#the most logical choice

[superbat-lmao]

Several items were spread across the tray. It glared in the harsh lighting.

Knife, gun, shears, barbed wire, power drill. More out of sight.

Fingers dug the gag out of his mouth and held his face towards their captor.

The man picked up the knife.

“Choose.”

“What?”

Nightwing coughed harshly after the question. He couldn’t see his brothers in his periphery anymore from the grip the man had on his face.

“Which one gets the knife. Choose.”

“Me.”

“No. Choose.”

He fought against the restraints to no avail.

The man grinned.

“Red Hood.”

Red Hood grunted from behind the gag.

Fingers were on Nightwing’s face again and he clenched his teeth around the fabric. Then the hand was gone.

Next to him, the man grabbed at the gag in Hood’s mouth.

Jason spat at him and was backhanded.

The man picked up the barbed wire.

“Choose.”

“Me.”

The man tsk’d and struck him again.

“Choose.”

“Nightwing.”

Nightwing flinched and clenched his teeth.

Hood’s gag was replaced.

He couldn’t see Red Robin from his position in the line-up but he saw Hood stiffen.

The man held the drill.

“Choose.”

“Me.”

Red Robin was backhanded.

“Choose.”

Red Robin stayed silent. All Nightwing could hear was labored breathing.

“All then. I will start with the smallest.”

“No! I will choose!”

“Choose.”

Nightwing braced himself for pain.

“Red Hood.”

Nightwing could not describe the noise his brother made.

The man replaced the gag.

Nightwing couldn’t see Robin, but he heard his sharp inhale.

He was holding the gun.

“Choose.”

Nightwing was thrashing. Robin had to choose him. He was the oldest. Red Robin should have chosen him. He couldn’t stop fighting.

“I will start with the first.”

“No.”

“Choose.”

“Red Hood.”

There was blood everywhere that Nightwing was wrapped in the wire. He thrashed harder.

The gun went off.

Fingers were in his mouth again.

The man held shears.

“Choose.”

[cable-salamdr]

Really funny when a show subconsciously changes your association of things. Ask a Ninjago fan what colour element lightning is and they will answer blue no hesitation as if THAT’S the most normal answer (it’s not)

[starcurtain]

A Very Rambling Rant about Alhaitham and Aranara

Sigh. Everyone on twitter is all excited over this idea that Alhaitham can see aranara, and I don't mean to be downer but like... I kind of hate this. Not the idea of Alhaitham seeing aranara, which is very cute, very nice, yes, but more the way this kind of thing unfolds.

It's a classic example of unconfirmed material, extraneous to the actual game, getting put out on social media like it's canon: Someone tweets "ALHAITHAM CAN SEE ARANARA!!" and suddenly it's running rampant in the fandom and people are completely convinced it's canonically true, without the actual game or any confirmed story-relevant materials genuinely supporting the idea. This is exactly how misinformation gets spread. (I'm looking at you, "Jade enslaved Aventurine" Star Rail fandom brainrot.)

And it's this "bandwagon canon" that leads to constant issues in the fandom when people point out that even some widely accepted stuff is actually fanon. People are literally vicious over defending things that don't actually have any evidence in the game itself.

I really wish this fandom was better at distinguishing "This thing is factually true" and "This is a really cool idea and there might be a few hints for it! I'm going to make this my headcanon!" Watching stuff in fandom go un-fact-checked genuinely makes me terrified for people's ability to fact check real world issues sometimes!

Not to mention the way this conversation is happening is just really unpleasant too?

I saw multiple tweets with thousands of likes going around saying things like "Of course Alhaitham can still see the aranara; he has child-like wonder while Kaveh is traumatized and had to grow up too fast, so it makes sense he can't see them."

Which like... This is so gross to me? Are these people just missing the massive unfortunate implications of their own words--the idea that traumatized people can't experience wonder for the world anymore? That they're somehow broken and can't experience any child-like joy??? It's a deeply unpleasant take to me.

And not only that, it directly contradicts actual canon, because Yoimiya's entire second story quest was about a girl going through a traumatic illness that confined her to a wheelchair and led to her experiencing guilt and depression--and about helping her to see that everything that made life worth living was still there for her, and that she had never lost her wonder or will to live in the first place.

And the whole thing just smacks of a fundamental misunderstanding of why adults can't see the aranara in the first place. It's not because there's some sort of magical "You must be 18 or younger to see aranara" rule. It's because the aranara themselves choose not to be seen by adults. They protect themselves by making themselves invisible. They're not invisible by nature! Everyone can see them--when the aranara want to be seen. Conversely, this means that adults with "childlike wonder" are not just automatically seeing aranara left and right. No matter how happy and childish at heart an adult is, they will only see an aranara if the aranara personally trust them and want to be seen.

The aranara trust children because children are generally good-hearted (and also probably easy to escape from), so there is usually no need to keep themselves invisible to children, but even among children, they are invisible until they choose to be seen. (I think everyone forgot the quest where you find the child who was kidnapped by the Fatui in the forest, saved by an aranara who chose to reveal itself to her, but then she refuses to go back to the village, so you leave her at the aranara nursery--only the aranara there at the nursery choose not to reveal themselves to her because they don't know her yet.) Even with children, aranara don't just go running up on them--they're incredibly cautious creatures who only show themselves after they're sure they'll be safe. They distrust adults because adults deliberately use "growing up" as an excuse to abandon simplicity, kindness, and gentleness in order to embrace concepts that include getting ahead of others and seeking profit--two things which could be particularly dangerous for a vulnerable forest fairy population.

There's also an extremely complicated intersection between the aranara and memory, as they represent and upon "death" return to being the forest's living memory itself. Avin, the girl in Yoimiya's story quest, is a child--but still loses the ability to visit her aranara companion because her illness keeps her away from the forest so long that she simply forgets her aranara buddy ever existed. Even aranara who would love to continue playing with their human companions find themselves forgotten over and over again, because they simply don't linger in human memory well. It's a giant metaphor for how fleeting and temporary human existence is in comparison to the natural world! It's a metaphorrrrrrr.

(There's also the fact that aranara freely move between reality and dreaming--something which Sumeru's adult population only recently regained the ability to even do.)

And like... does no one remember that Yoimiya could only see the aranara because Traveler was there to introduce her to them? She doesn't just automatically see them even though she has all the childish wonder possible in her heart.

I even saw tweets saying that anyone who thinks Alhaitham doesn't have child-like wonder in his heart and wouldn't automatically be able to see aranara fundamentally misunderstands his character and I just... First, see the point above--this is already a misunderstanding of how aranara work.

Second, am I just crazy, or is there absolutely nothing about having wonder and curiosity and passion for the world around you that is confined to children? Are we really going with "Having an imagination is for kids" as our takeaway from all this?

Alhaitham absolutely is passionate! He loves Sumeru as much as Nahida does! The mysteries of the world fascinate him, and he wants to be doing nothing more than ravenously learning and taking in new information at every opportunity!

But finding wonder and joy in life's mysteries is absolutely not restricted to children!

There's nothing inherently "childish" about loving fiction and the fantastical world of books, having a vivid imagination, being passionate about learning new things, and just plain out enjoying life. I'm sorry everyone else has apparently become such miserable adults that the only way they can believe Alhaitham finds joy in the world is by assuming he must have maintained a "child-like" inner nature. Please go read more books and touch more grass and maybe you too will experience adult wonder and joy???

Alhaitham's vivid curiosity about the world isn't remotely "child-like." It's based on the same sort of philosophical obsessions that drove Plato and Aristotle to redefine human thinking. To Alhaitham, Sumeru is likely much more vivid and beautiful and full of intrigue because he is now an adult who has the ability to freely think, formulate deeper questions, and the means to pursue research into his personal passions. His teaser trailer is literally about how he took the job of the Scribe because the Scribe records truth--not child-like faith in the magic of the world, but a constant unfilled yearning to get closer and closer to what is real.

If Alhaitham can see aranara, it's because he's earned the trust of the aranara by his deeds, not because he's secretly still an innocent, sweet baby boy deep down who has chosen not to grow up. (And like, if "traumatized people don't see aranara" is really what we're going with, are we actually arguing Kaveh is the only traumatized, "grew up too soon" one here? Did everyone just forget Alhaitham is an orphan with zero surviving family members left in the world and that he spent his entire childhood friendless, at least as far as we've been shown?)

Winning the trust of the aranara is something anyone could do if they show strong enough positive traits--just basic kindness, gentleness, and patience, which I promise you, adults can have.

At the very least, if we're going to suggest Alhaitham is child-like, can't we at least point to his actual childish behaviors, such as constantly pulling Kaveh's pigtails like a schoolboy with his first crush? Throwing hands with anyone who pisses him off too much? Being a jokester who continually sends Paimon books because she picked on him for his choice of reading materials once? At least y'all could have started there... Come on, now.

Phew, this really was a whole rant, but I just needed to get that off my chest. The Hoyo fandoms on twitter are so, so bad. Like man, don't claim people are mischaracterizing someone while not even knowing the lore yourself... Sorry if that sounds harsh, but...

[lichqueenlibrarian]

I am distressed

[rawliverandgoronspice]

no but genuinely it's actually wild how little sense totk story makes. it's beyond small continuity errors or character arcs being beyond botched: their own self-contained proposal for a world is actively nonsensical, there's layers upon layers of stuff that doesn't even try to strive for an internal logic, and it gets worse and worse the longer you consider everything

[dykedvonte]

love seeing your takes on mouthwashing and how sane they are. everything's so black or white. I like how you acknowledge curlys abuse under jimmy (which I honestly didn't quite notice when I first watched a playthrough. should rewatch w this in mind) and how that very much doesn't "forgive" his inaction towards Anya and Her abuse under jimmy. I think what happens to him despite all his issues (bc he clearly wasn't OK 😊✌🏼) is very much karmic. I really did hurt huh

I hate the take that what happened to him is karmic as becoming disabled and being tortured is like not in any way an equal consequence for not taking more action against Jimmy. It is a consequence as is the whole game for everyone but it’s one that is very much established as being undeserved and extreme as everyone else’s but Jimmy’s fate.

Thank you for liking my takes but I also try to point out that this exact sort of framing of the events and what happened to Curly is bad especially if you are gonna factor in his own abuse into the equation of his inaction/ineffective acts. It’s like “saying yeah he deserved the abuse he was already going through to escalate because he didn’t do enough” which is like not a message the game tries to deliver at all. It’s like the game shows that abusers escalate

Karma and punishment are not concepts that I think should be directly tied to Curly’s fate especially since during the game and even in discussion he takes on too many consequences of someone else’s actions. Like this framing is the direct thing I describe taking the discussion away from Jimmy, P.E and the factors that created the environment in the first place.

[evil-ot3]

I know I’ve been begging for ben to see a therapist for a LONG time but y’all kurt boggs is NOT the fucking therapist you go to fr 😭 I don’t care if he’s the most well-informed on their whole ordeal but it’s not worth it

[araneitela]

Permanent inbox call! If you like the idea of me and Kafka sending you entirely unprompted things at absolute random, then give this post a little ♡  I don't always enjoy sticking to sending things only from reblogged meme lists, and often I get urges to send things when nothing has been reblogged at all. This little permanent inbox call touches on fixing those things, and it means that miss ma'am over here and I can just wrecking ball our way into your askbox whenever our little hearts see fit, with whatever idea we may have in the moment.

Don't worry, none of this is tied to any obligation nor expectation. If anything ever gets sent your way that you're not feeling like responding to, you can simply delete it without any ill-will or demotivation from my end whatsoever. You're also under zero obligation to return the courtesy of this gesture! It's all in good fun and community interaction.

[milfbrainrot]

"claire's a bad mom" claire chose to have her kids claire tells her kids bedtime stories and claire pretends not to be in life threatening danger when she's terrified for her own and her kids' safety to help them stay calm and literally only wants to know if they're okay before prioritizing herself and keeping them far away from danger by rescuing herself i think ur just racist

[iniziare]

Reminder to self when I've done some more writing: Remind people that I'm canon-strict, what that means, and how I guess it means that I'm reclaiming yet another term that has been rendered as being something akin to negative by the masses. Better known as, a... 'lore purist'. Hi, yes, that's me! Hi, hello, my name is Sae, how do you do?

[teatitty]

My EraserMic ideal is this: Aizawa is the one who is the immediate danger but Hizashi's the one you never want to piss off, in the same way a comicbook character who always says fun quips and one-liners going quiet is an immediately chilling moment. Because Hizashi is always in complete perfect control of himself and the moment you piss him off enough to let even some of that slip you might as well dig your own grave and lay in it

[spending-life-pretending]

so fucked up that judith said no to being coronabeth’s new necro. the only thing more fucked up would’ve been if she’d said yes

[nolongerexistingsadcatface]

Ok yes America hating the cold is funny (eh) BUT. have you considered that I like the imagery of an America sitting alone in the forest in the bleak mid-winter landscape of an east coast woods, all alone in both body and mind, agonizing over her seeming doom to be stuck in the throes of loneliness for all eternity?

[sieglinde-freud]

I don’t CARE how many alt scenarios it would requires at least include lucinas sibling and/or her cousin… bare minimum

YEAH SERIOUSLY and its like. they limited chrom’s support options for a reason. he can only have potentially five other kids anyways. would it be that hard to write a mildly different one off line for each of them just so lucina can bounce off of someone? or just like. owain. hell, you could push tiki’s recruit earlier and let her fill that role instead. its just so weird to start valm’s arc with lucina introducing her character and incredibly tragic storyline only for her to get shoved into the background and just be around for a couple of lines that add nothing to the story. and its like, i understand why the valm arc had to happen, it’s a necessary development for chrom and a decent middle point in the game but i feel like it just wasnt executed as well as it could be. lucina being a big part of that. and i mean, yes i am a big lucina fan so maybe this is just me having personal beef that my favorite character doesnt do much here but its also like… shes pushed as the third main character of the game and yet?? ugh idk. plus if theyre gonna make time travel a huge plot point, maybe show us more perspectives on that like… making another time traveler part of the story so its not just lucina expositioning all over the place when she finally gets to talk

[maggotmoment]

Kind of obsessed that vyncent’s first instinct for interrogating inferno and cantrip was to waterboard them with energy drinks. I need to see study this elf guy under a microscope like he’s a weird little bug. Why is he Like That.