#i feel like that situation mightve gone a bit different then

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

okay so that was fun but heres something completely unrelated to consider:

fic where stan happens upon ford exploding his face with fire and, seeing as it was clearly intentional on ford's part, decides to try to do something about it

[frankenfossil]

Just read the larger work (the graphic novel also called 'ducks') and then immediately came to find and reread these and the Christmas one (this one). They always got to me really strongly. The book is incredible but there's really something about the sketch comics.

Here is a sketch comic I made called Ducks, in five parts.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Ducks is about part of my time working at a mining site in Fort McMurray, the events are from 2008.  It is a complicated place, it is not the same for all, and these are only my own experiences there.  It is a sketch because I want to test how I would tell these stories, and how I feel about sharing them.  A larger work gets talked about from time to time.  It is not a place I could describe in one or two stories.  Ducks is about a lot of things, and among these, it is about environmental destruction in an environment that includes humans.  Thank you for taking the time to read it.

-Kate

[charliesinfern0]

Gorillaz Oc song Drabble time!11!!!

Note: I personally think you should listen to the song blue hair from tv girl before you read the bottom bc I think there could be more meaning of the song w/ ur oc.

Okay so I feel like blue hair from tv girl is like 2d makes a song about Charlie and how she used to have long hair in early phase 1. And when it sings "And she cried over nothing." I feel like she had a argument with murdoc and later felt ashamed when mudoc calls her too girly, then next it sings "So there was nothing I could do to stop Her from cutting Her beautiful blue hair off." It then cuts off to Charlie cutting her long hair quietly sobbing while 2d is watching her slowly cutting her hair behind the door witnessing it. But personally I feel like 2d comforts Charlie saying that he likes the short haircut of Charlie and it fits her :)

ABWBBEBWEBWEW???? :O thank you so much for this!! the ending is so sweet :')

i listened to the song beforehand, and when i saw the lyrics "What seemed so blue in the sunlight / By the night was a pale green", I had a feeling Murdoc would be mentioned because of the whole color symbolism the song has going on hehe. In my mind, the roles are sort of reversed and its more like a song Charlie is writing/singing about 2D, not just because hes the one that has blue hair but also because of the lyrics "There's really no way of winning / If in their eyes you'll always be a dumb blonde", because 2D is just perceived as the "no-brained, pretty boy front man" by everybody (especially Murdoc). I have Plastic Beach on the mind at all times, so the lyrics referencing cutting off the blue hair (and also the lyrics "It looked like cotton candy / And just as quick to get licked away") make me think more of how stressful 2D's situation was on Plastic Beach, and that his hair mightve started to fall out. (also the lyrics i mentioned at the beginning make me think of these two covers of the plastic beach album, the one during the day with the blue sky, and the one at dusk with the greenish sky)

And during this time, Charlie was lost at sea until she ends up on Plastic Beach and they see each other again (i have a whole lore reason as to how she ends up getting lost at sea and how she gets to plastic beach but this is already getting really long lol XP). They are huge sources of comfort for each other, and things get a bit better until the events of the Rhinestone Eyes music video and afterwards when they get separated (2D gets eaten by the whale, Charlie falling into the ocean and living on the sea floor for a while). Then they finally reunite and live with the rest of the band in the house on Wobble Street in the DoYaThing music video, and 2D's hair starts to grow back, and while theyre all healing from what they went through on Plastic Beach, things dont just go back to normal (And I guess I'll just miss her / Even though she isn't really gone / But things are just different / Ever since she cut her blue hair off). I guess then its more like a duet between 2D and Charlie, like theyre both singing about each other bc they both really care about each other :)

but yeah thats just my idea, i really appreciate you writing for me! (and thanks for the song recommendation :D)

[transterrence]

1. Is John irredeemable to you? If so what would've been a better fitting end to him? 2. Would the story be better if he literally wasn't in it? 3. Who would you have take the spotlight if he was gone? 4. Would anything he does change your mind on the character or nah? 5. Do you dread all of his current and future arcs or do you have hope they will deliver? 6. Do you think his redemption is bs? If so why? (2/2)

1. is john irreedeemable to you? if so, what wouldve been a better fitting end to him?

no, i dont think hes irreedeemable. i dont really think anyones irreedmable ?? i think hes definitely done bad things, but you also have to take in count his situation, his trauma, and mentality/mental health/state of mind. this of course doesnt discount all the shit hes done-- but no i dont think hes irreedeemable. also, his ending i think was done very well as he's currently on the tough road to recovery- and thats the best end you could ever give a character like him.

2. would the story be better if he literally wasn't in it?

wh- what ?? the story is about him. in the end, hes the main character and the storys about his turmoil and past and character growth. there is other stuff with spectre and ember that doesnt directly involve him, but the story surrounds him. i think i definitely prefer other characters over him just as a personal bias and id love to see a side story with them, still, its johns story. it wouldnt be the same without him. also, without him, so many people would be different. seraphina would still be stuck in the endless spiral of dissatisfaction, and characters like remi, blyke, and isen mightve never questionned their moral compasses + the hierachy.

3. who would you have take the spotlight if he was gone?

again, i dont think the story would be better/the same without him. theres no one id want to take his place, but out of personal bias- probably isen LMAO. hes just so skrunkly 🥺🥺

4. would anything he do change your mind on the character or no?

i dont really understand this question ?? of course my opinions on him will change as he grows and develops !! itd be strange for my opinion on him to stay static. i think that what i think of a character can always be swayed based on canon developments with the character + other people opinions. anything he does will change the way i see john, whether negatively or positively

5. do you dread all of his current and future arcs or do you have hope ?

i dont think i necessarily "dread" them. personally, i look forward seeing how he grows and develops, and im curious how uru will write him. i think im a bit uncertain with how uru will treat him just because of how characters/archetypes such as he are usually treated, but so far imo uruchans done a very well job of handling him. i definitely have hope for him in the future-- i dont think ill ever 100% forgive him to what he did to my blorbos but im still looking forward to his character development and growth !!

6. do you think his redemption is bs ? is so, why ?

okay i definitely dont think its bs. i think his redemption was very well executed and realistic !! i do believe he can get better and that he can redeem himself in some ways, but his actions are his actions, if that makes sense. i like that not everyone has to forgive him, and not everyone will. i think that yeah he did shit things, but that doesnt mean he cant improve from there. redemption really is just an improvement and an acknowledgement of your wrongs, i suppose.

--

ty for these questions !! they really made me think on how i felt ab him. feel free to send in more if youd like and make sure to take these with a grain of salt since i am human and i am somewhat biased

also sorry if these dont make sense its almost 3 am rn GHVBDJSJ

cant believe you made me think so much ab this stupid greasy mf smh 😔 /j

[crossdressingdeath]

Ch 43: Jin Ling continued, “My uncle grew up with him, my grandfather saw him as his own child, my grandmother wasn’t horrible to him either, but what did he do? He made Lotus Pier the lair of the Wen Sect, he wrecked the entire YunmengJiang Sect, he caused the deaths of both my parents and grandparents, and now my uncle is the only one left! He brought about his own death through the havoc he created and ended up leaving not even a whole corpse behind him! Just which part of the entire situation do you not understand? Just what excuses are you still making for him?!”

Holy shit?! The lies shoved down this poor kids throat? YZY was abusive to WWX but apparently thats not horrible? He apparently led the Wen to LP but that ignores the fact that they were attacking everyone. The Jiang is the only still exists because of WWX but thats apparently wrecking it. To fair on the last point if WWX didn't give JC his core then JC wouldn't have been sect leader and the Jiang mightve been led by JYL who is infinitely better at everything than JC.

Rereading this hits me like a truck because JC ensured that JL would unequivocally hate WWX even though many of it wasn't actually WWX's fault. How threatened was JC after WWX's death to lie even more to JL? Its as if he knew that JL would like WWX over him so he tried to ensure that JL didn't. The other thing is that JC is really spitting on the deaths of everyone mentioned and ignoring the sacrifices some of them made to ensure that JC and WWX lived.

I'm glad that at the end JL yells at JC and seems to stay far away from him. It must be so hard for JL to come to terms not only with the fact that JGY (the good uncle) actually orchestrated his fathers death. But also that his other uncle (JC) was also lying. That the one uncle that mightve fucked up but has since made up for it by protecting and teaching jim was the man that was supposed to be the world's greatest villain, WWX.

...Shit. I haven’t reread the novel in a while, so I’d mostly forgotten this bit, and... Shit.

JC has clearly been lying his ass off every time the topic of WWX came up, saying whatever was necessary to convince JL that WWX was pure evil. YZY whipped WWX over nothing, but JC taught JL that she wasn’t horrible to him. JFM cheerily sent WWX off to play bodyguard even if it meant he’d probably die, but he “saw him as his own child”. He “made Lotus Pier the lair of the Wen sect”, but the Wens did that without his aid and with him fighting against them having already taken over one great sect without even pretending to have an excuse, not to mention WLJ pretty much outright says that they were there to make Lotus Pier a supervisory office with punishing WWX as a lovely bonus. He brought about his own death, but it was the sects who backed him into a corner and gave him no other way out.

This passage on its own blows every argument that JC totally did love and mourn for WWX, because... well, look at it. WWX was dead, and that wasn’t enough for JC; no, he had to lie, to ensure that JL would never look on his uncle’s memory with anything but loathing. If he really did mourn for WWX and wish things had gone differently, he would’ve told JL about WWX’s courage and compassion, how he always fought to do the right thing, how he loved his family so much and always tried to help despite the way they treated him. But no; all JL knows about him is lies, almost certainly told to him directly by JC, given the way it’s phrased; at the absolute minimum JC clearly never told him the truth, and a lie by omission is still a lie. This is quite possibly one of the worst things JC does to WWX, because it is the complete desecration of WWX’s memory, a character assassination done to make sure a child wouldn’t hold a single positive thought towards his own uncle.

I wonder, now, how much of JL’s complete lack of any mention of JC in the extras comes from the realization of just how much of what JC taught him was lies. Did JC tell JL anything true about WWX? Because that passage suggests not. Can you imagine the betrayal JL must feel with every new discovery, every new investigation into WWX and JC’s past that ends with the realization that it’s just one more thing JC lied to him about? The one uncle he has left of the two he grew up with, and now he’s learning that JC betrayed him, kept the truth of everything related to WWX and his mother from him so that... what, he wouldn’t have to compete for “favourite maternal uncle”? So he could feel justified in his hate? He poisoned his nephew’s mind against a good man for the sake of his own hatred and now JL, still reeling from learning what JGY did, is having to come to terms with that. No wonder the poor kid doesn’t want to talk about him in the extras. 

And now I want fics that acknowledge that JC lied to JL about everything to do with WWX, and include JL’s rightful sense of betrayal over it. Preferably without any attempts from the narrative or not-JC characters to justify it, because you cannot justify lying to a child for years so that he’d hate your brother as much as you do.

[nebylitsa]

for the ask game: 7, 10, 19! ♥

7. Let us know three random facts about them! - carlos was possibly intersex! there was a medical study about this published some years ago & recently ive seen it mentioned in more mainstream pop history books too (e.g., the habsburgs by martyn rady). the possibility really fascinates me, though it also makes me sad to think about how he mightve suffered because of it - unable to have an heir, not knowing what was “wrong” with him...

- he once said the artist luca giordano was “greater than a king,” & loved the paintings of juan carreño de miranda so much that he offered him a knighthood & the cross of santiago (which carreño “refused… as beyond his merit”). (source: the age of louis xiv by will & ariel durant) this man REALLY loved art... yes king give us government funding for the humanities!

- i dont remember where i first read this but he loved chocolate! apparently it was one of his favorite drinks/desserts :’^)

10. What is your favourite quote by / about them? upon signing his last will & testament, making louis xiv’s nephew philippe d’anjou the sole heir to the spanish empire, carlos supposedly said, “god alone gives kingdoms – now i am nothing.” he died about a month later, in november 1700. this quote may be apocryphal but damn does it hit me right in the fucking feels

19. What is the biggest difference in personality between you and them? im definitely much nerdier than he was! while he liked the arts, he wasnt bookish or studious at all, & probably didnt care about history or literature very much. i guess im also probably more mature? like yeah i do feel like a teletubby with a credit card most of the time but i think i apply myself to my work a bit more than he did. THEN AGAIN i may be flattering myself because at the same time im not sure i couldve handled being in his situation in the 1690s… i probably wouldve gone mad or just abdicated :’^)

thanks! :3 <3

[ceasarslegion]

Im sorry if it sounds really weird im just

Tony meant a lot to me yknow

Just as a character

I grew up with his movies and his comics but the movies introduced me when i was just 9 years old

Got me through a lot of shit and helped me come to terms with a lot of my mental and parental issues by seeing them reflected through him

Taught me about second chances and how i could be better than what i was after getting through a rough time in my life

And now hes gone

And its almost poetic how the character that kinda guided me through my difficult journey growing up would die at a time i finally have the tools to fend for myself in those regards

It almost felt personal yknow like

"You dont need me anymore, kid. Go be your own Iron Man."

Idk does that sound weird

And even his last stand got to me, when he finally looked so content through all the exhaustion in his eyes and the pain he must've been in

Because like

That whole theme of how he could just rest now after all that bullshit he fought through to get to that point and his big prize at the end was just a nice rest

I mean just over a year ago it was so uncertain and scary for me and i didnt know if i could even leave or survive any longer in the controlling situation i was in

I fought and clawed my way through all of that despite the exhaustion and the pain for so many years and then my reward was a nice rest from it all

Its like this one fucking character knows exactly how to get to me every goddamn time

I dont know it kinda feels like all those comics and movies were a bit of an anchor for me for so long and while i might not need it anymore its hard to let go of that

And then those fuckers had to have him narrate a whole ending monologue about how sad endings arent always bad endings and that was another slap in the face for me because oh, even after he's gone he was saying exactly what I needed to hear

Because i had a lot of real sad endings in my life up till now like i feel i have more sad ones than any others and i never thought they mightve been for the best in those situations

I dont know

Maybe its dumb and ridiculous to feel grief over a fictional character but that doesnt change what that character did for me

I think thats what im really grieving here

So uh

Thanks, Tony Stark

For being there for me when no one else was in a time I felt so lost and alone

For teaching me about second chances and how I can be so much better than what I came from, that I'm not limited to the circumstances of my origins, that I'm not defined by my mistakes, that I really can make such a huge difference as just one person with a lot of ambition. That I can be a superhero even I don't have any powers.

Thank you for teaching that scared little kid courage even in the face of impossible odds, that lost adolescent that they had a future ahead of them outside of the crushing adversity, and that tenacious young adult to grab their ambition by the horns and to smash the obstacles themselves if they refused to move from their path.

Thank you, for everything

I don't need you anymore, but it doesn't mean it's easy to let you go.

Godspeed, Mr. Stark. So long, and goodnight.

[kumo-headcanons]

Ok so Idk if this is going over board but since Darui and C are a ship, do you think that when they were younger, they mightve been able to have a thing or wanted to but couldn't for what reason? And as adults they shoved it into the back of their heads?

Why would that be going over board? Are you referring to the remark I made about shipping asks taking more effort than others? Because there's really no need to worry about that, if that's what you mean. The only reason that came up at all was because that ask had been sitting in my inbox for nearly a week already and I hadn’t had the time to sit down and properly concentrate. I like working on questions, it’s just that some take more time to answer than others.

Hm... Yes, but also no? I actually tend to think of it as happening the other way around with the thought of a romantic relationship never even occurring to them until the events of Shippuuden, possibly even as late as after the war. Here's how I see their relationship developing:

C, Darui, Mabui and Samui's ninja registration numbers lie within the range of CL5517 and CL5596 (funnily enough, C's is actually the lowest out of the four of them despite his being the youngest, while Darui's registration number is the highest). For comparison, Omoi and Karui's registration numbers are CL6305 and CL6306 respectively, which is why I assume C, Darui, Mabui and Samui graduated from the academy at roughly the same time, meaning Darui and C most likely graduated early since they are a good three years younger than Mabui and Samui.

A while ago, I actually posted a headcanon about what Darui and C's relationship might have been like during their academy years and totally intended to follow up on that with more posts about their teenage years and early twenties but never got around to it because there were some details I hadn't (still haven't) worked out yet but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, what I've noticed is that, while they're A's bodyguards, they have a distinct (and probably unconscious) habit of gravitating towards each other, regardless of A's position, which is probably the most inconsequential detail ever but also kinda sweet?

What I'm getting at is, I don't think Darui and C ever made the conscious decision to get to hang out, get to know each other, become friends and so on and so forth; it just kind of happened and by the time they realised where things were headed their lives were already entangled to the point where it just naturally seemed like the next logical step to take.

For no reason in particular, I think C and Darui, actually didn't see all that much of each other for a couple of years after graduating. The higher ups of Kumo might have been busy spreading rumours about Darui's skills and sending him on missions left and right because ever village wants to flaunt its geniuses as much as secrecy allows and Darui is the closest Kumo had to its own Hatake Kakashi, while C, after deciding to go into the medical field, was kept busy by hospital duty but for some reason they still ended up running into each other every couple of months, always slipping back into that same easy, effortless companionship. Like, C might spot Darui taking a nap somewhere between missions, flop down next to him and spend the next two hours going over his anatomy notes while Darui grunts his acknowledgment and goes back to sleep until work catches up with them and they see nothing of each other for a couple of weeks or months again until that early morning on that one faithful day where they run into each other on the way to the Raikage's office, chat for a bit, say their goodbyes because they'd be late for work otherwise, and then spend the next five minutes awkwardly walking next to each other because they're both headed for the Raikage's office.

Starting at the time they entered the academy their relationship might have gone from something like "You're the least annoying. I'll gonna sit next to you" to "So you're gonna graduate early too, huh?" to "Didn't expect to run into you again so soon, last I heard you were on a mission in Water Country. Wanna catch up?" to "Wait. When did you get promoted?" to "Wanna grab a bite to eat once the shift's over?" to "Mind if I crash here tonight? Mission got me beat and I really don't feel like walking home." to "I got you a toothbrush, you know, since you're staying over so much." to "I heard your lease was running out. Wanna move in together? Might save us both some money." to "Karui, Omoi, not that we don't appreciate it but... the cards, the flowers, a gift basket? Isn't that a bit much for an appartment?" which is about the point where I think their relationship is at when they're first introduced in Shippuuden.

They're used to each other's company and, more importantly, they're comfortable in it and then canon happens makes their lives a whole lot more complicated. Specifically ep. 202/3 comes along and makes Darui's life a whole lot more complicated.

I kinda think the fight against Team Taka was a bit of a "Holy shit! Close call! I actually thought I might lose you" kind of wake up point to Darui. When comparing Darui's attitude at the beginning of the fight to his attitude at the point after Suigetsu attempts to attack C and later when C is caught in Sasuke's genjutsu the shift in the way he fights is remarkable – for that same reason, it's also great fun to compare this fight with his fight against Ginkaku and Kinkaku; it's like looking at two completely different characters.

Darui is not taking things seriously at first, or at least he's feeling calm and casual enough to keep snarking back and fourth with C despite being in the middle fight. But there's this tiny moment:

Jūgo's talking about C specifically and depending on context, the Japanese line can either be translated as "take him down" or "kill him" and I love that the camera switches to Darui's reaction first, before showing C's. Darui literally just told him that there was no need for him to stay in the fight and that he and A would handle the situation, while C basically paints a giant target on himself by remaining stationary as he's looking for Karin and I think this is the moment Darui realises the responsibility he's taking on and the amount of trust he's (unwittingly) asked of C and I'll be damned if the "The change in his personality"-line isn't more Darui trying to appear casual rather than him actually making light of the situation. By the time Suigetsu attempts to go after C, Darui is dead serious.

Which is why when C actually does go down after Sasuke's genjutsu effects, something snaps and logic gets thrown out the window. C falls over and Darui is distracted to the point of taking his eyes off of Suigetsu for several seconds, long enough for Suigetsu to initiate a jumping attack and actually push Darui on the defensive while he's still off balance. Which you can't really fault him for since a huge explosion just went off and the next thing he sees is C keeling over for some unknown reason.

Conversely, this was his reaction right after Atsui got sealed within Benihisago:

It's not that he isn't serious during the fight with Ginkaku and Kinkaku, or doesn't care; it's just on a completely different level. Anyway at this point at the fight against Team Taka is where things get really fun. The KinGin siblings make a huge deal about words being tools with which to trick people and here Darui does just that. In an effort to quickly finish off Suigetsu, he makes use of the fact that Suigetsu is already somewhat distracted out of concern for Sasuke and gets him to actually look away and in the direction of A and Sasuke with one short quip about how Sasuke's done for (which is not Darui's usual style, he snarks a lot and might even get carried away with a small speech just before or after a fight, but with opponents he's really blunt. Quite the opposite, against Ginkaku and Kinkaku he's almost excessively polite.) Anyway, so he intends to finish the fight quickly and he does..

And I love using those screen caps at every chance I get because of the cold, cold fury on Darui's face and the fact that this is an expression you rarely get to see on him. Seriously, that's Darui going after Ginkaku and Kinkaku:

Against the KinGin siblings, that's war; but the thing against Suigetsu? That's personal.

And I love how, rather than joining up with A, he jumps straight to C, plasters himself to his side in the most impractical way possible, casually talks shit about Sasuke as if he hadn't just pinned a guy to a wall with his sword, and doesn't even consider letting go until prompted because Raikage's orders.

Also, holy fuck, Darui, that's your boss you're glaring at. xD

Anyway, what I meant to say is, getting C back on his feet is all well and good, but right now Karin is still around (theoretically capable of attacking them) and Darui has successfully prevented himself and C from forming handseals or taking any kind of quick measure to defend themselves. And they remain in that position for several minutes, all the while the fighting continues without them but, you know, priorities. By the way, notice how by the time Darui let's go, C's chakra control is able to control his chakra well enough to perform Mystical Palm, despite Darui having to hold him up until seconds prior? I'm not say they were both stalling because that feels like a bit of a stretch but I'm heavily implying it nonetheless.

Well, point I was trying to make before I got carried away is, the fight against Team Taka is a bit of a turning point for the two of them (Darui maybe more so than C). Maybe it was actually one of the closest calls they'd had in a while and Darui is confronted with the thought of "Shit. That could've ended badly." and "For a moment there I really thought you might've died." and this is where one realisation in particular sets in. He can do well on his own. But he can do so much better with C by his side.

And that's the realisation that eventually leads to this line:

And I've talked about this line before. At length. Darui's fine shinobi, fully capable of taking over the role of the Raikage's right-hand man; and he knows that. But he's not above admitting to himself or the Raikage that he's just that much better when working together with C. Not even necessarily in a romantic context yet, but definitely as a partner of equal standing.

Hell, in ep. 363 during the Allied Shinobi Jutsu, it's not just future Raikage Darui who's leading the charge of the Kumonin. Again, C's right there by his side.

And you know how there's this theme of some Kage having a second in command to share the duties with? Chronologically, you have Hashirama and Tobirama, Hiruzen and Danzo, (I'd even go so far as to include) Tsunade and Shizune, A and Darui, Kakashi and Gai, and Naruto and Shikamaru. And I don't know how much of that actually was a conscious decision on the writers' part, but C is framed in a way that makes him the character most likely to take over the position of Darui's second in command.

Now what would be the last push necessary to push their relationship into the realms of romance? I'm afraid this is gonna be the most anti-climactic answer ever.

I blame the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Give them knowledge of a reality that's so very, very much like their own except for that teeny-tiny difference. Give them a taste of else they could have in addition to the bond they already have and have them notice that, while unexpected, it feels right. Remind them that, while it's all well and good to be willing to give your life for someone, it's better to share it with them.

It might leave them reeling for a while but once they're back in Kumo things will work themselves out sooner or later because of that pesky habit they have of always kind of gravitating towards each other.