#does he do bad things like murder? yes but when the government wants to kill you for your religious beliefs you can’t be a perfect victim

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Kill the notion that Star Wars needs to step away from force users. I don’t know about you, but I love to see space wizards fight with glowy swords. The only thing that needs to change is the good/evil dichotomy of the Light and Dark sides of the Force. Give us a show about a Padawan who tries her hardest to be a great Jedi so she buries her emotions so deep within herself that she loses herself and becomes complacent with Jedi/Senate corruption and turns to the dark side to reconnect with herself and rediscover what made her want to be a Jedi in the first place. Give us the story about a child who’s sibling is taken by the Jedi so they ally with a Sith to break into the Jedi Temple and rescue their sibling. Give us a movie about a Dark Lady of the Sith and her apprentice defending their home planet from being absorbed into a sector of the Republic where their historical oppressors would hold their seat in the Senate.

All those stories could feature epic clashes between Force Wielders without contributing to the perceived stagnation of Star Wars shows featuring Jedi and Sith.

[emiko-matsui]

Okay, I just need to get something out of the way when it comes to the Kipperlilly conversation nobody's brought up yet, which I think is insane. Almost all of The Bad Kids would be more powerful if they didn't have their tragedy porn tragic backstories.

First of all, this doesn't apply to Fig and Gorgug because if Fig wasn't Gorthalax's child she would be a lot like Kipperlilly and not the ruler of hell. I wouldn't say Gorgug has a tragic backstory, he's got a pretty normal growing up experience with ups and downs.

Let's start with her #1 nemesis, Riz Gukgak. She's so jealous that his dad was murdered and that gives him an advantage in the adventuring life. To be crude, no, it doesn't. What would give Riz an advantage in the adventuring life would be living with someone who has a direct contact to all the government's inner workings and conspiracies. Now that would be an advantage. That gives you connections and clues that no one else can get. This is not what happened. What happened was eating cereal with water for breakfast, what happened was not getting an opportunity at college, what happened was a 9 year old who stopped sleeping, what happened was not your secret agent dad giving you an advantage in the school conspiracy because he's dead. Otherwise he fucking would've.

And now Kipperlilly's new #1 nemesis, Kristen Applebees. She was ostracised from her religion for her sexuality, she achieved sainthood, and raised a dead god back to life. None of this would've happened if she hadn't been raised in The Harvestmen. No, it wouldn't, but what would have happened if Kristen had been straight? Disgusting thought, yes, I know, but let's talk about it. A Kristen who never left Helio behind would have so many more fucking advantages than the one with Cassandra has. If she had followed her birthright she would be the only chosen one of one of the world's most powerful gods. Sol is the biggest god in Spyre and Helio is his son. Helio does not have a chosen one anymore because Kristen left. It's not a title that's just given out, it could only have been Kristen. You know what's an advantage? Being the chosen one of one of the world's most powerful gods, being a god's spoken favourite, and deified by all of that god's followers. Now that would be an unfair advantage. You know what's not an advantage? Being homeless at 14 and being at the mercy of your ex-girlfriend's uncle for housing, dying and having absolutely no one there for you so you're only option to survive is to trust your own abilities enough to raise yourself from the dead, and failing school because of biased teachers.

And what of Adaine Abernant? The Elven Oracle? Her tragedy porn tragic backstory is surviving an abusive home. Now I just have to imagine that Adaine would have it a lot easier than most students, an incredible amount of unfair advantages, if her old money parents paid for every wizard whim she wanted, kept her diplomatic immunity so she could do literally anything she wanted without consequences, and gave her a direct contact into the heart of the Fallinell government. Now that is what I would call an insane amount of unfair advantage. I would be furious at this rich kid who's never had to work for anything myself. This is not even close to the case. She's barely passing classes because she can't afford the material you're required, she goes to the guidance counsellor for panic attacks, and she's being hunted by her home government. I'd say that's about every single thing in her life working against her having it easy.

Fabian Aramais Seacaster. He's complicated since he is very privileged already. He gets 5000 gold a month just for existing. He's the captain of the Owlbears because he killed the previous one. He lives alone in a mansion. Yeah, that's pretty privileged. His parents are also so severely fucked up that if they hadn't been filthy rich they would've been absolutely horrible for him. If he had parents who unconditionally supported him and stayed with him through everything, then we could talk about perhaps the most powerful person in Elmville. In Solace possibly. The most feared pirate in history who single-handedly dismantled a monarchy and fights against armies on his own is at your beck and call, does whatever you ask him to, and loves you more than anything. The greatest swordswoman in the world, that bested the most feared pirate in the world, the daughter of one of the most influential elven families and immortal will do anything you ask her, loves you to bits, and would cheat any rules for you. To have that would just be insane. You can argue that Fabian already has unfair advantages because of his social status and inheritance. This is true, but this is also true within his own adventuring party. Now his parents aren't helping him with anything and are determined that he reach his legendary status on his own. Otherwise talk about a fucking advantage.

All this to say is that if Kipperlilly got all of The Bad Kids tragedy porn like she wanted she wouldn't have been better, but she would've made them better. There is an adventuring party out there in the multiverse that has a secret agent at their disposal, the only chosen one of a Sol religion, Bill Seacaster and Hallariel Lomenelda unprompted in their corner, and a seer with unending resources and diplomatic immunity. These would've been people you start a platform about adventuring not being fair for everyone because of. The people you went against was a homeless kid, a kid with an anxiety disorder, a trust fund kid, and someone with PTSD.

I've seen your posts about Kipperlilly being wrong for her validation, but right in the fact that The Bad Kids have been given larger plots and mysteries because of their families and circumstances and I don’t want to fucking see another one. When you make that I want you to think about the adventuring party they would've been without their backstories. The insanely powerful and privileged adventuring party that almost happened. Their life got made worse, not easier because their life could have been so fucking easy. Kipperlilly can take all the tragedy porn she wants and then maybe realise that that's not what makes the adventurer. That the reason she's mad at The Bad Kids is the only reason she can even tangentially compete with them.

[faksyan]

Huey Emmerich, mgs v cast & hypocrisy, a character analysis

Prefacing this with the fact that this is the morally gray franchise with the morally gray characters and I love how it portrays Huey Emmerich precisely for him being Like That. I think he is one of the most nuanced and well-written mgs characters and I'm pretty sure like half of it wasn't on purpose. He is the guy everyone hates for killing his wife (understandabe reason), trying to make one of his kid pilot a giant robot and almost drowning another in a pool (also understandable reason), and, most of all, for being a traitor. And with such a list, feels a bit weird that the accent often falls on that last part, doesn't it. Which is exactly how the narrative wants you to feel about his betrayal, on a surface level.

Every character essential to the Phantom Pain plot gets their "please feel bad for them, sympathize with them" moment, no matter how horrible a person they are. We get multiple monologs from Kaz, we get the 'I was the same way once' interrogation room and the ending of the Truth with Ocelot, we get Paz tapes and 'you're all diamonds' with Venom, we get Code Talker, Quiet, Eli (if they actually finished mission 51), even Skull Face, somewhat (don't even make me start on that guy. how is he less hated than Huey). The point is, the game is trying to make you feel bad for people who murder, torture, and whatever else, and parts of it are working, because it's fiction, and humans and morality are complicated and layered things! But what does Huey get? Torture sessions and tantrums that are framed as pathetic and ridiculous, even when what he is saying makes sense. Because yeah, there's some of that there. It's just that everyone else in the room deliberately doesn't acknowledge it.

When Venom just finds him, the first thing Huey says is that what happened to MSF was Snake's fault. The same during his exile - that there wouldn't have been an inspection, if there weren't a nuke to begin with. and it's like. he's not wrong. Having their own nukes as an independent military organization was a risk Snake and Kaz didn't just take blindly, they knew what could have happened. It was a gamble, and it didn't work out. If it did, it would've been their achievement. It didn't, so it's all Huey's fault, even though literally anyone could've been in his place. XOF weren't even the first to attempt to attack them, Zero was, Paz just didn't succeed. And if Skull Face hadn't either, someone else would have, the attention of the entire world was on them. It wasn't about betrayal, it was Snake and Kaz being drunk on success and biting off more than they could chew. Yes, Huey is a bastard and a traitor, but are we really going to blame all of this on him?

The answer is yes. And the reason is that they need someone to blame that's not them. The whole big theme of Phantom Pain is that Ocelot, Venom and Kaz have to do their best to keep up appearances, for the sake of Big Boss and his reputation. He is a legend, he is above everyone else, and he can do no wrong. Except after the fall of MSF everyone thinks that he can, Ocelot says as much in the briefing tapes. And they can't have that. So they blame it all on Huey. (<- all of this is a dictatorship allegory and critique of governments and military systems btw. 1984 or whatever I haven't read it. yay symbolism.) And blaming Huey is easy.

Huey is not a fighter. His father was a scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He was born on the same day as the Hiroshima bombing, his disability was (presumably) caused by his father's exposure to radiation. It's not that there was no choice involved in what he was going to do in life, but it was kind of inevitable that he would get involved with building nuclear weapons. And even when he says he is thinking about quitting upon being found by Snake in Peace Walker, it's Snake who convinces him not to, offering him to join MSF instead. In the PW tapes he also expresses that if it weren't for his disability, he would've been anywhere else, doing something different and living a "normal life".

He talks about the concept of nuclear terrorism there too, about nukes falling into hands of people without state who would be able to use them however they want, and I wonder if that was part of the reason for his betrayal. He didn't make the decision to bring nukes to base, he doesn't actually know these people. If maybe he thought it prevented a hypothetical nuclear catastrophe. Huey does say that he trusts Snake not to use them, that he values how honest Snake is, and is honest with him in return, even telling him things he's never told anyone before, like about his plagiarism of Granin's work. So what changed between then and the inspection, what was his motivation for betraying MSF, why was he approached about it of all people? Did he lie in the tapes, did he change his mind, did Skull Face offer him something that seemed more compelling, just threaten him? We never get to find out anything about it aside from every other character screaming that he's just a coward. No villain monolog, nothing.

Maybe it was about feeling important, like he is in charge, something that the hostility he has faced throughout his life didn't allow him. Huey is a sheep among wolves (wolf in sheep's clothing more like, but still). He does not fit in with the buff cool masculine soldiers, and even while working with Strangelove at NASA, he was regarded as obnoxious and spineless. It's not surprising he agreed to work for Coldman, since he, apparently, was the first person to actually recognize his skills. And even that later turns out to be a lie told to use him. Huey rarely if at all has been treated seriously, he is an outcast, even among people who share his ideas.

All he has is his brain and his knowledge, but it's never framed as much of an achievement (despite people exploiting it left and right), nor is him essentially being the nerd in a military setting ever really viewed as something dorky or endearing by the narrative like with Otacon, because the characters around him don't see him as such (as a result, so don't the players). On top of that, every other person uses his mobility aids to further degrade/harm/threaten him, even though he is already harmless when it comes to physical confrontation. In short, people he is surrounded with just enjoy the powerplay.

Right up until the point he actually does something that hurts them. And this is where my favorite part kicks in.

All three Diamond Dogs' higher-ups blame Huey for slightly different reasons, some maybe even believing that they are in the right and entitled to it (looking at you Kazuhira), but I am more than sure they know what it is that they're doing. And it's not like Kaz lacks self-awareness either, I don't think. Maybe it's denial that some of his actions led to the death of his friends, maybe blind belief in his own martyrdom and self-righteousness (sounds an awful lot like another character we know, huh), it still doesn't change much. How they all frame the story is the same. Huey's powerless and pathetic, but has ruined everything at the same time. And it doesn't really make sense, but everyone on the base agrees. It's the moment where individuals turn into a crowd that demands blood, but at least it's not their commanders it's directed at!

The Questioning Huey (6) tape is a good example of that. I especially like the bit where he starts talking about how DD is not actually a dog, because on a smaller scale, it shows how people on Mother Base just roll with things that are objectively false and turn on anyone who says otherwise. No, DD is our beloved mascot, and we are called dogs, he is just like us. And it's not like DD is just a wolf either, so neither of them are right here. But each of them thinks that they are.

That's why the amount of genuine Huey hate is a bit amusing to see, I guess. Because it's precisely the thing the game is trying to commentate on. None of these people are good. None of them have it figured out. The point is that it's just narrative bias that makes you belive that some are, if not good, at least better than others. In reality, it's never about morals or being correct, just perspective.

Huey himself, on the other hand, falls into another extreme - in his eyes, he's done nothing wrong. Because he can do no wrong, he's powerless, like everyone's alway told him, remember? He sees himself as the victim, because in a lot of cases, he is.

You can say that he is a lying traitor and that the truth serum didn't work on him because of some failsafe Skull Face thought of, but really, would he bother? He didn't even view Huey as anything but a traitor he despised. you know, the guy who was in charge of organizing the betraying part. the guy who put bombs in people and wanted to commit mass-murder on a scale no one has seen before. So the obvious and the most simple answer here is that Huey whole-heartedly, truly believes he hasn't done anything wrong. He thinks he doesn't possess the power to, that he isn't important enough. And it's drilled so deep into him he never acknowledges it's not really true. Even when he kills Strangelove, he still doesn't accept that it is his fault and his actions matter.

That's my favorite part about him, I think. How deep in denial he is about having an impact on the people around him, while also having a sort of god complex when it comes to his machines. How everyone around despises him for it, while being the ones who caused it and doing the exact same thing, refusing to get off the high horse. Metal gear is a messy franchise about messy people, but it's good exactly because it shows what has messed these people up so much. And more often than not, it's the system they're surrounded by, or that they created themselves in an attempt to escape the previous one. It's easy to point at Huey as just a bad person and only that, but I find the context of his whole life and the ways he's coping with it really compelling. There is a lot of complexity to it, and in the end of the day, they are all hypocrites.

[moongothic]

Seen quite a few people comment how they believe it's more likely the Dragodile Divorce happened due to ideological differences rather than because Dragon was too straight to stay with Crocodile, and. Like I did suggest that (or at least tried to) in my Crocodad Giga Thesis (really I should've been more clear about it in my essay so I wouldn't be writing this now lol), but like yes, Dragon and Crocodile absolutely have drastically different beliefs on How One Overthrows The World Government. And that absolutely could have contributed to the two separating and/or Crocodile deciding to go his own way instead of becoming a proper Revolutionary

Because like, as I tried to imply in the essay (but failed to deliver); if Crocodile's goal had always been to get Pluton so he could just nuke Marijoa off the face of the earth by himself and end it all in one go, then Crocodile and his way of thinking could work as this, like... contrasting opposite to how Dragon believes things should be done. Some fans (unfairly imo) call Dragon a "fraud" because over the past 20+ years he has only attacked Marijoa and the WG directly just once, and even when he did, instead of doing something to stop their corrupt reign for good... the Revs destroyed... the Tenryuubito's... food storage..? Like. Sure, that'll bother them for a little while, get their panties in a good twist etc, but in the end they're just going to demand more tributes and more free food. The Revolutionary Army may be successfully inspiring more people and more countries to rebel against the World Government's corrupt rule, but the Tenryuubito are still in power and will continue to be in power for a long time. And that's kind of how Crocodile would greatly complement Dragon within the narrative. Dragon being arguably "too soft" with his slow, methodical way of overthrowing the WG, while Crocodile would just kill them all without mercy, even if it meant hurting innocent people in the process. The two would act as the opposite sides of the same coin, the different extremes of the same spectrum. Crocodile would become like a response to the complaints people have against Dragon.

And yeah, the two having such wildly different ideological views could VERY EASILY contribute to a divorce, for sure.

My thing is that... If (and this is an if) Crocodile is meant to go a character arc and grow as a person, if we're meant to see him as a sympathetic character at all and maybe even feel bad for him... It'll be much harder to write that if the Dragodile Divorce happened only because of the two having ideological differences. Like who's going to feel bad for Crocodile if the two got divorced because Crocodile wanted to mass murder people and Dragon wasn't okay with it? That's not a tragedy, that's not a situation where we as the readers would feel for Crocodile and want to root for him. That's not something that would give a character unprocessed emotional trauma to heal from and overcome. He'd just be a villian who'd need to have his beliefs changed.

Where as, if The Divorce was caused by Dragon and Crocodile no longer being compatible due to Dragon being straight while Crocodile transed his gender... Even in the most respectful of scenarios that is a heartbreaking situation, a painful thing to go through. That is a tragedy without bad guys, a story where you could feel bad for Crocodile and want to root for him. That is a situation that would give him trauma to heal from.

And that's kind of why I so strongly believe in Crocodile's transition being a more important, contributing factor in The Divorce. Again, this does absolutely depend on what Crocodile's actual role in the story is going to be and whether or not he's even meant to go through a character arc at all. Like if he's not going to be that important and if he isn't meant to go through an arc then sure, Crocodile's transition doesn't have to matter one fucking bit. But if he is meant to go through an arc, if we are meant to feel bad for him and find outselves rooting for him eventually... From a writing perspective, that'll be far easier to do if we can find ourselves sympathizing with him even just a little bit.

Also like. Yes, you can have queer characters who are just queer for the sake of being queer, their queerness does not have to be an important aspect in them or a huge plotpoint in their story at all. Crocodile could be queer just for the sake of being queer. Because that's what it's like being queer, you just are what you are. At the same time, from a writing perspective. What would even be the point of making him queer if it didn't matter to his character at all and have an impact on his character?

Also while Crocodile and Dragon clearly have very different beliefs on how the WG should be dealt with right now, we don't really know when Crocodile came to his beliefs. Like for all we know Crocodile could've formed his worldview years after the divorce. Hell, based on the way he spoke to Vivi about her ideals, and how we know he spent over a decade in utter emotional solitude, his current worldview could have been partially born from resentment towards Dragon (and his ideals) that's been simmering away over the years.

All of this to say; yes I think the two's beliefs could have been a contributing factor in The Divorce, but from a writing perspective (and based on the direction I personally want to see the story go), I find it far more likely if Crocodile's transition was the main cause, one way or another.

[youhavelessproof]

mob Dickie Jaydick AU anyone?

mob Dick is a thing we've seen in canon before and it will not leave my mind so y'all get to deal with ramblings about it. :) (Crutches and also a timeline where he never met Bruce.)

brainstormed this in the bottom Dick server, but here's me trying to summarize it.

general premise: no capes AU where once Dick escaped juvie he went and killed Zucco. (not quickly, he was 8, but he's a smart kid,) and then decided well police are useless, so I'll just help people myself. (very similar to how be became Robin, but like. more real world vigilante justice which is more morally questionable than fictional vigilantes.) Dick is a part of a mob at any given time because it makes doing what he was already going to do easier. which mob changes because he's not really part of the mob to be part of the mob and it's more a access to resources thing. Dick is allowed not wear a face mask/helmet because no records of him existing really exist. he was a circus kid that just ended up placed in juvie. he doesn't have records. Jason on the other hand is just a normal fucking dude. (probably a priest like that one timeline but I've never been religious so I wouldn't really know how to write it. but I could try.) also yes obviously Jason's life has not been easy-peasy or whatever but in comparison he is so very normal.

they meet at a bar or diner or something and Dick uses Jason to get some dudes of his back. probably an "I'll owe you, but I need you to kiss me right now." regardless, Dick had no intentions of actually getting Jason interested in him, but I mean. look at him.

their meeting should've ended at that, but Jason is involved now because he keeps wanting to see that pretty boy that definitely had knives and a gun on him but. pretty 🥺

also I just wanna clarify that Dick is not killing bad people to prove a point. he doesn't even necessarily see what he's doing as 100% right. the systems are corrupt and he knows it, but he also knows he is one man with 0 resources if he didn't get involved in crime. he can't change the systems as one man, but he can help people sleep at night. (kinda think of it like fanon Red Hood. except with less "I know I'm right." because Dick is not concerned about being right, he's concerned with helping people.)

which leads to a lot of conflict with cop Babs. because she doesn't agree at all with what Dick is doing, but also? he's so... gentle with victims. and he doesn't try and hurt Babs unless she tries to arrest him. he seems like an upstanding guy but also he has a kill count. and it is not a small number.

there's no past of present Dickbabs btw. they can be a little flirty at times, but Dick wouldn't date a cop and Babs thinks Dick is too self-righteous anyways.

Jason also has moral objections, (whether just personally or because of religion depends on the priest thing,) but he understands Dick on a deeper level than Babs. he's been at the bottom, he's had to steal to live, he knows. he just wishes that Dick didn't kill. didn't cross that line. it's not a deal breaker, but it is a point of tension.

Dick is basically talking to Jason sporadically at first. nothing much but some surface level conversations, but they're more than Dick usually has with people. Dick is thinking about trying to shut out Jason because he's just a guy and he's gonna get himself hurt. like. really hurt. Leslie encourages him to talk to Jason though because she's known Dick for forever and she says he needs the company. (Leslie does not agree with what Dick is doing btw, but she found him hurt when he was like 10 and became something a confidant for the boy. plus, Dick trusts her enough to bring victims to her when they need help.)

Dick still has Roy as a friend in this AU and they are close but also Roy has a government job that Dick isn't thrilled with and Roy is not thrilled with the murder. they are best friends, but they have a lot of... tension we'll call it. (Jason will have something of a friendship with Roy, but it is mostly formed from mutual concern about Dick.) also Donna is here, but I'm gonna say she does not live in Gotham so y'know. she also doesn't like murder, but Dick's her boy so it's... not fine, but it doesn't matter.

Dick and Jason end up in a friends with benefits situation because Jason assumes Dick would not be willing to commit to relationship considering everything around him and Dick assumes Jason would only want him for his body. they are both stupid. (/affectionate.)

possibly also a marriage of convenience at some point so that Jason can't testify against Dick. how Dick would even get caught in the first place? good question, have not gotten there.

anyway one last thing: Dick does not share his name like. at all. Donna knows it and maybe Roy too but generally it's either aliases or nicknames people call him. so when he tells Jason his name is Dick it is a big deal.

"see you around." "Dick." "huh?" "that's my name. Dick." "in that case, see you around, Dick." "see you, Jace."

anyway this AU will not leave my brain. I like role reversals when they're done in a specific way and this one just itches my brain.

also some quick little things: * I have no idea if Babs is a cop in any DC timeline, however the reason I chose this is so that she can still interact with Dick on some level. because while I don't like Dickbabs personally generally, she is an important character to Dick and I think her being to cop that's chasing him fits better than Gordon. * Roy used to be a government agent in mainline canon. I don't particularly love it for him, but I understand why they chose it and it is canon. I am not making him work for the government out of nowhere or just to fit into the narrative. there is a basis for it. * yes I do recognize that not everyone that is important to Dick has been included. I have not fleshed out every role in this AU and haven't decided what Kori, Wally, etc. will be. * as I mentioned in the post itself, priest Jason is canon to a specific timeline in the DC comics. you can like or not like it, but I am not pulling it out of my ass. (the flashpoint timeline which yes is supposed to be a bad timeline, but my point stands.) * "where's x member of the Batfamily?" I don't know. Tim is probably doing fine just living a normal life. Damian might not even exist. I will probably include Damian just because I love Dick parenting him, but like. I have no idea where the rest of the Batfamily is and this ain't about them. /lh * just because something is in a canon DC timeline does not mean I think it's in character or a good character choice, (looking at you cop Dickie), but I am saying that I think it's fair game for AUs. (like really anything is fair game for AUs, but you hopefully know what I mean.)

sorry to get a bit defensive, just thought I'd explain some of this AU upfront just to deal with some misinterpretations that might happen in one go. <3

Mob Dickie and Normal Guy Jason my beloved. maybe I will explore you in an actual fic someday.

[softrozene]

"Stay Strong. Stay with Me."

Anonymous requested: never seen anyone tackle this one before: could you do HCs or a scenario (your pick) of Dutch finding himself getting along and becoming fascinated by an f!reader Pinkerton agent who has gone rogue, believing in his cause (before everything goes to shit) and using her power to keep the law off their back? this is a weird one so thank you if you do try it out!! SFW or NSFW is fine if you see any kind of tension happening down the line

m.m

Sorry for the long wait Hon! I hope you enjoy this because I certainly enjoyed writing these as headcanons but I did add a little slight nsfw towards the end 😉 The idea of a forbidden enemies to lovers with Dutch is just so *chef’s kiss*. Enjoy!

Dutch Van Der Linde x Female Reader

Warnings: Fluff, reader is technically a double agent by accident, only mentions everything good before Dutch goes… y’know :’), slight nsfw towards the end

Words: ~800

-

At first, you absolutely hate him – that man being Dutch Van Der Linde

He was everything you detested only because you didn’t know the man personally

You only heard the rumors, how he and his gang of cowboys and gals steal and murder their way out of trouble

You heard how they tried to defend it, saying they do it “honestly” compared to other gangs, but you haven’t seen it. All you have seen is the death they left in their wake. The results of their actions and you hated them

That was at Blackwater

You have been keeping an eye and an ear out for them. You want to personally deal with them

This determination you have is how you manage to meet Dutch by himself. You wanted to hear out his reasoning before you report his ass. You wanted to see if this evil man you saw only through results was truly evil

And you met him and to your surprise, he wasn’t evil at all

He was just a man trying to keep his values alive in this growing world

Finding out that he valued greatly things such as liberty, equality, cultural tolerance was eye opening to you

And what even more was surprising was he didn’t question your status as a female Pinkerton agent at all

When you asked him to explain himself further, he did so with passion. You believe it was that passion that pushed you to truly like that man as you realized you shared his same values

The main values he taught you to appreciate is that human rights are universal and inalienable. That the true way of life is to live in freedom on natural rights instead of being dependent on the government

It made sense to you

And it also made you feel bad because of your line of work

You went after bad criminals your agency was sent to go after

You went after really bad people that put people in danger

And while yes, Dutch has proved to be dangerous, he has not proved to kill out of malicious intent. He is just following his values and you came to respect that

Because of your new shared values with the man, you got along well and he found it fascinating that you wanted to know more about his morals and such. He was captivated that someone in your stance would be so intrigued by him

It eventually makes him fall hard (sorry Molly :()

He would ask you to leave your job if he could, but he hasn’t and you used this to your advantage to help him

You would give him updates on what the Pinkertons were up to, where they were going, and in turn you would lie to the Pinkertons, give them enough breadcrumbs to keep them believing you were on their side, but not enough to give away Dutch

It is a very weird relationship, but one Dutch comes to appreciate the most

He does consider you family and even tells the others to trust you

He will occasionally try to get you to join his cause, be in his gang, but won’t push you to do so if you don’t want to be an outlaw like them

In moments of any doubts you have, he does tell you to “Stay Strong. Stay with me.”

Slight Nsfw headcanons:

The moment Dutch lays eyes on you, he is smitten

He finds it adorable that a little Pinkerton agent like you wants to ask him questions so he entertains it

But he is does find it intriguing that a woman is in such a position so he automatically thinks you are not to be messed with

It isn’t until halfway through does he realize you are taking him very seriously, that you are loving this talk about values and how society should be

It makes him think you are not just a pretty face, but you have a beautiful brain too, and that my dear, is what makes him instantly horny for you

It’s only after the third meeting he has with you does he suggests getting intimate with you

He says that it would be a one-time thing since you are technically enemies but after that one night, he just couldn’t get enough of you

It turns into multiple times and he even daydreams about the next time he will see you, the next time he can hold you and touch you

He turns low-key obsessed and loves the idea of a cat-and-mouse faux chase with you

He offers to turn it into that once or twice to make your sex life more exciting

But most often than not he prefers sweet and gentle sex with you since you seem to be his perfect half and his perfect double agent

Yes, Dutch does love receiving pleasure, but you know that once that man gives you pleasure, you aren’t getting up until his thirst for you is satisfied

[thepenguisalive7]

Here’s my little food for thought. If this upsets you, please look away! You don’t have to interact with me if you’d rather not see it 👍

Okay, I think some people on Twitter, hmmm

Why are some of them making this about q!Foolish and q!slime? I think some people are misinterpreting and assuming q!bad is being played the fool, but really, his grievances is more about being seen as a tool? Maybe they’re upset because that’s what their characters are going through? But they’re also ignoring other things q!bad did for said characters.

Sure he said some off things with q!slime and arguably pranks q!foolish a lot, but he also helps give them so many things, I don’t understand why people say he deserves this karma? I mean, q!slime did try to kill all the eggs before, his egg included. In rp, wouldn’t you be upset if someone did that? Q!bad usually tries to lean into rp whenever he plays on the server. He words were terrible sure, but he gave q!slime a full deck of maxed out armour and a backpack for basically free once, just because he felt bad for him. Even went on a little adventure to cheer him up. I understand that maybe q!slime viewers didn’t see this because it was on another persons stream and slime wasn’t streaming but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

He helps to take care of Leonarda for q!foolish, and this isn’t to say q!Foolish is a bad parent, he’s a great parent! But it’s just that, so many people are saying q!bad deserves this law against him for wronging q!foolish? Land duo are just different in my opinion, they know when to push and when to stop, and it’s their thing. Q!BBH pulls pranks, but never really with the intent of permanent damage or significant damage. They’re almost always easily removed. Q!foolish calls q!bad names and they argue but that’s how they work. But if you want to argue their interactions a little, q!foolish also does leave and expect q!BBH to take care of his egg. There was even a weekend where q!BBH explained he would’ve liked a heads up, and q!foolish just said he already kind of expected q!bad would do it anyways. And there have been times where q!bad would ask for some thank you’s from q!foolish, for taking care of Leonarda at times, to which they banter and it never happened.

But this isn’t really about q!slime and q!foolish, so I don’t understand why people are so insistent in bringing up Bad’s wrongs with these two people? When this is his grievance. Saying he deserved it for the wrong he’s done with these two, when they’ve also done things that contribute to the build up on why he’d be upset? I’d rule out land duo personally, because I like to think they’re the only duo that can mess with each other and more or less understand, but if you’re going to bring it up, I’ll bring up my counter argument.

What his grievances is really about is starting to feel more like a tool, the government issues, and his relationship with q!forever. It’s about q!bbh, so why rope those two into this???

They say q!BBH treated them badly, so he deserves this. Q!slime tried to murder every egg after Juanaflippa died. Did he succeed? No. Does he regret it? Ye. No harm done yeah? But he did try to kill a lot of eggs, and the intent was definitely there, even if he’s apologetic of it later on. Do people have to forgive him straight away cause the intent was there, even if he was grieving and upset? I don’t think so. If q!slime did the same thing recently, people would be a lot more upset, seeing as to how they reacted when q!forever striked Leonarda during an intense moment.

I guess maybe it gives people more insight on the wrongs of q!bbh? Hmmm… But it kind of just feels at one point that people just don’t want to hear out his character at all, and just go ahead inserting other characters to discredit how q!BBH is being fleshed out. It feels a little unfair because when slime was upset, people were happy to support him, even so far as having six people defending him (q!BBH included) for attempted murder? And q!foolish lore where he felt isolated because of the pac and Mike arresting and being stuck in the nether. That lore was okay, and is appreciated. Why not this one?

I just don’t think it’s fair to call it karma? When all characters are a little morally grey. You can have favourites, but come on. And then saying he deserves it, despite the fact he helped out those two a lot as well. Feels a little in bad taste.

But this is again just my opinion, I’m not necessarily the best, and if you’d like to discuss, please do so politely! And if you disagree, just ignore this post and move on

[psychologeek]

Your defense of Israel murdering or displacing all the Palestinians is disgusting.

You defend the government’s actions over the whole course of its existence and deny is subjugation and occupation of Palestine.

Israel is a colonist nation. Regardless of who your ancestors are from thousands of years ago, you do not get to go to another country and forcefully expel its current population out of some inane sense of birthright.

I am African American. My ancestors were stolen from their homelands, sold to slavers, and shipped across the sea where then endured torture in every meaning of the word for generations. The African American community is still recovering.

But that in no way gives me the right to return to the African country of my ancestors and demand that whoever lives there (and has lived there for centuries) leaves and gives their land to me so I can make a new country. And I’m talking about a crime that happened only 300 years ago, not thousands.

The Israel government is currently committing war crimes at unprecedented levels in modern times. And their only goal is to expel all Palestinian from Gaza (and the West Bank). They don’t care about the hostages, they just want land.

October 7th does not exist in a vacuum. Even if it did it would not justify the thousands of children that have been murdered as a result. Over the course of 75 years of occupation Israel have murdered countless children and other innocents, all far before October 7th.

Antisemitism is an incredibly serious problem in the world. But antizionism is not antisemitism. What right do westerners, regardless of who their ancestors were and regardless of what they have been through, to forcefully claim an already occupied plot of land in the Middle East. The answer is none. If they do so they are colonizers. Just like if I were to forcefully claim land in Africa today I would be a colonizer.

Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist. And many of them actual support Israel because they recognize it as a facist state that kills brown people.

True antisemitism exists and it is being largely ignored so Zionists can attack Palestinians and other Arabs for refusing to give their own land to Western transplants.

You should reflect on the empathy you have for Israel soldiers and the lack of empathy you have for the Palestinian children (the nearly 10,000) who have been blown up, shot, and starved to death of the course of the last few months.

You justify their deaths at every corner and talk about the fear of violence you feel, but not the actual violence they endure.

You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian when if he were real, you would be justifying his murder at the hands of western fascists.

Anon,

first of all - I do have to thank u for taking it to my Tumblr instead of the comment section on ao3. I appreciate it.

For those interested - this is the fic anon refers to at the end of the comment, when saying "You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian"

TL;DR:

Me (literally was a Middle Eastern child who grew up to be a ME adult, and have a complicated family relationship)

me: writing "Hi, Intifada is actually a bad thing. Bombs are blind, you know" in my A/N of one of my fics.

Anon from the USA: HOW DARE YOU VIOLENT WHITE FACIST!!!!!

me: ?_?

*********

now for the actual reply!

1."Your defense of Israel murdering or displacing all the Palestinians is disgusting."

Where, exactly, did I say I support murder/displacement of people?

(And yes, I mean ANY people)

2. "You defend the government’s actions over the whole course of its existence"

Umm, what?

I definitely disagree with (many many MANY) things the government did. 'over the whole course of its existence' - wow. You really went on with it, huh?

3. "and deny is subjugation and occupation of Palestine."

"subjugation, occupation " - again, what?

And, how do you enslave a LAND?

That is a very interesting claim you're making here.

(Not to mention that, Palestine was the COLONIAL name of the reign. But who cares?)

4. "Israel is a colonist nation."

Do you know what "colonist" means?

I'll give you a hint - it requires having a country in a first place, and expending.

5. "Regardless of who your ancestors are from thousands of years ago"

No, but you see - it DOES matter.

That statement means that heritage doesn't matter. That 'homeland' has an expiring date.

A. Since many of those who consider themselves Palestinians today do it bc THEIR ancestors lived in the reign, it is a crucial thing. And an interesting claim.

B. Does it apply to other places as well? I mean, are you also against "land back" and independence for Puerto Rico (which is, btw, ANOTHER colonial name).

C. There have always been Jews in Israel. Judaism (which comes from "Judea" - you know, the old southern Jewish kingdom? in the Jerusalem area?

6. "you do not get to go to another country and forcefully expel its current population out of some inane sense of birthright."

I agree. I don't support any expel for anyone. I believe there's enough place for anyone that wants to live IN PEACE. About 20% of Israel's population are Arabs-Israelis. I had Muslim roommate in the past, and where I study, about 25% of my class are Muslims.

7. "I am African American. My ancestors were stolen from their homelands, sold to slavers, and shipped across the sea where then endured torture in every meaning of the word for generations."

Yes. So were my ancestors. (Guess who built the Collosum?) And my people are still being harrased and murdered.

7. "The African American community is still recovering."

So does the Jewish population worldwide.

8. "But that in no way gives me the right to return to the African country of my ancestors and demand that whoever lives there (and has lived there for centuries) leaves and gives their land to me so I can make a new country."

There is no demand for anyone to leave.

About the "lived here for centuries" claim :

In the first quarter of the 19th century, Israel population was about 250k (about 25% Jews.)

overall population according to year. origin mentioned.

Then, in 1948, the arab population in Israel was 1,237,000 (67%) and the Jewish population was 608,000 (33%).

for example, main cities population 1860-1946:

Jerusalem (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians) ,Jaffa (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians), Haifa (over all, Jews, Muslims, Christians)

Same origin also cites a lot of immigration (mostly from Egypt and Lebanon).

****

[So, you go by the right of conquer? as in "if you live there, then it's yours"? So, do you support the Jewish return to Hebron (Jewish community constantly, until 1929.) and Gaza (same)?]

Of course that you, as a single person, can't do that. May I remind you of decision 181 of the UN? about 2-state solution?

In fact, the first accords, the UN ones? said "we'll give 80% of the land to 70% of the population" (Arabs) "and 20% of the land to 30% of the population"

Jews said: ok!

Arabs said: umm. Nope. We want everything, or there'll be blood.

You can probably read about what happened to the Jews that were left in Gush Etzion and other off-border Jews after Israel declared independence.

[Why am I using the term "Arab" and not "Palestinian"? well, that's what they called themselves:]

Arab leaders like Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi told the Peel Commission in 1937: "There is no such country as 'Palestine'; 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented!" During the 1930s, anti-British and anti-Jewish riots were enflamed by the newly created "Arab Higher Committee,"( Arab - not Palestinian!) the central political organ of the Arab community of Mandate Palestine .In 1946, Arab historian Philip Hitti testified before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that "there is no such thing as Palestine in history.” In 1947, Arab leaders protesting the UN partition plan argued that Palestine was part of Syria and “politically, the Arabs of Palestine (were) not (an) independent separate … political entity.” In 1947, the UN proposed a "Jewish" State and an "Arab" (again, not Palestinian) State.

9. "And I’m talking about a crime that happened only 300 years ago, not thousands."

Yes. If you want to know why the Jewish population is/was suspicious about living under arab/muslim authorities, feel free to look up the Hebron massacre (and ethnic cleansing - the eareser of the Jewish people in 1929. Also the EC of the Jewish community in Gaza in 1929, several exiles before. Also massacre of Zfad 'what year?' - ALL OF THEM).

And that before mentioning the EC of jews from MENA countries - arab/Muslims countries (there's a nice song about it. Feel free to listen.)

10. "The Israeli government is currently committing war crimes at unprecedented levels in modern times."

Uhm.

The Holocaust? Buko Haram? Hamas? Iran-Balochistan? dam, SYRIA?? Hello?

Funny how EVERYTHING can, all of a sudden, become "the worst thing in modern history".

(There are, probably, war crimes going on. Which is terrible, and should NOT happen, and there's a lot of ppl in Israel calling against it. But just bc you don't like something, or bc it's bad, doesn't mean it's a war crime.)

11. "And their only goal is to expel all Palestinian from Gaza (and the West Bank)."

No, hun. I'm sorry you fell for the propaganda.

Their goal is to return the quiet to the area. Since, you know, we STILL HAVE MISSILES FIRED AT CIVILIAN AREAS as had been in the 20+ last years. Not to mention terror attacks (hi, remember the 07/10?) And THE KIDNAPPED PEOPLE, MOSTLY CIVILIANS.

(Which is a WAR CRIME, btw. In relation to no.10).

12. "They don’t care about the hostages,"

I'm sorry, what?

Right. You say it as... someone who never been in Israel, and get news from Al Jazeera (funded by the same ppl who fund Hamas), I guess.

(Literally some of those who currently fight has family and friends that were kidnapped.)

Though, about the government - idk. I honestly lost any try to understand what the current PM trying to do.

13. "they just want land."

Of course. Which is EXACTLY why Israel has tried to make peace agreements 5 times before, willing to give away land. EXACTLY why Israel had exiled every last jew from Gaza Strip in 2005, during the disengagement. Exactly why, during the peace agreements with Egypt, Israel gave away Sinai (which is about the size of the rest of Israel.)

14. "October 7th does not exist in a vacuum."

Love this comment. Such a great idea.

I bet you'd say the same thing about Floyd, won't you?

I mean, it didn't happen in a VACCUM. That officer felt threatened and I'm sure he was very sad afterwards.🥺🥺

15. "Even if it did it would not justify the thousands of children that have been murdered as a result."

aaaannd we reach the part of PROPAGANDA. I'll be honest, I'm tired of it.

I'll only say - according to international law, and the laws of war (LoW), hiding in civil population is a WAR CRIME. So is using child soldiers, hiding HQ and ammunition under hospitals, religious places, schools, and kindergartens.

16. "Over the course of 75 years of occupation Israel have murdered countless children and other innocents, all far before October 7th.

check your resources about: 75 years. "murder countless children"

Antisemitism is an incredibly serious problem in the world. But antizionism is not antisemitism. What right do Westerners, regardless of who their ancestors were and regardless of what they have been through, to forcefully claim an already occupied plot of land in the Middle East. The answer is none. If they do so they are colonizers. Just like if I were to forcefully claim land in Africa today I would be a colonizer. Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist."

Love that you claim me to be westerner and\or white, as I'm neither. Go back to no.8. Jews ALWAYS lived here. wanting a state, when *all countries in the area started becoming their own countries* isn't the problem. Claiming that only THAT country has no right to exist - yes, it is antisemitic, sorry. Or are you also against Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. as their own countries?

Also - not forcefully. UN decision.

"Real nazis exist. White supremacist exist." - funny how they BOTH agree that Israel is bad. Almost like they have 1 thing in common

(Hint: this isn't a strong urge for world peace)

"And many of them actually support Israel because they recognize it as a facist state that kills brown people."

- Dog whistle!

"Jews are white killing brown ppl" + "jews are the REAL nazis"

"True antisemitism exists and it is being largely ignored so Zionists can attack Palestinians and other Arabs for refusing to give their own land to Western transplants."

"Jews are white colonisers that came to kill all the nice PoC who lived peacefully!

"You should reflect on the empathy you have for Israel soldiers and the lack of empathy you have for the Palestinian children (the nearly 10,000) who have been blown up, shot, and starved to death of the course of the last few months."

- you don't care about the kids!!!!

(Israelis are soldiers and murderous, VS. the Palestinians who are all innocent kids who did nothing.) don't care about the Israeli ones).

"You justify their deaths at every corner and talk about the fear of violence you feel, but not the actual violence they endure."

- YOU ARE VIOLENT! How dare you say you want ACTUAL peace, one that includes NO ONE being targeted by missiles??

[Can you, in your OWN WORDS, say what are "Nazism", "Facism", and "Zionism"? bc one of those isn't like the others.]

"You have the nerve to write about a complicated middle eastern child like Damian when if he were real, you would be justifying his murder at the hands of western fascists."

- Wow. How dare I, a Middle Eastern who grew up in a complicated family, write about a Middle Eastern child who grew up in a complicated area and complicated family situation?

really, SHAME on me!

But sure-

The problem is that I write about Damian, a FICTIONAL CHARACTER, and not that actual, real life, ppl suffer.

The problem is that I dare say "Yo, ppl, calling for Intifada, aka TERROR ATTACKS (that killed EVERYONE - Jews, Muslims, Christians, etc.) is bad and violent. Of course. No matter that rise in violence is destructive and harmful to EVERYONE.

I see you came here through my fanfic. Fanfic that part of it was trying to get more comfortable with my grandma's old culture and language. And the other part was about educating myself more about religion I'm not familiar enough with, and reminding myself that people are people. (Hoping that knowing and understanding would help me coup with my own personal prejudice and trauma, as I keep seeing the faces of the dead I knew and keep dreaming about the baby from the terror attack when I was a kid and keep feeling the ground shaking, even though I'm no longer a child in an unprotected area when all I could do was lay on the ground and pray the missiles won't fall near me)

Let me ask you something -

I was born in Israel, and so did my parents, and so did THEIR parents (except for a grandma who immigrated as a toddler from Yemen. Yes, that country that just exiled the last Jewish family in 2022, current Jewish population: 1. That Yemen.)

And it seems like you have never even been to this continent. Never had to run to shelter. Doesn't have baby photos with gas masks, or know how to find the "as protected as possible" area (since not every place has a shelter) -

so you, a random anon, who doesn't really know anything about an ongoing war\conflict that affects many lives, come and criticise me for calling for no more violence.

Let me ask you something -

What gives you the right?

[charleecat-bat]

SLASHER/HORROR AU

So a handful o fyou actually were interested aside from one person by the time i’m making this so yeah uh. look away. don’t wanna be upsetting.

NOW i do want to clarify that I made this in the sense to be a black comedy sort of AU due to watching so many skits and shorts of horror characters in comedic situations, that was my main inspiration. 

my buddy @barsikscorner​ has been helping me develop ideas for this weird lil au.

enjoy below

please keep in mind it’s def not for sensitive softhearted people. I want to entertain with my ideas as weird as they are.

Sonic- A supernatural being who has memories of being alive but doesn’t remember what happened to him or how he died. It took him a long time to understand it but having a ‘life’ of inactivity and seeing so much more bad stuff when you’re not properly alive made him want to take action and he soon learnt how to. He toys with victims and tries to scare them into righting their wrongs but if they’ve done something unforgivable or irreversible or refuse to change, he kills them in a creative fashion. kinda based off freddy kruger but less nasty and gross.

Amy- A slasher known as either the Cupid Killer or the Rose Ripper. Goes after abusive partners and sexual predators due to her idealistic image of love so seeing this sort of behaviour makes her fly into a rage. uses her iconic hammer mostly for her kills. She wears a heart themed mask. 

Tails- a sort of 'cyber' ghost. he had died and his spirit became ingrained into tech and cyberspace. He can sort of 'appear' outside of tech and into the material world but not for too long. Can communicate with people, mostly his victims, through their tech. He targets criminals and terrible people of all sorts online and either forces them to repent for their crimes or just makes their life a living hell until he decides to end it, whether it be for him or making them doing to themselves.

Cream- mostly normal. Has a strange connection to monsters and creature however and hence the chaos. They protect her. Chaos have a bit of a 'yes they're cute but they can be dangerous' reputation in this AU. they definitely have taken care of people that have threatened the sweetie bbies life and safety without her knowledge.

Vanilla- A protective mother who either lost her first child or almost lost Cream herself so she started to become a serial killer who went after child murderers, abusers and predators. She keeps this side of her away from Cream and is a loving mother nonetheless. Her main weapon are garden shears that can be seprated into a pair of blades and her mask is deocrated with flowery designs. 

Knuckles- an undead/ghost like slasher that has become one with the woods he’s connected to, quite literally having roots and such all over and even inside of him (being exposed in old wounds he has). He’s cursed to walk amongst the mystical land that he was murdered on and now protects it and keeps people out. He’s very easy to anger but he’ll never attack people like lost children or people who are obviously not looking to trespass and are lost. Anyone who does trespass and does anything he deems disrespectful to the land or just refuse to leave he handles violently. He tends not to leave the area and hasn't even tried to. He might be able to. Might not.

Shadow- A space-like being that can shapeshift into horrifying forms. He was taken and experimented on a spaceship but grew close to a human girl named Maria on board. They used this to have a chance to study him without the risk of him being aggressive. After she was killed during a government break-in and he was captured and taken back to Earth. He went on a vengeful rampage in the base and now just does his own thing on earth since he can't exactly leave. He was tempted to destroy everyone but now is content on just watching the stupid shenanigans and occasionally tormenting someone he doesn't like. And gossip. Inspired by Pennywise/It and Predator

Rouge- a seductive slasher that has very strange desires and doesn’t really have any motivation other than she wants to. She likes to take bones (and occasionally the blood) of her victims to make accessories and jewellery out of them. She’s not completely heartless though and has standards and there stuff she won’t do. She uses her beauty and appearance to lure victims most of the time, to appear innocent and harmless or sexy and sultry depending on what she wants. She wear’s a beautiful decadent mask, and sports specialised finger blades she created into gloves.

Silver- a mysterious spirit that’s tied to a cursed object. he has telepathic and telekinetic abilities and can burn disturbing images and distort a persons mind and body possibly, even mind control if he wants to need to decide how he functions properly more so inspired by samara/sadako and possibly think of other inspirations like bagul from sinister

Blaze- an otherworldly being that is hinted to used to be a normal person in one lifetime but no longer is. She works by supernatural means and tortures her victims horrifically but doesn’t do it indiscriminately. Mostly only does it when she wants, especially to those that try to summon her and use her power for themselves. Inspired by pinhead mostly but also could take elements of candyman

Big- a wild beast man that didn't have a regular upbringing. He has a werewolf-like condition where he turns into a beast against his control, for his own safety and everyone else's safety he lives in isolation. He as a special connection to animals and even has befriended Froggy who is a monstrous being that can disguise itself as a frog, it’s been named the loveland frogman when caught in one of it’s many forms. His uncle had raised him alone and kept him in the dark about how dangerous he really could be and mostly did his best to keep him safe, so out of all of them he is one of the most innocent as the worst he does is literally against is control and he's unaware of it since the most he'll know is that he'll wake up and just look around adn see blood and gore or see it on himself. He has more animal friends than mobian friends. 

Vector- a justice-seeking serial killer. He worked as a main detective with cops but grew tired of seeing not only horrible people go free and dodge the law and their punishment but even see the people that are 'supposed' to be the good guys be horrible people and letting shit slide. So he decides to take the law into his own hands and goes after anyone who he sees needing a just punishment in his city, dirty cops, abusers, predators, politicians, basically anyone who he thinks are utterly awful people that deserve to be punished. He can be quite sadistic and torturous with them and is very thorough with his research. was initially inspired by Jigsaw but he's not a hypocritical prick like Kramer.

Espio- He’s in a strange state of being an ‘undead’ being. He can’t quite tell if he’s alive but no longer mortal or if hes’ dead but still around on the mortal plane. He's kinda just... stuck in between. It’s a very strange situation. Theres evidence supporting both, he can still bleed the tiniest bit but no longer feels and still occasionally needs to eat and drink but he definitely doesn't have as much limitations he was when he was mortal/alive. Vector had found him when he broke into and ‘dealt’ with his abductor and ‘murderer’, they Vector and Espio got quite a fright when Espio was somehow still alive. Since then Vector has looked out for the lone chameleon despite being confused about his situation. He works as an assistant to Vector and they do have a very 'big brother' 'little brother' bond. He wears an Oni-themed mask. He has strange markings on his body such as his hands his back and chest, he still doesn’t know wha tthey mean but feels they have something to do with what happened to him. 

Charmy- normal mostly but can see ghosts and even repel them in a way but he doesn’t realise it. winds up protecting vec and esp from a lot of unseen danger and also is unaware of this. Charmy frequently will talk to ghosts but Vector is honestly fine with this due to all the weirdness he's run into, and initially, he just thought it was Charmy having imaginary friends. He is not involved at all in Vector and Espios 'business' because they dont' think he needs to know about that. 

Mighty- a murderous and protective spirit. he was murdered by 'accident' (if you call taking abuse too far an accident) by his father due to all the physical abuse but it was made to look like an accident so his father could save his reputation. His little sister was enraged by this injustice and in an attempt to find closure and just to talk to her brother again, his spirit was summoned and he became a vengeful being that wanted to protect her. She unleashed him on their father as a result. Matilda either summons his spirit or he just makes his own way to protect innocent people, mostly children but anyone they feel needs protection… or anyone they just want to suffer. When not angry Mighty is actually still the same form what he was in life, minus a bit of more of a temper.

Matilda- a creepy and slightly unhinged girl that studied the occult. She had done a ritual/seance to summon her brothers spirit again when he was murdeed and now he serves as her murderous protector. or just annoying ghost borther who watches and judges anything she does that he doens't like. Judgemental eyes from the grave from your brother is very annoying.

Ray- ghost boy that got attached to Mighty’s spirit and Matilda. they let him stay as he really doesn't do anything to harm then and is just lonely. He doesn't really do much of anything but can lure mighty to people, startle them to shit or even attack them but he leaves the more lethal stuff to Mighty. (kinda like toshio from ju-on/the grudge)

Nack- a heavily abused slightly mentally unstable hybrid that was abused by his small town heavily until he finally snapped and went on a rampage, killing some and driving the rest out. The village became run down and abandoned very quickly, becoming overun by nature again. The only thing intact is a scrappily made shack that Nack made himself in the middle of the land. He lives on the large property of land and guards it and does anything and everything to keep people out due to still being traumatised and afraid of people and thinking they're going ot hurt him and just not trusting them.  He is proficient with guns and prefers his shotgun but can and will use other weapons, a hunting knife, machete or even a chainsaw. He's shown to be incredibly strong despite his small size, being able to run with a chainsaw in hand. (inspired by leatherface and mick taylor)

Bark- a cold serial known as the Billionaire Butcher that targets greedy billionaires, getting a distaste for them after growing up surrounded by like-minded people. He drains their accounts and steals money and while he does pocket a small amount for himself, he doesn’t keep all of it because he doesn't want to become what they are. Most likely just keep his own regular reputation as good hearted philanthropist by donating a lot of money to good causes. His main methods include using an ice-pick as his main weapon due to experience with the tool. He met Nack in a rather awkward way but they quickly became friends and he was the first person allowed on Nacks property.

Bean- A mentally unhinged boy that has a penchant for fire and burning things. Just a very strange kid. he escaped from a mental hospital and ran onto nacks property and he and bark just let him stay as despite his mental stability of there lack of he was mostly harmless to them.  he doesn't talk a lot about his past but has shared tidbits, including stories of abuse, burning his own home down and mistreatment and abuse from the hospital. he ever has burn scars. He tends to chill out in the attic of their home and just likes to appear out of nowhere. (sort of inspired by billy from black christmas)

Infinite- A telekinetic and telepathic being who was ostracised by a large ration of people in his home town, mostly the religious types due to thinking he was a devil-child. He snapped after thinking he lost his family when his house was set on fire.As a result he went on a rampage destroyed the a huge chunk town with his powers and killing the ones who were responsible. He now lives and deals with a lot demons and strangeness... literally. He’s not aware his family actually survived they just didn’t even give him a moment to hear this and he left before he actually got told. DUMMY (Inspired by Carrie)

Gadget- a victim of a wannabe cult, they wanted to sacrifice him but it didn’t work and he became possessed by an incubus, a demon of lust. He struggles with his urges due to the demon and at first fought it and then finds an arrangement thanks to Infinte, his boyfriend. Actually kills people while doing the deed with it and if needed, feeds on their bodies, not the extent of Storm. (Inspired by Jennifers Body kinda) The demon has a slightly different voice and changes the colour of his eyes when it's speaking through Gadget and Gadget definitely has a demon form that is either physically attractive or purely terrifying depending on the taste. It’s not an entirely pleasant situation btu Gadget learns to handle it. 

Jet- a insecure and pissy lil birb boy that got into a life of serial killing after his cousin got possessed and needed flesh/blood to survive. At first, it was nerve-wrecking but he quickly got a taste for it as he enjoys making people feel powerless and afraid, he toys with them before finishing the job including phone calls, threatening messages and taunting them verbally while going after them. Inspired by Ghostface. He gets mad fun of a lot by the other professionals. 

Wave- a dark web guru. She has a massive powerful following on the deep dark web and does a lot of dark illegal things, such as selling body parts on the black market and even doing strange videos and documentation of experiments. She was also not involved initially but due to the situation their cousin got into she quickly did and then quickly found out about how much money they could get and also get rid of a lot of the body parts. Win-win situation in her mind. She has definitely gone a bit crazy due to all her experimenting and the shit she does for the dark web. She wears a plague doctor-inspired mask when recording and documenting stuff for the dark web. 

Storm- While originally only doing little crimes like thievery for money, he also was the victim of the same wannabe cult that Gadget was and it also failed, becoming possessed by a demon of gluttony. It makes him want to devour flesh and blood and he unfortunately had no choice. When he gets to the point where the demon demands for him to consume, he cant eat anything else even if he tries. It just comes right back up and he starves. He’s still coming to terms with it and grew depressed and got a bit of a tricky relationship with food. he gets some help from gadget so shit doesn't suck for him entirely anymore. The Demon definitely is based off of Venom is some silly way. The demon is a bit of a screamer and talks loudly to Storm and since only storm can hear it 90 percent of the time he gets VERY tired of it (i initially wanted him to be food related like a killer chef but god i didn't want him to be a willing cannibal that's just another level of ICK)

[squish36-writes-and-draws]

12 November: Unraveling

Word count: 579

TW: Swearing, (hyperbolic) self-harm and/or gore, Keefe being allosexual

General Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously

@poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @corruption-exe @rusted-phone-calls

@when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes

@callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @sillyguy-supreme

@void-kill @thefoxysnake

Unraveling Project Specific Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed/upgraded): @cutebisexualmess @crippling-pages @daizythegreat @sophiefostersno1stan @iggydancebreak

@theleopardstalker @you-will-meet-your-downfall @multi-fandom-lunatic

On Ao3 or below the cut!

First (3 November) / Previous / Next

Keefe Sencen's Journal

    I had a surprisingly not shit day. I mean, I did get threatened by a guy with a pair of very dangerous looking garden shears, but, honestly, that’s nothing compared to the last few days. I’m trying to not think about those last few days and it really isn’t working, so I’ve taken to hyperfocusing on the previously mentioned garden shears incident. 

    Apparently I scared him by hiding in the bushes trying not to get found because it’s hard to hide when you didn’t bring an obscurer and, as discussed many times before, I don’t have any fucking money. 

    So, you know, like any rational person, he started yelling at me and I thought for a second that my polyglot thing was broken but it just turns out that it’s a processing speed limitation as a result of barely sleeping for the past week and a half. 

    As I was blinking away the exhaustion, I found myself looking at his eyebrows, the angry crease accentuated as they move up and down while ye yells at me and —

    Fuck. 

    It’s kind of a great wonder of the world that I hadn't figured this out yet. I am a buffoon of the highest order. No one has ever or will ever buffoon more than I have. It’s almost like a world record, except bad. 

    Get me a shamkniv. I need to remove my eyeballs. I’m not doing this again.     

    If you haven’t guessed, dear journal, I may have gotten deeply distracted by another person’s existence once again, and, as such, I cannot fucking deal with this anymore. All logical options point to me just fucking off to another city, but I’m just going to do it again, aren’t I? 

    This is the neverending cycle that I’m going to throw myself into. Not even a full forty-eight hours in a new city and I’m already doodling in the margins about a guy who, statistically, I’m never going to see again. And even if I do, that’s not happening. I’m not dragging anyone else into this mess. 

    Who am I fucking kidding? Either I’m going to leave or I’m going to fuck up. Those are the two options. There is no secret third choice where no one gets hurt. 

Later: I should probably also muse poetic about the fact that he’s, you know, a guy and how the elves try to pretend like that whole thing doesn’t exist, but we all know what’s going on behind closed doors with the councillors. Also Alden and Quinlin. They think they’re so clever, but, dear stars, they are so completely and absolutely wrong. I don’t think Fitz knows though. That’s going to be a bit of a revelation if he ever finds that one out. 

    While we’re talking about Fitz, of course I have to reflect on how our friendship has existed over the last insert-number-of-years-here. And, uh, well, shit. Fitz is hot. How dare he? If I ever go back to the Lost Cities and then get rejected by Sophie, I’ll gladly get rejected to the oort cloud by Fitz. 

    He’d totally fucking murder me while directly quoting the laws governing the Matchmakers. Although, that does sound kinda hot too.

    Who said that—? 

    Maybe I need to turn off my brain for a bit. That sounds nice. Just give it a nice little bath in cerebrospinal fluid. I’m going to try to get some sleep. It’s not going to work, but it’s worth trying, right? 

[pinkeoni]

Sam Owens: Playing Devil’s Advocate

(Or: Trying to Figure Out Sam Owens’ Deal)

Owens is an interesting guy. I would say it’s a stretch to call him a villian, but I would also say it’s a stretch to call him a hero. But that’s kinda the point— and what season 4 was trying to tell us. There isn’t a dichotomy of heroes and monsters, there is just people who make complicated decisions.

Season 2 was hinting to us that we shouldn’t trust Owens, and I would go as far to say that season 4 was straight up telling us not to trust him. Not only was he an enabler for Brenner’s abuse of El, but we get this line of dialogue from Mike— “You don’t trust Owens?”

But at the same time, Owens isn’t a bad guy. Even if he was hiding the truth about Will’s possession from him, he did fight to keep Will alive. Even if he brought El back to Brenner, he was the one to call Brenner out on his abuse. Again, a complex individual.

I think Owens problem comes from the fact that he’s trying to balance what is right for the individual with what is right for his country/the world. Let us not forget that Owens is an agent of the government, so it would make sense if his directives were given to benefit the country and the government itself. Go clean up this mess at Hawkins Lab so we don’t get in trouble. Find out what’s happening there so it doesn’t get worse for us, lest our enemies find out. It makes a lot of sense given the Cold War time period the show takes place in.

Owens colleagues priorties lie with their orders, and they’re willing to get the job done no matter the cost.

This is where I think Owen’s problem lies— he is trying to balance what’s right for the individual with what is right for his country, but this doesn’t seem to be a possible route to go in.

Or, he is trying to play devil’s advocate in a situation where that’s impossible

Granted, these situations are complicated and we do understand why Owens makes the choices that he does, and it’s not motivated out of wanting to torture these kids. Owens brought El to NINA because there were corpses showing up in Hawkins, and he contained the truth about Will because he didn’t want fear and hysteria to spread.

But it also wasn’t Owens who managed to get Will and El out of their respective situations. El brought down the helicopter trying to kill her, and the Cali crew showed up as her escape. Will managed to have Vecna exorcised out of him, but only because Joyce figured it out. In the words of Will, “That was you guys who saved me.”

If anything, Owens’ propensity to continue to play devil’s advocate only made El and Will’s situations worsen, even if he believed that he was making things easier.

I think the clearest example of this is when he argues to Sullivan, “Let’s put El into a coma and see if these murders are still happening.” Yes, his hands are literally tied in this scene and he’s coming up with a compromise in the moment, but if he truly prioritized El’s safety and wellbeing, then his answer would be to get El out of here and as far away from all of this as possible.

The reason why Owens approaches situations this way may be revealed to us in a single line—

This moment is so quick but it’s SO loaded. Who is Peter? Probably his son, but why was the government confiscating his school projects? Why isn’t he living with his parents? Has he just moved out or is he dead?

Now, I want to avoid getting into the weeds of Petergate to keep this post short, so I am going to be painting Peter Owens with very broad strokes. Here’s what we can deduce based what we know.

Peter is likely Sam and his wife’s son. I don’t see them holding on to his school projects for any other reason.

Peter was involved with his father’s work, or the lab, in some capacity, which is why the military took I don’t necessarily see lab kid, but I see Peter undergoing some type of experimentation for the purpose of Owen’s research.

Peter has died as a result of this experimentation. He might have killed himself or died due to a complication with an experiment, but either way Owens job led to his son’s death.

I know that the last point may sound like a stretch, I don’t have any concrete evidence, but if you think about it, it would perfectly explain his motivations. It would explain why he had a disposition to the rest of his colleagues to save Will’s life, and why he cared about El’s wellbeing in NINA. If you lost a child because of your job, you would wanna be extra vigilant about protecting the lives of other kids under your watch.

Unfortunately, Owens thinks he can change the system from the inside, but this is a system that can’t be changed

I wonder if the reason why Owens continues to work in his field, despite going through something as traumatic as losing a son, is to somehow make up for his past mistakes by fixing things from the inside. What Owens doesn’t realize, however, is that he is trying to fix something that can’t be fixed. If he truly cared about Will and El, he wouldn’t get them involved with the lab anyway. If he truly prioritized Peter’s wellbeing, then he wouldn’t have gotten him involved with any experiments in the first place.

@runninguplenorahills just made a great post discussing Owens that leads perfectly into my points on here. The post brings up the idea of Owens as the “good cop” which is such a perfect label for Owens. He may not be the bad cop, but he’s still a cop.

When you play devil’s advocate, then you are still advocating for the devil.

I see two options for Owens next season.

Continue to play into the government and their needs, falling deeper into their influence and fully becoming an antagonist, failing both El and Will and likely having catastrophic consequences

Disavow the government and the lab and try to help Will and El as an independent who is focused on their individual wellbeing, rather than trying to balance the needs of a third party

Of course if Owens chooses any of these paths, it will likely take the majority of the season to see either a complete transformation into the “bad cop” or see a redemption. Given the show I could see him getting a redemption, but nonetheless it will be interesting to see which way he goes.

[ultravioart]

@harryharson

Ramattra lore/character discussions, and response to tags below:

Race (as in, the social castes invented to enforce chattel slavery, Black, White) is a social construct, only a vague box used by higher authorities to oppress and dehumanize real human beings. To be racist is to enforce that system.

Ramattra is not racist, because omnics and humans are fundamentally different species, not socially constructed differences within one species. Ramattra is speciest you could argue, sure, but not racist. Omnics are fundamentally NOT human.

And that's another thing: his goal is not to punish humans. His main goal is to stop omnic extinction, no matter the cost. His trauma induced desperation and anger and fear is what is driving him into doing more harm, and there is a meaningful story in that, I agree. He doesn't aim for human extinction(atleast, not yet in canon), he wants to prevent omnic extinction. He is fighting against the collective oppressive powers of humanity, not the human individuals. But if freeing omnics means killing individual humans, he will do that. And at this point in his story, he is probably under the view of: if humans go extinct, then so be it. But human extinction/subjugation is not his goal, preventing omnic extinction/subjugation is.

"Excusing one of the good ones" isn't what I meant at all ah :( nor is human racism applicable to the omnic and human tensions because

one: omnics attacked first and can be hacked and forced to murder at any time which is an undeniable and legitimate threat. Humans have every right to fear omnics suddenly becoming violent out of the blue. Omnics are not humans, and cannot be compared to a human racial group without very troubling implications that a race is inherently violent/mindless labor/could attack at any time hivemind, so I personally avoid it as much as possible.

and two: Ramattra sees inaction to prevent omnic extinction as compliance with omnic genocide. It has less to do with him having 'exceptions' and more with him hating any threat to omnics (human or omnic--yes Ramattra has targeted innocent omnics he perceived as threats to omnic existence. The attacks on Paris, Busan, etc. That definitely killed Iris sentient omnics or at minimum traumatized them by destroying homes/killing loved ones).

Omnics and humans work on fundamentally different intelligences. Humans are singular minded, unable to connect brains together. Omnics are individual but also a kind of hivemind (can communicate/connect via the Iris or internet, and can be mass controlled as seen with Anubis)-- similar to ant colonies in a way, they can cooperate in massive numbers all at once. An individual ant intelligence is different from the antcolony super organism intelligence.

Ramattra doesn't hate human individuals, his story explains he hates how humanity(collective) takes no action to stop injustices, and he is wary of strangers who are humans because of his past where humans tried to kill him/killed his kin (this is where you can argue speciest, bc even tho its trauma based, he does have a distrust based on species alone. To me it reads more like someone who is wary of dogs after a traumatic dog attack, rather than an inherent hatred of all dogs. I say this because he is absurdly polite with most humans in voice lines, and we know he can be mean if he wanted to.)

He also hates omnic individuals that encourage "waiting it out" (Shambali pacifism) when that plan is doomed to lead to extinction. He hates the groups that are not helping to stop omnic extinction.

The metaphor here is that Ram doesn't hate the ants(individual humans), he hates the super organism antcolony (aka humanity as a whole, the larger structures that cause/enable omnic extinction). It's equivalent to hating an oppressive government, but not hating the citizens. Citizens could be supporting/enabling oppression which is bad, or citizens could be actively trying to stop oppression which is good. That's how Ramattra would see it.

The issue here is that humans aren't like omnics, they can't 'hivemind' like omnics. That's why people may think Ram is being anti-human but really it's his trauma burning out his patience to the point his focus is on "prevent omnic extinction" over "saving individuals" now. Meaning he will kill omnic individuals(hacking to force control them to fight and die) AND humans individuals alike in the name of preventing omnic extinction. Which YEAH that's badbad. But the point here is that it's not the same as "die all humans."

His "suffer as I have" and other lines are him expressing the traumas he has faced, not that he actually wants an exact eye for an eye. It's more of a "no, i will not turn the other cheek like the Shambali do, I will speak to you in a language you understand: violence. If you punch me, I will punch you viciously so you will either understand the pain I have gone through and finally stop hurting me, or fear me enough to never dare hurt me again." rather than an "equal exchange of loss"

It's also good to note his relishing in being feared/hated seems to be a new trait. Echo asks him how it feels to be called things like Ravager, and he said it used to bother him but then jokingly says it now gives him 'this warm little feeling inside' --he is SUPER bitter about rejection, and often shows his discomfort with being alone, or having people leave him.

His journey was this:

Mindless warmachine who sent mindless omnics into war against humanity. (After gaining sentience he probably feels guilt/trauma for this, even though he wasn't in control. Survivors guilt.)

Wake up due to the Iris, survive the traumatizing targeted slaughter R-7000s faced from both humans and omnics, end up as one of the last remaining R-7000s. Traumatic: loss, isolation, blamed for something he couldn't control, labeled a violent threat.

Learn of Aurora and try to find her to understand his purpose, end up traveling to Shambali monestary, become a monk, try to comprehend existence and coexistence with humanity. Meet Zenyatta, discuss humanity's shortcomings, make meaningful connection, finally finding a dear brother, someone who understands unlike Mondatta. Then one day Zenyatta almost dies at human hands due to something Ramattra did. Ramattra is traumatized, fearing loss.

Realize the Shambali's pacifism is not working and this path is doomed to lead to omnic extinction. In anger, fear, desperation, drive, Leave the Shambali and his found family, and take violent action to free kidnapped omnics from anti-omnic human captors around the world.

Realize most omnics are waiting to be saved by the Shambali, instead of saving themselves. The Shambali are giving omnics false hope, and dampening resistance efforts. Create Null sector with new dear friend Nameless, to inspire omnics to stand up and fight for liberation instead of sitting and waiting to be killed.

With trauma fueling the desperation to save as many as possible, become too hasty, too fast acting, he was warned by team mates but went ahead anyways, because if they took London, one of the worst places for omnics as a stronghold, it would show the world omnics are capable and inspire omnics globally to rise up and resist-- and the attempt of violently liberating omnics failed in London. The dear omnic Lanet that warned him it was too hasty died in the attack, the Shambali are calling null sector illogical terrorists and discrediting thier efforts, and overall omnics are condemning null sector. This was the opposite of what was meant to happen. More loss, more rejection, more being labeled a violent threat, more trauma. The Shambali have the upper hand, and Ramattra believes the Shambali are dooming his people.

Ramattra then made the point of no return: he states he is willing to force omnics to fight and die against thier will if it means it prevents omnic extinction. He is willing to do what Anubis did. Nameless and Zera leave him, they will not deny omnics free will. Again, he lost those dear to him. Again, he is alone. Again, he is seen as a violent threat. And his people are dwindling by the hour, so he radicalized his views once again.

Ramattra, isolated, desperate, traumatized into defaulting into base R-7000 coding (lead omnics into war against humanity), agrees to join up with Talon if it means omnics will not go extinct.

[dowhatteverer]

If they're a male character who treats women like shit, you RWDE folks will stan the hell out of them, huh?

You literally cannot come up with any other criticism of us outside of projecting the show writers' misogyny onto us because you can't come up with a good retort to our criticisms so you fall back on using buzwords to demonize us.

Look, I don't know what character you're specifically talking about, my blog is mainly centered around Ironwood, and I just posted an edited screenshot of Whitley, so I'll just go over peoples reasons for liking these male characters you've decided we shouldn't like and why we're not misogynists for doing so.

Adam Taurus- let's get something very clear, no one likes Adam as he is in the show. No one likes that he abused Blake, no one likes that he was a faunus supremacist, and no one likes his terrible voice acting. The reason people have still held onto Adam and go out of their way to rewrite him is because he is the embodiment of the show's disgusting opinions on race and the concept of fighting back, and is the main face of the white fang plotline.

Illia? She turned to Blake's side after getting talked out of violent protest, so she can't be a representation of violent protest being necessary. (And it was necessary canonically, According to Blake, the only reason the faunus have most of the equal treatment they get now is because of the white fang moving to a more violent approach) Sienna was a gorgeous character design that existed for four minutes before she was unceremoniously killed and Adam was once again cemented as the big bad. Forgive us for wanting a well written racism plotline rather than a poorly written abuse plotline.

If you're bitching about Ironwood here's the deal, I only like Vol 2-7 Ironwood, because I view vol 8 Ironwood to be an entirely different person. Let's see what sexist things vol 2-7 Ironwood did? He flirts with Glynda in his first appearance (kind of, all he does is say "Glynda! It has been far too long) and she walks off annoyed.

Flirting with a woman does not inherently make a man sexist? JAUNE went out of his way to not hear a no from Weiss and Weiss was treated like the bad guy by her own friends because she didn't say yes to a boy she wasn't attracted to. That's sexist, but I bet you guys don't think it was that big of a deal do you?

Ironwood is mostly shown to care about the opinions of the women in his life, encouraging young women like Ruby when he tells her that going after that masked woman and trying to prevent harm was exactly what a huntress should do. And he defaults to Winter's opinion constantly because he respects her and views her as essentially his second in command. If you're going to bring up the Winter Maiden, I don't know if you can blame Ironwood for providing Hospice care to an old woman with dementia as well as keeping her safe from the villains who want to murder her and take her powers, as well as putting the woman he believes is the best possible fit for the job in charge of taking care of her needs so she when she passes, Winter can take the powers.

Any sexism in that plotline is inevitable because the Maidens are kind of an inherently Sexist concept for the show writers to add onto the story.

Ironwood treated Penny just fine until Vol 8. What we're told and what we're shown in volume 7 is inherently contradictory ("Ironwood says I don't have time for friends" *Ironwood literally lets her hang around these people all the time and have a goddamn party with them*) so that's up to interpretation. I personally think that him keeping Penny on a tight leash in the Beacon arc because of her status as a government funded synthetic person who is also meant to be a weapon, and whose discovery could get Atlas in big trouble and might compromise her safety (which it did for the record) is personality reasonable, BUT I don't agree with it. I think that Penny deserves to be her own person with her own friends, and who can get the chance to live a happy normal life. And her relationship with Ironwood and his overprotectiveness is a big theme in my Remnant City AU.

Ok, so, for laughs. Let's talk about Whitley. I don't know about you, but I feel no need to be nice to people who have never been nice to me even if they are women.

The only women Whitley is shown to be mean to in anyway are his female family members, and if I was ever in his position, I would probably hate them too. His mother basically abandoned him for his entire life and became a neglectful alcoholic, something that every child should have the right to be pissed about. Winter and Whitley barely interact. Winter never mentions him or worries about his safety, and Whitley is not obligated to be kind to someone who clearly doesn't give a shit about him.

As for Weiss? He and Weiss are literally raised in a narcissistic abuse situation (as in the parent abuses the child to further their own goals, not necessarily that the abuser IS a diagnosed narcissist, I just feel the need to clear that up) where their father pits them against each other.

Whitley has also been left by Weiss with his abusers without her giving a damn about him after already being gaslit by his father into believing that Weiss is his competition and not a loved one. Even when Weiss's told that Whitley has been abused by his parents as much as she has, and the reason he hates her is because she chose to leave and never think about him, cementing in his mind that she never cared about him, Whitley couldn't even get a goddamn sentence out before she was threatening him with a military grade weapon designed to kill monsters three times his size.

I don't understand why the show writers thought it was the abused child's job to redeem himself in the eyes of someone who he thinks (with very good reason mind you) doesn't love him or care about him just because she's the main character, and I definitely don't understand why the FNDM took this interpretation and ran with it. But accusing Whitley of treating women like shit because he didn't immediately roll over and do everything he could to appease them when they never even looked in his direction with anything other than a glare? Shut up.

[guardianofscrewingup]

I think another thing that's important to remember is Trump's objective body count. The cutting of services kills people, full stop. The poor, the homeless, the elderly, the disabled. Biden has not been much better but Trump Part Deux would still have objectively been worse because he was worse the first time.

His presidency killed people through cessation of services, neglect, people committing suicide as they moved to going homeless when some benefits were cut etc.

It's objectively impossible to get a push for a pro-palestine third party candidate in by the election at this point, so at this point, just minimizing a repeat of some of that same damage is important for an objectively lower total body count.

Both Biden and Trump are going to murder Palestinians and unfortunately we can't do anymore about that than we've been trying but we can save the lives of people domestically. Or we can shrug and not care about the disabled people that will die when services and benefits are cut by Trump that wouldn't have been by Biden's presidency, etc etc etc.

And no, mutual aid won't cut it to save enough people from systemic issues as much as actual government funding. It didn't work last time. There aren't enough resources to offer when it's poor/working class sharing with each other because there's only so much we even have to try to share.

And yes, I am aware that the system is shitty under Biden. Obviously, that's a long-term problem we need to address and we need to go harder on it.

I understand the people who can't vote in matters of principle because they're literally having to choose between which president wants to murder their family more. By all means, people directly suffering watching loved ones suffer and die absolutely deserve to abstain, so Palestinian-Americans voting third party or abstaining is 100% legit. The more personally involved you are, the more painful that choice is.

But I'm also seeing non-Palestinian liberals pearlclutch over their principles rather than face the reality of how we don't have enough time for a viable third option to build enough momentum now over the space of a few months, and the reality of further cuts to disability benefits, healthcare, etc, including a possible loss of things like the healthcare exchanges and stuff like pre-existing condition mandates.

Sucks but we don't have enough time to build momentum for a third choice. It's done. It's over. And both choices will kill Palestinians, but one will also kill additional extra USians. Just carte-blanche, a higher total body count.

Just the loss of pre-existing condition mandates will murder tons of people alone that could otherwise be saved, and that's one. Single. Line-item. What about if Trump does repeal the exchange? What about the life-altering decisions over decades if we get a supermajority supreme court? What happens when Trump sets his sights on OSHA?

Do you like having lunch breaks? Do you think your bodies will hold up with even less limitations on your labor? Do you care about chemical exposure?

Sacrificing people isn't worth it if the sacrifice doesn't actually save anyone. This is not a situation of "for some lives sacrificed domestically, lots more lives in Palestine will be saved." At least that'd be a numbers game where you can look at net loss/survival of life. No, we sacrifice the domestic numbers and people in Palestine still die.

Or you can vote for Biden and take advantage of the next four years to push for ranked voting and better support of third party candidates farther ahead of the next election. You can vote in local elections and congressional elections to better insulate against bad presidencies so we can take more risks during the federal elections because a shitty president can't sign shitty bills into law if they die on the Congress floor. You can let a few more supreme court seats get assigned by someone mildly less insane so some of the dumber challenges to things like OSHA are turned down, regardless of president in the next few decades.

If people want that role in the deaths to come under another Trump presidency, go ham, but don't shirk the reality of that weight. Admit to yourself the choices you make out of passion - even if certainly human and moral and god so understandable - are going to objectively kill more total people, still without saving the ones that are going to be screwed either way.

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

[echoesofadream]

Lucy Gray Baird

Initial feelings on her character (watching the film first) were, why is this hunger games film behaving a Disney movie right now. Hard cringe. Her speech felt super unnatural to me and I was like no one talks like this in real life, most of all in real life and also her belting during the reaping like she's trying to win a singing competition threw me off her so badly. Her infatuation with Snow made me sort of not care for her either which is not fair since only one of us had the privilege of being inside his head, but still, it made me question her taste and gullibility. I just didn't love her character, not for me, nothing personal just how she seemed to put up such a facade.

Lucy Gray is a person that similar to Snow took advantage of the situation she was put in, to come out on top. She is a mirror to Snow in that way. She isn't manipulative and self-serving in the same way Snow is but she isn't pure as snow either. But what she is more than anything, is a mystery. She is a performer, yes, but she is also performance. What beneath that performance is her true self? How does she really feel? We only see her through Snow's eyes, who either thinks of her as an angel or a cold-blooded murderer. But he does question her motives more than once before the cabin scene. He questions her loyalty, her stance on rebels and if her parents were rebels, her relationship to Billy Taupe. And the truth is that we as a reader do not know. Snow's suspicions might just be paranoia because based of what she says, she wants nothing to do with Billy Taupe. She trusts Snow whole-heartedly. Her loyalty is with the Covey, not district 12 or rebels.

Maybe this is just because we are in Snow's mind, but some of her character I found hard to take at face-value. I do believe those things are true about her. But I feel like there is something more to her, something she is hiding. Is her history with Billy Taupe questionable, or is it just her bitter ex twisting the truth? At least when I was reading, I always felt like there is something she is hiding from Snow. A wise decision! But why would she hide it we trusts Snow? Maybe she felt some distrust to him similar to how Snow feels for her. This is part of the mystery of her to me: whether or not she distrusted Snow but acting as if she trusted him totally lay in her best interest, or if she really trusted him. She is a performer, after all. We see it in the Capitol, on the stage in district 12, and for me it does not feel impossible that it is almost all we see of her, when she is with Snow. And she is a survivor. Snow says it himself that she has a lot of self-preservation. I don't think her actually trusting him is impossible or unlikely, even if I somewhat (and perhaps unfairly) judged her for it. She has her reasons for it, what with saving her life and breaking rules to do it and whatnot. But I also feel like there are glaring red flags about him. He supports the Capitol. The Capitol that treated her like an animal or worse. The peacekeepers don't seem that bad in the 12 in this book, but they are also the soldiers that control the people in the district and regularly execute them, and Snow is one of them (though she knows it is not by his choice, but I feel she should still be wary because he doesn't show anything else than support for them). But Lucy Gray is (seemingly) just like yeah my boyfriend is a cop of the oppressive government now <3 Personally I would be disgusted. Then again we have Sejanus who is also a peacekeeper, only he uses this position to help the rebels. I just find this odd considering she isn't just a district girl but part of the free-spirited Covey which are pretty much the opposite of everything the peacekeeper stand for (and the peacekeepers were indeed the ones to "collect them" and force them into the district).

I wonder when she began to distrust Snow. I think when Snow said he had killed three people, that was either the turning point of her trust, when she questioned him for the first time, or the moment that confirmed her previous suspicions. I think there is a chance that just like Snow thinks that she figured out that he had a hand in Sejanus' death. But I read someone else saying that maybe she thought he meant herself. And after finding the murder weapon, she was indeed the last loose thread. I have now read several theories of the cabin scene and what happened. I will start with the most interesting one. It gave me chills and made me feel scared as I lay in bed last night and I had to turn on the lights for a bit. Which I love for her character. The lake theory There are two parts of this theory and I am too lazy atm to link where I read them sorry, but yes these are not all original ideas. The song "Oh my darling Clementine" is about a Clementine that drowns in a lake. Similar to the ending of Lucy Gray's song, it is about her being gone and lost. So according to this theory, Lucy Gray died in the lake. Theory 1. Lucy Gray fell into the lake and died when she went out looking for katniss, and she was singing The Hanging Tree which the jabberjays picked up and sang back to Snow in the forest. Theory 2. Snow did in fact kill her and sunk her body into the lake with the weapons. He was stressed, disoriented and disassociating, in a panic mood and to soothe himself to make himself feel better (which we see him do throughout the book, telling himself things to feel better) he makes himself forget it. He has not twisted the truth like this before (that we know!), rather rationalizing and justifying things for himself, but though he is narcissistic, killing the person he loved would be a big trauma since we know he has feelings. Maybe he felt so disgusted and guilty that he had to forget it, rather leaving her fate a mystery to be able to live with it and himself. It is also possible the snake bite was affecting his brain, only, the doctor said there was no venom in the snake. And this goes into the unreliable narrator theory. We read that Snow picked up the orange scarf and is bitten by the snake. But Lucy Gray bit Billy Taupe before when he tried to touch her. Could Lucy Gray have done the same thing now, when Snow attacked her? Yes, this book isn't written as a typical unreliable narrative but we do know he is a master manipulator. He inner monologue doesn't exactly make him likable and he is honest with what he thinks, but then he also believes these things to be true and justified and correct. He is still trying to make himself come off as good to himself, to justify things he does and what he does. But maybe he knew, somewhere deep inside, that what he did to Lucy Gray was over the line (even after his psycho frenzy downward spiral to complete paranoia and suspicion in the cabin scene) that he does not admit it to the true extent. The thing that makes me doubt this the most is that this book is written in third person not first person. In general, I find Lucy Gray a much more interesting character than Snow. She leaves you wondering. It is possible that there isn't more to her than what is shown and what we see, and maybe I'm just for not accepting her as simply the innocent victim she was (and she is obviously that either way, but is she more than that, I wonder) but plenty of references makes me question that narrative. It is quite blatant her being both the songbird and the snake. Part of me hopes (and was part of my quite severe and horrified reaction to reading about the lake theory) that she escaped. This fits her so well too, and that is why the ambiguous ending of her character is so perfect, because she can both be the ghost that haunts the song, as well as the girl who survived.

Anyways, I find that I like her character a lot more now than I did at the start.

[thistechnologicalterror]

A lot of people talk are split about Republic Jedi. Are they peacekeepers? Psychics? Corrupt? A cult? No better than Sith?

YOUR SLIDING SCALE OF CYNICISM IS NOTED.

I AM GOING TO ASSUME THAT YOU SPEAK OF HOW THEY ARE VIEWED IN THE GALAXY, NOT NECESSARILY WHAT WENT ON INSIDE.

I CANNOT BLAME YOU FOR HAVING SUCH A PROBLEM IN QUANTIFICATION. THE REPUBLIC JEDI CERTAINLY DID NOT HELP IN THAT REGARD EITHER.

BUT IF YOU WANT TECHNICALITY...

THEY WERE "THEOCRATES."

THE REPULBIC HAD DEMOCRACY, YES, BUT NO MATTER WHAT ELSE IT WAS, IT HAD A BRANCH OF THEOCRACY.

THAT, WAS THE JEDI.

( ALWAYS, ALWAYS CONFUSED ME THAT KENOBI WOULD SAY HE DID NOT LIKE POLITICIANS--WHEN HE HIMSELF TECHNICALLY COUNTED AS ONE. PERHAPS THERE WAS SOME SECRET SELF-LOATHING I DID NOT CATCH. )

IT HITS ALL THE POINTS. THEY ARE IN A POSITION OF POWER THAT ALLOWS THE DIRECTION OF SPIRITUAL BELIEFS, (AND UNLIKE MANY PLANETARY THEOCRACIES--THE MEANS TO PROVE IT), THEY ARE IN FACT "DIVINELY GUIDED" AND HAVE LITERAL MILLENNIA OF RECORDED EVIDENCE FOR IT.

THE ONLY REAL DIFFERENCES IS THAT THEIR RELIGIOUS LAWS ONLY APPLY TO OTHER JEDI.

AND THAT THEY DID NOT TAKE ISSUE WITH ANY OTHER RELIGIONS. MANY JEDI FOLLOWED, TAUGHT, AND LIVED AS JEDI, BUT HAD RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WITH SOMETHING ELSE.

I HAVE KNOWN OF JEDI WHO FASTED AT CERTAIN TIMES, WHO DID NOT EAT CERTAIN THINGS, WHO REQUIRED CERTAIN CLOTHING WHEN LEAVING THEIR PERSONAL QUARTERS, HELD CERTAIN ITEMS OF RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE, OR WERE ONLY ALLOWED IN CERTAIN ENVIRONMENTS OR STANCES.

( THERE WAS ONCE A JEDI WHOSE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WAS THAT THEY WERE NEVER ALLOWED TO LEAVE WATER. SO THEY MADE THEM A REVERSE DIVING SUIT. AND EVENTUALLY, GRAND MASTER THALASSA STARTED AN UNDERWATER TEMPLE. )

( THEN THERE WAS GRAND MASTER COTLEIGH, WHO HAD TO WEAR A LEVITATION BELT AT ALL TIMES, FOR HIS FOUR FEET WERE NEVER ALLOWED TO TOUCH THE GROUND--AS BEING A JEDI MEANT BEING A "SPIRITUAL LEADER" AND THAT THE GROUND ITSELF WAS "UNCLEAN". )

BUT I DO UNDERSTAND IF THAT WAS MISSED. MANY OF THOSE MORE RELIGIOUS JEDI STOPPED APPEARING AS THE ORDER WENT INTO ISOLATION IN THEIR LAST COUPLE HUNDRED YEARS.

PSYCHICS? I PERSONALLY PREFER SPACE WIZARDS MYSELF.

NO. THEY WERE NOT A CULT OF PERSONALITY. YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A GOVERNING FORCE THAT HAS LASTED A MILLENNIA--YOUR IDEA OF CULT DOES NOT LAST THAT LONG.

CORRUPT? WELL, POLITICALLY YES, BUT POLITICIANS ARE ALWAYS CORRUPT IN SOME SENSE, IN THAT THEY LET THINGS SLIDE THAT SHOULD NOT BE SLIDING, AND MAINTAINED IMAGES THAT WERE, ULTIMATELY, FOOLISH. THEY WERE THEOCRATES AFTER ALL.

AKIN TO THE SITH? NO.

SITH DEAL IN DOMINATION AND MURDER, AND USE EVERY JUSTIFICATION FOR THAT. READ BETWEEN THEIR WORDS, SEE WHAT THEY ACTUALLY MEAN, AND LOOK AT WHAT THEIR POWER DOES TO THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.

THE JEDI HAVE MADE IT A POINT, TO NOT DO THAT AT ALL.

WHEN YOU CAN LITERALLY SENSE SOULS, SENSE MINDS, AND HAVE A NATURAL FORM OF PREGONITION, YOU GENERALLY AVOID THINGS THAT KILL THINGS LIKE SOULS AND MINDS.

SUCH AS, FOR EXAMPLE, ACTIONS THAT RESULT IN KILLING THINGS LIKE SOULS AND MINDS.

AND THAT THOSE WHO REVEAL IN KILLING THINGS LIKE SOULS AND MINDS, ARE GENERALLY VERY BAD PEOPLE.

CANNOT MAKE THAT SIMPLER.