#but fuck he shouldn't have had to be

[symbioticsimplicity]

Just got to season 7 and I have some thoughts on souled!Spike.

So my whole worldview on rewatching this series has been different from when I watched it when I was younger. There's been a lot of things I liked or thought were fine the first go around that I don't see the same at all now.

Spike getting his soul back is one of those. I have incredibly mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, I fucking love him for looking at himself, deciding that he wanted to be better than he currently was, and making the effort to change. That's a huge thing, especially for someone who supposedly is "evil".

But that's the entire reason I hate it too.

To me, a soul in this context is very much a representation of the idea that people are intrinsically good and therefore worthy of love and respect. That being good is the only way someone could or should truly love you. Its certainly what Spike believes and the narrative backs it up.

Setting aside how reductive that is, I dislike that idea because it ignores choice.

Before Spike got his soul back, whenever he did something good, that was a choice he consciously made. He chose to go against his nature and do things that made him a pariah with his own kind, regularly.

Sure, you could argue that he started that because of the chip, so it wasn't necessarily a choice. But he didn't have to start slaying demons. He didn't have to help Buffy, or get close with her friends and family. Those were all choices, the only thing the chip did was keep him from being able to cause meaningful harm. Everything else was a choice.

I personally think that its far more noble to chose to be kind and helpful when you have no reason to.

Like yeah, he eventually wanted Buffy to love him, but he didn’t start off that way. Falling in love motivates plenty of people, and I think it was pretty telling that he could do that even without a soul.

Idk, it just leaves a bitterness in me that they only genuinely start treating Spike like a person after he goes through such a drastic and painful change. Like that makes him more worthy of their care, like he hadn't already been a friend for years.

I know it was also in part a response to Seeing Red, but I've also got a laundry list of complaints about that too. I think it was OOC as all fuck, it was shitty for the actor, and overall an unnecessary character assassination in a season that was already really full of S/A overtones, I don't get why they'd toss something so horrible at a ship they planned to make endgame other than to get to the soul plot which could have come about literally any other way, especially when even at his worst Spike never showed any sort of proclivity towards that.

It just.... I really don't like the idea that love is something you have to be worthy of. I dont like the idea that you have to change your entire person and suffer for it to be meaningful. I don't like the idea that everything that Spike had done for them up to there was ultimately meaningless because he didn't have a soul to back it up. Especially after all the emotional abuse season 6 puts him through.

I would at least have liked for there to be a scene where he's clearly suffering soul related issues and Buffy just apologies to him. Because she knows he did it for her, she knows how much pain he's in because she's seen Angel going through it, and he's been doing it for longer so fresh must be even worse. Just an apology because someone she cares for is in deep pain because all he wanted was to be "better" for her, because she made him feel that way. I just want it to be shown as the desperate, hopeful, scream for love that it was rather than an obligatory requirement of earning that love.

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[genericpuff]

In which Persephone is told she can't game the system- (TEXT EDIT)

no art was edited here, just text to make this more realistic to how this scene WOULD have gone if it was an actual courtroom with real rules LOL I find it a little weird that Rachel wrote a courtroom drama arc like this and then twisted it this much to benefit Persephone because like... clearly she was inspired by courtroom drama shows, and I can't help but wonder if she got all of her basic courtroom knowledge from like, Spongebob or some shit LOL

[epickiya722]

It's hard to believe that people actually dislike Izuku for "What he stands for" or the fact he's a flawed character when for years, years now people will hate on him for less.

This is the same fandom I have seen some people say Aoyama, a child who didn't actually have a choice, got off "too light".

Same fandom where some people will call Horikoshi a misogynist and then turn around and reduce the female characters to nothing but love interests and future wives. Some of you still only see Ochako as a girl with a crush. Some of you like to bash on Miruko's uniform and people only being horny for her and yet still won't say anything about the male character's costumes and are also horny for those characters yourselves.

Same fandom, now, that will ignore a character's development and that character has admit to being an ass and still be like "He didn't develop at all" and even worse? That character is a child. A child who never even is awarded for his behavior. In fact, often times is punished by the narrative in some way. And yes, I am talking about Katsuki.

Same fandom where some people will attack others over ships. And with shipping, that's the only time some of you will "care" about these characters. Izuku is the main victim of that!!

Same fandom who will be like "fanon is better" when fanon is actually worse.

Same fandom who at a time actually hated the villains, still do and even going as far as to making fun of some of their appearances (like Shigaraki and Dabi)... and really only started to "care" when they "showed out" during the Villain Arc. And by "care" I mean, only finding Shigaraki and Dabi hot as hell and still don't understand their characters. And even if you get why the villains do what they do, some of you still won't acknowledge they're in the wrong, too.

What about the minor villains who just want to cause havoc? For all we know, some of them may come from good homes and just want to be menaces to society. The heroes aren't completely good people either, but don't act as if it's every single one of them who do it for fame (Rock Lock is an example of a hero doesn't actually sees being a hero as a JOB) and every villain has some "excuse" because they don't.

In the case of Izuku Midoriya, some of you will say that Vigilante Deku was the best version of him. No. No, it's not. It was the worst version of himself.

It's not because he was a vigilante. It was because he wasn't taking care of himself. In what way is that the best version of anybody? Neglecting your health?

BNHA: Vigilantes is a perfect story that shows vigilantes not neglecting themselves and still doing what they needed to do to save people.

Often times when I do cross Vigilante Deku fanworks, it's like a totally other character.

My grievance with people "criticizing" Izuku isn't because of what he stands for. Their attitude will come off like he shouldn't have flaws.

Yes, he is a teenager who can only do so much and even as he gets older he can only still do so much because he is still just one person. But he can learn. He still has a long way to go even after however the story ends. Is he not suppose to learn or what?

Question: If Toga dies, will you hate Uraraka? If Spinner dies, how about the other characters? Will you hate them?

Kurogiri is gone but I don't see people hating Aizawa and Yamada.

"But it wasn't their fault! They were trying!"

And Izuku wasn't? Was it Izuku's fault that Shigaraki turned out the way he did?

Izuku wasn't the problem. He tries to be the solution and yes, sometimes it's a flawed solution.

But he shouldn't be the only character the fandom chooses to criticize and hate on for his flaws.

"But he's the main character!" Played out excuse. Played out, it's ridiculous. You're telling me that you're choosing to hate Izuku because he's a flawed main character?

Bullshit. So a character's position in a story is why you're choosing to hate him?

Even though other main characters before and after him have are loved and practically fucking worshipped and yet will have just as much flaws or even more?!

There are folks who love a character despite being gross as hell and they're not the main character. So that "main character hate" is bullshit.

For me, I will hate or love a character not because of their position in story but because of how they are as a character. Sometimes, it just so happens they are the main character. Sometimes, they're not.

Of course, their role can play a part as to how they're written.

Honestly, again, it's hard for me to believe people are "criticizing" Izuku for what he "stands for" when this fandom has shown me countless times the amount of bullshit it will pull. This fandom? Really? Same fandom who will adore other characters for less? Hate characters for less? Who come up with cold ass takes that do not make sense?

What? Exactly what kind of character Izuku Midoriya is meant to be? I'm curious, I really am! (No, no, I'm not.)

Because what it seems to me that even if Izuku was "perfect", the fandom will hate him no matter what.

"BNHA is cop propaganda!" Really? Because the police force here seems pretty "useless" to me. (A lot of the work is done by the heroes.) Sometimes, I forget they even exist until I see like Sansa or another police officer. (Actually, I be forgetting Sansa is a cop.) They're not even the main focus. Maybe it's just me, but BNHA comes off as a story that shows the ongoing cycle of what a previous generation's actions will do to shape the next generation and what that next generation may do to change. It's just that it's being told through heroes and villains and in between.

[msnihilist]

I still don't think Ben did anything wrong during "Duped." He deserves to do normal teenage boy stuff like see a movie on opening day, and he was trying to give himself that while also saving the world AND supporting his girlfriend's tennis match. He didn't spend enough time with his duplicates to realize that they had opposing personalities to their assignments — it's not like he sent his asshole-self to Julie's match on purpose.

[freshcut-chetney]

"The Bad Kids shouldn't have said X" "The Bad Kids were too bloodthirsty" why do people watch a ttrpg actual play if they're gonna get mad about a very obvious combat encounter that has been building up for an entire season? Who gives a fuck if TBK killed TRG, they're NPC's and the cast was obviously leaning into the bit because of the absolutely silly way K2 died in the previous episode, sometimes you say and do silly or fucked up shit while playing d&d with friends. This doesn't have to be a moral quandary some people want it to be.

[transingthoseformers]

Okay but in all honesty

It would actually be very funny if tfa Bumblebee had an affair with tfa Blitzwing

[skrunksthatwunk]

something he can't put into words.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

and happy pride to these assholes. it's still june so i can technially still make that joke right

[ineed-to-sleep]

Well. He wasted no time

[shima-draws]

My doctor: Hey yeah that's not normal I don't think it's an issue with your hip

Me: Oh?

My doctor: It's an issue with your spine

Me: OH

[zaritarazi]

hanne (trying to recall a fun childhood story): did you tell them about the zipline

matthias: i did tell them about the zipline

jesper: he told us about the zipline

hanne: then why do you all look so upset

wylan: sorry, to clarify, are you referencing the zipline designed to kill children?

hanne and matthias at the same time, still not sure why people don't think that the zipline story is funny: yes

nina, walking back into the room after getting a glass of water: why does everyone suddenly look so concerned did matthias bring up his childhood summer camp's illegal fucking zipline again

[bonefall]

naruto as a whole is a fucking mess and i say thisas somebody whos read the entireseries 3 times over. “naruto is going to change the system! haha teehee never mind hes not doing anytning about the child soldiers and slave castes and the genocides.” “sasuke can be upset at his brother for committing a genocide but actually genocide against an oppressed bloodline is good if theyre getting uppity and its sanctioned by the government and also have a genetic predisposition to be evil so he should just get over it and be okay with it” “sakura needs to stop obsessing over a guy whos not even interested and become strong for her own sake. actually shes a housewife now”

kishimoto im going to blow you up with my mind

YOU GET IT

For real though I think what they did with Sasuke's arc was one of the most baffling fucking things I've ever seen. "Actually. Your brother who carried out a genocide loved you :( he only put you in the Torment Nexus for several days because uhhh he wanted you to hate him and not find out about the government who ordered it. Everything he ever did was actually to protect you. And Uchihas are actually kinda rotten anyway so it's good an entire GROUP OF PEOPLE died. Don't think about any babies or children who were also slaughtered btw uhh nope all of them were bad."

Sasuke: "Yes I understand. I will now rule the world through fear. Actually nvm Naruto won our fight so, my philosophy is gone now."

Thank goodness that Evil Sasuke killed the three Bad Government Officials before that point, though. We had this whole theme going about toxic structures, cycles of abuse, and how oppressive regimes can propagate themselves even when a leader is well-meaning... but, like, Naruto REALLY wants to be Hokage, so actually if you just kill these Three Bad Governors it's gonna be fine.

There is no need for systemic change. Slave castes and child soldiers are fine. It's ok as long as the president is blonde :)

[lighthouseas]

alright friends i'm not gonna lie i wouldn't mind if the byler kiss had will leaning in first. or like. will kissing mike first on impulse during a heated moment. and then he regrets it immediately after because he thinks mike doesn't reciprocate (even though he obviously does) because mike just stands there for a second like 🧍🏻‍♂️ before swooping in to kiss will back

[stainedglassthreads]

So Dungeons and Daddies Season 2 is really just taking the average coming-of-age story and making it to every horrifying extreme, huh.

It is that moment in which you realize your parents don't know what they're doing any better than you do, and people present it like it's something comforting, but it's just even more terrifying because there really, really is no right answer. It's realizing that no, love isn't enough, sometimes you love your family and it just made everything worse. Everyone who came before you fucked things up even when they were trying to make things better, and unfucking everything just seems impossible, but not even trying is such a depressing option, and one your kids will never be able to forgive you for.

I have many feelings on this.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Amnesia!Dabi: "So, did I get on okay with my dad?" / Everyone else: *sweats nervously* "UHHHHHH-"

YEAH ABOUT THAT