#also also i know what happened isn't actually a war crime but like. let me have the joke yeah

[twelvemagpies]

i think one of my favourite things about house md is that we all call him hate crimes md and malpractice md but like

there's a point where the show veers suddenly into war crimes md, and the funniest fucking thing about it is that it's not even house

[ruegarding]

Hey, quick question if you don't mind me asking but what are your thoughts on Drew Tanaka as a character and how she was portrayed in HOO?

canon drew...well. i rbed this post that says "drew was not written as a character but rather a human obstacle who needed to be feminine so the ‘not like other girls’ could defeat her," and i think that summarizes it perfectly. she exists exclusively to make piper look good, which is a real shame bc drew could've been interesting. as-is, drew is not only uninteresting, piper is also uninteresting by extension. it'd be like if nancy was one of percy's greatest obstacles in tlt.

more under the cut bc i'm incapable of keeping things short.

here, in her introduction, not only is drew, a feminine girl, vain, she's also weak and unintimidating, a triple whammy right away! she has no reason to be antagonistic towards piper here, they literally just got to camp. piper's crime right now is *checks notes* not looking cute and existing next to a "good-looking guy." oh, yeah, btw drew likes jason for being hot and powerful.

this triple whammy isn't even restricted to drew, it's the entire aphrodite cabin. they all giggle when drew flirts w jason and when piper is uncomfortable being "gorgeous" and are too scared and weak to stand up to drew. the two exceptions are a guy who got in trouble for saying piper "might not be so bad" and a girl who's afraid of ugly shoes. what an uninteresting take.

anyway, moments like this

are everywhere. now, let's remember for a moment that the aphrodite cabin (including drew!) fought in a war where they were outnumbered and won. but yeah, their biggest strength is their ability to "make an orange t-shirt glamorous" bc piper is the only one out of them who can *checks notes* uhhh run? charmspeak on a quest? carry a knife? she doesn't even know how to fight in tlh! she wasn't at camp for more than two days, she never had any fighting experience! the fact that she's being called tougher than ppl who fought in a war makes me grit my teeth. and thalia was there when it happened!

and it doesn't even makes sense bc we see aphrodite like this is ttc

and she says this in tlh

(also sidenote: why is aphrodite's claiming so egregious and uncomfortable then? it's like rick has a moment of clarity and realizes he's being stupid and then immediately fucks it up again.)

this is interesting! and some of these kids (including drew!) would have met this aphrodite during the solstices. so portraying drew and the aphrodite cabin as a bunch of shallow kids obsessed w makeup that need to be saved by piper "not like other girls" mclean is so contrived. and constantly bringing up how piper's so much better than those shallow and weak aphrodite kids makes piper's entire character grating. rick brings up aneaus repeatedly throughout tlh, a son of venus/aphrodite that founded rome. why are we acting like aphrodite children are weak and stupid when we could be exploring literally anything else? like, you know, how they're traumatized?

and the thing is, he brings up silena! and it's done terribly. piper, who never knew silena and never will, lecturing drew, someone who knew silena and was betrayed by her, has always pissed me off. piper relating to silena bc she feels like she's in the same position? good, that's fine, i have no problem w this. but acting like she knew silena to ppl who actually did and then preaching abt what silena believed should've gotten her smacked (rick didn't even addressed the actual important part, which is how the other campers feel abt silena or how they feel abt surviving a war).

then when piper challenges drew, again, drew fought in a war while piper hasn't trained for a single day, why are we acting like piper could beat drew in a fight? piper can't even use charmspeak bc drew's resistant to it! that's the one advantage piper has! writing it like this comes off like piper is only strong as long as everyone else is weak. she's not rising to a challenge, her competitor is just so pathetic that she can overpower them. she didn't earn her strength. that's not good character development! so we're throwing two entire character arcs away for this!

what really gets me abt all of this is that piper didn't need to be a counselor. piper needed a place to belong. making drew nothing more than a stepping-stone was completely unnecessary, and making the aphrodite cabin weak and vain was redundant bc we already had an example w silena (and again, all the kids that fought in a war). as it is in canon, drew's character is a great example of some of rick's biggest writing flaws.

[ceilidhtransing]

Having spent pretty much the entire year immersed in studying Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and genocide more broadly, my heart is bursting with the need to stress how much you should take Project 2025 seriously. This is a long post but please stick with me.

Don't take this post as an attempt to concretely predict anything. We can't ever fully know the future and I think it's silly to say with total certainty “if Trump wins then America will become just like Nazi Germany” - not only because the future isn't written yet, but also because Germany under the Nazis was a very specific regime with its own quirks and peculiarities and I don't think that even a worst-case-scenario Trump regime would look exactly like Hitler's Germany. No two regimes ever look exactly alike: it would use the same colour palette as all far-right dictatorships but be constructed from a different medium, like what a watercolour is to an oil painting.

But just because Trump is a very different person from Hitler, and a worst-case-scenario Trump dictatorship would not literally be “Nazi Germany all over again”, that doesn't mean that what happened in Germany isn't instructive here. Forget the specifics of whether or not Trump as a dictator would organise a state identically to how the Nazis organised Germany or whatever; on a far broader and more relevant level, there is a distressing number of similarities. And too many people are falling into the same thought traps as they did then.

Please don't assume that Trump is “way too incompetent” to achieve what's in Project 2025 or Agenda 47. They said the same thing about Hitler. They said that there was no way this showman could govern effectively - holding big rallies and making speeches that get people riled up isn't the same as being good at running a functioning state and achieving what you want. The New York Times even wrote after he became Chancellor of Germany that this would only “let him expose to the German public his own futility”. And in many ways Hitler was pretty incompetent. But that didn't end up mattering. The greatest crime of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, was masterminded mostly by a whole load of people besides Hitler, who were delegated the nitty-gritty task of actually orchestrating it. Hitler's personal incompetence didn't prevent war or genocide.

Please don't assume that Trump is “just a wacky nutcase” who “can't possibly be a real risk”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The mainstream media gave constant coverage to all the crazy extreme things Hitler said as if he was merely a bit of a joke and not a massive threat. The Nazis were quite happy with this. To quote Goebbels repeatedly in his diary, “The main thing is they're talking about us.”

Please don't assume that being in power will “moderate” Trump and that “of course he won't be able to do all the crazy stuff once he actually has to govern”. They said the same thing about Hitler. It was a common sentiment in the early 1930s that all the sensible politicians around him would force him to moderate his stances. Fritz von Papen, the last Chancellor of Weimar Germany, persuaded President Hindenburg to make Hitler the Chancellor by assuring him, “In a few months, we will have pushed [Hitler] so far into the corner that he will squeak.” It turns out that power doesn't “moderate” people who are openly talking about a dictatorship.

Please don't assume that there's any truth to the whole “Trump has nothing to do with Project 2025 and trying to link it to him is just liberal hysteria” line. They said the same thing about Hitler. People repeatedly asserted that Nazi street violence wasn't really representative of the party leadership; it wasn't representative of Hitler. He was even subpoenaed by a very brave lawyer in 1931 in a bid to prove that recent violence by Nazi stormtroopers was committed with the knowledge and encouragement of the party leadership, with part of the prosecution's argument hanging on a pamphlet by Goebbels that promised a violent overthrow of the state if the Nazis couldn't come to power legitimately. Surely no legal political party could be publishing that. In a successful attempt to escape criminal charges, Hitler repeatedly lied that the pamphlet was not official Nazi Party material and that he didn't know anything about it. No Trump didn't write it, no it isn't an official GOP manifesto, but the links between Project 2025 and Trump, the previous Trump administration, and Trump allies are extremely well documented. Just the other day, Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought was caught calling Trump's disavowals of the document “graduate-level politics” and saying, “what he's doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand ... he's in fact not even opposing himself to a particular policy.”

Please don't assume that “there's no way something like that could happen here; we're way too educated and advanced”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The Germany of the 1920s and 1930s was one of the most educated and most scientifically and industrially advanced nations in the world, and its cities were some of the most progressive in the world. People were stunned and horrified that it was in Germany of all places - Germany, land of music and art and science and literature! - that fascism took root. Germany's economic and social advancement didn't stop about 40% of its voters choosing the Nazis. It didn't stop them taking power.

Please don't assume that Project 2025 is “just a wishlist” and “not actually a serious plan”. They said the same thing about Hitler. As is hopefully very clear by now, plenty of people did not think that the Nazis were capable of, or would dare to try, putting into actual practice the horrific ideas about race that undergirded so much of their ideology. “I like Hitler; he talks sense economically and I think all this stuff about Jews is just bluff and bluster.” “Every party has a loony wing, right? You have to understand they're not serious when they talk about this stuff; they're just telling their base what they want to hear.” “God have you heard this crazy race science shit about head shapes and stuff? It's hilarious! I'm sure none of them at the top really believe that; there's no way they'd be that nuts.” When a group of people like this tells you what they believe and tells you what they want to do with power, believe them. No matter how ridiculous they seem, they're not joking.

In the words of Hans Litten, the lawyer who subpoenaed and cross-examined Hitler in that court case in 1931, “Don't listen to him; he's telling the truth.” Litten was arrested on the night of the Reichstag fire in 1933 and spent the rest of his life being tortured in concentration camps before dying in Dachau in 1938 at the age of 34.

A tyrannical dictatorship can often be seen coming a mile away. I don't want to imply for a second that what the Nazis did came as a surprise to everyone and couldn't possibly have been predicted. There were people who saw this coming in the 1920s and 1930s and tried to sound the alarm while they still had a chance. But they were too often in the minority, taking the threat seriously while others had convinced themselves that there was no need for concern because the Nazis wouldn't really do all the things they repeatedly talked about wanting to do. Everyone should have seen this coming, but too many people wanted to believe it couldn't be true.

Don't let this scare you. Let it energise you. Talk to the people in your life about Project 2025 and Agenda 47. Push back against people who assert that “they'd never actually do all that stuff” or “Trump didn't even write Project 2025” or “it's not a real plan, just a list of crazy shit to get the base riled up”. Have conversations with folks you know who are on the fence about voting or about who to vote for and who seem persuadable. Make sure you're registered to vote, and keep making sure, especially if you live in a red state where people keep mysteriously dropping off voter rolls.

Now, again, please don't read this as some confident prediction that Trump will be a Hitler figure. I want to stress that is a worst-case scenario. If a Trump presidency is what happens, I would much prefer the best-case scenario: that he spends four years fumbling around and not really accomplishing anything and then gives up power at the end without much of a fight. But it would also be a folly to be smugly overconfident that the worst-case scenario “won't” or “can't” happen. It could. It has happened before. There is no reason it couldn't happen again.

[lurafita]

Malec meet pre-canon divergent

(considering tv-show canon only, as I don't know much about the books) I personally found it a little weird that Alec and his siblings had to be briefed about the High Warlock of their territory, by Hodge. Shouldn't Alec, as the acting head, have been aware of the most prominent downworld leaders in the city his institute is in? Wouldn't Magnus have been in the institute before, for ward maintenance or things like that? Wouldn't they have had to call him to close rifts that demons were popping out of? (Not like those kinds of things were ever shown or discussed in the show, but then again, the show was very stingy where details and backgrounds were concerned.) Anyway, I would like to propose a series re-write, where Alec and Magnus get to know each other pre-canon, and Magnus has the chance to bolster Alec's self-worth and confidence a little. And then exploring what effect this might have, as Alec wouldn't be such a pushover where his siblings are concerned. (I actually just really like re-writes of given plots that explore changes to said given plot, so that personal guilty pleasure might heavily play into this prompt…. 😉 )

possible scene:

They could meet on site for rift closure, and Alec is laying down a plan of attack, because some demons have already gathered. And then Jace is trying to propose another plan (that's less tactical than Alec's was and more of a 'run in head first' kinda deal). And Alec is not confident about his own plan versus Jace's, and he is about to give in, but then Magnus is like: "I agree with the pretty boy." And Jace smirks and goes: "See, the high warlock thinks it will work." And then Magnus goes: "Oh no, I was talking about his plan. Yours sucks."

-

I think, if a relationship between them (platonic heading for romantic) exists for some time, Magnus would probably let slip about Maryse and Robert having been in the circle. Not in a malicious way. I think Magnus assumed that Alec knew. So maybe one day Magnus offers to check over the wards, and Alec accepts and wonders loudly about why his parents didn’t commission check ups for two years,

and Magnus just "Well, they have tried to limit their business with downworlders as much as possible. Which isn't surprising, seeing as many of us feel that they haven't been sufficiently punished for their crimes while they were in the circle. But it's not as if I would have refused the job. I might have overcharged them, … Alexander? You look pale, is something wrong?"

-

I just see them having lots of little conversations that help build Alec up, while not just being simple compliments. Like, when Alec doubts his leadership qualities and asks Magnus about his opinion, as Magnus has fought in a few wars and known a few figureheads. "I believe being a good leader comes down to knowing and trusting in yourself." "Shouldn’t that be 'knowing and trusting my people'?" "That, too. But it's important to know your own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm one of the most powerful warlocks out there with a deep and varied understanding of my craft, and I look dashing in silk. I'm also impatient, occasionally vain, and I can be quite petty. Now what about you? Let me start you off. You are afraid." "Wow, didn’t think you would start with a weakness." "I didn’t. Well, maybe a little bit. Fear can be both. But in this case, I meant it as a strength." "How?" "Think back to our first meeting. The fear of not knowing what the situation was we were walking into, made you come up with a strategy that allowed us to assess what was going on, while also ensuring minimal collateral damage. What do you think would have happened had you been as cocky as your parabatai, and stormed right in?" "… We wouldn’t have known about the circle members, or the back entrance. The perimeter wouldn’t have been secured. The teen warlock might have become a victim to a shadowhunter blade, had you not had the chance to see the enslavement collar on her." "See? You have good instincts, Alexander, and a great mind for tactical manouvers. That is something you should trust in more."

[alatismeni-theitsa]

There are many things I will never forgive Rick Riordan for but the number 1 (one) thing I will always hold against him is how he treated WWII in the entire series.

To quote the PJO wiki, "[...] World War II, in the books, is described to be a huge fight between the children of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the children of Hades on the other.

The events of World War II resulted in the pact of the Big Three, because their children were affecting the course of history too much. It was decided more demigod children would be dangerous for the mortal world."

Just. What the fuck. There are so many things that are wrong with this.

There is nothing that he can do to excuse or salvage this. He could rewrite the whole series, I don't give a fuck. This should not have happened in the first place.

I don't care if he wrote the first book in 2005, he was and still is a grown ass man with a high education from what I've read, he has no excuse. WWII has affected millions across the globe with the descendants of all too many families even having to deal with the generational trauma that came from that time period alone AND dealing with heavy deniers of the many atrocities and war crimes that were committed whilst their grandparents and great-grandparents are having hallucinations of all of their traumatic experiences (can you tell i'm speaking from experience?).

Ironically he holds (Ancient) Greece on such a high pedestal, calling it the birthplace of Western Civilisation (it isn't), and yet you can tell he obviously knows very little about the damn country whose culture he's been appropreating for almost two decades now. Making Hades the father of 3 (three) terrible war criminals in the war that, you know, Greece had been and still is greatly affected by to this day. Which is, you know, his fucking home. That he and all the other characters supposedly care about oh so much (I have so many bottled-up negative emotions about these books and absolutely no safe space to let them out, theitsa, you have no idea).

You may think I'm overreacting or taking this too seriously but I honestly couldn't care less. This is not a topic you can just joke about or treat light-heartedly. Yes, it was mentioned as an atrocity in the books, but it was still mainly treated as just "Hehe silly fight between gods! Secret History ooo!~".

Simply saying that WWII was bad is not enough, Rick, it's actually the bare minimum. You need to show it at the very least some respect by not undermining its consequences to simply "This is why we don't have kids anymore!". But you're obviously not ready to hear that yet. It still baffles me that his fans are just now discovering he is not the saint they thought he was. "How could he be a zionist ??" they all ask in unison, meanwhile the signs were all there since 2005 (at the very least).

Anyway, you don't have to answer this ask if you don't feel like it, I understand it can possibly be overwhelming. You're the first person I've seen that's actually not afraid to point out Rick's bullshit despite initially liking his books, and also the fact that you are a Greek educating people on actual Greek culture, so I felt safe sharing my thoughts with you. Thank you for your time! Καλές γιορτές! 💕

You're overreacting, especially when it comes to the World Wars! In ww2 1 in 10 Greeks died in the famine, and almost everyone I know had someone in their family executed or tortured by the Germans/Bulgarians/Italians triple occupation (not to mention getting hurt or killed in battle). These situations traumatized generations of Greeks, but Rick had the immense privilege of not considering this while writing! He treated the wars like they were play-dough for his little cutsy lore, he made our arch-enemies the children of our gods, and he can go to hell for this.

I am here for all the righteous Greek αλάτι, so if you have more thoughts, bring it on!

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

The Tragedy of Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rhaenyra Targaryen's story is one of tragedy, she is put into a series of impossible situations and finally was killed for the crime of being a woman and wanting her birthright. This fact is something that TG stans are obsessed with trying to minimize or completely erase. Since they're usually exclusively show fans, I'm going to go through show Rhaenyra's life until we hit the end of season 1 (this is a long one so bear with me).

Rhaenyra spent her entire childhood being told she was less than for being a girl and her father killed her mother in pursuit of a son because of this belief. When Viserys finally recognizes her worth, she then has to deal with the misogynistic lords and their lack of respect towards her. Her ideas and opinions are dismissed in the SC, including Otto who fucking suggested making her heir, and they outright send her off like a child when she becomes too unruly for them.

Then after all this, Viserys marries her only friend, thus removing what's left of her support system after Daemon is banished. Alicent also went behind Rhaenyra's back to seduce Viserys. Sure, it was what her father told her, that doesn't mean it wasn't a shitty thing to do. Especially since she let Rhaenyra believe Viserys was going to marry Laena, thus causing her to be massively blindsided by the announcement. Of course Rhaenyra felt she couldn't trust Alicent, of course she felt betrayed, and Alicent never explained why she did it. This obviously drove a massive wedge in their friendship.

Things only get worse for Rhaenyra when Aegon is born. Now the lords who had no respect for her, including the fucking Hand, are clamoring for Rhaenyra to be disinherited. Sure, Viserys keeps her as heir, but does little to reinforce to HER that he isn't considering replacing her. He practically ignores her for the majority of episode 3 until he gets angry with her for not wanting to be his political pawn. Alicent isn't helping matters by never acknowledging the change in dynamic in their relationship, she's the queen consort now, a position she worked to get behind Rhaenyra's back. No things aren't the same, they never will be, Alicent acting like Rhaenyra should just treat her like normal is unrealistic and totally dismisses Rhaenyra's feelings.

Rhaenyra has a completely understandable fear of marriage and childbirth, considering what happened to her mother. Yet Viserys is insisting she marry, and sure, she can choose her own husband, but from her perspective that's basically being allowed to choose your own execution method. And there is also an underlying caveat: Viserys has to approve the match.

In the midst of all this, Daemon finally returns, the one person who completely understands Rhaenyra. He offers her the first scrap of true consideration and then expresses actual interest in her at the brothel. However, he leaves her in the brothel, so, drunk and alone, she stumbles into the arms of her only remaining friend. A man who willingly and eagerly slept with his drunk charge and thought that it entitled him to marrying her. After this, we see that caveat I mentioned come into play when Viserys rejects Daemon's proposal without consulting Rhaenyra, if he truly meant for it to be her choice, he would have let her have the final say.

So now her uncle is once again taken away, her former friend now hates her for not telling her a potentially damaging secret, and her former protector hates her for rejecting to run away with him. And to top it all off, she's now being forced to marry her openly gay cousin to fix the mistake Viserys made when he married Alicent. Then at her wedding, Alicent finishes of what's left of their friendship by declaring war on her and Criston kills Laenor's lover and allies with Alicent.

During the time jump, we know Alicent constantly undermined and abused Rhaenyra. She flouted her power at every turn, factionalized the nobles, taught her sons that Rhaenyra and her sons were beneath them, and shot down any of her opinions in the SC even to the detriment of the kingdom. We know from a deleted scene that Rhaenyra pursued a relationship with Aegon, yet she doesn't have any kind of connection to her siblings later on, meaning that someone must have put a stop to any bonding. After all, why would Aegon and his siblings be willing to usurp Rhaenyra if they had a good relationship? We also know from Laenor's "I thought we were past this" in ep six that Alicent constantly pressed the bastard issue even though Laenor, Corlys, and Viserys acknowledging them as legitimate made them so.

The issue of the Velaryon boys clearly shows how Rhaenyra was thrust into an impossible situation: she needed heirs and Laenor couldn't provide. By choosing Harwin, Rhaenyra was able to have three sons and have a loving relationship (as far as we know). But of course, this small happiness didn't last, as Harwin was sent away and murdered alongside his father by Larys. Before this, Alicent's abuse finally drives Rhaenyra to Dragonstone, by the way, Viserys never did anything to help Rhaenyra against Alicent.

Things finally seem to be looking up for Rhaenyra when she marries Daemon after Laena's funeral. She at last has a steadfast ally in the face of the greens and someone who genuinely loves her. She has two sons by him, her other children are growing up safe and happy alongside her stepdaughters who have integrated well into their new family.

Alas, after six years, she is dragged back into the greens' shit show when they decide to bring up the resolved matter of the Driftmark succession. This marks the beginning of the end for her happiness. Viserys dies and the greens usurp her crown, the news of which sends her into an early labor, killing her daughter. Now Rhaenyra is faced again with an impossible choice: go to war for her throne or bend the knee and risk being killed alongside her children (something the greens were already planning). We know which one she picks, and she's right in this: it's her throne, the greens are usurpers and traitors, end of story. But the greens then murder her son, Lucerys, when he was on a peaceful mission as a messenger.

Rhaenyra has now lost two children to the greens, and in the ensuing war, loses Viserys II (though he was alive unbeknownst to her), Jacaerys, and Joffery. Her stepdaughter, Baela, becomes a captive of the greens, Rhaena is being sheltered in the Vale, and her husband dies killing Aemond. The war takes away everything she loves except her son, Aegon III. She then has to flee KL after six months due to the rioting small folk and betrayal among her council (Corlys is a bitch). When she arrives on Dragonstone, she is seized by her brother's men and burned and eaten alive in front of her son by her usurper brother.

This is the story of a woman tormented throughout her life by the fact that she is a woman. She is undermined and abused as heir, usurped, and killed all for the crime of her gender, plain and simple. TG can try to deny it, but the story is clear, despite Condal and Hess' meddling. And if I see anyone saying that Rhaenyra is bad because she isn't a feminist, that doesn't matter (and that's not a true assessment), her reign sets a precedent for female inheritance in the Seven Kingdoms, that's still important in the long run. She is a tragic character, GRRM has made it clear the usurpation would have happened no matter what Rhaenyra did, she was doomed from the start.

[bleeding-star-heart]

These tags on a reblog of my Anders analysis are another problem I have with DA:2's writing

#god i have so many feelings about this#cuz i romanced anders my first playthrough#and i hated that our relationship did a 180 as soon as I was like#“im not gonna let you gaslight me into doing war crimes”#was it OOC?#i don't know#I can't say#I haven't studied anders as a character or taken the time to contemplate him enough to speak on it#but i just know it was such a turn off that i started a new game entirely EDIT: I have removed the word "gaslighting" from this meta owing to the fact that technically, Anders isn't gaslighting, because gaslighting is something different. Gaslighting being trying to make someone doubt their perception of reality, among other things. What Anders ACTUALLY does falls under emotional manipulation. I would say to the OP that yes, indeed, this is VERY "out of character", so to speak. Most definitely for JUSTICE, the spirit inhabiting Anders's body. But also for Anders as well. Think about it: emotionally manipulating one's romantic partner is an inherently unjust thing to do. It is not something two people who respect and love each other do. Yet the spirit of Justice is completely silent when it happens. A being that supposedly embodies nothing but Justice simply...allows his host to guilt his lover into doing something they disagree with. He does not protest or try to stop Anders from engaging in a truly toxic form of emotional manipulation. If written properly, Justice should immediately have called Anders out on this. Which should prompt either an apology from Anders or a long, seemingly one-man argument between the two. But that doesn't happen. In fact, Justice only shows up if you, as Anders's rival, manage to turn him AGAINST blowing up the Chantry. And then, only to railroad Anders back into the role of terrorist. This, combined with Justice's general lack of reaction to any injustice or violation of rights that DOESN'T have to do with mages, causes him to become little more than a cheap plot device. Now as to why I don't believe a properly written Anders would do it, either. Anders at this point in the story is a revolutionary, yes. He is passionate about his cause. But he is also MORE than that. And part of that 'more'-and also WHY he's a revolutionary-is that he was a victim of a controlling, emotionally manipulative institution. One that bombards people like him with all kinds of unhealthy messaging. Messages like: the outside world is guaranteed to hate you, your (unchangeable) nature is inherently wrong and sinful. As well as: you can't trust yourself at all, you are one bad day from being a monster, you need to let us control you for your own good. Anders probably saw more than one person like Keili-that girl in the Mage Origin who actively believes she's evil and prays to 'not be a mage'. He probably encountered a lot of mages with varying degrees of religiously based self-loathing. He probably had some himself. And he lived in the Ferelden Circle. He's also a person who not only left a toxic institution, but actively sees and complains about how toxic the institution is. People who've suffered from toxic environments/relationships and RECOGNIZE how toxic those environments/relationships were, tend to value healthy relationships/environments. They try and work on themselves to remove any lingering psychological effects of that toxicity. It is highly likely that Anders would NOT want to repeat the kind of emotional manipulation he and others were subjected to. While he might not agree with Hawke about methods, Anders would not believe guilt to be a good tactic because guilt is one of the very tactics the Chantry used on him! Guilt about being a target for demonic possession, guilt about what the magisters did, guilt about being a mage in general.

Guilting his partner into agreeing with him, is, essentially, him doing what the Chantry did to him. And if the writers had put any thought into his character, they would have realized that too. And thus, if they were smart, or and simply give the player the option to permanently decline the quest with no negative consequences. The other option is to lean into that, and purposefully make it a character flaw, that he's too blinded by trauma to see that. But the writers did NOT have the time to be able to successfully pull that off. Thus, yeah. They make Anders, who suffered from religious based emotional manipulation...into someone who emotionally manipulates his partners. Which is yet another thing done in the name of a less-than-stellar ending and plot beat. EDIT: I have removed the word "gaslighting" from my part of this meta owing to the fact that technically, Anders isn't gaslighting Hawke, because gaslighting is something different. Gaslighting being trying to make someone doubt their perception of reality, among other things. What Anders ACTUALLY does falls under emotional manipulation. Which I still don't believe a properly written Anders OR Justice would do, for the reasons stated above.

[kesleyjo]

I'm having some finale wine and I think I've got it. My final resolute head canon of Riverdale.

Keep in mind I have not watched the end of season 5 through the end and have absolutely no intention to, but I've seen and heard enough about *gestures vaguely* all of that to still stand by this.

Disclaimer: I do not believe this is what the writers intended whatsoever. This is all my imagination. I do however believe in this canon whole heartedly and its as true to me as whatever RAS's vision is to him. You choose who to trust.

Okay so first and foremost the entire series is written by Jughead. It's all his writings that are probably all sitting in a google docs draft folder.

I justify this due to the following:

He is the narrator

The entire series is obsessed with Betty Cooper for good or ill (I'll get to it)

Its all kind of sort of been alluded to that its all Jughead's writings anyway. At least in S1, again. I'll get to the why of that in a second.

He started writing season 1 in his junior year (so a year after the events of the S1). He read In Cold Blood (on his own, not for class, very important to him that you all know this) and was like "Hey my town had a murder and I have some trauma around it, so I should totes do this." And thus S1 is born.

This is why that season is (relatively) more grounded and far more realistic than the rest of the series because its based on a real true thing that happened and the real feelings and emotions of people involved. It has the least amount of exaggeration (but enough, because Jughead) and has the most coherent plot, which would make sense since Jughead isn't making anything up, he is recalling events.

This is also the only season that directly ties Jughead's narration and the plot to the book Jughead is writing on page, and thus tying them both together. Because again, its a thing that really happened.

So the characterizations, motivations, and actions of everyone in season 1 is the model of how and how these characters actually are and are a base for further exaggeration.

Seasons 2-4 are also based on true events but are exaggerations/interpretations of things that really happened, but are altered to make them more interesting to Jughead's readers (heh).

I don't want this post to be a novel so here is a brief listing of that I am thinking here for some of the main plots (but if you have a plot you want me to fit into this canon let me know):

The Black Hood: When Jughead showed Betty his first manuscript (S1) the positive constructive criticism she gave was that, "True crime is really popular right now, so this fits in with the zeitgeist." And Jughead ran with it. Fred also had his first heart attack at this time...we all know where I'm going with that so I'll just leave that there. RIP.

Making Hal the Black Hood: Hal leaves the family after the Polly debacle and finding some racy pics on Betty's computer (she sent them to Jug, she wasn't a camgirl) and decides to start his life over with a woman who is far more moral (and probably like 2 years older than Polly)

The Serpents/Class War with Hiram: Not a gang, just those under the boot of the rich that Hiram tries to eradicate through good ol fashioned gentrification. Archie and Veronica also start spending more time doing rich people shit and that drives a divide between the two main couples of the core four. But less about political plots and more about teenagers growing apart because of different interests

Season 3: Putting this all together because Jughead was having a hard time finding a plot here. So he focused on Alice's new weird young boyfriend who actually ended up taking off with Polly (leaving her twins), his newfound obsession with DnD (Betty was exhaustedly supportive of this) and Kevin's endless talk about the new megachurch he just joined. He and Betty also started watching a lot of horror films and Hitchcock at the time which leads us to...

Season 4: He and Betty go off to different schools but its because of college, not because Jug is the chosen one (again see why he is writing all of this himself). He meets a lot of pretentious people that challenge his relationship with Betty and he turns it into a mystery.

So now we have made it to 4.17. Ugh.

Okay so Jughead has written all of this, and reading everything back feels that Archie and Betty (who go to the same college now and are friends again after growing apart after he dated Veronica) have grown too close and Jug self destructs.

He self sabotages so hard and makes a story up in his head that Betty would be much happier with Archie who is doing perfectly mediocre at college while Jughead flunked out.

So he and Betty break up after a lot of frustrated fighting.

And he begins to write Betty differently. Wildly differently.

(You can't tell me this doesn't make more sense than whatever the hell happened in the show.)

Jughead dejected from his failure at school and his breakup Writes on and off for the next few years. His next main attempt is S5. His attempt at more realistic writing.

(Its also after Betty enters his life again, because at her core Betty is his muse)

He works through his fictional frustrations of Betty and Archie as a possible couple (They never dated. Archie is actually a aromantic pansexual who does not do commitment) and realized that he made it all up and they have nothing in common.

Jughead and Betty get back together at the end of "Season 5" but Betty tells him that writing about their real life is what tore them apart, so he needs to not use their relationship in his writing anymore.

So Jughead decided to get weird and wildly experimental with his writing. And because Jughead is not a particularly good writer S6 and S7 are born.

Betty, absolutely running out of positive things to say about his last few writing attempts tells him that maybe these exaggerated versions of their lives that bear no resemblance to the real world have run their course, and he should try something new.

So Jughead wraps up this now unrecognizable series of writings and moves onto something new.

With Betty diligently serving as his editor. She got distracted with her new job and left him unattended for those last few seasons and look what happened.

Also I realize that Archie/Veronica/Cheryl/Toni are absent in this so briefly

Archie: He always was in awe of Archie and slightly jealous of what he perceived he had over Jughead...this is why he is the quasi-hero and also why he tortures Arch and treats him like an idiot.

Veronica: I cannot stress this enough. He and Veronica have no relationship. She is his friend's girlfriend and his girlfriend's best friend. The only thing he really knows about her is she is rich and hot. So he makes that her core personality and slaps on whatever traits fit her best for whatever plot he is writing at the time.

(This is also why almost all the women Veronica, Tabitha, Jessica, and Toni all are at some time his love interest. Self instert fan fic Jug. We see you.)

Cheryl/Toni: He and Toni are friends and Cheryl is her girlfriend who endlessly terrifies him. That is the core of her characterization.

I already regret the fact that I am sharing this long-winded mess with the world...but I can't take it back now.

Enjoy. And if you don't that is fine. It's my head canon not yours. Go make your own.

Have fun on finale night folks.

[eighthdoctor]

i would love for you to talk about war crimes vs atrocities :chin-hands:

so i'm gonna talk extremely dispassionately for a bit about wars and why we have them before zooming in on gor specifically.

a war is a way to solve a problem.

sometimes the problem is "i'm a bag of dicks and think my country should have more territory" but still. a problem.

usually (unless you are a bag of dicks) a war is not your first approach to problem-solving, because wars are expensive on every possible level. financially. logistically. the longer your war goes on, the less your people like it--fewer willing troops, and also greater risk of getting overthrown and replaced by someone else. you're going to have food problems sooner or later. much easier if you can solve your problem some other way.

so: wars not typically the first solution to the problem.

however a war isn't one-sided. there's someone else here. and with some NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS which all are war crimes for reasons i'll get to, the other party ALSO needs to agree that a war is the best solution to the problem of "someone just invaded me". (as opposed to, say, surrendering.)

ergo: wars (and all fights) are between two (or more) parties who have both agreed this is happening.

you don't need a discussion beforehand, you don't even need to be able to speak each other's language. but if someone at the bar pulls out a knife, you have options other than jumping them. if you DO jump them you have now agreed it's fighting time.

okay so what about that surrendering option. in a bar yes, there are many options other than "fight or give up", but if someone has lined up their army on your border, you really are down to (1) fight, (2) unconditional surrender, (3) negotiate.

#3 requires us all to come to some basic agreements but it's also frankly the most common. MOST instances of country-level posturing do not result in war, they result in another treaty.

#2 (and also #3) can happen at any point after #1 starts. (tbf, it's also possible to start negotiations and then go nah bro, fuck you.) but let's say we start fighting, then go "wait shit, actually we can't win this".

in order for surrendering to be a good option here, the consequences of surrender have to be better than continuing to fight.

this is the root of most war crimes, not geneva.

because let's play out some warcraft scenarios (and put in a cut):

scenario 1: I surrender to the swarm of zombies overrunning my country. this does nothing to change the zombie behavior bc the Lich King is nuts, and we all get killed anyway. the NEXT country over watches this and goes "ah, no surrender then" and fights to the bitter end, making the conquest so much harder than if surrender had been an option.

this is why even a powerful army respects surrender--sure, you'd only lose 1-5% in the battle, but why lose even those when you could lose 0%?

scenario 2: I "surrender" to the orcs but don't really mean it, the moment they let their guard down I reveal my secret weapons/magic/whatever and slaughter them all. unfortunately the rest of the Horde is watching, now knows we cannot fucking be trusted, and next time an Alliance force is outnumbered, the surrender is not respected and we're back to scenario #1.

(scenario 2.5: I wear a recognized neutral flag such as the red cross in order to gain access to the enemy's base of operations and conduct sabotage. the enemy now refuses to let the red cross enter their zone of control. if this gets bad enough, forces may start shooting the red cross on sight. this is why using the red cross is a war crime.)

okay back to azeroth.

scenario 3: I don't fucking trust orcs, even when they've surrendered to me, so I'm going to slap them all in camps and keep them on starvation rations. I'm shocked and appalled when I learn that the orcs are now doing the same thing to our surrendered forces, and pitch a fit when my commander tells me to shape the fuck up.

a lot of war crimes boil down to "if I do it to them, they're gonna do it to us" and drawing a line based on palatability of that. If we mistreat our POWs, they're going to mistreat theirs--and as established before, surrender is an important concept, so "just don't take POWs" isn't really going to work.

scenario 4: I attack a group of civilians in order to provoke the Alliance into a battle they're not ready for. this works (and I win the battle) but now the Alliance is freely killing every Horde race they come across and in about 6 months my army won't have any food.

this one is tricky because different eras/cultures define 'civilian' differently. but in general, there are combatants and there are non-combatants, and if I start killing noncombatants, so is my enemy, and if this spirals long enough we all starve.

there are a lot (a LOT) of armies that won because they used scorched earth, either as the invader (Sherman's march to the sea) or the defender (Russian defense against Napoleon). but there is generally a line of acceptability here because again, if I'm killing your civilians (and destroying your food), then you're going to start killing mine. which is presumably part of why we're at war in the first place.

scenario 5: I destroy a city that has strategic military value but also is full of civilians without giving the civilians time to get out.

hopefully everyone can see what the immediate response to this is going to be. (Sylvanas. of course they're going to try to destroy Lordaeron. that's the logical response.)

at any rate: there are acceptable targets, which have opted in to this stupid problem solving ritual we're all playing. and then there are unacceptable targets, which are either opting out (neutral states) or are unable to opt (both sides' civilians). if I kill your civilians unnecessarily, you're going to kill mine, and then my surviving civilians are going to go "actually we'd like a different leader now thx".

scenario 6: since civilians are off the table, I dress my raid party up as Horde civilians and off we go into Horde territory to blow up some fortifications. (6.5: same thing but we're in Horde uniform.)

this is the same issue as scenario #2 but in a different hat. armies--historic or modern-are Large. I won't know everyone on sight. if I don't know everyone on sight, I need to trust that the people in my uniform are who they say they are. I may have basic preventative measures (code words, ID cards) but if I cannot trust new people I'm going to stop letting people into my fortress. and then eventually we lose, which is unfortunate, but simultaneously I'm pulling the same trick on you, and everyone spirals into paranoia.

now. spying is acceptable and you can wear whatever you want. but you go in, you spy, and you leave, and any blowing up happens while everyone is in uniform.

this is one of the things that distinguishes 21st century warfare, is the regular use of civilian identity to conceal military action. what happens if ANYONE who 'looks new' could be an enemy actor? not what I wanted to happen, that's for sure.

scenario 7: I tell my subordinate to remove enemy agents from the city (this is fine). my subordinate removes enemy combatants AND enemy noncombatants and generally makes this into a cull (this is not fine). we are BOTH at fault: my subordinate obviously manifested reasons to kill a bunch of civilians, but I was nowhere in sight.

armies need to have Someone To Put Blame On. by being in charge, you are saying you are that person. therefore, if your subordinate fucks up badly enough, it is your fault for not stopping them.

scenario 8: there's this new super explosive mineral that can power weapons (this is not a war crime). after mutually using it on each other, everybody decides that the amount of collateral is a colossally bad idea and mutually stops using it (obviously fine). however I think this is stupid and secretly keep supplying my soldiers with it (THAT'S THE PROBLEM).

hopefully we can all see where this one went wrong: if we both agree to Not Do A Thing, and then i Do The Thing, my enemy is not only going to do it in return, but ALSO decide that I am untrustworthy and my odds of negotiating an exit to this go WAY down.

scenario 9: I still don't trust orcs. these ones aren't fighting but I put them in camps anyway. when they rebel, I unilaterally start killing them even when they surrender. I say this isn't a war crime because we're not at war.

which it isn't! this is an atrocity. in real life we've defined this as a war crime because, well, nazis, but this IS an area where Geneva matters.

the difference between this and scenario 5/Teldrassil is that Darnassus is not, perhaps obviously, part of the Horde and so therefore attacking it constitutes an act of war. if Sylvanas had thoroughly lost her mind and wiped out Orgrimmar that wouldn't be a war crime, it'd just be insane.

the orcs are stateless, which complicates matters--if you stick your own civilians in camps and murder them, that's just being a dick. murdering people from another country is an act of war (and potentially a war crime); murdering stateless people has been a war crime irl since the 40s (it's those nazis again) but may not be one on azeroth.

scenario 10: after our last battle, we made a peace treaty. years later, I now know my enemy is preparing to attack me again, so rather than wait for a declaration of war, I go start it first.

declarations of war matter. it's not just being honorable and shit, it's giving everyone time to clear the civilians out and make sure that most of the people dying actually signed up for this. it's telling the opposition why you're declaring war and giving them the opportunity to pick a different option.

furthermore if you signed a peace treaty, a declaration of war is your opportunity to explain that this isn't you breaking your word, the other party did so first. this is important because at some point you'd probably like to sign another peace treaty and nobody is going to listen to you if you just demonstrated you do not give a shit about things you signed your name to. they're probably going to require that you give up a whole lot more than they would've otherwise because of the odds that you're going to be a shit in the future.

okay so in sum. wikipedia has different core principles but mine are:

meaningful surrender (#1, 2, 3)

demarcation between combatants and noncombatants (# 4, 5, 6)

trustworthiness/keeping your word (# 7, 8, 10)

you can also sort of derive the latter two from surrender--if I can't trust you to not kill me, I'm not going to surrender in the first place (trustworthiness), and if you're not demarcating who is and isn't a combatant, what even is going to happen once I've surrendered? but for comprehensiveness, let's take those three.

and go to a reblog because this is fucking enormous.

[goldenbloodytears]

Do u think Danny would be okay with having his SO be his partner in crime. I feel like it really depends but I think he would be open to it as long as like he was still the one calling the shots you get me? Been thinking about this one all day 😭

An ask in my ask box! Oh boy! Thanks Anon :) So this is actually a concept I've been toying with for a while in relation to the magnum opus fanfic I've had brewing in my head for five years. Gonna put a read more since this got long thanks to my rambling; warning for brief mention of partner murder.

Edit: changed some wording for clarity.

I don't think he would react well to an SO knowing his secret in a regular situation unless he was dead certain this person isn't going to betray him. So, obviously, becoming his partner in crime is going to involve blackmail. If his SO accidentally or purposefully kills somebody? Does some other crime or horrible thing they don't want revealed? That's going to be used. I think there's also just the inherent threat of personal harm... But I don't see him doing that unless pushed into the situation--I think if something did result in the death of the SO he would be sad about it... like very angry sad. Look what you made me do kinda. Like somebody just took a toy away from him. I don't really subscribe to yandere style headcanons for him personally, but I definitely think he is possessive.

Anyways back to my point... I think Danny would enjoy having somebody know. I think it must be lonely and a little isolating the way he lives... and humans are social creatures.

I think when it comes to his SO acting as a partner in crime, doing murders... my personal headcanon on the matter is he's... rather into it? I don't think he would go out of his way to influence somebody into murder/violence (what is he? his old man? lol) but I think there's a kind of... appreciation for a display of strength like that. Even if it was an accident. He's gonna clean the blood of them and it's the most sensual experience he's ever had--his head is gonna SPIN! I actually think he would be completely caught by surprise, like discovering a kink you didn't know you had (I mean that's exactly what it is, let's be real) He's been formed into this person to be okay with violence and it's not something he really gets to share/experience with people. He's not a veteran so he can't share "war stories" of his experiences, the closest he would get to this kind of thing for the average person is maybe hunting... but there's a keen difference in hunting a human than, say, a deer? I think having an SO as a partner in crime would be... like toxic good for him... I'm assuming the SO is a willing partner in crime. I can see him really enjoying somebody gassing up his ego (totally tempted to make a Harley/Joker comparison here). HOWEVER, I do think he would be an absolute pain in the ass about his works, his stories... I don't see him sharing Ghost Face with somebody, so it would be convincing him to either change gears to something else, or putting up with that.

One change I could see happening is having the SO, if they have writing chops or come from a journalism background, taking over the paper-writing/reporting aspect. The original background in-game (not the tome) mentions that some of the articles he's kept were not written by him, so as much as I feel like this is still an imperative part of his modus operandi, it's clear he still takes a nice fat dopamine hit for the sake of his ego from other people writing about him too... and therefore I could see him being flexible with it, because if the SO is his partner in crime, he can still influence what they write--he just doesn't have to work double shifts anymore LOL

Is it too cracked up to make a joke about Danny and his partner-in-crime SO getting a house in some random town and posing as a totally normal man and his spouse by day but then murdering people by night? IDK you decide. I'm kinda just picturing that one song by the Mountain Goats.

[ruenii]

Tim gets hit by a huGE dose of cuddle pollen Ivy made, but she modified it to make the victim more...loopy, or lower their inhibitions. It basically makes them not give a shit and do what they ACTUALLY want, but the fluff version.

So since Tim deep, deep, deeeeeep down is a huge fuckin sap. (You can never, ever take away this headcanon from me.)

He pounces on someone (read: Duke) the second he wakes up in the medbay. And since the batfam doesn't know that Tim isn't a corny ass sap, they think it's the pollen doing it, but nope, Timmy is just very touch-starved and wants to share his affection.

THE CASE OF DUKE THOMAS:

Duke gets pounced on first (he's Tim's favorite) and gets a clingy leech whose arms and legs are wrapped around his body very tightly and is also nuzzling the crook of his neck.

He's also trying very hard to control the blush on his face when Tim praises him, whether it be from training, school, or his personal achievements. Even if Tim constantly praises him when he wasn't dosed, he still couldn't get used to the sheer support.

The boy just huffs and carries Tim like a teddy bear, and the others are just watching silently at the display. (Dick seething in the bg but lets ignore that–)

THE CASE OF CASSANDRA CAIN:

Cass is the second, she doesn't dodge as Tim pounces on her back, his arms tucked around her head and legs wrapped around her neck.

Tim tells her how he's so glad that he's her sister and how he loves her very much, and would actually commit genocide for her—

And Cass just smiles cutely and pats him on the thigh, and continues to walk to the library, with Tim still on her shoulders, who is still complimenting and praising Cass, and also still wanting to commit war crimes for her.

THE CASE OF JASON TODD:

The third one is Jason, it's a slow night, nothing's really happening, just some regular drug busts, gang fights, and burglars, but other than that, everything's just very relaxed. Well, as relaxed as Gotham can get.

It's during this patrol when Tim slowly comes up beside him and intertwines their hands together, careful and gentle, because he knows Jason is still kind of uncomfortable to touch, not so much now, but it's still there, but he's working on it bit by bit.

Of course, Jason knows Tim knows about his fear of touch, I mean he'd be pretty surprised if he didn't, but he doesn't mind that Tim doesn't force Jason to hug or cuddle him vigorously, but does it in a subtler, gentle way.

Jason huffs and squeezes Tim's hand as thanks. Tim grins and squeezes back. They share a comfortable silence as they walk to a nearby cafe.

THE CASE OF STEPHANIE BROWN:

The fourth is Stephanie, and since they're exes-turned-to-best friends, and very cuddly, she wasn't that surprised but was more excited that this Tim doesn't hold back on the mushiness of it all.

They have a competition to see who can call the other the most cringiest, corny names that they can think of.

(Spoiler: (haha spoiler) Steph's in the lead)

The fact that Tim was hit by the pollen didn't change anything drastic to their dynamic, it sort of just, well, evolved it, they're still the cuddliest of buddies. And if they get more cringier and exhausting to the rest of the batfam? Well, it's their problem now.

THE CASE OF DICK GRAYSON:

The fifth is Dick, who is still very bitter that Tim didn't hug him first-

("But...bUT I WAS HIS BIG BROTHER FIRST– WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT I DON'T?!–"

"Uhhh...respecting his boundaries? being normal and not overbearing or being allergic to emotions? just being a friend to him in general to be honest-"

"..." )

And was also very relieved that he wasn't seriously hurt.

He's at the living room watching some random Rom-Com when Tim appears and stands closely to the couch Dick was on, curious about the movie as well.

Dick doesn't get a chance to say anything until something hits his chest. And when he looked down to see what it was, he almost cried from joy.

Tim was hugging him!! He was hugging him!! HA TAKE THAT DUKE–

Dick adjusted their position so that they're more comfortable, Tim's legs were on his thighs and his head was leaning on his shoulder.

Tim didn't really seem to mind as he was manhandled, but squirmed a little bit when Dick hugged him too hard.

Dick's just happy to see his little brother showing affection first!! He's come a long way. He says dramatically as he wipes a fake tear out of his eye.

THE CASE OF DAMIAN WAYNE:

The Sixth one is Damian, he was unnerved to see Tim being openly affectionate to the family, as he was used to seeing him being sarcastic and reserved, but not this... Grayson 2.0 clone.

(and also because he's a little, a tiny, bit offended that he wasn't the one who he hugged and looked for first. I mean, hello, Timothy? I am the youngest?? We trauma bonded?? I cradled you in my arms?? I'm Robin???)

But he was forced to accept this new Timothy. This new Timothy who gave him head pats for a good job, who scooped him in his arms in the morning when he's too tired to notice everything, who sets him on his lap and watches Animal Documentaries when he feels like Damian is too angry or is having a tantrum.

This new Timothy treated him like how he would treat his own little brother. He doesn't force him to do something he doesn't want unless it's absolutely needed. Respects his personal space when Damian was not in the mood but shows how he cares about him in other ways.

And, and. . . .this Tim was just affected by the pollen. It was not real, he was just forced to do this because of some stupid, meaningless, pollen. He doesn't really love Damian, he's just hallucinating.

But Damian doesn't push Tim off of him when he carries him up the stairs like a toddler.

Or when he praises him on how much he grew as a person, how much he learned, how he's so glad that he's with them now and comfortable in his own home, how kind he is to animals, or when he softly leans down and kisses his forehead good night.

Maybe tomorrow. Damian thinks, as Tims soft voice sends him to sleep.

THE CASE OF BRUCE WAYNE:

The seventh, is obviously, Bruce.

He wasn't a perfect parent, that much he can say at least. He was a broken man, who couldn't deal with his emotions properly.

It's getting better now though, as he's been seeing Dinah Lance twice a month. It's not going to be easy to change things that have been engraved in his heart for a long time.

But if it's for his kids? Bruce would do it in a heartbeat.

Tim walks over to where Bruce is, perched over the Bat Computer, looking at evidence of another human trafficking ring that had yet to be found.

He can see Bruce's shoulders stiffen, his expression carefully blank, but his hands were gripping the console too hard.

Bruce hears Tim approaching him from behind. His brilliant, intelligent, and lovable Tim. He doesn't deserve him, hell, he doesn't deserve any of his children

He feels like he failed them, and he had yet to apologize to all of them, some more than others, but he's working on it together with Dinah.

He's shocked when he feels Tim hug him from behind, nuzzling his head into his back. Bruce, still unmoving decided to turn his head to look at Tim, who was drowsy as he just woke up from a nap and wanted to find Bruce. (His son, his beautiful, capable, strong son.)

"Tim? You should go to your room if you're still tired—"

"You'reee. . . doing your besttttt, Bruceee...I'm proud of youuu...!"

Tim keeps on complimenting him, and god does the guilt fucking eat him alive

Bruce is shaking, Tim can feel it, but he was so sleepy, so he has to say this before he has to go upstairs to his room and fall asleep.

"I love you."

And Tim passes out, his hands loosely falling from Bruce's waist, but he catches him just in time before he hits the floor.

Bruce picks him up in a bridal carry and leaves the Bat Cave. He stays silent for most of the trip until he arrives at Tim's room and tucks him into bed.

A lone tear slid down his face as he cupped Tim's cheek into his much, much bigger hands. Looking at his son with pure adoration.

"I love you too."

He kisses his forehead before he leaves the room and turns off the light. Wondering why his throat feels likes there's a lump inside of it all of a sudden.

----

THE CASE OF THE SIRENS:

When they finally get to Ivy, she just laughs at them, cackling even.

"You idiots! That pollen was to just make someone show how they really feel, the nicer kind, I mean."

She rests her chin on top of her hand.

"It was supposed to be a prototype but hey, at least we know it works now."

Ivy looks at them and their glares bore holes into her skull, too bad she doesn't care.

"It takes their nicest qualities and times them to a ten. So Tim?"

She points at Red Robin who's busy hugging Harvey and is being cooed at by Catwoman.

"Is just a soft guy at heart, it wasn't forced or something, the pollen just helped him amp up his confidence and makes him do what he always, truly, wanted."

Ivy turns her back on them and goes over to Harley and Catwoman, and Tim beams at her, Ivy gives a soft smile and pats his head.

THE CASE OF THE BATFAM:

Meanwhile...

"WHAT?!–"

"Oh, so you guys didn't know Tim was a huge sap?"

"NO??? HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW!!???"

"Being a normal person man, it gets you anywhere."

"Babybird's soft as fuck, and also very cuddly, you guys just don't have the privilege to hear or see it like normal lol."

"Todd, you have five seconds until I dismember you–"

"Oh please Dami, you're just embarrassed!"

"Very true. His ears are turning very red."

"I AM NOT BLUSHING! SHUT UP!"

Bruce is just there in the middle, staring out at nothing, the only thing on his mind is just Tim saying I love you to him, echoing every 5 seconds.

Tim is just on cloud nine, happy.

Loopy, but still very happy.

[syn0vial]

honestly as much as i love galidraan as a source of angst and a big reason that jango is The Way he is, i do also think the overall conceit of it was poorly written and find arguments over which side was "responsible" for the massacre to be very frustrating.

imo, the problem is that the writer(s) would have us believe that a competent peacekeeping group could, with perfectly good intentions, wipe out an entire clan of people and then just kind of carelessly let the sole survivor of said massacre be sold into slavery in the aftermath.

and there's just like... no way to spin those circumstances into a form that isn't monstrous. and this isn't me saying, "therefore the jedi are the bad guys, the end." this is me being frustrated bc i don't find it feasible for a group of jedi to have done this. i literally do not understand how the jedi come there with the intention of arresting people and then just fucking genocide them instead—regardless of if jango shot first. unless the jedi had swapped out their lightsabers with rocket launchers or were specifically only aiming for decapitations, it doesn't make sense.

this strained suspension of disbelief is further compounded by the fact that the jedi council only expresses their regrets for what happened on galidraan after realizing that they'd been tricked by the planet's governor and that the mandalorians they'd massacred had been innocent—which only gives the very wild impression that if the true mandalorians had been guilty of crimes, then the whole mass murder and enslavement thing would've been peachy with them.

i just find the depiction of the jedi in this episode of star wars history to be atrocious to the point where it's just like... no, there needs to be more reason provided for this than just, "the governor lied to them." intentional sabotage, bad actors in the group, a greater conspiracy—there has to be something more than, "they just accidentally genocided this entire clan idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" bc the latter is just not believable on its own.

furthermore, if the massacre of galidraan was a thing that happened, whether bc of conspiracy or not, one would expect a much greater reaction among the jedi as a whole: an investigation, sanctions or even expulsion from the order for those deemed responsible, action against the governor that had lied to him, or, idk, tracking down the survivor you handed over to that governor to make sure nothing horrific has been done to him. something! instead, the jedi council is just kind of like "oops our bad" and, aside from dooku leaving, nothing really comes of it.

it really does just feel like the writer(s) needed a reason for jango to hate the jedi and so chose to, for this one isolated occurrence, write the jedi being cartoonishly, unbelievably horrible to justify it. and i find it all the more frustrating bc i think it would still have been believable for jango to loathe the jedi even if they hadn't been portrayed so appallingly. if the massacre had been the result of bad actors or conspiracy within the group, if the council had pursued action against the people responsible, if a mission had been deployed after the fact to find out what had become of jango—wouldn't it still make sense for him to, rightfully or wrongfully, hold the jedi as a group responsible for the death of his family? would he even know about the true reasons for the massacre or the jedi's attempts to help him afterwards? if the jedi had tried to rescue him from slavery but failed to find him, wouldn't that make his hatred of them all the more tragic?

idk, i just feel like there's a lot of lost potential there and i wish more people would discuss the lapses of the writer(s) rather than condemning or justifying the event as if it was an actual historical occurrence.

[key-rk]

Do you have an idea for your own Darkwing Duck arc?

I love your artwork especially the one with Drake and LP fishing! It looks straight out of a watercolor graphic novel. You’ve got the facial expressions of Drake’s grumpy but endearing personality down to a T.

AHH THANKYOU SMM!!! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT :D

I had a lot of fun drawing that piece, I'm glad you enjoyed it (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

--

As for the question, that's interesting to think about. I don't often think about more potential stories for the Darkwing universe, aside little bits and pieces here and there (mainly a long overdue holiday for the mallard family that doesn't result in fighting crime–they deserve a little break, I think about that cruise Dw wanted to take Lp on in 'All's Fahrenheit in love and war' all the time )

BUT.

There is ONE potential thing I wish was explored and that's a final/ third showdown with Taurus Bulba. I've rambled on about it in a previous post, but Bulba is such an important villain in the show–having a genuine impact on the cast. Not to mention at the end of 'The Steerminator', Bulba says something along the lines of 'This isn't the last you'll see of me', INTENDING we'd get to see more, but that never happened.

I think it would've been very interesting to conclude the story of Taurus Bulba, especially with how 'The Steerminator' ended. We were shown that both Darkwing and Gosalyn struggled with his return, both having a moment of panic when seeing him (which is sososo interesting)

BUT ALSO. Before he became part robot, he was a lot more rational and calculated–which in some way made him a lot more dangerous than let's say megavolt. He's already a lot more threatening than any other villain of the show. But in 'The Steerminator', he's lost parts of himself, being a lot easier to anger, he acts more on impulse. But he's a lot stronger physically. Pairing that with Darkwing's fear of getting Gosalyn hurt or worse, (and kind of dying himself) + Gosalyn's trauma regarding him–it would be incredibly interesting to see just how'd they'd deal with him for a third time. To deal with Taurus Bulba whose only goal is to get to Darkwing and potentially succeed because of how much he knows about them; their fears and weaknesses.

I really do think it could have been such a cool way to end the show, or just have an episode regarding Bulba's final arc and explore Dw's and Gosalyn's characters further. (I know Bulba appears in the comics, but I'm not really counting those here.)

Mmmmmmm

Not much else, though I do wonder what the transition period looked like for Drake after the Darkly Dawns the Duck. He'd spent so long alone, lowk isolating himself (man didn't even have a house 😮‍💨) and suddenly he lived in a neighborhood with a family? I believe that would've been difficult, ESPECIALLY for him. He's shown throughout the show that he finds people to be difficult to be around, not to mention his tendencies to overwork and disconnectment from the identity of 'Drake Mallard' (a clash reunion reference to where he lost his mask. He doesn't particularly value himself without the costume due to years of being unimportant and hardly acknowledged) and in 'Water Way to Go' he claimed to "get manically depressed on the weekends" (do what u will with that)

I know cartoon wise, they wouldn't explore that aspect of Drake re-adjusting to civilian life again, but I still like to imagine it. I think Drake's character is soso interesting and that little period specifically could have been intriguing. I don't think I've come across any fic delving into that yet either 😞.

(bonus detail: Drake actually didn't have his temper as a child. In his backstory episodes, he doesn't really possess it. In clash reunion he is kinda full of himself, but he's not angry to the point of lashing out at someone. This flaw only develops after he'd become an adult and lived in the tower alone for who knows how long 💀)

RIGHT WELL THAT'S IT. I REALLY LIKE TALKING ABOUT THIS SHOW, APOLOGIES FOR HOW LONG THIS IS 🙏

[wyauwu]

Ace Attorney: Kristoph Gavin

just wanted to put down some notes for a kristoph fic i wanna write whenever i need to take a break from my two pmd longfics

a compilation of four different cases kristoph gavin takes during the seven-year gap. one with apollo, one with beanix, one with ema, one with klavier (not necessarily in that order)

apollo: a month into his employment at gavin law offices. apollo's very first investigation. kristoph notices apollo's incredible skills of observation. if he didn't know any better, he'd almost call it supernatural. he was going to be quite the invaluable asset during trial preparation...apollo becomes a mainstay at kristoph's side from this point forwards. kristoph finds great amusement in making 'justice' puns. kristoph is slightly surprised that apollo doesn't bat an eye at investigating crime scenes, even though it's technically against the law. most rookies are. it's a welcome one. clay terran is the one accused of murder. gumshoe is the assigned detective. either that or (NOT PHANTOM) fulbright takes this case, and gummy shares the spotlight with ema. actually yeah i think i like that better.

ema: ema is willing to help kristoph bc he's phoenix's friend/friend with benefits/romantic partner??? she doesn't quite know what to make of them. kristoph keeps her guessing. this is the first investigation that ema's lead, so gumshoe is there as a sort of...senior consultant ig. not quite mentor. ema has picked up a bit of a smoking habit at this point. it's unbecoming of someone in the force, the smoke irritates kristoph's eyes and nose, the smell is going to linger on his suit, and not to mention the dangers of second-hand smoking...he manages to convince her to put down the cigarette in exchange for stress eating. 'wright gave me these...snackoos, the other day, would you like some?' the day ema hears about kristoph's arrest, she has the sudden urge to pick up smoking again. she won't though. people she admired being criminals? that's. fine. she's used to that. she's not going to let it ruin her. (the snackoos taste like ash on her tongue.)

klavier: klavier calls kristoph to help him figure out a particularly tough case. kristoph jokes about it being repayment for him not being able to face him down in court during klavier's first trial. klavier...isn't sure if he finds it funny. featuring: the gavinners (kristoph is fine with klavier's music career, it's quite illustrious, even if he personally isn't a fan of the genre (too noisy!) but a band? he's disapproving. too many people makes it hard to maintain perfection. and! the commercialisation of law enforcement that comes with a themed band is...well, he's not fond of it, to say the least.) a somewhat comfortable somewhat uneasy brotherly dynamic, daryan (kristoph despises his unruly conduct and lax work ethic, but begrudingly respects his adherence to code and nearly encyclopaedic knowledge of anything foreign affairs), and gavin-typical perfectionism (it runs in the family) also something to do with atroquinine? probably the murder weapon. klavier gets his inspo for his atroquinine song during this case

beanix: phoenix happens to be visiting the office as kristoph goes out for the investigation. kristoph decides to invite him along. 'why not come along? after all, it's not very often you get to relive the glory days, yes?' it's a taunt, a trap, accepting would be to invite pain into himself. phoenix knows this. phoenix accepts. homoerotic passive aggressive mental war ensues. there's definitely some clashing of investigative styles, but even if there's conflict, the unholy union of 'the turnabout terror' and 'the coolest defence in the west' when focused on one goal: finding the client innocent/the truth is merciless and unyielding. this is incredibly distressing to sebastian/eustace, who is the poor soul who has to try and hold back the veritable force of nature about to crash into and tear the prosecution's case apart, by any means necessary. kay is the assigned detective. she's excited to finally meet 'that man', but she's also confused by the whole thing that he and kristoph have going on? she thought phoenix and miles were together... whatever, she'll ask him later. (phoenix might decide to bring trucy along? i will decide that later.)

[agender-john]

This has been bothering me ever since i first read homestuck sorry i need to yap

Disclaimer vriska serket opinions ahead

Vriska is a bad person right? Like we all know that right?

I'm not even talking about the murder or the war crimes i can excuse that but she's genuinely an asshole to everyone around her right???

Don't get me wrong i love asshole characters as much as the next guy go off girlboss if she stayed the exact same from beginning to end i will not complain I'll eat it up

But she didn't did she? She changed right? At least one version of her

I'm not here to say that ghost vriskas arc is perfect or anything like that but it was the development she needed (IN MY OPINION!!!!!)

She did some self reflection and figured out stuff about herself and came to terms with some of her issues she even looked happier

And that's a good thing right? So why reverse that??? She grew as a person so why is the retcon pretending like vriska has always been the best thing to ever happen to the rest of the characters and that character development is bad actually??

First of all no matter how many cute mini comics you give me you'll never convince me that vriska being there is gonna solve everyones problems like come on she's gonna bully them for having personal problems right? That's literally what she does before the retcon she's literally the reason behind like at least a 1/4 of their problems

Also if you wanna have asshole not dead vriska back that's cool awesome good for you but why are you shitting on ghost vriska so hard?? Like oh vriska will totally cure roses alcoholism and get terezi out of an abusive relationship cause she's cool now but she's still gonna bully her own ghost for having character development cause imagine changing as a person that's loser behaviour soooo lame she's a softie now ewwww

And it even feels like the comic is taking not dead vriskas side like why are you so against vriska becoming a better person? What's so wrong about being a softie or whatever? Do you hate happiness??

And even in the epilogues and beyond canon where ghost vriska isn't really present they keep pretending like vriska is the coolest person ever and that she's always right about everything all the time like that isn't vriska that's what vriska thinks she is she's not supposed to actually be cool she's the only one who thinks she's cool

I just idk i don't really know where I'm going with this ig i really liked the way vriskas arc was going so the retcon was like a personal attack on me in particular am i even making sense at this point

TLDR i don't like how homestuck became the let's talk about how vriska is so cool and awesome comic my girlie ghost vriska deserves better

[art-the-f-up]

If I came across as snippy or trying to start something, I apologize, I'm barely holding myself together right now. I just saw some of the comments people have made about the situation on your Palestine AU and got frustrated. I want to be sure people have the whole picture, but whenever I try, people shut me down without really listening and blocking me. A guy got my original account deleted for "hate speech" when I posted my story just because they didn't like what I said. That's why I'm staying anon.

The truth is, I have someone over there who's being held in the middle of it all. She went on a school trip a few months ago and was reported missing. My family panicked not knowing what happened, and then a few weeks later all hell broke loose with this war.

My family was furious with Israel, and jumped to the conclusion it was like Russia & Ukraine, but later found out they were trying to take out Hamas, who had taken her and some of her classmates hostage.

No one knows what it's like to have someone over there, and no one seems to try to understand or even care. In their minds, Israel is the big bully and Palestine is the sole victim, but things aren't that black and white. Hell, Israel negotiating for hostage releases is the only reason a couple of her classmates have come home.

Meanwhile, everyone online seems to keep preaching about how Palestine must be free and how they need to stop supporting this war while offering no real alternatives to stopping Hamas, even going so far as to say they are a bunch of freedom fighters who need the support. Sometimes the only options you have are bad ones... But you still have to choose...

I'm not saying what's happening to the innocent people in Palestine isn't a tragedy, or trying to just brush it off, but men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with. I wouldn't wish this on anyone; knowing those monsters have her is a living hell, and not a day goes by that we don't hope and pray that they'll be stopped, just so my sister can come home.

Sorry for rambling, I just really needed that release. I've said my peace, I promise I won't bother you about it again.

Hey, I completely understand your situation. But we have to admit this is a sensitive topic for many. NOT forbidden, just sensitive. You can expect me to listen to what you have to say and even understand your perspective, but you won't find many people like that when it comes to this topic and that is just what the internet is like. Just because I am understanding you doesn't mean other people are, and they each have their own right to being exhausted with justifications of crimes on any side. If there's anything I've learned it's that pointing fingers in an argument is not going to get anyone anywhere. I am someone who has been trying to hear out both israelis and Palestinians because like anyone else, after oct 7 I wanted to get the whole picture, as you say.

But your entire discussion started with being biased instead of trying to show the whole situation. You started with saying "israel is not the bad guy" but also said "Hamas is a terrorist organization" and I want you to really look at the use of words if you want people to see the "entire picture". Otherwise you ARE going to get shut down. The entire point of starting an argument online is that you first have to claim you've tried to study the complexity thoroughly. Chalking it up to Hamas being a terrorist organization and justifying a genocide is not going to cut that.

I am completely against trying to shut down someone's grief no matter how big or small it is. Everything comes down to the fact that we are all human, we all have feelings and every life matters. I can only send my condolences to the family that's going through this first hand. First of all, if you are actually someone who has been so closely impacted by this, trying to show the 'bigger picture' on the other accounts instead of your own is ALREADY a pretty dangerous thing for you to do, let alone to the art account of a local tribal artist in the north of some little country.

Now I really want you to evaluate your situation. Your family is tensed, is grieving, they are beside themselves with worry. Just thinking about it makes me sad and I sincerely hope that everything safely gets resolved for you and hopefully everyone is safe. But can you seriously say that as soon as your family found out "oh, Israel is just trying to eradicate a terrorist organization by blowing up the very place where the hostages could potentially be" they were…. okay with it?

I understand what it's like. I understand and I care. I grew UP on the stories of people going missing, people being blown up, people getting martyred in Palestine. Trust me I understand what you are going through.

I will never try to justify what happened to civilians on oct 7. it is horrible. What happened on oct 7 and what has been happening in Palestine for years makes no one but the innocent suffer at the hands of evil powers. But you cannot, with all due respect, try to say you're showing a 'bigger picture' when you clearly failed to mention the entire history.

Everyone living in Israel knows they are, first and foremost, living in an apartheid state. It is not that difficult for anyone mature enough to see the situation around them and look up and research to come to that conclusion. And many Israelis have. And many have left. Because they knew what living being such a place will entail for them.

And keep in mind I am also NOT in support of trying to make any Israelis leave, who have documented proof of any of their ancestors being from that land and/or don't have second citizenship somewhere else in the world. I hold them to the same level of rights as I do Palestinians.

I don't need to get into overcomplicated finger-pointing and yelling. You can look up Israeli soldiers shooting their own hostages in Gaza despite them shouting in Hebrew and holding up white flags. And the army only apologized because they were identified as Israeli citizens. How does that differentiate the Israeli army from Hamas? I don't need to pull up multiple sources or proof provided by the Israelis themselves. They are already everywhere. What I've heard and what I've seen from October seven, I'm seeing more and more of it being done by the Israeli Army. So we need to be really careful trying to call one side a terrorist, because that will automatically mean calling the other side the same. Which is true. In terms of definitions, what's happening in Gaza is blatant terrorism.

If Palestine was an apartheid state, you would see me speaking out against them. If Palestine was a colonizer apartheid and the people stood up to fight back against a powerful army with resources far more than that of them, you would see me calling them freedom fighters, not terrorists. Because I did happen to read a little bit about the international laws. I do happen to be from a family with a history of armed freedom fighters.

So yes, I am incredibly sorry that this is impacting you mentally, I hope you and you family stays safe and united, but if the impact is making you say biased things, it's better to go offline, take a break from social media, and spend this time trying to pray for your family and spending time with them.