#don't hate me but

[misccy27]

They could have easily written Darius and Hunter’s relationship out of the show after ASIAS

I kept expecting them to. I thought they did at first. Maybe it played out differently for me because I first watched season 2 by binging it after it was over, but the continued existence of Darius and Hunter's relationship kept catching me off guard. Like. Here's how it played out for me:

Any Sport in a Storm ends with Darius being set up as a sort of mentor figure that will help set Hunter on the right path by undermining Belos’ teachings. But that role became (largely) unnecessary with Hollow Mind.

So I was watching Hollow Mind, watching the stakes change suddenly and drastically, and it ends with Hunter ripping off his cloak. And it's like, Hunter’s cloak is such a direct one-to-one analogy for Darius’ approval throughout the entirety of ASIAS. So when Hunter in his very next episode throws his cloak on the ground at the end of it, I absolutely read that as Hunter also rejecting his relationship with Darius. 

And it was sad, but understandable. Hunter’s whole life has just been pulled out from under him. He can't go back to the castle. He thinks Darius is loyal to Belos. So his relationship with Darius becomes a genuinely good thing that he has to leave behind in order to escape his abusive environment. Just another tragedy at the end of a tragic episode. The show, as they say, must go on.

And it did. Labyrinth Runners happened and I was like, yup. Here it is. Hunter is now in a full-blown coming-of-age story. I know how this goes. He gets no parents now; only friendships born of trauma. It’s fine, it’s whatever. It's how the story goes.

So I was absolutely 1000% unprepared for Hunter to roll up on the Day of Unity on a mission from Darius. So casual too, like:

Hunter you are not here on a mission. You are here on a quest. Look at your snazzy little color-coordinated outfit. You look like you're here to deliver bread to grandma's house. It is the Day of Unity what is happening here? Like???

I genuinely cannot overstate just how much this floored me. Because the way the story plays out it's like: a week ago (in canon), Hunter learned that the man he trusted and adored more than anyone else in the world - the man that his entire life revolved around - has been sadistically manipulating him his whole life with just the most absolute worst intentions that anyone could have imagined. It is a complete nightmare scenario: 

The next time we see Hunter after that, and the last time we see him before he shows up on the Day of Unity, coven head Adrian is the one traumatizing him. Adrian is taking up the mantle of psychological tormenting this kid, lying to him about reality, creating illusions of both friends and enemies alike: 

So after LR there is approximately zero reason for Hunter to trust anyone outside of Gus and maybe some of the other Hexside kids. He definitely has no reason to trust any adult ever again tbh. 

So yeah. I was not expecting Hunter to show up on the Day of Unity taking orders from Darius. We didn't get to see them interact at all between ASIAS and now. Last I checked, Hunter still had no clue that the rebellion even existed. Meanwhile, we see Darius preparing for the Day of Unity, apparently keeping his work life and home life entirely separate, good job ig. When did Darius even have time for this? The entire world is at stake and Hunter has run away from the castle and they somehow managed to get in touch with each other again anyways?

The implied off-screen interaction(s) here is A Lot, but I'm getting off-track. The point is, it didn't have to be included. The writers could have had Luz meet up with her friends in any way that they wanted. Like, this is a show stuffed full of plot contrivances. We still have no idea what Willow, Gus, and Hunter were doing between LR and the Day of Unity. The possibilities were endless. There were so many options with fewer contrivances than Hunter trusting Darius at this point.

But the writers chose to intertwine Darius and Hunter’s plots again anyway. They doubled down on a relationship that I had given up on. “Darius insisted” that Luz needed an escort. Darius ordered Hunter to do it. This was I guess just thrown in as a fun fact: yes there is indeed at least one adult still paying attention to this child's situation right now. That adult is sending Hunter away from the action, on the same mission that Eda gave Luz to keep her safe. The world is ending and everything has changed and yet Hunter is still on Darius' priority list. Okay. Cool. I can be chill about this I swear.

And then King’s Tide happens. And it is not enough for Hunter and Darius to just have any sort of relationship at all by this point. No, they have to make sure we know: Hunter is attached to Darius. Like, this?

Totally unnecessary. Did not need to happen. This serves zero purpose to the plot. Even in terms of emotional stakes and making Hunter suffer, it’s like. This happens in between Luz sacrificing herself for Hunter and Hunter seeing his Uncle brutally murdered in front of him. This was not at all necessary. Those kids did not have to stumble across Eda and the coven heads on their way to rescue Luz. It affected nothing. It was actually just put in the episode to attack me personally and I love it. Fantastic.

And then the season ends. And the setup for their relationship is so bad at this point, like? Darius is in some unknown terrible situation a realm away. Hunter just showed up on Camila's doorstep with his 4 best friends. This is a perfect opportunity to end the relationship. I was mentally prepared for it, going into Thanks to Them. Going along with the theme of grieving and letting go of childish fantasies and all.

Here's the setup: Hunter’s situation is changing drastically once again, but this time it's for the better. He is now spending months in the human realm, finally in a relatively safe and supportive environment. He's spending enough time there to gain context about the fact that authority figures can be not only good, but also nice. Hunter now has another adult that cares about his well-being and is helping him. It is a good situation for him to be in. I am genuinely happy for him.

So when Hunter’s sewing hobby first came up in TTT, I was prepared to disconnect that from where it started in ASIAS. When Hunter brought up the fact that Camila taught him how to use the sewing machine, I was ready for closure. I accepted it as “Yes. I see. Camila has displaced Darius both literally as Hunter’s sewing teacher and metaphorically in Hunter’s heart.” I was prepared for it. So this did, in fact, hit me hard:

Hunter. For all you know Darius has been dead for months. What are you doing? Why do you still care?? Just how familiar are you with Darius’ stitches anyway???

And it's again like. Literally none of these scenes were necessary. Everything we see about this relationship post-ASIAS could have been removed entirely without affecting any other relationships or the broader story at all. The fact that all of this was included means that we’re now at a point where it’s like:

Hunter got out of his abusive situation and he has a strong support network of people who love him now and also Darius just so happens to still matter to him anyway. This relationship still matters despite the plot pulling them in different directions every step of the way. This relationship has turned into a full-blown star-crossed found family scenario now. And how am I supposed to feel about that?

Because I really don't know what to expect. We get to see so little of Darius. He has had zero agency for the past however many months. The crumbs we got in Hollow Mind and with the Day of Unity mission show that Darius does care about Hunter. It's obvious that Hunter cares about Darius. I am all-in at this point tbh. So please just give me another crumb writers. All I need is just a halfway decent reunion, it can even be in the background, I can fill in the rest. Just. Let this end on a positive note for them please.

[andithil]

come to the darkside (trans cjizzy trutherism)

genuine love and light, i respect and enjoy the headcanon, i just love Jack's dick and balls too much to be a truther *catches the tomatoes thrown my way in my mouth omnomnom*

[lesbxdyke]

I could think of no better way to share the news than this!

So when I was 17, my cat went missing and I'd given up hope of ever seeing him again.

Until on Monday, 27th of May, 2024, my friend sent me a FB post asking 'isn't that your mother?' about the person named on the microchip.

Here he is! 16 years old, and found safe, twelve whole years after he went missing!

Yesterday (Tuesday the 28th of May, 2024) I went to the rescue that had him, and I reclaimed my boy, renaming him Artie! (He'd originally been called 'Cat' because my mother and I couldn't decide on a name)

He's home safe with me now, currently inhabiting my bathroom and purring up a storm every time someone goes in there!

I'll be doing slow introductions between him and my current cat to give them the best possible chance of living in harmony!

Here's some pictures of Artie once we let him out of the carrier:

[transrevolutions]

the thing terfs (and transphobes in general) don't seem to get about sexual preferences re: not being attracted to certain genitals is that like. okay. you have a preference. this feature is a turn-off. but that does not mean it is necessary to constantly broadcast how unattractive and undesirable you find people with this feature. you do not have to do that. in fact, it is generally considered quite rude. sexual compatibility or lack thereof has nothing to do with moral purity or legitimacy.

[nouverx]

"I want to eat you" is their love language and you can't change my mind

[inkskinned]

this is just my opinion but i think any good media needs obsession behind it. it needs passion, the kind of passion that's no longer "gentle scented candle" and is now "oh shit the house caught on fire". it needs a creator that's biting the floorboards and gnawing the story off their skin. creators are supposed to be wild animals. they are supposed to want to tell a story with the ferocity of eating a good stone fruit while standing over the sink. the same protective, strange instinct as being 7 and making mud potions in pink teacups: you gotta get weird with it.

good media needs unhinged, googling-at-midnight kind of energy. it needs "what kind of seams are invented on this planet" energy and "im just gonna trust the audience to roll with me about this" energy. it needs one person (at least) screaming into the void with so much drive and energy that it forces the story to be real.

sometimes people are baffled when fanfic has some stunning jaw-dropping tattoo-it-on-you lines. and i'm like - well, i don't go here, but that makes sense to me. of fucking course people who have this amount of passion are going to create something good. they moved from a place of genuine love and enjoyment.

so yeah, duh! saturday cartoons have banger lines. random street art is sometimes the most precious heart-wrenching shit you've ever seen. someone singing on tiktok ends up creating your next favorite song. youtubers are giving us 5 hours of carefully researched content. all of this is the impossible equation to latestage capitalism. like, you can't force something to be good. AI cannot make it good. no amount of focus-group testing or market research. what makes a story worth listening to is that someone cares so much about telling it - through dance, art, music, whatever it takes - that they are just a little unhinged about it.

one time my friend told me he stayed up all night researching how many ways there are to peel an orange. he wrote me a poem that made me cry on public transportation. the love came through it like pith, you know? the words all came apart in my hands. it tasted like breakfast.

[o0kawaii0o]

no mercy 😭

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

HOT, SINGLE, UNSTUDIED SPONGES. 3000 NAUTICAL MILES AWAY. Come sail the distance and read Tiger Tiger!

[gothamite-rambler]

That was actually a good deed, Jason.

Jason Todd walked over to Bruce Wayne scrolling through photos on his phone. He tapped the man on the shoulder.

Jason: You want baby pictures of Damian?

Bruce spat out his coffee in shock. Jason chuckled.

Jason: You have to pay me.

Bruce (frantic): You better not be lying to me because if you have baby pictures of him I will pay you whatever price you ask.

Jason: Um okay I have about 10 I can give you now so $10,000 for each one.

Bruce: Stay there, gotta get my phone and I'll transfer the funds to your bank account.

Bruce ran out of the room leaving Jason Todd with Alfred watching the entire interaction, impressed.

Alfred: Jason, how did you get baby pictures?

Jason: Remember, I knew about his existence before Bruce ever did. I visited the kid for the first 9 years before Bruce found out about him. Talia paid me to take photos of him for memories.

Alfred: That's very wholesome of you.

Jason (confused): I said Talia paid me.

Alfred: Money or not, you did a good deed. Now Master Bruce can have a few photos and trust me, he's been begging Talia for baby pictures for years. Be proud of yourself.

Jason smiled.

Jason: I appreciate you saying that.

Alfred: I mean every word of it. You're welcome.

[sugarlywhispers]

the sudden thought of bakugou katsuki sending an audio to his s/o while at the gym, where he speaks IN BETWEEN GASPS AND GRUNTS AND EVEN GROWLS BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF WEIGHT HE'S LIFTING WHILE ALSO TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE FOR DINNER AND SUGGESTING MEALS OR PLEACES TO GO IF YOU WANT AND THEN HE SAYS, "Ugh... whatever you... mmh... want, baby, it's yours..." AND HE EXHALES FUCKING SEXILY AS THE SOUND OF THE WEIGHT DROPPING IS HEARD.

— I'M DYING HELP.

[deep-space-lines]

IT'S FINALLY FUCKING DONE. I'M FINALLY FREE

UNTIL FRAUD COMES OUT

Tumblr shrinks it down pretty bad so please. please. I am begging you. look at the full sized image and zoom in. This art piece made my friends worried for my mental health I need someone to witness the amount of detail and effort I put into this

also the original sketch under the cut bc I think comparing them is really funny

[golyadkin]

it's because i wouldn't let you kill the bounty hunter isn't it

[tofixtheshadows]

Sorry but Kabru is so fascinating to me as a character, in a pure mechanical sense, because of what Ryoko Kui does with him. Everything about him is a red herring. He's deliberately introduced as some kind of rival for Laios, a party leader who is hopeless against monsters but absolutely brilliant with people both in and out of combat, and who has good reason to oppose him.

By the end of chapter 31, you might even think Kabru's going to end up as some sort of anti-villain, an antagonist with the best of intentions who nevertheless tries to foil our hero's plans. He wants to defeat the Mad Mage himself, he suspects Laios of being too irresponsible to be trusted with control of the dungeon, and his crew even thinks that Laios's party stole from them (and they're kind of right!). All signs point towards an inevitable showdown.

And then ... none of that happens.

Confrontation over the stolen treasure? Kabru is literally too smart to fall for the classic miscommunication trope and correctly decides it's not worth making a big deal of.

Kabru's deadly PVP skills? Aside from trying to take down Falin, he never fights another human again.

Wanting to be the one who defeats the dungeon? Turns out he was only doing that because he didn't think any other adventurer would have people's best interests at heart, and he's more than willing to play a support role in the whole affair.

Thinking Laios is up to no good? He really did just want to get to know the guy more. He has his misgivings, but ultimately ends up trusting Laios with his life.

Is Kabru going to get some sort of comeuppance for hating monsters and not appreciating their ecosystem? Well no, he has good reasons for hating monsters. He ends up wanting to learn about them through Laios's eyes, but he's never forced into any "Wow, guess I was wrong about them!" revelation.

Hell, even his implied ladykiller ways, which might lead you to think he'll end up being the stock "chivalrous lech" type of character, don't really manifest. He has a lot of opportunities to act flirtatiously around women, but doesn't. He's just a guy whose natural charisma makes him into human catnip.

And that's all hysterical to me, to pull it off. It's a fascinating way to tell a story. To introduce a character explicitly as a rival, potentially even a villain, and instead make them a deuteragonist. It's like a magician making a coin disappear, then slowing down their trick to show you the misdirection. "Did you see what I did there?" they ask with a wink. "The coin was in my other hand the entire time."

[azherwind-art]

"Tell your favorite creators that you like their work, people usually enjoy things silently, but hate tends to be loud"

This is a phrase I just heard from Dnd shorts that captures perfectly why I often try to make the effort of commenting on posts and telling people that I enjoy their work and why Even to small creators, I advice everyone to make the extra effort to tell them, I can guarantee it makes all the difference in the world, it's not cringy or obnoxious, it'll just brighten someone's day

[linterteatime]

Slugcat distribution system gave them an explosive rabid raccoon and a overpowered sewer rat ❤️

[mokeonn]

"But if college was free, then people would abuse that and get useless degrees" hell yeah I would! If I could go to college without debt I would make it my job to get a degree in every little thing that interested me. I'd get a doctorate in film studies. I'd have a bachelor's degree for every science I like. I'd try to learn at least 5 languages with varying results. I would learn something "useful" like coding and then follow it up with a ""useless"" degree like art history. I'd be the world record speed run holder for getting every degree possible.

But I can't afford college without going into massive debt, so instead I spent the last 5 years trying to figure out what I am passionate enough about to consider going into debt over, because unfortunately being passionate about everything is extremely expensive to pursue.