a very large family growing up, which has gotten smaller and smaller over the years, and i want to be able to get back to something like that one day. i want to be the mom/aunt/grandma that hosts family parties where there's just a gaggle of children running all over the place and everyone feels welcome in my house. i want to be someone whose house is a safe place for a lot of people, not just my kids but their friends, too, and my friends and their kids, etc. etc., and this is of course possible without having kids of my own, but combined with the fact that i want kids of my own anyway... you get the deal

THIS ANSWER GOT REALLY LONG lol but anyway, point is, having kids is a huge decision in a similar way that throwing away 6+ years of my life to get a biochemistry phd was a huge decision. it's something that shouldn't be undertaken lightly, and only if you really, really, really want it. which i do, because raising kids is something i feel i'll be pretty good at and which i know i'll really enjoy.

[sillyjayz]

Yes please talk about your crossover!!!!!!

FOR YOU ANON I WILL!!! 🫡

I want to make more posts about it either here or on a side blog due to the brain rot I keep getting from thinking about it constantly. For now, I’m gonna do my best here to explain the general gist of it all! It’s still a bit rough tbh so my apologies if it makes 0 sense whatsoever and if it’s really long (which it already looks like it will be LMAO). It’s all gonna be under the read more so people who aren’t interested can scroll past it easily!

OH and before I continue, I’m gonna briefly discuss where it takes place in the canon timelines. So for Vbros, it’s after the movie. For Postal, it’s basically after the events for Postal 4. And for Eltingville Club, it’s after “This fan…This Monster!” but before the epilogue. For EC, it’s like an au where the club doesn’t immediately separate after the events of the comic fire yet are the verge of breaking apart. The club are around the same age as the Venture twins. (One more thing: if you ask me about any specific year it takes place in, I can’t tell you nor do I care that much about it sorry BWUSBWH)

It’s basically two stories happening at the same time, in different locations:

Story A is centered around Postal/Venture Brothers. This one is pretty underdeveloped because I haven’t came up with any reasoning for why The Postal Dude would be in NYC, how he even encounters Dean in the first place, and how he even discovers that he is a Venture (aka Jonas is his actual father. Not in the clone way, but in the normal way, making him and Rusty and the Monarch half brothers). Honestly, I just wanted to explore that last idea more and see some fun uncle and nephew bonding and shenanigans happen.

Story B, on the other hand, is pretty developed and consistent. Considering I made the Eltingville/Venture Brothers crossover first before I got fixated on Postal as well. I made an entire (and somewhat outdated) outline but to summarize it quickly: Hank moves out to go live with his new uncle Monarch temporarily to become more independent from his father (and also he didn’t want to go back to New York City because of Sirena). Basically still recovering from what happened and trying to find his way. He’s able to get a job at newly opened comic store in Eltingville (since the last one….burned down) and he encounters the club. Hank, against everyone else’s advice of “Do not talk to them”, talks to them since they’re so happen to be talking about Batman which ends with Hank asking if he can join. He gets laughed at by them, who don’t believe he’s really a Venture since what the hell is a supposed rich/famous kid doing working minimum wage as a comic book employee and Bill emphasizes that “We only allow authentic fans to join the club.” To prove his worth, Hank is challenged to a trivia off. If he wins, he’s in the club (as an unofficial official member or an “intern” as Bill calls it). If he loses, he doesn’t get to join the club and has to give them some valuable collectables for free, which Hank could get fired for. He gets until the end of the week to prepare for it since Hank argues with them for extra time and they all agree, thinking he’s gonna lose anyway. However, with Gary’s assistance and some secret help from Jerry (who thinks having a new member could be beneficial for the club), he ends up winning and becoming a part of the club!

[st-helga]

Buffy S1e02/s1e03 thoughts

"Are you jealous?" "Of xander? Hes "just a kid"

Buffy is the same age as Xander angel! I dont wanna being up the age thing a bunch cause in all honesty theres only so much to be said. But come on. I guess he means like maturity wise but also buffy isnt really that "mature". Shes just kinda been forced to grow up fast. Shes still got the mentality of a teenager for the most part. Its kinda easy to forget buffy is supposed to be like 16 in universw cause her actor is like an adult which makes the angel thing feel a little less weird. In reality the actors are like similar ages (20 and like 28, so not that aimilar but closer then in the show with her being 16 and him being born before the moving image) its just their characters who have a larger age gap so thats probably why people can look past it but I cant really. Moreso then the age gap i just dont really buy their chemistry.

Okay this show has a thing with having buffy being suffocated and or burried alive. I kinda knew that I think cause of isttg but its been a repeat theme. I wanna group in her being drowned with the suffocation thing. Its interesting. I guess its moslty cause of the vampire imagery

Okay cordelia is officially in the "whatre you losers up to" phase of her integration into the friend group. Which makes sense tbh she is in the intro.

Oh shit so it's like a Frankenstein sort of thing. I like that, i like that theyre kinda going thro8gh the general horror pantheon. We got like 3/6th of the universal mosnters. Weve had vampires, frankensteins, and an invisble girl which is close enough to the invisible man for me to count it. It also has like a pygmallion thing going on with them trying to build a bride, which is qlso kinda similar to bride of frankenstein with the "building the monster a partner" thing

What is eric gaining from any of this? Was he just peer pressured into doing this? If so he seems way to eager. Oh wait hes kinda like the Igor I guess. Which would make chris the dr. Frankenstein fill in.

AND IT ENDS WITH THE BUILDING BURNING WITH THE MONSTER INSIDE. there is no way this isnt a purposeful frankenstein thing. Delightful

S2e03

Because of being slight almost spoilered i have some idea of what happens over the next few seasons. The names spike and tara are kinda floating aroung in my head. So i have this little guessing game when a new character pops up if theyre tara and or spike or not. So far all have heen wrong. That vampire guy who was smoking a fat dart feels like a spike but Im probably wrong.

olay immediately after i added that they confirmed this is in fact, Spike. Im the smartest girl alive. I didnt imagine he would be british but I already like him a bit more then Angel. Even if hes kinda freaky.

Yeah even tho8gh he is pronably more objectively "problematic" and actively tries to being harm to buffy more often I still like hom better.

He called him an Uncle Tom?! What the fuck?! They kinda keep going back to this idea of vampyr discrimination. But im just gonna say now its not at all comparable to real world discrimination. Call me Vamphobic but I think that literaly demonic undead bloodauckers dont need to have the same benefit of the doubt as someone who happened to be born on the other side of the Mediterranean. Im not saying there are no vampires who can be genuine allies but I do think Buffy kinda being cautious around anfel is reasonable.

I love how the characters rationalise the shit that happens to them. Sure thats a gang on Pcp. I need to myself some pcp apparently.

Okay cut that cause principal snyder kinda implied he has at least some idea the stuff thats been happening has been supernatural. I dont know if he knows theyre vampyrs specifically cause thats kind of a leep. Legitamitely what answer could someone come to in this situation that would make sense. Honestly I think snyder is my favorite background character because of how much he represents the pov of the common man in this universe.

[finsterhund]

Oh shit a new episode of the Ahsoka show came out while I was on my camping trip...

Spoilers under break.

Still genuinely confused about Sabine being force sensitive. It kinda feels like the show is too???? Idk maybe Luke took to everything so fast in A New Hope because he was a Skywalker but Sabine is really struggling????

Jesus Christ this episode continues to just show the New Republic as stupid bureaucrats. :( "You're wasting resources trying to find this missing kid, even though it's specifically to track down Thrawn being alive also because he's a threat." Bruh. I looked up to you guys when I was little you're breaking my heart.

Jacen is sweet. They made him look a bit more on the human side though? Why isn't he being trained? He's a good age to start considering how old Anakin was and also probably actually force sensitive.

Yeah Sabine is straight up "I don't feel the force" Ahsoka is like "not everyone can handle the discipline it takes" like bro you were trained since you were an infant!!!!

Okay so now Huyang is like "the Order wouldn't have accepted her" so he just straight up lied to Sabine in the last episode. Mean.

I see where the writers are going now. But Ahsoka isn't being smart about it. I really am clashing with this writing. What's basically "plot armor" except it's a "character being made to be stupider than they canonically should be" called?

THE RETURN OF TEARSTAINS WHITE DOG!!! MY BLORBO!!! In a little fighter ship aaaaaa fuck why has this character grown on me so much in such a stupid fucking way bro

God a part of my brain has retroactively decided that Hati is a lichthund and her ship is actually some sort of SW canon compliant synth wing alternative. It makes her feel a lot more realistic tbh. God I'd never want my hounds to be an actual canon SW race because that'd mean Disney would own them now but I haven't actually thought about them ACTUALLY seriously literally showing up in a piece of SW media for AGES.

Okay so I've had an internal running joke where I just go "haha lichthund" every time Disney has someone do something that doesn't make sense under normal pre Disney canonical circumstances but would be a possibility in my own work. ie: hyperspace ramming: this is a very lichthund thing to do fyi they're fucking obsessed with that, surviving lightsaber stab wounds in vital places: sounds like somebody's part lichthund to me, etc. It's a joke, it's coping, it's genuinely silly, but now I'm actually taking it seriously. FFS.

The idea of a lichthunde who relies entirely on their synth wing is hilarious to me though. Maybe in this hypothetical lichthund-Hati is physically disabled, or spent most of her life clipped or something.

Oh shit I think Morgan is actually force sensitive. Unless that's all just Hati doing the telepathy. Because it still really fucking feels that Hati isn't force sensitive.

God I can't stop reinterpreting her as a lichthund. This is actually helping me suspend disbelief.

Bro Ahsoka leaving the ship and jumping around in space. Only Ahsoka in this situation could make sense but it still is weird to see. She's wearing a suit thankfully. I know Disney has had people survive outside of ships without them before but I don't like that. I've seen Jedi in space suits in the CW cartoon before and clones wearing spacesuits so I'm not bothered by that but I don't think lightsabers are supposed to handly firepower from ships? Only the fact that she was Anakin's Padawan is making me accept this. Because this sounds like something stupidly dangerous and excessive that he would do. I can fucking hear Obi-wan ribbing them both about it.

Wait why can't Ahsoka propel herself back to the ship using the force? So Leia can do this unconscious but Ahsoka can't? Disney...

Hati apparently being force sensitive and not being able to hit Ahsoka with her ship guns makes sense with my stupid little game where she's a lichthund because manually having to control a gun rather than her own biological weapons would be fairly dysmorphic tho so...

Like the live action purgill designs. Flying around them was cool.

Still cursed with the thought of Hati being a little white fluffy tearstained lichthund that has body dysmorpha though. Fuck I want art of this so bad. Just this fucked up little lichthund (Indigo sized) with wings permanently held resting folded using front legs to man the ship steering looking around with a constant semi deer-in-the-headlights expression. This is canon to me.

Was able to flow along and understand a lot better than the first two episodes. Still not sold on the series but if this turns into the lichthund blorbo development experience I won't be mad.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. LMAO there are literal myths from 2k+ years ago of mythology being pro breast feeding?? like there's a myth of Hera being so pro-breastfeeding she doesn't even flinch at the idea of feeding some random baby (Heracles) that Athena was holding who was being fussy. The nymphs are also called "nurses" to various deities and their kids, which including breastfeeding them. why do LO fans act like she's invented everything thats been common place for centuries at this point?

2. The gay representation in this is so bad that I forget about Athena and Hestia being LOVERS. I only remembered cause a fan mentioned them during an argument about diversity 😂 How ironic 

3. the reason RS doesnt get why her "fertility godess" idea is easily broken apart with even a second of thought it because she has this bizarre view of the world where she thinks a mythology that was fairly fluid in its ideals (esp with sex and gender) is to be like you know whats a good idea, separating EVERYTHING by sex to where it's more conservative than 800 BC. zeus is more of a fertility god than persephone is but god forbid rachel not be gender essentialist about everything in this comic

4. I do love that one panel of Persphone dressed as a Fury bc it was supposed to be her being "badass and sexy" that Hades literally GROANED over it (bleh) and it's like MA'AM she literally looks twelve??? does she know even short people have normal proportions as adults??? anyway jail Hades I hate him

5. I've seen some people critique LO for the colorful gods trope and tbh I don't think it's an issue? I think the issue is more how lazy Rachel is with it. Hercules and OSP put thought into the colors with still unique designs, so the color enhances their designs. meanwhile with LO color is their ONLY design, because there's nothing to tell anyone apart besides color, but even then it fails when all the nymphs are just Persephone with pointy ears, and there is now another Hera clone running around

6. The thing is to me Rachel SHOULD take criticism and fix what she can, but her only solutions to any criticism she does listen to is often just?? stupid?? The "internalized misogyny" and "but capitalism!" bits don't actually fix any issue within the comic and it's more of a virtue signal from Rachel she "hears them" but won't actually do anything and just wants them to shut up. It's also as subtle as the color schemes she uses, which is not at all. She's as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face.

7. I saw someone refer to the LO art as a saccharine "gender-reveal art style" and I laughed so hard that I'm never ever calling it anything else again

8. Isn't Persephone in comic confirmed to have stopped aging at 19? so wouldn't a timeskip not help the age gap? i's not like Hades somehow got younger. idk the specifics but it seems she didn't just stop physically aging at 19, she's also mentally and emotionally stuck at 19 too, so her technically being 30+ now doesn't actually help when she's still going to be 19 forever anyway. anyway RS isn't a very good writer.

9. Ok so either the rest of the season now is RS backtracking to do flashbacks which makes the timeskip a waste of time/random bc why not just go through the day by day style she was doing anyway in that case OR she'll just be like "idk YOU imagine what happened i'm moving ahead" which is so?? lazy??? and a waste of everyone's time?? like dont dick your readers around for almost half a decade with stuff that doesnt matter only to NOT show them over a decade of in story development??

10. ZEUS NUMERO UNO!!!! he's a better king than hades

[mistymark]

rating nct based on what type of mall employee they’d be

thank you to @starrymikrokosmos for the idea xx

taeil: 9/10. florist. always happy to go to work, and brings tea with him to every shift. loves taking orders and arranging flowers. when its quiet, he plays music from his phone as he works. talks to himself sometimes when he needs to remember specific orders but people think he’s talking to the plants.

Johnny: 10/10. works at a photo development pop-up store. puts up some of his own photos and will happily chat to you about what camera, model and lens he used. incredibly knowledgable. helps people pick out good gifts and recommends cheaper alternatives to expensive products.

taeyong: 10/10. works at the body shop. always smells amazing. loves helping customers pick out gifts and can gift wrap like a god. knows everything there is to know about all the products. just so happy to work there tbh. becomes a store manager after his first year working there.

yuta: 6/10. works as a waiter at one of restaurants. has a resting bitch face so people think he’s got an attitude. makes sure customers can’t see him roll his eyes when they send their food back. loves hanging out in the kitchens.

ten: 8/10. works at a clothing store. all his colleagues love him - his boss not so much. works fitting rooms and hates hanging the clothes but loves helping customers decide whether to buy something. -2 points because sometimes he’s a little too honest.

kun: 10/10. works at the kids play centre. i have no reasoning i just know he’d be the best employee ever. all the mothers probably have a crush on him.

doyoung: 8/10. barista at starbucks. very good at his job and knows the orders of regular customers off by heart. prefers the early morning shift to the afternoon. stays working the coffee machine when someone attractive walks in. -2 points because when he's in a bad mood he can be a lil passive aggressive.

winwin: 9/10. works at a bakery/cake shop. when he started he was just supposed to work on the register and serving customers, but he’s actually really good at decorating the cakes and other desserts. often leaves at the end of his shift with his clothes dusted in sugar and flour. smells like heaven.

jaehyun: 8/10. works at an ice cream bar. likes making the more expensive desserts but always gets stationed on the door with samples. it’s probably because he’s so beautiful but that’s never crossed his mind. somehow makes the uniform look good. knows the regular customers really well.

jungwoo: 10/10. works at the smoothie/juice shop. loves wearing the little bandana headband thing around his head. sometimes winks when he catches someone’s eye. every teenage girl who goes in there thinks he’s the hottest guy they’ve ever seen. likes working the late shift and packing up.

lucas: 9/10. works at the pet store. gets very excited when people bring their dogs in with them. excellent at customer service. offers to help get things down from the top shelf. -1 point because he sometimes gets distracted by the dogs and doesn’t do his job.

hendery: 5/10. works at the movie theatre. used to work the ticket booth but would stand and chat to customers about the movies for ten minutes, often strangers. accidentally takes long breaks. uses cinema-themed pick up lines on his coworkers.

xiaojun: 4/10. works at the bookstore. gets distracted by reading the blurbs of books he’s supposed to be putting away. mostly keeps to himself and forgets to ask customers if they need anything. when hes behind the register, he’s either texting his friends or writing.

mark: 7/10. works at a tech store, in the instruments/music section. worked there for ages but if someone asks about phone plans or laptops, he’s absolutely clueless and has to ask someone else for help. can answer any question about the instruments, though. always covers his colleagues’ shifts. gets a lil nervous when serving customers his own age.

renjun: 8/10. works at the boba shop. makes orders perfectly but hates being on the register and actually interacting with customers. likes that there are only a few people who work there, but it took him a while to come out of his shell and talk to them a lot. is personally offended when someone doesn’t like a drink they ordered.

jeno: 6/10. works at a huge toy store. usually the one to put the bikes together before they go on display or after people buy them. accidentally intimidates kids, but once they see him smile, they love him. -4 points because he never checks his schedule and has missed a few of his shifts by accident.

jaemin: 7/10. works at the arcade. smiles 24/7. loves helping the kids pick their prizes and happily chats up the parents that came along. flirts with anyone his own age. used to go to the same arcade as a kid and knows all the ins and outs. -3 points because when a machine stuffs up his general tactic to solve the issue to just, kick it.

donghyuck: 5/10. works at a shoe store. loves when no one comes in because that means he can just spend his entire shift talking to the other staff and looking at the shoes. gets along really well with all his colleagues. happy to help customers but usually doesn’t even notice they’re there so someone has to tell him to go over every time.

yangyang: 6/10. works at an outdoor activities/camping store. doesn’t mind his job but he’s never been camping in his life. took him a while to learn everything. loves working in the sports department. when there aren’t any customers, he’s usually kicking balls around with his friends.

chenle: 8/10. okay hear me out. chenles a holiday hire. only works around december because he’s hired as an elf in santa’s workshop (for photos). gets super excited to help take good photos. usually just stands at the front of the line and asks kids what they want for christmas. -2 points because one time he spilt hot chocolate on his costume and couldn’t get it dry cleaned for two weeks.

jisung: 9/10. works at mcdonald’s. looks super cute in the uniform but blushes whenever anyone compliments him about it. usually works on the registers. takes home whatever food is left over at the end of the night. gets a promotion after working there for a year.

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

i know spn talks a good deal about the winchester childhoods but,,,,, spare dean childhood headcanons??? or any faves??? 🥺

I knew all my emotional asks to you would catch up with me one day....... this is going to emotionally wreck me..... HERE WE GO

Disclaimer: since this ask is about Dean specifically, I'm only going to talk about Dean's childhood. This is not to say that Sam didn't also have an abusive childhood, he absolutely did.

- - - - - - - - TW: Abuse - - - - - - - - -

TO MY KNOWLEDGE there's no explicit canon age that Dean started hunting. We know he was like? 8-9? (I don't think it's ever said what year that was.) When he was supposed to be practicing with rifles but Bobby took him to the park and played catch with him instead. So sometime after that he started. I headcanon that he started at 10.

I've mentioned before that I headcanon that Dean was with John on that last hunt with William Harvelle.

Dean dropped out of high school at some point. I'm convinced John had at least some influence on the decision or it was his idea entirely. I read in a fic once that Dean always got bad grades, not for lack of trying, he tried really hard. But he was always helping his dad or taking care of Sam and he was asleep deprived and just plain never had the time to really give it the old college try. And John told him it was a waste of time. I really liked that tbh, I believe it.

EDIT: ACTUALLY WAIT A MINUTE. YEAH. THIS IS TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE BECAUSE IN 9x07 (Bad Boys) WHEN HE WAS AT THAT BOY'S HOME HE WAS DOING WELL IN SCHOOL!!

But!! BUT!!! Dean says later that he has a GED. And that just!!

At some point he decided he wanted to get his GED. And I just. The thought that at some point, 20-something (probably) Dean Winchester sat down and studied for a diploma that he doesn't even need. With him getting bad grades and people belittling his intelligence, I think he wanted to do it just to prove to himself that he could have if hunting and everything else hadn't gotten in the way.

Supernatural writers giving us nuggets of information from their childhood:

Me right now:

I headcanon that John, at least on two or three occasions, was physically abusive to Dean.

Some of you might read this and be like "YEAH!!" Right away, I don't even have to elaborate.

But I'm gonna.

Remember when Dean talked about when Sam left for Stanford

His FACE in the last two gifs.

That face? That was not the face of "Oh man, I got chewed out so bad." No. That is the face of trauma.

You add that with what Sam said (I think he was a kid??) that John is an angry drunk, and I think it's pretty clear that he got physical on at least a few occasions. Now do I think that he physically abused Sam? No. Dean would never let him. Also, from what we know, John tends to lash out at Dean when Sam upsets him so, if you ask me, Dean took the bullets for him.

There's also that scene in 9x07 (Bad Boys) where Sonny asks if his father gave him those bruises, @lunellumcas wrote a great post about this.

Looking at that scene I'm like

It's interesting that Dean would just outright say it was a werewolf. He could've said no, it wasn't his dad. He's a practiced liar, he could've come up with a believable lie. But instead he told Sonny, who doesn't yet know that monsters are real, that it was from a werewolf? Even if it was the truth, it sounds like a lie to Sonny. So why did he tell him that? To be a smartass? Maybe. Maybe the ridiculous lie was easier than the truth. Maybe he wanted it to seem like a lie, so he wouldn't have to say the truth out loud.

But that post I linked also raises another question. Why did he hesitate? Dean is quick on his feet, always has the next word locked and loaded, but he hesitated and averted eye contact at first. Why?

This was really long but to get back to my original point: I think John Winchester was abusive emotionally to both Sam and Dean and physically to Dean. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

It's mentioned that Dean had his first beer "before he hit double digits". I headcanon that at around age 12, after a really bad day when Sam had fallen asleep and John had knocked out after drowning his sorrows with whiskey, Dean stole a sip or two on impulse. He felt better. And the next morning, John hadn't even noticed. So the next time he takes a little more, maybe an ounce. By the time he's 13, he's just waiting for the circumstances to align again. When he's 14 and staying at Bobby's with Sam while John is out on a hunt somewhere, Dean gets caught taking a beer from the fridge. Bobby is less mad than he is concerned that at 14 Dean is semi-dependent on alcohol. He sits him down and has a long talk about it. Dean doesn't do it again for a long time, even though there are days where he really could've used it. But when he's 16, after that last hunt with William Harvelle,

(From 2x14, Born Under A Bad Sign, when Sam is possessed)

After they burned his remains, they return to the impala in silence. They're both a little shaken up, to say the least. As they're stowing their guns back in the trunk, dried blood still on their hands, John notices Dean's hands are shaking. He stops his son before he gets to the passenger side and grabs two beers from the cooler in the trunk, handing one to him. They both lean against the back bumper, still without uttering a word, until their bottles are empty. They never speak of it again.

He doesn't go back to sobriety after that.

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

RWBY vs Comic

Alright, I said I was gonna do this back when the comic first started getting published but I got so frustrated reading it that I couldn’t actually keep up with it enough go through with it. I think I stopped around issue 4 because that was when I just got angry and threw my comic back into the plastic. I figure now’s as good a time as any since I’m actually rereading it now. My whole issue with the RWBY DC comics is that they’re super canon divergent but somehow still canon material. It’s so frustrating that this is the case because we’re supposed to take into account things that happen in the comic as gospel- things like Adam revealing he’d always been genocidal, Bumbleby’s bottlecap, Weiss’ zoo animal arc, etc, but a lot of these different story arcs don’t make sense in our current canon. So I’m gonna talk about them because why not.

 Issue #1:

The first issue actually isn’t that bad- mostly because it’s just an intro to the series- but there are still some huge inconsistencies between the comic and official canon.

These two panels are a fucking mess.

1) Ruby was passed out when she was delivered to Patch by Qrow. She’d just used her Silver Eyed Warrior powers for the first time, hurt Cinder, frozen the dragon, and passed out. We were literally forced to listen as Qrow carried Ruby out of the rubble and back home, because she was unconscious. But the comic has her just arriving back home all on her own. “I came back to my dad’s house.” No you didn’t, you literally woke up in your bed after what must’ve been days of being unconscious.

2) We know Blake didn’t get to Menagerie on a little wooden boat. We all watched the episode. It was a decent sized ship with multiple crew members, dozens of passengers, and literal armaments designed to destroy Grimm. Sun can’t hide in a robe for 3+ days on this boat. This boat wouldn’t have survived a Grimm attack in the first place. Idk why they decided to draw this boat instead of just drawing the Pride the way it was designed in the first place, but whatever I guess.

RNJR didn’t tell Taiyang they were leaving. Ruby and her team just left. There was a whole scene dedicated to showing the shock and horror on Tai’s face as he saw Ruby’s letter and ran out of the house hoping to catch up to his daughter before she left. Also not as important but still relevant, RNJR left during winter. There was snow on the ground. I don’t see no snow in this panel- that tree looks real green. That last issue is mostly a nitpick- who cares what season they left in tbh. But the fact that they just wrote this panel into the comic despite the fact canon shows Taiyang had no idea of Ruby’s departure- and the fact that Ruby’s departure is actually really important to a bunch of later scenes in this show is really fucking weird.

Issue #2:

I know we know next to nothing about Raven Branwen, but holy fucking shit do I wanna believe this is ridiculously out of character for her. You’re telling me that Raven actually did come visit Yang and Tai and Ruby, but the one time she ever made her presence known to any of them was to berate and terrify Ruby the one time she’d learned anything about Summer?! Like BRO. This is so fucked up! This is too fucked up! This is straight early 90′s level villainy right here. What was even the point behind this?! This scene tells us that she felt so negatively about Summer Rose that she was willing to break her silent cover just to disillusion Ruby for no other reason than to tell her she was weak. Which makes no fucking sense because when we finally meet her during season 5 Raven has nothing bad to say about Summer at all! What did Qrow say to her after they spoke? “Hey sis why the fuck are you flying around your ex’s home scaring his daughter who just lost her mother? You realize you’re talking shit about the woman who raised your child too right?” Like, this is so wildly terrible, that if we’re meant to take this into account, I don’t see how anyone who reads these comics could say anything positive about Raven ever again. This is strike one, two and three for her entire characterization.

Issue #4:

I’ve said it already but fuck this boat.

Not so much an issue with the comic as it is with RoosterTeeth’s sometimes sloppy storytelling, but we really need an exact age on Adam. Is this man a pedophile? We know Blake is about twelve here, meanwhile- besides looking maybe a little scrawnier- Adam looks the same as he did during the show. How old is this kid right here? Fifteen? Seventeen? Was he 20 during the events of volume 1? Was he 25? I really dislike this specific problem RT has created because at no point during canon were we led to believe that Adam was significantly older than Blake or our other characters, but here in the comic we’re getting huge pedo vibes. Idk if this was RoosterTeeth retroactively trying to throw Adam’s character even further into question but... Idk man, RT y’all need to hurry up and carbon date this kid because I’m really not liking this.

I’m not gonna harp on the whole “Adam as a revolutionary vs Adam as a genocidal maniac” issue again. Most of y’all already know where I stand on this and have either made up your minds that either, yes, Adam’s sudden change towards being genocidal after being forcibly conscripted by Cinder doesn’t make much sense, or, no, Adam’s behavior is entirely in line with what little we’d seen of him up to that point in the story. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinions on this issue, I’ve got about a dozen other posts for that. My issue with these panels specifically is that this is the moment Blake discovers Adam is genocidal. This is the moment Blake realizes that Adam never wanted peace, never wanted coexistence, never wanted what the White Fang actually wanted in the first place. He wanted Faunus supremacy- a goal entirely removed from the White Fang’s goal of equality between Faunus and humans. This is the moment Blake realizes that his ideology is so far from what it is she herself wants. If this is correct, why does Blake never mention this AT ALL when she’s talking about Adam. When the conversation comes up during season 3, she specifically states that Adam’s change was gradual. Not that he’d been hiding who he really was from her but that he’d become a completely different person from the man she’d originally known. I recognize that a lot of people say that this could be explained away as evidence of Blake’s abuse- oftentimes abusers don’t even realize just how monstrous their abusers are, even after they’ve escaped from said abuse. But this is just such a monumentally larger issue than manipulation and abuse. Adam is outright saying that he wants genocide! He’s not trying to hide it, he’s not trying to lie, he’s not trying to manipulate her! He’s telling her explicitly that he wishes he could kill as many humans as possible. But during the Black Trailer she’s still asking Adam about the crew members as if they hadn’t had this conversation hours ago! During season 2 she’s drawing him in her notebook as if she misses him! During season 3 she’s explaining that he’s simply misguided! This is apologia of the umpteenth level that is absolutely inexcusable. If I’m honestly supposed to be made to believe that Blake knew Adam was genocidal from before the events of the Black trailer and season 1 but still had feelings for him... I’m sorry but I’ve lost any and all respect for her entire character. You can’t have feelings for someone who’s genocidal- who you know is genocidal- and expect sympathy. No amount of abuse would forgive someone for having feelings for Hitler.

I recognize the comics aren’t supposed to be a shot for shot recreation of the show, but what the fuck is this panel? The frame of Adam dismembering Yang was such a good, amazing, impactful frame. The black and red framing, the yellow of Yang’s hair and weapons, the red of Adam’s sword. Why would you not even try to recreate that?

Leaving nitpicks for the end, really wish they hadn’t used “sunflower” here. That’s Yang/Ren. But again, the comic is made by people who aren’t in the fndm and don’t interact with the RWBY community at large in the first place, so of course they wouldn’t know.

Issue #5:

Why does Blake seem so ooc here. Like, the fact that she’s trying to make Weiss feel guilty for “cheating” in a “win by any means necessary” free for all match is really??? Weird??? When we know Blake isn’t above using underhanded tricks herself considering what she did to Reese during the tournament and her Semblance in general??? But whatever, that’s mostly a nitpick as well.

Issue #7:

My issue with this story is that it ends with Yang like, wistfully thinking of spending more time with Blake. But this is before she even put the prosthetic on. This is before she even got to talk with Weiss after meeting up with Raven. This is so early on in her healing process that I find it extremely difficult to believe that Yang is fondly remembering any time she spent with Blake. When Ruby talks to her during 3.12, she was angry that Blake had left her! Abandoned her! And then in the conversation she has with Weiss that happens after this event in the comic she’s still frustrated with Blake for leaving. So like... did she suddenly forgive Blake just a few weeks into her recovery and then relapse back into feeling like she’d abandoned her? Wtf is this?

Issue #9:

I know she’s obviously supposed to be drunk here, and we barely got to know her during the short scenes she had, but like... she never struck me as this kind of person. To literally forget how old her daughter is? Like...???? The same woman who was so perceptive she was able to recognize that Whitley was acting out because he’d felt lonely and abandoned by his sisters? Doesn’t know how old one of her children is? This is silly.

This isn’t the same woman we met during season 7. This isn’t the same quick witted woman who immediately directed Weiss to the cameras she’d hidden around the house when it was time to spring the trap on Jacques. This isn’t the same woman who was so honest when she admitted to her own faults just a few short months after this scene supposedly took place. You could argue that the events of this comic are what led Willow to become the person we meet later on, but like... That’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of offscreen growth you’re expecting me to just assume has happened. These aren’t the same people. This is ridiculous.

Issue #12:

This seems so ooc for Sun. Why is he literally begging her to run away and not face a problem when his entire relationship with Blake up to and past this point is him teaching Blake to love herself enough to face her problems head-on in the first place? This is so weird and gross imo because it just feels like they’re warping Sun’s character to make it look like Yang is the only good influence in her life when that’s simply not the case. Every conversation Sun has with Blake from season 1 to season 6 is him telling her that she deserves happiness, love, and to forgive herself. There are multiple songs about this aspect of their relationship! Sun has helped Blake grow just as much as Yang has. Why is Sun taking this approach to manipulate Blake into staying silent about something that’s bothering her? On top of that, Sun’s never been the brightest banana of the bunch anyway, why the FUCK is he smart enough here to recognize that if Blake tells the truth and makes those people feel bad, that they’d draw more Grimm? He’s never been this intuitive before. It really feels like they made him smarter than he normally is just to make him scummier than he’s ever been so that we could feel that Blake’s relationship with Sun is less than her relationship with Yang. Awful writing and characterization from the RWBY DC team here

Issue #13:

This is so wrong and despicable and manipulative and terrible. Again, this isn’t the same woman we met in the show. 

Willow never made excuses for herself or her actions like this. Not once during the entire time she was on screen did she do anything like this. She knew she wasn’t a great mother and she took full responsibility for her actions- and inaction- I don’t know WHY she’s trying to excuse herself here. This is more Cruella De Ville than it is Willow Schnee.

I’m not gonna explain how lumping this “prized menagerie” story with “Faunus slave labor” story together is godawful but just recognize that it’s Black History Month and this plot point they decided to write in is not MLK approved.

Anyway, that’s the whole RWBY DC run. All in all it wasn’t the worst adaptation of an established series, but goddamn. I’d rank this up there with Eragon or Percy Jackson or the end of the Soul Eater anime or something. This is such a slap in the face by people who obviously only ever skimmed through the show for the explicit purpose of writing this series that I’ve read fancomics and fanfiction that handle canon better than this. It’s really frustrating too because this comic run is like, beloved by certain people in the fndm who are only in this for the ships, and people who refuse to see anything wrong with this series ever. The healthy servings of Bumbleby and crumbs of Monochrome and White Rose are apparently enough to make people go “fuck all the inconsistencies, this comic is great.” Cannot express how much these people make me wanna slam my head into a wall. 

I did this just to highlight all the issues I have with the run, but I’m sure other people have other issues with this comic than I do. Have fun in the comments I guess.

[funny-house]

huhu u got me to watch opal the other day since u keep talking abt it and im glad bc i Really Enjoyed It but !! anyways , i saw u mention mirror man doing makeup for someone and i keep thinking about it so Thoughts Incoming sorry in advance lmao. i think he would like to do claires makeup (and teach her abt it in general) when she gets a bit older,, both bc it seems like a legitimate hobby he would enjoy (i imagine if he werent Like That he probably could have been a makeup artist or something similar!) and bc he would like to ‘prettify’ her a bit.

and ah well,,, a lot of parents Like Him sometimes try 2 make their child a carbon copy of themselves or of an image they enjoy so if he grew to like claire more or already does like her enough for that (or just, wants things to revolve around him More) hed try to nudge things in that direction. and in his own way i think He might think hes doing something good, he knows when he was her age he would have killed to have a parent so eager to help him learn makeup and stuff but. claire isnt him. she probably isnt even interested in it at all but shes kinda desperate for Nice Moments and also doesnt wanna risk making him angry so she goes along with it. she always has her head in the clouds so all the things hes saying is too much at once but shes trying to comprehend it,,,,,

nd he keeps giggling at her for how awkwardly she moves her arm when putting on foundation and blush nd gets kind of annoyed with her for repeatedly flinching when he tries to help her with mascara nd teases her a bit for trying to taste the lip gloss (and keeps pointing out a flaw or two on her face “well, youve always had a sort of weird shaped face but youve always had the cutest little smile, its like Mine :)”) but they do it !! together !!! and nothing (that) bad happened !!!!!! so claire is happy,,,,,,,,,,, until that inevitably opens the gates of him trying to pick out what she wears for her and “””suggesting””” hairstyles for her and getting manipulative and even flatout Angry when she doesnt do what he wants her to (bc even when things Seem like theyre about claire they Are Not, its what He wants for her , in the end its still all about him) but, ive rambled enough to you already <:o) sorry for talking so much i just wanted to chat a bit abt opal with you !!!! hope ur doing well hehe . and im sorry this is rambly nd probably incomprehensible i just did a lot of work hkehri

ohhhhhhhh !!! FIRST  I am super glad that all my constant rambling about this man has allowed you to go watch Jack Stauber’s awesome little short, it’s really good and deserves all the support !!!

also i totally appreciate you wanting to share your thoughts with me ;u;

AND I TOTALLY AGREE  the whole idea of him projecting himself onto her, trying to take over her, I think that is so fitting for the short itself tbh, because it’s a reflection ( mirrors, hehe ) of what the mother wants from Claire as well. The thing that terrified Claire near the end is the mother reaching to hold onto her, specifically after the mom said that she was going to become just like her. The idea of her becoming her parents? it terrifies her, clearly!!

And Mirror Man, he is what they call a “archetypal narcissistic abuser”, in my eyes at least,  and it would be really really common to see someone like that not only be so controlling and self absorbed that they treat their child like a decoration to themselves, but also use that child, especially as they get old enough to have opinions on the situation, to turn them against their partner-- such as.... the mom

so picture this

Claire is like 10-12, and she’s bright and she’s got a good heart but she’s WELL and truly Affected by the years of being brought up in that ridiculously toxic hell hole-- I mean house no idea if the grandpa would live that long uhhh in his state, but even if he does, he’s still very sick, disabled, and senile and he isn’t going to be much help. and Claire, she’s starting to have Opinions,, on how things are running around here,,      but in swoops Mirror Dad

He’s like........ it’s your mother’s fault. Oh, absolutely, have you seen her? I mean look at her, she’s disgusting. she’s a drug addict, she’s a drunk, she’s ugly, she’s the reason you feel like this-- and maybe some of that is understandable, i mean she’s a real mess of a mom, no mistake, but hey

Nobody’s going to tell Claire who made her that way! Nobody’s going to tell her Mirror Dad was the one who trapped her in an unloving, possibly violent relationship, with a kid, and ripped apart every inch of her self worth !!!

Nope. she just sees the aftermath. So mirror dad...... turns claire on her. And she starts to side with him on things and she starts to even kinda talk like him maybe even....... learns how to do that dark and scary insecurity voice of his and one day She walks by the.... Reflection Chamber and Mirror Man is there in that way He Always Is in that seat he always sits in, and he says something very very odd to her!   he raises a finger and curls it in and says    come sit on my lap you haven’t gotten too big to sit on my lap have you?? come here!! and i mean Claire is still very very uncomfortable even being near him, and this feels like a trap, but i mean she can’t just say no, and there’s a part of her that’s kinda hoping... maybe he really is trying to be nice. and so she does and she sits with her but you’ll notice he is never looking directly at her. Even as she’s approaching literally right in his line of sight, he stares straight into her reflection, never her face.  It’s like she’s not even real unless she’s in those mirrors.

And he tells her he wants to do her makeup! yay! how fun! and he tells her to close her eyes and pout her lips and try not to flinch when the sculpting starts or he’ll use his deep voice-- and how he’s going to finally FIX her. Goody!! then maybe the constant barrage of insults and negs and criticisms will stop!! (p.s. they wouldn’t have )

And so she opens her eyes..... and the face of her abuser is looking right back. It’s her face. Or it used to be-- now it’s literally his and it’s hideous-- it does not AT ALL belong on that body, and the only thing left of her is her big shiny eyes

and she  S C R E A M S that way Claire does,,,

but this time, loud enough to crack the mirrors, and stun the dad just long enough for him not to catch her in his hands when she leaps off his lap and books it for the attic the attic, the view of the billboard with the same worn out, not updated ad for Opal’s in the window. She locks the door, it doesn’t take long for mirror man to come banging on it, telling her she’s ungrateful, she doesn’t deserve what little she has, taking back every nice thing he ever said, etc,,,

and Opal just starts clawing off the makeup/clay/whatever from her face in the mirror’s glass reflection, putting her hair back into the pigtails her father said made her look stupid

but she isn’t Opal, she’s changed, she’s aged, but Opal-- she’s always the same!! happy!! cared for!! and what is she supposed to be under the makeup? huh? Who is she besides the abuse she’s put through, that billboard and what it sells to her?  she doesn’t know! nobody does nobody ever bothered to get to know what it even means to be Claire.