#she is valid for her crimes and she did nothing wrong

[aurawra21]

Arlecchino's backstory being tragic yuri with her childhood friend is so real

[reindeerswillsavethisworld]

I think Danny Phantom fandom is absolutely sleeping on the sheer dumb bulshittery Danny, Sam and Tucker generate on the regular and it’s a fucking shame. Like, the three of them have exactly one (1) single braincell between them, and the only one to use it at least semi-regularly is Jazz. You literally can’t leave them for five minutes without them stumbling into some new bullshit every single time. Granted, a lot of times bullshit finds them first instead of the other way around, but by god will they make the situation worse. They run into the situations with the same reckless abandon the cockchafers fly into any solid obstacle in their way, and you’d think that at least one of them will be the voice of reason, and you’d be dead wrong.

Danny? He thought pranking a murder happy millionaire with a vindictive streak the size of Grand Canyon was a great idea. And then, like a moron, he decided to use equally murder happy government agency with a huge prejudice against ghosts and a vendetta against him, personally. Absolutely nothing that could go wrong with that, obviously!

(spoiler alert, things did go very wrong very fast)

Tucker? A valid choice at the first glance, except he is always down to commit crimes for either his friends or just for funsies. Remember that time he ran an obviously illegal babysitting scam business? Or that time when he brainwashed and then dimensionally displaced the whole school into Ancient Egypt setting? Another notable instances of Tucker being a menace, in no particular order: organised o pro-meat protest in a few hours, tried to shoot a ghost with his phone as a projectile (and succeeded), sold Sam out to a ghost out of sheer pettiness, gave Skulker an alarm-induced ptsd, almost killed Danny that one time (don’t worry, Danny was fine) and in general committed to being bullshit-enabling gremlin.

Now Sam would seem the most grounded and reasonable out of three of them, but it is what SHE wants you to believe. She is just as, if not more, unhinged as the boys, she just hides it better. Remember that time she trashed the castle and antagonised a few dozen of armed guards, while having no back up, no weapons, no allies and while being in some shithole in the Ghost Zone? And then basically told a tyrannical asshole with op dragon powers “fuck you and your entire kingdom” in the face? And then rode another dragon who put said asshole through a wall? Good times.

They all seem like perfectly reasonable people at the first glance, and then Tucker and Danny would dare each other to lick that weird glowing green rock, and Sam would roll her eyes and groan about how stupid boys are, and then Tucker would dare her to lick that glowing rock too, and Danny will say, “Come on, Tuck, it’s okay if she’s too afraid to do it-”, and yes, Sam and her mother have many disagreements on a lot of things, but both her mother AND Granny did not raise a fucking bitch, move over, Tucker, or so help her the spirit of Pandora-

They all end up absolutely miserable in ecto-containment units sick as hell with ecto-flu and on all questions answer that no, they don’t know how this happened, maybe it was ghost attack last week, they did get blasted by that green goo, after all, but really, they have absolutely no idea, honest. Jazz suspects something, but she also has no proof and therefore can’t prove anything. In the end, it was one of the worst weeks in their life and they all ended up swearing to not do it ever again.

(they do end up doing it again two months later)

[mschievousx]

i wish you love | a.h.

pairing: aaron hotchner x ofc

summary: francesca sainz knows her interests. she likes the dark, crime, profiling, medicine, military, guns, and suits. imagine her surprise when these things come as a person... granted, a "fourty-something unit chief" person, but a person nonetheless.

series masterlist

iii. three: a song to sing

with the week almost ending, francesca sat on reid's desk, lounging and disturbing him in any way that she can. he was busy finishing up his paperworks, which usually don't take him long so she presumed that something was wrong—utterly wrong for the boy wonder to be staring blankly at his monitor for ten minutes now while tuning her ramblings out.

"spence, hands down the tenth and eleventh doctors are the best."

he sighed at that, tapping his fingers together as he explained, "they are great, no doubt—"

"i'd let them run wild on me." she interjected calmly while checking her nails, nodding as if the idea's typical.

he fully looked at her, opening his mouth to speak only to close it and gather his thoughts, "i... how are we exactly judging them? because i think there might be a miscommunication here."

franz feigned ignorance as she turned her head to him and tried to look as innocent as she could muster. spencer is once curious man, and he'll stop at nothing to understand a concept he did not.

luckily, garcia arrived with emily to save her. the girls are already passionately exchanging points when they reached the two, their beloved tech girl throwing a question to the boy.

"what's your mbti?"

"infp, yours?"

penelope squeeled at that, gushing to reid at being only a letter different from him, "enfp!"

emily smiled at her excitement, nodding to the genius, "i'm surprised you even took the test."

"myers-briggs personality test is almost accurate. it was officially researched and the results are valid." he turned to emily with a smug grin in his his tone, "you're enfj."

prentiss rolled her eyes with a smile, hinting everyone that reid was indeed correct. garcia looked at the young trainee, "yours, franz?"

"me? intj," she answered casually, leaning her arm on the desk divider.

the pink-loving woman narrowed her eyes at her, pulling her head back as her voice came out pitchy in disbelief, "no, you're not."

"all that flirting and confessions and you're a t?" emily backed her, brows crossing but with a humorly scoff.

franz pressed her lips together in a thin smile, nodding slowly in reassurance, "73 percent."

"that's high." she grinned at their bemusement, amazed herself how they could not believe her mbti.

reid narrowed his eyes in analysis of the girl's previous behaviors, "if you really think about it, she has a tendency to rule by thinking rather than feeling."

the dark-haired woman chuckled mockingly as she shook her head, "oh, i don't think there's much thinking involved when she throws herself at the boss-man."

sainz could do nothing but laugh at her reasoning, which in all honesty, she could not say it was entirely untrue.

"how come you're introverted as well?" garcia grimaced in annoyance that the girl's mbti seems to be exactly the opposite of what hers should be.

"oh, you don't know me, penelope." she grinned teasingly with pride in her voice.

prentiss nodded upwards as she crossed her arms. the rest followed her line of sight, "what about him? what do you all think his mbti is?"

francesca smugly grinned in certainty, "he's an i and t for sure."

pen squinted to their boss, pursing her lips on thinking, "istp?"

"is that gideon?"

reid stated with disbelief as he saw the familiar man walk in the bullpen. the others turned at once by that, eyes widening as the man looked at them with his usual tight smile.

"oh my god, that's gideon." emily breathed out, their eyes following the man as he climbed up the stairs.

seeing the man arriving from his office blinds, hotch stood up and walked to his door, opening it slightly as he peeked out to call for her.

"sainz, in my office."

 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

after exchaning their pleasantries, gideon had no chance to even blink before he saw the utter look of besottedness from the girl to her chief. he stared between the two inquisitively as he leaned back on the small shelf on the right side of the desk. franz took a seat across hotch, smiling too cheerfully for the men's liking.

hotch cleared his voice as he turned to jason before settling to the trainee in front of him, "as you know, it is mandatory for you to undergo a psychological evaluation after what had transpired."

she kept her eyes on him, listening intently—not to his words though but to his voice. he already knew the girl was barely conscious, her mind focusing on other matters and he had to roll his eyes inwardly in humor at that.

"obviously, i asked strauss to let me handle it. later on, i realized how biased my evaluations would be." he leaned back to his office chair, gesturing with his right hand to his former chief, "so, here we are. i brought gideon in to conduct the evaluations."

she grinned, turning to the older man with her eyes shining with its usual glint of mischief. franz shook her head lightly as she spoke self-assuredly, "he can't do the evaluations, sir, because he likes me."

hotch shut his eyes resignedly at her quip. the prestigious former chief, however, was less than amused, yet brows raising slightly in intrigue—a contrast to his monotone voice, "i can see that."

gideon stood up from his leaning and clasped his hand, putting her sarcasm at the back of his mind, "let's start."

he rounded the table as hotch stood up, the other taking his seat. her current unit chief moves to sit at the back of his office, silently waiting for them to start as he opted to observe.

"aaron," jason said suggestively as he puts on his glasses and opens the folder, scanning her files.

the man called did not move, his eyes narrowing at the sound of his name and refusing to acknowledge the other's gesture. with that, the older man raised his head from the paperworks to him. as he sees the all-so-familiar look from his former superior, hotch closed his eyes and sighed, standing up at once.

"wow, i've never seen him get kicked out of his own office so easily." franz chuckled lightly, her eyes still at ths sight of her boss descending the stairs. her laughter, however, dried when she turned back to gideon, only to see him looking at her pointedly.

"i've read the case report. i understand the need to take the shot."

they began the test, asking and answering questions back-and-forth, both related to the case and not. a good thirty minutes passed by with the man only using a single sheet to put down any observations. if it was a good thing or a bad thing, she had no idea.

gideon moved to more direct questions, frankly pertaining to the previous case now.

"i do not feel bad at all. is that a problem, sir?" she looked at her nails on her lap before leaning back on the chair and raising her head to him.

"it might be." gideon plainly said in observation.

"you know, i had to be prepared for this evaluation. get my facts right." he began, leaning on his back as well and removing his glasses, letting it dangle on his chest, "and so, i obviously looked at your records."

he paused for a good number of seconds, focusing at the papers in front of them in thinking of his following words before looking at her directly in the eyes, voice full of calmness and inquiry, "tell me, why did you intentionally fail your firearms proficiency?"

"how did you know?" she could not help the look of small surprise on her face as the man saw the pattern in her proficiency results.

he simply smiles at that, the gesture reminding the girl of who he is, "a trade secret."

franz chuckled inwardly at his secrecy. she pursed her lips, already knowing that her reasoning won't be enough for him, "i rather not carry a weapon, sir."

"why?" he was purely intrigued by that. a choice to not carry any firearm in this field of work... it was rare—and utterly foolish.

a playful smile slowly made its way on her lips, seeing the opening, "a trade secret."

"sainz," gideon smirked at her immediate wittiness, leaning forward with crossed fingers on the table, "do you play chess?"

 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

after they finished, the two vacated the office, gideon nearing rossi right away. the two went to the coffee maker, probably staying there to chat lightheartedly. there was something so endearing about their small reunion, the rest of the team smiling at the sight of the two grandfathers of the bau.

"gideon's awesome—not like manly cool, but more of a grandma cool." reid stated with raised brows, the same way he shares random facts, his admiration for the man as clear as day.

a memory resurfaced in derek's mind, the old man screaming suddenly in a room facing the window as they were observing the victim's home. he shrugged at that but smiled nonetheless, "he's a bit questionable at times but he was a great chief."

francesca nodded with a soft smile as they recall their moments with their former chief, who unfortunately, she did not get the chance to work with officially. she could see it though—their description of him.

"If you could only see the look of disappointment on his face when i suck at chess." she chuckled as she shared to them her poor excuse of plays. she knew how to play, but strategizing was never her strong suit. sainz was a girl who preferred to be head-on.

she twirled around her office chair, listening to both men when jj rounded up the corner with the widest smile.

"look who's visiting!"

"why do we suddenly have a lot of visitors today?" franz questioned as she stood up from her seat, looking at her arrival. jj's grin was something the girl has dubbed as her mom grin. she removed her hands from the insides of her pocket at the realization, "jj... no."

"we thought this week must have been so stressing for you." jj began cheerily, the sounds of kids nearing them, "now, i don't know what makes you happy aside from hotch, but i do know that these kids can make everyone's day better."

her eyes widened as she finally see two boys around the same age and immediately turned back at once, as if mouthing to reid.

"spence, i do not like—"

"henry!"

she was cut off by the cheer in the voice of the boy genius, him crouching down to jj's kid. derek only laughed at her expression. awkwardness was a rare sight on the girl, moreso that it's as simple as children that causes it.

"hey... guys." franz made a pathetic attempt of a wave, her voice void of any comfort.

jack, hotch's kid, fist-bumped with morgan as little henry turned to her, "mom says you're stressed. this makes the stress go away."

she stood awkwardly as the kid hugged her, patting his back unsurely, "yeah... thanks, buddy."

sainz looked at his mother and whisper-yelled, "jj, stop making excuses to bring kids here."

"it's december!" the mother exclaimed with a chuckle, "they always visit during december."

penelope exclaimed at the sight of the kids too, showing familiarity as she ushered them forwards, "let's go, boys. your legos and other toys are still in my office."

both boys grinned at that, starting to follow garcia but turned back to the new face as they took hold of her hands.

"wha—no, no," she protested, finding it futile as they finally reached the doors just by the kids dragging her.

it's going to be a long day.

 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

"how did it go?" hotch asked with curiosity dripping from his tone as he entered his office again, closing the blinds for some privacy.

"great," gideon stood up from the seat, his eyes lingering on her name on the folder. he tapped his fingers on it before looking back to aaron, "she has a lot of potential. where did you find her?"

"from a lecture," he replied simply, crossing his arms on his chest, "feedback?"

his former chief's brows narrowed a bit at his short and vague answer. he mentally noted that before divulging his observations, "i do not think the case and the encounter affected her much. she has a strong personality, high loyalty and confidence, and understands the job and its demands. she is not easily affected."

hotch nodded at that, seemingly relieved, "that's good. she's fit for field duty then?"

"give this report to strauss."

he moved forward and took the folder from the other man's hand, his eyes landing on another sheet of paper with scribbled notes that he can only presume as something that should not be disclosed.

"she will be an excellent agent and profiler," gideon sighed as he kept his eyes to the man, observing even the slightest change in his expression, "good thing we got her first."

"jason, what does this mean?" hotch finally looked back at him as he gestured on the paper, confusion apparent on his features.

"she's very turbulent." he pursed his lips as he explained his analysis of her actions and disposition, "so far, manipulation and lack of empathy and remorse are the only apparent signs."

"still, i stand by what i said first, and those qualities are what exactly makes her just a potential one." he walked from the desk to the windows, maintaining his gaze outside as he continued, "francesca's incredibly self-aware, aaron. i think she might even already know she's all i'm explaining right now."

jason could not help but compare her to a bird. what kind? he doesn't know yet. perhaps, the reason is because the girl has not fully hatched yet.

what she will be? the world is yet to know.

"for what it's worth, she likes you," he breaks the silence and the tension from the newfound information as he turned back to look at hotch's expression. he could see his eyes reading the page over and over again, yet stopping at once by the mention, "genuinely."

he neared him again, asking with genuine interest. hotch was sharp. he was not someone who gets side-tracked easily, "did you really not know?"

aaron clicked his tongue lightly at that, putting down the file, "that she's bordering on aspd? of course, not."

"then you were right to call me." gideon stated suggestively, watching as hotch's jaw hardened ever so slightly, "maybe, your judgement is indeed biased."

he apologizes if he was having a hard time believing it—that the girl who's laughing and playing with his son and henry just meters away from him has those qualities. francesca is a young adult—a very rocky, confusing, and unstable age.

and so, he continues to tell himself that as he descends the stairs from his office.

the previous unit chief caught up with the others for a bit as sainz turned and immediately grinned to him as always.

she narrowed her eyes at him in mock-thinking, her fingers resting on her chin as she hummed, "sir, let me guess your mbti. you're istj, aren't you?"

this girl could not possibly have psychopathic tendencies. his mind scanned through each and every interaction they had, and he came up with nothing. for some reason, he could not help the the feeling of protectiveness over her. perhaps, gideon was wrong.

perhaps, gideon just doesn't know her.

and so, he allowed a small smile grace his lips as she maintained her sight on him, grinning so widely with pride as if knowing she was right.

before he could even answer, the boys dragged her away to play again. franz groaned at them stealing her time with the boss, yet a genuine smile appeared on her features as she tickled jack upon catching him.

this girl in front of him is not what gideon says.

but perhaps, like gideon, he doesn't know her as well.

[inor-8]

Regarding Lily's top 20 Pokemon video (Part 2):

Ok so most of my individual posts from the video are from this section. So, I'm gonna try my best to articulate my thoughts as well as I can.

Again, as much as we disagree with her, all her favourites are valid as everyone deserves an opinion. Even Lily Orchard.

So without further ado....

Number 10: Froslass

Ok so we start her top 10 and how does she begin this section? By complaining about gender specific evolutions, especially, Gallade.

I don't know how but Lily seems to have conjured up this crowd of "90's Pokemon fans" that hate Gardevoir because it's strong and feminine. And also that GameFreak has made Gallade specifically to appease this crowd.

And to that I say: Huh???? Lillian Orchard are you delusional??? As far as I've seen there's no one complaining about Gardevoir's feminity ever! In fact the whole community seems to love it. And you think Gardevoir being male is gonna deter fans? Lily??? Do you know how popular femboys are??? Male Gardevoirs are a treat for them if anything.

And I find it bizarre that she she seems male Gardevoirs can somehow not exist anymore? You do know that getting a Gallade needs a rare evolution stone right?

But moving on from that, let's get to Froslass. Now, as Lily hates gender specific evos, she also initially disliked her. But what made her warm up to the Pokemon is very disturbing to me. She seems to like it because it eats the souls of men. Now, don't get me wrong. She does mention her love for snow and ghosts but still... Hearing her say "It eats men!!!" with such glee is disgusting to me. I always suspected she was like those puritan twitter rad fems but this has just made my suspicions stronger. You really hate men, don't you? You little misandrist!

And what makes me sas is I love Froslass' design and the lore behind it. It's based on a yokai (a supernatural spirit in Japanese folklore) called Yuuki-Onna (snow woman). If you've grown up with Japanese cartoons like Doraemon, Shin-Chan or Ninja Hatori like I did, you'd have seen glimpses of this yokai in the episodes featuring snowstorms.

Yuuki-Onna is the spirit of a woman who died in a snowstorm and now hunts for travels who get lost in the snow. I absolutely love it. I even used it in Platinum and it one-shot Cynthia's Garchomp. It's so sad to see it reduced to "violent man eater".

Anyways moving on...

Number 9: Pidgeot

Now, there's really nothing to say here. She just explains why she likes it and honestly it's a solid mon.

Number 8: Magmortar

Same as Pidgeot, nothing really to day here.

So instead I'll leave you with a fun fact: Magmortar's Japanese name is Booburn.

Number 7: Sceptile

Now, this is where Lily's "I'm not like other girls" attitude shows up again and this time her victim are the other evolved starters of Ash.

I don't know what you've heard Lily but Sceptile is veeery popular and an awesome one of Ash's Pokemon. But you somehow take it not being the second coming of Pikachu as a crime.

She calls Charizard "Mr. Overrated". Cope and seethe, Lily. This is Charizard nation.

And Infernape as an "angry monkey man". Well, Lily as for why Infernape is so popular is because he had a whole arc about him. His initial trainer, Paul abandoning him for being weak, to Ash rescuing and training him, to him defeating Paul and proving his strength. That's why people love Infernape.

As for Greninja, I don't know man I didn't watch that far into the anime. Ask @voidshogun the number one Greninja fanatic.

Number 6: Agron

Now again, nothing out of the ordinary. Except the fact that Lily has only changed her rooster 5 times in 7 generations. Yeah we could tell, Lilian.

Number 5: Lilligant

Now, as is expected of her, Lily shits on gen 5's story. Wow You're so different and cool Lily!

Then, she says that Petlil needed to have an introductory scene like ralts because the whole area was filled with Sewaddle (how dare you belittle sewaddle in your video Lily?!?) And then she complained about a dex entry.

Now here comes another "I'm not like other girls" moment. She mentions how she doesn't use competitively viable Pokemon because she values design and trains her Pokemon like a real trainer should. Wow, Lily? People playing with their favourites? Who would have thought?!? God you're soooo cool!

Number 4: Milotic

Another garbage take of "GameFreak took gen one's shitty edgy adolescent designs and made them better in gen three!" No they didn't Lily, you're hallucinating.

This is where the whole "gyarados is a result of 90's gritty toxic masculinity" take is from. No it isn't, Lily. You purposefully ignore the lore behind these designs and undermine them. God i hate this woman. I've already said what I wanted to about the Gyarados comparison in a previous post, so I'll leave it there.

And then she says she's one of those weirdos that enjoys Pokemon contests. Oh wow! You're so #quirky🤪 for enjoying a feature that is in the game for you to enjoy. Real special thing you've got going on there, Lily.

Number 3: Mismagius

She complains about gen 2. Lily, ma'am you would have gotten to play with Misdreavous in Crystal, if you played fucking Kanto!!!

And then she says what a stubborn little bitch she was for playing competitive with her favourites instead of researching builds....

I'm not even gonna say it this time. How many "I'm not like other girls" moment have we had so far?

Number 2: Butterfree

More of "Oh! She's weak but I love her! Aren't I do different and cool!?"

She actually mentions Madhouse in this segment, so archive this video in case she decides to lie about it and deny she made that too. Not like having proof would make her admit she made it.

Now, to no one's surprise....

Number 1: Gardevoir

Oh I don't have much to say about this one.

Just look at some of my observations from this segment:

(i) Lily can't shut the fuck up about how powerful and mighty and strong Gardevoir is.

(ii) Lily depicts Gardevoir as a monstrous banshee because she's an edgelord and thinks it's cool instead of using it's canon depiction of a loyal protector as pointed out by @manilovescp166 in my asks.

(iii) Lily is so obsessed with Gardevoir that she bases her purchase of a Pokemon game on how easily and early she can get a ralts in said game.

(iv) Lily thinks Gardevoirs as a species have the deepest bonds with their trainers and are the best companions. (Okay, I guess?)

(v) Lily genuinely believes that "She (Gardevoir) is lowkey implied to be the single most powerful Pokemon in existence. Given that they have the ability to create black holes if they're desparate enough." (Sure buddy)

(vi) Lily believes that there's this insecure crowd of Gardevoir haters that hate it because it's feminine. (She made them up in her head)

(vii) Lily thinks it's shiny is bad, also she hates all shinies so there's one consistent thing I guess?

*Sigh* this is genuinely disturbing.... Just how fucking obsessed are you with Gardevoir, Lily?! I don't even have words. Honestly I think the observations are enough to tell you how deranged this woman is when it comes to Gardevoir.

[vitanithepure]

Can we talk about Gale again? And Mystra, one last time? Or at least let me vent? I know it seems like I can't shut up about it, but deal with me this one last time?

It's a long one, an fervent one, and possibly the last one on their relationship because there isn't much to tell for me after this. I just want to lay it to rest on my part, it's too emotionally draining, but I wanted to do this.

Spoilers for them ahead.

It was some time ago I did the talk with Mystra and Gale as an origin character and I needed some time to process this and gather my thoughts. Because I was left reeling with how personal it felt for me and I hated seeing that to bo honest, even though I think whoever did write this scene did it... very well. I feel a lot of thought went into it, so even though it does touch a delicate subject it does it as tastefully as possible.

Okay, let's begin with a real banger.

Why? This will forever read as "I gave you a solution, explain yourself why you didn't die when I asked you to." for me. What kind of messed up question is that to ask someone?

But can I say how there is absolutely no wrong anwser to that asinine question? You can roleplay however you wish, but none of them are bad anwsers. Some of them are more heartbreaking then the others, but none are in any way making excuses. There is nothing to excuse and I'm glad whoever wrote this dialogue recognized this.

I chose the "I have someone else to live for" one here, because I felt that Gale, at this point, really found that special someone, be it a friend or lover, to live for. It's gut-wrenching that he needed someone to keep him alive in the first place, but this is what having an abusive ex does to you.

But the other choices here? All of them fair. She absolutely had no right to ask that of him, no matter the crime, that's just a fucked up thing to expect.

Being afraid to die? Valid, this shouldn't be put up to question.

Two last ones? Pure gold. I treat the fourth one as a direct jab at her own teachings, on how all magic needs to be preserved and studied? It's like him saying "Hey, I did what you expected and now your mad?".

The very last one is poetic justice. "I owe you nothing." and if that were me this would be the absolute end of this discussion. Mic drop, I'm out of here.

And okay, I did take he self-pity route with "I let you down." here becuase this is what I believe is closest to how "canon" Gale feels about this. That's the most heartbreaking thing about it, that he believes he was not worth enough before and is even less now and doesn't deserve love, of any kind.

What are the other options? Well, all in character and each seems like a valid way for Gale to feel. But me, the player, who is fortunate to know some meta knowledge? Oh boy.

"I was a danger to you." No you weren't. She is the goddess of magic, one of the most powerful out here. She is magic. All you could do is make her day worse.

"I disobeyed you." Yeah, you did. And she sentenced you to a slow death for it.

"You were threatened." Eh, not really. But what comes after that statement? "You realised you couldn't control me."? Yes, that is the only thing she felt threatened about - loosing control.

"Our relationship bored you. The orb was just an excuse to end it." I mean... maybe? Not enough is known about it but seeing how all reincarnations of Mystra are fickle lovers at best I would say it's a possibility. Even if it is just his ego speaking here - damn, what a way to end a relationship.

She has the audacity to tell him "he only thought of himself". Pot calling the kettle much?

Oooh, but I love what we can say here. The amout of vicious call outs here is superb.

We get to call out how much of a control freak she is. Then we can say how out of place was her punishment. Because I feel like it was a fucking equivalent of throwing a child into a dark cellar for breaking your favorite cup, while all they wanted to do was wash it for you. That is how imbalanced this whole thing is and I'm not taking criticism on that.

We also get to straight up ask what was the lesson if she never let him know what he really did and left him without means to make things right?

Then my favorite. Straight up ask her how many lives was she willing to sacrifice to get rid of the problem?

And last but not least - call her out on her lies. That's what she did. Why? I don't know. Was she afraid? Possibly, because the Karsite Weave + Crown of Karsus combo could potentially threaten her. Potentially, because as we saw in one of the Gale endings, she has no problem with just getting rid of a newly ascended god wielding them. That leads me to believe she is not afraid of loosing power as much as just being rivaled with. The indignity she has to suffer, truly.

Hit a nail on the head here. Who cares about mortals, if they live or die and in how many droves? Competition comes knocking, so all gloves are off. And that is what I believe to be the crux of the matter. Mystra wants to remove the Absolute (because that's the new upstart god breaking the status quo), the orb containing he rival Weave, the Crown which threatens her rule over magic all in one swoop. Oh, and that one guy who tries too hard and refuses to die. No biggie. Who cares, she has a line of followers who would replace her Chosen at any given time.

I'm a salty bitch over the fact we can't keep the Crown of Karsus, but instead of using it - just hide it away again. Stablize Gale's Karsite Weave and keep that thing around, hidden away. Let her sweat over the idea someone else might find it one day and rival her rule.

I know I'm way too emotional about it, but like I said, it's very personal - I been there, done that, and never recovered in full after it. I'll die defending anyone and any pixels who are struggling with their self-worth and trying to get over an emotionally abusive relationships.

"Be the better person, die saving the world and I'll 'forgive' you." Fuck. You.

And a bonus, for those of you who stuck around till the end, because I was totally naming the screens and yelling at my monitor while doing this.

[burst-of-iridescent]

How come people complain more about Aang not teaching Kya or Bumi about Air Culture than they do about how Katara didn’t teach Tenzin or Bumi about Water Culture?

I’m not denying that it was wrong for Aang to do that and Kya’s + Bumi’s feelings were valid. But Both Katara and Aang did the same crime. Katara wasn’t forced to do/not do anything, She made her own decisions. Plus The practice of only focusing on one culture had continued years after Aang died.

well, for starters: katara didn't take kya on solo vacations while leaving her other children at home with her husband. katara didn't forget to mention that she has non-waterbending children to the rest of the southern water tribe. bumi didn't feel the need to apologize to katara for not being a waterbender. tenzin and bumi didn't hold resentment towards katara well into their fifties.

i think that's a pretty clear indication of why people might complain more about aang's canonical treatment of his non-airbending children than katara's supposed neglect of her non-waterbending kids.

besides, how can we assume that katara didn't teach tenzin or bumi about water tribe culture? maybe she did. maybe she tried, at the very least. but that's the real issue: we don't know. we aren't told. and that's why it's impossible to say that katara and aang committed the same crime, because there is a stark disparity in how much information we are given regarding their respective relationships with their kids: we know something about aang's dynamic with his kids, flawed and dysfunctional as it may be, but we know next to nothing at all (at least within lok) about the intricacies of katara's relationship with her children. they visit, she loves them, they love her... and that's it. that's pretty much all we get.

and that comes back to the heart of the problem with the kat.aang relationship: katara always comes secondary to a.ang. katara exists in the legend of korra as the arbiter of aang's legacy, not her own. tenzin and bumi display no connection to their water tribe heritage not because katara doesn't care, but because the narrative doesn't. exploring the mixed heritage of the kat.aang kids with equal attention paid to both their parents' cultures would require an active investment in katara's character, and that's not something the story of lok is interested in. she's a NPC, an exposition machine, a plot device, nostalgia bait... but certainly not a character with agency and autonomy of her own. the kat.aang kids' swt ancestry is made irrelevant within lok largely because katara herself is.

but if you're looking for a watsonian explanation for why katara might not have taught tenzin and bumi about her - and their - heritage, all you have to do is look at a.ang's own treatment of water tribe culture within atla to find a far more disturbing answer. though likely unintended, there are some very troubling implications there, and the characterization of the kat.aang family within lok only worsens them.

[aleksanderscult]

Today I will rant because I want to about that character and how he's treated by some

Lately the rapist comments about him and how he was selfish are getting multiplied which makes me both angry and sad.

When you have the author itself say that she saw the King and Queen as the real villains and that we can make a case about the Darkling's worst crimes then how do some people indirectly call him the worst thing that happened to Ravka and to Alina?

They only treat Aleksander as a villain, emphasizing his sexually creepy moments and selfish motivations and completely disregard the human side of him or his traumatic past.

The Darkling did not spend 500 (and possibly more) years of his life to protect his people and stop the wars for you to call him a selfish evil man. If you want to call someone selfish then look at Baghra that stays warm in her hearth and not giving a single fuck for Ravka. If you want to call someone selfish then take a look at the King and Queen who grow fat and rich while their people and starving and think that being orphaned is "marvelous". If you want to call someone selfish then look at Mal who wanted to leave Ravka and never look back (and in the meantime, it was his country that was in danger) or even Alina.

The Darkling was quite literally the only person that decided to take action for a persecuted group of people without wavering once.

You don't give a single glimpse at his tragic elements. You ignore them. But his isolated and traumatic childhood, abusive mother figure, near-immortality that made him witness people he loved die, rare powers that have isolated him further and desperation to see the Grisha being respected and accepted says hello 🙋.

You call us fans of the category "The Darkling did nothing wrong". Well, just because we don't talk about his crimes every day does not mean we don't know about them. We just decide to talk about the Darkling in our blogs as a human, tragic figure that was much more complex than his "evil" actions. If we wanted to read about the Darkling and his evilness we would read KoS and RoW everyday. Zoya, Tolya and Genya were orators of that. But maybe we just decided to look deeper than this. To cast light to the parts he kept hidden and were so human and still valid.

Some call us even misogynistic for judging Alina. I didn't know that just because we judge one fictional, female character means that we hate all women. Wow. For your information, most of the times we judge the way she was handled by the author more than the character herself.

But having people making the Darkling a simple villain with no humanity is probably one of the worst butchering of a character I've ever seen.

Some people literally took an intriguing, complex character with selfless motivations and turned him into a power-hungry tyrant. Bye guys 💀

I don't know. If you expect from me at least to post about how the Darkling was evil, a tyrant and a rapist then you are on the wrong page. I only write about the Darkling as human most of all. With tragic elements and human emotions and vulnerabilities that were actually there. But some people cannot read past the word "villain".

[rekino2114]

Arei's s/o during the second trial

A/n:on this final installment of drdt daturday we have......angst well it's not as angsty and heartbreaking as the last episode I NEED TO GIVE TERUKO A HUG RIGHT NOW....don't worry I already have some ideas for some comfort fics for her

[Spoilers for all of drdt chapter 2 obviously]

It was hard to explain the emotions you were feeling in that elevator. You stood in the back with your head down and your arms crossed, you hadn't talked to anyone during the investigation, you didn't want to, the image of your girlfriend's body hanging from that swing was still fresh in your mind and the idea that you could even accidentally talk to the person who killed her made you want to vomit.

"Y-y/n are you OK?"

"......no"

"O-oh"

"Sorry eden, it's just.....she's gone"

"Don't worry, I understand. Her death hit me pretty hard so I can't even imagine what it's like for you"

".....thank you for checking on me"

"It's nothing. I promise we'll find her killer"

"......I don't know if that's gonna make me feel better"

"......."

Your conversation was interrupted by the door opening and everyone walking out. You went to your podium, and the trial started.

You stayed mostly silent during the first part of the trial only telling the secret you received and occasionally interjecting.....until David said this

"Ahahaha!!! Oh fucking fine.....i.....I killed arei, does hearing that make you happy?"

"!"

"You piece of shit, you really admitted to it"

"You.....how could you do that! You're horrible!"

"What a mess"

"How exciting~"

teruko convinced David to explain himself, and you were still shocked to hear what he had to say....but for a very different reason

"I suppose you could call me arei's murderer but it's more like I talked her into killing herself"

........what?

"You........what?"

"She already had a pretty low opinion of herself, and she was looking for validation from me. It was pretty easy to convince her she should die"

"That's.....that's-"

"Terrible! how could you possibly do that! Arei wanted to change! and you talked her into believing she couldn't!"

"And why should I care? Actually, to that matter, why should you care? Arei contributed nothing of significant value to my life or to yours. She existed as a background character for a few short days, to occasionally interject brief interruptions of bitching and now she's gone. Arei had about as much impact as a temporary weather spell, but no one cries when the sun comes out again"

You couldn't take it anymore. That bastard needed to shut up

".....I see so that's how it is.......how dare you"

"Oh, what are you mad that i-"

"How dare you lie to our faces like that!"

"........."

"Ahahaha and to think I believed you for a second, arei killed herself? Sure whatever you say!"

"Y-y/n?, what's wrong?"

"Listen to me, arei would never kill herself, do you know how many death treaths she received? Do you know how many times her sisters told her to do just that? And you think she'd do that because of you? Fuck off"

"I agree with y/n, arei wasn't the type to commit suicide plus there's too much stuff that David can't explain about the crime"

"Oh, you don't believe me? how cruel! I wanted to make this trial easier for you, you know?"

"Shut up! I'm sure teruko will find some concrete evidence to expose your lie but just know I'm not voting until this blue haired bitch tells the truth"

"Blue haired bitch? Awwww are you seeing arei's ghost? Maybe she wants you to join her"

"I was talking about you shithead, now stop lying"

"..........you want the truth uh?.......fine then I guess I'll tell you, y/n is right, I didn't kill arei, I didn't talk her into suicide, our conversation had nothing to do with her death"

"W-what?"

"Took you long enough"

"Why the hell did you lie then? Don't you know that if we vote wrong all of us will die, you too shitface"

".....I don't know if that will answer your question but if anyone was wondering............I know who the real killer is"

"E-eh?"

"What the fuck?"

"What are you on about now?"

"It's true, I was near the crime scene around the time of the murder, did you forget that? And I saw the murder being committed"

"He's probably lying again.....right?"

"But why would he?"

"W-who is it? Who killed arei?"

"Alright then, listen closely cause I'll say it one time only......the cold-blooded killer who ruthlessly took arei nageishi's life is.............. Y/N L/N!"

W-what did he just say?

"W-whaaaaaaaaaat?"

"No way!"

"Y-you bastard"

"Explain yourself"

"Very well, since teruko asked me so nicely, I'll do it. So, as you know and as ace can confirm, arei and i had a conversation in the relaxation room, after she left I stayed there for a while thinking about our discussion and when I left I passed by the playground, the rooms are right in front of each other if you remember, and there I saw....y/n right in the middle of strangling arei, of course I left immediately to not become the next portrait around here"

"....there's no way, you're lying, y/n would never, they loved arei"

"If you knew they were the killer, then why did you claim to have killed her earlier?"

"Because I was soooo distraught by the scene of y/n killing the person they claimed to love that I just felt the need to cover for them"

"R-really?"

"Nope I just wanted you all to vote wrong"

"Fuck you"

"We almost died because of your lie"

"Like I care, so what do you have to say.... you murderer?"

David looked straight at you, and you snapped, not only did this piece of shit lie to arei to gain her trust, not only did he try to get everyone killed but now he was lying again and claiming that you were the killer?

"......so that's how you want to play.... alright then, I'll play by your rules"

"How fun~"

"First of all why the heck would I kill arei? She was my girlfriend for fuck's sake"

"I dunno maybe you had an argument that escalated"

"As if I'd kill her for something like that"

"Then maybe she started attacking you first. She was pretty aggressive after all. Maybe this was all just self-defense"

"Oh, so you think I just carry around rope with me everywhere I go? She was hanged, remember?"

"Well I saw you choking her so maybe you put too much force and accidentally killed her, then when you realized what you had done, you decided to grab the rope and make it look like a suicide"

"Then why the fuck would I object when you yourself told everyone you talked arei into suicide? everyone was about to vote for you, if I stayed silent I would have won the trial"

"You said it yourself. You knew teruko was going to disprove me sooner or later, so you thought that by doing that whole scene, you would look innocent and play the part of the heartbroken partner who just lost their girlfriend. 10/10 performance, by the way, you could have given me a run for my money"

"Y-you........t-then why would I feel the need to fake the letter in eden's name, I could have used mine, and it would have probably worked better"

"Ah! You're so desperate. You're asking me these obvious questions? Anyone with a brain knows that if their name was found on the letter, it would have implicated them. Luckily for you, there was just one other person who arei trusted enough to meet with alone"

"..........son of a-"

"That's enough y/n, I have some questions too. What's the deal with the fishes at the crime scene?"

"How am I supposed to know, I'm not the killer. Ask them!"

"Y/n?"

"I. Don't. Know. I am not the fucking culprit"

"*sighs* you're both being so unhelpful"

"You want me to be helpful? Fine then. Why the hell are we trusting the testimony of the guy who NOT EVEN 5 MINUTES AGO admitted to lying to get us all killed, and might I remind you, who's secret is that he exists to manipulate everyone. We might as well trust a pathological liar at this point"

"Y/n's right, David's definitely lying again"

"Y-yeah, there's no way they'd kill arei"

"I agree with eden, y/n and arei really loved each other, I-I don't think they'd ever hurt each other in any way"

"I mean, people kill their lovers for stupid reasons all the time. If you add the killing game and arei's personality into the mix, I could easily see y/n killing her"

"......*sighs* I base my suspicions on evidence alone, not sentimentality, and right now, the only evidence we have is David's testimony. I would do the same if any of you accused him"

"T-teruko, you believe him? You really think y/n killed arei?"

".....it's definitely a possibility, one that I need to investigate"

"Are you even listening to me?!"

"I. Didn't. Kill. Arei. How many times do I have to say that before it gets through your thick skull? And I thought you were the smart one teruko"

"I didn't even say it was for sure. You have to admit it's a possibility, plus with how defensive you're getting"

"DEFENSIVE? do you know what it's like being accused of killing the person you loved. Actually you should know that feeling all too well after what happened with Xander"

"S-shut up"

"No, wait, now I understand. You're being like this because you think I'm like Xander, you think I pretended to love arei just to betray her in the end, you're projecting you own trust issues onto me aren't you?"

"........."

[Rebuttal showdown]

"I'm not arei's murderer!"

"What motive would I even have?"

"We already knew each other secret's even before this killing game"

"I have no reason to kill her!"

[Advance]

"As much as agreeing with David gives me physical pain. Like he said, the reason for arei's murder could have nothing to do with the secrets"

"Then what about the opportunity"

"The murder took place at 7:30 p.m right?"

"You're out of your element"

[Break]

"Huh? Charles? What is it?"

"I think David is lying, but when I was trying to think of evidence to prove y/n's innocence, I realized something much worse"

"Worse? That's bad!"

"What is it now-"

"Everyone Shut up! I need to think...........damn it. Teruko, we really fucked up"

After Charles explained that the murder could have happened at 7:30 am and teruko and Arturo admitted their mistakes (one way more calmly than the other) you started talking about your alibis at that time

"Most of us wake up at 8:00 am as early as 7:30 we would all still be asleep"

"Yeah. I was definitely asleep at that time"

"I don't have an alibi in the morning, neither does Charles"

"Do none of us have alibis during the time of the murder?"

"No I do"

"Hm? Y/n?"

"I woke up early to have breakfast, At around 7:30, David and Veronika were also there, and j came in a bit later, so they're all clear and should be able to confirm what I said"

"Yeah it's true I woke up early too to shake off arturo"

"Yep,yep, we were all having breakfast together. None of us could possibly be the murderer"

"And to think I was happily eating while arei was being murdered in the other room......it's so-"

"Exciting~"

".........."

".........shit"

"If y/n has a alibi, then they're not the killer"

"Not only that, but David was there too, so he can't have killed arei either, even if he already admitted to lying about that"

"S-so David lied....twice?"

"He really did try to get us all killed....what an asshole"

"So y/n's not the culprit after all"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the past 30 minutes......anyway, what do you have to say you lying piece of shit?"

"Whoops! You really should have skipped breakfast that day you know y/n? Waking up early isn't even that fun"

"Shut up!"

"David, without a doubt you lied about both you and y/n being arei's murderer especially now that we know that both of you are two of the few people who couldn't have murdered her"

"Well when you put it that way, I suppoooose its in the realm if possibility that I've been lying about everything for the past 2 hours"

"Dude, what the fuck? You do know that an incorrect vote will get everyone killed right?"

"David, why?"

"If I tried to explain why, would you even believe me? After all, everyone thinks I'm some sort of compulsive liar now,like y/n said"

"Don't give me that crap, teruko has already apologized for misleading the trial by accident. And she's teruko of all people"

"I'm "teruko of all people?" harsh"

"So don't think you can weasel out of an explanation for misleading the trial on purpose....twice"

"Besides,to try and get everyone killed, yourself included....I'm sure you must have a remarkably interesting motivation. So please, do tell me. Oh, and don't say something as boring as "I want to kill myself." I have no interest in such mundane reasons"

"Please, I'm an incredibly interesting person full on joyous zest for life......the truth is......... I killed arei"

That stupid repetition made you yell at him again

"SHUT UP, NO SHUT THE ACTUAL FUCK UP. I swear If you lie again I will actually kill you"

"Come on. It was just a little joke~ it's true neither me nor y/n killed arei. I only said whatever was necessary to make you all think I or they did. Hell, I didn't even think to take the blame for her death until halfway through this trial! And I only accused y/n because they wouldn't believe me, and they pissed me off. Also, it would make a good story, don't you think? You know for the TV show"

"So you accused me of murdering arei because you felt like it?"

"Pretty much, it didn't really make a difference to me as long as you believed my lie"

After David did his whole speech about Xander being a good person (which pissed off teruko) and how he wants to end the killing game, you started talking about alibis again and Levi, hu, Veronika and teruko said which secrets were theirs finally revealing them all.

"I've started to detect that this trial is no longer about me, it'd be bestif I kept my mouth shut from now on riiiight?"

"If it's settled then-"

"Wait before he shuts up for good, I need to ask him something"

"Oh what a surprise! I thought you hated me"

"I do, but you're the only one who can give me my answer.....oh, and my previous statement is still valid if you lie I'll kill you"

"Nooooo please, I'm sooooo scared. Don't worry, I'll definitely tell the truth"

"......what were her last words?"

"Hm?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You and arei talked the night before she was killed.....what did you talk about?"

"Didn't ace already tell you? She found out about my secret and confronted me about it."

"I know that. But what happened later?"

"........."

"How did the conversation end? Was she mad? Did she yell at you? What happened exactly?

"........."

"Eden, you want to hear that too right?"

"....Y-yeah exactly"

"Tell us, David. What did she say?"

".........nothing. absolutely nothing. I didn't say anything to her, and she didn't have that much to say to me either. Arei simply got annoyed with me and left without saying anything else"

"....that's a relief-"

"You're lying again"

"Uh? How do you know?"

".......I don't, but it's a bet I'm willing to make. Arei.......she couldn't have simply left. She had to have said something, anything.....let me hear her last words"

"........why do you even care? Those weren't even her last words"

"..........."

"She died the next morning, remember? She probably said something between our conversation and her death. I'd wager her true last words were her cussing out her killer it would be very in character for he-"

"STOP IT"

"Uh?"

"STOP TREATING AREI LIKE THAT"

"........."

"None of you know what she was truly like. You all think she was some irredeemable bitch who got what she deserved. I'm tired of everyone slandering her, hell even before this game, do you know how many "you deserve better" or "i bet she doesn't even love you" I got. Everyone who found out I was dating her looked at me like I was willingly undergoing torture"

".......y-y/n"

"And even now that she's dead, you can't even put an ounce of respect on her name. You're talking about her like she's a mannequin, someone who wasn't here talking to us just a few days ago. And when you occasionally remember that she used to be a living person, you remember her like she was a piece of shit who contributed nothing but being annoying, and I'm tired of it"

"........."

"Do you even remember why she was killed in the first place? Because she trusted eden enough to meet with her, because she wanted to befriend her this bad. Tell me, would a bad person do that? Would a bad person save eden from arturo? Would a bad person die trying to befriend someone?....... Would a bad person love me like she did?"

At that point, you were practically crying, but you didn't care. They needed to know who arei truly was. You couldn't just stand there and let her memory be insulted like that. Especially now that it was the only thing you had left of her

"No matter what anyone says. No matter what she herself says. Arei was the best person I ever met. Because she knew she was a bad person and she tried to change that"

"Well she was doing a pretty shit job at it then-"

"DO YOU THINK I CARE?"

"U-uh?"

"Even if by the end of her life she was only 5% less shitty, hell even if she was exactly the same as she is, I'd still love her and consider her the best person I met. Because none of you know how hard it is to truly change. None of you know the hell she went through daily when she was with her sisters, and despite that, she still tried her best to change. None of you know how fucking admirable that is"

"Please y/n calm-"

"David! Earlier, you said that no one would cry if arei died. Well, I did, I cried. Do you know why I didn't investigate? Because I was locked in my room sobbing because my girlfriend's body was hanging off a fucking swing and everyone else is acting like normal. So I need to know. Tell me. WHAT WERE HER LAST WORDS?"

The trial room fell silent, the only noise that could be heard were the cries and sobs that came from you and eden (who started crying in the middle of your speech).....until David broke the silence

"........she said that good people don't exist"

"U-uh?"

"She said that because even people like me and eden did horrible things, good people don't truly exist, and she didn't have to worry about being one"

"W-what?"

"She said that we could be friends because we're so similar, she said that maybe in the future.......we could be less shitty together"

".....y-you're lying again a-aren't you? Y-you're just playing with my feelings"

"No I'm telling the truth"

His serious tone caught you off guard and you decided to let him finish

"What you said before, about no one truly knowing who arei really was, about everyone disrespecting her after her death and no one believing she was a good person.....that's how I feel about Xander......so I thought you deserved to know"

You stayed silent for a few seconds taking everything in, but then you asked the question you couldn't keep inside anymore

"........d-did she say anything about me?"

"........yes"

[Flashback]

"What about y/n?"

"Uh?"

"You don't think they're a good person?"

"......no..................I think they're the best person I ever met"

"....what?"

"I don't know if they're an objectively good person. Like I said, I don't think those exist, but that doesn't matter to me. In my eyes, they truly are the best person on this planet"

".........."

"Well, I guess they have to be if they can keep up with me. no matter how many times I push them away, no matter how many times I get angry at them or yell, they never left me. They're always there to hug me when I feel down. They saw me at my lowest point in life, and they never said anything negative about me, they saw how shitty I was and never for a moment did they consider leaving me......I don't think I'd be here without them......I love them so much"

[End flashback]

You cried even more, just putting your head down as your tears landed on the podium. She loved you. Her "last words" were that she loved you

"*sobs*....arei......I don't know if you can hear me.....but if you can......please know.....that I love you too.....so so much"

Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes, even eden and hu who wanted to comfort you, they all silently agreed to leave you alone for the rest of the trial as they started talking about the case again, and they did, you couldn't bring yourself to say anything, you still listened but you stayed silent........until teruko narrowed down the suspects to only eden and ace

"......teruko"

"Y-y/n?"

"What is it?"

"Are you 100% sure that only eden or Ace could have committed the murder?"

"Yes, I'm positive. They're the only ones"

"......I see........monotv can I vote?"

"Uh?"

"W-what?"

"Wait a second, you can't be serious. We don't even know who the killer is, and you already want us to vote?"

"No, only I want to vote.....alone...you can vote later"

"What does that even mean? Why?"

"Because......eden can't be the culprit.......that can't be possible"

".......y/n"

"She wanted to be arei's friend, she was just as upset by her death as I was......she didn't kill arei I am 100% sure of that"

"What's your evidence for that?"

"........I have none"

".........what?"

"I trust eden, that's all the evidence I need"

"Your trust is going to get you killed"

"And your lack of it is going to lead to you making more mistakes"

".....!"

"You said it yourself earlier in the trial, right? You want to start to trust people more. Well then, consider this a show of what trust truly is. I'll vote for Ace. "

"W-what the fuck?"

".............why are you doing this?"

"I told you before, I trust eden and.....I know this is what arei would have wanted"

"........."

".......y-y/n thank you.....thank you so much"

"H-hold on is that even allowed. If you're wrong, then aren't we all gonna die?"

"Did you forget how this works? It's a majority vote. Even if I'm wrong, the rest of you can still vote for eden. So will you let me, monotv?"

"Hmmmmm, I mean, I guess there's no rule against a person voting before everyone else. Sure I'll let you it'll be fun here's your monopad"

You did as you said and voted for Ace. Everyone looked at you, surprised that you actually went through with that, except eden, who was very grateful that you trusted her this much.

As it turns out, you were right. Ace was blackened, and he only did it because he was scared of dying.....you didn't know what to think about that so you stayed silent once again in the moments leading up and during the voting.

"Y/n......are you OK?"

".........i....i"

"Of course they aren't. They just found out who killed their girlfriend, I'm sure they must be boiling with rage just waiting to see the brutal way ace dies riiiiiiight~?"

"...........I'm so tired"

"Hm?"

"I just can't do this anymore, yelling at ace isn't going to bring arei back, it's pointless"

"But aren't you angry at him?"

"..............of course I am"

"......."

"Of course I'm angry at him, and of course I want to hate him, I want to yell at him and be happy when he dies, saying that arei is avenged, but I just can't"

"W-why? I'm a piece of shit who killed your girlfriend because I'm a coward. Why can't you hate me?"

"BECAUSE I'M SCARED OF DYING TOO GODDAMMIT!"

"!"

"Everyone in this room is, even the dead, min,Xander,arei they were all scared of dying otherwise this whole killing game wouldn't exist"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Think about it, Ace just said it, he killed arei simply because he didn't want to die, isn't that the same reason Min killed Xander? Because she walked in on him trying to kill teruko and panicked, she was scared that he was going to kill her...and so she acted first"

".........."

"The fact that every single one of us, if pushed to the brink, could murder someone simply because of the fear that that could happen to them........it scares me"

"Y-y/n....."

"That's why even if you killed the person I loved most, even If you are a cowardly piece of shit I just can't hate you because I know that in the right conditions I would have done the exact same thing"

"........i-i"

"Let's just get this over with, I'm.....really tired"

Everything that happened later went by in a flash and it felt like a nightmare, ace punching monotv, Levi saving teruko from her punishment and ace getting executed, you all rushed to the infirmary to treat levi while teruko stayed back in the trial room.

You sighed and went back to your room after everything was dealt with. you plopped down on your bed and.....did nothing, you had already cried enough for the day and there wasn't anything to do, you couldn't even sleep since it was still morning so you started to think

Arei was dead, and there was nothing you could do about it. This killing game was going to continue and you were either going to get killed or give in to your fear of death and kill someone. You felt nothing but pure despair.

"Y/n, they're the best person I ever met, I wouldn't be here without them.....I love them so much"

Arei's last words came back to your mind. She really loved you.........would she want you to give up like this?.....no she wouldn't, she'd probably slap you and call you a coward If she saw you like this.......were you really going to disrespect her like this? Were you going to give up that easily?.....no, you didn't want to...that would just mean insulting her memory. As long as there was the slightest hope that you would get out of here alive, you would follow it.

"When we get back home.....I'll make you a grave in your favorite spot alright?"

You felt the wind hit your cheek like a soft kiss. There was no open window near you or nothing that could make that kind of breeze

".....I'll take that as a yes.....have fun wherever you are and make sure to beat the shit out of ace alright? And say hi to min and xander for me I miss them too"

This time, water hit your cheeks, your own tears that you couldn't hold back anymore even if you were smiling

".........I love you too"

No matter wherever she was, you knew she was somehow watching over you, and you were going to keep living for her....that was a promise that you were going to keep no matter what.

[triciaisonline]

I have a crazy theory, based on literally nothing - just something I think would be wild to do... IT INVOLVES KNOWLEDGE OF THE ALLEGED FUNKO LEAK (which we don't know the validity of yet) so do not read if you want to remain unaware of it

This is just a theory, and it's probably totally wrong - but I was just thinking of all these pieces and a way they could fit... this is also going to bounce all over the place as I type in a stream of consciousness.

Okay, so it's not fully formed yet - and it connects to another theory that has been circulating. This is just being written off the cuff, so it's not going to properly formulated but....

The alleged leak, shows two pop figures: Rio as Lady Death (just labeled as Death) and Teen as Wiccan. Now these things are not entirely shocking as people speculated these for a bit.

SEE HERE

Now, I had a mini theory that Teen was so obviously Wiccan that it would be really funny if the character took the Wiccan mantle but then wasn't Billy. I'm not saying I think that's what's going to happen - just that it would be a good twist because it toys with out expectations and would remind audiences of the twists with Pierto and Agatha in WandaVision. So, this sort of follows that - but in a different way.

My new clown theory is: Teen is Nicholas Scratch - but leaning into the villian background of the character, is trying to make Agatha think he's Billy. Wild to say, I know - but my crazy clown theory goes as follows:

I think there's more symbolism in the Agnes of Westview part than we believed. When "Agnes" is first seen in her house, she's having the end of a terrible day and is pissed off at the appearance of Rio. She goes to a bedroom that's meant to symbolize the loss of her son, and that's when Rio shows up at her door. It's in the scene that follows that Rio asks her: do you remember why you hate me?

I think this line got forgotten a bit in the fight scene that ensued - because it seemed to imply that Agatha had done Rio wrong at some point, which may be true - but perhaps it was in response to something Rio did first. Why would Agatha hate Rio if Agatha was the only one at fault? We see Agatha interacting with other witches while she's not the most friendly, there's something deep there with Rio.

I am positing that Rio is the one who caused Agatha to lose Nicholas - not Agatha. Now, I'm not saying this to remove Agatha's agency in her wrong doings - but that's something that could justify that hatred. I also think the timing of that initial scene makes me think we are meant to connect subconsciously the two events. I think Agatha's response is what somehow led her to getting on Rio's bad side and perhaps led to her gaining the Darkhold (or book of the dead, I'm forgetting atm if they are one and the same in this version of things). Which Agatha has tried to use to get her son back/get revenge... and as it's want to do, it took Agatha preexisting flaws and exacerbated them in its corruption as we saw with Wanda.

Now, how does this connect to my bold guess? Well, we assume that her son is dead - like a child sacrifice, as that's the comments others have made. But there's more than one way to suffer loss. Nicholas is an antagonist in the original comics, he even frames his mother at one point for horrific crimes. Is it possible that Nicholas was offered up not for death, but taken by whomever is at the center of this to and turned against her?

Teen's comments in the Agnes of Westview interrogation about the homelife she lives are very interesting and seemingly out of character for the rest of his portrayal as an Agatha fan boy. Teen has clearly done a lot of research, and the events of Westview are implied to be public knowledge. Could Teen be Nicholas - either of his own volition or working for someone else (put a pin in this part) - intentionally trying to trick her? The sigil, was it placed by himself or someone he's working with, in order to not be recognized?

"Okay, but how about the Wiccan pop figure leak?" --- okay, so the show is being so obvious about who Teen is possibly.... but the team has done this bait and switch before in WandaVision. Maybe it's obvious because it's meant to trick us and the characters? Maybe Teen is trying to invoke the idea of Wanda's kids - someone Agatha has complex history with, but also knew the kids of. The pop has Teen in very Wanda looking costume pieces. Could it be that it's meant to be on the nose on purpose?

What about Rio? Well, the leak depicts Rio as Lady Death. We have also seen the Tarot card promotional images that back this. Now, if Rio is a fake identity or becomes possessed by Death- no way of knowing. Lady Death often is an antagonistic figure as well, could this plan of Teen's be connected or guided by Rio/Lady Death? Perhaps in some sense of vengeance? It's implied Agatha has killed many in her long life - that could be a connection as well. Plus, it's a small note - but the trailers have that line from Rio focusing on how the bodies are piling up.

TAROT PROMO HERE

Lilia had the vision/hallucination that expressed a desire/need to Protect Agatha. Why? Because she's being played. Rio sets the Salem Seven on Agatha, which makes her desperate enough to go on the Road. The thing Teen wants to get her to go on. Rio also seemingly has interacted with Teen while Agatha was Agnes. Since so much of that was happening in Agatha's house - and she didn't react to them at all? That's strange, unless she already expected him to be there. The Salem Seven are Nicholas' kids in comics, turned against their Grandmother Agatha as additional antagonists. Now, they might not be his kids in this version, we don't know yet - but there might be a connection. "But the Seven attacked Nicholas?" Well, either it was an act or his sigil has him blinded to them as well. So, they could all be working on the same team to sell it.

Teen was also strong enough to break Wanda's spell. Something we've only seen Agatha do in this specific corner of the MCU. Similar magical power, perhaps because of powerful influence and/or being related to her.

Another note - how does Rio end up on the Road? She's not with the coven. If Rio is Lady Death - the death of Sharon Davis might be an opening for her to arrive...

This is all over the place, but I feel there's a possible link here. It's likely not, but it was fun to think about !!!

[celestiarambles]

hi welcome once again to celestia trying to defend cc women for the nth time

i don’t understand why some ppl hate asal. apparently she… *checks notes* betrayed jack?

(this trope is referring to jack in cc tropes)

and how did she “betray” jack apparently?

1. she killed a man (oh no! the most heinous crime in cc!)

2. she kept a lot of secrets from jack

3. and she broke up with jack

apparently asal’s an evil person for… doing her job?

she didn’t kill a man just because she wanted to. mossad ORDERED AN HIT ON THAT MAN and tasked asal to do it. she didn’t get away with it because she’s “evil”, she got away with it because mossad had an agreement with the international court. and while jack was upset for a bit, EVEN HE UNDERSTOOD what asal did and forgave her. she is shown to value her job at mossad very much and she’s been doing this for a while now, she wouldn’t go “but what will jack think about this?” every time mossad orders her to eliminate a target

‘she didn’t love or even care about jack!’ SHE DID, THAT’S WHY SHE KEPT SECRETS FROM HIM!! it’s why she prefers to separate her work from her personal life. and eventually she found out about ripley and mossad’s involvement in sombra and initially thought the whole bureau was involved (esp since she implied she knew about the whole mole situation even before the bureau found out about it!)

and that’s what caused the downfall of their relationship. because a.) jack was immature at the time and he didn’t respect asal’s wishes to stop interfering with her work, b.) because she started to distrust jack and the bureau, and c.) because she didn’t want jack or the people jack cared about to get hurt with her knowledge of the mole. AND ALL OF THOSE REASONS WERE TOTALLY VALID!!

their relationship on s3 still ended on amicable terms anyways, so i don’t understand why some people hate asal and treat her like a criminal when she was just doing her job

ALSO ALSO bonus: while searching for the above trope i found this listed on asal’s page and i was like HUH???

how tf is asal dumb. she’s literally one of the smartest characters in cc, hell she was SO AHEAD OF EVERYONE to the point that she knew the existence of the bureau mole, who the mole was, and ripley and mossad’s involvement with sombra. also, she knows enough chemistry to the point she managed to poison jack just enough to incapacitate him but not kill him. WDYM JACK KNOWS MORE SCIENCE THAN SHE DOES???

tldr: the hate on asal is wild. SHE DID NOTHING WRONG!!

[theerurishipper]

A few more things because I am not done talking about this finale.

I know a lot of people think that this issue of Gabriel being seen as a hero and Marinette keeping the fact that Adrien is a sentimonster and that his father is Monarch is going to come back as a major plot point, or that Gabriel isn't really redeemed and that this isn't the end. And I'm not saying I have evidence that it's not going to turn out that way, but like... this is Miraculous we're talking about.

The show which famously tries to offer sympathy to bad people because of their tragic backstory by:

Trying to half-assedly "redeem" Natalie into some kind of super mother figure for Adrien, even though she enabled and participated in his abuse for years and never showed remorse for it, or even took accountability for it. Her callously killing Sentibug is never brought up again either. And she still does not give Adrien the Amok that helps him choose for himself or tell him he is a sentimonster, and yet is framed as a good parental figure for him.

Trying to redeem Andre Bourgeois and frame him as some kind of great person by having him adopt Zoe and send Chloe to live with her abuser by disowning her, even though it's his shitty parenting that let her get to this point. And letting him get off scot-free for all the times he abused his power as Mayor.

Trying to redeem Felix by glossing over such crimes as him giving all the Miraculous to Gabe, him committing genocide, him trying to ruin his cousin's life, him victim blaming Adrien, him returning Adrien's Amok to Gabe, and many such things. All because he had a tragic backstory and cared for sentimonster rights (even though he killed two on-screen with only regret for one of them) so that clearly means that he did nothing wrong and does not need to be held accountable for those things, even though he showed no remorse for it or desire to do better.

And the show which also famously ignores major plot points and leaves them behind with little to no resolution in favor of dropping new bombs on the audience, such as:

Choosing to ignore the Ladynoir conflict in Season 4 by having Chat Noir just push aside his legitimate grievances with Ladybug's bad decisions to continue being her emotional support partner. This conflict was not addressed ever again, even in Season 5, and was left without any resolution.

Neglecting any exploration of Chat Blanc beyond some obligatory mentions now and again to remind the audience of why the show needs more seasons.

The whole plot with the alternate love interests Luka and Kagami, which was built up across a whole season and dismissed within two episodes of the next season so that the writers could focus on the new Love Square drama they came up with for Season 4.

Luka's conflict about knowing Chat Noir and Ladybug's identities, which was written out in one episode, only for it to have been ultimately pointless in favor of having Kagami know it anyway.

These are great examples of how the show neglects to build up and conclude previously established plot points and conflicts in favor of substituting them with other ones and/or does the absolute minimum to somehow write them out in order to move the story forward and focus on other new plot points that they came up with for the new season.

From these, we can understand that:

Trauma is a valid excuse for everything, and a tragic backstory frees you from accountability unless you're Chloe.

And:

Previously established conflicts are not brought up or explored in any meaningful capacity in order to make way for new ones.

Knowing this, I think it's highly unlikely that the show will ever explore this idea of Gabriel not having truly become a martyr and a hero, and that even if it is the case, it will be neglected as a plot point in order to push this Lila thing to the front. At most, we will get a moment where Adrien learns the truth and instantly forgives Marinette for doing what his abuser asked because she did it out of love, and no one will question the implications of this in any meaningful way. This is because Adrien is not allowed to have feelings that inconvenience Marinette in any way, be it his hurt at her keeping secrets from him, or now her siding with his father and outright lying to him, because his role in the story is now that of Marinette's love interest and emotional support partner, and that's all he's good for. And as for Adrien acknowledging that Gabriel was a bad father again, combining the redemption that simply having trauma gives him and the fact that Thomas "Chloe is not an abused child" Astruc doesn't seem to understand the severity of such things, I doubt we will ever see him outright reject his father ever again.

For all these reasons, I really do believe that it is wishful thinking to expect this to be addressed in any way that matters. If it is not forgotten, it will be relegated to a single moment and forgotten after. That is, if it was ever meant to be explored. The writers of this show are... not the best at dealing with this sort of thing, after all. After all I've seen, it is not surprising to me at all that Gabriel was redeemed. There is a clear trend of characters with any motivation that could be construed as sympathetic or with a tragic backstory portrayed as being justified in their actions, having their actions erased and ignored or at the very least severely downplayed for the sake of making them out to be better than they are. Gabriel has been consistently given sympathetic scenes throughout the season, which culminated in this finale which absolves him of every wrongdoing.

And I know people feel like this is clearly not the end, but that's how a lot of people felt about the Ladynoir conflict in Season 4, and look how that turned out. This show has always been bad at dealing with nuance. An abused child is portrayed as irredeemable and evil, and her enabling father is portrayed as a good person for giving up on her (I don't even like her, but damn). There is a trend of demonizing those characters who really should not be, and offering sympathy to characters who haven't earned it. I have no trouble at all in believing that Gabriel is supposed to sympathized with and redeemed by the end. He gets his happy ending, he gets what he wanted, and his actions make the world a better place.

I've seen the idea that Gabriel actually lost floating around, but did he? He already knew he was dying, and he had, to some degree, come to terms with it. And in the end, he was clearly very happy with just dying if it meant being able to make his wish. His end is clearly portrayed as him making the ultimate sacrifice to wish for a better world, as one last good thing he does for his son. It's portrayed as him asking Marinette to hide all this from him to protect him. Of course, anyone with common sense can see that this is still really controlling and manipulative, but the show pretty clearly frames it as a selfless act. The line "all the times I tried to be a good father," isn't framed as the delusional statement it is. He's smiling in that scene, surrounded by light, and that's not the framing for someone who's supposed to be read as manipulative and evil at that point. The writers seem to genuinely believe that the man was a good father at some points. I've also seen others say that clearly Gabriel was not redeemed by the end because he refused Marinette's hand, but that's not really true. He did paralyze her, but then he freed her and returned all the Miraculous, and Marinette ends the season by fulfilling his dying wishes and letting the world know he was a hero. He paralyzed her, but then he also clearly listened to her. He was also genuinely emotional. Her words did reach him and it is framed as him making a "selfless choice" even though it clearly is not.

I've also seen people say Adrien's reaction isn't necessarily acceptance of Gabriel's heroism since he might be trying to cope with his loss by convincing himself Gabriel was a hero, or that abused children often cannot recognize that their parent is not a good person. And I agree, but that is clearly not what is happening here. Adrien has already expressed disgust for who his father is, and it is possible for him to fall back onto old thoughts and feelings regarding him, but that isn't what's going on here. This here, is Adrien being fed a lie that his father was a good man and a hero by people he trusts. This is Adrien being told what to think and feel, because there are statues of Gabriel being erected and Ladybug spreading the word that he is a hero. This is Gabriel's abuse being erased to portray him as good. And Adrien, after spending the whole season working up to calling Gabriel out, ends the season with hoping to be like him.

And I've seen arguments about how episodes like Chat Blanc and Ephemeral were there to show us that Adrien facing his father isn't a good idea because his reaction makes him vulnerable, but then... why would you write that! Why would you set the protagonist up with this plot point only to write reasons to leave him out of his own plot and character arcs? What about that is good writing? It only makes this finale more deserving of critique! It is not the defense it's trying to be. It just shows they couldn't care less about their own narrative.

I get that this could lead to a potential arc about trust and honesty and all that, but... we've done that before. How many times will Marinette learn the same lesson? How many times will Adrien forgive her for it? How can you even forgive something like this? And even if it all comes to light, what purpose does this serve in anyone's arc? Gabriel is dead, so there's no consequences for him. Marinette has been "learning" the same lesson for two seasons now, and not even losing all the Miraculous made her stop keeping secrets. And what more does it contribute to Adrien's arc to have him learn the truth later rather than now? How does it add to his story to know that everyone he trusts lied to him? Nothing, if you think about it. It really takes away from his story, because he can no longer confront the man who did this to him, he can no longer get that closure, because Gabriel is gone! Sure, it'll be dramatic and all, but that's all it is! But that is how Miraculous operates: shock value and dramatic scenes over consistency and character arcs. Which is why characters like Marinette aren't allowed to retain the lessons they should have learnt ages ago, and characters like Adrien are actively pushed away from their arcs to make way for some other drama.

And this is me saying this while believing they aren't going to bring it up anyway. How many times have we seen this kind of thing happen? For a conflict to be set up only to be ended unceremoniously with no proper conclusion? What reasons are there to believe that the show will actually follow through with this plot? Other than speculation, I mean. I don't see any. The ending did not indicate that there was anything wrong with what happened. The seasons prior set up the conflicts for the next season in the finale episodes. In Season 3, we had Gabe fixing the Peacock and Marinette becoming the guardian. In Season 4, we saw Monarch rise and Marinette lose all the Miraculous. In Season 5, we see Lila get the Butterfly Miraculous and that light that scared her or whatever it was. But we never see any set up for this being a plot point. There is no point in which we are supposed to think this is wrong. A set up, for example, would be something like Marinette looking to the Gabriel statue with a frown, or Adrien feeling unsettled somehow. But there's nothing like that. For all intents and purposes, Gabriel is done and there are new threats to move on to. And removing all that stuff with Lila, it just seems like it could be a solid series finale. The conflict is over, all the characters are back and together and happy, the main couple kisses as the theme music plays in the back in a scene that's clearly the sort of scene used in the ending of a show, and no one even hints at anything being wrong. It's all audience interpretation, and quite frankly there's no real reason to believe it's setting up something. Something was already set up and it wasn't the thought that this ending is in any way flawed. It's a charming, idyllic ending where all the characters are clearly happy and content, basking in the end of Monarch.

And what he did is not clear at all. Did he not actually rewrite the world? It seems like he just traded his life for Natalie's (and Emilie's???? Is that her?), because Hawkmoth still existed here, the Alliance rings still exist, which means everything happened exactly how it did, and the only thing that's changed is that Natalie has recovered. But this just makes the "clearly something isn't right" argument less valid. This isn't Gabriel's "ideal world," which needs to be fixed, this is just the normal world, where there is a statue of Gabriel only because Ladybug told everyone he was a hero. The things that are being done are completely against everything Gabriel ever believed in, so clearly the world is not based on his ideals, and it hasn't been rewritten. So, the only one really responsible for Gabriel being seen as a hero is Marinette (this is not a criticism of Marinette btw, just the writing). This is just the normal world, and the only thing that needs to be "fixed" is that Marinette should tell the truth. But the writers clearly think that Gabriel is fully redeemed, so there isn't anything that needs to be fixed. So why would they address this plot point again? They have no reason to.

And if he did rewrite the world, then the writers just made Gabe rewrite everything and everyone's memories so that he didn't have to be held accountable by anyone, especially the son he abused. That's going to be even harder to fix.

Any resolution to something I don't believe will be resolved anyway will undoubtedly a side story or a minor plot point. Remember, this is the show which is notorious for setting up plot points only to do nothing with them in the end. Everyone was so hyped about the resolution to Luka discovering both Mari and Adrien's identities only for the writers to decide Kagami fit that role better and shittily write Luka out in one episode. Everyone was talking about how Luka keeping secrets would undoubtedly have massive repercussions only for no one to give a shit about it and simply write Luka out for a few episodes and have him come back with no consequence in the finale. And this is a pattern for this show.

All this to say that no, we're probably not going to address this. It hasn't happened before, and I doubt it will happen this time. I've tried to give this show chance after chance, but it never delivered, and I don't trust it to do so anymore. I'll take all this back gladly if it does deal with this conflict well, but as of right now, I feel very confident in putting this post up.

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Out of interest for his wife, we invited [Desmoulins] to stop writing [Le Vieux Cordelier], telling him that he was running the greatest dangers, and that, not being able to dip my pen in blood, I was going to stop writing my journal, Révolutions de Paris. He answered me: “What are you going to do? Maybe you will write our crimes.” Which, indeed, I did. His wife arrived; he told her the subject of my approach against him. She said: “My husband would be a coward to stop his Vieux Cordelier at a time when tyranny has no limits!” “Well, I am sorry, madame,” I said to her, to predict that you yourself will be one of the victims; those who govern respect neither beauty nor kindness.” Leaving her house, I ran to her mother to tell her my fears for her daughter and son-in-law. This lady admitted to me that she could not see without pain the stubbornness of her daughter, and the influence she had over her husband, who had much less character than her.

Biographie universelle et historique des femmes célèbres mortes ou vivantes (1830) by Louis-Marie Prudhomme, volume 2, page 273-274. Prudhomme gets in a huge load of errors throughout the rest of the article (Lucile’s first name, date of birth, marriage and death, the circumstances regarding her arrest as well as Saint-Just attending Louis-le-Grand with Desmoulins and being one of their wedding witnesses) but seeing as he claims it is from he himself this anecdote originates I’m willing to give it a bit more credibility. It also fits nicely with this other anecdote, reported by both Marcellin Matton (in 1834) and Nicolas Villiaume (in 1851) who in their turn had acquired it from Lucile’s mother:

[Guillaume] Brune, afraid of the danger that Camille, his former college friend [sic], was running, came to find him and begged him, for the interest that true republicans had in him, for the love of his parents, for the tenderness of his wife, not to not further irritate the enemies that his satirical and biting wit had made him, to show more moderation in the picture he painted of the misfortunes of the times, and even to cease the publication of his Vieux Cordelier. Camille, who had initially only responded with jokes, began to justify his behavior, as beautiful as it was angry, with reasons to which it was not easy to answer.

”I admit it to you,” Brune said to him, ”I cannot help but admire you; However, be certain that with more moderation you will do real good, while by continuing you give yourself up, you immolate yourself, you lose yourself and you save nothing.”

”Do you believe,” he then replied, ”that they will dare to attack me, declare me a traitor, me and my Vieux Cordelier, and that for having requested a committee of clemency and justice; for wanting to complete and consolidate the work of our revolution? I have all of France om my side. Desenne (that was the name of his bookseller) cannot suffice for the sale of my issues. I am read, heard everywhere.”

”You are also read by Barère who recognizes himself; by Saint-Just, who promised to make you carry your head like Saint Denis.” 

”That’s true,” he replied, ”I remember it: it was a very bad joke, and my answer was much better. Have you seen my letter to Dillon? In the approach and posture of Saint-Just, we see that he regards his head as the cornerstone of the republic, and that he carries it on his shoulders with respect like a holy sacrament. Was I wrong, and do you think that for such a good joke he would want to kill me? I only ask him for one favor, and that is to wait until he has given a valid response.”

Madame Desmoulins had invited Brune to family dinner, it was served and they sat down at the table. Camille, gradually warming up, explained to him the bright future he was preparing for his homeland.

”Believe me,” he said to him, ”I am the man of the revolution. When it was necessary, I risked my life for her at the Palais-Royal. At that time they also wanted to make me worry, like you are doing today; but the nation walked with me, and I was at peace. I am still sure, with my Vieux Cordelier, to lead her in my footsteps, to respond to her wishes, to her needs; public opinion will still be my strength.”

”And if it gives your enemies time to strike you?”

”I have ready friends. Have you not heard the eloquent voice of Philippeaux? Danton sleeps: it is the lion's sleep; but he will wake up to defend my cause.”

His friend was far from convinced and repeated the same prayers to him; but Lucille, who at first had shown herself to be very sensitive to Brune's worries and fears, now shares all of Camille's enthusiasm; she notices that this interview has made him hot, she immediately puts a handkerchief on his forehead; gives him a kiss on the cheek and cries: “Let him do it, Brune, let him do it, he must save his country; let him fulfill his mission.” Then she pours her husband and Brune an exquisite chocolate with enchanting grace. When the chocolate had been served, Camille said: edamus et bibamus cras enim muriemur (let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die); while pronouncing these words of death, he affected an air of gaiety and took his child, his little Horace, on his knees. Camille had only supported his thesis because of his wife, whom he did not want to sadden for anything in the world.

[oneeyedoctogod]

Disclaimer: long, extremely personal rant. Yes, it's also about mdzs and Jiang Cheng but mainly, it's about me trying to deal with my own trauma when I'm being hit in the face (metaphorically) with it by putting my feelings into words. The posting is so I don't erase it and force myself to forget about it.

You know it's funny, but as I was trying to sleep (and failing. Badly. It's 2:38 am.) I kept on finding myself thinking about why I didn't like Jiang Cheng. Because you see, it's rare for me to dislike a character that much, to the point I actually have blacklisted all his tags and avoid any fics that talk about him positively.

(Again, this is an extremely personal post about my own feelings. This is not meant as a rebuke if you love him. On the contrary. Keep doing what sparks joy. Just, you know, far away from me.)

I have a funny history with the mdzs fandom. I first started watching the donghua when it started airing back in... 2018? 2019? Can't remember for sure. Then I was left hungry for more because only the first season had aired, and it ended on a big cliffhanger. I saw it was an adaptation, so I went looking for the source material... and found the manhua (I was used to japanese animation at that point and thought that was it). The manhua was also being fan translated, and despite being extremely different (and confusing for poor past me), ALSO left me on a cliffhanger. I was desperate and saw someone pointing out there was a novel! I finally found it, read it in a few nights, and loved it. I read a bunch of fics, enjoyed myself, met and befriended people. Then I moved on after a while. I remember, distinctly, that I wasn't a big fan of Jiang Cheng but that I could at least stomach him in fics.

Last December, I felt the urge to reread some mdzs fics. I read some popular ones and, after falling into the animatics and amvs rabbit hole, decided to rewatch the donghua. Except for some reason, Jiang Cheng's character rubbed me wrong. I remembered not liking him much but he wasn't that bad in the fics so I couldn't see why he was so distasteful in the donghua. I'd been warned that the donghua wasn't that faithful (my own memory was extremely hazy), so I just shrugged it off. Maybe the people behind the donghua weren't fans of jc?

I saw there was an official translation of the novel and, by that point, DEEP into the hyper fixation, I bought all four available volumes and read them. At the same time, I was still reading fics. It was fine after all, I already knew the story.

By then, I had realized something was a little wrong with the characteristization. Some of the tropes given to Wei Wuxian rubbed me the wrong way. I looked it up a little (remade a tumblr, found amazing meta, the rest is history) and figured "Ah that must be cql fics. That's the problem."

And yes, that's true. In part.

The other problem lies with the particular way some people write Jiang Cheng. I'll be clear again: I have nothing against those people. Most of them I don't know and I'm aware this is very much a, shall we say, "me" problem. It's why I avoid the positive Jiang Cheng content. I don't care if you keep writing it so long as you keep it away from the canon jc tag.

But whenever people write Jiang Cheng and completely erase his crimes and abuse of both Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling, I feel it like a slap on the face.

Last Monday, I saw a therapist and talked about her about many things (I did warn this would be a very personal post). Part of it was my mother and her treatment of me and my brothers. And after barely a few words, she said, very simply "Oh so your mother abused you."

I already knew that. I use those words myself to describe my history with her. But the validation is always nice to hear, you know? Especially because so many people try or have tried to brush it off as "nothing." My own mother did, both about her own behaviour and when I was being abused by other people and tried to seek her help. Hell, even I still do it sometimes.

And I think that's why I hate Jiang Cheng so damn much now. His canon self is... Well, I'm not a fan, but he's a well-written antagonist. But dear gods, I've seen so many people brush off his canon characteristics to make him into a more palatable character, the loving uncle, the funny tsundere brother, the ace guy who hates mushy romance (let me tell you, as an ace person I am also real fucking tired of homophobic characters being hc as ace)... Even the ones who mention his bad parts feel the need to immediately add his achievements, as if they don't dare speak badly of their fave. "Yes, he tortured Wei Wuxian, but he also sacrificed his core to save him!" "Yes, he hit and verbally abused Jin Ling, but he also lovingly raised him!" "Yes, he tortured and killed innocent people but he also has trauma and had to lead a sect when he was so young!"

And this feels familiar, every time. This feels like the people telling me "Yes but it's not that bad" or saying "Yes your mother gave you panic attacks but she made sure you didn't fail at school" or "Yes but she made you love reading" or "Yes but she gave you so much, don't be selfish" or "Yes but she was here for you when you were depressed" or "Yes but she has it hard too" until I fell in the habit of saying "Sure, my mother insulted me and threatened me financially and there was a long, long time I was convinced she didn't love me... but."

Always that damn BUT.

So you might be able to understand why I have a hard time with Jiang Cheng when people pull the same shit all thenfucking time. I'm working on it because I'd rather not be stuck feeling anxious about a silly purple grape just because he happens to be fandom fave in my current hyperfixation but in the meantime, I have to deal with it and it's... annoying. To say the least.

(I'm going to insist here: I know that Jiang Cheng isn't my mother. That's not the point here. I am fully aware he's a fictional character and that me feeling that way is something I should be working on. I am. And I'm not telling people to stop writing positive content for him. This is just me trying to put into words my complicated feelings for a complicated character. And ranting, a little bit, about badly tagged fics I admit.)

It's easier on social media. You just block the characters tag and, if people bother you about it, you block them. Friends being friends, I just need to tell them "I don't feel comfortable talking about this character" or "let's agree to disagree on this interpretation" and because my friends are the best, they agree and we move on.

Fanfiction is where the problem lies.

I know why people erase the 'hard' parts, or at least I have a good guess. It's easier that way. Fanfiction is about having fun! It's about writing about your blorbos the way you want to! I don't want to police anyone's content. I'd just like it if people tagged their OOC and stopped trying to make me feel as if I'm the one who misread the book because I don't feel like erasing the canonical abuse this character did or because I don't like that they keep putting down my favorite character to uplift theirs.

I'm not sure how to conclude this. I should be sleeping honestly.

Let's try this: if you read this to the end, congrats I guess. I want to reiterate I don't care if you make Jiang Cheng into the most loving, best brother and uncle ever. Just be aware of what you're erasing first. And tag your goddamn fics.

[pommunist]

hey, I hope alls going well and that it’s fine to ask questions about the current situation.

Question: What are the doxing laws in France? And is it valid to criticize Lea for doxing? As no matter what actions done against you, she committed a crime. In addition her response was that they (Qstudios) committed more crimes than me so it’s fine rubbed me the wrong way. Nothing justifies doxing just like nothing justifies mistreating your workers, multiple wrongs do not and never will make it right. So could Lea be sued for doing this? Should she? Would French law protect her? Whose law would this fall under in court, French, America, Mexico? I do hope Lea and all the workers gets compensated for their time and effort and that Quackity is doing alright with being doxed by said former worker. Is that a fair opinion? I’m trying to give her some credit it’s an accident and she is rightfully angry at him but it still doesn’t justify causing danger to someone (at least in the opinion of me).

I slept on the topic and pray I worded it well. Hopefully, this doesn’t come across as hateful, I’m not towards any party. However, I just don’t agree with the methods she used to act on in this case or her apology (or lack of one), it came across as “I’m a victim who cares little about the person I just hurt because the stress made me do it”. People’s response are almost as bad. “We forgive you for doxing” - Not your apology to give, You Are Not Affected, “Doxing is bad so I am valid in not taking your words to mean anything *” - Not understanding that she is a victim of his workplace abuse just as he’s a victim of her doxing. Am I stupid for think that?

Also felt the need to add: Thank you again for the translation document. The amount of work to do that is absolutely incredible and you (all of you who worked on it) should feel so proud to have been able to fully commit to that. If you reply thank you so much in advance and let the rest of your day be amazing. Sorry if you already answered something simulair.

Well first of all anon, you can criticise anyone you want for any reason you want, you don’t have to ask me first ! Personally I don’t believe she should have shared this publicly or at least not without making sure private info was censored.

Secondly….Do you hate me anon 🥺? Making me look up law stuff ? /j

I’ll try to answer as best as I can, just keep in mind that the legal field doxxing falls under isn’t something that I’m specialised in. So, take it with a grain of salt, always.

(tbh i don’t think we’ll see the day a minecraft cc will do something that fall under my area of expertise but if it ever happens drop them immediately ahah)

French law

The closest we have to a law against doxxing is :

-« Endangerment of someone’s life by divulgation of private information in regards to their professional, personal or familial life »

-« Divulgation of data with intent to harm »

-Just general legal protection of someone’s private life.

Legally it would be difficult for a lawsuit against Lea because of her tweet to have a legal standing. Not only it would be very difficult to prove she had the intent to doxx anyone (not saying she did). But also because the information that she posted, and the informations people found because of it are extremely easy for anyone to access.

I know this because around a month ago when Léa first came out with her story, I stumbled upon it b, with just a very simple google search, while I was just trying to know in which US state Q’s company was registered. (I was curious to know under which state’s legal jurisdiction it was).

So both the malicious intent and the private element of the information would be incredibly hard to prove.

US law :

From what I understand, there is no federal law against doxxing in the US.

There are some state law, like in California, where doxxing can be considered a misdemeanour if you prove that it was done with the goal to harm someone.

I looked up some articles to help me answer this and I found this which can hopefully shine some light on how doxxing is seen from a legal standpoint. (Doesn’t mean doxxing is a good thing or that it doesn’t affect people’s lives, this is, again, just from a legal perspective)

https://joindeleteme.com/doxxing/is-doxxing-illegal/

There may be more but US law, not my thing at all so I don’t know !

Conclusion : I’ll be honest I can’t see her being sued for this, from a legal standpoint.

______

My own personal take on this is that no, Léa shouldn’t have posted what she did before making sure no personal info was on it, even if she had probably no intent to spread personal info. But also no, this could barely count as doxxing because like I said it’s very easily accessible information (don’t mean you should go look for it because like, why ?). Now she deleted it and it’s quite difficult to see what she had posted, good. There’s no point defending her nor hating on her for this.

I’d rather go back to talking about the main issue, workers rights and workplace abuse, than spend time pandering whether or not one of said workers is a bad person and how she should act. Not saying people should NOT talk about it just that it’s not something I’m interested in discussing✌️

[spotlightlowlife]

What Hangout Hotel could take from Lucifer the tv show

One thing these two had in common, season one wasn't very good, learning names and the initial plot was the main takeaway.

Lucifer did atleast stick to its initial plot of 'this is the devil, he's charming, he can get those hiding something to tell on themselves, he works with police detectives, he has a nightclub, he has family issues', easily done when it all fits the characters and reasons for being around one another

Charlie on the other hand is the devil's daughter, she's nice, she wants to help sinners make it into heaven through rehabilitation, she has a hotel and sort of has family issues, simple enough to pull off had it not been buried under side plots from others

yet unlike Lucifer, Charlie's niceness isn't a means to an end, it's her whole personality, whilst part of Lucifer's charm is hypnosis

we see Lucifer present in his club regularly, we don't see Charlie running a hotel

we see Lucifer helping police solve crimes, we don't see Charlie making any effort to help anyone in their rehabilitation journey, it's debatable if she even wants her friends to upgrade out of there and there's not even been a hint of interest into anyone's backstories Vaggie being a prime example even though there are those who remember being alive Mimzy, nor is there interest in their intentions Alastor or if they're suitable, does Charlie vet or troubleshoot? Surely she need to get her investigative head on if she's serious, take a leaf out of the spinoffs book that atleast opened with the assassination agency at work.

This is a big glaring issue because this is what we were sold. Attaining the hotel and starting up the business was no issue, we didn't even see it happen, but then nothing else work wise happened.

Charlie's family issues, no matter where they choose to go with her mother, have been an unnecessary late inclusion.

Once Lucifer began getting into the swing of things and we learnt more about these family issues, we would soon learn that there was no real structure, the angels were bickering siblings either sticking to what they knew or scrambling to one up one another, desperately seeking validation

daddy issues wasn't just a Lucifer problem, the mother wasn't really an issue and when daddy did show up, the god character of this world, he probably wasn't what many expected, a free spirit, loving but very out of touch parent who sees his children as adorable and doesn't like it when they fight, yet the freedom granted and lack of interference has been a major contributor to their fighting. Freedom and lack of interference has been something that has humans asking questions too. Small actions snowball.

This character was yet another in this series to effortlessly created a divide between those like humans and those who aren't.

In Hazbin we get the similar setup of a godless reality with a load of infighting as angels form structure and rules, Lucifer here is too a charismatic outcast

yet other Lucifer would place himself on earth where he probably doesn't really belong, to start working and live a different lifestyle for some time, surprisingly not in a position to lord it over the 'mere humans', not that he wanted to, Hazbin Lucifer we are told is depressed, we are guided to believe did nothing wrong though he clearly did and all is magically not a problem the moment he can impress his daughter.

Why was it that simple?

What is he really doing all day?

Where does the leadership come in?

Why doesn't anyone bring serious questions his way, like the agreed upon exterminations?

There are many demons of hell in both series's. Lucifer of the namesake tv show is neglecting his work as their leader to be on earth, there are repercussions for this as demons have tried to topple him. He also has a demon at his side bothered by his absence, who has her own journey of not getting humans and having a major mama issue, these issues are a major part of her character and get tackled.

Hazbin Lucifer is the god of his very own realm and 'his people' are former humans who he despises, which means nothing to anyone. He has been in hell since it has began, somehow not leading and there are no consequences for any actions, anything goes, killing heaven's angels? No problem.

In the other show however, two heavenly or prehistoric figures cross paths and word spreads, the characters mean something.

Lucifer picked up, however many seasons Hazbin has left, they could do with following suit and staying focused.

[saltiestpie]

Viren's Death and Transformative Justice

Trigger warning: there will be mentions of csa and rape but nothing graphic

It's time to talk politics! When it comes to Viren's finale, I'm honestly disappointed (but not surprised) that the writers chose a cop-out in a form of "heroic death" rather than to show a person who's hurt others put effort into becoming better and atoning for his crimes. From a political perspective, this is related to my stance against carceral (and capital) punishment and in favor of prison abolition.

Viren would either rot in a cell or die, instead of getting a chance to heal, which is a regressive and reactionary way of thinking, completely in line with the right wing ideology but which has been so normalized in our culture that liberals and many leftists don't question it. The general norm is thus - if someone does a crime, they should go to prison, regardless of how the prison will break them and make them worse. And that's not counting all the people who want criminals to be killed.

To talk about my anti punitive justice stance, I would like to take a darker turn and talk about a very serious type of crime. There's this amazing video by a youtuber Kathrin where she talks about prison abolition and how the carceral system hurts people (including victims of crime!) more than it helps them. And she uses her own experience as s CSA survivor as a lens through which she looks at this sensitive topic.

The video is 37 minutes long and features a heavy topic so I understand if you don't want to watch it but I really really recommend you do, because it will challenge your preconceptions about justice and the carceral system.

However, if you really don't have the time/desire/spoons for it, here are the main points:

the carceral system should be abolished

it should be replaced by transformative justice which focuses on taking care of victims above punishing the perpetrators, as well as crime prevention by understanding the root causes of crime.

Okay, you might ask - so what does this have to do with Viren, who chose to die? Well, in addition to the philosophy that he had to die or didn't deserve mercy being directly linked to the current system, there's also this section towards the end of the video (24:50) where Kathrin discusses what transformative justice would look like for her. Emphasis on the last part, as different victims would want different things:

"For me, transformative justice would look like sitting sitting with my abuser in a circle of care with people all around us, flanking us, attending to our healing, becoming our surrogate family as they facilitate our conversation."

How powerful is that? And she's talking about someone who raped her as a child. Viren is not even close to the monster Kathrin is talking about.

So let's talk Soren and Viren. I've seen plenty of people say they hate Viren for what he did to Soren (which is absolutely valid!) and I assume they care about Soren's well being. So tell me, which sounds better for Soren - having his abusive father die on him, leaving him with a gaping wound and a ton of unanswered questions or getting to sit with him, surrounded by people he trusts and who can support him and having an extension of the conversation they almost had in the dungeon, where he gets to heal together with his father? He doesn't have to forgive Viren, but having that might provide him closure and help him contextualize certain things.

And don't get me wrong - there are parts in the show that I think are excellent in terms of mutual healing - Viren acknowledging what he'd done to Soren and taking full responsibility for it was very powerful. But it lost its momentum with Viren's death.

One of the central themes in TDP is ending the cycles of violence and yeah, the show does focus on it, I'm not saying it doesn't. But it keeps the entire political aspect of it firmly within the status quo, choosing what I would call a morally cowardly approach to this. And I'm sorry for using such strong language, I really am, but I think political centrism truly is a cowardly approach to politics. And politics in the show matter because the writers chose to make it matter.

Ultimately, whether you enjoyed the end of Viren's arc or not is up to you. It will mostly depend on how you read Viren's character throughout the show. I just genuinely find that ending emotionally unsatisfying and the perpetuation of the punitive justice mindset is one of the reasons, whether the writers intended it or not.