#which didn't help the situation

[desertfangs]

The paralells between Jesse and Daniel losing their connections to family as they pursue the supernatural in Queen of the Damned is really interesting.

It's ironic because Jesse is literally related to vampires and has spent time with them and noticed little oddities, though she does not realize what they are. But she becomes so engrossed in her confidential work at the Talamasca that visits with family become a holidays-or-when-they're-in-London thing, and she stops writing letters because she can't talk about what she's working on (it's Top Secret.)

Meanwhile, Daniel pursues vampires and finds Armand, who then pursues him, and gets so caught up in running around the world that he probably doesn't do much more than send the odd postcard home, maybe make the occasional phone call on holidays. We don't actually know how much contact he has with family during that time but I personally suspect it was not a lot. And once he and Armand get together, he's spending his nights being dragged all over the place, and his days sleeping it off. There's not exactly a lot of time to write long letters or make phone calls at normal waking hours.

We do know by the Night Island Era (1982? 1983?) he hasn't really had any contact with anyone from his previous life for a while:

"It had been years since Daniel had even thought of his family, of the friends he used to know. Checks went out to kin, of that he'd made certain, but they were just names now on a list."

Anyhow, it's just interesting that both Jesse and Daniel get so caught up in the pursuit of the supernatural that their mundane, mortal lives fall away and they lose those connections. Then both of them end up becoming vampires. Jesse, of course, gets to reconnect with her family and her "aunt" Maharet. Whether Daniel ever has contact with anyone in his family afterward is unknown but dubious and unlikely.

I guess the point is that you cannot pursue the supernatural and continue to live a normal life. Which is something we see play out in the series again and again.

#jesse reeves #daniel molloy #vc meta #also lol forever at maharet's reaction to jesse joining the talamasca #'they cannot do anything important i hope you tire of them' #she is amazing #maharet #queen of the damned #vc #vampire chronicles #vc quotes #tvc #the vampire chronicles #i also don't think daniel was super close to his family before all of this happened either #which didn't help the situation #but it is interesting to think about

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Always a bit puzzled by people saying that anyone who wanted long-term consequences for TotK Zelda's sacrifice are "edgy".

I'm not even particularly in the camp that she should have remained a dragon forever (I think this should have been Ganondorf's fate, it would have been sooo much more impactful than to explode him and move on but anyway). To be honest, I wish the rules for turning back would have been 1) clear 2) active gameplay on the player so that it feels like it's something we have earned, and 3) not make her have amnesia about it and/or at least having her gain some crucial insight because of the experience.

(also: doesn't she crave knowledge? isn't that insanely mean to have her watch over every civilization and every bit of history ever and then take it away from her? kind of dislike how totk privileges the comfort of the player's feelings over what the characters would actually want or need tbh)

To be perfectly honest, I fully expected us needing to turn her back before engaging Ganondorf so we would fight him together, especially since Zelda as a compagnon exists in the game code already (though in a very subdued state). It feels very very strange to me that all of this mechanic of Sages following us existing and yet we never have the very climactic cool Zelda-staple moment of facing Ganondorf or Ganon together (OoT, WW, TP, ST and probably more that I'm forgetting all did this in some way --even BotW had Zelda more involved than in TotK). I'm not sure Mineru was a compagnon that was needed over Zelda honestly, especially given the kind of non-insight she gives us on the zonai (even if the idea of the mecha is cool, it really could have been Zelda using her zonai + sheikah knowledge to pilot one for us or something).

But anyway: yeah, even if this isn't what I would have wanted personally, I think wanting Zelda to remain a dragon is kind of arguably more respectful of her relationship to Link, in a way, that what the game ended up doing. When she enacted this sacrifice, Zelda decided to trust him to such a extent that she lost herself, reciprocated his trust in her and his devotion to her, and now the future of Hyrule exists beyond her and beyond what Hyrule once was, but she trusts them to follow through and be happy and she will watch over them from the stars moving on. It's fine if we manage to save her from that fate, but even if we don't, honestly this sounds like a beautiful story/tragic romance to me, if you want to read it that way. Tragedy doesn't necesserily involve edginess. Fictional pain isn't always mean, or out to get you.

#totk #totk critical #zelda #link #when will my brain return from the imprisoning war... #take it from me: a professional edgelord #but genuinely I was quite disappointed when I realized I wouldn't get to fight alongside Zelda at all #I thought for sure the first descent was a setup for the final descent when we would be reunited #and then confront Ganondorf together #I don't know to me that would have just made sense #she's the one with the most beef with that man Link is honestly just here so she doesn't have to call an über afterward #link doesn't have half as much reasons to want ganondorf dead as zelda does #which didn't help the feeling that I had as much emotional investment in the situation than the friend you call when you get in trouble #ganondorf isn't even directly responsible for zelda returning to the past NOR turning into a dragon! the guy has no idea what's going on! #anyway. this game's plot is very weird.

[uncanny-tranny]

One of the hardest things to actually accept, in my experience, is that you eventually have to forgive yourself for the harm you did to yourself. A good way to move on from that is just being able to let your past self rest in peace. Don't stomp on their resting spot, they need to be at peace. They deserve to be at peace, and so do you.

#mental health #mental health recovery #self harm tw #sh tw #self harm mention tw #(just for the implication) #i'm trying to accept the things i did when i was young to harm myself #and i'm scared to think of the ramifications my self-destructive habits and bahavioural patterns will have on my future self (if any) #(this is part of why i think we NEED to destigmatize scars. i looked at the way people with visible self-harm scars were treated... #...and so i harmed myself in ways that didn't leave scars which were MORE dangerous in the end i think) #if you have visible scars from *anything* i truly love that you're here and you're reading this (maybe) #unreality tw #(just in case? i think this post can count) #i just like the visualization of separating my present with my past #because i can treat him with the respect that i'd give to somebody else in his situation #is it healthy? who knows but it helps me remember to be compassionate so i don't particularly care

[brittlebutch]

actually it's kind of funny how people will say Alex's fatal flaw is that he 'doesn't ask for help' and that it's his determination to handle things on his own that leads to his deterioration and eventual death when his whole introduction to the present-day timeline was a very literal cry for help that simply went ignored

#N posts stuff #like even if you think alex was lying throughout the entirety of season 2 and he was waiting from the Moment jay showed up #JUST to kill him (Which again i don't think makes much sense when he could have killed Tim & Jay immediately instead of #breaking Tim's leg. anyway) EVEN IF alex spent that whole time lying it doesn't actually change the fact that he would have at least #been Pretending to Ask For Help and if he wasn't lying then he was Literally Asking For Help and it doesn't Actually matter #what intention Alex had because the text is Ambiguous about Alex's honesty during season two; what isn't ambiguous is the way #other characters (specifically Jay) respond to him; like yeah - S2 Brian/Tim were never in one million years going to help Alex with shit #so sort of any argument that brings up Tim as someone who asks for/offers help is borderline meaningless in this era of the series #Jay had the 'opportunity' to help Alex (and i'll get back to that in a sec) but DIDN'T - Jay wasn't Interested in actually offering Alex #'help' bc Jay is ultimately curious about Answers and 'Offering Help' and 'Getting Answers' are two Wildly conflicting goals #Jay thinks Alex has answers and when Alex doesn't Offer these 'Answers' to Jay on a silver platter Jay gets pissed off and paranoid #and starts Stalking Alex bc he thinks it's 'Suspicious' that Alex won't give him the Answers (that Alex probably doesn't Actually have) #ANYWAY. ultimately this post is about how it's absurd when people argue #that individual character choices could have made a difference in the way this series played out - specifically wrt Alex #because EVERYONE in this WHOLE series are being affected by influences outside of their control ; including Brian Tim and Jay #so it's silly when people are like 'if ALEX had just made a different choice For Himself this could have all been avoided' WRONG. #bc Ultimately there's not really a way to 'help' someone else out of this situation - Tim tried and failed Repeatedly #the comics proved he even failed with Jessica - like MH isn't a horror situation where you can kill the big bad #'getting help' is a meaningless argument - what would successfully helping or getting help even look like? anyway. #the sub argument of this post is that Alex's biggest 'sin' is that he doesn't perform emotions the way other people want him to #like Alex is a character with a kind of flat affect - instead of LOOKING scared or grieved he LOOKS bored or angry #and everyone judges him based on that - so Alex is 'Suspicious' he's 'Lying' he's 'Guilty' but all of these deductions are predicated #on the belief that Alex isn't reacting to his circumstances the way a 'Normal' person would - so it MUST all be an act and so he's guilty #so everyone treats him like he's guilty until the end of season two when he's like 'Fuck it FINE i'll be guilty then' and so it goes #not a self-fulfilled prophecy but being Cornered Into a prophecy and then Blamed for it - SAD. anyway

[forestgreenlesbian]

.

#feel like my relationship with my younger brother is changed completely forever not to be dramatic lol but i am sad #we used to b very close but he has kind of. found his faith again and gone full missionary christian which like. i knew meant the dynamic #was doomed lmao but actually acknowledging it makes me sad i feel like i'm grieving for the friendship we used to have even though #it is literally a me problem i think from his perspective he doesn't think anything has changed. but i feel weird about everything #also his new gf is nineteen and he is. almost 25 and i am the only one who feels weird about it like i know she's over 18 but! idk i can't #tell if i'm being overly cautious or if my gut instinct is right. my sister & her husband have a similar age gap but they met when they wer #both over 30 so like. it didn't feel weird. and i didn't feel comfortable actually seriously talking to him about it apart from the first #time he mentioned her over facetime (he went to another country to do mission stuff & met her there) so like an idiot i've just been #making jokes about the age gap becausee like. thats always been our thing lightly bullying each other lol but he blew up at me and said #i've had nothing positive to say about her since he's been back home and that he thinks i hate her and i'm out of line for constantly #implying he's creepy for dating someone younger. idk i felt like such a freak idiot horrible person about it. it completely blindsided me #bc yes the jokes were coming from a place of idk how i feel about this situation so i'm going to rely on the humour-based communication #we have always fallen back on as a safety thing but i guess i was wrong or the dynamic shifted or something anyway it's all fucked #& everyone is just telling me i feel weird out of some?? misplaced kind of jealousy thing?? because i'm 'losing' my brother to his gf lol #which does not feel right at all he has dated so many other girls and i have never had a problem it is literally the age gap like i haven't #even met this girl i'm sure she's very nice! i just worry about her being nineteen!! jesus. and yes maybe i do feel some resentment around #a brother younger than me who seems to be able to live his life with zero difficulty whilst i'm stuck being this unemployed loser who ruins #literally ever friendship & relationship ive ever had but i think thats ok right like i can't help feeling that. i don't fucking knowwww #am i just projecting all these sad feelings about our friendship dying onto his new relationship or like. am i right to be genuinely #concerned she's six years younger than him and still a fucking teenager!!!!!! i don't know

[sukibenders]

One of Rhaenyra's biggest opps (in HOTD) really was her own father. Because how are you going to proclaim your daughter as heir, only to then marry her best friend and have four kids, three sons, in an environment that is against women already as is but even more so with one sitting on the Iron Throne? And then, not only, do you not prepare her for anything political but scold her publicly, which isn't good for her image, and just....hardly do anything to aid her until you're on your last leg? And yet there are still fans saying he was a "great dad" and that he "did all he could". HA, I THINK NOT!

#rhaenyra targeryan #viserys targaryen #anti viserys i targaryen #hotd #house of the dragon #like he set her up so bad and it's quite sad really #like i do believe rhae fumbled on her own and was kind of not helping her case #but viserys played a role in this too #and he's just all around not a good person #he sets rhae up from the jump by not actively submitting that he chose her as his heir #and constantly leaving her second guessing as well as putting alicent in a tough spot bc why have more kids? #why put her or any other poor mother through the possibility of raising children only for them to be killed so his heir can remain? #and like even if rhae didn't want to kill her siblings (which i think is very debatable but in hotd terms might have given daemon) they #still would have been in a stick situation #don't even get me started on how he sucks at keeping peace bc he literally makes his own family resent one another #by being a shitty dad and husband. like sir you are not helping anything

[ichthyorelationships]

only just processed that luca added the flames to the colander helmet...implicitly b/c of alberto’s “also i added flames” dream vespa design alteration...

#like evidence afterwards that someone was paying real attention even when at the time the other party felt ignored / tuned out....So sweet. #which also my audhd life experiences like. if i learn anyone ever absorbed anything i said it's like oh whoa living large lmao #anyways the point is it only occurred to me the other day lol. like i'd noticed the flames but just didn't piece anything else together #i Love how many like. threads & details you Can piece together like that but are just kind of quietly in the bg otherwise #and fun how everything luca needs for the race is definitely like Somewhere Underwater...colander fell in the sea...bike by the sunken boat #god knows what color situation i fumbled my way into here. so the classic spin of just like Also there's more stripped down versions #who knows if i'll like do more of a full color approach version. they can't stop you. nor stop you from just posting lineart #or stop me from going off the walls w/their tail lengths lol #luca #luberto #lucalberto #😚😚😚 #fish freckles you are everything to me... #eta not me forgetting to save the [solid bg color]less pngs as transparent....i was up all night #didn't help w/the color selecting that i'm bad at anytime lol #ok hopefully now they're actually transparent #smhhh now i've realized i forgot a little line to indicate webbing betwixt alberto's fingers there #not as big a deal as how i ALMOST forgot to include any of their arm/leg fins. i'll fix it if i do the [full coloring] deal lol. imagine it #yet another eta: occurs to me i could've made alberto purpler & the bg blue. well;

[disdaidal]

I wanna thank my irl friends who follow me here and also my beloved mutuals as well as followers who still send me kind messages and try to interact with me and my stuff even if I'm bad at doing it myself.

Honestly, things haven't been that great with me lately, so... it means a lot to me. Honestly. <3

#personal #i had to make the tough decision to drop out of school last week #i didn't exactly want it if i'm being completely honest here #but certain stuff was preventing me from getting further so i knew the teachers are gonna ask me to quit over at our teams meeting #i instantly contacted my nurse about my situation. and she got me a doctor's appointment which was yesterday #where i kind of broke down a little. not because she didn't grant me the sick leave i thought i was going to get #after feeling down and sleeping terribly for weeks #but because she actually *got me*. like. she actually listened to me and figured out some stuff and told me that #what i'm going through and what i've been going through for years would make anyone depressed #so i couldn't help but cry a little because yeah. i'm so tired of never being enough no matter how hard i try #because my brain's wired a certain way and it makes me slow and kinda clumsy and inattentive at times #which. you might guess is not ideal at today's work environment. or studying-wise even #so instead of granting me sick leave (she did say we can change that at anytime though) she told me to wait for that phone call #from the unemployment office. which i should be getting tomorrow. or well. later today #and talk to them about this. to see if they can offer some solutions. or if we can figure something out #'cause i'm getting closer to my 40s and not getting anywhere and it's wearing me out and tiring me out #because i clearly can't help myself or change my ways on my own #i managed to get some work last week though. at the local youth house. one shift though but money still #but i haven't been getting those offers a lot during the past few months so it's not enough to support me obviously #so i definitely need something else. and i hope i can get help. that someone could help me #i should finally get tested for adhd next month too. i don't know if i even have it or if it's gonna change anything but #at least i'd know #anyway i needed to get this off my chest. cause i'm kinda crying a little bit even now just thinking about this whole thing #sorry

[dowagersqueen]

book fans love to talk about how sweet was rhaenyra that when she heard laena was pregnant she flew to her to attend the birth of her twins and that they should have shown their bond in the show. i do wonder what these people think of rhaenyra not speaking to alicent for 3 whole years over viserys choosing her as wife after she was groomed into it by two men and had to handle her first pregnancy and birth alone, with no friends, with no people who genuinely cared about her well being, just her 16 year old self giving birth all alone in those castle walls where rhaenyra knew she was imprisoned because she made a comment to alicent about how miserable that life is. 

#alicent hightower #it's things like these that make it really hard for me to see their friendship or relationship develop well #she didn't speak to her supposed best friend for 3 whole years #she never condemned her father #she never tried to help alicent cope with her situation which rhaenyra knew was miserable because rhaenyra herself said she doesn't want #that life

[one-half-guy]

Have I ever mentioned the trio Dadow, Grunckles & Greatpa Tails?

Because these three are living rentfree in my head...

(Has anybody else ever thought of this trio?)

#it's like dadow but he's got Tails and Knuckles to help #and little Silver... being raised by these three veeeeeery oldmen too Crazy and stubborn to die #they live in Angel Island and just Shadow didn't get osteoporosis... (maybe) #not it saves him from back pain #meanwhile Tails got a Toph situation in which his 200yo body shrunk back to his 8yo height #🤔 what if...🤔 what if...🤔 what if i created an askblog for this?🤔 #and they fight every time... #como os velhotes da minha família que acham que o mundo gira emtorno de Lula e Bostonaro #dadow #Shadow the Hedgehog #Tails the fox #Miles Prower #Knuckles thw Echidna #Silver the Hedgehog

[wonder-worker]

Thomas Penn writes about 500 year old dead historical figures like they're celebrities in a gossip column

#it's funny to an extent but after a point it gets very grating #he has a wealth of information but he's far too sensationalistic and florid #and tends to choose the most unsympathetic and/or colorful interpretation of every situation and historical figure #he also has a habit of ... narrativizing history which doesn't really work for me #also his fatphobia re Edward IV was absolutely revolting #I was planning on ordering the Winter King but after looking at the synopsis and first 2 chapters that were available online - no thanks #I'm definitely not interested in reading about Henry VII supposedly being 'sinister' and 'Machiavellian' because he...ruled successfully? #because he did what kings (unfortunately) did all the time? How was he any different from the others? #also imagine calling *Henry VII* ruthless & unscrupulous when his predecessor murdered his own kid-nephews and his successor was Henry VIII #like please be serious #I had the same issue with the way he described Edward IV's reign. His descriptions were so theatrical and emphatic but #at the end of the day the things he was describing were very normal lol #or they would be normal if Penn didn't choose the most critical (and mocking tbh) perspective for every single thing #the way he described Henry VI's reign was also annoying but it thankfully had far less pagetime and was not the focus of his work #so it was comparatively more tolerable #i'm glad that he acknowledged the propaganda against Margaret tho. I didn't like how he described her but at the very least he acknowledged #that she was being slandered #also calling Warwick 'the regime's biggest headache' lmfao #and ig some of his analyses on Richard III were interesting. It helps that R3 had a very short and very dramatic reign from start to finish #so Penn's flourishing tone doesn't really feel out of place for it

[corfisers]

the thing about the dudebro discussion, the aita post, the willingness to just take at face value any accusations directed at a person you don't know, is that it's all so painfully transparent, it's so obvious that those conversations are happening at this scale specifically because it's about trans women. maybe it's just me, but you generally shouldn't be using certain terms for people unless you know that they are comfortable with them, and if you fucked up then apologize and move on (if we pretend for a second that the majority of dudebros weren't feign ignorance or just actively malicious to begin with). you should be aware that some things don't affect you the same way they affect other people, and you definitely shouldn't be giving those people potentially dangerous advice on topics that you personally aren't familiar with, this is the baseline, at least don't fucking put other people who were misled into trusting you in danger. and if an anon barges into your inbox with some wild accusations then you should stop and think "hey, why are you coming to me anonymously with no evidence to back any of this up, and in such a way that i have to reply to you publicly so more people get to see this" regardless of who it's directed at. like, those are all pretty simple things, or they should be at least, but because the targets are trans women and transmisogyny is so fucking rampant everyone has to bend over backwards to come up with excuses as to why treating trans women this way is perfectly normal and justified.

#transmisogyny #i'm not going too much into the aita thing because i've seen trans women express different opinions and i don't feel like it's my place #to talk over any of them. ik how i feel but i'm focusing on the part that i feel more confident about. which is don't give people advice #when you have no idea what you're talking about. like. those people trust you and turn to you for help and the least you could do is to say #“hey i'm sorry but i'm not the right person to ask” #i've been in a situation where a friend assumed i was tma and i didn't realize (i never said i was but we met in a game so like #minimum info outside of pronouns which were they/them at the time + some assumptions based on little things she knew about me like height) #and when she asked me about something that is not my lived experience i cleared things up. so the idea of just rolling with it instead #is so baffling to me. it's so irresponsible and disrespectful. it's hard enough already for transfems to trust people and you pull this? #the dudebro thing too. i hate being called a bitch (has nothing to do with gender) and ik that if i said so people would be like “yea ok” #could throw some completely genderless term in here as an example as well. people are usually fairly reasonable. but nooo not with dude #can't have the right to casually misgender a trans woman taken away from you. gotta make it look like that's not what you're doing either #infuriating and exhausting #benvey tag

[solradguy]

Whenever I see someone being transphobic on twt in a bridget thread i reply with three pictures of my mains: ky kiske from ac+r, ky kiske from rev 2, and ky kiske from strive.

it self selects for people who actually play the game. it’s canon that he’ll fight off transphobes with the blade. and if they actually played guilty gear they’d get the underlining messages

While it can be really funny to bully these guys back, please keep in mind that nothing you can say or do to these people will hurt them or waste as much of their time as what they say will stick with you or waste your time. It might be funny to send them a bunch of Ky pictures, but what they're doing is laughing that the only response the people they hate can give them is sending a bunch of pictures of anime boys.

The only thing that works is blocking them. They've turned being an asshole into a recreational sport and getting any sort of response in return is a victory for them.

#asks #Unfortunately I was an asshole on the internet once (not a vicious transphobe just a basic internet asshole) #I know exactly how these people function because I was there once... #When you don't take the person you're arguing with seriously it's very easy to laugh at every single thing they do #Which is what these guys are doing. It doesn't matter how well thought out the counter argument is. They don't care and they won't care #All you can hope for is that they're young and they grow out of it (I did) #I feel bad for them because I think about what led to me being like that decades ago. Are they going through the same thing? #I was like that because I was in a hopeless situation and hated myself and hated everyone else #People arguing back just proved my point that everything sucked and my hate was justified #It's an awful feedback loop. People being kind to me felt disingenuous. Why should they be kind? I hated them. They had no reason to be nic #I had to get to a point where I was willing to help myself crawl out of that pit before I let anyone else even get near me emotionally #I still remember the day when I realized I was being a fucked up little shit to everyone lol #Early June 2011. It was sunny with no clouds and there was a cool breeze. I was listening to In This Moment and I realized #'What the hell am I doing? Do I want to be like this forever? Get your shit together man' #It was a slow process from there but I did get out of it. Slowly. Very slowly. #There's a lot I did that I regret and can't ever apologize for because it was so long ago and the names and faces are gone now #Apologizing at this point would be selfish and only for my benefit anyway. I can only hope that what I did didn't hurt people permanently #Anyway. I've never talked about this on here before because it's the kinda shit that gets put on callout posts out of context #So. I am laying my naked soul bare and raw for the sake of underlining my original point: Internet trolls don't care

[running-in-the-dark]

oh, great! I cleaned out all my fountain pens before we moved, and then chose just a few to take with me. plus ink, obviously.

except someone took the damn ink out of the bag I had put it in. sooo it's probably in the storage unit now and I won't see it again until April 🙃

#no I know this is fine and not a problem etc etc #BUT #I need to write shit down 😭 I'm feeling baaad and that means it's time to write in my diary and I CAN'T because none of my pens HAVE #ANY INK IN THEM!! #even my bullet journal fountain pen is allllmost out of ink! and I didn't bring any gel pens because why would I??? #oooh I am mad rn. #the local stationery shop closed last year soo. I will have to order ink online if I can't find mine. 🙃 #yes I know I could use a fucking ballpoint pen or something like a caveman (sorry) but everything but fountain pens hurts my wrist 😭 #this is a 'need to write 20 pages that will inevitably turn into 'oh I am so sad because I cannot touch this fictional man' very quickly and #nothing else will help' situation 😭😭😭😭 #sooo I will now start figuring out which ink I am going to buy. maybe I'll manage to just get one. hahahaha that was a good joke :') #personal #oh my GOD I just realised I didn't even pack any syringes OR CONVERTERS OR EMPTY CARTRIDGES EITHER #fuck this I just ruined my whole damn day

[thedreadvampy]

guess who's in 🎶troooouble🎶

New Boss does not appreciate my Vile Insubordination (giving an informed opinion in an email chain where she said some factually incorrect things and got called out on it - I said hey yep you're right that what she said isn't true but here's why it's still important to listen to our team)

and now we have to have a Quick Chattette about my Behaviour and Unsatisfactory Response (didn't apologise for being correct)

#red said #fuckin had it tbh #trying to become calm and balanced bc it will not be helpful for me to go in with this fuck you attitude #but. you know. fuuuuuuck you. #i have been doing this job for 2 years with huge success i do not need someone to redesign and micromanage everything i do #you can simply. do your job and let me do mine #instead of undercutting a huge chunk of work we've already done bc you don't know what you're talking about yet #the situation is she emailed without talking to either of us saying an obviously untrue thing which we could easily have corrected her on #the person she emailed came back like hey #that's not true though? #so i popped in like sorry i know this isn't a conversation I've been closely involved it but you're right and that's actually a whole thing #yeah the thing she said doesn't exist does in fact exist but we've been trying to phase out of for years and what's left is legacy stuff #and that's part of why we're unsure about making room for more of it to happen #felt reasonable. i was in the thread to begin with bc my opinion was being asked #so she was like oh why did you do that we probably should have talked about it first as a team #and I'm like YEAH WE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE but given that you DIDN'T and have inaccurate info then dropped offline #i assumed we weren't doing Team Responses #and she's NOT HAPPY with how i replied. i phrased it more politely than that but not by much #but you know what man? seems like a you problem. #sorry I'm a Quaker respect for authority is against my religion

[mad-hunts]

“I’m not suspicious. I’m just cautious.”

after hearing those first three words, barton decided almost immediately that the other must've been lying through her teeth. he saw the look that she gave him. or, what he perceived to be a look, anyway. it was filled with unease at what she was witnessing; though, barton truly hadn't done anything wrong ( yet ). though he supposed a part of him could understand why this might look bad to other people. he was going on a date with a woman he'd met a week prior that night and she seemed to be completely 'trashed' now. which, didn't exactly inspire confidence in anyone around him that she was one hundred percent 'a-okay.' it unfortunately wasn't unheard of for criminals to try to get their victims in an inebriated state so that they could steal from them more easily or worse. especially in a city like gotham.

but if barton was being honest, his date being what he liked to call a ' light weight ' and getting drunker than a skunk off of just two drinks was not something he wanted to happen. things just seemed to steer in that direction as he had faith that his partner could make her own informed decisions about how much alcohol she wanted to consume. she was only a few years younger than barton, after all, but it seemed like she had bit off more than she could chew anyhow. a sigh left the blonde's lips as he adjusted his hold on her slouching body so she wouldn't fall. he was hoping, or perhaps praying might be a better word to use in this context, that giving her a ton of water to drink might help relieve her of some of her symptoms; the most concerning one arguably being the most obvious one. but that unfortunately didn't come to pass. barton's date, dana, could not stay on her own two feet to save her life.

and it was really starting to annoy barton. in the end, however, he had to remember that they were in a quite populated bar environment and openly showing that? it might not be the best move to make. thus, barton plastered on the best smile that he could while his eyes zeroed in on khare's. the more friendly he appeared... the better, as that would probably make her more amenable to leaving the two of them the hell alone. barton was planning on killing dana after this date, and nothing was going to change that, ❝ oh, yeah. i totally get that. you can never be too careful whenever it comes to this town, right? but i promise you that my date is in good hands! me and her were just talking about how i'm gonna drive her home because she's had a little too much to drink. right, dana? ❞

a beat had passed without no response from his date, but then a hurried nod came from her as she fazed back into reality. god's — why couldn't this have been like any of the other dates he'd been on that week that ended in disaster for the other person? barton thought he had always been pretty careful not to draw attention to himself while he was out. and that way, he wouldn't be remembered, but he probably would be now. the actual action of opening the door in front of him couldn't come soon enough; a recited, nervous chuckle leaving his mouth, ❝ anyways... you saw my beautiful partner confirm it. now, would you please excuse us? i believe dana also said something about feeling nauseous, and i do not want to be cleaning vomit off my seats. so, the sooner we leave, the better. ❞

#oculusxcaro #AHH i know i didn't really describe barton's annoyance here but... trust me he's annoyed lol #barton really doesn't like to quote unquote ' babysit people ' as he'd put it. though in this situation it would just be common decency to- #help his date of course. however barton's only on it because... well he wants to kill her which i know is super messed up JSJSJ barton just #doesn't care about that aspect of things at all. like this man's morality has been skewed for a LONG time but anyhow #i hope you liked this reply!! #tw: planning of a murder. #tw: allusions to being drugged / given alcohol purposely to impede judgment.