#been thinking about him a lot lately i think he deserves to be killed violently

[anakeions]

motherfucker ultimate

[technically-human]

In your reverse au, if Charles isn't the fighter but is still the one with anger issues, how do you imagine the whole night nurse scene plays out? Especially if its switched with Kashi?

Mmmh, good question. I've been thinking about this one for a few days (sorry for replying so late!) and I don't have a definitive answer yet, so everyone feel free to make suggestions!

I feel Edwin panics. What is Kashi, really? Edwin is not sure. Maybe an angel... Probably a demon. In any case, nothing he wants to fight. And Kashi looks so friendly, so open, but he's saying he will separate them.

And Edwin went through the Devlin house loop very recently. He's got a lot to think about. He saw a fucked up version of his own family, his own upbringing, which he has always been so proud of, ending up like that.

His parents were cold, sure, but they would never. Even if Edwin had been a bit more rebellious. Even if Edwin had acted upon those... Feelings he has. They would never, right?

And then Kashi makes him see some memories. He never acted on those feelings, but he was punished for it all the same. He was killed. He was tortured. He died a slow, painful death, and the only reason he wasn't alone is... Charles.

Charles who is trembling with rage behind him. Charles who hates fighting because it brings the worst out of him, and he has fought enough, he spent 70 years fighting, hurting others, getting hurt. And Edwin promised him he wouldn't have to fight anymore.

Edwin promised he would keep them both out of Hell's reach, even if they deserve it.

He doesn't think the Devlin girl deserved what her father did. Maybe he didn't deserve his own death either. And Charles is angry and violent and a bit manipulative, but Edwin will fight anyone who says he deserved what happened to him.

So he fights Kashi.

[jamandjazz]

I've been thinking a lot about Steve lately. I really like thinking about how situations and family dynamics shape people. These quotes specifically, "and Steve— his hatred for his father coming out in his soft, bitter voice and the violence of his temper" and "We never could tell who we'd find stretched out on the sofa in the morning. It was usually Steve, whose father told him about once a week to get out and never come back."

And I know how strange it feels to have parents that are shitty but give you a lot of things materially. He has a car and gets a lot of pity money but his dad never does anything but try to push him to the side and forget about him. There's nothing canon that shows his Dad physically abuses him in any way so there's a good chance he told himself to just be grateful he got so much and his dad wasn't 'that bad.' He's resentful and angry and impulsive and so damn complex and we should talk about that more.

"I thought of Soda and Steve. What if one of them saw the other killed? Would that make them stop fighting? No, I thought, maybe it would make Soda stop, but not Steve. He'd go on hating and fighting," Steve is described as hateful and angry but what else is there for him to do? He can't just leave, he's too attached to where he is but staying isn't good either.

He's mad at the world he was born into, who wouldn't be? Greasers get all the rough breaks but he can't fix that, he's just one kid. (Also he definitely feels like a character that thrives off of being able to fix things, cars, problems, anything that he deems needing 'fixing')

And despite his temper being a big part of his personality that's not all of it. He's friends with Soda, and likes to indulge him. He's got a dry sense of humor and cares so much about anyone that cares for him back. He's protective he's caring and sure sometimes that means he gets violent and angry but that's a lot of what he knows, he's so so so much more than just someone that's just mad all the time despite the fact that that's what he gets boiled down to a lot. In the fandom and in the book, honestly I think that's why he's so close to Soda.

Soda's good at seeing past that sort of thing, he's good and understanding and when your whole life everyone just dismissed you as the kid that was always mad for no reason that's so fucking refreshing. Being seen as more than just your flaws helps you feel human. Helps you remember you deserve just as much care and affection as anyone else, and seeing how the Curtis's treated their kids was honestly probably where a lot of the resentment for his dad started building up.

Anyways this is super long but basically Steve's super complex and I love him.

[seireitonin]

Can you make Toby headcanons

I can’t believe I haven’t already done this?? He’s literally all I think about lately. Also sorry for the lack of posts life is busy. Anyway! (Some of this will be canon)

“Ticci” Toby Head Canons

Toby was in and out of the hospital all his life

CIPA will do that for you

He constantly had to lie about the bruises he got from his dad while he was in the hospital

He didn’t want to be separated from his sister in foster care

Toby got bullied and outcasted at school

But he also was a bully kinda

The violence he was experiencing at home made him violent at school

He would beat people who teased him bloody

He’s impulsive and cynical but also empathic

He would use his body as a shield against his father to protect his sister and mother

Purposely behaving bad so he would get it the worst, sparing his sister and mother

Slenderman was trying to get both Lyra and Toby to become proxies and Lyra had been experiencing the slender sickness and seeing Slenderman

So she purposely crashed the car so her and Toby would both die, but he was none the wiser

Only Lyra died and Toby has survivors guilt

Not only because he’s alive but because Lyra was a better person in his eyes

She took care of him, she was sweet, she was gentle

Toby was rough, standoff ish, and rude

Toby thinks he deserved to die, not her

Wishes he died instead of her

Slenderman only targeted Toby after that

The hallucinations getting stronger and worse

Him seeing his dead sister

Constantly feeling sick

Toby looked at all his neighbors with jealousy

Why did they get the perfect suburban life?

Why was he given a life of suffering?

Slenderman was breaking him down day after day

On top of all that the abuse didn’t stop

Slenderman was able to take his mind over easily with all that Toby was going through

Toby’s grief, anger, sadness, pain and suffering making him unable to fight off Slendermans influence

The night he killed his father he was under Slendermans control completely

Only snapping out of his trance for a few seconds before being taken over again

He didn’t really want to kill his father but his body wasn’t his

Luckily he was able to snap out of the trance before he hurt his mom

But he still burned the neighborhood down, ready to accept death

Then Slenderman took him in

When he was 19 he acted a bit like the teen he never got to be

Not super upbeat but he was more playful and free

Masky and Hoodie do care about him, just in a rough love kind of way because they didn’t want to see him die

Also he was so young, they know what it’s like to loose your life and mind to Slenderman at a fairly young age

So they trained him hard and kept reminding him that he’s disposable so be careful and not so reckless with his body

Toby’s not only good with hatchets but knives as well

Also good at hand to hand combat and dodging

Has infinite stamina and is really strong and fast

Dated Clockwork from ages 19-24

He died at 25 but was resurrected by Slenderman and became possessed fully (which is another reason why he’s so sickly pale)

Slenderman attempted to make him kill Clockwork, but luckily some of Toby was still in there and he was able to hold back from killing her

She was able to fight him off easily after that but couldn’t bring herself to kill him

But she doesn’t want to see him ever again

The one man she trusted tried to kill her and it was too much for her to handle

Toby was heartbroken for months and killed a lot of people, letting himself become a puppet for Slenderman completely

Toby came to the realization that his body was never his to own

His body belonged to the doctors when he was a kid to experiment on, the shield to protect his family, a puppet for Slenderman to use, even his Tourette’s controlled him sometimes

Toby is bi but leans towards women because women were kind to him all his life

Total horndog

He can be manipulative but honestly it’s not on purpose he’s just scared to loose people

“You shouldn’t leave. You’re all I have. My family is gone. Please. You’re the only thing I love.”

Very clingy with people he cares about

Especially because he knows he’s a lot to handle

His emotions can change very quickly

Since his mind has gotten used to Slendermans influence, his memories come back in full force

He vividly remembers everything that happened to him and will sometimes have breakdowns

The memories come at random times too

He’s full of himself and not insecure at all

Blunt, rude, will say what he wants whenever he wants with no filter but is nice to people he likes

Constantly has bloody and bruised knuckles

Smells like the woods/ outdoors and campfires

Made a promise to his sister when they were young to never be like his dad. So he’ll never hit a woman he loves

Belive she’s not meant to be loved. Everyone who’s loved him has either died or left one way or another

Wears neutral colors to blend in with the forest

Touched starved, due to not getting much gentle touch and affection in his life

Wants a normal life so bad but knows that will never happen

Wants to have kids. He wants to be the man his father never was

Hides his face gash with bandages and gauze when he goes out in public

He’s handsome and he knows it. He uses that charm to lure in/ manipulate his victims

Dark brown eyes and hair and pale pink lips

29 years old

Started dating Nina at 27

Toby is 6’0 flat

Very lanky but his back and arms are toned because of constant axe throwing and swinging

Toby is much more mature now that he’s 29 but can still joke around and stuff

Has scars all over his body not only from his father, but fighting since he was 17

He’s so full of himself and cocky especially when he’s manic

He’s an extremely jealous person and can be very possessive especially over the person he’s dating

He’s just scared to loose anyone

Hes violent as hell when it comes to killing

Very very messy because he’s impulsive and reckless and doesn’t care about getting hurt because he doesn’t feel it

Sometimes will target abusive men and will beat them to death with his fists while looking them in the eyes, smiling

Just because he was manipulated into killing at first doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy it now

Because he really enjoys it

Especially when he’s angry or emotional

Still needs constant check ups and has to check for injuries on his body because he can’t feel them

Eats people on occasion. Since he chewed on his hands a lot he likes the taste of flesh

Likes fucking with his victims before he kills them sometimes. He learned that from Masky.

Has nightmares but doesn’t tell anyone about them

Doesn’t drink alcohol often because he really doesn’t wanna be like his dad

Midwestern emo

Looks like his mom. It makes him sad. He misses her.

When he’s by himself he wears grandpa sweaters and loose jeans

Nina is the only other person who can wear his clothes

Anyone else? No way.

Is close with EJ because of the constant medical checkups

Close with Jane too since Nina became friends with her

Actually can cook pretty well since he had to survive on his own a lot

His hair is mid neck and curly because he doesn’t bother to cut it

His beard is prickly and it started growing at 23

Has a bunch of piercings because he can’t feel pain (eyebrows, snakebites, tounge, septum, a bunch of ear ones) he also did it to match with Nina

His favorite food is ramen

His ADHD can make him upbeat and happy sometimes but it doesn’t last long

He likes to sit in the woods by himself sometimes and just enjoy his own company

He has quite the reputation working for Slenderman and all

Masky, Hoodie and Toby are called the triple threat

Hoodie handles ranged combat like guns. Masky is a hard hitting melee fighter, using crowbars, bats etc. Toby can do both by throwing hatches and using them in hand to hand combat. But he can also use his fists.

That’s all I got 4 now I’ll make a part 2 when I can remember more. Also this isn’t proof read sorry :3

[sunbeamedskies]

I've seen a lot of troubling antisemitism in the Our Flag Means Death fandom lately regarding Taika Waititi. Please hear me out.

A lot of people want everyone to comment about the Israel/Palestine war. It's understandable. What Palestinian civilians are going through in Gaza is a nightmare that no one deserves. They are overwhelmingly paying the price for Hamas' actions- a group they have no control over and are also harmed by. Thousands have been killed.

After October 7th, Taika signed a letter asking for the Israeli hostages to be released. It did not endorse any specific actions taken by the Israeli government- it was simply in support of the hostages.

But you know what he was immediately accused of?

Supporting genocide. Even though what he signed was about Israeli civilians- including the elderly, disabled, and children- who were being held captive by Hamas.

On October 7th, Jews died in a single day in numbers that hadn't been since the Holocaust. Israel contains half the world's entire Jewish population. The majority of its population are descendants of Jews from middle eastern and north African countries who were forcibly kicked out in violent pogroms and had nowhere else to go. Many are descendants of Holocaust survivors as well.

I think most non-Jews would be astounded at how much the majority of the worldwide Jewish community is still mourning and reeling from October 7th. It triggered a lot of intergenerational trauma in many of us, yet I hear barely any non-Jews talk about it.

And yet you immediately accused Taika, a Jewish man, of supporting genocide just because he didn't support hostages being taken and random civilians being murdered. Do you really think he trusts people not to twist his words if he attempts to talk about Palestine too, when you turned a moment of legitimate pain for members of one of the persecuted groups he's apart of into accusing him of being a genocide-supporting monster?

We Jews not only have to deal with the memory of October 7th, but also with people conflating any support for the hostages with support for the Israeli government. When we say that criticism of Israel can at times get antisemitic, this is the kind of thing we're talking about.

Many of us are simultaneously mourning for Palestine and horrified that a right-wing fascist government that has little care for Palestinian lives has taken over Israel. Innocent lives taken shouldn't justify the killing of other innocent lives, and we are watching it happen, feeling powerless.

And it gets worse, because targeting Taika specifically because he's a person of multiple marginalized identities, when you don't attack white members of the crew nearly as much, is ironically racist.

Unintentional antisemitism and unintentional racism is still antisemitism and racism.

Take a deep breath and please reflect on how you have no idea what it's like to be Jewish right now, and how some of your own antisemitic criticism about his signature has likely contributed to his silence about Palestine. If no matter what he says his words and actions are twisted by so many of his "fans", he might think there's nothing he can say that will do any good.

[steeltwigz]

Ok I've been getting a lot more Taco II discourse on my timeline recently. NOW I see what you all mean.... I gotta be honest, a lot of the posts to me still read as fans making up things to be mad about fhdjf what do you MEAN "Taco is irredeemable and doesn't Want to be redeemed and forcing her down a traditional redemption arc is Impossible AND you're a misogynist for misinterpreting her character" OKAYYY. Sit down buddy, Cool IT. What in the WORLD are you talking about. Did you miss the last minute of the episode where she says "no more running" and decides to face her fears head on, with the support of MePad. Did you miss all those letters she sent to Pickle, or her reaching for the portal for "another chance" at season 1, so she could fix her mistakes and wouldn't have hurt her friend? "But she wanted to kill Balloon that one time!" ONE she wanted to taze him, relax. I mean like if he pops he pops, but that's pretty Par For The Course for an object show, ESPECIALLY when II2 was still developing its more serious, less hyper-violent slapstick tone. TWO part of her problem is that she doesn't change w the game, she's still running (at least partially) on season 1 rules and in season 1 killing people was pretty normal, sorryy. Like a HUUUUGE point of her narrative arc is how she's still making a lot of the same mistakes she made with Pickle, but she doesn't realize until it's too late bcuz she's still too focused on the game (until it all comes crashing down a second time and she hates herself about it, and tries to End The Whole Show (THROUGH NONVIOLENCE MIGHT I ADD)). The whole show, she's wanted nothing more than to be redeemed and to undo her mistakes becuz she REGRETS HURTING PEOPLE AND she doesn't fully believe she can or that she deserves to, until MePad begins to help her out. These two things can both be true!!

Also, come On man. Sooooo many characters in this show are "bad people" or can be mean or hurtful. (Honestly, Id argue that a huge theme of the show is realizing people are multi-faceted and that people aren't only their worst traits, or their stereotype personalities but are in fact just as complex and personable as anyone else. That the show and the game and the challenge bring out the worst in people for Drama or Views or Money, but that doesn't mean that's all there IS to the competitors, and even the hosts, and you can't judge them based solely on their worst traits, which are getting exacerbated and unnaturally worsened due to the harmful exploitative nature of reality TV). That doesn't make ANY of them "irredeemable". Taco can have a redemption arc just as much as MePhone or Knife or Nickel can, who IN MY OPINION have done similar, and also Way Worse Things than she did, that no one ever brings up in these conversations. And NO that doesn't make you a misogynist for misinterpreting Taco or for thinking Knife is fine and she isn't, it just makes you have poor plot comprehension skills and you're predisposed to hold bias against the antagonist character becuz she's the antagonist. It's Whatever.

[terrence-silver]

Can you please do a scenario where Terrys beloved dies during childbirth and how he copes with his grief. Would he accept and love the baby or reject and blame the baby.

---

Like five hundred other people are to blame.

Surgeons. Doctors. Nurses. Midwives. The medical staff at the emergency room. The poor, unlucky chauffeur who drove the beloved to their usual appointments, for all we know. The measures they took. The measures they didn't take. The amount of dedication they clearly didn't show, in his opinion. It is the ultimate betrayal that'll get so many people hurt. When Terry Silver pays a sum for a service, he expects the service delivered to perfection and according to his instructions; that's how that social contract works because nothing's for free, and if you throw a whole fortune at something, you expect nothing but your vision delivered to you down to the smallest details. The fact that he was failed so catastrophically it resulted in the death of the person he covets and loves the most? Someone stripped away beyond his control to stop it!? When he trusted vetted professionals, the best of the best in their field, to do the job right!? I swear to god, heads will fly. He daydreams about what could've happened if he just kicked down the doors of the delivery room and carried beloved out of there before it was too fucking late. The revenge will be horrifying, though. People will lose jobs. Their licenses to practice medicine. They'll be blacklisted. Sued. They'll find their cars blown up. Their places of residence broken into. Burned down. The hospital they worked in foreclosed, bought out, bulldozed overnight and turned into an empty privately owned lot until not even a single brick remains of the place that killed beloved. For the love of all that's holy, some of the participants involved in the tragedy might even find their own loved ones done in by mysterious circumstances because blood can be only repaid by blood. A life for a life. And since Terry might just think the life of someone he loves is worth infinitely more than just one life, the retaliation can be truly awful and result in some many injured parties and so much damage it is pretty hard to describe just how far he'd go.

Pretty far, I'd reckon.

Murder, carnage and torture type of far.

When the dragon's been woken, it's impossible to get him to slumber again.

But, however far it does go, I doubt he'd ever blame his child; if anything, his possessiveness of them is only kickstarted into some very excessive territories day one seeing as how they're the last thing he has left off from beloved and the one thing that'll outlive him and carry him on, into the future, and so, all the more reason for him to be devoted to his offspring with all the lovesickness a human heart can produce, blaming, perhaps, himself, all the more, behind the narcissistic facade that he is infallible and all powerful. Terry actually feels he's entirely to blame, triggered into a bygone time where his clumsiness resulted in a friend's death, and here he is, decades later, at the very exact same place. He lost control then and he lost control now. Almost like he's back at the very same spot he was in Vietnam and he's still that scared, shivering boy in the cage and he's angry. Desperate. Vulnerable. And oh so feral. And everyone best beware. This is an issue that The Valley might just end up burning down over, engulfing everything far and wide. Man would step on the whole world because he'd feel the world deserves it now more than ever.

This is an extremely deadly mindset to put Terry Silver into.

No telling how violently all of it could culminate in his mourning.

[my-my-my]

I loved the question you got for Aizen and wanted to ask the same for Majima: Do you think Majima would be a toxic boyfriend? I honestly think he'd do some toxic, immature things unintentionally. What toxic things do you think he'd do or say to his partner?

Ohhh good question!! Honestly, yes I think Majima would be a toxic boyfriend, but definitely NOT for the same reasons as Aizen.

TW: discussion about violence, mention of domestic violence, abortion

Majima is someone who has been through so much. Joining the Yakuza at a young age, having his kyodai in prison for 25+ years, while he himself, experienced The Hole, being Shimano's bitch while acting as a Captain for the family, then getting his own family. Life was not kind to him, and he definitely tried to make the most of it as a yakuza member.

I definitely agree with you anon, he would do a lot of toxic/immature things unconsciously, but that's because - at least for Majima, it does come out of self-preservation. He lived in an environment where it truly was one-man for himself (in a way). He had to not only be unhinged to survive it, but also become ruthless to his own men in his family. It's quite lonely, you know? He has violent tendencies, has probably killed people in his work, slapped Mirei Park when she aborted his child, let alone dating her when she was 18 and he was in his late 20s!

Majima is also someone who thinks he is better off alone for the safety of the people he cares about. We see this in Yakuza 0, Kiwami 2, Yakuza 4 and 5: He left Sunshine without telling Yuki, Youda and the other hostess, did not say anything to Makoto after the events of Yakuza 0, is implied to not have looked or sought out Yasuko (even though he cared for her deeply like an older brother), completely cut off contact with Mirei after he hit her/the abortion, and faked his death for Saejima and Kiryu's safety.

While he does care for his men, Saejima, Kiryu, etc. through his actions you can see that he believes that they're better off without him. So I think if something were to happen to his partner because of their ties to him/association with the Yakuza, he would ghost them.

Also in the Kiwami 2 Majima Construction mini game, Majima admits that he thinks he looks old and would scare off potential dates. So he's also insecure about that - I think it would make him apprehensive to be with someone if he doesn't believe them when they find him handsome.

I think if he had a partner and he wanted them to be safe without him, he would cheat on them - giving them a reason to end the relationship with him. He doesn't seem like someone to communicate his feelings at all, if anything, avoids that if possible.

Similar to Aizen, he is lonely, but Majima resigned himself to this loneliness. He decided to stay in the Yakuza, and he knew what kind of pain and hardships would come along with that. In his own twisted logic, he thinks having a partner like him would be unfair to the other person - as they deserve someone much better than him.

While he can monetarily provide whatever material gift they want, maybe some physical connection too, I think Majima would be reluctant to connect to a partner emotionally - even if he wants too. His "mask" built during his time in the Yakuza has really skewed his view of himself.

We can see with how he is with Saejima and Kiryu that he cares deeply, that is emotionally sensitive and attuned, but Saejima and Kiryu know the Yakuza life and what that entails, so Majima's "mask" is off - whether a partner can experience that is another story and how much Majima would want this partner to know about the yakuza life.

Thank you for this ask! Sorry for the ramble haha. TL;DR: Majima and Aizen are both lonely men, but for completely different reasons! Majima wants what's best for his partner, and that can be in a world without him.

[nerdthatsiriuslylovesteaxx]

Helpless part 10 (shocking that my internet hasn't given up yet)

"So Solace what exactly are we doing?"

"Down to play twenty questions?" Nico considered the offer and smirked,

"Sure." The two sat down next to each other on a log.

"Two skips each, but they get replaced with other questions."

"What's something that isn't a secret but most people don't know about you?" He was ridiculously bored and thought he could use this game to his advantage.

"I'm not actually blonde."

"Explain. Now."

"I was brunette but when I got claimed any part of my hair that was in the sun turned blonde." He pulled out a piece of his hair that wasn't normally visible, it was a light chesnut brown colour.

"Well that's shocking, you know when I asked that question that was not an answer I was expecting."

"I'm a mysterious person di Angelo, now, do you have any exes?"

"Solace I spend most of my time avoiding people."

"In hindsight that was a pretty dumb question."

"Too late, if you had to kill all the people in one cabin which one would it be?"

"Demeter. That was a bit of a violent question." He tried to play it off but his answer had been so quick and confident Nico started to wonder what had happened. "Have you ever drunk?"

"More than you would expect."

"Neeks! You're fourteen, have you ever wondered why there are age restrictions?" Nico just smirked,

"You asked Sun boy, anyways technically I'm older than that. What's the worst crime you have ever committed?"

"Love how you just assume I've committed crimes, but assult. The only reason it wasn't murder is Annabeth pulling me off."

"The fuck Solace, are you going to explain that?"

"I'd rather not, let's just say I was pretty...pissed that day."

"Well that's terrifying."

"I told you I have secrets di Angelo, who's someone you used to care about but now hate?"

"Skip."

"Is it true you liked Annabeth?"

"Really Solace? No it is not, otherwise Percy would have already murdered me."

"Had to ask, the Aphrodite cabin was trying to figure that out for two years."

"Truly incredible, can you fight with a sword?"

"Not in the slightest."

"I'm teaching you, archery will be useless in close combat. You will die in a matter of seconds ."

"You have so much confidence in me Neeks, but thanks for the offer."

"Wasn't an offer, more so a kidnapping where I teach you by force how to fight."

"Okay then...do you prefer the 1930s or now?"

"Now, better arcades."

"Great reasoning."

"What's your worst fear?"

"Pass, I would never hear the end of it."

"Can't be that bad."

"You would never shut up about it Neeks, I can guess that much." Nico locked eyes with the blonde boy, he considered the question he was about to ask.

"Do you regret coming out to all of camp?" So he did know, Will thought to himself. He didn't answer instantly but he didn't want to pass it either.

"Well, um.."

"You have skips, you don't have to answer Will." That was the first time Nico had used his actual name, Will desperately wanted to kiss him.

"I want to answer it just, thinking. I'm happy they know and I don't have to hide it but...some people aren't the nicest. Cabin four has the most for whatever reason, they seem to get joy out of making me feel like shit. Most people are nice enough, with the rest, well you get used to it." Nico grabbed his hand,

"Who. Has. Been. Giving. You. Shit? Give me a list, I will make sure they'll never do anything again."

"Neeks it's fine, I don't need you threatening them."

"I'll be doing a lot more than threats Solace, give me a list of every single person who has hurt you."

"Nico it's okay."

"Did I ask? You're a ball of sunshine, no one and I mean no one has any reason to hurt you."

"They do, there's so many people I couldn't save, I killed them. I deserve to suffer because of that, they deserve revenge on me for killing their friends." Will had tears forming in his eyes.

"Will it's not your fault they died, and either way you shouldn't have to go through this."

"Nico, are you straight?" He froze for a second, he had still been holding Will's hand but he didn't want to let go. He was warm, his thumb was stroking his hand warming up the usually freezing Ghost king. After Will had told him so much he couldn't lie, he always had a skip but part of him wanted Will to know.

"..n..no...I'm gay. Not that many people know, the seven and Reyna that's it. Please don't tell anyone." Nico shakes a bit and a few tears fell, he didn’t want to cry in front of him but he couldn’t help it. Will wrapped his free arm around Nico and pulled him closer to himself,

"Thank you for telling me, I know it's hard Neeks."

"How did you tell so many people?"

"Didn't like people assuming things, also I just...didn't want to hide I guess. Still though, I've been too scared to tell my mum, barely seen her since I'm here all year but even if I had the chance to I probably wouldn't tell her. As for the actual time well it was a while after Percy was missing, before Jason, Piper and Leo showed up, campfire, just kinda said if at the end."

"Did anyone know before that?"

"I told Annabeth first but Kayla and Austin found out by themselves pretty quickly. Who was your first crush?"

"Do not hold this against me, it was Percy." Will started grinning,

"Same, half the camp has liked him at this point I swear."

"Half of camp is pathetic."

"You're including yourself in that statement you know."

"I am fully aware, honestly I should have given up on him when I saw him talking to Annabeth the first time."

"Didn't they hate each other for a few years?"

"Hate is a strong word, I prefer to use hopelessly in love and oblivious."

"Lovely wording; I gave up when my brain started working and I realised he is straight."

"You think Percy is straight? Have you talked to him before?"

"Percy isn't straight?!"

"With the way he talked about Luke? Not a chance, and that was after he betrayed him. I can only imagine him pining over him at the age of twelve, completely oblivious, then also being hopelessly in love with Annabeth and being a helpless simp once more."

"So you are telling me Percy Jackson liked Luke Castellan, aka. the person who tried to kill him multiple times?"

"When he was twelve definitely, at least in the way he talked about what he was like before when I met him. Don't know if he realised it then, but he is not straight. You haven't seen him and Jason talk, if I didn't know how much he loved Annabeth, going to Taturus with her I would have been sure they're secretly dating."

"The more you know I guess. What's something you can do that no one knows about?"

"I can braid hair, I mean Hazel knows that but still."

"Emo Death boy can braid hair."

"Firstly, I'm not emo."

"Keep thinking that Neeks."

"Secondly, this is why I don't tell people this."

"Honestly the fact you can braid hair is adorable, also it proves that you are no where near as scary as you think."

"I could kill you right now."

"You sure about that di Angelo? Right now you can't do much without melting into a puddle of darkness, you're just a nerd that's pretending to be dark and mysterious."

"Oh shut up Solace."

"Never."

"Have you been on a quest?"

"Nope, I just try to prevent deaths after them."

"How many languages can you speak?"

"Wait give me a second, Itallian, Greek moderen and ancient, Latin, English, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, German and Dutch. So that's twelve and a half I'm fluet in and I'm trying to teach myself Russian and Japanese." He said counting them off on his fingers

"Gods Nico, what exactly do you do with your free time?"

"Well first four are pretty obvious but Bianca taught me French and Swedish and the rest I've taught myself, writing's hell with dyslexia but I've survived. It's a pretty useful skill when you randomly show up in different countries."

"I can barely speak English properly half the time!"

"That sounds like a problem on your side Sunshine." He said messing up the blonde boys hair, Will desperately tried to hide his blushing. "Have you ever passed out because you healed too many people?"

"Yeah, happens quite a bit." Nico slapped him, not that hard but hard enough for it to hurt. "Hey what was that for?"

"You can't be overworking yourself like that Solace, you're a doctor for Zeus's sake. What help is it going to be if you pass out while healing someone?"

"It's the most effective way, plus I get more people healed."

"So let me get this straight, you risk your own health while telling people not to?"

"Okay when you put it that way-"

"Yeah it sounds bad! Please do not do that, can't have you dying on me Solace"

"I thought you were plotting to kill me anyways?"

"Exactly, can't have you dying before I kill you myself."

"Sure di Angelo, have you ever killed anyone?"

"Pass." He had become friendly with Will, he didn't need anyone else leaving him.

"Cats or dogs?"

"Do hellhounds count? I have a pet hellhound called Mrs O'Leary."

"Was that a gift from Hades?"

"Nope, from Percy."

"Wait what? I'm just going to accept that at this point."

"Good idea, I wasn't planning to explain."

"Course you weren't," Will checked his watch. "Come on Neeks, it's time for lunch, we got through ten questions each, same time tomorrow?"

"I don't have a choice do I?"

"Nope; head to the infirmary I'll get you some food."

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten for a few days, just try to eat a few bites."

"Fine.." Nico muttered before walking off to the infirmary.

***

[the-kirbe-anon]

MANIFESTIMONY (1/???)

Lately, I’ve been trying to block out all outside influences from my personal relationship with god, but here’s the difficult thing about that: I’m still looking for answers. The Bible on its own isn’t enough for me, it’s just not. It’s vague as fuck, and there’s a lot of unanswered questions that I need properly answered if you expect me to understand any of it at all. But when most Christians/Pastors tell me their answers, I add those answers into the equation and it just makes me feel even worse, leaving me with even more questions, depression, paranoia, and overall confusion than before. I know that you probably think I shouldn’t let other Christians influence my relationship with God, as if it’s not already bad just being God, The Bible, and me. I try to picture God how you all want me to picture him (a loving father), but then thoughts of all the things he did in the bible come to mind, and I start to feel as if it's all just a facade. It all crumbles away, and I start to feel sick. I just can’t feel safe in him. It feels better viewing Christ as a being entirely separate from God, a being that came to sacrificed himself to save us from his father’s wrath. If Jesus is God, the same god that did all of those things, then I feel like he deserved everything they did to him. Why should I feel bad for him? He’s the all-powerful ruler of existence, he has everything he could ever want and infinitely more. He CHOSE to become human, he KNEW he would be killed in the way he was. He WANTED to be killed in the way he was. In fact, why should I feel bad for him anyway? He’s the son of God, that makes him one of the most privileged people in existence by default. He didn’t even stay dead, so what exactly did he sacrifice? Even ignoring all of that, why did God feel he had to die in one of the most violent and horrific ways imaginable just so he can save us from himself? Is God not powerful enough against sin to avoid bloodshed? Or is he just that bloodthirsty? Why did God have to kill so many people? Is God not all-powerful against the devil? Can God not just come up with a way to fix the issue without killing his children? Did he know he would have to do this to them? If he did, then why did he create them in the first place? Are we all just disposable toys for him? Things he can play with for a while and then discard when we don’t serve the purpose he wanted us to have? Does he even really consider us humans his children? Or just the ones that mindlessly obey him? God never changes apparently, so he’s still the same bloodthirsty, apathetic tyrant he was when he did all those things. Why should I trust him? Because he created me? Look at what he HIMSELF did to the things he’s created in the past. I know God hates me asking all these questions and is probably contemplating the right time to kill me right now, but I’ve tried to stop thinking about all of this, and I just can’t. I wish God never gave humans free will. He had no reason to give humans free will whatsoever. He knew ALL of the risks, knowing that he would have to kill so many of his own creations, ones that he supposedly “loved”, and knowing that most of those creations wouldn’t come back to him, and he STILL gave us free will. WHY? Does he just love seeing us fuck up all the time so he can justify punishing us? Otherwise, I can’t see a reason. Think about how much better everything would be if we didn’t have free will, how much happier we all would be, and most importantly, how much happier God would be. There would be no sin, because we’d be unable to. We would still be in the garden. God wouldn’t have to have killed any of us and none of us would go to hell. The more Christians I talk to, the less christians I’m able to talk to, and the more I feel like, maybe this is God’s way of telling me I deserve to be alone.

Hello Anon, sorry this answer took a bit, but I'll try to answer this to the best of my ability and if I miss something/ say something wrong I hope my fellow Christian mutuals chime in as needed.

1. Jesus is God. There are many Bible verses that point to this.

John 10:30 (ESV)

30 I and the Father are one.”

John 8:58

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There are more verses that show that The Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit are one God, the same God.

Now, Why did God kill people?

Well God, being fully good, cannot tolerate sin. The punishment for sin is death and hell. God is fully justice as well, so while He can decide who dies and who doesn't, and even uses the government (not citizens such as vigilantes) as a tool for justice (death penalty, prison, ECT.

(better explained in these articles)

Why did God give us free will, knowing that we would sin?

He did that because He wanted us to have a relationship with Him, and if we were like machines or puppets, we wouldn't be able to have a relationship with Him.

We wouldn't get to know His incredible mercy, His grace or truly understand what His love is. More on that here

(GotQuestions teen site, put it there because they explain it in an easy to understand way while remaining true to the Bible.)

Also God doesn't want to punish us and He's not waiting for you to mess up so He could kill or punish you, that's not who He is and I'm sorry if someone made you think He is like that. God does hate sin and wants us to repent but he's not sitting there waiting to kill or punish you. Yes continuous unrepentant sin leads to Hell, but Jesus (as I said, also God) did everything necessary for you to repent and be saved.

God sent His Son so that anyone who accepts Him as their Lord and Savior can be saved, including you.

We ALL have sinned, and deserve punishment, especially me. I'm no better than anyone else and struggle with sin daily. BUT Jesus, who had never sinned, died on the cross to pay for our sins, and resurrected three days later. He didn't sin, so He didn't deserve the punishment He got, but willingly accepted the punishment we deserve so that He could save us.

If you accept Jesus, you don't ever need to worry about being punished, because He already paid for that punishment.

[kindlingkeen]

(i'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, it's late, but i just realized a lot of this recently and i needed to put it into words so i hope you don't mind)

i've been thinking recently and while i don't mind fics with lazarus pit madness (or lazarus pit side-effects that basically amount to uncontrollable rage or violent blackouts, etc) if they are written well and the madness is handled in an interesting way, i've recently taken to mostly avoiding them because — well first of all so many of them are about tim, which. sometimes i want to read a jason fic that's actually about jason. anyway,, — i've realized that a lot of the time the "lazarus pit madness" is used to excuse everything jason has done since he was dunked. it's the reason he kills now, it's the reason he cut off those heads, it's the reason he beat tim bloody in titan's tower, etc.

instead of letting jason be a character who has his own morals, different and not what is usually considered "acceptable" as they may be, instead of exploring how they influence how he does things as the red hood, or how his own morals, his unique code affects his relationships with the batfam, he's just sort of… flat? he's made into basically nothing but a walking wall of seething green that's easily triggered and makes his black out with rage and is to blame for every violent thing he does — he is given no responsibility for his actions. and i've found that a lot of these fics end with the pit madness either somehow being done away with or at least being dealt with and then jason is back with his family happily ever after completely exonerated because it's not his fault, he didn't make those decisions, the pit did

i just,,, what about a jason who is aware of his actions? what about a jason who has thought things through and decided what kind of person he was going to make himself into? what about a jason who looked his trainers in the eye and knew he was going to kill them, who makes a plan and follows through, who didn't have to cut off those heads but he had a statement to make and maybe cutting them off was awful and horrible no matter that he decided they deserved to die but he did it because it needed done? and he's fully aware of what he's doing, he is responsible for his actions and any consequences. and he's going to do whatever he's going to do anyway. i think he's a much more interesting character that way

You 🤝 Me. Let’s be best friends. We can start a fan club, the let-Jason-have-his-autonomy club. I’ll be treasurer (fair warning, I plan to blow our budget on Red Hood stickers).

In all seriousness, yes, this, exactly this. I read a ton of these fics when I first got into the fandom, and I still enjoy a good pit madness fic from time to time, but nowadays I tend to want so much more for Jason.

For whatever reason, I think there’s a lot of “fast” fanfiction (as in the idea of “fast fashion”) written about Jason. It leans hard into a popular trope, hits those hurt/comfort vibes with a wrecking ball, and usually ends up absolutely nerfing Jason.

Writing a Jason who’s resolute in his mission and his methods, a Jason who is balanced and believable, is hard. Writing that kind of Jason and getting him to authentically reconcile with the Bats without sacrificing his autonomy is miles past hard. Reading that kind of Jason, staring uncomfortable truths in the face, that can also be hard. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay (*grumbles unhappily*).

Thanks so much for the ask, anon, and for sharing your thoughts with me. 💙💙💙

[atopvisenyashill]

Top ten: the narrative did them dirty, what could have been (more interesting), and what one off mentions you want to see more of, and what Martin historical inaccurate stuff pisses you off (no child brides).

narratives did them dirty. that’s actually kinda hard bc like for example depending on how the story ends, lyanna & elia could be perfectly fine as they are OR i could be annoyed. i feel very silly being like "narrative did them dirty" when we just have no idea how the narrative ends alsjdfkl

arianne nymeros martell - simply should have been there earlier

areo hotah - like victarion, he’s a character that is meant to give us insight into a particular region, unlike victarion his inner narrative is largely nonexistent. he just loves doran & that’s it, we don’t really know him

irri - no explanation needed

lyarra stark - deserves more than “she died”

gaemon palehair - his death should have hit harder

alyssa velaryon - should have aborted jaehaerys in the womb

loreza nymeros martell - we don’t even know her name

dalla the wildling - she should have lived, would have been more interesting having her be our wildling voice in the north w jon

weasel - IF HOT PIE & GENDRY ARE OKAY WHY CANT WEASEL BE 🤧🤧

cersei - listen. listen to me. she is RIGHT to be paranoid, i think this is simply a byproduct of (similar to arianne) not introducing her pov until late in the game but she’s RIGHT just bc she’s crazy doesn’t mean she’s not CORRECT

one off/could have beens

whoever wrote that book about the similarities between the north and dorne. i want the whole thing.

rhoynar water magic

the black pearl of braavos. she just seems cool, give me more summer island diaspora stuff, it’s interesting!!!!!!

the entire jaehaera/daenaera thing. no reason for daenaera to have not been a lady of jaehaera’s, and even if jaehaera still ultimately dies before having children, just doing more with the three of them instead of whatever he did would have gone a long way

alysanne daughter of maegor forever

saera - i think her later years should have had more of a focus, she just disappears to be a brothel owner, feels like a lot of build up without enough pay off

myr. i’m very very interested in them, esp w the controversial maester comments about them being related to the rhoynar (are they or is that racism lol) and the fact that taena serala AND thoros are from there?? AND varys was castrated in myr???? i’m just curious bc we don’t know a lot about it!!

pact of ice and fire should have been MORE. LADY SWAP SOMETHING. COME ON.

MORE ALAYAYA. she just kinda disappears after tyrion leaves and i get it but i want to know she's alright!!!! how is her reading going!!!

literally a single fucking essosi point of view. a dothraki, a meereenese, a pentoshi tyroshi like ANYONE

historical inaccuracy nitpicks

the fucking dothraki. listen. the focus on the arakh as if any nomadic people place any sort of importance on metal tools?? the lack of any sort of armor?? the complete reliance on orientalism and anti native characterization of like, thoughtless hordes of hyper violent savages for their ENTIRE PEOPLE???? they have the aesthetics of mongolians and lakota but absolutely NOTHING that made them interesting cultures that had civilizations that lasted hundreds of years.

the small households in the north kill me. i think you could argue this is mostly a ned thing because everyone else is still fostering kids, making marriage pacts, etc, but there’s a real lack of it, and a huge lack of focus on the politics of each faction that would crop up esp re: the small council.

the lack of cool septas. i know this is part of his distaste for religion but there were a lot of very cool and interesting nuns who ran around doing cool and interesting stuff and i DO think the gender & class dynamics potentially at play there WOULD interest him so it’s a frustrating lack

the lack of saints. again, this is his disinterest for religion but like. what kind of religion doesn’t have a martyr or two they throw a festival for a few times a year like. everyone has a prophet or two that are regularly worshipped idk!!!

not enough peasant revolts!!!!! dragon pit? amazing. poor fellows? very fun!!! the riot scene in KL? harrowing!!!! but like people just rebelled way more in history than he writes about!

what’s the word yeoman i believe? more of them!!!!!

more guilds!!!

okay it’s not like,,,, necessarily a problem it’s just that societies that had Slaving Economies, not just places that had slavery but Economies Centered Around Slavery Exclusively number at like, three or four, while half the societies we have in terros are slaving economies. i don’t inherently mind this - for example, people have pointed out how much more volatile and brutal his world is but imo that makes sense when you have crazy seasons like they do & also magic, so that’s not a nitpick for me personally - but i guess i. wonder. if HE realizes this?

more festivals and feastdays and random holidays. these people don’t have any fucking holidays!!!! i feel like there should be waaaaaaay more yearly celebrations to help keep track of the passage of time since they don’t have regular seasons????

[fandomwe1rd0]

In defense of Morty

I mean...I did one of these for the drunk, abusive, old man...it's only fair if I do one for the sweet, good-natured grandson whom he traumatized.

Now, like the Rick one, I will not be defending Morty's actions despite the title. While I think Morty is A LOT more easy to defend than Rick, I will not be defending him, I seek to understand why he did what he did, and not to defend it. Cool? Cool.

Sooo let's choose 3 especially bad things he did. One of them is ask Rick to make a love potion for Jessica...that was...oof...yeahhh that was bad. 2nd is killing innocent people in purge planet that was...something. And last but not least, killing people while using the death crystal. This will be an interesting one folks!

Okkk let's start off with him asking Rick to make a love potion for Jessica, sweetie, I love you but this wasn't cool. Rick wasn't too far off when he called it a "roofie-juice serum" you're making someone do something they normally wouldn't do so you can uh...do...activities with them. Not cool sweetheart. But, this was done to show Morty's naivete. In season 1, he was all in all a pretty innocent and naive boy, I mean, he was TRAUMATIZED the first time he shot someone in season 1, now he's cool with shooting anyone. Season 1 was about breaking down that innocence, asking for a love potion is a pretty childish idea, since when you're a kid, you don't think too hard about consent or any of that, and think that if you give them a love potion, that's the equalivilent to consent, obviously now we know that's not true, but when you're a kid, it doesn't really sink in and, like it or not Morty is, wait for it, a kid. He also DEFINETILY does NOT have a healthy view on what love is, due to his parents being to only adults in his life besides Rick, and Rick has cynical views on love, and his parents argue all the time. He doesn't know what love is, and that would probably be the healthiest thing to "love" in his books. Is it healthy? No. But since he doesn't know what healthy love is, he would consider that healthy. He also acknowledges that he was partially to blame, while Rick takes none of the blame. Why are people so much harsher to Morty about this than they were to Rick? Rick is the adult. The smartest man in the universe. He should've been smart enough to refuse it, but he didn't. He never accepted his part of the blame, but Morty did. What Morty did wasn't right, but he doesn't know what healthy love is, which is a part of why he's obssessed with Jessica.

Okkk next up Purge Planet! Oh boy what an episode. So quick brief on what he did in this episode, he went to a planet that was purging. Morty at first was hesitant to participate in it, wanting to just go home and not watching the purge, at first he was pretty clearly on the side of good, but eventually gets into it and goes out of his way to kill people who were purging, but even some innocent people that were just trying to hide. He was clearly not in the right headspace, he was letting all the repressed rage he's been bottling up for who-knows-how-long. Now while death and destruction don't really matter in this universe, so it isn't that bad in the context of the show, I already started writing this soooo it's too late to turn back. Besides there's not that many outwardly bad things this kid did soooooooooo. Alright back on track, now, obviously not defending murder (unless it's the murder of mr. Jellybean or Planetina fuck them bitches) but let's take a look at the person who he spends most of his time with. You guys know who it is. Rick! Now Rick is a pretty violent person, he usually kills in self defense, but there was a handful of times where he didn't. Most famously Mr. Jellybean, we can all agree that he deserved it though. Now Morty hangs around Rick all the time, and Rick forces him to shoot people, the very first time was in the pilot, where he told Morty to cover for him and when Morty said no, Rick lied about the people chasing them being robots. There were mutiple times where he has been forced to shoot people. And Morty clearly holds a lot of resentment towards Rick, I mean it's clear as day, he even threatened to kill Rick in this very same episode, Rick forcing Morty to be violent, along with the repressed rage he has, is a lot on the little guy. So when he finally has a chance to let out that repressed rage, no matter how unethetical, he's going to do it. Is it right? Ha. No. But we are not here to defend him, we are here to understand his actions better. And it's worth mentioning that he felt horrible afterwards, Rick very rarely feels guilt for his actions, yet people give him a lot of flak, Morty feels guilt and is a literal child. He deserves more slack than people give him, his actions here were not right, but combinding the repressed rage, stress, and violence, this makes perfect sense.

Last up! The crystal episode, now the episode starts with Morty leaving Rick for dead. He attempted to shoot Rick in season 3, so this isn't all too surprising, besides, Rick does treat Morty pretty horribly on a day to day basis, so it makes sense that Morty would be done with it by now, I would've been done with Rick after season 1. Besides, that's not the real issue here, the real issue is how many innocent people he killed in the process. So another quick brief on this episode, Morty finds a crystal that tells you how you're gonna die. Despite Rick saying the crystals aren't useful, Morty uses one of them nonetheless, he sees that if he does things in a speific way, he will be able to die with Jessica, so he does exactly what he needs to do so he can die with Jessica. This is more proof on his obssession with Jessica, but we already covered it, so I will not elaborate on it. So, he kills people so he can die with her. I will do a quick kill count, he kills appromiately (This is an extermely rough estimate)

2 bullies. (One bully wasn't killed but was stuck to the wall)

Servely injured 2 policemen (They were still alive but permentently disfigured)

17 miltary people (Damn)

And that's about it. I'm fandomwe1rd0, and this has been the kill count, (heh, dead meat reference)

Ok so he kills a lot of people here, like a lot. But also, Morty just isnt happy in his life. Really Jessica is what makes him happiest, which might also be an explaination for his obssession with her, but that's a topic for another post, maybe, if people are interested. Now he sees a way he can be with her, and he'll do anything to chase that happiness, it's not right, it's not healthy, but he wants to be happy so bad that he'll do anything. He also takes responibility for his actions, which is something Rick doesn't do, so cut Morty some slack, ok?

Now all of the things I've mentioned are very, very bad. But I like seeing how we can understand these characters and see the reasons why they do what they do, they always have a reason for it, and that's a testamate to how great the show is and how human the characters are. Morty has done a lot of bad, but there are reasons behind them that show us the poor broken scared kid that Morty really is.

[clementineofmine]

For the ask game :)

Same Weird Family (the series): 1, 4, 5, & 9

Thanks, @assaily, for the ask! I'm going to answer this based on Same Weird Family, the first in the series because I haven't gotten to talk about that one yet. It's the first fic I wrote (that you know of, lol) so while I now find parts of it a bit rough, it'll always be near and dear to me as it came about due to a visceral need to word vomit about these characters.

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I started this fic a few weeks after S2, and like many I was absolutely inspired by the absolute savagery and increasing desperation of Five in that season. From killing the board to rewinding time, Five did so much for his family that season and none of them knew about it. Plus, the season ended in a new timeline, so the "what's going to happen next?" opportunities were almost endless.

I was also deeply inspired by those who took a stab at post S2 before me, including but definitely not limited to NonLinear Theory for Dummies, The Walls Kept Tumbling Down, Creeping Towards Extinction, and Tangled in the Hanging Tree. If you haven't read these and you like my fic, you're going to love these. They are all angsty and excellent.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

I'm gonna call out Allison here, because while she didn't get a lot of focus in this fic, I think she deserves a chance to yell at her brothers more often.

“Well, if we can’t take him to the hospital-” Allison’s words returned them to the practical matters. She looked around as Diego and Luther both shook their heads at her as confirmation. Vanya looked torn but didn’t disagree. Klaus remained focused on Five. “-we’ll have to watch him. We’ll take shifts.” “Oh boy, Five’ll just love that,” Diego scoffed. “He’s unconscious. He’ll deal,” Allison pointed out, closing the discussion. She finished cleaning up Five’s injuries and straightened his clothes. “And if you guys are done with playing pissing contest,“ she gave a pointed look to both Diego and Luther, “you can help me get him upstairs to the bedroom."

5: What part was hardest to write?

Chapters 1-6 and part of 7 came at me fast and furious, but I floundered a bit trying to get through 7 and 8 to the end. I think the writing is a bit awkward and it does make me cringe a bit.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not alternate versions so much as I did a lot of rewriting (I'm a pantser; I try to let my characters speak and sometimes they surprise me)

If you'll permit me to tag onto your ask, I'd also like to answer 3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

I spent a lot of time dissecting Five's internal emotions during this fic, trying to make sense of what drives Five - the anger and frustration and desperation that we saw on screen in S2, and beyond. I'm quite proud of some of it. Here's a snip:

“FIVE!” The shout cleaved him violently from his thoughts. Five blinked, confused, and looked up. His mind registered that his name had possibly been said more than once.  Oh, he remembered, almost absently. His siblings were pestering him.  Five sighed. All of the energy that had once fueled his rage was gone, drained away as quickly as it had spiraled up. Anger merely simmered now, rather than burned. He no longer felt dizzy, just…tired. In the clarity of hindsight, Five knew he hadn’t ever really been angry at his siblings. Annoyed, sure. Frustrated. But anger was reserved for the fact that Luther and Diego’s questions dragged things out of the little box, things that snagged and pulled at the cracks and exposed his weakness. For the memory of the light fading out of Klaus’s eyes, reaching for Five but still dead before he hit the ground. For the way that Vanya’s body crumpled like a discarded paper doll. Mostly, Five’s anger was directed at himself. For being played, and not figuring out the only possible end to the Handler’s deal until it was much too late. If he had been thinking clearly. If he only… Stop, Five. There’s no good destination down that road. “Five, we just want to help you” the soft voice said. He still didn’t care to pick out its owner. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t bear to keep listening. His siblings had died because of him. Again. And everything that happened afterwards – his survival, his thoughts, his actions – he could give them everything and still would never be enough to make it up to them. Never. 

fic ask game

[fabdante]

tw physical abuse, violence, domestic abuse

*spins* I wonder if anybody ever noticed how quickly reboot Dante heals, and used it as an excuse to hurt him more/worse than they would've otherwise dared to when they knew he was going to be seen out in public? Because they know he can just heal up just fine (he's not fine- healing still takes energy, his healing factor still has a LIMIT, but its not like Dante'll ever tell them that, and they more than likely wouldn't care enough to stop if they knew), "so it doesn't matter what I do to him". Like, abusive foster parents, or guards, or teachers, or other people in positions of power. I wonder if Dante ever used that healing factor of his as an excuse to take physical abuse meant for somebody else, even if the victim wasn't someone he knew or they weren't kind to him, just because Dante knows they don't deserve to be treated like that? It still HURTS, but at least he can take it. (Besides, it hurts less than seeing someone else get hurt, and because he thinks he deserves it for being- who he is. Like maybe he thinks there must be something wrong with him for the demons to keep hunting him so doggedly.)

I wonder if he's ever been stabbed or shot on someone else's behalf? I wonder if he's ever killed someone that took the abuse too far, human or not? I wonder if he ever ran away into Limbo, because it made running from the cops easier?

Plus, reboot Dante has more control over his healing factor than preboot Dante seems to, so if reboot Dante needs to lie there and bleed for a bit to satisfy someone's sadism, he can. Very useful trick, that, sometimes. Especially if/when you need to play dead.

Ok so I may have gotten off topic but I'm very interested in the idea of reboot Dante and violence asdfghjk. I love characters and their complicated relationships to violence, it's a whole thing for me.

But yeah in an effort to keep this short my TLDR is: I think that yeah, Dantes been subject to a lot of abuse and his healing abilities could have enabled that abuse to be worse in the right scenario though I think he's very liable to start hitting back. I think he's definitely protected people he cares about with his healing abilities and he's definitely killed abusive people before (something him and Kat have in common). And I think the ability to play dead would be useful for him dfghjkl

In an effort to ramble about reboot Dante and violence, here's more post asdfghj (I'm not putting it under a read more but if anyone wants me to let me know):

I've come under the realization that I tend to categorize reboot Dante as more...violent and volatile then a lot of the fandom. I tend to characterize him like a scary dog in a lot of ways, largely a persona built out of a desire to protect himself and shut other people out. Which is to say I think he grew up in a lot of abusive and dangerous situations and given his unique circumstances he learned to hit back rather quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if Dante were someone's punching bag when he was younger and I wouldn't be surprised if he, given things like his healing abilities and what not, then decided to take this opportunity to punch back.

From what we see of him in game, particularly the late game conversation with Vergil about finding solace and release (the one where Vergil's like 'yeah I channeled all my energy into hacking because I felt like I didn't quite belong and it made me feel better what about you :)' and Dante was like 'yeah no I just slept around a lot and killed lots of demons' which was definitely not what Vergil wanted him to say asdfghjk), I think it's fair to assume Dante gets some sort of not exactly comfort or enjoyment from violence but a sort of like...it's sort of an outlet for his frustrations and emotions. And it's an easy outlet for those emotions.

I think there's also something to it with that one Barbara Kruger piece, this one:

The piece itself has like a homoerotic tone to it, at least I feel, particularly within the context of when it was made and all. But there's also this idea that like any sort of attention when you are starved from it is good attention. Here it's the idea that like these men want attention from other men but are too scared to receive it in a loving, kind way and so then turn to violence because it is some sort of attention, some sort of contact, with one another.

Which relates to what I want to talk about here, Dante is starved of affection and love which he copes with by both a lot of meaningless sex but also I think there's something to the idea that when you are touch starved, any sort of touch will do after a while. So getting into a physical fight, allowing oneself to engage in that, can give the sort of give a little hit of what he's looking for. Which is that sort of connection with another person, that like 'we're both here we're both alive you're real and I'm real' of a hug except you know, Worse. Like is a fight a kind interaction, no, but you can't really deny the fact you are both here in this moment and you are both alive and real as you drive a fist in a guys face. The idea that any attention is attention, even if it's bad attention.

I also tend to view him with very little care for his own self preservation. A mix of just not caring what happens to him but also that young person invincibility complex that's further enabled by the fact he can heal himself at will. Like he both is aware he can recover from injuries and all, but also fairly sure he's not going to live long, that sort of thing and isn't quite sure how much he cares to. But I definitely can see him, given the big heart he has down there that he likes to pretend he doesn't have, very eagerly playing human shield for people he cares about because he can take it and they can't.

So I think it's very likely he's taken hits on someone else's behalf before lashing out on the abuser/attacker. I don't think he takes abuse well, happening to himself or others.

I'm also very much of mind he has killed people who are not demons before because of the above.

There's also a lot of other angles to look at when it comes to reboot Dante and violence done by him or onto him to but I'm trying to keep this short asdfgh it's just a really interesting subject to me with characters, particularly characters already associated with violence.

[sokkastyles]

What do you think of the argument that Zuko continues to be arrogant and prideful in Book 3? I'm sure you've seen this post already, but I just wanted to know your thoughts on this. These are their words.

"Late Book 3.5 Zuko has changed significantly, but he can still be very arrogant, prideful, bitter, or hostile(some examples).* He continues to even sometimes put others down. He most certainly wasn’t obligated to let go of his bitterness toward those he felt hurt him. The idea that Ozai’s abuse someone made Zuko “less bitter” seems insane to me."

OP brought up the line in The Firebending Masters where Zuko says they can take them in a fight because they're the fire prince and the Avatar. Then they brought up Zuko saying he could take Azula in a fight in the finale to prove that he's still arrogant. Also, an example they used for the put others down thing is the infamous "air temple preschool" line. And to prove he's still violent and hostile, they pointed to him attacking Aang in the finale. I was taking a break from Azula stan insanity, but this argument pulled me out of retirement.

There's an obvious difference between excessive pride driven by a selfish need to be better than others and pride in oneself and one's accomplishments as a virtue.

And I would argue, and have argued before, that Zuko's arc has a lot to do with distinguishing that difference, as an abuse victim who was repeatedly told that his only sense of worth was tied to his abuser.

Zuko convincing Aang to see things through and that they could face whatever challenges might be coming is what allowed them to face the dragons. Without that, they would never have been judged worthy to begin with because they would have run away before they got the chance.

Getting rid of excessive pride and arrogance does not mean becoming a doormat. It also doesn't mean you stop being angry at people who deserve your anger. That's also a big lesson of "The Southern Raiders" that Katara learned as well. She didn't forgive her mother's murderer, and she'll never stop being angry at the man who killed her. And she doesn't need to do that. That was what Zuko was objecting to that Aang was preaching, and he knew that Katara didn't need to forgive because he himself knows what it's like to carry that anger which he probably will carry for the rest of his life. But that's okay. Ozai certainly deserves Zuko's anger and bitterness and probably more than that, because I'd argue that Zuko is way more forgiving than he deserves. The important thing is that Zuko is not directing that anger outward anymore at people who don't deserve it. It doesn't mean he never gets angry or he never disagrees with anyone about anything, it means that he's not trying to hurt himself or others anymore.

But trying to muddle that difference is a gaslighting technique that abusers use so I am not surprised that that person would use it.

But the thing about excessive pride is that it also makes you cowardly. Zuko has the confidence to face the dragons but he also knows that this means he has to submit himself to their judgment, and that is an inherently humbling experience that takes confidence to face. The same thing with fighting Azula, which, by the way, he is not doing for fun or his own benefit. He's doing it to save the world, and he's confident enough to know he can face her but humble enough to admit he can't do it on his own. These things show that he's learned how to find balance in his life, neither becoming overcome with excessive pride or becoming excessively timid or insecure, and that's a GOOD thing.