#and i think itd help that they both Get It

[angel---eater]

thinking about how my usual go-to intersex dirk is affected by cooercive gendering in both the beta and alpha timelines.... and just gender stuff in homestuck in general.... cause the timeframe really counts. where babydirk lands temporally really makes or breaks this guy and his rship with his body. dirk as a character is so concerned abt how others percieve him that he wears his interests and hobbies like leather armour. he wears the projected images other ppl have of him more than he just, yknow, is

dirk in the beta timeline wouldve been fostered and was CAMAB, but his puberty started doing Unexpected Things, so they took little bro to the doctor so he can have his manly male puberty 'fixed'. bro would spend his whole life directly under the thumb of hegemonic cismasculinity, and he would know that if he adjusted even an inch, just to shift his weight even a little, then he suddenly wouldnt be Man Enough. and the blowback for that would be terrifying for him. hed be being slowly suffocated by the adults in his life and lil cal constantly whispering into his ear. this would be part of bro's experience with being groomed for sure

dirk in the alpha timeline however would be a free range kid. he wouldve grown up basically genderless until he figured out how to peruse the dead internet and discovered what boys and girls as cisgender concepts were. alpha dirks problem wouldnt so much be that hes directly under the thumb of Cis Manhood, but bc hed be desperately chasing after the ghosts of communities long dead. hed be directionless. he assumes hes a boy, he feels like one a lot of the time, but is he really? he keeps finding conflicting information on what Being A Man is, what Being A Woman is, what being Anyone At All is. hed chase after cismasculinity bc itd just feel the most familiar to him. he'd fall into the traps chrisofacist gender rolls laid out for masculinity bc thered be no one around but himself and his own very fallable perspecetive on this stuff to help get him out of it. and roxy is in the exact same boat. theyd have no idea how to even START talking about this except through the pidgeonhole of compcis

and its interesting too cause there IS talk of gender in the alpha session, but its from calliope whos also very very very removed from human (and troll, bc theyre analogous in canon) gender in the first place, eerily similar to dirk and roxy and their particular brand of isolation from humanity**. callie very explicitly represents the side of fandom that is good-faith exploration of canon, but whos too married to their own fanon and always more biased towards it over canon. i love callie so much but shes my biased and unreliable queen haha. what she says about gender, esp supposed gender-locked classpect stuff, isnt nessicarily, actually true. and thats REALLY cool bc of course everyone is a little biased about gender stuff and trans theories. its so personal how can we not be yknow?? and we experience other ppl through our own lens, having even residual biases (just favouring pink moreso than blue for example, im not talking abt bigotry) is just really normal imo. callie's a really good example of this. she knows shes a girl and loves being a girl, as she fuckin should, so she holds a grain of bias towards femininity and womanhood

**normally i would include jake in The Social Isolation, but again, where the alpha kids landed temporally REALLY makes a difference. jake is also completely isolated but he has an active and current internet to dig through. i wanna explore jakes relationship w/ himself more often but my brain is so full of dirk and roxy and callie its, well, its bias LMAO

[upsidedowngrass]

man. my interpretations of liam and amelia end up as like . liam 🤝 amelia seeing themselves as Already Dead

[meowsticmarvels]

ok one more thing. absolutely criminal that phi and akane don't interact more in ztd because to me they could be besties...... if you even care

[haemosexuality]

*sits up in the middle of the night* in this next universe where vampires seem to have taken over the world, marceline probably either never met simon or he died soon after they met, which means that since her mom also died when she was really young (too young to remember a lot about her i bet), she most likely raised herself completely alone through the apocalypse and never really learned about Morals which is how after getting bitten she joined the vampires and, became evil i guess. we see that even with simons good influence in her formative years she went through a rough path after getting bitten so it would make sense that shed turn out nasty if it wasnt for him. she is part demon. we just saw an universe where simon lost marcy and was fucked up and now we're gonna see one where marcy lost simon and became fucked up

[avale-reves]

sometimes you do have to remember that kh is a videogame designed to be played first and foremost. so many 'odd' seeming decisions make a lot more sense when you take this into consideration. that and just the realities of game dev and having a budget and resource constraints lol

like do people know that the biggest reasons for worlds to be included or excluded from a game has nothing to do with its story or disney or popularity and often just has to do with the game environment/setting being different enough from the other worlds they've chosen lol.

like this is why jungle book keeps getting cut, because they pick other (better) worlds with jungle environments over it every time for the final roster, as an example.

[ajdrawshq]

i can almost guarantee ive said it before but. he would thrive in a zero escape game

[gwensy]

gonna be annoying in the tags

[yuridovewing]

Hmm... unpopular opinion. Or maybe just an opinion

Heathertail was wasted potential. Being the daughter of a leader, her friendship with Lionpaw, her brother is a villian, and shes very compassionate. It feels so strange seeing how her character just drops completely flat after Power of Three even though she has so much going for her.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

HEATHERTAILS TREATMENT IS MY VILLAIN ORIGIN STORY FOR REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i will never shut up about how poorly fanon and canon treated her and how some people called her abusive and uncomfortable for hating lionblaze after he beat her and tried to kill her mentor. “oooo what a shrill harpy” i will rob your house

i also dont like how shes just kinda reduced to “breezepelt’s wife”. breezeheather is cute and all, but shes got so much more going on than that. heathertail is someone who feels very strongly and yet will always set that aside to do the right thing. that scene everyone complains about is actually a great example: lionblaze is trespassing on her land and stealing medicine that could go to her clan. this guy beat her and tried to kill her mentor and then repeatedly stated he would try again in a war, over an assumption he could not confirm. she has every right to tell him to fuck himself sideways. but she doesnt, because she understands that this isnt about lionblaze, its about everyone suffering from the epidemic in thunderclan. so while she isnt friendly in the slightest, she still lets him have the herbs. because she doesnt let her own hangups get in the way of justice (btw this is why she shouldve been the one to sneak shadowclan the herbs in avos. i know her being onestars daughter wasnt hard canon but what a missed opportunity to do something there with her brother)

the thing with onestar and darktail being her family was a retcon but its something they couldve done something with and they just. didnt. cause shes breezepelts wife now so she cant have anything more i guess.

lionblaze basically mistreats her and then she falls off when he gets over that and it SUCKS man.

[good-beanswrites]

And here's Emergency with Kazui for @qrevo, thank you for the request! I realized as much as Kazui's moment saving Fuuta lives in my brain, I haven't ever written anything for it, so have some more Kazui propaganda haha! (There's reference to violence, but no graphic descriptions or anything 👍)

Kazui may have joked that his reflexes were dulling with age, but they were still perfectly intact when called upon. He thought leaving his profession behind meant he’d no longer be the first responder to an emergency situation. He thought that he’d be done stumbling onto blood-covered scenes of victims and assailants. Milgram had proved him wrong.

He left many of the others in the common room, enjoying a lighthearted conversation after dinner. He stepped into the dim prison hallway, hoping to grab a cigarette from his cell and return in time to catch the end of Shidou’s story. 

There rose some shouting from up ahead. Kazui picked up his pace, but there was no need to get too worked up, he thought. Mikoto had been awfully loud in his cell after his verdict. Tensions were high among the prisoners, and squabbles broke out all the time. Even upon recognizing Fuuta and Kotoko’s voices, he figured the two were having one of their usual disagreements. 

It was only when he could make out some of Fuuta’s desperate words that his instincts kicked in.

“Help! Please! Is anybody -- aargk!”

Kazui’s feet were pounding across the prison before he had a moment to think. Everything snapped into focus. His time in Milgram had felt like some strange dream, but now his senses became completely clear. 

He followed the noise, now recognizing the sickening sounds of violence and agonized cries between each. Though he could already piece together what was going on, his training had him peer around corners and into cells to be sure there were no other threats. He went flying into Fuuta’s cell.

He had only a second to take in the scene. Kotoko was winding up for a kick -- another kick by the look of it. Fuuta was curled in a heap in the corner, his uniform straps tangled around him. His hands shielded his face. All of which, and the ground below, dripped with blood. 

Kazui took Kotoko’s arm, yanking her back before her boot could connect. She recovered much quicker from her surprise than he expected. She shifted her weight around, using new leverage to escape his grasp. As she took a swing at him, he suddenly recalled their earlier conversation about fighting styles. 

He blocked blow after blow. Damn, she was strong.

“Kotoko, what is all this? I’m not trying to hurt you, but you can’t --” Kazui grunted as she landed a solid hit. He continued rattling off some typical deescalation attempts, but she didn’t hear a word of it. She hardly even looked at him, keeping her eyes trained on Fuuta as they fought. 

“He’s a killer,” she said evenly. “Do you even know what he’s done?”

“Do you?”

“It’s unforgivable.”

“It’s not your call to make!” At last, Kazui managed to shove her outside the cell. She stumbled back. The two took a breath. 

She wiped blood from her lip where Fuuta must have struck back. “The warden knows this is true justice. You know it is, too.” 

Then, she disappeared around the corner.

Kazui stepped out to be sure she wouldn’t return. He ran back to Fuuta the moment she was out of sight. She wasn’t his top priority.

He found Fuuta mumbling to himself, still clutching his face. Kazui had only seen him with his confident, fiery attitude. He felt his stomach clench hearing the boy whimper in pain and fear. Kazui often forgot how young these prisoners truly were.

“Hey, it’s okay. She’s gone. Hey, look at me.” He gently took Fuuta’s hands, pulling them away to assess the damage. His face twisted at the sight. This was more than he was equipped to handle. 

Fuuta’s hands wrapped back around himself. He gasped for air. “She… please… I can't... my eye…”

“You’re going to be alright. Just stay with me.” In a swift motion, he swung Fuuta over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The boy cried out, but Kazui was already on the move. He called to Shidou from down the hall. 

As soon as he set foot in the common area, he began giving orders. He told Shidou to examine Fuuta's condition, laying him on one of the tables. He demanded the others stay put until he could find Kotoko. He asked where the other guilty prisoners were. Most just gaped at him in shock. Though their delayed reaction was frustrating in the moment, he understood their surprise. He realized it was the first time he’d raised his voice since coming here. He’d always sat back and let the others take the lead; it was probably strange to see a laid back man like him suddenly taking charge.

Yuno leapt to her feet, already ignoring his warnings. He caught her with an arm before she could run out the door. “Oh god, Mahiru!”

“I’ll find her. Don’t leave.”

He turned on his heel and went running once more.

[sonknuxadow]

okay im definitely going to be away from home when sxs gens comes out i need to figure out how im going to deal with this

[xebecdav]

honestly i think one of the first steps towards fat acceptance (specifically self-acceptance but probably also generally speaking) is understanding being fat isnt a moral failing, or a failing at all. nobody is doing anything “wrong” by being fat. the reason for said fatness doesnt matter, wether its a health condition, a disability, or even just eating what you want and not being active. your body is morally neutral no matter what.

[arolesbianism]

Every day I mourn the fact that none of my family and friends give a single shit abt oni lore, I don't wanna keep repeating shit I've already said before on here but every now and then I just remember the horrors™ and nearly explode not being able to scream abt it again

[autisticcassandracain]

Free story idea I'll probably never write but am kind of obsessed with: Scott and Lightray role reversal where Scott grew up on New Genesis and Lightray was traded to Apokolips.

Basic set up: Scott, as a little baby child, was supposed to die when Steppenwolf killed his mother. He survived, narrowly, but Izaya hid that from Apokolips in fear of retaliation. So when the pact happened, Izaya's son, presumed dead, wasn't on the table; instead, (quite literally) the brightest child on New Genesis was traded.

So Scott grows up hidden on New Genesis as the son of Highfather, with his big brother Orion. And the thing is, he loves his home, his father, his brother, but by the time he hits young adulthood he's positively gnawing at the bars. He's going stir crazy from his limited movement; even in New Genesis he has to be careful, because after all these years, he's still hiding from Darkseid, who might change the pact if he hears Izaya's son is still alive, or even flat out kill him, breaking the truce in the process. It's not something anyone is willing to risk, least of all Highfather and Orion.

But Scott is not the type to accept limitations on his freedom, and on top of that, the longer he hides away, the more guilty he feels. He's not stupid, he knows that he should have, by all rights, been the one traded in the pact. But Highfather prioritized his safety and took the out that him being presumed dead offered, and another kid took the fall instead. How is that fair? It's not like Lightray is any less important than him. Scott may have been too young to make informed decisions or understand what was happening when the pact occured, but now, as an adult, he's becoming increasingly dissatisfied with being protected at the cost of other peoples lives.

If only he could help in some way – he's no fighter, but he's crafty and creative. Surely, even if he wouldn't he terribly useful on a battlefield (and has no real desire to enter it to begin with), he could at least do something for the kid that got traded in his place? Help him escape, perhaps? He's already capable of giving even New Genesis the slip, Apokolips can't be that much harder...

Meanwhile, Darkseid was fully planning on pulling the same basic gambit with Lightray as he would have with Scott: torment him until he decides to escape at all costs, breaking the pact. So Lightray was put in Granny's Orphanage, ostensibly a normal student, with Granny reporting back on him to Darkseid. And things would've gone roughly like they went for Scott, if it weren't for one thing: Lightray's intelligence.

Where Scott was, as far as we can tell, a perfectly average student, Lightray quickly proves to be exceptional. His fighting is largely mediocre (relatively peaking, of course), but he still wins a vast majority of sparring matches, even when his opponents far outmatch him in skill, resources, numbers, or all three. He does this by simply outsmarting them, figuring out positively brilliant strategies even under the effects of Granny's mind-altering drugs. Granny reports this back to Darkseid, baffled and annoyed, lamenting about cowardice and rebellion; children in Granny's Orphanage are not supposed to think, after all.

But Darkseid quickly realizes that the pact handed them far more than just a symbolical light, an easy way to end the truce; it handed them a weapon. Child of New Genesis Lightray may be, Darkseid reads Granny's reports of cunning, manipulation, underhanded and even ruthless strategy and sees himself. On New Genesis, Lightray may have been a formidable enemy, but now, Darkseid has the opportunity to mold him into a surprise weapon. A cunning strategist, perhaps even on a similar level as himself, completely loyal to Apokolips, but easily able to win New Genesis' trust if necessary. A perfect potential spy. Lightray still has some of that pesky New Genesis kindness, but nothing a little careful manipulation won't fix. But the brute force of Granny's Orphanage won't bend him into the right shape; a little more subtlety is required here.

So Darkseid takes Lightray from Granny's Orphanage and only lies to him a little bit. He tells Lightray about the pact, about how he was traded for convenience's sake; Darkseid even graceciously admits that he'd originally planned to use Lightray much the same way, but had realized his mistake and decided to give him a chance instead. Darkseid sees how special Lightray is, how much more he could be than just a bargaining chip; Darkseid could make him great, give him power and, more importantly, a place to belong. Lightray could be important, and important things aren't easily traded away, are integral to their home and respected as peers. He could have a place here if he just listens to Darkseid, and why shouldn't he? What has New Genesis, what has Highfather given him? At least Apokolips, Darkseid is giving him a chance, believes he can be more than a bargaining chip. Highfather sees him as nothing but a tool, but Darkseid gets him, believes in him, believes he is more. Between the two of then, who has earned Lightray's loyalty?

So Lightray grows up as Darkseid's adopted son, favored even over Kalibak for his merit, risen above his origins as a bargaining chip, and only feels a little weird about it all. Just a little bit. Somewhere in the back of his mind, there is an instinctive part of him that cringes when a hunger dog rebel begs for mercy while being tortured to death, but that's just his New Genesis weakness, and he's long since overcome it. It's nothing Darkseid holds against him, as long as Lightray fights it. His origins don't define him, and he's grabbed the knife and chosen Darkseid's strength over New Genesis' weakness.

They were planning on having him 'escape' Apokolips and slotting him into New Genesis as a spy, but a golden opportunity drops straight into their lap. A New Genesian manages to sneak straight into Lightray's room, in the heart of Darkseid's home. The only one they know with the skill to pull that of is Himon, but this is clearly someone else.

This is Highfather's son, remarkably alive despite all information to the contrary, and doesn't that just reinforce everything Lightray's ever been taught? Highfather had been unwilling to sacrifice his own son, as Darkseid had done, and had instead cowardly offered up Lightray as a sacrificial lamb. Well, joke's on them, this lamb has grown into a wolf, and is ready to earn his spot in the pack. Highfather's son is called Scott Free (which is really just salt in the wound, isn't it) and is here to break him out, take him back to New Genesis, and it's a little before schedule, but they can't possibly pass up this opportunity.

Scott returns home to New Genesis, having successfully rescued Lightray and feeling pretty good about himself, not understanding why Orion is so spitting mad at the whole thing. He knows this means war, and that's awful, but this truce was never going to last, and they all know it. And now that he's seen the horrors of Apokolips for himself, he can't help but want to do something about it. He may be no fighter, but he thinks he can work with Himon; Himon's methods seem to fit very well with Scott's strengths. He can help, but his father still forbids him to leave New Genesis, and Orion insists that Darkseid is planning something, that it's too dangerous. Scott is inexperienced, naive, and must be protected at all costs, and if they think they can actually successfully keep him in one place they're idiots. It's only a matter of time before he gives them the slip.

Orion knows this damn well, but that's not going to stop him from trying to keep Scott from walking straight into an enemy trap. He doesn't trust Lightray, not even a little bit; he still remembers what Darkseid is like, and he knows, knows that Lightray would never have been allowed to live as his son if he wasn't useful to him in some way. Orion would bet his astro harness Lightray is a spy, but what can they do? Highfather refuses to lock Lightray up without concrete proof that he's a traitor, and they obviously can't send him back to Apokolips. If Scott goes through with joining Himon, he'll be in the middle of enemy territory, with a spy to report back to Darkseid on it. Orion can't allow that to happen, no matter what. But he can't just babysit Scott, even if Scott would've allowed him to do that; with the war starting, Orion is needed on the front lines. He doesn't know how to balance the need to protect his brother with his duties towards New Genesis and the universe at large.

Lightray, meanwhile, is having a bit of a culture shock. New Genesis is, for the most part, exactly what he'd been told to expect: bright, soft, holier-than-thou, all-around fake and weak. But it's still a shock to go from dark Apokolips to bright New Genesis, and to his alarm he can feel the effects already. In the sunlight, he is physically stronger and much more comfortable. He settles in easy, feels content in a way he rarely (never) felt on Apokolips. No matter how much he tries to remind himself that these people betrayed them and he's here to destroy them, he fits on New Genesis in a way he never did on Apokolips, and that scares him, a little bit. Because he knows he'll never have a place here; he'd be a tool at best, and an interloper at worst. Orion's hostility, though a significant hurdle in the plan, is almost welcome; it's familiar, and makes it easier to remind himself that he does not, in fact, belong here.

And then, there is one more complication: Scott Free. Scott Free, Highfather's hidden son, for whose sake he was traded, who is naive and reckless and easy to manipulate, and genuine in a way that completely throws Lightray for a loop. Highfather lies, pretending to trust Lightray despite obviously agreeing with Orion's suspiscions, apologizing for trading Lightray even though he'd surely do it again without hesitation, claiming to respect New Genesis' youth above all despite how obviously untrue that is. It's easy to look at him and see confirmation of everything Darkseid told him about New Genesis.

But Scott tells Lightray he never should've been traded in his place and honestly seems to believe it. He defied orders to come 'rescue' Lightray because he believed it was more important than the continuation of the pact. He's weak, in many ways, but he sees the world how it could be, not the way it is, and has a bright resiliance to him, which Lightray stubbornly refuses to compare to anyone he's met, especially not one Aurelie, the Fury who'd been revealed to be part of Himon's rebels. Scott Free will either die painfully or waste the rest of his life away imprisoned, and Lightray finds himself making just a few too many excuses for why that bothers him.

When Scott Free finally escapes Orion and Highfather's watch to go join Himon, Lightray does not immediately report to Darkseid. He contacts Big Barda instead. It's not treachery, he tells himself. Big Barda is wholly loyal to Darkseid, the leader of the Furies, and will get the job done; besides, he'll report to Darkseid soon enough. He still refuses to think about Aurelie, and how closely Barda stuck to Lightray's side afterwards, drawn to him for reasons they both knew but refused to acknowledge. When he hears back about Barda's defection and her and Scott's escape to Earth, he is obviously very shocked and not even a little bit relieved the plan he didn't have worked.

Then the anti-life equation is discovered on Earth, and suddenly Lightray is told by Darkseid that discovering its location should be his top priority. Orion is sent to look for it as well, to protect it, and Lightray, seeing an opportunity, insists to go along. To his surprise, Orion actually agrees. Orion, for this part, just wants to get Lightray as far away from New Genesis as possible, and is working on a 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer' logic. So off they both go, on the universe's most high-stakes and hostile buddy road trip.

[todayisafridaynight]

until yoko tells me otherwise ill choose to believe sawashiro stayed in america with aoki so i can drive myself insane thinking of all the things that could entail

[llewnanith]

i love fics/scenarios where someone like tears izzy apart. not in a cruel way but like Here Is Why You Suck And You Need To Fix It. i say this AS an izzy enjoyer id LOVE to see it from his POV i want to see people get mad at him for his actions i want to see him work to get better!! i dont want him to have all his actions excused i want him to be sympathetic but STILL FUCKED UP! AND THEN GET BETTER!! its what makes him so interesting. and i dont mean he sits there and takes it but he actually reflects and tries and its hard for him and he struggles and he goes back and forth and he actually grows!! THAT MAN NEEDS TO BE YELLED AT

[pechebeche]

yes yes we do not know celebrities and parasocial relationships should not cross the boundary of respecting the targets as people. however i do hope that bdg and pat gill still hang out sometimes