#and labeled a traitor

[purpleangiie]

So, I was thinking about Dick Grayson, specifically Dick Grayson's head... when he was 7 he climbed up the stairs in the circus tend to get to the trapeze but slipped and fell down [Nightwing #114] A very funny way to get your first concussion, right? Of course, many more followed over the years (that's what happens when you become Robin!) Then, in his early 20s he was shot in the head — not as fun as a concussion. Now, that alone would be enough to ban him from any dangerous sport or activity for the rest of his life, but of course, Dick Grayson is Dick Grayson, who also happens to be Nightwing. So he kept doing his usual stuff, leaping from high buildings, doing acrobatics, punching — and getting punched — every damn night... all with just his domino mask covering his face (I mean, he got a damn head injury, you would think he would be wearing some kind of head protections, right? Wrong, because that would at least partially cover his amazing curls, and to Dick Grayson that would be equal to commit war crimes, so it's out of question) And of course he keeps getting hit in the head and getting concussions. Which leads us to our scenario:

It's a usual night out patrolling, and Dick and Tim are fighting some crooks. Nothing too big, until one of them hits Dick in the head (for the nth time!) It's a good one, but not hard enough to knock out a Batkid. Except, Dick Grayson's head is slightly more fragile than his brothers’, and the punch hits the point where he was previously shot. He gasps, and everything goes black for a moment. Dick Grayson falls, head spinning violently, his vision blurring as colors and sounds fade together. He hears Tim's distant voice calling him, to which he promptly replies with an unsteady "I'm fine", except of course he's not fine. He holds himself against the wall, his face crunched in a pained grimace, trying to stand up because Tim needs him and no way he gets knocked out so easily. But Tim shouts back, punching another guy in the face, "Stay there! Don't move!" followed by some swearing because dammit, Dick!

When the bad guys are fixed, Tim rushes to Dick, who is still miraculously awake.

"Jeez, you're bleeding."

"Am I? I didn’t realize it."

"Yeah..." Tim holds two fingers up. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Dick smirks. "I'd say three, but there’s four of you now, so maybe a couple more?"

There's a moment of silence. Tim sighs. He opens the comms.

"Red Robin here, I'm taking Nightwing back in. He's injured. It'd only be dangerous for him to keep patrolling."

Bruce's steady voice croaks in their ears. "Copy, Red Robin. What happened?"

And Dick, leaning against his brother as they reach the batmobile, darts a pleading look at him. It's almost working, until Tim speaks again over the comms: "He got hit in the head."

And all the Bats know what that means. A chorus of sighs raises:

"Again?!"

"You never learn, hm?"

"Is he unconscious? Do you need backup?"

"You're incorrigible!"

"Please, just take my helmet next time. I'd paint it blue if you want, but take it! — I have an entire stock at home, anyway."

And Dick, stumbling with his eyes half-closed and one of the worst migraine of his life, just smiles sheepishly. "Sorry!" he manages to crack over the comms as Tim rolls his eyes next to him.

[sourstiless]

i think my biggest gripe with the comparison between zuko and john smith and zutara as a whole to pocahontas is that john smith was an active colonizer. he was a grown man who chose and was proud of what he was doing. he didnt even believe the act of colonization was wrong. yes, he tried to end the violence in the movie, but he still lived with the belief that his people deserved to and were entitled to co exist on that land with the indigenous people.

zuko was an active participant in dismantling a hundred years of colonialism and colonization and genuinely wanted to fix the problems that his ancestors had left for him. it wasn’t easy and he wasn’t a perfect leader, but he was genuinely trying to make decisions that would be for the better of all the people, not just himself or his people. where john smith thought that indigenous ppl needed the white people’s help to become “more civilized” because he viewed them as inferior, zuko sought to give those that the fire nation had hurt their autonomy back.

that’s not to say that it isn’t a valid reason to dislike zutara, and if the idea makes you uncomfortable that’s fine and i respect it. i realize that the ship doesn’t appeal to everyone and that’s okay, but i just hate the comparisons because john smith was genuinely just an awful person who never should’ve been glorified in a disney movie.

[nabexis]

Finally getting around to Romancing the Skyrim custom voiced follower Gore. He's a delight. I love his story. Now here are a million screenshots I took while playing with him (and my Dragonborn who's romancing him, Kei)

[balteus]

thinking about shadow of the erdtree again. I'm now a little more ambivalent on whether radahn agreed with miquella's vow or not - but assuming he did - would that mean the reason radahn halted the stars, and thereby carian fate* is so ranni would not be able to enact the age of stars before miquella was to create a new order? food for thought.

*it's also ambiguous (imo) whether radahn did this intentionally but im just having a thought experiment. blaidd leaves a sign calling someone a "traitor" in front of nokron right after radahn is defeated. maybe him siding with miq would explain this

[aluthepotato]

I can't help but feel like real antisemitism is telling Jewish people they should be ok with mass killings, choosing one human life over another's, and that they must blindly follow a cruel colonial system because it claims to be Jewish/in support of Jewish people. That somehow caring about others isn't Jewish, that loving others means being "self-hating," that Jewish people are a monolith hivemind, that Jewish people can't be safe anywhere but Israel.

[sppongturnip]

apparently saying annabeth chase and ethan nakamura are parallels of each other in the same was luke castellan and percy jackson were is a hot take so i will be defending my stance on my hill

SPOILERS FOR THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS SERIES

1. their unparalleled devotion to their mothers (who others saw as undoubtedly cruel, but they believed to be just)

2. their determination to do what they think is right regardless of consequence (annabeth obviously learns her lesson and progresses as a character, but in the percy jackson and the olympians series, both would rather see it out to the end than admit that they were wrong because they see themselves as representatives of their mother and would rather die than go back on the image or decisions they had created/made in her name)

3. the symbolism with the dagger! (with ethan’s being a poisoned version of the same blade and their accidental yet instinctual knowledge of percy’s greatest weakness)

4. their acceptance at the end of the Battle of Manhattan that they would to give in to what they perceived as the enemy for the greater good (annabeth gave up her dagger so that luke could deal the killing blow to kronos and ethan gave into the idea that he had misinterpreted his role in the restoration of balance and betrayed kronos to save percy—both put down their pride and devotion to do what they subconsciously knew was well outside their own abilities, allowing another to complete their self-assigned prophecy

5. also annabeth is percy’s greatest ally and ethan—though not explicitly stated but implied in his active role as kronos’s right-hand man—probably saw them as similar in status and allegiance hierarchy. it was only when annabeth took the poisoned blade for percy that he realized he would never do the same for kronos

[krystalhuntress]

A big can of worms is gonna be opened up if it turns out the dead Red Circus members the SSS mentioned are the ones Yor killed

Like her just doing her job inadvertently put her daughter in danger somehow

I still can't wait for Loid and Yor to arrive so we can see their reactions to this I think Yor learning that it was the Red Circus and starting to question her line of work would be incredible and maybe a lead-in to Briar siblings backstory maybe

[harpalion]

moonseeker and creed............. i want to talk about them but i'm trying to be less insane in general it's not working though. i'm going to bite off my hand

[fearsomeandwretched]

It's reallyyyyy hard to figure out your sexuality when everything is so influenced by trauma. I've flip flopped on my label a lot which also has caused me a lot of anxiety. I finally feel like good saying yes I am bi but it took me a while to get there

[pinkcadavart]

Mama, they say I'm a terrorist

[spacegoathours]

some concept-y stuff for Callie stuff early on in the story, trying to convey the whole only-two-Irkens-with-blue-eyes deal

might finish if I’m feeling ambitious but let’s be real PROOOBABLY not uwu

[mewmewchann]

so because it’s White Day, I figured it’d be fun to doodle costume ideas based on the White Day banners for Memento Rosa!

...And yes Kiyoshi’s is based on Vaxildan idgaf

(warning: I ramble a LOT in the tags)

[royalbstrd]

ok but has anyone actually figured out why Alistair was even under warden-commander Clarel cause she's the Orlais warden commander and he's a Ferelden warden and I can still never wrap my head around that

[sendmyresignation]

stop jessica hopper is literally personally responsible for the newsweek article in the fall of 1992. this makes an incredible amount of sense.

[aspenforest732]

Bello Licentiae Chapter 6: The Saddest People in the World...

Summary:

tw: kidnapping, tight spaces mention, blackmail mention 'text' JSL Text thoughts

Akira sagged into their comfy chair in Inui's office, sluggishly dragging the weighted blanket across their torso so their inflamed legs could get some relief from the heat. ' Murder God said you kept the afternoon free for him. Same deal today? '

Inui softly smiled, "Yes, I wanted to make sure you both had the time you need to express yourselves without the idea of so much time to fill looming over you. How are you adjusting to the dorms?"

Akira looked away from his desk and fiddled with their fidget ball for a moment. ' It's weird. A good weird, I think, but the intense nightmares have stayed longer than usual. '

They talked about Akira's sleep schedule and the possibility of sleep aids, although Akira didn't want to go on sleep aids for risk of not waking up fast enough. Inui pointed out the difficulty anyone would have in infiltrating U.A., but they knew better now. They went over a few new triggers that might show up and a few that were probably aggravated by the kidnapping. Half an hour into the session, Akira started to pick up on the subtle shifts in topic toward earlier in their summer. Whenever they diverted the topic, Inui would lessen the pressure, but Akira knew they needed to talk about it today.

Finally, after Inui asked if their difficulty with tight spaces had gotten worse, better, or stayed about the same recently, Akira relented, '��Definitely worse since I was stuck in a marble. ' They quickly shifted the weighted blanket onto the arm of the chair as the weight became less grounding and more a reminder of being trapped.

Akira took one look at the chaotic cacophony of the common area and sighed, resigning themself to get leftovers later as they made their way to the elevator. Head pounding, they groaned as Ida loudly called out, "Mori! It's important to eat after a stressful day."

Akira turned a half-hearted glare his way as they soldiered on, making it to the elevator as Koji pulled alongside them. The corner of their mouth quirked up at Katsuki yelling back at Ida as they slumped against the elevator wall.

' Do you need company or time alone? I can also bring dinner up for you, ' Koji offered.

Akira held up two fingers and nodded gratefully. They didn't have the spoons left to do much else as they settled into their room and started taking off their aids. Akira left the small speaker on their bedside table in case they had the energy to practice later.

They were almost done with the yakisoba when their phone lit up. After a moment, Akira sighed and sent a thumbs-up. A few minutes later, Aoyama knocked on the door. ' You wanted to talk? ' they signed as he closed the door behind him.

Aoyama's ever-present sparkles dulled and winked out as he leaned against the wall. He flashed a strained smile, "Oui, last night was trés unexpected."

Akira nodded, ' You thought it was over, I'd imagine? ' He recoiled, brows quirking up. They breathed out shakily. ' All for One mentioned a traitor and confirmed it was you as I went through the possibilities. '

"Does Aizawa-sensei know?" Aoyama's face trembled as his eyes darted anywhere in the room but Akira's face.

Come on, you can trust me. Let me switch in. They fidgeted with the Bastard plush, keeping it to the side so he could clearly see their attentive, somewhat open body language. ' Not yet. He's aware of the existence of a traitor among the students, but he was fine with me waiting to tell him until I got the chance to speak with them. Especially after I told him I didn't think the traitor was a willing participant .'

Aoyama's gaze snapped back to them as his face morphed into shock. "But I betrayed everyone," he whispered and sagged further down the wall. "I deserve whatever they see fit."

Akira sharply shook their head and made their way closer, sliding on their crutches as their legs protested the movement. ' Hear me out. Three Quirkless kids dream of being a hero. They learn to hide and stay out of the spotlight as society tries to break them down. One is offered a quirk with a heavy price and drawback. The second is offered a quirk with a heavy price and drawback. The third goes through forced quirk manifestation and gets a quirk with a heavy drawback. '

Aoyama looked up in confusion as Akira paused. "Three?"

Akira nodded, ' All three want to become heroes, and all three forced a foot in the door. Each wants to change the society that betrays and hurts them at every turn. Things didn't change that much, but now they've found a grey area they can make a platform out of.

Now, why is one of them a villain if the others are victims? '

Aoyama shook his head as his eyebrows drew together. "It's different, mon ami! You haven't done anything yet. I gave the camp location away. I found the teacher's schedule. I tried to stop the rescue. I took my quirk from a villain!"

Akira flinched back involuntarily as Aoyama got louder. His expression morphed into resigned but hurt as Aoyama put a hand to his mouth. "It doesn't matter what happened before or how I got to All for One. I've still done heinous things and nearly gotten students and heroes killed. I'm the one who forced All Might to retire."

Akira let themself take a moment to calm their heart as Aoyama shuddered against the wall. ' Sparkles, ' they paused and waited for him to look up enough again to see them. ' You are not alone. I can get you out for good- '

"I can't leave my family," Aoyama interrupted, voice wavering.

Understanding flooded Akira as they hissed in a breath. ' Okay. Then we should go to Eraser .' As his eyes filled with panic, Akira held out a hand. ' He's aware of my arrangement, and if he knows yours, he can help your family. Do you know where they are? '

"Oui," Aoyama said miserably, "they know where we live in Japan."

' It's time you had someone on your side, ' Akira smiled encouragingly. ' Eraser is probably your best chance of getting them out before All for One comes back. Not ,' Akira added as Aoyama's eyes went wide, ' that it's a certainty he will, but it's important to prepare for the possibility. I can go with you if you want the buffer or someone to fill in the details if you get overwhelmed. '

Aoyama nodded and turned to leave only to hesitate. Turning back, he asked, "Is the third Midoriya?"

Akira nodded, ' I assumed his quirk forcibly manifested but apparently not. His situation around getting the quirk is pretty different from what I understand of yours, but that's for him to tell if he wants. Just let me know when you want to talk with Eraser, and I'll be there. '

Notes:

Inui wasn't pressuring them to talk about it, but Akira knew if they didn't talk that day, they'd just get more anxious about it until they blew up or started avoiding therapy entirely. I finally read Aoyama's wiki entry and this poor kid :'( I knew he was nuanced but oh my gods he has it rough. This is a pretty short chapter. I tried to come up with more content, but the scenes are pretty self-contained, and the timeline is tight for this arc. Anything I tried to add either forgot this is only the day after chapter 5 or felt too much like needless filler. This does have my favorite line in Bello Licentiae, though :)

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[primowishes]

//Thinking about how Jeht got betrayed by people that she considered family, and killed them with her own hands, too.