#I mean OKAY SURE IGNORE the impact some of these characters had on your community

[freakova]

Bhvr this ain’t it

[grelleswife]

Hi! I wanted to ask your opinion on why you enjoy Kuroshitsuji if it isn’t too much to answer. Recently I have been feeling like I’m being ‘punished’ for enjoying Kuro because I always see people talking bad about it and Yana on twitter. 😅 I am well aware Kuro has a lot of issues but I really enjoy the characters and such but the opinions of people about the series kind of has been hurting me as a fan and thus I have been losing interest🥲 I was hoping I can talk to someone who is a fan of Kuro that can help give me some mindset or something. I have been drawing for Kuro for years so I’m quite passionate towards the series and Yana herself and but this has been bugging me. If you can’t answer this it is totally okay and you can delete this ask❣️

Hi, anon! That’s not too much at all! My apologies for the late response; I wanted to make sure I could sit down to properly get my thoughts in order before answering.

My love for Kuro was originally (and is to this day) rooted in the source material. The manga and anime introduced me to some of my most beloved fictional characters, including Miss Grelle—as attested to by my url! 😉 The story instantly had me hooked with its campy hijinks, tragic undertones, and forays into the dark corners of the human psyche. Even with the current lag in pacing, I’m excited to see where the Phantomfam’s adventures take us next! And, of course, I would be remiss without mentioning the artwork. In a visual medium like manga, aesthetics can make or break your enjoyment of a series, and Kuro’s Victorian steampunk flair is perfectly suited to my tastes, especially with the steady improvement in quality as Yana’s honed her craft over the years.

However, particularly during this dry season of short chapters and plodding plot progression, it’s the community that grew up around Kuro that nourishes my love for it the most. Naysayers condescendingly sneer that the fandom is dead, but the incredible art, funny memes, awesome animations, excellent fics (some of which outshine published novels I’ve read), insightful meta and more that I see across my dash and in the tags suggest otherwise. And when we come together (such as during past fandom weeks or @anewp0tat0 ‘s recent event to celebrate the 200th chapter) that display of talent burns even brighter. As a writer, building up lore in headcanons and fic or reading my mutual’s creative interpretations of Yana’s world is just as fun—if not more so—than engaging with the actual manga. That enrichment alone is enough to keep me invested in the Kuroverse for the foreseeable future.

The series also holds considerable sentimental value for me because it served as the catalyst for my queer awakening and brought friends and loved ones into my life who I would never have met otherwise. Even if the day comes when I put Kuroshitsuji on the shelf in favor of other stories, that positive impact will remain.

However, that doesn’t mean that the series or fandom are perfect. Yana’s sleazy past and irresponsible pandering to the gross side of the fandom are an unpleasant reality with which we must contend, as are the fujoshis, transphobes, and other creeps—some of whom proved to be a genuine danger to minors—who continue to give us a bad name. But those people who blindly label Kuro as wholesale trash and accuse all fans of condoning the problematic content merely betray their simplistic, black-and-white way of thinking. We cannot and should not sweep the objectionable aspects of the series under the rug, but we can interact with Kuro critically—recognizing and calling out the areas in need of improvement while also cherishing the best parts of this cursed butler manga. As long as you’re consuming media responsibly, and in a way that doesn’t actively harm others, then you have no reason to feel guilty. You sure as heck don’t deserve to be punished!

Ignore the haters as best you can, and try to focus on what first ignited your passion for Kuro; don’t let those jerks steal your joy. 😤 Alternatively, if you need to take a break from that onslaught of negativity and just rest for a bit, that’s fine, too! There’s no shame in stepping away to recharge, and you shouldn’t push yourself to participate in fandom if doing so is detrimental to your well-being.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having a tough time over on the bird app, but I hope my answer was helpful and that Kurohell can continue to be a happy, welcoming place for you! 🖤

[elytrafemme]

(this has no spoilers for the recent cs update! cool beans)

i just read your cs analysis thingyyyyys and based. but thats a given ur the author literally. but i find the eye of the storm thing so alluring because from a literal standpoint, the eye wall is the worst part of the storm. meaning the worst i behind and ahead of csranboo

and yea thats a much too literal look at it

so instead i will think about how storms only last so long, and while they feel like eternity they are nothing compared to the days, weeks, months, and years it takes to recover from them. and, yea and okay another very literal thought after storms, particularly disastrous ones, its very common for people to bond together quickly to take care of their community. like legit a morning after a hurricane everyone is checking on their neighbors, even if youve never talked.

so i think that whatever happens next, no matter what it is, there will be healing for these little guys, and they'll figure it out. cuz they have each other.

anyway ive said absolutely nothing that hasnt been established but i like talking so take this ask i guess before my laptop dies rip (ALSOOOOO I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY sending you the best of vibes. pretend sparkle emojis are here)

right yeah!!! i don't know how well i've done saying that the worst is behind ranboo, but i definitely think we're hitting a point where shit gets Really Bad so that it gets better, y'know?

and yeah! the storm doesn't last forever at all, but there's a lot of things broken down, and not to like reference my own analysis like a cringey bitch but like... part of that metaphor is the idea that preconceived notions and relationships with people get pulled apart just so you reconstruct them. some of the upcoming chapters are genuinely so fucking cathartic to me already because i get to really explore ranboo's character more than i've gotten to explore it so far. there's a lot that has to be addressed there and there's a lot unreliable narration has hidden and i'm excited to show you all that

and yes yes the little guys will be okay!! i think the interesting thing about beeduo in the fic rn is that even when the two of them are really struggling (which has like, to be honest! has had a noticeable impact on their dynamic even if just referenced in fleeting thoughts!), the two love each other enough that they would rather confront shitty things they want to ignore than risk losing one another.

especially since yk both of them are paranoid about losing one another which, well! that sure is interesting isnt it? :)

anyway yeah :D

[imagine-your-love-story]

I have a practical questions. It might be easy to take as very critical but I know that u Penny won't read it in bad faith: I'm asking as a person who in the past used daydreaming etc to the point it had negative impact on my life and brief delusions. That's why I'm a bit... well, not concerned but wary? My point is compassion to ppl who also might have tendencies like me in the past: So: What are healthy boundaries to self shipping? When would be it going to far? When would encouragment be enabling? NOTE: I know asking this might be a little tone deaf after the person who want to marry their f/o wondered about heathiness of it all so I wanna make it clear: ANON I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! I do not think AT ALL you take it out of healthy zone and I am wishing you best :D Have fun and make so much good memories with your spouse :D (haha I was thinking of making my bf into a trophy husband myself ;D)

this is a super good question, anon! and a really important one!

I think it's important to keep in mind that YOU as a physical, flesh and blood living human being, are still rooted in reality. Learning how to recognize and employ healthy boundaries is a constant work in progress and that's okay!

You can still allow yourself to enjoy the attention of a fictional character. You can envision yourself interacting with them, etc. Just as long as you continue to go about your own life.

Daydreaming is okay in moderation of course. And envisioning yourself in a loving relationship, interacting with a character who cares about you can have a tremendous positive impact on your confidence and your emotional and mental health!

It's like that line: "Fake it 'til you make it".

That line doesn't sit well with me. It feels...well...fake. Like I can't grasp it. It feels like plastic in my mouth when I say it.

But imagining my favorite character looking me in the eyes and saying, "I'm proud of you" and "You're strong, you're capable, you've got this"???? That works WONDERS for me!

So in that respect, daydreaming is perfectly okay (and there are a few articles about how imagining a positive outcome is good for your mental health here and here)

For people like you, dear anon, who are a bit more cautious and careful because of the impact daydreaming has had in your life, I think it's important to always employ a level of self-awareness in self-shipping.

If you notice that the quality of your life is slipping because every waking moment is spent daydreaming about fictional characters to the point that you're not eating, you're not socializing, you're not taking care of yourself, then of course that's a problem and I would not encourage daydreaming at that point. I would encourage seeking professional help.

So make sure you check in with yourself and that you know your limits! ♥♥♥

Encouragement that enables you would be ignoring the red flags and telling you to do it anyway. But there's a difference between ignoring red flags and pushing back against negative internalized speech.

Red flags tell you: "There is something seriously wrong with your mental, emotional, and/or physical health. This is a warning sign. Heed it."

Hallucinations/delusions/etc. are a warning sign. If you send me a message and tell me that you're hallucinating your favorite character taking you out to dinner, I will (gently, kindly) pester you to seek professional help.

Negative internalized speech tells you: "You have been fed inaccurate perceptions of your identity that perpetuate a cycle of self-hatred and self-loathing that is damaging your mental health and you need to learn how to reframe that script to say something positive."

If I get a message from you like, "I don't deserve to be loved by my favorite character", I will (gently, kindly) pester you to rewrite this negative self talk with the positive words the fictional character is representing to you.

If someone encourages you to ignore a red flag, RUN (in some cases, the person doesn't recognize it either and they're well-meaning, which is why you gotta check up on yourself!)

If someone encourages you to push back against negative internalized speech, keep that person close because they don't want you to hurt anymore.

Chances are really, really good that someone online won't be able to tell what is a red flag for you. That's why you need to keep checking in with yourself and get help if you think something is wrong!

This kind of got a little long winded and I don't know if I've answered your question(s) or not??? Overall, please look after yourself and if the self-ship community is hitting some sensitive areas for you, please do whatever is best for your well-being and take a break! ♥

(I also want to make a note here that I am not a medical professional and I do not have experience in this field so I can only speak from a general point of view!)

[fandom-necromancer]

Brothers take care of each others

This was prompted by an amazing anon! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | Character: Elijah Kamski

The ceiling above him was still clad in total darkness, the sky outside the window turning light blue only at the horizon and stars sparkling peacefully. It was an hour that demanded everyone to stay in bed and get a couple hours’ worth of sleep. Yet Gavin laid in his bed and stared up at his ceiling unable to fall asleep ever since the call of ‘Hah, it worked!’ had woken him up ten minutes to four o’clock. Since then he tried to ignore the distant sounds of tools clattering to the floor. One thing was for sure: Sleeping over these noises was far easier than falling asleep to them. he cursed, looking at his alarm that read 4:30 completely indifferent to what that time meant for Gavin. He sighed deeply. There was no use staying under the sheets any longer, he was awake now. Might as well stand up.

Not bothering with any clothes other than the boxer shorts and the loose old T-shirt he had slept with, he opened the door and yawned heartily on his way to the bathroom. ‘Oh, you are awake!’ Gavin’s lids fell in resignation, as he showed his brother the middle finger and continued walking towards the bathroom without even looking at him. Ten minutes later, he had splashed some water in his face and had readied himself for another day. Sort of. He had zero interest in trimming his stubble and trying to hide the dark rings under his eyes was of no use either. At least he felt ready to deal with his brother now.

‘Morning’, he hummed as he entered the living room, stifling yet another yawn. ‘Good morning indeed.’ ‘Says you’, Gavin commented. ‘I didn’t phcking asked to be woken up at four.’ ‘Sorry. Forgot you’re not a morning person.’ ‘Nah, I’m normal, other than you’, he huffed. ‘Okay, I need a coffee now.’ ‘Perfect! Then you can already try out my improvements!’ Gavin stopped in the middle of the kitchen. ‘Improvements?’

‘Yes! I hooked up your coffee machine with the internet! It is now able to import recipes for any kind of coffee you might like and start brewing it – if you have given it the right ingredients of course.’ Gavin looked at Elijah with a face that expressed to equal measures pain and frustration. ‘And what about a regular damn coffee, like I always make it?’ ‘I called that program a “phcking” coffee’, Elijah mocked him, tapping at the display hastily attached to the machine. Gavin watched how his favourite mug filled with his life saving drink and sighed. ‘Oh, the wonders of technology…’ ‘Oh, then you will love what I did to your microwave!’

Gavin groaned, sipping on his coffee instead of commenting. It had only been three days so far and already Elijah had “improved” half of the technology he had in the house. He would have told him to stop, but as long as Elijah was busy tinkering with his stuff, he wouldn’t become bored. And if Gavin remembered one thing from his childhood, then he knew that was about the worst state one could meet his brother in. Even with Elijah no longer being part of Cyberlife, he was still an influential and rather public person. His latest talk about the autonomy of androids had had quiet the impact, especially in the anti-android community, as they had looked up to him as the creator of these “supposedly alive” machines. It shouldn’t have surprised Eli as much as it had that afterwards, people would come to him with their hate. But since someone had broken into his heavily secured house and had killed one of the Chloes without leaving as much as a trace, his home was an active crime-scene and it was either a hotel room or Gavin’s apartment for the man.

Elijah, curious as ever, had of course taken the latter, if not to spy on police investigation, then to spend a few weeks with his brother he hadn’t seen in ages. Not that Gavin really could complain - it was fun having him around. But he was also a usually very private person and Elijah’s constant energy had quickly started getting on his nerves.

‘And? When will you drive to work today?’, Elijah asked. ‘Still time for breakfast?’ Gavin sighed. ‘Yeah, sure. Want some toast? Don’t think I have much-‘ ‘I want to come with you.’ That made even sleep deprived Gavin suddenly attentive. ‘What?’ ‘To your workplace’, Eli explained. ‘I could find out more about the status of the investigation of my home. Also, I could finally see for myself who that certain android is you put an eye on!’ ‘I don’t- Elijah, you can’t just stay at the station. You are a civilian! I will keep you updated.’ ‘I’m also one of the richest men in the world. I doubt anyone would want to stop me.’ ‘I- Elijah, you still can’t-‘ ‘Come on!’, the man just talked over him. ‘It will be fun! I’ll drive us.’ Unable to stop his brother storming out of the flat with the keys, Gavin sighed, downed the rest of his coffee and hastily got dressed. That would be the worst day of his work life for sure.

-

‘So this is where you work. Interesting.’ ‘You’ve been here before’, Gavin grumbled, not really sure if he was more tired or more embarrassed at the moment. ‘Promise me you’ll leave me alone for at least the first hour, okay? I seriously have to get some stuff done.’ ‘Oh, of course!’ But despite his words, Elijah followed him to his desk. Gavin decided to ignore him in favour of starting up his terminal, but Nines had never been the one to hide what he was thinking: ‘Mr. Kamski? What are you doing here?’ ‘Oh, you must be Nines! I’m just accompanying my brother to work. Wanted to take a look at the place he keeps complaining about.’ ‘You can’t be here.’ ‘Well, but I am, am I not?’ ‘That… That really isn’t a valid argument.’ ‘Listen, Nines. How about instead of talking about something you can’t change anyways, you show me around a bit?’ Nines looked at Gavin for help, but it was his partner’s silent pleading him to “yes, please, get him away from me” that let him cave in. ‘Okay, but I can’t show you everything.’

Gavin watched them walk off and praised the blissful silence. He concentrated on the screen in front of him, knowing he had to finish all the important work now before Eli would come back and annoy him further. He loved his brother. But some distance was clearly needed after all these years. He actually managed to answer his mails and find himself back into his case, reviewing evidence and the first lab results that had come in regarding blood analysis and genetic information about the murderer. Then Nines and Elijah came back. Gavin saw him passing Fowler’s glass cube and his heart sunk. But then the door opened.

‘What the hell is Kamski doing here?’, the Captain shouted in the room, effectively silencing any conversations. ‘I wanted to take a look around’, Elijah simply answered. Fowler looked at him as if he had just lost his mind. ‘This is a police station! Not some kind of tourist attraction! You can’t be here.’ Every other person would have long apologised and run for their life with Fowler this angry, but Elijah stood his ground and smiled. ‘And you can’t make my brother work his ass off like a Lieutenant and still pay him Detective money, especially after his recent achievements, yet here we both are.’ In over eighteen years of working in this precinct, Gavin had never seen Fowler speechless. The man stared at Elijah, who smiled at him in all confidence, while most of the officers in the precinct seemed ready to duck behind their tables.

‘Leave’, was all the Captain pressed out. ‘Now.’ ‘Alright, don’t want any trouble.’ Elijah grinned, winked at Nines and made his way over to the door. ‘Gonna pick you up later, bro!’ Gavin didn’t give him any answer as he knit his brows and rubbed his forehead. Too little sleep, too much early morning conversation, too little coffee and now the whole precinct’s attention. Great. He just wanted to get his work done, get home and sleep. And exactly that he was going to do.

Until his break began and Nines approached him. With a sigh of regret, Gavin turned around and waited. ‘Is it true?’ ‘Is what true, tin-can? I had a really shitty day so far and I still can’t read minds.’ Nines shifted his weight on his other leg and continued: ‘Your brother… When I led him through the building, he told me you had a crush on me.’ Thinking about everything that could have happened today, Gavin certainly hadn’t expected that.

‘This asshole! I will phcking kill him, I swear!’ ‘So… It’s not true?’ ‘Hell, of course it’s true!’ Gavin froze. Why had he said that? ‘Oh.’ Gavin looked up at the android, that was smiling to himself, cheeks tinged blue. ‘That’s… nice to hear.’ ‘Is it?’ ‘I mean, I like you a lot, Gavin. To learn it’s mutual is… very nice.’ Gavin sighed deeply, holding his head. ‘I will phcking kill him…’ ‘Are you not happy about this?’ ‘Phck, Nines, I am. I really am. But I’m tired, I have an annoying as phck brother at home that just won’t shut up and I really wanted to ask you out any other way than this.’

‘I understand’, the android nodded. ‘But it’s nice to have it out now, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah. Yeah it is. Listen, I… Let’s forget this happened for just this day, okay? I will leave early today, speak to my brother about all of this and if I’m not charged with murder tomorrow morning, how about we do this properly? Tomorrow is your free day, right?’

Nines nodded and smirked. ‘Call me if you need to hide the body.’

[ooops-i-arted]

Child development/Dad-thoughts for Season 2 Episode 8???

Poor little guy.  He has to be so terrified and traumatized by the time we see him again - ripped away from his father by scary bad droids, threatened by Gideon and his scary black sword, weakened from using his powers and blood loss, and we don’t even know if he was awake for any medical procedures that surely would have involved his autonomy, personhood, and fears being completely ignored let alone scary ouchy needles/medical tools.  It’s hard to gauge how he’s doing since we don’t have the entire picture of what he experienced, although we can assume it had to be terrifying.  But when we see him again, he’s patiently sitting by Gideon, apparently having complete faith that Dad will come save him and defeat the bad guy.

I do feel this episode hugely dropped the ball by not showing us Grogu being reunited with Din once Gideon is defeated and Din unshackles him.  It’s such an important missing piece - last we saw Grogu was so terrified he was giving in the Dark Side and harming stormtroopers, then he’s sitting (I infer) paralyzed with fear/scared enough to be quiet and still because of Gideon, and next we see he’s tucked in Din’s arms again.  How was he feeling to be reunited with his dad?  Did Din comfort and reassure him (it would be ooc for Din not to at this point imo)?  Did he feel better knowing that Dad came for him after all?  Sure, we can infer all that, but it’s a big emotional beat that should’ve been present because it impacts The Big Grogu Moment we get later:  Grogu choosing to go with Luke.

I’m not gonna lie, I was really surprised the show went this direction since it seemed like they were setting up Din choosing to keep Grogu as his own and I have my reservations about the story going this way tbh.  But I think Luke taking Grogu (for now) does work.

Season 2 Grogu is a much happier, well-adjusted, and more mature child than Season 1 Grogu.  Season 1 Grogu was quiet, subdued; he had moments of comfort or testing limits but overall generally made himself less noticeable and was hesitant to indicate his needs or wants to anyone, even Din.  Season 2 Grogu is a much more average child; he knows he can indicate what he needs to Din and it will be provided for, even something as the simple emotional comfort of uppies; he chatters more often and isn’t afraid to be more curious, more defiant, and just express himself.  In Season 1 Grogu didn’t even ask for food - probably thinking he’d be ignored - he just caught that frog by himself; Season 2 Grogu has a loving dad who tells him “I see you’re hungry, we’ll get you some food.”  Season 1 Grogu generally just follows Din around, not wanting him out of his sight but rarely requesting interaction until the end of the season but waiting for it to be offered instead; Season 2 Grogu is always running to Din the second he needs anything.  Does trauma magically go away?  No, Grogu is still affected.  But he’s clearly healing and growing under Din’s care, and having a stable adult in the child’s life is one of the biggest things that can reduce a child being affected by Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Grogu seems to know who Luke is, or at least recognize him as a Jedi.  My guess is he did connect with Luke during the Scotty Beam Me Up scene.  So it’s not like a stranger showed up to take him away, this is someone he has “met” and “talked to”.  And since Grogu has the Force, he can sense for sure that this is a nice person and someone who truly can teach him, which eliminates some of the guesswork you usually get when a kid meets their new teacher/a stranger.  So while it looks to Din like some random guy just showed up for his kid, there was more stuff going on below the surface that Din (and the audience) didn’t really see because It’s The Force.  So it isn’t like Grogu is being sent off with the first strange Jedi who rolls up (like on Corvus).

Grogu certainly doesn’t act afraid of Luke or anything other than friendly.  The only issue is separating from his beloved dad.  Grogu will not go unless the person he loves and trusts most in the entire world says it’s okay for him to do so.  He goes up to the screen and almost seems like he wants Din to look and show him “This is an okay guy.  Look he kills things just like you, Dad.” before pointing and trying to get the adults to open the door.  And I definitely got the impression Grogu is calling or otherwise trying to commune with Luke through the Force, telling him “Hey we’re on the bridge, come save us and meet my Dad.”  So Grogu is open and willing to start interacting with Luke - as long as it’s okay with Din.  (And Din in turn trusts Grogu enough to open the doors when Grogu says it’s cool, this guy is okay.)

The #1 thing that makes Luke taking Grogu work for me is that everyone’s consent is involved.  Grogu may be a small child who still needs an adult guardian and guidance in his life but that doesn’t mean he should be carted around without taking his feelings into consideration.  This isn’t like a few episodes ago, where Din tried to hand Grogu over without really seeing if Grogu or Ahsoka were okay with it.  Luke addresses Grogu directly and treats him like a person, accepting that Grogu needs to be involved in this decision; Luke also addresses Din’s worries and even speaks up on Grogu’s behalf (”He wants your permission”).  Grogu is clearly open to the idea of going with Luke - if he didn’t want to, Luke would certainly say so - but also wants to make sure Din is okay with it.  And while Din balks at first, once he realizes that Luke can offer Grogu the training he can’t, he gives Grogu permission to go and even gives him a special good-bye so that Grogu knows how much he means to Din.  And the face-touch seemed to me, at least, to be Grogu saying, Don’t worry Dad, it’s okay to try and reassure him.  And Din tells him in turn “Don’t be afraid.”  The separation is hard, but Din and Grogu both realize that Grogu needs to be trained to use his powers safely.  They’re willing to do what’s right, even when it’s hard, which takes a lot of emotional maturity.  Grogu has certainly grown indeed.

Realistically this probably should’ve taken a lot more time - Din going with Luke to help transition Grogu - but 1. this is a tv show and 2. this is still better than small children usually get in media anyway, since people tend to lump anyone under age 5 as “cute and/or annoying prop for the adult characters.”  Also, we the audience know Luke (the real one, not the OOC Rian Jackoff version).  We know Luke is compassionate and kind and will take good care of Grogu.  If Grogu is troubled by leaving his beloved dad, Luke will do his best to guide Grogu through it, and I personally think that if Grogu ultimately decided this wasn’t for him and wanted Dad?  Luke would pack him up in the X-wing and fly him right to Din.  So ymmv but Luke training Grogu works for me and I think Grogu is in good hands.

I don’t wanna super go into The Discourse but since I know it’s gonna come up in the fandom and since I am a big Jedi fan, I’ll briefly address the whole No Attachments/Jedi Attitudes thing:

No Attachments refers to No Possessiveness, not You Can’t Love Anyone.  The Jedi don’t discourage compassion and love and even family ties, just the whole I’d Commit Genocide For My Loved One (looking at you, Anakin).  This post specifically refutes the comments Filoni made in the Making the Mandalorian show and goes into it way better than I could, if you’re interested.  I’ll just pull out this George Lucas quote: “But [Anakin] has become attached to his mother and he will become attached to Padme and these things are, for a Jedi, who needs to have a clear mind and not be influenced by threats to their attachments, a dangerous situation.”  So Grogu loving and caring about Din isn’t an issue - it’s only an issue when he’s willing to harm and endanger others over it (like choking Cara) or when he becomes so afraid he lashes out without thinking (the stormtrooper free-for-all).

Which is why it’s so important Grogu be trained by someone who knows and understands the power he has.  Even if Grogu still decides not to be a Jedi, he needs to know how to control himself and his power so he doesn’t hurt anyone.

Jedi are allowed contact with family and embrace their original cultures as shown throughout Star Wars media.  There’s no reason to think Luke will snatch Grogu and never let him and Din see each other again even if Luke did follow the prequel Jedi completely (which he didn’t in Legends anyway, which honestly makes more sense to me since so much Jedi knowledge was lost/destroyed by the Empire).

People have always been allowed to leave the Jedi Order.  If Grogu or Din decide “Nope, can’t do this, I want him back” Luke would 100% support them making a decision that works for both of them.

We follow Anakin and Revan because they’re interesting characters and because conflict makes good stories.  The Jedi Order didn’t work for them but most Jedi seem pretty well-adjusted so... I don’t tend to think Anakin is really the baseline we should be going by, y’know?  Grogu has past trauma but he’s been with people who care for him and listen to him.  And not to knock Din at all, but Luke being able to communicate with Grogu is a huge advantage and will actually probably be really good for Grogu.  So I think Grogu is in good hands and won’t be Ruined Forever by training as a Jedi.

And of course Din says they’ll meet again.  He promised.  (And Din & Grogu are Disney’s chief moneymaking duo these days, you want to make your audience worry about your dream team, not break them up permanently.)  So I think Grogu will be reunited with his beloved dad.  And while the parting was certainly heartbreaking, for now he’s in good hands who will help him continue to grow and thrive.

[thepancakeboi]

99. “Do it. I dare you.”

I don’t normally make a note on these writing prompt stuff outside of tags but I feel I have to warn that this one does get very dark and angsty, up to including the potential of character death (no one dies though, I promise). Now, on with the show!

“Let’s go,” Joker’s voice rings out, echoing against the walls of the Mementos station.

Mona jumps onto the tracks, transforming into his car form in midair. The rest of the thieves sans Joker starts to get in. Not everyone had been able to come today. Haru had business involving Big Bang Burger that she had to attend to, leaving it down to the nine of us to finish our Mementos requests. She had apologized profusely in the group chat, but the others reassured her that everything was alright.

I go to get in the back of the vehicle but am stopped by a hand grabbing my arm. I give Joker an unamused look as I ask, “What do you want?”

“You know where you sit,” he replies with a cocky grin to match. I sigh in frustration as I get in the front row after Joker. Every single time, he always wants me to sit right next to him. He refuses to take no for an answer on that. No matter how much outward annoyance I show, I secretly am content with this seating arrangement. I’m fairly certain that he is aware of this as well. It’s even more apparent today since, with Noir not here today, Violet ends up deciding to sit with Panther and Queen in the middle row. Joker echoes my thoughts as he remarks, “Hey, look at that. It’s just the two of us. Anything can happen~”

“Joker, if you try anything, you’re going to lose a limb or two.”

“Sounds fun,” he hums, laughing as I sulk and look away from him. I can’t even threaten him without his goddamn danger kink making its existence known.

“God, get a room, you two!” Oracle yells from the back.

Joker laughs even harder at this. “I might do just that.”

“No,” I say, refusing to entertain this idea any further.

“But Akeppi-”

“I said no.”

He looks disheartened for a brief moment before he smirks. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t Joker starting to sing, “♪ I want your love, and I want your revenge. You and me could write a bad romance~♪”

I whirl around as I hear Panther join in with, “♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!♪”

Joker apparently has no intentions of stopping. “♪ I want your love, and all your lover’s revenge. You and me could write a bad romance~♪”

At that point, Oracle decides it’s her turn, “♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh! Caught in a bad romance!♪”

“Would you three shut up already?” I yell, turning so I can glare at all of them at once.

It’s quiet for all of one second before Oracle and Joker both, of course, decide to ignore me like the menaces they are, simultaneously singing, “♪ Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah! Roma-roma-ma! Gaga, ‘Ooh la-la’! Want your bad romance~♪”

I groan at their antics. It’s the one annoyance that comes from sitting next to Joker. It’s not the first time something like this has happened. The chances of it being the last are minuscule at best.

The banter between the rest of the thieves continues as we continue to drive through Mementos. At some point, Joker took one of his hands off the steering wheel so that he could hold me close. He still has his arm around me when we run right into a Shadow that decides not to immediately disintegrate upon impact.

“Get ready, everyone!” Mona says in car form. “This one wants a fight.”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Skull shouts. “We’re gonna kick its ass!”

We quickly exit the vehicle while the Shadow is still stunned from being hit head-on by a cat-turned-vehicle. Almost as soon as Mona transforms back into a cat, the Shadow bursts into a black liquid, revealing itself as a Forneus.

I had been hoping for this fight to be done quickly, but this Shadow is decidedly stubborn. We’ve managed to knock it down a couple of times, but it simply refuses to die. After the third such time, it fires a Mapsiodyne that manages to hit all of us. “Queen!” Fox calls out as she collapses.

No communication is needed. Joker and I pull back to tend to her while the rest keep fighting. I bend down so that I can drag her out of harm’s way. However, I pause, sensing Joker’s eyes on me. Not this again. “Joker,” I start, moving Queen as I speak, “maybe you should be a little more concerned about Queen lying unconscious on the floor rather than staring at my ass.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.”

He quickly summons Sandalphon to revive her. Queen’s eyes flutter open, surprisingly unalarmed that she had been knocked out. It’s such a common occurrence with this group. How they’ve survived for so long, I have no idea. “She’s awake,”  I say, turning back to Joker. “We should get back to the fight.”

He nods. “Let’s go-”

“Joker, look out!” Panther calls out just as he is engulfed in a magenta aura.

He tries to move out of the way, but it’s too late. There’s nothing any of us can do without Noir and her Persona’s Amrita Shower. The aura clears. Joker stands there, his eyes closed. “Joker?” Queen asks from behind me, having gotten herself to her feet.

A sinister grin creeps across his face as he opens his eyes, his attention focused on the two of us. His eyes glow with an unnatural purple light as he rushes at us. “It’s not him!” I yell, blocking his dagger with my sword. His grin only widens, a frenzied look in his eyes. “He’s been brainwashed by that damn Shadow!”

“We gotta do something!” Mona calls out from the frontlines, where he’s working with Skull and Fox to keep the Shadow occupied. “He’ll keep attacking us if we do nothing!”

In an instant, I make my decision. “Keep attacking it, all of you. Oracle, make sure they don’t die doing it.”

“It’ll be easy peasy!” Oracle replies from above in Al Azif.

“I’ll keep Joker occupied while you do that until he snaps out of this brainwashing.” 

“Got it,” Panther responds, her Persona pelting the Shadow with fiery strikes as Makoto charges forward on Agnes.

With Joker’s next strike, I grab ahold of his wrist, fully intending on pulling him away from the fight. However, I’m distracted by Violet tentatively asking, “Is senpai gonna be okay?”

“Damnit,” I hiss as Joker escapes my grasp, his dagger slicing my wrist. “Quit your worrying. He’ll be fine.”

Ignoring Violet, for the time being, I regain a hold of Joker and manage to get the bloody dagger out of his hand. I drag him away, leaving the others to take care of that pesky Shadow. The moment we’re out of its vision, I turn to Joker, sheathing my sword for now. “Pull yourself together, idiot!” I snap, resisting the urge to slap him across the face. “We’re your friends.”

“Friends?” he asks, the first words he’s said in his current state.

“Yes, friends. You have those, remember?”

“No. You’re my enemy!”

He throws himself at me with little regard to the fact that he’s currently unarmed and I have a sword at my side. I struggle against him, trying not to hurt him. My sword stays sheathed. I can’t bring myself to cause him harm, even when he has me backed against the wall. “Joker, listen to yourself! I know you’re still there. You’re brainwashed. The Phantom Thieves are your friends. Don’t you understand? They’re not the enemy.”

“You’re right...it’s just you.” Nothing could have prepared me for what comes next. In one swift motion, he pulls out his pistol, pointing it at my face. His grin becomes wicked and full of malice as he sees my eyes widen in shock. “How does it feel, traitor? Knowing you’re about to die.”

“You won’t shoot me. You can’t.”

Despite how confident I try to sound, my heart pounds in my chest. Chills run down my spine. It takes a considerable amount of effort to hide any possible sign of trembling. I refuse to show any vulnerability to him. I don’t care that he could kill me. Even brainwashed, there’s no way he’s capable of shooting me. This isn’t him. Joker would never do this...would he? “Are you afraid?” he mocks. “Are you going to beg for me to spare your life?”

I look Joker dead in the eye...and laugh.

I am aware of the situation I am in, that Joker has a gun pointed at my head and could shoot me dead at any moment. At the same time, the irony doesn’t elude me. The tables have turned, and now it’s me on the receiving end of the gun. “Do you really think I would stoop so low? I know you’re brainwashed, but I think you’re bluffing.”

“Someone’s eager to die. What was it you said? ‘Case closed. This is where your justice ends.’ But it’s not my justice ending, detective: it’s yours.”

“Then, by all means, pull the trigger. Do it. I dare you.” When he doesn’t immediately react, I add, “Here. How about I make it easier for you?” With slow, deliberate movements, I remove my mask with one hand and push my bangs aside with the other as I tilt my head forward. He has a clear shot now, the cold metal of the barrel pressed against my forehead. Yes, this is reckless. I know that...but he deserves this chance. An opportunity to enact swift judgment on me for my crimes. I’m not worthy of a quick death like this, even with it mirroring my actions in the interrogation room. It doesn’t matter, though. If this is how it ends, then so be it. I couldn’t ask for a better executioner.

I stand there, eyes closed, waiting for death to take me. But the gunshot never comes. I open my eyes, staring past the pistol to the boy currently holding me at gunpoint. His grin isn’t quite as wide as before. He’s faltering. “What’s the matter, Joker? I didn’t hesitate when the situation was reversed. Go ahead,” I say as I close my eyes once again, my voice slowly rising in volume as I continue to berate him, “put a bullet through my skull. It’s only fair, isn’t it? I’ve murdered countless people. I even tried to kill you twice. I don’t deserve to be alive, so get on with it and fucking shoot me already!”

All I hear is a gasp, the gun clattering against the ground. I look up to see Joker, no longer brainwashed. It’s clear that he’s shaken. His lips are parted as he stares at me in wide-eyed horror. “A-Akeppi?” he hesitantly says, voice trembling. His mask isn’t able to completely hide the tears threatening to spill. He’s trying so desperately to pull himself together, but for once, it’s not working. I’ve never seen him so visibly distressed, and it hurts.

“You were brainwashed.” It’s the only thing I can offer as reassurance that I don’t blame him, that it wasn’t his fault.

“You’re...not hurt, are you?”

Figures, he’d ask that question. As always, he’s more concerned about my own well being than his own. “No, of course not,” I lie, hiding the blood on my wrist.

He isn’t fooled. He sees right through my response, as observant as ever. His touch is gentle as he moves my arm into his line of sight. The corners of his lips twitch when he sees the cut. “You are. I didn’t hurt you anywhere else, did I? Tell me the truth.”

“You didn’t.”

We stand there in silence, neither one of us sure how to proceed. I personally want to ignore it and move on, but I can sense that Joker won’t. His inner guilt is eating at him, I can tell. Meanwhile, something tells me he knows I’m hiding something from him. I just don’t want him to know that I had believed he was capable of killing me, even for a second. It’d be too much for him, I’m sure. Joker’s the one to break the silence. “Akeppi, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I instantly respond.

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not. I could have killed you.”

“You didn’t kill me, tho-”

“But I could have,” he interjects before starting to ramble. “I could have killed you. I had my hand on the trigger, and you were willing to just die. What if I had actually shot you...and you had died? Akeppi, I don’t want to lose you again.”

“I’m still here. You wouldn’t have fired the gun.”

“But what if-”

He abruptly goes silent, likely shocked that I’ve pulled him into my embrace, dropping my mask in the process. “Ren, trust me,” I say in a slow, hushed tone, dropping the codenames for now so I can get through to him. “It’s okay. I’m here for you, and I will continue to love you as much as before. Nothing will change that.”

“Goro...” His voice hitches as he returns the hug, desperately holding onto me as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he doesn’t. I can hear his ragged breathing as he finally breaks down and cries. Taking cues from what he would do if the situation were reversed, I pull off one of my gauntlets and gently stroke his hair with my ungloved hand. My own tears run down my face, but I refuse to acknowledge them. I have to be strong, for Ren’s sake. He’s always been that way for me, and it’s about time I return the favor.

A few minutes pass before he starts to calm down. As he pulls back to look at me, I move his mask up so I can wipe the remaining tears from his face. “Even crying, you’re still beautiful,” I muse to myself, not meaning to say the words aloud.

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” he asks with a little chuckle. “You look like you were crying, too.”

I shake my head, refusing to confirm or deny his statement. His chuckling continues as he replicates my actions, although his hand lingers on my cheek longer than I had. I turn my head as I hear Skull’s voice. They must have brought down the Shadow without us. I reach down, grabbing my mask from behind Joker and putting my glove back on my hand. “We’ll keep this between us, alright?”

“Okay.” He moves his own mask back into its proper position. Even up close, it’s hard to see that he had just finished crying. “Hey, Akeppi?”

“Yes?”

“Can we cuddle when we get back home?”

The request is not exactly unexpected. We both know he loves to cuddle and that it helps improve his mood. He already should know my answer. After all, how could I refuse him after what happened? “Of course. Come on. Let’s meet up with the others.”

Prompt list

[youngjusticeslut]

Water (Chapter 2)

Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power   Characters: Catra, Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Melog Ships: Catradora Rating: G+ Word Count: 2,500 Links: AO3, FF.net Summary: Catra faces off against Mermista in the Fright Zone, putting the spotlight on old fears and new memories.

Even if Mermista wasn’t chipped, her anger would have been more than justified.

After all, Catra played a rather big part in destroying her kingdom— possibly forever. So really, what are a few water blasts in comparison to that?

Still, it’s unpleasant. Despite however just it is, every droplet makes her fur stand straight, her nerves going into total overdrive with stiff panic. She wants nothing more than to run. Water always makes her want to run.  

Catra takes refuge behind a stack of crates, doing her best to catch her breath and get out of Mermista’s view. Melog is right behind her, and presses their tail to her thigh, making them disappear from view. She’s gotta admit, even though their connection is, admittedly, weird, Melog is incredibly useful. She rests a hand on their head in a gesture of thanks, her heart fluttering when Melog curls their head upward into her palm.

She doesn’t have long. Mermista will find her in a matter of seconds, and the barrage of water will begin again. Catra doesn’t need much time to recover, but a few seconds would be nice so she can think of a plan to get out of this predicament.

Should she try speaking to her? She shoots that down a second after she’s thought it. Speaking with Scorpia had gotten Catra nothing but a rather painful wake up call. No, she needs a better plan. Given that Mermista’s powers are rather inconvenient, she needs something quick, something fast that’ll get her out of here.

Catra peeks behind the crates and tries to find an escape route. Invisibility wouldn’t fool Mermista for long, but if she can just—

A blast of water hits the crate, exploding it to pieces. The force of the explosion combined with the water sends both Catra and Melog reeling, sputtering for breath. Mermista smirks, holding her hands up.

“Didn’t take you for much of a hider.”

Yeah, well, clearly she doesn’t know her that well.

Catra ignores Mermista and manages to push herself to her feet. She has about ten different words she’d like to say to her, some inappropriate, but she bites her tongue. Taunting her won’t help. It’ll only waste any energy she has, and right now she needs it to get away. Lucky for her, she barely has to consider the thought for more than a second. Before she can blink, Melog is by her side, and without having to say anything she climbs atop of them and directs them towards the door.

To her credit, the water really sent her into a frazzled, desperate state. Otherwise, she really shouldn’t have expected it to be that easy.

Mermista blocks the door with a wave powerful enough that it knocks Catra off Melog and sends them both flying in different directions. Catra’s soaked to the bone. Her ears are ringing from the force of the impact. She can just barely make out Melog’s mewling.

The water burns her lungs. It’s bringing back memories that she wants to stay forgotten.

It’s so tempting to stay there on the floor, to let the dark thoughts consume her and lose herself in the memories of the past. Catra hates the feeling of being soaked. Her fur, damp to the touch, plastered against her skin. Her tail, too heavy to move properly. The last time she’d felt like this—

Melog is by her side again. Catra’s vision is still blurry, plagued with black spots, but she can tell. She feels their equally damp skin, pressed against hers protectively. She presses a hand to Melog’s skin, letting them help her clear her head. Slowly, the dark memories ebb away from the forefront of her mind. She stops sputtering for air. The pain becomes a little more bearable.

Once everything is clear, Catra opens her eyes to see a pair of feet standing before her. Waiting. She glances upwards, hating this little predicament. She’s in the perfect spot, vulnerable to another attack, and Mermista knows it. To her credit, the controlled girl just grins.

Then, the grin falls. Her body shudders, and suddenly her eyes tinge a very familiar shade of green.

“We meet again, Little Sister.”

Melog growls, immediately shifting into their more primal form. Catra clenches onto them, trying to keep her jaw from clenching. He’s here. Horde Prime knows she’s here. And if he knows that she’s here… Her heart starts racing. The pain in her ribs suddenly makes itself known two-fold, and every breath she takes feels far more labored.

Adora.

She can't let him get to Adora.

Catra starts to move, but Mermista is quick to stop her. She steps on her chest, holding her firmly with her boot. It takes everything inside Catra not to scream from the pain. Thankfully, repressing is one of the few things she’s good at.

“How you have fallen,” Mermista sighs in a voice that doesn’t belong to her. The voice is shThe same voice that’s seared in Catra’s brain, unwilling to be forgotten.

“Let go of her,” Catra finds herself saying. The absurdity of her words doesn’t escape her notice. If the tables were turned, she’s sure that Mermista would have thrown her to the side. Catra wouldn’t even blame her. She’d probably respect her for it.

But no, now she’s here, defending a princess she doesn’t even like, for the sake of— what, being a better person? Man, sometimes being a good guy is seriously inconvenient.

Mermista cocks her head to the side, Prime’s expression never leaving her. “I will not keep her long,” she states, her voice clouded with Prime’s oozing tone. “This fight is of no significance to me. Your fighting is futile.” The princess raises her hands, and two waves of water appear, spiraling menacingly beside her.  Catra scoots back on reflex, trying to keep her hands from shaking.

As much as she hates to admit it, he has a point. Catra can hold her ground with most of the princesses, but Mermista? Her powers give her a significantly upper hand.

Okay, so she needs a new plan. Escape is going to be nearly impossible to achieve on her own, not unless she feels like getting drowned by a tsunami. She definitely wants to avoid giving Mermista any more leverage than she already has. Melog won’t be much help here, the water seems to affect them almost as much as it does her.

Catra holds back a sigh; she’s going to have to call for help. If Mermista and Scorpia are here, there might be more controlled Etherians here than she initially thought. That means that the rest of the rebellion will have their hands full.

Great. She’s going to have to ask Sparkles for help.

“I don’t know,” Catra says, her eyes quickly darting to the side. The nearest control room is just a short dash away. If she can distract Prime long enough to loosen his guard, she might be able to lock herself inside and call for help. It’s not her greatest plan, but right now she isn’t left with much of a better option. “I’d say my chances of winning this fight are pretty high. Especially when you chose to occupy the weakest princess.”

Mermista’s eyes flash for the faintest glimmer of a moment. Catra smirks. Maybe she doesn’t need to distract Prime.

“Like seriously, water powers? How lame.” A blast of water shoots by her ear, and Catra acts quick, dodging the blast.. “Seriously, I’m not even trying. If you wanted a real shot of winning, you should have taken over Scorpia. Now those are some powers.”

The green hue of Mermista’s eyes fades, and the girl groans before shooting Catra a nasty scowl. “You are so annoying!”

Bingo.

Catra takes her chance and climbs atop of Melog, and both of them race for the control room. She only has a few seconds, so she needs to be fast. Not even a moment later, she hears a rush of water and knows that Prime has taken control of Mermista again.  

They reach the control room, and Catra acts on pure instinct, slamming the door closed behind them and smashing keys on the control pad to lock it shut. The lock clicks just as Mermista arrives, and Catra can hardly think as she grabs the communication tablet and pounds in Glimmer’s coordinates.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Catra hisses as the line tries to connect. Silence. Of course, Sparkles remains ever unreliable. She begins entering the coordinates again, and then it dawns on her that it’s far too quiet. Mermista should have been pounding the door by now.

Before she can really mull over the thought, water begins streaming in from the cracks in the wall. Catra shrieks, immediately clambering on top of the equipment, her heart beating so loudly she can hear it in her ears. Melog follows after her, trying to stay dry but clearly panicking.

“Foolish Little Sister. You think you are so very clever, but you continue to place your trust in your rash decisions,” Mermista simpers in Horde Prime’s voice. Catra trembles as the water starts to fill the room, covering the floor. She tries thinking of an escape route, some way out of here, but there isn’t one.

A smooth chuckle comes from the other side of the door, loud enough to be heard over the rushing of water. “You could have flourished under me. But no matter. You will be eradicated soon enough.”

Catra can barely hear anything at this point. Everything seems as if it’s happening in slow motion. The water fills the room, and no matter how much higher she climbs, it will be futile. Even if she calls Glimmer, there’s no way she’ll get here in time. Still, she has to try.

She finishes punching in the coordinates, clenching the tablet for dear life as her hands tremble from fear. Moments later, Bow and Glimmer’s faces appear on the screen.

“Whoa! Are you okay?”

“Get us out of here, now!” Catra yells, her stomach wrenching as Melog starts mewling for help beside her. Hang on. They just need to hang on. Hopefully Glimmer and Bow will be able to get them out of this.

“What’s going on?”

A beam falls under the pressure. By the way the water is rising, they only have a minute or two before the whole room will be filled. “This whole thing was a trap.” Catra should have realized it sooner. She’s good at strategizing, she excels at getting inside the enemy’s head. Why hasn't she seen this coming? The water splashes her feet and she shrieks. “Why did I get the water princess?”

The water rises higher, covering her feet, then her ankles, leaving her nowhere to go, nowhere else to climb. She tries anyway and stumbles, dropping the tablet in the process. Shit. Now her coordinates are gone. It’ll take a minute for Glimmer to find her.

A massive wave of water looms overhead through the window, and Catra swallows. She may not have a minute.   Melog continues to cry, and Catra reaches out for them, wrapping her arms around their neck in an attempt of comfort. “It’s okay,” she tries, though her voice trembles. “Glimmer will come.”

Another beam falls. The control panels fizzle out. One goes off by Melog, zapping them with a quick shock. The alien cat slips into the water, dragging Catra down with them.

The moment her body hits the water, Catra gasps for air. She remembers the pool. The pain. How her life had been sucked out from under her and placed firmly in Prime’s control. Everything she’d fought so hard to keep from thinking about comes to the forefront, and she splashes around the water, trying to get out.

There’s a crackle. Catra looks up just in time to see water crashing down from the ceiling, the impact of which forces her underwater. She tries to swim, but her body feels sluggish. It’s like she’s moving through tar.

As she chokes beneath the surface for air, the memories return, clear as day. Her body tingles with the shock from the green pool. She feels the back of her neck burn, and the cold steel of scissors sliding through her hair. Catra grasps at the short strands, shivering in pain, convulsing for air. The more she strains for air, the more water she swallows, burying her deeper and deeper still into the blackness.

Though cruel, perhaps drowning with her memories is the most righteous form of justice she’ll receive. Catra really thought she’d have more time. There’s so much she left unsaid. So much she wanted to see, and do, with—

Something grabs her arm. Melog, probably. They don't deserve to go like this. She hopes that alien cats don’t need to breathe to survive. If Glimmer ever gets here, maybe she’ll be able to save them.

A familiar wave of nausea rolls over her, and a moment later she’s out of the control room and on a dry pavement. Almost immediately, Catra starts coughing out water and struggles to breathe. Every inch of her is shaking, and the only thing on her mind is breathing. Someone keeps calling her name, but she can barely register it. The water is gone. Unfortunately, her memories aren’t. No matter how hard she tries to pull herself out of the depth, she finds herself stuck in the blackness.

“Catra.” Glimmer’s voice. A squeeze on her shoulder.

Instinctively, Catra jerks back with a hiss. Glimmer backs off. She frowns, her face creasing apologetically. “I’m sorry. It took me a while to find you. My connection to you isn’t as strong as…” she trails off, biting her lip.

“Where’s Melog?” Catra rasps,trying to will her vision to return to normal. She’s still shaking. If she wasn’t clenching her teeth, they’d be chattering.

“They’re fine. They need some time to recover.” Glimmer hesitantly takes a step forward. “You okay?”

She isn’t. As much as she wants to brush it off, Catra knows that Glimmer has already seen too much. It’s been made clear that her problems, and her fears, aren’t going anywhere. She pushes some wet hair away from her face and shakes her head. “No,” she admits, slowly peeling herself off the floor and sitting upright. “But I will be.”

To her credit, Glimmer only smiles. It’s in that sappy, mushy kind of way that makes Catra want to punch her, but she can live with it. “Okay.”

Later, when Perfuma offers her help, Catra makes a mental note to take her up on it. One day, when she feels brave enough to finally confront her issues, it’ll probably come in useful.

[jyndor]

(Imperialism etc anon) Ok I get where you're coming from! Thank you for being understanding. While Zutara is obviously not inherently racist or anything there are zutara interpretations that *are* racist (example: fire lady katara which I can get into) and it does need to be acknowledged that Zuko's status as fire nation royalty does create a power imbalance between him and Katara. Now, this is a conversation that has a lot of nuance to it but it seems like the people harassing you are (1/2)

(2/2) just repeating some genuine critique they saw without understanding what it means just to say that they're right, harassing people in the process. I did not have that context when sending that first ask and I apologize, since anons harassing you and others are clearly doing it out of bad faith. I just didn't like the leveraging of concepts that really matter in real life (colonialism, etc), ykwim? But I get what you were trying to do.

hey anon I’m finally getting to you after 84 years XD

so first off, I want to be careful about how I approach this because I understand that as a white person (even if my ancestors experienced imperialism) in the US I absolutely benefit from imperialism and don’t want to like, idk, whitesplain XD so if anyone gets annoyed with any way I say anything, just lmk and I’ll rework it. and I also do understand that these are real world issues that are far more consequential than messaging in media (although I do think it’s very important that we challenge messages in media because of media’s influence on our thinking and politics).

but before I talk about zuko and his relationship to fire nation imperialism, and then later fire lady katara and why it isn’t INHERENTLY racist but definitely can be, I want to talk about the atla fandom and how we got here. like, why I assume that most anons who come at zutara shippers are asshats acting in bad faith. if you already know fandom history, skip this section.

1. atla and the fandom has always been kind of shitty and racist

so IDK if everyone is familiar with the history of the ship war in atla fandom, but it’s regarded as one of the nastiest ship wars in fandom history which I agree lol. atla’s creators were some of the first to interact with the fandom the way they did - back then it wasn’t all that common for creators to get into twitter feuds with fans and boundaries were respected more than they are now imo. but for better or worse, and it is a mixed bag, bryke interacted with fandom a lot. certainly at cons but also on social media.

but honestly things really got extra mean in fan spaces when bryke made a “joke” atla season 4 slideshow out of fan art (some of which was really sexual in nature and totally inappropriate) that mocked fans’ creations, but especially zutara fanart and zutara itself. it was pretty tasteless especially considering how most zutara fans were teen girls, and featured some art of sokka saying that if you think zuko and katara would be good together, you’re doomed to have failed relationships. that’s where the whole “dark and mysterious” bs came from, which does describe some zutara fic but not even most of it lol. I actually do respect bryke a lot despite my criticism of them, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over that shit. like even if you hate zutara, even if it’s a joke, we were kids. and they were adults, and the whole thing was nasty.

however, the ship war was chaotic and messy, but it does feel worse now. maybe it’s because back then the fandom was MOSTLY teens and kids, and I don’t think that’s true now. we were all trying to prove our ship was best with like, content from the show and theories and all that, and now it’s like... whose ship is ~problematic lol it’s a show by white us americans appropriating from various cultures impacted negatively by us/british imperialism that they then profited off of, of course it’s racist. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about that, and in fact many poc have been saying this shit for years - that atla is racist and colorist at many times (guru pathik anyone?) and no one really listened.

if fans are complaining only about zutara, then I’m automatically writing them off as being insincere or ignorant. and since most of these people are anonymous, I have no idea if they are having substantive discourse about colorism in avatar or cultural appropriation (even if it is mostly appreciative). if you are on anon, I have no context about what you actually think except for what you give me. and that definitely is how I view anons in general but especially within the atla fandom because for all 13-ish years I’ve been in it, it’s been messy. that’s why zutara fans have isolated ourselves from the rest of fandom, because the rest of fandom has been really nasty to us. like did we give back some nastiness? absolutely.

but I would hazard a guess that most anti-zutara shippers don’t know about the conversations we have had in this community to make it safer for people of color, conversations that centered poc and woc especially. hey, that’s okay - not to compare zutara to r*ylo because eurgh but like, idk what discourse the r*ylos have about their community. no idea, I don’t go looking for it. and I don’t go to the tags and harass r*ylos - even though they harass the fuck out of everyone else.

2. so zuko and his privilege

undoubtedly zuko as fire lord is in a fairly privileged position LMFAO. but during the show zuko is very clearly exiled - he holds very little political power in the fire nation EXCEPT for during the first season when he is in command of a ship that ozai gave him on a punishment quest lol like yeah he does terrible things and he of all people would not excuse his actions even if he was a traumatized kid, that’s the point of his arc - that he got some exposure to the rest of the world and worked to be better. and the only reason he was exiled at all was because he cares about people - he didn’t question fire nation supremacy at 13, but he sure did question the morality of his people being lead to slaughter.

but after zuko and iroh defect from the fire nation and stop hunting aang, he has next to no power, in any kind of way. like the guy is a political refugee. and yes, he goes back to the fire nation for like five minutes before realizing that he hates everything about fire nation hegemony and that he wants to end his father’s reign of terror, like that isn’t exactly someone who is going to be well esteemed by the powerful elites when he returns and takes the throne.

and I disregard the comics because they suck lol but zuko does have power as the fire lord, but he limits his power. like compared to ozai, phoenix asshole? azula? for the rest of the world, zuko is kind of an ideal leader for a former colonizing/imperialistic nation to have - someone who worked to end that tyranny, who is anti-imperialist, who believes in justice and equality, who wants to make things right for the peoples who his family oppressed.

I do think it is important to talk about power dynamics and imbalances in relationships - for instance, one could argue that mai is at a significant disadvantage in her relationship with zuko. sure she is from a powerful family but not as powerful as zuko’s. sokka? hah forget it. he’s just as disadvantaged as katara is politically speaking. toph? well, she’s definitely not as powerful politically as zuko - her family tried to silence her for years because of her disability. and oh, she’s disabled so it might be ableist for zuko to strike up a relationship with her when they’re both adults. forgetting of course that toph and sokka and katara and suki and mai are not going to be shy about their wants and needs, that these relationships are not likely to be coercive by nature of the show they’re in and the characters they involve. this is not bill clinton with monica creepiness. like, you’d have to write the relationship that way.

the only person who arguably has more political power than zuko is aang. I guess zuko can’t ever be in a relationship with anyone other than aang. and zuko’s family massacred aang’s people so I guess we can’t ship zukaang. now I know you’re not saying that, context matters. power dynamics are important. but you can’t take away the agency of characters - katara, who is essentially a princess, has agency and can choose who she wants to be with. strictly speaking, aang is more powerful than anyone in terms of political power - he’s the avatar - and of course the dynamic is different by nature of aang not being from a line of oppressors, but there still is a power imbalance in their relationship. and I don’t know how many k/ataang shippers have discourse~ on that. not that I really feel like they NEED to, um idk what they talk about lol I’m not in those circles.

3. fire lady katara is in the eye of the beholder

so fire lady katara is not inherently bad or racist, it’s essentially like saying michelle obama shouldn’t have been first lady of the us (now I get that like the obamas being in power didn’t mean black people are not marginalized lol). you can have conversations about whether or not individual versions of fire lady katara are fucked up, and I’m superrrr open to that because I’ve seen it be kinda shitty before. i’m just gonna leave this link to @shewhotellsstories and her post on this.

but often times katara as fire lady is very dominant in global/fire nation/water tribe politics, she’s a game changer ambassador (that is probably the most popular headcanon I see), she holds on to her culture (and many fans have designed her being in her wt colors, zuko is respectful af to her, she and zuko spend extended periods in the swt, etc. like... it just depends on the way it’s written.

also leaving this response by @avatarnerdkiller to the idea of katara being a prize figurehead.

anyway, thanks for your patience anon and I am curious to see if you see this or even feel like responding after all this time XD

[muwur]

haikyuu x otome: rules | masterlist | prologue

a/n: 1st post of this haikyuu x otome series! might drop hints about meeting other characters or interactions with them throughout each story, but i won’t elaborate too much bc that’ll b for another post specifically about them ;)

You chose:

❥ Start game with:

» gn reader

» 1.1k words 

Loading....

It was only the first day of class and already you could feel exhaustion seeping into your muscles. Although you had fun, perhaps touring the city as much as you could in 5 days wasn’t the best idea. After you finished unpacking, which only took up a day thanks to the help of your neighbors, Yamaguchi had offered to show you his and Tsukishima’s favorite city sights. You couldn’t just say no when presented the chance to explore your new home, get closer to your new friends, and maybe see Tsukishima loosen up a little. Apparently there was a lot to see because each night you three came back to the townhouse past midnight, and after parting ways, you had only enough energy to plop into bed, outside clothes still on, and pass out until morning. Then the cycle repeated. 

You were lucky that in both your lectures so far, the professor simply introduced themselves, went over the syllabus, and dismissed class early. You took a mental note to be more strategic about exiting unless you wanted to fight your way through a sea of students after every class, but for now you were just relieved to be outside the stuffy classroom. 

Still unfamiliar with campus, you wandered until you found yourself seated on a wooden bench within a community garden. Grateful you had found a relaxing space to rest before your final class of the day, you took out last night’s leftover pasta from the Italian restaurant you visited and dipped a fork into your lunch.

Mid-chew, a soft mewl caught your ear. You gulped and took a glance around your surroundings. Eyes narrowing in confusion, you wondered, ‘Maybe I’m just hearing things?’

But then you heard it again, slightly louder. Curious, you set down your tupperware and stood up to investigate. You searched the enclosure, kneeling down to the ground every so often to scan the bushes for any signs of a potential furry friend. Still nothing. With a sigh, you got back onto your feet and brushed the dirt off your pants.‘Maybe they went away.’

However, you noticed a small wooden shed, presumably a garden supply closet, standing right outside the enclosure. You approached it cautiously. If there happened to be an animal nearby, the last thing you wanted to do was scare them away. 

You stopped in your tracks when you heard a soft chuckle. 

“Hey, there, little guy,” a mysterious voice spoke soothingly. “How’s it going?”

On the other side, a boy with light brown hair sat cross-legged with his back against the wooden toolshed. The back of his outstretched hand gingerly pet a grey tabby, who purred and rubbed its cheeks against his fingers. His chocolate gaze glimmered with amusement when the cat started playfully batting at a red keychain dangling from his backpack.

The cat climbed onto him. Leaping across his lap, its fluffy tail brushed against the male’s slightly open mouth. His face scrunched in disgust, and he sputtered in attempts to spit out stray strands of fur that stuck to his tongue. He wiped an arm across his mouth as an extra measure. 

“Ugh, give me a warning next time, okay?” he chided, scratching the cat behind its ears.  

You couldn’t stifle a soft snicker. Caught off guard, the boy stiffened and the cat dashed away, disappearing behind the opposite side of the shed.

Embarrassed and guilty for eavesdropping, you raised your hands in front of your face and spoke frantically, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt or scare your friend!”

‘Great, now you just look like a creep!’ you thought self-consciously as you took a sudden step back. A yelp escaped your throat when you felt the heel of your feet stoop lower than expected, and you stumbled back.

Though you braced yourself for impact, a quick tug of your arm catapulted you into the boy’s chest. He stepped back and placed his hands on your shoulders in an effort to regain balance. You stood in front of him, a mixture of shock and mortification evident on your red, open-mouthed face. He breathed out in exasperated relief, releasing the rush adrenaline pent up from the last several seconds. Finally settling his gaze on you, a faint rosy tinge dusted his cheeks and he released your shoulders. 

He cleared his throat with a fist to his lips. “Ah, geez, watch where you’re going,” he chastised, pointing at the gaping indent in the grass behind you. “That hole’s a bit too big to go unnoticed.”

Your mind blanked. How humiliating was it to be caught staring then almost fall on your dumb ass if it wasn’t for this person’s mad reflexes.

Unable to think clearly, your words tumbled out. “Oh, hah, I guess you’re right! And, uh, thank you for catching me, by the way! You moved really fast, I was surprised, ahaha but really, I appreciate it! Especially after I was kinda standing here like a creep, you know, but it’s not like that..! I swear I don’t have stalker-ish tendencies, I was just having lunch and I thought I heard a cat and wanted to check it out, so I came here and found you, and uh, yeah!”

Heart racing in the midst of awkward silence, your eyes darted around and sought refuge upon the aging bark of a nearby tree. You would give anything to grab a shovel from the toolshed and dig yourself a hole, saying a friendly goodbye to the boy before you buried yourself alive in the dirt.

“You could’ve just said hi in the beginning, you know,” he responded with an amused, arched brow. Extending his hand, he said, “Morisuke Yaku. I go by Yaku. Nice to meet you, uh...”

“Y/n!” you blurted out, relief overwhelming your senses. “I-I’m y/n, it’s nice to meet you, too,” you shook his hand, hoping he’d ignore the nervous warmth of your palm. “Sorry again for scaring away the cat.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Natsu always comes back. I usually come by around this time to give her some food.”

Kneeling down to look inside his pack, he pulled out a can of wet cat food. The mere pop of the can was enough for the grey tabby to come bounding back excitedly. Yaku smiled and set the food on the ground, giving Natsu a gentle stroke along her back. Glancing up at you, he offered, “Do you want to pet her? She’s really friendly.”

Your eyes lit up in pleasant surprise as you nodded. “Sure!”

[rpbetter]

You make some really good posts!! Can I ask something about DNIs? I know it's not directly RP-related, but I have trouble as an RPer with how many DNIs, with urls, there are now. I try not to interact with muns who have them, I block them, because it feels manipulative? But I'm also tempted to block people who follow those muns, because they probably think their DNIs are okay to have, so they're still "bad", just not as bad? Do you think that's overkill, am I shooting myself in the foot?

Oh, thank you! I'm very happy you've enjoyed them!

And, of course, ask anything at all!

I think, ultimately, the answer to whether that's overkill is entirely dependent on what your experience is and if you're happy with it. I don't think it is overkill at all, but if you feel like it is costing you too many mutuals, it might be overkill for you.

I'm a pretty insular RPer, I like a handful of close writing partners that I write a lot of threads with, so, having something like, under ten writing partners is great for me while it's miserable for other muns. I can go wild on blocking and not have it negatively impact my enjoyment, but I know that's not the case for everyone!

And I do, actually, I do go pretty wild with the blocking when it comes to things like DNIs. If it comes off as policing to me, not just something like a difference of opinion or a strong opinion on something, I'm going to block. Otherwise, it's just recognizing that this isn't a mun I'm going to work out with, but no hard feelings. With policing though...I don't want that anywhere near me or my mutuals, so, it's going to be a block.

Because they do tend to be in these odd, like, nested situations lol I totally will spend the effort if their DNI is bad enough to look at the muns they interact with and make sure I don't have future contact with them either. The RPC is such a big place, making it easier to forget URLs than to remember them, but it's also a place where we establish circles of contact, making it easier to run into the same group repeatedly. I feel like it's better for my peace of mind to be a little more certain than not at all that this isn't going to happen as easily.

If that DNI etc. has been so awful, I definitely don't require their mutuals professing the same beliefs as loudly as they are. If you interact with someone, maybe you don't know their pet fish's name or the obscure lore in a headcanon they posted five years ago or the rule they updated without telling anyone, but you do know what is on their pinned post or blog description or rules. At some point, we all visit each other's blogs in dash-view if nothing else when we're getting replies or checking for memes they might have posted, going through their tags, whatever. I do not believe that you're mutuals who reblog from each other often, reply frequently to each other, ship each other's muses and so forth, and all this time, you've somehow failed to notice your bestie mun is telling proshippers to die in their DNI lmao

No, you've seen it. And I find it extremely hard to believe, too, that it's never come up in conversation OOC either.

So, this hypothetical mutual is so oblivious to others, completely agrees with the other one's views while not feeling confident enough to share them publicly, or is scared enough of the other one that they won't disagree...and no matter which/which combination that might be, they're not a mutual I want.

Especially when it comes to a DNI with someone's URL in it. Hard pass on anyone who is okay with that!

If I visited a writing partner's blog, let's say this person is also my closest friend, I value them and the threads I have with them so much, and I saw that in their DNI they had dropped someone's URL? We would have to talk. I'd have to bring it up because it's the right thing to do (and would also be highly out of character for any of my friends, thus very concerning). There would have to be a question posed about what happened here, why did you feel like this was a good choice, and do you think it's increasing or lessening the problem to have that there?

Honestly, sometimes people do get so upset about something that has happened that their worst impulses are let loose freely. When you ask someone you have an established relationship with about that, unless you're being really hateful about it right off, it can help them settle down, take a step back, and see that this is maybe not the right action to take. To me, silence says you're okay with it.

When muns started putting more elaborate DNI's in, that alone rubbed me the wrong way because I genuinely do not think that the majority of that information is at all necessary. It's something I can see and fully understand minors doing, not because they're terrible or anything but because the impulses and rationale are just different. You're very much geared to be as loud as possible about things that are important to you, making them a part of you in a huge way, as a teenager. Shit just is unreasonably intense! But as an adult, I expect that behavior to be different. You don't actually need to say on your RP blog's DNI that "transphobes WILL be blocked!!!"

Well, yes, I should hope so lol we're a community filled with muns who are trans, I'd certainly hope you were not cool with that kind of thing. It's one of those assumptive states, it goes without saying because, in a group of legitimate adults, it literally doesn't have to be said that a trans mun in a group of trans muns in a RPC filled with trans muns would be intolerant of transphobic assholes.

And, no one likes a damn transphobe, it's not like this stunning, fresh information, here. Not making such a statement does not, in fact, act as a welcome.

Saying that, and I do not mean literally just that, it's just an example of the type of things found in a common DNI, is a little immature for me. Some of those things are, in addition to being purely self-validating: playing into the fear created by policing, virtue signaling, policing, or baiting. And all of them are pointless. Telling someone who would already be bigoted toward you and others to not interact if they somehow miraculously ID as whatever label that takes for them to not interact with your posts is waving a metaphoric red flag in front of a bull. Kind of like tagging a post as either "antis don't interact" or "proshippers don't interact." Actual quickest and most assured way to get that interaction!

I totally understand the age thing, it's self-protecting. Most people do respect it, but when they don't, you've clearly stated that this is not for whatever age group. Things pertaining to your writing and/or muse I also understand and think are great for a quick glance before someone even gets to the rules. Having in a DNI something like "muns who are easily triggered by gore" when you write a horror muse, for instance. You're advising them that this isn't a great idea for them, and it shouldn't be expected that you change your muse and topics because they decided to follow anyway.

But it became excessive very quickly, and there is the expectation that blogs have a DNI. The further expectation is that there be a specific list of things found in that DNI, if yours does not include it, you obviously don't have a problem with those things. I really cannot be okay with that, you know?

However, when it wasn't being used as a callout or a way to police, that was something that could just be ignored. Once URLs of other RPers started to appear, it was a whole other problem.

It used to be the pervading rule of the RPC that it is not alright to force other muns to chose between you and another mun that you had an issue with, but now we have DNIs with other muns' URLs in them. Now, it's the opposite take - if you have an issue with a URL being dropped in a DNI, or if you continue to interact with the mun, you're likely to get a callout or be on the receiving end of other bullying.

So, I very much think the self-insulating thing to do is to avoid those mutuals as well as the RPer with the URL-laden DNI. They could just block you, but is someone who was so juvenile as to put another mun's URL in their damn DNI going to be mature enough to do that? Will their friends once they complain about you? For me, it's too high of a risk of being around muns I wish would take a very long break from RP and only come back once they've grown up some.

I would never advise anyone to do something that is erring on the side of getting them into harassment water unnecessarily (as in, not something that pertains to digging in your heels and writing what you want or not tolerating bullying where you see it happening), and I feel like not doing what you are is that. However, I also am a firm believer in agency, even to make mistakes.

So, if you genuinely feel like blocking mutuals of someone with a URL-dropped/callout/other highly offensive and bullying thing in their DNI is costing you so many chances to RP that you're no longer enjoying yourself here? You might want to consider adjusting how widely you are blocking.

If that's the case, try going for mutuals who are what I call Casual Mutuals and leaving them open. Those are mutuals that the mun doesn't write with often or at all, they're technically mutuals because they both follow each other, but that's it. There might be some liking of posts or even comments or non-committal, OOC style memes sent in by Casual Mutuals, but that interaction is sparse and, yep, casual. These mutuals might legitimately be unaware of the mun's hateful, bullying bullshit in the DNI, or they are actually afraid to unfollow/block them at this point, so their option feels like staying around as quietly as possible.

With that last deal...you could even be doing someone a favor, Anon. When I've encountered that situation before, it's come about because the other person's Casual Mutual is painfully anxious, shy, and a previous victim of bullying. They feel isolated, they don't have many or any writing partners, and they really, truly, are terrified to distance themselves in a way that might be noticed. It's a type of toxic interaction that rarely gets mentioned in PSAs, presumably because it is so low on the actual interaction scale.

Giving them someone else in their corner, especially if that other mun is more open about their intolerant stance on bullying, can go a long way toward giving someone else confidence. I've had other people's Casual Mutuals become my Casual Mutuals and wouldn't you know it? After a while, they get braver. They see my friends and mutuals doing our thing without any of the bullying going on, they see us supporting anti-policing and not tolerating bullying, and they get brave enough to unfollow the hateful mun. It feels nice to even inadvertently help someone, and over the years, some of those Casual Mutuals have become great writing partners, too. People I would have missed if I had made the choice to block them by the association of a hateful mun they were trapped in the orbit of.

Just try to exercise caution! You seem like a reasonable person who doesn't mind truly thinking on things or doing the work required to be cautious. Assume the close mutuals are a problem, too, and block away. Build a wall with some razor wire on it with those blocks! Don't assume the low-interaction, very casual mutuals are, though. Check out their blogs for signs of agreement with Hateful Mun, and if they don't have any, give them a shot as far as just leaving them unblocked goes.

I also have to say, here at the end, that it's extremely nice to see that people out there are doing this. Honestly would have thought I'd be the last person to encourage a ton of blocking, but that's the environment of the RPC now, and it's really the only way we can deal with this issue. You can't reason with these people, you can't stop them, you can only stay away from them for your own good and send a message that this isn't benefiting them. Not everyone agrees with them, they're not going to keep having people left open for their attacks or their RP entertainment. And if enough people are just walling them off, that is a message they'll have to receive because RP runs on interaction with others.

They might think they want every "nasty ass" xyz Problematic RPer to block them, not interact, or vanish from their view of the RPC, but I don't think they realize what that really looks like. What it looks like is a huge percentage of the RPC missing, including people they didn't realize were "problematic." We tend to be quieter, wanting to stay in our own lanes and actually enjoy the hobby and each other. That's why they have to resort to shit like making everyone pre-guilty, or setting up traps to catch people out on being "gross."

So, I genuinely do not think they're prepared for the rude awakening of silence that would happen if we all actually vanished, but I am dying to see it lol and do sometimes have to wonder if the complaints about the RPC being dead/dying/empty, not in a fandom but overall, are coming from the purity police some of the time. It's quite active over on the Leave Folks Alone Over Fiction side of life :D

[polar-stars]

Nene Kinokuni & the main theme of “Shokugeki no Soma”

You thought I was done talking about Nene? HA

Okay but I’ve been looking at a specific manga panel again & eventually a train of thought started to roam my head.

What we see here are the reactions of four of the Elites that voted Central into power after having witnessed Rindou’s and Eishi’s loss, therefore Central’s loss as a whole. 

Can we talk about the fact how Nene actually looks the most...hurt about that maybe? 

I mean, Somei honestly looks kind off glad about it, which does make sense since he seemed to visibly regret his decision after his match against Soma. Somei is that guy that acted with good interest in mind, and a sense of justice, but was lured into an extreme solution. Which is something I can’t really say about any of the other Traitor Elites (I mean, being real we have barely gotten much detailing to their individual reasoning for helping out Azami but that’s another problem for another day.)

Momo looks completely unaffected by what just happened, while Eizan looks...kind off bummed ig? 

Out of these four, Nene really does looks the most like what I would call “sad”. She looks truly crushed by this revelation. 

A little mind game for you: Imagine having devoted your entire life to something, imagine already being insecure about people surpassing you in an area you studied so hard for, imagine being beat at the thing that’s most important to you while the person who was always ahead of you succeeds right next to you.

My girl really went through quite some suffering if you really start thinking about it. 

Top student of her class, who always aimed for perfection. And then the RDC comes along and she suffered through what might have been her first major failure in front of over one hundred eyes. 

Now this is the part where I try my best to sound smart and talk about themes. 

I’d say that the closest to a major theme the series of “Shokugeki no Soma” has would be the thematic of failure. 

Our main hero Soma Yukihira talks of “failure” as a sort of inspiration. He recognizes mistakes he made, learns out of them and improves through them. That’s his philosophy & strongly opposes that of our main heroine, Erina Nakiri who starts out as a through & through perfectionist who was never allowed to make the tiniest of mistakes. 

The theme of “failure” constantly reappears in the story, in both the strong parts & weaker parts of it. 

Soma’s dish in the Autumn Election Premlins is basically a fusion of two dishes that “failed” him before (his omelette from the Trainings Camp that had him in danger of getting expelled & the risotto he made in his cook-off against his father, which he lost), the major antagonist of several arcs named Central is all about perfectionism with the 1st seat Eishi Tsukasa being a notorious perfectionist as well, in his final fight against Asahi Soma makes a dish inspired by his mother who was known for being a bad cook, but who had fun being one...

I think what “Shokugeki no Soma” wants to teach us is that it’s natural for us to stumble at times, but that it’s nothing we should beat ourselves up over. No one can walk a straight, perfect line in their life and it’s okay. Mistakes can teach us and we can get up again as well...!

I can’t really say that it was always done very well, but still this message resonates with me on a very personal level. I really like it. 

And now let me spiral back to Nene.

Nene is another character that strived for perfection and is characterized as someone who works incredibly hard to master whatever she picked to study. She also sided with Central, which is also all about perfectionism as I said. 

Remember when I said that there’s still work you could have done with Nene after the RDC arc was over?

Yeah, honestly with that failure Nene ended up suffering I really think there could have been a loot of character work done with her. 

Like how about just showing her cope with what happened? Show her, trying to understand why the philosophy of the rebels beat theirs? Something like that?

I just genuinely believe that Nene is a sort-off person who’d struggle dealing with failing in the way that she did and that it would have an actual impact on her. And her working through that would fall perfectly in line with the main theme the manga has going on.

Post-RDC could have been a perfect chance for her to also understand the people surrounding her a little better as well, I think? Like take Eizan for example! No, this is not for shippy reasons. I promise...hear me out, okay? She belittled him for his loss against Soma & also considered herself superior to him because she has an actual moral-code. But eventually she ends up in the same boat with him: she also looses against Soma, Central (something which they both supported after all) looses as a whole and while their senpais get to run off little later through graduation, they have to stay at Totsuki, dethroned. What a perfect chance to getting to know and understand each other in a way that wasn’t there before, finding a way to get those seats back and maybe giving Eizan an actual redemption arc instead of just inserting him back into the council over night with no real indication wether he’s still a bitch or has become more tame, which surely isn’t something Tsukuda would do, right? Heh. (Okay maybe...this....did get a little bit shippy, pardon ahdhd)

ANYWAY

The point I’m really just trying to make here, through many, many words is that while Soma’s Shokugeki against Nene heavily scratched her character and I’m still very bitter and unhappy over it, I do not think there was any need to shaft her as much as the manga did when the RDC got concluded. 

There was a good chance for actual character work and character development here, that could have also played into the series’ centric theme. 

& She frankly could have come back as more stronger and badass than ever. 

But yeah, instead she was ignored in the manga while the anime adaptation...tried but I feel she was reduced to much of a satellite character in that one, personally. And I just think they could have done better and more, meep. 

In the end all I can do is......write a Nene-centric multi chapter fanfic of course and take 6 years to finish it because I’m very slow and- 

Okay but I think one thing that I want to achieve with these posts is just to get the community think about her a little more, because...ultimately I feel she’s being a little bit overlooked by the fandom as well, and maybe I can inspire some people to work with her in a way that Tsukuda wasn’t able to...Idk, I just want justice for Nene ig. 

Now anyway, you finally made it to the end of this post...Congratulation! Here’s a cookie! 

Hopefully what I said made any sense and any of you could get a little something out of it! Thanks for reading ;v; !

[hwrdak]

ok so u guys know season 5 ep 2 right. yea that episode fucking sucks ass. it’s the worst ep in the show. here’s why as written by a woc autistic bisexual

I want to talk a bit about the thought process behind entrapta. she is autistic and bisexual as confirmed by noelle, who has also said that she was based off of an autistic crew member. very funny how noelle doesn’t go into the specifics of the crew member considering the fact that they’re not even a crew member technically. they’re a story boarder that left during season 2 or 3 I believe. they had like,,, no impact on the actual writing, as none of the writers are autistic. no idea why noelle had to bring it up. or why they didn’t just confirm her autism beforehand. brownie points probably.

here’s the very big problem with the aftermath of this episode. entrapta has done awful things for the horde, and the princesses are right to be mad at that. the way they talk to her is degrading but they feel justified for doing it. however, how come it’s ONLY entrapta that this happens to? scorpia is great but other than being a prisoner, we never see her get scolded for her time in the horde. not even CATRA gets scolded for her war crimes. the princesses act as if entrapta just doesn’t care and throughout the episode, there’s a clear fact that they don’t want to bother actually talking to her or putting themselves in her pov. they pretty much left her to die, it’s not surprising that she got into the horde. but it’s very obvious that she wants to further their communication by helping them via tech and her special interest. however, mermista and the others do not use their brains and just go “yea she’ll probably go join prime lol” purely bc of her hyperfixation bc homophobia doesn’t exist but ableism sure as hell does. if ur neurotypical, let me be clear: we do not choose hyperfixations. our brain is wired to constantly think about them. the others do not consider this which is why it’s ableism. in all, there is a clear miscommunication issue with entrapta and the other princesses and it’s not entraptas fault. but the show sure as fuck tries to make it seem like it is indeed her fault and maybe she should’ve been more in touch with social cues and “””normal””” talk.

let’s focus more on entrapta for a second. it’s easy for US THE VIEWERS to say that she’s actually not the villain the princesses are making it out to be bc we’ve seen her journeys and her interactions. she grew up building robots to befriend. shes there for scorpia when she wants to talk and never turns her down. shes there for hordak when he’s questioning the dilemma of worth being wrongly tied to how perfect your actions are. entrapta doesn’t HAVE to do any of those things. but she really wants friends and wants to be a good one. I think what’s really special about the “imperfection is beautiful” scene is that she’s saying it’s okay to not be perfect and it’s okay to not exactly love or apply any kind of passed down ideology of what qualifies as perfect as a moral and ethical equivalent to the varying labels of life and what and what doesn’t make life itself worth living if no impact is being made that doesn’t satisfy the imaginary line of worthiness built on the digression of self love. hordak wants to hear that he’s perfect and that’s not what he gets. entrapta doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear, she tells him what he NEEDS to hear. bc entrapta deserves to know what it’s like to experience romance and the essence of chance meetings determined by the concept of fate. she knows what she needs and she never lets go. she doesn’t give up on anything, even after she thought she trusted catra. she forgave her and she never stopped believing in hordak. scorpia defected from the horde to be a good friend, as did hordak. she didn’t tell scorpia to go after her. she didn’t tell hordak to ditch prime. entraptas impact doesn’t need to be heavily interpreted with some kind of moral and ethics book. it’s good that people understand where she’s coming from in terms of her moral compass but maybe we don’t have to. it’s great that the crystal she gave hordak says luvd bc thats everything abt entrapta. the only thing that ever needed to be understood about entrapta is that she loves the things she holds to her so much and wants them to love her back. love varies upon all our meanings but I think entrapta does represent a very pure and meaningful direction of love, and that depends on how long your imaginary line of worth is. entrapta threw it away with love. different circumstances make u stay and hold on to things.

anyways episode 2 took whatever I just said and fuckin axe body sprayed it. the overlaying message of that dumpster fire is that entrapta just learned that her actions are bad and she should feel bad bc she was just incapable of not understanding the importance of friendship and doing what’s right until she got put on a leash and got her hair pulled like a billion times. she doesn’t even get an apology. bc apparently everything wrong that’s happened in that ep is all her fault and we’re all supposed to relate to the neurotypical abeist thought process of the princesses.

let me be very clear. ENTRAPTA NEVER NEEDED TO LEARN HOW TO DO GOOD AND BE BETTER. the very fact that the show insinuates that she actually needed to learn a lesson in actually helping people, which is something she’s been doing throughout the ENTIRE show, is bullshit. she’s a grown ass fucking woman. she knew what she was doing. and with the rebellion she wants to do better bc she’s aware she’s been wrong. she’s ALWAYS known that she’s different and can’t properly help with others outside of her expertise but apparently some of u will self combust at the thought of an autistic woman not being a child and not having to learn lessons through literal ableism. this isn’t the only time this has happened. autistic characters in shows often get surrounded by a negative stigma of ableism in order for their character to progress in any way. if u honestly think that it was good that entrapta had to risk her life to save glimmer to prove a point that she does care, ok. but don’t tell me it’s well written bc it’s all riddled with ableism. she’s been handling friendship well throughout the show and the s5 narrative completely ignores it. hell the episode is so triggering I can barely watch it without feeling nauseous.

tl;dr entrapta is the best character in the show who is very aware of friendship/doing the right thing and the episode didn’t know how to properly handle an autistic character without pandering to neurotypicals and this is the result.

[bunnys-lil-hideout]

Thank you so much! Feel free to ignore or skip if anything makes you uncomfortable!!

Is there a specific reason you got into self shipping? How close do you feel with your F/O's? Do you imagine scenarios with them? Do you have any advice for someone interested in the self shipping community? Is there any discourse I should avoid?

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me!!

This response got pretty long, so I'll have it under the cut. I hope this helps!

So when I first started self-shipping when I was a lot younger, I mainly did it because I would just find the character attractive and had a strong intimate feeling towards them. I can only think of like, 1 character that I self-shipped with when I was a kid where it was romantic.

Obviously, now I'm into self-shipping because I actually have full on romantic attractions to the characters I've listed as my F/Os. Some of them I actually didn't even realize I might've had romantic feelings for when I was younger because I just didn't understand most emotions.

The closeness I feel for them really depends on the F/O and how much sentimental value they have to me. Like, Boozoo I'm not too close with, because he isn't that much of a sentimental character to me personally, and he hasn't been in my life long enough. Now, for characters like The Mask, who have been in my life a lot longer because I was a kid when I watched the movie and cartoon, he means a lot to me as he impacted me in various ways that I didn't even realize. But overall, I do feel a closeness to them.

I imagine scenarios with them all the fucking time. I've occasionally had days where those scenarios would be the only things I think about. Like meeting them for the first time, going out to do fun things together, even just hugging and kissing. It's always in my brain. And I never really use a self-inset, I just use my ACTUAL self.

Advice wise, do not feel ashamed of any character you fall in love with. If the character is 'ugly' or evil or poorly written or even just a blank slate, that's fine! Because the good thing about them not being real is that your brain will shape them how YOU think they should be, and sometimes, that won't even change much! Don't bother with people who don't like your F/Os, because to you, unlike the people who disagree, that character is lovely in every way.

Biggest thing, do not get involved with pro-shippers/anti-antis. Like, even if they're minors and they just don't know better. And try to help in the cause of not letting that ideology spread. Don't make adults think it's okay to self-ship with minors, or self-ship with characters they consider 'biological family'. None of that. Stay away from that waste land, and don't even try to convince them they're wrong, cause they won't listen.

Also, if a F/O is from a controversal piece of media, please make sure to be critical of it! Try to separate them from the media as best as you can, make versions of them that gets rid of any offensive material they may have in their personality or appearance.

Also, it's okay to have F/Os that aren't lovers! They can be your friend, or family, or even a rival. So don't feel like you're stuck in a single category.

Finally, for the most part, just make sure you're happy while you do it. Seriously. Please make sure you're making yourself smile when you do self-ship related stuff. It's meant to be loving and fun. And that's how it always should be.

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 30

Summary: Xisuma isn’t doing all that great to say the least and neither is Keralis

Characters: Xisuma, Keralis, Evil X, Hels

TW: Fighting (not an overly violent or gorey chapter or anything)

Notes: Don’t really like how this chapter was written but I rewrote it like 4 times ;v; Also, I’m like 99% Keralis’s name doesn’t pop up as just Keralis in the chat but I’m too lazy to see what the hermits usernames are in the game lol

———————

“What do you mean I’m being affected?! I’m fine!” Xisuma yelled, quite obviously proving Evil X’s point.

After what Ex said, the admin snapped at him repeatedly while he tried to explain what was happening. How Hels’s hateful personality was being used as fuel for Wels’s outbursts and if Xisuma let his anger get to him much longer, Evil X would be reaching the sickly state Hels was currently in. Hours ago when the knight was sleeping- it was probably nighttime in the overworld- he woke up suddenly complaining about pains he was having in his head.

In tears, might he add.

Obsessed with what Xisuma said to him, Ex took it as that he needed to help Hels. Unfortunately, that meant that he needed to get back to the overworld somehow and one elytra certainly wouldn’t carry both of them, he didn’t think. It would just break faster with the added weight. So, not wanting to ask the other Hermits for assistance since that didn’t count to him as ‘cleaning up his own mess’, he soothed Hels back to an uncomfortable sleep.

Throughout the next passing hours, Ex stayed awake. He had no problem with sleep, weirdly, he didn’t really feel tired even after being up for more than a full day. He watched as Hels slowly lost the color in his face and how he would start to shiver from The End’s everlasting breeze. That in itself was concerning since the knight never really was cold- radiating over 100 degree body heat had its pros for sure. Nonetheless, Hels had to prop himself up on the side of the mast to sit up and overall, he just felt awful. Every movement threw the world around him into a spin and something was mumbling annoyingly in the back of his mind. The Lord was probably punishing him with uncontrollable voices again. He was sluggish, for lack of a better word, because his counterpart was draining him of everything he had left in this vessel.

“Xisuma, take off your helmet,” Hels commanded hoarsely, giving the other his best glare he could muster. Unsurprisingly, Xisuma didn’t comply and only further made concerningly aggressive remarks about the situation. Mostly just saying how he got only a couple hours of sleep the night before and that he was just tired. Yet, none of them, not even Keralis, believed it for a second.

“Shashwamy, you’ve been acting weird the entire time on over here,” Keralis decided to comment. “I think they’re right.”

“Xisuma, if you keep yelling at everyone, I’m gonna end up just like Hels.” Ex stared at Xisuma, awaiting an answer. Growling- growling- at Ex, Xisuma popped the seal around his neck and lifted the helmet, intending to show off that he was just tired and irritated and didn’t, in fact, have red eyes.

Only he did. Very, very red eyes startled both Ex and Hels, the two crawling backwards away from the admin and drawing Hels drawing his sword. It nearly fell from his less than solid grip but he didn’t plan on dying yet. Keralis stepped back a few steps, not wanting to provoke whatever they saw. Xisuma turned to look at him over his shoulder and the man gasped at the sight, drawing his own sword as well.

“Sh….Shashwamy?” The blade wavered in his own grip as well.

Weirdly, it was so unnatural to see slitted crimson irises on the admin. His short, earthy brown hair, minimal stubble, and freckles crossed with an ‘X’ shaped scar across his face oddly supported his usually friendly demeanor. Now, he simply looked possessed and instead of being scared of how the trio fumbled to get away from him, Xisuma chuckled, a deep, sickening chuckle, at the reaction.

“Oh, this will be fun,” he said.

“Xisuma….” Ex muttered, making Xisuma’s head snap towards him. “Xisuma, you need to snap out of it!”

The admin stood, towering over the two still on the ground. Keralis crouched, awaiting some kind of attack or, if their luck happened to be any worse, The Lord of Darkness to appear and kill them all as well. Instead, he unfurled his elytra, speckled grey and white feathers stood out against the ship and he gripped his sword tight, firework rockets in his other hand. He had no intentions to hurt his friend, mostly since he didn’t want to lose him with respawn, but also that whatever it was in front of him, it wasn’t Xisuma.

“Xisuma,” he started, pulling the admin’s attention away from the pair on the other end of the deck. He swallowed the bitter lack of using the endearing nickname, but again, this wasn’t Xisuma. “You can take me on, but we leave the ship and we leave them alone.” He eyed the pair behind the admin.

Xisuma thought for a second. “And if I win?”

“If I die, you’ll be the one left with them here. But I can get you help, Shashwamy. You need to fight it.” The builder kept his voice even, softer than what he would’ve liked.

The admin’s gaze dropped briefly. With a blink, violet eyes were looking at him, but with another blink, they were gone. “You’ll regret trying this. Remember what happened to Tango, Keralis.”

Keralis swallowed thickly. “Yes, I know about Tango. Shashwamy, don’t let it get to you, you’re better than this.”

Xisuma then put his helmet back on, the redness of his eyes glowing through the visor. This time Keralis’s attempts had no effect on the admin. It made his stomach twist, but he stood his ground.

“Fine then. If I die, I come back for you, Keralis.”

The builder shuddered but both were in fully enchanted armor, thankfully, so he would take a few hits if it came to it and so would Xisuma….hopefully. He wouldn’t suffer Tango’s fate at least- Doc had told him and Impulse about it the day before.

Summoning his sword and spreading his elytra- deep green and black spotted pterodactyl wings- Xisuma pulled out his rockets, the pensive glare never leaving Keralis’s unusually large eyes. With that, he stood at the edge of the boat, falling backwards off of it, probably intending for Keralis to follow. He pulled himself up with a few flaps, the smoke of the rockets trailing behind him, and hovered directly over The Void. Keralis thanked everything that Xisuma was bad at PvP. Well, unless the weird evil force had more skill but he doubted that.

With a last glance at the pair on the deck, he fired off his rockets and flew off into the sky. He flew a bit lower than the admin, circling around him. Though, that hadn’t lasted long when Xisuma dived into his direction, already beginning to swing his sword.

He dodged the attack, maneuvering himself around the admin, taking a swing at his elytra to catch him off guard. Not enough to tear his wings, but enough to give him some fright. Keralis fired off more rockets and shot off into one direction. When he turned back around, the admin was coming at him with a speed he would swear was faster than an arrow. Xisuma successfully tackled the other and moved quickly to push his sword upwards into Keralis’s back but his hand was caught and before he knew it, a kick to the chest later and Keralis was flying off again towards the End City.

With yet another growl, the admin sped off towards him. They flew up and around the structure, some shulkers firing at them but the two weaved through the small attacks easily. Keralis flew off over The Void again, letting the admin follow him. Thankfully, the fight was more chasing than attacking and he was perfectly fine with that. Stopping just briefly, he fired off more rockets, flying back towards the city with a much faster speed than he had before. The builder didn’t look like he planned to stop, and Xisuma saw that the idiot was about to fly right into the side of one of the towers. The two were speeding up more and more and even Hels and Ex had no clue what Keralis was planning to do.

But that question was quickly answered when Keralis pulled up just before hitting the building and Xisuma was sent flying right into the side of it. Unfortunately, his armor must’ve given out at some point during the impact because the trio’s communicators buzzed as the admin turned to a puff of green, blue, and purple smoke.

Xisuma experienced kinetic energy

All of the items in Xisuma’s inventory fell meters down onto the endstone and Keralis tore his communicator from his pocket, typing furiously.

<Keralis> Nobody go see xisuma

<Keralis> You dont know whats happening but he and wels are being possessed and will kill you on sight

<Tango> Guessing you were attacked too

<Keralis> Yeah

Pocketing his communicator, and ignoring the various additional buzzes from it from what he assumed were the other Hermits, he flew down to the island. Sure, Xisuma had literally almost tried to kill him, but that didn’t mean the admin wouldn’t at least have his stuff saved. With a sigh, Keralis turned to the ship. Well, Xisuma did drop his elytra in the crash and it wasn’t hardly half broken by any means so Hels would use it to get back to the overworld. Agreeing to this thought, he fired off more rockets and made his way up to the ship.

For a second, Keralis wondered if either Evil Hermit was okay to fly such a long distance. Evil X was already beginning to lose his own color, but the knight was so far along in that process that Keralis didn’t even know if he was awake at the moment. Hels leaned against Ex’s side with a tired frown, breaths leaving in shallow heaves, and beads of sweat pooling over his face. He definitely wouldn’t be flying anytime soon.

Keralis debated with himself. He could see if Ex could carry him back to the overworld and just give him Xisuma’s elytra since they were a stronger set that could handle more weight. On the other hand, both Hels and Ex were probably at more risk of being attacked than the other Hermits but that could be prevented. Nonetheless, Hels needed help and Keralis didn’t want to leave the two to gather health potions….or harm potions. Poison? Did they work like zombie villagers?

He shook his head. Off topic, off topic. Right, well he could just contact the other Hermits, kind of explain what’s going on from what he knew. Though, Wels replied in chat earlier on so any plans would be watched and taken advantage of. He dragged a hand down his face with a groan, grabbing Ex’s attention. This was hard. He just wanted Doc and Impulse back here safely, too. And he wanted Xisuma as well, but that only brought on more worrying thoughts. Hopefully, when he respawned he snapped out of his weird trance. But that was a very iffy hope.

“I don’t know how to help,” he muttered, sending the pair a sad expression. “What do I do?” Ex, nor unconscious Hels, probably knew, but feedback was nice, he guessed. Even if it was the same statement repeated back to him.

Ex only mirrored his expression, turning to glance at Hels. “I….just want to help him. But I don’t know how to stop The Lord of Darkness. This just happens and I don’t think we can prevent it.” He turned back to Keralis. “There’s some people who can probably help but they’re not exactly….nice.”

Keralis perked up, interested in the possible solution. “Who?”

Ex rubbed at his neck, hanging his arm there. “The Evil Hermits. Mostly NPC Grian.”

Then, Keralis deflated. “Oh. There’s not like, a way we can convince them or….?”

The other shrugged. “That’s what I’m hoping Doc and Impulse can do.”

Well wasn’t that certainly news to Keralis. His eyes, already incredibly large as they were, widened at his statement. The fact that Ex said the very thing he was trying to figure out for more than an hour now so casually simply just annoyed him. Ex only rose a brow at Keralis’s increasingly ridiculous vague gestures while he stuttered to get his reply pieced together in his head.

“Wha- They’re in HelsCraft?! And you didn’t think to tell me this before?!” he finally yelled.

“You didn’t ask. You guys said The Lord of Darkness killed them and that they weren’t answering their communicators, so they’re probably in Hels. If we’re lucky, they’re not being tortured.”

Keralis rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help but to worry at the thought of his friends being hurt by whatever kinds of creatures were in Hels. He could only think by what Doc said that Hels told him that everything there was so bent on the idea of killing. Though, if Doc and Impulse were there for a reason, they wouldn’t simply be killed. It made, unfortunately, a bit of sense that the people there would have their own fun with a couple of people from the overworld. And Hermitcraft at that.

He crossed his arms, deciding now Ex would be good enough to drag Hels back to the overworld. The man was still his blunt, questionable self and that was enough for Keralis.

“Right, right. Well, we need to get back to the overworld. You can carry him,” he pointed a twirling finger at Hels, ”back there.”

Ex only replied with a huff, then thinking for a second. “Keralis, where did he respawn? Because if I know anything about Xisuma, it wasn’t at his base.”

“Ah….Well, it was in his base but it was….” His eyes widened at the realization. “Down the hall from Wels’s cell. That’s where The Lord of Darkness was, in the cell I mean. I dunno if he’s still there.” He facepalmed internally. They really were just better off keeping him on the boat.

Hastily, Ex pulled Hels and himself up, keeping the knight leaned against his shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

[animerunner]

What Happened Is Not Right And That’s Okay (Chapter 2)

Ao3

Link to Chapter 1 Fandom: The Owl House Rating: T Warnings For this Chapter: Dehumanization, ableism, possible borderline gaslighting, and parental ignorance/neglect possibly bordering on child abuse.  Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne, Eda Clawthorne & Eda Clawthorne’s Mother, Eda Clawthorne & Principal Bump (additional relationships to be added as the story progresses. Summary:Living with a curse was never a simple task. And really from day one Eda knew it was going to be complicated. But she can't help but wonder at times. Just why hers has to be this complicated.

In short: An Exploration of what life might have been like for Eda growing up with the curse. AN: Hey there so what story is basically what it says on the tin. With some creative liberty of course.

Something to keep in mind is that this story progresses: 1. Explore Eda's character and others in response to the curse 2. Help myself explore and come to terms with my own Chronic Illness 3. Help educate others who aren't as familiar with disabilities on the realities of the situation. This one is important to me since the fandom can have an ableism issue. And I would like for readers to maybe take away why the use of certain tropes is a lot worse than they might realize. 4. This story is not meant to be either tragedy or inspiration porn.  5. I've only really begun interacting with the disability community in the last few years. So if I do a misstep its unintentional ignorance. Which I realize is not great either. I just want to make clear my intent is not malicious. If someone else who is in the community in some form be it Neurotypical, disabled, chronically ill, etc. sees something questionable within the story that comes off as unintentionally ableist please tell me. I would be happy to clarify if the plot beat was unintentional (and fix it) or somehow deals with the story itself. Which will happen sometimes. 6. Some of this is based on my own experience. Some of it is not. The parents issue this chapter is a good example of it not being based on my own experience. 

This story will touch on some topics that might be sensitive to some readers. I will include warnings . If your sensitive to the topic please keep that in mind before starting it. Also please bear in mind that not all chapters will have the same element. So while one chapter might have one issue, the other might not. A good example of this is an arc I will be exploring later in the story involving ableism in sports. 

For anyone who wasn’t around for the first chapter. This was originally inspired by @beckyarteest​‘s fic before it went off and became its own quasi multi chapter AU (I am bad at sticking to canon compliance): I'm getting old and I need something to rely on.

Anyways Actual story is under the read more. Ao3 link is at the top. Please let me know what you think!

One day turned into two and two turned quickly into a week. And after that with no real sign of the ‘curse’ resurfacing, Eda had actually started to think that maybe everyone else was right.

Maybe whatever had happened that day was just a one off thing. 

Unfortunately, reality had made that hope come crashing down just over two weeks after “the duel that wasn’t” with Lilith.

                                                  =============

Eda wouldn’t remember the moment that would properly change everything about her life.

Though, she guessed that wasn’t entirely accurate. Considering the biggest moment had happened a week prior was when she had been supposed to be vying for an Emperor’s Coven spot against Lily. The day of her first transformation.

However the incident in potions class, the moment they now knew this was almost certainly not just a one off incident like they had been hoping? That was the moment it became all too real for Eda. 

Even if it would be a while longer before it became real for the rest of the family. That was the day reality started to sink in for Eda. As it was the day that she knew at least to an extent that her life wasn’t going to ever be the same.

It would also be her first gateway into the many, many issues that came with the curse. Whether it be other people’s treatment of her cursed form, right or wrong, or just still having people take her seriously in the beginning. 

Something that would be a recurring struggle she would have to deal with in the coming years.

Much like the duel, she would only be told what had happened afterward. The entire time she was transformed she wasn’t even aware of what was going on. 

It was something that would over time become  associated with fear and worry. At the time though, for an Eda who was still in denial, it was more of a source of annoyance. 

Eda didn’t like that she had to rely on other people to necessarily do ‘the right thing’. Especially since in both instances so far it nearly hadn’t ended in her favor.

Thankfully of all people it was apparently Principle Bump who came to her rescue. Seeing reason when one of the other teachers had tried to suggest handing her off to the head of the Beast Keeping classes for the time being... 

Bump scowled at that not particularly liking the way this conversation was going, “She is still a student. A transformed one but one nonetheless. Unless she starts attacking someone there is no reason to be summoning Arden.”

Sure, he may not be particularly fond of Eda’s antics at times. Sometimes he wished that the entire Clawthorne dynamic wasn’t like how it was. It was a source of many of his headaches.

But that did not mean he supported putting Eda in a cage.

Even if she wasn’t in her right mind currently, she was still a student. And she wasn’t being aggressive. Honestly, this other form so far hasn't been aggressive at all. Though who was to say that wouldn’t change?

He was more than a bit concerned with how little they knew. However, there was one thing he was certain on: that forcing her into a cage would make things worse, not better.

Not that he particularly liked the idea even before you factored in the fact that they’d be caging a student.

“So what do you suggest we do with her then, sir? Leaving her out could cause property damage.”

Which, arguably, was more Eda than anything else. 

“Put her in my office and call a healer. Hopefully someone will know what to do to get her to transform back.”

“Sir, I must protest. Putting her with you could put you-”

Bump cut the other teacher off before he could continue. “I didn’t become the principal of this institution by sitting on my thumbs Marcus. I am more than capable of handling an unruly student. Even if she has been transformed into another creature.”

Not that he genuinely thought handling would be an issue.

                                                 =============

“So what your saying is neither of you can help.”

 Bump had ended up summoning both a healer and grabbing DeFrost anyway. Hoping maybe one of them would know how to solve their issue. 

 “I apologize, sir. But I’m used to dealing with minor curses. Things of inconvenience mostly. Under normal circumstances, I would refer this student to a specialist. This is way beyond my own capabilities to treat.”

 And of course, they couldn’t do that without involving the Clawthorne parents. Who he had tried to alert when Edalyn had transformed again. But they had both been busy and he had yet to hear anything from them yet.

 “And I’ve never seen a creature quite like this. Cursed or otherwise. I could possibly see if I have anything discussing something similar to Ms. Clawthorne. However...”

 “Most likely Edalyn will have transformed back by then.” Bump concluded.

 So apparently they were dealing with not just a curse. But a rare curse. Great. 

 Why was it that nothing involving the Clawthornes was just plain and simple?

 “At the very least can you tell me if she’s any sort of danger?”

 That way he could have his staff stop bothering him.

 DeFrost adjusted their glasses. “Well it's hard to say without knowing the curse or how it impacts her mind. But based on normal cursed creature behavior most likely she won’t be a danger to anyone unless she’s provoked. However there’s still a lot of questions there...”

 “Like what could provoke her.”

“Exactly.” DeFrost  nodded. “Sir, I know you said you could handle if anything happened but-”

“I can handle myself just fine Arden. I appreciate your concern but if I need your help again I will ask for it.”

“Understood sir.” DeFrost agreed reluctantly. Before taking their leave.

“Am I dismissed as well sir?”

“No. Actually I wanted to ask. I know you can’t help her return to normal. But I imagine the transformation back won’t be easy on her. Is there anything we can do to ease that at least?”

“Well yes. But that would normally involve the family…”

“I’ll handle anything that might come if they protest. This is already a difficult time for Edalyn. Let's not make it worse.”

                                                =============

Thankfully time really was all they needed for Eda to transform back. 

Though rather than answering his questions and possible suspicions. Eda’s return to awareness just raised even more of them in their steed.

“Welcome back Edalyn. How are you feeling?”

“Like an icicle is trying to drive a hole into my skull,” Eda said, wincing again rubbing the right side of her head. “What happened?” 

“I believe that you will probably want this, then.” Bump rather than answer the question slid the potion that the healer had left for Eda when she finally returned to normal. “The healers figured you might have one after you transformed back.” Bump explained as Eda downed the bottle.

Eda frowned as she put the bottle down again. Now that the pain was receding she could think a bit more clearly. And realize that she couldn’t think of a reason for why she would be in the office in the first place. “Back? Wait was I-”

“Transformed into that creature from the duel? Yes.”

“I didn’t even realize it,” Eda noted with a frown. Much like the last time everything was just a giant blank from right before she transformed. Which worried her on another level. Why was she unable to remember anything from when the spell, curse, whatever it was took effect?. “I didn’t hurt anyone did I?” 

“No everyone got out of your minor escapade without a scratch.” Bump assured her. Deciding to leave off the near incident with DeFrost and the cages for the moment. It wasn’t like he hadn’t specifically told them not to get the Beast Keeping professor involved. 

Eda sighed in relief. “That’s good at least.” 

“So you really aren’t aware of what happened after you transformed? I take it?”

“No, the last thing I remember is being in the potions classroom. And then waking up here. Everything between the two is a blank.” Eda’s face scrunched up in a frown. There was a bit of a tangible residue of some sort of memory. But she still didn’t know the relevance of it. “Mother’s going to kill me for missing class.”

“I would have thought you might be somewhat pleased by the new attention.”

After all that had been a reason behind some of Eda’s pranks over the years. Though sometimes Bump wondered just how much Eda realized this herself.

“Not like this.”

“Either way I’ll write a note. In the meantime you really should have a specialist check you.”

Eda winced. “That’s probably going to be easier said than done.” 

“If it comes to it, the same offer I made to your sister when she was being given difficulty by them I’ll extend to you. If you need someone to help you get seen about this curse then I can try to help you find someone that your parents won’t cause problems with.”

Eda winced remembering the fiasco that had been trying to get her sister her glasses. There was an unfortunate high probability history could repeat itself. She really hoped her parents had maybe learned. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you Principal Bump.”

“Your welcome.”

Eda’s unusual politeness wasn’t lost on him. Go figure the most polite conversation he had ever had with Edalyn was because of a curse.

Maybe he should have tried a different tactic with the youngest Clawthorne?

Too late to fix that now he supposed.                                                 =============

Any small hope for Eda that maybe her parents would take it seriously when she got home. And not try to toss it again under ‘something else’ didn’t last longer than five minutes after her mother got home. 

“Clawthornes don’t get cursed.”

“But-” Eda began to try and protest. Absentmindedly scratching her wrists. While most of the pain had subsided with the potion Bump had given her, there were still some residual aches and pains from the transformation.

Just like last time in fact. 

“End of discussion. I will not entertain this absolutely absurd discussion. Let alone the idea of taking you to a specialist.”

Eda scowled, not ready to back down without a fight. “If it's just a spell then why did it happen a second time?”

“I don’t know Edalyn, maybe someone thought they should continue the lesson.”

Eda opened her mouth to try and continue the argument. Only to have her mother disappear through the door, slamming it shut behind her. 

“But I haven’t even done anything this past week.” Eda muttered to herself.

After the first idea of it being a curse had gotten into her head. She had decided to try and be better. The transformation had hurt! She hadn’t wanted to go through it again. 

So as difficult as it had been she had hung up her pranking supplies. For now at least until whoever was angry with her cooled down.

If this really was because of a prank. Then someone was really vindictive was all she could say.

Either way whatever caused it wasn’t really the problem anymore. It was figuring out what to do next before the curse resurfaced a third time.  

Normally she would have turned to Lily for guidance. But her sister was away at training. Meaning it was her against her parents. And she had no clue how to handle it from there.  

It had always been them against the world. Even when that world sometimes included their own parents. 

With the one person who may have understood their complex family dynamic gone. With her having no idea when she would see Lily again. She had no one to turn to. 

Sure, Bump had once said that if she needed help to come to him. But this felt like a bit of a reach. 

Maybe it was for the best to leave it alone for now. Maybe if it happened again her parents would take it seriously.

She knew that the likelihood of that happening was probably small, but what else could she even do at this point?

Her parents' reaction, while infuriating, was not entirely unexpected. And it was even less likely to change if her childhood was anything to go by. Since, if it was something that made the Clawthorne’s imperfect, then it was not to be acknowledged. Even if it impacted their own children. 

And if there was anything that indicated an ‘imperfection’ it was having a curse on a child. 

Titan knew how it had been a fight to get Lily her glasses. Eda couldn’t even begin to imagine how complicated things might be if this was something far more sinister than getting your sight corrected.

She guessed if she needed too she could try looking for care on her own. She was old enough now that she didn’t need her parents there at a healer’s appointment. But then again the fall out from going to a doctor when she didn’t have her own source of income.

Well it would be a mess. 

Why did this have to be so complicated?