#it’s very easy and anyone who says otherwise is just using it as an excuse to be fat phobic
The only “hard” part about drawing fat bodies isn’t that they in themselves are difficult to draw, but rather that there’s never actually references to use like there are with skinny bodies and it’s so frustrating
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💘 for the ask game? Might have a preference for the dare kiss if the inspo strikes you... 👀
Inspo did, in fact, strike me (thank you for the prompt!)
💘 fake relationship / mutual pining / dared to kiss
Prompt from this post
CW: alcohol use
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Eddie doesn’t know whose brilliant idea this was, but they owe him for emotional damages.
Like–
Look, Eddie had really only ever attended high school parties as a dealer, had had very little interest in them otherwise, and thus has never played any of those cheap excuses for a chance to swap spit that they called games. Not truth or dare, not seven minutes in heaven, and not—Eddie watches in dizzy fascination as the empty beer bottle twirls and twirls in the center of the circle—spin the bottle.
Except someone had suggested it, and the rest of them had been just drunk enough to decide it was a great idea and join in.
Except Eddie is pretty sure this game is supposed to be played with classmates you don’t really know; people you barely remember in the morning and whose eyes you can avoid in the hallways at school on the following Monday – not two girls Eddie helped save the world with, the boyfriend of one of the aforementioned girls (and possibly the boyfriend of the aforementioned boyfriend? Eddie’s not sure what’s going on there), three guys he’s been friends with since middle school, and–
–the bottle stops, and Robin lets out a whoop. It’s pointing to the spot directly to Eddie’s right, the spot filled with none other than–
Steve Harrington.
The current bane of Eddie’s existence, with his stupid, pretty face and his stupid, soft-looking hair and his stupid, dry sense of humor and the way he’s stupidly sweet to Eddie and the way he’s smiling at stupid, stupid Eddie right now, who has a stupid, embarrassing crush on the guy, and now Eddie has to kiss him because the beer bottle says so. It’s the law, or something.
Eddie swears he hasn’t actually had that much to drink; he’s pretty sure proximity to Steve just does this to his brain.
Steve keeps smiling at him, amused, eyebrows raised expectantly. “Well?” he goads gently, elbowing Eddie in the side. “You gonna back down, or are you gonna kiss me, Munson?”
And– okay, one, Eddie has never backed down from a dare in his life, mostly because he operates on at least seventy-five percent impulsive thought power, and two, there’s no way Eddie isn’t going to take the chance to kiss Steve. It might not be the way he wants, but it also might be the only chance he’s going to get, so he turns and curves a hand at the side of Steve’s jaw—to steady Steve or to steady himself or maybe because he just wants to touch—and leans in and presses his lips to Steve’s.
And he tries to keep it PG, alright? He tries to keep it close-mouthed and soft, as easy and meaningless as the short kiss Robin had laid on him a few moments ago that had made it his turn to spin the bottle in the first place – he tries, but then someone (maybe Gareth? Hard to say, the world outside of Steve and Eddie has gone a little wishy-washy) shouts, “You call that a kiss?” and, well–
Eddie’s never backed down from a dare in his life.
(And if this is the only opportunity he’s going to have to kiss Steve, he figures he might as well milk it for all it’s worth.)
So he tilts his head, and parts his lips, and finds that Steve’s tongue is already there, hot and wet and licking into his mouth like he’s starving for it, teasing Eddie’s tongue back into his own mouth and sucking, and–
Eddie pulls back before the embarrassing noise he can feel building up in his chest can work its way free. He blinks at Steve, who is staring right back, eyes wide and starry, pupils blown, his mouth still hanging open a little as he pants for air, his bottom lip full and shiny in a way that makes Eddie want to dive right back in and bite him a little bit.
In fact, he’s very close to doing just that until someone’s voice breaches their little bubble.
“Well, Steve?” Robin prods, sounding far too amused for anyone’s good. “Are you gonna take your turn?”
“Nah.” Steve shakes his head, eyes still trained on Eddie as he stands up. “I think I’m out. Eddie?”
Eddie’s on his feet before Steve can even finish saying his name. “Right behind you.”
And then Steve is smiling again, eager and maybe—dare Eddie think it—a little smitten, and he grabs Eddie’s hand to drag him somewhere a little more private, somewhere away from the catcalls coming at them from the circle of friends they’re leaving behind, who Eddie pays absolutely no mind to because finding the nearest clear surface he can crowd Steve against feels more important.
Eddie doesn’t know whose brilliant idea spin the bottle was, but he owes them a goddamn fruit basket.
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i. unspoken nature
series masterlist main masterlist next
"Let's get married."
The man you barely know suggested. It was a polite request. You knew that you were in the position to decline.
But your logical thought says otherwise. Just accept it. Say yes. It said.
You were no fool. It is obvious that he just wants to marry you out of benefit. But still, you wonder why is it not his family who approached you. Usually, arranged marriages are handled by the family of the groom or bride to be.
Wasting no more time to think, you simply agreed.
It was just a marriage after all. Plus, you have little to no love life anyway. The man is unapproachable, he isn't the type to harm anyone. You're sure because you've known him ever since you entered high school.
Nevertheless, it won't hurt to also use him as some sort of shield from your unstable family. You just had to act like a true loving couple. Easy peasy. (Or so you thought.)
Present day
Seated across of you is his relatives.
"Haitham, it's been almost two years that you guys are married, have you never thought about you know... having kids?" His aunt asked.
It was awkward as you just munch on your food silently. You've only seen his relatives for a few times, and there's very little exchange of conversation from you.
"Y/n is still young. There's no rush in having kids." He replied. Encircling his arms around your waist.
"Pfft. You know Y/N, young women these days are too afraid of having kids. Are you?"
"I've never really thought of it yet. Perhaps I'm just too focused on studying." You avoided her accusation, it was already a pressure to think of a new answer every time your husband's side of the family ask both of you about this. You don't want to stir up any possible arguments.
"Oh? I'm sure Haitham is financially stable enough to provide for a family. Don't you think?"
You just smiled, not wanting to further the conversation. Pretending to agree. You finished your food before excusing yourself outside of the venue.
Walking towards the cobblestone path that catches your attention, you immediately sit on a swing that were adorned with flowery ropes. You simply want to take a breather, admiring the flower field.
You gazed at the sky, the sun setting as the moon starts being more visible. The sky is painted with a mix of orange and dark blue. The peaceful ambience around the garden drifted your thoughts.
To say that you were happy ever since your marriage is a lie. It is just a mask for everyone outside of your relationship. Pretending like a couple that everyone wants to be. When it's all just a relationship purely built out of convenience. Though it's no use regretting it now, you never think twice about his offer anyway.
"Y/n. I've been searching for you." Your husband interrupted your thoughts, as you halted the swaying swing with your feet as you stood up from the seat. He approached you. "Let's go. It's already time for us to come home." He offered his hand to navigate you out of the garden.
As both of you were walking to the parking lot, he broke the silence. "I told you to stay by my side. My family would've thought we were fighting." He stated, stopping in his tracks. You just muttered an apology, not in the mood to reason with him.
Unnoticed by you, his aunt was observing you both from distance. Haitham however, noticed this. Hence why he suddenly lift your chin up, going in for a kiss. As you wrap your hands around his neck.
It isn't genuine. But it is genuine enough in the eyes of them, enough to keep them thinking that your marriage is real.
He takes your hands in his, leaving a peck on one of them.
Seeing that his aunt is convinced enough and finally entered her car, so do you both.
You were lying on your bed, the scenario earlier playing in your head.
For the past few weeks, hell not even week but it has been a year. Alhaitham never really tries to form a conversation with you, despite living under the same roof.
You're not really complaining, but you have been feeling lonely.
After you both are married, Alhaitham had stated a few rules after both of you moved in to your shared apartment.
You both sleep separately. He even told you to not disturb him in the morning, especially waking him up. You are not expected to cook for him, take care of him, or anything that a married couple would do.
To be specific, you both just live as housemates. Nothing more than that.
He would sometimes initiate conversation with you, but it's mostly for important things like your student fee, grocery needs and such. You are also barely talking to him first either.
It sometimes did make you feel sad. Pathetic even. You didn't even know how could you last that long living with someone, as if living with a wall. Though it did make you feel inferior to some of your friends or family with a healthy relationship. You were craving for it too. But as time goes by, you became used to it.
At least he still respected your boundaries. It's the least thing he could do.
Somehow, you didn't even know how did you end up suddenly thinking of a divorce. The pen and papers are already within your hands, racking your brain on trying to think of words, reasons. Rational reasons. Logical reasons.
Maybe you should just say it in his face? But what if he rejected it instead. What if you stuttered. You don't want to make a fool out of yourself.
Stretching your arms, you started writing whatever it is that comes in your head. It might even be a vent essay at this point. But as long as it's convincing, then it's fine.
After about an hour, you finally finished. Folding the paper neatly, you are already thinking of ways on how to deliver it to him.
You were too nervous to hand it to him yourself, which is why you settle on placing it on the coffee table in your living room. Hoping that he will notice it when he comes home late at night.
The sun shines through the curtains by the window, waking you up from your slumber. You opted to continue your sleep, until a vibrating sound can be heard by your bedside table. You sighed. Last night's thought keeping you up, that is until you past out at approximately 2AM.
You turned off the alarm, immediately getting up to wash up and get ready for school. After making your bed, you checked yourself in the mirror for the last time before going out of your room, holding your backpack to put it near the door of the apartment. Heading to the kitchen, you make your usual breakfast and a tea as you put them on the table, sitting down and start eating your food.
You suddenly feel an unsettling aura, it's as if someone is staring daggers behind you. You finished eating as you wash the dishes, putting them back on the usual place. True to your words, your husband has been waiting to talk to you.
You were about to head out for school until he called you. "You want a divorce..?" He bluntly asked, still sitting on the couch with a book in his right hand. You were about to reply however he suddenly added. "Forget it. Let's talk about it after you came back." He resumes reading his book again, as if he didn't just ask a serious question. You don't need to ask him for you to know that he had a day off. With that, you simply nod your head and walk out of the house.
author's note: taglist is open!!
© @qiwoomi
est. 010323
do not copy, translate and repost my work.
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gaara&ino | a little outtake of a psychiatric ward au :)
ino is a "schizophrenic", she hears things which she believes are people's thoughts, and so claims she can read people's minds. she has motor ticks and a tendency for repetitive actions which is channeled through her hobby of arranging flowers. her room in the ward is filled with flower wreaths, arrangements etc, and she gets very anxious when they are out of place. she also has OCD.
gaara is a narcoleptic kid with anti social and behavioural issues. he wears a straight jacked most of the time and it only gets tied up when he exhibits signs of going into an episode (his episodes are characterised by violence and destruction and is a great threat to himself and those around him, but especially himself). his room in the ward is padded to avoid injury.
gaara often uses his narcolepsy as an excuse for getting out of trouble and avoiding certain conversations and people.
due to the heavy medications that gaara is always under, his emotions are extremely subdued and he doesn't feel any of them in any real intensity, the meds keep him emotionally invalid and numb.
ino and gaara become unlikely friends when gaara was going into an episode and some of the other patients were enabling him by feeding his anger by bullying him and throwing stuff at him. ino punched one of them in the face and dragged gaara away from them.
gaara bit her arm hard enough to draw blood but she withstood it through tears in her eyes and told him, "i won't hold that against you because i know you're scared."
when the nurses finally arrived, the worst of it had already passed but he was still given some medications to placate him. to which ino says, "he really hates those, you know?"
gaara just stares at her, puzzled. it is the first time someone has stood up for him and has voiced his thoughts that he keeps to himself.
from then on, she sticks to gaara like glue. he finds solace in her room because it smells of earth and flowers and it is very calm and quiet. ino's voice is bright and melodic and she has full conversations with him without him needing to open his mouth because ino says she can read his thoughts better than anyone else's; and he accepts this as true because more often than not she's right about what he's thinking.
because of this, ino speaks on his behalf to the nurses and doctors and other patients. gaara gets particularly moody when the doctors ignore ino's words and turn to him to ask, "is that right gaara? do you really feel [insert what ino said]?" he just angrily nods, and ino crosses her arms haughtily and reminds them that she can read his mind and "you don't have to talk to him like he doesn't understand."
they develop an unhealthy attachment that causes both of them anxiety when they are separated. ino needs to protect him and gaara needs the peace she brings him. however, gaara causes her a lot of grief when he destroys her room at times during his fits which triggers her OCD and she has to lock him out for hours or even days at a time to re-arrange her room. similarly, gaara feels exposed when she reads him too well, many times he can be heard yelling at her to get out of his head. their fights are as explosive as their friendship is easy.
gaara's once bare and empty room slowly gets filled by colourful blankets and pillows and plushies that ino buys for him. he can regularly be found sleeping under a large soft pile in the corner of his room.
ino is always excited to see temari when gaara's siblings come to visit. even though gaara isn't always thrilled or really feels like seeing them, he sits through it just so ino can get a chance to talk to temari. ino looks up to temari as a role model. and temari appreciates ino who takes care of gaara and has given him a friendship he otherwise couldn't have gotten in the outside world.
inoichi likes gaara because he sees how happy his daughter is around him, but he is wary of him due to his tendency for violence and only hopes he doesn't truly hurt ino.
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Hey there! I hope its alright to say this as a gentile, but something I've noticed is that calling out antisemitism against Israelis in particular (but honestly. Its extending to all Jewish people now.) with 'Antisemitism' is getting incredibly ineffective. Its a word that's really really easy for us to just brush off since it carries little to no personal weight, has been painted in this conflict as a way to 'excuse colonialism/genocide', and just serves as another way to dehumanize and Other Jews. And there's also that thing with 'but x is Semetic too!'
Would recommend for the moment when you're arguing with antisemites directly to just call them a fucking racist.
It gets through to antisemitic leftists better as they'll otherwise never consider antisemitism equivalent to racism yet have some experience identifying internal racist biases and is applicable in pretty much all cases antisemitism is. And for Israelis especially. As one example, its kinda racist as hell to tell what is honestly a nation of refugees (And they ALWAYS ignore the 900,000 Mizrahi displaced at the same time as the Nakba) to go back to where they came from. And why ignore that the people they're advocating immediate land back for is making it very violently clear they will not accept their presence there in the slightest. They're as human and intelligent as anyone else. Yet they're treated like infantile but noble savages who don't know what they're doing. While this doesn't apply when talking about West Bank settlers, its pretty much never restricted to just them.
And I guess as a bonus, since Jewish people have been labeled '''White''' recently, the usual argument would be saying you can't be reverse racist. Good fucking luck using that against Jews lmao.
Anyway apologies if I overstepped with this! I have no idea if there's a connection to using Antisemitism that I'm missing, it was just getting really frustrating to see peoples eyes basically glaze over when it starts getting brought up
The racism of their hatred of Israel and nearly all Jews - and the racialized bent to their alt-histories and conspiracy theories - is undeniable. I've certainly used that word in this context many times. However, just as antisemitism isn't a magic, you-win word, neither is racism, as the type of leftist who would say something like this in the first place usually believes that there is no ethnic composition to Jews at all, that it is purely a religion - and as they are invariably culturally-Christian atheists, they think anyone who perceives a problem in how they are treated because of their religion can solve that problem by dropping the religion and becoming "normal," like themselves.
Yes, it can be effective, but don't expect too much from it. As the Facebook forward says, we can't assume there is any magic word that makes our enemies admit they were wrong, trying to catch Mitch McConnell in hypocrisy over SCOTUS seats is a fool's errand because he will never stop doing what he is doing.
Thank you for writing!
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Can I have Sonic x reader jealous hcs? ( doesn't matter who's jealous)
yes you can! thanks for your patience, enjoy!
「sonic the hedgehog x gn!reader || headcanons」
when he’s jealous:
〚before dating〛
✩ When Sonic feels jealous and isn’t fully aware of the fact, he tends to be more touchy-feely with you—using any excuse possible to hold your hand or hug you. It doesn’t fully quell the spiteful fury scorching his gut, but it helps him feel assured to feel your body heat against him.
✩ He also tends to get morose and uncommunicative, the scowl on his face lucid from a mile away. Sonic will manspread with his foot tapping rapidly as he watches you and the guy you’re chatting with, seething. Knuckles or Tails will try to point out to him that he’s being moody, and he just snaps, “Yeah, and? If [Name] can pay attention to someone else—”
“Oh, so this IS about [Name].”
“What does that mean, Tails?!”
✩ As mean-spirited as this sounds, Sonic will purposefully show off his skills at the cost of someone else. Anything that’ll make you think higher of him than anyone else, and to get your sole attention on him. We all know that Sonic is proud and self-assured of his abilities, but he’ll give credit where credit is due; but in this case, he’ll overplay his own part in things just your eyes to be focused on him for a moment longer.
〚after dating〛
✩ Now when the two of you are already in a relationship and he feels the familiar, dreadful fires of jealousy, Sonic will stop everything just to grab your face and plant a kiss on your lips. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of a conversation or otherwise doing something either. “What was that for, Sonic?”
“Just felt like kissing my angel♡”
And once the two of you get home, his hands are immediately all over your body as he presses you close against him. Considering how hot-and-heavy he was being all of a sudden, it’s easy for you to realize what he’s doing and subsequently call him out on it. When you ask him if he’s jealous, he’ll pout, bringing his mouth down to your neck to leave kisses there, “So what if I am? I love you, [Name], I love you so much.” His quiet voice resonates with your beating heart, and you open your arms up for him. He swiftly sweeps you into his arms and shuts the bedroom door behind you both.
✩ Another thing he’ll do is simply pick you up into his arms and proceed to carry you around everywhere. It’s pretty obvious that him carrying you like this is romantic, with how his lips brush softly against your forehead and the absolute tender glimmer in his eyes when you look at him; and he finds comfort in that, because there’s no one brave enough to flirt with you when you’re in the arms of Sonic The Hedgehog.
✩ Sonic will also bait you into admitting your love for him in front of other people. He’s very much for staking his claim openly for you, letting every person who he views as a threat know that you’re his. And to hear you blatantly confess your affections for him gives him a power rush and helps mitigate his jealousy.
when you’re jealous:〚before dating〛
✩ When your own jealousy flares before the two of you have made your feelings for each other known, you get awfully childish. You won’t let him help you or carry you around like usual (especially if you’re fretting about how much he just holds onto someone else, even in the context to save them; and you know that isn’t fair). But then you can’t help but feel overjoyed when he refuses to listen to you and obdurately saves you from any danger anyway.
“I can’t let you get hurt! I don’t know why you’re mad at me, but I won’t let you fall! Ever!”
✩ You know Sonic has a ton of admirers, citizens and fans alike who’d do anything for him; and it’s always your own fault when you get into your head about them fawning over him. You thought you’d never admit your dislike towards his supporters—but you did in a heated moment, saying, “I don’t like it when they’re all over you! What makes me any different than them?”
“Haha, what are you talking about? Your opinion is the only one that matters to me anyway,” he grins sincerely, reaching his hands out to seize up your own, “Well? I’m waiting for you to praise me!!”
〚after dating〛
✩ Sonic goes absolutely feral when you get jealous. He’ll tease you, thinking you’re the cutest little thing in the whole universe, while simultaneously feeling his heart and ego grow in size from how much he adores you and how you’re scared of losing him. He’ll shower you in endless kisses, whispering against your ears, “I love you, I love you. How could I ever look at anyone else when you’re this irresistible and good to me?”
Despite his more lighthearted, playful remarks meant to soothe your palpitating heart, Sonic does take your concerns very seriously and will get stern in reassuring you that you’re the one he wants and loves. He’ll tell you as many times as you need to hear it.
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Komodo Protocol
“You seen what they got going on in Demolitions?” Frank asks around his bacon. “Somethin’ real nasty, looks like.”
“No, I’ve been stuck on ‘light duty’ all week.” Antoine rolls his eyes. “You get one bug and everyone’s on your ass.”
“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have tried breaking out of Medical all those times.”
“Shouldn’t have passed out mid-meeting, either.” Jimmy cackles. “Dude, if you died, we’d be fucked. Riley’s an enabler.”
“Clyde would take over,” the Knight says dryly. Jimmy squeaks. “Meeting at nine hundred.”
Meeting, not assembly. Something’s come up, then, because they had their weekly briefing two days ago. There hadn’t been anything of note at the time; next shipment of drones to Gotham, more than anything. Antoine’s pretty sure it was largely an excuse to hide from Deathstroke, who had left that afternoon anyway.
“Yessir.”
Once he’s gone, Jimmy leans in.
“So? What do you think’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Everything’s on schedule, and I haven’t seen anything weird come up.”
“Think something’s up in Gotham?”
“Maybe.” He finishes his coffee and tries–and fails miserably–at repressing a cough. “I’m fine, coughs linger, that’s not illegal!”
Mark frowns.
“That sounded ugly.”
“That’s what coughs do.” He’s not whining. He’s not. “Leave me alone, I’m better now.”
“I want you in my office after this meeting. Just for a quick check-up.”
“Oh, come on–”
“Forget, and I’ll come find you.”
Ugh. Fine. He’ll go. But he’s not going to like it.
* * *
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
Okay. Insurance is always good. This, however, appears to be a bigass mine. Three feet in diameter, easy, and well-armored. Could probably withstand a Cobra drone rolling over it.
“Uh-huh,” Frank drawls. “For what.”
“It’s primarily to keep the military from getting involved.”
Antoine’s got news for him: the military, generally, considers Gotham as ‘fend for your fucking selves’ and probably would just pretend they didn’t see anything anyway. But sure. A little extra reassurance is nice.
“Also to keep anyone–or anything–else from stepping in.” Okay, that one’s fair. “It won’t hurt you if you walk on it; the sensors need more weight to activate the electricity.” Oh, it’s electric, too? Wonderful. “We’ll be deploying them pretty early in the night, once the drones have all been deployed.”
“They won’t fuck with the programming, will they?” Jimmy risks poking the thing. “It’s not like an EMP or whatever?”
“It shouldn’t, but I want you, when you map out the patrol route, to try not to run over them. I’ll give you a map of where I want them sometime next week.”
“How many are there?”
“Fourteen.”
Trent whistles.
“Jesus.”
“Gotham’s a big place.” The Knight shrugs. “We’re not shipping these over ahead of us; they go when we do. Clyde, I’m going to be making a special dummy; same sensors, I want to run some tests with the Cloudburst tank. If it comes to that, I’d really rather not blow this entire operation…literally.”
“Very funny, sir,” Frank says dryly. “I’ll make sure she’s ready to roll when you are.”
“Good. You five are dismissed. Drouot, you’re not.”
That doesn’t sound promising.
The others file out, though, leaving Antoine with the boss and a giant, scary-looking mine.
“These are also a contingency.”
And there it is. The boss has contingencies for his contingencies, which is, Antoine guesses, why they’re all still on this crazy crusade.
“Okay?” The Knight holds out a piece of paper with numbers on it. Antoine raises an eyebrow. “What’s this?”
“The activation code to set these all off at once. In the event that I somehow end up incapacitated, unless I explicitly told you otherwise, I want you to initiate the Komodo Protocol: order a retreat and blow Gotham off the map.”
“Sounds like overkill.”
“When dealing with Batman, there is no such thing as overkill.”
“If you say so, sir.” Such an innocuous little paper. Ten digits. Ten digits and boom, one of the largest cities in the world turned into a charred crater. “Does Scarecrow know about this?”
“No, and we’re not mentioning it. If that code needs to be used, he doesn’t need to be informed.”
Well, in all honesty, Scarecrow is the one most likely to trigger this event. Antoine has never trusted the guy. He’s convinced that, Batman be damned, if he saw a chance to poison them all, he’d take it.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that, sir.”
“Hopefully not.” The Knight looks at the mine. “But I’d rather be prepared.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea, boss?”
The boss just laughs.
“Probably not. Look, it’s like the bomb vests. I highly, highly doubt we’ll need it.”
Yeah…the bomb vests have not been mentioned to the troops at large. Voluntary or not, most people are not going to like the idea of a suicide vest being anywhere near them. If it comes down to that, then they’ll worry about it.
“If you say so, sir.” He looks from the paper to the mine again. “Did you need anything else?”
“No. You can go; I think Jones wanted to see you.”
Dammit.
* * *
“I’m sure that by now most of you have become aware of the events at Arkham Asylum.”
Antoine’s voice is hoarse, going in and out a little. He hasn’t slept, not really. Sure, Mark got a power nap out of him, but that’s about it and it wasn’t enough. He looks like shit, too, all washed out and with eye bags big enough to take on a cruise. That’ll happen, when you spend too much time in a chair.
“Batman do that, sir?”
“Yes and no. Before I continue, I want it clear: Batman is now considered a level five threat.”
“We can take him. Right, boys?” A cheer goes up. “Just tell us where he is, we’ll bring his head back in two hours.”
Ha. Trent disagrees. Bastard’s got clown morals with Bat-bullshit, if he’s still alive–and he probably is–‘taking him’ is going to be a real bitch. It’s doable, probably, it’s just going to be difficult, especially with their best resource on both Batman and Joker being at death’s door.
Antoine’s smile is wintery and the cheer dies down, gives way to an uneasy silence. Trent can’t blame them for that. He’s usually the nice one. Nice is relative, but still.
“What you’ll be up against isn’t Batman anymore,” he says. “Now, I’m sure you all attended the briefing regarding the Joker’s death of TITAN poisoning.” Pfft. Trent knows damn well they didn’t, but that’ll keep them from jabbering. “Before that incident, the Joker supplied hospitals with tainted blood, and apparently gave Batman a transfusion as well. The cure didn’t take.”
He turns to his laptop and taps a few keys. On screen, the footage Jimmy managed to get from the boss’s helmet earlier on Halloween looms large. Trent shudders. He’s seen some shit in his day, but that–a laughing, maniacal Batman attacking with full intent to kill–is in the running for his personal Top Five WTF. Thankfully, Antoine only lets it play for a few seconds, but those few seconds are enough to quiet the skeptical mutterings.
“That’s what you’re up against now. He will kill you, without a second thought. He has already killed Scarecrow–”
“Shit, we work for Richardson now?”
“No. The Arkham Knight dispatched her before the asylum blew up.”
At least that one stuck. Last thing they need is that vindictive little monster blaming them for what happened to Scarecrow.
“For the moment, we are going to continue as we were. I want drones sweeping the city, checkpoints manned, and watchtowers fully operational. If anybody sees anything, you call in immediately and you wait for backup. Don’t be a hero, your insurance does not cover facial removal.” There’s a smattering of nervous chuckles that Antoine does not join in. “Patrols: minimum of four, do not let each other out of your sight. Someone has to piss, you all go. Someone falls in one of those damn potholes and breaks an ankle, you all come back to base as a group. Understood?”
“Yessir.”
“Good. Any questions?” If they have any, they don’t ask them. Antoine closes his laptop, disconnects it, and turns on his heel. “Dismissed.”
Trent steps in fully as they file out. A few of them flinch, but most of them just keep moving.
“You look like shit,” he says bluntly. “Mark’s right, you need sleep.”
“I’m fine. Anything?”
“Couple of false alarms.”
“So no.”
“No.”
“Damn.” Antoine runs a hand through his hair. “Any change with the boss?”
“Still out. Look…what are we going to do, if he…doesn’t…wake up? Batman’s Gotham’s problem, right?”
Antoine just laughs, a little bitter, and starts towards the door.
“He only got maybe a quarter of the mines. We pull our men out and blow this city to Kingdom Come, see him walk that off.”
“What?”
“Komodo Protocol.”
Trent’s heard of it. Well, seen it, in packets, but there’s never been any information about it. It’s just come up as, like, the last resort, no specifications.
“That’s what that is?” he demands. “Detonate the mines?”
“If it comes to that, yes.”
“Jesus Christ, man–”
“My orders are to put the bastard down, whatever it takes.” Antoine turns towards the back hallway. “Check in with the Arkham troops again, make sure they don’t need any further supplies. Did you send them a Cobra?”
“Yeah, earlier.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
“Antoine.”
“What.”
“You’re sure about this?”
Antoine stops and turns around, swaying a little at the sudden change of direction.
“Yeah. If he dies, or doesn’t start waking up in another day or two, I’m calling it. We’ll finish the job one way or the other.” Jesus. “This stays between us for now. It may not come to that and there’s no reason to unsettle everyone.”
Trent nods.
“All right. You sure you’re not gonna grab a nap?”
“I’m fine.”
Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Look, Frank or Mark will probably bring the hammer down soon and when they do, Trent will be right there to enforce Bedtime.
“I’m gonna take a squadron out there,” he says. “Me and Riley: we’re taking some of his guys to investigate the little Batcave thing that turned up this morning.”
“Good. Stay in touch; that lecture goes for everyone.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find the bastard.”
“Hope so.” Antoine turns back around and starts walking again. “Good luck.”
THE END
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you can tell you work in academia with how much patience you have for some of these asks...."I don't know what is and isn't true anymore" is such an indefensible cop out of a way to exist in the modern world. morally clean "Leftists" could at least have the decency to learn the history of the people and places they pretend to care about for internet points, but hey, it's way easier to take the Opressor Approved route and give into despair and recycle repurposed right wing propaganda like the TERF version of geopolitics. a lot of people need to ask themselves, if there were no internet asspats involved, would you actually still care?? anyway thank you for your patience and willingness to engage, you're a better person than me :')
So far as the other anon goes, they have apologized and taken responsibility that it was a dumb thing to do, I have accepted that apology, and I think that matter is now closed. And yes, I do actually appreciate (as discussed in many other posts and asks) that it is difficult to always and automatically find reliable information, that it has been made deliberately even more difficult to do so by various bad actors, and that this results in a big ol' Bad Take Sea even by people who are genuinely otherwise well-meaning or want to make a positive contribution. So I really do have sympathy for that. Perhaps the previous anon did not put that sentiment across in the best of ways, but as I said, we should all have a bit more grace in remembering that we are real people behind the computer/phone screen and are dealing with different stressful things, and therefore sometimes make mistakes and do or say things we don't mean. (You know, for those of us who aren't pornbots. Oh tumblr.)
Where you and I absolutely agree, however, is that just because it is sometimes difficult to acquire that information, or that systemic and deliberate barriers/misinformation has been put in place to increase the difficulty, it does not excuse people from the responsibility of doing so, especially if they want to put themselves in the position of being the Perfectly Correct Social Media Oracle who will judge and criticize everyone else's responses and act as if that has some real-world impact or is a real marker of someone's "personal morality." And there are for sure plenty of people who are doing that with literally no self-awareness or other critical tools, because as you say, they want the Internet Asspats for being seen as a "Good Person" according to a very narrow and limited definition. But they can't think about what that entails, how to challenge it or correct it, or otherwise apply it carefully, so, yeah.
As I said, I am generally willing to answer asks that are made in good faith and show a real willingness to learn, because (as noted and which is doubtless visible again here) I am an academic and I enjoy having these kinds of discussions. But this topic in particular, and modern social media in general, is really not made for it, and it's easy to get sucked down the Discourse Black Hole that doesn't do anything for anyone, and I try to avoid that. So I answer only when I think I can contribute something useful to the discussion, which results in those kinds of long and careful responses where I do always worry that I haven't said enough or said it the right way, especially with the bad-faith reading police eager to leap on any small misstatement or sentence taken out of context. That is of course a hazard of being a person on the Internet in 2024, and since I am still here and still answering questions generally, I have clearly decided to accept it. But I also don't have an obligation to respond to *everything,* and I don't. It is a fine line to walk and again, I am a middle-aged tired academic and ordinary person doing my best. I appreciate your support. :)
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title: when the victor sleeps
summary: You do your best to stay up to wish Lilia a happy birthday.
ship: Lilia x gn!reader
word count: 1,234
note: Im very late for this fic but got busy so uhhh happy belated birthday Lilia!!
Read on AO3!
Before you realize it, a yawn escapes past your lips. You cover your mouth as if to hide your crime. But it's already too late. You can feel those red eyes boring into you without having to glance to your side.
When you give into your curiosity, you find Lilia with his legs crossed, arm propped upon one and head resting in his hand. When your eyes meet, he says nothing. You both know by the look he gives you that he's been right all along. He just wants you to admit it.
"You really should get some sleep," he speaks in a soft tone as if he's trying not to wake you up already.
You shake your head. "Less than an hour to go, right? I can stay up a while longer."
Staying up to midnight is an easy task for you. Whether it be due to finishing homework or being dragged into some stupid plan your friends had in mind, it happened fairly often. Perhaps too often. Sometimes you find yourself staying awake longer than you'd like as you've gotten used to being up in the late hours.
Tonight your body fights against such nocturnal urges. Having been rudely awakened by Grim far too early followed by Ace and Deuce dropping by under the excuse of wanting to start the new year early had caused you to lose hours of sleep. For any other day, it wouldn't be a crime. But tonight is special.
"Falling asleep won't hurt you, my dear," he hums. "This comes around every year."
"But only once," you protest. "Once a year we get to celebrate you. And I don't want to miss out on it."
"Is it really still tradition to wish for a happy birthday at the stroke of midnight?" He shuts his eyes and tries to recall a time when this last happened to him. Celebrating birthdays only mattered to those he watched over and only recently himself. Old friends never did such a thing, but things were so different back then. And the young ones he raised never shrieked on following their sleep schedules.
"I dunno, but I want to do it," you answer with a small smile. "I get to wish the old man a happy birthday and new year at the same time, before anyone else!"
"If you are acknowledging my age, shouldn't you respect your elders and listen to this old bat's wish already?"
You huff as he makes a point. But you're already so close. You're not even that tired, or so you tell yourself. Of course, your body would say otherwise. Swinging your legs helps keep you active but the action is surprisingly draining. You doubt you can keep it up for long.
"I can go to sleep afterwards."
Your response gets a tsk-tsk from Lilia. That stubborn energy of yours can be so deadly sometimes. And if you won't listen to his pleas, then he has his own tricks up his sleeve to beat you at this little game of yours.
He leans back, setting his legs straight. A hand reaches out to slide around your shoulder. With a surprisingly gentle force, he tugs you down to have your head rest on his lap.
"Stubborn little humans should listen to their elders. Especially you," he says rather fondly. A hand rests upon your forehead to keep you in place. "As much as I adore your determination to stay awake, it pains me to see you suffer."
You want to say you're not suffering and if you are it's not that big of a deal. A little lack of sleep won't kill you. Yet you find yourself so comfortable lying down. It's what you've been avoiding this whole time. You knew your body would relax the moment you gave into this temptation. Although you never imagined using Lilia's lap as a pillow in this situation.
With a red glow cast upon your cheeks, you gaze up to the one who captured you. His red eyes hold so much yet you can only find a tender look thrown your way. That mischievous smile that usually dawns his face is replaced with a sweet, longing one.
"Pardon if I'm a tad rusty. It may have been years on your end, but for me it feels like months since I've last done a performance like this."
He clears his throat and you only raise a brow in response, waiting for him to continue.
The room is silent and all you can hear are the breaths he takes in. He shuts his eyes like before, straightens his back, and begins to gently run his fingers across your forehead.
Then, he begins to sing.
It's a foreign song to you. Your best guess is it's a lullaby from his homeland or who knows where. With his vast knowledge it really could be from anywhere in this world. While you may not know its origins, you enjoy the song. The sound of his voice is soothing to your weary ears. The lyrics cast a spell over you, making the sleep that you've been fighting off for so long begin to win.
"No fair..." You mumble, weakly. Your world is already disappearing before you. The longer he goes the harder it is to break free. And honestly? You doubt you could even if you weren't this tired. "Your voice is...lovely..."
And just like that, you lost the game.
Lilia knows when you've fallen asleep, yet he continues his lullaby. Your even breathing doesn't go unnoticed but like every good singer, he must finish this song for you even if you can't fully appreciate it. When he finishes, his eyes open to see your peaceful, sleeping figure.
He hates to pull his gaze away from yours but his old age doesn't allow him to know the exact time.
"You almost made it," he chuckles.
He can already hear you scolding him for cheating. But could you blame him? Humans need their sleep. The last thing he wants is you losing lack of sleep over him.
"Next year, I'll let you win. Maybe~" He hums and lowers himself to peck your forehead. "Your life is short and you should care for yourself before others. I can't have you falling so soon."
He knows you have plenty of years left. But for him it will be over in the blink of an eye. If he has to cheat a little in order for you to get a longer lifetime, he will. The action may seem so minuscule to others, but it means so much to him.
Lilia appreciates what you would do for him, to go this length and spend time with him. It's adorable with how hard you try. You don't have to do anything for this old bat, yet you do. You always do something for him.
The sound of booming echoes in the distance. It's officially another year. It's a shame neither of you are truly celebrating, but he doesn't mind it. He spent his last moments of the year with you and now the beginning. Despite your loss, he would consider it a win for you. You accomplished your goal without even realizing it and left a mark upon his heart.
"No matter how many years go on, I will always remember you. I'm looking forward to the future years and birthdays to come."
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Did they reveal what the staffs represent?
No, they didn't even mention them, just showed them in the background and that's it.
Maybe some day, in s7? Or in one of the arc 3 seasons, which hopefully will come to be.
The only thing we've learned is that the stone in the staff of Ziard was actually a quasar diamond all along and that it being there was Aaravos's contingency plan. Coincidentally, the corona of the heavens turned out to have one of its diamonds fake. Sooo- At some point in the past he must've taken a real diamond from the corona and put it into the staff. Which means that the staff didn't have it before and that the stones in the other staffs are definitely not differently coloured quasar diamonds (as there are only three). Maybe they are different primal errm minerals? Like, Sky sapphires, Sun rubies, Moon opals...
Two questions, though.
Excuse me but what kind of contingency plan was that, Aaravos??? What were you even preparing for? Who in their right mind thinks "Hm, they may also imprison my soul and destroy my body. Let's steal a diamond, to be on the safe side"?? Like, I can't even say it was too much of a precaution because IT WASN'T. Damned genius. I wonder if he has any other crazy contingencies.
Are there any Dark magic alternatives for the de-coining spell? Because if there aren't, then Viren is a madman. I've always wondered why he did this freaking spell so readily. Did he EVER think about how he would get the coined people out??? If he knew about the quasar diamonds, it's still no less crazy: one, there are only three of them so Viren obviously had math problems as he did the spell FOUR times; two, how was he planning to fetch them?
True, Viren might've cracked a little but he's never been an idiot. He must have had a dark magic de-coining spell. But then, why didn't Claudia use it?.. It's the same spell, restoring bodies to separated spirits. Claudia is also not an idiot, she learned from her father and even took the coins after him. If there is a dark magic spell, she must have known it. So, why didn't she use it to free Aaravos?
I don't know the answer but I think it's down to these two options: either there's no dark magic alternative and Viren was a dummy OR there is and Claudia was just too caught up in her "avid follower" mode at that moment to remember that she could actually do it another way, no need to waste a priceless stone. She was literally: Aaravos speaks and I listen.
P.S. ah, one more thing. If these diamonds are all so rare and precious, why the Celestial elves gave them away so easily?
P.P.S. there MUST be a Dark magic alternative. Otherwise, how would the previous owners of the coins free their prisoners? I don't believe Viren was their first owner or the first one to use them. However, if we look at it from a darker side... Maybe the previous owners had no need to get anyone out. They just sealed people inside and left them there until they disappeared and freed the space inside a coin. :) Absolute pragmatists. Right, Viren?
upd: what's the matter with these asks? this is a second time I'm getting an ask from an account that gets deactivated in the course of like 15 minutes. I've heard there are some erm strange people in the fandom who make several accounts and write strange things, okay, but what's even the point of creating an account for the sake of asking 1 simple question?.. i mean, the question was easy to answer, i just got carried away as usual. alright, if I'm such a nice little account (no) that you couldn't help but write to me, that's fine, but then why delete your newly made account?.. really don't get it. ig it's either a very shy person (if so, you could use anonymous asks. it's more simple) or a strange person. or i just don't get it.
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tw physical abuse, violence, domestic abuse
*spins* I wonder if anybody ever noticed how quickly reboot Dante heals, and used it as an excuse to hurt him more/worse than they would've otherwise dared to when they knew he was going to be seen out in public? Because they know he can just heal up just fine (he's not fine- healing still takes energy, his healing factor still has a LIMIT, but its not like Dante'll ever tell them that, and they more than likely wouldn't care enough to stop if they knew), "so it doesn't matter what I do to him". Like, abusive foster parents, or guards, or teachers, or other people in positions of power. I wonder if Dante ever used that healing factor of his as an excuse to take physical abuse meant for somebody else, even if the victim wasn't someone he knew or they weren't kind to him, just because Dante knows they don't deserve to be treated like that? It still HURTS, but at least he can take it. (Besides, it hurts less than seeing someone else get hurt, and because he thinks he deserves it for being- who he is. Like maybe he thinks there must be something wrong with him for the demons to keep hunting him so doggedly.)
I wonder if he's ever been stabbed or shot on someone else's behalf? I wonder if he's ever killed someone that took the abuse too far, human or not? I wonder if he ever ran away into Limbo, because it made running from the cops easier?
Plus, reboot Dante has more control over his healing factor than preboot Dante seems to, so if reboot Dante needs to lie there and bleed for a bit to satisfy someone's sadism, he can. Very useful trick, that, sometimes. Especially if/when you need to play dead.
Ok so I may have gotten off topic but I'm very interested in the idea of reboot Dante and violence asdfghjk. I love characters and their complicated relationships to violence, it's a whole thing for me.
But yeah in an effort to keep this short my TLDR is: I think that yeah, Dantes been subject to a lot of abuse and his healing abilities could have enabled that abuse to be worse in the right scenario though I think he's very liable to start hitting back. I think he's definitely protected people he cares about with his healing abilities and he's definitely killed abusive people before (something him and Kat have in common). And I think the ability to play dead would be useful for him dfghjkl
In an effort to ramble about reboot Dante and violence, here's more post asdfghj (I'm not putting it under a read more but if anyone wants me to let me know):
I've come under the realization that I tend to categorize reboot Dante as more...violent and volatile then a lot of the fandom. I tend to characterize him like a scary dog in a lot of ways, largely a persona built out of a desire to protect himself and shut other people out. Which is to say I think he grew up in a lot of abusive and dangerous situations and given his unique circumstances he learned to hit back rather quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if Dante were someone's punching bag when he was younger and I wouldn't be surprised if he, given things like his healing abilities and what not, then decided to take this opportunity to punch back.
From what we see of him in game, particularly the late game conversation with Vergil about finding solace and release (the one where Vergil's like 'yeah I channeled all my energy into hacking because I felt like I didn't quite belong and it made me feel better what about you :)' and Dante was like 'yeah no I just slept around a lot and killed lots of demons' which was definitely not what Vergil wanted him to say asdfghjk), I think it's fair to assume Dante gets some sort of not exactly comfort or enjoyment from violence but a sort of like...it's sort of an outlet for his frustrations and emotions. And it's an easy outlet for those emotions.
I think there's also something to it with that one Barbara Kruger piece, this one:
The piece itself has like a homoerotic tone to it, at least I feel, particularly within the context of when it was made and all. But there's also this idea that like any sort of attention when you are starved from it is good attention. Here it's the idea that like these men want attention from other men but are too scared to receive it in a loving, kind way and so then turn to violence because it is some sort of attention, some sort of contact, with one another.
Which relates to what I want to talk about here, Dante is starved of affection and love which he copes with by both a lot of meaningless sex but also I think there's something to the idea that when you are touch starved, any sort of touch will do after a while. So getting into a physical fight, allowing oneself to engage in that, can give the sort of give a little hit of what he's looking for. Which is that sort of connection with another person, that like 'we're both here we're both alive you're real and I'm real' of a hug except you know, Worse. Like is a fight a kind interaction, no, but you can't really deny the fact you are both here in this moment and you are both alive and real as you drive a fist in a guys face. The idea that any attention is attention, even if it's bad attention.
I also tend to view him with very little care for his own self preservation. A mix of just not caring what happens to him but also that young person invincibility complex that's further enabled by the fact he can heal himself at will. Like he both is aware he can recover from injuries and all, but also fairly sure he's not going to live long, that sort of thing and isn't quite sure how much he cares to. But I definitely can see him, given the big heart he has down there that he likes to pretend he doesn't have, very eagerly playing human shield for people he cares about because he can take it and they can't.
So I think it's very likely he's taken hits on someone else's behalf before lashing out on the abuser/attacker. I don't think he takes abuse well, happening to himself or others.
I'm also very much of mind he has killed people who are not demons before because of the above.
There's also a lot of other angles to look at when it comes to reboot Dante and violence done by him or onto him to but I'm trying to keep this short asdfgh it's just a really interesting subject to me with characters, particularly characters already associated with violence.
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Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#17)
“.......”
“...”
“........”
It is... definitely too late to hide anyone from anyone here. This is happening. Now. Apparently.
I gingerly grip Mahavir’s shoulder. Feels like I’m taking sides I shouldn’t, but it’s not like Tsunyasha would let me do this. And she’s at less risk of falling over or fainting.
...Probably.
“E... Excuse me.”
He attempts to shuffle forward, but there’s still a whole room between him and the Nurse’s Office.
“Are you addressing me, whelp?”
“......”
I take a deep breath.
“He just needs to get to the Nurse’s Office. Did you have business there?”
“I need no business to go where I please.”
“Okay, then were you just going there?”
“Perhaps I shall. Would that suffice to drive you fools away?”
“.......”
I see his lips move, but whatever he says is beyond hearing.
“Mahavir?”
“.........”
Though he still has to move his head slowly, he looks up at her more properly. The hand that isn’t propping him against the wall clenches.
“...Will you?”
“...”
What, go to the Nurse’s Office?
“Will you... excuse me?”
“Will you ever...”
He doesn’t manage to finish, but he’s said enough.
Can he ever be excused for what he did? Not just in general, but by the very person he hurt? The only one who can really absolve him, whatever the rest of us may try to say.
“......”
She takes a slow step forward and stops there.
“Hmph. You think I would pardon a foolish whelp of anything?”
“I am she who passes holy judgment, sinner. None of you will be excused by my hand, except perhaps from this world.”
It’s all such standard Tsunyasha-speak. Does it even matter that Mahavir’s the one asking? Does she not want to think about what happened—what happened right here, in fact—or is it so aggressively blocked out that she doesn’t even know it happened?
But for a second, I know I saw...
...distress. And though she and Mahavir didn’t get along before this, she’s never had quite that reaction.
So...
Is this how she really feels?
“Well? Do you wish to grovel, worm? It may not change your fate, but it would be amusing.”
“.......”
I sure hope it’s intentional when he falls to his knees.
“Ah—”
I lose my grip on his shoulder, but maybe it’s for the best. This is between him and Tsunyasha, even if she acts completely unaffected. Should I be here at all?
Well. I shouldn’t be leaving my probably-not-concussed burn victim patient unattended, anyway, so not worth debating the ethics on that.
I avert my gaze, at least, but it’s still easy enough to picture their faces. Especially with Mahavir’s voice more gravelly by the minute.
“I have wronged you... terribly. If I truly cannot be forgiven, then... I... understand.”
“......”
He pauses, probably to un-grit his teeth.
“Likewise, if there is no way to atone... I understand.”
“But if there is anything... anything... that I could do to make things right... even the smallest bit...”
“Please...”
I dare a look at Tsunyasha.
“...”
“Hardly.”
“—!”
“Amusing though your pathetic display may be, you mortals can never hope to redeem yourselves from your fates.”
“I am not talking about some ambiguous ‘mortals’! I am talking about myself, and what I personally... am responsible for...!”
“...”
I can’t tell if she’s thinking or waiting.
“About... what I did to you... right here. How I... hurt you...!”
“Silence.”
“...!”
“Men like you shall NOT tell me what did and did not happen.”
“As if you could lay a single hand on the Holy Assassin! Foolishness!”
She takes a silent step sideways, opposite the wall Mahavir slumps against.
“Perhaps you ought to stay on your knees for the rest of your short life. A posture befitting such an insignificant worm.”
She strides past us without another hitch.
...”Men,” huh? Was that just a synonym for “mortal,” or...
“.......” I’m overthinking this.
I finally turn to look at Mahavir instead. He isn’t in tears, but he did sound like it. Suppressed coughing, maybe.
“...........”
“...”
I give him a minute, but he can only calm down so much.
“...Mahavir.”
“.......”
“Are you able to get up? I still need to get you to the Nurse’s Office.”
“...........”
He can’t actually intend to stay there until Tsunyasha tells him otherwise, can he? That wasn’t a real olive branch she gave him, it was just...
I don’t know, exactly. It’s not like I’m in her head. I’m just suddenly afraid I might understand some part of her better than I thought. But I could be dead wrong.
I sure hope so.
Mahavir stays silent long enough I crouch down to make sure he’s still with us. It takes a while, and a lot of pulling on my part, but I manage to coax him back to his feet. He still doesn’t say a word.
No one...
No one is happy with this. Not me, not him, and I know Tsunyasha can’t be, either. Not in any meaningful way, at least.
“...Mahavir.”
I speak as I slowly guide him forward. His footfalls are dull, ominous thuds.
“She’s not ready yet. That’s all.”
“...........”
“She may not be able to process what happened.”
“I don’t know how long it will take.” Don’t know if it will ever happen, but that’s not a helpful point right now.
“But... she might have a better answer for you someday. A real one.”
“No point trying to force it before then.”
I open the door, the faint lemon-cleaner-and-antiseptic smell wafting out.
“Let’s just make sure you can both make it to that point, okay?”
“..............”
He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t fight me as I lower him onto a cot.
Guess he needs time to process, too.
...Don’t we all.
[BACK] [NEXT]
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I can't believe someone actually wrote Sakura hate on my Nami defending post. Anyone who knows me would shriek in horror. I'm so enraged I've tried and failed to begin this post about a million times now.
While I find it a massive failure of a person's quality of intelligence and character to hate on misogynistically-written characters using the exact same language as the larger misogynistic fanbase who also hates them, despite thinking of themselves as somehow different, in general... when it comes to Haruno Sakura at this point if you're out here on the internet in 2024 saying negative things about her in random comment sections I genuinely think you're a clueless idiot and I hate your stupid guts. lol
The online mania of Sakura hatred left it's fucking mark on people who grew up as girls watching Naruto. I honestly wasn't a very online kid, so I only know about that from my friends' experiences, but how the show itself treated her left it's mark on me all on it's own. And I can see the legacy of that mania online now! Anything that so much as mentions female characters, or sexism, or annoying characters, in anime, will get mean comments about her. It's still here and it's infuriating!
Everyone should be able to separate the bigoted writing that can make a character unpleasant, and the character itself. Otherwise one just ends up contributing to the wave of hatred from bigoted fans. That always ends up hurting real people!
The widespread out-sized fervent hatred of Sakura is particularly something there is no excuse to continue to add to. At this point she represents so much more than a specific character. She symbolizes the continuation of a fucked up online culture that directs their ire at female shounen characters instead of the men who wrote them into horrible little boxes.
So, I don't even have to defend her actual character. It's not really about that. I'm going to anyways though. Because I love her to pieces and so much said about her is just slander.
Sakura fucking rules and is a compelling sympathetic character with a good arc, she was just written by a man who hates women and takes every single opportunity to put his female characters in their place. (The fucking background, kitchen, or grave.) Sometimes all three in that order!
Sakura's worst crime is being a 12 year old Girl. She's insensitive, as 12 year olds can be. She's hyper-conforming to hetero-feminine roles, as her society expects her to be, and she's over-the-top and embarrassing about it, because she's 12.
In the beginning she's often weak and scared in the background, because that's the box she was put into as The Girl. If she had gotten to have equal capability with her teammates early on then Kishimoto wouldn't have been able to focus totally on the male characters he actually cared about. To blame her for that instead of sympathizing with the angst it caused her is so heartless and backwards.
All the writing involving Sasuke fucking sucked, and Sakura's the biggest victim of that. The whole "charm" of their "romance" is that she'll stand by him and love him no matter how terribly he treats her. Does that not sound fucking familiar. It is some of the most basic misogyny there is. That is an age-old evil expectation put on countless women, not a cute story. Hating their "romance", but expressing it by blaming her for being put into that role by Kishimoto is so fucking stupid.
(Also, it's so, so, easy to interpret her hyper performative heterosexuality as closeted lesbianism. She's so unintentionally gay-coded, especially her relationship with Ino.)
It very much happens silently in the background, because I think Kishimoto will spontaneously start choking on his own blood if he tries to focus on a female character instead of his male faves for more than a single minute, but Sakura does have a good arc! Remember Inner-Sakura? She was treated as just a gag, but if you take her seriously for a second you'll realize it was actually deeply disturbing.
Sakura was repressing her anger and goofiness, because she was trying so hard to be this want-able, feminine girl. It wasn't just her unspoken thoughts, she had a whole alternate personality tucked away because of the trauma of being a girl in a sexist society.
Ino describes it here as "A whole other psyche" and is so disturbed by it she asks her, "What are you?"
The most interesting, satisfying thing about Inner-Sakura is: She goes away. She goes away after Sakura trains under a strong, successful, funny, angry, loud woman. Tsunade helps Sakura express her anger instead of repressing it, just by being near her, she shows her the kind of woman she can be. She encourages her and teaches her to be strong and shows her it's okay to be mad. Now when Sakura is angry she can yell and punch a mountain into dust about it.
It's very much in the background, but it happens. And it's everything. How could you not care about it, once you notice it? How can you not care about her?
One of the most annoying things people say about Sakura is that she became strong out of nowhere. I think those people just weren't paying fucking attention to her lol.
Not to mention, if Naruto and Sasuke can each get super-powered Sannin to train them personally, why can't Sakura? What's wrong with that? She wanted desperately to keep up with them, to be strong enough to protect them, and she knew exactly who to go to. Why wouldn't you root for her?
So what if there's nothing that makes her special, to those who only care about genetic abilities and tailed beasts. She works hard. She fights tooth and nail. There's a reason she gets along so well with Rock Lee. In Kakashi's words, "Like Naruto, Sakura possesses a heart that cannot bear to be beaten." In Sakura's:
God, just. How can you not be obsessed with her? It's not her fault the sexist mangaka couldn't let her keep developing on-screen for more than one chapter per 30 volumes without actually grappling with the fact that there's a third person in his stupid two person narrative. She's so fucking great she's crazy she's rude she's funny she's audacious she has guts!!!!!!!!!!! You absolutely cannot come into my space with a negative word on her name. Love and respect Haruno Sakura or simply die.
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Recent Events and Reactions
CW suicide mention, transphobia and hate:
I am a trans woman who has been out and about for about 20 years presenting as myself in public. Things are so much better now in so many ways, though I do worry about the anti-trans laws being passed.
Recently, the CEO of my beloved platform Tumblr melted down over a trans woman named Predstrogen. Predstrogen was perma-banned from Tumblr, and the CEO quite possibly misgendered her very nastily (I hope not) while failing to communicate well at the very least. But, far worse, he then stalked her to X/Twitter and harassed her there – apparently using his CEO power and privileged access to out certain sexually-themed handle names she used. Regardless of what she did to get the initial ban, that would be traumatizing, having a rich, powerful man follow you around on the Internet, using his power to harass and rail on you like that. I imagine she is wondering what else he might do to her now or someday when no one is watching, because I would be.
I really feel that. It brings back my trans feminine fear of men who hate us. We get under their skin in some way and they have something to prove on us. That fear they will be angry enough to do something obviously not in their own long term best interest even if it becomes publicly known. The trans panic defense is still used to justify and mitigate these responses in legal settings. And that fear of a man, in a position of power, acting violently (physically or otherwise because of who we are), is real and it happens. I was a bit triggered. There have been a lot of trans woman beaten after being with a guy and he felt guilty or like he needed to assert his masculinity, let alone someone who is just angry at you for existing.
There's been a lot of trans hate and also CEO hate going around on Tumblr, including people implying or actually wishing said CEO would commit suicide or 'lowtax' himself (which means die by suicide in this context).
But Matt is also a person, with a smart, inquisitive nature and a strong work ethic that has led him to do incredible things, like founding WordPress. Those accomplishments, and the many other social justice accomplishments he might cite, excuse nothing. Doing a certain amount of good doesn’t entitle us to doing a certain amount of bad. But our Heavenly Parents love him. He is a different person now than he was 20 years ago, and he will be a different person 20 years from now. I do not think it makes us better to wish death on someone, even when they have hurt us. And I do not blame Predstrogen for anything she may be feeling at this point, and I'm not saying she or anyone else owes forgiveness.
I am saying that to turn the other cheek, to love and pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us, is hard doctrine and not easy to understand.
But I also believe the world needs more of it. From all of us. Right now.
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ok ok i know the 4th chapter is fucked up but. u gotta appreciate the way kokichi set this whole thing up. like, it's kind of beautiful, actually.
one thing kokichi repeats several times during the game is "the process of elimination" and that's exactly how this whole case is build up.
every domino piece has been set up so they could all perfectly fall over in the trial. and kokichis the one who did the pushing nonetheless.
like. look at it like this.
(aight uh so this unintentionally turned into a canon compliant fanfic...? don't ask me how that happened.)
you have made yourself isolated and generally disliked by most of the group for various reasons. you've already been stressing about the situation and then you (most likely) see something that just makes you freak out (the card key motive). so, you've admittedly become a bit erratic. there isn't really anyone to reel you in either.
your almost-ally is very doing worse than you though. she's clearly losing it. it doesn't take long for you to figure out that she's planning to murder you. you wouldn't call eachother friends but this still probably feels like betrayal. or maybe you're just frustrated that despite everything - the remote control, the electro hammers and bombs, the bugvac - everything you've trusted her to build and she still thinks that murder is the better option. okay, fuck you too then.
most of your classmates are stupid or complacent or both. they've mostly stopped thinking for themselves and would rather leave everything to the detective. who, to be fair, isn't incompetent but it has been incredibly frustrating to watch how easily he's swept up in that one idiots empty platitudes. logic alone should get them through these trials - acting on emotions is dangerous. (the irony probably isn't lost on you but you've always been upfront about being a hypocrite. so whatever.)
you want to teach those idiots a lesson. blindly believing in people will get them killed. so, you come up with a plan that could perhaps be compared to a bowline knot - very sturdy but also very easy to unravel.
you've already decided on your main piece - in fact he's been begging, genuinely begging to be used since the beginning but especially lately. so, befitting to your title, you shall make use of him.
(it's his own fault for being so gullible and kind. you've been telling him - everyone but especially him - that he's gonna get himself killed like this. this is a killing game, why won't anyone accept this reality already?? why won't anyone heed his warnings? but most people are unable to seperate the words from the person who's saying them.)
her plan is easy to usurp - in fact it takes care of the important things. the other pieces are set up in a way that would make it impossible for them to commit the crime you are planning. you and your sacrifice are the only pieces left. her intended advantage over you is ironically what will protect you.
things go smoothly. for the most part, anyway.
you might've underestimated just how much the detective dislikes you, is what you think as he doesn't give your proposition even a single thought before he leaves. oh well, you've never been one to easily give up.
you force yourself into the role of his partner. your nerves are definitely strung high at this point but you tell yourself that it's all just part of the game. so you continue to push everyones buttons. you needle and twist the knife wherever possible. (it's just a game. it's just a game. it's just a game.) nobody has any sympathy left for you at this point. it's okay, it's all part of your long term strategy anyway. (perhaps one could argue that you've been dealt awful cards from the beginning but is that really an excuse?)
you lead the trial, you make sure that they're doing things in the right order and that they won't miss a thing. it needs to be uncovered in this way because otherwise they won't listen to the evidence anymore. if they shall act like children, then you shall talk to them as if they are.
the first part of the trial moves along sluggishly but atleast all the facts of the crime are now laid open. all they need to do at this point is to use the process of elimination, really.
the detective looks at you uneasily. time for the fun part! questions and accusations fly around the room, it's about what you expected.
and then the detective lies. he's done this before. everyone believes him over you. that's to be expected. but something inside you cannot forgive this hypocrisy today. so you decide to be cruel and rip off the band aid.
chaos. disbelief. objections!
it could've been so fun. if it wasn't for your unwilling partner in crime to be completely dumbfounded - not because he's been betrayed but.. because he doesn't seem to know what you're talking about? huh? huh?
you thought at first that maybe this was just his last effort to try to get away with it. but he seems so genuine. you can't detect a lie but clearly what he is saying cannot be true. it cannot be. he's got to be lying. which means that you've underestimated him. you've been played. your classmates are clamoring to defend him. he will get away with this. he can't- it wasn't supposed to go that way. they will all vote for you. all because they believe in him hahahhaha no no no no nonononononono
he doesn't remember. ah. that makes sense.
you're still agitated and you feel as if you're about to snap.
you and the detective leave no holes in the explanation. it's a simple process of elimination - you've made sure of that after all.
the despair on your classmates faces is apparent. your sacrifice accepts his fate. you can't handle this. it's all too much. why did you do this? why? why? why? everyones badgering you. the look on his face- his voice- and despite everything he still cared about you. you stupid awful disgusting horrible miserable monster. nobody will ever forgive you for this. you knew that. perhaps you didn't think it would hurt so bad though.
gontas last wish will never come true. the very least you can do is to not let his death go to waste.
so it's double down or nothing.
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“I have headcanoned for a really long time that Azriel self harms. I could see him cutting or otherwise purposefully injuring himself.”
I could definitely see this. Maybe he doesn’t wrap his hands when he trains and lets his skin get cut up and bruised easily and doesn’t let himself heal. If Azriel does cut himself, do you think his brothers would know or have their assumptions? I feel like if they did know it wouldn’t be because Az told them. I don’t think he would tell anybody.
Also, for Gwyn, how do you think she deals with her trauma? I know some people view her only as passive and optimistic/upbeat, (which there’s nothing wrong with), but I wonder if deep down she has some intense rage, (which would be very understandable) and deals with things like Azriel or Nesta, but hides it from everyone. We don’t have her POV, but I really want to know more about her character.
I use to cut myself and I’m a survivor of assault, so it makes curious, and a little nervous, as to how Sarah will approach these topics. I think she’s done research on disabilities for Chaol when writing TOD, but I can’t be too sure. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
First off anon, giving you the biggest virtual hugs ever, I am glad to hear that you aren't harming yourself anymore. It may never go away, but you've come out the other side stronger and wiser.
Yes, harming could be something that no one could accuse Azriel of doing intentionally, but instead they may notice him playing fast and loose with his own safety. I think we can already see a bit of that with the risks that he takes on his missions, how willing he is to do things to others (IE torture) without regard for how those actions might affect his own psyche. It would be really easy for him to brush off the injuries as being part of the job, for him to make excuses about how he was injured. If he pushes himself a bit harder than he needs to and he ends up in a dangerous position, then people might have a hard time saying he's actually being self-destructive, you know?
I don't think his brothers would know or that he would tell anyone. Just speaking from experience, if people know then they want to help and then you get attention and really you just want to suffer and self-destruct in isolation. He's a pretty closed book, he doesn't really share his inner life, and perhaps he doesn't even acknowledge those behaviors as being harmful? I kind-of headcanon that he thinks he deserves it. Also, I think that people who have never done anything like that just... will never get it. It's so foreign to them. It's fine that they don't, that just makes it really tricky to navigate telling anyone and then hoping to get an understanding response!
I see Gwyn's competitiveness and pushing herself to train as the way she is dealing with her guilt and grief over Catrin. I don't think she's self-destructive at all, but her attitude seems to be more along the lines of "never again". I am rereading acosf so if I find any quotes I'll add them. She's one of the characters that sjm has described as being kind and optimistic despite what she's gone through (like Mor and Elain), and so to me, her training is the way she is being proactive. Gwyn definitely carries guilt for her sister's death, but I think she knows cognitively that it wasn't her fault (also like Elain! who acknowledges that her father's death wasn't her fault, but still has regrets).
Funny story, but the omniscient narrator did actually give us a peek into Gwyn's mind in acosf.
Roslin, Ananke, and Deirdre were close on their heels, propelling Gwyn to push her group harder. She wanted to be the first. Wanted Nesta and Emerie and her to be the ones who wiped the smirks from Azriel’s and Cassian’s faces. Especially Azriel’s.
Gwyn didn't tell Nesta this information; the omniscient narrator is telling us Gwyn's thoughts and feelings. There may be other points in the book where this happens, it's just the first one that comes to mind!
But anyway, I don't know if I see rage in Gwyn, so much as I see determination for the events of her past to never be repeated, and to me, that comes out as her competitiveness towards Azriel, wanting to cut the ribbon, making it through the Blood Rite, etc.
Sjm did do research on disability! I went to her Tower of Dawn event in London (in 2017) and she mentioned interviewing people with Wounded Warriors Project to better understand their injuries and to try to write Chaol's experience with care. There isn't a recording of this event as far as I know, back in the day you either went in person to events or you waited for people to make recap posts on Tumblr. Fun fact, that event was also where she announced her first pregnancy!
I'm personally not worried about how sjm will handle either of their healing stories, mainly because I'm not sure that she would actually delve into the depths of Azriel's self destruction. She pulled Nesta's story away from those themes pretty quickly and easily in acosf, so...
I hope that their stories help you feel seen and understood, however they turn out <3
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