#The Bats are legitimately concerned now

[luxaofhesperides]

Final hour Ghostlights request! Soulmate AU where when your soul mate dies your soul mark expands. Duke was really heartbroken at first but now his soul mark makes it really difficult to keep his secret identity hidden because he is covered in a map of the cosmos. He has to use his shadow powers almost constantly to keep all the stars hidden! And and maybe they light up like actual stars when he uses his light powers.

He meets Danny at orientation or something at GU and they brush against each other and he just lights up like a supernova, all his stars literally blazing and he's just like "YOU!" Both excited and also OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE.

....I rambled a bit here I'm so sorry.

The thing about soulmates is that you don’t really know who they are until they die. And even then, most people never know who their soulmate was, only that they outlived them.

Duke became one of those people when he was thirteen. 

He didn’t even notice until he went to change and saw the watercolor swirl of nebula spill out from over his heart. 

One moment, he was tired and angry, ready to sneak out of his latest foster home to search for his parents and do all the things adults have failed to do. The next, he’s collapsed on his knees, shaking, unable to breathe as he tries to rip his soulmark off of his skin. He couldn’t think past the shock and horror of realizing that his soulmate is dead and Duke didn’t even know until that moment. 

They’ll never get to meet. 

Duke had never felt so alone before. 

He spent the next few days in shock, his mind a mess of static, unable to focus. He hid away in his room, buried under the covers, and his foster parents were understanding when he whispered my soulmate’s dead. They called him out of school and brought him food and water throughout the day, gentle encouraging him to eat something every few hours. 

But disaster waits for no one, and Batman was gone, so Duke pulled himself out of his misery and hit the streets again. 

So his soulmate’s dead. So his parents are gone. So Gotham’s falling apart.

No one’s doing anything about it, so it’s up to Duke to start fixing things. It’s not like he had much to lose.

Soulmates become a bit of a taboo topic to him, after that. He speaks of them to no one, avoids all conversation about them, refuses to stay when people talk about soulmarks. He tries not to look at his soulmark at all.

And then he takes a hit to the chest and patches himself up with shaking hands. For the first time in months he looks at his soulmark again and…

Did it… grow? 

Duke prods it gently, letting out a hiss when his bruised ribs protest at the movement. He remembers the mark being right over his heart. 

But looking at it now, it branches out, swirls of galaxy and constellations reaching out along his ribcage. 

Panicked, Duke grabs for his computer and looks up soulmark growth and webmd soulmark abnormalities.

Neither give him any answers, though WebMD helpfully suggests skin cancer. 

“I’m gonna ignore this,” Duke decides, and pulls on a shirt and goes to sleep. The less he thinks about his dead soulmate, the better. 

Time passes and Duke goes from being a Robin to being the Signal, a legitimate vigilante working with Batman. It’s nice to see Gotham start to settle, things falling into place. For once, nothing is awful; Duke’s found his parents and doctors are looking for a cure for long-term exposure to Joker Gas, Batman’s taking care of Gotham with a number of other Bats, Duke is getting used to his powers and slowly making a good name for himself out on the streets. 

He keeps his focus on protecting people and getting stronger, helping solve cases with the other Bats. No one mentions soulmates, so he keeps his ever expanding soulmark a secret. 

The only problem is that it keeps growing and Duke is concerned that it’ll move to a place he can’t easily hide under his clothes. 

And he does need to hide them. The more his soulmark has grown, the more obvious it is, especially when he uses his powers and the stars on his skin light up like the Fourth of July. He knows it’s abnormal, but it’s also his soulmark and he doesn’t want anyone, least of all Bruce, poking around trying to study it. 

The grief still lingers when he looks at it, but Duke has long since grown used to it. If anything, these days he’s quietly annoyed by how far the galaxies on his skin spread out, forcing him to take tank tops and shorts out of his wardrobe. 

There’s also the tentative hope that maybe his soulmate is immortal and keeps coming back to life after they die. And they must also have terrible luck, because they just keep on dying.

Case in point: his soulmark flares and spills out onto his shoulder and wraps around his bicep. It’s not the first time he’s seen it move, but it still startles him.

“Are you serious,” Duke mutters to himself, pulling at his sleeve to adjust it and hopefully hide his soulmark. The starts are bright against his skin, and while sometimes he likes to trace them with his finger, now is not one of those times.

As pretty as it is, his soulmark is also very obvious and will cause people to realize his identity if they ever catch a glimpse of it while he’s out as Signal. 

He sighs. There’s no choice but to live out the rest of his life in hoodies and sweatshirts. 

As if to spite him, his soulmark grows once more. 

Did his soulmate just die twice in the span of five minutes? That’s concerning. 

He wishes he could meet them just so he can shake some sense into them. Maybe tell them to stop dying since it’s stressing him out so much. Maybe stick by their side to make sure they never have to die again. He’s honestly not sure what he’d do if he ever meets his soulmate, but he has to do something. This has gotten out of hand.

At least seeing his soulmark grow doesn’t hurt as much as it did a few years ago. 

Lazily, he pulls at the light around him to hide the new portions of the soulmark on his arm from sight. It takes some focus, but he can hold it up long enough for him to grab a snack from the kitchen and retreat up to his room without being questioned by anyone. He could probably even keep this shirt on for the college orientation he needs to attend later in the day if the light works well enough to keep his secrets hidden. 

He’s expecting Alfred in the kitchen when he arrives, but is greeted by Dick clapping a hand on his shoulder, right where his soulmark has claimed space. Duke falters and works to keep the light from fracturing as he returns Dick’s grin. 

“Hey man,” he says, “What are you doing here? I thought you were out until Friday.”

“And miss a chance to hang out with you? No way. Besides, I wanted to give you a ride to your orientation.”

“You don’t have to,” Duke starts, only for Dick to cut him off.

“I’m going to,” he says, as if it’s a threat. “It’s been too long since we get to spend time together without a mask on. Are you really going to deprive me of this?”

Duke shakes off Dick’s hand from his shoulder, walking towards the pantry to find a small snack. “I guess not. It’s going to be pretty boring for you, though. I’m just going to listen to people talk about what college is like for a few hours.”

“We could always just walk around campus afterwards. I haven’t seen it since it was rebuilt after the last time Freeze attacked it.”

“Sure, that sounds fun. Thanks for offering to drive me.” Duke pulls out a box of Poptarts hidden behind stacks of pasta boxes and pulls out a pack for himself. He opens it and isn’t at all surprised when Dick steals one right out of his hands. 

“Meet me out front in an hour then.” 

And with that, Dick leaves, his stolen Poptart in hand, and Duke is left to shake his head and shove the Poptart box back into its hiding place. He heads off to eat his own snack, making sure no one is in the hallway as he lets go of his hold on the light. Already he can feel a migraine building with the immense focus he had to use to make sure nothing looked out of place.

At least Dick didn’t notice anything was off. If he can fool Dick, he can fool anyone.

Still, just to be safe, Duke changes into something with longer sleeves before he leaves and hops into the car with Dick. 

The drive goes quickly to the tunes of ABBA, both of them singing along as they head for the GCU campus. Parking is a bit tricky, but they manage to find a spot a street away and walk towards the student union, where tables are laid out for incoming freshmen to sign in and grab a folder filled with papers meant to help them. 

He waves to Dick and heads in once he gets his folder, and grabs a seat in the auditorium that’s close to a fire exit. 

It takes another twenty minutes for the presentations to start. The lights dim and Duke panics for a brief moment before drawing the shadows over himself lightly to hide the soft glow of the star etched onto his skin. 

They start with introductions, bringing in advisors, professors, and student ambassadors. Most of it is basic information that Duke already knows, so he zones out and plays with some shadows at his feet, where no one can see the way he twists shadows together like some dark magic form of finger knitting.

For the next hour, Duke halfheartedly listens to people talk about preparing for classes and keeping on top of schoolwork and learning how to ask for help. He’s saved enough college students that he knows the gist of things, and the orientation really doesn’t give him anything helpful. 

He probably could have skipped, but he wanted a normal college experience. 

He should have known that normal means boring as hell.

As soon as the presentation ends, an advisor encourages everyone to follow the schedule tucked into their folder to give them a half day modeled after a typical student’s schedule. Of course, all the classes are nonsense just to fill up their time, made to help freshmen coming into the college by covering topics such as how to write an email and an introduction to majors and minors.

Duke already declared himself as a Human Services major, his first step into becoming a social worker like his mom was. 

Also he totally knows how to write an email, what are these advisors on about? Do they really think people his age can’t write emails? 

Yeah, he’s ditching. The main presentation is really the only part that matters in the orientation. He’s not walking out on anything he needs.

Duke files out after the rest of the crowd, carefully letting the shadows slip off of him once he’s outside again. Instead of finding the first ‘class’ he’s supposed to go to in the Modern Languages building, he wanders off to find a quiet place he can sit down and wait until Dick finds him. 

Tucked away towards the back half of the campus is a small nook full of trees, bushes, and benches. Judging by the amount of cigarette butts left in the single trash can there, it’s a popular smoking spot. 

No one’s there, so the air is clean and free of smoke, so Duke heads in, hoping to sit down.

Someone else apparently has the same idea. He hops down from one of the concrete planters that’s keeping a bush contained and nearly falls on Duke.

They both shout in surprise, then Duke is moving without thinking, reaching out to steady the startled looking guy who accidentally jumped down in front of him. 

Duke only has time to take note of how blue his eyes are before his hands wrap around the guy’s wrist and Duke feels his soulmark flare with warmth.

In the shade of the trees, the glow of each star on his skin is obvious. It’s visible even through the fabric of his shirt. His soulmark, at this point in his life, stretches across his chest, his ribs, his back, and now his shoulders and upper arms. All the stars in that watercolor galaxy are shining brightly as if the night sky has been draped across his body.

Soulmarks only react like that for one reason.

“You!” Duke shouts at his soulmate, both elated to see that he’s alive and annoyed that he made Duke’s soulmark so large. “Stop dying! Do you have any idea how much stress you’ve caused me?!”

“Oh my god,” the guy says faintly, eyes fixed on Duke’s chest where his soulmark originally rested, shining brighter and bigger than any other star, as if he’s tucked a sun into his heart. “Oh my god,” he says again, with more feeling.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, but please stop dying. It’s bad for my health.”

“I think I need to sit down?”

He does look very pale and faint. Duke tightens his grip on his soulmate’s arms and guides him to a bench, gently sitting him down.

“You’re not about to die, right?” Duke asks. “I don’t think my heart could take it if meeting me killed you somehow.”

“No, no,” his soulmate manages to say, “I’m not going to die. Um. Wow. I didn’t know my soulmark would do that? Sorry.”

“Well, it’s not like you had any way of knowing. It’s all good, man. Just please stop dying.”

His soulmate winces. “Yeah, that’s not gonna be possible. Sorry. Again.”

What does that mean, though? What does it all mean?

“Can I maybe get an explanation as to why you have to die again.”

“Mmmmm no. We just met and it’s kinda personal so. No.”

“Dude.”

Duke’s soulmate shrugs helplessly. “It really is personal! I know your my soulmate and all, so I’ll probably tell you one day, but right now I don’t even know your name.”

Oh shit. He’s right. Introductions completely slipped his mind, too busy reeling over the fact that his soulmate is here and alive. Which, honestly, would be enough to throw anyone off balance.

“Shoot,” Duke says. “Sorry. You just really caught me off guard. Hi, I’m Duke, I promise I’m more put together than that.”

“Hi Duke, I’m Danny, and I’ve apparently been traumatizing you for the past few years by making you think I keep dying.”

“Well. At least we’re thrown head first into the crazy. Best way to know if we’re be a good match.”

“You sure you can handle this? You seemed pretty frazzled a second ago.”

Duke flusters and lightly whacks Danny’s shoulder. “That’s normal! Anyone would do the same when meeting their soulmate for the first time!”

“Fair enough,” Danny laughs. “This is a totally weird request and you can absolutely say no, but… can I see?” He presses a hand against one of the glowing stars beneath this collar bone, looking up at Duke with wide, hopeful blue eyes, and Duke finds it so cute that he’s willing to do anything Danny wants. 

“Here,” he says as an answer, pulling the collar of his shirt down a bit to reveal the nebula spilling onto his shoulder. 

“Oh,” Danny breathes, tracing a light finger against it. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m guessing you like space?”

“Love it. I wanted to be an astronaut, but uh…. It’s never going to happen. Health problems, you know?”

“Well, I know it’s not the same, but I hope the stars you put on my body will be a good enough replacement.”

Danny cheeks turn red and he turns away, flustered. “Don’t smooth talk me right now, I’m not ready for it,” he mutters, bringing up a hand to try to hide his expression. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Duke laughs, “I’ll try to keep the flirting down to a minimum. It’s just really great to finally meet you. And I’ve been wondering, what’s your soulmark look like?”

“Oh, well…” Danny fiddles with the long sleeve of his shirt. “I had a pretty bad accident years ago that kinda affected how my soulmark looks. So if it looks weird, that’s why, okay?” He takes a deep breath, then pushes up his sleeve, holding his wrist out to Duke. 

The first thing Duke notices is the soft yellow glow, Signal yellow to be precise, running down his arm as if sunlight fills his veins. Then he sees Danny’s soulmark, a sun with rays that wrap around his wrist. And running through his soulmark are Lichtenberg scars, glowing yellow as if stealing the color from his soulmark. 

“Guess we both got super obvious soulmarks, huh? At least we kinda match, that way.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Danny agrees. 

“Man, what a day.” 

Danny looks more relaxed with him now. It’s much better than the startled, tense version of him that first sat down on the bench. Duke hopes he chooses to stay with him; he doesn’t admit this often, willingly, or to other people, but he’s a romantic at heart and has always wanted to live a happy life with his soulmate. It’s still far off in the future, but he hopes Danny feels the same way.

“So, are you ditching the orientation classes to?” Danny asks.

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m going. I mean, a class on how to send emails? They can’t be serious.”

“I know, right?! I saw that and thought I was being pranked. I mean, we’re going into college. We better know how to send an email by now.”

“Since we’re both free for now, wanna grab lunch with me? It can be our first date, if you want.”

“I’d love to! And you can show me around Gotham a bit. I’m coming here for college, but I haven’t really seen the city yet. It’d be nice to explore it with someone who knows where things are.”

“Are you free for the rest of the day? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind showing you around, if you want.”

Danny smiles, radiant. “I am. I’m in your hands for the rest of the day.”

“Cool,” Duke says, trying not to think too much on that wording. It’s very suggestive, very flirtatious, and he’s looking forward to getting to know Danny more so he can start properly flirting. “Lemme just let my brother know to not wait up for me.”

He pulls out his phone and sends Dick a text that just reads: met my soulmate. going on a date now. i’ll see u back at the manor!

Then he puts his phone on silent and tucks it back into his pocket. He’ll tell Dick all about this later; for now, all his attention is on Danny. 

Soulmates get priority, even stressful ones that give him the largest soulmark he’s ever seen. 

And right now, he’s on a mission to find the best lunch spot to take his soulmate to for their first date. Everything else can come later; for now, he’s going to enjoy the time he gets to spend with Danny.

He hopes they’ve got a future together as bright as the stars in his soulmark. 

Despite it all, Duke is sure they’re going to be alright.

#ghostlights #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #dpxdc #prompt fill #my writing #dannys obv not going to be able to keep his identity as phantom hidden for long in gotham #esp since he wants to protect people and transforms to do that #and one of those times will be in front of duke to protect him from some goons trying to kidnap duke for his connections to the wayne famil #duke ends up using his powers as well leading to an identity reveal on both ends #and then the dots connect and duke yells THIS IS WHY U KEEP DYING and danny has to sheepishly apologize for how large dukes soulmark is #he does kiss all the new stars that show up on dukes skin tho so hes forgiven very quickly #(not that duke was ever mad. he's just worried) #thanks for the prompt!!

[hellsbellschime]

I just wanted to thank you so, so much for standing up for Jews right now. I can't express how much it means to me and the rest of the Jewish community that you're one of the few people who've actually gone to bat for us when everyone else went mask off ❤️

<3 honestly you shouldn't be thanking me because it's just the right thing to do, but the amount of antisemitism I have seen since 10/7 has been APPALLING and it's extremely scary. The people who went mask off REALLY went mask off, but there has also been so much stealth antisemitism in so much of the reaction and reporting that I've seen about the situation that it really threw me off and made me realize that I vastly underestimated how popular antisemitism still is.

Clearly, discussing Zionism in the past has REALLY not gone well for me, but the reaction toward it for me specifically and in general has always set off alarm bells that there was antisemitism baked in there which was trying to be passed off as anti-Zionism or anti-Israeli sentiment. But I feel like 10/7 was such a horrific revelation for Jewish people and allies because, at least for me, it was a revelation that for certain people, basically there is no limit to what you could do to an Israeli. There is no limit to what crimes or atrocities could be committed against someone because of where they lived or where they were born, and there is a really scary number of people who would paint that kind of atrocity as some kind of rebellious act of freedom. If you are calling literal babies colonizers and you are saying that the gang rape and mutilation of people's genitals is somehow an act of decolonization, you are trying to dress up your genocidal antisemitic POV with the veneer of some kind of social justice or moral righteousness.

But there are bigger fish to fry here that I think a lot of people are missing, which again further disturbs and upsets me. Because Jewish people should be able to just exist in the world, but the ebb and flow of antisemitism is also an exceptionally good indicator of when social and political upheaval is about to REALLY start fucking everyone's lives up. So again, people should be concerned about this because it's morally wrong, but they should also be concerned about it because Jewish people are also almost always just the first up to bat. Once we pass that critical point where antisemitism becomes socially acceptable again, it's almost always because we are at the beginning of a really hard downturn that is going to destroy a TON of people's lives. So the fact that so many people on the left and right are now united in the whole "oh wouldn't our lives be so much better if we could just take power away from the Jews" is a REALLY REALLY REALLY scary sign that should not be ignored.

And of course, the fact that the Israeli government actually does horrible shit makes this a much easier sell. There are a ton of very legitimate problems that need to be fixed and should absolutely be called out. But again, it's a very scary mindset to get drawn into, because yes you think you're a leftist and completely unaffected by the antisemitism that has been baked into our culture for literally thousands of years and you're on the right side because WELL THE JEWS ARE ACTUALLY BAD NOW. But what the hell do you think people thought in 1930s Europe? Do you think that they hated Jewish people just to hate them? Or do you think that they also genuinely believed that Jewish people were actually the problem then too?

It's heinous because 10/7 and the invasion of Gaza afterward is a perfect vector to hide antisemitism in, and it really seems to be working well. The overt antisemitism I've seen as well as the way more covert that I've seen has shocked me, and even though I'm not Jewish, I considered myself to be more aware than most that antisemitism is not even remotely a problem that's been relegated to the past.

But I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this because I am just a person who is capable of empathy and understands how fucked up it must be to experience this, while Jewish people actually have to experience it. The lack of pushback against pretty obvious antisemitism is really frightening, and again, the whole progression of what has happened is exceptionally cruel and offensive. You can support a free and democratic Palestine while condemning 10/7 (in fact I'd argue given that Hamas hasn't held elections in decades, it's a REQUIREMENT to condemn 10/7 if you genuinely support a free Palestine). You can acknowledge that Hamas is an outwardly stated and admitted antisemitic terrorist organization and 10/7 was an expressly antisemitic attack and fight for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

But the amount of pressure I've seen put on Jewish people specifically to go along with the complete reframing and minimization of 10/7, because actually if you live in Israel then you had it coming, and because the Palestinians have it worse you can't even take a moment to react emotionally to something truly horrific and traumatizing, and if you don't think exactly what we think you're one of the "bad ones," has been disturbing to watch. Your pain is incredibly valid and I know everything that has happened must be so difficult and isolating, but just know that you do have supporters out there, even if you deserve to have a lot more.

#antisemitism for ts

[autistichalsin]

I'm sorry to tell you that but I'm also a Halsin fan and I'm just tired of all the drama that shows up on your Tumblr and Twitter. Please don't treat it as a hate comment but I've come here to see Halsin headcanons and scenarios, the things you shared with us so generously back then.

I know it might be hard to let go and move on, not batting a lash at the drama that's happening but I think you should try and tone it down a little. Most of the time, your socials are flooded with your quarrel with Minthara psycho fanclub. I know they're annoying but you can block them, instead of responding to them. In the end, they'll get bored and move to the other bait activities. You replying to them only fuels them even more.

I don't mean it as offense. I know it's sometimes hard to just ignore other people and focus on what you love (I'm autistic myself). Some people blocked you not because of you disliking Minthara but because you get into drama too much instead of blocking those trolls. I don't want my fav mutual with more focus on some toxic baiters then the passion they have for certain things/characters.

Please stay safe and think about it.

Please don't take this as hate either but like.

"Back then"? Buddy it's been like three days and I still AM posting Halsin analyses (which by the way, is also one of the things those folks have been harassing me for, to the point of block evasion, on Twitter)

"Most of the time?" On this site, I've responded to a few things here and there. And on Twitter, I've been responding- again- to de facto harassment. I get that you like my Halsin posts and that makes me so happy to hear, legitimately, but if you really are going to get angry at me for responding to being harassed, then I feel like you are showing far more concern for fictional characters than for me, and that is deeply hurtful. I am a real person, not a machine to make you Halsin content. It is deeply unfair to see that people are being nasty to me, and then tell ME, to my face, that I should stop engaging because it means YOU see less of the Halsin content you like. If the harassment got to me and I stopped making those posts entirely, would you be upset because you weren't seeing Halsin essays anymore, or would you be upset because a real person got chased off? Sorry to put it that bluntly, but based on this one comment, I am getting the impression it would be the former.

"I don't want my fav mutual..." I certainly don't feel like your "favorite mutual" based on this ask. I really am flattered that you like my content, but this ask has made me feel like you don't see me as a human being at all; I feel like you're angry that you're having to "put up" with me having human emotions on my own Twitter.

Why did you think it was in any way helpful or necessary to mention getting blocked? I don't care if people block me to curate their feed. Did you think I would... start groveling to be unblocked or something? I block liberally too. And if you weren't the one to block me, this also carries an implication of you like... talking about me behind my back to whoever did, and, guess what, the idea of being talked about is also REALLY uncomfortable for me as an autistic person. So... again. Why was this so important to tell me?

I know you said you didn't mean any offense, anon. But if you really are my mutual, I have to say, I am... not offended, but this ask hurt my feelings. A lot. Maybe you didn't mean it that way, and I am trying to give this the benefit of a doubt since you're also autistic- maybe you just didn't realize how your words would come across? But this is where it stands right now, after this ask.

If you don't enjoy the discourse, that's fine. I get that a lot of people are bothered by this outbreak of drama (INCLUDING ME), and I've been trying to step away from it despite what has been said to and about me. And if you were just asking me to make a tag for discourse or something, I would simply have done it without a word. But this response is deeply hurtful to me. I feel like the idea that I have been hurt by the stuff on Twitter and on here isn't even registering to you.

And I hate to say it, but I have to: this ask, more than anything the Minty fans have said or done so far, is making me want to not produce any more Halsin content for a while. I was fully aware it's primarily the Halsin stuff I make that people like, but... I don't know if I want to make more, if people are going to start acting like I owe it to them to make this content, and to make ONLY this content, and to make it ONLY in the exact way they like. If people want these written by someone/something whose only purpose is to write, ChatGPT exists.

Again, sorry if you didn't realize you came off this way, anon, but this was actually really hurtful, especially considering the timing, and even more so because you wouldn't even say this to me off anon.

#discourse

[a-mag-a-day]

Fun fact, MAG 011 was the episode I remember going: "huh, protagonist is gonna have a rough time at some point me thinks".

On relisten, I completely understand how I came to this conclusion. Jon's managed to stay in character up until this point. Sure he was harder on some statements more than others, but his voice never broke and he kept it in the deeper, "more professional" register I'm sure he was trying very hard to impress people with. However, in today's episode you can hear him break character when he rhetorically asks if this might be some sort of practical joke. He gets a little into his higher range and slips some actual emotion into there.

On a side note, it's interesting that Jon says he only trusts Tim to do the research on this one because he thinks the other two are liable to pull a prank on him. Now we know Martin wouldn't risk his job like that, and generally speaking he just doesn't really seem to be the kind of person to enjoy pulling pranks? So that leaves Sasha, and unless Jon is completely misreading the two people he brought down from research with him (which ok, I wouldn't put it past him), I have a sneaking suspicion that Sasha might have enjoyed a prank or two.

Actually, speaking of the archival crew, it's interesting to note as well that Jon doesn't discount such a mean spirited prank right off the bat. Admittedly it's probably him reaching for straws again, but this time he does legitimately seem concerned over the contents of the statement, and seems to honestly want to believe that it's possibly not true. I guess I'm just curious now if Tim and Sasha have been pranking him in the last 11 weeks since they all moved down to the archives.

Ah well, things to speculate on.

Sasha has broken into his personal information at least once (from episode 161) so maybe he lost trust in her in that sense

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #episode asks #mod ashes #tma spoilers #mag 11

[lingeringmirth]

shattered glass

Written for @whumpril day 18. broken glass.

Stranger Things | Steve Harrington centric, minor platonic stobin| Rating: T | Words: 454 | Blood&unjury, hurt steve, steve has ptsd, steve has bad parents, protective steve, post s4.

cw: blood & injury, self-sacrificial/suicidal thoughts.

Also here on AO3.

The shattering of glass on the tiles next to the pool is like a gunshot, ringing over the rowdy noises of the kids and the general chaos of the pool party Steve had been guilted into hosting after they’d saved the world again, hopefully for the last time.

Steve doesn’t know where anything glass even came from, he’d been sitting on a pool lounger with his back rigid, uneasy and alert for the smallest disruption.

He springs up, agitated but trying to keep it together, even when his hands are shaking and he’s sure he’s seeing a hulking figure skulking in the corner of his eye and hear that horrible chittering sound, yet, when he turns to look, hand grabbing his bat, there’s nothing there. The weight of his bat is a comfort.

‘Don’t step on it!’

His voice is too shrill, but he can’t see blood spill on the tiles, cloud in the water, attract…

It’s over, he tells himself, but hadn’t he told himself that all the times before?

‘Dingus…’

He doesn’t let her distract him, his concerns are legitimate, how can they know it’s all over, even if the gates are closed there could still be demogorgons lurking in the woods around Hawkins. He never should have agreed to this, his house isn’t safe, will never be safe, the rot had festered there for years before the Upside Down came into his life and now he’s let the kids in, has been careless, hasn’t paid attention and…

He’s been walking to the kids, barefoot, so of course it’s him who gets hurt, but that’s okay, as long as they’re safe.

The glass stings as he steps on it and he gasps at the pain, his fingers tightening around the bat. There’s more panicked voices, his ears are ringing and his head is swiveling from side to side to try and see where the attack will come from.

‘Everyone inside! Go!’

There’s shuffling around him, someone speaks to him, but he can’t discern who, he’s too focused on the looming threat.

He’s still standing on broken glass, sees a broken bottle of coke with its dark contents spilled onto tiles and glass shattered in the wreckage. Blood is mingling with the mess, his blood. He knows he should be moving, but he’s mesmerized, frozen. His hand is still clinging to his bat. Let the others get inside, he’ll be bait. He wants it to be over.

‘Come on…’ he taunts. Blood pools around his foot and it stings.

He waits.

He’s ready.

Come on.The chittering comes, as he knew it would. He’s ready. He swings… and sees Robin's wounded, shocked expression before she crumples, his nail bat stuck to her side.

#whumpril2024 #whumrprilday18 #prompt: broke glass #steve harrington centric #cw:self-sacrificial thoughts #cw: blood #cw: injury #angst #stranger things fic

[shootsun]

Hello all!

This is 🦀 anon's request for Shadowpeach baking! You said if I turned this angsty, you'd never feel safe again- so... fear me?

For those who prefer ao3

-------------

“It’s Xiaotian’s birthday soon.” Liu er says one afternoon as they’re watching TV. He’s half curled around Wukong, and their tails are intertwined as Wukong looks over.

“And you know that why?” He asks, a note of suspicion leaking into his tone. 

“Psychological warfare.” Liu er shrugs, not taking his eyes off the screen. 

“Uh-huh. What are you suggesting, oh great master of diabolical plans?” Wukong rolls his eyes with a lopsided grin. 

“Oh, I don’t know. Poisoned cupcakes?” Liu er says, not bothering to hide his smirk.

“How about regular cupcakes?” Wukong gently elbows the demon in the ribs.

“I suppose, if you’re going to be boring about it, we can make regular cupcakes.” The demon tosses his head back dramatically, and the god laughs.

“I’m not poisoning my student.” Wukong chuckles.

“Not even to test his invulnerability?” Liu er raises an eyebrow and tilts his head to the side, seemingly to gauge Wukong's reaction.

“Now I’m getting a little concerned for my safety.” Wukong blinks, mirth and concern bleeding together in his voice.

“Oh, I poisoned your food ages ago. You’re good.” Liu er waves dismissively and turns back to the TV.

“I…I legitimately can’t tell if you’re joking or not right now.” Frowning, Wukong sets his chin in his hands, and Liu er gives him the slightest of glances without turning his head.

“And you never will.” The demon smiles sweetly before grinning widely at the concerned look on Wukong's face.

“I-uh. Huh. Neat.” The god grumbles out. 

He sighs and crosses his arms, content to let the topic drop when Liu er speaks again.

“It’s on Saturday.” The demon says.

“What’s on, oh. Wait, this Saturday? Three days from now, Saturday?” Wukong blinks, and counts out the days on his fingers.

“Yep.” Liu er pops the 'p' loudly.

“So…baking tomorrow or…” 

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

They did not get to bake the next day. Or the next. 

A horde of demonic bats managed to infest the city, and it had been a constant uphill battle to try and remove the tiny creatures, even with multiple helping hands.

Macaque had called in a favour with Jin and Yin, and Wukong had brought out Guanyin’s vase, and together, with the Calabash and the Shadow Lantern, they’d managed to clear out the east half of the city, leaving the west to Xiaotian, Xiaojiao, Hai-er, and a giant mech outfitted with an equally giant quasi-magical, half mad scientist made vacuum.  

It took two and a half entire days to clean up the city, and by the time the two immortals returned home to Flower Fruit Mountain, it was two in the afternoon on Saturday. 

“Okay. We have a few hours before he comes over.” Wukong bustles into the house, carrying a bushel of grocery bags on one arm, holding the door open with the other for Liu er.

The demon, pawing through the recently acquired cook book, almost hits the door frame on his way in, and doesn’t stick his nose out of the book until his feet hit the kitchen tile. 

“You’ve…got an oven, right?” Liu er frowns at the book and then surveys the meager space around him. 

“I think so? Have we really never needed one before?” Wukong hums as he opens various cabinets, peering into each space with a furrowed brow.

“Ha!” The god finally exclaims, pulling open a small door.

“Wukong, that’s a microwave.” Liu er sighs, fighting a fond tired smile.

“And we can’t bake cupcakes in it?” 

“No.”

Wukong sighs as he pulls a strand of hair from his head, and transforms it into a small oven, just big enough to fit a muffin tray in.

“What type of cupcakes did we decide on again? I know we’ve got chocolate icing, but…” Wukong trails off, waiting for the demon beside him to interject. 

“Well, he likes stone fruit, right? I figured cherry cupcakes and chocolate icing would be pretty good.” Liu er hums, rifling through the various bags scattered on the counter.

“And we’re making them from scratch?” Wukong holds up a container of cherries and eyes it critically. 

“I’m not letting you feed him hair again.” Liu er snorts.

“That’s only happened-” Wukong begins to protest.

“Dozens of times.” The demon interrupts, a smug grin stretched across his face.

“It’s not like he noticed. Much.” The god laughs at the skeptical look on Liu er’s face before leaning over his shoulder to peek at the recipe book.

“You set up the dry ingredients and I’ll chop the cherries?” Wukong suggests, carefully pulling a slender knife from the wooden storage block in front of him.

“What? Don’t trust me with a knife?” Liu er teases, pulling out flour, sugar, salt, freeze dried cherries, baking soda and powder and setting them on the counter.   

“No.” Wukong flatly replies. “You almost cut your finger off last time, and we had to pull the knife out of your thigh the time before that. So, no, I do not trust you with a knife.”

“Fair enough.” Liu er shrugs, and sets about measuring each ingredient. 

A few minutes of comfortable quiet passes, the only noises a gentle humming from Liu er, and the steady chopping from Wukong’s knife until there’s a sharp shattering sound from Wukong’s side of the counter space.

“Ah.” The god looks down at the utterly destroyed knife in his hands, the blade having shattered like glass when he accidentally ran it over his other hand. 

“Good thing we really only needed a few cherries for the garnish.” Liu er chuckled. 

“It’ll leave more room to have fun decorating with icing?” Wukong tries to look on the positive side as he brushes the broken pieces off the counter and into the trash.

“That’s the spirit.” 

Wukong bumps his hip into Liu er’s as he passes back to the grocery bags, and the demon pauses for all of two seconds before a handful of flour coats the back of Wukong’s head.

“You did not.” Wukong turns slowly back to face his other half, and Liu er blinks innocently, wiping the evidence off on the front of his shirt.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Peaches. It must’ve been a freak gust of wind.” The demon quirks his mouth ever so slightly to the side before he schools his expression into something disinterested and neutral.

“Uh huh.”

Halfway through adding the wet ingredients, Wukong flicks the spoon at Liu er, and the demon sucks in a breath at the splatter of pink batter across his front and some of the rest of the kitchen.

“Oops. Must have been a freak gust of wind.” Wukong smirks.

Liu er sloshes some of the batter over the side of the mixing bowl, coating his hand, and starts to slink forward, a sly smile on his face. 

Wukong backs away, a nervous grin forming. 

“Now, Plum,” he starts, but Liu er leaps as Wukong ducks, a miscalculation on the god’s part, and a cherry handprint lands on his ass.  

"Oh my gods! I can't believe you!" Wukong cackles as he wraps an arm around a squirming Liu er, trying not very hard to get away. 

"You're gonna knock over the bowl! Truce, truce!" Liu er yelps, and Wukong squeezes him once as a warning before letting go. 

The truce lasts through spooning the batter into the muffin tin, and through the entirety of the actual baking, until the cupcakes had cooled and the jar of icing had been opened.

"We should make them monkey themed." Wukong says, glancing over the cakes with an appraising eye. 

"That's a little on the nose, don't you think?" Liu er tilts his head to the side.

"Nah. He's all about the brand." Wukong laughs.

"You two are like peas in a pod." Liu er shrugs and begins to spoon out dollops of icing on each cupcake.

He manages to get a base set for each cupcake before Wukong leans forward, mischief in his eyes.

Before Liu er can blink, chocolate has been totally smeared in one of his ears. 

The demon turns slowly towards Wukong, and in a light, even tone says, "I'm going to kill you," before lunging forward with his spoon. 

With a whoop, Wukong sprints a few feet away before Liu er trips him by entangling shadows around the god's ankles. 

Thirty minutes and one chocolate massacre later, the two immortals are left looking down at the remnants of their decorating supplies, half on the cupcakes in something resembling a very sick dog instead of simian shaped.

“They’re ugly.” Liu er stares at the batch, forlorn and with misty eyes.

“He…won’t mind? Probably. We can remake them?” Wukong tugs him over by the shoulder, but Liu er slips through his grasp, and plants himself determinedly in front of the disastrous desserts. 

“He’ll be here in less than twenty minutes.” Liu er murmurs.

“I can always just-” Wukong reaches for his scalp, but a glare from violet flashing eyes freezes him mid-stretch. 

“It’s not the same!” The demon growls, and lifts his hand like he's about to smash the tray.

“Okay, okay, hold on. Why are you so upset about this?” Wukong catches Liu er's fist gently, and successfully pulls him away from the counter.

“I just…I’m trying to make up for it.”

“Make up for…Mac, he’s already forgiven you.”

“It’s clear he’s going to be alive for a while, they all are." Liu er hisses out.

"He’s almost thirty, and he still looks exactly the same as the day we met him, Wukong.” He continues, still glaring at the mass of chocolate and cherry.

“There’s still time for him to realize I’m a piece of shit and-” The demon takes a shuddering breath and Wukong carefully wraps his arms around Liu er's shaking shoulders.

“Breathe, just breathe. Xiaotian is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He’s not going to change his mind and start hating you, or think you’re a piece of shit. Hell, he doesn’t think I’m a piece of shit, and he knows all the stories.” The god murmurs into Liu er's fur.

“Even the time about when you picked a fight with Budd-” The demon sniffles, and Wukong can feel his teary grin against his neck.

“Why does everyone bring that one up?! I was barely even four hundred!” Wukong interrupts in a half-hearted whine, rubbing small circles into the small of Liu er's back.

“Poor baby Wukong, picking fights and making intoxicated choices.” The demon nuzzles further into the god's neck.

“You’re lucky I’ve been going to therapy for that one jackass.” Wukong grumbles.

“Yeah, yeah.” Liu er finally wraps his arms around the god. “I’m sorry for panicking.” 

“It happens. Now, you gonna help me clean the kitchen or not?" Wukong gestures to the disaster around them.

“I’ll think about it.” Liu er hums out, and Wukong rolls his eyes. 

“Shīfù? Macaque?” Xiaotian calls from the front of the house, and the two immortals trade an equally panicked glance at each other before diving into action.

Liu er scoops up the cupcakes and carefully deposits them in a shadow portal before turning and summoning a dozen shadow clones who scatter the instant they materialize. 

Wukong takes a deep breath and exhales a gale of wind, blowing all the flour and various spices out the back door, along with half the dishware.

“Oops.” He mutters before slamming the door shut. “We’re in here, bud. Give us a moment.”

“Uh, okay? What are you guys…doing.” Xiaotian rounds the corner to see shadow and hair clones clinging to the ceiling, floors, and walls, all vigorously cleaning batter and icing off their respective surfaces.

“Hey, kid.” Liu er nods, trying to appear casual, but a bead of sweat drips down his temple, and he leans too far to the side as he waves, stumbling as he rights himself.

Wukong isn’t faring much better in attempting to appear casual, having summoned his somersault cloud in the middle of the kitchen, and wearing what could only be described as a nigh painful looking grimace in lieu of a smile.

“Are you guys alright? Did the bats get in here too? I can get-” Xiaotian starts back towards the front door, but both immortals reach out to stop him.

“No, no, it’s fine, kid, just a little last minute spring cleaning.” Liu er blurts out.

“It’s September.” Xiaotian raises an eyebrow skeptically.

“It’s your birthday.” Wukong says.

“Today? Really? I totally forgot! I’ve been so busy lately; I didn’t even think about it.” The demi-god laughs, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“You need a night off, bud.” The god sighs.

“Oh, come on. What’s the saying? ‘Evil never sleeps’, or something?”

“We, uh. Baked cupcakes.” Liu er says, uncharacteristically meek.

“You…you did?”

“Yeah. They’re uh…” Wukong nudges Liu er forward, and the demon gently summons the tray from his pocket dimension. 

“Supposed to be monkey themed.” The demon finishes, and carefully sets the tray of horrifically iced cupcakes down on the table.

“I-uh… I don’t know what to say.” Xiaotian looks at the table with a mixture of a goofy smile and a trembling lip before lunging forward and hugging both immortals. 

“Thank you.”   

“You act like we’ve never celebrated your birthday before, bud.” Wukong notes, ruffling his student's hair.

“I know, I know it’s silly, but you took the time to do something nice even though we’ve all been so busy, and-” Xiaotian wipes at the corner of his eyes with the back of his hand, and sniffles before looking at the immortals with stars in his eyes.

“Yeah, of course, kiddo.” Liu er smiles softly, patting the demi-god’s back.

“You know I’m not really a kid anymore, yeah?” Xiaotian tilts his head to the side with a small, slightly more watery than usual, smile.

“You’re under a hundred an' fifty. You’re lucky no one’s been calling you child or infant.” Wukong says, amusement running through his voice.

“You guys think I’ll live that long?”  

“I’m trying not to think about your mortality at all kiddo. It makes me contemplate life a little too much.” Liu er shakes his head.

“Comforting.” MK makes a face, scrunching his forehead. 

“Speaking of comforting,” Wukong starts, but Liu er glares at the god.

“Wukong, do not.” 

“Lay an old man’s fears to rest, will you?”

“I’ll fill the bed with cracker crumbs and eat all your peach chips.” Liu er threatens.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Wukong turns, reproach filling his eyes.

“These are…really good. Like really really good! Macaque, you did amazing!” Xiaotian interrupts, chocolate icing and pink crumbs coating his fingers.

“Hey! I helped!” Wukong protests, a pout forming on his face. 

“Seriously, you guys, try one! I’m gonna cry, these are so good. I can take the rest home, right?” Unnecessary puppy dog eyes are turned on to the two immortals as Xiaotian grabs his second treat.

“I, uh, yeah, kid. Of course, you can.”  Liu er says as he bites into one of the cupcakes. He makes a small muffled noise of surprise, and then takes a larger bite immediately, not even half-way through his first mouthful.

Wukong chuckles and reaches for Liu er’s face. 

“You’ve, you’ve got frosting, all over, like…your everything. How’d you even do that?” The god brushes icing off of the demon’s cheek and Liu er’s nose wrinkles in response. 

“It’s a gift.” The demon wiggles his eyebrows, and Wukong snorts.

“Here, let me just…” The god transforms a hair into a cloth, and the demon leans away from him, holding the cupcake aloft in a hollow threat.

Xiaotian laughs softly, a twinkle in his eyes when both immortals turn towards him.

“What?” They say in unison, and Xiaotian has to bite his lip to keep from cracking up. 

“I can’t believe it took me so long to figure out you guys dated.”

“To be fair, I was trying to ruin his life when you first met me.” Liu er purrs out, draping an arm over the god’s shoulder and shoving the rest of the cupcake into his mouth in one swift, ungraceful move.

“We are all unfortunately aware that’s your way of flirting.” Xiaotian rolls his eyes fondly.

“I’m insulted, deeply hurt, utterly wounded by your cruel words, child.” Liu er dramatically groans, clutching his chest as he sways in place.

“Uh huh.” Xiaotian grins, and Liu er's jaw drops.

“Oh, you little-” The demon playfully growls, and lunges forward. 

Xiaotian makes a noise halfway between a squeal and a laugh as he dodges reaching hands by leaping onto the ceiling.

Liu er sinks into the shadows and emerges a few inches from the demi-god and scribbles his fingers along Xiaotian's neck, causing the not quite boy to drop from his perch with a shriek.

"Don't you dare!" Xiaotian laughs, and as Liu er chases him, starts to sprint in circles around the already disheveled kitchen, leaping over chairs and table alike until Wukong scoops him up with one arm.

“What!” Xiaotian yelps, and Wukong's laughter booms out across the house.

“Ha! Take that!” Liu er crows, happily half sunk into the shadows.

“Whose side are you on?!” The demi-god tries to twist away from Wukong's hand buried into his side, but is unsuccessful.

"My own? Duh?" Wukong says, easily dodging the flailing limbs aimed at his face.

“Noohoho!” Xiaotian giggles, peals of laughter breaking through. “I surrender, I surrender!”

“Not me, you’ll never take me ali-Ack!” Liu er trips over the couch, and Wukong carefully drops Xiaotian on one of the arm chairs before pouncing on the demon, and sitting on his legs.

“What about… now?” The god grins, and shoves his hands under Liu er's chin, effectively trapping them there when the dark furred monkey tries to shove his shoulder up and stop the god's fluttering fingers.

“I give, I yield!” The demon yelps, and Wukong smirks as he withdrawals his hands.

“You’re such a cheater,” Liu er laughs, and his eyes crinkle into crescent moons as he playfully swats at the other monkey.

“I still won though.” The god says cheekily.

“Mhmm.”

“Alright, I don't mean to eat and run, but I gotta go, Mei and Red Son said something about a sleepover? I don’t want them to set my apartment on fire.” Xiaotian stands, and brushes off his jeans before giving each immortal a large hug.

“Get home safe. And don’t forget our lunch date on Tuesday!” Wukong says, re-ruffling his student's hair.

“I will, and I won’t forget! Do you have a box I can use for the cupcakes?” The demi-god asks, eyeing the still destroyed kitchen.

“Nah, just take the tray. We’ve got plenty.” Liu er shrugs dismissively.

“Are you sure-”

“Yeah, bud.” Wukong nods in agreement.

“Okay! I’ll bring it back on Tuesday.” Xiaotian says brightly, cradling the precious tin of goodies under one arm.

“Sounds good.”

“Make sure to text one of us when you get back to the city.” Liu er reminds the demi-god, giving him a one-armed embrace.

“I will, I will.” Xiaotian gives Wukong another hug, lifting him with one arm.

“I think you’ve gotten stronger.” The god hums.

“You think so?” Xiaotian preens, quickly setting his mentor down and flexing his arm.

“You did just lift me off the floor, bud.” Wukong says, and Xiaotian gives him a familiar confused look.

“Made of stone? Ah, whatever. Just get home safe, will ya?” The god shakes his head.

“You guys are such worry warts.” Xiaotian chuckles.

“Uh huh. Bye, kiddo.” Liu er waves as Xiaotian steps through the door.

“See you soon, bud.” Wukong calls to Xiaotian's retreating back, and the demi-god waves over his shoulder, clutching the tin of cupcakes tightly in his other hand.

“See, told you the cupcakes were gonna be good.” The god gently shuts the front door and turns to Liu er, still splayed out across the couch.

“I don’t think you ever said that.” The demon raises an eyebrow as the other immortal crosses the room to kneel before him.

“Well, I said he doesn’t hate you.” Wukong says, and brushes dark fur from out of Liu er's face.

“I’ll consider conceding that.” Liu er's tail thumps gently on the couch as Wukong slowly leans forward.

“Stubborn old bastard.” He laughs fondly, and the demon snorts in response.

“Takes one to know one.” Liu er pokes Wukong's cheek and then cups his face, running his thumb over the god's fur.

“You still have frosting on your face.” Wukong whispers, leaning even closer.

“Where?” Liu er tilts his head towards the god with a slow smile creeping over his face.

“Right…here.” Wukong kisses the corner of his mouth, and then licks a stripe up the side of the demon's face.

“Ugh, I bet you think you’re so cute.” Liu er wrinkles his nose and wipes away the spit on his cheek.

“I’m adorable.” The god wiggles his eyebrows.

“Yeah, you are.” Liu er sighs and drags Wukong by the collar of his shirt back forwards for another kiss.

#lmk #lmk monkey king #lmk wukong #lmk six eared macaque #lmk macaque #lmk liu er mihou #shadowpeach #lmk sun wukong #baking #my writing #this is so long lol #sun rambles #answering ask #crab anon #crabon #i'm so sorry i deleted the ask whilst trying to answer it - guess that's the last time i post anything on mobile lol #fun fact - i posted this at work because i finished it during my break and was so excited to share it #to answer all your lovely questions crabon - i am doing well and significantly less burned than last week #although i am sporting quite a few bite marks from some rather angry five year olds #i hope you're having a lovely day and doing well my dear

[eldritch-spouse]

Hi! So I've been following this account for sometime now and lemme just say ✨I Am Obsessed ✨ Everyday I look forward to seeing your posts😤 Especially Grimbly❤️Also just wanted to add on that I love your work! I hope to see more of it!(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

P.S could you spare some more Grimbly couple headcannons?(๑´•.̫ • `๑)

[I'm sorry for not getting to this sooner, I'm just drowning in a lot of stuff right now, <:1]

This is legitimately some of the cutest stuff ever! You have a very cute style and it totally matches Grimbly's character, even Fasma looks like a decent monster when you draw him! I- Legit, this is so soft, I'm- <3<3

Grimbly relationship headcanons

Get ready for a lot of nocturnal dates. Your monster boyfriend is vampiric, and as such, going out under the sun without protection is a big no-no. Grimbly remedies this with particularly strong shades and a frilly gothic umbrella. Sun-resistance potions sometimes, but those are quite expensive. Don't be surprised if you find Grimbly knocking at your door long after the sun has set with a picnic basket;

Grimbly has a tendency to be needy, and sometimes this translates itself to a hundred concerned texts and probably at least ten calls. Please tell him when you're going outside and coming home and take him with you when you head out shopping, please he just-;

Can't stand being alone. When he's not working, he wants to be with you. Giving this monster the cold shoulder is killing him. Grimbly would rather you slap him across the face than pretend he's not in front of you;

Loves to be given things! Grimbly has been raised strangely, to say the least, a lot of his thirst for attention is due to the fact that he wasn't given much attention before. Santi unintentionally taught him that affection equals material spoils, so the bat monster goes crazy whenever you give him anything;

Grimbly will bake for you. He's not the best at it, and you might have to tell him you don't want blood on your cookies, but he's taken it up as a hobby and he's not half bad at it!;

This little monster will be very happy if you ever volunteer to let him feed off you. It hurts a little bit, but he takes a lot of care not to drain you too much. He thinks your blood tastes amazing and loves drinking on your lap while you pet him;

Being that Grimbly is almost entirely nocturnal, he doesn't sleep much, so he spends most of the night buzzing around the house and keeping an eye on your sleeping form. If you wake up with two wide magenta eyes glancing at you from the dark, don't be alarmed;

Speaking of sleeping, don't panic if you catch him curled up on top of your wardrobe, he likes tall places, feels safer. If he could hang from your ceiling, he would.

#sweetbakeryangelflap #Grimbly oc

[benayoung]

* ❁┆inferno

nayoung is serious about this. granted, nayoung is serious about most things, especially involving competition. next gen just so happens to be about the biggest competition she can possibly be involved in, and she demands excellence from everyone. she might be a little too hard on some of the contestants, but she doesn't think so; they're improving, and that's all that matters.

she also demands excellence from her fellow coaches, or at least her fellow coach from sr media: sarang. she isn't getting it.

she's pretty disappointed in him, though she doesn't know why she's surprised. as far as nayoung is concerned, sarang has coasted by in just about everything she knows of him being involved in; next gen, training, and his relationship with alex now – or lackthereof, in the past. he gets lucky and gets his way over and over again by putting in the bare minimum effort. why? because he's cute? charismatic? fuck, so is nayoung; they even have dating alex in common. nayoung, however, is significantly less useless, but also significantly less...adored. privileged. whatever. she doesn't have nearly as much as sarang does despite working her ass off. it's annoying at best – infuriating at worst.

she sees it already here, too: beloved sarang, flashing his smiles, offering no feedback of significance. batting his eyelashes and looking pretty for the cameras, likely to receive glowing feedback from everyone watching, judges included. she's been watching him; she's noticed he hasn't offered anyone a proper critique. only encouragement. she gets it – he probably wants to look good, and that's what being nice will get him. nayoung just thinks he's shallow. superficial.

nayoung isn't afraid to be the bad guy. she isn't afraid to call out next gen's darling sarang where no one else will. so when she catches him during a break, she approaches him, perfectly aware of the cameras trained on them in every practice room.

"hey," she greets him briefly, and then doesn't beat around the bush for a second: "why haven't you given anyone a legitimate critique all week? you know these contestants aren't as great as you're telling them they are." she realizes that sounds harsh. she'll probably get evil edited no matter what she adds, but she tries to salvage it anyway: "they need our help to be great. they don't need you to lie to them to make them feel better about themselves." okay, maybe she didn't make it much better.

❁┆@sarangbe

#sarangbe #be:ngs2p2 #❁┆thread #❁┆inferno #❁┆nextgen 2 #❁┆0324

[nakianshuri]

You ever rewatch Stranger Things Vol. 2, and realize how ridiculously reasonable Steve and Robin are in their objections to Nancy and Dustin’s plan to go back to the Upside Down to kill Vecna? It’s not like Nancy and Dustin are wrong about wanting to save the world, but it’s just really fascinating that the fears Steve and Robin had about the bats and Vecna’s seeming omnipotence were truly legitimate worries that ended up dooming the original plan, not red herrings like Robin’s fears about rabies. 

Nancy tells the group the terrible apocalyptic vision Vecna forced on her and how the only way to protect Hawkins, Lenora, and the world is to kill Vecna. Eddie for his part immediately says, “Nope. Nope,” and Steve says, “Whoa, no, no, no. What? Let’s think this through.”

Nancy: What is there to think through?

Steve: We barely made it out of there in one piece.

Nancy: Yeah, because we weren’t prepared. But this time...we’ll kill him.

Steve: Or he’ll kill us. The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He’s not scared of us.

Robin: And for good reason. We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One…he’s super powerful…It’s not a fair fight.

Dustin says Vecna is defenseless when he’s in trace…

Steve: Defenseless? What about the army of bats?

Robin tells Steve that she doesn’t feel they’ll make it out this time, and the last time Steve talks to Eddie, he seems really concerned (rightfully so) about him and Dustin putting themselves at risk.

I don’t know if this will be relevant in the next season, but Nancy and Dustin have been shown to believe in their own intelligence because they are usually right about everything. This time, however, there were limits to what they could foresee, and in the process delayed the apocalypse, which is the most important thing, but they lost Max (at least for now) and Eddie. The show has framed the end of season 4 as the first time our heroes have lost. Was this loss based just on a series of unfortunate events or was this a sign of overconfidence, too? The only reason they rest of them survived was because El got back her powers and piggybacked her way into the fight. 

#stranger things #stranger things 4 vol 2 #steve harrington #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #dustin henderson

[starlightshadowsworld]

Danganronpa 3 Despair arc episode 7

Thonks

Oh so we're just gonna jump immediately into last time, which was Junko running into Ryota.

And interrogating him now.

Never thought I'd here Junko Enoshima utter the word weeb and yet here we are.

Rude, animators deserve more recognition and stuff.

The irony of an anime character going on a rant about how important anime is.

To another anime character who doesn't like anime.

The fourth wall is taking some hits this episode.

Wasn't expecting him to than show her his project.

And than for to cry.

I love how they had to include a *This is her personal opinion* note as Junko wacks down a bunch of manga with a bat.

Mukuro crying face was legitimately terrifying tho.

Oh no, don't tell Junko how to influence anyone's brains with subliminal messaging.

... Or with anything.

I thought this was just a bit but nope... This is bad... Oh no.

I'm gonna be saying that a lot aren't I.

This is what I get for wondering what Ryota was doing during all of this, because while apart of the 77th class, he's not apart of the killing game or the Remnants.

But he's part of the Future Foundation.

I am concerned about the casual conversation about using media to brainwash people and than Ryota ends it with making the world a better place.

And her smile, oh he is so gonna be a tool for destruction.

Aaannnd Gundam is doing poses with a bear.

Love to see it.

Nagito's still suspended... And was in a plane crash and ended up a deserted island.

Typical Nagito things.

.... Didn't need to see him showering in a waterfall...

And of course straight after that is Teruteru putting a banana through a donut.

I gotta hand it to these guys they really embodied high schoolers.

Gundam saying silence you perverts as a bear chomps on their hands, the best response.

And Ryota's been missing for a week.

I'm sure Junko had nothing to do with that.

Ugh Juzo's here.

Just when I had my hopes up I wouldn't have to deal with him for a while.

But fine, what you gotta say.

... Oh 20 staff members have gone missing... Nevermind that is important.

Juzo, you are the dangerous people. Maybe not specifically these dangerous people, but you do be dangerous.

.... Chisa why would you wanna lay your life down for Munakata?

Literally.... Why?

"Don't let emotions infer with the job you're here to do."

Those are bold words for you of all people to utter, Mr I damn near beat Hajime into a coma.

Get off you're high horse.

Ryota I get what you mean by the new equipment is great but you're always alone, how are you more alone here?

What cos Twogami ain't here to make sure your still alive?

Rude.

Mukuro casually kidnapping Mikan.

Typical day for both of them.

Given how Mikan... Talks about Junko... I am not looking forward to this.

Junko's analyse face is disturbing.

So she was able to, on the second watch figure out how the brainwashing works... Wow.

No yeah, ultimate analyst makes sense.

Oh look it's Izuru.

And she asked him out.

I don't ship it.

OH! I should've seen that coming but nope.

Just bodies hitting the ground, and the bloods pink again.

I guess that would be her version of a date, and Junko's the one doing the killing.

Which is somehow more terrifying

She's usually the woman in the chair, but seeing Junko be the one actively killing and torturing people is creepy.

I dunno if I've mentioned it before but I like Izuru's voice because it very much sounds like if someone had their soul drained out.

And it sounds similar to Hajime's but also not.

... Oh... Oh no...

There's kids in the classroom....and she wants to show Izuru despair on a bigger scale.

The student council too... Not just some random students.

Wait.

I had heard there were other killing games, or at the very least the 78th class wasn't the first.

So this is the first killing game... Ohh that is good.

Man the guy telling everyone to calm sounds so much like Ishimaru in both the sound of his voice and his words.

This is so much scarier than any killing game shown in the games... Holyshit Mukuro just shot a student and went you don't fall in line and do the same you'll end up like her.

No crazy executions.

No class trial.

No Monokuma.

This is terrifying.

Well at least we still have the motive videos.

Mukuro singing while this goes on is just yeah sure.

And it just keeps going... Fuck.

Also it can't be a coincidence that some of these kids loosely resemble the 78th class

I love that the chainsaw says Jason Freddy.

And the fact the last one manager to graze Izuru's cheek.

Typical hopes peak wanting to cover it up, even though Jin does want to say something.

Huh I wonder if that guy stuck with Kirigiri in the present because her father asked him to keep an eye on her if something happened to him.

Junko exposing the whole Kamakura project and the student council massacre.

And using Izuru as the scapegoat.

Clever.

So now the reserve course is coming for the main school.

"Where did you go Hinata?"

Oh erm... You don't wanna know Chiaki.

Trust me on that.

#danganronpa 3: the end of hope's peak high school #Danganronpa #junko enoshima #izuru kamukura #ryota mitarai #long post

[aphroditesacolyte]

Meryl and Diosia

Ch 5. // About You // Read on AO3

Masterpost

Summary: Meryl tries to understand his new odd acquaintance—or perhaps rather captor—but finds it more difficult than he expects it to be.

Content warnings: Fear/anxiety, threatening aura, complicated situation... sadism, I guess? XD

~Approx word count: 1,848

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Meryl clutched it close to his chest, where a feeling both anxious and fluttery resided. As to whether Diosia would treat him well today, or if he’d tease and taunt and toy with him, or finally go through with the looming threat, he could never tell. Diosia never made it easy to tell, seemingly on purpose, like he didn’t want Meryl to be able to. Rather than attempt to predict, he’d merely hope. His heart could take some toying with today, but the anxiety of it being more than teasing was still grating.

Part of him wished he could disappear and make it so Diosia could never find him again, however, a little part of him was beginning to enjoy it. He knew it was dangerous to say, but Diosia was being quite pleasant lately—even though he carried a rather terrifying aura as always, narrowed, menacing slits focused on him at all times, but he was otherwise relaxed. Rather than playing with him, Diosia was talking with him.

Words would almost endlessly pour out of him, dozens of things he loved to talk about, but hated to bother his friends or family with. It didn’t matter with Diosia, Diosia wasn’t someone who was close to him. Diosia could reject his interests or feelings and it wouldn’t hurt… hopefully. Not that rejection was much of a legitimate concern, he seemed very interested, it was simply that the thought crept through his mind anyways. In their conversations, he began to catch the vaguest fractals of another person. Diosia was a secretive person, the kind who he could’ve sworn would keep even their favourite colour close to their chest, locked out of sight. Despite this, he truly did well see a person in Diosia—someone capable of feeling, of connecting and loving, of being good. This set Meryl with a bed of embers, and a great warmth of Diosia’s increasing likability kept them stoked and burning. For a reason he couldn��t place, he wanted Diosia to like him. Perhaps because it may be his ticket to survival? Though favour with a predator, in his experience thus far, was much more like being batted around over eaten. Caught and released, only to be caught again.

Besides this, Meryl had learned was how Diosia LOVED his own wicked games. He wouldn’t ever ask Meryl to go along with him, not directly, anyways, it was more so “Keep yourself hidden for five minutes or I’ll eat you tonight.” However, with that came a certain feeling that Diosia wasn’t trying very hard to win in time. He’d always be right there to catch Meryl and scoop him up, but for some reason or another falter. If Diosia won the round, they were a step closer to the game being over, and luckily, for now, Meryl couldn’t catch a hint of genuine interest in it being over. Not yet. For now, he was suitable entertainment, and Diosia wasn’t bad company at all.

He was patient and sly and very attentive. Observant. He didn’t even need to tell him that he liked berries best, Diosia already knew, and before he could say a thing Diosia had already tailored a plate to his taste. To be with Diosia was to be beside a strange mix of excellent company, and the worst possible company you could ever have. The kind that would good-naturedly pull off your coat and pull out your seat to sit you down for dinner, but also simultaneously be twisting and toying with a knife in their hand as they did so. It was confusing.

A very, very confusing habit now, as a matter of fact. In the way of a typical routine, he brushed past the bleak rocks and their dreadful shadows, trailing deeper into the foreign, yet now somewhat familiar domain. It was a place that wasn’t his at all, though one he spent plenty of time at, so it was a strange feeling to not be able to call it his own in some way. It was his second house, but he was sharply reminded not home, even though Diosia now often insisted Meryl spend entire nights with him (a thing he would much prefer if Diosia wasn’t nocturnal). He got very little sleep now; his family was getting suspicious, although explaining that to Diosia changed not a thing. Maybe Diosia would stop poking him and let him try to sleep, but that was at best.

Now he came up to the flattened area Diosia always insisted on taking him, and pressed a hand to the edge to lift himself up and take in a deep breath of salty air while he waited, the other hand tight around his gift. He glanced about all the objects Diosia had, but paid little other mind to his surroundings. Diosia would appear when he felt like it, in the meantime, he’d simply enjoy the peace.

Then the sound of a distinct SWOOP came from beside him. Meryl’s gaze swiftly caught sight of the creature towering over him, folding in his wings comfortably with a smug look.

“Hello, Meryl.”

A kind smile came to Meryl’s face—something he hadn’t even willed himself to do.

“It’s good to see you again, I brought you something.” He said brightly, almost a little excitedly, hopeful Diosia would like it.

He offered up the clam shell he had been using as a somewhat humble case, and Diosia quickly took it up and began to inspect it. He opened it, and a somewhat softer smile came to his face before he looked back to Meryl with the same smug amusement.

“A pearl, hm?”

He nodded, losing a little bit of his confidence. “D-do you like it?”

Finally, the burning turned to a warmth as Diosia chuckled deeply, clearly amused by… something. He didn’t think the gift was pathetic, did he? Or was getting him gifts in general pathetic? Was he dissatisfied?

He began to turn in a direction Meryl wasn’t sure of as he spoke. “Thank you very much Meryl, I quite like it.” It was set down amongst a few other pretty things and then Diosia added, “A very beautiful gift from a lovely mer. I appreciate it.”

The words in both tone and phrasing seemed sincere, but his expression was still so… Diosia. With a sort of dramatic majesty, he trailed back, and gazed down at Meryl with the same sly, cunning look.

Perhaps Meryl’s stomach twisted looking up at those eyes merely because of how intimidating Diosia was when standing over him, or perhaps it was the reason of an unplaceable feeling. Regardless of how frightening Diosia was, he caught himself smiling slightly still—maybe that’s why Diosia looked so amused? The question went unanswered as he was plucked up from the water with ease, carried by powerful arms, much stronger than his own. With the same smooth movements that Diosia always followed, he set Meryl down and quickly began to speak.

“How are you, little mer?”

“Oh!” Meryl gladdened, realizing today wouldn’t be so bad. “I’m quite lovely,” he conceded, “a little anxious, but otherwise well.”

“That is lovely news.” Diosia replied, clearly making an attempt at being friendly.

He had to help him out a little though; it was clear Diosia was a bit new to conversation, or at least needed a refresher. He could only imagine how long he’d been alone for.

“We talk about me so much though, Diosia,” He gazed at the siren’s curious expression a moment before continuing on. “What about you? Have you been up to anything as of late?”

Diosia waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, please. I don’t mind talking about you. I haven’t much to tell.”

Meryl tried to buy him over with a saccharine tilt of his head and pleaded softly, “It’s what I’d like to talk about.”

Diosia huffed out a slight laugh as he leaned back. “Really?”

He nodded, somewhat hopefully. He wanted to be more familiar with him, Diosia felt… mysterious in a way. He didn’t understand much of what Diosia did at all—like why he was required to visit every two days, or why Diosia had to teeter the line between friendly and murderous every visit. Did he want company or not?

Diosia had a thoughtful look on his face, as if he were searching for something to say.

“Let’s start with something simple,” he said in a very affable and gentle tone, “What do you do for fun?”

Diosia smiled something sly. “Hunt you of course, little mer.”

He laughed a little. “No, no—aside from that. You aren’t with me all the time.”

Diosia paused and Meryl laughed a little more.

“It’s nothing confusing, Diosia—“

“Oh hush.” Diosia retorted, placing a hand by his side, and leaned in deeply, eyes narrowed upon him. “I’ll tell you what I please.”

He tensed up a little from the proximity and nodded, a bit thrown off—surprised.

“Okay, okay.” He bravely pushed on Diosia’s chest to move him back, to which (and it was absolutely shocking to Meryl) Diosia followed the lead of. Once they were a more favorable distance away, he asked, “What about your collection?” He took a casual glance all around them. “Where have you gotten all of this stuff?”

Diosia turned his head to admire some of the shining objects he had.

“Oh, that’s rather simple, Meryl.” He purred. “I get it all from little smitten mer like you.”

“Oh please…” he murmured, half amused, and then as Diosia’s face whipped back around to him with a sharp smile, his own grew.

Meryl pressed on, “Come on, you don’t spend all your time waiting around just for your time with me, do you?”

Diosia lounged back. “Perhaps I don’t, little mer. What of it?”

“You know what,” he spoke, playfully indignant, “fine. Don’t tell me.” His arms crossed and he looked away in a dramatic gesture. “I don’t even care, you’re just some beast keeping me here anyways.”

Diosia chuckled. “And I’m so deeply sorry to keep you prisoner.” Suddenly, Diosia slipped up, and closed the space between them, so terribly close he could feel the humming vibrations when Diosia spoke. He took up Meryl’s chin, and gently made him gaze his face and at the emphasis of his teeth as he spoke. “I simply can’t help savouring the presence of such a lovely dinner.”

Meryl squirmed away. “No, no. None of that.”

“Daww,” Diosia purred, “did I scare you?”

Meryl sighed. So being playful was not an option with Diosia…

“Let’s talk about something else.”

He was thankful for Diosia to agree, albeit in a way that seemed conniving and untrustworthy. Getting off the topic of possibly being eaten was much more preferable than Diosia being a little less closed off, though. Once more their conversation had been steered back in his direction, and he was once again finding himself caught up in his own interests. He realized by the time he was almost asleep that Diosia had won—he hadn’t said a thing about himself today.

Damnit.

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#original characters #original writing #fantasy writing #romance writing #acolyte's stories: meryl and diosia #oc story #oc: diosia #oc: meryl #original story

[endiness]

the batman lb

~

okay, i guess i'll reserve my commentary to a lb now instead of spamming.

when is a batman property gonna be brave enough to make alfred posh again. bruce pulling the "you're not my real dad" card on alfred. like, legitimately, is this supposed to be a comedy. how did people watch this in theatres and not crack the FUCK up, it is beyond me.

you have THREE hours. why are you speedrunning the cypher. like, why is this so fast paced? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE REST OF THE TIME IN THIS MOVIE IF THIS IS HOW YOU'RE SPENDING IT NOW. I AM CONCERNED. when this movie isn't unintentionally funny, it's just boring. i mean, why else would you just take a thumb? obvs it would be used to unlock something, duh. also, like, what'd you think was gonna happen putting that mystery usb into your computer? maybe put it into a burner with no personal information and network connection on it next time, maybe.

WHY'D YOU MAKE HIS BOOTS SO STUPIDLY STOMPY. IT SOUNDS FUCKING DUMB. also it just makes me think clang, clang, thunk, scrape. it'd be funnier if this were some bdsm club and then batman would come in and nobody would bat (hehe) an eyelash at his outfit choice. HEY, GUYS, DID YOU KNOW THIS CHICK IS CATWOMAN? LOOK AT ALL THE CATS. DO YA GET IT? DO YA GET IT??? everything about this batcat scene is bad and dumb. also, they don't have chemistry.

why is the place SO destroyed. there's TOO MUCH evidence. it's the riddler? are sure? are you sure you aren't mr jigsaw man? are you really certain? LMAO IT'S LITERALLY JUST JIGSAW THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING. THAT EVERYTHING IN THIS MOVIE IS PLAYED COMPLETELY STRAIGHT. "you got a lot of cats." yeah, duh, bruce. how else would we know she's catwoman. the audience is completely stupid and has to have everything spelled out to them, don't you know anything? (the sad thing is that's true. people ARE that stupid these days. ugh, why'd y'all have to ruin it for the rest of us with brains.)

"they injected him with arsenic." "rat poison." also known as: poison. "what kind of demented sob does this to a person?" jigsaw! :) oh sorry, did you want me to say riddler? but i don't see him anywhere 🤷‍ anyway, remember when jim carrey was riddler. that was at least fun, wasn't it. the complete lack of batcat chemistry lmao. I'M NOT EVEN AN HOUR INTO THIS MOVIE 😭 hey, y'know what makes up for a total lack of chemistry? the old bickering married couple trope, especially for characters that've known each other for like 5 seconds. jk, that's bad. don’t do that. selina would be more interesting if she were just her own character and not selina or catwoman and also if this movie would let her exclusively be about her friend and not, like, batcat nonsense.

when the riddler isn't jigsaw'ing it up he's brainy'ing it up. (y'know, brainy. from hey arnold.) the riddler just blunt force trauma'ing all his victims is so funny. like, i've watched criminal minds. i know that means you're just a coward. especially since you have to get them all when their backs are turned. coward. like, legit, are you supposed to find the riddler in this intimidating? because he isn't. he's funny when he's lurking behind people as if that's somehow supposed to be scary when it isn't, and he's hilarious when he's smashing people's heads in because he must have so non-existent self-esteem that's the only way he feels comfortable enough to attack people, and then he's also funny when he's trying to be the riddler because you're actually just coming up with saw traps. I'M STILL NOT EVEN AN HOUR INTO THIS MOVIE.

oh yay, forcing this batcat narrative despite them having no chemistry. and selina genuinely being a better character far, far away from him. also, you have to keep up appearances beCAUSE YOU NEED A COVER STORY, YOU BAFOON. joker did everything about this better. full offense but pattinson's bruce sucks. he's so boring and awkward. and like, not in a good way like how bruce should be. 'cause he should be a lil awkward. but he should at least be able to FAKE being mr eligible bachelor man, if literally only for appearance and cover's story sake. the bruce in this feels like everybody interviewed about him after he has been convicted of being batman would go "yeah, that kid was always a fuckin' weirdo, i ain't surprised at all." JOKER DID EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BETTER, FFS.

i'd get out of there. a smart person would've made that car a bomb. i guess making the person inside of it is the same thing. this is so fucking boring, honestly. 🙄 AND I'VE STILL 2 HOURS LEFT. clang, clang, thunk, scrapeeeee. batman has come to uh... untape. that man's mouth. "*heavy breathing*" IT'S BRAINY, Y'ALL! no, you're nygma. e nygma. edward nygma. lmao, joker did all of this so much better. this movie is SO embarrassing. really, i'd have thought since you were a child, you loved the saw movie franchise. 🤷‍ bruce, i don't think you're supposed to be helping him cheat. but is riddler gonna call you out or. is that gonna happen when you get to the third one and bruce has answered them all for you. oh, that didn't happen. lame.

the idea that batman would somehow survive a point blank explosion to his face when it took off the other guy's head who he was literally right next to when the bomb exploded... now you've broken my immersion on top of everything else. if you're going to be afraid of somebody high up on the food chain in a corrupt justice system, i'd think you've be afraid of like... the mayor? not whoever the fuck that guy is. OHMYGOD, JIM IS FAKING INTERROGATING BATMAN????? WHO??? COULD HAVE FORSEEN??? THIS??????? does the movie think this looks cool? i hope it knows it looks lame.

somebody add that whip noise effect for how often this scene is switching between coverage of bruce and jim lmao. why doesn't batman just upload all of this evidence to like tiktok or something. modern day technology exists in this iteration. he's actually being extremely ineffective as batman by not doing that. STOP PRETENDING THAT BATCAT IN THIS HAVE CHEMISTRY. THEY DON'T. shouldn't bruce be like brain dead with how many successive concussions that he's had at this point. bruce revving his engine like this is somehow supposed to be intimidating... embarrassing. i must have THE most bored expression on my face watching this chase scene. LOOK IT'S THE SCENE FROM HEAVY RAIN! how does this scene have any stakes. did anybody watch this and care about what was happening. i mean i guess now there's stakes that poor innocent people are being sucked in this clusterfuck lol. but i mean for the main characters? eh, who cares. oh look the car is flipping, you can tell because it's that shot of the stuff in the car goin’ nuts. LOOK HOW COOL BATMAN LOOKS UPSIDE DOWN IN THE RAIN WITH THE FIRE AND HIS STOMPY STOMPY BOOTS. HE'S SUPER COOL, RIGHT GUYS? AND WITH THE SUPER COOL MUSIC PLAYING? WE MADE A GOOD MOVIE, RIGHT? that's what i assume the people who made this movie were thinking.

when i can even take them saying the riddler seriously i just hear method man saying the riddler. *takes a 3min dance break for the song* i'm not joking, i took a break to listen that song. OH THANK CHRIST. i am halfway through this movie. THE EVIL IS 50% DEFEATED. 🎶 THE RIDDLAR 🎶 this movie is soooooo bad lol. i mean el also means god. is that gonna be a thing lol. remember when jon glover voiced the riddler. that was fun, wasn't it? remember when lost did this bit with the old school technology? that was fun, wasn't it? THE TOWER? THE TOWER THAT JEREMIAH DESIGNED? is that what you're talking about? okay, but fr, why is there an HOUR AND A HALF OF THIS MOVIE LEFT.

ohno, bruce, you've put alfred in danger by existing AND after you've already pulled the "you're not my dad" card on him. that's sad, huh. "i'm afraid it already has, sir." dory is hilarious. unintentionally. please explain how alfred is doing so poorly despite at least THROWING THE BOMB AWAY FROM HIM but meanwhile bruce survived a fucking point blank explosion. POINT BLANK. LITERALLY RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO HIM. like, you can either have realism or fantastical. YOU HAVE TO PICK ONE. YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH SOMETIMES AND OTHER TIMES NOT. every time this movie thinks it's being cool my eyes just roll. 🙄

THEY DON'T HAVE CHEMISTRY. STOP. everything about this is getting lamer and lamer 🙄 THERE'S STILL OVER AN HOUR LEFT. i mean, the joker also thought bruce's parents were his when they weren't. did you get a dna test done or. why's it so laaaaaaaaaame. why are they kissing. this doesn't make sense. ugH. now, you could make this acceptable if she stole shit off of him.

"martha was in and out of asylums" joker!martha canon??? okay. i highly dislike this version of bruce. he is just *sad trombone noise* i don't want *sad trombone noise* for a bruce. ...didn't i play this scene in a batman game or something. why is the plot for this just jumping everywhereeeeeeeee. *sad trombone noise* is so boring. all of the wayne manor designs (sans gotham) have been bad since 90s batman ended. 💅 bruh, he just woke up. calm down. what, you did nothing for your mom? RUDE. ....i miss when alfred got to be posh. i do not accept any of you non-posh alfreds. 🙈 this scene is so touching. is what somebody would say who is possibly easily manipulated i guess. not me though.

i just. do not like this selina. there are only two selina's for me and they are from batman returns and btas. why would you do this plot and make everything so boring when you could've just done white knight. except whoever made this would've just made that boring too. "come on, vengeance." pls stop. literally every time this movie is like look how cool this is, it's just the lamest shit ever.

now it's like you're trying to copy batman returns but like. you have to know batman returns did it better, right. right. if all of you stopped monologuing, you'd solve all of your problems. like, at all. instead of not at all. omg, she scratched him. like a cat. get it. 'cause she's catwoman. GET IT. DO YOU GET IT. everything about this is just the lamest. i mean, batman's secretly recording everything he sees and hears so perhaps not. THERE'S STILL ALMOST A FUCKING HOUR LEFT.

i was going to make a joke about the riddler sniping falcone but i guss it wasn't a joke, huh. i hope it is the riddler who shot him because that makes actually no fucking sense whatsoever. so it's perfect for this movie! remember how fun the riddler's place was in batman forever and they played bad days by the flaming lips? that was fun, wasn't it? ohmygod, is he drawing a question mark in his cappuccino or whatever. because that'd just be. so clever of this movie. so clever and creative. i am not at all being sarcastic. IT'S THE ONE THAT SAYS E NYGMA. AS IN NYGMA. EDWARD NYGMA. oh, movie, you're just oh so creative and clever to have him draw a question mark in his coffee. i'm so super duper impressed by you and your storytelling skills!

no, his name is edward nygma. "suffocating my mind no escape" yeah yeah cut my life into pizza, we get it. "he's got like 500 followers." i have a lot more followers than that. on tumblr. tumblr. wow, is it: I'M GONNA SAY WHO BATMAN IS. i, for one, would gladly have this be the end of THE batman. 'cause this movie is bad and you're a bad lame-o batman, full offense.

...is that collar a joke, because you could easily slip it over your head. like, it's much larger than his head. okay, so on top of being jigsaw and brainy, he's also literally just stanley coleman too? dumb. man, you know things in places like this are recorded, right? or did you stop the cameras? kinda looks like they're still recording so uh, you're kinda already fucked. where's the joker to pop in a bitchslap the fuck out of riddler and be like "WE ALL KNOW HE'S BRUCE, YOU MORON. YOU'RE RUINING THE GAME WITH BATMAN FOR THE REST OF US." the joker did this way better. 🙄 WHY THE FUCK IS THERE STILL OVER 30 MINS OF THIS MOVIE LEFT. why'd people give joker so much shit when this movie and character exists lol. bruh, are you faking this or like everything in this movie: is this supposed to be unironically played straight. let's fast forward outta this scene already pls.

i am at the point where if i could run this movie at 2x speed, i would be already. alas, i cannot. now you're just stealing from jeremiah and gotham. LAME. literally every single thing this movie is copying... everything else did it better lol. jeremiah already did this and he's so much cooler this is so unfair 😤 LITERALLY GOTHAM ALREADY DID THIS AND IT WAS SO MUCH COOLER UGH. also, like, year one/zero year was the inspiration for both, right. BUT GOTHAM LEGITIMATELY DID THIS BETTER AND COOLER.

ohno, the dumbass mayor who thinks she knows better than everyone else got shot. how terrible. also, i totally have emotional investment in all of this characters and not. literally none. oh yay, it's the look how cool batman is fight scenes. yay. waiting for the moment when batman gets saved by catwoman 'cause this is super lame and that's one of the lamest things that could happen. oh i'm sub 30 mins, yay! this random villain taking for fucking ever to just shoot batman when he could've just shot him. lame. also, hey, catwoman stopped him and saved batman. who could have forseen this totally not lame turn of events.

remember when the joker and batman were bleeding out and their blood was making a broken heart on the ground. anyway, that was more romantic than this nonsense. so now he's just using magic juice to pump himself up? lmao. what even is this. "i'm vengeance." yeah, it sounds lame af doesn't it. i know that's not the real reason. but it should be. isn't the entire city there getting deded lol. LMAO ARE YOU FOR REAL. THIS IS SO FUCKING LAME. like, your epic "oh batman dies" moment is him being a fucking moron and cutting an electrical wire to stop it from electrocuting people except THEN you fucking chicken out and don't even have him die (or ‘die’)? EVEN THOUGH YOU SHOT IT AS A DEATH SCENE MOMENT. HOW MUCH FUCKING LAMER CAN THIS MOVIE GET, JESUS. all tea all shade all offense but batfleck did this better. look at how ~emotional and ~moving this scene is. totally not schlocky as hell. wait, was that the dumbass mayor who's there? who got shot? bitch, you're gonna die in those waters. your wound is getting super infected. that's sad huh.

OH YAY THE EMO MUSIC STARTS. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO COME ON WE'VE RETURNED TO THE RORSCHACH VOICE OVER NARRATIONS?????????? THIS IS SO SAD FOR YOU. I'M SO EMBARRASSED FOR YOU. THIS IS REALLY PATHETIC, Y'ALL. ugh, when is this gonna be over. somebody soundproof the riddler's cell. YOU CAN'T SUCK ME IN WITH BATJOKES. I WON'T FALL FOR THIS. is this how it's gonna end. on them. having no chemistry.  "you're already spoken for." YEAH, BY THE JOKER. i mean, not this batman. he's *sad trombone noise* and deserves no jokers. but like, batmans in general. they are all spoken for. (by the joker.) all you have to do is end the movie and you're still making it lame. YAY, IT'S OVER. I'M FREE. anyway, gotham did all of this, everything in this movie, but better. go watch gotham. 💅

#anti the batman #y'know just for the summary of this lb #!txt: dc #kai liveblogs things

[halloweennut]

another prompt but from @musekicker

Rise and the siblings just being purposefully somewhat embarrassing siblings the first time one of them brings home a date? Not full out teasing but enough that there is a threat from the turtle that brought home a date that they may or may not mean.

(I legitimately went through all the ocs I have even just barely mentioned or used for this lmao and just ended up making a new one)

Raph’s attempted nonchalance about having a date went over like a lead balloon. It was like the entire subway lair went silent and still as stone the second he said it and he wished he could put the words back into his mouth. 

“Aw crud-” was all he could manage instead before he was pounced on by his siblings and April, sans Donnie who still stood by close. 

“Since when?! And how did you manage to get dates before me?” 

“What’s their name? Are they pretty? Do you have fun nicknames?” 

“When do we meet them? I have a shovel talk prepped for anyone. And I need to make sure to have my bat.” 

“That does explain the abnormal movements on your tracker.”

Raph slid all of them off his arms. “Guys, quit it. This is why Raph keeps some of his personal biz to himself -”

“Raphael, you literally just told us,” Donnie said. “You’re not great at being lowkey at something you know would make us loose it.” 

“Okay fair, just don’t go telling pops or Drax, they’ll literally flip and they’ll want me to bring her home to meet everyone,” Raph rubbed the back of his head. “I want to ease her into everything. No offense, but our family can be intense.”

“Oh my gooood it’s a girlfriend. Raph has a girlfriend,” Leo drawled out. 

“Did you hear what I said? Please chill before dad-"

"Okay but seriously, how. No offense, but you have zero game," Leo continued.

"Then how come Raph is the one scoring dates?" Donnie asked, turning his attention to his phone.

"Thank you Don, and for your information Leo," Raph continued, "Maybe I'm more smooth and suave than you think."

"You made her nickname in your phone doe-eyes, heart heart heart less than sign three. Not exactly smooth and suave," Donnie said. "And you've been dating for 2 months."

"....you hacked my phone."

"I hacked your phone."

"Two months! Raaaaaph," Mikey whined, "You didn't tell us for two months!"

"What did I literally say? You guys would flip!" Raph said exasperated. April pat his shoulder sympathetically.

"Now you know how I felt when I brought Sunita around when we started dating," she said. "And y'all knew her and still acted fools."

"Oh God I can never bring her down here."

“Bring who down here?” the five looked over to see Splinter approaching with Draxum, and Raph knew in an instant that he was done for. Before he could even try to play it off, Mikey piped up. 

“Raph has a girlfriend!” he said. “He calls her doe-eyes and they’ve been going on dates for months!”

“Mikey!” Raph wished he could retract into his shell, waiting for the veritable interrogation and complaining about hiding things from his ‘poor fathers.’ 

Instead, Splinter cooed. “Aww, my baby red is dating! You’re all grown up!”

“Pops-”

And just like that, the expected happened. “Who is she, why haven’t you brought her down yet, and why didn’t you tell us?”

Raph pinched his brow and looked at Draxum. “You gonna give me whiplash emotions and questions too?”

“No. But is she mutant, yokai, or human?” Draxum crossed his arms. 

“Yokai.”

“Do I know her family? Are they noble?”

“Does it matter?”

“I’d rather my sons go into families of equal standing to mine.” 

“Great, my brothers are going to act like themselves, you’re bringing in classism, April is going to menace her with a bat,” Raph said. “And pops-”

“Is insisting you bring her home,” Splinter said. “And my word is law.”

Raph wanted to crawl into a sewer, even more so when she actually agreed. Wakana had been enthusiastic about meeting them, even before the invitation. He only had two concerns: his family and making sure there wasn’t any hazards that would tangle up on her wheelchair. At the very least, the entire lair was accessible. 

Wakana was an umishika, half-deer, half-sea serpent, and when she wasn’t in the water, relied on a wheelchair to navigate on land. It had been a learning curve for him, admittedly, not to bend over backwards to offer his assistance at every turn. But she thought it was endearing and it was quickly corrected by a flash of sharp teeth. Not to mention the wheelchair was yokai-made and yokai-magic infused, so it was more adaptable then it appeared. Save when wheels were stuck on steel and it caused the magic to short-circuit - a.k.a. how they had even met in the first place.  New York City metal and ancient magic didn’t mix well at times.

But he met her and her doe eyes and a mouth of sharp teeth like his because of it, so he wouldn't complain.

"I don't know why you're so worried, angel," Wakana said as he directed her to the lift down to the subway station her called home. "What can they possibly do?"

"You'd be surprised. The only thing that they didn't do to April's girlfriend was show her baby photos, mostly because pops doesn't have any," Raph said. "There are dozens of me."

"Baby you and your baby snaggle tooth?" She said with a grin. "I don't know, the cuteness might make me leave."

"Don't joke, you still have my brothers, April, and Draxum," he replied. Wakana rolled her eyes. "I have no idea what he'd do."

"Eh, old nobility yokai are weird," she said, unlocking her wheels as the elevator came to a stop. "I'm not worried."

“I am!” Raph insisted. “I just...my family can be a little weird and intense and I don’t want that to put you off.”

“Angel. You’re weird and intense. I’m weird and intense. I think I’ll be fine,” Wakana grabbed his hand in her hooves. “Now come on, I want to meet them in person.” 

Raph steeled himself but led her through the lair to the center platform where he knew they would probably all be waiting. And just like that, there they were, lying in wait. At least April wasn’t being forward with a bat, and Splinter was in his good silk robe. But everyone and their mother seemed to be present, and in Casey’s case, literally. “Everyone, this is Wakana. Wakana, this is my family. Okay let’s go-”

“Raphael, at least introduce us properly,” Leo insisted, barely hiding the smirk on his face and in his voice. 

“Wakana, that’s Leo, small one is Mikey, aloof purple is Donnie and-” Raph tried to rush. Before he could finish the list, Splinter and Draxum approached, and Raph caught Wakana’s hoof in his hand. If not for his nerves, to show that this was a serious relationship. 

Wakana bowed at the waist in her chair. “I am honored to meet you both.” 

Splinter warmly shook her hoof. “Likewise. I only wish my son had told us sooner.”

He sharply glanced up at Raph, just for a second. Like Splinter hadn’t kept secrets of his own, sheesh. Regardless, he could feel his brothers snickering behind his back. “Pops-”

“I am inclined to agree,” Draxum said. “But it is nice to meet you as well.”

“Oh! Before I forget,” Wakana exclaimed, reaching into a side bag on her chair. “I didn’t expect to meet you both tonight, so I apologize for not bringing a more suitable gift.” 

She pulled a small, decorated box tied with a simple ribbon and held it out. Splinter took the box and opened it, revealing dark fragrant tea leaves. “Shincha? How did you get your hands on this? This isn’t easy to come buy - nor cheaply.”

“My family owns a large tea farm,” Wakana smiled. “Raphael mentioned that you enjoy good tea - and we just finished the drying process, so its fresh too.”

“You belong to the Uchiumi family?” Draxum asked. Wakana nodded. He looked to Splinter with an unfamiliar look of approval. “Your family is an excellent one.”

“Thank goodness we’ll actually be able to marry him off, and to a good family to boot,” Splinter nodded, closing the tea chest with a click. Raph wheezed, nearly choking on his own breath. “What? I’ve been trying to plan for this for years!”

Raph heard his brothers break out in laughter before turning on them. “If he’s planned for me he’s planned for you three schmucks too! And pops- ain’t it early to just...I dunno, SAY that?”

Splinter shrugged. Wakana looked anywhere but his parents, gently clearing her throat. Before Raph could even say anything else, he felt his brothers creep up behind him.

“Here comes the turtle, all dressed in...myrtle,” Leo sang, draping himself dramatically on Raph’s arm. 

“Myrtle isn’t a color, Leo. It’s an old lady name,” Mikey said. “And obviously he’d wear red, duh.”

“You try thinking of things that rhyme with turtle, Angelo,” Leo hissed. 

“It’s a type of plant, which he could wear, but it would set off his allergies, probably,” Donnie added. “I don’t think it’s a traditional wedding flora anyway.” 

Before they could continue, Raph grabbed all three before turning to Wakana with a grin. “I’ll be right back. Pops, chill on the wedding stuff. Cass, April, do NOT threaten her with a shovel talk. Casey, you’re a delight.”

He dragged them across the room by the scruff, planting the smirking three down in front of him. “Cut. It. Out.”

“Come on, Raph, we all knew this would happen. We’d tease you, dad would start planning your wedding-” Donnie began to list.

“I’m shocked you didn’t consider any of that,” Leo cut in. “Poor planning on your part.”

“I have done little, in my defense,” Mikey added. Raph stared at them all. 

“If you don’t stop encouraging dad OR acting foolish, I will pull what April did to us or worse,” he threatened. “Burpees and mountain climbers at training, everyday, for a month.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Leo scoffed. “Dad and Dadxum run training anyway.”

“And you don’t think I could have them add them?” Raph asked with a raised brow. The three looked at each other - he could. 

“No fair! You’re the only one who actually does them on the regular!” Mikey protested. Donnie shuddered at the idea of doing them. The eldest smirked. 

“Maybe you should get to practicing then,” he finished. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go make sure Cass isn’t threatening Wakana.”

The two were already laughing like old friends with April, Draxum and Shredder stepping back to allow them all to talk. Wakana turned with a grin to Raph. “Angel! There you are. We should get going if we’re going to make it on time.”

“Yep! All set. Just needed a little chat with those mooks,” Raph nodded. He looked at Cass and April, and they gave him a nod. They liked her, and more than likely HAD given her a shovel talk that Wakana returned in spades. “You ready?”

“Where are you going anyway? I can arrange transport,” Draxum said, approaching. 

“A family friend owns a little restaurant on the beach,” Wakana replied. “I thought I’d treat Raph to a really nice dinner. And no worries, I have a portal medallion. We just need to head to Battery Park.”

“I’ll be back in time for patrol,” Raph added. “See y’all later!”

“Good night! It was nice to meet you all,” the umishika said. “We have to meet up soon for sure.” 

Raph rushed the two of them out of there. “Doe-eyes I am...very sorry.”

“Angel, I am not freaked out or worried,” Wakana laughed. “I’m just glad they liked me. Although...”

“Oh shit what?”

“Let’s hold off on meeting my parents and siblings, because they’ll do the exact same thing.”

#rottmnt #rottmnt oc

[thyandrawrites]

Well get ready for a longish explanation lmao?

so starting with the opening lyrics of “I play this game, ya this game of fame To make a virtual reality come to life in mortality” I kind of connected it with Tomura’s warped idea of reality being similar to a video game

then there’s the line “it ain't so little, and so I fiddle with the Animatronics and iconic electronics“ I thought of how he has many nomus and the doctor creates them sort of like “fiddle”

the line “What's in this casette? I'm willing to bet That's it a mechanical figure brought to ears for the listener” could kind of refer to AFO’s tv screen idk abt this one too much

The line “Looking around, ceiling to the ground, identifying Something amiss, should I look or try and resist” in my opinion could talk about his view on hero society as a kid

“Everything's coming Together, now erupting In terror it's glowing Forever, the fear is growing Never, confided That one day I'd like to be Invited, outside of this domain” this somewhat gives me the view of Tomura’s time when he killed his family and people became/grew terrified of his appearance and how he never thought AFO would be the one to save him thus “inviting him out of this domain”

“This reality My mentality Everything changes so rapidly And I'm ready for the never ending fire Dancing with my deepest dark desires Miracle How empirical Don't know anything quite hysterical Everything around me transpires As I fulfill my darkest desire” these lines could show how he slowly grows as a kid to a aspiring villain “never ending fire” could represent his thirst for chaos and destruction and how everything around him transpires as he fulfills his darkest desire which is destroying hero society and killing all might.

“I'm coming to know, what lies below The mind to find a legitimate reason for why, I try Every turn, returns concern” I find this refers to his growth as a villain when he meets Stain who at the time questions Tomura’s convictions and goals and he soon figures it out.

”Every turn, returns concern But my curiosity is a growin, it keeps goin goin Don't bat an eye, no need to cry” these lines could possibly talk about the media backlash yet he still strives to understand what he’s missing (curiosity growing)

“Listen to the Tape an' wait, for any fear to come near Cold and lonely, join so closely When the devil comes” This I feel can refer to new villains joining Tomura’s cause

“Everything's coming Together, now corrupting Whomever's arriving Forever, the terror's rising” this could connected with the villains coming together, their views slowly changing from inspiration from Stain to loyalty to Tomura, gathering an army to talk about terror rising

“Never decided That one day consequences Derided from feelings inside me” This connects with Tomura letting go of the past of his family’s hands where he no longer cares about them and truly awakens his quirk

“Look at me you can't ignore Be with me forever more I'll conquer and override Your soul and my soul collide I'm feeling so incomplete So don't even try to retreat I'll conquer and override Your soul and my soul collide” this really reminds me of Glitchtrap trying to take over the player and AFO trying to merge with Tomura

welp you’ve reached the end of this long explanation, hope you loved reading it ^-^

those were my thoughts on why Darkest Desire and Tomura really fit, do you see it?

Fascinating. It's interesting how music can draw different reactions and emotions from different people. I often come up with mental storylines too when I listen to certain songs, so it was cool to follow you through yours. Thank you for answering and for sharing your thought process with me! I struggled to make any connections myself, but after seeing your interpretation of the lines I can see why you'd associate Tomura with those lyrics o/

#Ali replies #Music #Long post

[loominggaia]

do any of the FGG believe in stereotypes on other peoples?

Some of them do! They may call themselves "Freelance Good Guys", they may pride themselves on their morals when it comes to their work, but none of them are perfect people. They can sometimes be ignorant or prejudiced.

In "First Time for Everything", Lukas remarks that trolls are dumb and smelly, and Evan laughs at the comment. It's worth mentioning that both of them were much younger in this story, and neither of them would say such a thing at this point in the series. They have both grown and learned a lot since then. Nowadays, Evan would scold Lukas for a comment like that instead of laughing at it. And Lukas wouldn't let such an ignorant statement leave his mouth in the first place.

This was proven in "Pig Bait" when Lukas shuts down Glenvar's bigoted rant about satyrs. Glenvar grew up in a very racist and xenophobic community, and to this day he is still unlearning those thinking patterns. But he has made a lot of progress, and he shows it in "Age of the Grupphund". In this story, he pushes back against his tribe's racism towards Alaine and his other friends. Travelling the world has taught him that all human races are the same on the inside, but he still has some hateful beliefs to unlearn about different species, particularly satyrs. I think dealing with Itchy for so many years kind of aggravated this prejudice in him...

Glenvar also buys into the stereotype that elves are snotty and easily offended. This attitude slips out whenever he has a disagreement with his elven crewmen, claiming they're just being difficult because they're elves and it's in their nature to be huffy, not because they have a legitimate concern.

Mr. Ocean is openly prejudiced against his own kind. He made that pretty clear in "Ocean Returns to the Sea", telling Solveig that cecaelia are tricky, cruel, and not to be trusted. He carries this attitude around with him to this day. If anything, it's only gotten worse. The only cecaelia he ever trusted were his parents--who died early in his life--and his friend Roach, who ended up betraying that trust later. He's been abused by other cecaelia his whole life and that makes him wary of them, but it's a self-perpetuating cycle because he doesn't trust his kind right off the bat, so he doesn't really give them a chance to prove themselves. I think he'll probably take this prejudice with him to the grave.

Linde was miserably bigoted in her youth. In the story "Steel Knuckle Squad", she makes derogatory comments about female cecaelia looking manly and Striped centaurs being criminals, among other things. It's easy to see why she acted this way, because in the same story her parents make derogatory comments about commoners, even using slurs like "ironblood". Linde's attitude pulled a 180 after a certain traumatic event, and now she tries very hard to make up for her past behavior. Some would say she tries a little too hard...

Zeffer is so hateful towards vampires that he's determined to commit genocide against them. This attitude is unlikely to change, given what he's been through with vampirism himself. He's quite prejudiced against satyrs too--not to a homicidal degree, but he believes they're all thieving scoundrels. I believe he made anti-satyr comments in several different stories.

Skel can't stand other goblins, believing they're a lowly, pathetic species destined only for slavery. He thinks himself "above" other goblins because the Barhatian royalty accepted him as part of their family. He grew up in an environment where goblins were enslaved to elves--all except for him. He was the only goblin that was not treated like a slave, so it gave him a superiority complex. Then the family betrayed him by refusing to let him marry the princess, and that gave him an inferiority complex. Obviously these complexes conflict with eachother, and it's led to him acting like all goblins are trash except for himself.

In "Fungicide", Skel expresses an ignorant attitude towards Aquarians, believing them filthy and unfit to handle his food. He's also openly misogynistic, particularly towards elven women. He's incredibly jealous of elves in general and this jealousy makes him lash out at them.

In "As Nature Intended", Jeimos implies that Evangelites are dumb, inbred hicks. They've made some questionable comments about nymphs before too.

In "Red Orchid", Evan admits that he doesn't trust nymphs and tells Isaac not to trust them either--not even Flora. Isaac really takes this to heart, especially after his experience in that story. He has been wary of all nymphs he encounters ever since. In "Good Job", he believes Taybiyans are all dysfunctional assholes like Itchy. Meeting Lilian and Zeffer helped him get over this attitude somewhat.

Elska developed a hatred for humans in "To Fight the Fog". She got over it for the most part, but still harbors a slight distrust of them. What she didn't get over was her hatred for Evangelites in particular. She despises that kingdom, it's culture, its people, and everything about it. The only Evangelite she trusts is Evan, and only because he has pretty much disowned his heritage. She went as far as to threaten Connor, Evan's Evangelite nephew, just because he was an Evangelite and that soured her opinion of him before she even met him.

Alaine doesn't trust Aquarians, particularly cecaelia. She thinks cecaelia are more powerful than they have a right to be, and she believes they know this and take advantage of it by oppressing other species. This is due to her experience with the Aquarian Alliance, a cecaelia-dominated kingdom where that is pretty much reality. She eventually comes to trust Mr. Ocean, only because he was abused and oppressed by his own kind just as she was, and he harbors a similar attitude towards them as her. I guess she figures "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"...

Alaine also expresses a nasty attitude towards Glenvar's tribe, the Maskamar, claiming they're all violent, racist morons. Granted, this was after some of his tribesmen hurled racist comments at her and attacked her crewmen, but it's still an ignorant thing to say considering she has not met every single Maskamar. In the same story, it's shown that not all Maskamar act this way.

In "Allmother's Gift", Lukas gives Balthazaar a hard time about his Rodangi heritage, implying that the Rodangi are just poor, backwater hicks who only know how to shovel manure. Lukas says this in a joking manner, but I think deep down he really doesn't think highly of Rodanga or its culture.

This wouldn't be the first time Lukas ripped on his fellow Matuzans. Throughout various stories, he's said Matuzans are lazy, corrupt, slutty, and arrogant, among other things. He's just had too many traumatic experiences in this kingdom and they've soured his attitude towards it as a whole.

Also, Lukas has implied several times that he thinks religious people are foolish. He's an atheist himself and tends to immediate write off anyone who believes in some kind of higher power. (This is where he and Glenvar clash a lot, as Glen is deeply religious)

Lukas openly hates Kaconenans, but that's not unique to him. All Matuzans hate Kaconenans, and there are some legitimate reasons for that, as the Kaconenans are considered a terrorist group in some jurisdictions.

Balthazaar may have fled to Yerim-Mor Kingdom, married a Morite woman, and joined the Morite military, but deep down he really hates Morite culture. He gripes whenever Evan dispatches him there, claiming he's had enough of "those people". He thinks Monarch Roz is a useless coward and buys into the stereotype that Morite people are too aimless and incompetent to fix their broken kingdom. (It's worth mentioning that Balthazaar didn't get the best education, and he doesn't understand Yerim-Mor's history as well as he thinks he does...)

I think the only Good Guy who hasn't expressed some kind of prejudice is Javaan. The guy has never disparaged anyone because of their race, nationality, or anything they can't control. Javaan is definitely a scumbag in some ways, but hey, at least he's not a bigot!

There are probably more examples, but these are the ones I can think of right now.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

#ask #askliterature #askculture

[ufonaut]

it's almost like King doesn't give a shit about how a character was written before and it took him fucking up a character you like to realize that. not surprised at him fucking up a gay character either btw considering how racist his idea of Bea is... very easy to believe somebody who worked for the CIA is racist and homophobic

hey, man, fuck you. you can't genuinely see me expressing concerns about the depiction of one of the first canonically gay characters in comics and come here like "see NOW you understand us freaks whining about tora being oversexualized because you can see her ankles". get real.

i never said tom king can do no wrong or that i agree with his twitter liberal politics or his time in the cia, i've said that i've consistently loved his output (which is still true!) and i've always brought up my doubts when applicable. i thought and still think batman 2016, batman/catwoman, strange adventures, and the human target are legitimate masterpieces... and surprise surprise, they all feature some of my favourite characters. mister miracle, supergirl: woman of tomorrow and rorschach do not feature characters i love, that's true, and i still think they're incredible. same as i've always said that the portrayal of kyle rayner in omega men does not ring true to who kyle is but i've still enjoyed parts of it and the overall story. nuance exists! surprisingly!

however, you and every other justice league international fan on here are outright delusional and refuse to admit that the way guy is written as a hypermasc insecure asshole and bea as a sexualized flirt with mrs-danvers-at-mrs-de-winter dubious lesbian tendencies (gee, remember when she tried to very creepily turn sigrid into the deceased tora in an actual canon comic?) is precisely the way they've been consistently written over the years, especially in the eighties and nineties aka the era the human target makes specific reference to. i'm sorry, that's the truth! you can wish with all your heart that the very concept at the heart of bea as a character wasn't vaguely racist but it is! what tom did with these characters is nothing new. why, in fact, it's very very old.

on the other hand, what's happening with danger street does go against everything previously written about mikaal tomas and the rest of the characters are treated with very little care because they're genuinely obscure (unlike the jli!) and tom has repeatedly stated that he'd never heard of them before the 1st issue special hc. as a lover of obscure comics, as someone who has read these characters, i'm extremely disappointed... but that has nothing at all in common with the jli people whose outrage over guy's "death" made the news and whose supposed little-known favs have over 400+ appearances.

tom messed up with danger street, i'm very eager to admit that, and i haven't been liking gotham city: year one at all either because of the way it ignores gotham's actual history in favour of being as bat-centric as anything else published these days but that's hardly an indictment of everything tom's ever written or an indication of me suddenly 'waking up' to the reality that he's sucked all along or whatever the hell you're implying. okay bye

#asks #anon