#a matter of consequence

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

enough about the timeloop I wanna hear about the post-timeloop.

person who just got over the horror of being trapped and settled into a comfortable routine...but then the timeloop breaks and they struggle to reacclimatize. person trapped in a loop for years who grieved their loved ones—who are suddenly back and acting like nothing happened (because for them nothing did). teenager who aged physically and mentally during the timeloop and now they're so much older than they're supposed to be. random strangers who were trapped in a loop together relieved to get away from each other at last, but feeling oddly bereft of familiar company. service worker who is pissed as fuck to have to go back to work

[varibean]

Ok but when they parallel this scene with Viktor as machine herald looking at jayce’s broken human body and realizing that he too would do anything in his power to save him, what then?

[dopplerdora]

So I binge read Dungeon Meshi and I have to say I really love this moment. I hate in fiction when characters get possessed or hurt or have like 99.9% of their life stolen, and they just get better after the immediate problem is solved.

Marcille has been worrying over her hair since the start of the story and it's been plot relevant multiple times. She cared about her hair and the styling alot, and now she can't even remember how she styled it. She can't remember how she did it even if she wanted too. It seems like a light loss at first but her hair was important to her and from what we know of how having a desire eaten works she can't even remember why she cared.

When Chilchuck does her Hair she doesn't care how it looks, just that it's out of the way. She can't even recognize that it's childish, somthing she would have noticed immediately before. She goes straight to cutting it, somthing she only did when Senshi was at risk or dying. Not only that but before she only cut a bit, here she just goes to chopping it all off immediately.

Basically I love that there are consequences that will effect these people for their entire lives. I love Laios being a little hungry forever. I love Falin having weird feathery bits. I love Marcille losing a part of herself. Because when you risk it all and make hard or bad choices... it should matter.

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[tomorrowusa]

People need to be reminded of Trump's woeful incompetence which came to a head during the pandemic emergency and resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

The Obama administration successfully dealt with the threats from swine flu and Ebola. There was no swine flu disaster, there was no Ebola disaster, and there was even no Zika disaster because competent people were running the US. Near the end of Obama's term, his National Security Council staff put together a 69-page playbook on how to deal with pandemic emergencies. It's called "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents". Of course Trump ignored the document and plunged the nation into COVID hell.

Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook

Michelle Obama, in one of her best speeches ever in Kalamazoo this weekend, excoriated Trump's incompetence.

Michelle Obama laced into Donald Trump in a searing speech in Michigan on Saturday, accusing the former president of “gross incompetence” and having an “amoral character” while challenging hesitant Americans to choose Kamala Harris for US president. “By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady told a rapt audience in Kalamazoo. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?” [ ... ] In raw and strikingly personal terms, she asked why Harris was being held to a “higher standard” than her opponent. Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and his failed attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election should alone be disqualifying, Obama argued. But now the people who worked closest with him when he was president – his former advisers and cabinet secretaries – had stepped forward with a warning that he should not be allowed to return to power.

ICYMI, here is Michelle Obama's speech in Michigan.

Too many people have been afflicted by Trumpnesia. They seem to have forgotten the catastrophe that happened starting on 22 January 2020 when the first COVID infection was discovered on US soil. On that day Trump told CNBC: "we have it totally under control" and "it's going to be just fine".

Instead of following Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents, Trump did the usual bullshit Trump things like criticize the Oscars and rage-tweet from the bathroom. He belatedly declared a state of emergency on Friday the 13th of March – the day after the stock market crashed.

Don't let anybody in real life get away with describing the Trump years as some sort of utopia.

Some people disingenuously claim they don't know enough about Kamala Harris despite her 20 years in public service. We all know more than enough about Trump's egregious ineptitude which turned a national emergency into a prolonged national nightmare.

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

The wildest thing to me about Ashton's Deus Essek Machina resurrection is that Matt didn't even call a resurrection skill challenge for it, it was late and I may have missed it, but I don't think he even rolled as Essek to see if his contribution of raw dunamis would be enough. Essek intervened and Ashton simply... was revived, at the cost of Essek revealing himself to the Dynasty which had zero emotional impact on the Hells.

Which is nuts when considering that after she was resurrected Ashton asked Laudna: "What was it like to wake up and everyone was still there?" As after they fell out the window of Jiana Hexum's mansion when that burglary went bad the Nobodies bailed on them, and it was only Milo's intervention and impulsive use of a Potion of Possibility that saved him. How emotionally resonate would it have been for Ashton to fall again, and hear the voices of his friends calling him back to life, because they are STILL THERE and refuse to give up on them.

I'm not against having to have dunamacy involved in bringing Ashton back, delivered via Essek or otherwise, given the nature of how Milo saved him in the first place, but I think the stronger choice was to have that be what allowed the resurrection to proceed as normal, in much the same way freeing his soul from Orthax allowed the normal progression of Percy's first resurrection. Rather than what we got which was that Essek poured dunamacy into Ashton and they were immediately fine. There was the opportunity to sit in the moment of Ashton's friends not abandoning them this time and him getting to wake up to everyone still there, and it's bizarre that in a finale that ended up nearly 9 hours long, that we effectively fast forwarded through it.

[bookwyrminspiration]

"fitz was right to never forgive alvar" and "alvar is capable of growing and becoming a better person no matter what depths he's sunk to because there is no point at which you lose the ability to change and improve" are two things that can, and do, coexist. unforgivable and irredeemable are two different things

[small-birdie]

listen. listen. the epithets homer awards melinoë whenever he has the chance……. dreadful?? terrifying??? oh boy.

i know zagreus never got an official designation, but whether he is the god of blood or life, that’s all well and good. meli here on the other hand is about to be the goddess of all sorts of nasty stuff through absolutely no fault of her own. this lot wasn’t her choice; she’s been raised this way.

truly her father’s daughter as much as zagreus is his mother’s son, yknow?

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I can't get over how good season 2 of Severance is. I don't mean enjoyable (although it is also very enjoyable). I mean the sheer quality of the writing and the acting and the art direction. I haven't seen a show on this level since The Good Place.

[mollysunder]

One of the best examples of Piltover’s lack of genuine self-reflection is when Jayce decided to make hextech weapons for Caitlyn. I understand that he may have been rattled by Renni's attack during the memorial, but the only reason Renni even had the place stormed was because Jayce killed her son... with a hextech weapon! Renni literally told Jayce to his face this isn't some random act of violence, this is about revenge for her child that he shot and left to die on a cold factory floor.

And instead of internalizing the series of events that caused this specific situation, which was an act of retaliation against Jayce's own aggression. Instead he just made more weapons for Caitlyn and her team, as if that wasn't the reason things escalated in the first place. Jayce may have been remorseful for killing that kid, but any feelings he had about it were largely irrelevant to how it informed his actions later on.

[wired-heartbeats]

For the record I think Vox is being effected and possibly swayed by Val’s poison just like Angel is, the pink signifying it on Angel shows up on Voxs screen during and after interacting and being influenced by Val directly, when Vox is operating independently it isn’t an actual normal feature of his

This paired with an earlier moment from episode 2 when Val first mentioned something had happened with Angel Dust, Vox seemed happy about the idea of Angel quitting

“He quit? :D”

It’s interesting for sure, makes me wonder what Vox actually thinks about Angel, and more importantly, actually thinks about Valentino. He’s a business man, and clearly the Vees all teamed up (at least initially) because it helps elevate their status and power spread, they may be friendly with each other but we as an audience don’t actually know if there’s more to it as of now. But still, interesting

[theweeklydiscourse]

God forbid you ever criticize the lack of consequences Bakugou experiences in MHA, or suddenly you’ll find dozens of Bakugou stans pouring into your mentions to make a speech about how cruel you are for forcing him to eat cement. They’ll act as though “consequences” inherently involves throwing him into the dungeon or putting him in detention for 100 years and then moan about how him facing consequences would only perpetuate a cycle of abuse/discrimination.

Listen, it’s not really that much of a consequence if the “consequence” in question isn’t directly connected to his current or past bad behaviour. “Oh but his scars!” “When he died that one time!” “His guilt for getting kidnapped” None of those are related to his bullying, and in my opinion, that makes them insufficient as consequences in an arc about changing for the better.

The consequences I would actually like to see could be as simple as: Izuku feels sad/mad because of what he went through, or certain characters reflect on how Bakugou’s past impacts their perception of him. More introspection on the victim’s end is needed, Bakugou doesn’t necessarily need to be pilloried for the arc to be satisfying.

[ashlygraves]

i feel like reading Ashley’s crying fits as emotional manipulation falls into either misunderstanding or a bad faith reading of her personality. especially flashback childhood scenes. Ashley legitimately feels like if Andrew is not on board with her he hates her and wants nothing to do with her- look at her social life, the way her mother treats her. sure its not logical but her past experience with people would guide her to that conclusion. *person* doesn’t like something i do/say = i end up alone again. to hear these kinds of words come out of a child’s mouth, a responsible and mentally stable adult’s response would be to hold her hand and guide her through these feelings, and explain to her that the world does not operate in the black and white lenses she views them from…. now when is Ashley ever surrounded by someone of this description. this explanation would need to come from a parental figure, or a role model in the child’s life, somebody the child trusts and looks to for guidance. who is this person for Ashley??? Andrew. another child. not a well rounded, stable, emotionally mature adult with the past experiences to prove these thought patterns wrong. and how does he respond? by giving in. his little sister is crying, upset, and mom and dad don’t like dealing with her and explicitly tell him its his responsibility to placate her and make sure she’s taken care of and listening to them- whenever they decide they’re going to attempt at parenting that is. they never tell him how to do this, all they want is for their daughter to shut up and leave them alone. in this moment, his little sister is crying and that is unacceptable. based on his past experiences, the fastest (and only) way to solve this problem that nobody else wants to deal with is to do what she wants to do. give in. let her have her way. even in the most extreme of circumstances, because neither of them have reliable responsible role models. as they grow up, Andrew builds resentment towards his sister for this, he’s always doing whatever she wants and they’re acting on her whims because they never learned otherwise. misdirected anger that should have been angled at their parents.. so why isn’t it? because their mother was a hostile, volatile person, who punished him for straying an inch out of line. follow orders and keep up appearances, or else. make sure she does the same, or else. expressing any sort of resentment or anger towards anyone but Ashley would have resulted in an outburst from their mother. there is a line, though. Renee may not have given him any sound examples or advice to follow but she did tell him what not to do: resort to physical violence. she knows it’s not a solution to behavior, we can assume she has experience with this because of her reaction to Andrew trying it out on his sister. and in light of their parents deaths, what does Andrew resort to? physical violence. why? because he’s learned that while it may not change Ashley’s behavior (like their mother said), it makes her listen in the moment. and it feels good, to finally let out his frustrations and he won’t be punished for it. this is him ‘acting out’. he finally has the chance to act without punishment and he uses it to do the only thing that he was explicitly told not to do. why does Ashley act the way she does? because she has 2 decades of experience telling her that what she does effects everyone but herself. she has never dealt with punishment, or consequences, in her entire 20 years of life. she has never had to keep up appearances, or stay in line, because she was never given a reason to. Andrew was. soo.. Andrew’s girlfriend breaks up with him, they kill their parents, they’ve been socially isolated and starved for months with the threat of death right around the corner and then they’re both given a chance to take advantage of an object that ultimately would relieve them of consequences.. but what’s the catch? there doesn’t seem to be one, but Andrew knows better. At least in this instance.

[strinak]

anyway. this is your notice that I will be liberally blocking blogs pushing antivoting/both parties are the same/etc bullshit. I am fully Not Here For It, as someone living in a deeply red state. I have had actual human people, to my face, at my fucking retail job, advocate for civil war and treason and military overthrow of the federal government. I cannot EXPRESS to you how little fucking patience I have for leftist infighting at this point!!!

[sparklingdemon]

i know sorrow's quote was in referral to blue but i feel like it could also be applied to leaf/green herself and abandon lonliness: i am's new ending from a meta standpoint if you think abt it hard enough……….

i mean. did we not see OP try to rewrite history in order to prevent the tragedy of lonliness and leaf rotting in hell? do we dare to forget - to erase what she did to lonliness? can she be forgiven now that it never happened in the first place...?

[sunbloomdew]

i love when different forms of art ask "was it real? does it matter that it was? does it matter that it wasn't? did it hold meaning? does it still?"