#i feel like this is the show’s way of addressing those dangers and concerns but i do hope it’s handle well

[unitchiefs-blackbirdphoenix]

I really really hope that we’ll actually get to see JJ deal with the deepfake issue and that it won’t get brushed aside or just used to fuel another storyline (e.g. Emily’s/BAU VS Voit).

Yeah same here. I hope they handle this storyline with grace and caution bc it’s such a scary thing that’s already happening in the world today and probably the most disturbing storyline CM has ever done.

But I’m also afraid that some part of the storyline might be linked to Emily’s storyline bc she’s dealing with her leadership failures and her relationships with the team falling apart. I actually was about to make a separate post about this “theory” but I think you gave me a good prompt haha.

So far into the three eps, JJ was the only person in the team that talked highly and positively of Emily as a leader despite everything (other than Penelope but like she’s got her own shit with Tyler lol). And it was before she found out about the website. In the car scene with Luke, JJ talks about how Emily’s “practicing discretion isn’t lying… that’s good leadership.” She could’ve easily said that Luke was simply following orders and not have the whole thing be about Emily’s leadership for a quick second. This would’ve been setting up for how JJ might doubt Emily later on aside from her knowing about the site right now.

But of what we should know about JJ’s storyline now is that there will be some “not so happy agents”, according to AJ, and it deal with “vulnerability… [and] compartmentalizing”, as Aisha and RJ said about JJ’s storyline bc AJ didn’t know how to talk about it while not giving everything away lol.

So far season 17 has been great and got me hooked but I am nervous of how they’ll handle JJ’s storyline bc it’s such a serious matter and shouldn’t be brushed aside so easily. This isn’t her getting injured on the job. This will stick with her for the rest of her life and will resurface whenever, however many times, and in whatever way by whoever many has seen or contributed to the site. That coupled with the fact that JJ’s family won’t be in this season, so she’s really just dealing with the discovery alone :(

[bloop-bl00p]

“Fîls de joie” What Poison could have been.

TW: Mention of Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse, Rape, Drugs, Addiction, Manipulation, Mention of Fetish and sex in general, mention of Sex works, Raphielle II don’t go harras him and respect his pronouns

I’m trying to be a writer and I understand writing about taboos and controversial things is difficult. I only write about what I know which is the effect of emotional and physical abuse and religious traumas. Notheless if I’m trying to do something out of my domain of expertise I’ll research it to respect the concerned part of the audience.

Vivienne Medrano said that people who’ve been sexually abused helped write episode 4. Part of me wants to believe it, it’s most likely true, it’s the best thing a writer can do, let knowledgeable people help and not just rely on sites about psychology. But, with how rape and assault are presented sometimes it really feels like she’s lying.

Angel Dust is the only character whose abuse is presented as serious.

Stolas kept belittling Bliztø and kept talking dirty even when the Man was in danger

You cannot tell me that he couldn't hear the gunshot through the phone, in this scene, he keeps making his disgusting speech. Blitzø was practically forced to make the deal as he wasn't in a situation where he could process his thoughts clearly since he was trying to survive

And it was a joke.

Angels Dusk kept harassing Husk throughout the series but he never once apologized. Yes, it stopped after Looser Baby but he should have a mindful conversation with Husk and genuinely say sorry about his behavior.

“It starts with sowwy🥺” What’s the point of having this song if the characters don’t follow through with the lesson?

Those scenes were mostly jokes.

And I haven’t mentioned Sir Pentious getting dragged while being drunk in a sex room, or Moxie being kissed by Succubus despite mentioning he didn't want any of that.

AAaaAaaaAh look at these men, being uncomfortable because they are touched and talked down despite verbally addressing their discomfort! That hilarious!

I want to believe she cares, I’m a fan of these shows, I know it doesn't look like it but I’ve been hooked since the Pilots. Not only was I disappointed at the final result but I was also shocked to learn Medrano is simply just an asshole with too much money in her bag.

Poison failed where Fîls de Joie succeeded:

Before reading any of what I wrote you should listen to it, there are English subtitles. And honestly, it's a good song on its own.

What’s the context of Fîls de Joie?

A sex worker died and her son is holding funerals for her. You can guess it with the wordplay in the title, Fille de Joie (Girl of Joy) is one of the many ways to say prostitute in French. Fîls (son) de Joie is a way to say that he’s the son of a sex worker.

While sung by the same man, you can notice that Stromae gives us four POVs in the song, the son in the chorus, a client, the pimp, and a policeman.

Everyone besides the son is a hypocrite and relatively an asshole. But even if those verses are self-centered and a pathetic attempt from these men to bring sympathy to themselves, despite never hearing the story directly from the Woman, you can guess exactly how her life was and you sympathize with her. It tells us a story, her story.

This woman was a good mother, and it shows how much the son insisted on leaving her alone, speaking proudly of her despite acknowledging her flaws, and even repeatedly calling her a hero.

But HEY! (But HEY!) Leave my mom alone Yes I know, she’s not perfect, it’s true She’s a hero (She’s a hero) And I will always speak of her with pride

The client is trying to be excused from his actions by stating he’s lonely and addicted to it.

Being alone is not easy And it’s been years since my last time

The hardest part, well, it’s the first time And now what’s hard is to decide when the last time will be

But he’s also verbally violent even stating that as long as he got the money he could pretty much do everything to her.

Maybe this time around we can do it with me insulting her. Yeah everything is negotiablе in life, if you got the money And after all, I’m probably her best customer

With that alone, you can probably guess that it’s not the only violent client she had but she has to endure it because she needs money. Considering that she has a son it’s probably to support his education or something related to her well-being and his.

Then comes the pimp, he brushed off all of his misdeeds by saying he gives them shelter and food and should be grateful for it.

Why does everyone hate me? I’m the one feeding them Their lives would be way more mediocre. Without me, their lives would be shitty

Not only that but his good actions are not for the sake of it, he should have his part of the deals. He doesn't want them to feel like princesses eventually calling them hookers in a very dehumanizing way.

That has a price, Missy. Well duh, in this life, everything comes at a price. Nobody ever told you? They say I’m guilty of human trafficking But 50, 40, 30 or 20% is not nothing

They better not delude themselves and think they’re models Ladies—or should I say: hookers!

Not only does this woman have to endure constant violent behavior from her clients she barely gets enough money despite being the one at work, receiving either 50% or even 20% of what she actually gained. The rest goes to an egocentric pimp that only sees her as merchandise.

While we can technically understand where the policeman is coming from, he’s just doing his job, he’s making a mistake apparent in the other’s verse but much more evident in his.

He doesn't see her as a human.

I know that it’s your job But I gotta do mine, don’t I?

Take back your ID and what’s left of your dignity You’re pathetic, pfft Find yourself a real job!

This song doesn't tell us the story of a prostitute but the story of a financially struggling Mother who juggles between abusing clients and a society that only focuses on the top of the iceberg, the fact that she’s selling her body.

Stromae tries to appeal to our compassion and teach us that it’s important to understand why someone will go their way to sell sex for a few pennies. And rather than rejecting them, we should help them.

Another thing I like about the clip as a whole is the Military. They don’t have a Belgian or French uniform but they wear multiple of them to show that this dehumanization isn’t linked to one country but it’s global, every countries and cultures take part in it, and it needs to be fixed.

What does Poison tell us?

Angel got stuck in an abusive situation and was forced to do sex work for his pimps, it focuses more on the sexual assault rather than his life.

He obliviously regrets his choice resulting in him blaming himself for getting into such a messy situation. A situation he’s seemingly addicted to despite himself, he knows it’s bad but he can’t help it.

What's the worst part of this hell? I can only blame myself

You're feedin' me poison Addicted to this feelin', I can't help but swallow. Up your poison

The poison can also be a metaphor for the drugs he seems to take directly from Valentino’s brand. A drug he either takes himself or is forced to inhale.

He uses the same substance to forget his situation and numbs the pain while also putting on a false Sex-addicted mask to convey that he’s fine and stay on Valentino’s good side. A direct consequence of his abuse is his addiction and his hypersexuality.

I got so good at bein' untrue I got so good at tellin' you what you wanna hear I disassociate, disappear

At the end of the song he’s waisted, traumatized, and finally breaks down as he finally has a short time to process everything that happened. Because here’s the thing, Poison is a fantasy, it’s a mask he puts in to forget the emotional and physical weight that was put on him, hence why it’s so flashy and pretty. The few glimpses of Angel being visibly distraught show that all the parts where he isn't are him disassociating.

See I can analyze stuff and I totally understand what they were trying to do with it but the difference with Fîls de Joie is, that we didn't know the life or personality of The Mother and we learn it through the song.

Angel Dust and Valentino’s relationship is highlighted throughout the shows and Poison doesn't add anything new to the table. The song is POINTLESS. Husk already looked at us and told us that Angel Dust being sexual was a whole persona he puts in.

You can say that the song humanized him since he was basically the “AaahaAH SEX” character but the locker scene already did and… I don’t like the story behind the making of it, why you ask?

Because Vivienne let Raphielle’s work affect her writing.

Visually speaking I believe you can present a disturbing concept with equally disturbing imagery, I understand that the point was to make you uncomfortable and the Dance sequence was Angel Dust disassociating while what was happening was displayed on the screen.

But… can someone explain why they let the work of someone blatantly fetishizing Angel and Valentino's relationship leak into the final product? I don’t even care that Raphielle or Vivienne have a nonconsensual fetish but we can all agree that his content depicting the two men will be inrentently for gooning purposes right? Or am I crazy for saying that?!

Okay, I wanna be clear, Raphielle can do everything he wants what I care about is that his fetishistic content was referenced in the shows.

→ Here’s one of his works. Go at 2:45 if you wanna skip the sexual stuff

→ Click here for more proof

The idea of Angels Dust being “sexy” while his image is projected on screens is from Raphielle II, his work is for sexual gratification but Medrano still referenced it despite Raph being pretty vocal about it.

And that’s not all.

Yes, Vivienne, it’s great marketing to make a cum joke about visuals displaying rape. Because in case y’all forgot all of the sex scenes in the clip are non-consensual from Angel Dust's perspective.

Am I supposed to believe that this woman cares when not only she has a double standard only showing rape and sexual assault as a whole in a bad way when it comes to her favorite character?

Am I supposed to believe that she cares when she associates herself with a fetishizer and references his work in her show?

Why did Stromae managed to make me care about an unnamed fictional dead woman in the spam of 3:57 when she just irked me in 20 minutes with her so-called “well done” representation of sex workers?

Is that really what people call a realistic presentation? How does someone manage to fumble so hard on every aspect of the series, I’m starting to believe that Hazbin Hotel is just rage-bait with the lack of respect she puts into it.

That’s all for me if anyone wants to add anything, the comments are there.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

So you've talked a few times about how Plagg and Tikki failed on a fundamental level as mentors, and how Fu wasn't even really a mentor at all, but I don't think I've seen you bring up Su-Han as of yet, and I'm curious to know where you fall on that particular character.

I personally feel he could've been useful for expository purposes, and/or served as a catalyst for Marinette's growth into the role of guardian/team leader (you know, if the show were interested in character growth, or suggesting it's protagonist isn't omni-capable), but instead he showed up in four episodes, caused several problems, raised more questions than he ultimately answered, and honestly makes me question why he was included in the first place.

The order of the guardians is back after 170+ years and the most lasting impact this has on the story is... they teach Jagged Stone Kung Fu? Were you on the writing team, how would you make effective use of this plot point (Or was it a bad idea to begin with?)

Su-Han is an incredibly weird character. I'm honestly not totally sure why he exists, but I'll give you my best guess and then we'll talk about how he could have been used because I do think that he had potential.

It feels like they only introduced the guardian temple back in season three because they wanted to explain how the peacock and butterfly got lost - even though their explanation just raises even more questions if you know anything about archology - then they realized, "Oh shit, we probably need to address the guardian's return somehow, don't we?"

But if they let a whole mystic order descend on Paris, then we don't really need our two heroes, so instead we get one rando who walked (or I guess jumped?) from Tibet to Paris in order to be the writer's whipping boy because that's really how Su-Han is used. He's not here to help or to be a mentor. He's here to voice audience complaints so that the writers can shut those complaints down with nonsense logic.

For example, this exchange from Ephemeral is what kicks off Marinette's awkward and concerning plan to lie to her partner about an identity reveal:

Su-Han: This really takes the cake! Ladybug: Grand Master Su-Han? Su-Han: Nine! You used nine Miraculous to defeat a single villain, when Cat Noir could have just used his Cataclysm! Ladybug: I had to. Cat Noir was missing! Su-Han: What do you mean "missing"? You can't just let the holder of the one of the most powerful Miraculous go about as he pleases! What if he started making his own decisions, or act it out? Like Shadow Moth?! Ladybug: Cat Noir? Act like Shadow Moth? Wow. Are you blowing this out of proportion just a little? Su-Han: Not at all. In fact, you should find out who Cat Noir really is, so you can have better control over him. Ladybug: What?? No way! We can't know our true identities! It would be too dangerous if Shadow Moth got a hold of one of us! Su-Han: I. Don't. Care!! Deal with this problem quickly, otherwise I will take back his Miraculous as soon as he shows a whisker! And I'll choose the new Cat Noir myself! Ladybug: Okay, okay, alright. What if you knew who he was, would that work? Su-Han: I... I suppose so. But I'm warning you, if you don't succeed— Ladybug: I get it. Cat Noir will be replaced.

Does Su-Han read like an Adrien salter to you? Because he does to me! He's presenting a valid argument in the most obnoxious and inflammatory way possible by making it about controlling Chat Noir instead of having the argument focus on the issue of, "Hey, maybe more than one person should know who has this extremely powerful miraculous just in case something bad happens to that one person?" An argument that holds more weight than he could possibly know because of the whole senti issue making Chat Noir a potential perfect sleeper agent.

And at the end of the episode, we get this exchange even though none of Su-Han's concerns have actually been addressed:

Su-Han: So, do you know who Cat Noir is yet? Ladybug: No. Su-Han: What? I thought I had warned you— Ladybug: I don't want to know. I've proven to you a hundred times that I'm a good guardian, and Cat Noir and I have proven to you a hundred times that we were exceptional superheroes, and you! How many times have you told us that we were messing up, when that was totally untrue? You're judging us based on your own fears, and not on our actions! Su-Han: (groans) You're right, little Ladybug. Perhaps I'm worrying over nothing. What's for sure is that one doesn't come across a guardian like you every century. (reaches out his fist) How do you say again? Ladybug and Su-Han: Pound it.

You can tell that the writers wanted Su-Han to be the bad guy here. That his pushing for an identity reveal was at fault and you - the audience - should feel bad if you ever agreed with him, but his base argument is never actually addressed. Marinette just says he needs to trust her and so he does for some reason? Remind me, which of these two is supposed to have years of experience and which of them has been a hero for less than a year and in that time has totally failed to even try to retrieve the miraculous that she's supposed to be recovering? Writers, please stop saying that Marinette is the best guardian ever when you don't let her do anything that feels all that special. I'm not saying that she's terrible, she's doing what was asked if her, I'm just concerned that this is considered way above average quality.

On top of that nonsense, there's also the problem that Marinette's counter argument would have worked right from the start, so her rushed deception plan doesn't feel like a true act of desperation like it was clearly supposed to be. Instead, it just makes her look like a horrible person even though that obviously wasn't the writer's intent. This is what always happens when they speed run these complex what-if or backstory episodes. It never works out like they clearly want it to.

Chat Blanc did it by making Adrien look bad for hiding his identity so that he could date Ladybug. Derision did it by making multiple characters look unhinged and/or evil. Ephemeral does it with the frankly baffling lie plan which is only there so we can have a proper identity reveal moment between the leads. That's literally why the episode is written like that, btw. They wanted to let Adrien confess his identity in a big romantic moment, so they forced a scenario where that would happen even though it makes Ladybug look terrible.

Anyway, back to Su-Han.

If Miraculous was allowed to have serious plot lines that spanned multiple episodes, then Su-Han could have been a great edition to the cast. Season four is a pretty big tonal shift for the show. Things start to feel a lot more serious in this season with the Ladynoir conflict and Marinette struggling to be the guardian. It also comes right after the season where we learned that Master Fu wasn't a true guardian. All of this is the perfect setup for a true mentor character who shows up to fix things and maybe even give out some new powers!

Imagine how much better this season would have been if it was about Su-Han helping Ladynoir! If he saw the conflict and stepped in to guide them through it. You could even have him be closer to Adrien than Marinette to balance Marinette and Fu's relationship.

For example, what if the guardians didn't have the wacky staff that tracks down miracle boxes but not miraculous because then Gabriel would be defeated too easily? What if Su-Han just shows up and Marinette doesn't trust him, but Adrien does? And so Su-Han helps Adrien the most while Marinette keeps Su-Han at arms length just like she does Adrien because that's what Fu taught her to do and Fu was wrong about everything! This could still lead to the season four ending, but instead of it being a nothing burger where season five continues all of the same problems, instead season five is where Marinette embraces Su-Han and really starts to understand what it means to be a guardian and a partner? Things Fu never taught her because he kind of sucked at his job.

That's just one way to make Su-Han work. A way that keeps canon intact up to the start of season five because, while I hate season four's writing and "conflict" resolution, I can admit that there was potential in the base idea. You could also scrap all of season four and rewrite everything to keep things more light hearted while still letting Su-Han be a total upgrade.

You could even go the exact opposite direction and set Su-Han up to be the next big bad! Why have sentimonster freedom be a conflict (even though it really wasn't) when you could make everything about Kwami freedom? It's a really natural progression to go from defeating Gabriel to fighting for... institutional changes(?) in how the miraculous work. Let Kwamis pick their holders and remove their bonds so that Gabriel never happen again!

I really do mean it when I say that this show is bursting with potential. I wouldn't be so enthralled by how bad it is if it didn't have potential to be amazing.

[wilcze-kudly]

On my latest rewatch of sozin's comet part 3 at the begining when zuko talks with katara about aang i noticed that once he mentions him katara's eyes from serious face are narrowing down to make a more sad face. Furthermore after reading your post about "katara's trauma why she waited" i noticed even more scrumbs that support your post. Other then changing her grimace, zuko asks katara 2 quastions. "What if he doesn't have guts to take out my father" And "What if he loses". The second question triggeres katara to respond in panic that "aang won't lose". Here's the most interesting thing i saw on rewatch. Katara while completly ignoring zuko's first question adds that "he is going to comeback, he has to" while looking infront herself with focused face. And im sorry but zuko didn't even mention that he is concerned about aang returning to fight ozai, so katara just adds another sentence to her belief that aang is going to comeback ALIVE. This further adds to desparete "he has to" like its an obligation on aang's or universes part to not lose life because of unfinished business or just praying that aang is gonna be fine. My point is that it shows how concerned katara really is about only if aang's gonna be fine. Which explains kinda her hesitancy on her part in ember island players. She really is afraid of losing him again and it makes sense too when we look at how many deaths of people close to her she saw. Also It would be stupid to not asume that her holding for a moment dead body of her friend/possibly a new love wouldn't influence her behaviour to make closer bonds.

[Post anon is referencing]

Yeah, references to Katara's fear of losing Aang are sprinkled in throughout the show, though the aren't addressed full on, which is why I assume most people don't catch onto it. Which is a shame, and I wish it was explored more explicitly in the show because if you watch without noticing this crucial element, you could draw some very misguided conclusions.

I think it's very interesting to watch Katara's perspective of Aang and her approach to him as the Avatar shift through the series. I don't think Katara ever idealised Aang as the Avatar perse. But I think a lot of her relationship with Aang was her realising the strain it put on Aang. In the Storm, she learns how it impacted Aang's life and basically alienated him from his peers.

Throughout B1, we see Aang's role as the Avatar become second to his role as Katara's friend. To the point where in the first episode of B2; The Avatar State, Katara is actively encouraging Aang to shirk his duties in order to protect his mental state.

But I think it's at the end of B2, when Katara cradles the body of her friend who was killed, struck from behind that she realises that Aang being the Avatar may cause her to lose him.

Sure, they've been pursued by Zuko, Zhao and Azula, but bear in mind, Katara is still a kid and while she may be aware on a surface level of the danger, nothing's technically happened yet, so she may not fully register it. But now she has had a free trial run of grieving Aang and she doesn't want to feel it again. So she builds up some walls.

And we have more hints for this throughout B3. Her breaking down when Aang leaves, drawing those parallels to Hakoda, for example. Her immediately shooting down any possibilty of Aang losing to Ozai or getting hurt. She's not blindly idolising him, she is terrified of the idea of losing him and deflecting it because she's a kid who can't think about things that scare her on an existential level.

Another good example of this being her reaction to Aang kissing her furing the Day of the Black Sun.

Analysing Katara's expression after Aang kissed her, she isn't upset with the kiss perse. If she were, she'd most likely be animated with more furrowed eyebrows. Ryebrows raised like the way they are in the show usually denominate surprise (which she is in the first few frames) or sadness. Which matches the context very well. The way she looks at Aang and then averts her gaze with a grim expression, as if she wants to say something, but is still angled to be seemingly glancing at him? That could very easily be ready as Katara wanting to respond to Aang, but holding herself back because making your relationship tangible before a big battle is a very good way to lose your boyfriend before you eben get your first date.

And since.... certain people insist that Katara being drawn in this scene with more childike proportions was a concious choice by the creators and not just an outcome of animation studios switching around and certain mixups, let's look at it this way: Katara being drawn more childlike in this scene could highlight the inherent tragism of the image of two child soldiers kissing before a battle in which one or both of them may die

She doesn't smile, not because she's not happy with the kiss, but because the boy who kissed her is off to war. Like I would not be smiling either.

Katara's trauma around loss is so pften boiled down only to her mother, which while valid, is only half the truth, and I wish this aspect of Kataang was more noticed because it does hide in the details of the show.

[thehothcast]

cassian andor general romance hcs

word count: 994

warnings: none, just a miniscule reference to sex

message from the authors: first post on the account! love that for us. we both (okay just me, fine - grace) went a little feral writing these, enjoy the show! (i was moral support for grace and additional idea giver, hope u love! - rosa)

ok so! i think cass is very easily scared off when it comes to this kind of thing: love. he’s skittish when he’s unsure, and although romantic dalliances aren’t new to him, approaching a situation where he’s not privy to if you reciprocate or even if you ever could, is new to him. he’s always been the one in control of the dynamic, or at the very least an equal, with both participants on the same page (or thereabouts, see him and bix i suppose.)

the man seems a lil avoidant, like he’s just wary of people in general so i'm not so sure how well he’d respond to hearing from a third party that you had a crush on him, whether that be a close friend of yours or an unfamiliar group of fellow rebels. he’d immediately feel like expectations were being pushed onto him and people were anticipating him to react in a certain way. he doesn’t like that, it feels like someone's yanked open the curtains that were obscuring him from the bright light of perception? so even though he returns your feelings for sure, he’s not going to react well to that kind of direct address/situation and would most likely pull away from you in an attempt to take back the control he feels he’s lost.

in the end i think if one of you were to make a move to further the relationship, it would have to be him because he doesn’t like feeling caught off guard or put on the spot. even then, he’s definitely not confessing the true extent of his fondness for you (even though it totally consumes him, this is a man that feels deeply, just look at those eyes babe). 

cassian is someone who expresses their love through actions and deeds, not so much words, at least not immediately, that’s a little too vulnerable for him at the moment.

let's be honest, his version of getting the message across to you is patting you on the shoulder and telling you “that’s really good” as he oversees your group’s blaster training. like the affection is there and you totally get free passes where others don’t, but overall there’s really nothing concrete to suggest he thinks of you as anything other than a friendly comrade, which is probably how he likes it for now.

again, addressing it head on either by yourself or having another person plant the notion into his mind is not the way to go about this. he’s like a stray animal, you see him from across the street and desperately want to pull him close and love up on him, but even the most careful approach will have him skirting away from you in a flash after one wrong move.

honestly the only way to go about this i think is to just let him do his own thing, find a quiet and subtle way let him know you’re open and will be waiting with open arms, and he’ll come to you eventually. i’d say he’d come to you in his own time, and I wouldn't be lying but let's be honest, that first really meaningful look (see elevator scene in rogue one 😩) and pleading of your name is going to come in a moment of high-stakes and danger. what can I say, there's nothing like a life threatening situation in which either one or both of your lives are in jeopardy and desperation and stress infect every decision made, to provoke a momentary lapse in resolve and allow some painfully concealed concern and devotion to seep out of one's every orifice <3.

then there’s the subject of his name. obviously he introduces himself as cassian (unless he’s undercover but that’s a whole other can of worms, you’d get there in the end), so you’ve not really any reason to suspect otherwise until you pose an innocent question about the origins of his name, which leads him to hesitantly surrender his birth name to you. this is only something he’d ever consider doing if he truly, deeply trusted you and felt ready to open up even just a little bit. again, it’s all in his own time, there’s no pushing cassian. psst, don’t be afraid of using his real name, he’ll answer to it…just pick the right moments iykyk

when on missions, clashes tend to happen. cassian believes he knows best (and maybe he does. he probably does lets be fr we’re dumbos), so you’ll every now and again notice him speaking for you or making decisions on your behalf. obviously as an independent entity, this will most likely get on your nerves so it’s an issue that’ll have to be addressed in a sit down session with him. he honestly doesn’t mean it in a controlling way, he probably sees it as him relieving you of any unnecessary burdens, so you’ll have to make it clear to him you’d appreciate it if he lets you stand on your own 2 feet and would, well… for a lack of a better phrase, ‘just butt out’. at the end of the day, you’d rather be equals, partners in crime, not so much some micromanaged talent. come on, it’s understandable cass.

just for funsies... he’s probably unbuttoned his shirt a little more than necessary at least once. just to see if you’d respond to it. he’d seen the style begin to take off amongst the more cocksure pilots (that’s what he tried to tell himself. it was really just fueled by a shy desire to have you look at him like that, like the rebel full of swagger that he knows he isn't). it lasted a grand total of 12 hours before he caught a glimpse of his reflection and cringed a little bit, vanity be damned. the next time you saw him, his shirt was buttoned back up all the way again and he will never acknowledge the fact ever again. 

[vivaislenska]

Seatbelt Situation / hurt!Tech & comforting!Wrecker

Relationship: Tech & Wrecker mostly (Omega, Echo, and Hunter are there to help, too)

Basis: Missing scene from TBB 2x2. While they're fleeing Serenno, Tech's injury gets the better of him. Wrecker shows his love.

Word count: 3,295

Warning: mildly graphic description of injury

This was originally written to show the reactions of the other brothers when they learn of Tech's broken leg. Then, Tech get the love and comfort he deserves that wasn’t shown in the episode. Also, I ended up lightheartedly grumbling about a small dialogue detail on Tech's behalf.

It's also posted on AO3. Feedback, corrections, and more ideas are welcome! Reblogs are appreciated :]

The final, trailing TIE fighter goes up in flames when it gets a punch from Havoc Marauder's aft laser cannon. It sails like a comet in the night sky and careens into the cliffside, lighting up the ridge and treeline in a brief flash of vivid luminosity. Immediately after, Wrecker feels Hunter guide the Marauder downward to the wide, flat clearing to make their pickup. 

Debarking the gunner’s mount, Wrecker waives his habitual tidying of the bedroll and pillows on the deck to transform the small compartment back into Omega's bedroom. They may no longer have an Imperial tail, but there's likely more on the way, and they're not out of danger yet. 

He descends the ladder to the main deck with one sweeping, practiced backward lunge. He’s on his way to the cockpit to help Hunter anyway, so he stops by the open side port to hurry his wayward siblings inside. 

He hasn’t heard much from any of them since they agreed on the necessary radio silence, so it’s an immense relief to see Echo, Tech, and Omega all in one piece and all standing there, poised to board. There’s a fourth person too; an elderly gentleman who might be a Serennian local. He’s sure Tech will fill him in about every single detail, but they really need to get out of here. He motions them in with a smirk but nothing else, so as not to compromise his façade of silent, menacing, muscle-bound sentinel in front of the Serennian stranger. 

Echo is the first to climb the ramp, and as soon as he does, he scampers into the cockpit to join Hunter. Good, because he’s better at copiloting than Wrecker anyway, and Wrecker wants to be by the ramp in case of any unwanted trouble near the open hatch. He maintains his post directly across the hold from the open side port, watching, waiting. 

Ugh, what’s taking them?  

Omega is next to come up the ramp, aided by Tech to hop onto the first rung at the bottom. She's holding something small in her hands when she steps aboard, but only has eyes for Wrecker when she makes her way into the cabin. Now that Echo and Omega are home, a large chunk of Wrecker’s tension has eased, but it won’t do so any further until he sees Tech come jogging up. 

“What’s taking him?” Wrecker grouses verbally this time, his eyes not leaving the clearing below as Omega gives him a quick hug and takes a seat. 

“He’s coming!” Omega reports. “He’s just saying 'bye to Romar.” 

That was probably the last thing Wrecker anticipated Omega would say. Who the hell is this Romar? And Tech is… saying goodbye to him? As if this mission couldn’t have gone any more sideways than it already has. But these are concerns to be addressed once they’re all safely well away from Serenno, and not a moment sooner. Tech knows they’re in a hurry here, so why’s he wasting precious time? 

Wrecker’s about to voice as much when he finally sees his younger brother come bounding up the ramp. It’s about time, too. They’ve blown their cover so hard on this “covert” mission that more squadrons of TIE fighters are definitely in hot pursuit of them. Not wanting to waste another moment, Wrecker's hand hovers over the control for the ramp to close. 

But Tech, likely to make up for those seconds spent saying his goodbyes, engages the mechanism remotely and beats him to it. The side port's hydraulics hiss obediently as Tech ascends the ramp. Any moment now, Tech will come trotting into the hold and zoom past Wrecker in a hurry to get to the cockpit and help with piloting. At least that’s what Wrecker’s expecting. 

What he isn’t expecting is for Tech to come tumbling down the last stretch of the ramp as it nestles into the bulkhead.

But that’s exactly what does happen. In a graceless, stumbling mockery of the agile somersaults that he’s actually capable of, Tech comes sliding down the top of the upended gangway to land in a sprawled heap, on his ass, on the deck of the Marauder. 

Wrecker, having just put a hand on Omega’s safety harness, snaps his head over to witness Tech’s ridiculous entrance and can only stare, mouth agape, at his younger brother in silent bewilderment. 

“Tech? What the-!?” 

Tech, having landed in a seated position with his legs sprawled out in front of him doesn’t reply. He only looks up at Wrecker, blinks his giant, goggled eyes once, twice, and then starts to sway. 

“Tech!” Wrecker yells in alarm, wondering what the kriff happened in those split seconds between when Tech was standing there, conversing with a local, bounding up the ladder with haste, and then now. As much as he wants to rush to Tech’s aid, he finishes securing Omega’s safety harness first. Once it clicks into place and endures one or two of his aggressive, tentative tugs, he’s hurrying to Tech’s side and bellowing his younger brother’s name again. 

“Tech!”  

“It could be from his leg,” Omega says from her seat, her voice rife with fear and concern. “He said he broke his femur! The left one!” 

Whatever the reason, Tech now has collapsed fully on the deck, and Wrecker is careful to sidestep said leg as he makes his way over to him and gathers him in his arms. He removes Tech’s pack and slams it up against the only magnetic storage mechanism he can reach from this angle. His little brother is breathing steadily but out cold. 

“I gotcha, buddy,” says Wrecker nesting Tech’s smaller frame in front of his own, then scooting backward to get them both safely into a crash seat. “Sorry if this hurts, but we’re about to make the jump outta here.” 

Carefully but swiftly, Wrecker drags Tech up from the deck, wincing a little as he doesn’t have the time to make sure that no weight (however much diminished by his very capable maneuvering) is placed on Tech’s reportedly broken leg. But broken leg or not, it won’t be helpful for anyone if neither Wrecker nor Tech is strapped into a crash seat when they depart Serenno’s atmosphere. So Wrecker makes the executive decision to prioritize flight safety. 

Tech makes no objection to the abrupt maneuvers anyway and remains completely out of it. His helmeted head bumps inertly against Wrecker's cuirass as the larger clone pulls them both into the same seat and under the same crash harness. 

“You all strapped in back there?” calls Echo urgently from the cockpit. “We’ve got heat!” 

“We’re good!” Wrecker yells back, not pausing to tell them that no, they aren’t officially strapped in yet and that they might be testing the limits of said safety mechanism if Wrecker can actually get it locked around the both of them. “Go!” 

Wrecker can feel the Marauder humming with urgency as she's primed to flee them to safety, and he knows he only has mere seconds to make this seatbelt situation work. 

“Alright, buddy, suck it in!” he tells his unconscious brother as he reaches up with one hand to pull on the harness while keeping his other arm protectively coiled across Tech’s chest. 

Tech does not, in fact, suck it in, as he’s still mercifully unconscious, but Wrecker does as he hugs his little brother's frame as tightly to him as he can possibly get. Though he’s very lean and a good six inches shorter than Wrecker, Tech is still fully armored and laden with tools and gadgets. Combined with Wrecker’s own massive and armored frame, it's going to be a tight squeeze… 

The crash harness screeches in complaint as Wrecker jerks it into place in front of them and forces the locking mechanism to engage. And just in time too, because the Marauder makes a few evasive twists and turns before lurching onto a predetermined hyperlight trajectory. 

Despite the safety harness having been successfully muscled into doing double duty, Wrecker still holds onto Tech fiercely. He takes care to grapple his legs and arms around Tech’s own, pinning Tech’s limbs safely in place and (hopefully) preventing further aggravation of whatever injuries they’re working with here. Worried about what Tech’s wounds specifically entail, Wrecker hugs him all the tighter, resolved to keep this carbonite-like lock on him until they can safely unbuckle and assess what Tech got himself into this time. 

Finally, the automated alert chimes, informing Marauder’s crew that it’s safe to move about the shuttle. Omega undoes her harness at once, leaping down to her feet and hastening to Wrecker’s (and Tech’s) seat. She finds Tech’s pulse, lifts his helmet off, then crouches down in front of them, likely to try to make some sort of initial medical assessment. 

“Oi! A little help back here!” Wrecker bellows to the lads upfront, knowing that the urgency in his voice will have Echo and Hunter both rushing aft in an instant. 

And they don’t disappoint. Both brothers come hurrying out of the cockpit, eyes alight with concern that only swells when they land on Tech, slumped unconscious in Wrecker’s lap. 

“What happened?” Hunter demands, running to the crash seat and helping Wrecker unlatch and lift the safety harness into the up position. “Careful now. Let’s get him on a rack.” 

As they work to shift their youngest brother onto one of the racks, Echo produces one of their sturdy trauma kits and slides into his role as assistant medic. 

“He broke his left leg,” Echo says sadly, flicking a medical scanner to life and running it along Tech’s form. “And he’s been running around on it now for hours.” 

“He... broke his leg!?” Hunter repeats, devastated. “When?” 

“When we crashlanded that cargo container,” Omega supplies. “A heavy crate fell on top of him.” 

“How heavy?” Hunter asks, eyeing the medical scanner’s red flashes of warning over Echo’s shoulder, undoubtedly dreading the prospect of a dire report. 

“He said—Wrecker, get his tool belt off, will you?—” Echo says, recounting the events as he delegates the tasks that he’s less suited to and gathers supplies from the medical kit. “He said his ‘left femur’ was fractured by ‘150 kilograms of pressure.’ Something to that effect. And the med scanner agrees. It’s closed, but he’s got a pretty nasty oblique fracture. Diaphyseal. And fighting on it didn’t do him any favors.” 

“It’s that bad?” Hunter asks sadly. “You think he needs a specialist?” 

“It is,” Echo says morosely. “And I do. His leg's already swollen to twice its normal size, and the fracture's been harmfully manipulated.” 

“Oh yeah, he does,” Wrecker agrees, empathizing greatly with the misery that accompanies a broken long bone. “Better go find an med center and plug it in now, Sarge. Sheesh, he musta been in a lot of pain.” 

“Adrenaline masked most of it, I reckon,” Echo says, planting a small torch between his own lips, then gently sliding Tech’s goggles up to check his pupillary light reflex. 

As Wrecker watches Echo conduct the test, something dawns on him. 

“No,” Wrecker decides. “No-no, he was really hurting.”

“That’s not what it looked like to us,” Echo says, stowing the light, consulting Tech’s stats further, and searching through their supplies for something they can use as a splint. “He was handling it.” 

“It’s just… 150 kilograms… of pressure? He said that?” Wrecker asks, lending a hand in the rummaging. “Tech said that… just like that?” 

“Yeah, I think so,” says Echo glancing at Omega and receiving a confirmatory nod from their sister. 

“That’s what bugs me,” Wrecker tells them apprehensively. 

“Why?” Hunter asks, still looking stricken at the discovery of his brother’s injury. “That’s a typical Tech report. Even if it’s to do with his own kriffing bones.” 

“But that’s not quite right, is it?” Wrecker tells them, as the sheer amount of pain that Tech must have really been in from the injury finally dawns on him. He reaches over and gently cups the side of Tech’s face, wishing there was any possible way that he could take away some of the pain Tech had endured and was still going to have to endure for a while longer because of this. “Well, kilograms ain’t… a unit of pressure, is it?” 

“What?” Echo asks, his tone supplementing Hunter and Omega’s visible confusion. 

“Kilograms ain’t… well, you know… used as a unit of pressure. It’s a… unit of mass,” Wrecker says carefully, his tongue feeling cumbersome in his mouth as he repeats the information that Tech, himself, had helped him learn. “I’m just saying, he musta been really kriffed if he said that is all, and I hope we got something strong in that kit to give him when he comes ‘round.” 

Hunter and Echo blink in surprise at him for a moment before a shared look passes between them, and they grasp the gravity of Wrecker’s remark. 

“I’ll get in touch with some friendlies,” Hunter says, somehow sounding even more resolved than he’d been moments ago and making for the cockpit, “I’ll find us an orthopedic specialist we can trust. Let me know when he wakes.” 

“You got it,” Echo says, now searching for a stronger hypo to administer to Tech. 

It’s only a few moments later, as Wrecker is easing off the last of his younger brother’s armor and gear that Tech begins to stir. 

“Tech? Tech, hey,” Echo says encouragingly, “you with us?”

Intermittently, Tech becomes aware of voices and all the ambient noises of his beloved ship in flight. Though… the sounds are all muddled and greet him as though they’ve been hurtling through time and space to chase and catch up to him. The voices are talking quietly over him. Which is fairly unusual. 

Ah. Serenno. He must have succumbed to his injuries on Serenno and lost consciousness. Again. 

The previous time it happened, it had been Romar who roused him from his ill-timed syncopation. This time, however… he isn’t quite sure. He summons all of his strength and forces himself to wake up. 

Just as he’s blinking his heavy eyelids open, pain lances through his left leg like a bolt of lightning, and he sucks in a breath through his clenched teeth. Instinctively he tries to curl forward and reach for the limb, which is now ablaze with a pain that he’s seldom (if ever) experienced quite like this before now. 

Gentle hands grasp him firmly, forcing him to lay back down with his arms securely, benignly at his sides. Yes, his left femur, he recalls. Fractured substantially and now with an accompaniment of soft tissue damage and further injury from rigorous use of the limb immediately after the precipitating event. He starts to hyperventilate at the memory of it and the implication of how said injury will impact his effectiveness to his team... to his family... 

“Easy, Tech,” says a gentle, deep baritone voice directly above him. Echo. “We gotcha. You’re okay.” 

Tech cracks his eyes open but is only met with a blur of indistinct colors and shapes. He can’t help but gasp in alarm. His goggles hadn’t been compromised, had they? He really didn’t suspect they had and would be distressed beyond measure if that were the case. 

“They're right here,” says Omega’s voice, a small shape bobbing around the periphery of his bleary view. Small hands gently lift and slide his goggles from his forehead down onto his face so that his corrective lenses are seated properly in front of each eye. He sighs in immense relief when his surroundings come into sharp focus to reveal that he’s supine in the main hold of the Havoc Marauder with Echo, Omega, and Wrecker, all either directly next to him or nearby. 

“Hunter?” is Tech’s first thought, and the question is on his tongue before he can even think through and catalog the probable answers. They all need to be together. It’s a priority. 

“In the cockpit,” Echo assures him. “Finding us a safe place to get you looked after.” 

“Oh,” Tech says. “Am I the only one injured?” 

“You are,” Echo confirms. “But enough so for the lot of us, Tech. I’m just glad you waited until you got to Marauder before passing out.” 

“I did so in the forest as well,” Tech reports pragmatically. “Romar located and assisted me.” 

“Oh, so when you ate it on the ramp coming back, that was round two?” Wrecker chimes in, sounding indecently impressed. 

“I did not ‘eat it’ coming back aboard Marauder,” Tech huffs, though he reasonably can’t recall what exactly happened that lead him to the predicament he’s in currently. 

“Did too,” Wrecker insists, radiating his perplexing approval for when any one of them pushes through an injury severe enough to ultimately render them unconscious. “Omega and I both saw it.” 

“Yeah, sorry, Tech, you kinda did,” Omega admits. “Wrecker and I were scared.” 

“Apologies for that… entrance,” Tech says with a sigh. “That sounds somewhat more dramatic than what I had intended.” 

“S’alright!” Wrecker says, as Omega makes for the cockpit, likely to update Hunter. “You made it, and that’s all that matters!”

“How’s your pain?” Echo asks soberly. “I can cut it. Keep you comfortable for the ride, at least.” 

“It is tolerable,” Tech reports, cringing at the idea of their ever-dwindling medical supplies being expended on him. 

“Nah, I’ll cut it,” Echo decides for him instead. 

“I suspect I do not have any say in the matter?” Tech hedges. 

“You don’t,” Echo confirms in a tone that is patronizing and infuriating and, indeed, meant to be both. Adding to the infuriating aspect. “The med scanner doesn’t lie.” 

“That is because it has been properly calibrated. Are we—agh!” Tech’s next question is interrupted by a sharp stab to his jugular vein, chased by a burning, cold sensation. He flinches involuntarily at the abrupt contact but doesn’t begrudge the relief that follows. The intense pain in his leg ebbs and morphs into innocent numbness very rapidly, and he'll now be able to focus more adequately on all pertinent tasks. But still, “that gesture warrants warning to the patient,” he grumbles at Echo.

“He never does that,” Wrecker gripes, commiserating with Tech likely because of the injury sustained when they first fled Kamino, pursued by... 

Crosshair. Tech's heart aches with a pain that doesn't even touch the pain that was caused by his broken femur. No, it's too much to think about right now. He has to focus on their next move. What they need to make ends meet and keep them safe. 

“I know what the module says to do,” Echo tells them regarding his proclivity to employ surprise hypo attacks, “and I know what Kix says to do.” 

“Oh, so they are mutually exclusive concepts,” Tech complains, “and you practice the latter.” 

“Ehh, the lessons intersect here and there,” Echo says with a smirk, gathering what he’ll need to perform the application of traction, depending on how long their voyage to get medical help will be. 

“Well, that is very comforting to know,” Tech says drily. “And do Kix’s teachings dictate that I be allowed my datapad to distract me during any impending procedures?” 

“They do,” says Echo lightly, grabbing Tech’s coveted datapad from where his gear has been piled and placing it in Tech’s lap. Wrecker grabs something soft and carefully helps Tech prop his head up enough to read.

Tech gladly accepts the help and the offered datapad. He toggles it to life and settles in. He has a lot of work to do, and he can’t let something like an inconvenient femur fracture deter him from providing for his family.

And... just maybe… eventually recovering their lost brother too.

Thank you so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this little fic. The kg of pressure idea isn’t meant to be wELL aCtuALlY, but I’ve never seen pressure expressed in kg and it doesn’t make sense to me 😅. I think Tech really was jacked up by that wretched crate, and that’s why he said that. They showcased his resilience (among other qualities!) in this episode and it was fantastic

I plan to post my fics to Tumblr, make recs, and share the fics of others from AO3. I'm also experimenting with making some dividers/banners (thank you so much, @freesia-writes)! I got some serious undergrad EE course vibes when recreating Tech's technical doodles lol.

[palmviolet]

true detective rewatch s1ep5 thoughts — two meta posts in one day now we're cooking on gas

— each episode post seems to have had a different central idea thus far, i guess because each episode presents a different variation on the big themes. this episode's theme is: time. here the whole circularity of the series is made most evident, as rust presents his thesis statement: time is a flat circle. this episode is so concerned with time because it's the episode that crosses the most time periods, encompassing '95, '02, and '12 at once. it addresses rust and marty at each different phase of their lives as we see them, showcases the dramatic changes they go through, highlights the effect time has on them while rust insists that this effect will be circular, undone.

— on some level this is metatextual. as a television show it can be rewatched, rewound, paused. and its nonlinear structure means we the audience somewhat take on the role of those extra-temporal beings who can see time for what it supposedly is — a circle. when marty talks about feeling “like the future’s behind you, like it’s always been behind you”, it's ironic because his future is already behind him, as a character frozen in television time, cursed to repeat it. this is the function of rust's specific statement of despair regarding the children at ledoux, that they'll be in that room 'again, and again, and again' — it invokes the tradition of procedural crime television, in which horrific murders are rehearsed to the viewer's satisfaction, week after week after week, differing only in minutiae. the metatextual details of TD (including its preoccupation with the exploitation of the camera — think the photos of dora that incite the ledoux connection, the photos taken at shepherd's flock) are designed to reflect on this critically. not to condemn us for watching it, necessarily, but to condemn a state-led condonation of violence that is reflected in societal media habits.

— and then, as @black-market-wd4o astutely pointed out in the tags to this post, there's the way rust and marty each sit within this metatextual engagement with time. rust considers the infinite circularity of time as a source of horror; marty believes he has all the time in the world. he longs for a time that is frozen and unmoving in which his daughters will never grow up and become sexual beings (echoing rust's twisted relief that his daughter will remain forever an innocent child) and he will remain virile and strong forever.

— but in this episode, time begins to catch up with him. we see marty studying himself in the mirror, worrying over his gut and his thinning hair, looking longingly at his rodeo belt buckle kept in his locker. this is the same buckle he's wearing during the ledoux showdown — a symbol of his performative strength not only as a sportsman but as a character of the american west, a man in the tradition of the old frontier heroes, protecting his women from the 'savage' native population. rodeo is more complicated than that but at its heart it captures the american death drive as it marries with the colonial project — and the buckle represents marty's chase for immortal infinity, paradoxically acquired by confronting real danger, just as he felt in that moment of power over ledoux.

— but rodeo is staged. at every turn in the series, marty's macho strength is undermined by rust's lived experience, and his first moment of real violence is against a defenceless prisoner. marty's past heroism was never heroism at all, and so his longing for the past is a longing for something that never existed — hence, he's already living in a sort of eternity.

— similarly with the eternal past, at the end of the episode rust returns to the school they visited in '95. he finds it full of devil traps; the final shot is of him holding one up to the light, framed by a broken window with stars drawn on it. the meshing together of childhood (a school) and death (the devil traps) collapses time. here's the shot:

he's facing left, which to a western audience (ie. an audience that reads left to right) implies a looking-backwards, a reversal, and the stars invoke both ledoux's 'black star' but also the stars and the darkness he talks about in the series' final scene. framed by the window, he's trapped in this cross-section of past and future (death and childhood; childhood and death) but the window is also broken, implying a possible escape from the circle.

— a final small point regarding laurie: we don't get much of laurie, but what we do get is more subversion. we see her and rust cuddled on the couch as she's flicking through channels on the tv; then we cut to marty in 2012, as the detectives ask him what went wrong between laurie and rust. marty says, “what always happens between men and women. reality.” but what we just saw wasn't reality; it was the television. it's another metatextual point about an ingrained misogyny that isn't real, that is favoured and propagated by fiction but does not need to have a basis in real life. marty and rust only believe that reality precludes respect for and peaceful coexistence with women; we, the audience, ought to know better.

[soft-pine]

jack

hello. this is in part a reply to "not ghost anon" from a few days ago and in part a reply to someone on twitter and in part just something i have been meaning to say for a long time. but the nuance here matters a lot and i've been wary of attempting something so delicate. but i don't want to make claims that I can't articulate and back up so here we go.

i think the vast majority of issues around jack come from very different fundamental understandings of who and what he is. and i think this issue comes from inconsistent narrative in a way that i really don't usually complain about on spn which contributes to why i'm hesitant to talk about it. because i LIKE canon. i consider very very very little of the show ooc so it bums me out a little not to be able to do a fully consistent reading of jack's characterization. (the other issues with jack's arcs are people not watching the whole show, relying on fanon, and just wanting to villainize dean. but i'm not addressing those here.)

so what do i mean about who and what jack is? well, a lot of people read jack as just a kid in an adult's body - essentially a two/three year old child. and look, if that's your read of him, that's fine. and if that is the case, of course dean was wildly out of line in almost every interaction with him. of course dean's behavior was abusive. if you see jack that way, i'm really not trying to argue with you. and we can happily end all conversations here.

however, if we do keep talking, i would say i don't read him that way because i think there is enough data and messiness in canon to trouble that simple a reading of jack - and the moral implications that go along with it.

to me this boils down to two things to examine the implications of: 1. jack's own actions and, 2. the way all other characters treat him.

jack begins acting before he's born. in 12.19, he stops kelly from killing herself. at the time, cas tells her, "what your child did, that's a testament to his power, but it's not proof of some goodness. he needs you alive." it's never revealed if jack knew what he was doing in that moment or simply had enough power and life instinct to react. but he did act.

along those lines, one thing that always frustrates me is that kelly and cas' visions are never circled back to. what did they see in 12.19 that made them both so adamant that jack be born with his powers and who is responsible? the indication we get from the script is that the visions were specific (at least to cas) in a way that implies telepathic access to and an advanced understanding of who he is, who he cares about, and what he wants. dean describes seeing cas effected by the vision as cas being "sock-puppeted" and that it made it so dean "did not recognize the guy staring back at [him]" (12.20). (while i personally theorize that chuck is responsible for those), the show never gives us much more than the concerning implication that it's jack.

in 13.01, jack says, "my mother, she said castiel, he would keep me safe. she said the world was a dangerous place. that's - that's why i couldn't be a baby or a child. i… that's why i had to grow up fast. that's why i chose him to be my father." now there's a lot to unpack from this. off the top, we learn that pre-birth, jack was able to understand and act out things based on what his mother believed and/or communicated to him. he understood enough of her thoughts and feelings, for example, to choose cas as his father. he also understood enough of her concerns about the world, to chose to be born as the young adult he appears as. it's clear from kelly and cas' preparations for him in 12.23, that she was expecting a baby but jack choses to be born more grown up.

we have two other examples in supernatural of beings that grew up exceptionally fast: emma and amara. emma was born and grew up into a teenager in the span of a few days but when she encounters sam & dean, she has the maturity (for lack of a better word) of the age person she appears to be. she speaks and thinks and acts like a teenager, not a newborn baby. amara, on the other hand, took longer to grow up in the body she chose but though she was a being who existed before time, she took on the characteristics of the ages she appeared to be up to and including when she became a full adult. the common thread here though is despite the speed at which they aged, they both did fully grow up in that time.

that doesn't mean that is necessarily what happened to jack. but it does seem for the most part to be how the show, and all the people around him, and he himself acts.

whatever criticisms you might have about dean not treating jack like a kid, it's always been a bit of an annoyance of mine when other people's actions are ignored or minimized. for example, sam, mary, cas, and au bobby all encourage jack to go on hunts and to train (both with his powers and without them after lucifer takes his grace). sam is consistently more supportive of jack hunting than dean is. (not to harp on my notes document but the "Parenting Jack" and "Others Hunting" tabs both have relevant numbers about where pressure and approval is coming from in terms of Jack hunting and Dean, out of all Jack's dad's, does the least. I'm totally open to things I've missed so do let me know but...). mary and au bobby go farther than that and in fact let jack guide many of their missions and troop movements in apocalypse world (13.20). (personally that always sticks out to me as one of the most concerning issues because even if jack fully is the maturity of the age he appears, he should not be put in that position at all.) in 13.23, it's sam that prays to jack to come save them from apocalypse world michael. and it's cas who instructs jack to keep his deal with the empty secret from sam and dean (14.09).

jack himself doesn't act like a toddler and specifically rejects being babied. in 13.02, he picks up a beer and drinks it confidently. in 14.06 he asks for advice on having sex. he consistently wants to hunt and in apocalypse world, fight.

now i'm not saying you have to accept all of the above as okay. it's pretty common for kids to want to do things they aren't ready for. but everyone in his life - from cas to sam to mary to dean to au bobby treated jack as though he's a young adult, old enough to hunt and make his own choices. i am wary of people who pick and choose who to blame in that regard.

next i want to dig into something even more unfortunately controversial perhaps. jack is powerful and that power is dangerous. his birth killed kelly (it's unclear how much control he did or didn't have over that but his actions resulted in her dying not when she chose to kill them both but only after he was born with all his powers). he opened a rift to another dimension before he was born. in 13.01 and 02 he involuntarily throws many people across rooms.

he didn't mean to hurt any of them, of course, but his attitude about these events troubles me. in 13.04 he says to mia, "it’s just, i… i’ve hurt people. i didn’t mean to. it was an accident. and i know i should feel bad, and i say i feel bad, but most of the time, i mostly… i don’t feel anything."

the culmination of his early struggles with his powers is accidentally killing someone in 13.06. rather than staying in the care and comfort offered by cas, dean, and sam, he intentionally throws them down while he flies away where he promptly pressures both derek and kaia into dreamwalking for him in a way that is painful and risky to them both. both of these actions strike me as a concerning shift into understanding how to use his powers and then choosing to exert that power over other people. his intentions may be good in that he wants to try to save mary but the way he goes about it doesn't sit right with me. (i also feel the need to point out the person who has been consistently urging (and on at least one occasion pressuring (13.03) jack to learn to use his powers to open the rift is sam.)

additionally concerning to me is the way jack attacks and nearly kills nate, the clerk, in 13.23 when he believes nate killed maggie. (some people may also criticize dean for shooting jack here. and if they do, i hope they can understand 1. it didn't hurt jack, only stopped him from killing nate and 2. sam tases jack in 13.01)

this brings us back to dean's much-critiqued comment in 13.02.: "if i’m right… and it comes to killing you… i'll be the one to do it." do i think that's a shitty thing to say, yes. do i think jack found it upsetting and scary, yes. do i think there was a much better way to articulate deans concerns, yes. do i wish that dean had been kinder to jack in those early days in general, yes.

but dean just is right that jack is powerful and that it has always been dean's job to try to hold powerful beings to account for their actions.

not to get too in the weeds into dean's perspective here but i want to remind people that dean's very recent previous experience with a being similar to jack was amara who did control dean in ways reminiscent of how jack seemed to control cas and kelly (which resulted in both their deaths). to act like dean shouldn't have taken the circumstances around jack's birth and the things jack had already done and shown himself capable of doing into account strikes me as unfair and unrealistic.

i understand what i'm saying is kind of a process critique but it matters. it matters because people claim that dean threatens jack that he'll kill him multiple times in those early days and that just isn't true. it matters because there is a difference in saying you will kill someone out of anger or revenge and telling someone with power that if they start harming people with it, you will be the one to stop them. it matters because dean literally cannot kill jack. he had no way to do so as it's clearly demonstrated in 13.01 that angel blades don't work. i'm not saying it's an empty threat or wouldn't be scary and affecting to hear or that dean didn't say to sam that he wanted to find a way to be able to kill jack. but when they have this conversation, jack is more materially powerful than dean.

i really understand why people are upset with what dean said but if we're gonna talk about it, i want to talk about what actually happened.

(i bring up anger or revenge because of 14.20 which i'm not gonna go deep into because it has been litigated to death. but just a brief reminder that jack was a) soulless, b) changing the fabric of the world, and c) indiscriminately killing people at the angel's command. and dean chose to try to kill him not out of vengeance but because god told him jack would literally destroy the world. (and killing jack will kill dean too which i feel like we dont talk about a lot))

the moral implications of jack being soulless is another whole can of worms (and i'll do another post on it if needs must) but it is at least clear from both sam and dean's past actions that stopping someone who has lost their soul and sense of morality from harming people is sometimes worth risking their life for (specifically i'm thinking of 6.11 and 10.03).

in conclusion, i think jack is a young person. he is a new creature with his own set of rules and ways of being in the complex supernatural universe. and i think he deserves to be treated with care, safety, respect, and accountability - as do we all!! but treating him as though he really is just a human toddler in a human adult's body flattens too much of the narrative for me to accept that reading.

i hope this has made some sense and registers as fair. i don't bring up the above examples of other people's behavior to bash them but to show that if the standard we're holding dean to is not treating jack like a toddler, then everyone else, including cas, falls deeply short as well. and i'm sick of having conversations with people who demand i take dean's actions deeply seriously and no one else's.

i must admit that looking at all the information about who and what jack is makes me a little dizzy and of course i wish it were simpler. i wish he got to be just a little kid and could be treated as just a little kid. but i can't assent to claims that penalize dean for not existing in a reality which simply doesn't exist.

ultimately my issues with jack's mistreatment are focused on chuck and the narrative at large. i think it's tragic in a show which has already established that hunters don't get to be kids and that sam & dean were both forced to grow up too quickly, that jack experiences that so acutely. and it's tragic that the show concludes with him taking on all the burdens of godhood. i feel like that reaffirms something hopeless and dark about the universe.

if you've stuck around this long, thanks for reading! i really am open to feedback and critique but i really don't want to be yelled at as though i'm being glib when i find all of this deeply agonizing.

[pixelmensupremacy]

Can I request something slightly angsty with Connor / Nines X reader. Where reader works with them but is quiet and shy. Total opposite of other humans in the station , the tension between androids and humans is still present. Reader always showed kindness towards them but one day reader was hit /abducted by an android or something ...they see the bruises /injuries . Fluff in the end maybe ?

A/N: I know you asked for fluff, Nonny but things took a dark turn. Sorry I promise I'm not evil like that.

Word count: 1.3k

WARNINGS: GN!reader, kidnapping, angst, hurt/ little to no comfort

Working side by side with androids proved to be a challenge for a lot of people. Whether it was the undoubted difference between man and machine or just human’s lack of understanding, there still was problems surrounding the android- human relationship. And couldn’t be more evident than in the field of justice.

Risking one’s life in order to protect another was already risky enough but trying to find a balance and protect both sides was far more dangerous and complicated. Undeniably it was the risks of the job- (Y/N) was well aware of that, yet that couldn’t stop them from doing what they felt they was their destiny.

Having the two infamous RK models as their partners definitely made them more confident in their work; not only did their advancements were of good use to their investigation but they also possessed qualities most humans didn’t. Perhaps it was their superiority that repulsed most humans, yet for (Y/N) that wasn’t the case if anything they were fascinated with the two prototypes. Before getting paired up with the two, they have been observing them from afar, noting their behavior and way of work. They had respect towards the androids, much like with any other android and human alike. The androids reciprocated these feelings; up until working closely together, the three haven’t had many conversations, yet they were far enough to prove (Y/N) didn’t have any problem with them- so they didn’t have any problem with (Y/N).

The lack of tension between the three made their work much easier in terms of collaboration. Working with the androids was easier due to their strong emotional and intellectual qualities; without having to explain themselves, the RK androids gave (Y/N) their much-needed space- something not every human colleague did. On the other hand, (Y/N)’s acceptance of the androids aided in them being more relaxed whilst on duty. Together the trio was a match made in heaven, formed to end brutality for both humans and androids, though the easy flow of communication and mutual understanding didn’t aid them much in the cases they were assigned with.

Many times, their well-being was on the line; as much as it was baffling (Y/N) had grown accustomed to the feeling of it, almost losing their life if it meant getting closer to their end goal. Their last case happened to be one of those instances.

Nothing seemed to be off at first, the routine report for suspected violence. Driving up to an address in a slum part of town, (Y/N) wasn’t surprised by the sight of houses in wretched condition. It seemed that darkness had fallen upon the entirety of the living block, despite the sun, breaking through the dark clouds.

“That’s our given location.” Nines spoke, denying the suspicions that were arising in (Y/N)’s mind.

“Detective, stay behind us.” Connor asked of them, concern was visible in his features. They nodded in response; following behind them, (Y/N) held their gun, ready to fire if necessary. Dust articles danced in the air under the dim sunrays that barely broke through the thick layer of debris, covering the windows; the dense air of the house caused (Y/N)’s breath to grow erratic and shallow. If they didn’t get killed by a criminal then the poor conditions of tis house definitely will- or at least so they thought.

Sudden force cut off their airflow and brought them backwards; not ever a muffled sound could escape their mouth as a damp cloth was pressed against their mouth and nose that made their muscles relax and their eyelids close.

Panic overwhelmed the two androids at (Y/N)’s disappearance. Their task at hand soon was completely disregarded as the detectives began searching for their partner. Whether it was their android nature or their determination to find (Y/N), the two managed to keep their composure. Following any trail that could lead to where they were, Connor found a note. Alerting Nines of his find, he showed his successor the piece of paper. The navy ink glistened, suggesting their partner and their kidnapper weren’t far, though the message, written on the letter, didn’t bring them hope. Red lit their LEDs as they scanned the words.

“We don’t have much time.” Connor pointed out. “Should we call for back up?”

“They won’t come in time; we can reach the location faster by foot.”

Not wasting a single second, the androids rushed in the direction of the address given in the letter; millions of questions ran in Connor’s head. Was (Y/N) okay? What was the kidnapper’s motive? But most important of all: were he and Nines going get there in time? He tried to push these thoughts aside and focus on locating (Y/N).  Unlike his predecessor, Nines was furious; akin to a lightning, he ran down the block with his partner’s safety being the only thing on his mind.

In record time the androids reached the place; they were face to face with yet another lonely house much like the one they were investigating a mere minutes ago. With their guns pointed at the entry, they got in; the rooms were empty for the most part, except a few pieces of furniture that stood out. Going upstairs, they split in searching the rooms. Entering an open space, Connor was met with the sight of a silhouette of a person sat on a chair in the middle of the room. Nearing them, he was relieved to see it was none other than his partner, though that sense of relief was short lived for they were knocked unconscious with dozens of bruises covering their arms and legs, piece of paper hung from their neck.

Stay away or next time I won’t be that gentle.

If Connor had a heart it would’ve sank in his stomach; delicately, he checked their pulse as if he was afraid they would crush under the tiniest of touches. He let out a puff of air once he sensed the weak thump. Anger engulfed his entire being as guilt stung his conscience.

Having checked the other rooms, Nines found Connor frozen in place, quiet weeps echoed across the room. Placing his hand on the shoulder of his predecessor, Nines took a glimpse of (Y/N); the icy blue of his irises vanished behind the voids of his widening pupils.

“We have to get them to the hospital.” The usual calmness in Nines’ voice was disrupted by worry; Connor could only nod in response, his hands, balled into fists, rested atop his lap as tears ran down his cheeks.

With upmost care, Connor picked (Y/N) up; his teary eyes glistened as the glassy drops rolled down his fair skin and their lifeless face. Connor couldn’t bring himself to look at them, yet he was afraid they would vanish if his gaze were to wander off of them. Nines was ahead of the two as he opened the front door. Outside the air was now colder, the cool breeze floated in the air, causing the golden leaves to dance under its influence. Taking off his coat, Nines gently placed it atop (Y/N)’s form.

“An ambulance should arrive in two minutes.” He informed his fellow android but he stayed silent. Glancing at Connor, he was met with his pained expression. Once again Nines placed his hand atop his shoulder and gave him a gentle pat, silently reassuring everything will be alright. Connor’s head lowered as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“It’s all my fault.” He fought back tears but to no avail.

“We both know that’s not true, Connor.” Nines tried to calm him down with words he himself didn’t believe. “I guarantee you we are going to find that criminal and bring him to justice.” Connor glanced at his partner, a flame of determination flickered across the soft brown of his irises; he nodded at Nines’ words but for now he watched over (Y/N), silently promising himself to catch whoever did this to his partner.

[wanderingthroughsands]

VI. Don’t believe your dreams

And then I can tell myself What the hell I'm supposed to do And then I can tell myself Not to ride along with you

"The night we met" by Lord Huron

"You did mislead me after all, Dreamlord," I nearly shouted, stepping away from him in a surge of sudden fear and anger that overtook me. "You said you would find a way to take my power back, not that you would imprison me here and use me to control it!"

"I said I would show you how dangerous your power is for both your world and mine if not controlled properly." The sense of shared purpose I had so naively seen on Dreamlord's face just moments ago gave way to a familiar darkness that immediately sharpened his features. "I also said I would reveal this to you so that you could choose the solution you would accept. So, I give you two solutions now, Rebecca Surrey. The first is to surrender your life and the power given to you by my Nightmare. The second is to remain here and serve the Dreaming in the way you were created to."

"Serve as a Nightmare? And you truly thought that after years of awakening people from Nightmares, I would now want to become one?"

Lucienne watched us with a look of concern on her face, but she didn’t utter a word, pressing her body tightly against the wooden desk.

"How is this any better for me than an eternal flight from you?" I asked, feeling my brows draw together in an unwanted pleading expression.

"You have seen how your existence disrupts the harmony of both worlds," Dreamlord spoke in a tone I had heard before, when we first met in Fiddler’s Green. In this whirlwind of various emotions, I couldn’t understand why, but the sudden disappearance of understanding from his eyes made me feel… hurt. "If you flee, the damage will not cease. If you return to the waking world with your power, the threat will continue to loom over the Dreaming, and you will also continue to harm your loved ones. You are a reasonable person, Rebecca Surrey. I can allow you to live, but only here, in my realm. And only if your power is controlled."

"This is no solution," the air around us thickened, and I knew there were only seconds left before either he or I made the next move. And I was so determined not to be late with mine. "You are just the Master of Dreams, not the master of life and death."

"Uh, Rebecca..." Lucienne tried to interrupt, but I didn't allow her, still addressing Lord Morpheus directly:

"Here’s how I see it, and I suggest you listen to me carefully this time. You can find me in the waking world, you can chase me through Dreams and Nightmares, you can even kill me, but you should know this: whatever you decide to do to me, it’ll make you nothing more than a liar and a murderer. And murderers, Dreamlord, never find peace. Not even those who exist eternally."

I clenched my eyes shut the moment he abruptly reached out towards me. In that brief instant, the thought flashed through my mind that I was too late, and upon waking, I might find myself in a place that would be an eternal nightmare for me.

Yet, I woke up in my own bed, my heart still pounding with fear. The electric clock on my nightstand showed a few minutes before five in the morning. The room was silent, interrupted only by the sounds and lights of passing cars outside the window. I rubbed my eyes, feeling as if they were filled with sand, then dragged myself out of bed.

Every hour of that day stretched on like years. My mom returned from her night shift just as I was getting ready for work. I must have looked off because she asked me at least ten times if I was sure I wasn't sick and if I wouldn't rather stay home today. The commotion in the office over the promotion of the new book allowed me to hide behind my screen, only occasionally joining the conversation when someone addressed me directly. Veronica was complaining about another rough night, but this time Sophie joined in too, with a story about her nightmare full of bear caves and a storm during camping. I listened to it all, but my mind was elsewhere—back in the beautiful library of the Palace of Dreams, with a man whose deep gaze offered me a glimpse of a life I just could not accept.

Lost in thought, I stared at an illustration for Rose Walker’s book, depicting Lord Morpheus and his raven. In the image, Dreamlord had no face, and I completely understood why Rose and her graphis designer chose to depict him that way. No one could capture those eyes that held the entire universe. No one could convey those expressionless lips that passed judgments based on divine laws, way beyond human life.

No one could paint that smile that lacked any emotion.

Before leaving work, I canceled a meeting with two friends, fearing that my presence might bring Nightmares upon tchem, too. I used the excuse of feeling unwell, and since that rarely happened, they weren’t upset with me, just concerned. Robert texted that if I needed anything, he could come over to my place, to which Tanya immediately replied, "Becca is too smart to pull such an old trick, buddy." I smiled at my phone screen, regretting that I couldn’t talk to anyone close about what I had experienced over the past week and the person I had met in the Dreaming.

Not wanting to go home, I wandered aimlessly for a while through the nearly empty park where I had first seen Dreamlord. Who knows, maybe if not for that day, I would have never started my journeys through Nightmares. Aside from the fact that as a child I never once had a bad dream, nothing extraordinary had ever happened in my life until then. I lived each day as it came, searching for the moment when I would finally feel at peace and in my rightful place, whether through meeting new people or achieving the next milestones leading to adulthood. I just wanted to stop feeling like something was wrong with me.

And when I thought I had found that place, it turned out that there really was something wrong with me. And that "wrong" touched not only my loved ones but also the world that had brought me solace for the past five years.

I prolonged my evening reading by the faint light of a lamp for as long as possible, just to avoid having to go to bed. I could hear my mother bustling about before leaving for work, and then she peeked in for a moment to wish me a good night. "Good night" really felt like a grim joke at that moment. Around ten in the evening, I decided to put on a movie, something exciting enough to keep me in the waking world for at least another two hours.

But before I could start my laptop, I heard a short, sharp tapping on the other side of my window.

Matthew was perched on the windowsill, shaking his wings to rid them of raindrops. After a moment of inner conflict, I decided to let him in and then watched as he settled on the back of my chair, while I sat on the bed, studying him intently.

"Sorry for the late hour," he said, shaking off more water, this time right onto the navy blanket draped over the chair. "I had to wait until your mother left for work."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, tugging at my pajama sleeve.

"I heard what happened in the Dreaming. Boss wasn’t exactly pleased with your departure, you know?"

"Lord Morpheus would only be pleased if I agreed to do everything he demands," I scoffed.

"That’s usually how things work for us," Matthew’s voice held a hint of amusement, or so I thought. "But maybe you’ll be happy to hear," he added conspiratorially, "that ever since you disappeared from the library, he and Lucienne have been searching for a way to strip you of your power without actually taking your life."

My eyebrows shot up, and my curiosity suddenly intensified.

"Really?"

"The last time something interested him this much was probably when the Vortex appeared. When I first met him, human life didn’t matter as much to him."

"And when exactly did you meet him?" I asked, leaning in slightly. "Before or after he was imprisoned?"

A flash of surprise glimmered in the raven’s yellow eyes.

"He told you about Roderick Burgess?"

"Not quite. He only mentioned that the Nightmares escaped the Dreaming while he was in captivity."

"Some magician trapped him in his basement over a hundred years ago. Imprisoned in a magical circle, he was unable to return to his realm for a long time. And when he finally escaped, he found the Dreaming in complete ruin. You probably remember the news reports about the sleeping sickness that affected people because of his disappearance. I met Lord Morpheus when he was trying to rebuild the Dreaming and recover the artifacts that had been stolen from him."

A pang of guilt surfaced somewhere near my heart, and I couldn’t suppress the nervous clenching of my lips.

"He probably doesn’t have a very high opinion of humans after that, does he?"

"He didn’t," Matthew admitted. "But recently, something’s changed in him. We all see it. He seems to care more about your kind."

"Oh, and that’s why he tried to kill me yesterday, huh?" I asked skeptically, staring down at my clasped hands.

The raven flapped his wings vigorously, then hopped onto the bed next to me. He moved close enough that I had to look at him, and when I did, I saw something in his eyes that reminded me of a man.

"Look," he began, shaking himself once again. "I was once just like you. I had a life here, a job, a family. That was my only purpose. I think I even loved this world, and I loved taking from it as much as I could—sometimes even too much. And then, I ended up in Lord Morpheus's service. And you know what?" He paused, waiting for a sign that I was listening intently. "That's also quite a good purpose to exist. Boss gives people hope, without which this earthly life would be meaningless. Serving him, whether as a messenger or as a Nightmare, isn't as terrifying as you might think. Had you asked me about this a month ago, I probably would never have admitted it, but now I believe you should accept the offer he made to you."

"You don't understand, Matthew," I sighed, trying to sort through the racing thoughts in my head. "I just cannot agree to become a Nightmare."

"Why not?"

"Because my whole life, I've done everything just to avoid becoming one," I said, standing up from the bed and taking a few long strides across the room. Throughout this, the raven never took his eyes off me. "I know there's a darkness inside me left behind by the Nightmare known as the Corinthian. I try so hard to ignore it but the truth is, I feel it every day, not finding joy where others would instantly see it. I don't want to, and I’ve never wanted to be what Corinthian made me. Everyday I keep trying to suppress that darkness, to learn how to truly enjoy life, to help others, not torment them... to fulfill dreams, not to destroy them."

"Is that why you wake people from Nightmares?" Matthew asked, tilting his head.

"And that's why I won't accept Dreamlord’s offer," I said, defeated, as I sat back down on the bed, my gaze drifting to a spot on the wall above my desk. "If he takes this power from me, maybe he'll also take the darkness that comes with it. And there's nothing I want more than to finally stop fighting with myself and get rid of it forever."

We both fell silent for a few moments, lost in our own thoughts. Letting out what had been buried inside me for years brought unexpected relief, and for a brief moment, I felt that I might finally be free of the Nightmare's burden. To be honest, the conversation with Matthew had helped me more than anything else that had happened in the past few days.

"I don’t know what your next encounter with Boss will be like," Matthew said, almost as if he were thinking out loud. "But I do know that he no longer intends to kill you. He’s genuinely trying to find a way to help you. If you stop running, he might just succeed."

"Thank you, Matthew," I smiled, gently brushing my fingers along his wing. " It may not seem like it, but I truly appreciate you coming to see me tonight."

"You weren’t particularly nice the first time we met…" he quipped with a hint of sarcasm. "But it turns out you’re not that bad after all. Even with the part of Nightmare living within you."

As the raven flew off into the night sky, I closed the window, turned off the lamp, and with a heavy sigh, lay down on my bed. I didn’t want to escape into Nightmares if it meant causing more harm in the Dreaming. I couldn’t say I wasn’t scared, but something in Matthew’s voice convinced me to face Dreamlord that night, with the inner conviction that after all, we both wanted the same thing. To give hope. To create, not to destroy.

To help, not to annihilate.

[blocksruinedme]

(hi there! sorry if this is disrespectful or anything, feel free to delete this ask! i was just concerned because in the comments of jimmy's recent videos, it seems that he might make a video reacting to fanfictions...

very concerning! especially because it seems like he didn't contact the creators of the edits in newest video beforehand. no offense to him, but i genuinely do not trust him to handle fanfiction in a respectful way. he's very hard-working, but he's getting dangerously content-brained!

anyways, the reason i'm sending this ask to you is because you seem to frequent his streams a lot. VERY sorry if this is disrespectful to ask, but if you do attend his next stream, is it ok to ask that you try and send a message in his chat? i would myself, but he streams after midnight where i live T^T i really hope that someone well-versed in the rules of fandom spaces (maybe scott (ｰ ｰ;) ) can talk him out of it, but i would be very grateful if any chatters could discourage him during his next live.

thank you very much for reading!!)

-a shy chinese anon who experienced the banning of ao3 in china because fans of a celebrity mass-reported an rpf fic to the government :<

(Hey shy anon, I didn't show up until a little after the ban, but I was on the english side of that fandom so i know a lot. my eternal condolences, I'll never stop being upset about what happened!)

It is not at all disrespectful to ask politely, which you have! I am not going to send a message in his chat because it is an absolute hellhole, but people I know have left thoughtful comments on his youtube, which I think is 20x more useful. He sees those in his own time and can think about it. Chat is running nonstop, super fast, you get instant reaction in the chat from all kinds of sorts - seriously i love jimmy and i have nothing against younger people, but holy hell that chat is mostly intolerable to read. Most streams I don't even have it visible. Jimmy has very little time to think in response to chat messages, it can't be nuanced, and the first thing he says is now public record.

Overall, I don't think Jimmy will react to fanfic. If he does (and I've been wrong predicting Jimmy before!), it's going to be something like Wholesome Seablings Adventures. I can not imagine Jimmy reading ship fic - unless I guess it's incredibly pg canon-ship? There's all kinds of "pg youtubers", and Jimmy's more on the Katherine side of thing, appealing to families and genuinely little kids. If you look at the saucy things he lets in, you generally need some real non-pg context for it to feel non-pg. (there's always exceptions)

When people demand he address shipping he tries to say as little as possible. He's been shown nsfw fanart while he was streaming. He knows what is going on and he's not going to touch that. He's thoughtful when it counts, and since these aren't stream reacts, he has time to think hard about what he's actually going to use. So if he did do fanfic, there would be plenty of never seen footage of Jimmy of going "holy moly!" and moving on. When it matters, he is generally thoughtful and respectful.

Like the time he realized he was confused about asexuality (he didn't know about aromanticism) and slowed down to be really careful he didn't say anything accidentally hurtful. (for context shelby is ace but dates and he knows that. look at his poor little face trying to understand.)

Maybe he'll mess up this time, I sure hope not, but I'm not personally freaking out.

Also, exactly one time he opened tumblr on stream, it was the sexyman poll, and he read my reply to the post (i'm the one who called him a wet paper bag of a man, my claim to fame.) I showed up to apologize, he was a sweetheart, and he said this about tumblr, that he knows we want our own private space. He's respectful at heart.

I am not on tiktok, but until your ask, I'll admit it never occurred to me he might contact the creators before reacting. Thinking on it, I guess I think of TikTok like youtube, where it is loudly tossed out at the whole world for attention, but I'm not on TikTok.

And why do I think ao3 is different? Well, I have no coherent answer besides "vibes" and "more contained audience" and "everyone knows everyone is on youtube and tiktok".

Here are some more Jimmy clips I've wanted to share on tumblr for one reason or another.

In the end, I have been hyperfixating on this man for sixteen months and I believe it'll be okay. If I'm wrong, well. We'll make it through this, gang. We'll take care of each other and keep going. Nothing's stopped us yet!

If you want to say something to Jimmy, leave a yt comment, don't go into his stream, please, not there, you'll just provoke people and he might have to respond to that, please

Everyone out there who read ao3 not logged in - go log in, people are locking things.

People on ao3, lock or don't lock, as you see fit!

(also joel lizzie and oli did fanfic readings/reenactments/whatever years ago, including writing their own snippets, i got through like 90 seconds of one, youtube at your own risk.)

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Brainrot Housekeeping: A little note about Dorian

This is my heads-up that I've decided to try messing around on their platform and translating some of my headcanons into the Arcana's visual novel format.

This is not a promotional post. (hence why you won't be seeing any links, story titles, or profile handles)

It's mostly so that if anybody sees something posted by an author over there using my ideas/moniker, it's probably me and not a thief. Also, this blog is far and away my priority over that - if I start to feel overwhelmed or burnt out, that's going to be the first thing I stop doing. Not this :)

I'm putting more thoughts below the cut since the main point of this post is to be transparent about my activity to avoid misunderstandings:

I've been in conversation with plenty of people about Dorian. I've heard from people whose lives were transformed for the better because of it, I've heard from people with mixed feelings, I've heard from people whose lives were wrecked by it. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's been on my page for a while that I'm fairly skeptical of them myself and don't always see eye-to-eye with them on how things seem to be run.

Anybody who's talked to me personally about it knows that I have boatloads more opinions, but I realized that those are based off of what I've heard much more than off of what I've experienced. So for transparency's sake, here are my reasons for trying this out:

First, the most important thing I've learned to do is to try encountering something for myself when I keep hearing and developing strong opinions about it. Sticking to this personal value is what got me out of Rai's server and influence (if you don't know and you want to know, read my pinned "to the arcana fandom" post) and ultimately what helped me get the resources I needed to help my friends get out of serious danger too. If I want to join the conversation about the clear divide between Dorian's vision for the Arcana and the fandom built around the original game, I have to try both sides out for myself.

Second, I'm a curious person and it seems like a new way to fuck around and find out (something I do constantly, though I rarely show it on here :P). I'm a creative, I love these characters, and the chance to see my own words in the original format sounds like fun.

To finish off, these are the goals and parameters I'm setting myself when it comes to however active I end up being over there. I'm putting them here again for transparency, but mainly to help me keep myself accountable:

My main goal is to try a new experience and have fun in the process. To do that, I'm going to keep my mind open without losing critical thinking and only make what I feel like making and when I feel like making it

Nothing I create is going to be motivated by a desire to be "successful". I'm already successful - I have a steady job IRL, a group of amazing friends, and this gift of a page that lets me be creative and find joy with other people around one of my many interests

Being active over there is going to be a bottom priority. If my tasks are getting to be too much, that will be the first to go because the only value I place in it at this time is experiental

If I find I can't stick to these goals, whether it be motivation, mentality, or just a loss of interest, I'll stop my activity over there and re-evaluate what I'm doing vs what I want to be doing and why

If I encounter something that's deeply concerning to me, I'll attempt to address it proactively through the proper channels available to me. If those concerns remain unaddressed and I think people need to know about it, I'll talk about it openly and honestly

I won't use my blog or server to promote any work I publish over there. Concurrently, I'll do my best to avoid any promotion off of the Dorian app

That's all from me for now about this! I'll be linking it in my pinned post so people who want to know more about me can look at it, but I won't be putting it on the arcana tag because I don't think it's relevant at this time.

Cheers!

brainrot

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

okay so i know no one cares but the internet is for yelling about your feelings and so i shall do just that! i think education on kink is so misinterpreted by the Youths on the internet (which proves they're too young and immature to even be having convos abt kink...) and there are also many minors who are into all that tiktok written porn and wattpad shit which has sorta leaked onto tumblr as well. and like i can't know who reads or writes that shit but it Smells Of Youth lol, and like and god knows that i read porn as a minor but ...... adksjhfgfdasdjhf you know?? at least i was aware i was in spaces not meant for me lol and behaved accordingly.

so i read a short lil ficlet that was on my recommended page (ofc a larissa/reader thing lol) that i think shows exactly what's wrong with the younger generations (not to sound like an old lady but you know what i mean) and that is that they are more concerned with appearances rather than the content -- that is, something checking all the boxes of safety rather than it actually being safe.

in their crusade for Righteousness and Political Correctness (even tho i hate using that word bc that's what far-right ppl use when they don't like that minorities want to be treated with respect) they forget that like. you can't slap a "this is okay label" on something that isn't okay and that magically makes it okay.

what i mean by that is that in that ficlet -- and it doesn't matter which one it is bc they are all basically the same fic regurgitated over and over again with slight changes -- we are clearly talking about a fucked up scenario: a principal pursuing and wanting to fuck her student! but THEN she says "if you want me to stop just say red" as if that makes it all okay?? it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of safewords and what they are for. nothing was negotiated or talked about, she DEMANDED that this clearly young person call her mommy even though no preferences were discussed prior etc etc.

and my beef with this is like, if you're gonna write a fucked up scenario (and god knows i love those), you should not try to signal with your narrative choices that what is happening is okay, unless it is a literary choice that somehow serves the story. but what i've read and keep reading feels like aha! not problematic bc we are all over 18 and we have safewords! so nothing could ever go wrong :) please, treat a fucked up scenario like a fucked up scenario! commit to your fucked up fantasy goddamit! stop trying to virtue signal! you're writing about a principal fucking her student and abusing her power, which is okay and you should be able to write about that! but she's not uwu mommy askjdhfsg you know?? and i think that's why so many people got mad at me for writing my fucked up shit (inevitable specifically) and it's bc i wrote basically what the narrative they keep writing about would look like in real life lol, and i didn't do any of the performative stuff they do to make it Okay and Not Problematic. someone would end up hurt, i promise you! it's okay to have your fucked up fantasies, just don't pretend they're not just that -- fucked up fantasies that need to be carefully managed if you ever want to engage in something that mimics it in real life.

it's really dangerous that all these Youths keep using bdsm terminology without understanding what it means. safewords, dom/sub dynamics, aftercare... if you write a sexual assault scene and slap aftercare on it, it is still sexual assault. if someone coerces you to have sex with them (and there is more way than one to coerce a person to sleep with you without using any force) but say oh you can have a safeword and i'll stop :))) that is still sexual assault lol. you saying the words doesn't mean anything.

also, i'm not saying there aren't inherent power dynamics in any relationship, not just with age gap stuff which is a popular trope in these fics, but like they need to be addressed and managed if you want to write a Healthy Relationship(TM). there is a social power imbalance between men and women and yet het relationships exist and work! but if you don't wanna write that, if you wanna write your "mommy that sorta rapes me but not really" fantasy, by all means keep doing it but pleaaaase call it what it is! otherwise it's just confusing and harmful for all the young people on these webbed sites.

i am all for fucked up shit, both reading and writing it, and there should be space for everyone to unload their bullshit on the internet. however, problems arise when fucked up shit is being sold as Good(TM) bc it checks certain boxes and basically passes as Not Problematic uwu on a technicality, rather than examining the actual content. there are ways to examine fucked up desires and the dark side the human psyche, but what is not productive is slapping buzzwords on stuff and saying oh it's Moral(TM) now. fiction doesn't have to be moral. please give up on that notion! but if it's trying to be, then it shouldn't endorse prettily packaged sexual assault lol.

[ramblings-of-a-fangirl-blog]

Embracing Mental Health? Looking At The Companion’s Approach

I want to write about The Companion's focus on mental health and their related projects.

When The Companion first announced their book, several of my friends and I had mixed feelings. While the project had the potential to help many, it also had the capacity to cause harm, and we weren't sure which way it would go, since The Companion had not proven to be a safe space by then. By now, these initial concerns have not only been confirmed but have even surpassed our expectations in a negative way, sadly.

It’s clear that the people at The Companion never have experienced a certain... form of mental health struggle, because if they had, they would be well be aware of the issues and dangers that come with the way they are handling the project, and they would therefore be talking and acting differently. To some degree that’s a good thing, as I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to have the experiences I had and am having, the experiences that part of my fandom friends have, the experiences that a lot of traumatised people go through. However, there are people who – as far as I’m aware – aren’t struggling with mental health themselves and still have voiced the same concerns, showing that it's possible to recognize the problems with The Companion's approach without having experienced severe mental health struggles firsthand.

The Companion is months into lauding themselves of promoting mental health awareness, yet they haven’t been consulting professionals. This is apparent in their lack of adherence to trauma-informed practices. I won't delve into the principles of trauma-informed practice, such as safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, or the topic of trauma and its consequences as that would go beyond the scope of this text and you can look that up. These principles are however essential for handling sensitive topics like mental health.

When The Companion announced the book, our primary concern was the safety of the submission process. What would they do to ensure us that submitting stories would be safe, to show us they are trustworthy? How would they handle the story selection transparently? How would they support those, whose stories were not chosen, to minimize the risk of flashbacks, mental breakdowns, or re-traumatization due to rejection? The answer has become clear: they won’t. They have not made any effort to assure contributors that their stories will be handled safely and respectfully. Instead, they have set numerous guidelines for what “they’re looking for”, what constitutes a “good” story, turning it into a writing contest. If your story isn’t chosen, it seems it’s your fault for being a bad writer. They also disregard dyslexic individuals or non-native English speakers, as submissions with “typos and grammatical errors” might also be rejected. They aren’t just not providing information on how they will handle rejections in a trauma-informed manner but placing the burden of rejection squarely on the writer. Their message is essentially: “Be vulnerable, be open, be emotional, but if this process or the rejection leads to mental health issues and triggers you, that’s not our problem, it’s not even something we’ll address in any way because it doesn’t even cross our minds that it could be a problem.”  Safety is among other things fostered through giving information and thereby the chance to mentally prepare oneself, to know what to expect – what’s going to happen, when and how. Give me as much control about the process as possible. However, the submission process lacks more information. When submitting, contributors agree that their stories can be used in “any other project and format,” which is such an unclear wording that it offers no reassurance at all that I will have control over how my story will be used once I submit it. There is no information on if and how a submitted story can be edited. And there’s the info that the submission can be withdrawn but not a clear deadline. The fact that they’re not publishing all questions at once, while to some degree understandable, goes again against the principle of providing control and safety. If I know what all the questions are that gives me the option to calmly decide for which question my story would fit best. Of course, an easy dismissal could be, “If you’re too unstable to submit stories, don’t participate,” but considering this is all about embracing mental health, such a stance would be cynical.

Beyond the submission process, there have been other red flags throughout the project. Starting with the price: $99. For that amount, I can buy three handmade quiet activity books for children, which literally take hours to make. It’s hard to believe the printing of one single book costs $99, and hard to believe one could set a price before having any content ready. Transparency about the cost would help, and no, vague descriptions like "little details," "holes in the cover," or "a thread" do not count as transparency. I can buy an awl for $4 and make my own holes, and a piece of thread costs less than $1. These titbits of information do not explain the cost. We are unable to imagine what could justify the cost but even if we assume the book actually costs $99 to print, this price makes it unaffordable for those most in need. If the price is not something that makes you think, you likely can afford therapy well. You are privileged. Still, how can you not see that the price is an issue for others and that a book about/for mental health should never cost that much? I can get books by actual professionals like Bessel van der Kolk or Bruce Perry for a fraction of that price. Also, what about the Kickstarter? A Kickstarter to pre-order books and to cover all additional expenses for design and whatnot would’ve made sense. Yet not only is it unclear what a Kickstarter is needed for now, it also was originally announced to be starting at Basingstoke and without any information it just got postponed. I repeat: Creating safety by giving information would be the trauma-informed approach but that’s not happening. “But it will be available for free online!” All the promotional focus has been on the physical book's aesthetics, how good it will feel in your hands, how shiny it will look, how many details it will have. Those struggling with mental health and financial instability won’t get that tactile experience. So... is it more important for the book to look as fancy as possible or to be affordable and accessible to those who truly need it? The Companion’s priorities seem clear: appearance over accessibility. After all, it’s all they’ve focused on during the promotion: “This is how good the book will look” instead of “Here’s how we will make the story collection process safe for you,” which – again – is what most actually traumatised people actually wanted to know. The priorities are... weird. Making the book less shiny to make it more affordable doesn’t seem to be an option and by that, they fail the goal of supporting people struggling with mental health, in my opinion.

In fact, throughout this whole process, there has been so much focus on the marketing part and hardly any on the ‘embracing mental health’ part, outside of the interviews. Most recent example from the pin campaign: The email I just received, “Pledge until midnight to get these freebies.” But also other examples from the book, like the fact that the pre-orders had a limited number. “Give a sense of urgency and scarcity to get people to buy quickly” is a marketing strategy that, in my opinion, has no place in a project that is about mental health, where people need time to make decisions, where people need time to save money, where people don’t need to be put under additional stress, and where people might take time-outs of social media and newsletters for mental health reasons. Another focus has been counting numbers. “Let’s get xxx subscribers! Let’s get xxx people to join the waiting list!” Again, a potentially fun way to promote a project or a company. Yet again, focusing so much on such a superficial thing instead of a trauma-informed approach and instead of, say, a discussion about how to support people struggling on social media, makes the priorities weird again. ...because throughout the months I’ve seen various people writing about being at a low point in terms of mental health, in reply to posts by The Companion, and the supposedly so supportive fandom didn’t react.

What even does “embracing mental health as a fandom” mean, outside of the interviews? The Social Hour chats? The Companion did a good job at showing right away that this was not a safe space for me, by starting with the question of “What smell reminds you of childhood?” and expecting nice, fluffy answers. My answer is “vomit” and it’s not memories I want to talk about, nor do I want to listen to other people’s nice, fluffy childhood memories. That question made it clear right away: Not well-suited for people with cPTSD. The 60 for 60 challenge to get people thinking about things? The first post I saw was the question “What if you were forced to do a do-over, how would you relive your life in 2024 as a 15-year-old?” and my first thought was, “if I had to relive my life as a 15-year-old in the situation that I was in as a 15-year-old but with the knowledge I have now, I wouldn’t. I’d off myself.” And that thought was immediately followed by anxiety and flashbacks. Only on a second look at the post did I see that it didn’t specifically state that it would have to be the same situation that the person was in as a 15-year-old, but then, that quickly also made me want to ignore that challenge. Positivity chitchat? Positivity is good. Looking for glimmers is good. Toxic positivity isn’t. The focus on post-traumatic growth, a concept that hasn’t actually been properly validated by research, isn’t. Yet this is what The Companion aimed at with their questions for the green room sessions not once but twice: “The last few years have been really tough for many of us and our lives have changed. What’s one way your life has changed for the better you’d like to share with the group?” “Reflecting on the challenges you've faced, what's one positive insight or lesson you've gained that you'd like to share with others?” A friend commented that they’d dare The Companion people to ask Amanda with a straight face what positive insight she gained from experiencing eight miscarriages. The questions can be answered if your mental health struggles aren’t related to trauma or if they don’t go beyond a certain depth of struggle. Together with the financial situation, the target group of this project seems to be people with good income who struggle with life challenges such as the death or sickness of loved ones, bullying at work, etc. All very serious issues and things that are bound to have a negative impact on mental health. That’s just one subgroup of people struggling with mental health, though. And I’m not saying that there aren’t people with PTSD and cPTSD who have benefited from what The Companion is doing, I’m sure there are. I'm also not expecting The Companion to be a trigger-free space – that's impossible given the different life experiences of people. However, having a professional supervising the process and adherence to trauma-informed principles is not too much to ask.

The middle-term consequences? While I'm speaking primarily from my own experience, some friends share similar concerns. The middle-term consequence is that what comes with these projects is an additional stress factor for conventions, it makes me feel additionally unsafe. I can unsubscribe from The Companion’s newsletter, avoid their social media and just not keep track of these projects anymore. I have however been going to Stargate conventions and conventions with Amanda regularly. I ended up struggling with additional anxiety after The Companion’s panel at Basingstoke. I’ve skipped the last two conventions in the USA despite having the time and money to attend. The heavy presence of people who are clearly not trauma-informed and the fact that I can identify them by their T-shirts and hoodies, makes me feel unsafe. If you actively support a company that's selling a book that’s aimed at mental health and costs $99, I don’t trust you.  For the moment, I’m not sure what that means when it comes to Amanda. I owe her so much. I’m not sure if I would be here if it hadn’t been for her kindness and care. I appreciate and respect her deeply and am immensely grateful. Yet, I struggle to understand how she’d support a $99 book and that makes feel disconnected from her, too, even if I don't doubt the good intentions, and I know of others who are feeling similary. I don’t know what this will mean, moving forward. The thought of the potential loss of one safe person and one safe space is stressful. In addition to the impact on conventions, there’s the danger of people feeling once again (and by ‘once again’ I mean given their traumatic past experiences) excluded. The message seems to be: “You’re not alone. But no, not like that. If you’re not stable enough, here’s a list with professionals. You don’t get to be part of this clique because we’re not going to care about being trauma-informed and a safe space. You’re too broken for our group.” (On a side note, I find it interesting that none of us can connect to the whole hype around the enamel pins. If I were to wear a mood pin, I’d choose something simpler like the Mood Tracker by AtelierEumori. However I very probably wouldn’t tell strangers my mental health state to start with as it would feel unsafe and with safe friends I would talk directly if needed, so I wouldn’t use a pin to start with, but then different people have different preferences. If the pins by The Companion help even one person that’s good.) So, for me and some of my friends, The Companion’s approach not only fails to support a subgroup of people struggling with mental health but actively contributes to further distress.

“You’re just a hater, looking for something to complain about.”  I don’t actively participate in social media; I primarily use it to stay up to date with news from the pages I follow. I have, however, seen some public criticism directed at The Companion. It’s notable that this criticism is often met with dismissal or even attacks from The Companion’s followers, while The Companion itself remains silent. Outside of a form after the initial interview with Amanda, there hasn’t been an option to provide anonymous feedback, nor has The Companion created a safe enough space for non-anonymous feedback to be feasible. I know of persons who have refrained from voicing the points, the critique I’m discussing here because they fear hateful responses. This is particularly problematic because a key feature of trauma is the experience of being silenced. Personally, I wasn’t allowed to voice or even have an opinion as a child and teen, as daring to voice any protest would immediately result in additional abuse. This situation presents again a risk for re-traumatization and further marginalizes those already struggling with their mental health. The silence that comes from people not daring to speak up leads to a sense of “I’m overreacting, I must be a bad person.” Déjà-vu. Only once I started speaking with others I noticed that I’m not at all alone with these concerns, that I’m not the only person who’s experiencing a negative impact on their mental health from what The Companion is doing. The aim of this post is not to get The Companion to change, the damage is done. The aim is to make others who might feel alone with these thoughts feel less alone.

Edit: It's 'you should forgive your abuser' now. I’m speechless… Just a quick reminder for all survivors out there: No, you don’t need to forgive to heal.

[dmagedgoods]

Okokok I've been waiting!!!

🛡️🩸🕷️ going through the Shield Maze

🦊 during their first meeting

😈 when reunited in Act III

And of course

😇 during the proposal

Seelah and Salvadore in the Shield Maze 🛡️ Seelah: For one of those high-up, lordly snobs, he doesn’t seem to be too bad. Looks to me like he has a plan. And I think he cares. Iomedae, I hope we’ll find those kids that run into the maze. It could be too late already. Maybe we should have listened to that other guy and shown the sword. It would have been honest at least. But I guess he didn’t want a bunch of children throwing themselves against demon hordes. They could need some real training first. And some real food. 🛡️ Salvadore: I assume having a Paladin in the group will be of advantage. At least thanks to her, I can turn around without expecting a knife between my shoulder blades. She knows how to fight and she can follow orders. For the dangers ahead, this is something to work with. ~ Camellia and Salvadore in the Shield Maze 🩸 Camellia:

How wearisome. Another knight in shining armor. And as expected, he makes it appear as if falling into this hole was his personal decision to guide us back into the light. Well, it shall be all the same to me, his eagerness to lead will prove useful to finally step out of this disgusting place. 🩸 Salvadore:

She is well trained with her rapier. It speaks in her favor that she took her lessons seriously. Lower nobility often shows higher amounts of enthusiasm and ambition than those at the top. Nonetheless, her style in battle seems a touch … concerning. – The intensity, the … hunger? Well, maybe I’m overinterpreting her passion. Many soldiers enjoy the killing too, after all. ~ Wenduag and Salvadore in the Shield Maze 🕷️ Wenduag: Conceited fool, stumbling blindly into the darkness. Show me if you are strong enough and I will grant you a weapon beyond your wildest dreams, nourishing my own power. Oh, you will play right into my hands, stranger, and never notice until it will be far too late. 🕷️ Salvadore: The way they move when she walks … Can she use them to hold her pray like a real … They seem fully functional and twitch and curve and … Did she say something? This has to stop. Getting distracted by her extremities like some kind of naïve boy who stumbled into the world for the very first time. Disgraceful. ~ Nenio and Salvadore during their first meeting 🦊 Nenio: It is reassuring to discover that the mental abilities of at least a few specimens among the crusader armies lie high above the intelligence of the average cultist. Note to self: Measure the intellectual capacities of the leopard when separated from the boy. The way it reacted in battle suggests an increased understanding of its surroundings and situational thinking. Must find out if this phenomenon is caused by mutual influence. 🦊 Salvadore: Hubristic. Respectless. And appallingly clueless for someone pretending to be a scientist. Did she think this little test of hers was even vaguely challenging? Enough of this. We lost too much time with this nonsense. She can come along, no doubt that she would get herself killed in under twenty-four hours if she was left to navigate the city on her own. Nonetheless, she will have to learn to address me by my proper title. But there is at least one thing even more concerning than the utter lack of manners of someone calling herself an academic: I can’t believe this whole land lies in ruins through the hand of people with the intellect of an earthworm. ~ Woljif and Salvadore when reunited in Act III 😈 Woljif: He means it? I can … stay? The running off will just be forgiven and forgotten? No hard feelings and all that? Maybe the chief is not as much of an uptight upper-class bugger as I thought. But of course he would take me back! He needs me after all. ‘No stealing, Woljif, put this back Woljif, I swear you will spend a week in a cell, Woljif.’ Ha, I bet he missed it and the stuff I got for him! 😈 Salvadore: I didn’t expect to see him again. Well, it is good to know that he made it. He seems surprised. Did he expect me to judge him for behavior this predictable? I knew that he would run sooner or later when I freed him from that cell. And I know he will run again. It does not matter. He is none of my soldiers and we have no contract. His abilities are useful for our group and for the crusade and I will make good use of them as long as he provides them. Well, I may admit that I missed his fanciful, confusing stories. ~ Daeran and Salvadore during the proposal 😇 Daeran: Look at him, all radiant in white, striding like this place was his already. There isn’t the slightest doubt in him that he will make it, is there? – That he will put an end to it all and stand victorious. This ridiculous confidence, this unwavering certainty, it was there right from the start. How did he manage to infect me with it? It makes my head spin. Am I floating? I can barely feel the ground. Oh, it all be damned! This future will be mine, it will be ours, I won’t allow some ugly crack in the world to take it from me! He better makes true on all those high promises! And I’ll give him another reason to! 😇 Salvadore: Lord Arendae. He can’t possibly mean … Has he ever appeared more vibrant than in this very moment? More alive? Lord Arendae. No, he is not joking. A promise to gift him forever.

He has planned to ask him, he has already drawn the first drafts in his mind, of all the sophisticated details as soon as the worldwound would be closed. It has been so clear to him: Of course, it would be him, Knight Commander Salvadore Arrigo, who would do this step and propose. And Daeran would tease him, would draw back an inch, withholding a clear answer at first, before smiling at him – a smile that would give away the truth of his feelings and …

Yes, this very smile is here, it is here right in front of him. But they stand near the dreadful ruin of this former fortress, blood falling down on them, the hardest battle of their lives right ahead – and there never has been a moment more perfect, more complete.

Lord Arendae. Lord Salvadore Arendae. The world seems to dance around him and he realizes that he has stared in speechless silence for far too long.

He straightens his back, emotions flooding from his heart, through his veins, too strong to be held by his body, he may as well be torn apart by their intensity.

But he manages to compose himself enough for the answer. An answer given with every fiber of his being.

[bigsoftmarshmallow]

I hope this is not too specific ;; but … how would the Dorfs react to finding out their s/o was using fentanyl

The asks can get as specific as you like! You can even ask how they would react to you personally, as long as you can give a description of personality and pronouns, I think.

If you or a loved one is doing dangerous behaviors, such as drug use, always seek out help <3

***********************************************************************

If the Ganondorfs and Demise discovered that their significant other (SO) was using fentanyl, their reactions would reflect their personalities—ranging from furious protectiveness to deep concern. Fentanyl, being highly addictive and dangerous, would evoke strong emotions from these powerful figures, as they all have a protective and possessive nature toward those they care for.

Here’s how each would react:

Wind Waker Ganondorf: The Stoic but Fiercely Protective

Wind Waker Ganondorf, with his calculated and introspective nature, would first be stunned by the revelation. He’d have a moment of disbelief before his protective instincts kicked in. Though not one to show much outward emotion, inside he’d be filled with a mix of anger, concern, and a fierce need to save his SO from the dangers of the drug.

Scene: Ganondorf sits across from his SO, his normally calm and composed expression darkened by a storm of emotions. "You were using… this poison?" His voice is low, with an edge of restrained fury. He stands, pacing slowly as if trying to contain himself. "Do you understand how close you came to death?"

Though his anger simmers beneath the surface, he is not angry at them but at the situation. "I will not lose you to something so vile." His eyes lock onto theirs, full of determination. "We will find a way to free you from this, together. I won’t let it take you."

He would likely spend a lot of time ensuring that they are safe and that the addiction is addressed. His protectiveness would drive him to fight for their recovery with the same strategy and patience he uses in battle.

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf: The Furious and Controlling Protector

Ocarina of Time Ganondorf would react with immediate anger. His pride and sense of control would make it difficult for him to process how his SO could fall into something so dangerous without him noticing. His first reaction would be frustration, as he feels that he failed in protecting them from such harm.

Scene: When he finds out, the air around him becomes thick with tension. His normally imposing figure looms even larger as he towers over his SO, eyes burning with anger. "How could you let this happen?" he growls, voice like thunder. His hands clench into fists at his sides as he struggles to control his emotions. "Do you think I would stand by and let this destroy you?"

Though his fury is palpable, it’s not directed at them—it's at the drug itself, at the situation, at anything that threatens his control over the safety of those he loves. He would likely demand that they stop immediately, and his overbearing nature would kick in. "I will not allow this to continue. You are mine, and I will protect you, even from yourself if I must."

His SO would see his softer side in moments when he comforts them afterward, but his aggressive protectiveness would make him a constant presence in their life as they recover.

Twilight Princess Ganondorf: The Stoic and Silent Guardian

Twilight Princess Ganondorf, typically cold and distant, would react with a slow-burning rage that simmers beneath the surface. He wouldn’t explode in anger but would instead grow even more silent and stern. His SO would feel the weight of his concern through his intense gaze, though he wouldn’t be overtly emotional about it.

Scene: Ganondorf stands in silence, his piercing eyes studying his SO as they confess. His expression is unreadable, but the tension in the room is palpable. "Fentanyl…" he repeats quietly, his deep voice barely masking the anger he feels inside.

He turns away, his back to them as he looks out over the horizon, lost in thought. After a long silence, he speaks again, voice controlled but laced with worry. "This will not continue. I will see to it."

He wouldn’t be one for emotional speeches or outbursts, but his actions would show his resolve. He’d quietly begin making plans to ensure his SO received the help they needed, and he would be their silent but unwavering support throughout their recovery. He would never speak of his fear, but it would drive his every action.

Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf: The Commanding Leader

Hyrule Warriors Ganondorf would react with a mixture of shock and anger. His commanding and confident nature would take over, and he would immediately step into the role of protector and leader, determined to take control of the situation and guide his SO away from the drug.

Scene: Ganondorf’s voice booms as he confronts his SO. "You’ve been using fentanyl?" His disbelief quickly turns into frustration, though not at them—at the situation. "I cannot allow this to continue. You are stronger than this."

His frustration would be clear, but so would his determination to help them. He steps forward, lifting their chin to meet his eyes. "We will fight this together. You will not face this alone."

Ganondorf’s protective nature would come through in his leadership style. He would take charge of their recovery, making sure they had the resources and support they needed to overcome their addiction. His SO would never feel abandoned or alone, as he would be there at every step, guiding them with his usual confidence.

Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf: The Regretful Protector

Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf, already grappling with a complex past and emotions, would react with a mix of guilt and deep concern. He might feel as though he failed his SO by not protecting them from this danger, leading him to become intensely focused on their recovery.

Scene: Ganondorf’s face is a mask of regret as he hears the confession. His usual confidence falters for a moment, replaced by something more vulnerable. "I should have seen this sooner," he mutters, voice low. "I should have protected you from this."

Despite his inner turmoil, he quickly refocuses, his determination clear. "This will not take you from me." He steps forward, his hand resting on their shoulder with surprising gentleness. "We will face this together. I will make sure you are safe."

His protectiveness would become all-encompassing as he worked to ensure that they were safe and supported. His SO would find comfort in his presence, as he would be steadfast and patient, never letting them face the recovery process alone.

Demise: The Furious but Compassionate Power

Demise, with his primal power and fiery temperament, would be filled with rage upon discovering that his SO was using fentanyl. His first instinct would be to lash out in anger, but he would quickly realize that his rage would not help them. Instead, he’d force himself to be calm for their sake, though his intensity would still be apparent.

Scene: Demise’s eyes blaze with fury as he hears the confession, and for a moment, his power flares uncontrollably. The ground beneath him cracks slightly as he struggles to contain his anger. "You let this weakness take hold of you?" he roars, his voice shaking the air.

But as he looks at his SO, his expression softens slightly. He knows that they need help, not more anger. He steps closer, his massive hand resting gently on their head. "You are stronger than this," he growls, his voice still fierce but now filled with compassion.

Demise’s protective instincts would take over, and he would become fiercely dedicated to their recovery. He would be unrelenting in his support, pushing them to overcome their addiction with the same force he uses in battle. Though his methods might be intense, his SO would know that he is committed to their well-being.

In each case, the Demon Kings and Demise would react with a combination of anger, protectiveness, and deep concern. Their overwhelming desire to protect their SO from harm would drive them to take action, ensuring that their partner received the help and support they needed to overcome their addiction. Their reactions, though different in tone, would all be rooted in a deep care for their SO and a refusal to let anything harm them.