#SCREW THE BATS MORAL CODE

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 27 - "I don't know if they will accept this."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: -

A/N: Started writing this yesterday and finished it during lunch break today. So I decided to take a break tomorrow and post this early :D

Danny nervously poked his scrambled eggs as he sunk just a little lower in his chair. His eyes flicked back and forth between all of his new siblings that were currently in a heated discussion not noticing his slow withdrawal from the discussion and acting like he really didn't want to get noticed by them.

"Have you seen Mister Freeze's new sidekick? The white haired one that's probably a Meta with ice powers?"

"You mean Wraith?"

"Wait, I thought the kid was Ivy's sidekick? He helped blow up a facility last week!"

"No, no, no, no! Isn't he with Scarecrow?! I am sure he accidentally screwed up with the Fear Gas ten days ago so no one go harmed! But Scarecrow screamed at him that being new to the job wasn't an excuse."

"Didn't he help Catwoman steal two artifacts a couple days ago? One of them wasn't cat themed though I am pretty sure he was with her that time…"

"Wasn't he also the kid that was with Joker the last time he broke out? You know the white haired kid that was forced to assist him and tripped him right into his own trap and made the whole arrest a lot easier and quicker than usually?"

"It's like the kid switches who's sidekick he is every week…"

"Maybe he is interning with villains before breaking off to do his own thing? We better keep an eye on him."

Danny sank just a little bit lower in his chair and avoided looking at Alfred. Of course Danny knew about his new family's night time jobs, well day time in Duke's case, but when they had asked him if he wanted to take part in it he had declined. They didn't know about his second form, they only thought of him as a Meta with ghost powers that just escaped a horrible situation and now wanted a quiet and somewhat normal life. So they had accepted his decline in going into hero work, especially Alfred and Bruce appeared to be most relieved and happy about that decision at first.

But what Danny hadn't told them was that he might have declined going back into hero work, that didn't mean he would stay completely out of that side of his new family's life. The half ghost hadn't planned on it but it had all started with him accidentally coming across Poison Ivy. She reminded him of Sam in her values, so before his brain was able to catch up Danny asked if she wanted help blowing a facility that was pumping toxic waste into the water. Years of helping Sam with organizing activist protests did that to his brain.

One thing led to another and somehow Danny found himself more often than he liked in his phantom form acting as a sidekick or assistant to the rogues this family was fighting. In a way Danny felt like he was now more of an anti-hero than a hero, still fulfilling his obsession of protecting by finding creative ways to foil the rogues' plans if they get too dangerous or murderous but not really doing the whole righteous hero stick either.

Plus by working with Mister Freeze and Scarecrow at times he also gets to fully live out the mad scientist side of his brain. With them especially he gets to create whatever his weird wired brain could come up with, though, he did 'accidentally' leave behind USBs or papers with his inventions for Tim to find at the crime scenes.

What his new brother did with them was none of his business. If the Bats and Birds suddenly had new equipment in their arsenal that looked eerily similar to his inventions than that was that.

The problem was… his new family probably wouldn't like or accept that kind of turn of events. They were righteous and defenders of justice with moral codes and standards, Danny wasn't sure he could fulfill at the moment. Watching his new siblings arguing back and forth about Wraith, his new anti-hero alias Selina, Harley and Ivy had come up with, made his stomach sink every morning. In fact Danny was getting more and more scared with the passing days that his new family would kick him out the moment they learned about it just like his former parents had done.

He wished he had Jazz's contact to talk this over with her, but because of his situation Bruce found it better to wait a little longer before he could safely reach out to her. Maybe he could ask if Harley could talk with him instead.

A cup of tea was placed before him and Danny's head snapped up (when had he started to look down?) to find Alfred smiling calmly at him. "Master Daniel, I believe a nice cup of tea will help calm down your nerves."

"Thanks." Danny mumbled his hands cupping the cup and letting the warmth of it seep over his hands into his arms to comfort his nerves. He took a sip, eyes going wide for a moment before he looked over to Alfred who was currently taking away Tim's third cup of unfinished coffee while the other was distracted with the ongoing discussion. The old man gave him a knowing smile and Danny couldn't help the small grateful one that formed on its own, though he also couldn't help the slight feeling that Alfred knew what was frazzling Danny's nerves so much.

"Jason, maybe you can get into contact with Wraith?"

"Why the fuck should I?"

"You have a different reputation than us as Red Hood. He might be more willing to talk with you, to figure out his motives and such."

Danny choked on his tea, hurriedly placing the cup back on the table before pounding his own chest in a desperate attempt to get any tea that went down the airpipe out.

"Danny! Are you okay?" Dick was instantly on him, worried older brother vibes and all that.

He wheezed before breathing in relief once he stopped coughing, giving the oldest a barely hearable "I'm fine."

"<tt> Try not to die stupidly like this, Fenton." Damian clicked his tongue and Danny gave him a toothy grin.

"I am already half dead." He heard Jason snort. While the family thought Danny was just a Meta with ghost-like powers. Danny had explained his accident to them and how he died and revived with powers through it when they asked him why he was insisting through jokes that he was half dead. Jason and Dick were the only ones who really enjoyed his death related jokes and puns, the others were more worried about his mental state.

"Leave the death jokes to Todd, Fenton."

"Oh come on, don't ghost me like that! My jokes are just as much to die for then his are!"

"Fenton."

Danny just laughed, while the previous discussion made him fear for the future, he still loved the family he had gotten added into by sheer luck. He had come to quickly love them all and felt like his own weirdness fit perfectly into theirs. It truly made him hope that he could stay with them for a long time and maybe even add Jazz into the picture as well once his whole situation was more secured and Bruce would allow him to contact her and his friends.

Later that day Danny was in the library reading a book on Molecular Structure of the human biology and how it can mutate depending on external influence, as a preparation for his next endeavor as Wraith with Killer Croc, when he felt tapping on his shoulder.

Turning his head slightly Danny startled finding Cassandra in his personal space sitting next to him with a mirthful smile. She gave him a small wave as a greeting before sitting back a little, apparently satisfied with the fact that she sort of scared him there a little.

"Hey Cass." He smiled, putting one of the many bookmarks, Jason had distributed and stored away everywhere in an effort to stop his siblings from creating dog ears in books, on the page he was on before closing the book in his hands.

"You worry too much, relax." She signed with a reassuring smile once Danny had turned his full attention on her. Confused, the half ghost on the other hand tilted his head, puzzled about what Cass was going on about. He did feel rather relaxed right now.

"You being Wraith." Wide eyed Danny hurried to cover Cassandra's hands, like one would cover another's mouth if they blurred out a secret. His eyes hurriedly darted around in their surroundings but aside from the shelves filled with books Danny couldn't see nor sense anyone that might listen in on them.

Cass was shaking in silent laughter as Danny nervously turned back to look at her. "How…"

Slowly she freed her hands from his and patted them comfortingly before beginning to sign again, smiling knowingly. "I saw. Your body language is the same."

"I…" How was he going to explain this? He had gotten found out, was Cass going to tell him to leave now? Was this the end of his new found family life? It came sooner than he anticipated. Blankly he stared at his hands that uselessly lay in his lap on the book cover, one hand slowly moving to nervously trace unseen patterns on the books spine.

Danny did not see how Cass frowned at that action, all mirth gone from her smiles. She did not like her brother was drawing into himself, doubt and fear started to radiate from his body language and Cassander didn't like that even more. She moved a little closer, so that she would have an easier time to reach Danny and poked his cheek mercilessly until her little brother looked back up at her.

"No need to explain." She actually spoke instead of sign just to show Danny how serious she was. "It's fine. Funny even. Like Selina."

"But…" A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed, trying to find the right words. Cass waited patiently for him. "Mom and Dad… my former parents… they didn't accept me as a ghost hero…"

Cassandra nodded but didn't sign nor say anything, seeing that there was more her newest little brother wanted to say but still trying to find the right words for. It was something she could relate to. Unable to find the right words, hadn't she been through that before too. She lay a comforting hand down on Danny's shoulder, once more waiting patiently.

"I… I don't know if they will accept this… this turn of events. Especially in this family. You all are taking the Hero route and I…" Danny swallowed once more. "I can stop, I can change. I just don't… I don't want to lose another family…"

Before Danny knew what was happening he was enveloped in a warm hug, he blinked several times before realizing that Cass was hugging him tightly. He was held like this for a while before she drew back from him, poking him once more to make him look at her once more.

"No need. Don't stop." She spoke her voice, soft and smoothing while smiling at him brightly.

"But…" She shook her head, silencing whatever Danny wanted to say before giving him a mischievous smile, her hands letting go of his shoulder so sign her next words. "You are not hurting anyone, you keep them from killing, from being too dangerous to civilians, not really breaking any big laws. You help us in your own law breaking way. Like Jason does."

"I am not as good as him…" Danny mumbled still unsure but Cass only smiled fondly ruffling her little brother's hair.

"You started to smile more since you became Wraith." She flat out told him, causing Danny to look up at her stunned and she laughed silently. "Keep going. If you go too far, I will be there to pull you back."

"You're like Jazz…" Danny mumbled, finally with a little smile on his face and Cass returned it with a satisfying one of her own before pulling him in for another hug, he returned this time.

That night, Orphan watched happily how her little brother laughed carefree and freer than he had in a month sitting on Killer Croc shoulders, testing out his newest invention while the rogue was trying to get him off, unsuccessfully so far. Her other brothers surrounded the two and tried to figure out what was going on since Wraith was supposed to be their rogues gallery sidekick and not challenge them like that.

She laughed even when suddenly out of nowhere a USB-Stick hit Red Robin in the face. Obviously she had caught Wraith flinging it in his direction, but she was not about to tell them that. Orphan would let them figure that out on their own, meanwhile she was going to enjoy watching her newest little brother smile and laugh while being the chaos gremlin she had seen in him from day one as he was messing with the rogues as well as vigilantes / heroes of Gotham.

#fictober23 #danny fenton #dp x dc #danny phantom #dpxdc #crossover #dcxdp #jason todd #tim drake #cassandra cain #batfam #mad scientist Danny #anti-hero Danny #villain sidekick Danny #chaos gremlin Danny #Danny got adopted by the Waynes #he's not working in the hero buisness tho #his is still sort of helping them #kinda #He is worried he will lose his second family with his new found passion #Cass and Alfred know already tho #So do Selina Harley and Ivy #they don't mind it as long as Danny is safe and happy #Cass will pull him back if he goes to far though #She finds it funny how he messes with their siblings that way #Tim is not amused getting USB-Sticks with Dannys inventions thrown at him #Danny's gremlin ways keep the rogues from killing or hurting civilians

[lausterdomyamong]

HAIKYUU BOY MAFIA AU

note: this is from all of the results from my haikyuu mafia quiz, this is about who they are and how he met you. I’m so embarrassed by my writing but yeah, I’m already here so here we go <3

Characters included: Kita, Atsumu, Osamu, Suna, Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Mattsun, Makki, Bokuto, Akaashi, Kuroo, and Sakusa <3

The quiz

Kita Shinsuke: Gather the scattered group of yakuza to be one since his young age, and reign as the leader since then. his underlings accidentally mistaken you for another 'girl' and bring you back to the headquarters. You're ordered to strip and let them appraise your worth- luckily, Kita notices the mistake. despite being a yakuza and is doing something horrendous, he has a moral code. he promises to make it up to you. maybe it's a part of his plan from the very start- but hey, every mistake can be made.

Miya Atsumu: 'dealer' they say. yeah, atsumu is a dealer on everything. drugs, gambling, and many more. to be frank, he's very creative and heretical. kita almost wants to disown him, only if he's the one that keeps inarizaki flourishing with his wit. your soon-to-be-ex just lost a great amount of money to his hand, so they try to steal your money- fortunately, atsumu sure is accidentally to be there and help you out, 'dealing' with your ex and swoop his hand around your figure, comforting you and offer you a better life! but yeah, maybe he's planning this all along :/

Miya Osamu: unlike his twins, he uses his ability in the killing field. osamu is expressionless, he's killing someone without moving a single muscle on his face. oh, maybe he's heartless, he can't feel a thing even someone is slaughtered before his eyes! but wrong. osamu has himself wrapped around someone's fingers without himself knowing. your smile, your manner, your whole being. he almost feels shame that he kill people for money and you're completely standing on the other side of the world, pure and typical. this man sure will protect you from afar, he will make sure no one will ever fuck with you. he's the hitman of inarizaki after all.

Suna Rintarou: he's the center of all news and stories. this man's probably a walking yellow book, he knows everything and will use every last bit of that to inarizaki's benefit. Suna is always by Kita's side, he's also the leader's trusted interpreter. even he plays such an important role, no one really sees him in flesh except for inarizaki's members. he's always inside the headquarters, living with you. of course, he has to protect you by bringing you in, makes you become a part of his clan. the farther you are away from him, the higher risk you'll take to survive.

Oikawa Tooru: don't let the pretty face tricks you, or you may have bitten off more than you can chew. he's the leader of 'seijoh' after all. they're well-known for their ruthless and immoral deeds, there's no way the leader would be just a simple smiley, sweet guy. many gangs have been fallen and destroyed by him because they underestimate Oikawa, and overestimate themselves. there are two ways to survive ① make his gang money and/or ② become someone special in his heart. but worry not, you may conquer the second option already.

Iwaizumi Hajime: he's not the morally sane one, sorry. Imaizumi isn't a good guy in lion's den, he's part of the lion pride, and being the strongest one himself. even so, he's still less rough and more merciful when it comes to working- but still, he's in the dark grey area. you may accidentally pique his interest. fortunately, he would treat you like a princess and spoiled you rotten. but unfortunately, if you're no longer interesting, he may leave you on your own. better keep him lit up or being a partner in crime, kay?

Matsukawa Issei: the former forensic technician at a local hospital, now the pathologist of seijoh. he's working with the dead more than the living ones. his smile is always painted with a dangerous impression. mattsun may seem so laid back and friendly at times, but he's not someone you could easily screw up. he's clever, skilled, and experienced. the last person that tries to meddle with seijoh has found dead without an actual cause. you just happen to be a one-night-stand that he's really hooked. and he does not hesitate to tell you every secret seijoh has to trapped you in his crew forever. because no outsider would make it out alive knowing their secrets :D

Hanamaki Takahiro: oikawa's trusted fund, trusted friend, and trusted confidence man. he's tricking people into fake lies, gaining their trust, then their money, and run away, leaving them bankrupt. he somehow only tricks the authorities (which is a great threat for seijoh) but never the commoners. don't get me wrong, he's still as nasty and dangerous as any other seijoh member, but he just thinks that it's more worthwhile. makki may just think you're practicable so he lures you in and makes you be a part of his big scheming plan. once you do, you can't run away anymore. you're sticking with him forever, good luck.

Bokuto Koutarou: he's somehow bright and kind- you've mistaken him for a normal authority. but oh, he's one of the most dangerous fellows out there. he may come off as someone kind and enthusiastic, but trust me, he's no different from other mafia bosses. even more primal. he still kills someone by himself, with the widest, scariest grin. bokuto may seem like someone with a simple mind, but when he's falling in love, he falls deep. he might need to learn how to establish a relationship first, but this man takes you in right after he realizes you're the one anyway <3

Akaashi Keiji: calm, serene, and stoical just like a rain forest. with bokuto, he can make fukurodani bigger than any other generations before him. he's smart, composed, and knows everything. without him, this clan would be infirm and even more barbaric. he works his ass off every time this clan is in a problem as if his life depends on fukurodani's prosperity. his mind is so tired, but he pledged to the god already, he would make fukurodani go far, stopping mid-work wouldn't be appreciated. until he met you, your smile, your greeting, it makes his tired-out soul light up once more.

Kuroo Tetsurou: working under fukurodani's command, still, stand above all. he's as powerful as the boss himself. With a smile, he would talk his way until the negotiator blew it. his mouth is truly a weapon. with a word or two, he can get what fukurodani wants. he's on seijoh's 'beware on sight' list. really a schemed man. he would meet you at one of the auction that only authorities can join, he sees you beside a gross old man. look at your face, your expression; you do not want to be here. so he swoops in and talks his way until he can separate you from the said man, and abuse his power as underboss of fukurodani to keep you with him instead :)

Sakusa Kiyoomi: with his presence alone, you can tell how much power this man held. he's so young, has a bright future ahead, and yet- choose to become the darkest part of this society. he's inherited his father's legacy and name, and he runs everything like his father always did. despite being so young, he can control every part of the gang so perfectly. frankly, he wouldn't even bat an eye on you, only if his underlings did something he forbid with you, in front of everyone in the party. the punishment is one thing, but your tears that already shed make him feels something stirring inside.

#haikyuu #my writing #quiz #haikyuu quiz #haikyuu x reader #kita x reader #suna x reader #atsumu x reader #osamu x reader #oikawa x reader #iwaizumi x reader #matsukawa x reader #hanamaki x reader #bokuto x reader #akaashi x reader #kuroo x reader #sakusa x reader #mafia au #yakuza au

[artemis-requiem]

A Jason who gives up killing and rejoins the batfam is boring like what happened to his own moral code and doing what Batman can’t. You can’t tell me he’s had any development in the past 16 years to grow out of that. Lobdells shitty writing does not count. Jason’s issue with Bruce and the family is super complicated and it can’t be fixed with just Jason saying

“I understand why I’m wrong Bruce uwu I’m sorry please take me back I’ll stop killing daddy I’ll even forget the trauma that made me make these decisions in the first place so I can play with tea sets with the other bat kids I suddenly love and desire to be family with without knowing who they even are” and Bruce saying “it’s ok baby boy jay lad jay chum my little jay baby 🥺 I forgive you for everything you ever did to this family uwu. We don’t actually have to solve the problems bw us we can just pretend it didn’t happen”

Jason killing the worst of the worst is integral to his character. It would be great to see him make a mistake and evolve but that takes time and dc is not willing to put any behind Jason. Jason was created as this character who was meant to shake up the Batman lore to tell Batman he’s not always right and now Jason’s just rolling over and following Bruce’s orders. It takes all his morally ambiguous characterization and throws it out the window

He hasn’t even been able to evolve as his own independent character out side of Batman. All of his stories have been tied to Bruce in some way and I’m tired of the arrested development for him. I want him to travel the world reach his potential make some friends. The only ones he’s had are being taken away from him just so he can stay with the batfam. What happened to the Jason from utrh who said screw Batman??? Modern Jason just consists of him crawling behind Bruce asking to be family again and giving up his ideal while Bruce gets to keep his.

Anyone who genuinely love Jason’s character can not be happy with where his character is being taken. He’s just becoming another batfam character who does what ever Bruce wants and doesn’t have his own opinions and morals just with a little attitude. Everything that was special about his character his tragic story is being washed away for some watered down version of Jason.

Fanon batfam stans are looking at the wrong family if they want cute and fluffy moments. The flash fam is right ther

#the direction dc is going with Jason is so sad #and it’s clearly cause they hate Jason #they don’t want the poor kid to be right #not when their rich white boy is making them all their Monday #money* #don’t get me wrong but I love Bruce to #and he should get to be wrong sometimes but dc does not want to make their cash cow look bad 🙄 #jason todd

[ddarker-dreams]

New Oath. Yan Dabi x Reader [COMM]

warnings: isolation, food mention, unhealthy relationships, implied not sfw, not sfw dialogue and beginning of stockholm syndrome.   word count: 3k.

It feels easier to live a life without regrets.

To know that every opportunity that presents itself had been taken, is a justification that you maintain to keep your sanity intact. This life that you’ve been forced to live -- one that has clipped your wings -- denying all forms of freedom. Every aspect of the day revolves around survival, nothing else. You’ve tried different methods of overcoming with varying results. The most prominent being escape, or working towards one. 

No person was meant to be secluded in an environment like this. Not even taking into account that lack of socialization that’d be enough to drive anyone mad, but the one person you get to speak to is a pain in his own right. Speaking to a brick wall is more inviting a concept than holding a conversation with Dabi. At least a brick wall remains quiet, not trying to provoke you for a reaction. You don’t know how much longer you can maintain your cool around him.

Looking from the decaying state of the ceiling to the walls around you, which are in even worse condition. This apartment building is definitely violating some building codes. Cheap paint peels off the wall from the slightest humidity, the ceiling fan creaks with every pained turn, and the lone light bulb in the room has been prone to flicker. While you aren’t sure what Dabi’s salary might be, you infer it must be enough to live in a place better than this. A semi abandoned apartment complex with dogs barking at unholy hours of the morning, and sirens going off just as often. If you were to guess on why he chose such a seedy residence, it’s because of the advantages it brings. Any screams for help will go ignored here, as they’re commonplace. 

You’ve had lots of time to reflect. It feels like the world is against you, nothing ever going according to plan. The hours spent revising and considering every variable were for naught in the end. It felt like for each step forward, Dabi would be another two paces ahead. You had considered the fire escape, only to find the bars singed. The windows were a no go, having been fastened so tightly a tool set is necessary to undo the screws. He thought of everything when he decided to hold you captive. This might be enough to drive anyone to the brinks of despair, but not you. You continue preparing, looking for an opening, and acting accordingly. 

You don’t want to lose to someone like him.

Dabi is human, and humans are fallible. One day, in the near future, he might make a mistake. Forget to lock one of the many latches on the door, or ignore a hole in the wall that could soon crumble to sweet freedom. You tell yourself this, not sure if you even fully believe it anymore. You long to have that hope. The hope that this nightmare may yet come to a favorable ending, that you could pry your life back from his vice like grip. Even if it meant breaking your own moral code, resorting to the lowest of tactics… what he had done to you is far worse. This is the drive that drove you to strategize for weeks on end.

Just to fail, like all the times before.

Your lift your arms, grimacing at the sensation of cold metal around your wrists. The punishment for your latest transgressions against Dabi. Everything had been going so well -- too well, now that you’ve had time to think on it -- only to blow up on your face. Weeks of batting your eyelashes at him, playing the role of a perfect, enamored partner went down the drain in a flash. You click your tongue, recalling with disdain how smug he had looked. That’s what got to you the most. Getting underneath your skin and festering with all your other negative feelings for him. 

He knew what you were planning, for god knows how long, and just wanted to see how much you could pull off. Treating it like a mere game. Dabi let you taste coveted freedom, observing from the shadows with intrigue. When your feet had hit the ground, everything felt right with the world once again. You had been held prisoner to the four walls of Dabi’s apartment for what must’ve been months, each day more miserable than the last. You remember the fresh air that swelled into your lungs. The rush of adrenaline that had every nerve on high alert. How your eyes had stung, and threatened to spill over with tears of joy. Nothing could compare to the high from that moment.

It wasn’t a lovely area. At the time, you had still been situated in an alleyway; surrounded by animal carcasses and unsavory items. None of that had mattered at the time. All that mattered is that you could run, far away from his condescending words and threatening presence. You could finally run back to the life that was stolen from you. A supposed light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing in life is that easy, you think in the present. Nothing that involves Dabi is that easy.

There had been a feeling in you gut that eyes were following your every movement. A premonition that came true, and horror in the flesh made his appearance. He had clapped, and expressed how impressed he was with your valiant plan. Dabi cooed at how adorable the sight was, that he had watched you scramble to get everything done in secret. He complimented you on the tact necessary to pull it off. Then his demeanor changed, to something far too sinister to be human. Maybe it was betrayal, or offense at the audacity displayed in going behind his back. Whatever it was that clouded his eyes, you pray you never have to see it again.

Which leads you to the present. 

What you wouldn’t give for some pain killers, even over the counter would do. Anything to dull this pain in your back from sleeping on a spring mattress for days on end. Even this was a luxury that you had to earn through demeaning acts. When Dabi first threw you in this grimy room, the concrete floor was all that you had to sleep on. Through some coquettish speech and unbuckling of pants, you had earned this mattress on which you currently sits. You never thought you’d be missing the dingy, shared bedroom with Dabi until it was taken from you and replaced with something worse. There’s no way of knowing for certain how much longer this punishment will last. From the lack of windows in this room, you can’t even know the time that has passed since the punishment began. It can’t be more than a few days, you thinks. How much longer will you be held here…?

Eyelashes flutter shut, figuring that sleep is a solid way to pass the time. There’s nothing to do until Dabi decides to make an appearance. Gauging from how hungry you’re feeling, it’s been around five or six hours since he last showed up, bringing food with him. Your attempt at sleep is interrupted at the distinct sound of footsteps approaching. So your guess was on the mark. You listens carefully, no detail to be overlooked. There’s a click from unlocking. Then four more after it. So he’s placed that many locks on the door? Seeing as you’re not even able to move an inch with these restraints, you find the precautions excessive. Not even a master escape artist could get out of this. It’s nice to know he thinks you so resourceful.

Faint light shines in your room as the door screeches open, revealing your captor. In his scarred hands is a bag of takeout. He offers a nod of the head in acknowledgement to you, shutting the door behind him. It’s impossible for you to ignore the quickening of your pulse in his presence. You collect yourself to the best of your ability, face remaining composed. Will he make another lascivious offer in exchange for more comforts? The fear of the unknown is like a shadow in the night, creeping over and devouring you. There’s no telling what Dabi might do or say. It’s a constant guessing game. You square your shoulders, making a point of looking Dabi in the eye. Maintaining eye contact is a sign of strength.

“What? No thank you for your knight in shining armor?” Dabi inquires, tilting his head. His voice holds a playful lilt that almost makes you roll your eyes. He’s enjoying every second of this. 

“That’s not the role I’d associate with you.” You respond with a dismissive shrug. The two of you always banter like this, seeing who will crack first under the immense pressure. You have found yourself getting used to these encounters. At first, you didn’t find it wise to possibly earn the wrath of your captor with snark, but those feelings have since changed. Now that you’re more familiar with Dabi, the words flow from your tongue with ease. He never makes a point of stopping the behavior. There’s a tension in the air whenever you’re in a room together, that Dabi always instigates. You’re only returning his own energy.

“I was thinking,” he starts with a sharp inhale, taking a seat in front of you on the ground. “You seemed so willing to do what I asked last time. Why not always keep that attitude up, sugar?” 

You raise an eyebrow at the implication of his words. “That depends on you. What’s in it for me?” 

“Oh, I dunno. Maybe getting out of this shithole? Not that you seemed to like my other place much better,” he motions to the derelict room around you to emphasize his point. “Still beats this dump. How ‘bout it?” 

It’s like you predicted. After Dabi got a better taste of you, he can’t help but want to come back for more. You can’t deny the thrill that comes with hooking up with him. There’s a semblance of control, knowing that you can hold something over him. He could theoretically take whatever he desires, yet prefers you give yourself to him willingly, for whatever convoluted reason. It’s difficult to deny the satisfaction from your previous rendezvous. One of the first things Dabi explained to you was that life would be so much easier for the both of you with your compliance. Resentment and pride were roadblocks to this initially. Now you’ve grown weary of all the games and hiding. The sparks of resistance have been methodically snuffed out, and all you want now is a little solace. 

Your reply comes as a surprisingly fast response to you both. “Sounds like a deal. After I eat though.” 

Dabi wasn’t expecting you to be this easy, not after the stunts you’ve pulled. His eyes search, scrutinizing your schooled expression for something hidden beneath the surface. You’re met with distrust, despite him being the one who made the suggestion in the first place. Having sex on an empty stomach doesn’t sound like the best idea. If that’s what it takes to get out of this room, then you’ll  do it. You’ve been waiting for the offer. It doesn’t make you as sick to your stomach as you thought it would, knowing the prize that’ll await after it’s all said and done. Life is a game of adapting, and you’re playing by those rules. The rules that Dabi himself established.

You break the silence yourself, hunger making you impatient. “You did offer me this food, right?” 

“You’re a sharp one, princess. I picked it out for you myself. Hope you like Chinese.” 

He reaches into the bag, shuffling around for the takeout containers. The scent of fried noodles, rice, and chicken fills the air, which piques your attention. It’s by all means a simple meal, and you couldn’t be happier. When you’re as hungry as you are, it might as well be a gourmet buffet. Dabi himself admitted to not being the best chef, so most of your meals have consisted of this quality. Or, on the occasion, he’d let you cook. Partaking in one of your hobbies is a nice distraction that he makes you work for. He’s always such a pain in the ass...

Dabi fiddles with the key ring in his pocket. Looking you in the eye, he gives a sly smile. “You wouldn’t do anything stupid, would you?” 

You look down at your restraints, a result of doing just that. “Me? I wouldn’t dream of it.” 

“Mm. Let’s hope so. Would hate for you to make me think up yet another punishment.” 

You don’t want to give him the fearful reaction he’s longing for, opting on maintaining your current visage. Lips pursing together, eyes indifferent, and nose upturned to him. Dabi works through the various locks, the shackles falling to the ground as he unlocks each one. He suddenly takes on a more apathetic air. You know better than to take this at a surface level, feeling him observing your every movement. Anything that could be mistaken as a sign of resistance. You decide to act as natural as possible, to mitigate the suspicion. Really, what does he think you’re going to do? Stab him with the plastic fork this meal comes with? A few months ago, you may have given that a shot, but things feel different now. All you’re interested in is regaining your strength. The first step to that is getting rid of this gnawing hunger. 

There are indents in your wrist from where the shackles were. You stretch the sore muscles, and proceed to go for the food.

“Thanks for the food.” You offers a closed mouth smile, using your now freed hands to open up the boxes. You waste no time indulging in the meal. The grin that you’ve grown accustomed to seeing on Dabi’s face is no longer in sight, replaced by thinly veiled distrust. This conversation is oddly normal. A stark contrast to the extreme circumstance, at least enough to perturb him. What makes him on edge or not is none of your concern. You’re complying, as he’s demanded numerous times. Shouldn’t he be over the moon, if anything? To finally get what he wanted, after months of poking and prodding, a subservient version of yourself. Dabi’s the one who molded you into this shape of his own design.

He props up his chin on his knee, watching you devour the meal. “I wasn’t expecting this room to be what did ya in.” 

You swallow a bite of orange chicken, wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand. You don’t want to entertain Dabi in conversation right now. It takes too much brainpower to keep up with him, Dabi always trying to get you to trip over your words. Ignoring him isn’t one of the cards at your disposal, so you give what you hope to be a satisfactory response.

“If it’s of any comfort, it wasn’t just the room.” 

Dabi hums, keen on gaining more information. “Would you be so sweet as to fill me in?” 

“It’s nothing that interesting. I had lots of time to think, or reflect to be more exact. You said it best. What was it again… something among the lines of, the day I decide to be a ‘good girl’, life will be easier,” you reach for a box of rice next, Dabi handing it to you when it’s too far away. “So, this is me doing that. A novel idea, I know.” 

He can’t help but agree with the statement. “You said it best.” 

Dabi’s budding curiosity must’ve been sated by your word, as he now lets you eat in relative peace. The gears in both your minds are turning. Trying to predict what the other may or may not do. It’s a tedious dance, you having a lot more to lose than him. This is what makes it an uneven match up, Dabi capable of exercising far more power over you, even without putting it on display. You’ve seen enough little details to be wary of him. How the news stories in the morning speak of victims burnt to ash, the occasional spots of blood on his jackets, and suspicious material from his shoes. Whenever you’ve worked up the courage to inquire on the origins of it, he’d offer an unsettling smile and ask if you really want to know. 

Ignorance is bliss. Months of isolation, suffering, and cruelty have left you in a state of latching onto any consolation available. It’s a bittersweet idea that your tormentor is what doubles as an essential distraction. When you’re in a heated embrace with him, bodies sweaty and head in disarray, the rest of the world melts away. As if it never existed in the first place. You can forget about your own loneliness, the tears that would normally stain your cheeks that time of night, and the burning resentment for the one on top. Every touch erases a pain, even if it’s for a moment. Giving into the desires of the flesh has never felt so good. 

“Looks like you’re almost done, babe.” Dabi comments with a wolf-like grin. He crawls towards you, uncaring of the lousy conditions of the room. His hand grasps your cheek, massaging the skin, and moving down to your lips. The coarse pad of his thumb rubs circles into your bottom lip, looking down at you through lidded eyes. If you’re going to let him take what he wants, he couldn’t be happier. The possible ramifications will be considered later. For the time being, he wants to feel you underneath him, months of pent up lust finally gaining an outlet. 

“You shouldn’t be the impatient one,” you can’t help but remark, shivering underneath his touch. “I’m the one who has been locked in a room for days.” 

“You’ve got it all wrong. I've just missed you oh so dearly,” Dabi coos into your ear. His lips part to place open mouth kisses over your bare neck, hands starting to feel you up. “From how you’re responding, it looks like you’ve missed me too. How precious.” 

“Keep dreaming, Dabi.” 

“I don’t have to anymore, now that I can fuck you as much as I want.” 

#Dabi #dabi x reader #dabi my hero academia #dabi headcanons #dabi imagine #bnha #bnha imagine #bnha x reader #yandere bnha #bnha imagines #my hero academia #my hero academia imagine #yandere my hero academia #yandere #yandere bnha imagine #yandere x reader #yandere scenario #my stuff #commissions #not sfw

[sunsob]

𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚!  👋  plum back here with a fourth muse! * aggressive clown music * judah’s plots page is currently under co, but i’ve provided some blurbs and insp below and his stats page can be found by clicking through the link. under the cut you can find a bit more on him! if you’d like to plot, please click that little heart! ps, he is a sideblog and i don’t use discord.    @nlupdates​

mentions of : death,  murder .

to start with jude, it really starts with his parents. his mother, jessamine, was a daughter of phobos born into an affluential and influential korean-american family. her family were well connected and had big names deep in their pockets, since they pretty much served the one percent and helped clean up their bullshit in a blink of an eye. they had the money, the means, and other people willing to do their dirty work. it boiled down to wealth and power, so they didn’t really care who they screwed over (most often innocent people). she attended nemean lion the year it opened, was the resident it girl, and left a few years later to france and later to south korea, to expand her family’s firm over there. little did she know, a fellow demigod (aka her future husband), kiha, also attended nemean lion at the same time. he was the child of elpis and stayed only for a year, since got accepted into law school in south korea and decided to dip.

after getting her license to practice over there, it became very evident why she was her family’s pride. earning herself the nickname ‘ the butcher of busan ‘ during the years spent by the seaside city, corrupted politicians and ceos notorious for being pieces of shits (for a lack of a better term) knew exactly who to go to to make sure witnesses shut up and retracted their statements before trial as well as (primarily) intimidation tactics using her ability of fear manifestation. judges who were in her clients pockets also swayed rulings in her favor and she was practically untouchable, until a certain judge was in charge of her case. that judge was the youngest in south korean history district court history, and it was kiha. he did not buy into her trying to get him to work in her favor (countless eyelash battings and attempts at flirting), he was by the book and very strict in regards to his moral code. his ability of hope manipulation also played a big role in determining his rulings, because he had a bullshit radar built in pretty much and oh boy, did it go off around jessamine. his views and perspectives ultimately swayed her own, and she realized she was no different than the monsters her family helped protect. both realizing they were demigods (because of the tattoo), they realized they had so much to bond over. love worked in funny ways, and they both did fall in love.

their relationship was as secretive as possible, in fear of getting trouble with higher ups for potential bias and special privileges on both parts. rumors began to swirl around, as they do, and the couple just decided to say screw it (in the nicest way possible, at least on kiha’s end) and it became a known secret of sorts that the lawyer and the judge were together. because jessamine provided help to powerful people, she turned on them and gained powerful enemies instead. they were freaking out considering everything she knew about them and were getting worried that she would out them. they were also worried that now she was against them, kiha would be able to protect her and rule in her favor aka against them and their ugly asses would be rotting in prison (as they should be!). so what did they do? plan to kill them both.

it didn’t take either of the couple to realize they were being watched, and they became more concerned once jessamine realized she was pregnant. being watched and followed eventually turned into outright stalking, and an incident when someone broke in while jessamine was home alone was enough for them to flee for their safety. despite kiha’s best efforts to remain hopeful, jessamine was aware who her enemies were and that they were unavoidable. money could make anyone do practically anything, and the safest place the parents knew they could be was back to nemean lion. with some of their trusted connections, jessamine gives birth secretly and safely, and leaves back to los angeles within weeks. despite all the risks, she had to make sure her son was safe. but, like mentioned before, money could make anyone do practically anything, and when the wrong people offer the right amount, her trusted allies betray her in a bat of an eye. it doesn’t take long for them to catch the next flight to california.

it was really out a scene of a fucked up movie, but both parents were spotted and literally hunted down on their way to nemean lion’s borders. jessamine and kiha both knew that this was the end, that they won’t be getting out of this alive. so, with the last amount of energy she has, jessamine hides a newborn judah (who, she named after her religious roots, and kiha used his father’s name for his middle name) in a shoddy little area hidden by leaves and branches. a few feet away, however, his parents were eventually brutally overkilled and left there. nemean lion attendants, who were rushed out after hearing the commotion, where completely shocked at the scene.  they saw something moving under a pile of leaves and were shocked to find a little baby, only some weeks old. they are able to verify the identities as former nl students and knew right away that someone had taken their lives, but could not bring themselves to ever tell jude this. so, it was covered up as a monster attack (because, even though people did this, in their eyes it was no different than what a monster would do) and jude was raised in nl since then. 

judah goes by jude, judah is specifically reserved for when he’s doing something he’s not. he was raised in nl his whole life and has been pretty much here since his parents passed away nearing the end of january 2001. because of that, he’s known as nl’s official baby! his parents were in their 30s during the time of their death and a proper funeral occurred at nl. jude pretty much knows nothing about the truth of the incident and the people who took care of him (i’d say nl’s infirmary, janitors, and in general older staff) prefer to keep it that way. it would just be too much for him and they don’t even know how to begin that conversation. jude feels a little weird about his parents. he loves and misses them, but he doesn’t know them at all so it’s a little ??? and most times he can feel a little indifferent. but that’s really because he doesn’t know how to really feel? he is primarily inspired from so mun (the uncanny counters), naruto uzumaki, fred jones, jake peralta, and jason mendoza. if i could sum his personality up in a single photo it would be this one. despite having abilities fit for a track, he is in the standard role cause he doesn’t wanna do all that <3 nor think <3 but, he does train and occasionally work with other tracks (notably hero) as a personal trainer since he’s a gym rat and buff as hell. he’s super chill, laidback, and rly just here for a good time! extremely chaotic in a good way and an official member of nl’s himbo (jimbos <3 the jimbros <3) line. chugs gallons of women respecting juice daily. you can hear someone screaming ‘JUDAAAAAH’ once a day 10/10 for sure cause he’s. yk. doing something he shouldn’t be? but he gives us that smiley face and everyone is like alright. understood. so he gets away with stuff p well. super into pbs nature docus and judges the fuck out of people who doesn’t hold doors for people (like what r u...some heathen freak?). does nl have a ghost hunting club? no? well jude just started one and goes on weekly adventures to catch some ghosts. zak bagans shits himself when jude shows up me thinks! he wants to leave nemean lion some day? just not sure when and like, how (and what is he going to do out there????) but so far he’s pretty fine with being here. 

random plot blurbs :

whatever this is/can be  —  click !

an ex  — just want someone to have broken his heart and made him a little good off dating for a bit KNDJNJDNG . in depth plotting and chem req <3

ghost club  — if he’s freddy, (obvs no gender or age req) looking 4 our daphne, velma, scooby and shaggy !! they go on weekly ghost adventure stuff around nl/near the borders ?? sometimes jude uses his abilities to scare other people or a weird looking branch freaks him out . tune in this week to find out what’ll be next !!

trainees  — he does work as a personal trainer and he trains a few people at a time ! can be any track but heroes are the ones that req for his help the most

someone trying to convince him to join a track  — with powers like fear manifestation and hope manipulation, he’d be pretty good out in the field . most likely the hero track, but j someone trying to make him join a track and put his talents to use <3 potentially <3

a crush  — jude has ‘crushes’ on three new people like every week . just a big puppy who is coochie emojis eyes . it simmers into nothing ultimately, but he loves staring at hot ppl so !

pet sitters  — a PROUD father ( they are his wallpapers on everything possible that requires a wallpaper ) to a dog, cat, and hedgehog . sometimes he gets a little caught up in shit and asks you to watch them or check in on them when he can’t !

someone who knows the truth abt his parents  — dun dun DUNNNN . are they going to tell him ? are they not ??? most likely someone who has been in nl for a while or at least would have access to people or information that would inform them of this !

#INTRODUCING. #nlintro #* ( finally an uwu muse.... what we deserve after everyone ive brought so far me thinks )

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Strength in numbers

Accountancy is more likely to be mocked than celebrated (or condemned), but accountants, far more than poets, are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

Though "bean counters" are employed by firms, they are notionally bound by a professional code of ethics every bit as serious as the Hippocratic Oath: "count things honestly." Without an accurate accounting of quantities, you can't make good decisions on quality.

Though accountancy concerns itself with counting things, it is inextricably bound up with the realm of ideas, and accounting conventions (how you account for things) are philosophical matters, not empirical ones.

It's no coincidence that Modern Monetary Theory owes more to accountancy than it does to economics. Economic accounts of the economy have an unfortunate tendency to proceed from first principles, creating models based on pure reason, without checking in on the actual world.

For example, neoclassical econ's "homo economicus," the rational value-maximizing actor who populated so many models; or economists' insistence on targeting inflation with interest rates; or treating national "debts" like they were household debts.

It's telling that the greatest economics revolution of my lifetime was "behavioral economics," which could also be called "checking to see whether real people act like we've assumed they acted."

If it seems weird that economists would spend generations operating on the incorrect assumption that people behave in a certain way without ever checking, consider that Aristotle assumed women had fewer teeth than men, - and never bothered to count.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aristotles-error/

Accountants check, and what they find is…gnarly. In "An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer," Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson offer a mindbending account (heh) of where money comes from (hint: not taxes), and where it goes ("poof").

https://gimms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/An-Accounting-Model-of-the-UK-Exchequer-Google-Docs.pdf

The authors did a two-part MMT Podcast interview describing the paper's findings, and it is the most extraordinary 2.5h audio you're likely to find: not just the realities of money, but the deliberate obfuscation thereof.

https://pileusmmt.libsyn.com/84-andrew-berkeley-richard-tye-neil-wilson-an-accounting-model-of-the-uk-exchequer-part-1

https://pileusmmt.libsyn.com/86-andrew-berkeley-richard-tye-neil-wilson-an-accounting-model-of-the-uk-exchequer-part-2

One thing the Exchequer paper reveals is that accountants bat for both teams: team clarity and team obscurity. As many finance scandals and finance dramas have reminded us, accounting can be turned to obscuring and dazzling rather than revelation.

After all, somewhere in HM Exchequer is a team of accountants who know *exactly* how money works - and know that it's nothing like the account produced by economists or politicians. They know it because they are in charge of it. They do money, all day long.

When accountants go rogue, things get bad. And thanks to neoclassical economics - and its emphasis on the "efficiency" of monopolies - we are living through a golden age of ghastly accounting fraud.

Just four companies - EY, KPMG, PWC and Deloitte - audit the books of 97% of the 350 largest UK companies; but they make far more selling these companies consulting services, and have made a habit of lying about those books in order to boost their consulting income.

Accountancy is meant to be a profession that understands that conflicts of interest are a moral hazard. But just as doctors convince themselves they won't get addicted to their own painkillers, accountants talk themselves into believing that conflicts won't corrupt them.

That's how the Big Four accounting companies came to sign off Carillion's fraudulent books. The company hid £7b worth of debts, took on management of vital government services up and down the country, then collapsed, leaving the nation stranded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillion#Financial_difficulties

For the Big Four, Carillion's collapse was a feature, not a bug. After all, the only accounting firms large enough to oversee its bankruptcy were...the Big Four, who billed millions for cleaning up the mess left behind by their own fraud.

Accounting fraud is a fascinating potential fracture line in economic reform. After all, fraudulent accountants may help *some* plutes get rich - like, say Bernie Madoff, or Donald Trump - but they often do so at the expense of *other* plutes.

Like Exxon, which lied to its investors for 11 years about the value of its shale-gas holdings, which it purchased at the peak of the fracking bubble and whose revenues and liabilities it has buried in its financial statements ever since.

https://www.desmogblog.com/2021/02/02/whistleblower-sec-complaint-alleges-exxon-fraud-overvalue-fracking-assets

The company is finally writing down $19.3b worth of those assets, but the true figure is more like $50b. And yes, Exxon's big investors include a lot of passive funds that invest pension savings, meaning this hurts Main Street as well as Wall Street.

But as ever, those pension-savers are the Lucky Duckies here, because - joke's on us - Americans have basically no pension savings, thanks to the wage stagnation and asset inflation that left almost all working Americans facing penury in old age.

Hey, at least they're not getting ripped off by Exxon! The real victims of this decade-long, multibillion-dollar fraud are the same people who got snookered into buying into shitty Trump casinos and luxury buildings: rich people.

By definition, rich people deal in quantities that exceed their ability to personally count so they are especially vulnerable to scam accounting. It's only when the frauds tank a company we all suffer, as jobs and businesses disappear, screwing workers  and cities.

The absence of a neutral ref and scorekeeper is a really big deal in online business and policy circles. The ad-tech duopoly isn't merely content to price-gouge advertisers - they also lie about what those sky-high prices are paying for:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#wannamakers-ghost

But each member of the duopoly has a different scam. Google's frauds are complex, behind-the-scenes market manipulations, an abstruse, mathematical grift that leverages complexity and monopoly to fleece its customers.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3500919

Facebook is much more straightforward. It just lies. Back in 2016, FB lied about how many people were watching videos, and encouraged hundreds of media company to beggar themselves to chase fraudulent video dollars:

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-lawsuit-pivot-to-video-mistake/

Accounting fraud is in Facebook's DNA. After all, this is a company whose primary sales-pitch is, "We will count everything you do and then charge people to help them sell you stuff."

This proposition is intrinsically hard to evaluate. How can a customer know if their FB ad generated a sale, or whether it was an ad elsewhere, or random chance, or even that elusive beast, customer loyalty?

The main source for the belief in Facebook's efficacy is...Facebook. It's not a neutral party, and the accountants who sign off on its books have repeatedly shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

Here's the latest scandal: since 2018, FB's been defending a class-action suit brought by its customers who claim that FB lied about "potential reach" - that is, how many users would see their ads.

https://www.ft.com/content/c144b3e0-a502-440b-8565-53a4ce5470a5

And while FB strenuously denies that the inaccuracies in "potential reach" metrics were just normal, unpredictable variations in user behaviors, a whistleblowing FB product manager has produced emails in which they warn execs that they're committing fraud.

The execs who got these memos rejected them, telling the product manager that acting on them would have "significant revenue impact" - that is, "Our customers wouldn't buy our products if we were truthful about them."

The fraudulent reach figures begat fraudulent revenues, and those revenues were fraudulently reported to investors. Those investors will now take a haircut if FB loses in court.

Accounting fraud's pathology is bimodal: it abets the wage-theft and austerity that harms the poorest and most vulnerable - but also the reporting scams that harpoon finance's biggest whales.

It's a curious alliance of interests. For now, it seems like Big Tech is going to be antitrust and anti-corruption's harbinger, but I wouldn't count accountancy out - it's got exactly the right kinds of enemies to fire sustained political will.

#pluralistic

[red-hood-redemption]

SO I know I’m like, super late to the party, but I finally got my hands on Robin 2021 and there is literally no one for me to talk to about it so now I’m just screaming my thoughts into the void ✌

First off, before i even bought the first two issues, I read through a lot of other people’s opinions on it to kinda get an idea of where it was going characterization-wise for Damian, and because of all the mixed reactions, I figured I should just read it myself and find out. Now I am the FURTHEST thing from a comic book authority, so like, this is truly just an opinion piece but if it convinces anyone to give the run a chance, then yay!!! Honestly, I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I’m genuinely hooked! I’m actually excited about this series (and it scares me lol)!!!

I'm gonna separate my thoughts into two sections: characters, and story, mainly for my own ease, but also if anyone cares more about one thing or the other it's easier to distinguish. But,  the line is a little blurry so if I end up getting a little too much into the characterization in the story section, just bear with me lmao. OH and I'm going to try and keep this as un-spoilery as possible but we'll just have to see. SOOOOOOOO

Characters

I think it goes without saying that Melnikov's art is absolutely gorgeous, and really does show how much Damian has grown up. It makes me want to sob its so beautiful, everyone is so pretty, even the guy that looks like a washed up, high as fuck Tony Stark lmao. But moving on to the actual characters,

Rose Wilson

I honestly don't know too much about Rose, I haven't read enough about her to say anything about her characterization and how it compares to her other appearances, or whether or not she is OOC, but so far, I'm enjoying her taking up the "big sis" role, like, immediately lmao.

I don't know how much I trust her yet, but I definitely get the vibe that even if she does betray Dami in any way, she's probably gonna stick her neck out for Dami again and he's probably gonna do the same.

I'm really intrigued about her motivations for being here. Obviously, Respawn has something to do with it, but I want to know what's up with that. I've seen a lot of theories and I'm so excited. Also side note, that Black Swan chick is hot, and I can't wait to see more of her in action!!!

I feel like Ravager knows a WHOLE lot more than Dami does about the interesting things going on on the island, mainly because she's been doing a lot more sitting and waiting than he has as of yet, but I'm hoping to see more of the two of them doing detective-y sleuthing together. We love a mysteryyyy

Flatline

Okay but real talk, why does she look like a character straight out of Monster High

Honestly tho, I dig it. It's cute! She's cute! She isn't annoying (yet) but I don't know if I care too much about her other than she would make a cute friend for Dami.

I think the problem with DC is that they know people LOVE Harley Quinn and they try so hard to make characters just like her but it always falls short, so honestly I am a little wary of her character development in this run, but I'm willing to give her a shot since her little coffin purse on the cover of the second issue is so damn cute. I'm a slut for character design, okay?

Oh speaking of Flatline and Dami, I don't ship it and I don't want them to force a romantic relationship into Damian's "coming of age"/"soul-searching" moment okay? Because that's what this run is about, at least to me! More on that in the story section!

They're literally 13/14 years old. That's 8th-9th grade, babes lets think about that for a minute

Also let's stop the whole "lets introduce a female character just to make her a love interest!" bullshit okay?

Basically, Flatline is interesting, or at least has the potential to be, but I don't want to get my hopes up because DC is notorious for disservicing their female characters 😕

I think the mixed reaction to her is valid, I don't think she's had much time to make a solid impression yet, so I guess you'd have to read it for yourself. Personally, I don't understand why people immediately hate her, especially because she's like, 14, and what kid that age isn't annoying? like at least a little bit lmao! But, yeah. I don't trust her either but literally everyone on this island is sketchy at least and a murderer at best, so hey 🤷‍♀️

Damian

His new outfit lmaoooo at first I was like "WHaT is this child wearing? You'd think Dick would have rubbed off on him and taught him what good taste looks like" but then I saw the later outfit, with the gold patterning and those sleeeevessssss ugh and I take it all back. A Fashion Icon TM. Truly stunning. A sight to behold. So proud, look at him go 😪

I think there's a lot of different opinions on Damian's characterization in this run, and I can definitely see where its coming from, but I disagree with the notion that Damian has been done dirty and reverted to a blood-thirsty, feral child.  And I have a LOT of opinions on the whole "feral" thing regarding Damian period (but that's for another time).

I don't think of Dami's rampage as a regression for his character. He's letting of emotions right then and I think its very similar to him venting. Its just not verbal, its physical and he knows he's not going to have to grapple with the consequences of his actions on the first kill. He knows he's technically not doing anything wrong.

He is clearly upset at Bruce and his failure to protect Alfred, and while Dami and Bruce are really often described as being very similar personality-wise, they are still distinctly different individuals who came to their current moral codes in vastly different ways. Bruce came to his "no killing" rule on his own; he made that decision for himself. It wasn't taught to him, it was a moment-of-truth kind of situation. Damian, on the other hand is in a vastly different situation.

Dami is, I think, at the beginning of the climb to his own moment-of-truth. He is in his rebellious phase like Dick, where he's gone off to spread his wings. It's not his conscious intention (at least that's not the vibe I got from reading the first two issues), but its directly underlying his "mission".

Damian is growing out of the expectations of his parents and into his own person. We all know he's been thrown from one moral code to another, both drastically different from each other. I don't think its a regression for him to lose his way a little, because realistically, he's going to have to in order to find it, specifically a moral compass that he forged on his own. He's just what? 14? Like hell a kid his age wants to listen to any form of authority. He's as stubborn as it comes. Damian needs to come to his decision regarding the path he takes in life on his own. It can't be made for him. He's seen and lived both sides of the coin, and I don't think he should be forced just yet to choose a side or pave a middle ground, but I do think that he should get the opportunity to see and experience all the gray areas on his own.

I think I'll transition from characterization to story here, because let's face it, this story is about Damian dealing with his confused emotions right now, in the wake of losing Alfred, a man that kind of acted like a grounding presence, a voice of reason, or a moral compass for him (and honestly Bruce and the rest of the bat crew if we're honest).

Story

So there's a lottttt going on in the story that is really enticing and exciting, and I'm really interested to see how it all plays out.

All the rules to the tournament are so, sketchy? Like they don't sound like they are meant to be sketchy, its basic safety and guidelines or whatever but with all the glowy green shit and the stakes of the tournament? Yeah, you can bet your ass its the "no fighting at night" and other shit is gonna be broken, and that's likely when the fun begins *insert evil laughter*😈

I was slightly put off by the whole "let me teach you to have fun" thing with Rose, because it's not like Dick, Steph, Jon, and like the Titans haven't done that with him too, but eh, not something I'm too concerned about. It's definitely just a segway to get us introduced to more characters that might become Damian's friends which will be interesting considering what Mother Soul said about fraternizing.

And that's another thing! I want Damian to make some friends! I know he already has some, but here's the thing: I think he's already been struggling with belonging, and he's definitely been feeling the disconnect between his life and other kids', whether they're supers/vigilantes or not. I think it'd be nice to see Dami have the experience of meeting people who he at first thinks are just like him!! and then realizing that maybe he doesn't really fit in here either, and that it's okay to feel like you don't belong, as isolating as it may feel at times. It just means you have a set of values. I want him to realize that its not always a bad thing, and you learn more about yourself and your own heart this way.

And from there,,, lets talk about the thing that stuck out to me the most in these two issues! GUILT!! It's mentioned SOO many times already, and I think its going to be a really fun, heartbreaking, and interesting aspect to explore about Damian. Is it guilt about his actions? Leaving behind family? Not being able to save Alfred? Not being a perfect example of Robin? He may call himself Robin but he doesn't sport the OG look or symbol like before. I love that his guilt takes on the form of Alfred though, or at least his conscious. I think it'd be really interesting to see this conscious disappear when Dami strays too far from his center, and when he finds it again, it reappears.

I really think that seeing Damian's actions in this run as a failure of character development is an unfair assessment, though. You can't do everything right in order to grow! You have to screw up, lose your way, experiment with life to find your fit, right?

Something tells me he doesn’t care for the tournament itself, but the end result, and the people behind it and more about WHY it was hidden from him. I mean he finds out the tournament TRULY begins once everyone has died once and tHEN he kill everyone? Felt to me less like a “killing spree” as everyone put it to a calculated decision to get the tournament going. He literally cuts Mother Soul off in the middle of her speaking to start fighting at the beginning

Anyway, just my thoughts lol. I do have some issues with the past two issues, and I might make a separate post about that, but honestly not enough for me to dislike Robin 2021 so far. I mean, besides the very obvious white-washing in the second issue, because DC can absolutely do better. And they should. It’s like they thought we wouldn’t notice???? But besides that, story and characterization-wise I’m looking forward to more. Here’s to hoping it stays that way, just with a better colorist!

#dc comics #robin 2021 #damian wayne #robin

[bistephs]

idk if this is an unpopular opinion but i really dislike the trend in both dc and fandom towards making jason’s original red hood ideology out to be just... temporary insanity? like, jason came back with a very clear belief that some people (emphasis on SOME) who have repeatedly demonstrated that they won’t reform deserve to be killed, both as punishment for their crimes and to protect future victims, and that sometimes a show of force is necessary to keep more organized crime in line. i’m not saying that his methods are right- i think one of the most compelling parts of under the red hood is that it shows that he isn’t 100% right, but that batman isn’t either- but it’s a solid motivation and it makes sense why he’d follow it. of course dc screws everything up in that regard by just abruptly changing him to a straight black-and-white villain who goes around shooting people for no real reason, but initially he does have a very clear ideology and moral code, even if it doesn’t line up with the other bats or most other heroes. and imo sustained conflict over that is a much better story than, like, him having a temper tantrum and then getting over it to be bruce’s Good Soldier again and play nice with the batfam. i think there’s a lot of potential for a compelling, in-character story where he eventually does reconcile with his family (and i think things were moving in that direction until battle for the cowl happened), but brushing everything under the rug as “yeah he was crazy™ for a while but he got over it except for sometimes grumbling about how batman won’t let him kill people” just does a disservice to his character and his agency and belief system. 

#jason todd #dc meta #like honestly with the way dc threw his initial characterization and motivations out the window to make him Evil Crazy Bad Guy #i kind of get the impulse to blame it all on the lazarus pit or w/ever #bc trying to figure out his motivation for uh. certain preboot storylines. would not make any sense otherwise #(because the writers didn't care about consistency they just wanted a generic one dimensional villain) #(but you know. whatever) #but you can reton bad characterization without also retconning a character's core beliefs and moral code #anyways antihero red hood or bust #sorry to throw this Wall Of Text at yall i'm just thinking thoughts today #txt

[thirdbasedumpsterfire]

Any hcs for Older Proxy Doby?

Absolutely!

As he aged Doby got better and better at identifying and hunting his prey

He had a moral code not to kill children or innocents

However, he was the one to determine guilt

He still targeted transphobia and abusers but more broadly those who are privileged and entitled

He got more creative with his methods over the years and more daring with his kills

He modified his bat over the years as well as accumulated a few others

his current favorite (age 26) is an aluminum bat he snagged from a victims house

He might be a blood thirst murderer but in his mind he works towards good

He is great with people and very charismatic 

He has also figured out how to used sex appeal to lure in victims

He may put on a happy face but inside he is cold

it’s always an act and really he doesn't care to talk to anyone

He’s wanted to reach out to Jay but is too scared

Even as he learns of Jay’s mental break he is too scared to reunite and spends a lot of time dodging him.

He also admittedly has fun screwing with the cops

He love leaving behind cryptic meaningless messages and watches the news for a laugh at how clueless they are

He has killed more than one cop

Theres a few

~ Mod Vilet

#ask #headcanon #doby #third base #third base creepypasta #jay myles #creepypasta #slenderverse #slenderman #slender proxy #doby doggers

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Episode 10: Silent Night

This show is taking over my life and I’m not even mad.

Spoilers ahead.

0:28 - This whole scene. Malcolm’s eyes. Holy crap. He looks sad, tired, scared. It utterly breaks my heart.

0:48 -  This is Malcolm descending into a panic attack. :( ALSO though - we have confirmation that Ainsley used the clip of her father screaming about how he was a good father. Did Ainsley also use the clip of her listing her brother’s diagnoses? Because honestly, that would be a terrible sister move. I can’t see Malcolm wanting people to know about his diagnoses unless he really trusts them. Is that why Malcolm’s having the beginnings of a panic attack right now? Because he’s realizing that everyone knows. Or is it simply the fact that his father is triggering bad memories for him? Or is it a combo platter?

1:00 - ICONIC. You know this is hilarious and totally in character for Jessica. BUT I think she threw her shoe because she saw Malcolm panicking and she knew that throwing her shoe would shock him out of a full-blown panic attack. I think that if he wasn’t panicking she would’ve just screamed at him and turned off the TV. 

1:20 - Look at how sad Jessica is here. She isn’t upset that her son isn’t normal or that she’s not getting grandchildren anytime soon. She’s upset that her son isn’t happy and that he’s suffering. She blames herself for it. We saw that in 1x7. 

1:40 - This little conversation between Malcolm and Jessica is really cool. They’re both trying to comfort each other and they’re both concerned for each other. 

2:24 - Reason #1214 (yes- I pulled that number out of thin air) that Malcolm needs some sleep. Or some time off. Or some peace. -- The boy didn’t notice that it was Christmas Eve. I don’t care if you don’t celebrate Christmas - the Christmas season has become a massive corporate holiday. It’s almost impossible to ignore. Between the commercials, decorations, sales, music ... how can you not notice?

2:51 - I adore this moment. Look at how happy Malcolm his watching the children run around happily. I’m telling you we need a scene where bright has to hang out with a little kid. It would be cute. Also - Gil. That look that Gil initially gives Malcolm is a look of pure love. He’s happy to see Malcolm smiling. He’s happy to see Malcolm on a holiday. He’s happy to see Malcolm on Christmas Day. 

3:35 - Personal disclaimer. I immediately hate Colette Swanson. Simply because Malcolm hates her and Malcolm finds it in him to have compassion for murderers. Therefore - this woman must truly suck. 

3:38 - Malcolm looks crushed when he finds out Colette is in charge. Gil is enjoying teasing Malcolm. It’s cute. I like it. 

4:05 - Ok. So 1) Malcolm has gone full-blown manic again. Check out the way he just greeted JT. and 2) I looked it up. Kringle is a Scandinavian pastry. So does this mean that Tally’s family has Scandinavian roots? Or JT does and his wife makes it for him? I need to know. 

4:13 - Dani looks concerned when she asks if Malcolm has seen Ainsley’s interview. This makes me think that Ainsley probably did include the clip where she lists Malcolm’s diagnoses. This makes me sad. It also makes me lose some respect for Ainsley. 

4:37 - How well did Gil know Turner? Gil looks really sad here. Is it sadness because he and Turner were friends? Or just the general sadness that comes over you when you realize that someone you knew died and it makes you remember how fleeting life is?

4:55 - I love how that subtle shot at Malcolm went totally above his head. 

5:19 - Where’s Edrisa? We isn’t the medical crew there? 

5:34 - When Malcolm takes the gun Gil looks a little alarmed and concerned. Then he shares a look with JT. JT looks concerned too. Actually this whole scene - as Bright gestures with the gun the camera keeps cutting to Gil and/or JT and Dani who have matching looks of concern on their faces. 

6:20 - And this is what they were afraid of. The manic idiot, who is clearly not doing well right now, just put a gun to his head. I love how Gil reacts. It’s the same way an angry parent would talk to a misbehaving child. 

6:32 - How much do you want to bet that Gil continued that conversation later. Malcolm’s passive suicidality is really getting out of hand. 

7:28 - This is great. “Sounds like you.” It’s true though. Since his wife died I’m sure Gil threw his whole life into his work. Now he just works or worries about the team. He seems to know it too. The warning look he gives Dani is a look that says “not the time” not “you’re wrong and I’m annoyed at your sass”.

7:50 - Okay. Colette is a b**ch to Bright. Right off the bat. What happened between them?!? Seriously? This is not professional behaviour. This is straight up harassment. The team does Not Look Happy with the way she’s talking to Bright. All three of them look some mixture of annoyed, confused, and concerned. 

8:21 - This whole scene is painful to watch. Colette being more of a b**ch to Malcolm and Malcolm acting like an excited puppy who desperately wants to help. BUT at 8:21 the look JT gives Colette before he walks away. hahahaha I’ve never noticed it before. He’s like “Not my circus, not my monkeys. This woman is cray cray. I’m out.”

8:45 - Love the parallel between 1x5 when Malcolm asks about how Dani knows Estime and here when Dani asks about how Malcolm knows Colette. Also look at Malcolm’s face when he responds. He looks dead inside. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him look at anyone with cold, detached, hatred before. What did this woman do to him?!?

8:50 - Malcolm looks upset here. The way he looks at the ground. Huh. Is Colette just another one of Malcolm’s bullies?

8:58 - I hate how condescending Colette is to everyone in this scene. I love how Dani looks at Gil for guidance on how to respond. Gil looks so mad he’s even refusing to make eye contact with Colette more than strictly necessary. If this woman wasn’t FBI, just a regular member of the NYPD, I swear Gil would lose it on her. 

9:10 - Dani looks so upset that Gil is making her work with Colette. AND look at that little warning look Gil gives Malcolm when he says “you’re with me” AND look at that smile that Gil gave Colette before he walked out. hahaha that was not a kind smile. Gil is my hero. 

9:26 - Honestly I hate this woman more than I hate Martin. Look at how poorly she makes Malcolm feel. Look at how condescending and rude she is to everyone. IS THIS THE UMBRIDGE OF THE PRODIGAL SON FANDOM?!? Because honestly, if she turns out to be a victim in a future episode I won’t even be mad if the plot doesn’t make sense.

9:34 - so Malcolm has a desk again? Or he’s forced to work at his desk because the case board room has been overtaken by the FBI? Either way - Gil looking at Malcolm with concern and sympathy is fuelling my soul. 

9:40 - Ok so two things. 1) Has anyone else noticed that Malcolm only has ONE (1) watch. A brown leather watch. It doesn’t look like a super fancy, expensive watch either. This seems strange for a rich dude (they usually have a lot of watches or at least a fancy Rolex that they show off). I know that doesn’t fit with Malcolm’s personality but the fact that he only wears the one watch makes me headcanon that it was a gift from Gil and Jackie. Maybe when he graduated college or something? THING 2) Is Malcolm avoiding Ainsley’s call because he’s pissed with her about the interview or because he’s got too much going on right now and he can’t handle a drama call from the family?

9:46 - Does Ainsley seriously not feel bad about that interview? I mean she’s asking her brother for a favour right after stabbing him in the back. 

10:21 - Shaky hand, scared eyes. This isn’t good. 

10:38 - Detective Shannon is a dick. I mean. Even if Malcolm was an accomplice to his Dad’s murders - you just don’t talk to a kid like that. Especially if that kid is showing signs of emotional distress like baby Malcolm is in the flashback. The shaking, slight rocking of the body, eyes screwed shut, shaky voice. Poor little guy is terrified. 

11:15 - This suggests that Gil knows about how Shannon treated Bright. How did Gil find out? Recently or when it was happening? What did Gil do/say to Shannon when he found out? Does Jessica know? Is this why Malcolm went mute? Or did this happen after Malcolm started talking again?

 11:31 - Okay so protective/concerned Gil warms my heart. You all know this by now. But look at the moment after Shannon calls Gil “lucky boy”. Gil looks positively furious and Malcolm looks scared. Almost like Shannon’s voice is sending him into a C-PTSD flashback. BUT once Malcolm snaps out of his fear he looks angry and suspicious. 

13:20 - Gil’s quiet warning is awesome. You can tell that he’s not mad at Malcolm. He thinks Malcolm’s little speech is justified. He’s afraid of what this gun toting lunatic might do to Bright if provoked. 

13:34 - This is one of my absolute favourite moments in the show’s history. Look at the way Gil jumps in front of Malcolm and holds Shannon back. That’s partially the cop in him doing his job BUT that’s also a man furious that someone would have the nerve to try and hurt his son.

13:51 - and now Malcolm looks manic again. Gil still looks pissed. 

14:38 - Gil’s taking this case personally. Makes sense, even if he didn’t know Ian Turner very well. Gil is a good man who has a very strong moral code. He’s a protector. It makes sense that he would be pissed that an extremely good man was murdered for no good reason. 

15:25 - Dani, you are my queen. Tell that b**ch that’s she’s out of line. You go girl.

16:00 - Oh no. Dani is questioning Malcolm. Colette is getting into her head. 

16:37 - Okay. It’s Christmas Day. Jessica is supposed to be at home ordering people around to prepare for Christmas dinner. But instead she is at the precinct because Ainsley’s interview is causing her a lot of pain. She’s haunted by the Surgeon and Ainsley’s decided to air out the family issues to the public - thereby giving Jessica no where to hide from her pain. Also - LOVE the way Gil walks in to the room. He knows Jessica is going to come to him with a slightly manic, half-baked plan and/or theory. He’s stressed. He’s in a bad mood. He’s worried about Malcolm and he can’t handle another manic Whitly right now. 

17:20 - Gil doesn’t act surprised that Martin chloroformed Malcolm. When did Gil find out? I would’ve payed good money to see that. Also - how selfless is this dude? He’s clearly an emotional mess right now but he stops everything to try and comfort Jessica. He can’t help but be concerned about her. There are sparks here. Check out the way he holds her hands. Check out the soft look that he gives her.

18:25 - All I’m going to say is that when it comes to Malcolm and Jessica - the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

19:35 - JT talked to Dani about Malcolm’s date. He was so concerned about Malcolm that he called Dani because he knows they’re close. Do you think they told Gil?!? Or did Malcolm tell Gil?! Gil has to know. Right? 

19:50 - Malcolm, sweetheart. No. Honey, you’re not broken. Look how sad Dani is. She wants to help him. She can see how deep his depression is. This is honestly so concerning. When someone says something like this, sincerely, with that much pain in their eyes - just take them to see a doctor or just have someone stay with them. Please. They need supervision. They might be a danger to themselves. 

20:02 - Ever notice how a lock of Malcolm’s hair falls into his face when his mental and/or physical state starts to get seriously unhinged.

20:46 - Oh. My. Goodness. That Christmas ornament is precious. Look at how happy and cute baby Malcolm and baby Ainsley are. 

21:15 - This is such a good conversation. Usually Jessica is overprotective, overbearing, and somewhat controlling when it comes to her children. However, Jess is totally justified in what she says to Ainsley here. It frustrates me that Ainsley is so upset about it. Ainsley really can’t see how her ambition is destroying her relationship with her family. She can’t see that the actions she’s taking to further her career are at the expense of the mental well-being of her mother and brother. 

21:45 - “You’re playing the victim.” Ouch. That was a low-blow Ainsley. It’s not true either. Your Mom is traumatized. To an extent your mother and brother are victims of the Surgeon. You are too. Your mother just wants some peace and privacy. That’s not unreasonable.

22:50 - Yikes. Has Shannon been following Malcolm? Look how scared Malcolm is. He’s so much more terrified of Shannon now that Gil isn’t with him. You know how we can be sure that Malcolm is a good person? He actually looks sympathetic towards Shannon. Upset for Shannon.  ALSO quick side note - is Malcolm holding a pie? Did he buy a pie to bring to the family Christmas dinner? Why is that making my heart melt?

25:03 - Pissed Gil is such a mood. 

26:24 - Anyone else find it concerning that Malcolm is so desperate to catch the Junkyard Killer and to get answers about that camping trip that he is willing to get in a car and go to a random garage with the ex-detective who traumatized him? Also - they have surveillance pictures of baby Malcolm? Isn’t that illegal? I didn’t think you could photograph minors like that?

28:15 - Shannon just won over Malcolm. Look at that sadness and compassion in Malcolm’s eyes. Dang. That’s kind of sweet? Shannon’s still a dick though.

29:25 - Sometimes when Malcolm starts being sincere, soft, and supportive - I swear I’m watching him channel Gil. 

30:02 - Anyone else think it’s weird that they left the car running outside with the headlights on? Just me? Ok. Carry on.

30:11 - How poetic that John Watkins is near the end of the list, alphabetically speaking, so it’s one of the last names they check.

30:50 - Malcolm looks downright terrified when Shannon shows him his gun. 

31:35 - haha Gil is so exhausted here. Look at him when Bright hangs up. Gil’s like, “Of course. What did I expect? I can’t control this man-child. Please remind me why I love him before I do something I regret.”

31:50 - This is Granny immediately strikes me as really weird. Like more than just regular nutty old-lady weird. 

33:10 - Look how uncomfortable Malcolm looks around Matilda. He’s interested in John’s childhood and he’s still working the case but he’s clearly freaked out by Granny over here. 

34:39 - Malcolm’s eyes are looking hella manic again.

34:50 - OMG. hahaha Malcolm looks horrified when Matilda pours that gravy stuff on his food. I’m shocked that he didn’t puke. 

36:00 - This photo album is...wow. Really increases the creepy factor of this case. 

38:45 - This conversation between Colette and Gil is awesome. Gil is scared. He’s trying to protect Bright but he’s also knows that he needs help. Dani and JT look scared. 

39:27 - OMG. I didn’t like Shannon but he didn’t deserve that. 

39:48 - So Matilda is kind of a serial killer too. Right? She knew her grandson was a murder and she helped him. She condoned it. She’s as bad as he is. 

40:45 - Oh Jessica is desperate. She’s totally throwing Gil under the bus here. She wouldn’t do that unless she was desperate. 

41:25 - Dani and Gil look terrified. OMG. My heart is breaking. 

42:20 - Malcolm has that knife right in front of his mother’s townhouse. So I guess Martin was lying in 1x7 when he said they bought it off the turnpike in New Jersey during their camping trip. 

So...things are getting scary for Malcolm. Thanks for hanging out Prodigies. 

#prodigal son #jess-rewatches-prodigal #malcolm bright #whitly #ainsley whitly #jessica whitly #martin whitly #gil arroyo #jt tarmel #edrisa tanaka #dani powell #this show is almost perfect #i love this show #whump #malcolm needs a hug #so good #rewatch #spoilers #ps #john watkins #e:10 #1x10 #silent night #s1

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Obi-Wan vs. Kakashi

This episode is released to Youtube on May 4th. So, may the Fourth be with you.

Obi-Wan′s Preview.

So, before going into this, just be warned: Boomstick has a bunch of Obi-Wan Liners. Let’s get started.

We open up on Tatooine, and our first Obi-Wan Liner, because old Ben was actually Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.

And of course, the classic “Hello there.”

They go over his brief story of training under Liam Neeson, and his rise through the rankings of Jedi Knights. And for the record, yes. I’ll be referring to them as “knights” as opposed to Boomstick’s “Samurai Space Wizards.”

Anyways, they also go over Kenobi’s relation to The Force. The energy that’s all around the universe and allows Obi-Wan to do incredible things.

It also leads us into our first Wiz/Boomstick segment!

Aside from the Force, they also go over some of Obi-Wan’s techniques and other parts of his arsenal.

And they also go over several novels that help give Obi-Wan an edge up as well.

And the Force is no joke. There’s a reason why I’m capitalizing it all the time.

And it wouldn’t be a true Obi-Wan rundown if they didn’t mention his ultimate weapon:

The High Ground.

A powerful technique that he copied from Darth Maul. It gives him all sorts of advantages.

Kenobi also scales to other Force-Users, like Anakin. Which is brought up when pre-Vader did a Force feat that puts the ability to move massive dreadnaughts at massively relativistic speeds.

And to pull that off, it would need over 21 Megatons of TNT. And that was when Anakin was a newbie.

Of course, they do go over some of Obi-Wan’s weaknesses, like his dedication to the Jedi Order, trying to trick Luke into killing his father, and that time when he uh��� Dropped the ball when it came to Anakin.

But even at his worst, Obi-Wan is a protector of the innocent, the universe, and the next generation. Sacrificing himself in service of a New Hope…

And then Boomstick ruins the moment by then declaring that Old Ben then became a ghost!

Yeah, let’s be real… This was the only way they could have ended it.

Kakashi′s Preview.

So, apparently it’s not just the kids who had dead parents, it’s the adults too!

The hosts go over the accomplishments that Kakashi had over the years, and how his dad was disgraced for saving his friends rather than prioritizing a mission… And how his dad committed Seppuku. Dick move Ninja Village.

Regardless, the hosts go over his accomplishments. Becoming a Genin at age five, a Chunin at age six, and a Jonin at age twelve. And yes, I copy-pasted that from the wiki because screw actually writing that out.

To be honest, the most “memey” thing about Kakashi’s preview is the “One Thousand Years of Death” technique he has. And while I can understand that Kakashi’s preview isn’t supposed to be “memey”, It’s a tad jarring when Obi-Wan’s was full of memes.

Anyways, the hosts note that Kakashi is most familiar with Lightning. And specifically, that he made a jutsu called the Chidori that got its nickname when it was used to cut a bolt of lightning.

Now, when Kakashi invented it, he ran into a problem… Literally.

He can’t really see that well when using it. So, once he starts moving, he can’t stop.

Until a friend of his gave him a Sharingan.

With this, the hosts note that Kakashi has stolen over a thousand techniques. But, they also note that since he’s not an Uchiha… he can’t really turn it off.

And then his friends all died! Which leads us to our next animated segment.

(I can never spell “Mangekyo” right… This is what I get for being a Transformers fan as opposed to a Naruto fan).

We get a list of feats, and a quick scaling test by way of Jiraiya. Remember him?- He’s the old pervert who carved up a mountain.

Anyways, this comes out to about 18 Megatons of TNT.

And after all the trauma that Kakashi endured, he finally found out that the ways of old were not the way that should be taught. And he lives on, knowing that he trained the next generation to do better than his could.

… Like I said: not a Naruto fan, so I have no idea what significance that this has.

The Battle Itself.

Doovan Hohdan, Daitomodachi, and Devil Artemis are back for an SFM animation. Obi-Wan will be voiced by Steven Kelly and Kakashi will be voiced by Nicholas Andrew Louie. Force and Lightning by Therewolf, and audio led by Chris Kokkinos.

So, after crashing into Konohagakure, Obi-Wan “celebrates” his landing, and opens up the only way Obi-Wan could:

Now, credit where it’s due: Obi-Wan tries to resolve this without violence. Looks like we know where Luke got it from. If all Star Wars DEATH BATTLE combatants start by them trying to diffuse the situation, I’d say that these guys know what they’re doing when it comes to portraying them as normal… Y’know, minus the removed morals.

Obviously, Obi-Wan not going to let Kakashi just outright kill him, so he starts defending.

Now, it takes a while for Kakashi to take the fight seriously. He keeps readinng his book while fighting and it takes some heavy blows to get him to put it down.

Obi-Wan declares that he has the high ground, and unfortunately, that’s too much power to be contained in one screenshot. But, Kakashi manages to counter Obi-Wan’s almighty High Ground technique.

But, Obi-Wan has the force on his side, so being buried isn’t going to stop him.

Now, the fight rages on, and it’s pretty clear that any physical blows are kinda-sorta leaning in Obi-Wan’s favor a bit. Kakashi puts in more effort when countering than Obi-Wan does. Maybe that’s just Kenobi’s calm demeanor, or Kakashi’s hotheadedness though.

Regardless, Kakashi opts to put Obi-Wan into an illusion for a  striking blow.

So, with the illusion dispelled (Seriously. First Hiei, now Kenobi. Will any illusion-character be able to land that move?), Obi-Wan counters.

And he counters HARD.

Kakashi doesn’t break easily though, so he starts using lightning.

The two get ready for a charging blow, so finishing move in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Another Sasuke vs. Hiei parallel: it takes a moment for Kakashi to actually die.

Also, has anyone noticed that all the Naruto mentors die at the end of their respective battles? (Yeah, I’m kinda cheating with Might-Might, but still.)

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, Kakashi has the edge in versatility. Hands down.

For starters, Obi-Wan isn’t going to be running out of fuel anytime soon. Chakra is internal, and the Force is external. And since it’s not a Chakra technique, Kakashi couldn’t copy it.

And the mountain feat is about on par with the dreadnaught feat, so they looked to be pretty even on power… At first glance.

Remember, Anakin gained power over the course of the series. By the time that the two fought, Anakin was much more powerful. So it stands to reason that Obi-Wan, who matched him, would also be on a similar level of power.

Obi-Wan could also tear apart General Grevious’ armor, which could tank blasts from star destroyers. And while it’s a little unreasonable to say that he could do this with his bare hands, the Force definitely can.

In terms of speed, Obi-Wan could react many times faster than Kakashi, meaning that Kakashi wouldn’t have a whole lot of opportunities to actually land a blow. Combined with the precognitive powers that the Force gives Kenobi, this means that it would be hard for Kakashi to get in close at all.

The elephant in the room is dismissed, as when Kakashi had the Perfect Susanoo, he was being possessed by the spirit of his friend.

But, even if he did, Obi-Wan is still stronger.

Kyp could move a black hole. And Obi-Wan was directly compared to him. Taking this literally, this comes out to just short of 14 Petatons of TNT.

And as we all know, a Petaton is a whole lot bigger than a Gigaton, that’s for sure.

And this isn’t even counting the fact that Obi-Wan could just crush his organs using the Force.

Damn! Thank god for the Jedi Code. These guys could literally conquer the entire universe if they wanted. Good thing they adopted the Spider-Man ways of taking great responsibility with that power and using it for good. Screw the Sith for going the Green Goblin route.

Overall impression.

So, has anyone noticed that we’ve been getting lessons in these past few battles lately? Cable vs. Booster Gold came with the moral of “the level of seriousness between characters only really matters for their own universes, not in a DEATH BATTLE”, the one before that had the (somewhat humorous) “We’re all beautiful just the way you are, no matter how many arms or whose wife you stole”, and now we have “With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility” delivered through the fact that we have now seen that power, and we’re thankful for the Jedi for holding back.

Aside from that, the fight is really well-choreographed. While it’s hard to discern that Obi-Wann had the speed advantage, it’s pretty clear that he had everything else. It was clear that he was the more level-headed of the two, and that gave him an immediate edge as it showed that he was more or less, holding back. And the ones who hold back the most tend to be the one who has the most power.

And the Obi-One liners are a delight. If there was anything really awesome that came out of the Prequels, it was the Obi-One liners. Ad to think! This airs on May 4 on Youtube… Yeah, cue angry Naruto fans claiming that “Obi only won because May 4.” Ugh… Freaking DEATH BATTLE Curse, amirite?

8.8/10

Next Time…

Oh. Speaking of Spider-Man…

If this isn’t hand-drawn, there will be riots.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Spider-Copycat Combat.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

[petersquips]

Stark Contrast [CHAPTER THREE]

Masterlist | Introduction | Chapter One | Chapter Two || Chapter Four (pt 1) | Chapter Four (pt 2)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Word count: 5,991

Warnings: Slight aggression, but mostly it’s all the ever-loving fluff you could want.

Chapter Summary: Y/N is suspended for hitting Amadeus Cho and struggles to make amends with her family. While she continues to wrestle with her place as a young woman in the world, now in the spotlight, Peter invites her to a sister march.

A/N: Inspired by the album “A Woman’s Guide to Survival” by Miss Li. This is the chapter that came to me on the tram and made me want to write this fic, so I hope I’ve done it justice.

If you want to be added to the tag list for this fic, Inbox me and I‘ll add your username. Members of the tag list MUST reblog. I look forward to your feedback, friends!

Y/N was sitting in the middle of the training room working on yesterday’s schoolwork. She liked the training room. It was wall to wall windows on three sides, the floor was black and glossy, and it just felt vast. It was a good place to be alone, and more than ever Y/N wanted to be alone this week. Tony still hadn’t really forgiven her for forcing him to talk the principal down from expulsion to suspension, Pepper was unsuccessfully trying to act normal, and Steve just seemed disappointed. So if she could avoid all of them for the week of her suspension and keep up on her school work, it was really the best she could ask for.

“There you are.” The warm voice of Peter echoed through the giant room as his amplified footfalls grew closer to where she sat in the center of the floor. “Delivery,” he lamely joked, as he approached and dropped a pile of paper next to the girl. Y/N didn’t move from the problem she was working on and she didn’t so much as acknowledge her friend, so Peter carefully sat down next to her and asked, “Still that bad, huh?”

“They’ll come around,” Y/N assured him, or perhaps herself, as she finished writing down the answer to the math problem she had been working on when the boy walked in. She sighed in disbelief. She didn’t really know any of them at all. She’d only been around for a few weeks and she’d already screwed up. She had no way of knowing how long this would last, and her new family aside, she herself had been struggling with the grey moral area she seemed to be sitting in. Disgruntled, Y/N pushed the textbook away from herself, asking, “Is what I did really that bad?”

“I mean, it’s not the approach I would have taken…” Peter pandered lightly.

Y/N jumped on his statement asking, “and what approach would you have taken?” She was desperate for some form of validation. She didn’t want to feel like a bad person. “If someone was boasting, lying about you like a sexual conquest, making you a trophy to be won because of your name, what would you have done?” She was staring straight into Peter’s soul, begging him for an answer.

Peter looked away uncomfortably. “I don’t know,” he admitted to the floor, pulling one knee up to his chest.

“I can’t even picture it,” Y/N realized. She looked off into the distance and could see the quin-jet through the far wall. She lived in a place full of such integrity. This was a place of heroes, and she was just some kid who could handle a cafeteria tray like a baseball bat.

After a moment's silence the gentle boy finally inquired, “Why did you do it?” She’d been asking herself the same question. She paused the think, and then came to a conclusion.

“Because my words meant nothing,” Y/N responded urgently. “No one was going to believe my word over Amadeus Cho, you know that. So I had to be louder.” And she was. The sound of the plastic smacking against Cho’s face was very loud, indeed.

“You really thought all that out during the walk from our table to his?” Peter quizzed in disbelief, looking back at the girl in awe.

“No!” Y/N scoffed as she gave the obvious response. “He was being a dick and I got angry.” Peter snorted at the abrupt change of tone in their conversation and began laughing along with the girl. Y/N was relieved to be laughing with Peter after everything that had happened. If she could laugh despite the guilty pit in her stomach, maybe things would be okay. The two began to grow quiet again, and Y/N sighed and confessed, “I do feel bad.” She didn’t like the serious conversation and she didn’t like feeling guilty, but she knew she needed it, so she continued to explain, “He’s not a bad person. I mean- I don’t think I believe that he’s a bad person, he just did some bad things-“ she paused to self-assess, “But did you hear that smack?” She was mortified. “That shit had to have hurt, and at the end of the day he made some bad choices, but I’m the one who actually hurt someone.”

“Hey,” Peter said as he elbowed Y/N in the side. “He did hurt you. In more ways than one,” the boy mumbled the second half, before quickly inquiring, “How’s that healing up, by the way?” She knew what he was referring to, but Y/N preferred to pretend it wasn’t there, because if it wasn’t there, maybe it didn’t happen. Peter kindly held out a hand to receive the Y/N’s arm and examine it. The bruising had mostly healed, but the last yellow remnants wrapped around her wrist in a splotchy fashion. He frowned and sighed at the sight. “Tell you what,” the boy said, staring at the remnants of her encounter with Amadeus Cho. “Don’t schedule anything for Sunday,” Peter commanded before suddenly standing up and casually walking toward the exit of the vast room.

“What?” Y/N quizzed. When she got no response she yelled after him in her confusion. “Peter!”

“Don’t ask any questions,” Peter called back as he turned around and began walking backwards. “Just trust me on this.” Y/N was confused why her friend would be so coded and was tentative to let him walk away on that note, but she inhaled sharply and nodded in agreement, earning a charming smile from Peter before he disappeared from the room.

It was quiet again and Y/N felt small in the huge facility. The teen miserably looked at the fresh stack of assignments Peter had left her. She had only just reached the end of the work he dropped off yesterday, and she didn’t want to keep going. Y/N groaned and dropped her face into the trigonometry book she’d been working out of before Peter had shown up. “Just land the fucking quin-jet on my head,” she mumbled into the pages, the sound of her voice echoing circles around her. She realized how pathetic she must look and quickly sat up with a gasp, shaking her head as if to wring out the bad vibes. She was completely determined to keep chipping away at the pile of work before her.

She begrudgingly crammed in the last of her trigonometry work and threw the heavy textbook across the room just to get it further away from her. It landed on the tile floor with a resonant smack that rang in her ears and made her immediately regret the impulsive act. Still, she was intent on powering through and picked up the fresh pile of work are started from the beginning of her day, pulling off the AP Lit sheets on existentialism and transcendentalism. She pushed through organic chemistry equations and the introductory history of the world, and by the time she had finished it all the training room was glowing orange with the light of the sunset over the horizon. It was beautiful. The same sunset she’d watched with such uncertainty her first day in the facility. Now it simply filled her with peace, a familiar view in the midst of her renewed confusion.

Y/N began to collect all of the completed paperwork as she watched the warm light of the sun disappear into a blue haze. Gathering everything into her arms, she quietly made her way out of the comforting room and across the building in the dim light. As she wandered down the many halls it took to get to her room, she caught a glimpse of Tony sitting on the couch of the lounge with a drink in his hand, a nightly ritual for the man. The girl paused. She didn’t want to be seen by him, and she especially didn’t want to talk. Y/N nervously ducked her head and tried to sneak by unnoticed.

Just as she’d reached the opposite wall, the man called, “Y/N.” Clearly, he’d noticed. The teen awkwardly stepped backwards, reversing back into view.

“Yeah?” Y/N asked tentatively. Tony didn’t speak, just curtly waved his free hand, a gesture that said, ‘come over here’ with ultimate clarity. Y/N anxiously hurried over to the man, setting the heavy pile of books and homework on the coffee table. She had a feeling this might take a while, and if she kept holding all of those papers her arms would give out before the conversation even started. She didn’t feel like sitting. She’d been sitting all day, so the teen opted to stand in front of the aloof man. She was antsy and began rolling her feet over to the side and back just to keep moving.

Tony rubbed his mouth with his free hand as he leaned forward and set the glass of liquor next to his child’s assignments. As he sat back into the couch he revealed his first card, “Peter told me what you said today-”

“Traitor,” Y/N whispered to the side.

Her  heart leapt into her throat when Tony aggressively demanded, “No, see, this is where you listen.” The violent tone made Y/N fearfully snap back to center, looking at the man and trying to ignore the pounding in her chest. “Peter’s a smart kid and he cares about you. He told me because I care about you, too.”

This was a statement that made Y/N uneasy. She wasn’t convinced and she immediately argued, “You barely even know me.” It was in a hushed, hurt tone. She couldn’t understand where Tony got this idea that he had to put on this concerned parent persona when he’d only known her for a few weeks. She hadn’t exactly done anything to earn his affection since she’d shown up. It hurt to know that she didn’t really have anyone to care for her the way family should, and her own body betrayed her as water began to flood across Y/N’s eyes.

“Don’t I?” the man asked as he pushed off from the couch to stand, causing Y/N to stumble backward in her fear. “I know you’re a strong personality, you don’t like being told what to do. If someone tells you what to do you’re most likely going to do the opposite. You like black even though it’s not a color. Your favorite flavor of ice cream is cake batter, I know because it keeps disappearing from the freezer, and I know that you feel guilty about hitting that boy,” Tony finished. His face softened as he begged, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well…” Y/N was annoyed by the persistence of this conversation, and insisted with a bitter tone, “it doesn’t exactly make a difference, now does it?” She didn’t understand this mode of conversing with Tony. So much of what they had done so far was quips and arguing. She didn’t understand why he was so determined and concerned, and she was completely unprepared to deal with it.

“It makes all the difference,” Tony protested. The aggressive nature in his sharp tone startled Y/N and caused the first tear to brim over and roll down her cheek. She thought she wanted to argue with her biological father, but she felt so emotionally fragile she wasn’t sure she could handle it anymore. “We all make dumb mistakes in the heat of the moment, but feeling remorse is what makes you a good person. It means you care about doing the right thing.” Y/N took two steps back, needing to distance herself from the man. She was overwhelmed. Where was this conversation days ago? Before she felt so alone in the great big office building she was so lucky as to call home. And now that it was here she was terrified, this wasn’t what she wanted. It didn’t feel good to be receiving this relentless support, it felt like suffocating and she couldn’t breathe.

The tears began to rain down her face and Tony took a step toward his daughter, while the girl took another step back and yelled, “Stop!” she paused to summon enough air to finish the command, “…consoling me, it doesn’t help!”

“What do you want me to do?” Tony asked pointedly. He was at a loss, but he just wouldn’t give up.

“I don’t know!” The teen near screamed back. She felt her face turning red and thought she must look like a maniac with the water drenching her cheeks. “I’m going crazy here! One moment I’m fine and I understand that what happened with Cho was not my fault, and the next I’m tearing apart all of my clothing in frustration!” She was ranting with no end, and she didn’t feel like stopping. “I keep saying I don’t think he would have forced anything on me and I don’t think he would have hurt me if Peter hadn’t shown up, but I don’t know that. I don’t feel safe anymore, Tony.” She stopped to breathe. The tears suddenly stopped as she said her peace and her face felt sticky like rice as the trails of water began to dry.

Tony inhaled deeply and bumbled the air out through pursed lips as he dropped back on the couch. Y/N watched as the man desperately picked up his drink from the coffee table and downed the mostly-full glass in one go. It was nerve-wracking. These were not the actions of a man in control, and Tony controlled everything in that tower. Tony sat with the empty glass in his trembling hand, hanging limply at his side. He stared at the unlit fireplace across the room and for a moment things seemed still. Then Stark unexpectedly jumped up and yelled as he violently threw his glass across the room. Y/N flinched in terror as it thunderously shattered against the wood floor, scattering in devastation.

Pepper came running into the room in a frenzy, her long silky robe flowing behind her. “What happened?” she asked urgently as she observed the shards of glass and the horrified teen. “Tony?” Pepper inquired carefully as she slowly approached the man consumed by stifled rage. Y/N watched as Pepper strategically touched his stiff shoulder. Carelessly, Tony shook her off and dropped to the couch once again, burying his face in his hands as they worked their way into his hair. He looked ill, almost like he might vomit if the eyes in the room weren’t staring at him. Pepper sat next to the distraught man and glanced up at Y/N, suggesting, “Maybe you should head to your room for the night.”

Y/N nodded and without any argument began hurrying out of the lounge in her panic. Tony held up a hand to signal her to wait. The girl slowed down as she approached the hallway before deciding to stop and listen to what the man had left to say. He hesitantly lifted his head from the other hand and looked at the teenager in anguish. “It’s tearing me apart, too, kid,” Tony mentioned hoarsely. Pepper began to coddle the man only to be met with him holding up a hand to her and complaining, “I’m fine.” Tony got up and walked toward the teenager who was waiting frightfully where the hallway met the corner of the room. He spoke as he crossed, “I don’t know what to do to help because I couldn’t keep this from happening to you in the first place, and I can’t help feeling that that’s on me.”

“I-i…” Y/N stuttered, the sound barely reaching her lips. “It’s no one’s fault,” the girl insisted quietly. At some points, she believed it more than others, but she maintained that it was true. Tony finally stopped face to face with the young and vulnerable teenager. She fearfully looked between his sad eyes, unsure what to say to the man who was meant to care for her. “I don’t blame you,” she whispered.

Tony nodded irregularly and simply said, “Get some sleep,” before turning around and walking back to Pepper. Y/N watched the broken man sit down next to his wife and lay his head on her shoulder. The teen felt stupid to have never realized that Tony took a hit that night, too. She glanced once more at Pepper combing through the mans hair and whispering comfort to him before tearing away to her room. She needed sleep. She needed today to be over.

She woke up early Sunday morning and was eager to see Peter after avoiding Tony all of Saturday. It scared her seeing him so manic Friday night, and she didn’t want to encounter it again. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or excitement, but as she glanced at the clock she wasn’t surprised to see it read, “4:48 AM”. Y/N knew herself and she knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep, and she’d felt so trapped and stiff being suspended in the facility all week. A peculiar urge came over her that she just couldn’t shake and she rushed across the room to her closet, throwing on her Midtown gym tee with some ill-fitting shorts. She hurriedly pinned her hair back and ran downstairs to the lobby of the building. She saw Steve on the front patio stretching out and jogged to the entrance. As she opened the door, she felt the crisp morning air of autumn cool her skin and Steve looked over the shoulder he was stretching in calm surprise. 

“Can I come with you?” the teen asked uncertainly. She knew she couldn’t keep up with a genetically enhanced soldier, and it seemed silly to even entertain the notion, but it was less about getting out and more about being a part of the family she was dumped into. She could run on her own anytime, and while she needed to feel the movement and the burning in her limbs after such a stressful week, she had an overwhelming urge to do it with Steve.

“As if you hadn’t been punished enough already,” Steve teased, smirking as he waved the girl over to join him in stretching. She wasn’t exactly an expert in the sport of running. She did some track and field in elementary school, but not much else. So she tried to follow Cap, doing the stretches as she saw him doing them. After about five minutes of loosening the tension that resided in her stressed joints, Steve asked, “Are you ready?” Y/N was uncertain if this was a trick question or not. Of course, she’d never be ready to keep up with the mighty Captain America, but she nodded, determined to try her best.

Steve began jogging down the long driveway, and Y/N ran beside him. She knew he was holding himself back for her benefit, but she was kind of glad he was doing it. It meant he wasn’t doing anything begrudgingly. He actually wanted to spend the time with the teenager, and that meant the world to Y/N in the midst of her internal crisis. Everything was so uncertain lately, swirling with confusion in an ever-changing atmosphere. She wanted to join Steve’s ritual because it was consistent. It was always the same, and it was reliable, and Y/N needed that after everything that had come crashing down in her life over the last month. So she pushed, even when her tongue began to taste of metal, she sped up when her body begged her to slow down, and when her mind started to wander from the present task she would glance at Steve, and the determined look on his face as he watched the road before them would inspire her to keep present.

They paused at a drinking fountain located in a nearby park where Y/N could catch her breath and get a drink. She knew this wasn’t Steve’s normal ritual, but she could tell he was looking out for her, trying to make sure he didn’t push her too hard, so he forced her to stop and take a break. As she leaned into the bubbling stream of water, Steve placed his hands on his hips and looked off into the distance mentioning, “You know, Tony means well.” Y/N pulled her face away from the refreshing water and looked at the man, imitating his posture as Cap continued, “He just doesn’t know what to do this time.” Y/N was both intrigued by Steve’s insight and annoyed that her life continued to be the business of everyone in the Avenger’s Facility. The large man sighed and shook his head as he explained, “He wants to do the right thing to help you, he just doesn’t know what that is and it scares him-“

“I’m fine,” Y/N interrupted bitterly. She began walking along the path they’d been running down. “I don’t need his help.”

“Do you really believe that?” Steve asked with the kind of insight only a 100-some-year-old-man could provide. It was infuriating how considerately aware he was.

“I appreciate it, Steve,” Y/N mentioned limply, turning back around to face the man who was still standing at the water fountain, “but I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” At that she turned around and began running again, forcing herself to go faster than she thought possible. Within the blink of an eye, Cap was running right by her side once again like a bug you just can’t seem to shake off. She was really thankful that he hadn’t pushed the matter. It made her feel like she’d been listened to, and that triumph made her want to push harder, to run fast enough that Steve was doing more than just a jog beside her. She tried to smash her feet into the pavement as hard as they would allow, and lengthened her stride, catching that knowing smile in Steve’s perfect teeth as he sped up.

The burn of the rest of the run was almost unbearable, but Y/N was persistent. By the time she got back upstairs to her room and into the shower she was spitting down the drain, half expecting red blood to be swirling around at her feet. The cool water felt relieving as it ran over her sweaty body. Her muscles were sore, but the burning had died down. She used her favorite soap to thoroughly cleanse her body, delighting in the sweet scent, and took extra time to care for her hair even if Peter would be there in less than an hour. She was in a push for time as she stood infront of her wardrobe wrapped in a towel with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, trying to figure out what to wear when she didn’t even know where they were going. She decided to just wear her normal ensemble with the exception of pulling out her light-wash denim jacket instead of the leather jacket. It seemed brighter, and it may have been the adrenaline from the run, but she was feeling more playful and present. She was lacing up her classic red converse when her phone began vibrating with Peter’s text that he had arrived. The girl bounded down the stairs and across the building, feeling the pain of the mornings run as she hurried to the lobby where Peter stood speaking to Tony. The sight of her friend made her smile. She felt really good about today.

His Aunt May had dropped him off at the facility, but they took Y/N’s Audi. It was strange for her to have to look away from the console so Peter could secretly type in the address of where they were going just to preserve the surprise. She never could have been prepared for where they arrived. It was a small park, but it was full of people. There were some stands around the edges of the field for groups and organizations from Planned Parenthood to Midtown School’s own feminism club. Without stopping to explain what he’d gotten them into, Peter walked off straight toward the booth from their school, and Y/N raced after him in confusion. The Midtown Feminist Club had small tent covering a modest table with a single petition in the center of it. There were only a few girls from school at the table, but front and center shouting at the crowd was MJ, only pausing her rallying to smile at Peter and Y/N as they approached.

“You guys made it!” Michelle exclaimed gladly as she reached over the table and embraced Peter.

As the two pulled away from each other Y/N admitted, “I’m still not exactly sure what we made it to,” hoping for some voluntary answers.

“Its a sister march,” MJ explained. “It’s not that big, but we’ve been growing every year. It's a festival and march for supporting women, which is why I’m standing here with a petition you two have yet to sign,” the girl pointed out, not caring to hide her ulterior motives as she held up two pens expectantly.

“What for?” Y/N asked as she leaned down to push pen to paper and sign it regardless of the answer. She may not know MJ like Peter did but the girl was still her friend and Y/N wanted to support her.

“We at the Midtown School Feminist Club believe that feminine hygiene products should be supplied in all bathrooms in the school, so this is a petition to the head of schools to divert funding toward that cause.” Y/N was thrilled by MJ’s proposal as she added the still unfamiliar ‘Stark’ to the end of her signature. Having to bring and organize one’s own sanitary products was like asking someone to carry around their own toilet paper. It wasn’t exactly a choice. It seemed like every day there was a teenage girl asking around for a tampon because they just so happened to run out, or not have one because their period took them by surprise. It was a common and biological issue, and it made sense to her that these products should be accessible. Y/N smiled kindly as she handed the pen back to Michelle.

As Peter leaned down on the table to sign his name on MJ’s petition, Y/N asked self-consciously, “So what exactly does one do at a sister march?”

“I have schedules if you want one,” the girl at the table offered. She grabbed a post-card looking itinerary from the left side of the table and handed it to Y/N, who glanced it over as MJ explained, “The booths will be up for another hour and then we march.” Peter lifted his head and MJ gave a closed-mouth grin as she took the second pen back. She seemed to be in her happy place. Y/N noticed she was much more talkative when there was activism involved. “Oh, I have pins, too!” the girl exclaimed as she pulled a couple of buttons from a small cardboard box and handed them to her friends. Y/N examined the baby pink pin in her hand. It had a multi-gender symbol in the middle and around it read, ‘Midtown School Feminist Club’. It looked like it had been designed in Microsoft Paint 15 years ago, but the identity of it made Y/N’s heart flutter as she proudly placed the pin over her heart on the denim jacket. It felt like being a part of something bigger than she was. She looked at a smiley Peter who had just pinned the button onto his sweater and felt the corner of her lip turn up at the adorable boy.

When Michelle began explaining the petition to attendees who approached the table, Peter and Y/N decided to keep walking and explore the festival. They were approaching the booth next to MJ’s when Y/N asked, “So why did you take me here, Peter?” He picked up a pin from a bowl and handed it to Y/N as she strolled alongside the boy uneasily and stumbled over the uneven terrain.

Peter glanced at the ground nervously, before responding, “I thought you could stand for seeing that you’re not alone and that you’re supported.”

Y/N sighed, frustrated that she couldn’t seem to get away from this conversation with anyone. “Is this about the Amadeus Cho thing?” She didn’t want to talk about it. Why could no one get that through their thick heads? She was fine. It sucked, but she wasn’t stuck on it.

Peter stumbled over a bump of grass as he attempted to explain, “Well, yeah, but-”

“Peter, I’m fine,” Y/N insisted, her heart sinking at the topic that resurfaced like a buoy. It was incessant and she was tired of having it.

“I don’t think you believe that as much as you want everyone else to,” Peter stated firmly, taking Y/N back. This was a level of assertiveness she’d never seen from the boy and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond to it.

The boy handed her another button he’d picked off of the table for Planned Parenthood and Y/N systematically added it to her jacket as they continued wandering. “He made some bad decisions, but he didn’t hurt me. If anything I’m more angry at him spreading rumors that he scored a Stark,” Y/N admitted, turning to look at her feet in shame and discomfort.

Peter stopped walking and looked at the closed-off girl. He sighed and confessed, “I don’t get why you’re more upset about him lying about what happened than you are what actually happened.”

It was a revelation to be had. Y/N hadn’t even realized that was what she was feeling and it was hard to come to terms with. It was the presumptions about her for sure, the disgusting toxic masculinity, yes, but at its core, it was all about that name. She wasn’t mad about the party because he did listen to her, and he did stop, but when she showed up to school Monday, “He reduced me to nothing but a name,” she spoke aloud for Peter as she continued to process this realization. “Ask anyone at school and the first thing they’re going to say about me is that I’m Tony Stark’s daughter, but I’m not Tony Stark.” It was hard to explain how being know as Tony Stark’s daughter, how even with all those eyes watching her, or even because they were watching her, she could be completely erased and ignored.

“Well if you ask me,” Peter began unsolicited, “You need to own your name.” Y/N looked up at him, baffled. “People aren’t going to stop knowing you as Tony Stark’s daughter, so you need to change what that means to be a Stark.”

“I guess you’re right,” Y/N responded slowly, still trying to fully comprehend what it was she was agreeing to. They began walking again as she mulled it over. The made their way to the next booth for a nearby safe house for victims of domestic abuse, and Peter handed the fretted teen a small pin that said ‘You are not alone.’ The more she read that message, the more she felt like she understood what Peter was trying to do for her. She was surrounded by people who got it. She’d been having this conversation for days now about Amadeus Cho and how she was dealing with it and it only led to more confusion, but she was standing in this crowd of women, and they understood because they were going through it, too. She didn’t have to tell them a word about what happened, or why she did what she did, or how she felt. They all knew it because they’d felt all those insecurities themselves. She pinned the button on with the rest and continued on with Peter with an open mind and willing attitude she hadn’t held before.

After an hour of visiting all the booths, Y/N’s jacket was plastered with buttons of varying sizes. Planned Parenthood, “Sisters not Cisters”, and “The future is female” littered across the denim, and Y/N was ecstatic. She felt like she could be proud of the beautiful controversy she was wearing and she was ready to show it off to the streets of New York. They caught up with MJ as the crowd began to move and Y/N’s heart fluttered with excitement. Taking those first steps felt momentous, and it was huge. Michelle held up a sign between her two friends and yelled protests and chants along with the crowd, and it made Y/N feel powerful to follow such strong young woman’s lead. Soon enough Peter joined his friend in shouting and Y/N mustered the rest of her energy to scream, “My body, my choice!” on repeat with the mass of women. She felt supported and safe, not just with this crowd, but Peter who had the perspective to bring her to the sister march in the first place, and was now yelling feminist chants full-heartedly at her side.

By nightfall, the group spread around candles to be held as they continued through the darkness. MJ had pushed her way to the front lines and left Y/N and Peter to slow down to the back of the crowd. As a nice woman in front of them lit their candles, Y/N couldn’t help turning to her friend and saying, “Thank you for bringing me today, Peter.” She couldn’t explain how much it meant to her to be in that street. It didn’t fix anything, and it didn’t take away her confusion about everything surrounding her incident with Cho, but she finally felt free again. Walking with Peter in the crowd, felt like facing her fears, and she knew she could return to school Monday with renewed energy, holding her head high.

“You know I would have done anything to bring that smile back to your face,” the boy teased, poking her cheek with a free finger, which caused the girl to turn away shyly. For the first time she felt beautiful, her guard dropping away completely as she marched alongside the supportive boy.

“Would you want a ride to school on Monday?” Y/N asked quickly, eager to change the subject to something normal and friendly.

“Yeah,” Peter accepted mindlessly.

“Yeah?” Y/N wasn’t sure what she expected, but still his answer surprised her. “Cool,” she said, looking forward awkwardly as they continued following the warm candlelight through the sleepy streets of New York.

It was a beautiful orange glow that flickered on the walls of brick buildings. The screaming of chants had mostly died down to soft murmur as the women peacefully marched on. Y/N felt the back of Peter’s hand sweep across her cold fingers as she listened to the lullaby of the protesters. She couldn’t stop thinking how safe she felt surrounded by these people she didn’t even know, and with whom she’d just started walking with this morning. She felt courageous for the first time in a long time as she observed the giant shadows of their bodies casting on the wall. Y/N felt Peter’s hand once again, as it slowly brushed down her wrist and caught on her finger. The clear intent on his end made her pulse flutter. It seemed strange as she tangled her fingers uncoordinatedly with her friend, but as they sorted themselves out and he took her hand in his, it felt so right, she knew it couldn’t be wrong. 

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x stark!reader #stark!reader #stark!daughter #peter parker headcanon #peter parker imagine #peter parker oneshot #peter parker one shot #peter parker one-shot #tom holland x reader #spiderman #spiderman homecoming #spider-man: homecoming #spiderman headcanon #spiderman imagine #spiderman oneshot #spiderman one shot #spiderman one-shot #spider-man headcanon #spider-man imagine #spider-man oneshot #spider-man one shot #spider-man one-shot #Tom holland oneshot #tom holland one-shot #tom holland one shot #tom holland fanfiction #spiderman fanfiction #spider-man fanfiction

[stark-web-warriors]

Stark Contrast [CHAPTER THREE]

Masterlist | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Word count: 5,991

Warnings: Slight aggression, but mostly it’s all the ever-loving fluff you could want.

Chapter Summary: Y/N is suspended for hitting Amadeus Cho and struggles to make amends with her family. While she continues to wrestle with her place as a young woman in the world, now in the spotlight, Peter invites her to a sister march.

A/N: Inspired by the album “A Woman’s Guide to Survival” by Miss Li. This is the chapter that came to me on the tram and made me want to write this fic, so I hope I’ve done it justice.

If you want to be added to the tag list for this fic, Inbox me and I‘ll add your username. Members of the tag list MUST reblog. I look forward to your feedback, friends!

Chapter Three

Y/N was sitting in the middle of the training room working on yesterday’s schoolwork. She liked the training room. It was wall to wall windows on three sides, the floor was black and glossy, and it just felt vast. It was a good place to be alone, and more than ever Y/N wanted to be alone this week. Tony still hadn’t really forgiven her for forcing him to talk the principal down from expulsion to suspension, Pepper was unsuccessfully trying to act normal, and Steve just seemed disappointed. So if she could avoid all of them for the week of her suspension and keep up on her school work, it was really the best she could ask for.

“There you are.” The warm voice of Peter echoed through the giant room as his amplified footfalls grew closer to where she sat in the center of the floor. “Delivery,” he lamely joked, as he approached and dropped a pile of paper next to the girl. Y/N didn’t move from the problem she was working on and she didn’t so much as acknowledge her friend, so Peter carefully sat down next to her and asked, “Still that bad, huh?”

“They’ll come around,” Y/N assured him, or perhaps herself, as she finished writing down the answer to the math problem she had been working on when the boy walked in. She sighed in disbelief. She didn’t really know any of them at all. She’d only been around for a few weeks and she’d already screwed up. She had no way of knowing how long this would last, and her new family aside, she herself had been struggling with the grey moral area she seemed to be sitting in. Disgruntled, Y/N pushed the textbook away from herself, asking, “Is what I did really that bad?”

“I mean, it’s not the approach I would have taken…” Peter pandered lightly.

Y/N jumped on his statement asking, “and what approach would you have taken?” She was desperate for some form of validation. She didn’t want to feel like a bad person. “If someone was boasting, lying about you like a sexual conquest, making you a trophy to be won because of your name, what would you have done?” She was staring straight into Peter’s soul, begging him for an answer.

Peter looked away uncomfortably. “I don’t know,” he admitted to the floor, pulling one knee up to his chest.

“I can’t even picture it,” Y/N realized. She looked off into the distance and could see the quin-jet through the far wall. She lived in a place full of such integrity. This was a place of heroes, and she was just some kid who could handle a cafeteria tray like a baseball bat.

After a moment's silence the gentle boy finally inquired, “Why did you do it?” She’d been asking herself the same question. She paused the think, and then came to a conclusion.

“Because my words meant nothing,” Y/N responded urgently. “No one was going to believe my word over Amadeus Cho, you know that. So I had to be louder.” And she was. The sound of the plastic smacking against Cho’s face was very loud, indeed.

“You really thought all that out during the walk from our table to his?” Peter quizzed in disbelief, looking back at the girl in awe.

“No!” Y/N scoffed as she gave the obvious response. “He was being a dick and I got angry.” Peter snorted at the abrupt change of tone in their conversation and began laughing along with the girl. Y/N was relieved to be laughing with Peter after everything that had happened. If she could laugh despite the guilty pit in her stomach, maybe things would be okay. The two began to grow quiet again, and Y/N sighed and confessed, “I do feel bad.” She didn’t like the serious conversation and she didn’t like feeling guilty, but she knew she needed it, so she continued to explain, “He’s not a bad person. I mean- I don’t think I believe that he’s a bad person, he just did some bad things-“ she paused to self-assess, “But did you hear that smack?” She was mortified. “That shit had to have hurt, and at the end of the day he made some bad choices, but I’m the one who actually hurt someone.”

“Hey,” Peter said as he elbowed Y/N in the side. “He did hurt you. In more ways than one,” the boy mumbled the second half, before quickly inquiring, “How’s that healing up, by the way?” She knew what he was referring to, but Y/N preferred to pretend it wasn’t there, because if it wasn’t there, maybe it didn’t happen. Peter kindly held out a hand to receive the Y/N’s arm and examine it. The bruising had mostly healed, but the last yellow remnants wrapped around her wrist in a splotchy fashion. He frowned and sighed at the sight. “Tell you what,” the boy said, staring at the remnants of her encounter with Amadeus Cho. “Don’t schedule anything for Sunday,” Peter commanded before suddenly standing up and casually walking toward the exit of the vast room.

“What?” Y/N quizzed. When she got no response she yelled after him in her confusion. “Peter!”

“Don’t ask any questions,” Peter called back as he turned around and began walking backwards. “Just trust me on this.” Y/N was confused why her friend would be so coded and was tentative to let him walk away on that note, but she inhaled sharply and nodded in agreement, earning a charming smile from Peter before he disappeared from the room.

It was quiet again and Y/N felt small in the huge facility. The teen miserably looked at the fresh stack of assignments Peter had left her. She had only just reached the end of the work he dropped off yesterday, and she didn’t want to keep going. Y/N groaned and dropped her face into the trigonometry book she’d been working out of before Peter had shown up. “Just land the fucking quin-jet on my head,” she mumbled into the pages, the sound of her voice echoing circles around her. She realized how pathetic she must look and quickly sat up with a gasp, shaking her head as if to wring out the bad vibes. She was completely determined to keep chipping away at the pile of work before her.

She begrudgingly crammed in the last of her trigonometry work and threw the heavy textbook across the room just to get it further away from her. It landed on the tile floor with a resonant smack that rang in her ears and made her immediately regret the impulsive act. Still, she was intent on powering through and picked up the fresh pile of work are started from the beginning of her day, pulling off the AP Lit sheets on existentialism and transcendentalism. She pushed through organic chemistry equations and the introductory history of the world, and by the time she had finished it all the training room was glowing orange with the light of the sunset over the horizon. It was beautiful. The same sunset she’d watched with such uncertainty her first day in the facility. Now it simply filled her with peace, a familiar view in the midst of her renewed confusion.

Y/N began to collect all of the completed paperwork as she watched the warm light of the sun disappear into a blue haze. Gathering everything into her arms, she quietly made her way out of the comforting room and across the building in the dim light. As she wandered down the many halls it took to get to her room, she caught a glimpse of Tony sitting on the couch of the lounge with a drink in his hand, a nightly ritual for the man. The girl paused. She didn’t want to be seen by him, and she especially didn’t want to talk. Y/N nervously ducked her head and tried to sneak by unnoticed.

Just as she’d reached the opposite wall, the man called, “Y/N.” Clearly, he’d noticed. The teen awkwardly stepped backwards, reversing back into view.

“Yeah?” Y/N asked tentatively. Tony didn’t speak, just curtly waved his free hand, a gesture that said, ‘come over here’ with ultimate clarity. Y/N anxiously hurried over to the man, setting the heavy pile of books and homework on the coffee table. She had a feeling this might take a while, and if she kept holding all of those papers her arms would give out before the conversation even started. She didn’t feel like sitting. She’d been sitting all day, so the teen opted to stand in front of the aloof man. She was antsy and began rolling her feet over to the side and back just to keep moving.

Tony rubbed his mouth with his free hand as he leaned forward and set the glass of liquor next to his child’s assignments. As he sat back into the couch he revealed his first card, “Peter told me what you said today-”

“Traitor,” Y/N whispered to the side.

Her  heart leapt into her throat when Tony aggressively demanded, “No, see, this is where you listen.” The violent tone made Y/N fearfully snap back to center, looking at the man and trying to ignore the pounding in her chest. “Peter’s a smart kid and he cares about you. He told me because I care about you, too.”

This was a statement that made Y/N uneasy. She wasn’t convinced and she immediately argued, “You barely even know me.” It was in a hushed, hurt tone. She couldn’t understand where Tony got this idea that he had to put on this concerned parent persona when he’d only known her for a few weeks. She hadn’t exactly done anything to earn his affection since she’d shown up. It hurt to know that she didn’t really have anyone to care for her the way family should, and her own body betrayed her as water began to flood across Y/N’s eyes.

“Don’t I?” the man asked as he pushed off from the couch to stand, causing Y/N to stumble backward in her fear. “I know you’re a strong personality, you don’t like being told what to do. If someone tells you what to do you’re most likely going to do the opposite. You like black even though it’s not a color. Your favorite flavor of ice cream is cake batter, I know because it keeps disappearing from the freezer, and I know that you feel guilty about hitting that boy,” Tony finished. His face softened as he begged, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well…” Y/N was annoyed by the persistence of this conversation, and insisted with a bitter tone, “it doesn’t exactly make a difference, now does it?” She didn’t understand this mode of conversing with Tony. So much of what they had done so far was quips and arguing. She didn’t understand why he was so determined and concerned, and she was completely unprepared to deal with it.

“It makes all the difference,” Tony protested. The aggressive nature in his sharp tone startled Y/N and caused the first tear to brim over and roll down her cheek. She thought she wanted to argue with her biological father, but she felt so emotionally fragile she wasn’t sure she could handle it anymore. “We all make dumb mistakes in the heat of the moment, but feeling remorse is what makes you a good person. It means you care about doing the right thing.” Y/N took two steps back, needing to distance herself from the man. She was overwhelmed. Where was this conversation days ago? Before she felt so alone in the great big office building she was so lucky as to call home. And now that it was here she was terrified, this wasn’t what she wanted. It didn’t feel good to be receiving this relentless support, it felt like suffocating and she couldn’t breathe.

The tears began to rain down her face and Tony took a step toward his daughter, while the girl took another step back and yelled, “Stop!” she paused to summon enough air to finish the command, “…consoling me, it doesn’t help!”

“What do you want me to do?” Tony asked pointedly. He was at a loss, but he just wouldn’t give up.

“I don’t know!” The teen near screamed back. She felt her face turning red and thought she must look like a maniac with the water drenching her cheeks. “I’m going crazy here! One moment I’m fine and I understand that what happened with Cho was not my fault, and the next I’m tearing apart all of my clothing in frustration!” She was ranting with no end, and she didn’t feel like stopping. “I keep saying I don’t think he would have forced anything on me and I don’t think he would have hurt me if Peter hadn’t shown up, but I don’t know that. I don’t feel safe anymore, Tony.” She stopped to breathe. The tears suddenly stopped as she said her peace and her face felt sticky like rice as the trails of water began to dry.

Tony inhaled deeply and bumbled the air out through pursed lips as he dropped back on the couch. Y/N watched as the man desperately picked up his drink from the coffee table and downed the mostly-full glass in one go. It was nerve-wracking. These were not the actions of a man in control, and Tony controlled everything in that tower. Tony sat with the empty glass in his trembling hand, hanging limply at his side. He stared at the unlit fireplace across the room and for a moment things seemed still. Then Stark unexpectedly jumped up and yelled as he violently threw his glass across the room. Y/N flinched in terror as it thunderously shattered against the wood floor, scattering in devastation.

Pepper came running into the room in a frenzy, her long silky robe flowing behind her. “What happened?” she asked urgently as she observed the shards of glass and the horrified teen. “Tony?” Pepper inquired carefully as she slowly approached the man consumed by stifled rage. Y/N watched as Pepper strategically touched his stiff shoulder. Carelessly, Tony shook her off and dropped to the couch once again, burying his face in his hands as they worked their way into his hair. He looked ill, almost like he might vomit if the eyes in the room weren’t staring at him. Pepper sat next to the distraught man and glanced up at Y/N, suggesting, “Maybe you should head to your room for the night.”

Y/N nodded and without any argument began hurrying out of the lounge in her panic. Tony held up a hand to signal her to wait. The girl slowed down as she approached the hallway before deciding to stop and listen to what the man had left to say. He hesitantly lifted his head from the other hand and looked at the teenager in anguish. “It’s tearing me apart, too, kid,” Tony mentioned hoarsely. Pepper began to coddle the man only to be met with him holding up a hand to her and complaining, “I’m fine.” Tony got up and walked toward the teenager who was waiting frightfully where the hallway met the corner of the room. He spoke as he crossed, “I don’t know what to do to help because I couldn’t keep this from happening to you in the first place, and I can’t help feeling that that’s on me.”

“I-i…” Y/N stuttered, the sound barely reaching her lips. “It’s no one’s fault,” the girl insisted quietly. At some points, she believed it more than others, but she maintained that it was true. Tony finally stopped face to face with the young and vulnerable teenager. She fearfully looked between his sad eyes, unsure what to say to the man who was meant to care for her. “I don’t blame you,” she whispered.

Tony nodded irregularly and simply said, “Get some sleep,” before turning around and walking back to Pepper. Y/N watched the broken man sit down next to his wife and lay his head on her shoulder. The teen felt stupid to have never realized that Tony took a hit that night, too. She glanced once more at Pepper combing through the mans hair and whispering comfort to him before tearing away to her room. She needed sleep. She needed today to be over.

She woke up early Sunday morning and was eager to see Peter after avoiding Tony all of Saturday. It scared her seeing him so manic Friday night, and she didn’t want to encounter it again. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or excitement, but as she glanced at the clock she wasn’t surprised to see it read, “4:48 AM”. Y/N knew herself and she knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep, and she’d felt so trapped and stiff being suspended in the facility all week. A peculiar urge came over her that she just couldn’t shake and she rushed across the room to her closet, throwing on her Midtown gym tee with some ill-fitting shorts. She hurriedly pinned her hair back and ran downstairs to the lobby of the building. She saw Steve on the front patio stretching out and jogged to the entrance. As she opened the door, she felt the crisp morning air of autumn cool her skin and Steve looked over the shoulder he was stretching in calm surprise. 

“Can I come with you?” the teen asked uncertainly. She knew she couldn’t keep up with a genetically enhanced soldier, and it seemed silly to even entertain the notion, but it was less about getting out and more about being a part of the family she was dumped into. She could run on her own anytime, and while she needed to feel the movement and the burning in her limbs after such a stressful week, she had an overwhelming urge to do it with Steve.

“As if you hadn’t been punished enough already,” Steve teased, smirking as he waved the girl over to join him in stretching. She wasn’t exactly an expert in the sport of running. She did some track and field in elementary school, but not much else. So she tried to follow Cap, doing the stretches as she saw him doing them. After about five minutes of loosening the tension that resided in her stressed joints, Steve asked, “Are you ready?” Y/N was uncertain if this was a trick question or not. Of course, she’d never be ready to keep up with the mighty Captain America, but she nodded, determined to try her best.

Steve began jogging down the long driveway, and Y/N ran beside him. She knew he was holding himself back for her benefit, but she was kind of glad he was doing it. It meant he wasn’t doing anything begrudgingly. He actually wanted to spend the time with the teenager, and that meant the world to Y/N in the midst of her internal crisis. Everything was so uncertain lately, swirling with confusion in an ever-changing atmosphere. She wanted to join Steve’s ritual because it was consistent. It was always the same, and it was reliable, and Y/N needed that after everything that had come crashing down in her life over the last month. So she pushed, even when her tongue began to taste of metal, she sped up when her body begged her to slow down, and when her mind started to wander from the present task she would glance at Steve, and the determined look on his face as he watched the road before them would inspire her to keep present.

They paused at a drinking fountain located in a nearby park where Y/N could catch her breath and get a drink. She knew this wasn’t Steve’s normal ritual, but she could tell he was looking out for her, trying to make sure he didn’t push her too hard, so he forced her to stop and take a break. As she leaned into the bubbling stream of water, Steve placed his hands on his hips and looked off into the distance mentioning, “You know, Tony means well.” Y/N pulled her face away from the refreshing water and looked at the man, imitating his posture as Cap continued, “He just doesn’t know what to do this time.” Y/N was both intrigued by Steve’s insight and annoyed that her life continued to be the business of everyone in the Avenger’s Facility. The large man sighed and shook his head as he explained, “He wants to do the right thing to help you, he just doesn’t know what that is and it scares him-“

“I’m fine,” Y/N interrupted bitterly. She began walking along the path they’d been running down. “I don’t need his help.”

“Do you really believe that?” Steve asked with the kind of insight only a 100-some-year-old-man could provide. It was infuriating how considerately aware he was.

“I appreciate it, Steve,” Y/N mentioned limply, turning back around to face the man who was still standing at the water fountain, “but I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” At that she turned around and began running again, forcing herself to go faster than she thought possible. Within the blink of an eye, Cap was running right by her side once again like a bug you just can’t seem to shake off. She was really thankful that he hadn’t pushed the matter. It made her feel like she’d been listened to, and that triumph made her want to push harder, to run fast enough that Steve was doing more than just a jog beside her. She tried to smash her feet into the pavement as hard as they would allow, and lengthened her stride, catching that knowing smile in Steve’s perfect teeth as he sped up.

The burn of the rest of the run was almost unbearable, but Y/N was persistent. By the time she got back upstairs to her room and into the shower she was spitting down the drain, half expecting red blood to be swirling around at her feet. The cool water felt relieving as it ran over her sweaty body. Her muscles were sore, but the burning had died down. She used her favorite soap to thoroughly cleanse her body, delighting in the sweet scent, and took extra time to care for her hair even if Peter would be there in less than an hour. She was in a push for time as she stood infront of her wardrobe wrapped in a towel with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, trying to figure out what to wear when she didn’t even know where they were going. She decided to just wear her normal ensemble with the exception of pulling out her light-wash denim jacket instead of the leather jacket. It seemed brighter, and it may have been the adrenaline from the run, but she was feeling more playful and present. She was lacing up her classic red converse when her phone began vibrating with Peter’s text that he had arrived. The girl bounded down the stairs and across the building, feeling the pain of the mornings run as she hurried to the lobby where Peter stood speaking to Tony. The sight of her friend made her smile. She felt really good about today.

His Aunt May had dropped him off at the facility, but they took Y/N’s Audi. It was strange for her to have to look away from the console so Peter could secretly type in the address of where they were going just to preserve the surprise. She never could have been prepared for where they arrived. It was a small park, but it was full of people. There were some stands around the edges of the field for groups and organizations from Planned Parenthood to Midtown School’s own feminism club. Without stopping to explain what he’d gotten them into, Peter walked off straight toward the booth from their school, and Y/N raced after him in confusion. The Midtown Feminist Club had small tent covering a modest table with a single petition in the center of it. There were only a few girls from school at the table, but front and center shouting at the crowd was MJ, only pausing her rallying to smile at Peter and Y/N as they approached.

“You guys made it!” Michelle exclaimed gladly as she reached over the table and embraced Peter.

As the two pulled away from each other Y/N admitted, “I’m still not exactly sure what we made it to,” hoping for some voluntary answers.

“Its a sister march,” MJ explained. “It’s not that big, but we’ve been growing every year. It's a festival and march for supporting women, which is why I’m standing here with a petition you two have yet to sign,” the girl pointed out, not caring to hide her ulterior motives as she held up two pens expectantly.

“What for?” Y/N asked as she leaned down to push pen to paper and sign it regardless of the answer. She may not know MJ like Peter did but the girl was still her friend and Y/N wanted to support her.

“We at the Midtown School Feminist Club believe that feminine hygiene products should be supplied in all bathrooms in the school, so this is a petition to the head of schools to divert funding toward that cause.” Y/N was thrilled by MJ’s proposal as she added the still unfamiliar ‘Stark’ to the end of her signature. Having to bring and organize one’s own sanitary products was like asking someone to carry around their own toilet paper. It wasn’t exactly a choice. It seemed like every day there was a teenage girl asking around for a tampon because they just so happened to run out, or not have one because their period took them by surprise. It was a common and biological issue, and it made sense to her that these products should be accessible. Y/N smiled kindly as she handed the pen back to Michelle.

As Peter leaned down on the table to sign his name on MJ’s petition, Y/N asked self-consciously, “So what exactly does one do at a sister march?”

“I have schedules if you want one,” the girl at the table offered. She grabbed a post-card looking itinerary from the left side of the table and handed it to Y/N, who glanced it over as MJ explained, “The booths will be up for another hour and then we march.” Peter lifted his head and MJ gave a closed-mouth grin as she took the second pen back. She seemed to be in her happy place. Y/N noticed she was much more talkative when there was activism involved. “Oh, I have pins, too!” the girl exclaimed as she pulled a couple of buttons from a small cardboard box and handed them to her friends. Y/N examined the baby pink pin in her hand. It had a multi-gender symbol in the middle and around it read, ‘Midtown School Feminist Club’. It looked like it had been designed in Microsoft Paint 15 years ago, but the identity of it made Y/N’s heart flutter as she proudly placed the pin over her heart on the denim jacket. It felt like being a part of something bigger than she was. She looked at a smiley Peter who had just pinned the button onto his sweater and felt the corner of her lip turn up at the adorable boy.

When Michelle began explaining the petition to attendees who approached the table, Peter and Y/N decided to keep walking and explore the festival. They were approaching the booth next to MJ’s when Y/N asked, “So why did you take me here, Peter?” He picked up a pin from a bowl and handed it to Y/N as she strolled alongside the boy uneasily and stumbled over the uneven terrain.

Peter glanced at the ground nervously, before responding, “I thought you could stand for seeing that you’re not alone and that you’re supported.”

Y/N sighed, frustrated that she couldn’t seem to get away from this conversation with anyone. “Is this about the Amadeus Cho thing?” She didn’t want to talk about it. Why could no one get that through their thick heads? She was fine. It sucked, but she wasn’t stuck on it.

Peter stumbled over a bump of grass as he attempted to explain, “Well, yeah, but-”

“Peter, I’m fine,” Y/N insisted, her heart sinking at the topic that resurfaced like a buoy. It was incessant and she was tired of having it.

“I don’t think you believe that as much as you want everyone else to,” Peter stated firmly, taking Y/N back. This was a level of assertiveness she’d never seen from the boy and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond to it.

The boy handed her another button he’d picked off of the table for Planned Parenthood and Y/N systematically added it to her jacket as they continued wandering. “He made some bad decisions, but he didn’t hurt me. If anything I’m more angry at him spreading rumors that he scored a Stark,” Y/N admitted, turning to look at her feet in shame and discomfort.

Peter stopped walking and looked at the closed-off girl. He sighed and confessed, “I don’t get why you’re more upset about him lying about what happened than you are what actually happened.”

It was a revelation to be had. Y/N hadn’t even realized that was what she was feeling and it was hard to come to terms with. It was the presumptions about her for sure, the disgusting toxic masculinity, yes, but at its core, it was all about that name. She wasn’t mad about the party because he did listen to her, and he did stop, but when she showed up to school Monday, “He reduced me to nothing but a name,” she spoke aloud for Peter as she continued to process this realization. “Ask anyone at school and the first thing they’re going to say about me is that I’m Tony Stark’s daughter, but I’m not Tony Stark.” It was hard to explain how being know as Tony Stark’s daughter, how even with all those eyes watching her, or even because they were watching her, she could be completely erased and ignored.

“Well if you ask me,” Peter began unsolicited, “You need to own your name.” Y/N looked up at him, baffled. “People aren’t going to stop knowing you as Tony Stark’s daughter, so you need to change what that means to be a Stark.”

“I guess you’re right,” Y/N responded slowly, still trying to fully comprehend what it was she was agreeing to. They began walking again as she mulled it over. The made their way to the next booth for a nearby safe house for victims of domestic abuse, and Peter handed the fretted teen a small pin that said ‘You are not alone.’ The more she read that message, the more she felt like she understood what Peter was trying to do for her. She was surrounded by people who got it. She’d been having this conversation for days now about Amadeus Cho and how she was dealing with it and it only led to more confusion, but she was standing in this crowd of women, and they understood because they were going through it, too. She didn’t have to tell them a word about what happened, or why she did what she did, or how she felt. They all knew it because they’d felt all those insecurities themselves. She pinned the button on with the rest and continued on with Peter with an open mind and willing attitude she hadn’t held before.

After an hour of visiting all the booths, Y/N’s jacket was plastered with buttons of varying sizes. Planned Parenthood, “Sisters not Cisters”, and “The future is female” littered across the denim, and Y/N was ecstatic. She felt like she could be proud of the beautiful controversy she was wearing and she was ready to show it off to the streets of New York. They caught up with MJ as the crowd began to move and Y/N’s heart fluttered with excitement. Taking those first steps felt momentous, and it was huge. Michelle held up a sign between her two friends and yelled protests and chants along with the crowd, and it made Y/N feel powerful to follow such strong young woman’s lead. Soon enough Peter joined his friend in shouting and Y/N mustered the rest of her energy to scream, “My body, my choice!” on repeat with the mass of women. She felt supported and safe, not just with this crowd, but Peter who had the perspective to bring her to the sister march in the first place, and was now yelling feminist chants full-heartedly at her side.

By nightfall, the group spread around candles to be held as they continued through the darkness. MJ had pushed her way to the front lines and left Y/N and Peter to slow down to the back of the crowd. As a nice woman in front of them lit their candles, Y/N couldn’t help turning to her friend and saying, “Thank you for bringing me today, Peter.” She couldn’t explain how much it meant to her to be in that street. It didn’t fix anything, and it didn’t take away her confusion about everything surrounding her incident with Cho, but she finally felt free again. Walking with Peter in the crowd, felt like facing her fears, and she knew she could return to school Monday with renewed energy, holding her head high.

“You know I would have done anything to bring that smile back to your face,” the boy teased, poking her cheek with a free finger, which caused the girl to turn away shyly. For the first time she felt beautiful, her guard dropping away completely as she marched alongside the supportive boy.

“Would you want a ride to school on Monday?” Y/N asked quickly, eager to change the subject to something normal and friendly.

“Yeah,” Peter accepted mindlessly.

“Yeah?” Y/N wasn’t sure what she expected, but still his answer surprised her. “Cool,” she said, looking forward awkwardly as they continued following the warm candlelight through the sleepy streets of New York.

It was a beautiful orange glow that flickered on the walls of brick buildings. The screaming of chants had mostly died down to soft murmur as the women peacefully marched on. Y/N felt the back of Peter’s hand sweep across her cold fingers as she listened to the lullaby of the protesters. She couldn’t stop thinking how safe she felt surrounded by these people she didn’t even know, and with whom she’d just started walking with this morning. She felt courageous for the first time in a long time as she observed the giant shadows of their bodies casting on the wall. Y/N felt Peter’s hand once again, as it slowly brushed down her wrist and caught on her finger. The clear intent on his end made her pulse flutter. It seemed strange as she tangled her fingers uncoordinatedly with her friend, but as they sorted themselves out and he took her hand in his, it felt so right, she knew it couldn’t be wrong. 

Happy Birthday to the Anon who inboxed me!

Taglist: @ace-ingthroughlife-jk @just4muggles @i-alyssa @bravest-at-heart @bookgirlunicorn @really-lucas @loud-binch @alextheodd @avoirlu @tumbleerrtrash @amazingficsthatididnotwrite @superspideyparker @whatevsmels @royal-sunflower @spiderman-masterlists @goldenrose1099 @fav-fan-ficccs @iamburdened @justalittlecrazybutimok @takenbymyfandoms 

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x stark!reader #stark!reader #stark!daughter #peter parker headcanon #peter parker imagine #tom holland x reader #spiderman #spiderman homecoming #spiderman far from home #spiderman headcanon #spiderman imagine #spider-man #peter parker oneshot #peter parker one shot #peter parker one-shot #spiderman oneshot #tom holland oneshot #tom holland one shot #tom holland one-shot #spiderman fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction #tom holland fanfiction #stark contrast

[corwynnasmith]

In honor of posting the first chapter of Put That Kid Down’s sequel, What You Wanted, I’m gonna give everyone what they never wanted.

Volatile, untested writing tips on making your murdery character sympathetic from an amateur! (These can also be used for making sympathetic villains, with or without murder, but I’m just going to focus here because my most morally screwed characters are usually the protagonists).

1. You can introduce the character in a non-murder, positive context. First impressions matter! Don’t start off a supposedly sympathetic character waist deep in entrails and gore. (Though you could pull that off with a joke, if you’re cool enough.) This could be through:

    1a. A #gooddeed. Help a child get a kite from a tree. Save a worm from drowning. Etc. This gives a positive impression of the character that can cause readers to forgive flaws more easily down the road. Like murder.

    1b. A relatable situation. Get stuck holding the door open for a whole line of people. Worry about what to get their never satisfied mother for mother’s day. Etc. This makes the character more human, less murder machine. People look for reasons in humans, and don’t immediately write them off just because they do terrible, terrible things.

    1c. A positive relationship & interaction. Pet the cat they take very good care of and call “Baby.” Hug a friend goodbye with a thanks for the advice. Etc. This is a Redeeming Connection that can make people look a bit harder at the character for explanation when they show their true colors, instead of shoving them in the murder box right off the bat. HOWEVER this one can backfire into making them seem more terrible if manipulation/deceit is the basis or SEEMS TO BE the basis of the relationship. (The Murder Beard Syndrome - ‘I’m not your ordinary serial killer because I have a real FRIEND’ becomes ‘they are definitely just a serial killer using that person for cover’ - so be careful).

    1d. Miscellaneous because I bet you can come up with more, am I right, folks?

2. You can give your character a plausible reason. Sure, we all want to occasionally write a rebel without a cause, but characters that murder for seemingly no reason can be a hard sell outside certain groups (know your audience lol). This can be:

    2a. An actual Good Reason. The people killed by your character are in a kill or be killed situation with no real alternative. Or they are infected with something that cannot be cured (coughzombiescough). Or they are being forced to by an outside power. Or it’s a mercy kill, even. Etc.

    2b. A seemingly good reason. This reason can be explained. It may not be the best option or the most moral option (or even a moral option at all), but it has weight. For example, killing prisoners of war. This is not good morally, but from a utilitarian standpoint, can be explained. Revenge schemes also follow this viewpoint - taking vengeance can be explained, even if it’s morally iffy to bad.

    2c. A bad reason. I know I just said MAKE IT PLAUSIBLE. I know I just said that. But hear me out. This works best when combined with (3) below, and is seen in the popular show Dexter. Your character wants to murder people for a reason, but it’s a bad reason and they should feel bad.* For example, they crave something about the murder, like it relieves a stress or gives them a sense of control. This could even be the character that just finds killing fun, though that is a thin line to tread. Maybe your character can’t stand rudeness or hears certain people’s life force like a thin, high pitched noise and is just trying to make it quiet (though that is almost 2b). So many bad reasons out there. Run free.

*Feeling bad is not actually a requirement. See Dexter again, in the beginning.

3. Give your character a code. This doesn’t have to be a moral code, but the closer it fits to the popular sense of morality, the more sympathetic your character will be. This lends itself well to vigilante killers, which tend to hover between 2b and 2c regarding motivation.

4. Remember your character needs a life outside killing / doing terrible things. In order for anyone to have a fully fleshed character, there needs to be depth. Hobbies, jobs, dreams, fears, goals that aren’t necessarily geared towards (in this case) murder. A past and a future. Relationships, good and bad. Of course, throwing in random tangents to your plot could through your readers for a loop, so it’s best to work these things in as actual plot elements. For example...

    4a. Introductions. Does your character need to meet someone plot relevant? Have them attend the same sewing circle - you know, the one they joined because they didn’t want the skills passed on by their beloved elder to go to waste! The same business meeting where you reveal your character’s work ethic / passion for their job! Speed dating to show your character’s desire for love! Etc.

    4b. Complications.** It isn’t a story if your character never struggles! Introduce a relationship as a barrier to getting terrible things done due to obligations, hilarious and inconvenient timing on the part of the loved or hated one, or simply scheduling problems where your character’s calendar is #toofullforcrime. Maybe tear your character between two conflicting goals, the first being your murder-adjacent plot and the second being a passion for a hobby/job/relationship/etc. Have fun with it! Torment them!

    4c. Facilitations!** Sometimes, things go right! Maybe your character needs to infiltrate an organization, so they use their skills gained from a certain hobby or past employment to ingratiate themselves with the target organization! Every hobby has a potential application in murder and villainy if you just try hard enough.

**If you use a hobby, job, relationship, etc. as a facilitation or complication, it is best to have it be mentioned briefly as part of a daily/weekly routine, or during the plot’s “downtime” before having it spring out of the box in its True Form as a plot element. This makes the story seem planned ahead gasp. However, having it spring out of the ether can be a good reveal for it if you’re aiming for comedy or shock value.

5. Judge your audience’s Taboo Level / know your audience. Or choose your own Taboo Level. Draw a line somewhere. This is not a line your character has chosen, or will mention, or even knows about. These are just actions your character will not be doing in the story. Some Evil Deeds are instant death for a character’s sympathy standings, based on your audience’s values. Some almost universal ones*** are:

    5a. Betraying the Connection to Humanity. Unless your story is about descent into madness / darkness specifically, your character taking the very thing that made everyone sympathetic to them and murdering/destroying/giving up on it can be Very Bad without a strong redemption arc planned. (If it is about the descent, then this is the turning point that makes your story lol) This can be played off as Very Dramatic instead if it’s for a good reason / seemingly good reason. Popular ones would be: 

For Your Own Good

Because I Don’t Deserve You

The Connection is Actually Evil

The Connection is Accidentally Killing the Character

Etc.

    5b. You- you should be able to come up with this list on your own lol Please just know your audience and also your own limits. And whether or not you’re willing to take the chance the behavior might be normalized by your depiction, too.

6. Emotions are important. What your character is thinking and feeling and telling themselves about what they’re doing are key to sympathy. If the POV permits, you can have some thoughts and feelings floating around, but it’s best to show it. Let your audience sleuth out the truth through your character’s body language, actions, word choice, tone, etc. You can, of course, explain the cues as you give them, like a nervous fidget or an impatient glance. If your readers can’t understand your character, ever, they will not empathize. They will not care. Don’t just have a string of actions one after the other - let your character react.

7. Have fun with it. If you don’t like what you’re writing, chances are your readers won’t, either. I know writing itself is hard and arduous, so maybe you won’t have fun with the actual writing, but the end story should be something you want to read. You can keep these tips in mind or throw them out the window as long as you’re writing for yourself. (But Cor, you JUST SAID- yes, keep your audience in mind for readability/understanding/values, but when it come to the actual story and its characters - those are yours).

Keep writing!

#writing #writing tips #making a sympathetic villain #making a sympathetic murderer #PTKD #put that kid down #there's a sequel lol #I just meant to announce it and I made this monster post #villains #writing villains #morally ambiguous character #unwanted advice

[darkspellmaster]

She-Ra Trailer Theory: Cons

Okay I’m going to pretty much put these down as they come. The longer they are the more likely I have a major issue with them, the shorter the comments, consider those more along the lines of nitpicks to meh sort of things. Those would be aspects that I personally may not get but others may like, so meh on it. 

So to start with, we have the weird portal opening up. 

My main issue is, what is the point in showing this? That’s not the fright zone. Certainly isn’t Skydancer mountain, and isn’t part of Mystracor. Is this supposed to be Shadow Weaver casting a spell? It looks a lot like the portal in the 2002 He-man series. If they are avoiding that show, why connect to the portal idea there? Yes Hordak was cast into Etheria but why do the same sort of thing you were doing in the 2002-03 Masters of the Universe show if you’re trying to avoid it. Seems kind of dumb to me in that sense. 

Also, if this is a portal to the Horde Planet, then is this Hordak doing this, or Shadow Weaver again? And is Hordak there or in another location at this time and being called down? Or is this pulling in Horde Prime? So are they aliens or magic users here? Seems more like Aliens which ties into the mini comics, but the designs seem to imply the 2002 He-man. So what is going on here. I don’t like this shot being used as it probably will come off as confusing later on to the viewers who have no idea of the Lore of MotU.

Hordak. Okay, I will admit when I was little I liked Skeletor a lot more because I always felt that Skeletor was funnier due to his voice, and Hodak was creepy. Now, I will say this though, that creepy factor played a big point in what made him a threat. This...what the heck is this? 

This is not Hordak. Sure he has on the Horde logo, but his design is not good. Let me explain, Hordak is supposed to look like a monster. He’s supposed to be creepy as he’s not of this world. He’s the brother of Horde Prime, the ruler of this group. This is not creepy. This is Man-bat from Batman the Animated series. 

Let’s start with his new design shall we. What color is that face? Gray, blue? It’s certainly not bone white, which is what his face is supposed to be. At least the eyes are red, but what is with the hair on the head? His race/species/whatever the Horde are, are not supposed to have hair, save for special cases like Prince Zed. Why is he blue? Then there’s the fact that his collar blends into his ears. That collar is supposed to accentuate the face, not vanish into the head. And what is that collar supposed to be? Metal? Why not go back to his old bones design. Show that he’s a danger. Right now he looks like he would be at home on a ship with the Galra from the new Voltron, or hanging out with the leads from Skeleton Warriors. 

Also, and this is more a nitpick, but what is up with making him metal with the arms. He’s not a robot, you don’t need to put him with Robotic things. This isn’t Silver Hawks. And not showing his snort, come on. Really, that’s a staple of this character. He snorts, it’s part of his thing. Then there’s the added issue of why bother having him in the dark rather than just show him. You’re not hiding anything, we see him a few scene’s later, so what’s the point? 

Then there’s the fact that he’s just on screen. Why? Again, is he not on planet? If not, why? He’s the leader of the Horde. Is he stuck somewhere? Is he still on Horde world? If that’s the case, why? He’s supposed to be a major threat and instead we get onscreen moments. Okay, so...are we trying to be the Light from Young Justice, because if so then we have to talk. 

There’s just something way to weak feeling about this Hordak, and that really really bugs me. He’s dangerous, a creature that can wreck Skeletor as seen in the 2002 MotU series where he manged to cause him so much pain he fell off his throne and down stairs because his head hurt so much. This guy looks more like someone that can be easily removed from play by another character, and I hope that’s not the case. 

I’m gonna be blunt and probably one of the few that hold this opinion. I’m not a fan of the Catra design here. I’m not against it, I just feel like she looks a lot like a character from Thundercats with this new look. Like I can see her hanging out with Wiley Kit and Kat from the new Thundercats series. She looks like she could be Tigra from Marvel Rising. Clothing wise, I don’t like the pants, shirt is fine, headress is fine, I hate the ears though, and again that’s just my issue there. 

Also she’s reminding me of an angry Merle from Escaflowne, and I really don’t want her to become that sort of character. The overly annoying one.  I get that they wanted to show more than just humans working for the horde, but Catra and the one guy in the other shot with her talking to the Horde cadets(?), but right now it’s making it appear that only the monsters are on the side of the Horde, and thus Humans vs Monsters, which kind of sucks because there was a number of non human beings that fought alongside She-ra and the rebellion, and instead the creatures are just given a minor moment in the trailer. 

Shadow Weaver. Screw. This. Design. 

No seriously, I hate this look on her. The dress looks really dumb. Are they supposed to be tentacles that are walking her? Is she just floating, and if so, why? We can see she has human hands, but no feet? 

The top is bad, really bad. It makes no sense to be cut the way it is. It would be a pain in the neck getting it on. There is nothing in this design that works. What is up with the turtle neck? She doesn’t need it if she’s wearing a mask and what looks like a high collar dress. It’s annoying and fabric doesn’t work like that! 

Also the mask, that mask is...ugh. What are we going for here? Phantom of the Opera, Cobra Commander, Destro? M.A.S.K.? Rom Space Knight? One of the X-men? A 90s retro villain from Image comics? Like seriously? What is with this horrible design for her. 

Then the hair. If she’s not a shadow creature like, Kurogiri from My Hero Academia, then why is her hair floating like that? Then it, like Hordak’s, blends into the background. Why are we having her hair float? She’s not a living shadow, she’s a former Princess from Mystacor who betrayed the others for power.

I’m damn sure that they are sticking with that backstory since it’s the most likely reason that the first princess group fell. Unless they make it where her working with the Dark arts turned her into this, because then we’re just redoing what happened to Haggar, and she’s a bit of a redo on several other various characters who go evil when they seek too much power. 

Also, if they are making her the one that stole Adora, or the one to raise her, I will be really mad because that changes a huge important aspect of Adora’s life with the Horde. Yes Shadow Weaver did “raise” her, but the thing is that there was another woman involved there who actually gave Adora her moral code. Now if Shadow Weaver wants her back because she probably is the key to getting them into Eternia, then yes that is right, but if it’s “She’s my daughter and I love her” then the team really do not understand Shadwo weaver at all. Shadow Weaver is a selfish woman who only cares about herself and her desire for power. So I’m not digging this version of Shadow Weaver very much. 

Where the sword is located. This sword is supposed to be with it’s twin in Castle Grayskull. Unless this show tells us point blank that the Sorceress threw that sword into Etheria and it had the vines grow over it I’m calling BS on where she finds it. 

The sword of protection is the twin sword to the sword of power. They are the connecting pieces to that of Grayskull and the power that is given to both She-ra and He-man. We know the sword is connected to Grayskull as she even says it when she does the “For the Honor of Grayskull” which is in Eternia. So why would the Sorcress abandon the weapon that would be the one thing that can defeat Hordak? Again, I hope they correct this in some way and address it sooner rather than later, because they made that same damn mistake with the Snake-men in the 2002 series. 

Netossa...ah Netossa...what have you done to Netossa. 

Now I’m not going to complain about her looks, I’m more annoyed with the fact that she has magic. One of the many cool aspects about Netossa that made her stand out was the fact that she didn’t need magic to be a bad-ass. Hailing from the far north of Etheria, she became an expert with her ability to use nets to capture and hold enemies. She never had magic at all and became one of the best allies in the Rebellion all from hard work and practice. 

When the others had issues where their magic couldn’t be used, she could easily handle things because, again, she didn’t need to worry about it because no magic. 

Now we have this version giving her magic, making it where only the boys are special enough to not need magic to do things. It just sort of annoys me that they took that away from her. She was skilled enough not to need to use magic to make her special and now Bow and maybe SeaHawk will be the only ones that don’t use magic. I get the idea of making her a magic girl too, but I always loved her because she wasn’t like the other characters. She became a bad-ass on her own, and worked hard to be one. 

So, I”m guessing here that the chick with the horns is probably the OC Noelle mentioned. *sighs*  So here’s my question, is she just a background character that stands there and does nothing. Okay fine...I can deal. But if this character starts to play a part and replaces someone like say Flutterina, or Peekablue, it will become a sticking point for me. D&D characters should not be in She-ra. It’s a completely different franchise and personally I do not want that cross over. I don’t want her to become a mary-sue and over shadow the rest of the cast. That’s what worries me. 

Okay this one is a huge sticking point for me. Spirit here better have been transformed by the damn sword before this scene, because if he’s already a unicorn/pegasus, we have a serious issue here and someone didn’t pay any attention to how that sword works. 

The Sword of Protection is a transformation item. Unlike the Sword of Power, Protection can become many things as well as change many things to be used by She-ra. Spirit, her horse, who becomes Swift Wind when he changes, is a normal horse. He’s a ordinary horse, and Adora changes him with her sword to make him become more advantage to her fighting and to connect to the idea of her becoming someone different. (And I’m about to get to that in a second.) 

By having Spirit already a magical flying horse you take a way a big part of the secret identity situation, as well as showing that they change into something more powerful than they are with the sword. By leaving him as a magic horse early on, you kind of screw that up. Also he better talk. 

Speaking of issues about secrets...

Why the hell are we having everyone know who She-ra is! That’s sort of the deal with this. It’s a secret! Not only for the safety of Adora, but for the Rebellion as well! 

Having everyone know means that word will get back to Hordak and pretty much then everyone will know her weak points! That’s damn dumb! Oh sure drama with Catra, for about an episode or two, but other than that, it makes them seem dumb that they can’t beat her. Not only that, but if they know, then if Glimmer get’s taken and Angella has to chose between telling the Horde who She-ra is or see her daughter hurt, (because they will), she’ll probably tell it’s Adora. And if Catra knows, I mean what’s to keep her from telling Hordak? Like is Shadow Weaver that dumb to Hide it from Hordak? Are they really making these guys that dumb?  This is the point of the secret identity thing. It’s to keep her safe and her friends safe, and why Madam Razz, Kowl and Lookee were important to the story. 

Speaking of...why are so many characters missing? 

Okay I can get half of the Princesses missing because they were part timers. But Madame Regina Fancy Razz, Broom, Kowl and Lookee were all part of the show from the start. They were the ones to discover the truth and were the ones to make sure that the Horde doesn’t find out that she’s She-ra. Now everyone in the freaking Rebellion knows, and that doesn’t bode well for story telling. 

Razz could contact the Sorcress, and was also someone that was up their with Shadow Weaver in the magic department. Broom was the one that helped her out with spells and also was someone who gave good advice to Adora about real situations, Kowl was the guy that was friends with Bow and knew his back story and helped him out a lot, and Look-ee, was....well he existed. Missing them though seems like a bad choice in this. Maybe as others have said they will show up in the next season or this one, but still I would think that having the person that was Queen Angella’s second best friend not around is, weird. 

If that is Imp, well that sucks. One, why make him a baby? Unless he’s like freaking Koenma, from Yu Yu Hakusho, where he can get older and has an older brain in him then what’s the point of making him a baby? To give Hordak a more annoying character to hang around with? To make him be a daddy? Come on! Lame. 

Imp is the most reliable of the Horde, even above Shadow Weaver when it comes to doing things. He’s a bit of a jerk, sure, but over all he’s an interesting villain with some comedic elements. Making him a baby just is weird. What’s he going to do? Cry them into a bad situation? I’m sorry, it’s just way to weird. It didn’t work in the 90s when this was a thing, and it sure as hell won’t work now. 

Unless he’s Death 13′s Baby, I’m already dreading this character. 

Also why is Entrapa with the good guys? 

Is this Entrapa? If it is, she better become a baddie because she’s a Horde worker, and honestly having her with the good guys is way to weird. 

Lastly....

Where the hell is the Horde?

Is this it? 

Is the girl with the dreads supposed to be Octavia? She’s the only other female character. Unless that’s a new version of Mantenna? Like the only one that could be Leach is the green guy and he looks more like a lizard or reptile creature than one of the Horde members. 

We’re missing quiet a few: Mantenna ( a  Rebrunk Nuru who has several ray abilities with his eyes and is the scout for Hordak) , Grizzlor (who’s like a were-wolf character), Multi-bot (a robot that can transform with others to create a new sort of monster and armor), Dylamug (who can shift faces and is part Robot),  Admiral Scurvy (Cyborg head of the Horde Navy), Vultek (who is a flying bird man creature that is in charge of Hordak’s zoo where he keeps creatures that he finds interesting -including those that are beings from Etheria), False-Face (A shape shifter that can take on any appearance). 

Then there’s Scorpina. I know there were complaints about She-ra’s look, but if this is about good looking costumes, why does Scorpina have Power Girl’s window in her outfit? Her old one covered more than her new one does. 

Also, straight up, are they going to at all cover the fact that Scorpina owns slaves from Etheria? She’s from the Crimson Waste and was right up there with power in regard to control over Etheria. I just hope she’s actually a force to deal with and not someone who is put under Catra’s thumb because those two would go at it in regard to power struggles all the time. 

Lastly, I’m hoping that Hordak is actually the main villain and not Shadow Weaver. I’m not a huge fan of “Girl’s show must have girl villain to fight against” because if it’s Shadow Weaver as the big bad and Hordak’s just a Doctor Claw like person then I’m going to step away from this show. Hordak and She-ra’s relationship is key to this series as a whole. He stole her from her family, brainwashed her and forced her to serve him. The fact that so much of her history is being stripped here, is not a good thing. She stood up to the person that basically abused and used her, the guy that screwed over her life and fought against him. And I think it would be a sad thing to take away that powerful statement. But that’s just me. 

#she-ra #she-ra trailer #she-ra theory #she-ra theories #spop #she-ra and the princess of power #she-ra and the princesses of power theory #she-ra and the princess of power theories #shera #spop theories

[weapon13whitefang]

in the talking dead for the quiz they say that the box Michonne had, the things inside was inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.If you've read the book the the Mockingbird represents someone innocent that has been injured or destroyed by evil(in the book Boo Radley,Tom Robinson,etc.) ( in the show I guess Rick can be a representation but mostly Beth in my eyes) considering the comparison of beth and birds lately, I would love to hear your opinion

Sorry it’s taken me awhile to answer you! I wasn’t ignoring you, I just had to find a way to really think about what you were asking and about the source material.

First off, I don’t watch Talking Dead anymore. I don’t have much like for Chris Hardwick after all the stuff I’ve learned about him and all the stuff that’s been proven… Yeah I just can not watch Talking Dead without wanting to throw something at Hardwick… You know I don’t much trust ya when I won’t even watch for my favorite actors on the show… I don’t know, maybe he really didn’t do the crap that was said but… I’m not seeing any evidence against it… So I don’t watch Talking Dead.

That said, I have gotten a break down of stuff that was talked about. And I gritted through a few scenes of it to listen to my favorite actors talk… And let me just say that, yes. I know the book To Kill A Mockingbird. I don’t know if it’s just a Midwestern school thing, but for most Missouri kids I know, To Kill A Mockingbird was one of those books you read every year until senior year. The first time I read the book was in fifth grade, over fifteen years ago… I can still recall how I felt after reading it to… It’s just one of those books that sticks with you like Lord of the Flies or Romeo and Juliet or The Great Gatsby – those books teachers shove down your throat because they have such important life topics.

You mentioned how the Mockingbird represents “someone innocent that has been injured or destroyed by evil (in the book Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, etc.)”. And you’re right in that, this is the main theme of the book that most people will point out… Interesting to note, though, that Harper Lee was never forthcoming with the symbolism and themes. But she was famous for saying that the story spells out the meaning of a code of honor and the conduct in the heritage of the Southerners. Which makes sense if you look at in a simplistic term, sure. Honor is the high respect you have for someone or something. Conduct is the manner in which a person behaves, especially on a particular occasion or in a particular context.

An example of this is basically the whole thing with Tom and Boo. Bob Ewell is the town drunk and known to be one mean and cruel man. But because Bob is white, because Mayella is white, and because poor Tom is a man of color, the view of what they know is right vs what they see as right is truly shown. It’s very very obvious in the book that Tom Robinson is innocent and that the stuff he’s being accused of, are things he couldn’t and wouldn’t do. People of the town know what kind of man Bob Ewell is… But because Bob and Mayella are white that’s enough for people to turn a blind eye to it and sentence poor Tom to be hanged. It doesn’t matter all the proof that Atticus had. It didn’t matter if Bob Ewell had been caught red handed, even. Because Tom was a black man, he was doomed. Ignorance, racism, and hatred play a big role in the undertone of the book and it is those key elements that lead to an innocent being killed. It’s what leads to people like Boo and Tom being hurt. Bob Ewell was a symbol of evil in that he was a cruel, racists,and unbearable man. But because he was white, Tom – a black man that was the symbol of innocence with Boo – was screwed.

There’s so much you can talk about when it comes to this book. There’s themes and undertones that you can pick at and everyone would have a different opinion. For me, this is a book of studying the moral nature of a person; are people good or evil? It’s highly noted that a single person can be good or evil, while people as a whole can be evil or do good. As individuals, the jury would probably have agreed with Atticus and Tom would’ve lived. But as a whole – to uphold an image of “pureness” – they made an evil choice because of an evil man… Yet it’s more than that. Scout and Jem in the beginning of the book believe that all people are good and innocent because the two have never been exposed to evil and they believe people have never been around evil so that makes them good and innocent. By the end of the book, they both have experienced what evil is and have to come to understanding with it and their view of the world. It’s through Atticus – who is an example of being able to see evil but not letting it change him to evil but instead also see the good and learn to see people as a whole in that they have good and bad in them,that nobody is truly evil to the core, but that things in life lead them down these paths that aren’t always just good and evil. That the world isn’t black and white, heroes and villains. It’s gray. That’s how I always saw the book,anyway.

So taking into account that this book has many themes, how do they apply to the show? First off, letting me know that was kind of interesting for me. Thanks for sharing that because it got me thinking a lot… In the box, Michonne specifically pulls out three things. A preserved four-leaf clover, what appears to be baseball cards, and the little sheriff figure with the gun. Lets focus on these things fora bit before I get to the mockingbird (And I will, just hold on for a second!)

Coming from an Irish and German background, I always loved trying to find four-leaf clovers at my grandma’s house. First off, the four-leaf clover is a very rare plant to find because they just generally do not grow with four leaves. They’re kind of a mutation of sort, basically…Anyway, each leaf on the four-leaf clover has a meaning according to my grandma. Faith, Hope, Love, and Luck. The regular three leaf I learned in bible school that it represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and if you found a four-leaf, the fourth leaf was God’s Grace. So, finding a four-leaf clover was basically really good fortune for you, as in the holy trinity is watching over you and giving you grace.

There’s a lot of symbolism around the four-leaf clover really. After doing some digging, I learned that apparently in some biblical background stories about the Garden of Eden, Eve took a four-leaf clover with her to remember the place she and Adam were cast from (that’s kinda depressing but I get it). I also learned that apparently Druid priest used the four-leaf clover to ward off evil spirits in worship rituals. Also, in some cases,children and adults would hang a four-leaf clover over their doors to ward off bad omens, witchcraft, and evil spirits. In the Middle ages, they believed that those that carried a four leaf clover could see the fae folk. It was also believed to help ward off and give protection from The Evil Eye – which is basically a legend about a malevolent spirit of evil casting misfortune to someone; cause them to harm themselves by casting eyes on them. So the clover was like a “shield” against this gaze.

If there’s one thing that has happened to TF, it’s the cast of the evil eye upon them. Rick is “dead” (so they think) and their world has been cast astray of what they all know – which is following Rick’s leadership. Even with Michonne taking over (she doesn’t let them call her the leader but she basically is) everything is still not together – they’re all scattered away from one another and all lost with Rick gone, even after all this time. Finding a four-leaf clover – one basically buried away in a tomb van – shows a prospering future for Michonne and TF. Something they could all use… The clover is linked to the box, which means it’s basically a box of memories for someone…Just as the clover was a memory for Eve, that clover was for someone else…

I find it fascinating the Morgan and Michonne both found“lucky” items in abandoned vehicles.

Next up is the baseball cards – or at least that’s what they look like – and I’m wondering if that’s supposed to represent Negan. Finding the clover then the baseball cards in order… I’m thinking Negan is going to have a big hand in the future. Now obviously I could be wrong and maybe they’re just school photos or something like that and maybe they have nothing to do with good for Negan. But you say baseball and I automatically think of baseball bat and then I think of Negan. Plus the cards were wrapped up – imprisonment symbolism? Michonne would be the only one who could truly let Negan free… I’m not to sure about these cards but I do feel Negan with them.

Finally the little sheriff figure. Obviously, it’s for Rick. But what does a Sheriff represent in general? Well first off the Sheriff is supposed to represent keeping the peace. A sheriff protects the peace, enforces law, provides traffic control, investigates accidents, transports prisoners,and leads a community. I work for a Sheriff department, as luck would have it(for me, anyway) and I can tell you something neat. The badge we all know – the star badge – was taken because it was cheaper and easier to make than the original badge – which was an eagle shaped/themed badge. Plus the star is a symbol of all fifty states and the Sheriff wears the star with his state and his county name printed on it. So it’s his American shield/symbol of bringing peace.

Rick being a Sheriff is really interesting for me since I started working with the Sheriff of my county. Throughout the last eight years of TWD, I have seen Rick do basically everything I just described above… But he’s also been very much the complete opposite of what a Sheriff is supposed to stand for. I mean Rick has murdered before. He stabs Shane after luring him into a false sense of peace, straight up put a machete through Thomas’s head at the prison, strangles a Claimer to death and rips the throat of another open…Like Rick has done a lot of shit a Sheriff shouldn’t do… But he is still a symbol of peace and future, which is what a Sheriff is.

So with those items aside, lets talk about a Mockingbird. In the book, there’s a quote about the Mockingbird, which is supposed to be part of the symbolism we talked about above. The line is said by Atticus and later affirmed by Miss Maudie, I believe. It goes as followed:

“Rememberit’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs,they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

This line is the main line for the title of the book and is basically the key metaphor explored by people. It’s true that Boo and Tom are indeed part of this symbolism. The mockingbird is a symbol that good, innocent people are destroyed by evil. Tom is destroyed by evil and I believe he’s even likened to a songbird that was slaughtered by children (or something like that, I’d have to dig my copy out and really read it again… Which I just might…). For Boo, he was destroyed by the evil that is his abusive father long ago, but he was still just good and gentle and didn’t cause no harm and saved Jem and Scout. Scout even makes a wise comment that hurting poor Boo would be like shooting a Mockingbird – it would be a sin to punish something/someone who has done nothing but try to be a good soul.

I believe the reason they decided to use To Kill A Mockingbird for this episode is because of Magna, Yumiko, Connie, Kelly, and Luke… And for Michonne. Think about it. There’s a trial scene. At this point,Judith would be Scout and even a bit of Boo. Michonne is being a Bob Ewell (funny how that works) and Magna and her group are Tom Robinson.

Michonne bases Magna and the whole group on one simple thing– Magna was a convict. She basically riled up a lynch mob with everyone and made the group out as these monsters that would stab them all in their sleep…Just as Bob painted Tom as some kind of big violent rapist. Judith was basically Scout and Boo. Judith saved them and brought them in, but she also killed to protect them (sure they were just walkers but yeah). Think about the character Scout and the Character Boo and then think about Judith. Judith can basically be considered “innocent” (I use that lightly because the girl isn’t completely innocent, she knows things, but she’s not grown enough to experience what true evil is). Judith is Scout in that she sees these people and assumes “good” because it’s something she just sees. Now obviously Magna and them are good, but what if they weren’t? Judith wouldn’t be able to see it. It wouldn’t take much to pull the cloak over a child’s eye, even one as quick witted and smart as Judith.

I believe that’s part of the reason we had her speaking against Negan. What Negan says is true about people. They can look real nice and seem real nice, but they can turn on you real quick and do damage. Funny enough, Negan is basically an anti-Atticus in his own right. He knows what is real good and what is real evil, but he lets himself make his own choices and runs an evil path. Atticus knew the difference between evil and good but stayed good and kind. Which, yeah, Rick fits this mold with a little push… But it’s also Daryl who fits this role the most and that’s something as well.

Anyway, Michonne was basically going to get Mockingbirds killed. Magna and them haven’t done anything evil that we know of so they’re not far from sin, but they are people that have done no wrong to the people that have helped them and have shown to be good and even democratic (the whole voting scene) and that’s our evidence that they’re good people just trying to survive. Michonne would basically be doing what Scout told Atticus about Boo –it would be like shooting a mockingbird to send them off. And I agree that Rick would have helped them too… He would’ve been wary and he would’ve been watching the new people, but Rick would’ve given them a chance to prove themselves as good. Michonne wasn’t doing that. She was stone walling them out – being a child throwing rocks at the mockingbirds.

Now… I know you asked about Beth. The more I think about it, Beth was an Atticus. She knew the world was full of evil… But she knew there were good people and knew that you had to see people for their strengths and weaknesses to see their whole and see them for who they were as a whole. Beth was like Jem and Scout too. She hadn’t experienced real evil until watching her father be beheaded… But she wavered in her belief of good people with Dawn and that put her at how Jem was towards the end of the book. But if she were around now, Beth could’ve been an Atticus…

Which leads me back to Daryl. If there’s anyone that fits the mold of Atticus, it’s Daryl… At least he did. Right now I’d say he’s more of a Jem. Lost his faith in systems and his beliefs of there being anymore good people… By the end of the book, Jem becomes distant in his belief of good people and justice. Daryl was an Atticus but now he’s a Jem… But he can become an Atticus again, which I believe will happen as the season goes on.

To be honest with you, the only thing bird related I’ve seenwith Beth was the bird cage in her cell room back in season 4. The birdcage in media – art or otherwise – is generally a symbol of lost freedom for a bird but also a frame of appreciation for their natural wonder. The birdcage is a symbol as much as the actual bird encased. For example, when I hear someone speak of a caged bird I always think of Sweeny Todd and the song “Green Finch and LinnetBird” that Johanna sings. In the song, Johanna compares herself to the caged bird and how she is trapped in the judges house, how her dream is to be free of her imprisonment and also talks of her inability to cope with the fact she will probably never escape. It’s always that song that comes to mind when I think of a bird cage and honestly it’s probably the most symbolic image and song I can think of. A bird that sings jubilantly and carefree while trapped in a cage…Yeah. That sounds like Beth. She still sings and still shows peace and acceptance even when she is basically in a giant bird cage in season 4 – the prison.Later – in season 5 at Grady – Beth still sings and is still an imprisoned bird, but she’s not as jubilant as she was. Rather she is like Johanna – she is trapped and isn’t sure how she’s to get free. But unlike Johanna, Beth isn’t disillusioned to her captivity and knows she’ll get free.

Now what about a Mockingbird? Well let’s talk about the bird itself. I know some people like @twdmusicboxmystery believe that the bird Daryl sees in 9x06 is an Osciner bird – the Songbird. But I believe it really is supposed to be a Bluebird or a Mockingbird, which IS a type of Songbird. I’m leaning more towards it being a Mockingbird since that’s part of the story in9x06. So Mystery isn’t wrong, I just believe it’s a different type of songbird than what they think it is.

And if it is the Mockingbird – which I believe it is – then that’s also a symbol for Daryl in that he doesn’t kill the bird and he doesn’t destroy it’s food source with the walker. He doesn’t commit a sin. He lets it live. And seeing a bird feeding it’s young and letting it live is definitely Daryl as a Boo Radley. Boo Radley was horribly hurt by his own father – like Daryl– and shut himself from the world because he wanted to be away from all the pain and horribleness the outside world can offer. That is what Daryl has basically done – shut himself way from people and their societies to “protect” himself from their troubles and pain. Loosing Rick put Daryl there but since Tyreese’s death – yes even with Beth’s death – Daryl has been pulling away and it’s no surprise he reached that point with Rick’s departure.

I know I’m not giving some deep meaning into the whole “Here’s all this that shows that Beth could be alive” and for that I’m sorry. I know that’s what you wanted me to answer, was probably hoping for… But I don’t see much symbolism around this bird and Beth and Daryl. I believe the bird is representing the To Kill A Mockingbird theme and that Daryl has his place as Boo at the moment, but is also an Atticus in his own right but needs to find his balance again. Which Daryl has a balance, he’s just off kilter right now.Understandably so.

This isn’t me shitting on anyone. I believe too many people are putting TOO MUCH emphases on all these things being related to Beth. I don’t have any connection for birds and Beth except for one thing and that’s Beth back at the prison and while she was in Grady because of that birdcage. People want to point out Carl seeing a bird cage back in season 4 with a dead bird on the ground and I think that was to symbolize how Carl was feeling and what he was going through – that he was a bird that escaped a cage but he has a chance of dying like the bird, who was probably caged it’s whole life and once free it didn’t know how to care for itself. But Carl wasn’t going to be the bird. He was going to survive and carry his dad along. Which he did. Sure he dies later,but for that scene and for that moment, Carl didn’t let himself become the dead bird.

So… I guess – posting all of this – I don’t really have anything to add to Beth and Birds and symbolism besides to say that sorry I don’t have anything but maybe reading what I’ve posted will give you a thought to go with your connections for Beth?

Thanks for asking me, by the way. This was pleasantly stimulating.

#the walking dead #team delusional #team defiance #team whatever happens will happen #team i don't care I'm having fun #team acceptance