#he seems equal to the gods

[maegalkarven]

Also there're so many reasons why durge might want to deny Bhaal, aside from general "killing is bad, the god of murder is bad."

Orin betrayed them and it was somewhat from silent approval of Bhaal, so "god betrayed me first" kind of narrative. A desire to get revenge, on Orin AND on Bhaal.

A desire to live. Durge's fate, Durge's Destiny is to literally kill everyone and then themselves. What if they want to live? What if desire to live is stronger than desire to kill?

Alternatively, what if there's someone they don't want to kill? A single person for Durge to care about, a single person they would want to save instead of bloodying father's altar with their blood. A single connection like that is all what it would take.

A desire to break free. Durge can be completely okay with murders, loving murdering people even, reveling in violence. But they're their father's puppet and they could want to break free of it, to have their own will, to have only their voice in their head. To be a master of themselves with no one to kneel to.

The "I'm better than my father" kind of mindset. Durge is made of a flesh of a god, in a sense they ARE god. Bhaal was mortal once. Why would Durge listen to him when they can attempt to overthrow him, to become a new god?

Being compelled to other side. It's not unknown for gods to steal each other's followers/chosen ones. Look at Ketheric, look at Shadowheart. Myrkul is recently chosen-less after the Moonrise Towers. Bane would love to fuck with Bhaal like that. Shar is there. Good gods who would try to redeem Durge or use them against their own father are there. It would be a delightful power move from Selune to offer Durge assistance/ an alliance against Bhaal.

Idk, I just love how multidimensional the defiance of Bhaal can be. I have a lil army of Durges exactly because I can mold them into such different people

[derangedrhythms]

Other men seem ants compared to him. I am physically attracted to no-one else. All the complexities of my soul & mind are involved inextricably with him. 

Sylvia Plath, The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume II: 1956–1963 ⁠—Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse Beuscher, 11th July 1962

[i-am-creacheur]

okay listen. I get the urge to talk about my favorite life series ship like it's Canon in every season...BUT. THAT HAS NEVER ONCE BEEN THE CASE.

Yes, Jimmy would be upset if Tango canaried (technical scientific term for that). Everyone would be- even I would be, and I've never watched a single one of his videos. Canarying sucks, and it hurts. Of course I would be upset. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I THINK JIMMY WOULD BREAK DOWN SOBBING FROM A CHARACTER STAND POINT. They have had only like... THREE on screen interactions. One is Tango murdering a man infront of Jimmy and another is Tango cheerfully burning down something one of Jimmy's teammates worked very hard on. WildLifeChara!Jimmy has more reason to hate or be afraid of WildLifeChara!Tango than to be madly in love with him.

I promise you, if Tango had offered Jimmy a life instead of Ren, people wouldn't shut up about for MONTHS. But, because it's Ren, somehow the interaction isn't NEARLY as homoerotic??? I understand having NOTP's, but the Jimmy/Ren ship doesn't even show up ONCE on ao3. Zero fics. ZE-RO. There's no reason to hate something that doesn't even exist.

This same concept applies for Flower Husbands as well- not just in Wild Life, and Secret Life and Limited Life and Last Life and Real Life though- in Empires.

I have no clue about Empires Season 1, but they barely interacted in Empires Season 2- and yet the amount of ship art I sift through on a weekly basis for my side blog is actually insane. Yeah, the few interactions WERE important, but I think Scott only flirted (in video) with Jimmy maaybbeeee three times. I have no idea what the count of that for streaming is, but I swear it is not enough to keep that number so inflated.

Although, honestly, this problem might just be affecting me because of my personal view on shipping- if it's in a context where it doesn't make sense for the characters to be romantically engaged, I won't read it or write it.

For example, my beloved Solidwood! I mostly get their vibes or read their fics from the following series: Evo, Last Life, New Life, Empires2, Secret Life. That's because those settings make sense! They are active, they are engaged, they have near constant interactions or very close base locations. It makes SENSE for them to be shipped. However, if you showed me art or fic of them in, say, Limited Life, I'd furrow my brow and tilt my head and say "no, that doesn't do anything for me." BECAUSE THEY HAVE ZERO REASON TO BE INVESTED ROMANTICALLY IN ONE ANOTHER THERE, AS A STAND ALONE SETTING.

Most of the major Jimmy ships, though, don't follow this rule. I can understand loving a ship so much you want to see it everywhere- but, I promise you, stepping back and looking at which characters actually have chemistry regarding the new setting and social system will do wonders... you won't have to think of new Au's to insert your favorite ship into a new setting... all ships will be your favorite ship (unless they give you the ick). Join the multishiper hivemind /j

No but honestly it's gotten to the point where I will like or dislike a creator/character of theirs by what ship is their most popular given the context of the setting. Like, Tango in Double Life? Awww the sweetie!! I love him :) and then Tango in Empires2 sets off alarm bells in my brain screaming at me. He is NOT meant to be here bringing that ship here, this is NOT its territory. Same problem for Scott in nearly damn near every SMP both Jimmy and him are in... except Wild Life because he's actually been pretty nice and not condescending or forcing on Jimmy. I guess also power imbalances in how fans view them is a major no-go for me...

Idk if you read this whole thing thanks I guess... for anymore needed context I am a Jimmy rarepair obsessed multishiper.

TLDR; Lots of popular ships are inserted into settings without a thought for what that would mean for the setting and any changes in the established social connections, which gives OP the ick. I'm also not policing ships I'm just begging people to please either understand more ships using in setting context or list their AU details in the summaries of the fics. This goes hand in hand with misinterpreting characters in writing also... the more ships you like the more characters you will get to get good at writing!!!!

[whoblewboobear]

I need to know what levels Jace and Porter are I’m begging Brennan pls I need to know for science (fanfic)

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

hate when i see a youtube video that's like 'analyzing why [thing] is bad!' and you watch the video and they just say nothing for twenty minutes

[aroaceleovaldez]

i always see so much of Nico ships where either Nico is the one pining or the focus is almost completely on Nico pining and i feel like we’re missing a lot of opportunity here. Where’s the inverse? Where’s the POVs from [other character(s) of ship] of them falling hard for Nico and just absolutely losing their mind pining over him because he’s so impossible to read that they can’t tell at all if he likes them back or not. Them doing some complicated social dance cause they cannot for the LIFE of them figure out Nico but they’re trying so hard until they finally just tell him outright and find out Nico has liked them back this entire time and they lose their mind just a little bit more. WHERE IS IT.

[bifronse]

If Johnny doesn’t have any woobifiers then Pony is dead

[chronomally]

The social commentary bleeding through the "readers comments" and Wenren E's reactions to them also get me. The Abusive Romance readers (predominantly women) are thrilled by their story's updates; they love the depth being added to all the characters and the way Baili Qingmiao especially is becoming more than just a Mary Sue punching bag. Meanwhile the God of Annihilation readers (predominantly men) are losing their minds at how He Wenzhao's philandering is being curtailed by Wenren E's machinations and how his stock is falling and his harem is shrinking because the truth is that very few of the women ever really liked He Wenzhao; they were just trying to get one over on Baili Qingmiao and now that she's not constantly making goo-goo eyes at him, they're rethinking their plans and/or transing their genders

[velvetjune]

judging people who played alan wake 2 solely on if they loved the musical sequence or not

[clownprince]

This isn't insightful enough to be a meta but like goddamn I'm just thinking... even aside from all the physical trauma DC has put him through Joker is really also going through it emotionally too. Like he is REALLY not well

Based on how he's responded to instances similar to this in the past I would guess that his perception of this is that Batman left him to die. He already seems to think/seems afraid that Batman wants to get rid of him so I doubt this helped that idea.

Then you have the whole Joker 2021 series which is basically just Joker whump but as an official DC comic

I mean jfc. He is going THROUGH it

Then he comes back to town only to find that there's nothing left for him

He has no place to go, he has no friends or henchmen left and he doesn't even have an identity since the imposter is posing as him. I mean, christ

Not even Punchline seems to give a shit about him anymore

[derangedrhythms]

I love you and you are my best god anyhow. 

Anne Sexton, from ‘A Self-Portrait in Letters’ ⁠— W. D. Snodgrass, 28th November 1958

[lisbonsteresa]

seeking directions for the nearest cliff

[iniziare]

Tag drop: Guizhong (don't mind me re-dropping this with the fixed ones, shh)

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

i like the concept of a huskerdust overlord!husk au but like. it is very much just being sold to one direction

[omarwolaeth]

It's such a tiny innocuous thing that really doesn't matter, but I feel like calling duel monsters a children's card game (when it's fundamentally baked into everyday life, and your social existence is judged by what you play and how you play it so very intensely, for everyone in-universe) is an absolute injustice to what it is for that universe of people.

[inferablossom]

Me, staring at Kazui's MV: Yes, it's as clear as mud, sir.