#i have never posted this much or this seriously on tumblr is there something wrong with me

[meadow-sea]

here is part 2 of my glorious harumasa and ether aptitude regression syndrome (again calling it EARS) hcs because im not finished yapping (beware of possibly unclear and vague wording im not writing an essay here)

- harumasa sometimes experiences something like a phantom limb sensation where he feels sections or even his entire body is that of an ethereal. like his physical body stays the same but he feels he is in an ethereal body with all the ridges and warped limbs and proportions which makes interacting with things harder. (reason number 546 to avoid work)

- this translates over to my next hc that EARS will sometimes cause harumasa to just exist. from the perspective of an ethereal (thanatos specifically). like he'll keep his mind and memories but his senses will be replaced by an ethereal's. words will lose meaning, or gain new meanings, he wouldn't be able to talk much, if at all. ethereals exist in chaotic unstable hollows so it would be difficult for one, and harumasa by extension when in this state, to like do things. he knows what he is supposed to do hypothetically but executing it is another matter. (reason 471 to avoid work). like tf is a coffee machine, the carpet is coffee, chairs aren't chairs, everything is fixed to the ground and the ground is fixed to the sky and the coffee is and the coffee is and coffee type of shit. harumasa beats himself up over it. a lot. but not where anyone can see ofc.

- from his demo and trust events, we can infer that harumasa has trouble sleeping. i imagine that he has weird ass out of body dreams and paralysis. like having sleep paralysis, from the perspective of the sleep paralysis demon which is thanatos. roaming around new eridu as thanatos. that kind of stuff. i bet he's dreamt before of being in a my neighbour totoro situation where he's totoro, as a thanatos, at a bus stop with either soukaku or two random kids

- harumasa definitely has some ethereal like mannerisms to me. his dash attack is literally like thanatos. the way he moves is inhuman, smooth, unnaturally fluid in a way that training alone cannot achieve. very uncanny if you look closely. his direct gaze can be unnerving. this def isn't something he stresses about and practices to avoid why would you ask aha ha. his natural talent with archery is partially attributed to EARS along with sharp senses, observation skills and reflexes

- all of the above become more extreme depending on how long he’s been exposed to ether and to what level

believe it or not i am still not finished. i will continue the yap later so yet again i ask you to stay tuned. pretend i give you a charming wink as you read this. alsooo this post is linked to another so maybe read that one. i did say this is a part 2

[periwinklecosma]

update: writing-prompt-s continues to double down on painting 90-ghost as an unreliable scammer

after this post i made about writing-prompt-s being a complete and total dickweed started spreading around, i honestly thought i'd be done with them for the time being, but someone in the reblogs of that post called something to my attention, and i'm completely and utterly disgusted. i don't care anymore at this point, i just don't want ANYTHING related to writing-prompt-s and their racism towards palestinians passing under the radar, hence this new post. please, if you remember reblogging the first post, reblog this one too, because i think this is an important follow-up. and if you somehow missed all of this until now and you have no idea what this is about, the post i linked explains pretty much all you need to know because i'm not gonna bother going over old info right now.

i thought writing-prompt-s quietly deleting their shitty racist post was a real coward move but i figured that they wouldn't do anything other than pretend like they never said anything and hope that this all blows over for them eventually. but apparently they can't stfu because, in the wake of everyone pointing out to them that 90-ghost aka ahmed has had tumblr for 12 years, they made this post:

i'm completely speechless that even in the face of intense backlash and overwhelming evidence to the contrary that they'd rather double down on attacking ahmed's identity than admit to being wrong. a few of the other dumbasses who accused palestinians of being scammers, while never exactly apologizing, at least backtracked on what they said and went "okay well maybe some of them are legit," but this cunt can't even do that. and what's more, they're doing it in this weird underhanded way where people who aren't in the know (and even some who are) wouldn't understand what they're trying to do here. you know, because they're a little bitch who can't even be open about the fact that they're a virulent racist, so they choose to only express it using subtle tactics.

anyway the screenshotted post is in the wayback machine already in case writing-prompt-s chooses to do the expected thing and delete it in the same way they deleted their initial post.

seriously, we need to wreck this guy.

[andy-wm]

i'm wondering how your thesis of "idols will come out when they want" fits into your insane shadow analysis attempting to prove jimin and jungkook fucked in the middle of their travel show (amongst other things)? like do you get joy out or trying to drag someone out of a closet they might not be in? or is it something else? just curious! 😀

Hey wdcmaxy

Since you have the guts to use your name I'll respond :)

So, you read my thesis?

*Sips whisky*

Cool. And you read my insane shadow analysis too?

Hmmm... do you come here often?

Let me answer your question then.

I think we both know the shadows analysis isn't really insane - it's based on very basic earth science. Shadows grow longer as the day progresses because of the rotation of the earth on its axis. You sound reasonably literate so i assume you know this already.

I guess your description of my shadow analysis ( I think I'll name my next racehorse 'Shadow Analysis') as insane is an attempt to discredit the idea that a fair bit of time passed while Tae was out of the house? But that was kinda silly on your part. Even children know that shadows change as the day passes.

Nothing insane about it.

He was gone for hours, no debate.

Now let's move on to the fucking part, and when and how idols choose to come out.

This is actually worth discussing.

As flattered as i am that you think my tiny insignificant blog could be a game changer for anyone, let's be real.

How many people, besides yourself, do you think read my blog?

Serious question.

I'm estimating maybe 100. Double that on a good day. Maybe 300 if i write something REALLY profound which doesn't happen often.

I am way less excited about my impact on the world than you are, because I'm a realist.

BUT if by some strange twist of fate my blog came to the attention of someone whose opinion mattered (I'm not counting you, don't worry) do you think they would take it seriously? Do you REALLY imagine a random tumblr post about shadows could make someone believe that an idol was gay if they didn't already believe it?

Here's a great example of how that wouldn't happen:

You, dear reader.

You're my example.

You came here to tell me I'm speaking shit and that I should pull my head in, correct? My insane shadow analysis hasn't changed your beliefs at all. You're here, throwing a tantrum on my page, because you don't agree with what I'm saying, not because you suddenly believe it.

Or ...

Perhaps you suspect it's true and that scares you. Maybe you can't be absolutely sure I'm wrong and that's why you need to yell at me? Could that be it? Time for a bit of self reflection?

Either way, it's not going to make an iota of difference in the grand scheme of things.

We are all just dust motes floating through time and space, my friend. You dont need to worry so much. The universe is unfolding exactly as intended.

However... There are a couple of things we should agree on:

The fact is that the shadows grew long and therefore, time passed. And Tae was out for several hours. Maybe he went out for a bit of afternoon delight himself? Maybe Jimin and Jungkook played Pokemon Go all afternoon, or prayed, or practiced their English, or braided each other's hair.

Regardless of whether they did or didn't fuck, or how many times, or on what surfaces, the time still passed.

And whether I write my blog or not, people will believe what they believe. And they will be gay or they won't be gay.

And even though I never mentioned anything about them fucking in that post, whether you like it or not Jimin and Jungkook might be fucking right now, as you read this.

One last thing...

Please bear in mind, through all of this, that fucking is not the be all and end all of life. Sure its a lot of fun if you do it right but the notion that it's more meaningful than sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings, or giving someone your time and energy, is bullshit.

You can have a roots-deep love for someone and never even think of fucking them. Or you can meet someone in a public toilet and have at it, and leave without even knowing their name.

Sex does not equal love. Fucking is not that big of a big deal.

Unless...

Unless you're fucking someone the patriarchy doesn't want you to fuck. Then its a major issue.

Hear me out.

The need to control who we fuck is based a patriarchal need to control material wealth.

To control material wealth, the patriarchy needs to control reproduction (so they can be sure their wealth stays with their bloodline, because wealth is built over many generations) and to do THAT they need to control womens' bodies.... and to do that, of course they need to control who women fuck. And who men fuck too!

Do you know what the ACTUAL issue is with men who like dick? They don't automatically buy into the patriarchal way of life. (where's the solidarity, lads?)

Why don't they?

Because lifelong monogamy and marriage and nuclear families don't matter as much when you're not equating love with sex, and sex with reproduction. When your goal isn't to accumulate wealth and pass it down to your children.

Same thing applies to women who love women. They aren't focused on being demure and pleasing the men in power. They aren't focused on making themselves wife material. They will challenge the status quo and maybe even (shock! horror!) decide not to have children. How the heck do you make sure your money and power stays in the family, how do you build an empire, when the women are perfectly happy having sex with each other and don't want to love, honour and obey??

And whose fault is all this?

Its got to be the damned queers, right? They're making people think there might be other ways to share your life with those you care about! That's why its important to squash down gayness whenever you can, right, wdcmaxy?

Look at them destroying the fabric of society!

If Jimin and Jungkook ARE fucking every chance they get, good for them. I hope they're balls deep and breathless, hitting all those sweet spots for each other having a really good time.

And if they're not fucking, it actually doesn't matter to me because the way they support each other and share their hearts is beautiful. (I do think they are fucking though)

Truthfully, whatever they're doing, as long as they're happy I'm happy.

Can you say the same, wdcmaxy?

Peace.

[lachatalovematcha]

I hate I hate people who think they know everything but in reality they know nothing I saw the jirai kei post today hehe sorry for the delay but I'm new to tumblr seriously these people always do this to me especially with anime When I write something wrong they come running, correct me because they think I don't know And another thing, you can be sure that jirai kei is much more of a musical genre than depressive images created by *American* girls hehe SORRY to talk about this old subject now but like I said I'm new here and I love jirai kei and I also loved discovering your blog

🎀🌈🥕 Hi, I'm glad you liked my blog 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 This jirai kei story is really tiring, but 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 I agree with everything you said 🎀🌈🥕

People who think they know everything are really stressful 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 about people correcting you, I only agree to correct you when someone asks for my opinion, like in the case of sugarbunnies🎀🌈🥕

Sometimes when I post something I don't put the name in the tags

🎀🌈🥕 an example of vn (anime) 𝙉𝙀𝙆𝙊✿𝙋𝘼𝙍𝘼 I accidentally changed the names of two characters, a few minutes later about 5 people appeared correcting me....ok, because I imagine none of them acted badly So I don't take these things into consideration I have no resentments lol.... 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 What I don't like is when I post an anime and I don't include the tag due to lack of space or another reason 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 This really happened but it was with something else: 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 I posted KANON and didn't tag the name, then a genius appeared saying the name, you know, thinking I don't know it and he wrote like KANON IS MY WARMUP MAP 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 You know, like pretending I didn't want to do it, but doing it and loving it thinking I'm stupid, he was sure I didn't know what KANON's name was, just because I never tagged the name in my posts 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 because anyone who has known my blog for a long time knows that I only post what I know, and another thing I know is that I know a lot more about THE SUPPOSED KANON than he does, which I'm sure he only found out about because of the aesthetics on Pinterest, if you doubt it he doesn't even dream that KANON is a game lol 🎀🌈🥕

🎀🌈🥕 It's not even KANON that I'm talking about, I used the name KANON just as an example of another vn I don't want to expose the person 🎀🌈🥕Why this person acted badly?, well, maybe because the Supposed KANON is not famous at all and not many people know about it, so he went and said the name in a way that pretended he had known him for a long time 🎀🌈🥕but this type of person can't fool me, he just knows it and says he LIKES it because of the aesthetics I doubt he's ever played the game I really doubt it🎀🌈🥕sorry for being boring as always and the size of the text is clueless🎀🌈🥕and better late than never

🎀🌈🥕BYE BYE AND THANK U FOR ASK🎀🌈🥕

[maxcuntstappen]

wanted to post some comfort lestappen after yesterday and generally to kind of cleanse the energy of the tumblr dash over the last couple of days.

enjoy <3

__

“Baby,” Max says, “Come on.”

It doesn’t change anything. Charles stays lying on his front, his face buried in his pillow.

He looks so small like this. So tiny. It makes Max want to protect him, to kiss his forehead and hold him close and keep him there for as long as they live.

“Charlie,” Max whispers, fingers reaching out to comb through Charles’ soft, brown locks, “Talk to me please.” 

Charles replies, but the words reach Max all garbled, the sound swallowed up by the intruding pillow.

But still. It’s progress.

Max lies down on his side next to Charles, throwing an arm over his waist. He kisses Charles’ cheek. Once, twice. Three more times.

And finally, like the sun breaking through grey clouds, Charles’ head turns towards him. Just a little bit. Only a single beautiful green eye looking at Max. 

“Hi,” Max smiles, his hand caressing Charles’ cheek, “It’s nice to see your lovely face.”

And despite everything, Charles smiles. It makes Max feel like he’s won a goddamn trophy. 

“Do we not want to talk about what’s wrong?” 

Charles shakes his head.

Max hums.

It’s not ideal. Charles is the kind of person who always feels better once he talks his emotions out. But if he doesn’t want to, Max will not force him. 

“Is there something else we can do, that I can do which would help?”

Charles’ bottom lip sticks out, a cute little pout that makes Max’s chest ache.

“I don’t know,” Charles whispers, his voice rough and heavy, “I don’t know what to do, what will help.”

Max nods, running through his mental directory of things and activities that he knows Charles enjoys.

“I think,” Charles begins, biting his lip.

“Yes?” Max urges, running his fingers down the length of Charles’ spine, smiling gently at the shiver that follows.

“I think I just want to be sad for a bit,” Charles says, his eyes so careful, so observant, undoubtedly evaluating all of Max’s expressions, “I just want to be sad and watch some tv and that’s all.” 

Max doesn’t know what to think. Or say. 

It’s not something Charles has done before, as far as Max is aware of. Charles either talks about it or works out about it or writes some music about it. He’s never just… been with it. That’s more of Max’s thing.

“Is that okay?” Charles asks cautiously.

“Of course it’s okay, schatje,” Max says, moving closer to kiss Charles’ nose, “Of course.” 

The corners of Charles’ mouth turn up a little, making the corners of Max’s mouth turn up a whole lot. 

“Do you want to be alone? I could give you some space, go sim race for a while or play with the cats.”

Charles frowns, shaking his head, “No. Stay.” 

“Okay,” Max smiles, “Do you have something particular you want to watch?” 

“No, not really. I just don’t want to think.”

“Okay,” Max nods, “Okay. Come on then, come here”

Max sits up, leaning against the headboard, holding his arms open.

Charles is quick to move, settling into Max’s side, breathing a sigh of relief.

“I’m going to pick the third movie that’s on our watchlist, okay?” Max asks, feeling Charles nod against him, his hair tickling the inside of Max’s arm.

Max doesn’t think he’s even heard of the movie. It’s animated and about a goose and a fish and why the hell is this on their watchlist.

Doesn’t matter. He picks it anyway.

It’s quiet as they watch the film. Something Max is not used to. 

Charles is a chronic talker. Even during movies. Seriously. The man has an opinion about each scene and he will make it known. 

He is really fucking lucky that Max doesn’t care much about films and would rather be listening to Charles’ voice anyways.

Yeah, it’s odd, feeling Charles next to him, matching his own breathing to his and not knowing any of the things going on in his head.

But it’s okay. It’s what Charles needs. And that’s all that matters.

Charles snorts suddenly, scaring the shit out of Max, “I don’t get it. How can a goose and a fish be friends? Like how can a goose hear what the fish is saying underwater?”

Max has to force down a cackle to be able to reply. It makes his voice sound all strange and high-pitched.

“That’s the part you decide to question and not the fact that they of course can talk?”

Charles rolls his eyes, giving Max’s arm a hard smack, “You know what I mean, you asshole.”

Max doesn’t. He really, really doesn’t. 

But Charles has already moved onto sharing his next thought and he sounds lighter and he’s moving his hands around as he talks and so when he asks Max if he thinks it’s stupid that the main character goose has a ‘cooler haircut’ than the other geese, all Max does is nod and say, “So fucking stupid, schatje. It’s so stupid.”

[screechingfromthevoid]

@disastertourwaterdeepedition

Sorry for the weird fucking post but like tumblr straight up ate your ask?? I had to search and screenshot from my email??

Its like super fine I love big rants and big feelings (especially about the blorbo of the month).

Whoa buddy if you wanna talk about a rant. This got so long I'm putting it under a read more.

I'm not sure any of this is above board conscious thought process. When he looks to Orym, when he thinks about how he feels about Orym, I think Dorian, king of compartmentalizing, gets a rush of all three of the things in the post. He gets a little too lost in thought looking at the way Orym's hair now tries to curl against his ear or how well tailored the armor is to his body, he first gets hit with the Will guilt. Then he thinks about "ohmygodtheresawaron" and he'd shovel all of that down. Because its not time to think about Orym and him. But he knows by the way Orym watches him "sleep". He knows by the way Orym refused to be princess carried in Aeror. (Seriously dude Dorian princess carries everyone. It would have been less suspicious if you let it happen). He knows because Orym didn't see his husband when they were in Zephrah. But when he dares himself to actually think about a possible future together, he uses the big three to shove it down. And no, he has no clue that Orym thinks he doesn't return his feelings. (Wow you're right. Pronouns are hard)

Lol to finally answer your question: I'm not sure! Because the thing is! Orym has gone down twice in a battle with Dorian there! And honestly if Orym being on death's door doesn't make either of them confess, i'm not sure what will! (thats a lie I do have an idea). But like Orym went to the moon and back and almost died on the moon and all the count communicate to Dorian was "I miss you"!! Orym nearly died twice in one battle and he didn't think to give Dorian a sloppy, "If I die again I want to have kissed you once" kiss before going in for another round of getting hacked on. Dorian watched him go down and had to bring him back from death's door (one failed save scared the shit out of me) and he didn't think to give Orym a "We need you, I need you" kiss.

My unfortunate thought process, which I can't decide if I want it to come true or not, is that Dorian has to get hurt. Like when I say hurt I fucking mean it. Taken down in a round or two, two failed death saves, hurt. Because then Orym will have to face losing Dorian again. Face losing the man he loves, again. He pours a healing potion into Dorian's mouth because warlocks don't have a single healing spell. (Just checked). Orym feels so helpless in saving Dorian, because a healing potion isn't nearly enough to keep him up. He starts to cry over Dorian's (now conscious) body. He whispers between sobs "Not again, not again. Dorian you can't leave me. I love you, please, I never got to tell you, please stay alive." and Dorian, having heard all of that, reaches up to cup Orym's cheek and says. "Alright, just for you though."

Or something like that.

As much as I would love for them to be adults and just talk to each other. I know thats not going to happen. (Please, Robbie, Liam, prove me wrong.) So I think major tragedy will be the reason they confess to each other. Because they're idiots in love with a lot of weight on their shoulders.

[iammeiamwe]

At first I wanted to colour it using a more dull/cold colour pallette, but then I remembered how much I love the vibrant and colourful sunrise/sunset kind of lighting scenario so I just went for it. Killer's presence is still making it creepy enough anyway😅 (click for better quality)

This is actually a small gift for @signanothername , because, well, they are kind of one of the reasons I even started the blog:)

For the ones who want to read me rambling about them (and probably my whole life story as well because I literally couldn't stop writing haha), go ahead:

I mean I used to be more of a reserved and even shy kind of person, I didn't use social media too often (if YouTube and a couple other apps can even count). And even when I used it I mostly only watched and I didn't interact with people/content creators much. (I didn't even comment on YouTube like at all).

I've actually been drawing digitally (both my characters and fanart for different fandoms) since 2018 and I've never posted my art online anywhere, only showed it to my friends. And I thought I would actually never do it.

But then I randomly stumbled upon tumblr a couple weeks ago, and then I stumbled upon signanothername. I was like so heartwarmed and amazed and blown away by how they interact with their followers and community - like seriously I just couldn't stop reading their answers to all the asks they got they were all so cool and cute and I probably was glued to the blog for nearly 2 hours after I first saw it. This blog (and a couple of others) actually made me realise what a nice and welcoming community and people you all have here on tumblr (and how many cool features tumblr has for communication both between creators and their followers) and I immediately went: "I want to be a part of it!"

And yeah, they've also (almost) singlehandedly brought me back into the utmv fandom. I've actually been out of it for a while, and even when I was a part of it I didn't actually really contribute anything to it, I was kinda scared to draw something new I had never drawn before (skeletons) and I also didn't really see the point in it since none of my friends were interested in the fandom so no one would actually see my art.

But something about their beautiful art made me think: "Yeah, I can make and post cool stuff too!"

And don't get me wrong, there are also other people and blogs that have motivated me. I'm actually planning on making small gifts for them too, just a bit later. It just so happened that signanothername goes first.

So. Get my first ever drawing of Killer, of my three first ever drawings for utmv, on my first blog on tumblr, which is actually my first ever social media account where I actually create and post stuff.

Yeah. And take a small heart🩷

[shout-it-out13]

This fandom I swear

So I know I’m basically screaming into the void here but I have seen some seriously alarming tendencies of both parasocial behaviour and now downright infantalisation regarding Yoongi’s DUI incident

Now I’m a big fan of Yoongi, and I’m just as fond of the “lil meow meow” memes about him as anybody else, but it just doesn’t apply in this case.

Let me spell out the obvious (because then takes I’m seeing is downright worrying):

1. Min Yoongi is a 31 year old man. Not a baby or a teen, a whole ass adult, in his 30s. Thus him being of legal age, makes him as fully subject to the law, as any other legal adult of legal age (or even those of minor age, persecution of underage people is very much a thing, and even if he wasn’t an adult, he would still have received criminal punishment).

(Edit: It has been brought to my attention that I had misunderstood the situation and I must admit that I based this post when I wrote it on what I had seen on Tumblr of the situation (no, I didn’t fact-check online and I won’t now either, this post was made out of an emotional response to the overall fandom situation)(I get if people thinks that’s messed up and ignorant of me (which you’re entitled to totally) but personally I have never been personally invested much in BTS beyond their music and I don’t see that changing). I just wanted to vent and say my piece, I apologise for any misinformation I may have caused. Again, I do not condone the media backlash that has gone beyond the reasonable amount (holding him accountable is different from going on a outright witch-hunt).

-I know this post is months old, and I see now I have had people in my inbox since I first posted it, and I only have seen them now (I ignore that I even have mutuale, inbox and dms on here because that’s just not what I’m here for). I must admit that I did delete your messages and could have actually researched the situation, but to be honest I can’t be bothered (again, I’m not Wikipedia, the facts are there online, this post was made and now edited out of my emotional frustration over the situation), but felt I should at least say something so here it is, lazily edited and smacked in the middle.

2. A DUI (which you can get while operation any form of vehicle or mode of transportation, be it cars, scooters, boats, bikes etc) is a serious offense, no matter what the outcome is. It’s fortunate that this situation was so mild, nobody got hurt nor no personal damages, it still is a serious offense and should have be treated as such. Yes, we shouldn’t be treating this situation as if he hit and killed somebody, but he still could have, and this needs to be taken seriously.

Min Yoongi, a man in his 30s (a grown ass man of legal age, whom I’m seeing getting his criminal offense downplayed like nothing happened by those both of legal age and those not), committed a crime, as mild as the situation was, is a serious situation and for that break of the law, he deserves to be punished for it. And the fact that there are people treating like he did nothing wrong is just idiotic.

The amount of parasocial behaviour (friendly reminder, you will never truly know any idol, youtuber, celebrity, actor etc if you don’t personally know them (no meeting them multiple times and borderline stalking them and learning evrry single detail you can about them online doesn’t count) and infantilisation in this fandom is insane.

Stop putting people you look up to on such a high pedestal until the point where you think they can do nothing wrong (like some armys are doing right now, with a man in his 30s)

I love Yoongi, I still look up to him even after this, I’m glad that he wasn’t hurt and that this doesn’t hurt his military service. I hope he learns from this, faces whatever legal punishment they give him, and hope that he can regain his license again in the future.

I hope he, the company and most importantly the fandom, recognises how serious this situation is and stops going “poor little meow meow” or “I’m in love with a criminal” (no you don’t, nobody in the fandom knows who and how BTS are in their private lives (private lives whom they are fully entitled to keep hidden from overobsessive fangirls who thinks stalking people counts as knowing them. They’re people, not objects nor saints, please treat them as such) over a man who commuted a criminal offense, aka broke the law and now needs to face said punishment.

I know I have been repeating myself over and over, but with the amount of braindead takes seen in this fandom regarding theses legal grown men, is just painful.

[n3felibata]

I made a post on Reddit titled "Hot take but I feel like many if not most Stolitz antis are either homophobic or just hypocrites" and I even had to clarify at the end that not all Stolitz antis are like that. Cue the replies harassing me, taking it as a personal attack on them and making baseless accusations about me. One of them even sarcastically said "Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong and bigoted" as a way to make fun of me. I never said anything remotely similar to that. I don't think they bothered to actually read past the title where I explained that Stolas and Blitzø meeting as children is compared to a bad fanfic when that never gets said about straight couples in media who met as children and that people who hate Stolitz for what it is now only tolerated it when it was just a running gag, as if they can't stand it when gay relationships are being taken seriously. I also mentioned that even non-homophobic Stolitz antis complain about how toxic it is and then turn around to ship Blitzker. (Blitzø x Striker)

I had a similar experience. It's so stupid because like, some of them aren't even subtle about it. Same for chaggie antis. I remember seeing a post talking about how much Charlie doesn't get enough dick, so she's unsatisfied and needs Alastor. Like... I'm sorry, what?

A lot of the arguments stolitz antis are literally inherently bigoted. Like how they want Stolas to be paired with Stella instead even though he's gay. And STILL hating him for "cheating" after The Circus even though he's a gay man being forced to marry an abusive woman? Idk, that's... a red flag 💀 The same people saying stolitz is one sided were the same ones saying that Stolas and Stella were in love not to long ago... sounds like heteronormativity...

And a lot of them are Stella defenders? Sorry that I came to the conclusion that the people doing mental gymnastics defending the cishet abuser calling the gay male abuse victim the abuser may be homophobic 😭

Like, it's not that different from female characters who get hate while the same people shitting on her praise fictional men who are worse or do the same shit. There are clear double standards here. These people turn around and praise cishet media with very similar writing, characters and tropes as Helluva Boss. And not only that, but it's not even just about their relationship specifically. Like, I have a theory that the whole controversy about Stolas being an "abusive" father is because of the stereotype that queer people can't be good parents. And the whole "child and parent have conflict but make up in the end" trope happens in fiction all time (example: Danny Tanner, Jeff Morales, Doofenshmirtz, ect.) Weird how it only became abuse and neglect with Stolas and Via.

Some people are blantly saying they wanted stolitz to "stay a joke", and it feels obvious to me that a lot of them just like queer characters who are queer in a goofy "dark humor" way and not an actual character with queer struggles and/or queer relationships.

People who say "but I disagree and I'm not homophobic!" Be expecting you to give them a pat on the back or something, I swear 💀 Like... good for you? Thanks for not being a bigot? Do you want a reward?

What I don't think people understand is that if they're not homophobic, then the post isn't about them. The fact that they're getting so defensive about posts directed at no one in particular is just weird because it looks worse than it would be if they just kept scrolling. Now it just kind of seems like Freudian Slip.

No one was looking at you until you said something

Of course they're not all the same, but I've seen people straight up call them the f slur

Sorry that happened to you. Just remember that Reddit is INFAMOUS for being toxic, so don't take what people on that app have to say to heart. Like, it's up there with Twitter and Tumblr...

And wouldn't you know it? Those are the 3 sites I see the most Stolas and Blitz hate.

Interesting

[aeneaans]

second chances

synopsis: after 3 years, diluc finally returns to mondstadt.

word count: 608

c/w: angst sorta… hurt/comfort

a/n: yet another repost from ao3 because i do not have the time to write anything these days… didnt expect my last post to get so many notes THANK YOU!!!! thank u for reading :3 (ps might open reqs soon. idk im working on a lot of stuff for tumblr)

It was dead silent. In a small alley in Mondstadt stood you and Diluc, standing parallel to each other as your face burned, tears sliding down your cheeks. No words have been exchanged ever since tears started welling up in your eyes. The lack of words was awkward and almost deafening, yet it didn’t matter to you. You were furious and you hadn’t even a clue as to why. The man that stood in front of you was clearly frustrated as well, but his frustration didn’t seem to be directed towards you. Rather, it was a frustration directed towards himself. Why? Why couldn't he say anything?

Biting your lips, you start, “Seriously, what…what is wrong with you?” Your voice is trembling, almost as if your words are struggling to escape. Whenever you got angry, you could never put your thoughts into words. Your only reaction to anger was to cry. To cry, and to never stop crying until you had sorted out these thoughts. Knowing you for so long, Diluc has taken note of this peculiar habit of yours. Even if he could say anything about the current situation, he would know best to not do so.

Words were practically stuck in your throat. You didn’t want to say anything to hurt him, yet you can’t help but be upset with him. That’s only natural, right? You inhale. “You leave Mondstadt for so long and—and you come back just to not be able to say anything.” Your voice is breaking in between each word. “Say something!” Your voice was hoarse, despite not having said much at all. Your attempt at a shout was more of a meek yelp. Diluc didn’t say anything, nothing at all. He just…stood there. You wipe your eyes quickly, your breath hitched, and attempt to regain your composure.

After a few minutes of absolutely nothing, you manage to regain your composure. You knew it wasn’t his fault. You knew that leaving Mondstadt wasn’t something he wanted to do. So why couldn't you forgive him?

“I hate that you left us. I hate that you left me. But I hate myself for wanting to hate you, too.” Diluc looks up at you, surprised. “I know you didn’t have a choice to leave. I couldn’t even imagine what you went through when Crepus died.” You sigh. Crepus was more of a dad to you than your actual parents were. You know how much worse Diluc had it. “So why do I feel this way?” Diluc clenched his fists. What is he going to say? Was he even going to say anything at all? You shut your eyes.

Finally, Diluc opens his mouth to say something. “I’m sorry.”

You held your breath, not knowing what to say. “…Huh?”

“You have every right to hate me.”

With this, your eyes started pouring again. Though, the tears felt much lighter this time. What is he talking about? You let out a small laugh at the stupidity of this situation. How is it that both of you feel sorry? You step closer to him, ignoring his apology. “Do you understand how much I missed you?” You look him in the eyes for the first time in three years. Three years. “I can’t bring myself to hate you, even after this. There wasn’t a day that went by where I haven’t thought of you.” You grit your teeth, clenching your fist slightly before relaxing your body. With that one statement, Diluc’s eyes widened. It’s a rare sight, really. “Promise me you wont leave me ever again. Please.”

Diluc pulls you to his chest and gives you a tight embrace. “I promise.”

[hellofastudysession]

am i rlly going to write a death note literary analysis when i could be doing other things

about the discourse going on in the tag abt "death note is acab and thats why the characters couldnt better the world with the note (/written in somewhat jokey matter)" vs "death note is trying to say we all have potential for evil, especially if you get a chance to insta-hurt ppl without repercussions, and it doesnt matter if youre a cop or not", i personally feel like it ignores the things that i like abt death note, which is "both of these things are true", and simultaneously "both of these things do not matter". the first part of this is dedicated to the first point, the latter to the last.

first point. i think its an important part of the message and themes (unintentional or not, and i lean on the former because... come on, can you really say the author intended you to not think of the cops as good people, at least compared to light and l) that light is a cops son, and that almost everyone who gets the death note is cop adjacent/thinks like a cop and is already corrupt/powerful when they get it (mello raised to think hed be just like l, yotsuba group is self explanatory; you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me teru "churchill" mikami, who was hand selected by light out of a bunch of rabid kira supporters, is a normal citizen). i appreciated the cop post bc its rlly important to not gloss over that aspect.

all of this would be an argument for "only someone like them would do something like this, and i am not like them, so im above them and immune to thinking about what id do with it", but... misa is the MOST important outlier in all of this bc her murders are solely selfish in nature and shes not doing any of this for "the greater good"!!! her nature of being an exception and still a very very bad person is really really important...

or it would be if death note gave a shit about her character at all!!! im not talking about her tragic side, im talking about exploring the ramifications of her killing people the way lights murders are (somewhat) explored. that would strengthen the message greatly! but shes dismissed and that weakens it overall. firstly, she's dismissed by the characters when l only sees her as a way to get to kira and basically shelves her the rest of the time. secondly, shes dismissed by the narrative when her character is gradually ground down to a stump and (not to sound perilously close to the bad takes ppl meme about) she never faces repercussions for her actions. every other character using the death note is treated relatively seriously, but misa just dies bc her love is dead. im not saying this isnt a... fitting punishment or that it isnt in character, but it doesnt fit snugly into the theme other people are talking about of "you reap what you sow" at all.

we do have something of an equivalent to misa's grayscale motives. surprise surprise, its light yagami. first is light's characterization in the musical (i will also note that misa never kills anyone in the musical). light's thinking is coplike, yes — he literally starts his first song by talking about "throw[ing] away the key" — but also, oddly enough, could be read as progressive and therefore sympathetic to tumblr ("let the corporations make the regulations / and hold no one accountable when everything gets wrong / let the rich and famous get away with murder / every time a high-priced mouthpiece starts to talk, his client gets to walk"). compare to the anime and manga, where his bigotry and pride and disgust come from a place of lukewarm dissatisfaction and boredom. the musical has much less time to play around with lights character, so it gives the audience something to immediately hook on. more on how that actually plays out later.

in the animanga, none of this is justified from the start. animanga light could say he was just killing people to make humanity way, way worse, and that wouldnt matter, because at the root of it, it was always his boredom that made him pick up the note. of course he actually believes in justice and believes hes doing the right thing (no, he believes he's doing the wrong thing, for the sake of the world... the right thing, because he is god...), but it was boredom at the start. all animanga light says about justice and righteousness and the law is a front in the end, bc he is exactly like l and misa — amoral. selfish. searching for entertainment. hedonistic. we know this. he kills naomi misora*. he kills lind l. turner. everything hes saying deserves to be dismissed from the beginning.

"but doesnt that mean you agree with the discourse post you wrote this post to argue against?" like i said, i agree with both of them! but i... still think its not right to reduce death note to the message of "the power to kill people is bad". because that is not exactly what the story is saying, even though that's literally its whole plot and therefore reaching that conclusion is self explanatory (lmao). let's look at the concept of mu. nothingness. "there's no heaven or hell". The Real Slay The Princess (Death Note Essay) Starts Here.

in light's final moments in the death note manga, while screaming about not wanting to die, he remembers that the first day they met, ryuk told light that "there's no heaven or hell. no matter what they do in life, all people go to the same place. all humans are equal in death". it is retroactively revealed that light knew this the whole time, operated under this knowledge for all the years we watched him — the knowledge that nothing he does is actually bad, that nothing any human does is actually bad, that shinigami are not "evil", that the universe does not care. that no one cares except humans. this oblivion absolutely terrifies him more than anything anyone could ever do to him. its what he thinks of before anything else as he flails there, screaming, dying. one could say everything he does after that day is him trying to escape that fact, or wrest control over it. but it doesnt work.

here are the lyrics of requiem, the musical's final song, sung over the bodies of l and musical light, a light who was at least somewhat good-intentioned at first: "sleep now, here among your choices / then fade away / hear how the world rejoices / shades of gray / gone who was right or wrong / who was weak or strong / nothing left to learn". this is the final message the death note musical and the manga chose to leave us with. there is no judgement. even after all that acknowledged hurt, after all the damage done, there is no judgement.

in the manga and anime alike, the world is just as fucked when light picks up the death note as when he dies. sure, we as readers can guess otherwise logically (and be optimistic, believing the world was never fucked regardless), but that's not what death note wants you to think. it ends with matsuda and another member of the task force noting how the world is worse again even though they killed kira (matsuda is clearly much worse for wear, but still determined), we see the shitty motorcycle band again, it ends with misa and a whole kira cult on a mountain even though kira died a long time ago...

its extremely important that light is never killed by any human or any aspect of the law. he is always killed by ryuk: a chaotic force completely detached from human sensibilities, one that does not care about good and evil. same with l; in the anime, manga, and musical, he is always killed by rems senseless, morally gray love (and you could argue in the kdrama that hes killed by love there too lol). justice is just a set dressing.

this is not just because death note is a tragedy, because good and evil can still matter in a tragedy. the theme of "nothingness" and "good and evil doesnt matter here" is also shown in a situation relatively unrelated to light winning or losing, or being good or bad. and its in fucking lawlight of all things. we all know ls not a good person. we know lights not a good person. this is tip of the iceberg death note knowledge. but the moment they start to interact, none of that starts to matter. textually, their relationship becomes more important than the people theyve killed and hurt. and the thing is? the thing is? THAT WORKS STORY-WISE. THAT'S ENTERTAINING. AND IT'S NEVER TEXTUALLY CALLED OUT IN A LASTING WAY. l and lights relationship, no matter how much i meme it, is genuinely important to the themes and "mu" because it makes it clear that despite all the pretensions, despite everything, this was never about good and evil. and it still works in the story. this is why death note is simultaneously a comedy — isn't the battle of good and evil supposed to matter more? well, fine, i'll keep watching this anyway. that suspension of disbelief comes crashing down the moment l dies, though, and a relationship built on nothingness (the "mu" sort, meaninglessness, not "character development" nothingness, theres plenty of character development) gives way to just nothingness (again, "mu", not light's post-l depression nothingness), forever.

(an aside: there is no one to root for in death note, and the only things to root for are either interesting character relationships, convoluted plots, or complete and total destruction: for everything to end so no more damage is done.)

not to say that death note does not encourage its readers to consider what damage they might do with the death note (obviously.), or that its characters never do. look at matsuda, a much easier heroic figure to latch on to than soichiro because of his unique place in the cast dynamic and because he's willing to consider both sides of the situation and kill light instantly for all he's done. its just that the story's own stance on the subject is... complicated by the existence of shinigami worldviews and by its own insistence that the world cannot change for the better.

also, this is not to say that this is executed well by the death note manga at all. it is a very strong tool, artistically, to establish and then violently remove any emotional connections between characters and make your story only about the exceedingly convoluted lengths characters go to to survive and catch each other so the reader can realize how ultimately pointless all of this is, but like... is that a good story choice if that's all you do? i would say not really. add in a good dollop of misogyny that destroys the second-to-last character who might actually be an interesting contrast to the rest of the cast's dull one-track focus on winning and justice, and youve got yourself a shitty story that... honestly still achieves what it went out to do, just not in a way id ever want to replicate.

anyway, back to the parts death note's actually trying to say. no matter what any human does in their life, no matter how they try to hurt or help the world, they all die in the end. hey, light, they all die in the end. once dead, they can never come back to life. and the seasons turn. and the world rejoices. and you say "goodbye"...

that's all.

no analysis of death notes overarching theme would be complete without nears final monologue, the definitive roast of light, the "you're just a murderer" speech: "what is right from wrong? what is good from evil? nobody can truly distinguish between them. even if there is a god." if we take this as talking about the actual god in the room (ryuk) as well as light, then near admits that humans will never be able to withstand these overwhelming forces and that, using justice and happiness and selfishness, they are just scrabbling to find meaning in things they ultimately have no control over.

but of course, near does not stop there. "[...] even then i'd stop and think for myself. i'd decide for myself whether his teachings are right and wrong." nears alright with not having control over everything, because near can still control nears own actions. these forces can and do exist, but they have no sway over nears own humanity — unlike light, who caved.

one of the creators of death note said they believe its message is "life is short, so everyone should do their best". the first time i learned this, i was like, thats... nice and optimistic, but an awful reading of the story! "life is short, so everyone should be desperate and striving like light yagami", who literally cut off other ppls lives for his own life? what character in death note are we supposed to strive towards when we "do our best"? they all do awful things with their lives! honestly, maybe they shouldnt have tried their best, if this is what their best is!

but with the view of "mu"... it makes a bit more sense. just a little. maybe.

there is no good and evil. there is only what humans think, and no matter what we do, we all die in the end. it is easy to be crushed and terrified by this in the same way light is, but what is more important than justice and righteousness and finding meaning is... doing your best. not being a person that hurts others too much. not letting yourself get swallowed up by an ideal. not going too far. and simultaneously, trusting yourself.

it leaves a few questions, though... was the currently dead l even a little bit right about his blatantly amoral approach, then? was there a point to this pain, and me slogging through this dumbass manga, and all the people that have lost their lives to a selfish teenage cop's son and the whims of everyone chasing after him? was there a point to any of this...?

the manga** never answers this. it stays clinically impartial until the very end. the musical is anything but clinically impartial (and i love it so much for that), and its ryuk that has the last word.

"there's no point at all."

of course theres no point. none of this was ever supposed to happen. that is what matters more than all the hurt and the crimes and the pain.

and that's... actually okay, because it's over now.

yes, death note has many really important themes present in its story, but its viewpoint is nihilism first and foremost. thats why its so fun and easy to play around with all the other messages, because no matter what fun or torment or awful things or righteous justice or absolute nothingness or sentimentality happens in between, there is always an end.

there is always the end.

[gideonisms]

okay because tumblr hates me it did not save my draft of a mini fic I wrote for a prompt but I'm posting it anyway. The prompt was:

the smut is DELICIOUS but my stupid romantic brain needs some fluff...so how about.....griddlehark sneaking into the library for some midnight reading? 👀

And I can't remember who sent this one, my apologies. Hope you see it, whoever you were! I promise this is fluff but I needed to write some original flavor Griddlehark so let's pretend this is what happened after avulsion ❤️

When Gideon crawls out from her nest of blankets, aware of her surroundings at last, Harrow is gone. Gideon should have expected this. If she’d thought volunteering to have her soul sucked out through her innards was enough to melt the heart of the lady of the Ninth, she would have been wrong. Even her hallucination of Harrow hadn’t stayed to comfort her.

Not that she needs comfort. After all, Gideon isn’t dead. She just feels like she is.

Groping around on the floor for her sword, the one lady who would never betray her, Gideon almost knocks over a cup of water. Harrow must have left this for her out of some misguided sense of pity after they’d stumbled back to their rooms.

Although it makes Gideon feel a little bit like a pet left on its own while its owner goes to town, she takes the water and drinks it in huge gulps, draining the whole thing. Afterwards, she feels almost like a person—if that person had been smashed to bits and then taped up wrong.

Now to find Harrow.

Gideon gets up, aching in every bone. She considers just lying back down, possibly forever. How much trouble could Harrow even get into on her own? She’s probably just passed out somewhere again and can wait there until Gideon comes to find her.

No, Gideon should check. After all, what good is she as a cavalier if she lets Harrow wander off and get eaten by a bone monster right after they’ve won another key? It would just be embarrassing.

So she checks Harrow’s room—empty, but she does find another glass of water in there, which she drinks hastily without bothering to question how long it’s been sitting on the nightstand. She rests for a minute on Harrow’s bed, clinging to her sword more for support than because she thinks she could swing it at something.

She leaves the room as silently as she can and closes the door behind her.

The corridors of the First House are empty and dark as she searches. She keeps thinking she sees movement out of the corners of her eyes, but after the fourth time she whirls around to find nothing, accepts that this too may be a side effect of the soul sucking.

She grasps her sword in both hands as she turns down a corridor she hasn’t taken before. At this point, she’s beginning to feel not only lost, but also dizzy, and is considering calling it quits and hoping Harrow hasn’t done anything too stupid.

But there, at the end of the hallway, is a closed door. And underneath the door, a light shines. Not the light of the old-fashioned florescent bulbs or even the warm, glowing lanterns she’s seen some of the priests carrying around. No, this light is a wan, flickering candlelight that only serves to make Gideon feel colder and more unwell. Gideon would recognize that light anywhere. It has to be Harrow’s.

As she creeps towards the light, she lowers her sword. When she reaches the doorway, she tries the brass handle—locked, of course. She knocks, and behind the door, she can hear the unmistakable sound of bones clattering.

“Harrow,” she tries to say, but it comes out as more of a croak. She hears a rustling opposite the door. She tries again. “It’s me, you numbskull. Let me in!”

She’s seriously not feeling good. Maybe this whole standing up thing was a mistake.

The door suddenly opens—Gideon sways forward.

“Gideon?” Harrow says. And then Gideon passes out.

When she comes to, she’s resting on a dusty couch, head pillowed by something soft and warm.

“Harrow?”

“Shut up, idiot.” Harrow sounds small and frightened. Gideon blinks her eyes open to see her adept looking down at her from quite close up, fingers hovering in midair as though she can’t decide whether to touch Gideon or not.

Gideon thinks deliriously that she might as well, since she’s already got Gideon’s head in her lap.

Gideon looks around. There are bones strewed on the floor—probably from Harrow’s efforts to get her to the couch. And they’re in some type of library—quite small, even by Ninth standards, but Gideon can tell that it once would have been cozy.

There’s a fireplace set into one wall with ancient chairs across from it. Everywhere books are piled up; this isn’t the tidy organization of someone who owns a library for the aesthetic, but the more familiar jumble of books and crumbling papers from a person who once loved their work.

She looks back to Harrow, whose face is once again painted, but hastily. The smudged circles of black underneath her eyes make her look tired and worried.

“Gideon?” she says again. “Are you all right?”

Although Gideon has looked her death in the eyes more than once this week, it’s the tone of panic in Harrow’s voice that makes her feel like she must truly be dead. She reaches up to pinch herself on the arm, but Harrow catches her wrist.

“Woah, hold it, that’s my move,” Gideon says.

But Harrow just checks her pulse. Her thumb sweeps over the place where Gideon can feel her heart beat hardest. Then she does touch Gideon’s face—fingers brushing her hair aside to feel at her forehead.

“No fever,” she mutters. “Probably dehydrated.”

“You’d know a lot about that, wouldn’t you? You have a lot of experience, my sickly scion. Malnourished monarch.”

“This isn’t a joke! If you had collapsed somewhere out there, where I couldn’t find you in time—”

“Dehydration duchess.”

“You could have died! Did you even read my note?”

“What note?”

“You idiot,” Harrow says again, with feeling. “I left it beside the water cup.”

“So that was you. Thought it might have been the monster.”

“There is no—” Harrow breaks off and pinches the bridge of her nose, breathing in slowly. She smudges her paint when she does. There’s a little bit of skin poking through just at the top of her nose where it meets her forehead. Gideon almost reaches up to touch it without thinking.

“You will not leave the room without my permission in the future,” Harrow says.

“Like hell I won’t! You snuck off without me. What did you expect me to do?”

It’s just like Harrow to use this as an excuse to keep Gideon locked away somewhere. What else did Gideon expect?

But Harrow looks down at her with huge scared eyes, as deep and dark as the tomb itself, and Gideon can’t even be angry. Which sucks, because she’d planned to be angry with Harrow for the next few hours at least. But now that she’s with Harrow, now that she’s assured herself Harrow isn’t dead, just holed away in some obscure corner of the House reading as normal, a sense of calm steals over Gideon. She could almost go back to sleep here.

As though Harrow can read her mind, she says, “I expected you to still be asleep.”

“Tough luck. I’m as awake as I’ve ever been. I could fight off a billion bone monsters right now. Just give me my sword, and—wait, where’s my sword?”

Harrow gestures to the edge of the couch near Gideon’s feet, where to Gideon’s great relief she finds her sword propped up.

“I haven’t taken anything of yours,” Harrow says. “I only—I needed to do more research, and I thought you were safe in our rooms.”

Gideon looks around. Books are piled up on the reading stand next to the couch, right next to an ugly ninth house candle Harrow’s using in clear violation of every fire safety rule Gideon has ever learned. Harrow has of course littered the floor with books too. The candle smells waxy and unpleasant, but the familiar flickering of the feeble light makes something in Gideon’s chest unclench.

“And was it worth it? Did you find anything?”

Harrow shakes her head. “Nothing of note. This seems to be a room for the more…esoteric interests of the Lyctors. There are books here on almost everything—anatomy, various discredited magical practices, historical romances that seem improbable at best. But nothing that helps us. It’s all just…what they liked. It doesn’t tell me anything about how they achieved Lyctorhood.”

“Do they have any skin mags?” Gideon asks hopefully.

“No, you moron.”

“But how can you know if you haven’t checked for them?”

Harrow doesn’t dignify this with a response. Instead, she picks up a book from the table and starts idly thumbing through. She doesn’t dislodge Gideon from her lap. Gideon thinks about getting up, going back to her room. Maybe forcing Harrow to come with her. But the thought of leaving this couch sends a wave of nausea through her stomach, so she decides she can best do her duty as a cavalier by staying here and watching for threats.

It's seriously weird to be in Harrow’s lap, and it would normally disgust her to be so close to her adept.

From this close, Harrow smells of bloodsweat. It’s not a pleasant smell at the best of times, and it’s grown worse over the time they’ve been at Canaan House. But the warmth of her—better than the empty fireplace in the corner, anyway. Gideon’s eyes start to drift closed.

Then something occurs to her.

“If you aren’t finding anything useful, then why are you still here?”

Above her, pages turn slowly. Harrow is silent for a long moment.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she says finally. “I needed a distraction.”

This might be the most honest thing Harrow has ever admitted to Gideon. Gideon has long suspected that Harrowhark spends so much time studying bone magic because she doesn’t have any other hobbies, aside from conjuring skeletons to trip Gideon while she’s going down the stairs. It’s nice to have that confirmed.

Maybe once Harrow has seen the appeal of books that aren’t dusty academic tomes, she’ll grow more lenient about Gideon’s preferred reading material.

Not that it will matter. As soon as Harrow becomes a Lyctor, Gideon will never have to see her again. Harrow will never again tell Gideon what she can and can’t read. She’ll never again feel Gideon’s pulse, checking for life.

She probably won’t even care if Gideon lives, once she’s a Lyctor.

Gideon squirms around. She hates to call it nestling, because it’s not. But she finds a more comfortable position on the couch. Harrow adjusts herself above Gideon too. She props her elbow on Gideon’s shoulder as she turns another page.

“Will you read to me?” Gideon says. She must be out of her mind with exhaustion.

“I don’t see why you would want that.”

“I need to stay awake. Protect us from threats and all. It’s not because I crave your dulcet tones, don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried about that. I know you hate me, Nav.”

Gideon almost agrees on instinct, but something stops her. Maybe it’s the quiet of the room, or maybe it’s the warmth of Harrow’s horrible little body, but she doesn’t have it in her to put up the usual fight.

Anyway, Harrow doesn’t seem to need a response. After a moment, she clears her throat and begins:

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.”

And although this intrigues Gideon, although under other conditions, Gideon would have loved to hear a story that wasn’t about how bad nuns go to hell and good nuns get to serve the King Undying, Gideon nevertheless finds herself drifting off into a comfortable doze.

She tries to keep her eyes open, but Harrow’s clear, calm voice reads on, and Gideon’s eyelids droop until she can no longer watch the flickering of the candle. At the very edges of her consciousness, she thinks she feels Harrow’s fingers brush lightly over her forehead again, smoothing back her hair.

“You can sleep,” dream Harrow says. “I’ll kill the light.”

[mundanemodulus]

in the spirit of living like jordaiden has a thriving 2010s tumblr era following, I felt compelled to fill out a ship meme for them...

cleaner crop, more insights, and a blank template under the cut xoxo

Age/Height

JORDI'S AGE/HEIGHT NEVER GET REVEALED!!!! I just made it up based on what my heart wanted, and my heart wants Jordi to both be slightly taller and a little older than Aiden bc it makes for a cuter dynamic. Annoying old man bothers similarly old, but slightly younger, man.

How it Happens

I don't think either of them fully intend for it to happen, nor does it happen particularly quickly because, in Scotty's words:

“What is it about your generation? Why can’t you just talk to one another?”

Jordi inadvertently trips face first into having Genuine Feelings for Aiden because for some inexplicable reason, he cannot stay away from Aiden for long. He makes excuses for himself all the time but we all know what he is (🌈🌈).

Aiden is slightly different in that he doesn't actively try to create opportunities to see Jordi... it just so... happens to work out... their schedules align and Jordi crashes into his life... or something goes sideways and he needs Jordi's help... and then post Legion DLC he gets his fanfic-esque "Oh" moment.

Handling Conflict

RESIDENT SHIT STIRRER JORDI REPORTING IN. HE LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL AIDEN LMFAO. He moved on real quick from the attempt too LOL, bro doesn't take anything That Seriously. He's not always difficult for difficult's sake though—Jordi and Aiden have frequent ideological disagreements but I imagine that time tempers them both... and in the end, Jordi goes where Aiden does...

And we know how Aiden feels about disagreements. He still hangs on to Lena's death and pursues revenge rather doggedly... also, I think it's really funny if he just keeps bringing up the fact that Jordi tried to kill him Once. Aiden isn't completely conflict averse though and we see him butt heads quite a few times in the Stars and Stripes novel.

Relationship Attitude

ok. so Jordi has a reputation of being a hotshot playboy that never commits to anything and strings all his lovers along bc commitment isn't really his style. UNTIL AIDEN.

Jordi forgets all about his flings and somehow falls FACE FIRST into monogamy bc all he thinks of anymore is Aiden and the only person he booty calls is Aiden. So yes, he is Very Committed to Aiden EVEN IF HE TELLS HIMSELF HE ISN'T.

Aiden is... Aiden. He's never letting Jordi go.

Attachment

this one is funny to me bc I KNOW Jordi doesn't think himself as being protective of Aiden AND YET HE COMES RUNNING BACK TO SAVE AIDEN AT THE VERY END OF THE BOOK, AND THREATENS WRENCH DURING LEGION WHEN HE THINKS HE'S HOLDING AIDEN HOSTAGE.

Aiden is once again Aiden. I don't think Jordi can top that. We saw the lengths he went to protect Nicky and avenge Lena.

First to apologize after a fight

Jordi's pride is riding on the line at all times and he doesn't think he's wrong most of the time LMFAOOOO so Aiden usually ends up apologizing first... <3

The best caregiver when the other is sick

Jordi simultaneously has horrific and amazing bedside manners. Aiden is pretty consistently pleasant though... and it comes from caring for Nicky when she was sick, and then later Jackson and Lena when they got sick...

Designated driver

they both fight over this one tbh LMFAOOO Jordi does most of the driving in the novel but I just knooooooow Aiden hates being a passenger princess if he can help it... same thing for Jordi... both just feel more at Control when they're the one behind the wheel

(drunk or otherwise)

Sensitive to changes in their partner

The entire novel is a WEALTH of tidbits where Jordi and Aiden just Wordlessly Understand each other. They know what the other is thinking, how they operate, what they want, and so so much more GOD I CANNOT GET OVER IT THEY'RE OPEN BOOKS TO EACH OTHER

The one who proposes

Jordi "I have nightmarish commitment issues the likes of no one you've ever known before" Chin struggles to say "I love you" let alone "Will you marry me?" so the responsibility falls on Aiden both times HAHAHAH the proposal happens post legion, btw <3

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[queenjunothegreat]

Chapter One: JASON Has a Bad Day

Okie dokie everyone! I've decided to stop being lazy and finally post The Heroes of Juno to Tumblr! I'm not gonna be spamming the tag, though, promise! I'll post one chapter on Sunday and one chapter on Wednesday until you guys are all caught up! I hope you enjoy!

According to Leo, their destination was a museum on the Grand Canyon, not that that really meant anything to Jason. Coach was herding them towards a squat, red stucco building when he shouted, “Do not — I repeat do not get separated from your partners, do you hear me?” Leo turned to Jason, likely to inform him that they were working together, but Piper grabbed his arm before he got the chance. “You're my partner, Leo,” she said firmly. “Uh, sorry, but as the only one claiming to be a non-amnesiac, I'm here to tell you that I'm supposed to be with Jason.” “We're always partners on field trips, though.”  “Yeah, which is part of the reason Coach Hedge banned us from working together,” Leo pointed out. Then, in a remarkably good impression added, “McLean, Valdez, if you so much as look at one another on this trip, you'll be getting a one-way ticket to the bottom, fast lane!” “Which means you'll be working with me,” another voice drawled. Jason stiffened, which was the correct response, based on the disgust that crossed Leo and Piper's faces. Another boy, not quite as big as Jason, but definitely taller and broader than Leo and Piper both, had slung his arm around Piper's shoulders. “Lucky you.”

Master List

Jason knew he was going to have a lousy day when he woke up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. He was pretty sure that normally he wouldn’t mind holding hands with her, as she was very pretty, but he had no idea who she was or why he was holding hands with her. 

Apparently, the girl also didn’t know why he was holding her hand because she snatched it away and punched him in the arm with a surprising amount of force. Jason yelped in pain, but she just glared at him in obvious distrust, clutching her hand to her chest like she thought he would try to take it again. She was leaning so far away from Jason that he thought she was going to fall out of their shared seat, and when he went to balance her, she twisted her face into something that reminded Jason of a very agitated she-wolf

“Don't touch me,” the girl snapped. “Who the hell are you?”

“Uh, I’m Jason,” he stammered, putting his hands up in surrender. “And I don't—”

“What's wrong with you two?” a new voice asked. A boy was sitting on the seat in front of them by himself. He had his arms folded on the back of his seat and he rested his chin on them as he watched Jason and the girl like they were a tennis match. He raised an eyebrow when Jason gave him a blank look.

The girl, on the other hand, was visibly relieved. “Leo!” she all but hissed as she quickly vacated her spot at Jason's side and took up the one by her friend.

The other boy — Leo — turned and looked at her with his brow furrowed. “Seriously, Piper, what's up with you tw—”

“Who are you?” Piper interrupted glaring at Jason even more ferociously now that she was in a more defensible position. 

“What do you mean ‘who are you?’” Leo asked. “That's Jason. You know, big guy, blonde. Our best friend, your recent boyfriend? That Jason?”

“You're my best friend, and I would never date someone like him,” Piper corrected, giving Jason a somehow dirtier look than before.

Leo just looked confused for a moment before he laughed. “Alright, Pipes, whatever you say.” He gave Jason an easy smile. “Come on, Jason. Tell your amnesiac girlfriend who you are.”

“I'm sorry, but I don't know who either of you are,” Jason admitted. “I—I'm not even really sure who I am.”

Leo stared at him, gobsmacked. Then he turned to Piper with an almost betrayed look. “Okay, I get why Jason would be messing with me over the whole shaving cream on the Jell-o thing, but you, too? I didn't even do anything to you. You date the guy for two weeks and you're already picking him over me?”

Piper looked pained at his words, which Jason thought was odd because shaving cream and Jell-o sounded like something he wanted no part of. “No, you did the shaving cream and Jell-o thing to me. Because this guy,” she scowled at Jason just in case her message wasn't clear and Jason resisted the urge to scowl back, “wasn't even here when we got on the bus this morning.”

Leo wrinkled his nose at her and they made direct eye contact for several seconds in silence. They must have communicated something that Jason couldn't hear, though, because Leo laughed. “This is your idea of a prank? You telling me you don’t remember your boyfriend? Not your best work, Pipes.”

“Leo, I swear, I have never met that guy before in my life.”

Leo turned his amusement back on Jason. “You're serious, too? Committing to the bit?”

“I've never met either of you before in my life,” Jason said genuinely. 

Leo looked startled and a bit hurt for a moment – which Jason felt really bad about – but he quickly slapped on a smile and he shrugged. “Yeah, alright. I'm willing to play in this space with you guys. So, first things first: we go to this place called Wilderness School, AKA where all the problem kids get dumped. I ran away six times, Piper stole a BMW—”

“No, I didn't!”

“Right, right, he let you borrow it.” Leo rolled his eyes and gave Jason a look he somehow knew he was supposed to laugh at, but didn't and Leo winced. “And you—” he cut himself off and looked at Jason curiously. “I actually don't know what you did. I don't think you’ve ever told us.”

“That's because neither of us have ever spoken to him before,” Piper insisted. “Leo, do you really think I'd somehow just completely forget a person but remember everything else? There's no way that's how amnesia works.”

“Actually, it can be. Kind of,” Leo shrugged. “Though I'm not sure how you would have gotten it. Both of you, actually. Pretty sure head injuries are usually involved.”

“Look, I don't think I'm supposed to be here at all,” Jason confessed. “I think Piper,” she looked annoyed that he dared to use her name, “is right. I don't think I was on this bus this morning.”

Leo seemed to consider that for a moment before he leaned around Piper to look at the seat beside them. “Hey! Mary! Lisa! You see the blonde dude behind me? I can't for the life of me remember his name. Help a guy out?”

The girls snickered at him, but the one with red hair replied, “Pretty sure that's Jason. He's the bodyguard you and Piper hired to follow you around and clean up your messes.”

Leo snapped his fingers and shot them a wink. “That's it! It was on the tip of my tongue. Thanks, ladies!” The girls giggled again and Leo turned back to Jason with a look that clearly said See? I told you.

“They didn't say anything about us being friends with him,” Piper pointed out. “And they definitely didn't say anything about me dating him.”

“It hasn't been that long and you two are trying to keep things quiet,” Leo explained. “And everyone calls Jason our bodyguard after he kicked Tyler's ass for us the first week he got here.”

“Why would you need me to kick someone's ass for you?”

“Well,” Leo said, drawing out the word with a mischievous grin. “It may or may not have involved replacing his laundry detergent with bleach and RIT dye, and because Tyler has more biceps than brain cells, Pipes and I kinda needed someone to swoop in and save our skins. Which is where you come in, Superman.” He turned and gave Piper a frown. “Surely you remember that.”

“I remember pranking Tyler,” Piper admitted. “But I also remember us having to hide on the roof until curfew and missing dinner to avoid becoming a news head line.”

Leo frowned at her and opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a short man in pristine white athletic wear yelling at them from the front of the bus. “McLean! What are you doing? You were strictly told not to sit with Valdez!”

“Sorry, Coach. What was that? We couldn't hear you all the way back here!” Leo shouted back, completely ignoring the conversation they'd been having moments before. “Maybe your megaphone will help?”

“Coach” whoever that was, seemed pleased with the idea and picked up his bullhorn, but instead of his voice, the only thing that came out was a tinny recording bellowing “THE COW GOES MOO,” which caused the bus to erupt in uproarious laughter. Coach turned purple. “Valdez!”

Leo and Piper ducked their heads together and snickered, elbowing each other in the sides while Jason blinked at Leo in baffled wonder. “You did that?” he asked. “How?”

Leo smirked at him and wiggled his eyebrows, twirling a tiny screwdriver between his fingers. “You may not remember, but I can assure you that I am a very special boy.”

“You're a menace is what you are,” Piper teased, Jason seemingly forgotten. 

“Oh, I'm the menace?” Leo snorted. “Care to remind the class who stole the megaphone?”

“That's it!” Coach shouted. He had abandoned the use of his favorite toy, but it still belted out the lyrics to “Old McDonald” because he had his fist in such a death grip that he wasn't able to let go of the button. “You three back there are going to be the official clean-up crew after lunch, capisce?”

Piper grumbled her discontent, and Leo rolled his eyes, but neither of them seemed all that upset. Something told Jason that the two of them were well-acquainted with lunch clean-up as a punishment. The mildly anxious churning in his stomach told Jason that he was not. He slouched down in his seat, trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible while Leo and Piper did whatever they could to seek it out. Leo turned back around and he actually looked concerned when he looked at Jason. “You're really doubling down on the not knowing us bit, huh?” He glanced at Piper. “The both of you.”

“I'm beyond serious,” Piper swore. “You know I wouldn't lie to you about this.”

Leo didn't say anything in response, he just frowned at Jason like he was trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube with seven colors. Jason turned and looked out the window, unwilling to meet his gaze.

*-*-*

The rest of the trip was blessedly short and quiet. Coach had yelled at them about how Piper and Leo still weren't allowed to sit together, which had led to the two of them bickering over who was to give up their spot. Leo eventually gave in to Piper’s insistence that she was not sitting with Jason, and he climbed over the back of the seat and flopped down at Jason's side. Coach yelled even more about that, and Leo accidentally kicked Jason in the jaw, but he politely kept that to himself. At first, Leo thought it would be fun to fill Jason in on all the stuff he'd forgotten, and started up his “Crash Course for the Amnesiac”. Jason wasn't sure how truthful it was, seeing as he'd claimed to be a gift from the gods and that Jason thought he was so cool that he did all of Leo’s chores and surrendered all of his desserts, but it was somewhat entertaining. Leo quickly grew bored, though, and started fiddling with a ball of pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks he'd pulled from his pocket. Based on the way his fingers twitched and his eyes darted around the bus, Jason was pretty sure Leo got bored often. Piper, on the other hand, was more than content with watching Jason with narrowed eyes over the back of the seat the whole time. It made her look like she was nothing but a nose and a pair of angry eyebrows, but Jason knew better than to point that out. 

According to Leo, their destination was a museum on the Grand Canyon, not that that really meant anything to Jason. Coach was herding them towards a squat, red stucco building when he shouted, “Do not — I repeat do not get separated from your partners, do you hear me?”

Leo turned to Jason, likely to inform him that they were working together, but Piper grabbed his arm before he got the chance. “You're my partner, Leo,” she said firmly.

“Uh, sorry, but as the only one claiming to be a non-amnesiac, I'm here to tell you that I'm supposed to be with Jason.”

“We're always partners on field trips, though.” 

“Yeah, which is part of the reason Coach Hedge banned us from working together,” Leo pointed out. Then, in a remarkably good impression added, “McLean, Valdez, if you so much as look at one another on this trip, you'll be getting a one-way ticket to the bottom, fast lane!”

“Which means you'll be working with me,” another voice drawled. Jason stiffened, which was the correct response, based on the disgust that crossed Leo and Piper's faces. Another boy, not quite as big as Jason, but definitely taller and broader than Leo and Piper both, had slung his arm around Piper's shoulders. “Lucky you.”

“Don't touch me, Dylan,” Piper snapped, and Jason felt a bit guilty over holding her hand earlier because she sounded very familiar with that particular phrase. 

“Aw, don't be like that,” Dylan crooned. “Most girls would do anything to work with me.”

“What a coincidence. I'd do anything to avoid it.”

Dylan tilted his head back and laughed, running his fingers through his hair like he thought he was on some kind of commercial for hair care products designed to make you look like your hottest delinquent self. He looped his arms through Piper's and started dragging her along, ignoring the way she yanked to try getting away from him. Jason clenched his fists and grit his teeth.

“I hate that guy,” Leo said quietly. Jason turned to see Leo glaring after Dylan and Piper, and he looked so angry it made Piper's scowls from earlier seem almost cordial.

Jason reached out and brushed his knuckles along the back of Leo’s wrist. “Hey, you alright?”

“Yeah, I just hate that I—” Leo cut himself off with a sharp head shake and he gave Jason a wide smirk. “He's just so annoying, you know?” He rolled his eyes and put on a dumb little voice to say, “Wow, I am so cool and handsome and awesome. You guys are so lucky that you get to know me. I wish I could hang out with myself, but I can't figure out how, so you all will have to make do. Aren't I so generous? I'll take your thanks in the form of praises sung to my pure handsome awesomeness.”

Jason blinked down at Leo, but he couldn't really hide the way his voice trembled slightly on a suppressed laugh. “Leo, you are so weird.”

“Yeah, you tell me that a lot,” Leo grinned at him. “Now, come on. Let's get inside before Coach decides to make good on his Fast Pass promise.” He offered Jason his arm and batted his eyelashes like some kind of cartoon princess. “Shall we?”

Surprising both himself and Leo, Jason took the offered arm and let Leo drag him inside like Dylan had with Piper moments before. He figured that if his life was messed up enough that someone like Leo was his best friend that he might as well own it. 

*-*-*

Jason thought that the museum was probably really cool and interesting, and he was pretty sure that he might like to revisit it one day, but a lot of different things made it very hard to pay attention that particular afternoon. Coach Hedge had apparently decided that using his megaphone was worth occasionally sounding like a Sith Lord or helpfully informing everyone around him about the sounds various barnyard animals made because he was constantly shouting instructions in it, every now and then one of the other kids would shove Jason or Leo from behind and snicker, and he was still suffering from amnesia. Jason suggested that maybe Leo should take him and Piper to an adult to get medical attention, but Leo had snorted and informed him that Coach Hedge was the only adult around and that his idea of “medical attention” would likely be hitting them both over the head with his baseball bat in order to knock their brains back in place. Jason told Leo he watched too many movies. 

Leo was probably the most distracting thing, though. Ignoring the fact that he kept fishing a seemingly never-ending supply of nuts and bolts and string and wires out of his pocket to twist together, he was constantly bristling up at Jason's side and shooting murderous looks at some of the other girls in class. Jason understood why he was upset — after the third comment, he'd figured out that they were actively being mean to Piper, and even with her attitude towards him, he still clenched his fists with every sickly sweet barb thrown at her — but he couldn't understand why Leo wouldn't say anything. He'd just stand there and seethe in obvious resentment, but as soon as he noticed Jason looking at him, he plastered on a wide smile and made yet another dumb joke and pretended like he had no idea what Jason was talking about when he mentioned the girls. 

“Look, do you want me to do something about them or not?” Jason asked flatly. One of the girls had said something incredibly stupid about a rain dance and he felt his temple throb with frustration. “Because I will make them stop. But only if you and Piper won't get mad at me.”

Leo stared at him in shock for a moment and Jason thought he might play dumb again, but instead he just gave Jason a rueful smile. “Do I want you to? Sure, I love to watch you stomp around and bash heads, especially if it's someone who deserves it. But you probably shouldn't. Piper would get mad at both of us if we tried to turn her into some sort of damsel. Besides, you—” he poked Jason in the chest, “definitely can't do anything. You're already on thin ice; if you start a fight while we're on a trip, you'll definitely wind up in ‘self-focused learning and meditation’ again, and you hated it last time.”

“What's self-focused learning and meditation?”

“Well, this place isn't actually a prison, so they can't call it solitary confinement, but that's basically what it is,” Leo explained. “You're taken out of the dorm and you have to sleep in a room by yourself and you do one-on-one classes with the disciplinary teacher and you go to meals at a different time from everyone. It's  just you and your teacher slash prison guard for however many days they give you.”

“And I…” Jason gulped to quash down his queasiness. “I had to do that?”

“Once,” Leo shrugged. “You were stuck in it for three days and when you came out you didn't really want to talk about it. You made me and Piper promise to never let you get in enough trouble to do it again, though, which said plenty to me.”

Jason felt sick at the idea that he was ever getting in enough trouble to deserve that kind of punishment. He shuddered. “What about you and Piper? Have either of you had it?”

Leo shook his head. “Nah. Pipes and I make sure that they can't prove it was us. Everyone knows that we did it, but even Wilderness School follows the justice system. ‘If it doesn't fit, you must acquit’ and all that.”

Jason blinked. “What?”

Leo looked disappointed in him. “Dude.”

There was a sudden commotion and the two of them turned around to see Piper with her teeth almost bared at another girl, who was clutching her hand to her cheek in shock. “Coach, Piper just hit me!”

“No, I didn't!” Piper snapped back. She was subtly shaking out the fingers of her right hand, and having been on the receiving end of one of Piper's punches earlier, Jason almost felt bad for the other girl. Or, he would have if she weren't awful. 

“Yes, you did!”

“No, I didn't!” Piper turned to one of the other girls. “Amy, tell Coach that she's lying!”

Amy suddenly looked like she'd been hit by an invisible truck. She stared at Piper like she'd never seen her before and then turned to Coach Hedge and stammered out, “Uh, yeah. I— I dunno why Macy is saying Piper hit her, Coach. She definitely didn't.”

Jason gaped at her. Anyone with eyes could see that Piper had obviously hit the other girl, but everyone was muttering to themselves about how they were pretty sure Piper was telling the truth. Then again, it's not like Jason saw Piper hit Macy, and if everyone seemed to be in agreement, then maybe—

Leo snorted at his side and gave Jason a wide grin. “That's the other reason we've never landed in solitary. Piper is scary convincing when she wants to be.”

Coach actually seemed to be the one person Piper hadn't managed to convince, but it didn't really matter because he didn't really care. “No fighting! Now, come on, cupcakes,” he called. “You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork.”

Jason let Leo lead him outside, and when he did, the air rushed out of his lungs. He wasn't sure what he was expecting the Grand Canyon to look like, but this was beyond anything he could imagine. Jason had known that they would be pretty high up based on the drive, but he hadn't appreciated just how deep it would be. The cliffs were made of layers upon layers of rock, each one of them a distinct color from the one next to it like a rainbow of browns and oranges and grays. Bushes and trees were dotted around, but they were so far off that they just looked like little smudges of green to Jason. They were so high up that even birds were flying in lazy circles beneath their feet, and down at the bottom the winding river cut through the rock like a sacrificial knife through the gut of a teddy bear. 

Jason winced at the sharp pain that burst behind his eyes and rubbed his brow. He had no idea where the comparison had come from. What kind of person thought to compare one of the wonders of the natural world to teddy bear slaughter? But it felt important. It felt like an omen. Like something big was coming and he had to prepare.

A hand tugged at his shirt sleeve and he turned to see Leo staring at him with his eyebrows puckered in concern. “Hey, man, are you alright? You don't look too good.”

“I'm fine,” Jason dismissed, shaking his head. “I've just got a headache. You're the one who said I had some kind of brain injury, remember?” Leo didn't look convinced, so Jason offered him a weak smile. “Come on. Let's get a better look over the edge.”

Leo followed him, but the closer they got to the edge, the antsier Leo got. When a cold wind blew across the skywalk hard enough that it would have knocked him down if Jason hadn't been there to steady him he scowled up at the sky. “Dude, there is no way this is safe. Look at this storm. It's literally right above us and nowhere else. There's gotta be some freaky weather shit going on.”

Jason looked up and saw what Leo was talking about. There was an inky black storm cloud above them — a perfect anvil-shaped cumulonimbus, and Jason didn't stop to wonder why he knew that of all things — but everywhere else was the same crystal clear skies they had driven through on the way here. Coach shouted something about making their time out there quick, and Jason's headache got worse. He stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jeans and frowned when his fingers brushed up against something cold.

He pulled it out and examined it. It was a coin. It appeared to be solid gold, about the size of an extra thick half dollar, but it was lumpy like the person who made it wasn't exactly skilled at making coins. A battle ax was stamped on one side, and some guy surrounded by laurels was on the other. Carved around the edge were the letters IVLIVS.

“Dude, what is that?” Jason turned to see Leo eyeing the coin appreciatively. “Is that real gold? Can we sell it?” A thought occurred to him, and he gave Jason a betrayed look. “Wait, don't tell me you were rich this whole time, too. It's bad enough that Piper is richer than the Pope, but I thought you were middle class at best.”

Jason’s frown deepened. His grip on the coin tightened like it was a safety blanket. It felt important. like he was going to need it soon. He stuffed it back in his pocket. 

“I dunno. Pretty sure it's just a coin, though.”

Leo raised an eyebrow at him, but he shrugged, happy to let it go to move onto bigger and better things. By this point, Jason was pretty sure Leo was always moving in every sense of the word. “Come on. Dare you to spit over the edge.”

*-*-*

Jason wanted to say that he and Leo put effort into their worksheet, but that would be a lie. In his defense, he didn’t know what most of the words meant. How was he supposed to “name three sedimentary strata” or “describe two examples of erosion” when he was asking Leo to define every other word? Besides that, he was still more than a little distracted by the freaky storm and his own mixed-up feelings and making sure to avoid Piper’s gaze every time she saw him talking to Leo.

Leo wasn’t exactly helpful, either. He was too busy messing with his pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks from earlier. He didn’t even have his worksheet because he’d apparently folded it up into a flock of birds when he was bored in class the day before.

“Were they able to fly?” Jason asked, tilting his head to the side.

Leo snorted. “Would you believe me if I said yes?”

“Probably.”

“Then yes. The origami cranes I made in pre-cal were absolutely capable of self-sustained flight,” Leo said with a fond eye roll. “Now, watch this.”

As Jason watched, Leo furtively glanced both ways before gently tossing his pipe cleaner contraption over the side of the fence. Jason could tell it was a little helicopter now that it wasn’t hidden by Leo’s hands. He expected it to immediately spiral down and crash, but instead the little propellers actually spun and got halfway across the canyon before giving out. Jason gawked at where it fell before turning back to Leo. He was definitely sure that if Leo told him he’d somehow managed to fold life into his origami, Jason would believe him. “How did you do that? That was amazing.”

Leo’s grin from before came back, wide enough to make his nose wrinkle. “You should have seen the prototype. It would have worked loads better if Mrs. James hadn’t confiscated my rubber bands.”

Jason couldn’t help but notice that Leo didn’t actually answer his question of how it was done, but he figured he probably wouldn’t understand even if Leo had whipped out a blackboard and gone over every step. “Are you sure we’re friends?”

“Last I checked, yeah.”

“How?” Jason asked earnestly. “Like, how did we meet? Why did we start hanging out? What was our first conversation like?”

Leo frowned. “Hey, man, I’ve got ADHD. You know I’m not great with remembering details like that. I just remember that you came to school around the time they decided Piper and I couldn’t share a dorm, so you and I wound up together. You didn’t really talk to anyone at first, and then, like I told you, you saved us from Tyler that one time and the three of us have been inseparable since. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this.”

“Because I don’t remember any of it,” Jason insisted. “I don’t remember you or Piper or Wilderness School. I don’t remember anything but it feels like I’m not supposed to be here. I don’t know why you and everyone but Piper remembers me but I feel like…”

“Like we’re all wrong and you’re the only one who’s right?” Leo suggested. “What, like we all have fake memories? Piper’s the only one remembering stuff properly?”

Jason winced. It sounded crazy when Leo put it to words, but a little voice in his head screamed Yes! That’s exactly what I think! “Yeah, pretty much.”

Leo pursed his lips. “Look. Jason. I don’t think I like this game you and Piper are playing anymore. Like, I never thought it was all that funny to begin with, but at this point keeping at it is kind of just a dick move. Can you just drop it? You got me, okay? Haha, Leo caved first or whatever. But this sucks, alright?”

“I’m sorry,” Jason said softly. He felt a bit like a horse had kicked him in the chest, but that didn’t change the facts. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t remember you.”

Leo looked like he wanted to be angry, but any fire in his eyes was doused by the little well of hurt that it was sitting on. He turned his head sharply. “Give me the worksheet. I’m going to go describe shale or whatever.”

Jason dutifully handed over the paper and watched Leo turn on his heel and wander over towards one of the podiums with fun facts that they’d mocked together not too long ago. Jason couldn’t help but feel a bit like a dog who had been left on the side of the street. No matter what Leo said or thought, Jason didn’t know these people, and so far Leo had been the only person willing to give him the time of day. 

He looked around feeling a bit lost when a gruff voice shouted, “Hey, blondie!”

Jason’s head whipped around. Coach Hedge was staring him down, but he still looked around him before pointing at himself. “Yes! You! Come here!”

Jason did as he was ordered and trotted over to Coach Hedge’s side. “Uh, yes, Coach? Sir?”

Coach Hedge visibly recoiled at the title. “Don’t call me that. It’s unnatural.”

“Uh, sorry. Coach.”

He snorted, then gave Jason a critical look over and gestured at the sky. “Is this you?”

“Is what me?”

*-*-*

“Don’t toy with me, kid,” Coach Hedge snapped glaring up at him from under the white brim of his baseball cap. “You and I both know this storm isn’t natural. Now, tell me who you are, where you came from, and why you’re trying to screw up my job.”

Jason’s heart leapt. “So, you don’t know who I am? I’m not one of your students?”

“Never seen you before today.”

Jason wasn’t sure if he was going to cry, collapse, or kiss the short gym teacher. Well, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to kiss Coach Hedge, but the other two options were still on the table. “Look, I don’t know who I am or how I got here. I woke up on the bus with no memory and Leo just started telling me that we’re best friends. I just know I’m definitely not supposed to be here.”

“You can say that again!” Coach Hedge barked. Then his voice got dangerously low and quiet and Jason felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. “Listen here, kid. You may know your way around manipulating the Mist with the way you have everyone fooled, but you couldn’t get one past me. I’ve been smelling a monster for a while now, but I can tell it’s not you. You smell like a half-blood and a powerful one at that. Now. Tell me who you are and how you got here.”

Jason felt a bit closer to crying than before, but he grit his teeth. “I told you, I don’t know. I don’t remember anything before waking up on the bus earlier. You’ve gotta believe me. I need help.”

Coach Hedge studied him, and then, for some reason, he took in a deep breath through his nose like he was trying to sniff something out. Whatever he smelled was obviously unpleasant because he grimaced. “Great. You’re telling the truth.”

“Of course I am! I’ve been telling the truth all day, you’re just the first person to believe me. And what do you mean about Mist and monsters and half-bloods? Are you part of some secret organization? Are those codewords or something?”

Coach narrowed his eyes at him. “I can’t tell you who you are, I can just tell you what you are, and right now what you are is a major problem. I already had my hands full protecting two before, I wasn’t exactly planning on someone coming in and making it three. Wait, are you the ‘special package’?”

“I don’t think so? What package?”

Coach glowered up at the storm which was getting worse by the minute. Some of the other students had started to notice, and were muttering to one another and gesturing at the dark clouds. Jason quickly looked around for Leo, who was standing a safe distance from the edge and shifting from foot to foot like he was going to take off running at a moment’s notice, and Piper, who was glaring at Dylan like this was somehow his fault.

“I got a message from Camp this morning,” Coach said. “There’s an extraction team on the way. Said there was some special package that they needed to get as soon as possible, but they wouldn’t tell me what it was. I figured it was the two I was watching. They’re obviously powerful and older than most and I know for a fact that there’s something after them. Thought maybe Camp had just decided they needed these two ASAP, but then you show up and throw a wrench in every plan. So, tell me. Are you the package or not?”

Jason’s headache was getting even worse. Everything Coach Hedge was saying sounded crazy, but at the same time it made sense. Well, it almost made sense. It felt like an encrypted message and Jason just needed to remember the cipher key. “I told you. I don’t know.”

Coach wasn’t pleased with his answer, but he seemed to understand it was the only one Jason could give him. “Fine. I’ll just keep an eye on you until reinforcements arrive. Then we’ll take you to Camp, and the director can figure out what to do with you.” 

Jason did not like that phrasing. “What director? What do you mean ‘do with me’?”

“Just sit tight. Like I said, they should be here soon. We just have to hope nothing happens before–”

Lightning crashed directly overhead and thunder rolled loud enough to shake the earth and Jason froze. Kids started screaming and stumbling around, clinging to each other. Jason whipped his head around to see Piper and Leo scramble towards each other, but Dylan grabbed Piper’s arm and yanked her back, and the wind blew Leo so hard he fell over. 

Coach swore under his breath. “I just had to say something, didn’t I? Couldn’t keep my big mouth shut.” He pulled out his bullhorn, and Jason was relieved that it worked as intended this one time. “Alright, everyone! Back in the museum! Off the skywalk! Now! Move it or lose it! Lawrence, get your tail in gear or you’ll be doing suicides until you die!”

“I thought you said this thing was stable!” Jason yelped as the bridge shuddered and swayed beneath his feet. 

“Under normal circumstances, it is.” Coach said seriously. “These circumstances are anything but normal. Come on!”

*-*-*

The freaky storm from before had churned itself up into a hurricane. Funnel clouds formed and dipped, reaching towards the bridge, but never quite making it all the way down. Jason could almost hear a taunting voice snickering I’m not touching you! I’m not touching you!

Hats and notebooks and backpacks whipped back and forth through the air, their owners having abandoned them to the winds in their panic to get inside. Jason slipped and skidded across the slick glass to where Leo had been knocked over and hoisted him to his feet by the back of his jacket.

“Thanks!” Leo yelled. “But can you maybe go for a less ‘momma cat and kitten’ approach next time?”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jason said distractedly. “Come on, we need to get inside!”

Coach Hedge was blue in the face blowing on his whistle, waving kids into the museum where Piper and Dylan were struggling to keep the doors open. Well, Piper was struggling. Her snowboarding jacket was flapping all around her and her expression was screwed up in effort to keep her door from slamming shut, but she still seemed confident as she urged the other students inside. Dylan just stood there, holding his door with one hand, not a hair out of place while he watched the chaos with something like amusement on his face. 

Soon, Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge were the only ones left outside. Jason pushed forward, keeping his grip on the back of Leo’s jacket to make sure he wouldn’t blow away, but every step felt like he was towing a pick-up truck behind him. Jason wasn’t sure how, but he knew with every fiber of his being that the winds were fighting him specifically.

Then, as soon as the last kid was inside, Dylan grinned malevolently and slammed the door shut with a blast of wind that managed to knock Piper’s grip loose, too. Piper uselessly yanked at the door handles, before rounding on Dylan with fury in her eyes. “Help me,” she snarled.

Surprisingly, Dylan reached out a hand for the door, but shook his head and dropped it just as fast. He smirked at Piper. “Sorry, but it’s time for the next act in our show. And I don’t need you interrupting it with your little tricks.” He flicked his wrist and Piper went soaring through the air to land in a heap against a nearby wall.

“Piper!” Leo cried. He tried to charge forward, but Jason held him back. “Lemme go!”

“Stay behind me, kids!” Coach Hedge barked. He had his baseball bat in his hands, but as Jason watched it started to look less like a baseball bat and more like a crude club with leaves and vines growing off it. “I knew there was a monster skulking around. I should have known it was you!”

“What are you talking about?” Leo demanded. A worksheet hit him in the face, but he smacked it away. “What monsters?”

As if to answer his question, a gust of wind snatched Coach’s hat right off his head. There, below his curly hair were two little horns. He hefted his club. “Come at me!”

“Why bother?” Dylan cackled cruelly. “It’s not like you’re a threat. I mean, they retired you, didn’t they? That’s why you’re at this school in the first place. And it’s not like you’re doing all that well here, either. I was on your track team for two months, right under your nose, and you never noticed. Do you really think you can keep three half-bloods safe? Admit it, you old goat; you’ve lost your touch.”

Coach bleated angrily at him. “I’ll show you who’s lost their touch, cupcake! You’re going down!”

Dylan’s smile was maniacal. “Not before that one does.” He pointed at Leo and a dark funnel cloud erupted from his fingertip, snatching Leo out of Jason’s hold and sending him toppling over the side of the bridge.

“Leo!” Jason shouted, eyes wide with horror.

As Jason watched, Leo scrambled at the rocky cliff face, and finally managed to get a foothold on a thin outcropping of stone. His eyes were screwed shut and his voice pitched a bit when he shouted, “Hey! Can someone please come get me? This really fucking sucks!”

Jason looked around desperately for some sort of rope, but Coach was faster. He shoved his club at Jason’s chest and said, “You take care of that windbag! I’ll get Valdez.”

“How? Can you fly?”

“Not fly, kid.”

Then Coach did something Jason would never forget: He dropped his pants.

That would have been traumatizing enough on its own, but Jason now had to grapple with the fact that his PE coach had goat legs. “You’re a faun!”

Coach gave him a disgusted look. “I’m a satyr. Now, get in there!” Then without another word, he hopped over the fence and started picking his way down with the confidence and efficiency of a mountain goat. Which, he kind of was. Jason’s formerly-forgotten headache throbbed a bit, and he decided to think about anything but the half-goat man. He turned back to Dylan and gripped the club.

Dylan snorted at him. “Cute. But yeah, I’ll take you out first. I’m flexible.”

He lifted his hand, but before he could blink Jason threw the club at him with all his might. Had Jason even thought about what he was doing for half a second, he likely would have dismissed the idea because there was no way he would have managed to hit Dylan through all the wind. Fortunately, Jason was running on pure instinct because the club curved through the air like Jason was guiding it with his mind and hit Dylan directly in the gut, knocking him flat on his butt.

Dylan got back to his feet before Jason could celebrate his victory. He spat blood – gold blood – onto the ground. His eyes flashed like lightning and the winds picked up around him, shaking the skywalk so hard that hairline fractures spread over the glass like spider webs. He rose into the sky and then his body dissolved into smoke. Jason could still see where he was, his face was still the same – oddly handsome, contorted in rage – but he was see-through and almost angelic in a strange, evil kind of way. 

“You’re a ventus!” Jason gasped, though he couldn’t say how he knew that. “A storm spirit!”

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Dylan snarled. “I was considering letting you live before this. The other two would have made a fine prize, but my mistress told me to wait. Said another was coming. I’m sure she will be pleased to know that I killed you here.”

Jason clenched his fists. He was unarmed, but when he glanced over to where Coach’s club had rolled off to, he saw that Piper was on her feet, club held aloft like she was getting ready to hit a homerun. She had the element of surprise; maybe if Jason kept Dylan busy, she could sneak up on him and make good on the murder in her eyes. 

Dylan was too quick for him. Before he could open his mouth, two inky black tornados carrying their own storm spirits touched down in front of Piper and Dylan lifted his hand and blasted two bolts of lightning directly into Jason’s chest.

Surprisingly, Jason wasn’t dead. He’d lost one of his shoes, so his sock was soaking wet, and his mouth tasted like he’d gotten his chewing gum confused with a jar of fifty year old pennies, but he was alive. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and saw Piper furiously swinging at the storm spirits around her, but every swing passed through them. That didn’t stop the storm spirits from being scared of her, though, evident by the way neither of them would get close to her. Beyond that, Jason saw Coach Hedge bouncing up the cliff with a Leo-shaped koala clinging to his back. 

Dylan swaggered towards him, back in his normal teenager body, with a smirk on his face, and Jason’s chest filled with rage. With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself to his feet and glared at Dylan. “Cute,” he spat, venom dripping from his tone.

Dylan pulled up short and he looked terrified for a moment. “How are you alive? That was enough electricity to short out New York City! Just who are you?”

Jason ignored him. Once again acting on impulse, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the old gold coin. He tossed it in the air, but when he grabbed it, it wasn’t a coin any more. It was a sword, gold all the way through, perfectly balanced, with a handle that felt like it was designed to fill Jason’s palm. Jason felt something click into place in the back of his mind and he gave Dylan a wicked grin. “My turn.”

“Kill him!” Dylan screeched, backing away with wild eyes. “Kill him!”

The other two storm spirits didn’t exactly look thrilled at the order, but apparently Dylan was the windbag in charge, so they abandoned their assault on Piper and started slowly approaching Jason. 

Jason didn’t wait for them. With a battle cry from the depths of his chest, he charged. It wasn’t a long fight. Jason sliced through them both, shattering them into gold dust, and turned his attention back on Dylan.

At that moment, Coach hefted himself over the edge of the bridge and dropped Leo, then whirled around with his fists up like he was ready to start boxing. When he realized that Dylan was the only one left, he scowled at Jason. “Really? You couldn’t have left some for me? I was looking for a challenge!”

“Leo almost died!” Piper snapped. “You do not need to be asking for challenges!” She and Leo had immediately run together as soon as he was back on the bridge and they were clinging to each other. Jason was relieved to see that Leo looked no worse for wear, though he was smearing blood from his hands all over Piper’s jacket, but Jason doubted if either of them cared all that much. 

Dylan didn’t pay attention to them, he was too busy glaring at Jason. “You have no idea what kinds of enemies you’ve made today, demigod. My mistress will awaken, and she will bring with her foes you couldn’t dream of. She will destroy all demigods. You cannot win this war.”

Jason tightened his grip on his sword. “Yeah? Well, I’ll be sure to tell your mistress hi for you, because you’re not going to get the chance to do it.”

The sky opened up above them, clear blue in the sea of black, and Dylan smirked at Jason triumphantly. “My mistress calls me back, and I’m taking you with me.”

Dylan dove towards Jason, who braced himself for the attack that never came. In a burst of heroic goat-itude, Coach Hedge headbutted Dylan so hard it knocked him completely off-course and sent him rolling away. Unfortunately, it also caused a blast of wind that knocked Jason and Coach on their butts and separated Piper and Leo. 

Jason tried to attack, but Dylan was faster. He grabbed the closest person to him, Piper and took off into the skies. “Fine! I’ll settle for this one!”

“Help!” Piper screamed. “Somebody help!”

Jason froze, considering if he could throw his sword with enough accuracy to hit Dylan without getting Piper, but in that split second Coach Hedge had already made and executed his plan. He ran at the ledge, then with all the strength he had in his little goat legs, he launched himself at Dylan and Piper. He barreled into them mid-air, and they scuffled for a moment. 

Then Piper fell.

“Piper!” Leo screamed, flinging himself at the side, half hanging over and reaching out towards her, grasping at nothing but air. “Piper!”

Without a thought, Jason jumped after her.

Next Chapter

[blackbullet99]

Zutara’s Fake @$$ Feminism

Okay so @kidcaroline brought up this weird-@$$ take where this braindead dude says Zutara is a purely female fantasy and an expression of unapologetic female desire. And who’s the nutcase who said this.

Of course only someone as delusional as longing-for-rain could say something as stupid as this. Love or hate Zutara, it being a purely female fantasy is objectively wrong, there are a lot of men who actually like Zutara, one guy on YouTube made tons of videos about them, there were some writers in A:TLA who shipped it, Dante Basco the proclaimed Captain of Zutara ships it. One person who shipped Zutara actually argued that a lot of men ship it and the ship shouldn’t be limited to just women, so naturally longing-for-(acid)rain personally attacked them because they’re a man. Misandrist much?

Let’s look at the reasons why Zutara is such a profoundly feminist ship, shall we…

Okay, so skimming over the fact that Zutara literally started when Zuko captured Katara in “The Waterbending Scroll” and wanting better for Katara is wanting her to end with someone who relentlessly pursued her and attacked her for most of the show. Literally all of these points that supposedly support Zutara literally make no sense and many of which could easily apply to Kataang.

Katara never caved into Aang out of guilt, that’s never suggested at all in the narrative, she was never uncomfortable with Aang, the average ZK might be, but Katara wasn’t.

Where was the passion in Zuko and Katara’s relationship, seriously what passion are they talking about, does OP think constantly fighting each other is passion because “muh enemies to lovers”, do they Katara touching Zuko’s scar because she was going to heal him at one point is passion. How TF is that considered “passion”, it just comes across like you have a kink. You want passion…

THIS is passion.

Ignoring the fact that Zuko never had feelings for Katara. Aang literally loves Katara no matter what. If they’re referring to “The Southern Raiders” Aang never stopped loving Katara, he understood her pain, he was just concerned that killing a guy would take a strain on her mental state. But that obviously means he didn’t care about the “real” Katara, what a jerk, right guys.

When did Katara ever have to change for Aang? Y’all are aware that Katara would have to change quite significantly if she married into The Fire Nation, right?

Aang objectively did support Katara. That’s all there is to it really. He did throughout the whole show.

Katara was never Aang’s babysitter. Darn Bryce for mentioning weird romantic tropes that have nothing to do with Kataang and desperate ZKs taking them out of context. Aang was a kid just like Katara, the latter of whom was often the voice of reason, but she never had to actively take care of Aang. He’s 12, he’s not a baby.

Okay, but like, Katara is attracted to Aang. Not to get all weird on y’all but objectively speaking she is attracted to him (see “The Cave of Two Lovers” or the Kataang images above). Which makes sense because they’re only a couple of years apart. This comment, and really this whole post is just OP admitting that they’re self-inserting onto Katara, they don’t care about what she wants, so they twist the narrative of the show and act like Katara should be attracted to Zuko and not Aang because these 20-something women are attracted to Zuko and not Aang. They use Katara as a self-insert because 99% of the time these b!tches wanna f*ck Zuko and use Katara as vessel to live out their weird sexual desires. Ew.

This final comment, just screams, “White Tumblr So-Called Feminism”. OP seriously thinks saying “I like Zutara” is advocating for women’s rights. She cannot be this stupid and delusional, for real? There’s nothing wrong with Zutara as a ship, there’s nothing wrong with most of the women who ship Zutara. But at the end of the day it’s a fictional pairing between two fictional characters, people who don’t like the ship aren’t attacking women, people who don’t like Zutara just don’t like the ship for whatever reasons. I don’t like the ship because not only is Kataang superior, seeing as they start of a close friends who mutually trust, support and admire each other and gradually develop feelings for one another (slow-burn friends-to-lovers is peak), but also because Zuko and Katara were enemies throughout most of the show, they only become friends near the very end of the show, great friends who do support and value each other, but let’s be real, their relationship isn’t profoundly different from Katara’s other relationships with The Gaang, and going from friends for 5 episodes to making out in the last episode is just crazy-forced.

Additionally there are plenty of men who ship Zutara as a pointed out, but also plenty of women who ship Kataang because these women genuinely like their relationship and acknowledge the love and positive aspects in Aang and Katara’s relationship. But of course longing-for-(sh!t)rain dismisses and invalidates these women by calling them “BoyMoms” (whatever that means) because they don’t share the seem POV as OP. Which leads to the fact that longing-for-sh!tstain really doesn’t care about women and what they want, they’re going out of their way to make Kataang look problematic and Zutara the epitome of female desire, but the only people who would actually believe that are fanfic obsessed idiots who have never left their computer and have no understanding of any real-world issues, in other words dumb b!tches just saying “eXaCtLy” to each other. Really whining-for-rain only cares about what they themselves desire and think their opinion is the only one that matters, hence they attack anyone who even slightly disagree’s with them. Just check the original post and you’ll see.

The only “feminism” they care about is in their weird Wattpad middle-school ship. She don’t care about the real Katara or her feelings if it doesn’t fit her self-insert narrative.

She writes torture-porn r@pe fics about Katara.

She called an actually real-life indigenous women racist because said women hates the idea of Katara marrying into the nation the colonized her tribe, killed her mom and would make Ozai her father in-law, just so Katara, Sokka and Hakoda could essentially be trophies for Zuko. This @$$hole thinks supporting a crackship is supporting women’s rights, but will invalidate the feelings of a real-life indigenous women who doesn’t agree with said crackship.

In conclusion, f*ck you longing-for-fascist and f*ck your fake-@$$ feminist, you objectively don’t care about A:TLA, or Katara or even women, if anything you’re nothing but an insult to women.

[imagionationstation]

It’s a tough situation because on one hand, I think it’s completely fair to criticize both 2012 and rise. Both shows have their own flaws, and it’s only natural that one person may prefer one show over the other. Someone who likes 12 doesn’t have to like rise, and vice versa. I think people are allowed to hate certain media, and express that hatred, even if they don’t have a reason/a good reason for it. Are they worth listening to? Well, that’s another question lol.

I also don’t think criticism necessarily means someone hates the show. I myself am critical of 12 BECAUSE I love the show so much. I love looking at analyses for any show, be it 12 or rise, that look at why a concept or idea didn’t work as well as it could have. And I have to remind myself that people who criticize the show aren’t coming after me personally (usually). That being said, most rise fans who criticize 12 either don’t like 12 or haven’t seen it (probably only consumed clips at most). And the evidence they provide (if they even provide it) is usually out of context clips where they miss the whole point of the episode. Which is rough. 

I do feel like the hate 2012 gets is disproportionate, but that could just be on tumblr. Tumblr users (and ao3 users by proxy, since they seem to share users?) seem to favor rise a lot. If you go on a site like the technodrome forums, they seem to be a lot more critical of rise. But then again, some of their content is not for everyone. While I don’t personally agree with everything everyone says on there, I do like seeing different people’s opinions. 

On the other hand, it’s so hard not to be up in arms when someone criticizes 2012, especially when I personally feel their claims are baseless and can easily be argued. I remember when it started to consume my thoughts, and that’s when I knew I needed to unplug. But I understand that you’re not really in a situation where you can do that. I’ve found I get the most enjoyment when I interact with fandom in small doses. Now, I just laugh at 12 hate comments and how absurd they can be. Seriously, some of them are so funny, I started compiling a list. It’s a lot easier for me to let comments slide now and remain unaffected, and I think you’ll get there too. Hope you’re doing well.

You’re not wrong about this:

I think it’s completely fair to criticize both 2012 and rise. Both shows have their own flaws, and it’s only natural that one person may prefer one show over the other. Someone who likes 12 doesn’t have to like rise, and vice versa.

And this:

I also don’t think criticism necessarily means someone hates the show. I myself am critical of 12 BECAUSE I love the show so much. I love looking at analyses for any show, be it 12 or rise, that look at why a concept or idea didn’t work as well as it could have.

I love 2012 but I still rant about how I dislike certain elements or episodes. And when I know I’m being objective and fair, I’ll touch on elements about RISE as well (pending decent research done). I never said that anyone had to like any TMNT series.

In fact, I think I said the opposite in a previous ask 🤔.

But I think you can usually tell if the criticism is objective or not.

Is this analysis or post saying, “These were bad concepts/ideas” or are they saying “This is a bad show” because there’s a difference.

There is a very big difference.

I think people are allowed to hate certain media, and express that hatred, even if they don’t have a reason/a good reason for it.

Well. Sure. Absolutely. They can experience a hatred for it.

But can they go around ranting about a hatred for something that they have not researched/watched/looked into reasonably?

No. No, they can’t. Or, rather, shouldn’t. That’s not fair.

This does not deserve to be allowed to continue:

That being said, most rise fans who criticize 12 either don’t like 12 or haven’t seen it (probably only consumed clips at most). And the evidence they provide (if they even provide it) is usually out of context clips where they miss the whole point of the episode. Which is rough. 

If someone, anyone, RISE fan or not, wants to hate on the 2012 show, then I hope they’ve recently seen a few seasons at the very least.

I really don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation.

And I have to remind myself that people who criticize the show aren’t coming after me personally (usually).

Unfortunately, I have deleted Asks before.

People hate the show.

People are offended by people who like the show.

I don’t know how big of a creator you are or what you do, but I get all kinds of attention for the stuff that I make compared to the stuff I reblog. And I post a lot of opinions on how great the show is.

And, when Anon is a feature, people aren’t afraid to give thoughts.

I refuse to turn off Anon as a feature, however, because there are sweet, kind, but nervous Tumblrs who would want to use the feature.

On the other hand, it’s so hard not to be up in arms when someone criticizes 2012, especially when I personally feel their claims are baseless and can easily be argued. I remember when it started to consume my thoughts, and that’s when I knew I needed to unplug.

Do I need to unplug? Probably.

Should I just ignore the fact that baseless accusations have existed so long that the fandom is probably built upon them and looks toxic 24/7 because no one stands up for the sweet boys? Probably.

Am I tired of that being the standard? Yeah.

Will I cause trouble for speaking up? Probably.

Should I sit back and stay in my lane? Probably.

Am I any good at not ranting when upset? No.

It’s kinda what I built my entire blog upon. Essays and rants. So.

I just laugh at 12 hate comments and how absurd they can be. Seriously, some of them are so funny, I started compiling a list. It’s a lot easier for me to let comments slide now and remain unaffected, and I think you’ll get there too.

I suppose that should be the hope 🧐.

And maybe one day, I’ll get there.

But, I’ve been deeply invested for this long. May want to give me a few years to turn that corner. My brain can be a stubborn thing.

Hope you’re doing well.

You too! I hope you find some comments to add to your list <3