#comic rick was too real for this

[theyreunderadumpster]

Good evening. Tonight, we will be discussing the subtle differences between how Show Rick tells Lori to go away and mind her business versus how Comic Rick does.

[bayetea]

I don't like the judo flip in moa as much as the next guy but in my eyes it's largely the result of rick not taking female violence half as seriously as male violence (a result of viewing women as weaker and inferior to men such that their acts of violence don't need to be taken as seriously) and not so much anything about annabeth herself. like I do genuinely feel that annabeth is a complex heroine and definitely one of the better ones in the realm of ya action-adventure fiction produced in the past 25 years but she is still a girl being written by a man and all I'm saying is that her writing clearly reflects that sometimes (more in tags)

[birdricks]

normally i dont ever think abt nicknames or like “pet names” ig when it comes to pairings i like but i do truly in my heart believe rick is the type of person to end up calling bp by like 100 different cutesy names without even realising. like he’ll say smth as a joke once but like also serious. and bp always takes it in such a way that rick just keeps using it bc he feels like he can get away with it without being cringe or whatever

[spacelazarwolf]

apparently a bunch of ppl on social media are trying to call for a boycott of rick riordan because of this statement in a blog post:

Becky and I are just back from a busy weekend with events at the Boston Book Festival and New York Comic-Con.

Before I get into that, however, some words to acknowledge the ongoing horrors in Israel and Gaza. As many of you may know, I am no longer on social media. My accounts post only updates on my books and related projects. I do not read posts, reply to posts, or share my thoughts about world events on those forums. That doesn’t mean I don’t have strong feelings and reactions. It means I am offline as completely as possible, except for the occasional blog post like this one.

I will say this: Over the last eighteen years, I have received many fan letters from young readers, both Israeli and Palestinian, who often told me that my books helped them escape the fear, grief and anxiety they were dealing with at the time. Some had lost family members to violence. Some were writing while in the distance they could hear explosions, gunfire, and the launching of rockets. They used my books as a way to escape into another world, where the monsters were fictional, and where demigods usually saved the day. While I am always glad that my books can help young readers find joy during difficult times, my heart breaks every time I hear about the things they have to deal with. I am grief-stricken by the horrific events now unfolding, especially because I know that they are part of a long historic pattern that has been robbing too many children of their childhood and perpetuating hatred for far too long.

I am also quite aware that when anyone, myself included, tries to speak about this issue, the reader is waiting to pounce, thinking, “Yes, but whose side are you on?” That is exactly the wrong question. If there are two sides to this issue, those sides are not Palestinian/Israeli or Muslim/Jewish. The two sides are humanitarian and dehumanizing. Dehumanizing has a long evil history. It is appealing and easy to buy into, because humans are tribal animals. We are hardwired to think in terms of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ We are the real humans, the good guys, the ones with God on our side. Those other people are evil monsters who don’t deserve empathy. Hate mongers have thrived on dehumanizing for as long as there have been humans. It provides them with a purpose, a way to rally support, power, and scapegoats. It is easy to point to atrocities committed by our enemies, while justifying or minimizing the atrocities committed by ourselves or our allies.

Humanitarianism is a much harder sell. It requires us to empathize, to see other groups of people as equally deserving of dignity and quality of life. It requires not always putting ourselves and our needs first. But in the long run, humanitarianism is our only hope. If violence could end violence, if we could put an end to “those other people” once and for all, human history would read very differently than it does.

So yes, I am appalled by the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians. I am appalled by the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Both things can be true. Both things must be true. My thoughts are with all the people who have died, who have lost loved ones, who have had their worlds and their lives shattered, especially the children. More death and violence will not break this cycle, which has been going on for generations. There is no military solution. Even since I first wrote the post, only twenty-four hours ago, the Israeli government’s brutal retaliation against the entire population of Gaza has reached genocidal proportions. This is not only an atrocity. It is folly. Answering misery with misery only creates more fertile ground for extremism, dehumanizing the “other side,” letting hate mongers thrive, stay in power, and reduce us all to our most monstrous impulses. The only real solution is treating each other like equally worthy human beings, and negotiating a peace that allows all parties a chance to live in security and dignity, with hopes for a future that does not include bombs and rockets and gunfire. This means security and support for Israel, yes. It also means a secure Palestine which is allowed to get the international aid and recognition it needs to build a viable state.

Do I think that will happen? Unfortunately, no. Humans are simply too selfish, too ready to blame “the other” for all their problems, too ready to dehumanize, though I also believe, perhaps paradoxically, that most people just want to live their lives in peace and have a chance for their children to have a brighter future. The problem is when we don’t allow other people to have those same hopes and dreams — when it becomes a false choice of us versus them.

What can I do? I will continue to write books that I hope will give young readers some joy. I will resist the urge to demonize entire groups of people. I will call for less violence, not more violence. And when asked whose side I am on, I will tell you I am on the side of humanitarianism.

So with that said, I return to the world of books . . .

honestly, if you have a problem with this statement, it’s probably because he’s talking about you. this is exactly what legitimate activists (as in not just random westerners who share social media posts but on-the-ground activists who are doing real work) have been saying for decades. and i think all this really speaks to just how disconnected a lot of westerners who claim to be pro palestinian are from those activists.

if you can’t read a statement that says “i am on the side of humanitarianism and less violence” without immediately jumping to cancel them, you are the problem being discussed in the above statement.

[dreamstar-moonlight]

Okay these posts need to be seen more:

@greenconverses , @zambomarti , @campercabeth and @not-for-granted spitting FACTS🔥🔥🔥

oh no, no, nonononononono you don’t get to retcon the first series basically being an all white cast because now you’ve realized it’s Not A Great Look by blaming publishing standards and pretending that annabeth is presented as anything other than a blonde white girl in the text or any of the marketing material ever.

you wrote her as white! you wrote all the main characters as white and made it very clear when the secondary characters weren’t! it’s fine to admit you just had a blind spot and self-corrected with HoO and the other series!!! you don’t get to go back and retroactively collect diversity points by pretending annabeth is in any way presented as racially ambiguous in the text now that you’ve decided to make a tv show!!!! gaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

[bluecrocss]

Yes. You are racist. (Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one)

So approximately half a year since the premier of the Disney+ Percy Jackson show, and almost two years since the announcement of the Trio's casting, I would like to take this moment to look back at the insane, racist and anti-black backlash that was launched at Leah Sava Jeffries and a few other cast members from the PJO fandom.

I'm not concerned with the trolls who are openly racist, who resorted to racist slurs and outright threats, everyone agrees that they "took it too far". I want to talk about the rest of you, the "I'm not racist, but.." people, the "What's wrong with wanting book accuracy?" people. Just to let you know, for the unasked question... yes, yes you are.

I've noticed the Percy Jackson fandom has been lording some weird superiority complex over a certain *unnamed* fandom that has fallen out of grace due to their recently outed bigot of an author. But honestly, y'all are not much different. The amount of vitriol and anti-blackness I have seen from this fandom (beyond just bullying a 12 year old girl), y'all don't have a leg to stand on.

Below is a breakdown of the most common arguments I have seen used to justify y'alls absolutely insane bigotry. I am going to explain why none of these justify the amount of anger and vitriol y'all have sent towards Leah, Rick or any of the cast.

I am not here to argue, and this is not a democracy. I am giving you a chance for some self-reflection and to understand that this pattern of violence directed towards POC actors (mostly black women) has never been justified in the name of "book accuracy"/"comic book accuracy"/"ending forced diversity" or whatever other excuses y'all try to make up.

If you still try to justify or argue further for any of these points, I will just block you. I am not coddling you through your racism. If anyone has seen any other dumb arguments floating around that I might've missed, feel free to sound off in the comments.

She's not book accurate:

Neither is Percy, Luke, Grover, Dionysus, Poseidon, and just about every other named character.

Rick already made it clear that physical features were not the priority with casting, rather it was actors that embodied the role. So why are the biggest complaints about Annabeth and Zeus? 🤔

What? You're gonna say everyone else got backlash too? I see you trying to obscure the main issue by playing dumb 😉

See my friend, yes, there were one or two comments about how Percy's hair should be black or how Luke is supposed to be blonde, but as soon as Leah was cast, none of those actors got any significant backlash. In fact, Walker and Charlie literally have an army of fan girls at their beck and call, calling them the perfect Percy and Luke, despite neither being "Book accurate". But then again, have we not observed the pattern of White boy of the month vs WOC to hate for the year? (Yes, I know Charlie isn't white. Further adds to the irony, doesn't it).

Why include character descriptions if you won't stay true to them, you cry? Well, my dear sweet moron, see, books and TV are two different mediums. Because in literature, you can't *Literally* SEE the characters, the author has to add descriptions to paint a picture in your mind, in TV... that's not an issue. So unless the character's appearance is necessary to the plot (like Luke's scar, or Nico being Italian) the show runners can actually focus on more important things.. Like ACTING and PERSONALITY.

2. It's just not how I imagined her:

News flash, babe! ANNABETH ISN'T REAL. None of these character are. They are concepts that originated from the brain of Mr. Rick Riordan. It doesn't matter how YOU imagined her. There are millions of people who read these books that imagined her several different ways. When the creator of the character watched Leah's audition and said, 'Yes! She embodies the character I created!", your imagined version of Annabeth ceased to matter. And guess what? The books still exist... they have not been burned. Your version of Annabeth has not disappeared. Go read the books.

3. Zeus can't be black/Gods have to be Greek/*Insert Character* can't be black:

Y'all did not read the books, I swear. You have to be fake fans looking to troll atp.

The gods move based off the center of western civilization. They change their forms/environment to reflect the culture they are occupying (they did it with Rome, now they're doing it with America). The gods change forms all the time. How we see them is not their true form as a mortal would disintegrate if they were to see their true form.

America is a cultural melting pot (specifically NY where Mount Olympus is now based). If the god's choose forms that reflect the current society they inhabit, they could literally be any race (keep in mind NYC is only 33% white).

All of this is literally SPELLED OUT in the Lightning Thief.

Furthermore, if you're going to push the ethnically Greek thing... Poseidon is British with a British accent and Hermes is Latino. The only ethnically Greek actor is Dionysus (who still doesn't look book accurate). Y'all are sounding like some white supremacists because do you forget that race is a social construct?

Before the advent of the transatlantic slave trade, I can promise you that the Greeks and the Anglo-Saxons did NOT view themselves as the same people. Why are y'all not taking issue with Poseidon's actor then?

Also, Percy Jackson has canonically had a slew of explicitly black demigods since the second book (including Harriet Tubman, which I have mixed feelings about 😭), so I genuinely have no idea where some of y'all are going with this point.

4. She was our smart blonde representation:

Don't pmo. I swear to God!

White, blonde women have NEVER been excluded from Hollywood. Representation is not something you lacked. The dumb blonde stereotype was a simple branch off of a larger misogynistic "dumb woman" stereotype. It has not truly been relevant since the mid 2000s outside of childish jokes.

This iteration of Percy Jackson will probably not go beyond the first 5 books, based off pacing and the age of the actors. So here's a fun game: 5 bucks to the first person who can find me a quote in the first 5 Percy Jackson books, where Annabeth laments her insecurities about being blonde (hint: there aren't any).

Also, her blonde hair does not hold her back at Camp because she is head of the Athena Cabin who are highly respected (and guess what?), ARE ALL BLONDE!

Her insecurities about her hair color are two or three lines at most in the later books, not this fundamental, core part of her character y'all all of a sudden wanna pretend it was. And guess what, as a non-blonde black girl, I was able to read those scenes of Annabeth feeling undervalued because of her looks and relate to her even if she didn't look like me at the time.

Why all of a sudden can y'all not do that with a black Annabeth? By every metric black girls are undervalued for their intelligence in academia more than white girls are, regardless of hair color. So your little representation of a woman undervalued by her looks would still hold. Do y'all dehumanize black women so much, that you are incapable of empathizing with show!Annabeth's plight in the way I could with Book!Annabeth simply because she doesn't look exactly like you?

Your issue isn't that she isn't blonde, it's that she is NOT WHITE.

Furthermore, Becky Riordan had tweeted previously (before the show was even cast) that Annabeth never needed to be blonde (probably recalling the BS y'all put Alexandra Daddario through), so even if they cast a white Annabeth, the blonde hair was never a guarantee. the author and producers all agree that it was not a significant part of her character. It's been a non-issue since day one.

Also, stop acting like smart blondes are rare in media... If you don't go watch some Legally blonde, Iron Man (Pepper Potts), Zack and Cody (Maddie), Liv and Maddie, FMAB (Winry), Captain Marvel, She-Ra, Buffy, The boys (starlight) etc. etc., and go sit down somewhere 🙄🙄🙄 (those were literally all things I've watched recently, off the top of my head, btw 💀)

5. It's not about race, but...:

Yes it is. It was always bout race. No other actors got as much hate as Leah. Her grandmother and other family members on IG had to mute their comments because they were getting so many threats.

Alexandra Daddario had to come to her defense on Twitter. Rick had to put out an official statement on his website. This girl has endured years of psychological torment for simply having the best audition. No one else is book accurate, no one else is ethnically Greek (except Jason Mantzoukas). Walker literally has British and German ancestry.

Why was she being called racial slurs on reddit and in youtube comments?

I know what you're gonna say, "I actually had problems with the entire cast", "I actually had a bigger issue with Walker's hair color", blah blah blah. Then why aren't you in Walker's comment sections? Why are you only making your displeasure known on posts defending/advocating for Leah? Why is she always your first example of 'wrong casting"?

Well, she "looks the most different"... Look up the term "scapegoating".

"Oh, I don't agree with the harassment. I just don't like the casting." Guess what? She's already been cast. They are not going to uncast her. What do you get out of still complaining about it.

All the vitriol you're stirring about her when you complain about her on Social media, it is directing people to send her hate, even if you're not writing it directly. It's is not enough to "not agree" with the racism, it is your duty to actively prevent it. And btw, these are young gen z actors, they are active on social media. They see the edits of themselves (even comment on it) and they most likely see these little "harmless" complaints you're posting. Are your upset feelings really worth contributing to the racist dogpile on this poor girl?

6. Why couldn't they atleast give her blonde braids?:

Why should they? Y'all wanted blonde because of the "dumb blonde" trope... that doesn't apply to POC.

A blonde black girl is gonna be viewed the same as a non-blonde black girl (or at worst, someone might decide she's "ratchet" or some shit for wearing colored hair). What difference would it make?

Why shouldn't Walker dye his hair, then?

7. Annabeth has Gray eyes:

Less than 3% of the global population has "gray eyes". Even if they cast a white actor, they would've needed contacts. Her being black is not the reason Annabeth's eyes aren't gray. Simply put, it is a plot element they removed, like the whole "names have power" element, or Ares having flames for eyes, or Dionysus using his powers to grow strawberries at Camp.

That's how adaptations work. Unnecessary plot elements are cut to save time and budget. This has nothing to do with her casting. They probably also didn't want to make child actors wear contacts (not a new practice).

8. Even if Rick chose her, he was wrong/Disney is forcing him to be okay with it:

Where do I start? Rick created the character. He can't be wrong. Do y'all have no self-awareness? Death of the author has no place here, because y'all are hung up on an aspect of the character that is not relevant to her arc or development.

Y'all's justification for wanting a "book accurate" Annabeth is that she was such an inspirational and important character growing up, and yet your behavior is so in conflict with the character you claim means so much to you. You're narrow minded, dismissive of bigotry and injustice, and disrespectful to the wishes of the creator of your favorite character; everything that Annabeth would never be. Y'all were never genuine fans of the books. You're bigots that needed an outlet for your rage.

Keep in mind, Rick has said countless times that PercaBeth directly mirrors his relationship with his wife. Y'all think he would have allowed them to cast someone who doesn't live up to the woman who has been by his side for decades? The mother of his children?

Regarding Disney forcing him, show me one piece of direct evidence that proves Disney in anyway pressured Rick to cast her. Cuz if you can't, that's baseless speculation. And if you have to resort to baseless speculation, maybe try to examine why it's so important to you to hold on to this belief.

9. So, I'm racist because I hate "race swapping"?:

To start, there is a difference between "race swapping" and "color blind casting". Often times, when y'all complain about the former, you're actually mad about the latter.

It would be "race swapping" if Rick and the team decided ahead of time that they wanted a black Annabeth and ONLY allowed black actors to audition. But the actual reality was that they accepted auditions from everyone (there were white actors and non-black poc that also auditioned for the role) and chose the best person who embodied the role. They didn't "make Annabeth black" and they didn't "make Zeus black", they cast black actors for those roles.

Y'all think you're being slick with your wording. Dismissing that is implying that they did not earn their roles fair and square. Which is racist. It's the equivalent of going up to a black college student and telling them they only got in because of affirmative action. You're dismissing the achievements of a person solely because of their racial background.

For all you people complaining about "unfairness" and "forced diversity", I would think hiring based on merit would appeal to you 🤔

71% of theatrical Hollywood leads were white in 2024 in comparison to 29% POC and you still think "black washing" is a thing? You still get this angry over a black person fairly earning a role because you think in a time where Hollywood only knows to do remakes and adaptations, that the majority of lead roles still *have* to be reserved for white actors?

Once again, white people have never been excluded from Hollywood for being white. Representation has never been something you lacked nor is it something you can lose. Your anger comes from seeing a black face where you think they don't belong. Because you feel you are owed a disproportion of representation in Hollywood.

10. Woke agenda/DEI/Forced Diversity:

If you are unironically using any of these terms in a negative light, it's already too late for me to reason with you. Look up the term "dog whistle". If you are sharing the same terminology with Elon Musk and his fanboys, maybe reevaluate some things.

POC are objectively underrepresented and have been historically excluded through actual laws and policies in Hollywood. There is no such thing as "forced diversity", you have bought in to a right wing conspiracy theory.

"Woke" is a term that was intentionally appropriated from the black community. It originally meant being aware of injustice and systematic threats to the community and is now being weaponized by bigots. Good job.

Diversity and inclusion is a good thing.

11. But POC deserve to have their own stories told:

We do. And we have been fighting for it for over a century now, and we've made great strides, no thanks to y'all.

No thanks to y'all gaslighting us about how little representation we get or that representation matters at all. No thanks to y'all pushing the idea that POC can't sell globally and obscuring POC actors in international promos. No thanks to y'all continuing to whitewash even to this day (Bullet train, the beguiled, gods of Egypt, atla, every portrayal of Jesus ever, etc.). No thanks to y'all calling every piece of media that has more than one black lead and more than one queer couple "woke". No thanks to y'all throwing a fit every time a black person in a fantasy setting isn't a slave.

Fact of the matter is, y'all never cared about POC "getting their own stories", you're only parroting our own words back to us now as a politically correct way of saying, "leave white roles alone" lmao

Well fun fact, actors of color getting opportunities to play lead roles and allowing poc to "tell their own stories" are not mutually exclusive. If y'all cared that much, instead of bullying a 12 year old actress, you could actually support up and coming independent POC writers, directors, and studios 😱

12. Studios need to stop "setting up" actors of color:

Do me a favor and google the term DARVO.

Your racism is not the fault of the studios for giving a POC actor a role that they earned. It is not up to the rest of society to tiptoe around racists to avoid their vitriol. It is our responsibility to hold them accountable and protect minorities from unwarranted hate. At most, you can say it's the responsibility of the studios to provide adequate support to POC actors who face this backlash.

At the end of the day, Hollywood only allows very few spots for POC actors (especially WOC), while simultaneously pushing a new white boy every month to put in everything. Putting minorities in these roles that are usually closed to them, usually opens the door to more actors of color than before.

Brandy being cast as Cinderella did a lot to push her into the mainstream (yes, she was already extremely famous in the black community atp), Halle Berry being the first, black, bond girl literally shot her to icon status, and even going as far back to what Anna Mae Wong did for Asian American actresses with her "femme fatale" roles.

At the end of the day, even with the backlash, *some* rep does more good for POC actors than *no* rep. The solution to racist backlash isn't to take away those opportunities, but rather to not be racist??? 🙄

Also, for everyone that claims that "POC race-swapping" is just as bad as "white-washing", despite white washing having a longer history and objectively causing more harm, note how the backlash to white washing never lasts as long as the harassment that POC get.

Like, no one brings up Scarlett Johansson's ghost in the shell role anymore, but you can best believe Candace Patton is still fending off racist trolls. As much as people hated the atla movie, people moved on quick from Nicola Peltz playing Katara since she was just a kid that accepted the role (re: daddy bought her the role), but y'all would not have any of that consideration for Leah Sava Jeffries.

But I digress...

13. What if we made Tiana white? Wakanda white? Hazel white...:

Ah, my favorite inane point. I was so excited to get here :)

See, I could start out by pointing out how "White washing" and casting a POC actor as a traditionally white character are not equivalent.

I could point out the history of hollywood ACTIVELY excluding POC actors and POC stories. I could point out how grossly over represented white people are in hollywood. I could point out that POC characters are so few in comparison that whitewashing them causes actual harm, where white people have never lacked rep.

I could point out how, because poc characters and stories are so often tokenized that their racial/cultural background is often directly tied to their character's identity, in opposition to a lot of white characters, since hollywood treats white as the "Default".

See, I could make all those points, but the thing is, the people who make this argument already know all that. They are trying to waste time by drawing me into a pointless circular argument that will sum up to "fair is fair", while ignoring all the context and nuance I previously provided.

So you know what? Forget it. Let me play your game.

I am actually fine with a white Tiana. Would it make sense, for her and her family to experience Jim Crow era racism, in the south while white? No. But we can look past it. Disney was never known for historical accuracy anyway 🤷🏿‍♀️

However, in exchange, the live action frozen will have a black Elsa and Anna, live action Rapunzel will be black, live action Merida will be black, we're re-filming Cinderella and Beauty and the beast to cast a black belle and Cindy, snow white will need to be recast as black, and we also get aurora whenever the live action sleeping beauty is announced. But then y'all can keep Tiana, deal?

You want a white T'Challa? Fine! (I'm partial to Ryan gosling), in the meantime, we'll be recasting Iron man, Captain America (Steve version), Bruce banner, Thor, Loki, hawk eye, black widow, ant man, captain marvel, Bucky, Peter Parker etc. All the avengers and their side characters, then y'all can have Sam Wilson, war machine and the whole of Wakanda (will it make sense that a sole, hidden, African nation is randomly made up of white people? Who cares? We get the avengers!).

You want white Hazel? You got her! I hope you have no problem with us taking Percy, Nico, Will, Poseidon, Jason, calypso, Rachel, Tyson, Silena, the stoll brothers, Sally Jackson, Hades, Hepheastus, ares, etc. But y'all can have Hazel and Beckendorf.

If we're gonna do this, let's commit all the way. Fair is fair, after all.

14. Leah isn't as "pretty" as Book Annabeth/Movie Annabeth:

I wish I could say this wasn't a genuine point I had read, but when all else fails, they will always go for a woman's appearance.

Now first of all, as a rule, I will never hold black women to white beauty standards. Our hair will never be long and silky enough, our nose will never be narrow enough, our skin will never be fair enough and our eyes will never be light enough (Might I recommend Toni Morrison, when you get the chance?). But Leah is unfairly gorgeous idc what any of you say, and you're not gonna have me use my defense of Leah as an opportunity to bash Alexandra either because she is also beautiful. These two queens slayed to the best of their abilities within this toxic ass fandom.

I find it funny, however, that so many of you harped on the "blonde" issue because you thought it was important that Annabeth be seen beyond just her looks, but quickly devolve to bashing an actress's looks when it comes to why she's not right for this role 🤔

I would also like to sincerely apologize that the 13 year old girl they cast in the show, wasn't as sexually attractive to you as the 24 year old woman they cast in the movie and sexualized through like 25% of her screen time (I'm actually not sorry. You're very weird if this is an actual point for you).

15. I don't agree with sending hate to the actor, but she's just not right for the role:

Once again, what are you doing by complaining about her casting on no other basis than her race?

The creator of the character said she embodied the role. She has already been cast, and Disney would be in a legal/production hell to recast her atp. Just because you're not directly leaving comments on her social media doesn't mean you're not part of the hate mob.

No matter how you look at it, your issues with her casting come from a very entitled and narrow-minded place. When you join in on these dialogues you are bolstering a sentiment that pushes more people to harass this teenage girl. When you leave these "harmless" complaints, on show content, fan posts or posts defending her, she's liable to read them because the cast regularly interact with fans online.

What do you have to say that is so important that it trumps protecting a young girl from the long-staying trauma of racism, of being told she doesn't deserve something she worked for because of how she was born?

16. I can't even criticize the show without being called racist:

Get. Over. Yourself.

Y'all are not the victim. Have fans of the show gotten protective of Leah and the young cast? Yes.

With good reason. This fandom is unbearably toxic.

Racism outweighs your need for a "perfect adaptation", sorry.

If you explain yourself properly and keep your critiques fair (like, even I don't think this was a perfect season, and will be sharing my thoughts shortly), no one is gonna call you racist.

You're preempting with that because in all honesty, you're probably planning to use your "critiques" of the show to pivot to one of the many points that I just outlined, and you want to pre-empt the criticism.

If a black Annabeth is the end all be all for you, just don't watch the show, no one's holding a gun to your head. Geez.

17. I'm Black/POC and I don't agree...:

Hey, Candace Owens... No one gives a shit.

First of all, for all the "I'm POC and I don't agree" people, you don't speak for us. Anti-blackness is rampant in just about every culture globally. You being not-white doesn't somehow make you less prone to hating black people.

But for the "I'm black and I don't agree" leftovers (assuming you're not just a 👩🏼‍💻 behind a keyboard). Black people are not a monolith. You're not obligated to think a certain way because you're black.

But consider why you're putting yourself up as a barrier to protect this hate mob. It's one thing to just state why you don't like Leah's casting, but to start off your spiel with "I'm actually black" as a way to weaponize the very identity politics you're critiquing... very strange. Not to mention, what are you defending?

The black community is coming together to defend one of our own, a kid who has been receiving death threats since she was 12, and this is when you feel the need to back the opposition?

I mean whatever... sometimes the house slaves would snitch to the master. There will always be some of y'all in the woodwork. It is what it is.

But when the exact ideology you defend is turned against you, when a Baltimore elected official is being accused of getting his job through "DEI", when conservatives are claiming that they wouldn't "trust a black pilot", don't decide that's where you'll finally draw your line in the sand.

All that being said, This is my Annabeth:

May every tongue that rose against Leah Sava Jeffries Shrivel and die in 2025 🙏🏿 My girl will keep winning ❤️

(video by @/waleahhasmyheart on TikTok)

[carlsangel]

SWEET

carl grimes x reader

(you and carl find a polaroid camera.)

tags: fluff!!!

masterlist here!

Back at the prison, you and Carl had limited entertainment around. Michonne had found the two of you comics occasionally but you two had gone through an odd phase where you focused on surviving when you had a perfectly safe home. You’d spent more time cleaning your guns and sharpening your knives when you should’ve been reading or playing with legos.

You wish you didn’t have to grow up so fast, you missed being able to not have a care in the world. That’s what you were happy to have Carl, he made you feel better about everything. Even when everyone got sick, you had him and he made you feel better always. He joked around a lot just to make you feel better.

When the prison fell, you guys thankfully ended up with each other. It was traumatic for sure, seeing him fight with his dad like that and just seeing Rick in that state in general. It wasn’t the easiest but you had a chance to feel okay when the two of you were alone. You guys left Rick in the house to go out and scavenge. You encountered some walkers but together you were able to handle it.

Upon searching some houses you ended up finding different books and random puzzle toys to mess with. Your favorite thing you found was a polaroid camera. You took it with you when Carl decided he wanted to eat pudding on the roof. You settled in next to him as he shoved pudding into his mouth. You rotate the camera in your hands, sort of just examining it before you notice the little number on the back. A small one.

“Damn there’s just one left.” You frown, showing Carl the back of the camera. He swallows the pudding and looks at you. “Guess that means we gotta make it count right?” He grins. You nod and agree, Carl set the can of pudding beside him and you scooted closer to him to take the picture. You did something simple, just smiling. You were excited to have something to look at. You snap the picture and let it print from the camera. You hold it face down as you chat with Carl some more and share pudding.

You later look at the developed photo and it was so sweet. It was basically perfect, you can’t remember the last time you’d seen yourself in a photo, you were happy it was with Carl. He’d loved the photo too. He loved you.

“Can I have it?” He asks with a pleading smile. “But I want it.” You counter, holding it to your chest as if you were hiding it away from him. He laughs as you guard the polaroid with your life. The both of you made an agreement that you would rotate days holding the photo as dumb as it sounds.

He could carry it for a day and the next morning he would give it to you. That lasted a couple of days and you kept the camera in case you had found more film. That was until of course, Terminus. There you lost everything, everything but the photo. Carl had the photo that day, you were scared you wouldn’t receive it from him the next.

But like always, you made it out. You felt like you lost hope, there was nothing really to smile about anymore after Terminus and after learning Eugene had lied. All you had was Carl and the polaroid. Up until Alexandria, you felt completely numb. Even first getting to Alexandria you weren’t sure how to react to it, it didn’t even seem real.

The second day you arrived you and Carl searched the house next door. You marveled over how large the houses were, Carol commented about how it was odd they’re just giving them away. Carol left you and Carl alone in the house and you admired the house. The both of you heard a thump from upstairs and were immediately heeded before grabbing your knives from your belts.

You head up the stairs and Carl goes first, hesitating to open the door. He bursts through it dramatically which you sort of giggle at and you follow him inside. The place is scattered around with random shit; paper, books, pillows, music.

“I wonder where this all came from.” Your eyes linger around the room, looking for anything to take for yourself. You didn’t care much about the people in Alexandria. Not yet. “I saw some kids. They probably hang out here.” Carl explains, picking up a comic. You look around the room some more and your eyes land on something you’ve been looking for since the prison fell.

“No way.” A grin forms on your face and you walk over to the corner of the room where a Polaroid camera sits on top of a small table. Carl turns to see what you’re excited about and his eyes light up immediately. It seemed as though the simple little machine gave you the spark you’d been missing for weeks. It made you consider the other teens a little more than you had before. You look at the back of the camera to see there’s six left.

Before you can even think about what to do with it, you hear a voice from downstairs asking you and Carl to head back to the house. You take it with and keep it in the room you two were given.

The rest of the day was long, you had talked to way more people then you would’ve liked. Carl seemed so happy about it, he was ready to talk to anyone. He made you feel more comfortable though, you couldn’t have gotten through the day without him.

He did most of the talking. While he talked you couldn’t help but admire his features, it was the only thing you could do at the time. His pretty eyes and his cute nose, the way his hair is cut and his pretty smile. His perfect lips- holy shit you couldn’t get enough. (IM GEEKING SO HARD WRITING THIS SHIT SOMEONE SEND HELP)

You couldn’t wait to get home.

When you did you still couldn’t be alone with him, you had to have dinner and then debrief with everyone about how your days went. You finally got the chance to go up to your room and as you both entered, you closed the door behind you.

It seemed like he was on the same track because he pulled you into him straight after you shut the door. His lips captured yours in a harsh kiss, his fingers gently gripping your waist. You pull from it to place more kisses around his face, his nose his cheeks, everywhere you’d admired earlier. His face immediately heats up and he smiles sweetly.

After kissing all around his face excitedly you pull away and catch your breath, he looks at you amused. “Did you get it outta your system?” He giggles, kicking his shoes off so he can lay down on one of the beds. You nod, doing the same to lay on the other. “Yeah I feel better.” He pats the bed beside him and pulls out the comic he’d found earlier. You walk over and sit next to him and begin to read. You yawn, kinda bored since the comic didn’t really tickle your fancy but you get an idea that might pay off nicely for you.

You lean to the nightstand and grab the camera which Carl payed no mind to. You point it at him and he sort of side eyes you right as you snap the photo. He looks at you weirdly with a smile and nudges you away. “Stop.” He says lightheartedly, sort of laughing. You pull the printed film and set it on your lap. “No you’re cute.” You respond, snapping another picture of him while he’s caught off guard, not even looking at you but at the comic. “Noooo.” He shoves his hand in front of the camera and grabs it tightly. “Hey-” He pulls it away from you and sets it on the floor on his side of the bed.

“You’re no fun.” You joke, gathering the two photos you were able to take. You wait for them to develop and when they do, you cannot contain your laughter.

The first photo he was side eyeing the camera, looking super confused and slightly irritated. The second was just adorable, he was in the middle of licking his lips so his tongue was just sticking out slightly as he looked at the comic he was reading. Carl looked over at the photos. “These are terrible.” He takes them from your hands and examines them. “Noooo you’re so adorable. Look how pissed you look in this one.” You laugh. He rolls his eyes and places them aside with his comic.

“Whatever.” He sighs and pulls you into him, nuzzling his face into your neck. He closes his eyes and yawns, placing a small kiss on your neck. You melt under his touch, delicately running your fingers through his hair.

“I’m keeping those.”

“You’re not.”

a/n: i yapped so much this one SORRY GUYS :> okay i added some stuff im ok with writing in my rules soooo go check that out!!!! also my masterlist was broken so that’s fixed now too :)) andddd i have an inspo pic from an episode of like what the second photo would sort of look like YOU KNOW i just mean like his tongue sticking out i’ll link it here :p

[dixonsgirl93]

Right Person, Wrong Time

Negative Merle x Reader

(I wanna make it clear I love Merle Dixon. For anyone new to my account, I’ve written fluffy and smutty stuff for both brothers so go check them out!)

Positive Daryl x Reader

CW: Cheating, Angst, narcissistic tendencies

You meet and date Merle before ever meeting Daryl, though he spoke about him enough. When the fall of the world happened, you both went to find his brother Daryl. Upon meeting him, you’re struck by his handsome appearance, immediately feeling guilty for the thought.

The real trouble began when the two of you grew closer, having more in common than you first thought, even a mutual attraction showing in unpredictable ways, making your heart flutter guiltily.

The truth also came to light that Merle wasn’t a good boyfriend but Daryl was openly caring and even protective.

You couldn’t help yourself.

~~

Merle huffed at you and turned away.

“What?” You grumbled at his back.

He spun, his face contorted. “Why you gotta flaunt your ass at him? You’re mine, remember?”

“What?!” You couldn’t believe he was really saying that. “I didn’t flaunt my ass at him. I was just talking to him. You need to calm down.”

Merle’s face went red and he stormed right up to you. “Calm down? You’re the one being a little slut. Not happy with just me, huh?”

Despite the rage bubbling up inside you, he looked genuinely hurt at the idea and a part of you felt pity.

“It wasn’t like that at all, Merle. I wasn’t even flirting. We were just joking around.” Your voice softens, reasoning, calming.

“Looked that way to me.” His voice is lower too but still bitter.

You weren’t sure how to respond. “You want me to stop joking around with men? Avoid them altogether?”

He hesitated and you thought he was really considering that. You scoffed.

“Really?”

He shrugged as if it was actually a decent idea.

“You’re not serious?”

“Why you so desperate to talk to other men?” He retorted.

“I’m not! You can’t just- What about Rick? Or Daryl? Should I just ignore them? You don’t think they’d think something was up? That Rick wouldn’t say you were controlling me or something? You’d be kicked out, you want that?”

“Fuck Rick. And Daryl wouldn’t say shit. He’s a little virgin, what would he know?”

You throw your arms up in frustration. “You’re completely missing the point.”

“No, you are! You’re mine. I don’t want you getting too close with the guys, okay?” He wrapped his arms around your waist, a look of love in his eyes but you felt unease. “I need everyone to know you’re mine and only mine. I’ll make sure everyone knows.” He leans down to kiss your lips but it wasn’t sweet.

~~

Sitting in your cell, your argument with Merle playing on your mind, anxiety bubbling up inside you.

“Hey.”

You look up to find Daryl the one to break you from your thoughts.

“Hey.” You look back down at your hands.

“You okay?” He takes a step into your cell, careful not to invade your space. It’s such a small gesture of respect and you can’t help compare him to his brother who would just step inside, take up space, get in your space without a second thought.

You sigh heavily. “Been better.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

You look up at him. The idea of venting to him about his brother was almost comical.

“I…”

“You don’t have to.” He shrugged, leaning against the cell door.

His nonchalance broke something in you and tears welled up in your eyes. Daryl knelt in front of you in a second, hands reached out to look at your face.

“Hey. It’s okay.” His voice was soft, soothing. You looked into his green eyes that showed you only care and concern. Again, you made a comparison with his brother. Was Merle ever like this with you? You couldn’t answer. That realisation sent more tears to your eyes yet still you couldn’t bring yourself to admit Merle’s behaviour toward you.

He pulled you into a hug where you sobbed onto his shoulder. You found yourself almost clinging to Daryl.

He rubbed your back and made shushing noises until you were ready to pull away.

You sniffled and wiped your eyes, chuckling to hide your awkwardness.

“I’m sorry.” You whimper, not looking him in the eye.

“Don’t ever be sorry. I’m always here for you, okay? I know you don’t wanna talk about what’s botherin ya but I’ll be here when ya ready.” He stands up and takes one last look at you before leaving.

A moment later Merle is at your cell.

“What was that about?” He stops and notices you still dabbing at your eyes. “You been crying? Why? Was it Daryl? What’d he say?” He seemed annoyed.

“No, he was comforting me. Just…our argument earlier. I keep thinking about it.”

“Why you crying over it?” He sat down next to you. “I know what’ll make you feel better.”

You shrug his arm off your shoulder feeling gross. “I’m not in the mood.”

He sighs and dramatically slaps his arm on his leg. “You never are. You don’t want me anymore?”

“For god’s sake, Merle. Maybe I’m just too fucking upset to think about sex. Comfort me instead of thinking with your dick. Ugh.” You grumbled and stormed out of the cell. You had no idea where you were heading to, just away from Merle.

~~

A couple of weeks later, nothing had improved with Merle. In fact, it only became increasingly obvious that you didn’t want to be with him anymore. You argued more than anything and he was always twisting things to make himself the victim. It was tiring.

He had stormed off one afternoon, left the prison to ‘go on a run’, more like to find some liquor and drink himself stupid. A vicious thought struck you in the heated moment that maybe he’d be killed by walkers, ripped apart and left out there. You shook it away, the guilt heavy in your chest.

You were sitting on your bed in your cell reading a book, trying to take your mind off things when a shadow fell over the doorway. Your heart pumped rapidly, thinking Merle had come back to argue more but no, it was another, far more welcome, familiar face.

You smiled and sat up. “Hey.”

He smiled back. “I know you said you didn’t wanna talk about it, before.” He stopped, hesitating to open a door you’d kept firmly shut. “I know it’s Merle. He’s a dick, he’s never kept girlfriends long cause he…never treats ‘em right.”

Your heart hammered unexpectedly. You tried to find the right words but knew trying to defend Merle was useless. “Yeah. Promise you won’t say anything to him though.”

He frowned at you. “I’m not an idiot. I’m not even here to tell you what to do. Just want ya to know I know what he’s like and I’m here for you.” There was a silence but it looked like he wanted to say more.

You waited. He eventually made eye contact with you, sighing, he stepped closer and took a breath.

“But, if I’m honest, you should leave him. He’s not good for you.”

“I know.” You whispered. “But how?”

Daryl shrugged. “The others either left without a word, moved away, never answered his calls. Some yelled and hit him, keyed his motorbike and then left.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Why am I not surprised.”

That intrusive thought came to you again, that maybe he’d just die and you wouldn’t have to dump him.

“Fuck.” You leaned forward and put your head in your hands. “God, I hate this.”

“Come with me.” Daryl nodded away.

“Hm?”

“I wanna show you something.”

You follow him through the prison, up on the roof. It was just past noon, the sun was high in the sky, bright and hot. It hit you hard. You turned your face up to the sky, bathing in the heat. It felt amazing and for a moment you could almost ignore the walkers groaning down below, almost forget about Merle off somewhere. You could just exist, in this light, this warmth and be happy.

“I come up here at night sometimes when I can’t sleep. The walkers are quieter, I reckon. Probly cause they can’t see us as good. It’s peaceful.” Daryl confessed. You turned to look at him but his eyes and mind were off the distance, far away.

“He wasn’t always like this.” You said. “He was actually sweet and loving. A little rough around the edges still but he was mine, you know? Ever since this virus and the world crumbled, he changed. He got real protective to the point of questioning every little thing I did. Even joking with Axel a while back. Called me a slut.” Saying it out loud made you realise how stupid you’d been. Merle had changed. He wasn’t gonna be the man he was at the start. Everything had changed.

“He did what? For talking to Axel?” Daryl growled.

“I joked that I should ignore you and Rick too and he… I think he was actually thinking about it. Ridiculous. You and Rick!”

“He’s gone too far.”

You sigh and rest your head on Daryl’s shoulder. He shuffled closer and put his arm around you.

“You’ll always have me. He’s got no say in that.” His thumb grazed over the skin on your arm and a soft buzz of electricity went through you. You turned to look up at him.

“How are you both so different?” You ask rhetorically. He was even more handsome up close. A light stubble covered his chin and cheeks, his green eyes glittered softly at you and your heart raced deliciously. Suddenly, you had the urge to kiss him. He was so close, inches away. Your eyes flickered to his lips and he leaned in a little. You copied.

Within another inch and your lips were touching, gentle, soft, delicate and absolutely electric. Like a magnet you drew closer, deepening the kiss. His arm pulled you in tight.

You were craving each other in a way you’d never felt before. Sure, those first moments with Merle felt intense too, all those new feelings with someone new. It was exciting but this… With Daryl. Oh, it was something new entirely. Hot, fiery, electric, it buzzed through you intensely, leaving hardly any room for breath or thought except the feel his lips and tongue, the taste of him, his hands, big and warm holding you tightly, securely. You never wanted to leave his embrace…

A loud creak of metal broke you apart. The gate was opening, the sound of an engine rumbled in. Merle. He was back.

Your heart pounded wildly.

“Don’t say anything.” Daryl whispered, despite being too far away from him or anyone else to hear.

“But..” you started to argue as if you had fully intended to tell Merle about your kiss with his brother.

“Trust me. Please.”

You nod, already walking away. Daryl stays, watching you with wistful eyes.

This just complicated everything…

[reuben-7991]

Octavian’s treatment is one of my least favorite things about HoO because it isn’t his character, it’s his lack of one.

We COULD’VE had an excellent character who was a look into what could truly go wrong with blind devotion like Octavian’s, drawing an excellent parallel to Luke’s blind hatred in the original series (Percy even says Octavian reminds him of Luke).

We COULD’VE had a fantastic contrast into a follower’s descent into insanity after making empty promises of power whilst under the influence of a massively elder being, thus leading to said follower’s death.

What makes me especially mad is that Octavian has no backstory. This is a problem with a lot of Roman characters, but Octavian especially. He doesn’t even have a last name. All we know is:

- He’s a legacy of Apollo.

- He used to be sane and probably very charismatic, due to Reyna stating she used to have a crush on him in TTT.

That’s it! One of Rick’s gold stars is that his human characters are just that: human. They have motivations and flaws, deeply personal origins and ideals that affect their actions and their outcomes. None of the villains are just plain villains, evil by birth. They have motives to back up their actions (now weither those motives make sense or not, that’s another story, but they’re still there.) There’s Luke, Medea, Lityerses (who is an entire other can of worms), Circe, Loki, Gunilla, Randolph, hell, even Kronos and Gaea. All of them have reasons for the shitty stuff they did. Octavian is a glaring exception. We know he’s power-hungry, but we don’t know why. We know he’s violent, but we don’t know why. We know he hates the Greeks, but we don’t know why. You may argue ‘oh, he’s a minor character, he doesn’t really get a reasoning’ which is just blatantly untrue on both fronts.

1: Octavian is NOT a minor character in the slightest. He has major roles in the plot throughout the books.

2: Him being a ‘minor’ villain wouldn’t have anything to do with his motivation. Chris from the OG series has stated motivation, and he’s way more minor than Octavian.

Another thing is that Octavian’s insanity is played off almost comically. He’s relatively well put together in SoN, only being super dramatic and reportedly blackmailing Hazel and probably other legionnaires, but by BoO he’s absolutely broken. He’s utterly obsessed with being a hero to the Romans, with being Pontifex Maximus, with killing Gaea and almost proving himself to Apollo (who is utterly disgusted by him), but it’s all either framed as ‘hate this guy more plsplspls’ or brushed away to the side.

I’m torn on his death scene, because it’s a good scene overall but too much of it is humorous in my opinion. Between Will calling Octavian an ‘anemic loser’ (which like. what.) and Leo describing his screams as a little girl’s, it seems almost too light for such a pivotal point in the story. Octavian has truly lost himself to madness, ranting and raving and insisting no, HE has to be the one to kill Gaea, HE has to be a hero.

His death is horrific, yet it’s framed as a silly oopsie.

What the fuck.

Overall, Octavian is a shining example of missed character potential. We could have gotten the Riordan special and made to empathize more with our villain, like what happened with Luke or Randolph from MCGA, but all we get is a crazy blond kid, character so shallow he could count as a tide pool. It infuriates me to no end how in a sea of good, properly motivated antagonists, Octavian is the outlier.

It’s a real shame.

[deansapplepie]

The Spitting Image | Part 3

Summary: Years passed since last time you saw your ex-boyfriend and father of your son. Fate decided the perfect moment for you to reconnect was after the end of the world.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Warnings: smoking, mentions of underage drinking/smoking, Daryl need a bath, just that. This chapter is very chill. Minors do not interact.

Word Count: 3k

Part 2 Part 4

Main Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Early in the morning you were knocking on the door of the new residents of Alexandria. One hand occupied with a pie you wanted to give them, a bag on your shoulder carrying some things and just one hand to knock at the door. Soon, the ex deputy answered the door and even if some days ago he was threatening you, you had a warm smile to give him. “Good morning Rick!”

“Morning, er… hm… I’m gonna tell Daryl you are here.” He greeted you.

“Oh no, I’m not here to see him. Well… I could see him, but that’s not the reason I came here exactly.” You said, suddenly becoming aware that everyone there already knew at least a little about your history. You cleared your throat. “I brought pie.”

“Thanks, er… pie? Really?” The ex sheriff couldn’t believe you were really able of making a pie. When did you had time?

“Yes, I found some raspberries in the woods. I was saving it on the fridge for something special.” You said handing him the pie so he could take it.

“And you made pie for us? No I couldn’t accept it…” Rick tried to politely refuse, but was interrupted by Carol.

“Yes, we can. Didn’t you know it’s not polite to refuse a gift?” She told Rick and took the pie from your hand with a gentle smile. “Thank you for the warm welcome.”

“It’s no problem. Really. If any of you need anything…” you replied, Carol left to take the pie to the kitchen, then you turned to Rick again. “Also, I brought this…” you took a pink stuffed unicorn from the bag, “I found it on some run and when I looked at it today it reminded me of your little girl, so I brought it for her.”

“You shouldn’t have…” he said politely but took the plushie before Carol came again and told him off about education.

“Of course I should. Every little girl needs a unicorn.” You said grinning playfully. “Also, DJ sent this to your son. They’re his favorite and he thought that maybe Carl could enjoy it.” You handed some comics to the sheriff. “Maybe they could be friends. DJ doesn’t like the other kids here so much, he says they’re all a-s-s holes. Except Enid, she’s a nice girl.”

“Thanks. Carl used to love comics, I’m pretty sure he’ll appreciate.” He thanked. “The kid is a lone wolf, I see, just like Daryl…”

“Maybe… he’s a little too mature for his age, but still just a boy. I think he’s just waiting to find the right people he’d like to be around. Just like…” you were saying but suddenly stopped watching Daryl appearing in front of you. “Morning.” You gave him that wide smile that only two people in your life could get. “I brought some pie. Carol took it, you should eat.”

“Mornin’ “ he drawled.

“Can I have a word with you two?” You asked, you didn’t want to stay long and disturb the group’s peace, but you needed to advise them about something you had forgotten the day before with all the happenings.

“Yes, of course.” Rick answered.

“Inside? I think I can speak low enough so no one listens but…”

“Yeah, come inside.” Daryl said and Rick opened space so you could enter.

After the door was closed, the two men looked at you expectantly while you worked in your mind how you would say that without they freaking out.

“I know some of you already got jobs. So there’s something I want to advise you.” You took a breath before saying it. “Deanna and Reg are amazing people and you can trust them, even though I think they are too utopian and have an idea of the real world that’s not how it works anymore…”

“But…” Daryl said, there was always a but.

“But their kids are jerks. They’re part of the group that do runs and watch the perimeter, but they don’t know shit about it. They pretend they do, but they don’t. Some people already died working with them and despite they had told the whole story, something seems fishy for me. So… your people that are going to work with them, tell them to be careful. I know they’re probably better than them in everything but it’s good if they keep alert.” The two men observed you and you were afraid you had ruined things and they would want to leave, or that you spoke too much.

“Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.” Rick told you and Daryl just nodded.

“It’s nothing. Really. If you need anything you can come to me.” You reassured again.

“Can we talk?” Daryl asked, he couldn’t stop thinking about DJ and how he was in the end of your conversation. So despite feeling he had no right to, he wanted to know about him.

“Yes, of course.” You replied.

You followed him to the porch and waited him start talking. You had no idea what he was going to say, but you were eager to listen.

“How’s the kid?” He asked directly. He wasn’t one to go around and around about something. He wanted to know how his son was.

“He’s good. He felt a little upset, but we talked. He didn’t need to know all of that. He thinks he’s an adult just because he is mature and the things he saw and had to do while we were on the road. But he’s just a kid.” You took a breath. “He wanted to make a good impression on you. He didn’t say it, but I know him. He tried to hide what he was feeling at the moment, but you and I know he couldn’t.”

“The kid punched me yesterday, and I have to say he’s strong. Why would he want to impress me?” He leaned on the column.

“You know why.” You answered. “Well, I better get going and look for something to do. You should try the pie and take a bath, we have hot water what are you waiting for?”

He grunted. No, he didn’t know why. He didn’t even know what he was doing. And… were he smelly? Of course he was, it had been so long on the road, with no shower… he was afraid of getting used to this place, but he also needed to. He had a son now, and he lived there.

DJ left the house and walked on Alexandria streets, in fact he said he was going to see if Carl liked the comics and wanted to hang out, but he was actually thinking about the stranger that was his father. He found him in front of the houses of the new comers, he had a cigar hanging from his mouth and worked on his crossbow and arrows.

“Hey old man.” DJ said, he felt strange. What should he say? Hey Daryl? Wassup Daryl? Wassup old man? None of those sounded correct.

Daryl looked from his lap and saw his son. “Hi Kid.” He answered cigarette still between his lips.

“I’m not a kid.”

“I ain’t old.”

DJ snorted at the remark. “Is it difficult to use one of those?” He pointed at the crossbow.

“ ‘s not easy, but with training one is capable of using it.” He put the crossbow to the side and took his cigarette from his lips blowing some smoke. “Do ya wanna learn?”

“Would you teach me?” The boy asked. He was excited with the possibility, but tried to make it seems like it was nothing.

“Yeah, but for that we need to go outside of the walls. Then, ya need to agree to obey me out there.” No way he was going to take the kid from safety if he was going to be rebellious and/or do stupid shit. And by his experience it could happen, Carl was a good kid, but he was all the time risking himself and making stupid things.

DJ scoffed at what he said. “Do you think I can’t handle myself out there?”

“Never said that.” Daryl made a pause. “But once we’re out there, ya’re my responsibility. I’m not bringing your dead ass back to your mom.”

DJ didn’t want to lose the battle against the mam, but he also didn’t know what else to say. So he sat by his side and tried to make conversation. “Can I have one?”

“One wha’?”

“A cigar.” DJ answered. ‘The audacity of the little shit,’ Daryl thought.

“Do ya wanna die?” Daryl asked. The young man scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“If you’re afraid to die, why are you smoking it?” He asked the man.

“Who said I was talking about the cigar? I’ll probably die for another reason.” He made a pause to swallow the smoke and then let it out. “Have you ever seen your mom mad? She’s all sweet, but when she’s pissed… She’s scaring.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” He answered, his mom, you, was the best. But oh boy, could you be scaring when needed.

“I wouldn’t give ya one, regardless of that.” Said Daryl, the person that started drinking and smoking when he was younger than his son, but he didn’t want that for him, at least not while he could avoid it.

“Didn’t you take a shower yet?” DJ asked. It was obvious that he didn’t even passed close to the shower.

“Did yer mom told ya to come here and tell me to take one?” Daryl asked annoyed, he was the third person that day telling him to take a shower.

“Nah, but you clearly need one.” He said. “We have hot water. First thing I did after I arrived here was to take a long hot shower. You should too.”

Daryl grunted. It was everyone and the shower against him.

“Is Carl around? I came to see if he liked the comics?”

“No, I saw him with some other kids.” Daryl said finishing his cigar.

“Hope he’s not an asshole like the others.” DJ said, the other kids annoyed him so much. Ok, they were a little bit younger than him, but they were also stupid and weak.

“He’s not. I’ve been around him for a long time. I’d know if he was one.” He said and then pointed to the end of the street. “He went in that direction if ya wanna know him.”

Later that day you were at Aaron and Eric’s kitchen, you were cooking pasta. Deanna was throwing a party to welcome the newcomers, everybody was invited, but you were not going. It wasn’t your thing.

“Tell me Y/N/N, how are you feeling about having your ex here?” Eric threw the question at you sitting on the chair by the counter.

“I’m ok, I guess. I was super anxious at first, but now I’m just glad he took everything well and is interested on DJ.” You said adding some seasoning on the sauce.

“Just that?” Eric asked raising a brow.

“Yes, just that. Come on Eric, there were 17 years that I didn’t see him.” You turned to your friend.

The two of you were alone in the kitchen, Aaron had gone to take a bath and DJ was in the living room probably reading something. “But you still have eyes and a heart.”

“He’s still handsome, and I’m sure his still the same person. The age made him hotter and… did you take a look at those arms?” You said leaning on the counter.

“Just so you know, I’m listening everything from here! Please don’t say anything disgusting!” You listened DJ’s voice coming from the living room a d couldn’t help but giggle at it.

“Anyway, things are different now. And my priority is his and DJ’s relationship.” It was the truth. You couldn’t help and feel warm and bothered when you thought about him, but you had changed, he had changed.

Pretty much, you never let anyone in after him. Your priority had always been your son and you wouldn’t change it in any other way, but now you knew nothing about relationships and also would he want anything with you now? Could he feel anything after everything that happened? Could you?

Half an hour later you listened the front door opening and Aaron talking to someone, who could it be? You were setting the table and then you heard his delicious gruff voice. So apparently you would be having dinner together.

“Hi old man.” DJ said entering the dinning room.

“Hello Kid.” Daryl answered.

“I’m not a kid”

“I ain’t old”

“I thought you’d go to Deanna’s get together.” You said, a smirk on your face, you could almost listen to his answer in your head.

“Ya know me better than this. Not exactly my thing.” He answered and sat where Aaron showed him.

“Neither mine.” You said while setting the pasta at the table. Then you noticed he has taken a bath, he looked clean and smelled clean. “You took a shower…”

“After the third person telling me to take one, I decided to take it before I shoot someone.”

“I was the third person.” DJ observed.

“Shall we eat? Y/N did it.” Eric said taking his place at the table.

“I didn’t, I just helped. It’s totally Eric’s recipe.”

“What about some wine?” Aaron came back with a bottle of the liquid.

You all sat around the table, pasta on your plates and wine in your glasses. DJ tried to convince you that he could take a little, but you’d not allow him, as long as you could. The boy could only try and hope one day the miracle would happen and you’d allow him to get a taste.

“Daryl told he’s going to teach me how to use the crossbow.” The boy drank from his juice.

“Did I?” Daryl answered mouth half full. “You never told me if ya would obey me out of the walls.”

The teenager rolled his eyes. “I know how to hold myself well.”

“If you want to learn, you need to do it on his therms.” You said sipping on your wine.

You all finished eating, chatting and savoring the food. You always had a good time with Aaron and Eric, when you first arrived at Alexandria they were very friendly and helped you to settle, soon you became friends and it had been that way since that time.

After dinner you cleaned the table, did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. While that Aaron, Daryl and your boy disappeared to the garage. When you finished, you decided it was time to head home, you went to the garage and found them around a bike.

“DJ, Dear… it’s time to go home.” You called him from the garage door.

“Mom, can I learn how to ride a bike?” The boy asked, eyes sparkling.

“You’re eager to learn a lot of things. Don’t you think?” You crossed your arms and leaned on the door.

“Daryl said he could teach me.”

“If yer mom gave you permission.” The archer completed:

“This bike doesn’t seem ready for me, are you going to repair it?” You asked the man.

“Yeah, it need some repairs.”

“I gave him the bike, and there’s also some parts that I collected. Think he’ll make a great job with this one.” Aaron observed.

“Can DJ help with the bike?” You asked, him offering to teach him things were something, but you knew he had always been reserved, appreciating some time alone. You wanted the two of them to bond, but you didn’t know if doing absolutely everything together was the best choice.

“ ‘f course. Wouldn’t offer to teach him things if it wasn’t.”

“Ok. First learn some mechanics, help with the bike and also learn about cars. Then I may allow you to ride a bike.” You gave the conditions.

“Come on! I already drive cars and I know some mechanics about it.” The teen protested.

“Believe me, you can still learn a lot more. Take it or leave it.” That was your final offer and he knew better than to refuse it.

“Fine…” he finally agreed.

“Ok, let’s go home.” You said one more time.

The boy left the room with Aaron to get a borrowed book, leaving you and Daryl alone. You approached him, your hand on the bike seat.

“If he’s being too much, you can say no. You know?” You said, looking at his face.

He looked back at you, with something in his eyes that you couldn’t read. “He’s not. I’m trying to figure him out, know him. I…”

He had no idea what he was doing, he thought a good start was getting to know the boy. But would him be able to be a father to him? One thing was dealing with other people kids, like Judith or Carl, but for him it was as if he had given birth to a 17 year old baby and didn’t know what to do with it.

“You’re doing good, I was just worried about you…”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” He confessed. “I dun wanna disappoint any of you.”

“I didn’t know too. When all happened.” You said. “But with time, I figured out. I cried, I get despaired, I did mistakes… but I loved, I laughed, I learned… it’s not easy but you’ll experience all of that. If you ever need to vent, or an advice… you can come and find me.”

“Thanks.” He was thanking you for way more than just supporting him.

Wanna be added to my tag list? Let me know. (Please tell me if you want to be tagged on everything or just specific series) Everything Taglist: @lilyevanstan1325

The Spitting Image Taglist: @minaxcarter @carlyi @daryldixmedown @argentinian-witch @xmaeyonaiise @poetryhazel @blackvelveteen1339 @queenmizuki @crashlyrose @the1eyedmonster16 @jasminocano @sm4-rty @duckybird101 @bigbaldheadname @she-could-never @snailss @maggie-atwood @abbiesxox @slutcoresblog @yondus-girl @akanecchiisblog

Some of you I wasn’t able to tag, I’m sorry :(

[billieonmars]

Carl Grimes x Male!reader

Jealousy

Summary: this is based off of the headcanon I did about Carl and Y/N being jealous in Alexandria.

Warnings: very brief mention of parents death, and one detailed kiss

Alexandria was safe. Y/N and Carl had never felt so safe since the prison and even then they could never be sure if they were truly safe. When they first entered the walls of Alexandria they were all suspicious. It was too good to be true; running water, electricity, and free mansions. After a few weeks they settled in. Things began to change little by little; people slept more, ate more, and therefore became happier. However, one thing never changed.

Y/N and Carl were always stuck at the hip. How could they separate when they've been together since everything started? When they were separated from everyone else they always ended up the only ones together. From the first camp outside Atlanta, to the farm, to the prison, now Alexandria, and everything in between.

It was well known information within the group that where you would find Carl, you would find Y/N. When they were hunkered down in the camp outside of Atlanta, their parents had to stop them from sleeping in the same tent just to keep them from giggling and whispering instead of actually sleeping. And when Carl was shot, Y/N was beside himself with fear. At first he cried and cried until there were no tears left. Then he held Carl's hand until the boy opened his eyes and reassured him that he was alive.

Nothing changed when they got their homes in Alexandria. After Y/N's parents died, it was a silent agreement that Y/N was a part of Carl, Rick, and Judith's little family. No words needed to be spoken when the two boys placed their bags of dirty, too big or small clothes in the same room. And no words were spoken about the fact that there was only one bed. No one even said anything when hand holding turned to kisses on foreheads, and then into quick pecks on the lips.

So, yes, everyone was well aware that Carl and Y/N were together, and that they had no intention of breaking up. Well, almost everyone knew or just didn't care.

When Jessie Anderson came to Rick and told him that Ron was excited to meet Carl and Y/N, they were both nervous. It was going to be their first time hanging out with other kids their age in a long time. Sure they had friends in the prison, but that all ended fairly quickly. For all they knew, Alexandria was permanent. They had all the supplies to keep people in and walls to keep walkers out.

Y/N was nervous around Ron when they first met, Carl was too. They weren't afraid of him; Y/N was sure either of them would be able to take him down if he tried anything. Ron just felt like a real teenager, one that you would've met in high school and would wonder if he was laughing at you behind your back. He felt like a popular kid thrown into an apocalypse. Y/N found the thought funny; popular kids, jocks, nerds, loners, in an apocalypse. How could they still form cliques when the world had ended?

He supposed he would've been a nerd. Even before the outbreak when he was only 10 or 11 years old he was always reading things like adventures, mysteries, or just stupid comedies. In his heart he felt like Carl would also be a nerd, but maybe a different type. He would play video games and be awkward around peers, he would read too, but only comics.

Then he met Enid and Mikey. He couldn't get a read on Mikey, the boy was kind of just there. But Enid, he could read. She acted like a loner; cold, few words, and just plain bitchy at times. He knew she was trying to put up an act of indifference; maybe trying to put herself out of the spotlight. What she didn't understand was that her actions made the spotlight bright up her entire being. But Y/N had a feeling that something wasn't right in her 'lonerness.' he couldn't place it but also didn't read much into it, after all she was also from the outside. He understood how she felt thrown into this happy-go-lucky town.

He didn't think much of her attitude until he looked at Carl. He was staring at Enid, not even trying to be inconspicuous. A spark of jealousy flared up inside Y/N's chest. It started burning bright with red and yellow flames. He didn't know why the flame of jealousy was ignited so quickly or why it burned so hot. Suddenly, Ron was speaking again.

"We can play video games. Or Mikey's dad has a pool table but he's a little strict about it."

Ron's question broke him from the jealousy filled stare he was sending to Enid. Y/N didn't care about what they did, as long as he stayed by Carl and wasn't expected to talk much. Carl was then looking away from Enid and seemed nervous trying to take it all in. Before Carl said anything he looked to Y/N who leaned just a little bit closer to his side.

"It's okay if you don't really want to do anything. You don't even need to talk. Hell, it took Enid three weeks to even say anything." Then suddenly that flare of jealousy returned as Carl's attention was brought to Enid once again.

"Let's play video games." Carl, thankfully, answered for both of them. Y/N didn't know if the influx of emotions would allow him to speak at all.

A controller was handed to Y/N but he gave it back, saying he would be fine just watching. It was the truth as after seeing the way Carl was looking at Enid, he didn't feel like doing much of anything. He didn't know how to feel, it was all so weird. Before that moment Y/N had never even considered the possibility of Carl leaving him for someone else. It was always just them and adults, no other teens. He didn't even want to start thinking about the fact that Enid was the first teenage girl (besides Beth) that they had seen. What if Carl had only dated him because there were no girls around?

He tried to think rationally as Carl, Ron, and Mikey smashed the buttons on their controllers. The look wasn't romantic; he knew what Carl looked like when he loved something. It was the look he got when he found a fully intact comic book, or a can of his favourite food after starving for 2 days. Or the look he gave Y/N when he would wake up snuggled into Carl's side.

No, it wasn't romantic but it was still a look of interest. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Carl wouldn't leave him, not if it was the last thing he did. Carl loved him, he told him himself the night before. Everything would be alright. Without opening his eyes he leaned his head on Carl's shoulder and scooched a little closer. His thoughts were made up when Carl kissed his hair and continued playing his game, all while Enid looked at them from the bed.

The day after hanging out with Carl, Ron, Mikey, and Enid, was a little strange. First, Carl was asked to make a run. Y/N had no idea why they would do this as the people of Alexandria seemed to be hell-bent on keeping the kids safe. He hated when Carl went on runs because not only was he already worrying about Rick, he was now worrying about Carl. They were his family, and Judith's too. However, being from the outside, it was nothing new to the boys so Y/N sucked it up and didn't complain. After a hug, kiss, and promises of being safe, Carl was off with Rick and the others.

Second, once he watched the car drive off, Y/N went to go back to his shared room with Carl. His plans were interrupted by Carol.

"You're not wasting your day away in bed." Y/N was surprised when Carol even started talking to him. He didn't think that anyone besides Carl or Rick cared about what he did.

"I'm not, I'm enjoying my day in bed." He could hear the sass slip into his voice, but Carol just smiled.

"You can't just leave the house with Carl, you know. You need to find independence." Y/N rolled his eyes but turned back out the door anyways.

"What do you know?" He mumbled quietly to himself. Carol heard but only smiled; satisfied that he listened.

In the moment, he was annoyed. His boyfriend was gone and there was a pretty big chance that he wasn't coming back; it was too easy to be overrun by walkers. On top of that, it had been forever since he had his own bed. He felt as if he should be able to enjoy it for as long as he could; not every safe haven has lasted them. But looking back, he was glad. If he had stayed in bed his thoughts would have run with so many things he would have ended up crying himself hysterical.

He found himself wandering around Alexandria, looking at the gardens and kids playing in the streets. Eventually looking at the garden and the kids got boring and he started kicking a rock, watching as it skidded across the pavement almost like skipping a stone in water. The noise was satisfying; a pitter-patter of stone against stone. Before the dead-eating-men fiasco, Y/N would have found this boring. His mind was molded for video games, cartoons, and short, extreme bursts of serotonin. After the fiasco, life could be as simple as skipping a rock. To get those moments of happiness you have to work for it. You have to keep each other alive by working all day and rejoicing in the night with stomachs a quarter full (if you're lucky) and limbs unbitten.

The third weird thing that happened was a few hours after he wandered from the house. He had ended up not doing much; he climbed a tree for the hell of it, ate an apple from that same tree, and nearly fell asleep under the tree. Maybe he should have just stayed in bed, the almost-sleep would have been better. But then again he wouldn't have gotten that apple. And it was probably good for him to get some sunlight after being cooped up for the past few weeks. Y/N started to get antsy as Carl and the others should have been back at any second. He was nervous and excited; nervous to see if Carl and Rick came back, and excited to see them if they did.

He tried not to bother himself with 'ifs' as it didn't help. There was no point in saying 'if Carl came back' because he would; Carl promised. Y/N knew it was a childish way of thinking; in this world promises couldn't be kept just because they were said. You can promise to not get bitten by a walker, doesn't mean the walker cares before it chomps down on your flesh. It was because it came from Carl that Y/N disregarded rational thinking. Maybe he was love sick, maybe he was stupid.

It was the same 'ifs' that brought Ron to him, starting the strange interaction.

"Hi." Y/N looked up at him from under the tree, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Hey..." He was confused why Ron was talking to him. And then he was even more confused when he took a seat next to him.

"If the world never ended, what would you be doing right now?" Y/N was weirded out by the question. Why did it matter? He was 11 when it started, and it never ended. So here they were. There was no point of the 'if,' it just is what it is and now they have to deal with it. And that's what he told Ron.

"What does it matter? The world ended, there's no going back."

"I know, but I just wanted to get to know you a little better. You're not much of a talker, are you?" He smiled at him before his face turned to something Y/N couldn't place, almost like he came to a realization. "It's not because of Carl, is it? The reason you don't talk much?" Y/N was taken aback by the question. Did Ron really think Carl was abusing him or something?

"No, not at all. You don't even know us, how could you say that?" Ron could tell by the look on Y/N's face that he was appalled by what he asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. But just so you know, I'm here if you need to talk." And suddenly his hand was placed on Y/N's leg, scarily high above his knee. Y/N let Ron's hand fall when he stood up, uncomfortable with the situation. Ron stood too and they stared at each other for a moment.

Y/N couldn't react before an arm was wrapped around his shoulders and he was pulled into a hug. Being on the outside had given him reflexes for walkers, he was thankfully able to stop himself from reaching for his knife when he smelt the grime and sweat of his boyfriend.

"Carl-" He was only given time to breathe out his name before said boy's lips were on his. Y/N's arms came to wrap around Carl's torso while their lips stayed entwined. By the time Carl pulled away Y/N was flushed and gasping for air. It was by far the longest kiss Carl had ever given him in front of another person. Speaking of the other person, Ron was already gone when Y/N pulled himself from Carl's jealousy fueled embrace.

"What was that for!" Y/N was on the verge of giggles as the flush was replaced with a blush. He felt butterflies that he had missed so bad flutter around his stomach. The kiss made him feel as though they had just kissed for the first time ever. Those butterflies were an old friend of his from his early days crushing on Carl.

"I Don't know." He looked embarrassed and flushed under his sheriffs hat. "I'm sorry, I got jealous seeing Ron's hand on your leg." Y/N pulled Carl back into a hug, content in knowing that it wasn't just him that was getting jealous.

"It's okay. To be honest, yesterday I was feeling green about the way you were looking at Enid. I feel so stupid. I knew that you wouldn't do that to me but I couldn't help it." Another kiss was pressed against his hair.

"Yeah, I know you wouldn't do that to me either."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word count: 2493

[lintwriting]

How to Write Intelligent Characters (Like Wei Wuxian!)

Wei Wuxian has a really bad memory, but he is also smart enough to realize this and then use it to insult people as a joke—WITH plausible deniability to shield him from any potential consequences.

This interplay between extreme intelligence, comical brain farts, and layered social interaction is what makes MDZS so fun to read because it creates a real complexity to both him and his environment. There are multiple layers going on in this scene, with in-jokes and social factions and miscommunications, as there is in reality. And it’s a tangible demonstration of his intelligence, that he’s able to think of this deception in the first place and so casually.

But also it make the story less monotonous by having this complexity. 3 layers.

There the first layer.

“Extremely intelligent character” Like gadget inventor characters or nerdy hackers. Their hyper intelligence is useful for plot reasons, and highly competent characters are likable. And this is not bad for a side character.

It can go too far, however, such as in the case with BBC Sherlock, when the author makes the character so hyper intelligent he becomes an unbelievable god character and wraps back around to being dislikable again. Like the author’s personal pet character who can do no wrong with the excuse of his intelligence allowing him to do anything, leading to extreme annoyance whenever he’s on screen, which is all the time bc he the main character (is that just me?) lol

Then there’s the second layer to break up the monotony of intelligence.

Wei Wuxian has shit memory. Like laughably shit memory. Much like how video games create perks that also give you cons in specific ways to make your decision to use it more satisfyingly personal, like choosing to wear shitty armor that looks pretty because you value style over function, Wei Wuxian’s extreme intelligence is often undercut by scenes of extreme brain farts.

Whether it be an almost painful level of obliviousness or an extreme failed memory check, Wei Wuxian gains a flaw that not only makes him human and therefore relatable, but also unique in the pantheon of genius characters out there because he’s a genius in THIS SPECIFIC NICHE (trademarked).

This nuance/uniqueness/realness, thus, will allow his character to say more about the real world than mr god intelligence BBC Sherlock.

For the most obvious one, he’s a persuasive essay on why intelligence is not predicated on good memory, which maps well onto his larger character trait of being a intelligent slacker in school (of which the number one complaint is that it is immaterial to actual learning and only really tests memory).

What does BBC Sherlock say, beyond the idea that a god has no need for human rules? That IS a message, but a hypothetical one, as most people will never get to that level of comical intelligence for it to be relevant. Well, I guess assholes (who are less smart than they think) use characters like him as excuses to be dicks, so there's that, but I think that's proof of how legitimately unrealistic he is. He's the power fantasy of teen boys and maladjusted adults, like Rick Rick and Morty.

The third layer is him remembering that he has shit memory and using it to his advantage.

THIS is the part that gets to me THE MOST about his character and arguably the part where MXTX proved (to me) that she’s a better writer than BBC Sherlock writing staff, especially when it come to OP or intelligent characters.

There’s an ELEVATION that happens on this third layer. This is where your character goes from a smart character to a smart person to an ABSOLUTE GOAT. This is the hype that the BBC Sherlock crew wanted when doing a smart god character but absolutely failed to nail deadass, Jesus-style.

Cheatcodes to Writing Intelligence

For one, it’s putting her money where her mouth is. BBC Sherlock creates hyper intelligence by bending the plot to Sherlock's will, like one of those Twitter fake "oracle" accounts that make predictions and then retroactively delete the wrong ones to make them look psychic.

It's not true prediction, and neither is Sherlock solving a mystery unsolvable to the audience because the writer can cheat and handwave his logic — THE VERY THING BEING SHOWCASED — by just showing Sherlock being right all the time about random things we couldn't know ourselves.

(And in Sherlock, this is mostly downplayed because the mystery is less important than the character drama (send prayers for Johnlock), but it goes from a subversion to a Game Of Thrones subversion (derogatory) when the show starts failing at the character drama too, making his stupid caricature of intelligence insulting instead of an interesting exploration of a hypothetical god trying to grow up human, Jesus-style.)

Wei Wuxian also has this hand-wave-y aspect to his intelligence. We're told and shown he's a genius inventor through the cheat code of the world's magic system. Magic without rules is famously hard to write well because any story's conflict can be solved with "well a wizard came and saved the day through GOD-like abilities" if the author is too lazy to write a satisfying conclusion.

Wei Wuxian is the inventor of Necromancy, and while yes this is sort of explained through a scene where he's arguing against the establishment to his cultivation teacher, the logic of it is very simple. "What if we reversed energy? (simplification of what he actually said)," the reality of his genius invention of necromancy is just that it's the author saying "well Wei Wuxian did it through his GOD-LIKE intelligence."

What we really get out of this is that his COUNTERCULTURAL HERESY (Galileo-Style) is revolutionary. Not so much his logic being revolutionary when the concept is THIS simple (haha reverse evil suppressing wards to get an evil attracting ward go brrr). But the story handwaves this away with just making other characters utter trash at necromancy, cheating at making him seem like a genius in comparison (simplified for scope, there's more to this).

IF that were all there was to him, he'd only be a 2 layer AT MOST. Instead, we have this third layer, where he directly reacts to information the reader has received in witty ways. (This also makes him self reacting, which is what makes us human)

The Structure of Setting Up Intelligence

Part of what makes mysteries so satisfying is that the reader is rewarded for paying attention/engagement. If they notice a clue that becomes a part of the detective's explanation later on, it's like a puzzle falling into place, where you feel like a special big boy for noticing. And if the detective manages to solve it where you didn't despite having all these clues, YOU become the dumb shitty necromancer jobber who makes Wei Wuxian look good in comparison. Metaphorically.

Similarly, we have all the clues. Wei Wuxian is smart and resourceful. Wei Wuxian forgets a lot of things. Wei Wuxian gets told he's forgotten a lot of things. What's the next logical step? Wei Wuxian smartly uses his forgetfulness as a resource!

2. At the beginning of the book, he accidentally snubs a side character by responding "I don't even know who you are" (simplified for scope's sake). At the time, he genuinely is fumbling here, messing up his social standing because of an actual brain fart, but in a way that's hilarious and better-than-you, so we think nothing of it... until he learns from this mistake right in front of our eyes!

Because later on, he REPEATS this line to the SAME character to legitimately snub them when they were making accusations of him personally attacking them. Not only is this an infuriating snub done on purpose this time, but it's a lie—Wei Wuxian remembered this asshole after the many many dumb dramas with them.

3. But it's a useful lie because it demonstrates a truth—WEI WUXIAN DIDN'T ATTACK THEM. Wei Wuxian would have motive to attack them hypothetically (read: dumb dramas), but the reality is that he doesn't care about them enough to do so, for all intents and purposes making them "forgotten" to Wei Wuxian. Best of all, people believed him because HE'S DONE THIS EXACT THING BEFORE. The plot is repeating, but nothing feels the same. LAYERS absolutely destroying MONOTONY.

3. On top of that, it's a reaction to himself. He's demonstrating both metacognition and self-awareness, here, which is something actively studied in psychology as a phenomenon humans have that other animals might not, a la Dunning Kruger and the mirror test, respectively. What's more human than cringing at your un-self-awareness and learning from it?

And the best part is that we were on every step of this journey. It feels like such an obvious move to make now, like duh you can use your forgetfulness as a form of weaponized incompetence—guys do it all the time (derogatory). Wei Wuxian even does this in a cute way with his sister when he does Sajiao/aegyo at her to get her attention (affectionate).

4. But it truly hits different seeing him do it in such a specifically crafted story, structured like a mystery or a joke where the logic or punchline is him pretending to have bad memory, and I personally would never have thought of doing this on the spot like he did. This is some post-argument hindsight shower thought shit. Genius power fantasy done well.

Shit like this is STORYTELLING and STORY CRAFTING. The repetition of the scene to make his second snub more potent. THIS IS THE POWER OF SET UP AND PAYOFF. A unique usage of the adage of how a character's greatest strength is their greatest weakness, like someone's determination making them bull-headed and stubborn. Except in reverse, necromancy style, where a fatal flaw (his memory) becomes a great strength (plausible deniability). A simple example of how characterization is about specific traits in unique ways to SHOW us his personality better than the author just telling you he's smart ever could, like in BBC Sherlock. THE POWER OF SHOWING NOT TELLING. The interplay of the contradictions within his intelligence as a way to show that he's "real" and not a god. THE POWER OF DEPTH.

All this while he is quite literally the god of his story (Jesus-style).

That's right! Time for pointing out the idolization and mythologizing of Galileo!

Now I don't know if this is true because fact checking in Chinese fandoms is a nightmare when 1. your chinese is barely fluent and 2. most chinese socmed platforms require a chinese phone number to sign up. 3. these two facts leads to a lot of fandom telephone. But I remember someone quoting MXTX on the idea that Wei Wuxian and his love interest are supposed to be the moral paragons of this story (despite the way Wei Wuxian has been demonized *haha get it? demonic cultivation. his ghost cultivation got called demonic cultivation in the most on the nose misnomer in history*). This is probably not a true quote, but it's emblematic of how it feels to be reading this story.

For one, Wei Wuxian is quite literally the moral paragon. He's one of like 3 people actively against a genocide (other than its victims). A genocide that characters within the positions of power go along with for what boils down to personal convenience's sake (ALL EYES ON RAFAH). He's one of the few characters to truly master resentment AKA ENVY (aka WEI "No Envies" WUXIAN) in a story where basically all the bad stuff happens due to envy (funnily enough the actual evil villain of the story is probably the only opp who wasn't actually jealous of him, despite arguably being the one who not only was the most envious of the whole series and the one whose envy would make sense, being narrative foils with Wei Wuxian and all). You'd never see Wei Wuxian wishing evil upon someone out of jealousy (he quite literally sacrifices himself to save his "unrequited" "crush's" "crush").

For two, this world is set in ancient times, where killing was still wrong but also simultaneously seen as honorable, like with Odysseus killing his wife's suitors in revenge being seen as honorable, DESPITE him hating it when the cyclops killed HIS crew in revenge for sheep lol. Wei Wuxian has slaughtered many people, but often in circumstances that soften the immorality of it, like the insanity defense or self defense or "this is war in ancient china" or stopping a genocide. And he acknowledges that these wrongs were still wrongs and does good in the world/changes as a person to atone.

For three, he's god damned OP. In a magic system where enlightenment is directly tied to magical ability, Wei Wuxian is one of the most powerful magic users in their world. Top of his generation, beat out only by his love interest, kinda. Morality is tied to cultivation, which is why it's called the "righteous" sects.

But it gets better, because those sects are not actually righteous. The vast majority are hypocrites or worse, and their work mostly involves killing things for "mundane" people, who treat them like nobility for doing so (depth in contradiction). The implication is sorta kinda that Wei Wuxian so powerful BECAUSE Wei Wuxian is one of the few to actually be righteous and not just self-righteous.

Thus, him being the inventor, the only non-noble, and only user of ghost path cultivation, the reverse of cultivation, thus serves to highlight his moral integrity in comparison, even when being called a heretic (depth in contradiction).

(And while people argue that his cultivation ITSELF is evil, causing the souls of the dead to be unable to reincarnate, I'd argue that that reading is a misread that gets distracted by thinking "demonic" and "ghost" cultivation are the same thanks to his title as the grandmaster of DEMONIC cultivation, when they're not the same (again, misnomer). In reality, he's the only successful user of the ghost path, which is about EMPATHY (Wei Wuxian's most signature magical ability after his flute playing skills) for the dead, playing into their resentment to help them pass, like he said in the very scene where he defies the establishment of his school and initially defines his path. The shitty jobber demonic cultivators are going evil and shit because it's actually pretty hard to put yourself in people's worst desires and hurts (wwx still went insane lol), much less if you yourself are controlled by resentment like Xue Yang or Su She was, who both technically "empathize" in that they're about as resentful as ACTUAL ghosts LMAO.)

Anyways, all this to say that the entire story is structured around hiding the fact that Wei Wuxian is the bestest guy ever embroiled in a huge mystery, who gets slandered and killed by his opps for standing up against powerful oppressors before coming back to life and clearing his name... (jesus-style). A lot of the book is him morality mogging or witty mogging randos, many of whom are cartoonishly evil or rude. Dare I say it? Yes. Like BBC Sherlock.

BOOM. Gallileo becomes the myth.

BBC SHERLOCK 🤝WEI WUXIAN

Whew, I finally brought it back around to my original point.

THIS is why Wei Wuxian is everything BBC Sherlock writers wished they were doing. Because in spite of all their similarities (seriously? both of them have a death period where their lover (rip johnlock) is mourning them before coming back to life??) BBC Sherlock's nowadays gets mercilessly mocked for being a Mary Sue and his fanfic community is dead, meanwhile Wei Wuxian is so beloved by his readers that MDZS fanfic literally has had such a huge impact it got Ao3 banned in China and then added a maximum to tags on Ao3 PERIOD. King shit.

And despite what this post seems, it's not a disparagement of BBC Sherlock as a character. I loved him, I loved the idea of exploring this demigod. Superwho-manly intelligent, but in ways that make it hard for him to function in the human world (until John). His struggles with ostracism, "weird" interests, sensory issues, etc. are alarmingly human and a great allegory for neurodivergence (while not being one of those cringe "autism savant" tropes bc he isn't literally autistic). Sherlock fic popped off for a reason, it's just that the writing of the show didn't do the legwork work that MDZS did to support his character as a god, instead it mostly did shit like "oh it's okay I'm a pretentious asshole because I'm a genius and always magically right, even when I'm wrong, because I'm god." Like if Rick Rick and Morty wasn't self-aware... T_T

That's why this post is me compiling the ways Wei Wuxian's character was crafted to be intelligent. It's not bad to have power fantasy OP characters, but it's hard to do them as well as him. It's not just the clever deceptions or witty usage of words with multiple meanings or the self-awareness and learning, or giving the intelligence flaws to make it more believable. Sherlock had all these and more.

It's the combination of it all, usually in the order of "telling" they're intelligent through abstract things like other characters saying he's really good at detectivework and them magically solving cases, then complicating that intelligence through some kind of flaw, then "showing" him overcoming that complication using concrete examples of intelligence, such as self-awareness, witty double entendres/callbacks, contradictorily using weakness or appearing weak for specific gains, and reframing the given 'clues' in a new light with the help of red herrings. This is like a steelman persuasive essay format, but with proving that someone is smart. Thesis, counter, rebuttal with quantitative evidence. There's like a mini arc build up to a mini climax/climactic moment that makes it satisfying.

The set up and payoffs are key here, as a lot of these just require a bit of legwork before the payoff, such as Wei Wuxian repeating the same line he used as a mistake into one he does on purpose or find a scenario where forgetfulness is actually helpful in deceptions or whatever the chosen scenario is. Much easier to begin with the end in mind in and then retroactively write the beginning to match, instead of creating an impossible mystery, after all. 😭😭 Best part is that I didn’t even compare the mystery writing of MDZS to Sherlock’s ass mysteries, I did it purely on the strength of how its intelligence is utilized for character drama, just as Moffat and his defenders would have wanted.

[frogwithfeelings]

A while ago i made a list of 'silly little guys' (real people and fictional characters) on my notes app so I'm posting it here because I don't know what to do with this information

unlike other lists I've made I have no definitive criteria they just have the vibes and that's it, so here goes:

Brian David Gilbert

the johns from they might be giants

Will Wood

Herbert West

Charlie Kelly

Abed Nadir

Bret mckenzie

Jerma

The riddler (specifically the batman, but comics riddler applies too)

Neil Cicierega

Gonzo

Rick Moranis

Weird Al

Martin Short

Michael Cera

The Doctor

Eric Idle

feel free to suggest more :)

[zahri-melitor]

Blade Runner, The Matrix and Robins: if you want to run a conspiracy in your story you need to put in the work

One of the central conspiracies people like to speculate about in Blade Runner is the theory of whether Deckard is a Replicant. It's a high-context theory woven into the plot and cinematography of the film. (I'm aware various people, decades on, have 'confirmed' it's true; I don't think that's particularly relevant to this).

The reason why the theory is so compelling for audiences to discuss is that the film in itself poses the question 'what is a human' and sends the main character, Rick Deckard, on a hunt for those clues and mistakes that give away the Replicants he is looking for. Things like Deckard's evasion over whether he's ever taken a Voight-Kampff test, and moments that suggest implanted and shared memories make for a fun second level mystery for viewers to think about and solve. The unicorn dream sequence, with both the dream and silver foil unicorn, provides another pointer for audiences to consider the idea. Even the Replicant Red Eye moments are subtle clues that get called out via the broader focus on eyes.

What also helps the debate and hunt for this potential symbolism is Ridley Scott's reputation as a director who heavily goes for visual cinematography hints and altering stories by changing them in Director's Cuts.

Similarly, The Matrix has a conspiracy that the real world is another level within the Matrix. This one is easy to understand how it developed. The Matrix, as a film, invests a substantial amount of its runtime teaching its audience the clues used to distinguish the Matrix from the real world. We get explicit scenes like The Girl in the Red Dress and explanations of how déjà vu works to demonstrate alterations in the Matrix. We see how characters can alter the Matrix to their own ends, leading into moments in the trilogy where Neo appears to use those skills in the real world being able to be read as 'are we still in the Matrix?'

The thing is: neither movie fully commits to these readings. They're possibilities that audiences can read in, that feel like they've been woven into the plot for people to consider. The audience is drawn to ask the question via the way the hints/clues are found in things the audience is already directed to consider. At their worst, they're artefacts of the audience taking the themes of those films and extrapolating too far.

My feeling about Robins as a comic is that Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas want to suggest one of these conspiracy theory stories, but did not have the skill to convincingly pull it off.

One of my difficulties the entire way through the comic was that the story did not know when it was set, and indeed repeatedly suggested via both dialogue and art that it was set in very different periods.

Robins takes place at least partially in a generated overlay from information based on Bruce's notes on the five Robins and also on various criminals. It's trying to take the log entries from Gotham Knights #1-11 and extrapolate that concept out to 'what if having this went wrong for Bruce'. (And I shouldn't really be surprised that Seeley chose to do this: Seeley is very big fan of Devin Grayson's work in the Bat books and frequently chooses to reference it)

The markers used for this simulation are firstly the level reward bonuses, and secondly the singing robin (that apparently uses the wrong call).

In that light, you could argue that problems like characters wearing the wrong costumes, from non-matching eras, and holding views that don't really accord with those characters is supposed to be a series of hints about the resolution of the title, rather than a set of weird screw ups that involve suggestions that the team didn't both checking details.

My issue is that it doesn't feel earned. If Seeley and Rivas really did want to hint and direct their audiences into reading that the presentation, comments and impressions of each of the Robins in their story were wholly based on Bruce's conception of them, then I think those discontinuities should match each other more clearly within each character.

Take Tim for a moment: he wears his original 1990s Robin costume; is the opponent of Damian's 'gauntlet' (a period in which he was wearing his all red Robin costume); has his overlay stolen for a rant about how Tim things the Obeah Man and other villains should die in a way that explicitly references Red Robin #26 (his post-Crisis Red Robin period); and gets specifically removed from the story and trapped in a way that he has to direct others to find him and try to escape himself (suggestions of both the Ünternet and more specifically Mr Oz during Tynion's Tec run). These do not match. If we're supposed to think Bruce is hung up on a specific conception of Tim, and a particularly backward-looking one (which you would assume, given he's put in his earliest Robin costume), why don't the other elements match? Why not put him in his all-red Robin costume to hint that he's Damian's gauntlet? Why not put him in one of his Red Robin costumes if you're going to keep referring to him as Red Robin, and that Bruce's worries about him relate to specific events in that period? And why, if the early Robin costume is supposed to reference Tim's own 'gauntlet', then is he the only character wearing his original costume from the storyline?

And what does not help with this is that Seeley has several obvious screw ups. The most prominent one is he conflates Rite of Passage with Batman: Identity Crisis. The Obeah Man was the villain of Rite of Passage for Bruce, where he was hunting him down to save the Drakes. Tim's personal combatant during that story was tracking down Lonnie as Moneyspider. The storyline where Tim showed the skills and personal judgement that made Bruce decide that he was ready to be Robin was in Identity Crisis, which was a story rescuing Bruce and Vicky Vale from Scarecrow. While the stories are sequels to each other, they're not a contiguous whole: they take part in different titles, with a gap in time between them. Similarly, Seeley places Felipe Garzonas' death as Jason's first case as Robin, rather than his last case.

The whole concept of the 'gauntlets' is the underlying thread holding the story together, the aspect on which Bruce's analysis of each of the Robins and whether he wants to work with them is based, leading to the computer files, leading to the entire plot.

If you mess up like that, audiences are less likely to grant that you're trying to build hints in that something is wrong by having things be noticeably mismatching, because you've also screwed up the ground on which you're trying to construct the story. You cannot fairly claim that the incongruities you put in to hint at your plot are something that should be analysed as clues when you've already primed your audience to think that you're just a hack making blatant mistakes.

And this problem extends to all of the characters, not just Tim. Tim's just the easiest for me to pick apart because I know the references made so well (and Tim Seeley clearly doesn't actually care as much about Tim as several other characters, making the oopsies more obvious).

The issue with this story isn't simple single-panel moments like "And I need to hear it from you, Tim, because Jason and Damian lie through their teeth" or Tim saying he "demanded" to be Robin where people can dunk on it by showing another panel like the Teen Titans 2003 "I lie to Batman" panel or ALPOD. It's in the fact it tries to be clever but doesn't earn audiences' trust to do that analysis. And it doesn't earn that trust because you can't pick apart what's a deliberate incongruity as a hint from what's a general mistake from the team, and if you do pick at elements that look like outright mistakes, the whole thing comes tumbling down.

Blade Runner and The Matrix train their audiences from the very start of the story to look for these incongruities and hints and showcase what problems to look for openly in the plot, leading to people to heavily analyse background details for further suggestions of these hints. They earn the buy in that leads to the elaborate fan theories.

Tim Seeley forfeited his audience's buy in to the story he apparently was trying to tell by not being exact enough about the details in a story where he wanted them to pick at those details, and not showing early enough that the audience is expected to be picking at those details. And that's just poor writing and biting off more than you can chew.

[fipindustries]

So both Rowling and Kui have done a lot of world building outside the official manga/story, but when Rowling reveals wizards vanished their poop, she is seen as a clown, while Kui can say faries are made of cum and the audience loves it.

well, i think there are many different things happening here.

the idea that this entire population would just squat wherever they are and take a shit only to then banish it afterwards seems too absurd, too outside of a society we can relate to or come to understand or empathize with. its off putting to think about and frankly paints wizards as aliens in a way that feels discordant with how they had been portrayed on the books. and also rowling's own world does not have the tone or the mood to fit with this revelation. that sounds like something you would see in a rick and morty sketch or a worldbuilding aspect of The Boys, not the wonderful magical wizarding world of harry potter.

this kind of nitty gritty "lets bite the bullet on the unpleasant implications of my world" is completly out of step with the kind of story rowling tries to tell in her book. in fact she has shown to be kind of averse to doing that in the past, so why would she do that now?

with ryoko kui its different, dungeon meshi is ALL ABOUT exploring the weird and silly implications of what happens when you take worldbuilding seriously. comedy is a big aspect of the story, as well as confronting face to face all the unpleasant real aspects of biology, living creatures and ecosystems. we see in the succubus section that succubbus feed their spawn with a milk they secrete through their anus, when we see minotaurs' breasts they are uncomfortably swollen and veiny, when they open an unripe barometz they find a calf uterus inside, etc etc etc. also kui incorporates elements of folklore and myth stayng loyal to their gory strnage origins, semen HAS been used in pleny of real magical rituals in the past so she includes that detail here to stay truthful to those myths. so its a lot less discordant.

also, it helps that when ryoko adds extra materials and cannons to her world she does it in the way of actual comics whereas rowling would do so by way of throwaway lines during interviews and whatever, so there is a bit less legitimacy in her extemporanous additions

[sanchezsimp]

Here are my random Rick Sanchez headcanons because why not!

TW: mentions of self harm !!

- He cries himself the fuck to sleep every night. If he doesn't, then he drinks until he's asleep, or works on a project. He can't just lay there, he'll overthink and get no rest.

- He often has nightmares about Diane or Morty

- He likes musicals. Because I say so.

- Have you seen how he likes his cereal?? I imagine he likes his coffee hella sugary too- With too much creamer, whipped cream, and rainbow sprinkles on top!

- He totally met and had a crush on Ford Pines. I know I ship them, but I headcanon that when they knew each other, Ford never actually returned that feeling. (I could probably elaborate on some of my Ford headcanons later... Oh! Maybe I can make another post of my headcanons for when they knew each other?) And they broke up (as friends) when Ford decided that Rick is, not only an asshole, but fucking insane.

- More on that last one-- I imagine that Rick would often have revenge fantasies about Prime. Constantly imagining the pain he wanted to inflict on him in graphic detail. (I headcanon that at some point, Ford found out somehow and was horrified.)

- He only stays still when he's overthinking. Otherwise, he's constantly stimming or making stupid noises (whenever he's not talking or occupying himself). He gets extremely fucking bored. He needs constant stimulation, always needs to be doin' something.

- He has scars on his arm and cuts frequently. He cuts in shame of how he's lost his wife, and in shame of the fact that he cares for Morty, because he's so afraid of losing him... And he cuts because it's him who killed her. Not him-him, of course, but I imagine he also holds himself responsible because it WAS himself... in a way. Does this make sense to ya?

- He has to resist the urge to rip his fucking face apart every time he looks in a mirror. Because he doesn't see himself anymore. He sees Prime. And it hurts.

- He HATES mirrors.

- I imagine that sometimes when he's drunk, he's more affectionate to Morty in a rather unsettling way. Like, he'll hug him and praise him, and Morty would be just confused as fuck (at first anyways, until he gets used to it lmao).

- He has green eyes. It just... makes sense to me? I dunno, maybe I'll talk more about my RaM eye colour headcanons later.

- I headcanon that he got like, some sort of crazy hair removal on his pits- 'cause he had a lot in Lawnmower Dog, and in the past in comics (like Flesh Curtains... some of it anyways. Their inconsistency with his hair bothers me.), then never again. Unfortunately. GOD, I miss that hair. (I'm so normal I swear-)

- He knows damn well he looks strange, and there is no actual reason. He's aware he's just a character, and so there is no real WHY he looks like that, it's just character design. And he's fine with that.

- He likes cute things. He just... likes cute things. He adores Morty and he adores adorable animals! I headcanon he has a soft spot for cats specifically. This is also based off of how he had Mr. Frundles and his only defense was "It was cute! FUCK!"

That's all for now- I'll post more of this if this doesn't flop, lol

Thanks for readin'!! And don't hesitate to ask for my random headcanons of other characters or fandoms, I'll be happy to write 'em!!