#the bad guy and the good guy are debating what justice is

[wednesdayche]

❗Epilogue spoiler

(Wyll broke his pact wiht Mizora and reminds to be the Blade)

Nightwarden Minthara: I am sure that being slain by a heroic blade is of great comfort to your victims.

1>Player(Wyll): They are not victims, they are monsters.

Nightwarden Minthara: I have been both victim and monster. Whichever you saw me as, if your turned your blade on me, there are still those who would grieve my passing. And I would bleed like any other.

2>Player(Wyll):  I bring justice, not comfort.

Nightwarden Minthara: I was taught that any man who spoke out of line, or above his lowly station, should be punished. I called that justice. I do not think there is such a thing as justice anymore, and I do not find my comfort at either end of a blade.

3>Player(Wyll):  I'm a protector, not a killer.

Nightwarden Minthara: In this world, the two roles go hand in hand more often than not. Call yourself a slayer of monsters and be proud, for that is what you are.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #minthara #wyll ravengard #wyll seems to be the least miserable person in the party #especially when most of us love devil mommy #but he is facing a crisis of faith #not about gods but about his own moral standards #love his conversation with minthara #the bad guy and the good guy are debating what justice is

[herequeerexitentialfear]

the reason i dont talk as much about jjba cecio is bc he is very strongly a piss take of the 'one good pig' because he is the 'one good cop' but hes actually so much worse. hes using a mask of humor and kindness and relate-ability to help aid in murder blackmail wrongful imprisonment and all manner of massive power abuses, but because he does the bare minimum of pretending to be a 'good' person [in the right way] he gets free license to do all that and is seen as sympathetic. so actually hes not worse, hes just an average fucking pig with slight different motivations it doesn't matter if he answers to the police or criminal organizations, because the fucking pigs are their own gang just under the guise of 'upholding the law' and hes betraying his community and ruining peoples lives over and over for power either way

#thebirdspeaks #cecio #essay in teh tags about crows self doubt about how well they handle mature topic and if ppl will think badly of them if they dont do it per #perfect so they dont post shit bc they r worried about the piss on the poor reading comprehension of the internet or worse #being seen as sympathetic 🤢 to cops 🤮 #in 1... 2... 3... #im not spilling my personal shit #but like. i worry about sharing more of what he does bc im worried people wont understand how im writing him #bc shits subjective but im writing from my own experience with abusers and cops and just authority in general #its why hes hands down the worst of Celia & Co. they are all awful #but him especially so. #ive debated rewriting him cause its hard to write but i like how it affects his character even when its uncomfortable to write and even mor #so to share #idk. maybe i will end up just make him into a mortician or forensics guy #but like. him abusing all the ways the law is corrupt for his own goals and using all the defenses even better than the other pigs #positioning himself as the good one while making sure none else is and being the worst #is my own commentary on the joke that is the justice system. and i find it interesting #idk i think a lot of it is my personal discomfort. and i would hate to be labeled as like. 🤢 supporting pigs. in my writing #idk #this might get deleted idk i think im to sensitive to potential criticism from bad faith reading #but idk if i do handle it well or not #but then again im not a major fucking tv show let me fuck up a lil #i guess i just scrutinize how people write cops a lot #and thinking the internet has bad reading comprehension is not a baseless anxiety #eh fuck it i think i can do my lil fukcing thing #i just dont want people to see it as in poor taste #cause i worry they would be right? but like so many ppl in fandom be wilding maybe i can get a pass for maybe being a lil clumsy?

[hotheadedhero]

Like 'em Big

AN: I have so many stories to write but I had to do this. Blaming being sick, m'kay? Fever has got me bad and these meds got me loopy. Thinking we need some good, silly fun in our lives, right? Plus, now that I've watched Rise, I'm hungry for some big Raph appreciation. I know I ain't the only one

All characters are aged up

Raphael x Reader

Warnings: near peril, easily smitten, possible errors due to fever (what kind of fever is up for deliberation🥴)

Cutting right to the chase. You like big dudes. That doesn't necessarily mean muscles, either. You just love you a big man - someone with a bit of something-something to them. More to love, you know? Given your track record with the greater world, it shouldn't be all that much of a mystery. Cats? Get yourself a tiger that you can cuddle into. Jumpers? Comfort central, baby. Beds? If you can't spread eagle then you see no point. The old-age saying does declare that the bigger the better, so who are you to disagree? How true that is may be up for debate but it’s merely as simple as understanding what your preferences are.

However, this makes dating a difficult ballpark to play in. No matter how tall, jacked, or voluptuous someone is, it never feels like enough. Human biology and genetics can only go so far in the conceivably possible sense. You just want to be absolutely engulfed when you get a hug. Is that such a crime? Apparently, it is. Unfortunately, you also seem to come across the worst jerks when you attempt to date within this set of criteria. One might argue it's your karmic justice for being so superficial and picky but a woman has needs. Not those kinds of needs, either. Get your head out of the gutter.

All hope seems lost and after yet again, another failed date, you decide to call it in for the evening and make your way home. A fresh failure and another wonderful outfit gone to waste. By no means is it anything flashy but you put a lot of work into it: pencil skirt, turtle neck sweater, and a nice pair of boots to compliment the look. The whole shebang! All of that effort for nothing. This is the last time you spend three hours doing your hair and makeup. Block after block, your feet grow heavier with every step. What you would give to come across a mountain-like man you can climb who is also a kindred spirit. Perhaps this dream guy will forever be that - a dream. Men like that don't just fall out of the sky.

"Look out!!"

The sudden shout almost scares you into tripping over and you look behind yourself, wishing you hadn’t. Two very large, very dangerous-looking figures entangled in battle, those of which are approaching your helpless little self. You quickly duck as the giants hurdle over you. One falls on its side whilst the other claws and skids against the ground, regaining its balance. It shakes its head and locks onto you, a guttural snarl rumbling past its jowls. Such a creature is surely from the stuff of nightmares. An indescribable nightmare whose sights are set on you. The smart option would be running away but it's as though your shoes have melted into the pavement. Pawing into the tarmac, the beastly thing growls and lunges for you. Great. This is how you die: torn limb from limb by a demon dog. Well, assuming your clothes join you, at least you’ll look like a total babe in the afterlife.

"Oh no ya’ don't," the other one yells from behind the predator, grabbing it by its tail. “Pretty ladies are not food!”

With a mighty tug, he pulls it back and swings it as far away from you as possible. You release a shaky breath, legs trembling beneath you. That was far too close for comfort. The fight isn’t quite over, however. Just as it approaches him, the green goliath swivels on his feet, full 180, and whacks the creature's jaw with a closed fist. His speed alone has you in awe but the force is astounding, practically earth-shattering. It completely knocks the air around you and pushes you onto your backside.

When the dust clears, the first thing you see is your saviour panting, his spiky shell(?) pointed towards you. Just past him in the distance, you notice three more figures in blue, purple, and orange taking a closer look at the unconscious tyrant. You swear one of them pokes at it with a stick. Witnessing strange beings such as this isn't entirely new. Anyone who's watched Chateau Pretenche knows about the celebrity chef turning into a grotesque pigman. To describe it in one word? Horrifying. It's just whether people choose to believe it genuinely happened or if these bizarre entities exist. Being up close and personally observing it now puts your scepticism in check.

As the humanoid turtle calms, he turns to face you, recapturing your attention. A red mask sits over his eyes and there’s a noticeable snaggle tooth poking past his upper lip. Typically, the prerogative is keeping out of sight but it’s much too late for that. He gradually advances towards you. You watch him warily and he keeps his movements slow for that very reason. It wouldn’t be a shock if you were to try and make an escape. He wouldn’t blame you. Currently, all he wants to do is make sure you weren’t hurt during that fiasco provided you don’t suddenly come out of your bewilderment and run off. You have good reason to but he just saved you. Either that or he’s as ravenous as that beast and wants you all to himself. The irrational conclusion remains as such - irrational - when he descends to one knee and outstretches a hand. There’s an irrefutable kindness in his eyes; a caring nature that can’t be replicated in the face of savage brutes.

"You okay?" he asks.

You continue to gawk without a word but, bit by bit, you reach out for his offer. Your fingers lightly trace the centre of his palm before comfortably trusting the proposal. His hand engulfs yours completely and Raph hopes to mercy that you don’t realise how sweaty he’s getting. He can feel his heart beating like crazy. He wonders how much of that is the adrenaline from the fight and how much of it is being in the presence of such a beautiful gal. As he helps you to your feet, he rises to his own. Someone of his stature shouldn’t be capable of being this delicate but he is. It has you running through a loop and you unintentionally stare at the remarkable behemoth.

Quite pathetically, you nod, unable to verbally respond to his question. How can you? You are effectively starstruck. Once you gloss over the turtle-y features, all you see is the sheer size of him as he towers over you. Height, width, the magnitude of those arms! All of it is glorious. You can hear the universe asking, “You want a big man, huh? How about one who isn’t human?” to which you answer, “Who gives a damn?”. If the only way a man can be this big is not to be human, so be it.

Amidst a whisper, your mouth moves on its own, "You're beautiful."

"What?"

"Huh?" Blinking out of your trance, you realise what you’ve said and giggle sheepishly, "I mean, you're be... ba... booming! Totally awesome with the whole- uh... saving thing." Nailed it. 

He blinks right back down at you. This is certainly a first. He can feel his face heating up and he withdraws his hand lest you endure the wrath of his bashfulness, opting to hold the back of his head. At this moment, he seems to look anywhere but you.

"Heh. Gee, thanks." His humility is adorable and you’re glad he doesn’t question your initial statement. He turns to you once more, regaining some composure. "You sure you're okay, though? That thing was pretty scary looking."

It’s clear that you haven’t sustained any physical injuries but even bearing witness to something so unsightly can have lasting effects on one's mind. His brows furrow gently in concern down at you and it occurs to you that there’s a soft heart under all of that shell and muscle. Bonus points. This makes you smile for the first time in front of him and Raphael is sure that the streetlights got brighter.

You laugh fondly, “Yeah, I’m okay. Thank you.” Twiddling your fingers, your lips purse up in his direction.  “Is there any way I can repay you?”

He places his hands on his hips and chuckles cutely, “Just doing my duty, ma’am.”

He may be indulging in his alter ego - the Red Angel of Preventing Harm - but it’s not every day he gets paid thanks when he saves someone. It’s also not every day he gets to save such a pretty woman, either. You, however, can’t just leave it at that. There must be some way in which you can properly thank him. Ulterior motives include getting to know this already loveable lug better but shh. It feels like the odds are finally turning in your favour and you won’t let this slip away from your grasp. That’s when it hits you.

Muttering under your breath, you erratically search through the confines of your little handbag. You are certain that you had one in here somewhere. In the spare pocket maybe? Ah! Found it. Fumbling to take the lid off of your pen, you hold out your hand, gesturing for his. He slowly complies, to which you jot down a series of digits on his palm accompanied by your name and a tiny 'x'. 

"Gimme a text sometime," is the last thing he hears before you disappear around a corner.

Oh? Oh. Ohhh. Wow. Getting your number is the last thing he expected. Did he get hit on the head during that scuffle or something? Was everything from the last few minutes a dream? He bores holes into the writing on his skin, scanning it over and over, scared that it’ll disappear if he so much as blinks. A dumb, wobbly smile not so gracefully decorates his lips as he trudges back to the turtle tank. He takes his seat but it’s obvious that he isn’t all there. Being so caught up in his rose-tinted bubble, he doesn’t register his brothers' voices. In an effort to gain his attention, Michelangelo jumps onto his shoulder, partly intrigued by what their leader is so absorbed by.

"Oh me gosh!” the young brother screams in shrill excitement, “Raph's in love!"

Careful not to smudge the neat ink, he’s quick to hide his hand against his chest. "That's crazy talk!”

Donatello sniffs the air and mockingly covers his nose. "The overwhelming manifestation of your nervous stink indicates otherwise, dear brother."

"I got a girl’s number!” he continues to defend, feeling his face go all kinds of red. “'Course, I'm nervous but that don’t mean I’m in love."

Lies and slander. It was practically love at first sight. He just doesn’t like the idea of his brothers knowing that. It’s easy pickings to be made fun of.

"Don't worry, Big Red. Lucky for you, you got a guy who knows all about the charm." Leonardo points both thumbs at himself as he falls back into his seat and props his legs up on the dashboard. "First, you just need to..."

The "helpful" advice drowns out as the large snapper opens and gazes at his palm again. He just can't comprehend how a gorgeous individual such as yourself could take one look at him and give him your number. It's puzzling but he supposes there’s a first for everything? That also doesn't mean he won't text you. The only thing getting in the way of that is fear. Raphael thinks he’d rather go toe-to-toe with that mutant dog again than have to face the risk of embarrassing himself. To anyone who knows him, it’s no surprise that he caves under pressure. No. He will do it! A chance like this is one in a million.

Oh boy. What could possibly go wrong?

#apologies #i am very ill #what's new #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt x reader #rottmnt x reader #x reader #raphael #rise raph #rise raphael #raphael x reader #tmnt raphael #rottmnt raph #raph tmnt #raph x reader #fem reader #female reader #silly #fluff

[talaok]

Love your writing!!!! I’m obsessed! Can you do one where a mutual friend sets Pedro and (y/n) on a blind date? Xoxo

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x reader

a/n: thank you love, and thank you for the really cute request💗💗

Why did I agree to this?

This is not like me. Not even close to how I am.

I don't go on blind dates, I don't even have Tinder for fucks sake, that's how much I don't like hanging out with strangers.

It had taken Julie a whole night and more drinks than you'd like (or could) remember to make you agree to this, and as soon as you woke up the next morning, regret had settled into your chest like a fucking life sentence, but as much as you would have loved to call your friend up and tell her how much of a mistake you had made, a part of you couldn't help but wonder how bad could it really be.

It had been a while since you'd been on a date, and from what Julie had said, this Pedro looked like a nice enough guy, so you had taken the downright mental decision to not tell her you'd changed your mind, decision that, as you walked into the restaurant, you were starting to really regret.

he waved at you as you entered, and as you walked closer and he stood up from the table, a part of that regret couldn't help but shimmer out of your mind.

He was... handsome.

The photos Julie had shown you didn't do him any justice.

"hi" you smiled nervously "I'm y/n" you said, shaking his hand

"I'm Pedro, it's nice to meet you"

He had a nice smile, very comforting and very much matching yours in terms of nervousness.

It had been a while for him too.

And the photos Julie had shown him definitely didn't do you justice either.

He had never been good at talking to such beautiful women.

"nice to meet you too," you said, sitting down opposite to him.

"so" he cleared his throat after a few moments of embarrassing silence "umh- How are you?"

A smile pulled at your lips "I'm good, thank you" you nodded "what about you?"

"oh I'm- I'm nervous" he let out a small chukle, making you laugh softly.

"yeah, me too" you said "It's been a while"

"yeah, for me too" he confessed "and you are... well you're very beautiful, so you're not making things easier for me"

A soft blush crept up your cheeks but you managed to chukle nonetheless.

"Well I'm sorry, I'll go into the bathroom and take off some of my makeup if that'll help"

He laughed at that "No, no I don't think that will be necessary, but thank you for offering"

"anytime" you joked

"So umh, Julie told me you're a writer"

"Yup, that's me" you smiled

"That's incredible"

"Oh c'mon you're an actor, now that's incredible" You raised an eyebrow

"Oh no no, I just repeat stuff that's been written for me in front of a camera, you create whole stories from your imagination" he debated "That's far more impressive"

You rolled your eyes playfully, as your smile got only wider.

"You're a real flatterer you know that Pedro?"

"Who, me?" he grinned, putting a hand on his chest at the accusation "I'm just speaking the facts" he spoke, making you huff a laugh "so what do you write about?"

"all sorts of things, I don't really have a genre" you explained "I've written sad stuff, romantic stuff, creepy stuff..." you shrugged "It mostly depends on my mood"

"that's nice" he nodded,

"and what about you, are you working on something right now?" you asked

"I've just been cast in a tv-show"

"really? What show, if I may ask"

"Oh it's umh- It's the Mandalorian, it's in the Star Wars universe"

"oh my god" your eyes widened in surprise "You're joking right?"

"nope" he smiled "yeah trust me, I was pretty freaked out myself"

"Oh my god" you breathed, "I think I need a moment to take this in"

"I take it you like Star Wars?"

"like?" you laughed "I've grown up watching Star Wars, My brother and I know every single line to The Return of the Jedi, I-" you stopped yourself "I think I just fell in love with you Pedro, I think we ought to get married as soon as possible"

"Well that was easy" he chuckled

"How are you not freaking out?" you asked, watching him as if he were an alien doing cartwheels

"I think you're doing enough of that for the both of us" he joked

"Yeah I really am, aren't I?" you smiled, coming back down to earth a little bit "it's just- that's crazy. I'm- I'm really happy for you"

"Thank you" he flashed you a smile, and that's when you noticed that it wasn't only his smile that was comforting, but his eyes too, they were so incredibly... expressive.

The rest of the dinner went by so smoothly you completely forgot you hadn't known this man your whole life, but in fact, just met him two hours ago.

"Well, I... I had a really great time y/n" he smiled, looking nervous again all of a sudden as you stopped in front of your car. 

"Me too" you grinned 

"So, since I have your number..." he cleared his throat "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind me calling you sometime soon, to umh- to maybe do this again?"

Your heart started beating a little bit faster

"I'd love that Pedro"

"Oh thank God" he let out a sigh of relief

"You were nervous I'd say no?" you asked, doing a poor job of hiding your shock

"well... yeah"

"I proposed to you during the first five minutes of this date, of course I want to see you again" you laughed

"well I suppose that's true" he chuckled, letting his eyes take you in one last time "So umh, have a good night" he said " I can't wait to see you again"

"me either" you beamed "have a good night Pedro"

And as you watched him walk away, you couldn't help but smile up at the sky.

Thank god I didn't call Julie back

#shockingly I don't like how this turned out #pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal blurb #pedro pascal fluff #pedro pascal x fem reader #pedro pascal one shot #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x female reader #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal imagine #the last of us #joel miller #tlou #the mandalorian #javier peña #pedro pascal x you #pedro pascal x y/n #Pedro Pascal #fluff #daddy pascal #pedrohub #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #pedrito

[akunya]

eiiiiii the idea of getting private meeting with camboy vox HELLO. you make me suffer for good stuffs every single day 😭💦 can you spoil me a little bittttt. - 🐱

“private session.”

pairings: camboy!vox akuma x male!reader

summary: congrats, lucky winner! because of your generous donations, vox reached out wanting to thank you in person. things, however, take a turn.

tw: DRUGGING, yandere, manipulation, voice fetish. camshows, drinking, implied noncon. age gap, etc.

notes: last fic of 2022! im posting this mere minutes from midnight, so please pardon any mistakes. ill go back and edit this a bit later.

and yes, i can write a part 2 if you truly wish. sorry for cucking you guys, again..

happy new year everyone, thank you for such an amazing 2022. i hope to write much more in the future!

“im at the right place, aren’t i..?” you mumbled to yourself, frigid, clammy hands swiping your phone to make sure the location was right. the restaurant looked a bit trendy and sophisticated, somewhere you wouldn't dare step inside on your own. you and vox both agreed on a restaurant to meet at around eight o'clock. to be truly honest with yourself, you never thought you’d have the guts to do something like this — but when vox, the streamer who you’ve been watching for months daily and donating to everyday reached out to you personally, how could you say no?

nonetheless, sitting across from him at the table really made you wish you had refused.

for one, he was much too ethereal to be in your lowly presence. the camera didn’t do him justice at all — his pale skin was a nice contrast to his black hair, adorned by his signature red highlights. he even wore the red eye makeup that you loved to look at, except now, you could see his mouth and bottom half of his face, uncovered by the black mask he would usually wear. his lips looked so soft, and when his tongue darted out to lick them you were nearly going to faint. we’re those.. fangs? his canines were sharp, and you felt like a pervert for staring so intensely.

you quickly paid your respects to the other fans who would never know that vox, a niche but popular adult streamer, was a truly beautiful man in person.

you didn't even notice how silent it had gotten between the two of you. “no need to be so quiet. i don’t bite, i promise.” vox’s sweet voice snapped you out of your thoughts, apologizing profusely for zoning out so much. “you’re right! im sorry, ive just never done anything like this before..” you chuckled awkwardly, shifting in your chair while vox just smiled. he found your skittishness adorable. you reminded him of a scared little bunny — and he was the big bad wolf, ready to eat you up whole.

"what a shame. and here i was thinking you do this quite often, with how you accepted my request and all." the demon smirked at how your face flushed, becoming a stuttering mess. you should've expected it, but he was just as snarky in person as he was on his live shows. as your little meeting continued, vox realized he enjoyed your presence much more than he thought. the night was filled with friendly but interesting conversation, and for once, the demon didn’t feel forced to keep speaking.

at first, he debated on meeting with you in person. what if the person who donated nearly thousands to him each month turned out to be not as pleasant as he hoped? while the demon wouldn't be surprised, he would be a tad disappointed with all of the free shoutouts he's given to you. still, with you being his top donator for a while now, he felt compelled to show some form of graciousness. a little present, just in time for the holidays.

vox enjoyed streaming more than he thought he would. even though he could use his voice and other demonic powers for much grander, sinister things - for some reason, using them to tease and drain the wallets of his viewers was surprisingly just as satisfying. doing this, he never had to worry about getting a silly job like most humans did, letting the demon truly relax when he wasnt tampering with cameras and himself.

but, you, however - vox liked how shy and nervous you were. it awakened a sick monster inside of him, that wanted to see you cry and beg for mercy at his fingertips. he thought his days of toying with mortals was over, but unfortunately (or fortunately?) for you, you seemed to rekindle that fire in his heart. if he didn't know any better, he would've never expected you to be someone that watches adult streams online, let alone spend money on them.

taking advantage of how anxious you were, vox continued to ask questions about yourself, forcing you to blurt out answers in hopes of not screwing up. "so, what do you like about my streams, y/n?" the male swiveled the wine in his glass nonchalantly, golden eyes looking into yours, awaiting an answer. you gulped, shakily drinking yours as well.

"um, well, you're the first streamer i've ever really watched for.. that sort of stuff. i initially liked how your voice sounded, and wanted to hear more, but i ended up staying for your little stories and when you'd talk about yourself. you just seemed really nice." it was a bit embarrassing when you had said it aloud, but it was the truth. you enjoyed the moments where the demon would just ramble the most. of course, given the content of his streams, most of the things he'd speak about were so dirty it made your ears feel hot - however, there were moments where he'd just talk about his day, and you seemed to enjoy those the most.

it was vox's turn to blush, his grip tightening on the wine glass ever so slightly. how could a mere mortal make him feel so... flustered? hes had his fair share of affairs over many decades, however, never has he felt so vulnerable. the demon was expecting you to talk about his cock or something, but of course your innocent little head wouldnt do that. you should be thankful vox isn't a cannibalistic demon, or he seriously would've eaten your heart out by now.

therefore, the man didnt feel any remorse when you went to the bathroom and he slipped a drug into your drink while you were away.

it wasnt his fault - how was he supposed to let you go after today? someone as sinless and pure as yourself needed to be his. vox wouldnt be content with letting you go back to being another viewer behind the screen, not after your little meeting. the demon knew truly that you probably wouldn't refuse going home with him, but that also didnt guarantee you'd accept his offer. he considered the drug just a bit of a push in the right direction, if you will.

"sorry for taking so long. there was a line outside, so.." your voice trailed off, going back to your seat as the older man simply chuckled. why did you feel the need to explain yourself? it didn't matter how long you took, even if you tried to run now, vox would surely find you. pouring some more wine for himself, he filled his glass a bit more to match yours. you tried to tell him you weren't too keen or interested in alcohol at the beginning of your little date, but the demon wouldn't take no for an answer. "y/n, lets have a toast, shall we?" his held up his glass expectantly towards you, waiting for you to clink the rim with your own.

you hesitated for a moment. the smell of wine never enticed you, but seeing vox wait earnestly made your heart flutter. one glass shouldn't hurt, right?

you simply nodded, the familiar clank of glass against glass being shared between you two before drinking. you drank a majority of the wine, only leaving a small amount left. "good boy. its good, isnt it?" you nearly sputtered the drink back up from the praise, nodding again and drinking the rest in one gulp. it was much different hearing his words of affirmation in person. it felt addicting, unreal.

"thats it. a toast for the new year, my boy. im excited for the memories we shall make together. aren't you?" oh, did vox mean his streams? of course you looked forward to those, how could you not! he was the highlight of your day, making you smile and laugh. "mhm! im excited. im looking forward to your streams, vox." the demon felt a shiver roll down his spine, suppressing a groan. he could get used to you saying his name. he wanted to hear you say it in other ways, too.

"i hope we can get more.. personal, as well, y/n. it was truly delightful being here with you." the man had such a way with words, making you swoon. was he this nice with everyone? no wonder he had so many followers! while you didnt know the true extent to what he had implied, you agreed, telling him that you were happy you came out today.

of course you were. you were his little rabbit, frail and gullible, unknowing of the big bad wolf sitting across from your very table. he truly wondered just how oblivious you could be, but much to his delight, he'd find out soon enough. your eyes started to feel heavy, zoning out while he talked about random things to keep you occupied.

"goodness, y/n, are you alright? you look a bit pale. here, let me take you back to my place. i don't live far at all." his voice was sickeningly sweet, how could you deny his offer? you nodded drowsily, letting the man hold you to steady your balance.

the cold air of the outdoors didnt phase you, and neither did it bother vox. peering at your sleeping face, he smiled, leaning in to kiss the top of your forehead.

"happy new years, y/n. lets have fun together." vox whispered in your ear, turning the corner towards his apartment.

#my askbox.. #male reader #mlm blog #male reader blog #nijisanji x reader #nijisanji en x reader #my fics.. #🐱 anon #luxiem x reader #vox akuma x m!reader #vox akuma x male reader #yandere vox akuma #vox akuma #vox akuma x reader #luxiem x y/n #luxiem x m!reader #luxiem x male reader

[raeynbowboi]

Mystery Inc as a DnD Party

I figured as long as we're still in the vicinity of spooky season, I'd build everyone's favorite gang of teenage mystery solvers as a collective unit. Pulling from their group dynamic to come up with a party roster that will give everyone in the party a designated role.

FRED JONES

PALADIN || OATH OF THE CROWN

INVESTIGATOR BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion

Freddie is the dimwitted but lovable himbo leader of the team. He's also the muscle, except in moments of athletic skill, when he's outshined by Daphne. His backstory isn't always consistent, but he's usually a jock of some sort. He's not usually all that book smart, but he has a good heart, and inspires his team to success. Paladins who swear an Oath to the Crown hold law and justice above all else, and Fred usually enjoys catching the bad guys and seeing justice served.

DAPHNE BLAKE

BARD || COLLEGE OF LORE

NOBLE BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Performance

As surprising a choice as this might seem, Bard is actually a very appropriate choice for Daphne. Modern Daphne is the most supportive and emotionally intelligent member of the group. From What’s New Scooby-Doo? to Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, Daphne has become the emotional powerhouse of the group. Sensing when her friends are off their game, and offering sage advice to her friends when they need it. She’s also become a very creative girl, skilled in singing, dancing, fashion, design, and more. She’s grown to be the group’s resident skill monkey, almost on par with Velma’s uncanny encyclopedic knowledge on all brainy subjects. If a lock needs picking or the gang needs to get out of a trap, you can count on Daphne to have a nail file, bobby pin, or something else on her person to save the day. She's typically also the face of the group when it's not Fred, meaning she's going to want high Dexterity and Charisma. I chose Lore because Daphne is a reporter in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and this is the only real career she's ever had. A lore bard is basically a more magical reporter, and singing the tale of her group's mysterious endeavors.

VELMA DINKLEY

ARTIFICER || ARTILLERIST

SAGE BACKGROUND

Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature

Velma was the most debatable one for me, as she could be a wizard or an artificer. And I was really leaning toward Wizard, but I had to stay true to Velma's character. She's been a tinkerer and a gadgeteer for a long time now. Velma is absolutely fascinated by robotics. But while Velma in our world can handwave superstitious nonsense, in a world with gods, demons, and real ghosts, I could absolutely see Velma using her knowledge to become a powerful wizard. I even considered the Knowledge Domain Cleric because it's basically designed to be a magical detective, and if Velma was going to worship a deity, it'd be a god of knowledge and reading. Ultimately, I did choose Artificer as it was more in-line with her base character as a skeptic and a scientist, but she would work as a Wizard. Plus, as is, Daphne is the only full-caster in the party.

NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS

RANGER || CONCLAVE OF THE BEAST MASTER

GUILD ARTISAN BACKGROUND || COOKS & BAKERS

Skills: Animal Handling, Investigation, Stealth, Survival

No surprises here, Shaggy and Scooby are a bonded pair, and the two were going to be joined to each other one way or another. Scooby is technically a Beast of the Land, and there's no Great Dane stat block, so call him a Mastiff if you need to. You can't really build Scooby by himself per se. There's no dog race unless you go Custom Lineage or something, and even then, I'd struggle to assign Scooby a class as he's mostly an animal sidekick. Make sure Shaggy picks up Cooks Untensils and proficiency with them so he can become the party's designated camp chef.

Ultimately, I'm happy with how the team turned out. Fred's the tanky and bulky frontliner, Velma can use her robotics to help solve mysteries, Daphne is the face on top of having so many skills, and Shaggy works with Scooby. Inadvertently, they're also all classes with access to healing spells. So, while I suspect Daphne being the sole full caster will probably assume primary role of group healer, everyone is capable of healing each other up. Making this a great group of supportive friends taking care of each other.

#happy halloween #Halloween #scooby doo #Scooby-Doo #fred jones #daphne blake #velma dinkley #shaggy rogers #shaggy and scooby #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd 5e #dungeons & dragons #dnd party

[atlas-likes-writing]

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

PROLOGUE: He Is

Summary: An alternate universe where Jason Todd never dies to the Joker - but someone else does.

Nothing is truly set in stone. Even meticulously crafted calligraphy on a headstone eventually withers away under the elements until nothing remains legible. It becomes difficult to make out who died, when they did so, and by whom's hand. In times of need, you need to learn who to trust and to what extent. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. No one ever has any idea who holds the knife at your back.

Word count: 1157

Characters: Jason Todd/Robin, Bruce Wayne/Batman (mentioned), Dick Grayson/Nightwing (mentioned), Alfred Pennyworth (mentioned).

Tags: Long fic, angst if you squint, mentions of prostitution but not for Jason, weaponry (guns), Robin Jason

A/N: The first of many chapters for a long fic I will be working on! Updates may be a little inconsistent, but I am to be posting chapters at least every month or so. Comments and reblogs are much appreciated! Asks are always open <3

AO3 | Account Masterlist |

Batman is power.  

He is a god. He is a concept. He is both myth and legend. He is an entity of such destructive prowess that death dare not approach him. He is a bedtime story you tell your children before they go to sleep at night. He is the shadow that darkens the doorsteps of those who harm others. He fights for the safety of the people in his city, his domain, and his family – and he is excellent at it.  

Bruce Wayne is wealth.  

He is human. He is mortal. He is flesh and blood and bones. He is wealthy but does not abuse the power that comes with it. He is the newspaper article on the front page. He is the pair of scissors that cuts the ribbon for the new hospital or library or school or food bank. He fights for the welfare of the people in his city, his domain, and his family – and he is excellent at it.  

Nightwing is strength.  

He is the glue that binds the two. He is the compassionate in-between. He has blood and bones, and he bleeds and breaks but there is something, something in his soul that makes him not entirely human. He is not the shadow like his father before him; instead, he is the opposite. He is the light that keeps the darkness at bay. He makes sure hope exists even when the mighty Dark Knight is consumed by his own demons. Even legends need compassion.  

Dick Grayson is justice.  

He fights for equality in a more legal setting. He is handcuffs and police hats and turn around slowly with your hands on your head! He is donuts and sunglasses and yes ma’am, your cat is fine. I have her here. He is one of the good ones. He is family and love, just like his fathers – both biological and adopted – before him. He is a son and a father and a brother and a husband with the capability of love so profound it shocks his own family. He also has a deafening, cacophonous rage within him. One he keeps hidden away and contained in neat glass bottles that has been carefully brewing since he was eight years old. A rage he keeps in check for his own sake. A rage that drove Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson apart.  

Robin is passion.  

He is youth and childhood wonder. He is backflips and cartwheels and beating up bad guys who did bad things. He works his hardest and sometimes that isn’t enough but that’s okay. He is a child. He is red tunics and yellow capes and green trunks that are borderline underwear but he’s working on a new prototype anyway. He has much to learn.  

Jason Todd is perseverance.  

He is youth that grew up too fast. He is lockpicks and crowbars and a petty criminal reformed. He is Jane Austen and George Orwell and J.R.R Tolkien and the other great minds of literature. He is intelligence and irresponsibility and growth and immaturity. He has the capability to do anything he sets his mind to with the backing of his loved ones behind him. He has much to learn.  

Some debate angrily and with shaking fists that he is a child soldier; a victim manipulated by the Big Bad Bat. Others would calmly point out that he is turning eighteen in a week – a fact that Jason is dreading – and that he has no other family except for the aforementioned “Big Bad Bat” and his butler. He’s been in the vigilante game since he was twelve and it’s taking its toll. The constant juggling of vigilante work, maintaining appearances at the school he’s too intelligent for, and trying (and failing) to be a normal, untraumatised boy is creating cracks in the not-so-impenetrable walls he carefully developed out of crumbling concrete in his mind.   

It’s only when he’s out on patrol with his pseudo-father that he has a clear head. It’s easy to forget what haunts you when you’re in the process of making new ghosts. It’s easy to use fists and fancy bat-gadgets to punch through his problems instead of, y’know, talking about why he has problems in the first place. Therapy failed him as most things do. Psychiatrist after psychiatrist listened to his qualms, but they don’t help when he already understands why he’s the way he is. It’s a catch 22: he’s fucked both mentally and emotionally, and he knows what makes him fucked and what to do to help himself, but he can’t do anything to make it better no matter how hard he tries. He wants to be better – he'd do anything to not be the way he is – he just can’t. It makes him want to run away; to take flight with canary wings and retake his mental freedom.  

On patrol, he’s free. It’s like a video game: point and shoot. Except he’s not allowed to use guns, which sort of sucks. The prostitutes and escorts on the streets where he grew up taught him how to use one safely in case of emergencies. A warning came alongside it, of course. “Don’t you ever use a gun to take a life, darlin’ – only to save it.” It was said by one of the oldest and wisest ladies who had been on the streets since she was his age at the time. Little eight-year-old Jason Todd took that to heart. Those words of wisdom have stuck with him ever since and is the reason why Alfred hasn’t told Bruce about the pistol under his mattress yet. It was originally under his pillow, but the ex-spy pointed out the safety concerns of doing so to pre-teen Jason, so they compromised. Bruce would, of course, lose his shit if he found out – so it’s their little secret for now. It’s not like he would need to use it. Wayne Manor was a fortress. Not even the Man of Steel was able to sneak in without the Dark Knight noticing. It’s more for his own peace of mind. Such a thing is hard to come by for someone like him. A gun nearby puts him at ease, which is a bit backwards but hey – whatever helps.  

The point is: Jason Todd is a boy screwed over by the world and he’s on a war path to retake his freedom no matter the cost.  

“A luxurious cage will eventually wipe out the canary’s yearning for freedom.” That’s what Bruce thinks, at least. If he gives Jason a life better than what he had, he wouldn’t want to run. He wouldn’t want to fly away. Bruce needs him just as much as Jason wants to be needed.  

But even then, a luxurious house will only increase people’s tolerance for suffering. The cage will always be strong enough to imprison freedom. Wealth can’t solve everything, Bruce. Wild things always yearn to be wild.  

--

Reblogs appreciated!

#dc comics #batfamily #gotham #batman #dc #jason todd #robin jason todd #robin #bruce wayne #dick grayson #alfred pennyworth #fanfiction #dc fanfiction #dc fanfic #dcu fanfic #long fic #fanfics #fanfic #ao3 #ao3 fanfiction #ao3 link #ao3 writer #writers on tumblr

[perenians]

i should be sleeping and i'm only up to act two but. just thinking about how anders treats merrill like she's naive ("you don't pay attention to templars, qunari, or politics, but you notice kittens?", "do the dalish honestly not recognize the difference between demons and beneficial spirits?", "maybe you don't really understand the difference between spirits and demons.") when in reality merrill knows what danger she's courting from the very beginning ("anders...there's no such thing as a good spirit. there never was. all spirits are dangerous. i understood that. i'm sorry that you didn't.").

you could argue that anders is actually the naive one here—unlike merrill, he believes in a definite morality (though whether that's him or justice is up for debate), in good and bad, in the maker's goodness and the existence and certainty of sin. after leandra dies, anders says something about never thinking that a mage would do anything like quentin did (i can't find the line exactly, but it's enough to prove that he thinks of mages as being the "good guys").

merrill sees the world in grays, while anders with justice sees the world in black and white. i'm inclined to agree with merrill. the world, as is evident in thedas, is hardly ever in black and white or just and unjust. i'm not saying that one is better than the other, but anders'/justice's idealism and merrill's cynicism are treated very differently.

#anyway. beddy bye byes. #anders #merrill #da2 #per plays #dragon age #calm down per

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

Okay alright part 2 ive seen now. I think i can start to scribble down some rambly thoughts. Spoilers for Oceanic Magica against the volcanic witches part 1 and 2.

So this is going in a very different direction than I was expecting. First chapter, I wasn’t a big fan of this whole oceanic and volcanic witches segregation thing. Thought it was quite silly and that it made the witch part of the universe feel less diverse. Now my stupid ass is realizing that’s exactly the point.

So world of ice is currently more of a fantasy political drama. The world of the witches is divided between two parties that already don’t get along well which each other. They try their best to cooperate and make the magic world inhabitable and not destroy their entire system, but as we saw in the court of law in chapter one, it’s difficult. Both sides are screaming at each other during a legal session, can you imagine how their political debates are??

Their legal system is in shambles, as we saw when they tried to prosecute Magica and Grilla. The judges are 2 people, both incredibly biased to their own side, trying to make every session come out in their own favor. Magica literally gets a lighter sentence because she personally knows one of the judges.

The tensions between sea and volcanic witches are pretty high throughout their entire society (it seems they just get out more in court. Kinda like with football in our world), as we see in the second chapter as well. When the 7-2 volcanic witches arrive at Roberta’s (LETS GOOO BTW ROBERTA GOATED why is she so tall though) house and a bunch of sea witches arrive to help her, they immediately grab the chance to insinuate negative assumptions about them. And to make it even more clear, we have our villain proclaiming everything is going according to plan. Like it wasn’t obvious enough.

So let me lay it down ever more obviously. Basically it’s: witch society= two party system that doesn’t work. Bad guy is trying to stir up as much polarization as possible by framing two people from both factions as having committed a terrible crime. Those two people are Magica and Grilla fugitive lovers running away together trying to bring justice to the table and fix society. The whole ice world thing is just a metaphor for problems that we refuse to solve because we’d rather make the other look bad than working together.

So thats the basic gist of it for now. Im especially curious to see how Enna will handle it at the end. Now lets talk about the other fun stuff.

Grilla and Magica are still gay

Some nice character moments that are probably set ups for later (like how magica completely changes character the moment she sees the number one dime. Great scene now that i looked at it again)

Of course it’s not all politics. We also have a lot of great action sequences. And its still a MAGIC society in which this stuff is happening, and its all delightful.

AND ROBERTA KSKSBEKSKSM For some reason Facciotto made her like twice Magica’s height. Look at this.

They used to be the same height now magica has to stand on a stone WHAT DID THEY FEED HER

But I like Roberta she’s a sea witch which eh we’ll see how that turns out. Interesting that she has a whole island for herself. I thought she was more of a traveler. But nothing actually matters except for the fact that shes here and i love her.

Irma is in the magic equivalent of Coral Island. (OR IS SHE??? Oooooohh mysterious who is the figure walkinga round in her house then?) She looks like Juniper from pkna. I guess prison just makes you look younger. I’m gonna sit in a cell for a few weeks and see if my skin has gotten nicer.

The prison looks cool. I wouldn’t mind if it’s gonna be the main setpiece for next week. It honestly looks more interesting than Coral Island already but that could also be recensy bias.

Scrooge is a huge dick which is fun. Feels very Barks. Magica’s line to him: “I’m not a good person, but I would never want to get rich by profiting off a dying world”(very loose translation but thats the general vibe) is great. I’m not expecting anything special with him (he’a just a side character here after all), and you already know when he comes back he will have realized what is right and use what he got for good, but it’s still a nice classic Scrooge thing. It’s at least not DT17 or Rosa Scrooge. I’m sorry I love Gervasio but I’ve just seen too much Rosa Scrooge lately, so this is nice.

Have we talked about Facciotto yet? I feel like I have but I forgot. Doesnt matter because Facciotto deserves all the praise he can get. This is 100% his best work yet. Every single panel looks absolutely stunning. Feels like a completely different art style compared to like 10 years ago. New Facciotto begins here guys.

His designs for the new ocean witches are great too. Character wise i don’t really care that much, same with the volcanic witches. They kind of all blend together except for obvs Grilla.

So that was weekly rambly magica thoughts from me. Remember to ocean your witches okay love you bye

#magica de spell #disney comics #magica and the world of ice #ducktales #duck comics #who would have thought that magical political drama with magica de spell would be a good idea #only #bruno enna #guys i love him have i talked about how much i love bruno enna already #giuseppe facciotto

[communistkenobi]

Could you elaborate on the different ways that Qui Gon, Obi Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka and Luke defined Jedi or what it means to be a Jedi? I love to read your thoughts on stuff like this!

Yeah of course! I’m a bit rusty on Star Wars canon so this will be a bit more vague, but my general opinion is basically some version of the following:

imo Qui-Gon is billed in the canon as being a skeptic of the Jedi Order. He questions rules and determinations made by the Council, seems to dabble in conspiratorial or esoteric interpretations of Jedi theology or rules (iirc this is from Master & Apprentice), and seems to generally hold himself out as a contrarian. I don’t know if this manifests as a comprehensive critique of the Order, or if he just believes that pushback against institutional orthodoxy is inherently good. And you can probably critique his skepticism (he’s still an agent of the Order and by extension, the Republic), but like from what I remember in canon he is a guy who likes debating and questions his orders from the Council. My instinct is that he’s one of those anti-institution libertarian types, it’s not like a comprehensive critique of the Order but a more surface level desire to question authority (which, hey, no complaints in that regard lol). Now this is a separate question from how he views being a Jedi, but clearly some element of that is a moral obligation to “find a better way” to be a good person as a Jedi, to pushback on norms. He wants to be the minority opinion in the room, keeping the Council honest and all that jazz.

Which Obi-Wan fucking hated lol. Again pulling from M&A (mostly because it’s the most recent SW novel I’ve read with them in it), but Obi-Wan seems to be like this beleaguered bright-eyed student who has to put up with his Master’s bullshit antics. My personal view of Obi-Wan is a guy who fully buys into the Jedi Order as an institution that facilitates justice - he may critique the methods the Order uses or bend rules to get a better outcome (thinking of the 2016 Obi-Wan & Anakin comic here), but I think at the end of the day Obi-Wan believes the Order is a net-good for the world, believes in the mission of the Jedi to engage in diplomacy on the Republic’s behalf (I believe this is in conflict with his Legends characterisation, but iirc in the new canon he’s much more of a keener and I tend to like that interpretation more), and in his pursuit to be an ideal archetype of Jedi, he craves the legitimacy and prestige the Order confers onto his status as a Jedi Knight, especially as a Knight training The Chosen One. I think this is also why his death is integral to Luke’s story, as Luke had very different ideas about what a Jedi Order would look like and had Obi-Wan survived ANH, they likely would have fought bitterly about it.

Anakin I haven’t thought as much about, I think in general he was becoming a Jedi because that’s what everyone wanted him to be, and maybe he did have that dream at some point, but I think Anakin is mostly resigned to training and being knighted because that’s just how his life is going. He doesn’t seem to have a great deal of respect for the Order or Jedi customs (this informs a lot of his conflict with Obi-Wan), and he seems disinterested in furthering the Order’s political and social role in the Republic. He was actively hostile to taking Ahsoka on as a student, and I think his eventual fall from grace and turn towards the Sith marked this like, ultimate form of indulgence for him - a total rejection of his destiny, of all the expectations put on him, and a way to perform the perceived inadequacy that he was burdened with as a child. Like look dad, I’m the bad guy asshole everyone was so afraid I’d become! I’m not a Jedi and never could be! Fuck you!

Ahsoka I think has a much more developed version of the skepticism that we see from Qui-Gon, because she was confronted with the entire might of the Order and was cast out for a crime she didn’t commit. For her, being a Jedi is synonymous with institutional acceptance, and so if the Council doesn’t consider her to be a Jedi, then fuck that noise she’s not a Jedi. I think in terms of outlook you could say she’s still very Jedi-like, in the same vein as Luke, idealistic and self-sacrificing, but with Ahsoka it’s tinged with more cynicism and pragmatism than I think we see with Luke (at least in terms of the OT - I’m not familiar with the ST at all and don’t have a desire to engage with it so maybe later in life that’s a different story for him, idk). I think the loss of Anakin in particular also affects her a lot, and probably informs her non-attachment to a lot of people. She’s a drifter for personal safety reasons, but I also think she wouldn’t do well in a group long term (compared to someone like Kanan, who very much eschews the attachment rule and finds community with the Ghost crew). In that sense I think you could argue she’s a Jedi in practice but not in writing.

And Luke like. Idk where to even begin lol. He’s the only one of this group who was not brought up in the Order and has no formal training. Even Yoda and Obi-Wan’s training can’t substitute for growing up around other Jedi and being taught that kind of discipline and culture from a young age. He doesn’t have access to Jedi written teachings or Jedi history, he doesn’t place them in the same political context as the rest of his lineage does, experiencing the Jedi only as a bygone era, mysterious and ultimately fundamentally unknowable. Which means that his vision of Jedi-hood is probably “heretical” but also sort of a necessary new way forward, responding to what he perceives to be the failures of old Jedi teachings and ways of life. So for him Jedi-hood is a much more provisional affair, it is what he makes of it because he’s the guy who is literally making it. Which is ironic given that he’s literally THE original Jedi in the canon, like he’s how audiences are introduced to Jedi, but so much of that lore has been built up around him that he kind of becomes the odd one out. Which makes Filoni’s comment that he’s not really a Jedi sort of correct? Almost? Like I don’t actually really agree with it and his reasoning is idiotic, but Luke is not the traditional Jedi, he’s the origin point for an entirely new tradition. So he is a Jedi, very much so, but there is a break in tradition that can’t really be squared with the previous historical circumstances that created the Order. He has to forge a new way forward and reshape how Jedi exist and practice in a totally new context. Which is very cool!

#sw.txt #asks #sw meta #also thank you <3 sorry if any of the canon is wrong like I said I’ve forgotten a lot #honestly though this is fun. I need to get back into it

[utilitycaster]

Threatened this once as a throwaway tag, so: let's talk about why "Justice for Adeen Tasithar" as an attempted criticism of Essek is absolutely wild as a choice.

Disclaimer: there are many deeply annoying fans of Essek who do not seem to understand that the narrative and the cast (and by extension, merch/official art/comics) will treat him differently for being an NPC, even if he is a very important NPC and a member of the Mighty Nein, and you are justified in being annoyed. There are also a number of equally annoying Essek haters, most of whom are bitter shippers who have (correctly) realized it's slightly more palatable to others in the fandom to openly hate on Essek than on a PC; or else they are the miserable souls who think that every minute spent on a character other than their personal favorite stolen and wasted time. I am a firm believer in this post; everyone is annoying and complaining on your own blog about it is your absolute right. Also, both in regards to the fans mentioned above and the characters mentioned below, it is possible for people on two opposite sides of a position to both suck.

The first issue is the phrase itself; it co-opts a statement usually used for victims of hate crimes or political prisoners in the real world, and makes it unironically about a pretend guy who had precisely one scene, which is certainly a choice. I'm not actually opposed to using "Justice for" jokingly in fandom, but it is weird to use it relatively seriously in fandom.

The second is that Adeen Tasithar is a member of one of the Dens of the Kryn Dynasty, and is a Taskhand, a term reserved for people with high-level military responsibilities, and is a member of the Bright Queen's Court. During wartime. Coupled with the fact that Essek, who, as described below, is never portrayed as particularly cruel nor petty despite his many flaws, thinks Adeen genuinely does suck, this means that at best, Adeen Tasithar is heavily involved in military operations at a very high level and is in some way personally unpleasant. At, frankly, not even worst, we're talking D&D Donald Rumsfeld. Now, we can debate whether Essek is a war criminal or merely traitorous (not on this post though, because I don't care and it's not relevant), but, while we know very little about Adeen Tasithar, it's not an overreach to say that this man has a pretty strong chance of being guilty of his own war crimes. In general, calling for justice is something I'd hesitate to use in an "the enemy of my enemy" manner, especially if it's well within reason to consider that you're talking about Ludinus Da'leth's Kryn counterpart.

The third is that while you're under no obligation to like Essek, he really is, in general, portrayed as a decent judge of character and a terrible judge of whether selfishly following his own ambition was appropriate and what the consequences might be. He detests the members of the Cerberus Assembly with whom he works; he likes the Mighty Nein despite them ultimately being his potential undoing. He has a few friends in the Dynasty and cares about his (unambiguously good) brother, and feels remorse about his father. Essek has done terrible things in the service of his goals; but directly throwing an innocent under the bus (vs. setting into motion things that will, as a side effect, lead to innocent collateral damage, which he obviously will do) isn't his style. Again, at the very least, Adeen Tasithar is someone whom Essek genuinely believes is a bad person (note that Essek, by this time, also considers himself to be a bad person, and Trent Ikithon to be a "fuck hole", which might help your understanding of scale here). This doesn't mean Tasithar deserves what he got, but frankly, in a campaign about people who got a lot of things they didn't deserve, it's a pretty blatant straw-grasp onto a side character with the briefest of appearances to decide he's your poster boy victim just so that you can go full spiked bat on a character you dislike.

The fourth is that there's never any connection to how Essek not being friends with the Mighty Nein (or entering a relationship with Caleb) would provide justice for Adeen Tasithar, who is in an Empire prison by the end following the exchange during peace talks. It's actually entirely possible that the Empire eventually figures things out re: Adeen, notably because memory modification as a criminal act is going to be really fresh in their minds following the Ikithon trial (and if they interrogate Trent, it's also possible the Empire finds out about Essek). Essek is already a fugitive from the Dynasty and cannot move freely through the Empire as a drow whom assembly members would recognize. The guy didn't get off scot free anyway, so really, he is going to suffer to some extent; you just want him to experience abject and total misery, rather than constant fear tempered with a small degree of happiness, like some kind of sicko, or megachurch member.

The final one is that "justice for Yeza Brenatto" or "I don't like that Essek worked with the Assembly even if he wasn't happy about it" would actually be far more reasonable statements to make. Yeza was, in fact, a simple alchemist who was forced to become a pawn in the game being played by, among other people, Essek, and suffered immensely for it. The Assembly does in fact suck. And yet, rather than admit Caleb also considered working with the Assembly for selfish reasons, or that Veth, you know, exists people jump to woobify some random NPC about whom we know basically nothing other than "Military guy, well-connected politically."

So anyway: feel however you want about Essek; but if you're on Adeen Tasithar's bandwagon, I don't think you actually are terribly bothered by hypothetical fictional war crimes. I think you just are too spineless and online to say "I dislike Essek" and needed to construct an elaborate poor reason why.

#i feel like tagging this discourse is elevating it above what it is. this is straight up fanwank and I'm well aware of that #but if you need it tagged lmk #cr tag #queue

[nygmobblepot-trash]

Oswald gets a Twitter and it goes exactly how you would expect. This is a joke. Oswald is terrible here.

Ed: "We need a new strategy if you want to get reelected as Mayor."

Oswald: "No we don't. I always win."

Ed: "You've lost favor with the 18 to 30 demographics. My projects show that you're probably not going to win."

Oswald: "So what? Open a new park for the kid to play in?"

Ed: "Comments like that need to stop. Social medial is very popular. Most don't watch the news anymore. You could make an account and post your policies and interact with them."

Oswald: "Fine I'll interact with the poor."

Ed: "On second thought, I'll run it for you. You don't have to do anything."

*3 months after Ed made Oswald an Twitter. It is a very formal and boring Twitter. It oozes fakeness. Ed is mad that his plan isn't working. Oswald has just figured out the password.*

Oswald: "This doesn't sound like me at all! What are these replies?"

"Hi Ed."

"We know Oswald doesn't know how to use the internet."

"If you're going to post for Oswald you could at least not make it sound exactly like your twitter."

"Edward we know you are dying to post riddles, do it."

"How much do you guys want to bet that Oswald has no idea that this exists?"

"#LetOswaldTweet"

Oswald: "So much for Ed's plan, outsmarted by the general public. Oh wait. There's a news section on here?"

Oswald clicks the news tab and immediately sees a tweet with a picture of Ed and a man he has never seen before.

"Nygma's new fling?" The text reads.

Oswald immediately pushes the blue plus button and starts a new tweet.

"Edward Nygma is a whore." And pushes tweet.

Oswald then shuts his phone off and falls asleep on the couch without another thought.

3 hours later.

Ed: "Wake up!"

Oswald awakes to find a very angry Ed and Oswald's assistant.

Ed shoving his phone in Oswald's face: "What the actual hell is this?"

Oswald squints at the screen now blasting him with a bright light. When his eyes finally adjust he sees his Twitter profile.

Oswald: "I'm connecting with the younger generation." Oswald shrugged.

Ed: "This is not what I meant and you know that! I told you I'd deal with it!"

Oswald: "Yeah you were really connecting with three likes per tweet and no retweets... whatever the fuck that means."

Ed to the assistant: "I'm going to kill him."

The assistant: "...well I hate to say this but Oswald's tweet went viral."

Ed: "Yes it can be seen as a disgusting disease."

The assistant: "No it's a good thing. 300 thousand likes, 70 thousand retweets, and 95 thousand comments. You're both now trending on Twitter. #EdIsAWhore, EdIsntAWhore, and OswaldHacked. Are all trending."

Oswald: "Hacked?"

Ed: "They're debating if someone broke into your account and started tweeting like they were you."

Oswald: "Like I could get hacked."

Ed and the assistant walk away to discuss what to do. They're still in the room just farther away from Oswald.

Oswald taking offense to the hacking comments decides to prove it is him. As Ed argues with the assistant, Oswald takes a picture of Ed and quickly types a new tweet.

It takes 15 minutes for Ed to notice what Oswald has done.

Ed: "OSWALD COBBLEPOT WHY IS MY ASS TRENDING ON TWITTER?"

Oswald: "This app is great."

Ed: "What does this even mean?"

"That tweet was as real as Ed's ass"

Oswald: "They needed to know as mayor I cannot be hacked. I'm too strong. I gave you a complement. Your ass is real, is it not?"

Assistant: "That is harassment."

Ed: "Why did someone reply with your picture that they edited with a yellow sponge licking me. What does that even mean?"

Oswald: "What?" He quickly starts reading the comments.

Ed reading off the replies:

"God damn."

"I see why Oswald thirsts for Ed."

"Oswald is down bad for real."

"I could fix him."

"Good for him."

"The riddle suits aren't doing you justice."

"I could make him worse."

"Can I vote for Ed's butt?"

"RiddleDaddy"

"I'm about to risk it all."

"You guys shouldn't be thirsting for him. Aren't you afraid what Oswald will do?"

"His ass is worth it. See you all on the otherside."

"Maybe Ed isn't a whore. He can't help it if everyone wants a piece."

"Yall need therapy."

"His ass is a 10 but he constantly says riddles."

Ed: "Wow. I didn't know I was this popular. You know what? This was a good move. Your assistant says you're up 12 points."

Oswald: "Fuck that! How do I delete this? Why do they all want you? That isn't allowed! Of course you'd be into this you God damn attention whore."

Ed: "This is your punishment. Deal with it. I changed the password."

Oswald: "Ed no!"

Ed: "I have 3 thousand new followers. Cool."

Oswald: "They just want picture of your ass. They don't care about your riddles!"

Ed: "You don't care either."

Oswald: "I love your stupid riddles! Delete your account and tell me more."

Ed: "...No."

#gotham #edward nygma #nygmobblepot #oswald cobblepot

[hypmicdaydreams]

hello! is it possible for me to request beloved samatoki with “[Holds the other’s hand when they think the other won’t notice]”? thank you in advance!

Ofc! Hope I did 'toki justice~ Enjoy 💙

soft sentence starters: [Holds the other’s hand when they think the other won’t notice]

-pairing: samatoki aohitsugi x gn!reader

-genre: fluff

-word count: ~530

samatoki has been eyeing your hand for a while now, though you don’t seem to take any notice.

it’s so tempting and so alone, and he figured that it’d be cold by now since you were prone to freezing up quick. his hand twitches followed by the skip of his heart, though ‘toki inadvertently grunts and pulls back. he couldn’t..

truthfully, samatoki had been feeling a bit touch-starved all day. but he’d never admit that; samatoki would never admit that he’d been cranky all day, missing your touch. he even got close to beating up a few subordinates because of how on edge he’d been. seriously, he couldn’t wait to go home and go on that date with you, though now that he was on it, samatoki couldn’t gather the guts to just hold your hand — not when you’re watching, at least. he had a bit of tsundere tendencies after all.

“is something up, ‘toki?” you ask. of course, you notice that something is up with your boyfriend. samatoki isn’t exactly discrete, especially with his grunts. plus, he’s been offhandedly looking at you then back towards the scene for a while now — back and forth. there’s definitely something on his mind, you raise a brow.

the way you cutely tilt your head to the side makes him all warm, and ‘toki grumbles once more. the touch starved feeling comes back, and his hand twitches a little once more.

“nah, it’s nothin.’” he won’t admit to it. samatoki shrugs it off, coolly so, as if he wasn’t debating on just going with it and holding your hand. mm, he really wants to hold your hand; it’s all he’s been craving all day. but he’d wait until you weren’t paying attention. that’s when he’d strike, and samatoki would slip his hand into yours.

you’re not entirely convinced at samatoki’s answer, but you decide not to push it with your hotheaded boyfriend and go with the flow. you guys were supposed to be on a date around yokohama after all (without handholding, which is utterly blasphemous).

and you’re not looking right now, so samatoki takes the chance and slips his hand right into yours.

it’s so warm, samatoki quickly realizes it, and it eases him almost immediately. the tension in his shoulders is gone, and he’s visibly happy, or as happy as samatoki could get. this..is what he had wanted all day, he sighs. the feel of your touch, how your hand feels so good — samatoki holds your hand tight, relishing in it. he feels much better now.

though when you squeeze his hand tight, samatoki flushes warm. oh, so you knew, he grumbles to himself, all flustered. it shouldn’t be that flustering, but it totally is for the resident yokohama bad boy. he wanted to do so without you knowing of course, to hold hands with you; samatoki had a reputation to uphold after all.

well, he was a softie for you and only you anyway. samatoki gives your hands a quick squeeze back, flushed cheeks and averting his gaze with you. well, this was fine. though he’s still not too happy that you managed to catch him off guard.

#asks #requests #hypmic #fluff #gender neutral reader #soft sentence starters #samatoki aohitsugi #samatoki x reader #hypnosis mic #me acting as if I don’t struggle with toki lmao #hope you enjoy though!!

[lakesbian]

(CW for discussion of sexual abuse, because you can’t make a post about alec vasil without mentioning sexual abuse at least once)

you know how i mentioned alec’s DIY’d shitshow of an ethics system leaning on the idea that eye-for-an-eye is good? there’s some interesting interactions between that and taylor’s system of ethics. 

it’s really funny that in shell 4.2 taylor says she doesn’t believe in “that whole eye for an eye business,” and then she promptly graduates to Literally removing both lung and valefor’s eyes in really horrifying ways by justifying it with...the exact same principles she’s disagreeing with alec for having in shell 4.2

despite what she says in her debate with alec, they end up with very similar mindsets. alec thinks that sophia deserves assault^1 because she assaulted taylor. taylor thinks that valefor doesn’t deserve mercy because of what he’s done. both of them decide who it’s acceptable to hurt by sorting people into mental categories of “good/undeserving of retribution and thus not ok to hurt” and “bad/deserving of retribution and thus ok to hurt”--the main difference is that taylor’s judgments allow more room for nuances regarding what type of retributive violence she views as permissible because she hasn’t been as numbed to all types of violence as alec has. (there’s also the distinction that alec is primarily concerned with small-scale punitive justice in perceived defense of him & his friends, whereas taylor is often concerned with “the greater good” or other larger-scale goals and deciding who is a justifiable/necessary sacrifice for it.) 

alec has the eye for an eye mindset before taylor does, but i wouldn’t be surprised if she ultimately reinforces it in him. he’s aware his own ethics system is a DIY’d shitshow and actively takes cues from the other undersiders to refine his behavior, which is why he’s so interested in arguing with taylor about sophia. he’s genuinely invested in trying to get his head around her moral philosophy. he obscures the reason he’s missing her rationale behind the vaguely-phrased “i’m not smart like you guys are,” but he does admit that he knows he’s missing something, and does admit he knows he’s missing whatever that something is because he’s lacking a mental quality everyone else has. 

when she suggests removing valefor’s eyes, he leaves the ultimate ethical decision up to her, because he’s not sure, but he’s fairly certain this sort of thing isn’t great?--and then he speaks up in agreement with the idea when her justification for it reinforces what he already believes, which is that eye-for-an-eye is good. her explanation of why the violence is permissible neatly satisfies both of their moral philosophies. despite taylor’s tendency to judge him as Ontologically Evil for his lack of empathy, they think in similar ways, and she actually tends to solidly reinforce his own beliefs when he looks at her for moral guidance.

^1 interesting note here is that alec isn’t capable of distinguishing between sexual assault and physical assault--he’s viewing it as “assault = assault, and sophia assaulted her, so why can’t she assault sophia back?” with no understanding that sexual violence is implicitly supposed to be viewed as more unacceptable. taylor’s remark that “it’s a little different” doesn’t adequately communicate this to him, so he’s left wondering where the hang-up is. this is presumably why he doesn’t think twice about groping sophia when he hijacks her in his interlude. as far as he can see, the only difference is that she deserves it. this, like all scenes in which alec is alarmingly casual about sexual violence, is a fairly direct result of alec’s family normalizing sexual violence to him and then coercing him to participate in it at a horrifically young age. he’s not ontologically evil, he was just pushed to sleep with adults when he was a preteen (among many other things), and his attitudes regarding sex & sexual violence never really recovered from that.

#worm #The Shitheads

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 061

“Who are you?”

“I’m you, but stronger.  Furthermore, I’m substantially more verbose, though you may find this difficult to accept.”

“Indeed, for I have amazed even myself on occasion with my propensity to ramble endlessly on a given topic.  Though my diction flows like clear waters across a mountain stream, woe be to any who seek to quench their thirst for meaningful conversation, for I provide only minimal insight in the magnitude of verbiage I employ.” 

“Yes, I quite agree!  I have often noticed how my own thoughts and feelings seem quite trivial when diluted beneath the deluge of my interminable speech.  Though I begin with a point I wish to make, I continue to belabor it, adding word after word, clause after clause, like a builder stacking bricks upon a great tower reaching up into the heavens.  And yet, though the great temple is unmatched in splendor, the thought which it houses is so minuscule as to require only a tiny fraction of the space.”

“It is a remarkable similarity we share.  Perhaps, it is a good omen.  Yes, for if you are another iteration of myself, and we truly are of one mind in fact rather than spirit, then we both share the same dream of perfect justice for the entire universe.  A world finally freed from the shackles of evil, released from the fuzzy handcuffs of corruption, and loosed from the kinky chastity belt of mortals, who stain the cosmos with a taint so profound it disgusts me to speak of it.  And if our dream is to be fully realized, then what other outcome can there possibly be, save for a universe where only we two remain as its population?  In such a divinely pristine creation, a creation restored to its rightful essence, our tendency to prattle endlessly will not be abnormal at all.  For such holy voices as ours will be the only speech heard throughout the cosmos.”

“This is nice.  I feel like we’re really vibing here.  Do you want to go somewhere and get a coffee?”

“Oh, fuck yeah.  All Gowasu ever let me drink in this stupid place is tea.”

Okay, so we’re fifteen episodes into this stupid saga, and we’re finally going to get the origin story of Goku Black.  I probably need to write a separate thing where I compare the Zamasu Saga to GT, and I think what I need to do is like a side-by-side with the Baby Saga and the Shadow Dragons Saga, because those two arcs are the most similar to Zamasu’s whole storyline.  I couldn’t decide which one would be more appropriate, so maybe a three-way thing to decide which is the worst.  The point I’m getting at here is that no matter how bad and dumb the Omega Shenron fight got, at least he didn’t have a stupid secret identity on top of the rest of it. 

Okay, so let me set the stage here. In Episode 59, Beerus destroyed Zamasu for attempting to assassinate the Supreme Kai of Universe 10.  This action would have led to Zamasu securing Gowasu’s Time Ring, the Super Dragon Balls, and Goku Black.  So Beerus believed that by destroying Zamasu before he could do all of that, then Trunks’ future world would be at peace. 

That hope was shattered in Episode 59, because the next episode preview clearly showed that nothing had changed in Trunks’ world.  And yet we still had to wade through Episode 60 to find out the long way.  Lots of debate over how time travel works, and now we’re in Episode 61, and we’re still going over this shit.  And the good guys will have to go back to tell Beerus he’s wrong, so we’re spending a lot of episodes on this one plot point. 

So up until now, the good guys had believed that Zamasu had used the Super Dragon Balls to create Goku Black as a henchman, but that’s not it at all. Goku Black is Zamasu, having wished to swap bodies with the real Goku. 

So who’s this green asshole who’s been helping him this whole time?  Well, he’s Zamasu too.  Specifically, he’s the Zamasu native to this timeline, just like Future Trunks and Future Mai and Future Yajirobe.  When the “main” Zamasu successfully switched bodies with Goku, he used the Time Ring to travel to this alternate timeline, where he found his counterpart and recruited him for his plan. 

Goku Black knew that this other Zamasu would share his frustrations with mortals, so he found him, killed his version of Gowasu, and explained what he wanted to do.  Overcome with fulfillment, the other Zamasu embraced his alternate self. 

All right, but that only explains how Future Zamasu got in on this bit.  How can Goku Black be the same Zamasu that Beerus destroyed in Episode 59?  Simple, it’s because of the Time Ring.  At least, that’s what Goku Black says.  The way he remembers it, no one was there to stop him the day he killed Gowasu.  So he took the Time Ring, became Goku Black, recruited Future Zamasu, and made him indestructible. 

I pulled up the subtitles for this, just to make sure there was no confusion, because this part has always irritated me.  Beerus spent like an episode and a half insisting that his way would work, and that his divine status overruled the empirical evidence Trunks had witnessed over the years.  So was Beerus just talking out his ass, or did he just overlook a detail?  

The dub implies that the Time Ring protected him from the causality effects of getting destroyed in the past, but that doesn’t add up, because Zamasu wasn’t wearing it when Beerus destroyed him.  But Goku Black is wearing the Ring now, and he has been for the past seventeen years.

I think that’s what the idea is supposed to be.  Beerus’s whole argument was that he went to the Zamasu of a particular timeline, the only timeline where he met Goku and developed his obsession with Goku, and destroyed that Zamasu.  In theory, this should have a “Marty McFly Effect”, erasing Goku Black from existence, no matter what he does in the future or which timeline he goes to.  And because Beerus is a Hakaishin, this doesn’t create any new timelines, like when mortals change the past like Trunks has done. 

Episode 61 seems to be suggesting that Beerus’ plan could have worked, except he didn’t know that the Time Ring protects the wielder from changes in his own history.  I guess that property would make sense, because the Supreme Kai who uses the Time Ring would need a way to be able to observe and interact with future events without potentially creating new timelines.  For example, Zamasu killed that Barbari warrior 1000 years from now.  I’m pretty sure that change in future events isn’t “locked in” or anything, and if someone were to destroy Planet Barbari in the next thousand years, that wouldn’t create a second timeline where Barbari survived so that the one poor dope could get murdered by Zamasu on schedule. 

And I guess it makes sense that Beerus failed to take the Time Ring’s powers into account, since only the Supreme Kai of each universe is authorized to own and use them.  Zamasu never even heard of the Time Rings until recently, and he was supposed to be training to eventually assume the office of Supreme Kai.  It figures that Beerus, a Destroyer, wouldn’t know everything about how the Time Rings work and what they do.  

In short: If Beerus had any influence over the rules of time, it was canceled out by the Time Ring.  And since Beerus only knew to destroy Zamasu because he saw Goku Black wearing a Time Ring, he can’t unring that bell.  There must have been a version of Zamasu who successfully obtained the Ring and became Goku Black.  Beerus cannot undo this.  All he accomplished was to branch the timeline so that in one branch, Zamasu no longer exists. 

In the other branch, Goku Black continued with his plan, as seen in this flashback.  He used the Time Ring to jump ahead one year, gathered the Super Dragon Balls in Age 780, and wished to swap bodies with Goku.

This left Goku trapped in Zamasu’s body, and in this timeline, Goku has never met Zamasu, or even heard of the guy.

Then Goku Black teleported to Earth and killed the Goku of that timeline. 

And he killed Chi-Chi and Goten too.  No surprise there.  After that, he went to the Universe 10 of Future Trunks’ alternate timeline, recruited the Zamasu native to that world, jumped ahead one more year with the Time Ring, and used the Super Dragon Balls a second time to give that Zamasu the indestructible body.

Then they went to the Future Trunks timeline and started carrying out their Project Zero Mortals thing.  First they destroyed the Super Dragon Balls, then they started hunting down all the other gods in the twelve universes.  This would ensure that there would be no one to stop them as they destroyed all other life in the universes.  Wait, how the hell did they kill Jiren?   And Broly?

Finally, the duo saved Earth for last, and they invaded one year before the events seen in Episode 47.  Black says they’ve specifically reserved Earth for the grand finale, because they wanted to make the people there suffer the most out of everyone. 

See, they thought about all this and decided that Earth is the root of all of this.  Specifically, Trunks and his time machine, since his tinkering with history led to the creation of alternate timelines, which is what led to Zamasu being introduced to Goku in Episode 53, which resulted in Zamasu becoming Goku Black and kicking off Project Zero Mortals.  So when you think about it that way, Trunks is responsible for all of this.  If he had left well enough alone, Goku would have died of a heart virus and Zamasu would have never met him.

Actually, that doesn’t quite add up, but this post is running longer than I wanted, so I’ll try to explain what I mean later.

So I think I’ve covered all of the backstory stuff.  Now let’s talk about the fighting in this episode.  It sucks.  Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks got their asses beat the last time they came here, and the only thing that’s changed is that they remembered to bring some senzu beans.  Not that it matters, because the baddies quickly overwhelm Vegeta and Trunks, and corner Goku.  They tell him the bit about how Goku Black killed Chi-Chi and Goten in his origin story, and Black stabs his hand-energy sword through Zamasu and into Goku while they talk about this. 

And that gets Goku all fired up, so he raises his power and starts going on a tear.  Okay, so there’s a difference of opinion on this scene. 

On the one hand, you could say: Hey, cool, Goku’s had all he can stands, and he can’t stands no more, and he’s gonna kick some ass because he loves his wife and kids.  I can’t dispute that.  This is a factually accurate statement. 

However, on the other hand, this scene is dumb as hell, because Goku’s powering up while he’s got an energy beam sticking through his liver.  Remember when Vegeta got stabbed this way and it didn’t kill him, but it kind of took him out of the fight for several minutes?  Then he got up, went Blue, and fired a Final Flash anyway?  Then he passed out until he got a senzu bean later?  Yeah, well, that was really fucking stupid, and now we have Goku doing the same bullshit, only faster.  He doesn’t even wait around for Black to pull out the beam.

Also, what exactly did Goku do to turn the tables here?  He was already in his strongest form, so what has he powered up to?  He’s just Super Saiyan Blue Goku With a Hole In His Liver, and somehow that makes him stronger than he was before, when he didn’t have a hole there.

Like, he’s a house of fire in this scene, and it looks cool, I won’t dispute that.  It’s kind of nice watching him dominate Black and Zamasu like this... except...

Black just suddenly decides it’s time to start winning again, and he turns the tables on Goku without even trying hard.  

So why is this hurting Goku when the gaping hole in his torso didn’t?   Also, is one of those beams going in his dick?  Why doesn’t Goku just power out of this like he did before?  He’s still mad about Chi-Chi and Goten, isn’t he?

See, this is why this saga sucks.  They tried to do this “Power Awakened by Rage” thing like they used to do in DBZ.  Toddler Gohan vs. Raditz, Goku turning Super Saiyan for the first time on Namek, Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 against Cell.  These are all classic moments, and this episode tries to borrow some of that magic. 

Except it’s all wrong.  Toddler Gohan ran out of gas pretty quickly, but he still hurt Raditz enough for the others to finish him.  They didn’t just have Raditz instantly recover from all the damage that headbutt did to him.  And Super Saiyan 2 Gohan didn’t just start getting his ass kicked when it was convenient to the plot.  He never stopped being angry at Cell, and his power never wavered.  Cell got stronger, but not strong enough to prevent him from getting his just desserts. 

Here, I think the idea is that Goku Black provoked Goku on purpose, then allowed Goku to pummel him a while, because somehow that helps Goku Black get stronger, like he claimed back in Episode 49.  So I guess he was just toying with Goku?  Which kind of makes Goku look like a total geek here.

But the rotten cherry on top of this moldy sundae is Goku screaming at them before he attacks.  “’Cause now I’m mad!  I’m really really mad!” 

Seriously?   That’s what they came up with?  “I’m really really mad!”?

I mean, why stop there?  Why not have Goku shout “I’m really really really mad!”?  It’s pathetic.  I forgot what he said in the subtitles, but I’m pretty sure it was equally unimpressive.

Okay, so after they take out Goku, they move on to Vegeta and Trunks, and that’s when they try to make this out to be all Trunks’ fault.  And this makes Trunks mad.  In fact, it might make him--dare I say it-- really really mad. 

In fact, the way everyone’s reacting, it’s like Trunks has never been this mad before.  He may have surpassed a level of anger beyond really really mad.  Can it be?

Trunks has ascended to becoming really really really really mad!  Like, these guys killed his mom and destroyed his whole world.  They also attacked his girlfriend several times.  But when they said a bunch of dumb stuff about time travel, that’s what pushed Trunks over the edge. 

So the episode ends on this new power-up, so I guess this is the one we’re expected to take seriously, but it’s a little difficult to care when we just saw Goku do the exact same thing and get his ass kicked.  I mean, Trunks’ form looks like something new, sort of?  But even if it were legit, they completely undermined this story beat with the whole Goku thing they did. 

Okay, enough of Episode 61.  Let’s try to push forward.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #goku #vegeta #trunks #zamasu #goku black #yajirobe #chi chi #goten #beerus #frieza #fuck the zamasu saga forever

[bonesandthebees]

Let the intense grilling begin [“Really? You wanted a third option so you went with the thirteen year old who has zero clue what the fuck he’s getting into?” Schlatt jumped in,] perfectly establishes how stupid this decision is and Schlatt’s exact personality. This scene establishes all the characters really well btw.

Sam is short-sighted and living in his own head, he doesn’t think things through and based on this line [“And between those two, who would you say I should choose as my heir?”] has no idea who to pick.

Schlatt is brash and overconfident, yet he perfectly knows his own value and what power he holds. He’s rude, because he knows that Sam can’t do anything about it when push comes to shove. He needs Schlatt’s family’s money. He’s probably also the only person actively backing Quackity (as a first choice that is), and I am looking at that and the cannon dsmp interactions (especially the nickname).

Hannah is more reserved, but definitely backing Niki. She’s also clever enough to figure out the implications and speak up about them (also I forgot what he title was already. Was it economics?). Anyway, Hannah supporting Niki says more about Niki than her.

Phil nor Techno show there cards, I think they are backing Niki, but I can never be sure even if they were to outright tell Wilbur. [Don’t speak without thought. Stay quiet. Observe.] This line sums both of them up pretty well. They hold their cards. Phil and Techno do prod Sam, but they also know perfectly when not to do so, either because it will piss him of or if they know that someone else will ask.

Wilbur pretty much does as he’s told, he’s there to observe and learn. He holds his tongue and does not share his opinion like he has been taught. Also, Phil knows exact when Wilbur needs to be held back and can do so with one look. Very interesting compared to the start where Wilbur was trying to catch his eye, but al Phil’s attention was on Sam.

Then there’s Bad. He knows Sam the best and has the Lea way to call him out on his bullshit (and does so without being harsh like Schlatt) [“Okay, forgive me if this seems… upfront, but I have to ask. Are you actually considering Tomys as an heir, or are you just trying to make a point?”] he nails it right on the head (minus possible buying himself time) yet Sam doubles down.

I wonder if Phil figured this out but couldn’t say anything because Sam’s rebelling against him (like a teenager or a little child). Phil calling him out would not help the situation at all, but Sam does need to be called out on his bullshit, so it!s good that Bad and Schlatt are there. It’s also good that Phil knows when to rein everything in and get to business.

(3/3)

-🎄

aaa thank you, I definitely wanted to use this scene to establish everyone like you said. especially schlatt. he's such a fun character in this and I was so excited to really show how crass he can be even in very formal settings like this. he just doesn't give a shit because he doesn't have to. he's a nepo baby who inherited his role from his father, and sam can't do shit about it because he's rich. schlatt has always known just how far money can get you, and he's not afraid to push that to its limits.

hannah's role is lady of justice, meaning she's the person who oversees laws in the kingdom and the management of criminal trials and things like that. her entire thing is focusing on what's best for the public as a whole, so yes, to have someone like that backing niki shows just how competent niki is perceived to be.

techno for the most part tries to stay out of the heir debates. he's not really a politics kind of guy (in fact he definitely has a few choice opinions on the entire concept of a monarchy but that's neither here nor there), he's just there to take care of the library and talk about history if sam needs counsel in that sense. while he definitely has his opinions, he'd rather not get involved. that's phil's job. and even if in theory techno's role is to serve sam like the rest of the council, he's really just here for phil and pretty much everyone knows it

and of course phil keeps his cards close to his chest. even if he were to support one heir over the other you'd never know if he was actually telling the truth, or if this was just another attempt to move more pieces around the board.

yes, wilbur struggling to catch phil's attention in the beginning contrasting with phil knowing exactly when to shoot wilbur a look reminding him to shut up was intentional but I'll let you guys draw your own conclusions about that :)

bad knows sam extremely well and he also knows how delicately he needs to go about calling him out on this. of course it still doesn't work, but at least he tried. bad is kind of like techno in that he usually chooses not to get involved in the court drama. he's the head of sam's royal guard. he's more focused on keeping sam alive than anything else.

#ask #spruce anon #rose ch 3