#also i have suspected DID so that whole identity thing is something I have to work on constantly

[snaileer]

Everyone Loves a 2-for-1 Sale Part 3

Part 1 & 2 (And original Prompt)

The dining room was suspiciously quiet for a Wayne breakfast when Danny walked in.

He glanced up from his phone, pulling one earbud out, “Oh feel free to continue arguing my morality like I’m an object, my music’s on full volume.”

Dick looked uncomfortable, “We weren’t-Look, Ti- Danny, we are just a bit curious as to why you’re…. here,” Dick finished, glancing at the others like asking if they’d share the plate of batguilt-fries with him.

“Surely the world could have done without a second Drake,” Damian cut in before Danny could even start.

“And we could have done without even one of you, yet here you are,” Danny glared, “Factory defects and all.”

Damian jerked upwards with a raised knife, narrowly pushed back down by Dick.

Danny rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to his phone-Tim’s phone-their phone. He held a folded paper out to Bruce with two fingers, still typing, “I have a list, if you want it.”

He continued typing as they opening the note and read it, he knew what it said.

To Do in Gotham:

1. Get to Gotham

2. Find original - don’t freak family out

3. -Find- Talk to Bruce

4. Convince Vicki Vale that Tim is/ actually engaged to Tam Fox

5. Get safe house

6. New identity? (what do clones do? - ask Connor)

7.

8.

9. Leave?

“What’s number seven and eight?” Dick asked, and Danny actively made sure his typing pattern didn’t change.

“Don’t know yet,” He answered with a shrug, the picture of nonchalance. Bruce probably didn’t believe him.

Didn’t matter. Dick did. Because Dick felt guilty.

Bat guilty.

About time he believed him about something.

And Danny didn’t care about Damian’s opinions one way or another.

He stepped away from the table, plopping another grape in his mouth as he walked past, “Welp that’s it for me, busy day, fake engagement, gotta find some crutches because I don’t think Vicki will accept my ‘you got new legs Lieutenant Dan-ny’ joke, all that,”

Danny slipped out the door past a sleep-deprived Tim with a jaunty salute, “All’s well in Clone Town!”

Danny kept walking, his brain running miles ahead of him, Ted Tobin steering the wheel with his fingers on the keypad of his phone as he moved forward and mentally filled in the list.

Number 7: Find Ra’s Al Ghul and the Lazarus pits.

Number 8: Stabilize yourself.

Danny continued up the stairs. He had people to see and rings to buy. Busy is the life of a saboteur.

—

Red Robin watched his clone linger in the jeweler’s store, trying to keep the frown from taking over his whole face.

He was making Tim’s life difficult. Tim suspected it was on purpose.

Largely because people would ask way too many questions if two Tim Drakes showed up in Gotham at the same time.

Hence, Red Robin being relegated to rooftop surveillance.

He turned his attention back to the clone, watching as he left the shop and turned down the street. Red Robin swept after him, following from above.

The clone remained focused on his phone- which was also Tim’s by the way, and stolen- as he walked down the street, turning into an alley without even looking up.

Tim tilted his head and swung to the rooftop, peering into the darkness.

“You could always just come down and actually talk to me, you know?”

Tim dropped into the alley, unsurprised to come face to face with the clone. It was weird to see his own face look so annoyed by him.

“Thought it was best to stay out of sight. We’re not exactly a daylight hero.”

Danny rolled his eyes, “Already annoyed with Vicki Vale?”

Tim nearly growled, “That is your fault,”

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me it’s not hilarious.”

“You’ve spent all morning in ring shops! I have meetings!”

“Lucius can handle them. It’s not like we actually did anything this last year anyways.”

Tim stared at him for a second, confusion in the squint of his eyes and laced with suspicion.

Danny groaned with a roll of his eyes, “Fine, you want me to stay put somewhere so you can do your civilian thing?”

“Yes.”

“I am not staying in the manor. You can’t make me.”

Dread filled him as Tim smiled, “Not a problem.”

Danny glared at Tim standing arms wide in the center of the room of his emptiest safe house, “This is so not what I meant and you know it.”

Tim’s face betrayed nothing, “Look, none of us are happy with this situation-“

Danny scoffed. Understatement of the century.

“But..” Tim continued with a pointed look, “It’s my fault, and I get that. So…compromise? You stay here, work on cold cases while I sort out my current job, and when I’m done, we’ll figure out what to do, okay?”

Danny sighed, feeling Ted Tobin stir to life with plans already forming.

“Fine.”

Tim nodded succinctly, reaching for a laptop and multiple cords, “Ok, here’s my old computer, -huh, I could have sworn that had a different charger- anyways- I’ll take this,” he plucks the phone from Danny’s hands in one smooth motion, giving a mocking smile in return to Danny’s glare, “Thank you very much, now I just have to-and find the guy who…”

Tim’s voice tapers off into mumbles as he heads into the bedroom to peel off his suit, fingers focused on the keypad of his newly reacquired phone.

Danny slumps himself down on the secondhand couch, dust echoing around him. This was fine, he could do stuff in the meanwhile, maybe help Tim with his case -or solve it himself, he bets he could- and then finish the new specs for the suit wings that Danny’s suit still didn’t have.

Tim fumbled through the doorway, now in civilian clothes, already on a call with Lucius probably, or Tam. Tam helped him a lot.

Danny slouched further into the silence.

It felt like being left behind by his parents.

They had bigger priorities.

Archaeology.

Ghosts.

Danny shook his head, opening the computer and letting Ted Tobin fish through the passwords for case files.

He’s nearly 3 hours deep when he really pauses for the first time, finally stopping the continuous notes sitting next him, each a different clue. Most for different cases.

The current case pulled up on his screen scratches at him, facts slotting into place with rapid fire precision.

The officer assigned to the case is a vet.

The case is perpetrated by a senatorial candidate.

The officer assigned served on three active fronts and 2 undisclosed.

The guilty candidate is running support for a bill cutting veteran supports.

Best of all?

It’s not in Gotham.

Danny smiles as Ted Tobin’s plan fills in, piece by piece.

—

Ra’s Al Ghul should really make it harder to hack into his confidential back market mercenary dealings.

Then again, maybe it was for the better. How else would he make sure Red Robin was able to intercept the assassin in time to save that poor officer’s life the night before his case-closing arrest?

—

“Detective, I assumed holding my business outside of Gotham would keep it from being the concern of you and yours,” Ra’s’ voice is muffled through the bag over his head, “It seems I was wrong.”

“Oh well, you know me…,” The bag is ripped roughly off his head, leaving him blinking rapidly against the light even as he smirks, “Always butting into things when I shouldn’t. It’s kind of what we do.”

“Tell me, Timothy,” Ra’s says, turning his back to him once more, as he waves his ninjas away, “What does this officer matter to you, more than a state away from your usual stomping grounds? What-“ Ra’s pauses as a different ninja approaches him to whisper in his ear. His body stills.

“Well, we’ll start there. First of all, as I’m sure you just found out, I’m not Timothy,” Danny says, standing up smoothly. He relishes the look Ra’s gives him as he turns around. “And secondly, the officer wasn’t what mattered. Getting you here on the other hand. Now that.. that takes a little more planning.” Danny brushes himself off, removing the cowl to leave just his own domino behind.

Ra’s al Ghul hums, his eyebrow twitching up even as his eyes narrow in suspicion.

“What? No sudden desire to stab? No impromptu attempt to put a sword through my chest?”

“You are curious. So much like the detective, and yet… my people tell me he is currently patrolling in Gotham with the Grayson boy.”

Danny scoffs, “Oh great, another fruit loop interested in me, like I need a new one of those.”

Ra’s’ stare doesn’t change. Albeit a bit more annoyed, but still flat and calm.

“You wanna know what makes me different from Timothy, Ra’s?” Danny pauses, taking a deep breath and letting the ectoplasm ripple inside him for the first time in months. “The difference between me and him,” When he looks up he knows his eyes glow fluorescent green, “Is that I’m stronger.”

—

Bonus Scene:

Dick stared at Tim’s clone as he left, sweeping past the original’s bleary form stumbling to the coffee machine.

“Are we sure he’s Drake’s clone? He seems… less of a fool,” Damian sneered, watching Tim stand listlessly in front of the cabinet, coffeemaker off, and tablet in hand.

He looked out of the Dining room doors, spotting Danny standing not far away in front of one of the closets by the stairs rather than the actual steps, fingers tapping away.

Damian turned back to his breakfast, “I retract my statement. Clearly his stupidity was simply blinding.”

[endlessburningdarkness]

How the fandom generally views Shen Yuan is exactly how his viewd by the people around him in SVSSS. And the thing is that it's a lie crafted for survival. The reason why there was no identity reveal is because doing so would break that illusion. I have always believed that, realistically, everything would have fallen apart if it happened.

Yue Qingyuan would have been as devastated as we, the audience, are at the revelation that his Xiao Jiu has been gone for years. He died without the explanation that he always wanted but was given to a complete stranger wearing his skin. That while people, himself included, noticed something wrong, they didn't bother or care enough to look deeper into it.

The peak lords (who no one can convince me didn't have character development in the background, and learned in detail that SJ was never the vile human scum they thought he was) would be outraged that Shen Yuan took over a position of power that he didn't earn. That he has been enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor for years. Liu Qingge would have felt betrayed the most because of the implication that SY knew about his Qi Deviation and so many other things. He would have been so angry I wouldn't be surprised if he accused SY of causing everything, even the Qi Deviation, to manipulate them all for Luo Binghe's sake.

The political fallout would be devastating for not only Cang Qiong but the entire cultivation world as a whole. Their entire credibility would be shot because someone of a high position was replaced by an entirely different person, and no one noticed for years. There would be noise, especially if Shen Yuan is driven out of Cang Qiong when Yue Qingyuan demands he vacate Shen Jiu's body.

Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan's relationship would slowly fall apart. Their entire relationship is based on lies and manipulation. Finding out that his husband has been lying about his identity for years, and part of the reason why he was treated kindly was due to fear of him would absolutely mess him up. It's driven home when Shen Yuan is finally allowed to be himself, completely and unapologetically, and the reality turns out to be different than what LBH thought it was. Everything that SY has ever done or said would be suspect. There would also be the added pressure of the political fallout because Cang Qiong wants Shen Jiu's body back and the accusations that he himself orchestrated the entire thing for power. Not to mention that there would be whispers about grooming from his own people, and while Luo Binghe defends SY, at first, the more time passes, the more it eats away at him. BingYuan has always been flawed, and the pressure of political crisis and everything falling apart around them would highlight them to the point that they can not be ignored.

Shen Yuan is not trusted, not anymore. In the end, much like the original Shen Qingqiu, he still ends up as the villain of the story. He becomes the imposter who lusted for both power and a child. Every sin that Shen Jiu was accused of are now his to bear. Especially since I doubt the system would have allowed SY to reveal its existence. Airplane would try to help, but the more stress that builds up, the more SY takes it out on him. Until he eventually hits his breaking point with SY, and just decides to leave him alone to deal with it all.

Shen Yuan's Shen Qingqiu is not real, and everything and everyone revolving around it is caught up in the illusion. Bursting that bubble would not be pretty.

This is really nicely written and I love the idea, I hope you write this into a fic one day!

yeah i once said Shen Yuan did not become Shen Qingqiu, rather Shen Qingqiu became Shen Yuan. Bingqiu is built on a lie, and some fans genuinely seem to forget that lol. LBH loves Shen Yuan because he believes he's Shen Qingqiu (Jiu).

Luo Binghe has no idea Shen Yuan exists, and realistically he would not react well. With his personality, the idea that the Shizun who picked him on that day during the disciple test, when LBH fell in love, is not in fact dead, and this other person has been pretending to be him, would break him utterly. Like he was ready to destroy the world bc Shen Qingqiu (Jiu) from his perspective, smiled at other people, how would he react to finding out Shen Qingqiu (Jiu) is actually dead? BADLY

There's a reason mxtx, the actual author did not do a reveal, bc she knows it wouldn't work. Like the author couldn't make bingqiu work without a massive lie still hanging over them, it's incredible anyone convinces themselves this is a healthy relationship.

I headcanon their relationship falls apart anyway, even without a reveal, bc there's only so long Shen Yuan can lie to himself and put up with terrible sex and LBHs manchild behaviour. I imagine he logs out at some point and returns to his real life.

Also, are you the same anon every time? You can chat with me you know, in the dms 😊

[iamnmbr3]

So when first asked to identify Harry, Draco doesn't do it but he stammers a bit and kind of prevaricates. But now he doesn't hesitate. He's made up his mind. As surely as he is now certain that he is looking at Harry Potter he is also certain that he's not going to be the one to reveal that fact. And he actually turns his back and walks away and refuses to be a part of it. Even knowing what the means, what it will cost him and his family.

And remember, Harry's appearance is altered but not so much that the Snatchers didn't suspect his true identity. There is no way that Draco, who in 6th year identified Harry by a glimpse of his shoe and the sound of his breath, did not recognize him.

(Incidentally this is one of the scenes I love in the movie because you can see the moment the penny drops and he realizes exactly who is in his drawing room and the momentousness of this moment and of the decision he must now make.)

I think it's notable that Draco looks both reluctant and fearful. Obviously he's reluctant to have a hand in Harry's death. And I think the fear comes from several things. I think it's fear of what will happen if Harry escapes, and an even greater fear of what will happen if he doesn't.

Draco knows what he's risking by giving Harry a window of opportunity and he's afraid of the punishment he and his family will endure if Harry gets away and of course he's afraid of how much worse it will be if it's discovered that he intentionally withheld the truth about Harry's identity. And yet despite everything he has been taught and despite the fact that he's never prided himself on his bravery, he is still even more afraid of the idea that it will all be for nothing, that Harry won't get away and will die right here in Draco's own drawing room.

Also. Nobody else comments on how afraid and reluctant Draco looks so I think he does a decent job of concealing it. (Given that he's alive after this incident we know Voldemort certainly never figured out Draco didn't immediately identify Harry on purpose). Harry just knows him so well he sees right through it.

And my drarry heart LOVES how throughout this whole scene Harry thinks of him as Draco. He starts thinking of him as Draco when he sees him forced to tortured Rowle and only reverts to "Malfoy" during the Room of Requirement confrontation. Because in this moment something in Harry knows Draco isn't truly his enemy.

Also I wonder if Narcissa also saw through Draco's facade of ignorance and started to suspect how he feels about Harry - that what she once might have taken for jealousy or perhaps a shallow infatuation isn't that at all but rather something much more powerful and deeper. Maybe that's why in the end she expected Harry to know where Draco was, even in the midst of the battle.

[amateurvoltaire]

I went to Puy du Fou (1) and watched  'Le Dernier Panache' (2), and needless to say, I've got a few things on my mind. But before I gather my thoughts into something coherent, there’s one pressing issue I need to address: there was NO “extermination” policy in the Vendée.

Is it clear enough for everyone? I sincerely hope so because yesterday, I was among an audience of about 5000 who were shown a scene depicting Robespierre (in yellow), Saint-Just (in turquoise), and Barère (in purple) arguing for the complete destruction of the Vendée… for reasons…

In plain terms, were they advocating for genocide (3)  in the Vendée.

This didn’t happen. In 1793, the idea of a distinct Vendéen identity wasn’t a real thing. The Vendéens were not recognized as a specific regional or ethnic group, not by themselves or anyone else.

Do you know what was real? Brigands rebelling against the first French Republic. What were the policies of extermination targeted towards? Those Brigands. What do you call that? Civil War.

On 1st August 1793, Barère delivered an inflamatory speech (4) that many use to argue the Committee of Public Safety's alleged genocidal intent. His words were indeed unhinged, typical of the era’s rhetoric.

Barère did say, "No more Vendée, no more royalty; no more Vendée, no more aristocracy; no more Vendée, and the enemies of the republic have disappeared," but this infamous line follows a crucial preamble: "We will have peace the day the interior is peaceful, that the rebels are subdued, that the brigands are exterminated. (5)" It’s disingenuous to interpret this as a call to wipe out an entire region (6).

Moreover, this speech was followed by the "Décret relatif aux mesures à prendre contre les rebelles de Vendée", which includes an article (the 8th) stating: "Women, children, and the elderly will be taken inland. Provisions will be made for their subsistence and safety, with all the consideration due to humanity" This directive was actually enforced as evidenced by the 20,000 to 40,000 refugees who the government supported in cities like Poitiers, Orléans, and La Rochelle.

The conservative right in France has been peddling this genocide narrative since the mid-1980s, but no amount of dramatic cursive text with melancholic violin strains will convert fiction into fact.

What happened in the Vendée was horrific. Were there war crimes? Numerous. Was the region scarred by the violence? Undoubtedly. Should we acknowledge that? Of course!  But pushing a theory that is not true detracts from recognising the violence, learning from it and ensuring it will never happen again.

It also cheapens the heroic acts and sacrifices of those who fought not for the narrow political agendas of the 21st century but for causes they truly believed in. The counter-revolutionaries in the Vendée and throughout France were driven by a deep commitment to protect their communities, faith, and way of life. They were not merely victims of a systematic extermination effort but active participants in a struggle to defend their political and religious beliefs (7). Admittedly, I'm not an expert on Charette, but I suspect he would be disturbed to see his legacy so grossly misrepresented…

Notes

(1) Puy du Fou is a historical theme park in the Vendée known for its elaborate live shows that recreate historical events. It has faced criticism for potentially exploiting history and is managed by the Puy du Fou Foundation, linked to its founder, Philippe de Villiers, a French politician noted for his conservative and nationalist views.

(2) This particular show focuses on François Athanase Charette de La Contrie, a Vendean general.

(3) Genocide is defined by the United Nations in the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide", adopted on December 9, 1948, as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.

(4) The conflict in the Vendée began in March 1793, prior to Robespierre's association with the Committee of Public Safety. Danton was the one who was instrumental in shaping the initial response to the uprising and was the president of the Convention during Barère’s speech. Weirdly enough, Danton is nowhere on that stage…

(5) The full qoute is "Nous aurons la paix le jour que l'intérieur sera paisible, que les rebelles seront soumis, que les brigands seront exterminés. Les conquêtes et les perfidies des puissances étrangères seront nulles le jour que le département de la Vendée aura perdu son infâme dénomination et sa population parricide et coupable. Plus de Vendée, plus de royauté ; plus de Vendée, plus d'aristocratie ; plus de Vendée, et les ennemis de la république ont disparu. "

(6) This type of rhetoric was not unique to the Vendée but was also directed at other counter-revolutionary hotspots across France like Brittany, Lyon, Marseille, Avignon, etc.

(7) I'm not a particular fan of those beliefs but I can respect the courage to stand up in defence of a lost cause.

[hellomynameisghostface]

Defending Amber Freeman!!

Hello, fellow "Scream" fans. I would like to take a moment to defend Ghostface #8, Amber Freeman because people in the fandom LOVE to shit on her. They're always finding a reason to say she was a terrible Ghostface (some go as far as saying the worst.) While she does have her flaws (they all do) she is far from the worst and she's actually quite a decent Ghostface, in my opinion.

So let's start at the beginning. Something that always irritates me in this fandom is when people call Amber stupid for using her own phone to make the Ghostface calls but it's actually so smart on many levels. First of all, she's not using her own phone. She actually cloned her own phone and here's how I know. When Ghostface calls Sam in the hospital it comes from Amber's phone, however, in the next scene after the attack we learn that Amber was at the sheriff's station being questioned. Even if she wasn't being questioned at that very moment she would have had to sneak away from Judy and her friends to make the call, causing suspicion. I feel like that's something Judy would have caught. Therefore, this had to be Richie making the call. So he was just using her phone, right? Not quite. In the same scene we see Judy checking out Amber's phone and hands it back to her. When would Richie have had the time to give it back to her? It's actually a lot better plan when you realize they actually cloned her phone to make it authentic. On top of all that...it works! Maybe not for the know it all viewers but from within the movie, no one suspects she actually made the calls herself. Besides, Roman does a similar thing with his voice changer and no one say a damn thing. When talking to Sarah he uses his own voice and we, as an audience, are suppose to believe in that moment it's a voice changer because there's no way they already revealed Ghostface's identity.

Next, let's talk about Dewey. People are mad that this tiny little girl could take him out but did you not see the epic fight scene where she very clearly could not overpower him? Even with all his injuries from the past movies and him just being old and tired he still overpowered her, a young and healthy energetic teenager. It wasn't until she played dead possum and attacked him while his guard was down that she could get a stab in.

And no, she did not lift him off the ground. Please pay attention to detail before you start crying about shit. She pulled the knife up and Dewey's body's first initial response was to go up on his toes with the knifes to try and prevent it from happening as much as possible. In fact, they both had to go on their tippy toes.

Another reason people love to hate on Amber is because her kills on Tara and Chad failed. Meanwhile Billy failed to kill Dewey, Randy and Gale. Nancy failed to kill Dewey. Roman failed to kill Mark. Charlie failed to kill Kirby. Richie failed to kill Mindy. Quinn failed to kill Gale and Mindy. Ethan and Quinn both failed to kill Chad. Wayne and Ethan both failed to kill Kirby. On top of all that, they all failed to kill Sidney, Sam and Tara in their respective movies. Amber letting a few kills slip is fine. She was still smart and a brutal attacker, especially when she knew she had a stronger opponent and needed to go for a fatal attack. In the end she killed the sheriff, ex-sheriff and a deputy.

"Amber was so obvious..." as if that's an excuse. You know who was the MOST obvious Ghostface killer to ever exsist? The very first who this whole damn fandom holds up on a pedestal: Billy Loomis. I mean, my Grandmother who can hardly comprehend the movies or simple basic things anymore knew it was him. Mickey was also super obvious. I've watched so many reaction videos and everyone susses Billy and Mickey so fast so please come up with a better excuse if you're going to trash Amber. I had the movie partially ruined for me (I looked away from the spoiler as fast as I could but I knew it was a young girl with long hair so there was few options of who it could be) so I can't really give my full opinion on how obvious she was but quite honestly I didn't see much evidence that led to her.

Just as a bonus: she has the most epic reveal (fight me.) Even if you suspected her you couldn't have suspected the reveal at that very moment. The way she abruptly pulled out the gun had me shook! "Welcome to act three" = iconic. As much as I love Jill if I see one person say how iconic her reveal was I'll lose it. It might have been shocking and unexpected it was her but her reveal was just her taking off her mask and saying "hello, Sidney. Surprised?" It was just a knock off of Mickey's reveal.

Now this is another that grinds my gears. When Amber faces off Sidney and Gale in the kitchen she cries, begs and pleads for her life. People take this for weakness and consider it another reason she's a terrible Ghostface because "she's the only one to do so." Here's my take on it: the first time Amber pleads for her life immediately after, she provokes Gale by claiming Dewey "died like a pussy." Now if she was truly scared and begging for her life, why would she fuck it up so quickly? She switched up SO fast. It was clearly a tactic to distract them long enough to figure out her next move and it worked. She tried it a second time but it obviously didn't work but I have no doubt in my mind that if it had she would have just attacked them again. She wasn't sorry and had no intentions of ever backing down. Meanwhile, the same people who complain about this are Stu fans and he cries like a little bitch when Sidney tells him she called the cops because his mommy and daddy are going to find out. 🥺 (I love Stu, by the way. I know that sounded aggressive but it's his toxic fans that really irritate me.)

On top of all that, she killed everyone in "Scream V." In my opinion, from the way I analyzed the film, she killed everyone and the only people Richie attacked were Sam in the hospital and Mindy in Amber's living room. You can view my first post to go more in depth, if you're interested.

At the end of the day, if you don't like her then whatever. That's fine. It's your opinion and it's probably not going to change but just say you don't like her and move on. Everything you hate on her for has been done by past Ghostfaces already so go hate on them. Amber was a great Ghostface and Mikey Madison did absolutely amazing in this role. Her going absolutely unhinged at the end is what won me over and made Amber my favorite Ghostface.

[badaziraphaletakes]

We've got a wriggly one

Love a good "Ooh I'm probably going to make myself unpopular here" at the opening of an offensive post. We're off to a very good start.

If you have to preface your take with four paragraphs of disclaimers explaining how not-ableist you are, then I Have Got Some News For You

"Before you accuse me of being ableist"... I have literally never heard this phrase not followed immediately by a giant ableism, and this is no exception

"I'm not." That's not how this works. It's something we all have to fight against every day. No one is just "not ableist". We all have ableist biases that we need to work hard to be aware of and keep in check. If you think you're just "not ableist", period, end of story, that's concerning in itself.

Disabled people can literally still be ableist (and saying otherwise is in itself ableist). We’re all products of an ableist society, so we all have structural internalized ableism inside us. Just because you are not aware that you’re doing it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. It can be unconscious. It very often is.

"I've been a disability advocate for years, so I'm entitled to tell other Disabled people how to feel about their own representation" quit weaponizing your Disabled identity to oppress other Disabled people, also, I can already tell I literally never want this person as my advocate, ever

7. The Autistics never, ever need or want alltistics to speak on our behalf, so if you're not Autistic then you are most welcome to shut absolutely and completely up at your earliest convenience

8. “This is as close as I can come to being gentle"... I have an alternative theory, which is that OP could, in fact, manage to be gentle if they really tried. For example, I do not have to be scathing right now in this reply. I am doing it because that is a choice I have actively made.

9. "I say things that people misunderstand" is never a defense. Most of the time, it's victim-blaming. And by the way, if this isn't a defense for Autistic people (spoiler alert: it's definitely not), then it sure as hell isn't a defense for alltistics.

10. "This isn't meant to invalidate people's opinions" *Spends the whole post invalidating people's opinions*

11. "Unless the book specifically says x, y, or z, you're not allowed to... say that something is ableist" umm wow

12. If Autistic people say a character (a character written by an Autistic author, no less) is Autistic-coded, then yelling "no they're not" at us is a very concerning thing for someone to be doing. To anyone doing this, just think about a. Why you feel the need to talk over Autistic people about that and b. why it bothers you to have people say that character is Autistic. Seriously, take some time and think about it. And also - if you can't see how Aziraphale is Autistic-coded - how did you miss that lol? Also also - how is thinking a character isn't Autistic your "personal experience" of that character that you feel the need to cling to? ...That gives me the ick.

13. Calling someone out for doing something ableist is not "name-calling".

14. "If someone read one of my [books?]..." I'm assuming this sentence ends "I wouldn't want people deciding one of my characters was x, y, or z". Well, guess what? - If it's a book you're finished with, then it's out of your hands what people do with it now. And if everyone from the autism community is saying your character is Autistic-coded, then guess what? Congratulations, you inadvertently (or, I suspect, advertently in NG's case ^^) wrote an Autistic-coded character! Seriously, take some time to read about what "coded" means and how characters are coded as Autistic. We're not saying Azi and the Starmaker are literally, conically Autistic. We're saying they're Autistic coded. And we’re saying he has autistic traits that autistic people identify with, and calling him selfish or cruel or lacking empathy or emotionally unintelligent (just a few of the common autism stereotypes that people have flung at Aziraphale) or things like that BECAUSE OF THOSE TRAITS is ableist.

When Aziraphale struggles socially and people call him selfish or stupid because of it, how am I (someonewho struggles socially every damn day) supposed to take that?

IN CONCLUSION: In trying to tell marginalized communities why we're wrong to think certain takes are offensive, people invariably end up just saying a bunch more offensive things - and in doing so, prove exactly the point we were trying to make in the first place.

[zetsubo-bani]

The Attackers and why I don't think it was rciel

The attackers of the tenth birthday is probably the biggest mystery in black butler. They are the ones ociel wants revenge against and their identities is a complete mystery. Which is why this is a popular topic to theorise about.

The most popular theory is the real ciel mastermind theory (rcmmt) which claims that it was rciel who either let the intruders in and commanded them or did this whole thing himself.

I myself strongly disagree with this theory and want to present why (as well as do little speculations about the real culprits).

Now then, why do people think it's rciel?

The panel that most people found suspicious are these:

The unknown expression on ciels face is what caught peoples attention and a lot of people thought that it meant he developed some sort of grudge against his parents because they "wanted to seperate him and his brother". But I think it's actually the opposite.

What vincent and rachel basically told him was "if you grow up and become a strong earl, you can help and protect your brother, even if you two are not in the same place" and I think that's what kickstarted rciels protective side.

We've seen in the blue memory arc after they got captured that rciel always held ociel in a very protective pose and with a glare to the hostile person.

And this moment is simply him realising that since his brother is a bit on the physically weaker side and doesn't have the title, that rciel can protect him instead. Some call his smile fake but I think it's genuine if you look at the background and how those little bubbles are drawn (which are always there in happy moments).

We also saw this protective side later during the attack .

Tanaka was supposed to pick them up at 6pm and as we can see, it's already 40 minutes after the time he was supposed to come. If a person who is usually very reliable is 40 minutes late, anyone would be suspicious and as we can see in rciels expression, he clearly suspects something is wrong.

We can see rciels protective side already kicking in by telling ociel he should remain where he is while rciel goes and checks. I couldn't include the next panel due to the limit but after that rciel says "it's my duty as the heir" which definitely ties back to what the previous pages caused.

So rciel basically walks out with no insurance that it's really safe while leaving his brother behind where he is (at the moment) safe.

Though after roughly 15 minutes have passed, ociel walks out anyways.

On his way he hears barking from vincents room after the dog sebastian has ran off.

What I believe happened was that the dog caught the perpetrator with vincent and started barking which caused the attacker to also kill the dog.

After ociel saw his dead parents and dog, he ran off in a panic, accidentally stumbling upon more corpses who were gathered around the whole house

Before hearing what seems to be the sound of blades clashing and running into tanaka.

Now this part is very important for the next page but think about this: if there is a sound of blades clashing and tanaka is not the one fighting then who are the two people fighting?

The answer is: it's rciel and the attacker.

Tanaka soon says this:

"master ciel is..." Indicates that rciel is in that hallway tanaka was in and from the sound of it, it doesn't seem that he was fine.

But you may ask now: "if rciel is fighting against someone and didn't seem to be doing well then why didn't tanaka help him since he is their servant and supposed to protect them?"

The answer is ociel.

Tanaka got distracted by ociel suddenly entering the scene. But most importantly look at what happened moments afterwards:

Someone stabbed tanaka in the back after he ran towards ociel (which was very likely the person who fought against rciel). But the important part are the hands grabbing ociel from behind.

Someone was following ociel and tanaka saw this which is why he left rciel on his own and try to protect ociel. But it was already too late.

After they got captured, rciel drops what I think is the biggest hint that he isn't the responsible one.

"if only I had more power", "if only I had the power to be invincible" pretty much confirms that he was indeed fighting against someone and got overpowered.

Now here is why I don't think rciel is the culprit:

1. Rciel has no motive to hurt his parents. They acted completely fine and like normal parents to him and that lesson after his tantrum is not nearly enough to serve as motive, especially because I think it served the opposite purpose and only spurred on his "I'm the big brother, I need to be strong" personality of his (which can be a common thing of older siblings)

2. Like I said the reason rciel went on his own was due to that personality and thinking he as the heir needs to deal with the possible threat. It wasn't to let in intruders

3. When they woke up, 40 minutes had already passed so the intruders were already on their rampage while the twins were sleeping (which caused tanaka to not come). Rciel couldn't possibly have let the attackers in if he was sleeping or while he was playing with ociel the whole time. He literally has an alibi.

4. That 15 minute timeframe wouldn't have been enough to kill off everyone in that manor because on one hand it is absolutely huge and on the other he is just 10 and lacks strength to fight against a grown adult.

5. Sebastian the dog obviously caught the intruder with vincent and barked. But sebastian already knows and likes rciel so why would he bark at his familiar? Because the intruder wasn't a familiar and most likely a stranger.

6. Rciel was fighting against someone which is the attacker. How can rciel be the attacker if he was fighting against the attacker?

7. Rciel was just 10. A little kid and most importantly the son of Vincent! Even if rciel had malicious intent (which he didn't) he couldn't have orchestrated it without vincent as the guard dog somehow noticing it. Tanaka or other servants were closely watching them and rciel wouldn't even have had the chance to meet and hire assassins to attack their manor on the tenth birthday.

8. Why would rciel cry over not having been strong enough if he was the mastermind? Even if he was and the attackers ended up "betraying him", it just feels strange that this would be what he complains and apologises for. The "not having been strong enough" is a big blow for him since he believed for years that he has to be the strong one for his brother. But the fact that he wasn't and they both got kidnapped, deeply hurts him which is why those tears in his eyes are genuine

9. Rciel having vincents ring is not a surprise if you think about the dog sebastian. Sebastian barked loudly which caught ociels attention who was rather far away. And it certainly must have caught rciels as well which is where he likely caught the attackers in the act and chased after them. This is what most likely broke out the fight.

The attackers are two or more people and by the size of the hands who grabbed ociel, they are most likely adults.

Besides consider this: Vincent requested diedrich to protect his sons if something should happen to him (which even diedrich found suspicious). Why would he ask that? Likely because he suspected something like this would happen.

It's highly likely that Vincent must have done something bad that he knew will cause his death. Which makes me theorise that vincent is the reason the attackers came and not because rciel orchestrated something.

Maybe I will add more reasons in the future if I think about more but I really had to get this off my chest since the rcmmt is my least favourite theory because it makes no sense to me. That theory is definitely based on some bias against rciel I believe.

But hopefully after this, you will see why it couldn't have been him.

[ooc-themis-cattails]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the diversity of ace identities in ISAT and all the detail about it?

(spoilers ahoy)

I love how at first Sif sees the porn scroll as "people doing fun things" but later admits it doesn't interest them at all. Their first response is to say what they know they're "supposed" to think it is, what everyone else is probably going to think it is. But then they learn that it's really ok to admit that they're not into it.

At first Sif is like "why does Beau like me?" but after a while they start to find him cute because they understand the emotion behind his feelings, and while they're not sure if they can actually take it as far as a sexual relationship, they're interested in figuring it out, because for them, that doesn't gross them out, it's just not a drive. This is so relatable to me and I love seeing it bc it's not the typical ace in fiction where like, this character is ace so we mustn't put them in a ship because we should assume it'd gross them out. Sif can be ace but not entirely horrified by sex, and Sif may be romantic (I don't know if even Sif knows whether they are romantic or not)-- I suspect they are demiromantic because it's the intimacy and familiarity of Beau's emotions that makes them start to feel things about the moment by the tree, to the point where they miss it when he doesn't try.

Mirabelle going through the dating service papers is the most wonderful scene because this is what it was like to be ace when I was in my early twenties. Most people didn't know it was a thing, and friends/family were very helpfully concerned that you should find a partner in order to not be alone, because the theory was that it was a basic human need for everyone. I did exactly what Mirabelle did, and had the same kind of reaction: "I have to pick one of these people to try dating because I have to figure out how to be sexually interested in someone so that I can do the whole partnership thing that everyone says you need to do in order to have a fulfilling adult life." Looking at pictures of people trying to figure out how to be attracted to them, or what you like, when the answer is really that you're just Not. And you're kind of torn because some part of you knows that this isn't going to work, but the other part of you legit believes that it's like staying hydrated, you have to do it for your own good even if you're not thirsty.

Mirabelle's being into fictional romance and shipping, just not into doing it herself, is also such a good detail. I'm not aro so I can't speak to that myself, but still, it's a thing. She's emotionally invested in the dynamics between people, she loves watching the details of how they play out, and that's completely separate from ever wanting to do it herself. I've seen it in others and I definitely get that from the perspective of an ace person reading smut-- you can very much enjoy a dynamic without wanting to BE in the dynamic yourself.

Sif coming to understand how attraction works from the outside: "Wait, you can't choose who you get a crush on? That explains so much!" The line made me wince because it's so self-deprecating-- they're probably thinking they're not good enough for Beau-- but I also very much appreciate the realism of how... nobody explains to you how attraction works because they assume you know what it's like, and you probably don't ask because it's embarrassing if they assume that you're an immature late bloomer with no experience of the world, rather than someone who will never have a libido no matter what they've seen. It's so easy to feel infantilized or to infantilize yourself if you're not comfortable with your ace identity. Both Mirabelle and Sif are young enough that they struggle a bit with whether this is really their identity or whether they've just not figured it out yet. In reality, at their age, this probably IS who they are. But they're also a bit hesitant to rule it out because it's really hard to know that you are NOT something, and (given that Mirabelle hadn't really considered the possibility that she's aroace) the culture doesn't seem to have a lot of representation or support for the idea. It's obvious to the player, well, if this is how they feel, then they're ace! But neither one of them can quite settle on that for sure. Because, unlike being attracted to someone where you can go "well that sure did happen", being not attracted to someone is a nonproof. So Mirabelle keeps trying, and Sif doesn't know that their reaction will seem valid to others (as evidenced by the change in how they describe the scroll). Odile, who is aro and who seems to be not entirely ace but isn't exactly the thirstiest plant in the garden, has a different position. She seems to pretty much know where she's at, which makes sense for her age, but we can't really tell if she's always been okay with it or if it's been an issue. We don't know if Ka Bu is a more uptight culture, or how long society has been normalizing non-hetero identities, but we do know she had no female role models, so if any of this heteronormative business was an issue, I imagine it contributed a lot to her feeling of outsiderness. I'd love to know more about how Odile's sexuality impacted her life but she's obviously not about to infodump it on a bunch of 20 year olds, so it remains a mystery. Nonetheless it's pretty great that there's an older aro character, illustrating that people have always been this way, it's just easier for young people to discover it now because they feel more allowed to not be heterosexual. [eta: @butterflyknifepoisoning reminded me that I've misremembered this and Odile isn't actually aro, she's had hatecrushes before and explained them to Mirabelle. Which I kind of sort of remember now! Not sure why I thought she was aro, my memory is crap sometimes. It's still a far cry from yamato nadeshiko, but yeah. Point taken]

...In the end, I find it extremely refreshing that there's a whole RPG party here and only ONE of them experiences sexual attraction, and it's a flamboyant gay-seeming dude with a poorly-kept-secret crush on an enby they/he. ISAT is so cool, it's the best aroace representation I have seen in fiction so far ever.

[21loveatfirstsight]

Episode 6 is just so damn good not to dissect

1 - I don’t care what Lilia see in his future, the first act she did is prioritize protecting Billy.

We see time and time again how in the MCU, heroes first act with intention of protect but it doesn’t always end well (age of ultron, civil war, etc.). Of course I won’t defend her if you see that action is a wrongful move, but don’t go and try to change my mind about her character. Lilia is a caring loving witch despite hundred years of people turn their back on her warnings, chase her away.

Also given how Billy will appear in the future where the battles stage will be much bigger, much chaotic, I don’t think Lilia can see clearly everything, all she can conclude is his path will not be easy but his role is important, that’s why she tried to protect him.

2 - “I died that day” - which is 100% true wherever he is Billy or William. 

Billy did experienced his own death when the Hex go down, plus (even though William is dead) there is body experience too, he might not experience the pain of the crash impact but there is definitely the after shock, and of course all the blood and broken things (duh). So the whole ambulance ride, the hospital stay, Billy is in shock. Not to mention he might feel Tommy’s death too. So, trauma x 3 i guess (yike!).

The reason the sigil works on both Billy Maximoff and William Kaplan is because:

The body is William Kaplan.

The soul is Billy Maximoff.

The existence being doesn’t know which one he is.

3 - Billy doesn’t know his identity despite he remembers Wanda, Vision and Tommy is completely makes sense.

Here is the reality in front of him: 

He went to sleep with his brother, experience his and Tommy’s death as the Hex go down.

Wake up in a car accident, with his parent who look completely different with how he remember them, and he’s the only child.

=> Which is real, which is not? Did he died in that car and have a near-death dream? Remember that to the public knowledge, the Hex is “Avenger exercise gone wrong”, with something to do with Wanda and Vision. No one in Westview talking about it, so the existence of Agatha and Tommy is known to none. SWORD might kept an eye on Agatha, but not Tommy. So despite his memories, reality tells him the difference. Until Bohner confirms for him that he is right to doubt reality. That’s why the look on Vision’s house, that’s why he has no trouble to say “Billy Maximoff” to Agatha, that’s why he choose the pendant (he might saw it on Agatha back in the Hex).

4 - There is a high chance Billy is the one summoned the gate of the road. 

There is a scene where he standing on something look a lot like it, with his signature blue star. But maybe he couldn’t open it without a coven, hence all the recruitment scenario. Plus, a lot of references using in the trials can be found in Billy’s room.

Do you remember how the gate mysteriously appear despite the coven bad attempt of singing the song? (Billy has reality-warping power fyi). Agatha then screamed at them to just blast her so she can steal their power. I suspect there is more than one way to get to the road:

A coven sing the song perfectly so the gate can appear.

A witch can summon it for the coven if they can’t sing (lol).

Now I think Agatha rather make everyone sing the song than teaching those witch on how to summon the gate. It’s definitely within her character. When did Billy do that, you ask? When he prepare for the coven “party”, before he hang up that coven papers Agatha immediately rips off. 

Also a plot twist if that wasn’t the case, the finale ending is Agatha getting domestic chaos with Rio (the scenes where Rio blow Agatha’s house on her). We didn’t see Billy in that. Maybe somehow Billy get sent out of the road, so he summons the gate to get back in there (yes I want Joe Locke singing the damn song too).

Another plot twist is an open ending for Billy: he walks the road again, by himself this time, to get Tommy back or getting more power or chasing after Agatha (for whatever happens to her at the finale).

[voteformightyclocks]

Why The Bad Batch Season 3 Was Bad

Now hear me out! I enjoyed it, for the most part. And I know many fans did enjoy love it. But objectively speaking, the show had a rough Seasons 1-2 while it tried to find it's footing, and then a horrible Season 3 due to bad writing. I could never really find the words to explain how I felt but recently I discovered an actual writing technique that was not implemented, which is the core of my problem. So let's talk about that!

The technique in question is setup/payoff. Ideally, everything in your story should have some sort of payoff. Think Boromir being tempted by the ring, and then later betraying the Fellowship. Or the dwarves and elves hating each other but later on Legolas and Gimli referring to each other as friends. The setup can be truly anything, and the payoff also can be. They don't need to be these massive moments that feel epic. But ideally, every notable moment and every lore drop should be building towards something.

While nothing has to build towards something, Tech's death should have. His death was a consequence to the Bad Batch's actions, however it wasn't properly built up or hinted at. The mission was treated the same as any other mission. There was no setup for Tech's death. You could replace his death with literally anyone else in the crew and the impact would have been exactly the same. So if Tech's death wasn't paying anything off, then it should be setup for something later down the line. It's a major event, it needed to be.

Fast forward to Season 3 and we have this assassin pursuing the Bad Batch. This assassin demonstrates Tech's abilities, as well as Crosshair's. Theories buzzed around the internet that this assassin was, in fact, Tech. This would have been awesome payoff. But instead the assassin was a faceless individual. I understand where the show was coming from: "This is what the Empire wanted to turn Task Force 99 into." But that's not satisfying. There was no buildup towards the Empire removing the identity of the clones, not truly. We could have seen that through Crosshair, but all we saw was the Empire trying to control Crosshair, not erase who he was. If we in contrast did have Tech return as the assassin, that would have been different. There would have been setup for that, and then slow buildup, and then finally, the reveal.

And this leads to a major thing that I'm going to talk about that Star Wars...has a history of ignoring. It's okay for the audience to be right. They knew we were saying "Tech could still be alive!" They knew we were going to theorize about the assassin the moment we saw him. I suspect that the whole Faceless Assassins twist was implemented to try to surprise us. It sucked. It had no setup. It wasn't paying anything off. It landed as flat as Tech's death. Yes if the main assassin was actually Tech, we would have guessed it and not been surprised, and granted that would have been a slightly cheesy part of the story, but we would have been excited. It would have been proper payoff to Tech's supposed death.

So TL;DR, The Bad Batch Season 3 sucked because it abandoned a writing principle in order to attempt to shock us, and instead left a major Season 2 event and the entirety of Season 3 dangling with emptiness.

To all you writers or aspiring writers out there, don't follow that path. Even if it means the readers are right, stick to your story and don't abandon writing techniques. There is so much power in writing a story that is purely yours, and no one else's.

Until next time

[therealvinelle]

I love the Agatha Christie question!

Who are your HP/Twilight faves in the Christie universe? (Who’s the opportunist who knows too much and dies for it? Who’s the conman killer who courts the girl to avoid suspicion? Who’s just trying to take a holiday and gets caught-up in a murder? Who are the dynamic mystery-solving duo who realize they are in love by the end of the novel? etc.).

I mean, that is kind of what The Man Who Would Be King (and secret fic) (both cowritten with @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin) have already become. We have our murder victim, Alphard, a very rich man with a colorful family, and possibly his sister, we have our unlikely detectives in Voldemort, Lily Potter, and Alphard himself. It may not be the center of the story but it's a large part of it.

In other words my answer for Harry Potter would somehow spoil all my present and future fics so I won't.

As for the Twilight version...

I vote we do it wealthy dysfunctional family style, it's most natural.

A patriarch is poisoned

Carlisle Cullen, a very wealthy man with powerful enemies, nonetheless dear to those around him and blessed with more friends than most, is found dead in his office one morning. Cause of death? Murder.

The police, caught on the detail that Dr. Cullen was a vampire and vampires are real, what the fuck is this on the doctor's autopsy table and is he going to wake up again and drink all our blood?, are little use in the investigation. Scotland Yard is soon brought in, and using Chief Swan's connections with the family they get a better picture of Dr. Cullen's life.

His family wasn't looking to inherit him anytime soon, as he was immortal. None of them were having money troubles however, all were independently wealthy.

He had made enemies of a thousand-year-old clan of powerful vampires, who on hearing that his murder is being investigated like this get very upset. Supposedly the victim lived with them in his youth (and inspector Craddock cries when he learns the timeline for this murder goes back to the 1600s. Are they going to have to bring historians in on this murder??), he might have known something

Oh what's that? The victim had a whole network of friends across the globe, who are all killers, and he knew everyone's secrets? ... do we have the budget to investigate this?

The victim was also living next to a tribe of magical shapeshifting wolves evolved specifically to kill his kind. They liked him best and had a line in their treaty that "he dies last". Not sure what to do with this information

Rosalie Hale missing person case from 1933 solved: Carlisle Cullen adopted her. Was she recognised, did someone piece it together, and was Carlisle killed in retribution?

The victim lived a fake life of fake papers. Could be important, except it's the most normal thing about this case.

The police wonder how this man didn't get murdered sooner, and are stretched so thin the investigation is going slowly.

So, Renesmee gets to be our plucky detective du jour, as she decides to see if she can help. Surely there is no harm in her poking around, and she's well liked around the vampire world so there might be answers she can get that human police can't, partly because policemen keep getting eaten.

She slowly narrows it down to the horrible realization that it was someone in the family, and she learns terrible things.

Jasper Hale wasn't Jasper Hale at all! He was a friend of Jasper's in the newborn army who wanted a new life, and who in the wake of Jasper's suden and unexpected death assumed his identity. He had Peter bite his entire face so he'd be scarred like Jasper had been, and vouch for this blond vampire most definitely being Jasper Hale. Peter later had to die because he Knew Too Much, and so did Charlotte, regrettably. Fake Jasper did however not kill Carlisle.

Edward seems a prime suspect, he is an angry and resentful young man who acts out. Everyone thinks he did it, and that Bella should certainly marry Jacob, the safer option. Much upheaval is had, however, once Renesmee is able to clear Edward's name and he meaningfully links arms with Bella. They sail off into the sunset with their inheritance.

Rosalie is a beautiful, cold, intimidating woman, the femme fatale sort who's surely conniving. It's a bit of a mystery why she married that poor fool Emmett, but it's clear to all she doesn't love him. No clear motive from her, other than the money she would inherit, but she's just so suspicious. Her alibi is ambiguous, she claims she was with Esme and Emmett but what if Esme and Emmett are lying to protect their daughter and wife? Superintendent Battle wonders about that.

Renesmee is at a loss.

And then she realizes that it's not Rosalie who acts like she doesn't love Emmett, it's Emmett who acts like he doesn't love her! And Esme's grieving widow act is just that, it's an act!

Renesmee realizes that Emmett and Esme are lovers, and killed Carlisle together. Esme committed it while Emmett tricked Rosalie into giving her an alibi. Renesmee realizes this once she has a "But Rosalie couldn't have seen Esme from that angle!" moment.

The plan was too pin Rosalie for the murder, see her hanged, and then in due time the mourning widowers would marry, happily entitled to all the money they couldn't have touched if they'd divorced. Also Rosalie was Catholic so she wouldn't have agreed to a divorce.

The two lovers are confronted, and Esme pulls out a tiny pearl-studded gun from her shoe, says "We tried, my love. I regret nothing" before shooting first Emmett, then herself.

[eldritch-bf]

Herbert West identity related headcanons:

ftm (obviously) gay and demi

if he’s 24 in 1985 then he was born in 1961 oof

I’m also using some info from the novelization as canon so he is Canadian and his parents died in a chemical fire in the house when he was 12-13

was forced to take ballet when be was 5-10 (something Jeffry Combs joked about in the commentary from Bride)

his parents were neglectful of him and didn’t really care about him wanting to have short hair or boy clothes plus they chalked it up to his presumably undiagnosed autism

realized he felt weird about the older boy in the foster home (13-18) but didn’t really understand it; mostly he is jealous when girls take away the boy’s attention; closest friend he ever had as they were alone together but Herbert knew he could never act on it so he kept those feelings to himself

he wants sex but only from someone he’s emotionally connected with which itself is rare and at the same time intellectually he considers sex to be debasing, while also being curious about the sensation and knowing the benefits of the chemicals produced during orgasm

this is coupled with the fact that at least before starting T any thought of sex or masturbation made him extremely dysphoric and repulsed so his whole relationship with sex is very complicated

he is deeply repulsed by femininity bc it reminds him of his childhood spend as his agab and the stupid gender norms his parents thrust upon him including dismissing him being a scientist just because he had the wrong parts

he is canonically annoyed by pretty much all sounds and I suspect higher pitched sounds including women’s voices are worse; lower register sounds like thunder and men’s voices can be calming to him

upon moving from Canada to the U.S. as a student at NYU he used his new name on everything and making a clean break from his old identity was a big reason why he picked a different country to study in

hated NYU and the only good thing was it was easy to synthesize testosterone

T made him so fucking horny and also eviscerated his dysphoria; man was cranking it fucking constantly for a year straight and did some of his best work before moving to Switzerland for 3 years

Dr Gruber immediately figured out what his deal was but didn’t say anything and just treated him normal and for that Herbert was extremely devoted to him; Dr Gruber also did his top surgery in Switzerland despite having never done such an operation before

Dr Gruber was the one and only member of his support system the only person who knew everything about him and understood him and accepted him, losing him was a devastating blow and Herbert decided he would keep himself closed off

Also Dr Gruber didn’t have anyone either and adored Herbert and according to the book fucking left Herbert his money when he died which paid for his tuition and moving costs etc

if I didn’t genuinely like the father/son dynamic they have, I would absolutely say he was fucking that old man

So he was cool and clipped to Dan when he first met him and when he moved in trying to keep Dan at arm’s length away but he saw how smart and hardworking Dan was and he knew how difficult it was to conduct this research alone and he desperately wanted the company

and Dan reminded him a lot of the first boy he ever had a crush on and it would give him a certain satisfaction to vicariously have his first crush through Dan yet also knowing that Dan is way better than the idiot teen boy he was in the foster home with who never gave him the time of day; he’s also pleased with the idea of dragging Dan (normal, supposedly heterosexual, law-abiding) down with him; he’s pulling the brightest kindest handsomest hardest working med student out of Miskatonic into his orbit and making Dan’s life revolve around him

literally “look at the bad bitch I pulled by being a little freak” absolute nightmare Herbert West takes personal pleasure in ruining sweaterboy Daniel Cain’s life

the chaos of everything they do is so much more important that when Dan finds out Herbert is trans and gay it doesn’t even phase him.

(Daniel Cain is bisexual and basically decided it was just easier to be pretend to be straight and get a girlfriend so he ignored his feelings for men. But now with Herbert he doesn’t have to.)

he is completely shocked by sex with Dan however despite knowing that Dan is experienced he was not prepared nor was Dan prepared for how awkward yet demanding the virginal Herbert West would be, yelling at him one moment before becoming cock stupid the next

[dis0rderly-cl0wn-nerd]

How would Joker react if Y/n was pregnant? What would he do? Would he want a girl or a boy? Can you write something for this? :

Anon, I'm so sorry this took me over 4 months to answer! 😭 I didn’t really know how to make this into a oneshot so I’m going to do this in headcanon format with little drabbles in between if that’s alright. This is kind of like a 'what if' situation. No way in canon would Joker let you keep a baby. But let's just pretend :3 I loved this request so thank you for the ask! <333

You understandably freak out when the pregnancy test comes back positive. You are pregnant with The Joker’s child! 

What are you gonna do? How will Joker respond? Will he leave you?

Eventually you gather the courage to sit him down one night and tell him, sobbing the whole way through because you are so scared of his response.

“J-Joker, please don’t be mad! I thought we were being cautious enough, I really did! I can get rid of it if you want-” 

But J surprises you with his reaction. He just shrugs off your hysterics and laughs. “Bunny, bunny, calm down. Is it mine?”

You look at him incredulously and shout, “Well who else would get me pregnant?! The fucking Batman?!”

Joker laughs harder. “Okay then. Why would I be mad at ya?”

You stare at him in disbelief. “Joker, do you understand what this means? We are having a baby! A tiny human! That we are now responsible for! Don’t you see how this is a problem?”

“I know, y/n. We’ll figure it out. You function just fine while I’m gone. The apartment is secluded. Nobody suspects us. You could keep the baby here with you and when I come home I can help.”

“But J, aren’t people gonna start asking questions when they see me with a newborn? And what about the baby? They’ll have to grow up knowing about you. What kind of life are they gonna have? I know this is a lot to ask and I probably shouldn’t, but if you want us to keep the baby, why don’t you just quit? It’ll make it so much easier on us.”

Joker sighs. “It’s not that simple, y/n. I can’t just…stop. I could lay low for a while and not be as active.”

“Can’t you just slowly ease out of it? Think of our kid, J.”

“I… I mean, I guess I could. It’s gonna be hard but I can try. It might take a while though. At least a year for me to get the cops off my back and then fully disappear. I could resume my identity if I need to…” 

“J, you don’t have to do all that. I just need you to step away from crime for the sake of our child. That’s all I’m asking. If we’re gonna have this baby, their father needs to be present.”

“I know. I wanna be. My father was shit. I don’t want to repeat that.”

You smile and nuzzle into his chest. “You won’t. I’m sure of it.”

During your pregnancy, Joker is constantly checking up on you and catering to your needs. He has to know you’re okay at all times.

Weird cravings? He’s on it. No questions asked.

Cramps and headaches? He makes sure you lay down and rest while he takes care of the housework and cooking like a true gentleman. 

All while he’s slowly getting out of the criminal realm by killing laying off his henchmen and letting Frost handle things until the organization can be fully destroyed.

Frost is in utter shock at Joker’s decision and cannot believe what he’s witnessing. But he’s also very happy for his friend. He hasn’t seen J this content in a long time. The idea of being a father must be doing wonders for him. Frost is also the godfather of the baby which gives him a warm fuzzy feeling he doesn’t quite understand.

Further into the pregnancy, you and J remodel your spare bedroom into a nursery. You paint it a neutral green since it's one of J's favorite colors and move a crib and a rocking chair inside. You also stock up on diapers and other supplies to prepare for the baby's arrival.

Finally the time comes for you to go into labor. 

You gasp and sit upright in bed as you feel your water break in the middle of the night. You grab J by his shoulders and shake him until he opens his eyes.

“J! My water just broke!” 

“Huh? Go back to sleep, doll…” Joker mumbles groggily and rolls back over.

You let out an exasperated noise. “J, you idiot! Get up! The baby’s coming!”

It finally registers with Joker and he jumps up out of bed. “OH! The baby. Right. Uhhh, wait here. I’ll call the doc.”

You couldn’t exactly go to the hospital in these circumstances. You wanted Joker to be right there with you when the baby was born and so did he. That wouldn’t be an option at the hospital. So Joker calls his personal doctor that he has on speed dial. His job came with many injuries and a doctor was an extremely handy person to have on staff.

While waiting on the doctor to get to the apartment, Joker lays towels down on the bed underneath you and tries to make you as comfortable as possible. 

You cry out as a sharp pain spreads across your back. “AH! J, I’m scared! I can’t do this!”

“It’s gonna be okay, y/n. You got this. I’m here.” Joker reassures you, squeezing your hand tightly.

There’s a sudden knock at the door and Joker receives a text on his phone. He gets up to go let the doctor in. As the door opens, she pushes past Joker and runs to the bedroom to attend to you. 

Joker pulls up a chair and sits by quietly as the doctor does her work, occasionally rubbing your back and comforting you when needed.

Unlike most men he isn’t grossed out or horrified by the gory sight of giving birth. He’d seen far worse before.

He watches in awe as you persevere through the pain and focus on delivering your baby. He couldn’t be proud of you.

After 8 hours of strenuous labor, it’s almost over. The doctor is encouraging you to make one final push as you grip Joker’s hand so tightly that your knuckles turn white.

“Come on, y/n. That’s it. One more push.” Joker cheers you on.

With a groan of pain, you push again. A sense of relief washes over you and then a small cry breaks out. You look up and see the doctor wrapping your newborn up in a towel and cradling it in her arms. 

“Congratulations boss, you have a healthy baby girl.” The doctor informs Joker and carefully hands the baby over to you. She leaves the room for a moment to give you and J some privacy.

You gasp as you hold the infant to your chest, the pain and exhaustion melting away. “It’s a girl? Aww, hi sweetie.”

Joker sniffles and tears up beside you. He's always wanted a baby girl. You notice him and chuckle. 

“I can see you over there, tough guy.”

Joker lets a choked sob escape his lips. “Sh-She’s so beautiful… Can I hold her?”

You’re taken aback by his sudden show of emotion but you nod and hand the baby to Joker with a smile. He cradles his daughter with a gentleness you’ve never seen from him before. Almost as if he’s afraid to touch her. He kisses her forehead softly. 

“Hi there sweet girl. I’m your Dad. It’s good to finally meet you.” 

The baby wraps her tiny fingers around Joker’s and stares up at him curiously. You laugh at the adorable display but then you realize you haven’t even named her yet.

“J, what are we gonna name her? I haven’t thought of anything.”

“Uh, what letter you thinking of?” Joker asks, not taking his eyes off the bundle of joy in his arms.

“J.” You answer with a soft smile.

Joker catches on and shakes his head. “You ain’t gotta do that, doll. Name her what ya want. I don’t care.”

“No really, I want it to be a J name.”

Joker relents with a sigh and contemplates on a girl name that starts with J. “Uhhhh, Julia?”

“Nah.”

“Josephine?”

“Eh, too fancy.”

“Jade?” 

“Maybe…”

“Jocelyn?”

“No.”

“Juniper?”

“Ooh, I like that one. Let’s go with that. Is that good with you?”

“Yeah. It’s different. I like it.”

The doctor comes in again to make sure that you are recovering well. After you get changed and cleaned up, Joker and the doctor leave the bedroom to let you rest while they take care of Juniper.

Joker adores being a father. He could now fully enjoy it after he officially retires from crime by the time Juniper is a few months old. The police are absolutely baffled. Where did he go? It was like he and his entire organization just disappeared off the face of the earth. Little do they know Joker is right under their noses in an apartment downtown.

Joker keeps an extremely low profile whenever the two of you make an outing, especially with the baby. As a disguise he wears sunglasses and special makeup over his scars. On short trips he just uses a scarf to hide them.

Joker slowly learns how to parent with your guidance and patience. You were new at this too but motherly instincts that you didn’t know you had were kicking in and you surprised yourself with how good you were at being a mom.

Joker is the peek-a-boo king. One of his greatest strengths as a dad is of course making his daughter laugh. He has more time now than ever to play and spend time with her. As hard as it was to let go, he can’t help but think that giving up his life of crime was the best decision he’d ever made.

Juniper has your eyes and Joker’s hair. When her hair started to grow, the curl pattern became evident. Though you knew the curls would be beautiful just her like father’s, they were going to be a pain to take care of.

Each night you and J take turns tending to Juniper when she cries or gets fussy. 

You and Joker are nestled together in bed, exhausted from a day’s work of parenting. The bedroom door is cracked so you can hear if Juniper cries. Sure enough a whine breaks out in the middle of the night, waking you both up. 

“Your turn…” You mumble to Joker, who’s resting his head on your chest. 

“Yes dear.” Joker says sleepily and kisses your cheek.

He sits up with a yawn and moves into the nursery. He picks Juniper up out of her crib and holds her to his chest, patting her back gently.

"Shhh. Go back ta sleep, darlin'. Daddy's got you."

She coos and slowly starts to quiet down, falling asleep in Joker's arms. He puts her back in the crib and smiles. He would always keep her safe and protected no matter what.

[magneticallyyours]

Yo The Matrix!! I just started rewatching them for the first time in well over a decade. Didn’t even know there is a fourth (although apparently they recast someone which I’m not too excited for but we’ll see). Anyways, might I request an Agent Smith x Redpill!Reader where Smith doesn’t think she smells rotten like the rest of the matrix and it’s human occupants so he tries to catch her so she can’t escape back to the real world? She finds him unique from the other Agents but ultimately won’t surrender her freedom. She also has a sense of humor and enjoys the thrill of their cat-and-mouse chases. You can make it somewhat angsty if you like. Please and thank you!

𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 || Agent Smith x Reader

Summary: You're supposed to run from the monster in horror games. Even in movies. Yet why is Mouse.. running towards it? Towards him. She knows she shouldn't, but she does it anyway. The antidote mustn't be intrigued by the virus. But he is. What happens when you make bad decisions? You get bad outcomes. Wordcount: 1.4k

cw: Angst

The feeling drove him crazy. 

If it even was a feeling, that is. He wanted to tell himself that it was not one. It didn’t click into place the first few instances. But the more he lingered, the more he dwelled on it… It became painfully apparent. Just like the rest of them, she had some sort of a moniker. That didn’t seem to matter to Smith, as she was always ‘Mouse’, as he named her. Befitting, for she really was such a pest. A nuisance. Yet one he didn’t want to be rid of. Oh, no. He liked the thrill. He reveled in it, in fact. In this zoo of nothingness, this was the one thing he could truly relish in. Did he like the chase or the inevitable end? He wasn’t sure. Human beings disgusted him. She shouldn’t be any different, but she was. Somehow. That in and of itself was surprising. Annoying quips, cocky smirks and those god-awful jokes. But then there was the other side of it all. Times when her eyes shone with uncertainty, when her heart was hammering. Just barely slipping from his grasp. Those moments were all he craved. The terror in those irises, overpowering every other emotion.The mere knowledge that he was the reason behind it.. He simply could not get enough. He had to have more. 

Meanwhile, Mouse was faced with a different, less apparent dilemma. Her whole self identity wasn’t in question like it was for the agent. It was a lingering thought in the back of her mind, sure. Maybe an underestimation, but we’ll stick with that. For now. The Agents were her– Humanity’s, she corrected herself— Enemy. But then she kept running into them. This would’ve been fine, if she didn’t start suspecting most of those were purposeful. She wasn’t crazy enough to want to run into the agents, yeah right. Okay, maybe a part of her thought she indeed was that crazy. Or knew. But it just couldn’t be. She liked her freedom, her independence. The agents were the exact opposite. Mouse almost forgot she was supposed to be eating amidst all this. Alas, she was brought back to reality by her teammates’ chatter. Same old grey, nutritional slop for lunch. How lovely. 

Days seemed to occur on repeat. Same conversations, slop. More slop. More fictional than The Matrix itself, she scoffed at the thought. After a long time of doing things around Zion, they finally had something meaningful to do. The crew, including her, were going to be freeing another unfortunate soul from the matrix. The task went smoothly, much to their collective surprise. Mouse wanted to stay back, if only for a moment. Just to breathe in nonexistent air. To look at the scenery. As if. Really, she was waiting for something to happen. Anything. Stopping to smell the roses? More like being idiotic. More like wanting to see the very person you’re supposed to be running from, again. Smith couldn’t believe it. The sheer level of overconfidence and arrogance she must have– All that didn’t seem to matter, as he was here now. Chasing after her, like he always was. And maybe, just maybe, as he always will be. This was either dumb luck or misfortune, and she couldn’t decide which.

The rush from the chase was.. Unparalleled, as she hoped. Her boots clicking against the asphalt as she turned into an alley were loud enough to block out even her judgemental, concerned inner voice. She couldn’t afford to think now, something she should have done before taking this decision. Her team was safe. It was just her, wasting time. Putting it like that, it stung. It’ll be okay, she reassured herself. The telephone was not far at all. Room 409. A cakewalk. Or atleast, it would’ve been. Until a gunshot rang out, just missing her and hitting- You guessed it- The phone, instead. The sound of her hopes shattering to pieces. The black pieces of the receiver lay on the floor. Silence. It registered, after so long, that it was just him. Just… Smith. And Silence. She was convinced she would meet the same fate as the telephone receiver, but apparently.. Not? He stood there, lips pressed into a thin line. She could see herself in the reflection of his dark glasses. He took a step closer, she took a step back. His gun was holstered, now. His deft fingers instead moved to the rims of his glasses, pulling it off swiftly and pocketing it. His blue irises were definitely something to write home about, but instead she scoffed. 

“You do realize I could shoot you at any time-?” A useless jab. An idiotic one. But she knew there was no outcome in this where she came out alive. Wasn’t this what she wanted? The corner of the agent’s lip twitched. “I’m well aware, Mouse.” Another step closer, she was backed into the wall by now. A fair bit of distance separated them, but it felt impossibly close, nonetheless. “But you and I both know that you won’t.” There was just enough light in the hotel to illuminate his features. But not quite. His pupils were dilated. Devoid of feeling? She could tell that her assumption was wrong. “And why’s that?” She half laughed. What else was there to do? “You brought this upon yourself. You waited… For me.” Her silence was his answer as he took his final step, observing her expression like you would a specimen on a microscope. 

“You… puzzle me, little mouse.” That wasn’t something she expected. That glint in his eyes that she couldn’t quite place- It kept her on the edge. Uncertain. Thrilled. Her brain couldn’t come up with a fitting descriptor. He continued to speak. It wasn’t a question, after all. This was hardly a conversation. “I’m going to be honest with you. I… Hate, this place. This zoo. Whatever you want to call it. I can’t stand it. I can’t stand your kind. Your virus of a kind.” He paused for a moment. His gaze commanded her attention. “It’s the smell. If there is such a thing.I feel saturated by it.” Smith’s hand tilted her face up by the chin, his every movement analytical. “I can taste their stink, and every time I do I feel I have been infected by it. It’s repulsive. But not you. You.. are different, mouse. An anomaly. One I should eradicate… But perhaps one I should observe.” Her heart was hammering against her ribcage as sweat dribbled down her temple. What was he saying? Smith’s other hand pressed against her, where her heart would be. “Panicking? I thought you were above this, mouse.” He tsked. “What did you ever hope to achieve, I wonder,” He mused, smoothing his thumb over her cheek, “By waiting for me? Tell me.” Words were hard to form. Smith asked her the one question she dreaded asking herself. Why.  

Her reply was as predictable as the rest of her kind. “I don’t know.” He clicked his tongue at that, shaking his head disapprovingly. “Oh, but I think you do know. That is precisely what fascinates me. You are… a contradiction to your very existence. Is it an obsession? Or are you– truly maniacal, going against the fight or flight instinct that’s been driving you since you came into being? Pathetic… Only human beings could act in such a manner.” Smith scoffed. She wasn’t sure what to say. Her lips parted in astonishment. Terror. A mix of it all. “Nothing to say..?” He hummed. “That’s quite alright.” The agent leaned in just the smallest bit closer, making her heart soar. So close to- “You’re not going anywhere, Mouse. Wherever you manage to run off to, I’ll find you. Why, you’ll come running straight back to me. All because..” 

His gun was pressed to her temple now, and she damn near screamed.

Click. His lips were on hers, robotic in nature. Not because he wanted to, she didn’t think… Because he could. He knew this would last in the back of her mind for a while. Because he knew her, somehow. And she… almost didn’t mind. That was the worst part. The gun to her temple served as a reminder that this was not some fairytale. This was the culmination of her horrible life choices. The moment could have gone on for what felt like forever. There was a faint ring originating from one of the adjacent rooms. Wait.. a ring?

“Ah. There’s someone on the phone for you, Miss (L/N).”

[zyzix]

There's this aspect of Joshua Kiryu's character arc that I'm sort of flabbergasted to realize might be basically un-analyzed these past 15 or so years. I still kind of expect someone will pop up and point to something they've already written, but i'll talk about it anyway. This might also create some analysis ideas for NEO?? Ideally, anyway.

Essentially, I think it's really likely that Joshua misunderstood way more about his situation with Hanekoma, Minamimoto, and Neku than people tend to think. Not only that, but the idea that he had these misunderstandings kind of colors his relationship with Hanekoma. It also adds to him and Neku being foils. Where do I even begin.

I guess just with this scene that always made me go "hm, that's weird." Joshua: Think he's got a thing for you, Neku? Neku: What!? How the hell do you figure that? Joshua: Oh, please! The way he follows you around? Neku: That's just because I'm a Player. Joshua: I don't see him chasing after the other Players. Neku: (He's right… So why me?) Joshua: …Or is it my fault? Neku: (What? That's right… He might be tied in with the Reapers.)

So, what's so weird about this? Am I actually proposing that Joshua really thought Minamimoto was following Neku when he asked this? YES. I AM. That might sound nonsensical, and that's because it kind of is! But there's a reason for that.

When you know what happened in the Udagawa back alley a week and some change prior to that scene, it's reasonable to ask "why would Joshua think a Reaper was after some random RG guy?" Minamimoto came at him with a gun! But then why did Joshua even ask Neku if Minamimoto was following him? If he's trying to trick Neku into thinking this, he wouldn't immediately propose the truth afterwards. Maybe he's trying to make Neku distrust him as he does earlier (Neku scanning him, general sketch behavior perhaps) but not only is that redundant, it still doesn't answer why he asked about Neku in the first place.

So what happens if we take Joshua at face value here? Are we to assume Joshua thought he was the target at Udagawa, but Neku is the target now? I have no idea what the thought process would be behind that. Are we to assume that Joshua thought Neku was the target the whole time?? That still seems illogical, but maybe instead of asking why Neku would be the target, we should shift our focus and ask "why would Joshua think he isn't the target?"

I find that a lot easier to answer because we have Hanekoma. And Joshua thought he did too, basically.

We know from Secret Report 9 that the only person who should know Joshua's RG identity here is Mr. H.

SR 9: Minamimoto knows the Composer's RG identity (secret even to the Conductor), and has chased him to the Realground. The Fallen Angel may also have supplied him with this information.

Even in this report, it's proposed (by Hanekoma's misdirection) that someone else, some other Angel perhaps, could know Joshua's identity. We know that there isn't another Angel who told Minamimoto this information though. It was just Hanekoma. The only person in the story for Joshua to suspect is Mr. H.

Yet he doesn't. Or, I don't believe he does anyway. Let's take a look at our options.

Why does Joshua not seem to be wondering who sold him out? We have two branching options to start with: "He already knows who did it" and "he doesn't realize he's been sold out."

Lots of people assume Joshua already knows Hanekoma revealed his identity to Minamimoto. Because like… how else would he have known? Literally what else is Joshua supposed to think after being shot at? I mean, I've been explaining what else Joshua could have thought, but the point is it's a fair assumption. The only issue is that Joshua doesn't behave like he knows Mr. H betrayed him until Week 2 Day 5.

That is a long delay between then and when Joshua should have first known this information (before the story even starts.) I don't know when definitively Joshua put it together, but W2D5 is the first time we can say we KNOW he knows. And it really might have been that moment, because what happens right afterwards?

Well, Neku and him get attacked by Beat and Joshua learns about Kitaniji's "special op." But what happens right after THAT?

Joshua tells Neku that Hanekoma is CAT. An eye for an eye, I guess.

Part of the idea that Joshua did know Mr. H betrayed him from the start is that maybe Joshua was just putting up with that fact. That maybe Hanekoma was too useful, and couldn't do more harm anyway. Or that Joshua really didn't have any other options. I can understand why people think that, but I don't think we can bet on any of those. There's no reason for Joshua to think Hanekoma couldn't do way more harm than just tattling on him, especially as the week goes on and Taboo Noise crop up. Also, while it's impossible to prove one way or the other, there's no reason to think Joshua couldn't have built his game plan sans Hanekoma from the start if he thought he'd betrayed him. All of this assuming that Joshua gives a shit about what Mr. H did, admittedly.

On the other hand, if we posit that Joshua found out later about Mr. H, and that he'd give a shit about that, there should be some kind of change in his behavior towards him. This seems a little hard to to prove because that scene on W2D5 is the last time we see them interact (or even see Mr. H at all) until the ending of the game. That said, it's probably very telling that in TWEWY Mr. H is Joshua's sole confidant, and in NEO Mr. H has no idea what's going on with Joshua at all. I find that very interesting, but we're gonna put a pin in that for later.

Aaaaaaaaaall of that's to say that I don't think it's very likely that Joshua knew Hanekoma told Minamimoto his identity from the start. He shares information with Mr. H too easily for me to think that's the case. What's our next option?

It's possible that Joshua believed he already knew who told Minamimoto, but he was mistaken. However, I said before that there isn't any other suspect in the story and I don't think we can give Joshua another suspect to focus on without just making stuff up. Haz and Coco come to mind as people who might be able to share Joshua's identity, but we can't escape the fact that neither of them even existed at the time Joshua's main character arc was written. We would probably also have to invent some connection they'd have to this particular Game despite them being absent. I think this option is less likely than Joshua knowing about Mr. H the whole time, so I'm striking it off.

What we have left is the "Joshua didn't know he'd been sold out" option. Aside from what I've been arguing, the only other option is "Joshua thought Minamimoto found out on his own somehow." There's no solid reason for Joshua to think this, but it's possible he did anyway. The only reason I think this is less likely than the possibility that he didn't realize Minamimoto was after him is because of how Joshua talked to Neku back there. We have evidence that Joshua might have thought Minamimoto was after someone else; we don't have evidence that Joshua might have thought Minamimoto was able to discover his identity on his own. That said, after the conversation Josh had with Neku W2D2 it's possible his assumption shifted from one to the other as he was trying to figure things out.

So yeah, I believe it's most likely that Joshua didn't realize he'd been sold out at all because that would require him to think Hanekoma would do that to him. Because of that, he believed for more than a week that Neku was Minamimoto's target when they were all in the RG.

You might think that this idea would run into a lot of inconsistencies but I've found it to be shockingly coherent. (Honestly the whole background plot of this game is shockingly coherent for how overt it's themes are. I guess that's beside the point.) Like, let's look at the scene in Udagawa.

It starts with Neku looking up at the tag mural. Then Joshua runs up with a gun from Neku's left. It appears as if Joshua may have been looking behind him. Then Joshua fires in Neku's direction. Neku falls to the ground, but he is unhurt. Then Minamimoto is revealed to be behind Neku with a gun. He is clutching his shoulder. Minamimoto raises his gun, and Neku shields himself. Then several shots are fired towards Joshua. Joshua stops the bullets with his powers, and silently threatens to shoot Minamimoto again. Minamimoto runs off, and Joshua shoots Neku while he is looking after him.

If Joshua already believes that his identity is safe, none of that would clearly contradict that idea to him! Why did Josh think Minamimoto shot at him? Because Joshua already shot Minamimoto. Why was Joshua running if he didn't think Minamimoto was chasing him? To get to his target before the Reaper.

Conversely, why would Joshua be running from Minamimoto if bullets aren't going to hit him?

To us it's obvious that Minamimoto was chasing Joshua and tried to cut him off at the other end of the alley. But to Joshua at the time, he thought Minamimoto was going for the guy in between them.

This does raise some other questions, but there's enough of a case here that I think it's worth speculating off of. Did Joshua even have a theory as to why Minamimoto would be after someone in the RG? Maybe he thought Kitaniji sent one of his Reapers after his potential proxy. Why would it matter to Joshua if Minamimoto killed Neku instead of him if he needs the guy dead? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Joshua only leaves that extra Player Pin-- his trump card-- on Neku after Minamimoto leaves.

Kind of wild so far, right? Well we're not done because I think this idea that Joshua may have had created ANOTHER oversight for him.

Week 2 Day 7: Minamimoto: I was hoping for a little reenactment. Same spot, same setup as last time… Neku: (Last time? Nrrgh! Not now!) Joshua: You OK, Neku? Neku: Waaaugh! [incomplete Neku death cutscene] Neku: It… it was you? Joshua: Neku… Neku: You killed me… You stole my life!

What's with Joshua's reactions here? Did he not realize that Neku was getting headaches around Minamimoto?

(yes)

It's understandable if you think Joshua is faking it here, but if you're with me about this so far you also have to admit that Joshua's surprise can be pretty genuine. I'll be honest, I thought this way before I thought anything else I've put in this essay so far just because Joshua and the situation seemed sincere to me. Why wouldn't Joshua notice this, though?

See, there are four times that Neku, Joshua and Minamimoto are all in the same scene. Neku gets a headache from all of them, and this is what they look like:

Maybe this is just me, but the sprite direction in all of them but the last one makes it seem like Joshua stays between Neku and Minamimoto, and that he does not take his eyes off of Minamimoto the whole time he's around. And compare day 1 to day 7. Even though Neku's sprite is the one in the middle, he retreats backwards when he gets the headache, giving the suggestion that he's actually sort of behind Joshua. That doesn't happen on day 7 though, meaning Neku is definitely far enough in front that Joshua can see him-- and that's when Joshua finally reacts.

How could Joshua misunderstanding Minamimoto's target contribute to this? Regardless of the misunderstanding here, it's clear to me that Joshua views Minamimoto as enough of a threat that he doesn't even glance at Neku while he's having a memory migraine. But the fact that Joshua does notice on W2D7 seems a little less random if that misunderstanding had cleared up for him and caused him to be less zeroed in on Minamimoto. Keep in mind that these four events split evenly into "before W2D5" and "after W2D5." That means that the first two, Joshua would have thought Neku was the target, and the last two are when Joshua knows he was the target all along.

It makes some sense that Joshua might be so focused on Minamimoto that he doesn't notice what's going on with Neku if he thought Neku was being targeted, but what's going on W2D6? Joshua should know by then it's not Neku that Minamimoto was after. Hell, Minamimoto saved both of them earlier that day so why is he so focused on him then but not the next day? I suspect it's because this was Joshua's first time talking to Minamimoto while knowing he tried to kill him, and he was very absorbed in it.

So on days 1 and 2, Joshua was totally focused on Minamimoto because he viewed him as a threat to his proxy. Day 6 Joshua is focused on Minamimoto but it's not about him being an immediate threat, and on day 7 Minamimoto is at his most dangerous, but Joshua thought he could relax more because he was the target and not Neku.

There is one more thing that might keep this from the list of "Shit Joshua Did Not Know About," and it's the fact that Neku… talks? He talks while he's in migraine pain. Joshua may not spare a glance Neku's way but he can hear. Would that not tip him off earlier than W2D7 if he wasn't just ignoring Neku? Funny that-- the dialogue is actually sort of clever here.

Neku talks a decent amount when he's getting that memory migraine around Minamimoto, but the most suspect lines Neku has aren't spoken by him out loud.

Week 2 Day 2: Minamimoto: You fractals have no future! QED. Class is dismissed! [Minamimoto leaves] Neku: (Finally… The pounding's stopped. What language is that guy speaking?)

Week 2 Day 6: Neku: !? Zetta… Neku: (Nrrgh! My head… again…) […] Neku: (The pain's fading… Are he and I connected or something?)

Earlier on (as in the two days Joshua is most focused on Minamimoto as a threat) Neku does also speak out loud about his brain suffering. If Joshua isn't looking at him as well though, they're all things he could interpret as Neku simply complaining about the Weird Math Guy Who Says Confusing Things Through A Megaphone. Neku doesn't like people being loud or people speaking nonsense after all, and uh… Joshua also didn't have the highest opinion of Neku's sociability. Assumptions are a hell of a thing.

So Joshua went into his Game with Neku completely unaware that Hanekoma betrayed him and that Minamimoto was trying to kill him specifically. Then he carried on for nearly the majority of this game without knowing that Minamimoto-- or perhpas the combination of him and Minamimoto-- was giving his proxy debilitating headaches. What does that mean for his character?

Little, but interesting things, I think. I find it pretty compelling that Joshua missed something big about Neku because he was so self-involved even while trying to protect him. It's a neat thing to point at and go "yup, Neku's not the only one who looks stupid for writing people off." I think it also lends well to the idea that they were both getting to know each other in week 2.

Also-- we're coming back to that pin from earlier-- I think it helps flesh out a difference between Neku and Joshua's situations at the end of the game.

Neku: I'm glad I met you guys. You made me… pick up on things, I probably would've just gone on ignoring. Trust your partner… and I do. I can't forgive you, but I trust you.

If you've collected all the secret reports, after Neku's ending monologue and the credits, there's the secret ending. And I feel like the idea of "trust vs. forgiveness" is a palpable element when the ending is viewed as a whole like this. TWEWY doesn't touch upon the idea of forgiveness nearly as much as it does the idea of trust, but I can't help but see a distinction between the two in Joshua just as much as Neku. Only where Neku trusts Joshua but doesn't forgive him yet, Joshua forgives Hanekoma but doesn't trust him yet.

Think about it, doesn't "forgives but does not trust" perfectly describe all of Joshua's future behavior towards Hanekoma? He'll hang around Mr. H in the Room of Reckoning and 104, or talk with him casually about the destruction of a neighboring city. But he wont talk to him if he's upset, or tell him any of his plans anymore. He doesn't seem to hold any of it against Mr. H but he refuses to confide in or rely on him. That turnaround feels really strong if you look at how much Joshua relied on him beforehand. Or if you view his impression of his assassination attempt as contingent on his trust of Mr. H.

The crumbs of information we get about Joshua and Hanekoma's relationship after the betrayal might seem sort of circumstantial. Joshua doesn't want to talk about his feelings for Neku in the secret ending. That carries over into A New Day, and seems to be about Neku. And then in NEO Joshua doesn't give any information to Mr. H for… unknowable NEO plot reasons. But there's something else between og TWEWY and NEO to suggest that Joshua doesn't trust Hanekoma with shit.

A New Day- Hanekoma (over the phone): If that kid is who I think he is, then he probably doesn't know a thing. If he's who YOU think he is, then he probably won't say a thing.

At first this reads fine because Joshua spent his week with Neku tight lipped and evasive as hell. But still, isn't it a little weird for Mr. H to be saying this? He tells Mr. H stuff, doesn't he? Not anymore! It feels like this Hanekoma is talking pretty universally despite having been the exception. But he doesn't know shit and he doesn't propose he can help them know shit if it's about Joshua. And maybe Coco's fake Shibuya has something to do with that, but it's hard to say.

Honestly, aside from gaining the perspective to not destroy a whole city (important), it's easy to look at this and wonder if Joshua came out of TWEWY worse off. And… yeah, NEO really doesn't seem to help that. But I'm going to end this off with some really vague NEO speculation.

What if it's REALLY just Hanekoma who doesn't know shit about Joshua now? It's probably impossible to know the extent of this, but for some reason Shiki and Beat seem to treat Joshua with a slight sense of familiarity now…? The fandom also (quite reasonably) assumes that the real final day of NEO is the first time Neku has seen Joshua since the final day of TWEWY but we don't actually know that. Some food for thought.

[bitterrobin]

Exploration of Lance Bruner's Post-Crisis AU resurrection (Taxonomy!verse)

So Jason and Lance are dead. Superboy Prime punches the shit out of reality. They get resurrected around the same time. Jason escapes his coffin, is hospitalized, wanders Gotham for months, and gets the help of Talia, pushed into the Pit, trained, set on his revenge path. Lance...doesn't have the chances Jason did. He resurrects in his coffin and he's severely screwed.

By virtue of having died multiple years before Jason, maybe his coffin is older, more fragile, and not nearly as secured as Jason's more modern grave. His coffin is more breakable, but Lance just can't make it. It takes him days for Lance to dig himself out. He's tired, terrified, starving and actively bleeding from a gunshot wound. (Considering Jason's wounds re-emerged during his resurrection, easy to say Lance's wound would also reappear). Eventually, dumb luck maybe, Lance gets out. Then what? He doesn't have the issues Jason had with his trauma/memory, so he's just...alive again. Maybe something interesting could be explored if he remembers everything prior to his death and doesn't remember actually dying idk. Either way, there's the mention of possible grave robbers in UTRH that makes me think: okay grave robbers weren't the cause of Jason's grave disturbance, but what if there were grave robbers to find Lance?

Lance emerges from his grave, maybe the dirt is already being dug through by the grave robbers so he's saved from the effort. He comes out and scares the shit out of them. Perhaps they shove him back and run, maybe they yank him out thinking he was buried alive until they see the blood on his chest and panic. Grave robbing is enough of an issue that Jason's grave is secured by sensors, so I think Bruce would just place sensors on all of the graves at Wayne Manor. Lance gets out of grave and the sensors are tripped. He's bleeding and worn down. I doubt the grave robbers would actively try to help him but he can't be left alone. Even if he makes it out the graveyard, who's to say he doesn't just die again? To prevent this, I'll have to really think about it more. One of the grave robbers panics, maybe they feel bad or just don't want get caught as a murder suspect, so they just...take him. They take him and just dump his rapidly dying-again body on a hospital step, where he's quickly put through the Emergency ward. His GSW gets treated surgically and he spends a lot of his time recovering in the hospital.

The fact that Jason was Robin means all circumstances around his death had to be obscured/hidden. Lance may have died in the Robin costume but he wasn't Robin. His background in delinquency and the whole thing with Stark could've made it easier to blame Lance's death as an unfortunate consequence of his troubled life. It'd be easy to see Lance's death in the media set as a life cut short by teenage delinquency and Gotham's past-mob problem just before the teen could really make a permanent change with Bruce and Dick. There'd be records showing the transfer of his care from Prof. Bruner to Bruce and Bruce's adoption of him so they can't hide that. Officially, Lance's death is a typical tragedy of Gotham.

In the hospital, Lance remembers living. He remembers Stark and Bruce and Dick and Batman and Robin. While Jason wasn't able to reveal or respond to anything, Lance would get questioned about his suit, his wound, his identity. This go could go two ways: 1) Lance is still kind of an asshole and he tries to admit to the whole Batman and Robin thing. He could be angry that Bruce forgot about him (ha), he could just misremember the events and blames Batman for his death. Detectives and hospital staff question it, since by then theres been Jason and Tim and (maybe) Stephanie as Robin. Dick is a full adult now and Bruce is older but Lance is still a teen. Maybe they dismiss it as trauma/mental illness, maybe Lance keeps insisting hard enough he's put into Pysch care. 2) Lance adheres to his redemption, remembers everything correctly, and doesn't confess to anything. He makes up a half-truth about getting involved with the mob out of misguided intentions. Lance is probably malnourished and worse for wear, and Lance Bruner died at least 20-something years ago - so he isn't recognized immediately. But there's still fingerprints and records and the grave sensors were tripped. Lance is kinda fucked in this scenario. He keeps the secret but just by being alive he's jeopardizing everything about Bruce and Dick. The saving grace? The Cataclysm.

See, all of the above hinges on the fact that Wayne Manor plus it's graveyard is kept unchanged from the era of Robin!Dick. But it wasn't. Wayne Manor was utterly destroyed by the earthquake. Maybe all the graves in the family graveyard had to be actively searched for, recovered, and reburied. Maybe that's when Bruce puts in the sensors in place. Bruce's parents and Jason are taken great care of, but Lance is but many of the dead. Maybe Bruce never finds him, and with the chaos of No Man's Land he doesn't have the time to spare to look for every individual family member. Lance's corpse is massively displaced by the quake. The earthquake brought on thousands of deaths. There's movements and pushes for mass gravesites, a larger city graveyard in remembrance of the quake/No Man's land.

Maybe Lance's coffin (or just his corpse) is recovered by a charity or some bereaved family and he's placed in the public graveyard. No fancy Wayne coffin, no sensors, barely a gravestone. By then, his corpse isn't recognizable enough to be identified. His records are old and few, the adoption papers lost in the earthquake, the reform school record, the military school records, the police rap sheet are either destroyed or completely forgotten about. Lance resurrects in a sea of graves. The grave robbers still find him, he still gets put into the hospital, but theres nothing to connect him to Lance Bruner - adopted son of Bruce Wayne and biological heir of Professor Bruner. Lance has to take on a new name, but at least he can't endanger Bruce/Dick. It's a relief when he finds out, but also genuinely disorienting. Gotham isn't what he knew. Bruce, and Dick and the Titans are all wildly older than he remembers. Gotham has been destroyed and rebuilt countless times. There's more and more vigilantes around he has no idea about. For now, Lance's new life is uncertain.