#all the while I'm hiding from the others that I'm evil and manipulative

[buckscurls]

pls ignore, dream journal

it's 5:15 am, ive not slept outside of the hour or so the dream took. took meds has usual (at 1 am). had a greasy dinner (spätzliuuflauf)

[just-wrting]

Feeling Fangs

Title: Feeling Fangs

Pairing: Charlotte Katakuri x Wife!Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: You find out what your husband has been hiding from you after he loses against Straw Hat, but you find yourself fixating on how pretty he is without his scarf.

Master List Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

A/N: My bf won't let me read about this man because I'm not far enough in the anime so I'll just write about him instead. And read about him but my bf doesn't have to know that part yet. He's worried about spoilers but what spoilers am I gonna get from all that smut? Also I just like men with fangs.

You didn't particularly care who one this little war that broke out, as long as your husband is fine. There's no doubt in your mind that he'll survive, you just don't want to see him hurt. Sure, the two of you have never really been romantic or anything, your marriage was somewhat political, but you've grown fond of him. So when his little sister is kneeling on the street saying he lost, your heart drops.

"Brulee, get me in there," you hiss in her ear. "I need to make sure he's okay."

There's tears in her eyes as she looks at you quizzically. "How did you get here?"

"This isn't the time for that. Let me in the mirror dimension."

She nods quickly and lets you through. Her steps are hesitant as she follows behind you. You make note of the chefs slumped against a wall, curious as to who killed them. It doesn't matter to you as you stumble closer to your husband.

It's the first time you've seen him like this. Even when it's time to sleep, he's still awake, sitting up in bed doing who knows what as you drift off. Right now, he's asleep on his back with a hat on his face. You quickly locate his scarf next to a group of people, ignoring them.

You've never seen him without his scarf, but you figure out that everyone here has. The chefs must've seen him without it, so he's the one who killed them. Everyone else must've passed out from something in the battle, but they've all seen him too.

"Brulee, tie up everyone here. It doesn't matter who they are, I want them unable to leave," you say in a low voice. "If you fail to do this, I won't forgive you."

While she follows your orders, you crouch down to rewrap his scarf. You make sure to hide his face from view as you carefully lift the hat. Biting your lip in anticipation, you do your best to not wake him. As you unveil his full face, you feel yourself get flustered.

Poking out from his lips are four shiny fangs. You do your best to not reach out and touch them, wondering how sharp they are. You expected something frightening under the scarf, but Katakuri is actually just as pretty as you thought he was. You don't know how you lucked out to get him, but you'll think about that later.

You make quick work with his scarf, noticing he's missing his jacket. You'll have to look for it later, your focus needs to be on finding Pudding. It doesn't matter that she's rude to you, what matters is her ability. You had overheard it in passing, but her ability to manipulate memories is what makes her the key.

"Let's go, I need to find Pudding."

Thankfully, you can see her hiding on the other side of the mirror you came in. It might take a moment to run and get her, but you'll put yourself through whatever you need to. The most important thing to you is wiping everyone's memory of what Katakuri looks like.

You dash through the fight, weaving your way through both enemies and the Big Mom pirates. Ducking down next to Pudding, you catch your breath for just a moment while she stares starry eyed at someone.

"Sanji..." she mumbles before glaring at you. "What do you want?"

"I need you to alter some memories for me."

She gives you an evil smile. "Why would I do that? Just because you're my big brother's wife doesn't mean I'll help you."

You frown. "I won't tell anyone that you've fallen in love with Sanji and most likely helped him escape."

"What?! You have no proof!"

You pull her up and start dragging her behind you. "I may not have concrete proof, but I'm not stupid. Besides, your reaction is my proof."

She grumbles something about you being an ass, but she follows you.

"You also need to wipe some of Brulee's memory.  If you tell anyone what you saw in them, I'll tell everyone that you helped Sanji escape. Do you understand?"

She nods. "Alright, I understand. Why what did they see?"

You set your jaw. "At the very least, they saw Katakuri without his scarf. I'm not sure what else they saw."

You watch over her shoulder as she shoves her hand into people's memories. It's a little gross, but it'll get the job done. It's better to threaten one person over a dozen.

There's a moment where Luffy slips and falls, gaining a large wound in his stomach due to being numbed. After finding out why, you watch Katakuri stab himself and pull off his scarf. It's nice to see a pirate try to have a fair fight, giving you a bit more insight as to what your husband is actually like.

"I guess it's a bit weird that he didn't want help if he couldn't defeat Straw Hat, but it doesn't make him lame. Those idiots don't realize they're the lame ones," Pudding grumbles. "Do you think Sanji has the same idea?"

You shrug. "It seems like his captain does at least so probably. Do I look like Sanji?"

Pudding scowls. "Shut up. Let me do this."

You don't miss the days when you'd have mood swings about men. That's the one good thing about having an arranged marriage, you don't have to worry about your feelings for other people.

"Mirrors, are any of you in an intact room? One with a big bed and access to water."

One a little ways away responds, and you look back at your passed out husband. You don't know how you're getting him there. Maybe you should've thought about that ahead of time, but it doesn't matter now. You can figure it out, you always do.

—-

It's been at least one day since you dragged him into bed, and Katakuri has yet to wake up. You can feel yourself dozing off every time you sit down, so you do your best to stay occupied. You prepare food, make sure you have enough water to wipe him down and let him drink, and constantly rearranging things. On one hand you want him to wake up so you know he's not in a coma, on the other hand you want him to get as much rest as he needs.

What you want doesn't matter, as you hear him wake up suddenly with a gasp. In your shock, you drop the plate you were holding.

"There's no need to wake up so aggressively, Katakuri. You're safe," you reassure as you pick up the bigger pieces of the plate. "How are you feeling?"

"How did I end up here? What did you see?" His voice is low, almost threatening.

You dump the bigger pieces in the trash and start sweeping. "We can talk about that later. You should have some water and eat. Then you should go back to sleep. I patched you up as well as I can, but I'm not a doctor."

He starts to pull the covers off, giving you a harsh look. "What did you-"

You dump the dustpan's contents into the trash before setting the broom to the side. "Like I said, it can wait. No offense, but you don't particularly scare me when you're ripping open your wounds."

His face goes a bit red as you tell him off. You want him to feel better before you deal with any other matters. That includes the talk of whether he'll choose to kill you for seeing his face.

"I made you some food, so just sit up."

Thankfully, he obeys. Katakuri doesn't even protest as you feed him. You make sure to avert your eyes, just for his comfort. He seems to be extremely hungry, eating all the food you've made. By the time it's all gone, he looks tired again.

"Get some more sleep, I'll lock the door. I wanted to be awake when you woke up, but now that that has happened, I can sleep."

He watches as you turn the lock and slide the broom handle through the loops of the door handles. You do the same with the window, shoving a fire poker through the handle before closing the curtains once more. Giving each of them a tug, you feel satisfied when nothing clatters to the ground.

"When did you sleep?" Katakuri asks, watching you intently. "You look..."

"Terrible, I know. I don't think I've slept since before the tea party, though. I'd have to think about it."

You crawl into the other side of the bed. It's a bit small, but leaning against him makes it a bit more comfortable. Despite your efforts, you find yourself dozing off before making sure he sleeps. There's no way he's getting out of the bed though, you've managed to lay on his arm.

—-

By the time you wake up, Katakuri is fast asleep. For what must be the first time ever, he's got his arm around you, holding you close. You watch him for just a moment, admiring how pretty he is. You want to reach up and play with his hair, but you ignore that feeling and try to wiggle from his grasp.

Even with how battered he is, you find it difficult to free yourself. You knew he was strong, ridiculously so, but you didn't realize he's just this strong. After freeing yourself, you feel exhausted again.

Thankfully, Pudding has left another basket of food for you, complete with an angry note about how she's not your delivery girl and if she's going to bring you stuff you need to be there. You roll your eyes and throw away the note. If she had important things to say, she can say them to your face.

You help yourself to an apple, crunching away as you try to figure out what to make. It would be nice if you could access a bigger kitchen with more ingredients, but this will have to do. Hopefully it's enough food, you've seen the size of  the food he eats.

With a sigh, you give up. Exhaustion still flows through you, so you focus on things that don't require a lot of thought. So you eat and wash the dishes, making sure to be as quiet as possible. It's better for him to wake up naturally, not due to you being a jerk.

Once there's nothing more to do, you make your way to the bed. You check the wounds, letting the smaller and scabbed ones breathe. Almost all of his injuries have stopped bleeding, you just can't check the one you're most worried about. He needs to wake up for you to take a look.

As you reach towards his head, his hand shoots up and grabs your wrist tightly. You wince in pain, surprised at how tight his grip is.

"What are you doing?"

You tug on his fingers. "Checking the scrape on your forehead. I want to make sure it closed up."

He cautiously releases you. "Don't do anything else."

You click your tongue against your teeth. "Have some more faith in me, Katakuri. I'm your wife, I have no ill intentions."

"We need to talk."

You start unwrapping the dressing. "What do you want to know?"

Katakuri breaks eye contact with you. "What happened after I lost?"

"Well, we lost. I dragged you out of here with some help."

"What about the others in the mirror dimension? What happened to them?"

The blood that makes up the scab also goes into his hairline, so you make a note to bathe with him so it doesn't open. "Those chefs are dead. Your little sister and her stupid fan club on the other hand are alive."

"Where are they now?" he asks, furrowing his brow. "What about the cam-snails?"

"I have no idea where they went after they woke up. I collected the cam-snails though, they're in a bag here."

His hand makes its way to your thigh, holding you down. "What did you see? What did you do?"

"I put your scarf on, tied everyone up, and made Pudding alter their memories. Straw Hat knows, but based on how I found you, I don't think that matters."

"How did you-"

You give a small smirk. "Poor little Pudding was so against marriage, but she ended up falling in love with that Sanji boy. I told her that I would keep it a secret if she kept yours. I'm telling you in case you choose to... you know."

His other hand pulls down his scarf. "So you know. And you're still here?"

Satisfied with the head scrape, you pull back a bit. "Of course. You're injured, where else would I be?"

"Aren't you afraid?" He pulls his face into a scowl. "Don't you think-"

Your eyes flutter shut as you lean forward and kiss him. It's nothing romantic, just a quick press of your lips on his, but you pull away flustered.

"Why did you do that?" His eyes are wide.

You blink in surprise. "Why did I do that?"

"How would I know, I'm not-"

You lean forward and kiss him again. His lips are soft, and when you lick your own after pulling away, you find them sweet.

"What are you-" You cut him off again with a kiss.

"This plan isn't-" Even after a fourth kiss, you can't stop.

Before he says anymore, he grabs your face in both hands. "Stop whatever nonsense this is. What are you trying to do?"

You've never seen Katakuri look like this. His face is flushed and his eyes are wide.

"I just really wanted to do that."

It’s now his turn to blink in shock. “Why?”

“You’re just…” You look away, knowing that your face is burning up. “Katakuri, you’re so pretty.”

He doesn’t say anything, just looks at you intensely. You’re worried he’s upset, you did just keep interrupting him with kisses, but that thought is dashed within seconds as he pulls you into a kiss.

His tongue pushes past your bottom lip, pressing into your mouth. Even when you try to take control of the kiss, it takes him no effort to keep you in place. His tongue overpowering yours and exploring your mouth, filling your taste buds with sweetness.

Due to the size difference, his tongue fills your mouth, eagerly searching every part of your mouth. You can’t help the dirty thoughts that start to fill your mind, thinking of other ways he could use his tongue. All you can focus on is how sweet he tastes and how much you enjoy kissing him.

You’re completely breathless once he pulls away, panting as you try to breathe. Through half lidded eyes, you watch him recover. His face is somehow even more flushed and he’s looking at your lips. Without thinking, you blurt out the first thing to come to mind.

“Katakuri, can you bite me? Please?”

His thumb brushes softly against your cheek. “Are you sure you want that?”

You rub your cheek into his palm, letting out a soft hum. “Please?”

Titling your head to the side, you expose your neck. You have no idea why you want him to bite you so badly, you just do. If he tells you no, you won’t ask again, you just want to experience it this once.

The hand on your other cheek slides down to your shoulder. You feel his warm breath on your neck, and you bite your lip in anticipation. At first, he just presses a soft kiss to your neck, carefully holding you like you might break. Then, without warning, you feel his teeth sink into your neck.

You let out a gasp, and your hand grips his shoulder. It’s not a harsh bite, just the very tips of his fangs. The only pain you feel is the initial breaking of your skin, but once that passes, you feel flushed and warm. It’s really doing something for you, and you don’t want him to stop.

“Did that hurt?” Katakuri asks, pulling away at your gasp.

You draw a shaky breath as he licks the marks on your skin. “You drew blood. That’ll always hurt, but I’m fine.”

He hums softly as he makes sure you’re not bleeding anymore. His touch is gentle and light, and you let out a groan as he traces invisible patterns into your skin. You want more, and you lace your hand in his hair.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. You pull away from Katakuri, adjusting your shirt to cover the mark. You wait for him to pull his scarf back up straight under his nose. There’s still a dusting of pink across the tips of his ears, but he doesn’t look as flustered with his scarf up.

He nods, and you open the door. Pudding stands there with her arms crossed, pouting. She pushes past you, dumping a bunch of stuff on table.

“Here’s everything you asked for, don’t ask me for stuff again. You can start getting it yourself!” She puts her hands on her hips. “I’ve done what you wanted for the past three days. I’m done!”

Katakuri moves to get out of the bed, but you wave him down. Both of the siblings deserve their rest. That’s the only thing you should focus on.

“Thank you Pudding. Go get some rest, we’ll be okay.”

She looks surprised, before huffing. “Of course I’m going to get rest. I deserve it.”

She gives you another dirty look before storming out. It’s like a whirlwind came in, scolded you, and left. You don’t really care. She did her best to help you, so you can cut her some slack.

“She shouldn’t talk to you like that.”

You close the door and lock it once more. “It’s fine. Everyone is under stress right now, including you. You should get some more sleep if you can.”

Katakuri tugs his scarf off, letting it rest on the floor. You want to go fluster him again, but you just stay still. Seeing him like this, battered and bruised, makes your heart ache.

“Are you going to sleep as well?”

You give him a soft smile. “Do you want me to come and get more sleep?”

He doesn’t meet your eyes as he answers. “It’s your choice.”

You walk over and place your hand on his cheeks, making him look at you. “Do you need me next to you for you to sleep?”

Unfortunately, you seem to have pushed him just far enough to annoy him. He gives you a stern look as he wraps his arms around you. Even though he’s annoyed, he’s gentle as he pulls you on top of him.

You squirm slightly in a halfhearted attempt to get him to let you go. His grip is iron tight, and he has no intention of letting you go. This is the first time he’s ever insisted on having you sleep next to him, and it makes you feel warm inside.

Once you stop moving, his grip looses just enough for you to get a bit more comfortable. You lay your head on his chest, closing your eyes to listen to his heart beat. It’s relaxing, and you feel yourself get drowsy. You know it’s all over, when he starts to rub your back.

There’s the sound of his saying something, but you fail to catch it as you fall asleep. You don’t even notice the soft kiss he presses to your head while you drift off.

[bohoteacher]

Navigating Betrayal: Reconciling Admiration with Disillusionment

Like many Neil Gaiman fans this month, I've been shocked and distressed by the news regarding the SA allegations. I won't go over the details, as they're readily available online. I'll start by saying that I believe the accusers, and even the most lenient interpretation of events is still troubling enough to discredit Gaiman. For a long time, I didn't know what to say. I was just shocked and, somewhat naively, felt betrayed. I don't typically idolize actors, authors, or other public figures—I'm here for the characters, they're who I love and believe in. So, how did I end up believing in this man and his rhetoric?

I only had a parasocial relationship with him, which is to say no real relationship at all. But I took his Masterclass on writing, spent hours taking notes, and learned from him. I feel betrayed by someone I saw as a beloved teacher. I know this is insignificant compared to what the women who came forward experienced, but it's a valid feeling, and I needed time to process it. My initial reaction was to throw out and discount everything he’s ever written or done—of course it was.

This isn't just about my love for Good Omens, although how can it not be? I learned so much from this man—about writing, about not being too hard on myself, about the creative process. I read his books to my middle school classes, and we all learned how to be better people from them. Today, I saw and bought Instructions, a children’s book by Neil Gaiman illustrated by Charles Vess, from the used bookstore where I volunteer. It was a used copy, so no royalties will go to him. It’s a beautifully illustrated book where the main character walks through a land that clearly symbolizes life, learning lessons like saying please and "if any creature cries to you that it hurts, if you can, ease its pain." How could someone write this and then do what he did? I asked myself. "What an evil hypocrite," was my first thought. But then I recalled a line from another author, Stephen King. In The Stand, a character is described as "awake at the lectern, but asleep at the switch," meaning they know the right thing to do and can talk about it, but in the moment of choice, they act without integrity.

I don’t know if I’m making sense, but I think it’s too easy to label Gaiman as simply evil, as if he intentionally manipulated us by saying the right things just to make us read or watch his creations. The reality is likely far more complicated. Within this man is the amazing, thought-provoking, life-affirming wisdom that many of us have tried to live by, but also the hard, thoughtless, selfish cruelty that led him to abuse young, vulnerable women. The wisdom does not justify the abuse, and the abuse does not nullify the wisdom.

I think it's too simplistic to say Gaiman is despicable and always has been, hiding it from us all along. This doesn't acknowledge the complexity of human nature—that there is potential for both good and bad within us all. As it’s said, possibly by Terry Pratchett or possibly by Neil Gaiman, “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.”

Gaiman is a man who has done some fundamentally good things and some fundamentally bad things. I can’t forget either one.

This is just my opinion. I know some people want to cancel him, while others want to exonerate him. You do you. As for me, I will continue to love Aziraphale and Crowley. I will continue to read and create fan-fiction. I will continue to find comfort and wisdom in books that have meant so much to me over the years. But I will also remember that they were created by a very flawed man whom I can no longer trust.

I understand that opinions on this matter vary widely. I know some people might feel that not discarding everything associated with him is wrong, but this is where I stand. I’m not looking to debate this or be told how I should react. I just needed to process my thoughts in writing and move forward in the way that feels right for me.

[seirei-bh]

Summary and opinions of Jason's route ep 5! SPOILERS

Well, well, well, if you're the Jason route, congratulations, my friend! We're celebrating here with cocktails and ugly sobs because we FINALLY get a moment with Jason that last more than two minutes! + a moment alone with him! applauses!

In general it was a good ep, I liked it! I still need to play it with other routes to get a complete opinion, but I enjoyed it.

And now, before continuing, this post contains BIG SPOILERS!!! about this ep in this route, so if you prefer to enjoy the content of the ep by yourself I REALLY recommend that you wait until the day of the general release and play it before read this.

Btw keep in mind that I'm going to make this post with humorous notes on purpose, so pls take it in good vibes!

As soon as I started the ep I got angry because Thomas was two hours late to work without any consequences -Devon was 100% ok with that, like???- while my Sucrette was awake since 7AM as a clown, and then she had to hear how Roy and Amanda argued over a cool project and about how Thomas got the coolest one and then they let my Sucrette take care of the shittiest project of all, thanks Devenementiel! I felt loved and considered! I'll be happy to betray all of you soon! :D Except you, Elenda, you're a sweetheart and wonderful, pls be my wife. I love you, honey.

My sucrette Lily proceeded to take on the project herself without ask help and without making any calls to the client (because she's stupid and because I wanted she suffered alone so Jason could manipulate her later, I'm evil yeees), and ofc she ended up screwing up. Then Elenda tried to cheer us up and then my sucrette went for a walk alone to catch a depression for having disappointed Devon, her coworkers and even her goose. Dishonor on your goose, girl!

Then we found Jason in the park!! Basically our girl was seeing her life passing away in front of her eyes and then our lovely knight came to make fun of her, like a perfect Fool knight in a fairy tale. I swear this man has to have a location chip on us that also detects our emotions, otherwise Idk how we match up with him in every episode XDDD I guess his cell phone alerts him and he will go into "OMG my future wife need my bad jokes! I must go with her so she notices me!" and he runs out of his office.

In short, he offer us his help while he tries to hide his horns, his trident and the infernal flames from the ground , we end up telling him our problem because Sucrette is an idiot, and we make a deal with the devil, but not before Jason telling us to ask him nicely like "pleasee help me", and my Sucrette goes into: desire to kill increasing mode. Jason calls Danica to get info about the project, and while we wait for her response, Jason smirks and thanks us for liking his Instagram photo, while Sucrette tries not to k*ll him. When he gets the info very proud, she also mocks him and comments that "If you track everyone like this, it's no wonder you already have gray hair." and Jason responds that it's not from stress or age, it's poliosis, and that it's hereditary, and his father had them too. And there I wanted my Sucrette to shut up, lol, I'm embarrassed, girl.

Then comes my favorite moment: Jason takes us to Goldreamz!! Here we get a tense scene in which he touches Sucrette's back, they look at each other intensely, she has contradictory feelings because she thinks she's betraying her Devenementiel's coworkers, she doubs about his intentions, and then… *laughs* I love sm this:

Jason is sooo proud of his office and his company that asks Sucrette her opinion about it, Sucrette comments that she has no opinion on it, like meh~ I'm not impressed, man, this is Ikea, and Jason responds like a total offended diva XD Then he counterattacks by making fun of Devenementiel's decoration and both tease each other like always. I love my two fools.

His expression was priceless. And she doesn't give a f***, lmao, tell him, girl. This pathetic man wanted to impress sm his queen and he failed. Someone should call the ambulance, the rival boss is having a shock *laughs*

Next, they both discuss the processes they will follow for the project, Sucrette contributing ideas and Jason getting her very good and surprising contacts. Then there's another of my favorite moments, Jason shows briefly vulnerable when Sucrette asks him a couple of personal questions about his childhood. Jason reveals to us that his parents were not millionaires, that his birthday parties were quite modest, and that his father died when he was a teenager, and then he ends the conversation. And I wanted to hug him.

Here I want to give my opinion. This is the first time that we get info about his family and I'm surprised! Because I thought Jason came from a rich family, like Amanda, and the plot twist about his father leaves me intrigued. The only thing I can theorize now at least is that Jason became an ambitious person perhaps due to this, and I wonder what exactly happened to his father, whether he died from an accident or illness.

Finally, Sucrette thanks him and Jason tells her that she shouldn't forget that now she has an outstanding debt with him that she'll have to pay at some point, dramatic pause----! He doesn't tell us what he wants, but I've a couple of ideas: either Jason will try to get something from Devenementiel by using us (despite Sucrette told him she would never betray Devenementiel) or he will try to get us to go on a date with him to a dinner or an event, without we won't be able to reject his invitation, to try to seduce us.

I already suspected that Sucrette on his route would end up visiting Goldreamz at some point, but I admit I didn't expect it to be so soon! It was a pleasant surprise. We didn't meet Danica and Spencer yet though.

After that, Sucrette presents to her colleagues at Devenementiel the project she has worked on with Jason, without meantion him ofc, Devon congratulates her, Elenda hugs her (my queen Elenda being the best girl always), and Sucrette feels horribly uncomfortable because she thinks she is betraying all of her coworkers by hiding the truth about Jason's help. Hahaha, I'm really would like Devon and the others finds out that Jason helped us, I want to see their reaction *evil masochistic laugh*

At the end I had the date with Roy at the pool, since I will do the ones with Amanda and Thomas in a few days. I loved it! Roy's illu is so beautiful, so colorful and bright! <3 Although Beemoov are cowards for not giving us mermanRoy, he'd have look so hot! U__U Regarding Jason's illus with him in the company, I also really liked the intimacy and tension of the scene, and the detail that their faces are in shadow, as to emphasize the forbidden nature of that secret meeting and that you're making a deal with the devil.

About the PAs, I spent around 1.700, but I forgot to use jokers this time, so I guess for other people could be cheaper.

You can also get a sea background for your room and furniture of that theme in your closet at the end of the ep. They are available to buy whatever you want. I used the background for my bedroom and I love how it looks!

[nalyra-dreaming]

to put all the cards on the table... (and now that we have that teaser... oooofff). i read the books, but i want to put my obsessive detail lover glasses on. anne is really nuanced in her writing, so yes i totally get lestat is not how louis described him (more or less 👀), but just in a vibey way. to make a specific list, what is that 20% that louis got wrong in your opinion?

That Louis got wrong? :)

Hmmm… So first off I do not think that what we saw of Lestat in that video (aka the rockstar persona) is how he looked when he was with Louis in NOLA.

Then again… Surprisingly close, isn't it?^^

So to get into this I need to explain my view of this a bit. Kidnap your ask, if you will^^

Louis describing Lestat: strands of hair down the sides of his face, unkempt a bit wild hair (at times at least). If his hair isn't done in some kind of fashion (opera, french pony tail etc)

I said it before, I think these strands down Lestat's face are indicative of Louis' POV (own) memories.

Which brings us to this small excursion on the subject. There's the evil step-mom bob, when Claudia comes in, and which is repeated outside in 1x05:

Hair lengths aside, we now know that Lestat was just as bloody as Louis from the trial revisit (see below), which was supposedly the truth, but in any case "no scratch on Lestat" has never made much sense. Meaning the force-feeding likely didn't happen either...

.... and the drop... well. Supposedly did. Even though he is quite clean again?

Because... that is still very far from what we (supposedly) saw as the "truth" of Lestat's bloody face in the coffin room just before, which we were shown at the trial:

I think the evil step-mom-clean-and-glorious-looking Lestat is Armand's tampered-with version.

Because... going through this because I think we got Louis' POV and actual memories of Lestat more in the beginning of season one.

There are a lot more instances of the "strands down his face"...

Btw, see this? Of what was used by Daniel to prove an "error" to the tale in 2x08? To prove Armand's manipulation?!

Right after the scene... he has them again:

Even Claudia's POV has them!

Even when she absolutely hates his guts:

I think every scene we saw with Lestat either in made up hair or with the strands down his face are ... "as real as it can get in a tale".

And the other scenes... the perfect blond hair ... is not.

Which brings us finally back to your actual question:

What is the 20% Louis got wrong?

And... I'm not sure Louis really got him that wrong?! I think Louis misunderstood some things, didn't know a lot of things, and Lestat fucked up others. They didn't talk enough. And sometimes love makes you desperate. They knew exactly how to wound the other.

And Armand... meddled with the tale. I said it before, the "train scene" cannot have happened as shown. The hotel likely neither.

I think every scene where Lestat is an "evil bitch with perfect hair.".. is a meddled with one. Given Armand's goal of influencing the tale? Namely making Lestat seem as bad as possible, while being unable to hide his own fascination with him? Makes perfect sense to me.^^

And there's actually not that many of them either. The outside of episode 5, the tractor salesman, the train, the paranoia driven one in 1x07 has strands again, while he does not have them the scene before and through a lot of the remaining last episode of the first season.

As such the little comment in 1x07, "the king's hair has betrayed the king".... takes on a third meaning, imho - not only a quip by Louis on both the "hair" on the floor and "heir" (Claudia)... but also that the "hair"... betrays the "king"... the leader - the coven master vampire meddling.

Layers, upon layers, upon layers.

So what did Louis get wrong?

Not that much actually, I think. But... some of the key scenes were not his. And those were therefore, in the sense of the words, wrong.

[decolonize-the-everything]

Hey this might be a weird question but you seem to know a lot about the strategies TERFs use and what they're hiding, so I just wanted to ask and you don't have to answer.

Why do so many TERFs have this weird hostility towards bi and ace people? I don't think either of those identities have anything to do with being trans but I've seen so many TERFs who are also biphobic and/or aphobic. My gut instinct was that there was some large overlap between bi/ace people and trans people, but then I've found TERFs give shit to cis bis and aces so I'm not sure if it's that or some other reason. I'm not trans myself but I want to be able to recognize TERF rhetoric to be a better ally to trans people.

A couple reasons.

First one is that hating bis/aces is at the entrance of the TERF pipeline; they utilize this 'soft bigotry' to radicalize LGBTs and it usually looks like this:

To recruit queer ppl first they try to get us to stop considering aces as Oppressed. That's how it starts. They're aren't Doing anything so how can they be oppressed? They don't know what it's like to marginalized....how could they? They're just stealing the spotlight of Actually oppressed ppl

And once you accept that they turn to bisexuals. Who are only half gay, you know? And most of them date men anyway or end up marrying men so like? How the hell would they know what it's like to literally Live oppression 24/7? Do we we really want them to have a voice and speak for those of us that don't have an escape from our oppression?

This works because on the surface TERFS/Radfems appear to care about women and gender equality, which a lot of queer people obviously support. But they exploit those of us that don't know enough about feminism's intersectional (and very gay) history to identify them as bad actors.

From here the person they've targeted will either a- accept this and likewise will eventually also accept that trans oppression isnt real either (fulfilling the TERF's actual goal of recruitment) OR b- they'll realize they've been manipulated and try to deconstruct.

Secondly:

TERFs are white supremacist and their beliefs are founded white supremacist ideology and outdated scientific theories that Support white supremacist rhetoric.

It's called gender-essentialism which is a branch of bio-essentialism which is the belief that the biological body you have has inherent skills and abilities. Racists have used this to deny Black humanity just as TERFs use it to deny the existence of gender diversity.

But nobody is inherently weaker because of a uterus, nor are they bad drivers just because they have a uterus. All women are not good mothers just because they are women. Men are not all abusers just because they are men.

TERFs would have you swallow these beliefs; they're vital to maintaining the Core TERF Value that that trans people aren't Real and people with uteri are always helpless victims to be defended against evil men.

And as white supremacists their goal is to disrupt and destroy minority communities so that we are too divided to unify against legal attacks. TERFs do this from the inside out by putting bis/aces in a different category from the other queers while disguising their bigotry as feminist. They get us to voluntarily undermine and destroy our own movement this way by causing intercommunity "bi/ace discourse" that makes bis/aces out to be an enemy of "real" oppressed people (like transphobic lesbians for example)

Thirdly:

Lots of queer people are feminists which makes us easy targets and that's why they focus on the queer community. Additionally, the queer community has a history of being a threat to the white supremacist establishment so dividing us is vital to their goal of eventually wiping out anyone who isnt cis, straight, white, neurotypical, and able bodied

[spacexseven]

to let a good deed go unpunished

NOTE: for the anime-only's, there may be a few spoilers about tecchou below, so please keep that in mind. i and Hopefully this isn't too ooc lol :< still waiting for more tecchou content ^^ i'm spelling his name as tecchou here, instead of tetchō :>

REQUEST: general y! tecchou headcanons from @shumidehiro

CW: yandere character, manipulation, unhealthy relationships, obsession, jealousy, stalking

- an encounter with tecchou is an opportunity that is hard to come by outside of his work, since he's more devoted to his duty of upholding justice more than anything

- that's not to say it's impossible. besides, as long as he recognizes you share the same values as him, you'd easily make an impression on him, even if you didn't plan to do so

- due to tecchou's nature, he easily focuses on things that pique his curiosity or admiration. he can spend hours watching you display your sense of justice or leadership (much like the ants he watched without moving)

- while tecchou can be either a platonic or romantic yandere, his overall intentions are the same. he wants to protect you from the cruel, imbalanced world he's used to. he knows your beliefs can change in a moment once you realize the true nature of people, and doesn't want that to happen

- tecchou doesn't like lying to you or deceiving you. he's an honest person by nature and hates using force or mind games to get you to do something. since he believes sincere discussion is the best way to ease tensions, arguments with tecchou never get out of hand - most of the time he's not able to pick up on what you're feeling, nor does he stop to consider how you're affected as a consequence of his actions. in fact, he's surprised to know that you actually feel more paranoid than safe because of his constant surveillance - because unfortunately, as you'll quickly realize, tecchou genuinely believes his actions are helping you. you may be upset at his rigid rules but he only wants to protect you - he thinks you don't understand that his actions come from a place of good intentions, so while he's ready to hear out your concerns, it's impossible to get him to change his ways when they're so rooted in his personal values, and so he'll keep justifying his own actions to you. - tecchou feels responsible for protecting you from the evil intent of anyone else. due to this, he indirectly restricts your social circle so that all your friends are all either in the hunting dogs or involved with them in some way

- tecchou doesn't ever toy with you or harm you. however, that's not to say he won't hurt others...

- he revels in his ability to make any potential target tremble in fear from just his glare. and even if they don't back down from that, he has an array of methods to silence anyone who dares come in his way

- while tecchou doesn't consider himself violent, he's willing to dirty his hands to protect you. but at first, he doesn't actually consider hiding it from you

- it's likely a hunting dog member (jouno) would be the one to advise him about keeping it a secret. jouno's the one who explains to him that even if he was protecting you from who he deemed as 'evildoers', you'd probably not appreciate the sentiment

- in fact, you'd likely be horrified at the thought that tecchou would be so cruel as to harm someone who only wanted to talk to you. you could only justify tecchou's actions if you believed he was only truly apprehending criminals, which is ultimately why he makes sure you never catch him hurting someone else

- he doesn't want you to lose your trust in him, which is why kidnapping and imprisonment are also not in tecchou's plans; not unless he absolutely has no other choice. he fights off the evil from your shadow, and ensures that you are none the wiser

(softer hcs below that i felt didnt match with the rest)

- tecchou's not used to physical affection, but will quickly adapt to your preference. since he's physically a lot stronger than a regular person due to his modifications, it'll take him a while to figure out if he's holding you too tight or if he's hurting you

- he'll be happy if you want to join him while he's working out. whether you want to help out, watch or try working out alongside him, he'll appreciate the company

[rottenpumpkin13]

Ok now I'm imagining Vincent and Lucrecia running away together to the cabin that Aerith's parents were at and just awkwardly running into each other like:

Lucrecia: Oh Professor Gast... I haven't seen you in a while. And is that the last Ancient?

Gast cautiously: It is... and she's my wife now.

Lucrecia: Oh thats amazing! I'm currently expecting. *She pats her belly.*

Ilfana: Oh thats wonderful do you know what it is yet?

Lucrecia: (Untraumatized) Ah not yet, it's still too early.

Vincent giving a death glare to Gast: Don't tell Hojo we're here.

Gast now relaxing noting that they are in similar positions of running away from Shinra: We won't tell if you don't.

The two couples choose to remain together for the sake of their own safety. Ifalna and Lucrecia carry their pregnancies to term, they all successfully hide for several years, allowing Sephiroth and Aerith to begin to grow up together. But despite their efforts, there is no corner of the planet where Shinra's won't find them.

In a fit of rage, Hojo kills Gast and subjects Vincent to experimentation, who then meets his fate in a coffin beneath the Shinra mansion. Ifalna, Lucrecia, and Aerith become prisoners, while Sephiroth reluctantly undergoes his long overdue SOLDIER training. This Sephiroth is unyielding, not as easy to manipulate had be been raised in the confines of the lab. Sephiroth defies Hojo and Shinra, complying only when threatened with harm to Ifalna, Aerith, and Lucrecia. How can he not resent Hojo and the organization that brought about Gast's death and his father's vanishing?

The day arrives when Ifalna and Lucrecia are determined to escape. They orchestrate a plan to flee with the children. But tragically, their attempt results in the two women's deaths. Elmyra Gainsborough takes in the orphaned Sephiroth and Aerith.

Years pass, Sephiroth and Aerith grow as siblings with an unbreakable bond. Shinra still tries to coax Sephiroth to join their ranks, but he still harbors an unyielding resentment towards Shinra for what happened to their parents. But there's still Vincent. Lucrecia had always told Sephiroth that his father could be alive, and if he was, he'd be in Nibelheim. Sephiroth holds onto that shred of hope, and decides to set off to Nibelheim in pursuit of Vincent.

Little did Sephiroth know that he would come across Lucrecia Crescent encased within a Mako reactor. He's in disbelief. How could this happen? How could Shinra go this far? How could they do this to his mother?

Seeing his mother in this way sparks something dark within Sephiroth. The hatred he's been harboring for Shinra reaches a boiling point. Even "Lucrecia" agrees that he should start by burning everything in sight that has Shinra's influence to the ground. Start anew. Purge the planet of this evil.

So he starts with Nibelheim.

[alice-after-dark]

So...the falling out (ft. why Vox is in Hell)

(Getting this out of the way, I have VERY mixed feelings about Valentino. On one hand, he is a great character. On the other had, he is an absolutely horrible person and I just can't bring myself to like him the way I love Vox and Velvette. I am very interested in seeing what the show does with him and how he is handled, considering the concept is all about redemption and the dude has done some pretty heinous shit)

But ultimately this post is about Alastor and Vox and their falling out and what - or rather who - caused it.

TW for implied sexual abuse, abusive relationships, gaslighting, manipulation, and other canon-typical triggers. Also gonna put homophobia with the disclaimer that Alastor doesn't actually mean it that way, but that's how Vox hears it. Perceived homophobia is more accurate. This also technically contains StaticMoth but I'm not tagging it because it's not exactly in favor of the relationship and I don't want to dump it into the tag of people who enjoy the ship.

See, while Alastor may be a serial killer, we see that he has his own twisted moral compass, so someone like Valentino rubs him in all the wrong ways. He greatly dislikes the moth and detests the idea of any association with him.

Vox on the other hand, well, scumbags are a dime a dozen in his industry. From his perspective, it's just something that comes with the territory, a necessary evil. You want to succeed in this industry? You put up with some nasty behavior. So when he sees Valentino rising to power and creating his own empire, he only sees the business potential. His industry has already well trained him to turn a blind eye to things like Valentino's unsavory nature for the sake of progress and his own success. How he feels about things on a personal level doesn't matter. The industry doesn't care about your sensitive little morals (will probably expand on this further in a different post, but I do believe that Vox learned the hard way that no one cares and you have to do what you have to do to get ahead).

So when Vox initially proposes an official partnership, Alastor is actually down...until he learns Valentino will be a part of the package. This leads to them arguing, Alastor basically telling Vox he has to choose between them, the first time Alastor calls Vox a "pathetic sell out," and the Radio Demon flat out accusing him of whoring himself out to Valentino for a business deal (this one particularly hurts because, again, the idea of sleeping with someone to get a better deal is just par the course for Vox. He's learned to push down those feeling of self-disgust and now here Alastor is dragging them out into the spotlight and shaming him for it). Alastor utterly refuses to be associated with Valentino and is disgusted that Vox would even entertain the thought and this ultimately ends with a fight and them parting ways, both feeling self-righteous, betrayed, and offended by the other.

And Valentino, having witnessed the entire thing and ever one to take advantage of a situation, gets his claws deep into a VERY insecure and hurt Vox by just reinforcing that Alastor never cared about him and was just using him for entertainment.

"But don't worry, Voxxy. I care about you..."

And now Vox, who has spent his entire human life hiding that his attraction extended to men as well as women and is desperately looking for comfort after losing someone he allowed himself to care very deeply about, falls right into the moth's trap, ironically getting himself into one of those situations he always turned a blind eye to (it is Hell after all and what is Hell without ironic suffering?).

Meanwhile Alastor has lost one of the few demons he viewed as a true ally and friend and to make it sting all the more he lost them to someone like Valentino. The very idea that Vox picked a disgusting creature like Valentino over him is crushing. He feels used, discarded, and worthless (which is a state ripe for some bad deal making, wouldn't you say?).

Tis all for now. Would love to hear people's thoughts on this!

[quirkwizard]

I'm the anon who asked about Tokoyami's internship. Thanks for the response. I really enjoyed reading the metas here. Generally speaking, we can say one of the reasons to admire others is that we lack the trait we admire. 1. Why did Hawks say he wants to be like Twice in terms of helping others? Hasn't he already helped a lot of people? Or did he mean continuing the right path despite the evils that may corrupt him? (I'm sending my second question in another message)

2. Is there a connection between Hawks' admiration to Shoto for being able to face his mother after so many years and feeling guilty for not doing so? After all, he wanted to help people. Are the answers too obvious that I haven't seen anyone mention such things? Sorry if it got too long :)

The thing with Shoto is more how Hawks failed to reconciled with his own mom, since she ran before he got the chance. There isn't anything much more then that, but I can talk more about Twice.

So there's a lot you can read from the connection between Hawks and Twice. For this part in particular, I believe that Hawks wanted to be like Twice in the sense that he was more "genuine". In spite of being a villain, Jin was a pretty good guy. A lot of his actions in the series are based around how much he wants to help the League. And unlike the other members, the only reason he does is because they are friends. There is no deeper goal or alternative motivation. He cares, and he cares a lot. Hawks does help people and has helped a lot of people. But or all of his heroics, there's a disconnect between Hawks and his actions. Saving people is just something he does. It was something he was trained to do and does so without much in the way of real thought of agency. It's why it's mentioned that Hawks is always hiding what he is feeling or thinking, or that he always has some double meaning. It's even reflected in their powers. Twice needs to be exceptionally close to others to make doubles of them, while Hawks can manipulate his feathers on instinct and without any real thought for it. So he could admire that "genuineness" of Twice and his desire to help. Especially since Twice is the person who is the closest to Hawks, both in terms of character and in terms of friendship.

[coyotiii17]

Honestly, the ending scene of episode "Race on Tatooine" from the Freemaker Adventures, gotta be one of my favourites when it comes to this show.

Just the fact that everyone's celebrating and praising Naare, even Kordi, while Rowan just stands there and has no idea what to do with himself. Poor kid must have been absolutely terrified, but he couldn't say anything. Not when Naare was there. But then

"Fortunately, we're all safe. But it could have turned out much differently. That is why you must never, ever go anywhere without me, Rowan. You never know what dangers await you."

What she said is absolutely spine-chilling, especially now that Rowan knows who she really is and wants to stay as far away from her as possible. You can even see in Rowan's body language that he's actually leaning back, trying to back off, because he's NOT feeling safe. He knows that he's in danger. They all are. But he was always her main target, because of his powers to sense Kyber crystals. And now that Naare won the trust of the others (and especially Kordi) she decided to go even further with her evil tactics and try to literally CONTROL Rowan's life, basically not letting him out of her sight. I actually think that this was Naare's first step to completely seperating Rowan from his family in order to manipulate him more and more. And honestly, there's the possibility that Kordi and Zander would let Naare keep an eye on him, because Kordi finally trusted her and they would think that she's just being a responsible and protective mentor. It was fortunate that Rowan found out just in time to stop this from happening. But it doesn't erase the fact that this scene is still really scary.

The fact that she's so close, literally standing over a 12 year old child, who's probably in full panic mode inside, but NEEDS to keep his cool down to keep his family and himself safe. She's playing the same nice Jedi as before, but now Rowan knows that it's an act. He knows she's extremely dangerous. That if she decided to stop pretending right then, she would totally slice up his family, like the Emperor advised her. And nobody would be able to stop her.

Not to mention, Naare was thiiiiiiis close to finding out that Rowan knew. If she got suspicious and actually noticed that Rowan is hiding her real lightsaber behind his back, I'm pretty sure if's safe to say that it would be over pretty quickly. Kordi and Zander would most likely not survive this and Rowan would get kidnapped afterwards. Terryfing.

[homemadegirlbossbattle]

ROUND 1 / SIDE B / POLL 1

Lady Ignis Solon (@containmentbreach, art by @mechanomorphic) vs. Alice Luoja (@cantdanceflynn & @pyxehastoomanyinterests)

Lady Ignis Solon info:

Description: ignis is a member of a noble family from her home dimension, where shadowy, demonic creatures make their home and occasionally emerge to hunt, kill and eat lesser beings (who are pretty much anyone, by their standards). ignis takes a lot of pride in her position, despite not seeming particularly…happy. but "happy" is a relative word. she has mothered thirteen children (demon noble families are expected to be large and can include up to 20-25 children. twins, triplets, etc. are also more common) with the king of the realm, despite not being attracted to men in the slightest. she views this as her duty granted to her through her position. commoners from her realm are allowed to marry freely without regard to gender, but ignis isn't jealous of them.

not even a little bit. seriously like not at all.

ignis' preferred hunting grounds is the planet known as "earth," and she has personally trained each of her thirteen children to be the toothy shadows that hide in your house when you think you're alone. well, she's trained twelve of them. she's run into a slight hiccup with the thirteenth, who seems to be getting a little attached to her human target. but that's all right. she'll come around.

ignis enjoys black tea, playing the piano, and horror novels. she views them as some of the few things humans have gotten right.

Crimes:

-well the cannibalism. she did like tons of that. i guess it's not really considered cannibalism if she herself is not a human? but she ate humans is the point i'm trying to make

-she has also committed some regular murders. of humans and of other members of her species.

-does not understand her kids. she loves them but she does not Get them. it tends to frustrate her.

-she basically has very little regard for human laws in general and breaks them as often as she can get away with. if she does get in trouble she lies low for a little while in her dimension, then sets up a new place to live. this means of course that she does commit tax evasion often and well.

Other notes from the submitter: ignis is in a lot of ways a love letter to moms who get shit on by fandom for not understanding their kids. 90% of the time the amount of hate they get is just misogyny tbh! ignis is bad in a lot of ways but she's not a bad mom, even if she comes off as that at first because the story she's in is from the perspective of her daughter and the human she got attached to. people would probably still make discourse about her and shit on her but i do not care because i adore her and i adore fucked up moms in general. and if you don't that's a you issue.

Alice Luoja info:

Description: A Phineas and Ferb background character design turned oc, an old woman basically obsessed with finding or creating godlike perfection. How she does it doesn't matter to her, even if she has to go to lengths beyond what any respectable evil scientist would. She practically adopted Professor Mystery, taking him in as a son when his parents disappeared, although she tends to use him for her own purposes rather then taking good care of him. Greatly manipulative and ruthless, she attempts to run things from behind the scenes all while constantly, zealously, searching for that perfection. Depending on her role in any given au or story with the cast, what she's searching for in that perfection is different, but in her major ones, godlike perfection is more literal. She's also a disaster lesbian cannibal.

Crimes: Well, murder, dismantling of bodies, eating the bodies, child abuse, child murder, platonic (and only platonic I promise she's literally a mom) grooming, basically being a mini cult leader, generally being a mad scientist as part of L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N.s inner circle with no respect for Doof's morals, blood letting in this day and age for both trans and non-trans reasons, dismemberment, eye gouging of both dead and alive people(including an approx 9 year old), not fucking staying dead like she's William Afton, several curses on items, hoarding, desecration, religious zealotry, being a piss-poor mother even tho she'd actually be a rly good parent if she wasn't scared of being emotionally attached to her own fucking son, lots of murder if you hadn't got the drift she's basically a slasher horror villain in disguise, giving multiple people eating disorders, letting a sentient robot escape tower back onto earth in Knife Roomba form, doesn't know how stores work and just steals everything, poisoning so many people alive, general war crimes, mass murder, attempting to destroy the universe, breaking several peoples limbs, creating a time loop to trap Candace in a state of never being able to avoid killing her loved ones, using her son to specifically torture the cast consistently regardless of how he feels about it into seeing visions of their loved ones being destroyed horrible and usually killed at their hands, encouraging self harm and suicide, she breaks peoples bones a few times, I can't stress the manipulative cult leader thing enough this bitch does blood sacrifices whenever, she's just kinda a loser also.

Other notes from the submitter: SHES CALLED "THE BITCH" BY US FOR A REASON

[zahri-melitor]

I feel like I want to contain my Absolute Power feelings separately at the second as I'm reading the tie-ins in bursts, particularly the ones that aren't on my usual reading schedule, so here's what I want to say since my last update on them, after the first month of the event (I've only talked about the lead ins so far):

Absolute Power #1: The Wall turns off everyone's powers, which is bad, and manufactures a bunch of deepfake footage of various heroes doing killing, leading to riots that attack heroes in the streets. Clark gets shot. This leads to everyone going undercover or getting kidnapped and imprisoned by Amazo robots.

Lois being extremely mad that the Daily Planet got hijacked to also stream and publish this 'heroes are terrible' content is my highlight of the issue.

Ollie makes the world's most unconvincing play that he's a double agent who has betrayed the heroes and is now on Waller's side because she's 'on the right side of history' about the dangers of superheroes (he's not even trying to sound like this heel face turn is related to his values in the speech).

Absolute Power: Origins #1: people have had more coherent thoughts on this than me (Ink. Androxys,), but in terms of pivoting Amanda's story from the 1987 version of these events to what Waller's been doing for the last 20 years or so? This is handled with as much tact as possible in the reframe, while unfortunately heavily seeding the road to hell with major manipulations rather than good intentions. It's a necessary change, but I still don't think it's providing enough depth and justification for the in-your-face comically evil figure they're using Waller as right now.

Green Lantern #13: what this title should obviously be: Hal getting mad that Ollie switched sides on them. What this title is: Hal getting punched by Shark a lot while Waller questions him. There's some sort of Green Lantern resistance running here based presumably on the current arc in the title but I honestly haven't been reading Green Lantern and I can't work out how all this ties in. Kyle IS glowing like a rainbow though while looking messed up, which is very pretty. The JSA also get their asses kicked pretty hard and half of them get captured and the other half run off into hiding.

Superman #16: Clark is in surgery with Mr Terrific and Dr Midnight as you do if you need healthcare in the hero community. There's a resistance base running out of the Fortress of Solitude which has largely what looks like most of the Titans and the current Birds of Prey present, plus a few extras.

Wonder Woman #11: Justice League Dark gets hauled out of retirement as a concept for this book. Their magic gets disrupted, which various characters react to in different ways, when an Amazo turns up. Tom King's handle on half these characters seems tenuous to me; Nimue in particular seems a cypher. Bobo loses the power of speech.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1: so these titles are genuinely fun as they've been spread between writers and are checking in with various sections of the universe over how characters are reacting. This one is largely Shazam based: Billy, Mary and Black Adam get captured when the Amazos try to invade the Rock of Eternity, disrupting Mister Dinosaur's filing! Tonally, it's pretty on point for the characters, which I enjoyed. Steve Trevor finds out that he's supposed to be reporting to Sarge Steel, something that could never ever go wrong, given how much those two despise each other.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #2: Doom Patrol and Aquaman team up! This was fun. What a shame neither of them have titles at present. Waller hilariously thinks the Amazo she sent to Atlantis made a treaty, rather than just beat people up. (He beat them up. It's Atlantis. What did you think was going to happen?). Basically everyone here got away and headed for the Fortress. Sarge Steel tries to frame Steve Trevor as a mole, in the most obvious move of all time (especially given Steve was obviously going to be acting like a mole).

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #3: The JSA issue! An Amazo gets infected with free will because something something absorbing Alan Scott's powers something something Starheart. Alan convinces the Amazo to let the rest of the JSA go free by going along with it to discuss what free will involves. The Oblivion Bar appears for like two pages. Also in the Steve Trevor plot, he escapes and starts sneaking around Waller's base undercover as you do to work out what's going on.

More generally; I have to say the event is doing pretty well at dipping into different parts of DC and checking in with the wider cast. That's actually something that DC's been decent about for recent events to my eye; fewer 'just a speck in a crowd' moments and more 'people without current titles actually get some focus' time. It's making the various teams of DC seem more extensive than the published titles they're appearing in right now.

[cthonicdecembrist]

Just...Nocturnal reflections on your favorite characters) ))

There are not many facts and philosophical reflections :D \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ We are aware of that… Sauron, terrified by the might of the Valar, assumed the most beautiful form, bowed his knee and repented of his sins, asking their forgiveness and mercy. However, the Valar had no right to forgive him and wanted to take Eru Iluvatar with them to Valinor for judgment. Sauron was afraid of this fate - he considered that he would be in the position of a slave for the rest of his life. Given the power he had experienced under Melkor, this scenario did not suit him, so Sauron escaped and disappeared into Middle-earth. .\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Here it is interesting to reflect on whether he considered himself to be someone "who deserves forgiveness and repentance"? What could he have thought of himself at that time? Why did he end up hiding for a long time? Maybe.. Is there anything else besides fear or humiliation in front of the higher gods? Maybe he really believed, but not that he could be forgiven, but that it was too late for him.. Yes, in the series rings of power in the final episode, when it turned out that Halbrand was a dark mayar, and in the illusion he created on the raft, he was trying to convince Galadriel that he was ready to weave something light into all his dark nature, saying: -"When Morgoth was hurled into the void, I felt as if a mighty fist had opened my neck. And then, in the silence of that primordial dawn, I felt the light of the one again, and that I could receive redemption if I healed all that I had helped destroy." Ahem, of course, this is 93% likely to be manipulation, because Sauron himself is shown in the series as a very, very not scary guy. Rather, the series wanted to show him at a time when he himself was really hesitating.. Is he worthy of such condescension?. and a new beginning for yourself… After all, we all know how sad things turned out for him, which path he chose. And here it is probably worth saying one thing - that for a considerable coexistence Sauron lost quite a few battles, but HE LOST the MOST IMPORTANT ONE TO HIMSELF BECAUSE HE succumbed to temptation, did not believe that he could have done much more by turning his power into good. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\I remember the phrase: -- I tried to change - and I changed. And it didn't matter. BECAUSE even if the god of lies, deceit and evil ceases to be the god of lies, he will still remain the god of evil. . For as long as I can remember, I've always lived in the twilight. Oh, twilight is the boundary between day and night. Those who are afraid of the darkness rush to hide from it, while others merge with it breaking loose. The departing sun turns the world crimson, while the shadows of the night become deeper and darker. There comes a time when everyone on the other side of the border can easily cross it. Once upon a time, people believed that EVIL SPIRITS and MONSTERS appeared at this time of day. "Maybe I am an evil spirit, don't notice that dead, and I'm wandering around creating hell in a circle"???

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ppl who can't just enjoy an evil character, and think it's a moral failing if anyone else likes that character are exhausting, and I'm pretty sure slept through any lesson about literary understanding.

Yeah. I mean, it's fine not to enjoy evil characters, or any kind of character, for any reason! But... Yeah, while I don't love that trend of groups accusing each other of lacking media literacy because I feel like it often obscures the core disagreement and any difference of perspective people may bring to the table while both having genuinely interesting points to bring up, it does become pretty exhausting to be morally scrutinized about extremely tame opinions about extremely tame characters.

To me, liking Ganondorf is like... barely above liking Bowser in terms of moral despicability? Not to equate the two at all, as they are very different beasts, but we are talking about a videogame villain made to vaguely scare off children/give them a thrill about feeling like a hero. At the end of the day, this is the purpose Ganondorf serves in the story: being the fairytale evil king that you can defeat and still feel good about yourself (then Wind Waker arrived etc etc but even then, he served that purpose and extremely well even in Wind Waker).

But I don't want to underplay the weight of what I'm generally saying on this blog either and I don't want to hide behind "lol it's just a game for children" when it's an argument I hate to see deployed to undermine other people's feelings about the series. I do come at this character with loaded language and pretty heavy terms, and I'm not sure I would have gotten this kind of hostility if I had just twirled my hair like the rest of the (much more reasonable and less invested) internet, and kept some terms I have used (justifyingly so imho) out of my virtual mouth. It can provoke. It's meant to. I understand these feelings can take some strange shapes when they lash out undigested.

THAT BEING SAID.

Okay, sure. You want me to acknowledge the evil bad guy is evil? Okay! Let's do it, right now. Ganondorf commits atrocities. He does weirdly specific and horrible things to the gorons. He kills people and he kills half-gods. He is tyrannical. He is a conqueror and a warlord. He is a thief. He is self-obsessed and entitled. He beats up kids. He practices necromancy. He terrorizes his followers. He lies and manipulates. If you look closely he is even associated with, like.... the devil....? like maybe there's even "demon" somewhere in his title card?

Okay. Very bad. Evil. Horrible nasty man. Weird eyebrows. Arguably weird name. One star. Blocked and reported.

Okay.

...now what?

Like, what do we do from this point on? What did we learn? What did we ponder upon? What touched us, or moved us, or made us see the world in a slightly new light? Are we reassured? Do we sleep any easier at night?

I know it doesn't always have to be the point of art, to question everything constantly. You can go to art for reassurance and simplicity and easy, comforting thrills --and Zelda is great at doing this as a series, it's a huge part of why I love it. It feels safe, and that's such a nice thing to rely upon! And you can stop there!!! It's allowed!!!!!!

But if you go out of your way to shame people investing and questioning this piece of fiction they love in their own way because it threatens your moral safety and the simplicity of your relationship to that media (and/or the world at large)? That becomes a you problem my (gender neutral) guy, and by that I mean: you becoming a problem for others to deal with, regardless of Circumstances.

[hedgiwithapen]

Young Justice. “You’re right: I’m a liar. But you can believe me, just this one time.”

Something soft and furry presses against her ankle. Zatanna doesn't look, just steps away from whatever cat or dog has sensed her anxious sorrow. She doesn't particularly want to be comforted right now.  In the aftermath, she always does. Artemis is good about holding her up through her grief. in the days that follow, she wants to be empty, a bit. Focus on her magic, focus on her work. It's just easier that way.

"I know how to stop that old tightwad," a voice says in Zatanna's ear. She jumps.

Teekl purrs, moving from her ankle to Klarion the witchboy's, and anger builds inside her. It's his fault. He killed Kent Nelson. His spell shattered the worlds. He stole her father from her. The League, the Team, they have a thing about killing.

Magic has a thing about threes.

"Give me one good reason not to kill you."

"Well, you can't, so there's that," he says. "But also I can help you with your Nabu problem."

"Right," she spits. "Help. Because you're so benevolent and trustworthy."

"You’re right: I’m a liar." Klarion said with a shrug. "But you can believe me, just this one time.”

"And why's that?"

"Because I'm a being of chaos not evil. I mean, evil most of the time, sure, but that's because it's fun, not because it's what I am."

"Speak plainly, Chaos creep."

"The Bad guys are all board meetings these days.” Klarion says, his eyes suddenly far too big and sad to exist in the real world. “ Literally. It's hell. I don't have anything anyone else would want, so you're my best bet for, you know, shaking things up. Like, all those secrets you heroes have been keeping? Hiding stuff and manipulating each other each until someone does something drastic and like nine layers of lies get unraveled like an onion? That’s gold. Probably the only reason I’m not dead. So maybe, I dunno, I owe you or something. So how’s about it,  I get your dad back from Nabu, without killing him I guessssss--" he peeks at her. Though she's tempted, she nods firmly. " Without killing him, and in return you get the heroes to do something really splashy. Get things going. Street fight? Been a while since there was one of those. Up to you. I'll throw in a bonus if it's against Luthor, that guy really takes the fun out of villainy. Three piece suits when he could have a mech! There's no drama and it is killing me. So, you in?"

Zatanna's spent years wondering what she'd do for her father back for more than an hour once a year. Starting a street fight against the likes of Lex Luthor is a far cry from selling her soul. 

"Tell me how you plan on saving my father. As long as no one dies... I'm in."