#so maybe it's better that it doesn't exist

[fromchaostocosmos]

I was abused by men. I was abused by women. I was abused by adults. I was abused by children.

Does that me I have the right to hate men, women, adults, and children in all places at all times across all of existence?

No. Because I'm repeating certain behaviors that were used to harm me.

Rather what I have the right to is have complex feelings and relationships with and about my abusers.

I have the right to have to room for compassion and grace when triggered by triggers.

I have the right to personally not be comfortable with and/or in certain situations.

Abuse changes you. That is a fact. It changes you in so many ways.

And one of the ways it changes you is that is that it becomes very easy to your abuser(s) in everyone else.

That is both not fair to others and yourself. It is also just not healthy.

You can't really function like that. That doesn't mean you get rid of red flags and healthy skepticism and such it just means that we each have to learn to process our traumas.

For one of my abusers people would often say about them that this was just their "nature". Essentially like they couldn't help it, but act this and behave this way.

And I was talking with my therapist and I said, but that is not true. Because it is not their nature. They were not just born like this. Rather at a certain point they made a choice to do these things and keep doing them. And yes they got very comfortable with these choices that it became like second nature, but that doesn't change the fact. The fact is choices were and still are made. They made a choice.

The person I'm talking about for the record is a woman.

When this rhetoric is used about it being in the nature of men to be abusive what is happening is a removal agency. A removal of agency from both the abuser and their victim.

it removes the agency of the abuser in the abuse they do and choice they made in to commit said abuse.

It removes the agency of the victim in their survival of the abuse.

The reality of abuse is there is dynamic and it goes bad times with some good times.

And the good times are there as a tether to hold you in, sucker you in because you keep thinking maybe just maybe if I do something right I can get us to the good times again.

But there will always be more bad times then the good times.

And generally speaking it is not until you are able to recognize that the good times are way less then the bad times and that the good times are there to keep from leaving that is when you have people enter the path (not a literal path) of leaving an abusive situation.

Now it can be more complicated pending on the situation because if the victim is a minor, lack of resources, lack of access to help, etc so again talking broad strokes in that concept.

So while not every victim may get out of an abusive situation and sadly many victims are killed by their abusers, victims still even while living in abuse are surviving. And that is something that needs to be respected.

And those are able to get out that also needs to be respected because it is very very hard and takes a lot of courage and will. I speak from experience.

So to say it is just in men's nature to abuse removes the agency of victims and survivors to survive.

It also adds a layer of victim blaming to it all because it is saying well you should have known better they are all abusers so this is what you get.

When again that is just not the reality. It is no one's nature to be abusive. It is a choice to abuse and that is what abusers are doing. Making a choice. Do not remove that agency. Do not let them off the hook so easily.

Anyone can be an abuser because anyone can make that choice. Just as anyone can not be an abuser because anyone can make the choice to not be.

but fr I'll never take it seriously when someone says "i was abused by men, I'm allowed to hate them and anyone trying to show love for men is an MRA" like you know how many of us were abused by our mothers and it's still (rightfully) considered not okay to say that women are all abusers just waiting to kill their children. If you blame violence on someones gender instead of the societal mechanisms that encourage and allow violent and harmful behaviour you're perpetuating that cycle.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Can you write a Dream BBQ Ena x Emotionless Reader?

More spefically Ena and Reader have been partners for a long time Ena being the more emotional one while Reader barely smiles in a year but then one time after a particularly brutal day of typical rejection and dislike bb people Ena feels more down then usual and finds a letter in her room that simply and basically says "I'll always be right beside you ~reader"

Thanks!

When Ena first started dating you, she knew that you'd come as a "surprise package deal". Never knowing how you'll act and being ready for anything.

However, she notices that package was severely lacking in "emotional factor"--more specifcally, you didn't show much emotion.

You carried only 0.5% of the emotional capacity in this relationship, while she conquered the other 99.5%...and it's been that way for the longest time.

No matter what shenanigans you both got up to while carrying out assignments, she has yet to see you crack a smile.

Of course, you'd express annoyance, discontent, and the like with your job. But she cannot recall a single time she's seen you smile.

There was one occasion where she saw a brief twitch of your lips after a rude customer spontaneously combusted...but that was a year ago, and she's certain her memory of that specific moment is thoroughly infaccurate.

Despite her best efforts, she can't get you to smile for her.

Even when Salesperson flirts with you and gives you hugs, or when Meanie demands you to "stop looking so damn heartless"....your expression barely wavers.

The truth is that it's not "trauma" or anything significant in your life that's made you become emotionless.

You've always been like this. It's that simple.

But apparently Ena thinks there's a deeper meaning, and she's desperate to unlock that mystery someday.

Froggy doesn't think it's a big deal, as smiling's not part of your job description nor any criteria, but she insists he'd never understand the "unique partnership" you two have.

One day, she goes off on a solo assignment...and has some deep regrets on not inviting you along when everybody she spoke to was extra rude, getting her name wrong, and/or threatening her with violence simply for existing.

Normally, she wouldn't have a care in the world....until one client in particular mocked that she'd never find love and that in the unlikely event she did have a partner...they'd be "absolutely disgusted".

Nothing even warranted that outburst.

She only did them a kind favor and that's their repayment.

But....could it be true?

That your emotionless demeanor was directed to her and her alone? Were you telling her she was disgusting and abhorrent to be around without saying a word? Did you only stay with her for the benefits?

The thoughts wouldn't leave her head as she dragged herself home, throwing her hat off and flopping onto the bed, the weight of that stranger's words pressing down on her like a bag of anvils.

"Maybe this was a pointless endeavor. They deserve better. I'm just a lower class citizen...chasing a pipe dream.." She mumbles into a pillow, ready to accept and sink into her depression--

But then her clawed hand makes contact with a piece of paper. Something she hasn't noticed before.

Turning her head, she realizes that it's a letter addressed to her. From you.

She expects the worst. Your resignation from this partnership. An eviction notice. An itemized list of grievances.

But it's none of the above.

Instead, what you wrote to her felt like you've given her the winning lottery numbers.

"I may not express it as often as I should, but I love you, Ena. And I'll always be right beside you--[Y/N]"

"P.S. Here's that smile you've always wanted :)"

In an micro-instant, she went from wanting to sob into her pillow to hugging it as she giggles like a schoolgirl, reading the note over and over again.

Suddenly, her world's not imploding anymore.

Suddenly, life's worth living again.

Because you showed her that you cared in other ways.

[sparrowlucero]

Reading comprehension site. As far as I understand it, your point is moreso that often stories set in a world without homophobia, transportation, etc. Are treated as morally better. Meanwhile stories which are parallel to real world queerness, identity, and oppression are often viewed negatively. Mostly because there's a standing idea of "you could have made it better by simply not including the homophobia and transphobia".

In my mind, both are morally equivalent, and both are examining themes which may be interesting in the context of queer experiences and liberation.

yeah that's exactly what I'm talking about... honestly I think at some point the discussion around depictions of homophobia in fantasy - specifically, criticism of authors who claimed that it was imperative that (often quite fetishistic) homophobia (or sexism, racism, etc) existed in their fantasy stories for "historical realism" - sort of got telephone game'd into "it's inherently weird to depict bigotry when you could just not do that" and then in turn "the best, most valuable way to depict queerness (race, disability, gender, etc) is to make it normal, identical to the majority". Which you know often manifests as downplaying it as much as possible (and it doesn't have to! there are interesting ways to conceptualize a society with a different approach to being queer in worldbuilding! there are stories where a character being gay without people finding it notable has cinematic or social value! none of this exists in a vacuum. I'm not arguing against these things, just pointing out that a lot of advice to this effect is flat out "the only good way to do this is just make it exactly like being straight"). Coupled with this (as you've seen in the comments) are people claiming that this is what most, if not all, queers really want to see and that anything else is on some level harmful misery porn.

So yeah, I'm basically just arguing against the tendency of people to define these works in such an unnuanced way and pointing out that maybe it's not great to implicitly lump stuff like, say, steven universe, queer as folk, and i saw the tv glow together as the 'lesser' or "more harmful" type of work we should seek to avoid, or otherwise downplaying the value of themes that aren't like, escapist enough for some people.

[tiredandsapphic]

pining, matthews?

pairing 𖦹 precrash!lottie matthews x fem!reader summary 𖦹 lottie finds herself oddly infatuated over the local record shop girl, the feelings mutual an 𖦹 wc 1.5k, oh medicated lottie, come home, the kids miss u

Who knew Wiskoyak would be cool enough to have a local record store. Thank gods it did, because it was probably one of the best jobs someone could have. Though if it wasn’t for your parents’ connection to the owner, you’d probably not have the job. But here you are, working part time in the perfectly dusty store.

Lottie didn't even know there was a record store so close, not until Van brought it up one day after practice. She practically forced the poor girl to visit claiming that there's more to the music world than just Mazzy Star and The Cranberries.

With her ego half bruised and a newfound curiosity, she searches for this so-called store with Van's shitty directions. She eventually finds it, tucked behind a local cafe and mechanic shop. 

When she enters, she's hit with the smell of incense and cigarettes, walls lined with posters. Faint record playing in the back, something she can't quite recognize, maybe Kate Bush? Her presence surrounded by the rows of cassettes and dusty vinyls, she almost doesn't notice you.

You're at the front counter, legs kicked up on a stool, chewing on a pen cap as you scribble in your notebook. You don't even look up.

Her so-called rich-girl aura doesn't exactly scream grunge record store— she suddenly feels very out of her element. But determined as Lottie is, with a pretty girl and a mission in front of her, she awkwardly approaches the counter.

Her footsteps draw your attention up, expecting some middle-aged guy looking for another Nirvana cassette. Your eyes widen slightly when your gaze travels up a figure in a letterman jacket, to deep brown eyes. Shit.

She smiles at you right away, her discomfort clearly on her face and now you feel the sudden need to make it all better. "Hey," is what you start with, mirroring a warm smile as you look up.

"Hi, I— uhh, to be honest, my friend kind of bullied me into coming here, and I have zero clue what I'm even looking for." She explains in a voice that makes you melt. She's sweet, but god she's fidgety, weirdly nervous. It's like watching a candied tragedy.

Laughing softly, you throw down your notebook, leaning forward on the counter to give her your undivided attention. Lottie's face is now feeling more warm.

"Oh yikes, I see," you raise your brows in a soft teasing way, "well I can help with that. What do you like?" And the question is so genuine, it's like you actually want to know, not just because it's your job.

She fumbles for a moment, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, the smallest crease in her brow. It's adorable. 

"I think Mazzy Star and Fiona Apple— but I also really like The Cranberries before a game." The tall girl admits and you nod along, slightly smitten by her taste. And a wave of realization runs over you.

"A game? Oh wait shit, you play for the Yellowjackets." You exclaim and it takes her back a bit, then an embarrassed smile grows on her face. "I'm guessing that the friend that bullied you into coming here is Van?" 

Lottie laughs and nods, "Mhm, that's her. She speaks highly of this place— and you, apparently you're ‘the girl that knows her shit’. Honestly I didn't know it existed." She admits, her eyes on you the whole time. You just chuckle.

"Yeah, a lot of people say that. It's my little heaven, I really only got the job because I know the owner, and of course, know my shit." You admit and stand up, smoothing down your clothes as if you were trying to look presentable. "Also I can totally work off your taste, it's good." You smile and she flushes, you can't help but flush as well.

"I'll feel less like a lost cause, thanks." Her footsteps trail behind you as you walk towards one of the aisles. "I'm Lottie by the way." She adds, if not a little awkwardly.

You give her a smile and tell her your name, which makes the girl beam just a little more. Lottie eyes you as you flip through some shelves, admiring the determined look on your face.

You start to pull out some albums, making small comments, even little music facts. Lottie's knees suddenly feel so weak.

You stop yourself mid word vomit, painted nails gripping a The Cure vinyl. "Oh my god, I've been rambling for the past 10 minutes on music, I'm sorry, you must think I'm a dweeb." You laugh, your cheeks feeling hot.

"No—" she adds, maybe a touch too quick, "not at all," she laughs softly, "it's cute, please, I don't think I've learnt this much about music before than now." She says as if she wasn't looking at you instead of the vinyls the whole time.

You look at her as if she just proposed— your heart certainly feels like she did. 

"Okay, good, because I haven't even shown you half of it yet." You grin and she just nods, more than happy to watch your fingertips skim the vinyl spines as you talk.

You probably talk for way too long, but the lack of other customers and her personality becoming less nervous just makes something click. She makes small jokes that have you laughing, and your job just becomes much more worth it.

At one point she skims over, standing in front of a small section that's labelled 'staff picks'.

"Careful. That section's dangerous. You might leave with a personality." You say casually with a teasing look.

She just blinks at you then laughs, and you walk over. You grab a vinyl off the wall. "Actually, here, I think you'll really like this."

And you hold out an Alanis Morissette album. "If you don't like it, full refund." You say half jokingly, but you're too confident in your music match making skills. "Perfect before a game too."

Lottie's deep gaze flickers from you to the album for a few moments before she takes it, her fingers brushing yours. Your internal record player skips. 

"I'll take your word for it." She nods, clutching the album like it's holy.

It's not even then that Lottie goes to cash out, she still trails by as you show her more, even sharing your own favourite artists, which she locks in her mental diary.

You eventually walk over to the counter to ring her up, almost saddened to do so. You wanted her to stay longer, so did she. Though her short trip evolved into something much longer.

Lottie keeps glancing at you during checkout. She's got that flustered soft fidgeting, biting her lip, her fingers twitching by her wallet, clearly wanting to say something but chickening out. 

So, while she's distracted digging through her bag, you build up the courage to make a move— sorta. You grab a post-it note, scribbling your number and writing 'Call me if you want more dangerously good taste. Or a date. Whichever.' and tuck it into the sleeve of the album.

You look back up and slide her the album, taking her money, as if you hadn't just did the boldest thing you've ever had the courage to do.

"Thanks, for all this." She says as she grabs the vinyl off the counter.

You just nod, "any time, I know this was your first time here, and I really hope it's not your last." 

Lottie smiles, her internal circuit malfunctioning. "I'll have to make sure you're on shift then, next time." She says softly before whispering a soft goodbye.

Your heart thumps as you watch her leave, blinking like you've just had the rug pulled from underneath you. You immediately bend over the desk like you've been shot in the chest, your hands on your face. You don't know whether to throw up or celebrate.

Later that night, after a long shift haunted by thoughts of the tall athlete, you lie on your bed, sprawled out like a coming-of-age movie.

Then your landline rings, coming from your cluttered desk beside your bed.

Your heart stops, it could be anyone, but your chest knows.

"Hello?" You answer after the second ring, finger fidgeting with the twisted wire.

"Hey, it's— uh. Lottie. From earlier." Her voice is a little shakier on the line.

"Oh. Oh, hi." Suddenly the wire of your landline is very intriguing, acting as if you weren't the one who asked for this.

"So. I found something in my record sleeve." She says, open ended.

"Oh. Yeah. That." Total deer in headlights. "Was that okay?"

She laughs at your tone softly, "More than okay. I was wondering... if maybe I could take you up on the offer." 

"Which part?" You're nearly breathless.

She pauses, "Well, preferably both, but the mostly second part." 

"Good, I was mostly hoping for that part." And suddenly your world flipped, for the better. 

You clutch your pillow tighter, the idea of a date with her no longer just a dream, but now a promise.

[mbta-unofficial]

Gonna actually talk a little bit about the Great Mosque of Djenne, which has one of the coolest folk traditions around it in the world. The building itself is both at least 700 years old and incredibly fragile. It's made of adobe, and requires yearly resurfacing with fresh clay in order to prevent it from cracking structurally. It's incredibly distinct visually because of the planks which are a kind of permanent scaffold allowing access to every part of the structure for the purposes of annual maintenance.

Now, when I say "reject tradition" as practical advice for opposing fascism, I don't literally mean "abandon the centuries old practice of restoring this beloved building to its pristine condition," right? This building is gorgeous and also a house of worship used daily. Well, for one thing, I'm not a Djenne muslim. I've never been to Mali, although I would certainly like to visit. But even if I were, I certainly wouldn't say that we should just let this symbol of my faith and country and nation rot right?

WELL,

no. This is a genuinely beloved act of community and a wonderful tradition and

also less than 120 years old

and what you need to understand is that

FASCISTS LIE ABOUT HISTORY ALL THE FUCKING TIME

Did you catch that? The 700 year old mosque was demolished and reconstructed from scratch in 1906. It spent an unknown amount of time between the mid 1600s when the towers were built and 1800s rotting after it was abandoned.

I love this building. I really do. I don't want to pretend that 120 years is small potatoes either, that is a really long time. And I think it's a beautiful symbol of the way that keeping what we love about the world beautiful and present takes work, and that you have to love something to keep it around and that keeping things around is a form of love. But once you ask "how long have they really been doing things this way?" suddenly the mystique of the 700 year old mosque that has always been preserved starts to crack and become ugly.

In 2006, men inspecting the roof had to flee the city to avoid being lynched after they were accused of vandalizing it. They were literally paid by an international islamic cultural society to do restoration work and had to flee because their actions were misinterpreted as malicious. The story and the mystique of the building and its sacred untouchability (except in the festival where we all touch and fix it) could have killed them.

The point is that buildings change over time. The great Mosque of Djenne was a mosque, then a palace, then a mosque again, then a ruin, then a school, then an empty lot, and then a mosque again. And, arguably, it's still the same building. There has only ever been one Great Mosque of Djenne and it maybe moved around a bit or didn't exist or was some rich guy's house or had another Great Mosque of Djenne next to it but there has still only ever been one Great Mosque of Djenne and every year the whole community comes together to fix it except when they try to lynch the guys trying to fix it and it's beautiful. I mean that. It is beautiful that they have been doing this for as long as they have.

And you have to remember that The Great Mosque of Djenne is a story we are all telling. And, when you tell stories, things like "it was a ruin for almost 200 years" get left out because "every year for at least 700 years people have come together to fix it" is a better story. It makes it seem like the building has only ever been just one thing, immune to history and politics.

That what fascists want. Because they are people. Awful, small minded, incurious people, but people who like you, love stories and wish, desperately, for a world with buildings that don't change for 700 years. Because, if something doesn't change for that long, it must be Worth something, you know, cosmically. Everything is always changing, especially in politics, and in history and it's so fucking scary to just be Alive when everything keeps changing like that.

So it must be that the reason It didn't change is because We didn't change. We didn't let Them change it because They are new and aren't interested in keeping the 700 year old tradition that We all know and care about that makes us Us and them Them. When you lie about history, you don't need to face that We were Them and They changed Us and we were better for it. We don't have to think about the fact that the tradition isn't as old as we say it is.

But also the Great Mosque of Djenne is a rejection of that idea. Because it changes every year. You can't argue that it doesn't. You just have to pick up your bucket and change it into the future you want. Because if you do nothing, it will crack and crumble and fall into rubble in just a few decades. It isn't invulnerable. It's intensely human because it is a real actual literal sandcastle that people have been in the process of building for more than 100 years. The story changes. The building changes. Slowly, imperceptibly, and then suddenly, all at once, and then people act like it never happened. But that's just the story. And if you read the history you can see the truth which is that people are beautiful and creative and also sometimes riot because they think someone is touching their story wrong.

[organist-der-traumorgel]

THIS!

It's been a while since I watched the movie, but exactly this. We have seen Hiccup face exactly these kinds of stakes before and overcome them. Yeah, there is the aspect that the fighting will never stop, it's not just about Grimmel but the mounting stakes he represents, but still. He didn't really pose a new threat, and with his personal groth and all the experience he and the other Riders gained Hiccup is more capable of facing those threats than he ever was before, especially if we take into account the vast net of allies to call upon he build up in the series. Grimmel might pose a threat but he wasn't all that much of an escalation. Once he was gone, they could have moved back to old Berk and Rebuild. Grimmel knocking them down is realistic, Grimmels impact managing to keep them down felt contrived. The choice to send the dragons away was beautiful and made me cry, but I couldn't shake off the aftertaste of this feeling like Hiccup making an impulsive, ill-thought-out, overblown decision after getting overwhelmed by the reality of the situation and getting cold feet, instead of the heartwrenching, hard but right decision based on a more mature perspective it was meant to be.

This would have come across a lot better if at least I was convinced by the "sometimes the best thing you can do for those you love is letting them go" angle, but I wasn't convinced there either. Toothless wishing to have a life outside of Hiccup (and I have Opinions on his characterisation in this movie) doesn't neccessarily translate to him wanting to live without Hiccup. And even if we say that this is the correct step for the 2 of them, that doesn't extend to the other dragons. Tooth might have recently expressed the need for more independence, that doesn't mean all dragons should leave right this instance. Those are deep bonds that were severed very aprubtly (Stromfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf, Belch, Skullcrusher, Cloudjumper). For 6 years (in Valka's case 20) these beings have been bonded to each other as two parts of a whole, and now, after a battle, with no warning whatsoever, they are told to break up forever, with little to no chance of seeing each other ever again. That is traumatising, and I should just accept that this was beneficial, and the right decision for everyone involved?

Maybe, if either the seperation or the reason for it had convinced me, I could excuse the other, but with the movie as it is, the goodbye might have made me cry but it still fealt hollow.

And all of that doesn't go into the logistical nightmare this separation is for Berk, seeing as they have centered Dragons in all of their infrastructure, and still ned to rebuild on New Berk. There was no planning involved in ths decision and that will make the next months very hard, even if we ignore the emotional impact.

Or how, in order for the "Dragons are gone and so well hidden many people think their existence was a myth to begin with" narrative to work, the non-Berk Dragons in the Archipeleago have to leave as well. That means all wild dragons. And everything about the shocking impact of this loss on society goes doubly for the cultures we got know who have a long tradition of living side by side with dragons.

I feel like one reason THW didn’t do much for me was that the stakes didn’t do something different or greater than before - at least, not at a tangible level, a concrete level.

Technically there were stakes in THW: the tribe left Berk, Hiccup had Toothless taken from him, generals were waiting to wage war on the world, and Toothless as alpha let the dragons of Berk be captured.

But here’s the thing: none of that was new. All of that had been done before in one if not two movies.

And it was done to greater impact before.

Just to take HTTYD 2. The stakes felt greater in HTTYD 2. To me, there was a lot more sense of realism, consequence, and impact to the events that happened to Hiccup here. Valka’s Bewilderbeast was killed, a loss that cannot be reversed. Hiccup also lost his father directly through Toothless. Watching Drago ride on Toothless’ back has an unnatural sense of horror to it, as Drago rides off with all the dragons now under his control. And when Berk’s home was threatened, it had more sense of reality.

I know Grimmel entered Hiccup’s house (a juicy piece of villainy I adore) and burnt down many of the homes, but even then… the raid didn’t feel as “personal” because of the Hairy Hooligans’ response. The tribe’s meeting in the Great Hall felt similar in tone to the meetings Stoick had in the war room - yet another attack that destroyed their buildings but not their spirits. Berk’s been on fire HOW many times from dragon raids? The Hooligans’ protests at leaving their homes were muted (I could and hopefully will later write a separate analysis on my issue with the Berkians’ characterization in THW), they shrugged into Hiccup’s idea fairly quickly, and the exodus was shown in such a lighthearted tone… that it didn’t feel like a moment of gravity. What should have been a high stakes moment wasn’t depicted as such. Instead, we laughed as the Light Fury knocked Hiccup off Toothless’ back. Instead, we listened to upbeat music as the Berkians used a whimsical method of carting their belongings with them on an adventuresome journey. Instead, we watched the Berkians remain upbeat as they found a new place to live, shrugging Hiccup off as chief, and treating the situation as a positive experience.

The stakes didn’t feel solid enough to sell me on the villagers’ plight - be it here, or later in the movie when Grimmel and the warlord swooped in again. The climax didn’t have as much sense of stakes because there were fewer tangible elements of consequence. We saw the dragons taken away and in cages (something we’ve seen before, including the start of this movie), but the Hairy Hooligans were otherwise largely unimpacted. We saw a force led by generals… who didn’t appear to be doing any damage to the world around them, and weren’t doing any damage to the tribe of displaced Berkians now. The dangerous consequences hadn’t been built up enough prior to the climax, and the climax wasn’t enough to make the threat vibrant. 

But in HTTYD 2, when Berk was under threat, it felt under threat. 

Hiccup and his companions have already lost a major battle (almost ten minutes long on screen!!!) against Drago with severe consequences, consequences that are given time on screen. We have a full scene of Hiccup sobbing over his father’s death, and another full scene of Stoick’s funeral. We are still reeling from what Drago’s done against our heroes.

But Drago’s not pausing for our heroes to pick themselves up. He’s moving to Berk. And back on Berk, the village’s dragons, in a creepy daze, fly away from their owners, and into the masses of Drago’s deadly forces. 

I want to reiterate AGAIN these are deadly forces which we have seen in action. Unlike the just-for-plot generals of THW, we actually KNOW what Drago’s armada can accomplish; they can overwhelm Valka’s dragon sanctuary, defeat our protagonists, even lead to the casualties of key leaders. Seeing this legitimately deadly force - with all of Berk’s dragons used against them! - hovering over the dark skies… that’s threatening stuff.

Furthermore. We’ve never seen an enormous fucking mountain-sized dragon stand on the shores of Berk. The dragon dwarfs the entire village, and presents a scene of horror and destruction that we haven’t seen the likes of before. We’ve seen Berk go through fires. We’ve seen Berk lose buildings. We haven’t seen Berk’s buildings stabbed to shreds by giant pillars of ice. This isn’t the Berk we know. This is a village in chaos. The villagers are terrified, they’re shocked at their leader’s death, they have no dragons to defend them, and there’s no way that even these bold souls can stand their ground against a massive mountainesque ice spitter. They had difficulties before with the Red Death, and now, an even greater Bewilderbeast is destroying their one place of safety, the place that had finally become a peaceful paradise for dragons.

Then that dramatic color keying? It’s ominous and sets the tone. 

To see Hiccup’s tiny group of companions move toward Drago, and see Berk in such disarray? That’s a sense of stakes.

It did a good job amplifying the stakes beyond the first HTTYD. The stakes of the first HTTYD are extremely exciting, and in many ways similar to HTTYD 2, but HTTYD 2 does a good job of refreshing what we’re seeing. In the first movie, the villagers were also in danger from a monstrous dragon, but they were on different shores, where their home wasn’t threatened. There wasn’t a human antagonistic element, a war leader out to conquer them. Toothless was taken from Hiccup, but it was by Hiccup’s father, not a power-hungry villain who hoped to demolish Hiccup’s people. In the first movie, we have two friends uniting, rather than finding a way to rebuild a destruction of trust, a rift.

THW didn’t give us a new level of shock and stakes beyond HTTYD 2. We saw things we’ve seen before - warlords, Toothless taken, Berk’s dragons taken, etc. - but not in an amplified or revamped enough form to feel like a great shock to viewers. It didn’t build up before enough, and it wasn’t built up enough during the climax… to feel deep tension.

And it’s part of why Hiccup deciding that Toothless should leave his side feels surreal and ungrounded. We’ve literally seen greater powers than this, and Hiccup’s response was, “We are the voice of peace, and bit by bit, we will change this world.”

If THW wanted the ending they gave us, they needed higher stakes, different stakes, revamped stakes. (Other things, too, but this included.) I know I’m not the only one who asked myself at first, “Wait, is this the climax?” when I got to it at THW. It’s because it didn’t build enough to something great enough to merit the end. HTTYD 2 did everything THW did, but better. HTTYD did basically what THW did, but better. Before you go out with a bang and change the entire status quo of the dragon world - taking dragons away from us - you have to give us a sense of stakes to match.

[keitheaverage]

So full disclosure, when Power of Potluck was first announced and I saw the preview of ENA with her blue side having returned, I was almost a little... disappointed? Like, I had this feeling of "Why couldn't she have just had her Happy ending in Temptation Stairway where she and Moony got to keep their new favored forms forever? Is this a cruel rule of the status quo that tortured souls like Ena's can never heal?"

But then I watched the episode when it premiered, and... I got it.

For starters, the joy Ena received from Runas was only surface, skin-deep you might even say. Whatever's gone on in her life to make her that way didn't suddenly disappear with her sad side, it simply went quiet for a little while after making her wish.

Also, and this is more of a headcanon, but I figured that maybe any wishes made to the Great Runas only exist while those making their wishes dwell within it, therefore when Ena and Moony finally went back home after their little 10k-year sabbatical, they immediately reverted back to their original selves. Any so-called "progress" Ena made on the other side in regards to her mental health basically went away after she left. Her wish was voided and her sadness returned.

In canon, it would seem that she carries a bit of shame over her sad side's outbursts. And if my hc has any truth to it, the blow-back from all her sadness coming back to her was probably all the more jarring and painful for her to live with. Naturally she would grasp at the first thing that would help her hide her sadness away from people: the mask. And like her Runas wish, it probably worked for a while! She was normal again! For a while.

Her wish in TS numbed her sadness. The mask numbed her emotions fully. She tried to take shortcuts to healing her sadness for everyone's comfort and convenience (including her own), but none of them stuck. None of them were actually making her feel better. Only when she decided to take the uncomfortable steps of seeking out real help for her emotions, in this case finding and speaking to the therapist in POP, could she really begin that healing process in earnest.

So, like, I get why TS could not be the last episode of the series. I get why POP was made. In fact, POP is now one of my favorite S1 ENA episodes next to TS. Certified Good For Her™ Cinema, in my book.

In regards to my own headcanons and past artwork, I think all the stuff I've drawn of her and Moony in the past can still comfortably exist without having to pull too many strings. Although I think I'd have to leave their fankids behind in the Great Runas' Domain. :n( Though whether they stayed behind willingly or were simply not allowed by the Powers That Be to leave with their mothers... idk if I'm THAT cruel, but who knows. ;n) Regardless, canon doesn't mess with my fanon timeline too much, not yet, anyways.

Either way, I had to refresh Ena's post-series look to accomodate for her blue side returning. I also just wanted to see what she'd look like with that bobbed-hair-with-long-braids look, I thought it'd suit her vibe of embracing her different sides, being more at a more natural emotional equilibrium. I also also thought it'd be cute if Moony gifted her the earring I used to draw her humanoid form wearing.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

This whole thing with Austin Metcalf really solidified a potentially controversial opinion of mine:

If a minor commits a capital crime - first or second degree, I don't care - then they should be tried as an adult, and therefore eligible for capital punishment.

I've seen quite a few cases of minors as young as thirteen commit second degree murder, and because they're underage, they don't have to worry about real justice. Look at the situation where two scumbugs filmed themselves running over Mr Andreas Probst - they LAUGHED in court. On camera.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing stories of criminals who turn their lives around, but murder is a completely different scale. You can't make restitution for intentionally ending someone's mortal existence. I suppose you could argue the death penalty won't fix it, either, but at least the world doesn't have to worry about that person doing it again. In any case, the justice system should focus on JUSTICE, not "rehabilitation".

Maybe it's harsh, but I want to see consequences again.

The only concern I have is that the left would absolutely twist this is get people who killed in self-defense murdered.

Emotionally I agree with you, but there are sometimes good reasons for not trying a minor as an adult, even for murder. Depending on the age and the circumstances, there can be a very real case for mental incompetence when it comes to minors. We already legally and morally recognize that minors aren't mentally mature enough to consent to many adult decisions, and by that logic, it's also reasonable that some minors also can't fully understand what it means to commit murder. In those situations, I think it's better to try a minor as a minor and get a conviction that it is to try them as an adult and possibly have them get off on a mental incompetency to stand trial, or the jury sympathizing with the minor so much they don't want to see them in jail for life, or executed.

[sophieinwonderland]

Trump: *receives various charges and is likely to become a convicted felon*

Me, a European: "Guess he won't become president a second time. Nobody would vote for a convicted felon where I'm from as even receiving such charges almost always completely destroys the politician's reputation to the point where even the parliament is going to express distrust in the president."

Trump: *Wins and receives almost 80 million votes*

Me: *insert confused Jackie Chan meme here*

Y'all have some very.... interesting tastes in presidents...

Ghost: I'm going to take this since I was politically involved before Soph existed. I had an unusual childhood, homeschooled by a mom who was a conspiracy theorist. While the word conspiracy theorist has a lot of negative connotations, I learned a lot about politics at a young age. Some of the more out there stuff, I might have had to unlearn later. But amidst the wrong conspiracies, my mom was also ahead of the game when it came to predicting that the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq weren't real. I was taught critical thinking and to question everything.

These modern conspiracy theorists are not critical thinkers. They are a cult. They don't question. They believe blindly whatever they are told.

My point is that when I was young, I was watching while Americans gave up their freedoms after 9/11. We claim to be the country of the free, but one little attack and so many of us rushed to give up the liberties that we build our culture around. That past Americans fought and died for! Or maybe I should say we rushed to take away the liberties of others. Americans were fine with illegal wiretaps as long as we believed that it was only other people being wiretapped. We were fine with massive wars that killed countless innocent civilians as long as they were on foreign soil. We were fine with human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay as long as it was only the brown people who suffered.

I was a Christian child raised by Christian parents, but I was never able to fathom why so many other Christians would rush to take the freedom enshrined in the First Amendment away from others. I watched conservatives try to argue that Islam wasn't a religion so that they could justify preventing mosques from being built. They lost those court cases, but it is appalling that those cases were brought to begin with. Liberty and justice has always been held by a thin thread. And there are a lot of Americans who don't support those values and want to see that thread clipped. They will pretend to support those values as long as they can be the only ones who benefit from them. But they do not support equality for everyone. They do not support other people sharing their rights.

The fact that the same people who fought to illegally prevent a mosque from being built would also elect a criminal for president, and in the same breath claim that they support law and order, doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I also saw the debates happening when we were trying to legalize gay marriage. I saw the vitriol from the conservative right towards gay people. And when the courts ordered that gay marriage be legalized, I watched them hold up the criminals who refused to certify gay marriages as heroes.

There are going to be people who will tell you that Donald Trump doesn't represent America. Because there are a lot of other people who voted against him. But he does represent a significant portion of America. And I think that he represents those people better than past presidents and past presidential candidates.

For all of the war crimes that George w. Bush committed, I don't think that he embodied the hatred of the Republican party. I don't think that he represented that aspect of them. John McCain didn't either. Neither did Mitt Romney. The Republican party has long since been more aligned with the values of Trump. Some people have just refused to see it.

Democrats keep thinking that if they just wait it out, this will go away. The Republicans will see the light and realize that they don't actually want a dictatorship. That they don't actually want to take away people's rights. That deep down, the Republicans are good people who will come to do the right thing. And so we keep trying to play moderate. We keep trying to unite the country. We still don't understand that there is a group of people who are just driven entirely by hate and that they don't actually care if they tank the economy or make lives worse for everyone just so they can hurt marginalized communities who are different from them.

If you paid attention to the Republican party during the Obama years, when they were spreading their baseless racially motivated birther conspiracy theories and stressing his middle name to make people associate him with Muslims, someone like Trump coming to lead to the Republican party seems inevitable. Nobody represents their party better than he does.

Maybe if we have another fair election, Trump will end up losing. But even if he does, I think that he still represents a significant portion of America. A portion of America who will claim to be about the law, will proudly elect a convicted criminal, and advocate for people to be imprisoned and denied their rights and due process.

This is what America is.

It is hateful and petty and vindictive. We are the country of slavery! We are the country of Jim Crow laws and sundown towns! We are the country of the Tulsa race massacre! We are the country of Japanese internment, because we couldn't let Hitler be the only one making concentration camps during World War II! We are the country that has committed genocide against Native Americans, doing our best to wipe out their culture and their people permanently and building our culture over their bones! We are the country of overthrowing democratically elected world leaders and installing dictators who are more aligned with our interests! We are the country of MK ultra, where we performed illegal experiments on our own citizens and then tried to cover it up!

And if any American tries to tell you otherwise, it's because we are a country that brainwashes our children, forces them to recite the creepy cult-like pledge of allegiance in our schools to a piece of fabric everyday, and erases or minimizes the worst parts of our history from our school curriculum!

[polsocmartikhoras]

Checks out misandry is withering mockery, emotional and social abuse

also all of that is framed as and perceived as harmless. At the least not equal to

misogyny, harm to women/females, which he is perceived as as DOES have terrible conception of them and response and lack of understanding helping lead to his sense of entitlement, and each of transforming thoughts of rejection into planning of murder (he got the knife ahead of time, that's premeditation)

The game is rigged. Because the same path and psychology of actions won't lead to hurt pretty (and likely to maximize response/outragestyle sympathy) white girl nothing she does was equal to what he does. I do think Adolesence in its race swap DOES do one good service, it removes our... well...bias

loathe to take this too far but there is a reason with not specific words used even the sympathetic to Rittenhouse's case ASSUMED his victims were black. Bias and Prejudice is a hella drug. Mainly because its useful. We all build those shortcuts in our head and unless actively work will not just not notice or examine but doubt or diminish them.

Simultaneously If not for those biases that jumped to his side with the critical obfuscation involved, would we have given them the assumption of righteousness, entitlement to use violence, and default assumption of freedom and being owed oppurtunity? And tbf even as narrative shifted in favor the race or criminal status of his uhm victims didn't deprive them to right of life. That they were his ATTACKERS and he was taking action in defense of his person did.

There is no ignoring from both ends race and prejudice drove both ends of the PUBLIC'S judgement even where facts available and not used to fullest in case. But because of those somewhat comparable narratives a need for truth became valued and was sought and put on display.

Its a clear case discrimination, prejudice, and flaws permeate our society and drive and affect our law and order. But we need also a standard of engagement and clarity and presumption of innoence to find the truth and weigh the need to enact measures justly

In short EVERY case with a young man enacting violence should, however clear cut, however hotly charged, however sensational, should meet The Rittenhouse Standard.

But they Don't. and for many the law and courts would be better if they Didn't. But bent to preceding bias (not judgement and knowledge applied in the specifics of factfinding and weighing)

Its why trials aren't JUST about "if the the thing happened" but about guilt and punishment. Hence why I say Rittenouse does have victims of his shooting AND was ultimately not guilty due to other crucial factors.

I am, for instance, doubtful IRL of the track star stabbing case being self defence, but wasn't there but much MUCH more inclined to let things play out. And even where guilty believe right to trial and advocacy is STILL due to the defendant and not 'waste' because without it even WHERE actual guilt in action can be excessiveness in conviction. Where wanting to defer unjust unbalanced and unfair aggression wrathfulness to a single target as effigy can easily take over. Moreso if we know harmful biased desires exist aimed at certain narratives and identities

By being a white kid he might come across as a knuckleheaded brat but doesn't tie into wider wrath of animalistic dark skinned men acting out inherent flawed nature or assigned group bias of threat and culture.

We see why this ONE kid, this this ONE killing, for these SPECIFIC reasons and by doing so see maybe pulling in and concluding and wanting to use him and his case to associate a culture, generation, sex, or just social class dynamics or etc with an Overall group of adolescents More than one killing (and not just killing but Actions that Scare and Annoy Me And My Lifestyle Beliefs And Morals) and General Reasons I Speculate And Accept I May Have For Wanting To Crime But Dismiss as Beneath ME so Assign Them To The Perpetrator To More Easily Dismiss Them And Thus Their Rights.

This is gonna go up there with cuties as a example of poorly thought out scripting.

Granted the entire premise of cuties was god awful.

[nori-thestranger-in]

Let's Talk about -that- Episode

If this episode had been paced better (and by that I mean built up over the course of the season), and Yuya's motives made a little more clear, I might have called it a perfect conflict for Kai to face.

Let's talk about it.

Yuya shows up while Kai and team BBA are training to take on these mysterious scientists and team Psykick. He interrupts their sparring and tries once again to convince Kai to train him. He explains he's been working hard, has joined a Beyblade training program, and he's willing to do whatever he has to so that he can be even a fraction as strong as Kai.

What didn't click with me in Yuya's first episode (and what Rei had to spell out for us because the writers knew it wasn't clear enough) is that Yuya is showing Kai signs of being power hungry - just like Kai was/is.

Now as I stated, this could have been written MUCH more clearly as it still mostly just comes across as this kid wanting to be better at the sport so he can challenge his hero. I need to go back and skim through all the episodes to take some notes later, so maybe I'll spot some detail that hints at Yuya craving strength that I missed.

So let's give in to this explanation and read this interaction (and their previous one) how it's supposed to read.

Kai is refusing to take Yuya under his wing because he sees that Yuya wants to be good at this sport for all the wrong reasons. Kai sees his younger self reflected in Yuya and it likely both disgusts and/or scares him.

But Yuya is not Kai, and Kai makes a critical mistake here.

Instead of taking on Yuya as a student and training him to have the compassion that Kai has learned from his friends, he has outright refused - which is taken as a painful rejection by Yuya.

So now, not only does Yuya want the power to rival Kai, but he wants to prove himself, and because of the rejection he feels he's willing to sink to whatever lows he has to in order to do that.

He gets this opportunity when he is invited to join team Psykick and wield the digital sacred bird spirit. He undergoes the required training and returns to Kai, issuing a challenge.

This has got to hit Kai extra hard because not only is this a kid who he sees himself in, but now that kid is being used by an organization for their own personal gain. It's Borg all over again.

Kai refuses to fight, but Dunga interrupts the exchange and he and Yuya clash instead. Yuya releases the Digital Bird and it becomes too much for him to handle, ultimately resulting in his literal fucking death.

Yuya (presumably) dies in Kai's arms, his hero, the boy he simply wanted to acknowledge his existence.

Kai could have prevented this, but he let that cold exterior of his win and turned this child away.

I mentioned in the post where I discussed episode 5 that Kai's interaction with Yuya was a sign of Kai's growth and I still stand by that, but how he treats Yuya in this episode is proof that Kai's growth is still very much in its early stages. Just because he was "better" at the end of season 01 doesn't mean he's resolved his turmoil. This kid has a lot of baggage, and that baggage is going to continue to effect people negatively around him until he's ready to unpack it all.

There's a lot of arguments and complaints online of how all of Kai's progress gets reset in the third season, and while I'm not there yet I have a feeling it's not actually a stretch to think that he would relapse after suffering continued traumatic events such as Yuya's death and the loss of Suzaku again towards the end of this season. Power is always going to tempt Kai, especially in times when he feels like his world is falling apart and he's not in control.

Power is Kai's drug and he's a recovering addict. As distressing as it might be to consider, an addict will forever live their life in recovery. It's a disease that will always linger and sometimes it's a disease that will consume even after a long period of dormancy.

---

Edit: I skimmed through the episode where Kai has to face the trauma of what happened to Yuya and honestly, even in the Japanese version it's pretty unclear if this kid died, or if he landed in a mental hospital. Either way I don't think it matters. Either he's dead, or he's lost himself completely. Both fates are horrific to think about - death might honestly be the kinder of the two.

---

Please feel free to join me in my re-watch of the original Beyblade Series and keep an eye out for the publication of my fanfic Berserker Syndrome!

[pepperpatrol]

I feel like part of maturity as a 90s kid or whatever is admitting to yourself that for whatever Harry Potter might have given to you in your childhood it is a mid teir book at best to begin with and you are now older and more worldly to understand the more insidious messaging that was hidden in it. And yes, to be a mature adult, it is your responsibility to see and understand this.

You read the books and know what is in them and you have, hopefully, read about the AIDS epidemic since then and know that calling lycanthropy an AIDS stand in considering everything about Lupin and Greymane's storyline is, actually, horrific homophobia.

You have hopefully learned enough about antisemitism to recognize that the Goblins, esp bc they are bankers, are a horrible antisemitic dog whistle in the form of a fantasy race.

You have hopefully learned or experienced enough about/as a woman to understand that the entire storyline with Fleur makes the Weasley women assholes actually. That Pansy wasn't great to begin with but everything with the divination class, Lavendar, Cho and the Patil twins was not written by a "girl's girl". Even depictions of Luna Lovegood border on being kind of shitty. JKR definitely believes there is a wrong way to be a woman even if you are cis and she will not hesitate to belittle and go after you for not being the type of woman she thinks counts.

You may not understand the race politics of London specifically but perhaps you're an irish american and you've learned enough about your own history to pick up the fact that JKR is so racist that she's even racist against the white people in her area ala Seamus Finnegan's name which is every bit as bad a Cho Chang. Once you get there with Saemus and Cho you can also look at the names of every other implied nonwhite student and realize...Wow. That's kind of fucked up.

This doesn't take away your memories. It doesn't change the friendships you made over it. I understand bc I'm up there in that age range and I KNOW that Harry Potter leeched into fucking everything. It's okay. You've grown now though. You do not need it. You will not lose anything that is actually serving you now to put those memories, and maybe even your books and your existing memorabilia, in a memory box and read a better book.

I promise you there exists media that you can hyperfixate on to the enth degree that is deeper, better, more exciting and, most importantly, will not be funding an active hate group.

If you're stuck on kid shit set in London I heartily recommend the Bartimeaus trilogy.

[rei-ismyname]

Daken and Logan have a chat

Daken is self destructing and he has been for a while. From working for Norman Osborn, his disastrous stint as an LA mob boss, burning out his healing factor with drugs, and even blowing up his bizarre friendship with the Fantastic Four. He's in supervillain mode and it's time to settle his oldest debt. 'Claw clown' is amazing.

He has his father at his mercy in what is probably the closest to a therapy session Logan ever gets. Daken has a lot of anger, and many of his gotchas have a lot of merit to them. Logan's schtick is definitely undercut by his contradictions and hypocrisy, but he does try to be a better person, mostly. Better doesn't mean nice or even friendly, but he's tied up here and he really does want to help Daken if he can.

It's unsurprising that Daken and Sabertooth managed to work together - they both hate Logan for many of the same reasons. While he's ostensibly a 'good guy' and is treated as such socially, he definitely kills a lot of people and is a raging asshole most of the time. It frustrates me, so I do empathize with Daken. Being psychoanalysed and condescended to by Logan is the last thing he wants. He was calm-ish and talking. That's something.

Logan is ... not great at reaching him, frankly. A huge part of Daken's anger comes from Logan not being any kind of father to him. Drawing a line under that and trying to give fatherly advice seems like a terrible idea, but it's unclear if there was any possibility of getting a good outcome here. The tough love is 95% tough, which doesn't leave much room for love.

Focusing on Daken's agency feels almost cruel, too. So much of his life has been defined by his choices being denied to him. What he says is true, but the presentation is pretty callous. Sure, he's not good at this stuff but honestly he's had a long time to learn. It's an impossible situation made worse by future knowledge that Daken will massacre the school, but I wonder if spending some of his ludicrously long life on emotional intelligence might have led to a better result.

The 'stain' comment strikes a chord with Daken but it's something he already knows. He's got plenty of delusions ('you hate me' etc) and a pathological desire for acceptance, but that doesn't override his anger. I might be projecting my own parental trauma here, but I think he wants to be heard and understood. Logan is mouthing platitudes at him but he's not really following Daken's side of the conversation. Aside from 'I'm your goddamn father,' he hasn't directly answered a question or statement. When asked if he wonders what could have been, he looks away and says nothing. Daken is well aware he's burning shit down; he just thinks that's a good thing. Or, he hasn't been given a reason not to.

Daken pivots to what was, instead of what could have been. It's awful, and it's just a tiny sample of what he went through. Logan doesn't listen for very long before before cutting in with tepid regrets. Daken brushes them off and toasts to regret. Keep in mind Daken is like sixty years old at this point, maybe older. He's been carrying this around for a long time.

They have a lot in common - some of which Daken inherited from Logan. Enemies, powers, trauma, anger, expectations, and so on. It's possible they could have reached an understanding of those commonalities, but I'm not sure either man knows how right now. Importantly, Logan received a lot of grace and room to grow from other people. His murder factory was state sanctioned while Daken's wasn't. If Daken did want to try to be better, the ecosystem he exists in definitely wouldn't help.

Logan makes his pitch as Daken decides for sure that he is not capable of giving him what he wants. It might land better if he had reached out a little more openly. Daken says he's been considering it, and he might be lying but I don't think he is. I think a more compassionate, less individualistic Logan might have gotten through - but then it wouldn't be a tragedy. Thanks to time travel nonsense he probably thinks that a fight to the death is preordained. We'll never know, as he goes for Wolverine Kryptonite - drowning.

Obviously Logan escapes, something Daken meets with false bravado. They prepare to finish it.

Logan even puts himself at a disadvantage by choosing not to succumb to berserker rage as Daken does. Well, arguably an advantage, a commentary on their mental states if nothing else. He's not trying to save his son or reach him anymore, if he ever was. He's got many responsibilities pulling at him and Headmaster of the Jean Grey school is the only one left.

We switch to Daken's POV as Logan turns the tables and drowns him in a puddle. The 'what if?' questions and images run through his mind as his brain is starved of oxygen. He struggles but Logan is stronger.

In the ruins of a burning building, a ruined life, Daken dies pathetically by his father's hand. He did always want to torment him as much as possible, and while he didn't maximise it this is really sad. Unnecessary. Yeah, Daken has been a shithead with little regard for anyone (and he'll be back) but it's still a shame. The story frames Logan's agonising choice as whether to kill Daken or not, but the source of that was his future self - even more gruff and grizzled than this Logan. I think he may have been able to avoid that situation entirely, but then he wouldn't be Logan. It's a powerful story, but I think it contributes to their eventual good relationship feeling less earned.

[noneatnonedotcom]

current build is not providing the opertuinites for comedy I need and so the new build will be as follows for the story

This Young Mistress!: (200) "People tend to make assumptions about you, usually useful ones if often grating. This can grant you a lot of leeway in your actions or even open up entirely new opportunities if you play your cards right. But ultimately, when it comes to said assumptions, you can either let them lie or show them the truth with your words and actions." Can’t Read My: (100) "You got one hell of a poker face. You could be having a mind-shattering meltdown while appearing outwardly as perfectly composed and well-mannered to the extent that even the Cloudy Sword Sect would be impressed. This is also somehow genetic, meaning your kids will be equally as good at containing their inner freakouts behind a face of serenity."

Stunt Master: (free) "You are a master of stunting. Any time you try to do something amazing the world will conspire to make your attempted stunt just that little bit more dramatic and incredible. Maybe there just happens to be a rope to let you swing across the ballroom dramatically as you make off with the nobles treasure, or maybe there's just the right amount of handholds and footholds on two opposing walls, at just the right distance from each other, that would allow you to dramatically wall jump your way up. So long as you strive to do things in an amazing and/or over the top fashion you will be slightly rewarded for doing so, Fate conspiring to make you that little bit better at whatever you're doing because apparently Fate is really fond of over-the-top action sequences. You can still fail when you're doing over the top stuff though, so don't get too out of hand, this just represents a slight-to-moderate increase when you're purposely trying to be amazing. "

Stuntmaster: (100) "The absolute best part of being a skilled warrior as a Solar Exalt? It’s how your every movement follows with both grace and grandeur, how you become a stuntmaster that makes combat look almost like dancing. Your attacks become eye-catching and graceful, and while no more effective, your skills in battle will look visually impressive in addition to your already-existing effectiveness. This can also be applied to any sort of skill, power or trade you put effort and enthusiasm into, letting you perform all of your abilities while looking absolutely fantastic doing so."

Showmanship: (100) "You fight for more than yourself, you fight to entertain the fans! Their cheers of excitement are just as important as beating in the face of your challenger! What's a good match without a hyped up audience? This perk really helps with exciting and dazzling onlookers as you show off your skills, allowing you to really pump up the crowd and get an active mood in your current venue. This doesn't even have to apply to fighting, your showman skills work just as well with getting people's blood pumping over varying sports, competitions and other skill based activities with an audience."

Sword of the Sun: (600) "To fight against the Primordials in their prime with naught but an army of mortals…surely, such a feat should have been impossible, no more possible than an ant slaying a living planet. But it was, and Creation was forever changed by it. Embodying that power to surpass overwhelming odds, your martial prowess is now defined by overcoming superior foes. When fighting a foe with a distinct advantage against you - power, size, scale, or even the amount of soldiers in an army - those advantages become mitigated or even manageable, letting you fight them on more even ground. An enemy who could slay you with a wave of their hand will find it difficult to actually focus their will upon you, a giant finds their size a hindrance instead of a help, while a gigantic army is no more difficult to overcome than a well-armed squad. Be warned that lacking the means to actually fight such enemies - an army of your own, Charms, or such - will merely give you the means to survive or stall the bout. However, should you possess both the means and the will - even the mightiest of legions will falter against you."

basic concept of how this will work, jaune will be unaware of his sword of the sun and this young mistress powers. he is aware only of his stunt mastery and showmanship abilities. thinking those are the extent of his powers he was content to just travel the world showing off dance moves or generally acting as an entertainer.

his power of showmanship plus stuntmaster makes everything he's putting passion into look both amazingly beautiful but also incredibly hype giving people the impression that he's actually a very high level huntsmen. his this young mistress perk will further tighten this making people think he's some unknown from the frontiers who's going to be a major player in the plot.

his sword of the sun ability will instead look like he's a mastermind strategist able to set up situations that his enemies just can't seem to overcome. in reality he's just really fucking lucky but hell he'll take it if he gets to stay alive.

his poker face is something he inherited from his mom, every one of his sisters is the exact same way as well. no one can tell when they're freaking out. this helps sell the idea that the Arcs know jaune is a badass and will be fine when interviewed later.

all in all i think this build will have more potential for comedy than the one I had before. lemme know your thoughts

@howlingday @heliosthegriffin @weatherman667

actually gonna write a short scene for this one.

jaune didn't hate huntsmen, in fact he had a lot of respect for people willing to fight against grimm and criminals for what seemed like minor rewards.

he just wished they'd stop involving him in their bullshit.

HE DOESN'T WANT TO FIGHT DAMN IT!

build under the cut, the actual short story will be posted later

Murderous Brawler: (400) "Surrounded by a dozen ships of the line, hundreds of pirates pouring onto your flagship, your crew dying in droves around you? You’ve never felt the blood pump harder in your ears nor moved with such lethal speed. They think they’re going to easily win but they don’t yet realise that the worse off you are, the deadlier you become.

Already, you’ve been made one of the most dangerous men or women on the seven seas with a blade or gun or both. Firing through a captain’s eye from half a mile away in the middle of a ship battle as a hurricane rages above? You barely had to aim.

Ten expert duelists surrounding you from all angles, as you wield naught but a short sword? They’ll be mewling on the ground, clutching fatal wounds in less than a minute!

The chaos of battle only benefits you, hardly hindering your awareness of your surroundings and revealing to you all the ways to take advantage.

Makeshift weapons leap out to your sight, the crush of crowded bodies limiting only your opponents agility and errant fire from surrounding battles is easy to misdirect into your enemy.

Most potent of all, you find yourself moving with greater power, speed and skill the worse the battle is going for your side. The greater you are disavantaged, the more damaging your own returning fire.

Both you and the ship you command find this benefit, allowing you to tear your way through overwhelming odds and escape, or even manage to win battles that by all rights you should have died miserably in.

A cornered pirate is no different than a cornered rat, they’re just at their nastiest and most violent point. "

Lord of War: (600) "In the end there is always one rule that holds true in worlds such as these might makes right.

Regardless of your position or talents, power in the end is the deciding factor when dealing with conflicts here.

This perk won’t increase your cultivation, but it will make you a true lord of war. You possess truly frightening combat prowess. Even if you only possessed an average technique you would easily be capable of fighting off and killing multiple beings a level higher than you.

Should you actually have the techniques and cultivation to back up your wrath then few if any in this world could stand against you in combat."

in this au jaune's semblance manifests as an uncanny ability to always win any fight he gets into. but he never notices. murderous brawler shifts the odds in his favor making him a match or even better than the dangers put against him, but it's his lord of war mixed with it that puts him well over the top of any enemy he faces all while staying within human bounds. to outside observers it looks like he's just that skilled in combat, but to jaune it's all bullshit luck and adrenaline.

jaune became a sailor after he left home, not wanting to deal with the dangers of being a huntsman sailing the world and getting some experience under his belt he returned to vale to visit family and maybe catch the vital festival in a few months. but his exploration of the big city ends with him wandering into a bar fight with yang and ruby's fight with roman. in both he aquits himself well in the eyes of the girls but jaune was mainly just scared out of his mind and trying to hit the guys so they stop trying to shoot him.

to the girls it looks like this veteran sailor is just calmly taking down enemies without effort. to jaune it's bullshit situations he's being dragged into without his consent that he's only just barely able to survive via bullshit luck. and he knows it can't last.

think caiaphis cain, or jackie chan. and as he keeps getting drawn into these situations he keeps winding up against more and more dangerous foes and no one belives him when he tells them he doesn't have aura or magic or anything like that!

he just wants to go back to the sea, things made sense there.

@heliosthegriffin @howlingday @weatherman667

this build can be used for any character obviously. or any setting. the only rule is that they have to have imposter syndrome about it.

so who will you have suffer from success? what character do you think would be fun to write an action comedy story about? and how would their existence effect the universe?

[lurafita]

Inspired by No Way Home, Alec’s deal with asmodeus is instead that Magnus will get his magic and his immortality back but in exchange Alec Lightwood will be wiped from Everyone’s memory.

Bonus if Alec is made immortal in this, to suffer eternity as a stranger.

I’m just not sure how we get back to Malec or if they have to meet again.

Or if we say that just like the books, Ragnor hid in a pocket universe and when he comes back his phone has messages from Magnus pining for an Alec Lightwood perhaps with an image attached?

To be honest, I'm in favor of most things that change the "Break his heart for his own good" plot. (I believe I have posted here already why I hate it so much, so I won't bore you with it again. XD )

Immortal Alec is always a goal for me, because I need immortal Malec, because I cannot stand the thought of Magnus having to lose yet another person he loved so much.

And the memory wipe thing, I mean, I may be a little too blazé about this, but I don't think that needs to be such a bad thing. (though my personal dislike for big drama plays into this, so I'm probably just gonna think in far too simplified terms about this)

But, I mean, come on. It's not like Alec was blissfully happy with his lot in life, right? Magnus and his siblings, as I see it, were the only things he truly cherished. And with them, he can simply rebuild his relationship. Maybe not to what it was before where his siblings are concerned, but still something good. And with Magnus, he can strive to be even better.

And the immortality thing, maybe, since wiping Alec from everyon's memory is such a big scale operation, since it also invovles rewriting the memories of all those involved to make things make sense without Alec being a factor in all that had happened. Maybe that means that there is a balance kinda thing, where mortal Alec cannot exist where the memory of him doesn't exist. So his being needs to be made into something different. And so Alec becomes ... I don't know, an unseelie, or a dark fae, or a warlock, or a vampire, or whatever else is immortal, or maybe some kind of higher demon. With his own memories intact, but inaccessible to anyone else.

And then he can meet the group after that, while they are out closing a rift or whatever, and help them. Make a whole new entrance for himself. Start out as an ally, and then get absorbed into the group again.

Or meet Magnus first. Who would most likely still be single and having had his heart closed off for centuries. Meet him on more even footing, under better circumstances (like, not right after Magnus had lost some of his warlock friends to the circle members. I can't believe the show just hand waved that away. An apartment full of traumatized people who had just been attacked by murderous fanatics, but the shadowhunters needs came first, of course...)

Anyway, I think a setup like this could be made to do something really neat, without having to wade through too much drama.

Many thanks for this message. This is really fun to think about.

Hope the driver's liscence thing all works out. Though anything that has to do with departmental work usually takes way longer than it shouuld ..

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Talia found Yasmin's hide out only two days after the bomb.

It wasn't easy. Yasmin had hidden herself well - her monthly reports had never mentioned an acquaintanceship with Vladimir Masters, the absolute gall of that girl - in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. She bypassed the few security measures with ease, eventually finding her daughter sitting at a kitchen table, hyperventilating.

"What happened?" Talia's voice was cold and demanding.

"The-" Yasmin gasped before stealing herself. "The Fentons are dead."

"I know the Fentons are dead." Talia circled the girl. "One split navel to throat, the other strangled. What. Happened?"

"The Fentons discovered their son was a Meta. Specifically, they thought he had been replaced with the extradimentional species they study." She took a deep breath. "By the time I had discovered their actions, Daniel was... dissected on a table."

Talia closed her eyes. She knew from Yasmin's reports that she'd been acting as the Fenton child's primary caretaker since her adoption and a fondness had developed. "Yasmin-"

"Don't, Mother." She snapped. "Don't act like this is anything less than a tragedy."

"I know-"

"He was a child-"

"Everything's been taken care of," Talia said. "As far as the authorities are concerned, Jasmine Fenton died in that explosion you caused. You need to return now-"

"No!" Yasmin bolted to her feet, glaring at Talia. "He's dead, Mother! An innocent child, the child I raised as my own, is dead because I couldn't protect him! Don't you dare try to sweep this under the rug like... like Danny was something shameful! I'm not leaving! I have to-"

Time Out.

Yasmin shut her mouth mid-sentence, giving Talia time to convince her off her self-destructive path.

"What happened to Daniel is a tragedy, Yasmin. But wallowing in grief and what-ifs only leads to further pain." Talia sighed. "The Fentons and the research you were so fascinated with are gone now. You made sure of that. It's time for you to return home and put that knowledge to use."

Yasmin stared down at her hands. Odd that Talia hadn't noticed, but Yasmin's hands cradled a small, dark blue jewel, polished into a smooth, oblong oval. It glittered under the candlelight, like stars in the sky.

Yasmin swallowed the rock and spoke, refusing to acknowledge what she'd just done. "You are right, Mother. The time of Jasmine Fenton is gone now." She stared straight at Talia, no trace of fear in her gaze. For a moment, Talia wondered where her child had gone. Yasmin never met her eyes unless prompted to when she was growing up. Now she was met with a younger version of herself with cheap dyed-red hair, with the same level of determination that made Talia the Right Hand of the Demon Head. "I will mourn for Danny... on my own time. For now, what is my mission?"

Talia studied her daughter. There was a reason why she'd hidden the girl so far out of the way of her Father and her son. Yasmin was a strong fighter, but had her father's heart, despite her willingness to kill. She'd always reminded Talia of a bodyguard rather than an assassin, but Yasmin wanted to go her own way, wanted to study everything. For years, Talia had indulged her daughter, but now it was time for her to return to the fold.

"For the next month, you will be training to remove any weakness the Fentons may have left in you. After that, you will be guarding an ally for me."

"Which ally?"

"A boy a few years older than you, a son of the Bat." Yasmin didn't react to the mention of her father. Good. "His mind is infirm, but by the time you finish your training, he will be ready to strike a blow against Gotham. You will act as his guard during his training and act as my spy while he's in Gotham. Do you understand?"

For a moment, Yasmin's hand brushed her stomach before she forced her fists to her sides. "Yes, Mother. I will do as you ask."