#are called for their hypocrisy and they are allowed to be more than Smart and Autistic. laios is allowed to be silly earnest protective

[5-htagonist]

lol i did acid the other day and realized once again how deeply deeply autistic i am for art and media. and characters. and specifically laios and kabru. god bless

[schrijverr]

It Just Hits Different When It’s Batman

5 times a League member heard Batman use slang + 1 time they knew where the fuck he got it from.

This fic is based off this post by @wednesday-if-it-was-tuesday bc it was just too good! Hope you don't mind :D

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none

~~~~~

1. Flash

Barry is pretty sure he has to get his hearing checked as he speeds through a city, trying to find a series of bombs, courtesy of a new alliance of villains. He and Batman are on bomb duty, thus sharing a private com line as to not distract the others or be distracted as they coordinate.

However, Barry is very much distracted by his own partner in this whole mess, because unless he’s gotten a few too many hits to the head in recent years, he’s pretty sure Batman just reported: “The bombs look like yassified thermos flasks.”

“What?” Barry chokes, nearly tripping over his own feet as he does.

Batman doesn’t seem to notice, instead explaining the bomb, not his wording: “The casing looks to be made from plastic, likely to escape Superman’s notice. Start checking water pipes, I found this one near a toilet. I’ll report again once I figure out how to disarm it.”

Okay, questing his sanity later, finding bombs, now.

So he zooms off again, having to agree with the fact that the bomb does look like a yassified thermos flask. He wonders if he can use that in his report or if Batman will scold him for language. He has worked with the man for long enough that he knows Batman isn’t above hypocrisy.

Then he wonders again if he even heard it right. In the heat of battle, the brain sometimes does weird things, especially when someone thinks at the speed of light. Or faster.

He’ll put it out of his mind for now, maybe tell Hal about it just so he’ll have someone to share the bizarre experience with.

Clark probably has a thesaurus, he should probably also find a synonym for yassified. Does a thesaurus have slang too?

2. Green Lantern

It’s true that Barry had told him about Spooky saying yassified in that one battle, but Hal hadn’t truly believed that Bats was capable of something like that. I mean, look at him. The guy might be a weirdo who dresses up as a Bat, but he’s not a weirdo who says shit like yassified.

However, at the moment it is starting to look more and more likely. Fuck, Barry is gonna give him so much crap for not believing him.

The moment in question is Batman working with him on the stealth mission. It’s one for the Green Lantern Corps, so Batman is doing him a favor. Though Hal is starting to wish that he hadn’t done him that favor, because Batman has just said: “It looks like Luthor is being thristy for Superman again. For someone who hates the guy, he sure wants his attention a lot. That’s Kryptonian honing device.”

Hal doesn’t react, still thinking about the fact that he’s just heard Luthor, thirsty and Superman in one sentence. In Batman’s voice no less.

“What?” he says.

“A Kryptonian honing device,” Batman repeats, sounding as if he thinks Hal is stupid, not uncommon. “So he can hone in on Superman, find him. Something we need to do something about.”

Hal decides to take the smart way out and lets the whole thing drop in favor of focusing on the mission. He’s not just telling Barry, but Ollie about this as well.

3. Cyborg

Being in the Justice League isn’t much different than being on the Teen Titans. Like right now, being in a building that could explode at any moment unless he hacks into the system and stops that from happening.

Ah, good old life-threatening pressure.

Batman is fighting some of the goons in the background. They’re on their own here, with the others fighting through an army outside to get to them. But it’s mostly up to them. Batman yells: “Cyborg, status.”

“I’m getting through, but something is bugging me about this whole thing,” Victor calls back. “I think there is someone I’m missing that will allow me to crack this.”

There are a few grunts in the background as Batman fights on, while Victor starts to scan through everyone who worked for the organization, trying to find the missing link.

He is interrupted by Batman, who says: “I took a tour here once. There was an intern, Kyle Paulson, he was kind of sus. Look him up.”

For a second, Victor is thrown by the sus in that sentence, but he quickly focuses back on what’s important. Indeed finding Kyle to be the missing link that gets him to disarm the bomb. While Batman is taking out the last of the bad guys.

In fact, the whole thing slips his mind until he’s writing his mission report, going through the footage to get accurate information in there. Then he pauses again, before dismissing it. Those who trained under Batman are always prepared, maybe it’s not slang but shorthand to be useful in the moment. Or he’s trying to include him, sweet, though unnecessary.

Victor puts it out of his mind.

4. Green Arrow

Ollie doesn’t believe Barry or Hal for a second. Like, really? Batman using slang that the sidekicks are using?

Sure, Nightwing sometimes uses some here and there, but Red Robin is always very professional and Robin is closer to a Shakespearean actor than a TikTok teen. There isn’t anyone else he could have gotten it from and it doesn’t make sense with his whole ‘I am the Night’-persona.

Victor suggested it was to make the newbies more comfortable when he overheard them talking, but that’s even more ridiculous in Ollie’s opinion.

So, he’s not at all in the slightest prepared for Batman’s reaction when he shows him the new arrows he developed. Because Batman’s reaction is: “Hm, serves cunt.”

“Excuse me, what?” Ollie says, his eyes nearly bulging out of his skull.

Batman just stares at him, then in a confused sort of voice goes: “You know, it slays? It’s, you know, good? Positive.”

“Huh, what? No, I- I know what that means. How the fuck do you know?” Ollie splutters.

“I’m Batman,” is all he says. Then he walks away and leaves Ollie to stand there, still frozen in time, because what the hell was that? Batman can’t just do that, can he? That’s illegal. How does he even know that?

What Ollie doesn’t know, is that this was a calculated move. Bruce had overheard the three talking as well and decided to have a little fun. All the times before, it just slipped out in the heat of battle, but this one was purposeful.

Bruce knows Ollie would know what it meant, because billionaires Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen have done TikTok trends in the past and try to keep up to date, despite their age. Not that Ollie knows it’s him under there.

And last gala, he left Bruce for the wolves – Vicky Vale – so now Bruce is dealing psychological damage to him as petty revenge.

5. Superman (and Practically the Entire League)

They’re in a meeting with most of the Justice League members that are present on earth at the moment. It’s not often they hold such meetings, since they are a little overwhelming and tend to drag on more than be productive.

However, Clark thinks it’s important to ensure there are avenues through which ever member can state their piece and be heard. So, here they are again.

Booster Gold is complaining about always being on the sidelines and never in the heat of the action, even though he’s a great hero. He’s claiming that there is a bias against younger heroes, despite the fact that the ‘old guard’ will have to give it up eventually.

Apparently, Batman has had enough, because he gets up and snaps: “We don’t have bias based on age, we have one based off skill. Maybe if you stopped abandoning your post and being someone reliable, you might get put out in the field more often. Now stop being salty about it.”

It’s silent.

Clark is scrambling his brain, to figure out the meaning. As a journalist he tries to stay up to date on current language use, however, the only person he’s heard use that word is Jon. The boy never explained, but Clark guessed what it means. Doesn’t explain why Batman knows it.

Then the silence gets broken by a snort, everyone’s head whipping towards the source. It’s Nightwing, a newer addition and one affiliated with Batman himself. The only one there brave enough to laugh at Batman, mirthfully asking: “Did you actually say salty?”

There is no change on Batman’s face, but as a longtime friend, Clark knows he isn’t emotionless. Indeed, when he listens close, he can hear the blood rush to his face, blush hidden by the cowl.

“That was not the point of the sentence, Nightwing,” Batman counters, the name a little bit pointed on is tongue.

“Okay, okay,” Nightwing grins easily, showing his hands in surrender, an act which is made null by him adding: “Just pointing out that this is an official meeting. You’re on the record and you know I’m reporting this to the others.”

Red Robin and Robin, Clark fills in mentally, the other two known associates. Everyone already guessed that Nightwing must be close to them as well, since the younger two are closer to being Batman’s children. Now that is confirmed.

“Thank you for reminding me,” Batman says tersely, before quickly pivoting to the next point on the agenda. No one calls him out for it.

However, just because no one calls him out on it, doesn’t mean they drop it. In the weeks after the incident, whispers make their way through the halls of the Watchtower as people speculate why or how Batman came to use the word salty and how out of character it is.

Clark can hear the gossip all over the Watchtower and he’s sure Batman is aware of it too, because some brave souls have asked about. Especially when some of the others talked about the incident not being the first one.

Batman hasn’t replied yet to any of the questions or rumors. Clark thinks he likes the mystery and chaos, likes that they don’t know why the hell he sometimes lets slang slip. Even Nightwing has been seemingly silenced, never commenting with a sort of professional ease at evasion.

Nightwing is the only clue they have, along with Robin and Red Robin, but none of them seem like the culprit.

It just doesn’t make sense and Clark can’t help but have his reporter brain itch.

+1. The Batfamily

There is going to be an attack somewhere in a major city in America tonight. They cannot figure out where, so there is a nation wide stake out at all the important places. Nearly the entire Justice League has been pulled out for it and even then they don’t have enough.

Batman insists on having a skeleton crew remain on the Watchtower in case the threat turns out to be a distraction. And when it is protested, he pulls out an army of associates none of them have ever heard about to fill out the last gaps in their observational net.

The sudden introduction of about six new Gotham vigilantes, which have apparently been operating inside the city as well as outside of it, would have been the main shock if it weren’t for how they are on coms.

Red Robin and Nightwing are known as professionals like Batman, while Robin isn’t a known entity in missions, though those who have met him, know him to be serious. However, with the introduction of the others all of that professionalism melts away.

It starts about 45 minuted into their mission when Spoiler’s voice suddenly crackles over the coms: “I fucking hate stake outs, they’re so boring.”

“I know right, my ass is starting to hurt,” Red Robin – to everyone’s surprise – replies.

“No chatter on the coms,” Batman dutifully reproaches like he always does, but he sounds less stern this time. It’s as if he knows they won’t listen, but says it because it’s his role to do so.

Red Hood ignores Batman completely, idly commenting: “I don’t know, stake outs always hit different for me.”

“That’s just because you’re boring AF,” Spoiler says, an eyeroll practically audible.

“Oi, take that back,” Red Hood says, offended. “I didn’t die to have you slander my name like that!”

This is horrifying news for most of the other people stuck on the coms, however, there is a cacophony of annoyed groans as well. Why anyone would be so blasé about someone mentioning their death, they don’t know.

Until, Robin says: “Cease mentioning your death as excuse. It’s unbecoming to be so reliant on one measly event. You’re not the only one who has died, don’t be – what was it? – ah, yes, don’t be basic, Hood.”

“Yeah, Hood, don’t be salty just because you’re becoming a boring old man,” Red Robin pipes up, sounding smug. That solves the salty mystery.

“Shut up, Replacement,” Red Hood huffs. “I can talk about my death as much as I want to and you can’t stop me.”

“Hood, please, stop talking about your death, you’re going to make B sad,” Nightwing suddenly interjects, stopping the conversation before it can get out of hand.

Those with super hearing will hear Barry mutter in a shocked manner: “Is he talking about Batman?” But he is overshadowed by most of the newly introduced (and already) known Bat-associates booing loudly.

“Don’t be a fucking suck up, Dick” Spoiler hollers, only those in the know picking up on the fact it’s his name. It’s the only time Batman won’t correct them, because not everyone will know it’s a name unless it’s pointed out.

“Periodt,” the quiet voice of Black Bat supports Spoiler.

“Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, BB,” Spoiler cheers when she hears the other girl.

“That was the correct usage?” Black Bat asks.

“It was, well done,” Oracle’s kind voice comes over the coms, from where she is in her lair helping with coordination.

After that it all quiets down again for about half an hour, then Bluebird breaks the quiet again, complaining: “I can’t believe I had to stay behind in Gotham of all places.”

“You live there. Willingly,” Signal answers. “And I had to stay behind too, you know.”

“They’re sleeping on us, Signal, be upset with me,” Bluebird exclaims, indignantly.

“Okay, but tea though,” Spoiler says, most of the Justice League listening in are starting to learn she likes stirring the pot a little.

“Don’t be a simp, Spoils,” Red Robin says.

“Oh, look who’s talking about being a simp,” Red Hood snorts loudly. “I observed you, loser boy, you’re the simp.”

“It’s not as much of the serve you think it is to admit to stalking me,” Red Robin deadpans.

“RR, not to be that bitch, but you’re the OG stalker, maybe- maybe don’t do that,” Nightwing says cautiously, which is apparently funny enough that multiple people start laughing.

Meanwhile Red Robin complains: “Stop laughing at me, when I did it was totally different, I didn’t plan on killing any of you.” Which is mildly disturbing

“Oi, I never planned to actually kill you-kill you either,” Red Hood protests, even more disturbing. The Justice League is starting to wonder why Batman works with the man.

“Stop with the chatter,” Batman interjects again, before it can go further. “It’s not just us on the com lines now. At least try to be professional.”

And much to the horror of the League, who could never imagine doing such a thing, Batman gets booed. Again. This time directly.

Then to add to the horror, Batman doesn’t explode in anger, like everyone would have imagined, instead he just sighs. Defeated. Batman is like a cockroach, he doesn’t get defeated. However, these kids are managing.

Batman remains defeated too, because the Gotham vigilantes continue to idly chat all throughout the next hour. They are definitely bat associated, because they never reveal any information that could be tied to their civilian identity. Instead discussing other missions, general news, funny things they saw on patrol and personal grievances with the others on the line.

If this is what Batman deals with on the day to day, some are starting to see why he would prefer the heroes of the Justice League to keep their mouths shut on missions unless it’s important.

Most try to tune it out and focus on their own stake out, though the voices keep them awake. But they notice when Spoiler’s voice suddenly becomes serious as she reports: “Sus individuals moving towards the Mayor’s office.”

“Received, getting visual on your location,” Oracle’s voice replies, also snapped back into professionalism.

Spoiler reports their appearances and currently location, until Oracle has them, running a check on them, before confirming they have a criminal record and might be thugs for hire. Spoiler says: “I am going to move in.”

Batman says: “Do not engage, Spoiler, they could be a decoy. Try and get more information first.”

“Alright, alright,” Spoiler huffs. Then adds petulantly: “I’m not gonna do it, I was just thinking about it.”

Which sounds pretty reasonable for most listening in, who aren’t of the right age group to know the meme. Batman, however, does know, because he’s been subjected to it multiple times. So, he yells: “Spoiler, no!” startling some members.

A second later, there are sounds of a fight and Spoiler gleefully saying: “I did it.”

Batman lets out a frustrated growl, but Spoiler pays it no mind and she can’t truly get chewed out, because more and more start to report suspicious individuals moving in on the targets they’re watching.

Within minutes of it starting, Nightwing reports: “They’re decoys with targets. Not the main attack, but will do damage if they succeed.”

“Everyone make sure to take out the decoys,” Batman says. “Those without decoys, keep your eyes peeled, you might be at the real target.”

“Done with my targets, moving to help the others now,” Nightwing reports seriously, before he adds: “And can I just say that I’m the GOAT. Dibs on cookies for finishing first.”

“Okay, shade much,” Bluebird says.

“Don’t be arrogant, it’s unbecoming,” Robin retorts as well.

“Yeah, stop flexing,” Spoiler adds. “I’ve wrapped up too, by the way. You’re not special.”

“Let me have this,” Nightwing complains. “You already took all my shit, let me be cool. You all used to think I was cool.”

“Yeah, used to,” Red Hood scoffs. “Then we all realized you’re a looser.”

“Ha, get wrecked,” Red Robin snorts.

“Baby bird, wasn’t I your favorite?” Nightwing asks hurt, though over the top enough to show he is faking it.

“No, sadly, that was Hood,” Red Robin replies, sounding a little like he’s grimacing.

“No cap?” Red Hood asks, surprised.

“No cap,” Red Robin confirms.

“Now I feel kind of bad for you,” Red Hood says, before some bullets are fired. “Wrapped up here, moving to help.”

Red Robin seems glad to not have to reply and none of the other Gothamites do either. With what the League has heard so far, they’re also kind of happy the topic is being dropped, unsure what to think.

Batman’s associates are among the first ones cleaning up, however, soon others are joining them and the true battles grounds – yes, there are multiple targets, these people are organized (Batman will likely obsess until he has tracked down their organization afterwards) – are discovered and heroes move in to fight them.

Throughout the battle, everyone catches snippets of this strange, newly introduced group. A group, who works well together, like an oiled machine, yet obviously made up of highly competent parts that can act on their own as well.

Like Black Bat calling out: “Red Hood, yeet,” before those fighting alongside them see Red Hood boost her into the air, so she can come flying at the terrorists.

But they also make comments about the people they’re fighting and the others that are fighting alongside them.

Signal calling out: “Bluebird is pulling some sick ass moves. Another one for her on the slay-board, Oracle.”

Or Spoiler commenting: “Okay, not to be like that or whatever, but these terrorists are kind of looking snatched.”

To which Batman sighs: “Spoiler, please, no chatter,” in a vain attempt to get them under control.

“What?” Spoiler says. “I can appreciate when they’ve at least tried to pull a fit instead of that usual para-military, ninja type BS.”

“Go off,” Black Bat pipes up again and Spoiler cheers while Batman drops it. Defeated again.

They also check in on each other, with Red Robin hissing in pain, which is immediately followed by Nightwing going: “RR, you good, fam?”

“Gucci,” Red Robin replies. “Just low-key got stabbed.”

“There’s nothing low-key about getting stabbed!” Nightwing exclaims, getting called a hypocrite by many people, while Batman is already calling for Oracle to get a visual and for a medic to head Red Robin’s way.

By the time the battle is over, the Justice League understands how different the team is that Batman usually works with. If they were surrounded by heroes who talked like that continuously, they would have probably picked up some things here and there too.

Still, it fucking weird when Batman checks over his horde, before declaring: “You were all lit out there,” causing multiple of the kids around him to groan loudly, with Bluebird calling Batman a boomer.

Clark, however, sees a small uptick in Batman’s mouth. And in that moment, he knows Batman is doing it on purpose, that he’s enjoying it. That he’s fucking with them. He doesn’t know what to do with that, nor does he think that anyone will believe it. So, he decides to share the amusement and drop it.

They’re never going to figure out Batman.

~~

A/N:

This work is going to get dated so so so fast lmao, but it’s fun rn (if ur commenting in the future, welcome to outdated slang vibes from someone who wasn’t that up to date with current slang when writing it, bc im secretly a grandpa).

Hopefully I didn’t overdo it to an unrealistic degree, but if I did, such is the story that was being told oops

Also this whole fic is just an excuse for me to write batfam banter bc I love it lmao

I didn’t include Batwing, Batwoman and Flamebird here, sorry, but writing the batfam is always so hard bc there are so many characters T-T

[indelen]

The plot kicks off in earnest and the midnight hour is close at hand, it's time for honey cake (medovyk) and tea.

This is my reread of the Lockwood and Co. Books, organized by @blue-boxes-magic-and-tea, I'll make a general summary of several chapters and then post bits and pieces that jumped out at me.

Part III, Chapters 9-12:

Things continue to go pear shaped. I find it interesting how Stroud manages to thread the needle of reader sympathy towards the protagonists. The writing makes it clear that they did mess up and the house fire was avoidable. And this is not all on one person - Lockwood could have pulled rank and insist they leave but didn’t, Lucy had the chance to leave after the first manifestation but didn’t. Lockwood forgot the chains. Lucy lobbed Greek Fire indoors. All of this is bad. And when you meet Barnes you sort of agree with him to a point about them being irresponsible, but he’s so high handed and dismissive of the trio you can’t help but be on their side. The government keeps telling these kids they should listen to the government, because the government is full of adults that know so much better than they do. But if this was really the case the government would not allow children to do this dangerous work at all. You can't have it both ways! Either these kids know nothing and adults really are smarter, in which case let them go study trigonometry and pass notes in class already and, as smart adults, find some different way to battle The Problem that doesn’t involve high mortality child labor. OR. Let the kids do their job and admit you’re not operating within some perfect and fair system where the presence of an adult magically fixes everything or makes anyone safer. We meet so many adults in this universe and the majority of them are awful and take horrific advantage of children to enrich themselves on The Problem. None of them are sufficiently controlled in this universe because it is not in the government’s interest to do so. The kids sense this and revolt, if they are to die they want to die on their own terms! This is what happens when governments fail the people they are supposed to protect and when the desire to make money trumps acting in the interests of the public good.

Odds and Ends, Side A:

10/10 chapter opening. On par with “the building was on fire and it wasn’t my fault”. Reader attention fully captured.

Lucy “no I totally don’t care how I look, I swear” Carlyle maintaining if she ever came back as a ghost she’d be a hot cool ghost thankyou very much is so funny to me, just peak teenager insecurity and vanity but in a very endearing way.

There’s the thing about George – he can learn. Not just from books but in real life he can take criticism to heart if it’s laid out plainly. Even if it’s mean. This is probably his most amazing attribute. He dislikes hypocrisy and doesn’t have time for any kind of jabs or hints that are difficult to interpret. But someone lobs a criticism straight at him, he won’t dismiss it outright. In so many ways he is the most emotionally mature of the trio.

I’ve been thinking a lot in this reread about why George was so hostile to Lucy from the start and I think it comes down to the fact that he saw Lucy as someone who would make Lockwood more reckless. She is a gifted Listener, George knew Lockwood enough to realize this will make him more likely to rush off into the fray without research and Lucy being not especially academically minded would not stop him. I think he was worried that they would feed negatively off each other and outvote him. Which … they did at first, it’s true, George was completely right. Lucy goes along with whatever Lockwood says because she trusts him, because she admires him, because she doesn’t want him to think less of her. This behavior continues later too - she snarks at him plenty, calls him names, makes fun of him, sure. But ultimately she has a hard time saying “no” to him. And finding that balance of how much to go along with Lockwood’s plans and when to contradict him is I think a huge part of her arc in this series.

This pantomime of Victorian gentility is hilarious. The year is (arguably) 2013 and yet this sounds like a scene from Agatha Christie. Barnes knows Lockwood is home, Lockwood knows Barns knows he’s home but this presenting of a visiting card and “show him in” ritual has to be observed because this whole society hasn’t moved on from 1953 in six decades.

I am not the right person to give a post-colonial literary analysis of the Lockwood books but I would be the first to want to read it. There’s a lot there in terms of portrayal of indigenous beliefs, what colonial powers learn and refuse to learn from them and how they appropriate them. Barnes sees a collection of artefacts from all over the world meant to deal with ghosts and immediately dismisses them, seeing only the methods he’s familiar with as correct. He does not stop to appreciate the fact that the idea of contacting the dead and laying them to rest is an issue that in some way or another humanity has been dealing with for millennia and all around him is evidence of the fact that not one of these cultures resorted to shoving their young to act as meat shields to do it. The variety of the artifacts speaks to the idea that there may be different approaches possible, different avenues to explore. On what basis but good old-fashioned racism is this dismissal of a ghost catcher in a universe where ghosts are real and do real harm to real people? Does a country dealing with such a crisis not owe it to its citizens to investigate every possibility instead of just consigning a large proportion of their children to a very high possibility of death and telling them that they can’t even do it on their terms, no, the government and large corporations must manage how they die!

And the idea of “it belongs in a museum” is especially laughable in this context. Presumably he means a British museum despite the fact that all these artifacts are foreign. There’s something so on the nose about a very British man dismissing knowledge from other cultures as useless and indicating he views those cultures themselves as extinct when he himself lives on the bones of a long dead empire enforces the practicing the most barbaric shit imaginable.

There is also something so very sad about Lockwood’s encyclopedic knowledge of every gord and mask in the house. Like he never to a chance to know his parents to he memorized everything about their research to get as close to them as possible.

George is the most verbally brutal of the trio and I love that for him

Here again is that Lockwood duality. We later learn sleeps in his parent’s old room - the ultimate symbol of his attempts to play the adult. Like the suits, like running his own agency, like his many successful and unsuccessful attempts to mimic adult behavior. How successful he is really is … not certain. Lucy is not a reliable narrator and even she is clearly unconvinced sometimes, but he clearly can pull it off to some extent. But every now and then we get a glimpse into the fact that he also, in a very sad and stubborn way, clings to a childhood that was horrifically and unfairly ripped from him. The baby mobile in his seemingly adult bedroom is a neat encapsulation of Lockwood himself.

This man is incapable of staying angry at his beloved for more than like … 15 mins tops.

Please turn the cassette over to side B (see reblog for more)

[greenerteacups]

So, because I definitely care a Normal Amount ™ about Lionheart, I went back and re-read the entire thing in preparation for the last chapter of Book 4. It was such an interesting exercise because while I love reading serialized fiction (it's such a core part of what makes fanfic amazing) - it really does hit differently when you look at the story up until this point in it's entirety. (I could go on absolutely unhinged tangents about how much the way you have adjusted canon that just scratches the excema in my brain.)

However- on this re-read, the line that Draco says when he and Hermione have their seminal discussion in the owlery snagged my mind and I can't stop thinking about how Draco accuses Hermione of liking the fact that he's meaner than she is. Because on one hand - yes? He absolutely has less of a sense than she does about Right Decisions, because she always wants to do the "right" thing, but objectively its not always the right thing to do - its just moral relativism rearing its old ugly head again. But on the other hand, he's completely wrong because Hermione (at least in the original books) has this enormous capacity for cruelty that shes not even aware of - partially because girly does not have a single ounce of tact, but also because she wasn't brought up in the wizarding world. She lacks some of the context and cultural clues that allow characters like Draco and Daphne to navigate with an ease she likely envies. And while all the Slytherin bbs have high IQs and low EQs, I think they also are hyper aware of personal standing, so I could easily see Hermione blithely insulting someone without realizing it and completely RUINING their day/month/year etc.

I'm curious if you've thought any more about this dynamic between D/H - and what they think of the others capacity for mean-ness and cruelty??

YES! To all! Especially the bit about Hermione having "an enormous capacity for cruelty that she's not aware of," because yes, that's pretty much one of her cardinal faults as a character — the insidious combination of (a) not really prioritizing other people's feelings if/when they conflict with something Hermione wants or feels, and (b) not being at all aware that she has that quality, and in fact believing herself to be the most emotionally intelligent member of the Trio. (Remember "emotional range of a teaspoon"? I burst out laughing when that happened, because like... girl. The call is coming from inside the house.) At the same time, she's smart enough to recognize when other people are unkind or tactless, so there's this beautifully intricate hypocrisy to how she understands her own emotional intelligence — her pride and arrogance blind her to ways that she neglects others, but her sincere generosity, kindness, and desperate yearning to be helpful and good to other people actually do allow her to see when other people are bad at it, as well as propel her to... well... try. It's a really interesting combination. Hermione is so much fun.

I wouldn't characterize that as cruelty, though, and to an extent it's not necessarily meanness — not in the way that Draco's talking about in that conversation, anyway. Firstly, as a caveat, Draco is in the middle of a fight when he accuses Hermione of liking the fact that he's mean, so I don't think he's altogether sincere about it; I think if you asked him in a moment of repose, he would have a more measured and generous interpretation on their dynamic, even though he's not necessarily wrong. Rather, I think what Draco said is a very inelegant way of pointing out how Hermione uses Draco as a moral backboard: she enjoys the moral high ground, does Granger, and Draco is almost always completely happy to cede it to her. Being around Draco makes her feel like a Good Gryffindor, because while he matches and challenges her intellect/ambition/drive, she gives him direction and moral focus, which is a role he's explicitly told her she plays on multiple counts, and which she's expressed insecurity about in the past (their fireside conversation about "am I good?" and what that means — the idea of capital-G Goodness, and how it becomes increasingly difficult to find as you leave childhood, is one of the tenets of Hermione's arc.)

Secondly, I think Draco is just meaner than Hermione because when he is mean, he does it on purpose. One of the earliest moments of bonding that they ever have as people comes from Draco making fun of Ron's performance in Charms (while imitating his accent, to add insult). Hermione doesn't make the joke herself — but she does laugh at it. She finds it funny. Of course, that's before she's friends with Ron, and she has about 500,000 words of personal growth in front of her, but she still enjoys Draco's dry humor and his attention to detail, both of which he not infrequently uses to make fun of people on purpose. Draco knows this, and he likes amusing her, and sometimes he'll actively make a mean joke because he knows she finds it funny, and because he knows she won't make it herself. They're not the most likable people in the world.

Hermione may not have the same social graces as people born in the magical world, but when she insults people, she usually does it on accident, out of tactlessness, or because they've (in her eyes) well and truly earned it. She doesn't go out of her way to pick on people who haven't asked for it first, and I would go so far as to say her moral compass bars her from it. That's part of what Draco means when he claims to be the worse person, and while he's being wildly uncharitable in that argument, not to mention just an all-around arsehole, he is also a licensed expert on the particular subject of his relationship with Hermione Granger. He knows their dynamic very well, and she knows it.

[linaselandbasil]

Man Only now did I realize that because of Lance the crystal was not only one time in danger but two times!😭 If only he could have not destroyed the crystal 8 years before nothing of this would have happened. And we have to fix his bullshit those two times? By sacrificing ourselves??? 😂😭 I need to hit him even harder or make a petition to HH so he can be the new sacrifice 😈😈😈

Well, yes. A fair point. He can definitely be blamed. I'll not jump to his defense and tell you he isn't, even if I've always been on his side.

I don't think anyone should sacrifice anything. You know, we don't just harvest every healthy organ from fresh corpses if the person didn't give consent when they were alive. By pressuring them to give up their body and life, they granted Erika and Leiftan less bodily autonomy than what we give to a lifeless body. I'm not sure how it happened exactly, I didn't have it in me to finish the last episode, but I know that this is some serious monkey business.

Lance might be a nutcase sociopath with every last one of his screws lose, but he still has the right to decide if he wants that. Eldarya was never supposed to exist, it was born of hatred and cruelty and it was destined to fail right from the start, he knows that and he was trying to rip the bandaid off to get it over with.

The fae may claim whatever reason they want for why it was necessary, but that will never make it be worth it. It's not the aengels fault that their food is inedible, they had the right to not die. The fact that they were massacred by the fae is proof to me that humans were never the problem. These pieces of shit, entitled bastards doomed their descendants to a slow and painful extinction in a world that's botched beyond words. They teach it in schools that the humans were hateful and hostile, they say that's why they left, but who's really the problem if they're willing to do the exact same thing to the aengels? This is a clean cut textbook example of hypocrisy.

On a smaller scale, it's like having a drunk guy flirt with you and asking you to go home with him, but when you say no he assaults you. He took what he wanted anyway, even if you had the right to refuse.

Lance is not very nice, but he's definitely a good person. He does his thing and let's others do theirs unless it's his business to mind. He has some less than ideal methods but in the end he just wants to make everything right. What he thinks is right, at least.

Isn't that what everyone is doing? Well, some people want what's best for themselves and they step on others, but clearly our main characters are not like that. (some might be) Miiko did what she could to stop him because she sincerely believed that the crystal is their lifeline and she thinks that the best thing is to keep on living. They disagreed, they thought each other to be equally wrong, yet only one of them was condemned. She was unfit to lead, she should have gotten more help but for some reason she was the only person good enough. Apparently only rich people are allowed to lead the light guard. It's a wholesale size can of worms that I shouldn't open, let's talk about something else...

Erika us not that smart. She doesn't know how to read between the lines and doesn't see below the surface. She's attached to the guard because she doesn't know any better, she was never exposed to anything but the guidance of her inadequate leaders and of men who have no business getting into a relationship with their employee. They call her weak, they treat her like a child, they control her life completely, and yet she's equal enough to them to give consent? Weirdos. It's perverted, honestly.

They groomed her to think what they do is the only right thing and she gave up everything she had to please them. Somehow whenever she questioned them she could be coaxed back into their arms and made to forget it ever happened. She's a victim, and now that Lance works for the guard, he's just as gaslit as her.

The guard of El is a cult that manipulates it's members. They play with innocent lives like they have the right and they only allow people of high class to become their leaders.

Eldarya is unsustainable. Everything that's meant to be can sustain itself by nature, if this world is only kept alive artificially then it's time to take it off life support. It's not anyone's fault that it's dying, especially not Lance's.

If I may refer to Fullmetal alchemist, let me just say that this abomination of a world is like that thing Ed and Alf created when they tried to resurrect their mother.

It was never going to live, it's every moment is agony, let it die.

I know I said I won't jump to his defense, yet I did. Oops. He might seem like a vigilantee, but think about it. What makes him any less worthy to take action than the guard? Nothing. The guard is exactly like him and his army, but lead by leashes instead by good reason.

Anyway, moral of the story is: Don't complain when you get arrested after violating someone's consent. You're not the victim, you asshole.

[frighteneddraz]

Anthology of Arik 2

Triggers: Self-Harm and suicidal thoughts --------------- Arik had finally arrived at his destination, as always, the journey had been long and tiring. He had already reunited with Cecil 2 months prior, and had celebrated their reunion hard, feasting and drinking and overall living it up with his old friend and ally. While there he learned of what became of the other members of their band of weirdos, apparently Bliss, the dryad druid had yet to reform in her tree, though Cecil assured Arik that “Zevikial is sure that will happen… eventually,” which, bluntly, only raised more questions than answers. Who the hell is Zevekial and why is he an authority on matters like this? Why would she reform in her tree if she died, wouldn’t her tree have, logically, just died with her? How long does it take to regrow a dryad body from a tree? Cecil, though Arik loved him dearly, was not all that bright (despite the fact that his armor glowed a blinding white) and could not answer even the first question in a satisfactory way. The only answer Cecil gave was “Oh, he’s a smart guy” and that was that. 

The final party member was Reina, whom Arik had once sold his soul to resurrect, the aasimar cleric. One whom Arik had bore a rather terrible crush on while they journeyed together. Evidently, last Cecil had heard, she was with “some guy named Rugalia the Terrible” and was acting as his personal doctor. Rugalia was not a name Arik recognized, but it didn’t take much to find out who he was, evidently he was a rather infamous warlord on the eastern continent of Celtolan, renowned the world over for his inhuman strength and brutality. Arik would likely have questioned why Reina was working alongside him, but given Arik’s own temperament, it would be hypocrisy of the highest order. So it was, Arik set out to find one of the few people in this world he called friend.

Arriving at Rugalia’s encampment, Arik felt dozens of eyes on him and for the first time in a long while, Arik felt the twinge of fear that comes from vulnerability. He was once, so recently, a god, but no longer. Though he remained inhumanly strong and still healed from wounds impossibly fast making him practically immortal provided the wounds themselves weren’t immediately lethal, his recently obtained freedom had come at the cost of his once legendary battle prowess. All skills and abilities he had gained as a result of training were lost to him when he drank the blood that freed his soul from the God he once so foolishly bound it to. He had regained some of the skill he had lost in his journey to get here, but even so, he was practically a novice still. While his natural abilities would mean most of these men were no threat to him individually, he was under no delusions that he would be able to beat even a handful, even his healing needed a degree of control to allow him to survive mortal wounds, after all, control Arik no longer possessed.

The encampment itself was rather incredible, tents and banners fluttering in the wind of the grasslands it had been set up in were rather typical, from Arik’s own time as a soldier, its sheer scale however, granting it a degree of majesty on its own. The warlord Rugalia’s forces were so extensive that he needed to forgo defensive positioning entirely in order to get his men to set up camp. By Arik’s best reckoning, there were well over 100,000 men here, with livestock roaming around by the thousands. Dozens of stable tents filled with dozens of horses each. Indeed, Arik considered that calling Rugalia a warlord was, while technically accurate, like saying that a raging inferno ravaging a forest, simply, a fire. It felt like a disservice to the sheer scale of the military force that Rugalia had assembled to call him “a warlord”, and Arik recognized he would do well to respect that if he wanted to survive his journey.

Finding the tent he needed was surprisingly difficult, Rugalia did not have any larger living quarters than any of his men, and no one in the camp seemed to know which tent was his. In fact, Arik may well never have found the tent he sought were it not for the fact that he bumped into a man, not for the first time since his arrival, who did not move when Arik bumped him. Indeed, in a rather unexpected twist for the well over 6 foot tall goliath that was Arik, Arik wound up finding himself knocked clean on his ass. Looking up, Arik took in a man taller even than him, standing around 7 feet tall and nearly as broad, shirtless with rippling muscle belying strength equal to or greater than Arik’s own, golden skin riddled with battle scars, and a greataxe slung over one shoulder, the man resembled for all the world the picture of a barbarian king. Dark eyes under dark brows under dark hair with a face that could well have been shaped in bronze. Arik knew immediately, this was Rugalia the Terrible, the man who had conquered half the continent in but a couple of years.

The first thing Rugalia the Terrible did was grab Arik and bring him effortlessly to his feet. 

The first thing Rugalia the Terrible said was “Sorry about that, didn’t see you there, are you alright?”

Arik was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, but no words escaped his parted lips. Arik was certain, this was Rugalia, the descriptions he had heard made him sure of it, but… Why was a bloodthirsty warlord bent on conquering the continent through violent devastation so nice? It truly boggled the mind, the juxtaposition of what Arik had been told vs the man who was now talking to him. Oh no… he’s still talking. What is he saying? Arik thought in a panic.

“Hmm, well, you look fine, but the fact you aren’t saying anything has me concerned, follow me, I’ll bring you to the medical tent”

Arik followed wordlessly, not that he didn’t try to say something, but no matter how hard he tried, Arik could not get past the cognitive dissonance of what was transpiring. Arik had not been this confused since meeting Cecil for the first time, and just as the confusion was wearing off, they arrived. Arik’s first words to what some believed was the most powerful warlord in the world were “Uhhh… Thanks” as the giant lumbered away.

Snapping out of it, Arik finally opened the medical tent, it was emptier than Arik expected, though, given Reina’s magic, Arik supposed that wasn’t all too surprising. Sitting on a wooden stool was Reina, nearly as small as Rugalia was large, at barely 5 feet tall, Reina’s blonde hair and porcelain skin shone in the light from outside, her blue eyes flicking up to regard Arik. He hadn’t been sure what he expected upon coming here, but it wasn’t what he got.

“Oh, you’re alive.” Reina said flatly. She regarded Arik the way someone might regard the fly that landed in their soup, her disdain palpable “Well, what do you want?”

Arik blinked. He found himself, once more, at a loss for words. So instead of speaking, Arik simply took out the envelope with the letter from Cecil, and passed it to Reina.

“Ah, you’re acting as a messenger now? Well then, you’re welcome to stay in the camp, I will send for you when I have written my own correspondence in kind.”

Arik simply stared at Reina blankly, and finally said “I… came to tell you that I obtained my freedom, actually. That was just a favor to Cecil”

“Ah, well… you told me. Is that all?”

Arik felt his temper flaring, “Do I not warrant even a ‘nice to see you’ or ‘glad you managed to escape eternal servitude to Dezmond’?” Arik asked, unable to keep the edge from his voice.

“What do you want, Arik? Do you want me to jump for joy because you managed to weasel your way out of the consequences of selling your soul? Something I’m still baffled by to this day actually. I’ve made it abundantly clear, I find you annoying at best. Did you think I was going to run into your arms now that you’re free?”

Arik could feel his anger getting the better of him, hear the Beast’s voice in the back of his mind urging him to kill her. Instead Arik simply said “You want to know why I sold my soul you icy bitch? Because, I was literally deranged, and had just watched all of my friends and allies in the world be crushed by a fucking boat. I sold my soul for you and Bliss and Cecil.” Reina continued staring at him, her gaze remaining cold as the winterlands of Arik’s birth before saying something would shatter Arik utterly.  “Why the fuck should I care, I didn’t ask you to do that, I don’t owe you anything. Leave now before I have my fiance crush you like the sniveling little worm you are. We traveled together, you sold your soul and then died. We are not, nor have we ever been, anything other than business associates.”

Even Arik’s anger cooled with the finality of that statement. “You… really thought that little of me? Even after we fought and traveled together for months?”

“Of course, you’re a rabid animal. You kill, and destroy and hate and that’s all you do. It’s all you know how to do. If I ever felt anything for you aside from contempt or apathy, it was pity.” Reina’s gaze softened for the first time. “I don’t care about you Arik, but even I will admit, it’s deeply sad that you somehow harbored the delusion that I did. You’re still welcome to stay in camp for the next few days. I doubt if my fiance would have the heart to turn away a broken shell such as yourself, but I’d appreciate it if you left me alone.”

Arik just left after that. He could take pain easily, his pain tolerance was greater even than his physical might, but… This felt different. He was less used to this. It didn’t hurt. Indeed, it was like… a numbness in the pit of his stomach. An emptiness. Arik simply walked, and as he walked he took out a dagger and plunged it into his thigh. It didn’t hurt enough to fill the emptiness. So he took out another and stabbed it into his abdomen. It still didn’t hurt enough to fill the emptiness. He considered running himself through with his greatsword… but it was unlikely that would fill the emptiness either, and Arik did not wish for death. He had things he needed to do yet, after all, so instead he just walked with those daggers plunged into his body. Walked until he collapsed to the ground, unable to move, and finally the emptiness he felt was filled by the familiar anguish of his nightmares.

[xpc-web-dev]

typical sexism from you females.. Every girl with pronouns on their bio is so toxic bunch of hypocrites. Stop dividing against men. your paranoia and fear isn't a reflection of the reall world. youre just brainwashed and brainwashing other girls on social media spreading misinformation. typical stigma towards men on tech. none of yall take responsibillity for your own actions. not our fault not many of you are in this tech field. hypocrites.

Girls, in today's class we have a living example of what I said this week.

Never let a sexist, male chauvinist and misogynist man make you feel inferior, because he will definitely be stupid.

UHEHUEUEHUEHUEUEHHEUHEHUEHUE UEUUHEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE

We even noticed that in addition to not knowing what sexism is, he has text interpretation problems, he is exactly what I said, because I didn't make a generalization (at no time did I say ALL MEN), if he offended is because he is exactly sexist, sexist and misogynistic.

And girls this makes a lot of sense because he is LITERALLY everything he said I am.

Soon he is talking about himself in 3rd person and I can prove it HUEUHUHUEUE.

1- He called me and called other women who put her/her in the bios of toxic and hypocritical, and it was precisely him who took the time to send me an aggressive message and probably with the intention of making me feel bad. Is this not toxic?

2- Then he says "you don't take responsibility for your own actions", BUT HE IS the one who sends me a 100% anonymous message, after all he doesn't want to ASSUME the RESPONSIBILITY of the consequence of talking shit to me. Too easy to text me aggressively but not allow me to return a reply on your dm, right?

3-Says I'm brainwashing you because I'm turning you against men and that's so sexist, he subjugates women to the point of indirectly saying that whoever reads what I said has no critical sense/cognitive ability to think for themselves only.

+ Besides, brainwashing is nothing less than manipulation, which is exactly what he's trying to do, make me feel bad and he's the owner of truth and justice.

+ And this is also so egocentric, the person has to be very mentally unbalanced to think that his opinion will manipulate a mass.

I'm just a regular person with a blog.

+++Guess someone's parents didn't warn them that the world doesn't revolve around their shitty little opinion UHEUHEUHEHUEHUE

4-Finally, the coolest thing, he is a hypocrite, because well, although I think he doesn't know the meaning of the terms he uses, he is a beautiful hypocrite.

He condemns certain actions and instead of having an aversion to them, he reproduces them.

Here in Brazil we have the meme " Finally the hypocrisy " and I think he would love it

Here the meme:

HUEUHEUHEUHEUUHEHUEUUHEHUEUHEHHUEUHEHUEHEUHEHUE

Now I want to give some advice:

- I usually ignore this kind of thing, when I notice that the person's problem is self-centeredness/want to attract attention with hate because their life is shit I ignore it because being ignored is a stab in their emotions.

But here, I wanted to answer because First I was like, Why is someone bothered by me??Then I laughed and I understood that he was very hurt just by my saying not to bow our heads to stupid men.

And what do men like that hate? Women smarter than them.

So why not show all the logical flaws in your argument?

IAnd also to show other women that we should NEVER shut up when someone wants to make us feel inferior, stupid or villainous/bad. Even more so if it's from a stranger on the internet or and especially someone from your personal life.

Insecurity and fear may exist, but I wish you can always have courage!

Be well, drink water and women you are amazing, capable and smart.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 15: Wings

Harry was not a big fan of parties.

In fact, Harry downright hated parties because he hated all of the unwanted attention. Fortunately, this masquerade gala allowed him to remain anonymous.

After all, who would expect Harry Potter to arrive in a pirate costume with skintight breeches, a billowy white shirt that exposed his chest (and the fake anchor tattoo), and thigh high boots? The black mask that covered much of his face and the pirate hat with a huge, gaudy feather helped, too.

He'd happily avoided anyone and everyone on his way to the snack table and had just stuffed a tiny, flaky, savory pastry in his mouth when he looked up to the top of the staircase that led into the room and promptly choked. There, standing at the top and looking down at all of them, was a literal angel.

The man had gorgeous white and gold wings magically attached to his back, Harry's fingers twitched as though reaching for the soft feathers as they fluttered in the breeze drifting through the open door behind him. Gold sandals graced his feet, and golden straps wrapped up his legs, stopping mid thigh. Silky white fabric was artfully draped around his hips, protecting his modesty, but only just. He wore a golden corset with a delicate structure that emphasized the narrowness of his waist and the broadness of his bare shoulders. Gold was dusted lightly across his skin, making him shine even more radiantly. His mask was also gold, hiding everything but his sharp chin, strong jawline, and his lovely lips. To finish everything off, a golden laurel wreath graced his pink hair.

He was gorgeous, ethereal. And Harry's gut told him that he had to meet him. His gut was hardly ever wrong.

(Read more below the cut)

Without stopping to think, Harry set off toward the other man, but was beat to him by a man dressed in a muggle constable uniform. As Harry approached, he heard the constable berating the angel and he felt his metaphorical hackles rise.

"Oy!" he said as the constable shoved the man's shoulder. "Back off. What's the matter with you?"

The constable spluttered at him and placed his hands on his hips in indignation. "Well I don't think a costume like that is appropriate."

And suddenly, Harry recognized that voice, recognized posture and his puffed out chest. "Well, first, Auror Hibbards," he said, "It's not your place to enforce a dress code. And second, I don't think the business you conduct with your secretary after hours is appropriate but no one's confronted you or your wife about that. Perhaps you'd like me to go and have a conversation with her about what I find inappropriate?"

He followed the other man's panicked gaze across the room to two women who were standing together talking, and tried to remember what Laura Hibbards had looked like when he'd met her a few years ago.

"She's the one in the striking medi-nurse costume isn't she?" he asked. "Laura, right?"

Hibbards took a step back and his arms fell to his sides, "Who are you?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," Harry replied. "You mind your business and I'll mind mine."

Without another word Hibbards turned and fled across the room.

He turned to look at the angel standing next to him, "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," the man replied, voice warm and a smile tugging at his lips. "I daresay you arrived in the wrong costume."

Harry looked down at his pirate apparel. "Sorry?" he asked, looking up at him.

"I think you ought to have come as a knight dressed in shining armor," he teased.

"Hardly," Harry replied, rolling his eyes.

The other man's eyes traveled up and down Harry's body, "So, let me guess, you're an auror? I would say that maybe you just work in the auror department but it was clever of you to get him to look at his wife so you could deduce who she was."

"Clever, hmm?" Harry teased. "I wouldn't go that far, but you're not entirely wrong. I've recently left the Ministry and I was an auror."

"What made you leave?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Harry lifted one shoulder, "I got fed up with the bullshit and the hypocrisy; I felt like I was slowly becoming someone I didn't want to be, so I left."

"And what do you do now?"

He laughed, "Do you want the truth?'

"Always."

"I work part time at a muggle coffee shop," he replied.

"Ah, so you're independently wealthy then."

Harry shook his head, "And you said I'm the clever one. What do you do?"

"I'm a solicitor," he replied.

He laughed, "So you really didn't need my help dealing with Hibbards then. I'm sure you could have talked circles around him."

"No, I probably didn't," he conceded. "But it was nice, just the same. A man who spends all of his time fighting on behalf of others appreciates someone fighting on his behalf every so often."

Harry smiled, "Are you here with anyone?" he asked, "Or can I get you a drink?"

"A drink would be great," the angel replied.

----------------

Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed a night as much as he had this one. His angel was quick-witted with a dry sense of humor, he was smart and sexy, and Harry genuinely enjoyed his company. They'd danced, and talked, and enjoyed the food and drinks available; and Harry found himself wishing that the night would never end.

When the clock stuck eleven, surprising both of them, they looked around to see that many people had already left. "Salazar, is that the time?"

Harry nodded, "Seems to be."

"I've an early morning tomorrow," the angel told him, "As much as I've enjoyed this, I should probably be on my way."

"Can I see you again?" Harry blurted.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," the other man replied slowly. "This was meant to be a bit like Cinderella at the ball for me."

"Are you going to leave me your sandal, then? Expect me to come and find you?" Harry teased, really hoping that the other man would give in or at least give him something to go on. He was good a puzzles, good at pulling at loose ends until he'd unraveled the mystery.

"No, no, nothing like that," he said quickly. "I just wanted one night where I didn't have to be me. One night that I didn't have to walk around with my face and all of the baggage that goes along with it. This was never meant to be more than that."

"I hear you," Harry said, emphatically, "I really do. I find it difficult," he confessed, "connecting with people. People can't seem to see past their preconceived notions of who I am, but you..." Harry trailed off and shrugged helplessly, "it was easy. To be with you, to talk to you. I'd really like to get to know you better."

The angel rubbed the back of his neck, "I would like that, too," the other man replied softly. "Truly. But once you know who I am, you're going to change your mind."

"But isn't it worth to find out?" he asked, pleaded. "Even if you're right and I never want to see you again, that's the outcome you've assigned without even knowing."

"Maybe I'd prefer for you to remember this night fondly," the other man suggested.

"Maybe I'd prefer to have many more fond memories with you," Harry countered.

"You were a Griffyndor weren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," Harry replied with a grin. Then he grew serious, "Look, if you enjoyed tonight even half as much as I did, please just give it a chance. You might take one look at me and think this was a mistake, but at least we'll know and we won't have to spend the rest of our lives wondering what could have been."

The angel blew out a breath and Harry fought the nerves that had risen up in his chest. "Fine," he conceded, "but don't say that I didn't try to warn you."

"Okay," Harry said, giving him a big smile.

"Before we do this," he said, "I want you to know that I had a really nice time tonight. Thank you for everything."

"Stop sounding like you're saying goodbye!" Harry protested.

The angel gave him a sad little smile, "Ready, then?"

"On the count of three?" Harry asked. When he received a nod in return, he reached up and said, "One, two, three," as he pulled of his mask.

A slap to the face would have been less of a surprise than the person he saw standing before him.

"Potter?"

"Malfoy?" he splutted. "What? How?"

"This explains so much, actually," Malfoy said, his mouth twisting in a displeased little grimace. "You got to come sailing in like the hero you are to rescue a damsel in distress-"

"That's not fair," Harry replied, still reeling. "I didn't even know it was you."

"No," Malfoy agreed. "It certainly would have changed your reaction if you had." He shook his head, "Well, this has been fun. I do so love being proven right."

"It's still better to know that this was not worth losing sleep over, don't you think?" Harry replied.

"Right," Malfoy clipped. "I'm off. The pirate costume seems a bit like false advertising, by the way," he said as he started to walk away without a backward glance.

"What?" Harry asked incredulously, "And the angel costume wasn't false advertising?"

"It's a Victoria's Secret Costume, Potter. Honestly."

Before Harry could make sense of that statement, Malfoy was up the stairs and out of the door, leaving Harry staring after him with a mixture of irritation, and confusion, and oddly a bit of attraction.

"Oh, Mr. Potter!" a voice called from beside him, "How lovely to see you!"

Harry turned to see Laura Hibbards standing next to him. "Your husband is cheating on you," Harry informed her.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her right hand fluttering up to cover her heart.

"With his secretary. I should have said something a long time ago, I'm sorry," he added, because he was. No one deserved to be cheated on.

Then he walked away, leaving her floundering, and headed out the same door Malfoy had moments before.

When he got outside he looked around, hoping to see wings or a flash of pink hair, but the road was empty. Was he really lonely and desperate enough that he was thinking that he and Malfoy might be a good fit?

Harry gave it up, he didn't even know what he would have said if he had seen him. It wasn't worth losing sleep over, he reminded himself before appartating home.

Whiskers was waiting for him when he arrived and he scooped her up and nuzzled his nose into her fluffy white fur. "You love me, don't you?" he asked her. Her sweet, little meow confirmed it and he kissed her head before going in to get ready for bed. It wasn't worth losing sleep over he reminded himself again.

------------

Harry had, in fact, lost quite a bit of sleep. He'd spent the night tossing and turning, grumbling to himself, and hating himself every time his mind replayed a part of the evening and butterflies took flight in his stomach.

By the time the sun was illuminating the sky, turning it bright pinks and reds, Harry only knew one thing: he couldn't get Malfoy out of his head.

He got out of bed and he started to do some digging on the other man. It took half the morning but he discovered Malfoy had made a bit of a name for himself. He worked for a wizarding law firm and he'd made a habit of only taking clients who were desperately in need of help that they couldn't afford. Harry had a hard time learning anything else about his personal life, it seemed like he didn't really have one, but it didn't take long for him to find an address.

From there, the planning was a bit shoddy. Harry hadn't ever really been good at making plans and sticking to them so he just showed up outside of Draco's office at 5:00pm and waited.

And waited.

And then he waited some more. He waited until 6:30, wondering if he'd missed the other man somehow and as he was about to leave and return tomorrow, the door opened and out stepped Malfoy. His hair was blonde and he was wearing a well-tailored suit but he looked just as breathtaking as he had the night before.

He froze when he caught sight of Harry, looking stricken for just a moment before smoothing his features. "What are you doing here?"

Harry opened his mouth, "I'm sorry." They weren't quite the words he was meaning to say but it was too late to take them back now.

"Whatever for?"

"I had a brilliant time with you last night," Harry said.

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Right up until you realized it was me."

"That's what I'm sorry for," Harry said. "Malfoy," he started, then he changed tracks, "Draco, you made me feel like I was just a person. Just a guy flirting with another person, enjoying life, free of all expectations."

"Yes, we established that last night," he replied as he stepped down the stairs and stood on the pavement in front of Harry. "That was the point of the masks and the costumes."

"Right, but I don't think it was just the masks and costumes. The person I was last night," he licked his lower lip but forced himself to continue, "That's who I really am. Without the weight of being Harry Potter. And I would be willing to bet my vault at Gringotts that the person you were last night is who you really are without the weight of being Draco Malfoy."

"Can you afford to bet your vault at Gringotts?" he asked. "Aren't you a barista? What if you're wrong?"

"Shut up," Harry said, "I'm trying to say something profound here."

"Apologies," Malfoy said, taking one step closer to him as his mouth tilted up at the corner.

"When who we both really are seems to be so compatible, doesn't it seem silly to throw that away on a childhood rivalry?"

"What exactly are you proposing?"

Harry took a breath, "Dinner? Or coffee if dinner is too much. I'd like the chance to get to know you better."

"You would?" Draco asked softly, looking open and vulnerable, and Harry's heart expanded in his chest until he couldn't breathe properly.

"I really would," he said, reaching out to take Draco's hand.

"Alright. Dinner," he agreed. "But don't blame me if this doesn't work out."

Harry grinned at him, "Feel free to blame me when it does."

Day 14: Louder, So Everyone Can Hear | Day 16: Tulips

[blues-valentine]

darklinas are always calling alina names belittling her saying she’s cringe not a good character annoying horrible heroine literally everything bad fandoms say about poc woman you can imagine and just being cruel in defense of her oppressor shocker (mainly because she listened to baghra about the darkling being evil) but then they wanna claim they are feminists and want her to be independent strong don’t need a man only if that man is mal, they want her to be powerful but when she is those things they hate her because she’s hurting their little poor evil villain the double standards and hypocrisy! Like which is it she’s either dumb and all those other names y’all call her just because she didn’t go back to her abuser and go dark with the villain or she is strong and powerful for choosing her own path but not really because that path led her to mal again?

Everytime drklinas use the feminist card when it comes to Alina, it's just ironic and down right embarrassing. I don't trust anything that comes out of their brains with that one because everything they want Alina to do goes against feminism. Firstly, they want her to be with her abuser, someone that slaved her, manipulated her, sexually assaulted her, tortured her, killed her mother figure, blinded Baghra, mutilated Genya and sold her to sexual slavery. Like? I don't know how can you call yourself a feminist and excuse an abuser this much. They always go with the "we know it's fictional, we enjoy the dynamic but won't support it in real life" but they go out of their way to deny, excuse and get angry at people pointing out those very same facts.

I have never seem a group of people that disrespects Alina more than them. They refuse to see her as a character with her own grown if it's not attached positively towards their "misunderstood villain" - Alina is smart, brave, funny, empathetic, with a good sense of duty and those characteristics only grow in the books. Alina's strength were never on her grisha powers but her bravery, that is what pushes her foward when she's at her lowest when dealing with her powers. Alina would never betray her friends trust just to be with her abuser, someone that mass murdered all the grishas (that she planned on leading) and mutilated her best friend. And if they refuse to see that, they never understood Alina and the sacrifices she made and was willing to make. Her empathy and loyalty towards her friends was what never allowed her to go dark.

Through out the trilogy, Alina's agency has been taken away from her one way or another. First, taken into the little palace against her will (like so many grishas), then manipulated by an ancient man because he needed her powers for his own agenda, later slaved by him, denying her full control of her powers and her own mind, forced to see visions that drive her to consider suicide (twice). She was also involved in a political drama she didn't want, and yes, despite Nikolai becoming a good friend at the end, he also wanted to use her for his own political gain. Alina almost married another man for the sake of a country and not for herself or for love (like she wanted).

Alina's ending, choosing to live peacefully with Mal was a choice she made for herself. After feeling so trapped with the sense of duty, she finally made the choice to be free. And that's honestly one of the most empowering things a woman can do. Drklinas deemed this ending as "anti-feminist" because it doesn't provide them with the girl boss fantasy. It lacks genuine intention when they invalidate the ending she chose for herself, and would have rather her with her abuser or a life as a queen she didn't want.

Alina fullfiled her destiny, she gave all her powers to destroy the fold. Later, decided to rebuild the orphanage at Keramzin, which was destroyed by the Darkling, so she could house children just like her and Mal that lost everything because of the greedy men some wanted her to become. She helped so that grishas would never have to be forced out of their home to be at the little palace ever again. She holds a legacy as Sankta Alina, the Sun Saint, and she's happy and content. And good for her.

[vergess]

What truly bothers me is that in the "system" as the lot of anyone I hear call it, has spawned all of us at the root of it from such a streamlined ideology that we are all 'raised' one way or another for some bare minimum family social system at least, even me. And even through all that familiarity, my shrewd antithesis to it all still stems as much as anyone else. And the hypocrisy of it all as I even exist kills me on the inside. If anything, I always wanted more of a 'choice' .

Hi, Steve. Are you Steve? I'm going to assume that you're Steve, since you're exhibiting very Steve-like behaviors. If you're not Steve and the real Steve is mad that I'm attributing Steve-ness to someone else, well: I'm genuinely sorry, Steve. However, if you didn't want to be associated with "acting like a creepy freak-ass loser", you'll have to forgive me for doing so since you've been behaving like that for ten years - obsessive screeds about Vees are basically your calling card, so you can't fault me for succumbing to pattern recognition. 

Anyway. Regardless of if you're actually Steve or not, I'm going to call you Steve for the sake of convenience since you're being very Steveular. So, again: Hi, Steve. It's Kith! I have hijacked Vees' blog to tell you a story.

Here's the soundtrack for our tale:

Not for any particular reason, mind you, I just like the song.

Once upon a time, I was an autistic nerd in middle school that had recently moved from the faraway land of Sicily to reside in the exotic locale of Florida. There, I met Girl. She was an amazing artist, smart as hell, and extremely attractive to me - on my end, it was love at first sight. As I grew through highschool, I did everything in my power to be with or around Girl: I talked to her at every opportunity, I studied the things she was interested in so we could have deeper conversations, I begged teachers to pair me with her, and I tried to impress her whenever I could, however I could. We became close friends, but Girl was never interested in me romantically (or if she was, she never admitted it). 

During college, I finally realized that romance just wasn't in the cards: while Girl appreciated my dedication and support, she loved me platonically, so I let go. However, while I consciously decided to quit my pursuit, the subconscious feelings that I had for Girl remained: since Girl had set my standards for romantic partners and because I had been so dedicated to the idea of being with her for so long, Girl frequently appeared in my dreams to remind me of just how much I had loved her at the height of my infatuation. This continued for many years, even after I had found true love elsewhere.

The thing is: I never told Girl any of this. As a matter of fact, I haven't spoken to Girl in eight years. The reason for that is because, despite my subconscious's best efforts, I have moved on. I accepted that she was not going to be my partner over a decade ago, which allowed me to pursue other opportunities instead of obsessing over someone that did not want me. The dreams sucked because I'm a hopeless romantic and falling in love all over again was hard to wake up from, but I realized that they were just dreams and discarded them. Nowadays, I am happily married, I make videogames for a living, and I have a variety of strong relationships - some platonic, some intimate - with people that I care for deeply. Vees happens to be one of those people, which is why I was granted access to their blog.

Now, Steve. This whole thing where you send Vees unhinged paragraphs about your feelings and pain and how you view the world? You so obviously want to be their friend that you look stupid. You reek of desperation to become more than a weird footnote of their life and actually enter their orbit somehow. However, the most you're getting is mockery, confusion, and occasionally contempt. Since you certainly don't have the self-awareness to realize this on your own (because if you did, you would not have put your absurd essays in Vees' inbox), I am going to spell it out for you as plainly as possible:

It is time to move on. 

Whatever you had hoped to accomplish has failed. We never read the entirety of your messages because your word salads never go anywhere meaningful. Your commitment to the bit is impressive, but that's absolutely not praise: it's a depressing level of obsession that made me feel so much secondhand embarrassment that I was forced to reach out to you with this deeply personal story, just in case there was the slightest chance that you would learn from it, and maybe do literally anything else.

But if that's not enough, you can also bite the knife of harsh, unforgiving reality.

You are a cuckold of your own making, and every instant that you pine for relevancy in their life, you cuck yourself further. You might know facts about Vees from your relentless stalking, but you will never know them personally or even privately. You might know what it sounds like when Vees laughs, but you'll never know what it's like to make them crack up from one of your stupid jokes. You might know what Vees looks like, but you will never see them smile just because they saw you. You might know the things Vees likes to do, but you'll never be eagerly invited to something just because they like having you around. You might read Vees' blog every day in hopes of finding a shred of recognition, but you'll never be trusted so much that they'll give you the keys to it without a second thought because you asked on a whim. You might know how many intimate connections Vees enjoys, but you'll never be one of them.

You will never be Vees' friend. They don't want to know you, and really, they don't even want to think about you - every time the subject of Steve comes up, they react with disgust and exhaustion. Vees and everyone they associate with are tired of you. You're not a menace, you're not a brilliant dark mind, and you're not important. You're an idiot, an asshole, and a creep, and the most we that we spare you whenever you pop up is mild shock that you still haven't gotten your shit together (or, if you're not Steve, that you're so Mad On The Internet that you just couldn't help but write weird nastygrams). 

You have no hope of being anything more than the occasional pathetic spectacle. It's time that you realized that, and it's also time that you stop.

Goodbye, Steve. I hope we don't have to do this again.

- Kith

(Special guest post written by my moirail, because sometimes you just have to cut loose and ask your spiritual bestie to slag off an asshole for you. --Vees)

[niallloverontheloose]

"Stiles made a divine move, but he was only capable of doing that because Scott refused to let Stiles sacrifice himself or anyone hurt Stiles"

Look at what well known harasser and rabid Scott Stan - Derek/Stiles/Peter/Sterek/Steter hater Claude Frollo just posted in the Stiles Stilinski tag on purpose:

https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/661308239644868608/stiles-played-a-deadly-game-of-goo-and-chess

Hello @princeescaluswords 

Aren't you tired of obsessing all over a neurodivergent character you claim to hate and of using every single ableist trope and stereotype to belittle and demonize Stiles in an attempt to prop Scott up? 

"Peter claimed that chess was Stiles game, but Peter does tend to exaggerate" Funny how Scott stans are so bothered by Peter praising Stiles and pointing out that chess is Stiles' game to Derek that they need to lie and make shit up in order to belittle/invalidate it, isn't it? And by funny I mean ABLEIST  

The most hilarious thing though is that according to antis' own logic, Peter exaggerated when he said he was impressed by Scott's ingenuity in Season 2, too. Everyone who watched Teen Wolf knows that Peter Hale was being blatantly sarcastic and only did it to manipulate Scott into going to Jackson (which Scott did by the way), since Peter never even bothered to hide the fact that Scott can go die a miserable death in a ditch alongside Gerard for all Peter canonically cares and openly mocks Scott "my plan is to get Stiles to come up with a plan"  McCall's stupidity throughout the whole series. Thanks for proving a point, Escalus!

"Yes, Stiles did pull off a divine move in the episode of the same name, but he was only capable of doing that because Scott refused to let Stiles sacrifice himself or anyone hurt Stiles in order to save others. He found a way to save everyone, by doing the right thing" 

Scott/Posey fans really love to erase canon and give Scott all the credit for his friends' heroic actions and achievements, don't they? Another trait they have in common with Canon Scott McCall 

1• Stiles played a deadly game of Go against the Nogitsune AND a game of chess against himself (Void Stiles) simultaneously, repeatedly outsmarted and outwitted the Fox Spirit that chose him as his vessel, and then defeated it by making a Divine Move. Scott didn't do shit except whine, growl, obsess over Allison, make out with his new girlfriend, get his ass handed to him by everyone, be his usual useless self and throw jealous fits/temper tantrums somewhere in the background. Where he belongs 

2• Scott McCall doesn't have any claim or authority over his friends outside of Scott stans' self insert power fantasies and delusions. Scott also threw a tantrum because he didn't want Stiles to sacrifice himself and lock himself up in Eichen House to save his friends and everyone else. And yet Stiles ignored Scott's whining and did it anyway. Stiles found a way to save everyone, figured everything out, and did the right thing. And he did all that without conspiring with Gerard behind everyone's back, or lying to everyone, around him, or dehumanising werewolves, or selling the Hales out to the hunters, or violating rape victims. Unlike Scott, who did all those shitty things and still failed miserably at everything 

3• No one hurt Stiles in Teen Wolf Season 3B because everyone loves Stiles and no one wanted to hurt him. Not because a whiny, pompous, narcissistic fuckboy with a dumb true alpha title ordered them not to lol

4• Scott McCall doesn't have the authority to allow/or not allow anyone to do anything. Much to his and his fans' eternal chagrin 

"You probably would have figured something out. And Scott did. Repeatedly"

Again, that was sarcasm. Both Stiles and Theo used Scott's own narcissism, inflated ego and delusions of moralistic grandeur against him and mocked him for his self righteous hypocrisy to his face. And neither Scott nor his fans even noticed. Also: when did Scott ever figure something out exactly? When he tried but failed to assassinate Gerard? When he thought that he had gone from being utterly shit at lacrosse to being a star athlete in the span of a day because he was just naturally talented? When he threw Derek Hale under the bus and framed him for murder so that he could be free to stalk Allison and play lacrosse? When he claimed that Kira was a werewolf? When he accused Morrell of going around murdering people? When he assaulted and kidnapped Liam and then called Stiles because Scott can't even clean up after his own mess, let alone take responsibility for his own failures and shitty actions? When Theo played him like a cheap kazoo throughout Season 5? Seriously, when??????

As Peter, Lydia, Malia and everyone else have pointed out, Stiles is the clever, super smart one who always figures it out and never takes advantage of his talents.

Meanwhile, Scott is just a self righteous, judgemental, below average hypocrite who always takes the credit for his friends' heroic actions and accomplishments, judges and/or condemns others for things they never even did and conveniently gives himself a free pass for, and can't even plan his way out of a paper bag without his friends' constant help and support 

"They portray Stiles as chafing chained to a sub-par relationship with Scott, but Stiles literally has a break down when he thinks he’s done something for which Scott won’t be able to forgive him"

Nothing demonstrates Scott fans' ableism and utter lack of empathy more than them trying to cheapen Stiles' trauma and make it all about their fav. Stiles Stilinski got mentally and physically violated by a Fox Spirit who chose him as his vessel; sacrificed himself and locked himself up in Eichen House - supernatural prison/mental institution - to save everyone else; got abused by the wards; repeatedly forced to kill people; couldn't sleep; has been suffering from panic attacks since he was a child; remembered when his mentally ill mom abused him and called him a monster during his childhood; was stalked and brutally assaulted by Donovan; had accidentally killed his abuser to defend himself; and then got gaslit, dehumanised, judged and victim blamed by Scott for it; got blackmailed by Theo and abandoned by the abusive best friend whose ass Stiles risked his own life to save throughout the whole series ("You need me! You trusted him, too!") And yet Scott Fans will try to make it all about Scott instead... which is another trait antis share with Canon Scott 

Scott/Posey fandom's jealousy, ableism, hypocrisy & obsessive hate boner for Stiles and Derek specifically are as blatant and as creepy as ever. Teen Wolf got cancelled due to shitty ratings years ago, and Posey's career followed it down the drain immediately after. But his stans are still out there foaming at the mouth, spewing ableist garbage, and throwing tantrums just because people don't like their shitty fav and have the audacity to prefer Stiles and Derek to Scoot 

BUT SCOTT FANS ARE NOT OBSESSED 

[vampish-glamour]

My thoughts on “super sexualities”. (Spoiler: they’re stupid but born from a real frustration)

Disclaimer; I don’t agree with the “super [sexuality]” thing, I think it’s stupid and the reasoning a lot of people using is actually transphobic (like “I’m only attracted to real men/women”.

But you guys—“you guys” being the ones who kept saying that preferences and boundaries were transphobic—had this coming.

The super sexuality thing, while stupid, is a pushback against a popular and offensive narrative. People have been repeatedly told that genital “preferences” are transphobic, that ruling out the idea of dating trans people is transphobic, all that. Despite there being valid reasons why one might not be interested in dating a trans person, such as having biological kids, not having the emotional capacity to deal with a partner’s gender dysphoria, or just plain old genital preferences, whether that be not liking a certain genital, or not liking surgically made genitals. All of these are fine, and not transphobic. It is only transphobic when you say you only date “real men/women”, or imply trans women and men aren’t women and men in some way. Otherwise, you are entitled to your preferences and should not be made out to be a bigot because of them.

And then you have the extreme side of the debate, that claims that any sexuality other than “pansexuality” is immoral because of genital preference. Which was quickly recognized as being insanely homophobic, because it’s a repackaged way of telling homosexuals that their sexuality is immoral because they are attracted to only the same sex.

Now, these same people who spew this rhetoric are also the people who make up sexualities for every little thing. They’re the same people who brought us demisexuality—only experiencing attraction once one gets to know somebody (most people, not a sexuality), fraysexuality—only experiencing attraction to those they don’t know, losing interest when they know them (probably not healthy, nor a sexuality), Omnigay—“genderfluid” people who are attracted to whatever gender they are at the moment (homophobic, impossible, not a sexuality), sapiosexual—being attracted to smart people, and many, many more.

So, they’re allowed to have very specific interests, and they’re even applauded for it. Yet everyone else couldn’t even have exclusive attraction to a certain type of genitals. People took note of this, and used it to their advantage.

Enter “super sexualities”. People decided that “hey, let’s use their own logic against them. If I create a sexuality like they do all the time, they can’t judge me for it because it’s my sexuality and that means I’m valid”. So they made a flag and everything (for superstraight, it’s hilariously the same colour scheme as gay dating app Grindr), and went wild.

This is where the hypocrisy comes in.

Those demisexuals, fraysexuals, omnigays, sapiosexuals, and everyone else who decided to make a new sexuality for something that’s not a sexuality? Apparently it’s only okay when they do it. Because the super straights aren’t valid, they weren’t born this way like the sapiosexuals were. In fact, they can’t just make up a new sexuality like that, especially not one that’s transphobic! (Says the homophobic omnigays and biphobic pansexuals)

So now the super straights are having a laugh at everyone else’s expense, because everyone walked right into their trap. They wanted to prove that modern day “activists” aren’t actually as accepting of fringe sexualities as they claim to be, because they only accept the things that fit their narrative.

So not only was “super straight” a push back against the claim that preferring not to date trans people is transphobic, but it is also a massively successful troll to prove the hypocrisy of the modern day alphabet soup community.

But seriously, those who tried to claim that people’s sexualities, preferences, and boundaries were transphobic? You had this coming. People have had enough with being called bigots for how they wish to go about their personal lives, and they’re pushing back, using your own narrative against you. Because every sexuality is valid, right? Even the microlabels for things like only experiencing attraction sometimes, or only to people you don’t know? So what’s wrong with a microlabel to describe attraction only to cis men and/or women? You said it yourself, everyone is valid.

Honestly, it’s a stupid trend, but a brilliant way to push back against the “suck the dick, bigot” rhetoric.

Tl;dr: Super sexualities are stupid and the logic behind them (“I only date real men/women”) is transphobic. But it’s been a long time coming, ever since people started claiming that people’s sexual preferences were transphobic. The super sexuality trend is a pushback against that rhetoric, and this pushback uses “every sexuality is valid, even microlabels” logic to its advantage, to prove the hypocrisy of those who started using that logic. You’re all falling for a massive troll, and falling right into the trap that’s been set... and it’s hilarious to watch.

[abouthoundsandlittlebirds]

Lmfao the fact that you STILL think Sesshomaru groomed Rin is enough for me to believe you are entirely braindead and never watched the show or even bothered paying attention to it in the slightest. Rin followed Sesshomaru for a year. He LEFT HER with KAEDE to let her CHOOSE HER OWN PATH. HER OWN LIFE. But sure, whatever your little pissy anti pea brain wants to believe to help you sleep at night and feel good about calling random people fucking pedophiles and groomers over fictional, not born in reality, fucking characters. Grooming is an intentional INTENTION FROM THE BEGINNING. Oh so you're gonna tell me Sesshomaru intended to fuck rin and romance her since the moment they met? When your whole other argument is that he saw her as a daughter? LOL yeah ok you can't have it both ways dumbass. You can't decide his motives were pure when you headcanoned him as her father figure and then pull shit straight from your ass when they were confirmed as a couple that he MUST HAVE groomed her. Wow visiting every now and then to let the orphaned Rin know he still cares and didn't abandon her? MUST BE GrOoMiNg!!!! Please. For the love of fucking god, instead of claiming grooming PLEASE PLEASE read and relate the actual dictionary definition, and ACTUAL EXAMPLES OF GROOMING IN REAL LIFE to SOMEHOW, MIRACULOUSLY find a correlation.

Honey, pay attention to my speech. I am anti SESSRIN, I personally don't give a fuck for those who supports this ship. So why are you so angry about it? Did I say you are sick? Did I say you are a pedo? Or groomer? I don't recall doing it, tho. The only thing I've actually said is that I don't agree with controversial acts on fiction stories only because for some people (like you) disgusting pairings should be allowed on it, since there are no laws that forbids it.

I think you should learn what grooming is before talking about it, because it is stupidity of your part to support real life criminal actions on literature. Do you know that is hypocrisy, right? When you support criminal actions on fiction and condem those actions in real life, you are a hypocrite person.

Now, I have read the manga and watched the anime a couple of times through all those years, and I have knowledge about my sayings (darling, I am a teacher by graduation, so I know you must have some basis to talk about something), however I don't believe you are smart enough or are even willing to understand it, since you lack A LOT of information, I mean, even a dog knows simple human words, while you don't make justice for the brain that is inside your head. If you have difficulties making textual interpretation about what I said, how could you understand fictional dialogues and read images? I don't believe for an instant you are a trust worth person and your opinions is only worth as an example of what NOT TO DO when you don't have fundaments that supports your thoughts.

Yet, since I am a teacher and I have a few moments of free time, I will teach you something: IF (pay attention to this saying and read more than one time if you still don't understand. I don't blame you for being a slow learner) Sesshomaru ends with Rin as a romantic pair, THEN he will be a groomer and this ship is disgusting. BUT, I think Sesshomaru does not see Rin as a lover and he takes her as his adopted daughter. I don't hate Sesshomaru or Rin, I actually love those characters and I wish they deserve better than to become a shipper that developed under criminal aspects.

Sesshomaru left Rin under Kaede's care, that is true, but he kept visiting her and leaving presents for her. This is grooming if they end up together. Waiting for her to age up doesn't change the fact that it is still grooming.

People who supports this pair perhaps is not groomers or pedos, because to be it you need to practice it in real life (and I don't expect those people to do it, actually I request for they not to do it! But I also don't search for their personal life and I won't do it, because as I said, I don't give a fuck for your people), so I won't claim something I don't know. What I know as a fact, is that Sesshomaru ends up with Rin, then Sesshomaru IS a groomer. And I personally don't want that the characters I love so fondly to be tangled in a situation like that, so what is the problem for me to be against it!? Do you expect me to support it!? Also, I have seen no theories of your people deffending SessRin without grooming basis. Your people even said that the kimonos Sesshomaru gave Rin when she was a CHILD was courtship. Your people are SUPPORTING grooming actions by doing so, because your people points Sesshomaru's romantic feelings for Rin when she was only 11 years old. Do you realise it is creepy, right? I don't think is against antis you should waste your time and energy, but with your people that does this kind of analysis, because they are the only responsibles for the desmoralization of your ship.

With all that said and solved, I have nothing else to tell you. This is my final answer for you.

[itsonlystrange]

Stop saying “(insert character name here) has never done anything bad in their life. They’re babie and are so innocent.” Or “(insert character name here) did this so they’re the worst most selfish character and deserve to die next season!!”

news flash! Every. Single. Character. In . Stranger. Things. Has. Made. A . Mistake.

AND THATS OKAY!

All characters have flaws. If they don’t it makes them boring characters. I’ve seen FIVE. F I V E people say today that will is the most selfish character of stranger things and deserves to, and I quote, “die next season, #killwillbyers .” No. I’m not kidding.

For starters: Will may have been inconsiderate last season but reminder!! 1. He’s a 14 year old boy 2. Him wanting to play d&d doesn’t make him a bad character it makes him a DIMENSIONAL character. Stop expecting him to be perfect. He’s learning. He’s growing. He doesn’t deserve to die just because he wanted to play D&D. Him calling El stupid was a throwaway line. Mike didn’t even care that Will called El stupid because Mike understood Will didn’t mean it and that he was frustrated, so you shouldn’t either. I admit, calling El stupid wasn’t cool, but neither was El assaulting Max but apparently that’s justified. My point is: EVERY CHARACTER IS FLAWED. Every one. Stop pretending like Will is the worst thing that’s happened to the show and stop pretending like (insert character here) is the most small harmless bean ever:

This is coming from an EL STAN aswell. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy in this fandom. Because it’s insane. Apparently Will calling El stupid (which I’m not saying wasn’t bad- I’m just saying you can’t seriously hate a character for making a realistic mistake and refusing to acknowledge all of the selfless things Will has done and only pointing out the one thing he’s done that makes him flawed.) but point is, apparently Will calling El stupid makes him the most selfish awful person ever but El assaulting Max and completely not being understanding in some elements of seasons 2 and season 3 and in ways being a brat, it’s fine because “it was a mistake”, which it WAS! El doesn’t deserve to be hated for those things because she’s a dimensional character and I love her. But stop ridiculing others for things you wouldn’t ridicule your fave for.

Every character has messed up. Stop expecting characters to be perfect. I’ve seen people say Will was worse than Billy. Billy, the racist abuser. Exactly.

These characters need to have flaws to be good and entertaining characters. And remember, the party members are KIDS! They’re brains are still developing! They’re children! They’re learning and developing. They aren’t the Pope or Obama. They say and do mean things. Doesnt mean their actions shouldn’t have consequences, it just means that you have to understand that your fave isn’t going to be unproblematic all the time. Deal with it.

Every one of the party members has made a mistake or multiple.

MIKE: made out with el for 6 months straight and ditched his friends. Can be a complete asshole. Ignored the “best thing that’s ever happened to him”, tried to control El, is an ass to Max

LUCAS: was wary of El and insulted her. Can be too blunt and can forget about his surroundings and about others feelings

DUSTIN: kept dart despite knowing it was from the upside down. Can be selfish

WILL: was inconsiderate of Mike’s break up, called El stupid.

EL: assaulted Max, spied on mike despite knowing mike hated it, was very blunt and rude in ways, can be a brat and doesn’t understand some things that are meant to keep her safe

MAX: Can be a total asshole. Very set in her ways. Doesn’t like to understand peoples point of view

THIS DOESNT MAKE THEM BAD CHARACTERS! Instead of paying attention to their bad traits start recognizing all the good things they’ve done. All of their GOOD traits. This fandom can be so pessimistic at times.

Every single member of the party has made mistakes and have done morally incorrect things. But they’ve also done very good things too!!! 97% of the things the party members have done have been GOOD. Stop paying attention to that 3% that isn’t morally correct or selfless or kind. You’ve made mistakes and I’m sure you’d hate being ridiculed for the rest of your life over one thing you did months ago. Or one mistake you made when you were younger and more naive or when you were still growing.

Instead of pointing out the bad things each party member has done and holding them up to impossible expectations because they are CHILDREN, take a minute to appreciate all of the good things they’ve done, which include (but aren’t limited to)

MIKE: Loyal, kind, patient, understanding, puts his friends needs infront of his own, will do anything for the people he loves, trustable

LUCAS: rational, leaves no man behind, defends his friends no matter what, brave, fights for his friends

DUSTIN: Patient, uplifting, funny, always will be there for you and will listen to you. Super smart, can get you out of any scientific or mathematical situation. Unapologetically himself

WILL: loyal, kind, a great listener, the mediator, peaceful, selfless, loves you unconditionally, puts his needs behind everyone else so he won’t worry his mom or the party

EL: selfless, brave, would sacrifice herself for her friends and family. Kind hearted and genuine. Always forgives people for their actions

MAX: will beat someone up if she found out they bullied you. Very uplifting and encourages you to be independent and to love yourself

AND THATS NOT EVEN ALL OF THEM!

Appreciate the good traits your favorite characters have! I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to dislike a character but it’s complete bullshit that you’d create some personal head canon that so and so is an awful person or make up lies about a certain character just to get an excuse to dislike the character.

These kids have trauma. Stop expecting them to deal with their trauma in 100% healthy ways. This is the EIGHTIES. They can’t just go find a support group online or go on Quora to find the answer as to why they’re acting a certain way.

These kids are misunderstood and they really just need a hug. Stop making a certain character out to be something their not.

And for the love of god, El and Will are both great characters and are my 2 favorites so can we stop this war it’s pointless

AND ALSO:

If you wish death upon ANY of the party members I will personally kick you into orbit. They are 14. who wishes death on 14 year old children?! That is disgusting.

Anyways, have your faves. Enjoy the show. And I’m not telling you NOT to dislike a character but instead of hating on them, level with them. Put yourself in their shoes. Reason with them and ask yourself, “Well maybe I also would act like this if I went through what they went through.”

Character are going to have flaws! Don’t let that stop you from appreciating the parts of their character that are good and lovable.

I’ll say it again: a good character needs to have flaws to he entertaining.

So no: the statement “(character here) has never done anything wrong in their life ever.”

Because they have. And that’s OKAY! Normalize having flawed yet lovable and enjoyable characters. That’s why I love ST so much. The party is REALISTIC. The kids ACT LIKE KIDS. Stop expecting them to be and act like 45 year old men or women. They’re learning. Growing. And developing.

PS: this does not go for the characters that have no good qualities and simply are villains *cough, Brenner and Lonnie cough*

[thecursedhellblazer]

romantic headcanons.

name: John Constantine alias: Hellblazer, ConJob, The Laughing Magician, The World’s Greatest Con Man, El Diablo, The Constant One gender: male sexual orientation: pansexual romantic orientation: demiromantic

preferred pet names: John pretty much plays along with whatever nickname his partner(s) decide to use for him, from “classic” ones to whatever thing the people he’s seeing might have come up with. This means that even insults can become pet names, when used by his current partner, no matter how bad they can get. relationship status: single / verse dependant (I currently have a verse in which he’s building a poly relationship, another in which he’s (un)officially dating but it might get more than official at some point, and one in which he has a proper stable boyfriend)

opinion on true love:  John believes that a kind of love that comes close to be defined as such exists. He has experience a similar feeling in person a few times (with Nick and Zatanna, with Kit). However, because of his past experiences, he isn’t very confident on the fact that he’ll ever manage to find a way to keep that sort of relationship going. The closer someone gets to him, the worse fate awaits ahead of them or the deeper he disappoints them. opinion on love at first sight: John believes in “attraction at first sight”, but not in love at first sight. That’s in part because getting attached is often not an option for him. When it comes to sex and romance, he prefers going for something casual, with few string attached. It’s it’s safer and less complicated, and it hurts less with things inevitably fall apart. So, he isn’t one to fall fast for people. He wouldn’t be able to even if he tried (with a few exceptions). how ‘romantic’ are they?: John can be a romantic, especially if it’s something that his partner(s) enjoy. Personally, he likes doing some traditional couple stuff, like going out for dinner, going to concerts, having a picnic or even just having an aimless stroll around holding hands. He likes trying to play the cook and cooking homemade meals...even if the results aren’t always stellar. So, when he really cares for someone (or he is in love) John is…a lot of things. He tries to be charming, confident, playful and appealing, and he wines and dines his partner(s) as much as they allow him to. However, he can also be a huge, sometimes sappy dork. He’d go to hell and back, literally too, to try and make his partner(s) happy (and that’s part of his idea of romance too).

ideal physical traits: John’s tastes when it comes to his partners’ physical appearances are, to say the least, variegated. Considering that he finds attractive beings from very different species, it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly draws him to someone, physically speaking. He has a certain preference for inhuman traits, especially if they could be somehow harmful for him (he finds the thrill of danger is too appealing for his sake). Another thing that he likes, in humans and non-humans alike, is physical strength. He likes someone who can crush him and hold him down, or who can put up a fight when he does that. ideal personality traits: John enjoys someone who can match his wits, who is cunning and can challenge him, keep him on his toes. He’s also attracted to people who can be too straightforward and who are strong-willed and determined, bold and not easily deterred, perhaps because those are all qualities someone needs to have to manage to stay around him for a prolonged amount of time. He’s also drawn to people who are fierce and passionate or have strong emotions, but can also keep an open mind. He can appreciate if his partner(s) have a kind, softer, perhaps even nurturing side, because, whether he wants to admit it or not, he tends to cling and find solace in such affections.

unattractive physical traits: Again, it’s just as hard to pinpoint what John might not like as it is to find specific physical traits that he found more attractive (I mean, at some point he had sex with a bunch of sentients organs, for the gods!). He’s open to give everyone and everything a try (as long as it’s consensual), though not all the experiences turn out to be pleasant. Those, he tends to avoid the second time. unattractive personality traits: Dullness, excessive ignorance or lack of smartness. Hypocrisy, because John might be a liar, but that kind of behaviour irks him to no end. People who are too pretentious, who have a too high idea of themselves without having a good reason to justify it. People who force themselves on others, in any way. Someone who’s too obsessive (because of bad past experiences) or too self-absorbed to spare the effort every relationship needs to work out.

do they have a type?: Yes and no. He has a preference for whoever checks most of the boxes when it comes to what he generally likes in a partner, but every case turns out to be different. It’s also true that most of his lovers, though, held some sort of power over him, be it because they are strong (physically or mentally or “magically) or because they for some reason have the upper hand in the relationship. Strong-willedness and ability to call him out on his bullshit are other recurrent traits. opinion of public affection: When he’s fond of someone, John can get very touchy-feely, if not straight out handsy, around them, no matter if they are alone or in public. He is very much open to PDA, but he restrains himself if his partner prefers avoid them. The same can’t be said for when they are in private, because then any excuse (and even the lack of one) is good to gets his hands on whoever he’s seeing.

favourite canon ship: Uuuh, I’m going to say Nick / John / Zatanna. We don’t see much of it in canon, aside from their tragic falling out, but I like to think that they had a good run before everything fell apart. John was obviously so very in love with them both, and the three of them balanced each other well and were a positive influence in each other’s life, even if at the same times they also tended to bring out the worst in each other. For all those reasons and more, I love the verse I’ve been building with @adventurepunks​​ because it allows me to explore all the shades of their complicated relationship. I liked, even if not as much, John’s relationship with Kit. Though, I must say that I’m glad (for her) that it didn’t work out, because that wonderful woman deserves so much better than him (just as Zatanna). favourite non-canon ship: I have three main non-canon relationships. John / Demon John (which I write in my verse with @thedemonconstantine ) and that’s a pairing I also ship in general (meaning outside RPs). Then we have John / Oliver Queen, with @thegreenxrcher​​​ (and with her too I have a whole verse). Last but not least, John / Nick Sethson ( Devil OC written by @paradiseturnedhell​​​). Each of this ships has its own peculiar appeal to me and I could write an essay for each of them, but I’ll spare you all x’D However, I want to make some special mentions too. I have build a wonderful friendships (with occasional benefits) with @obsessionsarenotforheroes​​​ and her Jessica. I’m developing a ship (or should I say shipS? xD How does it even work with Marc xD) with @fistofhnsw​​​. John & @laughter-in-white​​‘s croptop J because their friends-with-benefits relationship is hilarious. And, finally, John and Koriand’r ( @blizzardmuses​​​...‘cause they kissed twice “for science” so it counts...right???)

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tagged by: @laughter-in-white & @paradiseturnedhell tagging: @thegreenxrcher (one of the demons?) @fistofhnsw @adventurepunks @blizzardmuses​ @elisethetraveller​ @goldentemplariumcrow​ @seekthedarknesswithin​ - & whoever wants to steal this !

[ihavelovednone]

Emily & Miguel: Power & control

This post is long - REALLY LONG. I’ve tried to reduce it and separate it - but it’s not really working. So here goes. It’s centered around Emily and Miguel and the power imbalance between them and the abusiveness that he displays. I hope it’s somewhat interesting and not to hard to follow - if you read it in full that is.

The initial power imbalance There are several aspects in Miguel’s and Emily’s relationship that creates a power imbalance between them. First, and probably the one that relates to every other imbalance in their relationship, is the fact that she’s a woman. That doesn’t really need any further explaining. Women are generally seen as the weaker sex and there’s a long since decided role for women that still has deep roots in our society and in Emily’s life it’s very prominent. Dita displays dislike about Emily involving herself in the search for her child for instance. Devante uses a tone that reeks of aw, little girl and Miguel is somewhere in between wanting to be the sole provider and wanting her help.

One more obvious thing is the clear age difference between Miguel and Emily. It’s kinda like a spinn on the stereotypical old husband, young wife trope - except that Miguel, even though he’s no spring chicken, is still relatively young and very attractive. Kurt Sutter and Elgin James are so subtle in the way they decide use a stereotype without stereotyping that if you don’t look closely, you miss it. 

I think they met when Emily was in her final years of college or in law school and Miguel was in the start of his business career - the legal business that is. I have this idea in my head that Miguel tried really hard to impress her and she just rolled her eyes at him. Emily’s smart and strong, opinionated and a fighter, we’ve seen that in season 1 when Emily’s delivered info to Miguel about LO, called Devante out on his misogynistic shit and when she didn’t let herself get intimidated by Potter. She also found the info about the murder of EZ’s mother and called out Miguel’s hypocrisy in season 2. 

At the same time there’s an insecurity within Emily. She’s probably been told several times by her parents that she’s not good enough. When Emily meets Miguel the break-up from EZ is probably still lingering, even if it was awhile ago they ended in a way that never really gave them closure - she didn’t just loose her first love, she lost someone that was a security to her. On top of that she’d lost her baby (yes I say lost because I don’t think she’d have aborted it had the circumstances been different). This probably made Emily more susceptible to Miguel’s charm.

That insecurity is very apparent in season 2 when Miguel starts spending more time with Adelita. He used to worship the ground she walked on, she was his “touchstone” and all of a sudden his work is all about taking Potter down with the help of Adelita and Emily ends up being in the background. There’s a desperation in her actions in that season. She enters territories she’d never actually enter otherwise. She’s so desperate for the Agra Park thing to work because she never chose the cartel, she chose Miguel. 

There’s also a duality with Emily in season 2 - The cartel is, up until the kidnapping of Cristobal, in the background of Emily’s life. She didn’t see, she didn’t hear.  I think she stayed with Miguel in the hopes that he’d liquidate the cartel and go one hundred percent legit but now, he’s rising - he’s making more money and Emily’s spurring him on. Maybe because she wants to be more involved with him, close to him, move Adelita out of the way. She wants to feel needed. It’s a weird dynamic between them, like the abused wife that wants to please her man or something.

Never in control Miguel might’ve initially been a person she found to be what EZ once was - a safe harbor, a home, a lifeline. Not necessarily financial, more emotional. Emily sees Miguels way of treating her with loving words and gifts as affection, maybe she knows that there’s something else under the beautiful exterior, maybe she doesn’t. As Erin said, they choose men that are darkness personified, hinting that they seek it out, it comes naturally - almost as a way to punish themselves for not being good enough. Miguel’s affectionate behavior bleeds into darkness, or maybe his affectionate behavior is actually something sinister altogether - like he feeds on women wanting him, needing him, he uses it to get to them.

In the midst of her vulnerability Miguel displays behaviors of wanting for her to belong to him and no one else, and that’s dangerous and toxic. She doesn’t realize that behavior as problematic until season 2 - even though it starts in season 1 when he propagates to EZ that he need to leave Emily alone - because it complicates things. 

Emily’s very isolated. She has no friends, she’s got no one that’s just hers. Except for EZ when he gets out of prison, and even so, they’re not really friends either. They’re more in limbo than anything. And even though they’ve got a past - she’s got the right to spend time with whoever she wants. Or should have the right. Loyalty to a man does not derive from how few men you’re in contact with as a woman. Emily doesn’t need to go back to her man, or only stay by his side. She’s not Miguel’s property. She’s allowed to have relationships with other men - as long as she’s not actually cheating - and even if she wanted to - she’s could, it doesn’t warrant abuse of any kind.

His want for her to be a housewife - or work close by, offering her a job in his company - is toxic. Why? Well, she’s constantly under his watch, she’s doesn’t have the opportunity to make new acquaintances and friendships without those people having relations to Miguel. If Miguel were to demand information about what a person has spoken to his wife about - they’d tell him - in fear of loosing their job, or their life. Now, had Miguel not displayed other types of weird and controlling behaviors it probably wouldn’t have crossed my mind that she worked for him. It would’ve been fine.

Him having her ride with a platoon and not be left alone is, yeah, you guessed it: TOXIC. Freedom is not something that she has. You might think that Emily, just because she lives in an ocean of money and opportunity that she’s somehow free. She’s not. She has no privacy. And yeah, you could argue that Miguel’s cartel work is dangerous and therefore she needs to be protected - but at what cost? She’s constantly under the watchful eye of Miguel’s lackeys - which becomes more apparent in season 2 when Nestor’s following her every move without her knowing. They work for him - they abide to him. She doesn’t have the ability to do what ever she wants - and when she does, he abuses her, as seen in S01E05. As I said in a post that’s been deleted now: Miguel is, most of the time, abusive without actually doing it himself. He uses his staff to control her.

We’ve never actually seen Miguel give Emily any presents, probably because it’d be very stereotypical of him and Sutter and James want to avoid stereotypes. But I think he’d do something like that, considering his expensive taste in suits, cars and other things - I think he likes showing of how rich he is. 

Miguel comes of as one of those people who’d use presents to stifle someone. The wife’s mad? Get her a meaningless expensive present to shut her up and simultaneously tell her you care for her without actually asking how she’s feeling. She thinks you don’t love her? Diamonds, get her some diamonds. Diamond equals love. Him throwing all kinds of materialistic shit at her is toxic and it doesn’t matter how much he loves her because his behavior ends up being manipulative and controlling every single time. 

The comment you should be grateful feels like something that’d come out of his mouth to (and probably from people on the outside looking in). Not that many women get to live a life in luxury, he’d probably say. Like she should be grateful for something she never really asked for. 

Conclusion This became a long post - probably longer than all my posts so far - combined. There are so many red flags with Miguel and Emily - some of them so subtle you hardly notice them. In the first episode I thought they’d go the whole sugar daddy route which might seem cool and fun in theory. But it’s in fact a very common way for young women to enter prostitution so I’m glad they didn’t go that way with it and display it like it’s no big deal - it’s all fun, look at all the pretty things I get for being a companion. 

Miguel’s abusive behavior is subtle at times and yeah, he loves her and she love him, but it doesn’t matter when the relationship is so unhealthy. Writing this piece has given me a new perspective of the two as well. Emily’s desperate to not loose Miguel - why? Most likely because she’d be on her own otherwise and she’s not really ready for that and Miguel’s behavior is probably something he’s picked up from his childhood and I’m not sure he’s always aware of it. Miguel very insecure. Let’s be honest, no man comfortable within himself would ever restrain a woman’s social circle, career or freedom to roam.