#AND IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING. SOBBING

[point-two-two]

You see the thing at the heart of Russian Roulette that makes it so clearly queer (even though that was probably Not the intention) is that they're giving up So Much for each other.

Like Yassen's perspective is well-documented and well-analyzed; Hunter pushes him, trying to find a breaking point, and he just gives. Gives his memories (the watch) and gives his humanity (everything), just continuously gives way until there's barely any of him left, because he wants to please Hunter.

But it's the same on John's side. We don't have his perspective so it's much harder to see his inner conflict but it is certainly there. For the mission of course he had to kill people, but he wasn't supposed to get attached. He wasn't supposed to try change anything within Scorpia, only collect intel. He clearly had moral qualms against teaching Yassen. And then he went and got attached, tried to get a trainee out, and did *gestures vaguely at Vosque* all that. Like yeah, it worked (short term) but it was still a gamble. He kept going past his own boundaries to pressure Yassen out of Scorpia and that's really not much different from Yassen's bottomless willing to bend to Hunter's demands.

That's the core of the story and the core of their relationship; John chipped off parts of himself for Yassen's sake too. It's reciprocal, the way they sacrifice their selves for each other. And that's love.

[stargirl230]

thanks for the light

I was just trying to figure out how procreate works but then the op brainworms got to me and 35 hours later here we are! can you tell I miss home-cooked meals :')

(no reposts; reblogs appreciated)

[sevsryn]

Maybe Things Could Have Been Different

[dudethatsmyundeaduncle]

Had this Headcannon that when Multi-Lingual Dick and Jason get drunk they start singing Ballads in Spanish. Yeah some classical shit like Vicente Fernandez but also the most wild Selena you've ever heard.

[garuye]

It was the closest Dio ever had been to loving someone, the only thing he could do was break it

[ritzyheartz]

Kirbtober 2024 19 • AU / Parallel

Dreamy Gear!!

[holyblanchett]

We really won yall 😭 Aubrey didn't lie when she said this was Marvel's gayest project.

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

heeyyy gaaanggg

the pose and the background of the album version (left) are based on oingo boingos only a lad album art. not cause i think he has anything to do with it but just cause ive been wantin to draw that pose for like. weeks and i didnt know who to put there. so why not my latest bug man.

[franollie]

it's okay

[rebouks]

“What’re we doing here?”

Oscar shrugged casually, “Hanging out?”

Robin scoffed with what little joviality he could muster, “Yeah, right…”

Oscar paused and broke eye contact, staring at nothing in particular as Robin waited. It was usually fairly easy to ascertain the direction of a conversation before it even started, given that people tended to rehearse what they’d say beforehand, but not Oscar. His mind was simultaneously blank and fit to burst; he was making it up as he went along most of the time, but that was one of Robin’s favourite things about his father. It paved the way for genuine, on the fly honesty.

“Figured maybe you’d wanna talk-..” Oscar rubbed his temple, “Ask me whatever you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah-.. within reason.”

“Why’d you do it?” Robin blurted out; his eyes full of unbridled curiosity, though his father wasn’t looking at him.

“Willpower is a finite resource, y’know? I had a shitty day and I caved-.. didn’t really think about it all that much, to be honest.”

“What do you mean?”

Oscar sighed, backtracking slightly as he realised that wasn’t exactly the honesty he was going for. “Well, it’s not that you don’t think about it-.. I thought about not doing it a bunch of times, but the second I decided otherwise, I went on autopilot and got it over with as soon as possible so I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore. Probably because thinking on it too hard is uncomfortable.”

“Where’d you go?”

Robin wouldn’t usually have to ask such a mundane question, but he’d struggled to fill in the blanks for himself. Oscar’s memories of the previous night were fuzzy and his thoughts sprawling.

“There.”

“The bar?”

Oscar nodded, still unable to meet his son’s gaze. “You remember it used to be a vet clinic, right? Your grandma ran it briefly, years ago-.. we lived in the flat above for a little while, when you were a baby.”

“I remember.”

Oscar sounded surprised. “You do?”

“Kinda-.. you’ve told me about it n’ stuff…”

Oscar shrugged a shoulder, supposing that’d make sense.

“You don’t have to feel so ashamed.” Robin ventured.

Oscar almost looked at Robin, though his gaze fell somewhere near his shoulder instead. How could a fourteen-year-old boy conjure such compassion? Such accuracy too. Shame.

Sometimes it felt as though he were talking to a man, not a boy. He was still a child, of course; arguing with his siblings over utter nonsense, playfighting, whinging about school and homework, leaving his dirty socks all over the place-.. but sometimes it felt like he understood much more than he should’ve. Oscar couldn’t imagine many people being so emotionally mature at thirty, never mind half as young.

“Dad…”

“I’m sure I’ll get over it-.. I always assumed I’d relapse at some point, but as the years went by, I guess I got complacent.”

“How’d it start? Like, did you just wake up one morning and realise it was an issue or..?”

Oscar shook his head slightly, running his thumb over his beard in thought. “Nah, it was slower, I just ignored it. I’d always been daft and over the top with stuff like that, partying n’ shit, y’know? It was like a crutch after a while though, and eventually, I needed it just to feel normal-.. went too far to feel nothing.”

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Oscar wasn’t finished.

“You’ll probably get some stupid cop coming to your scout meetings or your school one day and they’ll stand there n’ tell you all about how drugs and alcohol are terrible or whatever, but it’s bollocks. Sure, they’re bad for you, but they feel good and that’s the problem. At least for me it was-.. is. It shouldn’t even be legal, really, not that it’d do much good if it wasn’t-.. it wouldn’t have stopped me, anyway.”

“I’d love to forbid you from going near it, but I’m sure you’ll all try it for yourselves one day. Maybe it’s just something to do, maybe it makes a boring night more fun, gives you the confidence to do something you’re scared of, talk to someone you’re shy around, I don’t know-.. you might hate it, you might not.”

“You hate that you still like it, don’t you?”

Oscar finally met Robin’s gaze as he nodded. “So much.” He wondered if he was making a mistake, being so open, but it was too late now and Robin had yet to balk or appear uncomfortable. If anything, he seemed concerned and intrigued, glad of the chance to ask whatever he wanted-.. not that he couldn’t usually, but the invitation was clearly welcome all the same.

“All your troubles just melt away, but they’re twice as bad when you wake up and doing it over again doesn’t solve much. It’s not the answer, Robin.”

“I know it’s not.”

Oscar’s frown softened as Robin slid beside him, threading an arm around his waist.

“You prefer being sober though, right?” he asked.

“Ah, that’s a loaded question…” Oscar sighed. “I prefer my life when I’m sober, but maybe a part of me will always crave that oblivion. It’s just something I have to live with.”

“Do you think you’ll do it again?”

“I don’t know, bud-..” Oscar admitted. “I’d like to say no but I don’t think I can make any promises, that’s not how it works.”

Robin nodded understandingly; he would’ve preferred it if his father could’ve made that promise, but a harsh truth was better than a hollow lie.

“They don’t mean much if you don’t keep em.” Oscar added.

“I get it-.. thanks for letting me ask you about it though, I know you’d rather keep it to yourself.”

“You’re still young but I know it’d drive you nuts otherwise. Besides, I don’t want it to feel like a dirty secret we can’t talk about, at least between us-.. might not wanna go telling all your friends your dad’s an alky though…”

Robin buried his face in the crook of Oscar’s shoulder and squeezed him tightly, desperate to convince his father that he didn’t think any less of him.

“Nah, they’re got enough ammunition.”

Oscar couldn’t help but snort at that. “I love you so much.”

“I know-.. I love you too.”

Robin said nothing a while as his father held him - or he held Oscar - only breaking the silence upon feeling his restless thoughts return.

“It’ll be the summer holiday’s soon, maybe we could go camping or something?”

Oscar smiled fondly. “Yeah, that’d be fun…”

Previous // Next

[tatetennant]

nah they’re so cute

[mxtxfanatic]

I feel like I'm being gaslit rn. I don't know what to think anymore. I just saw a post about how Jiang Cheng is allowed to feel complicated feelings towards Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning because they are Wens, and according to OP, the Wens destroyed Jiang Cheng's home and killed his parents. Therefore, he is allowed to have the right to have them stay the hell out of Lotus Pier.

Then OP even said, "We dont enough fics where we can acknowledge that the wen remnants were victims but also that it was the wen who sparked the whole thing in the first place. Not enough allowance for the complicated nature of loss and pain caused not only by an enemy but a loved one."

Unfortunately OP had to drag Jin Ling in, and said "Being an mdzs fan who loves the jiangs most of all is so hard because where is the fic where jin ling gets to be righteously angry about growing up an orphan because of what wei wuxian and wen ning did, because even though there were complicating situations involved, that was still his father who got his chest caved in and his mother dead in a battle directly resulting from that killing?"

Like I understand that Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling were hurt, and their pain and reaction thereof is understandable, but that doesn't mean what they did was right??

Idk if it's just me, but when people speak of the Wens like this, they tend to dehumanise the Wen remnants and then go defend those who were responsible for their horrific deaths. Worst part is, that entire post got so popular too. How did we read the same novel??

Yeah, it’s all gaslighting, because none of these people would argue that Lan Sizhui or Wen Ning had equal right to hate and want to kill Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. Wen Ning should suffer and die to atone for the sins of people he’s only incidentally related to but that fact that he personally rescued Jiang Cheng and his parents’ bodies to be given a proper burial—things Jiang Cheng knows about—isn’t enough to save Wen Ning’s family from “deserving” death nor is it something Jiang Cheng has to acknowledge because it’s “telling him his anger is unjustified” (newflash: it fucking is). Jin Ling can hate Wei Wuxian no problem, but if you told these people that he’d be just as justified hating Jin Guangyao and Jiang Cheng (something be actually contemplates canonically at the end), then they’d start spewing nonsense about “best jiujiu ever!” and “jin ling loves his guardians so much tho!” Almost as if the only reason why he hates Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning is because the people actually responsible for orphaning him are the people who raised him and lied to him about the circumstances behind his parents’ deaths.

They don’t want Jiang Cheng (a grown 30+ year-old man who’s been throwing a 20+ year old tantrum about never being “as good” as the orphan his mom erroneously hated) to have “righteous anger.” They want Jiang Cheng to be able to make his anger everyone else’s problem without consequences, not from the story and not from the fandom. They want him to be able to kill random strangers indiscriminately because “he has trauma!” They want him to abandon his allies who are the reason he’s alive because “his allies’ relatives gave him trauma!” They want him to betray his only friend because “that friend prioritized repaying Jiang Cheng’s debts above coddling his trauma.” What they want is a violent revenge fantasy starring Jiang Cheng, where he singehandedly wipes out the clan down to the last infant that killed his family, and everyone loves him so much for it that they make him Chief Cultivator over it.

Also, Jiang Cheng doesn’t hate Lan Sizhui because he knows or suspects him to be a Wen (because that would involve deduction skills Jiang Cheng clearly doesn’t have, or else the gc transfer would not have been a shock to him). He hates Lan Sizhui because he hates the Lan, a clan who’ve done shit all to him. Lan Sizhui wasn’t barred from entering Lotus Pier either; he chose to accompany Wen Ning so that he wasn’t alone. Stans love to rewrite the story.

[pseudophan]

extremely important question do any buffy fans here actually like angel (the series not the character) because i swear all i see lately is people saying it sucks and they couldn't get through it and it's like you can't ALL be that wrong

[biggestwilliamfinnfan]

father to son they could never make me hate you

[wow-an-unfunny-joke]

Teaholding is such a good fucking ship name for Jon and Martin. For a while I assumed lonely eyes was their ship name- Jmart is fine but Teaholding is just so much better.

They’re everything to me.

I sure do hope nothing bad happens to them.

[fuumiku]

Chilcille huh... ngl I was a little suspicious. like why would you do that, huh... hope youre not mischaracterizing anyone in your weird and wacky ship. a little weird. but then you said they both had flat asses and you know what? I salute you and your perfect characterization

The fact you seem to think you managed to not make this ask insulting is baffling. What the hell. Fuck off.

If you actually care to be open minded about the ship, I talk about marchil on my sideblog 24/7. Funnily enough I’m currently 4k words deep into an analysis of their character arc together in canon, but that’ll take some more days to get done. Some notable posts:

Of course without counting the analyses of Chilchuck on his own I’ve made, like my masterpost on his family situation. Or better yet you could also read my fics for them, see how weird and wacky they are here.

Wanna talk about mischaracterisation? They’re literally a comedic duo who interacts 24/7. Marchil is crazy bc ppl are like "did those shipper read with their eyes CLOSED?? They have no chemistry!" Meanwhile canon is like: "She’s obsessed with knowing everything she can about him and she reads him like a book." In her eyes he’s like that extra rare and hard and shiny unlockable dating sim character, that brooding mysterious character trope that’s thrilling to crack open and typically is at the center of the plot. The wife roleplay???? "Hey, did you know his type is blondes. Hey did you know he likes his women pretty and blonde. Hey did you know he likes her hair. Hey did you know that he teases her 24/7 and it’s one of the few things that consistently gets him grinning because he finds her reactions cute." Like a schoolyard bully pulling on the pigtails of the girl he likes.

It’s not like they have any thematic narratives or relevance. It’s not like she’ll live to 1000 and has existential dread about it while he’s logically gonna be her next friend to die at 50 and wether it’s romantic or platonic it’ll terrify her to lose him. It’s not like it’s fear of death x fear of rejection so they’re both obsessed with the thought of loss looming, past and ongoing. It’s not like it’s half-elf x half-foot and there’s an inherent journey that was and still is to dispel prejudices and truly come to see each other. It’s not like he’s painfully real and raw and flawed but still a good man, that he’s not the figure of prince charming that she’s always dreamed of while still being virtuous and worth fighting for. Or you know, her hair being golden and it being the epitome of beauty to him, and his hair turning silver and it being Marcille’s worst nightmare.

Just a weird wacky ship who means nothing but shallow things to people who have weirdo reasons for liking it. Like can you not. If you’re not imaginative enough to think of reasons why this ship may have an appealing dynamic that’s not my issue. But yes, yes, they’re both flat asses to me, thanks.