#I feel like we should maybe be more concerned than one of the most abusive & invasive corporations on the globe
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vampire | v. stiles x fem!reader | angst/hurt
summary: void stiles may be bad, but not in your eyes. you soon realize that everyone else’s view of him was true.
warnings: angst, swearing, manipulation, abuse and mention of murder
♫ ( vampire - olivia rodrigo )
a/n: { this is based of olivia rodrigos new song vampire! it’s so good and void just fits the part of it. i am also in no way romanticizing abuse or murder in this imagine. }
cause i’ve made some real big mistakes
“void.. hear me out, i promise i didn’t mean it.” you say in a seemingly calm tone. your mind was the exact opposite of your words. you did mean it. you meant every part of it. it was never supposed to come out, void should have never known you’ve loved him.
“just shut up y/n, i know you weren’t lying.” he spits out. “you need to really use better choice of words, cause jesus you’re not in love with me.” void sat while you were up looking down at him with tears in your eyes.
but you make the worst one look fine
“it’s not my fault she got in the way.” he laughs. “VOID YOU KILLED ALLISON.” you yell. under your breath “you killed my bestfriend.” void gives you a demeaning look. you have to think, why does everything he do have to be perfect in his eyes.
“it’s seriously not that big of a deal y/n.” he gets off his seat and heads to the door. you grab voids arm and say “seriously?”. “you act like what you did was nothing.” you spit out. your body fills with rage as your mind keeps repeating the moment you found out what he did.
out of the corner of your eye, you see him produce a slight smirk.
i should’ve known it was strange, you only come out at night
“void, why do you only come out at night.” you snickered. there was a long pause on the phone call suddenly left with a groan. “why do you always ask so many questions.” he says back.
“it’s not my fault i want to actually see my boyfriend.” you said with a chuckle. the line goes dead silent once again. something was off with void today but you couldn’t pinpoint the exact problem.
“maybe you can come over in a few.” you suggest. “i think it’s better if i come over later.” he retorts. does he really think i’m that stupid.
i used to think i was smart, but you make me look so naive
“y/n, when will we ever get to meet this boyfriend of yours”, lydia asks questioningly . the whole pack turns their head to look at you, except for of course stiles.
“he’s always really busy, you know.” kira gives you a questioning look. “he always seems to be busy, doesn’t he?” scott remarks. scott and lydia seemed to be the ones most interested in what is up with your boyfriend.
“guys i know you think he’s up to no good, but believe me; he is just really busy.” you cough out. you try to convince yourself of the words you’re saying, but each day it’s harder to lie to yourself. maybe he just is really busy
the way you sold me for parts, as you sunk your teeth into me
you cry out in pain as void sinks his teeth into you. it wasn’t as bad as last time, but you have to suck it up for him. this is the only way he could get his power to be with you. his teeth seeping into your flesh made him feel better.
soon after void is finished with you he lets go, “you did so good y/n.” you wince out in pain as he runs his finger over the newly bitten mark in your flesh. you flinch when he puts his mouth down to kiss it. he slowly backs away from your skin and gives you a less than compassionate smile.
“it will be over soon little dove, just a little more.” he grasps at your hand to hold it. “you’re doing so good already, why stop now”, he chuckled. you gasp in pain as he sinks his teeth into you.
only a few more minutes
bloodsucker, famefucker
the marks were soon gone as void gave you some of his power to regenerate your skin. it still hurt but he seemed to be more compassionate this time around. it was hard to be around void in this time of night, he liked to get dark and you didn’t understand how concerning it was.
he liked to be rough with you, in many aspects. but if it was enough to stay with void, you would do anything to make it happen. he was like a bloodsucker, but you never realized it. he would suck out all of energy from you, and never replenish it. he is a vampire in that aspect.
bleeding me dry like a god damn vampire
“y/n, Y/N, are you okay??” scott yells. you aren’t able to hear him well as your hearing is fading in and out. you feel yourself being rolled somewhere. “scott, where am i?” you muster up the strength to say.
it was hazy all around you. you couldn’t seem to pinpoint where you were. you heard ringing in both ears and you felt hard lights upon you. “where, where is he?”, you manage to say. “don’t worry, stiles is on his way.” you feel yourself go down the long hallway faster and faster. “no- no, not stiles.” you begin to feel your surroundings.
it seems to be that you’re at a hospital. your only thought is to where void is. is he okay? “where is void.” the spinning stops, and you are faced with scott to the side of you.
“what are you talking about?”
#olivia rodrigo#olivia rodrigo vampire#void stiles#void stiles x reader#void stiles x y/n#void stiles imagine#void stiles angst#stiles stilinksi fanfiction#stiles x reader#teen wolf#stiles stilinksi x reader#stiles stilinksi imagine#teen wolf x reader#teen wolf imagine#stiles x you#void x you#teen wolf x y/n#stiles stilinski blurb#mieczyslaw stilinski#mieczysław stiles stilinski
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Not Alone
A Tom “Iceman” Kazansky x reader comfort one shot
1362 words
A/N: I’ve been dealing with waaayyyy too much the past few days and needed to get my emotions out somehow. The way I see it: big bad horrible Navy man dies, I need sweet ray of sunshine Navy man to swoop in. I used the gif of his dress whites because besides the fact that he’s adorable in them, the only time we see him in his blues is…
I also included the scrapbook pics I mentioned at the end of the story.
TW: mentions of abuse, allusions to sexual abuse, generational trauma, grief. Most of the story is under the cut.
About face
“He will truly be missed”
Present arms
“Your grandfather was a great man”
…military honors…
“He sure loved to be in the cockpit of a P30”
Fire
It was all starting to become too much. The pavilion was feeling 100 times smaller with each passing second. Everyone had something nice to say about him which made you wonder if you had fallen into an alternate reality. In your reality, he was none of these things. He was a horrible man.
“He was a father who cared deeply, and could be strict at times.” You mean when he threw your mother to the floor in front of her siblings? When he would… No, bite your tongue, now’s not the time.
“He showed up to all of the boys’ football games, when he could.” Of course you were hearing this second hand but as far as you knew, he didn’t show up for jack shit. Maybe he went to your cousins’ games but otherwise he was too self-centered.
Hearing all of these things massively contradicted everything you had known about the man. It contradicted all of the trauma he caused for your mom and aunt. If anything, this man should have won an Oscar for how well he hid all of the smarmy shit he’s done in his life. One of your cousins was beside himself because he didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t have a relationship with the man either and he didn’t know how to process it. But with him being 13 years younger and not quite old enough to learn all of the family trauma, you try your best to console him but feel like you fell flat when he needed you.
The entire situation was suffocating and you needed some air. Finding a spot on the far side of one of the cremation walls, you collapse. Just needing to somehow catch your breath. Taking in your surroundings to ground yourself; counting the trees, counting the birds, closing your eyes and pretending you just don’t exist for a few moments. That was, until you felt a hand on your shoulder. Looking up, your eyes locked onto another set that were all too familiar.
“I was wondering where you ran off to.” Tom said, sitting down next to you.
“Careful, don’t mess up your uniform.” You say, wiping away some tears.
“I’m more worried about you right now.” He says, giving you a look. Having known Ice as long as you have, he knows most of the story about why you don’t have a relationship with your grandfather. You could even see him trying not to make a face during the ceremony.
“Aside from the lies and finding my pictures in his photo album yesterday, I’m-“
“I’m sorry, you what?” the world seemed to slow when you heard the tone change in his voice from concern to anger.
“My pictures. He had pictures of me from when I was 3, 6, and 7 or 8 in his scrapbook. I couldn’t even explain the feelings that have been swirling around in my head since then.” Other than the fact it made you want to vomit.
“Do you know how he got them?”
“No. Neither mom nor I know how because she sure as shit didn’t send them to him. He even had a newspaper clipping from my grandparent’s anniversary announcement. I mean, I get at one point they were in laws but it doesn’t make it any less disturbing.”
“On the bright side, it’s all over. You don’t have to worry about running into him anymore, having to hide your daughter from him anymore, it’s done.” He says, standing up. After brushing his uniform off, he offers you a hand, helping you up from the ground. “Speaking of which, where is she?”
“She’s off, running around with the cousins.” As soon as you say that, the 4 kiddos came racing around the corner.
“What’s eating at you?” Tom asks, looking down at you noticing the far off look on your face again.
“The same question that’s been playing over and over again in my mind since I was about her age…” you say, pointing at your daughter.
“You’re not disposable. I promise. You’re worth more than you realize.”
“It definitely doesn’t seem that way. My grandfather used & abused my mother and treated her like scum therefore I didn’t have a grandfather. My dad thought that life was better 3 hours away and he finally had sons instead of a daughter, so I’m more or less an afterthought. My ex thought making up some whack job story about how he was kidnapped by men with guns was the proper way to get out of the relationship instead of talking to me about what was going on in his head. Both of them also deciding their relationships with my daughter wasn’t important either. No one ever stays, they always leave.” At this point you were on the verge of tears and holding them back was about to not be an option. Before you could even muster another thought, a strong set of arms pulled you in tight.
“Look at me.” Tom said, pulling an arm away so he could lift your chin up to look at him. “You are not responsible for any of their actions. None of that is your fault. You can’t blame yourself for them not knowing what they had and lost. Not everyone leaves. I’m still here for you and I’m not going anywhere.”
“You say that, but the other shoe is always waiting to drop.” Before you could say anything else, your full name was flying from his mouth.
“I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere.” He emphasized every word. At this time, Ron rounded the corner.
“Hey, I was wondering where you two ran off to.” He said, then noticing the tight squeeze Ice currently had you in. He gave you both a knowing look.
“And besides being stuck with me, you’re stuck with this one as well.” Tom said, smirking.
“I’m like glitter. Just when you think I’m gone, POOF, there I am.” That garnered a giggle from you.
“I love you both, I truly do.” You say, side hugging the both of them.
“One of us, maybe a bit more than the other.” Tom joked, placing a kiss on your cheek. Ron scoffed, playfully.
“I can’t believe you’d question my love for her. I’d protect her like she was my own-” Tom, living up to his callsign, shot Ron an icy glare. Ron, living up to his, tipped his hat and slid his way out of the conversation.
“Is this your way of asking me out, Kazansky?” You ask, playfully, but blushing at the same time.
“Not the time or place, darling. But, if you’d be up for it, maybe I’ll officially ask when we’re out of here.”
“While I enjoy the thought, there’s a little someone you might need to get permission from first.”
“TOM!” you hear your little girl yell at the top of her lungs, just now realizing he was here. She ran over and practically jumped into his arms.
“Hey kiddo! You probably didn’t recognize me in full uniform, did ya?” he asks as she grabs his hat and places it on her head.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” You say, as he readjusts your daughter to sit better on his hip and using his other arm to wrap it around your waist.
“Mom, I’m starving.” Your 5 year old says.
“Since it’s a long drive home, yes, we can stop and get food.”
“Sounds like you’re taking me up on that offer.” Tom whispers in your ear.
“Zip it, Kazansky.” You say playfully, placing a kiss on his cheek.
“GET A ROOM!” You hear Slider yell across the parking lot. Whipping your head around to say something, you look back and see that Maverick & Goose have already taken care of it for you, simultaneously smacking him in the stomach.
You didn’t know what the future held, which terrified you. But in the present? You had your daughter, you had Ice, you had your friends, and that’s all that mattered.
The scrapbook pics I found:
It’s been a couple days and the feeling still makes me massively uneasy. But, as stated, he’s gone. I don’t have to worry about him anymore.
#tom kazansky x reader#tom kazansky fic#val kilmer#iceman#iceman x reader#top gun#top gun 1986#gothic writes
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A lot of these discussions about colonizer romance or slave fantasies or similar just feel like the race version of the way certain feminists keep wringing their hands about rape fantasies and the “problem” of them. Like, sure, there are certainly people in the “privileged” group in question who enjoy those in the more “problematic” way that might speak to something concerning about how they view any real-life partners or sex (“might” being a key word here)… for instance, the slavery isekai anime trend seems to be most popular with gross dudes who really do think having a slave woman who waits on you hand and foot and also has sex with you is desirable and wish they could have that irl. But I think the bigger reason these “problematic” fantasies persist is that a lot of people in the equivalent “marginalized” group also really like it in their own ways. They like eroticizing that experience that is so troubling irl. It’s clear some of the people who like these “colonizer” romances are colonized people just as a lot of women love rape fantasies.
Idk, I don’t think the discussion is as simple as saying that what porn or romance you are into has *zero* effect on your IRL sexuality. I think it’s hard to argue that if you’re getting off to something a lot, it doesn’t impact the rest of your life in at least some way, the brain doesn’t draw firm walls around these things— and there’s just the objective fact every young straight woman I’ve known has observed that a lot of younger straight guys have had their expectations of women and sex warped by the unrealistic stuff they’re seeing in porn. But I think like with any other “how does the media affect us?” question: it’s almost never an exact 1:1. Different media deals with these topics differently, and even the same media can affect different people different ways, or even the same person different ways at different points in their life. That’s the issue with “anti”-style thinking, not that fiction can never affect real life. It’s that it’s never as simple as just making a list of bad things no one can like. One person’s trash is another’s treasure and v.v., and what can be irredeemable hateful garbage to one person can be cathartic to another. Just like how the kinks that your abuser used to justify abusing you can be used by another person as their lifeline to help them enjoy sex again after abuse. Rape fantasies or racial fantasies that may seem objectively bad when framed around how privileged people view them… well, that’s not the only framing (and maybe we should stop centering privileged people all the damn time?)
So like even aside from the fact that “colonizer romance” does not have a single objective definition and that people are putting a wide swath of stuff into that label, and it should be used as the start rather than end of a conversation… are we even sure that everyone is coming at it from the POV of the colonizer? Are more people really viewing themselves as John Smith or as Pocahontas? And so when looked at that way, isn’t it really more another version of the eternally-popular-among-women “I can change/fix him!” narrative? (Which itself can be critiqued, particularly in how often patriarchal media sells that to women and why… but that’s a different conversation from the usual “colonizer romance” conversation.)
Or maybe some people are just inherently drawn to cross-cultural romances in general, and those people also like ones that don’t have a colonizing aspect to them?
Like, there’s a lot to unpack here that isn’t in these conversations. We can’t just make this the new buzzword, thought-terminating cliche.
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Writing Inspo: Use those 5 senses
Often times when I'm writing the only thing missing to spice up my atmosphere and descriptions are those pesky five senses. You'd be surprised how much of an impact they make when introducing the reader to a location, or character, or anything of that matter.
Sight
Sight is a lot more than just putting what your characters see, though doing that isn't of any harm either and I dont discourage it. Here's a few things you can do with sight.
Describe the surroundings.
Mention details that only the character would note and could be foreshadowing (Spellcasters noticing a local wildflower as an ingredient to an important potion, abuse survivors locating the exit, etc.)
Describe what the character doesn't see, or what could be obstructing their view
Maybe they see something others dont
Maybe the see something that reminds them of something else
Make comparisons with what they do see
Sound
What do your characters hear? What is the world they're in sounding like right now. What noises should the narrator describe? For those of us with properly working ears we know the world is rarely ever silent.
Background noise
Potentially the weather and condition outside (Birds singing, rain, wind howling)
Things that stick out to a characters ear
Things they didn't expect to hear or maybe what they tune out because they always hear it
Eavesdropping on other characters much?
What is your character listening for?
Maybe there's something they don't hear that surprises them
Maybe there's a strange lack of noise
Touch
What does the world feel like. This is the one I admittedly forget to make use of the most, even though touch is an integrated part of our lives. We always touching something. Whether it be the ground, our chair, our own skin.
Perhaps describe what things feel like to touch (Rough, smooth, clammy, damp, gritty, sandpaper-like)
What does things look like they feel like. Our tongues know the texture of everything we look at. Whether we like it or not
Does something hurt to touch? Does something feel good on the skin? Anything
Smell
I often get lost with what to do with smell, despite the fact that there are smells everywhere in our everyday life, and I even have a heightened sense of smell. Always think about what you experience with your senses, and how you could incorporate that into your writing
Air smells, people smells, specific rooms smell a certain way
Some smells are really strong, others faint, and we often only pick up the strong ones
Sometimes we smell nostalgic scents or pick up hints of the weather
Nature itself is full of smells, wet fallen leaves of the fall, swampy nauseous stench of a murky environment, the sour smell of hot air cooking everything outdoors alive
What does your character happen to pick up with their nose
Taste
Now I'd be very concerned and a little confused if your character was going around tasting everything in sight. Although in writing we don't fall im scenarios often where taste is applicable, don't forget about it.
Obviously if your characters are eating something, you got your chance to use taste
Same goes if for whatever reason your chatacter is licking or putting their mouth on anything else
Maybe a character is fixing their mouth for something, thinking of the potential tastes and old memories of it
Any tastes in the air or lingering taste in their mouth
Advise
Now it's is important to note that my advice for the 5 senses aren't tellers they are instead just inspo, and reminders. That's how I utilize most writing advice online. Especially when I'm stuck on how to write something or have bad writers block.
But here's some more advice
Don't saturate your writing with descriptions using the 5 senses. Yes they greatly help, but they aren't the iron fist of your writing.
You can use how a character reacts along with what they sense to explore characterization
Again my stuff is suggestions and inspo not advice
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Thinking on the whole "Aldera allowed BK to bully Izu" and how Inko is so...uncaring for such fact may be accidental or not...
There are others schools out there...why Izu had to stay in Aldera? Legit. Why? If Inko is so poor she cant afford a new school it would be smth but...the fact she doesnt even try, she is so out of reality...its concerning.
Also...Aldera has (or should have )parents meetings(parents and teachers meeting one another) are the teachers the best actors in the world to convice Inko "your son happy here" or she just dont care?
Another thing: BK is from a rich family...he could have gone to a big school but stay on Aldera. Reason? "To make his hero origin story look good"
1) why? Where this idea comes from? Is AM from a poor background and reach stardom from day to night?
2) does others heroes care for "proper hero background"?
Inko is a bad mom in canon...ironically, bashing fics got it wrong. She doesnt light cigars on her son nor let him starve...she just...do nothing.
Hi @mikeellee 👋,
This. This is where I see Hori's lack of exploration into Izuku's childhood to be a massive problem. Inko is never seen to try literally anything to prevent Izuku's bullying.
A common defense I hear of her is that, "Izuku hid it from her so she had no idea" and while that may be the case later let me ask; does anyone seriously think a four year old can hide being hurt constantly? Let alone being exploded?
So there is two options here:
She could have been too poor to change Izuku's schools / move homes. If this is case - Explore that HORI! That could have been common ground for IzuOcha to bond over!! Not only that but it would have gave Inko a sympathetic reason why she didn't go this route. Hori should have coupled this with a few brief shots of her in the manga showing her trying to speak with teacher, Mitsuki etc... That could have shown a sympathetic and good prominent mother figure.
She saw Izuku being hurt for being quirkless and viewed his suffering as inevitable so did not try to do anything to prevent what he was going through. This is the option that makes Inko look the worst - but also lines the most up with canon in my view. There's metas out there saying that, despite the Midoriya's living in an apartment, they are rich / well off by the interior Hori designs for them (maybe not as much as Bkg but comfortable.) So no monetary boundary to moving. There's the fact that Inko is quick to say "I'm sorry Izuku" and cry on him when he's being diagnosed as quirkless which... It feels like Inko is now expecting the worst for him/ Izuku's future in this diagnosis - which would explain her inaction. (Note - she only tries to protect him after Izu gets a quirk too, by threatening to take him out UA, which lines up with this theory.)
With the Bakugou part - that's just Bakugou's stupidity and ego coming out full swing.
Logically speaking, it would make more sense to go to be best school - rather than whatever Aldera is - to maximise the chances of getting in UA. But Baku is so up his own ass he believes he is innately the best.
First, who lets their child pull this sort of shit when they genuinely want the best for them? Why doesn't Mitsuki sit Bkg down and tell him he's being an idiot? She's done it before. And should do it here.
Second, I WISH this bit him in the ass. I wish he got lower down the scoreboard then third on the term rankings. Or even, failed the entrance exam, got expelled by expellzawa - just anything! Because then it would show Bkg is his own worst enemy.
Third, maybe Baku pulled this deliberately because he knew Aldera would let him get away with being a POS. If Bkg went to a top school do you think they would let him get away with being an abusive turd? Short answer no. If they expelled him - game over for his dream of heroism too. Baku probably knew Aldera would likely fudge things for him to help him get in UA to make themselves look good.
We don't know enough about AM in canon but I do presume that he was from a poorer background due to this view of Bkg's otherwise Bakuboo would not have cared about being seen as "coming from poverty."
TLDR - Inko sits by and does nothing for her son while he was quirkless and being severely bullied because Hori writes her poorly. But there's no nice implication as to why this is the case.
Bakugou is an arrogant idiot who is his own worst enemy - or would be if Hori making him the strongest plot armour all the time.
And AM needs his origins explored - where's the underdog rising to be the number one hero origin story, Hori?
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Relationship advice?
CW mentions of abuse, SA, eating disorders, illness, disasters
My partner (26m) and I (23nb) have been living together for nearly 3 years. We both have rough pasts, he grew up with abuse, survived a disaster in childhood, moved to this country as a refugee, and struggles with PTSD. He's also struggled with chronic illness since not long after we moved in together. I grew up with abuse, including CSA and animal hoarding, and experienced several instances of SA as a teenager. I also struggle with PTSD, in addition to autism (dx'd in childhood) and chronic illnesses that started when I was a teenager. I use a mobility aid when I'm outside. We are both estranged from our parents, and both moved here as kids so our extended families are overseas. Because it might be relevant, he's Black, I'm white-passing mixed (non-Black).
Since he got sick and hasn't been able to work, I've been financially supporting him on my Disability payment. It's been over 2 years. He has applied for benefits, but he's been denied, and I guess there's not much he can do about that. This isn't really a problem, but it makes the problems more frustrating since I'm making a lot of sacrifices for him. He has had issues with pretty toxic behaviour, like yelling at me, calling me names like "retard", "pathetic", being hypercritical but getting mad at criticism, bringing up my trauma in arguments and downplaying it, downplaying my dx'd health issues, etc.
He has acknowledged that his behaviour in the past was toxic, but he doesn't really take constructive criticism and it feels like he doesn't really think there's anything wrong with his behaviour. I woke up to him the other week yelling things like "go starve yourself and die you fat whore, get bulimia cunt, etc." at the neighbours working in the office upstairs through the ceiling, because he believes they are stomping deliberately because they are racist and ableist and trying to provoke him (possibly true! still a weird reaction), and when I told him that I didn't like waking up to misogynistic shouting, he got mad at me, said he has PTSD and I don't know what it's like, called me thin-skinned, and generally dismissed my concerns. He's aware of my history of eating disorders.
He did say sorry during the day, but in the evening I still wanted to address it. I started by talking about how he's got some big emotions and they seem hard to manage, and he got upset, saying he doesn't have anger issues, he's justified in his anger, etc. I got upset and called him a narcissist, and later a dickhead. I also brought up his past behaviour. He said I have a victim complex, he's the one being victimised, I have "twitter brain" (I deleted twitter over a year ago at his request), that I always bring up the past to make him look bad, I have the same attitude as people who people who complain about protests being disruptive and ask "but do you condemn hamas?", he's objectively more traumatised than me, and I'm only upset by his anger because of my implicit biases. It didn't happen this time, but in the past he's knocked a chunk of plaster out of the ceiling and made his knuckles bleed from banging on the ceiling in response to the noise from upstairs.
Since then he's mostly stuck to playing music at full blast on multiple devices and deliberately setting off the fire alarm to annoy them in "protest", while I wear earplugs, and I guess that's a compromise. He has sort of acknowledged that he was wrong but still feels justified overall. I don't really know what to think. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion, maybe I should be more concerned, maybe it's all because of his health and trauma and I should let it slide, maybe there's something I can do to help him, maybe there's nothing I can do. He is sweet most of the time, I love him, but living with him can be so stressful and I don't know how to get him to understand that.
I'm planning on moving home to be closer to family, and he's planning to move after he sorts out his visa. It's also a better country to live in geopolitically and in terms of quality of life than where we live now. I've been hoping to help him get there before addressing all this, since we'll be in a more stable position overall and have more resources, but there's still months before I'll be able to move. What should I do?
.
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Prince Smolder Should Not Be Considered “Good.”
TW: Mentions of p*dophilia behavior, as well as child abuse.
A TL;DR EDIT: Smolder is abusive to his own daughter, displays creepy behavior towards women her age, and is so easily forgiven for doing such awful things, it’s baffling.
Normally I don’t like to do rants, but I’m being so genuine when I say that. Tui seems to be making it so that we’re supposed to like the guy when his behavior is beyond concerning.
The key factor I have against him is that he is a p*do. But since that stuff is just an awful topic overall, I figured I’d start with the other awful things he has done.
So, for starters, this guy is an awful father. He apparently tries to connect with her but it feels half-baked. Onyx, his daughter, doesn’t accept this and I don’t blame her considering her father is trying to get with someone only a year older than her. Later, Onyx, goes to challenge Thorn (which she DOES have a right to) and after Smolder finds out she was going to cheat, what does he do? Tell the guards? Apprehend her? Alert Thorn or Qibli? Nope! Why not cripple her! That’s right. Smolder severely breaks her leg to the point that Onyx is disabled, as we can see since she is actually classified under that tag on the Wings Of Fire Wiki. Onyx should have been punished, but not mangled for trying to cheat. Onyx, I would never want to be within a foot of my father if he brought home a woman who was only a year older than me either. While you do so many awful things, sheesh, your father is worse in tenfold.
Secondly, in book five, he lures Thorn and Sunny into the library. It’s a trap but he is later forgiven so easily, including by Thorn. This goes against her character so blatantly; she was willing to KILL DUNE, one of her most loyal and committed soldiers up until he stole Sunny, for taking her daughter. The two no doubt have many good memories as friends, but Thorn still was vengeful to the degree she wanted Dune murdered. Yet, Smolder, who could have gotten Sunny stuffed or killed by Burn is just… instantly forgiven? It makes no sense whatsoever. He lets out another half-baked apology, and while I could see Sunny accepting it… Thorn? Really?
The main issue with Smolder is his behavior with Thorn. He is actively flirting with her, a dragon who is only a year older than his daughter. I don’t blame Onyx for disliking her father; not only is he physically abusive, he’s also a p*do! While I’m by no means justifying or condoning Whirlpool’s behavior, we can at least know Whirlpool was only intent on marrying Anemone for the royal status, not because he wanted to get with her. But what other motive could Smolder have? He doesn’t need royal status, he IS a royal! He’s flirting with Thorn because he’s a p*do. He also, according to the wiki, “Naturally gravitates towards her” which just sends off way too many alarms.
And the fact Thorn seems to reciprocate the feelings is, again, messed up and out of character. To me, I don’t understand why she needs to rule with a king. Nearly none of the other queens do, as far as we are aware. And after her heartbreak over Stonemover I just can’t see her looking for another relationship, let alone one with Smolder of all dragons. Thorn is independent by nature and doesn’t need a man alongside her. We see she is capable of leadership as-is with the Outclaws. If she really needed a love interest, make a new one around her age or maybe have her miss Stonemover and they try to reconnect? Just not Smolder. Three moons no. But seriously, I don’t see the issue in Thorn just being a single mother and queen. She is more than able.
And, a personal opinion of mine, what if Thorn doesn’t find SandWings attractive? There’s nothing wrong with liking someone of another race, and I think it could just be me getting upset about this as someone who is mixed, but adding Smolder in as this “replacement” seems kind of like Tui is trying to “fix” Thorn’s preferences. Again, as someone who is the child of a mixed couple, this makes me frustrated.
I think the thing that gets me the most angered about all of this is that Tui is addressing it like Smolder is this character we are supposed to sympathize with. No, I will NOT sympathize with a child abuser and p*do. I don’t care if his sisters were committing war crimes, at least none of them exhibit p*do behavior. Honestly I wish Burn had killed him.
The fact he’s also alongside Thorn’s portrait in the upcoming guide also just makes me not want to purchase it. To me that just rings so many alarms in my mind.
I know writing is hard and Wings of Fire is still a series I hold dearly to my heart, but the fact Smolder’s p*do behavior is getting glorified by the author just really upsets me. Thorn x Smolder should not be something that could become canon. It’s p*dophilia and obviously unhealthy.
Sorry for such a long post. It’s probably messy too, but I really needed to vent.
#Wof#Wings of fire#smolder slander#I hate smolder#WOF rants#Wings of fire rants#WOF smolder#Can smolder please die a gruesome death#Ruth Is Ranting
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Different anon. I’ve noticed you’re talking more about other groups on your blog. You’ve encouraged people to stan Stray Mids before as well. Why are you doing this when BTS is enlisting and need more support? I like how you write, one of the best writers on Tumblr is how I see you, but I’ve also seen you excuse akgae rhetorics, turn into a PJM shooter for Jimin, abuse Taehyung, insult Jungkook’s talent calling his music garbage, push Jikook shipping rumors, act like a multi who wants other groups to pass BTS, insult people and talk back to them.
Now you’re pushing Enhypen. I have nothing against them but don’t you think you’re being too obvious in pushing them on Armys? I don’t always agree with you but I like seeing your point of view, but enlistment time is when BTS needs fans most and you’re pushing them to other groups. Are you really a fan or a BTS sabotageur. Don’t you think Jimin will want more support?
*
Ask 2:
Jungwon caught my eye too BPP!!
Can you please talk more about him?
I’m curious about how a younger member became the leader of the group. Aren’t hyung-dongseng hierarchies strict in Korea? How is his personality?
He looks so fascinating to me. I don’t think I’ve seen someone with his face shape before. Anything about him is ok, just tell me. And pls give me your best examples of his dancing! His dancing reminds me of Jimin. It’s so sharp!
***
Hi Anon(s),
Anon in ask 1, the second ask is posted here for your benefit.
The point of showing that ask is not to prove that rather than “pushing” Enhypen on anyone, all I’m doing is responding to asks from people already interested. Though I hope you glean that point eventually, that’s not the reason I’m posting it for you.
The reason I’m posting it is to show you that people can love things. You see that second anon? That 2nd anon is just happy, curious, and excited to learn more about a new artist, Jungwon; an artist who reminds them of Jimin and I’d assume by extension, BTS. It’s a very human feeling. Very normal and one I hope more people experience on a daily basis because it would make us as a species so much happier.
If someone told me today they want to get into EXO, I’ll be the last person to stop them though the group’s music does nothing for me and I think many of the stans are stupid and cruel. The Stray Kids post you’re referring to is me basically just telling an anon to do whatever they like. That’s all we do here anyway. I mean, are you going to reach through your screen to physically stop someone from listening to another k-pop group? Will you break that other person’s keyboard, cancel their data plan, or control their mind? What, exactly, are you going to do?
It’s possible to love things. Maybe this is a bad example, but I’m making it because you clearly think you’re a good and rightly self-righteous ARMY lol, so it’s an example you should get right away. Just as it’s possible to be OT7, to love the seven, very different and complicated men in BTS ‘equally’ without truly compromising in love for any of them, that’s how possible it is to love more than one group without compromising in love for them. It’s expensive, but possible. Just trust BTS to handle their business and do what you want.
That said, you’re right that BTS will need support in 2024. Honestly, it would be stupid to think otherwise. And so, I hope the people who love BTS support BTS. I intend to support BTS, by the way. Going by your ask, for some reason you believe that I don’t. Why? Isn’t it clear from what I write? I mean, I already said in my initial Enhypen post that I don’t stan them. That the group is really young, their dynamic is still maturing, I’m still learning who the members are as people, and that a few things concern me about them. I love Enha and like all the members, I love their music the most in 4th gen, and think they are ridiculously talented. I think Jungwon is a beautiful, ambitious man, Jay’s a sweetheart, and Sunghoon is a problem. Ni-ki is growing so well, Jake and Heeseung are worth keeping an eye on, and Sunoo is glorious. But, their music doesn’t hit the way BTS’s does for me. Lol. I need the rapline. I need their flavor of sound. That’s why I’m here.
And so, BTS.
They are the only group I actually stan. They’re one of the reasons I can justify my expensive audiophile habit. All the guys are hot and they’re actually decent people, despite somewhat popular opinion. That’s more than enough.
So, like, you’re blowing steam up my arse for no reason. Whatever I say or don’t say isn’t going to stop someone from supporting BTS if that’s something that person was going to do or not do anyway. I understand why ARMY-multis have the reputation they have, and it’s deserved, but also, lol, get real.
People who will focus on BTS will do that, and they can do that while loving other music/artists, including k-pop. Without compromising their love for BTS.
You know that. Or should, anyway. That’s the point I care about making. The rest of what you wrote is nonsense lol.
Anon in ask 2, I’ll answer your ask in a separate post.
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Day 7: Made to Watch + Caged (Twilight & Four)
This is a continuation of day 3
Ao3 link
Cw for torture, blood and injury, harm to an animal (it’s poor Wolfie again), broken limbs, and non-consensual drug use
————————————-
Twilight awakens in a cage.
He leaps to his feet, wavering slightly as the room tilts and sways. Everything aches and he can feel the blood caked on his snout and side, itchy and grating on his skin. It’s not long before his legs give way, landing him right back on the floor. A low whine escapes before he can stop it. The bars of his enclosure cut painfully into his stomach, only serving to further drive home how powerless he is right now, how hopelessly trapped.
This isn’t the first time he’s been behind bars, of course, but somehow this is much worse than the previous one. Maybe it’s because the last time he’d had such a drive to find Ilia and the kids he couldn’t think of much else. Or maybe Midna’s prompt appearance had doused his fear before it could even really start to grow.
But he’s pretty sure it’s because when he turns his head just slightly to the right, he can see Four, slumped against the wall, pale and terribly still. If not for the subtle rise and fall of his chest Twilight would think he was dead. By the looks of it, they likely don’t have long until he will be. The amount of blood on his tunic is worrying, and it continues to ooze out from the gash across his shoulder, pushing past the uselessly clumsy bandaging wrapped around it.
Twilight maneuvers closer to him and slips a paw through the bars to touch the smithy’s hand.
After a long moment, Four drags his eyes open and blinks at him.
“He-hey, Wolfie,” he murmurs. “Are-are you alright?”
Twilight nods once, then cocks his head questioningly. Four gives him a small smile.
“I’m okay.”
The words do little to assuage Twilight’s fear. He has to get him out of here before he bleeds out.
It’s his fault he’s even here in the first place, he thinks, guilt hitting him like a lizalfo tail to the face. If he’d been more careful, more attentive then…
He squeezes his eyes shut and lets out a huff of air. He can’t think about that right now. Right now, the only thing on his mind should be escape.
He allows himself a few more seconds to try and clear his mind, then rises on too-shaky legs. Limping forward, he presses his nose to the bars. In the darkness, he can’t make out anything more than a few large, lumpy, and unidentifiable objects.
“I think we-we’re in a cellar,” Four manages. “There’s jarred fruit over here.”
Twilight nods. That makes the most sense, he guesses. Their captors hardly seem like the sort of people who would have access to any…fancier places to imprison people. And that’s a good thing as far as he’s concerned. Once he changes back to his Hylian form, it’ll be relatively easy to grab Four and make a run for it.
…he just has to get out of this cage first.
But before he can puzzle out how, a door creaks open, sending streams of blinding light into the room. Heavy footsteps sound seconds later, and Twilight squints into the brightness to see three people coming down the stairs toward them.
He tenses, a growl rumbling deep in his throat, and one of their captors laughs.
“Still think you’re tough, eh doggie?” He kicks the cage as he passes, jolting Twilight’s abused body painfully. “We’ll fix that attitude right up.”
“Got a buyer for you already,” A tall woman says, with a leering grin. “And hopefully for this one too.”
She squats down in front of Four and he leans back, trying to escape her reach. But she grasps his chin easily, angling his head so she can inspect him. Twilight growls again, hackles rising, and the man delivers another vicious kick to the cage. It’s everything he can do not to yelp as the force of it sends waves of pain rocketing through him.
“Yeah, we’ve promised him two magical freaks,” the woman is saying now, pointing the tip of a knife toward Four’s chest. “So, you’d better have some kinda powers inside that little body.”
“Oh, I bet he does,” the third man pipes up. “If he’s hangin’ out with this one, he’s gotta be magical too. Why don’t you put that knife to use? Make him squeal enough, and he’ll show his true colors.”
“I’d be happy to.” And with a bark of laughter, the woman plunges her weapon into Four’s arm.
He jolts, eyes going wide, body going rigid as the pain hits. A choked scream escapes him, and the sound tears Twilight apart. Desperate, he lunges, colliding with the bars of the cage. Shards of agony split through his side.
“Come on now,” the woman croons, “show us your powers.”
Four drags in a breath and squeezes his eyes closed.
“No? Too bad.”
She brings the knife down again, this time into his thigh, and another scream splits the air. Twilight’s heart is pounding now, so hard he’s certain it’ll escape his chest. He charges at the bars again, hits them, falls back, tries once more.
Blood fills his mouth and runs anew from his wounds; he can hardly breathe past the pain. But he can’t give up, not now, not when Four is dying and he can do nothing to stop it nothing—
“Look at the wolf over here,” one of the men cackles. He bends down and sticks his finger through the cage. “Still trying to save your friend?”
There’s another dull thunk as metal pierces flesh, another cry. Twilight’s vision bleeds red. He rushes toward the man, intent on tearing his hand off if he has to. But he pulls back at the last minute, still laughing as Twilight’s claws catch nothing but air.
“He’s crazed! Even with the muzzle on he’s trying to kill me!”
“Well, at least he’s useful.” The woman motions toward Four, who by the looks of it is hardly hanging on to consciousness. “This one’s a waste of time. If he’s got powers, he’s not showin em.”
She lifts Four up by his hair, and the smithy doesn’t even whimper. His eyes are more glazed than ever now, his small body coated in blood. And when she drops him, he hits the floor in a crumpled heap and remains motionless.
Finally, Twilight comes to a stop, his gaze locked on the smithy. He can no longer tell if he’s breathing. Panic twisting his stomach into knots, heart in his throat, he reaches through the bars for his friend. But before he can touch him, the woman snatches his leg in both her hands and twists. A loud snap reverberates through the room.
Twilight stumbles back and hits the opposite side of his prison, fighting desperately not to make a sound.
“Don’t damage him too much,” the man chastises, but she waves a dismissive hand.
“It’s a little late for that don’ you think?” She straightens and gives Twilight a menacing smile. “Now, let’s grab ‘im and get going. Our buyer’s waiting.”
“Right.”
The man leans in again, ignoring Twilight’s warning growls, and unlocks the door. Twilight tenses, prepared to lunge at him, broken leg and all. But then an open bottle bumps against his snout, thin wisps of smoke floating up from it. Almost instantly the world begins to turn hazy.
Twilight tries to back away, struggling to hold his breath. It’s already too late, however, and he slumps forward, feeling strangely light.
They wrap the chain around his neck again, yanking at it mercilessly, until he drags himself up and stumbles after them. He veers off course as they lead him out, trying to head toward Four. But he hardly makes it two steps before they pull the chain so hard, he chokes.
“Leave it, like a good dog,” someone sneers. “Your friend’s dead.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind, a desperate, disbelieving sort of sorrow pricks at the haze clouding, but it isn’t strong enough to break through. One more yank on his leash, and like a kicked dog, he limps after his captors.
#febuwhump2023#febuwhumpday7#blood and injury#non consensual drug use#torture#harm to an animal#broken bones#trin writes#linkeduniverse#lu four#lu twilight
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Your post replying to the 'what would Touya be like if he stayed home' made me shed a tear lol, ur metas are so good I cant describe it😭 anyway in that post you said something on the lines of 'the family did love him as much(as he did)'. Is that just referring to Enji, or the whole family in general? And the line after saying that if they did the abuse would have stopped, Clearly the kids wouldnt be able to do much on their own, so was that just the case in Touya's point of view? If to Touya his family didnt love him as much as he loved them, how do you suppose in the present they(Rei,natsuo and fuyumi, Maybe enji?) could start to show him that they do love him? This is all in the case that Horikoshi reunites them permanently which I'm pretty confident will happen at this point. Sorry for the long ask😭 Ik the wording is messy, so dont feel you have to answer this! Have a nice rest of your day!
thank you so much for reading and enjoying my meta!
To answer you, while I think the weight of the abuse rests solely on Enji and Rei, I also think that the whole family contributed to making Touya out to be a bad sheep. Like, I was mostly talking about Enji and Rei, who both admitted to neglecting him and not even looking at him. Enji most obviously so as he never made time for him and turned him down every time Touya asked to be followed during training. But Rei too, who canonically played favourites and ended up acting more like a loving mother to Shouto than she ever did to her other three kids.
But I was discussing it as a family issue because all of them more or less act on the example that the parents (mainly Enji) set out. In the fam dynamic, Touya used to be the problem child, the one who couldn't just take his issues elsewhere or swallow down his unhappiness for the sake of pretending to be a real family. We are shown tiny glimpses of this, and not just on the parents' side.
Fuyumi for example doesn't understand why Touya cannot give up his training, and though she speaks from a place of love and worry, the underlining implication is that Touya would be happier if he just stopped causing his own problems. Which is, you know, an oversimplification. While it's true that stopping the self-harming training would improve Touya's overall wellbeing, it also wouldn't cancel out the fact that Touya's psychological distress is caused by Enji's neglect. And please don't take this as Fuyumi hate because I love her and I'm her self-appointed defense lawyer, but. Obviously as a child she didn't fully understand that she was unconsciously blaming the wrong person for Touya's unhappiness, but her words clearly made Touya feel even more alone and misunderstood. He took them as condescension, as Fuyumi not being on his side, as her thinking he should "stop" like his father constantly also told him to. That was obviously not Fuyumi's intention, but it was what Touya heard all the same.
Then there's Natsuo, who was Touya's sole confidante. That time when Touya wakes him up to vent to him, Natsuo is tired and wants to sleep, not listen to his brother's complaints. But when he tells Touya to go to Fuyumi, Touya feels as though Natsuo finds him a burden too and cries that he's telling him to, and I quote, "buzz off, too." Of course, brushing him off once while sleepy doesn't mean Natsuo didn't love him, or didn't want to listen to him, but it contributes to making Touya feel like the concerns he raises about the family aren't heard. That Natsuo, too, just wants Touya to shut up and move on or to find someone else to talk to. The reaction we see from Touya is heartbroken, and that's probably because he's equating Natsuo washing his hands of his brother to the way their parents washed theirs of dealing with Touya's moods. Just like how Enji and Rei wanted him to be a "normal" boy who made friends and moved on, in that moment Natsuo posed like someone who wanted his brother to just leave him alone and talk to someone else. To just... Quit being so difficult all the time.
Of course, just like Fuyumi's case, it goes without saying that this isn't the case. Natsuo was eight and he couldn't have done anything more to ease his brother's pain at the time. But his siblings were still part of a dysfunctional family, and as such, they sometimes repeated the patterns they saw from their parents, and that contributed to Touya's overall isolation. By virtue of the fact that no one except Touya himself ever aimed any criticism Enji's way, but instead treated the eldest like the real problem, they were perpetrating Enji's scapegoating pattern.
Even now, as adults, they have all yet to realize that they're still doing the same thing. By treating Dabi like the bad sheep of the family, someone on whose behalf to apologize (Rei), someone to fight (Enji), or someone whose messes to clean up and bring back home (Natsuo and Fuyumi), they're all still repeating the same dysfunctional patterns without even realizing. That's why I've always thought that they cannot heal so long as they don't stop aiming the blame at the right man. Enji. And ask him to clean up his act.
But you ask how can they start showing that they do love Touya (unconditionally, I want to add). Well. If they stopped scapegoating him, that would be an excellent start imho.
#ali replies#bnha#please don't take any of this as bashing#because it's not meant to be#all of these are laid out as character flaws that they still need to grow out of#so it technically should be temporary#I'm confident that they'll eventually move past these roles#bnha meta#my post
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The Absurdly Long Jason Comics Post
This is all personal! I’m not claiming what’s canon or not and I’m not the final judge for anything - this is just what I like and what I don’t! Also this generally isn’t talking about the overall quality of the comics and the writing unless I specifically mention it, just how I feel about Jason in them. So....recs and unrecs, I guess, under the cut! I mostly just cover the well known ones, maybe one day I’ll do the less well known or really short ones.
Foundations:
These are what I personally view as the base of Jason characterization, this is the basics of what I’m going to use to gauge future characterization and where I get some fundamental character characteristics from.
Robin Years (Detective Comics #568-#582, Batman #408-#426, The Cult)
Robin Jason is the bedrock foundation of all Jason for me. When I think about post-resurrection characterizations of him, my primary concern is “Does this make sense as a progression from Robin Jason? Is this a person he could concievably become after x event?” If the answer is no? I’m out!
Important character takeaways for me here are: Violently upset by abuse, strong desire to punish people who hurt women, experience with an addict mother, a father who turned to crime, and himself turning to theft to survive, very empathetic.
Under the Red Hood
🎵the boy is back in town 🎵
Bruce’s characterization here is shaky
narratively, this story is gorgeous. this is a greek tragedy in a comic.
the scene where he beats the joker is the most pure and cathartic expression of a victim’s rage i’ve ever seen. this is a comic about coming back from trauma screaming and vicious and demanding blood.
that said? the things he does here can be rough to square with his later character developments and i do think parts of this are best just accepted as a thing that happened that won’t ever be addressed because they decided they didn’t want to go with that character direction.
A-Listers
These are things outside of what I consider foundational that I think are Excellent.
Lost Days
This doesn't get put in foundational because it actually came out 5 years after UTRH but it's one of my favorite Jason comics. I wrote a whole post on how I think this tackles the subject of Jason & killing better than any other comic.
Task Force Z:
I went into TFZ knowing nothing about it except the concept and expected it to be awful and instead it became my favorite Jason characterization of recent comics.
I'm really grateful that Rosenberg is pushing back against the narrative that Jason died being reckless and is presenting Jason as competent and highly skilled - which he should be! The idea that *any* former Robin wouldn't be an excellent detective and fighter is just absurd, even if we don't take Jason's own history into account.
That I said really strongly dislike having Jason say he wants to do better than just street vigilante work. I think I don't mind the idea they were going for here? Like I think they were trying to echo Jason's frustration at how cyclical and futile all their work is? But it's worded So poorly and I think Jason should always fiercely love Gotham, the city that made him and killed him and brought him back.
Jason as a smart fighter! Built like a tank but agile as a gymnast and smart as hell, that's my man.
He chokes someone with his thighs, what more do you want?
Robin 80th Anniversary Special
Fun fact this is actually my hands down favorite thing written about Jason ever.
The way Robin Jay and current Jason are tied together. The melancholy fondness, Bruce and Jason loving each other but there still being a gulf between them.
It's very short, I don't have a lot to say, it's just quiet and fragile snapshot of two people who love each other deeply, even after all this time and all this pain and a distance that seems insurmountable.
RHATO Rebirth 1-11ish
Look. Lobdell is an awful writer and horrible person. He is a sexual predator and it does show in his writing of women.
Most of RHATO is garbage and not even the fun kind. The early issues of rebirth are, somehow, genuinely good despite all that.
Jason showing his love for Gotham! Jason being caring and gentle with Bizzaro! Jason's immediate ride or die loyalty (some fatal flaws continue even after death, huh, Jay?). Jason having severe and vivid flashbacks and hallucinations of his death and himself as Robin!
Also the premise of the initial arc of this one makes more sense to me as something Jason might do than most other outlaw plots, like Jason knows Black Mask is planning something and is worried about it - that makes sense for Red Hood to investigate. Jason is actually showing....concern for his city, which is a good thing.
B-listers:
WFA
The thing about WFA, for me, is you cannot go into it expecting normal comics characterization.
I view WFA as like the comics where everyone gets turned into kids. You know going in this is meant to be lighthearted and will remain so even at the cost of characterization.
And honestly? I don't think it does that bad of a job. This isn't my Jason but this is a person I could see Jason becoming if the world had been kinder to him and the other bats.
C-listers:
Titan Tower
My view of this issue is very negatively influenced by how it has Raven trash Robin Jason as “always wanting to be the best” in the same issue after the attack, when Jason’s time in the Titans in canon was him being incredibly empathetic and mature for his age, and actually admitting that he was too young to lead them when Donna tried to make him.
The thing about it is I don't think "Jason being an ass to Tim" is ooc it's just this specific bizarre situation? Why does Jason suddenly care about Tim, specifically, when all his anger has been at Bruce before this?
The most out of character thing here though is that they gave his Robin costume pants. I know my man is brave enough to rock the scaly panties again.
Brothers in Blood
I think my hottest take in this post is putting this one higher than "no" but like hear me out!
I really like that this shows Jason and Dick both saving each other and despite everything genuinely have some? Strange bond? And it think it's cute.
I also appreciate how differently Dick reacts to Jason killing and I think this is one of the more realistic reactions he could have. He doesn't try to engage Jason about the actual killing as much as it's effects - Jason killed a kidnapper in front of a child, probably traumatizing her, and he's damaged Nightwing's reputation and Dick is rightfully pissed about it.
Speaking of. Why is he dressed as Nightwing. Did he get a two for one costume deal when he was commissioning his adult sized robin one? There's never a good answer given for this one. Even if he didn't want to bring back Red Hood as his persona at the time, surely they don't expect us to believe he's so uncreative he can't think up a temporary identity. If he was actually shown to *want* to ruin Dick's reputation, that might be a reason. But he doesn't seem to hold any ill will towards Dick here so it's just ????
Even worse, though, is that he makes some creepy comments to Cheyenne. That's something I find unforgivable in a Jason characterization. Make him mean, make him cruel, make him a callous asshole - but nothing about his Robin years shows us a boy who would grow up to be disrespectful of women. Robin Jason would punch this Jason.
Seriously though why the tentacles.
RHATO (nu52)
Kori we're gonna get you out of there
I do like the little flashback of sick Jason staying home with Bruce. That’s it.
RHATO rebirth 12ish-end
I know everyone focuses on how brutal Bruce is with his son in #25, and that's absolutely fair, but frankly I think this is just beyond the pale for what Bruce should or would do to *anyone* in this situation like I think even movie and game Bruces would look at him here and say he's being a bit much.
We aren't touching that weird abuse apologism Willis storyline with a 10ft pole.
Urban Legends: Cheer
I would honestly take a villainous and his own code of ethics breaking but competent Jason over this dumb brute shit Zdarsky feeds us.
Jason killing while emotional I can believe. Jason "took over a crime empire and bought out part of WE at 18 and fresh from the grave" Todd suddenly unable to track down a drug without harassing addicts I cannot.
Jason is a good detective. Jason is someone who plans things meticulously. This is not Jason.
What is with the Robin Jason and guns flashback. Does Zdarsky think guns operate using some sort of psychological curse upon their user, and Jason was infected and became obsessed? I can only assume that because otherwise there's no reason for this section.
10 year old Jason apparently murdering someone? Does Zdarsky walk around poor areas worrying about getting merced by traumatized grade schoolers?
Jason works as an interesting character because he should be presenting and embodying an actual moral conundrum but the morals in this storyline are so vapid and shallow that Zdarsky can't actually have a well written Jason.
The plot makes no sense because the kid couldn't have gone home with his father either way so making it into "but now he's Jason's responsibility" is SILLY okay okay deep breaths I'm done
NO:
These are comics I will under no circumstance consider as in character. I don't count them as canon. I don't take them into account when I write meta. They may as well not exist to me.
Battle for the Cowl
This is a just travesty for everyone involved, not only Jason. Jason going on a murderous rampage. Jason shoots Damian. Bad for everyone, bad for Jason, terrible story, let's all pretend this was a fever dream.
Hey at least Jason is presented as relatively skilled though.
Robin Vol. 2
Jason "no selling to kids or you go in the duffel bag" "killed his teacher for using child soldiers" Todd is going to condone using the "child gangs" of Gotham? No. Absolutely not. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done.
Batman & Robin (Morrison)
Why is his hair red. Why would he try to kill Dick or Damian. Why would he poison the prison's food supply. What's with the helmet. Why does he strip Dick & Damian. Winnick tries to salvage the last two issues with him in this run but there was nothing to save in this hideous ooc mess. If I thought this was what Jason was like, I wouldn't like him either.
The idea of Bruce making Jason dye his hair just to get a blonde and a girl Robin later is a hilarious concept though like maybe I’d become a mass murdering maniac too if I found out I did all that and he just let it drop later.
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Some comments on comments
So there's a new feature across WoX: commenting on individual posts in topics!
Before I criticise it, let's be fair to Dan: it's a feature that has been asked for. He listened and created it, and that's very good. It can be useful and it's nice being able to comment on other people's writing, encouraging them and maybe providing feedback.
To the criticism though... there are a lot of potential problems that seem to have been overlooked entirely, or at least left for site leaders to figure out own their own. Abuse of the feature mainly, but also difficulty in monitoring and enforcing rules (not to mention that rules for comments must be written first). I think it's more likely to be misused than used for the intended purpose.
It also opens up a whole new way of online bullying in the form of commenting on what people write in topics and there's a risk it'll go unnoticed my forum mods when hidden in comments. Before anyone says that it's useful for reminders from prefects/mods: the comments must be opened in order to be seen. If you don't open the comments, you don't see them. That makes it pretty pointless for reminders since most people would never see them in the comments.
According to several sources the site leaders were not informed of this new feature until after it'd been implemented. They were not given a chance to try it out, update the forum rules, inform the prefect leader (or the site equivalent), give their opinions or come with suggestions. And this is not a one-off, this has happened many times before with other features.
Here's a suggestion: build a test-site where features to be tried out by site leaders before they're implemented on the actual sites. The site leaders would feel included in the development and they could raise their concerns before any serious problems occurred. They'd get to familiarise themselves with the feature so they can explain it to their staff and users, instead of having to investigate it on the fly after it's already been launched and users are trying it out themselves. The thing with being a site leader is that you're expected to know how everything works and being a bit of a control freak who wants to know and consider everything is usually a good thing.
Catching potential issues before launching new features should be standard practise, but on WoX it apparently isn't. Maybe it's because Dan (who builds the features) isn't a site leader, he sees things from a very different perspective and rarely has to worry about the potential issues that, at the end of day, isn't his to fix: it's the site leader's job to sort out problems within their sites. It's up to the site leaders to make sure their rules are solid restricts what users may or may not do. It's up to the site leaders to have protocols in place for who deals with what and how, like topic posts that break the rules or comments that are 20k words long.
It's important to let site leaders have a say in site development, they are the ones doing most of the work once a new feature is implemented and they are the ones dealing with the consequences of any oversight. In my own experience as a former site leader, we usually didn't have much of a say and often didn't even know of new features beforehand. We were often left to figure it out ourselves on our own or badger the Mugs or Dan with our questions. That takes time, and with IRL commitments there's no guarantee you'll always have the time to work it out immediately. That's usually not a problem, but it could be.
To summarise: the comment feature looks hastily executed without much consideration for the actual site management aspects and potential misuse. It's a nice feature but it could end up causing more problems that it's worth, and problems create a lot of additional work for site leaders and their staff. Most users won't ever see what goes on behind the implementation of new features, but for those who do it looks and feels unprofessional and careless. And I'd argue that it is.
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November arrived!🌹
Can i ask you a sittle slaxl fic to celebrate it? <3
A/N: Hi there, I literally wrote this little thing in one go so I hope is good enough (also dw I haven't forgot about the other requests, I promise!)
Axl watched the rain falling down slowly, marking the big window in his living room with small water drops.
He always found something relaxing about the sound of pouring rain, it almost helped his creativity and inspiration. In LA rain was rare, so he made sure to cherish the moment as long as he could.
Maybe the reason why he was sitting at his piano was the song trapped in his mind that desperately asked to be written, or probably just one of those nights when he only managed to sleep a couple of hours. He kept looking at the rain, hoping it would inspire him, writing and scratching out words from his notebook.
So many feelings inside him yet he couldn't put them into words.
He almost didn't notice the soft sound of steps coming his way, but Slash knew better than to sneak up on Axl, he learned it the hard way.
Slash. His beautiful Slash with an oversized t-shirt and pants even if it was november, the same Slash who had his hair all messy and who slowly hugged him from behind. The Slash who made him feel safe as soon as he felt his skin against his.
"What are you doing at this hour?" The guitarist asked, with a hint of concern.
Axl should have known better, too many times Slash found him after having a nightmare, terrorized and scared, but it was a different case that night.
"I need to get this song out." The singer answered.
Slash grabbed his hand, as to distract him from writing any more words.
"Can't you do that later?"
"You know if I don't get it out as soon as possible, it's not the same."
It was true, words seemed to flow differently in Axl's mind and what seemed great, after 20 minutes was considered garbage.
Slash started to run his hands along Axl's back, making him shiver even if the guitarist's hands were surprisingly warm.
" What is it about?" He asked, ready to fully embrace his boyfriend's quest to write the song.
"It's stupid."
It wasn't. It wasn't something stupid per se, it was something extremely important for Axl but he was always felt weird talking about his feelings, even with the person he trusted the most in the world.
"You say many stupid things but I doubt this will be one." The curly haired man joked.
Was it worth it just being honest? He had no idea if Slash was going to make fun of him or call him sappy, even if he always seemed enthusiastic about his songs.
"It's a song for our one year anniversary. 1st November, right?" He said and even if he couldn't see Slash's face he felt him smiling against his skin.
"A song for us?"
"I mean it's our anniversary, not someone else's,so yeah, a song for us."
Slash's hands kept going up and down his back lazily, probably he was still quite tired so Axl decided to repay him by playing with the other man's curls.
"It was raining that day too. We kissed under the rain." Axl remembered.
"Yeah it was very romantic, if we forget that you were almost punching a wall."
"I wanted to kiss you and thought you didn't like me, so I was angry. Plus this shit was hard to sort out for me."
The singer never hid from Slash the fact he grew up in a very abusive and conservative religious household. Kissing a guy was a one way ticket to hell, even for no religious believers.
" Well, everything went and look at us now : together, in love and willingly awake at seven in the morning." Slash replied.
Realistically Axl knew he couldn't manage to finish the whole song, especially not when he couldn't use the piano and Slash's body felt so warm and comfortable against him.
" We should go back to sleep. "He admitted.
"I thought you would never say that." Slash sighed in relief and led Axl back to their room.
The relaxing sound of the rain, the cozy blanket and Slash's embrace made Axl realize how tired he actually was. He always pretended to hate sleeping with their hands tangled, but this time he didn't care and just let Slash hold his hand.
"I love you, ginger snap." Slash mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.
"I fucking hate that surname."
"Yeah, but you are writing a song for us so you are a softie." Slash shoot back.
"Yeah, I love you too."
The guitarist seemed content enough to fall asleep, his breath becoming slow and steady, making Axl even more tired.
The redhead looked one last time at the rain falling down, cherishing the fact he was now in bed with his boyfriend and not almost running away from him after kissing him.
He knew nothing lasted forever but he hoped his November Rain did of it meant staying with Slash for a long time.
#Axl rose#Slash#Slaxl#guns n'roses#80s rock band#80srock#my fanfiction#Fanfiction#guns n roses fanfic#Request
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what's your opinion on homophobic actors ? for example the love by chance cast and their scandal with earth? there might be other homophobic ones idk about but I was just using that as a example I still want you're overall thoughts! would you still watch their stuff? or follow them? or another example actors admiting they used bl as a way for clout some people think thats okay and its justified would you agree?
BL Actor Homophobia
Oh boy. I don't really follow actor drama. Or I try not to. And I kinda don’t want do this, but I guess I should do a sort of official statement thingy. Since this fun silly side blog of mine has sort of gotten bloated and out of my control.
Like the giant peach.
ALT
In general, I think it's difficult to understand any celebrity's actual feelings on anything.
Sometimes it may not be safe for them to express their true opinion, because of image, brand, business, studio, agency, management, or family concerns or constraints. They may be more supportive or less supportive than we will ever know. Anything that approaches bullying is going to be even more complex because there are so many elements, perspectives, and entities involved. (Although I will always side with the victim.)
With regards to interview, vlog, or variety show missteps and misspeaks, a lot of BL actors are BABIES, like so young. Tell me you didn't make a stupid fucking idiot statement when you were in your late teens and early 20s. Well, you CAN tell me you didn't, but I won't believe you. I certainly did. I was a pretty lousy human for a while. Queer af but still lousy.
And a bunch of queers from other countries jumping in and attacking is surely going to change baby boy’s tiny mind... right? Yeah, no. No, it’s not. Multiple studies have shown that attacking someone only drives them into a corner and hardens their sentiments.
Honestly? I don't think it's ever a good idea to make a hero out of an actor... they are, after all, ACTORS. I mean, come on, you must have meet some of the breed?
Make a hero of the BL character he portrayed, certainly! But not the actor for goodness sake. He’s only an actor, after all.
Celebrity turns people... odd. Or maybe it's just that the type of personality that seeks celebrity is innately suspicious? At least to this curmudgeonly introvert. (The fact that I all too often end up dating the fuckers is my terrible judgement and wicked bad taste.)
Where was I?
In most of these cases netizens take everything out of context, or at the very least hugely exaggerate. People pick camps. Yes there are certainly bad apples, but I think about this with kpop a lot, sometimes it's all shades of grey and no celebrity is as evil, or as good, as we want them to be. They're mostly just gloriously shiny narcissistic pricks (affectionate).
Particularly with something like homophobia, the context of identity (or identity erasure or abuse) is very culture specific. With BL we are often talking about places where, until recently, they didn’t even have a word for gay. I don't like to get outraged in general, it's exhausting. But to get outraged about something that some pretty kid said or did, in a language I don't speak, born and raised in a culture I did not grow up in, to a family dynamic I cannot comprehend?
It seems like, considering all the grey areas, I am not really equip to judge.
It's not the same thing, but I'm a long time melody and I often think about what happened to Ilhoon. As an outsider what he went through seems absolutely insane. But I've never lived in South Korea. What the hell do I know? I can only make a judgement call from my safe little nest where (currently) weed is legal and has been for ages. I guess, at the very least being in Kpop should have taught Ilhoon how to be careful enough not to get caught?
And I guess that's were I do judge.
If the actor is homophobic (by any standards), and acts in BLs, at the very least he shouldn't have gotten his tiny hypocritical arse caught out, now should he? Tut tut on the brand management, fella. Practice a little circumspection.
Oof. My cynic is showing.
Look, I’m not that bad, I’m just an old tired queer. We’ve been fighting a long time. Can’t I pass the buck (or blunt or cock) along?
Mostly when one of these stories crosses my radar I just feel sad. And I don't wanna feel that way around BL (or Kpop for that matter), so I try not to even register it's happening.
Here, you wanna get outraged, get outraged about this:
ALT
There are major cultural issues in play here, and when this kind of thing happens to an idol on the streets of Seoul, I’d venture to say, there’s society wide systemic problems at the root of of this kind of homophobia, that the homophobe’s are manifesting - like symptoms of a disease. Sure you can treat the pox (with a damp wet white towel, perhaps?), but darlings don’t you think it’s about time we developed a vaccine? (And maybe I think that’s kinda what BL and pop culture can do to culture, if it gets normalized enough.)
But currently, with these homophobic incidents? We all lose, and we are all to be pitied because of it.
I love BL because it leads with love, and that’s the best I can practice at this point in my life. Try to talk more about positive BL dramas and less about negative BL actor drama. Try to be a little more loving and a little less outraged.
That’s it, I don’t have a solution, sorry. Just... perseverance, I guess? su su na and all that.
(source)
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Ok, fuck it, listen here's unpopular opinion on Marinette X Adrien. They should NOT be together and here's why:
Ok so I'm missing some episodes from the past and some future ones but that episode where they lost their memories, learned their identities and then forgot again? That's the shit
So listen, first of all they shouldn't be together because they NEED and I cannot stress this enough, need to work on their issues before they are ready for a relationship.
Adrien,
my sweet summer child, this boy was deprived of genuine care and kindness so now he dives in for any crumbs of it he can find, and that's what makes him a people's pleaser. He cannot say when things make him uncomfortable and people exploit it. He never get things that he wants like seeing that movie of his mother because in the end he's like ye those people destroyed this opportunity, invaded my personal space, basically HUNTED me down but I can't be rude so like I'll give my email address to the biggest most toxic stalker ever. BABY NO.
So when Marinette is *flirting* or whatever the fuck, either he can't tell and thinks she's just weird or nice or he just allows this because he cannot say no. Literally this boy cannot say no and it's fucked up, man. The way people toy with him like Chloe is straight up toxic (again I know they are 14) but she had so many redemption opportunities and she decided to keep being like this, and then Kagami or what's her face, who if I remember correctly almost forced him into a relationship because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. This isn't healthy, someone get him to therapy. And like I know they all are like 14 but for fucks sake noone is saying anything they are just like: "oh, he's sucha nice and kind person" yeah, it's the fucking isolation and trauma, thanks. Not to mention ISOLATION. Gabriel is straight up abusive mf someone call child protection services.
And lastly, this is very minor but worth mentioning. It's true that Chat Noir backed down when Ladybug told him she loves someone else. (There was a little jealousy arc but it lasted whole 15 seconds and was done for). But did he really? I mean as an audience we know that they are Adrien and Marinette so it doesn't make much difference to us, it's all a long and suffering misunderstanding but they don't know that. And he keeps flirting with her. He did from the very beginning, he doesn't do anything else though but every now and then he does mention how he loves her.
Now, I don't know about other people or Marinette but if I were her it would make my skin crawl. Like, if I knew he's serious not just being funny with his flirting, (and he is serious) it would make me super uncomfortable so idk if this is some reverse things where Marinette doesn't want to hurt his feelings being more vocal about it (ALTHOUGH she does repeats it over and over again that they are not a couple so maybe it does make her uncomfortable) but that's not ok folks.
But over all, he's a kid that's got a lot of catching up to do on social interaction and all, but him being with Marinette would be a disaster. First of all give this boy therapy. This is the ship, Adrien X Therapy. And then let him be in any relationship.
Marinette,
Oh boy ok before we start know that I don't hate her, she's a complex and in some ways more layered and realistic heroine than most media present and that's great however there are some concerning behaviours here.
First of all, her obsession with Adrien is borderline creepy. I really don't like how the show blew it out of proportions and just make her this unavailable to function creature that just lives off crumbs of Adrien's attention thrown her way. Can we talk about the fact that she memorised his schedule? His classes? His everything? That's stalky as shit and not in an endearing way. And I know Adrien notices but again won't say anything so this only encourages this behaviour and it's fucking uncomfortable guys. It's not comical or funny it's just weird. Because they are not throwing those things like "oh he probably has maths. Or he sometimes has photo shoot after school" no she straight up says "I have his life memorised".
Additionally, everyone knows she has this crush and fucking encourage it. Like everyone else in the school already paired up and they just go oh she likes him ok so we'll go along those crazy elaborate plans she has to capture, literally ambush Adrien so she can talk to him. Like no, children this is not how it's fucking done. You're supposed to put a stop to that.
Moreover, and boy oh boy this is the core issue: her jealousy. Like I get it she's 14 and has a crush and she is allowed to feel jealous. And I KNOW that in the end she does the right thing but that's the issue as well.
First of all the mere thought of Adrien talking with anyone else, like Chloe or Kagami or what's her face that lying girl makes Marinette rabid. It's toxic as hell. She doesn't trust Adrien's judgement and doesn't let him chose for himself which is one of core issues of HIS because he's usually not allowed to do that. So in a way that's again restricting another sphere of his life. And I know we as an audience know they are shittt people but like they don't? So let them learn that.
And the second issue with her jealousy. She is almost a female version of a nice guy when she's like that. She literally justifies any action of sabotage or scheming to not let other girl get close to Adrien with the fact that she's Ladybug and she know Adrien so we'll (cos she's a stalker) and she's convinced her judgement is better and they don't deserve him. She dead ass thinks she's Ladybug (a nice guy) so she deserves a guy. That's fucked up. And I know that in the end she does a right thing and that's she's allowed to express her feelings and all but after several seasons this is annoying.
THEY ARE NOT LEARNING FROM THE PAST THEY DO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN
Like this whole Marinettes in love with Adrien but he's in love with Ladybug and they are the same person might have been a fun drama hook in season one but to drag it THROUGHOUT what is it? 5 seasons? This is tiring and annoying and boring.
Lastly, especially in the context of the above we need to talk about Luca. Marinette is clumsy and shy around a crush and babbly sure but can we compare how she acts around Adrien and how she acts around Luca? We know she's a disaster around Adrien and she is a stuttering blushing mess when talking to Luca but the moment Luca confesses to her (which let me be honest was smooth as fuck guys) she immediately forgets about Adrien. We know she doesn't do anything about it because she is still hung up on Adrien but it's almost as if she's hung up on the IDEA of him. Because she does know him, she THINKS she does but she doesn't. And she can't let go even if there is a perfectly normal and healthy relationship option open In front of her.
Again, I know they are children and all but there are some serious issues here that the show just kept on playing at as a joke or a drama source and that's not ok. The characters have no growth because of that and they seriously start turning Marinette into a toxic annoying stalker and Adrien into a passive hopeless guy when they both have much potential.
#miraculous ladybug#marinette dupain cheng#adrien agreste#fuck never have i ever tbought id make a post about miraculous Ladybug guys
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was going through old files and found the start of a resident evil village fic... idk if i'll ever finish it, so here's the start for posterity. maybe i'll finish it someday if there's any interest
warnings for descriptions of animal harm, gore and surgery, along with some emotional abuse
also also, if anyone here speaks french and would be willing to tell me if the tiny bit of french in here sounds correct, i'd appreciate it! i went through a few channels that were more advanced than google translate, but i don't speak the language myself and didn't really have any way to verify
Salvatore Moreau was a very good doctor. At the very least, his mother had always said so.
To be fair, she wasn’t the only one who said so, but she was always the one who was the most adamant about it, even before he could speak.
Stories fed to him when he could barely hold his head up of his grandfather, his namesake, who had left Italy for France to study under the Louis Pasteur— or at his university, at least— and Salvatore had learned by age two and a half that he should always pretend that he understood why that was a big deal.
By age four, he really did understand why that was such a big deal, and by age five, after lengthy stories from his mother of his grandfather’s most gruesome surgical endeavors and hints that his namesake had been prepping since he was half Salvatore’s age, he had started performing medical experiments of his own, shaking, pudgy hands rifling through his father’s tackle box, taking out the worms and insects, using a hook to open them up and see how they ticked.
His father never liked it, seeing the boy tear his bait apart on the docks of the reservoir, but his mother was thrilled, and tutted away his father’s concerns.
“It’s a surgeons instinct,” she would coo, pressing a kiss against the boy’s cheek and placing a needle and thread in tiny hands, so he could stitch everything back together. “I just want him to have a head start. He’ll need hands-on experience before he goes to Paris!”
“Of course,” his father would say, never one for arguments, “but couldn’t we stick to creatures that are already dead?”
“He’ll have plenty of time to work on cadavers in school,” she would retort, and sometimes the discussion would become a bit more tense, a back and forth babble of French and Italian that Salvatore could make out if he focused, but rarely bothered to focus on. The Italian always won, anyway.
“Just…” he would finally hear in tired French, “nothing that feels. Nothing more than bait… Nothing with fur, or a real brain…”
And Salvatore was happy to agree with that— bigger things would squirm or scream, and he didn’t like to feel like he was hurting anything. He was practicing being a doctor, he wasn’t trying to cause harm.
But by age seven, his mother started handing her little surgeon field mice and toads from the lake, speaking breathlessly about how his grandfather had once amputated a leg in five minutes flat, and he knew she wanted him to try to do it in four.
A mouse’s leg was so much thinner, after all.
She was ecstatic when one of his tiny patients finally survived the night, and had gleefully told him that his father wouldn’t have to know they were expanding their medical practice.
“He’s a sweet man, your father, a good man,” she would say, with genuine fondness, patting her son’s cheek, “just…not ambitious. We both want you to be the best you can be, tesoro, we just don’t agree on how to get you there…”
And Salvatore wasn’t sure how he felt about her dismissing his father— he seemed happy with his life, after all— but it was hard to act as if he was living up to his potential.
He was sure, after all, that when his father had told his mother he had a Lordship waiting for him if his family ever returned to Romania, she was not expecting the man to remain a fisherman after he had accepted it. A Lord usually made more of himself.
When he asked his father though, on one of the quiet, early morning boat trips he took his boy on so often, the man had simply laughed quietly.
“A Lordship is just a title, Salvatore,” he’d said, wrapping another blanket around the boy’s shoulders— Salvatore always forgot how chilly the morning mist on the boat was, and his father always kept spare wool blankets by the tacklebox, so the boy wouldn’t have to remember. “I’m sure some old Moreau was great some hundred-odd years ago, or at least found a way to make some money somehow, but it doesn’t mean much nowadays. A bit of land, a crest…”
“A boat,” the boy had giggled, kicking the bottom of the old thing, and his father had laughed.
“No, no, the boat I built.”
Salvatore had squirmed a little, confused, hands gripping his fishing rod. “We… we owned a reservoir, but not a boat?”
And the man had chuckled again. “Your brains come from your mother’s side of the family, mon chou. Not the Moreau side, even if someone long ago managed to be great on a reservoir without a boat.”
“Well. You were smart enough to build a boat.”
The man had hummed softly and nodded in humble agreement, standing up to cast his line out again.
“… So if we’re Lords here,” the boy continued, gnawing on dirty fingernails, “why did you ever live in France?”
“Well, we have family there, of course,” his father had said, chewing on his cigarette, eyes glued to the lake, “but it was mostly the weather.”
“… Your family gave up being Lords because of the weather?”
“We’re cold-blooded creatures, us Moreaus,” his father had whispered conspiratorially, piling another blanket on the shivering boy and sticking out his tongue when he snorted. “We do better where it’s temperate.”
“But it’s still cold here. It’d be nicer in France. Or Italy.”
“Hm, it is, but your mother’s enough of a firecracker to keep anyone warm,” the man had said, half exhausted and half lovestruck, and Salvatore really couldn’t argue with that. “And besides. She liked the idea of being a Lady… found it romantic, you know.”
The boy had nodded again, kicking his legs and reeling in experimentally, just to see if he could catch any fish’s attention. It didn’t work.
“But there’s no expectation for you,” his father had said, tugging on his own line. “There’s no, ah… role you have to play, because of my family.”
“Mama says being a doctor would be be-befitting of a Lord.”
“And it would be if that’s what you’d like,” he’d said, patting his son’s shoulder. His jaw had set, just a little, and Salvatore regretting bringing it up. “We both want you to be happy, Salvatore, we just—”
“Don’t agree on how to get me there,” he’d finished quietly.
“No, we don’t,” the man was reeling his line in now, having felt a tug. “But nobody does, really, for anybody. Ready with the net now.”
The boy had nearly dropped his own pole in the water in the rush to get the net for what ended up being a much smaller than average fish, but his father never chided him for that sort of thing.
Despite his mother’s aspirations, stories of how his parents met never included the Lordship.
“We met at the market,” his mother would say dreamily, whenever her son asked. “He tried to sell me a tiny trout for three francs…”
“And?” Salvatore would always prompt giddily, despite knowing how the story went.
“And I told him that for that price, I’d better get it fully cooked with wine and dessert… and he was happy to do it.”
“The dinner,” his father would always add from his armchair, “was more than three francs—”
“And the trout was very good,” she would concede, kissing him on the cheek and patting his arm as he blushed furiously.
“Was it worth it?” Salvatore would ask his father, as if he didn’t already know the answer, as if he weren’t essentially reciting a script, and he was never surprised when mother would reply instead.
“Was a wife worth three francs?”
“I think I could have spent less on the dinner if I’d thought it through more,” his father would always say, smiling the whole time. “But the date was well worth the seven francs I spent.”
There were many stories like that, back and forth skits of things his mother had already told him— everything from his grandfather’s most harrowing surgical endeavors to the hectic day that he was born— but the day his parents met was always his favorite. It was the one they seemed the happiest to tell, the one they always remembered new details of.
His mother would always tell him later, while tucking him in, that she would have insisted on dinner with his father even if he’d charged a single centime for the trout, because her demand for dinner and wine hadn’t really had anything to do with the trout itself, and his father would always tell him the next morning on the boat that he’d deliberately overcharged for the trout just to have an excuse to haggle with a pretty girl, which had worked out far better than he ever could have imagined.
“So, it was love at first sight?” he would ask them both, without fail.
“Of course it was, tesoro,” his mother would sigh, brushing his hair out of his eyes and taking off his glasses, setting them on his bedside table. “Why else would I have made him take me to dinner?”
His father would always be asked the next morning, back on the boat, and he would breathe air out of his nose and smile softly, shaking his head.
“I wouldn’t call it that, Salvatore… love takes time, work, you know? It’s a… process,” he would say, baiting his hook. “But I knew I wanted to know her better.”
Salvatore decided from an early age that he liked his mother’s answer best, but he never said so, at least not to his father on those frigid, foggy mornings.
“He changes the story, doesn’t he?” his mother would ask, needle and thread and a rabbit bundled into her arms, and he would relay the conversations on the lake, to drown out the rabbit’s screams. To stop his hands from shaking.
“No,” he would say, hoping to avoid the inevitable. This was another script, but one he liked much less, and it was hard to recite his lines when his hands were slick with viscera.
“He doesn’t say it was love at first sight,” she would sigh, looking intently at her son’s handiwork.
“He says love takes time,” he would say, wrist deep in gore, “and work.”
“So it takes work to love me, does it?” and the teasing note in her voice would never be enough to stop his queasiness from building.
“No,” he’d say over the rabbit’s screeches, or mouse’s, or the toad’s, “of course not.” And his voice would quaver even though he’d mean it.
She never noticed the hesitancy, and he was glad, because the minute his patient was stitched up, that nervous note in his voice would wash over him in a wave of shame. He’d shake and snivel after every procedure, and he was convinced it had to be because of that hesitancy over the woman convincing him to tear apart the local fauna, and not the act of tearing them apart. He refused to entertain the idea it could be a little of both.
Her son’s trembling was something she could not ignore, and she’d take his hands, still dripping from surgery, still pudgy with baby fat, and smile softly. “A surgeon’s hands,” she’d sigh, squeezing. “You’ve done such a good job, Salvatore, you have a surgeon’s hands.”
It was almost enough to make him feel better.
“Now, let’s get you cleaned up before your father sees.”
That was what really made him feel better, at the end of the day, wiping off the gore. He tried not to think about it too much. There wasn’t much use for a squeamish surgeon.
Even as he got older, as his hands started to shake less, as he learned how to quiet the animals’ screams and as he developed an appreciation—or at least a fascination—with the work his mother was pushing him towards, he was still relieved every time he got to clean his hands and be done with it.
He was ten when his father found him, halfway between the makeshift surgical center and the lake, rushing to dip sopping red hands in murky water. His father had looked at him, hunched over and bloody and crying, and his face had gone gray, and he’d docked the boat and headed up to their house without a word.
The din in the house started almost immediately and for once, the French overpowered the Italian.
He tried not to listen, as he scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and tried to drown out the noise, washing until his hands were sore to try to feel clean, to avoid going into the house.
The yelling carried, though, no matter how loudly he splashed, no matter how much he muttered to himself. The only sound he could hear was his father, angry like he’d never heard before, so angry Salvatore was sure he was sobbing, refusing to back down for once.
Vous pensez que c’est ce qui est le mieux pour lui? Vous pensez que c’est ce qui le rendra heureux? Il est trempé de sang, il tremble! Mon Dieu, il n'a que dix ans!
Dear God, he’s only ten!
When he pulled his hands from the lake, they were still bloody, and it took a good few seconds to realize that this time, it was his own blood. From the state of his hands, raw and cracked and trembling—God, he wished he could stop the trembling-- scrubbing any more would only make things worse, so he just sat on the dock miserably, holding his fingers above the water and waiting for them to dry.
#this fic is just the emotional equivalent of kicking salvatore moreau in the stomach repeatedly#it was going to be about this theory i have that sal was the village doctor when the spanish flu hit so miranda like.#blames him for eva's death. which is why he's treated so badly even compared to his already mistreated siblings#while also being sort of a study about his relationship with his biological family and how an unhealthy dynamic there#sort of led him into the unhealthy relationship he has with miranda and the lords#but i never quite got the motivation to finish it#idk if anyone here even likes resident evil but this has been sitting in my files for so long#and i want it out in the world in some way i suppose#there are a few other scattered scenes i've written but. whatever#anyway sal is the most potentially interesting lord imo it's a shame his siblings took all the fandom's attention#not that i don't LIKE his siblings. i do!!!#i just think it stinks that moreau is so overlooked
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