#would’ve been. well. incorrect

[1percentcharge]

WEREN'T YOU A LESBIAN????

no I just like drawing girls lol

[angst-is-love-angst-is-life]

Harry, to Barry and Cisco: You’re both too valuable to risk. It should be someone expendable… Like Jay.

Jay/Hunter: What?!

[cyber-streak-2]

Prowl, pointing at Brainstorm: is this a friend of yours, Chromedome?

Chromedome: Kind of? Not really. He’s in my life and there’s nothing I can do about it.

[micer2012]

a reflection on MatPat's plagiarism

Hello, my name is Della, or micer2012, and 2 years ago Game Theory plagiarized three Tumblr posts of mine, making a video that now holds almost 6 million views.

My posts explaining his plagiarism made their rounds on Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter, but despite the Hermits and Pooka commenting on it (generally in support of me or saying they don’t know enough details about the situation to say either way), MatPat and his team have never owned up to anything, and no mention of my name is present on the video. The one Reddit post they made denying it (which was made before my detailed takedown, which they have never responded to (though the mods on the r/GameTheorists Reddit were kind and made sure it stayed up)) didn’t even mention me by name, just referring to me as “a tumblr user”. (Though one of the screenshotted comments in the body of the post does say my name)

This experience was baffling, but it’s overall had a positive impact on my life. r/Hermitcraft gave me a Golden Apple Award (post of the year, 2021). My inbox was filled with excited fans, wanting to ask me questions or pose their own theories, far more than the hate I got. (Though the hate I got from Game Theory fans was VERY funny. I wondered why none of them gave me shit about saying “MatPat misgendered Evil Xisuma” before realizing none of them read that far into the post.)

And getting on a more personal, and much more important note, I met most of my current online friends through this, including my partner. It helped me grow closer with my irl friends as well and gave me an entertaining story that I tell whenever I have the chance. It was one of the first things in my life that really made me feel like my talents, my autistic hyperfocusing and analyzing of things I love, could be valuable. Useful. Exploitable. It blew my mind that MatPat thought an autistic kid’s ramblings about a Minecraft Youtube joke character were good enough to steal. To put an audible sponsorship on. To get 6 million views off of.

And that’s why I’m writing this post, this update years later. As you might’ve been able to guess, Hbomberguy’s Youtube video on plagiarism reopened this wound. It was really hard for me to sit through, it took days of pausing and taking breaks, because I had experienced everything he was talking about firsthand. 

In my 10 page long takedown post, I wrote about how his rewording of my sentences made him say things that were incorrect, just like Filip did. The content farm production style that made big companies like Cinemassacre take one creator (AVGN/MatPat) and turn him and his content into a brand, a voice that reads out scripts by other people with other opinions/theories, is a history shared with Game Theory. What really hit me was Harris talking about how big creators only do this to people they think they can get away with doing it to. How they view their victims as lesser, as not deserving of their words, repackaging them as their own to give to an audience that can gain from hearing them, but deserves better than to have to listen to the original victim.

That’s the thing, I 100% think a video version of my theory to expose to a bigger community than “Evil Xisuma Fans on Tumblr” is a great idea!! Near the end of the video Harris talks about how video adaptations of things could be a great market, even an accessibility tool, and I completely feel that about my posts. I wrote them quickly assuming the reader was someone well versed on Evil Xisuma lore, after not even watching most of the CarnEvil series, and the diagrams I made to explain them are even less comprehensible. Harris makes a joke that I completely agree with, 

“I’m sure some of my videos would do very well if someone translated them into English.”

I don’t think I would’ve ever made my posts if I didn’t have autism, and a special fixation on Evil Xisuma and Hermitcraft. I made them because I felt the character was being done an injustice, and because I wanted to share with other superfans this theory that might explain it away. I do think that MatPat plagiarizing me was ableist. I used to wonder a lot if this would’ve happened if my posts were articulated better, if they had been peer reviewed, if the posts themselves had been spread to a wider audience before MatPat made his video. At one point when the discourse was fresh (before I had the time to write out my 10 page rebuttal), a bigger YouTuber (100k subs at the time) messaged me and started talking on Discord, interested in possibly making a video on the discourse, but I think my style of typing and general enthusiasm drove him away. You can tell by a single look at my blog (or my original 3 posts!) that I don’t usually type like this. This post you’re reading now has been peer reviewed and edited, and took me hours to format correctly. That video could’ve been huge, the entire outcome of this MatPat situation would probably be much different.

I also used to stress a lot about “being the one who ruined Evil Xisuma’s story”. If you didn’t know, to me S8 Evil Xisuma’s story got wrapped up pretty quickly and unsatisfying (in my personal autistic opinion). (though this might’ve been due to s8 being experimental and ending early with moon big) There was no real culmination of the plot points and arcs going on, and I don’t want to blame myself, but when Xisuma said on stream (when the MatPat thing was first going on) that he didn’t want to focus on the discourse or draw more attention to it, it makes a lot of sense to me that he just wanted to wrap it all up as quickly as possible. For a while I beat myself up about it, of ruining the story of this character I love, but it’s not my fault. If anyone’s, it’s MatPats, but I don’t think it’s useful to just blame someone else. That’s how the story ended up going, and that’s fine. This is Evil Xisuma we’re talking about, their inconsistent lore is what made them such an interesting character. And notably, Pooka made an animation with an awesome culmination of Jeff, the Dreamer, Evil Xisuma, and his own sona’s story, and it makes me so happy to watch. Whatever Pooka does is of course his own choice, but I’m glad he got to give this personal story his own ending (if it is an ending, and not just the start of a new chapter!). 

Typing this all out and getting it off my chest has made me feel a lot better. For a while I wanted to make my OWN video essay about Evil Xisuma’s lore and CarnEvil’s lore, actually going episode by episode to explain it instead of just assuming you knew as much about Evil Xisuma as I did. That idea is still not off the table, but MCYT isn’t something I’m that into right now. Maybe if something else comes out about Evil Xisuma I’ll get back on it, but for now I’m fine with letting that go. But I want to make other videos, share other theories and analysis… if I have the freetime I’d love to make YouTube videos, and if I don’t have the time I’ll continue posting to my tumblr and infodumping to my friends. Apparently my infodumping is valuable enough “content” to steal! Writing this out has made me feel a lot better though, I’m really glad I got it out.

If anyone ever wants to talk to me about the things I’m obsessed with, or reach out to me as a source in a bigger discussion about Game Theory or other channels, my inbox is more than welcome :] Thank you for reading! 

Sincerely, a tumblr user.

[liberalk1tsch]

This has been an unpopular opinion but i actually think after the books Peeta wouldn’t like Gale not because of jealousy but because he treated Katniss really rough. What do you think?

can’t wait to get cancelled for this one LMAO. warning: if you’re someone who can’t accept criticism of gale, just dni.

i think peeta despises gale, and not because of anything remotely resembling jealousy. HOWEVER. i don’t think he would ever push his feelings toward gale on katniss.

peeta isn’t disrespectful toward her relationship with gale. even when it pains him. he’s made a couple snide comments about their weird dynamic, but he’s never badmouthed gale. ever. even when gale doesn’t pay him the same respect.

peeta’s smart enough to know it’s a sensitive topic. friend breakups suck, even if the reason they end is cos they were turning sour. he’d listen and probably agree with katniss if she brought it up herself and needed to vent, but i highly doubt he’d go out of his way to voice every grievance he’s had with gale unprompted.

internally though? if gale has no haters, peeta mellark is dead.

the last interaction we know of between him and gale is the conversation in tigris’ basement when gale tries to tell peeta that katniss will choose whoever she can’t survive without, which is a) incorrect and b) incredibly reductive of her feelings toward both of them, which is especially cruel coming from the person who’s supposed to be her best friend.

and i never see anyone talk ab that it’s lowkey a jab at peeta too considering gale has previously established a distinct lack of faith in peeta’s survival skills in cf (doesn’t want him to come along into the wilderness when katniss suggests they make a run for it, both bc of jealousy and bc he continually underestimates him (and then proceeds to call him a traitor in mj for doing whatever it takes to survive? bffr guy)).

alas, peeta doesn’t care how gale feels ab him. he never has. but katniss? i don’t need to read peeta’s pov to know this man was utterly baffled at what gale was yapping ab. like. by the end of mj, katniss herself narrates that there’s no sign of the kids they were when they became friends in the woods.

he just doesn’t know her anymore, at least not the person she’s become, and this is when it becomes clear to peeta that he’s been severely overestimating gale’s role in katniss’ life. he only knows what he has seen and what our lovely, unreliable katniss has told him, and she was actively trying not to pit them against each other.

but in the basement, this is the first time peeta hears things unfiltered from gale’s side, the first time he hears how off base he was to assume that there was so much more to their relationship than there is. bc wdym he thinks he has a chance w katniss when he’s not even bothering to factor her feelings into it?

and peeta thought he was the crazy one.

not to mention the fact that of everyone gale saved, he didn’t manage to save a single member of peeta’s family.

and yk what? credit where credit is due — it is thanks to gale that so many people made it out of 12 alive.

but personally, i have my doubts about how hard he tried to get the townies out. the seam and victors village are on opposite sides of town; he would’ve had to go through the town square to get prim and asterid to the meadow. past the bakery. past the justice building. past peeta’s and madge’s families.

knowing full well how important they are to katniss.

delly and her brother are the only townies i can recall from mj, the rest are seam, and he could have easily just plucked them up if they were outside when they ran through the square.

is it a fucked up idea that he might leave them behind in favour of saving seam kids? yes. but that doesn’t make it any less plausible. i wouldn’t be surprised if that same thought has crossed peeta’s mind, especially considering gale isn’t exactly subtle about his disdain for townies.

so yeah. i don’t reckon peeta likes gale at all. but he respects katniss and their history enough to keep that to himself.

i really need to figure out how to shorten these rants of mine lol

[honeypiehotchner]

The Gambit (Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- part twenty-seven

We're gonna ignore that I posted this to the library blog originally 😭 If I wasn't so picky I would've left it but I want to have the chapters themselves on my main 🤣 Ugh! Anyway!

Warnings: GASP playful banter!!!, angst if you absolutely squint (for once), Aaron in pajamas in the dim light of the kitchen (yes that's a warning), FLIRTINGGGGGGG!!!

You can’t sleep. It’s a running theme. 

Only this time, it’s less about the fact that there’s an unsub after you, worse still that it’s someone you might’ve known as a kid, possibly the man who kidnapped you in the first place. This time, it has more to do with the fact that just across the hall, Hotch is sleeping.

Your boss is sleeping just across from you, and not in a motel, no, in a house. A much smaller space. 

Why he chose to sleep even on the same floor, let alone so close, you have no idea. But he’s there. Probably sleeping— well, probably not. That’s a stretch, even for you. He hardly sleeps these days, or at least has hardly slept since you’ve been at the BAU.

You don’t know if that’s your doing or not.

You roll onto your side, again. 

You can’t get what Hotch said to you earlier to stop replaying in your head.

All this time, you’ve assumed that what he did — at least ten years ago, on that first case — was malicious. That he split things up and gave you what you saw as “busy work” purely to get a rise out of you and to even punish you for the fact that you weren’t taking any of his shit. You never would’ve gotten that it was done for a nearly polar opposite reason.

Even mentioning that he saw how much work you were doing — and he wasn’t at all incorrect in that assumption — it was just the fact that he noticed it. That he saw how little sleep you were running on — five hours on a good night — how much coffee you were guzzling, how much shit you were putting up with because, face it, yeah, that job was a piece of shit. You did more work than the head detective, than any of your fellow detectives, and they all knew it. And they all did nothing about it. You never saw a raise, you never saw an ounce of help, no matter how many times you asked for the latter.

The whole time you were there, the only one to slightly do something about it, was an outsider. Hotch.

That whole time, he was trying to help, and you saw that as he thought you were incompetent and not good enough for your job and you fought. 

Of course, it doesn’t help matters that he fought back. 

When he apologized for that, you couldn’t help but be amused. That he was accepting that he didn’t help things by feeding right into your energy. 

No one is at fault here, not really. You were still fairly new at your job, or at the very least, new to trying to be your office’s own profiler. You were insecure; you’ve long accepted that. You were timid at the start; you didn’t believe in yourself. But you were clearly going above and beyond, so much so that you might as well have been slowly killing yourself, and you didn’t care. 

But Hotch did. Hotch tried to help, and you hated him for it. 

Because you assumed he was seeing what you were seeing about yourself. Your warped view that you didn’t belong there, a case of Imposter Syndrome to the highest degree.

And you didn’t want help. Still, to this day, it’s something you don’t want. Something you’re struggling to accept that you need, especially when it comes to everything that is happening right now.

You’re stubborn — but so is he. You’re too much alike, maybe that’s why you struggle to get along, why even tonight, when you were trying to put everything out on the table, finally show your cards, it escalated. It almost went too far again. It would’ve, because you would’ve happily stayed annoyed and frustrated if Aaron hadn’t come back with the pizza and an apology.

You roll onto your other side, again.

At this rate, you’re not going to get even an hour of a poor excuse for sleep, not when you keep moving around like this.

You need a walk. And a glass of water.

You throw the covers off your body perhaps a little too aggressively, flinging yourself out of bed since you have way too much energy right now. You at least try to open your door and creep down the hall to the stairs quietly so you don’t wake Hotch up with your insane insomniac behaviors.

You manage to make it to the kitchen and grab a glass without hardly any noise, sipping it as you lean against the counter.

You’re halfway done with the glass when you get the absolute life scared out of you.

Aaron flicks one of the small lamps on when he enters the kitchen, but the problem is that his footsteps were so damn quiet — or maybe you zoned out — that you had no idea he was there until the light came on.

You scream. He jumps.

“Oh my fucking god,” you hiss and laugh at the same time, setting your glass down in the sink. You have no clue how you didn’t toss the water at him. Your heart races under your palm. “Holy shit.”

“Sorry,” he says, but he’s laughing through the word, and it’s the prettiest and most endearing sound. You can’t help but join him.

“It’s fine,” you say, shaking your head. “Jesus. What are you even doing up?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he admits. “And then I heard your door open. I wanted to be sure you were okay.”

Oh. Well that…that melts you a little. “Thanks. Yeah, I can’t sleep either. Thought a walk and some water might help. And being scared shitless, apparently. You’re like six foot, why the fuck do you walk so quietly?”

“It’s the socks,” he says, looking down and even wiggling his toes a little. 

You roll your eyes. “Sure, blame the socks. What did they ever do to you?”

He laughs again, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe as he crosses his arms over his chest. He’s so relaxed. It occurs to you then that you’ve probably never seen him so relaxed in your presence. You’re both always so…tense.

“You’re exhausted,” he comments.

“What gave you the clue?”

“You’re joking way too much with me right now.”

“I’m a comedian,” you say, matter-of-factly. “You’ve just never seen this side of me before.”

He raises an eyebrow at you. Between that expression and the way he’s leaning, you’re thankful for the fact that the lighting is so dim. You do not need to explain the feeling that just rushed through you or the face you just made.

“I was thinking about what you said earlier,” you blurt.

Hotch’s expression hardens a little and he straightens up. “Was it keeping you awake?”

“Kind of. Not really. There’s a lot keeping me awake these days, but look—” You pause, inhaling deeply. “I’m sorry,” you say, unaware that you’re even going to start with that until you do. “I wouldn’t have listened to you back then if you had tried telling me that I was stretched too thin and doing too much work.” You shake your head. “I was sleep deprived, addicted to caffeine—”

“More than you are now?”

“Hey,” you feign hurt, smiling a little at him. “I was perpetually grumpy. If you had asked any of the men that I was working with, they probably would’ve said I was a bitch who had a temper and who was never happy or satisfied with anything. Which, isn’t untrue, but, still.” You let out a bitter laugh. “Anyway, I saw you trying to help as you confirming my fears that I was doing too much and it wasn’t enough, and that it never would be enough.”

In the dim light of the kitchen, you can still see the hurt cross Aaron’s face. Hurt on your behalf, not that you’ve hurt him. An ache, for you. Like just hearing the way you thought about yourself is breaking his own heart. You never thought he cared that much.

“I’m glad it wasn’t that,” you chuckle. “I’m glad that it wasn’t malicious and that you were just trying to help. I just wish I had seen that.”

“I wish I had told you,” he whispers. “I wish I had just talked to you.”

“I wouldn’t have listened,” you remind him with a wry smile. 

“We don’t know that though,” he murmurs.

Good point. Because you two never talked. “I know.”

You look around the kitchen, glancing at the clock. Almost four a.m., for god’s sake.

Then you look back up at Aaron, his eyes already watching you, and they’re so soft. He looks so soft here, in his t-shirt and pants, his hair just slightly a mess from tossing and turning just like you. And he’s watching you so intently, like he doesn’t want to miss a thing. When all you’re doing is standing here in your pajamas, exhausted.

“We should get some sleep,” you whisper, hoping it’ll break him out of his trance.

His gaze doesn’t waver. If anything, the intensity grows. “Yeah” is all he says.

You watch him. You swallow. He looks ready to devour you, and you know you aren’t helping because you’re looking at him like you would absolutely let him. “Aaron…”

That does it, somehow. He blinks, looks away from you. He nods, moves out of the doorway. “Goodnight.”

Every bit of your body doesn’t want to leave this kitchen, this moment. You want to stay right here in this comfortable silence, too close to him, too close to doing something you shouldn’t.

But you shouldn’t, so you force yourself away. You force yourself to leave and head back up the stairs, stealing a glance behind you only once you’re halfway up the stairs to see if he’s following you.

He isn’t.

+++

Aaron gets absolutely zero sleep.

Not that he expected to, anyway. He was tossing and turning before he heard you leave your room. He was halfway toward deciding to say fuck it and start his day at three a.m., so if anything, you just beat him to it.

But he wasn’t expecting you to say any of what you said. He wasn’t expecting the two of you to talk about any of it again. He thought that the conversation would stay where it was, and that the two of you would move on and never address it again.

But you did. You brought it up. And you said things about yourself that made his heart twist painfully in his chest.

He has known that you’re too hard on yourself. He has known this for the longest time. He sensed it even before you joined him in his office that day and told him you thought you were being fired because an unsub got away. But to hear that it goes as far back as the very beginning, it’s no wonder you saw his actions as something else. It’s no wonder you thought he was like the rest of your coworkers, the rest of the men you’ve had to put up with.

Even now, you think you’ve somehow failed because an unsub is targeting you. As if anything you went through at the hands of your father is anything but his fault.

It keeps Aaron awake. For longer than he wants to admit.

He crashes at some point, managing around an hour or so of fitful sleep. A power nap, at best, and drags himself into the shower when he realizes it’s almost eight in the morning.

By the time he is out of the shower and dressed, he hears you moving around in the kitchen.

When he enters the kitchen this time, he doesn’t turn any lights on or give you any indication that he’s there. He stays in the doorway for a moment, watching you as you open cabinets and ponder your choices — which are slim. (Apparently, the extent of Rossi’s cooking was dinner only.)

But still you look around, and Aaron watches you move curiously. You’re already dressed, in casual clothes today, so it does something to him, makes his stomach flip and his heart stutters a little. 

You’re so beautiful. He has always known this. He thought it the first day he ever met you because he couldn’t understand how someone that beautiful could look at and speak to him with such disdain — and how you managed to still look beautiful doing it.

Of course, back then, he was married. Albeit in a marriage that was doomed from the start, but still married, so he shoved those thoughts away, told himself he had no business thinking you were beautiful or worrying about what you thought of him. It didn’t matter because you weren’t going to be in his life, or he in yours, because once they left town after that case, he’d never see you again.

Thank goodness he was wrong.

“I can feel you staring at me,” you say without even turning to look at him. “You’re not as quiet in the mornings, you know.”

“Busted,” he chuckles, finally walking the rest of the way into the kitchen. “What are you looking for?”

“Evidence that Italians eat more than pasta,” you joke, shutting the cabinet doors and spinning around. You cross your arms over your chest — Aaron very pointedly does not look down — and lean back against the counter. “None so far.”

“Didn’t Dave get groceries before he left?”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, a few days ago, but I swear the man never eats breakfast or lunch here.” You pause, still eyeing Aaron in a way that makes him nervous. Because he can’t tell what it means. “Wanna go out with me?”

He nearly chokes. “Excuse me?”

“Out. For breakfast. There are loads of cute cafes around here, Rossi took me to one. We could grab breakfast, get some coffee, take a walk around a park — that one is selfishly for me. I need a walk. I’m going stir-crazy.”

Aaron is still caught up on your wording and your subsequent rambling, but he eventually nods. “Sure. I’ll go find my shoes.”

He wanders around like he has no idea where he put his things before making his way up the stairs to his room. He slides his feet into his sneakers on autopilot, shaking his head to get a grip. He needs to get a grip. Immediately.

The two of you are going out for breakfast because Dave has next to nothing for breakfast food. Not because you just asked Aaron Hotchner out on a date. That is not what this is because knowing you, you’d be explicitly clear if it was. It’s breakfast, coffee, and a walk to clear both of your heads, probably so you can come back here and start looking at more of the case files.

That’s all.

+++

Is this a date? No. Would you be mad if it is? Also no.

So what if you chose that wording just to get a rise out of him? Sue me.

After last night in the kitchen, and all the little things you’ve been noticing but ignoring, all the moments of no personal space, the little touches, the playful words. What if it’s something? 

It’s probably nothing.

Or at least, that’s what you’re telling yourself since Aaron came back downstairs with his shoes on and ready to go, and he hasn’t looked at you once.

It’s probably nothing.

You just don’t know why he won’t look at you.

[chronic-hyperfixator]

ALEXEI AND BUCKY ADOPTED BOB (aka Bob and Yelena are siblings)

Yelena: Damn it, Bob, get your butt out of the bathroom!

Bob: Calm down, I’m blow drying.

Yelena: Blow drying what? You have no hair.

John: What’s going on?

Yelena: Your boyfriend has been in there for over an hour! I can’t believe, it’s like I’m living with him again! He’s here when I go to sleep, he’s here when I wake up, he’s here when I want to use the shower! Ugh, I feel like I’m 16 all over again.

John: Well, you’re not 16. You’re both adults now.

Yelena, banging on the door: Get out, you doofus!

John: Or, you know, he’s rubber and you’re glue.

Bob, showing his hair to Yelena: All yours.

Yelena: I hope you cleaned your hair out of the drain.

Bob, mimicking: I hope you cleaned your hair out of the drain.

Yelena: Shut up!

Bob, mimicking: Shut up.

Yelena: Cut it out!

Bob: Mi-mi-mi!

Yelena: Ugh! *leaves the room*

Bob: *laughing and pointing to where Yelena was*

John, sarcastic: I’ve never wanted you more.

[LATER]

Bob, on the phone with Joaquin: No. There is no way he was a velociraptor.

Bob: No, Joaquin. Look at the cranial ridge, okay. If Dino was a velociraptor he would’ve eaten the Flintstones.

Yelena: *coming out of her room glaring at Bob*

Bob: Oh, were you taking a nap?

Yelena: I was.

Bob: Oh, I- Oh wait. Joaquin can you hold on? That’s the other line. *to the other line* Hello? Yes, she’s here but can she call you back? Okay, thanks. *hanging up* Call Antonia.

Yelena: Did she leave a number?

Bob: Did you see me right one down?

Yelena: I don’t have her number, buttmunch!

Bob: Well she’ll call back. Don’t be such a baby.

Yelena: I’m not a baby, you’re the baby.

Bob: Look, you want to get off my back?

Yelena: You want to get out of my face?

Bob: Yeah, Joaquin… wait. Hold on Joaquin. *picking up the other line* Hello? Hi. Yeah, no. She’s right here. *back to Joaquin* Hi, Joaquin, can I call you back? That’s uh… that’s my sister’s girlfriend.

Yelena: Give me that.

Bob: Okay. *hands Yelena the phone*

Yelena: Hi, Kate Bishop, listen before I get did I leave my scissors at your place.

(Hey this isnt part of the incorrect quote but I didn’t know what word to use to replace the original word from the source: friends so I just used scissors 😭)

Yelena, realizing Bob lied about who was on the phone: Hi, dad.

Bob: *dancing teasingly*

Yelena: *throws oranges at him*

[LATER]

Yelena: I wanna watch We Live In Time!

Bob: Tough noogies, we’re watching Top Gun Maverick.

John: Would you guys stop?

Yelena: It’s my TV! *changed the channel*

Bob: W… uh, quit it!

Yelena: Bite me!

John: Oh my god.

Bob: Well, Monica keeps changing the channel!

Yelena: Aw, that’s great. Why don’t you tell mommy on me?

John: Now I’m “mommy” in this little play? Alright, look, I refuse to get sucked into this weird little Reynolds-Belova dimension thing, okay. So I’m gonna go take a nice, long bubble bath because you kids are driving me crazy!

[gay-dorito-dust]

First ofi love your Jason fic's, they are really great and they made me think could you write for Damian as well?

What about Damian x reader (gn or male pls) where they are really great friends but the family thinks they are in a relationship? You know the typical teasing girls usually experience as soon as she talks about a boy "oh is that you boyfriend" the same thing happens too Damian, and now he dreads bringing the reader to his house because his family always had something to say (except Alfred he's cool like that) and it also makes the reader uncomfortable. And one day Damian snaps at them for their weird behavior, telling them that they are the reason why the reader won't visit anymore

I hope this makes sense, if you don't like this, just ignore it.

Have a great day

Damian hated when he brought you over to the Manor and it’s not for the reasons many might expect. It was more so to do with how Dick, Tim and Jason seemed to always have something to say whenever you two were in a room together, only ever doing mundane activities but to Dick, Tim and Jason, it was viewed under an annoyingly unnecessary romantic context.

They firmly believed that in due to you being able to withstand Damian’s presence for as long as you have, that there must be romantic undertones integrated in every interaction between the two of you. The classic trope of friends being in love with each other but not knowing how to cross that line without ruining everything that was pre established from your longstanding friendship; Which was factually incorrect for so many reasons.

You and Damian weren’t anything more than friends and you both were content with that conclusion. However that didn’t stop you from feeling uncomfortable whenever Dick, Tim or Jason said anything about your suspected secret relationship that you’ve been poorly keeping from them. Damian hated that you couldn’t come to the manor without wanting to leave within the first five minutes of being there, he didn’t want to either but knew that you needed him for support whenever it does happen; and it was unfortunately an reoccurring theme within the Wayne manor.

The first time this happened you and Damian were in the library, reading. Your head was innocently resting against his shoulder and all because of the lack of sleep you had from binge watching the midnight release of the latest season for your favourite show. Had you been anyone else Damian would’ve laid you out flat but since it was you, Damian didn’t seem to mind but he then choice to chastise you for your lack to keep to a healthy sleep schedule.

‘You’re helpless.’ He stats and you pouted at him. ‘But Damian it was the last season! I had to binge watch it before people start spoiling it all over social media!’ You defended yourself but it was obvious that your friend wasn’t buying it for a second. ‘Tch. So was our test today but due to your habit of binge watching, and yet you just barely managed to somewhat passable score.’ He replied, not once looking up from his book as you leaned more into him. ‘Rude.’

‘I’m merely stating the-‘

‘Spare some room for Jesus there lovebirds.’ Both you and Damian looked over to see that Jason had entered the library when you were unawares and had a wolfish grin spread across his face. You tensed up at the implication, wordlessly removed your head from Damian’s shoulder and shuffled to the far side of the couch that you were both sitting on. All the while avoiding eye contact either him or Jason.

The latter (Jason) believed that this was done out of the fact that you had gotten caught but to the former (Damian) it was because you had grown uncomfortable with the comment made towards the nature of your assumed relationship to him. So all he could do without making the situation worse for you was to glare daggers into Jason, who only took this as Damian being mad that he interrupted his quality time with you.

The second time this mistake happened was when you and Damian were in the kitchen taking a much needed break from constant studying for the upcoming test at school, replenishing your hunger by wolfing down on some snacks. ‘You’ll choke if you keep that up.’ Damian said between bites of his own snack.

‘No I won’t.’ You rebutted, swallowing down the remains before shoving another bit of food into your mouth hastily and allowing for some crumbs to cling onto you in the strangest places, though mainly your cheek. Damian sighs and reaches across the table to rub the crumbs off with a handkerchief, muttering about how much of a messy eater you are. ‘Can’t even eat properly, never less sleep the required amount needed for proper functionality.’ He mutters under his breath.

‘Will you never left me live that down?’ You asked.

‘No.’ Damian replied without hesitation and you wondered if the question was even worth asking when he answered them in such a confident and sure fire way. Before you could get a chance to speak, Dick’s voice from the doorway butted in. ‘Do my eyes deceive me or is Damian being a gentleman for his lovely partner? Has hell truly frozen over?’ Damian was quick to retract his hand but it was too late, Dick saw everything and much like Jason, took it out of complete context.

‘We should get back to studying now.’ You said uncharacteristically stiff as you pushed yourself out of your chair and walked out of the room without so much of a word, shoulders hunched and head down when you passed by Dick, who watched in slight confusion as to what just happened. Damian on the other hand was starting to reach his limit with his brothers constant teasing, for how could they not see that it was clearly making you uncomfortable even if some of the teasing wasn’t aimed at you directly.

You took it personally on his behalf and he hates that in due to this it made your eagerness to spend time at to the Wayne manor dwindle. You were his first true friend and he didn’t want his brothers to be the reason you decided that you didn’t want to be his friend anymore. Damian wouldn’t admit it but deep down he was scared that he’ll loose you because of it, and that the only way to save your friendship would one day be reliant on your interactions during school hours. Damian knew he wasn’t the easiest to get along but he had to applause your persistence in wanting to befriend him, so much so that he didn’t want you ever thinking that he didn’t bother fighting for your friendship, because he would fight for your friendship with everything he had and then some.

For you’ve become a large part of him that he doesn’t think he could ever imagine living without now that you were so deeply integrated into his very being.

The third and last time you visited the manor was what made Damian snap. All you were doing was have a slow day with the added company of Titus, who was resting his head in your lap as you petted him; The poor dog missed you and it showed with how he whined whenever you dared to stop the pets, it would be made even more difficult not to as he would then paw at you persistently on top of all that.

‘I swear one of these days Titus will follow me home.’ You joked as you reminisced about the times when Titus would try and follow after you as pup and always disregarding Damian in favour for you and your cuddles. ‘He almost did once when you had to go home after our sleepover.’ Even Damian smiled softly at the memory of seeing Titus’ little head pop out of your bag after almost tearing apart the manor for the little mischief maker. He reached over to scratch the dog behind the ear -just how he liked to be scratched- and watched as Titus kicked his back leg in response.

‘He obviously still loves me a lot to be using my lap like this despite being too big to doing it anymore.’ You chuckled, looking down at the big dog with so much love and affection. Damian scoffed. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Titus only likes you because you pamper and baby him.’ You gasped, covering Titus ears. ‘Don’t say that! Titus is still a baby in my heart!’ You exclaimed. The fully grown Great Dane then sneezed in his sleep and you acted as though he said something meaningful before looking back towards Damian ‘see, Titus agrees.’

‘Tch. You’re such a pain.’ Was Damian’s response as he looked away from you, only to see Tim stood a few feet away, watching you both much like how Dick and Jason did and Damian knew what was about to come out of his mouth before he even said it.

And apparently so did you as you managed to stand up, waking Titus up in the process, who was trying to get his bearings back as you said sombrely to Damian. ‘I’ll see you at school tomorrow, yeah.’ Before walking back towards the manor with Titus at your heels.

Before Tim could ask Damian shot him a murderous glare. ‘Batcave. Two days from now. Make yourself useful and bring Todd and Grayson with you.’ Was all he said before storming off towards the manor himself, leaving an taken aback Tim. His limit has officially been reached.

‘Why are we here Damian? Are you going to tell us that you need help with your partner-‘

‘Stop. Just stop with this nonsense you, Drake and Todd seemed to be hung up on because this false narrative you’ve created about myself and y/n is entirely make belief. And we’re suffering from it.’ Damian cuts Dick off but Jason was quick to speak next.

‘Why? Are you lovebirds not together anymore?’

Damian clenched his jaw but couldn’t contain his anger and annoyance towards this entire situation, wanting nothing more than for it to come to an end. ‘WE NEVER WERE TOGETHER TODD!’ Damian exploded. ‘WE WERE ONLY EVER JUST FRIENDS BUT DUE TO YOURS, GRAYSON AND DRAKES’ SHARED STUPIDITY, YOU’RE MAKING THEM UNCOMFORTABLE INTO EVER VISITING ANYMORE!’

‘Why didn’t either of you say anything-‘ Tim tried to talk but was quickly silenced by Damian who still had a lot more to get off of his chest. ‘WE TRIED BUT YOU WE ALL TOO BUSY TEASING US FOR BEING SOMETHING WE NEVER WERE!’ Damian liked to think he wasn’t the type to be quick to anger and how it was such a foolish thing to do. However Dick, Tim and Jason overstepped one too many times for Damian not to speak up about it, making sure it gets into their thick skulls that their weird behaviour almost cost him his friendship with you.

Jason, Dick and Tim felt stupid now and a little ashamed that their teasing could’ve quite possibly drove you away. It wasn’t their intention to do so, but they guessed that they admittedly got slightly ahead of themselves that they didn’t take into consideration of how you felt about all this. Now they felt like right dickheads.

‘I believe they’ve got the message master Damian.’ Alfred said as he looked at Dick, Tim and Jason who looked like a bunch of kicked puppies. ‘How about we invite master Damian’s friend for dinner so that you may tell them you’re sorry for your recent transgressions?’

Dick smiled softly at the butler whom had became another father figure to them. ‘That’s sounds perfect Alfred but only if y/n is comfortable to come.’ He, Jason, Tim and Alfred then all looked towards Damian who had calmed down significantly from his earlier outburst. ‘Tch. I’ll ask but I’m not guaranteeing anything.’ He says to them as he took out his phone to text you, adding a picture of an impatient Titus sitting at the front door waiting for you to come back for added effect, knowing how you couldn’t resist him.

It didn’t take long for you to reply with; ‘fine. I’m willing to bury the hatchet but as long as Titus gets to lay in my lap. That’s my only condition.’

Yep everything was going to be alright.

[definitelynuwonhere]

I need to express my gratitude to the fandom for a bit, cuz even if i have been sobering from the High highs of this fixation, and even if I’ve barely been able to listen to a full audio in months, The posts i see still bring a smile to my face

Tho i do admit some of those smiles were spitefully envious cuz GOD I WANNA LISTEN TO THEM but still, even if it’s slowly retreating to the back of my brain, This fandom still brings and has brought me so much joy, It’s ridiculous/pos, there came a point where Redacted was my only waking thought.

It’s gotten me to improve my writing, my drawing, MY STANDARDS?!,

It’s gotten me through some of the darkest times, it’s made me make so many good friends, meet so many cool people, it’s just been great guys. Idk where the sap is coming from, would’ve been nice if these words came to fruition during the channelversay but i digress,

I just felt like expressing that. It felt right to. (It’s such an in the moment process as well ai srsly just got done with my final, im still in the fucking classroom)

BUT YEAH, tHIS IS ISNT A FAREWELL POST, this is just like, a bittersweet acknowledgement of me relinquishing my vice grip on the fandom and transitioning it into a loose cuddle.

I’ll still be posting abt them, thinking abt them, but I’ll also prolly start experimenting with new ones as well, dipping my toes into new obsessions, maybe, hopefully, finally start my original projects now that schools almost out

AND YEAH, holyshit this has prolly been the most I’ve written in WEEKS, the words flew from my brain to my typing fingers so effortlessly It feels fucking awesome, I hope to continue that

Ima tag some honorable mentions now to the people in this fandom that have really made the experience 10x better

@erial-c @running-tweezers @miyaheestar @moronkyne @darling-solaire @ririchurl @wib-was-here @zimix-whispers @vind3miat0r @bazpire @breezysuffers @brainrotcharacters @fedorabender @frog-0n-a-l0g @no-see-um-incorrect @pandoraroid @everything-redacted00 @jamieeeeee33333 @heartf0ul @cyanbugremix @vegafan69

[foreverisntenough]

Y/N is so fiercely protective of Trent and I just know that when he comes back from matches where he either didn’t play or someone fouled him etc she’d go off on a tangent and Trent would be like trying to stop her. She’d be like “I can’t believe he didn’t get a foul or a yellow card and like everyone saw it and the ref did nothing the stupid ref and he’s so lucky I wasn’t there and-“ and Trent would be like “babe, breathe”.

Sorry got carried away, I just love your series so much 😭😅

I love this! This made me laugh. I feel like that’s their vibe as well. Y/N being in a panic and Trent being like ‘baby chill out.’

TYSM for sending!

--------- My tiny one shot below for you 🤍

‘Mighty Red’ - 1.2k words

↳ Y/N is fuming after the Liverpool Man City fixture but Trent doesn’t seem too pressed. *If your a city fan- probably don’t read lol

Other ForeverIsntEnough One Shots

---------

“Honestly though it just pisses me off because they get away with everything. That’s a fucking foul every time. Like I don’t understand what are we using VAR for at this point because it doesn’t seem to matter. It’s a card! He had you by the neck of your shirt. I would’ve hit him if I was you. What a fucking prick. I wanted to run down there and kick him in the balls like get the fuck off my man.” You rattled on in Trent’s car as he drove you home after a game at Anfield. The Liverpool City match had ended with a tie as its result and you were less than impressed.

“Wow tell me how you really feel.” Trent laughed a little as he flicked his eyes to the side towards you momentary as he drove on the M62. The lights from the motorway filled the car and splashed across your face. He couldn’t help but think you looked beautiful in your rage.

“I should’ve gone down to the pitch to yell at the ref frankly like he’s so stupid. Why are they all so dumb? It doesn’t bother you? Like this is fucking crazy. They are cheating, T. Blatantly cheating.” You yelped out continuing on with your rant. You were fuming after the matches result. There had been a incorrect (in your opinion) call from the referee that even went to VAR to be reviewed. A City player had dragged Trent down onto the pitch by the collar of his jersey after a trip and you thought it was insane the player got away unscathed, not even a card.

“I don’t know, baby. I mean what am I meant to do? I can do my 90 plus on the pitch but that’s the only difference I can really make. Only chance for impact.” Trent responded in a calm voice but with a smug smirk thinking your passion and fury at the moment was pretty funny and definitely cute.

“Well that’s shitty.” You huffed in response. You pulled your legs up onto your seat to sit in a ball, folding your arms around your knees and pulling them into you.

“Well that’s the way it is beautiful.” Trent told you and tapped at your knee telling you the get your feet, still in trainers off his car seat. He hated when anyone got his car remotely dirty and you were not exempt. No rage was going to be enough to allow that.

“I fucking hate them. Everything about that stupid club. You know what else is ridiculous? The dumb mascot, what even is that? Like what an absolute joke of a club.” Your brow furrowed as you dropped your legs back down but shuffled to turn to look at him driving, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Baby, I don’t even know what it is? Why do you even know?” He started to laugh at how ridiculous of a point you were making. You pulled your bent knee onto the seat to get comfortable again and as much as you tried to hold your expression of anger you couldn’t.

“Stop!” You began to giggle as well. “I don’t know why! Okay? But it’s fucking dumb. You know what’s not dumb? A bird. You know what is also dumb that stupid ref.” Your rationale for why you disagreed with tonight’s outcome was dismantling slowly but surely as you got closer and closer to your house. Your argument was crumbling referring to mascots, saying that Liverpool’s liver bird was far superior.

“Birds not dumb… noted. Refs… dumb. Duly noted.” Trent kept laughing at you, reaching over once more to pat your knee not with instruction but with confirmation to your words.

“T… you have to be fuming you’ve lost the league to them by a point before like this tie is bull shit.” You pleaded for some sort of emotion from him. You leaned forward resting your elbows on the center console holding your face in your hands looking up at him.

“Thank you for bringing up that very pleasant memory but I told you I can only play the game.” He responded and your lip rolled into a frown.

“You’re being too calm and it’s annoying.” You finally decided maybe you needed to give up because he clearly wasn’t going to get on the same page of vexation as you tonight.

“If I got riled up after each game I’d be exhausted and just upset. It’s a waste of my time, energy, and emotions. You know all this.” He cooed turning toward you a bit and a sympathetic smile. He picked up your chin with a free hand. He rubbed his thumb over your jawline gently waiting at the last stop light on the roads before you reached home.

“Boo! I don’t want to know about your mindful ways. You should be mad with me.” You huffed. You just wanted to vent with him and yell about how much you hated the opposition. You’d done it before but tonight, even in the confines of your car, Trent was choosing professionalism.

“Okay, pretty girl.” He cooed kissing your lips with a quick peck before turning back to focus on the winding roads leading into your neighborhood. You arrived eventually after falling more silent as Trent pulled down your drive. He parked and grabbed his bags ahead of coming around to the passager side. “To be clear baby… I know they are the fucking worst.” He whispered pulling you into a hug at the door of the car before heading in.

“I knew it! I knew you fucking hated them too. Like we should be yelling fuck City!” you eagerly and fairly giddily said to him. You stepped forward into him and he shut the car door behind you. “Fuck them!” You yelped out into the night wrapping your arms around his waist resting your chin on his chest tilting your head upwards childishly to look at him.

“Fuck ‘em!” He yelled louder then you with a smile as he swayed back and forth with you in his arms in the driveway.

“Fuck ‘em.” You echoed him in the same volume before you fell into a giggle.” He looked down at you with a love in his eyes and kissed your lips. “City honestly sucks!” You giggled in between kisses.

“I love you. You’re a very very funny, pretty girl. Thank you for coming tonight. You look beautiful as always.” He cooed softly standing in the quiet drive illuminated by the lights of the house.

“Thank you, T. Wanted to look good for my man that City players need to leave the fuck alone.” You whispered with some cheek in response, ghosting your lips over his.

“You succeeded and you know what? Tie tonight on the pitch… still winning going home with you off it.” He cooed a response that managed to make your heart flutter. “And you’re right, birds… not dumb. Mighty red. Love him.” He began to laugh, turning to walk into the house. You gasped before falling into giggles of your own chasing after him. He was giving you shit for know what the city mascot looked like when he knew the damn name of his.

⇨ Read other ForeverIsntEnough here!

[firestorm09890]

do you ever see someone being incorrect about something you care very much about and you know you can’t do anything about it and so you think “well, guess they’ll just have to be wrong” but instead of dissolving into nothing it just continues to haunt you?

anyway in his Canto VII part 2/3 video ESGOO said that Dulcinea’s boss theme was just normal epic boss music and it would’ve been cooler if it incorporated the parade song and NOPE NOPE INCORRECT can’t you hear the flourishes and the bassline? the cymbals crashing and snare ratatating constantly and bass drum booming in absolute lockstep? IT’S NOT GENERIC EPIC ORCHESTRAL BOSS MUSIC IT’S EMULATING A MILITARY MARCH. I can't say it's actually a march because real marches have a very specific form that must be followed and it does not lend well to looping, but it is meant to sound like a military march, the kind that marching bands will often play in parades (I'm American it's very normal here), and it is perfect. Dulcinea is the leader of the band. If you listen to any of John Philip Sousa's marches and pay attention to the percussion and bwomp bwomp type bassline (it's really hard to convey without actual sound) you'll hear the resemblance. they generally don't use strings the way Dulcinea's theme does, but then, epic orchestral pieces don't use percussion the same way a military march and Dulcinea's theme do. just had to get that off my chest

[unhonest-iago]

Earworm

Denki was constantly annoyed at his soulmate. Their connection was through music; he could hear every song that stuck in their head and vice versa. Unfortunately for Denki, anytime they discovered a new band, they'd listen to it for weeks to months on end. And then when the new one replaced the old, they started to remember some of the instrumentals again.

An incorrect snippet of the lyrics. Which then fills his brain on repeat to the point he's randomly humming it himself but has nothing to go on. It was never a song he knew, unable to help. Not that he could, he didn't even know who his soulmate was or if they even went to U.A.

'Buh ba-buh ba-buh,' Reader drums their fingers along their desk to the melody flowing through their mind. Sitting next to Hitoshi in class 1-B who had learned long ago how to tune them out. He had discovered that using his quirk just prolonged the torture for their soulmate. Only amplifying the noise level, forcing Reader to non-verbally process their thoughts.

'I'm with you, always,' trying to figure out the lyrics as he jotted down notes, unaware of the blond in class 1-A who wanted to electrocute himself. 'My love is on your side. I’m with you always.’

'What's wrong with dunce face?' Katsuki asks Eijirou when Denki flat out ignores him. Overstimulated by his soulmate, who is a few doors away. 'His soulmate is having another earworm,' laughing at his friend's misery. 'Denki, you could just hum another song to drown them out.' The internal aspect implied. 'Ugh, last time I did that, their brain made a stupid mash up,' groaning, Denki drops his head onto his arms. Cushioning it from hitting the hard wood of the desk.

‘Just look up the fucking song,’ if he could retaliate, he would’ve chosen the part from Kesha’s your love is my drug; banging my head against the wall. It was annoying that the one means of communication they had was bloody song lyrics. Luckily for Denki, the bell for lunch rang.

Both class 1-A and class 1-B now walking down to the cafeteria. Reader had finally remembered a bit of the chorus, ‘there’s a darkness at the heart of my soul, runs cold, runs deep.’ Reader’s packing up their stuff while Hitoshi walked ahead. Denki walking past the classroom, heard them humming. Stopping dead in his tracks, confusing Eijirou and Bakugou. He bursts through the door, ‘You!!’ Pointing at them. ‘You’re the reason why that song has been playing through my head on loop!’

‘Oh, shit. That’s right, the soulmates thing,’ they had completely forgotten about that. Some of their friends had already found their soulmates. Reader had thought that it would be wise to not fret over it when entering U.A. Not wanting it to get in the way of their hero training. ‘What do you mean the soulmates thing?’

‘Wait, the gummy bear song! That was you?’ Remembering how the song had gotten stuck in their head, but couldn’t recall where they had heard it from. ‘Was trying to get back at you. It didn’t work.’

‘But seriously, you didn’t know?’ Denki’s so confused. He’s glad to finally know who has been controlling the stereo inside his head. Finding out that they did in fact go to U.A. and seemed to be a quirk users. He was still a little pissed. But the main feeling was confusion, thinking they had never heard about soulmates. Which couldn’t be the case. ‘Oh, no, I know about soulmates. Simply thought I’d run into mine eventually. Didn’t want it to distract from all the hero stuff.’

Denki decides ‘fuck it,’ and pushed his conflicting emotions to the wayside. Now wanting to know more about them. ‘Well, we’ve met. Hi, I’m Denki and we’re hanging out for lunch,’ quickly grabbing Reader by the hand and directing them towards the cafeteria. ‘Name’s y/n. In case you wanted to know, mr kidnapper.’

[envysparkler]

Of all the people Bruce expects to see on his doorstep on a Sunday morning, Talia al Ghul is very, very low on the list.  Frankly, he’s surprised she bothered to knock.

“Oh,” Talia says, lips pursing in disappointment as he looms in the doorway, “it’s you.”  She rocks on her heels, like she’s attempting to peer around him.

“This is my house,” Bruce says, half-offended and half-bewildered.  She’s not alone, there’s a child scowling up at him—they’re making League assassins smaller and smaller these days—but Bruce ignores him and focuses on the greater threat.  “I’ve already told Ra’s al Ghul that Gotham is off-limits—”

“Don’t be ridiculous, this isn’t about him,” Talia waves him off and saunters forward, stepping over the threshold and into the house like it belongs to her.  The child follows her, only pausing to sneer at Bruce, and Bruce is left standing on his porch, thoroughly dismissed.

Talia always did have a way of getting what she wanted, and damn anything in her way.  It takes a moment for Bruce to shake the old, lingering fondness and remember that a deadly assassin is inside his house.

Alfred is going to kill him.

“Wait!  Talia!”  He catches up to her near the kitchen, where she is surveying the cereal boxes on the counter with palpable distaste.  The child looks like he’s trying to test them for poison, or possibly poison them himself, but Bruce doesn’t have time to worry about that, because she’s found—

“Uh, Bruce?” Tim’s voice cracks high, out of his chair and holding both his cereal bowl and his spoon ready to throw.  “Did you forget to tell me you had company?”

“Timothy Drake,” Talia says, cold enough to create icicles.  She studies him for a long moment, skipping from his Superboy pajamas to his bleary face to the overfull mug of coffee on the table.  “You are one of Lady Shiva’s.”

The child’s scowl deepens.

“Yes?” Tim looks at Bruce desperately, like it’s a test and he’s looking for the answer.  Bruce shrugs.

“She mentioned you were passable,” Talia sniffs.  “For a boy.”

Tim looks a mixture of outraged and pleased, but Bruce is more concerned with why Talia is here, standing in his home years after she gave back his mother’s ring.  Talia only reveals whatever she wants to reveal, and while she does only ever tells the truth, she lets him draw incorrect conclusions from those truths all on his own.  It means Ra’s isn’t involved in whatever brought her here, but that could mean anything from the old schemer being dead to Talia being on the run, and Bruce is not nearly awake for an imminent League invasion.

“Where’s Alfred?” Talia finally finishes her survey of the kitchen and rests her cool gaze on him.

That would be the reason Bruce is barely awake.  He only managed to drag himself from bed with the reminder that there was an unsupervised teenager in his house.  Unfortunately, he’d got there too late to save the coffeemaker.

“What do you want with Alfred?” Tim asks, on the verge of hostile.  The child draws himself up like a hissing, spitting snake, and only stays still by virtue of Talia’s hand on his shoulder.  Talia, for her part, merely looks inconvenienced.

“Well, this would’ve been several times simpler had he been here,” she sighs.  “I could’ve dropped off Damian for a spot of tea and gotten on with my business.”

“And what is your business?” Bruce presses.

Talia heaves another sigh—this time dramatic and put upon.  It’s an act, Bruce can tell, but that doesn’t help him, not when Talia turns to him and widens her eyes, looking up through her lashes.  “Unfortunately, Beloved, your son takes after you in terms of vanishing skills, and I’ve finally managed to track him down here, so I really must get going before he infiltrates that sorry excuse of a prison and finishes decapitating that clown you keep alive for some unfathomable reason.”

There’s a lot packed into that statement, and Bruce is still untangling ‘your son takes after you in terms of vanishing skills’ with the knowledge that Nightwing is supposed to be safely inside Bludhaven and the growing horror that Dick might’ve accidentally started a war with the League of Assassins, so it’s Tim that inhales first, staring at the child in sharp shock and then up at Talia, before finally turning towards Bruce.

“You have a kid with Talia al Ghul?!”

~#~

Talia, of course, does not bother to explain anything.  She merely instructs the child—Damian—to behave before vanishing back out the front door, and Bruce’s attempt to follow her is met with a katana and a high-pitched demand for a duel.  It becomes apparent that Talia’s version of behaving doesn’t match Bruce’s, because it takes several minutes and one shallowly bleeding slice before Bruce can extricate himself.

The child—his child—Damian leaves him alone then, looking disappointed in his swordsmanship skills, and turns instead to badgering Tim, who despite favoring a bo staff—“a clearly inferior weapon unsuited to anything but sloppy pulverization,” comes out crisp and clear-edged, much like Bruce himself when he was younger and his only point of reference was Alfred—is judged a suitable opponent on the basis of Lady Shiva’s reference.

Bruce is maybe a little sulky that a child—his child—has dismissed him in favor of a teenager with a pillow crease on his cheek, but he suppresses the emotion to dart to the Batcomputer so he can ask Nightwing what the hell he’s been up to.

Unfortunately, Dick’s response is both confused and irritated, which means Bruce has to waste time explaining the situation lest his eldest give him the silent treatment again, and Dick signs off with a promise to drop by, clearly excited at the prospect of a new sibling.

Bruce doesn’t warn him that this one is more apt to stab him than hug him.  Dick can figure that out for himself.

But with that distraction out of the way, he’s left to ruminate on Talia’s words.  She wasn’t talking about Dick, and clearly not about Tim, and not Damian, and Bruce has no other sons.  The thought drives a pang through him, a loss he will always carry, and he finds himself in front of the case with Jason’s uniform, as though it can help him solve the puzzle.

Is there another child out there he doesn’t know about?  He’d swear that he doesn’t have another with Talia, but he has no idea when or how Damian was conceived, so it’s the most likely explanation. 

[five-flavor-soup]

This is technically in response/as an addition to a post on the supposed ‘double standard’ in the fandom between Zuko and Jet as Katara’s love interests, but it’s been so long since it was posted and I figured the OP would be entirely uninterested in my word vomit, especially after like one and half years—so, separate post. I added a link for those interested. There's a cut because this got quite long lmao.

In short, the post supposes the argument that though Jet would’ve made Katara kill people (something Zuko very much Did Not Do, no matter what you think about The Southern Raiders), he cleaned up his act after this. Zuko, on the other hand, did lots of Really Bad Things to Katara & Co. with far more frequency than Jet did and got redeemed after a multitude of episodes doing Various Things Moste Evile. To then slap Jet with The Toxic Ex-label and see Zuko as the ‘healthier’ and ‘better’ option creates a Double Standard(™) within the fandom, which is supposedly bad and not an arguably incorrect reading. 

But the differences in fandom perception between Jet and Zuko as Love Interests for Katara (one of which canonically, and the other potentially and apparently talked about in the writer’s room) are easily explained, as can the Supposed Double Standard—just by thinking about it from Katara’s viewpoint, or even the audience’s. Because, well, the worst things Jet ‘almost’ ended up doing didn’t happen because of outside interference only. 

That’s the important bit here. He 100% would’ve drowned an entire village just to get rid of a handful of Fire Nation soldiers, had Sokka not managed to evacuate everybody. He 100% would’ve grievously injured two people who, as far as Jet and everybody else were aware, were refugees who might not even be firebenders — considering nobody else saw Iroh heat up his tea, he could’ve been wrong — in an attempt to prove his own hunch. Had the guards not been there, had Zuko not been able to fight back with swords, Jet would’ve genuinely attempted to wound them for as much as a puff of smoke. And Jet consistently involves bystanders (innocent or not) in his desperate quest to harm and defeat the Fire Nation: the Gaang (and particularly Katara, through explicitly manipulative means) and the villagers in Jet; Zuko, Iroh, and the people in the teashop in City of Walls and Secrets. Additionally, we don’t see more violence from him because he’s not a main character like Zuko is—though it’s implied that Jet beats up villagers who are supposedly in cahoots with the Fire Nation often, only agreeing to turn over a new leaf when he, Smellerbee, and Longshot decide to move to Ba Sing Se. 

Zuko explicitly and frequently doesn’t harm people: that, or it isn’t important to the plot. He doesn’t burn down the village on Kyoshi, he literally only manages to lightly singe it. He threatens people with violence frequently but never actually goes in for the kill. I’d argue that the most explicitly violent thing he does in Book 1 is breaking Aang out of the Pouhai Stronghold—for his own ends obviously, but if it’s spelled like treason and sounds like treason, it’s probably treason. When he thinks of robbing the pregnant couple while he’s on the run, he stops himself of his own volition; when he considers using Appa to catch Aang (this was a point made against Zuko in the post), he’s unaware of what Appa’s been through prior to that point and sees him as no more than an animal used for travel, much like the ostrich horse he stole earlier in the season. 

Zuko’s schtick throughout Book 1 and 2 is that he doesn’t want to think of the consequences of his actions. His plans are never fully complete. He doesn’t think of how he’s going to get a chained, notoriously slippery little eel of an Avatar to the Fire Nation, and he doesn’t think about what would happen to twelve-year-old Aang after they got there—which is horrible of him, but it also shows an odd, ignorant kind of innocence that you’d associate with a kid who’s got a hard time telling right from wrong. Like, I love Zuko dearly, adore him even, but kiddo doesn’t think ahead until the Book 2 finale and even that’s debatable. He’ll eventually start thinking ahead a little bit but for the most part, he doesn’t. Not saying that takes away responsibility, because it absolutely doesn’t, but it is telling of Zuko’s character: he’s an ‘act first, think later’-kind of guy, all ‘fuck around; find out; maybe success’. His sole goal throughout Book 1 and 2 is going home, without even thinking on how to get there beyond like, Avatar in my custody => back in Fire Nation with Avatar => dad loves me again. And he says that his only intention is to go home too, in Ep 2 of Book 1:

Aang: If I go with you, [He holds his staff in front of him as an offer, making sure Zuko understands that he does not wish to continue fighting.] will you promise to leave everyone alone? [The camera cuts to a side-view of the area, Zuko's men still surrounding him, spears poised. After a brief moment of hesitation, Zuko erects himself and nods in agreement. Aang is apprehended by Zuko's men, who take his staff . . . ] Zuko: [Boarding the ship up the walkway. Determined.] Head a course for the Fire Nation. I'm going home.

(Added emphasis for my point)

Zuko is not the Big Bad. He’s not The Largest Threat. He never is. In Book 1 it’s Zhao, in Book 2 it’s Azula, and in Book 3 it’s Ozai. Zuko is a consistent threat, yes, but not a particularly large one no matter how good of a fighter he is. Because he’s presented to us as a disastrously hurt and traumatised little brat who we, the audience, are supposed to feel sorry for, and slowly grow fond of. Because we learn in The Storm that the notion of “caring for others is weak” has literally been branded into him. Because he keeps getting back up to fight, but consistently holds back. We are shown that he knows, on some level, that what he’s doing is wrong: the text suggests that Zuko is actively suppressing his morals. And by the time Zuko hires an assassin to ensure the Avatar is dead, we know that Zuko is incredibly unhappy with his choice(s) and is desperate to be safe; that he’s uncomfortable but wants to be comfortable; that he’s incorrect about the source of his fear while he’s back in the palace. The audience is shown this explicitly. 

By contrast, we’re shown that Jet is fully aware that those villagers will die. He’s fully aware that, if he manages to prove the two refugees are firebenders, they’ll be arrested and probably mutilated (if the hand-crushing is any indication). I love Jet and his character, but he’s supposed to be the example of poisoning yourself with your hatred, anger, and hurt. He’s revenge that goes too far, because he doesn’t allow himself closure. He knows the consequences and isn’t shown to care for them, as long as his goal is furthered.

And there is the small, but significant, difference between the two characters: Zuko initially just wants to capture the Avatar, is purposefully remaining unaware of what will happen when he does so, and is clearly shown to change, while Jet just wants to punish firebenders and is very aware of what will be necessary for him to do so, with a handful of lines of how he ‘stopped being like that’. And honestly, Jet is far more mature than Zuko is for quite some time, regarding the violence of war—basically as mature as Zuko eventually becomes at the tail-end of his redemption arc. But Zuko’s maturity is at that point healthier, because he doesn’t want to genuinely do harm. 

In regards to their separate relationships with Katara, there’s these fantastic points that @sokkastyles made in reply to the post:

The fact that Zuko actually did change and Katara actually forgave him makes ALL the difference. [ . . . ] The thing about Jet is how manipulative he was with Katara. He not only almost made her kill innocents, but he lied to her about the man he attacked having a knife when he was called out, so that Katara would see her as righteous. Someone who is willing to lie in order to make themselves seem good and someone who says they are going to change but then does the same things doesn’t have a good track record, and that’s a more troubling relationship dynamic than someone who acts as an upfront enemy but then sincerely changes.

And: 

I do think it makes sense to focus on manipulation being worse than being a cartoon villain when we're talking about personal relationships. I think many people can relate to having someone like Jet in their lives who seems nice but who lies and manipulates to justify their own bad behavior despite repeatedly claiming that they will change. Not that many people will experience being tied to a tree by someone who wants you to tell them where the Avatar is, and it is completely reasonable for people to be more forgivable of things Zuko did as a villain than things Jet did to Katara when he claimed to be a friend.

I actually don’t have anything to add to this, lol. It’s succinct and well-worded.

Lastly, in addition the relatability and the relationships being different (the manipulative, emotionally hurt, and self-proclaimed anti-hero versus the initially childish, explicitly confused and desperate cartoon villain, plus the girl they hurt horribly), there’s also the problem of Jet not being a main character. Jet is a relatively well-written side character, whilst Zuko is very quickly established as a main-ish character with his own POV (as the writers decided during the conceptualisation that he’d be joining Team Avatar eventually). Zuko’s troubling, self-destructive nature that has been forced upon him and his Tragic Childhood is shown in high definition. The audience is supposed to eventually be okay with Zuko and hopefully like him, slowly adding puzzle pieces to complete the picture of a horrific earlier youth and treatment by nearly everybody he knows except Iroh. Something like this isn’t necessary with Jet, not just because he was already incredibly likeable and understandable from his introduction and onwards, but also because he’s neither a villain nor a main character. 

There’s multiple reasons as to why Zuko is often seen as the ‘better’ option, just like there are multiple reasons why Jet and Zuko are compared so frequently—they’re both traumatised teenage boys who ‘rebel’ to get some semblance of control back, but we see Zuko change into a kid anyone would be a little bit proud and fond of and that doesn’t happen with Jet. Double standard or not, Zuko and Jet are different characters who the writers also treated very differently, on purpose. It makes sense to me that the audience would think Zutara is the ‘less bad’ or far better option. We know far more about Zuko than we know about Jet; and Jet’s redemption arc, if we can even call it that, halts permanently when Zuko’s is reaching the height it for him to go into a freefall, ultimately culminating in a genuine redemption. We, the audience, know this. So does Katara.

[socra-time]

Socra’s Naruto liveblog, Ep. 61-70

Ep 61:

-I genuinely could not be less impressed by Kabuto as a villain

-lmao I like that Kiba is fully a Naruto fan now

-yeah I have no idea what the FUCK Naruto is gonna do to win this match because Neji is clobbering him like there’s no tomorrow

-ah yes, Naruto just “willpower”s his way through Neji’s supermove

-okay so I don’t agree with Neji trying to kill Hinata but I really wouldn’t mind if he killed Hinata's dad

-yeah uh FUCK the Hyuga clan and FUCK Hinata’s dad

-so obviously Neji’s story taking up such a big chunk of the episode makes sense narratively but within the context of the show itself, he’s just monologuing to Naruto for like 10 minutes lol

-wow Neji’s father’s death was some fucked-up shit

Ep 62:

-ohohoho really feeling the irony of this fight

-okay Hinata definitely doesn’t have a happy relationship with her dad, but Naruto saying she’s probably suffering as much as Neji is uh… incorrect

-Neji honey I’m so sorry, if you were fighting literally any of the less-important characters you would’ve won this fight

-Naruto is going APESHIT

-but also yes so true Naruto, please change the Hyuga clan and also beat up Hinata’s dad after becoming Hokage

-DAMN Naruto coming through with the uppercut

-between this fight and Naruto’s fight with Kiba, I’m really not sure how intelligent I’m supposed to think Naruto is because he’s supposed to be kinda stupid but he also is good at deceiving his enemies in fights????

-honestly for some reason I don’t feel super good about Naruto’s victory and I’m trying to figure out why. I think it’s because I’m not a fan of the “insane superpower MC has because they’re the Chosen One” trope that came into play with the Nine Tails chakra. Also I feel bad for Neji… but I guess in a philosophical sense he needed to lose this one to disprove his whole “fate” thing

Ep 63:

-awwww Naruto getting appreciation from the crowd was nice

-why didn’t Hinata’s dad give Neji the letter earlier???????

-nah it’s still FUCK the Hyuga clan

-also I still don’t like Hinata’s dad. I don’t care that he apologized to Neji and that Neji’s dad chose to die; he still talks about Hinata like she’s worthless and he just kinda let Neji suffer after his father’s death for almost a decade. Also he doesn’t seem to have done anything about how fucked-up his clan is

-god, knowing that Neji dies is making this episode HEARTBREAKING

-I know Kankuro withdraws for strategic reasons but also if I were him I would’ve withdrawn anyways because I am NOT fighting motherfucking Shino

Ep 64:

-the implication that Temari was just gonna clobber Shikamaru with her fan like a baseball bat if he hadn’t dodged her attack is pretty funny

-Shikamaru I like you but also I am side-eyeing you very hard right now. Gonna need Temari to beat the sexism out of you

-I love Ino she’s so silly

-why didn’t Temari just blast Shikamaru while he was thinking

-also why didn’t she just knock Shikamaru’s parachute out of the sky

-anyways good for Shikamaru but also I’m gonna need him to learn how to not be sexist

Ep 65:

-I don’t think I like Asuma’s voice

-I missed Lee so much, I’m glad he’s (kinda) back on his feet

-I love how some of the spectators are fully just betting on 12 year olds beating each other up

-also why is Naruto just allowed to be down on the field

-I don’t like Sasuke’s new outfit. Leave the onesies to Gai and Lee, Sasuke.

-Lee is really selling himself short, my poor son:(

-aaand Gaara’s kill count increases once again

Ep 66:

-time for the ultimate edgelord-off

-I feel bad for Sakura, Kakashi’s kinda been neglecting her

-I fear Lee is better than me because if Sasuke just copied the techniques I worked for literal years to develop I would be PISSED

-noooo Kiba you were so close to figuring it out-

-god the sharingan is so broken

-Gaara used “Harden”! It was super effective!

Ep 67:

-oh boy shit’s gonna go down this episode

-well damn Sasuke can lightningbend now I guess

-okay so Kakashi says he taught Sasuke the chidori because “he’s like me”. The question is how? Just because he’s really good at fighting and has a lot of chakra? Like yeah they both have the sharingan but that doesn’t seem to be related to the chidori????

-Gai and Kakashi need to stop throwing shade at each other and kiss already

-sometimes the animators draw Sasuke’s side bangs really thick and long and it looks so weird

-geez so I know I said it was off-putting to see Gaara look shaken when Lee took his weights off but hearing him screaming is a whole other level

-the sound design seriously popped off this episode

-aaaaaand shit’s going down

Ep 68:

-goddammit I think I finally have to admit that I was wrong about the Hokage being sus

-geez Gaara is really going through it

-anyways I totally called the Kazekage being Orochimaru in disguise. It took me a couple episodes but I figured it out. Also what happened to the real Kazekage?????

-god Orochimaru’s theme goes so hard

-I love how Kakashi tells Sakura to wake up Naruto and Shikamaru but doesn’t say anything about Choji or Ino

Ep 69:

-I kinda love Pakkun

-yes go Shino, go get your screentime

-I have seen WAY too much of Orochimaru’s tongue already

-so Orochimaru can just casually do necromancy???????????????????????

-so I’m guessing the third person Orochimaru summoned would have been the Fourth Hokage then

Ep 70:

-the animation of everyone jumping through the trees is so funny

-why didn’t the squad just have Naruto send out a bunch of clones to throw their pursuers off their trail

-I like the derpy-looking face on the back of Pakkun’s vest

-oh shit Asuma to the rescue! It’s nice to see one of the other senseis kicking some ass

-(for a moment I was excited at the potential for seeing Kurenai also kick some ass but then I remembered that she’s a woman and therefore is not allowed)

[starandcloud]

Simon Riley, A Character Analysis

Part 1 <- Part 2 -> Part 3

In the newer MWII game, Ghost is quiet, stand-off-ish, and has a joking, almost dad-like humor, personality. While Simon does make jokes, they were dark or just down right dad jokes. Lthough we see moree of Ghost, we don’t see all of him. Most players are still in the dark about his personality.

While it is not confirmed, it’s not hard to see how Simon could form a personality, or dissociation, disorder. Such as Derealization or Depersonalization disorders. Whether these formed during childhood or after the “Roba Incident'', would be hard to determine. However, saying it didn’t affect Simon, would be incorrect. Most trauma survivors would develop a coping mechanism such as; alcohol, drugs, reckless behavior, smoking, and form a dissociation. With new trauma, on top of his childhood trauma, Simon would fall back onto different coping mechanisms. He’d crave conflict. He’d find peace in the conflict and would purposely spark fights just so his thoughts didn’t muddle his brain. He’d also have “layered” coping mechanisms. So, he may derealize more or go through more cigarettes than before. Alcoholism may be something Simon turns to as well, as a coping mechanism; especially after the “Roba Incident”. With all of this trauma, and the coping mechanisms, in mind. Simon would be in a constant state of Fight/Flight.Freeze, in which he would typically choose Fight. This would be due to, not only his childhood trauma, the extensive trauma he went through. Because of this; he’d have a hard time opening up, and letting his guard down, to others. No matter their gender.

As a consequence of the walls Simon put up, he would have difficulty talking to others that would help him. Along with difficulty of trust, the holidays would be difficult for him, because of his nephew’s death. Which, something home to his family’s death, Simon would have anxiety with relationships and returning to his home. Regardless of if he had a partner or not. Incidentally, because of Simon’s trauma; he’d struggle with showing his love for them. Because of his sexual trauma, physical touch would be a rare occasion such as; anniversaries , birthdays, or the even rarer occasion of a holiday gift. Because of his time in the military, material gifts are not something Simon would believe in. Sure, he’d buy gifts for his partner , but he wouldn’t buys thing’s because he wants them. He’d accept gifts, but unless it’s a household item, he might never use them. Simon wouldn’t see the joy in a shopping spree or going out to eat because of his military life, and his trauma, he’d need to be able to pack up quickly and leave. Seeing as Simon lives a very military led life, his possessions would be few. It could also be a trauma response, and a way to help his anxiety. Having few belongings, means that he could pack up quickly, and quietly, would be something to help Simon relieve himself of that anxiety. Due to all the previous events, excluding his death, it’s easy to see how Simon Riley has a more shut off personality. He would have issues with trusting people and would have a tendency to avoid physical activities, including, but not limited to, hugging, hand holding, and even sex. Taking in just his past, Simon could’ve been an anxiety-ridden child who would have troubles speaking up about what happened at home, making friends, and asking for help. Throughout his childhood, Simon was exposed to dangerous animals in his home, Riley could’ve grown up with a lessened idea of fear. In his early and mid teens, he also would’ve had a morbid sense of humor. This could’ve been a side effect of being brought to concerts and, when he was younger, having to laugh at dead strippers. Simply looking at his childhood, Simon Riley was an extremely traumatized child who needed someone to lean on. However, this support was limited. As Simon grew older, his morbid sense of humor; this was okay with the older soldiers he would get stationed with. This morbid humor only grew after being held prisoner by Manuel Roba. Following the “Roba” events, Simon’s demeanor became darker and, with that, he also became quieter. Being a quiet soldier before, he now barely made a sound. This being a trauma response, he barely spoke as well, which caused many people to be freaked out. Despite not being able to reenter the military, Simon was able to find a seemingly normal life back home. However, he did struggle with his own issues. From night-terrors, to PTSD flashbacks, to fight or flight encounters; in which fight was usually triggered.