#they may not interact in this one

[witchering10123]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hakoda & Sokka (Avatar), Arnook & Sokka (Avatar), The Gaang & Sokka (Avatar), Azula & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Bato & Sokka (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar) Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Arnook (Avatar), Gilak (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Bato (Avatar), Azula (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) Additional Tags: Mind Games, Serious Injuries, Hurt Sokka (Avatar), Hurt Hakoda (Avatar), justifying things that shouldn't be justified, Insecure Sokka (Avatar), Insecure Hakoda (Avatar), the genetics are strong in this family, Protective Katara (Avatar), Katara is a Good Sister (Avatar), pissed as fuck that is not a tag, what has the world come to - Freeform, Whumptober 2023, Day Thirty: Mind Games (Whumptober 2023) Series: Part 30 of a witchering's whumptober 2023 Summary:

He stares, awestruck, as his sister shyly approaches the head of the bed. He can’t help but shift back a little, so his body turns slightly away, and he hates the understanding that flows from her eyes, he hates it. Why are they all being so gentle? Since when did he deserve such kindness?

-----

How can the world be so heartless and yet so gentle?

Day Thirty: Mind Games - can be read as a standalone, but is low-key dependent on the rest of the series

[lilybug-02]

You're right. This IS fun

It really is the BEST.

[agentc0rn]

"That is indeed the earth's observer, the keeper of order. Since days bygone, it has kept the whole region under its surveillance, monitoring everywhere through the cells by which serve as its eyes. Zygarde is its name."

The creature observed you steadily.

I know there's still a year ahead and many more yet to be revealed, but let me dream. I enjoy filling in the unknown with my imagination. Ju st imagine...if AZ helps us or at least accompanies us in some parts of the journey 👀 I initially wanted to depict Zygarde hostile but I made it look a bit more neutral here.

[ladeldee]

I just like the idea that once Missa hears Phil has another "kid" he'd try and do whatever he can to help and Phil feels emotions about it

[ai-wa]

Boy's night out

[gnomewithalaptop]

Y'know, it's so funny to me when people make out like Tim Drake would keep files on how to take down his friends when Tim has explicitly said he disagrees with Batman on this:

[Young Justice (1998) #36]

Like, yes, during his Red Robin tenure he does make a Hit List full of contingency plans for known heroes. But if you go and read that, you'll notice that, while the Justice League and Damian may be on there, Tim's own friends are decidedly absent:

[Red Robin (2009) #14]

In fact, a lot of these heroes are people that have either (a) attacked Tim specifically, (b) have a track record that includes turning evil/getting mind controlled, or (c) are on the JLA (meaning Batman probably already had those files compiled and Tim just stole them).

So yeah: Tim's not down with contingency-planning for his friends. You know which one of the YJ crew DID agree with Batman though? My favorite blorbina Anita Fite, aka Empress:

[Young Justice (1998) #36]

But yeah, this contrast is honestly fascinating to me. Because while both Anita and Tim have been shown to be incredibly loyal individuals, this exchange really highlights the fact that, between the two of them, Anita is far more likely to engage in this kind of pragmatism when she thinks it's necessary to get the job done

The whole Our Worlds at War arc actually does a really good job of illustrating how both of them react to betrayal from within. It's not just the Batman Files conflict either -- I'm thinking specifically about the hallucination-based torture Granny Goodness put them through, which showed them their worst fears. Most of the team ended up having to watch their loved ones die, but what's super interesting to me is that we really only see Anita and Tim hallucinate that their loved ones blame them for their deaths:

[Young Justice (1998) #37]

Like. It's not the same as a teammate turning evil at all. But it does give us a good idea of how they'd both react when faced with a friend or teammate doing harmful things, albeit on a smaller scale. Because where Tim kind of just accepts Superboy yelling at him and moves straight into bargaining for Kon's life, Anita actually flips the script, gets angry, and defends herself against her father:

[Young Justice (1998) #37]

(she actually gets so righteously pissed off that she manages to break out of the VR simulation Granny Goodness had her trapped in, but that's another point)

But yeah, it's super interesting, because by this point, both Anita and Tim have been set up to be very similar characters. They both can be a little bit obsessive, they both have some issues with boundaries and stalking (Tim with Nightwing and Batman, Anita with Cissie), and of the team, they're both portrayed as the "normal" members (Anita does technically have mind control powers but she barely ever uses them, and in a fight, she's basically just a very good, human-level fighter)

But at the end of the day, though Batman forces Robin to put on a cool front of objectivity, Tim (at least in his pre-grief-spiral era) ultimately wants to see the best in his team. When the people he cares about screw up, he wants to give them second chances. And when that trust gets broken, his first instinct is to try to use diplomacy, or, failing that, simply remove himself from the situation (as we see at the end of the Our Worlds at War arc when he quits the team)

Anita, on the other hand, while still incredibly loyal, does not hand out that loyalty unconditionally. We see this when she tries to keep her identity secret from the YJ squad, we see it when she gets pissed in Granny Goodness's hallucination when her father blames her for her mother's death, and we see it when she later blames Secret for her perceived role in Anita's father's death

Anita also happens to sit right smack dab in the middle of the YJ morality scale; while she's generally pretty chill and willing to abide by typical superhero codes of ethics (unlike Slobo and Secret), she's also been shown to bend those rules when she believes it's necessary (as seen here when she tortures and threatens to kill a man for trying to hurt Cissie). Ultimately, what this means is, between Tim and Anita, it's honestly Anita who'd probably be the most willing to put her personal qualms aside, buckle down, and go against her loved ones if it was the only reasonable option

Anyway. This is a really long-winded way of saying I think Gun Batman's biggest nemesis should be Empress

[sefynarose]

yes, Rafayel becomes a whimpering and pathetic puddle in your hands at times, but this man reaaally gives me master manipulator daddy dom vibes. you think you have him wrapped around your finger but the truth is you’re actually wrapped around his. this man has mastered the art of talking a lot yet revealing nothing. we still don’t know anything about him or his true feelings besides the small glimpses we get here and there. this man is not open nor honest with us (and that’s not inherently a bad thing!! considering what we do know of his lore, it makes sense that he’s hesitant to open up to us. all the lads are like that in a way). he likes to play games, he lets us think that we’re in control and have the upper hand but the truth is he’s always been the one with the power. he’s the God of the Sea playing with the body, heart, and mind of a mere mortal. you’ve captured his heart once, did you really think you were ever going to escape?

[umbrace-rambles]

I love how they're just trading blows to size each other up, vibing

[nosfagratu]

[artsekey]

Reminder to get your COVID booster when they're available. I kept putting off my next dose because of my schedule, and I've been out with COVID for eight days now.

Posting the symptoms I had to inform others as COVID is constantly evolving:

Day 1 (3 or 4 days after exposure): started as a feeling of "imminent sickness" in the back of my throat. I otherwise felt 100%.

Day 2: Extremely tired. Congestion. Limited all contact.

Day 3: 101 Fever. Congestion. Extremely tired. Couldn't make it through lecturing my class (remotely). Began medicating with Theraflu (acetaminophen). Tested positive for COVID with the fastest and clearest positive test I've ever seen.

Day 4: Fever between 99 and 101.5. Cancelled all activity. Spent all day in bed. Extreme congestion. Extreme aches & chills at night. This day was absolutely miserable. My friend brought me soup. I cried about it. Continued with Theraflu. Considered going to the ER due to severity of symptoms.

Day 5: Intermittent low-grade fever at 99.8. Congestion continued, coughing and sneezing began.

Day 6: Fever cleared. Coughing & sneezing intensified. Tested again as per CDC recommendations: still a strong positive. Began taking Robitussin (cough syrup only, no acetaminophen).

Day 7: Coughing worsened significantly. Lots of liquids, lots of Robitussin.

Day 8: Today! No fever, no cough, some slight congestion remains. Once again tested positive for COVID-- with a weaker positive this time! I expect I'll be back to normal by day 10, but... trust me, if you're going to get your "booster" through a needle or ten days of this, choose the booster! As a reminder, you can order up to 4 free COVID tests at the end of September through HHS.gov!

[3-aem]

thinking about touch starved touch sensitive gojo again. Absolutely desperate for even the most grazing touches from getou and yet overwhelmed by it all.

[little-pup-pip]

we have a little sister alter who would like a mood board that's 1950s and ocean aesthetic if that's okay? no paci, and any gender lean is fine with us.

even if this requests can't get filled for some reason, we appreciate you still taking the time to read this! :)

Sure!!

[inkskinned]

somebody else has probably def already said this but whenever ppl are like "oh no but they/them is PLURAL" im like. hi babe. we actually have a singular pronoun that gets conjugated in plurality: it's "you".

we say: "where were you? how are you? do you know my friend?"

this is not singular, which would be: "where was she? how is she? does she know my friend?"

the argument is that it's "confusing" bc what if you're trying to talk about one specific person out of a group? and i'm like... this is already the same logical problem we've always had in speech. we even run into this problem whenever there's more than 1 person with the same pronoun; where we end up saying something like "she said no, but she said yes." you probably just have to use their name or otherwise indicate whom you are speaking about.

okay but what if you're trying to say "i just met them" (singular) but it's unclear if you meant the plural "i just met them". good news. it's the same thing as "you" still. in the same way you might have to say "i just met y'all" or "i just met all of you" to mean a whole group rather than one person, you might say - "i just met them all" or "i just met all of them" or just use their fucking name if you need to.

we have complained for years that "you" can operate as a singular and plural word. you're way more used to it than you think you are, i promise. i know it takes time to get over the societal conditioning that does exist. i mess up my own fucking pronouns sometimes. it's okay. you learned how to use an iphone. you can learn this thing, too.

[cuppy-cake-bun]

Just because someone calls themselves a lolicon or shotacon, it does not mean they're a pedophile. The suffix means complex. The person can just like loli/shota for the esthetics, think they're cute to having sexual feelings for them (i.e schediaphilia/fictophilia).

pedophilia is someone that has thoughts or feelings toward real live children

Schediaphilia/fictophilia is having sexual attractions toward fictional characters, which loli/shota fall under since they do NOT exist.

I know that in Japan, they may use lolicon/shotacon to refer to an actual person that may show favoritism or even be an actual pedophila.

Just like the case with the word Otaku (which hasnt been used in Japan (as far as I know), since there was a negative connotation there, but it was used in western fandom to refer to people that are anime fans. Lolicon/shotacon is only used in fandom and loli/shota is only used on fictional characters.

If you see anyone calling an actual existing child a loli/shota or irl loli/shota, they're an actual pedophile. No one that is just an anime fan will call real children that.

The only people that call themselves loli/shota are adults. Even I refer to myself as such.

Just becuase Japanese people MAY refer to a pedophile as a lolicon/shotacon does not mean that is the only meaning of the word.

[chronologically-challenged]

There was this one art a little while ago about the family stuck in a situation where they're forced to play ISAT in some post game scenerio. I keep having many thoughts, but here's some about them figuring out who Loop is:

1) They all BAFFLED by how Loop usually talks. They all thought Loop was this shy little star person. Immediately, they get hit with "have you tried not dying~~~~" into "I think you deserve help" and do not know what to think.

2) Odile is in charge of the controller. Mainly bc no one else wants to control Siffrin and they all have equal amount of video game experience aka none, so Odile is being practical about it. This has the side effect that Odile gets to be all investigative. Odile makes it her MISSION to find stuff out about Loop.

3) Siffrin has complicated feelings about them finding out about Loop??? Like okay they HATE their family has to see all this, ESPECIALLY THAT THEY CAN SEE HIS THOUGHTS!!!! But. Loop. Siffrin hasn't told his family the truth. It's not his story to tell. But. If they figure it out...? In a way that proves Loop wrong, right? That they can recognize them. Maybe it takes a bit because Loop looks different is and actively trying to be different from Siffrin. But. Maybe...? Either way they encourage Odile to talk to Loop. If this is a simulation... if this is real in some way even... yeah he wants to talk to Loop.

Anyway here's a list on how they find out one by one:

Odile: She catches the little stuff. She notes the royal We, the fact that Loop alludes to having an old body by accident, the casual familiarity in some places. All of that. She is also the first to note their eyes being different shades. However, Odile doesn't make the connection 100%, not until Isabeau. Well.

Isabeau: He gets some of the weird stuff Loop says but not as many as Odile. HE finds Loops side comments weirder. He sees Loop's reactions and they're a bit. Uncanny.... and then he has another realization, Loop and Siffrin have the same eyes. When Isabeau notes this, it all clicks for Odile.

Mirabelle: Okay, so. You cannot tell me that Mirabelle has not read fantasy stories with weird guide characters. She has to have!!!! So at first, she's not even looking for who Loop is. And tbh? She has the best read on Loop's personality otherwise. Sassy, but clearly caring. A bit of a shit, but serious when needed. And mainly, she appreciates Loop Being There when the rest of them couldn't. That being said, the moment where the "have you wondered who I am" happens. And suddenly Mirabelle Is Thinking Of the Possibilties. And then the ME option pops up!!!! Odile was already about to pick it but Mirabelle YELLS to pick that one!!!!! Uh. Shortly after that they all have a conversation about how yeah, Loop is VERY likely Siffrin. Mirabelle justifies herself with tropes. Of course!!! Of course they're Siffrin!!! If they're anyone they have to be Siffrin. Siffrin got transformed and became the guide they needed!!!! It Just Makes Sense.

Bonnie: ....Tbh doesn't really figure it out on their own? But also. Loop. Feels like Frin. Not exactly like Frin. But they're Frin enough to be trusted so who cares. It takes awhile for them to really get it too because... it's weird. Also they're the one to really ask why there would be two Frins??? Duh??? And why would Frin become Loop???

Anyway, basically, after picking "Me?" They pretty much are all on the same page. They got that it was wishcraft. They got Loop is Siffrin somehow. I think Odile might figure out that "hey, uh if Loop is the guide then what happens when Loop doesn't have a guide" and Mirabelle probably says "wait Siffrin didn't you say to me once that without Loop you wouldn't have made it?"

Meanwhile Siffrin is a mix of sad and very emotionally touched. Because. Yeah. Even when trying to actively hide, their family recognized them.

Notably, Siffrin gets them to twohats (Siffrin remembers that they understood Loop most after showing them the coin. So yes, the family does get to see Siffrin's "I will forget everything I love" moment. Goes as well as you expect. Lots of hugs and the reassurance that they will bug Siffrin until the end of their days so he can't forget him so HA!)

But yeah. Siffrin really wants to make sure they can get little simulation Siffrin to realize Loop is Siffrin as well. Because if there is any chance of this being real and that they're guiding a Siffrin in another reality, then they want to make sure they can get Loop to know just how much they did. How much they helped and changed Siffrin's fate for the better.

To note: I'd imagine in this scenario, Odile wouldn't go do any of the side stuff. At least not too much of it. There wouldn't be as much exploration either. Siffrin likely would be very underleveled as a result.

So perhaps in this scenario? Imagine if you will that while the Siffrin watching definitely defeated Loop, the simulation Siffrin loses.

And Siffrin finds out that... no. No! Of course Loop couldn't kill him. Of course they wouldn't. There is a catharsis to that realization.

(After they finish the game, either a) prologue playthrough time or b) they're freed and the group IMMEDIATELY try to figure out a way to find Loop bc uh??? Even if they weren't Siffrin, they want to find them. But like. Two Frins. Two Frins they know are different but who cares, no matter who Loop chooses to be, Loop Is Family Too).

Anyway, family plays isat featuring the Loop Saga.

[dathen]

Me over here drawing up a red string board to support my headcanon that Sherlock Holmes is Bertie’s blorbo, only to read a couple chapters of one of the novels and finding it’s CANON?? He’s referred to him like three times already?? He keeps trying to channel him like “Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t do this…”? HE “YOU KNOW MY METHODS, APPLY THEM’D” JEEVES????

There are no words for how smugly delighted I am