#like... maybe the murder and lies aren't *that* big of a deal

[hypnagogics]

LYSSSSSS!!!!!! oh you genius. ima start this all off by saying this is my favorite lyss work to date…you absolutely NAILED IT. the weaving of plot, the banter and dialogue, and ellie????? peak characterization, you really don't see skill like this every day. tbh sometimes it pains me you aren't able to see just how good at writing you really are, but oh well. guess i'll have to make it my life's mission to convince you! you'll believe me when i'm done, i'm sure of it :)

first of all the photo you chose— elliesgalaxy is genuinely not human methinks, how tf do you make a pixel look like that. i want to eat her.

she lingered outside, shifting her weight like she was debating whether to knock. but since this had become clockwork, you were already pulling the door open, and she shuffled inside uttering a, “don't make a big deal out of it.”

MY BABYYYYYYY. stop…no STAHPPP. i would not mind at all patching her up, my babyyyyyy she is so cute. the shuffling, the awkwardness and the silly internal battle— UGH LOVE IT. with your writing, i've noticed you are an expert in the ‘show don't tell’ idea, and i'm quite jelly!! you're a master of subtleties wherever they go,and i'm always in awe of how you paint such a vivid picture.

she'd been through hell and back.

what if i sob so hard i flood the earth huh…what are you gonna do. i just want to kidnap her and keep her safe in my basement so nothing could ever hurt her, and i'm the crazy one?

your lips pressed into a thin line, but you didn't protest further. you knew how much patrol meant to her— how she needed it. how ellie seemed to rely on it to feel like she provided something useful to jackson.

AGAIN WITH THE SUBTEXT HOW DO YOU DO THATTTTT i am going to cast a spell and steal all your talent…jk i would never do that it's all yours. but omg :( jackson is baby's home…thinking of the game's storyline and when they first got to jackson, this draws up such nostalgia. in between games one and two, i really do wonder how ellie adjusted, but before we go too far off topic i must continue to gush!

also i love love love your use of “said” when mentioning her burn, maybe i'm looking a bit too deep now, but it gives off almost a little suspicion..almost. can always count on you to be two steps ahead of all of us.

and your dialogue!!! i tell you this all the time but it's seriously so so good, i can hear the banter so perfectly in my head, TEACH ME YOUR WAYSSSSSS

i did also mention i love your use of “pitchy lilt” such a poetic description but it's so illustrative and clever!!

[...] made your stomach do something stupid.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ok normal calm zen and chill but real!!! her dorkiness istg…there's nothing better than that. like yes she makes me weak in the knees yes i want to kiss her till she's dizzy WELL, YES!

you'd both insist, later, it was simply the sting of the antiseptic anyway, as if she hadn't weathered worse injuries before.

i. need. to. calm. down. the bloody tension????? are you trying to kill me in cold blood is this what this is. i am such a sucker for almost a slow burn like this, both of them not sure, but the subconscious never lies. GOD

“i think you're helping me all the time ‘cause you've got a soft spot for me.”

YES! YES! BINGO!! YOU'D BE CORRECT!! RIGHT ON!! WONDERHOYYYYYYY BOOM SHAKALAKA YES GAWDDDD okay my heart. it's gonna fuckin explode. i will charge you for murder lyss, this isn't funny.

the whole next chunk has me literally biting my firstbecayuse first of all how dare you, secondly, this is the most perfect thing i've ever read, thirdly, the characterization is honest to god so out of this world unreal, you make me fall in love with ellie more and more, with each post. truly, no one does it like you.

".....a kiss.”

insert feral monkey noises. insert squirting noises. insert blowing up the entire world noises. insert killing myself with a gun noises. ok i have no words. wtf are you doing i will be brought to tears because of this fucken pixel its so unfair…

this fic. this fic is everything to me, you don't understand. it makes me wanna laugh it makes me wanna cry it makes me want to scream into the void— you write ellie so true to life it makes me SICK! ILL! in the best way though, always the best way. my dramatic little baby, ugh. i'd give anything in the world to kiss her until we're both suffocating, but i suppose i have to deal with something close because that isn't an option, and that's gotta be to tell you how much i adore your writing every chance i get. 💚

becoming ellie williams' personal nurse was absolutely not part of your grand plan. in fact, being ellie williams’ anything hadn’t crossed your mind until an unexpected run-in left you the only one available to patch her up after a rough patrol. you’d spoken fewer than ten times before that, but after that night, ellie unilaterally decided you were the only person allowed to help her when she got injured. you didn’t fuss as much as maria, or dina, or anyone else—and that was enough for her. or at least, that’s what she claimed. it certainly didn’t hurt that you were cute.

that's how you found yourself falling into a routine—ellie 'just happening' to show up at your door, flashing those worn green eyes and grumbling about how "it's not that bad" to garner enough pity until you inevitably caved and fixed her up, sparing her yet another lecture from maria.

tonight was no different. she lingered outside, shifting her weight like she was debating whether to knock. but since this had become clockwork, you were already pulling the door open, and she shuffled inside uttering a, “don’t make a big deal out of it.”

you sighed, already moving to nab your ever-growing stash of first-aid supplies as she dropped into your desk chair. ellie had tried to clean herself up beforehand, but it was fruitless—her green jacket, the one now being hastily shrugged off, had been covering the worst of it. a deep gash on her arm, the lingering traces of a nosebleed, fresh cuts along her cheek. she’d been through hell and back.

"ellie," your voice carried a warning as you approached, reaching out to cautiously inspect her wounded arm. "this isn't just some scrape." ellie exhaled sharply through her nose, taking the accosting while settling in the chair she'd visited many times already. "it's nothing. i don't want maria finding out and pulling me off patrols."

your lips pressed into a thin line, but you didn't protest further. you knew how much patrol meant to her—how she needed it. how ellie seemed to rely on it to feel like she provided something useful to jackson. so instead, you got to work, gently cleaning the cuts along her forearm. ellie winced as the antiseptic hit raw skin, her fingers twitching against her thigh. unfortunately, the cut had grazed her tatted arm. you made a valiant effort to be delicate enough to mend the cut without disturbing the tattoo—luckily, it had missed the chemical burn ellie said she'd gotten on that arm years ago.

"oh, stop whining," you chided over her complaints. "shouldn't you be used to the pain by now? little masochist. and what's with you aiming for this poor arm so much? you've got two to work with, you know.” ellie scoffed at your chastizing, biting the inside of her cheek as her expression shifted to annoyance but not full offense. "right, lemme plan my injuries better next time."

you dabbed at a shallow abrasion beneath her cheekbone. ellie's eyes flickered up, trying to capture yours, but you wouldn't budge from the injury. she bit her crimson-stained lip, like she was weighing her next words wisely. "you keep patching me up, though. makes me wonder... i mean, i dunno..." ellie stilted her delivery, partly out of nerves, partly to grab your attention. "maybe you like seein' me all banged up," her tone took on a pitchy lilt as she kept peeking up at you.

the way she said it—less of a tease, a tad second-guessing, trying to dare a reaction out of you—made your stomach do something stupid.

"a better patient would stop causing such a distraction," you shot back, deliberately avoiding her gaze while keeping with the 'strict nurse' facade. you couldn't suppress a hint of a smirk though, briefly wiping your mouth to try and shield the small break over her nervous attempt at flirting. you just hated how right she was—no one was forcing you to do this, to put up with her maddening stubbornness and save her hide time and time again. all ellie had to do was bat those ridiculously pretty greens, and your defenses crumbled.

ellie huffed, pleased with your accidental admission but now more determined to coax more from you. she shifted slightly—and that's when you felt it. the light press of her fingers against the dip of your waist, like she had just meant to steady herself but forgot to pull away. her fingers curled slightly into the fabric of your shirt, sending a shiver up your spine. you said nothing, pretending not to notice. maybe she hadn't even meant to. you'd both insist, later, it was simply the sting of the antiseptic anyway, as if she hadn't weathered worse injuries before. neither of you moved.

ellie couldn't disguise her beaming when your strict charade allowed the gesture. she swallowed, like she was trying to decide whether to try her luck. her fingers tapped your side, hesitant.

“i think you're helping me all the time 'cause you've got a soft spot for me."

your breath hitched, warmth creeping up your neck, but you weren't about to let her win that easily. with a little head shake, you willfully regained your composure and lightly patted ellie's uninjured cheek before schooling your expression. "hush. you're being disorderly. i can't fix you up with all this blabbering."

ellie let out an exaggerated hiss, scrunching her eyes shut dramatically. your stomach clenched in brief panic, helper mode reigniting—until you realized she was full of shit, twisting her head like she'd been mortally wounded when, in reality, you had barely touched her.

"you're impossible," you muttered, smacking her good arm lightly in playful retaliation. "your life is in my hands. don't forget that." ellie leaned forward just enough to close the space between you, her voice dropping. "yeah, yeah, and every time i show up like this, i'm choosing to put my trust in you."

she wavered briefly, then added, softer still—only brave enough to say it now because she was already committed to the bit—"and that’s also why you won’t look at me."

you froze, and the second you met her gaze, it was over—long lashes framing those round green eyes, a smattering of freckles, some loose auburn strands that had escaped her barely-held-together bun sticking to her skin from the leftover sweat of patrol. with scraped skin and blood-streaked face, ellie was a proper mess—and yet, here you were, fighting every aching urge screaming at you to throw yourself on top of her.

you swallowed hard. the unassuming, bashful, loserish ellie was nowhere to be found. replaced by an ellie probably still riding the adrenaline of her close call with a horde of infected earlier, caring a little less about the consequences of her words and even further fueled by your easily cracked stoicism.

ellie seized your defeated, flustered silence to keep going. "also, as my nurse, i'm surprised you don't know the best cure for any injury."

you inhaled to brace for whatever nonsense was about to come out of her mouth. "oh, yeah? what's that?"

".....a kiss."

a drawn-out groan escaped you. "jesus," you muttered, cheeks burning. but fine—just this once. you weren't giving in completely, but you leaned in, pressing a fleeting peck to the tip of her nose.

the way ellie's face immediately split into a stupidly giddy grin was almost worth it. almost. her whole expression flushed a rosy pink, too.

"oh, on the nose? that barely counts," ellie teased, her voice dipping into something softer, more expectant. definitely hoping she hadn’t pushed her luck too much.

"deal with it, williams," you murmured, but your mind was already betraying you.

despite your best efforts, you couldn’t stop yourself from wondering what it would be like if you really gave in. if you disregarded all medical safety and climbed into her lap and kissed her senseless, letting your hands explore each other in desperation and recklessly savoring the taste of metallic red left on her soft lips.

snapping yourself from that less-than-holy thought, you deflected under the guise of needing to retrieve more supplies for another small cut you had overlooked.

when you came back, ellie was still watching you, something unreadable in her expression. you hesitated for a moment, then finally gave her a little glimmer of hope to cling to.

"tell you what," you started. "don't be an idiot—which i know is hard for you—and let everything heal," you let the jab sit for a second to build suspense, "and i’ll grant you the other half of that kiss."

ellie's smile widened triumphantly, though her posture was beginning to laze as exhaustion from the day's chaos caught up with her.

"anything for the nurse."

"yeah, yeah. now hold still so i can finish fixing you up."

and, for once, ellie williams actually listened. pic creds @/elliesgalaxy

[fairweathermyth]

BLACK DOVES 1.01 ⌁ To Love Then + 1.04 ⌁ Go Bang Time

[justoneotherthing123]

Okay but like he's not working as a video essayist anymore though. He was trying to rebrand on tiktok and the "free advertising" the "Online Leftist Discourse Industrial Complex" gave him made him stop doing that. It's because people keep pointing out that he lied and scammed people that he's not currently lying and scamming people on youtube and tiktok.

On the hbomberguy subreddit there's a weekly thread talking about good youtubers that aren't as famous. It's a weekly thread that's trying to give attention to people with less clout in their community who do deserve that attention. They've been doing that for months. By contrast, they spent five months NOT talking about James Somerton until they found out that 1) he was trying to go back to tiktok, 2) also he was never sorry about plagiarism, and 3) he was absolutely manipulating people with that suicide note.

I know that some people out there consider all criticism a personal and hateful attack, but do you maybe think there's a reason why The Left™ chose to show that this specific guy had two alt accounts? Do you think they chose to show the tweets in which he goes "plagiarism and lies are no big deal, stop being angry about it," "if plagiarism and lies are a big deal then his cowriter did it," and "you people made him kill himself" for some reason? Do you think it may have something to do with him trying to rebrand on tiktok after he wrote a suicide note that made a bunch of people call the people who accused him of plagiarism and lying of being murderers?

[gothamite-rambler]

When Superman First Met Batman's sidekick

Superman (raising an eyebrow): This is your sidekick?

Nine-year-old Robin (Dick Grayson) sat on the ground, captivated by a bug while munching on crackers. He felt a gentle nudge on his back from Batman's shoe, urging him to pay attention. Looking up, he stood to his feet.

Batman (deadpan): Yes, don't say it.

Superman (curious): Hm… is he not a little boy? Because I'm seriously doubting he's just a little grown up.

Batman (stony-faced): You wouldn't believe me if I lied. Robin, introduce yourself.

Robin (waving excitedly): I’m Robin! I can do flips and tricks. Hug time!

With that, Robin threw his arms around Superman, catching the mighty hero off guard and leaving Batman looking slightly annoyed. He had thought he was the only one who got hugs.

Robin (cheerfully): I’m a big fan!

Superman (smiling warmly): Oh… I needed that right now. Thanks, kid.

Superman patted the kid on the top of his head with a smile.

Batman (yanking Robin back to his side, a tinge of jealousy in his tone): Yep, he can do flips and tricks. Not hug strangers!

Batman gave the boy a friendly pat on the head. Superman blinked, trying to process the whirlwind of information.

Superman (alarmed): Right… um, circling back then. That's a child!

Batman (exasperated): He's my son.

Superman (wide-eyed): That's worse!

Batman (making it worse): I adopted him after his parents… died?

Superman (concerned): What? Did you—

Superman looked at Robin.

Superman (shocked): Did he murder your parents?!

Robin (tapping his chin in thought, mischievous): Hm… I'm not sure. Maybe some candy will help me answer the question.

Batman (sighing): After the mission. I promise, I will take you to the candy store.

Robin (grinning): I'm remembering that and no, he did not kill my parents; a mobster did.

Batman (to Superman, slightly defensive): There, he told you the truth. Are you satisfied?!

Superman (frustrated): He's still a child!

Batman (controlled fury): Why does everyone have this reaction when they meet him? I've had to deal with crooks in Gotham with hypocritical reactions of "Oh my gosh you have a child!" Like they didn't just commit murder! But I thought you'd let this go!

Superman (crossing his arms): Okay, I'll indulge you then. Cool, you have a child sidekick; how old is he?

Robin (sweet, prideful tone): I just turned nine.

Superman (rage shouting): WHAT?! Shut the fuck up! No, he's not! What the fuck is wrong with you, Batman?

Robin hid behind his father's leg, slightly scared at the yelling from the God-like superhero. This made Batman angry.

Batman (shouting): Hey! Don’t cuss in front of my son! He already has to deal with the Joker, but you, of all people, will not swear in front of my boy! You can criticize me for many things, and I won't care, because they aren't true, but don't tell me how to raise my son! He picked that suit—throwing that in there to get it out of the way! And he wants to be a hero!

Robin nodded enthusiastically at Batman's words, especially the part about the suit.

Robin (beaming): Yeah, and no cuss words! Just beating up bad guys! Until I turn 16, then he said I can do both!

Batman (pointing a finger at Superman): Yes, he's right about everything he said. And if you want to say anything else, Man of Steel, tread lightly. I am not the one! He is my son; I care about him, and I will punch you while holding kryptonite if you scare him again!

Superman (sighing): Oh, geez, okay, I’m sorry.

Batman breathed deeply to calm himself.

Batman (calmly): Your apology is accepted. I'm just tired of this reaction.

Robin (defending his father): Yeah, me and Papa are good heroes! I love crime fighting; it’s fun! Don’t judge us for our awesomeness!

Batman (gently): Robin, I appreciate the awesomeness part, but please don’t call me Papa while we’re on a job or meeting other heroes.

Robin (apologetically): Oh, sorry, Batman. I love you, Batman!

Robin beamed and hugged his father tightly.

Batman (softening): L… Love you too. You’re in a hugging mood today.

Robin (excitedly): It’s a good day! I met your future best friend!

Batman flushed with embarrassment as Superman glanced back and forth between Robin and Batman.

Batman covered his face, heaving an exhausted sigh that reminded Superman of his dad. He could see that Batman was trustworthy.

And Robin took this as his chance to sneak away and climb a tree.

Superman (smirking): I mean… if this kid makes you less of a jerk and realizes we’re friends, then I guess I’ll overlook the potential kidnapping charges.

Batman (sighing in exasperation): I didn’t— Great, thanks. Robin, let’s go— Where did he go?!

Robin (sitting on a tree branch, gleefully): Batman, look how high I climbed!

Batman (frustrated): Dang it, Robin!

Batman rushed to the tree to help Robin down, while Superman simply shrugged, accepting that the man in black had a child sidekick.

[datvtranscripts]

Sea of Blood Pt. 2

The Demon of Vyrantium

Lucanis Masterpost

Signs and Portents Masterpost Previous: Welcome to Antiva

They follow Illario out of the Cantori diamond.

Illario: Come. Caterina arranged a boat. One of our mages will meet us there.

Rook: A boat?

Illario: Did you think the Venatori would keep a normal prison? Or that one could hold the Demon of Vyrantium? The Ossuary lies beneath the sea. A fact I learned mere minutes ago.

Bellara: But the enchantments required must be immense.

Harding: Under the… oh, this is going to be just great.

Neve: Secret and excessive. Sounds like Venatori.

Rook: You're not happy Caterina kept this from you.

Illario: Would you be? Lucanis is family. Maybe she thought I'd act too rash if it meant saving him. And now… Who can say if he's even still alive?

They arrive at a small dock.

Illario: There. You take the boat.

Rook: Are you coming with us?

Illario: It's possible we've been watched. If all of us vanish from the dock… You play the alluring hero. I know Treviso. If we have a tail, I have a better chance of distracting their interest.

Rook and their companion climb into the boat and are taken out into the water. Once they are far from shore, their escort stops.

Rook: So how do we get in?

Antivan Crow: You'll see.

The mage begins to work, causing the water to swirl around them. The scene fades back into Rook at the entrance of some kind of underwater structure.

Rook: Someone—or something—already took down the guards.

Bellara: Let's hope we don't run into whatever did that. Do we think Lucanis is still alive? I guess there's one way to find out.

Harding: I can't decide if that's good or bad. But we have a demon to find. Any ideas?

Neve: Might work in our favor, but something's wrong here. Let's hope we find our demon alive.

The camera pans to the surrounding water. A whale swims past.

Rook: Look!

They continue in.

Rook: So, this is the Ossuary. This doesn't look like any prison I've seen.

They reach a bridge that vanished as they approach.

Rook: Well, we're not going that way.

Bellara: This place looks elven. I bet it's been underwater since the gods were imprisoned, at least.

Harding: Oh. So the place is underwater and falling apart. That seems real safe.

Neve: The Venatori set up shop in an elven ruin. It's a wonder anything works.

They continue.

Rook: I can't believe all this is underwater. If the enchantments containing this place ever failed…

Choice dependent dialogue:

Crow [1]

Non-Crow [2]

1 - Crow

Bellara: They shouldn't. But… they might. On top of that, we're looking for a killer. Another one, I mean. Rook: Assassin. Murderers don't usually get paid. [3]

Harding: Do we really need another assassin? We already have you! And you're great! Rook: We're trying to kill gods, Harding. We're going to need a lot of knives. [3]

Neve: Nervous about that, or the job in general? The Demon of Vyrantium—he's sort of a big shot among the Crows, isn't he? Rook: The grandson of the First Talon? The Crow who almost wiped out the Venatori? You could say that. [3]

2 - Non Crow

Bellara: They shouldn't. But… they might. On top of that, we're looking for a killer. How sure are we that this is a good idea? Rook: If we want to kill a pair of gods, maybe a "demon" is just what we need. [3]

Harding: Are we sure we want to do this, Rook? The Antivan Crows aren't really known for being loyal, or helpful. They're mostly known for killing. Rook: Killing is what we need, though. [3]

Neve: Nervous about that, or the job in general? Not everyone deals with the Antivan Crows. And lives to tell about it. Rook: We're up against gods. A "demon" might come in handy. [3]

3 - Scene continues.

They spot a Venatori barrier ahead.

Bellara: It's a magical barricade. Whatever's inside, the Venatori really didn't want it getting out.

Harding: Whatever's behind that door, it's important. Which means that's the right direction.

Neve: A barrier. Whatever's in there, the Venatori really want it to stay put.

Rook: Then we break through.

Rook destroys the floating crystals.

Rook: All right! We’re almost through!

They destroy the last of the barrier and head into the cell.

Rook enters a room full of crystals and Venatori, who are doing some kind of magic. They turn as Rook enters.

Rook: We don't have to fight. We're just here for Lucanis Dellamorte.

The Venatori prepare to fight.

Rook: Get ready.

Ossuary Guard: Razikale, Dragon of Mystery. Lusacan, Dragon of Night. Hear your faithful call—

Lucanis bursts out of the crystal with purple demon wings, and kills the Venatori.

Rook: I'm guessing you're the reason we're here.

The wings vanish, and Lucanis turns.

Lucanis: Who are you? Who sent you?

Crow: Rook: My name's Rook. House de Riva. I'm here to bring you home. Lucanis: House de Riva. You're a Crow.

Non-Crow Rook: My name's Rook. Caterina sent me. Lucanis: Caterina… But… you're not a Crow.

Dialogue options:

Affable: I’m here to help. [1]

Sarcastic: Today’s full of surprises. [2]

Stoic: You need to trust me. [3]

Mage: And you’re not human. [4]

1 - Affable: I’m here to help. Rook: I'm breaking you out of here, but… what are you? Bellara/Harding/Neve: Rook. He's possessed by a demon. [5]

2 - Sarcastic: Today’s full of surprises. Rook: You weren't expecting a rescue, I wasn't expecting… whatever that was. Bellara/Harding/Neve: Rook. He's possessed by a demon. [5]

3 - Stoic: You need to trust me. Rook: I'm your way out. Bellara/Harding/Neve: Rook. He's possessed by a demon. [5]

4 - Mage: And you’re not human. Rook: And you're possessed by a demon. [5]

5 - Scene continues.

Lucanis: It’s complicated.

Rook: Caterina promised us a mage-killer if we broke you out of here.

Lucanis: I can still work.

Rook: Good. Because I'm pretty sure more Venatori are on their way. We have to get moving.

Lucanis: They have a vial of my blood. They can use it to control me. I cannot leave it in their hands. And… I had a contract when I was captured. One of my targets is here. Calivan.

Lucanis: You know what that means. Crows don't break contracts. Lucanis: Crows don't break contracts.

Affable: We’ll help. Rook: All right, we'll help. But in return, I want help killing some things.

Sarcastic: Any other requests? Rook: Yes, yes. The famous Crow contracts. So you want a prison break, a blood heist, and assassination help just to get you out of here.

Stoic: Make it quick. Rook: Fine. But we make it quick.

Lucanis: I'll owe you.

Rook: I'm sure we'll owe each other before this is all over. Let's go.

Next: First order of Business

[cloud-somersault]

I wrote out a twitter thread explaining my thought about this whole debacle and why I'm so upset. So I'll paste that here, since I locked that account also.

it's just that Wu doing a murder is such a pivotal moment for constellations!shadowpeach that it affects their entire dynamic going forward. Everything is going to seem like it's skewed in Mac's favor because both of them have that tragedy lurking in the back of their minds. And I feel like people are forgetting that, but the characters themselves never forget that. The only way this could be "balanced" is if Mac forgave Wu, and he's never going to do that. Their relationship is unhealthy and imbalanced no matter what in this AU.

I know I'm harping on this a lot, but it just feels like, to me, people aren't understanding what I'm trying to say with this story. And if that's the case, I just am hesitant to share it because my intentions and the part of myself I'm putting into my work aren't being seen.

That is why creatives share anything; to inspire connection and resonate with other people. If the takeaway from the epilogue is "Mac is good/Wu is bad" then I feel like something crucial is being missed. That's not the point of what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying at all.

I get disheartened when this happens every single time it happens for this reason: I feel like I'm not being understood and people are misconstruing this story to say something it's not trying to say. There is no "competition" here when it comes to who's right or wrong.

This story is about reconciliation with someone who was hurt deeply. The ups and downs of that. The imperfections. The effort, the care, the communication, the lack of communication. And the love that lies at the center of that, regardless of who's "right" or "wrong."

Because I don't see it that way. Wu is impulsive and is emotionally-driven. He's so happy Mac is in his life. And maybe if I wrote from his perspective, this would be more apparent, but it's Mac's turn now. And y'know, Wu is making mistakes, but Mac is forgiving him each time.

It's a big deal for Mac to forgive, because he is the victim. It's not as big a deal for Wu to forgive, because he's going to forgive no matter what. And that's his choice to forgive no matter what. Because he wants to be with Mac no matter what. It's characterization.

But people always say "your characterization is good!" Is it if people come to this conclusion? If they read the story and boil it down to "Mac is portrayed to always be right and that's fucked up" without giving a single thought to "Mac has been shown to be more sensible than Wu, so he's more mindful of his actions/words."

Their personalities drive their decisions. These are flawed, imperfect characters. They make mistakes! Some more often than others, and that's okay! But those flaws influence their decisions and can inspire a pattern of behavior that leads to "Wu is quick to forgive."

I'm not asking anyone to critique my story. I'm not even asking you to read it; I'm sharing it with you. But if it upsets you, if you hate it, if you hate parts of it-you're valid! But please don't share that with me, because I love this AU and I love what I've done.

There is no agenda here. I love both Mac and Wu equally, actually. I love writing both of them. I'm not trying to push a narrative or paint one of them in the wrong. I am just trying to write a realistic portrayal of a reconciliation. That's it.

Thank you to the people who have sent messages and said kind things on here or on tumblr. I appreciate that. This has only fueled my spite and I'm going to continue to write Wu fucking up again and again bc he's desperate to be with Mac. And that's characterization.

I doubted sharing the rest of the epilogue because in chapter 13, Wu fucks up again. In the sequel to the epilogue, Wu fucks up AGAIN. So, now, do you see why I was rethinking things? It's more of the same. It's a major plot point later on, even. So. Get used to it, I guess.

This entire debacle and me writing this thread solidified why I need to finish the epilogue. Shadowpeach discusses this in chapter 13 and it's made clear there what the dynamic is and they both agree to it. I'll finish the epilogue. After that, I don't know.

[bunniisms]

Amity is the absolute world to me, and it's funny cause she doesn't feel sorry at all for being an all-watching, consuming insect monster (I mean, maybe she's sorry for herself, but non-apologetic as a whole). like she has a beef with a friend of mine's vampire character - they run vampire speak easy's and try to move the population around and facilitate underground human-cattle esc blood networks and keep the vamps going to avoid getting noticed by the big dogs like Hellsing.

But Amity's the bitch that keeps getting them busted - and they call her a traitor - she has to live off of the living just like them, so why side with them. And she finds it funny, stupid, stupid vampires to imagine there's some fictional familial network connecting them. This isn't how life works, nor how the world works. SHE'D eat them all alive if not for the fact that their dead flesh is useless to her swarm. Her loyalty is only to hers and her own

Peace was never on the table for Lady Pestilence. She's a corrupter, a rotter, her voice infiltrating and infesting far before you notice how endemic she's become. How many of their men became HER men? Do they want to tally and count? Games like these feed into the Sadism inherent in the Jorōgumo. She's just a little wicked

(ALSO FUN HISTORIC CONTEXT, the word Pestilence started seeing use in Old English and is a borrowed word from Old French, and it essentially translates to 'The morally corrupting/rotting/general moral entropy' because Medieval Europeans viewed the plague as a moral failing (because, for much of human history, morality and disease and faith were allllll interconnected and viewed as one singular thing) )

As a tangent, though, how this impacts Amity and the dynamics she forms with her informants is interesting - especially around the artificial vampire issue. Cause, Amity, as wicked and scrupleless a minx as she is, even with her heart at its coldest, does hold fondness and respect for her informants, and while manipulative, she does want to honour her end of the agreement made with them in exchange for their information. It's not her desire to treat them as tools or disposable, though ultimately, her actions do cross this boundary frequently.

But the reason for this, honestly? Lies in the fact Amity KNOWS an unfortunate truth, a LOT of her informants from these underground clubs and rings aren't there by choice - they're not the rich kid lovers or the Luke and Jan sort.

They're more like Helena. They are people in positions without power who had choices made for them without their consent by people abusing power over them, and currently, they're just as much trapped as the people they have to feed off. And, while Amity leverages their desire to get out for information she can't always gather herself, she doesn't WANT to abandon them to their fate or let their service be returned with betrayal and murder. Think of what that would do for her reputation! (she says, while truthfully caring less about that fact than about the memory in the back of her mind of these people relying on her so rawly, presenting their wounds at her feet and asking 'help me,')

So, when it comes to the matter of 'dealing' with them, Amity leans more on the side of hope and dreams and personally champions ( read as. pushes) Integra and the Round Table to probe further into the chips and learn to reverse them - if only because she wants to see a lot of her informants be able to be unshackled from their ailment (or at least reduced to a human condition to face punishment). Which Integra bawks at the logistics of, but Amity compares it to victims trapped under rubble by a tsunami.

YES, their condition is worsening, and they're losing humanity. Yes, it would be labour intensive to free them to the point some could argue it's a waste of time because 'what if they're too far gone, they'll die eventually anyways, ' but she argues any efforts to save and salvage souls are worthwhile, if only to honour the hope Hellsing gave them.

This being said, Amity KNOWS the likelihood of being able to reverse, or at least disable, the artificial effects is next to nil. After all, how many can boast that they've raised the dead? But Amity's doesn't want to leave that book, or it's potential untracked. But either way, dead or alive, she won't lose sleep. She's served her role*.

(*Amity is entirely ethically on board with putting them down if there's no other choice, and she knows that it's just the hope- if they CAN do something and make them half-artificial-vamp-half-human like Mina, or just fully revert 'em, that's the dream but if not she doesn't think it hurts to try.)

[suzannahnatters]

OKAY I finished Love Like the Galaxy today so here are my live reaccs to eps 28-42 (originally posted on Bluesky). Putting them under a cut because they run long!!!

oh man this scene!!! I've seen the same kind of scene play out so often with all the apologising done by the fml and none by the mml…but in this one she tells him her attitude towards him will depend on HIS future actions, and then HE GIVES HER A SNACK our boy is Doing the Work I am proud of him

and now: he will quietly support and encourage her while she seeks to deal with her social enemies in her own way??? I LOVE IT SO MUCH ?? exquisite

we get a look at poor Wang Ling's family and this really could be Overbearing Asian Mothers: The Historical Drama

I can sympathise with NN and Murder General because if I too had someone share a forehead kiss with me I would not be able to sleep all night either

deeply thrilled that NN now gets to do the Dramatic Swooping In To Save Someone - and oh look she's got a maternal figure who's actually kind and loving to her now :')

Oh my, I love how every time he tries to tell her not to get involved in something bc of deep waters, she makes the point that she really needs to do the thing, and he LISTENS. Every time he says "this is for your own good" she claps back with why it's better for her to know & be involved.

This is the platonic ideal of cdramas for me

I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to find Consort Yue to be awesome or intolerable but she's leaning intolerable for me with this public haranguing of all her children (and some of other people's). Glad NN bagged the Empress as her etiquette mentor

Well I didn't expect the money counterfeiting subplot to peak so early but that's terrific, I can do without coinage plots lol

Truly puzzled as to what the show means by all this imperial family drama. The parents seem just as toxic as NN's parents but we're supposed to think it's okay because a) their children had every advantage and some of them still wound up rotten at heart? and b) the town children aren't just committing crimes against family - they're crimes against the empire? I'm afraid the parallels ring a bit hollow to me because I truly think the Emperor and Consort Yue are also terrible parents

Interestingly, Murder General says the Emperor will not treat the counterfeiting as harshly as the law provides "because of fairness". We saw Bad Mum also using "fairness" as an excuse to deny NN things that would benefit her as compared to her cousin. Again, wondering what the parallels are saying.

Bad mum is now having sad violins because NN is finally learning that being a parent is hard…but she's learning from the Empress lol the only thing I have to say to that is SUFFER, MA'AM

NN is now reassuring the Empress that parents who patiently teach rather than criticise their children are the best, & she's been commending the crown Prince for being gentle & compassionate rather than a cold politician, so I'm beginning to wonder if there's a muted critique of the imperial family

This Tiger Tally thing is totally going to be stolen within the next two episodes isn't it

Thanks a lot murder general

ooohh she lied to him and he's big mad about it

"here are all the reasons why your actions have made things worse for me and the people you care about" maybe you should have told her those things first, GENIUS

AHAHAHAHAHAHA now she's saying that exact thing herself I LOVE THIS SHOW

annnnnd the Tiger Tally is gone and it's time for Murder General, Boy Detective! to save the - wait, what is Niao Niao doing here

*ancient Chinese man falls in love with woman for independent spirit and quick wits, horrified when she insists upon using them*

did she,,,did she forge the Tiger Tally lol

Murder general realises he needs to let NN do all the things he fell in love with her for. Congrats Niao Niao you've levelled up and unlocked Tragic And Highly Disturbing Family Reunion

wheeee NN says being filial is only possible if the parents earn it by conducting themselves well if I was murder general I would also be kissing her at this point

pov: you're sitting at your betrothal feast and someone comes in with a message from your absent beloved: "whatever happens next, don't be flustered. shout and scream however you feel is appropriate" the hEcK Zisheng

one of the things that absolutely staggers me about Smug Scholar is that HE doesn't want to get married, least of all to NN, he just wants to make sure nobody else can marry her either

ahhh first Qiqi and Bad Mum are defending her now - and then the Empress turns up? I'm sure murder general had something to do with the Empress, but I love that he's now helping NN solve problems in her own way

all the elders are squabbling and our leads are just chilling affectionately in the background it's hilarious

I mean after they stole the spotlight at Snacks' betrothal feast it's probably fair

Oh no NN is now the Empress' adopted perfect daughter who gets all the attention…and Fifth Princess is NOT happy. More parallels!

"tonight, I'll teach you how to recognise acupoints" is that what they're calling it these days

Murder general is highly trained in the Romance Novel Cover Clinch school of self defence

"from now on, my Gate of Life will be yours" V U L N E R A B I L I T Y

NN is a darling who is determined to protect her Empress' favourite son but girlfriend,,, you do realise you can't babysit this disaster couple through ruling an entire empire don't you

ahahahahaha he's doing the "what am I going to do if you get hurt" thing and she's not having a bar of it

this show just speedrunning all my least favourite tropes with a heroine who Won't Be Flim Flammed and it's BEAUTIFUL

it is time for murder general to go a little unhinged, as a treat drinking tea while listening to the shrieks of his enemies, as you do

I am loving so much, so very much, about this show…but I'm finding the humiliation of the antagonists to be a little too thorough and mean-spirited to enjoy, even tho I can see how it is intended to fit in with the themes of fighting for yourself.

Where does the line between justice and vindictiveness lie, especially in a social setting with injustice hard-baked in? One of the principles of justice (at least in the west) is that it must be proportionate to the crime. But the humiliation dealt out in this show often feels excessive to me.

ep38: every single last one of these people is absolutely bonkers insane, except the Empress

I laughed way harder than I should. I love that NN told two different people to shut up in the emperor's presence. I love that NN has this moment of piercing identification with murder general when she sees him being beaten the way she was. I think the emperor is rubbish, & I think the show knows it

He promises NN that he won't ever lie to her and I have every expectation that this promise will be broken, just like every other cdrama hero breaks that promise

except that I also trust NN to make sure he doesn't get away with it, which is what makes this drama so MUCH fun

murder mystery break!!!! there's all sorts of interesting thematic stuff going on here about communal/family responsibility to educate and socialise children, as well as the difference in appropriate behaviour in the private vs public spheres. But it's fun that our leads are doing it together.

I could not ask for a better Exasperated Watson to NN's Sherlock Holmes than Smug Scholar, whom she now diagnoses with Extreme Sour Grapes in two seconds flat

NN telling the murderer that murder general will naturally let him go in return for NN's safe return…she sure is a tricky one

Of course she had a knife, she's not an IDIOT, Zisheng

Emperor: out of consideration of your family's reduced circumstances I will not be executing you for your part in the cataclysm that left murder general an orphan

murder general: truly epic side eye

all of them are definitely dead

I love murder general because he can turn anything as simple as buying sweets for his fiancée into a production of SPARTACUS

Our girl is dressed as a boy, sneaking around the army camp looking for murder general. Murder General's personal army of beefy warriors is sneaking around the camp trying not to catch Niao Niao while dropping loud hints about where to find his tent. Cdramas, man.

"from now on, you can leave the needlework to me" ling buyi is officially the man of my dreams

well, just as the military expedition around eps 11-12 signalled the end of the first act, so this new expedition feels like it signals the start of the final act. NN and her murder puppy have reached such a situation of love and trust that I can feel the pin approaching the balloon.

he's about to catch peng kun and find out some things, isn't he??? murder party revenge WHEN

[occasionalincorrectquotes]

Rambling here about Death Parade because I don't think I should spam this one channel in a discord server Abt it

Death Parade spoiler warning

The fact that Decim cannot catch when people are lying about their feelings makes me insane. In the first episode we see he wasn't able to tell the fact that one of his customers were lying, but once Chiyuki had explained it he realized he did a bad judgement, causing someone innocent to fall into the void. The problem is also that she technically didn't lie about what she said, but she lied about all the emotions she'd shown him. And then fast forward to having to judge some murderers, he made sure that lying about their emotions will never happen again by making said customer act out their statement, it's not lying if you do it right?

When Chiyuki first fell into Quindecim she still retained her memory of death. Decim legit had no clue what to do with her, asking his superior how to deal with a situation like hers. Nona proceeds to offer to judge her herself, solving the problem swiftly and taking her off from Decim's (inexperienced) hands. Yet, Decim still wanted to judge her, maybe he saw how she lived a fulfilling life, only to have ended abruptly by herself. He wanted to know why humans did that, why not continue on? Nona considers this interesting, maybe it'll end up not what anyone expected, so she allows this. Decim ends up learning so much about the human experience, despite him literally having human emotions injected into him, he barely knows how to act like one. He's never lived, he doesn't know what it's like to having someone to cherish or to be cherished. Then right before she started disintegrating, he decided to expedite her judgement. Making her play a game, making her remember what happened. Yet, she is still the same old self, she doesn't feel threatened because she already knows what will happen. As a last ditch effort to see her "true" side, Decim puts her in a false reality, where she can see her mother mourning for her. Decim offers her a way out, to end it all and to return to her beautiful life, kill 1 of 7 billion people in the world, to bring her back. Chiyuki thinks about it, before realizing that just like her, anyone she killed would have someone that misses them, exactly like how her mom misses her. She gives up, she stops, but she still wants to go back, she still wants to tell her mom she misses her too. In a last ditch effort to remove her guilt of killing someone, she gives Decim the device, asking him to press it for her, to rip the band-aid off. At that point, Decim realizes that Chiyuki despite being so desperate, wanting so badly to return to the human realm, yet will not allow him to judge her properly, she doesn't want to kill someone, but she still wants to do it to save herself. There is action in her words (making Decim do it for her), there is desperation, yet, she doesn't do it herself. He breaks down knowing that this form of judgement can and will never be fair, breaking the illusion and revealing he just thought he needed to know her better to judge her better, but it never did. The best part about it was how Decim created the Chavvot puppets by hand, those weren't fabricated, those were real dolls he made by hand.

Maybe I watch too many theory videos, but they put a whole lot of emphasis on the Chavvot story. How people can express their feelings despite not using words (or using those words to hide their true feelings) I don't know how to parallels to how the arbiter system does things, but I just think it's too big part of the story to leave it at "Chiyuki childhood fav story" (it doesn't even have skating!! It's just some kids playing!!!)

Also the emphasis on the eyes in this series is insane, I feel like there's definitely something up with them, the way Clavis' eyes aren't visible, the way we always have to see Decim's eye up close to see when he receives memories. I don't know what they're doing with that, but 👍

Less serious and I don't really mind what people ship but Decim and Chiyuki are so best friends to me. Chiyuki would NEVER be into that weird ass guy, look at me in the eyes and tell me that Chiyuki could love a guy as dumb as Decim. You cannot (because I will not listen anyways)

[tempblogtocalloutsht]

Let's debunk this fun little post:

You not having any money to give is a legit excuse.

Your blog 'not being popular or having reach' is not a legit excuse. These Palestinians are needing people to spread these messages of help, no matter how big or little your blog is.

Maybe only one person sees a GoFundMe post and reblogs it. But then someone or three from their page might reblog it and then as word spreads those that can afford to help out donates which can boulder to even more people donating and spreading the word.

'I am a minor' so are thousands of kids currently in Palestine dealing with a genocide that they can't just turn off like you can with you phone or computer. Not an excuse.

'It makes me feel guilty' good, use that to keep posting people's cries for help and even start reposting resources for other ways to help Palestine.

'Seeing pictures of hospitals and injuries are triggering to me' now imagine the thousands of Palestinians that are living with these injuries and shoved up in makeshift hospital tents because all of Palestine's hospital were basically bombed to the ground. You can just scroll past the images afterwards while these people can't scroll past this genocide.

'It makes me uncomfortable/ worded in a way that I'm a murderer if I don't donate' You are only a murderer if you are doing nothing and again you can just turn off the uncomfys and do something else while the people of Palestine can't. The donation posts are for those that can donate, the least you and everyone in the post looking for white sympathy points is reblog and post those GoFundMe posts.

'I said I don't want them' and the people of Palestine don't want this genocide and their boundaries are getting bombed and murdered. Don't be a selfish brat.

'I can't tell what's a bot and what isn't/muh ask box' Let me give you a hint, out of fifty posts for help, only around five were actual scammers. Don't be racist by assuming the people of Palestine are scammers.

Also you probably aren't getting no more then three asks a month otherwise since you said it yourself 'Im a small account'.

Do better people. It is already bad enough big name Tumblr users are spreading lies about the whole Palestine posts being 'all totally scammers' which are also outting themselves as racist. Don't be a badjokesbyjeff or a mewtwoandme and just simply reblog resources and post GoFundMes you get, that alone makes you a far better person no matter your age.

Please do not send me asks for donations

Here's why:

I have NO money to give you

I'm not a popular enough blog that I will give you any reach

I am a minor, and most of my followers are too

It makes me feel extremely guilty

Seeing pictures of injuries or hospitals etc are triggering for me (which are in most intro posts for this sort of thing)

They are always worded in a way that makes me feel like I am a murderer if I don't donate

It makes me feel uncomfortable

I said I don't want them, and my boundaries should be respected

I can't tell what is a bot and what isn't

I get a lot of spam from this. It is disappointing to see 10 new asks in my inbox just to be the same ask for donations over and over

Please, just respect the fact that I have said this.

Edit: To all the people reblogging this, I'm sorry you have had to deal with this too. And yes, you can put this in your pinned post! Stay safe <3

[synonymouswithanonymous]

Hermes part deux

@emi12ly

I don't mind at all! 😊

"she lied until the very end"

We really don't know it's a lie. I know others have said many reasons for why etc but I think about all the images i have saved. How many images were saved in total on Pinterest? I have too many.

I mean, sometimes I've downloaded the same image multiple times bc I liked the photo, then I have five copies of the same pic of the same animal or historical costume. I didn't remember having downloaded it before. No dementia etc, lol just 10,000 images saved on my phone. It's hard to remember each individual one.

Maybe the image got stuck in her head? Didn't remember. Maybe she was proud of it and the realization that it looked like someone else's made her sad? I dunno, as I said before it's imo not a big deal to me. Art is art, be creative and have fun. 😊 so for me it's not hard to be understanding when someone says it's a coincidence. I mean I can't prove otherwise so I take them at their word. I try to be understanding, I'm not perfect, I don't expect others to be either. I just try to relate or be understanding (except in cases of murder/rape/child abuse etc).

"important events as an opportunity for herself, it doesn't reflect well on her at all imo"

I disagree, I think it reflects well on her. I think you're right with this quote "You deserve the kind of career you can earn yourself. " but if you don't take and make every turn or event an opportunity.....did you earn it? Or did you squander an important moment or life changing connection over some misplaced sense of personal politeness? And as I said she was an asset for him. And I'm sure if anyone from Hermes said don't record, her phone would've been put up quick, bc you don't fool around with Hermes. They're legendary (and have power and prestige, that's why I'm confident if they weren't ok with being recorded they'd have said don't. And then they maybe wouldn't have left such a nice comment).  But anyway, imo, wasting a great opportunity for the both of them like that, would have been foolish.  

But I think JM has already established an awesome career by herself! She's got her education under her belt, Several musicals "she loves you" "Grease" "Atlantis" by her own talent. Two movies and nominated for awards before she even met AHA. She's been in so many musicals, concert specials. She got the lead in Askepot before call me dad was cast, so before she met him. Two tv shows out, and Wicked coming up! Imo that's an amazing, well established career. And I was glad to see an actor I think is really good/cool get with someone so accomplished! 😊 and not just bc she's beautiful (imo). So she didn't need him for a career boost, she had gotten 3-4 more thousand followers. But that's not a lot, but musical theater is sadly not as popular lol. Like gymnastics is popular, but sadly my favorite, rhythmic gymnastics isn't as popular. Haven't checked the Olympics schedule yet, but I bet it's on early morning or extra late at night. Sigh. But anyways like Broadway and Tony Awards aren't as big as Hollywood and the Oscars.

You have a great day! 😊😊

[talkingpointsusa]

Daily Wire Responds To; Elon Musk's Outburst on Wednesday.

For those of you who are lucky enough to be living under a rock, Elon Musk has recently gotten himself in hot water over an antisemitic remark he made on Twitter where he endorsed a tweet peddling "The Great Replacement Theory" as "the actual truth". This led to multiple advertisers leaving X, formerly known as Twitter, which has caused a bit of a revenue hit to the company.

On Wednesday, Elon responded to the advertisers by childishly throwing a tantrum and telling them to "Go fuck themselves".

This isn't the first instance of Elon's trollish behavior and won't be the last. I truly believe that a lot of this is Elon looking for attention, which he is getting in droves. Now lets tie it back to the topic of this blog; our friends over at the Daily Wire! Surely they would speak out against this, after all if it was someone on the left who told someone on the right to go fuck themselves they would be up in arms about how vulgar and crass the display was, the same must be true for Elon....right?

Ben Shapiro;

This is going to be a long day (Image via Ben Shapiro at the Daily Wire)

We might as well start with the big man himself, the man running the show over at the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro. Watching Ben's show is a good pulse for the position that the rest of the crew over at the Daily Wire is going to take, mainly due to the fact that he is one of the owners of the joint and is more or less the face of the company alongside Candace Owens (and maybe Jordan Peterson, but I consider Jordan his own special type of entity that happens to be platformed by the Daily Wire in the worst possible way), who's employment is somewhat up in the air at the moment

(Matt Walsh is middle tier and Michael Knowles, Brett Cooper, and Andrew Klavin are non-entities). So let's see what he has to say in his Nov 30th, 2023 show.

0:07; "Schumer is not an amazing source on this particular topic given his consistent support of the Middle East's policies and the most antisemitic president in modern American history; Barrack Obama".

Alrighty, we're starting off with a bang aren't we? Ben starts the show off by talking about Chuck Schumer's speech on the senate about antisemitism. I find Ben's assertations that Obama is the most antisemitic president in modern American history deeply hilarious and ridiculous.

So, what antisemitic acts could Ben Shapiro be talking about? He could be talking about Obama's support of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Never mind the fact that Chuck Schumer actually OPPOSED the deal at the time. While Schumer was in disagreement with Trump pulling out of the deal in 2018, he cited that him backing down was due to the political factors at the time.

As for support of the Middle East, Schumer voted to condemn Hamas' attack and pledged financial support for Israel. As a matter of fact in that speech Ben plays, he's calling for support for Israel! He did support giving humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians however, which is fair in my opinion given the amount of damage and casualties Israel's attacks have caused in Gaza. My point at the end of the day is that Chuck Schumer clearly does not support the Middle Easts policies.

Furthermore, there have been WAY more antisemitic presidents than Barrack Obama. Just ask Richard Nixon who stated on tape that "Jews are all over the government" and "are disloyal". Or how about Donald Trump? He accused that all American Jews "voted to destroy America and Israel" on Jewish New Year.

While this isn't a direct response to Musk yet, we'll get to that, this just shows how people like Ben put ridiculous arguments forward in completely bad faith.

5:24; "They'll slander him as an antisemite even as he goes to Israel to express solidarity with the families of murdered Jews.

What Ben is leaving out is the timing. Elon did this AFTER making the post and this is an obvious act of damage control. This was clearly something Elon did so that people like Ben Shapiro could have something to downplay the antisemitic remarks he made on Twitter. I find it absolutely insane that Ben Shapiro, a man who has been calling EVERYONE who questions Israel antisemitic, is defending Elon Musk. Guess it doesn't matter if it's your side right? And in case you're thinking that I am being overdramatic about this tweet, take a look for yourself!

Yup, totally not offensive whatsoever. Just a little Twitter boo-boo

Now, Ben didn't cover it much on the show on the 30th which is hilarious GIVEN THAT THE EPISODE NAMED DROPPED ELON IN THE TITLE. I believe this was because Ben couldn't quite figure out the narrative he wanted to use to defend Elon and instead decided to just rant about DEI, the rights new favorite boogeyman, in order to distract from what was clear antisemitism.

However, Ben came back on December 1st to his show clearheaded and seemingly with a narrative given the fact that this time he actually devoted an entire segment of his show to Elon's interview. Thankfully, the segment is posted in full on YouTube so I don't need to comb through the entirety of the show to find it.

(although rest assured we will be combing through the entirety of some of Ben's shows at a later date, we just don't have time now).

What I have noticed is that by supporting Elon Musk, Ben Shapiro and the rest of the Daily Wire have put themselves in the awkward position of defending the tweet that Elon was endorsing. Naturally when they do acknowledge it they dance around the issue with rhetorical tricks like "By X he meant Y", and that is only referring to rare events where they acknowledge what the tweet said in the first place.

So let's go through the show.

1:08; "Musk here was explicitly talking about companies like Disney, who's CEO Bob Iger had announced earlier in the month that the Mouse House would stop advertising on X, formerly known as Twitter."

Ben has positioned himself as a defender of the free market. He has entire videos on his channel where he explains "the beauty of the free market" in Q&A's. A key part of the free market is that corporations have a right to do what they wish, including deciding where they funnel their money and what people and brands they want their name associated with. Therefor Ben should have zero problem with Disney exercising their right as a corporation to pull advertisement from a social media platform.

2:31; "Now, it's one thing for an advertiser to decline to be associated with any outlet or product. That happens all the time. Happens on this show, happens on other shows. That's their right, we live in a free market"

Great, end the episode now and stop complaining about them pulling ads from X if you truly believe that.

2:40; "But when companies make public announcements that they are withdrawing their money, that is obviously designed to create public pressure"

Or, Elon said something really beyond the pale and these companies are publicly distancing themselves from someone who A); Doesn't embody their corporate values and B); Is a walking PR liability. They are essentially saying "Yeah guys, we want no part in this shit" in order to avoid public scrutiny about still advertising and or not condemning Elon's remarks. Plus at the end of the day, X is already attracting more far-right rhetoric than other social media platforms so it was probably already an advertising liability. Again, Ben should have NO problem with this.

Notice how Ben hasn't elaborated on the Tweet, only saying that Elon "apologized for it". Could it be that Ben's actual defense of the Tweet was so remarkably ridiculous that it was obvious that he was grasping at straws? He remarked on his November 16th episode that Elon was "Reading the term Jewish communities and instead seeing the letters ADL". That argument is ridiculous as it's insane to believe that someone as supposedly smart as Elon Musk would just happen to misinterpret a tweet painting an entire group in a bad light with one organization.

And by the way, if Elon immediately views the term "Jewish Communities" as "This organization of Jews that I don't like" that is still antisemitic!

4;07: "X is the only social media platform that allows, and is attempting to even preserve, free speech."

Ben Shapiro sucking up to Elon so hard that he forgot that Gab and Truth Social are platforms that encourage his own ridiculous view of "anything goes" free speech. There's also a subreddit dedicated to Ben Shapiro that is basically devoted to people talking about how great he is, so we can add Reddit to the pile.

Also, social media companies are well within their rights to not allow content that they feel goes against their terms of service that everyone who uses them agrees to. That's part of the free market. Also also, Ben has never been banned from Twitter so whose free speech is he talking about? Could it be the alt-right figures that Elon Musk has empowered? Hmmm....I wonder.

The other half of this video is an ad for a gold company, I shit ye not.

Matt Walsh;

Phew, good thing there's some transphobia in here with that last headline! Otherwise I wouldn't be able to recognize that this is Matt posting it (Image via Matt Walsh at the Daily Wire)

As mentioned previously, Candace Owens is a little up in the air right now due a load of drama that probably deserves it's own post, so we go to the Daily Wire's third most prominent commentator and ur-transphobe Matt Walsh. If you don't recall, my first post on this blog and last installment was all about how full of crap Matt is about, well, everything and how he seems to be fine with groups of people dying if he personally doesn't like them. While Ben Shapiro at least took time to form something resembling a take (and even then spent most of his videos on it dancing around the actual facts), Matt has devoted the longest portion of his show to talking about this story. I get the sense, and maybe this will change after I watch more of the individual Daily Wire personalities, that Ben Shapiro is significantly more careful in his rhetoric than Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles. This is probably due to him being the most watched guy on the platform and the CEO of the company. So if what we just went through is what a careful take at the Daily Wire looks like, let's see what the less spoken about commentors have to say about it.

4;15: "He was delivering the same message to every other corporate advertiser that has suspended advertising on X as a way to force him to restore the old censorship regime of Twitter"

It seems to be the Daily Wire position that these advertisers are suspending ads on Twitter not because Elon may have accidentally outed himself as an antisemite, but because he is being punished for "standing up to the man and allowing free speech on his platform".

I feel like the Daily Wire is showing what side it is firmly on when it cheerfully supports the platforming of hate speech. They do this because it benefits their own hate speech.

Also lets talk about this "corporate overlords" crap Matt is pushing. Is Matt seriously trying to argue that the literal richest man on the planet, a guy who is influential enough to fly to Israel and talk to Netanyahu on a whim, isn't one of our corporate overlords?! And let's not even get into what kinds of corporate overlords are paying the bills over at the Daily Wire, folks like the billionaire Wilkes Brothers.

5;10: "Mainstream journalists like Sorkin certainly cannot conceive of anyone standing up to corporations like Disney because these are all subservient masochistic little weaklings who bow to our corporate overlords everyday"

As a journalism student, I have every right to be pissed at this guy calling my profession a bunch of "subservient masochistic little weaklings", and I could easily say the same about a guy being paid by oil billionaires to lie about climate change and left wing causes like Matt, however I won't because unlike Matt I'm not a massive dickhead. However I would like to use this example as a way to highlight something that Matt does which other hosts at the Wire don't, being a flat out insulting jerk.

Matt Walsh loves to call people nasty and sarcastic little names to bolster himself up instead of actually presenting cohesive arguments. Take for instance, the way he deals with transgender people. Matt constantly deadnames them, calls them degenerates, and is just an outright POS to them for the awful crime of....being themselves in his presence I guess?

This strategy does a great job at "othering" his audience in the eyes of his viewers but simply lowers the discourse into the mud. I guess he probably related with Elon Musk when he crassly shouted at people to "go fuck themselves".

5;46: "But they were offended on behalf of the advertisers, the dear poor corporate advertisers"

The Daily Wire is an advertiser on X and just unveiled a massive ass contract to advertise their recent transphobic "comedy" Lady Ballers on the platform. Matt is EXACTLY what he claims to hate, someone who is offended on behalf of the richest man on Earth because Ben Shapiro probably told him to be.

12;31: "Media Matters went to great lengths to engineer a scenario that would put corporate advertisements near this objectionable content on their timeline"

Explain how Matt. Did Media Matters somehow burrow itself into Elon's brain when he supported an antisemitic conspiracy theory? Did Media Matters trick Elon into supporting Scott Adams when he called black Americans a "hate group"? Did Media Matters make Elon play an, at the very least, complacent role in the racist work environment at Tesla?

Elon has a long track record of promoting this kind of stuff and Matt is intentionally downplaying that for the sake of his argument.

Alright, enough of Matt Walsh. Time for our final Daily Wire talking heads take on Elon.

Michael Knowles;

Our favorite third banana giving his stamp of approval (Image via Michael Knowles at the Daily Wire)

Now Michael Knowles is interesting in of that most people not widely versed with the Daily Wire will hear his name and go "Who?". If we rank the main Daily Wire hosts by YouTube subscriptions, Michael is almost dead last only beating Andrew Klavan and Craine and Co. You know it's a bad state of affairs when Brett "Gwen Shapiro" Cooper is outpacing you in subscriptions when your show is twice as long as hers.

If anything, Michael is best known for publishing a book of reasons to vote for the Democratic Party that was filled with nothing but blank pages, great way to trick people into buying a book full of blank pages to "own the libs".

However I'm going to come out here and say it; Michael Knowles has some of the most royally batshit insane takes out of any Daily Wire host. Like the time he said people were right to question if Obama was born in the USA because "He doesn't talk like an American", or the time he called Greta Thunberg "mentally ill" which led to FOX of all people issuing an apology for having him on, or the time he called condoms "kind of gay", or the time he-

0;07: "The owner of the only non-leftist social media platform"

I'll say to Michael as I said to Ben; Gab, 4Chan, Truth Social, large swaths of Reddit.

1;03: "And Elon is absolutely right. If the richest man in the world is not allowed to speak his mind, if the richest man in the world is not even allowed to let other people speak the truth as we see it, then why even go on pretending that we live in anything resembling a free country anymore?"

If Elon was as censored as Michael claims he is, would he be up there speaking to prominent New York Times journalists? Would he be speaking to literal presidents? No, of course not!

Elon is absolutely allowed to espouse whatever disgusting viewpoints that he wants just like advertisers are allowed to say they don't support those views and stop advertising on his platform. Michael is allowed to espouse whatever ridiculous viewpoints he wants on his own show, just like I am allowed to to write a response like I am doing now.

And that's all Michael has to say on the matter despite naming the episode after the incident, clickbait much? Brett Cooper has no comments on it as she is too busy talking about stupid TikTok videos. I don't think Jordan Peterson has a stance on it and I am not going to his Twitter to find out. So that's all for todays post, have a great rest of your day and I'll see you all in the next one!

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I'm not responding in order, but you asked about tax policy. Of course, I'm going to have to respond!

(if Vander really had like the tiniest traces of a homemade social welfare system then maybe that would explain why people hold him in high regard years later, but again, how realistic is that?)

That's something that I think is highly probable. If you think mining communities, if you think poor and ignored by the state, there is a strong tradition of unions and strike funds, collecting money from all and then giving it to those who are starving. I don't think Vander thought about investment in the future but I think he's always worried for people on a very individual level. So people live in the Lanes and visit the Last Drop and pay protection money, and Vander has a deal that enforcers don't come too close to his people and plays the generous protector, giving his people extra funds when they need it.

(But I think you have to recognise that Vander's protection and generousity is not to all of Zaun, it's to the Lanes specifically. It's to a small group of people he can protect.

Whereas Silco is all about the future, about Zaun as a whole. I think all of his protection money does end up fueling his war chest for his eventual fight with Piltover -- but Silco doesn't worry about what it's costing the poorest in his community. He's fighting for all of Zaun, but there's no personal protection for people or help when they need it. Let's be honest, Ekko is the best mix of the two of them. He protects his people, he worries for them, but he also sees the big picture and is trying to protect everyone in Zaun from teh threat that Silco is to the community.)

Do people come to Vander and ask him to take care of it? Does he just keep his ear on the ground and go out and take out people who he perceives to act out?

Probably. After all, we literally see him step into a deal at the Last Drop, so he is a source of authority and the rest of the crowd backs him up.

I just kind of assumed that it would have been in Silco's interest to be open about having killed Vander to appear fearsome and impressive?

That I found really interesting. Given Caitlyn's surprise at Silco being behind the crimes (her "the industrialist?" response), I think we get a twisted view of how wide ranging Silco's reputation is. Look at the Last Drop, at the photos on the wall, and Silco does appear to be a businessman. We see him scheming and threatening and killing people, but I think he actually keeps a fairly low profile. The murder of Vander? The only people who witnessed that were Vi, Jinx and a handful of Silco's flunkies. I always assumed it wasn't general knowledge that Silco killed him (explosions in Piltover followed by explosions in Zaun and Vander dead… it's enough for rumours to fly around but there's very few witnesses).

I mean, possibly it's a case of Marcus has lied on every report that goes to Piltover, so no one in Piltover is aware of Silco's true business. But Jayce shops in Zaun and other Pilties come over to Zaun to purchase shimmer (because the chembarons complain about loss of business). If everyone knew who Silco was, that would have fed up to the enforcer's in some way.

Vi gets her information from Babette, whose workers are bound to hear a lot of interesting information in their jobs. Silco, we mostly see interact with people who already know him -- chembarons, Marcus, Sevika, Jinx. Occasionally with Singed and other flunkies, but we never really see him interact with Zaun citizens who aren't somehow connected to his business (or already know about Vander's death). All of those people know he's terrifying, but I'm not convinced the Lanes themselves know that.

"but what was his tax policy" and way too lenghty ramblings about Vander's statue and reputation

Which always makes me wonder who built the statue of Vander that we see Silco talk to. Because who else in Zaun actually has the funds to build something that size? Did Silco keep up the lie that Vander started the Lanes and led rebellions and was a hero? (It wouldn't surprise me if Silco did it to keep the crowd on his side as he took over the Last Drop. That man has so many unaddressed issues, I love him.)

@out-there-tmblr

I have to admit I never considered that people don't know that Silco killed Vander and that he could have built the statue. It's a very interesting thought.

I just kind of assumed that it would have been in Silco's interest to be open about having killed Vander to appear fearsome and impressive? And the statue just looks very different to the more harsh/jagged "big brother is watching you" style that to me always suggested that Silco doesn't really try to make nice with people.

The statue looks kind of jagged, like it is made up out of spare parts that suggests more that it could have been built from scraps by amateurs rather than it was commissioned.

And would Ekko really sign a statue made by Silco to cover up the fact that he killed Vander?

So I just always assumed it must have been Ekko or people who feel like Ekko who built it. To me it always made some sense to me that it exists. That this and this would exist.

Like maybe the mural and the statue were created relatively soon after Vander's death. The mural in the Firelight base makes sense because that is just all Ekko.

I could picture somebody making the statue shortly after Vander's death, maybe even as a bit of a fuck you to Silco a "we remember that you killed the guy to get where you are and we the people were never asked if we were okay with it". There are signs that people came and tagged the statue, maybe that even maybe somebody comes and has to "keep the flame burning"?

And similarly even if the statue was meant as a fuck you, I can picture Silco not giving a shit (because he doesn't care as much what people think of him), or even find it funny. Whether despite his disagreement with Vander personally he doesn't mind if people hold up the image of a fellow revolutionary (ie I could easily picture not bothering to spread the news that Vander had a deal with Grayson and just portraying it as a normal power struggle and Grayson's death as an accident by werewolf the way the Pilties think it happened).

Or that he even thinks it's a cute that the people are rebellious (not to the extent to go and work with the Firelights, but you know, just appreciating that Zaun is kind of punky and wild).

It makes sense to me that the people of The Lanes might see Vander as a symbol of comfort and peace. ie maybe not everybody benefits from Silco's new reign. Also when somebody gets murdered it's not rare that people overemphasize their positive qualities. For that to work there really isn't much necessary than Vander being an okay, non-offensive leader. Doesn't tax people too bad, asks for their opinion, doesn't murder too many people (to their knowledge).

So that part doesn't seem too weird to me.

Firelight mural = that's just Ekko. Especially since season 2 establish that he can pull off a mural like that (okay maybe even in the AU he knew what people to ask help him or maybe he painted it 100% himself, doesn't matter, he is certainly the driving force behind it)

Statue = could have been built somewhat shortly after Vander's death. People have vague recollections of "things were better under Vander". Even that people still meet there for important political debates in a "townhall" kind of way doesn't bother me. You an still to agree to meet at Trafalgar square without having any opinion on Trafalgar.

No, what bugs me is this one.

How the fuck is Vander still a symbol of rebellion like what, 6-8 years after his death and 10+ years after presumably the last time he did anything revolutionary?

Especially since in this case we KNOW that Ekko (one of the people we know has an emotional connection to Vander) didn't paint it because he was sucked away by the hexcore and likely wouldn't just that casually made a mural celebrating Jinx at this point.

So somebody who is NOT Ekko had a high enough opinion on Vander to put him in a mural and a mural that represents revolution.

To me it has just always made more sense that within Zaun Vander would represent peace. Because the statue has always looked kind of peaceful to me with the soft glowing light. And it was Vander spent his last few years working on/building up. [maybe even longer since he seems to already be flirting with peacefulness in the Silco and Felicia flashback] And simply because to me it just seems like a very relatable thing that imo the vast majority of radicals/revolutionaries have to deal with: that they find out that in most situations the vast majority of people don't like revolutions and prefer peace/protection (see the long list of revolutions that were totally counting on "the population will rise up and support us!!" and completely whiffed on that)

As the mural venerates Jinx, there's a decent chance that one of the Jinxers made it. So why would they have a reason to have a deep opinion on a guy who those last claim to fame that we know off was to lead some sort of uprising on the bridge that got slapped down? Most of them seem young, so why would they care? There's a huge difference between somebody building a statue rather shortly after Vander's death when he might still be vivid in people's memory and years later*.

I guess a Firelight could have made it and maybe Ekko has been spinning on the tale of how awesome Vander was. But again, considering his age, shouldn't Ekko's experience be more about peaceful community leader Vander?

Admittedly, the underlying context of the mural is it being about at least one person who doesn't want it and who is in a very different frame of mind than what the mural depicts at least at that point in time. So it also misrepresenting Vander/it being there because somebody didn't properly know or understand his story is certainly feasible.

Anyway, really got me thinking that we don't really know what exactly Silco, Vander and friends really did.

The only thing we know for sure:

Built up/ran a bar

Organized something the bridge that escalated and went badly

Both Vander&Benzo and later Silco&Sevika collect "taxes" in the form of protection money

Vander seems to maybe be slightly more open to hearing from the people and responding to their wishes

We also know from writer hints that smuggling was big part of what Silco and Vander did.

Fixing the Mines

So in season one my working theory was that the mines were a shit place to work and maybe Vander & Silco "freed" people from having to work in the mines and instead shifted the economy towards more smuggling/trade which isn't as physically grueling. But that was kind of dashed by season 2 because it suggests that Connel and Felicia still worked in the mine even though Vander and Silco already own the Last Drop. So why would she still work in the mines if she could just work with them at the Drop?

Maybe they just vastly improved working conditions/worker safety? Or maybe they led a rebellion against the mine owners and actually succeeded in setting up a worker run mine?

That's the kind of thing that I could picture inspiring people years later even if it went badly (because looking around in history even short periods that feel like a lot of freedom and self actualization can inspire people for a long time even if historically speaking it wasn't around long).

Daring acts of crime

Then there's Vi's statement about the kind of stunts Vander would have pulled in his youth. So maybe Silco and Vander's early revolutionary activity contained a lot of daring and showy attacks on Piltover rich people that get them celebrated in the Undercity. Robbing big fancy townhouses and spreading the loot around generously (even if it's just by generously buying rounds or food). Or leaving showy calling cards.

Vander could be living off just that old reputation. And if he had a reputation for showy stunts against Piltover then maybe that would fit slightly better with why people might associate him with Jinx in a moral that specifically celebrates her color attack on Piltover.

Cleaning Up The Lanes I (fighting the old system)

I don't think that there's actually much trace of it. But it's a trope in a lot of fiction and I think it's worth thinking about what exactly where "the Lanes" before? Is it just one of those situation where there's always a long line of cruel crime bosses and Vander was one of the softest. And Vander and the gang got into power by picking fights with other criminal gangs and winning or by kicking out whoever was the previous boss?

And people have positive associations with that time period because they helped git rid of . Maybe that could be a good way to explain where the Hound of the Underground nickname could have come from, if they spent some time fighting or pacifying other gangs. (again personally I think it could also just be a pitfighting nick name)

Cleaning Up The Lanes II (establishing order)

Or were the Lanes lawless and Vander (with or without Silco) brought structure to it? Is this the first time the Lanes have a boss at all? If yes, what does that mean? Does it mean a pseudo government system, where taxes are collected from the ones who can afford it?

Was there maybe some sort of social system under Vander where maybe he collects the taxes and then has like a fund to like help people in need, like if they lost their house or had an injury? If Vander and Benzo collect taxes, what does Vander spend it on (presuming he might also have income from the bar?). Is that all going straight to feeding his kids

Silco when he rules doesn't live super ostentatiously either, but at least you can picture that the taxes he collects go to buying research materials for Singed or buying weapons or buying machines for Remi's factories.

(if Vander really had like the tiniest traces of a homemade social welfare system then maybe that would explain why people hold him in high regard years later, but again, how realistic is that?)

Or does running the Lanes mean for Vander that he like helped people negotiate their quarrels, like the barest hint of a court/justice system? If somebody acts out on the Lanes, what happens? Do people come to Vander and ask him to take care of it? Does he just keep his ear on the ground and go out and take out people who he perceives to act out? Do people show up at his place and ask him to decide in one of their quarrels? (I was thinking how in a bunch of RPG video games in the recent years they have introduced sequences where people ask you to decide a conflict, but even if it's not a "petitioning the duke" kind of situation, if Vander has a rule he's giving out, how is it handled when people go against that rule?)

Again going here with the idea that people might remember Vander positively if they perceived him as a guy they could go to for help and Silco later is more a hand off lawless "fix your stuff yourself" kind of guy where the normal people are concerned.

Like I said, I think Vander doesn't have to be a super duper special guy beyond "he was a nice charismatic guy with a bar people like to go to and who got killed surprisingly in way people don't really understand" for the statue to exist. But that he still gets remembered years later by people other than Ekko is more weird to me. And even if one assigns less value to the acts of season 2, there's still he whole "why does he have a nickname and reputation that even foreigners know" and what Vi is referring to with the stunts of Vander's youth that she presumably heard from other people about.

(and yes: I just wrote a whole "okay, but what would be his tax policy?" post)

[*and yes the mural that bugs me so much could be a "two part" one, ie the Vander part could be older and then somebody else added Jinx to the existing Vander mural, ta least getting around my "Ekko definitely didn't paint the Jinx mural" issues with it]

[noxiatoxia]

heres an anon ask you can use to write/talk more about kaoru getting hurt and hikaru freaking out bc i love any content that has them freak out about the other hurting

OMG SPINS YOU AROUND IN MY ARMS THANK YOU ANON <3 !!

Ok WELL. I have. lots and lots of thoughts. So i did say before I like it best when Kaoru is the one who is injured because.....well ok admittedly I like fucking with Kaoru but ALSO I really love writing Hikaru's reactions. He's always so emotional and overreactive at times. It's fun illustrating the pure panic he's thrust into even in situations where Kaoru really isn't in any huge danger. I'm just. a sucker for characters absolutely flipping out at the smallest sign that somebody they love is hurt.

I've talked b4 about a concept where Kaoru gets a painful but non-lethal or life-altering injury, nothing drastic, but..........ok let me be cringe.....i wanna talk about the potentially darker stuff.

Tw for like, a lot of whump tropes. kidnapping, murder, etc.

Okay. I'm gonna jump into it with an idea involving kidnapping.

This is actually really interesting to me in the Ouran universe, because unlike some series, there's...actually a lot of legit reasons as to why you'd try to kidnap a number of these characters. iirc (dont quote me on it tho) it even almost happened in the manga to kyoya?? from what i've heard. again don't quote me.

SO being rich heirs to a big name company, trying to kidnap one or both the twins? It's actually a really plausible thing to happen.

I think the twins get off lucky in some aspects. Namely, they're identical. In some cases, I could see them not caring which twin they got, but maybe they want Hikaru the most since he's the eldest (and therefore the inheritor) but...which one is hikaru?? and besides, they're always together, meaning you'd HAVE to deal with 2 people. kidnapping two people is a lost of hassle. I think they've avoided it this long on those facts, among just good security and whatnot.

But let's say, one day, they aren't so lucky. dunno if this would happen when they're younger, like middle school, so they're not nearly as strong as they could be. Or it does happen in high school. whichever u want to imagine i suppose.

It could happen in a LOT of ways. maybe they got into a scuffle with some guys and they only got Kaoru. Maybe out of fear kaoru lied and said he was hikaru so they wouldn't go after his brother. maybe they just didn't care and got the first twin they saw.

I can imagine, if both twins were present, they would fight hard. they aren't trained in any way, and with no guards or police to help, they're helplessly overpowered, but they fight like their life depends on it (because for all they know it DOES) and they manage to put up a good struggle.

Maybe they DO end up getting away. Obviously they don't win the fight, but they manage to put enough distance between themselves and their kidnappers that they can run as fast as they can and as far as they can. they end up hiding somewhere so nobody can find them as they catch their breath. They're terrified out of their minds and are huddling together, breathing shakily. they both have some cuts and bruises. they wait until they think it's safe enough to call for help.

But what if Kaoru was seriously injured during the altercation? They still get away, but Kaoru is really struggling to keep up with Hikaru. he's limping terribly because the prick stabbed him in his side and he's bleeding everywhere, but pure adrenaline is making him sprint. Once they hide, Kaoru collapses and as the adrenaline fades THAT'S when it becomes an issue. The pain readily becomes apparent to him and it hurts so bad he can't really move. Blood is getting everywhere and he's breathing really fast, probably because he's so scared.

Hikaru is in a full blown PANIC. he's trying so hard to calm kaoru down, telling him to keep his eyes open, it'll be okay, he's calling an ambulance. He pulls his own shirt or jacket off to press to Kaoru's wound to try and stop the bleeding, but it just soaks through.

The shock and adrenaline wearing off might make Kaoru begin to cry a little as the barricaded emotions and pain coming surging through. this obviously only scares hikaru more.

it'd be fucking worse though if the kidnappers succeeded. in getting kaoru, that is. Oh my god. Especially if they injured him. his brother is bleeding and screaming and these people have him and hikaru can't catch up. he'd feel SO guilty and responsible, even if he physically couldn't do anything bc they injured him too. they like, fucking stabbed him or shot him and he can't move but fuck they have kaoru!! why isn't he doing anything!?

he'd spend all day and night and the days after looking for kaoru, not resting until he gets his little brother back.

It'd be hell on them both. Kaoru is scared and alone and in pain. Hikaru is freaking out and snapping at everyone, yelling at them to do better, find kaoru faster because it'll be YOUR faults if he dies or if something bad happens to him. He's just really, really scared and under so much stress. He doesn't sleep, at least not well, until Kaoru is found. When they rescue Kaoru one way or another, Hikaru is holding him so, so tightly and that's when he finally allows himself to cry, because he was SO fucking scared and this whole thing was a living nightmare and he's so unbelievably ungodly happy to have kaoru back in his arms alive and safe. He doesn't let go of him for hours and snaps at anybody who gets near them. I think it's soothing for Kaoru, too. After the trauma of what just happened, being alone with Hikaru in his embrace makes him feel less lonely and vulnerable.

Don't get me fuckin started if they BOTH were kidnapped though. I think the kidnappers, if they were smart, would figure out very early on they could get them both to comply by threatening Kaoru. Kaoru is already more compliant than Hikaru; he knows when he should and shouldn't fight back. But hikaru isn't. he'll fight these bastards, give them a hard time, do everything to try and break free. Where ever they're being held, Hikaru is causing them so much trouble, and even when they threaten to hurt him, even when they do hurt him, he doesn't really stop. Not for long, at least.

They'd probably find that if they threaten Kaoru, that gets Hikaru to shut up quickly. They threaten to slice Kaoru's throat if Hikaru refuses an order of theirs, has a knife to his throat. Suddenly, Hikaru is begging them not to hurt Kaoru, saying he'll do anything they want.

You can imagine like, any dark or fucked up scenario you want. But basically, I really DO think Hikaru would endure literally anything for Kaoru. As long as they don't hurt Kaoru, Hikaru would take anything and everything they throw at him. Kaoru hates it. He feels so fucking guilty that these awful things are happening and it's because Hikaru doesn't want him getting hurt.

Realistically, you could say most kidnappers wouldn't try to hurt them. They want hostages because they want money, and these kids have lots of money. Hurting them is a last resort reserved for making them comply. I guess it depends if the kidnappers are after something else/get some sort of sick enjoyment out of hurting them, or seeing Hikaru panic when they threaten his brother.

RELATED idea......murder attempts.

again, while I think kidnapping is a more realistic scenario given the Hitachiin's wealth, assassination is also plausible for several similar reasons. It could also just be a case of unfortunate luck having a run in with some less than well meaning person.

But like...Kaoru getting attacked by someone. Their attempt is lethal. They caught him off guard so they have the upper hand, and they're probably using a weapon like a knife to injure him.

Hikaru is never too far away from Kaoru at a given moment, and so he luckily wasn't very far when he hears his brother cry out. And when he sees what's happening, hears the screaming, the attacker's threats, the blood....he goes fucking. ballistic.

It's not like he's even thinking, he just ACTS. It's all a blur as he takes the attacker by surprise and dislodges the knife from their hand. the thing is, if Kaoru doesn't cry out to stop him, if the attacker doesnt just run away, there is a good chance Hikaru actually takes that knife and kills the person himself. He doesn't really think about it. he's high off adrenaline and seeing red from seeing somebody trying to kill his little brother. He's not fucking thinking, just acting on pure instinct. And instinct is telling him he needs to protect Kaoru at any cost necessary. And without hesitation, that includes stabbing a knife into somebody's throat.

He's in a bad daze as the attacker collapses and he focuses on Kaoru, who's also on the floor or at least crouched/keeled over, bleeding and in awful pain. There's blood all over Hikaru's hands and probably his shirt but he doesn't think about it as he crouches down to pull kaoru into his arms. i don't think either of them think to call the police. hikaru's mind is pure static focused only on kaoru. he's not even saying anything. the fact he killed another person hasn't even set in yet, he's just protectively shielding his brother and plugging his wounds with his hands, breath trembling. kaoru's breath is also trembling and he has tears in his eyes but he isn't saying anything. he's shaking. i honestly think police only show up because somebody else saw/heard what happened and called them, and once they show up and confront the twins, kaoru nearly passed out and hikaru pretty much dissociated, does hikaru wake up from his daze and realize what just happened, and oh my god i just killed another person.

i think in this case unlike others, he'd instantly let medics see kaoru. usually he doesn't want anyone near kaoru. not even medics. but he realizes as he snaps out of it just how bad of shape kaoru is in, and he feels awful he didn't call and ambulance and instead spaced out as he squeezed his brother to his chest as he bled everywhere. im sure hikaru also gets into some trouble for the killing thing but tbh good money + circumstances im sure he's let off the hook. that certainly does NOT take away from the trauma though because something like that fucks you up for life, and im sure his hands probably shake really badly anytime he has to hold a knife now.

(^^ that could be a whole story in an of itself... i love trauma recovery <3 both twins would be so fucked up after that experience. should write it sometime)

OKAY ON THE LIGHTER END OF THINGS.... (well, somewhat) just. accidents and other major injuries. Nobody is trying to hurt anybody else, it just sort of happened.

I actually had this idea in my head once in relation to my Kaoru Has Depression thread which i sorta forgot about bc i never posted it on there bc it seemed rather dark/edgy even for that thread and tbh idk if it's in-character(??) but with tweaking i think it could work.

the set up doesnt really matter tbh, but in my head the reason this happens is because Kaoru's been very in and out of it lately. second year of high school and he's dealing with reeeeally bad depression (cuz. i hc he has severe diagnosed depression somebody fucking tell that guy to see a doctor already) and with this comes him being unfocused and generally dissociating a lot. Anyways, it sort of happens at the worst possible time. Kaoru blanks out and is just on auto-pilot and is talking walks. He does this routinely now to clear his head, and he always goes without Hikaru because unfortunately Hikaru is the cause (indirectly) of his stress in more areas than one. so he's alone not really present and just walking wherever his feet take him.

Multiple things could happen here, really. And i have 2. the first one is, well, getting involved in a traffic accident.

i mean if you're wandering around not paying attention to your surroundings and suddenly just step onto a roadway or passage and you aren't aware of that, yeah it's likely a car is gonna hit you.

now i think thankfully kaoru is in a somewhat residential area wherever he's walking aka the speed limit is 25 which isn't good to be struck at but it's not like. 55. so anyways that fucking hurts. it knocks him right out of his depression-induced daze as he's flung across the road either into a patch of grass or onto the curb (if ur Evil) and everything Fucking Hurts. it probably breaks his leg or something, maybe something worse, maybe there's blood. internal bleeding for sure but idk if there would be many outward signs.

the person who hit him is probably panicking like oh fuck are you okay im calling an ambulance right now. and kaoru is still a little dazed, having been snapped from his dissociating to now being in excruciating pain and he can't feel his leg. his hands are shaking horribly but he manages to get his mostly undamaged phone out of his pocket and call hikaru and it's probably really awkward because kaoru is unusually calm because the whole thing hasn't really washed over him yet.

"Hey, Kaoru!" "Hey, Hikaru. Um, just to let you know, I'm not gonna be home when I said I was" "?? Why?" "Oh well, I got hit by a car. I'm probably going to a hospital." "WHAT"

ofc hikaru RUSHES to the hospital to see kaoru only to have to wait a few hours bc they have to make sure kaoru is okay. operations and shit. Kaoru is still pretty out of it even when Hikaru is by his bed-side near tears and Kaoru can't even really understand why... (mental illness)

ok a 2nd idea I had........this one is weirder bear with me.

i like. tropes where characters are Stuck somewhere and have to Survive with it. esp in unfavorable conditions. so, related to what i said earlier: kaoru going for a walk and not paying attention, except this time he's in the woods bc nature pretty or smth. not looking, he takes a wrong step and falls down a small cliff/steep hill, and then he lands...wrong. like, injures his back. and he can't get back up.

plus, his phone either broke on the tumble down or it's dead, so he's just kind of. well. fucked.

i like scenarios like this cuz it's like. the fear and the feeling of powerlessness, the utter loneliness and idea of dying alone. especially for kaoru, that's really scary. it's the one thing he's terrified of most. and since he can't move, he just has to hope somebody finds him. that they care enough to look for him.

maybe he gets lucky and somebody - friend or stranger - finds him relatively quickly, like in a few hours. maybe he's not so lucky, and he's stuck there for over two days.

obviously, i like Maximum Evilness but also I think it could potentially be. interesting? Kaoru is already so mentally unstable. He's already horrifically lonely and depressed. Being forced to be stuck in the dirty creepy woods for days on end, alone? I can only really imagine the things he might think up, what conclusions or feelings he'd reach. Especially as he grows hungrier/dehydration, that would cause major issues not just bodily, but psychologically. Hallucinations/psychosis, generally just. making his depression/anxiety worse. He's a bit of a hysterical mess there wondering if he's being left to die on purpose because nobody fucking cares about him. He wonders if he can even blame them.

I like to think it's Haruhi who finds him, actually. the whole host club are searching with the ootori private police and regular police. haruhi elected to search the woods but surprisingly, hikaru (who has been worried SICK this whole time) tries to shoot it down. they're all under the assumption kaoru was kidnapped, it makes the most sense, and what kidnapper is hiding out in the woods? but tamaki convinces hikaru to give it a shot and so he lets haruhi go.

it's probably a fucking miracle she finds him in time or finds him at all. Kaoru probably freaks out at first thinking it's a stranger or somebody here to hurt him but when he sees haruhi he's insanely glad. he just wants to go home where it's warm and there's food and his brother will be waiting for him.

obviously though, again, experiences like that are pretty traumatizing. hikaru feels like shit for almost preventing haruhi from finding his brother, bc had she not done that he probably would have died. and so he does NOT leave kaoru's side and hovers over him like 24/7.

in general...i just like prompts where kaoru gets hurt, and hikaru proceeds to go fucking feral. wail on the person hurting kaoru, or if there is no perp, just hold kaoru and shield him from any harm and going ape shit if anyone tries to get near them. i think fast-paced traumatic experiences like that really freak hikaru out esp in the moment, seeing kaoru get hurt so fast, the fact he could have almost died. it fills him with adrenaline and fear and so he snaps at anybody because he's so freaked out and he just wants to be alone with kaoru where it's slow and safe. kaoru is in his arms, nothing is happening, everything is fine and sitting still and he's alright. and anything that disrupts that sends him into a frenzy.

so...sorry about going Off about this. i think i derailed the point a few times BUT you asked for rambles you get rambles <33 if you have any dark hikaru&kaoru ideas or just stuff abt them in general ...... always feel free to send. or prompt me onto another ramble.

[avenging-criminal-bones]

After All This Time || Chapter Five

Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Word Count: 2,146

Chapter Summary: Anger. And harshness, maybe feelings. I haven't decided yet so I guess you'll have to just read to find out.

CHAPTER WARNINGS: angst?, asshat hotch again, sad feels

A/N: Guys, I'm like legitimately so sorry that this chapter took so long. It's not even that I've been all that busy. I definitely did go to California for two weeks, but after that I think I just got lazy? Had writer's block? I don't know. But New chapter is UP.

TAGLIST:

@kingofthetwats @wanniiieeee @uwu-sebastianstan @piggyinthesea @yoshigguk @thatisthemagic @errorcosplay67 @ivebeenthinkingboutu @big-galaxy-chaos @rynfoxsleeps @phoenixsnape1 @mojofun @pachiibatt @enjoymyloves @thenewnormalforensicator @word-scribbless @zezezena @chelseyjoyce @ellyhotchner @lora21 @flipperpenguins @illegal-brains @sunnysaysbookreviews @anti-zippy-snoot @kya-li

You come to eleven hours later, the first thing that you hear being the steady beep of a monitor.

The hospital.

It smells... white, the cleanness of it making you scrunch your nose. Still not having opened your eyes, you sense the brightness, almost making you not want to at all.

However, you knew how hospital visits work. When Reid was injured, the whole team was there waiting for him to wake up. With that push, that you had people waiting for you to wake up, you opened your eyes.

Everything was too bright at first. You felt your lips fall into a grimace and joked aloud, "You guys don't need to be so quiet, she lives."

There was no response, and as your vision cleared up, the wind was knocked out of you like a punch to the gut.

Empty.

The whole room was empty. Aside from you and the TV, there was no talking. There were no people.

For a moment you thought that you were dead. Or maybe dreaming, because who wakes up from a seemingly severe injury with no support system? With no friends.

You hear your heartbeat speed up before you feel it, but boy do you feel it when it hits.

The monitor must send an alert to the nurses' station or something because shortly after, a small, black-haired woman rushes into the room.

"Agent L/N? Are you alright, is there any-,"

"I just- where- did my- wh-where is my team?" The stutter surprised you and you sat up fast, not realizing how prominent the pain in your abdomen was until it was too late. You let out a soft gasp, but looked at the nurse to hear an answer.

"Oh, uh, honey... I asked as they left and the tall, broody one said that there was an emergency." She walked up to you and turned a dial on your IV machine, gently asking you to lay down again.

You complied, not fully paying attention. Your mind was somewhere else; thinking about the harshness of your team, but you had to assume that this was Hotchner's doing.

"You alright, sweetie," the kind nurse asks, her name is Monica.

You nod slowly, your head feeling a lot lighter than it had when you woke up. "Yeah. I'm okay. Um, before you go can you hand me my phone?"

She nods, looking at you for where, and you gesture to the bag that's slightly out of your reach. Monica hands you both the phone and its charger, pointing to an outlet on the wall behind your head.

Nodding in thanks, you plug the charger into the wall and watch the kind nurse leave before unlocking your phone. You see immediately that you have five missed calls from your mother, and after further searching, you notice messages from Emily, JJ, and Penelope. JJ's was the most recent, so you open hers first.

JJ (BAU) 43 minutes ago.

Hey Y/N, In case you wake up before we get back, Hotch called our debrief meeting, so we all went back to the precinct. Sorry, hon.

xoxo JJ and the Girls

You didn't register the tears until they were falling down your cheeks. You sighed a bit and replied to JJ's message with a short, 'got it'.

As soon as you pushed the 'send' button, the door to your room opened again and your entire team rushed in.

Well, most of the team.

Really, everyone except one person.

You were quick to wipe your eyes, trying to hide the fact that you had been crying. JJ walked to the chair beside your bed and sat down, giving you the most gentle hug as she did.

"Did you get my message? Are you feeling okay? Do you need a nurse, any water?"

"JJ, you're momming her," Derek joked as he bent to give you a hug. "For real though, you feelin' alright, lil mama?"

You nodded, sending him a tight-lipped smile as Emily walked over to the other side of your bed, bringing Penelope with her on a video call.

Spencer even came by, but he looked relatively uncomfortable and stayed by the door.

Waving at him a bit, you say, "You can come in you know. I won't bite."

"I know, Y/N. I was just worried. Statistically speaking, you survived on an off-chance. The ratio was close to 83:17, and the bullet entered your abdomen in-"

"I get it Spence. I should be dead," you pause slightly seeing everyone's wide-eyed look at your bluntness, "BUT I didn't die, so everyone can stop looking at my like I'm going to break and just settle." You chuckle a bit and sigh as you see the rest of the team besides Spencer nod their heads or visibly relax their shoulders.

"You're right, kiddo," Rossi says quietly, "You're okay, and we can celebrate that."

"Thanks, Rossi." Smiling, you lean into his hand, which was cradling the side of your face for a moment. "Can someone get Hotchner please? I had some words that I'd like to have him hear."

JJ places her hand on your arm then and says, "Y/N, maybe that's not the best idea right now."

"No," you shake your head and make eye contact with her, "That's exactly what I need right now."

"Y/N..."

"Spencer, can you go get him please? He's just sitting out in the lobby, correct?" You snap a little harsher than you meant to.

The boy stutters a bit, but eventually nods his head and walks out of the room. The rest of the team shares a look before also walking out, giving you space for when your boss comes in.

Sitting up straighter in the bed, you even your mouth into a thin line just as Hotchner walks in the room.

"Am I off the clock right now, sir?" You don't miss the way his eyes flash to your lips but you choose to ignore it.

He sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, "Say what you need to say, agent."

"Who the hell do you think you are? Calling the debrief not only at a time where one of the team members can't make it, but when the team member is in the hospital with a GSW wound." Your voice rises steadily as you continue talking, but you have more to say. "Not only that, but you couldn't even be bothered to make sure I was okay when the debrief was over?" Subconsciously, you recognize the switch from a third-person mindset to a personal one, but you pay it no mind.

"Agent L/N, you-"

"No. You will call me Y/N, and I will be calling you Aaron. We aren't on the clock right now and you don't deserve my professionalism," the heart monitor spikes in tempo, and you throw the blanket off of your lap.

He quirks an eyebrow at you as you command him, but nods his head slightly, letting you be in control for the moment. "Go ahead, Y/N. You get whatever irrational anger you have towards me out in the open and we can deal with the consequences later."

"I left EVERYTHING for this job, Aaron. I left my mom, who never stopped grieving a lost son, I left my job there thinking this would be better, and I lost friends and people who actually cared about my well-being. People who wouldn't leave one of their own in an unknown hospital to wake up by themself, not sure if they were even actually alive since there wasn't anyone with them." You saw Aaron flinch with everything that you listed, but you didn't care. He needed to hear it. "So yeah, Aaron. I get to be angry, and you don't get to tell me it's irrational, because this is the most rational I think I've been this entire year."

"Y/N. You put not only yourself, but me, and the rest of the team in danger yesterday. Excuse me if I don't want to see you and be around you while you're in the hospital." Really, if burned Aaron to his core that he couldn't reach over and tuck the stray piece of hair behind your ear, because right now that's what he wanted to do. Except it's inappropriate and he's not sure you'd let him within three feet of you.

"NO! You see, that's not how it works. Are you telling me that if you saw a little boy with a gun trained on them, you wouldn't have done the exact same thing?" Hot tears fill your eyes, but you don't wipe them. You almost hope that him seeing you cry will make him feel bad, if even just a little.

Glancing at the way his jaw was set and how he clenched his fists in his lap, you knew he was struggling to keep his cool, so of course you pushed harder.

"What if it was Jack, Aaron."

"Dammit, L/N, it wasn't Jack. It was just some boy that we couldn't save. We shouldn't have been able to save him. You didn't use the training you had, and you didn't use the rational part of your brain. As terrible as that sounds, and trust me, I never want to lose a victim, if you had used the training from the bureau, we wouldn't have saved him. " Aaron stands up and paces the length of the bed then, feeling your eyes following him the whole time.

You shake your head as you let your gaze fall to your lap. "I wasn't going to let him die again... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

Aaron's eyebrows furrow a bit and he looks at you with angry curiosity in his eyes, "Again? What do you mean by that?" That's when Hotch remembered earlier when you mentioned her mother who lost a son. "Y/N, did your brother... No. Actually, I'm sorry, just forget I said anything,"

There was a dark anger in your eyes as you shook your head. "No, Aaron. Ask me. Ask me this one question, and then reassess your profiling of me."

His gaze turned steely as he squared his shoulders again, showing no emotion in his voice as he spoke. He almost felt like the best way to approach you right now was as if you were the unsub.

"Was your brother murdered, Y/N?"

Dropping your head, you feel the tears burning in your eyes again and you nod. "He was only five. He had his whole life ahead of him. You'd think a child would be safe with a group of nuns or a priest, but no. Not even them. He was branded with a cross before he was killed and it's just unfair."

Aaron starts to walk closer to your bed, seeing the devolving pattern of your breathing, "Y/n, I'm so sorry, I-"

"No. Aaron, just, please go. I'll catch a flight home when I'm allowed to fly again, so you guys just go home and I'll figure it out. I mean, that's what I did when I was waking up by myself, right? Go ahead and fire me if you need to, suspend me, I don't care anymore, but I'll come back when the hospital says it's safe." You take a deep breath and watch as he turns away.

He gets all the way to the door before he turns back around and says, "What was his name."

"Joey."

Hotch nods and walks out of the door, remembering that the final victim, the one that you saved, was named Joseph.

After the encounter with Hotch you fell asleep. The heavy medication and the anger in your head knocked you out easily. You were asleep for a few hours, but you woke up when your pain medication wore off.

You noticed that your work phone had a few notifications, so you sat up a bit and looked through them.

There were two that stood out to you. The first one was a notification that read "Hotchner (Asshat) has added you to the group 'BAU Team'". The second was his message in that group chat.

Hotchner (Asshat) 2 hours ago

Hey team, change in plans. We will be staying here until Y/N gets cleared to fly. It should only be a couple of days and I know we were planning on flying out tonight. Sorry, Thanks.

As soon as you liked his message, your texts were blowing up from Emily. She was saying stuff about how "he totally likes you", and about, "you had a rough time on this case".

Also, apparently Derek saved all of his sarcasm for when Hotch got back, and the thought made you smile.

[hopeymchope]

I know the surviviors get some flack for not grieving a whole lot for Kokichi, but Kokichi was horrible to everyone and wheverr people tried to question him, he'd push them away because he wanted to work on his own because of severe trust issues and he also did some questionable things that can't exactly be forgiven. They weren't exactly friends and it's a lot to take in.

Six total Kokichi-related asks in one post, now incoming!

WAAAAAAAHAHA Kokichi Time

Yeah, I agree with everything you're saying. I think that they eventually appreciated and respected his final effort to ruin the killing game, but for most of the trial, it was just deeply infuriating and upsetting for them. And even after that, there's a lot leading up to that trial that could only be infuriating for them. And in the end, Shuichi considers Kokichi just a frustrating enigma and utterly unknowable - "the very embodiment of a lie," as he says.

So you suspect that he has some personal connection to Killing Games in his past? Could it even be from a previous DR "season," then? I don't know how/why he'd have the luck thing, though. There doesn't seem to be anything to indicate that. I often wonder whether we'll get some kind of direct V3 sequel someday, in some medium. I'm sure there's got to be a temptation to explore where things wound up for the survivors and what the outside world is really like, who the survivors really are or aren't, etc. But if Spike Chunsoft eventually does this without Kodaka's involvement, it's going to ring hollow. Such a instance could easily become a story that openly defies and/or flies in the face of the implications of V3.

Interesting point. Even when he's seemingly treating Gonta nicely, it's just an attempt to get something he wants - trapping everyone in the "bug meet-and-greet," maneuvering Gonta into murdering Miu, etc. What's interesting about that is how he seems to genuinely befriend Gonta in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. But of course, his treatment of Keebo is always the same...

You may or may not have seen, anon, a previous Ask wherein a Japanese person said that bullying is a major issue there, but people tend to stay silent instead of calling others out. (I can’t seem to find the post where I responded to that ask now... ) So this might be part of that same cultural issue, then; Keebo is making it very clear how much he is upset by Kokichi’s behavior, but nobody really makes much effort to stop Kokichi anyway.

Well, I guess Kaede does try to distract him away from bothering Keebo in the very beginning. It’s something?

Actually, the fandom doesn’t even seem to hold this against Kokichi at all! Maybe they really do see Keebo as some kind of lesser being unworthy of any kindness just because of his physical nature??

(Friendly reminder to everyone that Kokichi is made aware very early on how much his behavior offends and upsets Keebo. So naturally, he keeps doing it anyway forever, in every single timeline - UTDP and Danganronpa S are no different. Because Kokichi’s just a really shitty person.)

Definitely. A big part of why his plans ultimately fail to lead where he'd hoped is because of the bridges he burned behind him. It's another reminder of the recurring "attempting to deal with the situation alone = misfortune and death" undercurrent through the series.

I get that, although he’s kind of a major part of V3′s narrative. He really drills home much of the “truth vs lies” theming. But, just like some previous antagonists, there are definitely things that would go much more smoothly if he wasn’t being a little shit about everything and was just telling people what he knows. Obvious solution: You excise the character who inexplicably knows everything about each trial but never wants to share any of his information from the entire equation.

But I think he’s still an important part of the story and its central focus, so maybe we could just... not make him be some kind of super-analytical secret detective? Because that always felt like it was kind of bullshit to me anyway. Much like his inexplicable ability to instantly know any time any character is lying about absolutely anything, we can just delete these traits and subsequently make him more believable as a person. He can still have his elaborate scheme to stop the killing game and still be an annoying liar who lies, but he doesn’t have to also be a mind-reading super-detective. Kill that element and I’d feel better about his role.