#atla fans can’t have it both ways

[paper-ish]

i love how the atla fandom’s favourite pass time is writing thinkpieces about how aangs final moral dilemma that came from nowhere was him honouring his culture based off of an orientalist understanding of dharmic non-violence that’s rebutted within the text of the show itself anyways

#like my problem isn’t even the bad fantasy buddhism clearly written by americans #it’s that it’s internally inconsistent #not set up #and most importantly the product of the writers writing themselves into a corner a la the finale #notice how it wasn’t brought up on the day of black sun #‘it’s a kids show’ a) disney rocks fall death #b) no one told them to try and evaluate the spiritual consequences of murdering an imperialist in the kids’ show either #c) even as a young kid i always thought this was really fucking dumb #atla fans can’t have it both ways #is it actually a super serious show tackling themes of imperialism and war maturely? #or is it ‘just a simple kids show’? #ish rants #atla critical

[hisnie]

I hate the way people treat Katara in The Southern Raiders.

The way that people put Aang on a pedestal of someone who can do no wrong makes me hate discussing the show with ATLA fans. I like Aang, but he isn’t the morally good character that he says he is and the fans only prove this.

In TSR, Katara is given the opportunity by Zuko to get revenge against the man who killed her mother.

First I want to start off with Katara’s exchange with Sokka.

Katara asks Aang for Appa to go on the journey with Zuko, he tries to persuade her otherwise and then Sokka tells Katara, “Katara, she was my mother too but I think Aang is right”.

And so Katara says the infamous line, “Well you didn’t love her the way I did.”

This is when people go insane but what Katara’s says is somewhat reasonable. Katara and Sokka have different versions of love for their mother, you can be siblings but still love your parents differently from your sibling. People also never put in perspective that Katara has the view of a child with survivors guilt while Sokka is able to move on from his mother’s death because he is a kid who understands war. From a young child, even in TSR episode, it shows him wanting to fight back against the Fire Nation and him wanting to be involved in the war between his people and the Fire Nation. I also believe that Sokka does feel sorrow for Yue’s death, but isn’t hung up on it like Katara is with their mothers death because he understands that at the end of the day, Yue’s sacrifice was her duty and a product of war. Their mother’s death was an outcome of war.

I love Sokka, but when he says this line:

He’s dismissing her feelings. It’s like he’s saying, “We both lost our mother, but because I don’t want revenge, you shouldn’t either” which isn’t fair to Katara at all. Ofc I don’t believe Sokka meant for it to come out like that but that’s what it sounded like.

But you can also use the fact that Sokka grew up in a sort of toxic masculinity mentality. You can also use the fact that Sokka held his emotions in too about their mother’s death and that was also damaging to him. Which is true, I could support that too.

And my response to that is that you shouldn’t force others to grieve how you grieve.

Katara can’t just forgive Yon Rha like Aang can when it comes to the genocide of his people because they are fundamentally different people with different backgrounds and settings.

Obviously they don’t force Katara to stay on the island and not go on the quest, but they do admonish her and compare her to Jet (which is a lil finicky because Jet did do bad things but also changed towards the end of his life to do good and also help the gang) which is demeaning to who she is. She even defends herself by saying she isn’t like Jet, she isn’t attacking an innocent person, she’s attacking the man who led the raids against her people and killed her mother.

This brings me to my gripe with Aang in this episode and previous episodes. I can’t recall a single episode where Aang acknowledges what happens to her and comforts her. It’s always Katara comforting Aang when he is emotionally distressed. When he learned about the death of his people, when Appa was taken, and when he was questioning his honor of being the Avatar. It’s always Katara comforting him but it’s never really reciprocated back to her.

In this scene, Aang tells Katara that she should forgive Yon Rha and she says, “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

Because Aang never tries to. It’s either his way or no way. Aang is a pacifist and I respect that, Aang wants to preserve the culture of his people and I also respect that. However, Katara doesn’t have the same views as him. Katara never stated to be a pacifist, Katara never stated to believe in the views of the Air Nomads, so obviously there would be a disconnect between the two of them because they grew up with a different culture and different world views. They also grew up in the different times, Aang grew up in peace while Katara was born during a war.

It’s honestly disingenuous to ask Katara to forgive the man who killed her mother, just because Aang can forgive the fire nation for their atrocities to his people, doesn’t mean she can too. People grieve differently. Katara outburst was bound to happen because no one in the group ever acknowledges her pain. Only person who does is Zuko and although people like to call him a manipulator, he isn’t. He realized that Katara’s hatred for Yon Rha was being directed at him because he is a personification of the Fire Nation in her image. So he stops, learns about what happened, and tries to understand her pain.

It’s also extremely hypocritical for people to get mad at Katara for her outburst against Sokka when Aang yelled at Toph when she chose to save them over saving Appa from the Sandbenders.

People even defend it by saying

Can’t that be the same thing said for Katara?

Also, Aang never apologizes to Toph about his outburst btw. He even yells at the rest of the gang later on during the desert and also yells at Katara, “claiming that she isn’t helping” when she is the only one keeping the group together.

What also gets me is how no one realized that Katara wasn’t going to kill Yon Rha. After rewatching the series a bit, Katara was never going to kill that man. It’s not in her character to and this episode tests her character and makes her better for it.

And the lessons of the episode isn’t “revenge isn’t the way” or smth similar to that, if anything, it’s the fact that you don’t have to forgive your abusers. It’s shown through Zuko, Aang, and Katara. Zuko doesn’t enact revenge against Ozai but he also doesn’t forgive him. Aang has the right to kill Ozai for the death of his people and for the war, but doesn’t. Aang never forgave him though. And most importantly is Katara, she can’t bring herself to kill Yon Rha but at the end of the episode she tells Aang that she can’t forgive him. Aang was wrong, forgiveness can be impossible.

#atla #katara #aang #sokka #toph beifong #the southern raiders #avatar the last airbender

[emyn-arnens]

Hi i was just wondering if there are any resources you recommend for writing fics? For names, maps, info about characters and places, anything like that.

I love your blog by the way and your fics are awesome!

Thanks, anon!

I've put together a list of some of my favorite resources that cover the topics you're asking about, with a few extra favorites thrown in. I’ve included both resources that stick purely to canon and worldbuilding resources that expand on canon but are not strictly canon (these are marked with an asterisk). There’s some overlap between some of these resources, but I’ve often found that if I can’t find what I need from one website, another one probably has what I’m looking for.

I’ve broken the resources down into general resources, Silm resources, and LOTR resources for ease of reading. It's a lengthy list, so I've put it below a read more.

And of course, although all of these are good, canon-based resources, it’s always best to verify the information against the source text and double check quotes and citations.

GENERAL RESOURCES

Sources not specific to Silm or LOTR.

Arms and Armour of the Eldar: This webpage lists relevant quotes from Tolkien’s writing about the weapons and armor of the Elves. It predominantly focuses on the First Age but does go into the Third Age.

@askmiddlearth: This blog is a great general reference for all things Tolkien. Although no longer active, the blog has many great guides about the people groups and cultures of Middle-earth, as well as a slew of information accessible from the blog’s tag list about events and time periods, places, races/people/cultures, characters, languages, and objects. 

The Atlas of Middle-earth: The Atlas of Middle-earth contains maps of Arda during the First, Second, and Third Ages. There are also maps focusing on the events of The Hobbit and LOTR, as well as thematic maps illustrating the landforms, climate, vegetation and population, and languages of Middle-earth. I have the physical copy of this because I use it all the time and love looking through it just for the sake of looking through it. If you don’t have a copy of this, you can find a lot of Karen Wynn Fonstad’s maps online. @askmiddlearth has shared a number of them on their blog.

Do note, though, the inconsistencies and errors in some of the maps, identified and listed at the Tolkien Gateway link above.

The Dwarrow Scholar*: The Dwarrow Scholar has many resources about Khuzdul and neo-Khuzdul (a fan-created expansion of the language heavily inspired by Semitic languages). The site also has worldbuilding resources covering Dwarven holidays, feasts, seasons, folklore, traditions, marriage customs, succession customs, food, naming conventions, and much more. 

Encyclopedia of Arda: The Encyclopedia of Arda has thousands of articles covering topics from Tolkien’s world. It also has a searchable chronicle to discover what happened on a particular date, a calendar to translate dates and events, a glossary of archaic and unusual words in Tolkien’s works, a lexicon of names (mainly in the Elvish languages), and more. 

Flora of Middle-earth: I don’t yet own this book, so I can’t personally speak to its usefulness, but it covers all of the plants mentioned or described in Tolkien’s work. It addresses climate zones and plant communities, plant morphology, plant identification, the Two Trees, and the plants of Middle-earth.

Henneth-Annûn Research Center: Henneth-Annûn is a goldmine for quickly finding all of the information given in canon about a character, place, thing, etc. You can search for timeline events, character bios, places, and things, and the site will display all relevant passages from the book that address your search term. There is also an A-Z index of characters, places, things, and events. (There is a full-text Boolean search as well, but at the time of posting this, it doesn’t work.)

LOTR Project: LOTR Project has created timelines and interactive maps for the events of the Silm, The Hobbit, and LOTR. The site has also compiled statistics on the demographics of Arda’s various people groups.

Parf Edhellen*: Parf Edhellen is a dictionary of all of Tolkien’s invented languages, with an emphasis on Elvish languages. Parf Edhellen imports other trusted Tolkien sites’ dictionaries into its own, so it has a vast number of words listed. You can filter your searches by language and time period (when Tolkien created/reworked the language), parts of speech, and the website they were taken from. There are reconstructions (fan-created words formed using Tolkien’s language rules) in the dictionary, but they can be filtered out if you would prefer not to use them.

RealElvish.net*: RealElvish.net provides a slew of resources about Tolkien’s languages (and for more languages than just Sindarin and Quenya), including name lists, phrasebooks, pronunciation guides, and word lists. The site’s Trustworthy Websites page is also worth perusing for links to more sites focusing on Tolkien’s languages.

Tolkien Gateway: Tolkien Gateway is well-known in the fandom as a Tolkien wiki with articles on almost anything you can imagine, but I want to highlight its Silm timeline (covering the days before days, the Years of the Trees, the First Age, and the Second Age), Third Age timeline, and Fourth Age timeline. All of the years listed in the timelines can be clicked on to get a more detailed breakdown of the events that happened that year, which is especially helpful when writing about Third Age events. 

SILM RESOURCES

Sources specifically focusing on the First and Second Ages, including Tolkien’s writings beyond the Silm.

@melestasflight's food and cuisine worldbuilding posts*: Melesta’s posts cover both Valinor and Beleriand.

@outofangband's societal and environmental worldbuilding posts*: Outofangband’s societal posts cover people groups in general, fashion, food, education, architecture, festivals, traditions, and more. Their environmental worldbuilding posts cover Beleriand’s flora and fauna, rivers and streams, lakes and springs, forests, marshes, geography, and more.

Silmarillion Writers’ Guild's character biographies: The SWG has an index of character biographies covering many of the characters in the Silm and Tolkien’s other First and Second Age writings. Very useful for a quick refresh about a character or for learning about more obscure characters. (Alternate link to the old site, which lists the characters in alphabetical order.)

LOTR RESOURCES

Sources specifically focused on LOTR and the Third and Fourth Ages.

The Logistics of Minas Tirith*: This short essay by Anders Blixt addresses the logistics of food supply to and distribution within Minas Tirith and poses possible solutions.

Shire of the Hobbits: Shire of the Hobbits has many resources about the Shire, including hobbit customs, typical food and drink, hobbit history, hobbit names and meanings, and a list of hobbit sayings. The site also has information about hobbit calendars and chronology, the various writings produced in the Shire, and the Shire’s geography.

The Religious Rituals of the Dúnedain of Gondor*: This essay by Michael R. Hickman explores canon information about the Dúnedain’s religious customs and ceremonies and uses that information to expand on how those religious customs and ceremonies might look in Fourth Age Gondor under Aragorn’s rule. I haven’t yet read all of the way through the essay, but it is well-cited, using an array of Tolkien’s texts on the subject.

Travel Times in Middle-earth*: This site has generic info about how long it would take to travel in Middle-earth (focusing on major Third Age locations), based on the mode of travel. There is also a table that lists the time it would take to travel from one location to another. The table is incomplete but still very helpful.

#lotr #the silmarillion #you could say i like researching lol #let me know if you're looking for anything more specific anon! #asks #anonymous #.txt #reference

[jasntodds]

Caving In [3]

Pairing: Gar Logan x Fem!Powered!Reader, Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 7,023

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, hurt/comfort, a nightmare, flirting, fluff, jason and reader trauma-bonding, talks of abuse (it’s not super detailed), mentions of food being withheld, gar feels like his trauma isn’t “enough” (unrelated to the trauma-bonding), mentions of death, mentions of drug addiction, mentions of bruises

Summary: ❝Tell me Atlas: What is heavier, The world or its people’s hearts?❞ You never expected your life to end up this way, turned upside down by an infamous Gotham villain. It’s been a living hell, every single day, until Dick Grayson brings you to Titans tower where you meet Gar Logan and Jason Todd.

A/N: So, this is the chapter where I decided to change who the fic was about because I mean hi lol so this chapter is Jason heavy 😂 I am easily motivated to post more often when I get feedback 😂 The first few chapters take place between season 2 episode 1 and season 2 episode 2. You can add yourself the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary​ and turn on notifications if you prefer that!!

series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

The movie came to a close twenty minutes ago, Rachel already off to her room to get some sleep but Gar and Jason are still in the living room with you asleep. Gar doesn’t want to move you, he’s never been a big fan of waking people up when they’re asleep, especially when it’s obvious they haven’t slept very much. On top of that though, he’s not sure if waking you up would scare you and then you’d burn him or something. So, he figures it might be best to just let you sleep. Jason volunteered to hang out with him for a little bit anyway.

Jason looks over and his eyes just land on you. You look peaceful and kind of nice when you’re not being a snarky bitch to him. Though, he does kind of give as good as he gets not that he’d ever admit that of course. And maybe he likes that you actually have a bit of fire in your words when you talk to him. Gar and Rachel normally brush off his mean and sarcastic comments and Dick can never be bothered. You though, you play along and maybe he thinks it’s a little fun.

“Why are you staring at her, dude? It’s weird.” Gar looks away from his phone to look at Jason.

Jason shakes his head, grabbing his own phone to scroll through Twitter. “I wasn’t staring.” He mutters, his cheeks turning a bright red.

“Yeah, you were.” Gar insists. “Don’t make it weird, she’s nice and it’s cool to have someone new around.”

“I’m not making it fucking weird, man.” Jason sighs before he looks back over, glancing between Gar and you. “You gonna go for it though?” Jason raises his brows with the question, choosing to deflect.

Gar’s eyes narrow in disbelief. “I just said don’t make it weird.” Gar’s voice goes up an octave with his words. “She’s been here a day.”

Jason chuckles more to himself than at Gar. “I’m just trying to figure out the rules. You’re my friend and I don’t wanna overstep, man.” He has this grin that absolutely says he will overstep if not told otherwise.

Gar’s forehead wrinkles with Jason’s words and if it were anyone else, maybe he’d be surprised by how fast he wants this move but it’s Jason. The same guy who uses 420 and 69 (or both together) as passcodes so Gar can’t actually be too surprised. And Gar also knows that if he doesn’t answer Jason, Jason is going to do what he wants. He’s an asshole, sure, but he’s not a half-bad friend, actually.

“I don’t know.” Gar shakes his head, almost rolling his eyes. “I haven’t thought about it.”

Jason hums. “So, I can go for it then? If I want?” Jason asks and then quickly follows up with more. “Not that I do, I’m just asking.”

“Right.” Gar deadpans and you aren’t an article of clothing they’re swapping because it’s nice or something.

You’re a living breathing human being who has the right to make your own decisions. Of course, Gar knows that’s not what Jason is getting at during this or anything. He’s asking if he can flirt or try to actually get with you if you’re interested but it doesn’t make Gar feel any better. You’ve been here a day and maybe Gar just wants you to settle in before Jason jumps down your throat about it. And, to be completely fair, Gar does think you’re very pretty but he actually wants to take the time to get know you before he decides if he’d even be interested. He’s just here having fun learning to be a Titan.

“Maybe we just let her come to us if she’s interested.” Gar proposes, a partial way to get Jason to drop it. “After, she actually gets settled.”

“Hey,” Jason defends himself, but his voice is still quieter than it normally is. “It’s just a question, she seemed to be comfortable around you is all.” Jason glances to you once more before going back to his phone. “Obviously.”

“Can we drop this? She is right here.” Gar slightly shifts in his seat, not enough to wake up you.

“She’s asleep.” Jason scoffs before looking back at Gar who just looks annoyed. “Alright, damn chill out. I’ll leave her alone for a while.”

Gar nods, not having anything else to add on the topic and Jason drops it. The boys go back to their phones and have some conversation here and there about Twitter threads and TikToks they find. Nothing substantial really comes from any of it but both of them enjoy the time. Gar actually likes hanging out with Jason like this, he hasn’t had a best friend in a long time and this feels normal to him. Turning into a tiger usually makes him feel a little freakish, especially after spending so much time at Doom Manor where they were pretty much described as freaks. It was hurtful, he just wants to be normal and having movie nights with Jason and Rachel feels normal.

It doesn’t matter how much trauma any of them have when there’s a movie on and they’re just hanging out. It’s just them and when it’s him and Jason, that’s all there is. Normalcy. Even with you, a new girl, sleeping on him. In a way, it even feels a little comforting with you laying your head on him because he’s not a scary tiger. He’s just a boy.

After another half hour, Jason leaves Gar to head to the training room. Gar tried to convince him to go to bed but Jason doesn’t listen to anyone so now it’s just Gar and you. He’s getting tired himself and he’s heavily debating on waking you up so he can go in his own bed. But, the debate doesn’t last long because suddenly, you shoot off of his shoulder, heaving for air. You sit forward, eyes wide as Gar slightly jerks away from you as a reflex.

“Are…are you okay?” He asks, leaning back over and forward to get a look at your face.

You suck in a breath, your chest heaving with every breath and your heart pounding. You barely even comprehend you’re still in the living room when Gar asks you the question. All you can do is nod and try to breathe. This is really going to be your life now? Tortured in reality by a psychopath and now tortured in a dream state by the same fucking psychopath? How the fuck is that fair? You finally escaped only to be haunted by your dreams in a place you actually kind of, sort of, feel safe in.

“Nightmare?” Gar asks, not moving from his position.

You turn your head to the right to look over your shoulder back at Gar. “Y-yeah.” You nod softly before looking forward, shaking your head. “Sorry.”

Gar’s brows furrow. “For what?”

“Uh…” No one’s asked you what you’re sorry for before. You’re always supposed to be sorry for either getting angry or upset or having a smart-ass comment. There’s always something you’re supposed to apologize for. “Falling asleep, falling asleep on you….” You pause. “Nightmare.”

“You,” Gar leans forward some more, a little closer to you to try and offer you comfort in the only way he knows how. “You don’t have to be sorry for any of that. It’s okay.”

You glance over at him and the way he looks at you make you feel like porcelain. Fragile and weak. It’s not a feeling you like very much. But his eyes are warm and kind, so kind that they make you want to tell him your whole life story without ever coming up for a breath of fresh air. And it makes you feel warm.

“Do you wanna talk about it? Sometimes it helps.” Gar offers with a welcoming but small smile.

You look over to him again, your eyes dodging his this time. You can feel the flame in your belly flickering, it wants to go out so bad. It’s been wanting to go out the last few months, the last few months you were held. At the beginning, it was bonfire in your stomach. The second even a drop of gasoline were to land, it would all blow. But the gasoline never dripped or spilled. It sat in the corner and taunted you and the flame died down. And you’re so tired of it.

You want the fight back and maybe talking about it would help you feel better but you don’t want to feel better. You want to be pissed and angry and furious and you want the fucking fire back so you can hunt the bastard down yourself. But then you look at Gar again and he’s soft. It’s like you’re this tea light and he’s a glass lamp over you. Not burning out the flame but keeping it going just enough to function.

“Um…” You pause, leaning back against the couch. “It’s just….uh…i-it’s like I’m back there again.” You admit. “A-and he-he’s right there.” You stutter while Gar watches. “J-just f-fucking taunting me, k-knowing I-I can’t do anything. Fuck.” You swallow hard, not even realizing you were practically holding your breath.

Gar turns in his spot so he can better face you, never moving away from you. “What happened?” Gar asks calmly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Gar adds on, never wanting you to feel pressured about it.

You hang your head, then shake it. He’s going to give you the look. The pitiful look you got when your mom died. It’s the same look everyone always gives, you’re guilty of giving the look, too but it makes you shift and it make you feel uneasy. You get it, feeling bad for people who experience trauma. It’s natural but you don’t find it comforting and maybe you would find it easier if he had something snarky to say. Make it easier with humor, it’s what you do anyway.

“W-what’s the worst thing you’ve heard someone go through?” You ask, pulling the sleeves of your hoodie over your hands.

Gar sighs, thinking about it but he didn’t think very long before he starts talking, thinking maybe if you know what he’s seen and heard, it’ll make you trust him enough to talk to him. “Rachel, probably.” He answers honestly. “Her mom, who wasn’t her real mom, was shot in front of her. Then, she was locked away,” Gar says. “Only for a few hours but locked away for her powers.” He adds in. “Then,” He pauses and your brows go up in surprise. “We found her real mom who convinced her to bring in her demon dad to save my life. He possessed all of our friends and then got them to almost beat me to death in front of her.” Gar lists, reliving all of it in quick images. “Trigon,” You look at him quizzically. “Demon dad.” Gar clarifies. “Killed her real mom and then Rachel killed him.”

You sit there for a second and you really thought you had it bad. Of course, what you went through was still terrible but you do not want to play trauma Olympics with Rachel that’s for damn sure. But, Rachel seems okay, weirdly enough. You aren’t sure how long ago all of that was but Rachel does seem okay and even happy which gives you the one thing you haven’t had in months. Hope.

“Well…okay.” You nod slowly, taking in the information.

“Oh!” Gar says, remembering to add more. “We were also being chased by people who were trying to kill her because of her powers.” Gar lets out a breath, his nonchalant add-in almost makes you laugh. What the fuck?

You blink a few times. “I….I don’t even know what to say to all of that.”

“Yeah,” Gar chuckles softly. “It was pretty crazy.”

“No fucking shit.” You laugh softly. “That’s fucked up.”

Gar nods. “Yeah, but she’s okay now.” Gar assures you.

“She seems to like it. This place help?” Your eyes glance to your hands and then back to Gar.

Gar nods once more. “Yeah,” He shrugs a shoulder. “I think it does.”

It’s helped him a little bit. But, he doesn’t think his trauma is worth talking about. It’s not as bad as Rachel’s or yours. It was a disease, sure his was different, but it was a disease and people get diseases all the time. Some people live and some people die because that’s how it works. He turns into a green tiger but is that really trauma? In the grand scheme of the conversation? Gar doesn't really think so. So, he keeps the idea of the Tower and the people helping him cope to himself.

“I-it was just…hell.” You suck in a breath, deciding to tell him a little bit. “I was there for a while and this,” You gesture over your face. “Was pretty normal.” You chew the inside of your cheek. “I-I, uh, I-I thought he was gonna…kill me for a while.” You swallow. “I think he wanted to.”

“I’m sorry.” Gar’s brows knit together with sympathy and there’s the look.

You can’t handle the look, not from him. Clearly, he’s seen and heard a lot but now maybe you don’t want to burden him with your shit. He’s been through his own and clearly knows Rachel’s, you can only assume he knows some of Jason’s shit, whatever it is. To you, Gar seems like the person everyone goes to with their problems and you don’t want to stick that burden on him. Not with eyes as caring and gentle as his. It breaks your heart to even be sitting here telling him anything. So, you quit.

“Um…” You shake your head “I’m sorry, I don’t wanna talk about it.” You shut down and Gar just nods.

“It’s okay.” Gar assures you as you get up from the couch.

“I’m…I’m gonna walk.” You fake a smile at him. “Clear my head. Thanks for letting me sleep, Gar.”

“If you need to talk, you can talk to me.” Gar stands up with you, worried he overstepped. “I didn’t mean to--”

“No.” You cut him off quickly. “You didn’t…it’s not like that. I….just. It’s so fucking fresh and you….” You suck your teeth, brows furrowing together as if you’re in pain. “You make me feel normal and I don’t wanna ruin that.” You divert your eyes to the floor. “I’m sorry…thank you.” You look back up at him before turning on your heels and head into the left hallway, disappearing into the shadows.

Gar watches you disappear, kicking himself. He thinks he made it worse. He’s just trying to be there for you but he’s slowly figuring out that that’s not something you want. Not in the talking about-it way, anyway. It’s like you just want to be distracted from it all which Gar can’t blame you for. He can only really imagine what happened from his and Jason’s little bit of research and what information you did give him. His heart aches for you but he’ll never push you to tell him anything. Instead, he goes to his room but he leaves the door cracked just in case you change your mind.

You find yourself wandering the halls until you reach the training room. There you find Jason back at the punching bag. You pull out the phone Dick gave you earlier today and it’s three in the morning. Suddenly, you feel even worse about falling asleep on Gar given how late it is. But, you choose not to focus on the guilt in your stomach and instead on Jason. You stand in the doorway, confused why he would train at this hour. Is he insane?

“Do you ever stop training?” You ask, arms crossed as you’re leaning against one of the sliding doors.

Jason jumps, spinning around quickly. “Fuck, how long have you been standing there?” Jason almost yells at you.

You snicker with a shrug. “Few seconds.”

“What do you want?” He asks and he’s as snarky as ever which makes you happy. It’s like he treats you normally. Not that the others don’t but you can tell it’s like they’re tip-toeing but Jason doesn’t.

You walk in just a few feet, looking around before looking back at Jason. “Was just walking around.”

“That’s fucking weird.”

Jason didn’t expect to see you for the rest of the night. He kind of figured if you woke up, you’d just go to your room, not walk around. Or maybe, you’d be with Gar but you’re here in the training room with him. And maybe despite the snarkiness, he wants you to stay. Maybe the comments will make you want to stay, for entertainment. You seem to like the challenge.

“You’re the one punching a bag at three in the fucking morning. You’re being weird, dude.” You snark with the raise of your brows and Jason deadpans before returning to the bag.

You watch him a little longer and this is your opportunity to ask him to help you. No one else is here and you can only assume Gar went to bed so it’s just you two. He’s clearly dedicated so maybe he’ll want to help anyway. If not, you figure you’ll just hold the little bet over his head.

You close the distance, walking over toward the punching bag. “You’re so….”

“Charming?” Jason glances at you as he punches the bag. “Amazing?” He punches again. “Hot?” He flashes a cocky grin and you sigh.

“I was gonna say snippy, actually.”

“You’re fucking annoying you know that?” Jason snarks.

“Mmm.” You click your tongue a grin pulling at your lips as you point a finger at him. “There it is.”

“Seriously, what do you want?” Jason stops, facing you with annoyance.

“Train me, Dick said I’m not ready.” You hold your head up, crossing your arms across your chest.

Jason pauses, the question catching him off guard. You don’t actually look like you’re in any condition to train, not that Jason really ever agrees with Dick. Bruce doesn’t think he should be Robin but Jason knows he’s ready to get back to it so in a way, Jason understands why you’re asking. Feeling ready, but the adults want to think they know what’s best. It’s shitty. But Jason likes a good fight.

“What happened to you?” The snarkiness leaves his voice as he nods his head up at you and you’re taken aback. Jason, not asking a snarky question? Now, that’s weird.

“Why do you wanna know?” Your voice is level, eyes slight narrowed.

Jason pauses. He’s actually just curious. He knows his motive for wanting to train harder and better and faster than everyone else but what’s yours? Unless yours is going after whoever did whatever it was to you. But now you have powers so you could just take them out with those. You don’t need the combat, really. Jason just wants to know and maybe he has a little more stake in it. He does care about it, even though he acts like he doesn’t. He’s not completely heartless. Plus, maybe it’ll give him bonus points.

“Curious.” Jason shrugs, eyes glancing from your socks to your face.

“You just wanna see all the trauma?” You raise and Jason shrugs, his brows raising quickly as if to be saying ‘why not’ and his nonchalant attitude with the mix of snark gives you enough reason to challenge him a little but take the risk in having to spill. You take a few steps towards him. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” You close the small distance between you standing just an inch away from him. Jason’s breath hitches in his throat for just a second as he looks to you. The look in your eyes sends a shiver down his spine and he’s ready to play the game.

“Asked you first.” Jason doesn’t move from his stance, instead he holds still, looking at you with his eyes locked on yours and he sees a grin coming to your face.

“Alright,” You take one step back. “But don’t make it all emotional or some shit.” You plop down on the floor in front of him, sitting with your legs crossed, Jason taking a breath finally.

He said he wouldn’t. He told Gar he’d leave you alone for a little while but what is he supposed to do when you initiate it? Jason is not gonna back down from that. And, he thinks it’s fun. You play the game and lean into the challenge instead of backing away. It’s only when Jason goes to play, too that you switch it up like a game of cat and mouse. It’s thrilling a little.

Jason chuckles but follows your lead. “You always sit on the floor?”

“You always in here?” You quip.

“Shut up.” Jason shakes his head but a smile still tugs at his lips. “So, spill your guts.”

“It’s not getting that deep, bud.” You scoff but match the smile.

This is what you were thinking when talking to Gar. Gar makes it feel vulnerable, talking about it. That’s not how you want to feel about it. You want to feel strong and fiery. It’s not Gar’s fault, you can tell it’s because he just really, truly cares and feels bad about whatever it is. But, Jason, it’s like he cares but only out of curiosity not because he’s trying to save you or help you.

“Mom was killed by the Joker,” You start, gauging Jason’s face as you talk. “Dad’s a meth addict, a great parental figure obviously.” You say sarcastically. “Went into foster care, Jerry.” You grimace with his name and you try to dodge the feeling of agony and fear when you say his name. “Was my foster dad if you can even call him that.” You scoff. “He wanted to make superhumans. He used me as a test subject, I think for himself to see if anything would work. I had so many things injected I lost count over the year. He kept me chained in a basement and because none of that was quite bad enough, the fucker decided to beat me, too when I didn’t show signs of powers. He’d withhold food, all that shit. I survived mostly off of chicken noodle soup. He beat me so bad, I guess he thought I was dead and dumped in an alley and now I’m here.” You keep your voice nonchalant and steady, listing off your past like some recap of a sitcom.

Jason keeps his eyes on you and he doesn’t know what to say. It’s rare to get him speechless but here he is, without a single word in his head. How is he even supposed to respond to that? It just sounds terrible and horrifying.

“How long did he keep you like that?” He settles on the question, knowing talking about the events in Gotham is a sore spot for him.

“A year, I think. Lost track a bit.” You answer with a shrug, silently begging him to have something snarky or sarcastic to say because now it’s all too real and you wish you could turn back the clock and not say anything.

“That’s fucked up. He’d just experiment on you and fucked you up cause he could?” Jason asks as if not really believe what he’s hearing. People are terrible.

“Mhm.” You hum.

“Fuck that guy, he’s a piece of fucking shit, alright?" There’s a fury in his voice this time and it makes you smile just a little bit. He’s not sorry, he just thinks Jerry is a shitty person.

“No shit.” You huff.

“It worked though, he gave you powers. Why the fuck wouldn’t you have used them?” Jason’s expression changes to confusion. “I’m not blaming you.” Jason defends his words, feeling like it might have come off a bit like victim blaming. “I’m just curious.”

“I was afraid he’d kill me knowing that it worked. I…uh, I learned how to stay calm when he’d come at me so I pissed him off really bad a few days ago. The calmer I was, the more angry he’d get.”

“You got him to do that to you on purpose?” Jason practically yells.

He’s not sure what he expected, really. He kind of just thought it got too bad one day. It lead you to that alley. He didn’t think you actually got someone to do that to you.

You nod, a feeling of shame taking over. “I couldn’t escape any other way. I knew if I could piss him off really really bad, he’d come at me like never before. I could pretend like he killed me or put me into a coma, caused a massive brain bleed, ya know? Something, he would dump me somewhere. It was that or he was gonna kill anyway.” You pause. “Backfired a little, he did come back and I guess thought throwing a few more punches would wake me up.”

“You just played dead the whole time?” There’s a pain in Jason’s voice and he thought this could turn into something of fun, quick-witted jokey conversation but he just feels like you kicked off a cliff. 

“Oh, no, I was actually knocked unconscious most of the time while all of it was going on.” You nod casually.

“Fuck.” Jason lets out a breath before continuing. “That’s kind of badass though.” Jason states giving you a grin, you shaking your head and jerking backward in confusion. “You just took him beating the fuck outta you. That’s fucking crazy.”

You laugh softly. “Yeah, dude’s got a hell of an arm and a kick, a-fucking-parently.” Jason’s brows raise as if to be asking for context. “Found more bruises when I showed today, got a nice boot print on my back.” A scoff leaves the back of your throat.

“Fuck that guy, alright?” Jason says, growing angry at the conversation. Who does that to someone for no reason? He kicks ass every night in Gotham as Robin but those people deserve it. What did you ever do to this guy who was supposed to protect you and keep you safe? It’s not right. “He’s a piece of shit and you didn’t deserve that shit. I'll hunt the monster down for you if I have to.”

You furrow your brows. “That’s a kind offer.”

“I’m fucking Robin!” Jason tosses his hands out, gesturing into his chest and outward again. “It’s my job to hunt those dickweeds down!”

You let out a genuine laugh. He is pretty funny actually and he’s not the Robin that let the Joker kill your mom. You actually think Jason would kill the bad guys if he were allowed to. “Mhm.” You hum. “Which is why you’re the best Robin.”

“You think so?” Jason asks, the joy in his voice makes you giggle. “I know I am but Dick and Bruce...” He pauses for a second. “They don’t think so.”

“Well, Dick and Bruce don’t know shit.” You hold your head up high, and you truly think Jason is the better Robin. You’ve seen the YouTube videos.

“Thanks.” Jason offers a sincere smile. “That why you wanna train? Hunt him down yourself kind of deal?”

“Yeah, if I ever see the piece of shit I don’t wanna give him the satisfaction of knowing it worked. I wanna beat the fuck with my bare fucking hands like he did to me.” There it is, the fire you’ve been looking for. You want him to suffer at your own hands. No one else, just you and him and you want to watch everything he worked for crash around him. You want him to be bloody and bruised and beaten like you have been for a year.

“Good, he fucking deserves it. Dick will probably hunt him down if you tell him.” Jason informs you. “He used to be a detective and he worked a lot of cases with shitty parents. I think he went out as Robin and kicked their asses.”

You smile. “Good, people who beat kids deserve what’s coming.” You laugh softly, stretching your legs out beside Jason’s and leaning back on your hands. “Your turn.”

Jason nods, pulling the leg furthest from you up so his foot is on the floor and his knee is bent while he leans back on his hands. “Dad was killed by Two-Face, mom’s a smack addict, uncle drank himself to death.” Jason rambles off as if it were nothing and your eyes squint for just a second. You’re nonchalant because it’s easier that way. Is it easier for him to be like this, too? “Gotham, right?” Jason scoffs, looks down and away from you.

“Special kind of fucked up there.” You say, not looking away from him. “I’m really sorry.” You say, your heart aching for him, something you didn’t really expect given the banter between you. “How’d you get here then?” You ask, instead of asking for details about those he lost knowing you don’t like to talk about it and assuming he probably doesn’t either.

“Caught stealing the hubcaps off the Batmobile.” Jason chuckles, his cocky grin back on his face as he looks to you, clearly proud of himself. He expects you to be impressed with his courage to steal from Batman of all people. But that’s not what your face is telling him.

Your eyes narrow and then you look up before squeezing the bridge of your nose. “Hubcaps.” Your voice is exasperated, eyes closed before looking back at him. “Fuck.”

Jason laughs, knowing what the expression is now. “What? You robbing cars?” He shakes his head. “Nah, you gotta get the hubcaps, more likely to get money from that. Less likely to get caught, too.”

“Fuck you. You got caught, too!” You glare at him.

“Because it was the fucking Batmobile.” Jason tilts his head back with a laugh. “He didn’t wanna press charges, instead, he took me in.”

“Oh, to have been so lucky.” You snark with the roll of your eyes.

“Yeah…” Jason sucks in a breath. “Sorry.”

“Nah,” You scoff with a smile. “I wish I would have been smart enough to rob the Batmobile!”

“Everyone says it was dumb.” Jason scoffs.

Bruce said it was dumb, the cop said it was dumb, Dick, Gar, Alfred, everyone but every single one of them completely neglect the need to survive. Jason's been in and out of the system his entire life. He got lucky that he didn't end up like you in all of the time he was in the system. It was lucky. He lived on the streets, no job, no GED, no diploma, he had nothing. Stealing the hubcaps off cars was how he got money for food. The Batmobile? He knew he'd get more money for it. No one wants to talk about why he did it, just that it was "dumb".

“Well, you got to move in with Batman and even if you succeeded, you would have gotten money. That’s a win-win.” You give him a smile and a laugh because you really wish you would have done it. You get it, you’re the one who gets it.

“What I said!” Jason defends.

“So, that it? Parents and guardians suck?” You pause. “So…why're you here then? I think you're a great Robin, seems a bit weird you're here." You question because you want to know what he did. If stealing hubcaps wasn't Bruce's red flag, what was it?

Jason’s face grows something sad and you’re watching, not sure what he would be sad about. He seems so happy about being Robin. What is there to be sad about? Dick said Bruce wasn’t the best, but was it that bad? Is the guy who dresses up as Batman every night actually a horrible person? Is it all just a show?

“He’s making me take a break.” Jason looks to the ground, his face settling somewhere between annoyed and sad.

You nod. “Ah, what’d ya do?”

“Well,” Jason sighs, running a hand through his hair. “There was the joyrides in the Batmobile and then riding a motorcycle in the manor.”

“I-you…I don’t know what to unpack first. Batmobile or the motorcycle. Why? For both, I guess?” You question.

Why would he risk that? Getting thrown back to the streets or worse? You run the questions through your head but you don't need to ask him because you know. It's what he does. It's what you do. You’re asking Jason to go behind Dick's back, knowing that Dick doesn't have to let you stay. It's a risk and sometimes the risk is worth it. Maybe it's genetic, to be some sort of fuck up. Or, in this case, maybe it's just environmental.

Jason shrugs. “Seemed fun, I guess.”

“You know what I think.” You point a finger at him and Jason deadpans but gestures a hand out for you to proceed. “I think he doesn’t give you enough attention.”

“You a fucking shrink now?”

“Fuck no.” You chortle. “Just an observation. Seems like you like a lot of attention.”

"And why the fuck do you think that?"

"You're a smart-ass." You chuckle as if it should have been obvious. "The risks you take, the fact everyone has something to say about you tells me you intentionally start the shit so they do talk about you. Talking about you in any context is better than being forgotten." You explain and Jason just watches you growing annoyed. He thinks he's so hard to figure out but you have him pegged in five minutes.

"Fuck you." Jason huffs. He does not like being analyzed.

"No one wants to be forgotten." Your voice is quiet and the annoyance suddenly leaves Jason with your tone. You notice the way he looks at you, not with sympathy or pity but with a genuine understanding and you deflect. "And if you keep saying fuck you, I might take you up on it." You wiggle your brows at him and Jason's jaw opens slightly, feeling as if he's just gotten whiplash.

He can play this game. He won't let you get one over on him. This is Jason's game to play and win.

"Fuck. You." Jason taunts you, leaning forward slightly.

You think it's funny. You’re just messing with him but the way he doesn't even bat an eye at it, it energizes your blood in every way. Talking and messing with Jason makes you feel so normal. He doesn't do that little dance thing that Gar does, where he's so worried about stepping on your feelings. Jason just blurts shit out and calls your bluff. It's fun.

"Tell me how you really feel." You challenge him.

Jason wants to go there because he doesn't think you'll commit to it. Maybe you'll pull away or laugh but he'll have won because he didn't back down first. It's like this silent game you're playing and Jason can't tell who the ringmaster is. He swears up and down it's him, but you take the challenge and maybe he's a little worried you'll win.

You make him feel....not useless right now. He has felt useless since being sent here. Dick didn't want him to stick around and help but he kept Rachel and Gar around. He couldn't stop Trigon, he never even stood a chance. But, with you, you don't know any of that shit. It's just you two with no expectations of anything. It's the two of you and your trauma bonding and this little game. He wants it to be a long game though, drag it out and see who wins then.

"I don't think you like attention." Jason states, your brows furrowing and you didn't expect him to be the one to back down.

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re awake when no one else is. You choose Gar to hang out with. I'm guessing you did a lot of the crime at night and not just because it was easier. It's Gotham, day crime is also pretty fucking easy. Guessing you haven't told anyone else what happened because you don't want them to look at you.” Jason explains in the same way you did but this time, with a bit more bite in his voice.

You shake your head, a smile tugging at your lips. Maybe you’re also a bit transparent around him. “Mmm who’s the wanna-be shrink now?”

“Fuck off.” Jason chuckles. “Have you told anyone else? About what happened to you?”

You shake your head. “No, uh…” You furrow your brows, shaking your head once more. “I almost told Gar but….he makes it….too…”

“Real?”

“Yeah and vulnerable. Dick’s too serious about it and I haven’t talked much to Rachel. You always have a smartass comment though. Makes it feel more like a joke. And....we have Gotham in common, ya know?”

Jason nods with understanding. He doesn’t really like talking about any of it either. None of it really. It’s why he always says it so nonchalantly. It’s easier to brush it all off than boil in the feelings of sadness and regret. It’ll eat him alive if he thinks too much about it.

“Yeah, you make it easier, too.”

“Was that something nice you just said?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Jason groans. He nods his head up at you quickly. “How bad are the bruises?” You raise one brow at him. “I’m not a complete fucking asshole, alright? I don’t actually want you to get hurt.”

He’s thinking of caving. He gets you and you get him. Jason doesn’t have confidence about where this will go by any means but he’s confident he can trust you. If it were Jason, he’d never fucking quit if he were told he couldn’t train. He’d be training recklessly if he had to. You, at least had the brains to come and ask him for help. You’re not dumb, you’re desperate and Jason gets it. But he doesn’t want to contribute to your injuries if they’re that bad.

You think for a few seconds. They’re not great. Most of them are a deeper shades which means they’re further away from healing but you have a few older ones that have turned lighter in color. You know those aren’t the ones him and Dick are concerned about. And you could lie to him, it’s not like he’s going to pin you down and check for himself. But that doesn’t really feel right. Especially with him being nice to you and honest.

“What’s your definition of bad?” You ask, just trying to see how well you need to answer his question.

“Do they hurt?” Jason asks, not sure how to answer it.

“Well, yeah they’re bruises.”

“You know what I mean.” Jason groans.

“Yeah, they hurt. Like walking kind of hurts and bending certain ways hurts.”

“And you wanna fucking train and make it worse?”

“Do you ever rest? If you get hurt being Robin, do you rest or do you train?”

“Fine.” Jason groans, knowing he’s lost the battle. “But you know you’re not gonna run into the guy this week, right? The tower is secure so you don’t have shit to worry about.”

Jason caves. Training helps him deal with the bullshit. It makes him feel like he has a purpose. Being Robin is the one thing he does really well and it makes him feel like he belongs somewhere, something he’s never felt before. All the bullshit that happened before, it doesn’t matter when he’s Robin and when he’s training. He wants to give that to you.

“I know but I wanna be prepared. I wasn’t prepared last time.” You answer honestly. You will never let anyone do that to you again.

“You’re fucking crazy, ya know?” Jason chuckles softly.

“So are you, bud.” You get up. “Well, good talk. Lots of trauma bonding, but I’m gonna try to go tot bed.” You opt to end the conversation just in case he changes his mind but you’re a little disappointed. You do enjoy talking to him. Just like this.

Jason pauses for a second, looking up at you. You’re a human person and you have similarities in your traumas. It’s a little refreshing in a fucked up kind of way. No one else really gets it because it’s different, having a parent actively abandon you is different than dying. In a way, Jason thinks it’s worse. His mom picked drugs over him. He wasn’t good enough to love, by his own mother, and the only one who’d actually get that here is you. But, he knows that you might also benefit from actually talking about it with someone who can offer some actual support about it. It did help when he talked to Gar about it once.

“You should talk to Gar.” Jason says from the floor as you were on your way out.

“About?” You turn to look at him.

“What happened to you.” Jason gets up from the floor.

“Why?” You think it’s a bit weird to bring that up and now. You both just said it’s weird making it feel vulnerable and real.

Jason shrugs. “Might help, dealing with it.” He sucks in a breath as if it’s hard for him to even say. He hates talking about it but Gar will just listen. He’s the one person Jason has actually had a heart-to-heart to about it.

“Afraid I might…break him.” You laugh softly. “Ya know? Like he’s already seen some bad shit and he is…. unfathomably kind. I don’t wanna ruin him.”

Jason huffs but there’s a smile peaking onto his face. “He looks at the ligature marks on your wrists whenever you’re not tugging on your sleeves. Whatever he’s imagining happened to you is always going to be worse than what actually happened.” Jason says, his voice a bit flat and you can see this is a struggle for him to say and you wonder why.

“Like in horror movies. Choosing not to show the violence because what we imagine will always be scarier.”

“Yeah, I’m just saying, he’s a good listener if you just wanna be pissed about it.” Jason chuckles. “He’ll let you bitch about it.”

You smile at him and shake your head. Everyone here wants to talk so much shit about him which hey, maybe he deserves usually. But, you see through his bullshit because you do the same shit. It’s not cold-hearted, it’s a coping mechanism. A way to protect yourselves from getting hurt again. You get him, you get it and it makes you happy because he gets you, too.

“You’re not so bad, Jason Todd.” There's a genuine sweetness to your eyes as you say it and Jason doesn't believe it.

“I am the best.” He opens his arms, palms up, the arrogant smile beaming.

You roll your eyes, feeling bubbles and butterflies in your stomach. “Yeah, sure, goodnight, Jason.” You emphasis his name as you turn to leave and it sends Jason’s heart spinning.

“Goodnight, Y/n.” His voice is actually kind as he watches you leave.

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series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

Tag list: @fairyofshampoo // @italiana-20 // @jasontoddsmentaldisorders // @purplerose291 // @lovelessamai  // @makaelaseresin​ 

#gar logan #jason todd #gar logan x reader #garfield logan x reader #jason todd x reader #gar logan fanfic #gar logan fanfiction #jason todd fanfic #jason todd fanfiction #titans #titans fanfic #titans fanfiction #caving in

[nerdlydelicious]

Hello!

I’ve been enjoying your ship takes and the lengthy responses to em! Been a fun read. Here’s another for your list if you’d like. I can’t pick between the two so feel free to choose: crosshares or blackvelvet

No reason I can’t do both!

Crosshares has that classic ‘extroverted person and introverted person’ vibe going for it, and while some people might call that cliche, I call it tried and true.

Now to be fair I would not really classify Velvet as being an actual introvert as we have seen her be plenty outgoing in both the show and the two books focusing on team CFVY, so it’s more that they give off that vibe than it definitely being the case. Regardless, they are definitely cute together. While I personally prefer YatsuxVelvet (though I don’t know their ship name), crosshares is still plenty cute.

That being said, I do feel I have to knock a couple points off because I’m not the biggest fan of some of Coco’s attitude and behavior in the CFVY books, mainly that it is specifically stated that she wears sunglasses so that she can check women out without being caught. Which is kinda creepy, honestly. If Coco were a guy and doing that to women I think we would all rightfully consider him a creep. Being a woman doesn’t make it better.

But in all fairness I would hope that once she was in a relationship with Velvet she would stop checking out other women, so I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and restore a knocked point.

I give it a 6/10, all things being even.

Now, as for Black Velvet:

Blake and Velvet starting a relationship would be really interesting, especially if it’s back at Beacon before Blake really came out of her shell. If I remember correctly, Blake either told Velvet that she was a faunus, or Velvet figured it out on her own. Either way, I can imagine that Velvet would try to encourage Blake to uncover her ears and not hide who she is. Blake, on the other hand, would want to keep her involvement in the White Fang a secret from Velvet, just like she did her team. She is trying to leave that life behind, after all.

And of course there’d be the interesting situation with their families. Velvet’s father works for Atlas after all, while Blake was in conflict with Atlas and the SDC for years. And of course there’s the fact that Blake’s father founded the White Fang.

Additionally I can’t imagine Blake would be nearly as passive about Cardin bullying velvet if they were in a relationship. She’d definitely be throwing hands with all of team CRDL, which would inevitably draw the rest of team RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY into beating down team CRDL.

Glorious.

Then of course there would be the strain in their relationship that would come from Blake still trying to figure out what the WF is up to in Vale, and ignoring her own needs because of it. Which would lead to a reconciliation at the dance, then the drama of the Vytal festival attack and everything following that…

I did not expect to have this many thoughts about Black Velvet. There’s a lot to unpack with these two, and so much you could do with them. Grade A fic material right here.

I give it a 9/10. Probably the best crack ship I’ve received an ask for so far.

(Also I couldn’t get a good image of them on screen together, so I used fan art. Credit goes to DashingIceCream, if I remember correctly.)

#rwby #rwby ships #coco adel #velvet scarlatina #blake belladonna #coco x velvet #crosshares #Blake x velvet #RWBY Black Velvet

[theatrevelyan]

Ok, I’ve binged the new ATLA live action and I have feelings about it so here are my incoherent thoughts! (SPOILERS btw!!)

I’m a fan of the original show and I approached this show with low expectations (namely the only expectation I had was “this can’t be worse than the movie, right??”) but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!!

I mean sure some details have been changed to flow better in this rendition of the story but I’m fine with that so long as the heart that made the original special is still there and I know some people didn’t felt like it did but I had the feeling that it was.

Do I love absolutely everything about the show?

Nope.

I have some issues with the first episode being too stiff and some shots were outright weird?? Like the tilted camera when Grangran was speaking was a really odd choice??? Was it to signal that the world changed when the fire nation attacked? If so it missed the mark, it just felt weird… to be honest Grangran in general felt weird. Idk man, she felt like an exposition dump made flesh. Also I did like it better when it was Katara’s unchecked emotions that led them to Aang.

In general, the dialogues were… uhm, how to put it…? Too rigid? Not the acting mind you, but the actual script felt a bit stilted, I felt it more in the first few episodes but to me, the first episode is by far the weakest of the season in this regard which is odd since it’s your hook and most of the time you want to make sure the hook is if not the best at least a really solid opening.

I did not like Bumi, like at all. He was never a favorite of mine even in the original but still I found him annoying in this version and the fight in that episode was not the best to say the least but the rest of Omashu was good even if they changed it to include both Sai’s and Jet’s storylines. Too bad they didn’t include the loss of culture subplot for Aang but I get there was no time/place for it in this version of events and the rest was handled well… except for Bumi lol

On the more serious complaints… they butchered my boi HeiBai!!! That episode was all over the place in sense of scripting. I didn’t mind putting Koh and the owl there but we just forgot about the HeiBai plot along the way and we never got a resolution about it???? Like just two lines about healing the forest would have been enough, not good mind you, but enough.

Also I did not get why they changed the motivation for going to the North Pole from going there to train to go there bc of Kyoshi weird premonition thing or why Roku didn’t tell Aang about the comet????

Like ok the Kyoshi thing I can just wave it away like a minor change to flow better with the new structure of the episodes but I can’t ignore the fucking comet!!! That’s like a really important timeframe for the gaang to follow and maybe they will get to it next season since it was addressed on Ozai’s side of things but it felt still like a weird change.

Oh and why didn’t Aang learn water bending??? I mean I guess they probably wanted to elevate Katara’s skill level and have her be recognized as a master before she started teaching him besides him having still to come to terms with having to accept that he is the avatar and that he has to fight sometimes something that he doesn’t really do until the season finale and I can get behind that, I really can… but man… let him water bend just a little. Maybe in just one scene to show that he is picking up something from Katara even if she’s not his teacher yet. To show that despite all the doubts he’s actually trying to do what he’s supposed to. I guess this is a “wait and see” kind of change though so I’ll let it go… for now.

All that said, do I think the show is a good adaptation of the original?

Fucking yes.

It has its flaws for sure but there is also a lot of good things in it.

Sokka was the highlight for me. I really liked him in the original but i feel like he’s been elevated in this version of the story and the actor did a really remarkable job with him, despite my worry with the changes in his initial story arch they managed to give him another layer that I liked.

Actually all the actors did a very good job! Aang was spot on and Zuko had a lot more humanity in him from the start without losing his rough edges. And while I stand by that Sokka’s actor is the one that surprised me the most, Zuko’s was the one I had more fun watching. A really great performance in my opinion.

Iroh was a fucking delight and an emotional gut punch as always and while he was a bit more somber I really liked this version of the character.

They did Azula and Ozai justice showing how cunningly terrifying and utterly toxic they can be and I really liked that we got to see more of them in season 1.

Hell, even Zhao felt the right balance of unhinged cartoony villain and actual threat for the pov characters.

Katara was more of mixed bag for me. She’s my favorite character in the original (with Zuko being a close second) so I have higher standards for her and overall all she still feels like the Katara that I know and love but idk sometimes she felt too poised?? It’s more evident in the first few episodes to be fair and I don’t think it was the acting, the actress was great! Maybe it was the direction or the writing?? Idk man I still loved her, mind you, but in the original, Katara, while being kind and loving, was still a force of nature that you do not want to anger exactly like a raging river that can both be a source of life or a force of destruction. In this it felt like they softened her edges a bit too much. That might be a me problem though, as I said she’s my favorite so I have higher standards for her.

Ti be honest though, it seems that they softened everyone’s less palatable traits. Zuko isn’t as ruthless, Sokka isn’t sexist at the start of the season, Aang isn’t as goofy and so on. I didn’t mind it actually and most of the time it works really well in showing us new sides of these characters without losing who the are but idk man… while I still loved Katara it felt like she was missing something. And same with Suki! She looked fantastic and she was fierce as I expected her to be but she also felt more naive and love struck that she should have. Nothing terrible but enough to notice.

The bending was fantastic and it really felt… well real. Especially air bending! Appa and Momo were really well animated too! Big win for the VFX team!

The music too! It just felt right. And I’m still not over those scenes when you faintly hear leaves from the vines play in the background. Curse you and your great choices that made me actually cry my eyes out like a baby!

In the end I’d give it a solid 7/10. It was a nice watch and it brought me back to my childhood and I can see it’s potential to be something special on its own.

Mind you, this could still turn into a dumpster fire along the way. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened to a really promising Netflix show (I’m looking at you Voltron and the Witcher) but I have to say, I’m gladly surprised and mildly optimistic about this show!

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #atla netflix #I’m optimistic about this guys #never been more happy to be pleasantly surprised tbh

[theowritesfiction]

I was thinking about how I would approach the issue of condensing a 20 episode season of ATLA Book 1 into 8 episodes (albeit significantly longer) of the live action remake. Obviously, some cuts would have to be made, so I wanted to do a bit of speculating about what I would cut.

The intro episodes with the Southern Water Tribe, visits to the Southern Air Temple and Kyoshi Island I think are just too important and iconic to be changed significantly.

I’m not a fan of King of Omashu. However, Omashu is a very important setting, because without introducing it, the iconic Return to Omashu makes no sense. Also, we know that Bumi will appear in the remake. I do hope that we don’t spend too much time in Omashu.

I have similar feelings about Imprisoned. I wouldn’t cut it because it’s a badass Katara episode and it shows both her admirable qualities but also her flaws, and how she is willing to endanger the overall mission for the sake of helping innocents. That said, this is an episode that could be scaled down a little.

Winter Solstice is a pretty key episode, because it introduces the spirit world and all of its creatures, as well as Roku and important Avatar lore. You don’t mess with this. Nor do you mess with the Waterbending Scroll, damn it.

Jet? I’d cut this one entirely. 😅 okay, okay, don’t shoot, obviously we can’t cut it entirely because Jet comes back in Book 2, although he probably wishes he hadn’t. I think we can completely dismiss The Great Divide, though, such a waste of everyone’s time.

The Storm is such an important episode for both Zuko and Aang. Maybe it can be scaled back and/or incorporated with another episode, but there are things from this episode that should be preserved. The Blue Spirit continues this setting up of Zuko and Aang as narrative foils. Again, these two episodes definitely form an important narrative whole that shouldn’t be dismissed.

Which is something I can’t say about the Fortuneteller. Kill it! kill it with fire!

Bato of the Water is in my opinion an underrated great episode. I like that Aang has a bit of a jerk moment, and I hope it doesn’t get erased in the remake. And I obviously can’t wait for June’s appearance, best character design I’ve seen so far. ❤️

The Deserter is also a pivotal episode which leads into Aang’s difficult relationship with firebending and Katara discovering her talent of healing. You can’t cut this one.

The Northern Air Temple… tough one, because again, the setting and the battle itself are excellent. And we know that the Mechanic has been cast for the remake, so they’re going to use this episode. But when I’m thinking about what exactly this episode brought to the show, the only important event was the Fire Nation getting their hands on a hot air balloon. There are many other ways that could have been arranged, though, so I would cut this episode.

The final three episodes set in the Northern Water tribe… once again, pivotal, iconic, epic and shouldn’t be touched, imo.

Yeah, honestly looking at Book 1, there’s some stuff that I guess could be cut, but way more that I don’t want to see touched… so that just makes me more nervous about the live action 😅

#atla live action

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

No dammit

Uhhh

Why bioshock peak game

SPOILER FREE!

1: what even is bioshock

Bioshock is a narrative driven FPS horror adjacent shooter franchise with 3 games (1,2 and bioshock infinite) All exploring themes of different ideologies. The first two games, the dlc of the 3rd game, and the tie in prequel novel takes place in the same underwater city, Rapture, meanwhile the 3rd game takes place in the sky city of Columbia (no, not the capital of the USA), it explores mainly ideas of free choice, basically roasts Atlas Shrugged for the first game, 2 focuses more on collectivism, and infinite more on religious extremism.

2; setting

Not talking about bioshock’s settings is like talking about fire emblem and ignoring how it’s basically chess but with anime character. The first two games are in a dystopia. An art deco dystopia where the world has been turned upside. Meanwhile Columbia, unlike its previous counterpart is all bright and sunny, you can sense that something is wrong. Each part of Rapture showcases the minds of the great (medicine, botany, entertainment) but twisted, you’re shown the remains of what’s left. It’s even shown more in 2 because it’s 10 years after the original game.

3: gameplay

Now bioshock uses both “magic” called plasmids (and vigors in infinite) and regular weapons like a wrench, a machine gun, a chemical blower, and crossbow. It also got a hacking system in one you will either love or hate. Now one way you learn about the lore about bioshock is via audio tapes, which makes you want to explore the parts of the game more.

Also the themes of choice, this will go down into the next part

4. Enemies

This is mainly about the big daddies! Basically, they’re the icon of bioshock, even more than Ryan, Elizabeth, and Atlas. They’re 7ft tall men in a diving suit. In the second game you even play as one! Then there’s also other enemies like the splicers (aka the people who remain after rapture who isn’t a main character you can’t kill), the handymen (from infinite, are men “cured” of their illness only for them to be extremely sensitive to everything and stuck in a metal suit), and of course. The little sisters, present in bioshock 1&2, they’re What the big daddies protect.

That’s all I can say before I go so far.

Part 5: voice acting

Now for a game where most of the dialogue is via audio logs, bioshock sure has amazing voice acting. Everything from the speech at the start of the game to the speech at the end. Every characters voice is memorable. But I warn you, if you’re a persona fan, playing infinite is just “kanji is morally not as good and has a gun”

Part 6: characters

It has some really great characters, not like you will like them, rather that they’re just well written. Everyone from the main antagonist to the character with 3 audio logs. Even background characters in infinite. You get a sense that they were people.

Part 7: conclusion

It’s great! Just, have a strong graphics card if you’re playing on pc

#not dds related #bioshock #bioshock 2 #bioshock infinite

[avatar-news]

ATLA IS BACK! 20 new castings confirmed!

Today is a big day because Netflix has officially confirmed 20 new castings in the upcoming live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, which is now officially done both 7 months of principal photography and one month of reshoots, and now in post-production!

Four castings are brand-new:

Lucian-River Chauhan - Teo

Hiro Kanagawa - Fire Lord Sozin

George Takei - Koh the Face Stealer

Randall Duk Kim - Wan Shi Tong

Sixteen are confirmations of previous casting scoops, eight of which were Avatar News exclusives!

Amber Midthunder - Princess Yue

A Martinez - Master Pakku

Irene Bedard - Master Yagoda

Joel Oulette - Hahn

Nathaniel Arcand - Chief Arnook

Meegwun Fairbrother - Avatar Kuruk

Arden Cho - June the bounty hunter

Utkarsh Ambudkar - King Bumi

Danny Pudi - the mechanist

James Sie - the cabbage merchant

Momona Tamada - Ty Lee

Thalia Tran - Mai

Ruy Iskandar - Lieutenant Jee

Ryan Mah - Lieutenant Dang

C. S. Lee - Avatar Roku

François Chau - the Great Sage of the Fire Temple

We also have some new, illuminating, official character details:

Lieutenant Dang

Lieutenant Dang’s position in the Fire Navy is now confirmed to be Commander Zhao’s second-in comand.

King Bumi

The age of the character of King Bumi is confirmed to indeed still be an old man (“ancient” in the colloquial sense).

Avatar Kuruk

We have an official character description for Avatar Kuruk, which will be very interesting to anyone who has read the Chronicles of the Avatar novels: “A previous Avatar with a haunted past.”

(This could also be interpreted as being about Ummi, which of course factors in, but I do have confirmation that it’s related to the novels although I can’t say more since it’s spoilers for the end of the show!)

Three other castings were not confirmed today:

Sebastian Amoruso - Jet

Joel Montgrand - Hakoda

Rainbow Dickerson - Kya

I still have very strong confirmation these are still true, they just weren’t in today’s “main” Season 1 cast announcement. There will of course be dozens more characters than the ones officially revealed so far!

But, what feels like the biggest deal today in some ways is that after more than 9 months of complete, top-secret radio silence (285 days!), live-action ATLA is back with official news! This is a really good sign for times to come.

It’s also cool to me that they made their own special announcement for this rather than including it in Netflix’s Tudum Global Fan Event with dozens of other shows and movies, which was only just a few days ago. Because this show is special, it’s set apart, and it’s gonna be BIG. Now we just wait...

#news #live action atla #season 1 #casting #cast and crew #dang #bumi #kuruk

[ecoterrorist-katara]

The West has been notorious in viewing and treating indigenous and Asian cultures as a monolith. Due to that, the idea of handpicking various aspects from those particular cultures seems to come from the result of a Western ethnocentric worldview. And due to how it does not acknowledge the differences in these various Asian and indigenous cultures….it’s hard to argue that it’s not orientalist. Especially since they combine these different aspects of those cultures in a simplistic manner to a western audience.

Whether the work encourages you to identify with the characters or not doesn’t matter in regards to if it is orientalist or not.

And I would suggest you research this show and Tibetan monks. If you don’t agree with their being orientalist aspects of the show, then fine, but that one aspect, in how they handled it, is orientalist.

Why specifically only Asian and indigenous cultures? what could two American Caucasian men find in those cultures that they think they can pick and choose certain things from them, and it end up being cohesive?

Whether a show encourages you to identify with its characters matters a whole lot in whether the show is Orientalist, because the whole point of Orientalism is making the Oriental Other look bad! If a work encourages you to identify with these “Others,” it’s actually breaking down the Orient-Occident binary.

To be clear, ATLA not being Orientalist doesn’t preclude it from being culturally appropriative. The important things to me are whether ATLA is harmful to 1) the cultures that inspired it or 2) the people from those cultures, and the answer to both questions is no. ATLA is not claiming to represent anything, and therefore it’s not spreading misinformation or stereotypes — with the exception of, again, Guru Pathik which I think was in poor taste.

I do take issue with how easy it is for fans to take the Air Nomads as representation of Tibetan Buddhist monks. I think Bryke should have gone further to incorporate more influences to get away from the impression that Air Nomads are Tibetan Buddhist monks (or Buddhists in general), because people now moralize about the Air Nomads using the plight of Tibetans, and the oppression of Tibetans — like the oppression of all real-life people — should not be shoehorned into a cartoon. Still, a child fan of ATLA wouldn’t think the Air Nomads are Tibetan Buddhist monks unless someone in their life tells them so, because the inspiration is not explicit in the text. It’s fans who draw asinine conclusions like Fire Nation = Japan / Air Nomads = Tibetans or Buddhist monks / Earth Kingdom = China / SWT = Inuit, and then interpret ATLA according to corresponding real-life dynamics, who inadvertently spread misinformation. I have never seen such ridiculous takes on Buddhism as I have in the ATLA fandom. Nobody with an iota of knowledge of South Asian or Southeast Asian politics would claim that Buddhists are always non-violent. Nobody who knows about monks would think monks can get married. But I can’t even fault the text; I fault people who take their information about Buddhism from a cartoon that never even mentioned the word Buddhism.

Fundamentally I think this conversation is about whether it’s okay for white Americans to take aesthetic inspiration from non-white cultures to create their fantasy worlds, and to what extent they’re responsible for the ways in which their fans interpret the sources of their inspiration. I’m fine with people taking aesthetic inspiration from my culture (beyond sacred and religious cultural practices, which I generally don’t think should be aestheticized by people who don’t understand them). I don’t know why Bryke chose to take inspo from Asian and northern Indigenous cultures; people can certainly say it’s culturally appropriative and decide not to watch it.

#atla fandom critical #hell hath frozen over because for once I cannot blame Bryke #can i ask you a question? #don’t ask me about cultural appropriation I don’t want to rehash the 2010s

[disaster-fruit]

Believe it or not, I am 27 and have just discovered ATLA and I have some questions. Is my feeling correct that most Zutara shippers are women/nonbinary folks and most Kataang shippers are, well, men. I just can’t help thinking how Kataang is written with such a male gaze in mind, while Zutara covers both perspectives. Anyways, I understand why the show ended with Kataang, I’ve read all the big metas, I understand that Bryke kind of sucks etc. etc. But I’m curious what you think about this perceived gender divide since you’ve definitely been around longer lol

Hello! I gotta say, i don't think i have a better perspective of the fandom to offer, since i haven't actually been part of the fandom since maybe 2012? and back then i was a literal child and i couldn't speak English so 'being in the fandom' was mostly just reblogging gifs and reading the zutara fics in brazilian ao3 of the time. I have watched and re-watched ATLA an unholy amount of times since then, and i have read and watched hours and hours of meta and theories and whatnot, but the fandom itself is not something i'm well acquainted with to give a good perspective on.

I do, however, love to talk and love receiving asks, so i guess you'll get my opinion anyway. And everyone knows i'm not usually concise.

First of all, are most zutara shippers women/non-binary and kat@ang shippers men? I don't know. I haven't been in the fandom and i haven't checked the bios of most posts i did see and interact, so i have no idea. The only kat@ang shipper i personally know is a friend of mine, who is a woman. So i won't speculate on whether or not your feeling is correct, perhaps a fandom veteran would be better equipped at answering it.

What i WILL say is that Kat@ang is, in my opinion, much more appealing from aang's perspective than from katara's. She's older than aang, in an age girls are absolutely not looking at younger boys that way, and doesn't show any interest in him romantically through the whole show, with the only exception that comes to mind being their dance on season 3 (easily their best moment imo), and then their kiss at the very last minute. All we know is that Aang likes Katara, and the other way around is open to interpretation at best.

One sentiment I've seen from kat@ang shippers is that they seem to really like aang and what him to be happy, and since he likes katara, they ship the two. That is all well and fine, we support people having fun with their ships for whatever reason here. That is however not a good enough motivation if you are, you know, the creators of a show who were supposed to have some duty to storytelling, themes, and cohesion. So them making kat@ng happen just so that aang could 'get the girl', despite all the ways that weakens an otherwise phenomenal story, is a bad choice that should be criticized. At the very least, in its execution.

So yeah i don't think its wrong to say there's a 'male viewpoint' to kat@ang as it was made in the show, though i wouldn't necessarily extend that to the kat@ng fans in the fandom since i don't know them, and it feels unfair to make that assumption. For all i know there is probably no shortage of amazing fics out there that explore their dynamic much better than the show did.

But though i can't speak for kat@ang fans, there is another group i've seen more often in my metas and video essays journey and talking to male friends throughout the years, what i'll call 'shipping neutral' men. You know the type, they love avatar, they'll spend hours and hours dissecting all the aspects of the story and the themes and the worldbuilding up UNTIL the topic is romance in the show. Then they'll wave it away dismissively saying the show 'was never about romance' and the crazy shippers are 'getting distracted' from the real story and how they just don't care about that aspect. And some of them will say they're fine with Kat@ng because it's canon (and no other reason), some wont have an opinion on any of the ships, except that they're not important and anyone who HAS an opinion on that is just silly.

And HERE i definitely see not only a gender divide but a sexist tendency to disregard romance as less important to any story, and not as an integral part that deserves care and deserves to be well interwoven with the rest of it. It's basically a stereotype now about how zutara fans have all these metas and analysis about how perfectly the ship fits the shows themes and how that would improve the writing (and yes, i agree with all of them) and that's because we know that romance is just as deserving as action, as worldbuildng and whatnot, and that it can be a powerful writing tool to enhance character and plot and themes, and that the way it is done it ATLA is not that. And i think these 'shipping neutral' men's analysis all fall short and even tend to not notice flaws in the story because they refuse to interact meaningfully with that aspect. Because as we all know, romance is for silly girls.

And being honest, i have much more respect for any kat@ang shipper of any gender that is out here being passionate about what they like, writing their fics and writing their own metas and having fun in a respectful way, than i have for men (and people who aren't men) with that dismissive attitude towards the romance arcs in the show.

That was a tangent! But damn i haven't answered an ask like this in a while and its always very fun. Hope i didn't offend anyone lol If its not clear i'm not a fan of ship wars, we stan having fun here. Buuut i also love debating and engaging with the story and that sometimes can get confrontational. There's definitely a space for 'ship discussion' or 'ship debate' that doesn't cross the line to 'ship war', i think that line is 'fun'. We're having fun, right? Discussing fandom and writing is fun, right?

Anyways hope this makes sense, sorry I didn't actually answer your question even though i talked THIS MUCH.

#okaaaay how do i tag this #fandom discussion #i guess?? #i dont wanna tag as any of the ships because its not really that #i also dont wanna tag because i dooooont wanna pick a fight with anybody #im too old for this i love discussing but only if its all for fun

[pockethep]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "pockethep"?

I’ve had this Tumblr for a molten minute and originally it was a Pokemon themed blog before I deleted my side blogs (a choice I regret every day). The Pocket in my user came from “Pocket Monsters” and the HEP was just tagged on because a lot of pocket monster themes names weren't available but younger me wanted to be open to having a blog that wasn't just 1 thing.

Now for the fics…

These are in no order whatsoever. This is based purely on fanfics that I love that no matter what I keep going back to, there are honestly a lot I could put especially if I think harder but its late and I'm typing on my phone.

Yesterday Upon The Stair by PitViperOfDoom on AO3. (My Hero Academia)

Genuinely an amazing fanfic, probably the best BNHA fanfic I’ve ever read which is a strong title to hold. It even has its own TV Tropes Page. It was Published in 2016 and I read it religiously. It had it all, Queerplatonic relationships, Drama, Angst, heartwarming moments, and realistic character depictions. It’s one of those fanfics that most people in the fandom know as “One of the Big Ones”.

A Breach of Trust by Phantomrose96 on AO3 (Mob Psycho 100)

Another “One of the Big Ones” and another fanfic that I’ve been following since it was published way back in 2016 (a wonder how 2016 had a lot of really great fanfics just like how a lot of good writing came from the quarantine). This is such a good fanfic, that really expands past the base content of the manga/anime and has a well fleshed out world as well as characters. It’s a drama that has a good dose of angst and I love the way the relationship between Mob and Reigen develops.

Issho by ToastyToaster22 on AO3 (Mob Psycho 100)

Normally I’d try to keep it one to a fandom with these types of lists/asks but Issho was really good. Once again has the bonus of being a fanfic from one of my favorite anime/manga. But it highlights one of my favorite characters, Teru, in a way that develops him very well over the course of the series. Issho is just the first of ten parts and I'd recommend reading all of them.

Salvage by MuffinLance on AO3 (Avatar the Last Airbender)

One of my comfort ATLA fanfics. A great amount of humor, angst, and a lot of found family. I absolutely adore Hakodad pics and Zuko honestly deserves it but Salvage has the plus of adding more additional siblings and a cute isopuppy because Zuko really deserves it.

fool in the moon by arahir on Ao3 (Trigun)

Despite having read the Trimax manga and having seen the original Trigun anime, I didn’t actually start reading fan fiction for it until Trigun Stampede paraded through…And BOY was I missing out. Although fool in the moon is a recent addition to the roster of amazing pics, it’s up there as one of my favorite. It’s a vashwood fic with a healthy dose of angst and comfort. I don’t know what it is but Trigun writers all have the ability to write the most visceral things.

(HONORABLE MENTION: A Ship and his Anchor by DerringerMeryl who aced the Vash whump.)

Press 9 to delete this Message by moriturism on Ao3 (Jujutsu Kaisen)

One of the most cleverly written fics not just on this list but that I’ve read. I can’t recommend it enough, even to those that don’t ship satosugu. This is a hurt no comfort fic and the way my stomach sunk reading the date for one of the last messages is a feeling few people can replicate. It’s good all around. 11/10

Those Hands Were Meant To Love by Ahenix on Ao3 (Spy X Family)

I think this is one of the big fics for Spy X Family and for a reason. It’s fluff without plot, and I love a good bit of found family and fluff especially centered around my favorite “fake” family. I read this one a couple times last year because it’s cute and its only 6 chapters.

Cascading (In a good way) by Hubbleablubble on Ao3 (Genshin)

There are a lot of well written genshin fics but this one is my favorite both for the ship (Kaebedo) and that I enjoy the way the characters are written. I like how everyone was written in this. Although it’s only a chapter the pacing was great, especially as it told their story from strangers to friends to lovers. It also mentioned Khaenri’ah Royalty Kaeya which is a huge plus.

(HONORABLE MENTION Song of Resistance by TheOpticalMouse absolutely check this out, its a series of 2 fics)

Starstruck by shizuoh on Ao3 (Yuri on Ice)

All that needs to be said is that the author basically created the Actor Victor Nikiforov tag on ao3. It’s a fic that’s been there since around 2016 when the show debuted and it hasn’t left my favorites for a while alongside a lot of others. Featuring the aforementioned actor Viktor, a barista/babysitter yuuri, and Yuri as a child caught up between the two. There are a lot of great’s and this is one of them.

(HONORABLE MENTIONS: There are a lot of Yuri on Ice fics I could have put here so…Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart aches by Reiya (The Biggest Diamond among the rest of the diamonds), crust and sugar over by ShanaStoryteller, Where the Cliff Greets the Sea)

Academic Intrigue by kassvea on Ao3 (Word of Honor)

It’s a modern AU, college/university AU with well written characters that are true to the original source. It’s a story about starting over, especially given the scandal at the start of the fic. I love the connection between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing in all forms of media but this is one of my favorites.

(HONORABLE MENTION: Sanguine by jaemyun this is one of the big word of honor fics and for a reason.)

#my asks #fav fics #my stuff #pokethep lore #I forgot He Chose Titans by masksarehot too #There are just a lot of really really good ones

[prying-pandora666]

"Yes I wrote that thing for ATLA that one time." Now I'm too curious not to ask. So what thing did you write for ATLA that one time?

Do you remember those old Puppetbender ads that got made to promote Book 3? Dave Roman of Nickelodeon commissioned those because he was such a big fan of Potter Puppet Pals and wanted something like that for ATLA.

I was a homeless 19 year old whose older brother had JUST gotten home me to stay with him so I’d have a place to be away from the household we had both escaped (at vastly different times, he’s much older than me).

I was gifted with this opportunity just for trolling a shipper board in a creative way haha! It was quite the experience! I owe it all to Kevin Coppa who brought me on.

I even had the honor of voicing Azula for one of these ads! Being part Chinese, I guess that makes me the first Asian VO for Azula! I’m primarily Latina though (I’m Peruvian Chinese), and advocate that Grey Delisle will always be the true voice of Azula. I’ve been told at least one (maybe two?) of these promos are on the DVD Boxset. I have the Blu-Ray that didn’t get all those special features so I can’t verify.

It’s still the first two credits in my IMDB page! Even after all these years.

My life has never been easy but I was blessed with the experience and for how kind the team members we got to talk to were. I learned a lot about the show, the characters, and about writing. And while I can tell you stories (and some inside 🍵) about what it was like behind the scenes, how frustrating it was to get approval for basic jokes, some conflicts that happened even amongst the writers, why Book 3 had all the problems it did, etc, I mostly just have one thing to say.

I am so incredibly grateful.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #lucia says

[inukag]

The way Inuyasha did reincarnation is same as the way Avatar did reincarnation. They’re the same souls but each incarnation did their own thing, like Aang doesn’t believe in killing while his past incarnations will do it. When Korea kissed Asami, no one said Aang kissed Asami. Even in the comics, it’s shown the waterbender Avatar is doing his own thing searching for his beloved in the spirit world.

it’s a shame some Inu fans can’t understand each incarnation is considered their own individual. They even showed us that Kikyo’s part of the soul moved on to do her own thing after her final death. Maybe the translation error is a reason

I was ranting about this with friends the other day and pretty much said the same thing. I've never seen anyone argue that Asami is dating Aang by dating Korra or that Katara should have loved Korra romantically because she's the same person as Aang 🥴But then again I'm not super deep into ATLA/TLOK lore (I watched both shows a long time ago). Iirc they explained reincarnation by saying all avatars have "the spirit of the avatar" but they are still their own person.

But I'll also acknowledge that I'm WAY too agnostic/atheist to understand the arguments people try to make about the soul. All I care about is how the soul is explained as a magic system in the Inuyasha series, and RT showed us that a soul can contain multiple consciousnesses, but ultimately your consciousness is what makes you your own person.

#ask #Anon #like i've seen people talk about the whole nature vs nurture argument #but that makes sense if you take a person (who has their own dna) and raise them in a different environment (like twins separated at birth) #here with avatars or kagome/kikyo we're talking about people with different dna #and no explanation as to what that 'soul' actually contains beside magical powers #and the karma

[rowan-sins]

𝑀𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝓊𝓅 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹, 𝒿𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒𝓈

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 (𝟣) 𝑜𝒻 (𝟣𝟢) 𝓈𝓁𝑜𝓉𝓈 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 (𝟫) 𝓁𝑒𝒻𝓉

𝕸𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖚𝖕 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 (1) 𝖔𝖋 (2) 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉

𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔡: 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪

I can’t think of a single other person who would be a better match for you than TFA Starscream. Your heart is so full of love and forgiveness (girl I know you; you may be snarky but you’re such a sweetheart too), and he is in DESPERATE need of it. Despite his outward persona of an egotistical maniac, Starscream lives for the praise you give him. The words you write are beautiful, and the words you say about him make his spark flutter, derma quiver, and his optics shine a cherry red.

He’s going to be distrustful of your praise and affection at first, but still be drawn to it like a moth to a flame. How could he not? You’re everything he looks for in a person. Even if some dark part of his process thinks, insists this is conditional, he still comes back to you. He thought humans were disgusting till he met you (he still does, but shhhhhh you don’t need to know), but YOU, Primmus, you make him question everything.

Once you manage to convince him that your affection is unwavering and your loyalty is unconditional, the floodgates for all the affection and love he has for you opens. His main love languages are gift giving and words of affirmation, so expect LOTS of gifts. He’d steal the tiffany diamond for you, if you asked (and even if you didn’t… You’ve had to return it twice now).

Once he gets a feel for what kind of things you like, expect to never want again. He gets his grubby decepticon hands on the PS5 three days before it’s official release. That new Sailor Moon Victoria Secret collab? Yours. Looking for a new laptop because the ram on your current one is too slow? He gets you one of the nicest gaming laptops on the market.

He has a secret love of the ocean, so he loves flying you places to take you swimming. He’ll sneak you onto a private beach in Hawaii and that’s where he’d pop the question. Nobody but you to, the sunset behind your brown hair, skin reflecting the glow of the pinks and oranges across the sky. He kisses you when you say yes, and then complains about how you taste like salt water. (“Who dropped me in the middle of the pacific ocean!” He doesn’t look remorseful at all when he says “oops” and places his lips against yours again. You’ll have to fix that later.)

He calls you his fireball, or his little spitfire, and you probably hate it but the way he holds you in his hand as he brings you closer to your face warms your heart. Only a little. Not enough to kick his thumb as hard as you can before you kiss him. You both have your insecurities about things, and he won’t hesitate to try to soothe yours as soon as they rear their ugly head. (“You have more worth than Atlas could carry on his shoulders,” he says to you once, late at night under the stars. His whispers blows the sand out of your hair. “Where did you read that,” you giggle at him. “The poem writes itself when I look in your eyes.” You pause for a moment. “What did you do this time?” He pushes himself up and rolls over on top of you. “I did technically break the security system to get you onto this beach. We have about 15 minutes before they find us.” “… Damn it screams.”)

He’s a lot better at showing it than saying it, often times stumbling over his words when complimenting you. HOWEVER, he’s the president of your fan club and head of your defense squad. If anyone gives you shit or leers at you funny for how you dress he’s the first to tell them to gouge their eyes out. He’s incredibly protective of you, not because he doesn’t trust you (he trust you… a lot. More than he cares to admit to even himself), but because he doesn’t trust anyone else. He does like it when you show off the goods though. Please dress up for him around the house, he’ll lose his mind if he sees you in that skintight backless dress. I didn’t tell you this but he’s a sucker for bunny suits and virgin killer sweaters.

He really holds you in the highest regards. He hopes to rule Cybertron one day, with you by his side. He can’t think of a better queen. Your determination and wit are something he admires and adores, and the way you seem to care, so strongly and deeply, like it’s ingrained in you, makes him confident in your ability to rule beside him. He’s put all his chips in on you, so make it worth it for him. Please.

𝕸𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖚𝖕 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 (2) 𝖔𝖋 (2) 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉

𝔗𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔓𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢: ℜ𝔞𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔱

Your meeting is like an explosion. He’s never been too fond of the native inhabitants of this planet. But he’s also not too fond of a lot of things so you never take it to heart, even if your snarky comebacks say otherwise.

He’ll be the first to admit he didn’t like you at first. He’ll be the first to admit you didn’t make the greatest impression on him, craning you neck to look at him with those wide green eyes and then asking him if he was red or orange. “Tch, I don’t see how that matters human,” he had said, turning back to his work.

He doesn’t really see what you contribute to team prime until he sees all the little things you do with his own eyes. And as he observes you, he understands that you’ve woven yourself as an integral part of the team. The first time he sees it he’s almost shocked. The way you expertly herd Miko away from the ground bridge so she can’t sneak through with bulkhead. She was so busy talking about a new band with you she didn’t even realize that they left on the mission without her. He makes a point to thank you once she unglues herself from you.

After that he starts to notice all the things you do right, instead of all the things you say wrong. The way you make sure Raf actually eats something besides Capri-suns and twinkies, and how you make sure Jack takes a break from the X-box so his homework gets done. All the times you’ve snapped at him, “is you vox filter broken Ratchet?” have become a candle to the flame of the help you’ve done for the team.

He’s surprised to see this mom-friend attitude directed towards him for the first time. “When’s the last time you’ve recharged, Ratchet.” “Us Cybertronians don’t need to-“ “Stop deflecting you know you should have gone to bed cycles ago, haven’t you?” “Just because I don’t say anything you nag the other humans doesn’t mean-“ “Asking you to take care of yourself isn’t nagging.” Is it nagging? He asks himself. It certainly felt like nagging, even if it was coming from the heart and she had a point. He should have gone to bed cycles ago, if the warnings popping up on his HUD were anything to go by.

It’s this small victory that kickstarts your enemies to friends to lovers arc. He slowly starts relying on you as he notices that you can be relied on, that you want him to rely on you. That when you ask him about his day, its because you want to know about his day, and it’s not some attempt at human small talk. He opens up to you, slowly but surely, as he realizes that there’s a depth to you that he’s failed to see until now. It’s like somewhere deep in your human body there’s a spark, whirling in circles with an EMF that pulls him in the farther he pushes away.

Miko catches on first to his feelings. She finds out before he does. “You like her don’t you, Ratchet.” “Like her? She’s my team-mate!” “You like-like her, we can all see it.” “Get off of my desk, you tiny bolt-head.” “Doesn’t change the fact that she likes you back. Just go for it!”

So, he lets his spark drift closer to yours. He lets you help with projects, and he lets you sit on his shoulder to see the screen better. Sometimes, you need to tell him to step away from a project, and he takes you on drives and lets you read your writing to him. He treasures it deeply. If he can build up the courage, he’ll ask you to write poems for him, and when you read them to him he melts into a puddle. You can hear his engine purring and the static in his voice as he stutters out a “thank you.” He’ll forget to turn the AC on in his vehicle mode so you slip off your sweatshirt and he can see you in the crop top you wore underneath. He won’t tell anyone, especially you, but he loves the more revealing outfits you wear. You show him photos from when you went swimming with a few friends and he loses his mind.

(Take him swimming with you, he’ll find you a lake in the middle of nowhere and make a day of it. It’s not a date, he tells himself as he pulls out a picnic basket. It’s not a date he tells himself as you rest your hands on his. It’s not a date he says as he constantly glances at your lips. It’s not a date he says while he thinks about how soft they are. It’s not a date he says when you ask to touch his face. It’s not a date when you press your lips against his derma and he finds everything he didn’t know he was missing in that moment.)

You become significantly closer to him after that 8 hour disappearance, laughing while toweling yourself dry walking through the ground bridge. He’s quick to try to keep you safe from harm, he’d become the wall between you and the decepticons if he had to. He hopes he doesn’t, he’d much rather spend the rest of your life with him than spend his to protect yours, but he’d claw his spark out of his chassis for you.

The first time he comes to your house, a small cottage in the middle of nowhere, no-one for miles in the desert, he can’t help but hold you close in your backyard, sharing constellations and stories and kisses between giggles. This is a well-deserved break for the medic. You’ve become his resting place, his home, his hearth, his heart. And he tells you this. He tells you he loves you. (“Love is ridiculous,” you remember him telling you one day at the base, “love is something I’ve never found or wanted the time for.” He remembers your somber smile at his ‘bah-humbug’ attitude. “You’re lucky I think you being grumpy is cute.”)

You cry when he chooses to stay on earth instead of go back to cybertron. You cry when he chooses you over his home, the very thing he spent half his life fighting to protect. And you cry when he asks you to stay with him for all of it. He feels a sense of duty to protect the earth. He feels a sense of duty to protect you. He’ll be the wall between you and all your troubles, if you can be the wall he can lean on when he’s tired.

#maccadam #transformers animated #transformers prime #starscream #ratchet #tfp ratchet #tfa starscream #match up

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

Honestly it’s not surprising that Zutar@ manages to fuck up and be annoying to ships that commit the crime of ‘getting in their way’. But it also treats the ships they claim to like along with their own as garbage as well.

I’m talking of course about Taang and Sukka.

I genuinely like Taang myself. A lot actually. At points it’s even my favourite Atla ship.

But you can really really tell when someone doesn’t ship it because they like both Toph and Aang as characters and find their dynamics and backgrounds and even potential spiritual links interesting: but are instead using it as an excuse to get Aang out of the way.

Their barely hidden contempt for Aang especially when they spout tripe like ‘Toph wouldn’t take any crap from him’ . All while posting a fic scenario which has Aang, someone who genuinely tries to understand people most of the time and even has a genuine religious philosophy: instead seem to have an understanding about friendship or forgiveness more akin to a three year old. Or like has shit like momtara and dadko scenarios (excuse me while I throw up) where he sneaks off to date Toph as if he had to ask these KIDS his PEERS his FRIENDS for permission in their deranged nuclear family take on the gaang. Yeah it was a ‘joke’ but they actually think of the gaang as working that way. Fucking straightest fandom imaginable frankly. Can’t think of dynamics in any other way without making some kids into the mother and father.

Because to them Katara and Zuko are 40 to Aang’s 12 I guess. Sure. 👌 Zuko who is ultimately and obviously the least mature member of the gaang. Katara who enjoys having fun and needs to be reconnected to being a kid again and gets that from Aang in the first episode. Sure. Sure. They can’t even fucking have Katara and Aang be the equals and friends they are.

Overall it really makes them show their ass when they attempt to spew out how much better it would be for Aang to be with Toph and this happens. It’s extremely frustrating trying to find Taang content sometimes because for every genuinely good piece you find there’s like five or more of this utter garbage. It leaves me cold honestly. I’m not sure how a genuine Taang shipper could not have at least some contempt for the louder parts of the Zk fandom.

Sukka doesn’t get it much better, though at least they don’t seem to hate one or more of its members. I have to admit I’m not really a fan of Sukka myself. I don’t hate it. The opposite actually. I don’t generally have any strong feelings one way or the other. It’s perfectly inoffensive but I’m not really into it.

But it’s kind of amazing that Zk fans try to say it’s ‘the only good canon ship’ when they make basically next to no art or fics of it apart from being heavily heavily in the background or in group shots.

It’s not the only ‘group ship’ fandom guilty of this mind you. Not even just in this fandom. Hell, arguably and oddly not even the only group that does this with Sukka.

But it’s fucking hilarious how full of shit they are. They don’t make any actual content of it! They don’t actually care for it any more than I do! It just doesn’t get in the way so they leave it alone except to use it to make posts to shit on the (lbr more interesting) Kataang and Maiko. Wild. I mean I don’t care for Tokka much either which sometimes gets thrown in as Maiko and Kataangs group: but at least people seem to actually and genuinely like that ship and have made content for it.

I just sometimes think about when Sokka says ‘You talk too much’ before kissing Suki: which in context isn’t anything to be mad at, clearly. But we all know it would have gotten Aang eviscerated by them if he’d said it to Katara in the exact same context.

Also ZKs would be crowing with glee that ‘See!!! Zuko can’t stand anything coming out of her rancid mouth!!! She’s so abusive!!! He kisses her to shut her up!!!!’ If Zuko had said it to Mai. You’re not slick. You’re not clever. Everyone can see the truth. Sukka is a prop to you and nothing more.

Leave Taang and Sukka out of your ship posts when it’s clear to everyone with a brain cell that you don’t care anything about them. They deserve better. Or at least Taang does. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a single person for whom Sukka is the ultimate ride or die OTP. But they probably exist you know? It’s a decently sized fandom after all. They’re unfortunately probably buried by all your garbage hot takes. And even if I don’t care for it, you’re probably fucking up what could be a fun experience for them.

#Antizutara #though once again more against the fandom #Yes I’m a little bitter lmao sorry #Just a vent post really I’m done i think it’s just good to get it out #Tumblr is a shit who recommends terrible posts basically so even if I stay out of the Atla tag I’m sometimes hit with this