danieljohnjarvishn2dphotoblog

[milfjagger]

one thing about the “cannibalism as a metaphor for love/desire” spike on this website is that there really aren’t that many examples of this trope. you can say it all goes back to hannibal but that is fundamentally not how hannibal lecter operates - he doesn’t care about the people he kills and eats even a little bit and he says as much in the show. in the terror, most of the heroes literally do NOT resort to cannibalism - even though james begs francis to use his body after he dies (selfless love?), francis (as well as the other men) cannot bear to do it and bury him instead. goodsir, probably the most saint/martyr coded character, also refuses to eat human flesh and even weaponises his own body against those who do, killing himself and the perpetrators of cannibalism rather than continue living like that. and no matter how you look at it, hickey does not kill and eat gibson (or anyone else for that matter) because he loves them. he is literally asserting dominance in a survival situation to avoid becoming a victim himself.

yellowjackets is complicated because of the specific homoerotic nature of the relationship between shauna and jackie, and you could argue there’s a certain seduction that happens when jackie’s corpse is “talking” to shauna. the frenzied scene when the girls eat jackie is portrayed as some kind of dark force taking them and there are a lot of emotions tied up in it but it’s not straightforwardly “they love jackie and jackie loved them and would want them to live”. ravenous has a similar homoerotic tone and ives’ seduction of boyd into a life of cannibalism could easily be a metaphor for gay desire, but the film also explicitly critiques “manifest destiny” and colonial greed through the lens of physically consuming anyone who stands in your way.

now let’s talk about actual examples of this trope. in raw, cannibalistic desire IS actually combined with the emotions of sex, and the most moving scene in my opinion is the ending in which the dad reveals a heavily scarred torso from his wife’s bite marks, indicating that he still loves her in spite of, or maybe because of her nature. in society of the snow, and indeed in actual accounts from the survivors of the andes plane crash, many of the boys who initially hold out from eating the dead are persuaded by the comparison to the eucharist - jesus gave his body so they could have spiritual life, and their friends died so they could have physical life. the dead and consumed are conceptualised as ultimately loving and selfless; if everyone had survived the crash, all of them would have starved to death. and in my personal favourite cannibal movie, bones and all, it’s kind of a mixture of all of the above. the first time maren consciously bites someone with intent to eat them, it’s framed as this sexual awakening (again tied up in gay desire with the way it evokes fear and disgust in others). lee is also presumably bisexual and faces homophobic comments from his family. one of his early experiences with cannibalism was eating his own father (do i need to explain this). there’s so much i could say about maren’s mother and how she is portrayed as an “addict” who physically cannot control her impulses to eat people. and then of course there’s the ending where lee dies and begs maren, who has been denying her true nature for so long, to eat him and have him become part of her forever. because he literally loves her and he wants her to eat well

tldr is that hannibal and the terror aren’t even close to portraying cannibalism as love and idk what you guys are talking about half the time

[penelopecruzcoded]

i fell into watching this stay at home mom of 3's content on youtube shorts and my god... the kids sure look cute and the content is "cozy" and all but good god that is a LOT of labor. the government should pay all sahm's doing this shit for free on top of everything else is like, what am i, a slave? the daily cooking, the cleaning, the tidying up after, the laundry loads, the looking after them... plus she said her kids go everywhere with her like literally everywhere, on coffee runs, to the gym, to see her mom etc. personally i would have a mental breakdown, even if these were the people i loved the most you still need a break from that, need you time?? where's my "chill and go to the mall for a day, shop and catch a movie" day?!? what do you mean i can't do that anymore? it's enough to make me go crazy just watching this shit. like i'm sure the end goal and outcome of raising 3 healthy, well adjusted adults (but also lol no one can ever account for death disaster or trauma so even that's not guaranteed) must be great, but like you're getting old in the process and that's so much of your own precious time going down the drain. i couldn't do it. nope. i've decided. the only way i'm doing kids (ever) is gonna be with a cook, a nanny, and a maid. like, i'm too neurodivergent to handle it all myself i would snap for sure. i'd love the idea of cooking the kids breakfast but maybe 1 morning out of the week. the rest somebody else can handle, i can't. i can't do it. i got my own life and my goals and my career dreams and work to do and i don't ever want those things to suffer just because i brought life into this world. that life can get by without me doing all that labor. call me selfish idc, i'm gonna have my life no matter what because i refuse to be one of those "where did my life go" / "wow i used to..." people. fuck that.

[sleepywyrldbuilder]

I was talking to a friend of mine that has pretty serious anxiety, and a terrible relationship with their parents, in large part because they don’t understand their anxiety. They tell my friend to just “not be a downer” or “try and think more positively” and it hurts my friend every time.

And it got me thinking about other cruelties, other bad things people do to each other. Because their parents aren’t being evil, they aren’t sitting down, cackling about how to best bully their child into having another mental health spiral. They’re just pre-occupied with their ideas of how to deal with a bad day, or pre-occupied with the idea that you shouldn’t show negative emotion, or pre-occupied with their work and not putting their full attention on their child and working out exactly what they actually need.

And I think that’s true a lot of the time, when cruelty happens. When bad things happen. The person who did it isn’t malicious, they’re just pre-occupied. Pre-occupied with a certain way of looking at the world, or another thing they think needs more attention, or their own personal troubles. If they stepped back and did a full, no holds barred analysis of what it was they were doing and what they wanted and what they want to be standing for in the world, they’d probably recognise things they do which they don’t like.

It started as a thought about homophobic parents, parents so pre-occupied with the fear of their child being seen as gay, or the demand that they strip away all sense of joy and self-expression that deviates from the norm, that they will go so far as to hurt and berate and bully their children. Because those parents sometimes do change, if they decouple from those pre-occupations. It’s not always an epiphany for them, just a gradual shift of focus.

Then it moved onto more political thoughts. Fascism, Genocide, Imperialism among other things. How a citizen of any nation can support their government doing those things- because they don’t. They don’t like it, they’re just pre-occupied with something else. Pre-occupied with getting to work on time, or feeding their children, or making sure they don’t look odd or break with the status quo or their local community, and it’s not that those things matter more than genocide to them, or that they don’t care about the big picture and other peoples suffering, it’s just that they aren’t focused on it.

People don’t focus on things just because they’re important, they focus on things because it’s what they normally focus on, or it’s what they were already focusing on. If someone supports something awful or does something wrong or participates in something cruel, it doesn’t always mean they don’t believe in the evidence that it’s wrong, or truly believe what they’re doing is right on the scale of principles and morality. It just means they’re focusing on a single aspect of it that they can justify. “For my community”, “For my safety”, “Happiness is Good”.

I’m partly writing this as a guide to dealing with people like that. Work out what they’re pre-occupied with, find out what one thing they’re hung up on, acknowledge it, but note that it’s not the most important part of the conversation.

But also it’s partly a reminder for myself. I’m pre- occupied with a lot. Doing exams, having fun, trying to analyse everything about what’s going on- sometimes to the point where I forget to be kind. I’ve gone through that with the friend I talked about in the beginning. Sometimes I spend so much effort trying to analyse what they’re anxious about that I forget my job in that instant is to just hear them out and let them have someone to talk to. The same goes with political things- I don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the world as much as I should, and I have instincts about political situations that jump out before I actually learn about what’s going on.

I don’t really have a conclusion here. Just thinking about it in general. Reminded of that one quote “never attribute to malice what can be explained with ignorance.” Basically just another take on that, really.

[birthisacurse-and]

Boycotts and why we don't partake

This is a random thought that came to me while watching a Contrapoints video and spiralled into something random.

I've been thinking about why people choose not to partake in boycotts. At first glance, it seems like a simple desire over morality argument; one's desire is stronger than one's moral will. But thinking about JK Rowling and Harry Potter has made me think, instead, from the perspective of why we do boycott, and why it comes so easily to some.

I have a set of videos from my favorite youtuber that I never watch because they feature an old friend of his who was outed years ago for grooming several minors. This youtuber, I love his content and have for years. I associate his videos with high school, with college, with the struggles and the highs. I watched them while I ate, when I got home from class, when I got home from work. I rewatch many of them today, I listen to them while cooking, I fall asleep listening to them multiple times per week. And yet, some of his funniest and some of my favorite videos - those with his old friend - remain untouched since the grooming allegations were confirmed. I skip them in playlists instantly when I hear the friend's voice, I don't dare to relive the pleasure and nostalgia and youth I associate with them. And the emotion that pervades me in those moments when I am briefly reminded of this man's existence, is disgust. Pure, unfiltered disgust.

What is disgust? To me, it stems from an intense fear, a visceral fear of something that can harm coming near you, of something you find thoroughly unpleasant threatening you with its existence. We are disgust by certain things and people because of the threat they pose when they enter our minds, our peripheries, our mental or physical locations. I am disgusted by vomit whether in thought, smell, or sight, whether it comes from me or another, because it threatens to touch me with its texture and odor and bacteria. I am disgusted by cockroaches, whether in video or picture or reality because the image can remind me of their existence, of that feeling of having a cockroach crawl over your leg, of that horror of finding them near rotting and dead things. I am disgusted by some people because they are a threat to my peace, peace of mind or the peace of physical safety. We are disgusted by people who enact perversions, by those who are a little too different, by those who commit atrocities - and none of these disgusts are necessarily good or bad. But they all stem from that same fear- the fear of our peace ending. Homophobes are disgusted by gay people because their existence, whether in thought or reality, threatens the homophobe's peace of mind, that fragile peace they find in their version of normalcy and an idle, moral, and "correct" life. The public is disgusted by warmongers, by totalitarians, by billionaires and colonists and slavers, not only because of the threat they pose directly to the physical peace of those they target, but morally, socially, emotionally, and psychologically as well, because reminding the public of their existence and making the public witnesses to their atrocities murders the peace of mind they so value.

This, I think, is one of the fundamental reasons people boycott, at least, when it is easy to do so. Boycotting for many is a conscious effort borne of duty, empathy, and/or morality. But for many others, it is driven by something more primal and is more innate than conscious. Levels of disgust, I believe stem from proximity to the targets of the disgusting object's destruction. On average, a woman will be more disgusted by the actions of a male sexual predator than another man will be. An Arab will be more disgusted by the actions of a Zionist state than a non-Arab. A transgender person will be more disgusted by the actions of a transphobe than a cisgender person. This is an average, not a rule, but it exists nonetheless. Despite all the emotional cues urging me to rewatch videos that were once an ingrained part of my adolescent memories, I was once a teenage girl, and so, my level of disgust is too high and compelling to be combatted by meer nostalgia and comfort when faced with a sexual predator who targetted teenage girls.

This brings me back to this: why don't people boycott? Why do morally outstanding citizens drink Starbucks? Why do transgender allies read Harry Potter? Why do gay allies eat Chick Fil A? The non-boycotter's proximity to the target demographic of the disgusting object's destruction is a factor, but not the only one. I think another is the predominance of the disgusting object's disgust-inducing actions, and those actions' ability to induce disgust. When the disgusting object's actions fade into the memories of the past, leave the broader social consciousness, are forgotten by the potential boycotter, are hidden and barely spoken of - or, when the disgusting object their self can be easily forgotten about in relation to the subject of a boycott - it becomes easier to limit or repress one's disgust, and allow desire to win out. If you forget that JK Rowling is the author, when you don't even know what Chick Fil A's CEO looks like, when you haven't seen a video or article about Palestinian deaths in a few months, your disgust naturally wanes, and your desires to return to the nostalgic world of Harry Potter, eat a delicious chicken sandwich, and buy a customized iced latte supercede it.

In short, boycotting fails where disgust does not sufficiently prevail, and those who do not boycott are those who are not sufficiently disgusted by the actions of the boycotting target.

[adriles]

when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

[autismsupersoldier]

biblically accurate columbo

(alt text in image ID)

[midnightsslut]

religion is one of the most prominent recurring themes on the album, and it has been present in some capacity for quite a few records now. taylor previously compared love to religion: her saving grace, her belief system, and a fated divine intervention (false god, cornelia street, and cruel summer are the best examples of this). ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ and ‘we’d still worship this love even if it’s a false god’ are two of the defining statements about her philosophy on the lover album.

taylor doesn’t want to leave all of that behind on ttpd, at least not at the beginning. the first supernatural force she mentions is the spaceship on down bad, which she compares to a skylight of freedom in the epilogue. *something* has finally come to save her from her life of suffering. she doesn’t care if it’s a force of good at first; if anything, she’s just fine being taken away by aliens. she views this man as her destiny. it isn’t until guilty as sin? that taylor starts to ponder the moral implications of what she’s doing. is she guilty as sin for wanting to leave her previous religion and relationship behind? she comes to the conclusion that, even if she rolls the stone away and gets resurrected/redeemed, she cannot avoid the fallout. she is okay with the thought of having to wait, as long as both lovers vow to be together forever, just as she once did with someone else in false god. ‘I choose you and me religiously’ finishes the bridge of the song in a direct callback to cornelia street.

the next mention of religion has murkier imagery. she claims that she does not need the Lord’s help to save this man. she sees the halo that he has, and she can fix him herself. now that she feels free of her prior cage, she isn’t looking for divine intervention anymore. she wants control. she is their route to salvation.

when the relationship falls apart, she retreats back into the position of a believer rather than a divine figure. she compares him to a Holy Ghost who promised to save her and take her to heaven. instead, she is in hell in every sense of the word: she’s down bad and feels guilty for digging up the grave. he was a jehovah’s witness who promised that she could break free of the cage imposed by love without changing her religion altogether; she would’ve just had to switch denominations. she could still have a marriage and kids! she could still have a blue tortured poet! the man was different, but not the dreams they had together. the story of the first part of the album ends here. her faith has been broken, and she has only found any semblance of sanity by refusing to mention these belief systems altogether.

side b/the anthology blends the christian imagery of side a with goddesses, sorcerers, and prophecies. she bargains with these powers to let her have the future she wants (the prophecy). she doesn’t sound like someone believing in salvation. if anything, she feels cursed. she decides that the concept of divinely ordained timing will never work in certain relationships (‘the goddess of timing once found us beguiling / she said she was trying / peter, was she lying?’). this disdain extends onto her perception of other people’s faith (‘bet they never spared a prayer for my soul’). she does position herself as a prophet in cassandra, but even then, she admits that the role has hurt her. perhaps the pain in thank you aimee was meant to be, or perhaps she was just strong enough to build a legacy in spite of it, boulder by boulder. is she a martyr? does she want to be? or did she save herself?

the only real love song on this half of the album makes no mention of fate or any divine forces. it wasn’t meant to be. it’s not a supernatural invisible string or lightning in a bottle. she is just in love.

the album ends with the manuscript, which revisits an old story of a defining, formative heartbreak. as she sings ‘at last, she knew what the agony had been for’ while describing the legacy of her writing, she seems to revert to thinking about the purpose of trauma. the only exception is that, in this case, she is the one who found meaning in her pain by turning it into a manuscript. writing is her belief system now, and she proselytizes by telling her stories and thus giving up the manuscript.

ultimately, her belief in destiny has chewed her up and spat her out. she so desperately clung to her existing belief systems that she was fooled by a conman, which left her feeling cursed. religion is supposed to be with someone even in their darkest moments, but the album explains that taylor often felt abandoned. the only constant in her life was, well, herself. she’ll be okay, but her pen will be her saving grace.

[casscainmainly]

Cassandra Cain and Asian Stereotypes

So I've seen people debating whether Cass is a racist character or not because she falls into certain Asian stereotypes. While this discussion is valid and important, a lot of the conversation (on this website and beyond) is steered by White/non-Asian people, or people who haven't read a lot of Cass' stuff. This is my take on Cass and Asian stereotypes as a Chinese Cass fan. I do not speak for all Asians, or even all Chinese people, who are absolutely free to disagree with any of these arguments.

Stereotypes I will cover here: Silent Asian, Model Minority, and Hypersexuality.

The Silent Asian Stereotype

The most obvious stereotype Cass runs into is the Silent Asian. I would recommend reading the linked article for more information. Silent Asian characters are Asians who are part of a core cast, but rarely speak. Kimiko Miyashiro in The Boys, Lilly in Pitch Perfect, and Katana in Suicide Squad are all examples of this. The article also mentions Ben from Umbrella Academy, who can only communicate with one character, thus limiting his dialogue.

Why does this happen? Removing Asian characters' dialogue reflects the Western conception of Asians as demure, rule-following, and meek, never speaking up or acting out. It also means writers don't have to spend as much time writing these Asian characters, who are secondary to White protagonists.

The problem with the Silent Asian, then, is not the silence itself, but the consequences of silence. Mute Asians exist, as do Asians who don't speak much; in media, Silent Asians are harmful because they indicate an unwillingness to focus on the Asian character.

This is why Cass, even before she learns to speak longer sentences, is not a Silent Asian. While her conception undoubtedly has unfortunate echoes of this trope, she defies it by being the protagonist of the story. A protagonist cannot be a Silent Asian, because a requirement of the trope is being a secondary character. Cass' feelings and actions are the center of Batgirl (2000), so allegations of this stereotype don't actually make sense.

Furthermore, the trope is about passivity and acquiescence to a White authority. From her introduction, Cass is neither passive nor acquiescent - her origin story is literally about defying David Cain, a White male authority figure. Beyond her not speaking much, she ticks none of the boxes for this stereotype. I think it's time for people to stop mentioning this stereotype in conjunction with Cass, who in every possible way subverts it.

The Model Minority Stereotype

The model minority myth is the belief that Asians are more successful and talented than others, particularly other minoritised groups. Like the Silent Asian, the model minority myth paints Asians as obedient and submissive. This is, in many ways, more insidious than the Silent Asian - there are still people who believe this stereotype (and jokes like 'of course you're good at math, you're Asian') is somehow not racist.

Though this myth seems positive, make no mistake that White people invented this tale for two reasons: to put down Black and Brown communities, and to prevent Asians from ever fully assimilating into White culture.

Cass plays on this myth very interestingly. I've discussed in this post how David Cain and Bruce's assertion that she's 'perfect' is a blatant reference to the model minority myth - by describing her as 'perfect' to them, they are centering their own desires, erasing Cass' individuality.

This is partially why I don't like 'Cass is Bruce's favourite' and 'Cass is an angel who can do no wrong' interpretations when people are just saying it without context. Cass being Bruce's favourite, or Bruce seeing her as an angel, is not a good thing - it is a representation of his biased attitude towards her. He is unable to accept her being a murderer because he is trapped within the model minority mindset. This is not saying Bruce is a full-on racist, but that his actions and perspectives are coloured by his Whiteness.

Cass' abrasive personality, willingness to defy Bruce and David, and very real flaws (her inability to see grey areas, communication difficulties, etc.) make her avoid this stereotype. Additionally, her close relationships with Black characters like Onyx and Duke are essential to combating the anti-Blackness at the core of the model minority myth. Her character evokes the stereotype (perfect martial arts silent fighter), but ultimately defies it through being the star of her own story (and also not being good at math. The fact she doesn't have anything to do with tech is actually one of my favourite aspects of her character, because I am TIRED of tech Asian characters).

The Hypersexual Asian Woman Stereotype

Asian women are often exoticised and fetishised as the ideal sexual partner; think of the term 'yellow fever', which describes men lusting after Asian women. The hypersexualisation of Asian women in media once again goes hand-in-hand with Asians being submissive. They are seen as innocent and child-like, while simultaneously being seductive and sexually experienced.

This stereotype is genuinely perpetuated in Batgirl (2000), mainly by the art in Horrocks' run. Where in Puckett's run there is refreshingly little sexualisation of Cass, once you hit Horrocks' run you get a LOT more shots of her lying down, sexually suggestive covers, etc. People have discussed this already, probably to more effect than I will do here.

However, as I wrote in my Gender and Sexuality posts, the writing is actually fairly defiant of this trope. Cass is vocally uncomfortable with hypersexualisation, and neither of her male love interests stick around. The problem with the Hypersexual Asian Woman is the focus on White sexual interests, where the woman is objectified for the White male gaze. Simply because Cass is the protagonist, the writing focuses on her sexual interests, and in the end it's about gaining control of her gender presentation and sexuality.

Cassandra Cain Vs. Asian Stereotypes

The through-line that connects all these Asian stereotypes is a lack of agency. There's a reason passiveness is the main trait for all of these tropes- the Asian body must be weaker than their White counterparts, in order to be tools or weapons against other minoritised groups.

Cassandra Cain, a character born from a choice that defies White male authority, rises above this passiveness with flying colours. The details of her character certainly fall into some of the above tropes, and the way her character is handled later (evil Cass, New 52), is certainly racist. However, the reason she means so much to me is because at its core, her story is a story of Asian agency. And that in itself is unstereotypical.

[ravene]

Part 1 Chapter 2 be like

[ganondoodle]

(Original art) Xaror, any pronouns, species (?), age (?)

short summary about them; they act as both an antagonist and an ally since they are only really interested in what they want or whats fun to them, they are immortal and call themselves 'death itself' since they have a special connection to souls (being the only one able to communicate with them) and the ability to seperate souls from their bodies in such a way that nothing can harm the soul afterwards their main goal is to .. bother and disturb the 'celestials'*, which they hate, as much as they can, breaking into their palace, freeing prisoners, destroying research, destroying the place, and most importantly, making as many souls unusable to them as possible-

they dont want to destroy the celestials though, they cant fight them anyway and this game of doing 'good' only with the goal of annoying them is their most treasured activity, so Xaror doesnt intend to stop them from killing or hurting anyone, only from harvesting what they are actually after (though Xaror doesnt actually care as little as they think they do about people, and has a soft spot for demons)

most of their appearance is later into the story; Zaphira (the empress) had been in coma and the medical facility she was treated in was destroyed by Shargon (orange eyed demon who acts as her bodyguard for the first part) in an attempt to save her from her estranged relatives taking over her country after they heard of her decline in health, she is believed dead but washes up on the shore of the mountain Xaror resides at years later (it has a reason, too much to write here) and they slowly nurse her back to health, the reason they give for it is that they found their first encounter very fun, thats all (is it?)

(more lore under the cut bc this is already so long .. im trying to keep it short q-q ......... this is stuff i have been working on since i was a kid so uh, some things might be cheesy but i cant change them anymore ..)

just to get some basics out of the way; theres three worlds, the celestials palace, human world and demon world, each are their own planet connected via different gateways

*celestials (possibly not final name, loosely based on angels) are the last remaining "survivors" of their planets demise, when their world died the most powerful among them cannibalized the weaker to sustain themselves until there were only less than 10 left, who each turned into different beings from it and dont resemble their own people much anymore, they built a palace from what was left on their world that protects them from space as its atmosphere collapsed shortly after- however they still needed something to live off; they discover the human world and are delighted to find rather short lived people with powerful souls, the best kind of sustenance for them (now), they aim to herd them like cattle, but a problem arose when it turned out another world has long been in contact with the human world; demons

demons are semi immortal creatures that act as protectors for their world, protection they extended, more or less secretely, to the human world ensuring them a long and secure life- the celestials need them to die at their whim though (demons are few in numbers, hard to kill and rarely have offspring, not an ideal target); as they worked out a plan on how to get rid of demons one of the celestials, Xanthriel (time) grew somewhat fond of people as they spent alot of time in the human world to observe and research them; in the end turning on their own completely, but losing the fight against Uriel (knowledge)

Xanthriel was supposed to be executed for their betrayal, but it doesnt work, instead they are splintered into many parts after a lot of struggle, most body, memory and most strength is one part (ending up as motionless forever bleeding corpse kept locked up in the palace), the rest is some time later gathered together and reforms as a seperate, weak mockery of them, they embody Xanthriels emotion- Xaror, without memory, strangely cut to pieces (hence all the missing limbs and broken halo) but driven by an unstoppable desire to disturb the celestials (they live seperate long enough to each become their own person, at some point Xaror discovers Xanthriels body after all and they merge back together, though as they are now two, Xanthriel only takes over once directly after merging, stays silent for a long time and lets Xaror be themselves, only later revealing that they are there at all .. hiding perhaps- i rarely have specific ideas for voices, but Xanthriels is like, like coarse rocks being violently rubbed against each other, less voice more noise)

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group (he wasnt the strongest or special, he was jsut the last in the row and always got the lowest dosage) when Xaror found them in yet another break in into the palace and got him back to the demon world .. where he was promptly blamed for the others that were taken and treated like a pretender/fake/spy bc what he got put through changed his eye color (something that demons cannot change in any form) to one that does not exist among 'real' demons (orange ... notice the inner color of Xarors broken halo? :) ), some even suggesting killing him, but none of them were brave enough to do it (they were all kids still) .. except Eadrya (the big blue-ish one, largely regarded as the strongest demon alive) but Shargon managed to escape, and since then lived largely in isolation- this is part of why he is so hated, and why he starts to spend so much time in the human world after rediscovering the pathway there)

[raiiny-bay]

the kids released a new album

[deepwithintheabyss]

So I know immortal Jason, cursed to come back from the dead is already a thing, explored as horror and a comedy

But did anyone think about how his family reacts?

Jason dies and they grief

And he comes back

Maybe much time passed maybe not

And it happens again

And again, and again and again

How many times does it need to happen before they become used to it? Used to death, to return, already counting down the days to when his corpse regains life

How long until the thought of "oh god what if he doesn't come back this time" turns to a whisper

How long till they realize that they're expecting him to die, sending him on misisons that he won't return from, planning for it

Treating him as expendable because he is

And what happens when one day he doesn't come back? It's from something you thought he could handle

Or maybe not even that Maybe he goes out on his own with no back up or way to call for help, why would he need to?

Because Jason comes back

-

What if they don't grow used to it, each time they grief him all over again, hope that he comes back, even knowing it's a curse, no rest for the dead.

They hokd their speech for the funeral in hands, and polish it anew each time, just in case this time this was it, he's gone.

They wonder if they're ever going to perfect it, ever going to need it.

Or if it will be Jason who stands at their graves.

He dies over and over again, recklessly throwing himself into harms way to protect anyone he can, because his heart was always bigger than he could afford

So ready to sacrifice himself for anyone that cares, and now he has even more excuse to do so.

Why should anyone get hurt if Jason can come back just fine?

Except,doesn't he see how much it hurts them? To grief and fear what could be, to wonder why he thinks so little of himself.

Knowing that Jason would rather die than see someone hurt.

(Knowing that everything comes at a price and that the universe is cruel.)

[starstruckodysseys]

love that gorgug just sounds like. anxious this season bc that was literally me junior year. what do you mean i have to start thinking about my future?? i’m literally just chilling??

[doodleodds]

Me? Uploading a Halloween comic on November 18th, almost four whole-ass weeks late???? Yeah that’s uh. yup. yeah

Thanks for reading! :) <3

[murdockhawkeye]

yk i kinda wish miss chatham was in the later seasons still. like imagine if we got an episode of them visiting the retirement home

i can see it now. they lose miss chatham somehow while in there, and then end up on their own side adventures

lewis is acting like he's found his people and he's invited to the next bingo meet by a gladys. or multiple gladys's. while on the opposite end of the spectrum, rikki gets into a fight/rivalry with some old lady

and cleo and emma end up being wrangled into helping one of the seniors, only for emma to end up transforming into a mermaid and for the senior that they were helping, to see it

and then because for whatever reason this came to mind, it turns out said senior is julia's ex karl, who apparently lives at the same retirement home as miss chatham

he almost gets his camera out for old times sake, because he hasn't changed much since they were teenagers, but then miss chatham gets her tennis racket out

suffice to say. they end up walking out with pocketful of old people candy and also a bunch more lore/info from miss chatham. idk

[writterings]

the thing they don't tell you about most mlm romance books is that they fucking suck ass