#obviously other people will get other things out of these stories

[writingquestionsanswered]

Not to be a downer, but I actually finished my novel and now I’m confused because I don’t want to publish it. I don’t even particularly want anyone other than maybe my two close friends to even read it. What on Earth did I write 40k words (which I know is not really long enough for a novel, but it’s still far and away the longest thing I’ve ever written) for? I know people say “write for yourself” but like… am I just wasting my time? Help?

(p.s. you can leave this off anon)

(p.p.s your blog is really great 👍)

There's No Such Thing as Wasted Writing

I'm going to tackle this two ways...

#1 - "Write For Yourself" - there's a reason this common phrase has echoed through the Hall of Writers since time immemorial. It's because it's true! Writing doesn't have to be anything more than a pastime. It doesn't have to be anything more than something you do for your own benefit and enjoyment.

I have an in-joke with family members about how any time one of us does something the least bit crafty, DIY, skilled, whatever, a particular family member will always say, "You did a great job! You should do it for a living!" Like, someone can't even crochet a Kawaii mushroom without being pressured to turn it into an Etsy dynasty, or paint a cabinet without being pressured to become the next Property Brothers. And that's such a BANANAS capitalistic mindset, isn't it? This idea that nothing can be done purely for our own enjoyment. That you can't just write a novel because you want to... you can only write it if you plan to share it or publish it? It's just so silly.

And, the thing is, we don't even apply that mentality to a lot of other things people do purely for enjoyment. No one is streaming all of Bridgerton in two nights and saying, "I enjoyed every second of that, but why did I do that? Such a waste of time!" No one spends an hour strumming their guitar under the stars on a beach, and then says, "That was so relaxing and fun, but I didn't charge for that performance and I didn't record it to sell it, so that was obviously a waste of time."

You know what I mean?

#2 - And Anyway, Practice Makes Perfect - And if you keep writing--even if you continue not to share or publish--you'll get better and better with each story you write. Which, maybe all that means is you get to appreciate your own improvement, but also, should you ever change your mind and decide to write something to share or publish, you've now spent time honing your skills. Even if those other stories never see the light of day, they're still an important foundation of the writer you become. Do you know how many unpublished novellas, novels, and short stories I have? Too many to count. Hundreds of fan-fiction and original fiction short stories I've only shared with one or two other people, if anyone. A dozen or so novels and novellas that have only been read by a few people, and some haven't been read by anyone else or have only been read by my CPs. I would never consider those stories and novels and novellas to be a waste of time, because I know every single one made me a better writer. My published work is better because I wrote those other things.

So, I hope that makes you feel better. At the very least you hopefully enjoyed writing your novel--or at least got something out of it--and you definitely honed your writing skills, which matters! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[kurithedweeb]

I just learned why Shad hates Irene in canon and knowing what I do now about everyone’s favorite the Matron, I can say with my whole heart,

What the hell, Irene

[evilbihan]

Bi-Han was a good brother.

(original post here) I came back only to make this a seperate post so it shows up in the search and Bi-Han's tags again.

I think about this scene a lot.

People like to use Bi-Han's behavior here as an excuse to paint him as a bad brother and instantly assume that he always treated Tomas that way because of one mean thing he says to him in the entirety of the story mode, intros included.

It's almost like siblings never argue and say horrible things to each other that they later feel bad for. Personally, I believe this is the first time Bi-Han ever snapped at Tomas like that, for a multitude of reasons.

Smoke doesn't hesitate to talk back to Bi-Han, he doesn't seem intimidated by him at all. If Bi-Han were to really constantly put Tomas down and say hurtful things to him, he would be more hesitant to provoke him and avoid confrontation as much as possible. But he doesn't.

Of course, every individual is different but take it from someone who has grown up in an abusive household. If someone regularly insults you and belittles you, you're going to start walking on eggshells around them and that's not what Tomas does around Bi-Han at all.

Smoke's expression here displays hurt, anger and confusion. That's the face of someone who just got a reaction he did not expect. His body language would be different if he was used to hearing things like that from Bi-Han. He wouldn't look so surprised if he heard that whole "Lin Kuei blood" speech before. He also doesn't lower his eyes, doesn't flinch... nothing that implies Bi-Han ever talked to him like this on other occasions.

Kuai Liang's silence in this scene speaks volumes too. He doesn't try and defend Smoke, doesn't tell Bi-Han his words are uncalled for and he doesn't interrupt him either. I believe Kuai Liang was just as surprised as Tomas was by Bi-Han's sudden harsh reaction. Furthermore, there is literally no reason for him to step in.

Brothers argue, they get angry at each other. Anger is a normal human emotion and snapping at someone when you're angry doesn't make you a horrible person.

Let's talk about this scene next.

I feel stupid for even mentioning this take here because it's the silliest, most ridiculous and wildest thing I've ever seen but a surprising amount of people with flat-earther mentalities cling onto it, so even though it's obviously bs, let's debunk it once and for all.

Honestly, the first time I saw a post claiming Bi-Han kicked that rock on purpose to kill Smoke I had to re-read it twice because I couldn't believe someone would actually believe that and expect to be taken seriously.

If Bi-Han ever wanted to get rid of Smoke, he could have done so a million times already. He could have banished Tomas as soon as he became grandmaster.

He also could have aimed better.

Here's what actually happened:

Both brothers rush to the edge to check if Smoke is okay. Both are worried about him. If Bi-Han never cared about Tomas he wouldn't even have bothered coming over to see if he's still alive. He would have done the only reasonable thing in this situation, which is keeping an eye on Nitara who just attacked them.

Yes, the rock comes loose as soon as Bi-Han steps closer to the edge but that's entirely accidental and Bi-Han's surprised expression proves it.

You can see the exact moment his eyes say "Oh sh*t" because he briefly looks at the rock and instantly back at Tomas. He looks concerned, not pleased with himself like he just commited a clever murder attempt. He even reaches out as if to stop the damn rock.

He wanted to save Tomas.

It's disgusting how some people try to twist this moment into anything other than that.

Are we also going to ignore the subtle way Bi-Han puts himself in front of Kuai Liang, bracing himself while Kuai Liang flinches backwards during Nitara's attack?

What about the fight against Ermac? Bi-Han almost died, fought an insanely powerful being and his first instinct is asking his brothers if they're unharmed.

I've seen someone argue that he "only asks them if they're fine because he needs them for the mission" to which I say, they were fine. They literally looked fine, no blood on them, no scratches. Tomas didn't even go anywhere near Ermac and Bi-Han still checks on both of them.

We all know what happens next.

Yes, Bi-Han scars Kuai Liang as a way to punish him for his disobedience. Would a good brother do that? No, but a good grandmaster would. Is it fucked up? Absolutely. But again, Kuai Liang seems shocked, hurt and angry by what his brother did, just like Tomas before. Neither of them ever taught Bi-Han capable of something like that, indicating that while flawed, he was a good brother prior to his descent into madness.

When the fight starts, Tomas doesn't even try to step in. He only gets involved after Kuai Liang is injured. He wasn't expecting Bi-Han to go that far. It was a surprise to both of them because Bi-Han never once hurt them before.

As a side note, punishing his warriors for disobedience was certainly not something Bi-Han came up with himself, but rather something he was taught was acceptable by either his father or other Lin Kuei elders, but this post is meant to only focus on canon facts and what we see on screen so I won't elaborate on that here.

In a twisted way of a peace offer Bi-Han still offers a hand to Kuai Liang after scarring him and actually expects it to be accepted. He wants his brothers to join him, he wants to share the glorious future he has planned out for the Lin Kuei with both Tomas and Kuai Liang. Yes, he may be in the wrong but he wants them both on his side.

He wants it to be them against the world. He never intended for it to be him against them.

So far, that's it for the story mode.

Sadly, we never got to see what the relationship between the brothers looked like before Bi-Han gave in to corruption but the intros give us a pretty good idea of that still.

Mileena: "My bond with Kitana can't be broken." Scorpion: "I'd once thought the same of mine with Bi-Han."

They used to be close. If Kuai Liang really thought his bond with Bi-Han was unbreakable, there must have been good in Bi-Han before his frustrations led him to make all these bad decisions. Had he been some kind of abusive monster as the fandom constantly claims, they would have never been close to begin with. The brotherly love between them might be gone now but that doesn't mean it was never there.

Smoke: "Are we to be enemies for life?" Sub-Zero: "Unless you submit, Tomas."

Tomas doesn't want them to be enemies. Yes, he says Bi-Han has always been cold with him in another intro, but cold does in no way equal cruel or abusive. Bi-Han had valid concerns about Smoke's loyalty to the Lin Kuei when Tomas lost his family because of the clan. If anything, Bi-Han not trusting Tomas only shows he was protective of the Lin Kuei and worried that Smoke would end up wanting vengeance one day.

If Bi-Han ever hurt Tomas before, Tomas wouldn't be going out of his way to reunite the brothers, even asking for Liu Kang's help to do so. He says he can't forgive Bi-Han for letting their father die and yet he wants him back in his life. If Bi-Han had always been a bad brother why would Smoke want him back? Shouldn't he be relieved it's just Kuai Liang and him now? Instead, he's heartbroken that Bi-Han and him are now enemies.

Sub-Zero: "Resist me, and there will be consequences." Smoke: "And to think I once idolized you."

Tomas used to look up to Bi-Han. Who would look up to a genuinely horrible person? Absolutely no one. And for Bi-Han's part of the dialogue, he keeps warning his brothers, telling them to submit, to stand down, to not resist or try to fight him. It means he, too, doesn't want to fight them or hurt them.

Scorpion: "A shadow's fallen on your soul." Sub-Zero: "No, brother. I've seen the light."

What more do you need than this bit here as proof that Bi-Han didn't always use to be like this? Shadows only exist where light is present too. There must have been light in Bi-Han before said shadow corrupted him.

Both Kuai Liang and Tomas only resent Bi-Han for two things. Letting their father die and breaking his oath to protect Earthrealm. Nothing else is ever brought up.

At this point I think it's safe to say it's canon that Bi-Han was never abusive or a bad brother towards either Kuai Liang or Tomas.

That's it.

No headcanons, no what if's. No bullshit, just facts.

The only time Bi-Han hurts Kuai Liang is after he reached his breaking point and snapped and they're both equally ready to fight and hurt each other by then. Kuai Liang is even the one who draws first blood. Does that make him abusive too? Not at all.

[missvelvetsstuff]

As per usual, I'm a bit stuck on my current story, No Benefits(don't worry, I'm working on it but progress is slow.) And this idea popped into my head. Well, the truth is I rewatched the Newsroom and it gave me an idea. If you've seen the show you might see the similarities but it's not identical.

If you haven't seen the show, you really should.

Here's a draft of the prologue, LMK what you think and if you want more.

The Situation Room

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: After a mission almost gone wrong, Tony brings back Bucky's former assistant, who is also Bucky's ex. Can they work together without hurting each other? Will the whole truth about their break up finally come out?

Avengers AU where Thanos never happened.

Prologue

Warnings: Swearing, angst, cannabis usage

Buckys motorcycle roared up the driveway of the Avengers compound, returning from a two week vacation after a mission fiasco. Tony had sent him to his house on Loon Lake, upstate. It was bigger and fancier than Bucky ever needed but secluded, quiet and on the water. Very relaxing. Pretty girls at the bar down the road helped pass the time.

He felt himself tensing as he parked and turned his bike off. Flashes of the drama went through his mind and he shook his head in an attempt to clear it.

His goddamn assistant had risked the mission when she didn't make sure he was fully  equipped. She was cute and not bad in the sack but had only lasted a few weeks before forgetting his favorite knife and guns, causing him to be unarmed and unable to protect the civilians he was trying to rush from the building. Thankfully Sam had been close by and able to get them to safety.

Bucky was lucky no one was killed. Well, no innocents were killed but a couple were seriously hurt, including a young girl, maybe 10 years old. He was shot as well but that was healed before he had headed upstate.

The press had a field day and the anti Avengers crowd went nuts. It didn't help that he lost his temper at a reporter who pushed a camera into his face, which he grabbed with his vibranium hand and crushed before returning it to the reporter with a big grin.

Bucky strode into the building, nodding at security as he passed, and went straight for his room to drop his backpack. Then he headed to the common room, just in time for dinner. Most of the team was there and Tony reminded him they needed to meet about the assistant situation.

Obviously his old assistant had been fired but a new one would need to be hired and Bucky hated that whole process. Tony expected him to at least sit in on the interviews since the first three he had were only interviewed by Pepper and washed out within the first week.

After he ate Bucky cleared his plate, confirmed he would meet up with Tony first thing in the morning, and went to bed.

His sleep was interrupted by nightmares of that mission, they had eased while he was gone but were back now that he was home. In his dreams, he failed and innocent people died, he watched that young girl bleed out in his arms before he woke up yelling.

Bucky was up at 5am, worked out, showered, ate and headed to Tony's office. When he arrived Tony's secretary waved him into the office.

Bucky sat across from Tony and waited for him to finish his phone call "Perfect, I really appreciate your help on this. I'll see you in a few minutes?" He paused, listening "No, that's no problem, I'll keep him here."

Tony hung up the call and looked at Bucky with a big grin on his face. "I believe I have solved your assistant problem. I found the perfect person and she'll be here any minute."

Bucky nodded "Great, so I can go now, right." Standing up from his seat, Bucky turned around and saw her. He did a double take, then glared at Tony

"NO! Hell no. No fucking way, this isn't happening Stark. I'm not working with her! Not after what happened. What she did."

Y/N smirked and winked at him while her gut wrenched at the hate in his eyes, she wouldn't let him see her pain. "Nice seeing you again too, Barnes."

Tony shook his head "Sorry pal, you don't get a vote in this. You've gone through 13 assistants in 6 months, not to mention the dozens in the 2 years before that. Y/N was the last one who knew what she was doing. The rest just wanted to get in your bed."

Y/N chuckled "That won't be a problem with me. I wouldn't have even come but I could use a break. Madripoor has been worse than usual since the Power Broker showed up"

Bucky flinched at the mention of Sharon Carter but pushed it aside then smirked "Well we agree on that, you're not getting anywhere near my bed." He looked at Tony "Can I go now?"

Tony nodded. Once Bucky was gone Tony hugged Y/N "Sorry about that but you know how he is better than anyone."

She shrugged sadly "It's fine. I mean he could have gone violent. I'm gonna go get my room unpacked. I'll see you at the team meeting tomorrow morning."

Bucky stalked to his room where he paced angrily for a few minutes before yelling into a pillow then changing and heading to the gym to work it out.

He started on a punching bag and his mind wandered. Why did Tony have to bring her back? There had to be other people out there that could do the job, the rest of the team all had long time assistants and didn't go through all the drama he seemed to. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door opening.

Steve walked up to him at the same time he broke the punching bag which slid across the room and threw sand everywhere. "You alright there punk?"

Bucky glared at him "Do you know what Tony has done? Did you know?"

Steve sighed "Tony told me this morning. Said he didn't want me tipping you off. I know you're not happy about it but she was the last competent assistant you had. Your mission gear, appointments and paperwork were under control so no goofs like with every assistant you've had since, you know." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, not wanting to open any old wounds.

Bucky scoffed "How am I supposed to deal with her every fucking day. After everything that happened. I don't know if I can do this without losing it."

Steve nodded "I know but maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe you two can talk and find some kind of closure, even be friends again."

Bucky snorted "Thor been visiting with his fancy liquor? You can't possibly say that and be sober. How can I be friends after she-" he couldn't say it.

"I know jerk but just give it a shot. If it's awful then we'll make changes but at least you'll have tried."

Bucky sighed "I was gonna marry her."

Y/N went to her bedroom, Tony was kind enough to find her a place far from Bucky's quarters, where she had practically lived before everything blew up. She sighed and looked at the boxes stacked up next to the sofa, in her little seating area, before falling into the sofa.

Being in Bucky's presence for just moments was exhausting, forcing her to wade through all the heartache from two years ago. For a long moment she questioned her ability to deal with seeing him again, every day and still so pissed at her. Obviously he still hadn't learned the truth about that day but she wasn't going to try to tell him. She already did that, tried to get to him before anyone else could spin what happened but she was too late and what she found when she tried to go home had blown her life up. She had no reason to expect him to be open to hearing anything from her.

She shook her head to clear the negative thoughts. Bucky might hate her but he needed her, even if he would never admit it. Once his life was back in order and his reputation polished she would disappear back to Madripoor.

When she was done unpacking and organizing her room, Y/N grabbed a sandwich and iced tea from the cooler on the coffee table and sat back to enjoy her dinner. As she cleaned up, she ate a special brownie hoping it would help her sleep but knowing that it wouldn't be enough to stop the nightmares.

Tomorrows meeting would be interesting.

Chapter 1

[linkspooky]

Okay, so I received an ask in response to an MHA critical post I received last night that I originally responded to, but then decided to delete the ask and the original post because I didn't want to get into an argument.

However, I feel like I should address one of their complaints about a post I made last night. That I was being too dismissive on the cultural reasons for some of the writing choices Horikoshi made because I am obviously not a part of the culture that Horikoshi grew up in and is commenting on in his piece of work.

I tried not to dismiss the cultural reasons entirely in the post though, I just said I don't think you can entirely blame Hori's writing choices on them. My cited example was there are other shonen jump mangas that don't go out of their way to gruesomely kill their villains (which is what I'm taking fault with.) I understand that the death penalty is a common response to murder in japan, but within the realm of fiction of shonen manga doesn't have a trend of killing all their villains.

But yeah, that might have been a shallow argument.

So there are different lenses of fiction you can criticize Horikoshi's writing on, because every piece of fiction is in fact influenced by the culture it's in, as well as obviously the author's personal life and unconscious biases but that's not all. There's also genre to consider, and influences / inspiration the author might have taken from other works.

For example, there is also genre in particular MHA is written as a response / commentary to both western comics and classic shonen jump manga. Horikoshi said in an interview:

“Probably have to be Goku and Spiderman. To me, when mentioning heroes, these two are the ones that I think of. In Goku’s case, it’s the reassurance that everything is going to be fine he brings when arriving.” 

There are multiple critical analysis lenses that you can analyze a story from. If you're talking about MHA from a feminist lens then you're likely to stick to topics relevant to that, like say japanese feminist movements. If you're talking from the sociopolitical angle then it's relevant to discuss collectivism, and especially how it inspired the Todoroki Family. However, my intent wasn't to dismiss sociopolitical reasons as why Horikoshi chose to write the story this way, but to say it's not the only reason that informs Hori's storytelling choices. MHA isn't just one thing it's multiple thing, me deliberately choosing to talk about MHA as a response to both eastern shonen manga and western comics is a valid critical lens to apply to the manga. You can talk about both obviously, but that was a pretty short post. Perhaps I didn't word my post the best but please try to be understanding that I can't make a post covering all of my bases on leaks night.

For a manga where Horikoshi cited his concept of heroism comes from Goku and Spiderman, they both don't kill their villains, Goku specifically let Vegeta live so if those are his inspirations the choice to kill every villain is weird to say the least.

I can make the argument that MHA fails as any kind of meaningful commentary on comics in general because it doesn't seem to understand the comics it is taking inspiration from. The X-Men are the underdogs in their story, not members of the privileged class they are the outcasts. Batman doesn't kill people because he believes that most of his mentally ill victims turned villains deserve a second chance and he can't dictate who deserves recovery and who doesn't.

If anyone reading this post is curious, here are posts by @siflshonen that discuss both the manga influences and comic infleunces easter and western infleunces on MHA, and also the cultural ones. They are also really long posts because those topics require a great length to discuss critically. This one is about MHA's manga DNA in regards to Bakugo's character, and specifically references Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaiba's character as well as Jonouchi as response for Bakugo's development arc from bully to best friend. This one discusses more about the nuances of collectivism. This one is in reference to the Todoroki family, it discusses both collectivism / japanese family roles / honnae and tatamae concepts that the Todofam is critiqueig, and also how Enji is inspired by eastern ideas of heroes while All Might is inspired by western ones. (Therefore it's not a wrong critical lens to compare MHA to other shonen manga and western comics because that is literally what the manga is taking inspiration from and commenting on).

Here's a powerpoint presentation by @sans-san that discussed Hegemonic Masculinity in Tokyo Ghoul in terms of work culture and how the CCG is inspired by that, which I think also applies to Enji's character as well.

This post by @bnhaobservation spoke about how the Todorokis decision for not disavowing or abandoning Toya after he was sentenced to life in prison would still be a progressive ending to the TODOFAM arc, and while I still wouldn't have been satisfied by that ending I'd at least be able to accept it. That is however, not what we got, we got Toya dying a slow agonizing death while hooked up to life support. So we could have still gotten a slightly softer ending where Toya's at least allowed to live that would have still been in line with the values of the culture that produced MHA.

This post by @bnhaobservation also talks about how the Todofam plotline can still be seen as progressive in some ways in regards to his criticism of Enji's parenting, because of certain outdated attitudes of parenting that still exist about Enji pushing Shoto to his absolute limits.

However, I don't want to debate the person who sent the ask, I just wanted to clarify I'm not trying to make a reductive statement that sociopolitical circumstances have nothing to do with Hori's writing choices, but that you can also analyze it from a lens of genre, commentary on comics and shonen manga, and also the predecessors he's taking inspiration from. All of these things have an inspiration on Hori's storytelling choices.

Since I'd rather not debate, now that I've gotten clarifying things out of the way I'm actually going to use this post as a book reccommendation.

Here's Shigaraki with Underground, one of my favorite books. It is a non-fiction work from famed fiction author Haruki Murakami about the Saren Gas attacks.

On a clear spring day in 1995 five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas in the Tokyo Subway system. In an attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakami talks to the people who lived through the catasrophe and lays bare the Japanese Psyche.

For those who are unaware the Saren Gas attacks were a terrorist attack where members of the Aum Shirikyo cult released saren gas in the public subway system. It is the biggest japanese terrorist attack in modern japanese history and at the time and even the modern day it was a great shock to them as a whole.

The book consists of several interviews with the victims of the attack, and they are incredibly harrowing to read I remember crying while reading this book multiple times. However, at the end of the book after giving considerable time to let the victims share their stories Haruki Murakami also devotes space in the book to interviewing former members of the Aum Shirikyo cult.

Haruki clarifies his intent in his decision to include testimonial from the cult in the afterword of the novel. "As I worked on this book I attended several of the trials of the defendants of the Tokyo Gas attack. I wanted to see and hear those people with my own eyes ad ears, in order to come to some understanding of who they were. I also wanted to know what they were thinking now. What I found there was a dismal, gloomy, hopeless scene. The court was like a room with no exit. There must have been a way out in the beginning, but now it had become a nightmarish chamber from which there was no escape. [...] To all of them I posed the same question, that is, whether they regretted having joined Aum. Almost everyone answered: "No, I have no regrets. I don't think those years are wasted" Why is that? THe answer is simple - because in Aum they found a purity of purpose theycould not find in ordinary society. Even if in the end it became something monstrous, the radiant, warm memory of the peace they originally found remains inside them and nothing else can replace it. [...] However, as I went through the process of interviewing these Aum members and former members, one thing I felt quite strongly was that it was't spite of being part of the elite that they went in that direction, but because they were a part of the elite. [...] However, we need tor ealize that most of the people who join cults are not abnormal; they're not disadvantaged; they're not eccentrics. They are people who live average lives (and nmaybe from the outside, more than average lives), who live in my neighborhood and yours.

Haruki interviews members of Aum Shirikiyo because he wants to make the point that the people in these cult aren't from a dangerous fringe element of japanese society, but rather they are normal people, some of them even highly educated. The capacity to commit those crimes exists in normal people, and also the capacity to fall victim to a cult.

The Ikuhara anime Mawaru Penguindrum is heavily inspired by both the Saren Gas attacks and the questions that Haruki Murakami asked in the Underground. Fully covered here in this article: Exploring Mawaru Penguindrum 2011 from a historical, cultural and literary perspective here.

Underground was Murakami’s attempt to interview survivors of the Sarin Subway Attack. Apart from learning the perspectives of ordinary citizens involved in that shocking incident, he also managed to interview several members of Aum Shinrikyo and tried to get their point of view on the matter. (In the Japanese edition of the book, the interview with the cult members were published in a separate book, titled The Place that was Promised.) It was an important piece of journalistic work that criticized the public’s attitude of questioning what happened, instead of asking the proper question of why it had happened. In the anime, viewers knew that an event took place in 1995 that affected all the characters, but what exactly was the event about? Why did the people do that? What social factors attributed to the occurrence of such event? These are the questions that Mawaru Penguindrum asked, and one that we were left to ponder on.

Ikuhara and Murakami both exist in the same culture as Horikoshi, Haruki is an incredibly prolific japanese author and he was born in 1945 but both of them are able to ask more meaningful questions about the society they live in then Horikoshi accomplishes with the league of villains and the todoroki family. Haruki Murakami emphasizes the humanity of the aum shirikyo members and that they are not lunatic fringe members, and Mawaru Penguindrum is about the extreme social pressures that people especially children can be a victim of.

Literature is influenced by the culture it takes place in, but it's also a response to that influence and the piece of art that Horikoshi wrote just isn't as thoughtful of a response than what was written by both Ikuhara and Murakami.

More book recommendations if you're interested. The Setting Sun, by Osamu Dazai. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. How do you Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino. In the Miso Soup by Ryo Murakami. People who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry. Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa (I'd argue this is an example of good collectivism). The Memory Police by Yuko Ogawa. Out by Natsuo Kirino. There was a couple more I wanted to include but they had cannibalism in them so I thought it better not to reccommend them.

[sweettjrose]

Man i wish we had a mickey centric movie

Ik we have the christmas specials and the three musketers but man What I woudn't give for a full movie with him as...you know him! Not really playing a role just him

My friends have been all making up ideas about what his movie could be about and MAN everytime I Wake up and realize it was just us #=@÷ around on discord and its not real I just go 😟 no detective mickey movie yet

YOU *points through screen* WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS FOR MICHAEL OF MICE OF MICE OF MICHAEL MOVIE WERE COLLECTING IDEAS LIKE POKEMON CARDS 🫵🫵🫵

Oh trust me, I 100% agree.

Despite being the mascot of Disney, Mickey feels really underutilized at times it would be cool for him to get a whole movie dedicated to him that really focuses on him as a character. Like an official Disney Animated Studios one.

As for movie ideas, I mean if it isn't obvious enough by looking at my account (and it seems like you're on the same page), I would love some sort of mystery movie with Mickey playing as some kind of detective who is trying to prove himself.

I think the best way to go with a Mickey Mouse movie would be to play into his strengths and his character works best (imo) in adventure/mystery stories and as an underdog. The detective role is perfect for Mickey as it utilizes all of his strengths and weaknesses in such a economic and meaningful way.

There's a reason why the comics have pivoted to mostly him being an investigator. It brings to light his personality the best as he gets to show off his sense of justice and dedication to make things right as well as his empathy for others and ability to connect with people. There's even a chance to dig into his flaws like his stubbornness, out of control curiosity, and seemingly limitless faith in his own capabilities.

Also I have an ulterior motive. This would be the perfect way to really bring the Phantom Blot back into public consciousness as the main villain of the movie. And not just that but make him considered an official Disney movie villain where he can sit at the cool kids table with Ursula, Maleficent, and the like. A big movie would also be fitting for the first animated appearance of his unmasked face since he has had animated masked appearances before, but not unmasked. Also you could still easily fit Pete in a villain role as some kind of "partner" underling as they've worked together in the comics quite a bit.

As for the plot, I am open to anything. They could do a reimagining of Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot (Censored version obviously) since that was pretty popular. Or something new. Maybe it would be cool if it could also have some kind of meta story to it where it is a reflection and commentary on Mickey Mouse as a character and how he's changed over the years and in different media. Maybe even a criticism on how he's been mostly a mascot and not really a character lately.

But those are my thoughts. Thanks for asking.

[moog-rt]

ɪɴ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ [ch.1]

[Shigaraki Tomura x Fem!Reader]

Previous: Prologue

➨ Chapter One

Next: Coming Soon...

Premise:

The multiverse theory is the idea that there is not only one universe but, instead, an infinite number of universes, parallel to one another.

You and Tenko were heroes in your universe. The war came and went, and that left only you. When you are thrown into a universe parallel to yours, you find out the hard way just how similar and different it is from your own.

A/N: I know this is technically the first chapter BUT, there is a prologue for this story. So if you haven't checked that out yet, it's linked above, and I highly recommend reading that first.

If you'd prefer to read on Ao3, here is the link:

Otherwise, enjoy!

♡ ♡ ♡

CHAPTER ONE

The rain grew heavier, encouraging you to turn away from your departing friend in favor of heading home. Combined with the cool early-spring air, you were sure you’d get a chill. It was a little surreal, being a top-charted hero who helped save the world from villainous destruction and taking transit like you were a typical commuter. No one batted an eye. They probably didn’t even recognize you regardless of whether or not you were dressed for work.

That’s how the world was.

They cared for the first few weeks following the end of the war, but that dwindled as weeks stretched into months. Once the roads were rebuilt and everyone resumed their daily lives, there wasn’t much to remind them of what had happened.

And after the upheaval of hero-dominated society, the raving over who was Number One and which debuts showed the most promise declined to almost nothing.

Heroes were becoming a thing of the past.

Your apartment was reminiscent of that fact. For nearly your entire life, you were chasing after some dream of becoming a hero and making the world a better and safer place. Yet there was barely anything decorating your walls or countertops to suggest such a thing. You had been living there for roughly two years, just after the end of the war, but there were countless boxes shoved aside still waiting to be unpacked. You’d peered inside them a handful of times, but you decided it was better that their contents stayed tucked away.

After entering your apartment, you wasted no time in peeling off your soaked clothing. The various articles landed on the linoleum flooring with a wet slap. You kicked your pants to the side and shuffled over to one of the stools at your kitchen counter. You grabbed a throw blanket that was draped over the back of one of them and wrapped it around your shivering body.

A pitiful groan emanated from your stomach just before it cramped up uncomfortably. With a slight wince, you huffed and checked your fridge for any remaining left overs or easy meals.

What a sad sight that was. The light inside of the fridge illuminated your face as you stared at mostly empty shelves.

Whatever.

You could always order take out.

Swiping away missed calls and unread messages, you began a search for anything that sounded appealing.

Maybe if you’d gotten a text from Toga or Iguchi, you would have cared. But Toga was obviously busy with her big move, and you couldn’t remember the last time Iguchi had reached out to you. For a while, you two would try to make time to grab lunch or play games like you used to, but you both knew it was hardly the same anymore. You saw each other less and less, until your meetups stopped altogether.

Nowadays, your dreams were filled with memories rather than hopes for the future. Your heart and soul longed for the experiences and the people in your past, and the only way you could indulge was in your sleep. Waking up afterwards was like pulling teeth as you tried your utmost to return to whatever memory had been playing out in your mind.

The doorbell rang.

Your food was left outside your door, and after bringing it in, you ate maybe half of it before banishing the leftovers to the fridge of doom. The light filtering into your apartment gradually turned cool and dim, meaning it was just late enough for you to justify turning in for the night. You didn’t bother putting on a dry set of clothes, instead opting to crawl into bed wearing your mildly soggy undergarments.

Every day was the same. You’d work, go home, eat, and sleep. You never went out anymore, and you were certain that if you picked up your TV remote, it would leave a silhouette behind contrasting the dusty surface.

The only bits of ‘décor’ you had were photographs strewn about your TV stand. None of them were framed. They just lay there for you to peruse whenever you wanted to inflict even more emotional damage upon yourself. The old photos of your friends from work and school before the war best served for collecting dust.

There was one that stood out from the rest. It lay on your nightstand, still sheen from its frequent handling.

Delicately, you picked it up, just as you did most nights, and peered down at it.

–

It was the day Tenko Shimura officially started as a pro-hero at the AFO Hero Agency.

He spent the past few years with them as an internship and a work study, but everyone felt that starting there as a graduate was something to be celebrated. So you all made a day of it.

Everyone was there, and the conference room had been decorated and rearranged to better fit the occasion. Several platters of food lined the tables, filling the room with a heavenly aroma that complimented the chatter quite well.

Tenko wasn’t typically one for parties or huge get-togethers, especially when he was the focus, but he was kept from standing idly as people took turns congratulating him. You could tell he was beginning to grow tired of all the socializing.

You chuckled as you stepped up to his side, walking him away from his dying conversation. You watched as he relaxed his tense shoulders and dipped his head back with an airy groan.

“How does it feel being the life of the party?” you snickered.

He glowered at you through his messy, black bangs before placing a gloved hand on your shoulder and giving you a strong shove that sent you stumbling. You cursed as you regained your balance, ready to retaliate but he was already walking away from you.

“Hey!” You trotted back up to him.

“You’re next, you know,” he said, looking at you from the corner of his eye.

You tilted your head to the side, “To be the focus of a party?”

“To join the agency,” he corrected. “When you graduate, you’d better.”

“Oh, of course.” You grinned at him before narrowing your eyes slightly. “But only if you promise to stick around until then.”

“I’m planning on it,” he chuckled, “Unless you piss me off.”

It was your turn to jab at him, but, unlike you, he kept his balance, barely even stepping to the side.

The two of you found a secluded place to sit and chat idly but it was mostly filled with a comfortable silence as you scrolled on your phones. You were only granted a few minutes of social reprieve before Magne came looking for you.

“Are you two aware that the party isn’t out here?” she said, crossing her arms like a disappointed mother.

You and Tenko exchanged a glance, but neither of you said a word.

“Get your asses in there!” She scolded, shepherding the two of you back to the celebration. “We’re taking a group picture.”

Everyone crowded together. You were pushed up against Tenko’s side, and the two of you felt Iguchi drop his arms onto your shoulders. He stood behind you, still clearly visible between your heads, and Toga latched herself onto your free arm. Touya lurked on the very edge of the group while Compress took on a dramatic pose to ensure his theatrics would be captured for all of eternity.

One of Jin’s doubles positioned himself in front of everyone, partially crouched down and shuffling this way and that in order to get the perfect angle.

He didn’t have to tell you to say ‘cheese’ to get you to grin from ear-to-ear.

You felt Tenko’s gloved hand press against the small of your back as the camera flashed, immortalizing the occasion.

–

Seeing everybody grinning back at you in the photo four years later made your heart ache in many ways. You were happy that you possessed that memory as well as a picture to always remind you of it. But you were also tormented by the fact that it would never be recreated.

Unfortunately, plans didn’t always come to fruition.

When you started as a pro-hero at the agency, the world was in too much chaos to celebrate. And even if you held a celebration once everything settled down, Tenko wouldn’t be there to congratulate you.

In spirit, maybe.

When you really thought about it, almost everyone would be missing.

Magne had passed many years ago, when your team was assigned to the Overhaul-Eri case. The war took away Jin, Touya, Sensei, and, of course, Tenko. Iguchi would have stuck around long enough, but Atsuhiro was forced into retirement when the war first started.

In a way, the villains got what they wanted. Countless heroes were decommissioned, and those who remained were no longer viewed in the same positive light as they once were. Criticism was high if a hero couldn’t carry out a job flawlessly and without any casualties. Even then, you were always at risk of being deemed a ‘fame-chaser’ or that you were only in it for the money.

The only heroes that remained were the honest and the resilient.

You liked to think you were both, but as time went on, you grew more unsure. In the beginning, you were more than eager to make a positive impact on people’s lives, regardless of whether or not you were credited or paid for it. Eventually, you met everyone at your agency, and hero work changed your life for the better. Even if you failed a job, you had people by your side to pick you back up and keep you pushing forward.

But now?

Now, you were tired.

You no longer had your support system keeping you motivated and in good spirits. While you still felt pleased with every life you protected, that feeling of fulfillment would be gone by the time your head touched your pillow.

That’s where you were at currently.

With a deep sigh, you let go of the photograph, letting it fall back onto the nightstand, and rolled onto your back to stare at the ceiling. You shut your eyes, but you knew it would be hours before you actually fell asleep. You would either sleep the day away or you’d barely sleep at all. Rarely could you find a balance between the two.

Usually, you would stay up thinking about how everything ended up the way it did, and whether there was anything you could have done to prevent it all from happening. What could you possibly have done so that your team would still be at your side?

If you were split up differently during the Overhaul raid so that you were in Magne’s group, you could have pushed her out of the way of Chisaki’s fatal touch. If you had stuck by Jin’s side instead of letting him go into the Paranormal Liberation Front’s headquarters alone, you could have fought off Hawks before he landed his deadly blow.

And Tenko…

You’d probably have to end the war all on your own in order to save him. He was at the forefront of every battle, leading the charge. He had no regard for his own safety. He gave up his own body so that Mr. Shigaraki could transfer his quirk and conscience to it. You’re pretty sure that was the point of no return.

After that, you don’t think anything that came out of Tenko’s mouth was truly him.

Whether or not he could even hear you scream and cry for him in the final moments of the war would remain a mystery.

The heels of your hands pressed deeply against your eyes as if you could physically push the thoughts out of your head. You couldn’t do this tonight. You needed to do something, anything, other than lay there and dwell on things of the past.

How could you have known what was to come?

Throwing off your covers, you ripped the last garments from your person and got up to change into something clean and dry. You had to get out of your sad and dingy little apartment. You wiggled your way into a spare hero suit after deciding that lending a helping hand for the night was your best chance at clearing your head.

You made your way back to your agency as quickly as you could through the frigid rain. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were summer time, since the warmth would typically counteract it, but you still had a few months of spring to get through. By the time you arrived, you were a bit damp, but you found it hard to care. Pulling your keycard out of your wallet, you tapped into the system so you could get in.

Even though it was late, there were still a few people around in case of emergency, and none of them were surprised to see you stroll in. Two of them were people you had graduated with, though they did their work studies elsewhere.

“Hiya,” Minji, a pink-haired and bubbly girl, sang to you in greeting. She was sitting alert at her desk, ready for whatever report came her way.

“Hi,” you nodded, walking over to her.

Another girl you attended school with was lounging in the space adjacent to hers, leaning back as far as her chair would allow, both feet propped up on the desk. Her head turned over in your direction before she acknowledged you, “Need something to do?”

“If you have anything,” you said with a shrug.

“I think Sakiko got a call-in just a few minutes ago requesting a hero to accompany the transport of a villain,” Minji chimed with a soft smile, eyes darting over to her companion.

“Uh, yeah. Let me get the details on that,” Sakiko mumbled as she kicked her feet off of the desk and scooted closer to search through her computer. “Yeah, so the police want to transport a villain to a higher security prison… His name is Dai Uchuu. He was involved with Overhaul during the raid, but he was able to escape, and there’ve been no updates on his activity since. We also don’t have any official documentation but his quirk is believed to be a teleportation-type triggered by his hands making contact with each other.”

“Sure, that works. Send me the address, and let them know I’ll be there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The station wasn’t too far from the agency. You walked for maybe ten minutes before you could see its lit-up sign at the end of the block. There was a brief flicker but it recovered almost immediately. However, the lights within the station began to spasm on and off, which was slightly more concerning.

The police relied mainly on quirk-nullifying restraints and cells to prevent breakouts. If they were having issues with the power, then the nullification effects would likely be down, and that would be quite the problem.

You quickened your pace and rushed into the building. The first thing you noticed was the plethora of odd objects that had been thrown about the lobby. There was a bicycle on top of the desk, a canoe sticking out from one of the doorways, and a large tub of paint that was actively rolling across the floor, leaving a trail of blue behind it. You could see a large splatter on the wall where you assumed it had made contact.

The second thing you noticed was the silence. Despite the apparent chaos, not a single cop was in sight. You couldn’t even hear any voices emanating from adjacent rooms. There was no one.

You briefly reported the situation to your agency through the communicator strapped to your forearm and cautiously proceeded onto the other rooms. The holding area and the locker rooms were empty and in similar condition to the lobby. You were about to say the same for the offices, but you noticed a quiet murmur coming from behind one of the far desks.

In a slight crouch and with light feet, you slinked in that direction. As you peered around one of the desks, you saw the villain, Uchuu, still dressed in his medieval garb. His colorful back was turned to you as he rummaged through a filing cabinet. The quirk-nullifying restraints dangled from one of his wrists. One of the officers must have gotten that on him after he had a go at most of the building.

But then why hadn’t you run into him?

You silently reached forward and cast your quirk, causing his clothes to freeze him in place. As you walked forward, he began to snicker. You faltered a step at his odd behavior.

“Of course you would be the one to show up,” he spoke with a strange accent.

“I guess?” You positioned yourself in front of him. You wouldn’t be able to attach the restraint he had on to his other wrist due to it being frozen along with him, so you pulled out one of the few that you carried. “What happened to everyone?”

You reached forward to attach the new set of cuffs, but as you did, you caught sight of the file he was holding.

Was that your name?

The cabinet he was going through was supposed to contain criminal profiles. Just as you were about to question how and why he had one that was addressed to you, you felt a sharp pain on the back of your hand.

“Ow! What the fuck?!” You jerked away and were about the curse the man out for fucking pinching you, before processing the fact that he was standing up. Your surprise had caused you to release your quirk, freeing him.

“What a fortunate turn of events this has been,” he drawled with a wicked grin. You narrowed your eyes and raised your arm to use your quirk again, but before you could, his hands clapped together.

You felt your entire body lurch forward, and for a moment, everything was black.

You figured you must have blinked because it was only a second before you could see clearly again. A wave of nausea began crawling its way up your belly, but you did your best to ignore the feeling while you frantically looked around.

It took you a moment to realize that Dai Uchuu was no longer in front of you. The filing cabinet was closed and no more papers were littering the floor. He must have gotten what he was looking for and bolted… Were you seeing black for longer than you realized?

If he clapped his hands, he must have tried using his quirk but he still had a restraint around one of his wrists. That should have been enough to still subdue his quirk, so he had to be around somewhere.

You quickly made to leave, almost bumping into an officer who was standing up from his desk. He shouted after you, and you gave a clipped apology but kept on your pursuit. As you entered the lobby, you almost ran head first into another officer and had to pause to move out of her way. She didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry though.

“Do you know which way he went?” you quickly asked her as you began walking backwards towards the exit of the building.

She looked perplexed, doing a double take of you. “Who? What were you doing in that area?”

He must not have gone that way otherwise, given his outlandish appearance, she surely would have remembered. That meant he would still be in the building.

“That’s where I found Dai Uchuu. He was going through some of the criminal records but he managed to get away,” you explained, slowly walking back towards her. “I’m not sure what he was looking for, but I’m guessing—”

“Who are you?”

What?

“I’m the hero assigned to your case,” you said matter-of-factly. “You guys sent in a request for help, so I came.”

She jerked her head back, scrutinizing you. “We didn’t—”

“Listen, if you didn’t see him come this way, he must still be in the building. You guys should look for him here, and I’ll check outside in case he found some other way out,” you said as you began a quick pace into the lobby.

They made quick work of cleaning up, because all of the foreign objects that were thrown about when you’d arrived were nowhere to be seen. You noticed even the giant paint splatter was gone. Actually, the entire place looked spotless of even normal dirt and wear-and-tear. Maybe you should’ve hired them to clean up your apartment for you.

The room erupted in clamor as you booked it outside. It was a lot clearer out without the rain, but you still couldn't see any sign of the villain. Leaving it up to intuition, you started sprinting down the road to your left as you updated your agency through your communicator with a request for more heroes to help search.

You were barely running for a minute before you began feeling overheated. There was no way you were that tired already, you didn’t go through all that training for nothing. Then, you realized it wasn’t your body that was too warm, it was the air around you. Not even ten minutes ago, you were freezing your ass off as you trudged to the station in the rain. Now, it felt like the temperature outside was pushing 70 degrees.

Someone had to be controlling the weather. Quirks like that were rare, but not unheard of. Either way, that was somebody else’s problem. You were a little preoccupied at the moment.

You were growing irritated that you hadn’t heard anything from your colleagues. Minji was usually super responsive. She must have stepped away and left Sakiko in charge, which would explain the lack of urgency on their end.

Your pace began to slow as your energy grew more and more depleted.

Your end of the search was proving to be pointless. You passed a run-down convenience store when you decided it would be best to head back to the station to see if the police were fruitful. You heard the chime of the shop’s bell too late, turning on your heel to retrace your steps and crashing into someone as they were exiting.

You jostled back.

There were two people, and your collision caused them to drop their bags, scattering the contents. You crouched down to help them pick up whatever had fallen, hoping they didn’t have any paper products for the rain-soaked ground to get soggy.

Your eyebrows pressed together as you picked up a messy handful of napkins. You looked down at the sidewalk and pressed your hand against it.

It was bone dry.

That couldn’t be right, there’s no way the water would have evaporated that quickly.

You couldn’t ponder the strange occurrence for long as the shoe of one of the people stepped closer to you. Hurriedly, you scooped as many items back into the bag as you could and peered up at them with an apologetic smile. They were already reaching toward you with an open hand. It was a bit too close to your face for your liking, so you leaned away as you stood.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” You pushed the bag into their hand and finally looked at the person’s face to see it was mostly covered by a black face mask and a hood. Despite that, peeking through a plume of dusty blue hair was a pair of fiery red eyes that felt as if they were burning through your soul.

♡ ♡ ♡

taglist: @boogiemansbitch

[toffeebrew]

THOIGHTS ON HYPERSOMNIA (error x ink x dream)..?

Going to be honest I didn't consider this ship till I saw your account talking about it

Quick Edit: Somehow I accidentally convinced myself I like this ship by doing this?? LMAO

im going just off whatever my brain says so... hopefully it makes sense? I'm going to stretch things to make this work okay bare with me. That and I haven't had years to build headcanons so some of these are off the cuff. Nothing is canon obviously

I tried to wrap my head around how I would do it in my interpretation, and I decided perhaps if error calmed the hell down and realized maybe destroying universes shouldn't be ur life's goal. Due to morality difference I had trouble picturing dream being personal with error otherwise. I think perhaps some of these things dream/ink picked up on whether it being kidnapped by error or just via battle or something idk lol.

Due to Dream's empathy and knowledge of people he understands Error's motivations stem from a source of anger and not ration. Dream calls him out on it and Error feels a little violated by how accurate he gets it. Perhaps if Error did give up on destruction someday dream would be there to help him with his new identity???

More yapping under the cut

Ink, Error and Dream all relate to being outcasts and their own isolation due to the their roles (whether they bestowed it upon themselves or not). They're all lonely af (LMAOO).

I personally hc both ink and dream can lift way more than their weight. Ink not to dream's extent but he definitely is stronger than he appears. Error is perplexed with this information.

I never understood the " restores the balance thing" so personally I believe this was misconception dream had before he got to know error! Perhaps this manifested as rumors in the multiverse and error was rumored to be actually helpful instead of harmful. Also dream believed people had better intentions then they truly do at one point but as dream matures he realizes this isn't the case. Something like that. Not because I think dream is dumb, rather just want to see the best in people LOL even if he thinks what they're doing is wrong.

Error has a general distrust of dream at first, perhaps because his words remind him of another kind soul (it's blueberry... LMAO). But a part of him, even just a bit , just wants to have a "friend" (him and blue weren't exactly friends but yknow what I mean) like him again.

Dream weirdly finds some comfort in the anti-void as there is less emotional noise. I could picture dream commenting on it maybe, not directly referencing his own emotions but instead that the anti-void is calm (uh does dreams empathy have a bandwidth? I'm making that assumption.)

Dream got extremely excited when he realized error could also understand spanish.

He got quite invested in UnderNovela, dunno why but I imagine dream to be a fan of fictional romantic stories and dramas. He, Ink and error enjoy talking about it together. They've extrapolated a bunch of theories and such together for what will happen next.

I don't see dream as a crybaby but more suspectible to crying than the other two. Error doesn't... react the best to people crying nor do I believe ink to be the best at comforting others (projecting there whoops). I feel like Error is the type of guy to shove things in your face in hopes of making it stop LMAO. Like how you shake a toy in front a baby in hopes of getting them to stop crying. I just imagine error shoving sweets or some other gift in Dreams hands if he were to start crying. Dream would find his reaction kinds funny and maybe would brighten his mood a little bit. Ink is also trying his best and I suppose would try to be encouraging to dream. He would definitely give dream a well deserved hug. In general it's just an awkward mess, but they try their best. Dream would apologize after because of course he would.

Error in general gives "gifts" to dream, because he noticed Ink gives gifts to Dream when they get closer to being friends. Gifts in quotations because they're stolen. Idk, Error is weird.

While Dream obviously cam teleport au to au he doesn't understand as much the technical aspects of the multiverse. Error seems quite open to any questions he has about it I think. He hears error and ink discuss it at times but honestly it sounds quite confusing to him. Idk he's a curious little guy I think he would find himself love hearing Ink and Error yap about stuff like that *shrug*

I have this hc dream loves mlp so yeah they would watch that together.

[formulatrash]

You're so right, it doesn't/didn't get talked about enough that Mitch stopped his car to check on Alex after his car got turned upside down!!!!!

Sure, he wouldn't have scored points anyway, but a finish could have very well made a difference at the end of the season for the championship standings if there had been equal points with someone else...

it was such a genuinely heroic thing to do, like he clearly wasn't thinking about anything but Alex at that moment. Mitch wasn't in the points but his teammate was leading, so his priority should have been to get the car back safely and not risk anything that might mean there was a restart where Sam could lose the victory - or a disqualification for Mitch for, y'know, abandoning his car in the middle of a race track. and yeah, you're right, it could have been decisive in the title battle if it had gone to countback.

I didn't turn my recorder on when I spoke to him about it afterwards because we didn't know how Alex was at the time (he had a mildly bruised thumb, was the totality of it but he'd been taken to hospital and no one knew anything, not even the team) so I just asked him if he was ok and if he was willing to say anything about Alex. which he was, since he was perfectly fine and obviously fully conscious, a huge relief.

I did ask him about it at the next race and he just said it was the obviously right thing to do, so he did it without even thinking. only thing I can think to compare it to is George going mad and getting out of his car at Silverstone after Zhou's crash. there's a lot of press and pundits that talk about them as these cold competitors who effectively hate each other but there is real solidarity to being the 20 or 24 or even 186 people doing something no one else is. and of course being friends from childhood changes that even more.

at the time, Formula E's own communications department had sold the photos of the crash to the Sun (who were not at the race) even though we had no idea if Alex was alive, officially. Mahindra were terrified he was seriously injured and I was the only person who'd managed to speak to Mitch, so had to go and tell them he was probably ok. Alex never forgave them for selling the pictures and it made the crash the story, without the detail that turned it away from the horror, which was Mitch stopping to help him.

but I also think Mitch is just a good person. the next year in Diriyah he arrived to the (freezing, the temperature was below 0C because the desert at night and it hadn't been warm even during the day) media pen in just a t-shirt. I was a bit confused given he's one of the ones that tends to wrap up at the sight of a cloud and asked him about it, he just said he was running kind of hot. Adrian (the then-Jaguar PR) pulled me over after and I thought he was gonna tell me I couldn't use one of Mitch's answers or something but he just said "since he won't tell you, Mitch gave his coat to a local girl from the scrutineering team because she was freezing."

sometimes they are just good, the little car men.

[scorpiusmalfoylovesoscarwilde]

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'm sure it won't be the last time. I AM SICK AND BLOODY TIRED OF THESE MFS, HALF OF WHO DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT CURSED CHILD, BITCHING AND MOANING ABOUT AN ANGSTY TEEN DARING TO BE AN ANGSTY TEEN, I WILL FIGHT THE LOT OF YOU

(this is gonna be a bit long and probably incoherent so sit down and fucking listen to me 🔫 stick with me because I'm not just complaining about albus haters)

eVERYBODY wants cOoMmpllEeXx relatable HUMAN characters - and then SHIT themselves when the flaws a CHILD has isn't just 🥺 uwu im socially awkward and traumatised 🥺. that's why scorpius doesn't get this fuckass treatment, because his terrible human flaw is that he's a bit shit at conversation and gets sad about his dead mum (generalised understatement, but this post isnt about him. dont come for me i love him 🫶🏻)

god forbid albus, who feels unloved and unwanted (with valid evidence for a teenager), albus who feels completely out of place and outcast from his entire famously-close-knit family, ablus who is well known by the world by default via Harry and hates the attention and high expectations, albus who then gets targeted and bullied by his peers because he's not as perfect and brilliant as his father, albus who is then isolated from his one friend because Harry is making irrational ptsd fueled decisions, albus who tells Harry completely sincerely that he knows he's unlikeable but he'll try and change himself and be more like his siblings because he genuinely believes that's what Harry and everyone else whos had the misfortune of meeting him wants, albus who spends the entire play trying to prove himself and fix things via idiotic childish decisions BECAUSE HES A WHOLE UNSTABLE CHILD

god forbid that CHILD doesn't react like a patient, supported, well adjusted, level headed adult. god forbid he reacts outwardly. god forbid he reacts at all, my bad. clearly he should just sniffle a bit as if he doesn't feel suffocated and helpless by everything in his life, because obviously hes just a spoiled brat who doesn't know what real suffering is. god forbid he complains or feels anything negatively, or doesn't quite grasp that other people are struggling too because he is too busy trying so hard to deal with himself and his declining mental health the best he can with basically no support or understanding. god forbid he isn't completely perfect.

you all sound like some fucking boomer telling teenagers they don't know what real struggling is, they aren't mentally ill, they dont have any problems because they have a roof over their head, they should all go to war kids are too soft these days 😫😖😱 fUCKING‼️SHUT UP‼️

he does things wrong but he knows he does and he does everything he can to fix it! and he is fourteen!!! do none of you remember what being fourteen is like 😭😭 I swear half of you have got to be basically fourteen yourselves cmon man

cause I'm seeing this fucking pattern a lot recently. not just for albus, not just in this fandom, everywhere. ‼️ no one can fucking handle flawed characters anymore ‼️ the only thing any character is allowed to have wrong with them is trauma apparently, otherwise they have to be perfect, and I'm getting sick of it. characters and stories are meant to reflect real life, they're meant to help shape our world view, why are you expecting everyone to be fucking perfect??? what happened to nuance? what happened to understanding character development? you are all acting like characters and people are so black and white. either they're perfect or they're insufferable and evil. I won't lie, the most common victims i've noticed of this are women. but the flawed women are typically demonised, whereas the men are typically turned into uwu baby boys who actually aren't capable of doing anything wrong and then fanon goes nuts making them into ittle wittle victims. and I'm so fucking sick of all of it, I hate this. (obviously this is not a strict rule. Albus Potter, and also Albus Dumbledore now I mention it, are demonised beyond belief)

BRING BACK FLAWS AND BRING BACK NOT COMPLETELY WRITING OFF A CHARACTER BECAUSE THEY DARE TO BE HUMAN

I AM FED UP, ALBUS POTTER GET BEHIND ME

[joanvisitsrome]

stars between us - ch.5 - h.c

very cutely almost started crying while writing this. aside from that, based off of the poll i had yesterday, there WILL be a smut chapter from this!

summary: things get really weird and different after the night you spent with hazel, leading to a tearful exchange on the bus.

contains: heavy angst (im sorry), mention of ms.callahan/jeff relationship, hazel having low self-esteem

The next morning, you and Hazel wake up, still in each other’s arms. You both still feel very tired from the night before, probably due to the edibles.

“Rise and shine, lovebirds!” you hear Isabel shout from across the room. That is the moment that you and Hazel both realize that you’re in each other’s arms. You two jolt apart and roll to your opposite sides of the bed.

PJ laughs as she packs some clothes into her duffel bags. “God, if only you guys remembered everything that happened last night.”

“Did you guys kiss last night?” Brittany asks. You know that Brittany is DEFINITELY curious, since she never asks questions like that. You and Hazel look at each other.

“I don’t think we did.” Hazel recalls. You breathe a sigh of relief. As much as you were catching feelings for Hazel, you definitely did not want your first ever kiss with her to have been when you were high. Immediately after this though, a spell of silence settles between the two of you. Where you would’ve been filled with excited chatter this morning, was stricken with awkward small talk and such.

You hoped that the bus ride would fix things between you and Hazel. Maybe the two of you could listen to music together, or you could tell her another story about a constellation that you had read. All you wanted was things to go back to normal, or at least for a bit, until the two of you went on a date or something. But even then. It would turn into something more. Not this incessant silence that this was.

“I think we should talk,” Hazel blurts out the second the two of you are seated on the bus.

“What’s up?” you ask.

“I think we need to stop being friends.” the second she says that, it feels like a knife stabbed you in the chest. You thought the two of you were going to discuss last night. That maybe you would’ve been able to tell her your feelings for her. And obviously, hope that she felt the same.

“Why?” you barely get out, tears choking you up from the shock.

“Look, I can barely remember last night because of those stupid edibles, but what I remember is that there was flirting. That I initiated. And I’m sorry. Because you’re supposed to be my friend, and like you are literally hanging out with me out of all people. You shouldn’t have to have to worry about me making a pass on you. I’m sorry. So, like, I don’t know, maybe we don’t talk? Because if I’ve learned anything, it’s that I need to protect myself from others. And I feel like this isn’t going to help me.” You’re shocked. Tears are magically restrained and staying in your eyes as this sinks in.

“Haze, it’s not like that. I know you know this. And if you’re worried about me hurting you like PJ did, I can assure you that those are not my intentions.”

“Everyone says things. How do I not know that Brittany and Isabel aren’t putting you up to this? Or one of the other cheerleaders?” you can tell that this is hard for Hazel to do.

“Can’t you just trust me?” you plead, eyes locking with Hazel’s, both pairs red and ready to begin a waterfall of tears.

“I need to protect myself.” Hazel says in a low, choked-up voice. Those are the last words she says to you for the rest of the bus ride. After that, she puts on her headphones at the highest volume, high enough that you can hear the music very faintly. You curl up on the seat, burying your face into your knees and sobbing the whole ride. You eventually calm down though. If Hazel was worried, maybe you just needed to explain your true intentions with her. Tell her exactly how you feel. Well, maybe not exactly. But at least let her know that you cared  about her so much, enough to do anything to help or protect her. The bus ride stayed silent and bleak, but when the bus finally arrived at Rockbridge high school again, you had a glimmer of hope. You went to your car, throwing your duffel bag in the trunk. You decided that you would tell Hazel after.

“Hazel?” you called out as you searched the sea of students and teachers on the premises. You asked around, asking if anyone had seen her. And they all lead you to the same place. Where Jeff was. You didn’t believe it at first, since you didn’t think Hazel would be the type to talk to Jeff, but you decided it was worth a shot.

And that’s where you found her.

Tears streaming down her face, unable to get out words to what looked like her mother, who had Jeff’s arms around her waist and was kissing.

Oh my god.

It all finally made sense. Why PJ called Hazel’s mom a skank. Why Hazel was scared to trust anyone. Why Hazel said she needed to ‘protect herself’ earlier. You were about to let Hazel be, and pretend that you never saw this, when Hazel turned her head and saw you.

You had never seen someone look so embarrassed, or angry, or sad, all at the same time. You watched her run to her car and drive away, never looking back.

How the hell were you going to fix this?

taglist: @at1nyzen @slaughtercarrie @sophia2414 @canmargesimpson

[dearanakin]

trust you | anakin skywalker: episode IX

Summary: You and Anakin seem to be having a peaceful relation, compared to how it was like a few weeks ago.

Warnings: Mentions of blood, FLUFF!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

Word count: 3.8k

----

Louise:

We were sitting in a booth at the bar, celebrating Cal's birthday. He invited only a few people, and it surprised me he was brave enough to talk to Anakin — who didn't even say a word, his face was already denying the invitation. But my friend managed to convince him to stay, at least for a while.

I was sitting next to Adeline, who had Poe Dameron on her other side. While Kestis was sitting in front of her, next to Poe's friend, Finn, and Anakin facing me every once in a while. All of us were having a drink, eating snacks and chatting about anything.

It was very noticeable how Anakin was feeling uncomfortable being here with us. He could barely hold eye contact with any of them, and when I would dart my eyes over him, he would dodge it and stare at his drink like nothing happened. He was holding his glass with his flesh hand, thumb running over the rim, while the other one was resting on the table. The line formed on his lips was looking the same for several minutes, and obviously I noticed that because he hasn’t touched his drink ever since he closed his mouth after he spoke for like five seconds. 

Adeline nudged my arm with hers, her mouth coming to my ear “You think Finn is single? He’s a charming guy” 

I chuckle at her words and shake my head. Finn is a nice man, who we found out served the First Order before joining the Resistance. His dark skin is pretty smooth and he has a few scars over his face. We haven’t learned much about him, except that he and Poe became best friends after their missions together. 

“You’ll have to ask him” I smile as I sip on my strawberry flavored drink. I promised myself I wouldn’t get a lot of alcohol, because the hangover always hits me the next day. 

I look over Anakin, who’s still sitting idly watching as the guys talk about whatever it is, because I can’t be bothered to listen to their subject. Poe points his hand over Skywalker and his eyes flicker between him and Cal. Now that I’m listening, they were talking about the day those battle droids broke into the Temple. 

“Your kid was here too?” Finn asks in disbelief, after the pilot starts explaining the story, looking at Anakin. He lifts his hand up to his lips, barely agreeing when he downed the rest of the drink. 

“He went after Luke because (Y/N) went back to hide themselves” Dameron seemed to be chirpy even though the situation was completely opposite to it. But I guess it’s because he almost never gets to fight like that. 

Anakin placed the glass over the table, still holding it for dear life. His body language practically screams that he’s uncomfortable and he’s trying his best to disguise the fact that he would rather be anywhere but here. And then he nods again. 

“And the weirdest thing is that he didn’t leave (Y/N/N) behind” Cal chimed in and we all shot our heads towards him. “Because he can’t stand her” 

I don’t know why he still keeps bothering me and Anakin with the same thing over and over. It’s been a while since that happened and I’m past it. Kestis didn’t seem to have the same feeling, since he’s always bringing it up and making conversations about it when it’s not even necessary. 

I see how Anakin stiffens his body and holds the empty glass tightly around his flesh hand. Finn is about to comment over his statement, but I speak first. 

“Cal, just get over it. It’s fine, and even if that was true, he stayed and helped me” I try to make it less awkward, especially when we have a guest that barely knows the rest of us like Poe does. 

The redhead just shrugs and grabs a mouthful of snacks, as Poe keeps narrating everything that happened to him while I was following Skywalker that day. And of course, Anakin would hate to admit to anyone that he didn’t hesitate to help me that day. Especially after we got to the medical bay when he held my wrist and comforted me. 

We keep laughing and talking, still ordering food and drinks and I can already feel my face blushing from the alcohol, which can never be good. Adeline is trying to flirt with Finn, who gives her smiles and looks away when he feels a little shy. Anakin didn’t seem to care if he was drinking the content all at once, ordering another one when a waiter or a waitress walks by. I don’t think he can manage alcohol very well, given that he doesn’t seem drunk at all and if he is, he’s hiding it very well. 

Poe starts reminiscing the first time he and Anakin met, when Luke was still a baby. They were on the same mission coincidentally, and the pilot helped him get back to the Temple because he was beaten to a pulp, he’d lost his lightsaber and his clothes were trashed.

I don’t know how the conversation took a turn, but Dameron mentioned Order 66 for a reason, because the Resistance was called over to help knock the troopers and the others down. I don’t remember much about it, because I wasn’t living here by the time it happened. 

“That was when he killed younglings, wasn’t it?” Cal questioned without hesitation. I feel my stomach turn to a knot, and the aura between all of us changed when Anakin broke the glass, turning it into pieces. 

We all watch in surprise as he stands up from his seat and leaves the table, his boots heavily hitting the floor as he vanishes through the bar. I look over Kestis, who’s still deadpanned, and I raise a brow at him.

“What the fuck was that for, Cal?” I sneer and my voice cracks. I’m not defending Anakin for what he did, obviously, but that was just really insensitive of him to say. 

“Isn’t that the truth?” He fires back and leans his elbow against the table, shaking his head and leaving a sarcastic laugh. “What, now you’re gonna feel bad for the man that killed children?”

I’m just glad Anakin just left before he could hear all the shit Cal was talking about. I don’t even give him another response, getting up from my seat and following the Jedi to wherever he went. From my back, I can hear Dameron and Adeline scolding him, both really mad at his words. 

I walk through the small crowds of people spread around the bar, looking at every corner to find any sign of him, but it’s a failed mission. I have no idea where he can possibly hide or if he’s even at the bar anymore.

The next best thing was to ask the bartenders and waiters for information, but they ask for credits before giving an answer. Mercenary dickheads. One of them tells me he went to the back door that leads to a secluded bathroom. The room is mostly being used by the employees. 

I walk towards the place, facing the closed door. So much for nothing. I roll my eyes and take a sharp inhale, I need to control myself before I get to convince him to open it. But the second my hand grazes the doorknob, he speaks through a shaky tone. 

“It’s unlocked” He says while still doing whatever he’s doing in there and I push the door open. 

He’s standing in front of the sink, washing his bloody hand and picking what looks like glass shrapnel, hissing at the touch. Anakin seems to be having issues with getting rid of it since he’s using his robotic hand, the pads of it not doing the work it should. His head is hanging low as it almost touches his chest and I watch his shoulders tense up every other second. 

“Let me help you” I take a step next to him, trying to hold his hand into mine but he pushes it back. 

He doesn’t say a word, only bringing it back under the faucet. Anakin likes it difficult, he makes it a challenge to deal with him but I’ve already learned his demeanor. I know when he’s willing to piss someone off or threaten them, and that’s not it. He’s probably disappointed and feeling guilty, but I can feel his body language change when I’m close to him for a reason. 

“Anakin, just let me” I try again, this time gently cupping his hand with both of mine. I look over his scraped skin, most of it with only a few superficial cuts. He gave in with a sigh leaving his lips. 

I tried to pick up the smaller pieces carefully, my eyes focusing on every inch of his skin. I noticed how it’s littered with fainted scars along his palm, a few of them deeper than the others. He clears his throat, ripping me off of my distraction. My fingertips from my left hand keep my hold on his, while my other ones are finally removing the shrapnel left.

I lean his hand again under the running water and grab a towel to cover it. It’s probably not even sanitary to do it, but it’s the only thing that can keep the blood from coming off again. I can hear his heavy breath above me, his eyes gazing at both of our hands. 

“Why do you always do that?” He asks suddenly, making me snap my head back to look at him. 

I furrow my brows at his question and tilt my head “Do what, exactly?” 

“Do this, help me. It’s not the first time” Anakin rasps, his voice is deep and he carries a different look on his face. This one I can’t decipher. 

“I do that to everyone, I guess” I shrug, knowing that isn’t exactly the truth. I like to help out people I know and care about. And for some reason, I feel like he needs someone to be around and help him, care about him. 

Anakin shifts his gaze at me, his eyes scanning mine. He definitely knows what I’m thinking about. “No, you’re lying. Why are you here with me?” 

He doesn’t raise his voice or tower over me, even though he still has a frown over his face. 

“I just- I guess I care about you” My voice is wavering slightly, and I feel nervous. 

He purses his lips and closes his eyes for a second. Opening them, his pupils are dilated and I can barely see the blue in there. “Why? I mean, why do you care? I’ve been nothing but a dick to you lately”

Did I ever think about why I really care? I don’t even know if I even have an answer to that. Which he realizes and uses his free hand to reach over my upper arm and hold it. The touch makes my skin shiver and my heart race. 

What the hell is happening to me? I wasn’t supposed to feel it that way. The way he scans me over and slides his tongue over his bottom lip, like he’s trying to read me. I watch with wide eyes when he takes a step over to me, still squeezing my arm gently. 

“I feel like you need someone to care about you” My words come out stuttering and I curse myself for saying that. “I think no one really knows how it feels like to be miserable and have people looking at you the wrong way” 

Anakin doesn’t let go of me. Instead, he reaches closer to my face and lowers his head as our foreheads almost touch. He still breathes heavily, his breath hits my face and I don’t know where I should rest my hands so I keep one of them on his hand. I felt a shockwave strike my body when I noticed his robotic hand sliding up to my collarbone until it reached my jaw. 

His thumb ghosted over my cheek and I felt like they were burning red from the reaction, while I tried to hold his hand against mine for some kind of support. 

“Stop” He barely whispered, his eyes were still holding my gaze. I feel like I have a lump in my throat. “Stop feeling sorry for me, I don’t like that”

My brows crease in confusion, even though I know why he would feel as though someone would pity him. “I don’t feel sorry for you. I empathize with you, I know it’s not easy to live like this”

Even though I don’t know what the hell is happening, my words are more than valid and I make sure I don’t lie. I never saw him as a killer, as much as people would consider him given everything he’s been through, all I saw him as was a broken man trying to pick up what was left for him. Every day he was dealing with his regrets, his sorrows. 

I would see him debating against his own anger and rage, and not one living soul would stand up for him enough to show him that he can be forgiven. Anakin is looking for his redemption, his forgiveness, but no one is willing to give that to him. 

On the other hand, Poe has been a good friend. He knows what Skywalker has been through since he was younger, he still looks up to him as a role model, because he knows the Jedi never gave up on everything he worked for even when he fell apart. Poe still thinks there’s a good man inside and he tries to make the best of it when he jokes around and reaches a hand over to him, knowing Anakin won’t always accept. 

This is what he needs. Maybe he doesn’t need someone romantically, he just needs someone to reassure him that he’s still worth being a Jedi. 

“Then stop that too. I don’t need any of that” He shakes his head, but his look says otherwise. He’s fighting against letting someone in. “I don’t want that. I don’t want any of it. I can’t trust you” 

“Look at me, Skywalker” I use my other hand to grip his chin and lift his face up a few inches enough for him to look at me “I’m not asking you to trust me, I’m asking you to give yourself a chance to see things differently” 

Anakin struggles to look at me, snapping his eyes closed. This time, he leans in and finally rests his forehead against mine. From where I’m standing, I can see his Adam's apple bobbing as an attempt to swallow his pride. This is how I consider this, he’s trying to be conceited about it and I know how much he doesn’t trust me. 

“I can’t do that, not anymore. I- I just can’t” He still shakes his head and his nose almost bumps into mine. They're merely inches apart at this point. 

I drag my hand over his neck, hesitantly placing my thumb against his skin and he shivers. I don't think he likes to be touched or even knows anymore what it feels like. I'm not even sure it's a good thing, but I do it anyway. 

"Yes you can. You just need to try to" I whisper under his face. If we both lean in, we kiss. It's not an option for us now. Or ever. 

Anakin heaves, his fingers tangling over my hair behind my ear. He pulls back a little, only enough for me to raise my head to look up at him. "I'm not fixable" 

His words sort of sting of how broken they sound. I glance at his creased brows and how they must hurt. 

"It's not fixing, there's still hope in there"

When he purses his lips, I feel his hand leave my hair and I immediately miss his touch. This time is light and soft, it’s not brutal. But I still keep mine on him and inch closer to his cheek, leaving a chaste peck on his skin. 

"Stop beating yourself up, Anakin. I'm not the only one who cares about you" My lips are curved into a shy smile, trying to cheer him up "Let's get this cleaned and wrapped up" 

I distance myself as soon as I notice him stiffening from my kiss. It's better to not cross any boundaries anymore than that, because I don't know how much he can handle this sort of closeness. 

He takes me  to his loft instead of the medical bay, which I didn’t get why but also didn’t argue. When I offered him for us to go to my place, his demeanor shifted and he just shook his head, meaning he still didn’t trust me. That was enough to know he still wasn’t willing to let people in, and while he accepted my help, I just wonder why he would do that in the first place. 

I don’t question myself too much about that, because I’m the one who’s taking care of the guy who once threatened me and made me fear for my life. Things took a turn quite quickly this month. 

This is the first time I step into his loft, a place quite big for just two people besides the two droids they have around. The room doesn’t have much decoration and the walls are kind of dull, but I won’t judge because he doesn’t care about that kind of stuff either way. He walks to his bedroom, leaving me in the living room, and I notice R2 is scanning the entire place for a threat repeatedly.

I hear Anakin shuffling in his bathroom looking for his first aid kit, and I start fiddling with my fingers, nervous that I’m once again alone with this unhinged man. Worse of it compared to the other times, is that I’m in his house now, no one would hear me outside if he just decided to kill me. 

What if he’s looking for tools to use against me instead? I know he has clues of what he should do when killing a person, but would he just do it or torture me instead? 

God, stop it. What if he can sense my nervousness and listens to my insane thoughts? If Cal can do that, he can do that too. 

Anakin walks back a minute later, holding a box full of med kits. I’m surprised to see there’s even a suturing kit, to which I have no idea how to use because I was never in that class.

He sits next to me and I look between him and the box, inhaling sharply as I lift myself up from the couch and look over the kit. I separate the gauze, saline solution, and cottons to clean up his wounds that aren’t bleeding anymore at this point. He extends his hand for me to grab it, and I hold it carefully while taking off the towel that started to stick on his skin. With the wet cotton, I start to clean the bloody cuts slowly rubbing it over his palm. 

Every few seconds I shift my gaze at him to see how he’s dealing with that, but he seems unfazed while looking directly at his hand and not at me. I pat the area dry using a gauze and reach for a roll bandage to cover his injuries. 

The silence is almost uncomfortable, if it wasn’t for the beeping sound of Artoo scanning the loft. I bite my inner cheek before I speak up. “I’m sorry about Cal”

Anakin clears his throat, the sound echoing through the place. I look down at him and watch as he glances up at me. “It’s not your fault he’s a jackass. He’s jealous of you”

I startled at his words and my brows shot up in surprise. What did he just say? My hands halt when I try to pick up on what he tells me. “Jealous of me?”

His lips leave a light chuckle. “He likes you, (Y/L/N). It’s pretty obvious the way he cares about you and gets defensive when it comes to you”

I’m still confused as to how Cal likes me given we’ve been friends for years and he never told me anything. Am I that stupid to never notice something like that? 

“I never really noticed it” I finish bandaging him, my hands leaving his palm. He takes a quick look at it before looking back at me. 

“We’re force sensitive, we feel each other’s emotions, as much as I dislike the idea and try to shut it down” 

“So you can literally tell what I feel or think?” My voice comes out sort of desperate, because I don’t think I can deal with the fact that he knows what goes through my head. 

The way he snorts makes me feel a little exposed. 

“Sometimes, but I had shut that down a while ago. It’s different with the Jedi, don’t worry” He gets up from his couch and gathers the stuff from the medkit and leaves the room for a second. 

I take a few steps towards the door, still confused about Cal’s feelings. “Still, that doesn’t mean he can act like an asshole to you. This is about me, not him”

Anakin steps closer to me in front of his door, before opening it up for me. “He’s protective over you, I was once in his place before. I’m not a victim either, you know”

I nod, remembering how void of emotions he was when he decided to come back to Coruscant after losing Padmé. After all those years, now I see how far he’s come. He shields himself from having feelings, but I know he still has emotions. And it would hurt him to show it off again. 

He opens the door for me with the force, it sliding off completely. That was the sexiest thing I’ve seen so far. We stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, my cheeks burning from the eye contact and my hands becoming sweaty. 

I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. 

“I’ll see you around” I try to mask the raspiness of my tone, giving him a shy smile as I take a step out of his loft. 

Before I could leave, Anakin gripped my wrist softly with his metal hand and I looked at him. His brows were creased, but his face wasn’t contorted in anger or anything strange. He shifted his gaze at me for a few seconds, pursing his lips. 

“Thank you” He says in a husky voice, giving my skin a squeeze before pulling off. 

I’m too stunned to say a word so I just nod at him again and give his wrist a squeeze, mirroring his action. Anakin didn’t seem to notice he just let out a sided, but subtle smile seconds before I finally turned around and left him standing at his door.

@adorbzliz @himesuedi @kingdomhate @cl0esblogg @littlecoffeenerd @readingthingsonhere @js-favnanadoongi @twilightzone24

[sunlit-haruka]

david probably sees hu in him a lot. david thinks hu is easily manipulated because of her kindness, i think he’s projecting. as in he used to also genuinely love helping others and sticking out for people. that is, until he realised that his kindness doesnt pay and that people only take advantage of hin for it.

on that note, i think the same thing can apply to him and arei. arei is very cynical, she believes that if people dont take advantage of others, they will get taken advantage of in the end. during david’s mini break down in ep 10 (i think), he clearly pities arei for trying to befriend someone even though she’s someone with no experience with friendships at all. and he pities her for wanting to change. he definitely sees her in himself a lot. deep inside, he wishes he could change, but he stopped believing in himself a long tome ago

imo his ‘facade’ isnt 100% fake, there definitely some parts of him we see that show who he really is inside.

GODDDD you are so smart anon David is constantly projecting himself onto the people he grows close to, and I think in his four most major relationships so far (Xander, Teruko, Hu, and Arei) you can see a part of himself and what his true desires and feelings about himself are through how he interacts with them. As I explain more in-depth in this post, Xander is very much the kind of person David wants to become. someone who's compassionate and helps others and has hope and not only has faith in a better future, but actively seeks to bring it closer. Xander is David's idea of a good person, an idea that gets shattered after realizing that Xander too is not immune to being deceitful and cruel Teruko and Arei are both people that remind David of himself, specifically the cynical black-and-white way he thinks about the world. But the way he treats both of them is vastly different. The glimmer of light that shined then broke with Xander is re-lit with Arei, because Arei not just shows David a reflection of his own mindset, but a person who wants to change from that mindset. Like you said, David unquestionably saw himself in Arei, specifically his desire to change. Meanwhile in his eyes, Teruko shows no such desire and is forever dead-set on her path

David: Gosh. Teruko Tawaki. David: I know you hate anyone who isn't you, but dragging everyone down with you by getting us all executed is a low blow, even by your standards. David: You're searching for reasons to distrust others, like you always do.

Now we the audience obviously know that Teruko is putting up a front, and if my predictions on how the story will go are correct, I definitely think Teruko will eventually come around meanwhile David will continue on his downward spiral. But that's getting more into theory talk. And as for Hu, David definitely sees his more positive traits within her, specifically the fact that David genuinely wants to help others. That's also something he looked up to in Xander as well, and remember, Xander is David's idea of a picture-perfect good person, the person he wants to be, but thinks he can't be. On the topic of Hu (and this is technically getting into speculation but I think there's enough evidence to support it), I 100% think that she ended up opening up to David about her secret, which is most likely the Hopeless Child one.

Hu: I have to be the one to give everyone guidance. That's the only thing I can do. If no one relies on me, then I won't be useful anymore. Hu: You knew how I felt, and yet you... You... Hu: You toyed with my heart!

And if that is true, that also definitely resonated in David as well considering his own feelings of hopelessness, as well as his suicidal tendencies shown in how he is trying to get himself and everyone else killed in the trial, and also how his hidden quote is most likely referring to himself.

David: I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I wish you could just die.

And to cap it all off, I too also think that David's 'facade' was not entirely fake. In a lot of David analyses I see, especially right after the release of CH2-11, there's often a lot of focus on if him pre-CH2-11 was fake or not, and if his current behavior is just another fake persona, or if the small hints of tiredness and grumpiness we see from him like in the prologue is the "real David". But in my personal opinion, I think it's a lot simpler than that I think we're always seeing the real David, we're just seeing him through different perspectives.

[fancyfade]

honestly one thing i don't like about zero year is that it seems like they take beats from other stories, but can't let them be un-dramatic, or even just... not the most cinematic, explosive thing ever. Like everything from Batman-in-past has to be amped up to match Batman-in-present. And as a result there's no room for character growth, because everyone has to start at essentially what is their 'final form'.

like I don't really care for most joker backstories, but the zero year joker falls into a vat of chemicals thing is reminiscent of the TKJ origin (intentionally) which itself was calling back/building off to 'tec 168. In both of those, the situation that spawns the chemicals thing is pretty 'small scale'. TKJ has proto-joker helping two people past security in a lab he used to work at, 'tec 168 has proto-joker committing robbery just for money's sake.

while it's obviously up to the reader whether these stories are good, none of them feel epic in scale. It's not trying to be epic. TKJ is analysis of the joker, batman, and gordon, and the question as to whether one bad day can fracture anyone (with the answer 'no')

compare the relatively simple setup for TKJ joker tripping to the complete battlefield and chaos in zero year. Red Hood already has the city in terror, he has like half the police or he's already done his thesis (link) and is already connected to Bruce via the death of Bruce's parents which inspired him. He essentially already is 'joker', jsut with a different name, so there's no real purpose of the origin. And then in terms of the 'needs to be epic' scale - we have a huge dramatic showdown in the ACE chemical factory with bullets flying, philip (bruce's uncle) shoots at joker, gets shot and dies, bruce tranqs jim, grapple with the joker over the chemicals... etc.

similarly, a lot of the reason batman: year one sticks in people's heads is because we see Bruce genuinely failing at things that later are effortless for him. We see Bruce figuring out how to be Batman.

Zero year has some of that - in that he doesn't have his costume yet. But he's pretty much already still batman. he's already got his disguise, he's pretty much perfect at fighting (in a backup story we see him fighting people in a death-match for 28 hours straight as new combatants are added as bruce defeats yet refuses to kill his opponents). Like... I don't think Scott Snyder could do "bruce gets beat up trying to stop thieves on a fire escape while making sure no one ties". it's so... non-epic in scale. And everything Snyder does has to be big and dramatic and involve city-wide threats in his batman run. but it results in a 'year zero' bruce who does not really feel like he's any different from a fully realized batman in any way possible, because he already has to start as the bestest of the best.

which IDK. maybe was fun to read about when it was coming out. but as a work of literature it's just... boring. All style no substance.

[avaelangel]

I'm sad and insane. I think the show ends on my fucking birthday weekend. So you get random and stupid Claudeleine living in the 2020s headcanons.

Madeleine has several clothing lines under different names. Going out of the 1940, she was a seamstress for people, mostly ladies, who were too tall\big\thin for factory-made clothes. She still does that sometimes.

For a long time, Claudia was gathering rare books from different places. Only some of them got sold, Claudia has a collection of vintage and modern Emiliy Dickinson edition.

They are a couple. Totally, completely in love with each other. There's very little PDA about them, but the glances they give each other while Claudia helps Madeleine with sewing makes everybody jealous.

Vampires are great mimics, so Claudia can sew, but she doesn't want to impose on Madeleine's thing. But Madeleine doesn't sew for herself much, so Claudia sometimes fixates on making something nice for her beloved.

They spent some time in different suburbias over few decades. Madeleine relished freaking out mothers, young and old, but Claudia, moved only by the sound of her laugh, soon wanted something more quiet.

Honestly, a library of female authors comes easily onto their shelves. Living like ''We have always lived in the castle'' (secluded by woods and scary stories about them) is always an option.

On account of that, Madeleine for sure told at least one child that she's going to eat them. Never did, obviously.

They have mortal friends. Subconsciously, they both aim to leave some good feeling and try not to take too much with them. It's hard not to bring good people along, but both Claudia and Madeleine understand that human lives are important enough to be left alone. After some tweaking.

There's always an option to just...go off into nature. To sleep in the ground and feed on animals. Honestly, a great thing to do during a pandemic.

They play-fight at times. Full on hissing and throwing things, until Claudia drools while baring fangs and Madeleine is just dead from laughter.

Claudia doesn't sleep well. Madeleine can't brag about it either, but it comes easier to her, for some reason. So they talk or read. Both of their coffins are bigger than needed, in order for them both to fit when the moment comes.

No makers. They are just Claudia and Madeleine, no men involved, no men left behind. Just Madeleine and Claudia.

Claudia continues learning languages and barely earns praise for her French from Madeleine. Even to the point of Claudia not having an accent, her French would always be ''ugly-ish'', but Claudia will always be beautiful.

In turn, Claudia taunts Madeleine with new pet names in different languages, not telling her what they mean until Madeleine gets mad, seeks out a dictionary and stand there, ready to chuck the book at her girlfriend. ''Hornbug? Are you kidding me?'' And that's how Claudia finds out that sometimes, she isn't that good at learning languages.

They are never seen as a mother and a daughter. Claudia dresses like young woman and Madeleine really tries not to dress like an old lady, which Claudia doesn't really encourage. It's her weird white (old) lady, after all.

There are jokes about Claudia liking older women. While her and Madeleine mentally slapping their knees, because Claudia is the older woman.

[raiseyourbarkid]

when i first started watching 9-1-1, i was so excited to join the fandom.

s3 had just finished airing, so there was already plenty of fan content available, and i hurried over to ao3 and started reading the fics with the most kudos.

one of the very first ones i read involved Hen reaming Buck out for rescuing someone who didn't have a chance of surviving afterward. it felt oddly familiar, and then i realized—they basically copied the speech Gerrard gave in Hen Begins when she saved that woman in a landslide. they took the abuse that Hen endured because she was black woman, and gave it to Buck. took the words out of a racist misogynist's mouth and put them in Hen's, made her the abuser, just so Buck could be the victim.

that was one of the most popular fics at the time. that was my introduction to the 9-1-1 fandom. and unfortunately, it set a precedent for what to expect from it.

one of the next fics i read involved Buck's relationship with his father. this was before Buck Begins aired and we learned what his actual backstory was, so people liked to invent tragic backstories for him. nothing wrong with that in itself. except as i read this fic (another of the most-kudos'd at the time), i started to realize—they hadn't invented a backstory for Buck. they'd just stolen Chimney's and given it to him. because apparently the story was more tragic or meaningful if it happened to Buck instead of the asian man. (and as i recall, Chimney was made out to be a real jerk in that fic, too.)

and so it continued.

after that introduction, i always stayed on the fringes of the fandom. i still read some fic—obviously, not everyone was like that, and there were a lot of really good fanworks! but i didn't really engage beyond that. as i read more fic, another pattern was emerging: the fandom's treatment of women.

9-1-1 is far from the only fandom to have this problem. in several fandoms with popular mlm pairings, there is a lot of mistreatment of female characters, especially ones who are viewed as a "threat" to the pairing. but the way people reacted to these characters—namely, Abby, Taylor, and Ana—was somehow astounding to me. obviously none of them were perfect people—what character is?—but i couldn't imagine anything they'd done warranting the reaction i saw from fans. i had liked them as characters for the most part! i didn't see those romantic relationships working out in the long term, but i didn't see that as a reason to hate them, much less reach the levels of loathing the fandom seemed to. you'd think these women were cartoon villains, the way fandom portrayed them.

honestly, it had been YEARS since i'd seen a fandom with such bad misogyny, if ever. and somehow, i was surprised again. i'd foolishly believed that fans had been getting better about that kind of thing, about hating women over a ship. so many other fandoms managed to be kind to the women involved with the men they shipped, why was it so hard for this particular fandom?

and now all this.

Buck's finally in a queer relationship, but it's not the one people wanted, so the response is to be hateful and homophobic towards the other character involved? in what world does that make sense? how do people rationalize that to themselves?

i'm just exhausted. i'm realizing now that this fandom has never felt like a safe space and maybe never will.

in over 20 years of being in fandoms, i have NEVER been in one that was so determined to be hateful. and over a show that's predominantly about love and the power of human connections? it's downright baffling.