#more unnecessary explanations for things I don't like to make them make sense

[azurem]

It was a frequent question he had, buzzing in his ears like a particularly annoying fly. As such, he felt no shame in his question:

"Is there a reason why you drink the... blue?"

Ink glanced at him, a raised eyebrow. He turned his head to look at him, keeping within his closed fist the catalyst for the question itself. "...Hm? I thought I told you already. My emotions aren't—"

"—natural, no," Nightmare finished for him. Seeing as that wasn't enough explanation —Ink was just looking at him blankly— he said, "still. Isn't blue the color of sorrow?"

"So, what if it is?"

"I don't see why anybody would choose to feel sadness," Nightmare said. He moved closer, just enough so his thigh would brush against Ink's. "You have happiness beneath your fingertips, courage... affection. I don't see why you'd take the option of suffering through your own sadness when it's unnecessary."

"Well—" Ink looked to the side, in thought. As he looked back at him, as if sensing something in Nightmare's expression, he smiled. "—what's it to you?"

"Pardon?"

Ink kept smiling. "Why would I drink the blue when I could just not do it?"

Nightmare looked away. Even when their joining hasn't been recent, he still struggled with keeping a poker face whenever Ink smiled like that. "...Well—"

Nightmare thought about it for a second, maybe more. Naturally, his thoughts drifted to the very balance he chose to forsake. "—You can't feel happiness if there's nothing to compensate it for."

"Nope," Ink said. "Not for me. I could just feel happiness all the time, if I wanted to."

"It's a thing about contrasts, then," Nightmare said instead. He closed his eye, unwilling yet to look at him. "You can't enjoy happiness if there's nothing to compare it to."

"You're getting colder," Ink said. He tilted his head, as if to look at Nightmare better, before he took his hand, slipping something inside it. When their eyes met, he didn't make any particular expression, yet his eyes shone with the hue of someone in the middle of reading. "Think again?"

"Hm." Nightmare turned his head to look at them, accepting the offering without any particular word. By its shape, he already knew what it was. His next words were hesitant, a bit clumsy: "maybe... You drink it to look normal. People wouldn't accept someone that wouldn't feel as they did."

"Pf. C'mon, now that's just depressing," Ink said. He snorted when Nightmare just gave him an unimpressed glare, which he promptly responded with an elbow to his arm. "You're thinking about it way too hard."

"Am I, now?"

"You totally are," Ink said. "Making stuff way more complicated than necessary— you do that a lot, y'know?"

He could feel his eye twitching. "Won't you just tell me?"

"I will," Ink said. He faked a yawn. "It's rather simple, really— mhm. A simple, simple thing—"

"Which is?"

"Huh, impatient," Ink said. He winked at him when Nightmare made a huff. "Y'know. Usually people just do stuff because they feel like it."

"Because they feel like it," Nightmare echoed, feeling somewhat disappointed. Still, this didn't clear his question. "But why? Why feel sadness, when it's a feeling everyone would rather discard if the choice arose?"

"See? Thinking way too hard about it."

"Ink— I insist. Is it not about the contrast? About normalcy? Why to feel, when it's—"

"An emotion," Ink said. "You're weird, y'know?"

"You— You vex me," Nightmare said. It was like trying to do a puzzle in the dark. "Incredibly so. You choose unnecessary, undesirable things— you love to make your own life more complicated than it should."

"Then we're the same," Ink said. His hands felt twitchy, so he looked down to look at them, curious of the way they dug into the cloth of his overalls. As in echo, he commented, "I don't get it. Why insist on knowing? Isn't it enough to just... let it be?"

"A life without knowledge is nothing better than the life of an animal, you must understand it well. Though...—" Nightmare looked down at him, at the way his hands seemed confused and lost. "—Though I assume a life without emotion is nothing better than the life of a machine."

"It's not," Ink said quietly. He took a moment before he looked up again. "...Still. You're pretty much a weirdo."

"...I've been called worse," Nightmare said after a moment. It felt somewhat disgraceful to know that he wasn't speaking in deceit.

Ink smiled at him. "Y'know... I wasn't lying. I do it just because, because I like feeling blue. Even if there wasn't any yellow for me, I'd still choose to drink it every time. I'd still like it, even if it was my only emotion."

"You're lying to me," he said. Ink only kept on smiling. It was not a lie. "...Where is the beauty in sorrow?"

"Where's the beauty in joy?" Ink echoed, almost teasingly. "You're a complicated guy, Nightmare. But that's why I like when you get serious with me."

Nightmare raised an eyebrow at him as Ink's hand insisted on his own, making his phalanges close on the vial of glass within. As if Nightmare would have ever let it fall.

"Tell you what," he continued, bringing his hand up to his chest as if to trace the emptiness in between the colors of his chest, as one would do with a missing tooth. "Until you find the answer to that, keep it with you. It'll be a funny story."

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The explanation for Lila’s several moms that zoe-oneesama came up with in Scarlet Lady’s Episode 52 Part 7 Bonus is one that I’ve officially adopted into my brainstorming for stories that still include those characters instead of wipe the plot point entirely, especially since the writers couldn’t be bothered to at least explain how Lila’s bio dad plays into all the craziness (or confirm if it was just a donor situation) much less make the several moms thing actually make sense, though that’s probably for the better considering their track record with dads. “That sure was a mystery that didn't need solving” WELL I SURE APPRECIATE YOU SOLVING IT, ZOE, ‘CAUSE IT SURE NEEDED TO BE!! One of the most EYEROLL-WORTHY, unnecessary things canon has done to attempt making any character seem smarter than they actually are, good grief. Speaking of which, how would you have canon!Lila’s personality and shtick actually work with the rendition of her family shown in that SL bonus image from the get-go?

For those who don't read the comic, the solution is pretty simple: Lila has divorced parents leading to two step-moms and one biomom. This setup actually works pretty well for a manipulator. Not on the nonsense scale that we get in the final few episodes of the season where Lila is revealed to have multiple identities, but on the small scale we all assumed Lila was working on for most of the show.

Lila's 14, old enough for some independence, which means that she's able to do things like telling the first set of parents that she's at the second set's house and vise versa, allowing Lila to run around doing shit without her parents knowing. This is extra true if one or both sets of parents travel a lot and both sets believe Lila when she says, "Oh, that's fine, set A will be home that well, so I'll just stay with them."

It actually makes things like her skipping school make more sense if she's doing it by jumping between homes. Same goes for her weird secret lair. Easier to set that up if everyone thinks you're home safe and sound. Divorced parents is just generally a really good route to go for a manipulative teen.

[martinblackwoodhater]

Martin Blackwood never really changed.

His attitude changed, sure - he went from "everyone I care about hates me so I must deserve it" to "I am terrible but so are these people and since they've been so mean to me I should take revenge, I'm not as weak as they all think". But his way of thinking stays the same throughout the whole series.

What I dislike about Martin and what stays the same even after his "character development" is that despite claiming to be a carer, he consistently fails to consider things from other people's perspective, and his fans overlook that part. I've always felt like his attempts at caring for people (bringing them tea etc) were somewhat clumsy, and that he never actually knew what they even wanted - i think he said so himself when he was in the Lonely that giving people tea when they seemed down was easier than discussing their problems and actually finding out what's wrong. It shows when he just jumps to sacrifice himself when Peter Lukas took over the Instutute - he was so quick to sacrifice himself and give himself away and he didn't even stop to consider that it might be unnecessary, or that there might be another solution, like discussing with his team. His help is less about actually helping and more about punishing himself and not being useless. Since he hates himself, that kind of help is not only "making up for the space he takes up" in his mind, but it's also kind of like self harm.

It also shows in season 5 when he straight up refuses to listen to Jon's explanations of the apocalypse and the statements in general.

Despite being so set on sacrificing himself for others, berating himself, and generally always trying to fix everything for everyone by himself, Martin has only ever considered his own needs.

It actually makes him feel very real as a character, but unfortunately most of the fandom has dumbed him down to two versions - season 1-3 "cutie shy softie boy with a crush on his boss awwww" and season 4-5 "hot sexy man that wants to take revenge on everyone who has ever wronged him and he is so in love with his monster boyfriend uwu❤️❤️ jon and martin are so cute together ❤️ " no they're not. Maybe Martin was fine with Jon before the apocalypse - admittedly i don't remember the safehouse ep all that well, and that seems to be what got everyone to ship them, but after the end of the wold, when they're travelling through the Fearscape together, they are so very not happy and healthy. There are so many problems. And Martin straight up refusing to listen to anything that Jon has to say about the Eyepocalypse is just the cherry on top.

Towards the end of the story, they use each other more as anchors that help them keep the remaining bits of their humanity. They ground each other, true, and they NEED each other, but their relationship is messy and tainted with the feelings of guilt, loss, and blame. They barely communicate their feelings and intentions. They stick together in order to survive, but the only thing bonding them together is shared trauma. They are broken by what they experienced. They actually don't know each other at all, just the idealized, pre-apocalypse versions of eachother. It makes me quite upset that the vast majority of the fans missed that very important aspect of their relationship.

It was literally spelled out for them by Peter Lukas:

So yeah, maybe they are canon in the sense that they were briefly in a "romantic" relationship. But the fanon version is sooo romanticized and warped and twisted and changed and made to fit into one of those neat "workplace-enemies-to-lovers" boxes like tags on ao3.

To sum up: i don't like Martin as a person, but he's written well and realistically as a character. I despise fanon Martin and Jmart. Jmart is canon, but not in the way most people seem to think.

ily xoxo you're always right this is why you're my favourite mutual (alongside all my other mutuals. you are all my favourites.)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi, one more question!

I read Tomarry fan fiction with time travel, and when they write that Harry is taking Tom from the orphanage, for some reason they write that Harry expects that if he gives the love and care that he was deprived of, then Tom will become a different person. That is, Harry projects himself onto Tom and expects the same reaction from him that Harry himself would have had if he had been taken away from the Dursleys. And also, I do not understand the authors themselves believe that if you give a child (Tom) everything he wants and do not limit him at least somehow, that he will grow up to be a morally better person? Or do they think that Harry is so narrow-minded and does not understand that punishments and rewards are needed for proper upbringing? That it's not enough to just say "don't do this because it's wrong for a moral reason", but to provide a logical explanation that would be based on logic and pragmatism, which would sound clearer to Tom? What do you think about it?

Anyone could write whatever they want, and I'm not going to diss any specific fics or authors. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of Harry going back in time to raise Tom fics because it's just not to my personal taste. So, this isn't the kind of scenario I really think about for Harry's and Tom's characters.

In general, though, I think Harry understands Tom and how he thinks more than fanon often gives him credit for. I also think Tom isn't as evil incarnate as some fanon paints him as. I don't think he's super moral, but I don't think he is especially cruel either.

Like, Tom doesn't do immoral things because he doesn't know what's good and what's evil, he is an intelligent capable adult — he knows very well what he's doing is evil, he just doesn't mind doing evil if he thinks it's necessary.

And he has morals. He regrets needing to kill Snape, he dislikes unnecessary death and bloodshed and actively avoids it in the first war. He doesn't want to kill students in the battle of Hogwarts and calls a ceasefire to let them regroup and treat their injuries to the detriment of his own side. He hates cowardice and treachery. He derides Wormtail because he betrayed his friends, yes, that betrayal helped Voldemort, but Voldemort despises cowardly traitors as a rule and his morals are important to him. He hates pretentious purebloods and he shows this contempt in how he treats his followers. Tom has a moral core all on its own with his shitty upbringing, it's just, kinda messed up and he's a practicality-over-morality kind of person most of the time. I'm saying most because he doesn't allow himself to cheat when trying to kill Harry. He just has to kill Harry properly, in a fair duel, because of his own morals and ideals. I also think Tom would be insulted by the concept of cheating at school, for example.

I mentioned in the past the fact Voldemort's favorite spell is the killing curse kinda shows that he has some twisted sense of morality. I mean, in a world where you can burn and cut and torture people with magic there are so many cruel and painful ways to kill someone, and yet, Voldemort's go-to spell, when he isn't making a point or torturing someone for a specific reason, is Avada Kedavra. The Killing Curse is a painless death, even Voldemort considers it a merciful death. It's quick and painless and efficient. This is the death he gave James and Lily because he respected them and didn't want them to suffer unnecessarily. This is the death he chooses for anyone he doesn't have a specific reason to torture because he is against what he deems as unnecessary cruelty. Snape's death is the only real death that is unnecessarily cruel but I think it has more to do with JKR needing a way for Snape to get Harry the information he needs rather than be accurate to Voldemort's character as he was shown thus far.

Like, he has some weird sense of morality, and even with the evil things he does, like murder, he knows they are bad and he does so anyway. Sometimes, he does so regretfully, in the most merciful way he can, and other times, when he hates someone, he relishes in it. It's not about not understanding good and evil or not knowing what morals are, it's about caring about morals less than about whatever goal he wants to accomplish, and sometimes that goal is to humiliate the crap out of Lucius Malfoy, or to showcase how great he is and be dramatic about it. But the fact he has his twisted morals and considers himself merciful is part of what makes him so interesting to me.

[if-mirrormine]

as an alternative to "if you have writers block, kill a character", may i try (likely in vain, i am aware 💀😔💀) to give you my professor's advice that's helped me??

he said "you can only be affected by writer's block if you believe it exists" which, at first, made me go "bitch? ive felt it?? youre so wrong?"

until he continued and said "writer's block is a nebulous problem with no consistent or reliable solution. and when we eliminate that as an option, we are forced to be specific about what is wrong. it can be burn out, fatigue, stress, Depression, a lack of discipline, time blindness, ADHD or autism, some medical or pharmaceutical variable, a mixture of multiple reasons, or any meriade of any other reason or reasons to justify and validate why writing needs to go on the backburner for a bit or even several years. but the big difference is all those specific things: unlike writer's block, they do have treatments, cures, and/or accommodations"

and to that, i do agree, i see his logic in "take writer's block off the table". though i see it moreso as We Should Reframe Writer's Block As A Vague Symptom Of Something Instead Of As A Diagnosis, kind of like how chronic pain as a symptom could mean ANYTHING in regards to diagnoses yet is still an important puzzle piece to finding that diagnosis

that is specific to me though. but i was told that re-framing back in 2018 or so(?), and ive never had writer's block since. i HAVE not written for months at a time, don't get me wrong, im not churning out pages everyday with writers block no longer in my life. but i do feel like i am making progress in dealing with my Other Stuff which then is me maintaining an opening to write (as opposed to cleaning up a block) and just being too tired by said maintenance to often indulge in writing. and not the stagnant "this is how itll be forever"-maintenance, but rather more like the kind of maintenance you have to do after a natural disaster for relief, bc i got a Lot Of Diagnoses who eould normally give me the symptom of writers block that im still in the early stages of unpacking and accomadating and etc. so, hopefully soon, ill have less and less maintenance to do and more and more energy to write. but yeah, thats just me. idk whats going on in your life, in your head lol

and this is, in fact, me hoping and praying and begging that you go "i prefer this" and not killing a beloved character

bc i wont lie. would sure love you NOT to kill someone i love in your game lmao

uhhhhhhh, alternatively kill the dad instead. itll fuck us over about learning timey-wimey stuff, add more plot-conflict as a result, and we get the weird feelings of grieving a parent you didnt know/like. idk. i just want my faves to live and he is Not One Of Them lmao ill give you a $20 to, if you GOTTA kill someone, have that one soul be his lol

i appreciate the advice and yeah, i can get behind this explanation of things. i mean it makes sense; motivation or simply just the ability to write doesn't just grow legs and walk away from you, there's gotta be other contributing factors.

i do feel the need to say though that how ever and when ever i kill off characters, i don't mean in game lol. i already have the whole game plotted out, adding in an unnecessary death would make things messy and we don't want that. so while i do have some deaths planned, some literal others not, any new deaths would only take place in drabbles.

atp i just need to get words on paper. or google doc ig.

[unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan]

Every goddamn day, I think about how Chameleon was a very stupid episode, but for the exact opposite reason that I initially thought it was.

I always thought it was because the entire class was acting unreasonably stupid, but they were actually pretty reasonable, all things considered.

It was Marinette's writing that was the issue.

You're not gonna complain about your assigned seat being moved around to accommodate a disabled new student, nor demand proof of her disability, that would just be a dick move. (It doesn't make sense for the ENTIRE CLASS to be moved around, but I'll ignore that point because it's just kind of a nitpick.)

Many members of the class have personally met at least one celebrity, with a few classmates even being celebrities themselves. Lila's stories are certainly out there, even by this class' standards. But it's her first day, and again, most regular people don't hound others for proof on claims like this, even the ridiculous claims. (It doesn't make sense for the class to be so enthralled by her stories, but I would just chalk that up to them being nice to the new kid. The show does get kind of ridiculous with how much the class trusts her later on though.)

Lila could've absolutely caught that napkin on instinct. It would've hurt, but she wouldn't be thinking about her injury because that's how instincts work. Lila actually almost drew unnecessary attention to herself by making up that "explanation" on the spot, as protecting herself with her injured wrist needed no defending in the first place.

The only reason Marinette knew about Lila's lies to Adrien is because she stalked the two of them, which Alya and Nino are rightfully distrustful of. (It's still completely stupid for them to ignore her story entirely though. That's potential evidence of Lila lying to someone. At the very least, they should've verified the story with Adrien. But they just completely blew it off, and that point is never brought up again.)

From the class' perspective, Marinette complained about accommodations made for the new girl's disability because she wasn't allowed to sit close to her crush anymore, demanded hard evidence of the new girl's claims despite having some ridiculous celebrity stories herself, threw a napkin at her, potentially making her wrist injury even worse when she protected herself out of pure instinct, and then stormed off when that didn't work out in her favor.

I don't like this episode, not because of the way the class was acting, but because they took the girl who is supposed to be the smartest character in the show, and had her make probably the worst possible decision in every single situation. There are fatal flaws that cause characters to make understandable mistakes, and then there are characters just ignoring the obvious right answers because that would make far too cohesive of a plot, I guess.

They could've literally had some Spy vs Spy esque shenanigans between Lila and Marinette where neither can openly admit what they both know the other knows and have to skirt around social barriers in order to make the other look bad while saving face themselves. That would not only write itself, but would make more sense given their respective characterizations and would allow for much more interesting drama and character dynamics across multiple seasons.

[bluemooniegif]

Sorry if you have already talked about this but do you think Dazai’s bandages are to cover sh scars or something like that or something else like a traumatic injury. I have always assumed it was sh but my friend pointed out that he has said repeatedly he doesn’t like pain. Idk but thoughts would be appreciated :)

I have definitely talked about this before, but I forgot where or when, so let's go for round two!

CW for Dazai-typical suicide & self harm mentions

The fact that Dazai's bandages are such an obvious part of his character design, yet are rarely discussed, is absolutely intentional. As far as I remember, they're never even mentioned in the anime (except for moments such as when Chuuya calls him a walking waste of bandages), so it makes a lot of sense for everyone to be curious about what lies underneath.

Most people's minds go directly to self-harm scars, because duh, Osamu Dazai is the poster boy for mental illness. But then we think, wait... he doesn't like pain? He bitches and moans about it so much, in fact, that it casts a lot of doubt over the idea, and we end up back at square one.

Could it be because of No Longer Human? So he doesn't accidentally touch someone and activate his ability? This is honestly one of my favourite headcanons ever, and very plausible, considering that we don't actually know all that much about how NLH works... like why is it that Dazai can't control when it activates, for example? Everyone else can activate and subdue theirs, so it's got to have something to do with the fact that NLH is an anti-ability.

ANYWAY. Despite all this, there is actually an explanation of what he's hiding under there! It exists within the first few pages of Dark Era, but wasn't included in the anime adaptation. It's such an offhanded, throwaway thing, I don't blame people for missing it (side note: I wanna take the opportunity to remind you that Dark Era is mostly written from Oda's perspective!)

So yes, this is solid proof that there are scars he's hiding under there, but the question then becomes how he got them. We get a few examples on the following page:

Now, this is so ridiculous it's funny, and teetering on the edge of impracticality. If you've read No Longer Human, you'll immediately recognise this as clowning- Dazai is purposefully acting this way to detract from the seriousness of the situation. While yes, he's talking about serious injuries, and even admits to trying to kill himself, he does it in such a way that you just want to laugh.

So can we take these claims seriously? Is Dazai telling the full truth? There's no way for us to know, at this stage. But here are our options:

He is telling the truth, nothing more or less

He's partially telling the truth: owning up to the injuries, but not exactly how he got them

He's lying about the injuries and how he got them

Honestly, I think we can write off the third option, because the way Oda talks about his scars in the beginning makes me think he's perhaps seen some of them before. This makes sense when we consider The Day I Picked Up Dazai, in particular.

There's also something to be said about the nature of Dazai's job; I think it'd be remis of me not to mention it when Oda does. How much is he actually expected to put himself in harm's way? How much unnecessary danger does he put himself in- how much of this is actually self-harm? We may never know, but it's interesting to think about!

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get a hold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[dididi11]

I dont plan to get back into HH, but here are some things that have triggered me and that ik sure alot of people can agree on:

1. I feel like Charlie's idea of redemption can be seen through alot of perspectives. HOWEVER- what she specifically wants is to redeem EVERY soul. Now there's a reason to why hell exists, it's made for people who have done terrible things in their life, which is why they get banished to Hell in the first place. We may not know when a soul is actually pure enough to get redeemed- BUT we do know what you would have to be to end up in Hell. Murderers, RÆpists, Cannibals, Paedophiles- just all of those in the horrible category most definitely DON'T deserve a second chance. And even if they somehow did get redeemed, how would the victims in Heaven feel? Heaven is the place where they're supposed to feel safe- So how the hell do you expect to put them in the same place together without any conflicts? If you truly want to get the right people into Heaven, then you should background check every single Sinner throughly.

2. Adam- We all love love him and hate him, but there is one person to blame for when it comes to his Character: Vivziepop. I feel like she used the "Annoying Villain who doesn't care about anything that the protagonist has to say and is just downright badly written" trope way to often. He could've had so much potential to be a good written Character that would actually explain to Charlie why sinners just can't be redeemed. It just felt unnecessary to only let him be a douchebag, sing his song (which was banger don't get me wrong-) and shorten their time by 6 months for the next extermination to cause Charlie another COMPLETELY unnecessary problem. And all that for NO reason, "Yeah, but that's because he's a douch-" And that's exactly my point, why waste your time and effort on a basic ahh character if he's going to be a just an ordinary douche anyway? The first Season would've been so much more interesting if we actually had a logical explanation to why others are against of Charlie's idea. But no, instead all we get is "ahahaha, Sinners are stupid. They deserve Hell." Also why the Hell did Adam shorten the time for the extermination by 6 months?? It felt so unnecessary, They probably felt like the first Season would've been boring without any Action- and I'm pretty sure they could've made a different Scene that was also Epic without it not making sense.

2. ADAM AGAIN- I don't want this to be just about Adam, but since he is dead (BY FUCKING NIFFTY I HATE HER) and maybe wont come back- since we don't know if he'll get respawned..what kind of punishment will Lucifer specifically receive? To clarify things, Lucifer had disobeyed the rules of Heaven and Hell, he helped his daughter and her friends kill off half of the exorcists and even threatened them to retreat. And the worst part of all of this is that he would've killed Adam if Charlie hadn't stopped him. Even though Adam was killed by NIFFTY, I'm pretty sure the blame would be put on Lucifer instead of some Sinner. So what will happen if they try to communicate with Heaven again? They literally killed the first human of mankind created by God himself. Honestly at that point it would be a pretty huge deal and Charlie's redemption idea wouldn't even be looked into.

2. Emily and Charlie- I hate how none of the Characters genuinely understand the ACTUAL purpose of the extermination. It's to prevent Hell from gaining to much power, that's why they need to make sure to kill off half of the population. It was never about the redemption of Sinners, so Charlie shouldn't even think about canceling off the extermination. I also get why Emily is mad at Sera for lying to her, but the fact that she immediately joined Charlie's side without even thinking trough the entire thing is just downright dumb.

3. I feel like there's more to talk about, I just don't know what.

[miss-midnightt]

I just watched an absolutely incredible video about Rufus Shinra and why he can see the whispers (Link) and wanted to add on to it. It's quite long, so I'll provide a summary(ish):

Essentially, the creator of the video had three theories as to why Rufus could see them: I want to dive into the last two, which hypothesize he is Cetra or had Jenova cells injected into him (more so about the Cetra).

About the Cetra theory:

Essentially, it states that he is part Cetra because he a) can see the whispers and b) seems to possess some level of precognition, much like Aerith.

Firstly, I'd like to discuss how his mother is only mentioned to have died when he was young; this doesn't necessarily mean that Ifalna is his mother, as she can't be the only pureblooded Cetra alive after two thousand years (unless she's the product of a lot of inbreeding).

He seems to show up at pivotal moments by almost pure coincidence (or so it seems) without having any explanations offered. This sense for important moments and appearance of precognition becomes more interesting when you take a look at the Diamond Weapon's attack on Shinra Tower.

Rufus ended up having his life saved during the Diamond Weapon's attack from the very escape route he had suggested as a child, which just so happened to have the entrance exactly where he was taking shelter. keep in mind that Rufus was only five years old when he made the suggestion; President Shinra had no reason (unless you consider the humiliation aspect) to include this in the plans. However, if the President somehow knew that Rufus was special/Cetra, then the inclusion (his office is 70 floors up, mind you; installing that seems a little silly if only based off of the ramblings of a kindergartener) makes a hell of a lot more sense.

The President has also maintained that he doesn't believe in sentiment or attachment; if he had known Rufus was Cetra, it would have been a legitimate reason to include the escape route. Shinra scientists thought the scribblings of young Aerith were important, so why not the seemingly logical ramblings of a five year old who was also Cetra be just as crucial? Also, Rufus did not only say an escape route should be built, he said why; if an enemy attacked from the top their would be no way to escape...which is exactly where the Diamond Weapon attacked from.

Rufus also seems to have these...gut feelings, let's say. Sounds similar to Aerith, right? How she feels pulls to places, to things, suchlike Rufus. This also ties into the Jenova Cells theory, so let's dive into that...

Jenova Cells:

I'd like to start right off of the bat by saying this is purely speculation. I find this interesting nonetheless. This also will probably jump around and seems a bit more headcanon-y and random than the stuff about the Cetra, considering I am wayyy more interested in the Cetra theory. Anyway, let's dive in!

The theory that Rufus was the first (before even Genesis) to receive Jenova cells is plausible for several reasons. First, I'd like to discuss the year in which he was born. In the OG, his age was stated to be 25, which was changed to 30 in the remake--pretty random and unnecessary, at a glance. But it gets a lot more interesting once you realize that that would mean that Rufus was born in 1977...the year Jenova was discovered at the North Crater.

President Sinra has done some awful stuff, and I honestly don't think he'd be totally above injecting unknown substances into his unborn child (especially if Rufus was actually a bastard child that he decided to use in experiments then keep.) Anyway...

While some may argue that his eyes are blue, not glowy green, the glow and green come from mako, not Jenova. Even if there is a correlation between eye/hair color and Jenova cells, he does have light, bright blue eyes (like Genesis) and silvery blond hair. It could be a design choice, it could mean something more.

Then there are the physical strength aspects. He was able to go toe to toe with Cloud, not even showing visible signs of fatigue. Heck, he even parried a blow from the Buster Sword! While Cloud is not a true SOLDIER, he is strong enough that people think so anyway when he tells him that, and also beat Reno, Rude, and other powerful enemies. Meanwhile, Rufus soloed Cloud (with the help of Darkstar/Dark Nation) and didn't seem to be seriously injured.

Furthermore, when Rufus is infected with Geostigma in On the way to a Smile, he says something along the lines of "it felt like it [the Geostigma] was calling to me..." Now, this sounds suspiciously like the pull receivers of J cells feel to Jenova (which could help explain Rufus' presence at the Northern Crater).

I'd really recommend watching at least some of the video, as it explains things way better than I did (it's very long though, so be warned).

Lastly, I'd like to discuss something not touched upon in the video: his coins, more specifically the side of the coin with Darkstar/Dark Nation on it. This coin depicts Darkstar/Dark Nation and flowers, specifically mandragora/mandrake flowers. Why is this important? There are several reasons.

These flowers have been involved in stories and superstitions about magical powers and other tales of the like. It was said in some tales that they could only be harvested in moonlight by a black dog attached to a cord (Darkstar/Dark Nation, anyone? She does appear on that side of the coin, hmm....) after proper rituals had been conducted. Some tales said that they were tied to dark powers, that, get this, drove men mad if they heard their roots shriek. The roots are also highly poisonous.

Now, I'd like to look at color theory and the symbolism of colors in FFVII. In this game, the color yellow seems to symbolize life, hope, and rebirth, whereas purple seems to symbolize desolation, corruption, and death. Yellow is associated with Aerith through her flowers, and purple with Sephiroth for his shadowy magic. They are also contrasting colors; two sides of the same coin (pun absolutely intended). How does this connect to the coins and flowers, you ask? Well, the mandragora/mandrake flowers have a color range of...purple to yellow. Interesting, because Rufus is easily one of the most morally grey characters in the game.

Again, all of this is wild ramblings and pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

[popchoc]

The Ultimate "We Were Robbed" Tag Game

They could have been the greatest, but they never got the chance, because of... well, you name it. Show cancellations. Leaving actors. Unnecessary(!) character deaths. Drama for the sake of drama. Wasted potential. Pointless build-ups. Blind or clueless writers. Brutal showrunners...

Of course we all get that not every fictional couple can make it - rational beings as we are 😉 - but sometimes their 'not making it' does feel sad, bitter or unacceptable, leaving us with nothing other than "what could have been..."

Sooo let's take a moment and honor those ships for once (and/or yell at their creators a little - lol)!

Rules: post a gif of (max) ten of your ships that come to mind reading the above (with or without further explanation), then tag some other(s) to do the same.

‐------‐--------------------------‐---------------------------------------------------

Funny thing: I didn't even like Dani that much before she met Gigi. But from the moment they did, they were just... ALL this show was about. Until these idiot writers had to f*ck it up the second they got together for NO apparent reason. Which leaves me forever bitter about them, and The L Word: Gen Q.

Knowing Midori wanted to leave Grey's Anatomy I was highly aware that getting invested in Mika and Jules was a very bad idea, but as it turned out they'd already won me over by then. Being both (super) sweet & caring and fun & hot, they really had the potential to be Grey's ultimate couple since.... Calzona maybe?! At least it's Grey's, a show that doesn't know how to end and eventually brings everyone back! 🤡😜

In all those years of The Walking Dead I never pictured "lone wolf" Daryl with anyone... until he met Connie. From the moment they started to bond, I could actually see them together. Even more, I wanted it, for him especially. And with an actual series finale, the writers could have easily made it happen. Instead Daryl got his spin-off in France and Connie - apparently - didn't fit that script. Sigh...

Talking about deserving someone: boy, did I feel for Bea, struggling the way she did with herself and her love for Ava. Getting this close after all, only to lose her the way she did... so cruel! The cancellation that followed made things even worse, taking away any chance for them. Unfair has a name, it's Warrior Nun.

Also due to another cancelation, the Bienvenidos á Eden one, they left Bel and Zoa on an almost literal cliffhanger... and us with empty hands. While for reasons that didn't had much to do with the plot (I do admit), I def wasn't done with them! #NotAmused

What can I say? I think anyone who was only slightly invested in HIMYM's Robin & Barney felt robbed by that series finale. I was def no exception.

I'm in no way saying they hurt me with this, but every time I remember that Glee's Quinn and Santana hooked up, I do smile and wonder what could have been. Don't @ me but I might have preferred them over Brittana (at least for a while) and would have loved to see more of them then just that one episode.

Okay back to more serious: what the HELL happened to Max and Helen?! Again I can handle break-ups, they are part of romance and fiction, but theirs didn't make any sense and came with some real character assassination. Pretty unforgivable and - to me - kind of the end of New Amsterdam, which was, in the end, built from the start around these two.

Last but not least: Clarke and Lexa. Seemingly predictable. But no, I'm not mad that they killed off Lexa (I know I'm only one of a few, but I actually got that part, even though I hated the non-heroic way it happened)... I just really hate that it had to happen right after them finding each other. With that, they really took something from them... and us. The chance to actually see them, experience them as a couple. Even if it had been for half a season, a few episodes for that matter. But we got nothing. Nothing! (...nothing 🥺)

Tagging: @englishstrawbie (oh how we keep going back and forth 😄) and @padmaddean @artofdoubt @siddiqtwd @this-blog-needs-a-new-name @black-rabbit-in-winter @pinkhysteria @world-of-ryan @wlwarie (since I used all your gifs 🤭) - of course only if wanted!

[cdroloisms]

yeah hi me again with another question SO if cpunz knew the contents of the revive book the whole time cdream was in the prison, why was cdream so terrified of being killed while imprisoned? couldnt cpunz just revive him?

good question :D

i mean, dying is still kind of catastrophic, tbh -- being revived makes it really obvious that c!Dream isn't the only one with the book, which could destroy all the effort they put into staged finale (which is exactly what happened in the genuine finale, as the reveal of c!Punz and the book is what jeopardizes both his and c!Dream's lives with the nuke plan), for one. the terror of dying is something that's necessary to emphasize that He Is The Book You Need To Keep Him Alive, which is what's expected from a scenario where he's the only one with the book which is what everyone else thinks is the truth ... so there's no good reason for him not to act terrified, ykwim? Additionally, revivals are obviously causing problems (though it's unclear if he and punz knew about this by the time the prison began -- I'm inclined to say yes, but it's not hard confirmed in canon afaik) and keeping unnecessary ones to a minimum is a good play, regardless. plus, there's a lot of fucked up things you can do to someone when you can kill and revive them, and the necessity of not killing dream was very much what was protecting him in canon from shit like quackity, bc of sam's commitment to keeping him alive, etc. keeping people from ever knowing that that's a possibility protects him from Those Horrors (which have been explored already by quite a few people in quite a few AUs, at this point, LOL) -- not dying is for sure the safest choice for him, and the consequences of being killed range from "pretty bad" to "outright horrific" for c!dream no matter how you cut it -- plenty of reason to be afraid besides just death, imo.

for a much more hypothetical side of this answer, c!dream's dying to tommy and tubbo in the genuine finale really kicks off a lot -- which ends up leading to the Incident, not that it's super clear what specifically happened to trigger it (considering the planned fight against XD, the egg hatching, and the nuke literally all happened at the same time.) it's still unclear what c!Dream's specific connection to the supernatural, especially XD, is in particular, so it's hard to make any definitive judgements -- and it doesn't seem likely for c!Dream's death to be Specifically meaningful considering how many times he possibly died in death/revival experiments with c!Punz (which we. obviously still don't have a specific number, but c!Dream does say that he's been to Limbo more than once very intentionally and c!Schlatt makes a point of saying that he saw c!Dream, not Mexican Dream, in Limbo with his book of moon runes a few times as far back as march 16th) -- but that being said, could c!Dream's death be part of the Event Hullabaloo that might've played some kind of role in the everything that has to do with the server reset? I mean, possibly? He's always been someone related to the supernatural stuff on this server, so it's hard to say for sure. This latter point isn't definitive in the slightest and I think "because being terrified of death still makes sense/was the smart act to play into" is more than enough explanation for why he was acting so terrified, but it's an interesting thought experiment, I guess.

[astrojulia]

Navigation:   Masterlist✦Ask Rules✦PSD✦INSPO

       Askbox✦Template✦Paid Readings

Born to lead: Aries assume leadership roles not out of ego, but due to their natural gift. They guide people on a common path and easily take the leadership role when they see that no one is playing that role.

Calm in danger: To witness a calm Aries, put them in a situation of stress and danger. In those times, they put their attention and intelligence to work and don't just stay in action. Ruled by Mars, war is their true field and not the same thing as everyday life.

Refined sense of humor: Aries raise the energy of the place and do so through jokes as well. Their sense of humor can also be different, accepting jokes about their appearance and manner when made by people closest to them.

They have a unique style: Aries like to show themselves through their appearance, so they also look for something in which they can stand out. Whether it's using a more hardcore haircut or wearing a piece of clothing in a dark green tone, it doesn't matter - it needs to be recognized as their own brand.

Rebels by nature: Don't try to tell Aries what to do, as they will find an argument to do it their own way. If you're not Aries and you're reading this, learn to "eat around the edges" - speak indirectly and softly so they'll change their minds. Because if you're going to face them head-on, you're lost.

Honest to the extreme: Aries hate lies, and that's why they always seek to confront the issue head-on. They speak the truth promptly instead of prolonging unnecessary deception - it's one of their mottos.

Loyal: You've probably heard that fire and air signs aren't loyal at all, but that's a lie. Aries want to have strong bonds with their loved ones and try to be always present in their lives. When something goes wrong, they try to fix it, but when it's over, it's over.

Opinionated: Aries strive to be heard in situations they witness, refusing to be passive when action is necessary.

Sweet dreams or a beautiful nightmare: Aries tend to be very sweet and polite, yes, they know how to socialize and are not rage animals, but their moods can change quickly when they feel hurt.

Competitive: It's not surprising that Aries are competitive, but it's important to remember. Aries can change their environment, even if it's something comfortable, if it doesn't ignite their competitive spirit.

Sensitive heart: Aries are very emotional when it comes to matters of the heart. They become sensitive in their relationships, giving their all to form intimate bonds with people. That's why, after a breakup, they take time before getting involved again.

Dislike of waiting: Okay, was that a secret for anyone? Now, jokes aside. Aries don't like to wait, especially when there's no explanation for the delay. More than 15 minutes, and they're gone.

Engaged in various activities: If the whole world had complementary activities in schools, then I could say that all Aries do them. But since that's not the case, Aries seek out different activities in their routine. Similar to Geminis, Aries enjoy having more than one thing to do and find it dreadful to just go home and go to work.

Dislike of routine: Aries don't like routine at all, neither in life nor in love. They need something new and something to do. Every now and then, let your Aries friend create a spontaneous itinerary.

Authenticity in expressing feelings: Just as they dislike lies, Aries never lie about anything, including their feelings. If they don't like something or someone, they make it clear. They may try to disguise their emotions, but if you get close, they'll drop the façade.

Quick learners: Being passionate doesn't mean being unintelligent. Aries rule their heads and have active minds, just like other air signs. However, Aries use their mental capacity to assimilate information quickly. They often excel in specific types of intelligence that align with their interests, such as mathematical or kinesthetic intelligence.

Distorted self-perception: Aries tend to have a skewed view of themselves, particularly regarding their bodies and appearance. Sometimes they exaggerate their flaws, while other times they underestimate their true qualities.

Guardians of secrets: When someone confides in an Aries, they keep that person's secrets confidential. Their commitment to truth and trust prevents them from gossiping or sharing private information. They believe that "some things are best left unknown."

Difficulty opening up: Especially in matters of love and intimacy, Aries find it challenging to open up unless they feel a deep sense of trust. This goes against the popular belief that Aries are more relaxed in these areas.

(CC) AstroJulia Some Rights Reserved

[emelinstriker]

Anyone who calls this AU a 'slave' AU...

Then theres me who looks at this AU and just sees an excuse to hug and spoil favorite characters. (Not teying to start hate I just want to express to new viewers all I see are people taking this AU and creating fluff. The LMK already has angst filled (potential) characters and this AU, while also dark and angst filled, has characters that has the Reader who has potential to be comedy "what is going on!?!???" And "these are my pwecious babehs. Must hug and cherish" .... Brain is entering not making sense at near 11 pm....

EXACTLY-

The AU is supposed to have some dark content, I even mentioned that in my masterlist, but that's literally not even the point of the AU. It just adds more of a mystery to the environment for those enjoying the AU, who like to look for hidden lore crumbs, piece them together and figure out the story.

It's like a murder mystery. Just because people enjoy listening to/watching those does not mean they're into becoming killers. Especially if it's fictional, made up stories to let viewers engange with the situation themselves and solve it.

Meanwhile the way I've seen people interact with the champions in my inbox always ends up being more wholesome or funny. Because at its core, the AU is just there so people can have fun interacting with the characters.

And I'll keep saying it over and over if I have to.

Humans are different.

Opinions and preferences are different.

Literally no one is getting harmed in real life if I sprinkle in some hints to darker lore. Some people just like angst and dark things more than others, and that's fine. It's just generally more interesting for them.

But even then, those that prefer more of a fluffy, comedic, or even horny interaction with the cast have the option to do so. The AU is built like a one-shot. You can have one story or the other and don't need to look at the other parts. They can all be read on their own.

If someone doesn't like the AU or isn't interested, that's absolutely fine and I respect that.

However, what I can't respect is people talking shit behind my back like a group of children, publicly spreading hate and misinterpret messages. Again, I've already said my viewpoint on things. Whether people agree or disagree on my standpoint, I don't care anymore at this point.

Just as much as the brickwall I'm talking about isn't accepting the fact that not everyone shares the same opinion on how old a character is supposed to be. Especially in a fictional AU setting. When I say ESAU!Nezha is an adult, then in this very AU, as the creator of said AU, I can legally say he is an adult in this AU. End of story. If one says he's a kid in the source story, that's fine. If one says he's an adult in a made-up fictional Lego story, that's fine.

I'm literally just calmly explaining my own points and they start accusing me of more shit by taking my explanations and taking things out of context in a mob mentality, again. They even still for some reason believe Bean MK is canon and was "born and branded into slavery" when that was clearly just a wholesome way to do a crossover between me and @theweepingegg. Like, MK is an adult in this just like the others. I literally did an entire summary just some days ago, with art of him being normal-sized and not chibi-fied, about how MK joined the group. But of course they still say people are supposed to do their research, when they've clearly not done their own research on Bean MK if that's the only version to them that exists.

The fact that they already openly "exposed" my blog and all that to their followers too, without even trying to be vague at all anymore, is also starting to enter borderline harassment. Like that's literally just encouraging people to spread more unnecessary hate over literal opinions and assumptions.

Ironic, considering that blog's own controversial history.

From the unnecessary harassment of a Wattpad user over a few quotes/pick-up lines they allegedly "plagiarized" till their account deletion, to the unnecessary harassment of others for saying Nezha isn't a kid. There is literally a blog mentioning this allegation. Plus the Wattpad user could've been handled maturely like an actual adult, like y'know, talking to the author instead of being petty about it to your followers. Which is still very much something that apparently never changed about them. And after having witnessed them talk smack and lie openly about my own content on a blog of a game they're supposed to represent, I now fully believe all those harassment stories.

And despite all this, I'm still not even openly talking shit about them. Because I'm not a kid talking shit about another creator.

At this point I'm literally just about to ignore all that "drama" since I've already realized the topic hit a brickwall. Like, they're not gonna leave this very much unnecessary shit alone based on how they're still talking about it. But my care has already dwindled, knowing they're still acting like children trying to find something, literally anything, against me to rant about. I already stated my case multiple times and how the AU works. If one still takes the logical things I'm explaining out of context, then they can just keep that opinion to themselves. The "drama" literally hit the moment where all's just opinions and biases.

Now watch as either she or one of her followers will take screenshots of this post and take it all out of context as well. Because they will try to find any single piece of dirt on me to rant about.

And after some discussing about why the fuck this entire thing is even happening with some friends, and why the blog never actually notified me about shit personally, I will simply no longer respond to any allegations. I've already stated my side on the the mentioned allegations and no longer see the need in having to speak anymore. I'll just go back to doing my own thing, and you can go back to doing your own thing.

[padfootastic]

bit late to the party but i saw your post about sirius and james thinking remus was the spy amd i have some thoughts

firstly, like you've mentioned, the details just don't add up. the way i've made sense of it in my head is that the order somehow narrowed it down to the spy being one of the marauders. how did they do this? no clue. maybe information that only they knew was given to the death eaters. but i think that for sirius and james to suspect one of their friends it had to have been proven that it was one of them. and even then i don't see them fully believe it. i think they would do mental cartwheels to avoid suspecting one of their friends.

but i also think sirius would be terrified enough of the potters dying to put in some precautions. he doesn't actually want to beilieve, but he is too practical to potentially leave them exposed based on hope.

but why didn't they suspect peter? here i have kind of decided for myself that theydidn't see him as capable enough to be dangerous. we hear him described as weaker, needing help with the animagus transformation, worshiping sirius and james. if they saw him as too weak to be a threat the only option left for the spy would be remus.

i know this explanation is still weak, but it's the only semblance of a readon i'e managed to make of it

honestly, i fully believe that about sirius. i can see it as one reason for icing remus out too—he’s not deliberately doing it, but it’s considered an unnecessary security risk so he’s not taking it, not at all. if he hurts a few feelings in the process, then so be it. (and okay, wait, now that i’m saying this out loud, i’m leaning towards this even more and it would fully invalidate sirius apologising post-azkaban bc all peter’s betrayal proved is that even close friends are sus, and he’s not gonna regret caring about his brother’s safety. whiiiiich would put remus at an imbalance bc now they don’t have that cute apology exchange going on lol)

and okay like, i know that’s the most logical reason (and is kinda backed up by canon too) but my heart will somehow never accept it as the whole reason 😭 for me, peter’s betrayal was so tragic because of how close he was to the others and how much of a marauder he was. if they’d always put him down, then it lessens the whole thing for me in a way. but then, sirius’ comment ab peter finding the biggest bully…hmmm…. it could be either this or like, hindsight & lack of forgiveness. but still. i do think this reason might have been more relevant for choosing the Keeper tho. like if their options were remus and peter, they went for the latter bc he’s not as competent (in addition to remus’ senadhyaksh behaviour lbr)

[tia-amorosa]

Sunset Died - Bunch Family

New Hope

While the children are at school, the parents take care of the household. Minka the cat doesn't really have to do with that. She enjoys the warmth in the house and occasionally makes sure that her humans clean up after her.

After Jack had finished a few jobs around the house, he sat down at his laptop. But he didn't switch it on straight away. Because every time he did and checked his email, there was nothing there to help him. He would have liked to close the screen again, but a gut feeling led him not to do so this time.

Jack worked with the PC almost as if in a trance. It was the same routine as every day. He took a quick look at what was happening in the other cities and then went to his e-mail inbox. And today, once again, there were lots of fake emails and supposed competitions promising the blue sky. But in the midst of all these unnecessary emails, there was one from a familiar sender. Subject: “Is this true?”.

“Ju-Judy…"/ ‘What, are they trying to sell us a car again or give us some weight loss tips?’/ ‘No… Erin, she… she answered me…’. It almost hit Judy like a blow, she couldn't breathe or speak for a moment. She almost forgot about the food in the oven until she came back to her senses… “And… And what did she write?”.

“She writes… 'oh my God, Jack! I have to apologize for only being able to reply now. I've was macht on assignment with my team for a few months. What's more, your email didn't end up in my regular inbox, but in the spam folder, which I've coldly ignored until now.” Judy was too distracted by this message and took the precaution of getting the food out of the oven to continue cooking it later. “Unbelievable… read on…”.

“'Never in my life would I have thought that I would get a sign of life from you. Of course, I'm all the more pleased to hear that you and your family are doing well. I swear to you, I didn't know there were any survivors. Some things have been kept under wraps and are only now gradually coming to light. Judy listened spellbound.

“'I've only been back from my mission for two days and my team is pretty worn out. I'd like to give them a few more days to catch their breath, but then we'll be on our way to you straight away. Can you hold out that long? What about food? What else do you need? Please let me know'… Wow, she's got a team.” Jack was filled with joy and excitement

A huge knot that had been stuck in Judy's soul for what felt like an eternity loosened. “We're finally getting help. And she didn't even know anything?"/ ”Apparently not. I think we'll get an explanation for everything. Hhh, my God, in the spam folder… Is my email address that dubious?”. Judy's emotions fluctuated between crying, laughing and being relieved.

And Jack couldn't hold back his joy either. “haha, hey, don't cry, honey, they're going to help us."/ ”and sob how? Theyll have trouble getting here in a jeep…”. Jack couldn't help but grin mischievously “ooh, they have ways and means, believe me. Should I tell the others or let them stew a little longer?”. She saw a twinkle in his eye that she hadn't seen for a long time. But she just put her hands in front of her face, shook her head and cried the pressure of the last few months off her chest.

The news from Erin stoked the long-awaited hope you had all along. An emotional moment where you think you're alone. You hadn't even heard the front door… “Why… Why is mom crying?”/ “Arlo? You're home already?"/ ‘Yeah, today was just playing and talking, I didn't want to join in anymore’. For a brief moment, Jack and his wife didn't know whether to be angry with him or just laugh about it. They opted for the second.

“And don't worry, your mother is fine. She… she's just happy because we got good news"/ ‘good news, yes… and… what kind of news?’/ ‘we'll talk about that when your siblings are home’.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

@greenplumbboblover ⭐

Poses by @poses-by-bee , miss adrienne & jellyfish (cry baby)