#they're poor and the institute has power

[moxachuu]

i wonder how Darkwick handles the disappearance of the MC from their normal lives. like, MC went to a concert alone and never came back home.

ofc it would be easier for the institute if the MC has no one, but if they have a family/friend that searches for them? that file a missing person report when the hours pass with no response from their phone? that know MC would not run away? Do they let them search for their missing loved one and intentionally sabotage police investigations (or even intervene in them to stop any search), or would they use an anomaly to make it seem like nothing happened and MCs loved ones keep living their lifes unknowingly forgetting MC is not there?

we know that busses and taxis didn't see MC when they tried to go home, so there's most likely an anomaly that makes them "invisible"/unrecognizable to the general public. I don't know what would be more cruel, that MCs family is aware of their disappearance but nothing comes out of their searching efforts, or that they aren't even aware that the MC is missing because of the anomaly.

and if they have work or studies going on?

to me it seems like they aren't expecting for MC to break their curse. MC has been dead from the moment they looked at the eye, only the Sage's Ring gave them the "privilege" of going to class instead of going directly to a cell. once the year is over they won't be useful anymore and Darkwick will continue as intended.

[genericpuff]

the Underworld is the only godly realm that was built on capitalism

So what's Olympus built on? Socialism? Are the gods and nymphs there living the good life compared to their underworld counterparts? Are Zeus and Hera good monarchs even if they're not good people? Or is it just bad in a different way?

Olympus does still participate in capitalism to a degree (especially considering that they do a lot of buying and selling between the Underworld, ex. Kore isn't the only one who travels for work between realms) but the realm was originally built on offerings and bartering which is a tradition that's still maintained between the gods themselves - and it's a big reason why they care for the mortals at all, because without their prayers and offerings, the entire foundation of their realm and the gods' status as rulers would crumble.

So in that way, the gods in power - aside from Hades who is an exception we'll touch on in a second - don't really care about the societal institutions of money, because money just doesn't really serve any function for them that the mortals' offerings - and their own abilities as gods - aren't already providing them. The capitalist system that exists in Olympus is more so to serve the residents who aren't being actively worshipped, such as the nymphs and satyrs (though some are lucky to gain recognition in ways that benefits them through offerings) and for budding gods who don't have as much influence in the Mortal Realm yet (such as Kore).

That said, there are plenty of complaints to be made about Hera and Zeus regardless of the economy that exists within Olympus, buuuut we'll be getting into those issues later ;3 As for the quality of life of Olympus vs. the Underworld, there are pros and cons to both, as with any economic system. The Underworld has a bit of a steeper divide between the rich and poor, but living in Olympus comes with the caveats of being in Zeus' territory where life can be... unpredictable, to say the least. BUT the Underworld being built on the free market has provided it with unique advantages through their technological advancements (ex. the existence of cars and cellphones in both realms is largely owed to the Underworld); whereas Olympus has greater access to the resources of the gods themselves due to literally being the home of the King of the Gods who everyone tries to keep in their good graces.

We've seen a mini example of this bartering system already back in Episode 56: Hera telling Kore she was going to help her with her garden wasn't just the Queen dishing out orders, she was telling Kore that gardening would be a sufficient enough trade for having her in her home and feeding her.

She's not offering to feed Kore for free (which WOULD be an honor coming from the Queen), she's telling her "I'll provide you with the company of royalty and good food / wine / etc. in exchange for your gardening services." (that said, it is still sort of a high honor in and of itself considering Hera wouldn't let just anyone tend to her property ;3)

But that brings us to the exception - Hades. The Underworld had to be built on a different system due to many of its gods and goddesses not being commonly worshipped, so offerings and tributes were hard to come by. For Hades especially, how was he supposed to earn the favors of mortals when they wouldn't even dare speak his name? This led to him having to build the Underworld on the value of specific resources - such as the minerals and metals and gemstones found in the Underworld itself - which were later refined into common currency that's now used across the realms.

Fun fact, this is also why Kore is ticked off that the Underworld costs a toll to enter for both shades and gods alike - because there isn't a toll booth to get into Olympus.

The Underworld has truly mastered the art of microtransactions LMAO

To wrap up this fun lil' lore dump, there's a WIP scene I have on the back burner that goes into greater detail on Olympus' bartering systems but I haven't had the chance to work it naturally into the story yet, I'm hoping it'll be included in an upcoming episode soon but it's basically a cute lil' shopping sequence between Persephone, Artemis, and Daphne :' )

(enjoy these never before seen sketches of Daphne sporting Y2K-style fashion LMAO)

[feminist-space]

"Wolfe, a reporter with Mississippi Today, a nonprofit, online news outlet, won the Pulitzer for detailing a disturbing $77 million welfare fraud scandal in the nation's second-poorest state, a scandal headlined by Mississippi's most famous athlete, Brett Favre.

The reporting described how, with then-Gov. Phil Bryant in office, Favre and a handful of others scored millions of dollars that were supposed to go to welfare families but were instead used on projects that included a college volleyball facility and a concussion drug company.

Favre's involvement elevated the story into national news, providing fodder for talking heads from Fox News to ESPN. In no time, some people were going to sarcastic extremes over the story, such as shirts that went on sale saying, in all capital letters, "Brett Favre stole money from poor people. Go Bears."

Bryant and Favre both have said they had no idea the money was designated for welfare families.

It was against that backdrop last spring, a month shy of her 29th birthday, that Wolfe won the Pulitzer and celebrated with family, friends and colleagues at Hal & Mal's, a Jackson institution. It was a moment that should have capped the journey on a story Wolfe had been chasing for five years.

Instead, not long after the Pulitzers were announced, the former governor sued Mississippi Today for defamation, setting off a battle that not only soured Wolfe's and Mississippi Today's moment but, more troubling to Wolfe, turned the focus away from the scandal itself.

That's because not only has Bryant's lawsuit not gone away despite Mississippi Today's insistence that its reporting is truthful, but the former governor also recently asked a circuit court to hold Wolfe and the news organization in contempt of court. The governor wants all of Wolfe's notes. He wants her emails. He wants her confidential sources. And the judge has ordered, at the very least, that Wolfe and Co. show him what they've got so he can determine its relevance to the case.

Mississippi Today has called the order "unconstitutional" and appealed to the state supreme court. Either way, Wolfe and her boss, Adam Ganucheau, have said there's no way they're giving up confidential sources. They say they would rather defy the court and face possible jail or, probably more likely, see their news organization get hammered with substantial damages.

What was once a story about poverty, power and Brett Favre, has now become a battle involving the First Amendment."

[luminalunii97]

The Islamic Republic: we canceled the morality police!

Iranians: so?! Does that change the fact that you have committed genocide in Kurdish cities and Zahedan? Does that restore people's eyesight that you took from them with your rubble bullets? Does that bring back to life almost 500 murdered protesters in the last 3 months, among them at least 60 children? Does that bring back to life 1500 people you massacred in 2019 and those you executed afterwards? Or the 30000 people you executed in the first decade of your rule? And everyone you've arrested, raped, tortured and executed in between simply because they didn't agree with you? Does that mean current executions are stopped? Does that mean tens of thousands of arrested protesters are free? Does that mean fired or suspended students are back to classes and can get an education? Does that mean the poverty threshold is no longer so absolutely high that even the once above average families are considered absolutely poor? Does that erase 40 years of apartheid? State racism? State misogyny? Inequality? Have you stopped bothering religious minorities and are giving them their basic human rights back? Does that mean there's no more child marriages? Legal rape? Does that mean you no longer kill and torture LGBTQ people? Does that make up for the environmental disaster you've caused in Iran? Water shortage? Bewildering fuel shortage? All the lakes and water bodies that are dry now and the jungles that has been destroyed? Currently northern jungles are on fire, are the trees restored? Does that mean you no longer execute environmental activists because they object your unscientific environment policies? Does that mean all censorships and restrictions are lifted? Does that end your meddling in other countries affairs? Does it mean you're not a bunch of thieves and murderers who know nothing about running a country? Does that make up for all the lives you've destroyed? And most importantly does that bring Mahsa Amini back to life???

It's too late for that. Iranians have been loud and clear. We won't sit down until this regime is completely and irreversibly changed. The whole government system, the constitution, and the people in powers. And those who committed crimes have to be put on trial.

(The morality police have been around under different names for almost the entirety of this regime. This is just a temporary stop. Even if the morality police is disbanded for good, compulsory hijab is still a law and it's illegal to not wear appropriate clothing. Any police force is able to arrest non hijabis since they're doing something illegal, it's not an exclusive morality police duty. Plus the morality police was just enforcing hijab in the streets. What about every governmental and private offices and institutions? They all have to enforce mandatory hijab on both their employees and costumers So this news means literally nothing. West media should research these things better before publishing misleading informations)

I strongly recommend everyone to go to #MahsaAmini in twitter and read iranians tweets. Like, I strongly recommend it. I even put the link to make it easier for you. Just click on it.

[markantonys]

I am beyond sick of the "the show is doing Rand and the Dragon dirty" opinions. There's this argument that the show hasn't shown what it really means to be the Dragon which is a problem cause it's two seasons in. As if that's something that doesn't really start getting addressed in TSR? That's definitely gonna be a s3 plot point now that he actually is publicly the Dragon. Also that "show onlies don't get what the point of Rand is. He didn't really do much up to this point especially in both finales." As if he didn't kill Ishy twice and take out like 12 Seanchan singlehandedly? The disrespect. A lot of this is coming from bitterness from book fans seeing some show fans are hating on Rand cause they think Egwene should be the dragon which is somehow on Rafe cause Eg is his favorite character so of course to them that means he's gonna give Egwene everything and screw over everyone else 🙄

yeah!! it's especially ironic because in THE LITERAL LAST BATTLE, egwene is leading the physical/magical fighting out on the frontlines while rand is doing a 1v1 faceoff of philosophy & ethics with ishy. aka exactly what's happened in both season finales! they are co-protagonists and these are their respective roles! egwene is the warrior hero and rand is the philosopher hero. methinks that it's actually these readers who don't get the point of rand, if they think that rand spending the finales showing moral strength in the face of the shadow is less The Point Of Him than having cool swordfights or channeling explosions.

the show has also been showing that female channelers have training institutions in place whereas male ones do not, and showing the consequences of that. hence egwene is much better-positioned than rand to pull off or be involved in major channeling feats early on (1x08: has little training herself but can contribute her supernova strength to a circle because a trained female channeler is there to lead it; 2x08: received enough training at the white tower and forcible training with the seanchan to do major channeling feats by herself). meanwhile rand is out here functioning off a fragmented 2-page excerpt from "male channeling for dummies", so he is nowhere near as capable as egwene at this point in time. that contrast is logical and it is deliberate, but i guess when this group of rand stans says "the show needs to show why it's bad to be a male channeler" they just mean "we want to see Poor Perfect Rand getting bullied by Awful Women Who Are Wrong" rather than "we want to see a major capability disparity between rand and egwene to reflect the impact of one group having institutionalized training at their disposal and the other not".

plus, the show is taking the forsaken and the threat they pose MUCH more seriously than the books did. in the show, while they're still entertaining and fun to watch, they also feel like genuinely terrifying and powerful villains, whereas in the books many of them felt like cartoon villains who are better at providing comedic or melodramatic value than actual threat. and none fits the latter description better than asmodean, our resident Most Pathetic Forsaken. in the books he was always just a clown loser to me and never once did i consider him a credible threat, ergo, it didn't take much to convince me that rand should take him on as a teacher. in the show, if he gets a similar glowup as ishy and lanfear so that he does feel like he poses serious danger and is scary, then rand will need a VERY GOOD reason to agree to take lessons from him and the audience will need a very good reason to believe that it's worth the risk (especially because iirc lanfear is the one to suggest that asmo train him, and lanfear ALSO being a much more credible threat in the show is another reason why we'll REALLY need to be given reasons to feel that rand listening to her in this instance is a calculated risk rather than batshit stupidity). hence, it was crucial for s2 to do exactly what it did: show how badly rand is struggling without training and how few good options he has for teachers (i.e. absolutely zero options as of the end of the season since logain was a bust).

also the "show-onlys thinking egwene should be the dragon" phenomenon comes from the fact that, as of right now in this early stage, egwene is a go-getter gifted kid teacher's pet (affectionate) who yearns to be part of The Plot whereas rand is a cottagecore househusband being dragged into The Plot kicking and screaming, so OF COURSE right now egwene seems like the better candidate for the chosen one who has the fate of the world in their hands! right from the start she's been much more of a Gets Shit Done person than rand, and that was absolutely true in the early books as well even if they never explicitly raised the idea of egwene being TDR instead of him. but that doesn't mean rand won't grow into a Gets Shit Done person now that he's accepted the responsibility of being TDR and it doesn't mean show-onlys won't grow to agree that he's the right choice for TDR. or even if they don't, who cares? boy, i bet this crew who's spent 20 years declaring "rand is a saint who's done nothing wrong ever in his life and egwene is a worse villain than the forsaken and seanchan" into an echo chamber of like-minded fans isn't coping well with seeing show-onlys not share all their opinions. they got so used to being the majority opinion for 20 years that they cannot handle seeing other people now have different takes! i can't wait to see them have a collective aneurysm when show-onlys think that Malewife Supreme Gawyn is the superior trakand boy over Alt-Right Dipshit Galad (and show-onlys WILL think this, i've planted that seed and i will see the harvest).

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Oh god, I was just giggling so hard at howdy anons ask and your reply about reader letting König wait (sending a smooch to you both ❤️😘). He really deserves to suffer a little like that lol! Just imagining this guy, who likes to see himself as so strong and dominant, especially towards woman, slowly but surely lose his fucking marbles... And all because of that sweet little lady, who has his horniness in a bloody choke hold - not even realising the power she has over him. He's never had to show this much restraint... And he does hold back because, he even more likes to see himself as a gentlemen towards his sweetie (one who will absolutely ruin and wreck her once she let's him off his leash and takes the muzzle off). Poor little Köni.

I can see him letting out this sexual frustration at training for example. He is working these punching bags like absolutely batshit crazy. Destroying gym equipment, because he goes in so hard and has just soooo much pent up energy after every little cuddling session with sweet reader and doesn't know what to do with hit (violently masturbating after being with her hardly helps...). The other operators at the base gym just side eying him and wondering, if he now reached the final state of madness and silently prepare for the explosion that will wipe out all life on earth...

Also: we are really branching out with the toxic König brand here. First the institute, now the book club. I'm loving the growth here. Maby we can establish some kind of co working space next at toxic König headquarters, so we all have a place where we can thirst efficiently and just pump these numbers up even more for Toxic König Inc. (TKI). I can see an involvement in the stock market by next quarter at this growth rate. Maby some Tupperware-esk door to door sales to get more people hooked on to toxic König? (ok, that sounds to much like a cult now...)

Haha this is so crazy, all I wanted was to make Ghost happy, get him laid, perhaps even get him married… but here I am, 6 months later, having this blog and wondering which content warnings to slap on another König post where we discuss his obsession with virgins and their mythical hymen blood 💕

He destroys the punching bag (RIP) and somehow manages to rip the pull up bar from the concrete wall. His deadlifts can be heard all the way to the mess – envious rookies would say König is doing it wrong, that it's a major error in execution, but the veterans know better... This crazy lunatic is simply having trouble with women (again).

But you know what would make König nearly faint?

When sweet innocent reader finally allows his hands roam a bit!

He's allowed to caress her waist as they cuddle, she even lets him bring his huge palm on her tits – it feels like the most erotic thing ever, just to paw those soft breasts over her shirt. And what happens next is that she rolls her hips – König holds his breath – she's actually pressing her ass against his cock. Of course they're still wearing clothes, but her movements are nothing short of sexual.

It makes his brain shut down completely, but soon he's panting in her ear, grinding his groin against the swell of her ass in rhythm with her movements. She doesn't stop him when his hand slowly, tentatively shifts down, then forces its way under the waistband of her pants – ach du Scheiße, it's finally happening… Can this be real?

His fingers slip under her underwear and arrive on her soft mound. He tries to shove his hand further down and into her folds but then – Scheiße – delicate fingers curl around his wrist and pick his hand up from paradise.

"Please… I'm just not ready yet," she explains gently, and the German curses in his mind are loud and foul as König tries to catch his breath and ignore the fact that his boxers are painfully tight and now stained and wet with precum.

"Let me lick your cunt," he offers with a hoarse voice while she's still holding him by the wrist, denying access to her. "Bitte... I just want to have a taste..."

Sweet reader goes tense and turns, looks at the soldier who has a funny accent and weird mannerisms, the soldier who was supposed to be a gentleman, with parted lips and eyes wide from shock.

"König, you can't say things like that…!"

[clangenrising]

sorry if this is too harsh to ask. when ever the story leans over to the city cats, they mistreat others or lean on the evil/bad side (look at poor aldertail, lake, scorch, and smokeyrose :( ) the more I read this, the more I'm siding with the clan cats to wipe out all the city cats. that way there can be peace for everyone because I can't see how the city cats have any remorse in the clan cats eyes or yours

Wow. Okay.

Um, first things first, I will never be in support of Wiping Out any group of people. I get what you're trying to say but that's just not an ideology I can get behind. It is honestly a very dangerous and upsetting argument to make and hopefully, I can explain why.

Most of the city cats are not Evil. Most of the city cats are people who grew up in a corrupt system and have been taught to do bad things from a young age. Like Mystique for example: Has she hurt people? Yes. Does she seem resistant to change? Yes. Does this mean she is not worthy of compassion or a chance to grow and be better? Absolutely not!

I was raised Mormon. I know a lot of people, some who I love, who do bad things on the regular - people who voted for trump, people who support homophobic or imperialist policies, people who are hurtful to the marginalized people in their lives. I will NEVER believe that these people deserve to die for the way they are. They are just humans doing their best with the knowledge they were given and the baggage they've accrued.

I do think that there are cats, like Razor for instance, who need to be Stopped, certainly, and removed from positions of power. Unfortunately, cats don't have the ability to institute more systemic solutions to these kinds of problems so they will most often solve these problems by killing the cat. But this should only happen after it is clear that there is no opportunity for a non violent solution.

The world is complicated and messy and it means people are taught bad things and have trauma that makes them hurt other people. I'm not saying that those behaviors are okay. They should be held accountable for the harm that they do. But those behaviors do not make them irredeemable or Evil. Hell, I don't think there ARE Evil people! I don't think there are GOOD people! People can't be good or evil because they are always going to be making new choices. Some of those choices will hurt people, some of those choices will help people, some of those choices are entirely neutral. I believe you can judge people's actions but its impossible to judge their 'soul' so to speak.

There are a lot of cats in the city who do bad things because they see those things as normal or because the system rewards them for doing so. Do you think the Clans should kill all of those people?? Because I will never agree with you if you do and I urge you to rethink how you see the world.

Give me any city cat and I will be able to find a way to empathize with them. Yes, even Razor. They're all just people. And in my opinion, none of them deserve to die. They deserve to change and heal. And I think most of them will. I'm a death penalty abolitionist and that means I don't think ANYONE should be put to death. You don't get to selectively apply that kind of belief only to the people you think are 'good'.

Sorry for how long and rambling my response was. If anyone has follow up questions or comments, I'm open to discussing this further, just please remember to be kind and avoid any sort of harassment, and that goes both ways. Nobody harass this anon for what they said. I believe they are very misguided but that doesn't make them a bad person. If you think that then you've entirely missed the point of everything I said.

[crossdressingdeath]

I finally figured out why Vivienne rubs me the wrong way. To paraphrase she is a lottery winner telling the underpaid workers that capitalism works.

As throughout the Dragon Age series we see how circle fails mages (In Orgins there is books about blood magic in hopes of catching desperate mage in the act of a crime, Awakenings the templars setting a entrapment for Anders despite being a grey warden and then there is Kirkwall).

Then in the game in which mage independence is a big issue our only circle mage perspection that is a main character is Vivienne who is fine with the current system. As Vivienne will tell us the player that while the system has flaws overall is fine. Which is really ridiculous considering the last game.

What Dragon Age Inquisition needed was a Kirkwall mage who saw the worst of the circles to be a counter argument that the circles are flawed

And what I mean by Vivienne being a lottery winner is that her position is almost a miracle. As while a young mage in the circle she had to be powerful enough to be allowed to do her harrowing but also not too powerful to make the templars afraid (as I believe it is implied that mages that are too powerful are nipped in the bud in Orgins), then in a party she is charming enough that a noble takes a fancy to her which then allows her to charm the Empress and gain political power.

All of these aspects feels like sheer luck. So when Vivienne tells me the circle works I want to eat my face in frustration as I remember Jowan and Anders and Hawke's parents desperately trying not to be in the circle.

(Sorry for the rant)

I think Vivienne is ultimately a very notable victim of a lot of DAI's poor writing choices. Both in terms of character writing and in terms of the overall themes.

See, DAI doesn't want us to get any perspective that doesn't prop up the Circle and the Chantry. It doesn't want us questioning the necessity of either institution. It's not just Vivienne; think back on the mage characters we see in DAI, the ones that aren't in the Circle mostly just don't talk about it. Not even Quiz, and if Quiz tries to argue that the Circles aren't great the Circle mages go "Well you're wrong because it was great for me" and Quiz isn't allowed to say anything back. See also Minaeve going "Well the Dalish are shit and the Circle is great because the Dalish threw me away and the Templars rescued me and that doesn't contradict anything in the preexisting lore and also it definitely doesn't say anything about the Chantry that my clan couldn't support an additional mage in their life on the run and also I'm just going to blindly assume the Tempalrs were telling the truth" while Lavellan is forced to just stand there, smiling and nodding and not arguing back at all even though they logically would. DAI needed a counterargument to the "Circles are good" argument, it needed a character who'd seen the worst they had to offer, but we were never going to get that because DAI didn't want it to be a debate. It wants us to blindly agree that the Circles are good and mages wanting freedom is bad. Which is a wildly stupid decision but someone made it anyway!

DAI also does not like character growth. Not in the slightest. The most DAI's companions get is their character growth popping in all at once in Trespasser after a full game of them being completely static. Just like how Sera refuses to acknowledge how awful she's being to Lavellan until Trespasser where she suddenly asks how they're feeling about the Evanuris stuff without using it to make them feel like there's something wrong with them for having non-Andrastian beliefs or how Dorian defends slavery and then that's quietly never acknowledged again until he mentions in Tevinter Nights that "someone he met in the south" changed his mind on the subject or how Cullen... is Cullen, you're never allowed to challenge Vivienne on her beliefs because if you did that then she might change and grow as a person and DAI does not want to deal with that. Especially not when challenging Vivienne means challenging the argument that the Circles are The Best Option. Poor Vivienne gets hit hard by DAI's refusal to accept that the Chantry's bad and the fandom does not want to side with them, she's probably the single biggest piece of collateral damage to DAI's bad choices.

And the thing is it's not that Vivienne doesn't know she's lucky! It's not that she doesn't know the Circles fail people! She recognizes there's a lot of flaws, and she does genuinely want to improve things for her fellow mages! Her intentions are good! Plus honestly if you work to get her approval up she's actually one of the better companions in terms of how she treats Quiz (seriously, look at some of her high approval conversations, she cares so damn much) and she'll defend even companions she doesn't like from unjust attacks (she's got a very good banter with romanced Dorian about how she got a letter from a magister she knows somehow about how disgusting Dorian and Quiz's relationship is and basically told him to fuck off with that). Vivienne really does care and really does want to make things better, she's just been so poisoned by her life in a world very heavily controlled by the Chantry and the Templars that she can't see past their way of doing things. The problem isn't that she doesn't see how lucky she is; she knows she got a lucky break that a lot of mages don't get (although it's important to note that she didn't just get lucky, Vivienne absolutely worked her ass off to get to where she is), and she knows that not everyone could get to where she is even if they'd gotten as lucky as she did. What she misses is that you need to be insanely lucky just to be more or less content in the Circle, never mind happy or powerful. Lucky enough to escape the worst of the Templars' abuses, lucky enough to be in a decent Circle, lucky enough not to be too weak or too powerful, lucky enough to get a manageable demon in your Harrowing, lucky enough to be the sort of person who won't be completely miserable trapped in one building your whole life... The thing Vivienne misses is that she got out, she doesn't have to spend her whole life in the Circle praying the Templars are good to her, and that's not an opportunity a lot of mages get no matter how smart or skilled they are. It drives me nuts, because if we were just allowed to push her to see that her story would immediately be so much better. As it is it's a lot of potential and a strong start that never really get paid off.

[chaifootsteps]

so there's a page on tv tropes called WMG (wild mass guessing) for fan theories and I just wanted to share one about Striker

Striker will eventually meet one of the nicer higher-ups. With Striker maintaining that every royal in Hell is a stuck up elitist who doesn't care about those under them, having him be forced to send time around one of the nicer royals such as Bee or Ozzie is a plot that seems ripe for potential, as it could possibly him up for a redemption or cause him to sink deeper into insanity as he either deludes himself into believing that said royal is just putting up an act and could never really care or cause him to realize that, by stereotyping Hell's royals, he's not any better then the royals he loathes.

Gotta be honest, while this could totally happen in the show this kind of reading is kind of annoying to me?

Like the stuff that jumps out to me - "set him up for a redemption". Framing it this way is an admission that criticizing royalty is a villainous trait Striker needs rid of in order to be considered a good guy. Which the show itself endorses - IMP flip flop between admitting they need Stolas as a meal ticket and bootlicking constantly for him, so they're 'good' assassins where people like Striker are 'bad' assassins (even though they're doing the exact same job - taking paid hits)

'By stereotyping Hell's royals, he's not any better than the royals he loathes' - um, the problem Striker has with royalty is not that they 'stereotype' imps and that's it. His problems with royals is that they have an unfair amount of wealth and power that they can use to do whatever they want to whoever they want and imps are an underclass who live in poverty and are treated like servants and objects by them.

Striker can stereotype every royal in Hell as unfairly as he wants and it still wouldn't make him 'worse' than someone like Stolas, who can coerce Blitzo into sex and then act like they had a relationship instead of what it really was: him raping an imp every month. That's the whole point - if he wanted to be worse he wouldn't have half the opportunity to do so or half the means and social capital to get away with it that royals do. That 'nice' royals like Bee and Ozzie exist doesn't change this (and even Ozzie threatens to hurt his employees if they tell about him and Fizz)

This is just the 'reverse racism' argument repurposed - if someone who has faced systemic racism and institutional discrimination from every system meant to support them (schools, police, hospitals) then they're immediately 'just as bad' as the powerful people furthering all that if they dare to criticize it

And that's the entire problem. Even if Striker did come to like Bee or Ozzie and see #NotAllRoyals that wouldn't change the system that underpins Hell's society fundamentally disadvantages imps. He isn't wrong just because Bee and Ozzie exist - if anything, if they were so nice they'd be doing more to dismantle the hierarchy instead of passively benefiting from it! Ffs, the show goes out of its way to say that just starting a business is unusual for imps because all they're expecting to do is working class menial labor!

If Viv is remembered for just one thing, it should be the fact that she got a punch of self-proclaimed Twitter progressives with social justice flags in their bios to argue with their full chests that some rich people are nice and good actually, and it's the disadvantaged poor workers' fault for not appreciating them enough.

I'm referring to Striker and to her own whistleblowers.

[blueberrypancakesworld]

A baby's instinct for mother

Franco Barbi x patient/mother! reader

warning : outlast level of dark themes and events, kissing, slightly dom/sub undertones, some groping, comfort, no use of y/n, injury (nosebleed)

Summary: Before the unlikely mother and son duo set up shop in the harbour-side children's playground, they were both nothing more than better rats for the organisation, but if a failed hopeful is to bond with a person it takes a lot of mothers, sacrifice and more than a slap on the bum for the baby to know what it's doing wrong and whether its instincts are right. In this story of how a man-baby found his mum…

info : So the second work for the sweet Franco and his mummy a little origin story you could say so have fun and thanks for all the feedback and support on the first work thanks :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The love of a mother for her child is a bond that is very special, a bond between two people who could hardly be physically closer.

A child who loves its mother because she brought it into the world, the child receives everything from its mother and the mother looks at this little human being with all her love and sees nothing but innocent love and hope.

At least that's how it seemed and that's how it should have been, but some children just can't behave, especially when they get older, forget their education, forget the rules and above all forget that a shotgun has a hard recoil after a shot and almost shattered twelve-year-old Franco's skull.

A little boy back then who hadn't listened, a little boy his father was proud of because he was reliable in the mafia business and bonded until the day Franco learned to love his beloved stepmother, learned to love the pointy end of her high heel, her soft skin that made him feel like a baby again, a bond he never had before she insulted him again.

But it was the kind of thing every child had learned not to do, every child except him, and so he was punched and kicked and the poor idiot left before his father actually killed him.

A mother should always be there for her children but the mother earth gave a fuck about her children and the adults it was an interaction.

The people hated the earth and the earth hated the people but the millions of people hiding on the streets in the dark sleeping in tents or mostly nothing more than cardboard houses was the way it was.

On this earth, the rich with money, power and influence survived and those who didn't have this, who perhaps even had a big heart full of joy and understanding, would end up miserably on the street, on the cold asphalt under a scorching hot sun, under snow and above all rain that brought the cold to your bones in such rain came the flyers and the vans.

A hope for better things and she had got in, really believing once again that there was good on this shitty earth but as the stuffy fabric stretched over her head and she felt the stinging prick of a needle on her neck she knew she would never feel the world again because she was going straight to hell.

It had been like this for weeks, months or years no idea how much time had passed she didn't know why she should either it wasn't necessary the only thing necessary was that in the women's section of this institution.

This freak show they lined up every day to the shrill sound of the loudspeaker and all took their pills, sometimes a few women were picked out and either didn't come back or had their arms and legs full of syringes that had probably been injected over and over.

But even in a place like this where she still seemed to feel the shackles in her wrists and the burning and trembling at night from the ‘drugs’, there still had to be something worse.

,,Where do you think they're taking us?" she had once asked her cellmate at the beginning of this nightmare, a slightly older woman who had already lost an eye and looked haggard, who perhaps had it even worse than she once did, ,,It's hell, child, it can only get better" he had replied before she burst into a resounding laughter that had denied her sleep.

But now that her hands were outstretched in front of her, she looked into the corridor and saw a few familiar and unfamiliar faces beside her, the taste of dusty platsik and a chemical strawberry flavour on her tongue from the pills, she wished herself back in her cell as the guards' hands laid on hers and she was taken away with others.

There was always something worse, and maybe it was the pills, but she walked through the metal doors and corridors more relaxed than she had once felt comfortable.

But as more mothers were brought into the playground a baby awoke on the other side, the smell of warmth almost like a blanket that would wrap around his naked body, the warm body of a mother with soft gentle hands that would hold her but most of all breasts nipples that he could suckle on to get the breast milk he so wanted and needed and would kill for.

,,You can't do all that-that's illegal," she heard another woman moan as her face lay in her hands and tears ran down her cheeks, making some of the others smile or cry, ,,We don't exist anymore, so who should care?” she replied and looked back out of the large cell, trying to memorise the way so as not to go mad herself, even though she knew deep inside that it was useless.

Until she came to the moment when the guards arrived and one woman after another was dragged out in front of her, but none of them had yet returned to strike and defend themselves, her defence was barely effective, however, the grips tightened on her arms and held her firmly as she cried out when a ‘doctor’ rammed a syringe into her chest with a broad yellowish grin of amusement.

Her swearing and threats fell on deaf ears and she fell silent as he threatened another injection. She was simply dragged along, her body aching from the medication or acid or whatever the fucker had given her, burning hot in every vein and artery of her body.

A warmth that didn't seem to leave her and the hatred inside her only increased, yet she could clearly see the colourful door at the end of the corridor, a peeling bay blue with little sturgeons and ducks painted on the door that opened and she was thrown inside.

The floor on which she was thrown was not hard, however, and surprise entered her eyes as she recognised the floor as soft play plates, the things that could be put together like a puzzle as she slowly stood up.

Saw that the wall was covered in old, leafy wallpaper in bright colours, with half and whole decapitated shovel mannequins everywhere and milk bottles here and there, ,,Shall I play nanny now?!" she shouted and only now realised the cameras in the corners watching everyone in the room.

She slowly realised why she was perhaps wearing this ugly simple dress with rips, stains and blood residue, why there were women here who never came back.

Perhaps there was still a worse place after all and she swallowed as she saw the pool of blood on the other side of the room where someone had apparently dismembered and broken a body so badly that only parts could be carried out.

But her question, the questions forming in her mind, she heard a whirring meachnik drive itself forward before the door on the other side slowly opened, the pool of blood hardly mattering anymore, the children's toys seemingly forgotten as she saw this something that was there a few metres away in front of her.

Not a child too grotesque for one but a perfect man could such a thing be a man at all, dressed in a white pinstripe suit with some dirt and blood and torn pieces of fabric, she could very well see the shcnuller hanging around his neck but this spawn didn't seem to care about his own existence instead his eyes settled on hers.

,,You smelled so good, warm and soft just like mum…the other whores just broke but you...you made me want to crawl inside you" came from his lips and she saw him pull a shotgun from behind his back and she took a step back, this whole fucking place could only get worse.

She was well aware of his grotesque gesture and saw the bulge in his pants. Either he had tried to jerk off before he came here or he was just getting so horny and aroused by her fear. He had followed her gaze, however, and his grin, if that was possible, became even wider.

If there was already someone like him, what else was there to come? Raising her hands slightly in an act of appeasement, she backed away again but the stranger continued to approach her, his broad grin telling her that he liked her fear.

,,Mother? I-I can help you find her, maybe-" she tried to convince him to calm down, maybe he was mentally ill, maybe his mother was really walking around here, but this short sigh of relief was interrupted by the shot of his gun as small pointed teeth shot towards her, pain and screams could be heard.

Blood ran down her arm where he had aimed, her already needy dress was even more torn and she had fallen back in fright, tripping over her own legs, hearing the man-child's shrill, satisfied laughter as he slowly came back towards her, ,,But I've already found her warm and soft and bleeding just for me! Come here and give me a kiss and a little more love, I need some relief,!" he shouted back delightedly and suddenly crawled towards her.

Backing away she didn't get far the wall at her back he kept coming towards her and to not go down without a fight she pulled her legs away as best she could so that his grabbing hands couldn't move against them and he pulled her towards him, so he had to get even closer which had to be to her advantage.

,,Just come into my arms and I promise I'll be all convincing and make you feel really good!" he drooled at the words, his tongue licking over his lips and she didn't want to find out how convincing he was, disgusted by his words she would have liked to teach him a lesson.

,,I don't belong to anyone, no one in this fucking place and certainly not to you!" she shouted back, her heart pounding with fear and anger as she lashed out with her leg and kicked him in the face with as much force as she could muster.

Hearing his almost choking sound as he backed away and held his face, she saw that blood was running down between his hands after a moment and his nose must have been affected.

Not knowing if waiting was right at all she hurried up and grabbed his dropped gun which she pointed at him, ,,That's-it's not fair…I just wanted my mum as pretty as you were-had promised me one like you" she heard him sniffle and he looked at her slowly she saw the hurt expression as the blood stained his suit and the dummy lay between his lips and he avoided her gaze almost apologetically.

She now slowly understood what was going on, the experiments, the spirts, the pills, everything was for him for this important man, uncertainty ran through her as she slowly knelt down in front of him and placed the weapon at his feet.

,,You…scared mum so surprised you came here, but you are…a big…boy aren't you? Don't cry I'm here…for you…for now and always" she chose her words carefully, with every motherly phrase her body gave her the feeling of rightness hormones were a miracle as they were always told and she gave him a loving smile almost automatically as she stroked his cheek.

His sniffling and crying slowly lessened as he looked at the gun and seemed to consider before he came closer to her, his hands travelling up her legs but there was trust in her gaze, trust that he seemed to know his limit for today and instead he snuggled up to her, kissing her clothes-covered chest, ,,I'm a good boy," he murmured as she held him, rocking him back and forth a little.

His lips kept trying to find her nipples between kisses, to have his way with her or to drink from her, but the little dress that was still between them prevented this and his almost whimpering was answered by her with a kiss on the forehead, which was probably enough for him. But this feeling of rightness falsely triggered by a man and drugs, a psychopath here all seemed so crazy that this was almost the most normal thing.

But she could also feel his sneaking fingers trying to slip under her dress, almost unintentionally, causing her to slap his hand gently but making the message clear, ,,We'll play later mum's exhausted…do you know where we'll be undisturbed?’ she asked quietly not knowing if the room was bugged and a wide sadistic grin suddenly appeared on his face as his childish persona was seemingly ahead and he broke away from her.

He put the shot to his shoulder before roughly taking her hand and pulling her to her feet, ,,Oh mother let that be my worry your good boy will show the fuckers how well you will be treated…Franco Barbi a pleasure a pure hot pleasure to have you with me" he introduced himself and she took his arm leaning slightly on it as the door opened with what appeared to be a glance from Franco to the cameras.

Maybe it was worth all the pain in the world that she had to suffer in the end, and even if it was just a part of the hormone pills and all that other stuff, he seemed to be the only one who would take care of her, who would really give everything for her and only wanted a mother in return.

If it was just a mum he needed who was she to deny him that she would be the best mum harsh and soft at the same time for her baby, her baby with a shotgun to keep the doctors and all the mess off her back.

A mother's instinct and a baby's instinct always brings two meant for each other together even in a place like the fucking hell they were in and no one would separate the baby from his mother without losing their fucking heads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@youre-gonna-see-a-lot-of-me , @homefander , @millie-milkshake

[slow-writer]

TMAGP Episodes 7 & 8 Reactions

That was totally my face during both episodes, I swear.

Spoilers below!

Okay, I'm freaking out on a cellular level, it feels like.

Episode 6 had the introduction of new OIAR employee, Celia Ripley, who is voiced by Lowri Ann Davies. Those of us from the TMA fandom recognize her as the voice of Lynne Hammond who later became Celia because her name was taken from her after the Change. There have been speculations on whether she is playing the same Celia (even though this is a separate universe) or if this is just a little wink from Jonny and Alex behind the scenes. But then came the next 2 episodes.

The sheer amount of lore that was dropped in these 2 episodes has the fandom REELING. So, let's get into what we've heard!!

EPISODE 7: Right off the bat, Celia not only references that the dated computer system is basically better than "wrestling with tape recorders and manila folders." This feels like a TARGETED MISSILE at the TMA fandom. But right after that, she asks if any of the spoken cases have anything in common, and if there's a way to search the cases that have common threads, like, "Oh I don’t know. Every case about being buried alive or meat or… whatever." And if that wasn't enough, she recognizes the voice that Alice calls Chester (AKA, John!).

Those statements alone have me thinking with 99.99999999% certainty that this is the SAME Celia from TMA (or at least, she's tapped into her memories in some way).

Apart from Celia, we have Hilltop being referenced in a case, which could very well mean that it's a similar situation from TMA. Very possibly a rift in space-time or whatever. Some nexus of power or something.

Then Sam received a supposedly internal email from someone called "John" that contained an address and a name. Does this mean that John is truly trapped in the computer system like we've all been theorizing? Is this his attempt at making contact and warning Sam not to follow in his footsteps? AGH!

And then we have poor Colin, driven mad by whatever's corrupting the code he's been trying to maintain, taped over his webcam, and full on refusing any electronics to enter his office (that weren't already there, and he must have clearly tampered with them so they cannot spy on him). He even attacks Sam when he pulls out his phone. That man has a lifetime subscription to Paranoia Plus, if you ask me, poor thing.

Lastly, we get confirmation that Lena at least tried to kill Klaus, but may not have succeeded, and Gwen's blackmail of her puts her in a new role of "External Liaison," whatever that may be. (Oh boy, oh boy.)

And if that wasn't enough, we have today's episode....

EPISODE 8: No preamble on this one, just straight into a case. And man, are we having fun with the whole liminal horror plus Stranger vibes in this one! But the GOOD SH*T comes after the case ends.

Poor Colin's been put on Mental Health Leave, so I'm really hoping that wasn't the last we'll 'see' of him. And the banter between Gwen and Alice has much more of an edge now that Gwen's been promoted. But!!!

Sam and Celia went off together after they ended their shifts early (ooooh), and who did they meet?

GERRY EFFING KEAY AND HIS 'GEE-GEE' GERTRUDE!!!!

And I checked, yes, they are 100% voiced by their TMA counterparts, Jon Gracey and Sue Sims (Jonny's mom).

Gertrude calls Gerry her grandson (though I'm curious if this means Gerry's actual mother is dead here too, and when Gertrude stepped in as a surrogate, or if she's actually his grandmother).

When Sam and Celia ask about the Magnus Institute, they both kind of go quiet, like they don't know what they're allowed to say or if they can trust these strangers who randomly showed up to their house. Sam reveals that he was part of their "gifted kids" program (hello, ARG info!) and saw Gerry was also listed and wanted to "swap stories." Gertrude seems to want to push them away, all protective, but Gerry just says he doesn't remember much.

Did Gertrude blow up the Magnus Institute in this universe and adopt Gerry after she found him there?!?

And finally, after Gertrude kind of rushes them out, Celia makes a deal with Sam. They agree to keep track of anything that falls under each other's mystery interests. Because she's "doing a favor for Georgie" (HFGJHFD!), she needs to look into "Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation, all that good stuff."

Was Celia sent here from the TMA dimension to do recon?!?

Anyway, there's so much more to dive into, but those are the things that are currently making my brain buzz. How has your Thursday been?

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Okay X men Evolution and X Men Animated. Yandere Beast and teen reader who can transform into someone's worst fear

Oooooo... Okay, this will likely work better as headcanons, then. Glad to hear from you again! This should do it:

• Beast in the Animated Series is pretty calm, cool, and collected. Giving him a paranoid teenager who can turn into someone's worst fears is probably for the best

• He approaches it as scientifically and carefully as possible. Reminding Readsr that they're a person, one who is scared, and it is okay to be scared. That he nor the X-Men hold any judgment against them, and only want to help them

• He'd do his best to help them accept their powers, while making sure they understand that they aren't their powers, they control their powers, not the other way around. He'll pull out entire books on that subject just to give them an idea (or ten) of what he means and how it isn't wrong or abnormal to have fears and intrusive thoughts

• Tea, this guy prescribes you tea and mints and anything with lavender involved. He wants you to feel better💙

• Spends several hours reading plays with Reader about comedies or tragedies, but only tragedies as a lesson on why you shouldn't let fear rule you or mar your judgment

• 9/10, he's like your counselor, psychiatrist, mentor, and dad/uncle all in one blue furry bundle

•Now we have X-Men Evolution Beast, who deals with teenagers for a living before he eventually mutates further, and then becomes the science/biology teacher of the X-Teens and New Mutants. Poor guy has seen it all

• He'd be able to understand a teenager more, as he has dealt with them, and was a beloved teacher, so was likely trusted, too. If Reader wants to confide in him, he's all ears, and will let them hug him if it makes them feel better

• Keeps tissues on hand if he has one-on-one discussions with you about your powers, and uses facts to reassure you you are not evil or disturbing, that it is normal to deal with disturbing thoughts, and that he is there to help you handle them. Will read an entire passage from several different psychology books just to let you know how normal it is, and how unashamed you should be for going through it

• If needed, he might see about getting you anxiety medication if your thoughts and fears spiral more often than not and you have a hard time controlling them. Makes sure to give you tea or food to take with it, trying to balance the chemicals of your body and brain so you feel as well as can be

• Will offer to take you on nature hikes or field trips if it's to somewhere peaceful and/or quiet, hoping the environment will help you feel relaxed and help you experience something new

• Finds healthy outlets for your powers, such as learning to turn into something scary, but to then shrink down, almost to a chibi version, becoming a worst fear of an animal or plant (usually a larger animal or deadly plant), learning how to make silly faces or make their monster form funny, so as to make them feel better, and whoever's they accidentally scared

• 9/10, the guy covers all the bases of keeping stable mental health, will be with you every step of the way, and keeps you motivated and hopeful

• For both, they wouldn't use this against you, Reader. They couldn't fathom anyone doing that. But... they MAY encourage you to stay near them, especially when outside of the Institute. He may also ask you to drink certain teas with him, if he knows they can make someone very tired and/or relaxed. Over-protective, trying his best to keep you relaxed and feeling better, he's pretty great (if you can put aside all the hugging and watchfulness)

[commajade]

If you have legit grievances with the DPRK, what might they be?

i mean. they are a governing institution under life and death pressure in every decision they make. the lack of resources because of US/UN sanctions and the aftereffects of a recent genocidal war limit their choices a lot. they make lots of political decisions i don't agree with and have lots of domestic policies i do not agree with. they have prisons and enact violence on their people the way national governing institutions tend to do. they have an elite social class and officials with selfish political goals and corruption within the government like every other country in the world. they are simply a poor communist nation. i don't know enough about the specifics to bring up a list of grievances and i wouldn't even discuss them on this platform.

there's no point in a conversation that isn't starting from a point of acknowledging that all western knowledge about the dprk is orientalist anticommunist propaganda. we can't have a proper discussion when the vast majority of people can't even understand simple historical facts about korean history without experiencing socially conditioned moral outrage. i can't even say that the US tried to erase the korean civilization from the earth and almost succeeded without people claiming genocide is too strong of a word for that. how am i going to discuss the nuanced complicated and morally complex issue of present day dprk politics when i can't even state that the dprk isn't an evil tyranny with an insane dictator. it's not. it's a small poor communist nation. that's it.

the dprk is a small poor communist nation with few political allies and the most powerful political enemies in the world and i am not going to assist in spreading orientalist lies about it and that's literally the extent of my goals in talking about the dprk on this platform. it's a miracle that they still exist considering the strength of their enemies and they're the living legacy of the anticolonial korean revolutionary movement that has been violently suppressed in south korea. they're not ideologically pure by any means but the people of the dprk are my people who survived extermination and carry revolutionary korean history that i am a part of and i will defend them from racist lies when i can.

[theghostlycoyote]

The Ghost Zone's Next Regent

Word Count: 5640 (Completed!)

My piece for the 2023 Holiday Truce is finally done! I wrote this fic for @jadenoryuu and their super interesting prompt:

Danny's tired of being the Ghost King, so he institutes the "GZ Next Regent" (a-la Nation's Got Talent). All the participants have to sign a binding contract before making a candidature: to always answer truthfully to Danny during the "show" and don't sabotage or harm (even indirectly) the other participants. The various parts of the show consist in trying to convince Danny that they're worth being the next King/Queen under selected categories: Power, Motives, Ideals, etc. No one would have ever predicted (not even Danny), that the winner would have been the Box Ghost.

I had such a blast writing this for you, and I'm sorry I kept you waiting!

The fic is up and completed on AO3 now!

Read a sneak peak here:

To be honest, Danny was really over the whole “Ghost King” thing. It seemed like since he gained the title, his problems have increased exponentially. On top of his run-of-the-mill fights with the normal cast of characters (which were really more for show now than anything else; he’d established a weird sort of camaraderie with his regulars), he also has been fighting newer, much more powerful ghosts intent on stealing the crown from him. He’s been able to beat them all so far – he didn’t become the King for nothing – but it’s getting a little old.

On top of that, those cryptic ghosts with one eye and sticks up their asses keep coming to him for all manner of things, in the most inconvenient of times. He’s running out of excuses for why he suddenly has a propensity to slam doors, cabinets, shower curtains, windows, etc. whenever someone walks into a room unannounced. They never come to him for anything urgent either, always talking about “holding court” or “signing decrees”. He really couldn't care less. Clockwork has been keeping them at bay as much as he can, but there’s only one of him, and seemingly endless little Mike Wazowski ghosts who want to ruin his day.

Despite it all, Danny really felt like he was managing everything relatively well. That was, until junior year hit, and his parents urged him to start taking AP classes. He still aspired to be an astronaut someday, and he knew he had to get his grades up to do so, so that’s what he tried to do. If he could go back in time (and with Clockwork, maybe he would) and tell his younger, fresh-from-the-accident self that his grades would start to worry him more than the ghosts did, he’s sure the young him would laugh in his face. And yet, here he was, working desperately into the night, not getting any sleep, not because he was fighting ghosts – most of his fights were relatively short, nowadays – but because he needed to get all of his AP work done on time (and correctly) to even stand a chance at getting into a good college.

Now, he could see adulthood on the horizon. His senior year was about to start, and really it was more of the same – plenty of ghost fights, plenty of dodging the Observants, and plenty of homework. But now the threat of college loomed over his head, and surprisingly, he found that this was the straw to break the poor camel’s back. 

He realized that he would have to give something up, and one night in an impassioned rant to Sam and Tucker, he stumbled upon his solution. He didn’t want to be the Ghost King anymore.

[ghostkingdoesstuff]

Here's the thing, I've seen WAY TOO MUCH Leah hate in this fandom, but next to no one talking about Percy and Luke's casting.

I've been thinking about this for a long time but want to make this explicitly clear: IT'S NOT THE ACTORS FAULT FOR LANDING A JOB!

Everyone is up in a tissy about Annabeth being black, but no one seems to care that Percy is white. Now I'm aware that his race was never explicit in the text but Rick did mention in an interview that Percy has a "Mediterranean complection" a description so vauge it could mean anything from a slight tan to very melanin blessed. I think many of us in the PJO Fandom with some melanin were disappointed if not expecting the casting to fall as it is. It's not uncommon in Hollywood for casting directors to choose the conventional Blone haired blue-eyed white dude to be the main character of the story. It's what's expecting, and the primary projected audience for the show is going to be early teens white boys who want to see themselves as Percy.

Now, with Luke, my problem is the exact opposite. Being a white dude is intrinsic to his character arc (I'm only kinda joking about that) Luke Castellan, despite his rough child hood, was born and raised in Westport Coneticticut, a place where the population is over 92% white. To me, his character arc reminded me of the white men who thought they knew what was best for everyone. Taking the path of violents and anger to get his point across while others, often POC (see Charlie beckendorf, Ethan Nakamura, possibly Michael Yew) were caught in the crossfire of what he thought was the best course of action. Innuendo Studios on YouTube has a series called Alt Right Playbook, and in the episode titled "The cost of doing business," he explains how marginalized communities are offten the pawns in the game of white supremacy. For Luke, the pawns of this game are underage, often unclaimed, or children of minor god who feel they have no place at camp. Maybe his intentions were good, but ultimately, he didn't care about the demigods he was claiming to fight for as much as he hated the gods and wanted revenge. The thing that made Percy Jackson different was how he acknowledged the problems in the system and used his one shot to create institutional change.

I'm not saying that Walker and Charles can't tell the same story, but the message is certainly different, and it bugs me. Remember that Disney isn't your friend for bringing your childhood to life. It's a carefully crafted money-making scheme designed to appeal to the largest audience possible. Stop harassing the actors, especially Leah Jeffries, poor girl has been through too much. Dedicate that energy towards Disney and the fact that they're sending money to Israel to fund a genocide. The time is now to be a hero, fight some titans to get the gods to listen. Remember the moral of the story you hold so dearly and see that the God's are corrupt, but that doesn’t mean you're powerless against them. Percy Jackson didn't defeat Aries at 12 years old for you to feel powerless. You're strong, your voice is powerful, and you have the power to change the world. Have a nice day.

[secretmellowblog]

Hijo for the characterask game

Javert and #8

(A little late but for this ask game!!! Thank you again!)

#8: a thing the fandom does with this character that you despise!

Despise is a strong word! I'll say "confuses me" instead. I talked a little bit about it in my post about fandom Valjean things I dislike-- with the caveat that I don't think any of this is really a big deal, because this small huddle of fandom stuff is a very tiny niche that doesn't have a wide impact, and also it's very normal/natural for people's opinions on characters to change over time, and I know that my *own* opinions have changed over time-- but---

I am confused by all the pro-police stuff in the Javert fandom? XD

I think the main thing that confuses me is why Post-Seine stuff where Javert is "redeemed" usually has Javert returning to his job.

It just makes more sense, thematically and on a character level, for him to resign? The common idea that "redeemed Javert" would go back to arresting people and that this would be a Good Thing always throws me off. Because 'the entire criminal justice system is fundamentally broken, there is a gulf on high, it is immoral to do this' was his whole dramatic realization and all. Plus, even putting aside the anti-police politics of the book, being a cop was clearly not good for Javert's mental health. XD It was making him feel very bad!

I remember once reading a mildly popular fic where a post-seine Javert talks about how he thinks the prison system is fundamentally broken and violent and unjust, and he can never return to his job. And I was like "Wow, this author gets it!" Then I kept reading and it turns out Javert was supposed to be *wrong* in that paragraph, that paragraph was supposed to represent an incorrect pessimistic wrong way of thinking, and the fic was about Javert regaining his faith in the police. It's just very funky! Kinda just like, realizing people view this story in such a radically different way you can't ever vibe with their versions of the characters. People sometimes walk back everything Javert realizes in Derailed as if they're mistakes, instead of positive character development, which feels odd to me. People act as if Jean Valjean is the rare exception to the general rule that Prison Is Awesome And Cool, and that Javert just needs to realize he was wrong about Jean Valjean specifically and nothing else.

I think people often miss that the police are the villains of Javert's story, in the way they're the villains of Jean Valjean's. His family was ripped apart by the criminal justice system before he was even born, he was born in a cage like an animal, and he became an agent of the system that destroyed his childhood because he internalized that institutional abuse as something that he and his family must have deserved. "Is a system that leads to children being born in jails in desperate poverty actually just?" "well of course it is. the baby is a crime baby made of crime. >:("

He's spent his whole life either living in prison or serving as an agent of the prison system; he has no framework for what living outside of serving the carceral system actually looks like. My take is, that poor horrible creature has had enough policework for several lifetimes. If there is a way to be a "good cop," he would've found it by now. Let him rest. Let him find some funky new job.

Also, one or two people have implied in the distant past that I must hate Valvert, but from a Valvert perspective-- I think it's easier to have post-seine Valvert if Javert quits his job. First, it's a dramatic shift in their dynamic and the power level between them; it's a clear sign that Javert has permanently changed. Second: Javert searching for a new job after spending his entire life serving the prison system is just rife for bonding hijinks. You could easily write a scenario where Jean Valjean helps pull strings to find him work as a gardener for Petit-Picpus, but has to help train him for the position or something along those lines, giving them an excuse to interact. Third: I don't think Javert needs to be a cop to be nosy. If you want to write a "casefic"-ish mystery plotline he could be an Angela Lansbury Murder-She-Wrote old lady retiree character solving a mystery out of pure nosiness, without even arresting anyone. Because it would be very funny.

...This has just turned into a ramble about possible Post-Seine hijinks. Anyway the moral is: there isn't really a moral, this is just my petty fandom opinions. But "Javert fics where police are bad" and "Javert fics where police are flawed but ultimately good" are two completely different genres, is my take.