#i don't know whether it's because the more I know they're a Person the more I feel apprehensive

[nadas-dirthalen]

just want to say again that bioware did an amazing job with the inquisitor's missives. it's impossible to nail the voice of every single inquisitor that has ever existed in the last 10 years, but if you go over the actual events described in the missives, they are perfect.

they fit just as well for celene being kept as empress, gaspard ruling alone, or briala using gaspard to rule. they impact the divine no matter who you chose as divine because val royeaux falls to the same anti-emperor/empress rebels. ferelden/orlais tensions are kept high throughout, with the inquisitor acting (again!) as the sole peacekeeper between them.

oh, and the dwarves? orzammar is mentioned throughout, has its own storyline, and survives the final blight. the avvar? good news! the chasind/avvar are recruited as the inquisition's allies, and negotiate a temporary peace with ferelden, and are responsible for most of the inquisition's resources/food in the late game!

the entire series of missives is filled with constant callbacks to da:o, and even goes out of its way to say that the events of da:o are why the blight is shaped like it is in the south. the blight left behind seeds of itself, which makes sense, because all along, the blight has been the evanuris' weapon controlled through their archdemons, and elgar'nan/ghilan'nain would know that june's recent death was due to the hero of ferelden. the evanuris are family (however you decide to interpret that) despite their disagreements; of course both remaining evanuris are spiteful enough to re-enact origins just to hurt the people of thedas that much more.

i constantly see posts saying the inquisitor has no role, no purpose, in veilguard.

to me, they're wrong.

the inquisitor's role is holding all of southern thedas together as solas' failed ritual threatens to tear it all apart. everything they worked for, together. everything they did, everything they feared losing once, together. whether you headcanon that as an incredibly angry and upset inquisitor seeing the last of the good parts of solas' efforts destroyed, or you romanced solas and your inquisitor is fighting to preserve what remains of their relationship with solas while rook works on freeing him... the inquisitor is doing something, and on just as grand of a scale as rook.

and there is no one else who could do it but them. the only person that both orlais and ferelden will listen to equally is the inquisitor.

they are not going through da:tv to free solas. that has to be done by someone that solas doesn't expect, doesn't know (and no, he does not expect/know rook; they continually surprise him in ways not even the inquisitor surprised him).

the inquisitor is holding the world together so that there is anything at all left in the south to rebuild, and the instant they have a free moment, they charge into minrathous as the very last (and perhaps most vital) piece of rook's entire plan. something rook kept carefully concealed the entire time.

you know.

the pawn who was subtly moved all the way across the board, despite the fact that solas was looking for it the whole time.

that isn't rook being stupid, or mindless. that is rook, morrigan, and the inquisitor being incredibly smart.

don't believe me? still want to cry "but the art book" about it? go look for the page where it says that trying to reason with solas too early led to the game ending prematurely, with rook dead.

[windcarvedlyre]

I've been following @druidposting's DR2 playthrough on discord and we just had a really good discussion about DR's Closing Arguments. Specifically the way the murderer is depicted as grey and featureless, which until now I found a bit annoying.

In Danganronpa it's repeatedly the case that we don't have the full picture until the talking actually stops- which always goes beyond the end of the trial. We generally vote first and come to understand what the murderer's actual motive was, sometimes filling in important pieces of the timeline in the process, afterwards.

But none of that matters for the killing game because characters' emotions aren't directly relevant to who was the 'blackened'- the only thing that matters to Monokuma- so it comes out afterwards and does nothing to change their execution. It doesn't matter how sympathetic they are (basically everyone) or whether other people share responsibility for the situation (eg. Hanamura, Pekoyama, Momota) or whether they intended to murder at all (Nanami). They objectively pulled the trigger and nothing else matters. Nothing about them as a person matters.

The Closing Argument mechanic might illustrate that problem- literally. They're a dramatic, conclusive summary of the entire case... constructed before the vote even happens, before we know if we're actually right, and they're missing something really important:

The actual perpetrator.

We quite literally don't even begin to see the real person behind the crime, any real exploration of their mental state, anything besides the cold, hard facts of the murder that are necessary to convict them, until the comic finishes and the protagonist makes their final accusation- replacing the grey figure with their real appearance in a shot that's often intensely emotional.

And these comics lack crucial parts of the case's timeline and sometimes important parts of the very scenes they depict that we only find out about afterwards. And those are what we know; characters may die with some pieces of the truth and prevent us from ever learning them. These aren't objective depictions of the murder, they're the protagonist's subjective attempt to connect the facts they have. A join-the-dots portrait of someone with missing dots and no colour.

Even characters' expressions may not match how they truly feel, with the grey placeholder potentially looking way more confident and sinister than they were in reality. Pasting Falter's commentary here since they put it well.

For obvious reasons this could especially be a problem for characters that die before the trial- the ones we never get a post-vote testimony from. DR1 chapter 4 really highlighted that in the way Asahina's huge misinterpretation of Oogami's feelings took up a lot of the post-trial discussion, only for Monokuma to reveal Oogami's real suicide note and recontextualise everything.

It might really be a problem for how Komaeda's depicted in DR2 chapter 5. While he isn't greyed out, we get panel after panel where he's either level-headed or maniacally evil, and even the depictions of his self-torture and death don't humanise him:

But we know that his real feelings were more complicated than that. We have his actual corpse to compare the last page to.

He died afraid.

If we approach the comic as Hinata's mental image of him instead of reality, he died without anyone truly understanding him. He was alarming, very hard to relate to, actively fought against people doing so, ensured even the killer didn't watch him die, and the survivors couldn't begin to understand his motive until a chapter later. The Closing Argument reflects that.

Early in DR1 Togami calls out the rest of his class for judging others by their own standards. However, he, too, is doing this, maybe more so than many other characters; his inability to view other people through anything but the cold, brutal logic of the killing game bites him in the ass in chapter 4. In DR2 chapter 2 voting without a good understanding of Pekoyama's motive or Kuzuryuu's involvement nearly got everyone killed. Komaeda's a walking embodiment of the problems with flattening people into caricatures and not empathising with them, suffered from people doing that back to him, and his case- the Closing Argument for which turned everyone else into grey placeholders- was impossible to solve with objective facts. It was only survivable because the survivors cooperated and one person tried to analyse things the way he would.

The games have always been a critique of the justice system and Japanese society and push us to care about others as individuals, not reduce them to- and judge their right to exist by- something they've done or their net impact on society. There are always consequences when someone neglects to do that, and the above might be yet another way the games explore that theme.

[pinkkop]

I've let my thoughts on Spare Me Your Mercy marinade a little in my brain and I'm now ready to try and put some words to my feelings about this show.

Overall I liked the show and I had a great time watching it. I thought the overall look was great and fit the theme and genre really well. Tor and JJ did really well and the whole cast was really just great.

It was just a really great attempt at more serious BL and it could have been amazing but it just fell short in some very important places.

I don't know if it would have fixed everything but a longer run-time would have done wonders because it would have given them more time to flesh out the plot and the relationships and fix any plot holes.

I'll go into the things I think were missing and my thoughts on them below.

The Missing Connection

A big part of what was missing from the show was more time spent on the relationship between Dr. Kan and Tew because the whole plot really relies on them developing feelings for each and that being a conflict in the murder investigation.

This interview with the screenwriter Lux that @clairedaring posted does make it seem like a longer screen time wouldn't have fixed this entirely since Lux spends a lot time making excuses about why they don't have NC scenes and how that would have detracted from the plot. I think this is absolutely ridiculous because the majority of BL fans would have been entirely happy with the amount of NC scenes we got if they'd just developed the relationship better and spent the right amount of time on the relationship to fit the plot and the emotions needed to make the plot land.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that a longer run-time would have fixed it because otherwise I don't think Lux completely understands how important the relationship development, and any NC scenes needed or hinted at to make that believable, is for the plot.

Deceiving On Screen

A big problem with Dr. Kan and Tew's relationship and it's development on screen is that they were trying to deceive each other for a large part of the series. This makes it really hard to discern as a viewer when the characters are behaving or acting a certain way because of their ulterior motives or when they're doing so because of their actual feelings.

For the characters' real feelings to really come across on screen you need scenes where the characters are expressing their feelings in a situation where they don't need to keep up the ruse. This could be them alone reflecting on or reacting to the person, or conversations with people they are close enough with that they'll share some of their real feelings.

This is something that The Heart Killers has actually done a lot better than SMYM. Like Fadel's masturbation scene or the conversations between Fadel and Bison and between Kant and Style. They desperately needed more scenes like that in SMYM because it would have made it a lot clearer what Dr. Kan and Tew were thinking and feeling when it came to their relationship, because honestly, most of the time, I wasn't sure.

The Ending

I was very worried about the ending, especially towards the end, and it did end up frustrating me, but I think it weirdly fit the show because it was realistic, when Dr. Kan and Tew's relationship hadn't really been given a proper chance to develop or deepen.

Like with their surface level relationship(?) it makes sense that Tew would still try to arrest Dr. Kan even with all the reasons Dr. Kan gave for his actions.

It also helps that I understand the ending as being a little open. Like if you ask me, we never know for sure whether Tew actually brought Dr. Kan all the way to the station or not.

No matter what though it feels like a weird message to send after the show spent so much time advocating for euthanasia, but I guess they couldn't ignore that it's still illegal ... or something.

Again if they'd just spent more time developing the relationship and maybe even allowed Tew time to digest what Dr. Kan has been doing then it would have made more sense for Tew to not arrest Dr. Kan.

Like I would have even been happy for Tew to go back to Bangkok because he didn't want to arrest Dr. Kan but he still couldn't stay, knowing what Dr. Kan and Nurse Ohn were doing.

Then they could have given us a second season of Dr. Kan and Tew separately working towards making euthanasia legal in their own ways and then their ways could have crossed again and finally they would be in a place where they could be together!!

If I had any writing skills and the time I would be writing this canon divergence fic as we speak. Anyone's welcome to give it a go though!

Euthanasia

The one thing I think the show succeeded at, was showing exactly the good that euthanasia can do when it comes to terminally ill patients which also seems to be the most important point for Lux.

It felt like a weird side note though, when Dr. Kan euthanized Boss, and I've seen some people talk about how this feels like an ableist comment from the show. I don't necessarily believe that that's the case, I mostly just think this was another place where the show suffered from having only 8 episodes.

It makes sense that Boss had to die for plot reasons but I just wish they'd commented on it.

As I talked about in my previous post I think it was a risky choice to make to euthanize a disabled person without commenting on the act, especially since there's such a large difference between euthanizing a terminally ill patient and a disabled person.

With all this being said I still don't regret spending the time I did on following along with this show and posting about it. I had a good time doing so, I just hope that we can get a similarly more serious and crime related show in the future.

And in the mean time I just hope Petrichor the series turns out better.

[fun-k-board]

MARVEL RIVALS - Christmas time!!

Characters included: MAGNETO, SCARLET WITCH, LOKI, STORM, MOON KNIGHT.

Note(s): This includes a lot of headcanons because I'm not sure the full lore and characterisation of things like the X-Men, what version of Moon Knight they're going for, what have you. So, I'm doing it on what I prefer from various comic runs, movies, shows, etc over the years. Some are a little lackluster because of this.

MAX EISENHARDT / ERIK LEHNSHERR / MAGNETO

Erik personally doesn't celebrate Christmas, and that's due to the religious connotations of the holiday even if it's become less Christianity based over the years. But, he doesn't mind the excuse to give you a gift and spend time with his family if you do celebrate. Even if, at this point, the 'family' is just you and him.

He won't put up decorations if you're spending Christmas at his house or if you share a house, he won't wrap the gift, he won't have Christmas themed dinners or anything, but he'll always accept your gifts and give you one back if, as mentioned before, you happen to celebrate. If you don't, he most likely won't give you a gift or mention it as the holiday's existence will simply slip his mind. More of an afterthought than anything else.

Of course plenty of mutants on Krakoa celebrate, and plenty don't, and plenty have a weird in-between where they participate but don't really celebrate. So, it's not entirely out of sight out of mind. In all honesty, Erik is just happy mutants get a chance to have any holidays alive and happy with one another at all.

If you prefer to go all out for Christmas, as in all the things he wouldn't do that I mentioned before, Erik wouldn't mind. All he asks is that you leave both his room and the public parts of your home alone. Assuming you share a room, then he plainly asks that you don't decorate it, but if you must, to keep it at a minimum.

If you don't share a house and he's simply spending holiday time at your house then he politely comments on the decorations, maybe giving a bit of backhanded and passive aggressive sass if he thinks they're ugly. But, it's your home. It's not his place to say what goes and what doesn't.

Speaking of that situation, if you have family staying at your house for Christmas / you live with family, he's very awkward, and I don't believe he'd go at all if nobody in the house is a mutant. Erik doesn't doubt they know of him, it'd be strange if they didn't, so I think you two would give him a secret identity for your families safety. He'd be very silent and still during opening presents, with a dash of silent judgment.

I don't think he'd outright refuse to help you with decorations, he'd do that old man thing where he stares at you with a huffed look on his face until you ask him for help, in which case he mainly uses his powers if there's metal involved. Sometimes he'll say something like 'really my dear, did you truly need help or is this an excuse to spend time with me?' But hey, he's pretty tall so if you happen to not be tall, he's a great help!

I think he'd gift you something like jewellery, metal, but also with other things like, well, jewels. He wants something simple, but that shows heartfelt meaning. It's covered in intricate patterns, perhaps ones that reflect your place of origin to show that he loves you, even where you were born.

Erik's eyes tilt up, following your lingering gaze. He nearly lets out a laugh at the mistletoe hanging above you, but it comes out as a small huff. 'what a silly tradition.' he'd hum, before leaning close and giving your lips the most unsatisfactory peck he's ever given them. At your look, whether outwardly dissatisfied or with only a hint of disappointment in your eyes, he'll act like it wasn't purposeful, sighing as if this is some chore as he leans in for another. But you know him well, you know that hidden loving look in his eyes.

WANDA DJANGO MAXIMOFF / SCARLET WITCH

Wanda, for the reasons in Magneto's section, also doesn't celebrate Christmas. Although, I don't see her continuing on any holidays in general or family traditions, her broken connection to her father most likely created a fractured connection to anything associated with him. She just doesn't seem like a 'holiday' person to me.

However, if you two either happen to share a house or she's at yours in time for the holidays, she doesn't mind helping you put up decorations or helping you cook for Christmas. If you have family, she's doing a mix of doing what she can to impress them whilst refusing to do anything that makes her go past her comfort zone.

I absolutely think she's a good cook, and if she doesn't unintentionally hijack the kitchen, she will help whoever's in there. Whether that be you or your family. Any attempts to tell her that 'you're a guest' and 'you should be relaxing' are met with a wave of the hand and a small, awkward smile. As much as she does just love to help your family assuming they're sweet and accepting of her, she also is very peculiar with food. I think Wanda would make her own side dish just in case.

Honestly, I think she would invite Pietro and Lorna if you and them are close enough? She knows Christmas is a family event, and since that's her family, why not invite them, right? She hopes you see them as your family too, because they've spent too long without something stable. Even though deep down she does have some love for her father, although maybe not as deep down as she thinks, she doesn't want to and would never contact him for Christmas with you and especially not with your family.

Wanda loves to do that thing where she hugs you from behind, absolutely astounded that she has you. She's astounded that you love her, and that you appreciate her so much. Not many do, and she can't help but find so much comfort in that. I think she'd do it whenever she gets emotional but doesn't want to show it, a hug from behind to tell you that she's hurting, but you're helping her heal.

Wanda doesn't like the feeling she gets when opening presents in front of your family, especially if they've given her something. It's usually something they've got an idea from after asking you, so maybe a candle or something handmade, and as much as she appreciates and even loves the gifts she's given it's still a weird almost performance she needs to put on. The feeling isn't as uncomfortable as it is just a bit awkward.

I think she'd only give you a gift if she knows you're getting her one, through communication. She won't ask what it is or peek through your mind to find out, she doesn't really care what the gift is exactly, and she trusts you enough to gift her something she likes and would find useful. I think Wanda does love little mutual acts of affection, so she wouldn't miss out on an opportunity to give you something.

Her eyes flick up before yours do, and Wanda can't help but give you a small chuckle, the most amused look in her eyes that you've ever seen. 'oh? Isn't this convenient.' she purrs, her hand outstretches, capturing your own in a comforting embrace. She whispers, 'I can't believe I got so lucky, my love. You're wonderful.' before giving you a short but comfortable and loving kiss.

LOKI LAUFEYSON

Loki thinks your celebration is more than a little silly. I mean, who cares about this guy who gives presents to kids? Why not the adults? He does far more in a day than some snotty brat has done in their entire lifetime!

Oh- he's not real? Well, then where are his presents, mortal?!

He will say that even if you're not a mortal by the way. It's his personal way of saying 'you're under me and I'm perfect compared to you' without actually saying it.

He absolutely refuses to stay at your house for Christmas if you have family over, because he knows that he will cause mischief and you will get angry at him for it and he would rather you gift him your devotion than be under your wrath. Don't tell him he could kill you easily, he knows that, and he will if you keep pittering on. (He won't). Unless, perhaps, you don't have the best relationship with your family. Then he can probably convince you that it's fair game.

Loki will not invite Thor or Hela, don't even entertain the idea. He will leave.

I think he'd give you a dagger of some kind for a present, even if you're a regular Joe and don't have a use for weapons, you can always display it. And have an engraved stand that tells you your mighty lover, Loki, God of Mischief and notoriously handsome trickster, had gifted you it for your silly holiday.

He will not help you cook or put up decorations unless you literally beg him to, even then he can mainly do some pieces of meat at least decently well. It'd be best to have him do some parts of the cooking while you're preoccupied with the other. He tends to only help with the decorations he knows you'll struggle with, although he won't tell you that outright it's pretty obvious. Especially if you're shorter, less strong than he is, or have any kind of physical disability that could cause trouble with putting up decorations.

Will puff up his chest and grin when you compliment his efforts to help and or compliment his gift. He loudly proclaims that of course he'll give you something so beautiful, because he's beautiful and he very clearly has taste. But, you simply couldn't ignore the way his gaze softened a little when you were speaking. The way you could feel his eyes looking you up and down with adoration.

Loki raises a brow at your expectant look, slowly following your gaze until it reaches the mistletoe. Oh, you've explained this to him, the strange little kissing ritual you midgardians have. His expression twists into something different, his eyes sparkling with mirth, but he doesn't go right in for the kiss. Instead, he holds your chin in his hand, pulling you close until you can breathe in each other's air. 'what a silly mortal.' he mutters, making you tilt your head so he can kiss you. He doesn't intend it to be a small peck either, his kiss is as deep and passionate as you allow it to be.

ORORO MUNROE / STORM

Ororo finds amusement in your tradition, the decorations, the gifts, it makes her heart warm. It's a time for family, and she reminisces over the X-Men's past Christmas times. It's never dull, lots of mutations being used when they're not supposed to, frequent arguments and drama, it was perfect. Not to mention, always the best meals from Gambit and Rogue. She adores the look on the younger mutants faces when they receive something special.

And, in her personal opinion, she's the best gift giver in the X-Mansion.

Ororo would absolutely help make meals, and she jokes that she's not as good at it as Gambit or Rogue are, but she'll try her best. She then proceeds to make one of the best meals you've ever had. It's perfectly flavoured, the texture is just to your liking, it's absolutely delightful. And if you're spending time with family? Expect her to go all out.

Your family will adore her, no doubt about that. No matter what the situation is, whether you and Ororo share a house, you live on your own, you live with family, or you and your family visit the X-Mansion for the holidays. She charms them with her sternness and discipline, her strength unimaginable, but her warmth and friendliness is what truly seals the deal in their adoration for her.

Unwrapping presents tends to be a long process for the X-Mansion. There's a lot of people there, so it's normal to open them all at once and try to get it through as quickly as possible, cleaning as you go with trash bags at the ready to throw in any waste. With a whole family, or perhaps just you in the mix, it can be a bit awkward and even a little overstimulating if you're not acquainted with the X-Men. She's never felt the need to pretend, so she assures you that you don't need to be happy the entire evening because Logan isn't and everybody still loves him, you'll be fine.

The one thing Ororo loves to do most is listen to you. Whether it be generally your life, what you had for breakfast, a story from your childhood, it creates something easy where she can bounce off the conversation with something of her own. It continues the conversation until either of you end it, and causes the conversation to flourish where it would've died otherwise. She uses this to find out what present you'll want for Christmas, so it'll heavily depend on what you actually want.

It honestly doesn't matter what you get her, she'll be appreciative all the same. She knows just how hard it can be to afford things, to create from seemingly nothing, no matter how much effort you put in. To her, the fact you gave her a gift at all is something meaningful within itself. So, even if it's some poorly made easily breakable bracelet, she will wear it with pride.

When she finds herself under the mistletoe with you, her lips curl into the most amused smile and she'll use her powers to twirl the leaves, a teasing hint to her true might. 'was this your plan all along, my dear?' she'll ask, leaning closer, waiting for you to capture her lips. If you take too long, however, she'll raise a brow and mutter a teasing 'don't test my patience' before kissing you herself.

MARC SPECTOR / MOON KNIGHT

Marc is, well, he's not the most jolly guy, and it's been years since he's even bothered to tune into Christmas time when it happens. It's not like he has anybody to spend it with. He would much rather you spend Christmas with Steven or Jake, they're better at that kind of thing, and they're a lot more friendly, buddy buddy with you.

Of course Marc loves you, and if you really want to spend time with him for Christmas he will do it, but he isn't going to act differently for you. He will be the same edgy, broody man. He will absolutely say something like 'the Christmas lights are too bright, it ruins my outfit.' in the gruffest voice you've heard.

I think he'd be a good cook. Nothing that blows you away, but you can definitely eat enough to get full and be satisfied with it. Jake probably leaves some recipes around, and if it does end up becoming a disaster he can always take over and salvage the situation before the house burns down.

He doesn't mind the house being decorated, assuming it's either his or your shared one, as long as it's not like so many Christmas lights it's hard to see or so many decorations you get whacked on the face with them whenever you want to walk somewhere. He'd also help if you asked him to, but I don't think Marc would just hop on and help. He'd assume you have it all covered.

I don't think there are many universes where Marc would consider meeting and visiting your family for Christmas, especially not the Marvel Rivals one. If you're really insistent and passionate about it, he supposes he can. But don't expect him to stay for long if they're not accepting of you or him, he doesn't have any tolerance for that. Plus, he doesn't want to hear Khonshu complaining in his ear that he isn't committing murder while he's around your family, they don't get him or his Identity as Moon Knight like you do.

'Mistletoe, huh?' he muses, his voice would sound almost annoyed to anybody else, but you know him better than anybody else. Or, at least most other people. He crosses his arms as you look up and realise, clearly having forgotten at some point. With his expression a strange mix between a firm sternness and amusement, he pats his lips with his pointer finger twice. 'you put it up, you initiate.'

[limelemonleaf]

Started as an idea and I had to draw them okay??

Presenting: Riding Hood!!💥💯💪🔥 Aka: Ride, Rider, and Flynn

Rant bellow ↓

AGENDER THEY/IT BBY FOR THE WIN RAHHH!!!

Their name is Devon Rene Inkwill

I didn't know initially how unmasked them would look like but jellyfish haircuts kept coming on my feed so I incorporated that. And of course I couldn't pick a gender and just didn't give them the concept at all.

Their signature weapon is a ✨meteorhammer✨ which is the yellow loops under the utility belt (they attached two small hooks on each side of the utility belt to more easily carry the meteorhammer and keep it more secure when they doesn't use it). Here's the tt I got the idea from.

Inside the bag on their hip are stored other heads for the hammer (the one they usually have on is made of thick rubber, which hurts but wouldn't usually leave long lasting damage (I don't think)) like maybe they want to switch to a steal ball or a blade yk?

I'm still contemplating whether to give them a knife or one of these as an extra weapon that's held on the back of the belt. Or they can switch between which one they carry idk.

The combat boots are steal toed and the gloves are like those indestructible gloves (I think they'd be pretty useful in Gotham– and any situation that requires fighting really).

They have armor on the front and back to their torso, as well as on their knees, elbows and forearms. The helmet also gets put in this category. Jason was like I didn't start wearing armor myself just to not give my sidekick some!

The cloak is made of very thick material, like they were made in the past to protect the wearer from the cold, and not only does it keep them warm bur they use it for defense (no Jason they will not line the bottom hem with rocks to knock people out. No not even if they're pretty rocks!).

In this au Jason wouldn't even think to have a kid as a sidekick which is why it's even funnier whan he does, and neither he nor Devon know how it happened. Like you know how you tried to remember how you met a person and cannot recall at all and it feels like they just spawned in your life one day? That's basically it.

It's more like Jason (either as a civilian or as Red Hood) had small interactions with Devon and eventually got attached and wanted to make sure the kid knew how to defend themself in case it came to it so he gave them a few tips and lessons (and then they find out he's Red Hood if they didn't already know, and they thought it was super cool).

Maybe Red Hood got seen with another often enough that the sidekick rumor started to spread and so a few times when Devon was there (they would wear a mask over their lower face and a hoodie whenever they were with "the Hood" and not with "Jason") both of them got attacked. This happens often enough that Jason makes Davon wear protective gear whenever they're with him in Crime Alley and that sealed the deal for anyone who saw them from then on out that yes The Red Hood has a sidekick now.

Rene insisted on a cloak because cloaks are cool! And some random guy they were fighting say "Who the hell are you supposed to be? The little red riding hood? Ha!" Jason makes fun of them the rest of the night and kept saying it on the occasion, and Rene was like "fuck it, fine, that's my name now I guess!"

The next time someone asked: "who the hell they are!?"

Rene: "Fucking Riding Hood, bitch!"

Jason: "Wait what??! Fr??"

Rene: "Yes bitch, and it's your fault, deal with it!"

The bats would obviously ask questions and would want to know who Riding Hood is. Jason refuses to tell them, mostly to fuck with Bruce. He told Babs as such and she agreed to help him mess with the bat (and Tim is probably on in it too) and keep any information about them tucked away from the others.

Jason only calls them either Ride or Rider because "Riding Hood" is stupid and he can't believe they actually picked that and no he didn't feel anything whenever they wanted to match with him what are you talking about.

Either Babs (& Tim) keep the information from everyone or all the kids are in on it to just mess with Bruce, but whichever it is, the bat decided to start investigating on his own and used a codename for Riding Hood's file and he chooses "Flynn" (the thought of Bruce choosing that name himself is hilarious to me because yes he'll respect the fairytale theme, everyone in Gotham has a theme, why not them too, right?).

Batman doesn't know his kids are actively hiding information from him about "Flynn". They keep it from the rest of the Justice League too, except for Superman who already heard the conversation between Jason and Babs and was later pleased with to go along.

Batman now thinks "Flynn" is a meta or some kind of cryptid for the kryptonian (and the rest of the JL) to not be able to get much information either.

Jason is very much laughing and updating Devon with what Babs is telling him. Devon thinks it's fucking hilarious.

Rene starts to call Jason "Mother Gothel" because he just loves to gaslight them for no reason. ("That's not true.", "YOU'RE DOING IT RIGHT NOW!", "lmao" ">={" )

Devon doesn't know anyone else's identities besides Jason's. They don't care much, if at all, about celebrities to actually pay attention, and that includes the Waynes. Jason finds this hilarious.

Also, did I make Devon short just so they can comfortably climb on Jason? Yes, yes I did.

[thedreadvampy]

sometimes I forget that my experience has been. um. not 'your experiences are not universal' vibes but more like 'your experiences are EXTREMELY atypical'

[posi-pan]

Does pansexuality have its own manifesto? If so, link it to me. Unfortunately, all I find are manifestos from 2021, which I actually remember someone saying pansexuals have a manifesto from before that. Thank you.

hi! so i don't know if there are any out there. i don't think i've specifically looked.

[beanghostprincess]

When you think about it the stage of Sanuso not standing each other was very short because when the strawhats entered the grand line they were already pretty clingy to each other. So imo they pretty much started enjoying each other's company after the Arlong park arc

Yeah!!! I mean. I believe Sanji and Usopp didn't like each other at all at first because. Well. It's for obvious reasons. They might have similar experiences with their insecurities and trauma and way of coping, but that's hidden deep, deep down and they don't find out about that bit and their strengths until later. Without that, they're extremely different. Like, extremely.

And if the first thing a waiter in a restaurant does is flirt with the girl and treat all the others like shit, well, of course Usopp isn't going to like him. And if Sanji is trying to be polite and flirty to a gorgeous girl but some guy gets in between, of course he's not going to like Usopp. It's sort of that their personalities do not match at all at first, but then they see how they truly are and they start to get along.

The thing is-- They don't ever leave that dynamic fully, and I adore that. Despite getting along and being protective of each other, Sanji and Usopp still argue a lot over the stupidest things and they keep yelling at each other for stuff that doesn't matter because they're both morons and stubborn and I swear we don't talk enough about them constantly getting irritated by the other's shenanigans while also sacrificing their life for each other constantly. It makes their relationship so human, realistic, and genuine... It's one of the things I adore the most about this ship!

[northwest-cryptid]

So hey I'm Lakota, and not every Lakota (or Native for that matter) is going to necessarily agree with me on this, because you know; we're not a hive mind or something.

However something I wanted to say is that this is something I talk about a good bit actually. I've pointed out in the past several times that it's annoying to me how Natives are just called "Natives." Because simply put, it's not really a proper name. You don't call people from Norway "Native Norwegians" or whatever. You would just say they're Norwegian, right?

With Indigenous Natives, the name is kind of redundant. We're indigenous, that's literally what Native means, so we're not exactly "American" because America is the colonizer here, but we're deemed "Native Americans" because we are native to the land the Americans colonized. Again, as you say; we're second. I often refer to myself as Lakota, or reluctantly I'll often have to clarify a "Lakota Native" because a lot of people don't know tribes that aren't Cherokee.

The unfortunate truth is that people don't want to really bother putting in the effort to know different tribes. When I talk to a lot of my Blackfoot, Cherokee, and Lakota friends; we simply refer to ourselves as such. Now no, not every Native is going to do this. I know plenty who still actually call themselves Indians, I know a few who just think "Native American" is fine. However I also know a lot of individuals who want to be addressed by their tribe.

The trouble I have with this, even as a Lakota person; is that very often I find that the culture I was raised in, and the culture my friends were raised in; were very different. A lot of it depends on whether you were raised on or off a rez, if you were raised with traditional values or more modern values, just generally the culture you had growing up. It's going to determine how much all of that matters to you.

I mean for what it's worth, there are people out there who don't believe I count as a Native; because the country and government that is still genociding my people never gave me a legal ID for it. You know, my oppressor says I don't count, so a lot of my people say I don't count either. What I'm saying is that even a lot of Natives don't see eye to eye on a lot of topics like this, so it can be rough.

But I'll get to the point I personally, and I only speak for myself here; kinda wish people would normalize actually learning a Native person's tribe, and referring to them by what they are. I feel like that does more good for the effected people, than necessarily focusing on the white man.

we all know about the push to refer to native americans as that and not indians.

But like, why isn't the push to call non-native americans settler americans instead?

Like that is just so fucking stupid. Obviously it's to further other native americans and paint them as abnormal. But why have we accepted that?

In any other place on earth pretty much there is always huge pressure to specify if a person is a "real *insert nationality here*"

And if you aren't native to that country you're always labelled as an immigrant and foreigner.

So just, why the fuck does it have to be different for the US???

[fragmentedblade]

The "Dan Heng is Dan Feng" dogmatics annoy me a lot. It entirely brushes off one of the most interesting and prevalent questions posed by the game, incarnated by several characters and stories that give the question different hues with different potential answers, and a constant also in HI3, like a thread waving the two games together

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

"i mess up things and then i don't have the energy to fix them up" yes brain true sentence but no brain the appropriate response is NOT "therefore i should kill myself (and here's how)"

[thanatika]

low-coherency rambling in the tags

[eisthenameofme]

i wonder if there's the potential for a solution to the doxxing fucking over marginalized people specifically thing and/or the some people only being able/knowing where to engage with community online thing if we we were able to like. weaponize the relative lack of actual anonymity in the opposite direction.

like for one thing, instead of doxxing just resulting in problems from others in person, using that information to actively support the person instead, and for another for the other potentially more targeted use of the internet to find people to engage with in person (although that one you'd have to be even more careful about in case it worked in the opposite direction. I'm just thinking it would be nice to have something more structured/widespread than happening to find out your internet friends are in your local area, that could potentially be used to circumvent people not meeting in third spaces/other issues people have initially finding local community in person.)

It would be nice if instead of exclusively finding offline solutions/telling people how to be more careful we could also use what's often part of the problem to our advantage when it does happen. Like, having a way to address it that isn't only preventative.

[lurking-latinist]

⛵

[sun-marie]

What I really think media with ensemble casts, especially those in a traveling group of some kind, are missing are big, blow-out arguments between the group. Especially when there's a conflict of interests, I am such a sucker for when two or more characters disagree so strongly that they realize very little is actually holding them together as a group, and wonder if it's time to go their separate ways.

I feel like a lot of video games, specifically, just kind of assume once the traveling band is "complete", it's forced to stay together until the player expressly permits it, but I don't really find that very compelling and a lot of times it feels more like they're relying on some kind of immediately strong bond that hasn't really been earned. Which is a shame, because in my opinion one of the best ways to strengthen that bond is to have the characters disagree and argue. Maybe they realize they're only being superficially held together and so they temporarily split up, only to then realize how much they've come to care for the others in the group. Then they reunite, make-up, formulate a plan to go forward, and boom, the group bond is that much stronger. Or maybe they don't even split up, and maybe they never learn to like each other, but they decide whatever cause their working toward is more important. Something else, bigger than them, is holding them together.

It just feels like a lot of potential is going to waste to just skip straight to the intense found family bond, without earning it.

[turtlemagnum]

when i was younger and hung out around my uncle a lot more than i do now, i remember whenever he referred to things regarding his native heritage, he always just called it "indian". called himself an indian, called the words he taught us indian, so on. since i was a little kid who didn't know any better, i didn't know that "indian" in the context of indigenous americans was a very broad, frankly bastardized term to paint a vast variety of cultures spanning two whole damn continents with one brush. it only occurred to me as i got much older than i was at the time that there'd be more than one "indian" language, and up until now since i had no idea what tribe(s) he even is i couldn't even begin to know where to look unless i found a download of every goddamn interlingual dictionary available and painstakingly checked every godddamn one for what their word for "thunder" is

the word he taught us meant thunder was hiloha. i didn't even know how to spell it until now, because he only ever said it aloud. literally just a few minutes ago, i decided to ask my grandma (his sister) if we knew what tribe(s) he belonged to. and apparently he's a mix of choctaw and makah. which gave me a lead, which led to me finding a dictionary on libgen, which led to me word searching "thunder" in the choctaw to english dictionary. it's the only word i remember him teaching us, and i'm unsure if he ever tried teaching us others. but it was his dogs name, and he was a damn good boy, so i remembered it clear as day. though, they normally shortened it to "hilo".

so, i guess what came out of this is that i now know a bit more about my uncle's heritage, and where to look for more research. so, if you're gonna have a takeaway from this, i'd appreciate it if you remembered the word "hiloha". it means thunder. and aside from being the name of a very good boy who deserves to be remembered, i think it's even more important to remember the histories, cultures, and of course the languages of all the indigenous folks who came before us and did their damndest to preserve their cultures in spite of it all.