#all I hear when they defend him is “women's issues don't matter”

[christiecandor]

Why is there no shortage of complete assholes in this fandom that think just because Roiland's case was dismissed, the accuser should be charged? They not only insist this is how the legal system either should or already does work, but they attack everyone trying to explain that and that it wasn't even the reason he lost his job, that he was a terrible person all around and this was just the last straw- and they still insist he should get his job back, regardless. Why are these assholes almost exclusively on Facebook and Twitter? Even Reddit has been surprisingly civil about it. Is this just my experience?

Most importantly: Why TF won't they leave this show TF alone if they hate it so goddamn much?! I swear it's like Roiland is paying them. I only ever enjoy interacting with other fans on this platform anymore.

[thegreatimpersonator]

How do you reason if taylor doesnt speak up about palestine in the near future? Because there’s an air of finality in her silence about this cause. Especially now that we know an israeli supporter (capital one) sponsored her US leg of tour, even her eras tour seems dirty. She is so quick to release new versions of ttpd (31 versions as of now), after billie indirectly called her out.

(Sidebar— yes billie may be a hypocrite to talk about wasteful variants of albums to be produced one after another to supplement chart topping. BUT she wasn’t wrong and not only was taylor in a position to set an example of reducing waste in music industry because of her titan status, she used that position to punch down further on billie’s release week, despite it not affecting ttpd’s #1 rank. Talk about stepping on her gown and taking her crown. Olivia creating a distance from taylor since the royalties incident has left a bad taste in my mouth.)

Also, its not helpful that she dated and defended a racist last year, wrote an album about him.

small tangent before i get to the main point: i've said this before billie isn't a hypocrite for the vinyl thing. i think y'all really need to start looking into the actual articles instead of just reading headlines or hearing out-of-context quotes. the entire article with billie was about sustainability and how she works hard to make her variants out of 100% recycled material so they're less wasteful. she wasn't saying she was against all vinyl variants in general, she was saying she's against people who make a bunch of variants and not put the effort in to make sure it's not wasteful like she does. she was just asking people to be more sustainable with their variants.

now to the main point: i've already made peace a long time ago that she's not a good person. when she doubled down on dating a vocal bigot who says slurs for fun and gets off to black women getting brutalized and tried to make it look empowering for her, releasing a song about anyone who doesn't like bigotry as 'vipers dressed in empath's clothing', and just becoming the embodiment of true white feminism and being a huge hypocrite, fully abandoning her activism and regressing to the generic apolitical 'remember to register to vote' posts that she made before she promised to do more, all that plus she's also been openly ableist with parts of ttpd in terms of using problematic displays of mental hospitals/breakdowns and using them as an 'aesthetic', mocking/invalidating other peoples addiction/depression but then asking for empathy with her own mental issues, working with and befriending multiple abusers, zionists, etc all while remaining silent on a genocide that is dependent on gaining traction and attention so people can raise money to help (also releasing the eras tour movie in Israel actively during the genocide, then later selling it to disney+ which is on the boycott list) but making sure she's still the biggest star in the world, maintaining her platform but never using it for anything important or good, asking for more money for herself and fully showing that charts are more important to her than injustice or helping fellow humans, and showing all the causes she once said she cared about don't really matter to her.

i've fully accepted that she's not gonna talk about the genocide she can easily help. and if by a shocking turn of events she does, we'll all know it's because she was losing fans not because she actually cares (which i know isn't the point, it's not about her, and her speaking up will help the cause so much so she still should; but i'm speaking in terms of how it reflects on her and her intentions). none of this should be surprising, i've seen a lot of people say this might be their last straw with her and that's completely valid, but my last straw was used up about a year ago. none of her new behavior is causing frustration to me because i was already frustrated to begin with. i don't need to reason with it because i did a long time ago.

[iniziare]

Every time I go into Seele's tag to find artwork, the salt in my veins increases tenfold. It's so disheartening (and annoying) to see how she's reduced to nothing more than a half of a lesbian ship in which she's also noted to have been 'so mean to Bronya', and if not kept in that context, then she's just disliked for being 'rude', and all of it's entirely missing the mark in terms of what makes her who she is. Salt incoming, and super incoherent salt at that.

First off, I need to not-so-blindly defend the character and say (and this'll sound harsh, I know): if you love Seele, but also praise Hoyo for how Bronseele was written in HSR, I'd like to have a word with you. Because here's my issue: Seele's issue with the Overworld is so immense and it's a view that's so thoroughly and deeply rooted, that hearing that little miss Overworld princess to actually have come from the orphanage in the Underworld wouldn't have made a single difference. Bronya still had a life that not a single child down below could even dream of, Bronya still represents 'the Overworld' in all its glory, no matter if she has a kinder heart that is shown only later on in the story. Seele is rude, and mean because she has a right to be. She once, when quite young, canonically fought a man (and he ran off) for the last little bit of water that was left in a bucket outside of the orphanage for the homeless, only to see him at death's door through the window not long after (and since, has ensured there's always water left for others). Seele, when young and little enough to fit into a supply bag, has seen people in the Overworld throw away food as if food is a luxury and comment on how cruel it is, and how she never wants to come back up to the Overworld ever again. Seele has immense dismay (bordering on loathing) for the Overworld for such good reasons. The Underworld suffers already in basic human necessities, while the Overworld has them in abundance. Of course Seele will detest everything that Bronya represents, and letting all of that go simply because 'Bronya also came from the orphanage' is, in my opinion and I don't resort to saying this lightly, bad writing on Hoyo's part, and I can only write it off as fan-servicing to the HI3 fans. I do not take 'expies' into account when it comes to ships. If Hoyo, or the fandom, wants me to see and acknowledge a 'heavily insinuated ship', then write it well, and where it makes sense for both characters, without sacrificing their values and the core of their characters. Respect them, and I'll respect the dynamic, and/or the ship. Until then, no. So when I go into a tag and all I see is Seele tied to Bronya, especially in the ship. I absolutely hate it. And I hate it even more when I read people hating on people who don't ship it. Guess what, maybe it doesn't always have to do with people being 'anti-lesbians' or 'anti-women', maybe sometimes, like in cases such as my own, it has everything to do with... hey, maybe actually respect the women in question through actions, rather than claiming that you do with some easy peasy words. And then when it comes down to it: you fall short.

And though I touched on it in the last paragraph, I just want to reiterate it: Seele's story isn't about Bronya, it's not about love of one woman to another. And thinking that it is, or relegating it to that, is incredibly saddening, because you're overlooking everything that she stands for— actually no, it's throwing away everything that she stands for. Do you know how Seele in HSR got her name? 'Seele' was given to her by Oleg, and it means 'soul'. And do you realize what the soul is representative of? It's the... immortal element of an individual. The very foundation and 'core' of a human being, touching on the conscience, individuality, and... emotion. That which makes us human, and gee, I wonder why she was given that name as of an early age. And gee, I wonder why she's noted to be the actual backbone of Wildfire, the organization that arose to protect the Underworld, when the Overworld retreated entirely.

I'm not saying that Bronya and Seele don't have an interesting dynamic, I'm just saying that I wish people didn't take away from the latter's character to make it happen simply 'because it seems to be an obvious thing in HI3!' Well guess what, I'm not playing HI3, I'm playing HSR.

[vintageseawitch]

HEY CHECK IT OUT

what the fuck.

if you're out of the loop, there's been a TON of activity in political tiktok, specifically in the leftist space. an obvious talkie has been attempting to spread the lie that they were paid $15,000 by the DNC (which turns out to be a lie; it was $10,000 from a third party group called Vocal so the content creator can make content about Project 2025) & then made the claim that any content creator speaking well about Democrats were all getting paid to do so, which was also a lie & even if it wasn't, who cares? people put in a ton of work & don't often get paid enough.

the next big issue: this tankie, who is a white woman that lives in California, made an outrageous claim that Angela Davis wasn't a true member of the Black Panthers & now the explosive & entirely valid conversations about racism & white supremacy exist even in leftist spaces are taking that area by storm.

black women have been talking about it quite a bit & by now they're annoyed because it sounds like they're defending Kamala Harris even though they may not like her or her policies even if they may be voting for her anyways or not.

the input & knowledge from black women is important & we all need to listen. the fact is that as white people exist, we're living in a system founded on & upheld by white supremacy & what's worse is in leftist spaces, because people believe they're the ultimate ally, they don't need to put in anymore work.

but then things get sticky. things get uncomfortable. they have to be white saviors & once again, black & indigenous folks living here will pay the price.

certain leftists can claim they're anti-genocide as much as they wish but they're only partially against a specific one going on. i don't blame them for caring because everyone should give a damn about people going through something so horrific. that said, whatever horrors have been going on to our fellow man here don't seem to bother them as much. there may be some compassion here & there but nowhere near the level of devotion to people across an ocean from us.

then you get the shit in the above screenshot. a chaos agent. a putin puppet, who is stanned by the likes of Kshama Sawant, an accelerstionist as far as i can tell as well as Hassan Abdel Salam, both of whom have admitted they know they can't win but they want Harris to lose ignoring the fact that trump wants to deport them & others like them no matter how long they may have lived here. you get jill stein, someone who can immediately call netanyahu & Biden war criminals but when pressed about her precious putin suddenly she has a problem with "name calling" (the KGB should have trained her better). she's received money from Republicans for her campaign. she's getting help from trump lawyers. trump personally thanked her by name in a speech earlier this year because even he knows she's another tool for him.

it's wild how green party voters call those voting for Harris "blue maga" but they themselves are behaving more like original maga than they will care to admit let alone see. i'm not saying that there aren't those who think Harris is perfect, but i hardly see such blind devotion the way i see people have for trump & stein. both are cult leaders. they say things their followers want to hear.

stein's response?

oh no you don't. this was from 2016:

she's full of it. a KKK leader felt safe enough to endorse her & i'm now seeing her cult followers defending her, such as believing that he was paid by Democrats to do this & that we're apparently celebrating Dick Cheney's endorsement (i saw one comment saying people think Cheney is "brat" lmao) even though there had been zero celebrating & mostly trepidation & astonishment. he's clearly not voting for Harris because he has a change of heart; even if it's for selfish reasons, he & a bunch of other old Republicans see the danger that trump possesses. they're not agreeing with policies from Harris because she's "far right" (a bullshit claim anyways); they're agreeing that any extremist takeover is NOT GOOD. leftists refuse to see this perspective.

so like i mentioned earlier, it's white supremacy. jill stein has taken a once noble party & bastardized it to the point that white supremacists & antisemites feel safe in her space (i'm not saying that being pro-Palestine means you're an antisemite. i'm pointing out that Duke is also an antisemite). it's disgusting & disturbing. she's a wealthy white woman who won't be harmed by Project 2025. she wants trump to win & she & her rabid followers are working to make that happen.

third party voters, you aren't safe. you are accelerstionists to me now regardless of reason. your voting this way or not voting at all isn't brave or impressive, it's selfish, a surrender, cowardly. you don't want to get your hands dirty but when things go to shit you will refuse to take any responsibility for your part in it. the revolution you want so badly is nothing more than your version of the Rapture & the only revolution that will be happening is a fascist one because Republicans know how to play a long game to get real results unlike you leftists. they love that your tunnel vision self-righteousness makes you stupid & willing to throw your fellow vulnerable Americans under the bus so you get to feel morally superior.

you're monstrous. i'm not bothering to try to beg or play nice with you lot since you're no better than trump's maga. a former KKK leader endorsed your precious savior & nothing you say will change that. to make excuses is to make your space safe for white supremacy. you're unsafe.

[upgradeurlosersoftware]

Monet Issues

ooc// okay so uh,, this one is a little different! It's a series of related scenes inspired by the song "Monet Issues" by Chase Petra (which I have deemed,, Egret's song). It is kinda dark- hehe its a bsd oc so,,, So, if I tagged you and you're not comfortable reading, then don't feel pressured to read It's much more important to me that ppl are comfortable- so pay attention to tws and plz be safe!!

tws: fighting, injury, drug abuse, neglect, child abuse, suicide, self harm (neither are exactly described in detail but they are not subtle either!), cheating, toxic/abusive family dynamics

"Disown me, don't owe me / I don't want your money / Spent too many years finding / Myself in the / Wreckage under rubble / I got myself in trouble / Offering up rebuttals / That only I can hear"

His parents stared at him with contempt. When had their expressions changed? When did fragile love crumble?

Maybe it always had been, slowly but surely falling apart and chipping away- like the ugliest ice sculpture.

"You're not listening to me-"

When had they ever? He's been saying things for forever now. Did they care?

Why didn't they see that this was wrong- their family was wrong.

Further than just the inherent brokenness of a cheating lying father and a doting ignorant mother.

"And what are we supposed for be listening to- are you really saying that it was an accident? That that sweet kid started the fight-? You broke his arm Egret-!" His father said, a suffocating disappointment permeating every word.

He learned to shut up- to stop trying to defend himself. If they wanted a son that got into fights then that's what he would do.

"'Cause blood doesn't mean a thing / When you cannot fucking breathe / And you lose yourself completely / Said blood doesn't mean a thing / When vitriol haunts your sleep / And permeates your family"

The water invading his senses was a relief. It meant things would end soon. He would be gone.

Maybe then his father would care, maybe then his mother would see the truth in front of her eyes.

Something's wrong, he's wrong, their family is wrong. Every single party full of rich snobs, every friendship- fragile and fleeting- is wrong.

As the water stains red and his lungs fill with ice cold water he thinks about this.

About his fuzzy memories from his childhood, about his family's willful ignorance, about the pills he's seen his mom take, about the women he's seen his dad take to bed.

Would this change anything? Maybe not, maybe so, either way it didn't matter- he wouldn't be there.

Then he heard shouting, and blacked out only to awaken staring at an empty white room and an empty white ceiling.

He learned that no one would be there but him. He was alone in this world- a sad truth that felt wrong.

"Giving me a name, then handing me the blame / I won't be changed"

Nothing was the same after that. Not that it had ever been right before.

But their eyes held more contempt, their words and worried stares were more oppressive than anything else.

They wanted to get rid of him. He wanted to leave. Every day of rotting away in his room to avoid his mother and getting high to forget the stares- the wrongness- was too much for him.

So he left- not that he had to work particularly hard, school was easy enough and his parents were just waiting to ship him off.

When he left, with little more than a nod from his father and a painfully tight hug and tears from his mother- which felt all too intentional with the mascara smearing down her cheeks and a faint dainty hug that would look delicate to the neighbors- he brought his life lessons with him.

He decided that he didn't need to let go of that anger, he didn't need to let go of the squirming ball of discontent that never left his chest. He would let it fester, and never allow anyone that couldn't see through that get close.

If someone wanted to be his friend, they could be that with teeth marks and open wounds that matched his own.

Except he knew no one wanted that- so he'd say that he preferred isolation.

---

tags!! @respiratory-kristem @doakarma @oscarsgallery @ezra-dark-shadow @justsigma-bsd

[buddiebeginz]

I will always love Robron and Emmerd*le still holds a special place in my heart despite how crap it is right now but still I will never forgive anyone who was involved in that horrible storyline with Rebecca.

I'm mostly referring here to how even before what happened with Rob and Rebecca that night in the Mill Rebecca was painted as this woman who repeatedly pursued an engaged/married man and when turned down didn't like to take no for an answer.

Then she went to the Mill that night in March 2017 knowing (from Adam) that Rob was drunk and upset. And even when seeing the state of him. Even hearing him say he didn't remember texting her (because he was so drunk). Even hearing him talk about how upset he was about Aaron. Even seeing how he could barely stand up. She still stayed and decided to sleep with him.

I still don't get how there are people who see Rebecca's behavior from the time she arrived (which was homophobic and disparaging towards Aaron right from the jump btw) and especially in the "ONS" episode yet still defend her. If the reverse had happened and Rebecca had been drunk and crying and upset over someone she was married to. If she had previously repeatedly refused Rob then decided to try it on with him when she drunk and vulnerable and he used that to his advantage to get her in bed people would have rioted.

I also don't get how it was the show runners/writer's intentions to seemingly paint Rob as the villain in all of this who took advantage of poor Rebecca when that was never how things were portrayed with them before the "ONS" and it certainly was not how the episode itself was made out to look.

It just feels like people too often don't seem to care when it comes to the sexual assault of men especially when it's men who have been hurt by women. I know statistically it's men who assault and rape women but the reverse does happen. And I know it's been years since this episode aired but it's something I still think about especially since I'm a survivor sexual abuse myself.

No matter what Rob's intentions were the night he slept with Rebecca he wasn't coherent enough to give a conscious yes. Not to mention he was in an emotionally vulnerable state which would have affected his ability to make clear decisions even more.

All of this was made all the worse by the fact that the show chose to pretend none of the consent issues even existed. They went on to make Rob the bad guy in most of his interactions with Rebecca afterwards. They also never even let Aaron get angry with her for pretending to be their friend and then taking advantage of his husband as soon as he was in jail.

And like the show knew a lot of people had issues with that episode and with Rebecca and still chose to keep her around for a long long time afterward. Not just in the village but like forever an interloper in Robron's lives until the day she left. It honestly put a damper on the show for me from the "ONS" ep onward. I can't ever see her and Robron and not think of what she did. It wasn't about the baby or her getting in the way of Robert and Aaron it was because what she did to Rob was wrong and she never had to answer for it in any way. She wasn't the victim Rob was and in some ways Aaron was to. I just wish the show would have dealt with it or at least gotten rid of her soon after once they knew how royally they had messed up that storyline.

Anyway I know this is all old news but I came across an old post recently and saw someone defending Rebecca it just brought up a lot of feelings I still have on the subject and wanted to vent. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

[adampage]

Hello! I had seen your post about Britt Baker a while back, and I wanted to respond to it back then, but I didn't have time to do so. But I have some time now. So, here goes and I'll try not to make it too long.

First, I really don't think Britt is this horrible, bad person that people have made her out to be. Especially when there are people in locker room who are actually problematic and have a history not so good behavior. I do feel the hate she gets and the things people say about her online is unfair and uncalled for. Even if people aren't fans of her for whatever reason, it's still wrong to spread rumors and malicious gossip. That's never okay, no matter who the person is. And as we saw in the episode, she confirmed that none of those things people say about her is true. When Saraya first showed up to AEW, there were rumors her and Britt don't like each other and get along. And again, the episode pretty much squashed that rumor. And I do believe she does genuinely care about the women's division and wants to help the other girls out. Just like the other girls, she does work hard and she's proven herself worthy of being the face of the women's division.

Going back to the rumors and gossip a moment, a wrestling podcast once spread rumors about her cheating on Adam with Christian Cage, and this was during the time that Adam was still out and Britt was by his side the whole time. Even though she never responded to this or addressed it on social media, I'm sure that still had to be upsetting for her and that it hurt her no doubt. I know we only know what Britt and Adam show us, but nothing that I've seen with them suggests that she would ever do such a thing to him. We've seen that she is a good woman and that she's loyal and is willing to stand by him through thick and thin. When I saw her go out to celebrate with him tonight, I just thought it was a beautiful thing to see. It's clear that they do love each other and are happy. There's no reason to think otherwise.

Onto the issue with Thunder Rosa, considering that there were recently reports about Thunder Rosa having a meeting with the women and apologizing to them and admitting to the sandbagging and stiff working, it leads me to think that there was some truth to what Britt and the other girls were saying. Or at least that it wasn't a one-sided issue or as black and white as it was made to be. The meeting was said to have gone very well and the women have settled their issues with Thunder Rosa.

Overall, I feel that shows like All Access are a good reminder that wrestlers are real people who go through same stuff us regular folks do in the workplace, that no one is perfect, and not everyone is gonna like each other or get along all the time. And we shouldn't believe everything we hear or read on the internet, unless the wrestler in question confirms it for themselves. There's always going to be disagreements and some kind of issue about something. And that things aren't always one-sided or simply black and white. It doesn't mean that anyone in particular is a bad person.

Sorry if this was too long. I tried not to make it too long, but that was the only way I could explain it best.

thanks for the info, anon. i get that you're trying to defend her but my opinion really doesn't matter regardless. I'll put this on my blog so you know I saw it but whether it's true or not, seeing three white women put down a woman of color doesn't look good in this day and age. it wasn't nice to see that for me personally, someone who relates to thunder rosa because i am also a latin woman.

i don't doubt that the issue has shades of grey, but i feel i have a right to say that on my own blog because that's how i feel about it.

my feelings toward britt have always been complicated, because we are all complicated people. sometimes i like her a lot, like when i see how she behaves around cole, and sometimes i don't. that's just the way things are. sorry if that offends you.

[acewoman]

I want to be on anon. You can laugh at me, judge me etc. The answer is simple: tell him to stop touching you, yet I can't say this. There is a guy at work, an older guy, he will retire in January 2024. He's 65 years old. Everybody loves him, he touches all women (he touches their shoulders, pats someone back, he touches someone's waist (or he tickles someone) etc. He's like this with all women, all seem to love him a lot because he's a "jokester". I'm new here, I have been working here a couple of months now and I don't want to be a weird one who complains and someone who's a drama queen. I hate it that yesterday he started touching me (my waist, and today - he touched me again twice) I try to just ignore like nothing happened and I try to avoid him. While he's talking I just try not having long conversation. Women sit on his lap when they joke with him, everyone LOVES this guy and yes I should have said something yet I have no courage. I was always a black sheep and if I'd complain everyone would think I'm crazy because this guy is "funny" and "such a jokester" he's like this with everyone from the oldest woman who works here to the youngest. I'm ashamed because I'd be seen as a crazy drama queen. I hate when people are touching me and when he touches me I feel DIRTY. He also talks about sex and fucking all the time during lunch break and everyone think he's so funny. I have no idea how to react anymore because he's so loved, and I would look like the crazy one. I hate this, I hate myself. You can also think I'm stupid and I am stupid, if this happened outside of work I'd say something, I truly would, I had no problem telling weirdos to go fuck themselves... but because I would look crazy now I act completely different. I was never good at defending myself. Yes I did say I had no problem to tell someone to go fuck themselves, but only to strangers. It's different when it comes to people I know and it's different when people who are so loved by others because I was always afraid being seen as a drama queen or the sensitive one... because I am sensitive, I get upset quickly, I cry easily... I was always an outsider, always "the weird one" people talked about.

I'm sorry about this rant.

I just feel DIRTY and I'f like to hear from radfems. Do you think I'm crazy? Is anyone else crazy to love this man? Or do anyone else just go along with it like me and hope he'll start annoying another woman soon? I seriously feel crazy. Kinda powerless as well. Thank you for reading this I have no idea what's the point of this rant... maybe I'd like for you to reply and tell me if you ever went along with something because people loved someone so much and you were afraid you were seen as a drama queen? Or maybe if any of your followers were weak minded like me in the past?

I'm so, so sorry you're going through this. It sounds like everybody else in the office is enabling it, but I really wouldn't be surprised if there are other women in your office that feel the same way about you but haven't spoken up.

First of all, you are NOT stupid, or crazy, or a drama queen. It is perfectly normal to have boundaries, especially with people that you barely know, but with everybody. You are not weakminded for having boundaries or for being uncomfortable around somebody.

Secondly, I hear where you're coming from...it's much, much harder to tell people to fuck off if you actually know them, right? I'm the same way. But women like us have to remember that we deserve to have boundaries and that we deserve to enforce them, no matter who it is. I don't know if you've seen my few posts in the past, but I'm going through something with a friend of mine. I've also been having some issues with a regular customer messaging me over facebook even though ive already rejected him. So I understand what you mean about it being harder with people you know.

It sounds like you haven't known this man long, and it sounds like he's only just started this behavior with you? I know it's intimidating, but its important to nip this in the bud early. Personally, i would recommend starting with telling him that you aren't a touchy feely person (regardless of whether that's true or not). If he tries to double down, keep repeating that you don't enjoy being touched. If he keeps insisting, then keep repeating that with a sound and level voice. This will make him look like the boundary trampling creep that he is, and the others will also get the message that HE is the one in the wrong.

Thirdly, and I know this is really difficult, but DO NOT APOLOGIZE TO HIM WHILE ENFORCING BOUNDARIES. I literally can not stress that part enough. You have nothing to apologize for. HE does.

The unfortunate thing about this option is that it takes the blame away from him, but its most likely the best way to go about it without escalating it. But if he keeps pushing, then you might have to escalate.

I'm sorry, I wish I had better advice. Again, I really do understand what you mean and how just telling him to fuck off isn't the answer, even though we desperately wish it was.

Please feel free to message me directly if you want to talk.

Does anybody else have any other advice?

[kpostedsum]

daddy issues; D.M

summary: you and draco bond over issues in 6th year

word count: 2.4k

warnings: err angst, comfort, illusions to sex

song: daddy issues (the remix) - the neighbourhood

a/n: i tried not to make it stereotypical bc i didn’t wanna make it seem all “i like older men lol”, probably my fav fic i’ve written, also arent these anime gifs so cute

masterlist | taglist

Take you like a drug

I taste you on my tongue

Tongues battling for dominance, bodies rubbing against each other searching for a feeling. It’s become routine now, a different person in your dorm swallowing a new pill, entangling limbs with someone just to feel something.

You ask me what I'm thinking about

I tell you that I'm thinking about

Whatever you're thinking about

Tell me something that I'll forget

And you might have to tell me again

It's crazy what you'll do for a friend

It was a constant cycle, putting yourself out there seeking the male attention you crave, seeking validation, constant reassurance and trusting too easily. That’s how you ended up with a different guy who always in the end leaves. You trusted too easily and people took advantage of how trusting and naive you are just for a quick shag.

You wished it wasn’t like this but that’s all you knew, wanting to be the best version of yourself for someone just to feel needed, no matter if the person was good or bad for you. You didn’t care, you wanted love from anyone you could get it from even if it just hurt you more.

You’re familiar with the absence, something stable made you feel a bit wary. It wasn’t something you were used to. Your father wasn’t the most present in your life, and even though he's there, he's never really there.

Go ahead and cry, little girl

Nobody does it like you do

I know how much it matters to you

I know that you got daddy issues

And if you were my little girl

I'd do whatever I could do

I'd run away and hide with you

I love that she's got daddy issues, and I do too

You always wondered where you went wrong, he preferred your siblings over you and doesn't pay you a piece of his mind. Constantly going out of your way to get his attention whether it was academically or acting a certain way just to get some sort of reaction. But he was too preoccupied with his other children, even if they were from your mom or his affairs.

That’s how you found yourself right now sitting in the astronomy tower past curfew watching the rain fall, trying to clear your head while humming softly to yourself to keep yourself distracted.

You hear distant chattering from below and quickly get up from where you were sitting and make your way to your dorm unnoticed by anyone.

Except one person, Draco Malfoy.

I tried to write your name in the rain

But the rain never came

So I made with the sun

The shade

Always comes at the worst time

He’s seen you before, you’re known around Hogwarts for how you put yourself out there and how ‘desperate’ you are for some affection. He almost feels bad for you, but he’s in no place to judge. With his dad in Azkaban Draco had so much more to worry about, like his task and how he can succeed. But there was something about you that intrigued him that he couldn't ignore.

He saw you again in transfiguration the next day and noticed a few hickeys littering your neck that you had tried to cover but it didn’t work. He wondered why you gave yourself up to so many people, but once again he was in no place to judge. He noticed the way your tongue would stick out when you focused extra hard, the way your hands would tighten around your quill when you got a question wrong and your face.

The same face that many boys including the older years would fawn over, the face that entranced and attracted many, the face of someone who would do anything for someone for some affection and the face of someone who seeked out all the wrong things.

You ask me what I'm thinking about

I tell you that I'm thinking about

Whatever you're thinking about

Tell me something that I'll forget

And you might have to tell me again

It's crazy what you'll do for a friend

You walk out of transfiguration on your way to the owlery to send a letter to your parents and feel eyes watching you everywhere. You like it, the attention, it’s something that you thrived in, but you couldn’t help but feel a new set of eyes on you.

Once you reached the owlery you realized you weren't the only one there, Draco Malfoy was also there sending a letter to who you assumed was his mother.

“y/n, right?” he asked, trying to spark a conversation.

“Yea, listen i’m sorry about what happened with your father i know you really looked up--”

“Dont worry about it, he wasn’t as good an influence as I made him out to be,” he sighed, looking away.

“My dad isn’t the best either if i’m being honest, i guess we’re in the same boat” you let out a light chuckle.

And that’s how you found yourself hanging out with draco malfoy bonding over your shared issues.

Go ahead and cry, little girl

Nobody does it like you do

I know how much it matters to you

I know that you got daddy issues

And if you were my little girl

I'd do whatever I could do

I'd run away and hide with you

I love that she's got daddy issues

It’s been weeks since you two started hanging out since the interaction in the owlery and have been getting closer ever since. You both sat down together in the astronomy tower, backed against the wall as the cool wind blew against your faces. The aura between you two was calm, a comfortable silence.

“So tell me about your dad, how is it with him in Azkaban?” you asked, tilting your head towards him.

“Mother’s not taking it well” he frowned. “I can’t even say potter’s wrong for getting him locked up because he deserves it. All my life he praised the dark lord and taught me to be selfish and always defend my blood, but he was never there for me when I needed him. I would have done everything just to hear ‘i’m proud of you’ but it never came. It’s worse now because mother’s all alone. I wish I could have stayed with her” he sighed looking out the tower watching the stars twinkle.

“I’ve noticed you’ve been much quieter this year as well, you stopped making fun of people. It’s not that nice on the receiving end huh?” you said with a teasing look on your face.

He shook his head at you scooting closer to you, it’s like the demeanor between you two have changed over the past few weeks. You found yourself pining over him rather than being in someone's bed. But this is how the cycle always goes, you get attached and they leave, you couldn’t help but hope this wasn’t the situation this time.

“Tell me about your father”

Daddy stuck around but he wasn't present

Cheated on your mom but she never left him

First I didn't get it, now I understand

He broke her heart, left money in her hand

So everything got paid for

She made sure you and your brother had way more

Than she ever had growing up

And when you told me the whole story I felt like throwing up

“ I don't know if i’d even call him my father at this point, he doesn't want me.” you sighed. “He's been cheating on my mum for years now and she still won't leave him because she thinks they can work it out. He’s had affairs with different pureblood women and has children with them. But what hurts the most is how he treats them as his own children and treats me as if I don't exist” you said, looking down as tears pooled your eyes.

Draco moved closer to you and brought his arm around your shoulders for a sense of comfort and waited for you to catch your breath so you can continue.

“I just want him to love me” you cried. “I go out my way to try and get his attention with my school work but it never works. That's why I get along with so many guys. I seek the validation, the comfort and the reassurance that I can get from him from others and I am so tired of it. I just want him to want me draco.” tears slipping out your eyes as you looked up at him, you’ve never confessed this to anyone before.

“Everyone always leaves, please don't leave me” you cried

“I’m not going anywhere” he turned his face towards you, leaning forward cautiously as if you were made of glass.

You leaned forward, wanting the exact same thing. Both very hesitant he gently pressed his soft lips against yours and they moved together in sequence, only taking a break to go back to his dorm and to breathe, limbs tangled together for the rest of the night until the sun rose.

I can see it on your face it was rough left a bad taste on your tongue

And she didn't even take any drug

She would rain all day

Couldn't wait for her son to shine

And you made it shine

There when she cried, you saved her life

It's been a week since that night in the astronomy tower and draco had already been avoiding you. It’s humiliating, but you should have known. You thought the ‘bond’ you had with him would last, it felt so genuine this time. So real.

You’d see him around the halls snogging pansy on your way back to the ravenclaw tower, lowering your head down so he wouldn’t be able to see you so you could get by quickly and unnoticed.

But he saw you.

He stared you right down in your teary eyes as he made out with pansy. You couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal, for someone who promised he wouldn’t leave you like everyone else, he did the exact same.

You did the only thing you knew of, you ran.

I keep on trying to let you go

I'm dying to let you know

How I'm getting on

I didn't cry when you left at first

But now that you're dead it hurts

This time I gotta know

Where did my daddy go?

I'm not entirely here

Half of me has disappeared

Draco followed you to the girls lavatory, hearing your shallow cries coming from one of the stalls. He approached the stall you were in trying not to make too much noise so he doesn't startle you.

He felt awful.

He promised he would never leave you, after you both poured your hearts out to each other but he still left. He had too, he was putting you in danger just by being with him. If Voldemort ever found out about you and hurt you he wouldn't be able to live with himself, that's why he took it upon himself to hurt you first.

“y/n are you in here?” he called out even though he knew the answer.

You recognized that familiar voice anywhere. “What do you want draco?” you said, trying to make it seem as if you weren’t just crying.

“I want to talk to you, please”

“No,” you said getting up and pushing yourself out of the stall. “You don't get to just throw me away after I told you everything and just come back into my life like nothing ever happened. Just go away, that's all you guys are good for” you spat.

“Just listen to me, it was to keep you safe. I didn;t want to but i couldn't bear seeing you hurt” he tried to explain.

“Safe?” you laughed. “ and what exactly do i need saving from, malfoy.”

“From me” he said as he pulled up his sleeve revealing his dark mark to you. Your body instantly tensed, you knew he was having problems and his family was involved with the dark lord but you never knew it was like this.

“Draco i-” you tried to say something but the words were stuck in your throat. He stood there looking at you desperately like he was waiting for you to tell him everything was okay, you wanted to be there for him but you didn’t know what to do. You trusted him with everything but he couldn't trust you with this? You thought the bond you had made would have made him trust you in the slightest, but clearly it's always you who’s more trusting.

“Why didn't you tell me?” you managed to say, your voice hoarse.

“I thought you’d leave me, you were the only good thing i had. Please don't leave me” he begged, salty tears escaping his eyes and running down his cheeks as he looked at you with desperation.

“So you thought pushing me away by snogging pansy was better?” you yelled, as he continued to look at you slightly taken aback by your lashing out.

“You know what, go ahead and cry little boy. You know that your daddy did too, you know what your mama went through. You gotta let it out soon, just let it out” you taunted walking closer to him looking straight into his teary eyes.

“This time I'll be the one that leaves.” and with that you were gone.

Go ahead and cry, little girl

Nobody does it like you do

I know how much it matters to you

I know that you got daddy issues

And if you were my little girl

I'd do whatever I could do

I'd run away and hide with you

I love that she's got daddy issues, and I do too

It’s been months since that night in the girls lavatory, and you missed him. You wanted to visit him in the hospital wing once you heard what happened with Harry Potter, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. He left you, and you were tired of always going back to people who just hurt you.

Now here you were at the battle of Hogwarts, standing with everyone while Voldemort and his death eaters stood across from you all.

“Draco, draco come here” you heard narcissa call from across the scene. He looked hesitant, as if he was waiting for someone to stop him but no one did. So he started walking over to his parents.

But you grabbed his hand.

“Stay please” you whispered looking up into his eyes.

He looked back at his parents and back at you like he was contemplating his answer.

“I’ll stay”

If you were my little girl

I'd do whatever I could do

I'd run away and hide with you

I love that she's got daddy issues, and I do too

—————-

tagging fun ppl nd ppl who interacted (so srry if u don’t wanna be tagged)

@hellohellook @astoria-malfcy @justfangirlthingies @sfdlm @falling-loki @notvasi @gwlvr @malfoytookmyheart

[stxleslyds]

What do you think about the theories that Jason was sexually abused as a child? Or even possibly while he was comatose after his resurrection?

Implications of this theory include his conversation with Mia (Speedy) and Bruce's message (Battle for the Cowl). In addition, when he was Robin he expressed what was then considered uncharacteristic rage towards the perpetrators of sex crimes.

Garzonas - unrepentant rapist who got no consequences

When a woman killed her sister's rapist and murderer (because Batman's evidence was not admissible in court), Batman said that she went too far with murder. Jason's disagreed with "Good riddance". Good for you, Jason.

His recklessness when dealing with a child sex trafficking ring.

I highly doubt that DC would ever confirm this theory. I would rather they leave it ambiguous because I don't trust them to not botch Jason... much less respectfully address the subject matter.

I have read so many thoughts on Jason that they're starting to blend together. So I apologize if you've already answered this before.

Hello friend! Aside from the fact that I took way too much time to answer your ask, this was also a hard question to come up with an answer to, I wanted to remain respectful of the subjects at hand even though I don’t second this headcanon. But before we keep going, let me put some trigger warnings in this post.

trigger warning: mentions of sexual abuse, child abuse, rape.

First, I would like to bring up these two concepts because I oftentimes mix them up when talking about these “ideas”.

Theory: a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something; an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action.

Headcanon: Headcanon generally refers to ideas held by fans of series that are not explicitly supported by sanctioned text or other media. Fans maintain the ideas in their heads, outside of the accepted canon.

I think the idea of Jason having been sexually abused at any point in his lifetime is a mix between a theory and a headcanon. Why I am saying this? Because as you have put in the ask, there has been instances where fandom has found pieces of information that they have considered the base of this idea.

So, if we say that there is a piece of text that might support that idea and they build from that to justify a course of action we would be looking at a theory. In this case Jason having been abused would the reason as to why he acts in that strong and violent way towards cases of sexual abuse/harassment.

In the other hand those pieces of text might not support that idea so fandom headcanons that idea in order to build another layer to a character, in this case Jason having been abused would also justify his actions towards certain criminals.

The “text” (panels, issues, mentions) are most of the time ambiguous, which makes readers have different perspectives in what is being written and what then is made into a theory or headcanon.

Personally, I don’t like this theory or headcanon for various reasons (which I will explain later in the post), and I have read and understood those moments mentioned as Jason just having survived Crime Alley as something general, I don’t think he suffered that kind of abuse but I think he was made aware of that type of behaviour every day that he spent alone in the streets and that why we saw Jason in Batman #408 saying that he had “graduated a long time ago from the streets of crime alley”.

Having said that, I do understand that some of the moments mentioned can be seen as ambiguous and that’s what leads people to theorize/headcanon that idea, because of that I would like to show the panels mentioned in your ask so everyone can read them and make up their own conclusions and then I will talk about the reasons why I don’t like this particular theory/headcanon.

As Robin:

Batman (1940) #422

In these panels we can see Jason as Robin jumping in to defend a woman that was being attacked by a man. There I only see Jason acting like a vigilante would, maybe he was hitting too hard or whatever but Batman has hit people as much as Jason was doing it this time around, plus I, personally, don’t see any kind of problem with Jason beating a man that was harassing and threatening a woman with death.

Right beside we have Jason being on the side of the woman that killed her sister’s attacker. He didn’t see any problem with that woman seeking justice for her sister on her own when the police, Batman and himself couldn’t get the job done.

Here I see Jason having a big problem with authorities and justice system, which is not something new, in Batman #408, Jason says very clearly that he doesn’t trust the system in Gotham (the police, social workers and such), and he was also shown in that comic talking very fondly about his mother and about how much he cared for her when she was at her worst. Let’s remember that Jason loved his mother, he took care of her and resented his father for being abusive towards her and even introducing her to drugs.

Instead understanding these panels as Jason having been abused himself, I see it more as Jason having a humongous understanding of how much women and others suffer in Gotham due to the justice system’s lack of action. I also see Jason as the kind of boy that respected all women and could not sit and do nothing when people were hitting and abusing women just like his father did to his mother.

Batman (1940) #424

This issue starts by saying that Jason jumps into action as soon as he hears someone scream but that he wasn’t going to be prepared to see what was happening. This is the issue where all of us meet Felipe Garzonas, the abuser and rapist of many women. At first Jason doesn’t know what Felipe was doing but after he and Batman “defeat” Felipe, he goes to the room where he finds Gloria in a bed badly hurt and scared. Jason is shocked when he first finds her and after hearing her story in the police station, he becomes more and more happy about the fact that by having caught Felipe, he and Batman would be able to offer some peace and justice to Gloria after he goes to jail, but that doesn’t happen.

They had all the evidence to put Felipe in jail and the police could easily see that Gloria was the victim but because Felipe had someone to back his made-up story up, he was able to not be arrested and jailed.

Jason once again is baffled at the lack of action by the police or simply justice not being able to be made in favour of the true victim. Batman even says that he has noticed that Jason “had become to emotionally invested with the case” which could favour either idea (Jason having suffered sexual abuse or not), in my case I see this once again as Jason not being able to remain calm after doing everything to keep that woman safe and the justice system not being able to do it themselves in a more permanent way (jail time, or whatever).

But that’s not all because Jason being too emotional with that case was brought up as a way to show that Jason couldn’t see that Felipe had been under the influence of drugs, which is something that Jason can see in people very well (do to experience with his mother and his training with Batman). So, Felipe is now a rapist, an abuser, he does drugs and he also has a market for it.

Because Felipe was allowed to go back to his “normal” life he had Gloria be killed, and he kept abusing drugs and women, when Jason finds Gloria’s dead body and that Batman still seems to abide the justice system he snaps. He goes alone to see Felipe and that’s were this iconic panel comes from. The moments before Jason made his first kill and felt no remorse about it. I know this is kinda soft topic because Jason was a teenager, but good for him, kill that bitch. Gotham doesn’t need more people like him.

Batman (1940) #226

This is the issue where Jason attacks the men that were involved with some very nasty stuff involving children. Batman narrates and says that him and Jason had been working on this case for three weeks. Jason jumps into action suddenly and “recklessly” even though Batman considered their investigation wasn’t over, he also says that he thinks that Jason had been “acting oddly” and that he was very “moody, resentful and reckless” and that that attitude could “get him killed”.

This could be used as to add more proof of the abuse idea but I actually see it as build up to Jason’s death, that happened two issues later. Let’s remember that Jason found out of his birth mother and was desperate to find and save her from Joker, because he was a good son but also because he didn’t feel like Bruce loved, cared or appreciated him anymore. Ever since Jason made it clear that he didn’t see the world and justice in the same way that Batman did back in issue #422, Jason and Bruce’s relationship suffered, they just couldn’t see eye to eye on some subjects and Bruce’s neglect or lack of care for what Jason believed in drove Jason to act the way he did in the case involving his mother and the Joker.

Jason obviously has major issues with kids being abused and put in dangerous situations, he as the Red Hood (Winick’s Red Hood) is the same, he really wants kids to be taken far away from drugs so they cannot be manipulated, used and abused by Gotham’s Drug Lords. Here I can see some of the same thing, Jason being protective of those kids and getting fed up with how much time he and Batman had to wait to do anything about the subject, along side it I bet Jason wasn’t seeing the police or the justice system doing anything about the whole thing so that could have probably fuelled his desperate attack of those horrible people.

As Batman/Red Hood:

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

Battle for the Cowl… yeah I am going to be brutally honest about this, if anyone thinks that this is someway or somehow proof that Jason had been abused in the past then I think we have very different ways of thinking how survivors must be treated or written in comics and other media.

This to me is pure bad writing, this is some of the worst things I have seen being written in comics. Whether or not this implies Jason being abused or not, Bruce’s message is absolutely disgusting and not at all helpful, it is even worse when you realise that Dick, a canon sexual assault survivor, is the one playing the message to Jason even though Jason explicitly said that he didn’t want to hear it again. That Book, issue, page and panel are extremely badly written and is one of the most terrible Jason and Dick characterizations ever.

So, I don’t really care if this panel is supposed to offer support to that theory or headcanon, I really dislike that speech and if it is actually referencing Jason as being a survivor of child abuse, then Tony S. Daniel needs to make an apology from today to the day he dies.

“Of all my failures, you have been my biggest” “You were broken and I thought I could put the pieces back together. I thought I could do for you what could never be done for me. Make you whole” “What happened to you as a child… the terror, the pain, the horrors” “You needed repair and instead I gave you an outlet to act out on”

Absolute garbage writing. Me, as Bruce is number one hater, know that that speech is even out of character for Bruce. Listen, if Jason had been a victim of sexual assault or just being a kid living alone in Crime Alley, no one should leave a message like that, telling a victim that they were broken and needed fixing, what the hell? No, thank you, this issue proves nothing except that Battle for the Cowl was a mistake as a whole.

Green Arrow (2001) #72

Judd Winick is clever I will always say that, and while I do see why people think that Jason is making the “child abuse idea” canon I still think that the way that he talks is still fairly ambiguous if not just him playing mind games with Mia.

I know it sounds wrong, but hear me out, Winick, in this arc makes Batman say that Jason distracted him and Oliver just to take Mia as a “hostage” because that was Jason’s way to mess with him. This arc happens right after UtRH and Jason is a bit more unhinged than ever. But he doesn’t harm Mia, he just talks to her, he tries to make her see why he acts the way he does and to do that he talks about how much he sees of himself in her. Do I believe that Jason suffered the same things Mia did? No. Do I think that their past is similar? Yes.

But Jason doesn’t only use the fact that they have similar pasts to make Mia rebel against her “no killing ways” and Oliver like he did with Bruce, but he also brings up the fact that their past is incredibly different to the lives of Bruce and Oliver, and that those differences are of importance.

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t see Jason bringing Mia’s past for anything other than manipulating her and kinda make her see Oliver in a negative light the way that he does Batman and Bruce. Jason was at a point in his life where all he wanted to do was deliver the same pain that he had gone through but he didn’t do it by physically harming anyone (Mia was left unscratched), he was just out there trying to play mind games so he could break more havoc in Batman’s name.

Mia’s past is just way too different to whatever we have seen in canon from Jason’s past. Maybe I am wrong, after all, I only read about Mia in that arc.

-

With all that having been said I think it’s pretty obvious that I just don’t think that Jason�� having been sexually abused as a child actually happened, and I also don’t like to think about his past in that way. His canon suffering could have made him act that violently against criminals involved with sexual attacks and drug-related crimes, but I also think that’s just how Jason was, he really disliked the justice system in Gotham and saw how much it failed to protect victims, so now that he had the training to help those who couldn’t do it for themselves, he tried his best to bring criminals to justice.

And when that didn’t work, he grew more and more frustrated with Batman’s methods which led him to be more unforgiving and violent.

I also don’t like the theory/headcanon as a whole because I think its one of those things that Fandom comes up with just for that extra angst factor in their favourite character’s story so they can make him suffer more and because of that no other Robin or character as a whole can ever understand his pain or whatever. In this fandom there is a lot of “competitive trauma” going on and I honestly dislike it a lot.

About Jason having been assaulted while he was in a coma, I don't really know, he was at a hospital for what I believe were six moths, maybe that idea comes from real life happenings but I have never thought of that happening in Jason's life and I would rather not give it much more thought.

Also, I believe that DC just like fandom would have never been able to handle the subject of Jason having been a sexual assault survivor with the respect and care that it actually needs. We have seen DC treat sexual harassment and abuse as nothing but a side plot or bringing it up in an extremely disturbing way. In Fandom some (very few) people end up glamorising or romanticising these subjects so, I don’t believe the comic world was or is ready to treat a backstory like this with the respect it needs.

Maybe I haven’t even treated the subject with the respect and care that it needs and if that’s the case then I am truly sorry.

I had never answered a question regarding this subject before and I really appreciate all the questions you send my way; they do make my brain happy. I am really sorry it took me this long to write an answer to you but I hope the post is good enough for all the time I made you wait!

I hope you have an amazing week!

[xiyao-feels]

In this post I'm going to argue that the common position that LXC did not know JGY was going to kill the Wen he had with him in episode 23 is wrong. I think the evidence that he did know is considerable, and in fact the only evidence against that position is the framing which casts JGY executing them as being extremely evil. Although LXC and JGY's exchange after the sect leader discussion (the "Am I the evil?" exchange) is often taken as additional evidence that this is JGY's moment of no return on his journey to Evil, I think this is due to a misinterpretation of the exchange, which I will also argue below.

In Part 1, I show that LXC has unambiguously agreed to a plan which involves the execution of at least some Wen, and therefore the central question is whether he was expecting the particular group of Wen JGY brings in with him to be spared; I also argue that he has plausibly agreed to have even certain non-combatants killed. In Part 2, I contrast them with the Wen Jin Zixun is killing to argue that they are not, and also present the evidence that LXC has also agreed to the killing Jin Zixun is doing. In Part 3, I consider the lack of motive JGS has for having JGY, behind LXC's back, kill Wen he explicitly agreed with LXC he would spare. In Part 4, I discuss the "am I the evil" exchange, and in particular argue that the "evil" NMJ is opposed to is not JGS, as seems to be a common assumption, but the Wen. I conclude by examining the remaining evidence and arguing that it is insufficient to overcome the rest of the evidence.

Part One: What to do with the Wen remnants?

In episode 23, as WWX and LWJ discuss things, we hear distressed cries accompanied by calls of Kill them! and Kill them all! (This starts at about 17:47.) We are told that people are capturing the remaining Wen, and it is very clear what they are doing with the Wen once they catch them.

The next scene is JGS, NMJ, and LXC discussing what to do with the remaining Wen, joined partway through by JGY. I encourage you to watch it (link); it lasts from 18:09 to about 22:40 on YouTube. I have also transcribed the dialogue (including the dialogue from the 'am I the evil?' exchange), both English and Chinese, in a post here; the post also includes my attempt at summarizing the whole conversation. However, as the conversation does encompass more than just the plan about what to do with the remaining Wen, I am now going to summarize the discussion of that particular issue below.

JGS is initially pro- the capturing, and implicitly the extermination, of all the remaining Wen. LXC argues for letting the defenseless remnants—note, not the ones who can defend themselves—go. NMJ is initially on JGS' side, but relents in the face of LXC's disappointment and also argues they should let them go. JGS counters by reminding them of the threat the remaining Wen would pose should they get hold of the Yin Iron. NMJ bows and says that "Clan Leader Jin has thought about it very thoroughly" (金宗主所虑甚详); to my eyes he appears to be prepared to concede on the matter, but I freely admit that we don't actually know, as the conversation takes a slight detour and this is not resolved. We return to the issue of the Wen when JGY enters with his captured group of Wen and LXC asks him for his opinion. JGY suggests that they confine and monitor "the old, weak, and young"* as long as they stop making trouble, while those who killed a Sunshot cultivator will be executed; at LXC's prompt he provides a possible location for such confinement. NMJ observes brusquely that JGY is "really familiar with it" (你倒熟悉) (in context I think this is about JGY's knowledge of Wen places). LXC announces that they should do as A-Yao suggests; it is somewhat ambiguous in the scene whether he gets agreement, as NMJ leaves angrily rather than reply when JGS and LXC look at him, but as subsequent events seem to follow along JGY's suggestion, we can surmise that agreement was in fact reached.

*老弱妇孺. As ever, I don't speak Chinese; however Pleco gives 'the old and weak' for 老弱 and 'women and children' for 妇孺. In context, I think it is fairly clear that 'women' would not include, say, the Wen equivalent of Madam Yu, fighting cultivators with good cultivation power, who besides would probably have killed a Sunshot cultivator and thus would be sentenced to death.

I wish to point out a few things about this exchange. First, the default plan without LXC's interference is apparently to simply kill them all. Second, at no point does anyone including LXC argue in favour of sparing the Wen who aren't defenseless; if LXC were a Wen, it seems likely that he would be on the chopping block due to his cultivation power and martial prowess. Third, the plan LXC agrees to here /very explicitly/ includes killing some of the captured Wen. There is no way I can think of to interpret the conversation in any other way. At no point does LXC agree to a plan which involves sparing all of them.

I'm hammering this point home because I think it is often overlooked. If the agreement is that all the remaining Wen are going to be spared, then obviously if any Wen are still killed this is a betrayal of that agreement. But that's clearly not the agreement that's reached! The fact that some Wen are killed is therefore not sufficient to constitute a betrayal of that agreement; the question becomes whether the Wen we see JGY kill are in a group protected by that agreement.

Before we look at these Wen, however, I want to look at the scene after JGY kills the Wen. Once again, we see LWJ and WWX discussing things. They are interrupted by cries and pleas from a group of the remaining Wen (at 26:56), who are being chased down and killed by Jin Zixun. It's hard to get a decent picture, but to my eyes they do indeed look like the old, the weak, and the young:

Moreover, WWX explicitly identifies them as such. "These are women, children, and old men. Are they also evil?" he asks, and the phrase is 老弱妇孺—the same phrase JGY used to identify those to be confined and monitored in the previous scene.

Is Jin Zixun's killing a betrayal of the agreement, then? But consider his reply:

It's Clan Leader's order that anyone who has concern with Yin Iron should not be alive. Nie-zongzhu and Lan-zongzhu also agreed. Does Jiang clan have any questions? 宗主有令 凡是跟阴铁有关的人 一个都不能留 聂宗主和蓝宗主也同意了 难道你们江氏还有什么疑问吗

Jin Zixun explicitly says that NMJ and LXC agreed to the killing of anyone who "has concern with Yin Iron," regardless, it seems, of whether they have power in themselves or no. It's not impossible Jin Zixun is lying; however, while he is certainly intent on provoking WWX, he does not seem to be worried about being caught in deceit, and indeed LWJ who is right there does not contradict him or seem to doubt him. Moreover, to the best that I can recall this does not come up again, as we might expect it to if Jin Zixun is in fact deceiving them; and while these Wen who know something about Yin Iron may be 老弱妇孺, they are nevertheless reasonably viewed as a threat, and it seems a fairly natural extension of the agreement we see the clan leaders reach. I'm not saying Jin Zixun would never lie, or anything, but there doesn't seem to be any indication that he's lying about LXC's agreement, while there is evidence that he's not.

Therefore, from the evidence available, it is entirely unambiguous that LXC has agreed to a plan that involves killing any Wen who have killed a Sunshot cultivator; I don't think there's any plausible interpretation other than 'execution' of what would happen to the old, weak, and young if they didn't stop making trouble, and again that's part of the plan we explicitly see him agree to; and it seems likely that he agreed to the killing of old, weak, and young Wen who "have concern with Yin Iron."

At this point I wish to pause to make a note. It seems likely that people will feel uncomfortable with LXC doing this and indeed perhaps with LXC in general because he did this; this is entirely understandable, and I'm not at all saying otherwise. However, I think it's important to note that LXC's intervention /is an improvement over the status quo/. If he had not intervened, the Wen would simply all have been killed. Yes, it's an awful and unjust agreement, and you could argue he should never have taken part in the discussion; but if he hadn't, the Wen would all have been killed. It is his willingness to "play the game" that saves lives.

(You could of course argue that he should have devoted himself to saving them entirely, by force if necessary. This has been discussed in other places and by many different people; for here I will simply say I do not think it was a viable option.)

Part Two: Which Wen?

It is clear, then, that LXC has agreed to the killing of at least some Wen. If we accept Jin Zixun's account, then even if the Wen JGY has executed are "the old, weak, and young," then that is not sufficient evidence to say that they were in the group that should have been spared! However, I think we can do better than that. To my eyes, they do not look like "the old, weak, and young":

While it is true that they are not all e.g. wearing Wen cultivator uniforms, from what I can see they all look like strong young men and women. Contrast Jin Zixun's group, which generally looks more elderly and contains a child! Moreover, while Jin Zixun runs his victims down with bow and arrow on the open road, the people JGY kills are heavily guarded, surrounded by men holding swords on them the whole time. I realize this is to some extent a matter of personal judgement, but honestly, especially combined with the contrast with Jin Zixun's group, they do not at all look to me like they are in the group that was agreed would be spared. If you disagree with this, I hope you will at least agree that they are not /unambiguously/ part of the group that was agreed would be spared; that is, it is open to debate.

Part Three: Motive

If the visual evidence is insufficient, let us turn to another question: why would JGY kill these people if he'd just proposed to LXC to spare them? The answer to that is in some sense obvious—he'd be doing it because his father wanted it—but that simply moves the question back another level. Why would JGS want JGY to kill these people, and in such an obvious manner, if he'd just agreed with LXC he would spare them?

I legitimately cannot think of a good explanation. His central goal is to progress on obtaining the Yin Iron, and to make sure no one else gets their hand on it—but the arrangement they agree to serves him just fine for that. We know he does in fact spare some of the Wen, so it's not the case that he is simply pretending to spare any of them while having them all killed. If he wants to reduce the number of people he's sparing for whatever reason, I suppose he might have JGY kill some of them—but we don't have any evidence he does want that, and why would he have JGY do it in such a public manner? They still haven't left Nightless City—they haven't even had the Banquet yet—and it's the middle of the day and there is blood on the steps:

So, what, he wants to come to an agreement with LXC and then betray it immediately for some random reason, and also do it in a way LXC is likely though not guaranteed to find out about??

In the interests of considering all the options, and the recognition that CQL does not always care about logistics when it's hitting emotional beats, perhaps we can say that the easily-discoverable nature of this is not meant to be taken literally. But there's still the problem of what motive JGS has to do this—and more than that, the question of the significant motive he has not to.

Consider the situation at the beginning of the discussion: NMJ is in agreement with LXC, united against JGS. By the end of it, LXC is readily agreeing with JGY, and NMJ is in some disgruntlement - and not even in a way that seems particularly directed at JGS! From JGS' perspective, it's very much a desirable outcome, and indeed we can see he appears quite pleased with it.

Endangering this gain would therefore have to bring some significant gain in return. And… what is there? NMJ might approve of killing the Wen but he wouldn't approve of telling LXC you're going to spare someone and then immediately killing them. If this were found out, it would entirely reverse the effect of the agreement, and you would have Lan and Nie together against the Jin—exactly what JGS doesn't want! And it's worth remembering that at this point they haven't even sworn the brotherhood oath yet, that's a few scenes on, so it would be an extremely stupid time to endanger LXC and JGY's rapport. JGS is absolutely an asshole, but he's specifically a power-hungry asshole, and especially in CQL a clever and focused power-hungry asshole; he's not going to randomly endanger political gain just because he wants to be Evil.

Part Four: Am I the evil?

I think that part of the reason for the belief that JGY killed the Wen is this exchange, or more specifically a common misinterpretation of this exchange. You can watch it here, from 22:39 to 23:45 (to 24:08 If you want to watch the blood on the steps); I have also transcribed the dialogue, both the Chinese and the YT English subtitles, into another post here.

In this exchange, LXC tells JGY not to take NMJ's behaviour to heart; it's simply that he "resents the evil and favours the good,"* and that he's simply worried that JGY has "made the wrong choice." It's honestly not clear to me if this is supposed to hit in English quite the way it does—is LXC talking about a specific, individual wrong choice JGY has made? However it does seem to be usually interpreted as this, and moreover, specifically as NMJ thinking JGY has made the wrong choice /in becoming JGY/, in becoming Jin Guangshan's recognized son and aligning himself with the Jin. In this understanding of events this criticism of JGY is then validated by his killing the Wen—look, he's being evil, just as NMJ said!

There is a problem with this version of events, however. NMJ dislikes JGS, to be sure, and disapproves of him and so forth, but I don't think he thinks he's evil or particularly disapproves of JGY working for his dad JGS qua JGY working for his dad JGS. It's worth noting that in MDZS, at least, NMJ releases MY from his obligation to him and sends MY to JGS with his letter of recommendation! But there is someone NMJ hates, or rather someones: the Wen. His antipathy towards JGY at present isn't based on JGY working for JGS; it's based on JGY having recently worked for WRH. Even in CQL, remember, in episode 27 NMJ speaks up against LXC and JC's defense of WQ and WN, notably aligning himself with JGS on the matter (link). Thus his displeasure that JGY is "really familiar" with Wen places. NMJ would not be impressed with JGY executing Wen he had agreed with NMJ and LXC not to execute, but killing captured prisoners, even non-combatants, is not something NMJ considers inherently evil. To be clear, I am not trying to make NMJ out as uniquely bad for this! This is true of most people in his society, and while NMJ is absolutely unusually principled, that doesn't mean his principles are the exact modern-day principles we might like him to have.

When LXC talks about "the evil," he is not talking about JGS; rather he is talking about the defeated Wen. His stutter in response to Am I the evil? makes much more sense in this light. It would be a much more obvious return from JGY, and indeed fairly close to an insult from LXC, if LXC meant that JGS—whom JGY had just aligned himself with, and who also is /JGY's dad who just recognized him/—were evil; on the other hand, if LXC is simply referring to NMJ's well-known hatred of the Wen, then JGY taking it seriously—as either a serious question about his own evil, or a question about whether NMJ now feels the same hatred towards /him/—is more understandably an unexpected conversational move.

Considering the exchange in this light, I think we should not see it as suggesting that JGY's next action is betraying LXC. If NMJ's hatred is based primarily on JGY's previous association with the Wen,† if anything to me the effect is to parallel JGY doing awful things under WRH with JGY doing awful things under JGS; in either situation, he is much constrained. I don't insist on that interpretation, of course, but I do think the "evil" here is very much the Wen and not JGS, and that this complicates the idea that this is the show telling us that JGY is Evil Now.

†There is the captain killing too, but he clearly does not wholeheartedly condemn JGY for it previous to meeting him in Sun Palace, and even expresses some concern for him in the interim; JGY's work with the Wen is much more significant here.

Conclusion

To sum up, then: LXC very explicitly agrees to a plan that involves killing some of the captured Wen; there is also evidence that he may have agreed to killing some of the non-combatants among the captured Wen, and I think it likely. Regardless of this last, I think the visual evidence (especially in contrast with the Wen Jin Zixun kills) suggests that the Wen JGY has executed are in the group LXC explicitly agreed to have killed. Moreover, I think that the common interpretation of the Am I the evil exchange as telling us that JGY is Evil now is flawed, and that it therefore doesn't suggest that JGY's next actions are evil beyond, like, the evil of executing captured prisoners even as part of an approach that saves some of them.

There is the matter of the framing of the execution; it does certainly suggest that JGY is doing something awful. My answer to this is twofold. First, that JGY is indeed doing something awful. Executing captured prisoners is bad! Like, I am not blaming him for not reforming society from the ground up, here, and I do tend to think it's the only option that he had, but that doesn't mean it's not a shitty option.

Second, that the show sometimes frames JGY's actions as Evil in a way that's not really justified by what's presented. If you consider the Burial Mounds flashback in episode 43 for example (link), then we see JGY being presented as evil when he is, objectively, being helpful and helping protect LWJ's reputation. His telling LWJ that LQR is there to pick him up is framed as worse than LQR having LWJ beaten is. I am not, to be clear, saying that framing can't be legitimate evidence; of course it can. Nevertheless, I think it's worth considering the issues around JGY's presentation in CQL more generally, and especially to consider whether the framing alone is sufficient to conclude that he is betraying an agreement with LXC, rather than simply executing captives, especially in the light of the evidence against this.

As a final note, I want to note that I suspect part of the reason for this take is the general reluctance to believe that the characters we like could be doing something bad/something we disagree with. With LXC, this very often tends to result in the belief that he didn't know JGY was doing bad things, despite the mass of evidence against this position; with NMJ in particular, I cannot count the number of times I have seen people simply assume that he is obviously against the destruction of the Wen. This falls into the intersection of both, reassigning the target of NMJ's hatred from the Wen, who have our sympathy, to JGS, who decidedly does not; and making it such that LXC is ignorant that JGY is going to have those Wen executed, because how could he speak with JGY so warmly beforehand otherwise? But NMJ hates the Wen, and will go on to position himself with JGS, against LXC!, against them; and LXC is indeed willing to treat JGY with warmth despite his doing awful things, as in CQL we will see him be warm with JGY at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt despite JGY having (due to the wishes of his father) ordered captured Wen out in front of the targets. Neither of them have, for example, CQL LWJ's exact set of beliefs.

*恩怨分明嫉恶如仇. Generally I hate to post about my thoughts on the translation, but I do think it's worth noting here that from what I can tell this seems to be two phrases, 恩怨分明 and 嫉恶如仇. For 恩怨分明, Pleco gives "know clearly to whom to show gratitude and against whom to feel resentment"; for 嫉恶如仇, however, it gives "hate evil like an enemy; abhor evil as one's deadly foes". This is the phrase that gets translated as "absolutely couldn't stand wrongdoings" in ch 30 (link), when WWX is wondering why LWJ didn't just go kill XY (ER translation):

Wei WuXian found this a bit strange. Although Lan WangJi looked as if he didn’t care about anything, from Wei WuXian’s past experiences with him, he absolutely couldn’t stand wrongdoings, possibly even more than Nie HuaiSang’s brother. Back then, the LanlingJin Sect had some dishonest ways of doing things, and Lan WangJi never bothered to be subtle about them. Even until now, he always refused to go to their sect’s Discussion Conferences. If two cruel massacres happened, the news would’ve probably spread over the entire cultivational world and Lan WangJi definitely wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to them. Why did he not go and give Xue Yang what he deserved?

Taming Wangxian gives it as "he hated evildoers to the core" (link), and MDZS Translation gives it "someone who hated evil with a vengeance" (link).

It's also 嫉恶如仇 that JGY repeats, rather than 恩怨分明. The Viki subtitles, for what it's worth translates this portion of the exchange as follows:

LXC: Brother Mingjue is precisely someone who is clear about kindness and grudges, and abhors evil as one's deadly foe. He's just worried you've gone down the wrong path.

JGY: "Abhor evil as one's deadly foe…" Am I exactly that evil then?

As ever, I am open to correction on this matter.

ETA: on the matter of Zixun, I think madtom's point is right; I replied here.

[madara-fate]

do you think masashi kishimoto is sexist?

i constantly hear fans throwing this around and i have to agree. his representation of his female characters are stereotypical and awful which makes them unlikable and unsurprisingly unrelatable, his excuse being he doesn't know how to write for female characters which isn't a valid excuse. the creators of one piece and bleach also being dragged and called sexist for they're portrayal of their female characters, fans going as far as to call them the big sj three. but i think a lot of how they portray women in shonen has a lot to do with japan's ( and even asia's ) general feelings towards women and their perspectives on women and seeing how it is deeply engraved in their culture, i understand why this is how they choose to represent women, not only in naruto and other shonens but in the media as a whole. not saying it's right though.

sorry if this was too long and pointless, this topic is the most tiring and tragic of them all and i honestly feel like explaining everything would quite literally kill me, i don't want to deep dive into this just want to hear your thoughts and feelings about it.

No, I don't agree with that accusation in the slightest.

By no means is Kishi's representation of women in general "stereotypical and awful", it's like you're implying that every single female character in the series is absolute trash with no good qualities at all. I like the vast majority of the female characters he created, I can say the same for many other people, and I've seen many people find many of them relatable as well. Every single justification people give for these asinine "sexist" claims are completely unfounded.

They say he's sexist because he didn't give the female characters enough screen time but that's not true - He simply gave Naruto and Sasuke too much screen time and focus, because plenty of male characters didn't get enough screen time either. By no means is this a criticism that is exclusive to the female characters.

They say he's sexist because all of his female characters revolve around love, when not only are they just referring to Hinata and Sakura when they say "all", not only is that not true anyway since I can name plenty of character traits and development for both girls outside of their love lives, but where are these people when a character like Obito comes along, and causes by far the most shit in the entire series, essentially because of his love life? By far the biggest aspect of Obito's character is his love for Rin. So then why is Kishi accused of sexism for apparently making his female characters all about love, when not only is that not true, but the character which this is most applicable to, is in fact male?

They say he's sexist because he never allowed Sakura to get angry with Sasuke, but that's not true. She got angry at him and called him a coward during the Forest of Death and berated him while defending Naruto during the Land of Iron. The reverse of this criticism is very prevalent in other shows - where the guy is mistreated by the girl, but because he's in love with her, he doesn't lash out, but remains calm and reasonable with her instead, and it's not even like those girls had an excuse like they were drowning in a curse of hatred like Sasuke. Now have a guess on whether or not the authors of those shows were accused of sexism towards men.

They say he's sexist because he apparently teaches young girls through Sakura, that they should put up with anything and everything from a guy because he'll eventually come around, when not only does this severely miss the point of why Sakura and Naruto were so forgiving towards Sasuke, but also, didn't Naruto display the exact same leniency towards Sasuke to an even greater degree? Always supporting him and defending his actions to his peers, begging the Raikage on his hands and knees to spare Sasuke, allowing himself to get beaten to a bloody pulp by Karui for Sasuke, the list goes on and on. Naruto forgave Sasuke without batting an eyelid, despite his crimes and severe mistreatment towards him as well. So why don't these people who throw around these sexism accusations have an issue with that? It only ever becomes a problem when it's a girl who forgives a boy despite his mistreatment. If it's a boy who forgives another boy under the same circumstances, it's apparently all good. That, is far more sexist than anything people are accusing Kishi of here, because people are looking at two identical situations (Naruto and Sakura forgiving Sasuke and always showing him favour despite his crimes and general mistreatment), and they're treating one situation differently just because of Sakura's gender.

So those are my thoughts on the matter. I could have gone on longer because this topic is a major can of worms with me, but I think I've made my point. Calling Kishi sexist is just as unwarranted as all those people who call Ikemoto a paedophile. If people wish certain characters could've been portrayed better, then just leave it as that. Don't bring sexism into it, because that has nothing to do with it.

[asktheheirofslytherin]

I see. I don’t want any of the people who write here to stop writing nor do I have anything against OCs, I enjoy reading them. This is definitely not my intention, 'cause I really consider most parts of this blog canon (I've never read a better written Voldemort than yours and we deserve to know more about him). Let’s face it, Voldemort and DEs are the devil and his followers. This shouldn't be questioned. It is known that pure-bloods had sexual relations with each other. Others would end up dead. Voldemort, as their leader, would be no different. He would choose to hang out with pure-blood women, and only with them. Imagine, if we know that he wants pure-bloods to rule/to be only wizards to exist, and we know that there are so few pure-blood families left, then think how small the number of women he was with is! He definitely didn't have sex with every one of them, only with those he considers more worthy and loyal above others (Bella). Yes, I firmly believe that there were women like flirting anon (loyal DEs and especially willing) who caught his attention and he would from time to time switch only between them (because they are so loyal, and worthy and pure-blooded, and he would reward them and never let anyone but them know him that way. That's why he chose Bella. But we only know about Bella, because she's the best of all DEs. Also cause the books were written for children, otherwise I'm sure we'd know more about nasty things happening among pure-bloods). Now I agree with you, Voldemort is definitely not cuddling, but my opinion is not even with Bella. Staying in bed without talking or cuddling with them, I accept. And why, because the act itself presents him as someone vulnerable and weak before his desires, and even his need to feel the touch of another would be humiliating for him. Yes, he would act on it rarely, but I think he'd have chosen ones he would allow himself to have. And I think he would let those women to look him in the eye and "reward" them (read manipulate them and seal their lips) for being loyal and keeping his human needs between four walls, but also so they can see who brings them that pleasure, who rewards them and to whom they need to stay loyal. Just like the devil, right? And they would see the pleasure they give him and that would make them more willing and make the master-servant bond absolutely stronger.

Now I don't know who your OC is, sorry, but I would definitely like to read about them. But here we are again: you believe Voldemort would be with Bella only, but you still hc him to be with your OC in a way he would with no other. Now imagine that your OC is not yours, but someone else's and they bring that OC in your ask box. Do you think you/your Voldemort who desires only Bella that way, would look at your/their OC the same way you hc them, or would he consider them an amusement (no matter in what way)? This is what interests me the most and that is why I deliberately brought up the question about the flirting anon vs eagle. If eagle were half or pure-blood, I'd agree with your answer, because he's hungry for knowledge above anything else. Now if he would desire your character that way, would you allow your Voldemort (where your OC doesn't exist) to desire someone else's (no matter which one)? I want to know how far you allow your personal preferences to stand in your “canon / stay true as much as possible to the character” way.

Ooc: don't worry, I don't see you coming across as anti-oc or anything! I think this is an interesting back and forth on figuring out where your hc's for voldy and mine diverge, and some friendly thesis-defending. I love hearing other people's canons and their rationale for them. I really don't think anyone can be truly *wrong* when we all come to different logical conclusions with the same given information. (See: @daughterofyourdarklord and I having two different hc's for Delphis birthday)

I personally think there are some logistical issues with pure blood supremacy that dear voldy should at least have in consideration. For this reason i don't think Voldemort wants *only* pure bloods to exist. Like you said there are so few of them, they couldn't even operate the wizarding world on their own. They *need* half bloods. Also, all the inbreeding and deterioration of the families - if Voldemort wins and segregates the classes even further, he's not going to have a solid group *left* after a while. Half bloods need to be welcomed into the fold at least to an extent. Because of this and his willingness to associate with and even *Mark* half bloods (ex: Snape) I can *absolutely* see him sleeping with a half blood woman.

If we assume here my originally blatant self insert OC isn't mine (I never reference her on here so I don't expect you to know her!) And came into the ask box via someone else...I dunno. It depends on a lot of factors such as the circumstances under which they met, how they flowed together, etc. As a pure blood death eater she'd have a shot, for sure; I wouldn't rule it out unless they were openly hostile to one another or fell into a very different vibe. So much depends on the writing of a character and the situation they're in. Since this blogverse is predominantly a bellamort verse with a few alternate worlds here and there for specific threads/OC's, he would likely only see her as an amusement unless both the characters and the writers *really* clicked.

So yes - if there's an oc Voldemort has an especially good rapport with, and if the writer is on the same page, I could potentially use my magical world bending powers to perhaps create an au where the two can exist together. This is partially because it's fun to engage with other people on here and partially because like I said in another post, I could ship voldy with a cinder block if the cinder block makes a good enough case.

Also: I love your point about how he would look into a partners eyes on *purpose* to solidify that loyalty. That is an excellent example of a headcanon that directly contradicts mine but is somehow still 100% in character and I can absolutely see him doing.

I think Voldemort *needs* human contact and affection, but there are a lot of mental hang ups and walls in place. If you think about it, if he was a true recluse with zero need for others, why build up an empire at all? If he doesn't care about how others perceive him, he could have worked at borgin and Burke's, saved up and charmed his way into money, gotten a cottage in the middle of nowhere, and published book after book on dark arts. But he didn't. He had to gain a following, get everyone to revere him or fear him. He wanted to be *known* to be *remembered* to be a living legend. Other people's opinions are, imo, *everything* to him - which in and of itself is such a human need.

So yes, I think he needs human contact. I cannot imagine he started cuddling Bella immediately. I'm thinking it took *years* to get to a point where he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down that much. But I also think it happens eventually because he's human. He *hates* being human, he wants to shed it like a skin and become something else, but he can't, not completely, and Bella is a safe outlet for that humanity. In a world where Bella doesn't exist/ exist in that way for him, he still eventually needs an outlet. So when I say he will cuddle with Bella/my OC, I am keeping him true to my interpretation of his character.

I can't give you a percentage of how much Voldemort is true to my interpretation and how much is me bending the rules because I truly don't know. I don't keep track of why I'm making certain decisions. I just write what feels right for him and the scene.

[bisluthq]

Mom of many boys (2+) but no girls: best MIL. //

Oh no, my grandma had 3 boys too, and they're all in their 40s now and she still acts like a petty b*tch towards their partners, especially with my dad tho my grandma hates every partner my dad finds

When my mom was in the family they used to treat her so bad like taking the remote control out of her hand so she wouldn't watch TV bad, like my dad cheating on her and bringing other women to his mom's house and my grandma being ok with it bad

My dad has a partner now and my grandma decided to just hate her, she even got my dad's girlfriends neighbors to gossip for her (they live in a small town), wich resulted in a situation being completely taken out of contex by them wich was convenient for my grandma to the point of not even wanting to hear her explanation, and she swears she doesn't like my dad's girlfriend bc of this but we all now the truth

What upsets me is that my grandma loves my mom now and thinks she's a "good woman" for her son but yeah they didn't help with that did they? And my mom just defends what she says about his current partners bc she wants aproval so much but doesn't realise my grandma is just doing with then and she did with her. She raised my dad to be a complete asshole, like getting home from work and being angry that there's not dinner ready yeat kind of asshole

Everytime we're at a family gathering she gets pissed when his girlfriend arrives and even got mad at me once for inviting her lol

Btw I don't like this grandma so much cause she was also a b*tch to me during my childhood and gave me a lot of body issues (ex: I was chubby and she used to call me piglet)

BRUHHHHH SHE SOUNDS LIKE A NIGHTMARE.

Y’all are making me feel better about my shitty grandma like I hardcore beef with the bitch and she does now idolize my mom lol like as a matter of principle really (although has still tried to shit stir lol between me and her but in big family settings she’s all about my mom) but like she would never be okay with him like expecting dinner cooked as soon as he arrives but also maybe because she’s like an ex-Soviet lady who rose to like rank of professor in the field of physics and so ergo she basically never cooked when he was a kid. I can’t imagine my dad making that comment though so idk what she’d do if he did do it lol. She’d probably look away but it wouldn’t occur to him.

What she does do now is like she’ll come to my dad’s house and look in the fridge and say to my stepmom “oh shame like should I come bring you some food?” which is just intended to embarrass and is rude and then my dad yells at her and my stepmom runs out like crying because she can’t do yelling and my family YELLS and then my dad drives her home and stays with her for like 3 hours just hanging out and THAT makes his wife mad and that latter behavior is what I think wouldn’t happen if he had a sibling he could ask to help him lol coz he knows she’s wrong but now she’s in a state and stuff.

Your gran sounds like a bigger bitch so thank you.

[momentofmemory]

the post about MJ is great, but i don't think Iris West belonged there. there's a strong argument to be made that she's a terrible *character*, regardless whether she's canonical or not. it's not about being Black, it's about the character being consistently annoying. the better issue to take with her is WHY they write Black women to be awful. in fact, candice patton deserves an oscar for what she's done with the terrible awful writing she's been given. she's amazing. Iris is the WORST.

Hi nonnie, thanks for stopping by. :)

Whether or not Iris is a poorly written character is a matter of debate—I certainly don’t think so, or at least no more than anyone else on a CW show—but for the purposes of the conversation, I’m more interested in the fandom’s response to her.

It’s a well recognized trend that fandom disproportionately hates on female characters, usually for the very same traits that get praised in male characters, but it’s overwhelmingly worse for Black women. You can’t hardly step two feet into the Flash fandom without hearing someone ragging on her, and it’s just not proportional to Iris’s faults. Darcy Lewis from Thor can be seen as annoying; she became the fandom’s favourite Little Black Dress. Felicity Smoak from  Arrow can be seen as clingy and controlling; fans adored her so much she elevated from a side character to the canon OTP. I’ve never, ever seen a Black woman receive this kind of treatment in any fandom—in fact, it usually goes in the opposite direction, like Angel Coulby’s decreased screen time in Merlin.

Her coworkers were just as bad. When Chris Pratt got called out for his actual  sketchy ties (in a meme of all things), his co-stars immediately rushed to defend him. When Candice Patton experienced death threats, hate brigades, calls for her character to be killed off, and was treated as genuinely less than? Grant Gustin didn’t do anything to defend her until as late as 2019 when fans actually called him out on it.

When a white male character is written “poorly,” fandom has no issue promptly fixing it and decrying the writers—think defense squads for Loki from Marvel, or Peter Hale from Teen Wolf—but when a Black women is “poorly” written, the hate is always directed towards the character herself. There aren’t thousands of fix-it fics. Meta writers don’t flock to justify her. She’s just seen as a problem, and usually the solution is to bully or kill her off.

I think it’s fair and valid to dislike a character, but when it becomes a pattern, and one filled with unjustifiable hatred, it’s worthy of considering where that dislike came from. If a petty action they took had been done by my favourite character instead, would I have excused it? Do I like irreverent humor better when it comes from a guy? And, if I genuinely dislike a character, how do I go about dealing with it?

Fandom is transformative. Fandom is power. If all Hollywood ever hears about is how much I hate women/bipoc, then all I accomplish is even fewer women/bipoc onscreen.

[romansrgn]

ch. 8

"I can't believe we just did that." Braelin shook her head in disbelief.

Dante looked down at his naked girlfriend."You regret what happened?"

"No, of course not. I'm just surprised that this was the place we decided to, you know—"

"Make love?"

Braelin raised a brow, surprised at how intimate it sounded. "Is that what we did?"

Dante thought for a moment, and honestly, he wasn't sure. Don't get him wrong, he slept with his fair share of women and could honestly say what he and Braelin just did felt different than the night of fucking he's grown accustomed to with the previous women he had been with, But at the same time, it felt that it was too soon to call what he and Braelin did "making love." Especially since he knew she had some unresolved feeling for her ex despite the constant declarations to him about wanting to see where they could go.

"I think you and I need to put some clothes on before someone walks in and sees you naked, and I'll have to kill them." he kissed the tip of her nose.

Braelin rolled her eyes and stood up."Right because seeing me naked with a swollen belly is every man's fantasy."

Dante gave her a look, "You're only saying that because you don't see yourself the way I do. I just had you and already want seconds."

Braelin popped her hand on her hip. "Seconds?"

"You're right; Sixths is more like it." He smirked, burying his head in her neck. He loved that she smelled like him.

Braelin kissed him lightly on the lips. "You didn't even take any pictures."

"You underestimate me, baby. I managed to get twenty shots before getting in between those sweet thighs of yours."

Braelin laughed. "Ok, this is not a story I'm going to tell the kids once they're old enough to see the pictures themselves."

Dante snorted, shaking his head. "Sex? Check. Photoshoot? Check. How about dinner at any restaurant of your choosing?"

"Didn't we do this backward?"

Dante shrugged. "We can still have sex afterward."

Braelin lightly shoved him. "Ass."

Roman looked over his shoulder at the hand that was placed there.

"Don't be too disappointed. It's only your wife."

Roman sighed, "Do you want to keep doing this? I asked you to meet me here so we could talk, not argue."

Janelle nodded, "I'm here, and like I said, despite your infidelity twice. I'm still willing to work out our marriage."

Roman remained quiet after hearing that.

Janelle wasn't sure what she was doing. She's never been the type of woman to be ok with her man fucking around on her, and she still wasn't. But like she said before. She and Roman had too much history, and they've been through way too much to throw it all away. "I'm not trying to make this difficult. I want everything to go back to the way things used to be."

"I need to do something I should've done a long time ago and be honest with you. Do I still love you? Yes. Do I love still love, Braelin? Yes, and honestly, even after all these years, I still haven't stopped. What happened between Braelin and I shouldn't have happened, but I don't regret it. But what I do regret is how this is all affecting you, and that's why I think we should get a divorce."

Janelle smiled sadly. "I keep telling myself I owe myself more than what I'm giving right now. I'm trying to hold onto something so good and beautiful at one point because despite where we are now, our love was something to fight for, and I thought you felt the same."

Roman nodded, "I do. I did, and that's my point. I need to figure things out, and it's not fair to you or anyone else if I stay in a marriage that I swore before God that I would be in forever. When in reality, I have never done right by you."

"But You think you're doing right by Braelin? You're not. The three of us have been in this entanglement since college. But like fools, we all participate in it because, for whatever reason, we convinced ourselves that you were the right man for us."

Roman snorted, "You never wanted to work on our marriage. You didn't want me to go back to Braelin."

Janelle shrugged. "Despite what I feel about her and the situation. Neither one of us deserves to be led on by you."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"No, you're playing the field. Rounding the bases to see which girl you want to play with for a little while, but then you'll get bored, and then, of course, history will repeat itself."

Roman chuckled darkly. "Yea, and that never stopped you from spreading your legs for me every chance you got either."

Janelle slapped Roman hard across the face. "I was stupid to think you were worth my effort, let alone the time I've wasted on making this work. I wanted to keep you because I love you, but despite that, I realize I'm not in love with you. I know that now because no woman who could truly love themselves would be willing to be a second choice for a son of a bitch like you."

Roman pointed at his wife. "That's what I always liked about you, Janelle. You never hold back, and I appreciate that, so let me return the favor." He stood up, towering over her wrapping a strand of hair around his finger. "Even though we had our good times. You were never her. You will never be her."

Janelle snorted, removing his hand from her hair. "Right now, you'll never be Dante. You remember him. Braelin's boyfriend. You know the same boyfriend she fucked in the middle of her maternity shoot."

Roman's large hands flexed, and his eye twitched.

"Of course, you didn't know that, so let me shed a little light on the subject. According to my good friend, who happens to be the assistant to the makeup artists who did Braelins makeup. Those two were too busy fucking each other's brains out to notice that the building wasn't empty. But I can't blame her. Dante is fine as—"

Hearing enough, Roman walked off, leaving Janelle alone.

Janelle smiled. She would gladly give Roman his divorce; although she did love him, she no longer wanted his cheating ass. She can admit that to herself, but she will be damn if she allowed Roman to get his happy ending after all the pain he caused her. It was one thing to cheat once but twice and then got the woman he cheated with pregnant. He can get the fuck out of here with that.

But was Roman alone in this? No, of course not. It takes two to create a child, and in Janelle's mind, Braelin was guilty as sin and should also pay for her part in this betrayal. But she wasn't going to play the role of the wicked ex-wife. She was going to show Roman that he can't snap his fingers and get everything he wants. So her plan was simple. Give Braelin the happy ending she always wanted, and naturally, it wasn't going to be with Roman.

Roman ignored questioning stares as he walked past them. He immediately dialed Braelin, "Answer the phone, damn it."

"Hey, Rome, you ok?" Naomi asked, immediately noticing the tension in his frame. "Is Braelin ok?"

Roman glared at her while hanging up the phone. "Where's your cousin?"

Naomi raised a brow at his tone, "Probably busy since she didn't answer your call, and with the way your attitude is right now, I'm glad she didn't."

Roman snorted, "Right, because I'm the big bad wolf."

"More like an indecisive fuck boy with good intentions. You don't want to hurt Brae, but somehow you always do. You two are friends who settled on co-parenting, but somehow that's not enough for you. You need to control every aspect of her life because you want to be her life."

"That's unfair and not true. I want what's best for her, even if it's not me. You know that."

"I know that you want to believe that, but your actions speak louder than those pretty little words. You have gone above and beyond to insert yourself into things that don't concern you. You two are not together anymore. Move on."

Roman knew Naomi was right, and despite his actions, he wanted Braelin to be happy, and with Dante, she was delighted. But he couldn't help but covet what he knew was his "Let me ask you something. If you and Jimmy broke up and after everything you two have been through together, would you accept him being happy with someone else? You would find it easy to sit back and watch someone else take your spot. Just like that."

Naomi shook her head. "You know Janelle is actually in this predicament, and I bet to you she seems like a real bitch for being hurt that you want to start over with the mother of your children. But the truth of the matter is you two are the real villains of the story, not her."

"At Least you're honest."

Naomi closed her eyes before turning around to see her cousin standing there. "I didn't mean to--"

"Yes, you did, and you're right. I know I can't take back what I did, and for that, I'm sorry because our actions caused someone else to get hurt in the process, not once but twice. I fucked a married man and got pregnant with his children. It was low down, and as a woman, it was disrespectful as hell. I'm the bad guy, not her."

Janelle clapped her hands, seemingly having heard the entire exchange. "That's the first step to redemption. Accountability, but it doesn't absolve you for what you did."

"It doesn't, and I can't say sorry enough to you, and I know that you can't forgive me--"

"It's not that I can't. I won't forgive you, Braelin. That's the difference. You willingly opened your legs for a married man not once but twice, and because of this affair, you got pregnant knowing I was having issues."

Roman opened his mouth to interject, but Braelin held up her hand, stopping him from commenting any further. She didn't need to be protected from this, especially since she knew she was the one in the wrong.

Braelin bit down on her bottom lip. "I didn't know." she defended. "I found out what was happening with you after I found I was pregnant. That's why I didn't want to say anything because it would be another slap to the face, and I couldn't hurt you like that."

"It's too late, Braelin," Janelle yelled. "I'm hurt either way, and the worse thing about this whole thing is that I'm not even surprised Roman cheated with you because this was always our favorite dance. The three of us. But, what I was surprised about was how weak-minded you still are when it comes to him." Janelle pointed to Roman. "And at first, we could blame it on how young and stupid we were, but the truth is only one of us is still stupid," she said before walking off, leaving Naomi, Roman, and Braelin alone.

"I didn't know you were— that she was." Naomi didn't know what to say to her cousin. She didn't attend for her talk with Roman to end with her cousin being dragged in front of what she can now see as the entire fucking locker room. At some point during the argument, they must've gotten the attention of some of the other superstars, "Maybe we should go somewhere else."

Braelin was numb. She came to Roman to ask what the emergency was since he had called her and texted her ten times. The only reason she didn't answer the phone was that she was already in the building. "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to let you know that I did a maternity photoshoot today.' Braelin looked around the arena of people who still occupied the room.

Roman tensed. "Really, and you didn't think I would like to attend?"

Braelin furrowed her brows at the question. "What are you—" her phone rang. "Hey, baby," she said, looking over at Roman and Naomi before excusing herself.

Naomi ran a hand through her hair. "I never attended for anyone to find out like this. I pushed too far and—"

Roman didn't like that their business was now on full blast, but he could admit it was nice to be open and honest with everything, and it made what he had to do next that much easier. Janelle wasn't the bad guy, but she wasn't the victim Naomi was trying to paint her out to be. He knew she had some tricks up her sleeve, and he'd be damn if he allowed her to interfere with him and his family "Yea, maybe a little. But Janelle is up to something."

"Janelle is not my concern, and considering all the shit you already have to deal with, she shouldn't be yours either."

Roman snorted, "It's hard to tell whose side you're on these days."

"I'm on the side I've always been on, and that's Braelin."

"Oh yeah? It seems like you're more on Janelle's side, and I'm not sure why that is. You and Janelle aren't friends, but from the way you're acting, you two have been friends for years. Braelin is the one that needs you right now. So instead of throwing what we did back in her face every second, maybe you should try to remember she needs you right now." Roman said, walking off. He had a meeting with Paul Heyman. He'll talk to Braelin later.

"I'm glad everything went alright with Tata. Send him my love, ok."

"I will. We're still on for tonight?"

Braelin grinned. "Of course. I should be done here before 9. They don't have much for me so that it might be sooner, and then I'm all yours."

Dante liked the way that sounded but deep down inside; he could never get himself to believe it. "You promise?"

Braelin heard the double meaning behind his question, and now more than ever, she wanted to make that promise to him, "I promise, I'm all yours. I'll see you tonight, baby."

Naomi peaked her head into the room once she heard her cousin end her phone call. "I want to apologize to you."

Braelin stuffed her phone in her pocket. "For what? None of this is your fault."

"It's not, but I don't want you to feel like I'm not on your side. Because I am. I've just been on edge since after Jimmy's surgery."

Braelin sighed, "I know that you've been through a lot lately, and of course, I know you're on my side, Nao. But it just feels like you're punishing me sometimes."

Naomi grabbed Braelin's hand. "I'm not punishing you. Yes, I'm-- I'm upset that this happened. Honestly, I knew what kind of hold you and Roman had on each other. I wish that I intervened before things could get more complicated for you."

Naomi loved Roman like a brother, but after Roman broke things off with Braelin to give his relationship with Janelle another chance, she witnessed Braelin's heartbreak live and in color. If it weren't for Jimmy talking her down, she probably would've killed Roman for what he did to her cousin.

"I don't need--"

"You almost stopped wrestling after you lost him, remember that?" Naomi whispered heatedly.

"I remember, Naomi. It wasn't my finest moments, and I sure as hell don't want to relive them. It hurt. It still does. It's why I'm scared as hell to give my heart to Dante out of fear that he's going to do the same thing Roman did to me."

"Then you need to be honest with him. You're making promises to him that are going to be impossible to keep because you can't stay away from your ex, and now that you're pregnant with his children, it's going to be even harder to keep that much-needed distance."

Braelin whipped the loan to tear that rolled down her cheek. "How did I manage to fuck things up this badly? I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I ended up hurting everyone."

Naomi laughed. "It's your talent, I guess."

Braelin pinched Naomi. "Bitch."

"Just think about what I said, ok."

Braelin nodded. She suddenly wanting to see Dante now more than ever.

Paul Heyman stood at the end of the table, eyeing both Roman and Vince McMahon. "I think this partnership could be beneficial to everyone."

Roman nodded. "A heel turn is unexpected, and it could be what I need to make things more interesting."

Paul grinned, "I agree, so what do you say? Do we have a deal?" He said, extending his hand.

Roman eyed the hand in front of him for a while before shaking it. "We have a deal, and since Jimmy's injured. I want Jey along for the ride."

Vince looked almost skeptical by the idea, but he trusted Paul and Roman to take this new storyline to new heights. "Fine, I'll leave you to it."

"So, here's what I think we should do--"

"We need to involve Braelin somehow," Roman said, interrupting Paul.

Paul blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. Since we're introducing this new heel turn and turning it into a family affair, I think it's only fair to involve not only Jey but Brae."

Paul Heyman had no issue involving more of the company's top talent but last heard, Braelin was close to retiring. "Umm, sure. But I thought she was retiring. "

Roman took a sip of his water. "She was, but now she has a reason not to."

Paul looked confused. "Explain."

"It's simple. She can't wrestle while pregnant, and since she's carrying my children, it'll add more layers to the story while giving her a reason to stick around."

Paul wouldn't call himself a manipulative man in the slightest. He was a smart businessman that knew how to make any situation work in his favor in the name of good content. However, that didn't mean he was against it, or he didn't know it when he saw it and if you asked Paul what Roman Reigns was doing was a manipulation at his finest. But whatever worked, and if Roman wanted Braelin a part of the story, then that is what's going to happen. "Whatever the tribal chief wants. The tribal chief gets."

Roman smirked, "That's what I like to hear."

AN: I know it’s been a while but I wanted to start the new year off right. Thanks to everyone who still reads and comments on this story on both here and wattpad. Stay safe and happy reading!

taglist:  @queenofthearchitect @calicina @never-sawft-princess @5dsinyourdirection @fancybarbii @aria725  @lustyromantic   @kai1996en @angelbaby908