#some of them want to abuse you!! some of them want to be abused!!!! EXACTLY!!!

[phantomrose96]

Actually I have a post I want to make about Property Value.

Which is a topic that comes up a lot in discussions of rich people hoarding wealth, in NIMBY panics, and in the ever-increasing prices of homes. But I don't think we talk much about how the perniciousness of property value goes deeper and basically holds middle class people who own a home hostage.

So to set some context here: in 2025 the median US home sold for $416,000. Say you have a working class family who can't meet median, but who scraped and saved and penny-pinched their way to a $300,000 home.

Typically, when buying a first home, you pay 20% down directly, and take 80% out as a mortgage from the bank. For this family, that means $60,000 of their liquid money (and let's say it took them 10-15 years to save that amount), and a $240,000 loan from the bank.

That's $240,000 in debt the family is. Which will be repaid over 30 years, with interest, at a rate that usually means for the lifetime of the loan, they end up paying back double the original loan.

However this massive $240,000 debt is generally considered "okay" debt to have, because it's backed by the house. If things go truly sour, the bank can take the house (and what's a little homelessness between friends).

That $60,000 the family put down is considered equity, and equity is money you "have", but isn't accessible.

Scenario: Now let's say something happens. Someone in the family loses their job, and the only job they can find requires moving. Or a family member across the country can't care for themselves anymore and so this family needs to move to be closer to them. The family gets divorced. Someone in the family is allergic to material in the home. Someone in the family is being stalked or abused and needs to leave the town. Anything at all, which would require selling the home and moving.

Case 1: The family is able to sell it for exactly what they paid (same property value, no increase or decrease). You would think the math is clean. They are paid $300,000 for the house. $240,000 repays the bank loan. The remaining $60,000 of equity goes right back to them. And they can use it (which took 10+ years to save up) to move across the country and buy a different $300,000 house.

Except no, it does not work like that.

The seller of a home is on the hook to pay commission to their realtor and the buyer's realtor. This is usually ~6% of the home value. They have to pay legal costs. There are taxes. There are miscellaneous costs. It can easily be 6-9% of the selling price of the house.

The bank NEEDS its $240,000 back. So those costs come from the equity. This family is not getting their $60,000 back. They're getting $30,000-$45,000, and now no longer enough money for a downpayment in their move. They're back to renting. Back to penny pinching. They can get by, but homeownership is now out of their grasp once more. Maybe in another 5 years, they'll have enough (unless home prices have increased too much by then) then they'll maybe never be homeowners again.

Case 2: The property value has DECREASED... Family is only getting offers in the $260,000 range.

If the family accepts a $260,000 sale, well $240,000 goes to the bank. This is genuinely non-negotiable. And that leaves.... maybe not enough money to even close on the house. Not enough to pay the realtors and the fees.

That $60,000 is wiped out, and the family is incapable of moving. Never mind losing 10+ years of savings--they're below $0. They don't have the money to close. It's financially impossible to sell. They are stuck with the mortgage. They are stuck with the house. (Maybe they'll rent it, if they can. And now they're landlords by circumstance, which is often NOT profitable when you're not a trust fund baby renting out a totally-paid-for no-mortgage home.) But whatever the case, they cannot sell it. And if the reason for selling was a job loss... well, they can be homeless soon. And if the property value dropped below $240,000, they can be homeless AND owe a bank debt. A $60,000 nest egg wiped completely out, with a bank debt owed on top of that.

So how do people avoid financial destitution when moving?

The most sensible answer is building up equity by paying down the loan--but it's important to know that mortgages are super interest heavy in the early life of the loan. With a 5% interest rate (BETTER, btw, than current rates) this family would be paying $15,460 the first year, and only $3,540.88 is actually chipping at that $240,000 principle. The other $11,919.59 was pure interest to the bank.

So after 1 year, the family went from having $60,000 equity in the house to $63,540.88 equity in the house. This buys a little extra wiggle room when juggling closing costs. But not very much. Even after 3 years, the family has just a little over $70,000 of equity, and just under $230,000 still left on the loan. So if the family has to move for any reason (sickness! death! job loss!) in those 3 years, it's probably financially devastating.

But there is a second answer to avoiding financial ruin: and that is Property Value going up.

Any amount of property value increase is PURE equity. The bank only cares about the amount of money it gave you. If after 3 years, that house is now worth (and can sell for) $315,000 (which is appreciation of only 1.6% a year. Most home appreciation is closer to 3%), that's more equity increase than they got from 36 diligent months of mortgage payment.

If they can sell for $315,000, pay $230,000 of that to the bank, that leaves $85,000. $25,000 goes to paying the realtors and the closing costs and.... the family is back to their $60,000 downpayment. Not trapped. Able to sell. Able to buy a new $300,000 home in the place they moved. Able to just maintain homeownership status.

But wait, if their home appreciated to $315,000, didn't all the other homes do the same, so now $60,000 isn't enough

Smart eye, lad! You've identified why this is a TERRIBLE rat race for the people scraping money together to live, and is ONLY a profitable leisure activity for rich people who sell homes like collectables.

Now because the increase is pure equity, a similar family with decent property value increase can funnel that extra equity into affording to meet the new higher down payment (remember the downpayment is only 20%, so even if the new place is similarly higher in property value, you only need to match that increase 20% for the downpayment). Which gets their foot in the door. But now their new mortgage is higher than the old one. More expensive. More interest.

But there is a losing scenario here--if home property values increased everywhere else, but not where you live. Then this family is back to surrendering homeownership. Because even if they can sell their place, they can't buy the next home.

It forces them to care about their own Property Value increase because, if it doesn't increase while everywhere else does, it traps them.

So what do I mean by all this

If the value of all homes dropped 50% overnight, I assume most people here would celebrate. Affordable homes! Rich people upset and crying! So much to love.

But in reality, that 50% drop would likely continue to mean no home for most of us, because the people who could sell you the homes would be financially incapable.

For the family above with the $240,000 mortgage, that mortgage does not reach halfway-paid-off until year 20 of the 30 year mortgage (remember the interest frontloading). If a family still owes $230,000 in bank loans on a place that can only sell for $150,000, they can't sell it to you. That house is the bank's collateral securing the loan. Their mortgage is underwater. They're trapped. They cannot sell it. You cannot have it.

Something similar happened in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, and the only people who got out okay were ones who could stay the course, keep making the mortgage payments, and wait it out long enough for property value to recover.

Those who couldn't got foreclosed on. Those who couldn't were left in financial devastation.

So in conclusion?

Banks profit off of mortgages. Rich people profit off of hoarding housing stock and selling it as the property value increases. Real estate companies profit off of home sales. And the regular people, who managed to achieve home ownership, are shackled to the price-go-up system to avoid financial ruin. They're forced to care about their property value because it is the singular determinant of whether they're trapped in place, whether they'll be okay if they lose their job, whether they could move due to an important life event.

It's a profit system for the rich where the cogs are middle class people who could achieve homeownership, running a machine where every single crank locks the poorer and younger generations out of home ownership forever.

[silens-oro]

Well Enough Alone: Part VIII

Not all fics have adult content, but this blog is 18+. Andrew "Pope" Cody x f!Reader (nicknamed Hawk) Prologue Cut the Loss (companion piece) Part I Part II Chicken Hawk (companion piece) Part III Part IV Trespassing (companion piece) Part V Part VI Slowly We Unfurl (companion piece) Hold on to the Thread (companion piece) But I'll Always Remember (pre-WEA companion piece)

Masterlist Pope Cody Playlist GirlDad!Pope Baby AU Masterlist

General Synopsis: Pope's acting up and Hawk is acting out. Word Count: 4.3k Content Warning: typical animal kingdom warnings AN: It's been a hot minute since my last update on this fic. I've been stuck in the baby au because this timeline is the bad place and I have been avoiding it like the plague lmao. As always, thank you to everyone who has reached out in some way or another about this fic and the baby au! please comment & reblog :)

“I don’t care what you have to do, Smurf, but you need to fucking fix this!” Pope demanded through gritted teeth at Smurf, inches from her face, as he held her against the kitchen counter. “Whatever bullshit that caused this, it gets fixed or so help me-”

“So help you what, Andrew?” Smurf sneered. “You watch how you speak to me. You are still my son,” Pope pushed his nose into hers, making Smurf take a step back. “And you forget just what I am trying to hold together here.”

“Three people almost got murdered last night -all for shit that happened twenty years ago that you tried to sweep under the rug. Fix. It.” He spat through gritted teeth. 

“I uh, god this is embarrassing.” Hawk started her false tale of how she got the wounds that covered her from head to toe. 

“You want to tell me what happened?” The doctor at the urgent care Hawk went to the next morning prodded at her brutally bruised rib cage. He kept glancing up at her, trying to gauge the situation as he assessed the extent of her injuries. 

“Got in a fight at a bar last night. I was sober, mind you, and I still lost,” Hawk winced when he poked at a particularly tender spot. 

“You sure did,” He said offhandedly. “You definitely have some fractures here, but we’ll need to take some X-rays to see what we’re working with exactly. And as far as the bruising on your face goes, that should settle down in the next couple of weeks.” He snapped his gloves off, tossing them in the bin before sitting on the rolling stool and sliding it closer to her. “And the nose should heal as is, too. Just try not to jostle it. Or get into anymore bar fights. 

“Believe me, I won’t be stepping foot in a bar again so long as I live.” Hawk could tell he didn’t fully believe her. She wouldn’t believe her, and he probably saw cases of DV coming in and out of here all the time, so when he asked his follow-up question, she wasn’t surprised. 

“I know the nurse asked you this before I came in, but are you safe at home?” 

“Yeah, I’m single and live alone.” She lied. “This isn’t domestic, just the consequences of some bad choices that I’ve definitely learned my lesson from.” 

Hawk was sent on her way after some X-rays that showed four fractured ribs. Nothing was chipped or floating, so that was good, but she was still in a world of pain so the doctor gave her a prescription for some painkillers and a pamphlet about resources for domestic abuse. She took both without a comment, other than a polite ‘thank you’.

Pope was waiting for her diligently outside, fingers tapping on the wheel anxiously, wishing he could be inside with Hawk, but knew the cops would be called expeditiously before he was given a chance to defend himself. Still, it irked him. 

He pulled up to the curb when he saw Hawk walk out of the automatic doors and got out of the SUV to help her get in. Pope opened the passenger door and was about to put his hand on her waist to stabilize her, but Hawk held a hand up to stop him. 

“I got it,” She snapped. It wasn’t his fault, not really, but she had so much pent up bullshit that any little thing was going to set her off. 

“Alright,” Pope breathed out, his hands waiting to catch her if she stumbled. It took her a minute or two, but Hawk got herself situated enough for him to gently close the door. He stared at her from the outside for a moment, watching as she attempted to put her seatbelt on before the belt slipped from her hands and clanged against the door from the inside. Hawk closed her eyes in frustration before trying again, then she sighed and sat back. 

Pope circled around the front of the car, anxiety still gnawing at him. He tried not to take Hawk’s response to him personally, but it was very hard not to -especially when he just wanted to help. He swallowed thickly when he got settled in the driver’s seat, looking over tomahawk, but she kept her eyes closed. 

“I love you.” Pope spoke softly, begging Hawk to open her eyes and look at him. Her hands were clenched into fists on her lap and he saw her nod just as tears broke free from under her lashes. 

Hawk wasn’t cut out for this life, not as a kid and definitely not as an adult. The inherent violence that surrounded the Cody family was part of the reason why she kept herself at a distance for so long, why she didn’t want to know anything about what they did. But now that she had Pope, there was bound to be some overlapping -she just never guessed that this is what it would result in. 

Pope never felt as selfish as he did in that moment, watching Hawk’s inevitable breakdown in the car and still wanting to hold onto her for as long as she’d let him. Hawk swallowed a sob, nodding almost frantically in acknowledgment. Her eyes still hadn’t opened but she unclenched her left fist and held her hand between them as an offering to Pope to show she wasn’t mad at him, just at the situation as a whole. 

“I love you, too, Pope.” Hawk whispered, finally opening her eyes to look at him. Pope placed his hand in hers, squeezing it to keep her grounded, as he pulled out of the parking lot. A heaviness settled between them on the ride home, neither knowing what to say, just that something needed to be said. 

It took until Pope pulled into their driveway before Hawk spoke up. 

“He would’ve killed her if she was there.” Pope glanced over to her as she huddled herself against the door, finding comfort in the solidity of the door against her back. “I don’t know what Smurf did to him, but the hatred he had, Andy…you don’t feel that without getting burned by someone. And as much as I hate to say it because she’s your mother, J and I both got burned by her because of this. I’m beyond angry. I’m beyond hurt. I’m never forgiving Smurf for this.” 

“You shouldn’t. What happened to you and J…” 

“I am.” She stressed. “Smurf can’t keep getting away with this, Andy. How many more people does she need to hurt? How many of us need to die before she gets put down?”

“We’ll deal with Javi, and then we’ll deal with Smurf. They’ll both pay for this, I promise you.” 

“I know you want to go after him. Believe me, I want that piece of shit and his cronies dead, but I can’t lose you if this goes sideways, Pope. Lena can’t lose you.” 

“J wants to go after them.”

“He can’t. You need to make sure he doesn’t.” Pope nodded slowly. “This is Smurf’s bullshit that she started. She deals with it or they deal with her. Either way, I never want to so much as look at her again, Pope. I mean it. I won’t hold myself back.” 

“You don’t gotta tell me twice.”

“Javi’ll get what’s coming to him, I know that much, but I’m not stupid enough to go back to prison on murder charges. Not when I have you and Lena to think about.”

Hawk spent the next week locked inside the house. She explained the situation to Jane, not the whole story, but enough to let her know she wasn’t going to be in the shop for the next week or two. She’d have Pope stop by if she needed anything, but Hawk was going to lay low for the time being. 

Pope had been distancing himself mentally from Hawk since the incident with Javi and she couldn’t put her finger on why exactly. He took care of her, nursing her back to health for the first two weeks until she was able to go back to work on light duty. He kept Lena out of the house at Hawk’s request for that first week -Hawk didn’t want to freak the poor girl out with how she looked, so Pope took Lena out and about, but she always ended up back at Baz’s. 

“You can’t hide from her forever.” Pope was becoming irritable with the fact that he had to keep Lena from the house. Did Auntie Hawk leave like mommy? Nearly threw Pope headfirst into the mental spiral he was trying to avoid. “She’s worried about you. She misses you.”

“I know,” Hawk sighed. The bruising had gone down and she was just dealing with soreness in her healing ribs and the remnants of a scab that was giving way to a scar on her upper lip that glared at her every time she had the courage to look at herself in the mirror. “I’m just…I’m struggling.” Hawk’s voice broke. “Mentally, I’m still under the water, fighting my way up but I don’t know where up is.” Pope tilted Hawk’s face up to look at him. His eyes were troubled and his shoulders sagged like he carried the weight of the world on them. 

“It’s handled.” Pope reassured Hawk, his thumbs ghosting over her cheeks affectionately. “He’s gone.”

“Doesn't make this any easier to deal with.” He nodded. 

Pope was sleeping less and staying out until all hours of the night. Hawk was usually awake when he crawled into bed with her, kept awake by nightmares of being held under, the phantom sloshing of water shooting her straight up in the bed when she did close her eyes. She never let on that she was awake, that she didn’t contemplate why he was out and where he was going just so she wouldn’t fall asleep again. 

Pope’s thumbs moved to the circles that weighed her under eyes down. Both of them were hanging on by a thread, each of them attached to one fraying end and eventually, one would drop. 

“Bring her tonight.” Hawk nuzzled her cheek against Pope’s palm. “She’s probably losing her mind with Baz.” 

Recovery was slow, but Hawk seemed to push through the worst of it. Lena was back at the house for most of the time now, and everything seemed to settle back into the way it was before the Javi debacle.

As promised, Hawk did not see or speak to Smurf. Her number was blocked and she didn’t answer the door anytime she stopped by. Hawk wasn’t sure what Pope told Smurf the last time she tried to brush her way past him into the house, but Smurf didn’t try coming over again. 

Tonight, Hawk had the house to herself. Lena was with Baz and Pope had been MIA for the better part of ten hours. To say she was on edge was putting it lightly. Pope started getting up earlier than he usually did and was gone by the time Hawk even cracked her eyes open. He didn’t answer her calls, and would respond with one or two words when she texted him, so she knew he was alive. 

Hawk’s nails were chewed down to the quick. They were sore, but that didn’t stop her from continuously gnawing on them nervously before she yanked them away, shaking her hands in irritation. 

It had been a week of this and Hawk was absolutely sick of it. Sick of the silence. Sick of the secrecy. Sick of not knowing. He’d usually turn up at two or three in the morning without a single word, would undress, then crawl into bed for a few hours before he’d get up and do it all over again. 

Something was very wrong with Pope. 

Hawk was startled awake by her ringtone as it blasted next to her ear. She was sprawled out on the sofa, her hand holding her cell near her face where she had fallen asleep. She sat up, rubbing her squinting eyes as she looked at the right screen before answering. 

“What?” Hawk sighed into the phone. 

“Is Pope with you?” Baz’s voice sounded front the other end. Hawk rolled her eyes as she stood from the sofa to go grab something to drink from the kitchen. 

“No he’s not, but if you hear from him, tell him he can stay at Smurf’s tonight.” She hung up the phone, eyeing a bottle of wine in the wine chiller before ultimately going for a glass of water. If Pope did drinks his way home that night, the last thing Hawk needed to be was drunk. 

For the second time that night, Hawk was awoken by a phone call. Her arm swung to the other side of the bed and was met with cold, undisturbed blankets. 

“Hawk?” J’s voice shouted over what sounded like a party. “Hawk, can you hear me?”

“J? Where the hell are you?” She pulled her phone away from her face and saw that it was nearing one in the morning. 

“Smurf’s! Listen, I have no idea where Baz is and Lena’s here-” at the mention of Lena, Hawk was up and moving through the house to the front door to grab her keys, her purse, and slip on a pair of shoes. Her pajamas left little to the imagination, but that was the last thing on her mind. 

“What do you mean Lena’s there? What the hell is going on, J? Is there a party at the house? Is Pope there?” Hawk knew the odds were probably that he was not, if the noise on J’s end was any indication, but she still hadn’t heard from him. 

“Baz threw a party. I don’t know why, but now he’s missing and Lena had a little accident. She’s fine!” He stressed. “Can you please come get her, though? I’d drive her to your place, but I’ve already been drinking and I think I’m the most sober person here which is troubling.” Hawk did not doubt that. 

“Yeah,” She sighed, trying to push away the headache that was already brewing as she locked her front door. “I’m on my way now. Keep her away from any crazy shit, please?” Hawk hung up and stared down at her phone. She still hadn’t gotten a response to any of the texts or calls she sent him since his last text at 1:47 that afternoon and it was worrying her more than she cared to admit. 

Hawk got angrier and angrier the further she got into Smurf’s house. The house had been turned into a palace of debauchery and every sweaty, inebriated body that bumped into her was one more inch she was pushed to losing it on the next person who touched her. 

“J!” Hawk shouted when she saw him passing through the kitchen back outside with Lena in tow, but her voice wasn’t loud enough to reach him before he was gone in the crowd. 

“Hawk?” She spun around to see Deran looking at her like she was a goddamn unicorn. “What are you doing here?”

“What the hell is this, Deran?” He winced at her tone, but tried to shove his beer into her hand. Hawk gently pushed it away. Her relationship with Deran wasn’t as cut and dry as it was with Baz, or even with Craig. Deran was jaded in a way only the youngest sibling could be, and while he had his hang ups, they generally got along -especially now that he had also cut (most) ties with Smurf to branch out and do his own thing. Now that he was a business owner, they now had one major thing in common. They weren’t close by any means, but they understood each other in a way that Baz and Craig didn’t. 

“Baz threw a party,” He said with a shrug, bringing the bottle back up to his lips. “If you're looking for Pope, he’s not here.”

“Lena’s here.” Hawk stated, anger brushing her expression. “Where’s Baz?” 

“He’s around here somewhere,” Deran did a glance around. 

“And Smurf?” He shrugged again. 

“Out of town. Didn’t say why, but Baz took it upon himself to do this. Stay for a while. Have a drink. Relax,” Deran drew out the last word before patting her on the shoulder. 

“I gotta get the kid out of here, Deran.” Hawk brushed past the youngest Cody brother, irritation permeating off of her. Moans caught Hawk’s attention and her head snapped to the left. Her feet took her down the hall and stopped in the doorway to the den. She couldn’t count how many naked bodies were gyrating and thrusting, moaning and screaming as the orgy before her very eyes took place. 

Hawk needed to grab Lena and get out now. She pushed her way out to the backyard, the sounds of screams and splashing water made her spine go rigid and her pulse quicken. Hawk’s breathing came out sporadically and she twitched every time someone jumped into the pool. 

Hawk pulled out her phone and called J as she continued to push past drunk party goers, praying he could feel or hear his phone in this mess. Something that sounded like ceramic shattered from inside the kitchen and Hawk closed her eyes, counting to five before heading outside before she started knocking heads together. 

“Hey!” J answered. 

“I’m in the backyard. Where are you? Is Lena alright?” 

“We’re in the driveway. She’s got a few scrapes, but she’s fine.” Hawk didn’t answer him as she stormed through the side gate and jogged back to the front of the house. 

Get to the driveway

Get to the driveway

Get to the driveway

Nicky and Lena were sitting on the brick wall that lined the driveway while J was checking out the scrapes on Lena’s leg. 

“Lena,” Hawk called out, her hands shaking as she reached for the young girl. Lena hopped down to the ground and sprinted towards Hawk. She wrapped her hands around Hawk’s hips and buried her face in her stomach. “Are you alright?” Lena looked up at Hawk as she brushed Lena’s hair out of her face with her fingers. 

“He tackled me,” Hawk’s eyes widened. 

“Who tackled you?”

“The man,” Hawk looked at J with fire dancing in her eyes. 

“What is she talking about, J?” 

“There was a car.” Lena answered before J could. “A man tackled me so I wouldn’t get hit.” Every single one of the adults in this house was going to be in for a very rude awakening when this all cleared up. 

“I’m just very happy you’re okay, sweetpea.” Hawk kissed the top of Lena’s head, holding to her stomach as Lena’s grip tightened around her.. 

“Why is she here?” J winced at the tone. “And where the fuck is Baz?”

“I don’t know, but Pope is on his way. I told him you were coming for Lena, but he said to stay here until he got back.” Hawk bristled at the mention of Pope. J saw the pinched look on Hawk’s face and knew she was beyond pissed. Her presence sobered him up instantly and he made the wise choice to be helpful instead of a hindrance. “Let’s go back inside. I’ll make sure a room’s clear for her and she can lay down, alright?” Hawk took a deep breath, looking between him and a guilty looking Nicky, before nodding. 

Hawk sat at the edge of the spare bed as Lena slept. How the kid slept soundly through the chaos outside of the door was beyond her, but it was best she wasn’t awake for the reckoning her father was going to get if he showed back up. 

The door burst open and Pope came through like a raging bull, making Hawk jump up in reaction. 

“Is she alright?” He kept his voice low, as if that would be the thing to wake her up. Hawk nodded. “Stay in here.” She didn’t question it, just nodded once more. Within moments, Hawk heard people stampeding through the house and when it finally quieted down, she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

The house was completely trashed. Food and alcohol covered every surface, anything breakable was broken, and it looked like a bomb had gone off in inside. Smurf was going to have every single one of their asses when she came back. 

Hawk wandered out to the backyard with purpose. She came across Baz as he was coming through the open gate that led to the pool area before Pope did and she laid into him without a second thought. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Pope appeared behind Hawk and grabbed her arm before she threw herself into a full falcon punch at Baz. She wasn’t the type to get physically violent, but he didn’t trust what her body language was saying at that current moment to put it past her.

“Coming in hot, Hawk.” Baz put his hands up, taking a step back.

“You left Lena by herself in the middle of all this shit?” Pope asked, looking around at the destruction left in the party’s wake.

“She was not by herself,” Baz motioned to J and Nicky. J shook his head, silently warning Baz. 

“Where were you?” Pope demanded, shotgun hanging in his free hand. 

“I was out looking for you.” Baz pointed to Pope. 

“Lena almost got hit by a fucking car, Baz! She’s scraped up and it could’ve been so much worse! What if someone tried to hurt her? There were a hundred people here, all of them strangers to her. There was an orgy in the den! What kind of fucked up Father of the Year award are you trying to go for here?” Hawk spat at him.

“Save it, Hawk. I don’t need parenting advice from you of all people.” Hawk huffed out a laugh, and Pope tightened his hold on her. 

“I’ve only raised kids whose parents couldn’t do their fucking job to begin with, Baz, yours included in case you’re forgetting that bit. I know a thing or two about the right and wrong way to do this. She had no business being here.” 

“Enough! I don’t need to listen to this shit from you, alright?” Baz raised his voice, trying to intimidate her into backing down -just like he used to do with Cath when he didn't want to talk about things. But what Baz failed to realize was that Hawk wasn't Cath, and she backed down from no one -Baz least of all. 

“Then be a fucking father, Berry.” Hawk ground out. Everyone that remained at the house watched the back and forth that finally came to a head between the two. “These are the traumatic memories that’ll be seared into her brain for the rest of her life. You don’t get a do over when you realize how much you’ve damaged your kid!”

“Are you speaking from experience with your star pupil over there?” He nodded to J, who narrowed his eyes at Baz. Nicky put her hand on his arm to stop him from advancing and making the situation worse. 

“No, Baz, I’m not. I can say, without a shred of a fucking doubt, that I did a stellar job raising J because I was present. I didn't drop him off to go run off with my boyfriends, or mistresses in your case. The absolute disrespect you have for your own fucking child for bringing her," Hawk pointed directly at Lucy, who was standing back from the group, watching intently with her arms crossed over her chest. "-around while Lena still cries herself to sleep wishing her mom was still here. It’s you and Smurf who’ve undone a decade and a half of work that I’ve put in, so let's not get that fucking twisted.” Hawk was fuming, seething, as she let out every bit of frustration she had been feeling. The look Baz gave her was lethal, deadly, and she knew that he knew she was right.

“Pope fall into that category? If I remember right, he’s the one who got J tied up in all of this so I hope you’re holding him to the same standard as the rest of us.” Hawk wanted to wipe the smug look right off of his face, and if Pope wasn't holding her back, she would've.

“Don’t go there, Baz.” J spoke up, keeping his anger in check. Hawk pulled her arm away from Pope’s hold.

"Enough." Pope's voice boomed with authority. He brought his attention back to Baz. "Where's Smurf?"

“Smurf’s in jail.” Baz finally admitted. Everyone stared at him like he just grew three heads. 

“What?” Pope questioned, not believing what he was hearing.

“Yeah, jail.” Baz repeated it like he couldn’t believe his own words. 

“I’m taking Lena for the night.” Hawk said, not leaving any room for argument from Baz. “Pick her up when you’ve figured your shit out.” With that, she stormed back into the house. J ushered Nicky to follow her and she did without question.

please comment & reblog :)

[northboreas]

Highlights from the TGWDLM watch party on RanbooLive's twitch for those who couldn't make it:

- Ranboo, a well known Twitch Streamer and longtime Starkid fan got some of the cast of TGWDLM together to rewatch the show & promote the kickstarter!

- It was a side collab, there will still be the main "Divining the future" and DnD Finale streams happening in the next weeks

- Joey Richter got ahold of the soundboard and he abused it wholeheartedly. Crickets, Buzzer sounds, Fart sound effects, ect.

- (Who gave him that power btw. Which one of you did it.)

- Everyone on the discord call had pictures next to their names instead of having their cameras on, most notably Lauren Lopez had a stock photo of a doctor, Jon Matteson had a picture of Jeff Blim, and Jeff had a picture of Jon

- The whole cast introduced themselves and basically said what they had gotten diagnosed with since they did the show

- "This is a HIPPA compliant stream" --Jamie Lyn Beatty out of context

- Lauren Lopez PHD confirmed that after TGWDLM she went to medical school and was the one who diagnosed all of her friends

- Most of the starkids hadn't rewatched the show at ALL until this stream

- Train Choreography mentioned!!!! the cast said James Tolbert is considering bringing it back for the reprise

- Lauren said shes going to be using all of the kickstarter funds to pay for med school

- "It took an apocalypse for him to get closer to his crush" - Jon talking about Paul Matthews

- Jamie made one of the "Tip for a song" sign props for TGWDLM!

- Jamie and Mariah said Alice and Deb are an OTP

- They also said they might make fake instagrams for them to promote the reprise. This is great news for potseed shippers

- There used to be a cut song before La Dee Da Da Day that had Peanuts the Hachetfield Pocket squirrel SINGING

- Lauren said that she would love to have peanuts actually make an appearance, "That squirrel budget is enormous"

- The "Should I take this chair?" "I'll take the piano!" bit was an ad lib

- All the "Okay"s from Paul were also ad libs, meant to give the actors more time to quick change, but now its a genuine part of his character

- They mentioned the homeless man so much, they said that they wanted cocaine to be under his nose for the reprise

- Lauren chimed in with "He doesnt have enough money for coke. He became homeless BECAUSE he spent all his money on coke."

- Lauren confirrmed that she specifically told James Tolbert to keep the "Cup of Roasted Coffee" choreo exactly the same for the remount

- The "Show Stopping Number" choreo will also be the same

- Jeff mentioned that hes planning on making Mariah's songs higher and his songs lower for the show too

- Lauren said she wanted to get a big dumpster for the "Paul, get in the trash can!" scene so the cast could actually be hiding in the trashcan (Probably a joke, but it'd be cool lmao)

- Mariah Rose Faith called TGWDLM a "Sexy Show"

- Lauren joked that shes going to add a line referencing "Janes a Car" from NMT to the scene where Emma talks about her sister's death

- They pitched Smoke Club / Perky's Buds branded joints, and Blue Goo edibles, all being sold at the TGWDLMR merch store

- Jon had to leave the stream right after Act 1 and the second he did the cast was like "Okay, so what do we really think of Jon?"

- "Actually, we're gonna be recasting Paul as this brand new actor named Aaron Tevit" -- Joey Richter

- Joey and Jeff had a headcanon that the army guy Joey plays in TGWDLM calls John MacNamara "Dad"

- During the show Jeff Blim once forgot to wear the watch while playing MacNamara

- "It was the most embarrassed I've ever been in my life"-- Jeff blim

- Ranboo told the cast that they once recorded a shot for shot remake of Show Stopping Number with all the choreo for his school

- America Is Great Again was actually a backup song, the original song that got cut was "goofy" according to Jeff Blim

- When Emma asked people for their phones at curtain call some people would actually give her theirs, and Lauren + The cast would go backstage and take photos with the phones for their fans

- We reached 475k (The Witches Budget) during this livestream, and we still have 14 days left for the kickstarter!

[kimberbohwrites]

Ooooh, requests you say... Would you want to write about what was going through Rolan's mind when he realized the man he idolized was *actually* a monster?

Oh so you want to hurt, huh? Let’s do it

TW: Angst, Sadness, Abuse. This is going to be angsty, the actual cause of my 6 month break from writing was escaping a super abusive, narcissistic boss.

Acceptance

He’s too clever to be truly fooled by Lorroakan, but oftentimes we fool ourselves on someone else’s behalf so that we don’t have to accept a harder truth.

On some level Rolan knew immediately that he’d been deceived by the man he had idolized. But he didn’t want to admit it — not to anyone and certainly not to himself. It starts with excuses for the bad behavior — “he misspoke, he didn’t mean that, he’s just under stress,” and then comes the truly dangerous part — blaming himself. Lorroakan’s words become his own inner monologue, “Master wouldn’t have been angry if I’d been correct, he wouldn’t do this if I were smarter, if I were more prepared.”

And so Rolan works harder, pushes harder — just like his master wants. Lorroakan is a master manipulator, a narcissist of the highest order and he knows exactly what he’s doing. What he lacks in magical skill, he has always made up in the ability to control, to bend others to his will. When Rolan pushes harder for approval, Lorroakan knows he has him and that’s when the barest scraps of praise are gifted to the tiefling like a rope tossed to a victim in floodwaters. Rolan grasps, fights, pushes past the pain, he sacrifices just for those shreds of kindness.

Somewhere in his mind, Rolan knows this is wrong but there is nothing he can do about it anymore. Lorroakan owns him and his future — the fate of his family rests in the palm of a madman. His master may be stupid and cruel, but he knows you don’t need a collar for a pet if you break them first.

Rolan stops struggling, he stops dreaming, he stops hoping, he stops feeling — he just stops. He prays the numbness will extend to his body. It doesn’t and the violence only worsens.

Every day he plays a game that was designed for him to lose and it’s killing him faster than the beatings. He doesn’t even recognize himself in the looking glass anymore — he’s just an empty shell with dead eyes, covered in cuts and bruises.

He forgets what he’s living for until the moment you burst back into his life, bringing color and warmth back into his life for the first time in ages.

Thanks for the ask, friend!

[jaydude1992]

"If I'm getting the details wrong, please correct me, but after the show (where he betrayed Azula's trust and told Ozai that she lied to him..."

If the lie in question was "Zuko was the one who killed the Avatar in Ba Sing Se", it's kinda hard for me to see it as reasonable for Azula to feel Zuko betrayed her trust; as far as I'm aware, the only reason she told that lie was because she suspected Zuko wasn't being honest about Aang having no means of surviving the events in Ba Sing Se, and she wanted to use him as a scapegoat in case Aang was in fact alive.

"...attacked her repeatedly..."

If we're talking the events of the show, in the vast majority of cases (The Boiling Rock, the Western Air Temple, technically the fight at the start of Book 2) it's Azula who initiates hostilities, with Zuko fighting back in self-defense, though there is admittedly a bit of justified anger on Zuko's part in that last example.

"(1) puts Azula into an abusive mental facility..."

I've discussed this in another post of mine, but my problem with this argument is that besides it often being made in bad faith, what exactly happened to Azula at the institution - and how bad it was - is vague at best, based on the little material we've been given. The most we've got is a quote from Gene Yang indicating only that Azula's time in the institution didn't do much for her mental health, and the existence of another character who was put into the institution and had a bad time there, due to the institution putting more effort into keeping her contained than helping to solve the issues that got her sent there.

"(2) never visits to learn about the conditions she's being kept in (like being a straightjacket all the time);

(3) only shows up when he needs something from her (get Ozai to disclose info about Ursa)..."

As far as I'm aware, there's nothing that indicates Zuko never visited her prior to the ending of The Promise. And if that is the case, who's to say he didn't visit her early on, only to leave after Azula's response was to immediately scream and blast flame at him? She wasn't exactly hesitant or bothered about trying to hurt him during their Agni Kai.

(That's just a hypothetical, btw. But it's at least as plausible as the idea that Zuko never visited Azula.)

As for the straitjacket argument, there's no indication whatsoever that Azula was kept in one "all the time". The only occasions we see her wearing one are when she's meeting with Zuko at the end of The Promise (i.e. she's in close proximity to the Fire Nation's head of state and an individual to whom she's expressed hostility and a desire to see hurt before) and when she's taken out of the institution to meet with Ozai (i.e. taken out of the secure location dedicated to keeping her confined). We don't know what her daily life at the institution was like, how often straitjackets were used on her, or whether or not the use of them was unjustified on those occasions.

"(4) dangles her off a cliff..."

From what I can see of the angle, both her feet are still on/above solid ground. You could say that she's in a precarious position regardless, but the only reason she's in that position is because, again, she attacked Zuko first.

And again, he told her he was willing to take her out of the institution and keep her under house arrest in her old room at the palace before she decided to escape and burn all of Ursa's letters.

I'll concede that Azula might have less reason to trust Zuko than I do. But if that is the case, then again, what's to stop her from just trying to sneak into the palace if she wants to reconcile with certain members of her family but doesn't want to put herself back in Zuko's power? It wasn't exactly impossible for her, given the events of Smoke and Shadow.

"I'm not sure why you're ascribing that expectation to Azula, rather than some subset of fans..."

I'm lampooning the apparent fanon belief that all Azula needs to become a good person is Ursa, Zuko and Iroh casting aside all their other responsibilities and devoting everything they have to tracking her down, and then apologizing to her for not doing enough for her when they find her. The argument that Azula shouldn't have to do anything to facilitate her own redemption, in other words.

"Azula just wants a mother's love!"

Then why didn't she turn herself in following the events of The Search? Given that Ursa does express concern for Azula in the comics, and was willing to admit possible fault on her part back when she had no memories of her, I'm certain she would've made use of an available opportunity to at least talk to her daughter and try to fix things.

You can't really say Azula was worried Zuko would just throw her back into the "abusive" institution; he openly stated he wanted to help her near the end of The Search, and he was willing to let her room at the palace again near the start of that trilogy. Alternatively, if Azula was just worried about having her freedom curtailed, why didn't she just use her knowledge of the palace - and its secret passages - to sneak in there and confront her mother while also retaining a chance to escape? Why did she instead come back and start trying to corrupt Zuko into a tyrannical, fear-wielding Fire Lord in Smoke and Shadow?

In my mind, Azula's problem isn't solely a belief that Ursa didn't love her enough/saw her as a "monster". She's also still holding onto her Ozai/Machiavelli-esque view of the world, and thus wants to turn Zuko into a Fire Lord she can project herself onto.

"Ursa should be trying to find her!"

There are already people - i.e. Ty Lee and anyone Zuko assigns to her - trying to do that. Ursa's not a tracker or a trained combatant, and she doesn't have the resources that Zuko does. She did have a skillset and such that enabled her to indirectly help Zuko when Ozai was planning to murder him, but that's not the case for directly helping Azula here.

Besides that, Ursa has a much younger daughter she's currently responsible for. Should Ursa really become an absent figure in Kiyi's life so she can devote herself to finding Azula? How is that any different from her allegedly favouring Zuko at Azula's expense when those two were growing up? Because Azula supposedly deserves it more?

In addition, there's not exactly much that's stopping Azula from trying to contact her mother. Sooner or later, she has to take at least some responsibility for trying to solve her problems, rather than expecting everyone else to run themselves ragged on her behalf.

[iluminatka16]

"From beyond the stars" Chapter 3

Chapter 2 [Chapter List]

Summary: Why it's not worth insulting the Emperor and a conversation with the main culprit of the whole Heresy, Horus.

Tags: isekai, ending up in a fictional universe, primarchxf!oc, found family trope, emperor and horus make an apperance

Warnings: mention of failed suicide attempt, cursing, typical canon violence, mention of child abuse

Word count: 2773 Edit: FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHIG THAT IS HOLY AND UNHOLY, I ACCIDENTALY PUT FEW WRONG TAGS, AND TUMBLR ISN'T ALLOWING ME TO DELETE THEM (*screams of despair*). no, this isn't emperor x reader fic

Unfortunately, she was not given peace of mind this time either. Before either brother had time to answer her, heavy rhythmic footsteps sounded behind them. Yelena turned toward the sound and sighed quietly. It seemed that Custodian had returned to his post. But since he was walking towards them, it meant that either they were in trouble for talking to her, or the Neoth wanted something from her.

“The Emperor is expecting you.” briefly without explanation. Of course, she could have tried to inquire, but she knew perfectly well that it would have accomplished nothing. The bodyguard of the most powerful man in the galaxy probably didn't know himself what exactly was going on. Because why share his plans with anyone? What could have gone wrong? Let's think. Ah well! All this mystery led to a fucking heresy and Neoth looking like a zombie from The Walking Dead.

“Looks like I'm in trouble. Farawell gentlemen, if I survive then I definitely need to have a chat with you.” Yelena extended her finger in front of her and moved it to none other than the primarch, after whom the aforementioned heresy was named. “Especially with you Horus.”

“Horus? I thought most baseline humans call me My Lord.”

Yelena only smiled.

The road through the golden corridors was a torture. Lack of sleep, hunger, anxiety. All this made her think she was going crazy. She had barely been here, and she had managed to insult the fucking Emperor himself and break his ban. Three times! She was not supposed to talk to the primarchs, and she talked to three of them. And also with Curz. It's a good thing the Heresy of Horus hadn't happened yet, because if she had met that version of Konrad… well, she still remembered the passage in the book about him, where he decided to murder almost the entire crew of the ship and torture the only survivor. On top of that, there was still that fucking Custodian. Not only did he not react when the Night Haunter followed her footsteps into the garden, even though the primarchs were also forbidden to go near her, but he also walked away from the site of his post-

Wait a moment.

Custodian is no ordinary soldier who simply runs away from his post to go play cards. Even if his family was dying in front of him, he wouldn't move unless the Emperor himself gave the order… THAT BASTARD.

The door to the spacious study closed behind her, and Yelena was left alone with Neoth. The man was staring at a holographic map projector of some planetary system in front of him, not even raising his eyes to look at her.

“You set me up.” Yelena didn't care about the titles at this point, feeling her rage boiling inside her. She thought that she was indeed going mad from lack of sleep.

“You said they could be saved. Testing your words was the only option. Admittedly, my plans for your first confrontation looked a bit different, but you handled everything yourself by running out into the garden. It was a matter of time before Curze followed you. From what I noticed, you are like a magnet for my sons. I was honestly surprised that none of them broke my prohibition and entered the chamber I assigned to you. But I must admit that you have done remarkably well.”

“Talking to him was "doing remarkably well"? He didn't take anything from my words, an-”

“Konrad spent the whole night talking to you.” The Emperor interrupted her, finally lifting his gaze from above the map. “That's more than his brothers accomplished in their years of Crusade together. And you managed to get him interested in just a dozen minutes of discussion together.”

“So what do you expect me to do?”

“Since you were able to get to Konrad, it should go easily with the other primarchs. You know their mentality, past and future. You know what awaits them.”

“And then what?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Yelena slowly approached the table. She didn't even think about her next words.

“Let's say I'll stop the heresy, which might be difficult, because there's a chance I'll accidentally make things worse. Great, you have your generals, you're not trapped in a golden chair, undergoing torture for ten thousand years. You've conquered the entire cosmos. What's next? Are you going to get rid of them like you got rid of the Thunder Warriors?”

Neoth slowly straightened up. Probably it was the action of his power, but Yelena felt an unpleasant shudder run through her body under his gaze. She felt so small, so insignificant. Like a bug that he could trample with his shoe. Well, and here his was a mistake. She was so familiar to this feeling, that it only fueled her rage.

“Careful…”

“Because what? Are you going to kill me?” Yelena hissed, clenching her hands into fists. “Just like you killed those who opposed you? Because so far I am the only one who knows the exact course of events of the heresy. You don't know them, otherwise you wouldn't have ended up the way you ended up in the books with the whole Imperium going to shit.”

“Don't overestimate yourself. You are not as important as you think. The fact that you're still alive is due solely to my grace. One more word and you'll end up in a cell, where I'll extract this information from you with torture.”

“Even knowing the exact course of the heresy, you wouldn't be able to stop it. Do you know why? Because you are an bad father who sees, men who blindly obey you, as tools in your Great Fucking Plan.”

After that, there was only pain. Yelena felt like her body went up in flames. Blood gushed from her nose and filled her throat, running down her chin. Suddenly standing became too painful and before she knew it, she was collapsed onto the floor, convulsing in pain. She had no idea what was happening, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. It was hard to tell how long it lasted, but suddenly everything went quiet. She was still on the floor, choking on her own blood, and standing over her was none other than Neoth.

“Maybe the world you were born into is much softer and merciful, but there are different rules here. I have killed for lesser offenses than loudly insulting me. You are weak. You are a nobody. And killing you will be like squashing an ant with a shoe.”

As if to confirm her words, Yelena felt his boot resting on her head. She wasn't stupid. She knew that he could easily split her skull, mix bones and brain. One push. That was all it took. The fact that he hadn't done it yet meant that he was giving her a chance to apologize. For her to beg for mercy.

The problem was that she felt no fear. Only rage. It was as if she was again a child being beaten by her father using his belt, trying to break her. If he wasn't able to do it, she'd sooner die than let a fucking fictional character do this. Even if she was going to die for it.

“And you're an arrogant prick whose own personality made all the perpetuals run away from him, then his sons, who loved him above life, betrayed him, and his Great Plan went to shit.”

Yelena was panting like a wild animal caught in a trap. Her eyes were wide open, and although her view was partially obscured by the man's boot, she stared ahead with almost burning gaze. Her bloody face was contorted in a grimace that she had worn more than once when dealing with bad fathers.

“I can kill you at any second, and yet you are not afraid. All I can sense from you is rage. You are filled with hatred. You say I am arrogant, yet look at yourself. Too proud to yield even in the face of death.”

Yelena did not answer him. She merely clenched her jaw, waiting for a push to fix what should have happened when she jumped off that bridge. But to her surprise, no, shock, instead she felt the pressure on her head disappear and a strong hand grabbed her arm and lifted her to her feet. Oh fuck, how painful it was. Her muscles forced to move ignited, drawing a broken whimper from her mouth.

“The pain will go away soon.”

Easy to fucking say. Yelena had no idea what was going on until someone pushed her to sit on a armchair, clearly made for the measurements of primarchs, and a silk handkerchief was placed in her hand.

“Get yourself in order.” The Emperor muttered, resting his hands on the beautifully decorated table. “You mentioned two times that… how did you put it? The Imperium went to shit. What is the fate of humanity after my sons betrayed me?”

Yelena thought for a moment about telling him to fuck off after the way he treated her, but decided she didn't feel like testing her luck any further. “Ten thousand years have passed, you are immobilized on the Golden Throne, the Imperium is attacked from all sides. It is ruled by corrupt fanatics and the Inquisition… ah yes, the Inquisition are also corrupt fanatics.” With a quick movement, she wiped the blood from under her nose and moved her handkerchief to her chin. “Chaos is attacking with new power, on top of that new enemies have appeared - Tau, Necrons, Tyranids. You almost became the fifth god of chaos, and ten thousand years of constant torture probably destroyed your psyche to the point that you were probably no longer yourself. And also they made you into a god in whose name they kill others or even themselves.”

Fucking Lorgar.

Neoth nodded slowly. “What do you expect in return for your help?”

“Excuse me?"

“You don't want to help me kill potential traitors, so I expect you to help me stop them from descending into chaos. Death threats don't work on you, so I'm asking what you want from me in exchange for your help.”

Yelena thought for a second. “First of all, nothing will succeed without your help. Be their father, even if you don't see them as your sons. Teach them about the threat from the chaos gods, explain Warp to Magnus, help Konrad with his madness. Just… take care of them. Second - when the Great Crusade is over, don't kill them. Let them live in peace, in the way they choose. Third… if you decide to kill me after all this is over, I ask that you do it quickly. Don't send me to the Astra Militarum to die there, just kill me in my sleep. So that I don't have to suffer.”

“You're not going to beg for your life? You know that I am able to make you a lord of some rich pleasure planet, or give you a place in one of my offices. Why don't you beg for it?”

Yelena shrugged her shoulders. “You will do what you think is right. I only ask that if you decide you want to kill me, that you spare me the suffering.”

“It's a deal then. I will change my attitude toward my sons, and your death will not be painful. You have my word.”

She had no idea if he was lying. He had done it many times in the books, so she could expect pretty much anything. This time, however, she did not question him. If, after what she told him, he still decided, to be stubborn, there was nothing she could do. They talked for a good hour, where she briefly had to explain to him what tyranids and tau were, but in the end, perhaps seeing that she was actually barely keeping her eyes due to the exhaustion, he took pity on her, ordering the Custodian to escort her to her chamber. Unfortunately, she couldn't have a moment of peace here either, as she was caught on the way by none other than Horus. Primarch, of course, demanded an explanation, which she refused to give him until they were both in her chamber.

“Can you explain why you insist so much that we talk in private? You run like a rabbit from me.” Horus began, watching as Yelena sat down on the bed

“Because if anyone were to hear that you were responsible for the heresy named after you, which almost killed your father, placing his almost corpse on the golden throne and led to the death of most of the primarchs, one of us would be in a lot of trouble.” The girl fixed her green eyes on him, silently hissing in pain as she moved her aching body a little deeper into the bed.

“Oh”

“Oh, definitely. The corruption wasn't necessarily your fault, but what happened next… well. The death of trillions of people, with the Imperium in shambles. Also you killed Sanguinius.”

Horus stared at her in silence. She wasn't sure if it was due to disbelief in her words, or if he simply ran out of words.

“How do I know you're telling the truth? That sounds absurd. Even leaving aside my loyalty to my father, I would never hurt my closest friend.”

“The gods of chaos make mush out of your mind. And why would I lie? It was your father who first tried to boil my blood alive and then almost smashed my head with his shoe. All because I called him out and refused to give him your name, among other things, as a potential traitor.”

Silent footsteps sounded and after a moment the mattress next to her depressed downwards under Horus' weight.

“Why did you risk so much? And if it's true… what made me turn my back on my family?”

“Well… I think each of you has a chance to avoid this fate.” Yelena took one strand of hair between her fingers, trying to brush away the dried blood that was on the tip. “Your fall to chaos was the fault of Erebus and Lorgar. You were seriously wounded in battle and a ritual was performed on your dying body. Erebus appeared to you as someone you trusted, unfortunately I don't remember the name, and showed you a vision that after the Great Crusade was successful, the Emperor would rule as a god and kill the primarchs as soon as they were no longer useful. You believed this vision, and then after talking to Erebus, you joined the chaos gods.”

“Lorgar? How long has he been a traitor? Has he already become one?”

“Has the Monarchia been destroyed?”

“No.”

“So he hasn't become one yet. I have no idea exactly where in the timeline we are, but incydent in Monarchia was actually the beginning of what I know as the Horus Heresy. Erebus, on the other hand… well, he's been a pawn of the chaos gods basically since he was a child and is currently manipulating Lorgar.”

Another moment of silence from Horus. “We need to get rid of him, but we can't openly kill him without evidence. I'm guessing that father prefers that your… origins remain a secret, so I can't use your words as evidence. I also can't attack and kill him without reason, after all he is an acolyte of Lorgar.”

“We need to talk to your brother. And actually with all the brothers. If the original heresy can be stopped, there is a chance that another of its variants will happen. From what you said, Lion is already furious with your father for giving me so much freedom.”

“Don't worry about Lion, I'll talk to him.” Horus got out of bed and walked toward the door. “You'll have a chance to talk to the other brothers, because they're all coming together for the great feast father is throwing to celebrate the tremendous victories during the Great Crusade. I, Sangunius, Lion and Curze arrived first, but from what I've heard, Magnus, Guilliman, Vulkan and Perturabo should show up in a few days. The rest will show up within a month.”

“Oh Lord…” Bonus: The collage I created for Yelena. Yes, she was a singer and performed in the theater.

Author's note: I would like to apologize for going so long without a chapter and for this one being so short. A lot has happened in my life, and college has done to me what Vulcan did to Konrad using his teleporter, which was also a hammer. In addition, the writer's block is still biting me in the ass. The plot begins to slowly unfold, and I guarantee that not every primarch will be so friendly (calling Perturapo a “manchild”? what could go wrong). Tag list: @beckyninja @athenaremo @justfreakynothingelse @lukarus @synfiction @thatnightlamp @pirateshippers-first-mate @amoelcafe12345 @zyra-7 @walking-natural-disaster @vithralith @ihasnopen @mooniequeen @kit-williams @roxygobyebye

[scribephoenixwriting]

Bob Reynolds Character analysis: Ever The Void, once more The Sentry.

After Thunderbolts* I read every major Sentry comic to get a better feel for the character and to see what aspects were adapted well. He's cool. He's terrifying, tragic, and beautiful. But also, he's never written consistently, which means he's always changing.

I'm going to run through all his major appearances here and piece together a picture of his psyche, back to front. This will include some very polarized characterization that I intend to make sense of, so a bit of it is headcanon, but MOST of it is textual.

We are introduced to Bob Reynolds in Sentry Volume 1 from 2000. There was some marketing stuff regarding him being a Stan Lee character but I'm not going to get into that right now.

As a young man, Bob Reynolds discovers the professors formula and becomes the Sentry! With the power of a million exploding suns, he'll stop evil when he sees it and protect the innocent. Bob is introduced as an ideal hero who has been forgotten by the modern age. He knew the x-men, spider-man, and could pacify the hulk. Sentry #1-6, his crossovers, and Sentry Vs The Void make up this original arc, its a mystery. Robert must find out why the world forgot one of their greatest heroes before the void returns and destroys them all.

This mini-series establishes a lot of key concepts. Rob is an addict struggling with his mental health. The void is a part of him. He knows everybody. He is the best of them. I think the most important thing here is the fact that he was forgotten. Sentry and Void's dynamics are explored further much later.

Sentry, a hero that always swoops in at the nick of time, someone that we can all rely on, is showing cracks. He's slipping, his sanity is questioned all throughout. The serum is synonymous with drug abuse, the sentry is the high, and the void are the lows. There is intervention imagery present, where the avengers tell him to stop being the sentry, and in some ways, Bob feels betrayed by this.

Bob has been positioned as a kind of linchpin for other heroes, someone they can always rely on. When the truth comes out; The void IS the sentry, they don't comfort or help him. The void is simply too dangerous, so they must simply forget him.

I think this is the tragedy that gets less attention. Yes, its sad that you must be forgotten by everyone, even yourself, but to me, the sadder thing is why.

It is far easier for the world to forget about Bob than it is for the world to fight his darkness. The void's rampage could kill millions, so its not like you can exactly fault Reed for it, but ultimately, being forgotten is synonymous with deeming Bob a lost cause, no matter the good he's done. In order for the memory loss to work, the avengers must brand him as a traitor to the public, so they want to forget him. Even if the truth is different, even if people remember him, they'll only see him as a junkie who betrayed the side of good.

The Sentry has done unquantifiable good for the world, he always saved the heroes in the nick of time, but when it comes time for someone to save Bob, to help him with his issues, they abandon him once more. Its worth noting that Bob, Sentry, and Void are all the same person, so the feelings of one can be seen in some ways as the subconscious feelings of the other. Even though it was necessary, on some levels, Bob did see this as a kind of betrayal.

In order to stop the Void, he agrees to go away again, to be forgotten by the public once more and go back to his life as Bob the nut. He woke up in the middle of the night, certain that The void would return, he gathered his friends together, and they couldn't fight it with him.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to come back,"

A man struggling with his mental health has reached out to his friends after a long time of substance abuse. He asks them to help him fight the darkness within, but they can't. They just can't. So he has to go away. Bob has burdened them. His burdens are far too great for them to bear. He's sorry for coming back into their lives as if it was his fault.

It isn't your fault, Bob.

New Avengers 2004! A group of super-heroes are caught amidst a super-villain prison break. In this prison, tucked away in a solitary cell, is none other than the Sentry himself. (Notice that he's still in costume?)

They fight off all they can, but when attacked by Carnage, they start losing. Suddenly, Sentry leaves his cell and defends our heroes.

In a moment of weakness, Bob pulls the "Tear him in half" gambit to great success. To Bob, this might as well be a relapse, so immediately after, he runs away.

Since his wife's death, he's sworn to never become the Sentry again. He's happy to punish himself forever if it means keeping people safe. However, the avengers find him and finally they HELP HIM!!!!!. Emma Frost helps him past his mental block and helps him regain control of his own psyche. No more forgetting, not anymore.

Bob still has issues, but previously he'd been stuck in a loop of returning, then forcing the world to forget him with his own psychic powers. Breaking this loop is like Bob finally reaching out for real. He's trying to stay in other peoples lives again. As such, the real return of the sentry isn't an enigmatic figure flying into space and tearing someone to pieces. Its heroic and beautiful.

At this point, Iron man is in Bobs corner quite consistently. He lets Bob set up on top of avengers tower, he supports him, he advocates for him. This makes sense given Tony's history as an alcoholic.

Finally, things are looking up for Bob. The avengers are helping him, and Lindy is alive!

Poor Lindy. Turns out she's not dead. She won't be. Not ever. For now, its a mystery why she's alive, presumed to have died either during the original mini series or sometime after. Eventually we'll find out.

Lindy and Tony act as (as far as I can tell) Bob and Sentry's main friends. Lindy is Bob's wife, she keeps him human. Iron man is Sentry's colleague, he keeps him good. I wonder what would happen if either of these two were removed from the picture. Hmm. Anyway.

After New Avengers 1-10 (2004), Bob gets his own Mini: Sentry Vol. 2 (2005).

Sentry Vol. 2 is all about Sentry and the Void. Bob is working around the clock, second to second, to save as many lives as he physically can at all times. He has little time for Lindy. He has only minutes a day for therapy, and he has the Void locked in his basement.

Except... he doesn't. The Sentry isn't in control. In fact, we learn towards the end of this Mini that these personas Bob has are essentially reactions to himself. When he drank the Golden Serum to get high, he became the void first. This is his self-hatred, his disappointment, and his anger at the world given the power of a million exploding suns.

The Void is the "Real" Bob, and the Sentry is his guilt, an unstoppable force that will make up for the Void's evil and fight him back at every turn. Bob goes into his basement every night to berate himself (The Void) in the mirror to make himself feel better. The most powerful superhero on the planet is a coping mechanism for Bob's self-disgust.

And this tracks. C.L.O.C., his personal assistant computer... thing... is programmed to always tell him who he needs to save next. Every second of every day is spent flying to disasters and swooping in, just like he used to. This is heroic, sure, but its also a punishment. No life. No wife. No fun. Go to the other side of the planet or people die. No breaks.

Sentry must spend every second of his existence making up for Bob's failure as a human being. Bob wants to be a better man, but he doesn't believe he's a good person, and he especially doesn't believe he's worthy of the power he has. When Bob realizes that Sentry is essentially just a reaction to his own guilt, he tries to kill the void.

And yeah. Big gay kiss. The Void is all of Bob's ugliness personified, and Bob knows that the Sentry is a high he's constantly chasing. He loves that power, but he knows how pathetic that is, so the Void adores the Sentry.

And here, the Void is making a good point. Bob can't stand himself. His addictions, his flaws, his schizophrenia, his agoraphobia. He hates them, despite being part of him, so he tries to kill them over and over and over again to no avail. His guilt prevents him from ever forgiving himself. The Sentry will always fight the Void and Bob will never have the chance to heal.

I'll continue this analysis in another post. I've got a lot more, but there's a limit on images I can attach.

Next up: Civil War, The Mighty Avengers, and World War Hulk.

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

Do we ever see Steph in a mentor type roll in the comics? I’m trying to write something for her and I’m not sure how she would act if she had to be a mentor to someone younger. I can’t tell if she’d be good at it or not. Maybe she would in a non traditional way?

Not really, unfortunately.. Funny you ask, as there was an idea for a comic w Steph mentoring a group of young heroes floated a while back that never ended up getting made. However, Steph is pretty consistently portrayed as good with kids! The closest thing to what you’re looking for I can think of is probably Steph’s interactions with Damian in Batgirl 2009! While not quite a mentorship exactly, it might be a good basis for how you might want to write her interacting with a kid she saw as is need of her guidance. Checking it out might be a good idea!!

On my opinion on the type of mentor Steph would be, that’s a great question, I think a lot of it would be a natural product of her own experiences w mentorship.

Steph has had some truly shitty mentor experiences in her past (looking at you Bruce Wayne cough cough), and I think that would make her very cognizant of certain things. For instance, I think she would want to be very open with a mentee, as one of the biggest things used against Steph during both her stints working with Bruce was how much information was kept from her and how far she was held away. We can see some evidence for that openness with how Steph interacts with Wendy Harris (Proxy) during Batgirl 2009, Steph basically tells her everyone’s secret id and backstory with no compunctions. So I think Steph would absolutely be very open with a mentee and would try not to keep secrets from them. On the other hand, one of Steph’s flaws is she is kind of a secretive person, she’s introspective and she likes to figure stuff out by herself, so I can see this being an internal conflict for her, where she is very willing to tell a mentee important secret info, but still holds more emotional stuff close to chest.

Another thing abt how I think she’d act as a mentor, Steph is extremely dedicated and determined, and tends to see things in a black and white sort of ‘giving up is weakness’ kind of way? I think she’d have to balance her 1) incredibly determination and focus causing her to want to push her mentee to be the best they can and 2) Steph’s (again) terrible experiences being mentored by Bruce making her not want to push too hard / berate / not provide enough verbal encouragement to her mentee. It’d be a balance, but she’d probably end up being super encouraging and verbally affirming to a mentee while holding them to a pretty high standard.

Just generally, when it comes to Steph interacting with kids, she has had a pretty regular habit of projecting her own experiences and traumas onto them. Not a bad thing per se, just she seems to tend to see her younger self in abused kids particularly and it engenders her to be protective of them.

If you want to take that to explore a flaw Steph might have as a mentor, you could write her projecting her own past difficulties or past feelings onto her mentee in a way that isn’t helpful or accurate.

All in all, I think Steph could be a great mentor! She gets along well with children and is stubborn when it comes to making friends and forming bonds, and has experienced pretty much the worst case scenario mentorship wise (dropped by BOP, dropped by Batman. Twice. Being insulted/used as a tool/held at arms length etc etc) which has pretty much given her a valuable perspective on exactly what NOT to do! However, those very same experiences might also hinder Steph’s abilities as a mentor. She might fixate on screwing up with them like she was screwed over, or project herself onto them. No matter what, I think she’d try very very hard to be present as a mentor and would want to be there for her mentee no matter what. Hope this was helpful, thank you for the ask, and good luck with your writing!!

[somekindofadeviant]

I'm so tired. Is it so much to ask for to want to see people showing love to Spike without shitting on Angel? To show love to Angel without shitting on Spike?

I'm sick of scrolling through my dash and coming across a debunking of the usual fanon bollocks and starting out like 'Yes! You tell them! Yeah that common fanon IS reading Angel and his relationships in incredibly bad faith! Yeah, break down why it's bad faith and cherry picking! Heck yeah! Exactly! We absolutely should not moralise over fictional ships and use therapyspeak to justify shitting on a blorbo we don't like! You tell em!'

Only to get to 2/3 through and it turns to the inevitable 'Now here's why Spike's a nasty twat and people who like him and his relationships are delusional abuse apologists'

Or vice versa. Because I love both those boys. And another thing I'm tired of seeing is 'Nobody ever says nasty things about [reformed mass murderer vampire 1] and their fans. It's only [reformed mass murderer vampire 2] and their fans who get the harrassment and bad faith hot takes about them'

NO! BOTH BLOODY SIDES ARE ON THE RECEIVING END! ALL THE BLOODY TIME!

The Angel fans get it more often, at present, because the Spike fans are more numerous right now. But both sides get it. And I'm so so very tired of it. I'm so tired of the reaction to it NOT being 'I'm going to be different, be kinder than those arseholes, and treat fans with respect no matter who they ship' but instead being 'a minority of fans who don't like my blorbo/ship are mean so I'll retreat into my corner, assume everyone who isn't an OTP purist of my ship is an arsehole, and be mean in return'

I need to really block a bunch of #anti blorbo/ship tags. Not everyone uses them, though. What I really ought to do is what @bigbad1880 suggested. Write a hundred words of fic whenever I see some ship war bollocks on my dash. I'm not even firmly on either team, this isn't my bloody ship war. I'm here for Spangel, for the Fanged Four. Forget Team Angel vs Team Spike, I'm Team There Could Be Some Kind Of Oil Involved.

It's just been a tough week, maybe what I really need is a nice cup of tea and some buttered toasted tsoureki.

Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

[ak47b4by]

hot take time please read (important)

the bop house should not be allowed to have a account on tiktok. the whole premise of their account is to advertise their onlyfans, get young boys addicted, and get little girls to aspire to be like them. i’ve seen so many little girls on tiktok making auditions for the bop house, some being young as 14. it glorifies SW, treating it lik its some fun job and if you start doing onlyfans you can be rich too. they are contributing to the objectification of women, which is even worse considering tiktok is mainly an app for CHILDREN. at least 60-70%(i actually don’t know for sure i pulled that out of my ass) users are under the age of 18. and let’s talk about how they bring literal children IN the house? like when they did the interview with ash trevino and she brought her kids, obviously the kids didn’t witness anyone making content but it’s still. and bringing piper on the house was absolutely disgusting and inexcusable. piper is 17 and was exploited and abused by her mother her whole life. and then back in december she made a tiktok auditioning for the bop house. she obviously looks up to these girls so much and wants to be exactly like them, and they thought it would be a good idea to bring a CHILD into a literal porn house. and also pipers mom already sells CSEM of her, her fans can buy pictures of her, and the higher the prices get on the tiers the less clothes she has on. letting her go to the bop house was unforgivable on both her mothers part, and the bop houses part.

terfs do not interact, this post is not for you. (regular radfems r fine tho)

[michanvalentine]

Today I’m comparing two characters from completely different works: Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3 and Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel. But let’s start from the beginning—otherwise, it wouldn’t be me; I need to be long-winded!

The images are not mine but belong to their respective authors.

If there's one thing I've realized, it's that I need to change friends—because my best friends clearly don't love me and keep recommending things to watch or play that inevitably end up consuming me. Anyway. Lately I watched the Hazbin Hotel series—of course, late as usual, because I must be living up the ass of a constipated ostrich, never coming out, totally unaware of what's going on in the world… or maybe I wish that were the case. The truth is, real life eats up all my time and my responsibilities are always looming over me. I just want to spend more time on my PC, my PlayStation, and on Netflix! Bwaaaaaaaahhh!!!

Okay, I could throw a tantrum and whine forever, but I'm getting off track. I discovered this series and now I’m listening to its songs on loop.

When I started watching it, I knew nothing. I wasn’t expecting the musical numbers, or the jokes to be that crude, or that I’d end up laughing like an idiot—or loving almost every character that much. Of course, I didn’t expect some of the characters—though not all—to be anthropomorphic animals with such an appealing art style, nor did I expect a series that looks comedic on the surface to tackle heavy themes like rape and abuse. So, after several episodes of just smirking, I’d end up crying… and wanting to kill Valentino’s character. Angel Dust is both a self-imposed and inevitable tragedy, to such a degree it breaks my heart. I love him for exactly who he is.

As Husk would say, he’s a hopeless loser—but honestly, that’s perfectly fine by me.

The thing is, while I was watching Angel’s suffering (and I had no prior information about him beyond the Prime series and the two videos I only found afterward on YouTube—namely, the self-produced pilot by the creator and the Addicted video), I couldn’t help but notice all the elements that make this character so similar to Astarion from Baldur’s Gate.

They’re both queer men. They are both proud of their appearance. They both have a wicked master who literally owns them. They’re both treated like objects and sexually exploited. They both wear a mask of seduction and constantly flirt, flaunting their hypersexuality. They’re both physically and psychologically abused by their tormentors.

In Astarion’s case, it’s the magical compulsion of his vampire lord that breaks his will; for Angel, it’s drugs and the intoxicating fumes of his producer and infernal Overlord.

Both characters are looked down upon and stripped of their credibility as victims. One is a vampire spawn, a monster who deserves nothing but a stake through the heart. The other is a whore and a junkie—he must like it, or he was asking for it.

Both are disillusioned—with the world, with themselves—and hide their vulnerability behind smiles and jokes, concealing how deeply broken they truly are. Both are desperately searching for freedom, for identity… at least until they meet the right people and catch a glimpse of hope.

And funnily enough, they also share the way their relationship with the main character begins: for both of them, it starts as a matter of convenience—and only later does it grow into something real.

What probably sets them apart the most is their level of resignation. Astarion is decidedly more defiant and determined in pursuing his freedom, even at the cost of becoming the tyrant himself—the one who holds the power to bend others to his will. Angel, on the other hand, is more overwhelmed—by himself, by the drugs, by Valentino. But that’s precisely what makes it beautiful: because even though both believe redemption is impossible (“I can’t be what you see in me,” says Astarion; “You’re never gonna redeem a demon like me,” says Angel), deep inside them, hope still burns. And there’s so much more strength and virtue than anyone would ever imagine. Certainly more than those who look down on them or those who abuse them without mercy.

Honestly, I really wasn’t expecting such a hard-hitting and raw blow like the fourth episode of Hazbin Hotel. The scene where Valentino beats Angel and threatens him is truly intense. And the video with the song Poison… a masterpiece. The song and the music guide you, scene after scene, sliding down just like poison, while the images of fiction—the film reel—blend and blur with the more painful ones of real violence: raw, terrible, and all too real.

It shows how Angel has become trapped in it, almost addicted. How he’s become the actor of his own tragedy.

At this point, I encourage anyone who hasn’t played Baldur’s Gate 3 to give it a try—and those who haven’t seen Hazbin Hotel to go check out the series. Lol. I’m doing exactly what I blame my friends for: recommending new obsessions! Go forth and dive into media!

Below I’m leaving the video for Poison, because I really like the song.

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: There are depictions of sexual assault and violence. Please be advised and prepare yourself before watching.

[vonlipvig]

KINDS OF KINDNESS!!!!!!!!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

[sandinmybed]

can i be fr for a minute?? sending abuse to people online for holding different views than you is not activism and in fact actively hurts your cause. most people are not extreme in their viewpoints, you can give them a new perspective if you're willing to spend some time explaining shit. if someone is saying something you disagree with and you rush in there to condescend to them and call them disgusting and subhuman and dont even TRY to explain calmly why their views are harmful, they're going to shut you out instantly and double down on their views.

most people are simply genuinely ignorant to the issues they're talking about - they just pick their views up from the news and the world around them and express opinions because that's what every person does. if you run in there and tell them they're scum for it, what then? if someone does that to you, are you going to think "maybe i should do some research" or are you going to think "this person is an asshole, im blocking them." a lot of you think you're activists and then refuse to do any kind of actual WORK to support your cause.

[fire-on-fuel]

somewhat overlooked point but it's always been interesting to me that vau's father's problem with him was the dissapointment/dishonor type just because you probably wouldn't guess. Vau generally reads blank but the fact that he's someone who thinks he's removed the problem by viscerally cutting out all the visible manifestations of it is. yeah great job. Day to day he operates with this crystal clear refusal to subject himself to others' opinions [heavily implied 'like before' here] but we see him instill a version of the same fear honed traits in his cadets and watch it bubble up in relation to jango and even more curiously himself. He's such a pile of completely at war with eachother hand picked pieces held together with tack welds. You're lying to yourself, walon

[skrunksthatwunk]

how do i tell my roommate that her cat repeatedly pissing on and destroying my things is something that people usually offer to clean or replace or apologize for instead of shrugging off

[kasumingo]

it's utterly wild how transparent people are about depicting "problematic things" in stories, because people keep repeating that it's good if it isn't romanticized but cannot define romanticization, cannot tell romanticization and depiction apart and outright shun artists and writers who clearly condemn and repeat themselves over and over again what function in the story the unpleasant themes have