#it is so unfair that the hate crimes show makes me have feelings!

[greghatecrimes]

forever grateful that I was far too young to watch House in 2008 because I know I would have lost my damn mind if I had to watch House’s Head/Wilson’s Heart for the first time when it aired on live TV

[orcelito]

I haven't thought about aldnoah.zero for years but seeing your tags on the dumpster baby post made me think... yea let's bitch together!

lskjdflskdfjsldf yea honestly i havent watched that anime in like. So fucking long. basically since it first came out. it was honestly a very mid anime with bad character choices. but By God it had Slaine Troyard in it. season 2 completely fucked up his character and was awful and hypocritical towards him (him being the only one punished from the war despite others doing just as bad shit as him)(seriously i will ALWAYS be pissy about this)

and thus my lifelong grudge against aldnoah.zero. it's been a decade but By God i will never forgive them.

[igotanidea]

Despite everything: Damian Wayne x reader

part 1 : Family rules

part 2: A moment of weakness

***

Damian Wayne was not the one to get scared easily.

Of course not. He was Robin, after all, fighting crime alongside Batman nearly every night, beating the shit out of the villains that dreaded at the sound of his name (as for the last part, that was more like something he wanted to believe rather than truth).

But when across the school corridor he noticed Y/N, with her face flushed (prettily though he quickly discarded that thought), eyes gleaming and walking towards him like an enraged bull, he shuddered involuntarily. His older brother(s) had enough experience with girls to give him countless advice on the girls, but there was only one Damian actually listened to.

Do not mess with a girl. Furious woman is more dangerous than all Gotham’s criminals combined.

And as for now, it seemed like he was going to experience that first-handed.

Or not-

Given the fact that before she could reach him, the school principal appeared out of thin air grabbing her shoulder and guiding Y/N towards his office, not giving her the slightest chance to slap Damian’s face or tear all his hair out. All she was capable of doing, evading the watchful gaze of the most important school official was send him a murderous glance, to which he responded with a vengeful smirk and a shrug of shoulders enraging her even more.

“Mr. Wayne!” the principal turned around following the girl’s gaze and spotting his second least favorite student. From the get go he knew Y/N Y/L/N and Damian Wayne would be giving him constant headaches and causing troubles. Maybe it was a mistake on his part to accept them to the same class. “You’ll come with us as well.”

“I refuse to be in the same school as this *** let alone the same room!”

“Miss Y/L/N! Control your language or I’ll put you in detention!” the head teacher tried to put the situation to order, failing spectacularly as nearly every student was now recording the event.

“Exactly, Y/N. I don’t understand the sudden rage of emotions in you, you are acting so irrational and erratic.” Damian smirked, once again feeling the need to take control over the situation. “you need to calm down.”

“You little prick!” now she almost threw herself at him, not caring about the comments or making a scene. He was going to pay for everything he did.

“ENOUGH!” the principal yelled. In his own opinion, the tone and volume of voice made the glass in the windows shake but in reality no one cared about the outburst. The corridor  did not go quiet as expected, students did not put down their phones and Damian and Y/N did not freeze in the middle of their respective movements with shock written all over their faces. The principal sighed in the sense of ignominious failure. ‘You.” He pointed at Y/N “and you” he gave Damian a look “with me. Now. And I don’t want to hear a word.” He hissed.

“Couldn’t you have just asked?” Y/N raised an eyebrow

“Really, Sir, given your position, you should have developed better self-control.”

They exchanged glances (that were calm and friendly at first before quickly giving way to the hateful and threatening ones) and followed the principal to his den, officially known as study.

If only they knew what was going on inside each other head.

If only she knew, that under all that pose and cold exterior he was actually feeling a little guilty of getting her into this mess and getting the sudden urge to become even colder to not let her get burned even more due to becoming too attached. All because he didn’t regret the kiss they shared and actually wanted more.

If only he knew that below all that enragement, she actually felt like crying her heart out letting out all the unfairness and showing how hurt she felt because of what he did (allegedly), begging for an explanation like a broken, pathetic child.  All because she didn’t regret the kiss they shared and actually wanted more.

***

“This is simply outrageous behavior! Gotham Academy has always pride itself of raising its student in the understanding of social norms and rules of decency. And you two have now put that reputation to harm.”

“Harm?” she scoffed “this is Gotham’s school. What kind of reputation are we talking about here? Last week, we had to evacuate the classrooms because of the sudden leak of fear gas.” She put the fingers in the air mocking the quote that was used in an official statement “we have zero reputation.”

“Well- um…”

“Yes, precisely. And what kind of indecency do you have in your mind, sir?” Damian smirked “this was all a pose for the press, just to gather the attention to my father’s event. Besides, are you suggesting that it was more than just a kiss, prey tell something forbidden amongst teenagers?”he mocked.

“Well- um…”

“I cannot quite comprehend why exactly are we here.” She continued, crossing arms over her chest and leaning back on the chair with a daring face expression “Do you, Wayne?”

“Not in the slightest Y/L/N.”

“You two are-“

“We are what exactly?”

“Well… um-“

“Not to be mean but I think there’s nothing you can accuse as of” she smirked, feeling the surge of victory.

“Your behavior actually make me think it’s kind of convenient to you to bring attention to your two students, isn’t it. Sir?” Damian made the same action as Y/N and neither of them realized how similar it made them look.

“So, what kind of punishment will you impose upon us? Breaking wheel?”

“Don’t be stupid, y/l/n. I’m sure it’ll be nothing less than cangue.”

“Maybe gag to stop the flow of those meaningless words out of your mouth.”

“I’ll suggest burning on the pile for you witch.”

“Asshole.”

“Dumbass.”

They both smirked again their faces full of vengeance and then their eyes landed back on the face of the principal who seemed distressed and kind of desperate, not sure how to get out of this situation while keeping his face.

“So, sir?” she smiled innocently “what shall we expect as a punishment?”

“Do not keep us in the dark sir, we will gladly submit. Just try to think what my father might do if he finds out? Stop funding the school maybe?”

“Oh my God, you had to use the wealth argument! Low blow Wayne!” she rolled her eyes “maybe my father will stop organizing the students’ internship then huh?”

“I thought you were going bankrupt?” he mocked

“Will you shut up! Take your money and choke on them!”

They both rose from their feet standing mere inches from one another, threating to wage a war if the other did as much as blink in the wrong way.

“I hate you!”

“I hate you more!”

“You arrogant, selfish, ignorant, conceited prick!”

“You reckless, emotional, distracting, competitive freak!”

“GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!” the principal finally reached the limits of his patience towards those two. It was impossible to fight two students, who were this dead set on making his life a living hell. And the truth was, that he couldn’t actually hold the kiss and the press against them. He had no legal or factual ground to interfere with students’ private life and if he did, either Y/N and Damian or worse – their fathers – or the worst -their lawyers would gladly remind him of that.

All there was left, was to hope that Wayne and F/L/N would have a talk with both of them respectively about fraternizing with the enemy.

“Get back to class. I can’t stand your faces, but I swear if something like that happens again –”

They were gone before the principal could even finish the sentence, showing him exactly how little respect he held in the school.

***

“that was fun.” She laughed wholeheartedly, for a second forgetting about all the negative feelings she was holding towards him after all the press incident and actually send him such a bright smile that made his legs tremble a little bit.

“I guess we played him well enough, huh?”

“I don’t think he was the only one who got played here.” she muttered picking up the pace not wanting to see, hear or think about Damian. All she wished was to go back to how things were before the gala, the photos, the press.

But he didn’t let her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around so she was facing him again.

“Let me go…” she said, but it came out weaker than expected

“I didn’t do it Y/L/N. I didn’t leak the photos.”

“Are you explaining yourself to me now?”

“You wish.”

“Then just let be me!” her voice echoed through the empty corridor and the door to the right creaked slightly. However before the teacher could spot the source of the noice Damian dragged her to the empty classroom putting a hand to her mouth.

“Will you shut up?!”

“Get your dirty hands of me!” she barely stopped herself from biting his hand.

“You are insane.”

“Huh! You think you’re normal with all that snooty, all-mighty behavior? We’re seventeen! We’re teenagers!”

“And that exclude restraints? Look-” he sighed running fingers through his hair. “You’re mad because now the whole school is abuzz with rumors, I get it, but I’m a part of it too. And I’m telling you I didn’t leak those photos! Think rationally – why would I want to be on tongues? Especially given the fact that it was you I kissed.”

The way he said it, like some sort of insult made her heart break. Not because she cared about Damian Wayne, obviously, but because he actually joined talking shit about her.

“I guess we both made a mistake then.” She hissed “we should get back to class.”

“No, wait! I didn’t mean it like that!” Damian muttered looking down, quite ashamed that even after years of leaving the League of Assassins’ and being raised by his father he still couldn’t quite comprehend basic human interactions sometimes.

“Then how?” she looked into his eyes.

And there it was again. The same wave of emotions he felt at the gala when he was holding her to his chest. The same feelings that coursed through his body when he kissed her away from the main event. He couldn’t quite decipher what it was, but that little voice inside his head (that sounded awfully like Grayson’s) was screaming at him to clear this thing out. To not let her go feeling like he just dismissed her, having zero regards towards her.

And it was weird. And right.

Weirdly right.

With heart almost beating out of his chest, feeling the air almost crackle with electricity, breath heavy and mind fogged he leaned slightly forward, not being fully in control of his actions. Forgetting the fact that they were in school and that they were supposed to be enemies. They were hostile for long enough and he was done.

For the first time in his young life he actually wanted someone to like him for him. Not because he was family (even if adopted), a relative of sort or a useful sidekick vigilante.

For the first time he felt the need to be needed as a human being, as a boy. He wanted her to give him that smile she did a few minutes ago when they left the principal’s office. He wanted to see her eyes shine the way they did at the gala, to feel her hug him and hold him as if she was feeling safe with him.

Despite everything.

So he leaned forward.

Slowly, hesitantly, not sure what to expect but ready for everything, gauging her reaction. Giving her time and space to back out, to run away, to call him names – unlike the way he was behaving in his Robin uniform.

She was not a villain.

She was –

Someone important.

And when she met him halfway, he melted.

Grabbing her tighter and letting the whole world disappear, focusing solely on that warmth he lacked through his entire life. Her scent, her hair tickling his face, her hand on his cheek.

So good. So right. So nice.

So terrifying.

Damian Wayne was --

***

--in love.

part 4: New rules

@gabriiiiiiii @6000-fandoms @jinviktor @atadoddinnit @celestair

[walkingstackofbooks]

Doctor Bashir I Presume AU where Julian transitioned during the Academy but never told his parents: (This totally got out of hand I'm sorryyyy 😅)

"What did you do to your lovely hair?" - Amsha's first reaction to seeing him in Sisko's office (He always wore a wig to visit them. This is exactly why.)

"You must be very proud of your son." "Our... son?"

Richard and Amsha trying to hide how unimpressed they are because they know it's socially unacceptable to be transphobic

(Not that they'd call themselves transphobic, of course. They have trans friends! But with Jules, well, it's different, isn't it? With all that they spent on her enhancements, there's no way her DNA would have been left with any... imperfections. And when it comes down to it, their her parents - they know her better than she knows herself.)

Amsha complaining at dinner how Julian hadn't prepared them for the shock of seeing him. "How could you do this to us? We were so embarrassed in front of your Captain."

(As if it wasn't them in the first place who had showed up totally unannounced 🙃🙄)

Richard saying that if Julian had told them he'd been having these feelings from the beginning, they might have been able to get help for him before he ruined his body.

Richard (angrily): "You've got some nerve, asking us to be careful with this Zimmerman chap! With the sort of risks you've been taking? Don't you realise how easily you could have been found out, all for some unnecessary surgery?" Julian (painfully restrained): "I don't expect you to understand, father, but it was necessary for me." Amsha (sadly): "Your father's just looking out for you, Jules. Try to understand that."

Misunderstandings abound when talking to Miles*, but eventually it's cleared up that Julian's parents are shit.

Cue a lot of anger (and a lot more anger than Julian thought anyone would feel. Because, you know, when you grow up knowing that your parents aren't the most accepting people, you figure that's just what some parents are like, rather than assuming yours are among the most outliers of outliers...)

Miles tells Julian he should talk to Sisko and get his parents kicked off the station. Julian's like, "That's a nice idea, but the captain can't just do that unless he's got a good reason" and Miles is like "You do know that persistently misgendering someone is literally a Federation hate crime, right?"

The Bashirs of course deny any wrongdoing. Richard gets angry, claiming "it's a family matter". Amsha starts crying about how unfair it all is.

"You have to understand, Captain -- she's been our daughter for over thirty years. We know Jules is angry with us but please, she knows that we love her really. If you could just let us talk to her--"

Sisko is fuming. "I might believe you cared if you had made any attempt to get Julian's gender right." "You don't know what it's like!" Amsha protests. "This is all so sudden!" "I know exactly what it's like!" Ben snaps back. "And I'll tell you, I didn't for a second consider telling Jake that I didn't believe him, or that he must be mistaken, or that he needed to be patient with my mistakes. In fact, I made sure as hell that I didn't make mistakes. There's no case here, as far as I'm concerned. You're both confined to quarters until the next shuttle arrives."

So I guess in the aftermath of all that, Julian's enhancements never get revealed. Even if the Bashirs were to make an apology, Miles would shut the hologram down, now he knows what Julian's parents are like.

But I think they probably feel too betrayed to try and make an apology, even a bad one.

So yeah, they're forced off the station and Julina actually gets, like, support and stuff from his friends!

Also, for like, a month afterwards, all of Molly and Yoshi's bedtime stories have trans main characters because Miles is low-key anxious about them ever starting to feel like Julian had about it not being okay.

(Keiko catches onto this and just happens to invite Julian around one night when it's storytime. Molly gets Julian to read her book. It's cute.)

(Afterwards, he enthuses about how he wishes he'd had books like that when he was a kid. And that's... sad.)

About two months later, when enough time has passed that Jadzia can pretend this isn't about Julian (although it totally is), Jadzia gets Quark and Jake involved in digging up some Earth history and holding a stationwide Pride celebration. (Julian appreciates both the gesture and the pretense.)

Garak makes some huffy comment to Julian about how "of course the Federation would have a whole festival devoted to degeneracy". Julian rolls his eyes and is about to take the bait, when he suddenly realises, "Wait, didn't Dukat once accuse you of being a degenerate?" "Wholly unsubstantiated claims, my dear Doctor." "Of course," Julian agrees sagely. "Although," he adds, a grin dancing across his lips, "if you ever find yourself wanting to substantiate them, Mister Garak..."

*The Misunderstandings:

"No offense, Julian, but you look wrecked. Is everything okay?"

Not meeting Miles' eyes, Julian takes a breath, as if to compose himself. "Let's just say that my parents are not exactly taking the news that I'm trans well."

In the moment, Miles chooses the wrong part of the sentence to focus on. "Wait, you're trans?"

Julian shrugs unhappily, a flash of anxiety passing over his face. "That doesn't... change how you feel about me, does it?" he asks hesitantly.

"'Course not!" replies Miles. "It's a bit of a surprise, I'll give you that, but-- No, sorry, I mean: what pronouns do you want me to use? Do you want to go by a different name?"

Before Julian can respond, Miles has another thought. "And what do you mean, your parents aren't taking this well? You're their son! -- Sorry, daughter-- offspring-- their child, I mean--"

"Hold up, Chief," Julian says, shaking his head in bemusement. "I'm still Julian. I'm very much a man. My parents just didn't know that until... yesterday."

"You never told them?"

"No."

"For how long?"

"Twelve years, if you're counting from when I first came out. More like twenty if you go from when I first knew."

"Jesus." Miles runs a hand through his hair. "Well, at least that explains why they're mad. That's an awfully big thing to hide from your own parents, Julian."

Julian grimaces. "I know," he replies, looking down. "It wasn't exactly brave, I guess but... I don't know. It was easier to cope with being misgendered because they didn't know, than being misgendered on purpose, you know?"

Being misgendered on purpose? This is such a bizarre statement, so at odds with what Miles knows of the world, that it takes him a minute to try and wrap his head around it.

"I'm lost, I'm afraid," he says eventually. "I can't, um-- Julian, what happened when you told your parents?"

[allwormdiet]

Interlude 2

Ahh, it's time for Brockton Bay's healthiest family to debut

Flight is so cool. Flight without having to get cold or wet or getting pelted by bugs is outright unfair.

Me, utterly charmed: oh my god she's a fucking NERD

And she's a nerd who's scaring the piss out of Nazis, who would hate this girl?

Which, oh yeah, the Nazis run around in Brockton Bay, bet those guys will never sour my mood

Glory Girl's got a whole bunch of powers, huh. Can't wait to get into the exact circumstances of how she got really cool abilities as an inadequate consolation prize for whatever hell she had to endure

I'm gonna be real, the description of this throw made me flinch a little bit. Like he's a Nazi so fuck him, but I hope it doesn't turn out that Victoria is this blase about all her targets

...So if the only spines she ever breaks are Nazi spines, then I'll give Glory Girl every pass she ever asks for, but if she ever wraps a weed dealer's skeleton around a lamppost I'm going to feel a liiiiiittle more concerned.

Everything else aside, this is fucking hilarious

So these two are at the epicenter of, as far as I can tell, one of the most divisive subjects in this fandom? With the others mostly seeming to be variations on "did such-and-such character have full moral justification to do actual for-real crimes against humanity." Let's see where this takes us

I feel a little bad immediately for the contrasts between Vicky and Amy. Five bucks says it's gonna turn out Amy is like the only brunette in the whole family, and while everyone else gets to show off a little she's dressed in a sackcloth. It's very white mage, but I don't know if she even knows what a white mage is.

Also it's a minor detail in the grand scheme of things but I fear for her hair's health if it's actively being described as frizzy

So apparently between ragdolling a Nazi like it's Garrys Mod and this passage, people have chosen to interpret Victoria Dallon as a monster. I can see how they'd be mistaken on this because technically speaking they're close: she's a teenager. For a lot of people the worst version of ourselves is one that exists somewhere between the ages of twelve and twenty, don't ask me how I know that one. The guilt trip here is definitely manipulative, but so is every kid who's trying to play whatever card they have to dodge repercussions for their fuckups. This is a kid, not a master manipulator who twists hearts around in her fingers like rings. This is normal behavior within an abnormal context.

According to Wikipedia, "foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, and it helps develop or subvert the audience's expectations about upcoming events."

Fuck Nazis, and I'm gonna get in a preemptive "fuck Coil" while I'm at it

Hmm. So here we get the Docks from a third perspective (albeit a Nazi's, so let's take it with a grain of salt), and this time it's presented as something of material value. I wonder how much of that is due to the neighborhood being low-priority for the police and Protectorate, if they decided it's not worth policing if it's not going to recover any time soon.

It's also interesting seeing which names are being thrown around with the possibility of fighting over the territory. I know Squealer ends up part of the Merchants and they end up being a decent power in their own right, but I don't know if any of the others would have shown an interest in fighting for territory. I got the impression that Uber and Leet are more like unfunny and violent pranksters than anything, Circus apparently operates on their own which doesn't seem like how you'd make dreams of conquest come true, the Undersiders are sticking with the theft shtick at this point, and I don't know shit about Trainwreck or Stain. Wonder how much of this is legit speculation, how much of it is the E88 leadership blowing smoke for their followers, and how much of it is this specific guy blowing smoke.

Yeah, see, they're good kids. For now.

Current Thoughts

To pull back on the frame a little, I think this interlude was written with two goals: first and most obvious is to get us in the head of another young cape, a for-real hero this time, who will be featuring in future events to some extend, but then beyond that it's reflecting the rippling consequences of Taylor's actions. Taking down Lung was a good deed, it saved lives and weakened a major gang within the city, but now others are rushing in to take advantage of this and it could cause more harm than was prevented in Arc 1. Taylor couldn't have known these repercussions were coming, she's a high school sophomore who'd only engaged with the cape community in any way after she'd already knocked the bastard over, and she probably still would have made the play to take Lung down and save the Undersiders even knowing that there might be increased gang violence. She's big on action and she's big on pushing through to solve the problem, repercussions dealt with later, but I suspect that everything is going to ripple out in this same way until the whole city starts shaking with it.

Anyway, more to the first point, I like Victoria, she took very little time to endear herself to me and I'm not going to feel so awful about her bone-breaking habits as long as she keeps it to the Nazis

I haven't seen enough of Amy to have a full read on her yet, and I haven't gotten into her head to know how she thinks or feels, but for now I'm pretty solidly on sympathy/pity for her. I'd say something like "we'll see where she takes it from here" but I kinda already know that one

Hoo, boy. Arc 2 done with. 18 chapters in four days? That's not bad. I'm gonna stretch my legs and think for a bit and then I'll give my two cents on the whole of Insinuation.

[captain-azoren]

I want someone to tell me what "non-evil" thing Azula was supposed to do when Aang was going into the Avatar State that wouldn't have been incredibly incompetent or out of character or made no sense in general.

How would you have written Azula in a way that makes her less evil but keeps the story the same? Just make her smirk less?

I see a lot of talk about Azula's agency and the choices she makes, but if she's trying to win, why would anyone expect her to anything differently?

And before anyone starts, this is not making excuses, this is trying to understand where the character is coming from.

Azula sees Iroh as a traitor and a disgrace. She legitimately hates him. Of course she's going to do a lethal sneak attack on him. Zuko betrayed her, their family and their nation. He also hates her. Azula had no reason to like him, so why is it so hard to fathom she wants him dead by the end of the series?

Azula isn't going to feel remorse because she believes she is the good guy, or at least that the Fire Nation winning is for the greater good. And newsflash, so does the vast majority of the FN. If any other loyal soldier in the FN had to make those choices, they likely would have done the same.

Nearly every single FN soldier had been trying to kill these kids. That includes Zuko. Zuko was literally RIGHT THERE fighting Aang and Katara in the crystal catacombs, but he doesn't get called evil or heartless all because he was too incompetent to strike a killing blow on Aang while he was powering up and then later expressed regret.

Except Zuko only regretted betraying Iroh. Need I remind people Zuko hires a damn ASSASSIN to kill a 12 year old in the next season? If you think Azula coming the closest to killing Aang somehow puts her at a higher grade of evil than 99% of the villains who attacked the Gaang, you have moral myopia and are full of shit.

Azula isn't going to bat an eye at killing Aang because Aang being a child is secondary to Aang being the single greatest threat to her goal. You cannot reasonably expect her, within the circumstances, to politely ask Aang to surrender. You cannot expect her to just lay down and accept defeat when her level of skill, her tactical cunning, and her upbringing under Ozai all point her towards shooting Aang in the back.

Why shouldn't she try to kill Zuko and Katara? She's the enemy and he's a traitor. She hates them and she's pissed. This isn't some moral event horizon.

Azula hates Ursa because she felt neglected and that Zuko getting more attention was unfair. It might be a misunderstanding, but as a child it isn't Azula's responsibility to sort things out.

Azula has arguably the least agency due to her age and having the most oversight by a powerful adult, so yeah I'm not letting that go.

I'm not saying Azula isn't bad. She has a pretty unpleasant personality and dies some shitty stuff. But it's only some, and on the whole she isn't even particularly bad compared to the other villains in the franchise. Is the smirking bad? It is only if you consider having nasty thoughts to be a crime. A bad sign, but just a sign.

But that's all it really ever boiled down to, isn't it? That damn smile of Azula's that shows you just how much she enjoys hurting people. Well the fact is, no matter how much Azula seems to enjoy her actions, no matter how little remorse she shows, it doesn't make her actions any worse than if she had a cold, emotionless or angry frown. It makes her unpleasant, yes, but ultimately you have to judge people on their actions and less on their thoughts and feelings.

No matter how conflicted Zuko was, he still stole that girl's horse when he could have kept walking, hard as it was. No matter how jolly or enlightened Iroh was, he still waged war for decades.

If you expect me to forgive Zuko and Iroh for all their wrongdoings just because they turned things around, then I'm going to hold Azula to that same standard and say that, smirk or no smirk, her actions are, not excusable, but forgivable.

And yes, I do sincerely believe that Azula caused less harm to the world than Zuko and Iroh in the months she was actually active. I understand that conquering BSS was bad and burning down the EK would have been an actual atrocity, but I also understand that conquering BSS was something the FN as a whole was aiming for and burning the land have zero objections by any of the FN military.

Azula also suggests it to keep Zuko from saying something stupid and to get on Ozai's good side. I do not believe she suggested burning the land because she sadistically wanted to kill thousands of people. Azula probably thought it was a brilliant tactic for stampings out the last few rebellions for good.

Is it bad? Yes, it's very fucking bad, because Azula doesn't understand the sheer gravity of what she's saying or the devastation of Ozai's escalation. But that's true for everyone in that room but Zuko. It isn't JUST Azula, it's the whole damn Nation.

You know what Azula does that's just plain mean? Destroying a sand castle. Taunting Zuko about Ozai going to kill him is pretty cruel. Azula probably could have found a nicer way to get Ty Lee on her team.

But don't give me any bullshit about Zuko being Azula's abuse victim. It was a toxic rivalry. And I guarantee you if Zuko had gotten the upper hand on Azula sooner he would have done what he could to humiliate her, because he hates her out if envy, not just because she's mean.

And why should Azula be nice to Zuko, who is always belligerent and angry towards her for being better? That is how she sees him, in her eyes Zuko is the bad sibling who needs to be humiliated and taught a lesson because he's stubborn and entitled and spoiled by their mother who loved him even when he failed, unlike their father who gave attention when it was deserved and earned.

Yes, that's a fucked up way of seeing things, but that's how Azula sees it, that's what she believes is right, and you shouldn't expect her to know otherwise because she IS 14 and has no exposure to anything else.

Azula DOES regret some things, she regrets always having to use fear to control people, but as the series itself spells things out, it's literally all she knows, it's all that she thinks she's even capable of from her failed attempts at being normal in the Beach.

Azula doesn't think she has a choice,band if you don't think you have a choice, then THERE IS NO CHOICE. There is NO opportunity or chsnce to change without guidance, and what so many dumb casuals and antis just don't GET is that Azula really doesn't know right from wrong. That these supposed second chances she's getting to change her ways are utterly pointless if she lacks the wisdom to see them as choices.

None of us are excusing Azula, because that would defeat the purpose of wanting her to finally understand for herself what she did wrong and to get better, but we can't blame her for everything either.

Just because what she did wasn't right doesn't put her beyond forgiveness. The right thing to do would be to trying and actually guide her and help her, not just throw second chances at her and be shocked when she makes another bad decision.

This is a hard pill to swallow for some of you, but a victim is a victim, and no matter how bad or abusive they are, a victim NEEDS HELP. So get over your hangup and do something useful, and if you can't do that, then stay out of the way and let someone else help.

I'm sick of people trying to convince me to forsake a kid, no matter how cruel or messed up she is. Stop telling me to give up hope, stop telling me to keep fighting to save that one little kernel of goodness buried deep down.

I've been doing this shit since I was a teenager, both for myself and for actual people who made bad choices. Even if Azula laughed at Zuko's pain or was willing to kill, she deserves to heal from her abuse as much as she needs to right her wrongs. Fuck anyone who thinks it's okay for her to suffer.

[waitmyturtles]

hello! I hope you are having a good day :) I just read your blog piece about tharntype, thank you for writing it! I want to offer a few complicating thoughts, as a queer person myself:

-in the twittersphere, I actually know a lot of other queer people (and, specifically, queer men) who like tharntype in a kink way. as in, the parts that make it "problematic" are the parts that are hot. so this "reading" of TT (lol) sees it as erotic art intended to arouse, rather than offer "representation" or change the public's mind in some way. so from this perspective, the target audience is anyone who finds the erotic story enjoyable, rather than say, random 14 year olds who need to be convinced gay people are human.

-more on the above: gay people aren't unproblematic. like, we do engage in all the things that you said were problematic stereotypes included in tharntype. many gay men are homophobic in the exact way type is, before they admit it to themselves. that's a whole genre of gay porn, because it's such a common part of the gay experience that it enters sexual fantasy frequently! gay people call each other slurs all the time, too (not saying it's right for anyone to be spoken to like type did, I'm just saying, for a lot of us there's a lot of humor and love there when it's spoken kindly). many gay men ARE promiscuous (not all, obviously, but many) and the way in which they are is shaped by their gayness, and while straight world might think that's bad, other gay people might not see it as such. and I very much get how that's very inconvenient when one is trying to argue that gay people aren't sex perverts (so we can have rights) but sometimes what ends up happening is that people who ARE sex perverts (I mean this in a positive way) get told that their lives don't matter, or that even depicting them in fiction "makes you all look bad." it's the usual assimilation problem :/

-I really really really recommend diary of tootsies for a show by gay people for gay and straight people. it's one of my all-time favorite gay dramas, and it might elaborate more on what I'm saying above. it's a gay comedy that's actually executed well.

-it's actually not true that yaoi has only ever been dominated by cishet women! I love this website for more info on how men and nonbinary people have been involved in yaoi historically https://www.fujoshi.info/ . totally true that treating real people like dolls is gross to do in real life, but I don't think women writing yaoi have done that, on the whole, and I certainly don't think the existence of yaoi does that automatically. and I think it's a case of unfair maligning of asian women to say that it does.

-I don't think tharntype is a "good" show. nothing like, say, moonlight chicken (as an example of a show that I think is very good). it's very poorly executed in places. it's trashy. the way it's been marketed, with tharn and type as like, political gay rep, is bizarre. but it's a cheap, trashy snack, a gay bodice ripper type of story, and so I don't think that's a hate crime, or a failing of lgbt people, on the whole.

I know as an ally it is always difficult when there is disagreement in the group you are trying to be an ally to regarding what is acceptable/offensive, but I feel the best thing to do is always to come to a personal opinion oneself that aligns with one's own moral values, after hearing from differing perspectives within that group. So I've provided my own perspective here, which may be totally different than other people you've heard from or your own, and that's okay too! again, hope you have a great day and thanks for your time :)

ANONYMOUS, COME 'ERE FOR A HUG, YOU! THANK YOU for sharing your perspective.

Yes, this show and the related topics are unbelievably difficult for me to write on as an ally. I really appreciate your understanding of the gray areas all around this, and with the help of a number of Tumblr friends, I tried to dive into and balance as much of the gray areas of the topic of TT as much as possible.

I really appreciate the further history on yaoi's origins, and would like to tag some folks to take a look and offer their thoughts -- and, I do not take corrections personally AT ALL, I LOVE LOVE the learning and constructive criticism (that's a major point of the OGMMTVC!), so I WILL be happy to edit any corrections into my posts if need be (cc @nieves-de-sugui, @miscellar, @lurkingshan and anyone else who knows more about yaoi than I do).

I'm getting one or two nasty comments here and there, but by and large, the feedback today on the post has been thought-provoking and eye-opening. I love hearing and reading all of it.

[ash-whimsicalfanfic]

Serendipity (CH 2)

Leroy Jethro Gibbs X Fem OC/Reader

Word Count: 1482

Warnings: Mild language, fluff, smut, angst, violence, gore…

Prompt: You have a major crush on Gibbs, however you choose to push it away as you fear he doesn’t feel the same way. Suddenly there is a bunch of chances that lead to a happy ending.

“Hey Abby.” I say, walking into her lab.

“Y/N! What are you up to?” She asks with her cheery smile.

“Just checking in. The case is at a standstill. Director Shepard has Gibbs in MTAC.” I explain.

“When are you going to tell him, Y/N?” She asks.

My eyebrows furrow and I look at her confused. I try to think about what she could be talking about. I didn’t recall having to tell Gibbs anything.

“What are you talking about, Abs?” I ask.

“Gibbs! When are you going to admit how you feel about him?” She asks and my cheeks flush red.

“A-Abby…he is my boss. And he doesn’t feel that way. Not to mention…there is an age-gap. I’m too young for him.” I mumble.

“Do you care about the gap?” She asks.

“I-no…I don’t.” I mumble.

“So, why are you depriving yourself of happiness, Y/N?” She asks, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Yeah, Y/N? Why are you depriving yourself of happiness?” Gibbs asks, walking in.

I look down, my eyes on the floor as more of my face heats up. Abby “ooo’s” quietly and I can imagine the grimace and maybe regret on her face.

Gibbs pops up out of anywhere. It was unfair how he was able to do that. Abby starts to fill Gibbs in on what she found and I decided to slowly start inching out of the lab.

I hurry to the stairs, running up to the floor and I head towards the bullpen. Tony eyes me, knowing something was up and I internally curse him too. He had his nose up in the air for drama.

I grab the file off my desk along with some evidence and see the sticky note.

“I’m bringing this too, Ducky.” I murmur.

I walk out of the bullpen and pass the elevator that opens to the stairs. I start making my way down to autopsy while looking over the file. My eyebrows furrow, running back up the stairs. I huff as the door opens and I go flying back down the stairs.

“Oh my god! Y/N! I was coming to look for you and Gibbs said you were going down the stairs, not up! Are you okay?” She asks, running down the stairs and I slowly sit up, rubbing my head.

“You must’ve been on a mission then. Jeesh, Abs.” I tease, smiling grimly.

She kneels beside me, studying my head before giving me an apologetic look. I knew she felt guilty and I hated that.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” She asks.

“Yeah. Yeah. I just…right, I needed to tell Gibbs something.” I say as I hurry to stand and grab up the file.

I try to blink sway the dizziness, running up the stairs. I open the door, walking into the bullpen as Abby followed behind me.

“Y/L/N, what the hell happened to your head?” Gibbs asks, standing.

“Me, sir. I opened the door very fast and it sent her flying down the stairs. I’m going to clean that cut up once she stops working on this case for a moment.” Abby says.

“It was an accident. I wasn’t paying attention. The file. Look, Gibbs.” I say, opening back up and showing it to him.

“I’m looking at a concrete wall, Y/L/N. Send her to Ducky to rule out a concussion.” Gibbs says and Abby grabs my arm, but I shrug it off.

“No! Gibbs, look! Like really look! Right here! Do you see it?” I ask.

“McGee, DiNozzo, head back to the crime scene and see if that hole is what Y/L/N thinks it is. Looks that way too. Ziver, with me. Abby, take Y/L/N to Ducky.” Gibbs says.

“Boss, I’m fine. It’s just a little cut.” I say.

“Meet us when your finished.” He says.

I huff, following Abby towards the stairs as we head back to autopsy where I originally was suppose to go.

“Oh dear, what happened to your head?” Ducky asks, ushering me to a chair.

“Me. I opened the door to the stairwell to catch up with her as I was told she was going to your lab, but she was coming back up and I knocked her down the stairs.” Abby says.

“Oh Abigail. The good news is that she seems to not have a concussion. Just a nasty little cut there.” He says.

He cleaned it up and I left the evidence before following Abby to the elevator. I was the first to get off, hurrying out of the building to get to a work car. I drive to the address that Gibbs texted me and they were here…but I didn’t see them.

I walk around the building, peeking through a broken window to see that Ziva was knocked out and Gibbs was being held at gunpoint. I turn away, loading my gun, aiming it at the unsub. I fire a shot off and the unsub falls backwards as Gibbs looks at Ziva before looking around. I’m pulled down though by someone, my mouth covered.

“DiNozzo! McGee! Y/L/N! Whichever one of you are here, theres a bunch of them!” Gibbs shouts.

I roll over, punching the guy. I grunt as he knees me in the stomach. I stand and we both were throwing punches back and forth before he lunges at me. A scream gets lodged in my throat as we fly off the loading dock and into the freezing water.

I claw at his wrist as he wraps his arm around my neck, trying to cut off my breathing. I try to swim to the top, but I was unable to move the both of us. I bring my head back and his grip loosens, so I swim to the top. I gasp for air as I breach the surface and hear gunshots.

“DiNozzo! When did you and McGee get here?” Gibbs shouts.

“Just now.” DiNozzo shouts.

“Where is Y/L/N?” Gibbs shouts.

“Her gun…was by the broken window…badge here.” Ziva says as the gunfire ceases.

My teeth were chattering and I am pulled under the water again by the guy who I totally forgot about. I snapped his wrist as he yells. His other hand grabs my throat and I stare at him, unable to react. I think I was in a state of shock. I breathe out, closing my eyes as my chest tightens.

Jethro Gibbs POV

“Find her!” I shout.

The three of them scatter, looking around and I run a hand through my hair. I look around, but it was like everything was speeding up and alls I could hear was my heart violently thumping against my chest.

“Boss! Found her shoe here…” Tony says.

I look over and he was at the edge of the loading dock. I look over the loading dock at the freezing deep blue water. I look at him before shrugging off my jacket, taking my gun out of my holster.

“Boss…that water…it’s below freezing. You won’t have much time, if any time because your body is going to go in shock.” He says as I walk towards the edge of the dock.

“Would you leave me in that water, DiNozzo? No? I thought so. She is apart of this team.” I snap.

I jump in the water and I see her, floating near the bottom. I swim towards her, wrapping an arm around her waist as I pull her towards the surface. McGee and Ziva work her up on the dock as DiNozzo pulls me up.

“Go! You two go find the bastard who did this to her. You go call an ambulance.” I snap.

They take off and I start doing CPR, looking down at her blue-grey lips and pale skin.

“C��mon Y/N! You can’t die on me. Not yet.” I grunt.

I lean down, giving mouth to mouth before going back to CPR. A breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding leaves me as she coughs up water, but was unconscious. I pick her up, walking up the dock.

Ziva, Tony and McGee all look at me as an ambulance pulls up. A gurney was being pushed towards me and I laid her out.

“I don’t know how long she was under, but I got her back a few minutes ago. Her pulse is thready.” I say.

“Don’t worry, Agent Gibbs. She is in good hands.” The EMT says.

I watch as they wheel her away. Tony walks over and hands me her gun and credentials. I look at them before sighing.

“Go back to the bullpen, warm up. I’ll go pick you guys up once I get changed. We will see her together. Tell Ducky, Palmer, and Abby.” I mutter, walking away.

[fanfic-inator795]

I've talked a lot on here about my favorite characters, but what about some of my LEAST favorite characters?

Honestly, I don't have too many characters that I just hate with a burning passion or anything like that... but there are def characters that truly get under my skin. So let's have some fun and rant for a bit, shall we? Starting with least hated to most:

Sadie Miller (Steven Universe): Gonna be honest, a big reason why I dislike this character is because of her voice. No disrespect to Kate Micucci, but MAN her voice is just so grating to me personally (tbf, I feel the same way about Greg Cipes). As for the character herself, she's just incredibly whiny and annoying imo. I couldn't really relate to her frustrations with her mother, and that whole mess with her and Lars was just... yeah. Still can't really overlook the whole Stranded Island incident. Say what you will about how terrible Lars can be, but at least Lars can be funny and interesting sometimes. I just don't care for Sadie at all.

Mo Morrison (Lightyear): Laying out my biases here, I really don't like Lightyear in general, it's a very frustrating and agitating film to me personally, I could honestly rant about that movie for hours. But beyond the story/plot issues, Mo is just a very annoying character to me. They try SO hard to push him to be the comedy relief, and it just does not work. Then, when they try to push him as the team screw-up, they push too hard and just make him frustrating to watch since he literally can't do anything right and doesn't get a win until the payoff with the stupid spacesuit pen. Literally every scene with him just ends up making me go "goddamn it, Mo, why are you even here??"

Mr. Herriman (Foster's Home): As a kid who was a big fan of Frankie growing up, it shouldn't be surprising just how much I hate this rabbit. I think what really gets me is how callous and unfair he can be, with stuff like "Imposters Home for uh Make-em-up Pals", "Crime After Crime" and "Setting a President" showing him at his absolute worst. An all-around VERY frustrating and unsympathetic character to me, worse so than Bloo or any of the show's actual villains. Honestly, it makes me sad that we don't get to see more of his softer side - i.e. the life-long friendship he has with Madame Foster/the stuff that makes Madame Foster love him - as that easily could have saved his character. But for the most part, he just comes off as a huge jerk.

Stickler (The Cuphead Show): Similarly to Herriman, I think I just get incredibly annoyed with characters who put rules and procedure above everything else. What makes Stickler worse though is the voice they gave him, as while it's kinda funny in his first couple appearances, by season 3 I'm cringing just as much as Devil does whenever he pops up. They also amp up his jerkiness and pushiness in the later episodes - and while I get WHY they need to, given how distracted Devil gets, it's still a tad annoying imo.

Dr. Owen Hunt (Grey's Anatomy): Literally my least favorite character EVER. This guy... he really is just the WORST. And yes, I know there are in-universe reasons for how he acts, but when he continues being a shitty person to his wives and others, I stop caring about those reasons. He's a huge hypocrite on most things, has a 'my way is always right'/'My way or the highway' mentality, and he's just such a baby whenever he doesn't get his way or when he has to face consequences. YES, I KNOW, on Grey's pretty much everyone is a shitty person in some way because it's a dramatic medical soap opera and they need drama, but Owen really does just get under my skin the most with how stubborn and 'holier than thou' he acts a lot of the time.

...That being said, if any of my followers actually like these characters, no disrespect to you. In fact, I'd love to know WHY you like these characters, as perhaps I can get a new perspective on them.

[thepagemistress]

SPN Rewatch 1x08 - Bugs

Ah yes, the infamous Bugs. Honestly, I don’t really understand why this episode has the reputation it does. Sure, it’s not a great episode and the racist premise is questionable as fuck but there are definitely worse episodes throughout the whole run. I don’t think this would even make it into my bottom ten. Hell, I think this episode is better than the last one! Marginally. I think just the fact that the show itself made a point of it being a bad episode somehow convinced everyone that was the truth when really it’s just kind of meh.

So yeah, we have a Native American curse because of houses being built on a burial ground which oof, that should have died out in the 80s with Poltergeist. And bugs are going to kill everyone but only on this one week a year, otherwise it’s fine or whatever. So the guys manage to save one family by just…outlasting it and then that’s the end of it. It’s very weird and kind of unsatisfying in a way because you have to wonder if their presence really made any difference at all.

There is some interesting character work to be had, though. Namely relating to the differing views of John and their upbringing between Sam and Dean. Sam looks back on John as being something of a tyrant, someone who he butted heads with frequently and forced him to be something he wasn’t. Meanwhile, Dean idolised his dad and fell into line so wasn’t treated to that side of him and was too blinded by said idolisation to recognise the poor treatment for what it was. Although this is also something that I feel was retconned a little bit later on, once we get a better insight into their childhood. I do think Dean was very aware of how unfair it all was, he just knows it doesn’t help anyone to dwell on it now. Here, Dean is annoyed by Sam’s attitude. It’s like he’s been living in a little bubble the last few weeks/months when they’re how they used to be but this is a sudden reminder of how much Sam begrudges his family and their lifestyle and it rattles him. I think part of it is he just doesn’t like Sam shining a light on it because he doesn’t like acknowledging John’s transgressions.

I do wonder if what he says about John checking in on Sam at Stanford is true, though. I feel like that may have been something he did and just attributed to John to defuse the fight. Or maybe Dean suggested they check in on him together. But we also know that John wasn’t disappointed in Sam from when he was bragging about him to the guy in 1x04. I can totally believe that John would want to keep tabs on Sam because I think the core of his terrible parenting IS the fact that he couldn’t bear to be separated from them, knowing what was out there. But, as is being proven right now, I also think he has no problem leaving them to their own devices. The man is a mess of contradictions. A true Winchester.

I do kind of hate that Sam feels guilted into apologising to John. Maybe he does have things to apologise for but it feels like he’s shouldering the blame for their argument when it was clearly both sides fucking it up. Plus Sam was just a kid, he was entitled to go off. At least Dean knows to temper his expectations for their reunion.

It's also funny hearing Dean say he’d “blow his brains out” if he lived in a suburb when just one season later we see his Djinn fantasy being exactly that. You’re full of shit, Dean! (Or they just had a better understanding of his character by that point.)

Favourite part: Dean getting to have a nice steam shower. As he deserves.

Least favourite part: Aside from the racism? The weak spider effects.

Quote of the episode: “Yeah, you were kinda like the blonde chick from The Munsters.”

What’s compelling me to keep watching: Yeah, it would kind of be losing me at this point.

Random things I yelled to myself during the rewatch: “Sam why in the fuck are you getting all preachy about gambling? chill dude” “Dean, it’s not a crime to watch Oprah, chill dude” “Travis, you’re a sweetheart, I love you” “Alfieeeee” “the licence plate says JKR! That’s why this episode is cursed!” “that lady was way too calm about something crawling across her face” “those were some rubber-ass spiders” “pretty sure you can break a curse, guys” “I did forget how stupid the bee showdown was”

Rating: 6/10 – It’s a wacky premise and it doesn’t really go anywhere but there’s some nice character stuff and some background to the Winchester upbringing.

And the award goes to…: The umbrellas. Sorry they deemed you too gay. Gone too soon RIP.

[hello-nichya-here]

Thank you for being sympathetic to Alicent and viewing her situation with actual nuance and understanding

I'm proship as they come but the way the majority of the HOTD fandom talks about her make me so deeply uncomfortable with how casually cruel and lacking of sympathy they are. Like yeah she's a fictional character, but yeesh, their hatred of her is so eerily close to actual IRL misogyny. It's one of the very few times when fictional discussion is crossing the reality line for me

Oh, it has absolutely turned into real life misogyny - there's a ton of idiots online threatening to do all kinds of vile thing to the actress because she dared to comit the crime of playing a character they don't like.

And I meant it, even as someone who is very firmly Team Black, the Greens are interesting, compelling, complicated characters that are fun to watch, so even when I'm pissed at one of them is a "love to hate" kind of situation, because they're still being entertaining.

And again, Alicent was objectively screwed over the entire show, by her father, her husband, and by her society in general. Did she sometimes make things worse for herself or hurt other characters who didn't deserve it? Yes. But so did Rhaenyra, Daemon, Viserys, Aegon, Aemond, etc. The whole point of that story is practically nobody stays fully innocent when there's a full on war going on, and EVERYONE becomes a victim of the circumstances in said war.

I might want Rhaenyra to be queen, but it IS objectively unfair how Alicent was raised to think her duty was to marry whoever her father picked for her and give her husband male heirs to inherit all he had, and she did that without complaining for the longest time - and then her husband not only doesn't want her children to inherit, but he also has the nerve to call his child of a previous marriage his ONLY child.

I would not blame her one bit if she started throwing stuff at Viserys while screaming "Then why the fuck did you marry me and make me have kids with you for? The fuck was that about?" Hell, she could snap one day give Viserys too much medicine to kill him once and for all, I'd say she was fully justified (and in the truly pitiful state he was in, he might actually thank her fo it).

It really is no surprise that, when Rhaenyra makes a toast in Alicent's honor, thanking her for all the devotion she offered to her father through the years, caring for him as his health worsens, it led to the ONLY time adult!Alicent says she believes Rhaenyra would be a good queen. It's the first time in YEARS anyone has thought of everything she was put through, everything she had to sacrifice for the sake of other people who didn't even deserve it - and so it becomes the first, and sadly last, time she sees eye-to-eye with her former friend, and recognizes that Rhaenyra's situation of "You were named heir then your father went and got you two brothers despite knowing that would likely cost you the throne" is also not fair.

Otto and Viserys are to blame for all this misery for everyone in both sides of the conflict (except maybe Daemon's, to some extent at least) - Otto for using his own daughter and grandkids as pawns in the Game Of Thrones, and Viserys for being a pushover that lets himself be manipulated AND uses "I'm just a sick, fragile old man mourning my beloved wife that I murdered" as excuse to justify remarrying and causing a ton of trouble for everyone just so he has someone by his side (and not even appreciating said person) and doesn't feel lonely.

Alicent's biggest sin was not realizing she should not have put up with this bullshit - but how could she considering how young she was when it all happened and the way she was raised to think she had to obey her father and husband no matter what?

[angelhummel]

okay so in honor of pride month, i have something i wanna get off my chest for real. sorry if this is super long

I have a tendency to go outside of tumblr spaces when looking at glee content — something i frequently regret. but in my time in those spaces, i often the most delusional take ever. it is basically, “kurt was always kinda pushy towards finn. so did he actually DESERVE to be called a slur??? 🤔🤔🤔 let’s discuss.” this shit boils my blood to no end and while it’s obvious why, i feel the incessant need to defend my boy kurt at all costs.

for one, he wasn’t any more pushy than any other character in the show. i mean for god’s sake, rachel quite literally THREW herself at finn as early as the first episode and i guess that’s fine??? what kurt did was virtually no different bc all the characters do weird, out of pocket shit throughout the show. it really only bothered finn bc kurt is a boy and finn is OVERLY bothered by the prospect of a boy having a crush on him. (more specifically that its kurt — he just simply dislikes kurt being attracted potentially straight guys. thats why he took so much issue to kurt singing with sam. it’s always been about his personal issues with kurt)

moving on to the actual scene in question, so much of what flop accused kurt of was grossly unfair to him. like he says something along the lines of “im scared to even take a shower when youre around,” implying that kurt is some ‘predatory gay’. which is ironic, bc we learn from kurt himself that he never showered after gym JUST to avoid be labelled as something like that. at no point did kurt’s advances move towards remotely ANYTHING sexual in nature, finn just instead assumed that of him

finally, i do believe that flop WANTED to call kurt a slur. he knew that kurt wouldnt call him out for it and you can tell from his tone that that had been building up inside of him for awhile. he wanted something that would push kurt away/scare him. he just went for the cruelest method possible in the moment.

so all this was to basically say that flop hudson sucks and that kurt did not deserve any of the shit that he endured. he was pretty much taught by his peers that it is inappropriate and unacceptable for him to have the same wants and desires that literally any teenager would have simply bc he was gay.

thank you for tuning into my rant. this has been stewing for awhile lmao

lmao yesterday i saw a gifset where cory as finn was doing some good fun acting and i stared at him for like a minute going "if i focus on the cory of it all, can i trick myself into liking finn even a little bit?"

the answer was already no, but if it hadn't been, this ask wouldve set me straight. thank you <3

i've definitely talked about that before tho bc omg. finn has the nerve to call anyone else pushy. i know its not like it'd happened in the show already but. this is the boy setting up a whole kissing booth to manipulate quinn into kissing him aksljfsdlk. or the way he got drunk at the wedding reception in s4 and was hounding rachel. that literally gives me the heebie jeebies lmao sorry to be dramatic about it but i hate it

and god yeah it just breaks my heart bc we know that kurt is always walking on eggshells around these people anyway. and literally 2x04 has become one of my least favorite episodes bc of how hard it is to watch as a kurt stan lmao. sorry it has like two iconic songs but finchel are so fucking manipulative and awful and i've had several rants about this episode before aljsfdlks but basically boils down to them literally making kurt feel like he's committing a crime by asking sam to sing a duet with him and isolating him to an unhealthy degree

and then wanna act all :O four eps later when kurt is like "im getting tf out of here to go to school with people who are nice to me" aslkfdslfjsd

anyway literally just search "2x04 anti finn" on my blog and you will find more posts than you would ever care to read lmao

[lunar-system]

izzy thoughts

i didn't feel at all the death was accidental or without a cause. izzy was the most himself when he told ricky to go fuck himself and defended the pirate way of life without a regard for his own personal safety. he was targeted by ricky's gun because he so vocally and ferociously stood up for what he believed in

izzy dying because he stood up to what he believes in FEELS BAD because it IS BAD in the show's actual universe as well. He died to what is the show's equivalent of homophobia, he got hate-crimed for his pirate life style, ricky targeted him because he stood up for himself and his people – that is horrible! for us and for the characters! in the actual story! it was a sad and unfair way to go! and ricky is a villain who did a horrible thing to a character we love! it hurts! gaahhh!

what hurts in real life is that we were under the assumption that there would not be hate-crime equivalent things in the show. it was a safe show for many. so yeah, of course it's a shock. the assumption is that if someone does something racist or homophobic etc in this show, they get punished right away and laughed at. but this time the bad guy actually killed someone. the violence was real. izzy hands still didn't operate under the muppet rule set. real world violence rules applied to him this one time.

why was this wound deadly when no other was? because this show decides the stakes and accuracies on a case by case basis. right now it wanted it to count. eternal arguments can be had about if that was the right choice or not.

yes, it felt kinda unfair that the show trained us not to fear death. ed practically died earlier this season, and he was fine. it was a weird surprise that for izzy the death was permanent. well. unless season 3 proves us otherwise. a long con. we'll see.

the fact that djenkins happens to be mostly on the same page with fandom, i think that's a happy accident. remember that he was surprised that people didn't dare to believe ed/stede was happening? he didn't know the fandom's long history with queerbaiting. he was just writing his show. it makes sense he would not be up to date with the fandom style politics of that you should not kill a character who is a strong symbol for something in the real world. sounds to me like it was a similar surprise than the queerbaiting one. earlier he happened to play with fandom rules, but he doesn't really know there are that much rules at all. now he happened to go against one rule, just like he happened to go by the rules earlier. he writes the kinda fanfic he likes. and right now he liked the weight that an actual character death has. unfortunately in tv shows there are no tags "major character death" to soften the punch.

could he have predicted how massively popular izzy became with his new added arc? i'm not sure. To some degree you can try to predict the impact your writing has in the real world, but you can't really control how your work is received. with the release of s2 i saw it in real time, the weight that izzy had and the importance of him for many. maybe it was a surprise that the redemption arc was that effective. and tv shows are really, reaaaally slow to make. you have to stick with a decision you have made a long time ago, unless you have ridiculous amounts of money to throw around for reshoots. And once a season is airing, it is absolutely too late to start changing anything. Djenkis wanted an impactful death, and he ended up with a bit TOO impactful one. There's no changing it, I personally don't see a point with fighting it, it happened, it was written, shot, edited, colour graded, composed, produced with care and set in stone a long time ago, and now we work with what we have. Maybe i'm just not confrontational, but I was given this, it's what I have, so I'll find a way to roll with it. Maybe I'll use a bit of fiction to cover the trauma, you know? cause not moving on is worse? Honestly, I think whittling a shark would be a great way to pay homage to izzy. I should get some soft wood to do it.

no end thoughts, just, gosh he was a wonderful character. loved to get to know him. rip izzy <3

[k-odyssey]

well, hello, i come to you from my bed, which i haven't left much in the past 3 centuries days. i was the first from work to go on holiday, but not before catching a virus from my boss, so summer strike was a welcome distraction! of course, it did a 180 and *spoiler alert* murdered a beloved character on me but, it's still not nearly as violent as the other thing i'm watching (bad and crazy).

i thought, isn't it so nice that grandma is taking yeo reum in as her own? how lovely, she and bom are officially sisters now!! it was indeed too nice. life is so unfair to them. yeo reum was ready to take off at the first sign that she was unwanted, and this happened.

the preview confirms that the murderer isn't who we thought. this drama gives me a lot to think about in terms of family, guilt... between bom's father and geun ho.

with bom, she shouldn't even have had to make that choice for her family while recovering in hospital. but i didn't feel like the drama was saying she was in the wrong for wanting to say the truth (her dad hurt her), even if that would shatter her family. rather, i felt it showed all of the pressure she was under. it was clear that she wasn't making a decision for herself, it was a decision she was making for the family. irl i would hope the hospital would contact the police and the matter would be investigated...

tbh even if i get that this is a different cultural norm, the pervasive stories of parents (usually mothers) ready to defend their children at all costs, no matter what they're accused of, i find very unsettling. grandma was always protecting her son, even if he hurt others. even if they were loved ones.

and for geun ho, it's not even the fact that his parents are convinced of his innocence, since they're apparently right about that, it's the way they treat others. by all means, get a lawyer, talk to the press... why are you dragging a witness to your house to make her sign a petition... your son may not have killed grandma, but he did hurt yeo reum.

i mean, there is a way not to turn your back on your child, while acknowledging the suffering of others. but these mums do seem like they treat their sons as an extension of themselves and can't distance themselves. part of me wonders if they'd do the same for a daughter.

but yeah. the scene from the pics with jae hoon was lovely. yeo reum really does have this big sister vibe, even in the midst of the chaos. it's so comforting to hear that you'll always be welcome by someone, and especially meaningful when you feel that lonely.

i haven't even said anything about dae beom yet. he was kinda sinking in the background of ep10. the professor is 100% exploiting him without a care and i hate him so much. at least i'm glad that ji young realised what he had run away from and knew what to say to pull him out of his spiral, even if that involved yeo reum. also she realised seoul isn't all that so that's good.

for the record, i do love and enjoy this drama. but it's also not the simple escapism i was expecting. on the one hand, there's the relatable "can't stand this life, let me go away for a while" narrative with a cute romance and found family. on the other hand, there's generational trauma and the crushing weight of societal norms and me frequently wondering "isn't this this just misogyny?". also there's a crime.

[fuckthisshitimin]

You know -- I still get terrified of what people might think when they meet the real me. I didn't grow up religious, I've been raging for years against Christianity's idea that a thought can be a moral crime, I've deconstructed so many things, I've unlearnt so much guilt, so much judgement.

And if I don't believe in God (?) I believe in Soul // I believe I have a soul -- I am scared it is bad. My soul, my core, that's the real me, the rotten and bruised essence I live on, the beautiful divine humanity that got thrown against every wall, right? It's my soul that yearns and prays, my soul that knows the bottomless pit of anger and the deeper yet hunger for love -- it's my soul that knows they are the same.

When I am scared, I think of the voice that screams hate from inside, I think of how little I care. People, and other's feelings and the mass of other souls that I waltz through every day. I don't care about them. I don't care about you.

The shards of anger that I swallow back -- when she has done nothing but she stands in my way, move hag, I am so sorry, I won't say that. The secret occupations -- how I say poems in my head when you rant about the same problems again, I don't care, I don't care, I am sorry, bad, bad friend.

Bad, ugly soul, unwitnessed, sacred, rotten, secret.

And I do nothing -- I eat it up so it won't hurt, because I don't want others to see, I don't want to fuck this up, I don't want to be mean.

It's the paradox of a non-believer in a culture shaped by the Cross -- my instincts are vile and they do no harm and I have no one to ask forgiveness to. I am sorry.

I am sorry, I say again, and to no one, I feel sorry.

When I look at myself from outside, when I try, I think -- if I have wronged no one, I am not wrong, here. The real me, maybe, is closest to what I show, furthest to what I hide. Maybe the real me isn't a secret I only know, maybe the real me is the visible sum of my efforts, maybe the real me isn't my soul, but the one that is loved. Maybe the curation of my soul and the craft of offering the best bits while keeping the unfair blood-hungry ones away from the world is who I am.

And I don't have a definite answer. Because I believe in my soul. Maybe it needs a God, to make sense, maybe I need to be its God.

In the meantime I will try to be less afraid, and less guilty.

I will try to be my friend. When I spend a week ruminating on a bad day I'll listen and say a poem in my head and patiently nod until I don't need to spill anymore. When I stumble on my own feet I'll refrain from swearing at it, from resenting it.

When a friend tells me they are scared I'll hate the real them, I know I'll say: I know the real you. They say hello to me every day. I know the real you, you show them to me, I don't care about your secrets, they are yours to keep, they are yours to carry silently in your stomach when we speak. Then the words you choose will have steeped in your secrets, and when a shard of glass you swallowed will come back up your throat and you cough it into my face I promise you I won't hate it, I promise you I won't be scared. Maybe I will cough back, maybe I will swallow my knives and play with your ragged glass, maybe I will make a spectacle of the edges cutting my fingers. I will tell you they are just like mine.

[faradaykay]

kyoko for the ask game!

KYOKO MY GIRLLLLLL as much as i literally never talk about kyoko she is LITERALLY one of my top ten characters of all time. like i LOVE her. so i am happy to talk about her!!!

favorite thing about them - it's hard to put this into words but i really like the way that kyoko expresses her kindness, and i find it refreshing. i think oftentimes we are quick to associate kindness with people who express it in a super non-subtle and direct way, but kyoko is someone who i think is an extremely kind person despite the fact that she sometimes comes off as standoffish or cold, and i really love this about her!!

least favorite thing about them - hmmm, i can't think of anything! just like with komaru, i think any flaws that kyoko has add to her character, so i wouldn't say i dislike them at all. i will say i don't like umm. some of her actions in thh chapter 2 but i think that is an issue of the writers not knowing how to handle that situation above all tbh

favorite line - "Hey, Naegi. No matter what happens, don't give up on hope. I shall always be by your side." STARTS CRYINGGGGG

brOTP - kyoko and togami is such a good friendship. they are makoto's biggest supporters and they are besties

OTP - naegiri!!!!!! i love naegiri, it's the most well-written dynamic out of the ships that the games tries to make semi-canon in my opinion. they complete each other in such an important way, and compared to the protagonist x deuteragonist ships in the other two main games, i think naegiri does the best job of developing their dynamic in a convincing way that shows that they have chemistry and a deep connection. they didn't just throw us 50093893 suffocatingly forced romantic scenes and expect us to think it's #RelationshipGoals (side-eyeing saimatsu rn. sorry.)

nOTP - i don't hate any kyoko ships but i will say i'm not a huge fan of celesgiri - sorry!! i think it's pretty aesthetically, but seeing as kyoko is someone who has a really hard time trusting others, it's hard for me to see someone like celeste, who is extremely inauthentic as a person, being a good match for her. i could maybe see this ship if celeste goes through a lot of development, but i just think she clicks a lot more with makoto if you get what i mean!!

random headcanon - kyoko is the most bisexual girl to have ever bisexualed, her and makoto are the ultimate bi4bi couple ever

unpopular opinion - i wouldn't call this opinion unpopular bc i don't think a majority of people feel this way, but it bothers me when people act like kyoko's actions in trial 5 were selfish or unreasonable. the trial was rigged and unfair - someone who did not commit the crime was going to be executed no matter what, and i think it's unfair to say that she should have been willing to put her life on the line to save makoto. it was neither selfish or selfless - it was just a human way to react, and it doesn't mean she didn't care about makoto. also, contrasting this with the sacrifice she makes in dr3 shows the development her relationship with makoto goes through, and that's something i love about her!!

song i associate with them - sorry i don't really have any kyoko songs wauhghghgh

favorite picture of them - i'm a big fan of ramen noodle kyoko