#time was honestly the WORST person to go to

[kreayshawni]

Will you write general relationship headcanons for bill please? ^^

of course! thanks for the request (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

being a relationship with bill would include...

if the person he had a crush on was in the club, he'd just be a little bit less of a dick to them. not clear favoritism, but to him, it'd mean a lot cause he hates literally everyone

he'd never verbally admit that he wants you around.

he's not too big on public displays of affection, but he's oddly caring. like, he'd carry around part of your hobbies, (e.x; drawing, he'd carry a few extra pens or paintbrushes, or film if you're into photography) or an extra inhaler if you're asthmatic, things like that.

and if you're on the more timid side, he'd talk to waiters and cashiers for you, but he'd call you a pussy afterward.

your guys' relationship isn't very full of lovey-dovey moments, it's mainly just banter cause he'd drop dead if he expressed the fact he has any ounce of empathy in him

if you guys are into the same interests, most of the time spent together would just be talking your asses off. and arguing about something stupid.

he'd honestly go too far and point out your insecurities, and act like a little bitch when you point out his. he yells a lot, and he'd never get violent with you but he'd threaten to.

apologies weren't a muscle he used often. he has absolutely no idea how to apologize and he most likely won't with words, but will in his own way like paying for you. and leaves it at that.

he isn't too good with people venting to him or crying to him, he just gets really stiff and might pat you on the back. if it's really bad, then he'll attempt to comfort you. but he's always so embarrassed afterward and can't talk to you for a while without feeling bashful or like a sissy.

having a significant other in general would be good for him, he might actually start showering more often for you! but don't count on it

'' at first when i see you cry, it makes me smile, yeah it makes me smile, at worst, I'll feel bad for a while, but then I just smile ''

[sesmiq]

happy birthday୨ৎ (drabble) ── .✦pairing: artist male y/n x childhood friend oc —warnings: this author have not written anything other than his uni essays for months ^^!, v rushed, not proof read, hyeon being a red flag lowk harhar, y/n developing stockholm syndrome, manipulative/yandere behavior (i do not condone irl!! all is fictional, please be safe.) —sequel ? to this! ; Lee Hyeon

7th November 2023, 11:32 PM The ticking of the clock annoyed y/n, each tick was too loud, or too sharp. Its as if it is mocking him, counting every minute of his misery. He could feel every tick like a small puncture to his already frayed nerves, his heartbeat syncing with its rhythm. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block it out, but the sound only grew louder, more suffocating. He sat on the bed, one of his legs shackled to the wall, while the other wrapped in bandages, a small reminder of what had happened the day he tried to escape from the mansion. He glanced at the clock on the wall, ..it was a few minutes before his birthday, Honestly, he doesn’t even know why he bothered to keep track of the dates,, but it should be more than half a year since he's been isolated from the world. y/n let out a bitter laugh, hyeon- his supposed savior, his childhood friend, also, his captor, had gone to a quote on quote business trip after he tried to flee the mansion again. Hyeon had been gone for days, maybe even a week.. his stomach suddenly twist from hunger, the.. food hyeon had left for him (a packet of cheap instant cup noodles that lasted about 3 days or so. though, no hot water was even given to cook it.) were long gone. He misses hyeon’s home cooking. But even as the emptiness clawed at him, there was something else—something darker. A sense of longing. For Hyeon. A strange attachment that twisted inside him like a knot in his chest.

He cares about me, Y/N thought, though he had no idea where this feeling came from. It was hard to fight when his mind was fogged by exhaustion, but somewhere deep down, he felt like the pull toward Hyeon was the only thing left.

Hyeon was there during his worst, he was there the time his parents kicked him out for wanting to pursue an artistic career. He was there to lend his shoulder when y/n was dumped during their college years. (guess what happened to the person dumping y/n lolol) When is he going to come home? Did hyeon finally get bored of him? What if he never comes back? Will y/n die by himself in this stupidly large mansion in the middle of nowhere? It terrified him. As if right one cue, y/n heard a faint footstep right outside the door. His heart skipped, is his mind playing with him? Is the lack of food finally catching up to him..? And then, the door creaked open. 7th November 2023, 11:56 PM Hyeon stepped inside the dark room, carrying a box of cake along with a few shopping bags.. He looked.. calm. yet, he didnt say anything but let out a small sigh when he saw y/n’s condition. He put the stuff away before kneeling down in front y/n, his eyes softening slightly. Hyeon’s hand reached up, gently brushing the other’s hair away from his face. “You’ve been so good.” he murmured, his voice like silk., his hand sliding to cup y/n’s cheek. y/n didnt pull away, instead he leaned into hyeon’s toucj, his eyes fluttering closed as the warmth of hyeon’s hand.. was comforting compared how cold the room is. He hated it. Hes not supposed to like his captor. Hyeon’s other hand came up, tilting Y/N’s chin upward to meet his gaze. The affection in his eyes was gone, replaced by something that made shivers run down his spine. “I’ll never leave you.” he whispered, smile was gentle, as if trying to reassure his beloved. “You won’t leave me, will you?” Y/N’s heart thudded painfully in his chest, too weak to protest, too desperate to care. Hyeon’s touch was the only thing that made him feel alive again,, 8th November 2023, 12:00 AM Hyeon leaned in, his lips pressing a soft kiss to Y/N’s forehead, a gentle gesture that felt almost like a promise. “Happy birthday, y/n.”

a/n: omg a ghost is talkimg,, haha. v rushed, (as u can see) been trying to write something since idk, august? but i dont think the school excuse is gon' work,,, in all honesty i had no motivation to write, like at all. i couldnt think of a single idea (hence this sequel),, though i have a bunch of draft with what i want to write thats not even 50% completed lol i hope i can post them in the future! forgive me for going MIA ^^ i hope you enjoyed this,, will probably edit this once i wake up (currently 2:34 am) goodbye ૮ ․ ․ ྀིა

[anyone-ther3]

I've just been thinking about this so like all those Jaune smut/ship posts are a little weird and I don't really like them. Like firstly he doesn't act like himself at all but I know this fandom i shouldn't have expected that much. But his entire character revolves around how he's such a nice and oblivious person who is always in the worst place to be in the wrong time. He suffers hella imposter syndrome and is a huge failure boy (not derogatory). If a female character literally breathes on screen she's somehow in a ship post with him which is honestly a little impressive.

People often forget about Jaune being the guy who had to cheat to get accepted, and how he always had to get his life saved by Pyyhra, or how he literally didn't know how to sword fight with the sword he had. And his arc shows him over coming those odds, but he's still not the strong, alpha male, fuckboy, y'all think he is.

Also these are probably also the people who had a problem with Bumblebee in volume 9 because "they came out of nowhere and the writers just gave into the shippers". THOSE TWO HAD BEEN PRACTICALLY EDGING THE SHIP SINCE VOLUME 3! Monty wrote gay people. I need to pull up that one Danny Motta clip about this. I could pull up every time they were obviously alluding to them being into women/each other but I don't have the time nor the energy to argue with you.

When people start shipping canonically lesbian characters with a male character it is weird. Now some people argue that because people ship RubyxWeiss it's ok to do it the other way too. Ruby and Weiss aren't confirmed either way, Blake and Yang are. I literally don't care what way you ship them if they're not in a committed(healthy) relationship or haven't been confirmed in canon. Also y'all have never heard of female friends or sisters for some reason. Jaune and Ruby were a sibling dynamic from the get go but whatever I'm not trying to get myself killed. Jaune and Weiss do actually have chemistry, so does OscarxRuby.

Lastly, all of yall have been largely mischaracterizing Jaune because you want him to be a dominant but mostly empty character who you can place yourself in the position of. It's really the same problem as the isekai genre. But Jaune isn't the dominant type who acts like a fuck boy.

Obviously Jaune's the bottom, like he's the one wearing the collar in these scenarios, dumbass.

[dross-the-fish]

Love Never Dies- Thoughts and Reactions

This might end up being split into multiple parts but I am not finished talking about Love Never Dies. I did give it a rewatch to refresh myself and...oof. This play needs to be taken out back and shot because that is what it did to every single character in it. NO ONE looks good. Not even Christine. Let's start there. Let's talk about what this show does with Christine because we have completely reduced this character to nothing but her voice. What does Erik miss about Christine after ten years of pining? Her voice. He just wants her to sing for him one more time. The only thing he ever really mentions about Christine is her voice. Though I can't really fault him because if we're being serious about Christine's character...

What does she have outside of her voice? Nothing. Somehow LND Christine has even less personality than she did in the OG musical. She is a cardboard angel that other people pine over, try to control, or envy. She has almost no agency. I said before, I suspect that Andrew Lloyd Webber hates women and Christine does not come out of that unscathed. She spends pretty much all of the musical being bullied by Raoul, mothering Gustave, or being threatened by Erik when he and she aren't reminiscing about that one time they banged 10 years ago. Seriously what even the fuck was "Beneath a Moonless Sky?" For a song about how two characters couldn't resist each other neither of them seem particularly filled with desire. Christine is recoiling in horror and disbelief and Erik looks like a 15 year old who thinks sniffing his crush's hair is peak sensuality.

Mmmm....sexy. But whatever. Christine says at the end of the song she woke up to swear her love and was ready to dump Raoul but Erik had skedaddled so she ran back to Raoul. You read that right. Christine was going to pick Erik after they banged it out and he left and that is the only reason Christine is with Raoul. Seriously Andy? You're going to make her regret picking Raoul over Erik when she didn't even actually DO that? Erik made the choice for her?

*internal screaming* Erik, seriously, how are you going to be upset that she's moved on with Raoul if YOU left HER? Do you really think you have the right to coerce her to sing for you one more time when you were the one who broke it off? The hell is wrong with you? Of course when Christine resists he immediately goes to threatening her child.

When I say Erik is the WORST I mean it. He is reprehensible in this.

But this is about Christine. We'll get to Erik later. LND Erik deserves his own post.

There's honestly not much more to write about Christine. She spends a lot of time cowering from or trying to appease Raoul. She worries about her son and her death is honestly so unwarranted. When I say ALW's work has an undercurrent of meanspiritedness I mean shit like this. Christine hasn't really done anything wrong. I guess she cheated on Raoul 10 years ago? But well she was going to leave him and only stayed because her first option bailed on her? She didn't do anything to Meg. She's been living 10 years in an abusive marriage and her crazy ex who kidnapped her came back to threaten her kid and coerce her to sing his music one more time. Then she just...gets shot. She dies. It adds nothing to the story that she dies. It doesn't feel earned or justified in anyway. It just feels miserable for misery's sake. It's almost unceremonious the way they ax her off because it's not even intentional. Meg misfires the gun because Erik fucks up in trying to talk her down. Christine's death isn't even about Christine herself. It's about Meg and Erik. It's such a useless and stupid death to give this character. How old even is she? Supposedly she's around 18-20 in the original musical (we're ignoring the 2004 movie that puts her at 16) and this is 10 years later? She's barely 30 but she ends up a casualty to everyone else's vanity, jealousy, and selfishness. I feel like we're supposed to find it tragic but it doesn't hit. It's a meaningless and undignified end to a character that was given no agency over her own life or her death.

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Gaston is honestly the easiest Disney villain to do a Wicked-style perspective retelling of, imho. Like,

You are stupid, and you are arrogant, but your arrogance is not necessarily ill-earned. Your town might be a pretty damn small pond, but you are undoubtedly the biggest fish in it. You excel at all the masculine pastimes you pursue, you are well renowned amongst your peers, and you have multiple examples of women fawning over you.

You are attracted to the most beautiful woman in town. Of course you are. You are a simple man of simple wants, and although she is weird and bookish, she is uncontestedly the most beautiful fish in your small, small pond.

So you attempt to woo her. You flatter her with compliments that would be well received by any woman in your town that was not weird and bookish. But she is, so she does not enjoy your compliments. You spin a tale of a future that all your contemporaries would consider simple and idyllic, well regarded amongst the values of your time period. But she is a strange and funny girl, that Belle, so she does not want what you have been raised to believe that all people would want for their futures. When she rejects you, your feelings, ego, and the bottom of your chin are all bruised. 

So you have a sulk in the tavern about it. Softer souls than yours have nursed a broken heart over some ale and a game of darts, and your companions, your peers, your friends, all remind you of how highly they regard you, of how you have a whole community of people who know you, love you, admire you, and while the most beautiful girl in town may have rejected you, there are still plenty of women who are quite beautiful in their own right who do share your values and aspirations for the future. You are roused by their affection, and your spirits are once again high.

A while later, the father of the woman who rejected you bursts into the tavern, clearly unwell. He’s babbling, out of breath and talking fast, spinning wild tales of cursed castles, demonic furniture that moves on its own, and a terrible, lumbering beast that took him prisoner and, as the cost for his release, now holds his daughter imprisoned.

So you get in contact with the best option for medical treatment of your era. Your era will not be remembered kindly for its treatment of mentally unwell patients, but that will be then, and this is now, and so you arrange the best medical care that you have access to for him, and then organize a rescue mission. She broke your heart, but she is still a member of your community, reclusive and strange as she is, and as a member of your community it is naturally the responsibility of you and the townsfolk to go save her. Whether or not the beast is real, her father’s fear for her safety certainly is, and the fact that she did not come home with him is evidence enough.

But then she’s there! And she is also raving, she pulls a mirror from her bag to show you that the beast is actually a good person, but what she shows you is no simple man. There really is a beast. It is horrible, groaning, roaring, with giant fangs, horns protruding from its fur, muscles on its torso well beyond what even you, with a lifetime of dedication, have built and what’s worst of all—its eyes. There is something intelligent in those eyes. Something that scares you.

Clearly, entering that castle drives folks mad, because the next thing she tells you is that this beast, this thing, is not only a good man, but a man she has fallen in love with. You are not a smart man. You do not even know where to begin with that. But you do know hunting. You do know your townsfolk. And you do know that that beast cannot be left alone to continue capturing and terrorizing members of your community. Two good people have already been driven mad by whatever conspires inside its haunted home, and that is two too many. You rally your people. You have a beast to hunt. 

Like, we dislike Gaston because he’s an asshole, but you can very easily make and follow a logic trail for him that paints him as mostly-average and entirely reasonable. 

[calamarispiderart]

hello hello!!! random question before i get started on work haha

how do you come up with dialogue for ur hms comics? the back n forth of them feels so heavy and realistic. especially the casualness paired with the bleeding-brooding (alliteration for fun) violence makes everything just. hit. in a tragic and hopeless way imo. it’s so neat :0

i’ve been trying that kind of writing out a bit lately too. this is what i’ve managed with my iambic pentameter gang (hms but rain world iterator). MiND is being threatened by the rage pent up inside himself. and, strangely enough, it has the voice of HeART.

constructive feedback is welcome ^_^!

once again, hello hello! sending good wishes and all :]. i love ur work ^_^ 💛

oooo hmm... this isnt something ive ever really thought about trying to explain, thank you for the question! big fan of the posing in the piece youve added here btw, i like the alliteration in 'heliocentric heathen' B:•∆

honestly the way i go about writing them isnt something i feel i can put into words with a clear structure of process... often with my comics it starts with me simply having a vague idea of 'i want to make a comic today', and drawing what feels right to lead into it. the words typically link in with the actions as well - i usually draw something, draw the next thing, write a bit of dialogue, draw the next thing, write more dialogue.... not in that exact order but the words always feel to be a reaction to the actions and the actions are a reaction to the words (and/or, words and actions work in tandem). people rarely talk in a vacuum, especially when theyre having the conversation in person, so i find it helpful to see the actions as part of the dialogue and vice versa.

occasionally ive scripted out dialogue beforehand (always with actions included within the script.) but even with a script what actually is said needs to adjust with whats been drawn. when i dont write with a script (which is the norm), its often while im drawing the next frame that im thinking over whats being said. typically i just go over and over a sentence mentally, adjusting bits until it feels right, looking at it once its written on the page and adjusting it more if necessary.

perhaps a bit vague? apologies! i do have certain mental rules i try keep in mind for each of the threes characters while writing. 'how would heart respond, how would he word this? mind? i cant word it this way because i know he doesnt do this...' <subconscious questions and thoughts but they are important to keep in mind. i find it the most helpful to keep the core traits i personally see in them in mind, and let those traits kind of... guide what is said. if i think of how that collection of traits and facets would respond to something, the vague concept that creates can then go through the filters of dialogue traits i have in mind for them. ...ehhh, put more simply... 'what is the general response this character would have to this situation' and then 'how would they structure that response through words and/or actions?'.

i, being who i am, cccc being what it is, am somewhat naturally inclined to writing grim and bleeding-brooding (nice word) things. i also consider myself to be quite a grounded person, which i hope comes through in my work! however, natural inclinations aside, cccc itself is quite a bleeding-brooding album (at least it is to me). its one about depression and self hatred and it really doesnt pull many punches in that respect. or at least, thats my read on it! as a result, that becomes reflected in my interpretation of hms. however, id also note that cccc is silly at times, theres humor in it. all good grim things need a bit of levity to really make it feel Real... people joke in the worst of times, not just the best, and it really helps in writing serious things to have just a little bit of joke to it, even if its not immediately noticable... this is hard to really give examples of honestly but it is relevant i promise. im unsure if youve read much of my writing aside from my comics, but theres just a bit of absurdity and humor in both my cccc pieces that would make the writing feel sorely lacking without in my opinion. notable with how violent and tense both those pieces are.

lots of words now! hopefully helpful ones B:•] or at least interesting! ill try write out some of the core traits and details i keep in mind when writing hms so as to give better reference points to all my prior words:

heart: reactive, not instigative. he doesnt start fights, he finishes them. he also doesnt need an insane amount of prompting to get going... but he does need prompting. apathetic, a bit fanciful. hes depressed, and not in a cute way. he talks casually but he uses serious words. no point in simplifying his language - he wants to be taken seriously, and while he makes himself look small and weak at times he is Not weak and he is Not small. hes just as much of a wordsmith as the other two. he covers his mouth when he speaks sometimes, and he puts his hand over his chest... a bit defensive? muffling his own input, but notably he still speaks. lies by omission or by twisting facts - if full honesty helps his case, thats what he uses. if a white lie works better... i personally see him as a bit of a planner too. sometimes his reaction to things is built up to; it never comes out of nowhere, even if it may seem like it.

mind: instigative, less reactive. he still reacts to things but hes generally the one starting shit and hes honestly very bad at Not talking shit. uses contractions. <this is a small one but mind says 'dont' and 'cant' and i dont think ive ever heard him Not use contractions to any notable degree. kind of weak! hes proud of himself, very proud of himself, and even in the moments of the album where theyre getting along he cant drop his superiority complex. hes bad at making compromises that put him as the lesser one. hes also quick to point blame and to lie (even if hes a bit roundabout abt it). hes also not That smart - or at least, hes not any smarter than the other two. he Thinks hes smart and hes quite confident about that but that doesnt actually mean hes right lol. aggressive verbally, passive physically. hypocritical.

both of them tend to see soul as an afterthought, or as something to benefit from. note the 'something', not 'someone'. imo, they dont really see him as a valid living entity in the same way they see themselves. speaking of soul...

soul: hes difficult. hes a difficult and complicated guy. vague, fanciful, depressed, suicidal, tired... i personally see him as quite passive. both passive and active... hes violent, towards himself and towards the others. just as they dont see him as an individual, i believe hes too apathetic and burnt out to see them as individuals either. when he threatens to hang himself, thats a direct threat to the two if them as well - and it functions as one, seeing as they are all linked in that way! his suicidality isnt purely self destructive in the way it would be in other story contexts which i find important to remember. i see him as someone who sleeps a lot... and as someone who is treated more like a tool than anything else. but he is, simultaneously, idealistic. he hopes for the best and would do anything (Anything.) to try and achieve it. he wants things to Get Better or to Stop. most of the time when i write or draw him its within the 'Stopping is the only option to Get Better' stage of things. hes tired and he doesnt want to deal with things but he has to and he doesnt want to and hes at the end of his rope. honestly within the album he feels a bit like a ghost. hes granted a similar level of personhood as the shadow of what could be, which is both more and less than mind and heart get.... hes confusing! hea a difficult guy. honestly you can take a lot of my notes and thoughts on his character with a grain of salt because hes always been such a puzzle to me haha. i find him easiest to convey in art... OH yes one last thought/trait is hes a bit... arrogant? hes tired and hes careless. listen to me or fuck off and die. arrogant. what a guy.

ahaaha this kinda became me just rambling about my reads on the three but.. hopefully helpful!! this is all stuff i try keep in mind when im writing and drawing them. theres certainly nuances ive missed and things i havent worded as well as i could, but you get the idea i hope! all of that informs how i write them and... in a way they almost lead me through the piece.

also! this isnt something i often think about because its just a natural part of the process, but sometimes i end up scrapping stuff! entire paragraphs, panels and poses, because it hits a stasis where i cant find any way for one or the other to continue the interaction - theres a distinct difference between this and the interaction hitting its ending point. if ive written one person saying or doing something and none of the parties involved are able to respond in any way at all, thats a sign that ive conveyed their characters wrong and i need to go back. people *always* have a response to something, whether thats continuing the conversation or leaving or anything. if none of them can come up with a response that feels like them, ive messed up somewhere. dont be afraid to go back and rewrite things.

ummm yeah thats all i can think of to say now! thank you for the question, and thank you for the nice words!! B:•∆ im very happy my comics come off the way youve described, and very happy youve enjoyed my work enough to want to ask me about it!! means a lot to me B:•] your rainworld iterator hms concept sounds swag as hell, id just say to keep at it!! from what youve shown here youve already got a great start B:•∆ thank you again! hope you and anyone else reading this has a good week!

[adrift-in-thyme]

The fact that Wild ran to Time of all people to have his opinion validated is hilarious to me. My man that dude has seen horrors and oddities you wouldn’t believe

[deathricedrawn]

i'm ready to try

[itspileofgoodthings]

I know I’ve talked about this before cause I basically blogged my way through it but there was no catalyst for greater growth for me as a teacher than me having to read my student surveys my second year and being so caught off guard by how cruel so many of them were that I had to leave my classroom and go sob in an empty one for 15 minutes but then when I came back in (and in the following days) when I just felt so absolutely wrecked and wretched and vulnerable and scared but I HAD to keep going that it dawned on me that it literally didn’t matter what they said about me I still had the power of authority, NOT because of my personality or charisma or anything I had heretofore believed gave me the authority, but because it was literally my job and because if I said we were going to read twelfth night aloud or diagram sentences or memorize poetry that was literally what happened and I just cannot explain the bedrock of confidence that gave me because the worst had happened, all my darkest fears came true, and it didn’t matter. They still needed to learn and I had what I needed to make them learn. The job remained unchanged. Changed me forever tbh.

[makotonaegiunderstander]

something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.

“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”

[yellowocaballero]

that last snippet with tim and jason actually punched the breath out of me. wow. don't know how i ended feeling more empathy for jason in that scene despite 1) him being the one who wrote up a plan to beat a teen "almost" to death and 2) tim being the active POV character but ugh. i could actually feel the sickening lurch in his gut when tim made that comment at the end. would hate to have my own cocktail of shame thrown into my face like that. really well written!

Yeah. It's a, uh, messy situation. Everybody in the story has serious problems, and Tim and Cass frequently got the brunt of that. I can't talk too much about it because obviously nobody has context, but I can definitely say that Tim's life since he was 12 has been absolutely defined by Jason. Both because Tim dedicated his entire life towards upholding Jason's legacy; and because Jason's death controlled how Bruce interacted with Tim completely.

It's only somewhat stated, but Jason is from a time in the comics when Bruce was actually pretty chill. Bruce and Dick have been jerks to each other, and they've had bad fights, but a lot of the earlier Dick comics, and almost all the Jason comics I've read had a pretty easy-going Bruce. Bruce really mostly entered his asshole era from the 90s-00s. It shows up here as...Dick and Jason had a very different dad and childhood than Tim has had, and they're both struggling with that change.

So Jason's rolling up to see a kid who SHOULD be having a great time with a loving dad, but is in fact having the worst possible time. And it's because of Jason - what he's created, the good he did on the world, and the inevitable consequences of his death. Jason had only wanted to create good, but his attempts have created something terrible. Jason is the person who made Tim a hero, and he's also the person who ruined his life.

On the most basic level it has to suck to see what's become of his family. Makes it a lot harder to hate them - or at least it doesn't make it satisfying.

[camgoloud]

you ever just. become overwhelmed by a sudden out-of-nowhere wave of tenderness and affection and longing for reconnection directed towards someone to whom you no longer speak for Very Good Reasons

[synthwayve]

Thinks about Micolash and Laurence’s rivalry that never strays from the confines of academic snark or the occasional jab despite their shared ambition(and possibly also just accompanying a general friendship they could have had since they worked together at some point. Idk I’m a softie. Sue me.) eventually involving into a full on intellectual divorce. Cries. Explodes. 72 casualties.

[orcelito]

Considering the. Ahem. Ways this year has gone, I've not been thinking about it all that much, but. I did start this year with the motto of Year Of Unfucking My Life. With a few goals involved in that.

I got an official adhd diagnosis, as well as a diagnosis for PCOS. Other diagnoses in progress. Gotten adhd meds and birth control to regulate periods. I've gone back to school and I'm keeping up with it better than ever before. I've even been working on practicing driving, something I've been largely neglecting since I first got my driving permit, um... 11 years ago...

I just need to actually Get my license. And I need to get it before the end of the year. If I can accomplish that, then I'll say the Year Of Unfucking My Life was successful.

[quatregats]

Going to teach kids who are on track for a career at Goldman Sacks about class consciousness, wish me luck ✌️

[justalittlebluetiefling]

I haven't been involved with coaching for almost 3 months now and somehow I am still getting dragged into the drama.