#I never seen Shiva so pissed

[milky-tales]

Childish quarrel

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Hello there ! How ru today?♥️🫶🏼Can i request a Rudra / Hades /Qin , the reader is like Erza Scarlet , she can changes multiples armors at the same time and she's very strict with everyone but has a (huge) soft spot with their crush (them Rudra/Hades and Qin) . Take ur time♥️Take care of you and love u ! Have a nice day /night♥️🫶🏼

Thank you for your kind words! You're so sweet!

-Y/N, a fierce battle maiden in Valhalla, she was the one who trained the oldest valkyries in combat once they were old enough, and they in turn trained their younger sisters.

-You were admired all around Valhalla as one of the strongest warriors, not female warriors, but warriors in general, you could handle most of the gods on your own.

-Most gods not to anger you, as you were no holds bars if they pissed you off, Zeus was your biggest repeat offender, as he enjoyed seeing you mad, thinking you were attractive, but he didn’t like it when you got ahold of him and gave him the ass beating he had been begging for.

-When warriors, gods or humans, wanting a sparring partner, you were almost always willing to do so, unless if you were enjoying your afternoon strawberry cake with hot black tea, interrupting your snack time was a quick way to get thrown halfway across Valhalla.

-You were a unique warrior, as your styles could change with different sets of holy armor that you had spent hundred of thousands of years collecting.

-You were able to shift from your normal, everyday clothes, to these sets of armors at will, and your weapon, normally a short-bladed sword, would change with your armor, from daggers, tridents, a war hammer, a set of great swords, and so many more.

-This is what made you such a formidable opponent, your weapon changing, and your fighting style could change on whim, as you knew almost every single one, and you could use fighting styles that didn’t fit with your weapon, and you still dominated all of your opponents.

-However, there was one big secret about you, at least you considered it a secret, as it was not a secret to anyone else, despite being such a fierce warrior, you were a total girly-girl around your crush, you were like a shy blushing maiden whenever he came around.

-Everyone could see this change in your demeanor, which they did think was cute, but you got so tsundere and embarrassed if someone mentioned it to you, or mentioned your crush, that was a quick way to get an ass beating.

Rudra

-He met you initially through Shiva, as you had been fighting Shiva in a sparring matching, Shiva wanting a challenge, which you gave to him. The strongest god in the Hindu pantheon was complaining afterwards on how hard you were on him.

-Rudra was intrigued with your strength, you could see the sparkle in his eyes, and he asked for a match as well. You weren’t bothered and he was stunned when you changed your armor to something different, your weapon changing as well, and when you stood over him at the end, he was impressed.

-Your affections for the Storm God came later on, weeks after you first met, when the two of you were enjoying strawberry cake together.

-Another god demanded to fight you, despite it being your snack time and you told him to wait.

-He didn’t take kindly to that and kicked over the table, destroying your cake.

-Before you could lose your temper, Rudra defending you, “Can’t you see this maiden was in middle of something? You shouldn’t be so impatient! I’ll fight you!”

-You never had someone defend you before and Zeus has the memory seared in his brain when he turned to you, seeing you blushing, hands cupping your cheeks, and a doe-eyed sparkle in your eyes. He made you feel so delicate, like a princess!

-Rudra thought your personality was adorable, he’s seen you in battle and knows you are a hardened warrior, but around him you’re like a sweet maiden, but he doesn’t want to embarrass you, as he had seen what you did to Ares after he did that. It wasn’t pretty.

-Rudra did have to admit that he wanted you to act on your affections soon, or else he would, which he knew was going to be amusing.

Hades

-You have known Hades for years, as you helped train his brothers, with your strongest student being Poseidon, until Zeus came into his power, but with that power came a lot of ass beatings when he disrespected you.

-Hades respected you for the fact that you were a warrior, not afraid of anyone, and you weren’t afraid, even to this day, to put Zeus in his place.

-He noticed, over the years, that he could tell which warriors were trained by you, as they were more powerful than others who had been trained by other gods, they were tougher as you had been tough on them, but your students all respected and admired you for it, as you made them into strong warriors yourself.

-Hades always spoke highly of you, which did get back around to you, through Zeus, which did flatter you and you thanked Hades the next time you had seen him.

-He made your brain flatline when he took one of your hands and pecked your knuckles, “I only speak the truth about you, Y/N.”

-Your flushed face was one that none had seen, you were like a maiden!

-Hades thought you affections were cute, how soft you got around him, but you were still so shy about them, as you hadn’t dealt with affections like that before.

-He never misses a chance to tell you how cute you are, which always flusters you, and he doesn’t know how much longer he’s going to hold back if you keep looking so cute.

Qin Shi Huang

-Never in all of your years, did you think that you were going to fall for a human.

-Humans had surprised you by being stronger than they looked, and those who did challenge you didn’t hold back and always were appreciative when you didn’t hold back, Lu Bu was a regular opponent of yours, as you always gave him a good work out.

-When you met the Emperor he immediately grinned up at you with a dazzling smile, “Such beauty~ such a delicate flower, like a rose, beautiful and dangerous.” The sound that left you was not of this world as you had turned bright red, holding your cheeks, shocking the other warriors around you as you had turned from Huang.

-He thought your shyness at your first meeting was endearing, as he had seen what a fierce warrior you were, but with things like affection, you were adorable!

-Huang never missed a chance to tease you, finding it fun to see you flustered while your heart opened up to him. You had never had a man treat you so gently before.

-He enjoyed seeing you open up to only him, as you spoke normally to others, but with him your voice went up just a bit in pitch and you always spoke sweetly with him.

-Huang’s affections were the same for you, he enjoyed being with you, he could see no other to stand beside him, but he was having trouble deciding how to propose to you, which you had no idea was coming.

[seeyouspacecoyote]

Dumbass Record of Ragnarok modern A/U Whoopee: (feel free to ignore, this is just me brain dumping here)

All the fighters are stuck living together due to insane cost of living (probably in Southern California near the Bay Area but I haven't thought that part out in too much detail tbh.)

Two possible directions this can take depending on just how bad the cost of living is in whoop-de-doo fuck-ass universe #293423823423 and something: Either they all live together in one house or they're all split up into 3 different houses. The fighters from Rounds 1-4 live in one house, the fighters from Rounds 5-8 all live in another house, and the fighters from Rounds 9-13 all live in yet another house.

Absolutely none of them have a proper sense of how time works like at all.

Any house where Tesla spends any amount of time at all will randomly get a wall blown out at some random ass time when he's busy tinkering with some mechanical shit and accidentally forgets he's handling potentially explosive devices/materials.

Adam, Kojiro, Heracles, and Simo are probably the only people in the whole bunch who are actually tolerable to live with who actually spend any amount of time there.

Odin just fucking hangs himself from a tree (like he does in Norse Mythology,) and nobody ever sees him again. He's still perfectly alive, he just can't handle the bullshit of living with everyone else anymore.

Thor does almost nothing but garden, he plants tons of vegetables at a local community garden where he meets a nice woman who he befriends.

Leonidas will bitch about any inaccuracies on any History Channel show involving military history to anyone who will listen (and also those who don't care.) And don't get him started on Ancient Aliens.

Raiden will interrupt Leonidas when he's bitching about Ancient Aliens to theorize out loud about how big and fat and jiggly alien titties and ass-cheeks gotta be and goes on an unhinged hour long rant about how great it would be to get to fuck alien bitches with fat titties and fat asses.

Zeus got arrested in like 5 minutes after sexually harassing a door to door salesperson, but not before he purposely clogged all the toilets by pouring unleaded gasoline into them. Nobody's seen him since and nobody complains about it. At all.

Qin, Loki, Okita, Nostradamus, and Anubis are chronic TikTok users and use insufferable zoomer slang like constantly.

As a result, Tesla, Susanoo, Heracles, Thor, and Leonidas can barely communicate with them.

Leonidas still talks like he spent 5 day straight on Xbox Live Chat when he gets pissed off though.

Susanoo sometimes sprays Anubis with a hose like an actual dog. Nobody stops him because they either don't give a fuck or they're too scared of him to say anything.

Anubis climbs on the furniture, licks the walls, and occasionally eats dog treats like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Buddha takes Zero to shit like Electric Forest and Burning Man despite Zero likely not being mature enough to do that kind of shit.

Raiden steals Hajun's laptop at one point, finds out that he got "fat bitches fighting over food" on pornhub bookmarked on his computer and laughs at Hajun for it, Hajun responds by throwing a fire hydrant he stole from a random street at him.

Raiden unironically enjoys pro-wrestling.

Lu Bu, Chen Gong, the other random members of the Chinese army, Shiva, and Qin absolutely crush it in DDR.

Rasputin does nothing but post horrible edgy/racist shit on 4chan. Nobody ever sees him. Ever. He most definitely has piss bottles in his room. Heracles and Zero are terrified to even walk near there and honestly nobody blames them.

Jack bakes pies at suspicious times. Anyone who asks him what's in the pies never gets a straight answer. He always smells vaguely like cologne.

Susanoo works some horrible soul-sucking C-suite corporate job 100 hours a week and has a terrible cocaine habit so he can spend less time sleeping and work as much as possible so he can try to find someplace else to live asap. He always has bags under his eyes which he has to resort to hiding with concealer so people don't think he's some kind of deranged serial killer or something.

Susanoo may be able to hide his cocaine addiction surprisingly well, but he fails (entirely on accident,) to hide the fact that he has one of those mildly uninteresting/questionable secret NSFW daddy dom type tumblr accounts that you suspect are run by some middle aged cishet dude who has absolutely no idea what the rest of Tumblr's userbase actually uses the site for from Anubis and Okita.

Anubis and Okita roast him for it, Susanoo responds by pulling up Anubis's Sonic the Hedgehog/furry porn DeviantArt account and basically asking him "This you?" (though he talks too formally to actually say that exact phrase) and proceeds to doxx Anubis on the spot.

Anubis hisses at him and leaps out the nearest window.

Despite his best efforts to avoid reckless spending, Susanoo bought a hunting rifle and occasionally tries to shoot Anubis when he's getting on his nerves. Anubis always manages to dodge it though.

Poseidon, Hajun, and Beelzebub eat everyone's food whenever they feel like it.

Zero is usually the main target. Buddha always buys extra snacks for him though. He also takes fruit off of trees and brings it home with him for the same reason.

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. This is pretty long, so if you want to keep reading, it’s under the cut.

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflake part 29:Coward

Part 28 <-

Temperaments had grown cold. The anger that burrowed it’s way into Summer’s heart had finally subsided. What remained in its place became nothing but insecurity and an aching sadness. She had never gotten along with Veronica. Still, to hear those three callous words spoken with such certainty, it pierced Summer’s heart in a way she didn’t expect. To bother Veronica any further wouldn’t be wise, but there lies the problem. Summer needed to say her name. How else was she going to get clothes? The pajamas she wore had to still be in Vee’s room upstairs. Even if Summer were to get other clothes, she would still have to walk outside in nothing but a towel. A bad idea for various reasons.

A groan came from deep within her chest. This was a terrible idea. “Ver…onica? Veronica, my pajamas, you have them.”she said meekly, staring at the ceiling.

Agonizing silence filled the bathroom. “Ver-” the girl's head popped out of the ceiling upside down, eyes back to normal.

Veronica stared at the helpless girl wrapped in a towel and puffy red eyes that were obviously from sobbing. She pulled her arm through with pajamas in hand. Veronica dropped them near the towel rack.

Summer tried to smile but found it impossible. Veronica didn’t even emote. Her head began to go back through the ceiling. “Please.” Summer said quickly, halting Veronica’s progress. “I…I understand that you probably don’t even want to look at me right now, but…I want to know. Did you mean it? Do you hate me?”

Perhaps it was a selfish question to ask but Summer couldn’t let it go. “If you do, then that’s your choice; but please, could you tell me why?”

“…If you’re assuming you’ve done something wrong or are a bad person, then you can quit it. I just can’t stand the kind of person you are, Summer. Being called a princess upsets you but all you ever do is whine and throw a pity party until people accommodate accordingly.”

“That’s not…I…”

“Just today you were so upset at an insult that not only did you put your hands on me, but also ruined your own dress. I used to think you got a kick out of playing the victim; until recently that is. Admittedly, I was wrong. I didn’t know about Shiva. However, that doesn’t excuse anything. It only pisses me off further. All the resources you have at your disposal, the power, influence, yet you choose to be weak.”

“I do not choose anything! I’m try-”

“Trying!? You’re always talking about how you’re trying and how things are different but you know what? It’s a lie! You let your family bend over backwards for you to help fix a problem instead of taking the risks yourself. How could you possibly be okay with that!? If you were trying then you would never want your family to have to fight Shiva. I hate you because you’re a coward who only works up the nerve to be aggressive against me!”

Veronica failed to keep her emotions in check near the end. Summer could tell that last part had been a thought rattling in Veronica’s head for a long time. What made it worse was she couldn’t deny it. Summer wanted to protest, but wouldn’t that prove her point? Was she really standing still and letting others fall at her feet? Summer couldn’t say for sure. A coward, not surprising in hindsight. When wasn’t she trembling at school peers, Shiva, and anyone off a stage. The more Summer thought about it, the more she realized just how weak others might’ve seen her. Summer held her head down, hurt by the dose of brutal honesty.

Feeling bad for Summer was hard for Veronica to do. She asked after all. Even so, Veronica never gained satisfaction from their arguments.

“From now on, let’s not talk to each other more than we have to. Nothing ever good comes out of it. I won’t bother you if you don’t bother me. Focus on what’s important. That way we don’t cause any more problems. Our hate shouldn’t ruin our work.” Veronica went back through the ceiling.

Light headed, Very took a breath to compose herself as she rubbed her bandaged hands.

“I don’t hate you…”

Veronica paused, hearing Summer’s voice again. “…” she walked back to her designs, “Could’ve fooled me.” Caught up in her head, she didn’t even notice Blake was on the other side of the door listening.

Hesitant, Blake chose to leave without saying a word. Wounds need time to breathe and her daughter was being far more calm than Blake had seen in recent years. With a little more time, Veronica would continue to open up to those around her. Hopefully.

Unfortunately, the dinner table was empty that night. Nothing but worried parents in the living room, and restless children in bed. Not one of them asleep.

Nick was content to stay there the entire night. He would’ve if someone didn’t knock on his door before opening it. Summer walked in quietly, closing the door. Nick watched his sister sit down against his bed lazily.

“You can sit up top if you want.”

“Nah, I like the floor sometimes.”

“So, what happened earlier?”

“Too much to go through again.”

Nick sat up, “then abridge it for me. Don’t treat this like some run of the mill fight, because it wasn’t.”

Summer tilted her head up. Pristine blue eyes filled with concern looked at her. “Have I ever told you how jealous I am that you have mom’s eyes? I remember always wanting that color when we were little. Guess I should’ve been happy with dad’s. Now I struggle to keep them every time I get a chill.”

“What does…are you okay?”

“Far from it.” She looked at the floor, “Veronica finished my outfit. What should’ve been a simple conversation got nasty. I don’t know if I can blame her for starting it, or if I’m the one who started being rude. Not like it matters now. I got a little physical with her which ended with dust everywhere and Veronica ruining the dress.”

All the pieces started to click into place. “You got ice dust on you? That doesn’t-”

“I know, but I was panicking and I could tell she was too. Maybe she saw my eyes glow? It doesn’t matter. The fear was real and it wouldn’t have been if I understood how to control this better.” No, Summer couldn’t stomach that excuse, “or…if I didn’t touch her. I shouldn’t have touched her.”

“Okay? I’m glad you can admit that. I don’t like it when either of you get physical. Truthfully I’m surprised Veronica’s never hit you outside of a legitimate match. You’ve seen what she’s done to Valerie.”

It was a miracle those two never left scars on one another. Summer has witnessed both of those girls break noses and leave black eyes. Maybe that’s why Veronica said such cruel things? She had enough common sense to know a fist fight would only look like a murder scene. The thought made Summer shudder.

“I think popularity and her love for you has saved me more than I realized.”

“Doubtful. Vee knows I can’t stand it when she hurts you. Same goes for you.” He pointed.

Summer let out a weak chuckle, “Heh, the fact you still call her that means you can’t be too upset with her. I mean you even had a date. I bet…you would gladly accept her feelings if I wasn’t in the way?” Her heart got heavy. “Nick, I’m always in the way, aren’t I?”

The way her voice trembled made Nick join her on the floor. He watched Summer hug her knees and hide her face from him.

“I know you love me, but be truthful with me okay? I must stress you out so much. There’s not a thing you don’t do without considering me. I get upset at you for helicoptering over me but I keep making stupid mistakes that validate you concerns. I…I terrified you today.”

“Summer, that’s not…I…” he sighed. Lying would do no good, but the stress he felt was not Summer’s fault, not entirely. “Yes, I was terrified today. I’m terrified every time Shiva speaks to me, but I’m never scared of you.”

“What’s the difference at this point!?” She sobbed into her lap. “I don’t want this for you, for anyone! Walking on eggshells around me, giving you nightmares, reasons to worry; I don’t want that and yet I keep making the same mistakes. I just wanna…I’m sorry, okay? I don’t think I can beat her. I’m too scared to risk it all.”

Nick’s arms wrapped around her tightly. “You say what’s the difference like there isn’t one. If I wasn’t prepared to help you, if I truly was terrified of you, then how could I hug you this tightly? Why would your sadness be my sadness? Everyone is scared and no one knows how to beat this, but we will beat this!”

He felt so warm, comforting. Just like his hugs always were. Maybe…maybe that was her problem? She was too used to it. Summer left that warmth and wiped her tears.

“I know Shiva is a problem for everyone, but…I think this next step I need to take on my own.”

“I don’t understand.”

“For now I’ll train alone. Regular training, and anything involving her.” Summer could see the fear on his face. “Nothing crazy! I promise. Just…if I can't even mentally confront her without having people ready with fire, then how am I ever going to get comfortable? How can you do what you need to do if I’m always needing you? Nick, it hasn’t even been a full five days since you weren’t sick and here I am making you bedridden.”

“Hey I was already drained from training.”

“Nick, I’m serious here. Please, let me do this. Not just for everyone’s sake. This is for me.” She gripped the side of her clothes, “Being a coward, it’s the last thing I want to be.”

Recklessness couldn’t begin to describe her request. Nick wasn’t sure how to think. Did he really doubt his sister, or was it his own anxiety trying to convince him to refuse Summer. Either way, the burning look in her eyes was practically begging to burn.

Nick could only sigh, “You say you don’t have mother’s eyes? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Fine, I guess we’ll both be busy training before the tournament. However, let me know when you start and stop. After the tournament we’ll have more time to double down on this.”

“Light practice, got it.” She sniffled, “I uh…saw the garden on the way here. My big bro is getting better huh?” Summer smiled. Nick pulled her back into his arms and ruffled her hair.

“Not as good as you. Let’s keep doing our best, okay?”

Despite it all, Nick was still his hopeful self at heart and Summer was thankful for it, because she was still very much his little sister. That was a title she’d wear proudly.

“Yeah!”

xxxx

Next day arrived with its regular tasks. A little more open than before, Summer practiced hard with the school band. They really weren’t that bad. It was just really hard not to break into a guitar solo or keep quiet when the bassist was ever so slightly off tempo. That being said, anytime Nick messed up…

“Shape up!” Summer aggressively pointed at the winded boy, “Harmonizing is not rocket science!”

“But it is health science. I cannot hold notes as long as you! I don’t have the lung capacity.”

“That’s bullshit.” Her bluntness was unparalleled.

All the people practicing and setting up for the big day paused for a moment, looking at Summer. It was still the first time many had heard such language from her. Summer turned towards them, spooking most into working again.

“This is why people think you’re a diva.”

Her cheeks got red. There may have been a little truth behind his words. Summer plastered on a smile as turned towards the band. “Feel free to take a ten minute break. Keep up the good work.”

All of them nodded in silent fear and went backstage. Nick tried to sneak off but felt Summer’s fingers tug the back of his collar.

“Not you. We need to chat.”

“Yes, I remember how to open up my chest and tilt my head up to breathe more-”

“Not about the harmony! Although I’m proud you remember. I wanted to address the Goliath in the room.” She pointed at the cheer squad’s practice area. They were noticeably one short.

Nick ruffled his hair, “I knocked, texted, and called. Veronica told me she’d be missing at least today and tomorrow.”

“Did she sound upset?”

“Tired. The door was locked so I couldn’t really tell. But hey, I’m sure things will be okay.” He said, attempting to stop his sister’s melancholic expression.

“She told me that she and I shouldn’t let our…dynamic interfere with our responsibilities. Avoiding rehearsal is the exact opposite of that.”

“Well Eliza and Harriet weren’t concerned when I told them. Vee is a great acrobatic and a quick learner. I’m sure everything is fine.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. It’s pretty quiet ya know? Valerie isn’t here again.”

Nick’s heart stirred. A long breath escaped through his closed lips while his arms folded. “Not surprising. Not much space in here.” His voice swelled with attitude.

“Holding a grudge doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m not. I’m…sad is all.” Nick cleared his throat, “But whatever. Maybe the space was necessary. She's training hard and now I am too. After our match, maybe things will even out? Val isn’t a sore loser and neither am I. Anyways , doubles is what we should be discussing!”

Summer felt her excitement building, until remembering yesterday immediately deflated her; regret and groaning made Summer pinch the bridge of her nose.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…I still need an outfit.”

“Oh…right. Kinda forgot about all that.”

“Me too. Guess I’ll be rocking my typical fighting clothes. It can double for an on stage presence. Well enough anyways. Ugh. Nick, I really messed up this time.”

“Summ-”

“You didn’t see her face as it happened. Imagine if someone stole your skating routine, or if I wrote a song for months only for it to get shredded. For as much crap Veronica and I have between each other, we don’t mess with or insult our passions. I can’t even apologize for it. Not that it would stop her from hating me…”

Nicholas blinked twice, shocked over Summer’s attitude towards this. He sat on the edge of the stage and invited her to join him. “Gotta admit, didn’t realize you cared about her validation.”

“I don’t! Or at least…agh! She’s just…how!? How can I not want that at the very least! Veronica’s beautiful, tough, incredibly confident, and just so…not me. Her words are like daggers to my chest yet I try to get to this point where I feel on her level. It’s like she shines so bright I can’t help but stand in the shadow. Nick if you ever tell her that then I swear-”

“Hey now! Cut me some slack. Since when do I needlessly gossip?” Hearing all that made him think about Veronica’s negative feelings towards Summer. In a way, the two perspectives felt the same.

“I told her it would be okay if she hated me. Guess I lied. I wish…she at least thought I was trying my best.”

“In my personal opinion, I think you shouldn’t think so highly of her. Not like this anyways. Hmm maybe that’s why you two and Valerie can’t be in a room together? Can’t say for certain but I doubt Vee thinks of herself as some kind of standard.”

“I don’t know. You’ve heard her talk about her birthday. The meteor shower?”

“Ah yes. Stars fell out of the sky because they knew she’d outshine them. Haha, I think Yang told her that to be cool, but it’s not like she actually believes she’s the coolest thing since karaoke. Vee has her fair share of problems.” That had increasingly become apparent recently. “Maybe she’s as stressed as you are, but about different things?”

Summer gave Nick this intense squint that made him rethink his words.

“Okay, nobody is trying to actively assault/kill her loved ones to my knowledge. But you get my point. Sigh~ maybe I was an idiot for trying to get you both to be friendly?”

“Your heart was in the right place. Oh well, I guess moping about it forever won’t improve anything. Who knows; if I can make progress on Shiva then Veronica won’t feel so overwhelming?”

“I would hope not.” Nick said, concerned. Last time he checked, Veronica wasn’t out for anyone’s blood. “Speaking of Shiva, do you have a routine or any kind of plan for training? Trial by fire isn’t the best option in these circumstances.”

“I do actually. And I have you to thank for it; as well as yesterday’s events. I could tell, but only after I get to the spot. You’ll call me crazy otherwise.”

“Summer, it’s no secret who stole the extra brain cells between us. I never see you make a half-ass plan for a fight.”

xxxxx

“This is single handedly the most half-assed plan I’ve seen in my entire life and I think you’ve lost it.”

“Well it’s a good thing I already see a therapist then now is it?” She said, face timing her brother from inside one of the old dust mines. “This is perfect. Nobody around, heat from the residual dust to keep me sweltering, wide space…”

“The possibility of you blowing up.” Nick added, “I can’t believe you got this idea from the bathtub and mental perception.”

“It stands to reason that as long as I’m willingly trying to get into that headspace then getting out isn’t too difficult. The heat here should act like a buffer or safety net so my body isn’t cold enough to get hijacked without a fight.”

“Are you forgetting the part where you might blow the entire place up if things get a little crazy and one of you sets off pure dust?” Nick could not stress enough how crazy that part is.

Summer casually shrugged it off. “Eh, we both know Shiva has invested interest in keeping me alive. If a dust mine explosion was enough to take her out, then we wouldn’t be struggling the way we have. Look at it this way, an explosion like that will let you know to prepare for trouble.”

“I'd rather you just not screw up please?”

Summer waved her fingers at the camera before ending the call. The faux smile she displayed crumbled into restless anticipation. Her scroll was propped up against part of the cavern wall with it recording.

“Let’s see how this looks on the other side of the mirror for once.”

Summer made her way to the center of mineral deposit and began to meditate, legs crossed and eyes shut tightly. This could work. It has to. If years of research bore any fruit, it would be today. Her mind would make the door and fear would become the key in the absence of cold. Dead hot air that made her perspire gradually became an afterthought. Echoes of rock that settled in the dust mine eventually were replaced with the sound of bellowing wind and rustling snow. Summer stood up, opening her eyes to the infamous icy lake that haunted her nightmares.

“At least getting in was easy.” To her surprise, Summer’s sword was in her hand. Even more unexpected, she was wearing the outfit Veronica had prepared. It was worn for a matter of minutes in reality, yet it clearly left a lasting impression.

“Guess I really can’t stop thinking about it?” She held her blade up. It looked one to one. Dust cartridges were in order too. Were they even real, or in this case…usable? “Countless times I’ve fallen into this place. Why is this only appearing now?”

“You’re expecting a fight.”

A rod of ice flew out of the tree line that crashed into Summer’s back, knocking her to the ground along with the wind out of her lungs. Summer coughed violently trying to breathe when a second rod came overhead. She rolled onto her feet with her blade at the ready, piercing the rod to shatter into pieces. Cold eyes rushed out enveloped in a light blue miasma.

“Shiva!?” Summer brought her firmly into front of her body that blocked a punch. Her wrist buckled and the snow crunched under her feet. The force sent Summer sliding backwards until she hit a tree. “Gah!!!” Her knees hit the ground.

“Careful, you’ll ruin that dress.”

Gasping for air, Summer raised her head to see Shiva strutting towards her. The miasma dispersed and a new sense of unknown fear was discovered. Before Summer’s eyes stood Shiva in a way never seen before. Her hair was manic, frayed and flowing while the gleam of her eyes gave a peek into a barely contained frenzy. The dress she wore was the same, but all the colors were flipped, more white than black.

Each step brought Summer’s will unraveling. This was wrong, all wrong! Her bones ached as her heart pounded in her chest.

“Aww what’s wrong? I thought you were ready for this?”

Shiva closed the gap between them, lunging forward violently with her hands clocked in sharp ice. Right as she was about to grab her neck, Summer’s eyes opened again. Her body jerked upright off the cave floor as her lungs desperately filled with air.

“Wh…what in the!?” She gasped, clenching her chest and processing the fact she had made it out of her mind in time. Summer gripped her hands tightly to stop them from shaking. Gradually her mind and body calmed down once they realized the danger was gone.

Too afraid to internalize most of her thoughts, Summer muttered aloud, “She was different, unhinged. Why? What the hell has changed?” Her eyes looked at the scroll. It looked undisturbed.

Finding the strength to move took a minute but Summer managed. She stopped the recording to immediately see if anything had happened. First thing she noticed was the video itself. The duration was nearly an hour long.

“50 minutes! But I just sat down less than 15 minutes ago.” She played the video from the beginning. There she was meditating. All looked normal. Things only got interesting ten minutes in where her body fell onto its side in pain. Both her hands gripped her head while her knees pressed against her chest.

Summer continued to watch with concern and desperate need to figure things out. She was waiting for the part Shiva would assume control, but it never came. Her body’s aura constantly flickered throughout the video of her groaning in pain. Even when Summer fast forwarded, all there was on the video was her struggling and the occasional appearance of a normal glyph. No doubt it was a reflex of sorts.

“This explains the fatigue.” She rolled her shoulders. There wasn’t a muscle that didn’t feel exhausted. Not to mention her aura wasn’t full either. “Ugh, think. The pieces are here so why is the puzzle different? I go in, Shiva comes out. That’s how it always works, so what’s the change? It can’t be willing going in. I’ve done that a number of times Penny, Nick, and Aunt Ruby. Is it the cold? No, that can’t be right either. Damnit, what’s the variable!?”

Try as she might, Summer couldn’t think of a clear answer. However, there was one person who had to know. Shiva. She didn’t seem surprised at all by any changes. Not only that, but she told Summer the reason her sword was there. Could her subconscious really be altering the rules? Or maybe…

“I’m not the one changing things.” Against her better judgment, Summer hit record again then went back to mediation. It was hard to tell but Summer felt like getting into the headspace wasn’t as lengthy. After all, her fear was stronger than ever. Her eyes opened to see the lake again.

“Alright, no more games or cheap tricks! What the hell are you plotting!? Why are you different from before!? Is it you, or me?”

“What a dumb question.” Shiva responded, walking into view. “By now you would realize this is a game of chess where everything is played in front of a cracked mirror.”

Summer raised her sword in defense. She wouldn’t be taken off guard again. “And what exactly does that mean?”

“What makes you think I’ll just give a answ-”

“You love to talk, and can’t resist letting me know how hopeless everything is for me.”

“Hmmm…yeah I guess I do make that a habit, don’t I? Well I guess I can spare a few words for the little girl too afraid to make the first step. I can feel them ya know, the catalog of questions in your mind? The answer is far simpler than you’d come up with. More than anyone, you know how hard it is to maintain a grasp on the outside world when something inside is clawing out. For all my incredible abilities, I wouldn’t say multitasking was one of them. Get the picture?”

Summer paced around Shiva from a safe distance to spot any movements and look for an opening. “So what you’re saying is now that we’re alone, I have your undivided attention.”

“Very good! I forget how you’re not completely stupid. Yes, my attention is all on you. Just like how you’re not worried about anyone getting hurt right now. It’s all in the eyes ya know? For once you look composed. It’s so nice not to worry about the deadweight for once.”

“Don’t slander my family.” Summer leapt towards with a downward thrust, but missed her target when Shiva sidestepped.

“Oh are we done talking?” Ice formed under her feet.

Alarmed, Summer dodge rolled away just in time to avoid being skewered by icicles. More shot up from the ground to follow her, forcing Summer to run.

“Damn, nowhere here is going to be out of range!”

“Hahahaha! Summer, since when have you ever been out of my range. Like I said earlier, this is chess, and you’ve always been within reach. There’s no clean move you can make that won’t benefit me!”

Unfortunately, Summer knew Shiva wasn’t lying. Fighting her alone meant unknown danger ahead. Confronting her with a person outside puts their life in danger. Not only that, using her flames never did anything but push Shiva back in for a chance to try again later, because Summer would be trying to escape at that point. No plan was a perfect plan. Frustrated, Summer stopped running away and ran towards Shiva.

A devilish grin spread across the entity’s face, “throwing caution to the wind are we!? A weakling’s final resort.”

“Shut up!”

Shiva laughed at the incoming strikes. A thrust that grazed her cheek. A downward slash and leg sweep that she so effortlessly avoided with her hand a well timed jump. Even the rapid needle-like thrusts aimed at her body, Shiva maneuvered through it all like a snowflake drifting on a breeze.

“Tired yet?” She grabbed Summer’s sword arm and went to punch her in the face. The fist however crashed right into a glyph made with Summer’s free hand, earning a gasp from both. “I have to deal with those here too!?”

Diamond dust bled into the glyph to change the structure. Summer forced all the power she could into it and blasted shrapnel of ice that blew both of them away in the opposite direction. Summer caught herself with a glyph that spung her forward again. Her assault was only stopped when a blistering pain traveled through her arm and weakened her body.

“Agh! Am…I out of time!?” Plumes of snow erupted from Shiva’s landing spot. “Hehe, pissed off?”

Shiva came rushing out of the snow ready to stab the frail yet cocky girl, but found herself alone once again. Shiva balled her first and scoffed. “Tah, whatever. Be a coward then. I’ll wait.”

For the second time, Summer woke up completely exhausted and drenched in sweat. Not a muscle in her body wanted to listen to her, but she preserved one tiny inch at a time.

“I…ow.” She fell face forward on the ground hard enough to make her scroll fall near her. “Scroll, aura estimate!”

18%

“Well…guess that explains the pain. Scroll, what time is it?”

4:16pm

“Alright. That’s…a little more than half an hour. Why does time fly when I’m deep in tho-okay when I say it aloud…” she pushed herself off the ground and onto her knees. Frankly she couldn’t remember the last time she was this physically drained. “I feel like how Nick looks when he’s out of coffee. Maybe I really should take better care of my…oh.” Shiva wasn’t kidding when said anything would benefit her. “If I physically get stronger and still lose…it’s checkmate for everyone else.”

Out of stamina to walk, let alone anymore, Summer decided she wouldn’t move for a while. The first day of training in anything was always bothersome. Retaining and processing information in order to act accordingly may have been one of her stronger qualities, but this was on a completely different level. Unlike her fighting style, Summer wasn’t the most flexible individual whenever plans derailed. That quality has always been Nick’s. It’s why fighting solo in a tournament came naturally to him. Adapting might as well be his real semblance.

“If only I had your talent for once. What’s the point of being the smart one if I crumble without structure?” She sighed, chastising herself. “No use crying over genetic traits I suppose. Guess I just need a strong plan of attack. Whatever that might be. But for now…Scroll, send Penny my location! Tell her…to bring…a car.”

Location and Message sent to Penny Polendina

With no further orders, Summer gave up trying to do anything. A sane person might’ve thought twice about passing out in the middle of a dust mine but hey, what’s a little more dust in her system at this point? Without a second thought, Summer Schnee blacked out in what had to be the warmest place she’s ever ever been.

[ooc-but-stylish]

freezedive:

I think I said it in one of your other beautiful posts, but I thought I’d mention it again. All of the ridiculous cutscenes did give us a golden nugget of information on Luna that most of us who are brutally critical of her (like you and me), suspected all along: Luna openly admits to Gentiana that she doesn’t think she has anything to offer Noctis outside of being an oracle. And Gentiana makes it worse by speaking in fancy words by saying some bullshit about her being the oracle is her being human or something and that she is fulfilling her true calling and that is what Noctis needs? Idk but it reeked of emotional manipulation.��

I hold little to no regard for Ravus because there’s evidence Luna was being brutally beaten right under his own nose while he was busy being the Emperor’s lapdog thinking it could maybe give him the power to save his sister? The man should have opened his eyes and defended her against the men that kept them jailed

I happened on this reply to roxainn’s post while trying to recapitulate all my other FFXV critical posts and reblogs on the way to making new ones. 

Crawling back to find anything about this point, I find that it was posted 3 years ago. But at least I reblogged the reply to it.... and missed that it was literally @ ME. Goddamn did I slack.

But here’s my reply, 3 years late, which should elaborate on where I stand on this.

Yes, the flashback that gets triggered by a random creepy little girl in Tenebrae is about Luna and Gentiana. Somehow the little girl knew about that conversation even though she wasn’t there to witness it first-hand? Or maybe Noctis was imagining what the conversation would be like between Gentiana and Luna off of the vague suggestion from the girl, and it’s just him telling on himself that his imagination of Luna says all that? Otherwise the not-altogether-tinfoil-hat theory says it’s Gentiana in the form of a little girl, telling Noctis something that IMO should piss him off but just makes him sad and guilty because Luna loved him so much, don’t you see. She loved him so much that after wrapping her entire life around him, she’d just want to keep that going for the rest of their lives!

Gentiana opens the conversation with, “At first, the father had mourned the fate of his chosen son. Yet in Tenebrae, the two found solace. It was not the Oracle who assuaged their fears. But the girl…she holds…the true power.”

Then Luna replies, “I have little to offer a king, other than the voice afforded the Oracle. Nevertheless…” She turns to look at the wedding dress. “And—I’m afraid he might find this foolish… But…to be together with Noctis again, even if only for a short while… It…would mean the world to me. I do not seek to guide him, merely to stand beside him.”

The exchange is all types of fucky.

First off, she was twelve. What comfort could she have offered Regis and Noctis? What comfort was she capable of when Sylva was right there, an adult with experience of an Oracle and a personality thanks to a presumable full life not hampered by grooming of the gods? 

Second, every other scene of Luna as a child is of her telling Noctis his duty, and that it was her duty to see it through. Did that assuage his fears-- the fears he didn’t have at the time since he never knew the entire meaning of his fate and was being told a saccharine, embellished version of it by Luna right there? Did that comfort Regis, knowing a little girl would also die to protect his son if the gods wanted it, but that she wouldn’t have the will to avert their fates whatsoever? 

Third, even she thinks Noctis would think her desire to be with him is foolish. So... was she expecting that Noctis himself didn’t have feelings for her or want to spend time with her of his own volition for reasons outside of her job? She was looking forward to a marriage with no emotional security, where her desires are one-sided and unreciprocated, and the man she cares for think she’s worthless outside of her powers? She would’ve been willing to put herself through that, given a choice?

We know what we know and think what we think, but the fact that this was placed right in the vanilla game and no one thought that was wrong, and instead they doubled down on it in patches, is pathetic on their part.

Moreover, what does The Girl have, that was separate from The Princess and The Oracle? Every facet of her being wrapped around Noctis since age 4. She was nothing but her duty by the time Noctis met her; they had no scenes where they acted as children would. Even supplemental/promotional art for other XV media and related locales cement that. Little Luna serves Little Noctis pastries, she’s not seen eating with him. Luna teaches Noctis how to play piano, she’s not playing with him. Dawn of the Future came out with its own art, and Noctis is afforded the liberty to sit in a chair, and his son(?) sits on his lap, while Luna and her spitting image child(?) are both on their knees, looking up at the dudes. 

In most of their art together, Luna and Noctis are either not meeting each other's gazes, she's bending or kneeling to him, or he's supposed to be holding her close but he hover-hands her, or there’s that one time where they took a selfie and the picture was of their Pocket Edition versions. They’re still not looking at each other in that one. And it’s not canon.

Anyway yeah, any conversation Gentiana has with Luna about Noctis is emotional manipulation on Gentiana’s part, but the writers manage just enough to make everyone involved seem creepy and reprehensible in their own way. 

In DOTF, Luna has a death soliloquy that confirms she sunk into the water at the end of the game’s Chapter 9, but the soliloquy is about how she was prepared to die even at the age of 12, and she put on a smile and resolved to be strong for Noctis’s sake, so that he wouldn’t remember her having a look of despair. There’s a line there about how she would cry herself to sleep but Gentiana would wipe her tears. Gentiana does nothing else except allow her to cry and wipe her tears afterward, and makes no effort to save her from her fate or at least take her out of terrible situations so that she would cry fewer tears. But there is cut dialogue from the game, and used in the novel, where Gentiana revealed herself as Shiva when Luna was <16 (probably still 12 at the time), when she thought she was being held back from forming the covenants, so there’s that. And Luna still somehow ignored that this meant Shiva allowed Sylva to die, and thanked this useless goddess for her nonexistent generosity. 

For whatever reason they had to add a passage where Luna superimposes the image of an eight-year-old Noctis onto the adult version-- quote, "the image of him as a child, burned into my eyelids, overlaps with his now-grown face"-- even though Noctis has canonically sent her photos of him as a teenager (15-16, around the time he met Prompto in high school, see: Brotherhood). Granted, that's a translation from Luna's voice actress reading an excerpt as if it were first person POV. The English version says she sees the child image first, then the adult version is superimposed. Then not much after that there's a passage where Noctis smiles as his child self and it was "that smile she loved that had been in her heart all these years, giving her strength, always and forever".

So she was groomed and turned into a shell since age 4, believes she has no value outside of her job and turned her grooming on a similarly vulnerable child, and her strongest image of him, the one she fell in love with and kept in her heart, is of the helpless boy that promised her the world without knowing the cost. The smile of the carefree boy that didn't know his journey would end with his soul annihilated. It couldn’t have been that hard to have her see an image of him as the 30 year old True King of Light that he would become. At least she'd sound a little less like a weirdo who continually places herself (and is placed by the narrative) as below him, unworthy of him, etc. but also has strong feelings and memories toward a goddamn child.

Re: Ravus: you already got a reply to that, but for real? Ravus was also shafted by the plot and beaten down by terrible, amateur writing. The narrative shits on him as if it’s written by a high schooler or otherwise emotionally arrested adult trying to push a Mary Sue Protagonist. The modus operandi for those stories is that everyone who disagrees with the protagonist in any way has to suffer tremendous humiliation including but not limited to death, because the Protagonist Is Just So Good And Perfect And Always Right. 

Nothing Ravus does justifies his treatment in-game or in-fandom like he’s a one-note out-and-out villain who wanted nothing but to kill Noctis and disrespect his sister, to the point where his corpse is defiled multiple times in Chapter 13 and he’s twisted into a perversion of himself that begs to die.

Chapter 13 has Noctis land next to Ravus’s corpse and all his letters to Luna, and Noctis has piss all to say about it, either out loud or to anyone. He looks at the Sword of the Father, glances at Ravus, and without a word takes the Royal Arm and lets the Magitek arm-- still dripping, still gross-- fall onto Ravus’s body and doesn’t even move it.  

He had no way of knowing beforehand that Ignis and Gladio knew of Ravus being killed. WE didn't even know they saw security footage until Ch13V2 was added in. Noctis happening on his late fiancée's dead bro sounds, I don’t fucking know, like something you’d want to tell everyone else about later. Along with the letters he wrote evidencing that he intended to return the Sword of the Father to Noctis!

An aside: The Letters from Ravus are just weird to behold; it isn't 100% clear whether Luna ever received all of those letters. She had to have received the first one, at least. But the idea that Ardyn intercepted even one other letter so that Luna never heard from her brother between Tenebrae and Altissia is farfetched. He shouldn’t be able to intercept those messages as if they were delivered conventionally. Luna has a pair of magic space-bending Shiba Inu that send letters instantly across continents. If she’s sparing their use to send Noctis one-liners and stickers but can’t afford that for Ravus to send her discrete updates on Noctis’s status, she’s a piece of shit. 

They do meet in Tenebrae as Ravus wanted her to, and they have the conversation where he gets on her case about her “throwing [her] life away” for Noctis. So chances are higher that Ardyn only got a hold of all three letters after Luna received them and no sooner, but then he shouldn’t be tossing letters from Ravus at the dude’s body when it makes more sense for him to toss down letters to Ravus, since the writers wanted to make a point of Ardyn having a vicious streak. It makes way more sense for Ardyn to deprive Ravus of Luna’s writing, then insult him with them post-mortem, unless Ravus’s notes were really all he could acquire, meaning Luna never once wrote back to her brother. 

The Doylist explanation is that the writing team sucks and couldn't be assed to think of anything for Luna to say because they didn't think of her at all. The Watsonian explanation is that Luna’s a piece of shit and that tracks with her in Kingsglaive watching her brother burn alive in response to the Ring, but ignoring him and running to Regis’s aid instead, but then the rest of the plot presents her as morally pure through her white clothing and “unconditional, self-abnegating love” for Noctis.

Back to the topic: I don’t know, maybe I’m being old fashioned, but Noctis should’ve given more of a shit that his dropping the Magitek Arm on Ravus’s body was probably what turned him into a mutated abomination begging to die, and he thought so little of Ravus that the dude isn’t even in the glimpse of "people who helped me get this far" in the Beyond. Ravus doesn’t even get a spot to wish Noctis and Luna well on their afterlife wedding, not that it makes any sense for any of them to have words to say since Noctis is already dead, no one was there with them, and none of the bros expressed any sign that they knew that Noctis was bound to get married after his sacrifice (he sure doesn’t mention it in the final campfire scene and that’d be a better place than any). But anyway, Regis is in the Beyond at Noctis’s side even though he never told Noctis a damn thing and still never spoke to him from within the Ring, but Ravus? Nah, he’s the real asshole somehow and doesn’t deserve any recognition whatsoever.

The only other characters I know of that have a remotely similar dynamic to Noctis, Luna, and Ravus (lovers, but the girl has a straight-edge protective brother working for the bad guys) is Nero, Kyrie, and Credo (see: Devil May Cry), but as much as I think the writing in that series is hokey as fuck, at least the writer(s) for DMCs 4 and 5 had enough sense to make the love story simple and based it from a line from Amagasaki City-- “I love you, so I love the city that you love.”-- and opted against portraying Credo as an outright villain because if Nero killed him, Kyrie would resent him for it even though she knew Credo was working for the same Order that threatened her life. 

Shouldn’t Noctis care about the shit Luna cares about even if he has no personal investment in it or it’s inconvenient to him? Shouldn’t he care about Tenebrae and its prosperity? or about Ravus? Nah, it’s okay, Noctis doesn’t have to respect Luna’s love for her brother or her kingdom because for all intents and purposes, she doesn’t care for Ravus or for Tenebrae as much as she loves Noctis. Her love for Noctis and her looking forward to the wedding is what matters here.

The yaaaas queen vicious clapback from Kingsglaive!Luna about how Ravus is the Empire’s dog is especially rich coming from her when she’s fellating the gods all through the game even though Eos’s equivalent of The Holy Bible says the Hexatheon’s Revelations destroy cities and that undoubtedly means people are killed by the gods, and their summoner is complicit, because there’s no such thing as a perfect evacuation. See: "Revelations left great devastation in their wake, with entire cities being laid to ruin," noted in the Cosmogony long before the True King even exists. 

Luna herself didn’t see a problem with this and helped in the effort, with no regard to the collateral damage she would cause with the summoning: bonus points for the part where Leviathan is hostile to humanity and threatens to eat every living being if Noctis fails! She had even less regard to the damage Niflheim would cause in their attempt to kill the gods even though she was first-hand witness to them sacking Insomnia. Waking and defeating Titan deprived Lestallum of the meteor they derived power from. Waking Leviathan destroyed Altissia. Luna’s refusal to leave Insomnia when told to by Regis led to her being used as bait and taking the whole of the Kingsglaive out of Insomnia in time for their Face Heel Turn and Insomnia being destroyed. Everything else leads to the eventual World of Ruin where people also die. 

All because she killed herself prematurely from the covenants and didn’t hold back the longer nights as she promised to the public’s face and on her honor as Oracle she would do. Her dying words in Chapter 9 were her being completely satisfied with her fate because “[her] prayers were answered, [her] calling fulfilled”, even though the calling requires that she dies and she should’ve known better than anyone that her death, even if it was for Noctis’s ascension, would endanger the rest of the world for 10 years and helped the Starscourge spread. But instead of fighting for her own life to stem the plague for as long as possible, she let herself die under the belief that "Noct can handle this" to give him the chance to be the revered King of Light. She also didn’t make a single appearance on the world of the living in her spirit form during those ten years until Noctis needed help with a piddly imitation of the Magic Wall, only then does she come down in her ghost form with seemingly all of her power intact, and summons five of The Six as if Noctis can’t easily do it himself.

But Ravus is the lapdog? Luna’s the one with her “ends justify the means” behavior and what looks like general neglect for actual human beings.

Anyway, Ravus stabs Caligo in the back and kills him, and that move only makes sense in light of the idea that Caligo was manhandling Luna as seen in the Dawn trailer. Ravus was 16 when Tenebrae was overrun, and there’s no reason to believe he was magically immune to institutional abuse, so there’s a high chance that he was abused by the Empire too, held resentment of that, and waited for the time he’d be able to retaliate with no repercussions. Gentiana as a goddess is 1000000% more on the hook about letting Luna be beaten than Ravus is, since he saw his mother die in front of him while Regis ran away. Regis had the power of the Ring and could have used elemancy to put out that fire, or void magic to banish Glauca and his MT army, didn’t do that, but he totally spares enough magic during the treaty signing to toss around Thunder spells straight from his hand, cast barriers, and summon some Royal Arms straight at Iedolas, and that’s bad enough. Gentiana who’s been the Fleuret family attendant since Luna was born and also is Shiva who can freeze people with her fingertip had even less excuse to let that fire rage, to let Sylva die protecting her son, and to stand by and allow her ward(s) to get thrown around by some random Imperial soldier.

[eerbme]

Rant - don’t mind me

I’ve never seen so much discourse over Cassandra Cain and her origin ever before Birds of Prey movie came out.  I feel most people who have an issue with her character are those who just aren’t that familiar with her.

It is a FACT they changed her character beyond recognition in Birds of Prey and this pissed me, an Asian-American woman off, if that counts for anything since it seems the only thing to give any opinion regarding this issue some credibility.  Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough, but I’ve not seen Cathy Yan or Christina Hodson explicitly state the reason for changing her was due to avoiding racist stereotypes, so at this point it’s just a popular assumption.  

Here in this interview: https://youtu.be/WsXwKJaPE4s?t=1m1s

The interviewer straight up asks Hodson what the reason was for the huge departure in Cass’ characterization, and to sum it up, Hodson says she needed a catalyst to bring the other women together. Great...so she was just a plot device, wayyyyy better than what we would’ve gotten than with character accurate Cass (I’m being sarcastic).

What’s with people saying she was “created by two white men” when that’s completely false? To state it so confidently when you didn’t even bother to look it up, total disrespect to Damion Scott, a Black American and co-creator of Cass along side Kelley Puckett.  In addition,  I feel like there’s this assumption that DC was always so enthusiastic about having an Asian character join the batfamily from the get-go because they could finally mold a character based on racist tropes. This undermines the work of Joesph Illidge, the first Black American to become an editor for Batman comics, who’s a strong defendant of representation for women in comics, and has stated it was a struggle for him and his team to get upper management to even approve of Cass’ character.  Their intention was to bring more diversity to the Batman comics line.  In my opinion, of all the various female character DC has, Cass is one who is recognized more for her fighting abilities and skill over her looks, and even then, her character stands above and beyond this supposed “Asian female martial artist waifu” people are claiming she is viewed as.

Her origin story regarding David Cain and Lady Shiva is messed up, I don’t think the writers intended for the audience to like it or feel comfortable about it at all.  Cassandra definitely had the most traumatic upbringing of all the batfamily, but was able to rise above it all, which is the thing people should focus more on. When other people got their hands on her after the creators, then started all the inconsistencies of her character that kept growing until it got to complete ridiculousness.  If anyone should be blamed, it’s writers with complete disregard to her character or didn’t bother to read up on her, the editors took over that didn’t care enough to catch the inconsistencies, and the publishers that never gave a damn about her to begin with.  

When they wanted to make her into some “Dragon Lady Villain” during OYL, us Cass fans were vocal and fought back against DC hard. Any type of mischaracterization of her is not taken lightly, and I’m always ready to fight for my girl Cassandra Cain.

[awkwardbluefish]

—

Infinity war crossover, swearing

—

Tim’s on his knees, gasping. Blood is pooling down the side of his face and he can’t breath. Ribs are bruised and cracked and Tim is having trouble moving. The sound of fighting in the background makes Tim stand, stand on trembling legs and he stumbles to Ironman, Tony Stark.

When the Justice League got a call from the Avengers demanding help Tim never thought this would, could, happen. Neither did the JL, that’s why they’re not here, they’re not here and people are dying. They’re not here, not helping, they’re letting other heroes be killed trying to save the universe and they won’t come!

Tim remembers seeing Bruce, Batman ignore the call for help. Tim knew there was something amiss, the Avengers don’t ask for help, or the Guardians of the Galaxy.

So he hacked into Tony Stark’s armour and asked for a debrief. In a short time Red Robin has met the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy he had seen them die, turn to ash or simply be murdered. He’s tried to contact the other heroes to get them off their damn high horse and fucking help but being in outer fucking space is making it a little difficult.

Loki, Gamora, Doctor strange, Black Panther, the Winter Soldier, Mantis, Drax, Starlord, Scarlet Wotch, Falcon, Maria Hill, Nick fury all dead, all gone. Half the world was gone. Ash in the air or bodies rotting on the ground. Groot was a freaking teenager! Hell, Tim was older than him. Then there’s Peter, he’s only fifteen and he’s fighting Thanos.

Tim stumbles and drops to his knees a couple of feet behind Tony Stark. Tim had been one of the ones to come to Thanos to stop him, or at least slow him down. Tony swirls around and the next thing Tim knows is he’s being lifted up. Gasping for breath he manages to lift one hand to rip the stupid cowl off his face so he can, finally, breathe.

Tony looks a little startled, since meeting with the Avengers Tim has refused to reveal himself. Tim guesses old habits die fast. Looking around the dead planet Tim sees Thanos isn’t here. He doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or not.

“He’s gone.” Tony’s saying, noticing that Tim’s looking around.

“Yeah.” Tim breaths out as little Peter stumbles towards them with mussed up hair and a pale face. Throughout the short time Tim’s been with the two he’s formed a bond. Peter is like a little brother to him and it freaks him out. He’s two, just two years older than Damian and Damian has had training from assassins and compared to that Peter, Peter has nothing. It terrifies him. Then there’s Tony, you either hate him or love him. He’s honestly like an uncle to Tim, it’s a little weird honestly.

“Mr Stark, Red, I don’t feel so good.” Tim’s eyes lock on to Peter instantly, he’s terribly pale and he’s looking at his hands.

“You’re alright.” Tony says and it’s a terrible lie really but Tim echos it anyway.

“I don’t- I don’t know what’s happening-“ he can’t even finish his sentence before he collapses into Tim and Tony and it’s a pile of awkward limbs but no ones letting go.

“I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go,” and Tim’s stifling a sob because he doesn’t want him to go, he really doesn’t.

Peter keeps mumbling the same lines and Tim’s going to break soon. Together they collapse on the ground, Peter staring at the both of them and Tim doesn’t know what Tony’s doing but Tim’s clutching at Peter and begging to a god he doesn’t believe in.

“I’m sorry.” Peter says and Tim wants to sob as the boy slips through his fingers, he chases after dust because god dammit this shouldn’t be happening, yet it is.

Tim’s leaning on Tony and vaguely hears him speaking to Nebula. Tim continues to watch Peter fly away with a heart breaking.

—————

“Tim?” Tim pulls himself from under the ship they’re making. So far everything is up and running from parts except the power source. It’s frustrating beyond belief, then again they’ve been working on it for five hours. With three people knowing how to work machines and create different things it’s not too difficult.

“Yeah?” Tim looks up at Tony Stark who has no suit and it’s quite strange.

“We’ve found a power source.”

—————

The ship had crash landed on the outskirts of Gotham and Tim wants to cry, it’s pure chaos. Before a second thought can cross Tim’s mind he’s telling the two to get geared up while he goes get reinforcements. Tony looks bitter knowing who, but he can tell Tim’s just as pissed as him so he lets him leave.

Tim’s sprints to the closest safe house and grabs as much as he can before hopping on the spare bike. He’s driving to the cave in ten minutes.

—

Tim feels sick, he’s parked outside the cave and he doesn’t even know if the others are alive. Duke, Cass any of them. They might have been gone with a click of the fingers. Swallowing down bile Tim activates the engine and the camera scans him like everything is normal when nothing is.

As soon as the secret door closes Tim can hear the rushing water and bats screeching and arguing. Lots of arguing about godamn cookies. Tim’s going to cry, he wonders why he hasn’t already. Tim’s still speeding into the cave and doesn’t bother slowing down, doesn’t bother parking when he’s jumping off the speeding motorcycle and sprinting towards his family. Every single one of them.

“What the hell replacement!?” Jason shouts as he sees his bike skid across the platform. Tim doesn’t care, he’s still running to them, he’s opening his arms and hugs the first person to him tightly. He doesn’t care who it is, except Bruce, he’s still pissed at Bruce.

“Drake?! Mph!?” Turns out it was Damian. Tim’s hugs tighter as the silence echoes through the whole cave, minus Damian’s annoyed shouts.

Tim’s up in a second hugging Cass, then Duke, Dick, Jason and finally Alfred.

“Timmy is everything alright..?” Dick asks, brows furrowed in concern.

“What the hell was that replacement?” Jason grumbles angrily. He’s still pissed about his bike.

“Where’s Bruce?” Tim asks and he can’t help but let the venom drip from his lips, he ignores the shocked looks.

“Right here.” Bruce says. Tim whirls around to find Bruce in fucking pjs and wet hair. He has the nerve to look confused and concerned.

“Tim, what happe-!” Tim’s knuckles hurt and he bets Bruce’s face hurts even more. He’ll have to thank Lady Shiva.

“Master Timothy!” Alfred sounds horrified but Tim ignores him and the other numerous shouts.

Bruce Wayne also known as Batman looks up at Tim from where he’s on the floor. Tim doesn’t give a shit as he starts snarling like a rabid dog and a pissed of cat. At least he’s getting his point across. He ignores the stares.

“How fucking dare you?! You ignored a call of help and here you are sitting in your pjs relaxing! I know for a fact you didn’t check to see if the Avengers even needed help!”

Bruce is on his feet trying to reason; “Nick Fury was trying to joi-“

“Nick Fury’s dead!” The responding shout leaves an echoing silence in the cave before Bruce is pulling on Batman mode.

“Tim tell me what you kno-“

“Shut up, Bruce.” Tim says coldly. He pulls a glare and swirls around walking to the computer to plug his, some how, working gauntlet into it. He brings up the video feed but doesn’t play it so he can explain what’s happening.

“Since this asshole ignored a call for help from the Avengers the universe is in danger.” Tim ignores the shocked looks and questions and simply continues, “Thanos has gotten something called infinity stones, with a click of his fingers he’s wiped out half the lives on this world.” Pure silence.

“What are the Avengers doing about it?” Tim glowers at Bruce with such hatred that the others flinch.

”What are the Justice League doing about it?” Tim quizzes and watches as a muscle in Bruce’s jaw twitches. He doesn’t care.

“Most of them are dead, killed or turned to ash,” and Tim’s voice is cracking a little and Dick’s rushing forward and Tim just collapses. Simply leans into a warm chest as Bruce plays the video. He hears the gasps, the shocked eyes on Tim’s and he’s getting up dammit. He’s lasted this long he can last a little longer.

“We need every heroes help.” Tim commands looking right at Bruce, he gives a nod and Tim knows he’s burying himself in guilt and Tim can’t help but think, good, he deserves it.

“No one fifteen or below.” Tim’s voice has an edge to it and Bruce knows Tim will do something drastic if he doesn’t follow. So he does.

“Drake-!” Tim turns to Damian.

“No. I had to watch a boy two years older than you with twice as much training turn to ash, you are not going.” Tim’s lying through his teeth but he’ll be damned if he looses someone so young again, he won’t be able to handle it.

For once the brat listens and Tim puts the communicator to his mouth. It’s time to get the team together, the whole team.

[bookdragonlibrary]

Fourth Friday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Exceptional Human Beings

- Is this... Batman works with Oracle. It’s the same tech than Nightwing! 

- Yes! These is Katana and Metamorpho! I already love Metamorpho facial expressions! The scene from the trailer! Santa Prisca, Bane’s island! They’re so efficient! (Yeah, I have in mind the first time of the Team on the Island...) 

- Is it thanks to Jade’s intel? So they will save Tara? :D

- Victor Stone? So this is Dr Silas Stone! I saw the movie, I know Dr Stone wont have time to go... Oh! The Reach tech is back!

- And it’s Steel or John Irons. (Why every person choosing a English name comes with John?)

- Did... did Metamorpho just turn himself into a fart? Seriously? Katana in the background and the indignated face of Metamorpho xD

- Sex implied, definitely mature content... Is it really the time to talk about Dick? You know what I mean... Wait, was that a joke? Like a subtext joke? 

- Training Time! Forager’s sounds are so funny! 

- Violet fell because she was blushing and Brion uses his powers because he was blushing. They’re cute! :3 

- Nightwing definitely knows Batman is on Santa Prisca already and knows Brion will likely get himself killed with his actual combat skills...

- Deathstroke in the place. Oh she’s Cassandra, Savage’s daughter (yeah a lot of Cassandra this season!) 

- She knows Tara! Now she’s is used by Granny Goodness... And Cassandra seems to... like her? She is a different character than Scandal (who is lesbian) right? Because I don’t want our first rep to be a pedophilic rapist, thank you very much... We already had Slade for that in Judas Contract... 

- “I have observed that.” Definitely thinking about her sister Olympia :(

-  Victor’s team! “I would ask Wonder Woman out!” “Me Black Canary” *Vctor rolls his eyes* Are we wasting screentime for straight idiots? (and I mean it in both ways) Just a question: do you think Victor could be gay with his reactions to the “straights comments”?

- “Cisco, a superhero?!” Well, Francisco Ramon will be a superhero one day (but I don’t know his powers yet.) Don’t worry my dear, a lot of people love Zatanna! He’s a Spanish speaker, from where? 

- Victor don’t appreciate the bullying but not interfere :( But he’s so above their shit! 

- Boo-yah is back! I can’t believe they also gave this easter egg! 

- Batman or how burn someone with only words! xD

- “I always hated that name too!” Why don’t you change for you mother name, Arty? :( 

- Violet Harper, I love how the writers connect the dots between the comics and what happens on the show! 

- JADE! I love how she’s smiling, like she considerates it. We know she would love that. Why could hold her back? How could she think they don’t need her? Because of her father? Football... er I mean soccer is just a lame excuse! She’s crying! She definitely loves them! :’(

- Katana VS Lady Shiva! OMG Katana also uses a wakizashi (a short saber) with her katana like a samouraï :o 

- “Bulletproof. That’s annoying” We already know that line but still funny xD So Metamorpho isn’t fireproof? That’s his true form! 

- Oracle time! 

- “No, no my guns!” Seriously Bane? Metamorpho just blows them a kiss xD

- Booyah! Someone is still using the goggles... Poor Vic :( “I see great things in your future” while showing a FatherBox. I don’t like it... I know the story but still don’t like it...

- Brucely! (Or Bruce Lee?) Such a good boy!

By the way, Katana never talks. She took a vow of silence after her sensei dies.

—————————— Another Freak 

- First, I don’t like the title. I dislike even more the wiring from the Reach tech... 

- There’s a bad father/son relationship (I mean with fights) each season, isn’t there? “Scene/seen. Now you’re boying me?” I love the dialogue! I know I could hate the wiring... The “dad” at the end broke my heart :’(

- “But Brion Markov’s attitude will soon change! :D” Forager knows what’s going on between those two. Forager is a Haloforce shipper! Human Forager is so cute!! “Be careful on the boys! They only have one thing on their mind!” “What one thing?” *embarassed Brion* “If we arrive with the councelor and the principal, all the other kids will love us!” My poor summer child... “No flying at school!” xD

- After gory Halo, here’s gory Victor :( And here comes the Fatherbox so bad news?

- “I’m so happy to be here it makes me sick” Violet is still dealing with human emotions. Stay whelmed! Or could it be the Fatherbox? 

- Is that Terra with blue hair?? And... freckles? (she has the same character design that in the animated movie) Oh she’s Harper Row. My bad. The whole conversation was hilarious and cute!

- Victor’s still alive!

- Of course, access denied. Nightwing knows he would do it. He did it as Robin first! And of course Nightwing appears! And now they’re fighting...but with it Brion could speak his heart out.

- “How they could know us if they don’t interact with us?” I know Forager. Most human are most judgmental at first sight... 

- “Are Violet and Fred freaks?” Oh no sweetie don’t think that :( “But Fred must look like a freak...” He refers to his human form. It’s logical. Would you feel like yourself in an alien form? “Freak is cool.” Exactly! “Two hands only” xD

- Victor is freaking out. Naturally. So... he goes... violet when the fatherbox takes control? Like he calls to be heal.  So the violet color has a reverse meaning for a fatherbow than for a motherbox, logical as they are the two faces of the same coin.

- Harper is so sweet! 

- Whoa new aura: indigo (between blue and violet). So we still don’t know what blue aura does (and black aura, but I’m not sure it exists). What does it do? She opened a Boom tube? 

- “I’m not an abomination. I’m a freak.” That’s the spirit. That’s my girl! 

- Pleasedon’tmurderhalo! pleasedon’tmurderhalo! Yes! She’s okay! 

- She’s healing him! Poor Vic, he’s so confused. “My work here is done.” Violet is so cute! 

- Silas trying to find a common thing with Vic is sweet but yeah.. Vic would feel like a rat lab, ask Ed. “Can I go with you?” His voice was so heartbreaking :( Victor prefers to leave to not hurt his father again :( Yeah he’s angry, it’s understanding. At least, he’s alive right? 

- Kind of ironic they boomed tube in a football field...

- Brion is finally moving forward! :D 

- Lobo’s finger begins to morph. Slobo on the way!

—————————— Nightmare Monkeys

- Tork from Mars, seriously? xD M’Comm should be so pissed... 

Was that the Wilhelm scream? 

- “I have practice” My heart :( 

- it’s Paul who played Conner in Hello Megan! What time had done to you? Gar’s look when they talked about Marie :( Paul is his godfather! And Rita his godmother. Steven is his stepfather? That means he was with Rita, right? He’s Mento? “Thanks God.” I think they both don’t like the situation but still try to play their part... 

- I don’t know if this seashell alien is real or just a costume...

- We were right! Halo IS a Motherbox! What happen to the script? Now we can predict things :( She’s... the reincarnation of the dead Motherbox Doctor X and Psimon studied. So Queen Bee works with Vertigo, since Psimon works for Quee Bee. So Gabrielle Daou consciousness died, murdered by Bedlam’s minions and the Motherbox soul regenerates/resurected in her body because she needed a vessel. But Violet still has some of Gabrielle’s memories via the brain, but maybe not her thoughts or emotions?

- I love the Emerald Crown teasing! Was Gar talking about his mother(s) when he said queen? That needle doesn’t seem good...

- “And now he tells you to be patient...” xD 

Sphere, stay whelmed! And... the Fatherbow is awake again... And... Conner is shirtless again... Halo has clearly no idea what she’s doing. So cute she calms Sphere down :)

- So that doesn”t sound good... Encino, what/where that could be? 

- “He’s dead, Tom.” What that the voice of... WALLY??? And all the dead heroes in the grotto... I mean Watchtower garden.

- Great! Supermartian know how to communicate now :) “Alone time” Weren’t you have a “intimate” time in a bathroom two episodes ago? “Date night/Secret base” Yeah Wolf me too. They got the communication, not the understanding...

- “The Reach... I mean the Klamulons” seriously? 

- Tula, Ted Kord, Jason, was that the chronological order? I thought Ted was the last one. That’s why in season Tim went to Jason’s hologramme. Ted Kord died during the Summer break and they were in February. So Tim was a really young Robin! 

- Wally speaks to casually about their death. “Who’s next? Guess it’s me.” Does that mean he’s not dead yet? But could soon be? Wally’s death scene reminds me how good the previous style was... RIP too! “Cancel the show already?” I heard the 4th wall break down.

- DOOM PATROL GO! WHAT’S THE HECK?The 4th wall is collapsing in a firy explosion. 

- Garfield also collapsed. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 

Rita Aka Elasticgirl with Starfire’s voice. Chief with Robin’s voice. Robotman with Cyborg’s voice (more like Cyborg’s father xD), Negative Woman with Raven’s voice. 

- Steve Dayton is indeed Rita’s husband; So Rita adopted Garfield when Marie died? She did! 

- “Sorry your mom(s?) died!” The song. “Just say goodbye to your second mom!” Rita and Marie were together? Was Rita bi/pan? “Let’s die!” 

- Of course M’gann save the day, back with her season 1 appearance. The whole Mento’s speech is how Gar sees the situation right? Not the truth right? “I was 14.” Wait, all of this (except Marie’s death) only happen last year? 

- M’gann is there to save her brother!

“Sure you’re even born yet?” This joke could also work with Bart. Man, if Bart was in that episode... 

- “Queen Bee wants her honey back!” That was a lesbian joke right? The first rep of this season would be Queen Bee? Being Bi? (Why in English bi is pronounced like by and not bee? Do you see the missed joke here?) 

- “Let’s watch the episode you were in.” Season 2. The pieces of the 4th wall break again. 

- “Shut it down.” “I can’t hear a heartbeat.” He meant the channel, not the heart, Wally. Wait, was it a death wish because Gar can’t handle with all the mourning happening in a few minutes? 

- Reminder: Beast Boy’s metagene was activated by Martian transfusion and a bite from a green monkey. 

- Mass conservation? Is it a clue for Wally’s return? Like his mass was conserved somewhere when he was desintegrated? A place where he can save Garfield from the Goggles? How can Gar remember Wally’s death if he wasn’t even there?! But he appears as the green monkey to show a parallel? Between the monkey and blood transfusion saving him and Wally saving him now? 

- Come back as a hero my boy! 

- “Are you real or is this all in my head?” Ask Dumbledore, kid.

- M’gann is in the place! White but with a green aura. 

- Yes, I think it was a distraction to cope with all the trauma. 

- “Ready to get back to reality. Ready to get back to the life.” hero life? It was both litteral and metaphorical. 

- Perdita who don’t understand the Team’s slang :) Gar, did you teach anything to her? 

- Garfield finally understand that Gretchen is a bad guy. But it feels off as we already know it. The Evolution episode should have happen after this I think? 

- Emerald Crown is so cute! Their kiss was ok, but why M’gann are you doing the same in front of your brother?

- Haloforce kiss! After we finally understand who Violet is! But I would like to see the moment which brings to the kiss :(

- Sphere!

- Of course Wally won’t come back until part b or even the end of the season, will he?

—————————— True Heroes

- It’s Halloween! Halo and Forager are adorable as usual. 

- Poor Vic :( Halloween cancel and Violet can’t come :( Forager drives bioship xD (Such a weird sentence...) 

- Tara is 15, same age than Bart and Gar.

- Dr Jace had a little girl. who was taken from her. Was she meta? It’s thay why she started to work with Bedlam? To have intel to find her? Or did Bedlam blackmail her to make her work for him? That’s why she’s is so overprotecting with the kids? 

- “You’re be my little girl for tonight.” That sounds creepy, right? 

- “I know I said pretend I’m not here but I’m.” Yeah, Dr Jace, maybe not the best way to explain where the teenager hormones lead to... 

- “Vulnerable” weaks the Fatherbox up. Great. And it’s because she is vulnerable, Dr Jace tries to be closer?

- Cameron (Icycle Jr) and the Terror Twins grew up so much... And not in a good way. I miss the Twins’ design in season 1. They get uglier each season, bad guy cliche. But Tommy could be the Bad Blue Beetle from Bart’s future, they have quite the same morphology and Queen Bee sold Chimmer to the Reach, why not him too? 

- Holocaust?

- Wolf attacking the Fatherrbox. 

Dr Jace just took a violet ray and if they’re like Halo’s yellow one she should be badly injured... Not just inconscious. 

- Emotions turn off Halo’s powers? They just activated them! 

- Earth VS FIre. Terra lost :( 

- Stay Whelmed, Brion! 

- Psimon out! Wait, did just Devastation called him baby? 

- Tara is free!

- And Holocaust is with a Queen Bee’s minions. 

- Family reunion!

- YJ is now a scary movie. Maybe it’s just panic which shut down Halo’s powers? Fight Vic! “The problem is I had too much.” So it was panic. Now save him!

- Yeah, go save the other kids! 

- The conversation between Junior and SB is so chill (no pun intended) and funny. “She was my girl.” “But I was into her.” Dudes, it’s not a competition or a race, just let the girl decide maybe? 

- “Maybe that means there’s hope for me too!” Redeem arc foreshadowing? 

- “Ow.” Junior plays dead. 

- Can we appreciate SB’s combat style? 

- Princess speech! 

- The Black girl speaks French? Who they could be? Anita?

- League and Team squads were successful” I wish we could have seen them :( 

- Dr Jace activated Tara’s metagene on the blackmailing to kill her :o 

- Princess speech! :D 

- Violet cry of joy is so cute! :) 

- “M’gann’s gonna kill me.” xD 

- Wait, why is Dr Jace taking Violet’s, hair? 

- “They’re ready for the Team!” We’re gonna go our children back! But maybe give Tara some rest?

- “I’m in.” So we go for the Judas Contract storyline? Or that is a mislead?

- Wolf in the Bioship!

5 months to wait now :( 

[samurulantis]

(IC) Father of mine

It had been a fair amount of time since Samuru set foot into Limsa, a town he didn't often visit but had a fondness for even still. This trip was not one of pleasure but of purpose, one he'd been hesitant to take for sometime now. As he trekked his way through the bustling market he would give way to pause when he spotted those of the sailor variety, pulling them from the crowds to ask the same burning question.

"Aryan Rivet, where can I find him?"

The question was often met with a dismissive shrug or perplexed look, turned away at every futile attempt. It was only when the question was overheard by a grizzly looking Roegadyn that he was given some form of direction.

"Lookin' fer Ary? Won't have to go far, fucker practically lives at the docks. Not sure what some nobleman would want with him but if he owes ya money, good luck gettin' it." He'd snap. Samuru made a face at the accusation, scoffing in annoyance.

"I am hardly noble and believe me, he owes me more than money could ever buy. Thank you for your intel."

Samuru made his way toward the docks with the new found information, spying a ship off in the distance that had many bustling about to load its precious cargo. The Elezen truly had little to go off of other than a name and a vague location. To find his target he would have to be a bit more bold than perhaps he would've liked. High heels clicked against the worn wood of the docks as he approached the flurry of activity, stopping to cross his eyes and scan the crowd. He sighed in mild irritation before he parted his lips, voice raising to echo out across the scene.

"Which one of you is Aryan Rivet?" His normally mellow voice bellowed out loud enough to at least gain their attention, all deck hands snapping to attention to peer at the petite Elezen across the way. A lalafellan woman turned her head and called to the inside of the ship.

"EY ARY! Some woman is lookin' fer ya!"

This made Samuru's lips pinch into a thin line, a reaction he was accustomed to but it still pissed him off regardless. He wouldn't have to wait long for the one he sought to emerge, a befuddled expression on his face and understandably confused that he had a visitor at all.

The man was a midlander hyur in his late fifties, white hair a disheveled mess and his clothing had seen better days. Years of hard labor and intensive exposure to the elements hadn't been kind to him, looking worn and not in the best health to be sure. He turned his head to look over at Samuru who stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the unruly lot which surrounded them, doing a brief double take. Aryan made his approach, pulling a cloth from his belt to clean his calloused hands to little effect. Samuru himself felt a twinge in his chest and a lump in his throat. Even if he had been at this for weeks he still hadn't properly prepared himself for what he was seeing. Once Aryan had come within speaking distance he'd give Samuru a once over with his blue eyed gaze, arms crossed in mild defiance of his presence.

(More under the cut)

"Listen, I don't know what you've been told about me but I'm not in that business anymore. I'm flying on the straight and narrow now...keeping it down to earth." He stated, holding up a hand as if that would be enough to dissuade anything that was about to leave the strangers mouth.

"Did you know Sherelle Lantis?" Ru blurted out, appearing unimpressed by Aryan's attempt to brush him off. The mention of such a long lost name caused Aryan's guard to drop out of sheer disbelief, looking at Samuru as if he'd seen a hoard of ghosts fall from the sky in succession. He took a cautious step back, narrowing his eyes at Samuru.

"No, never heard of her. How about you bugger off..." He'd grump, turning as if ready to take his leave.

"Bullshit." Samuru began. "You do know her...not now, but once upon a time. If I were a betting man I'd say you have Eorzea's worst poker face. I didn't come all this way to hunt you down only to be dismissed. The thing I can tell you is that you aren't under threat and no harm will come to you...but it's imperative that you cooperate with me to make this easier for us both."

This prompted Aryan to stop in his tracks, his back facing the stubborn Elezen. His shoulders dropped in defeat, a sad sigh leaving his lips before he turned to face the beauty across the way. Gradually he turned around to face Samuru once more, a twisted expression written on his face. "...What do you want?"

"A little of your time. I realize you are likely on a tight schedule but if you get on that boat and head out of port it'll be a nuisance for me to find you again. Just come with me to the Drowning Wench, have a drink and talk with me. After that...you are free to go and you'll never see me again." Ru's tone firm, but reasonable under the circumstances. Aryan seemed naturally hesitant, taking a glance back at the ship and then returning his gaze to his unwelcome companion.

"..Give me five minutes and I'll accompany you. And you're paying, by the by." Aryan grunted, turning to inform the crew of his brief absence to come.

Once loose ends had been tied both men made for the local tavern, finding a table and taking a seat. Samuru ordered himself a tea, allowing Aryan his mug of strong ale. As they settled in Samuru leaned back in his chair, thinking carefully over what to say. He had planned it for weeks, had it all carefully crafted in his mind. Now faced with the situation he found a loss for words, a mixture of emotions holding his tongue hostage. Aryan stayed quiet as it appeared that he wasn't keen to get things going, the subject as a whole a clear sore spot. With a soft inhale of breath taken, Ru finally worked up the courage to begin.

"I won't mince words...Sherlle is not long for this world." A crack in his tone, trying to stay strong even if the matter was entirely personal to him. This news woke Aryan up all too quickly, jerking his head away from his mug while giving Samuru a startled look.

"W-What..? But..." He bowed his head, threading his fingers through his hair in a shaken pass. "Where is she? I have to go see her..."

"No." Samuru interjected firmly, spoken with a high level of conviction. "You can't go to her, both of us know that. I'm here as a courtesy to her, not you. I owe you nothing, but you owe her everything." There was anger in his tone despite his attempts to mask it.

Aryan grit his teeth, balling a fist as his own pool if anger began to bubble. "And just who the fuck are you? Haven't given me a name or shit all, but you come here to bid me morbid tidings like these?" He abruptly stood from his chair, slamming both hands down on the table. "You aren't the only one who can track people down, I got connections. I'll just go and--"

Aryan was interrupted by a face full of tea, dumped on him by the Elezen who had stood in succession. This made the midlander cough and sputter, taken by surprise. "You'll just go and what? Make her last days miserable and full of dramatics? Do you think her husband isn't going to take notice that you're there? She's been through enough in her lifetime, at least allow her death to be a peaceful one you selfish prick." Ru growled, every muscle in him tensed all at once.

The hyur stood there, dripping in drink and looking like a drowned rat. He practically staggered back into his seat, clearly broken by the news and the denial to do what he wished.

"Th-Then why even come here? Why tell me at all if I can't go to her?"

"Because she would've wanted you to know. You were the love of her life, weren't you?"

Aryan clasped his hands together on the table, sadness consuming his facial features. "I still don't even get why..." He'd whisper. "I wasn't much of anything when I met her all those years ago. Just a son of a poor blacksmith, pounding away on anvils day in and day out. But by the Gods...she was beautiful, her smile could melt Shiva's icy tomb. I wanted to hold her hand, wipe specks of dirt from her face, take care of her until the day my heart stopped beating. Fucked up thing is when I first saw you I was almost certain it was her..." He'd squint up at Samuru who remained standing, his face blank but he was listening. "I wanted to marry her, despite the taboo of it all. We knew there were other places that were more accepting than our neck of the woods in Gridania. A hyur and an elezen...is it really that strange to contemplate? I would've moved heaven and earth for her." He'd sigh. "Thing is she was with someone else at the time. I know it's not right to sneak around but...with all of the conditions pushed down on us we had to tread lightly. Raelmont wasn't exactly what I'd call understanding...and he had suspected something was going on for sometime."

Samuru slowly moved to retake his seat, crossing one leg over the other. "So what happened?" He asked, voice quiet.

"Sherelle became pregnant." Aryan murmured, squeezing his hands together tighter. "I didn't really care whose it was, mine or his...I still wanted to go away with her. I begged her...pleaded on my hands and knees..." Aryan's lip fell into a quiver, a lump forming in his throat. "But with her strict upbringing and the uncertainty of the child's origins...she just..couldn't. She told me that no matter how much she longed for me that the babe in her belly couldn't live the life that we would offer. She was determined to protect it, to keep it safe from Raelmont's wrath and the cruelty the world would bring should it be mixed. It was just easier to raise the child as a full blooded Elezen than be marked as...something else. No matter how much my heart broke that day...I agreed with her. I wouldn't want my kid to suffer, so we did the only thing we could...and that was let each other go." Aryan placed his face in his hands. "Now my darling star is g-going to burn out.." An audible whimper coming from those hands.

Samuru sat there, a few rogue drops of moisture filling in his mismatched eyes. He lifted a delicate finger to wisp away those pesky tears, clearing his throat in a bid to keep his composure. "She isn't going to burn out, Aryan. Her life may be ending but she will continue on in her children, in those whose life she has impacted. I realize that may not be a comfort to you...but it is all I have to offer."

Aryan rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, looking at Samuru across the way with his bloodshot gaze for a long moment. "You're him, aren't you?" He swallowed hard, leaning over the table slightly. "You have to be...you look so much like her."

Ru held up a hand to stop him, his brows pinching into a tight frown. "Does it matter? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not...but if you're looking to be a father now I fear it's too late. I'm married with children of my own...a half hyurian, half elezen daughter." His words striking a nerve in the sailor across the way. "Both of you were right, it isn't always easy to raise a child with odds stacked against them before they cut their first tooth. Granted, the world is different than it was thirty years ago and acceptance isn't such a far cry. But I can say with a large degree of certainty that for Isen...I would've faced those odds ten times over to be by his side. Both of you made a judgement call that wasn't easy, and I understand that. But even with your best efforts I still suffered, I still put up with prejudice and hatred..I still had to justify my existence not just to my peers, but my father. He knew I wasn't his, I knew I wasn't his, but all of us were happy to live in our bubble of denial for the sake of short term peace. Even if he looked at me like daemon spawn, he still raised me and for that he will always be my father...not you."

That statement cut right through Aryan, forcing him to lean back in his chair as if he had been punched in the gut. "H-How can you...say things like that? Don't you think I wanted to--"

"I'm going to stop you right there. Wanting and doing are two very different things. I love my mother but both of you made a wrong turn that day. If you had run away together before she was with child, what were you going to do then? Abstain and never have a family to avoid a what-if scenario? It's a joke, one big cruel joke that no one is having a laugh at. Mother loved me, that I can say without a shadow of a doubt. But no one wants to feel like they ruined someone's life, and that is exactly how both of you made me feel even if today is the first I've seen of your face. She was miserable without you and she settled for my sake...and I hate that she did." Samuru moved to stand, gritting his teeth in frustration. "We get one chance at living, that's all. Both of you threw away yours and now here I stand, delivering devastating news that you should've heard from her...by her bedside...in -your- home." Samuru's voice grew more dire, Aryan shrinking considerably in his seat.

Samuru, now emotionally compromised, dug into his pocket to pull out a crystal hair pin shaped like a lily, placing it down on the table in front of the devastated hyur. "She kept this...and now she wants it to go back to you. Let it be the last shred of evidence that you fucked up horribly, and no I'm not sorry for saying it. I am going to go now...to say goodbye to a woman who sacrificed it all for someone she hadn't even brought into the world yet." Visibly shaken and distraught, Samuru turned to storm away from the table, tossing a few coins at the bar to pay for their drinks. Aryan was left sitting there alone, picking up the discarded hair pin with shaken hands. Even after Samuru had left, he didn't move a muscle, unable to stop the river of tears that had flooded his cheeks.

He kept right on walking, his own emotions sent into overdrive. No matter how hard he had prepared, it just hadn't been enough. Years of pain, of the unknown, had all come together to brew a storm that went on without end. He stopped himself long enough to peer out at the sunset, his eyes glistening with moisture and his chest heavy. Even after all was said and done, he didn't feel better at all. The weight he hoped to lift, to push away yet remained. "Godsdamnit..." He hissed, the world around him crashing down faster than he could piece it back together. No matter how long he'd denied his origins, this time he couldn't turn a blind eye any longer.

[ @tidusyumemiru for mention]

[deathmetalunicorn1]

I love your work!

Can you do Fem!Reader who listen to music like when she in arena with tired look and when she put on her headphones turn up Phonk music her expression change to crazy smile with insane look and fight her opponent, when she listen to Phonk music while fighting the god, how the god side and human side react seeing her brutality taking down the her opponent.

If you don’t know Phonk, it’s a hiphop/rap genre music.

Lord I’m tired, when I originally read this I thought it said polka until I got to the last part of the request. Lol

-Music was your safe space, listening to music on your noise cancelling headphones was a way for you to relax and ignore the rest of the world around you.

-You were mild in personality, mostly always tired and kind of aloof with others, but not rude or cruel, as you could be kind when you wanted to be.

-Many didn’t believe you were a strong fighter when Brunnhilde introduced you to the other Einherjar, some were actually worried about you since you didn’t look like a warrior at all, like Adam who hugged you, demanding to know why you were fighting from Brunnhilde.

-You just leaned into his embrace, he was quite warm, enjoying the vibe he gave off.

-Brunnhilde gave everyone, including you, a firm nod, “Y/N may not look it, but she is a skilled fighter. Do not underestimate her.”

-Her words made you feel warm and happy, a smile appearing on your lips from her words.

-The others approached you and you were intrigued with the other warriors that you were going to be fighting with, many whom you knew from history books, and they were quick to learn that despite your quiet personality, you were very smart.

-When it was your time to fight, you walked out, your headphones were around your neck, your music cued up for your fight as your opponent looked unamused, seeing what looked to be just a normal human female who looked tired and annoyed to be there.

-Only half of that was true, you were just tired, wanting a nap.

-Eris was your opponent, holding a golden apple in each hand, and a bag tied at her waist with more, “If I had known my opponent was going to be a weak little girl I wouldn’t have picked so many of my apples.”

-You didn’t respond, your eyes meeting hers for only a moment before you lifted your headphones to cover your ears while she was still talking, ragging on you.

-She glared, shouting over at you that you were rude for trying to tune her out and you lifted a hand to your ear, “Ahh~ I can’t hear you!” which quickly pissed her off.

-The battle began, and you pressed play on your music and instantly you started to bob your head as ‘Murder in my Mind’ started, spinning the tonfa you were wielding with your partner valkyrie.

-She charged at you, and you easily dodged her punch, bending over backwards before you flipped upwards to go for a guillotine attack, breaking the bricks when your foot met the ground, shocking everyone.

-An almost sadistic grin appeared on your lips, a flash of fire in your eyes as you seemed to turn into another person, charging at Eris, shocking everyone with your speed.

-Shiva and Zeus were both gawking, seeing your strength with your attacks, but the way you dodged was like you were dancing, you dodged so fluidly.

-Adam had still been concerned for you, but when he saw this he relaxed, leaning back with a smile on his face while Kojiro held his chin in his hand, “Oh~ that’s so impressive. I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before.

-Eris managed to throw her apples at you, which detonated like grenades, injuring you quite badly, but you paid her back tooth for tooth.

-She lunged at you, and you dodged but froze as she ripped your headphones off, thinking they were your weapon and smashed them under her feet.

-The crowds all cheered and jeered, depending on who they were cheering for while you were staring wide eyed at your destroyed headphones.

-She smirked, thinking you were weak now without your weapons, but you stunned everyone by charging in, headbutting her in the center of her face, making her nose bleed as you went on the offensive, brutally beating her.

-When you were announced the winner your valkyrie partner carried you piggyback style to the infirmary, your anxiety rising as you didn’t have your comfort item, you didn’t have your headphones.

-Goll came in with a box, “Y/N~ big sis Brunnhilde asked me to bring these for you!”

-You opened the box and instantly relaxed, seeing another pair of noise cancelling headphones and once they were around your neck, you relaxed, patting Goll’s head as she hugged you, asking about your fighting style.

-You showed her and your partner the music you were listening to and Goll grinned, “That’s so energetic! I get why you were able to move so easily like you were dancing out there!”

-You grinned softly down at her, “Music can be a powerful weapon if harnessed right. Just the right type of music can get anyone fired up for a fight.”

[vlogsquadlibrary]

The Worst Surprise of My Life - VIEWS

Podcast from May 2, 2019 , Video from May 6, 2019

They are starting the podcast late. David is annoyed with Jason about something.

David is really into Avengers right now and compares Jason to Thanos. Jason calls David a spoiled influencer . David says that his kids are going to be better than Jason’s kids.

The kids surprised David with breakfast in bed. He says he hated it. 

Jason says that David will never have a chance with Scarlett Johannson. Then he says that he will never have a chance with Natalie Portman

David calls Jason easy and Jason says that he is easy and he loves cock

They start talking about how David loves sleepovers because there are a lot of things that happen that you loose your innocence.

He thinks that everyone has this moment where they are staying up late at a sleepover and someone asks if they want to see a movie tomorrow. Another kid asks don’t you mean today?

David hasn’t had a sleepover in a while. He says that the only way he stays somewhere is if he is fucked up on alcohol. 

Zane stays over a lot because he’s too drunk to drive. Even when he isn’t drunk he stays over a lot.

David’s favorite part of sleepovers is playing video games.

David got his Ferrari and went to eat dinner at Catch. He ran into his ex-girlfriend  that he dated for a month and a half at age 18 and she was 28.

His last memory of them is going to dinner somewhere in her BMW and David being so fascinated by the car and wanting it when he got older. 

The girlfriend had a lot of faith in him and told him that he would get there and have a car like that.

She didn’t see the car and they only talked for a few seconds. 

Jason makes fun of David’s good to see you phrase because it means he has forgotten the persons name or that he doesn’t give a fuck about someone.

David gives Jason the “good to see you “ phrase a lot.

They say that you should always say “good to see you” because when you say “good to meet you” they always say they’ve already met before.

David dented David’s ferrari today. They were pulling into a parking spot and Jason hopped out because he didn’t want to ding the car door. As he was getting out his camera smacks the door and he says “Oh shit”

Jason got gum in his hair last week because he spit gum out into his hand and threw it out but it was still on his hand and rubs his hand through his hair

David got mad at Jason because he lied on “deadass”. Deadass is David’s phrase like Are you serious. 

David and Ilya flip coins to make a decision. 

They were filming on hollywood blvd and talk about the deez nutz guy and how he got viral. 

He charges people $5 to say his catch phrase on camera. David gave him a $20 to say it four times.The kid had a seizure inside a 7-11.

They talk about how they want RDJ to get an Oscar for his performance in Avengers.

Jason has seen it twice and went with his kids the second time. They went to Fernando’s pizza . David makes fun of Jason’s kids.

David is doing a q and a at a college in Philly. He wants to go to college’s this Fall and speak. 

David booked Jason a flight to go with him to Philly without him.

David calls Benny Blanco his friend even though they’ve only collabed like 4 times. 

Benny texted David asking who tf Heath is and why kids are comparing him to Heath.

Dom has two girls living with him. They recently got bangs together  and asked Dom what he thought. He said that he likes the other girls bangs better

David was stressing out for footage and Jason told him that he has a great surprise . David thought it was a tiger . Jason revealed his spa surprise and David was so fucking disappointed

Jason’s been walking 10 miles a day . Natalie complimented him and David said that he doesn’t look that great.

David went to a birthday party and there was this old woman who asked what his niche was. He said that he was a conversationalist and he amped it up. 

Jason says that he was the happiest when he was living in a studio apartment. David says that he couldn’t understand how money couldn’t make people happier. 

They were talking about when Jason’s mom he’s going to out for like 3 or 4 months moping. David says that he shouldn’t mope because his mom doesn’t want him to.

Jason tells him that Jewish people sit Shiva for a couple of days. 

They were doing a bit where David is confused about the phrase “You and what army?” He thinks that the phrase is “You and what are me?”

They talk about the phrase “Oh boy” . Apparently both boys are dumbasses

David thinks that he would be Iron Man. Jason says that he is more like Spiderman.

David doesn’t know what subversive is and so he wouldn’t be IronMan.

On this weeks episode of JTWP , Joe says that a bunch of people ask him to say hi to David for them. Joe has a scroll with a lot of names of the list.

Joe sent David a message saying he didn’t need David anymore.

They talk about how they gave Joe too much power

David is obsessed as fuck with Marvel movies. He googled how much Vin Diesel got paid for saying ”I am Groot” in the movies. He made $54 million for his time

David does voices for the cameras . The camera wants to go get Mcdonalds . He does a deeper voice for another camera

David says that Youtube is a blessing but a fucking curse. He’s trying his best to expand out of Youtube but he can’t leave.

David wants people to call him and get him to voice a superhero character

Jason tells David about how RDJ got a second chance

David says that his best job that he’s going to get is going to be from a subscriber 

People keep fucking showing up to David’s house. He’s getting pissed about it. 

It happens 2 or 3 times a day and the parents would come up to the door asking for him to come out to meet the kids. 

[buck--y]

I'm currently having issues with a certain classmate of mine, who we will call Kristin (not her real name) here. Kristin. Oy vey.

Kristin is currently in both my anatomy (last anatomy class, btw) and my first nursing class (health promotion) with me. Lovely. She had the gall to tell me a few weeks ago that because I wasn't in class with her during A&P II and that she didn't have my ~legendary~ study guides (which I should mention that are nothing special, they're just the class powerpoints, lol), that she almost failed the class. Like. How is that my fault? I told her that my study guides aren't anything special in the first place, lol. Don't stick the blame on me.

For this particular NR class that I'm in right now (and that I'm taking the final for tomorrow, YEES), most of the class consisted of group work. I hate group work with the passion of a thousand burning suns. I always get stuck with either the group who is insanely motivated or the group who does nothing at all, which then puts me in a stupid position to do absolutely everything. I ended up getting put in a four-person group with Kristin and two other girls. I don't have a problem with the two other girls, just Kristin.

Each week, we had to do these content questions. Kristin elected herself as the leader for some reason and instantly had me do two questions, while everyone else got to do one question. Fine, whatever. We also had to pick a certain cultural group for this presentation/PowerPoint project that is due in Week 6. We ended up picking Judaism, which made my job a fuck ton easier since I wouldn't have to do very much research, considering I'm Jewish. Fabulous!

Week 5 rolls around and one of the other girls, S, has already finished her slides, while me and the other girl, A, finish up our slides (we each had to do around 2 to 3 slides). It doesn't take very long at all and I go in and add a few things that I know of to the other slides and have gone around asking my family about. I elected myself to be the editor and I also go on to make sure that everything is correct, that everything is cited correctly, etc. Everything is great.

Until Kristin starts doing her slides. Two days before the whole damn thing is due and we have to present it in front of the class.

Kristin put in the stupidest, most asinine, most outdated information she can find about, go figure, death practices in Judaism; she wrote that Jews have someone to watch over the deceased's body and that the body is put on the floor and that tattoos are cut out of the skin, to name a few. I basically blew up on her because I, unfortunately, know Jewish death practices very, very well. Half the shit that she put on there is unheard of these days; I called my aunt in Israel and spoke to my mom about what she wrote and they both said that we don't do anything like that these days; perhaps in the past, but not these days. We especially don't have someone to watch over the body. I told her that we have morgues these days, that putting the body on the floor is a sanitary hazard, and that tattoos are very much still left on the deceased. She also wrote (and I quote), "Jews think that death is a part of life and is not considered a tragedy."

Apparently, this gal has never seen anyone sitting Shiva. Sitting Shiva is one of the most heartbreaking things I've had to go through as a Jewish person. And for her to write something like that was the tipping point for me. I ended up taking over the project and I called her out on every single thing she wrote because I was not going to have my religion disrespected like that, to which she says that she was really bummed that I called her out on it because she thought she was doing a good job on it. Mae freakin' culpa, but someone has to; we needed to spread relevant, correct information about our picked cultural group and she didn't contribute to that at all. Week 6 rolls along, we present our project and get a 99/100 on it.

And Kristin loses it. Over a point. It's funny that she's pissed about it, considering she barely did a damn thing.

We also had to write a corresponding paper about a certain topic in the cultural group of our choice. We picked mental health in the Jewish religion. I and the other girls get a head start on Thursday and Friday, since the whole paper is due on Sunday at 11:59 pm.

Kristin texts us on Saturday around midnight and pushed us all into overdrive because at this point, she didn't even write a freakin' word in the document. This was done in a Google doc so all of us could easily collaborate on it. When it came time to turn it in, the final tally was that I wrote three pages and the other girls wrote about 2 pages each and added a few bits and bobs to mine, while I added to theirs. We three went in to make sure everything was formatted nicely, that our citations were correct and all of that. The whole paper ended up being seven pages, I think because we really went in and found as many resources as possible. We wanted to be as thorough as possible.

Kristin went in at the last second and wrote one bloody paragraph, maybe less. One paragraph out of seven fucking pages.

We ended up getting 98/100 on the paper. Once again, Kristin loses it and says that it's unfair that we got the score that we did.

We got the score that we did because we worked on the paper. The fact that she got an actually good score on anything in this class is because others did the damn work for her. It was unfair of her to not do anything and complain about a score that she didn't work for at all; everyone has to pull their own fucking weight in group assignments, whether in school or on the job. This is a given -- I don't get why this is so hard for her to grasp.

Kristin also constantly asks me for my notes; I eventually told her that I'm not making notes because it's entirely unfair that she's using my notes to get good grades. Now, if she asked me for my notes once in a while, I'm okay with that. If anyone asks me for my notes, I usually give them out because I'm a nice person and I want everyone to succeed. But she asks me for my notes for almost every class! Almost ALL THE DAMN TIME. NO. No, no, no, I'm not going to give you my damn notes anymore. Make your own notes. :|

She also told me that she's "sad" that I won't have patho and funds with her. Sad because I won't be there to do your work for you or give you notes or whatever...? Yeah, have fun with that. Sorry, not sorry.

[coolgirl]

hype up jason rn go

I love Jason so much dude like he’s such an interesting character like I hear a lot of ppl always saying he’s boring and like knock-off punisher or Bucky or whatever when like really he’s so much more than that and it’s really heartbreaking that DC reduced him to that after all these years! Like he has such a tragic story like okay sure all comic characters are tragic in one way or another but like seriously the dude had a hellish childhood before batman and then his mom betrayed him and the joker killed him and he had to crawl his way out of his own grave and shit all when he was just a kid! And so much shit happened to him that I already went on detail like a week ago but hes a character with so much baggage and issues and trauma and pain that’s never ever explored which is so sad! Because there’s so much material there but also on how he was such a good sweet smart kid who enjoyed learning, who cared so deeply about people that he would get pissed off at batman for not being able to deliver the deserved justice to the victims and like, here’s the thing that makes him super interesting in my opinion - regardless of all that baggage I mentioned and how he takes justice on his own hands and isn’t afraid to murder, to be cruel to those who deserve it - he stills has some of that sweet kid in him! He still cares about the wellbeing of those who cannot defend themselves and those who remain outside Batman’s radar! He believes he’s doing the right thing! That that’s the only way, and if no one has the gall to do it he will take one for the team! And hes so damn smart! That's the dude that took over the Gotham underworld when he was 18/19! Younger than me rn! And he had so much training from so many different sources! He's like THAT bitch and DC had to make him evil and ooc as a nerf because otherwise he wouldve been unstoppable. And like. its a damn pity writers aren’t interested on developing him because there’s so much room for content for him! So much! So many things that were never fully explored like half of his trauma and his relationship with Bruce that he never got closure for pre n52, and so many dynamics with different characters that we have never seen and so many alternative universes that would make good mini series or one shots like if he lived if he died but came out earlier or later or if the joker had died before he came back or if tim never came to the picture or if we met Damian at the league or if he was shivas son or the son like so many I can’t even count them! Like it’s so frustrating how Jason is so underused in things like that but still has enough presence that I really can't complain THAT much about it bc at least he's there and he appears in like at least one comic per month and is slowly getting the recognition he deserves.. and idk. It's 4am. This won't make sense.

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. 

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

[razorblade180]

Minor inconvenience

Atlas’s forest, a majestic landscape covered in white, yet springing with life. Many people go here. One girl in particular, Summer. She travels through the forest until she comes to a tree on top of hill. Hanging from a tree is a single swing that is currently in use by another girl. Shockingly, it’s the last person she expected.

“Shiva?” Summer said, as if she’d seen a grimm that was ready to pounce. “How are you....”

“Don’t ask stupid questions, dumb dumb. You gotta stop letting the most basic of concepts surprise you all the time. People are going to start thinking Nick isn’t just the stronger twin, but the smarter one too.” Shiva kept swinging back and forth casually. She couldn’t explain it, but she was in a pretty good mood.

Summer took a good look around again. Everything seemed to be in place. All except one thing, the sky. There wasn’t one, not exactly. Summer could barely make out a thick wall of ice way in the air that acted like a “So I’m in mind again huh?”

“Give the girl a prize.” Shiva harshly joked. Oh how this song and dance could get rather dull. “What’s next, are you gonna ask what your body is doing? The thought of you currently slaughtering friends and family gonna make you cry-”

Summer grabbed the side of the swing and brought Shiva to a complete stop. “I’m not in the mood.”

“And I don’t like you ruining my fun. I’m not the reason you’re here. If you can’t deal with my wonderful antics then stop slipping into here.”

“It’s my mind!” Summer proclaimed loudly.

“And yet you absolutely no control of it. Also I’ve been here awhile. I think it’s about time my name gets put on the deed. I use it way better than you do. I’m practically the owner.”

“You’re an infestation...”

“Then I guess it’s your fault for letting me in so easily, isn’t it?” Shiva’s eyes flashed a bright icy blue. The girl got up from the swing set and pushed Summer, sending her tumbling down the snowy hill until gravity stopped her at the bottom.

Summer picked herself up and stared at the laughing demon. Now she was pissed. “What the actual hell!?”

“Hahahaha! I didn’t expect you to be such a lightweight! Oh you’re so screwed when you wake up.”

Summer heard the girl’s words and paused for a second. She was sleeping? Why? Where!? “What are you planning Shiva?”

“Like I said earlier, you stumbled into this place. I didn’t have to do anything.”

“That implies you’re doing something now!” Summer snarled.

Shiva poked out her lips and swayed her head side to side lightly. “Yeah, you got me there. Not that it matters. It’s already done. You’ve been here far too long. Now then, wake up you fool.” Shiva snapped her fingers.

Summer’s head suddenly jerked up and her eyes were meant with blinding light and her mother’s face inches away from her own, headbutting her on accident.

“Ow!” Weiss yelped, rubbing her head. “You okay sweetie!?”

“Okay? What are you-” Summer stopped mid sentence as she felt a strange warmth run down her face. She rubbed an extremely tender spot on her head that made her wince. She looked at her hand to see fresh blood covering her fingers. Summer looked around in confusion. She was actually under the tree this time, the difference being a snapped branch that rested in the snow next to her. It too, was covered and a little blood she could only assume was her own. “Oh...so that’s what happened.”

“You were out for a few minutes. Your brother is rushing back with your father as we speak so don’t move too much.”

Summer could feel a headache coming on. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend her day. She still had- “Hold on...how many minutes exactly?” Summer said concerned.

Weiss looked at her with a scrunched face. That was never good sign. “About ten minutes.”

“I’m gonna be late for my own concert! We were supposed to leaving but then this stupid tree....” Summer tried standing but immediately fell down, completely dizzy and a little nauseous. “Damnit, damn her....”

Weiss rushed over and made her daughter sit still. “Sorry but...you might have to cancel. A full on concert is the last thing good for your head.”

“But-”

“Summer, health first. We’ll get you checked up first and go from there okay?”

Summer’s hand clenched the snow until into water, then back to ice because of her anger. She already knew the time hospitals took to do anything. Best case scenario, no concussion and the consent is delayed several hours. Worst case, the whole thing is called off. Judging by her headache, it could go either way. But the fact that she was purposely held in her own mind told Summer she should be fine. Shiva just wanted her to linger there to make a bigger deal out of it and waste her time. Summer let out a frustrated groan. “Okay...”