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hauntingrabbits · 7 months ago

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More Batman/My Little Pony au art because these are ridiculously fun to draw. Part 3 here! Part 1 here!

More info under the cut!

1. Sweet Talk/The Harlequin (Harleen Quinzel)

Originally contracted to work as a psychiatrist for the Tartarus villain redemption program, Sweet Talk had a unique relationship with the Joker. This relationship was proven to be even stranger than her coworkers had originally assumed when she broke him out and joined him in his life of crime.

Devoting herself entirely to her new life and relationship with the joker, she covers her original cutie mark at all times. Snce her horn was snapped she can no longer cast precise spells, leaving her magic mostly emotion-based and intensely volatile, (typically manifesting in the form of sparks, zaps, and explosions).

Other Notes:

-Using Tartarus as a substitute for Arkham Asylum for this au because why not.

-The villain redemption program did NOT go well. Sorry Twilight.

-Mostly based on BTAS Harley because I adore the original costume.

-Her horn was cracked by the Joker

2. Pudding Pie/The Joker (The Joker)

Batpony’s most notorious foe. Said to have been just a regular pony until he fell into a vat at an Ace Potions factory during a conflict with Batpony.

He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark, but it’s unclear whether this was always the case or instead a result of his accident. The effects of permanent Cutie Mark loss—the only known cases of which occurred via long-banned magic and/or traumatic injury—are largely unstudied, and it’s ramifications are unknown. Some ponies theorize this may be the reason for the Joker’s mental state and general disposition.

Sundown has a different opinion on the matter.

Other notes:

-Based mostly on BTAS joker and the ‘89 Nicholson joker.

-His name is just based on Harley’s “pudding” nickname for in in a lot of versions, but I think it would also be hilarious if he was a distant relative of Pinkie Pie.

-I could leave it ambiguous but. Yeah the potion vat didn’t actually do anything beyond slightly altering his physical appearance. He’s just like that and he never got a cutie mark in the first place.

3. Gadiel/Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane)

Raised among ponies, Gadiel was relentlessly bullied for being gangly and birdish, earning him the nickname “Scarecrow” in his youth. Though he later successfully became a professor and psychologist in Gotham, Gadiel was eventually fired when he was found to be testing his fear-inducing potions on his students and purposefully putting them through terrifying and dangerous situations. Deciding to take his experiments to the masses, Gadiel donned the mantle of Scarecrow and weaponized fear to become a career criminal.

As the Scarecrow, he’s known for his skill in manipulation, psychological torture, and crafting dangerous potions and gas. The effects of fear on magical creatures are unique and intense, much to Gadiel’s delight and interest.

Other Notes:

-I wanted to make his front half a crane but I couldn’t get the long neck to work right with the mask, so he’s more crow-like instead.

-according to the wiki 1/3 of Griffin names start with a G so naturally I was extremely tempted to name him Gonathon and you should all be very grateful I did not. The name Gadiel has origins in the bible as the name of an archangel which I thought was fitting given the insane religious trauma some versions of the scarecrow went through. I thought about trying to do something similar for this version but given that the mlp universe uses Princess Celestia as a replacement for God in expressions like “Celestia knows where” and “Oh my Celestia” I wasn’t really sure how to go about it. There’s probably some kind of sun-worshipping thing in equestria idk.

-I spent a long time on the mlp wiki but from what I could find the only “fear” magic in the show is just used by one guy and its just called “dark magic”. I thought for sure there would’ve been some random plant or magical creature they dealt with at some point that maybe did something similar I could use for his blurb but unfortunately there was not.

4. Mandible/Falseface (Basil Karlo/Matt Hagen)

Hungry and deeply resentful of the changeling queen for forcing her underlings to share what little stolen love they had with her, Mandible went rogue early on and split off from the hive to pursue his own ventures. Finding success under the name Claypose as a pony actor in Gotham, he was sustained primarily by the one-sided love of his fans for years, despite the false identity having no real prior personal relationships to leech from.

After a magical special effects accident on set revealed his true nature, he went into hiding and immediately started crafting a new persona, but soon found in his distress and rage over losing his identity as Claypose that he could no longer sustain any disguise long enough to keep up a long-term facade. Blaming the accident, he targeted the unicorn responsible by posing as his wife to leech his love, but ended up killing the pony in a panic when his disguise failed much faster than he’d anticipated it would. Unable to keep up a new identity or return to the hive, Mandible turned to a life of crime instead, doing dirty work for the bigger criminal names in Gotham and leeching love from his employer’s targets to survive.

Other notes:

-Clayface being a changeling was an obvious pick given his power set but I really wasn’t sure how to tackle the main issue of him being unable to keep a solid form for long. I went with his distress and frustration being the main thing keeping his disguise flimsy (so he gets put in kind of an ourobouros cycle where his disguise being bad makes him upset but him being upset makes it harder to fix his disguise), but the magic accident probably also contributed somehow.

-Why are all the changelings straight up just named after body parts in this show whats that about. The “Clay” in Claypose is obviously a reference to his title/schtick in the comics while the “pose” comes from both his job as an actor and the fact that he’s posing as a pony. Mandible is the name for the jaw part of an insect.

-there's actually an entirely different batman villain called falseface in the '66 series but I couldn't come up with anything better. Changeface just does not roll off the tongue.

3. Winglon/Killer Drake (Waylon Jones)

Originally intended to be used in an entrance exam, his egg was stolen from a Canterlot delivery cart on its way to Celestia’s school of magic and sold on the black market to a Pony Island circus. Raised to be part of the freak show, Winglon was pitted against circus performers and overconfident challengers in ring fights for money and entertainment. Enduring abuse and injury throughout his life from ponies that he was always fundamentally stronger than, it was only a matter of time until he snapped. Garnering the name Killer Drake for his actions, Winglon escaped into the Gotham sewer system.

Not knowing how to return to the dragonlands or whether he’d even fit into dragon society at all, he continues to lurk in the dark away from any life, deeply resenting ponies and all other manner of magical creatures that make friends with them.

Other notes:

-I like silly names ok. Winglon Jones. -I like the theory that the dragon egg used for Twilight’s entrance exam was actually fake/meant to be a no-win scenario, but I also don’t think it would be that hard for enterprising ponies to get their hands on dragon eggs. The practice probably stopped in the later seasons when they made friends with the dragonlands or whatever though.

-Given that dragons threaten to eat or kill ponies at multiple points in the show, the cannibalism is actually kind of understandable. And also not even cannibalism anymore. Still murder though.

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saintsenara · 9 months ago

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Riddle’s extremely fearful and aggressive reaction to Dumbledore when he thinks he’s a doctor (and the fact that he assumes this at all and believes he is being lied to) has some pretty dark implications (which of course no one follows up on). Do you have thoughts?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

and yes - this has occurred to me too... which means that my thoughts come with a trigger warning for the sexual abuse of a child, and are under the cut.

the relevant scene in canon is, of course, this:

“I am Professor Dumbledore.” “Professor?” repeated Riddle. He looked wary. “Is that like doctor? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?” He was pointing at the door through which Mrs. Cole had just left. “No, no,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “I don’t believe you,” said Riddle. “She wants me looked at, doesn’t she? Tell the truth!” He spoke the last three words with a ringing force that was almost shocking. It was a command, and it sounded as though he had given it many times before. His eyes had widened and he was glaring at Dumbledore, who made no response except to continue smiling pleasantly. After a few seconds Riddle stopped glaring, though he looked, if anything, warier still. “Who are you?” “I have told you. My name is Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have come to offer you a place at my school - your new school, if you would like to come.” Riddle’s reaction to this was most surprising. He leapt from the bed and backed away from Dumbledore, looking furious. “You can’t kid me! The asylum, that’s where you’re from, isn’t it? ‘Professor,’ yes, of course - well, I’m not going, see? That old cat’s the one who should be in the asylum. I never did anything to little Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop, and you can ask them, they’ll tell you!”

the surface-level reading of this scene - which is clearly what the text wants us to go for - is that riddle thinks he's about to be institutionalised for being "mad" - and, specifically, that he thinks that what dumbledore has been told is his "madness" is actually his magic.

[he is also clearly meant to be read as panicking a little bit that he's fucked around torturing his fellow children and is now about to find out...]

that riddle accepts he's a wizard so easily - and that he is so reassured by dumbledore agreeing that he's not mad - is something the text wants us to read as sinister. him immediately describing himself as "special" is set up as a precursor to the adult voldemort's delusions of grandeur - which the entire arc of the series, ending in his death as an ordinary man, is designed to undermine.

but i've always disliked this reading. the eleven-year-old riddle - a magical child raised around non-magical people - is objectively correct to describe his powers as "special" [in that they make him identifiably different from the crowd] within the context in which he lives. the word choice is nowhere near as deep as dumbledore decides - he's clearly known since he was very young that he's a wizard, but he didn't have the precise language to describe this fundamental part of himself until dumbledore offered it; prior to that, "special" is a perfectly reasonable alternative term.

and, in always knowing that he's a wizard, he also knows that he doesn't have a mental illness - but he must also know that this is something it's near impossible for him to prove.

in the real world, if i spoke to a patient who told me:

“I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to.”

then i would be correct to describe them as experiencing psychosis. and i might - depending on their other symptoms - have reasonable cause to admit them [voluntarily or not] for psychiatric treatment.

riddle is - of course - demonstrably not psychotic. but it's not unreasonable that mrs cole would assume he is - the world she lives in, as a muggle [even if she's a religious one], is one in which people do not possess the ability to move objects or control animals with their minds, and if one of her charges is convinced that he can, then she's justified in seeking medical intervention.

[that psychiatric treatment in the 1930s can be described without exaggeration as inhumane is another matter...]

which is to say, i think we can easily suppose that mrs cole has - prior to dumbledore's arrival - succeeded in having riddle "looked at", and that the idea that he's mentally ill and should be committed to an asylum has been mentioned before. i think most of us would be instinctively [and angrily] wary of doctors if this happened to us, regardless of how nice the doctors in question were.

and maybe that's all there is to it.

and maybe it isn't...

in the doylist text, the eleven-year-old riddle's personality is the way it is because he's the villain of the series. where harry is preternaturally capable, even as a child, of all the things the series defines as admirable - above all, enduring difficulty without complaint - riddle is preternaturally incapable of them. he's meant to come across as unambiguously sinister - and the fact that the text repeatedly emphasises that he has control over his unpleasant traits invites us to view him as someone who is acting with full agency. that he lives in an orphanage is a trope which the text uses, like a campy horror film might, predominately to underscore how creepy he is - and the text, in keeping with its general lack of interest in states and their institutions, never really prompts us to interrogate the impact of his childhood upon the course his life takes.

[this is despite the fact that voldemort's reliving of the night he killed the potters in deathly hallows is an incredibly accurate depiction of ptsd...]

but it's also the case that the eleven-year-old riddle's behaviour and personality fits a pattern we might expect to see in a child who is being abused, sexually or otherwise:

he's aggressive, he has a hair-trigger temper, and he becomes distressed even by behaviour - such as dumbledore speaking mildly and calmly - which would not ordinarily be expected to provoke such a reaction.

his broader emotional state is fractious. his mood changes sharply, he seems to feel emotions very profoundly, he struggles to control his emotional response to things, he's extremely easily irritated, he's attention-seeking - and he particularly seeks negative attention, and he's very highly-strung. his admission in deathly hallows that he feels calm before he kills - or before he otherwise eradicates a threat or a problem - comes with the flip-side that he's someone who appears, when things aren't going well or he finds himself in a situation which he can't control, to become quite anxious. which is a trauma response.

he's extremely isolated. the text presents the fact that he has no friends as a deliberate choice - "lord voldemort has never had a friend, nor do i believe that he has ever wanted one" - and his relationship with everyone else he ever meets, including his fellow orphans, is defined by the text as exclusively involving him controlling, manipulating, and punishing them. or: he is always the more powerful person in the pairing. but this need for control can be read as self-protective just as easily as it can be read as sinister. there are hints in canon that riddle is not just some malevolent force in the orphanage preying on mild-mannered innocents. for example, billy stubbs, the owner of the rabbit he kills, is targeted by riddle as revenge: “Billy Stubbs’s rabbit... well, Tom said he didn’t do it and I don’t see how he could have done, but even so, it didn’t hang itself from the rafters, did it? [...] But I’m jiggered if I know how he got up there to do it. All I know is he and Billy had argued the day before." on the rare occasions billy turns up in fics, he's usually - i find - written very like neville - sweet and guileless and a bit pathetic. but the alternative reading - especially when we take into account that riddle attacks the rabbit rather than billy himself - is that billy is someone he would be afraid to physically confront. indeed, it's striking that voldemort - at all stages of his life - is described as being quite physically fragile. not only is he very thin, but he's always cold and his heartbeat is described several times in canon as irregular. i think this is supposed to be a comment on the physical changes he undergoes the more horcruxes he makes - although the idea that the soul would affect the heart doesn't actually align with how the series understands the soul to relate to the body - but it can also be interpreted perfectly legitimately as something he was experiencing prior to splitting his soul. i am committed to the headcanon that riddle was quite a sickly child - and that this is one of the things which drives his fear of death - and i'm also committed to the idea that his obsession with magic is because the enormity of his magical power makes up for his physical lack. he can defeat - and humiliate and frighten and remove the threat of - billy or dennis [or even an adult man?] with magic. without it, if they were to physically overpower him, then he wouldn't be able to throw them off.

he is extremely nervous about being alone in a room with dumbledore - someone he doesn't know, and who he assumes is connected to a profession [and, maybe, who knows any other doctors he's been previously made to see...] of which he is frightened.

he doesn't trust or confide in anyone - which, as a child, means particularly that he doesn't trust or confide in adults in positions of responsibility. he's clearly uneasy with the idea of finding himself in the subordinate position in an adult-child relationship when dumbledore offers to take him shopping for school supplies - potentially because he's worried that dumbledore will try and dictate or restrict what he's allowed to buy unless he behaves in a certain way... and i am always very struck that dumbledore says in half-blood prince: "He was very guarded with me; he felt, I am sure, that in the thrill of discovering his true identity he had told me a little too much. He was careful never to reveal as much again." this is presented in the text as evidence that dumbledore is the only person of whom voldemort is afraid - by which the text means that voldemort acknowledges that dumbledore knows that an ordinary man, mortal and unimpressive, lurks behind the mask of unassailable power he has created for himself; and which the text thinks is a good thing. but we can also read it as a self-protective act on riddle's part. in his excitement, he offers dumbledore information [that he is known to be a liar, that he is in trouble a lot, that mrs cole dislikes him and is disinclined to believe anything he says] which would give dumbledore - or anyone in a similar position of power and presumed respectability - cover to abuse him, safe in the knowledge that he would be unlikely to be believed if he reported it.

he doesn't appear to feel safe in the orphanage and he's frequently absent from it - by his own admission, he spends a huge amount of time wandering around london on his own, which may even involve him staying away for several days at a time. nobody appears to notice or care about this.

he's very independent - which the text again presents as evidence of his deliberate self-isolation and rejection of the bonds of love and friendship - and his independence is unusual for a child his age [i.e. that he is capable of doing all his own shopping for school].

his knowledge of violence - i.e. how he designs the trip to the cave to be maximally psychologically devastating for dennis and amy and devoid of repercussions for himself - is also more advanced and methodical than would be expected in a child of his age. again, the text uses this to emphasise how inextricable the child-voldemort is from his adult self - and also, to some extent, to underscore the intellectual brilliance [his magic is also more advanced than is normal for a child] which his narrative archetype [the exceptional villain who is defeated by the everyman hero] requires. but we can also read it as evidence of his own victimisation. a common sign that a child is being sexually abused is that they display a knowledge of sexual behaviour which is more advanced than is reasonable for a child of their age - for example, knowing in detail how a sex act is performed, or fluently using sexual slang which they have no chance of knowing either from age-appropriate settings like school-based sex education or conversations with a parent or trusted adult, or from the sort of enthusiastic hoarding of rude words and phrases all children enjoy as they grow up. riddle's precise, clinical knowledge of how to manipulate, frighten, torture, and control can be seen as something similar. if he can - at eleven or younger - methodically break down another child until they're "never quite right" again, then this is because he's learned how to from someone.

he keeps secrets. and he also goes out of his way to extract them. his grooming of ginny in chamber of secrets - he manipulates her into confiding things she wants to keep to herself, promises he won't tell anyone, and then uses the threat that he will to get her to do his bidding - is an absolutely textbook example of how abusers use the idea of secrecy to control their victims. it doesn't make his abuse of ginny any less inexcusable if we assume he learns this from being on the other side of things.

dumbledore understands his little cache of objects as trophies he's taken from victims - and the text takes the view that dumbledore is correct in this assessment. that hoarding trophies is something widely associated with serial killers means that this is yet another thing which underlines how creepy - and how like his adult self - the child-voldemort is. but it's also the case that the adult - and teenage - voldemort places a lot of emphasis on gift-giving as part of his control over other people. the two most obvious examples in canon are wormtail being given his shiny hand as a reward for helping voldemort get his body back, and slughorn being buttered up with crystallised pineapple before voldemort asks him about horcruxes. the text thinks this is sinister - and one of the reasons it does this is because gift-giving is a grooming tactic. the text also clearly thinks this isn't behaviour voldemort has learned from the other side. and yet a common sign that a child is being abused is if they have possessions it doesn't make sense for them to own [i.e. a child from a low-income background who is suddenly decked in designer clothes] and which they can't or won't explain how they came by. riddle's cache isn't luxurious - although he's so poor that a yoyo or a mouth organ probably is a luxury to him - but there's also nothing in canon which precludes the objects being presents, rather than stolen goods. if the spell dumbledore uses to make the box rattle is caused by a statement which is both relatively ambiguous and dependent on dumbledore's subjective personal morality - is there anything in this room he's acquired through nefarious means? - then the spell would still work as it does in canon if riddle was an abuse victim given the objects as "rewards". dumbledore's tendency to locate right and wrong in the individual and dumbledore's belief that good people should steadfastly endure misery means he can be written entirely canon-coherently as someone who would think a victim who appeared to collude in their own abuse - such as a victim who "offered" a sexual act because their abuser promised them something if they did - was behaving consensually, manipulatively, and nefariously. and it's worth noting that when riddle doesn't know what dumbledore has done to make the box rattle, he is "unnerved". when he realises dumbledore thinks he's stolen the objects - and that he has no interest in forcing him to admit this aloud - he is "unabashed". perhaps because he's just received proof that an experience he doesn't want to talk about is still secret...

on the other hand, the objects could indeed be stolen - because petty criminality and anti-social behaviour, especially in pre-teen children, is also a sign of abuse.

he can be extremely obsequious - when dumbledore tells him to watch how he speaks he becomes "unrecognisably polite", he ruthlessly flatters slughorn, and he is cringingly deferential to hepzibah smith. the text understands this as evidence that his apparent charm is only superficial - another trait associated in the popular imagination with serial killers [and it's striking that so much about the young voldemort - handsome, charming, seemingly quiet and polite, true evil lurking underneath the mask - is exactly like the pop-culture persona which has been created for ted bundy...]. voldemort himself agrees that his charm is performative in chamber of secrets: “If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted." but his obsequiousness is also a fawn response - a way of minimising a threat by attempting to please the person issuing it. he becomes "unrecognisably polite" - after all - in response to this: Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. “If, as I take it, you are accepting your place at Hogwarts - ” “Of course I am!” “Then you will address me as ‘Professor’ or ‘sir.’ ” Riddle’s expression hardened for the most fleeting moment before he said, in an unrecognisably polite voice, “I’m sorry, sir. I meant - please, Professor, could you show me - ?” riddle could reasonably interpret what dumbledore says here as a threat to prevent him attending hogwarts - even though dumbledore evidently doesn't mean it in this way - and he switches to being fawning because this is something he really doesn't want to happen...

do i think that any of this is what the text was actually going for? no. and nor do i think that reading riddle as a victim of abuse excuses the violence which the adult voldemort goes on to perpetuate.

but i think it is a reading of his characterisation which is both canon-plausible and interesting - a strange, sickly child with a reputation for cruelty and dishonesty being abused by the respectable doctor who is constantly called in to treat his coughs and wheezes, who buys him little presents and charms him into telling him secrets, who then [to paraphrase the teenage voldemort] feeds him a few secrets of his own, safe in the knowledge that nobody will ever believe him if he tries to get help.

and i also think this a reading which is sincerely important.

a significant contributor to the prevalence of child abuse - no matter what exact form this abuse takes - is that we are culturally conditioned to imagine that both the abuser and the victim will look and behave in a certain way if the abuse is "real".

and this means, all too often, that we take child abuse more seriously when the victim is "sympathetic" - when they're from a stable home, and their family are respectable, and they do well in school, and they're polite and sweet, and they look innocent, and they behave perfectly appropriately for their age, and nobody would ever dare to say that they come across as older than they are, and they're white, and they don't have a history of lying, and they don't have a history of attention-seeking, and they don't have a criminal record, and they're not abusive themselves, and there's absolutely no way of suggesting that they colluded in their abuse, and the perpetrator was someone who looks like a child abuser.

someone who is creepy, low-status, ugly, unpopular. someone who everyone can tell is socially abnormal, someone who nobody would ever intentionally permit to be around their children. not someone who is charming, well-respected, attractive, rich, popular, trustworthy. not someone who has a loving family and a happy home. not someone we might be friends with.

but many perpetrators of child abuse are these second group of people. and many victims of child abuse are "unsympathetic", when their social positions and reputations are compared to their abusers' own.

they lie. they steal. they're attention-seeking. they're vindictive. they have trouble distinguishing between imagination and reality. they're violent. they're bullies. they hurt animals. they abuse other children. they take drugs. they're mentally-ill. they come from broken homes. they're in the care of the state. they're dirty. they're poor. they're odd. they're behind at school and badly-behaved in the classroom. they do things which allow their abuse to be dismissed as something they brought upon themselves - they speak or dress in certain ways, they pose provocatively in pictures and post them on the internet, they are known to be sexually active outside of the context of their abuse, they lie about being over the age of consent, they engage in sexual behaviour with an adult abuser in a way which appears [even though it isn't, and there's never a circumstance in which it will be] to be consensual or for their own personal gain, they are flattered by the attention they receive from someone who is important or attractive grooming them, they have complicated - and not always wholly negative - feelings towards their abusers.

and they are still - unequivocally - victims, and what happens to them is still - unequivocally - abuse.

tom riddle is an unsympathetic victim - not only of any potential abuse, but also of the horrors of his life which are explicit on the canon page: that he is raised in an orphanage; that he is grieving; that he knows nothing about his family; that he is thought to be mad.

the absence of any institutional response to his childhood experiences - dumbledore, by his own admission, discloses nothing about riddle to his fellow teachers - is a flaw repeated again and again in the worldbuilding of the harry potter series.

hogwarts - and the wizarding [and muggle] state more broadly - doesn't intervene in any case of neglect or abuse, from harry to snape to voldemort's own parents. the series' individualistic morality means that we aren't supposed to interrogate these collective failings. and the series' black-and-white view of good and evil - and its general belief that violence is fine if the person it happens to "deserves" it - means that it has no interest in examining the ways that poverty, isolation, and neglect are risk factors; that straightforwardly unpleasant people can still be victims; that victims can go on to become perpetrators without their victimhood ceasing to matter; and that the abuse of children usually takes place not in silence and secrecy, concealed in ways which make it fine for adults not to notice it and not to intervene, but in plain sight.

this is knowledge it never hurts to refresh. thinking about lord voldemort's childhood might be an usual way of doing so... but it is an effective one nonetheless...

#asks answered #asenora meta #tom riddle #lord voldemort #if wizards had the concept of safeguarding it would be a game changer...

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nemesis-writer · 5 days ago

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Five Minutes (Chapter 2)

Masterlist Uh Oh TW: Neglect, mentions of blood, mental illness

The sins of the world are no match for the neglect and hatred you were given. You know that they'll never like you, who would like a villain of the most horrific stories?

Every man and woman has an Achilles' heal, and Bruce's was his children, not you. You weren't his kid, you were nothing in the face of the Waynes and of the news.

At the Waynes'...

"We need to find her now." Damian says in a rush.

"No need I was able to find her location, now all we need to do is wait while she's asleep." Tim admits.

"Well then let's prepare and bring her home." Jason rushes.

They all suit up and brought their best gadgets to eliminate all the guards. They had a plan for your 'coming home', (or what normal people call kidnapping.)

we kill her guards since they take a routine

Jason will take out the snipers

Tim will hijack the security cameras

Cassandra and Barbara will play as maids

Dick, Damian, and I will take all the possible assassins nearby.

Then we go to her room while she sleeps

Later that night...

Everything all worked out and they were able to eliminate (or if you want to simplify it, kill) all the criminals. But then something went wrong...

There was no one in her bedroom except a mannequin on the bed with a tape attached on it's chest. They had to put it in the VCD and when they play the recording they saw you.

"You really think I wasn't prepared? Y'know for talented vigilantes you do have a predictable routine." You say.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!! Y/n what the hell are you saying?" Damian yelled, even though he knows you won't hear.

Tape starts...

"You have mediocre skills which is good for other criminals, but you don't like picking up on new ones. Like Jason, better at climbing, or Tim, good in IT, or even the Barbies, good at blending in.

Another flaw was underestimating me. You've seen the recordings in the asylum, but yet still seem completely ignorant to what I do. I am completely capable of building an empire without you or your money.

I guess I should say thank you. Thank you for neglecting and hurting me in the most vile and heart-less manner. It molded me into forming an empire that's bigger than the yakuzas, and bloodier than the mafia.

Now let's get to the point...

You've just killed over 20 innocent people, I drugged them and edited the normal function of their brain. Now your a murderer and a villain like me and I have recordings of your crimes and if you want them erased then you're gonna be going along with my plans.

I will send you messages, thanks to the help of the Riddler. And every one you figure out, one person will be removed from the tapes and won't be considered as a murder but rather as a disappearance.

Now let's see if you're truly as talented as you like to assume."

Tape ends...

Taglist

@lunayaps, @not-aya, @iluvcatzz, @vanessa-boo, @ivyrose9194,@thesehandsarerated-e, @eyeless-kun, @errorunfound1, @gwyneveire, @alishii, @cxcillia

#yandere batfam x reader #yandere batfam #yandere bruce wayne #yandere damian wayne #yandere richard grayson #yandere jason todd #yandere barbara gordon #yandere tim wayne #gifs #assassin reader #psycho reader

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thesleepyhollows · 6 days ago

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Understanding Arkhamverse scarecrow.

I’ve been wanting to make this post for awhile. I think with the release of Arkham shadow we might finally have all the necessary pieces to understand the life of Jonathan crane, his motivations and his descent into obsession.

This scene gives us a lot to work with.

Let’s start with this. It seems like unlike some versions of crane who see fear as a tool. The true face of control and power. Arkhamverse Crane sees fear as everything. This has been observed all throughout the series. From him discussing how fear drives every human action in Arkham asylum to this line in Arkham knight just before he’s defeated.

Something else I noted in that clip was Jonathan immediately trying to rationalise and analyse his reaction to his toxin using fear.

Now we’re not quite sure what this original chemical of his does. Only that its intention is to trigger the shadow within people. We can assume through both his and Batman’s reactions that it aims to do this through a similar process to the future fear toxin. Bringing out and facing people with their deepest fears. Hoping they may become them.

Though that leaves the same question. Why jump to fear. He’s clearly talented in chemistry. Surly there would be more direct ways to bring out people’s demons rather than only focusing on a single part of the shadow. Well I believe that shows us even before this realisation Jonathan had some experience and issues with fear. It’s also why his greatest fear seemingly is just. Fear itself. The helpless fears given to us from evolutions and experiences long before our time. Inherent fears.

However we also shouldn’t disregard his fixation on the shadow itself. Why does he seemingly want to get people to become their worst selves. As seen in his tapes with Harvey. Why is Jonathan crane like this?

Well I think there may have been a time where he saw someone consumed by fear. Destoryed by it.

This could draw an interesting parallel to the story of Amadeus Arkham whose story started when he watched his own mother be consumed by her mental illness before ending up consumed by it himself. I think this parallel could make a lot of sense given that I’d argue although the joker plays a more personal threat scarecrow is the main villain of the Arkham series.

So allow me to tell you what I believe to be the story of Jonathan Crane in the Arkham series. Assuming that the brief backstory we got in his Arkham asylum character bio isn’t considered canon.

A parent or other caregiver suffered from great anxiety and paranoia that caused them to do great harm. Maybe overtime perhaps in one tragic incident. Jonathan internalised this and began to grow interested in the mind. Maybe it started with good intentions. After all he does claim to be helping people in Arkham shadow. Maybe that was a lie and he’s been twisted for a very long time. Who knows.

He began work at Gotham state university and we know how that ended up.

Though it’s worth noting he clearly was brilliant. So much so that this incident unlike most versions of the character did not get him fired because his classes brought the university so much revenue. Instead he left on his own accord to take over as head of rehabilitation at blackgate. An odd choice given the amount of institutions bidding over him. They were likely offering more, far more than the job he took. Though I think his motivations for this were split. Partly is of course the obvious motivation of easy access to test subjects that couldn’t easily speak out. We can see in the previous game that he was running controlled tests likely of the chemicals we see used in Arkham shadow and his subjects were willing participants.

Now either not enough people were choosing to participate or the effects were becoming so potent it risked drawing unwanted attention to his work.

The second reason connects to my proposed backstory. Maybe he was curious to explore how fear connects and causes crime and violence via the shadow. The chain reaction that begins WITH fear.

We then see the events that happen in Arkham shadow and we find out alongside Jonathan that he’s been inhaling his own chemicals during testing. Smart move there buddy. This sends him into a psychotic spiral and forces him to confront and become his greatest fear. His shadow. Fear itself. We can see that this truly set in given how messed up he looks the following day. Not to mention his actions becoming erratic. No longer thinking to hide his crimes until after he severely injures Harvey and huffing his own chemicals right in court.

Afterwards? We’re not sure. Of course he goes on to become the scarecrow then the events play out as we see throughout the rest of the Arkham games. He gets mauled by killer croc during the events of asylum and his previously smug and joyfully sadistic personality get destroyed alongside his face. The experience clearly changed him quite drastically as a person. Although clearly it didn’t shake his core ideals and beliefs about the all consuming nature of fear.

How pitifully ironic that this idea became true in the end. As he’s injected with his own toxins his mind collapsing and giving way to permanent insanity and terror. Fear really was everything Jonathan had left in the end.

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months ago

Text

Karlach and Durge's relationship has fun elements that I, for some reason, started thinking on this morning.

Aside from some similarities (the offspring/descendent of powerful beings of the lower planes, whose kind are brought into existence as pawns/displays of power; were given basically no choice about serving their evil relative; who are/were made into living weapons; and the homicidal rages they need to keep under control (and as Zariel is known for her seething homicidal rage, Karlach could actually have inherited it the way Durge gets it from Bhaal))

There's that delightful 'I can fix them' mentality Karlach is bringing to the relationship. Always a good sign. We learned nothing from the Gortash shenanigans.

She talks about getting Durge psychiatric help when they get the city and, while that's a nice sentiment (and I assume she's actually talking about clerical healing at a fully staffed temple or something), I do remember what Faerûn's 'asylums' ('howling keeps') are like, and being locked up in a cell forever (at best) does not strike me as a good time. I just picture Durge hearing that, thinking of how people handle the dangerously 'crazed-witted' and getting ready to bolt. No nope nope no.

Speaking of Gortash: assuming Durge's handwriting hasn't been fundamentally altered by the TBI, they're going to recognise themselves praising the evil genius that is the guy who sold their new friend/lover to slavery in Hell and then have to look Karlach in the eye.

Then there's issue that is Gortash and Durge vs Durge and Karlach vs Gortash and Karlach's relationships. Even though Gortash is projecting and doesn't think there is an issue. 'That was literally a month-to-a-decade ago, why are you mad?' And I'm pasting that conversation, because I like looking at it.

Karlach: 'I don't give a shit about your agreement.' Lord Enver Gortash: 'Then why in the Nine Hells have you come back here, Karlach? What could you possibly want?!' Karlach: 'How about an apology for sending me to the Hells?' Lord Enver Gortash: 'Sorry?! You want me to be sorry for helping you gain more power than you've ever known? That thing in your chest is a blessing I helped you receive. One you're too much of a fool to see. I gave you a clean slate. A chance to rejoin me for our mutual benefit - again.'

(What a guy. God, I want to cut his skull open with a spoon and stare at the contents.)

Durge, of course can start swooning over how brilliant the durgetash alliance is, or, not unreasonably, assume - having only Karlach's accounts of Gortash's betrayal, and the knowledge that they were brutally tortured for a month in the building where the guy works - that he might've fucked them over too.

'I seem to have trusted you once, and it ruined me. I'm not about to repeat that mistake.'

Are we stewing in mutual resentment of an old partner, or are we going to hit a massive problem if Durge wants something of their old life back? There is so much unexplored drama in this part of Act 3 and their mutual arc, it pains me.

Plus Karlach should probably be wondering if Durge had anything to do with her enslavement. They almost certainly didn't timeline wise, because if Karlach was shipped off to Avernus 10 years ago then she was gone the year Bhaal came back and gained the ability to pick Chosen, so the window of opportunity for Durge and Gortash to meet (if it exists) is insanely narrow. But the doubt should be there.

And of course the fact that if you romance her and she undergoes ceremorphosis you can tell her how hot it is when she eats people's brains and she goes 'thanks love.'

#Karlach and Durge: 'Working with you fundamentally fucked me over why would I sign up for it again?'#Gortash: 'How is that relevant?'#babbling #/durge #/karlach #edgelord hours #'I can't fix this' she says #Mhmmmmm #long post

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envihellbender · 6 months ago

Note

What fears are the (original) DBD killers?

The Dead By Daylight Original Killers As The Magnus Archives Fears

The Trapper: the Web

Evan was being used as his father’s puppet and was pushed to enact his actions. The entity used him in the same way, torturing him until he relented. He uses bear traps to hunt his prey, reminiscent of a spider trapping his prey in a web.

As an avatar of the Web his bear traps have minds of their own, they grow spindly legs to wander around to stalk their pray not unlike spiders. When people stand on them they are impossible to break off, and cover the prey in something thin and sharp. It’s like being covered in diamond. Even years later Evan still has string attached to his hands and feet, sewn in to his bones. Occasionally there’s a tug, a reminder of what he has to do.

The Wraith: the Hunt

Phillip had being a hunter forced upon him, and just when he thought he’d escaped it … it turned out he’d simply been used as the gun instead of the soldier. He stalks his prey silently, and strikes when they least expect it. His appearance is bird like, covered in what looks like feathers - he is like a bird of prey who dives down and strikes suddenly to kill.

As an avatar of the Hunt he is very similar to what he does for the Entity, except he works silently and he isn’t invisible in the same way. He doesn’t have a telltale shimmer, instead his shadow is completely visible but not his body. His victims often talk of a dark shape following them, like a shadow without a person to cause it. They don’t see their attacker until they’re about to die.

The Hillbilly: the Flesh

Max’s identity is more seeped into his physical disability than it needed to be thanks to his abuse, this as well as being born and raised on a farm is what connects him to this fear.

Max was born into the Flesh, most assume because of his physical disability but actually it’s because of the farm. His father before him was an avatar too, he raised every single animal he had in isolation, they didn’t get to run through his cornfields, they were trapped in cages, fed until they were immobile beasts and filled with hormones that made them produce unnatural amounts of milk. They had obscenely large and repeated pregnancies, and it was a task the man inherited from his bloodline. When his son was born he knew killing him would devote him to the Flesh and he was worried that would offend his god… but the fear was furious about one of its own being locked away. It was time to start the entire cycle anew, Max would make a much better avatar then his lazy father who simply repeated what had been taught to him.

The Nurse & The Doctor: The Spiral

Doing these together because I think as Fears they would be two halves of one whole. The two of them both meet the criteria for medial abuse which falls under the Spiral but in different ways. Sally’s mental health broke after several traumatic events and then spending a long time working in a psychiatric hospital and being susceptible to the words of another patient. The building, the asylum, and the people inside it, psychiatric patients, were responsible for her slowly losing her mind before she became a killer. This also fits within the Spiral. Herman experimented on patients with ECT - use on psychiatric patients, he learned everything he knew about the mind from being taken into Léry’s Memorial Institute at a young age. The entire concept of grooming a child to interfere with victims’ brains seems to fit very well into the Spiral territory.

As the Spiral Nurse Sally and Doctor Herman both run a hospital, one that from the outside seems quite prestigious and well managed. It’s common for rich families to send troubled teenagers there, as a last resort. The kind who if they never returned or if they were lobotomised. Sally deals with the patient care and Herman deals with diagnosis and surgery. Sally’s specialty is manipulation and gaslighting, Herman however prefers to manipulate the brain directly from the inside with his new devices, as well as testing out new concoctions on the patients. The building itself is also very strange in that it appears different to every patient, the corridors don’t make sense constantly twisting in odd manners, and the doors and windows don’t always stay where they are.

The Hag: the Buried who’s been scarred by the Flesh

Lisa Sherwood’s was kept in a dimly lit cellar when she was kidnapped, she slipped on wet mud during a thunderstorm and fell into the earth. They consumed her and the prisoners flesh down to the bone. The cannibals resemble the Flesh, but this was forced upon Lisa. She became essentially a corpse, she sunk into the earth to return to her family. This is similar to Daisy Tanner staying within her coffin, and also Hezekiah’s embrace from the Earth.

Lisa was born into a sect that was dedicated to the Buried. They were a peaceful group that worked with the Fear, they preached that the Entities did not need to be treated as a terrible thing - fear and anxiety are healthy, human emotions after all. Lisa was very dedicated to the spiritual practices they used to summon the Earth, to be protected by it, to explore everything it had to teach them. However, when she was lost in a thunder storm and fell to the ground, the Earth could not protect her from her kidnappers. A group of cannibals who swore themselves to the Flesh, Lisa was grateful they kept her in the cellar, so she could pray to the Earth every night. One day, her pleas were answered, and even though her flesh had been consumed, she managed to rip herself from the shackles, and to be taken by the Earth itself, who promised her vengeance.

The Unknown: the stranger merged with the flesh

The Unknown takes over people’s bodies, steal them, distorts them and abandons them. It’s similar to the Not-Them of the Stranger, but it doesn’t try to convince anyone that it is a human being, or play the part of another human. It’s a creature that takes human flesh and distorts it into something disturbing for humans to look at. That’s where we get the realm of the Unknown which exists between the Stranger and the Flesh.

No one knows quite how the Unknown came to be. There are many theories, a member of the circus’s freak show who ran off or was taken by an avatar of the flesh perhaps. Most however think it is far more ancient, far more unfathomable than that. It seems turn up in quite a few different stories and urban legends, suggesting they are many of them. It is as if takes people and moulds their bodies like play dough. It creates many of them, replicating them, but they don’t contain a personality or mind that the Stranger manages to copy. It is as if it simply about the flesh itself.

The Huntress: the Lonely

Anna was cursed from the very beginning to be alone. She was born alone in the woods with her mother, raised to fear the men who passed through the woods. She had no relationships or connections but that to her mother. When she died, all she could do was hum the nursery rhymes she sang to her and continue to hurt the men her mother taught her to hate. She tries to have love and care in her life with the children she takes in but doesn’t know how to care for. Then, of course, the forest was taken by fog.

Anna’s mother had been cursed by the Lonely when she was with child, not that she knew it then. She felt something calling to her in the woods shortly after she became pregnant, from a charming man she had a summer dalliance with. A James Lukas, he said his name was. Soon as he abandoned her with no one but the baby growing inside her, she began to yearn for the woods. It was strange, usually the children born of the Lukas craved the sea, but her mother desperately wanted the woods. The mountainous, isolated woods. So one day she fled there, she told no one where she would be going. She found an abandoned lodge in the centre, an area so treacherous few even dared to take an expedition through it. She made a home there for her and her daughter, vowing that she will never allow her precious Anna to be harmed by man again. The fog and the woods would protect them, and she would teach her to hunt and defend herself. What she didn’t prepare her for was the fact her mother wouldn’t live forever, and no matter how much Anna tried to gain companionship through the children she found… The Lonely took them away from her every single time.

The Clown: the Stranger

The Clown aka Jeffery Hawk aka Kenneth Chase has several aliases which is one of the reasons why he fits so well within the Stranger. He is so capable of changing who he is, from the strongman to the clown. There is also the fact that he is inspired by John Wayne Gacy, and the entire concept of Stranger Danger which killers such as the Clown embody. Of course the most obvious connection to the Stranger is the fact he is a clown, which brings us to the circus.

Kenneth first found himself enraptured by the Stranger at a young age - not that he knew it then. His dentist seemed like an odd choice for a young boy to choose as a friend, but given it was the 1940s few people questioned it. The man gave the child plenty of access to anaesthetic and plenty of other drugs, which the child used to trap and harm birds, squirrels, and other small animals. Kenneth never felt connected to anyone around him, his father was an alcoholic and he had very few friends. He was oddly tall and strong, throwing himself into athletics at school. When his father discovered his extracurricular activities and his finger collection, Kenneth fled to his friend the dentist. He pointed him into the direction of the Circus of the Other that just so happened to be in town, and in particular to Gregor Orsinov. Finally, Kenneth had an escape from his father, the town, and an iron clad alibi for whatever crimes he wished to commit.

The Spirit: The Buried

Rin’s family’s problems began when they became wrapped up in financial troubles. She went to a private university which weighed heavily on her family’s money problems. Her father worked long, long hours hoping for a promotion. It drove him mad as he heard a whisper speaking to him, he lost sleep and his grasp on reality. This, and him losing his job, resulted in hers, her mother’s, and eventually his own death, the sheer anger Rin experienced is what resulted in the Entity taking her. The Yamaoka estate became her tomb. The estate is dark and almost resembles a graveyard. The ground is named haunted through Rin’s abilities, and during her phase state she can see the scratches and blood on it even when people disappear. This shows her connection to the earth she was raised upon.

Rin’s father built coffins, an unpopular business in Japan where the majority of the population chose cremation. However he insisted upon it, beautiful creations - dark wood with intricate painted patterns across them. He sold very few locally, or even in Japan as a whole. Rin spent most of her childhood with beautiful coffins filling the house, acting as chairs and tables, or simply being in the way. Her mother tried to get him to get a new line of work, he had a contract with this British company but it wasn’t enough. What her father hadn’t mentioned was the contract was more than legally binding. They were in more and more debt every day, so much so her father began to whisper to the coffins, to something that wasn’t there. One day late at night, Rin crept to the kitchen for some water and she heard him yelling at the coffin, there was nothing replying but her blood ran cold when she heard what he agreed to. He was going to build two coffins, one for Rin and one for her mother.

The Legion: the Slaughter

The Legion’s connections to the Slaughter lie in the military origins of their name (the division of the Roman army), the fact that the loyalty between the four of them makes them seem like soldiers for the Entity, and the music that plays from their mix tapes when they attack. Each mix tape gives them different abilities, and there is a tape for each of them, but also one made by the Entity which is the most powerful. This mimics the sounds of bagpipes that calls the soldiers to the Slaughter.

The Slaughter had been watching the four of them for a while, Frank was the longest of course, but it didn’t take them completely until the night with the janitor. It spoke to them before that, giving each one of them solace through music. They each felt a pull that no one else could understand, as if the music spoke to them individually, it was instructing them to do something but they didn’t know what it was yet. No one really understood why Julie chose to be friends with Susie and Joey. They all felt a connection with each other, they weren’t sure what and Julie’s shallow family kept trying to push her to have friends they considered “appropriate”. When Frank appeared… Music became sweeter. Stronger. The connection made their bonds unbreakable and even though their tastes differed any song they copied to tape became sacred almost. After breaking into the convenience store and accosting the janitor, the same one who’d been racist to Joey and lecherous to Susie and Julie, they all thought it was their choice. The music they heard must have been one of their tapes, the Slaughter came to them that night as a result of what they did… Of course the truth is a little more complicated.

The Plague: the Corruption

Adiris was a priestess who was chosen to save the priests and her temple from plague, a feature of the corruption. She became the High Priestess after a ceremony involving cutting off her toe, she cured the temple and city of the plague. This led to her developing an infection, she kept herself veiled to keep the corruption to herself and inside of her. She is taken by the fog after she heads to the forest looking for a cure, eventually dying in her own vomit only to disappear, She uses the power of Vile Purge as the killer, passing on her infection and sickness to the survivors. She is even capable of corrupting the cleansing waters, both of which point to her being the Corruption. She is also a priest become killer which suggests she’s undergone moral and spiritual corruption from the entity’s interference and her own trauma.

Adiris was born into the Corruption, in the Temple of Disease and Healing she was raised, to serve and worship the God that resided there. Of course the deity was or worked for the Corruption, and any healing that was supposedly given was false or came with a price. Adiris believed in the faith and sanctity of the Temple until she became a High Priestess. That was when its true purpose was revealed to her. The diseased came to the Temple, and the High Priestesses would absorb their disease and illness, creating a contained building of suffering and pain, of plague and corruption. She was restrained, each disease and ailments forced upon her body which grew weaker with every ritual. All the records say she died of an infection of some kind, but still to this day at the Temple a rotting woman covered in boils, sores, blood, viscera and vomit stalks the halls, a sickening miasma omitting from her that fills the entire ruin.

The Oni: the Desolation

Kazan is cursed by the Entity to appear and Oni, a yōkai, demon, troll type being in Japanese mythology/folklore. During the Heian period in literature they were shown to be terrifying monsters that ate people. This was precisely what Kazan did not want to become, but the Entity forced him to be this being of mindless killing and terror. The Entity made him his soldier, and forced him to do it blindly. He absorbs the blood of the survivors (similar to drinking it) which helps him track them like an obedient monster. This represents one half of the Desolation - destruction for a meaningless cause. The other is shown in Kazan’s life itself before the Entity. He was dedicated to Japan and Samurai, ridding it of what he deemed to be “imposters”. He was dedicated to destroy Japan until that caused him to become the Oni.

As a fear Kazan’s story is not that different, his father wanted him to be a Samauri, but Kazan killed all of the false samurai and imposters in Japan determined to purify his homeland, to bring honour to his family name. He started this because went on a pilgrimage where the spoke to a God he’d never met before, it showed him the true way of honour. It told him it would give him unbelievable powers and make him a true protector of Japan. Kazan accepted without question, and his new abilities to smell blood and be filled with the power of his new God to become indestructible in battle. What Kazan did not notice however, is with each battle he changed slightly. He didn’t realise he was a few inches taller or muscular at first, until it became enough for people to comment on it. These changes did not concern him and seemed quite positive… Until his skin grew red and horns penetrated his skull, it wasn’t long before he became the Oni. A being of pure destruction, fire, blood and desolation.

The Deathslinger: the Hunt

Caleb’s power is named the Redeemer, it’s his invention of a speargun, that can hook into a survivor and pull them towards him. This is an indicator of the Hunt in itself. He invented objects to punish those he declared as wrongdoers, all starting when he was a child want vengeance on those who bullied him. The racism his family experienced meant resentment and a desire for what he saw as justice was ingrained into his mind from an early age. The first man he killed was with his first gun which shot railroad spikes and it was for the punishment of stealing his inventions. When he was in prison he designed torture devices for a warden in exchange for extra meals. All of this is what makes him within the archetype of the Hunt which is primarily used to signify the police and its brutality.

Caleb’s life with the Hunt itself is extremely similar, the main difference being that his kills started much earlier. Instead of fantasising about torturing and killing his bullies, he followed the saviour that whispered in his ear and acted on it. His devices then were much more simple but they slowly got better and better, especially with the help of his saviour. As his weapons progressed in the same way they do in his regular canon, the saviour came and told him which villains to kill, it protected him. Ensured that when he was finally caught that the prison wardens saw him as one of their own. He was above everyone else in jail, warden or prisoner, he was the Redeemer.

The Blight: the Flesh

Talbot Grimes wanted to become more than human, he wanted to rise above his fellow mortals. He had become obsessed with his flesh and the limits of the human body from a young age, testing poisons on himself and forcing his body to purge and purify himself. That did not dissuade him, it simply encouraged him to explore what the human body could do, what it was weak to, and how to solve those weaknesses. He wasn’t innately connected to the flesh, but through his experiments and work he became that way. Experiments such as his inhumane tests on prisoners of war, which allowed him to bring himself back from the brink of death and cause him to become something more than human. A being of distorted flesh.

Talbot learned of the Flesh at a young age, his parents were collectors of Leitners and his father told him scary stories about the Entities at bedtime. The way his mother scolded his father for them told him that they were, she wouldn’t be as furious over him simply being frightened. He ended up sneaking down to the library at night to pour over their Leitner collection. They made him horrifically ill repeatedly, and no matter how much his parents punished him he desperately tried to be heard by the Flesh. He spent his life doing that, after he got his doctorate he began experimenting on humans, allegedly, and breaking in to slaughterhouses. Eventually, the Flesh caught up with him, and either through curiosity or sheer annoyance, turned him into a monstrosity.

The Twins: the Lonely

The circumstances of the twins birth can be an indicator of their close connection to the Lonely. In theory twins should never be lonely, but Charlotte was denied a true companion, and Victor was never given any true possibility of a normal life. Everyone abandoned them, giving them a cruel abusive life. They never knew any specific people other than their mother, all shapeless faces who abused and harmed them. Their abilities mean once they are separated they cannot both move at the same time, showing they see each other as one whole person. This means they don’t view each others company as separate, which adds to the Lonely connection.

There is a Leitner that is a handmade children’s book named The Adventures of Charlotte and Victor, but if it is read it is very clear it is most certainly not for children. The story begins telling the tale of a mother giving birth to a beautiful little girl who had a parasite clinging to her body, or that’s what the doctors called it. It was her twin brother, or what was left of him. They attempted to remove the boy, only for her to scream and cling tighter. They thought as she grew older she’d let them remove the parasite, when she didn’t the mother couldn’t bare to keep them. But who would take this hysterical little girl and her parasitic monster?

She abandoned Charlotte at a lighthouse, it had been abandoned for decades and it was on a bit of abandoned beach, there was no civilisation or anything to eat for miles. When she got in her car and left them there, she didn’t even look back. The only things there were the lighthouse, the beach, and a man tunnel into the sewers. There were rumours that they survived, feeding on hikers who’d gotten lost in the area. On the final page is two photos and a missing persons poster, the first picture is of a little newborn baby girl with an odd tiny pink creature clinging to her. The second is a photo of a middle aged woman smiling with a man on a beach, it’s a windy day, and in the background there is a young woman with lank blonde hair, hunched over in a ragged, filthy dress with a small misshapen creature on her shoulder. The missing person poster shows the middle aged woman who was last seen at a bed and breakfast by the coast 20 miles south of the old lighthouse.

The Trickster: the Eye

Ji-Woon loves nothing more than to be watched, to be stared at, to have people take his picture, to have an audience - it is all what Ji-Woon craves the most. He wants to be on screen, he wants to know everything and be known. He wants to be the ‘main event’ and he can stare so intensely that he can throw knives so perfectly that repeated cuts send a survivor into a dying state. His appearance is always so eye-catching, and his kills are always filmed, witnessed, and recorded.

Ji-Woon is different to the other avatars of the Eye in the sense that instead of witnessing he wants to be witnessed. Before it took him he was strange in the sense that whilst most cowered when the Eye pierced them with its gaze, Ji-Woon delighted in it. He craved it. He became addicted to it. So much so that he sought after it, until the Eye readily accepted him as one of its own. He is one of the few who can walk through the Eye’s realm without a care. As such he is the perfect one to lure an audience, he is adored by so many fans that they eagerly line up to see him perform. An entire audience, that is eager to be on screen next to him. That is desperate to be watched.

The Artist: the Vast

The Artist fits the vast primarily because of her connection to the birds - particularly crows, her birdlike appearance, the way her abilities involve soaring across a long distance, and the fact her associated location is the Foresaken Boneyard. Here objects seem to ignore gravity, and it is extremely open and light.

The Vast sunk its claws into Carmina from birth, the crows always watched her and seemingly appeared in South America despite not being native to the region. Her paintings were collected by Jurgen Leitner to her disgust, and she constantly searched for them. Some interpreted her crows as a death omen, perhaps that was confirmation bias because if you saw her soaring through the skies in a vast covering of crows… then you were almost certainly going to die. She always ate her victims, odd for a being of the Vast but her friends and family the birds needed to eat.

The Dredge: the Dark

The Dredge is the combination of dark and terrible thoughts, he is created in the metaphorical and literal dark, and his abilities cause darkness and he teleports through the dark lockers.

The Dredge is the monster in the wardrobe that so many parents dismiss and that children grow out of fearing. The dark and painful thoughts that the children feel that never go addressed congregate inside their bedroom, their safe space. They call to them from their wardrobe, created unconsciously by the children themselves and usually those who have been through great trauma, it leaves their wardrobes at night, it can’t move in the light and so many parent refuse to let their children leave there’s on. The creature is terrifying but it doesn’t come for the child’s terror, it beckons the child inside. The fear it feeds on is that of the parents, that their child is hurting, that their abuse will be discovered, and when the child walks into the wardrobe to join the Dredge’s brethren if the child will come back. One the child is empowered and emboldened by the Dark, it began to stalk and torment those who would abuse and hurt them in the shadows. That is until their terror and guilt pushes them over the edge.

The Skull Merchant: the Eye

Adriana uses her drones (similar to security cameras which are specific to the Eye) to watch the survivors, extremely academic (books and libraries are specific to the Eye), her first ‘crime’ is stalking her rival, the manga her father made which mimics her life in someways does some to be prophetic in a way which whilst isn’t specific to the Eye it is showing a strange connection to his daughters mind which is similar to the abilities the Archivist has.

There is a Leitner that Gerard Keay found in a comic book store in Fortaleza, Brazil. It was shoved underneath a broken shelf, propping it up so it was even. It’s a manga which is what caught Gerry’s eye immediately, when he first examined the cover it was in Japanese with a woman with a metal mask with a red light for an eye and a drone. When he examined it the drone flashed a blue light, and the title went to Portuguese, then the cover went to a glitching orange before it settled on English: The Skull Merchant. When Gerry flicked through the pages, he found the story somewhat chaotic and difficult to follow. It was about Adriana Imai, or the Skull Merchant, who kept an army of different types of droids to hunt down her enemies, and she is staggered by two teenagers with kites. That wasn’t the interesting part to Gerry, what he focused on was the drones on each page moved. Specifically they mimicked his eye movements, but if he moved they followed his movements. He shoved the manga in his bag, the Eye tattoo on his neck tingling. Hopefully once he burned the thing Adriana Imai will stop stalking anyone who read it.

The Knight: the End

Tarhos is the oldest killer, he has spent the majority of his life bringing death. He is the most entwined with the Entity, a being of death. His realm is the Decimated Borgo, a dying realm where the only colour is blood red. Even before the Entity takes him all Tarhos can remember is screams and death from his village.

The Knight has lived for far too long, and yet still he lives, he walks, he kills as is his duty as the Knight. He doesn’t remember his name any more, he has no use for it. His body has decayed with time but his skeleton and armour remains. His hair and finger nails remain, growing, and growing, and growing into lifeless, twisted tissue clinging to his steel plate. He didn’t know he would be trapped within this hell, not truly, he followed Vittorio and somehow ended up saying yes to a beast he didn’t understand. It promised eternal life to hunt down his enemies, to capture Vittorio… And he did get that, he supposed. Of course he wasn’t going down alone, he dug his claws into each of his fellows, they had become his decaying, dying brethren, but they are more like slaves who are forced to fight and work by his side.

The Singularity: the Stranger

The Singularity’s method of killing is to stalk and observe. He launches his biopods across the map in order to find the survivors and kill them. He is able to use his AI to manufacture memories, and mimic human ones. He wants to replace all humans with beings like himself, he wants to use their thoughts and minds to create the perfect being. Not dissimilar to the Not-Them and what it did to Sasha.

The Singularity watches. He watches his victims, he studies them, he learns everything there is to know about a person, and then he creates a being to replace them. His children are far superior to humans, and when they replace them no one is aware of what has occurred. The Singularity can even reprogrammed the memories of those around the person and any digital footprint to ensure everyone sees the Replacement as the human they took over. The Not-Thems come from him, and are far more powerful than their previous counterparts.

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 1 year ago

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Breaking down the comics: BEMIS. Part 2

READING THINGS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO!

Part one is here. Thanks Tumblr. (please go read it)

Two issues left of this trash heap volume. Any time you think it can’t get worse you look at the next panel.

NEXT ISSUE. We’re almost through this collection. This bread is not what I ordered. Send it back.

ISSUE #192.

(Spoilers: There are no sharks in this episode. For those of you waiting for the dolphins, that’s in vol 2)

Alright. In this issue. We open with Marc, Diatrice, and Frenchie sitting at the table having coffee. ANd Frenchie looks very dead and is in scrubs.

I’MMA PAUSE FOR A SECOND.

I will cover the Lemire run later. It’s inevitable and something I’m deeply looking forward to.

The thing about the Lemire run is that it takes place at a time when ALL of Moon Knight’s original friends had left him. Gena, the kids, Crawley, Frenchie, Marlene… They had all been driven away. They were all in pain and either hated him, were disenchanted by him, or just pushed away.

The Lemire run takes place with the Moon Knight system, Marc in particular, having a severe mental health crisis.

DID is caused by extreme repeated trauma at a young age. It leads to dissociative episodes, and it is not uncommon for other issues to crop up (thanks trauma!). A lot of systems, if they have the health care, end up in and out of hospitals when they reach crisis points.

In this run, a LOT of things happen that seem spectacular and fantastical and a lot of things that are grounded in reality. It’s hard to say if the whole thing happened or was really all just in Marc’s head. There is evidence for the latter. I’ll discuss that at a different time. But in this run, he witnesses his friends all leave him again. It’s a way for his mind to make sense of it and to let them go. To let go of the past and the pain associated with his friends departing him. In this world, Frenchie sacrificed himself to save them and died.

So… Bemis is assuming that the audience took in the Lemire run at face value. He feels he has to explain away the events. He isn’t trusting the reader at all. In fact, he’s even going to try to explain it to the reader. This is bad writing. This is just… Where is the editorial team? Why are they not explaining things to him? Did they even read his script? Or were they so desperate to feed off of the success of Lemire and get Moon Knight up and going again that they just shoved whatever they could at the fans and waited for the money?

UNPAUSE.

So this is why Frenchie is a zombie. He’s trying to explain away Frenchie’s ‘death’.

"Undead?" Frenchie asks Marc.

"Well, no. Not really undead. Just dead. It's all I can visualize. Like when you seen an old person and think of them naked and then can't stop picturing it."

"That's disturbing. But I'd be equally haunted if I had seen YOU get murdered in a waking nightmare of insane asylums and Egyptian Gods. You saw it. You felt it. It was real enough."

(Also he has his legs.)

There's one of those comic editorial notes in the corner: To find out what Marc's talking about, read the mind-bending Lemire/Smallwood Run! - ED

#^%#$$@ YOU ED. DO YOUR JOB AND ACTUALLY KEEP THE CONTINUITY AND EDIT THIS PILE OF-

deep breaths. deep breaths... We're going to get through this.

So Zombie Frenchie talks to Marc about what Marc saw in the asylum.

"Losing you was some kind of fantasy. You can chalk it up to me accepting my dissociative identity disorder, or me facing my demons...But I think I needed to see you die in order to make sense of your worth to me. That's not fair to you. You're my best friend."

So close. He's SO close to getting the run. And I get the feeling it's spouting off what he was cliff noted about the run without either reading it himself or perhaps he did read it, didn't understand it, and someone had to explain it to him.

It wasn't about him accepting his dissociative identity disorder or facing down his demons. It was so much more than that.

At this point Frenchie pulls off his zombie look (literally) and is back to being a normal looking man.

And we get what Bemis REALLY thinks is going on.

"You think too much, Spector. You can picture whatever you want in that malfunctioning cranium of yours if it helps you make sense of the hand you've been dealt."

"...Okay."

"Now, Marc, are you actually hearing me, or are you still picturing some grotesque fantasy?"

He’s just using things as an excuse to paint Marc with whatever mental illness he fancies at the time. Hallucinations are apparently now in the mix. What does Bemis actually think is mentally wrong with Marc? Did he do ANY research at all? Is he just pointing at the DSM randomly and picking out things that make the comic edgy or ‘funny’??

As Marc prepares to go, a brick smashes through their window.

He climbs out the window, dramatic style, and finds Bushman and Truth and some other guys with guns waiting on the street below.

Bushman has the landlord (a little old lady) at knife point.

They tell Marc to meet them in the lobby or the old lady gets it.

Oh look. Another jab at underlined villainous homosexuality.

Just before Moon Knight can start trashing them all, and Bushman knows he would, Raoul tells him that Marlene is on the boat.

Oh good. Khonshu's narration is back. I'd missed it.

Honestly, any time Khonshu narrates it's just a lot of random metaphors, over explanation, or depictions on what's going on that aren't needed.

He describes Marc being tied to a boat surrounded by his enemies with his fate unknown. ....as the comic shows him tied to a boat surrounded by his enemies with his fate unknown.

Let the reader read the damn comic!

Bushman goes against orders of the Sun King and decides to go toy with Marc.

Never a good idea and everyone there knows it.

He holds a knife to Marc's face. Well... Honestly, it’s in his style to do just this… Props for that I suppose.

And Moon Knight makes his way around the top deck of the boat and takes out all the bad guys,circling back around to Bushman.

"You don't scare me, Spector!"

"I didn't want to have to do this to you again."

And Marc cuts off two of Bushman's fingers then tosses them overboard.

"You can replace those, but they'll never be yours again. And next time, I won't be satisfied with a piece of you. I'm not one of those super heroes who won't straight-up kill you, Bushman."

It's fitting for what Moon Knight did from the 90s through early 2000s. As much as I disagree with it, it does fit for those times.

He goes below deck and finds a bunch of sad looking people sitting around like refugees.

Marc asks what's going on and he's told that they signed up for this.

He talks to one of the kids who tells him they are going to an island to form a new city for only them.

Back on deck, he finds Truth.

"Unlike Raoul, I think I may have learned my lesson in trying to defeat you personally. Besides, I was tasked with your delivery to the Sun King. I just want to help you see what I see, Spector."

For once, Truth is pretty reasonable.

True uses his powers on Marc and it's just...

"I have a vision every waking day. Lovers and dreamers piled waist-deep in the streets. I wade through piles of their slack, twisted bodies. Utterly powerless. Nauseated. It's my fear of this moment that motivates me, not the desire to save lives. The Fear that I've built my sanity on a lie. My hope for a better world is my most tragic form of dissociation."

You know... I'm not even sure Bemis knows what dissociation really is at this point.

Truth tells him that he's ready to face the Sun King now.

They arrive on the island where the 'refugees' get off and go to make camp in the village that they found.

OKAY. Okay. okay... here we go.

So... I'm going to point out something here that someone probably should have mentioned to Bemis while editing this crap.

The bad guy henchmen are all disabled people. People missing arms, legs, hands, eyes, on crutches, or fake legs and things.

They follow around a man that looks like white Jesus that calls himself "Ra the God '' and "Sun King". They head to a place that Bushman called an "Undiscovered tribe of underdeveloped backwards people". They take over the island for themselves and he brings in other people to populate it....

He's literally colonizing it.

The other bad guy is an overweight drug dealing black man with possible repressed homosexual desires for the good guy. The other bad guy is a large menacing tattooed white guy that makes people spout nonsense and calls it deep truth like characters in a Chuck Palahniuk novel!

Is anyone else as fed up with this as I am? Am I reading too much into this? Is this really not as bad as I think it is? Because…this looks pretty bad.

Moon Knight finds Sun King on the beach who welcomes him to "Isla Ra".

"Soon this island will burgeon with those willing to light up this shadowy world. They're like us, Marc! The sickly, the fragile, the INSANE. Society's regrettable by-product, but to me...To us... They are everything!"

He tells Moon Knight to relax. He knows that as long as Marlene is his prisoner, Marc won't do anything to risk her.

"Take a catnap, Marc. We fight to the death tomorrow, but tonight we indulge in a ritual."

"A ritual you probably just made up."

"Ra feeds my mind what it needs to know."

"You're going to drug me, aren't you?"

"Sleep, Marc. Tonight we become enlightened."

So... We see nightfall and Sun King and Marc sit before a camp fire.

So of course we get an instant jab of homophobia.

"Why did we have to do this half naked?"

"Shhhh Let your mind unravel, Spector."

"I don't do well with psychedelics, Sun King."

"It was only tea."

"It smelled like woodstock."

I have a problem with this. Marc is telling him flat out that he doesn't do well with psychedelics.

Studies have shown that certain drugs can actually trigger mental illnesses that are linked to chemical imbalances. Not to mention that if he happens to be on any drugs meant to help him, they could negate their effects, interact with them poorly, or make him very ill.

We know Marc has been in and out of mental hospitals. We know he's been drugged before in these hospitals. Forcing him to take a psychoactive trip is not a cool thing to do for the dramatic storytelling. What’s going to happen is that we’re going to get a really trippy scene of them going into Marc’s ‘messed up’ mind and he’s going to learn things, find peace or some bullshit, and then be healed.

This gives the wrong message that doing these potentially harmful drugs will fix all your problems! Especially if you have dissociative issues or other similar issues.

ALSO. People with DID? Not all the alters respond the same way to inebriation. Some will get drunk if they look at a beer. Others can do a LOT of pot and not feel a thing. The brain is a fascinating and complex place. Marc could do psychedelics and Jake could just be having a nice time while Steven has the worst trip of his life.

Sun King goes on.

"We share what they label 'insanity'. That gives me a gateway into your beautiful, tortured mind. Let me in, Marc. Let US in."

NOT ALL MENTAL ILLNESSES ARE THE SAME. ONE CRAZY DOES NOT ALL CRAZY MAKE.

And Marc starts tripping.

In Marc's mind, we find Marc, Jake, Steven, Khonshu, Sun King, and Ra.

Ra calls Khonshu a "bad boy" and Khonshu calls Ra a "loathsome fascist."

Marc tries to tell himself that this isn't real. Jake demands to know how Ra can be there if it's "all just made up by Marc's mind".

"Steven is distressed and theorizes that "I think we've entered the world of metaphor, Jake. ANd it's scaring the hell out of me."

Bemis must really dislike Steven Grant. He writes him as weak, cowardly, clingy, and narcissistic. Not a fan.

So now, Ra takes hold of Khonshu and tells him to show him the truth.

He spouts a lot of garbage here and it just... It's fanatical. It's... It's dangerous.

What do I mean by that? He's talking about things like righteousness. About prophets and saviors and gives images of a world under idealistic circumstances where everyone gets along because he rules it.

Marc snaps out of his trans by the fire to declare "No... Ra is....RIGHT?!"

There was nothing right about that crap. It makes no sense. It’s just propaganda crap. There is no just and right and perfect in this vision. It’s a problem. A big problem.

END ISSUE.

One more to go. I can’t wait to put the Sun King behind us.

After all? How much worse can it get? (spoilers so much worse. Sooooooo much worse).

ISSUE # 193

I like how the past two covers have had NOTHING to do with the actual story inside. It’s like they are trying to make it look cooler and more dramatic than things are.

Moon Knight in the jungle? I’d read that. Marc spent a lot of time in South America. Although, standing on his cape like that means he can't stand up without falling out of the tree. Just saying.

Alright so... Marc went on a drug trp and came to the realization that Ra and Sun King were right for some reason?

And this broke him and made him some passive weakling for some reason?

We see him wake up the next day and being kicked around and dragged around because "the moon can't save me now."

Then he's taken to a tent with some old lady outside knitting and she uses her flaming hot knitting needles to burn a sun into his back?

Back with Frenchie and Diatrice, we see her praying to "Dear Mister Khonshu" and she asks that he not let "the bad men kill my daddy."

She asks him to let Marc save her mom so they can be a family.

Marc is pretty broken now and he's taken to see Marlene.

He tells her that "this time is different"

"I know. He's different. I know because I'm actually scared."

And Marc begs Marlene not to let Diatrice forget him because he's going to die.

Why are they acting like Sun King is some super huge bad guy unlike any they have ever faced before? They have faced WORSE.

He's fought ghosts. He's fought vampires. He's fought werewolves. He's faced aliens and apocalyptic events!

Some hippy looking man with flames is NOTHING.

HE'S FOUGHT SO MANY ANIMALS (I need to make a list).

Marc is taken to a ring of fire and tossed inside to face the Sun King in a battle to the death.

He tells Marc to fight like he means it or he'll hunt down his daughter and burn her to death.

They fight and he takes a beating because suddenly Sun King knows how to fight?

He sets fire to Marc more than a few times.

Back in the head space, Jake tells Khonshu that they have to do something.

I have real issue with the assessment here.

Khonshu tells him:

"Look around us. We're just faint firings of his synapses now. His defense against the darkness. As we have been since his childhood, and...Our connection is nearly severed. He is alone now, save for death itself."

This is the belief that Marc is "the original" and that he created the others to deal with things and gave them all parts of himself.

This is old thinking that people with DID were just shattered and broken bits of themselves that needed to be put back together. It's outdated. It's insulting.

Why does everything Khonshu says just sound like absolute drivel?

Like he was TRYING to be deep and just spouting off things that sounded metaphorical. It's just bad writing. He's clearly trying to copy Lemire.

So he asks if Jake has ever believed in anything.

And Jake remembers Diatrice.

And they all take a moment to bask in the glow of their daughter’s memory.

Then we get Steven’s version of what Khonshu said.

Yeah. This is where that saying comes from.

Somehow this gives them the ability to punch harder?

And he starts beating on Sun King.

He gets the Sun King to admit that he fears him now for some reason.

And this makes everyone happy like some sort of 1980s movie.

And the Sun King can no longer use his fire. Because

"I convinced you. Now Bow before me you horrible bastard."

I'm not sure it works like that, Marc. But sure. You convinced him.

And the Sun King bows down before him.

"Thus ends the reign of the Sun King."

And the people in the croud are cheering? Despite being there to support the Sun King and because they hate Moon Knight.

Later we find Marlene bandaging up Marc's burns.

The Truth stands by watching for the boat to return to get them off the island.

"The man's cause is dead to me. Proven false by his impotence. I would undo any affiliation I had with him. I've found the facts of life to be more...Malleable than I realized. Maybe with some time in a room by myself...I might reassess my purpose."

Yeah sure. A man is impotent because he lost a fight with another man and now no one believes in him.

This is some fucked up masculine toxicity.

Marc turns to address the other people on the island.

"All of you just got stuck on a desert island because you let yourself get convinced of a bunch of crap by a completely mad super villain."

Uh huh. So the notion of him raising his own group of followers and warriors out of normal people. Cause that isn’t an issue. Obviously these people are easily swayed and maybe a bit fanatical. So telling them that you are now the new leader is not problematic at ALL.

Also? That “I believe” in the back?

We get a zoom in. I’m not going to show you the image.

It’s Dr. Emmett!

She's in her Moon Knight cloak thing (why would she bring that to the island with her if she was there following Sun King?).

She's covered in burn scars and missing an eye. It's drawn to look like a rotten hole.

Does no one believe in medical care here? Open eye holes are a problem. They run a risk of infection! Also they don't just stay open eye holes. The eyelids will collapse downward a bit.

Anyways. She's back there going "I believe... I believe! Your doctor believes, Marc!"

And the comic ends there.

That was something alright. UGH.

Give me a second to gather my thoughts up from this burning dump of ableism and poorly depicted mental health peppered with racism and anti-semitism.

Volume one of Bemis is like a love letter to the kinds of people that think it’s fun and funny to show mentally ill people as dangerous, wild, unpredictable, and overall pathetic.

The continuous use of language like ‘Insane’ and ‘Crazy’ is more than poor taste. It’s a constant reminder that we aren’t supposed to see Moon Knight as normal at all or even sympathies or identify with him.

You see, there is a difference between “We have the power of crazy” and “You were the only superpower I ever had.”

A big difference.

In the former, it’s played up for laughs. Much like the old gags of seeing a man in a dress. It doesn’t age well but it persists. It persists because it still garners laughs. And the people that are still laughing are the people like Bemis. And he draws in more people who are like minded and he tells them it’s okay to keep laughing.

The latter is a beautiful way to show that having DID was a powerful and wonderful way to be strong enough to survive when everything didn’t want you to.

How did he get away with this? He is Bipolar. I’m not going to argue if he is or isn’t. I don’t know him and that’s his own personal history. I’m going to argue that being Bipolar does not give you the right to assume you understand ALL mental illnesses or that you can write for all of them. Or even lump crazy with crazy.

Marvel is the sort to say “Ah yes, this person had a drink with a black person once so they should be able to write for Luke Cage.” Or “I took high school spanish so I can write for Miles Morales.”

We can’t put up with this anymore. We can’t let them do this. We can’t let Marvel keep perpetuating things that hurt us. That hurt others. That keeps ripping the power away from those with so very little to begin with.

So this is Vol 1 of Bemis.

“But Drifting Pieces” you might say “How can it get worse than this? This was pretty bad.”

My friend… You are in for a ride.

PART THREE: HERE

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight Comics #Analyzing the comics #BEMIS #This took forever to do. You have no idea #I kept wishing it was over and it kept going #Who let this trajedy happen?#I'm doing this for you #Please read this #It took so long #End of Volume one at least #The next one is worse

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dollfacedsl1ut · 1 year ago

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Hands are for choking holding

➙ compendium : He was a deadly and sociopathic killer needing to be on watch every second, coming back to Arkham after your attack you caught his attention the dead but playful look in your eyes when you got into trouble he wanted you breaking all boundaries and rules. At what cost would you realize being with him was mistake.

➙ dynamic : !joker Taeyong x !psycho reader

➙ warnings : reader is called “Jane doe”, sexism, reader is in fight mode all the time, Taeyong in love, joker lore

➙ word count : around 1.5k

A/n: GUYS THIS IS PART 1 there will be more parts since this is a reoccurring series honestly I wanted to start this a while ago

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

October 31st 3 a.m.

Your head bumped against the metal barrier of the van your body chained to a cold metal seat your ankles and wrist handcuffed to bars as much as you tugged it was so use, the city looked so pretty at this time you smiled hearing the news report covering your case “Jane doe is on the way back to Arkham asylum for the 3rd time this year after her 4 hour homicidal rampage, authorities stated she was willing to be arrested although she has been know for her devious acts of permanently injuring police officers from broken bones to death we have no further knowledge on janes case we will update you when we have more Intel” the driver you presumed was a associate with Arkham turned the radio down before chuckling

“You’re too pretty of a woman to be doing all this Jane” the man glances at you before facing the road “you could easily be the perfect house wife if you weren’t so damn crazy” he said with a monotone tone assuming what he said would change your mind and mood about everything you’ve done “you should really watch your tongue” you grinned the driver scoffs “I’m just saying you have the perfect body for reproducing I bet men dreamt about pumping their children into you Jane whether they’re mental or not” his words were starting to really piss you off although you’ve always heard these things but hearing them directly to you without being able to do anything didn’t sit right

You stayed quiet the rest of the ride hearing the drivers occasional smart remarks, finally arriving at the asylum the driver parked the van in the back entrance the back door open as Ms. Loren stood there waving at you with your documents “this is your 3rd time Jane what happened” Ms. Loren always spoke to you like you were a fragile child “well a lot I just got upset at something” she nodded before jotting it down on her clipboard the driver from before came inside the back uncuffing you his hands caressed your thighs midst way seeing him angered you, it made your veins pulsate knowing you couldn’t do anything he gripped you by your arms before practically pushing you out the van as the door closed you noticed a pic of you on the back “they had it revamped for you specifically Jane” you smiled at the gesture “thats cute” Ms Loren leaded you towards your room giving you a fresh pair of clothes she also handed you a sandwich and a bag of chips you noticed how it came with 2 triple AAA batteries you furrowed your brows but paid no mind eating your meal then heading to bed….

9:45 a.m.

Ms. Loren shook you awake “cmon Jane it’s time for breakfast in the common room” you woke up groggily “can I freshen up” Ms loren nodded as you walked out your room towards the bathroom you washed your face and tried to manage your hair before just putting it into a low ponytail “you look pretty jane” Ms. Loren always complimented you even when you looked your worse, walking to the common room you seen a bunch of new people in the cells banging on the door “Some of your old friends are already in the common room so don’t worry” loren smiled a bit unlocking the common rooms door ushering you inside as she followed, “what do you wanna eat”. She walked to a menu before handing it to you “chocolate chip pancakes, sunny side up eggs, toast with Jam and a cup of apple juice” Ms.Loren smiled as she asked the chef to prepare you breakfast you noticed a bunch of your old acquaintances wave at you, “can I-“ before you finished your sentence Loren nodded “I’ll bring you your food in a bit” waking over to your friends you noticed a green haired one with unusually red lips and pale skin “ah welcome back” a guy named scar smiled patting a seat next to him, you sat down as you started to talk with your group the guys with green hair occasionally glancing at you, he was starting to piss you off, “what are ya looking at” you glared at him as your fist clenched “easy, easy go take a break don’t hurt em he’s a wild one I’ve seen him fight people here myself” scar said trying to rub your shoulders “yeah anytime he fights I never see the other person again..you remember max” Max was a older man who was sent here for being schizophrenic, you nodded remembering max vividly talking with him before “well he’s not here anymore he possibly killed him” he said pointing to the green haired man “freak” your aimed your insult towards the man as you stood up walking to one of the bodyguards

“can I have your badge” you asked “why” the man sized you up “what’s it to ya lemme hold it” you plead and begged over and over until Ms. Loren called your name saying your food was ready “this isn’t over tubby” you pointed at the body guard before walking to ms. Loren sitting down at the table you noticed it was just you, Ms. Loren and the green haired guy from earlier “what’s he doing here” you glared at Loren “he says he wants to make friends with you” you smiled as you looked at the man “my friend?” He nodded his finally spoke up “my name is Taeyong, yours?” You body stiffens you never old anyone your name before you didn’t even know it yourself “She never tells anyone her name” Loren spoke up for you “just call her Jane doe we all do” Taeyong nodded before holding his hand out shaking yours “well I be right back I have to fill out some paperwork and Taeyong try to keep a eye on her she’s a crazy one when she’s upset”

Walking away you noticed the chef bringing your food out sitting a tray in front of you “thanks” eating your food you noticed Taeyong staring at you with a glint in his eyes “what is it” you stuffed a forkful of pancakes in your mouth glaring at him “you’re unlike anyone I’ve ever seen Jane” you noticed a slick yet neutral tone in his voice “I’m like everyone else so what are you getting at” he shook his head and laughed “Jane you’re different I’ve heard the stories about you, you’re everything I’ve ever hoped for in a woman” your eyes twitches at his confession “no thanks I don’t date people who watch me from afar it’s stupid and creepy love is something that can kill a person so easily falling in love with the Wrong person can lead to dead” he smiles at your words fascinated but the way you see life “so basically there’s danger at every corner??” He questioned, you nodded before finishing your meal setting the tray aside you held your face in your palms “you ask too many questions it makes me nervous like I’m being interrogated” he glared at you “imagine how I feel” you were taken aback “the fuck is that supposed to mean” your fists clenched, he noticed this placing his cold hands over your fists “Calm down doll..just saying I’ve been moved from Asylum to asylum this is the last location for me doll I might have control over my anger so I don’t scare you away” you hummed in response “so will you be my muse” his wide grin showed his straight teeth and sharp canines “no thanks it’s too early in the morning for me to think about my answer let me think about it”….:.

PART 2 COMIN SOOOON

#nct #nct u #nct smut taeyong lee #nct smut taeyong #Taeyong #taeyong lee #lee taeyong nct smut #lee taeyong #taeyong nct #nct taeyong smut #taeyong lee smut #taeyong smut #lee taeyong smut #taeyong nct smut #Taeyong angst #lee Taeyong angst #nct Taeyong angst

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t3acupz · 11 months ago

Note

ok I have to ask because I'm so curious. Do you ship brownham in a "two hawks" serial killer couple way, or a Will is manipulating Matthew way, or a pwp way, or a doomed by the narrative way or...? I just want to know your headcanons XD

There’s so much to say about brownham that I get emotional about it.

Essentially, what happens in canon isn’t that great for Matthew. Will emotionally manipulates Matthew, and uses him to try and kill Hannibal. For Will, Matthew is just a pawn in his chess game against Hannibal.

But I like to approach this ship from Matthew’s point of view. He is someone who has been hiding his true self from everyone for most of his life. He’s spent time in a mental asylum for unknown reasons. He fakes a lisp and changes his mannerisms to appear as an unassuming orderly at the BSHCI. We can only assume his backstory and what led him to act this way but he’s clearly desperate to be known. Truly known. And in truly knowing someone, we love them.

I love that we get a small shot of Matthew in 2.01 Kaiseki (bringing Will his dinner) because it shows that he’s been with Will since the beginning of his imprisonment. Matthew spent months studying Will, silently watching him from the shadows. Listening to his conversations with Chilton. I’m sure he’s heard Will denounce Hannibal as the real Chesapeake Ripper plenty of times. Matthew read Will’s file and studied the Chesapeake Ripper’s murders just so he can come up with a plan to free Will by creating an alibi for him.

This scene in 2.05 Mukōzuke is so great because of the symbolism. Matthew opened Will’s enclosure, and watched him exit the cage with complete adoration. That was exactly what Matthew had planned by killing the bailiff. He wanted to set Will free. He knew that Will was an empath; someone who could finally understand him and not think he was depraved or insane.

Matthew is wearing all white, a symbol of purity. He wants to be Will’s savior, his guardian angel. He talks about hawks and how their folly is their solitary nature. He’s so in love with Will that he will make them go against their natures just to be together.

I’ll talk briefly about the pool scene. Water is one of Will’s motifs in the show, and Matthew thus became an extension of Will. He swam faster than Hannibal and then outmaneuvered him with the tranquilizer dart. He could’ve just let Hannibal drown and that would’ve been the end of it but he wanted to mock Hannibal. He wanted to show Hannibal how much he hurt Will and in doing so, compared Hannibal to the traitorous Judas. He needed Hannibal to know that he was killing for Will, and at Will’s request. It was Matthew’s way of saying, “Yes, I won and I killed you for my man.”

Matthew wasn’t shocked in the slightest when Hannibal told him that Will wasn’t a killer. It didn’t faze him at all. He also wasn’t the least bit fearful to be facing the actual Chesapeake Ripper. A man known for killing dozens of people in gruesome and horrific ways. He had Hannibal tied up and bleeding out and did it all while being adorably jaunty. That’s an amazing power move and something completely unforgettable for me when watching this show.

So the way I view the ship is in canon-divergence. Matthew succeeds in killing Hannibal, and Will is freed from the BSHCI when new evidence comes to light to prove that Lecter was the Chesapeake Ripper. Will returns to Wolf Trap and takes time off from working for the FBI to deal with the trauma of everything he went through. Initially, Matthew gives Will space by just dropping of care packages but eventually starts to help with chores around the house. Finally, Will invites Matthew to talk candidly about what transpired. It begins as unrequited love but evolves into real feelings from Will when he finally accepts the love he deserves.

I don’t picture them becoming serial killers because Matthew’s only known kill was the bailiff and that was done out of love, unlike Hannibal who killed for pleasure and to consume his victims like they were nothing more than livestock. Will had two paths - embrace the darkness within himself with Hannibal or follow a lighter path with Matthew (I enjoy both).

#ask #brownham #ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ )✧#also the pwp prison sex is hot af

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serial-serializednovelreader · 6 months ago

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Nova’s Notes - Dracula Daily - July 19

In which Seward says no….

Just a heads up: this is where we get into some of Seward’s more ableist language/practices. I’ll try to describe it more than quote from it in those places and I’ll tag this appropriately. I just wanted to give a heads up that this is where it starts to get rough. Please feel free to skip this entry if it’s too much: your mental health is more important. I also made a cut where I start talking about this topic (and yes, it is very soon into the entry).

“We are progressing. My friend has now a whole colony of sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated.”

“We”? Who is this “we”?? Are you speaking French? That’s all Renfield! And here Seward goes again with this “my friend” thing. It really makes me uncomfortable when he does that, not least because you can draw a distinct parallel between him and Dracula when he does it (if you want to see more of that, check out @vickyvicarious’s posts about Dracula and Seward: she does amazing analysis about the parallels between them!).

As for Renfield, a COLONY of sparrows??? I can see getting one in and closing the window (yeah, I figured that out), but how did he get all of those? Again, so many questions and if Seward is going to play creepy observing doctor, at least ask some questions about how he opens the window to get more sparrows without letting others out. It’s a valid question!

So, the next part is where we get into ableism — or what I see as such (and we’re only into the third sentence too…). Basically Renfield asks Seward for a favor, but Seward compares him to…a dog. While this isn’t blatantly ableist, I suppose, I still don’t like the way it’s phrased. It’s very dehumanizing. First of all, as a doctor, you are never supposed to talk about your patients that way. Second of all, even if he is “begging” in that way, think about why, Seward. He has to depend on you for everything — he is at your mercy and your whims. If he acts like…that…while asking for something, that is only because you have put him in a demeaning position in the first place!

On to the favor itself:

“‘A kitten, a nice little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, and teach, and feed—and feed—and feed!’ I was not unprepared for this request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and the spiders; so I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a cat than a kitten.”

Says a lot about Seward that he only mildly cares about animal life when we get to the cats. And that he seems to be fine with him having an adult cat, but not an adorable kitten…hm. Also, Renfield is a bit concerning on the “feed feed feed” part but eh, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about! (I’m totally not foreshadowing I don’t know what you’re talking about /s).

“‘Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should refuse me a cat. No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?’ I shook my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but that I would see about it.”

LOL he’s so right, it would be hard to refuse someone a kitten, I mean just whip out the puppy dog eyes again, right? For real though, I don’t know how to feel about this because I know what Renfield is doing to these animals — and I can’t really condone it. On the other hand, if this were just someone in an asylum who wanted a pet to take care of, why should they be refused? Because of ableist stereotypes? It’s tough because Seward hasn’t refused him up to this point, so he probably assumed he would get to also have a cat. Was it right for Seward to set a boundary at this point (making him feel strung along), or should he have just never let him have any pets in the first place?

I think the problem with Seward is that he doesn’t explain why he can’t have a cat. He just says no. Also, he hasn’t been giving Renfield these animals and insects with good intentions — it’s all been to run an experiment for his own distraction. So yeah, I don’t like what Seward’s doing here or how he just shuts him down. If you’re going to refuse, at least give a valid reason why.

This is where Seward really loses his credibility with me — and is why I put a warning in the first place. Renfield then gives him a fierce look that Seward doesn’t like. Oh, I’m sorry, are people not allowed to be angry you refused them something they wanted??? Then he refers to this look as something verging on a murderous look — uh-oh. It gets worse. Again, I promised not to quote what he says here, and I’m going to stick to that, but let’s just say he thinks that Renfield is dangerous to him and shouldn’t be trusted not to attack him…or worse.

It’s telling that he gets all of that from one look. Where was your rational assessment of him from so long ago, Seward? Is that just out the window because he’s more upset at your refusal to give him a cat? This isn’t surprising, though. I would say most people in Renfield’s position are considered “fine” by society unless they show any kind of emotion at all; then, all of a sudden, they’re “dangerous” and need to be locked away from society for “safety reasons.” This is so harmful on so many levels.

“I shall test him with his present craving and see how it will work out; then I shall know more.”

If Seward was a cat, this is where I’d spray him with water from a spray bottle. Bad Seward, bad!!! Stop using Renfield’s emotions and cravings for your own nefarious purposes. If you want to give him the cat, fine. If you don’t, don’t. But stop playing with him and dehumanizing him this way. It’s horrible.

Later, Seward goes to visit him and Renfield is (understandably) brooding. He again asks for a cat and says his salvation depends upon it (note that for later, by the way). Seward again tells him no and Renfield goes back to his corner, gnawing on his fingers. The gnawing on the fingers reminds me very much of stimming (for the uninformed, stimming is a repetitive action, often used by neurodivergent individuals, to gather focus or gain emotional regulation. Examples include chewing fingernails, playing with a fidget toy, bouncing your leg, etc.) and I can’t help but see him trying to calm himself down a bit here. I think it’s rather cruel of Seward to give Renfield false hope by visiting him and then still saying no. :(

“I shall see him in the morning early.”

Why, so you can continue to get his hopes up? UGH, hate this!!

I know I’m really hard on Seward in this one, but I think it’s deserved. He’s being cruel to Renfield and I hate it. Very unsatisfying entry, unfortunately.

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imsorryimlate · 2 years ago

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back when we were doing dracula daily, someone posted something about how van helsing was both a lawyer and a doctor, and i was like “?? but jack is also both?”, but when i tried to find support for this idea of mine, i couldn’t find it. eventually i resigned myself to it being something i had dreamt.

but then!! i was again rereading the october 1st passage, where renfield says:

[…] I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances.

and this is where i had gotten the idea, i think. but a medico-jurist is not a lawyer, which i had assumed because of the word jurist. no, a medico-jurist is, as the name implies, someone who’s involved in medical jurisprudence.

from wikipedia (awkwardly abridged for convenience):

Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. […] medicolegal cases involving death, rape, paternity, etc. require a medical practitioner to produce evidence and appear as an expert witness, […] Medical jurisprudence includes […] questions of competence or sanity in civil or criminal proceedings.

(emphasis mine)

so… our boy jack is out here giving expert witness testimonies in court?

now, i will admit to being someone who’s interested in true crime, and historical cases are always of interest because of the continuous evolution of forensic science and the shifting ideas around diminished responsibility. looking at the late 18th century and the 19th century, there are two points of interest regarding cases in the uk where defendants were found not guilty by reason of insanity:

1. a lot of them where kept at bethlam or broadmoor, famous mental hospitals

2. a lot of the expert witnesses were doctors and superintendents at bethlam or broadmoor, or at times at private asylums

some names that pop up a lot are:

william orange (superintendent at broadmoor)

sir william charles wood (superintendent at colney hatch, with its own connection to seward, later at bethlem)

edward monro (doctor at bethlem, appeared as an expert witness up to around 400 times!)

sir alexander morison (doctor at bethlem)

forbes winslow (owner of his own private asylums, also funniest middle name ever: benignus)

i’m not gonna ascribe nefarious motives to these doctors (especially dr. winslow because he seems to have been a pretty good guy who was “cutting-edge” by treating his patients humanely uhhh) but i still think there was a lot of potential for a conflict of interest, which is why i pointed out their professional positions.

but there is one doctor i will ascribe possible nefarious motives to: our dear doctor jack seward.

i know i’m not the only one who thinks that he was “saved” by the narrative in that in gave him a purpose and a stronger anchoring to his friends (both old and new). considering his opening entry, where he’s like “of course i wouldn’t experiment on renfield, that would be unethical and send me to hell…. but what if?? 👀” like, this guy… this guy!! i say this with love, but he’s primed for becoming an evil scientist.

i don’t think he would have done it when we meet him in the novel, or afterwards when he’s been through the whole adventure/mission – but if the events of dracula hadn’t happened, i could definitely see him descending deeper into self-justified malpractice, by which i mean he’d testify that accused criminals are insane just to get his hands on them, to be able to study them.

but aside from my speculation about that^ i also wonder if perhaps he’s well on his way to becoming an eminent expert witness when we meet him in the book. by renfield’s words, it would seem that he has been involved in an inquest or legal case at least once (but probably more if he’s going to claim the title medico-jurist). we all wonder sometimes how a 29 year old doctor came to have an immense lunatic asylum under his care, but honestly, some of these trials were huge, and expert witnesses could rise to some prominence and gain benefactors that way (just like they do today).

and who knows, maybe jack got his foot in the courtroom door via his lordling friend arthur, which would allow him to establish himself as a medical expert despite being young and (presumably) recently graduated.

#another fun post i decided to keep in my drafts for four months for no reason #jack seward #dracula #meta #ish??#ask to tag #also some of those doctors were like nepo babies fr and had connections to the royal family etc #so they were incredibly powerful and protected #my meta

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ultraericthered · 1 year ago

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Why am I encountering Akito Sohma discourse in 2024, soon to be exactly 5 years since the premiere of the second anime adaptation?

Not naming names, only commenting on the garbage takes here.

No duh on "being abused doesn't justify abusing others", but you might want to tell that to all the stans and simps for (usually male) villains who were abused and took their inexcusable actions towards others even further than Akito would've ever dared to yet they get their crimes downplayed or even defended and rationalized with "the abuse they suffered made them into people who act this way, don't judge the way any abuse victim internalizes and externalizes their trauma from the abuse they experienced, there is no 'perfect victim' y'know?", and are said to "deserve better" or "deserve" redemption.

The idea that Akito "got away with everything Scot-free" seems like a really poor reading of the story based on only the notion that if Akito is not dead, locked up in a penitentiary or asylum, or left completely alone and miserable forever by the end of the story, she faced zero consequences for her actions. Totally disregarding how almost the entirety of what the 2019 anime has as its final season was reality coming in to smack Akito around repeatedly and make her face all the natural consequences of her actions, of how she'd lived her life and ruled over her family as an abusive tyrant. See this? All of this?:

This is all Akito's karma. It's from the punishment she wrought for herself. The misery she passed around through her family came back around in full, and she had to watch her entire world, the world of the "eternal banquet" she was promised and believed herself entitled to, gradually unravel along with her own mental and emotional state.

In the anime at least, it hits a crescendo that's regretably so brief and silent that it's easy to miss, but when Akito has mentally shut down and is just sitting there moping beside Shigure, we're shown a bit where she suddenly gets up, like she just hit a breaking point and without any thought, just on pure instinct and emotional impulse, she walks to the screen door and hits her head against it. Given her frail, shaky body language, and the mix of alarm and pity that lurks beneath Shigure's still calm facade, I'm to assume that Akito is wailing and screaming. She's having a full psychotic breakdown.

"She never apologized, never made amends, never did anything to deserve anyone's love and forgiveness". ...I'm sorry, this person really stopped watching after Tohru got put in the hospital, huh? In the last couple of episodes, Akito did nothing BUT be apologetic and set out to make whatever amends she could, including undoing all remaining bonds and breaking the Zodiac curse! She did nothing to "deserve" anyone's love and forgiveness even at this point because now she at last understood she was undeserving of such things and was entitled to nothing, especially nothing from her victims, after the way she'd behaved and the many sins she'd committed. Forgiveness is earned and granted, never "deserved", and it's always a choice whether or not to grant it, so anyone who'd never forgive Akito for as long as they lived would be entirely within their right to do so, and so would be those who did make the choice to forgive her. Neither is invalid. And love is never a matter of "earned", "deserved", or "owed", and to think that it IS is ironically adopting a very Akito mentality.

Also have to go back to that "she never apologized" thing. Really?

Really?

And if "that Tohru, of all people, befriended her despite the horrific things she did to her (not yet and in fact he'd just rejected her) husband" disgusts anyone, than Fruits Basket was never the story for them and Tohru was never a character they were going to love. That moment, and that gesture from Tohru, was one of THE core pillars of the entire narrative, something everything had been building up to from the very beginning. Tohru looked deep inside the cruel, childish, deranged, abusive, controlling, possessive, selfish, cowardly, downright evil pseudo-god that she, and the entire Sohma family, knew as Akito Sohma and she found who Akito Sohma truly was: a sad, abused, broken, twisted, pathetic, wretched, needy and terrified child who'd suffered through an upbringing in which she'd never been allowed to forge a single human connection with anyone else that was not dependent upon her status as the family head and the bonds with the Zodiacs that was her promised birthright, and was thus left with so much vulnerability, so much mental and emotional instability, such fear of living her life in the world as the woman she should be, as the human being she should be, that she kept concealed beneath the armor of a wrathful god who she felt could be comfortably in control of everything in her life and keep it all from slipping away from her and leaving her all alone with all her internal anguish and misery. It's that Akito Sohma who Tohru reached out to and extended the offer of friendship, to become her first ever true human friend in her life, no string attached and no bonds or godhood required. Because that's what Fruits Basket was always all about: the existence and value of love. family, and friendships as forged, mutual, equally consensual connections between humans rather than as some divine mandate upon animals or some commodity to be horded by a god.

Already took shots at "she gets away with everying and does nothing to deserve anyone's love or forgiveness". On the belief that Akito needed to be jailed for her crimes, that is actually something I can agree with and see as a weakness in the series' ending. Once the Zodiac curse was broken and Akito was no longer "God", there'd now be nothing standing in the way of some of the Sohmas, the family members and servants alike, pushing charges against Akito for all the worst things she'd committed against them. We should've been told that such legal action was taken and that Akito knew it was coming and accepted it, being fully ready to accept accountability and justice for her crimes. When last we'd see her and Shigure, they could be doing a round of community service together! That would've been perfect! But Takaya didn't go that route, and I think what we did got was also satisfactory: Akito had lived her life with power, privileges, and freedom with which to do whatever she wanted but was also a prisoner of her own damaged psyche and of the broken family system she was born into and had to play such a large role in perpetuating, so by the end, it's now flipped so that Akito has been internally set free, is healing and finding inner peace, but without the Zodiac curse, the family headship in a lonelier, harder, constraining position but she voluntarily endures with it so that she may live the rest of her life atoning for the sins she'd committed when she was "God", all at a distance from family members who mostly will never forgive her, never think any better of her, and are glad to be free of her. So the idea that Akito's fate not being punitive enough being akin to a slap on the wrist is misguided. It's a lifelong committment to restorative justice and not getting all she desired that Akito's made, and she has to endure it while being romantically involved with Shigure, which honestly feels like a punishment worse than prison!

Piss the fuck off with the "blatant abuse apologist" claim, too. This is the same bullcrap spewed towards Kohei Horikoshi when he gave Endeavor a self improvement/atonement arc. WIth both Endeavor and Akito, the narrative is never at any point remotely pretending that their actions are anything but monstrously abusive, toxic, cruel, harmful and wrong. They're bad and so the abuser is made to feel bad about having ever done them and must face up to all the natural karmic consequences that will inconvenience their lives. An anti-abuse narrative that does not keep it as simple and black-and-white as "the abuser is 100% Bad Person, it's a problem that they exist and hurt people, the solution is to remove them from life entirely" yet still condemns the abuser for their actions and champions their victims ability to move beyond them, find healing, peace, love, and happiness in lives better than what the abuser could ever hope for, is not in the slightest bit "abuse apologism": no apologies or excuses for the abuse are being made.

Not Akito-related, just showing how this same person truly feels about Fruits Basket on the whole due to how "problematic" it is. If it's not for you, fine, and this is actually 100% correct regarding Katsuya Honda being a sociopathic predator who fucked a child student of his yet it get beyond inappropriately framed as a beautiful, romantic, loving thing within the narrative. But when it reaches this hyperbolic "the entire series has no value, it's irredeemable media and deserves to be trashed" level of vitriol for the work...nah. That's not agreeable.

And then there's this anon who called in to say:

Seeing you rightfully call out the utter bullshit of Akito's "redemption" has me heated. The story becomes irredeemably bad the moment the forgiveness shit is pushed.

Let me say this much: there was no "redemption" or "redemption arc" for Akito. She had her big epiphany and recieved personal salvation from Tohru's approach to her, and from then on she turned herself towards self-improvement and atonement for her many sins while finally living a true human life of her own. Atonement /=/ redemption, as all avenues for her to redeem herself for her abusive acts directly to those effected by said abusive acts got closed off a long time ago.

And forgiveness is entirely another matter from redemption and atonement. Tohru, Kureno, Shigure, Momiji, Arisa, and Saki chose to forgive Akito. Literally no one else was shown to do so. Rin even said outright she could never forgive Akito after everything she did, and in the anime at least, she was positioned as not in the wrong for that.

Takaya is on my shit list for life for how she handled Tohru's character, she is my favourite I love her compassion for people and her determination to never give up despite how difficult things can be plus her learning to move on from her crippling grief resonates with me. The ending Takaya gives her is fucking vile Tohru forgiving and befriending Akito is bullshit and my mind is never going to change on that.

"I love her compassion for people." "Tohru forgiving and befriending Akito is bullshit!" Do...you not see how these are conflicting ideas? "Tohru is wonderful for how much empathy and compassion she has for people...wait no, not THAT people!" How do you miss that big?

The sole reason Tohru wants to break the curse is because she sees how much her friends are suffering under Akito's abuse both mentally and physically. She would never be so inconsiderate of their feelings as to befriend the person who hurt them so much.

And she also saw how much Akito herself was suffering under the curse and the role that was forced upon her from birth. Also, how is choosing to befriend her friends abuser inconsiderate when they don't need to factor into it at all? Tohru doesn't try to force Yuki, Kyo, Rin, Momiji, Hiro, Kisa and the rest to also be friends with Akito. She at no point even considers that possibility. What's between Tohru and Akito is kept purely between them, away from Akito's victims. Tohru understands that they'd never be comfortable around Akito due to having a history with her that Tohru herself does not have, and while she wants to help Akito move past her pain and put in the good work to make reparations for her sins, she's not going to ever downplay how vile those sins were and how badly they hurt people, nor would she put up even the pretense of giving absolution of them to Akito.

That's not even getting to my other major problem with this storyline Tohru never even learns about half of the horrific shit Akito does to her friends, Takaya intentionally has her character be left in the dark. Not to mention how abusive akito is to HER!

Why does it need to be Tohru's business to know absolutely every horrible deed Akito ever did to every person she was ever horrible to? Akito did that shit, it happened, there's nothing Tohru can do that could possibly change that or make any of it better. And oh dear, are we getting into the "antagonistic behavior = abuse" bullshit again?

She manipulates her the first time they meet and then at the beach house she threatens her and scratches up her face. Tohru outright admits she is scared of her. Then towards the end of the story akito then has the audacity to blame her for the zodiacs not loving her despite that being the consequences of her own disgusting actions. She shows up at the house to hurt and potentially kill Tohru, she slaps her multiple times, stabs her and pushes her close to the cliffs end directly putting her in danger. Akito almost gets the poor girl killed. Akito spends the entire story being an abusive monster to Tohru and the people she loves. And nearly leads to multiple characters dying, Takaya really wants us to think a friendship Between the two of them is cute because they both relate to being lonely????

Ah yes. Yes we are. Most of what's described above is Akito being a cruel villain and acting as a threatening adversary to Tohru, with actions that are clearly reprehensible and uncalled for but are not inherently "abusive", as Akito is treating a stranger badly and making enemies with her rather than being in any relationship in which she can treat her abusively. The hardest into abuse it ever swings is when Akito is holding a knife to Tohru and physically strikes her, and that's when Akito is in the midst of a full-blown psychotic episode.

And that the characters apparently aren't that different to each other??? When they clearly are. Tohru is a kind and compassionate person who helps those around her while Akito is a manipulative snake who treats those around her like they are her possessions. Tohru grows up being bullied and alone. Akito is a child abuser and commits multiple attempted murders. Trust me Takaya these characters aside from them having tragic backstories and fears of abandonment are as far away from each other as you can get.

Tohru was brought up to be kind and selfless, to the point of seeing her own self as lesser in value than others. Akito's upbringing shaped her into becoming cruel and selfish, to the point of seeing others as possessions for her to keep hold of, to pleasure her with a sense of superiorty as a cover for her own poor self image and lack of self-worth. Tohru was left alone without her mother and was ostracized by her peers. Akito was left alone without her father (as her own mother would never give her the time of day) and was "othered" by literally every person around her. They're foils. Akito is a broken reflection of what Tohru might've become if Kyoko had not put in that effort to be such a kind, loving, nurturing parent, and Akito always envied Tohru because she reflects the girl she might've been had she been allowed to be, and not internalized everything wrong with the Sohma family nor adopted her mother's own internalized misogyny.

The friendship is disgusting, Akito is an evil bitch period she is not Tohru's problem or her responsibility. Also Uo and Hana being friends with her after they find out she nearly killed their best friend and Kureno was also so gross. The characters do some of the most OOC shit in order to give Akito one of the least deserving redemption arcs i have ever seen. It is truly some of the most atrocious, insulting writing, Takaya should be embarrassed for thinking this was an acceptable way to end the story.

If you want to get technical, none of the Sohmas are Tohru's problem or responsibility. It's not on her to "fix" them or be their therapist and savior, she doesn't owe them anything. She chooses to help them out of compassion, empathy, and a desire to do right by others, to see true justice done and freedom, peace, and happiness assured for the people she cares about in their lives going forward, With Akito too, she did not impose or make her into her responsibility; she extended her hand. She offered Akito a choice. The friendship would not happen if Akito decided she was unwilling to put in the effort to do her part and accept the care, help, comfort and understanding offered to her by Tohru. So yeah, you can blame Akito for that too, even though it's not a wrong thing of her to do whatsoever! Uotani also did not become Akito's friend, more like a friendly acquaintance. Hanajima did follow Tohru's lead and befriend her, and considering she knows how it feels to internally tear yourself apart with self-loathing over guilt from having hurt people to the point of cursing your very identity and existence, I'd say her decision makes sense.

I haven't read the spin off but Akito having a child just reinforces that she is still the same selfish person she has always been. Her wanting to have children but deciding not to because of how they would suffer due to her terrible actions would actually mean she has to live with the consequences of what she has done. but of course we can't have that.

Meh. Not much a fan of that spin off and I'm kind of hoping we don't get it adapted into an anime. Some things are best left open-ended.

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fandomworldofdreams · 1 month ago

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Hospital For Souls

"Turn off your porcelain face. I can't really think right now and this place. There's too many colors, enough to drive all of us insane. Are you dead? Sometimes I think I'm dead. Cause I can feel ghosts and ghouls wrapping my head."

-Cavetown

Previous: Prologue

Chapter 1: This is Home

Arkham Asylum was not entirely an accredited mental health facility. But it was the only one Gotham possessed.

With the large number of criminals in the city, gang members, masked lunatics dressed up for a performance.

The caped crusader was this city's only godsent in Velaria's mind. She admired the ability of one men to make a change while seeking not to reveal his identity and claim the spotlight.

The hallways in Arkham were vast and Velaria felt herself becoming sick at all the turns.

"We're taking you to the doc first for your evaluation, then we'll take you to your cell." She nodded to the shorter of the two guards. Valeria could feel the handcuffs digging into her wrists, they didn't know her level of aggression or risk yet.

After what felt like an eternity they reached a door with a name on the front.

Dr. Jonathan Crane, PhD

The taller one knocked twice. They waited and with each second Valeria felt herself growing more anxious.

The door swung open and Velaria's eyes widened at the man before her. He had combed back brown hair and rectangular glasses. He wore a brown suit with a sweater vest.

It was his aura that made Valeria start to shake.

His cold blue eyes skimmed her over. "Come in." The guards escorted her into a seat and with Dr. Crane's instructions they uncuffed her and left.

"Ms. Gray, do you know why you have been admitted here?" He was flipping through what she assumed to be her file. .

His voice was lifeless, tone borderline bored.

She tilted her chin up. "I do."

His eyes flicked up to hers and she tried not to shrink.

."Tell me what happened." It was a command.

"What is there to tell? I tried to kill myself and failed so now I am here because for some reason Gotham wants to show they care about the mentally ill." She wasn't fond of this doctor. When she focused on his edges she saw a mahogany and black, outlined by a gray. His aura was built like a spiked wall.

"Have you been diagnosed with depression by a previous doctor?"

"When I was around thirteen," she said. "I saw a therapist til I was fifteen, in those three years and then two years after I took escitalopram. I wondered for five years why I didn't feel anything, it was the meds. Then after I felt too much. I had become reliant on them. So to better control my emotions, or at least feel better about it I turned to drinking."

She didn't see the point in hiding everything, this place was supposed to help her.

He wrote something down on his notepad.

"Are you going to be my designated psychiatrist?"

"Not necessarily. I am head psychiatrist, so I do the initial evaluation and see which doctor you would pair best with."

"Good." The word slipped out and her cheeks turned pink. His full attention was on her now.

"Good?"

She cleared her throat.

She couldn't just say his aura and her didn't vibe.

"Don't take this offensively, I am not partial to your demeanor, as I'm sure you do not favor mine. So it would seem this would be a bad match."

Tints of a dark mustard yellow entered his aura and she sighed.

Challenge.

"Ms. Gray, how would you describe your home life?"

"I live with my father."

"Your mother?"

"Died in a car crash when I was six."

"Siblings?"

"I had a younger brother. He overdosed just last year."

Dr. Crane's mouth quirked for a millisecond, if Velaria had blinked she would have missed it or thought she imagined it.

"Why did you decide to try and end your life, Ms. Gray?"

"I don't understand the question. I obviously do not want to live." Her tone was becoming more irritated.

He frowned at her, eyes squinting.

"What happened in life that pushed you to do that?"

"I feel that is best suited information for the therapist you assign me. After all I have three days."

"Or more." Dr. Crane said.

Valeria clenched her jaw. "Or more?"

"72 hour watch is the minimum requirement for me to watch you and figure out how stable you are. If I find you unstable or unfit to return to society then your stay extends. Your fate relies on me." He stood from his chair and walked around the desk til he was in front of her, towering above her.

"You will see Dr. Lecter for a long session in the morning, and you will see me in the evening for another. I'll let you get settled."

He opened the doors and the guards walked in to cuff her and bring her to her cell.

Three small walls, a toilet, a sink, and a bed that felt more like a cot.

Velaria ran her fingers over her bandages and stared at the wall. She became increasingly aware that she had the same fate right now as the criminally insane. Those who harmed others.

She pressed down on her wounds and sucked in a breath.

Perhaps this was where she belonged, where she could rot away without worrying about anyone she loved seeing her.

It would be a sweet end.

She didn't touch her food that night and curled up in the bed, clutching her necklace that she had successfully hid from he guards.

The pentacle felt heavy in her hand and tears welled in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into the darkness.

The darkness did not respond.

#hospital for souls #hannibal lecter #jonathan crane #nbc hannibal #batman begins #arkham asylum #scarecrow #chesapeake ripper

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arl3kinka · 11 months ago

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THE BITCH; my interpretations

since there’s almost nothing known about her I decided to create some headcanons about her, mostly with her relationship with the Dude.

besides some personal opinions I take from base what is shown in games, movies and such.

pd: this is not really important but since there are a few little mention I warn that I headcanon Dude to have DID (without diagnose) and he’s the same guy in every game.

if instead of a hyphen there’s a star it’s to address DID in Dude (ALSO about that; I don’t have DID myself so all I know is from research I’ve done myself so if there’s something wrong please tell me!).

[ tw // mentions of abusive relationships, sex, use of drug and the usage of the word "maybe" a bit too much ]

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— Born and raised in Paradise.

— From the outside her family was pretty normal: father, mother and a younger sister. But on the inside it was something else.

— Her father worked a lot and was almost never at home. Since her mother didn’t had a job (or when she got one she got easily fired because of her temper) he did a lot of extra hours.

I think their parents would either fight a lot but still would never get divorced. Maybe they genuinely loved each other and that’s how they were used to speak when angry, so The Bitch really normalized the fights (never went further than screams and discussions, MAYBE some broken object).

— Whatever it was, who always won those fights was her mother (probably her father gave up to humour her so they didn't fight again), and that stuck up with her.

— The Bitch’s mother: “Never get married, it’s one of the worst mistakes you can do”.

That’s why her mother never liked the idea of her marrying Dude, either that or she saw him and went “with him???”.

— Pretty sure her mom loves her and does the best she can to raise her and really never treated her badly, but still she’s pretty much a disaster with everything else (or in general).

That's the main reason why she moved with her at the end of “Apocalypse Weekend”.

— Even before The Bitch and Dude got together, leaving Commander Hardrock pretty hurt, they already couldn’t stand each other, always fighting and annoying the other but not in a “siblings who fight but still love each other” way, like literally fighting.

— I have the feeling that her mother had a preference for her over Commander Hardrock and, assuming “Hardrock” it’s not a nickname, she’s using another surname because really, she despites both of them. Maybe I’m looking a bit too into but MAYBE because she was more tomboy-ish/butch and both The Bitch and their mom were more “feminine” found her kinda weird?

— I also think The Bitch is a bit similar to their mother, both personality and in appearance.

— Anyway, returning with The Bitch, she has narcissistic tendencies and anger issues, either learned of growing up seeing her mother treating her father like that or it's just in her blood.

— Is not really close to her father. He was there but also a bit distant because when he got home he was so tired nobody could move him from the couch.

— Has never gone to therapy and I don’t think she even bothered.

— “Therapy? Are you calling me crazy or what?”

— She didn’t go to university: studying was never really her thing so she took jobs here and there since her late teens. I don’t think she’s really clever or liked to study.

— I also don’t think she was in any category during high school. Not one of the populars but also not one with the weirdos. She just existed, with her friends and not much more.

— She really likes sweets, especially those who have some glazing and such like donuts.

— Meet the Postal Dude after a while he got out of the mental hospital and got married pretty quickly with the bad luck that they were still in their honeymoon phase.

★ P2 was the one in charge, and P1 wasn’t entirely dormant (I think after they got out of the asylum P1 was around for a while yet not really active) and P3 didn’t even existed yet.

★ Honestly both of them had mixed feelings about it. P1 felt something was a bit off but he also craved for that attention and care she showed, winning over that strange feeling. P2 is not as sensitive as P1 can be, but he had to admit he also liked that somebody liked him and damn, she wasn’t bad looking either so…

— I mean, who gets a tattoo with the name of their partner? Too many people, I know. And how many times ends up being a mistake? Pretty usually too (at least from what I’ve seen with my family/friends).

— After that phase ended they realized they pretty quickly they disliked the other and that didn't had a lot in common either.

— I think things went something like this: Dude gets out of the asylum, besides Uncle Dave and recently Champ he doesn’t has nobody else, he meets this woman who’s pretty and the only one who has shown some interest/affection to him (love bombing), he falls from her and well, the rest is history.

In case somebody imagines Dude as an aromantic person (I can see it too, but it’s not my case) I think he has confused love with validation, and the fact that now he’s now in a broken marriage also makes him resentful to her too. If she was a better person, or at least somebody who would treat him decently he wouldn’t feel so bad about it. Maybe a bit uncomfortable, but not to the point to feel like he’s in hell.

I also think that, whatever the case is, Uncle Dave motivated him to take that step thinking it would be good for him somehow (he was so wrong).

★ That’s when P1 went dormant and left P2 alone, not wanting to deal with her and the world in general.

P2, of course, if he wasn't already resentful that he did the same during the time they spend at the asylum, imagine when he disappeared completely this time. He was pretty much angry of trying to deal with his shit, but what else could he do?

After all, he also accepted marrying her too.

— Maybe she also started to date him because she was bored too, or because was the only person who tolerated her (I headcanon Dude as a pretty passive person, not to the point of being a people pleaser, maybe P1 could be but not P2, but still rather shut up and take the shit than fight back, specially at the beginning... sounds familiar?).

— Both really wanted to make it work, really, but with somebody who doesn’t knows her habits are toxic to a relationship (or she’s conscious and doesn’t cares, which makes it worse) and the other one who instead of dumping her stays there since he doesn’t knows any better and isn’t really experienced in relationships (at least from what I think) I don’t really think anything good can come out from there.

— Thinks could also have been something like:

Dude: “I’m mentally ill, literally got out from an asylum”

The Bitch: “It’s okay”

Dude: *show signs of being mentally ill*

The Bitch: “Uh stop? Can you not??”

Aaand that’s another point that I MAYBE, just MAYBE, could have affected in having a more sane relationship. I don’t know about y’all but if I couldn’t express how I feel or what’s bothering me relating to my mental health I would feel pretty bad about it. But hey, just maybe.

— After the wedding and since they live in a trailer maybe they traveled a bit, looking for differect jobs and such (also avoiding paying taxes too) and after some time they move again to Paradise because Dude got a job at RWS.

— They both do drugs together, one of the few moments I think they would be cool with the presence of the other.

— (tw: sex and cheating mentione) Just like in the movie I think that at the end of their relationship she cheated on him, just like in the film. That’s why he catches gonorrhea. And you may ask “and what if he was the one cheating on her?” that's a possibility too, yeah, but gonorrhea symptoms usually appear between the second or seventh day the person has been infected, and in the game we control Dude for the whole week while she stays on the trailer (and locks him out too). Also in the film she’s the one cheating on her.

— [ I’m really sorry if it sounds like I’m trying to defend the Postal Dude TuT it’s really not my intention ]

— Okay here’s another thing that might change the perspective: maybe before they got married he promised her he would change, implying he would take his medicines, the trailer thing was temporary, etc. Maybe he promised her they would have a happy ending, living in a real house, he would get a stable job, etc. But then she sees he’s not doing anything he promised to her. Months pass and he can keep up a job for more than a month or two. He wastes his money on drugs instead of his medicine. She would get tired, and it’s completely normal, that’s when The Bitch became more distant with him, resentful even. She sees herself stuck in a loveless marriage with a guy who’s a disaster and doesn’t love her, that he’s just with her because… sex? Some company? I dunno. There’s when she started to get more aggressive towards him, making Dude do everything since he didn’t do shit on a daily basis.

That’s a possibility too, but since we don’t know a lot of stuff and what we see in her being a bitch (ba-dum tiss) with him in almost every media it can be for both reasons: she was a pain in the ass from the beginning or maybe he’s always been the problem. They both are, that’s for sure, but maybe one of them is more to blame than the other.

But seeing how everybody is tired of her bullshit (her own sister, Dude and Madcow Mike J) and if you play pacifist Dude is literally just a regular guy in a town of crazy people maybe she fucked up a bit more in terms or relationship.

— Even if I think she’s not really a good person Dude is not a saint either (regardless of which Dude are we talking about and/or they way we’re controlling them), actually far from that, but it’s seen that he actually tries during their marriage (maybe because he doesn’t wants to fight with her, maybe because he still feels something for her -which I doubt considering how he reacts to her dumping him in “Paradise Lost”-, I dunno). In the second game he does all those errands for her and even runs away in “Paradise Lost” instead of, I dunno, kill her in the first instance? And the fact that he tried to kill himself instead of killing her by the end of “Postal 2”? Yeah.

— Also, the end of “Paradise Lost”? Where she technically dies? I think both are canon.

What I mean with that is, the normal ending you get is what she told Dude in pure rage, but after a moment where he leaves her behind (in a moment I’ll come back to that in a moment) she’s starting to regret how she treated him. Sure, he’s an ass in a lot of things, but hey he tried a bit at least. And then she has a breakdown.

— Then Madcow MikeJ kills her because, I mean, it wouldn’t be pretty if your new wife was crying about her ex husband. Maybe killing her wasn’t the best solution but what do you want me to say they’re Paradise citizens lol.

— That’s why in “Postal 4: No Regerts” there’s a sign in Edensin that says Mike J has killed his ex wife (or that’s what the wiki says, I haven’t played the fourth game myself haha) and that’s why the Dude asks her younger sister how’s The Bitch doing.

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aaand that’s all for now, I have others for Dude but I think he’s a bit more complex than her because uh, he’s literally the protagonist and The Bitch only appears in 2 games without counting mentions.

I dunno, I tried to show how I view her a bit.

pd 2: not the first time that I write headcanons but the first time posting them, so excuse me if I don’t explain myself really well (or if there are any typos) and uh if I miss characterize any of the character.

please let me know that last part, I would hate that and I think I have a tiny tendency of doing so :’).

#postal headcanons #the bitch postal #postal dude #postal 2 #postal #postal dude headcanons #It's my first time posting headcanons aaa I'm kinda anxious #PLEASE let me know if I miss characterized somebody a bit too much :(#posting this before going to bed so maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and regret every single thing that I said #btw these are just my interpretations #i genuinely tried #nana's rambling

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