#I really don't want to piss people off I just

[boundlessdisaster]

Red state leftist here: the moderates see you calling them names, dragging them through the mud, and that is why they hate you. Nothing else. I'm going to let you in on a little secret: if you don't use buzzwords even hella alt right people will agree with you. They hear the buzzwords and all they see is hate for them as a person. It's no different to them than the transphobic comments. They see it as a direct attack on them. You want to change minds and change the world? Talk to people as people, regardless of their political ideology. Don't use buzzwords, because just like when you check out of a conversation at dog whistles, they check out at buzzwords. Speak to them on their level, learn how to really utilize that vocabulary to say the same thing 20 different ways. Say it the right way, they will see the light, they will start to agree with you.

I work in fundraising, and I was fundraising for a non profit that helps kids that are experiencing food insecurity. A blue state liberal told me she didn't want to donate because "we're only raising a country of idiots,"

Had I been a righty, that would have pushed me further right, because "Dumb Democrats don't want to feed hungry kids because they don't like who got elected, how can they say that they actually want to help people," and you know what? I understand that line of thought, because I want to feed the hungry no matter who is in office. And it did piss me off, because how can you sit there with the ability to help a hungry kid, and then not actually help them because of who is in office? You want to see a better world? BE BETTER. You may not like outstretching your hand to help these people and some are indeed beyond help, but liberals radicalize conservatives. I see it every single day.

The left SUCKS at recruiting people. And so many of you are part of the problem.

The talk about centrists and moderates being the literal devil I see constantly in online leftist spaces is one great example of the left's failure. Yes, it sucks when the people don't see how horrible the right is. But centrists are some of the most open people to discussion- and some already lean left!!

You can't demonize moderates to such an extent that you close yourself off to them and then wonder why you're losing swing states.

Centrists aren't even always people with all the privileges- you will find plenty of people who are part of marginalized groups who are concerned about politicians on all sides.

You can be a smol radical leftist bean all you want who only talks to other smol socialist and communist beans, but you're never going to make the difference you want to in the world that way. It's the cold, hard truth. It doesn't mean you have to engage in discourse with everyone- some people have no real hope of changing and are emotionally draining- just more than your bubble.

I am tired of the left eating itself alive and deranged people like Trump winning.

[xaverie]

Honestly I'm in love with The Heart Killers just, like, conceptually. It's so fucking funny lmao. It's like- "Everyone remember The Taming of the Shrew? Or at least 10 Things I Hate About You? Okay here we go:"

Imagine you're the sexiest tattoo artist in Thailand and you're out bowling with your most annoying (but only) friend. You spot a hottie a few lanes over so you start flirting and take him home. He disappears the next morning without leaving a note or phone number, but the sex was SO good you can't stop thinking about him.

But imagine you're also being blackmailed by the cops for a crime you committed in your Youth, and now the pigs want you (presumably a tattoo artist and not a detective) to spy on a pair of hitmen who have evaded capture. And it turns out one of those guys is the one night stand who blew, uh, your mind last night, and like - well at least now you know how to get in touch with him again??

Now imagine you are a hit man, but you don't really want to be. Not because you have any moral qualms about murder-for-hire, but because you're like 24 and it's really damaging your social life. So you meet this guy at the bowling alley and despite you being a stone cold killer, he got you so dickmatized you're like giggling and kicking your feet in your little burger king uniform from the front where you pretend to work. Then the bowling alley guy shows up at your "job"! It's meant to be! The problem is that you can't date him because your mean brother doesn't trust him and also thinks boyfriends are a liability in general.

But don't worry, your hookup has the perfect plan, he will get his friend to hit on your brother until he starts to believe in love!

NOW imagine you're possibly the most annoying man in Thailand, and your best (only) friend ditches you at the bowling alley to hook up with a hottie who is new in town. You drive yourself home, but had one too many and end up rear-ending the car in front of you and out steps the hottest, angriest jerk you've ever met. You, a mechanic, offer to take a look at his car right then and there, but the angry guy gets super cagey and pushy when you get near the trunk for a reason that is probably So Normal and not because he's hiding a body at all. So you finally drop it and let him bring the car to your garage the next day, where you proceed to flirt with him because it makes him even more angry and that's pretty funny.

Then later that week your friend asks you for a favor - he wants you to get a dude out of the way so he can date the dude's cute brother who he ditched you for once already. You say no fucking way because it turns out the dude he's talking about is the asshole you hit by accident. Unless... your friend gives you his classic sports car as payment.

But you, simply a tattoo artist, agree to the deal. Either because you really want to fuck this guy again, or because the police will ruin your life if you don't manage to get close enough to get the information they want, but you'll cross that bridge when you get to it. You fail to warn your friend that the cute bowler and his jerk brother are both assassins who are currently being investigated by the cops, which you are also a part of, but that's probably fine.

Okay. Now imagine you are a professional hit man who is just trying to do his job. Your brother keeps bugging you about taking a break and being allowed to talk to other people, but you don't believe in work-life balance. Because your work is killing people for money and your life is not getting caught for doing that. So now not only do you have to keep an eye on your idiot brother's sketchy fling, but the most annoying guy you've ever had the misfortune to get into a car accident with found out where you "work" because you left your badge for the burger spot in your car when he fixed it. Now he won't leave you alone or stop flirting with you and now you're somehow in a prank war with him and also he's so pretty?? But mostly you're just pissed off.

--

Like 10/10 honestly.

[arrowheadedbitch]

Overview of the things I've decided are canon for my son of zeus au so far (hopefully I don't forget any):

The gods are dicks. They arent *always* dicks, but I don't want to sugarcoat them from their original myths, they do bad shit and often

Denki is favored by Apollo, Dionysus, and Hermes the most, Persephone also likes him pretty well

Zeus is Zeus, meaning who knows when he'll decide he loves his son or hates his son or just genuinely doesn't care, he's such a little hypocrite bitch ain't he

Quirks are the exact same as they are in canon, the presence of the Greek gods didn't affect that at all, the gods have nothing to do with quirks and while they still are probably banging like rabbits they aren't really that active in Japan so no, no one else at UA is a demigod

Zeus slept with Kaminari's mom because he was intrigued by a mortal with a power in his domain (electricity) that didn't come from him

Since Kaminari's powers come from both his quirk and his dad, there's some complexities to them

Kamimari was born with lightning powers but they worked differently before his quirk actually manifested (I'm toying with the idea that his quirk manifested while being smiled by Zeus with lightning? I haven't decided if I like that or not yet)

Kaminari doesn't want other people knowing he's a demigod for classic hero story reasons but also because 1. Greek gods being real is a secret and he ain't about to be the one that spilled it 2. It'd be really complicated and annoying to explain and let's be real, at least one person would come out of that thinking he went crazy

Athena doesn't like him because, well, dunceface, duh. She does appreciate his strategic abilities though

Ares also doesn't like him because he doesn't like killing people, Ares and Athena hate that they dislike the same kid so much that they'd consider changing their tune about him on just that alone

In junior high he went on a big quest, I haven't decided on any details of it, but it involved a lot of fighting way to strong people while way too young as most quests do, this is also how he got into Apollo, Hermes, Dio, and Persephone's (and by extention Hades since he loves Persephone enough to deal with anyone she likes) good graces, the quest was likely given by Zeus and likely involved Hera trying to kill him

He's not really surrounded by people in the ancient greek community, it's not like he has a camp half blood and even if he did he'd skip it to go to UA training anyway, but he is pretty well known in those circles post big quest

I'm toying with the idea that he failed his first quest and thus had to go on a redemption quest

Kaminari doesn't like being serious, but despite what his classmates and teachers think, he CAN do serious, how else would he be such a big shot in the Greek community?

Imma be real, there was probably some kind of war that Kaminari had to lead an army in or something. I'm sorry, child soldier stories just have so many layers to dissect it's not my fault that they're compelling in a way

My point is, serious Kaminari is like war general levels serious, but not even LOA attacks are bad enough to bring out serious kaminari, are you kidding, did you gloss over the part about god war? He's having a little trouble taking literally any threat at UA seriously and he'll have trouble taking almost every threat as a pro hero seriously, it's not his fault junior high set the bar way too high on what situations are serious!

One of Kaminari's demigod powers, as the son of Zeus, is that he can't take fall damage. No matter how high up he falls from, he will never ever get worse than a few scrapes

Pissing him off really badly makes the sky get stormy, I'm talking immediate clear skies to nothing but gray clouds moving in and you can't even SEE the sky anymore, also possibly rain, he doesn't do it often but he can and he'd probably be able to control it if he were to practice his demigod powers along with his quirk but we all know he ain't gonna do that any time soon

He can sword fight, he hopes this never comes up

He has to keep reminding Dionysus about the legal drinking age, Dionysus thinks it's stupid and therefore never listens, they have argued about it multiple times

Apollo and Kaminari play chess together on occasion

Hermes at one point gave Kami a special knife when he decided he liked him enough to give him a gift, it's a magic thief's blade which is just a dagger that cannot be found on his person no matter what you do. Pat him down? You won't feel it. Scan him? It didn't show. Metal detector? It didn't beep at all. But he can pull it out whenever. He won't but he does *have* it just in case. I'm also deciding if making it not be able to leave him would be too much. I don't want it to feel like a riptide ripoff, I'm thinking maybe it sprouts wings and flies to him?

Yes, I've just decided, the Thief's Knife will fly to him if left behind and can squeeze into any crack no matter how small to get to him

I'm shinkami trash so you KNOW shinkami is about to be canon in this au

In either 2A or 3A, Kaminari tells Shinsou his secret about the gods being real and him being Zeus' son, he spends a great amount of time explaining all the details to Shin and answering his questions, it's a lot

What can I say? Shinsou is gus confidant, he was gonna have to tell him at some point 🤷🏻‍♀️💅

He doesnt tell anyone else, but obv they've got to eventually find out somehow, what you think I'd just let it be lame?? Even after they find out, he won't tell them anything he doesn't have to, waits until it comes up to explain things, it's just too complicated he doesn't want to go through all that AGAIN and with twenty people this time

Oh and before you ask, I'm gonna say no on the flying thing. I know it could be a power of a Zeus kid, I know it could be cool, but no. No he cannot fly.

I can't think of anything else right now but I can't wait to wake up in a cold sweat tonight and realise what i forgot

Also, I'm gonna go ahead and tag @iys-cloud since I know iys really likes this au :]

[sir-moss-of-mossington]

Also just to add on, manufactured conflict over nothing is annoying you guys. I don't think people remember the amount of players who configure whole teams just over who wouldn't be pissing blood and bitching for hours of game play. Over. NOTHING.

That was sure me jfc.

Origins was probably the worst tbh. I mean it had Leliana and Morrigan get into fights about Leliana taking Morrigan shoe shopping. Which wasn't funny or worth my time in 2009 let alone now. In DAI, the bickering is better written (Could still be exhausting though, ask me why Blackwall never was taken out with any mages). But the point i want to make is Arguments don't just instantly make good writing.

Even still DAV does have bickering??? Like you said. I wonder if people just rush too quick to Weisshaupt? It seems like banter gets move to phase 2 after that.

Also because i got really sidelines on this. people know that Neve and Lucanis aren't mad at rook which ever you pick, right? right?? Both of them understand the choice is impossible. After it happens, They don't want to talk because they're emotionally exhausted. They have literally mourning and burning their neighbor's bodies for days. Look around Minrathous if you let it get blighted. Those dead bodies hanging everywhere are friends and coworkers. All those guards are ventori ready to grab people off the street and use them for blood magic or to prove a point. The silence isn't personal at **all**

No, I'm not done yet, I'm house sitting and she left me snacks and soda and not even god could keep me from venting my spleen at this point.

"I wish the companions were meaner to each other in this game, like in DA2."

While I think there's a larger argument to be made discussing the similarities between DA2 and Veilguard, I need everyone to get so close to me right now about a glaring difference:

DA2 involved a ragtag group of assholes with their own agendas coalescing around Hawke's personality or exchange of favors. There was no larger "goal," except maybe Varric's expedition - everything else is encountered as circumstance. You wend your way through your companions' stories while a city winds ever tighter into itself, a spring about to literally explode.

There's zero reason for these people to be nice to each other. They have no point in being around each other except Hawke. They can bitch at each other all they like.

Rook becomes Varric's second in command (I've seen one post say it's about 6 months before the events of the game) with an explicit purpose: find and stop Solas. Harding and Neve are recruited as experts in their respective fields for this particular goal. When it all goes to shit, Neve recruits another expert, Lucanis, to deal with the fallout, and Harding finds Davrin, *also* an expert in his field (monster hunting). When Rook has to make a particularly consequence heavy decision, two more are added to the crew: Emmrich (Fade expert) and Taash (dragon expert). All of these people are extremely competent, and know from the jump that they have one particular goal in mind.

They join ready to work together on Day 1 because if they don't, there's simply no other alternative. It's lights out. Even when they mistrust each other, the direness of the situation is not lost on them. Infighting serves no purpose. That's why the struggle is directed inward: clean up your own house, so we can move as a single unit.

Honestly the fact that what people took away from this game was "I wish my friends were meaner to each other" and not "wow, I wish we all worked together to keep evil dictators from taking over" is fucking mindblowing when I sit back and reread this.

[showsandstuff]

WHAT'S UP!

Welcome to my post where I praise the fanon original league version of Jayvik!!!

I'm gonna be real, I will miss the Og machine herald Viktor. I never played league, and I'm not going to, but before season 2 came out I read his lore and he's actually a pretty fun character.

Then after season two act 1 came out, I dove into the world of fanfiction cause I started shipping Jayvik and found kind a few fics about the league of legend versions of the characters. And here is what I will say.

If we go with fanon alone, I actually prefer the league versions.

League Viktor and League Jayce are actual enemies for most of the time. They used to be colleagues, then Viktor was getting into brainwashing whilst Jayce was a dick and got him kicked out of the academy. He also didn't speak up when some other scientist took credit of Viktors invention. Oh and there were misunderstandings about some crystal...

Long story short, they don't like each other. But in the fics they often times either clear the misunderstandings and make up or yearn for each other whilst on opposite sites. Or they fight each other which leads to make out sessions because why not.

The characters are also generally more fun to read about.

Jayce is a huge dick, that is literally his most defining personality trade. He is a cocky bastard and people like him until they get to know him because he's just such an asshole.

And Viktor is just... Really fucking silly. He wants to get rid of his emotions and says that he already did get rid off them, but then Jayce pisses him off and you can tell no way?? Where did you get rid off your emotions? You've been whining non stop. There's also still love, kindness and empathy within Viktor, but he somehow convinces himself that he is emotionless. It gets especially good when that's played for comedy, which it oftentimes is!

Also, the nicknames! They still call each other Jayce and Viktor but Viktor also calls Jayce "Defender" short for "Defender of tomorrow" which is jayces title, and Jayce calls him either V or Machine Herald, depending on the mood.

Arcane season 2 was too rushed and packed with so many seperate story lines that we didn't have enough time for the characters. We needed at least one more season.

But the fanon for the league version, as someone who never played it, gives me this huge time frame of them being enemies but they used to be colleagues or friends (or more than friends depending on the writer), and then a huge time frame of them being enemies.

Og machine herald League Viktor though??? PEAK, WHAT A FUNNY CRINGEFAIL LOSER!

Now more to Arcane...

I think as much as I love Jayvik there, it's all just too sad, especially if you don't necessarily want to read act 1 fanfictions or AUs.

Also Viktor is super hard to characterize because his personally changes with almost every act. That's why I don't buy it when people complain about the way he is characterized because Ik all yall want is sassy S1 Act 1 Viktor, but I prefer the less confident and workaholic Act 2 Viktor. We are not the same.

The Fanon of League is just, somehow, more consistent in a way, because it has existed just much longer and people probably get inspired by the same shippers for how to write their dynamic.

Arcane fics though depend on how the individual interprets the characters, and with characters whose arcs were rushed sm it's just impossible.

So Og machine herald Viktor, you will be missed. I hope people don't stop writing for them and drawing fanart!!

[ochrearia]

I don't think I should be allowed to have a brain at this point literally can't do anything without my brain making leaps between vaguely related topics all just to prove I'm untrustable and a love bomber and I'm gonna be honest I think the latter is actually true considering how I've been acting this whole time. And I hate that it took me this long to understand that yes I have been too much and all these other things etc etc

And then I'm self aware it's a spiral but I also don't care that it's a spiral because for once I need to hear it because I know what I'm like and I know I just end up scaring people out of telling me the truth out of guilt or whatever and god I make myself sooooo mad sometimes holy shit. But this is my problem that I caused so now I get to lie in this bed because I told myself I was too much and couldn't act like this and did it anyways. And in my quest that was never going to end well wanting to make everyone feel special. I have made my words mean nothing and thus it's like no one is. Incredible job Ochre

I know what the problem is and I'm going to fix it by stopping all of this because that's really all I can do. And I really have no right to feel like shit because I'm the one who was doing it. And I'm tired of making everything about me too I've needed to stop that shit for a while. Just. No more of all this overbearing affection amongst other things. This is not how I should exist

Literally a bunch of top results of how love bombing works good job me. Actually just fuck off for once. And I need to stop talking about everything like I keep telling myself to so just. One. And that's it. Still better than writing another overdramatic cringe toxic one-shot and dragging YS's character down with me or any of the others at this point. I'm just pissed at myself. Like get real. And in an hour or two I'm going to get even more mad at myself for acting like this outwardly, find someone else to bother

Whatever. Just start over. Again. You'd think I would know better by now. Christ

[abyssal-ilk]

the antaam in veilguard pissed me off so much. i LOVE the concept. i LOVE what couldve been. but it felt like they were worried about scaring off 'new players' with 'too much lore' and backed out of doing something really cool.

tbh i don't even think this is the reason why the antaam were written in the way that they were in datv! the game needed a faceless enemy for you to fight and not think too hard about why you're fighting them, and writting the antaam off as being hyper-violent, easily corruptible, and "brutish" allows for this. except for the fact that framing the antaam as being this violent, thoughtless force with little other complexity is inherently racist as all hell and doesn't hold up whatsoever. it's less they didn't want to include lore in fear of scaring people away and more that the lore they did include is just. complete and utter ass.

[lemotmo]

I was talkin to some people earlier and Realized a thing. 🤔

So I doubt this'll happen, but damn, I'd love it.

So as far as I remember they said they've already shot eps 9 and 10. That 9 picks up basically from where 8 left of or whatever. No time skip but there might be on later in the ses.

I think Tim said some or all of that?

Anyways in ep 8 they mention a Chess tournament on Saturday that Eddie didn't know about.

What if ep 8 was at start of the week and so that & the ahotshots stuff happens then and then Eddie goes to Texas that weekend for Chris's chess tournament.

And like him showing up for it in person pisses Helena (& maybe Ramon too) off cuz ya know but she tries to dress it up as something else. Anyways they have this confrontation just before during or after Chris's tournament.

And Eddie snaps at them and lets them know he's looking to buy a house in El Paso etc. That he's done being on the sideline's if his sons life or something. And they are pissed cuz obvsly they don't want that.

But like Chris hears Eddie talkin bout movin back there and he's all he doesn't want him to do that, etc. And they decide to go home or decide you know Chris will finish school year there but then come home once that's over. Idk?

That could be happening in Texas while the rest have to deal with another serial killer. Lololol. Like a and b plotlines. XD I could see both being wrapped up in a two-parter. XD

Yeah, I really do think that ultimately it'll be Chris who will tell his dad that he wants to go back home to LA.

Eddie is choosing his son's happiness over his own again, which is understandable in this case. But I think he'll come to some realisations about his own happiness when in El Paso. He needs to be clear to his parents and tell them once and for all that they have no control over his and Chris's life anymore.

Afterwards he'll talk to Chris and explain to him that LA is their home now and that he'll stay in El Paso for Chris, but he would really like to return home with Chris this time. That's when Chris will tell Eddie that he misses LA (and Buck) and does want to go home.

And yes...

In the mean time, some serial killer shenanigans are going down in LA and -once again- Buck will be in the middle of it, making sure Eddie and Chris will rush home sooner than expected.

[lilacella]

I wanted to get in on the hater asks but I think you already answered them all, so this is just a friendly free-bee in case you still have some hate you need to get out (or tell us more about your love for professor Sprout if you're out of hate) 🤗

(oh, and I agree about Percy!!)

Aww that's nice!🥰 I think the only one I haven't answered yet is ❤️: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

And we all know what my answer is to that!

Hilariously the Prof. Sprout love is rooted (pun intended) in hating on people who comment on other people's fanfiction, asking for ships/characters that are not what the story is about.

E.g., asking for Regulus in a Prongsfoot fic (or for Wolfstar...) and I said, as a joke, I could in return show up in their comments, asking for Prof. Sprout as some sort of psychological warfare:

"Aww how nice, James and Regulus kissed!! I wonder what Prof. Sprout thinks of that! Does she have someone to kiss as well?"

"Oh no, Sirius has caught them and is really mad! Maybe Prof. Sprout can make him some tea to calm down 😊😊"

"Cute chapter, but I noticed you haven't mentioned Prof. Sprout at all?? What's she up to?"

"Look, not to sound demanding, but... this fic isn't going to focus on Jegulus the whole time right?🤪 I am really only reading this for Prof. Sprout so if you could tell me when she will become the center of this fanfiction that would be nice 😊😊"

I don't think I will actually ever do this unless someone really pisses me off but I think it would be very funny 😇

[adiradirim]

Sephardic Jews from Thessaloniki in their traditional costumes, in the city’s old cemetery, before the war // a contemporary photo that shows where the destroyed cemetery once was, which is now Greece's largest university, built partially on top of and with land and materials (particularly tombstones) stolen from the razed site.

Thessaloniki or Salonika, once referred to as “the Jerusalem of the Balkans” due to its Ladino-speaking Jewish majority, saw roughly 96% of its Jewish population murdered during the Holocaust. This mass destruction extended to the city's Jewish cemetery, which had been the country's largest, established in the 15th century and housing hundreds of thousands of Jewish graves until its razing by city authorities who had long desired to repurpose the land and resented the inconvenience of Jewish presence. Despite its large-scale destruction during German occupation in 1942, which was initiated and carried out primarily by Thessaloniki authorities with Nazi consent and arrangement, some parts of the cemetery survived intact as late as 1947. Many tombstones were subsequently appropriated and used by city authorities and the Greek Orthodox Church. After the war, people were still carrying away Jewish gravestones each day and regularly looting the cemetery in search of valuables. The city's officials, led by their mayor, completed the cemetery's destruction and sold the tombstones to contractors for use as building materials in various projects; as such many were and are still found in various walls, roads, structures, and churches around the city. A 1992 commemorative book pictures Greek schoolgirls playing Hamlet with skulls and other bones they found in the cemetery.

“[T]he ‘rape’ of the cemetery escalated, marble flooded the market, and its price plummeted. Jewish tombstones were stacked up in mason’s yards and, with the permission of the director of antiquities of Macedonia and overseen by the metropolitan bishop and the municipality, used to pave roads, line latrines, and extend the sea walls; to construct pathways, patios, and walls in private and public spaces though out the city, in suburbs such as Panorama and Ampelokipi, and more than sixty kilometers away in beach towns in Halkidiki, where they decorated playgrounds, bars, and restaurants in hotels; to build a swimming pool – with Hebrew-letter inscription visible; to repair the St. Demetrius Church and other buildings...” Devin Naar, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece

Most of the efforts to return found tombstones throughout the city are led by Jews, particularly Jacky Benmayor, the curator of the Jewish Museum and last Ladino speaker in Greece, who has personally recovered hundreds of tombstones including his own family's. Surviving Greek Jews never received compensation for the confiscation of the land under the destroyed cemetery, upon which now partially rests Greece's largest university, Aristotle University, which also used Jewish gravestones as building material for its long-coveted expansion finally made possible by the dispossession and annihilation of the city's Jews. In 2014, 72 years after the cemetery's destruction and appropriation, a small memorial was established on campus grounds to acknowledge the Jewish cemetery the school is built on and with; the ceremony just 10 years ago involved the first-ever acknowledgement of the atrocities and apology from a Thessaloniki mayor. The memorial has been vandalised multiple times since its establishment.

[cherryys]

ever since 266, I saw many people say that because megumi doesn't want to be a jujutsu sorcerer, that means his conclusion doesn't have to have anything to do with using his technique or completing his domain and that him just getting saved is fine, and that is his purpose in the story, and I completely disagree.

Megumi has always treated his technique as a curse in his life, one he had never wanted and one that had always hindered him. he viewed it as a crutch, a weakness, something that controls him rather than him controlling it as its user. it had dictated his life ever since his birth and subsequently forcing him into the gruel jujutsu world, with his father selling and abandoning him, the expectations placed on him by Gojo to surpass him because of his technique, along with now, Sukuna stealing his body, his autonomy, his agency, and his ability to make a choice along with killing his sister and hurting his friends just because of his technique. Him learning that instead of fearing his technique and treating it as something he'll never control or grasp and that its power is way beyond him, he does have the strength and newfound mindset to control it, be its master and be able to completely understand and interpret his technique would be a great way to conclude his character arc and his rocky relationship with his technique.

him completing his domain doesn't have anything to do with jujutsu sorcery. his domain is a representation of his sense of self, his self-identity, his character, so to speak. it being incomplete from the start was to show you that megumi hadn't grasped his sense of self yet, hasn't found an identity unique to himself outside of wanting to save his sister (and later, yuuji) and his complete disregard for his life in general. his incomplete domain is basically showing you his incomplete character. I just can't really fathom the domain not being completed especially after him being at the climax of his character arc. it's more than just a jujutsu thing for megumi's character, it represents him.

also, megumi's purpose this entire arc to just be saved is hardly a good conclusion to his character. his entire life, he'd been stripped of his autonomy, the power to choose, the power to control his life. that was what reggie's curse was: let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die. his conclusion should be him breaking AWAY from that curse, to stop fate from toying with him, and instead of just laying down and letting life kick him over and over, he stands up and finally kicks back, fights against the circumstances, saves himself, instead of doing nothing and just letting others save him. what would be the point, then? he'd be reduced to a literal plot device, whose entire role in the story is to let his body be taken over by sukuna for his technique, and he doesn't even save himself, he just lets others do the work for him. that would be a horrible conclusion. it wouldn't make his dream of wanting a peaceful life earned for me, not because megumi HAS to be useful or has to prove himself to deserve a simple life, but because he hasn't really changed. he's the same as he was before, letting life toy with him over and over and reduced to just the damsel in distress who constantly needs others to do the work for him.

I want him to fight back. I want him to save himself. I want him to put in the work to change his fate.

[turtlecleric]

bay!donnie x female reader, angst/hurt/comfort; technically nsfw but this is not a spicy fic

ah fuck. cws: negative thoughts? negative self-image? I... think that's all?

---

Truthfully, you should've seen this coming. Work has been hard lately. You've been feeling a little down and a lot stressed out for a while now. Tired all the time. That negative voice in your head speaking up more frequently, other people's words cutting a little deeper than usual. Amplifying the negative and brushing past the positive, letting things get to you even though you know sometimes your brain is a lying asshole.

So, really. You should've known. You should've said something. Something about how sensitive you're feeling. How normally you love a good mixture of degradation and praise but right now you really, really need him to stick with praise. You should've said something. 

But you didn't. 

The tears come suddenly. The dull ache in your chest sharpens, like a shard of glass, wedging itself between your ribs and pressing in further with every inhale. You feel like you're not getting any oxygen at all, your lungs seizing as your breaths quicken. You can't- you can't breathe. 

Just a stupid fucktoy, Donnie had called you. And normally you love that. Normally that's perfect - you've come to the sound of those words plenty of times before. But now…

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. A stupid fucktoy. That's all you're good for, isn't it? You can't do anything right except be used. But, oh, you can't even do that right, can you? Because now you're crying, and he's stopped using you. He's stopped, and you're truly useless now, and you're so so fucking stupid. 

He calls your name. Takes the gag out of your mouth. Gently wipes at the tears streaming down your cheeks and asks if he's hurt you. If he went too fast, if you weren't fully prepared. If you want him to stop. 

You can't speak, but you shake your head. 

“Dove, what is it? What's wrong?”

Nothing. Everything. You. It's just you, you're what's wrong. You're wrong and useless and stupid, and you can't breathe. 

“Hey, hey, you're okay. It's okay, here, come here, it's okay.” 

He's holding you. Cradling you to his chest as you sob like the pathetic thing that you are. When the soft cuffs that held your hands behind you are released, you can't help but cling to him and bury your face in his neck. The sounds you're making are so ugly, so whiny, and you- you hate yourself. Fuck, you're pathetic. He's murmuring sweet words, brushing a hand up and down your back, trying to soothe you. He’s kind, and gentle, and you…

You don't deserve it. 

Donnie is confused. You can tell he is, and you want to explain but at the same time you don't. It doesn't really matter, though. You wouldn't be able to make yourself speak even if you did want to. Everything is too much right now, and you still can't breathe, and you're starting to feel sick to your stomach. 

Stupid. Why are you so goddamn stupid?

You cry. And cry. And cry. Muscles stiff, face swollen, you're miserable and exhausted and fucking mortified. Donnie was feeling good. He was enjoying himself, and you ruined it with your tears. Ruined it. Stupid girl, you ruin everything. 

You try to apologize. It comes out garbled, but somehow he understands. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Dove. You've done nothing wrong.” Donnie presses a kiss to your hair, still running a hand up and down your back. Soothing, kind, gentle, he's everything. And you don't deserve him.

Time passes. Sobs turn into sniffles, which start to come farther and farther apart. When you finally go completely quiet, he's still murmuring sweet words into your hair. 

You feel sick. Tense. Nauseous and shaky and gross. Inside and out, you feel wrong. Hollowed out, scraped clean of everything except this ache in your chest that won't go away.

Stupid. So fucking stupid. 

Donnie moves, still cradling you close with one arm as he leans forward and reaches for something. A blanket is draped over you. You hadn't even realized how cold you were, but the relief is instant. Your muscles start to fully relax, and you find yourself melting into his hold even further. 

He presses another kiss into your hair. “What happened, my love?”

You swallow thickly, glad that your face is hidden in his neck. You don't want to tell him. It feels so- so stupid. For you to have reacted like that. For you to be so affected by nothing. You open your mouth, but nothing comes out. Nothing, nothing, that's all you are. Nothing. 

“I'm going to list some things. Just shake your head or nod for me, okay?”

After a moment, you nod against his neck. 

“Did I go too fast?”

You shake your head. 

“Did I hurt you?”

You hesitate for a moment, then shake your head. There's a stretch of silence where you swear you can hear him thinking, analyzing your hesitation.

“Was it what I said?”

You should nod, but you can't make yourself do it. There's a thick, heavy anxiety there, keeping you from confirming even though you're not sure why. Donnie understands anyway, because of course he does. He's perfect, and kind, and smart, and you're just so-

His arms tighten around you. He doesn't say that you should've told him you were feeling down. He doesn't say that you should know better, that you should know that he doesn't mean it and that it was just part of the fantasy. He doesn't say any of that, because he understands. He understands, as he always does, that what you need is for him to keep murmuring kind words into your hair. To keep gently caressing your skin, holding you like you're something precious. To combat the venomous thoughts that are holding you hostage.

He understands. 

It's okay, Dove. You're okay. Everything is alright. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, okay? You're not stupid. You're not whatever mean things your head is saying right now. You're perfect, and I love you so much. I love you so much, Dove. You're perfect just as you are, okay? My pretty girl. Right here with me, where you belong. You're so good, sweetheart, so good. I've got you. 

His words are like a balm on your soul, and you drink them up greedily. Holding onto him like he's a lifeline - because he is. He is. 

The tears come back. You can't help the ugly keens, the way your body shakes. Through it all, he holds you close and soothes you inside and out in the way only he can. 

Not stupid, Dove. Smart. Kind. Brave and capable and good. You're so good, and I love you so much. I love you, I love you, I love you-

You'll never understand how he does this - how he makes that feeling of wrong wrong wrong fade away. But he does. The sharp tangle in your chest is unraveling, and you're finally able to breathe and actually feel like you're getting oxygen. You're so grateful, and you're so fucking lucky, and you love him so much. By the time you start to drift, with his soft voice echoing in your ears, both you and the keratin you're resting against are warm. 

Later, when you wake, fully soothed and capable of speech once again, there will be more to talk about. But for now, Donnie holds you. Soothing you with his voice, his hands, his everything. And you finally, finally let yourself rest. 

[winteriron-trash]

rdj the (whitewashed) electric boogaloo

This is a reminder to everyone who's excited about RDJ's casting as Doctor Doom that this casting is whitewashing. Victor Von Doom is a Romani character and has been a Romani character since his introduction in the 1960s. (Fantastic Four Annual #2 [1964]) Not only that, but his Roma identity and the persecution he and his family faced due to it is integral to his character, it is what forms his identity. (Books of Doom by Ed Brubaker) Even if on the off chance this casting is meant to not be Victor but instead be some variant of Tony or whomever else becoming Doctor Doom, it is damaging to the character to rob him of that important cultural background. Doctor Doom does not exist without that history. Fans have been pushing hard to cast Doom as a Romani actor for years, especially since the MCU has whitewashed other Romani characters. (Wanda, Pietro, etc) This casting is not a celebration moment, it's fucking heartbreaking that the MCU repeatedly ignores the important and nuanced cultural backstories of characters.

I know I can't change anybody's mind on whether or not you want to be excited about RDJ's return to the MCU. But I do think at the very least you should be mad that the MCU is baiting us all and destroying nuanced and interesting characters for the sake of self-referential easter eggs and nostalgia bait. Because that's what it is. Feel how you'd like to feel about RDJ's return, but personally, this is soul-sucking. I had such a deep love for the MCU as a teenager, it was obviously something incredibly formative to me, especially Tony Stark. This isn't recreating what I fell in love with the MCU for. This is turning a well-planned and artistic storyline of adaptations into cheap cash grabs and fan service. Because, I think we're past the point of being able to call the MCU an adaptation of anything. They can use existing characters' names and powers, but to say they're being properly adapted is laughable.

This is not an adaptation of Doctor Doom. This is RDJ the Electric Boogaloo because Marvel's fear of losing the interest of dedicated MCU fans overrides their willingness to tell stories that are genuine to the characters. I don't know what there is to be excited about that. The MCU has lost its authenticity and aside from a few projects, feels heartless. Every movie is a copy of a copy. This announcement isn't something celebratory, it feels like a death knell of a cinematic universe that's so desperate to cling to relevancy it's resorting to nostalgia for a character/actor who hasn't even been dead for a decade. We're not getting anything new, we're just rinsing and repeating the same song and dance.

I get it. I love Tony Stark, his death destroyed me and I to this day, rue the ending he got in Endgame. It misunderstood his arc and it robbed him of a satisfying conclusion. But the solution to that isn't dragging the corpse out of the grave five years later to whitewash an existing character with rich and interesting nuance, just to forcibly tie his existence in the MCU to Tony. Whether he is a variant or not. Why would you want someone else's fave's legacy to be destroyed simply so your fave's legacy can go on? Hell, if we were really all so hellbent on the return of RDJ and/or Tony to the MCU, we have the multiverse for a reason. There were other ways to do it that didn't whitewash and ruin someone else. This just. Isn't something to be happy about.

[salemontrial]

Why the FUCK didn't Sasha apologize to Quinni.

[whim-prone-pirate]

i'm trying not to get mad about this but i need to say something. you were not queerbaited. you were not taken advantage of. your ship broke up. they were together canonically for six months and they broke up. you do not have to justify your sadness by pretending there is queerphobia at play in the writers room. in case you all fucking forgot, again, there are two married lesbian main characters who have been there since day one, another stable mlm supporting couple, a gay supporting character with a loving and supportive best friend, and buck is still fucking queer without his one-season boyfriend!!! not to mention the trans man and mlm relationship on lone star. please be sad, please be upset, please express your emotions in this time of hurt, do not pretend that you were wronged.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

with a few minutes' reflection and a second conversation with my parents I have realized that I may have overblown things and overreacted a bit and also in some ways they're correct even if I think they're also harsh about it