#like they were all a bunch of teens in a bad situation trying to make the best of it however they can and well... didnt work out too well

[thecherrygod]

thinking about hdb while holding my head in my hands and suffering

[brucewaynehater101]

I just want good angst about Bruce desperately trying to parent Tim but realizing he fucked it up

or Bruce realizing he kinda sees tim as a father figure in a weird way

or the bats all realizing how Tim’s been forced to mature quickly so he can take care of them, and he won’t stop trying to be the adult in situations even after the bats try to make it so he doesn’t have to

There are a few fics out there that center around Tim and Bruce's relationship after Bruce realizes how bad he treated Tim. "Grudge (I hold none)" by reinersbigtits. "Just How Much I Love You" by sElkieNight60. Honestly, a bunch of sElkieNight60 fics have Bruce trying to be a better parent. Their fic "Redraw Our Expectations" showcases Bruce trying to parent Tim and the teen finds that strange, weird, and restrictive. They chat about it.

I sadly haven't seen any fics where Bruce considers Tim to be his father. I have seen a few that describe Tim as his closest confidant or mental support, but none about the father hc/au :(

If you want some quick angst about Bruce seeing Tim as a father figure, here's an idea:

Bruce is ruminating on his kids. As he's going through his mental list of the kids (perhaps trying to remember where they all are), he realizes that it's an effort to add Tim to that list. At first, Bruce clocks it as the older man being a horrible parent to Tim or needing more time with his son. Bruce wants to fix this and sets out to do so. He tracks down Tim to spend some time with him.

Halfway through the hangout, Bruce starts to relax. They are both having a good time, chatting and laughing. It only changes when he notices Tim's subtle nods, his slight mannerisms that encourage Bruce to keep talking, and the scrunch at the corner of Tim's eyes that indicate he's proud. It's an errant thought of the older man, but one that rapidly changes his worldview.

Tim acts like Alfred.

Tim acts like a father to Bruce.

Tim has always acted like a father to Bruce.

What has Bruce done?

The comment about Tim continuing to be the "adult" or "mature one" in the situation because that's all he's known hurts. If you add that hc to the one where Tim is constantly told to "be the bigger person" when it comes to being insulted by his traumatized family members, that's painful.

Alright, let's build on this hc/au. I'm going to use subtle canon background clues to create a probable psychological assessment on Tim's behaviors. The reasonings are all hc.

Tim was emotionally neglected and abused by his parents (not nearly to the extent of fanon and his parents did love him, but that doesn't change their emotional distance or the harm Jack did after his coma). One could hc that, due to the limited time he spent with them before they left again, Tim tried to keep the peace when they were there. He wanted to spend the time with his parents not fighting, even if that meant choking down his own emotions/needs, placating his parents, and overall keeping a pleasant demeanor around them regardless of passive aggressive insults (looking at Jack here).

If his parents had marital issues, like fighting and insulting each other in front of Tim, the child might have tried to mend their fights and solve their issues in order to spend more time with happy parents. It's a helpful behavior that could've been praised by Jack and Janet, leading to Tim continuously uptaking a mediator role.

This would morph into a people pleasing attitude that heavily clashed with Tim's independence and lack of authority in his life. This is what enables him to be suited for kicking a depressed, angry Bruce into his healing arc (enables, but doesn't excuse Bruce's reliance on a child nor condone it). Tim would probably insert himself into Dick and Bruce's relationship.

Unlike his parents, Dick and Bruce probably weren't happy an unrelated kid was mediating their relationship or getting in the middle of their arguments. Because of their contant rejection to Tim's efforts, the kid's behavior could morph into a more subtle and subterfuge manner. This comes in handy when Jason and Damian come around (because they for sure would not listen to Tim's advice).

Tim, because he's spent his entire life managing other people's emotions for them, would understand where Damian and Jason are coming from as they hurt him. It is painful, and he may hold some resentment towards them (and a frozen anger), but he's used to yanking back his emotions and shoving them into an overfilled box. That's the easy part.

What's burdensome for him is the family. After realizing the lengths Tim goes to in order to ensure their bonds stay strong, they keep pressuring Tim to release some of his responsibilities. They want the relationships to be more equal.

Tim can't, though. If he lets go of his tight grip on holding the family together, he'll have to face that box of emotions he shoved down. He'll have to work through all the pain, anger, betrayal, grief, and desolation all of his family members gave him. If he accepts that he shouldn't be taking on so much emotional labor, he would have to face that he shouldn't have been subjected to so much abuse (from the Drakes or the Waynes).

Tim can't do that without falling apart.

He can't keep his hold on the family's support beams either.

It's not healthy nor productive for Tim to keep his position. Without releasing the pressure from his back, Tim will collapse and take the Waynes with him. He's too scared to let go, though. Will he survive the break? Will he have a place with the Waynes if he's not holding them up?

[nixwriteschaos]

(BNHA)

hey there! i'd like to request a story about a male/gn vigilante reader (teen), and they eventually get caught by the pro heroes. from there, they are basically forced into UA, class 1-A (reader has been a vigilante for a few years back and has quite the skills to become a hero, and reader does relatively well academically). everything from there will be up to you!

this is actually my first time requesting, so im not exactly sure if this will go through, I've read the guide and everything. no pressure, I hope you have a great year, bye!!

Little Rebel

CLASS 1A x Male!Vigilante!Reader Summary: Y/N, also known as his vigilante name, V/N, was sadly caught by Eraserhead. His punishment, due to him still being a minor, was to attend U.A as a student for his rehabilitation, with Eraserhead as his supervisor.

★☽A/N: I see! It’s your first request! Not to worry, your request is perfect and it aligns with my guide! I really appreciate that you read my guide first! I hope this is a nice first time!

Contents: FLUFF

Quirk: Similar to Inumaki from JJK, the user has the ability to make anything happen according to what he says. But unlike Inumaki, the user is able to control when he uses his Quirk.

── ࣪˖  ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

“Y/N L/N, is it?” A massive mutant dog read. He looked away from the papers and down at a young boy, frowning as he sat crossed on his chair from across the room. He scoffed and turned his head. “Considering you’re still a minor, your punishment won’t be severe. According to your records, your Quirk is quite controlled and your academics are actually quite impressive for a drop out…” The mutant read off the papers for the boy, who didn’t care at all.

“Very well, I decided your punishment.” Y/N couldn’t help but scoff and smirked. He dealt with worse when he started at the age of 13. What could possibly be so bad about this “punishment” ?

“You will be joining U.A as a full-time student.”

“Huh?”

“HUH?!”

── ࣪˖  ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

From that day forward, he became a student at U.A. He didn’t expect himself to be in the hero course, especially Class 1A. He had only heard rumors about them, about how they were attacked by villains during their trip to the USJ and a few mentions of some 1A students on internships.

To be honest, he was a bit nervous. He dealt with people, but not in a friendly way. He was scared, slightly, at the thought of being in the same class as some hero in training students.

── ࣪˖  ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

During his first meeting, he was still pissed by the punishment, especially the fact that Eraserhead, the one who “captured” him, was his supervisor. He stood outside of the class, his waist tied to a part of Eraser’s scarf to prevent him from running away.

After waiting for a while, he heard his name getting called out, but he didn’t respond. There is no way in hell I’m standing in front of a bunch of hero trainees! He thought to himself.

He didn’t have much of a choice, as he was pulled by the waist by the scarf into the classroom, his whole figure on display to 20 students. They all looked at him with curiosity, except a blonde boy.

“Are you saying a damn weak villain is going to study with us?! Fuck no!”

“That’s enough, Bakugou.” Aizawa groaned. Bakugou was ready to say something, an insult, but was stopped by one word.

“Shut up.”

His mouth suddenly closed up. He clawed at his own mouth, trying to get it open, panicking and angry at the situation. Y/N had to cover up his snicker with a cough. “How pathetic,” he commented with a smirk. Another struggle of words came from the blonde who was ready to throw a bunch of insults but couldn’t due to his forced closed mouth.

Y/N’s snickers couldn’t be stopped. His snickers were clearly heard by the blonde. He suddenly stood up and walked over to the H/C with heavy stomps. Before he could get his hands on him, he was stopped by Aizawa’s scarf.

His growls were like an angry dog, a chihuahua. He eventually got back to his chair and sat with a grumpy look on his face.

“As I was saying, Y/N L/N is going to be your classmate for this remaining semester. Please treat him with respect.”

── ࣪˖  ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

Now, how does this work out for Y/N?

I’m going to be honest, readers, it did not go well in the beginning!

Y/N, during times he wasn’t supervised thoroughly, would tease Bakugou into attacking him. He thought that if a hero trainee would harm him, he could act his way out of his rehab. Unfortunately, it did not work. Aizawa, being the smart hero he is, figured out his little act, and did not let him off the hook. (Lectured him for hours).

With time, he eventually got to know the students well. They were some he greatly disliked, (A certain purple grape boy..), some who he respected, and those he enjoyed spending time with.

It’s mostly believed that he respected Yaomomo, Tenya Iida, and Todoroki for their smart brains and analytical thinking. He mostly spends time with Jirou, Tokoyami, and Ojirou, who seems to be fine with him and didn’t care that he was only in U.A for rehab.

He would listen to music with Jirou, read poems with Tokoyami, and combat training with Ojirou. He truly enjoys his time with those three.

As for his academics and “hero training,” he has been doing well, almost excellently, with his academics, usually marking A’s and B’s and the occasional C’s, but his grades were much better than some students in Class 1A.

In terms of his “hero training,” he already has some experience of his own which helped him greatly when it comes to situations where he had to fight against other students. He was actually much more advanced than his “peers.” He was smarter, faster, and powerful in terms of Quirk use and combat.

Although he hoped for the principal to realize that he doesn’t need this rehabilitation, he knew the stubborn smiling “mouse” wouldn’t agree to his suggestions. Not to mention, he was a bit afraid of the rat… Something in his eyes just— creeps him out.

A lot of the students respect him greatly! Like Tenya Iida, Yaomomo, and Midoriya, who recognize his great skills and quick thinking! Of course, Katsuki Bakugou was the only one who seemed bothered by the vigilante. You could feel the anger radiating off him! Honestly, it’s hilarious to see his grumpy face whenever Y/N walks by him. After the amount of teasing Y/N did, it was without a doubt that Katsuki Bakugou hated him with all his guts! (But secretly respects Y/N, hehe)

Overall, I can say that Y/N L/N is having a nice time at U.A in Class 1A.

── ࣪˖  ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──

[alottiegoingon]

hc! jealous and possessive jackie

jackie taylor x gn! reader

summary: jackie being a menace while being jealous

warnings: characters are aged up even tho theres no nsfw, jackie sucks at talking about her feelings, bad communication at first, established relationship but toxic at first?, way too sweet petnames, jackie being clingy, dumb reader, NOT proofread, i see jackie as a lesbian but i tried to make it more inclusive so gn reader

thank you for the idea, anon!! mwah <3

- you and jackie were the perfect couple at school. if life was like a teen romcom movie, you two would be like magnets; drawing everyone's attention and turning heads to you in the hallways

- jackie was the most popular girl at the wiskayok high school. being the captain of the yellowjackets was a big help but her personality was the main reason. she was born to be the leader. she the one to enchant people with no big efforts except for maybe just a smile or a charming look

- you didn't care about being popular but it was a consequence of being jackie's partner. it was really easy to notice all the looks directed at your girlfriend but you weren't much of a jealous person. you trusted jackie and knew that, to her, it wasn't anything but friendly attention or jealous fake people

- jackie, however, was the complete opposite.

- while being jealous, jackie would totally try to make you jealous by being too flirty with someone she hated, using them. she didn't care about them, but she did care about you

- she would bat her eyelashes, smile in a sweeter way and play coy while you were staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a perplexed expression but the moment you looked away, she would suddenly stop all of that and never talk to that poor person again

- jackie would be SO petty, ignoring you on purpose and not responding to your petnames for her, or touches. "hi, bunny. wanna go to the movies tonight?" you kiss jackie's cheek but she barely looks at you when rejecting your idea

- "i don't know. why don't you ask nat?" her words would drip with bitterness and all you did was to ask nat the time earlier that day

- once, during party in the woods, you were talking to jackie's friends from her soccer team. you still didn't remember the name of everyone but still tried to be nice to all of them; they were jackie's friends and you loved her

- jackie was in charge of getting you two drinks but distracted herself in the way in the second a few people called her, and you were left behind, deciding to make the best out of the situation

- when you and jackie werent together, you would spend your time watching lots of movies that you know she wouldnt like, like a nightmare on elm street. much to your surprise, van also liked horror movies and mentioned how it was a common thing to watch with her girlfriend taissa. they both loved scream

- you two quickly jumped into an enthusiastic discussion, ranking horror movies, gossiping about actors, chattering about upcoming movies that you were dying to see

- van innocently touched your shoulder as you two shared a good laugh after joking about how chaotic would be if someone dumped a bunch of red paint (blood was too much, you are no monster duh) on the students during the prom

- ironically, that happened during the exact moment that jackie was walking back to you. her grip on the red plastic cups got so tight that a few drops of the drink fell over. her happy and always ready to please expression turns into a pair of narrowed eyes and a grimace of jealousy

- the first thing you notice is jackie's voice and she slid her right arm firmly around your waist right after she shover your drink onto your own hand in a swift move. "hi, baby. i missed you!"

- and she kisses your cheek, tightening her clasp on your skin. her face changed to being serious, from seconds ago, to putting on a hollow and forced smile. jackie was good at soccer, good at makeup, good at choosing clothes, but, come on, she wasn't good at pretending

- "i-i missed you too." you utter in a bewildered voice but can't help yourself from smiling and feeling comfortable being so close to jackie. "van and i were joking about how fu-" you try to explain the joke but jackie doesn't seem interested. instead, she cuts you off and her grip on your waist moves to your arm, squeezing the fabric of your jacket, getting ready to drag you away

- "nice. can we talk for a second?" her faux smile doesn't go away until you politely said goodbye to van and let your girlfriend lead you to where your car was parked. her steps were firm and you had to glance back to ensure her furious strides hadn't scorched the grass

- "did you have fun talking to your new friend van?" jackie asks with a fierce glare.

- at first, you didn't get the memo. you had no idea why jackie was acting so furious but you thought it could be the stress from the upcoming exams. "well, yeah. they are really nice. can you believe that they like horror movies? even nightmare on elm..." you innocently blabbered about the exciting conversation you had with van but your voice trailed off as you noticed her raised eyebrows in disbelief

- "go on." she folds her ams across her chest, looking at you up and down

- "i mean, no. i was just waiting for you to come back!" you defend yourself, knowing it was useless now. "oh, really? cause you looked like you were having a blast." she strikes back

- "i just thought it would be fun if i-" you tried to explain but then you finally realize what was going on. "wait. are you jealous?"

- jackie's frown softens and her fury goes away but her arms remained crossed. "what? no." her voice is in a higher tone, a little whiny.

- "jackie..." you spoke softly. getting closer to her, your hands were the one to gently hold her waist now as you helped her to sit on the hood of your car. you positioned yourself in the middle of her legs and, even against her pride, she didn't complain when your hands touched her face

- "van is nice. they have a great taste for movies and they are really sweet." jackie looks at you in astonishment, not believing in what she was hearing. she was ready to slap your shoulder in response to your bold move "but i can't look at anyone else if it means that it isn't you." and just like magic, she melts

- "no one else in the entire world has your smile or your beautiful eyes. no one else scrunches their nose when they're happy. no one else is as smart, brilliant, kind and enchanting as you. i love you. you know that, right?" your foolish grin matched the look of adoration in your eyes as you were carefully memorizing every detail of jackie's face while talking.

- "yeah, i know. i love you too." and just like that, a rosy hue spread across her cheeks. she wasn't even able to held the eye contact for too long without sharing the same foolish smile of yours

- with a tender kiss on her soft lips and the delicate act of tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, the night was saved and jackie's lips curled into an adorable pout that forced you to kiss her over and over again

- "okay, whatever." she gives in, trying to sound less shy by cleaning her throat. "let's just get out of here, it's freezing!" she says, leaping off the car hood. you open the door of the passenger's side for her, ready to offer your jacket as well.

- "whatever you want, bunny."

[snakes-and-fluff]

Milgram drought be hitting hard... Anyway I was thinking what an anime of each prisoner's personal story might look like (assuming all isolated from each other and Milgram as a facility does not exist) ((also assume each 12 episodes long)) also assuming they're psychological dramas because. Milgram

Haruka: The main appeal is the artstyle, drawn like animated child's drawings for most of the time but a few scenes an episode is instead depicted in starkly realistic illustrations (not animated). It's told from the perspective of Haruka who keeps insisting he has a good life even as all the facts point otherwise, finally culminating in the murder late in the show, at which point the artstyle changes to be a strange mix of the previous two

Yuno: What first presents itself as a peppy slice-of-slice soon devolves into a painfully raw story of a teen girl. The winner of many awards but not that popular with most people who claim to find it too dry and boring

Fuuta: The murder happens towards the end of episode two but it isn't revealed to the audience exactly what happens until much later. Fuuta's behaviour clearly changes after that point and he keeps getting harassed by people who were previously friendly with him, but the actual flashback reveal is only in ep 8. The show leans very heavily into the "is he a bad person?" question and the fandom is known for starting debates about it in the comments of completely unrelated posts

Muu: It was a dark setup from the start but not many people expected a murder in episode 7. The anime switches POV between Muu and Rei until Rei dies, then it switches between Muu and a student counsellor (who doesn't know about the murder and is just trying to solve the bullying but the tension comes from the fact that the audience and Muu keep being worried about her potentially learning about the murder)

Shidou: The most niche of the bunch, some people weren't a fan of how medically accurate it was while others rejoiced in that fact. The whole thing is a flashback as it's established that Shidou has left the medical industry in the first episode but it is slowly revealed why and the circumstances behind his family's deaths as it goes on

Mahiru: Yuno's might have been a bit misleading at first but everyone who saw the promo material knew what was going down. Mahiru's managed to keep the dark twists under wraps, genuinely being sold as a cute love story though there were hints from the start. It's unclear when exactly the death happened because as it goes on it starts timeskipping and flashbacking without warning and it's clear that Mahiru isn't quite sure herself of what is actually happening

Kazui: Hinako is dead before the series even starts and it is actually told from the perspective of someone who works with Kazui slowly uncovering what happened out of morbid curiousity. Kazui is the very definition of unreliable narrator and nobody knows what to make of whatever information comes directly from him. Some fans don't like the way the show never seemed to decide on a single answer as to what happened while others praise it for it

Amane: The fandom is small but loud (though it is always recommended as "this one will tear your heart out"); the tale of a child embroiled in an awful home life, using a unique visual style of poppy colours and thick outlines to sharply contrast the horrible things being portrayed. The murder happens at the end of the last episode, giving the closest thing to a "happy ending" they could achieve for Amane, though it is left ambiguous what would happen to her next

Mikoto: Told in a non-chronological style, the reveal of the murder is towards the end (around episode 10) leaving the rest of the time as wrapup as Mikoto finally comes to accept the truth of the situation. There are still arguments in the fandom years after it ended if the murder was metaphorical or not

Kotoko: She's presented as a really cool vigilante at first but then it slowly unravels as she reveals more of her violent side and that her kill count is a LOT higher than previously thought. Her personality is divisive among fans but everyone can agree that the opening is a banger

DISCLAIMER: I just realised that some of these can be read as me throwing shade on the fans of a particular character; I promise 100% that isn't the case this was just a fun thought experiment!

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

To circle back to soemthing from early : The writing of male characters by female writers have repeatedly made me stop reading , especially when I recongized what I like to call the 3 archetypes : The friend , the jerk and the lover , sometimes these mix together but rarely.

The lover : mostly found in YA novels but sometimes adult and potentially pre-teen aimed romances of stories , a guy who seems prefect in description and rarely if ever does anything to hurt or offend the protagonist who is usually a stand in for the writer. the few negative things you can say about him out of the story are treated either as quirks or endearing qualities by the end. Sooner or later the emotional sensitive side is revealed and boom even if they were "The jerk " they're now considered redeemed or potentially redeemed by love. Big example (and the most obvious ) Edward Cullen and Christian Grey are those.

The friend: usually nerdy , kind of fades into the background at a certian point after the protagonist is with the lover, is clearly romantic interest of the protagonist if it's a YA situation , but these feelings are unrequited, they're soundly rebuffed of admitted or it's ultimately a "you have to look into how they're written " to tell. If written at all back in, it's usually to help the protagonist get to the lover & usually ends up with a lover that's either very much like the protagonist , potentially the protagonist's best friend or family member, or someone completely unlike the protagonist. Big example :Jacob from Twilight

The jerk : the bad boy who may be at first seen as an antagonist/working with the antagonist, usually does soemthing notably evil in their first big solo scene. But then that slowly gets walked back especially if they're the lover by the end. Even if they don't end up as the lover they've been given enough pathos that some fans will even say they want the leading protagonist with them or will write oc self inserts trying to help them get better. Possibly may die at the end to help make sure the protagonist lives or ensure the big plan succeeded. Big example : Snape from Harry Potter.

Mind you these aren't solidified hardened absolutes. I'd definitely say, however ,if you look at like 5 or 6 female written stories especially multi book series where it's female character going on an adventure almost all the male leads who are the woman's age who aren't relevaties commonly fall into those 3.

Yes.

Of course, there are a bunch of cliched and awfully-one-dimensional female characters in most male-written fiction too, but for me the biggest difference is there have always been women, in every age, wondering aloud about how a particular male author writes women so well, whereas I really don't think I've ever read any male character in any work by any woman that feels believable and an accurate representation of the internal thoughts, behaviours and motivations of a man that I've been able to connect to. I don't think women are really capable or all that interested in truly understanding the Y chromosome experience, and so their male characters tend to read only like either slow-witted and defective women, cartoonish mustache-twirling villains or alabaster objects of wealth and success. Because of this, the women authors I like I tend to read for what they tell me about their individual female experience, not for what they tell me of the wider world outside of it.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Zutarians adultifying Katara and thinking that's "empowerment" (and also outright lying) yet again: https://www.tumblr.com/longing-for-rain/760214836385824768/just-something-i-felt-you-should-know-about-five

The one and only thing I agreed is that at some point Katara is drawn with more, ahem, "developed" body. This started in Book 3, and... I honestly always concidered it to be the bad thing. Not because I'm a prude (although maybe I am), but because I thought the whole deal of main characters were that they are children. They are kids. Of course, a girl at fourteen can have curves - or not have it - the girls are all different, in the end, both of these cases are normal. But Katara is a drawn character, she looks the way the creators want her to look. And the thing that they drew her "pronounced breasts" and "wider hips" never sat right with me, it always irked me. It doesn't look empowering to me, it looks like sexualization, combined with the fact that in Book 3 she is always drawn with partly or completely loose hair, which is not good for battle at all, but looks more aestetically appealing (but that's only my point of view). I prefer her Book 1 and 2 designs any time.

What also irks me is zutarians obsession with "hot, sexy, horny yet naive Katara plus sexy experienced Zuko, the only man who can give her intense sexual pleasure she craves so much" idea. No wonder they cheer when Katara looks older and drool over her "revealing" Fire Nation outfit, it all aligns with their fantasies.

Also, the choise of proof screenshots is hilarious. Three of them are drawn by one studio, the top right one and the final one - by the other. "Wider" or "narrower" eyes are just the result of different drawing styles. For example - the same studio that pictured Katara as "honestly creepy, like a babydoll" draws her in the scenes with Zuko:

https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/109/images/avatar-the-last-airbender1x09_1138.jpg https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/220/images/avatar-the-last-airbender2x20_0904.jpg https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/321/images/avatar3x21_0391.jpg https://www.cap-that.com/avatar/321/index.php?image=avatar3x21_0413.jpg

The necklace scene, the catacombs, the battle against Azula. Same baby face with big eyes. And, dare I mention, in first two seasons her breasts are only slightly hinted at, which doesn't stop zutarians from sexualizing these scenes.

The lenghs they'll go to justify their sexual fantasies... Ew.

I'm gonna be real, Katara wasn't really sexualized by the show. I can only think of two scenes in which I got any kind of fanservice vibe from it (both included her bathing in a waterfall). People are just weird about girls, especially non-white girls, going through puberty, and zutarians in particular want to adultify Katara no matter what to go "See? She's too old for Aang, but not too young for Zuko, even though the age gap is the same!"

Acknowledging "Girls have breasts" is not the same as drawing her in a sexy way, much like not every scene of male characters firebending without shirts on was sexualization. The hair down also doesn't strike me as trying to make her look desirable, just a little bit older - the passage of time is not sexual.

For fucks sake, even a scene like Sokka clearly getting ready to "have fun" with Suki wasn't anything that would be inappropriate for children to see and it's just acknowledging the basic fact of "Sometimes teenagers wanna do more than kiss each other."

If you want to see the characters be sexualized, look at the Fire Nation teens, especially Ty Lee and Zuko - and I'm okay with that because they're not real teens. They're lines in a piece of paper. No minor is being exploited or put in an inappropriate situation, and considering Nickelodeon has a history of sexualizing REAL children in the live action shows, I just don't care that Avatar let Ty Lee wear a bikini or made Zuko attract a bunch of girls by dramatically taking off his shirt at the beach. They're not being harmed, just like no real child was harmed when Ozai disfigured his own son.

These characters age matters when it comes to understanding their reasonings and the ocasional "immature/naive" reaction, and nothing else. And once again, the show didn't really do anything too crazy.

[dark-night-hero]

Teachers dilemma (Rowan Theodore)

⤷ One thing lead to another and you finally figure out the thing that he has been keeping from you for so long. In which you found yourself along with your students kidnapped only to wake up with a bunch of panicked kidnappers telling to you save them (??)

To be fair, your day was going really well it was so damn suspicious. The field trip with your advisering class was all and well until you and your students find yourselves getting kidnapped on your way back into the bus. It was pretty quick too, one moment you were talking to the three of your students whom was running late for the next destination, the next thing you knew you heard a muffled scream of one your students and as soon as you turn around, you felt an aching pain on the back of your head before eventually went black. The horrified look on your students eyes were the last thing that you saw.

When you woke up, you expected to be in a tight bond only to feel that you are in fact free. Although the back of your head is aching, the last thing you expeted when you open your eyes was to see your kidnappers in a midst of panic. You kids- students sitting on the floor right beside you as they form some sort of formation around you. Come to think of it, rather than hurt, they look calm and collected- maybe even annoyed at the current situation. Now that you think about it, being the leading teens in their generation, this doesn't seemed to be the first time they were kidnapped.

"Teacher, you're awake." One of your student, Alexander whispered in relief. "The back of your head won't stop bleeding earlier. We thought you're going to die." This time it was Andrei who spoke causing you to let out a chuckle. Right, you got smacked in the back of the head. Yeah, it would take you a lot for you to die just like that. "How long have they been like that?" You ask, shaking your head in the direction of the panicked kidnappers. "Ever since we got here." Answered Alexandra, twin of Alexander. Come to think of it, "Are the three of you okay?" "We're fine, we're not hurt. Just a bit out of it because of the drug but nothing we couldn't handle." "Alright- arghh my head hurts like shit." "Careful teach."

You look around, head throbbing, the back of your head aching. Your students were trying to block your sight, nevertheless you still try and as soon as you do, you made an eye contact with one of the armed man and without a missz he walked towards you. You felt your heart drop before it started racing. You tap your students gently and started moving forward, hoping to block your student away from the man's view. With the rest of the culprit now looking at you, and the man so close right in front of you. You curse on your head, recall all self defence your fiance made you go through. "Leave my stude-" "Please have mercy!" "???" What the fuck is happening?

"All you have to do is put up a word for your lover to leave us alone once he got in here. Yeah? Will you do that yeah?" What the fuck is he talking about? "I'm sure he'll back off nicely if you told him it was all an accident no? Will you do that for me? I'll make sure you and your students will be treated of nicely-" "what are you-" "Is that what you're expecting me to say?" Baffled, you can feel the way the mood shifted as your kidnapper started laughing like crazy. Maybe he had gone crazy by the way his people started sweating and looked even more frightened as their boss lost their mind. At the same time you can feel the hold of your students tighten around your shirt.

"No way in hell I'll miss this chance of messing with the big bad guy." "What the fuck-" "Enough with your nonsense, there is no way in hell you don't know what your lover was doing when he was going around taking down and taking over the mafias for the past few years. Come to think of it, you've been listed on top of the 'No touch' list. That's the reason why no orgs and groups have touch you so far. All in fear what the mighty phoenix would do once his beloved were to ever be harm." He then stood up before grabbing you around your collar and atarted dragging you away from your student who started shouting when you have them a warning glare. You need to be calm, it's not like you aren't drill when it comes to being kidnapped. At the same time even though your students have gone through a lot of kidnapping case. It seems like things aren't so simple anymore.

"Boss we really can't afford this- he's going to kill us!" "So what? The moment we laid hands on his fiance were doomed to die, so might as well take it all for its worth." You tried to be calm. Whatever the fuck they were talking about, you were having none of it. Mafia? Are they saying your best friend, your fiance, your childhood friend is a mafia? Who the fuck are they kidding? There is no way in hell that son of a lazy bitch is a mafia leader. At the same time, there is just this gut feeling on what they are telling you were real.

It did not take them too long to tie you in a chair, your student bound and gagged in the corner of the room. So there where you, tied on a chair aa you glare at the guy as he just finished putting on your gag. "I wonder what made him choose you of all people wanting to be his fiance. But looking at you like this, he sure has his taste." Grabbing you by your chin, you felt a shiver down your spine. And it did not stop their, he started caressing your cheeks and ehen you tried to pull away. "This goes on pretty simple gorgeous." Suddenly the way he was holding you tighten. "We do this my way with no complaints or you watch as we blow one of your students brain." You turned stiff, glancing your students on your peripheral vision so see the three shaking their heads furiously, as if telling you to stay still, they can handle it. And then there was a phone ringing.

"Finally the big bad wolf called." Letting go of your chin harshly, he marched towards the table and went off to grab the phone that kept on ringing. "Theodore! It's about time you pick up the phone for a call you know-" "Mon chère." It was him. Suddenly you felt like crying. You never thought that annoying pet name could bring you so much relief. "What the fu-" "Mon chère, can you close your eyes until I told you to open them again?" Without asking, you did as you are told. And as soon as you do, there was this sound of the glass breaking followed by a thud followed by another, and then another until there was nothing but silence.

You don't know for how long did you stay like that. But the moment someone touches your cheeks, you instantly relax upon feeling a familiar touch. Gently, someone untied the gag around your mouth as your hae could finally relax. "Open your eyes mon chère." There he was with an expression you never thought you would see in his face.

There he was, water and sweat rolling down his all soaked figure. "Where have you been?" Findig out you have been untied from the chair, you reach out to touch his blood stained cheeks, wiping off the blood in his face. "Looks like you run all the way from the other side of the globe to find me." You laugh, only for him to lean into the palm of your hand and hold it close to him. "I thought I won't make it in time." He said truthfully. "I'm sorry." You just smile at him as you reach out to run your hand through his hair and he lean down instantly. "I'm sorry."

The ride back home was pretty silent, mostly because you were asleep upon finding out your students were safe and sound. The last thing you remember was riding the helicopter to the airport upon finding out the four of you had been gone for almost 5 hours now. So when you woke up on a rather familiar limo, you knew you're on your way back home. "Wake up mon chère, were close back at your parents place." You felt him gently tap you in the cheeks, leaning against him. "My parents?" "Yeah, they wanted to check on you." "Hmm I see." Pulling away from him, you stare outside the window, fully aware of the change that was about to come.

"Were here." "Theo." "Yeah?" "Let's break up." In an instant there was silence. "Alright." Maybe it was because you were busy looking at the front door of your house, or maybe your own reflection on the window. But you failed to see the look of pain in his eyes that was instantly replaced with calmness as soon as you turn to look at him or perhaps you were too busy with the own ache in uour heart upon hearing how nonchalantly he agreed with the break up. "It was fun being engaged to you Theodore." You smile at him. "Have a good night, sorry for the trouble." "I'm used to cleaning your mess (First name)" He chuckles and messes with your hair causing you to groan and glare at him. "You should get going. Aunt and uncle is worried." "Okay."

Getting out of the limo, you catch a glimpse of your engagement ring. "Theo-" "Keep it." "I was used to wearing it anyway." You roll your eyes at him. Making sure you did not forget anything, you were on your way back when you heard him call after you. "Mon chère." "Did you forg-" "Ce n'est pas parce que je t'ai laissé partir que tu es libre de mon emprise" "???" "Enough of your bullshit Theo. See you on monday." "Alright. I'll leave when you reach the door step."

[ⓒdark-night-hero] 2024°

Bonus:

Theo: Papa, I resign as the patronne.

Papa: What the fuck is that non- why are you crying?!

Theo: Mon chère doesn't like my affiliations with the mafia

[zivazivc]

I'm gonna take some time to digest and think about that comic before I come to a decision. The decision being whether to continue to support you or just leave you be.

If I decide to leave you be, just know that there are no hard feelings, okay?

You are on anon so I don't know if this is someone who I've talked to before, but either way, yes, no hard feelings. I completely understand. It's the internet, anyone can unfollow anyone for any reason, but also I know this is an uncomfortable topic and even triggering to some, and some people are just not here for that. I was contemplating posting it for a while for this reason.

I do kinda want to point out that the purpose was/is not to fetishize a relationship with a minor and I will never fetishize or glorify that ever. It's wrong and unhealthy even if there's no malicious intent present. (am pointing it out because I got a bunch of asks about it and I'm 🧍) But this is fiction, and I portrayed the scenes the way that I did mainly because I made the comic from Floyd's perspective and I wanted to get in his head and show what exactly he was feeling in that moment. If the end result makes you feel uncomfortable or "flustered" (I don't think I'm using the right English word) in a certain icky way, that was kind of the point and I believe should be a normal reaction from an adult.

I spent my high school years (normally 15-19yo, but it was more like 14-22+) living in a dorm in the country's capitol and I attended a vocational school for visual arts that is pretty notorious for having a drug problem (I'm talking about mostly weed) and being full of weirdos (students free and comfortable expressing themselves and experimenting with expressing themselves but weirdos is the used term lol). The dorm is also located very near the city's subcultural center (look up Ljubljana Metelkova if you want, it's kind of what I imagine the underground scenes the bandmates visit looking like) which is like a hangout place for subcultures like punks and metalheads and the lgbtq. Anyway coming from living my whole life in a rural village where I still played with toys to somewhere like that was an insane shock to me. I sometimes felt like a toddler around young adults in a big city. And it was whiplash for many other teens too, some of whom quickly fell into bad crowds and spiraled, often those who came from bad home situations or controlling parents (heck some even came from elementary schools already doing problematic things). The amount of rumors of things happening in that dorm and school (drugs, sex, messing around with older teens/adults, whatever)... (I'm not saying it was like a concerning percentage of students but it was happening) Some of these people who made some bad choices were and some still are my friends, some of whom still struggle with some things today and it's heartbreaking.

Anyway where I was going with this is that in high school I was always kind of the anti all of that (to the point it had the opposite effect on me where I didn't even try out the normal teenage things) and just thinking "what the fuck is wrong with these people?" And recently, when my headcanons for Floyd started going in the direction that they have, I started wondering the same thing. Just not in a judgemental way this time. More like I want to dissect this situation carefully and understand it from everyone's perspective and see what lead up to it. I've always been very fascinated by morally gray and dark fiction for this reason and this is right up that alley.

So yeah, this isn't for everyone, and I can't hold a grudge if anyone unfollows me for it. But what I'm doing here is inspired a lot by real life situations and my weird deep dives into articles about trauma and its effects (also pretty sure I'm also processing some of my own personal emotions through these blorbos but I am not going into that), and I feel like I'm taking a pretty realistic approach to it (if you ignore the fact that this is fucking Trolls). I'm just slowly exploring how a relationship between a teen who comes from a sheltered almost cultish upbringing (pop trolls live in a concentration camp and are dealing with the horrors by singing and enjoying every minute of their every day like life is a ticking time bomb) and a young adult who never got a chance to grow up because he never experienced a childhood and is suddenly being liked by someone for the first time in his life (I'll talk more about Les some other time), would develop into hopefully something okay for both of them. Because I do want them to both be okay in the end. And I'm sharing some of my brainworms online for anyone who's interested. I just can't share ALL of my brain worms and sometimes I forget that people don't have a view of what's going on in my head. Yeah... This answer became long for no other reason except that I can't sleep because I posted that comic, damn. That's what I get for dropping that bombshell on top of what was mostly fun "comedic" posts about the AU so far.

[kassiekole22]

You're Beautiful

Picture edited by me.

Pairing: Josh Washington x Fem!Reader Description: You reflect on the time when you finally decided were forced to tell your long-time crush — Josh Washington — how you feel. Warnings: Fluff, Friends To Lovers, Pining, A Lot Of Angst Towards The End. Word Count: 1.6k A/N: Fic #2 of the Until Dawn Poll Fic Challenge! Also, this is technically my very first Wendigo!Josh fic! It was pretty fun to write, so expect more in the future. 🤭 Until then, I hope you enjoy this one! 🖤 Josh's MasterList: 🖤 Main MasterList: 🖤 Kassie's Angels: @lorebite, @mornandil, @koexchange, @yesitsloulou, @mistmoose, @jasonexo, @fortune-fool02, @raven-the-cryptid, and @imahyperfixatedbitch. (If you want to be added to the taglist, let me know in the comments! 🖤)

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"Truth or dare?"

I sat awkwardly in silence as the whole group stared at me with anticipation clear on their faces. I didn't know how I got roped into that stupid party game; it was more for twelve-year-olds than a bunch of people in their late teens.

But there I sat, contemplating my answer as my friends stared at me with a hungry look in their eyes as they waited for me to make a decision. If it had been anybody else, it would have been an easy answer: truth. But this wasn't anybody — this was Jess.

A few people knew about my crush on Josh: Hannah, Beth, Sam, Chris and even Jess too — though I knew that the others would keep their mouths shut until I was ready to express my feelings to him, I also knew that Jess was different. Now I'm not saying that having a friend with a bold and forward personality is a bad thing, but sometimes it can come with a price — and that price was my dignity.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I thought Jess would outright tell Josh about my crush — she was smarter than that. I knew for a fact that she would wait and leave me in a situation where I would have to tell him. And tonight was most likely going to be that night.

"Well — truth or dare, (Y/N)?" Jess asked again with a huge smirk growing on her face. The devilish and mischievous look in her eyes didn't help my nerves either. "You have to choose one."

Without giving it a second of thought and panicking due to all the impatient eyes staring me down, I blurted out a word that I knew I'd regret saying fast: "Dare!"

All the eyes widened in the room due to my bold answer, even Jess'. It seemed like nobody expected me to choose dare, since I was always the "play it safe" type of girl. But as fast as that shocked expression etched into Jess' features, a new and more sinister smirk grew.

"Ok." She sang angelicly as a new, and very fake innocence filtered through her voice. "I dare you to..."

I knew damn well that she was only dragging this out to add to the anticipation, because it was clear in her eyes that she already knew her answer. Her eyes burned holes in mine, as her smirk broadened with much excitement.

"Kiss the most beautiful person in the room!"

I nearly choked on my own spit as her words met my ears. Everybody began whispering and looking to see everyone else's expressions, which didn't help the matter. I had told Jess hundreds of times just how beautiful I found Josh to be, so she clearly knew what she was up to.

I glared her down as if I was trying to kill her with my mind, while she merely bit her bottom lip to repress a laugh. I looked around the room to see the ones who knew looking sorry and scared for me, while Emily seemed more focused on her nails than anything, and then Mike seemed almost ready for me to come to him with puckered lips. And then there was Josh, sitting there with a big smile on his face; it was obvious that he was oblivious of the situation.

I heaved a deep and defeated sigh before standing up, passing a very horned-up Mike, and shyly approached the guy I had wanted for so long. He stared up at me with a sweet smile on his face and a look of innocence in his eyes, which was weird for the dirty-minded fucker we all knew he was.

After inhaling and exhaling deeply one more time — almost as if to gain some sort of confidence I knew I wouldn't obtain by one more deep breath — I leaned down in front of him, and gently placed my lips against his own.

The room filled with audible gasps and more whispers, but none of it mattered or seemed incoherent in my now intoxicated mind. I melted into the kiss as my nerves seemed to die down, not giving a damn about what the others were saying or thinking. And to my surprise, he leaned into the kiss as well, seemingly enjoying it as his arms snaked around my form to hold me close. After what felt like an eternity, I pulled back to meet the gaze of a very flustered Josh. I couldn't help but smile at how his eyes were blown wide and his face was as red as a tomato; it was cute, though I knew his face most likely mirrored my own.

I chose that exact moment to lean in again, until my lips were just barely brushing his ear.

"You're the most beautiful man I have ever seen." I whispered softly, so no other could hear my intimate thoughts that were only meant to be heard by the one who meant to most to me.

My heart was pounding — not only from the adrenaline from what I just did, but from the amount of love I felt for him and the excitement I felt, knowing that this may be the start to a future together — a future that would change our lives for the better forever. I couldn't stop smiling, since the amount of happiness I felt couldn't compare to anything I had ever felt before. I knew at that moment that from that day on, things were only going to get better.

That feels like so long ago now...

Now I sit in a hospital room, eagerly waiting for the doctor to give us any kind of news. The only sounds I hear are my heart beat ringing in my ears — no longer due to the happiness I felt two years prior — the sounds of doctors and nurses rushing by to save lives, and the soft cries of Josh's mother as her husband holds her close. I can't stand it — it hurts too much, sitting here while completely powerless. The fear and heartbreak I feel is like nothing I've ever felt before, and I know there is a strong chance that it could only get worse.

I have been going to the hospital every day for two weeks, repeating the same routine as I wait for answers — but barely anything ever comes. So for the time being, I watch the clock intensely, counting the seconds as they tick by — insync with my heartbeat and only making it all the more noticeable. On one hand, I'm happy that Josh is still alive; but just knowing a tiny bit of information about his condition makes it hard to feel any bit of joy. I just want my baby to be ok.

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, the doctor finally comes out and delivers the news. I'm surprised to learn that he is finally becoming himself again, and asked for one person to come see him: me.

The doctor leads me to a darkened room, and warns me to keep my distance. Apparently, just because Josh is slowly gaining his humanity back, doesn't mean his wild side has gone completely. So I have to be careful and cautious. I enter the room alone, though I know there are cameras on me, watching my every move.

The doctor told me that the only reason the light has been so restricted, is because of the sensitivity of Josh's eyes. Spending two and a half weeks in the pure darkness of the mine weakened his irises and pupils, causing the color to drain from them almost completely and leaving him almost blind. If he is in any type of lighting at this time, it would be equivalent to having his eyes on fire. So for this reason, the room must remain as dark as possible.

There was only a was only a very dull light shining over his bed, provided for seeing purposes for doctors and visitors. And thanks to that little bit of light, I can see enough to move around. And after a few slow and hesitant steps, I approach a bed.

Tears fill my eyes as I stare down at his weakened form; he barely looks like himself anymore. His left cheek is torn, his teeth are sharp and he's the most pale I have ever seen him look. I can't help but notice all the cuts all over his face and arms as well, and I shudder at the fact that I know exactly what did it. It breaks my heart to see his limbs strapped down to the bed, as if he was some sort of psychopath. Though what Josh did would seem pretty psychotic to a stranger's eye, I know in my heart that he isn't — he is just in pain and needs others to feel what he's feeling.

After a few minutes of quiet investigating on my part, Josh slowly turns his head in my direction and opens his eyes. He gazes up at me with a look of sorrow and remorse — as if he's telling me he's sorry with his now pale orbs. I take his hand in my own, quickly noticing the sharp claws replacing his nails. Just as I look down at them in shock, he let's out a mournful sob.

"I-I'm- I'm- a-a-a m-monster-r..." His voice comes out so raspy and coarse, that I nearly don't recognize it. But the sorrow and pain in his tone is strong enough to tell me that he needs me more than ever.

I lean down and place a very gentle kiss to his bruised forehead, before whispering ever so softly, "You're still the most beautiful man I've ever seen."

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[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

What would you say to people who think padawans are child soldiers trained for war ?

What other blogs (and I) have already said a bunch of times - that based on Lucas' canon (6 movies + TCW):

1) Jedi training was more focused on diplomacy and such before the war than it was on combat prowess, and you can see evidence of that in Ahsoka's ability to teach a course on politics to a bunch of Mandalorian kids who are her age or older and who are receiving what looks like top education (the Duchess' nephew/adopted son is one of them so it's clearly a good school) or in Obi-Wan's duties with Qui-Gon. Sure, they're ready to pull out the lightsabers at the drop of a hat, but they're both ambassadors, and they spend a lot of the movie trying to impress on people that they're really not meant to be soldiers. What they really do is protect Padmé and give her leverage with their involvement, but she's the one who has to ultimately confront the Trade Federation and force them to comply. There hadn't been a galactic-wide war in like a thousand year, ergo Jedi training was not tailored for war for about a thousand year. If anything, Geonosis showed the Padawans and the Knights and the Masters were absolutely not trained for war.

2) That even during the war, the grown-up Jedi are evidently doing their absolute best to take care of the Padawans. They pull Ahsoka from the front when she makes bad decisions (the Lightsaber Lost episode) and it's not like all the Masters we know about wouldn't immediately jump in front of a blaster bolt for their Padawans (which is what Depa or Jaro DO end up doing for their apprentices, btw). It's not like they could just leave all the teens at home (they likely would have all sneaked out to go fight along with the other Jedi anyway lmao) when there aren't enough Masters or Knights around in the Temple to protect them there either. It's not like they could just leave the Padawans in untrained limbo for the duration of the war - when training in the Force is crucial at formative ages. (Also, we actually do see younglings who are old enough to be Padawans but aren't fighting: the kids who got kidnapped and hunted for sport by Trandoshans. Meaning that a) the Padawans going to war really isn't a matter of the Jedi being happy to throw their kids at the enemy, or they'd have sent O-mer, Jinx and Kalifa too - it's a matter of students accompanying their teachers, because really what else are they gonna do? and b) that Force-sensitive kids are never safe from the perils of the war even if they don't fight in it - so again, might as well keep them within sight)

3) That if you make the argument that the Jedi use child soldiers, then Naboo and Alderaan are on the exact same level. But it's a really bad faith argument to pretend that Padmé's position in TPM was the movie wanting us to see the Naboo government as a messed up child soldier situation, or that Bail and Breha were irresponsible for allowing Leia to join the Rebellion at age 15. And if people agree to be consistent on that one (again, as silly as it is to condemn either the Organas or the Naberries) then the Jedi are by far the more responsible and healthy system. Padawans have the supernatural abilities to outsmart, outrun or outfight a lot of potential threats, including trained warriors or droids. They are not like kids from the rest of the Galaxy, nevermind like kids from the real world.

4) That Padawans fighting in the war wasn't really something we saw in the movies (except on Geonosis, but again they're woefully unprepared for it and they didn't expect that level of aggression on Dooku and the Seps' part). It was the product of the out-of-universe reasoning that if you're going to animate and produce shows for kids, they're going to wanna see kids. My younger brothers and cousins's favorite episodes are probably the younglings eps, because duh.

Ultimately, it all comes down to whether or not people are criticizing the worldbuilding (they can dismiss my first three arguments as not good enough and continue to think the Padawans' situation is messed up, it's totally fair) or are saying that the story itself was condemning the Jedi for 'using child soldiers', in which case I think it's completely unsupported by anything in the movies, shows, or behind-the-scene comments.

[raelle-writing]

The reality is that most kids would be either a Fluke or Jin. If nothing else it’s because they don’t also want to be bullied or ostracized by their friends. You can criticize the choices that Jin makes but realize that he is also a child that doesn’t yet have the maturity and wisdom of an adult. I see this group of teens and their treatment of Non as a cautionary tale. Obviously this is ultimately a horror/thriller so everything is heightened to the extreme. Therefore I don’t have an issue with the gore, mayhem and fantastical elements. But this type of bullying could and does happen in real life sometimes with devastating tragedies. So I do wish that people on social media were more careful of the terms they use and directly harassing your character is not a good look. Hurling insults behind a computer screen hurts just as much as doing it in person. (IMO) The fact that they are essentially bullying you is ironic considering what DFF is about.

There is a certain irony to watch the fandom turn into bullies in defense of the bullied character. I understand being defensive of the characters you like (I'm defensive of Jin in case you haven't noticed lol). But I understand why people don't like him. I've never justified all of his actions, but I do genuinely think people are too hard on him a lot of the time.

And I also wish all the Non defenders would have a bit of nuance about his character too because he's a victim, but that doesn't exempt him from hurting others. I'll never say he cheated because I beleive we shouldn't apply that word to a situation involving coercion and power imbalances. But Non does still get his friends arrested. And he does lie to and gaslight Phee. And those are okay things to acknowledge while still having sympathy for him as a character.

I agree with you. I think most people wouldn't even do as much as Jin tbh because while he doesn't do enough arguably, he does a lot as far as defending Non over and over and over (even up until after Non disappears he's still snapping at his friends to address Non by his name). And it's really hard to be that level of defiant to your peers constantly. It's waaaaaaay easier to be Fluke and look the other way and tell yourself that you're not involved then, even if you could stop it.

Everyone online seems to have a hero complex and think they'd do the Absolute Right Thing even when there's no clear right thing in certain situations, and then they demonize these teenagers for not doing those things. (I made a thread on Twitter talking about Jin lying to the police and police corruption in the DFF narrative and in Thailand in general, including linking to a bunch of Thai tweets that talk about that and I got people replying to me saying that they live in countries with police corruption but they still would've told the truth to the police even if they would've disappeared and I got a good laugh out of that. It's so easy to be the hero in your head in a hypothetical situation, but reality is a lot harder than that).

Yeah, I don't know why this particular fandom seems to be so caught up on "if you like a character that I view as morally bad then YOU are a bad person" especially considering the audience crossover to the KPTS fandom like. Were you mad at all of the mafia boys doing mafia things in KPTS becaussssssse that was worse than a lot of what's happening in DFF so far ahahahaha

Anyway, I'm not ever going to demand that everyone likes Jin. I don't particularly care of people like him or not as long as they're not coming after ME about it. I wish people were a little less... vitriolic about the mistakes of teenagers, though I understand why many people are so mad about it. I just can't get past the idea that these people were all kids when they made these mistakes, and it's hard to see even Por die because I have sympathy for them all. Did they fuck up? Duh. Do they deserve to die...? I have a hard time with that, but I'm trying to be mentally prepared ahahahaha

I also hope all the people out there who have decided Jin is the worst person ever and deserves to die are prepared for if that doesn't happen. Because there are a lot of threads in the narrative point pretty strongly to a future redemption for him IMO (tho of course they could go in another direction, anything is possible at this point). And I have a feeling that all those people who are calling me names on Twitter aren't going to handle it well if Jin get redeemed or like... lives in the end. I have a feeling they won't handle that well.

Anyway, thanks for the message 💕

[tomyo]

Engaging with Sonic 06 on its terms.

Everyone these days is making a "Let's reexamine Sonic 06" that it feels cliche to add my take into the mix but I get to be the hipster that says I've loved this game before it was cool to. I came into the Sonic fandom in 2007, my first Sonic game was Secret Rings, and in 2012, I convinced a bunch of sweaty gamers to buy me the game and play it for me (and then I did it again with my best friend and again with another friend). If you heard me at the time, you would probably hear the same points several times over; "The music is good, The cutscenes are gorgeous when held up next to their contemporaries, and there is the cooking but under baked locations that shows this game could have been gorgeous." Today I want to explore that through what I think was the zeitgeist at the time and what each of the narratives is meant to show.

So let's go!

(heyyy so Tumblr glitched as I was writing the wrap up and I lost all the stuff I wrote for shadow and Elise but I have work in 5 hours so fuck me. I cannot explain how losing two hours of talking about Elise physically hurt. Also accidentally hit post.)

The Conceptualization

I t killhink the first thing to realize is how Square Enix almost certainly became the blueprint for the 2000s. Unbelievable realistic fmv graphics that can still hold up to this day, gorgeously rendered cutscenes with a particular use of lighting, and complex but a little dramatic stories for both their characters and world. I think there's quite a few franchises you can look at and point to how they were trying to immitate the SQ success formula and I think Sonic 06 was one of these culminations. Sega went through this huge leap in FMV quality when you think about how Sonic Adventure and Shadow (2005) have 6 years of difference. Sonic was trying to figure out how to grow up with his audience and to answer that Sega looked to what was capturing the attention of their older teen audience.

For what it's worth, I can see how they were trying to make a very contained narrative; It's alluded to that Soliana is an island so my take away is the normal Sonic group (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy) were on a vacation visit for the big festival. An Important aspect I've tried to emphasize about the world of Sonic before is they're teenagers. Somewhere there is some cognitive dissonance within the fandom on that; blame the comic, the voice actors sounding too old, or the lack of human appearances but I do think it helps when you take a moment to imagine the cast as teenagers interacting in Shibuya (take anime like Air Gear or Supergals into mind) or on a comedic beach episode adventure. A lot of the aspects of teenagehood are still present in their attitudes. Possibly the issue comes from expecting mature stories to use adult like characters but we often forget that younger people still deal with these nuanced situations, even ones like Tidus and Yuna.

Sonic's Story; The World's Every Step Meets the Rest

To me the most important element of Sonic 06 is the song His World. I've had arguments with other fans who are more connected to Adventure era music over the representation of Sonic and I think it is fair to say "Sonic means something completely different to me." So let me explain what His World invokes to me; Sonic is not the sole savior of the world but he is the one that moves others to do good for the sake of doing it. If it's not reading well look at a character like Deku from MHA, his hero quality is defined by an instictual need to help someone who needs it. Why does Sonic fight Eggman? If you go back to his conception, its about Eggman's corruption of nature. Technology isn't inherently bad but to use it to enslave others is. Sonic's whole goal is to save his less anthro friends. But I would say the idea that these animals are someone like Tails is never really established, they are simple people that need saving. Fast forward to the Adventure era and Sonic simply fights Chaos because it's causing danger to the city he's in at the moment. It wasn't really till 2 where there's a more self interested reason he *starts* the adventure. What is also taught to use in the 15 years leading up to Sonic 06 is that other's gravitate towards him; Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, and so forth come into the orbit of his story and are not only effected by him but by the connections to each other found through him. It isn't Sonic who really awakens Shadow's true purpose but Amy and Rouge, who herself is effected by Knuckles. There is crossover into each other's lives and stories that ultimately leads to winning over a pessimistic future. "In his world, the world's every step meets the rest." It's a line that expresses an intrinsic connection we all have to each other, no one person walks alone and we are all the sum of our relationship to others; something we will eventually get to with Elise. As for why Sonic saves her is pretty simple; Sonic was on vacation and saw she was in trouble. "No reason." There was no reason she was decided to be helped aside from she needed it and that's all that really matters.

So let's do some lyric breakdown while I'm here; in general the first section of his world is building up the image of Sonic as a carefree dude, someone who's fast and in your face ready to challenge you (athletically or ideologically) that will ultimately bring out the better than you (If you wanna test him best bring your best). "In his world where life is strong." Life of those in the world of Sonic's is important, it is not physically strong but spiritually strong, important. "In his world life's an open book." The world around him is engaging and another exciting adventure is always around the corner because of it. "In his world where one is all." Everyone has value and therefore Sonic protects everyone like they're his friend because no one person is lesser. "In his world, never fear the fall." This can have two meanings, never fear the fall because he will be there to catch you as well as don't fear it because it's important to move with conviction and fearlessness. "In his world, where compromise does not exist." To have a lesser world where there are people cannot be happy is not something he will allow and Sonic will always strive for a better world. "In his world, the world's every step meets the rest." As stated before, everyone crosses each other's paths. A tile on a stone streets will have the footsteps of many people on it. The world will always exist because of the collective known as life and each living being holds its own importance to be valued. But equally each footprint meets because they follow his path; his friends are motivated by him to change the world as well as they were changed by him. The second bridge is about building up his accomplishments; "Coming out to win a ten out of ten", "Intergalactic Continental Champ, Running Things". But they also express Sonic as a do gooder for freedom; "Spikes up his Liberty"(Also a reference to the punk hairstyle Liberty Spike and suggests a punk ideology to Sonic), "Hyperactive instrumental at pulling strings", "Breaking down doors never following". But some lines that important into the way Sonic is treating Elise is this; "Cause the pressures of this world, the can take their toll. And it's tough to get away when they take their hold. The only way to break free is to break the mold." I've seen a few complaints for Sonic telling Elise to simply smile, but His World reenforces what Sonic is trying to express is to reject complacency in a world where you've accepted less for yourself as well. The world can't change if you don't change and "Smile" is shorthand for accept happiness right now rather than be sad over the future not here yet. To cry over the future is to accept that you cannot create a most optimistic one.

The second chorus is the same but with new call in the background; "Gotta make your own way!" You have to determine your own life for yourself (as opposed to simply let the role of a princess dictate it). "Life is just a game you play!" While it's cheesy given the context of being video game music, the point stands that to win in a video game is nominally made by your choices is, to choose it to move forward for yourself. "Notice that we're here to stay!" Sonic (and his friends) are promising that they will always support you (Elise in this case). You do not have to battle the world on your own. Now His World is used intensely throughout the game and has a ridiculous amount of variations to it including fully different lyrics. This theme that Sonic believes in the importantance of the individual coarses through the game's story and while I won't go into the Crush 40 version right now, I do want to note the extra lines in the Zebra head version; "When you leap without a net you'll find, it won't be there all the time. So watch your step don't fall." Sonic is that safety net, he's there to help you take that leap but there is a point where you should leap without relying on that net to be there and leap expecting it not to be there (true independence).

As I've been saying, that is the Sonic I know that was presented through me as I grew up in the 7th gen console era; A person who saves people for no reason other than to save them, physically and emotionally. Jason Griffith will always be my Sonic because I like how his performance notes elements of vulnerability in his confidence. I know that warble he does is somewhat memetic to a lot of people but to me it presented an element of relatability for the lives he touches. To be clear for what I'm about to say, I am a Dreamcast hyper fan but the Adventure Era was a little insular with its cast, often being tied to just several combat ready characters rather than involving itself with civilians. The dark age of Sonic though had a large presence of that; Elise, Sahara, Merlina, Chip. While yes all these characters ultimately have extreme importance to their worlds, they're a lot less go getter and in need of help from Sonic at the start of the story. Sonic is not meant to grow but mentor them into being the ones who grow, portraying him as a caretaker and empathetic. It's not to say these weren't present traits before but his 90s image was attitude while his Dreamcast one was cocky; he's a teen of course so it's a natural element of him. But the Dark Age Sonic started to grow up emotionally as his stories got more involved to which a softer personality greatly conflicted with the post 9/11 Americana machismo, softer characters were not a welcome to a casual audience that was shifting more towards grittier stories that were grabbing at a more immature adult world. It's no wonder then that 2010s Sonic tried to back pedal hard and gave him an almost frat boy like personality at his new voice generation start. With Sonic Frontiers, I'm happy the tides changed back into a more emotionally subtle sonic.

Also this yapping and I haven't even really talked about the Sonic's Story; first off it's definitely unfortunate because while I think most can fill in the blanks, even the narrative of Sonic 06 got rushed. It does feel like there were points there was supposed to be more downtime with Elise, a slow building familiarity from her initial formality. Elise in her own way might be a bit foreign to Sonic, there's an aspect of moroseness to her in how calm she often is a the start. I'm trying to do my own section on Elise so I want to save it for later but I think in some ways it was meant to trouble Sonic how restrictive she was emotionally; a little too unbothered with her own safety while taking responsibility for anyone else's.

Sonic's Story really is Else's Story, Sonic's major purpose is trying to give her a normalcy that she denies herself. He is trying to be a companion to someone he sees struggling with constant fear for a nation ultimately become the devoted knight as the goal becomes more murky the more outsiders come into play.

Something I think was very intentional is how involved Sonic's cavalcade of friends are to the narrative (often a big sore point of this age ironically). Elise is extremely solitary but Sonic's friends are integral to his success and often the previously built bonds play an important role into each of the main 3 narratives. Within each, there's particularly a female character that expresses a devotion that effects the story's MC. Sonic with Elise with a little bit of Amy, Shadow and Rouge, and Silver with Amy and Blaze. For Sonic, it's the fact Elise is someone he's trying to convince into saving herself. Give a man a fish vs. eating a fish. Ultimately thought their bond is a catalyst for the calamity Elise fears; a divine irony.

Shadow's Story; If the World Chooses to Become My Enemy

The most important line to me in the entirety of the game is the one from Rouge; "Even if everyone in the world with be against you, know that I'll always remain by your side."

Shadow's Story presents him as now a very competent agent for the same organization that plans to have him one day contained, the greater tragedy is by making one of his own friends do it and the same friend who would wait 1000 years so he could save him. It's not Omega's fault as he was likely being controlled to do it but one could read into how determined he attacks Mephilis as an expression of anger knowing the results.

Shadow often keeps aloof but through actions you can often see his connections built to others. He's familiar enough to tinker with Omega and will keep helping Rouge acting like it's a reluctant choice. I'm particular, I like the dynamic of those two the most in this game as they have a lot of history. In adventure 2, it's a major character moment where he saves Rouge as she was becoming at peace with Death.

Silver's Story; And I Might Know of The Future, But You Still Control the Past.

Silver has only known a world of conflict, he knows it was started by Iblis but not much else. As a 14 year old who seems to be charge in keep Iblis at bay, he's a bit naive in his actions. When Mephilis provides a solution, he jumps on it as the right answer. What he doesn't expect is to run into Amy.

Now before we talk about Amy, let's talk about Blaze. I *think* this is Blaze's origin story. While I haven't gotten a chance to play through the Rush series, her character seems a bit less world wise; she's very hands off and doesn't engage with morality much. During the end of Silver's story, she tells him to send her to another universe. Ultimately I believe the implications are that this is how she became a princess in another dimension and Iblis is the source of her flame powers (and prior she was particularly just in tune with sensing his presence). But where she would be his assumed mentor, her character falls flatter than I remember with the most major thing is incepting the idea into Silver that the chaos emerald turns your thoughts into reality.

Amy on the other hand is the one who effects Silver morally. It's dark out, she mistakes him for the wrong guy, but he is in need of help and she knows her guy is the best option. Amy gets a lot of shit (many of you might know I am a die hard Amy stan) but she's one of the people who takes most to heart Sonic's message. When she runs into Elise, she picks up on the situation she's in quickly and doesn't hesitate in getting her out of there. Often when there is an antagonist in the story, she's the one able to emotionally connect with them; Gamma, Shadow, Emeral, and now Silver. She's pushy but it's because of that that Silver even gets sidetracked off his mission which he needs. Without realizing it, Amy is giving him the chance to question what he is doing. Amy is shattered to realize Silver's goal was to kill Sonic. Again I think we are supposed to infer that they've developed a pretty decent friendship at this point and why it was Amy chosen to be this role is likely to how similar they are; close in age, trusting of others, a bit dramatic and a little naive. To Amy, Sonic will always be the one looking to save others and could not do wrong but To Silver, his morality did not change that he would curse the world. "If I had to chose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!" Yes on some level this is an expression of her love for him but I think it goes further than that; Sonic as I've said is this beacon of good that makes others do good in turn and to loose or turn against that is never something she would allow. It feels parallel to Rouge's statement to Shadow, that against the world she would still choose him.

This shakes Silver into a contemplative state; he's been only viewing this from a greater good stance and even after talking to Blaze, he still seems a little more restrained and in his head than before. It's only Mephilis that puts him back on the path.

The other parallel we see a lot of with Silver is the mentor role both Mephilis and Shadow take on; Mephilis is a literal devil on one shoulder and Shadow isn't quite an angel but he does lead Silver on the right path. In a way, the mission almost feels cult like, Silver questioning the reasoning is often shot down for the phrase "Do it or life is bad." And we are seeing essentially various characters deprogram him as he slowly starts connecting pieces to a different solution. I don't think Sonic Team was literally meaning to parallel cult like behavior but rather it's a side effect of the "parenting" Silver is getting. Shadow does not tell Silver what to do, he moreso gives Silver the means to learn for himself. Initially just fighting, Silver mimicks chaos control having learned from Mephilis transporting him, Blaze's words, and Shadow's techniques. Rather than just insist to Silver what the truth is, he tells him to seek answers for himself.

Silver's character often gets a lot of misrepresentation himself; out of all the characters, he is the most to understand what is going on. He discovers time travel chaos control through example, learns the way to seal Iblis, and most importantly learns that the trigger is because Elise has cried. Silver give Elise the blue emerald understanding three things; 1. The princess has experienced and will experience plenty hardship leading to her death and the flames of disaster 2. The chaos emeralds manifest the user's desires 3. All 7 give a miracle. Silver finally looks to Elise and sees someone like him and he wants that girl to be able to wish for something.

So yeah, we weren't gonna not analyze Dreams of an Absolution. The song is possibly the most strongly literal as it tells the story of Silver. "And Every night I lay away and find no conclusion, and every night I dream of an Absolution." A preadventure Silver wanting an end to the torment of Iblis. "In the night light do you see what you dream? All your troubles, are they all what they seem? Look around you then you may realize, All the preachers, all with their lies." Silver believes Sonic to be the source of all his issues but he's being fooled by the preacher (Mephilis). "And I might know of our future but then you still control the past. Only you know if you'll be together, only you know if we should last." Silver lives in oblivion but Sonic and Elise control that fate. Their choice in being together directly affects the lives of the future. "In the night light do you still feel your pain. For the valor you waited never came?" Silver keeps missing his chance and then Amy completely stops him. "If you were able, would you go change the past? To mend a faux pas with one last chance" Silver questions if this goal is necessary. "In the night light do you see what you dream, all your triumph and all you'll ever be?" Silver is defined by his identity as the defender from Iblis. "Look around you then you may realize, happiness lies trapped in misery." This line can be applied multiple ways; Silver realizing how Elise's own happiness is tied with Sonic which causes her misery, how possibly there was happiness in the future despite the misery, how you can find good moments during bad times. "And who knows what of our future, We can all try to change the past." This might be more related to last story, Silver in the end chose not to change the past and now that the flames still got released through all of time, he is still realizing there is room to work towards a better future in the worst of times. "Cause every night I will save your life, and every night I will be with you. Cause every night I will make it right, and every night I will come to you. But every night it just stay the same and I dream of an Absolution." Silver will always play the hero and is always willing to save others but he burns for a finality of the situation. "And you'll see, what you'll be, and you'll see, all you can be." This can refer to believing in himself or believing in Elise as she has become more self assured in her goals. "And every night, I will dream, and you'll see. Yeah, this is my dream!" Silver finally achieved the catharsis of the end of Iblis.

Elise's Story; If You Have Time to Worry, Then Run

[lover-of-mine]

As amazing and sweet as the deleted scene is, it does make me worried that they were genuinely trying to retcon the Shannon and Eddie relationship. Considering before season 7 they never had Eddie say anything to imply he was actually in love with her, maybe that he loved her and they got married because of Chris but nothing to imply they were actually in love.

Okay, look, I'm the wrong person to have this discussion. I do believe Eddie loved her in every way. At least he believes he loves her in every way. We only ever saw the aftermath. They fell in love as teenagers, they met when they were 14, your first love feels like that, but the relationship cracked under the circumstances they were in. They were teenagers thrown into an impossible situation that both of them didn't know how to handle. The idea that Eddie was never in love with her, for me personally, contradicts what we have because Eddie believes he loved her (and for me that includes the way he looks at her in 207, 210, and 213 and the whole way that he actually wants to trust her but seems to be too scared to actually do it) and in this context, it is the part that matters. He assimilates romance with that feeling he had on the lake. We saw two adults who went through a bunch of bad stuff stumble to make sense of feelings they've had since they were teens while trying to do what was best for Chris. They got married because she got pregnant, and I am not saying they would've stayed together regardless, I think they went through too much to know how to fix the cracks that existed in their relationship, but they were 18 when she got pregnant, to say "oh, they were never in love because they got married because of Chris" It's kinda dismissive imo because Chris didn't magically come to be. They were dating and shit got too serious faster than they were ready. My interpretation, as someone who always looked at Eddie as being written as someone who got their high school girlfriend pregnant, is that Eddie was as in love with her as he could be, it just wasn't enough, because love is not all it takes so they never learned to navigate real problems together and that works in high school but doesn't make it for a long term relationship. The distinction between love and in love in this context doesn't matter because for Eddie the love he felt for her is what being in love feels like. That's the only baseline he has because they were so young. But that scene is a lot to justify Kim and the way Eddie acts with her, and the whole Eddie is recreating the relationship to get more time, calling it retconning the relationship, maybe, we never had enough on how they got together, just because this doesn't align with the view that Eddie is strictly gay and was never in love with her a lot of people decided on, I don't think it actually changes the way that Eddie has been said to love her since the beginning, he just didn't trust her when we meet her, different feelings. But as long as Eddie believes he was in love with her, he's going to talk about her as someone he was in love with, especially when talking about her with Chris, who was already having issues with the idea of the love Shannon felt for them.

[bethanydelleman]

We need to talk about the Compromise Trope

Tl;DR It makes zero flipping sense because men always face a smaller social cost than women. You cannot force a powerful man to do anything, much less get married for life to someone he hates. And you wouldn’t actually want this trope to be true, because even if a man is forced to marry, he can just abandon or mistreat his wife. (This is a really long post)

Discussion of sexual assault and spousal abuse.

For those who don’t know, this is an extremely common trope in Jane Austen Fan Fiction/Regency romance. I don’t know where it originated, though there are two types of situations in Jane Austen’s works which are close. The basic premise is this: a man and woman are caught alone in a dark room/kissing (with full consent on both sides or not)/just hugging sometimes and a whole bunch of people scream and they are forced to get married.

Often both sides are unhappy with this marriage but it must happen, so they deal with it. This is the most common form of “Forced Marriage Situation” in the JAFF that I have read and heard about.

The two situations that come close are Lydia and Wickham’s elopement and then behaviour that has engaged honour in Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. With Lydia and Wickham, that wasn’t an innocent kiss in a library, they were living together and most likely having sex for a few days/weeks before Darcy got the whole situation figured out. However, Darcy did not try to force a marriage first, he actually tries to get Lydia away. What we can assume from this is that Darcy recognizes that marriage to a dishonorable man is worse than the blow to Lydia’s (and her family’s) reputation or life’s happiness.

Situations where honour is engaged but no actual touching has happened (as far as we know), are Jane/Bingley, Marianne/Willoughby, and Louisa/Wentworth. In each of these situations, a man and a woman act in such a way that people begin to assume that they are engaged. Word is spread abroad, and the men all absent themselves from the situation in the hopes that rumours will die down. Lastly we have Henry Crawford/Maria Bertram, who do touch in the context of a play and who are acting very flirtatiously even though Maria is engaged. Henry also pointedly quits the scene. Two of these men (or their friends) are trying to exit an engagement situation fairly, two of them are just ghosting because they don’t care.

But here is the problem with the trope: while a man may be honour-bound to propose if he’s been raising expectations, no one can force him. Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Jennings both complain to the world that Jane and Marianne have been ill-used, but nothing comes of it! Bingley comes back eventually, but not because he’s “compromised” Jane and feels bad about it. Willoughby gets married to Miss Grey anyways and he doesn’t suffer that much socially (Sir John forgives him before the novel ends). Also, Willoughby seduced and impregnated Eliza Williams, which is way past “compromise”, and while it’s not clear how widely known this is, he is not shunned socially for that indiscretion either.

This is the whole problem with the trope: powerful men can survive far greater social disgrace than women!!! This is probably partially because women are expected to be virgins and men are not, but also because of the imbalance in marriage prospects. I imagine that a woman with £30,000 pounds could weather a scandal far better than someone like Eliza Williams. Men like Henry Crawford and Darcy would be basically bulletproof, or at least that is how they are portrayed.

Oscar Wilde spends a lot of time on this imbalance of consequences (especially in A Woman of No Importance) and his conclusion is that men can basically get away with anything while women, and sometimes their children, bear the full brunt of social cost. We still see this today! It’s the woman who most often bears the consequences for getting pregnant as a teen, for example, and the largest blow to their future prospects.

In the only “compromise” I’ve read in a contemporary novel, Molly in Wives & Daughters (written in 1866) is caught giving Mr. Preston a letter and meeting with him clandestinely. What happens is nothing like the JAFF compromise trope. Molly’s reputation is trashed, but Mr. Preston is certainly not forced to marry her, people just talk about how they will probably marry. Molly is the one who bears almost the entire social cost, Mr. Preston isn’t even that worried about it until his employer gets involved. He is only a steward and could be held accountable by a higher up, people like Darcy and Crawford have no one who could do the same thing.

Another thing I see now which is just wild is Caroline trying to sneak in Darcy’s room at night. I don’t know how that is supposed to make a “compromise” since there are no witnesses, but also, that is incredibly dumb. A man as powerful as Darcy could have full on sex with a woman and deny it and probably face almost no backlash. Especially since Caroline would have no proof. I mean she can’t get a DNA test in this era and once she admits she’s had sex it could have been with a footman.

And you say, but Darcy is honourable? Sure, but this woman threw herself at him without consent! I am sure he wouldn’t have sex with Caroline without marrying her, but if she started kissing him and then people demanded they marry? It would be perfectly moral for him to throw her under the bus. And then Caroline’s reputation is destroyed and she gains nothing.

The fact is, if “compromise” was a real thing, it would be gamed. Humans will take any loophole and widen it until you can drive a truck through it. All of the nobility would be married by women throwing themselves at them, here, I wrote a farce about it.

If anything, the “compromise” trope is a fantasy where men are actually held accountable for violating women. Which seems like it would be nice, but considering that some women, especially Caroline, weaponize “compromise”, you start to border on some disturbing territory. Like the idea that women who accuse famous people of rape are just doing it for attention/wealth. And that is not great! That is something we also still struggle with today.

The only way “compromise” works as it is presented is if someone more powerful than the man involved forces him to marry. So for example, a father threatens to cut off his son’s allowance or disinherit him, like Mrs. Smith in Sense & Sensibility. However, even married a man isn’t “trapped”, he can just leave his wife behind and fuck off to Italy. Which is literally the plot of All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare, in which the king forces a man to marry. This happens in Jane Austen too! Wickham just goes to London and Bath to enjoy himself and leaves Lydia with her family. Or if you’d like real world examples: Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Also Jane Eyre now that I think about it...

But that’s not even the worst that could happen! In Mrs. Hubback’s The Younger Sister, (a completion of the novel fragment The Watsons by Jane Austen) which was written in 1850, we have this chilling exchange about a man forced to marry:

"Ah, I am glad I have brought you to your senses, at last; now consider, if we could do as Emma advises, and persuade this Mr. Musgrove to marry, as he ought, there would be an end of all trouble in the affair."

"To you, perhaps, but not to Miss Margaret; I dare say her amiable husband would beat her every day."

This situation was a bit different, they were suing for breach of contract because Mr. Musgrove proposed to Margaret and then pretended he hadn’t. Two women overheard the proposal and would have been able to testify in court against Mr. Musgrove. This was a real thing and could either result in restitution payments or marriage. However, you couldn’t sue for breach of contract over a kiss or a “compromise”, you needed proof of engagement. The real cases I have seen involved publicly known engagements, or letters and tokens of affection (think Lucy Steele in Sense & Sensibility) So again, not “compromise.”

The point though is that a man being forced to marry a woman could abuse her without much repercussion. In JAFF/Historical romance it always works out, but in real life I can see someone being pretty resentful that they were forced to get married and taking it out on the other party.

Also, the entire concept of a man trapped in an engagement and unable to get out because of their reputation/honour is kind of laughable because that’s why breach of contract laws exist! And women, who were technically “allowed” to back out, faced pressure to marry:

“But after a certain time—after the world suspects that two people are engaged to each other, it is scarcely possible for the woman to recede: when they come within a certain distance, they are pressed to unite, by the irresistible force of external circumstances. A woman is too often reduced to this dilemma: either she must marry a man she does not love, or she must be blamed by the world—either she must sacrifice a portion of her reputation, or the whole of her happiness.” (Belinda Ch 18, Maria Edgeworth)

So again, the social burden is carried by women

(Brief note about Edward Ferrars, he is trying to honour his promise to Lucy Steele and is “trapped” in an engagement, but he made that proposal of his own free will. His family would clearly have supported him in a breach of promise suit so he could marry Miss Morton. Lucy only has a hold on Edward because he’s too honourable to jilt her.)

Lastly, duels. I know almost nothing about duels but they just sound profoundly stupid to me. The only duel we see in Jane Austen is between Colonel Brandon and Willoughby, they are both unwounded and go home quietly. I don’t know what duels are supposed to solve, if Colonel Brandon had killed Willoughby he probably would have gone to jail/been hung (I don’t know if he’s rich enough to get away with it). So if he wins, Eliza is screwed, if he loses, Eliza is screwed, there is really no good outcome.

Mrs. Bennet wants Mr. Bennet to fight Wickham, but to what end? If Mr. Bennet killed Wickham, then Lydia isn’t un-ruined? So what is the point? I guess maybe the man agrees to marry your daughter rather than face death? It just seems like pointless drama to me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a duel with a good outcome, illuminate me in the comments/reblogs if you have.

Here is what I imagine is a more realistic scene of “compromise”: A man and woman are making out, some people burst into the library! Social pressure mounts for the couple to marry, but the guy isn’t interested. He goes to Italy for fun, leaving the girl to bear the full brunt of slut shaming and reputation damage.

Five years later, the man returns and is invited back into society. The girl is unmarried and unmarriageable, perhaps banished by her family to some cottage. Or she stuck it out and hoped people would forgive a youthful lapse of propriety, was she rich and pretty enough to get over the stigma? One can only hope.

Now specifically in Pride & Prejudice variations:

There are some cases where Darcy doesn’t like Elizabeth and is mad that he has to marry her. I just don’t think those would happen. After all, he encourages Bingley to leave Jane while there is still wiggle room, I think he’d just leave and hope for the best. He might even pay a breach of contract fine, after all, if he marries a woman he hates or distrusts, that’s the rest of his life and the reputation of Pemberley forever. Paying a fine and waiting for people to forget would hardly hurt him. And he probably wouldn’t think it was morally wrong if he suspected that Elizabeth did it on purpose to try and trap him.

There are other situations where Darcy is happy to marry Elizabeth but she hates him. These may also not result in marriage because Elizabeth is pretty big on not marrying people she does not love for social gain. I mean especially a man who just sexually assaulted her! If she thinks as poorly of him as she does canonically at Hunsford, I can’t see her saying yes. After all, now not only is Darcy someone she dislikes, he just proved he isn’t trustworthy or capable of self control.

Also, there are way too many variations where despite hating Darcy, Elizabeth is totally into the kiss. Which is so weird to me! If someone I hated kissed me they would be slapped! I doubt people are going to be screaming for Elizabeth to marry someone who assaulted her, they’d probably be angry at Darcy.

Lastly, Caroline Bingley. She is trying to compromise Darcy but sometimes ends up in a compromise marriage herself. Now she is actually rich and has a very caring brother. I cannot see her doing something like actually marrying Wickham or Mr. Collins. She could probably survive the reputation damage because of her large fortune or live on her dowry. After all, Darcy has told her Wickham can’t be trusted. It would be dangerous for her to agree to marry him.

Basically, I think any compromise situation in Pride & Prejudice is out of character. If one really wants Darcy and Elizabeth married pre-understanding and reformation arc, I would suggest placing Elizabeth in reduced financial circumstances, like Mr. Bennet dying. Otherwise, you need to significantly change the characters of both Elizabeth and Darcy.

[olderthannetfic]

Re, this anon: https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/719669829313953792

Yeah, well... that's the point of a bunch of internet activists: they throw the stone and hide the hand, screeching that, if you're doubting their innocence, you're an imperialist racist who should never be allowed on the internet.

Stitch, the person they're picking up a lot of their schlock from, is a master in this: they attack people, and the moment those who got attacked ask what they've done that's wrong or ask to have a one-on-one conversation with them, they shut everything down, screenshot whatever they received, block the person, and then go on Twitter whining about being a victim of racism because their words weren't listened to like the Gospel. Over and over again.

After the TOG racefaker scandal broke, I went through her blog and, just as I had expected, she too followed the same modus operandi: attack, screenshot, block, cry about being a victim of racism because people didn't let her insult them and demanded explanations about her ranting, wannabe-academic, posts.

They're not the only ones who do/did this, but these are the two examples of constant "harassment is good if I do it, but I'm the only victim and the others deserved it" cycle that come to my mind as of now.

When you're looking at End OTW Racism, you have to expect the same thing. They don't have answers, they don't want to have answers. This whole movement (horribly organized, horribly promoted, horribly everything) is nothing but a huge stroke of ego for its organizers.

You know how antis accuse others of being racist or pedophiles or whatever else because, that way, the accused cannot defend themselves? This is the same thing: if the OTW doesn't address their manifesto, then they're racist because they refuse to acknowledge it; if the OTW does address their manifesto, then they're admitting that they didn't care about racism until the moment they were called out on it and their concern regarding racism within the OTW is manufactured.

It's a win-win situation for them because, no matter how much you try, if you don't fully and absolutely agree with them, you can be branded as racist.

If you scroll through the End OTW Racism tag on Twitter, you'll see plenty of people (and especially the organizers), tweet stuff in the same vein as "I went to olderthannet's Tumblr and oof," not so subtly accusing all the people who raised valid concerns and asked valid questions of being racist.

I'm also not the first person who mentions this, but Stitch does seem to be heavily involved with the project, and even if they weren't, their words have been used to build the manifesto, and they amplified this crap through one of their Teen Vogue articles.

Now... not only Stitch is known for acting in bad faith, attacking creators of colors, branding them as Uncle Toms, purposefully making fun of them if they don't agree with them and sending their followers to attack and harass, but, just in April, they were being dragged because of another article they wrote, in which they compared writing fics about bad fictional characters to worshiping serial killers. Weeks before that, they were being dragged because their fanbase of antis discovered that their fics included incest, something that goes greatly against their preachings.

How big of a coincidence is it, that Stitch needed to have their image cleaned of all sins and suddenly a group of people drops a manifesto and hashtag about racism in fandom, founding a movement Stitch fully and absolutely agrees with and can rave about for days on end? A movement that offers very vague answers and plans, and those creators attack anyone who doesn't immediately agree with them, to the point that no questions can be ever asked about it?

Unless I'm shown actual evidence that Stitch isn't involved with this, nothing will convince me that End OTW Racism was launched for any reason that isn't to rehabilitate Stitch in the eyes of their chronically online audience.

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