#they're either incapable of getting it or they just don't care. and i don't know what's worse bc they're setting policy.

[anneapocalypse]

The fundamental difference between Zenos and The Warrior of Light as Written--something that exists regardless of any particular WoL's disposition or motivations, all things subject to personal headcanon--is that the TWoLaW engages deeply with the world around them, and Zenos does not. The fundamental quality of Azem the Traveler, and the quality that is suggested to have been inherited by TWoLaW (and by Ardbert), is that they are deeply engaged with the world, and with its people.

Is it true that TWoLaW is disposed toward violence, sure, absolutely, for reasons of video game mechanics if nothing else. But I fundamentally disagree that violence is the core of TWoLaW regardless of how we roleplay them. At the core of TWoLaW is their engagement with the world. Yes, as a result of that, TWoLaW is willing to go kill people and things because they were asked to. You know what else they're willing to do because someone asked them to? Talk to people. Fetch things for them. Gather resources. Make things. Deliver gifts. Facilitate trade. Learn skills. Build community. Cross the seas to help a new friend. Explore. Uncover ancient mysteries. GO TO SPACE! And if you see Zenos as a foil for the player rather than the character, all this still very much applies.

You can roleplay the most curmudgeonly, antisocial, misanthropic WoL possible, you can even reject all side content and stick solely to MSQ, and you will still find yourself inhabiting a character who, as written, is fundamentally engaged with the world. They don't have to be happy. They don't have to be nice. They don't have to do any of what they're doing out of altruism. They're still making the choice to connect with other people, to invest themselves in the struggles and passions of others, to have a personal stake in shaping the world around them, because that is what the character is written to do.

Zenos's tragic flaw is his inability--and yes, perhaps, on some level, unwillingness--to connect with the world and the people around him. He finds no meaningful engagement with the world except to enact violence upon it. He has no personal investment in the Garlean Empire except as it allows him to enact violence, and by this disengagement he basically singlehandedly allows the entire empire to collapse because he doesn't care about it, only about fulfilling his own desires. The funny thing about Zenos as a foil for the protagonist is that he would make a terrible RPG protagonist. The archetypal RPG protagonist is so defined by their willingness to say yes to menial tasks that are only meaningful to some minor NPC that most modern RPGs end up lampshading that fact in some way, and it's endlessly memed upon. I struggle to imagine Zenos making it through the Company of Heroes fetch quests in ARR without getting bored and stabbing someone.

So all-encompassing is this worldview for him that even upon calling the WoL his only friend, he can find no meaningful engagement with them beyond "let us enact violence upon one another." Even the one person in the world he finds interesting enough to engage with, he is seemingly incapable of understanding on any other level. (And if you play a WoL with a desire to connect with Zenos on any other level, I think there's potential for a really interesting tragedy there! Because he either won't or can't.)

And we don't ever really get to challenge him on how narrow and stifling and miserable his engagement with the world truly is. Maybe there's a flicker of it at the very end, an acknowledgement that his life was fundamentally unfulfilling. Perhaps Zenos even sees, on some level, what the WoL has that he does not; maybe unconsciously in pursuing them, he seeks to figure out what that thing is. But then he dies, in his chosen manner, after getting the same one thing he's been pursuing as long as we've known him. That's what's sad about Zenos on a narrative level. Not that he dies, but that he dies unchanged and unchallenged.

And this is why I just can never quite get behind the idea that the core of the WoL is the same as the core of Zenos--no matter how many people the Warrior of Light has killed. I just don't believe that. When I look at TWoLaW, I see a character deeply engaged with the world. When I look at Zenos I see a character who never truly connects with anyone or anything outside himself.

[limeade-l3sbian]

The childless v children debate is pointless when it does not revolve around a womyn's choice (e.g. a womyn being forced to have kids). The real conversation that most people ignore is that most people just should not have children out of respect for the psyche and growth of the hypothetical children they want.

Parenting is not a right, it's a privilege. And it isn't so insane to say that if you are incapable of providing a life for a child that you should not have them. "That's classist/You don't think poor people should have children." If it is any consolation to your and your strawman, I think a lot of rich people shouldn't have kids either. I think most people from every class system should not have kids. And money is not purely the reason.

"I have a hard time showing affection." You should not have kids right now. "I want my kids to be-" the kid is gonna be what they're gonna be. You shouldn't have kids until you can be at peace with that conclusion. "We're trying for a girl/boy-" If you plan on being one of those psycho parents who keep having kids until they have the gender they wanted, you should not be raising kids. The list goes on. It's not wrong to have wishes for your kid like hoping they're successful, happy, rich, healthy, intelligent, etc.. But attempting to structure their life around your "dream child" is going to lead to a lot of pain for the child.

You wonder why so many people say they were abused/neglected? They probably were. Having children has been framed as an inevitable stage of life that many people feel inclined to indulge in to retain a respectable social appearance as they get older. "You're 40 and you still don't have kids?" What a crime. And this obviously is almost entirely aimed at womyn, if not completely.

And to be fair, I think there is more of a respect for this train of thought since so many people of varying ages openly say, "Yeah, no, I would literally be a terrible parent. I'm, at best, the fun aunt/uncle." And what a sensible, selfless, and humble thing to understand about yourself and the gravity of having kids and parenthood as a whole. I know there was this weird influx of videos of young parents (20s) who said, "Having our kids now so that we can party in our 40s" which feels like a gross misunderstanding of the fact that you are a parent forever.

After 18 is when the government stops caring about them, not when you're supposed to.

My parents weren't ready to have kids. They've told me that like I couldn't tell. I spent my life in poverty and dealing with emotionally immature parents and now suffer from MDD and BPD. Mind you, this is the objective truth despite the fact that my mom loved me as hard as she could (still does). When the parent puts the experience before the purpose, the child is the one who suffers the most.

[seat-safety-switch]

If there is one thing that unifies every adult I know, it's this: our vacuum cleaners are all shit. After decades of de-contenting, quality squeezing, and cheaper materials, it's no surprise that our vacuums are no longer as good as we remember our parents' ones being.

Now, I've done the responsible thing, and made my own. Not everyone around me can, either because they were raised by parents who were largely incapable, or simply present. Me, I learned how to do all this stuff in the backyard of my grandparents' house, where my folks would dump me on weekends when they went to try and interview for jobs with the circus. Even though I later found out they weren't actually my grandparents, but instead some senile old couple that my parents tricked into taking care of me through an interlocking series of ludicrous falsehoods, they never said a bad word about my tinkering. That let me grow into the kind of person I am today: wanted in five states, but with a very clean carpet.

I will help you become like me, but ideally without the abandonment trauma and hoarding issues (I don't need the competition.) All you need to construct your own SwitchForce® vacuum is an old V6 – even a 60-degree GM one will do, they're not good for much else – a tank of gas, and an old vacuum pump from whatever Mercedes got set on fire enough to end up in my kind of junkyard. Sure, it's a little loud, but it does a great job of getting french fries out of the back seat of the latest shitbox you dragged home. Just cover your ears, and don't rev it too hard (it's not great for the drapes to be repeatedly caught on fire – another sign of quality fade in our civilization.)

You can't buy a machine like this from the store. It has to be forged in your very own home. The nice thing about that is, even if it lets you down and you have to go buy a Home Depot vacuum, you'll be proud of what you did. Honestly, probably prouder than General Motors should have been of that V6. Woof.

[jadeazora]

Which Pokemon Villains are homophobic:

Giovanni: Would founding 🌈Rainbow Rocket🌈 count as rainbow capitalism? (It sounds like the name of a company that manufactures dildos, tbh.) I don't think he's supportive, but it doesn't bother him either. All he cares about is if you do your job well. He has men and women in his organization both thirsting for him. Have you met Archer? (His only true loves are money and power; Silver feels more like a precautionary heir.)

Archie/Maxie: are divorced. Also this was an image the official Japanese Pokemon Twitter fucking dropped with the caption "they're getting along well!" Definitely not homophobic:

Cyrus: dgaf. His whole thing is purging the world of emotion, so love's got to go too. (Pretty much everybody is under fire here.) He probably doesn't give a shit what you do in the meantime tho.

Ghetsis: 100%, no fucking doubt in my mind, regularly calls people slurs. His list of slurs is also *VERY* comprehensive.

N: Who do you think Ghetsis's favorite target is? I feel like he's completely chill with it, tho is personally entirely incapable of discerning the difference between romantic love and the love between friends.

Colress: If it isn't his "how to draw out a Pokémon's true strength" research, he doesn't care. You do you. 👍

Lysandre: His whole thing is beauty, and beauty isn't limited to gender or sexuality, and love is a beautiful thing, so why limit himself? Bro's pan.

Guzma: He takes outcast kids off the streets and gives them a home. No way he's homophobic! You got disowned? You're a fellow outcast in his eyes, and your home is with Skull now! (He's dating Plumeria, but is bi to me.)

Lusamine: initially, probably not since she's super controlling and not really a supportive mother to begin with, but since she does end her story wanting to do better for her kids, I feel like she would come around eventually and try to be better.

Piers: Nah, he's with Raihan and his little sis "fancies" Gloria. Next.

Rose: I feel like he would probably engage in some rainbow capitalism here and there, but he's generally friendlier than the other CEO-type villains personality-wise and there's several members of the Galar League who feel bi/gay (Nessa, Piers, Raihan), he wouldn't really be homophobic.

Volo: I don't think he cares that much, but if he can use homophobia to manipulate somebody, he totally would call them a slur. It really just depends what tool he has in his arsenal he feels would be the most effective way of manipulating you.

Penny: she literally calls your mom so pretty her brain glitched. I feel like she could get mad enough to doxx you if you tried to bully gay/trans kids in her presence.

Sada/Turo + the AI: As scientists, they're too wrapped up in their work to care (hell, they barely paid their own son any mind) and the AI knows being gay is something found naturally across species, so homophobia doesn't make much sense to them. Sada also strikes me as bi, and Turo strikes me as ace (with him, I think it's the outfit).

[sha-brytols]

yeah don't get it twisted that post chee made was SO weird in so many insane ways i do not want it misconstrued that i was treating it as gospel. even if you choose only to look at it from a purely textual perspective, what made cullen's interactions with magi warden in origin interesting WAS that he was completely unaware of his station and everything he did up until broken circle was out of sincere desire to serve and protect the mages. it's what made him being chosen as their potential executor that much more disturbing. his softness was weaponized by his superiors to hopefully teach a lesson on what even his viewing of a "benign" mage is capable of and harden him into the kind of templar that would easily murder his charges without remorse. this narrative doesn't line up with the manically obsessed abuser chee was implying, and i say this not because i'm somehow Offended by the notion of cullen being a creep, but because the truth of how even good natured young men can be groomed to serve the interests of a system of oppression and abuse is SO much more powerful and interesting than making him a generic sexual predator with no substance beyond "hrhghgh pretty girl. noooo pretty girl hurt cullen. pretty girl evil. kill all pretty girls"

it's why i liked the depiction of elthina and why despite my personal distastes of the chantry and my unapologetic support of the explosion, i still have a huuuuge issue with the fandom's insistence on flattening her into an opportunistic puppetmaster who only cares about maintaining power. why i love dragon age despite so many of my misgivings with the series is because of the opportunity to explore the nature of "evil" within a complex and deeply stratified social hierarchy. it's easy to think that the worst of us are just reprehensible people doing reprehensible things for reprehensible reasons. the reality is that the world's problems are the result of millions of individuals acting in the best interest of their immediate social circle, their livelihood, and their own survival, and how that eventually creates a self-perpetuating loop of exploitation and cruelty. dragon age wasn't afraid to say that a society built on fear of the unknown will create a culture that rewards and celebrates its worst traits, and will even convince the best of us to believe in the necessity of it. just like how elthina was only acting out of a true belief that peace and order must be maintained at any cost because anything less would invite violence on the innocent and vulnerable, cullen acts out of a genuine belief that the mages he's been given responsibility of have an unfortunate but unavoidable capacity for violence that must be tempered for their sake and for the sake of those who are incapable of defending themselves from them, because he's been personally victimized and had his compassion exploited by those very people he showed sympathy and compassion for. the narrative doesn't work if the people within them aren't themselves victims in some capacity. and yeah, that doesn't absolve either of them of their crimes or make them good people, and that's precisely the point. they're bad people, but they're not Bad people.

cullen especially had so much potential in my opinion for the very fact that his zealotry WAS built on genuine compassion for his fellow man, and was the result of trauma inflicted on him in a moment of vulnerability. i disagree with the idea that cullen was always 100% on board with meredith's agenda or even the order at large, because that doesn't line up with his behavior in da2. sure, he JUSTIFIES it, especially in the very beginning in the gallows, but we do see glimpses of uncertainty from him in act 3 if you choose to speak to him outside of the questline. it's very clear he's uncomfortable, but doesn't know what else to do in that moment, because he thinks meredith is right about the danger mages pose, but also that she's losing herself in the fight and is suddenly acting out of pure malice. it's a slippery slope. if i acknowledge that my superior is acting in bad faith and doing bad things, then it would mean everything she's ever told me is a lie and that all this time, i was complicit in the pain and suffering of innocents. it's one of my favorite paradigms in character analysis. if i admit my actions weren't right and that the people i'm hurting don't deserve to suffer, then that makes ME the bad guy, and no one ever likes to think that they're the villain in the stories of their lives.

it's what people love so much about solas, and loghain, and blackwall. these are all characters that, knowingly or not, perpetuated acts of cruelty through the personal justification that It's Okay, Because They're Not Bad People. and it's a theme dragon age explores so masterfully, that sometimes, we can't afford to not do the wrong things. we don't always get to do the good thing for the right reasons and the bad things for the bad reasons. but where is the line? we as the protagonist can always say "hey. i'm just trying to help. i don't want people to die." but our actions always leave a body count, whether that's intentional or not, and we can never really say for certain whether what we do is the "right" choice or if that was a necessary evil. because it's the nature of evil. we don't set out to be bad. we set out to do what we think is best. and if we can convince ourselves that we're Good and we're only doing Good Things, even if it hurts, then the problem isn't with us. it's an unfortunate circumstance that we had to just deal with the best we could.

inquisition fumbled this HARD and i think this was really the beginning of the end. we could have had a narrative where cullen truly grapples with his complicity and how the templar order weaponizes the inherent goodness of humanity to justify acts of cruelty. instead we're told he's good. because he's always been good. what happened in kirkwall? he had no idea that was happening! obviously if he did he would have done something! and this is such an unambitious and cowardly cop out, especially for a character who i truly and genuinely believe WAS built up to have this confrontation with himself. the ending to da2, whether you personally believe he was only acting out of self-preservation or if you take his defense of hawke at face value, DOES at the VERY LEAST prove that he Is capable of recognizing when his faith and duty are at odds with what he knows is the right thing to do.

and cullen is far from the only victim of this sudden and inexplicable desire of the writers to make sure the Good People are Really Good and the Bad People Are Really Bad. the inquisition itself as an institution has a similar issue. we're the good guys. the bad guys are hurting innocent people for power. that's why we have to stop them. and this makes us good guys no matter what we do because it's for the greater good. nooo it's just a coincidence that we're acting in the best interest of the chantry and its agenda of maintaining the status quo. nooo it's just a coincidence we're working alongside an imperialist foreign power and are utilizing duplicitous tactics to secure their political foothold. nooo we're only doing all this because it's the right thing to do. it's so self unaware it's actually shocking. much like with cullen, the foundation was RIGHT THERE in the script and the characters for us to be given a story that asks us "what's more important, your principles or the greater good? at which point is your moral high ground not worth the blood and tears it will take to maintain?" but instead we get this narrative that insists that "good" and "evil" are real tangible concepts that exist outside of our subjective perceptions, and that we are the heroes, and our enemies are the villains, and that it is a black and white issue that can be solved by the right people doing the right things.

see this is why you don't have to apologize for tag ranting because i'll just go off on an insane tirade that's only barely related in response. peace and love xoxo

[bluespiritshonour]

I am a fan of dead beat sister Mai and I also believe that Mai giving up Tom Tom in Return to Omashu is supposed to parallel her finally refusing to do so with Zuko in The Boiling Rock. It really isn't hard to reconcile the two.

Mai might not have had any love lost for Tom Tom, but that doesn't mean she appreciated having to give him up like that. He's still her brother and she doesn't necessarily hate him or wish him harm. And Azula knows Mai's family dynamics pretty well, she wouldn't have pulled the whole thing if Mai really was that uncaring about Tom Tom: it was supposed to prove Mai's loyalty to Azula and to the Fire Nation. Mai didn't have to be a simpering doting elder sister for the hostage exchange situation at Omashu to work.

An authoritarian state asks for complete submission, even that of your family, and Mai is well aware, and dare I say, not a fan of it. Yes, she wasn't too broken up about Tom Tom later either when her mother was crying: because for her, she did what was expected of her. Her parents, even though they're worried and crying, do not reprimand her for not bringing Tom Tom back. They're a cog in the imperial war machine that is FN and they know their place. And they made sure Mai knows hers too.

She might be quiet and never voice these opinions but there's so much resentment she harbours under the surface: for her parents, for Azula. I think she's, at most, indifferent towards Tom Tom. Mai wants to be treated with respect, that she never is. You might think, "when did anyone disrespect her?"

Well, being forced to conform and being ordered around and stripped of autonomy and most of all, not being taken seriously is insulting! It's one of the many forms misogyny manifests in in general. And with FN, since it's an authoritarian state with an established hierarchy, that's how the power structure manifests too. I think so many people misunderstand Mai because they don't take into account the society she was born into.

So many girls who have an upbringing similar to hers have such low sense of self!—I think it's incredible that throughout this all, Mai has somehow managed to cling to her self-esteem. Of course she conforms and bends herself into what's expected of her but it doesn't mean she appreciates it! Even her rebellion is either quiet in a way she can get away with (disobeying Azula she isn't around) or it finds acceptable avenues (accompanying Azula on her mission). There's always that undercurrent of resentment with her and I honestly love her for it: it means she knows she deserves better. (I think more women should be like her).

It feels like people on this site have never seen this elder sister younger brother dynamic where the younger brother is the child the parents always wanted. They don't even try to hide their favouritism, worse, the sister is asked to be just as dedicated as her parents to the said brother. And she's considered a monster if she isn't (whoa, reminds me of ATLA fandom, y'all are gonna make a bunch of boymoms for sure). God forbid women have less than positive emotions ever. I've seen girls as young as five-years-old being asked to compromise and prioritise their brothers over their own well being and happiness.

So, don't tell me Mai being an exception to the sacrificial elder sister trope isn't refreshing.

Besides, Mai is only indifferent to Tom Tom? Even if her parents weren't the "male heir is everything" kind and Mai wasn't fucked up by it... Even then, with the kind of age difference between her and Tom Tom, it's normal for them to be a little distant.

I don't care what the fandom thinks. And I don't care if misogynistic losers who think women are incapable of negative emotions and if they have them then there's something wrong with them (it's understandable for men though UWU) don't like Mai for it. I would forever defend dead beat sister Mai.

"She didn't like her brother waaaa—"

Well, good for her.

So thank you very much avatar comics, I'll take my dead beat sister Mai. I love her without reservations. You can keep your motherly one with you.

And no, it doesn't dilute her character development from Return to Omashu to The Boiling Rock if she isn't a doting sister! She still has a sense of familial loyalty underneath all that resentment (she wouldn't bend herself into a "big blah" otherwise).

[starry-bi-sky]

i have been unmedicated for the entirety of spring break and thus have had little interest in writing this down, but i have been thinking about this for the entire week (as well as a dpdc clone danny au that resulted in it becoming its entirely separate batman au that includes a teenage vigilante bruce wayne, an ocarina, and me entirely incapable of making a batman au without making bruce dirt poor but we're not talking about that) and so i've finally went 'fuck it' and forcibly grabbed my laptop. I will get this done in one sitting even if it kills me.

BUT. This is about neither clone^2 danny nor about who i am calling Ocarina Batman. This is about my Danyal Al Ghul Au and more SPECIFICALLY it's me thinking about his relationship with Sam and Tucker specifically.

Tucker and Sam? Adore this asshole (affectionate) with every fiber of their being. And it is very much a reciprocated feeling, but Danny's thoughts will not be delved into much other than he would kill for them.

Tucker? The only person currently capable of getting a deep, loud, belly laugh out of Danny. Sam can get him to smile and to laugh, but it's the kind that's a chuckle-under-the-breath. The quiet, looks-down-while-huffing laughter. Snorts once with laughter and then grins stupidly.

But Tucker? Tucker can crack a slew of stupid jokes and Danny will be incapacitated for the next five minutes because he's laughing so hard that he can't breath. He lands one well-timed pun or quip and Danny will be close to tears. His laughter is their favorite sound in the whole world.

Sam is lowkey jealous of this ability, and she's gotten a belly laugh out of Danny a few times. But alas, it is Tucker who wields this power and has gotten it the most times out of the two of them.

-

They're also both physically affectionate with Danny as much as possible. It started roughly around when they were 12-ish, a year since they befriended Danny, and they noticed that he sought after touch but never seemed to initiate (and was in some ways repulsed by it). They started slowly being more touchy with him. Hooking a finger around his to lead him somewhere, tapping his wrist, looping arms. Little touches, grabs, etc, to get him used to it, and once he started doing it back they started increasing it.

It's gotten to a point where he will now just. Lay on them. Like a lizard sunbathing on a rock. Leaning on their backs when they're sitting in class before the bell rings, his chin on their heads. He'll talk about anything with his arms looped around their shoulders.

If they're sitting on a couch at either of their houses, he'll lay his legs on theirs. Him and Tucker will press their feet against the other's and try and push against them (newsflash: Danny always wins, Tucker claims its the ghost strength but Danny's been winning since before his accident)

-

Naturally, both Sam and Tucker know where Danny keeps his weapons on his person, and are allowed to grab them off of him if they need it. His only requirement is that they don't lose his weapons if they take it and forget to return it immediately.

They both understand how big of a thing this is from Danny, and so they do their best to treat his weapons with a lot of respect and care because they know its his way of saying he trusts them.

-

Sam and Tucker are so fond of Danny it's insane. Like fr. That's their goddamn best friend, and they are so protective of him. Emotionally, physically, you name it. They will tear the head off a grown man if they need to, Danny's had scars since he arrived in Amity Park and Sam and Tucker both are going to find the person who put them there and make them pay for it.

One time, Tucker overheard a bunch of upperclass girls speaking nastily about Danny and about the rumors surrounding him, calling him names like 'freak', 'monster', etc. Danny was with him and heard it, and seemingly appeared unbothered by it, even telling Tucker that he was used to such rumors.

Tucker was so furious that hacked into the school system later that night and tanked those girls grades. They were kicked out of their clubs and had to go to mandatory tutoring for the rest of the year. He made sure to leave some way of letting them know it was him who did it.

And Sam doesn't like using her money for things, doesn't like abusing that wealth. So instead, whenever her parents talk bad about Danny, she causes a media incident that has her parents scrambling to deal with. She does something wild, outrageous by her parents' standards.

She heard some boys on the basketball team making fun of Danny once, similar to those girls had. She kicks up a fuss about something eco-unfriendly at school and forcibly holds a protest on the same day of the big home basketball game, forcing them to cancel the event and reschedule to a visiting school.

She anonymously donates money so that there's new uniforms for the team but oops! Looks like she "forgot" to donate enough money for them to get uniforms for all the team members, and strangely enough those boys in particular didn't get them! Looks like they'll have to wait until more money gets donated for the basketball team to get their new, nice uniforms. The old ones look so ratty in comparison, right?

And since the football team gets most of the sport money, that might just take awhile. And if (and when) they kick up a fuss? oops! Off the basketball team you go, :) such unsportsman-like behavior is unfit for the team.

(The only good thing about how corrupt the school system is is that she can use it to her advantage too.)

The both of them know that Danny suspects them for the sudden misfortune falling on these people, but he doesn't call them out on it. He's kinder than he used to be, but not kind enough to vouch for people who speak badly of him. Sometimes, he might just congratulate them on not getting caught.

Because Danny is their wonderful, hurt friend with a "slightly" Blue and Orange Moral code, and enough scars that people have been calling him a criminal (and worse) since he arrived in Amity Park when he was ten. And they'll be damned if he gets hurt anymore.

[infiniteglitterfall]

psycho delulu sociopathic narcissist insults

You know, Tumblr is the first place I ever saw people saying:

"Stop using psychotic as an insult. I have psychosis and it just means I have auditory/visual hallucinations.

"I know they're not real. It doesn't mean I know less than you. It doesn't mean I understand less than you. It doesn't make my opinions worth less than yours. It doesn't make me worth less than you."

This was really, really helpful when my bff-since-kindergarten told me about having psychosis. I knew what that was. I could skip right past the whole rack of panicked ableist assumptions.

But it clearly hasn't spread as far as it should.

And lately, I've seen people bringing back the R word, along with calling people "delulu" and "psycho" and all the other shit above.

There's always some level of debate about whether it matters if people use ableist terms. The debate basically boils down to, "I don't care what they call me, I care how they treat me. We need people to stand up for our rights and support us, not to get hung up on vocabulary and ignore our actual lives."

And sure. It's like any slur. If a cis person is really supportive and respectful of me, I'm not that worried about whether they use my pronouns correctly or whether they know all the right trans terms.

But on the flip side: often the only thing I know about someone is whether they're throwing around slurs and ignoring pronouns, or speaking about us respectfully.

If you call me "delulu" because I tell you something you don't want to believe, or "psycho" for disagreeing with you politically, what you're telling me is:

You're so sure you're right about everything, you think disagreeing with you should be a diagnosable mental illness.

You don't believe people with certain disabilities.

(Yes, even if you're disabled. Yes, even if you're mentally ill. Plenty of people with less stigmatized mental illnesses, or other disabilities, still buy into the stigmas around personality disorders, schizophrenia, intellectual disabilities, developmental disorders, cerebral palsy, and communication disorders, and probably others I didn't think of.)

You think of people with certain disabilities as automatically understanding and reasoning less than you, to the point that it's fine to openly dismiss anything they say.

You think of people with certain other disabilities as inherently being Bad People.

You're so comfortable in those assumptions that when anyone disagrees with you on an issue you feel strongly about, you assume they're either incapable of understanding and reasoning, or they're a Bad Person. And you automatically use the diagnostic labels you associate with those things to dismiss them.

I don't think people realize how much they're revealing about themselves when they use these things as insults.

It's like any bias we pick up from the world around us. We have to actually do the work to notice it, unpack it, and unlearn it.

I hope that this post can encourage people to do more of that work around ableism.

[olderthannetfic]

I don't know if this is me being sensitive, but I kind of hate it when people assume I must be a certain age to write protagonists who are that age well. My protagonist of my most popular current fic is 52. I'm 19. People assume I must be in my 30's at a minimum, and that's... weird, to me?

A 52 year old has a lot in common with a 19 year old. A lot of regrets about things you did wrong, worries about the younger people in your family, you worry about being like the toxic older relatives you swore you wouldn't become, you're not sure what the future holds but you're not 90 or something so you can't stop caring because it does in fact directly impact you, you've got a lot of responsibilities but everyone assumes you're fine either because "oh young people have it easy" or "you're old enough to have your finances in order/your life figured out" is in effect, etc. It's not like a 52 year old is a different species than I am. He has anxieties, problems, a job with annoying coworkers, he's someone's son, he's someone's best friend, he is awkwardly trying to navigate a work-life balance, he's... at the risk of sounding insulting, he's just a guy. I'm just a guy. We are all just guys and gals and whatever the NB equivalent term is.

We're people. We're both people and we live in the same country, and his world has fantasy elements but it's not radically different from ours in any way that would impede my ability to write him. People are stunned I'm 19. I am not good enough to justify this with, "they're stunned by my creative genius!", this is very much them oohing and aaahing over someone writing a normal person with moderate competency. I'm not writing shit you have to be older to have even done IRL. Yeah, adjusting to knowing magic and vampires and werewolves are real is weird. Trying to make sure your younger relatives know they can talk to you without hovering or being annoying is a super standard, normal-ass experience. Being overwhelmed by information and having long to-read and to-watch lists is a really common thing. There's more media available than ever but there remains 24 hours in a day, ultimately.

The thing I got the most praise for that I find to be the most "given an award for knowing the sky is blue" in vibe is him longing for the simplicity of his childhood but acknowledging that simplicity was just how he perceived it and times were complicated back then. I had that revelation about my childhood when I was still in it, when I was ten and I eavesdropped on my mom talking to one of her friends about bills, politics and rising extremism in the US. People think I must be an adult lying about my age in order to get praise for my good writing and my "good writing" is literally just shit I knew when I was 10 years old.

I am not good enough to be worthy of some 'wise beyond your years' type sentiment. I just asked myself, "What would Character Name be thinking/feeling in this situation?" and it's like I'm getting applause for having the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. I don't need to be in my 30's to grasp a complicated concept like "he's worried about his loved ones".

Look I know a lot of my generation acts dumb online but the most egregious stick out specifically because they're egregious. That's not the norm. We're not incapable of seeing older people as human beings.

--

I fucked a dude in high school because he could write convincingly from a middle-aged POV and was obsessed with the old guy from Don Juan DeMarco. It was refreshing. Most people our age, even the other writer nerds, could not do that.

No, anon, most 19-year-olds aren't especially good at this specific way of putting themselves in an older person's shoes and at getting that across in writing. There are various types of writing skill. Maybe your other ones aren't all that, or maybe you're just too hard on yourself, but it sounds like you're unusually good at a particular niche skill.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Things to do with Jack and Maddie without them being abusive

As someone who actually likes Jack and Maddie as characters (I'm a fervent shipper of Maddie/Jack/Vlad), it's a real bummer to see so many people out there deciding that for their DPxDC AUs that Jack and Maddie are abusive, when that really doesn't represent how they are in canon. Now I fully acknowledge that doing this can be a very useful tool for telling certain types of stories, and if you want to make a story about recovering from abuse and finding a new found family, all the more power to you for that! But for any other type of story where them being abusive isn't necessary for the backstory of the story you want to tell... It's just a bummer to do that, y'know? If you don't want to tell a story with Jack and Maddie in it, that's entirely fine! I'm not asking you to. But there are ways to get rid of them without making them abusive or dying. Of the two, I personally would prefer them dying (I just like the story potential of that, especially as far as Vlad is concerned). But there are plenty of easy things to do with them to keep them out of the story that don't require them being abusive or dead! So I'm here to give a list of things that can happen to them (that have precedent within either Danny Phantom itself or the DC universe) that keep them out of the story that don't require much explanation as well as some other ideas for what you can do with them if you have no idea what to do with them otherwise.

Lots of ideas under the cut! (Feel free to take what you want. As always, credit is appreciated, but not necessary. But I would love to see what you do with it!)

If you need them permanently absent so that Danny can get adopted

Fell into the Ghost Zone and cannot be found.

They are gone for whatever reason and Jazz is currently Danny's legal guardian (she's 18 or older and is therefore a legal adult).

While in the Ghost Zone, they accidentally traveled through time/got transported somewhere where they can't get home easily.

They got severely Joker gassed and are in medical care. (This is actually what happened to Duke's parents!)

They got severely Scarecrow gassed and are in medical care.

Went insane for some supervillain-related reason and are now missing/in medical care.

They were kidnapped by a villain for some reason.

They were kidnapped by a villain and are currently in a lotus-eaters simulation and therefore don't even know that they've gone missing.

Abducted by aliens.

They got wrapped up in some supervillain bullshit and now have amnesia and are unable to recognize Danny and Jazz.

They got magicked into something that can't take care of Danny and Jazz.

They were experimented on and are now incapable of taking care of Danny and Jazz.

Some cosmic entity did a whoopsie that effected Jack and Maddie and now they're in a condition/situation where they cannot take care of Danny and Jazz.

Got arrested and are in jail for some reason.

Were arrested and sent to jail for a long time. Have since joined Task Force X/the Suicide Squad for lienency.

Got hit by a stray Zeta-Beam and are now on some alien planet.

They got teleported somehow. We aren't certain about the details.

They fell into a hole to another world.

They no-clipped out of their normal reality.

Stranded with no way home.

They somehow ended up on a different planet. They are just hanging out with Space Cabbie now, who is just having a ROUGH day and can't find Earth for whatever reason.

Inducted into a Lantern Corps and are VERY busy because of it!

Coma.

Effected by a debilitating illness/disease/condition that makes them incapable of taking care of others.

They were forced to go undercover for some reason and therefore vanished. (Letting their kids know is optional)

They were forced to go undercover for some reason and were forced to fake their deaths.

They died, but came back to life. Danny has not been informed of this.

They got possessed by a superhero or supervillain who just wandered off with their bodies.

They got separated following a disaster and haven't been able to find each other again.

They've been retconned to hell and back again to the point where no one is entirely certain where they are, what they're doing, or even if they're alive anymore. Don't worry about it! Only mention them when it's relevant and the rest of the time we aren't going to bother explaining what's going on with them. If they are mentioned, accounts of where they are and what's going on with them are contradictory.

They're around, but will go unseen throughout this story

Any of the situations in the previous section, but it only happened to one of the parents, and the other is just too busy working and taking care of the kids by themselves.

The same as previous, but they also moved to Gotham.

Retcon things so that the events of Danny Phantom actually happened in Gotham City all along. (Maybe Amity Park is like... A suburb in the greater Gotham area.)

They went on vacation/were hired for a job that would take them away from home. They left Danny and Jazz to be taken care of by Vlad. Vlad is an asshole, so they ran away from him.

They went on vacation/were hired for a job that would take them away from home, but now that Jazz is over 18, she's been left in charge.

Put into Witness Protection by the government/the Guys in White.

Danny and friends have graduated from high school and are now legal adults, perhaps in college.

Danny's whole family moved to Gotham City. They're just at home/working during the events of this story.

Jack and Maddie have been hired to do some work with the Justice League and need to be away from home for an extended period of time. They have left a member of the Justice League to take care of Danny and Jazz in the meantime.

Fieldtrip/school trip to Gotham City.

Danny is old and responsible enough that Jack and Maddie trust Danny (and/or Jazz) to travel on their own. His parents are just a call away if he needs help.

Jack and Maddie are separated for whatever reason (one went missing/one is working abroad/they are divorced/one died) and the other moved to Gotham and is taking care of the kids in the meantime, but is busy and so will not appear.

Something happened to Fenton Works and the family needs to temporarily stay somewhere else while the problem with Fenton Works is sorted.

The family was driven out of town and they ran off to Gotham to escape the angry mob. (Or at least to wait until things cool down again.)

Jack or Maddie are able to work remotely and so they've moved to Gotham to do so. The kids came along/are visiting.

Jack and/or Maddie were hired for temporary work in Gotham and decided to bring the kids along.

One family member was taken to Arkham Asylum. They moved to Gotham to be closer.

Jazz went to Gotham for college. Danny is visiting.

Danny is sent to Gotham/Arkham for specialized health reasons.

Jack and Maddie have gotten in contact with a specialist that lives in Gotham and are visiting for work-related reasons.

They are on vacation in Gotham and brought the kids along. Danny and Jazz have been let off the leash to go where they want while Jack and Maddie do touristy stuff.

Visiting family/family friends living in Gotham.

They were passing through but are now unable to leave. (Bonus points if it's a No Man's Land situation.)

They were passing through, but were robbed. Jack and Maddie are dealing with the robbery stuff where Danny is off somewhere else.

They were just passing through, but Maddie and Jack got SEVERELY distracted by something and have run off to who knows where!

They are traveling with Vlad and expected Vlad to take care of and watch the kids!

Danny was abducted to Gotham.

Danny accidently ended up in Gotham somehow.

Danny somehow got transported/teleported to Gotham.

Doing an educational trip/apprenticeship/internship over in Gotham.

Danny ran away impulsively.

Some villain threatened Danny's family and forced him to run away from home.

Danny has revealed his secret to his parents, and while they might worry about Danny being a vigilante, believe in and trust Danny to do the right thing and allow him to do what he feels that he must to protect people.

The same as above, but Vlad also came out and is supervising.

They died.

I cannot understate the sheer JUICY storytelling potential that you can have by killing Jack and Maddie off! We already know how it might effect people and events from what we see in The Ultimate Enemy, but there really is limitless potential in terms of ways to twist, turn, and play with things to have different outcomes! Additionally, Jack and Maddie being genuinely good parents that die protecting Danny and Jazz offers lots of ways for Bruce to relate to Danny and Jazz! (He decided to become Batman so that no one would have to face what he did ever again... And he failed...) And the way that they die can offer some lovely different flavors of angst, coping mechanisms, motovations, and learning to deal with their loss. So here are some ideas for how to kill them off!

The universe exploded again, and when it was put back together, Jack and Maddie ceased to exist in current canon continuity. (This happens more often than you'd think.)

Vlad Wins.

They were killed in an apocalypse-level event.

They were killed in the crossfire of some superhero/supervillain fight.

They were taken by some villain. They were killed before the heroes could arrive.

They were killed in a random act of violence/crime. (Much like Batman's backstory. Do this to gain extra points from Bruce.)

Died in prison/after joining the Suicide Squad.

Gang violence.

Any of the previous but Gotham is just THAT dangerous!

Same as any gassing or supervillain plan, but they died instead of being missing or in medical care.

Got transported to a place where they died very far away from home.

They just died suddenly or because of an accident. It happens sometimes.

Things to note

Believe it or not, but your parents can still be in your life AND you can join the Batfamily AT THE SAME TIME! :D

Examples:

Barbra Gordon is very much in the Batfamily and both of her parents are alive and well. She's a very important part of the family, and in the comics, it is not uncommon to see her calling up her dad and talking to him! They'll even call each other if they need help with something. This does not take away from the fatherly role Bruce often has in her life. (She can have 2 dads and good for her for that!)

When Tim initially became Robin, his parents were alive and well. They would later die because comic writers are just like that, but being an orphan without loving parents in your life is not a prerequisite to being Robin.

Duke's parents are also alive! They are under the effects of Joker toxin, but they are alive, and if they ever find a cure for it, I imagine that they would be more than happy to have Duke back in their lives!

Terry from Batman Beyond is not an orphan and was taken under Bruce's wing to be the next Batman! Terry is even going to inherit a fair amount of Bruce's wealth for deciding to take on the responsibility of being Batman. But while his dad did die, his mom is still alive and well over the course of the series! And he has a little brother too! Terry may still be a teenager, but he is a bit of a breadwinner for his household while also still being an important part of Bruce's family. (He is often someone who helps Bruce take care of himself.)

But if the story you truly want to explore requires being adopted specifically... Well... You don't have to be a kid to be adopted! Jack and Maddie can still raise Danny and Jazz into adults and Bruce is able to adopt them later if he wants, once they have been well and established in his family! Hell, you don't even have to wait! As long as Bruce asks permission from Jack and Maddie, they can be alive AND he can adopt Danny! There is more than one way to be in a family, you know! And sometimes it takes a village! And really, would Jack and Maddie really object to Danny being adopted by billionaire Bruce Wayne, especially if Danny really is enjoying his time being a part of his family and if Bruce has been an absolutely lovely person to them whenever he visits?

So I hope that you're able to take some inspiration from all of this for your own stories! If you need some elaboration on what I mean with some of these, or want to ask who could be responsible for some of these and how, feel free to drop on by and send me an ask! I would be more than happy to go into some more detail about these! Happy writing!

[epickiya722]

Thinking about the whole...

"Midoriya is actually the possessive, jealous one!"

"Actually, it's Bakugou."

Frankly, in my very humble opinion (I mean like very humble), they're both possessive and/or jealous. Just in different ways, sort of.

Like, Midoriya is the type that is protective to where it is possessive. People can talk and fawn over Bakugou all day, he is not batting a lash. Bakugou having other friends? Midoriya is not bothered (like, come on).

But hurt Bakugou? It's on a "you hurt the person I care about" way. That's his trigger (*points to canon*). He gets violent, but towards those who have hurt Bakugou.

Bakugou though? He's the possessive-possessive. Like, "I revolve around you and you revolve around me" kind of possessive. He will (and has) eavesdrop on conversations Midoriya has with other people. Wants to be rivals for the rest of their lives and invest most into making Midoriya's hero suit. Freely declared himself Kacchan Bakugo.

(Fitting that he does in one of his heroic moments. Reminds me of Midoriya chose to go with Deku for his hero name. And before anyone goes "Well, Uraraka---" Let's remember who gave Midoriya that nickname and he could have easily chose a different name even after her suggesting it. If anything, that's like an unintentional shipper on deck moment.)

Some of his thoughts be about Midoriya. (I said some because you cannot tell me he doesn't think about, like different hot sauces or something.)

You know what, I would say they're both the kinds of possessive, but each lean towards the other kind just a little more. And maybe it even alternates!

I just don't think only one of them is possessive.

And I don't think either one is more possessive than the other.

I think, again just my humble opinion, that Midoriya and Bakugou aren't ones to be possessive all the time and have a limit to how possessive they'll go.

(Thinking about the nicknames again. Neither verbally expressed dislike towards anyone else using the nicknames.)

They're definitely going to think and feel however for the other because they've always been in each other's lives. However, it's not to the point that they're incapable of giving each other breathing room and they're able to live as their individual. Of course, they're attached to the hip but not stitched together.

[gar77717]

bet is amazing i will not let you crazy people gaslight me into thinking this show wasn't great. BET IS SO GOOD. you don't like how different it is? GO WATCH THE ORIGINAL KAKEGURI AND STOP CRYING. It's cringy and uncomfortable to watch? THAT. IS. THE. ENTIRE. POINT. EVEN. IN .KAKEGURI. it's inspired by the original, AND INSPIRATION IN NOT A SET OF GUIDELINES WHAT IS CONSIDERED INTERPRETATION IS UP TO INTERPRETATION BECAUSE OF FUCKING COURSE IT IS.

people say "oh I think it's okay but It should have either been completely unique or stuck to the source material" why? literally why? how does borrowing characters and names at all take away from the story. names are supposed to tell you something about a character and these names tell you what roles they fill in the story. is your small fucking brain really incapable of just enjoying something for what it is. story telling in general is pretty much just a more complicated version of playing pretend with your Barbies so what if you use the same Barbies for a new story? so what if you keep some names? it can still be a good story, plus now it's easier for your friends to remember the basics of everyone's personality.

Bet has beautiful and astounding cinematography that really adds so much to the story if you people could just get over yourselves and stop being so pretentious and anti-"cringe" then maybe you could enjoy more than just what people tell you is good.

the show is so good at translating the core ideas and horror that comes from the source material into something that is palatable and relatable for an American audience. every episode is a roller coaster. yes the show is cringey sometimes but who fucking cares? it's fun and it's confident and when the chips are down (literally) the show really knows how to stick to its guns. it feels real, not because it's necessarily realistic but because it knows that a school where all the students do is gambling is fucking ridiculous AND IT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT WHILE STILL BEING ABLE TO MAINTAIN A SERIOUS ATMOSPHERE. something being funny doesn't mean that it isn't interesting or emotionally impactful. not to mention the fact that there's actually not that many jokes or ridiculous things in the show especially compared to the anime.

also why are people out here just straight up lying about the show. saying that characters are being played by people they're not making the show seem just completely ridiculous it pisses me off because they'll do shit like that and then pretend like they actually watched the show.

if You don't like the show that's fine that's your opinion but will you shut the fuck up about it for one goddamn second and let other people enjoy it. maybe consider that just because you don't like something doesn't actually mean that it's a terrible piece of garbage that nobody could ever enjoy, maybe it's just not your cup of tea.

[actual-changeling]

there's just something about bad blood and the way all their problems are put on display and hidden behind a thin veil of comedy to the point where most people just. don't see it.

scully is NOT having a good time! at all! any attempt at trying to bridge the gap is literally swatted away.

mulder doesn't refer to them as "we" and scully has to remind him several times that this isn't only about him, she's just as deep in this as he is. they're a team, even if he's somehow become incapable of remembering that.

in her version of the story, the way the sheriff behaves towards her is exactly how mulder usually does: he listens, he values her opinion, he actively seeks out her thoughts, he respects her as a scientist and a person and they physically meet in the middle.

it's not just funny haha or a coincidence that they placed them all this way. it's entirely intentional. the fact that the sheriff calls her dana just really drives the point home because yeah, he never knew her name—but mulder does. he knows her name and he used to call her that as a way of emotionally connecting deeper than they usually do.

do you remember the last time he did that at this point because i sure as hell don't, and i won't even start talking about the general decline throughout the first half of season 5.

just look at the physical distance between them. she leans in with her entire upper body and you could still fit another person between them. mr and mrs "we have to be in kissing distance to talk or we will die" are not whoever it is we are looking at.

i won't even get into how he very much does not touch her neck at the end compared to when he was feeling her up in "ice" in that stupid closet. and don't get me started on how he treats her like his personal assistant instead of an equal. go do that, no i don't give a fuck that you're hungry or tired i want you to do that autopsy now, yes i will do fuck all while you do that, no i don't think that's unfair, why are you still here go do as you're told.

she calls him out on it and he just doesn't listen, and then she goes and does it anyway because she loves him too much for her own good sometimes.

and none of this is to say that mulder is being intentionally malicious, he very much isn't (at this point, season 6 is a different story). but while he was careless from the beginning he still cared. he genuinely needed her and wanted her around, he wanted her to be happy and was more protective than he should have been. i have my own theories on why his behaviour changes (which would be a separate too long post if people are interested) and in the end there were several moments throughout season 5 and this episode that should have given him pause. mulder just isn't thinking about her like he used to, and that's why he's so uncharacteristically dismissive and cold towards her.

she tried to talk to him about it (so much. she tried so many times and so hard) but he wasn't listening. by then it would have taken her getting kidnapped or shot or otherwise hurt for him to get ripped back to reality and realize what he was doing, and even when that did happen it didn't actually change anything.

it's only when she intentionally and willingly attempts to walk away from him that he jumps into action but THAT is also a different post entirely.

anyway, bad blood is one of my favourite episode and i do think it's funny as fuck and i enjoy watching it. there's just more to it than one might realize on the first watch.

to end this on a good note, here's something that doesn't change in either of their stories: he still loves her and when he does look at her she's all he sees.

flaws and all, they're stuck together and choose to come back to each other every single time.

[ofstarsandvibranium]

In Stitches

Fandom: Marvel (Mob Boss AU)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Summary: You and Bucky used to be so in love and so… ignorant of the roles you had to play, which lead to you breaking up. But that didn’t seem to keep you away from each other since you now act as Bucky’s nurse whenever he gets hurt. Based off my mini fic here.

Warnings: depictions of violence

Stitched Together | Pull the Thread | Bucky Barnes Masterlist

He'd won. He came out broken, bloody, and bruised, but he won. At just eighteen years old, technically a man, but still a boy at heart, James Buchanan Barnes was thrown into a cage fight to prove to his father that he can be strong enough to take over the family business.

He came out of that fight looking at his father and a shine of love and pride reflected back at him.

This was Bucky's new reality. Life filled with pain, bloodshed, and darkness. He couldn't bring you into it, especially when his dad said Bucky could use you to get info on what your dad and the department knows about the business. No. He can't use you like that.

He couldn't bring himself to break up with you either so he played the part that everyone expected of him. He became cold and callous, which lead to you breaking up with him. He told himself it was for the best and it was to protect you from his new reality. He loved you and always will, even when he grew up to be someone most thought incapable of love.

___________________________

Bucky: can we swing by? two of our guys got shot.

You read over Bucky's text and you sigh. You pause your favorite rom-com movie and kick off the blanket you had draped over you.

As you head to your bathroom for your med kit, you text back:

You: yup. come on by.

Bucky: ETA is 15min

You: [thumbs up]

It'd been four months now of being a nurse for Bucky and his people. You've come to notice the ones who get hurt often, their bodies littered with various scars and stitches all over their bodies. Bucky, more often than not, came with them. It always surprised you because you figured he'd have other stuff to take care of, but, as he's mentioned to you once:

"These people are under my care. I wanna make sure they're taken care of."

Which made your heart swell a little bit and throw you back to how Bucky always felt protective of those he cared about.

You push your furniture towards the edges of the room and set up the cots for your incoming patients. You were tired of cleaning out the bloodstains on your couch cushions.

A knock at your door, you scurry to pull it open. Four guys trudge in. Two, dragging the other two inside.

Bucky comes in last with a shy smile, "Evening."

"Hey," you say with a nod, letting him in and then closing the door behind him.

"You doing okay?"

You nod, "Yeah. Wasn't doing much when you texted me. Just watching a movie."

"Rom com?" he asks you with a teasing smirk.

You roll your eyes at him in response, "Shut up."

"I wasn't saying anything!"

"You're judging me, Barnes! I know how you look when you're judging, so don't even deny it!" you poke his chest and turn on your heel to go attend to your patients.

___________________

Your patients had left your home, not wanting to take advantage of your generosity further despite your protests. That left you alone with Bucky. He was nursing a glass of whiskey and you a glass of wine while another movie played on the tv. He didn't leave with the rest of his guys. His excuse being that he wanted to finish the movie that you played while you worked on his men. A part of you hoped it was because he wanted to spend some alone time with you. Then you mentally scold yourself for hoping for such a thing.

You clear your throat when the movie ends, "So, you like rom-coms now, hm?"

He chuckles, placing his glass on your coffee table, "Just because I watched one rom-com, doesn't mean I like rom-coms."

You scoff, "I'll convert you, Barnes, just wait." You stand and grab his glass, "You want more?"

"Nah. I, uh, I should go."

You nod, "Right," you turn and head to the kitchen, placing the glasses into the sink.

Bucky follows, placing a small stack of bills onto the counter, "Your pay."

"Thanks," you mumble, not turning around to face him.

There's some sort of tension in the air and Bucky doesn't know why. He wants to poke and see what happened, if he'd done something somehow. But he doesn't. Despite you two being in each other's lives again, albeit in a small capacity, he still feels insecure and unsure about where you two stand now. Because he is still head of a crime organization and you're still the daughter of the chief of police that's trying to bring him down. Your lives keep being woven together, but will it result in the same heartbreaking end?

Bucky hopes not. He's older now. His father is gone and he's more in control of his life now. Right?

"Get some rest, sweetheart," he murmurs before exiting your home.

_______________________________

You're called up to the reception desk during your shift. When you head to the first floor, you see your dad waiting for you.

"Everything okay?" you immediately ask with concern.

"Everything's good, Bug. Figured you'd wanna have lunch with me?" he holds up a paper bag, 'Stan's Diner' logo stamped on it.

You break out into a smile, "Let me just let my charge nurse know I'm going on lunch. I'll meet you in the cafeteria."

"Sounds good," your dad gives you a thumbs up and heads in the direction of the cafeteria.

You head back upstairs, letting the charge nurse, Sharon, of you going on lunch. You punch in your ID number to start your lunch and then go back to your dad.

When you reach the cafeteria, you snort. Your dad is already eating without you. You sit across from him, unwrapping the burger he set out for you, "Couldn't wait?"

He shrugs, "I was starving!" He takes another bite of his burger and then takes out the two cups of fries. He flattens the paper bag and pours all of the fries out. The setting is reminiscent of your childhood. Every Friday, after your dad picked you up from school, you two would go to Stan's Diner. You'd always order the same thing, and your dad always combined the fries in the middle for you both to share.

"Been a while since we had lunch together. You sure things are okay?" you ask him with a hint of skepticism.

After your dad washes his food down with a can of Diet Coke (he's trying to cut back on the sugar), he clears his throat, "Well, uh, I did want to mention something to you."

You fidget in your seat, hoping and praying that he didn't find out that you've been helping nurse Bucky and his people for the past few months.

"So some of my patrol guys mentioned they started seeing more of Barnes' guys around your neighborhood."

You look at him with fake surprise, "What? Really? I haven't seen anything or anyone suspicious, but then again, I'm hardly home and when I am, I'm usually asleep."

"So far, they haven't done anything to be concerned about. Just that they've been showing up around your side of town lately. I just wanted to see if you've seen or heard anything, but most importantly to be cautious and careful."

You gulp, "Do-Do you think Bucky would hurt me?"

He sighs, "Bug, I'm honestly not sure what to believe, but that man isn't the same kid you were friends with back then. He's different now, capable of dangerous things. I just want to you to be careful."

"I will be, dad. I still carry my knife and pepper spray you got me."

"Good. I was also thinking of sending more guys to watch your specific area."

You shake your head, " I'm sure there are other places that need your attention."

"Maybe, but maybe I'll just station one guy on your street to keep an eye on things."

"I'll be fine. Trust me-"

"I trust you just fine, Bug. It's Barnes, I don't trust."

He wipes his hands and mouth with his napkin, "I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick." You give him a nod and watch as he heads to the cafeteria's bathrooms.

Once he's out of sight, you immediately pull out your phone and bring up the text chain between you and Bucky.

You: you guys need to be more careful. dad just told me his patrol guys have been seeing your people around my neighborhood more. he's thinking about having a guy stationed on my street.

Bucky: fuck.

Bucky: thanks for telling me.

You: you're welcome. maybe tell everyone to do their best to not get shot or stabbed for the next few weeks.

Bucky: can't really guarantee that considering our line of work.

You: at least try!

Bucky: will do, sweetheart.

You: stay safe.

Bucky: same to you, sweetheart.

You slip your phone back into your pocket when your dad exits the bathroom. You continue to eat your lunch and chat with him, acting as if you just didn't tip off his biggest enemy.

[wisteria-lodge]

Even with all the controversy don’t you think Bellamort has roots in canon compared to other totally random and performative ships? I think a lot of fans get annoyed with Bellatrix’s personality and dismiss her because she’s intense, but to me that’s exactly what makes her special, she doesn’t care about fitting gender norms expected from women, like not even Voldemort could handle who she is. That just proves her fanaticism is driven more by what she believes in than by her world revolving around him. And even if it did I don’t get why people complain about that lol it’s her choices as an independent woman. A lot of Voldemort ships end up twisting the other character to resemble Bellatrix anyway or give them similar traits like that main ship of his I’m not even naming here hahahaha

I mean, Bellatrix and Voldemort do have a kid in the Cursed Child - so if you consider Cursed Child canon, then of course they're canon.

In the main books, Bellatrix definitely is in love with Voldemort (or at very least speaks to him "as if to a lover.") Helena Bonham-Carter and Ralph Fiennes also lean into this - Bellamort shippers need to get ON the cut scene where Bellatrix tries to give Voldemort her wand (32:12)

But I would say that how Book Voldemort feels about Bellatrix is deliberately kept ambiguous. The question of how Voldemort defines love, and if he's even capable of remorse, or the *type* of love that is Harry's main superpower, is very tied into to the plot and theme of the book. Dumbledore (who the books frame as an authority on these sorts of things) comes down on the side of Voldemort not being able to love. The most he'll say is that Voldemort gets fond of people. "I think he is perhaps as fond of [Nagini] as he can be of anything." Also in the job interview flashback, Dumbledore roasts Voldemort for calling his Death Eaters "friends." says they're really his "servants."

("Voldemort is incapable of feeling love" is very boring from a character standpoint though, so I'm not surprised that fan writers interested in Voldemort ... ignore that.)

Actually, now that I think about it. It if you want to get into Voldemort ships with both textual evidence and authorial intent behind them... you could do a lot worse than Voldemort/Nagini. She is a human woman trapped in a snake body (I mean, if you consider the Fantastic Beasts films canon.) Which means maybe she does technically pass the Harkness test? Either way, JKR saying that the giant snake used to be a human woman (and that she knew this the whole time) is... an interesting choice.

Dumbledore - who considers himself a bit of a Tom expert - says he's the most fond of her. Nagini has part of Voldemort's soul inside her (so cue all the Tomarry headcannons, equally relevant here.) AND she kept homunculus!Voldemort alive with her venom? which is... something. Voldemort also seems to give her the most delicate assignments, she's his main executioner, she can possess and move around other dead bodies? So um. That's on the table for them. I guess.

(He's Voldemort, he's not going to have a vanilla love life.)

So what does he feel about Bellatrix? I don't know. He calls her by a pet name (Bella), but he also groups her in with Lucius when he's feeling angsty and trust-no-one.

it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy: Didn’t their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?

He alludes to punishing her in some way (... sexy?) and but then completely ignores her.

“Be quiet, Bella,” said Voldemort dangerously. “I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your sniveling apologies?” “But Master — he is here — he is below —” Voldemort paid no attention

Hot and cold, really. Some definite mixed messages. Which Snape of all people calls out:

“He shares everything with me!” said Bellatrix, firing up at once. “He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful —” “Does he?” said Snape, his voice delicately inflected to suggest his disbelief. “Does he still, after the fiasco at the Ministry?”

There's the interesting scene at the Malfoy dining table, where Voldemort gets all the other Death Eaters laughing at her:

“I don’t know what you mean, my Lord.” “I’m talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud.” There was an eruption of jeering laughter from around the table. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful looks; a few thumped the table with their fists (...) so jubilant were they at Bellatrix and the Malfoys’ humiliation. Bellatrix’s face, so recently flushed with happiness, had turned an ugly, blotchy red.

But then he shuts that down, and gets Bellatrix feeling grateful and doubly committed to him:

“Yes, my Lord,” whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. “At the first chance!” “You shall have it,” said Voldemort.

So, if nothing else... he's manipulative, and his manipulations are working on Bellatrix. (or maybe she's got a humiliation kink, who knows.) But he seems to like alternating between punishment and reward, and Bellatrix is never quite sure which one is coming.

I've seen the read that the "the happiest he had been in fourteen years" is referring specifically to the fact that *Bellatrix* has escaped Azkaban, but I would say that one probably has more to do with the power/success/euphoria that comes from generally winning, and effortlessly executing a mass Azkaban breakout. Same with his "scream" after Bellatrix's death, I think that's more to do with the fact that the tide of the battle has definitely turned.

Like, I love Bellatrix, I think she's fascinating. And I would say she's definitely a fan favorite - everyone loves a really gleeful bad guy, especially in a universe where a lot of characters are very angsty.

The Harry Potter books also have this pattern, where if you're a female character who doesn't have kids, and isn't interested in taking care of kids - then you're at best kind of tough and cold (Amelia Bones, Madame Pince.) But who are we kidding, you're probably just a baddie. (Bellatrix, Rita, Umbridge.) So weirdly, a lot her villains can have this almost... feminist flavor to them? Which makes them very compelling, in the eyes of her adult fans.

[snapscube]

on the name thing: i think people want to call you something different because they like you and want to feel like they're your friend by giving you their own quirky nickname. a show of affection or something. that's my good will interpretation of it because it's certaintainly something I can relate to.

also hope this is ok to say, but I miss seeing you doing facecam. you're gorgeous ^^ i respect if you don't feel comfy with it tho, it ain't easy and it's probably much comfier to not bother with it at all lol

have a great day, Penny!

(i know i literally just said im moving on from this but i felt like this idea was worth responding to, AFTER THIS i am moving on guaranteed) i get that! and thats why i stress that i feel this way regardless of intent because the last thing i want to do is cause guilt or demonize people for something that's ultimately pretty common. but even considering your example, with that notion comes a couple problems:

i am not your friend! i do think that there has been a bit of an OVER-correction when it comes to how people think about parasocial relationships and personally relating to people they admire, and generally i like to push back against the notion that having any parasocial relationship is a bad thing cause personally i think parasocial relationships are unavoidable and it's more about your expectations towards that one-sided relationship that become the issue. but two things remain true in either case: i know you so much less than you know me, AND you know me infinitely less than you think you do. so at the end of the day, it is not my responsibility to walk on eggshells about behavior that assumes an intimacy from me i am incapable of and especially uninterested in retaliating.

i have to stress that i am extremely aware it would be insane of me to expect to control peoples actions regarding this on such a large scale, and im also well aware many people come in who are new who get this info for the first time. i repeat the conversation in the interest of introducing those boundaries to people who are new and in general just reinforcing them. i try not to be such a stick in the mud about most things but this is something I REALLY care about, and so i give it the no-nonsense approach i think it deserves. on that note: understanding that there are going to be gaps where people either just do not know about my preferences or simply do not care doesn't mean i have to pretend like i also don't care about it. people can say whatever they want about me in their own spaces, you can call me whatever the fuck you want amongst friends. i do not care cause i do not have the capability to care, it's never going to reach me! but that does not mean i have to pretend to enjoy it if/when it DOES reach me, especially if it's presented as an option for me to respond to. if someone just calls me something weird in a chatroom it's like, i literally do not have the energy or overall scope of vision to react to every one of those instances specifically. there absolutely are things u just gotta let roll off of u sometimes. BUT, the reason we often get into this conversation repeatedly on my tumblr is because given the ask format i get a lot of people who go out of their way to approach me with name jokes or loopholes to an actively established preference as if they are looking for my approval on it. that is where it becomes a little more unpalatable for me.

and to respond to your second question: i appreciate the kind words on that! i sure would like to reintroduce facecam again someday somehow but right now my desk setup is not great for it haha