#but if this didn't happen then I wouldn't mind it if another comic used this idea

[sleepyangelkami]

pls do more of carl grimes😭🙏🙏 (can be smut or fluff idrc🤭)

TROUBLE ADJUSTING c.grimes

𝜗𝜚 WORD COUNT - 2.1K

CARL GIMES X FEM!READER

 𝜗𝜚 SUMMARY - there was a heavy difference between travelling the roads filled with dead people walking and alexandria, a place that you fear is too much like the old world. you have some trouble adjusting, luckily your boyfriend carl doesn't mind you using him as a human shield.

 𝜗��� WARNINGS - anxiety, social anxiety, obvious attachment issues, aged up characters, (2) use of y/n, petnames, intended lower case, nothing i write is ever proofread 🩷

the roads were unlike anything you'd ever experienced in your entire life.

the prison wasn't exactly the best option but it was safe and it was secure. it kept the dead out and the living in. when you were at the prison, you were never told to leave the grounds. perhaps that was why the road had been such a shock to you and not the others.

you thought when you and the others got off the roads and found a new place to settle down, things would mellow out.

and by things, i mean the elephant in the room between you and carl.

you and carl had been dating for quite some time now. you'd always been close, you supposed. but on the roads? he was your safe haven. you slowly began isolating yourself into just you and him.

though he never minded, of course.

if anything, it put carl a little at ease, knowing you were always so close to him. during the prison, he worried tremendously about you, where you were during the night, what you were doing. you two weren't permitted to sleep in a cell together, at that stage.

but rick's rules began to disappear when death began to slap him in the face over and over. if anything were to happen to any of you, he'd like to think you lived doing what you wanted, what made you happy.

besides, you didn't really have anyone other than the grimes' family.

michonne and you had moved into the large grimes' house in alexandria. rick and michonne were at one end of the hall, judith's room somewhere in between and then it was carl's room. you didn't like to call it your room seeing as it wasn't your house. but the grimes' let you know that it was as much your house as it was theres.

"you wanna go for a walk or something?" carl questioned causing your head to move from his shoulder.

you and carl had this sort of ritual of reading comic books together since the beginning of the breakout. you were thankful that at least that didn't change now that you were in alexandria. "do you want to?"

carl shrugged, debating. sure, he wanted to. at the same time, he worried for you. it was evident that the change hadn't been good for you. once so bubbly and outgoing, you'd sort of shrunk into yourself. now, you didn't even feel all that comfortable talking to rick. "why not? the place is huge."

that much was true.

you'd never seen a place as huge as this, even before the breakout. you only worried that you may run into someone on the way.

"what's going on up there, baby?" his finger tapped against your head, bringing you back.

with a bitten lip, you tried your best to conceal the obvious anxiety bubbling in your chest. "i don' know... i jus' don't wanna see anyone."

"we don't have to." he shrugged his shoulders. "we'll just keep reading the comic." before relaxing back into the pillows of his bed.

but you couldn't leave it at that. "but you want to. you should go without me." feeling bad that you were restricting him from doing the things he wanted.

he could only chuckle lowly. "don't be silly, angel. wouldn't go nowhere without you." he didn't realise it, but truthfully, it had been the most comforting thing you'd heard all week.

you'd had so much worry caught in your throat about going out and meeting people that you began to think you were weighing the others down, too. "but i feel bad." you mumbled, voicing your feelings to the only person you felt like you could.

carl was quick to shush you. "i was just suggesting, maybe another day. y'know, now that i think about it, i'm kind of in the mood for hot coco and a movie, what d'you say?" though he was already getting up from the bed.

you sat criss-cross legged on the bed, practically pouting at him. "you don't like hot coco." you informed him, knowing what he was getting at.

"why can't you just let me do something nice for my pretty girl, hm?" lifting out his hand to you and letting you take it.

carl would never force you to talk to anyone.

a couple more days in the new community passed and rick was beginning to get worried. of course, he knew you and carl weren't normal teenagers, you never would be after the things you'd experienced in your lives. but he wanted you to be as normal as could be, and that included at least trying to make friends.

obviously, the man hadn't picked up on the obvious anxiety that followed you like a dark cloud over your head. so, he made arrangements with the blonde woman who lived down the street who had a son about your guy's age. who had a girlfriend and another guy friend. rick thought there would be no harm in at least meeting them. and if you came back to the house, not liking them, then he wouldn't force you guys to go back.

simple.

or at least it should have been.

you were sure you were shaking like a leaf by the time you made your way to the white door from across the street. worried you'd be looked at oddly, you didn't hold carl's hand, though you stayed silent, behind him.

the woman, jessie anderson, let you in with a smile on her face.

then you met her son, ron. "so mikey and enid are upstairs waiting for us, got some cool games if you play."

"uh, sure." as much as carl wasn't the awkward type, he still felt sort of odd in someone else's house. perhaps that was because he never experienced the whole 'teenager sleepover' thing.

you followed carl up the stairs, staying eerily close to him. you heard ron talk, even crack a joke. carl laughed and made a joke back. but truthfully, their words fell on deaf ears for you. your eyes travelled around the house, glancing to the family portraits hanging and so on.

you didn't look back until ron opened his bedroom door, allowing you both in and shutting it again. "hey guys." a boy with black hair whipped around and the girl who was sat on the bed, comic in hand, didn't bother looking up.

"oh, hey." the boy didn't exactly say hi to ron, more so to carl and you.

"hi." the girl spoke, not so much as looking away from the pretty coloured pages.

"so, this is mikey." pointing to the black haired boy who nodded swiftly before turning back to the gaming console he'd been playing on. "and enid." the girl who finally glanced up, eyeing the two of you before nodding. "and guys, this is carl and... sorry, what was your name again?"

three pairs of oggling eyes on you. you felt your own eyes widen and your mouth part, a little dry. suddenly, your own name was caught in your throat.

"y/n." carl responded for you, loud and proud as if he'd wanted to boast about you. "her name's y/n." instinctively, you found yourself shuffling closer to the boy, trying to make yourself as unseen as possible.

you swore you didn't leave his side the entire time you spent there. he got comfortable on the ground, back against the bed while ron sat above you two, at the edge, mikey on the desktop chair and enid, now on her second comic.

"so, how long you two been together?" you glanced up at the sound of mikey's voice. he was a well put together boy, expensive sweater and a collared shirt beneath. you were suddenly thankful for carl's dirty boots, cowboy hat and loose flannels. "been third wheeling these two for like forever. i know a couple when i see one."

carl and ron both huffed out a laugh, you did not. "yeah, we've been together for like forever too." carl's head turned to give you a graceful smile, one that had your cheeks turning a light pink before smiling back ever so softly. "hey, where's the, uh, where's the bathroom?"

you were almost tempted to grasp his arm and tell him you were coming with.

"just out the hall, first door to the right." ron answered, without taking his eyes off the screen.

"thanks, man." carl's baby blue's turned back to your nervous face. "i'll be back in a second, okay?"

you nodded, though you could feel the colour drain from your face without even looking in a mirror. carl left as quickly as he could, deciding that the quicker he left, the quicker he would be back. "so..." ron voiced again. you suddenly wondered how much he liked the sound of his voice, seeing as he wouldn't stay quiet for longer than a full minute. "not much of a talker?" you nodded your head softly before hearing the loud crash on the video game, jumping a little. "jumpy too huh?" you breathed out a sigh, shying in on yourself.

"don't worry." enid voiced, only now choosing to speak. "you get used to the noise again."

this caused your head to spin, what was she talking about. and without even having to ask, ron answered your question. "enid was on the roads too. i heard your group was on the road for a while, how was it?"

how was it?

"scary." you answered shortly, turning backwards and feeling your hands become clammy.

if there was one thing you wanted to forget, it was the roads. every day, it seemed as though you were loosing someone else. every day, you faced death and it stared you back right in the eyes. panic would come over you, wheeze it's way through your lungs.

carl would always hold you back, close to him as he stabbed his way through walkers with the others. but even that was a comfort to none.

every day, you were living, wondering if it'd be your last.

"i'll bet. i couldn't imagine living without my xbox." he snorted before pressing the shooting button again and letting bullets fly. it was now that you wished carl was next to you again, at least then you could squeeze his hand 'til it turned purple.

you wondered if everyone here was that shallow. if everyone only worried about their xbox or their stupid assets that in the long run, meant nothing.

"so, what do you think about alexandria?" this time it was mikey who'd asked the question.

"scary." you huffed out again. "but a different kind of scary."

"intimidating." enid answered for you. "it'll be like that for a while but you get used to it, just like the noise." you could tell that she was one of the good ones. the ones who don't care about silly things like objects. you could tell she'd seen the horrors you had, too.

"thanks." you mumbled, sheepishly glancing down to your fingers.

soon enough, carl returned from the bathroom, catching onto your face full of anxiety. he excused you both, stating that his dad needed help rearranging furniture or something or other. stupidly enough, the others believed you and soon bid a goodbye.

when you left, it felt like you could finally breathe again. you let out a breath of relief, fluttering your eyes shut and opening them again. carl was careful to peer at your face. "what'd you think?"

"the girl's nice." you mumbled.

"yeah? think so?" you could only nod in response. "well that's good, maybe you guys'll become friends. and the guys?"

you shrugged. "ron talks a lot." this caused carl to grin, a laugh puffing out from his cheeks causing you to do the same. it was much easier to laugh when it was just you and carl, even after everything you two had been through. "did you like 'em?"

"i guess." he gently nudged his nose against your cheek. "nothing compared to you, though." you couldn't help but roll your eyes, pretty smile dancing on your cheeks.

you huffed out again, noticing the way your chest suddenly felt clear of knots. "that was scary." you spoke honestly.

carl nodded his head, understanding that it wasn't exactly your thing. "it'll get better, though. just takes some getting used to." you couldn't agree more. "you're just having a little trouble adjusting, that's all. but you got me, right?"

the boy's elbow nudged you causing you to giggle softly and lean against his shoulder. "yeah, i got you."

he pressed a chaste kiss to the crown of your hair. "c'mon, let's go pick out another comic."

now that sounded like fun.

main masterlist/carl's masterlist

[whatlurksbean]

Prefacing this with a note that WLB is absolutely one of my top two favorite comics (out of many) at the moment, and I look forward to every new page. There's just one thing that's been bugging me a lot.

Do the cats on the island not have a sense of smell, is there some other explanation, or is the fact that certain things are never noticed through smell an oversight? There are two major plot points that make me ask this.

The first is Thresher being poisoned. Lavender is one hell of a fragrant plant- my shitty human nose can pick it up easily just walking by it outside. The cats even remark on the smell of lavender in contexts aside from the Big One. If the lavender was straight up visible in Thresher's poisoned prey, surely someone would've noticed the smell? Especially Thresher himself with his nose right up in it.

The second is even bigger- Gull and the Family assuming Tusk ate her baby. Even assuming Tusk could somehow have eaten an entire infant child without getting blood on her face or the ground, surely the lack of the scent of fresh blood and gore would've been very obvious. Was this just Gull that nose-blinded by hate, and got everyone else to follow along, while Tusk's supporters were too panicked to think to point this out?

If it is an oversight, I can't blame you, I also write xenofiction and it's hard to consistently consider the physiological differences another species has from us. I just keep thinking about it and I'm really curious what the actual situation is.

There is logic to my choices, but i'm surely underestimating the power of the cat sniffer.

For Thresher, I don't think the family cats are well versed in plants from the forest. The do not have an official medic role, there is very little medical training around for them about plants. Sturgeon only knows lavender is poisonous from Petrel. Thresher may have noticed a smell, or even seen the plant, and he would have just brushed it off as something the bird / mouse ate or lived near before dying.

Auklet only picked up on it being a problem because he is more perceptive to his brothers health. Initially I didn't have him say that he "noticed the lavender" but rather "I've seen plants in his food." but people were getting confused enough on what Sturgeon was doing, so I decided to clarify it better and just make Auklet a little smarter. Because I don't think he or thresher would really know what Lavender is. It doesnt grow on the beaches. But I will make that logic sacrifice for clarity.

As for Gull, I think she was already convinced by her own bigotry that Tusk was guilty, despite what logic pointed to. Tusk was alone with her deceased kitten for hours and hours, and then he disappears without a trace. And Tusk hasnt left the cave, and surely no one would help her break the law and bury ray, and hake was within her sights the whole time. There was only one option in Gulls mind, and no one else in the family cared enough to fact check her. Gull is an elder and has helped deliver most of their kittens in the family, why would she lie? Tusk must be the monster here.

And cats CAN cannibalize their newborn kittens, it does happen and it is absolutely possible for there to be nothing left. It especially tends to happen with stillborn or sickly kittens, like tusks.

The smell part is definitely an oversight on that part though, I don't think I even thought about it for that scene. I don't think about what my food smelled like after i've eaten it. But I think that even if this was brought up by Hake or whoever, Gull wouldn't be convinced she's wrong. And it's not like Tusk would offer them to smell her breath.

idk, there is logic to my choices but it is certainly not wholey realistic, and it never would be in a xenofiction story, so I am okay with that.

[macsimagines]

Yandere!Mikey w/ a S/O that had his child

ASKBOX IS OPEN

(So for this set of headcanons its for a Mikey thats been consumed by his dark impulses and has probably lost everyone... ALSO PLEASE tell me what you think? I work better when I'm given notes so any complaints or compliments ill take!)

(D/N) - Daughters Name (Y/N) - Your Name

You were supposed to be a one night stand. He wasn't even going to give you the time of day. You were some secretary or pencil pusher and he was making deals (harassing) your boss.

But you catch his eye, and your boss has you entertain him to make things go smoother.

Thankfully, you two hit it off. Mikey can be charming despite his horrible reputation and you've got such beautiful kind eyes...

One thing leads to another and one unforgettable night you two have sex.

Mikey doesn't call you or contact you after that, and you can take the hint that it didn't mean anything more than just a way to relieve stress.

That would be all fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that you were puking your guts out and happened to be pregnant.

You can't depend on Mikey, you don't think he'll accept your child and you really don't want them involved in the underworld that Mikey controls.

So you move out of Tokyo to distant family in a different town. You get a job, have your wonderful child and live peacefully in a small town.

Four years down the road, you end up back in Tokyo with your daughter. You owed a friend a favor and you're not too worried.

Your Daughter might be Mikey's clone but Tokyo is a big city and he's a busy man. He must have had countless women before he's not going to recognize your face out of a million others. Plus its been years. You should be safe right?

Wrong. You wake up one morning and (D/N) is gone. You're frantic searching for her, so confused where she could have gone from your friends apartment when it hits you: The Park!

Sprinting over there you're met with a sight you never thought you'd see. Mikey holding your fidgeting daughter in his arms.

If not for the terrifying look in his eyes the scene is almost comical.

The two of them together look like a before and after picture because of how similar they are.

"Y/N, you wanna explain this?" he asks you, and you're more shocked he remembered your name than anything else.

You try to pull it together, you don't want to cause a scene in front of your daughter.

"Th-that's my daughter. She ran off this morning and I've been looking for her."

He tilts his head to the side while he looks you up and down, placing your little girl on his hip.

"Don't you mean our daughter?" there's something dark in his voice and down right malevolent in his eyes.

Panic rises in your chest and you look down at the ground. "I just...I wanted her to be safe. I-I didn't think you'd care."

Your sweet Daughter whimpers for you, not understanding who this strange man is or why he's making her mommy so upset.

"You thought I wouldn't acknowledge my own child? Am I that kind of man to you?"

Silence stretches between you before you finally get the courage to say; "How did you even find us?"

Mikey just stares and holds your girl close before answering; "I heard you were in town. I came looking for you, and found her. Guess this is fate."

What you didn't know was that Mikey did want you, he wanted you so bad it almost drove him crazy. He tried to keep his distance and ignore you, and just when he can't take it anymore he finds out you moved away?

That's fine. It wasn't meant to be. But he had eyes and ears out for you if you ever came back to him. If you willingly walked back into the lions den that must mean you want him to have you.

He hears your back, with a daughter, and that's not a problem. If you have a husband he'll make sure you don't anymore and he doesn't mind a brat, you'll give him some of his own and that will make up for it.

So he goes looking for you, and he's almost to the apartments he knows you're staying at when a little girl catches his eyes. For a second he thought he hallucinated a mirror, but no staring up at him is his own face.

In his heart he knows who this girl is. And he's mystified when she starts talking to him.

"How come the sun's so bright?" she asks him for whatever insane reason.

And the empty abyss in his chest is suddenly full of love and affection. She's perfect. He had a perfect daughter now. Mikey embraces and tells her as much. That she's wonderful and beautiful and so loved.

Then you come sprinting towards them and Mikey suddenly remembers you kept her from him.

Back to the present, he thinks if this had been anyone else he would have killed them. But its you. And thankfully you raised the perfect child and gave him a healthy daughter, so he can't be too mad. He'll take it out on some underlings that left out very important details...

"I'll take responsibility," he tell you grabbing you by the wrist and pulling you so you're face to face, "And you will too, Y/N. We're gonna raise a very happy family. And you're going to give me a very big one. Lots of kids." one for every person he's ever lost.

[fun-k-board]

MARVEL RIVALS - Christmas time!!

Characters included: MAGNETO, SCARLET WITCH, LOKI, STORM, MOON KNIGHT.

Note(s): This includes a lot of headcanons because I'm not sure the full lore and characterisation of things like the X-Men, what version of Moon Knight they're going for, what have you. So, I'm doing it on what I prefer from various comic runs, movies, shows, etc over the years. Some are a little lackluster because of this.

MAX EISENHARDT / ERIK LEHNSHERR / MAGNETO

Erik personally doesn't celebrate Christmas, and that's due to the religious connotations of the holiday even if it's become less Christianity based over the years. But, he doesn't mind the excuse to give you a gift and spend time with his family if you do celebrate. Even if, at this point, the 'family' is just you and him.

He won't put up decorations if you're spending Christmas at his house or if you share a house, he won't wrap the gift, he won't have Christmas themed dinners or anything, but he'll always accept your gifts and give you one back if, as mentioned before, you happen to celebrate. If you don't, he most likely won't give you a gift or mention it as the holiday's existence will simply slip his mind. More of an afterthought than anything else.

Of course plenty of mutants on Krakoa celebrate, and plenty don't, and plenty have a weird in-between where they participate but don't really celebrate. So, it's not entirely out of sight out of mind. In all honesty, Erik is just happy mutants get a chance to have any holidays alive and happy with one another at all.

If you prefer to go all out for Christmas, as in all the things he wouldn't do that I mentioned before, Erik wouldn't mind. All he asks is that you leave both his room and the public parts of your home alone. Assuming you share a room, then he plainly asks that you don't decorate it, but if you must, to keep it at a minimum.

If you don't share a house and he's simply spending holiday time at your house then he politely comments on the decorations, maybe giving a bit of backhanded and passive aggressive sass if he thinks they're ugly. But, it's your home. It's not his place to say what goes and what doesn't.

Speaking of that situation, if you have family staying at your house for Christmas / you live with family, he's very awkward, and I don't believe he'd go at all if nobody in the house is a mutant. Erik doesn't doubt they know of him, it'd be strange if they didn't, so I think you two would give him a secret identity for your families safety. He'd be very silent and still during opening presents, with a dash of silent judgment.

I don't think he'd outright refuse to help you with decorations, he'd do that old man thing where he stares at you with a huffed look on his face until you ask him for help, in which case he mainly uses his powers if there's metal involved. Sometimes he'll say something like 'really my dear, did you truly need help or is this an excuse to spend time with me?' But hey, he's pretty tall so if you happen to not be tall, he's a great help!

I think he'd gift you something like jewellery, metal, but also with other things like, well, jewels. He wants something simple, but that shows heartfelt meaning. It's covered in intricate patterns, perhaps ones that reflect your place of origin to show that he loves you, even where you were born.

Erik's eyes tilt up, following your lingering gaze. He nearly lets out a laugh at the mistletoe hanging above you, but it comes out as a small huff. 'what a silly tradition.' he'd hum, before leaning close and giving your lips the most unsatisfactory peck he's ever given them. At your look, whether outwardly dissatisfied or with only a hint of disappointment in your eyes, he'll act like it wasn't purposeful, sighing as if this is some chore as he leans in for another. But you know him well, you know that hidden loving look in his eyes.

WANDA DJANGO MAXIMOFF / SCARLET WITCH

Wanda, for the reasons in Magneto's section, also doesn't celebrate Christmas. Although, I don't see her continuing on any holidays in general or family traditions, her broken connection to her father most likely created a fractured connection to anything associated with him. She just doesn't seem like a 'holiday' person to me.

However, if you two either happen to share a house or she's at yours in time for the holidays, she doesn't mind helping you put up decorations or helping you cook for Christmas. If you have family, she's doing a mix of doing what she can to impress them whilst refusing to do anything that makes her go past her comfort zone.

I absolutely think she's a good cook, and if she doesn't unintentionally hijack the kitchen, she will help whoever's in there. Whether that be you or your family. Any attempts to tell her that 'you're a guest' and 'you should be relaxing' are met with a wave of the hand and a small, awkward smile. As much as she does just love to help your family assuming they're sweet and accepting of her, she also is very peculiar with food. I think Wanda would make her own side dish just in case.

Honestly, I think she would invite Pietro and Lorna if you and them are close enough? She knows Christmas is a family event, and since that's her family, why not invite them, right? She hopes you see them as your family too, because they've spent too long without something stable. Even though deep down she does have some love for her father, although maybe not as deep down as she thinks, she doesn't want to and would never contact him for Christmas with you and especially not with your family.

Wanda loves to do that thing where she hugs you from behind, absolutely astounded that she has you. She's astounded that you love her, and that you appreciate her so much. Not many do, and she can't help but find so much comfort in that. I think she'd do it whenever she gets emotional but doesn't want to show it, a hug from behind to tell you that she's hurting, but you're helping her heal.

Wanda doesn't like the feeling she gets when opening presents in front of your family, especially if they've given her something. It's usually something they've got an idea from after asking you, so maybe a candle or something handmade, and as much as she appreciates and even loves the gifts she's given it's still a weird almost performance she needs to put on. The feeling isn't as uncomfortable as it is just a bit awkward.

I think she'd only give you a gift if she knows you're getting her one, through communication. She won't ask what it is or peek through your mind to find out, she doesn't really care what the gift is exactly, and she trusts you enough to gift her something she likes and would find useful. I think Wanda does love little mutual acts of affection, so she wouldn't miss out on an opportunity to give you something.

Her eyes flick up before yours do, and Wanda can't help but give you a small chuckle, the most amused look in her eyes that you've ever seen. 'oh? Isn't this convenient.' she purrs, her hand outstretches, capturing your own in a comforting embrace. She whispers, 'I can't believe I got so lucky, my love. You're wonderful.' before giving you a short but comfortable and loving kiss.

LOKI LAUFEYSON

Loki thinks your celebration is more than a little silly. I mean, who cares about this guy who gives presents to kids? Why not the adults? He does far more in a day than some snotty brat has done in their entire lifetime!

Oh- he's not real? Well, then where are his presents, mortal?!

He will say that even if you're not a mortal by the way. It's his personal way of saying 'you're under me and I'm perfect compared to you' without actually saying it.

He absolutely refuses to stay at your house for Christmas if you have family over, because he knows that he will cause mischief and you will get angry at him for it and he would rather you gift him your devotion than be under your wrath. Don't tell him he could kill you easily, he knows that, and he will if you keep pittering on. (He won't). Unless, perhaps, you don't have the best relationship with your family. Then he can probably convince you that it's fair game.

Loki will not invite Thor or Hela, don't even entertain the idea. He will leave.

I think he'd give you a dagger of some kind for a present, even if you're a regular Joe and don't have a use for weapons, you can always display it. And have an engraved stand that tells you your mighty lover, Loki, God of Mischief and notoriously handsome trickster, had gifted you it for your silly holiday.

He will not help you cook or put up decorations unless you literally beg him to, even then he can mainly do some pieces of meat at least decently well. It'd be best to have him do some parts of the cooking while you're preoccupied with the other. He tends to only help with the decorations he knows you'll struggle with, although he won't tell you that outright it's pretty obvious. Especially if you're shorter, less strong than he is, or have any kind of physical disability that could cause trouble with putting up decorations.

Will puff up his chest and grin when you compliment his efforts to help and or compliment his gift. He loudly proclaims that of course he'll give you something so beautiful, because he's beautiful and he very clearly has taste. But, you simply couldn't ignore the way his gaze softened a little when you were speaking. The way you could feel his eyes looking you up and down with adoration.

Loki raises a brow at your expectant look, slowly following your gaze until it reaches the mistletoe. Oh, you've explained this to him, the strange little kissing ritual you midgardians have. His expression twists into something different, his eyes sparkling with mirth, but he doesn't go right in for the kiss. Instead, he holds your chin in his hand, pulling you close until you can breathe in each other's air. 'what a silly mortal.' he mutters, making you tilt your head so he can kiss you. He doesn't intend it to be a small peck either, his kiss is as deep and passionate as you allow it to be.

ORORO MUNROE / STORM

Ororo finds amusement in your tradition, the decorations, the gifts, it makes her heart warm. It's a time for family, and she reminisces over the X-Men's past Christmas times. It's never dull, lots of mutations being used when they're not supposed to, frequent arguments and drama, it was perfect. Not to mention, always the best meals from Gambit and Rogue. She adores the look on the younger mutants faces when they receive something special.

And, in her personal opinion, she's the best gift giver in the X-Mansion.

Ororo would absolutely help make meals, and she jokes that she's not as good at it as Gambit or Rogue are, but she'll try her best. She then proceeds to make one of the best meals you've ever had. It's perfectly flavoured, the texture is just to your liking, it's absolutely delightful. And if you're spending time with family? Expect her to go all out.

Your family will adore her, no doubt about that. No matter what the situation is, whether you and Ororo share a house, you live on your own, you live with family, or you and your family visit the X-Mansion for the holidays. She charms them with her sternness and discipline, her strength unimaginable, but her warmth and friendliness is what truly seals the deal in their adoration for her.

Unwrapping presents tends to be a long process for the X-Mansion. There's a lot of people there, so it's normal to open them all at once and try to get it through as quickly as possible, cleaning as you go with trash bags at the ready to throw in any waste. With a whole family, or perhaps just you in the mix, it can be a bit awkward and even a little overstimulating if you're not acquainted with the X-Men. She's never felt the need to pretend, so she assures you that you don't need to be happy the entire evening because Logan isn't and everybody still loves him, you'll be fine.

The one thing Ororo loves to do most is listen to you. Whether it be generally your life, what you had for breakfast, a story from your childhood, it creates something easy where she can bounce off the conversation with something of her own. It continues the conversation until either of you end it, and causes the conversation to flourish where it would've died otherwise. She uses this to find out what present you'll want for Christmas, so it'll heavily depend on what you actually want.

It honestly doesn't matter what you get her, she'll be appreciative all the same. She knows just how hard it can be to afford things, to create from seemingly nothing, no matter how much effort you put in. To her, the fact you gave her a gift at all is something meaningful within itself. So, even if it's some poorly made easily breakable bracelet, she will wear it with pride.

When she finds herself under the mistletoe with you, her lips curl into the most amused smile and she'll use her powers to twirl the leaves, a teasing hint to her true might. 'was this your plan all along, my dear?' she'll ask, leaning closer, waiting for you to capture her lips. If you take too long, however, she'll raise a brow and mutter a teasing 'don't test my patience' before kissing you herself.

MARC SPECTOR / MOON KNIGHT

Marc is, well, he's not the most jolly guy, and it's been years since he's even bothered to tune into Christmas time when it happens. It's not like he has anybody to spend it with. He would much rather you spend Christmas with Steven or Jake, they're better at that kind of thing, and they're a lot more friendly, buddy buddy with you.

Of course Marc loves you, and if you really want to spend time with him for Christmas he will do it, but he isn't going to act differently for you. He will be the same edgy, broody man. He will absolutely say something like 'the Christmas lights are too bright, it ruins my outfit.' in the gruffest voice you've heard.

I think he'd be a good cook. Nothing that blows you away, but you can definitely eat enough to get full and be satisfied with it. Jake probably leaves some recipes around, and if it does end up becoming a disaster he can always take over and salvage the situation before the house burns down.

He doesn't mind the house being decorated, assuming it's either his or your shared one, as long as it's not like so many Christmas lights it's hard to see or so many decorations you get whacked on the face with them whenever you want to walk somewhere. He'd also help if you asked him to, but I don't think Marc would just hop on and help. He'd assume you have it all covered.

I don't think there are many universes where Marc would consider meeting and visiting your family for Christmas, especially not the Marvel Rivals one. If you're really insistent and passionate about it, he supposes he can. But don't expect him to stay for long if they're not accepting of you or him, he doesn't have any tolerance for that. Plus, he doesn't want to hear Khonshu complaining in his ear that he isn't committing murder while he's around your family, they don't get him or his Identity as Moon Knight like you do.

'Mistletoe, huh?' he muses, his voice would sound almost annoyed to anybody else, but you know him better than anybody else. Or, at least most other people. He crosses his arms as you look up and realise, clearly having forgotten at some point. With his expression a strange mix between a firm sternness and amusement, he pats his lips with his pointer finger twice. 'you put it up, you initiate.'

[queerprayers]

Officially, in the western church, today isn't the Annunciation. This is Holy Monday, and the Annunciation is moved to avoid coinciding with Holy Week. I think if it were during the Triduum I would appreciate this, making space to hold both days separately. But it's Monday, and they can't stop me from thinking about Mary during Holy Week. March 25 is a traditional date of both Jesus's death and conception, as well as the Creation—a spring equinox of redemption. Holding space for all these things has always been appropriate. Birth and death coexist; Jesus's beginnings were the beginnings of his mortality. The angel announces the future, and whoever listens must live through all of it.

What did it mean for Mary to say yes to this? We laugh at the "Mary did you know?" lyrics, because we know she knew. But she also didn't have to know the details of God's plan to say yes to what every parent says yes to—witnessing. Acknowledging the bringing into the world of a frail being, perhaps giving your body to make this happen, praying that you will die before they do but knowing that is not promised. And every parent living under a violent state knows what it is to hope it's not your kid that's next (whether you're a Black parent teaching your child how to talk to cops, or a Palestinian parent hiding in rubble, or a Jewish parent under Roman occupation who's seen the crosses outside the city walls).

Do you think, at the foot of the cross, Mary thought of her response, "Let it be unto me according to your word"? After bearing that Word inside her, teaching him how to walk, waiting for God to change his mind, to reveal a ram caught in a thicket so her son wouldn't have to die after all, do you think she remembered her teenage self, magnifying the Lord? "The Almighty has done great things for me"—and to me. Great as in too big to look at all at once, bloodstained things. The power of the Most High is overshadowing her—the shadow of the cross—his flesh broken, and someone (including her perhaps) will take him down and wash him for burial.

What does it mean to hold space for that day when an angel tore into her life, breaking it open for God—during Holy Week? If we desire a feast, we should wait until Easter, I agree. But today I honor a lady of sorrows—I desire an acknowledgement of the violence of agreeing to live and love and create when it will be torn away. The story never ends there, but we must live through this week (and whatever weeks of our lives hold these things) saying yes, witnessing. Judas quit before the miracle happened—he couldn't witness death so he didn't witness the life (on this earth). Mary kept saying yes, even at the end.

We can never know everything we are saying yes to when we surrender to God. She knew in one sense, yes, but no one knows what it's like to lose a son until it happens. And no one but her knows what it's like to be the Mother of God. We already know what God wants us to do, but we don't know until it happens how much it hurts—and what the dawn will bring. What swords will pierce us, what promises will be kept.

When we say the Magnificat, we usually add a Gloria at the end—Mary did not have those words (the Trinity would not be formulated for another couple hundred years), but we have them. When we sing her song, we hold space for the ways we see God exist, and she saw those ways intimately. She held the Son and was surrounded by the Spirit, and now the Father holds her. As we live through Holy Week every year, every year she says yes. God's love continues unfolding. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Your assigned reading for today (should you choose to accept it) is @tomatobird-blog 's comic "Thirty Years." A blessed Holy Monday (and Annunciation) to you all.

[ultravioart]

On a positive note, the comic for Hazard actually was interesting enough to make me look past his 'safe' for a punk character design. I'm hyped!

I did not expect overwatch to directly call out systemic ableism and classism in the story.

Kids in poverty being funneled into a military pipeline only to be spat out and cast aside as disabled vets in poverty is a very real issue in the world.

If Hazard was rich, he could have afforded prosthesis that actually fit him, ones that didn't cause him pain. Instead, only bc he could not afford better ones, the system gave him the bare minimum for survival, and instead of actually dealing with the root cause and issue they gave him pain meds. In his eyes, this was done so that the system could pay him to shut up, or face consequences. No different than what his parents went through. They wouldn't even give him the respect to tell him WHY the deadly crash that maimed him happened, nor do anything to prevent OTHERS from being hurt in the same way. The system is working as intended. The system didn't care about him, nor others. The system uses it's citizen's bodies for profit.

This panel hits so hard because visual story telling wise it says so much.

In this panel, the stray animal that saved his life is the only one who cares, as the fellow human beings he fought to keep safe as a veteran walk past him at full pace.

How in this panel, his disability is 'blocking the path' of the able bodied, his very existence a 'hindrance' to the able bodied, when the hospital path really ought to be the one taken into account for. Pushed out the door into a system that was never designed for him. Yet, anyone could be in his shoes. Anyone could become disabled, poor, or neglected. Anyone could become just another 'stray mutt' in the system.

How in this panel he is posed in a way where he has the choice to turn and 'go with the flow' of the system and follow the crowd and not look back.... or go 'against the flow' in the opposite direction of the crowd looking for other 'strays' like him left behind by this system.

Honestly props to the comic creators for even discussing systemic oppression to dorectly.

I also am incredibly interested in seeing if Sombra got her spine mods from the Phreaks or not, because it looks like similar tech in her short.

I just hope that the Phreaks are more RobinHood and 'guerilla warfare against the system to spark change', rather than purely anarchists blowing everything up bc lol. The Phreaks being anarchists would be a waste of story, just another gang that became radicalized and corrupt and causes harm and must be defeated by Overwatch. (I am only worried about this because Ramattra became radicalized and demonized for trying to prevent the extinction of omnics. Ramattra is fully in his right to physically resist omnic extinction bc omnics ARE finite and being killed. We STILL don't know what those null sector helmets are for... but for some reason Ramattra is written as emotionally hasty(???) to the point of horrible accidents happening, which makes no sense since he is a R-7000 built for war TACTICS, not an emotional human that can misremember. The way Ramattra's story is handled doesn't make sense imo, they write him as if he's a biological being.)

I hope Hazard aims for accountability and dismantling of oppressive systems, rather than having no rules at all thru anarchy (he as a child saw what no rules in small doses gave him: bad homelife, bad school life, no accountability, no fostering of the mind and well being. That's why I think making the Phreaks anarchists would be stupid to do. There are systems that CAN foster mental and physical wellbeing, cooperation is one of those systems and Hazard is pro cooperation.) He did have an "eye for an eye" against the forces that took out the Phreaks in Morocco, but to be fair Oasis is using minority report 'predictive crime ai' bs so I can't blame Hazard for wanting to hit Oasis where it hurts by stealing thier most secret tech. (Perhaps Sombra helped the Phreaks/gave them that clue since Sombra is against the eye conspiracy, and that eye conspiracy is connected to Oasis)

I also hope Hazard's character is used to discuss the discrimination disabled people face in the Overwatch world, because they really dropped the ball with Soujorn on that front. (Her book used ableism... as a metaphor for racism?!?! Awful stuff. Cyborg (life saving surgery for disabled) people canonically face discrimination in overwatch.)

Because of that, I am super interested in hearing Hazard's voice interactions for lore, I hope we get more lore on omnics and Oasis and the Sombra eye conspiracy, and I am curious about Hazard's kit and what he will bring to the table matchup wise. We will probably get more eye conspiracy lore with the release of the Morocco map tho, tbf.

[kimberlyannharts]

At this point Power Rangers has done a few crossover comics, and they've all been some pretty logical and big name choices - the Justice League, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Godzilla. So today's crossover comic is one that definitely took people by surprise - Usagi Yojimbo, the long-running story of a wandering rōnin having adventures in feudal Japan (who also happens to be a bunny rabbit), written and illustrated by Stan Sakai since 1984. While an icon in his own right - funnily enough, he's a regular guest in TMNT properties - I don't think ANYONE really had HIM in mind as a contender for a crossover with Power Rangers compared to more conventional properties like Transformers or even My Little Pony.

After all, what do they know about samurai in Power Rangers?

It's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Usagi Yojimbo!

= So I know I've gone on and on about Shawn Daley's art but I really just need you to look at them again. It just makes me so happy to see a more stylized take on the MMPRs - basically if you took Daniele di Nicuolo's art and ramped up the anime influence by 100. It gives the book that much extra charm

= who the hell is THIS I'm here for the FURRIES not another random boring human!!!!!! it's like I'm playing Animal Crossing

= Jason's attitude in this book annoys me but at the same time it wouldn't be a Ryan book if he wasn't writing Jason in a way that annoys me.

= (also, they knew about the Morphin Masters this early in their Ranger career? I guess Zordon did mention them in an early episode, but.........what have they done that's similar to this that Jason would know about kjkjdkf

= I still think it's very weird that they didn't give the whole "maybe it would be easier if I was fighting alone" to uh.....you know.....Tommy, the loner? Who's so used to fighting alone that he struggled to adjust to a team? But I guess he has a girlfriend and Jason doesn't so.

= Is this a safe space. because the rabbit is pretty hot.

= HAHAHAAAA TOKEN EVIL HUMAN I KNEW IT

= YFIP: THE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS - assisting the villain, thievery of a powerful artifact, assault against civilians, racism against furries

= Like I've said before Jason's characterization here irritates me a bit but I'll give the book props that someone's actually allowed to call him out on it for once. Like man I wish Tommy in the main series was allowed to tell Jason to shut up once in a while like Usagi does here

= Kim: Tommy, it's 4 pm! Time to go help our friends!

Tommy: yes honey

= Wow, look at these guys! They're like......Shogun Rangers! ............wait a minute

= But seriously, though, I gotta say these are one of the best alternate MMPR designs we've gotten in ages - I LOVE how they apply all of MMPR's little details into each individual user. And the altered weapons are awesome, too. Between these and the Kaiju Rangers we've really been cooking with the alternate forms lately

= And as I said, they did manage to resist the urge to give Usagi a Ranger form. I did like my old "maybe he'll find a Samuraizer" idea, though

= They both nearly died via crystal explosion a few hours ago but all they care about is their cool new outfits, just otp things <3

= I was about to say "well yeah, duh, that's why the Dragonzord doesn't have wings" but then I remembered. oh yeah. technically the Zords aren't Japanese in origin in-universe, are they

= It's nice to see Dragonzord Battle Mode! That was a form that didn't get a lot of spotlight in the comics - I think the only time we really saw it in the main series was Shattered Grid, and not for very long before it got destroyed by Serpentera

= Kim and Usagi only get one real onscreen exchange but she also catches him in the Pterodactyl and they have matching bangs. I'll take this as a win, though Splinter is still her #1 rodent dad

= they are so fucking sad

= I think future books should bring Usagi back or just crossover with him again with no explanation. Make people think he's a PR character just like how people assume he's a TMNT character

[shoegazingmonad]

crazy update wow jade died n the point just got blown to smithereens or whatever but DELTRITUS KID SPOTTED!!!! WOO FINALLY

And though I feel like it's pretty obvious since this doesn't look like a race / species we've seen in the comic and everything in the text would suggest these are the species' Dirk and Rose have been creating, it's confirmed by the (==>) (symbol for events taking place in the black hole) changing to a ==> (symbol for events taking place outside the black hole) meaning that the panel above is from the Meat timeline!!! Joy!!

Time to talk about what piques my interest with this anonymous critter here; Starting first with their quirk.

o-------* < this thing they keep typing right here, as I gleaned from the last sentence, is implied to represent a bomb. With 'o' as the bomb itself, '-------' as the wire / rope and '*' as the spark. The quirk itself certainly suits the situation pretty well considering the latest developments in the Candy timeline, though in a way I'm not really sure how to word or put together.

You've got this laser hitting a point of highly concentrated narrative energy - which I'm guessing is the symbolic "bomb" in this sequence, which makes the "spark" the laser, but the thing that gets set on fire and slowly burns up is the curtains, and, in turn, leads to the o-------* bomb in GC's text also setting off?

Anyway whatever. Another point on explosives here is that this kid seems to be awfully fond of those "volatile materials" as they say such themselves; and also because when the quirk stops counting down their computer blows up. Which to me would suggest they've either got plenty of bombs in (what I'm assuming is) their home or are just experiencing really explosive weather. Though they do hint at devastating explosions at the beginning of the log, in a way that makes them seem super aware of what's about to happen, so I've no idea what to make of that.

And regarding explosive weather; my first assumption about the o-------* was that it was supposed to be a meteor (o) and a portal (*), and the ------- shortening represented it falling from the sky. Though I quickly realised that it didn't make much sense, the idea still sticks with me a little, since the placement (space) and use of the laser to clear out the surroundings reminded me of sburb's meteors.

There's also another lead on the bomb situation though thanks to GC clarifying their interest in explosives as "a real addiction" to a Vriska of all people because it brings to mind 8-balls, and from that, it's explosive, just as circular cousin, the cue ball.

Though I'm not suggesting that the explosives GC is interested in are cue balls; as I don't think they are, I do think it is interesting that they bring up oracles (especially after the o-* symbol runs out), as it's a word that has been used to describe cue balls before.

And whilst on the topic of oracles - it's 'AA' that's referred to as 'like' one, and even used to replace the 'o' in GC's quirk for a joke.

Pretty weird that this AA kid is used as a substitute for the bomb here. Most I think it'd be suggesting is that they've got some kind of unmentioned advantage similar to the cue ball thanks to divine intervention (Dirk or Rose fucking around, or perhaps Terezi).

Thankfully GC goes into detail about this AA kid, and gives a brief mention of a TC, all of which I'll be talking about next.

The first thing that comes to mind regarding these pals is that, similarly to Vrissy, this mystery friend group also uses the 12 (or so, since we currently don't know how many participating kids we have here) chumhandle acronyms that the beta trolls used. Which, in turn means it wouldn't be all that wrong to think they're associated with whatever beta troll they share the acronym with in some way.

If there's anything to be taken from this right now (which seems to be quite little, since we've only got 3 and we don't even know what the other kid's stand for) I'd say it's just pretty funny and kind of cute that the kids using Vriska and Terezi's acronyms are friends.

And now about my general observations on these kids:

GC. From what we've got so far it seems like they're a pretty negative person, in the way that they (rightfully?) assume the worst of most situations but are easily pressured into / out of them. They also REALLY like Vrissy, or at enough so that AA mentions her joining them in sburb as a bargaining point to get them to play too. Though the way they not-so-subtly beg Vrissy to join them and the outright confession of their lack of friends would also suggest that they're just lonely and awkward and may not be too close with the friends (?) they say they're playing it with.

AA, mysterious as they are right now still gets a lot of description on behalf of GC. One thing that stuck with me though is the way they call her 'an oracle', backtrack and say she isn't really, and then instead insist that she's something else, magical in a way that they don't understand but believe. (hope player much????)

Most of GC's descriptions make her sound pushy, overbearing and a little too knowledgeable on the circumstances at hand. "If it's one thing she gonna do it's bug or fuss or meddle" might not be the most reliable description to go off since it's told from the biased POV of one frustrated kid aware the game their friends want them to play is going to kill them. And it's probably not helping that the friend insisting you play is also the one informing you it'll kill you, if the way GC admits they 'know it will' and immediately prompts a conversation about AA's habits is anything to go by.

TC only gets about one line of note worthy information and it's when GC refers to sburb as "TC's game" which implies they were the one who's adapted it / helped develop it similar to what Sollux did for Sgrub. Nothing about TC themselves is brought up besides that they're friends with AA and GC (obviously).

Lastly I want to bring up the question of what species this kid is. Bare minimum to go off here but the hands don't really look aquatic or mammalian, more reptilian than anything. The GC makes me think of Terezi, too, so my first assumption is perhaps some sort of dragon? If so would Terezi have a hand in making some of these things, or would Rose have made it?? This is just vague silly guesses but whatever. The o-------* could also simultaneously function as a bomb and dream bubble who knows. Horrorterrors, Satyrs, Dragons, Nymphs whatever man. I gotta know

That's all I can think of for now. I'm already so fascinated with this singular kid and whatever the hell kinda social circle they've got going on so if they psyche out again and throw the focus someplace else for another 500 pages I'm gonna bawl

[epiphanytofu]

Can you give us CircusChoir headcanons🥺🥺

𝐼 𝒮𝑒𝑒 𝒴𝑜𝓊, 𝒪𝑜𝓂𝒻.

ANYWHO, YES I CAN!!! For now, I'll give some more basic ones because a couple others are MUUUCH longer and will. Likely take up a lot of space if I were to try putting them all together. I'll talk about how I view a relationship for 'em working out in another post because that'll also be LOOONG. LET'S GO. I WILL TALK ABOUT A SENTIENT BALLOON ANIMAL AND MUSIC BOX 🫵🫵🫵🫵🫵🫵

[ 1 ] Considering Cosmo is teaching Boxten how to bake, I wouldn't doubt Boxten tries practicing the recipes he's taught whenever he has some free time. With that in mind, Looey ends up finding this out, most likely by looking for Boxten and finding him in the kitchen and he is SURPRISED and CURIOUS. He did NOT know Boxten was learning how to bake. He quickly asked if he could taste test his baking and Boxten saw no reason NOT to say yes. He needed a second opinion anyways. Upon Looey taking a bite, he liked it A LOT and. Quickly went to grab more, much to Boxten's surprise and shock. Seeing as Looey likes his baking a lot, Boxten decided that he'd go to Looey whenever he bakes a recipe as practice. So Looey is Boxten's unofficial taste tester for anything he attempts to make, and whenever Looey is called to try something out, he goes running because who wouldn't want free sweets and treats? He Also Doesn't Have To Share, so more for him. (Have a small doodle comic with it. )

MOVING ON!

[ 2 ] Half of this headcanon, I got from a moot, but Looey and Boxten have respective, subconscious reactions to being around the other, one more subtle than the other. Looey's is pretty typical; his tail starts wagging! And I don't mean swaying, no, it's an actual blur and looks like a big fan of yellow. If he had bones, he'd end up with a sprain sooner or later like what happened with a dog who sprained THEIR tail from excessive wagging. Boxten, on the other hand, the key on the back of his head spins a lot when talking to Looey. This part is the one I got from a moot. Since Boxten's key spins when he's focused on something, it does so when he's even just LISTENING to Looey. I do believe that Looey is the talker between the two, so he's just yapping to Boxten and the nervous aah music box is just. Sitting politely. Listening closely because he likes listening to Looey. 𝔅𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔲𝔰𝔢 𝔥𝔢'𝔰 𝔔 𝔘 𝔈 𝔈 ℜ

[3] Looey's compliments to Boxten are Not. Normal. And by that I mean, he will never give Boxten an actually decent compliment. And this is purely based on their interaction in the game. "You look nice today"? "You're really cute"? "That bandana looks nice on you"? No. None of that.

"Ｉ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈｅ ｓｈａｄｅ ｏｆ ｐｕｒｐｌｅ ｙｏｕ ａｒｅ"? "Ｙｏｕ ｓｔａｎｄｉｎｇ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｍａｋｅｓ ｍｅ ｈａｐｐｙ"? "Ｉ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈ��ｔ ｙｏｕｒ ｈｅａｄ ｉｓ ��� ｓｑｕａｒｅ"? Yes. That's what he'll say. And then he internally high-fives himself and goes "Nailed it!", as if that didn't just confuse the hell outta Boxten. But hey! It's the thought that counts! (Do Better, Looey.)

[4] These two. Are HELLA awkward when it comes to BIG physical contact/affection at all times. Of course, the usual side hug or leaning on the other is fine, but anything else? Time to go through 20 mental loops, a spiraling slide, and a rollercoaster with 25 drops to try figuring out if it's a good idea or not and if it'll make the other uncomfortable or if they'll miserably fail at physical contact, Boxten moreso than Looey, but Looey likely overthinks it occasionally, depending on what he's thinking of doing. What if they do something wrong and weird the other out? Or discomfort them? Or cross a boundary? What if they ruin everything with one single action? What i-(None of that will happen. They're Fine.)

[5] Related to the last headcanon, if you ask me, it'll take these fools at least a few months before they ACTUALLY kiss. At all. For the same reasons as the last one. Doesn't mean they don't think about it occasionally, but actually DOING IT? Out of the question, no way. It'll go horribly wrong and the other will laugh at them and call them weird or they'll embarrass themself. (They're overthinking again.) Give these idiots(/pos) some time. Both are new to this whole romance thing and they're LOSERS!!!!! (also /pos) In the meantime, they'll just settle with the occasional hug or lean-on. (I Am Laughing At Them.)

THAT'S ALL I GOT FOR RIGHT NOW!!! Do with this what you will. And You Can Ask Me More About Them Anytime. I Am Unnormal About Them.

[genericpuff]

What are your thoughts on LO Krokos and LO Ampelus (Psyche) ?

These two male mythological figures, who had a gay relationship with gods, turned into female characters ! If they weren't included (especially since Dionysus is still a baby here), I wouldn't mind. But just using those names like that TWICE is strange, right ?

It's also weird how LO turns two virgin goddesses into lesbians, but don't even implement the canon gay relationships.

Can you find an explanation?

I mean I can't really offer an explanation because obviously I have no way of really seeing into Rachel's head, but it's definitely a choice that she's taken so many gods and characters from Greek myth and turned them into something else entirely, it feels very random and, in the case of the gods who were canonically gay/queer/etc. ... it's hard to ignore and give benefit of the doubt.

Another example is Persephone's therapist, Chiron, who's not just gender bent, but also put into the role of being a therapist ?? Which is like, okay, fine, but like... what is this accomplishing besides vaguely referencing Chiron's affiliation with medicine LOL

(this wound up turning into a bit of an essay so I'm including a jump to make it easier for scrollers lol)

To me, it just feels like it really cements Rachel as not being as well-read in Greek myth as she claims to be, because so much of the actual Greek myth in this comic is either taken directly from first results on Google (see: Zeus' definition of xenia which is taken straight from a Princeton study guide from 2004) and slapped haphazardly into the comic where it's convenient, OR it's just vaguely referenced at even if it's not being properly utilized (like she saw 'Chiron, wise centaur' and went "yeah cool she can be the therapist character!"). I have zero explanation or even assumption as to why she'd turn Crocus, a male lover of Hermes, into Krokos the flower nymph, or why she'd choose to use Ampelus as the name Psyche adopts after being turned into a nymph (which also didn't happen in the original myth). These are "creative choices" that come across as less creative and more just random attempts to make her seem smart.

Like, to a surface level reader or someone who's new to the series, it might seem neat and subversive (it definitely did to me back when I started reading and fell in love with it), but then you actually get further in and peel back the layers and go, "wait, she's just grabbing Greek names that are affiliated with real Greek heroes and gods and characters at random-" and it gets especially ick when it commits queer erasure in the process.

Don't get me wrong, I think having fun with character designs and swapping them or changing them up is perfectly fine, that's the fun of re-interpreting old stories, it's not that on its own that's the issue. It's just that these re-interpreted characters have literally NOTHING to do with the characters that she's basing them on. At least in Punderworld where Charon is a woman, she's still a psychopomp who ferries souls to the Underworld, her being gender-bent doesn't change much because her character and role in the story is still largely the same. Or like in Hadestown how the Underworld is more of a coalmine with Hades running it as a business, instead of the River Styx being a literal river it's a brick wall that protects the Underworld from outsiders ("and they call it freedom"). In both of these examples, they're taking the source material and making it fun and new, while still respecting the source material they're taking it from and keeping it on theme with that source material.

By comparison, Rachel just creates these character references and that's where it ends, they're just references and they don't do anything new or interesting with them, they're not even adjacent to what they're referencing. So we wind up with Chiron being a therapist, Ampelus being the nymph version of Psyche, the Fates looking and acting the exact same as each other even though they had different roles to play between Past, Present, and Future, and Aphrodite's children who... are literally made up from scratch, instead of pulling from the actual real children that Aphrodite had loads of in the original myths.

So many of Rachel's writing choices feel like attempts to be "subversive" when they're not, they're just random. Nothing about the things she changes from the original source material does anything to further explore that source material, it's just yoinking things at random to try and seem more Greek while also further separating her work from legitimate Greek culture. Even when you THINK something is about to be retold in an interesting way, it's very promptly either swept under the rug or veered off in a whole other direction that makes zero sense for what it set up (ex. Echo, what the fuck happened to Echo-)

It's very "ideas first, structure never" writing, she comes up with standalone ideas that sound good in isolation, until she actually tries to execute them and connect them and you realize they have no through line or reason to exist the way they do. It's giving real hard "first draft" vibes, so much of what Rachel chose to do should have been left on the cutting room floor (meanwhile the things that supposedly did get left on the cutting room floor SHOULD HAVE BEEN KEPT IN THE COMIC, ex. Hera's coat prophecy, Hades and Persephone having a date in the Underworld where she decides she might want to go into law, etc.)

Ugh. This got longer than I intended it to. It's just frustrating. I have inspiration to write that essay about queer erasure in LO now, at least. So yeah, hold on tight for that one LMAO

[timetravellingkitty]

Mulan 2020 sucks lol

Written and edited by yours truly

So, Mulan 2020 happened. And I am disappointed. Seriously disappointed. It is utter garbage. I would genuinely prefer it if I watched Mulan II 5 times in a row, and that's saying something.

There is so much to talk about because this has so many issues. I don't think my brain can handle a movie as bad as this for some time. It is a disgrace to the original animated movie.

(Who cares about spoilers?)

And yes, I can and I will compare it to the original movie because it is a remake. It is totally valid to see where this fell flat and where the original succeeded. I'm not saying it has to be like the original cartoon, that is stupid. As I mentioned, it's to highlight the failures of this movie.

Besides, even if we forget the fact that it is a remake, this movie is still horrible.

INTRODUCTION

Mulan 1998 is a classic. It has great visuals, an awesome soundtrack, wonderful and compelling characters, a great message and a cool plot. It's just a great movie in general. It is an adaptation of The Ballad of Mulan, a Chinese legend. Both the legend and the animated movie are about a young girl named Mulan who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army to fight back against an invasion.

As big of a success Mulan was, Chinese audiences thought some things were weird. For instance, having a dragon be a comic relief character, given that dragons are highly respected in Chinese culture. So of course, Disney decided to try another shot, claiming that they wanted to be more culturally sensitive, accurate and closer to the original ballad.

Mulan 2020 is a remake of the original animated movie, and was marketed to be more "accurate to Chinese culture and the Ballad". This claim is, of course, false, because they failed in that aspect. Say what you will about the cultural inaccuracies in Mulan 1998, but at least it was a great movie. Besides, Mulan 1998 didn't pride or market itself on being culturally accurate, the way Mulan 2020 did, so there's that.

CHANGES

I don't mind some changes. And honestly, if there's one thing I appreciate, it's that it isn't a carbon copy of the original (looking at you The Lion King 2019).

Li Shang's character is divided into two characters: Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, apparently in light of the Me-Too movement. This is a dumb reason. Disney wasn't comfortable with a superior having a relationship with a subordinate? The hell? The romance between Shang and Mulan was only insinuated at the end, when Mulan wasn't even a part of the army anymore, so there's that. Also, Mulan gave her consent, so I don't know what they’re talking about.

Mushu isn't present in the movie. I can see why though. He contributed quite a bit to the soul of the animated version but a CGI dragon would be very distracting. Also, the director said that removed him to achieve a more realistic tone.

Grandma? No grandma. Mulan has a sister though, who only exists to mess stuff up.

The Huns are replaced with the Rourans and Shan Yu is replaced with Bori Khan.

Mushu is replaced with a phoenix, who acts as an emissary for the ancestors

There are no songs, except in the end credits, which isn't a bad thing. The instrumentals of the songs in the animated one play during some scenes (I'll talk about the music, don’t worry)

CHARACTERS

The characters in this movie are so boring. Our lead character Mulan lacks the charisma her animated counterpart had. She's utterly bland, uninteresting and poorly written. In the original, she knew she wasn't physically strong and that she couldn't solve her problems with her strength, so she used her intelligence and wit. She excelled by working hard and being strong willed and determined. This Mulan is a well rounded character.

Mulan in the live action is given Chi powers (Chi is a big part of Chinese medicine, in case you didn't know). Honestly, I wouldn't be as mad at Mulan being given superpowers, had they actually done this properly! Chi isn't like midichlorians, it's something that flows through everyone. Mulan is naturally born with dumb superpowers and has to hide them because as her dad says, " Chi is for warriors, not for daughters”. There is a problem:

It has been mentioned many times that Mulan needs to hide her superpowers otherwise she will be shunned and ostracised. Then why doesn't she get more repercussions everytime she uses her powers? The worst thing that happens is little Mulan getting looks of disgust when she uses them. On other occasions, when she is now a part of the army, she uses her powers in training and she doesn't get any backlash? What the hell?? Then why even bother in the first place?

The only way for this narrative to work is if Mulan got more repercussions for using her powers.

If I were to make the line "Chi is for warriors, not daughters," work, I would make it go something like this:

*At the end of the movie when Mulan comes home*

Dad: Didn't I tell you that Chi is for warriors, not daughters?

Mulan: "I am a daughter, but I'm a warrior too."

(Yes, I know this is similar to a scene in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but this would be better, tbh. Also, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Let me compare the training montages from both movies.

In the animated one, there is an absolutely AWESOME montage of Mulan training side by side with her companions, slowly gaining their trust. She climbs the pillar with both medallions by using her wit, not by brute force. This Mulan worked hard. Besides, the fact that "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" plays over this is the only thing that makes it better (banger song, thank you Donny Osmond)

In the live-action, Mulan is supposed to lift up buckets and climb on top of a mountain. There are also other training scenes, but those aren't very important. In these scenes, she succeeds with the power of CHI. WHY? Mulan here just achieves her goal because she is oh so special. She didn't work to achieve her goal at all, because she is perfect. No struggling or development here at all.

Mulan in the animated version was more concerned about saving her father. Mulan in the 2020 version is a dumb patriot who can't even do patriotism right ("I know my place. It is my duty to fight for the kingdom and protect the Emperor") How very empowering.

In short, live-action Mulan can do no wrong. She has no flaws, no personality and no charm. Everything comes to her pretty easily, because MAGIC.

Li Shang's role in the live-action is divided between Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, as mentioned before. Both of these characters are flat, dumb and boring. Tung exists to tell Mulan to cultivate her Chi and to train these idiots (and to offer his daughter’s hand in marriage to her, unaware that Mulan isn’t actually a guy, but eh). Honghui is there to be a stupid love interest, who gives us an “I am Spartacus” moment.

The witch is by far the most interesting character. She actually has more than one side to her, has SOME kind of depth and you can even feel sorry for her. She is supposed to serve as a foil to Mulan, given that both have similar powers. In case you've forgotten (which is something I wouldn't blame you for), she's an outcast who's now working with Bori Khan. Why is she an outcast? Because of her Chi. The witch has said many times that she could kill Bori Khan in a snap, then why doesn't she kill him? Because she needs acceptance? What the hell? She decides to pull out the whole "We're the same, you and I," stupidity to Mulan, and I can see that. It's just that the writers just didn't put much thought into it. “It’s too late for me” because you saw a woman leading an army of men? Also, why does she warn Mulan that Bori Khan is coming? Unless she's playing both sides, except her motivations aren't made clear enough for this to make sense. Finally, she dies for the dumbest reason. God, it just makes me so mad. She had so much potential, but no. They just had to mess her up.

Bori Khan? MORE LIKE BORING KHAN. Not much is there. His animated counterpart Shan Yu was scary and contributed to some of the darkest moments in the movie. This guy over here is just...nothing. That's all I have to say.

Mulan's sister is only there to mess up the meeting with the Matchmaker. What a stupid change. First off in the animated version, it's Mulan who messed up, because she isn't perfect. She fails at being stereotypically feminine AND masculine, but in the live-action, she literally pulls off a Spiderman cafeteria scene, and the blame is put on the sister. In the animated movie, this scene is groundwork for Mulan wanting to prove herself and going on a hero's journey, providing depth to her character, but in the live-action, she's perfect. What is the point? (I know this section was supposed to be about the sister, but eh). The sister doesn't provide anything else to the movie, so thanks! I hate it. Moral of the story: Girls can do anything boys can, as long as they have superpowers. If you are born special like Mulan, you can be respected, whereas if you are like the sister, you have no significance and in the end, you can just fit in and be irrelevant. Congratulations!

The live action group of guys Mulan met and befriended in the army lack the charm and comedic timing of their animated counterparts. That’s it. Seriously. I have nothing more to say about them, because they don't really have anything going on. I don't even know why they are included, because their contribution is nil, save for them blandly speaking lines from the animated version’s songs ("I don't care what she looks like, I care what she cooks like"), which is seriously cringe.

The dad is there to tell Mulan that Chi is for warriors. A shame, because I really liked the dad in the movie. He was a source of wisdom for Mulan, whose greatest honour was having her for a daughter. In the live-action, he just takes the sword that Mulan is given at the end of the movie. The mom is meh.

The emperor is also meh. At least he was wise and cool in the animated version, but here he just does bed sheet kung-fu.

Did I mention that the dynamics between the characters are unnatural, forced, awkward in a bad way and in no way indicates any chemistry between them? Oh yeah, I didn’t, until now. They don’t establish much when it comes to emotion.

Simply put, Khan (Mulan’s horse in the animated version) had more personality than all of these characters combined

PERFORMANCES

Liu Yifei as Mulan was a pretty terrible choice. She is just a block of wood, who has absolutely no range, and this isn't because of the writing. She is genuinely bad, and is regarded as one of China’s worst actors (I kid you not). She just can’t emote.

Jet Li as the emperor is meh. But hey, he doesn’t have much to do, so eh.

Jason Scott Lee as Bori Khan is fine. He doesn’t suck, but he lacks the command and authority of a character who is supposed to be intimidating, but I guess it has something to do with the writing of his character.

Donnie Yen is a martial art legend, but unfortunately, he doesn't have much range as an actor.

The best performance of this movie is that of Gong Li, who played the witch. Honestly, she is charismatic, charming and has an idea of what she is doing.

To save everyone’s time, simply put: most of the performances are bland and mediocre. Partly due to bad writing and partly due to most of the actors not being, well, good at acting.

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ACCURACY

So Disney went all “we like cultural and historical accuracy”, which is nice. For example, the Huns are replaced by the Rourans, a real tribe in China around the time Mulan was supposed to be alive. They also removed the hair cutting scene, because as iconic and awesome as it is, it doesn’t make sense. Chinese men wore their hair long too. You know what? I like these kinds of changes. I appreciate accuracy. If only Disney didn’t pride themselves on their accuracy when they got almost everything else wrong (They somehow got Mulan's house wrong lol). I don't know jackshit about Chinese culture so just go watch that Xiran Jay Zhao video it's very swag

THE BALLAD OF MULAN

In a surprising turn of events, this isn't accurate to the Ballad, like they had marketed it to be (I know, I’m shocked too). In a reference to the Ballad, Mulan is riding a horse and she sees two rabbits running side by side. She goes home and tells her family that she saw 2 rabbits, and she thinks that one was male and the other female, but she wasn't sure. This just misses the entire point of the Ballad.

Long story short, Mulan in the Ballad is actually a seamstress. She joined the army in her father's place. She defeats the barbarians and goes on a ten year long campaign with her friends, after which they meet the Son of Heaven (a sacred imperial title of a Chinese emperor). He offers her a high ranking position, which she refuses, because she just wants to go home. She returns home and her family welcomes her. Sometime later, her friends come to visit her, and they find out that she is actually a woman. The friends are shocked because she has been in the army for 12 years and in those 12 years, they didn't even realise that she was a woman.

Mulan then replies:

The male hare's feet hop and skip

The female hare's are muddled and fuddled

But when two hares are running side by side

How can you tell the male from the female?

Which is where the poem ends.

So, Mulan just going on, judging those rabbits like that makes absolutely no sense. The Ballad is about how no matter how different men and women look, when they live and fight amongst each other, who gives a damn about the differences? You know what would have made sense though? If Mulan got off her horse, went close to the rabbits, examined them, and then made the conclusion that one is male and the other is female. This would actually be sticking to the message of the Ballad. Also, why do they make it ambiguous as to whether she accepts the high ranking position? I assume for a sequel (yes, God save my soul). Here we can see another example of its impeccable accuracy to the Ballad.

THIS ISN'T EMOTIONAL AT ALL

Everything that made the original film good has been stripped away. Every moment that is meant to be emotional is very dull. For example, the scene where Mulan makes the decision to take her father's place in the army is supposed to be a very powerful scene. Mulan is risking it all just so her dad can be safe. She might be killed if discovered, and her family would be dishonoured.

When Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she has a moment of reflection while singing "Reflection". This is the beginning of her personal journey, discovering who she is. In this, after Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she doesn't have a moment of reflection. The army immediately shows up. Am I really supposed to believe that Mulan feels bad about this? That Mulan is really struggling?

When Mulan’s friends are singing, it suddenly shifts to the striking scene of the burnt village. This, in my opinion, is the best use of tonal whiplash. From this point on, things are getting serious, and the emotional weight of this tragedy is felt. In this, they just randomly show up at the village.​​ There is no seriousness (stop trying to tell me this movie is adult, mature and serious, it just looks like that on the surface).

Their attempts at being emotional are poor and unconvincing, and ultimately, the end product is an emotionless, soulless, depthless entity.

THE MUSIC

The director mentioned in an interview that she didn’t add songs into the movie because it is “unrealistic to break into song when you're in war”, and I don't think I’ve heard anything more false (apart from the concept of a flat Earth). Even I, who isn't going into war anytime soon, know this is false. They instead inserted instrumentals from the original film. Except, it's very weirdly placed. The instrumental for Reflection is placed when Mulan is fighting the Rourans after she reveals herself to be a woman. Like, there isn't any context. In the end credits, they had the original song "Loyal, Brave and True" sung by Christina Aguilera, which was nice. I don't really have much to say in regards to the music. The music is overall forgettable.

THE ACTION

The action may seem weird, but this kind of martial arts is a part of the Wuxia genre, which is what they were going for. Well, they failed. The choreography is bad, the CGI is bad, EVERYTHING is bad. Honestly, if you want a good Wuxia movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon exists. The action is here stupid and stiff.

OTHER DUMB STUFF

Why does Mulan take her armour off before going into battle? That is just stupid. Can't you just take the bindings off? Also, WHY OPEN YOUR HAIR-

Mulan really likes kicking spears (and pointy stuff in general). Seriously. It’s weird.

The CGI is okay I guess, I don't know. The phoenix in some scenes looks pink to me. There are some pretty visuals though.

It is very obvious that there is a green screen used in the scene where Mulan and her friends find the burnt village. And it looks bad. Pretty ugly. It looks bad. The green screen looks bad.

The war strategy is just weird. I can't really say anything about it in text form because how am i supposed to describe it, help- (she literally teleported behind the bad guys in the avalanche scene-).

I like how the animated film, which had a dragon as a comic relief and other silly stuff, is more mature than this.

For what joy does Mulan get another sword from the army? Also, shame the dad is all “oh look at the values written on the sword, they are honourable” even though in the original the greatest honour was having her for a daughter.

How was Mulan even able to tell the gender of the rabbits?

Why not just try to send a warning to the Emperor that the Rourans are coming to get him?

Why does Commander Tung let Mulan lead them-

I AM SO DONE

Well, I think I have said everything I wanted to about this movie. I know I havent talked about its controversies but honestly, I am done. I am so done with this. This document took 5-6 months of my life. I am kind of proud of this, and there isn't much I have done to be proud of. I did procrastinate on this a bit, and I had stuff going on, but finally, I am done. In the future, if I remember something, I'll add it here, but I think that is unlikely. I never want to watch or even go near Mulan 2020 again. It's horrible, and there is barely anything redeemable. I hate it here. It’s been reported that a sequel is in development. If it’s true, of course I’ll watch it, how else am I supposed to validate my self hate? I am also, of course, the resident “friend who suffers for everyone else’s entertainment”. If you want a live action remake of Mulan, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior exists. Go watch it, it’s free on YouTube with subtitles. I really liked it.

If you’ve somehow made it this far, thanks for reading. I congratulate you for putting up with whatever this is. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate myself for actually committing to this. It was painful yet fun to complain about this to the best of my ability. If anyone wants to add anything to this, feel free to do so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m out. I have lost my faith in humanity, and I have other things to complain about.

[akiizayoi4869]

(tw emotional neglect, abuse)

(I say this as a person that actually thinks positively of Ursa)

"Ursa wasn't a bad mom, she was simply trying to stop Azula from doing bad stuff" You know that statement isn't incompatible with 'Ursa is an emotionally neglectful parent' right? Especially when there's very little evidence of Ursa doing anything other than stopping Azula from doing bad things?

Another argument that bothers me is 'Azula knew deep down her mother loves her, that's why she hallucinated her.' Sorry, but that's not how feeling unloved by your parents worked. I would know. There is actually evidence of Ursa loving Azula, but the hallucination is not it.

A third arguement: "You're just projecting your mom issues on her" Ursa's a lot nicer and a better parent than my mom. And Ursa's more like my dad.

"It actually was all Ozai" It's possible, but we don't really know. They never did actually show us enough of Ursa and Azula's relationship to tell (and no, we can't just assume based on what happened in the comics/show, especially since they only showed a few days). Did Ozai tell Azula that her mom thought she was a monster? Or did Ozai just say things that Azula interpreted as such? Did Ursa actually even say Azula was a monster? Was Ursa a really bad parent off screen? Did Azula get this impression from Ursa actually disciplining her (as the common belief goes)? Did Ursa do things that gave Azula the impression that she thought she was a monster (there is actually enough evidence for this, considering Spirit Temple and the common belief that Ursa saw Ozai in Azula. And. You know. Ursa does think Ozai is a monster.). We don't know either way.

"Azula was just spoiled" Also not incompatible with emotional neglect.

"Ursa was as bad as Ozai" 100% WRONG.

"Ursa abandoned her kids" Yes and no. She was forced to leave (not the same thing). The forgetting of her kids could be interpreted that way, though. Personally, I see the 'forgetting her kids' more as a moment of weakness-not necessarily an indication of her feelings on Azula and Zuko (whom she interacts with positively after she regains her memories). Like she was so overwhelmed by the pain, and she didn't know if she'd see Azula or Zuko again. So she took the chance to forget. If it had been a better moment, or she was in a better mental state/had more hope that she'd see Zuko or Azula again, or was given a chance to not forget Azula and Zuko while forgetting everything else, she probably wouldn't have chosen to forget.

Omg, the hallucination argument and the "it was all Ozai!" arguments annoy me the most. Why are we taking what a hallucination says at face value? This is all coming from Azula's mind, that's why it's called a "hallucination" what the hallucination of Ursa was saying were all things that Azula wanted her mother to say to her, but knew that she wouldn't. Why? Because Ursa never showed that she loved Azula. If she did, Azula wouldn't have hallucinated her mother, the one person who she wanted comfort from in that moment, and she wouldn't have cried when hallucination Ursa said "I love you, Azula. I do." and smashed the mirror with her hair brush. She did that because she knew that Ursa wasn't really there, and because she knew that her mother would never say those comforting words to her. Based on what we saw in the Zuko Alone episode, Ursa was always strict with Azula in ways that she wasn't with Zuko, even when he did something that was bad. Like it or not, that leaves an impression on your kid. That makes them think that you don't love them, only your sibling.

Yeah, we really don't know much about their relationship, and I wouldn't even take the comics interpretation (at least, the Yang comics) because they completely contradict what little bit we saw in the show. Saying it was all Ozai and that Ursa had nothing to do with Azula's problems is just deliberately denying canon. The Beach episode gave us this:

and nobody says anything to push back against that statement and say that Azula was wrong, and that of course her mother didn't see her as a monster or thought that about her. You know what that means? They knew that she was right, because they were all around each other during their childhood. So they all witnessed how Ursa treated both of her kids. Zuko most likely didn't care because his mom was on his side when his father wasn't, but Mai and Ty Lee were Azula's friends. You can't tell me that they didn't pick up on it after a while, even if Azula didn't openly talk about it. And then we have the mirror scene. Once again, the narrative doesn't do anything to show that Azula was wrong. The hallucination is there for one reason: to show us that yes, what Azula said during The Beach episode actually isn't a wrong assessment of the relationship between her and her mother at all, and that she really did not feel as if Ursa loved her, because Ursa never showed that she did. Now, I'm not saying that Ursa did not love Azula at all, because I'm sure that she did. She just never acted or spoke to Azula in a way that conveyed that she did indeed love her.

Personally, I don't think that Azula got this impression from Ursa disciplining her. That's expected of a parent. However, it's the way how Ursa went about doing it that counts. With Zuko, we see Ursa lightly admonish him for doing something wrong, and gently explaining to him why whatever it was that he did was wrong. I'm pretty sure that there was more moments like that, and Azula more than likely witnessed them. Compare that with how Ursa spoke to Azula whenever she did something wrong, and you get a completely different picture. Ursa just yells at Azula and doesn't explain why whatever it was that she did or said was wrong, as if she just expected Azula to know better. Which is just baffling to me since Azula is the youngest child. In my experience, the youngest child tends to need a bit more guidance than the oldest child does. Anyway, Azula quite obviously picked up on this difference and it resulted in her beginning to think that something was wrong with her since Ursa never treated Zuko like that.

Another thing is attention. Not receiving attention from your parents will also mess you up. It's even worse when it's the mother since, you know, you have that special connection with her since she carried you for nine months. Getting attention from your parents is important. And while I know that people say that Ozai gave attention to Azula, that's different. And I honestly wouldn't even call that good attention, because all he cared about was results and how useful his children were to him. Also, Ozai wasn't the loving parent in the family. Ursa was. Azula knew this because, as we can clearly see, she was a smart child for her age, and she wasn't naive like her brother. So to her, not being loved by Ursa, the loving parent in the family, must mean that she's the problem. Which is why she sees herself as a monster, and why she thinks Ursa saw her as a monster.

Miss me with the whole "Ursa was just as bad as Ozai or worse than him" bs. Like you said that is absolutely not true at all.

I mean yes, that was the whole point of Ursa choosing to forget her children. I just have two problems with it: originally she was just going to change her face so that she wouldn't be recognized, and find a way to go back to her children. The only reason why she changed her mind was because Ikem convinced her to. Secondly, once again it goes against what we saw in the show, because what does she tell Zuko right before she leaves? "Never forget who you are." And then she proceeds to do exactly that. It was just a stupid and lazy plot point to explain what happened to Ursa, because the writers didn't think that much about it.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Phantom Grin

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: Bruce Wayne visits his son's grave on the night of his resurrection. Will it change Jason's fate, or is it all simply inevitable?

Chapters: 4/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain

Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Original Character

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd is Disabled, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Resurrected Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne Get Along

Chapter Four: Resurface

When Barbara left, Jason and Dick sat together, eating fish Alfred broiled for their lunch. Jason stopped eating and tapped the bed by his side. "You want me to sit next to you?" Dick asked. Jason nodded, and Dick sat on the bed next to Jason. It was cramped, but Jason didn't seem to mind. "You okay?"

Jason gestured to Dick by tapping his head and making a face. He went back to eating and listened carefully, waiting for Dick's reply. "Your head hurts still?" Dick asked. Jason nodded. Dick looked at Jason for a long while, and he frowned. "Want some medicine for your head?"

Jason shook his head and took a sip of water. He liked having Dick around. Dick reached to turn the tv on, and Jason grabbed his wrist. "Okay. Yeah, bad idea... Jason, something's wrong," Dick whispered. Once he finished his dinner, he set his tray aside and lay his head on Dick's shoulder. "Jason, I'm gonna go away next week. I won't be back for maybe a month or more—."

Jason sighed. "Jason, I'm—." Jason took another loud breath, and Dick chuckled. "Okay, I won't go. But I'm gonna have to go eventually... I just don't feel like arguing with you about it." Silence fell between the two, and Jason smiled to himself. He wished he could remember how things were with Dick before. He imagined that they spent a lot of time together.

Dick's phone rang, and Jason waited for him to answer it. He wondered who was calling. No one ever called. He pointed to the caller ID. "Someone who wants to meet you... Hold on," Dick requested as he answered the phone. "He's alright. Where's Bruce?"

Jason would've listened in if his head didn't ache the way that it did. He couldn't shake the thought of the memory from earlier. Jason could remember the faces of the people and the pain that he felt at the time, but nothing else. Jason nudged Dick. "One minute," Dick whispered. Jason nodded before getting up.

He went to the bathroom and shut the door. He unbuttoned his shirt, his fingers knocking clumsily against each other. He traced his scars before parting his hair to feel the various dents and traceable lines along his scalp. Jason did this over and over again. Every time he used more force until he was in tears. He let out a sob without meaning to, and before he knew it, he stood there in the mirror, wailing like a small child. "Jason, what's wrong?" Dick asked through the door. Jason wouldn't have known what to say even if he could speak. The scars told stories on his body in a language that he could not read. It frustrated him. Some of the wounds made sense, but others didn't. He just wanted things to make sense.

"Jason, did something happen?" Dick asked. Jason didn't answer. "Knock if you don't want me to come in." Jason didn't knock. He waited for Dick to come in, and Dick stood in the doorway staring at Jason. Jason's hair was a mess, his shirt was unbuttoned, and his face was a mess from crying.

"Jason, what's going on?" Dick questioned. Jason traced his scars with a fiery disregard for himself. Dick grabbed his hand. "Hey, shhh. I'm not gonna let you hurt yourself. I know you're upset, but I can't let you do that," Dick spoke softly. Jason hiccupped as he wept. "Your scars aren't bad. They just mean that you survived-." Jason shook his head and traced over a large y-shaped scar on his chest. "You want to know why you have that scar?" Jason nodded, still crying as Dick took a deep breath and put his hands behind his head. "You were dead for a long time, so long that you had a funeral... And before the funeral, you had an autopsy."

Jason sniffed and hiccupped as he continued to cry, and Dick started buttoning Jason's shirt back up before wiping his face. Jason turned his face away and closed his eyes as he rubbed circles into his forehead with his palms. "Jason—." Jason shook his head as he remembered waking up that night. He remembered the pain and the panic of being trapped underneath the dirt. He opened his eyes and pushed past Dick as he paced back and forth. "Jason, I know that's a lot to swallow, but—."

Jason took a deep breath and started crying even harder. It felt as if there wasn't enough air in the room. He coughed and hiccupped and paced in tears until Dick grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry that I told you that, but it's the truth," Dick whispered. Jason trembled in Dick's embrace as the terror took over. Dick knew that there wasn't much he could do for Jason at that point. All he could do was wait for the panic to subside.

By that time, Bruce came in with a panicked expression. Jason pulled away from Dick and stood at the window with his back turned to everyone. "What the hell is going on?" Bruce asked.

"He's having a bad day. Actually, bad would be an understatement... You know what, we wanted him to get his memory back, and for what? What is there for him to remember?" Dick asked. "Look at him and tell me that you want him to keep remembering when this is what it does to him."

Dick pushed past Bruce and left the room. Bruce stood in the doorway, and he meditated on Dick's words. "Jason, is your memory starting to come back?" Bruce asked. Jason nodded. He wouldn't turn around and look Bruce in the eye. "Alfred wanted me to show you something. I brought in some pictures." Jason shook his head. "Not all your memories are painful, Jason. I promise you. We had some great memories... You used to like fast cars, and I used to take you out in the car at night."

Jason didn't budge. "I never got to tell you how much I loved you... And I still love you so much," Bruce whispered. Jason swallowed hard, trying not to cry again. He turned around and walked towards Bruce, and Bruce hugged him. "I love you, Jason... And I'm so sorry that I didn't do a better job of protecting you."

Jason didn't care what Bruce said. Jason knew that Bruce was security personified. He felt a strange comfort when Bruce was around. "Jason, how would you like to come home sometimes?"

Jason made a soft noise and nodded. "Good, I know this has been tough... But you've handled this all so well. This isn't something you should've had to go through," Bruce whispered, "And I want you to get to come home sometimes. Things are gonna get a little more challenging before it gets easy, but we'll all be here for you." He kissed the top of Jason's head.

Jason climbed back into bed and lay on his stomach. Bruce pulled up a chair and sat next to him. The events of the day took a lot out of him. Bruce waited until the nurse came, and he explained that Jason was suffering from a persistent headache.

[karaspal]

Hello! I saw that you're a Supergirl fan and I'm trying to read some of her books. Is Supergirl 2016 a good representation of the character?

not really, no. at least not the initial one. it gets good once marc andreyko starts writing it. then bad again once he is off the book.

the rebirth series took a lot of inspiration from cbs supergirl and imo the show got a lot better once it moved to cw. kara in the first 20 issues of the rebirth series is portrayed as less confident and more timid, and that's not really how she is. the comics also took a lot of its elements from the show, even if it didn't make sense to do that. i love and adore the supergirl show and kara in it, yet i hate the rebirth run, so even if you are a fan of cw!kara, i wouldn't recommend the run.

but fear not, i'll give you some recs. here is a full reading order if you want to read everything she's been in. if not, here is a smaller reading guide:

supergirl (2011) is a great start. it has some meh stuff, like kara's costume, which was not great, but you get used to it. i'd recommend the run as a whole (minus the boring crossovers), but if you don't want to read it all, the first arc with the world killers (#1 - 7), red daughter of krypton (#28 - 33, but mind you, it crosses over with "red lanterns". reading order for the full story you can find in the link i gave above. just scroll a bit, it's under the 52 section) and crucible (#36 - 40) were the best arcs.

after that, i'd recommend jumping right to marc andreyko's run - supergirl (2016): #21 - 33. before that, you do need to read man of steel (2018) for context.

next comes supergirl: woman of tomorrow. it's the best supergirl story you can find and one of the best superhero stories in general.

despite how little pkj got to write kara during his time on action comics, i'd still recommend checking it out because he understands her character very well - action comics annual 2021 (a possible future for kara and the house of el); action comics (2016): #1044 - 1049 (back up stories); action comics (2016): #1051 - 1060 + annual 2023. mind you, she has a supporting role in this story, not a main one.

after that, she had a one-shot team-up with the martian manhunter action comics: doomsday special (2023) which was good.

she is currently a main character in the house of brainiac story and i like the way she is written there.

if you're willing to read comics from the previous era, the run sterling gates and jamal igle did is considered a classic. it's supergirl (2005): #34 - 59. it does, however, cross over a lot with the new krypton arc that was happening at the time. full reading order you can find in the reading guide i linked.

and if you're willing to go pre-crisis, she had two solo runs. one was in 1974 - supergirl (1974), and the other - 1982 - supergirl (1982). she also had stories in various dc comics. an era i absolutely love is when she was an actress in new york - the superman family (1974): 208 - 222.

and comics you should stay away from, in my opinion - supergirl: being super and last year's supergirl special #1. both are written by mariko tamaki and i just don't vibe with her kara. another one is kara's first appearances post-crsis. anything kara written by joe kelly and jeph loeb is a big no-no.

anyways, sorry for the long answer lol. happy reading.

[pretty-toru]

I saw a Satoru fanart where he was doing finger heart which is sooo cute 🥹 Can I ask for request? Like, Satoru's been annoying you all day but this time he just pissed you off that you're so close on getting mad at him but he suddenly gave you a finger heart which made you laugh on how corny he is and forget what you're mad about. Thank youuu

white hearts┆gojo satoru

୧ genre: fluff

୧ wc: 800+

୧ synopsis: gojo loves to annoy you (affectionately) and most of the time he could get away with it.

a/n: that fanart sounds so adorable! he'd 100% abuse the finger-heart gesture, I'm almost certain he would

There's never a dull moment with Satoru, and after many years together you have sorta learned to just go along with his playful mannerisms and questionable quirks. You usually don't mind it because you came to understand that him constantly hovering over you with no regard to boundaries is one of his ways of expressing his affection, especially when he's fully charged with a generous amount of love to give and can no longer suppress the swelling inside his chest.

Today just so happens to be one of those days where he has too much time on his hands and he doesn't know what to do with it, and what better way than to spend it with you? Even though you have your own agenda and responsibilities to uphold at Tokyo Tech, Satoru invites himself to accompany you because everything is more fun when you make it a two-person job. Which you realized soon enough that it was just an excuse to hang out with you all day.

You must admit that some of his methods of getting your attention when you're busy are somewhat comical, such as when you're taking a phone call and he's handing you random objects from around your office and you just accept it against your better judgment, casting him a rather confuse and dazed glare before setting it back to its rightful place. You figure that he picked up the prank on social media and wanted to try it out on you to gauge your reaction.

Another is when he's swiveling his chair around you while you're filling out paperwork and he's lightly prodding and tickling your side to elicit a small yelp from you, making you overly cautious and nervous to focus on your task at hand because you never know what his next move is. It makes him laugh when your body visibly stiffen as he reaches for the glass bowl of melon flavored hard candy, and he mockingly surrenders with the show of his hands that he only wants a treat.

As much as you love Satoru, you were getting seriously annoyed when there's seemingly no end to his constant teasings and schemes when you had deadlines to meet and having him around was getting you nowhere. The last thing you wanted was to get another earful from Yaga, so the only logical thing for you to do now is to kick your dear and beloved husband out. You stand abruptly which startles Satoru, interjecting the million and one thoughts he's been spewing into the void and pulling him up from where he's situated and leading him out the door.

"Satoru, honey, I absolutely love and adore you to pieces but you have to go."

"What? Whyyyy?" You didn't have to get a visual on him to know that he's pursing his bottom lip into a melodramatic pout as you're pushing him from behind. Although it took a little muscle because he can be effortlessly resilient with just his 190 cm stature alone, you managed to force him out into the corridor successfully without breaking a sweat.

"Because some of us have work to do! I'll just see you at home later, mkay? I'm sure you can keep yourself busy in the meantime." You press a soft peck against his jaw to establish that there are no hard feelings between you two and shut the door on him, but muffled sounds of protests and cries such as "Noooo, I promise I'll be good this time! I'll be so quiet — you wouldn't even know I'm there!" and "Please give me another chance, it's cold and lonely out here... And I miss you already!" can be heard through the barrier that's rudely standing in his way of you.

After some time had passed, silence ensues and you're finally able to continue your work without any more external distractions. Of course, you feel a little bad about temporarily banishing Satoru from your office but it simply had to be done. And speaking of the devil, you get a text notification from none other than Gojo Satoru himself with an embedded photo of a personal-size boxed cake from your favorite bakery sitting neatly outside your door.

You pull yourself upright to retrieve the decorative white box, glancing down both sides of the empty hallway to see if he could be spotted anywhere before returning to your desk. You notice a card attached to it and inside pertains a concise message "I'm sorry for upsetting you, Angel. Please don't divorce me. I love you 🤍" which draws a genuine smile to your face and a playful roll of your eyes. You text him back with a picture of his note and answer with, "I'm not going to divorce you over this, silly! Never even crossed my mind. I love you too, Satoru — Immensely, if I must add."

Without missing a beat, Satoru responds with a photo of himself posing a finger heart that instantly lifts any tension you had felt prior because you could never truly be angry with him no matter what. Your phone then pings when you receive another message and it reads,

"Got dinner covered. Hurry home so I can finally have you all to myself ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡"

[casual-praxis]

Thinkin' bout Gas Station AU (name pending) ship shenanigans..

So, I've committed to Bluedow and background Vired, but I don't know how prevalent they actually are. I don't have a fic or comic in mind for this AU, so I have no idea if this is even relevant, but I have a few ideas in mind that might be interesting to share.

+ Shadow is initially drawn to Blue since he seems easy to mess with. Like, the dude ignores most supernatural shit he sees because he either doesn't want to acknowledge it, or thinks it's a prank--Shadow can't just not screw with him, right? It's practically the demon way.

It's not like Shadow's gonna get attached to any of these losers anyway. Nope. Nuh-uh. He's gonna follow Lord Vaati's plan for total town takeover and that's that.

Except, he didn't factor in Blue actually being...kinda fun to talk to. Like, he's still a weak mortal who could die at any moment should Shadow will it, but...their sense of humor overlaps, even if Shadow's is on the darker side now and again. They can both agree that Vio is the worst, which is great, because Blue doesn't even need to know Shadow's reasoning, he just agrees!

Blue also introduced him to this thing called "anime", at which point they both lost a whole day to watching this "Hunter x Hunter" show at Blue's house. It's fun. Blue takes Shadow's oddities in stride. He doesn't question why Shadow isn't familiar with most mundane mortal things, or judge his parasol when they hang out on their days off. He treats him like any other strange Hylian living in their strange little town (albeit with some jabs here and there about Shadow being really into larping), and it's...a little nice?

Totally not a crush though! Even if he does find Blue a little attractive--it's purely aesthetic! Who doesn't think the people they like (as friends!!) are nice to look at?! Don't be silly haha...

He's not subtle. And they were roommates.

+ Red and Vio are interesting in the way that I can’t tell if their dynamic is toxic, or weirdly wholesome. Like, you can’t really get around the fact of there being a power imbalance. Vio will presumably possess Red’s soul from now until forever unless something kills them both. Not to mention Vio being able to alter memories, but that's something Red seeks out at first.

It's a bit hard to summarize (I've had to stop myself from writing several paragraphs a handful of times now), but if I were to attempt, the path their relationship takes looks a little like this:

Red and Vio are mostly strangers to one another. Just coworkers with no strong opinions of the other.

Red dies, and Vio revives him, due to having a use for Red's fire-based soul (which is determined by a human's personality).

Red silently struggles through having no one to talk to about the fact he died, because no one even remembers it happened. To make matters worse, Shadow has now appeared, and Blue seems to gravitate to him more--so he's "losing his best friend, too".

Vio has been keeping tabs on Red, since Red is under his domain now, and decides to approach since the spiraling is getting worse.

Red feels incredibly conflicted on how to feel about his resurrection, but Vio stands by his decision, so Red requests that Vio make him forget everything, too. So he can try to pretend things are normal.

Vio can't erase Red's memory of his own death, since it wouldn't be possible to hide the evidence of Red being technically dead to himself. But he can erase other memories, to make things slightly easier on him. Though, overexposure would be a bad thing, and might have a few side effects (namely, becoming immune).

To make up for the fact Vio can't always erase his memories, he starts looking into other ways to try and make Red forget his struggles--without using his venom. This results in Vio putting a lot of effort into making just Red happy, to the point where they basically go on several mini-dates without them immediately realizing.

Eventually, Shadow confronts Vio about restoring Blue's memory of Red's death, so that they can patch up their drifting friendship, but Vio is reluctant since it might "break" Blue (to find out he accidentally got Red killed, found his mangled body, and then started to become distant after the fact). It does end up working out, but Vio didn't have much faith.

Red becomes happier with Blue now in the loop on supernaturals (and starting to fix their friendship), but is still insistent Vio keep paying attention to him (as if Vio would ever stop). He's realized his feelings for Vio are changing, but isn't quite sure what that means for them in the future.

Meanwhile Vio has just accepted that this human is now his human, and even if he doesn't really know how love works, he's willing to learn it if it means Red won't stray from him.

The dynamic continues to evolve from here, and all of this is pretty much "off-screen" since Blue (the main character) is out of the loop on it, but I think this wraps up arc 1 at the very least.

Will probably post more notes later, but this got a lot longer than I wanted it to be, whoops.