#You can justify a lot when you think you're saving someone's life.

[msfcatlover]

Someone from a more normal comics verse: "Wait, what are you doing like this?"

Red Hood Steph: "Well you see, little bird, I didn't have to die. I actually had the chance to prevent it. There I was, gun to Black Mask's head, and all I had to do was pull the trigger. Gods knew he already had the body count to justify it. It wasn't like he was ever going to stop."

Red Hood Steph: "But I didn't. Because stupid Batman and his stupid rules, and Cass & Damian always getting on my case about the value of human life—we're not better than them, nobody is more valuable than anyone else, no right to take lives into our own hands—all that bullshit. Like we don't do that every single time we go out in costume. Like a fucking serial killer maybe feeling bad someday is going to fix any of what he did. Is going to bring back even a single victim, or comfort their families."

Red Hood Steph: "So, yeah. I chose to be a good little bat and didn't shoot Sionis. You know what happened next?"

The other person: "You died?"

Red Hood Steph: "No. I suffered. That fucking bastard dragged it out for as long as he could, found every possible way to hurt me that wouldn't be immediately fatal, and then left me there. Death was a mercy that came hours later."

Red Hood Steph: "Do you know how much they valued that? The life I'd lost for their cause, the years I'd dedicated to their crusade, the love & loyalty that I held onto until the bitter end? Do you know what that earned me?"

Red Hood Steph: "A show funeral full of pretty, empty words. My daughter thrown out in a matter of weeks. My killer off the streets for less than 3 months. And another kid in the same fucking suit, facing the same fucking risks I did, with the same fucked up messages being spewed in his ears before the year was out."

Red Hood Steph: "A kid who is now mostly paralyzed from the waist down, and tortures himself daily for the sake of their image, by the way."

Red Hood Steph: "And now there's another one. Running around in my fucking death shroud."

Red Hood Steph: "How do you think it's going to work out this time?"

The other person: "So, this is about saving Jason?"

Red Hood Steph: "Pfft. No, this is about making Roman Sionis suffer just as much as any of his victims did before the end. This is about fixing all the damage I let happen to this city by not pulling that trigger. This is about proving a fucking point."

Red Hood Steph: "This is about making the most of my unexpected overtime, by making the fact that I'm back everyone's problem. Because fuck the Waynes."

The other person:

Red Hood Steph: "...But also, yeah, I don't want the brat to sacrifice his life for Bruce's stupid crusade. He's not a ninja, he's not a weapon, he's got no powers—he's just a kid."

Red Hood Steph: "Nothing's ever going to make the Bats see him that way, though. And grounding us has never worked, not even once. If he's going to walk away from this and have a normal life, it has to be his own choice."

Red Hood Steph: "And if I have to be the bad guy to make him see that, then I guess I'm the bad guy."

Red Hood Steph: "As long as he walks away with everything still working, he'll be better off than me or Tim."

[brucewaynehater101]

I have a vent fic wip that I may or may not finish so I just need to tell someone that I am...feeling so many things all the time about the consequences of the 16th birthday but...

primarily, right now, at this moment. without Robin/Bruce, Tim thought he would lose Dick and everyone else he knew through Robin. and then a little bit later when he quit for Jack, he got radio silence for Months until he became a potential victim, and even then it was just Cass stopping in to give the message and be like "I'll watch you to keep you safe 👁️👁️ ok bye" and he had actual Proof that without Robin, he would lose everyone.

and then. Dick "you're my equal (even tho I'm drastically changing your life without your knowledge or permission), you're my closest ally (even tho you don't even have a name to go out in the field to assist me as backup), I need you (even tho, as mentioned, I made a huge decision without your input because I didn't need it because I know best actually)" Grayson.

skipping over the fact that Dick didn't even have the time to say "you're fired" or anything resembling that, when Tim lost "Robin" to Damian, he felt like he lost everything else too. it didn't matter what Dick said about "equals" or "allies" or "needing". he already had Concrete Proof that it was all false. cheap words that are easily disproven do nothing in this situation, Dichard!

(disclaimer: I love and respect Dick Grayson, I just also think Dick Stopped Existing as soon as he made Damian his Robin for the most pathetic stupid illogical risky-ass excuse he could ever give for making anyone Robin (or a vigilante in general). "because he'll kill someone again". who the fuck says that?? who thinks "oh no oh god oh fuck this kid is gonna go off the rails he's gonna kill someone, I need to Put Him In A Place Of Power Over Oblivious Innocent Untrained People Who Are Expecting A Kind And Empathetic Hero To Save Them" hUH???? ok sorry, I just wanted to rant about what Tim "losing Robin" meant)

I agree with ya. Dick Grayson is fantastic, but it seems weird that he nuked his entire relationship with Tim (a very strong one that other fans have referred to them as "The Brothers") for the new kid.

Yes, Damian is a ten year old traumatized kid who just lost the dad he didn't really have the chance to get to know. Yes, Damian needed guidance, boundaries, and compassion.

But DC spent so much time and effort building up Tim and Dick's rapport only to obliterate it once the "blood son" came in (I also love Damian. This is not hate on the kid. This is confused commentary on DC's choices). It's just a strange idea, but that's also why it hurts so much when Dick does that to Tim.

Then you tie in Tim losing Robin by Dick to Tim's experiences before? Fuck. You are so right for that.

As far as the RR run, Dick could've handled Tim believing Bruce a bit better. I don't necessarily blame him for that one. I get why he wasn't supportive in the way Tim wanted, even though I would've chosen differently for my siblings.

Dick taking Robin, though? That was fucked up. I, honest to the gods, do not see how that was a justified course of action. I can understand his perspective, but it's still not okay. At all.

There's your very adequate analysis:

Robin, for Tim, is his tie to his loved ones. He has proof (twice) that without it, he does not have access to the people he cares about and his support system.

Dick said a lot of pretty words about "equals," but his actions were precisely contradictory to his "intentions."

Tim has had Robin taken from him before or had to give it up. He chose to go back despite this. He obviously feels strongly about being Robin

Damian has not proven, at this point, to be trustworthy as a vigilante (someone in power without oversight). He has instead shown use of excessive force

This isn't even going into the way he found out. That's just an extra layer.

The way Tim has repeated lost and regained Robin (even after RR) as well as his title as Red ROBIN are, to me, a sign that he's still trying to hold on. It's my belief that he would have moved onto a new title, like his predecessors, if it hadn't constantly been an unsure role.

His start was rocky as hell due to Bruce not initially wanting it. Tim had to prove himself and put himself into the costume.

He "quit" twice before it was taken from him in a traumatic way (nothing like being instilled with the fear that the position you've held for four years can suddenly be yanked out from under you without warning)

Damian and Jason both vehemently protested to him being Robin

It would make sense if all of these factors combined to Tim's unwillingness or inability to just let Robin go, especially when we factor in his reason to be Robin. Since Bruce never really gets "better" and continually falls back into bad habits, Tim needs to maintain his task of pulling Bruce back from the edge. We could also throw Jean Paul into this to further how Tim is forced to play as the barrier between a grown adult and their desire to harm others in the name of good.

So, Tim's time as Robin is marked by consistent instability while contrasted with his inherent position as Bruce's leash and the batfam fixer. While the other Robins did have times of doubt, the predecessors of Tim did not have the pervasive role insecurity with regards to Robin.

They had their big moment at the end and some smaller moments in-between, but not quite on the continous scale of Tim. Tim had three big moments and was still sucked back into Robin when Damian quit.

To be Robin is to earn Bruce's love and the ability to be part of the Wayne family. To lose Robin is the risk of losing that (at least to the perspectives of the Robins if not 100% the reality).

I'm not sure I'm articulating this accurately. Regardless, no wonder Tim clutches the title of Robin with bleeding hands no matter how much it cuts him and costs him.

[cherryredstars]

First off, I love you.

Second off, I love you A LOT.

Okay so I’m losing my mind over a brain vomit where younger reader’s been harboring and hiding feelings for Miguel for the sake of being appropriate and it’s starting to make her frustrated like “fuck I’m gonna get actually fucking sick and vomit” because how much she’s crushing on him is CRAZY, so reader basically goes up to Miguel like “I can’t take this anymore.” Like reject me so I can move on type of thing. “ Do me a favor, and break my nose or something. Tell me to fucking go away” or something like that. My brain is burning.

Pairing(s): Miguel O'Hara x fem!reader, John Price x civil!reader

Warnings: Fluff

A/N: For my baby, I LOVE YOUUUUUUU!!!

Edited (just for you boo)

| Miguel O'Hara

If you look at him, you will actually throw up.

Like projectile 'make yourself a laughing stock' throw up. It's just the way your body- your stomach- reacts when you see him. It gets twisted, fluttery with a fix of butterflies and disgust. It's down right disgusting, inappropriate at the least. He's almost a decade older than you, yet here you are pining after him as if you're some teenage girl. You feel physically sick when you think about it for too long: throat contracting and your stomach hurting. You aren't sure which of your delusions are the cause of such a horrendous crush, but you promise you'll strangle it when you find out. There is simply no way this could have ever worked out in your favor. It's simply impossible.

Miguel O'Hara would never go for someone like you. Young and naive, haven't even reached the appropriate age to have a mid-life crisis (but you're sure this is the closest fucking thing to it). You know this, hammer it into your thick skull every day before you have to face him. Yet, it all comes crumbling down when you lay eyes on him. It takes less than a second for you to skip after him, a stupid, lovesick look flickering across your face as you help him with whatever he needs. You simply can't stay away, even if you tried. You always fall back into his orbit, gravity pushing you towards him until you're practically glued to him.

You're sure he must find it annoying. Probably relates it to something like babysitting. It's well known Miguel doesn't like to be bothered when he's working. But there you are without fail, sitting around on his platform entertaining yourself by playing with LYLA when you aren't out saving universes. You don't miss the way his eyes flick to you every now and then with some emotion you can't quite place. But if you had to guess, it's probably something close to exasperation.

In all honesty, you're tired of it.

Tired of the false hope you delude yourself into believing after every minor interaction. Tired of trying to justify your affection for the older man. Tired of feeling a bit of resentment towards yourself. You're just... tired. He must sense it when you walk onto the platform, judging by the look he shoots you.

LYLA is muted mid-sentence as he angles his body slightly away from his monitors and towards you, watching as you plop yourself in your usual spot. He waits expectantly for your usual greeting, brows furrowing with confusion when you do nothing but play with the elastic quality of your suit. You haven't even looked at him since you got in.

"Everything alright?" His all so familiar voice asks, making your stomach ache and the urge to punch yourself stronger.

"Yeah," you respond simply, silence lapping over the two of you.

Miguel waits patiently, expecting something more. But, you don't continue. Miguel hesitates for a moment before turning back around. His eyes study the screens once more, his finger hovering over the button to unmute LYLA before you speak up again.

"Can you like... degrade me or something?"

Miguel almost chokes on his spit when he turns around, not expecting you to say...that. You're still playing with your suit and staring at the floor, face painted with frustration. You look up when he doesn't answer, brows furrowed when your eyes meet his shocked face. You quickly divert your attention to his muscular shoulder, not really having the courage to face him head-on.

"Not like the... sexy kind. More like the heart wrenching kind." You clarify, not that it's any better for Miguel.

He turns to full face you this time, arms crossed over his chest as he studies you. The request doesn't really make sense to him. Why would you want him to do that? Is it some universe-exclusive culture he isn't aware of?

"Why?" Miguel asks, trying to recall your past interactions to see if they have something to do with your strange request.

"I dunno, just thought it might make it easier?" You shrug, your eyes flicking to his again and then looking towards the ceiling.

"Make what easier, exactly?"

Miguel isn't a fan of cryptic answers, but he tries to be patient with you. He watches as your face twists, unsure how to word what you're feeling. You let out a heavy sigh eventually, actually meeting his eyes and holding his gaze for once.

"To get over you."

The words cause Miguel to freeze, his body going rigid. You groan, hiding your embarrassed face in your hands and scrubbing ferociously. This is absolutely embarrassing. You wished a random portal would just appear under you, throwing you into another universe and far away from this particular moment in time.

You're so caught up in your embarrassment that you don't realize Miguel is walking over to you until he's crouched down in front of you. He pries your hands gently from your face, giving you the softest smile you have ever seen on him. His thumbs caress your wrists absentmindedly, doing nothing to calm your raging heart. It practically explodes when he leans closer, pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head. Your eyes are wide and dazed as you look up at him, trying to commit the curve of his mouth to memory.

"Now, why would I want you to do that?"

_____________

| John Price

You aren't exactly sure when it started.

But the moment you realized you liked John, you've started hating yourself. It feels wrong. Almost disrespectful in a way. You aren't particularly sure why, it just does. John Price is a nice man, a good man. A man that could be easily mistaken as your father if someone didn't look close enough. The man you had happened to meet and befriended one day after he had been so kind and gentle with you.

Not the man you should be liking and forcing your feelings on.

You're someone John goes to for comfort, someone he seeks out after coming home from a battlefield. Someone that's supposed to help him distress. The idea of taking advantage of that gently placed trust, of expecting something from John just because he goes to you for help, makes you want to throw up until you're nothing but a useless husk. It's shameful, eating you up on the inside until you feel like your organs are on the verge of failure.

So your solution: Avoid Johnathan Price like the plague.

Does it hurt seeing his texts flash across your phone screen, asking you if you're free throughout the week so he can spend time with you before he deploys again? Hell fucking yes. It makes you feel guilty as hell. But you try to justify it to yourself, reassuring that it's only temporary. That everything will go back to normal once these stupid feelings leave you alone and John Price goes back to being the sweet man you grab lunch with every now and then when he's home so you can catch up.

But of course, your plans never go accordingly.

You startle on your couch when there is a firm knocking on your door, your hands rushing to pause the telly to see if it was just a hallucination. But sure enough, that same steady knocking sounds again. You get up hesitantly, brows furrowed as you try to remember if you ordered take away or something. You peak through the peep-hole, hand planted on the cool wood of the door as you squint.

The alertness in your body dies away when the familiar frame of John greets you, only to tense up again. John Price is at your door. The same John price you've been avoiding for a week. The same exact John fucking Price you're practically in love with. Your hand slides down to the knob, gulping nervously as you unlock it and yank your door open.

John is standing there with his hand raised again to knock, decked out in his military gear. His hands drop to grip the strap of his vest, his mutton chops quivering as his face lifts into his soft smile. You blink up at him, feeling the knob warm under your hand and your heart slamming against your chest. Why did he have to be so handsome, goddamnit?

You step out of the doorway, silently inviting him inside. He accepts it, stepping in and examining the area out of habit. You close the door quietly after him, turning to face him as he turns to face you.

"Missed ya, love? Been busy lately?" He asks in that comfortingly rough voice of his.

You don't trust yourself to not choke on your words, scared he'll see through your lies. Instead you nod, letting out a weak hum that he returns in a more confident note. Your eyes drop down to his military gear, a frown slipping onto your face. Is he being deployed again?

As if sensing the underlying question, John's hands let go of his military vest and he stuffs them into the pockets of his tactical pants.

"Heading out tonight, just wanted to say goodbye before I go since I didn't get to see you this time around."

You feel a stab to your chest at his words, resisting the urge to lift your hand and smooth the pain.

"John..." You start hesitantly, your mouth going dry when he hums again. "Can you tell me you hate me? Or... or that you think I'm stupid or something?"

John tilts his head in confusion, brows furrowing as his lips thin. There is a silent question in your eyes, an aura of demand wafting from him that orders you to explain further. Your hand comes to rub your arm, socked heel digging into your ankle as you debate how much to tell him.

"It's just... I like you and I don't..." You sigh in frustration, turning your head away to glare at the wall. "I don't want you to think I'm trying to take advantage of how nice you've been to me or that I expect you to reciprocate how I feel."

It's quiet for a moment before John's chuckling fills the room. Your head turns away from the wall, meeting the sparkling amusement in John's eyes as he looks at you. There is a fondness there that makes your knees feel weak, your breath getting trapped in your lungs. John takes steady, reassured steps towards you, stopping when he's centimeters away. Your heart is practically lurching in your chest as you look up at him, watching as he slowly takes off his boonie hat.

Your eyes are wide as he places it over your head, chuckling when it slips down over your face before he readjusts it. He admires the sight for a second before he leans down, his facial hair tickling your cheeks as his lips press against the corner of your mouth. Your heart officially stops, your body dangerously close to swaying as he pulls away. You're in a daze as he pinches your cheek lightly, trying to call your attention away from the sparks lingering across your skin.

"We'll take about this when I get back, silly girl." He rumbles, his heavy paw landing on the top of his hat before he slips past you, closing and locking the door behind him as he disappears out of your flat. You're left in a daze as your shaky hands reach up and grasp the rim of his hat, the smell of him instantly invading your senses.

And when John reaches base and the lads pester him about where his usual hat is, he just shakes his head and replies that he left it at home for safe keeping.

[sophie-frm-mars]

I just wanna gush about DBT for a second

DBT saved my life so I'm gonna spend a moment telling everyone how helpful it can be because I know there are a lot of people with BPD out there who need to hear it.

so cluster B personality disorders are characterised by, among other things "unrelenting crisis" - this is the combination of the feeling that every small problem you encounter is just yet more insurmountable bullshit and the reality that you have a lot of bad shit going on in your life, some of caused by the wider world beyond your control and inevitably some of it self-inflicted. The problem is, to someone who is constantly activated and feels life as this kind of non stop catastrophe, it's really hard to practice skills learned in therapy to do anything about it AND it feels impossible to judge what is an appropriate thing to spend your energy on, where to even begin tackling your problems.

The group component of DBT is explicitly justified in the therapists' manual as tackling this, which I think is genius. A borderline patient will bring new problems to their therapist every week and not focusing on them will trigger feelings of abandonment but the patient will definitely have forgotten all about this problem and moved onto a new one by next session or the one after so you have two therapies, one talk therapy one-on-one and the other a group setting like a class where you learn the DBT skills, and then in the group setting no patient feels like they're being especially ignored by the therapist because they're all there to learn the skills as peers. I just think that's really clever

The bit that really whips though is the skills around Accumulating positive experiences and Building mastery. Okay so your life feels like shit, right? Like one shit thing after another? Your therapy is to have a nice time and get better at something in a way that makes you proud. There's a whole acronym for the skills you need to use to keep yourself well, ABC PLEASE, but C and PLEASE are all essentially preventative skills to stop you having an actively bad time or worsening your mental health, and A and B (Accumulate positive experiences, Build mastery) are the ones where you're proactively creating your life worth living and I love it so much.

Accumulating Positive Experiences really does just mean having a nice time in an intentional way. It can literally be watching TV, it can be whatever you want, but you approach it thinking about what will make good experiences that will actively make you feel like you are leading a life worth living. My girlfriend and I went to the planetarium and took edibles last month and it owns so hard that according to DBT that's therapy

Building Mastery is all about helping you get a sense of momentum and direction by improving at something, ideally something that isn't also what you do for work. I know "get a hobby" seems like such basic advice for helping someone out of a rough time but like I've been bouldering since early last year and seeing myself get better at it has been impossibly good for me.

I've been getting into cooking this year as one of my Building mastery practices, at first just regularish like "how can I feed myself in a way that feels like I'm showing myself care at all" like finally learning how to make some of the comfort foods I had in childhood like beef stew, or trying out new things on my very basic salmon, potatoes and broccolli, like teriyaki glaze on broccolli or making hasselback potatoes. Then after a while it became a thing where I felt confident enough to actually thing about a little project and do it like around when my gf and I started officially dating I made her roast lamb and dauphinoise potatoes (nothing photographs well, sorry in advance lol), or we started rewatching Twin Peaks and I really wanted cherry pie so I made my own, which I had never done before!

and at the same time as improving at that stuff I felt like I was good enough at it that cooking for other people was a way I could show them care, which was something I had always wanted but never put in the time to making a reality.

In The Endings Machine: Technology & Teleology I talked about how cooking vegan food in groups is more effective in several ways that going vegan yourself and afterwards my sister (who helped with recording) said to me and a friend "I've been thinking about this ever since filming, we should do this!" and we've been holding a rotating vegan group meal at other's places fortnightly since then, and it's been really good! (This idea btw was partly inspired by my time on the ZAD where communal living leads to group cooking on a rotation, mostly vegan) For the first one I made a spicy mushroom pasta, then I had to bring the dessert to one and I made a vegan chocolate tart with coconut milk instead of dairy making a coconut chocolate filling and it was SOOO good

Last week the vegan meal was at mine again and it fell on halloween so we invited more people and arranged a little spooky movie screening and I made SOOO much food and it was all fucking fantastic. My gf and I made dhal makhani, aubergine rice, parathas, vegan raita and onion bhajis and served them with some mango chutney and some oven-cook samosas that were just from big tesco. I'm so fucking proud of myself, I've never cooked this much before and it went so well! I guess what I really want to get across is how looking at this from the DBT perspective I gotta get across how good this shit is for your mental health and how absurdly well it dovetails with building community.

There are all sorts of other ways Accumulating positive experiences and Building mastery help, because DBT is a very holistic approach to helping people get better - like if you know what things you like doing and you plan them to be available to you, you know that you're going to be happy with your own company, which means if you're having a shit time around someone else you're happy saying "I would be having a better time being alone right now" and just leaving. That makes it easier to live up to your self-respect goals, which are a big part of the DBT interpersonal effectiveness skills, as well as helping to tackle every cluster B girlie's deep seated fear of abandonment.

I could go on an on, but the salient thing right now is that there are a lot of people struggling with stuff I relate to as someone who has had my shit rocked by Borderline Personality Disorder for years and years, and I know that the biggest feeling at core is like "what is this all for? what is the thing that we are all trying to do in the space we are chaotically scrabbling to try to clear all the time?" and this is the answer: you want to accumulate positive experiences and build mastery, and when you get to doing it you have such a profoundly more grounded sense of being in the world, of what it is that's worth being here for and what stands in the way of life just being like that for everyone and a more meaningful drive to try and make it be that way for everyone.

I also wanna go on and on about how Interpersonal Effectiveness makes everyone better at organising too, but I think the Life Worth Living is the better sales pitch for DBT. idk in short a close friend pitched it to me a little while ago that all leftists should learn DBT and it would make the revolution way easier and the more I live of my life worth living the more I agree.

[cpericardium]

So! I've gotten a host of messages and asks regarding recent disk horse and I wanted to address them as a collective.

I know I have anon asks off, I won't share your URLs, but I do want to thank you for asking and clarifying some of the frankly vile things people have been saying about me, my girlfriend, and friends. I value those of you who offered your words of support, and didn't jump to believe screenshots taken out of context and lies written with the utmost confidence and none of the facts. I am a little tired of having my morals questioned and my views conflated with every single person I associate with, but there it goes.

tumblr user cpericardium suspiciously silent on the subject of Gaza: does this mean you support ethnic cleansing???

My reticence when it comes to posting about topics like I/P is because:

-This is a fandom blog intended for lighter topics, except maybe the occasional vent about life stuff, which I usually hide under a cut. I don't have sideblogs. They seem tough to maintain and I don't post nearly enough to justify it. If I were to make one it would be for another fandom or maybe just the freakier bugs. I simply prefer my social media experience to be stress-free.

-Anti-slacktivism. It's a documented thing: posting about an issue makes you feel like you're doing something, you get that little shot of dopamine, so you don't actually go out and do something that effects meaningful change. I'm trying to do less of that. I'm good with the friends and people I follow who choose to post about it and this is a strictly personal belief, but when I engage in activism, it is offline or it is a donation. You're not going to hear about it.

But don't you reblog lgbt and women's rights posts?

Yeah, and that's usually when I want to save a post for one reason or another (e.g. to talk about with someone on discord later). The bottom line is that the main purpose of my blog is not to post political takes or to spread awareness of anything. It is just a collection of my interests (fan stuff, bugs) and hopefully a way to share those interests with like-minded people.

I will state my views clearly for the record: I support Palestine. The ongoing genocide is heartbreaking and so is the violence against protestors. Additionally, I am against antisemitism and the harassment of Jewish people in the name of supporting Palestine. This shouldn't even need to be said.

Is your girlfriend a Zionist?

No.

Does she support Zionists?

No.

Wasn't she in the military?

Yes, years ago.

But the military is evil?

It is. She's extremely hardcore anti-war and anti-military, does not believe the US should even have an army, and actively PMs strangers on reddit to try to convince them to not make the same mistake. If they're dead set anyway, she gives them detailed advice on how to survive. Because she actually cares about the human cost of war, not the social clout gained from shunning or sneering at people who make wrongheaded choices. I have seen her doing this, seen her seeking to understand their reasons for joining so she can systematically explain—from personal experience!—why they're not going to get any of that out of the army. It is a hell of a lot more effective than bitching them out or writing callout posts or starting whisper campaigns about them. She cannot delete those years of her life no matter how much she regrets them. There is only forward. I think we can all agree on that.

But what about all those things she said. "I regret nothing, I have no qualms, VA nipple money etc."

Well you have to understand that while of generally upright character, she is a bit of a scamp. She believes she fundamentally should not have to explain herself to randos who do not know her, who have never, not once, interacted with her, who are clearly digging for dirt and will twist anything she says no matter how banal. People see what they want to see and they look for evidence to reinforce their preconceptions; they'll go so far as to make alts to join servers, cherry-pick screencaps, crop them, and conveniently fill in the rest of the narrative for curious onlookers. So she decided to exaggerate and amplify and twirl her mustache like a supervillain. Give them a show, as it were.

To be clear, I'm not sold on this strat because it makes her look cartoonishly evil to people who can't understand sarcasm and hyperbole. But her friends and I are aware of her actual beliefs from actually talking with her for more than one (1) second instead of immediately believing two mysteriously cropped screencaps from a thirdhand source, and also aware that she did not in fact do those things people imagine she did. And isn't that what matters? Real-life harm? Do you even care?

Re: screenshots/so-called proof from shakertwelve & lakesbian's "callouts"

Girlfriend addresses them here. I will also note they have spread lies about me and other people before.

[alicentsultana]

Some of my alicole beliefs and rants:

1. I think the want had always been there (especially when you're being fucked by a corpse, but we're not gonna talk about that today)

2. Religion and morality doesn't mean those who have/follow will stick to it.

3. Repression and trauma can change people and it reflect in their actions, including self-harm (as we see Alicent doing) and other things like drugs and alcohol (like Aegon does), fighting (like Aemond), but the cope mechanism here went to sex, as many people do. Like repressed people irl who are one person at home and away from their parents/family/partners are someone completely different. You cannot be pro lgbtqia+ and not know this, baby karen project...

4. Twenty fucking Jesus dancing years together. We see clear as day that Criston have to do the work that supposedly should have been Viserys' - like giving attention to his wife and kids, not forget their name and rather to find them dead. Let her drool on a dilf that practically raised her kids, for fucks sake

5. There's a lot to unpack. They might have done it at Driftmark, marking the death of duty, as we saw someone pointing out early. They give give give. And it's never enough, it's a doomed matter, even for them, after all, what's stopping them? Promises have already been broken, what do they have left?

6. It's easy to love Anne Boleyn an go Henry VIII on others, huh?

7. They are very much devoted to each other and it shows. And it goes beyond the religious undertones, she practically saved his life while he stopped her from falling from grace, despite being justified in her rage, now tell me, what would you feel if it were you?

8. I have the genuine impression that the targtowers kids know. It's monday for them, it send lights to Aegon's affairs, but that's Freudian talk. Criston didn't had to like or do anything for 4 brats, yet, we see how Aemond respects him, how he can freely chastise Aegon in public, how the show made us nothing but a disfavour, old news. And once again, there he was.

9. This is the less problematic relationship on this show, you wish it wasn't consensual, they had years to pull away.

10. From all the men around her, only one apparently hasn't failed her.

11. Emotional attachment. Both sides.

12. Viserys was emotionally unavailable first, unless you all think is normal to call the name of another wife, and look into my eyes and tell me he hadn't done it even in bed. Alicent eventual actions seems more than justified to me.

12. Rhaenyra is a topic between them, but well, is dragon criminal pussy really misleading them?

13. Good for them.

[reareaotaku]

You're an Idiot

Summary: Eddie realizes he's inlove with an idiot Pairings: Eddie Kaspbrak x Reader Tw: Slight Angst, Slight Jealousy

He doesn't know when he came to the conclusion that you were an idiot, but it must have been all the little things adding up. The first incident was a few months ago.

----

The group was at a party, buying stuff to celebrate New Years. You, Eddie, and Richie were looking at party hats and noisemakers. The last thing the party needed was noisemakers, which is what Eddie and Richie were arguing about.

"I don't want to have my fucking eardrums blown out by those stupid things," Eddie says, taking the noise makers out of your hands.

"Oh, you're such a wet fucking blanket, Eddie," Richie rolls his eyes, snatching the noisemakers back and giving them to you.

"You guys New Years Revolution should be to stop arguing with each other," You offhandly remark, causing them both to stop and stare at you.

"Revolution? Do you mean RESolution?" Richie mocks you, causing you to blush. "God, that's so funny. You're such a stupid bitch."

"Leave her alone, you asshole."

"Aww, does this princess need her knight in shinning armor to save her?" He makes a clicking noise as he taunts you both.

Eddie grabs your hand, dragging you off, leaving Richie there to make a fool of himself.

---

Eddie hadn't thought about it much, but then another incident happened less than a week later.

You had been holding a can of Tuna by Chicken of the Sea and you turned to him and said-

"Is this chicken or fish? I know it says Tuna, but it says..... it says Chicken of the Sea?"

In that moment he had questioned every life decision he made. He thought maybe he had misheard you, so he asked you to repeat yourself. Though, you just repeated yourself, making him lightly sigh.

The final straw, when he really had to accept you were the stupidest person on earth.

He was at your house, just the two of you and you wanted a burrito. You put it in the microwave and he watched when you took it out, threw it away and grabbed another burrito.

"Why did you throw it away?"

"It wouldn't heat up."

You had said it like HE was being stupid. His jaw was nearly on the floor. When he finally gathers himself, he decides to question what the hell that meant.

"What do you mean?"

"It was still cold."

"Why didn't you heat it longer?"

"I heated it for the time on the package and it was still cold."

You were so simpleminded and he was actually impressed. He respected you, but not in the way as one respects someone. He just respected you lived this long being so stupid. He couldn't go another day without saying something.

"You're so dumb."

You turned towards him, confused, "What?"

"I love you, like a lot. But, god you are so stupid."

"That is so rude." You were looking at him wide-eyed, as he covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"You're so dumb, though. Like don't get me wrong, I DO love you, but come on."

You frowned and didn't speak to him for a solid week.

Fast foward to now, you were sitting across for each other at a cafe. Neither of you were talking, but he was looking at you, wanting to talk to you.

"So..."

You looked up at him, glaring. He could sense your anger and he leaned in, reaching for your hands.

"You know I love you-"

"Oh really? I thought I was an idiot."

"You are-" When he saw your glare sharpen his eyes widened and he coughed into his hand. "I mean.... Sometimes, your light isn't as bright as it could be."

"You're just calling me stupid in a metaphorical way."

"That's not true." He tried to justify, and your head dipped, your face going blank.

"Oh, don't patronize me."

There's a moment of silence as he watches you, trying to think of what he's supposed to say. Finally, he speaks-

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Richie's called me worse."

"Well, you and Richie aren't dating and he's just an asshole."

"Thank god," You joke, lightening the mood, "Imagine if we were though." You close your eyes, thinking about it. Though, with your eyes closed, you couldn't see Eddie's glare.

"You like Richie?" He accused, causing you to quickly open your eyes.

"What? No- God, no." You repeatedly shake your head, "I'm just saying, imagine. God, that'd be terrible," You laugh and Eddie finally lightens up.

"Nightmare fuel," He jokes, "I'm sure I'd be mad if you were dating."

"Oh yeah?" You lean on your hand, smirking. "Why would you be mad?"

His eyes follow you, a light smile growing on his face, "I'd be jealous, because that idiot would be dating the most incredible, amazing, pretty-"

"Oh, flattery? You're really trying to win brownie points."

"Is it working?"

"Well, it sure isn't hurting you."

"Then I won't stop."

[mx-loar-tev]

So, about that fic idea of time traveller/serial killer JJ...

I'm toying with plot ideas.

1. Who would end up on her kill list?

Hastings, Askari and Doyle are the one that would take priority in S6. There are also the ones that JJ would feel the most justified to kill.

Izzy, the bank robbers and the other guy (forgot his name) in Hit/Run would definitely anger her so much that she could decide to preemptively get rid of them before they attack the bank in Washington. Not only she almost lost Will (the guy got shot and almost blown up twice), her son was taken hostage and she had to violently fight in front of him in their home. Her maternal instincts might push her to kill Izzy at the very least. Especially if she had already murdered three people in cold blood before that.

I'd need to rewatch the show, especially seasons 6 to 8 to see who could be on her kill list, but there's another name that come to mind: Diane Turner, the woman that stalked and killed Maeve. JJ had seen how devastated Spence had been after Meave's death, so of course she would do everything to save her and give them the opportunity to date.

The replicator is also someone that could be on the list. After all he tried to kill them all and succeeded with Strauss. I don't think JJ liked Strauss that much, even after she got sober, but the section chief is still "one of them". She also saw what Strauss' death did on Rossi, and for that only the replicator deserves to be on the list. He might not be her easiest target though.

2. About the cases:

With the amount of cases she worked on for over a decade, I think it would be hard for her to remember and keep track of it all. I'm sure she'd try to use the Intel she remembers to help with the case and save more victims, but the load of work that would come from trying to PREVENT all these crimes from happening is way to much for a single person.

Maybe there's some cases that sticked to her though, maybe she could focus on these ones if she wants to prevent them. But she can't save everyone and I'm sure it'd impact her mood severely to realise that.

I think she has a notebook written in code where she put every nugget of informations she can remember, along with ideas of how to approach each situation.

3. The butterfly effect.

Each time she changes something, kills someone that would have lived in the original time line, it has unpredictable repercussions. After a while, it would be hard to predict for JJ what would happen then. And sure, saving people's life is good. But there's no way to predict if someone else isn't going to hurt the person JJ just saved. Or just create an chain of events that would ends in tears and pain. It think at some point JJ would be overwhelmed by it all.

4. Lying to the team.

We know JJ is a great liar. Probably the best liar in the team. Her teammates failed countless times to see through her lies. But no one is perfect, especially with the amount of lies JJ would need to keep track of. I'm not sure yet how she would react from the worried and/or suspicious stares from her teammates. She'd be in a lot of pressure, that's for sure, so maybe she might slip at some point. And when you're surrounded by profiler, that can be a fatal mistake.

5. Her pregnancy.

If she killed Askari and Hastings before her humvee was blown and she miscarried, she probably would have given birth to that child. Her pregnancy and taking care of a newborn would impact the story and her ability to keep going with her mission.

6. Romance.

Sorry, I needed to put that here.

I'm quite flexible on who I ship JJ with. I'm a die-hard jemily shipper, I'll admit, but I think Will is okay even if he's not perfect.

I don't like writing Will as a bad guy, but that doesn't mean I can't write them breaking up for some reasons (JJ's odd behaviour since she arrived in the past and went on a killing spree might damage her marriage.) So that's a possibility, I guess.

But I also love the idea of polyamory. Though I'm already going that route in the fic I'm currently writing so I might want to try something else.

I could just not focus on a ship. Not every fic needs to be shippy. After all, the main interest of this fic is JJ, her psychology, the way she interacts with everyone in her life. There'd also be a huge chunk focusing on motherhood since she'd be pregnant.

Thinking about it, JJ being aromantic is something I haven't explored yet. That could be fun to write.

I haven't decided what I gonna do in that department yet.

7. How it'll end.

Or more exactly, what tone do I want to give to that story?

I mean, it'll probably be dark. But do I want a happy ending for JJ?

Even if she feels justified, what she does is morally blackish grey. That plus the weight of the lies and the amount of work that double life would require would be enough to burn her out. Once she stepped into the darkness it would be a downward spiral.

On the other hand, I like the idea of girlboss JJ being a successful charitable hitman/vigilante. I want her to have a little Deadpool vibe (sans sexual jokes and 4th wall breaking). I want her to find a confortable place where she's okay with what she's doing, even if it requires unsavoury methods.

Regardless of her state of mind, should the story end badly for her? Would her teammates find out about her? Would they arrest her? Would she escape? Would she be killed?

Or would she thrive in her new side work and remain undetected by her fellow profilers?

Would she stay at the BAU, considering she had become an unsub herself?

Do I want a happy ending? A sad one? A bittersweet one?

Thanks for reading through my musings.

If you have ideas or want to discuss that story, feel free to leave a comment/reblog and comment/send me an ask.

[winepresswrath]

hi! i always love your MDZS/CQL takes; can i ask what are the questions you think CQL is asking, as compared to MDZS?

I haven't actually revisited either canon in ages, which is making me nervous. what questions the novel is interested in can be pretty contentious all on its own! @mikkeneko has an excellent answer in the notes here which I reccomend to everyone. My own thoughts are honestly pretty scattered- I keep on deleting things and going hm, that's not quite right.

So, for the obvious-to-me example, people reasonably zero in on the creation of innocent doctors/radish farmers who Wen Ruohan is holding hostage. In CQL it's easy to infer that Wen Qing and Wen Ning are maybe the only cultivators and almost certainly the only combatants among the Wen remnants, and their status is much more ambiguous in the novel, which I personally think is asking, essentially, "and so what? were they wrong to run, when they had a chance? Do they deserve what Jin Guangshan will do to them if they go back? Aren't they just people, actually?" Whereas the question that CQL is asking is more to the effect of "What does Wen Qing owe these people, when she is their only defence? What is she entitled to do to save them, at other people's expense? If she fucks up that moral calculus, what then? Does it matter if she's personally fond of some of the outsiders who are going to get hurt? If one of them saved her brother? Later, this question will flip to what Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, and the parallel to Jiang Cheng's situation in particular is, I think, genuinely pretty fun. You're giving up the Wen as soldiers who've laid down their arms in exchange for Wen Qing also grappling with leadership and the question of how many horrors she can stand to look the other way on to protect her own people. one reason I keep deleting so much is that a lot cql's changes were motivated at least in part by censorship, which I think we mostly share a general and justified distaste for! but I also think that within the bounds of that censorship the creative team put a lot of work into actually doing something interesting with those changes. Or, for another example- nieyao! There's a much greater emphasis on the nmj-jgy relationship, it's unambiguously very close and they are clearly extremely important to one another, and I think that's because the cql team has a lot to say about love, trust, power, and the ways those things interact, and that reflects back on all of the other relationships in play, including Wangxian. Almost every time, when CQL chooses change a relationship they make the characters in question closer- that's true for Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, for Wen Qing and the Yunmeng contingent, for Zixuan and Mianmian, and Huaisang and Meng Yao. It's even true for Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, who have a close and trusting relationship in first life! CQL puts a much greater emphasis on "all right, so you care, what next?" How do you choose someone and then choose to be good to them? What if there's a massive power disparity between you? What if you seriously disagree about your priorities and morals? How do you trust someone who's betrayed you? When is it a stupid choice to trust at all? How do you have faith that you know someone well enough for that trust to be meaningful?

for legal reasons i would like to specify that it's not that mdzs isn't interested in these problems. i do remember wangxian's literal trust fall. cql is asking these questions all the time about everyone. also for legal purposes i'm not suggesting that cql lwj and jc love each other. but! they establish a three month wartime partnership looking for wwx and then jc immediately drops him on wwx's say-so despite apparently having a positive enough opinion of him to tell wwx he thinks they should make up twice. lan wangji will later tell wwx he thinks he should loop jc in on the second flautist! these are people trying to navigate some kind of relationship/shared interest/community, as opposed to a hateful void. cql wants to say hey, how do you go about this? while I'm here and rambling cql also puts a lot of emphasis on wwx's connection to yunmeng and changes things up so instead of feeling alienated right before he leaves our last glimpse of him there is happily picking lotuses and playing with a kid! in both stories the narrative is asking who do you protect? who do you leave behind? can you ever get it back? but the angles are very different.

[heavenlymorals]

Hi this is the TB!reader anon. Tysm for answering! I agreed with all that you said although one part did made me curious. So y'know how you mentioned that if a doctor recommended going somewhere then he would? I was wondering how do you think that'd work out with the gang? Surely it'd be difficult for Arthur with him being so loyal to Dutch and them. I'm also interested in how the gang would react since Arthur has been such an essential member

You're absolutely welcome, anon ❤️❤️❤️ I'm glad you enjoyed that, I took great pleasure writing it❤️❤️

When I wrote my response, I wrote it in the sense that the gang was out of the picture and I only wanted to focus on Arthur and his partner.

But if the gang was there? Honestly, I think it'd be pretty difficult. I mean, they clearly rely on him and there is also Dutch's guilt tripping.

But given how Arthur talks to John about getting out of there and taking care of his family and all that, there is also reason to believe that he'd ultimately put his partner first, especially if she's dying. Also, when he talks with Mary in their final interaction, he tells her that they will run away together right after he makes sure the gang is ok. Like, that right there shows that he is willing to leave them behind to go with Mary, but he just needs to make sure they are safe.

But this is a different situation. His partner is literally dying- he doesn't have the luxury of waiting and I think that Arthur would find that way more important then staying for Dutch. I mean, the only reason why Arthur stays with Dutch in canon is because of how he has nothing else besides the gang.

And there is reason to believe (just speculation and and a different interpretation, I'm not trying to present this as 100% canon) that Arthur WOULD'VE left the gang for Mary if they did get married but they never did. Remember, he says that Mary wasn't able to marry him because her family looked down on him for his status : "My money, my life, me. I wasn't good enough." And "I wasn't good enough to marry into your family, but it's ok in asking me to save your family?"

And in the next encounter? Arthur almost leaves because he doesn't want to deal with her father, and that's when Mary starts berating his lifestyle to defend her father.

"Surely you can't hate a man for the sin of loving his daughter and wanting better for her then, then-"

"Then me?"

"Then the choices you make!"

No where in the game does it say that Mary leaves him because he was an outlaw and didn't want to leave the gang. She doesn't marry him because her family barred her from doing so, especially her father and she clings onto that reasoning to justify to herself why she didn't marry him.

And also note that Arthur tells Mary that he WILL run away with her just as soon as he makes sure the people he is with are safe, which shows that he ultimately does choose Mary instead of the gang, but he needs to make sure they're safe first before leaving them forever and being with Mary. I mean the gang is in such a high stress situation after Blackwater, it's insane. I feel like a lot of people forget this.

But if his partner WAS in the gang and they are 100% established as being a couple AND she's dying? Yea, I feel like Arthur's priorities are going to shift because SHE'S the main focal point now. That's someone that he must take care of more than his fellow gang members. I mean just look at the way he talks to John about him leaving with his woman and child. Arthur believes that John has the responsibility of taking care of them FIRST and then the gang second because Abi and Jack are his actual immediate family.

So I honestly think he would leave. That's his woman. That's the love of his life and she is DYING. Fuck Dutch and his bullshit, they can take care of themselves, they are grown ass men and women.

I feel like the majority of the gang would be very understanding and accept that Arthur needs to go. Dutch might try to be passive aggressive, but I don't think it'd really go anywhere. Micah is Micah so he'd have a problem with it, but I doubt Arthur cares what Micah thinks.

Would Arthur come back to the gang after she passed away? Maybe. I mean, they let John back in for abandoning them for no reason whilst having a whole child. Arthur would have an actual reason to go and I don't think the gang is as heartless as all that.

Thanks for the ask anon, it has been so much fun and I hope you enjoy it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[canmom]

re gaza fundraisers situation

i don't think most of these escape-from-gaza fundraisers going around are likely to be scams. there probably are some scammers who jumped on the situation opportunistically, but there's less convoluted ways to make a buck. similarly, i think the people who are going to the effort of trying to verify them fit the profile of people who stepped up to do a difficult and quite thankless task and got in over their heads. why are there so many fundraisers? well if i was stuck in a refugee camp during a genocide and i word got around that there was a website with generous strangers who might pay for me to leave, i would probably give it a shot. so would you, I suspect. "elaborate conspiracy by porn bot operators to scam tumblr users, setting up a spurious system of 'vetting' to justify their scam" doesn't seem particularly parsimonious as a conclusion to jump to (the porn bot operators are in general just using tumblr as a free hosting service for seo shit), but if you fixate on the idea that's what's going on, and feel like you're the smart one for not falling foot it, there's very little evidence that can't be framed as part of the conspiracy. so a few people i sorta know over in the rat sphere threw out this accusation and now it's a whole furore.

even beyond that, though, there's plenty about the situation that is, through no fault of these gazan refugees, plain fucked. just like with e.g. trans fundraisers, with a loosely finite amount that people are likely willing to spare, you get a game of who can write the best appeal to emotion. for example, if you can point to a middle class occupation you used to have to supplant the stereotype of a poor refugee, that's effective rhetoric and maybe your fundraiser will go further. this is ugly and it shouldn't work like that, but that's the shape of it.

thus, the refugees end up looking at a wall of potentially hostile strangers and trying everything strat they can think to persuade them to part with money, while the tumblr user side is being constantly presented stories of strangers in pain; some of them end up trying to purchase satisfaction of moral principle, relief from feelings of complicity, etc etc. there are some personal connections between the two, but for most, that's the extent of the interaction. unfortunately, where they're continually confronted with a lot of people in very similar situations of misery, people (without some personal stake or connection keeping them invested) are likely to start mentally grouping everyone into one abstract figure of 'palestinian refugee', tuning out, finding excuses to dismiss them, etc etc. so on the refugee side, it ends up a very finite-sum game. and scammers just make that worse by mixing in an extra element of 'FUD'.

and worse, even if everything works out, mostly this money is going straight into the pockets of Egyptian border guards who set the (essentially) bribe price for putting someone on the exit list. similar to when the cops lock someone up and you have to raise bail, they can set that price to whatever they think they can get away with. there is absolutely no reason why it should cost $10,000 a head to cross from one side of a wall to another, except that the circumstances of this genocide produce an opportunity to fleece refugees - and anyone who decides to help them.

but if my friends were in Gaza you can bet I'd ask anyone who'd listen to pay those guards off for me. and if they refused, it would fucking hurt - that's my friend, they could die. a life saved is a life saved.

in general we are much more likely to move for a friend we have a personal connection to, or even a stranger who we perceive as relatable, than a total stranger, no matter how dire that stranger's situation. on some level this really feels wrong like, to each according to their need, right? somehow though applying the cold calculus of lives saved per dollar feels utterly cracked. if you're not filthy rich, there isn't really a good course to follow, because it's just a bad situation.

this isn't advice. there are always more people in need than you are capable of helping - the situation in Sudan is very dire as well for example, I've made online friends with a young gay guy at another refugee camp over there, and there's not much I can do to get him and his friends out except hope that he has some luck with certain Canadian charities. but every city on earth has people ending up destitute, right outside your door. helping someone is always a gamble. ultimately the call of which person you choose to help is quite arbitrary. so re gaza, I'm personally sending a decent chunk of monthly money to unrwa and I donated to a few fundraisers, but ultimately I'm already giving nearly all of my disposable income away to specific friends who are currently depending on me, so... is that the 'right' allocation of resources? i don't know and just have to accept the decisions i made.

charity is not a relationship that brings out the best in people, in general - it is inherently unequal, and there is a sense of shame, anxiety and suspicion that surrounds the whole thing on both sides, and that tends to find escape somehow. nobody likes to feel like a mark, nobody likes to feel like a pity case, and even in situations of legitimate suffering, nobody likes the hard sell. but as long as the genocide continues (and it shows no sign of stopping), this will continue, people will need the help. i have no solution.

[hush-writes-preg]

Been feeling pretty down on myself and where I am in life, i want kids, i know i do, but the way my life is now it feels like such an impossible goal, i can feel myself trying to rationalize not having them, that there are other things I can enjoy instead of having kids, and when i catch myself thinking that it makes me feel just as awful, im not planning on giving up on my goals, but lately their feeling more like dreams than any chance of my reality

Hey there, Anon.

For starters, big hugs for you, okay? Life is complicated on the best of days, and thinking through the added intricacies of actually spawning another human being on top of that is bound to leave anyone's brain in knots.

I completely understand the need to justify your thoughts and feelings and balance them with what's realistic. It's not easy. But please remember that YOU should be your ultimate priority. Your physical, mental, and financial health, for starters. Can you handle having kids and all of the chaos they'll bring to your life? Can you afford to feed and clothe them for the next 18+ years? Do you have someone who can help you support them and raise them? There's a whole hell of a lot to think about. And for some people, that means that having kids will have to remain a dream, and that's okay.

Try not to be hard on yourself for thinking about the big picture. The fact that you're putting thought into all of this means that you're acting responsibly, and that's a huge part of the process. If actually having kids means that you wait a little longer to be in a better place to do so, there's no shame or harm in that.

Rather than trying to talk yourself out of having them, try to think about what you will need to achieve your dream in both the short and long term. That might mean looking for a better job, or finding a more stable partner, or saving up money to meet those inevitable baby bills. Try to break your big goal up into smaller bite-sized pieces so you can see the progress you're making, rather than be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of your dream's existence.

We all hit low periods in life, Anon. But we don't have to be stuck there. Keep your chin up. You've got a lot more strength and perseverance than you realize, and becoming a parent doesn't have to be a pipe dream. ❤️

[mdhwrites]

Since you watched Hazbin hotel, you maybe have watched Helluva Boss too. I have a question, cause im curious.

Do you think that Stolas's marriage was retconned to victimize him?

So I'm going to swerve this at first to just talk about the fact that what they did with Stolas is nothing new, it's just essentially twin tropes smashing together at the same time. Both are ways people use family to humanize someone, and in a broader context two ways in general used to humanize someone. His daughter is essentially "Save the Cat" where by showing a gentler, warmer, more caring side of himself, we know there's nobility in him which can paint some of his better actions in a kinder light. Meanwhile, his wife shows the pressure and cruelty upon him, the way life crushes him, that makes his crueler actions seem perhaps more like coping mechanisms. It's like giving an alcoholic a tragic backstory so you understand that he doesn't drink himself to oblivion because it's fun for him and he doesn't care about the harm it does to others but because he needs it to survive and function at all, at least in his eyes.

Neither of these tropes are bad either. Done with less awful character traits, you get stuff like the silly person who covers their trauma by being over the top and maybe ignoring reality more than they should. I myself literally used saving a cat as a way to humanize my noble main character in Little Miss Rich Witch because while she was dismissive of others and seem annoyed at many people's actions, now she was willing to hurt herself by reaching into a bush of brambles and help a kitten find safety. It theoretically can help assure the reader that a better person is under there and going to emerge eventually.

...Which brings us back to Stolas. Now the first thing I have to mention is that you're actually incorrect. I have not watched Hazbin but I mention a lot of shows that I've seen enough analysis, discussion, etc. for and feel comfortable enough mentioning some broadstroke elements that resonate with what I'm discussing. I HAVE seen some of Helluva Boss but ended it on the episode where Blitzo and Moxxie get kidnapped so I'm not ignorant on these subjects but I didn't really see when life went to complete shit for Stolas...

And I do not give a fuck because neither of these tropes function when there is no better man to speak of. I mentioned Rich Witch not just as self promotion but because of a REALLY important element that fails with his daughter: Follow through. Azu, the noble girl, puts herself in danger of breaking the rules because her busy schedule means that in order to bring the kitten to a shelter, she first has to bring it to school the next day. Then we find out that while she's tsundere about the reasons for working there and doesn't think animals like her, she actually volunteers at that same shelter so this is hardly the first animal she's saved in some way. This makes what is essentially virtue signalling an actual part of the fucking character. Stolas on the other hand, in the SAME EPISODE that we introduced to Octavia, has seemingly neglected his daughter's interests and the fact that she's been growing up for roughly a decade. Hell, even then, he still hires his boytoy to guard them so he can focus on being horny than his daughter and on other childish pleasures that he enjoys. So... Yeah, he gets a really sweet song with her but it's hardly like that's some small nugget smoldering at the core of his character as that fire burned out long ago.

Which brings us to his wife. Hey, why does the alcoholic have a tragic backstory instead of saying, "I beat my wife because she's a bitch and that's why I drink"? It's because the latter doesn't feel like a justified response. At that point, you are a horrible human being with little care for others, you're just bitching and moaning so that you can justify your terrible behavior. This is what Stolas is doing to his wife. "You're a bitch so I openly, confidently, CONSTANTLY cheat on you with someone I do not actually act like I give a fuck about except for his dick because otherwise show him basic human decency." At that point, the only reason the show manages to frame Stolas' wife as worse than him is because she never gets a song with Octavia so it comes across like only one tried to be a good parent before things went to hell and... That's just narrative bias, not strict fact. Not from what I saw.

These tropes only work when there is a better man underneath it all. There is no better man to Stolas. It's akin to how Blitzo has this tragic backstory, life has clearly dealt him a terrible hand... And he's just a complete horrid monster when it comes to those around him. Moxxie despises him for what he does to his privacy, his boundaries and his own personal life and for what? Because Blitzo gets off on it? Luna is a trying too hard goth chick and she isn't actually that mean or cruel or the like. Not even the fucking succubi that act as an antagonist for an episode are as bad to their people as Blitzo is to his and that's without getting into how that episode's proper antagonist is actually Blitzo, both because of past actions and present.

There is at no point, besides shallow backstory (which as always, backstory does not actually a character make because their present actions matter WAY MORE), where we really have a reason to think there's good people in there anymore. That's also why I dropped the show. I wanted to continue but it clearly was going to focus on its worst characters rather than anyone with an ounce of likability. Or, better yet, anything actually compelling about them several episodes into the series besides "Uwu, look at my tragedy while I harass the people around me."

I'm sorry, that just makes you the asshole. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I had initially considering answering this privately since I don't know all the nuances about Blitzo's marriage... But also I watched 7 episodes (including the pilot), more than twice as many as most people tell you is a fair shake, and these were my impressions. At that point... Sorry, you have an uphill battle to prove your sexual harassment in story is somehow justified. The CONSTANT sexual harassment that is not just because they're in hell since Moxxie and Millie prove you don't have to be like this. It's still a choice.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[dr5amatic]

A DEADLY EDUCATION ,

a sentence starter prompts list comprised of quotes from a deadly education by naomi novik. please be advised that this list may involve topics including, but not limited to, murder, death, and violence. change verbiage as needed.

i love having an existential crises at bedtime, it's so restful.

i ran the fuck away.

i decided that you needed to die after the second time you saved my life.

was i starting to feel evil? yes.

i think that after a certain number of evil choices, it's reasonable shorthand to decide that someone's an evil person who oughtn't have the chance to make any more choices.

the more power someone has, the less slack they ought to be given.

you're nearly dead and you're still the rudest person i've ever met.

given that you're at least half responsible for this situation, i refuse to thank you.

i got an affinity for mass destruction.

my anger's a bad guest, my mother likes to say: comes without warning and stays a long time.

you have to ration sympathy and grief in here the way you ration school supplies.

there was only me to save me, because no one else cared.

oh, how i'd enjoyed all that sweet crisp righteous anger, my favorite drug: i'd nearly ridden the high straight into murder.

i am reasonably sure that my one tried-and-true method of being aggressively rude isn't actually how normal people make their friends.

hope is a good strong drink, especially when you can get someone else to buy it for you.

most people can get through lunch without urning it into an act of war.

do you think that everyone is always trying to sit with you for your amazing personality or something?

it always mattered a lot to me to keep a wall up round my dignity, even though dignity matters fuck-all when the monsters under your bed are real.

i don't have a very good idea of how people behave with their friends normally because i've never had one before.

i've got quite well-developed willpower when it comes to doing necessary work. i just have very little willpower when it comes to indulging petty resentment.

the only chance they're really giving us is the chance to be useful to them.

you don't actually want to date me, do you?

i'm delighted to report my repaired door slammed shut on his heels beautifully.

i'm trying not to get kicked out of your life.

my darling, i love you, have courage.

now i'm worried i'll be turned into the dark side by too much crochet.

just because it's a forty-sixth order derivative equation or something doesn't mean that i can't work out which side of that equation is the guilty one.

it's too easy to call people evil instead of their choices, and that lets people justify making evil choices, because they convince themselves that it's okay because they're still good people overall, inside their own heads.

we all get the illusion of a chance.

i was five, ice cream was my only motivation for wanting power.

i'm going to bash your head in with a brick!

only a boy would date somebody for two weeks and not mention it to them.

[afreakingdork]

Mmmm just read the new soft spot chapter and NOM

I love when characters who used to be villains, especially those who claim to not regret any of it, deal with the mental repercussions of what they did or went through. Looking back and feeling like the guilt is holding you there and there’s no way anyone can say that it wasn’t your fault or really much that could comfort someone in that situation. It’s stuck there and it hurts, especially when you realise that you do regret it for a reason or another.

It’s fascinating because it shows how someone actually feels and sees their wrongdoings, like one of my OCs just for example, she’s done terrible things, some she feels extremely guilty for and others that she feels were justified. She feels immense guilt and trauma from her time in the nexus but she excuses it to justify her wrongdoings. But take that away and she’s just left with an empty feeling.

His thoughts about his past staining his future child is perfect because it reflects his past as a child who ended up connected to the wrong people. He’s terrified that a little version of him could end up in that same situation even if it’s heavily unlikely, the trauma is still there in spades despite hiding it under what is basically an “it is what it is” attitude.

At least that’s how I interpreted it, I tend to write a lot of tragic villain characters. I just love the nuance of a character that has done horrible things but had an empathisable past. It’s why I love Jinx from Arcane so much.

Another scrumptious chapter and I will get around to reading the new fic when I’m not exhausting myself with trimming hedges :3

I read and saved this because I did not want this to disappear into the sea of requests I was doing!

Truly, said so well and poignantly! It was one of the reasons I wanted to play in the space of good and bad originally in Weak Spot and into the evolution of Soft Spot. In Weak Spot, you see a villain and if they're worthy of love. You watch on how events unfurl in a relationship and how that looks like with that kind of past. You see very real repercussions play out as his deepest fears and then what it looks like to finally shed that vulnerability and let yourself be with another person on both sides. It's hard enough as is, but then adding in the atrocities...

Then into Soft Spot and it's the next step. Not just in the stereotypical romance, but in what happens next for a ex-villain trying to live their lives. Some days are easier, some days are harder, but where we have a huge deviation now is that reader can consent. Reader is a whole grown ass person who can choose to be with Donnie, talk him down, decide for themselves what they want or can handle and...

A baby can't.

A baby can't do anything of those things. It can't choose anything; it's totally at the mercy of its parent and its why we're seeing these shifts in Donnie now. Obviously, there's far more to come, but it's all progressing on the same ideals. Not only is this all painfully new territory for Donnie, someone who is barely a few years into a life with love, but having a family (read as just reader and shelldon) so not only will the baby be new to life, Donnie is a toddler is comparison which is sort of the goal I had for Soft Spot. Where Weak Spot's goal was how does your occupation effect your worthiness of love, Soft Spot goes into what is new life like for someone who's never had it (be it a baby or a fully grown man).

I think you're spot in and no rush at all! Thanks for evening considering AENEM a go~

[metanarrates]

What do you think about how most people summarize orv's themes as love. I saw one of your reblogs about how it's too simplified for other works?

my general opinion is that saying "x is about love" is usually too damn vague as an analysis. while love is not a universal emotion (shoutout to loveless aros,) it's a common enough human experience that I really think that you need to specify what ABOUT love is being explored. is this a work about the depths of love? is it about the transformative potential of love? there are a thousand different ways love can manifest, and about a billion different ways a story can offer insight on the nature of love. I think it doesn't do justice to a story if you're not specifying what exactly it has to say about love.

all that out of the way, yes. many of orv's major themes are about love. specifically, it relates the love a reader has for a story to the love that a person can have for another human being. a story, like a person, can contain depths unknown to both author and reader - it is impossible to ever reach a complete understanding. there is always some element that will be impossible to communicate. something left hidden behind a wall.

but you can love that story, that person, anyway. you can offer your own interpretations, and try to understand as best you can. and the love and effort you put in matters deeply. the way that you can affect other human beings, specifically, matters deeply. even if it seems like your efforts will never reach that person, even if they are justifiably hurt by your efforts, even if your interpretations are wrong, even if you are the sole reader of a story. it matters that you were there and tried to love it as best you could.

orv also has a lot to say about love, self-sacrifice, and salvation. kim dokja's love of the story and his companions is a major motivator to why he destroys himself over and over. it's paralleled to his own mother, who sacrificed herself for his sake, and who he resented all his life and yet can't stop making the same choice when it comes to the safety of others. that sort of love and salvation hurts as much as it saves. it's as selfish as it is selfless. it's the same choice his companions make in order to get him back. they love him. they would be able to live with his resentment and guilt if it meant he would survive.

kim dokja's love for yoo joonghyuk, specifically, is both selfish and selfless. it is his love for yoo joonghyuk that was (unintentionally) responsible for much of yoo joonghyuk's suffering. the choices kim dokja makes out of love are what mitigate yoo joonghyuk's suffering, and eventually are what allows him to free himself from his eternal cycle. again, it is the love a reader has for a story, and the way that a reader both craves conflict and craves for the characters they love to overcome it.

it is the same love that drives yoo joonghyuk and han sooyoung to repeat the cycle again, as a choice this time. selfishly and selflessly. han sooyoung damns the world to apocalypse because she wished to save kim dokja's life. yoo joonghyuk chooses both regressions and his time in space to grasp at the chance to keep kim dokja alive. neither of their choices is guaranteed to save him. they know that. love alone isn't enough to save someone. but they make this choice because they love him, knowing that he would hate the choice. they create the story together because they want their sole reader to be understood by it.

and that's the end theme of orv's meditations on love and the nature of stories. if you love a story enough that it saves you... well, perhaps it's possible that the story, too, loves you back.

none of this is easy to describe in a sentence. I agree that it's probably easier to just say "orv is about love?" but I wish more people identified it further beyond that, since that usually is where the discussion just stops. I find orv's discussions on love to be some of the most compelling presentations on the topic that I've ever seen in fiction, and I like discussing it! i want to treat it with the complexity that it deserves.