#in which one brother is VERY involved in the criminal world while the other's not and is overall kept in the dark over it

[snowyfrostshadows]

I have enough AUs and yet...

[nepobabyeurydice]

Am currently obsessed with the idea of annabeth returning to Gotham and becoming a crime boss allied with red hood/like an adviser of sorts to him partly because if she’s the princess of Gotham, she’s running it her way, and partly as revenge against bruce, because if a 7 year old he neglected could kill to survive, he could kill to avenge his son. She’s very strong on the no messing with kids rule for obvious reasons, and she doesn’t see robin as an exception to that because she is not plagued by pit rage. She has a very confusing (to them) relationship to the bats cuz she openly hates Batman, and will taunt him by putting robin in supposed danger, but never actually hurts him and anyone who does hurt him is made to see the error of their ways through somewhat violent means.

She acts mainly as damage control to Jason when it comes to Tim, because he’s her big brother and she’s trying to subtly break the influence of the pit over time. She either stops Jason before titans tower when she learns what he’s planning or goes to confront him there. Then, later, when Damian joins the family, she taunts Bruce about his dead daughter, using details no one else should know, and dramatically reveals herself. (Sadly, I am the only person who can write it the way i want it to be written, and will not ever write it)

Annabeth getting a call from Talia (incredibly alarming to her btw) and seeing Jason doing his vengeance shtick: Maybe I should go back to Gotham and check that he’s okay.

Grover who’s about to set out on his Percy Supervision Mission in Yancy Academy: Please for the love of all the gods be good.

Luke would be fine with letting her go since while he’s a bit weird about her it’s still a sibling-like bond and the idea of 12-year old Annabeth with beefed up Jason standing in front of the world’s worst criminals brings me joy.

Annabeth, walking into Jason’s apartment after six minutes of making sure his neurosis were the same: Damn bitch you live like this? After all my architecture rants too??

Jason: Are you a fucking ghost?

Annabeth: Are you?

Annabeth is very clear about being Annabeth and doing her whole leaving the Wayne name behind forever to Jason who kind of struggles to wrap his head around cute and shy Anna being this terrifyingly smart monstrosity. She makes his plans even more sick and twisted, plays around with the ambiance and the clues and makes sure that it can only be traced back to the Red Hood and not Jason Todd. Which means she tortured Dick psychologically at several points in the middle of other villain fights to see which reactions she can use against Bruce more subtly so that’s fun.

Dick, on his third mental breakdown of the month about Anna: I miss her so much I wish we tried harder to find her!

Annabeth, writing it down from where she’s hiding: Making the cases be increasingly similar to what happened to me has produced results. Find a demigod and recreate case with Bruce to torment his further.

Tim was originally barely a factor to Annabeth because she doesn’t really care for him unlike Jason and Jason’s plans on what to do with him seemed sane enough but after he mentioned that he wanted to get into Titan’s Tower Annabeth arranged for something on the Drake’s end to pull Tim away for a while and convinced Jason to focus on the Joker plan again. Annabeth is extremely against involving anyone who isn’t Bruce, Joker, Alfred and Dick in her plans and only occasionally considers adding Barbara. So when Jason shows clear interest in hurting Tim as a way to get back at Bruce she moves up her whole timeline and has ten different plans running to keep Tim out of the country at first then away from where Jason would be by orchestrating a few YJ fights until Jason tells her to fight Tim herself since he can’t get there in time.

Annabeth: Fight him? By myself?

Jason: Yeah, I believe in you *cuts the call*

Annabeth:…Fuck it, I’ll do a Riddler impression and hope for the best

said impression is completely terrifying and taken out of a saw movie basically and Tim is now wary of ever approaching a truck (which was actually a monster) since it. somehow threw him into a building and shattered three of his ribs. Annabeth continues running interference like this as she tries to keep Jason on task with ‘make Bruce kill the Joker’ scheme.

Eventually she’s called back to Camp after Percy shows up and Annabeth decides she needs someone to keep an eye on Jason and the whole plan thing so she sends Julieta, her godly half-sister, to keep him on track.

Julieta infiltrating Gotham Academy during the last three weeks of classes: This is so stupid.

Jason: I don’t care, tell me his habits and schedule.

Julieta: Do you get off talking to me like that?

Jason:…I’m sorry.

Basically all of TLT happens and Annabeth returns to Gotham immediately after the summer solstice which enrages Luke who speeds up his plans a bit and Percy is saved by the naiads and Annabeth is now double heartbroken and back in a city that encourages her to fester in her rage.

She lets Jason loose on Bruce and the Joker as she kidnapped Tim and uses him to torture Dick and Babs as she uses references to all of Jason’s career as Robin to guide them while taunting that she knows who they are and making another Saw trap. Meanwhile Tim has been given a slice of ambrosia and feels like he’s dying, he’s not but his godly heritage is diluted by four generations so it’s real bad pain.

Annabeth: It’s this or processing my emotions, Timothy, and I’m a Wayne, so down the hatch!

Tim, writhing in agony and shaking as Ares pretends not to notice him for six hours before helping him: Am I on drugs?

Things go down, Jason reveals himself, Bruce in a fit of desperation tries to cut his throat open but Julieta who helped in said Joker kidnapping stabs him thought the arm and Joker who was wisely knocked out by Julieta’s during the jokernapping is rescued by his henchmen while Jason has a mental breakdown and Bruce is dumped in the Batmobile by a truly done Julieta

And that’s all I can think of right now.

Thank you for telling of your idea, it’s actually a lot of fun, and since I was thinking about making a fic dedicated to 13 What-If scenarios in the Annabeth is a Wayne Universe this is definitely going on the list of you want it too.

[praxieuser]

PRAXIE'S SUPER AWESOME SUPER COOL THEORY ABOUT DANIEL BEING IN THE MOB:

because the where the magic awakens discord server seemed to vibe with it, and it's like. a little bit funny.

SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

as the title says, i thought up a crack theory about the Pages being previously part of / in charge of / otherwise involved in a mob. here is the thought process for how my adhd crack led me down this path:

1.) the headline of the muggle news paper and what it implies

note that the headline is "The Bloody Pages" headlines during the turn of the century were more dramatic, news headlines i've seen are more straight forward if the perpatrators aren't well known. for example: "Father-Son Duo: Mass Heist, Mass Murder" would be what i would expect if the Pages were largely unknown. but they are specifically references by their last name implying the family itself is pretty infamous for this kind of thing. and while i can't quite ascertain this, dad Page and bro Page look like they're dressed in that sort of 20th century gangster style in their picture of them getting arrested: dark coat, dark vest instead of looking like run in the mill burglars with skii masks.

2.) the gravity of their crimes

it's implied that along with a heist, they've committed mass murder. this implies to me that if they killed that much people in one sitting, they either had other people with them OR it was just the two of them but they had firepower, and since this is the UK and not the US, purchasing guns has stricter regulations, especially guns that are something like AK-47s? with the intent of doing harm? the chances are they'll sniff you out.

this to me implies either: they had the power and influence to rally up goons OR they had the money and contacts to smuggle arms

3.) this partially explains kaleena and esme's thing

starting with kaleena, not only does it partially explain her infamy in the wizarding world (imagine, a wizard not only doing magic in front of muggles/to harm muggles but being in a muggle mob?) it also coincides with gridley calling her a world class criminal. maybe she was more underground before marrying daniel's dad, but ended up coming up on the surface as she became more involved in the mob, whichever path, it makes it clear she has experience in criminality

for esme, it explains the "knows more than she lets on" thing she has going on: she knows of her mother's involvement in the mob, but since she was definitely still underage, we can say she was kept farther from it. she probably hasn't seen anything firsthand, but she knows what she knows. we could also say that in general aside from their older brother, the Page kids were kept far away from gang business for there safety: making it so daniel didn't know about the mob

4.) shit i highkey made up but listen that's what you're here for

so then, if kaleena was in the mob, we could say that maybe by the time she had daniel, she decided to be less involved in the frontlines to stay with the kids more since they're a huge vulnerability bc they're in a mob and presumably have a few enemies, but also bc she probably genuinely cared for them. making it so she's very close with daniel, which could explain the strength of daniel's later denial

then we could say that, by the time dad Page and bro Page get arrested, she's old and she's rusty with her magic, since she's been spending most of her time taking care of the kids for a few years, explaining why she gets caught despite being a "world class criminal". but then all daniel would know is his father and brother are the big bad, and his mom just loved them so much she tried to break them out. and since he was still very young, we can say that esme didn't want to tell him the truth bc you try telling your 5 year old brother both of your currently incarcerated parents, one of which is he is very attached to, were mobsters.

and because he's got a whole complex about it by the present time, having The Talk™ with him is even more complicated, especially when esme herself is presumably only somewhere aroumd 17-19 years old and has to juggle taking care of daniel and her own personal struggles brought on by the arrest of her parents

5.) but why doesn't daniel know about the mob in the present time?

could be that he knows his parents are in a mob but doesn't say it bc his whole thing is getting bullied for crimes his family did and he'd rather not pour gasoline on a house on fire, and is under the belief that his mother was there against her will OR that his mother wasn't involved at all, bar her trying to break dad Page and bro Page put of jail.

and thats my delulu corkboard crack theory on why daniel's family is part of the mob. thank you 🚶

[utilitycaster]

Threatened this once as a throwaway tag, so: let's talk about why "Justice for Adeen Tasithar" as an attempted criticism of Essek is absolutely wild as a choice.

Disclaimer: there are many deeply annoying fans of Essek who do not seem to understand that the narrative and the cast (and by extension, merch/official art/comics) will treat him differently for being an NPC, even if he is a very important NPC and a member of the Mighty Nein, and you are justified in being annoyed. There are also a number of equally annoying Essek haters, most of whom are bitter shippers who have (correctly) realized it's slightly more palatable to others in the fandom to openly hate on Essek than on a PC; or else they are the miserable souls who think that every minute spent on a character other than their personal favorite stolen and wasted time. I am a firm believer in this post; everyone is annoying and complaining on your own blog about it is your absolute right. Also, both in regards to the fans mentioned above and the characters mentioned below, it is possible for people on two opposite sides of a position to both suck.

The first issue is the phrase itself; it co-opts a statement usually used for victims of hate crimes or political prisoners in the real world, and makes it unironically about a pretend guy who had precisely one scene, which is certainly a choice. I'm not actually opposed to using "Justice for" jokingly in fandom, but it is weird to use it relatively seriously in fandom.

The second is that Adeen Tasithar is a member of one of the Dens of the Kryn Dynasty, and is a Taskhand, a term reserved for people with high-level military responsibilities, and is a member of the Bright Queen's Court. During wartime. Coupled with the fact that Essek, who, as described below, is never portrayed as particularly cruel nor petty despite his many flaws, thinks Adeen genuinely does suck, this means that at best, Adeen Tasithar is heavily involved in military operations at a very high level and is in some way personally unpleasant. At, frankly, not even worst, we're talking D&D Donald Rumsfeld. Now, we can debate whether Essek is a war criminal or merely traitorous (not on this post though, because I don't care and it's not relevant), but, while we know very little about Adeen Tasithar, it's not an overreach to say that this man has a pretty strong chance of being guilty of his own war crimes. In general, calling for justice is something I'd hesitate to use in an "the enemy of my enemy" manner, especially if it's well within reason to consider that you're talking about Ludinus Da'leth's Kryn counterpart.

The third is that while you're under no obligation to like Essek, he really is, in general, portrayed as a decent judge of character and a terrible judge of whether selfishly following his own ambition was appropriate and what the consequences might be. He detests the members of the Cerberus Assembly with whom he works; he likes the Mighty Nein despite them ultimately being his potential undoing. He has a few friends in the Dynasty and cares about his (unambiguously good) brother, and feels remorse about his father. Essek has done terrible things in the service of his goals; but directly throwing an innocent under the bus (vs. setting into motion things that will, as a side effect, lead to innocent collateral damage, which he obviously will do) isn't his style. Again, at the very least, Adeen Tasithar is someone whom Essek genuinely believes is a bad person (note that Essek, by this time, also considers himself to be a bad person, and Trent Ikithon to be a "fuck hole", which might help your understanding of scale here). This doesn't mean Tasithar deserves what he got, but frankly, in a campaign about people who got a lot of things they didn't deserve, it's a pretty blatant straw-grasp onto a side character with the briefest of appearances to decide he's your poster boy victim just so that you can go full spiked bat on a character you dislike.

The fourth is that there's never any connection to how Essek not being friends with the Mighty Nein (or entering a relationship with Caleb) would provide justice for Adeen Tasithar, who is in an Empire prison by the end following the exchange during peace talks. It's actually entirely possible that the Empire eventually figures things out re: Adeen, notably because memory modification as a criminal act is going to be really fresh in their minds following the Ikithon trial (and if they interrogate Trent, it's also possible the Empire finds out about Essek). Essek is already a fugitive from the Dynasty and cannot move freely through the Empire as a drow whom assembly members would recognize. The guy didn't get off scot free anyway, so really, he is going to suffer to some extent; you just want him to experience abject and total misery, rather than constant fear tempered with a small degree of happiness, like some kind of sicko, or megachurch member.

The final one is that "justice for Yeza Brenatto" or "I don't like that Essek worked with the Assembly even if he wasn't happy about it" would actually be far more reasonable statements to make. Yeza was, in fact, a simple alchemist who was forced to become a pawn in the game being played by, among other people, Essek, and suffered immensely for it. The Assembly does in fact suck. And yet, rather than admit Caleb also considered working with the Assembly for selfish reasons, or that Veth, you know, exists people jump to woobify some random NPC about whom we know basically nothing other than "Military guy, well-connected politically."

So anyway: feel however you want about Essek; but if you're on Adeen Tasithar's bandwagon, I don't think you actually are terribly bothered by hypothetical fictional war crimes. I think you just are too spineless and online to say "I dislike Essek" and needed to construct an elaborate poor reason why.

[agravemistake13ghosts]

Emily March

An In-Depth Character Analysis

Ghost Form:

Like all ghosts, she lacks skin pigmentation and has grey shadows around her eyes as well as a visible grey hue to her lips. Her feet are bare but splattered with blood as is most of her legs which are visible from the knee down. She wears the same purple dress she was wearing the night she died, her wrists marred by the deep vertical cuts that took her life. The post-mortem photographs taken of her reveal that her back was scattered with bruises and various cuts and scrapes, likely from one or several of her eleven victims fighting back.

Killer Classification:

Spree Killer:

A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. Being present during Royce's death and then seeing his body caused her to have a psychotic break. She purposely chose 11 people she knew her half-brother cared about - one of which was her own friend, Caroline Cooper - hunting and stabbing each of them 11 times with a Buck 119 knife over a span of 11 days. Her spree started Monday, October 14th, 1957 and she killed one person each night, coming to an end on Thursday, October 24th, 1957.

Her mask (Drawn by me):

Personality:

On the surface, Emily was kind. She was a good friend, a wonderful listener, and a talented musician. She was fiercely intelligent. A trait she inherited from her great-grandfather, Ryan, along with his photographic memory, and black as pitch hair. While she had a good heart, it could also be uncontrollable, very similar to Royce's lack of self-control.

Because of her empathetic nature, she never hesitated to help those in need of it, treating all with warmth and respect. Even if she didn't say a word, her feelings were easy to read due to her honest expressions, which caused those around her to soften in tough situations and be honest as well. Even with this, she wasn't without her flawed, quirky, and immature side, which was typical of her age.

Emily was, despite her relatively small size and the time period she was born and raised in, headstrong and outspoken, possessing what some would say was a pathological fearlessness when it came to defending her friends or herself. She also wasn't afraid to be violent when the situation called for it and was a capable fighter.

She was never afraid to voice her mind about what was "right" and what is "wrong," making her somewhat opinionated and stubborn. She eventually learned to not see the world in black or white, becoming the one others turn to when they need emotional support or advice as she can be direct and make hard but valid points, even to a friend. Still, Emily was unforgiving of anyone who betrayed or disappointed her. She could also be manipulative at times, easily telling people what they want to hear or lying to get Royce out of trouble.

Though she was usually calm and compassionate, Emily had a surprising hidden violent side to her when her short temper was brought into play. Her half-brother tended to be the only one who brought this out in her due to his violent and ill-mannered nature which she never tolerated or had any patience for. She is completely comfortable reacting violently to his instigations, believing wholeheartedly that his reasons for hating her are pathetic and make him an incredibly weak person. She could also be vindictive and harsh in her dealings with him, one time remarking quite cruelly that she was their father's favorite child (which was true) and that it was never her fault that her mother loved her while Johnny's fled the moment she had him and started a new life pretending he never existed.

Emily was in love with Royce Clayton. A love he returned just as fiercely. She was present during the drag race that took his life and it traumatized her deeply. The compounding shock of seeing his body and the added knowledge that Johnny was going to go unpunished was too much for her and Emily suffered a psychotic break, channeling all of her grief and anger into a masked vigilante persona that the newspapers would come to call, "The Madison Ripper."

For eleven nights in a row, the Ripper terrorized Madison, Ohio, claiming a life each night. As the Ripper, Emily was malicious, calculating and brutal, specifically targeting those her brother was fond of and taking their lives with a Buck 119, inflicting 11 stab wounds with precision and bloody resolve. The sheriff of the town at the time, Donald Rafkin, was a psychic. Due to his suspicion of her, he attempted to do a reading when he went to see how she was doing. He could glean nothing. She was blank. Empty. Nothing inside. Royce's murder had robbed her of her will to live as well as anything else that had made her an individual.

Even after her vengeance was complete and the Ripper was retired, Emily felt no reprieve from her agony. Seeing no relief, and tired of the pain consuming her every fiber, she murdered her brother, stabbing him a grand total of 26 times before cutting his throat. She then returned home and turned the blade on herself.

In total, she outlived Royce by fifteen days.

Relationship with Royce Clayton:

One of the defining relationships in Emily's life was the one she shared with Royce Clayton. As their mothers had been lifelong best friends, the two were born relatively close together, with only a ten day difference.

Royce was born on March 23rd, 1940. He is an Aries, which definitely suits him. It was clear from a young age that Royce had temper issues, putting Johnny's head through a window when he was just four years old - despite the fact that Johnny was two years older - as well as hurling a block at the back of another child's head when they pulled Emily's hair. Despite this troubling behavior, Emily never batted an eyelash, merely learning to look out for signs of an impending tantrum and find ways to calm him down. If that failed, she would just find a way to keep him out of trouble afterward. Since Emily could smell lies and tell even better one's, this tended to be successful more often than not.

Royce driven by a fierce, persistent determination to win in every aspect of his life. However, his volatile emotions could often drive him to behave childishly and become tiresome to his friends at times. Royce was incredibly hotheaded and easy to upset, often striking out with his fists toward the source of his annoyance. He even occasionally got nasty with girls if they irritated him. This was particularly true about Caroline Cooper, one of Emily's best friend's and the most annoying out of the three. His dislike of her was no secret to her as he had told her he hated her to her face before walking off like nothing happened. Royce was also impatient by nature and could be very prideful, having much difficulty admitting he was wrong about something.

With the onset of puberty, their close friendship became a crush which evolved into love. Despite discovering his talent for baseball in his freshman year of high school as well as becoming suddenly very popular with girls, Royce paid no attention to them, often exhibiting annoyance with their persistence, solely seeking Emily's attention, desiring her affection and love, truly believing that she was the only person that loved him completely, illustrating that he had enough self-awareness to know that his ego and anger problems made him a hard person to feel genuine affection for, the superiority complex he exhibited hiding his true feelings of inferiority and failure.

Emily never minded, encouraging him when he hit a low, doing his homework when he was too exhausted from everything else to do it himself, calming him down when he lost it with an endless supply of patience, and giving him the love and affection he desired, easily managing to put him back into place without fear of reprisals if he overstepped in her outside relationships. Luckily, unlike a lot of girls in her time period, she didn't really have to worry much about Royce being jealous or possessive since he knew it was illogical to expect her to just ignore every guy that talked to her. He trusted her enough to tell him if one overstepped.

As a result of his love for her, Royce became fiercely protective of Emily, saying to his best friend and teammate, Andrew, that "if anything ever happened to her, I would die." He would often turn his anger on her friend's if she got hurt when she was with them. Even going so far as to throw one of his classmates to the ground when they accidentally knocked her into the chalkboard.

Royce told Susan during their first captivity that the hardest part of dying was watching Emily fight against her friends hold on her as she tried to get to him. To help him. The sight of her tears had hurt more than the torn skin on his body. He had been grateful for the superheated air stealing his breath, knowing that every scream for help he gave was a dagger to her heart.

[aokuro-san]

Recommending fanfics (I): Complete Fanfics

I've been trying since yesterday to make an entry to recommend fanfics. In general I like to read fanfics x reader (or with the inclusion of reader) because I enjoy imagining that I am inside the story, however, you will see that there are some that I did not take them that way and even so I love them. 

I hope you like it!

                       Part 1: Complete fanfics!

Énoument, by LadysDaze 

                         (My hero academia) AO3

A fanfic about a girl whose gift is to travel through time... after a horrible death that is repeated over and over again.

As you can see, it wasn't a coincidence that I got hooked on TokRev, it was a matter of time, haha

However, despite the fact that the literary quality of this fanfic is unbeatable, what really sets it apart from the others is that it is written as an otome game. How do you hear it! It introduces us to the protagonist, her relationships with other characters, etc. in about fifteen introductory chapters and, from there, the author creates several possible paths for the romantic story that she wants to be born between her and the available boys (well, and girl!). So, as you can see, it's a very special reading in this world (at least I haven't found anything like it finished, at least), and that's why I recommend it.

Costumes and Romances, by Lisa_Lisa 

                         (One Piece) AO3 and Wattpad

In this case, the story IS 100% ROMANTIC and focuses on a young woman with an impossible love for her boss who, in turn, falls in love with a man. A Cyrano-esque masochist, she helps him find true love while she develops, to her surprise, feelings for said boss's brother. A brother with dangerous businesses involved that, at times, colors this story with things more typical of a thriller... However, we also have tons of humor and a quite CANON vision of the One Piece characters within a simple work, but effective. And that's why I recommend it.

the eternal matinee (no more showings), by animepseud (multipurpose room)

                        (My hero academia) AO3

This is one of the most recent fanfics I was able to read (because he was a bit plof in that sense) and, what a gem! The romance is present, sure, but not in a way that it could be in the previous work. What is important here is the evolution of both protagonists: on the one hand, Izuku Midoriya, who now that he is the number 1 hero sees that his life has been reduced to that, to be Deku, and cannot abandon his role under almost any circumstances, because people's expectations are at stake along with his own career. And on the other is the protagonist, a girl her age who hates heroes and is being harassed not only by some of them, but by a mysterious criminal who will reunite her with the male protagonist. The author is in charge of dedicating a chapter to each one so that we can see the perspective of both and how they treat their relationship until the end. A fanfic that hooks from the beginning and that, at least, I could not leave until I finished it. Highly recommended!

Sex is a learning, even for shitheads, by Bragi 

                          (My hero academia) AO3 and Wattpad

This fanfic has always been one of my favorites and it couldn't be missing from the recommended list! And it is that we have the great Bakugo debating -as a good teenager- how to have relations for the first time with his girlfriend, a very nice and funny girl, who seems to be the only one capable of putting up with it, haha, and from there we will continue his discovery of sex and sexuality. An incredibly well-handled discovery, strangely realistic within its own context, and quite humorous, knowing how to get serious when it's convenient.

If you like series like Big Mouth, you definitely have to give it a try.

Echoes in the Darkness, by Marguaery 

                              (Haikyuu!!) AO3

And finally within the complete fanfics, we have this marvel. A dark story full of gray characters within gangs and/or mafias that, as always, fight to be above others. Here the protagonist is a contract killer with a traumatic past and present from which she has given up trying to escape... At least until the young Tobio Kageyama crosses her life and things start to get even worse.

If you read "Echoes in the Darkness" rest assured that you will not find a story with fluff. There are activation warnings all over the place and if you're sensitive I really don't recommend it. But, yes, if you go inside, it is rare that you can forget it! Because it's worth every fucking second of your time. And the less you know why, the better it will taste once you finish it.

And here for today! I hope I have encouraged you to read them, see you! ���

[temporalbystander]

Going through One Piece reactions on YouTube and oh boy are people way too blinded by emotion. So, since I refuse to write an essay in the comment section. You get to deal with it.

Under the cut my little thesis/rant on the way people view Garp during the Marineford arc.

First the set up. Monkey D Luffy is on his way to Marineford to save his sworn brother Portgas D Ace from execution. Also there, and sitting on the sidelines for the majority of the arc, is Luffy's grandfather Garp, also know as Garp the first, one of the Marine's top brass.

Now Garp, despite swearing to protect Ace from the insane people rounding up all the pregnant women Ace's father may have bed (one of the many things the World Government does that makes you question whether they're a cult or not but that's a seperate topic), does pretty much nothing through this entire arc and some people aren't too happy about that.

Big Question One. Why didn't Garp do something to help Ace?

Simple Answer. Why would he?

Yeah, as cruel as it sounds, and as batshit crazy some members of the world government may be, Ace is a pirate. Sure you can say he's one of the good ones but he's still a criminal. Hell just look at some of the filler in Alabasta where he torches several ships with one attack. Look at Shanks or Whitebeard, two emperors who sit at the top of the pirate world in terms of strength and are definitely nicer than the other two but still has a crew more than willing to murder. Yes, the Warlord system is fucked, corruption is rampant and calling the Celestial Dragons gods is very cultish but in the world of One Piece? The straw hats are probably the only pirate crew whose members had a death count before becoming pirates. After? Nobody dead by their hands.

Simply put, even though the public execution is basically just an attempt to put an end to the "pirate era" Gold Roger started. Ace does kind of deserve to be there. Garp tried to mould them into marines so they wouldn't face this problem but that clearly didn't work. Once Ace and Luffy made that choice, and continued to make it, they chose to have the World Government and Garp as enemies. Thinking anything else would happen is simply being naive. Garp has had years to accept that, as has Ace.

Follow up question. Why was Garp there then?

Simple Answer. To be with his grandson in his final moments.

Hell, according to Sengoku, Garp was not supposed to be up on the execution platform, he was only there because it was all he could do and nobody is dumb enough to try and stop him. He didn't get involved until Luffy was running up the improvised path to the platform and even when Ace escaped he didn't chase them down. He rode the line between grandfather and Marine as well as he possibly could have. In fact, had the world government not found out who Ace's father was, and had Ace not joined a crew as big on loyalty as Whitebeard's? It would have been quick, painless and (hopefully) somber. It only becomes a true nightmare once the cavalry arrives and the Marines put their plan into place which, while the fact they don't want it televised shows that they are aware how fucked up it is, is nevertheless affective when operating under the belief of how dangerous pirates are.

Big Question Two. Then why was he so upset when Ace died?

Simple Answer. Because Ace just died... Duh.

Okay obviously that's not all there is to it, in fact the comments surrounding this point are the reason why this little rant needed to be made, but it is a part of the reason and the quickest to explain so that's why I picked it. But before I get into all that, let's set the scene. Luffy made it to Ace, the sea prism shackles are undone and the two are fighting together as they try and get the hell out of there, while contending with Admiral Akainu, the human Volcano and the reason why pirates were boiling alive and why Whitebeard has two giant holes in his torso. Dude is scary.

Ace and Akainu clash once and that's all you need to know that Ace is outmatched. Now, I've seen complaints about why Akainu was able to kill Ace despite Ace being a Logia and I'm sorry but those people are idiots. Dude is clearly using Haki which allows Logia, or certain Paramecia like Luffy, to be hurt by attacks that would normally do nothing. Anyway, they fight, they run, Ace dies and Garp is about ready to go after Akainu when Sengoku stops him.

So. Why was Garp so upset at Akainu? Now, I've seen so many different comments describing different thought processes and they all make me face palm. The easiest to dismiss is those that think he was overcome by grief which, yeah is true, and probably why he was able to be stopped so easily despite all the hype about his strength, is nowhere near the full right answer.

Some said it's because an execution and what Akainu did are two seperate things. That what Akainu did was murder or some such. Clear bs in my mind. It's war at this point death is inevitable and will be brutal. Side note, Akainu melts a marine deserter prior to this, plus the whole boiling people alive, and I saw some comments defending the dude. About how his actions made sense under the circumstance. Needless to say, those people scare me.

And of course there are those people who just rant at Garp, saying that he should have done something prior to Ace dying if he was going to do anything at all. And it's to those people I write this and say "grow up and stop being such a crybaby." Which I say out of love because I'm certain these people are just too overcome with their own emotions that they don't remember anything about Ace's death other than the fact he died. Why does this piss me off enough to write an essay? Because it not only belittles Ace's final moments but minimises how truly twisted Akainu is.

So then, why did Garp react the way he did? While grief is a part of it it doesn't explain why he was so set on going after Akainu. The reason for that is simple. Ace wasn't the target of the attack that killed him. Now I'm sure those who have actually read this far are already aware of that fact but I feel it needs reiterating. Ace could have lived, I mean sure he loves Luffy as much as Luffy loves him so there's no way he would have let him die but the possibility was there. Akainu, as well as every other marine nearby, should have only had one mission at that point. Stop Ace from escaping, yet Akainu went after Luffy. He was so blinded by his own anger that he completely neglected his duty for his own satisfaction.

That's why Garp was pissed. Not only did Akainu kill his grandson but it was during an attack on his other grandson made out of anger. The moment Akainu focused on Luffy is the moment Ace's death went from sanctioned execution, or casualty of war, to collateral damage in a personal vendetta. Given how much infighting we've seen among marines it's no wonder Garp reacted like he did. He definitely seems the type.

Of course this is just my own take on this and I may be wrong but I think it makes a whole lot more sense than the other comments who only seem to remember the death part and not the why of the scene... And if you don't believe me about the neglect of duty let me remind you that Luffy managed to get away from Akainu, while still holding on to Ace's body, and even managed to have the time to beg Ivankov to heal his brother. Markov and Jimbei showed up right after Ace's final words to get Luffy out of there. Had Akainu tried to kill any other pirate? Ace would have escaped, Whitebeard might have survived (unsure just how good a doctor Markov is or if he can use his Phoenix powers to regenerate someone else's injuries) and Akainu would have been fired. Well demoted at least, with Garp there laughing because he loved the kid and he was able to focus on his duty better than Akainu was.

At the end of the day, the World Government lucked out. Had pirates actually been the heartless scum they paint them as, or had Ace been the monster they said he was just because of who his father was? Their plan would have failed big time.

[basil-baker]

Task Eleven → Intro & Connections

CHARACTER INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Basil Augustus Sherringford Baker GENDER: cis male PRONOUNS: he/him AGE: 39 OCCUPATION: Private consulting detective ORIENTATION: Asexual RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

+ Dauntless, Determined, Tenacious - Prickly, Self-centred, Operatic

Basil comes from a family lineage in England stretching back centuries. His ancestors had been knighted, served as MPs in Parliament and had the favor of several monarchs. His own father is the head of a multi-billion dollar corporation with connections around the world. His older brother is a highly-respected figure who has the ear of many government officials. With such a pedigree, it seemed natural that Basil too would aspire to a lofty position. Yet that was not and indeed had never been what he wanted.

Ever since he was young, Basil has admired the skills and exploits of Sherlock Holmes. He voraciously read his grandmother’s collection of Conan-Doyle paperbacks as well as watching TV and movie adaptations of the great detective. All of this made him determined to go on to a career in law enforcement, for which the most logical path seemed to be becoming a police officer. Yet, after starting training, it soon became apparent that particular route was not for him. Holmes had not been a police officer himself, after all, but he was an expert in a great many fields. So Basil went on to university, broadening his horizons in a number of subjects and collecting diplomas and degrees in nearly every field he studied.

Armed with such a vast collection of knowledge, he became a private investigator, and an exceedingly good one at that. His skills were tested early on when he went up against the notorious criminal Ratigan. While he may have still been relatively green as an investigator, his knowledge and intellect proved invaluable, and helped him make a name for himself. This event not only proved that Basil had finally found his calling as a top-notch detective, but also showed criminals that he was not to be underestimated.

These days, his reputation as one of the finest private detectives in the world precedes him, and has led him to Redwood Hollow. Knowing his talent for getting to the bottom of strange cases, an acquaintance tipped him off about the recent happenings in the town. Missing persons and strange illnesses are not exactly everyday happenings in a small town, so Basil has agreed to have a look into things. Not as an official case as yet, but being as he is rather good at spotting things which others might overlook, he is willing to see if there is something to indicate his particular skills are needed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

While his family name is an influential one, he does not like to fall back on it or on his father’s money and connections, preferring to earn his own way in the world.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Friends -- Because he really doesn't have any, in town or otherwise!

Enemies / Criminals who he's helped to convict -- There are A LOT of these!

People who know his family -- There are also a lot of these!

WANTED PLOTS / PLOT IDEAS

Basil is very much out of his element being in a small town like this. He's good at not sticking out like a sore thumb, but he definitely does not know the real ins and outs of town. It would be fun to have someone rope him into getting involved in some of the town goings-on, and have him get to see first hand what really goes on in town.

He's focused on his plan to solve the mystery of what's going on in Redwood Hollow and does not want to get distracted. If someone interferes, either intentionally or not, Basil could get upset with them, and this could lead to a full-blown feud.

Someone knows what Basil is up to! He has not told anyone why he's really in town, but if someone either knows of him and his reputation or figures out who he is, they can conjecture as to why he is there. They can then choose to either help or hinder him.

TAKEN CONNECTIONS

None at the moment, actually! He needs to get to know more people!

OTHER

One character from the open tag you would like to see taken / added to the Most Wanted page: David Q. Dawson

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

Direct Cinema's Influence on Social Institutions

Aaron Epstein

Salesman (1969) is a documentary about salesmen who travel across the United States trying to sell their product and Titicut Follies (1967) is a documentary about the poor conditions of a Massachusetts mental hospital. These two documentaries are similar in many ways. The first example is that both are shot as direct cinema documentaries. Neither film has the filmmakers or crew interact or intervene with what is occurring in the moment. They both allow everyone being filmed to go about their normal lives and act as they would act as if there was no camera present. This is an effective way to get a real story told and to tell a story based on only the truth. “We use the camera in such a way that its presence is not detrimental to the people in the film who go about their business. I don't think anybody knows enough about a subject to impose his own ideas.” (Haleff pp. 2). The Maysles brothers, co-directors of Salesmen, know that the best way to film how real life occurs is by acting as if they aren’t involved at all. This opens up the world to see how salesmen go about their jobs and personal lives and how a mental institution treats their patients. They have similar tones of creating an uncomfortable audience due to the camera feeling like a bystander without any interference from the filmmakers on the scene.

While these two documentaries are very much alike in terms of filmmaking, the main difference between them is the stories they are both telling. Salesman is a story about the tiresome and lonely lives of salesmen trying to keep their jobs and make money. Titicut Follies is about the dark and haunting conditions of a mental hospital. These are very different stories, as one is about average middle class workers and the other is about how the criminally insane are treated. Salesman represents a lack of faith that the public has with businessmen. Most people that these salesmen spoke to and attempted to do business with seemed uncomfortable and afraid to trust them due to the lack of trust that the media and general public have in business and salesmen. While this film shows a subtle lack of faith in one institution, it is nothing compared to how Titicut Follies displays hospitals and the healthcare system. “Titicut Follies introduces many themes to which Wiseman would return, including institutional processing and the examination of a particular institution as social microcosm.” (Wiseman pp. 2). This documentary shows why there is a lack of faith in the healthcare and medicine institution, as this hospital treats its patients as if they weren’t human. These two documentaries somehow affect people’s lack of faith in social institutions yet the films themselves avoid that lack of faith. This proves how impactful direct cinema can be. Both Salesmen and Titicut Follies approached their stories by only pointing a camera at what was happening. "Some people say that the audience won't sit through a long documentary, because it is not emotionally involving," says Dave. "But we think that, properly done, this kind of film can be the most emotionally involved. We wish to show people living their own lives and speaking their own thoughts with a minimum of structuring of events by the film maker.” (Haleff pp. 2). Without interfering with anything going on, the filmmakers themselves take away their own biases and views on the subject matter. This very well may be the best way to add to the public’s opinions on social institutions, by allowing them to decide for themselves without any bias involved in the film. 

[variousqueerthings]

haha yes. this is exactly how i read the dynamic! fraser is spot on as per what i understand of him/how i read him:

1. his mother died when he was young (i have been spoiled that it was violent but i don't know the details yet) 2. his father was an emotionally and physically distant mountie who dropped him with his grandparents when he was in single digits and didn't see him for most of the year, but fraser idolised him 3. his grandparents were very austere people who travelled around often, and so fraser didn't stay in one place for long enough to make any close friends (he had a friendship with a guy when he was 13, whom he calls his "best friend"... he meets him again as an adult and said man does not remember him all that well/there were several kids involved in said group and mainly they just played hockey) 4. his grandmother rescued a group of inuit people at the cost of getting burnt over large parts of her body -- it took a long time for fraser to learn about this, and was part of instilling into him that you don't "boast" about doing good, you simply do it, all the time 5. two of his favourite movies as a kid were "it's a wonderful life" and "the passion of joan of arc" 6. while he's quite savvy about some things, he's also incredibly naive about interpersonal relationships (leading to him thinking he's in love with a woman who is a violent criminal who definitely definitely manipulates the hell out of him. i think she does sincerely like him in some capacity but ohhhh boy was that not going to end well -- this was the situation that led to ray accidentally shooting him. he was aiming for her) 7. canonically struggles to set boundaries and stand up for himself, although will stand up for others. relies on the law as a concept to fall back on, even though this has failed him multiple times (and this is also where ray often steps in in various capacities)

as for ray: 1. grew up in a rough mafia-run neighbourhood and had a very bad experience as a teenager when he witnessed a kid's face getting mutilated with a basketball by the mob-boss' son and he feels guilty for not having stepped in, despite being a kid himself 2. i extrapolate from that that he joined the police idealistically, in an attempt to genuinely try to help people -- they're the only other people with power around the place after all 3. when we meet him he's clearly slipped somewhat, willing to do entrapment to help a case (canonically this is something he never would have done a few years ago!) jaded, doesn't like most people, chides fraser for being kind to others (although his second instinct towards fraser was kindness, once he learnt that his father had been murdered. his first was annoyance, but it only lasted a short while) 4. also, an older brother 5. also, was beaten and emotionally abused and neglected by his father as a child (suggested at least the latter well into adulthood/up until his father's death)

so ray, to me, reads as someone who was about drowned by the casual cruelty of the world and had reached the point where you do as you're told, you make things work, you don't make waves, you take care of your own and don't do hand-outs, and you don't care anymore... only for fraser to come along and upend all of that and genuinely it's within the pilot episode that ray becomes so ride-or-die that he gets himself blown up for fraser's sake and then checks himself out of hospital and goes to the middle of nowhere in canada to help him out in a gunfight

so fraser is ray's lifeline to the idea that there is something in the world worth fighting for and believing in (that is, fraser). ray needs fraser to be okay, because fraser represents some kind of higher purpose -- ray has described him both as a fairytale and as a saint, which is... exactly what fraser is

i think ray gets a lot out of caring for him, i'd say the same amount as fraser gets being cared for, but for the fact that one day ray's going to die of high blood-pressure because of just how jeopardy-friendly fraser is

and yeah. it's got some kinky vibes to it

ray's bullet forever lodged in fraser's spine because they couldn't remove it. the fact that he only shot him to save him. the depiction of the healing bullet wound and the lingering over fraser's scars. the entire episode dedicated to recovery. ray's guilt even though he did what he had to. ray taking a bullet for fraser. ray's later series anger that fraser always puts himself last and never lets himself feel anger or resentment at how people treat him. the ways ray so often takes on the role of caretaker for him, both as protector and emotional support. fraser's emotional landscape often taking on quite childish dimensions because he's had to be a serious and self-sustainable person from such a young age. the several narratives that toy with fraser becoming permanently disabled. ray's bullet. in his spine.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Con Man's Daughter

Posting this because there isn't enough biodad! John Constantine content.

[Masterlist]

(Part 2)

-----

I feel like this should be a Damianette story or just platonic relationship after Jon got aged-up to seventeen and Damian wanted a friend his age but doesn’t want to admit it.

So basically there is this big bad in Gotham using magic that Batman was fighting at the time and enlisted John Constantine to help out.

John realizes that the villain is using a Miraculous.

“Oh. I think I know how he gets his powers. And lucky for you, Bats, I know an expert on this special brand of magic.”

And he did the smart thing and called up Marinette who at the time was already Guardian and was looking for other lost Miraculouses like in the Treasure Hunter AU I wrote.

He calls her at a really bad time. She was in the process of being chased by the guardians of the place. Monsters and evil spirits.

“Hello, Dad. What do you need and can you do it quickly?”

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. How is my little cupcake up to these days?”

“You called at a bad time.” Gunshots.

“WAS THAT A GUN I HEARD? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOUNG LADY?!”

“Somewhere in Japan. Getting a Miraculous. And why can’t you call me to check in on me and not ask me to help you with whatever mess you got yourself into.” More gunshots sounds and it was telling that Marinette was using a gun.

“Where did you get a gun? And don’t you have school?”

“It’s summer break. Don’t worry Maman and Papa know. Well, the fact that I am in Japan anyways.” Marinette sounded a little out of breath. Roaring and horrifying sounds at the other end. “Can we do this later?”

“As it happens, there is a villain going around Gotham with what I think is a Miraculous.”

Swears on the other end.

“Oi. Watch your fucking language, young lady.”

“How about a No and move the fuck back, old man. I am coming over right now.”

“Old man? I am not that old-” as a magic blue portal opens up in the Bat Cave.

And a red Chinese dragon comes out with someone riding it.

Its rider was a black-haired girl. She had a trench coat similar to Constantine's. I imagine her with a fedora. Like Carmen Sandiego style but not red. Sometimes red but only when she has to steal it from a museum or high security places and she leaves a name card with the name Carmen Sandiego. A sword strapped to her back and a dagger to her thigh.

She had a gun in her hand which she used to shoot the monsters as it was halfway through the portal and yelled out the spell to close it.

“Brilliant entrance but you are in lots of trouble, little lady. What were you thinking about going to another country unsupervised? And isn’t there still a butterfly problem in Paris?”

“One, I wasn’t unsupervised. I had Tikki, a billion years old being and a sort of god. Two.Well, it got boring trying to track Hawk-bitch down. And I found this legend about a guy with a Miraculous who disappeared in the temple and thought hey, more miraculous could mean another edge to defeating Moth-man.”

More bickering and John grounding Marinette who was acting very nonchalant about it.

Okay, at this point, I should say that Batman and Robin are in the background trying to make some sense.

Batman is surprised to find out that Constantine has a daughter who is also involved in magic like her Father but an apparently more specialised kind called the Miraculous. He is a little miffed that he didn’t know about John having a daughter. He did consider it weird at first that she had a slight french accent unlike her father’s Liverpool accent although she pronounced some words like he does.

He also connected some dots that she is also the Parisian heroine, Lady Rouge who Wonder Woman introduced to the League a while back and had declined to join the Young Justice or Teen Titans until everything in Paris was resolved.

Damian on the other hand was suspicious of the new arrival and came to the same conclusion as his father about the daughter thing.

Batman after a few minutes, clears his throat.

The Constantines stop arguing.

“Bonjour. Batman. Robin. Pleasure to meet you. I am Mari Constantine and yes, I am this homeless looking man’s brilliant daughter.” “Hey”

“Well, Mari. Your father thinks you can help us with this new criminal turning Gotham upside down. Literally in some cases. He said that you might be able to help us.” Batman said as he pulled up zoomed in picture of the Miraculous.

Mari looks through the Miraculous grimoire and tells them all about it and power-ups, basically the most effective thing to defeat the guy is to get the Miraculous off them. Plus a spell that would make the Miraculous ineffective if casted within a certain radius of it.

“Thank you for the information, Mari. Constantine, let’s go.”

Mari made to follow them.

“You young lady are grounded and staying here.”

“I don’t need another supervillain using the Miraculous which are my responsibility as Guardian to retrieve them for their own misuse and wreaking havoc on the city. And what if there is an akuma in Paris? I can’t go there if I am grounded in the Batcave although it is a cool place to hang out.”

“You can portal back to Paris but you are not going to follow me. Understood?”

“yes. crystal”

“Good. After me and Batsy get the Miraculous, you can do your Guardian duties.”

Damian snickers. Until Batman cut his mood short, “You are staying behind too. Robin.”

“But Father, why? I am much more capable than Constantine.”

“Hey!” Both father and daughter.

Damian is staying behind too because of the Miraculous power or other reasons and keeps an eye on Mari.

Damian stays behind and there were some protests about mari mad about having a babysitter and Damian doesn’t want to be a babysitter. Despite the two of them being around the same age.

“I got an eye on you so no funny business.”

“Okay, Dad, I am not going to have sex with Robin.” Mari said with a shit- eating grin. Robin definitely didn’t blush.

“I hate you sometimes.”

“I love you too, Dad. Go save the world. Byee.”

John eyes her suspiciously because she is not one to give up that easily usually.

He casts a spell to watch her as they leave. and which she totally knew about.

“So...I have one question.”

“Tt, ask and don’t bother me anymore.”

“Is Batman Bruce Wayne?”

Damian looks up, totally caught off guard.

“I am going to take that as a yes.”

Puts sword at her neck. “How did you find out?!”

“Opened up Google Maps and saw that we are under Wayne Manor. Connected the dots. Also I already knew when Dad made a bet with me once to find out Batman’s secret identity but he never did confirm it for me. And can you please not tell your father about this? I don’t feel like being interrogated by the Bat in the future yet.”

“Father must know about this.”

“I saw you looking at Scarlet here. An animal lover then? You can give her some belly rubs. She deserves it after helping me outrun those monsters.”

His silence was brought. To pet a dragon.

One thing after another and he ends up bringing out his pets-Jerry the turkey, Goliath the dragon-bat, Titus- and her introducing him to her other pets like a hellhound, griffin and other mythical creatures who mostly roam free but come to her when she calls for them and also the kwamis, at least the ones who came with her.

After 30 mins have passed, “So Robin how do you feel about disobeying our fathers?”

“I am in.”

“Depends. Are we going after the (villain's name) ?”

“Yes.”

Awesome montage of them getting rid of the spell John casted and flying out of the Batcave on their respective giant flying pets to the villain’s base.

Meanwhile, their fathers are not doing so well and are trapped in a death trap. John can’t say the spell because the villain made him unable to talk.

“At least, the kids are staying put.”

Cut to Damian and Mari jumping off their pets and onto the roof. Taking out the guards posted there and going into the building all sneakily and also taking out the guards that come their way.

They dropped into the room where their fathers and the villain is.

“Why am I not surprised?”

Villain starts an evil monologue about his mastermind plan to which Damian cuts it short by trying to cut him down with his katana. Mari goes to deactivate the death trap.

They are evenly matched with Damian’s training and the Miraculous.

Mari steps in as Damian was about to be killed. Taps on the shoulder of the villain and when he turns around, gives an awesome right hook that knocks him out.

Takes away the Miraculous and curses him. Wiped the dude’s memories of it.

“When I said stay in the Batcave, I meant stay behind at the Batcave. What point of being grounded, don’t you understand?”

“You mean, Oh, Mari, light of my life, my wonderful daughter, thank you for saving my ass. You are the best.’ by that, right?”

-----

Mari and Damian exchanged numbers and email addresses.

As she was about to leave the Batcave, “It’s been nice meeting you, Mr. Wayne.” and leaves with a wink.

John ‘ungrounds’ her for the look on Batman’s face.

-----

After this, Marinette and Damian become friends who bitch and vent to each other about their alter egos and various villains of their respective cities. (In codes, just in case) They also share updates about their pets and love of drawings.

They have that type of friendship where they trade favors. Mari calls Damian to Paris sometimes to help out with the akuma of the day and Damian sometimes calls her in when Bruce doesn’t let him go investigate a case so he can sneak out by magical means or as back up for when his brothers were too annoying to deal with.

It’s summer break so no missing school.

John and Bruce are aware of their friendship and some of the shenanigans the pair gets into behind their back.

-----

-----

Right. how this all started...

John and Sabine first met when the latter was still in college somewhere in France. John was tracking down a demonic entity which was targeting Sabine for some reason and she was the next target.

John saved her life and exorcised the demon. There was a heat of the moment thing and they had a one-night stand. There were a few more flings and hook-ups after that night.

And nine months later, Marinette Cheryl Cheng-Constantine was born.

When Sabine first found out, she called John to come over and he thought that it was a call for another hook-up and was very surprised to find out that it was not and that he was going to be a father.

They both like each other but do not want to be in a relationship together so they both remained as friends and John agreed after some strong-arming at the very least to meet his daughter before he goes to do his job. And pay for child support. And help Sabine during her pregnancy.

Pregnant Sabine was someone you don’t want to mess with. And John has never met a demon or anyone scarier than her.

He was at first not into meeting his child and there was a self-pity party he threw himself with how the child was going to live a bad life because he was the dad and how he destroyed every good thing in his life.

That’s why he is going to meet the baby once and leave maybe a letter and the occasional birthday present and stay out of their life. Forever.

The day Marinette was born and it took one look into her eyes for the HellBlazer to fall under the spell and all of his plans to stay out of her life to burn away.

At first, he tried. He really tried but he couldn’t do it.

Lasted 4 months before he came back, wanting to place protection spells on her and sigils around the house to keep away the forces of Heaven and Hell and other entities so they won’t use her against him as a bargaining chip.

Sabine calls him to babysit. He could have refused and Sabine would have easily found a babysitter. He moans and whines about how he is a great mage and not a bloody babysitter. Sabine retorts that it is actually called parenting since he is Marinette’s father. He grumbles but in the end, agrees.

The great John Constantine is wrapped around the little girl’s finger.

He was around for some of Marinette’s firsts. Her first word was “John”.

It made him cry. He wasn’t a good man and he doesn’t deserve someone this precious. His daughter doesn’t deserve someone like him as a father but fate made it that way and what can you do about it.

After an exhausting week of doing the usual and coming back from Hell, he saw that Sabine had sent him a video. It was Marinette taking her first steps.

Chas swears that in all the years that he has known John Constantine he has never seen the man look so happy.

------

When Tom came into the picture, John was there to take care of a toddler Marinette while Tom and Sabine went on dates.

Insert John threatening a much bigger Tom while holding a baby Marinette with wide eyes and hugging a teddy bear with the same coat as John’s. (It was something Sabine brought on a whim and to tease John when he came around.)

Tom is supportive and treats Marinette like his own flesh and blood.

John resolved to leave for good now that Tom would be there to be a father figure for Marinette.

That plan fell into the drain the moment he was going to leave for what was supposed to be the last time before Sabine pulled him back and knocked some sense into him.

His face was a big giveaway. Sabine knows that despite his claims of being a terrible father for Marinette, he was a good one and damnit she was going to make sure that Marinette would get to know her actual father.

Tom later made an awkward talk with John about how he was not going to replace John’s role as Marinette’s father.

Marinette was the flower girl at Tom and Sabine’s wedding. John was there too.

During bedtime, John would read her stories and use his magic to make it come to life. Although he would feel a little drained afterwards, it was worth it to see her smile.

Sometimes he told stories about his tamer adventures. (After cutting out some of the inappropriate bits)

------

When Marinette was about 5 or 6, Sabine was out on an errand and Tom was at home with Mari and helping her with her homework. There was a crash downstairs at the bakery. Tom went down to check it out to find John lying on the ground.

With a weak cough, he said, “Close the door. Close it.” Before losing consciousness

Tom did before a man with pitch black eyes slammed against it.

Thankfully John had installed heavy wards around the bakery when it first opened.

They held against the demon on John’s tail. Tom brought John inside and unsure of what to do, grabbed a rolling pin on the counter.

The man outside started pounding on the glass door and every time his hands touched the door, light glowed outwards, showing the invisible magic barrier around the bakery. Sparks and steams fizzled with every pound.

Despite the reddening and burns of his hands, the not-human didn’t slow down.

“ʝօɦռ....ʏօʊ ӄռօա ȶɦǟȶ ɨȶ'ֆ օռʟʏ ǟ ʍǟȶȶɛʀ օʄ ȶɨʍɛ ɮɛʄօʀɛ ɨ ɮʀɛǟӄ ȶɦʀօʊɢɦ ȶɦɛֆɛ աǟʀɖֆ. օռƈɛ ɨ ɢɛȶ ʏօʊ,” He laughs, the sound sends chills down the large man’s spine, “ȶɦɛʀɛ ǟʀɛ ֆօ ʍǟռʏ ȶɦɨռɢֆ ɨ ɦǟʋɛ քʟǟռռɛɖ ʄօʀ ʏօʊ.”

Tom knew that Marinette’s father was a con man. Come on, Master and Practitioner of the Dark Arts and Occult. But he was a good father nonetheless despite all his flaws and Sabine liked him enough so that was good enough for him.

Before today, magic was just the sleight of hands and use of fancy tools to sell the illusions. Now, with a could-be-a-demon knocking on his door to get to the father of the girl he sees as his daughter, he’s not so sure.

“Tom? Qu'est-ce qui se passe? (What’s going on?)” A little voice came from the stairs, “Dad!” Marinette padded across the floor to the body of her passed out father.

She shook him awake and there were a few soft slaps to the face.

“Dad, what’s happened?”

John mumbles, “Demon…. possessing some rich guy….. Exorcism…. Doesn’t like me very much…Don’t worry...wards going to hold.”

John manages to stand before falling down and Tom catches him before he hits the floor. He has a concussion. Tom turns to Marinette, “Go, Hide and don’t come out until It’s safe.” which she did

Unfortunately, a while later, Sabine returns from her night out and the demon upon seeing Sabine. “ɛӼƈɛʟʟɛռȶ..”

The demon possessed Sabine and the previously possessed dude hit the sidewalk with a thud.

“ɨռȶɛʀɛֆȶɨռɢ....” The voice coming out of Sabine didn’t sound like her mother which scared Marinette a lot. “օքɛռ ȶɦɨֆ ɖօօʀ օʀ,”the demon pulled a knife out of thin air, ,“ȶɦɨֆ ɮօɖʏ ɢɛȶֆ ɨȶ.”

Tom hesitated until the demon put the knife on Sabine’s neck and put enough force for a thin line of blood to be shown.

He opens the door and the demon knocks him out. Stepping over his unconscious body and looking down on it, “ʄօʀ ȶɦǟȶ, ɨ ǟʍ ɢօɨռɢ ȶօ ʟɛȶ ʏօʊ ʟɨʋɛ ʊռȶɨʟ ɨ ǟʍ ɖօռɛ աɨȶɦ ʝօɦռ, օʄ ƈօʊʀֆɛ.” and cackles. The sound was so wrong and unnerving and little Marinette tried very hard for her sobs not to be heard.

Too bad the demon had super hearing. “Come out, my little blossom. Maman is home. Why don’t you come out and give me a hug?”

It sounded so much like her mother and she nearly believed that it was her mother and not some entity in control of her body.

But she knew better from John’s stories of dealing with demons and how they would use the voice of loved ones to lure them out and into a trap. (Definitely not something one should tell as a bedtime story but Marinette was very different and had an unconventional childhood with John Constantine as her father.)

Wait...she got struck with an idea but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

Before she could do anything, the door of the cabinet she was hiding in was opened and she was dragged out.

The demon lifted her a few feet above the ground by the collar of her dress.

It heard Marinette saying something. “աɦǟȶ ǟʀɛ ʏօʊ ֆǟʏɨռɢ ƈɦɨʟɖ, ֆքɛǟӄ ʟօʊɖɛʀ?”

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.” Marinette was now screaming the words at the top of her lungs. She repeated the spell over and over again with fierce determination.

John, being his paranoid self, taught her the spell for an exorcism, just in case. Demons spared no one, not even a girl.

It screamed “NO….” as Sabine’s body contorted in strange angles before a dark shadow seemed to be dragged down into the ground. It made a desperate attempt to possess John before it was pulled away and disappeared. There was no sign that there was a demon attack.

After John woke up, he managed to piece together that his 5-years-old (Sorry 5 and a half) daughter sent a demon back to hell.

He was a very proud dad. (He was a tad worried about the consequences from this event and demons hold one hell of a grudge. He wanted his daughter to live a very safe and happy life. The bakery’s wards also need an upgrade.)

He also got the job of explaining what he actually did to Tom. And lots of reassuring.

Sabine, on one hand, was not happy that Marinette knew how to do magic. That is until John told her that he did it just in case so she can protect herself and later it was agreed that Marinette can learn some Magic spells and charms to better protect herself and when she is older, she can decide if she wants to continue or not.

----

(Part 2)

[edvinception]

Gåsmamman 101

So I got an ask about Gåsmamman and I thought since there are so many new fans here, which is so exciting, I would to a separate post about it.

And if people are interested I could do a little round up about each season since there could be people who just wants to watch Edvin's scenes but still have some context.

I do love the show though so I recommend you give it a shot.

But what is it?

Gåsmamman is a Swedish crime drama that consists of 6 season (2015-2022). The final season aired this autumn.

The show revolves around the Ek family. Sonja and her kids aswell as other family members and friends.

Season 1 starts of wih Sonja living a rather calm and safe life while her husband has a Marijuana business with two companions. Sonja's brother is one of them and Sonja's dad is also involved with shady stuff.

Their three children Gustav (oldest) Nina (Middle child) and Linus (youngest and played by Edvin) are also living a very normal life.

Due to a series of events Sonja is thrust into the criminal life as she tries to keep her family safe but gets pulled further and further down into a world she can't and don't want to be a part of.

The characters are realistic and nuanced. Incredibly frustrating at times but you are able to sympathise with most of them at least some of the times.

Depsite it being a crime drama which is very very dark it has a very strong family element and you get to follow the siblings relationships with eachother, with Sonja and other people in their lives. And Sonja gets to know new people that we also get to know and we of course follow her relationships with her children, siblings, parents, enemies and companions.

As we follow the family for six seasons we really get to watch them grow up which is very nice. Edvin was just 12 in the first season (though he looks younger) and we basically watch him grow up and grow as an actor.

And here are a few gifs of tiny Edvin to lure you in.

[freetobeafcknriot]

I remember you talking about it once and I'm curious, so how about the Chuuran Sherlock!AU?

oh, i love this au and i love them, so here you go nonnie! also happy chuuya day btw. ^^

for the ‘send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it’ meme. ➥ CHUURAN + SHERLOCK!AU.

ranpo is an infamous detective, well known for his genius as well as for his idyosincratic, whimsical attitude. he has been working mainly on commission or when he is consulted forever — he doesn't really need the money, this is simply the best place for he to be given how bad he fits in society and conventions. he is an orphan, his adoptive father met him when he was fourteen and helped him find a place for himself in a world that ranpo, with his overly brilliant mind and cunning bluntness, didn't understand and still finds silly and weird to this day. despite his childish antics, he lived by himself in a building own by an elderly man (hirotsu) who is also his landlord. that is, until chuuya came along.

chuuya has a military past full of violence that preceeds the time he served in the army, and goes back to his upbringing first on the streets and then in a criminal organisation. he still has sharp edges and a harsh personality that make him look like a 'punk', but is actually, deep down, very attentive and person, albeit impatient and hot-headed. he is suppodely retired and dedicated to lead a new life—a new job. and this intention of his brought him in quite an unexpected situation. or well, it's not weird to share a place with somebody when you are twenty-four and not exactly rich, but his flatmate? he is as weird as he is infuriatingly interesting and, get this, endearing.

so yes, they perfectly fit the john/ock dynamic, i would even say they exceed it, and if you are wondering: yes, they are an item. they were mistaken as a couple so many times the sexual tension didn't take too long to flare up, so even if romantically speaking it took them more time (because each of them has his own pace and perspective) and from an outsider's point of view their relationship is borderline ambiguous, they sleep and live together. and they fit. ranpo takes chuuya on his cases — actually insists to have him there as he needs someone not to get lost and finds everybody else annoying and dense — because he knows chuuya, how he craves the thrill and the challenge; how wild he is. chuuya, on the other hand, despite the exasperation and the grumbling keeps ranpo in check, both by making sure he doesn't get lost and eats a vegetable once in a while and by keeping him in check — like a moral compass, because ranpo is all razor-sharp tongue and conceived loneliness, and chuuya understands him. they obviously don't always see eye to eye, but they do see each other, and that's enough. they can and do work from that.

in this au, mycroft is played by dazai: he and ranpo are somewhat like brothers, refer to each other as such anyway, and they are so alike that, as much as chuuya hates it because he doesn't like dazai, have some sort of bond. an understanding, for sure. and as of molly, that is yosano! with that the difference that there are no romantic feelings involved; she and ranpo are long-time friends, very close, almost like siblings. yosano actually gets along well with chuuya, too, they are both dangerous and strong. which is neat, you know? sadly for her, it also means that nobody knows chuuya and ranpo's couple antics better.

ranpo and chuuya have the habit to have breakfast and sometimes lunch or dinner at this one restaurant in particular whose the owner has known ranpo for years and always happily sets up a table for them — right next to the big window you can watch the rest of the street from. it's their favorite spot: they have this game of people-watching, where they observe and make deductions. it's easy for ranpo, as that is his job and his greatest skill, but it's challenging for chuuya, and that is the goal. they sit there, and then the younger man points at someone and deduces everything he can about them. then he looks at ranpo and asks, "did i miss anything?" and well, surely he missed something, ranpo states that without batting an eye, but he is not unkind. after all, for someone without his gift it is still a very good guess and it's chuuya, duh — not a blind idiot you can literally meet at any corner of the street!

[robininthelabyrinth]

Polyphonic 

Chapter 3 ao3  (alt: tumblr pt 1, pt 2)

-

Lan Qiren wanted to speak to Wei Wuxian about everything they needed to do, but it would have to wait: the moment they arrived, they were immediately swept up into the political mess that Jin Zixun’s ill-fated ambush had caused.

Jin Guangshan was there in the blink of an eye, despite normally taking his time in seeing anyone, and Lan Qiren didn’t like the way he started making excuses for his nephew’s behavior from the very start. It was to a certain degree understandable, as everyone would first incline towards defending their family, but the haste with which Jin Guangshan sought to sweep it all under the rug was disconcerting, and Lan Qiren thought it was almost suggestive of some level of premeditation. Even more distasteful, however, was how he sought to twist the entire event into being yet another reason Wei Wuxian ought to surrender the Stygian Tiger Seal to the Jin sect: for his own good, of course, in order to avoid being made into a target on account of the disdain of the cultivation world –

“Sect Leader Jin, your words are in poor taste,” Lan Qiren said sharply.

He could hear Jiang Cheng, who ought to be defending Wei Wuxian and was trying his stuttering best to do so, starting to waver; the boy had a pleasant rippling melody by nature, forced into a fierce allegro by his parents’ endless disputes and his later tragedies, and the weak foundation meant that he was too easily buffeted by uncertainty and doubt, as Jin Guangshan undoubtedly knew.

“Let us not speak in abstraction,” he continued. “It was your sect, your nephew, who launched this particular ambush. You ought to be making a formal apology to Wei Wuxian and thinking of reparations to repair the injury to your sect’s reputation, not acting like a thief complaining to the magistrate that his victim failed to hand over his property quickly enough to prevent violence!”

Jin Guangshan’s eyes narrowed in irritation, though he fought to keep the expression off his face as if it could disguise the swell of bitter rotten music that accompanied him wherever he went. “Teacher Lan,” he said, striving for composed and charming but mostly coming off as stiff and wooden. “Come now, I must be misunderstanding you. Surely you are not accusing me of being a thief.”

Historically, as Jin Guangshan well knew, this was when Lan Qiren backed down, mindful of his position as interim sect leader – his sect granted him much of the responsibility but not the full measure of power that typically accorded with the title, and he was conscious, always, that his role was to ensure there was something preserved for his nephews to inherit.

Perhaps Jin Guangshan had forgotten that Lan Qiren was no longer interim sect leader.

“I am describing the facts as I see them,” he said icily, straightening his back and levelling his best teacher’s glare, refined by years of troublesome students. “And they are this: by the agreement of the cultivation world and through his own powers, Wei Wuxian was inviolate and unbothered as long as he remained in the Burial Mounds. Despite this, he willingly chose to emerge in response to an invitation issued by your sect, only to be attacked by your sect – and when he comes to you for justice, rather than grant it to him, you suggest that he hand over his most prized possession to prevent any similar attacks in the future. Unfamiliarity may require me to consult my sect’s texts to be sure, Sect Leader Jin, but only to determine if I should be calling it extortion, blackmail, or outright thievery!”

“Teacher Lan!” one of the smaller sect leaders gasped, even as Jin Guangshan went utterly florid with rage. “You’re not suggesting that Jin-gongzi was involved in the ambush!”

Lan Qiren had been Jin Zixuan’s teacher and knew him well – he had been a shy, introverted boy whose awkwardness came off as aloofness, and would never have done anything like this. Even less so would Lan Qiren suspect such a thing of the man who had been steadied by war and responsibility into an adult with a firm moral foundation.

“No,” he said, and met Jin Guangshan’s eyes directly. “I believe Jin-gongzi’s invitation to have been wholly sincere.”

For a moment, Lan Qiren thought Jin Guangshan was actually going to strike him, his aura lashing out violently like a clash of cymbals, discordant and biting, and he braced himself, but in the last moment etiquette prevailed and Jin Guangshan refrained, although his fists were clenched so tightly that his veins stood out from the backs of his hands.

That was when Wei Wuxian opened his mouth.

Lan Qiren silenced him with the muting spell before he could get out a single syllable.

Jiang Cheng sent him a thankful glance and cleared his throat. “This is a serious matter,” he said. “It requires a full investigation; we won’t be able to solve it all talking now. Both Wei Wuxian and Teacher Lan have traveled a long way – I have no doubt that they need some time to rest and refresh themselves.”

A convenient way to stop anyone from starting a fight, and implicitly excusing Lan Qiren’s rudeness as a mere symptom of exhaustion, resolving the whole thing without losing any more face for anyone. The Jiang sect’s boy was picking up this whole politics business quite well, the poor child.

“I concur,” Jin Guangshan said, recovering a little of his poise. “There are rooms ready for you both.”

Lan Qiren inclined his head as well. “An excellent idea,” he said, and then, because he could now, added, “We can discuss reparations for the ambush later.”

“And what about the curse?” Jin Zixun hissed, clearly done with holding his tongue the way everyone had been so obviously instructing him with their eyes. “Am I to simply suffer while that criminal walks free and unharmed?”

“When I said there would be an investigation, I meant it!” Jiang Cheng snapped. “I doubt your curse is so advanced that it can’t wait another day, and if it is, then you should have brought it up earlier!”

“Why you –“

“Sect Leader Jiang has spoken,” Jin Zixuan interrupted, his voice hard. “Zixun, don’t forget that you must also answer to me as to what you did to my guest in my name without my permission. I think it might benefit you to ‘rest and refresh’ as well. One of the servants can take you to see a doctor.”

Jin Guangshan seemed on the verge of objecting, but Jin Zixuan seemed not to get the hint, already turning his face away.

“In the meantime,” he said, saluting politely, “Sect Leader Jiang, Wei-gongzi, would you come with me? A-Li is waiting to see you both.”

Lan Qiren allowed himself to be whisked off in a different direction to settle down, which in all honesty he did need to do. He hadn’t flown such a distance in years, had been in better health when he’d done so, and he had been tired even before all this excitement; some rest would do wonders for him, even if it did make him feel a bit like he’d become a doddering old man or an invalid. Before he could settle down, though, he heard a sound approaching – a little uneven, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow – and despite the fact that Jin Guangyao had never been anything but polite to him, he felt his back tense up at the reminder of why he was here in the first place.

“Honored teacher,” Jin Guangyao said, smiling and saluting deeply – more than he should, really, given that Lan Qiren was neither a sect leader nor had ever been his teacher. “Welcome to Jinlin Tower. I regret that your arrival was marred by such unpleasantness, and hope that the remainder of your visit is calmer.”

It’s not Jin Guangyao’s fault that Lan Xichen likes him, Lan Qiren reminded himself. Your suspicions, and your family’s terrible luck at love, are your own burdens to bear. They should not be put onto others.

He nodded to Jin Guangyao.

“It would be good to see a peaceable resolution to today’s events,” he said neutrally. “I appreciate that you have come to check on me personally. It is truly going above and beyond the call of duty.”

“Your nephew is my sworn brother, Teacher Lan. How could I fail to honor you as my elder?” Jin Guangyao said smoothly. “Let me know if there’s anything we can do to make you more comfortable.”

“A bath before dinner would be nice. Has my nephew arrived yet?” Lan Qiren privately hoped that he hadn’t, and was relieved when Jin Guangyao shook his head, confirming it. “Let me know when he does.”

“Of course,” Jin Guangyao said, and saluted again. “I’ll inform the servants; a bath will be made ready for you by afternoon.”

The moment Jin Guangyao left the room, Lan Qiren traced the pattern along the hem of his robes that shook off the dust of the road, returning them to being as clean and pristine as always – not a long-term solution to laundry, but very effective in the short-run, and one that he’d only refrained from doing earlier in order to drive home the point regarding how he had also been victimized by Jin Zixun’s ambush.

It was a profound relief to be clean again.

Once he could no longer hear Jin Guangyao’s familiar chords, he relaxed, which unfortunately these days meant coughing. He rubbed his chest when he was done, sighing, and settled down with his guqin to start playing a little, hoping to ease his nerves. Lan Xichen would be on his way already, he knew, and would probably move even faster once he got word regarding Lan Qiren’s presence. He’d made rather a lot of trouble for his nephew…

The door slammed open, and only years of experience with troublesome children, along with the warning echo of a song free and clear, full of shining righteousness, allowed Lan Qiren to remain unmoved by the cacophonous crash.

“So I have questions,” Wei Wuxian said. “Many, many questions, and I’m going to want answers to…uh, are you all right?”

Lan Qiren ignored Wei Wuxian’s rush, finishing the stanza he was playing and letting his hands still over the guqin. “Sit, and I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

Wei Wuxian closed the door behind him and put up a talisman for privacy, like the ones they used to use during the war, before coming to sit across the table from Lan Qiren. He was frowning. “Honored Teacher Lan, your lips are red,” he said cautiously. “Were you coughing up blood just now?”

“An old injury from the war,” Lan Qiren said, unable to resist recalling the memory of Wen Xu’s wild smirk as he’d deliberately smashed his ribs into pieces, grinding his palm against Lan Qiren’s chest to force the broken pieces to pierce his lungs. Nie Mingjue had executed Wen Xu only a few months later, a matter that had greatly eased his nightmares…truly Lan Qiren had to get to the bottom of this mystery as soon as possible; once Lan Xichen’s name was cleared, he could focus on trying to devise a solution to cleanse Nie Mingjue of the spiritual poison. “It can be aggravated by excess choler. Do not concern yourself about it.”

Wei Wuxian looked like he was concerning himself about it. “But you nearly –” Lan Qiren glared until he dropped the volume of his voice significantly. “You nearly got into a fight with dozens of cultivators back at the Qiongqi Path on my behalf! Wouldn’t that have aggravated it even worse than just getting angry?”

“Much worse,” Lan Qiren agreed peaceably. “My talents in battle are not especially notable, although better with the guqin than the sword. Regardless, the effort expended would almost certainly result in a severe backlash later.”

Wei Wuxian gaped at him. “Then why did you do it?”

“Was there an alternative?”

Wei Wuxian’s mouth opened and closed a few more times.

“How are your shijie and shizi?” Lan Qiren asked when it appeared that Wei Wuxian was not going to force any words out of his mouth any time soon. He folded his hands together in an appropriate manner – he, at least, knew his etiquette, and would continue to model it in the hope that Wei Wuxian might one day catch a hint. “Well, I trust?”

“Uh, yeah, they’re great. Jin Ling is perfect, shijie is wonderful, the peacock doesn’t deserve either of them, though he’s gotten better, I guess,” Wei Wuxian said, then shook his head as if to clear it. “And I wouldn’t have been able to see either of them if not for you.”

Personally, Lan Qiren didn’t think one Jin Zixun and any number of his friends would actually be able to stop Wei Wuxian, preplanned ambush or no, so he just hummed noncommittally. “You said you had questions?”

“Yeah, and now I have even more,” Wei Wuxian grumbled, but he seemed to settle down a little. “Let’s start with the fact that you said you needed help on a musical issue, but that it is also somehow an attempted murder. What’s that about?”

Lan Qiren grimaced. “Serve tea,” he instructed Wei Wuxian, and waited until he was midway through the process – and thus not staring straight at Lan Qiren – to start talking. “I have reason to believe that Nie Mingjue has been poisoned with spiritual poison.”

Wei Wuxian nearly spilled the tea, but managed to stop himself in time. “Chifeng-zun? Impossible!” Then he frowned. “I’d heard his temper was getting far worse, of late. Just mentions of it in passing…you think it’s because of that?”

“It may be. The Nie sect is prone to encountering qi deviations; a spiritual poison, especially one that specifically targets choleric feelings such as irritation and rage, would be particularly insidious when aimed against them. Should he die, everyone might be inclined to assume that the cause was hereditary rather than external.”

“A perfect murder. What type of poison?” Wei Wuxian’s eyebrows went up. “Wait – you think – musical poison?”

“My sect is renowned for using musical cultivation as healing techniques,” Lan Qiren pointed out, not sure why it seemed to come as such a shock to Wei Wuxian. “Antidotes grow alongside poisons, and all that can heal can also hurt – anyway, isn’t what you do a type of musical cultivation as well?”

“Good point,” Wei Wuxian said ruefully. “All right, that makes sense. That definitely seems like a real problem…but why do you need my help?”

“My health is poor, and I do not know what such an investigation will require,” Lan Qiren said. “And I cannot ask anyone in my sect to assist me.”

“Why not?”

“Because the primary suspect,” Lan Qiren said heavily, “is Xichen.”

Wei Wuxian stared.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a few long moments of blank gawping. “Please forgive me, honored teacher, but I think I misheard you. Are you saying that you think Zewu-jun is poisoning Chifeng-zun?”

“I hope dearly that he is not, of course,” Lan Qiren said. “In fact, part of the reason for my desire to investigate privately is to assist in clearing him of suspicion –”

“No, no, hold on, don’t move on just yet,” Wei Wuxian said, holding up his hands. “You think Zewu-jun – Lan Xichen! – might be capable of poisoning his sworn brother and, as far as I know, best friend? Your nephew?”

“Yes.”

“You really think he’s capable of something like that?”

“I have done my best to raise him to be the sort of man who would not be,” Lan Qiren said, and thought suddenly of his own brother – their father had treasured him, cared for him, valued him above all else. Would he have ever imagined that he would do what he had done and end up living out his life in seclusion, only to die pointlessly at the hands of the Wen sect? “And yet, who’s to say?”

“Uh, me? All the cultivation world? It’s Zewu-jun! He’s one of the most upright people I’ve ever met! You might as well suspect Lan Zhan – you don’t, do you?”

“No,” Lan Qiren said. He appreciated the righteous crescendo in Wei Wuxian’s voice, particularly when Lan Wangji was mentioned – unfortunate as it might be to find that Lan Wangji’s seemingly hopeless affection might actually be requited, since it remained a terrible idea – but it was a little inconvenient at the moment. “But equally I cannot burden him with the duty to suspect his brother. It would only hurt him.”

Wei Wuxian quieted down at that. “I can see that,” he said, grimacing. “But…why would you suspect Zewu-jun?”

“The evidence is – suggestive.” Lan Qiren shook his head. “To be clear, while I will of course value the truth above all else, I am not looking for evidence of Lan Xichen’s guilt. I am hoping to exculpate him.”

Wei Wuxian leaned forward, now frowning in earnest. “All right,” he said. “I still don’t really believe it, but other people might, and that’s bad enough. Even unfounded rumors can make for real trouble. Tell me what you know about it.”

“My nephew has been helping Nie Mingjue to ease the symptoms of his familial tendency towards qi deviations by playing him one of the strongest and most secret Lan sect healing songs,” Lan Qiren explained. “The spiritual poison I have observed in Nie Mingjue’s body is precisely a variation on that healing song – only instead of the pure version, which is designed to calm and heal disrupted qi, it is intermixed with another song that deliberately encourages spiritual turmoil.”

“All right. I suppose playing for Chifeng-zun gives Zewu-jun opportunity, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one who could’ve applied the poison song.”

“The Song of Turmoil is a rare import, hidden away in one of sect’s forbidden books. Only very few people have access to that part of our collection.”

Wei Wuxian arched his eyebrows. “And yet you can immediately recognize it?”

“I enjoy studying obscure musical texts as an aid in composition,” Lan Qiren said, mild censure in his voice. “Would you dare claim you do not do the same?”

“…fine, fine, good point.” Wei Wuxian waved his hand. “Okay, fine…still, I’m not convinced. Even if the only source of the song is the Lan sect’s library, there was a lot of chaos these past few years. Someone else could have picked it up, couldn’t they?”

“It’s possible,” Lan Qiren admitted. “Unfortunately, the tune had the same starts and stops that are characteristic of Xichen’s playing.”

As a musical cultivator, even Wei Wuxian had to concede that the unique quirks of playing style were difficult, although not impossible, to replicate, and moreover that one would have to wonder why anyone else would bother doing so, especially in a spiritual poison they presumably hoped would go entirely undetected. He rubbed his forehead, clearly thinking it over. “So, wait, are you saying you heard this musical poison getting played? Were you affected by it? Why didn’t you interrupt in order to stop it or to find out who was responsible?”

Lan Qiren shook his head. “I did not hear the playing, only the effects.”

Wei Wuxian frowned. “I don’t understand. If you didn’t hear it get played, how do you know that the playing had Zewu-jun’s idiosyncratic characteristics?”

“I’m very familiar with how Xichen plays. How would I not notice it? Even if I only heard it intermixed with Nie Mingjue’s own base tone, the sound is distinctive enough to recognize.”

Wei Wuxian was staring at him, looking blank again. A moment later his brow furrowed as if he’d just had a thought that seemed strange to him. He said, “Honored teacher, a question. When I said I wasn’t the one who cast the curse on Jin Zixun, you said that the person who cast it played the guqin, not the flute. I’d been wondering…how did you know that?”

“The curse has the sound of a breaking guqin string, which does not accord with Jin Zixun’s own music,” Lan Qiren explained. “The person who cast it was moderately powerful and very well-trained, although this represents an overreach on their part. I think it is likely that they incurred a backlash due to the casting –”

“You just heard it?” Wei Wuxian interrupted. It was rather rude, but Lan Qiren supposed he’d signed up for that. “You just looked at him and heard the curse that had been placed on him?”

Lan Qiren nodded.

“You can hear what people’s spiritual energy sounds like?” Wei Wuxian was growing pale.

“Not spiritual energy directly,” Lan Qiren said, a little puzzled by what seemed like an outsized reaction. Not only was Wei Wuxian’s face pale, his fists clenched, but his song, normally so free and clear, had become suppressed, tense, tightly strung. “More in the nature of the sound of a person’s spirit itself. Your Ghost General, for instance; he has a very gentle melody, very soft, but the underlying base is harsh, jagged, thick with resentment, less playing than dying – he needs to learn to marry those two parts of his spirit together, or else he’ll have trouble finding peace. That’s why I offered to take him as a student.”

“What about me?” Wei Wuxian asked. He was almost vibrating with the need to know. “What about my music? Has it – changed?”

“It’s gotten a little more sober, which is not uncommon with tragedy,” Lan Qiren said, and felt as though he were on the edge of some terrible revelation. “But no, fundamentally you remain the same person you always were.”

Wei Wuxian exhaled, hard. A trill of relief.

“Something happened that made you think it would change,” Lan Qiren deduced, reaching up to stroke his beard thoughtfully. He watched as Wei Wuxian’s eyes flickered one way, then another. “Wei Wuxian.”

Wei Wuxian looked at him.

“Are you unwilling to return to orthodox cultivation – or unable?”

There was a world of difference between the two: one was arrogance, relentless and unrestrained, looking down at the truths the cultivators of the world and their ancestors had worked so hard to unearth, the other merely a depressing practicality – who wouldn’t choose to cultivate something if the alternative was nothing at all?

And yet…how could it be?

And why would Wei Wuxian be so terrified of letting others discover it?

“That’s none of your business,” Wei Wuxian said, teeth set in a bitter smile that was more of a grimace than anything else. “I agreed to help you, Honored Teacher, but my business is my own.”

“But –”

“Another question,” Wei Wuxian said. “Different subject: I know you don’t lie, and earlier you said…what you said. So tell me, what Lan sect girl has her heart so set on me that you decided to come tell me in person that I wasn’t allowed marry her?”

Lan Qiren blinked. “I only meant to advise you that it was a poor match for you both; it was not meant as an insult to you,” he objected, a little offended. “If you and Wangji insist, I will not stand in your way.”

He shook his head and sighed a little, regretful; he would not pursue the matter Wei Wuxian was hiding any further. He wanted to help, curiosity itching at him, but Wei Wuxian was right – it was none of his business.

“As long as your reliance on demonic cultivation does not impede your assistance in my investigation, I will not bring it up again,” he concluded. “How do you propose we begin?”

“…Lan Zhan?”

Lan Qiren frowned. “I already explained to you why I do not wish to involve Wangji, and that I do not suspect him. Why would we start with him?”

“Not for the investigation,” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, his face bright red. “About the – marriage!”

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Tenko wants to live, despite the ghosts of his family wanting him to die, Touya wants to die, despite his family wanting him to live

I think it's a little more complicated than that.

More than just living or dying, Tenko-Tomura and Touya-Dabi characters are in a search for an specific way of existing. For example, you have Touya fighting to be truly noticed by his parents, while Tenko was fighting to exist as himself without having to repress orhis identity.

When it comes to Tomura and Dabi, they both have goals they'd die for, which doesn't equal wanting to simply die. Dabi and Tomura have been fighting since the beginning to live in changed society, not to simply erase everything and then die. Dabi wants a world without heroes, without Endeavor winning over and over like he never did anything wrong. Tomura wants a world where people acknowledge that the hero society is not a solution, but rather the same problem with a different name. Dabi would die to bring Endeavor and the hero society down, while Tomura would die to change the world on his own way.

But you see, they want to exist. To live.

They just don't want to do it in the same world or reality in which they are denied, abused and oppressed not matter what.

And the Shimuras didn't talk about Tomura wanting him to die. In fact, they wanted him to stop. It's not the same. They wanted to prevent Tomura falling in AFO's trap, and Nana Shimura even cried tears of relief when Deku refused to kill Tomura just like that, because she doesn't want Tomura dead, not if there's another way of stopping AFO.

Meanwhile, the Todorokis are still very confused. It's totally normal and they are entitled to it. They want Touya to live, but what about Dabi the criminal? They also talked about stopping Dabi. The whole issue with Shouto right now is that he's trying hard to understand where he stands in regard of the Touya-Dabi situation. Should he save his brother? Should he stop Dabi not matter what, even if that involves killing him? what is rughht and what is wrong? what is the right choice?

The Shimuras are dead. There's no future (on Earth) where they could get Tomura back, there's no future where Tenko can return to his family, where things can change. So the Shimuras want to save Tenko-Tomura from AFO. They are dead, so they know more than a normal human being, they are more than just people.

On the other hand, the Todorokis are alive and just ordinary people. They are confused and hurt, they don't know many things, they have flaws and make all type of choices. They worried about Touya-Dabi, but also about the society they live in. That's because they can change and change the world around them, they're still players in that game.

I don't think any of those families want their sons to die. To stop hurting people? Sure. But to die? Why would they? It only causes them more pain, and even if they don't want to be naive by believing that they're going to have a happy ending with both Tomura and Dabi, I'm sure they'd love to see that happy ending instead of the tragic one.

[youngbugandtonystank]

what's the difference between what wanda did to those people in wandavision and what tony did with ultron?

I have so many asks about this. Hate asks, and people wondering what’s going on. This is the only one I’m answering.

Both of them are responsible for their actions. I’ve seen people try and take away either Tony’s responsibility for that or Wanda’s engagement and accountability. 

In Tony’s case, the Ultron program was supposed to be a global peacekeeping program to protect the people, acting as a suit around the world to prevent events like the Battle of New York. He was doing it in the name of peace and safety. Tony was rightfully scared because he was the only one who knew what was coming. Wanda intentionally enhanced that fear in him and this drove him to create Ultron with Bruce. He has responsibility for it. Same as Bruce. He owns up to this, he took full responsibility and agreed that they needed to be regulated. 

Tony Stark: A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA... and then Ultron. My fault.

--

Tony Stark: There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.

--

Tony Stark: That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing.

--

If people think he needs to be in jail for it, then I’m guessing the rest of the Avengers too since all of them have made mistakes and killed people too. As a matter of fact, after the events of Wandavision, I’m sure that Wanda should be in the Raft, but because she’s ‘a poor baby’ yall won’t think she deserves that. 

SPOILERS

It’s a big possibility that we don’t have all the info about what happened in Wandavision but we’re going to go with what we know so far. 

In Wanda’s case, she did it to appease her grief and pain, and I can understand why she would get to that point, she’s been through a lot and maybe she was about to lose her mind. Instead of recruiting Wanda after the Sokovia incident, they should’ve given this girl treatment for her mental health problems. She just lost her brother and passed through a very traumatic war zone, of course she needs assistance. Cap and Natasha were the ones responsible for her because they were training the ‘new’ avengers. Sam was with them and he used to be a counselor to veterans with PTSD. He could’ve helped Wanda with some of her traumas. As shown in the series, Wanda did the whole hex business before meeting Agatha, which means creating that little reality was all Wanda’s responsibility. Hayward and Agatha did exactly what Wanda did to Tony (and the avengers/other people) in AOU. They manipulated her and played with her emotional traumas. Hayward showed her Vision’s body parts and Agatha started to pull strings to know how Wanda did what she did and her real powers while orchestrating against her. 

Both of them have made mistakes. No one is better than the other. I don’t understand why some fans want to make someone responsible more than the other or blame one character for the other. While Wanda gave Tony that vision and pushed his self-destructive side to obsess over saving the world, he did create Ultron, what Tony didn’t predict was that the robot was going to corrupt itself. Same with Wanda, while Agatha and Hayward contributed to her trauma, she held hostage and isolated 3,892 people to create her perfect reality, ripping these people away from their identities and free will to fit her own fantasy. Don’t turn this into ‘omg poor her, it’s Tony fault that she’s this way'. I can’t believe I have to repeat this but you don’t see Peter Parker obsessively looking for the person who manufactured the gun instead of the criminal who actually killed Uncle Ben. Ridiculous that I have to repeat this example. 

Oh and about Vision’s body (damn yall have a gift to turn everything into Tony’s fault for some reason). I can’t believe some of you think Tony (while grieving for 5 years) would give Vision to Hayward. You’re either pulling stuff out of your asses or you didn’t pay attention to the show. Maria Rambeau founded and was the Director of S.W.O.R.D. In 2018 (when IW happened), this is where she came up with a new policy within S.W.O.R.D. to ground snapped agents in case they ever returned. Maria was diagnosed with cancer, then two years later (2020), she passed away. Then, Hayward was promoted to Director of S.W.O.R.D., in his first years (2020-2022) he refocused the organization’s work from extraterrestrial operations to robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, etc. There, that was the 5 years. Then in 2023 it’s when he started project Cataract, which revolved around rebuilding Vision as a sentient weapon. Tony was dead when this happened. How come yall don’t get this part? I don’t understand, do you really think his dead corpse signed some papers to give Vision to those people? LMAO

Instead of thinking Tony would give up Vision just like that, think (possibilities):

Maria was the head of S.W.O.R.D., she might have just been keeping his body safe without doing anything with him. Maybe she trusted Hayward and he, obviously, betrayed her because he’s turning her organization into something else after her death. 

One of the Sokovia Accords regulations states that the use of technology to bestow individuals (the term ‘enhanced individual’ in this book is defined as any person, human or otherwise, with superhuman capabilities) with innate capabilities is strictly regulated by the government, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology. Vision signed those accords ('I'm saying there may be a casualty. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand’) The Avengers were no longer be a private organization and they operate under the supervision of the United Nations. This means they (UN) were the ones that referred Vision’s body to S.W.O.R.D., to a trustworthy leader, Maria. 

Vision died in Wakanda, not in New York. Tony was missing for 22 days after the snap, the rest of the avengers should’ve taken responsibility for his body.  

Why is it always Tony’s fault but never consider that other parties are also involved in this? 

I want to address some other asks with this one. I know some of you are angry because people are starting to blame Tony all over again, so a few things to remember:

Tony did not create the Accords. The Accords were the result of all the collective actions the Avengers have done in their superhero careers. All of them have made mistakes and the collateral damage of that was taken into consideration by the government and 117 countries around the world. He signed the accords because he knew that he could amend them with the support of the rest of the avengers and he knew about Thanos (something big was coming). 

Obadiah Stane (it’s so bizarre for me seeing that some people don’t know who this guy is, I’m guessing that the people who are watching Wandavision are too young to remember or didn’t watch the Iron Man movies at all which is highly probable) was the one selling weapons to the wrong people, not Tony. Obadiah was the CEO of Stark industries and became second-in-command for two decades. He grew jealous of Tony and began cooperating with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, selling them Stark Industries weapons illegally. Imagine blaming all of it on Tony when Obadiah basically murdered thousands only because he felt a little green. If someone who you trust (he had no reasons to doubt Obadiah since he was like a second father-figure for him) does something behind your back (take into consideration that people like Pepper; who was Tony’s assistant and had knowledge of all of Tony’s activities and responsibilities, Rhodey; who was the liaison between the military in the department of acquisitions and Stark Industries, and Happy Hogan; who was his personal bodyguard and Head of Security of Stark Industries, didn’t know what Stane was doing either), how are you going to know about it? Tony trusted him. And when he realized what was going on he immediately stopped all of it. He worked hard to be better and people overlook that because they want other characters to look better. 

Don’t act like Tony was the only one assisting the military. All of the avengers assisted in one way or another. Natasha (who used to be an assassin) was in the Red Room, trained in the Black Widow Program in association with Leviathan and the Soviet Armed Forces, served for KGB, etc. Bruce Banner used to work for the United States government and was commissioned to create a super serum for them. Same goes with the rest, Sam, Clint, etc. Steve Rogers was a soldier lmaoooooooooooooo like, what happened to Tony with Obadiah happened to Steve with SHIELD/HYDRA in TWS. He trusted the people working in there (SHIELD), served for them, did missions for them and as soon as he found out what they were doing behind his back he turned against them. 

Knowing all of this, how is Tony always the villain for yall? I’m guessing because Tony’s popularity in the MCU, but still, aren’t yall tired of not understanding the plot and having people repeat it to you constantly? Watch the movies if you want to understand the franchise, people. Stop following the crowd. 

Also, Wanda is not a kid, she’s a 35 year old woman in Wandavision, she was 26 in AOU and 27 in CW. Hardly a child. Tony had almost her same age (38) when he realized Obadiah was selling illegal weaponry behind his back. The only reason people don’t fully forgive Tony is because 1. he’s a man and 2. he’s a billionaire. Even if Wanda was poor she still killed and hurt many people over the course of her life. Stop trying to make Tony the villain only to downplay Wanda’s actions. 

Both have killed people, both have made mistakes. They’re both responsible for them.