#dude i love being a character but why is it so miserable

[mittenlady]

mock trial is so fun until you’re a character witness and consistently score the lowest on each ballot despite having a year of experience and then you wonder why you’re doing so poorly this pre-stack season as if the numerical scores aren’t subjective and you didn’t get terrible judges each round and then you cry in the car back to your dorm for 30 minutes and you wonder how you got accepted in auditions last year to begin with and

[leaderwonim]

i’m just a teenage dirtbag baby ( like you. )

based on this edit !!

pairing. troublemaker!nishimura riki x goody-two-shoes!fem!reader

summary. nishimura riki was infamous for being handsome and also quite the character. he’d purposely throw papers everywhere, bump into people without a care, and ditch class like it was nothing. you were the complete opposite, but deep down, nishimura riki knew you were just like him

warnings. cursing, smoking, riki destroys someone’s private property 😭, riki is your typical teenage dirtbag, he also calls her sweets

“Hey.”

Nishimura Riki slides onto the seat right next to yours, blinking twice as much as he should be. You knew it was one of his teasing habits, meant to make you shift uncomfortably under his gaze.

“What do you want Nishimura?”

He puts his hand over his chest, pretending he’s wounded by your words. “Nishimura? We’re on last name basis sweets?”

“Shut up,” you say, pushing his face away with your index finger. “I have exams to study for.”

“Let me see.” He ignores your protests, flipping your textbook to his side as he eyes the papers. “Ew, mathematics? You’re a bigger nerd than I thought sweets.”

“Don’t call me sweets.” You say, sticking out your tongue in annoyance. “And get out of here.”

He lifts both hands in surrender, “alright, alright, I’ll leave sweets. Gotta meet Jungwon anyways.”

You thank whoever above was listening to your pleas of making Riki leave. Turning around to face the desk he was in, you realize he hadn’t pushed in his chair.

“Nishimura!” You groan out loud, pushing it in with your foot. This earns you a shush from the librarian, which only fuels your hatred towards the Japanese boy.

.♡.

“Y/N! Is that you?” There was Nishimura Riki’s annoying voice again, the one voice that you dread to hear everytime you entered school.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than annoy other people?” You ask, face clearly unimpressed.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed.”

You glare at Jungwon’s unneeded input in the conversation, which makes him snicker and look away.

“You guys are ditching again?”

Riki and Jungwon shrug, making you roll your eyes. Of course the two were ditching, why did you even ask?

“We were gonna stop by the cigarette shop and get a pack or two.”

Jungwon elbows Riki, as if he wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.

“What? We can trust Y/N, isn’t that right sweets?”

“You still call her sweets?” Jungwon groans. “Gross dude. Let’s go.”

Jungwon starts walking, Riki closely following behind him. Just before they exit the school corridors, the boy throws you a wink, one that you roll your eyes at.

“You’ll love me one day sweets!” He shouts.

“In your dreams Nishimura!”

.♡.

It seemed like nothing was going your way. The next week had approached and even though it was barely Monday, your teachers decided it was a good idea to assign a bunch of exams on the same day.

With quivering hands, you tried not to get the tears that were currently coming out of your eyes onto your physics paper, which was marked with a 68.

How on earth did you get a 68? You were so sure you knew the formulas that were needed for the exam, but what was on the test looked completely different from what you expected.

You could barely find it in yourself to walk home, legs practically dragging across the concrete floor as you wipe your tears away with your windbreaker.

“Sweets?”

Although your normal self would snarl at the nickname and the voice it belonged to—you found yourself too tired and miserable to care at this point.

“Riki?”

You wipe your eyes again, vision clearing in enough to make out Riki leaning against one of the large trees a few meters away from the school.

“Hey, what’s wrong sweets?” He takes the cigarette that was currently dangling on his mouth out, squishing the head of it on the dirt floor beside him.

“Are you smoking again? That’s bad for you and you know it.”

“Geez sweets,” he laughs, finally standing up. “You looked like you just bawled your eyes out yet you still have enough energy to lecture me?”

“Shut up.”

“Ah, there she is again.”

Riki makes his way closer to you, head peering down to reach your level.

“Don’t cry.” He says softly, and it’s the first time you heard him in that tone. “Makes your eyes all red and scary.”

“Yah!”

He laughs when you hit him on the shoulder, sound that used to make you frown but you were weirdly enjoying it now.

“I’m kidding sweets!” He slings an arm around your shoulder, pulling you close to him. “You’re pretty, even when you have tear stains all over you.”

The two of you continue walking, you not too sure where Riki was even taking you.

“Where are we going?” You sniffle, looking around the area.

“This new arcade, cmon, I’ll drive us.”

The two of you are in front of his beaten down Toyota, although it looks pretty clean from the inside. You thought Riki’s car would be an absolute mess, but it seemed like he was a clean freak when you opened the door to the smell of vanilla and cinnamon.

“You actually clean your car?”

“I’m offended you thought I didn’t sweets!” He says, frowning. “Thankfully, I don’t hold grudges.”

He puts the key in, hands tapping against his leather seat. “Wanna tell me why you’re so sad?”

He places a hand on the head of your seat, body twisting back with one hand on the wheel to pull out of his parking spot. He looked incredibly handsome doing such a basic task that it almost made your ability to speak go away.

“I got a 68 on my physics test.” You say, shoulders defeated.

“No way.” He continues driving, eyes glancing back and forth from the road to you. “Mr. Yuji’s class right? Fucking hate him.”

“Yeah well, I do too.”

Riki takes a road that you’re unfamiliar with, and he suddenly stops the car in front of a house.

“What are you doing Riki?” You say, watching as he opens his trunk and leaves the car.

“Doing something I should’ve done a long time ago.”

He pulls out a bat, and your eyes widen when he smashes it against a mailbox, crushing it in completely.

“Holy shit!” You shriek, eyes widening as Riki throws back the bat into the trunk, closing it with a loud bang.

He runs back to the car, slamming the door behind him.

“And that’s for Y/N motherfucker!” He yells before driving off, his boyish laughter could be heard from a distance.

“You’re crazy.” You breathe out, body still in shock from what you witnessed. “Who’s mailbox was that?”

“Mr. Yuji’s.” He smirks, eyes still on the road. “Let’s just say—this isn’t the first time I’ve been to his residence.”

“Wow.” You rest your head against Riki’s cold windows, still taking in what just happened. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome sweets.” He smiles, teeth practically shinning like the movies. “Now how about that arcade I promised you earlier?”

.♡.

After hanging out with Riki at the arcade on Monday, you realized the boy wasn’t as bad as you thought.

He had won you a gigantic brown teddy bear, a clich�� that you never thought would have happened to you after failing your physics exam.

He made you name it James The Third, and made you promise that it was your child and you had to take care of it while he was away.

“I heard you hung out with Nishimura this weekend!” You swore nothing could go past Byeol, who was currently geeking at the sudden news of you and Riki being so close.

“Shh, keep your voice down!”

Byeol wiggles her eyebrows, giggling at your stressed state. “You two are so cute! Opposites attract!”

You start to walk away from her, using the excuse that class has started. Sure Riki was handsome and weirdly—nice—you weren’t sure what your feelings about him were yet.

“Hi.”

You basically flinch out of your seat when you see him right next to you. He had a can of soy milk and a slice of chocolate cake with him.

“I brought you soy milk, hopefully you like it.”

You give him a small smile, not trusting your words enough to actually speak. Thankfully for you, the teacher entered right after, starting her lesson on trigonometry.

“Nishimura Riki, do you really have to eat in my class?” The teacher stops writing, placing her chalk on the board as she stares directly into Riki’s eyes.

He looks up from the bangs poking at his eyes, giving the teacher a stupid smile.

“Yes Mrs. Park, I’m very hungry.”

“Very well.” She wants to scowl at Riki, you could tell by her furrowed eyebrows. But she doesn’t, instead, picking up her chalk again to continue the lesson.

3 minutes don’t even past when Riki’s chewing gets incredibly loud and obnoxious, making you place a hand over your mouth to prevent yourself from bursting out laughing.

“Is the chocolate cake that good, Riki?” The teacher asks, trying not to completely snap at the boy.

“It’s sooo good.” Riki says, smiling fully with his teeth.

The class blurts out in laughter and hysteria, making Mrs. Park practically crush the chalk that was in her hand.

“That’s it! Go outside Nishimura Riki!”

He rolls his eyes, standing up from his seat. “Fine, but I was just eating cake.”

He looks over to you, who was currently giggling underneath your breath. He gives you a small smile, flicking your forehead softly before leaving the room, leaving you a blushing mess.

.♡.

“Pssst.”

You turn around, already knowing who was on the other side.

Of course Nishimura Riki was there.

“I’ve got two tickets to see Arctic Monkeys, come with me Friday night?”

You shake your head softly. “Oh I don’t know Riki, I have to study.”

“Don’t say that sweets,” he groans, head slumping into your shoulder. “Have some fun!”

“Shhh!” You look around, thankful the librarian wasn’t here to scold you guys. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. Just be quiet.”

“Yay!” He cheers, and it’s the happiest you’ve ever seen of the boy. “I’ll pick you up, okay? Friday night, 8pm exactly.”

“Okay Riki,” you say. “I’ll see you.”

Friday comes by in a flash, and you weren’t sure what to wear to the concert.

Despite it being your last year of being a teenager, you still haven’t attended one. So you were in a real struggle to pick what would be perfect.

You decided to go with a plain black top and cream colored cargos that hugged your waist, one without straps so your shoulders could be out. You were sure it’d get hot in the concert with all the people that would be attending.

“You look cute.” Riki says as he rows down the window. “Get in.”

The stadium is only 20 minutes away from your house, and you’re starting to get nervous when you realize how many people were attending.

“Hey,” Riki says, taking ahold of your hand when he notices it shaking. “It’ll be the most fun night of your life. I promise.”

And he was right. Although you were sure you weren’t going to enjoy it all that much, you found yourself singing and swaying along to the music.

The stadium was dim, making the music hit even ten times harder.

When I wanna be yours started playing, your vision was focused on the band whereas Riki’s eyes were focused on you.

“Hey!” You giggle, catching him staring at you. “Focus on the music dummy! You’re the one who bought the tickets.”

“Yeah yeah,” he says, smiling ear to ear. “The concert’s great and all but you’re even better.”

You don’t get to question his words before he crashes his lips onto yours with the lyrics wanna be yours blasting in the background.

[sm-baby]

Most exciting part of the trailer for the next TADC episode for you?

More so an Analysis rather than things I'm excited about X3

I watched the sneak peek on loop I can process everything! Waahh!! I'm so excited for episode 2 💞 only a few weeks away! 💕

I wanna get this out of the way, I love Lizzie Freeman and Alex Rochon's Improv work on this promo 😭 they were really put in a booth together, were told to say things to promote episode two, and came up with that 😭 Genius.

The environment work is GORGEOUS! I love the look of everything, the world-building, the colors! It looks like a full-fledged movie guys! Absolutely beautiful and WONDEROUS work from the Glitch team-- it's so beautiful for half a year of work??? God damn!!

Haha! As an in-universe creation, Despite his little gags, Caine is genuinely such a good AI to make something so cool!

You'll also notice that Ragatha is taking charge of talking with the princess! That would make sense for such fellow beautiful well-mannered women!

More on them later at the end! :3

Dream sequence theory

Also, we all agree that these ones are all part of a dream right? Pomni is panicked, the strange sort of "slow woozy wobbly" animation exactly like a dream... even the dolly zoom!

Then she is sent to the cellar with a an abstracted arm, but that shouldn't be the case since Caine could easily fix an abstracted arm with a snap of a finger.

And then she wakes up, freaked out!!

Wahaha! Shout out to the Showtime server for pointing this out while we were discussing!

This is either and "end of episode prize" from Caine, or he jumps in mid-episode to hand them a helpful item, ooorr he's telling them that that's their objective for the adventure :3

also!! people have pointed out that Zooble isn't with the carriage with the others! Either this means that Zooble was given a surprise roll in the adventure, or she's off to have a fun solo adventure with Caine! Ohh! How exciting!

Zooble is a favorite character of Goose's, so to learn more about him and why Goose loves them so much would be so exciting!!

Whats up with Jax?

hunched down, writing in the sand, hugging his knees, this topped with Goose's two-word description of the next episode to be "I"m nothing"... Oh Jax is gonna have a MOMENT...

We all know that no one likes the dude and he's going to get worse. I'm unsure if this will make me like the guy, but I'm optimistic!

I'm open to understanding and seeing another side of him that would make me like him! I already quite like how this scene is framed, how lonely he looks, the acting in these few seconds already tells me what kind of guy he is.

...despite one of the gummis being tied up in the corner

If i had to hypothesize, this probably stemmed with Jax acting out, you know, the usual "being a nuisance" to make everyone miserable,

Then It escalates

This gets on Ragatha's nerves, first starting out as a silly "haha cute interaction" between them and it escalates while the episode goes on where Ragatha genuinely gets mad at him and tells him to stay put while they do the work.

Speaking of Ragatha, She seems to be quite fond of the Princess! There is a part of me that wonders if she wants to sort of-- "prove" herself in a way, as a leader or otherwise. Ragatha does give me the "smart yet nice kid in class that everyone copies off of" energy... TwT This poor woman.

I don't know, just the way The Princess bends down and holds her hand, it's sort of sweetly mentorly or motherly in a way. I'm not saying this to infantilize Ragatha, I respect her so much as a mature 30-year-old adult, I say it as a testament to The Princesses' character. Princesses, Queens, and any sort of royalty have been characterized as the sort of "mother/father of all" sort of character type, which is sweet! And would be quite interesting!

I know that people are quick to do the shipping with these two, but I kind of like the idea of Ragatha wanting approval and validation.

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY!! A FILM THEORY!!! ANDDD CUT!!

[vidavalor]

I was wondering if you've talked about why Gabriel was on a jog in season 1 episode 4. It always felt off to me since it's such a human activity

Hi @anxious-al! 💕 Hope you're having a nice week so far. *gets the mugs* as there's always hot chocolate available for Gabriel-themed questions. 😊

What a time to be going for a "human" jog, eh? This takes place on the morning of The Last Day of The World:

Gabriel is supposed to destroy this planet later that day and he's down on it, alone, jogging in the park... why?... and what of the human woman dressed as an angel at the edge of the park?

The scene wherein Aziraphale interrupts Gabriel on a morning run in the park begins with one of the strangest moments in the series-- Aziraphale being distracted by a human woman dressed in head-to-toe gold with harp-like angel wings. She is a performance artist and her art is that she is dressed as an angel. She stands there, silent, sending her artistic message for both the characters in the story who notice her and for us as the audience to interpret. This makes her a bit meta for the story of Good Omens as a whole.

What message is The Angel Woman saying to her fellow humans with this? is a question that leads us to another one as a result:

What is Good Omens saying by using angels and demons in their story written for us humans?

Perhaps that there is divinity in humanity? Perhaps that we spend all this time glorifying holy beings that we can't prove even exist when, really, we humans embody the angelic and the demonic and everything in between? That we're really the magical ones?

The Angel Woman is a character in a story written by humans who are using angels and demons to make points about human living... and who are the other characters in this scene? Gabriel and Aziraphale... a pair of angels on Earth and who are both engaged in aspects of what they might see as "human" living.

This scene is one in the story pointing out that "human living" is really just living, period.

Aziraphale stops and contemplates the angel-dressed performance artist and that is the start of the scene. The "human cosplaying" Gabriel then jogs by them-- paralleling both the angel who lives like a human and the human who is dressed as an angel. Here's The Supreme Archangel of Heaven on the last morning on Earth and what is he doing?

He's jogging in the park. Like a human.

The episode is called "Saturday Morning Funtime" and has more Gabriel in its front half than any episode prior to it, as we begin to see that he's actually who it's named for. Everyone is miserable ahead of Armageddon but the one who has a Saturday Morning Funtime routine is Gabriel. This guy who is the commander of the armed forces of Heaven and entrapped by a supernatural fascist regime hellbent on destroying this place?

Yeah, he secretly kinda loves Earth.

Gabriel is keeping himself from going mad by carving out some escape time on Earth where he does some moderate exercise in the fresh air and clears his head. No one knows who he is down there. He's just another hot dude running in the park. It gets him away from the other angels always circling him like vultures and gives him some precious alone time.

There are other scenes that indicate that, as Earth has gone on, Gabriel has been using the power of his position to escape to it from time to time. Gabriel's only possessions until S2 are his custom-tailored clothes and they were made on Earth. He shows a curiosity about how Aziraphale chooses to live in the sushi scene in 1.01. Yes, he's judgy about it but he's judgy to hide the fact that he's asking out of interest-- rather than using the power he has to order Aziraphale not to make his own choices over it.

Gabriel is shown to be a lot more "live and let live" than he might initially seem to be. He is one of the only angels who doesn't view the demons as beneath them and he covers for Michael's relationships with them. Several scenes suggest pretty heavily that he's known about Crowley and Aziraphale for ages and has been keeping that knowledge from The Metatron. He doesn't care that Aziraphale does human things on Earth like eating or that he wants to live a more human-like existence. He doesn't totally understand all aspects of it but that doesn't stop him from being more fundamentally curious about it than anything else.

Gabriel actually doesn't care that Aziraphale's in love with Crowley. Gabriel can get the appeal, actually. Gabriel knows how it goes anyway... he's got a bit of a thing for the "informant" he references to Aziraphale in 1.01-- Lord Beezlebub, the only being he feels like he really be anything close to his true self around, who also happens to be a demon. The demons are supposed to be the angels' mortal enemies but Gabriel thinks that's kind of bullshit. They're just people and he remembers what a lot of them were like before Hell became a thing. They were smart, creative people, most of whom did little wrong but for asking the same questions that Gabriel privately asks himself daily.

So, he's been coming down to Earth to check it out for awhile, when he can come up with an excuse to escape his prison. Sometime pre-S1, he started to do more than observe and basically got himself a hobby in jogging, like a human might do. Something for him and him alone. This is a big deal because Gabriel has virtually nothing else that is own.

Gabriel doesn't own a single, non-clothing material object in S1 and never has at this point. The first present he'll ever be given is the fly in the matchbox from Beez. His clothes are his only possessions, which is partially why he's so vain about them. They are the only way he's allowed to express a sense of individuality in Heaven-- and he made that happen.

This is related to the jogging and is a much, much bigger deal than it might initially seem...

In S2, when we go back to the Job minisode era, we see that all of the angels used to dress in, more-or-less, the same thing. They all look like what they are-- members of a cult. Even The Supreme Archangel is wearing basically a white sheet roped off in gold. The homogeneity of the look is the point.

There's a psychological reason why cults of all sorts-- and armies of all sorts-- have an uniform. It's to reinforce a sense of negative groupthink over a sense of individuality. When you are allowed to dress as you wish, you have freedom of expression, and this obviously causes you to consider how you wish to express yourself to others. It gives you the free reign we all should have to be who we are-- and to be able to consider who that is and evolve our sense of self over time. This is absolutely against the mindset of dictatorships and cults and anything in that vein.

The last thing they want is for people to see themselves as individual people because that stuff gets dangerous. They might get ideas. They might form their own opinions and start to act on them. It makes people harder to control. This is why Gabriel and his clothes are so important.

The only way the whole 'everyone is basically wearing a table cloth' situation changed for the angels sometime post-Job is if The Supreme Archangel okayed it. He's the only one with just enough power to have made this happen, if not enough power to overthrow The Metatron on his own. Gabriel saw Aziraphale begin to wear different things on Earth with the built-in excuse of Aziraphale having to blend in with the humans and white robes were no longer a style that would work.

Aziraphale, as a result, became the first angel to have an excuse to express himself as an individual because he got to choose what he'd like to wear while he was on Earth. Gabriel noted this and basically said to himself that looks fun. Our dude was very tired of this white robe situation and seeing Aziraphale get to play made Gabriel want to as well so he went to Aziraphale at some point and basically said teach me about what the humans are doing about clothes.

Gabriel had an excuse to change his look, too-- he'd have to go to Earth sometimes to do Supreme Archangel Checking Up On Stuff Things. He'd have to look like a human, too. He loved it. Playing human dress up was super fun and brought all new kinds of thoughts. What fabrics he liked, what looks he liked, what he thought about how the different clothes looked on him, what made him feel different ways about himself. Clothes are self-expression, after all-- they reflect how we feel about ourselves and support the image we are trying to project. Gabriel got into this, big-time, and then turned around and asked the dangerous question to himself:

What if we did this in Heaven, too?

What if he used what power he had to change the rules about what the angels wore? What if he told everyone they could wear whatever they wanted? The army would still have an uniform for when they were running drills or whatever and maybe there'd be a color-scheme because Gabriel knew The Metatron was going to lose it about this so he came up with some parameters but he basically overthrew the tablecloth tyranny and told every other angel that they were free to express themselves the way they wanted and, if you ask me? That's why he and The Metatron are snarking about Gabriel's suit during his trial.

The Metatron never got over the fact that Gabriel pushed the clothes thing and knew how to get just enough of what he could without making it more trouble than it was worth to kill him over it. The Metatron takes some evil delight in telling Gabriel that "appropriate raiment" will be provided for him-- he'll have to wear what The Metatron dictates, in other words-- now that he'll be a bottom-of-the-barrel junior recording analyst. Gabriel, though?

He got the last laugh. He used taking off his suit as a reason to leave, along with clearing out his non-existent desk, and fled Heaven buck ass naked rather than put up with The Metatron's bullshit for another minute.

The moment Crowley fell in love with Gabriel was when he saw just how much Gabriel loathes The Metatron in these just take me out back and shoot me ffs faces he was making during his trial:

Anyway, the point is that all the angels are following Gabriel's lead and that's probably half the reason why almost everyone in Heaven dresses in a variation of Aziraphale or Gabriel's styles. (Ever notice how Michael and Uriel look like they're in some kind of suit battle and both of them are trying to emulate Gabriel a bit?) While many of the angels aren't really reinventing the rules of fashion up there, the idea worked: they all look different from one another. They all can express themselves as they desire when it comes to how they look. They've all had to think about themselves for at least long enough as it takes to come up with outfits and view themselves as an individual person to do so.

It's perhaps worth noting in here then, too, how funny it is that The Metatron is a floating head... that's how he presents himself. He's the one character who doesn't have a body. It's symbolic of how he feels he's above even the idea of having anything like the pesky needs of human corporation. The ideal of Heaven is him, in his eyes, and he is above the vessel through which all living beings actually live...

...and the one challenging him every step of the way as much as he can is The Supreme Archangel...

...who, amusingly, happens to have a rather pleasing physical corporation appreciated by many, many different sorts of beings.

Looked at that way? Gabriel's peacocking about his clothes is not pure vanity but just the best example of what little rebellious fires he's been able to start Up there. A focus on clothes is also a focus on your body-- for better or worse-- and so it's not really surprising that Gabriel's Earthly hobby is looking goooood in some grey sweatpants while he escapes a little from the pressures of his world.

There's something kind of delicious about Gabriel deciding that he has some Saturday Morning Funtime now-- he has an exercise routine. He's like peace out, MetaT-- I'm going to take my fantastic corporation *jogging*. Rot in Hell, you fascist Mr. Potato Head...

Aziraphale is interruping Gabriel's alone time in 1.04 and if you look closely, you'll notice that Gabriel actually looks upset as he's running before Aziraphale sees him. He doesn't actually want to destroy Earth. He feels he has no choice and he's terrified of The Metatron but he likes Earth. He doesn't fully understand of it-- to be fair to him, no one really does lol-- but he likes it enough to have been escaping to it for awhile now.

By S2, in a parallel scene to the jogging one, Aziraphale will be beginning to get the idea of him and Gabriel both having versions of the Heaven-induced perfectionism and anxiety a bit more, though... and about how that's not any different from humans who go through the same thing.

The angel human doing performance art (complete with foreshadowing the discus halo) in S1:

The art of the Gabriel statue in Edinburgh in S2:

In S2, the art is a human-made sculpture deitifying Gabriel. It causes Aziraphale to further consider what life might have been like for a being who is, really, just some dude, but who has been held up as a holy symbol in this way by angels and humans alike.

Adding to this is that the statue of Gabriel is in the middle of a human graveyard. While this has a really eerie layer in S2 considering that we see it after Gabriel has fallen, which is a kind of death, and now lives among the humans, there's a way of looking at it that is also in keeping with what S1's human performance artist angel was talking about-- there's not this big line between these kind of beings.

Emphasizing this? The Angel Woman isn't just dressed as an angel-- she is also wearing a dress and a human sun hat. She reflects how having a halo hanging over your head symbolizing your need to be perfect in a way that causes you to see yourself as someone who should be above humans is not just an angelic thing-- it's a very human thing, too. That's the point of these angels and demons in Good Omens. They're just like us in every way that really matters and their stories are no different at the core from what we experience.

Crowley and Aziraphale actually have it a lot better than most of the angels and demons. They have been able to live on Earth since the beginning. They aren't completely free of the regime that threatens them but they've found a way of escaping it as much as they can. They've been free to learn and explore and experiment and enjoy much more than the others have. They've been free to have a relationship with one another-- to have a friend they can trust and talk to-- which not all of the angels and demons do. (Not all humans do, either.) Of all of the less fortunate characters? Gabriel, despite having some power in Heaven, might have actually been one of the worst off.

Why is Gabriel jogging in the park on the morning of the last day of Earth? Because Gabriel likes to go for solo jogs in the park...

... just like many humans who have stressful jobs and like to wake up on Saturday morning and throw on a sweatsuit and sneakers and get outside to get some fresh air, move, and try to quiet their thoughts.

That Gabriel is already in this place in S1 is a surprising twist thrown into 1.04 that actually makes us kind of want to scream at Aziraphale 'ask him why he's fucking jogging, Az!' Aziraphale is trying to make the point that they don't need to destroy Earth but the one thing he fails to point out is that Earth is the planet that they're currently both standing on and which Gabriel seems to really be enjoying.

Gabriel couldn't agree with Aziraphale in the jogging scene, though, even if he wanted to, for the most ironic reason possible. This one:

Crowley and Aziraphale don't realize it because they're afraid of Gabriel until S2 but he's as trapped as they are. He's as watched as they are. Ducks have ears-- there's always someone listening in the fascist regime of this Heaven/Hell system. Gabriel couldn't say in a public park anything that sounds outside of what he's supposed to say, even if he wanted to, or he'd be in danger for it.

Gabriel is wearing human clothes that are appropriate to the time period he's in while he's jogging. He has a preferred park and route. He's gone through a whole thing to get to this point-- seeing this activity, learning about its benefits, deeming it appealing and something he'd like to try, getting what he needs to do it, finding a time to do so, trying it out and getting good at it... he's done all this already by this scene, showing that he's already subtly rebelling.

There is also that a lot of humans jog, at least in part, to manage mental health issues. It's prescriptive for depression and when we see Gabriel in the post-S1/pre-S2-set flashbacks, he's exhibiting signs that would have gotten him instantly diagnosed with depression had he been a human. It was not new-- more like his default state-- before talking more intimately with Beez started to help him manage it.

This might indicate that Gabriel was already in a place pre-S1 where he viewed humans as having knowledge that could benefit him and other angels-- a point of view that Crowley and Aziraphale also share. To get there, he'd have to have stopped seeing himself as superior to humans-- if he ever did in the first place, which isn't really known. Gabriel does show a surprising aptitude for subversive thinking so it's possible he never really bought the idea that they were superior beings but, even if he did, he doesn't by sometime prior to S1 because the human activity he's gotten for a hobby is one known for helping humans manage the anxiety and stress he knows he also feels.

It's also an activity that Gabriel can get away with doing because it's physical and he's The Commander of The Heavenly Host, Heaven's armed forces. No one can question why he wants to go to Earth to work out because it seems like he's just a devoted soldier when, really, he's doing it to get away from everything for a bit. Jogging gives him time and space to think and to be alone, away from Heaven. It's peaceful when he knows precious little peace. He's also quite literally running from Heaven lol and this was already happening for awhile before S1 happened, let alone S2.

You might say: ok, but Gabriel doesn't *need* to jog... he's magical!

Yes, he's magical... which seems to be like having an extra-long, somewhat-eternal backup battery. It doesn't actually mean that Gabriel doesn't need to exercise. Living beings can go a surprisingly long time repressed from what it is that they need to survive and being magical is suggested to have caused some of these angels and demons to remain alive so long without what it is that they truly need to thrive as people that they've convinced themselves that they don't actually need these things.

Sure, the angels and demons have superhuman powers but they are also very human at the same time...

In S2, Gabriel will describe having what we might call human physical sensations on his way to the bookshop. His arms got sore from holding a box at a weird angle for awhile on his walk-- just like ours would. He was cold from being naked until Aziraphale gave him a blanket. Aziraphale was winded trying to jog with him in this scene in S1. Crowley has basically developed a human sleep schedule over the years to a point that while he can survive missing a night of sleep, he feels the effects of it, as he was mentioning in S2.

To say that these characters being magical means that they're "flawless" would be to get a little "master race" gross, right? And the show does not. The angels and demons have human corporations in all shapes and sizes. Human corporations are just one option for them, even if also the most common, and those options are not built to be without any challenges-- they're built to be human.

Crowley, for instance, is basically a god in terms of power and he's also canonically far-sighted. He built the known universe but he also can't read the paper you just put in front of his eyes without his reading glasses. He can make it rain with his fingertips... and he also has an anxiety disorder. All of this is a story that is using angels and demons as metaphors for human living. We humans have more power than we think, as shown through how the magical angels and demons in the story are more "human" than many of them have been led to believe.

All of the angels and demons might not be at risk from most major human disease, for example... but that's if you're talking about things like Covid and bubonic plague... not if you're talking about the most common ailments plaguing humanity. The major supernatural characters in this story have things like anxiety disorders, depression, and PTSD. Many of them have complicated relationships with food and insecurities about their corporations. They deal with issues of loneliness and the effects of different kinds of trauma and abuse. Every one of them has trust issues for days. Aside from the main four, most of the angels and demons have no idea how hungry, tired, lonely and unfulfilled they are because they think they aren't actually supposed to want things like food, rest, creative outlets, and friendship. If they do feel a desire for these things, they think there's something wrong with them because they've been told they not to want or need in this way.

The few of the angels and demons that can get beyond the b.s. they've been taught and consider that they might not be superior to humans and might have some things in common with them? They break through and start to learn from humans.

Even though they both see each themselves as not fully human and as basically living amongst-- rather than with-- the humans, both Crowley and Aziraphale have experienced enough of the world to know that they're not terribly different from humans. They don't see a lot of their own challenges and experiences as different from that of humans and they actively seek out human knowledge and thoughts on how to manage their way through life. They recognize that their full range of emotions is not any different from that of the humans-- whether the emotions in question are the love they feel for one another or something they have to deal with, like anxiety.

As we see in S2, the choice of corporation for a supernatural being can have consequences that can affect them as a whole. Yes, these beings are more protected than humans, as they can morph into whatever they want and they have miracles that they can use to protect themselves in most situations... but they can actually die if they get into a situation dangerous to them enough, like what The Bullet Catch could have been.

Furfur said that if Crowley had missed and Aziraphale had been shot in the head, that "they might not have been able to put him together again"-- meaning, that Aziraphale could have actually died from a bullet to the head... just like how humans can. While in human form, the angels and demons' minds really are contained within their brains, like is the case with humans. Supernatural beings have a mind-body connection to their corporations of choice-- just as we do with our bodies-- and they're basically all out here choosing human bodies as a default option, right? So, how different are they from us, really? Not that much.

This would mean that their corporations do need the same things that human bodies do. The difference is that, being magical, they can go for eons without addressing these needs, whereas most of us who are only human over here get hangry after four hours without a snack and need to sleep for several hours every day in order to function.

They do need to breathe to be healthy, if not to completely stay alive, because their corporations prefer oxygen and breathing causes the human body to function properly. They can go for millennia without eating... but that doesn't at all mean that they should. When they finally do, they can eat an entire ox without a second thought and why? Because they're starving. They can magically last an absurd amount of time in their repression but they're unnecessarily suffering in doing so.

Crowley and Aziraphale know this. They've learned it themselves. That's why they're giving out warm beverages and sarcastic masturbation tutorials to whatever interested supernatural beings shows up at the door for much of S2.

This is Gabriel's office, shown to us moments after his jog in the park:

That is where he's spent thousands of years. This is his office and what counts as his home. This dude doesn't even have a chair. Look at how huge that space is and how small he seems in it. He can't go out on that balcony. This isn't an office or a house so much as it's a prison cell. This scene shows us why he jogs in the park-- it's his time in the yard during his prison sentence, basically.

Look at how we and Michael come into the scene and see that Gabriel is just staring out the window at the world, tapping his finger against his mouth, lost in thought. This is not a being who is super jazzed to destroy this place later in the day. He's up there like a damn fairy tale princess, trapped in a glass tower in the sky, looking down at the human world and wondering why it is that it's only humans can have it when they really don't seem that different from the angels and demons.

All of us humans with terrible jobs and other stressful situations can usually find a way out of it, except for maybe those of us trapped in an active war zone. What do we humans do? We sleep, we shower, we do some yoga or meditate, we enjoy stories, we make art, we have some good food, we find things that make us laugh and share them with friends and loved ones. Some of us also seek other kinds of connection as well-- a sexual and/or romantic partner. S2 shows us that Gabriel is not aromantic, as he's fallen in love with Beez-- which just emphasizes that, for thousands of years, this sort of thing was never an option for him and another need that was not being met.

Michael is correct in S2 that Gabriel doesn't have a desk to clean out. He has a single, white pedestal without any drawers onto which the occasional file folder can be placed if someone has a meeting with him. (One wonders if Heaven only even has physical file folders as an excuse to have the occasional barely-there table just to break up the expanse of empty space to keep them all from going mad.) Aside from his clothes, he does not possess a single material object, as he's not allowed to.

Imagine not owning a single book. Not having a favorite blanket. Not having a favorite mug. Not having lost these things but having never had them before at all. No presents because you have no friends. The first person to ever give Gabriel something is Beez and that hasn't happened by this point in the story.

We know Aziraphale understands this. Aziraphale wanted a home with a door he could lock and privacy enough to try to live a life of sorts with his partner and a place to store the material objects that he owns. His own, cluttered desk with a million little nooks and shelves. A chair, books, a bed he can be in with Crowley without Head Office finding out and killing them for it. That's the genius bookshop embassy that Gabriel will run to when he finally cracks but Gabriel himself?

He's had almost none of that kind of freedom for himself.

Aziraphale knows what it is to have nothing of your own and that's why he gives Gabriel his angel mug. He's literally writing Jim's name on everything that Jim owns because he knows that while it's not about material objects, Gabriel doesn't have anything of his own. It's about choice-- down here on Earth, Gabriel can choose to call himself something different. He can have a more peaceful and satisfying job and books to read and a favorite drink and a mug of his own and friends to talk to. He can try the hot chocolate and the tiny dinners if he wants without anyone judging him or trying to kill him for it. He can be free to be his own person on Earth.

Consider the contrasting shots of Gabriel in 1.04, shown staring out the window of his prison walls at the Earth he was supposed to destroy... and Jim waking up on Earth, in cozy pajamas, to look out the window of the bookshop while making himself a warm, morning drink in his own mug.

Kind of makes you want to hug him, doesn't it?

Back in 1.04, though? The scene in Gabriel's office showed us what he's up against Up there and just how isolated he is at that time. Michael is the one angel you'd think he'd be able to trust, as they've been through it together for thousands of years, but we see very clearly why Gabriel does not trust them.

Michael is a hypocrite. They talk to the demons unofficially and Gabriel has been protecting them for it from The Metatron. Yet, at the first opportunity, Michael throws Aziraphale under the bus by reporting him for doing the very same thing they are. After S2, we see that this is also a swipe at Gabriel himself-- Michael knows that Gabriel knows about Crowley and Aziraphale and has never done anything about it, even though he "should" by the rules of Heaven. This isn't just Michael selling out Aziraphale-- it's Michael taking a shot at Gabriel himself. It's a reminder that there's always someone who seeks favor with The Metatron watching and Gabriel is completely trapped-- more so, even, than Crowley & Aziraphale.

He doesn't have any choice but to tell Michael that they can pursue it but he's gloriously bitchy about all of it. He doesn't so much as blink in telling Michael that he's sure there's "a perfectly innocent explanation"-- meaning: sure, go ahead, take a shot, but I am in charge and I will continue to be doing fuck all about Aziraphale boffing Bildad the Shuite, Michael.

He also is sly as all hell when he reminds them that "there are no back channels"-- by 'back channels', you mean you're calling your demon boyfriend, have I got that right, Michael? The one I happily pretend you don't have? God, you're awful...

Michael wants Gabriel's job and the brownie points with The Metatron so they're pursuing Aziraphale to show that they're willing to go after subversive angels and they're threatening Gabriel with exposing that he's known for ages about Aziraphale and did nothing-- which makes him an accessory to it. Gabriel has no other choice but to tell Michael to keep pursuing it but it's an example of how the wolves are always circling for Gabriel and how trapped he really is. His only defense is his you're going to regret fucking with me attitude.

As Michael leaves, the scene ends on Gabriel picking up one of the pictures of Crowley and Aziraphale. He's drawn to the one of them sitting together where?

Where Gabriel himself just was.

In the park.

What would it be like to live like they do? he seems to be wondering, for probably the millionth time. How much longer am I going to be able to keep them alive? Am I going to go down with them?

Nah. It's their turn now, Gabriel...

[amalthea-13]

Got my nightcore blasting in one ear and still mad about Mastermind so I'mma just info dump here. If you are a Blitz Stan or Defender please understand I do love Blitz, he's honestly one of my favorite characters and Stolitz is my comfort ship. However, disliking things he does doesn't mean I don't like him. I can feel frustrated or struggle with things he does. A complex character makes you feel complex things so it just is a testament to the writers on this show doing a good job with their cast and writing them perfectly. So before going on a rant defending Blitz, just hear me out.

I'll be honest I did not like how quickly Blitz turned lovey-dovey after the trial. The shit hit me like a fuckin chancla to the head and gave me whiplash. The reason I have this issue with Mastermind is purely because it felt so- unfair. Stolas has been struggling to feel validated and seen by Blitz for SO long. I mean that man gave him an Asmodean Crystal, fought to treat him with respect by changing many of his behaviors from S1 to S2, no longer teasing him or calling him pet names. He goes to hell and back multiple times, nearly being killed by Striker and couldn't even get a solid text back from Blitz.

However, the MINUTE he lays his life down, loses his daughter, and gives up any sense of a decent reputation suddenly Blitz gives a fuck. Losing his home, his powers, his family, EVERYTHING, and suddenly Blitz cares about what Stolas wants or needs. It genuinely makes me wanna rattle him around and yell:

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HEALTHY AND NICE TO HIM BUT YOU WAIT TILL HES CHRONICALLY DEPRESSED!?"

Like fuck me dude, but he never cared for Stolas before. He consistently dismisses his humanity by cognitively distancing himself from Stolas by just boiling every part of him down to his wealth, stripping him of any and all humanity he remains to have.

Suddenly when Stolas is a husk of his former self and his depression can no longer be hidden by magic or pills, suddenly Blitz cares. I just- I don't know if it's'cause of my own personal trauma, but I hate when people wait till you are at your lowest to give a fuck.

How much more did Stolas have to give for him to care? Or did it have to be his own life? My issue with this part is it perpetuates that Blitz can ONLY humanize those he hurts if they are sad and miserable like him. That the only time you can be loved or seen by him is when you are sad and pathetic, beneath himself. I really hope ya'll are picking up what I'm putting down because I am BEGGING ya'll to stick with me.

Blitz still has his family, his life, his friends, but Stolas has none of those things and SUDDENLY Blitz is further interested in him. Now that he has some pseudo-surperiority- he finds him attractive? He's interested? He wants a deeper relationship?

You can't tell me that doesn't feel so- so backwards right?

Like yeah, wait till the sweet owl man looks like THIS. Oh, yeah, ain't that just fuckin attractive? He's miserable and tried to OFF himself, but no, no that's healthy. It's fine, Amalthea, it's fine that this is the SUDDEN moment Blitz cares. That suddenly he gives a fuck. /sarc

Don't get me started on the fact that before he got to know Stolas he was COMPLETELY fine wrecking a perfectly good (from the exterior) home without considering Octavia, despite being a fucking father himself.

Blitz waits till Stolas is miserable to actually show him an OUNCE of humanity or love or reciprocity.

Yet everyone excuses ALL of his behaviors and problems on his trauma and the pain he has been through, but those same people will call Stolas a deadbeat and terrible person just because he is an awful flirt and a literal DV victim recovering from being COMPLETELY repressed due to the fact that the system that gives him his wealth has worked against him to the point he has no autonomy.

No one seems to ever get why I'm so angry and it's just because- these two have so much potential to work, but at every corner Blitz will make the shittiest decisions and the fandom writes it off as trauma or hurt or whatever, but god forbid Stolas mess up IN SEASON 1 he has to pay for it in Season 2 and be burned at the stake yet while burning at the damn stake the only person he wants to care or worry for him ONLY cares when he is actually set on fucking fire, not bothering to douse the flames or care when he wasn't about to get burned.

I love Blitz, I really, really do, but Mastermind reframed so many of his behaviors for me and made me step back purely because I realized he REALLY does not care unless he can have a false sense of superiority to someone.

I initially said both Stolas and Blitz were at fault for the Full Moon episode, but rewatching the argument I fully blame and fault Blitz for the arguement. Sure Stolas wasn't perfect, but instead of I dunno yelling at the owl man, why don't you- I dunno ASK HIM FOR A MOMENT???

People act like Blitz is some 16 yo teenager, but no thats an ALMOST 40 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CHOOSES TO POORLY COMMUNICATE. He literally could have been uncomfortable and said; "Stolas, this is a lot to process... can I have some time to think? I just- this is a lot."

Stolas wouldn't have forced him to stay! He was willingly letting him go! Blitz complains about the class differences between them but when he tries to fix it suddenly it is a fucking problem?

"But Amalthea, Stolas was hanging his livelihood over his head. He was abusing his power."

See I'd validate that argument and agree with it- IF IT WASN'T ALSO STOLAS'S LIVELIHOOD THE FUCK???? That grimoire was just as important to Stolas as it was to Blitz, more so since it gave him his STATUS, but he WILLINGLY sacrificed all that for Blitz.

Stolas did his due diligence to protect BOTH of them, but yet there is STILL a problem?!

"Stolas made him believe it was just sex between them!!!"

You wanna try again? Do you REALLY want to believe Blitz is so oblivious to this man's advances?

Then explain why he knew Stolas would accept a date to Ozzies. O_O. If Stolas was really just some "ditzy blue blood" to Blitz why would he get dolled up and ready for a date with some measly imp? Why would a Goetic Prince go in public with an imp?

Unless Blitz was FUCKING aware he'd've accepted because he feels so deeply for Blitz. He's so desperately in love he'd do anything to be around him again. Blitz KNEW what he was doing. He KNEW Stolas felt this way, he just chose to be dense and overlook it until it benefited him.

Blitz's insecurities blind a lot of you to the fact he is a CALCULATED and SMART man. Sure, he is a dork who makes us laugh, but he's a CALCULATED dork.

Also I hate to bring up how these two sweetpeas met, but WHO BIT WHO? Who SLEPT WITH WHO WHILE DRUNK?

"But Stolas was flirting with him! He wanted Blitz to sleep with him!"

Yes and no. Initially when Stolas flirts and realizes Blitz wants to sleep with him, he immediately says NO and steps away!

See that kids, that's called a headshake, which means what? Let's all guess now?

NO! IT MEANS NO!

I hate to drive my point this far home, I REALLY do.

Another layer of this is ALL the advances are made my Blitz after Stolas says no.

"Amalthea it's hell! What are you on about morals and consent!?"

Literally because in this situation Blitz had the power. He had the ability to walk away, but started all of this just for his buisness and despite how it all started, Stolas supported him through it all.

It is also before Blitz knows about the abuse and knowing Stolas is a father, still chose to homewreck a family even after Stolas said no.

My point in all of this- anger and frustration is that Stolas has put up with so much of Blitz's BS and stupidity, but only now is Blitz concerned. Only now he gives a damn.

You break into a mans home, sleep with him, rob him, then ruin his life, but you only feel bad when he's lost everything? Sure, that's cool. That's awesome. That's totally fine. /sarc

... this arguement is always hard for me to make, because i just have to watch Stolas be traumatized over, and over, and over and he is always still so sweet and loving to a fucking prick of a man.

Rant over, Amalthea out.

However if you have questions, my ask box is open loves.🩷

Edit 1: While you all can comment, I strongly encourage utilizing my ask box. Moving on I understand ppl may disagree with me. That is okay you're a beautiful individual with your own thoughts and opinions which is fine by me. However please refrain from insulting my intelligence. You can always block me, doesn't hurt my feelings anyway.

[pretty-mik-97]

When ‘Dark Romance’ Is Just an Excuse for Abuse: How Cry or Better Yet Beg fails Matthias as a Love Interest (Rant Included)

Oh, and do I have a lot to say about this mutha fucka right here. ESPECIALLY with the most recent chapters on Webtoon.

I ain't go lie, I half expected Cry or Better Yet Beg be like a slow burn enemies to lovers historical romance fiction. But I gotta ask all the Matthias x Layla shippers and Matthias fans:

HOW IS MATTHIAS VON HERHARDT THE LOVE INTEREST AND WHY ARE WE ROOTING FOR HIM?! 👁👄👁

Like I never see this guy show or express any romantic that doesn't involve him being a bully and humiliating and abusing Layla because apparently he enjoys making her miserable and cry.

And people are like: He doesn't know how to express himself because he never experienced love so it's all so new to him.

Umm, no bestie. That man has no love for ANYTHING at all, period. Especially not for Layla, you know, the WOMAN HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE IN LOVE WITH!

And when people rightfully call out and criticise Matthias as a character and the story as a whole, they get hit with the: It's a Dark Romance.

Umm, no, sweetie. This is not a dark romance. It's abuse cosplaying as a dark romance. There is NOTHING romantic about a man who enjoys bullying, verbally and emotionally abusing the woman he's supposed to be in love with, and sees her as less of a human being.

Matthias himself actually admitted and told Layla TO HER FACE why he despises her when she asked.

You want proof?

BOOM! RECEIPTS:

Again, I ask: WHY ARE WE ROOTING FOR THIS MAN. WHY?!

Where is the romance coz I ain't seeing shit!

And that brings me to my next point. The argument that people hate Matthias because he's not acting like "the typical green flag love interest in fluffy romance stories."

Lemme just show y'all two comments I found on reddit for reference.

Comment 1:

It's okay to read stories where the antagonists regret their actions or face consequences for their actions. I love me a good revenge story and a story where the antagonists get their long-awaited comeuppance. But here's the thing: Matthias has not shown ANY FORM OF REGRET AND REMORSE FOR HIS ACTS AND HAS NOT FACED ANY CONSEQUENCES.

Like this dude, THREW Layla's glasses into the lake where she had to get them and almost drown in the process coz the sistah can't swim.

He killed birds KNOWING she would come to bury them to lure her in the forest so he could talk to her instead of approaching her like a normal person.

He swiped her shoes while she was dozing off waiting for Kyle and told Layla that he was going to give them back if she CRIED. On top of belittling her and telling her that her only purpose is to BE NOTHING.

He made her make a bouquet of roses (I think) for him only for him to make her make another bouquet over and over again because they weren't up to his standard (but I personally think this mutha fucka did it to be petty AND be a prick).

And he stepped on her hand when she was picking up her coins after spending time with Claudine when she was NINE YEARS OLD. An EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD at his big grown old age at that time bullying A NINE YEAR OLD.

And not ONCE has he shown ANY remorse or guilt nor faced ANY CONSEQUENCES for his actions. As a matter of fact (spoilers), he gets rewarded for all of the heinous things he did to Layla by getting with her in the end.

And that basically makes the argument of "reading and fantasising about toxic relationships where the toxic person feels guilt" pointless.

Comment 2:

Yes romance and dark romance are two different things. Dark romance explores taboo, morally grey, toxic relationships and unequal power dynamics between the characters.

HOWEVER, for it to work as a dark romance, the characters need to be morally grey, have internal conflict with themselves, and some level of character development and character depth.

And our boy Matthias has NONE OF THOSE. He's just an asshole who gets off from making Layla cry and beg. He's not a misunderstood character who's battling with his feelings or whatever. He knows EXACTLY what he's doing, and he does not care.

Plus there's supposed to be ROMANCE in it. It's in the name. Dark. ROMANCE. The key ingredient that's nowhere to be found in Cry or Better Yet Beg.

Common arguments made in both comments:

People hate Matthias because he's not acting like the typical green flag male love interest in "fluffy" romance stories.

Nope. Most people don't hate him for not acting like the green flag love interest. People hate him because he's an asshole and a bully period.

These Stories Exist Because People Enjoy Them/Liking Dark Romance Doesn’t Mean I Want It in Real Life/If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Read It

Yes, there's an audience for dark romance, and people eat it up. Yes, just because you like reading dark romance doesn't automatically mean that you want it in real life. And yes, people shouldn't read dark romance if they don't like it.

But that's not going to make any dark romance stories ESPECIALLY Cry or Better Yet Beg above criticism (VALID criticism at that).

If anything, stories like Cry or Better Yet Beg are an insult to people who have experienced trauma and abuse because the victim ends up falling in love with their abuser and the abuser gets away with it.

Are THESE the type of stories we want to push into the mainstream?

[rei-ismyname]

X-Men #6 FROM THE ASHES

Last issue is starting to make a lot more sense - I think Jed McKay might have strong feelings about the Morrison era. Spoilers, obviously.

Hi Xorn! Hi Magneto! Good to have you join us. It's nice to see Magneto is progressive, polite and welcoming. It's still an ideological regression from where he was at in X-Men Red/RoM/Uncanny X-Men #700, but I guess he's mostly scenery in this comic sadly. As a fellow disabled burden on society I empathize with him, but I'd like to see him still be a character of focus. Otherwise, why put him in the book? It's a shame his moment makes Xorn look like a fool - is that really his first question? Dude is a fucking monk and these people are right there.

He's wearing his Morrison/Quitely uniform too, which is not a great comparison to be drawing imo. He was last seen hanging out with his brother and Legion in Way of X, but I suppose this is as good a place as any for him to be now. Hopefully we see more of him.

Look how much Quentin has grown since Riot at Xavier's. Or maybe he's depressed. Either way he's definitely looking sharp. Idie notices one of the protesters throwing up the M.

People want Beast to solve their problems but he doesn't have the same experience and knowledge as old Beast, not that X-FORCE Beast did any of that. It's a character beat, but one we've seen before. Maybe he'll learn magic again! Magik is still very defeatist it seems, and perhaps her determination is waning. Can't say I blame her.

Quiche is dope but jokes about it aren't. Not this millennium. The Glob/Quentin dynamic is another Morrison callback. Don't worry, there's plenty more this issue 🙄. One pitfall with light-hearted quippy nostalgia is it undermines serious events happening next to it and gives mood whiplash. Somehow Idie knows Ilyana is communicating secretly with her brother. It doesn't come up again. Based on how McKay has been seeding beats we'll find out in issue #10.

Okay, so we know Magik is smart and now Idie does too. It'd be nice if more of this team started acting like friends - maybe this is the start of something beautiful. I can't say I buy Magik undermining Cyclops on a whim but she lays out the dilemma then puts Idie in charge.

They walk into the trap by putting Cobb Sr to sleep. Idie's secret is pretty cute and an effective 'cost of magic' shorthand. I am wary that it refers to nostalgia about a time that was already hyper nostalgia, but I'm getting used to it. We get to see the Cobb family dynamic, utterly predictable.

I enjoy everything on this page.

- Cyclops and Psylocke sparring

- Expanding on Hank and Mags' budding relationship with reference to their history.

- Building on Beast's fear of becoming a monster again.

- Magneto being emotionally supportive.

No new information here, though I love a jab at Fabian Cortez. This is more of a reference than anything else, though it's good to see some self awareness from Max. Although, Cortez showed a lot of growth on Krakoa.

This is a nice moment too. This version of Hank was a massive horn dog. Not saying that's where it's going but he's gregarious and it does make sense to have him be welcoming to another non-passing mutant. Glob too, though he comes off as massive dork. We still don't know much about Jen or Ben which makes it hard to get invested. If they do stick around they'd be inflating a cast that's already being covered unevenly.

Okay, Piper is here and Scott isn't pleased. Idie would have a point but it would have taken 2 minutes to talk about it. Yeah she asked for help and came willingly but as Scott says she's a minor. Her home life looks miserable and tracks closely enough to many queer experiences, but society unfortunately says children are property. It sucks, but she needs support. Nobody wins when her mother calls the cops. Is this about Piper or Idie here? I would love to see Idie being the moral core of the team but this just makes her look naive and impulsive - which is at odds with her 15+ years of characterisation. She was in jail last year!

Piper reveals that the 'Wild Sentinel' was after her and the Iron Night was her 'fault.' It's left on a cliffhanger but let's hope this doesn't torch the X-Men's relationship with Merle, Alaska.

The Morrison thing - Psychic rescue, Quentin and Glob, scientists making mutants, Cassandra Nova, Xorn is still in his uniform from the time, wild sentinel mention (which is super bizarre and out of place.) It's a lot and I'm probably missing stuff. My question is who this is for? New readers will just be confused. Morrison super fans are more likely to roll their eyes, judging by responses to last issue.

Overall this issue was pretty good. It progressed the plot, gave us time with the 3 characters who'd been ghosts, introduced new information and setup conflict with the town for next issue. I really wish the creative team would get their batting average a little higher in terms of solid issues. 33.3% is low enough in the abstract to make me drop the book - and this is one of the better ones. I know we can do better than this and it disappoints me how aggressively mid the X-books are right now.

I'm starting to recognise the formula they're working off, with information dribbling out at a snail's pace to the point that any issue becomes skippable then ending on a cliffhanger that's rarely paid off quickly. Uncanny has the same issue, which makes me think it's an editorial problem. Hell, solicits usually give more information than issues do. I'm not talking about tropes, I'm talking about the narrative tricks that allow them to publish issues that move at a glacial pace and use nostalgia to disguise the characters not being developed. One can hope :)

[damallarky]

What I Liked About Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I keep seeing extremely negetive comments about Veilguard, even nearly two months after the game has been released, and that is insane to me.

Now, I'll admit that I had my own gripes about the game. But I have decided that I am not going to focus soley on the negatives. That makes me and everyone around me angry and miserable and that is not why I am on Tumblr.com. I am here for the memes and to talk about Dragon Age man.

So, I have decided to be the change I want to see in the world and make a non-exhaustive list of all of the things that I LIKED about Veilguard.

The Companions: I loved them. I loved their story arcs. I think they were well-written and very Dragon Age-y. They reminded me of the DA:O crew in a good way. I also can see what Bioware meant when they talked about the found family vibes.

The Art Style: This art style is my favorite out of all of the Dragon Age games. I've always prefered a more styalized look, because it's fun but mostly because it ages SO MUCH BETTER than a more realistic style in video games. Games like Zelda, Fable, etc still look pretty good today because they all have a more styalized look. At least in my opinion.

The Animation: This could go along with the art style, but I wanted to make it a seperate category. The animation in Veilguard was fantastic. The facial expressions on the characters were so well done. Ghila'nain moved like a Little Nightmares character which was great. Characters actually held onto their mugs!

The Voice Acting: Every Bioware game I've ever played has fantastic voice acting though. *shrugs*

The Seige of Weisshaupt: Was an absolutley fantastic moment in the game. Having a terrifying face hover over you while you desperately try to fight your way through the hordes of Darkspawn? Being led to safety by some random, badass kid? Davrin killing a Darkspawn's cousin last week? Lucanis not being able to stab a cloud? Perfection.

Being Able to Pet All the Cats and Dogs (and Assan): This speaks for itself tbh.

The Ossuary: Dude, walking into that funky underwater prison and seeing a massive aquatic creature swim by you was such a neat moment. I really enjoyed that area. That's also where we get to meet Lucanis and Spite, so yay!

The Fade Fish Tank: For similar reasons to above. I just think fish are cool ok? I also spent a little more time than I probably should have watching the fish swim back and forth.

Photo Mode: I love when games have a photo mode and I LOVED Veilguard's photo mode. I also love all of the photos that the community have been taking.

The Combat: The combat was really fun. I don't remember having as much fun with combat in a Dragon Age game as I had with Veilguard. You can tell the team put a lot of time and effort into it and it shows.

The Fact That We Got a Game At All: Look. After ten years of development hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if the game got scrapped. Yet somehow, despite the odds, the team at Bioware managed to deliver a finished game despite the odds stacked against them. Is it perfect? No. But it's here and it's real and out there for us to either love it or hate it despite the many times Bioware could have thrown in the towel.

Feel free to add to this list or talk about the things you liked about the game in the replies section! I know Veilguard has it's issues. Don't let the bad get in the way of the good.

[princessofgotham777]

Dating Jason Todd (Part Eleven)

fanfic type: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort (ongoing)

If you liked the Titans show but wish they handled Jason’s story line differently you might like this fic!

Hey so this is in fact my first time writing fanfiction (idk what my life has come to). Sorry if it’s cringy but also I would eat this up cause I LOVE some good angsty comfort fanfiction. I won’t write smut. I don’t think I’m gonna do requests but if you have any ideas feel free to let me know. Also of course I don’t own any DC characters this is purely fanfiction. Thank you and I hope you enjoy. (I hope you like run-on sentences💀) (if you don’t like it don’t be rude just move on dude😃🧍‍♀️)

So story line, this doesn’t really take place in any specific universe but I’m gonna be pulling concepts from Titans, Arkham Knight, The Batman, Under the Red Hood, and whatever lore I remember from the CW shows cause I grew up watching those, then just my imagination of course. Reader is referred to as she/her btw.

Warnings: talking about death, suicide, depression, torture (it’s not graphic I hate gore it’s just sad), talking about intimacy (not graphic), struggling with eating, topics of grief, violence, panic attacks, PTSD, talking about struggles of being over sexualized

Part Eleven: I miss you; you

You hurried past everyone and went upstairs.

“Where was she?” Thea asks.

Dick talks in a hushed tone and says, “she was sleeping in the grass by Jason’s grave. She said she was going to Chicago alone but I got her to let me come with so I can keep an eye on her.” Everyone is speechless except for Thea.

“Right so that’s insane,” she says as she walked past Dick and heads upstairs to Jason’s room.

“Y/N?” Thea says. She walks in on you packing a bag. You’ve already changed into skinny jeans, a tank top, and Jason’s leather jacket.

“Yeah?” You ask her. She walks up to you.

“Hey listen I know you’re hurting but you can’t push us away, you can’t push me away,” she says.

“I’m not pushing you away, I just can’t be in Gotham right now,” you say.

“So you asked Dick to go with you?” She says.

“I know it looks weird trust me…but if you went with me you’d make me feel better, I don’t want to feel better. Jason’s dead and he’s never coming back and I just want to be miserable in peace and Dick will let me do that,” you say. “Also if joker or another psycho pops up Dick will protect me,” you add. Thea stays quiet for a minute. “I know it doesn’t make sense,” you say.

“No…it does. I get the whole wanting to be miserable after someone you loves dies because I know that it is miserable and painful. When you need me I’ll be there okay?” She says.

“Okay,” you say.

“And I know this is shitty of me to say but as your best friend I just have to say don’t do anything…stupid,” she says.

“I would never…” you start to say but Thea cuts you off.

“I know…I just had to say it,” she says.

“I won’t, I promise,” you say. You know she means she doesn’t want you to lean on Dick too much, it is a shitty thing to say but you know she is valid for saying it. You’re a big believer in the hard truth so you appreciate Thea’s honesty.

You put your pink Chicago hat on and head downstairs to wait for Dick. While you’re waiting for him Rachel finds you.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi Rachel,” you say. She looks as though she wants to say something but is staying quiet. “Hey I just want you to know, these past few days I know I’ve been distant from you and it’s not that you’ve done something wrong or anything, it’s just…seeing you and talking with you reminds me of when I was a Titan and it reminds me of Jason.”

“Oh…” she says. “I was wondering but obviously I didn’t wanna push, I just haven’t talked with you much, like you said, and I just wanted to check in. I’m worried about you especially since now you’re heading to Chicago with Dick of all people,” she says.

“Why’s it weird I’m going with Dick?” You ask her trying to figure out how much she knows. To your knowledge only Jason, Bruce, and Thea know about your past with Dick.

“When I first met you guys, I asked you if anything ever happened between you and Dick and you said no, I guess you forgot I had a thing for knowing when people are lying,” she says. Your eyes go wide, Rachel knew the whole time. Every awkard look between you and Dick, every time you pulled him aside or was unusually bitter or gentle towards him; she knew about it all.

“You never said anything?” You say.

“I figured you two kept it a secret for a reason, then you told me you were falling for Jason and that was a shock but not a lie so I just left it alone. Dick doesn’t know that I know by the way,” she says.

“Does Gar or Kori know?” You ask.

“I don’t think Gar does, Kori has her suspicions, I know Donna knows though,” she says.

“Oh,” you say. “Do you still have the ability to notice lies?” You ask her.

“No unfortunately,” she says. “Why?” Before you can answer you see Dick walking towards you two.

“Ready?” He asks.

“Yep,” you say.

“I’ll bring the car around,” he says. “See you soon Rachel,”

“Bye,” Rachel says to him. “Wait so why ask about the lying thing?”

“No reason,” you say. “Just wondering.” You hug her goodbye and go get in the passenger seat of Dick’s silver Porsche. You didn’t want to tell Rachel the real reason is because you wanted to know for sure if subconsciously you felt anything for Dick. As Dick drove through the dark streets of Gotham you began to cry silently. This went on for about twenty minutes and then you started coughing.

“You okay?” He asks absentmindedly. You involuntarily start crying loudly.

“Shit…I’m sorry…sorry,” you say wiping your tears.

“Hey it’s okay,” Dick says.

“It’s not, just keep driving this is why I asked you to come with me…so I can just cry in peace,” you say.

You and Dick get to the old safe house in Chicago a couple hours later. You crash there and the next morning he finds you lying on the couch just staring at the ceiling.

“Morning,” he says as he makes coffee.

“Rachel knows by the way,” you say.

“Knows what?” He says.

“About our past,” you say.

“Oh…I always kinda figured she did,” he says.

“You didn’t think to tell me?” you say sitting up.

“She never actually said anything to me,” he says.

“Oh and Donna knows too?” You say.

“Okay Donna I did tell,” he says.

“Course you fucking did,” you say.

“Hey you and Donna used to be close,” he says.

“Yeah well that was a long time ago,” you say.

“It wasn’t but you keep telling yourself that,” he says.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You say angrily.

“Nothing,” he says as he sips his coffee.

“What do you mean?” You repeat.

He sighs, “when you and Jason left Gar, Rachel, Kori and Donna were honestly pissed you stopped coming around as much,” he says.

“Do you think I wanted to leave, I helped you make that team,” you say.

“Then why did you…no one made you follow Jason like a lost dog,” he says. You freeze in shock of how harsh he was being.

You smirk and say, “you sound like your old self Dick.”

“Yeah well that tends to happen when I’m around you,” he says.

“I didn’t follow Jason, I left because of how they treated him, because of how you treated him,” you say.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

“That’s not good enough,” you say. “Meet me in fifteen minutes, we’re going to that o little shop by the park.”

“Where you got your hat?” He asks.

“That’s the one,” you say.

You and Dick walk through the streets of Chicago. You can’t help but have flashbacks to the beginning of your time as a titan. It was in this city you finally discovered Jason was the second Robin. You and Rachel’s friendship started here. Your and Dick’s friendship ended here when your meaningless romance finally crashed and burned. These streets held so many moments from the past; the most painful ones though were the ones with Jason; because you know he’s never coming back.

Dick and you sit on a park bench that overlooks a duck pond. Behind you is the shop you got your pink Chicago hat from.

“This is where I found out Jason was Robin and where Rachel and I became friends,” you say. “It’s also where Jason bought me this hat,” you say. “The four of us were on the run from those crazy cult people and he thought it would help me hide.” Dick is quiet for a minute.

“I bought you the hat,” he say plainly.

“What?” You say.

“I was the one who bought you the hat, not Jason,” he says. Your speechless. “I know you hate me now but just remember once upon a time I cared about you, and you cared about me. Once upon a time we were friends,” he says. Tears begin escaping your eyes. You don’t even know what to say. “I know you hate me now but just know I think about you all the time. I think about before everything got so fucked up between us,” he says as a tear falls from his eye.

“I could never hate you Dick,” you say softly as you reach over to him. You look deep into his eyes searching for permission to touch his face. When he doesn’t brush your hand away you gently flick the tear from his skin. You snap out of it and rub your eyes. “Come on,” you say to him. You begin crossing the street and he follows you. You two walk back to the safe house in silence. More silence follows throughout the rest of the day. You two see eachother in the kitchen every couple of hours but don’t say anything. Sometimes one of you looks as though you’re going to say something but then they just turn away. Seeing him so broken is killing you. You thought bringing Dick with you would be a good idea, that he would simply allow you to be miserable. Your plan had clearly failed; all bringing Dick did was add to your list of reasons to cry. You lay on top of the covers in one of the bedrooms. You had changed to pjs which consisted of a pair of Jason’s sweatpants which were very oversized on you, and a light blue tank top. You were about to go try to find Dick when your phone rang. To your suprise it was Gar.

“Is everything okay?” You say answering the phone.

“Yeah I just…wanted to check up on you,” Gar says awkwardly.

“I’m as good as I can be and ps you’re a bad liar,” you say.

“What do you mean?” He says.

“Checking up on me? Gar why are you really calling?” You ask.

“I had a dream…about Jason,” he says.

“Oh?” You say.

“In the dream, he was just a regular guy, not Robin, and him and I were friends still and we were just at a record shop talking normally,” he says.

“That doesn’t sound bad?” You say confused.

“Exactly it just made me think what his life could’ve been like if he were never Robin, if he never worked with Batman and joined the titans,” Gar says.

“I’ve thought about that too,” you say.

“You have?” He says.

“Course, he always said being Robin was the best thing that ever happened to him,” you say.

“Until he met you,” Gar says. You smile for a moment but then a look of sadness returns to your face.

“Listen it’s pretty late I hate to hang up but just know you’re completely valid for wondering what could’ve happened,” you say.

“Don’t worry about it, thank you. I hope you can get some sleep,” he says.

“You too, bye Gar,” you say as you hang up.

You head into the kitchen and find Dick writing in a journal. He looks up at you for a moment then back down at his writing. You debate saying something but instead you walk past him to the stairs to the roof. It takes him a moment to register where you’re going but once he did he quickly goes after you.

In the stairwell he says, “please tell me your not gonna try to jump.”

“I’m not planning on it,” you say as you open the door to the roof. You and him stand there in your pajamas on the roof surrounded in the darkness of night. “I just needed some fresh air,” you say.

“You’ve got something against opening windows?” He says jokingly. You don’t laugh you simply look at him with sadness.

“What the hell happened to us,” you say.

Dick is quick to respond, “you and Jason clearly-“ he begins to say before you cut him off.

“No I mean what happened to you and i,” you say.

“Y/N,” Dick says.

“No just let me…just let me say this,” you say. “I’m sorry.”

“Y/N, you don’t need to apologize,” he says interrupting you.

“Dick for once in your life can you just let me talk without being interrupted please,” you say. “I’m sorry I treat you so horribly.” He looks visibly confused. “I know I snap at you and hold things against you and I know I expect too much of you and I’m sorry. You accepted me for who I am and saved my life. You allowed me into your world and…and,” you begin to cry. “I just miss our friendship. I never wanted you romantically. I know I said I did but that was only because that’s how I thought you saw me. I was just so used to guys only seeing my body and not my soul that that’s how I thought you saw me, and I didn’t want to lose you so I pretended to have feelings for you.” Dick looks utterly speechless. “I’m so sorry;” you cry.

“I’m sorry too,” he says. “I’m sorry I made you think that’s how I saw you. I only ever saw you as a friend. When you told me you had feelings I figured you also only saw me for my body. You never gave me a reason to think that but it wasn’t hard because of how people treat me,” he says. “I know what it’s like to be seen as a piece of flesh and I need you to know I never thought of you that way,” he says. You continue crying. “I’m sorry our issues got in the way of us being friends.”

“Would you ever consider trying to go back to how things were?” You asked him.

“That’s all I’ve wanted,” he says. He steps towards you and pulls you into a hug. You cry into his shoulder. You two go back inside and sit at the island in the kitchen. You grab two lemonades that are probably years old and slide one over to Dick.

“Okay so now that we’re good I have to ask something,” Dick says.

“Okay?” You say.

“It has to do with Jason, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about him,” he says.

“No it’s okay, I just want to have a normal conversation, no walking on eggshells necessary,” you say.

“Okay, so when you and Jason started dating I assume you told him stuff happened between you and I?” Dick says.

“Yeah,” you say.

“And? How’d he react?” Dick asks.

“Why do you wanna know?” You ask.

“I always wondered what Jason was like under his mask of jokes and recklessness,” Dick says.

“Jason wasn’t reckless.” You say. “Okay you gotta promise none of this stuff about Jason leaves this little roadtrip okay?” You say.

“I promise,” he says. “By the way I think it’s really sweet how you keep your and his relationship so close to your chest. You and him were always so protective over your bond and I never got to tell either of you that I admire that,” Dick says. You smile genuinely.

“Jason wasn’t reckless, anything he ever did like that he did either because he genuinely thought he was capable or because he was trying to prove himself to Bruce or to you or to the titans,” you say.

“Never to you?” He asks.

“Jason didn’t have to prove himself to me with reckless behavior, contrary to popular belief I am not attracted to chaos,” you say.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Dick says with a laugh.

“When I told Jason about you and I, I told him the truth. That the feelings were misunderstood and not communicated well. I never told him anything personal about you but I did tell him about when you saved me; he respected our past because of that,” you say.

“I had no idea, he always acted so standoffish toward me,” Dick says.

“You were his hero and you made him feel weak, like he needed to prove himself. And when he couldn’t do that he snapped at you because he never felt enough for you or Bruce,” you say.

“I know I was too harsh, I was too harsh with you too when you guys were titans,” Dick says. “Do you ever miss it? Being a titan?” Dick asks.

“Gar asked me the same thing the other night,” you say. “Me and Jason talked about it before, rejoining titans. It sounded good till we remembered how everything ended for us at the tower. I didn’t tell Gar this but Jason wakes up…” you correct yourself “he used to wake up screaming…he’d have nightmares about falling off the tower.”

“I’ve had nightmares about him falling too, I just replay him slipping out of my grasp sometimes when I can’t sleep,” Dick says. “I guess Jason and I were more alike than anyone noticed.”

“I noticed, once I found out Jason was Robin I noticed how similar you and him were,” you say.

“Okay confession,” Dick says. “When you told me you had romantic feelings for me I was so fucking scared,” he says laughing.

“Really?” You ask.

“You don’t understand like I thought I was going to throw up out of fear,” he says laughing.

“Why?” You ask laughing.

“I was scared to lose you and I didn’t feel the same way so I convinced myself I did,” he says. “What made you confess your fake romantic feelings anyway?”

“It was something you said,” you say.

“Oh?” He says.

“It was when that creep was stalking me and you made a comment about my body, I was in such a fucked up headspace I assumed you only saw my body and not really me so because I also didn’t want to lose you I acted like I wanted more than friendship,” you say.

“I’m sorry you felt that way,” he says.

“Thanks,” you say.

“No really I’m sorry, I know I already said this but you know I’ve had my fair share of being used for my body, and I’m so sorry I ever made you think that’s how I saw you,” he says.

“It wasn’t you it was just the circumstances, and I promise I never saw you like that either,” you say in a serious tone. You and Dick simply smiled at eachother just enjoying the moment. Things between you two felt right. Of course you were still miserable and full of sadness and rage because of the love of your life died in agony, but at least you revived a friendship.

“I don’t think I’ll ever fall in love again,” you say.

“Honestly that’s okay, don’t let any idiots tell you that you need to find someone else. If you do meet someone else great you deserve that but if you don’t that’s okay,” he says.

“Thanks,” you say. “There’s that no fucks given advice I so missed,” you say.

“Right, I missed giving you straightforward advice,” he says.

“I think I’m gonna head to sleep,” you say.

“Same honestly,” he says. You two get up but you freeze for a moment.

“Dick one more thing, at Arkham when we…when we found Jason’s…body. I’m sorry for snapping at you how I did,” you say.

“It’s alright, I can’t even imagine how you felt,” he pauses for a moment. “If you need someone to talk to, just remember I’m always here. No judgement, just like old times.”

“Thanks,” you say.

Hey, this part actually came out a decent length I feel like the others have been kinda short lately. I didn’t like the fact that Dick and Reader had a romance in the past and I also HATE the constant over sexualization of Nightwing so I figured I’d write some platonic angst and also touch on that cause it’s never talked about😭. Anyways if you want to see more parts please like and follow. Any positive feedback is always appreciated, it encourages me to keep writing and posting parts. I’m going to start developing the red hood plot line soon (I know Jason is supposed to be dead for a while but for the purposes of wanting to get to the point I’m probably just going to write he was dead for a few months). I hope you enjoyed the fic!

If you wanted to check out the other parts here’s a link to my Masterlist.

Masterlist

[thatguythatdrawsalot]

Weiss - Returning Home Design Critique.

Can you guys tell how much I like drawing Weiss compared to drawing Blake by the poses alone? Yeah, me too. I’ll do better starting now. I’ve been doing Blake dirty so she’s definitely someone I will come back to with more effort in the future.

RWBY Archives

Okay let’s hop into the archives, been covered in DUST for a good week- so the designers wanted to put Weiss in a high class outfit that made her look good at home and during her fancy parties whether it’s a short skirt or a long dress. I think they nailed it! She’s the Schnee Dust Company’s heiress and conglomerate at the time she was shown with this outfit on. I adore the sapphires on her, and the fact her jewels around her neck make it look like a fancy collar to symbolize Weiss stuck in her dad’s control is a good ol Show Don’t Tell example. It’s a really good performative dress that serves the two functions of being stuck at home and needing to sing in a concert… 

Fucking sucks it doesn’t serve it’s purpose on being on the road to go find Winter in Mistral! That’s because it wasn’t meant to, the description didn’t want this outfit to be a battle attire at all yet THIS was the outfit they wanted her to keep throughout her journey up to Atlas’ return. Yang can get a new outfit after leaving home but not Weiss? Are you kidding? Put ugly colored leggings and a dull red scarf all you want to jazz it up in being practical, it still looks downright ridiculous once she leaves home with this outfit still on.

It doesn’t feel like she took her journey seriously in finding Winter, this looks like a singer going on a world tour but a tragic crash happened and now she has to do everything she can to make it to her show without being late. A good spin off series idea for Remnant but not for Weiss’ character appearance. 

Hair

I forgot to make this “Hair Section” clear; I talk about both the HAIR and the MODELS. When it comes to Weiss’ model, I think it’s fine, the jump to Maya didn’t drastically make her look off compared to the other girls but there’s an issue I’ve heard other people talk about when it comes to Weiss’ model. I didn’t notice it until Volume 7 but it started in Volume 4 apparently… the bust size. Now I’m a dude so I won’t talk about it that much, I just wanted to shed light on it and give my own input? Personally, I thought she was fine, still looked the same to me, but in Volume 7 and beyond it’s much more obvious.

Now for her hair this is a nitpick and something I would’ve said in a Design Critique of Weiss’ Vale Outfit but I don’t think I’ll ever get around to it unless it’s a commission- but for her hair… I don’t get the symbolism. I just don’t. In the Character Short it’s in a ponytail, perfect symmetry, but then it cuts to her ponytail on the side. Is it a symbolism of defiance? Wouldn’t Jacques correct Weiss in having her hair be perfect center than on the left? And this is me coming to my own conclusion, I don’t know if this is canon or me grasping at straws for the reason of her changing her hairstyle. I don’t get the hype but this is just a nitpick.

Primary Color - White?

I’ll give them this, they do the “Hiding Her True Self” better for Weiss than for Blake. Weiss isn’t herself, she’s hardly wearing white and that’s okay for what she’s going through. My issue is that this is a visual medium where color is important. I get that gray is a depressing color that WORKS for Weiss’ mood of being miserable and depressed… but so does pretty blue! In every poster for the new volume and promotional material they got this girl in the prettiest shades of blue that I would’ve loved to see in the show proper than dull gray! Why are they feeding me lies with the colors??? Depression Blue is more visually pleasing to see than Lifeless Gray, they’ve admitted it themselves with how they present Weiss on their art and even in the former Amity Mobile Game!

Positives?

I can’t really call it a positive when I say the outfit looks best in one location, being her house. It’s everything I love with everything I hate, it shows me what she’s like at home, not what she’s like afterwards so why insist she wears this after leaving home? 

Redesign

I hate Ciel Soleil and the Ace Operatives' existence because it makes designing an outfit tricky for Weiss to make sure she doesn’t look like Ciel or have too similar of a color palette to the Ace Ops. Although, I think I did good. An outfit she can wear while on the search for Winter in Mistral. She wears this AFTER leaving Atlas the second time. Red is still restricted as that color to me symbolizes Freedom, but I wouldn’t say she’s free just yet until she’s reunited with her loved ones such as her teammates, but the thought counts so instead there’s a tiny red earring than some fancy jewelry. I also got rid of the tiara again, she’s not the heiress anymore and she doesn’t need it. 

I do think it’s rather… boring? Like the skirt is just too plain, could’ve done a better pattern at the end of it than a black line across. The puffy sleeves also have been confirmed to look like poo given Ruby’s own puffy sleeves, but a boy can dream that RWBY makes puffy sleeves look good in the Maya engine. I also think the corset is plain as frick- really I think this redesign is just too plain, maybe simplicity was too much for this one.

Shout out to @storm-ismyusername they inspired me to actually play around with color variations from blue which is popular on Weiss, to Periwinkle which pushes the ice theme too, and Light Blue to go with her eyes.

Conclusion

Said it before and I’ll say it again “Hate has won over love.” This outfit would’ve been on a Top 5 Best Weiss Outfit for me if it just got stuck in solely being worn in the Schnee Manor, it had everything I love for a character trapped in home in which the outfit is just for show, not for the profession she desires instead. An outfit that tells you that she’s unhappy. Instead this girl forgot to pack a battle outfit when going to find her sister or the budget was cut in making a new design for her that was more appropriate for her journey. An unnecessary short skirt, bedazzled jewels, fly-off heels and restrictive looking sleeves made of the thinnest material with the ugliest shades of gray ever is something never to be worn when fighting monsters on Remnant. This outfit did everything I love for a defeated character before it did everything I hated in a combat outfit that the show runners insisted the outfit become when it originally wasn’t. This hurts because I DID love it at one point, but now it’s just become nonsensical.

But of course, it’s just my opinion. If you love this design or hate the design, please share your opinion. I’d love to hear it! :D

[lurkingshan]

Theory of Love Episode 4: Crazy Stupid Love

Finally, a decent movie! Crazy Stupid Love is a solidly written film with a ridiculously talented cast, and while there are not really any direct character parallels to Third like in previous films, I can see why its themes would speak to him. A brief synopsis of the movie:

Cal is a middle-aged family man whose wife Emily suddenly announces that she cheated on him and wants a divorce. This sends him into a tailspin until he meets Jacob, a local hoe who has perfected his routine for hitting on women, who decides to help Cal rebuild his confidence. Cal gets into hookup culture but is still miserably pining for his ex wife, Emily tries to move on but can't let go of Cal, and Jacob meets Hannah, who breaks through his player persona and changes his perspective on relationships. Meanwhile, Cal's son Robbie inappropriately tries to pursue his babysitter Jessica, while Jessica has her (far too young) eyes on Cal. In the end, Cal and Emily are still separated, but everyone's emotions are out in the open and there's hope they may reconcile.

The film believes that earnest expressions of love are always worthwhile and can change people, and also that feeling deep love for someone when your feelings are not mutual can be a torment. I can see both of these ideas speaking to Third, and I think there are multiple characters in the film that he can connect to in some way. Cal, who is pining for the person he believes is his soulmate. Robbie and Jessica, who are both hopelessly in love with someone they can never have, but can't seem to let go. Jacob, who meets someone who takes over his brain and steals all his attention. But most of all, I think Third would want to see himself in Hannah, the girl who shook Jacob up so much that he stopped playing around and fell in love.

And in this episode, Third starts to get a taste of that reality, only to have the rug cruelly pulled out from under him when he realizes Khai has been intentionally testing him to figure out his feelings. The episode is constructed to bring us along with Third as Khai's behavior toward him suddenly becomes more attentive and solicitous. Third struggles with himself as he begins to believe Khai's feelings for him are changing in the way he hoped, and also tries not to let himself believe it. We wonder right alongside Third what's driving the change in Khai's behavior and start letting our guard down, only to have it revealed that this is all a scheme Bone and Khai cooked up because Bone thinks Third likes Khai, and Khai wants to prove that he doesn't.

There's no defending this behavior: Khai is wrong to test Third in this way, no matter what he believes is true (and Bone is also an asshole for suggesting and encouraging it). To try to trick his friend into revealing something about himself, including things about his sexuality that he has every right to keep private, is horrifying, and Khai shouldn't have done it. He is telling himself there's no harm done because he's just confirming what he already wants to believe--that Third doesn't like him like that--but there's a big element to this that is more about assuaging Khai's own fear and anxiety, and he's prioritizing that over being decent to Third. If nothing else, being messed with and manipulated this way is humiliating and hurtful, and Third deserves much better treatment from his best friend.

That said, I like the way this scheme between Khai and Bone parallels the way Third and Two have been scheming in the previous couple episodes; Bone begins to suspect Third's feelings because of all of Third's attempts to get Khai's attention without actually confessing. All of these boys need to grow up and talk to each other rather than playing these games, and it's telling that Third and Khai were both led down this stupid path of manipulation and lies based on advice from their mutual friends. These dudes are simply not equipped to be helping each other through these emotionally complex situations. Their behavior feels right for emotionally immature young men fueled by toxic masculinity, but lord do I want to give them all a good slap.

This is the first time in this story that Third's anger feels proportional to what Khai did, and I appreciate that the way the episode is shot and framed makes it feel different than his previous self-inflicted sadness. Crazy Stupid Love is a smartly constructed movie that intentionally holds back information and uses surprise reveals to reframe character interactions and relationships in crucial moments, and I love that the show borrowed from that style for this episode. As a result, we experience the same emotional whiplash that Third does, and his sense of betrayed anguish at the end lands much stronger than any previous iteration we've seen from him. I continue to be really impressed with how the show is using these films to inform the themes and construction of the story for each episode, it's well done.

[brights-place]

Hi !! If it’s not to much of a bother could I request a Clay x Male Reader? Maybe Reader is really extroverted and helps Clay be more silly? Ty !!

Clay X Extrovert M! S/O

Pairing: Clayy X M! S/O

Warnings: Fluff FLUFF AND MORE FLUFF

A/N: LOVELYYYY! I love clay so much he is so cuteeeeeeee

- CLAY IS LIKE THE SHOULDER TO LEAN ON IN THE RELATIONSHIP WHILE YOUR THE CHAOTIC BALL OF ENERGY HE LOVES JAGSOWBD

- Clay may use to be the funny one but he’s definitely smart (HE’S AN LICENSED CPA PUT SOME RESPECT ON HIS NAME FOOL!)

- Clay when first seeing you when he first arrived to putt putt village he was in awe.

- you were like Viva but… 100X More energetic which was terrifying to him at first

- Wondered how an troll like you had so much energy.

- Multiple things caught his attention about you… too many things…

- You where electric and hyper yet soothe and calming when needed to be he witnessed that when you comforted an troll who was having an panic attack

- He was in awe at how quick you switched up

- What he also noticed about you was that your pupils would grow about something you like or are daydreaming and shrink back when your brain is like being deep fried with information

- He giggled at how your doe eyes grow

- you were the one that made his romper outfit as an welcome gift and he cherished it.

- He enjoys the fact that you know all the choreography to the brozone songs and mainly his parts but wouldn’t speak up about it cause he was still in his ‘I don’t wanna talk about my past’ era

- Clay is VERY Petty (We all saw how he was with John Dory) now imagine that if you did something bad…

- You’d literally bother him so he can go back to talking to you and not be an petty tall shi-

- AHEM! Anywaysssss Clay would notice the smallest details about you and how your emotions shift abit before going back to normal in situations. - When John dory or his brothers hug him he freezes but when you do it? dude will melt and hug you back quickly as John dory would stare in utter confusion while Bruce, and floyd snorted while Branch makes eye contact with poppy who scooches closer towards him while Viva laughs

- Bought you an plushie of an character you REALLY liked

- Was mad at the plushie since you hugged it to bed instead of hugging him

- He threw the plushie to the wall and then made sure you clinged to him instead which made you laugh.

- Literally staring at his baby and teen photos with an Wtf look

- “Babe why do you have yellow hair then but your hair now is like green?” “well that’s because-“ Literally furrowed eyebrows “that’s because… holy shit wait”

- overtime he got used to it and even got used to you kicking open the admin room with your foot just to annoy him and rant to him about the dumbest things or just about something you enjoy.

- He had written an schedule about when you enter take up his time then leave and would always keep that space and time open just for you and would stay in the same spot for an moment waiting for you to enter and as soon as you enter he starts the timer.

- He fell first and you fell harder

- He realised his emotions about you and went to Viva about it

- Viva couldn’t stop squealing loudly

- Her TWO best-friends liking each-other was everything to her

- She literally plotted and sketchbooked ideas on how Clay would confess

- Clay would seek out his brothers help since viva’s plans where… So corny

- His brothers helped him out to try ask you out and gave tips and comforted him when he freaked out abit

- “WHAT IF THEY DON’T LOVE ME BACK?! IM SO SCARED WHAT IF IM NOT GOOD ENOUGH?! WHAT IF THEY DONT LOVE ME JUST THE WAY I AM?!”

- He freaked out and started clutching his chest that Floyd had to soothe him which worked pretty well.

- Literally forgot everything he was taught once he saw you again

- He loves your hair, your eyes, personality and how you currently where cheering and dancing to some music

- tried to confess to you and failed miserably

- YOU WERE OBLIVIOUS

- He tried about Two times to confess to you but failed

- Literally ended up saying “Dude I like this person but every time I try to confess to them they don’t even know what’s going on” “Yikes dude just straight up tell them!” “okay”

- He literally confessed as you nodded saying that’s how it was suppose to go.

- Man had to grab you by the shoulders and speak slowly “I Like You”

- Flustered mess THE BOTH OF YOU

- You went on an few dates before starting to go out on your third date when you kissed him by accident cause he got you some flowers - He loves how you bounce off walls like an Bouncy ball and then run into his arms as he just says your name in the softest tone ever

- Literally if you scream out “THATS MY BOYFRIEND!” To Clay and doing his choreography in the front row which made Him blush and his brothers snicker at Clay.

- WHEN CLAY SAW YOU ONCE WITH LAZY EYES AND HELD AN RESTING BITCH FACE THE FIRST TIME IN THE MORNING HE WAS LIKE ‘OH DAMN?!’

- You two would mostly hangout together at his office sometimes or at your place most of the time at your place

- Shy about Pda in public but in private he peppers your face with kisses and teased you

- He likes to drop his serious side sometimes around you, you make him feel safe and you do too.

- He loves when you soothe and remind him that it’s okay to be funny and goofy in some moments

- He cries when you say that and cuddle this man 24/7 - He made you join his sad book club you two cuddled eachother bawling your eyes out together

- Small kisses on the cheek and knuckles when walking past each other while working sometimes

- you and him having dance battles at 3 am out of boredom

- gave you the job of stamping some papers… never again

- His face was covered in stamp marks aswell his hair is so fluffy and would melt in your hands if you play with his hair or brush it

- You remind him to take breaks and if he doesn’t you drag him out He’d literally blush when you got matching wrist hands like him yours an F/C as his are green.

- if you cup his face and squish it he would do it back to you oves having his arm on your waist or ontop of your head to remind you He’s taller as you try to bite him

- if your too hyper sometimes he’d pick you up by the armpits and keep you up in air jail for abit or hug you by the waist and keep you on the spot till you relax.

- He’d explain to you about his job if you ask and would be shocked by the fact that you understood it quickly - You actually had no idea and was just pretending like you understood - You let him be energetic and chaotic and he loves you for that so much

reblogs + comments are appreciated ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

©brights-place 2023 — do not repost on another platform, copy, translate or edit my works! if you fit my DNI list please don't interact

[toddianuzzi]

Hello! I’m wondering what you like so much about Todd? Why is he your favorite, and what makes him so appealing to you? Hope this doesn’t sound rude, I love the dedication and I’m genuinely curious why you love him so much! Can’t wait to hear, thank you!

really appreciate this message, hope that this reply doesn’t come off as too obnoxious or long.

I think a majority of Todd’s appeal comes in what you don’t see of him. We only ever really see what the boys see of him, but he is a character full of implications. He’s an alcoholic dropout and his car of choice is a Duster. It’s sleek, yet it’s cheap. It’s what he is. His style / design is outdated, even for 90s nowhere Texas. His personality is unusual and disruptive, even for Highland. He acts on impulse and has no real motivations because he’s a miserable, desperate guy fresh into independence. He’s really nice to girls, he has all the casual girlfriends he can get in town and yet he only really keeps one regular friend in Slade. He’s a bit like Beavis and Butt-Head, he just hates himself. In Taint of Greatness, Judge mentions basing him on a troublesome middle child, some kid from a family that all went in and out of jail. He just acted out to make other people miserable.

Think it’s worth noting/debating that, at first, it didn’t even seem like Todd was really in a gang, he just hanged around other miserable guys his age. Think the boys probably just assumed that he was cool enough to have a gang, at least at that point in the show. In (This Book Sucks), the map of Highland notes that the park is where the “cool seniors” and “dudes who are too cool for college” hang. Think these two parts of the book are notable, considering they were written by the dudes that suggested Todd as a character in the first place.

In Crush and Date Bait, when Judge was still voicing him, the running joke with Todd seemed to be that he made excuses to not really hurt people. He acted out of line and he’d threaten, but he still had some kind of restraint/concern for how people would think of him. It’s an interesting shift when Toby Huss starts voicing him in Safe House. Toby seemed to play him much more whiny/snappy, less smooth/slow and much more threatening, given Todd was way more violent after he had dropped out of school. Toby’s an interesting guy all on his own, I like him plenty.

Back on Todd, safe house also noted the first time he really exhibited any real criminal behavior, he wasn’t going into hiding when he was just a senior kid being a local nuisance. He has his own personal enemies and real adult problems at this point in the show. He can’t get away with everything, and he doesn’t know how to deal with that, so he takes it out on the kids that still like him regardless. He is still self-conscious and the boys still embarrass him, but when he gets desperate they stay reliable.

Kind of stupid to think about, but I do notice as I get older it gets harder for me to relate to the boys. They are mascot characters. Not a bad thing, they stay reliable. They don’t change much, even in their old age. Todd changes, slightly, but he’s like a twenty year old. Todd has plenty capacity to change. I think this Reddit comment kind of put it best, when debating his and other side characters’ futures. I really liked finding this.

Think most of my latching to his design/character and even most of my artistic motivation directly links to how other fans lack in exploring him, I felt that as a kid in the fan spaces too. Highland is full of complicated characters that are very easy to write/draw. It’s a brilliant show, blah blah blah. Todd is somehow always an outlier and that never made sense to me.

And I mean I think he’s hot. I am not immune to the floating hearts and heavenly choir. his arms made little boy feel weird. Think I was too embarrassed to even draw him until making this account I won’t even lie to you.

[deafeningfanlight23]

NEXUSSSSSSS IS F*CKEEDDDDD

WAIT, I think... I smell something...

Is it maybe... THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS, NEXUS???

OH I AM SPITTING BARS RN 💅✨

But like HE IS F*CKED SO F*CKED DAMN HE REACHED NEW LEVELS OF BEING F*CKED, DID I MENTION THAT HE MAY BE F*CKED??? 😭

But like bro those sounds Nexus made cuz of the pain sounded demonic 😭🙏 LIKE BRO I THOUGHT HE ABOUT TO TURN INTO THIS VILLAIN NAMED VENOM 😭

And the part with Ruin and Dark Sun was JUST DAMN???

First, WHY WAS THERE SOME ORCHESTRAL MASTERPIECE SUDDENLY IN THE BACKGROUND, LIKE WE GOT THAT OPERA SPIRIT GOING ON XD

Second, WHY DO I FEEL BAD FOR RUIN KINDA?? 😭 Like, listen before you gonna sent me flying out of the window: THIS GUY'S MISERABLE RN FR 😭

And third, DARK SUN'S PLANS REVEALED??? Someone gotta do a exposed video on that on YouTube 😭🙏 But like what does he mean he does it for our Sun as I understood it, LIKE IS THERE A "SUNS SUPPORT SUNS" THING GOING ON?? 🤔

BUT, I HAVE A THEORY THAT MAKES NO SENSE >:D We gotta love that type of stuff :D SOOO, maybe Dark Sun has some trauma (LIKE BRO C'MON THIS GUY JUST STINKS WITH SOME REPRESSED TRAUMA, AND HE THE VILLAIN LIKE DUDE NO DENYING 🙄) cuz of his Moon that is like a BIT dead now and he has some racism towards Moons ig now?? 😭 So he sees all Moons as selfish pricks and tries to help OUR Sun break free from the relationship by INSTILLING WITHIN HIM hatred towards MOONS as well, that's why maybe Dark Sun INTENTIONALLY made Nexus go a bit silly BECAUSE HE WANTED IT TO BE SO AND THAT SUN LOSES MORE HOPE IN HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH NEXUS AND MOON GENERALLY AND DOUBTS ABOUT IT MORE AND DEVELOPS HATRED TOWARDS NEXUS AND DISTRUST TOWARDS MOON! DARK SUN KNEW IT ALL ALONG CUZ HE MASTERMIND, HE ALASTOR 2.0 AND PULLS THE STRINGS! (Bro you can't imagine how Matpat-be-like I feel rn 😭🙏) So, this is like a REALLY MESSED UP WAY to help Sun, BUT, THERE'S ALWAYS A BUT, his deep-seated hatred towards Moons leads him to believe that Sun's relationship with Moon could NEVER work out, which we... saw relatively often tbh, LIKE DAMN THEY HAD MANY FIGHTS AND HAD SEVERAL INSTANCES WHERE THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS JUST STEPS AWAY FROM BREAKING, and he believes it's TOXIC AS F*CK which... fair enough 😭 However, he PROJECTS ONTO SUN MORE THAN ME ON FICTIONAL CHARACTERS 😭

So, sorry for the rant, and yeah like the theory is SH*T QWQ

TUNG :D

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Propaganda why Dr. Heinrich Faust is insufferable:

"Dude is an old disgruntled man that does nothing but complain. He gets the coolest sidekick (Mephisto) who grants him the power of looking hot and young again and what does Faust do with that power ?

-- no suspense here we all read the play. He seduces an underage girl (Gretchen), impregnates her then fucks off to party with a bunch of witches for 9 months, after wich Gretchen is sentenced to death for killing the resulting infant after you know....BEING A SHELTERED YOUNG WOMAN NOT REALLY KNOWING WTF TO DO WITH A NEWBORN.

And then Faust cries to her about it in prison.

Faust sucks. "

"INSANE over him being submitted and SURE i'll go along with it. He is supposed to be insufferable, clearly. Which REALLY starts in the Gretchentragödie. Where he (middle aged scholar) tries to get with a 14yr old girl (and manages to) and kills like her whole family. The reason this is extra infuriating is because in the first part of the drama he's actually quite relatable. Whining about how he has nothing to live for and how he studied everything there was at the time and he STILL doesn't get what the world's really about. He also recognizes that nature and culture have a lot to offer instead. So what does he do when a demon promises him a fulfilled life in a deal? Of course he decides to groom a 14yr old. Cool writing, there's a reason it's a classic. But yeah, he's Supposed to suck and be infuriating. He acts like a little BITCH towards mephisto, the demon, asks him for shit all the time, like a toddler. In my opinion, gay sex would have fixed him. If a demon told me he'd give me anything to make life worth my time i know who I would bang instead of the 14yr old. Not only does he wanna be with her but he's so BAD at it too. Failure of a man. You WILL want to punch him"

"Rarely have I ever loathed a character as much as Faust.

He starts relatable enough, wanting to know more than possible and stuff, but he is incapable of accepting a no. Desperation and hubris are fun, don't get me wrong, but he is so incredibly annoying about it.

My main issue is his obsession with Gretchen though. Like. My guy gets deaged into youth and needs to fuck the first girl he sees. Buddy, she's, like, 16 At Most (probably 14 actually but I don't remember). You're literally an old fuck of a professor. And like, you literally keep calling her a child and ignoring all her concerns and her values! The only times you agree with her are to placate her so you can still get in her pants!!

And like. He literally admits this outright. He literally says he doesn't care what happens to her as long as he gets what he wants. He manipulated a teenage girl into accidentally murdering her mother during their first time. Then he leaves her alone! She's pregnant, that's a death sentence!

And AFTER the fever dream of Walpurgis Night or whatever he's like "ohhhh I love you so much please run away with me and abandon all your values again" LITERALLY SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS YOUR FAULT.

YOU LITERALLY HAVE A LIFE TIME OF EXPERIENCE YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING AT ALL TIMES YOU'RE A MISERABLE ARSEHOLE WHO KILLED HER AND SOMEHOW YOU STILL DON'T RESPECT HER AS LIKE A HUMAN????

Like even for the time! That's fucked up! Even in the fucking context of Goethe's time that is messed up!!

Anyway I haven't yet gotten to read the second book but I'll do it literally just to watch Faust die. I need him to die so badly. He's such a horny, selfish, holier-than-thou bastard who thinks he's better than everyone because he's do "big picture" and "studied all fields of science" and then acts Like That. I'm chewing on his remains. I hope he suffers forever.

Like. You could have done anything. But instead you manipulated a teenage girl (and like, literally, not the tumblr usage) just to sleep with her, doomed her for your own pleasure and then had the gall to throw a fit and make her death all about yourself, and still didn't acknowledge her as a person even once. I hope you choke on your ego, Dr. Heinrich Faust."

Propaganda why Victor Frankenstein is insufferable:

"Victor Frankenstein is so pathetic not even tumblr could love him. The best parts of Frankenstein are the ones where your blessedly saved from being in his whiny, self deprecating, self centered pov. He’s so conceited that when his creation tells him directly “In revenge for killing the wife you were making for me I’m going to kill YOUR wife to see how YOU like it!”, Victor Frankenstein thinks that the creation is going to kill him and *only* him. (A decision And on top of it, he’s a shitty dad. Truly the worst.c

"this fucker has zero self awareness, which could maybe be fun to read about! except that 3/4 of the book consists of him constantly woe-is-me-ing about his own mistakes and how he shouldn't be responsible for any of his own actions."

"He's not irredeemable, but his refusal to take accountability til it's too late is irritating"

"The man has never one in his life taken responsibility for his own actions. He's always surprised when the things he does have consequences for him and the people around him.

"It's not my fault I spent months grave robbing for spare body parts, sewing them together, and giving life to the results. How could I have ever predicted that that creature wouldn't look quite right? How could I have known that it was wildly irresponsible to abandon the grown man sized newborn that I created?"

Man acts like he is a completely innocent victim when, in reality he's the cause of every one of the problems in the book."

[cawslew]

bsd anon breaks in again!!! ah, so, to the point about the secure life. i think i see what you're laying down (that all his life experiences would deny him the ability to "accept" a stable life), but i was more just talking about: i think there was an excerpt (or maybe i accidently delusioned fanfiction into canon) that dazai outlines that he could provide akutagawa with enough money to bury his friends and give prevent gin and akutagawa from ever worrying about survival ever again vs. joining the mafia but he warns that he will absolutely subject him to hell as his subordinate. it's not really an active choice as i view akutagawa as someone whose ability to dream about the future was stolen from him by the circumstances he was born in. i agree that he probably couldn't imagine another choice. because dreaming is a privilege for those who don't need to worry about their survival, for those who were given a haven somewhere to nurture their own hopes (to which, half-key, i kind of assume atsushi's was reading as it seemed he could get access to books, but akutagawa had nothing but what he could fight to obtain and preserve, which included the people he protected) so, akutagawa wasn't really given a "choice" despite the illusion dazai offered. this also plays into my suggestion that he plays into the system he fell into as well. because the mafia exists as a darkness to be controlled but not one that people would willingly indulge in (at least, this view is partially influenced by how i view mori as someone who decides to play into necessary evil to the world and minimize unnecessary damage). i think akutagawa doesn't "fight back" as in he can't imagine himself to be any better than who he believes he is currently. he might have gin, but generally, he cuts off his underlings and fights as a lone dog. the "fight" against the system i meant was kind of influenced by his beast version who, due to the ada reaching out to him, allows him to accept that regardless of his view of himself, there might be something for him out there, even after learning his entire life and existence doesn't matter due to some object some dude who stole his sister told him to guard. he's just a bit more grounded, perhaps not dreaming of a good life or anything, but looking more into himself through different lenses and challenging his own self perceptions. at the very least, i think this difference influenced why beast!sskk had a bit of a nicer chat and connected over shared trauma (because beast!akutagawa is a little more open) vs. canon!sskk where i think the only circumstance to get akutagawa to open up is in battle with an opponent strong enough to not die but takes no pride in their feats of strength because akutagawa comes in seeking battle. although honestly, it's been a bit since i read those chapters, so maybe i misremembered them too. but yeah, no, i'm not trying to assert akutagawa chose to become who he is because, he clearly didn't. he lacked stable mentor figures and then got taken in by another kid (because no matter how smart the guy is, he's still like... a teen... and i doubt mori was that fatherly to him since he is too focused on being a "objectively for the greater good in the shit system we're in" guy) who was stuck on a path to misery (because i'm certain the port mafia boss as a role makes the person inhabiting it beyond miserable no matter who falls into it) but doesn't try to deviate from it because he also can't imagine shit for himself. the tidbit about why akutagawa and dazai clash due to different views was really interesting though. i never thought about it like that. sorry, these become real chunky. i didn't know if asks allow line breaks so i can separate some of this, although i swear this used to have a character limit, so i'm surprised tumblr hasn't stopped me from yapping this long. or maybe you're getting a truncated version of this haha.

No worries about the length, I love the analysies and ideas, always glad to engage in any asks thats being send my way!

First, regarding the "secure life" offer, I get what you mean now. You’re talking about the idea that Dazai technically laid out another option for Akutagawa, but Akutagawa himself was never in a mental or emotional position to accept it. And honestly, I think that’s a really solid take. Even if Dazai had hypothetically handed him the means to leave and live peacefully with Gin, that doesn’t mean Akutagawa had the framework (I think that word can be used) to even recognize that as an existing path. When you grow up in a world where survival is your only concern, and where you've never been shown a real alternative, something like "safety" doesn’t even register as a possibility. So in that sense, I completely agree, he never really had a choice, because choosing requires being able to envision multiple paths, and that was stolen from him long before Dazai ever showed up.

Akutagawa and his relationship to the system however... hmm... thats an interesting angle to take overall, pronto. He is deeply loyal to the mafia, but he also seems to exist at its fringes, refusing to integrate into it socially or politically the way someone like Chuuya does. He isolates himself, fights alone, and views himself as expendable. That’s not necessarily the behavior of someone who believes in the system per say, more like someone who doesn’t see any way out but also refuses to fully submit. It’s more like he’s enduring the system rather than actively upholding it, though that distinction is very subtle.

Your comparison between Beast!Akutagawa and canon!Akutagawa is really compelling too. In Beast, he has the ADA to reach out and pull him toward a different self-perception, where in canon,

the only time he can express vulnerability is through combat. I think that idea is especially interesting when you bring up how Akutagawa only really "opens up" when faced with an opponent who does not take pride in strength. That’s such a key observation because it suggests that Akutagawa, deep down, is looking for something beyond power, even if he doesn’t know it. He clashes with Dazai because Dazai rejects meaning entirely, while Akutagawa desperately wants there to be meaning in strength, even if he doesn’t know what that meaning should be.

Also, your point about Dazai being "just a kid" when he recruited Akutagawa is super relevant and often overlooked (Which is one of the facts I really am passionate about, I've yappeed about it to my dear friend on vc for hours on multiple occassions, haha, I think im tiring him up with that at this point). People tend to analyze him as this all-knowing manipulator, but at the end of the day, he was still a teenager himself, shaped by the warped philosophy Mori instilled in him. It makes me wonder if Akutagawa and Dazai’s relationship is partly a case of generational trauma being passed down—Dazai brutalizes Akutagawa under the same logic Mori used on him, believing it to be "necessary." But just like Mori’s lessons didn’t help Dazai find meaning, Dazai’s "teachings" only left Akutagawa trapped in the same spiral of violence. (Which now that I actually think about, the cycle of abuse is not just the repetition of abusive behavior but also the projection of one's internalized self-perception onto another person, treating them in ways that reflect how the abused individual has learned to see and treat themselves as a result of their own experiences/abuse.)

Anyhow, I am always glad for those discussions, as they DO make me think a bit more deeply about how I analyze the story and characters as well, haha.