#That felt mean D:

[goatswithtoast]

Part 2, Lloyd

Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was born to Monk Garmadon and Misako in the Southern Air Temple. Morro had been born not long before, and the two grew up together.

Both had grown up hearing stories of Garmadon's father, the Air Nomad Avatar from the last cycle. He had settled the world into peace and order during his lifetime. He had many battles with powerful benders and spirits, but he never quit and always found a way in the end.

Both the boys loved these stories and would ask for their favourites over and over again. They would often play out the battles themselves, Morro (being slightly older) would make Lloyd be whatever villain he, as the Avatar, needed to defeat this time.

Airbenders often get sent to a temple when born and fit into the large family of the temple, (with Lloyd being the exception by being raised by his father) Morro had friends and adults he could trust, but no one who he called a father.

Lloyd's uncle Wu was an immensely spiritual man who had even been to the spirit world a couple of times. He often went on long journeys to the most spiritual places in the world to meditate.

Whenever he returned to the temple, Lloyd and Morro would rush to meet him as he walked up, asking where he had been, if he saw any spirit monsters, did he trim his beard, did he have anything cool for them? Wu would have a small gift for both ready in his bag.

Morro would choose to hang around Wu while Lloyd ran off to find Garmadon and show him what he'd got. Wu would ask the general questions and Morro would answer them somewhat timidly. But by the end of the day Morro will have talked Wu's ear off.

One day when running around the temple, they overheard Garmadon and Wu, who was in between travels, talking about some pressing matter.

"We've been over this Wu, we don't know for sure it's him. The test can be wrong sometimes!"

"Brother, he was born in the right timeframe, I'm certain it's him."

"We don't know the exact timing though, They could've been dead for weeks before They were found!"

"Don't be ridiculous, the body was in too good condition to be dead that long."

"Good condition?! They were crushed under a boulder Wu!"

"Two weeks is the longest it could've been there. I'm telling you, that boy is the Avatar."

That was all Morro needed to hear to believe it.

With the dates that had been mentioned, Morro's birth was set firmly in the window of 'Avatar possibility'. And Morro was already starting to train.

While Lloyd was sent to fill a bucket, Morro looked for any water bending scrolls or examples he could find. Morro would spend days trying to make the water move, but at most he only made ripples from accidentally blowing air on it instead.

After a long day of trying training, and hours of listening to Lloyd "I don't think you're doing it right Morro. They look like they can feel the water" Morro snapped. He threw his hand out and sent a blast towards Lloyd, but at the same time the water in the bucket whipped out in front of Lloyd. Both boys were stunned. They stood in silence for a second before Morro gave a whoop. "Did you see that Lloyd! I bent the water!" Lloyd cheered with him.

Reinvigorated, Morro threw himself back into training. Lloyd got to help by holding the scrolls up. They never got the same results but Morro knew he could, he had done it before.

Then one day, Garmadon and Wu call Lloyd inside. They don't notice Morro copying a scroll by a bucket and Morro doesn't see them looking deathly serious.

Lloyd didn't know what they had called him for. Garmadon and Wu shared a look, took a deep breath each, and told him.

Lloyd was the Avatar. Not Morro.

"But I thought it was Morro?" Was the first thing out of his mouth.

The brothers glanced at each other, in warning almost.

"While both of you were born in the possible time frame, we confirmed it was you through a test, a test that Morro did not pass" Wu informed him.

"Lloyd," continued Garmadon, "we only tell you this now because the world needs the Avatar, and while I would prefer later, it needs him sooner."

Lloyd was told of the Fire Nation's recent movements into the Earth Kingdom that were causing the kingdom to gather forces. By the time Lloyd would've mastered the elements the Fire Nation could very well have conquered half of the Earth Kingdom. He had to be ready to handle this conflict.

Wu sorrowfully insists that Lloyd had to be told now to have time. Garmadon hides his reluctance and reassures Lloyd that he's well able to do this, he already learned Air, what's three more?

So Lloyd gathered his belongings, shared a goodbye with his mother who made him promise to visit when he could, and set off on his dragon, (an odd animal for an Airbender to have, but Lloyd found him in a bush when he was younger and insisted it was "Too cool to leave to die" So the dragon came home and was named Ultra on account of how ultra cool he was.)

And so the Avatar's journey begins.

Part 1 (Nya, Zane (+Kai)) | >Part 2 (Lloyd) | Part 2.5 (Morro) | Part 3 (Meetup) | Part 4 (Cole) |

[ruporas]

i’ll find you again in every universe. let us be a little more honest, let us have a little more time.

[tennessoui]

it’s like baby gorl there’s no way I, the author who wrote the fic you’re commenting on and who is the intended audience for this comment, am gonna agree with you 😿🙏 some things can just stay on your chest 🙏

[dootznbootz]

There's something really fascinating about how Athena treats Diomedes so differently from how treats Penelope and Odysseus (even Telemachus but that's a lil different too)

Athena has basically known Diomedes since he was born (some even say that she had a say in naming him) because of Tydeus. I don't think it's far-fetched to say that in a way, she possibly "molded" him. And Diomedes is kind of known for being the "perfect warrior king". He's respectful of the gods and most of his comrades, an incredibly skilled soldier, and has already achieved so many things despite being one of the youngest kings in the war.

I sadly think that's why Athena treats him so differently than Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus.

She cares for him, but it's still "distant" in a way. Or almost in an "I molded you. You will react the way I would want you to therefore I will not be surprised."

When it seems like she's known her other favored mortals for less long, she didn't get to "mold" them. They surprise and bring something "new" for her. She sees her little tricksters' scheme and plot and watches with intrigue but watching the perfect warrior is a "Yes, perfect form. That's what I'd do."

I mean even how her favored mortals pray to her tells you a lot about the relationships they have.

For example, in the Iliad, Odysseus doesn't need to really give as much reverence to her to "earn her favor" during book 10's Night Raid.

Odysseus rejoiced, and prayed to Pallas Athene: ‘Hear me, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus, you who are with me in all my adventures, protecting me wherever I go. Show me your love, Athene, now, more than ever, and grant we return to the ships having won renown, with some brave act that will grieve the Trojans greatly.’ And Diomedes of the loud war-cry followed him in prayer: ‘Hear me also, Atrytone, daughter of Zeus. Be with me as you were with my father Tydeus in Thebes, when he went there as ambassador for the bronze-greaved Achaeans, camped there by the Asopus. A friendly offer was what he made them, but on his way back he was forced to take deadly reprisal for their ambush, and you fair goddess, readily stood by him. Stand by me now, and watch over me, and in return I will offer a broad-browed yearling heifer, unused to the yoke. I will tip her horns with gold and sacrifice her to you.’

(Book 10, A.S. Kline)

Diomedes brings up his dad and offers a young heifer (granted that could just be how Diomedes is with every immortal) while Odysseus doesn't and is basically like "Yo, help me out like you always do!". Odysseus is much more casual and personal with Athena. And with Penelope, Athena takes the form of one of her sisters to comfort her!

While Athena also most likely has known Telemachus since he was a baby, she's still closer to him than Diomedes.

Imagine that. You're basically molded by a goddess since birth, listen to her and other immortals dutifully, basically become her perfect warrior, and yet you can't seem to reach that familiarity with her. The same warmth she has for her other favored mortals.

[collieii]

i'm sure it's been said but i do love how trimax handles wolfwoods death. i've seen so many stories that have characters die and they just go away after. i'm really used to stories where the other characters aren't allowed to grieve, the story keeps going and it feels like the other characters aren't really affected or get over it really easily. but in trimax wolfwoods death is so important. we see other characters grieving him. vash protecting the orphanage, expanding his power when he really shouldn't, because it was wolfwood's home, even though wolfwood is already gone. he gets an actual burial. vash and livio eating their way through the grief, which is more comedic but still shows us how important he was to the two of them, sets up how in many ways they're fighting in his memory.

even after he's gone he's still present in the story in such a strong way. we can see how he's affected the other characters, even when they don't explicitly mention him it's obvious that they're thinking about him. what he did when he was alive, and his death itself, are so important to the story even after he's not there. not just in a really abstract "this is someone we lost" way (though there are a lot of times his death and sacrifice motivate vash and livio to fight harder!) he's present in the finale in a material way to livio, who uses his serums to help fight against elendira, which ofc also ties into the way wolfwoods choice to ally with vash and fight against knives gave livio strength to do the same. wolfwood showed him that there are things worth fighting for, things worth protecting. that your body is a weapon, but you can choose what to do with it, use it for something meaningful.

and the way vash kills legato in order to save livio? vash outright says that he did it to protect what wolfwood fought for, sacrificed his life for. it's tied to the ongoing arc between vash and wolfwood, their conflict over the necessity of killing others. wolfwood pushed vash into having an understanding of his views when he was alive, demonstrating the necessity of that violence. simultaneously, vash inspired wolfwood to follow his path, a kinder one. vash remembers what wolfwood said to him, and his death gives those words added poignancy. wolfwood well and truly sacrificed everything to protect what he loved and fight for what he believed in. how can vash let that go to waste? he sacrifices something just as meaningful to himself, and he pulls the trigger. it brings him closer to wolfwood in a way he never was before. he understands now, fundamentally, what motivates people, motivated wolfwood, to act as he did when he took lives. there are so many other ways wolfwood is present in the story after his death i can't talk about all of them but it makes me so crazy

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Both my parents actually suffer from HORRID emotional dysregulation and are prone to snapping and going into rages. My sister is the same way tbh. I am now realizing this is why they are constantly baffled by the question of whether or not I am mad at them.

I don't have external meltdowns.

I could. I don't let it happen.

I keep my rage on the inside and stay pretty quiet about it. It's just as strong as theirs [physically shaking nose bleed from high blood pressure kind of bad], but like as a kid I saw how terrifying it was to be around [dad breaking dishes, mom putting our lawn chairs into walls] and I just internalized that I wasn't going to wear that anger on the outside.

So my mother genuinely cannot tell if I am just being quiet or if I am silently hearing the dial-up noises of pure rage. This has lead her to both making strong and confident statements like "You are a pacifist who would never hurt a fly U.U" but also acting like I am secretly dangerous maybe... It's because she has never seen me snap.

She knows what her temper is like [throwing chairs through walls], she knows what my father's temper is like [pick up child and toss out door], and she can tell I am being tested, but she doesn't know what happens when I snap or where that breaking point is.

Her -perhaps unhinged- solution to this, my whole life, has been to do things that should obviously enrage me or shut me down completely, like ignoring important boundaries, repeatedly, punishing me for expressing emotions or needs at all, etc... And then to constantly ask me if I am angry with her when I get too quiet [right after near directly telling me to shut up].

It has occurred to me now, they have never once seen me lose my temper, so they literally just can't tell if I am angry at them. My sister is easy, my mother fights and screams with my sister constantly, my mother understands this. My mother doesn't have any grasp of feelings or boundaries that are not screamed at her [apparently, and I fear my sister is the same way]. Her and my sister are close despite constant fucking fighting because they understand each other.

They are trying to get me to engage the same way and it is not working. I realize now that this has been hard for them.

I was so successfully taught to suppress my emotions, by being punished for any outburst, that rage quiet looks the same as any other kind of quiet from the outside. To them anyway.

I did tell her. For the record. I used my words. I did tell her very calmly that my response to rage, in order to avoid doing the things that terrified me as a child, was to simply leave [the autistic urge to GTFO]. When a situation or person causes too much of the dial-up rage noise, I simply extract myself from that situation, up to and including never speaking to a person again. I explained this calmly. I explained it calmly 100 times and I explained that I explain myself calmly as my rage response 1-5 [also pretty much every other negative emotion tbh], and I told her that what came next was me simply opting out and fucking off. I told her this. I couldn't understand why she never took me seriously, or why she never fucking understood.

I couldn't understand what made her like this.

But it's the same problem I have with everyone else multiplied by a factor of 10.

If I am explaining myself calmly, they can't understand that it's actually serious or that I am actually upset. ESPECIALLY because they read me as "female" and women "aren't that rational" so if I am not screaming and crying about something, which I never do, people assume I can't be upset and it isn't serious.

And then after having my boundaries ignored too many times despite having calmly explained how and why it's a problem [shaking inside or not]... I leave. I leave and everyone gets upset like this is unexpected behaviour, even though I told them 50 times that is how I would respond if they kept doing *the thing.*

And for neurotypical people especially, they are expecting there to be a disconnect between what someone says they need or feel and what their actually boundaries and feelings are, and they expect the latter to be demonstrated with emotions. Telling them bluntly you do not function that way somehow never helps?

My mother isn't just looking for normal yelling or a few tears to know I am serious, whether or not I do those either [I don't], she's looking for an explosion to know there's a problem at all.

Fucked if I know how she proceeds through life this way in general or if this is just her expectation of her own kids???

And I couldn't get why my mother couldn't read my emotions and didn't seem to think I have any. It's because she's testing for the rage limit to see where my 'actual' limit is instead of taking my word for it. Never the fuck mind that she could simply *not* test at my boundaries instead of letting me have them. Separate issue.

I couldn't figure out what made her *like this*

She's expecting me to throw a giant meltdown violent tantrum at people when I have 'actually' had enough. Maybe she got away with those being like 5'4" in another time, but I am the size of the average man, I do not get to have giant screaming rages, whether or not people perceive me consciously as a woman, and least of all because a lot of people -at least unconsciously- read me as 'masculine' or at least always "they guy" of the situation compared to all other women and some men [bigger stronger and more rational, more able to just absorb the damage and let it go so the less rational screaming/crying one doesn't have to be dealt with]. Even if it was in me to be willing to terrify people [usually never], there are such limited instances where it wouldn't just blow back on me. Potentially very dangerously.

I am going to be the quiet calm one. You are going to have to let me use my words, bitch.

So she kept ignoring my boundaries until I had to cut her out of my life, and she probably doesn't understand and probably thinks it feels sudden -after 36 long years of bullshit- abrupt and unfair.

But I told her hundreds of times.

I probably should have just screamed at her.

[skateironicallycantskate]

no one understands the aroace experience better than my friend who, upon finding out I was aroace, immediately responded with “so you just wanna be a cat lady?”

[arachnidcakery]

I made a Doom, & Puppy synsona/copinglinksona! :3 (tho it's mostly Doom-)

Their allotpun is 'dread ongoing' (or 'ongoing dread'), and they're part dog & part rat!♡ It's rlly into brightly-colored aesthetics/fashion, especially scene, and it also adores cute things! (Plushies, cogs, etc etc.)

I don't have much else for h1m atm since I made h1m probably literally just yesterday, but I'm hoping to make some small posts abt h1m regarding h1s backstory or personality in the future! ♡

[itgr]

I need everyone to know I stayed up until 4am the night before a very important (to me/hj) fashion show I was modelling for that I spent months working on just so I could get to the ROS season 2 finale because I heard there was a strawbarrow kiss AND THEN I GOT MET WITH THIS

I LITERALLY SAT THERE FOR LIKE 3 MINUTES PROCESSING THAT WHILE LOOKING LIKE THIS

No regrets but oh my GOD.

[starflungwaddledee]

alright. look, we're going to go into this because i genuinely want to think you didn't mean harm by this, but it's unacceptable to use this sort of manipulative phrasing. especially with strangers, some of whom are kids.

this is not a call-out. i've hidden all names except my own. i just need to address this post i was tagged in, and don't want to add it onto the end of the original post. i could also have done this privately, but i want this to be here for the other folks who were @'d. i won't @ anyone else who was mentioned in this post, but many of us are mutuals, so if you see this post and you're feeling at all stressed out or bad, i recommend just clicking through because i'm going to go into this.

firstly, and i'm going to make this transparent, person who @'d me: i don't think you're being malicious or did anything purposefully bad. i don't think you intended harm or that you are "a bad person". i don't have a single negative thought about you as a person. i don't make this post to be mean. i truly think you made an earnest mistake that could easily have hurt others, and i am stepping in with the hope this can be avoided in the future! per my usual boundaries on reassurance seeking, i will not reassure about this further.

secondly, the post that you tacked this onto IS important and a helpful resource, and it is great to bring attention to it. we should be doing everything we can to not only defend against, but actively fight back against generative AI. many people cannot access the most commonly recommended tools (myself included), so a resource like this is fantastic and i'm glad to learn about it and share it! i don't speak for anyone else, but i've said before that i personally don't mind being tagged in resources that could help me or others and i'm usually happy to share them, especially if i think the latter

but, assuming that you are genuinely well meaning and don't know better, you need to know that this is not the way to go about it. i don't mean mass-tagging, which is fine in times like this imo, i mean your written add-ons that actively guilt trip every single person you tagged.

"if you weren't convinced by the idea of being a good person" and "I do hope anyone I @'d isn't a bad person" in particular.

you may not have realised, but these are profoundly manipulative and cruel things to say. regardless of how you intended them, they are inciting guilt in the reader, and especially in the people who you actively called to come and look at it. here's what it sounds like:

"hey! you! yeah you! come look at this!! come closer! now, do what i ask you to do, or you're a bad person."

there are a million and one reasons someone might not reblog something. being tired, offline, anxious, even needing to run a specifically professional blog with exclusively your art on it for your own financial survival which makes it hard to reblog important posts like this; none of those are bad.

in this case, only one thing makes them a "bad person", and it's "they're pro-generative AI and did not reblog because they want to hide this information to ensure they can continue stealing from creatives".

i'm fairly confident you don't actually think anyone you tagged here has that point of view, or that you really have any doubts about their stances on generative AI. in fact, of the folks i recognise here, they're all independent creatives, sharing artwork with fandom for free on the internet. they are the victims of generative AI, and like most of us, are facing a terrifying future and are already desperate to find a way to defend/fight back.

you do not need to use manipulative language like this to get us to care about this sort of content! this affects us all, content creators and content consumers alike!

in future if you want to direct folks to something like this, which is super helpful and it was good of you to do!, you can just @ them so they see it. you can even say something like "this is important and some reblogs would sure help to boost it!". this is still a call to action, but without the manipulative phrasing, just in case they cannot act for any reason.

in the end, guilt tripping people like this, intentional or otherwise, is dangerous.

at best it will make them feel like shit and they'll feel forced to reblog + share from you out of guilt rather than just believing in the cause. and sometimes it feels like it's most effective, especially when things are urgent; but in my opinion the risk of harm is just too high. because at worst, you could accidentally send someone into a negative thinking spiral. you can never know what people are going through offline, or outside of your spaces, and how something like this will hit them.

[ruporas]

can’t help falling for you

[millenari]

If you could make one permanent change to a cats replica production what would it be?

You know... kind of a simple answer, but I would want modern productions to include the Alonzo shadowdance again.

I'm honestly not sure where that bit of choreo originated-- I wanted to say US Tour 5 but then I remembered that this video included it and that was a British 90s performance, so I have no clue where or when it came from off the top of my head. And I know people tend to associate the shadowdance with Demlonzo/ give it a romantic context but I like that bit a lot, regardless of what Demeter's relationship with Alonzo looks like.

I really like the ambiguity of it. Is that supposed to be Macavity's shadow, looming over Demeter as she sings about him? Is there no metaphor at hand and that's genuinely supposed to be actual Alonzo? If so, why him? Alonzo is usually cast as a dancer primarily, so it would make sense if they picked him for no other reason than the actor's skill, but it doesn't feel like a coincidence that he's involved in the Macavity fight And is something of a protector And is often the one to directly 'save' Demeter during the fight (by picking her up and carrying her off in the beginning, usually, or by prying Macavity off of her at the end in the bway revival).

idk, there's something about it, romantic or not. That Alonzo may share Demeter's fear, or may feel some kind of responsibility for her, or may be trying to share that vulnerability and anxiety. 'Bearing the burden' together, so to speak.

(It reminds me of how in Midsommar the cultpeople™ would echo dani's crying and screaming as a way to kind of share her pain and make it a community thing. That was kind of predatory at the heart of it bc it was. you know. a cult. but you know what I mean)

I also like that Alonzo is there. I've always kind of got the impression that the boys all leave the stage during this part to search for Macavity-- I don't love the implication there that none of the female cats can apparently fend for themselves and seek Mac out along with the Strong Manly Men™, (You could argue that the grown queens are all hanging back to keep an eye on the kittens and Alonzo's watching Demeter specifically but that's only a step better tbh) but if you are going to go that route it makes sense to leave someone who can defend with the girls.

(Unrelated but for similar reasons I like how in US Tour 5 you can see Pounce and Tumble* backup dancing along with the other girls: listen, if Cassandra apparently can't go out there with the Men™ and look for Macavity, then the babey boys shouldn't be able to either.

*Not actually sure if it was them: It mightve been Pounce/Tumble and Alonzo instead, but there's two boys in the backup and three options, so I'm choosing to believe it was Pounce and Tumble.)

So yes, there's a lot to dig your teeth into with that bit. It also just looks cool, and on top of all of that: I love when male cats mirror female cats, and I also love Alonzo being slutty. 🙏

[lenievi]

Stargate SG-1 is so good. I love it so much 🥺

[sancastarcs]

take everything I say back absolutely the BEST fucking scene in one piece is the scene where usopp was screaming to luffy to get up I literally had shivers running down in my whole body

[princealberich]

insane to me how i've had maladaptive daydreaming issues my whole life, but as soon as I went on meds it stopped. i figured it was just me growing out of it but the SECOND i miss my meds or need to go off them for whatever reason, the daydreams come HURTLING BACK FULL FORCE

[blood-starved-beast]

Not to be that person but the changes to the resource gathering mechanic in Hades II kinda suck from a mechanic design standpoint.

If they had to change it couldn't it be something like idk, being able to switch weapons between regions?