#but i see people cementing this idea because its cool

[sapphia]

look, you cannot "headcannon" that the mona lisa was fake without destroying the literal text of the film. the mona lisa is epstein island, and miles is presented as untouchable because that's how billionaires literally are. nothing can be pinned on him, not with any real certainty, because his resources are unfathomably vast. he is just that powerful. it is not his murder that damns him, not his corporate crimes, not the recklessly negligent energy source, not the actual things that we know he has done to get to where he is. had only the glass onion blown up, it might have dealt him a blow financially and smeared his name and dragged him into court. but he's a billionaire. it wouldn't have ruined him. people wouldn't have cared enough to see that he actually goes down for what he does. we know that because it happens all the time in real life.

but the press coverage of destroying the mona lisa that he had in his possession only through corruption and backdoor dealings? that people will notice. it is the literal on-screen symbol of his power bought by wealth, and his sheer arrogance in thinking that he is above all rules because billionaires are above the rules that brings him down in the end.

as fun as it is to think that miles is so stupid that he was tricked into believing a fake mona lisa was real, it doesn't compete with the actual brilliance of film in taking the concept of epstein island and turning it into a light, family-friendly parable for child sex trafficking and somehow make it darker. because unlike epstein, it's not what miles does to people that matters. not the actual harm he does to them, the death he causes, the death he will cause if he's allowed to continue. only his destruction of a painting.

and it's supposed to remind you that in real life, epstein was murdered in his cell. miles gets justice in the film because it's a film and it needs a happy ending but it's not just. it's not for the crimes he deserves to punished for. in glass onion, the world is broken, and it's a reminder that ours is too.

because a this isn't a film, and we didn't get a happy ending. here in the real world, epstein’s co-offenders were never caught.

[matan4il]

Buddie 615 meta

Before we really get into it, I’m just gonna snicker for a second over the fact that the death doula is named Natalia. Why? The name is related to the Latin term for Christmas Day, which is the holiday when Jesus was born. So the word that the name comes from is related to birth, natal. There’s a touch of irony there, that they gave this name to the girl who is not just a death doula, but who looks like she’s actually into death (who thinks dying for a few minutes is cool or amazing. I have to say, it’s not. It’s a good thing to accept death as a part of life, one that heightens life’s meaning, and help others do the same, it’s another to think that the physically and emotionally scarring experience of being dead for a few minutes is “cool”) and I think that’s an interesting tone to choose when introducing Buck’s new Love Interest. (if you’re into it, you can find more name meanings for 911 characters here) ~~

The scene of Eddie and Chris at the cemetery was very touching. It also spoke volumes on how Buck has taken the same role in Christopher’s life as Shannon. We saw in eps 611 as well as this one that Chris is hoping to be heard by the parent that life has taken away from him (Shannon for good, Buck temporarily). What I find interesting is that with the hospital visit, Eddie must understand this on some level. Even with the guardianship reveal, no one has ever explicitly referred to Buck as Chrstopher’s other dad. But he is, and moments like this cement it. We talk about these parallels, but Eddie gets to live them. He witnesses with his own eyes his son talking about Buck in the same way he does about Shannon. Eddie KNOWS what Buck is to their family unit and it’s not just an emergency guardian. ~~

Which connects me to something I touched upon in my 614 meta, Eddie’s journey. He’s supposedly been okay with dating again since 406, but in the last ep we discovered that he’s still held back by past trauma from his failed relationship with Shannon. She’s featured heavily in this ep, too. Her being Christopher’s mom means she’s a presence in Eddie’s life who will always be there. A reminder of how things can go wrong, meaning romantically, but also just in terms of how unexpected death can be.

It pained me to go from Eddie admitting in 614 that he didn’t want to be alone, to him echoing the words of their deceased vic, “We’re all gonna die alone.” That’s something I’ve heard people saying not so much regarding the question of whether there would be someone by your side when you pass away. More like, when death claims us, we all embark on that last journey into the dark unknown on our own. Whether there’s something after death or not, we’ll all discover that completely by ourselves. That’s such a deeply lonely thought, and we see Eddie trying to deal with it in this ep by not postponing seeing his parents. He realizes he was wrong to assume they got time, because death might come for us at any given moment, just like it happened with Shannon. It’s a continuation of his journey, which is obviously not over yet, but to me it’s quite surprising how this week’s ep actually joined Buck and Eddie’s with the common theme of death, but specifically death intertwined with their romantic life. I think each of them is such a fascinating character in its own right, so why the need to connect their journeys like this? I am staring at you, 911. ~~

I was happy that Eddie brought up what a bad idea it is for Buck to be dating someone they helped on a call. This has been a theme with Buck since he meets the snake lady on a call in 101, through Ali in 202, Taylor in 206 and now Natalia. In other words, this has a big, red sign al over it that says it’s doomed to fail, but our Buck is once more failing to notice that. Hopefully the rest of the events in 6b will help him learn and stop making this particular mistake, where he connects his idea of having self-worth only as a firefighter with thinking he can only be romantically desirable to those he helps on calls. ~~

I wrote in this ask reply about the insanity of how Buck and Eddie seem to always start dating again in consecutive eps. As if 911 is not unhinged enough about that, we also have Buck and Eddie being obstructive with the other guy’s dating attempts, first Buck suggesting ghosting to Eddie as a way of blowing off his date with Vanessa in 614, and now Eddie right away pointing out that it’s not a great idea for Buck to be dating Natalia.

We have seen Buddie dating multiple people over the course of almost 5 seasons now, and not a single time have we seen either man on screen approve of their best friend’s romantic partner. Almost like there’s just no one who’s good enough for the man they love so much, right? No one, because on some level, they know what we do, too. That no one else can compete with what the two of them have together. Which is why none of these LIs feel right and acceptable as partners for their best friend. ~~

I love that right off the bat, we got a reminder that Eddie knows Buck better than everyone, on very intimate levels. Just like Eddie knew when Buck was having an emergency session with Dr. Copeland back in 404, while even Bobby as their captain didn’t, we now saw Eddie knows how well Buck handles his taxes. It’s such spouse behavior. Most of us do not have best friends who keep tabs on how we handle governmental bureaucracy, right? But then the end of this ep circles back to this idea and gives us that scene at the cemetery where Eddie proves that this is true not just when it comes to the small things of daily life. He sees Buck, knows him, understands him and Eddie accepts him in every possible way. Which is why he can say that Buck has indeed been different since the lightning strike, an awareness we don’t hear from anyone else, not even from Maddie, Buck’s very close and loving sister.

It reminded me of how Buck said in 309 that Eddie can be honest with him. Then in 511 Buck repeated a variation of that, saying Eddie doesn’t have to pretend with him. In 513 and 514, Eddie got to be indeed fully open with Buck, just as this was paralleled in 612, where Buck was honest with Eddie. This ep continued to expand on this theme, with Eddie reassuring Buck that he doesn’t need to be anything for anyone. And I loved that in an ep where Buck has just started dating someone new, where he thinks she sees him better than anyone, the person who still gets him the most is Eddie, and that’s the person Buck shares himself with the most, too. There is not a single thing Natalia said to him or that he said to her during their date that can rival the intimacy of the cemetery talk. And if Buck still needs a wake up call to see that, well. I do think there’s a good chance he’ll get one, maybe even very soon.

~~ (my weekly meta posts) (my Buddie gifs) (all of my content)

~~ ~~ My tag list will follow in the reblog, please let me know if you wanna be added/removed here.

~~ I'm so thankful to the beautiful @eddiediaaz​ for the meta gifs this week! Not only did she step in when my regular giffer couldn’t do it this week, she also made so much effort to make sure the gifs are made as soon as possible, so the meta can be posted as early as possible as well. She’s just amazing and I hope everyone gives her a big round of applause! Merci, cherie!

~~ Thank you to anyone supporting these meta posts. I could never express enough how grateful I am and that they continue to exist thanks to you!

[leclsrc]

hi auds!! it's my birthday today ;) i never send reqs i know you get a whole ton of them but if you ever got around to this- i think the f1 fic world has a very worrying lack of aus. so could i get a band!charles au drabble where he writes a song about reader and she hears it on the radio? any song you like. reader could be driver or something or connected to f1 if thats cool !!! thank you sm!! i love you

knee socks – cl16

There’s a certain inevitability that comes with having sex with a misaligned, conceited lead guitarist of a band. You aren’t aware of this fact until it hits you in-between your brows with the force of an 18-wheeler truck, at 8AM, through the radio in your car.

genre: drabble... lots of smutty allusions

auds here... happy birthday anon, one month and then some later! to be completely honest i almost deleted this... but through some twist of fate, it was the only thing i could bully into completion lol (aside frm long form fics that i'm still working on) this is 1000% for u and i hope u accept it as a belated bday gift :) i agree btw! id love to see more au fics but it is still nice reading the canon compliant type ones hahah. also the song in this and its and title is of course from this

It was surprising enough to hear an announcement of a new single by The Incident, one that seemingly sprouted out of nowhere, sans promotion. The morning BBC show clobbered the song with theories before finally letting the drawled-out, sticky guitar filter through and into your car. That in itself was odd, sure. Maybe shocking a little. But you leaned into the leather seat and remained quiet.

When you were fifteen, you were convinced the lyrics to Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl” pinned up perfectly to your (insufferable) personality of the time. Raised in a big family and working in a career of refined prestige, your budding skill and already-cemented name in the modeling industry were just two small indicators of your parents’ massive wealth. Of course, neither Hall nor Oates were actually sitting and writing songs and singing about you—you just found it made sense in one way or another.

That was three years before you met Charles three years ago, at a pub in Soho. His band had only just spilled out of the confines of Soundcloud and seedy managers; they’d broken five million monthly listeners and the throng of people were there to watch them live. You were at the pub for a pint with another friend and left him with your number, a slip of paper tinged with beer; he fished out the nearest surface you could write on from a nearby bowl. Do I Wanna Know? it read in rushed cursive. It was a song request that went unfulfilled.

Rumors flew in your circle. Your father soured at the idea of you seeing somebody he wasn’t actively doing business with, but he failed to realize how limited your dating pool would be if you followed his wishes. Your interactions with the Formula One men he sponsored or worked with, however few and far between, were rancid and impolite. The drivers wore expensive brands, ones that didn’t even fall familiar on people’s ears, but refused to tip beyond three pounds. It came as both a shock and no surprise that the nouveau rich rock singer treated you with more decency than any of them did.

He was shy about it first, knowing how filthy rich you were. He made jokes about how his flat could fit in your kitchen twice over. He spoke what little French he remembered from childhood to impress you, paid for takeout, wore Lacoste when he came over to drink—then fuck—because it was, at the time, the most decent brand he owned. It’d been January when he came over, caught a sight of you at the foyer with all your expensive coats hung up. Your tongue was blue with a lozenge. It was the only thing he could look at while fucking you.

He wore a light blue variant once, fit and snug on him. You wrestled it off him in-between hot, sweet kisses, kept it on your bed so it’d be the first thing you tugged on in the morning before a shoot for a brand you can no longer place.

The last time you saw him he’d shown you lyrics, sang them aloud, drummed the beat he thought of on the skin of your thigh. His accent disappeared into rasp and notes. You told him to perform it live and he fucked you splayed up against your door, bent over your counter, then with your knees pressed to your chest on your white sheets, warm from the laundry. S’good for me, aren’t you, princess? All for me. My filthy girl.

Two hours later: I’m going on tour, sweetheart, he’d said while he cleaned you up.

’Til? Or… like, for long? Naked, you wrapped your blanket around your frame.

Ah, oui. For a while. 

You failed to answer amicably, your eyebrows twisting. You didn’t think to tell me? Just up and leave then? No number, no text, no announcement, just— You exhaled tightly. You knew he didn’t owe you anything of the sort; the sex, you guessed, the company had been so good you’d deluded yourself into thinking so.

Kitten—

Don’t call me that, you huffed, angrier now. Petulant. You got up and crowded him ’til you got to the door. Get the fuck out.

You watched him leave, brown leather jacket and black tee disappearing into London, and wrenched memories of him from the depths of your brain, the two years of your back and forth rendezvous. You wondered why you didn’t get a song in that time, after his ascent to fame, after the release of other hit singles inspired by his bandmates’ gossip rags and measly shags.

So a year later, when the memories have just begun to purge themselves—when the lyrics, which already have sent a swoop through your stomach, progress into the line When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste… and your knee socks, you effectively choke on your a.m. cappucino. It’s like “Rich Girl” all over again, but this is overt, it’s targeted. Like whoever wrote it must’ve known you’d be listening right now, en route to a shoot at eight in the morning.

“All good, miss?” Ed, your chauffeur, meets your eyes in the rearview, concerned.

“Perf—” your voice cracks. “Perfect.”

You screw your eyes shut and try to collect yourself, zeroing in on the lyrics that’d been foggy before.

Curing his January blues—the month you two started sleeping together.The fact that he’d had your number, a famous stranger, before you had his. Every beat, every word, every deep-voiced lyric traces back to you (unless, of course, he’s busying himself shagging any other girl in London on rainy Tuesdays and letting her wear his now-old polos. The thought sends a pang of jealousy through you.)

But you know better. You know you’re the only one.

Because your phone’s the only one buzzing late into the damp night—when the zeroes line up on the clock by your bed, the one he fixed up for you—with a number you’ve removed the name of, blocked at some point, but can still memorize in his absence.

Maybe tonight you’ll pick up.

[blu-writes]

By Primus’s Will pt.2

An Original Optimus Prime x AFAB!Reader by Blu<3

A/N: Thank you all so much for the support on the last Chapter!! It means so much to me that y’all enjoy what I’m writing!

You closed your eyes and fell asleep, only slightly annoyed by the sound of helicopter blades above your house.

When you woke up to banging on your front door you groaned and tried to ignore it. “This is the police! If you are home we’d like to ask you a few questions regarding some events that took place last night!”

You kicked off your sheets and pulled on a loose pair of shorts so you didn’t greet the officer in nothing but your tshirt. “I’m coming one second!! I needed to put on pants!”

“Good morning officer, how can I help you?” You said to the policeman standing on your porch. “Good morning, I was wondering if you had any idea what took place last night to cause that large crater, or if you’ve seen anything strange since then.”

You stared at the officer dumbfounded. “Uh no sir I haven’t. I figured it was just a piece of satellite or something that had fell after all the helicopters came by. Is something going on?”

The officer shook his head and handed you a business card. “Nope we just wanted to make sure it wasn’t some teens blowing stuff up for fun or anything. If you do see anything strange again just give us a call and we’ll come check it out for you!”

You nodded and wished the officer a good day, closing the door and looking out the window at the crater from last night.

‘What the hell was that? If it was a piece of satellite like I thought then the officer wouldn’t have came out because he would’ve known about it.’

You stared at it for a second before walking out the front door, slipping on some sandals you kept on the porch. You walked up to the hole in the ground and looked down into it, the ground looked burnt, and there were splatters of what looked like blue liquid on the ground. ‘What the fuck?’

You walked towards your father’s shed, going to see if there were any gloves or something he had so you could see what this liquid was. His shed was full of old cars, the shed was more of a barn with a cement floor. It reeked of old oil and must from how long some of the vehicles had sat in there. You felt like you were being watched as you pushed the door open all the way to let in some daylight and help the smell out of the building.

As you turned back to face inside the shed you saw a vehicle you didn’t recognize. Your father was a trucker, his old semi sat in the back of the shed, rusted and dusty. But next to it sat a new one that you swore hadn’t been there before. The truck also had some wear and tear to it, and looked like it had some damage to part of the body.

You brushed it off, walking towards the giant tool shelf your dad had and rummaging around for some gloves. You grabbed a pair and turned around, noticing some of the blue liquid from earlier underneath the mysterious semi.

Your father and you had never had the best relationship, he wasn’t mean to you but you two just kept some distance, especially after your mother had passed, so you weren’t sure if this truck was actually new or if he brought it home and you just never noticed.

“What the hell? I mean I’ll take a look real quick I guess.” Luckily your dad had taught you a few things about cars so if it was a simple leak you could probably fix it, but you wondered how the liquid had gotten outside.

You got down on the ground flashing a light on the underside of the semi, tilting your head in confusion when you were met with what looked like a robotic head. You knew some people modded their cars out with crazy designs, but your dad never showed you anything like this. And even he would've been excited enough to drag you out here to look at the cool design on the car. You reached out and rubbed your hand across the cheek of the face on the car, the cold metal already helping you cool down against the desert heat. What you didn't expect was for its eyes to open, a groan coming out from it's lips. You screamed and quickly got out from under the vehicle, running towards the tool box to grab a wrench and defend yourself. "Please human! I mean no harm."

You heard the voice coming from you began to shake, your hands trembling in fear. "W-Who are you? What are you doing in my garage?" The semi began to transform, kneeling onto one knee and bending so he could fit inside the garage. "My name is Optimus Prime, I am the leader of a faction known as the Autobots. I have came to protect your planet from Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons."

You held the wrench firm in your hands, glaring at him and trying to keep your hands from trembling anymore. "What are you doing in my garage? Why are you here in my home?" He moved his hand from where it held his side, groaning again. "I'm sorry for intruding human.. I am hurt pretty badly, I was just here to seek refuge and possibly patch myself up. There are few others of my kind on this planet. One of them could fix me up." You lowered the wrench, taking a small step forward to look at his wound. "I-I could give it a shot, as long as you promise not to stir up any trouble in my home." He shook his head, placing his hand tight over his side again. "You know nothing of my anatomy. And I cannot promise your safety while I am here. But I'll keep you as safe as I can until Ratch-" Optimus coughed and some of the blue liquid from earlier fell from his mouth. "Optimus, sir, you're going to die if you don't let me try to help you. And if what you say is true then Megatron will not be able to be stopped by us."

He groaned and sat on the ground, leaning back against the wall. "Fine, but you should be wary Human. I've sent a distress signal to my medic Ratchet. He will be on his way. You can keep me patched up until then." You nodded and grabbed some tools you thought you may need, beginning to work on him. "Thank you human." You looked up at him, still nervous over the fact that an alien robot sat in your garage. "Y/N. You can call me Y/N" He nodded and closed his eyes, continuing to let you try and work on his side.

[bibibbon]

Characters with wasted potential: shinso Hitoshi

(rant)

I love the idea and structure of Hitoshi's character but horikoshi just decided to execute it in one of the worst ways possible. So Hitoshi's introduction starts with him in the sports festival and how we see him slowly climb through the ranks and get introduced to his character and the problems he has with 1A. I don't mind his interaction with ojiro as I think that made me more intrigued to him but I hate when the fandom decides that it will be fun to demonise ojiro about it for no reason when Hitoshi was clearly in the wrong.

Moving on to my actual problems about shinso:

HIS WHOLE BACKSTORY. in my opinion yes he is an interesting character but his backstory really really sucks and just contains with people telling him "oh you're quirk sounds kinda evil" like it really doesn't do much nor does it explain how shinso acts the way he does. There is almost no conflict in that backstory or anything like quirk discrimination which is present in another characters backstories like izuku,toga and shoji. I think this is mainly a problem due to hori not being able to show but just having to tell us everything which really ruins the story in its self

HIS CONFLICT/FIGHT WITH IZUKU. maybe as an izuku fan Iam being biased but it makes no sense how shinso went on to izuku about being born with a silver spoon in his mouth when during that WHOLE TOURNAMENT izuku didn't use his quirk but his brains which is something anyone can do. I understood the point of the speech but it really really fell flat because 1) izuku didn't use his quirk and 2) it was a horrible guess on shinso's part.

THERE ARE NON OFFENSIVE QUIRKS IN 1A. The whole idea of shinso thinking he didn't get into the hero course because he didn't have a good flashy quirk is just stupid when you see a lot of the other hero course kids like toruu, ojiro or even koda who don't have any offensive QUIRKS at all and it doesn't help when there are many and I mean MANY heros that fight with non offensive QUIRKS and are quite successful like night eye.

Now let me talk about his potential. The idea of a brainwashing quirk is actually very interesting and it's a good quirk as well it would make sense if shinso hates his quirk due to discrimination or bullying and he has a very tunneled view of the world which is that people with flashy/strong quirks are always happy, on top of everything, powerful and arrogant. Now we can go on and have Hitoshi cement that idea in his head after whatever nonsense bakugo pulls during the sports festival and whatever rumours came out of the usj incident. During the sports festival we will have shinso's behaviour stay the same but when it comes to him and the izuku fight you could either have izuku use his quirk before ( it could make shinso think oh so someone who doesn't even know how to control their quirk got into the hero course but i couldn't) or have him fight another member of the hero course who has a flashy quirk maybe someone like momo. During the fight shinso can provoke the character to get an answer out of them but also question how and why they got into the hero course. (I prefer having izuku being chosen to fight shinso.) This happens and then the fight goes the same line as canon. The next time we meet shinso it should be way sooner then season 5 and I feel like hori should focus on more of the academia so we meet him during those moments where we see him talking to izuku more and try to change his views; we can have him apologise to ojiro and the way he treated 1A. We can then have him involved in 1A sooner then season 5 make it some time around the final exams where we see him see others fighting and he notices how their quirks aren't as flashy and powerful as he thought also have him focus on the momo and todoroki fight or have him involved in it. In my opinion it would be good for him to see momo who is the smartest in 1A and has a cool flashy quirk crumble thinking she isn't good enough and it will also break a lot of the stereotypes he had.

Overall, we slowly see Hitoshis character develop from someone who has a narrow minded view based on only his experiences and hate who then changes and sees the reality of life while also fighting against his own stereotypes of him being a villain by becoming a hero.

[blackcherryvelvet0909]

Sultan's Shore (Kalim x GN!Reader)

Kalim’s sparkling white smile was almost blinding. His ruby eyes twinkled with happiness, his sun-kissed skin speckled with seawater. The young man was having the time of his life. He turned to you as he filled his bucket with yet another pound of wet sand. “[Y/n]! How’s the moat coming along?” 

“It’s going great!” You continued to pat down sand with your little shovel as Kalim trotted over. “I just need a bit more wet sand to pack in the walls around the moment, and then it’ll be finished!”

“Awesome!” Kalim knelt next to you and set his bucket of soppy sand between you. “I think this should be enough for that.” 

You nodded in agreement. You dug your shovel into the bucket and fished out some of the makeshift cement and brought it to the moat. You put a clump at its edge before you patted it down, securing it in place. You glanced up at the rest of you and Kalim’s sandcastle. It wasn’t the most glamorous, but it was coming along quite nicely. You honestly never expected Kalim to be so good at making sandcastles, but the man had some surprises in him yet. You chuckled as you eyed the little seashell Kalim had placed atop the tallest tower of the structure: the crown jewel of the palace. 

“I love making sandcastles,” Kalim said as he began constructing yet another small tower. “My siblings and I love going down to the beach; we often have contests on who can make the best sandcastle.” His eyes suddenly lit up - you could practically see the lightbulb atop his head. “We should have one here! Tomorrow!” 

You smiled at his enthusiasm. “That sounds like fun! I know many would enjoy it - but it might be best if we separated people into teams. There’d be more space that way, and it’d allow for us to make even bigger sandcastles.” 

“Yeah!” Kalim’s grin was as bright as the sun. “That’s such a good idea. You’re amazing, [Y/n]!” 

You let out a chuckle, your cheeks now dusted a bit pink. “Well, it’s not the most unique idea. I just thought it’d be fun.” To try and save yourself from further flustering, you moved the conversation along. “Should we separate teams by dorm or by randomly chosen groups?” 

“I think random groups would be cool.” Kalim gave a small pout as his small tower grumbled soon after he lifted the bucket. “How do we do that though?” 

“We could have people draw straws,” you suggested. You helped Kalim reconstruct his failed tower as you continued. “Or we could draw colored strips from a hat. Either way, the ones with the same things drawn would be on the same team.” 

Kalim’s smile quickly returned - both by your ideas and by how this tower did not grumble. “I’ll get it set up then! I hope Jamil and I will be on the same team…wait, I should try to aim to be on an opposite team.” 

“Why?” 

“So I don’t rely on him as much.” Kalim began to decorate the sandy structure with more shells. “He does so much for me already, and we’re almost always on the same team since we’re both in Scarabia. I need to show Jamil I can be independent; he needs to see that he can do other things without having to worry about me.” 

Your heart softened in that instant. You knew why Kalim felt that way; even if it was months ago, Jamil’s overblot was still on his mind. When he realized just how little Jamil had gotten to live because of him, Kalim felt genuine remorse. He still wished to be friends with Jamil - but, above all else, he cared for his well-being and feelings. There were many people at the college who didn’t have the same heart as Kalim…he really was a kind, sweet man. Your smile softened as you patted Kalim’s hand. 

“I’m sure Jamil would appreciate that, Kalim.” Then, for a moment, you exchanged your smile for a frown. “But will you be okay? I know how much you love to spend time with Jamil.” 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Kalim reassured you with another bright smile, eyes shining with determination. “Besides, I have other friends I can be on a team with. There’s Cater, Lilia, Silver; I’d really love to be on a team with you, too, [Y/n]!” 

You let out a small laugh. “I’m not very good at making sandcastles, Kalim. I’m surprised this moat turned out as well as it did. I don’t know how much helped I’d be.” 

“It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you’re good.” Kalim scoot a little closer to you, eyes fixated on yours. Your foreheads almost touched…you felt your heart flutter. “All that matters is if you’re there having fun with me.” 

Had Kalim always been this pretty? You knew he was sweet, he always was, but…something about the look in his eyes, the way he spoke to you now, was different. Before you could discern it further, a voice from across the beach caught both of your attentions. 

“Kaliiiimm!” You both turned your heads to see Lilia further up the beach. One hand held his parasol, while the other held two glasses of…something. Likely some tropical drink - non-alcoholic, of course. If it weren’t for the thin stems at the bottom of the glasses, you’d wonder how Lilia could carry them in one hand. “You have to try this drink - it’s delectable!” As the third year drew near, he tucked the parasol under his chin and offered the glasses to the two of you. 

“Oh, thanks Lilia!” Kalim stretched out his hand and took one of the glasses. He glanced over his shoulder at you as he sat back on his heels, “Here, [Y/n], I’ll share it with you.”

“Actually,” Lilia offered the other glass to you, parasol back in his other hand, “this is for you, [Y/n]. I couldn’t leave you without a refreshment.” The fae’s eyes narrowed, a mischievous glint in his red orbs as he smirked. “As cute as it would be for the two of you to share, I can’t have you exchanging saliva just yet.” 

Neither of you said a word as Lilia walked away - as if he hadn’t left you two red in the face. After a moment of stunned, embarrassed silence, you and Kalim finally met each other’s eye. He gave you an awkward smile and laugh as he raised his glass. “W-Well, let’s drink! If Lilia says they’re good, they must be!” 

You returned his awkward smile, though yours was a tad shy. “Y-Yeah…”

So, the two of you sipped your drinks and continued to build your sandcastle. Lilia was right, they were good…but his words haunted your mind. They lingered too much, apparently. You could have sworn Kalim kept glancing in your direction when you weren’t looking. You two ended up naming your sandcastle ‘Sultan’s Shore’ - and Kalim did not hesitate to make clear he would always love to share that shore with you. 

[thricedead]

Its kinda scary & reeks of privilege that so many people do not realize that painting any oppressive class as biologically and ontologically evil is actually lenience & grace upon the oppressor bc youre essentially allowing them to consider themselves to be unchangeably flawed & cement their ways instead of demanding their power to be deconstructed and demanding that they do material work in favor of those they oppress. Self flagellating oppressors are just oppressors whove accepted theyre "more powerful" regardless of how bad they feel abt it. To meaningfully challenge longstanding systems of power you have to let go of both bioessentialism (because no traits are ingrained in anyones nature) and the half baked idea that socialization is everything (because grown people are not anymore infants who mindlessly soak in and emulate patterns, asserting urself as part of an oppressive class is a serious of conscious choices and yes these begin in childhood even as a 5 year old a human is no longer just a product of their environment but also a sentient creature able to process society and place themselves somewhere within). Assuming an oppressive class to be bred into evil is absolving them of the neccessity of change & reparation and allowing axes of power longievity! All in all i dont give a fuck about men as a class but youll never see me in the "men are evil kill all men" group even jokingly cause letting them live with the idea that we consider them beyond change is being too kind to them. Radfems n their bioessentialist brethren arent doing anything to dismantle the patriarchy theyre just sitting in a circlejerk and giggling about how men stink in a way that may kinda piss men off but like all kindergarten level violence, it does not invoke introspection or transformation within anyone. The only way to meaningfully move forward is to challenge the traits attributed to MAN (assertive, powerful, logical, thrives in viokence) and WOMAN (hard-working, victim, emotional, thrives in a household/family) at their heart instead of going "well i actually like the woman traits they can be kinda cool, girl power". Radfems are mental 5 year olds getting women killed.

[bruhlesbian]

ttcc headcanon time lol

prester:

im sick of overly dramatic reasons for injuries. like statistically not every facial scar or injury is gonna be like "yeah when i was six my dad put me in the industrial cement mixer-" no. for example - my brother has a cool eyebrow scar, right. oh was it from his woodworking class? or because he's a barback? no. he was like 4 and ran into a sharp table corner. this is all a lot of words to say i gave prester a split bottom lip, and its not from a fight or some other dramatic thing. he was fucking licking something off of a knife and just. whoops.

there goes his lip. right in the middle of family dinner night, fucking rude. he never got it fixed because he thought it gave him a grizzled appearance. fucking obssessed with scarring on robots for that particular reason- in most cases, it CAN be fixed. but the person who has it, doesnt want to! theres a element of choice at play, which is also true for people in real life! some amputees wear prosthetics, not because they are helpful, but to make other people more comfortable, or present a certain image. fascinating stuff, disabilities and how they are presented/represented is something i think isnt really touched on as much as it should be. fun fact i gave a speech at my college on disability rep and accessibility in gaming.

butch!craig oilcan/CEO:

im obssessed with the idea of butch!craig being a internalized homophobe/misogynist combo. god that sounds so bad but hear me out. in the lesbian community, theres a LOT of stuff to keep track of. terminology, gender identities, and most interestingly, the history and expectations behind certain identities. butch and femme, for example, are like, the lesbian identifiers that a lot of people know of/like to sling around. but like, i didnt even know that butches had/have really intricate courting rituals. beyond that, the essence of the patriarchy also plays a big role, as a lot of people kind of short-hand masc things as, oh, then you are a man equivalent and are expected to act as such. these things are starting to change, as people start to really question gender roles through their own identities. it has opened a lot of doors for people i feel like, especially me. being masc or feeling aligned with that doesnt mean you are a man, and you must live your life that way. very freeing. anyway craig is such a funny guy to me because, back to the point, i think he (like most of the other bosses - clo cpo etc etc) is obsessed with his image. how he looks to others. any shit that is a weakness has to be kept under wraps, and cannot see the light of day. so back to the butch history detour. basically butches were/are expected to pursue femme's, either from internal struggles or from lesbian or mainstream society. in my mind craig is like- fuck i gotta like femmes. like will be seen with them in clubs and shit and whatever. but like internally hes like "something is fucking wrong with me what am i DOING these women are objectively beautiful but i have ZERO attraction to them wtf"

tw for like. workplace relationship stuff or power dynamics. but like come on. craig saw jason and found out he was a butch and was like. ah ah. say no more. and immediately hired him. like ill be so real he is 100% a guy to favor a secretary as eye candy over skill. a comic is gonna come out and shoot this idea to smithereens but. whatever. anyway yeah butch!craig can only get a metaphorical boner for other butches and it EATSSSS him up. he hired jason but jason is actually competent so he has to fucking keep him. lol. and dont worry jason only took the job (in my mind) because. well. we all know the "I WANT THAT FAT BOY" image right. slay.

[brynnterpretations]

Ship request for my OC Kat, please: she is greek/irish american, 5'6, light skin & slim build. Long, messy dark brown hair & brown eyes. Follows goth fashion so thick eyeliner & dark clothes. Very reserved, dislikes feeling vulnerable. The type to lie, talk shit or say weird things to get people off her back, but can be blunt & straightforward when she's not feeling defensive. Deeply loyal & generous to those she is attached to. Overall very curious, high tolerance for bullshit, & difficult to get a reaction out of. Smoker. Enjoys being ''that weird girl'', all things death & occult, crafting and thrifting jewelry (often picks up random stuff off the ground because she thinks it'd be cool to make something with), & bands such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Blondie. I originally made her to ship with Patrick but I'm open to any ship or ideas that come to mind for you :) love your blog!

Thank you so much for the kind words! This was super fun to write.

I ship Kat with...

Patrick Hockstetter ☻

GIF Source: @pennywise-fucker ★ (link)

Patrick is attracted to Kat at first glance. He loves goth, punk, and otherwise alternative looks — its inherent dissent from social norms intrigues him — so when he sees her dark eyeliner and clothes, he's set.

Patrick is not someone who cares for subtlety, at all, so he'll come onto Kat pretty quickly and aggressively. After making some demeaning catcalls to her in the hallways and private remarks to the gang, Patrick would either plop down at her lunch table or sit next to her in open-seating classrooms and firmly cement it as his seat (something Derry teachers wouldn't help with, because, "the quiet kid will help the rowdy kid behave, surely").

Would start off with a creepy pick-up line ("so, are you into what you look like you're into, sugar?") and eventually progress to random stuff that he gauges Kat's into, like post-punk music and dark subjects like true crime.

I think even for very dark-minded people, Patrick still isn't the most charming — flirting with a mouth full of cafeteria cheeseburger will never win you many ladies — so it would probably start pretty slowly and take some wearing down. With how guarded Kat is, Patrick would have to put effort into getting close to her, which would only make her more attractive to him. He'd start asking around about her and following her around town, specifically to the town record shop and thrift store.

After Patrick continued to make an effort and show genuine interest in Kat, conversations progressed into things more personal, like her interests and hobbies. He'd take her on surprisingly thoughtful dates for someone like Patrick, such as horror film showings and to smoke at the Barrens at night (though, proceed with caution, because... Patrick).

Patrick would never finalize or label the relationship — he's not that type of guy, sorry — but the Gang would definitely refer to her as his girlfriend, and it would be recognized by most as a relationship 2 – 3 months on.

He wouldn't have any qualms with immediately introducing Kat to the gang, at all. The boy does not care about any awkwardness and, anyway, would think it would be fun seeing how it goes. He likes to stir up drama, no joke.

Kat's first invitation to the gang is a smoking session at the Barrens, which goes... as expected, with Henry going nonverbal, Victor reacting how your typical stoner would, Patrick acting the same as normal (was he even smoking?), and Belch getting that glossy look in his eyes that precedes a sativa-induced panic attack.

They all like her, though!

Henry is a bit off-put by her appearance for the first month — sorry, but she's the girl he'd target for being different, considering he did at one point — but she'd grow on him, for sure. Surprisingly, if Kat called Henry out on bullshit, I feel like he'd have a lot more respect for her. Additionally, loyalty and honesty are some qualities that Henry likes in a person, even if he doesn't show it, so he'd warm up to Kat in his own Henry way...

Meaning he drunk-vents to her a lot. Like, a lot, a lot.

Belch would have a massive crush on Kat and has a hard time hiding it. He's very much into girls who are tough and can stand their own, and combined with Kat's looks, would feel very attracted to her after a couple conversations.

Victor would likely be one of her best friends in the group. Victor tends to really like forming friendships with walls-up, defensive types. He also has a similar music taste to Kat, being a big fan of Bauhaus and a budding fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and would trade records with you.

However, Victor doesn't like your relationship with Patrick at all. He likes Kat, and he hates Patrick, who continuously is a massive douche.

The guy loves to push people's buttons, and Kat's no exception. With how tough of an egg she was to crack, he knows she's got some baggage underneath, and routinely pushes her into stressful situations, whether it's making her entertain a crowd of people at a party, telling drama-hounds if she's talked shit about them, or putting you on the spot in front of the gang.

Unless Kat is willing to put up with that, there would definitely be some fighting in the relationship, though Patrick wouldn't take it that seriously as long as she was still entertaining him.

It's not all bad with him, though — their shared interests lead to a lot of good hangouts (and chemistry), and Kat can even hold theoretical and philosophical conversations about death and other topics with him, something a lot of people can't do with Patrick. He doesn't really take anyone's opinions on him seriously enough to share besides the random, offputting comment or "joke", so the fact he does it with Kat is impressive. While he doesn't exactly see her as a full-fledged person, he does recognize her as being interesting beyond being just someone he messes around with, and thinks her input on different topics is fascinating to hear.

Kat can expect a lot of... gifts... from Patrick, these including an old, banned mondo film from the '70s (?), a decently but not fully cleaned bird skull (??), and a necklace with a couple mismatching beads and a tooth of a mysterious origin (???).

For as much as Patrick gifts to her, though, he'd take. He'd end up stealing some of her custom-made jewelry and wearing it, TBH — he digs her style and finds it interesting how she makes things out of what otherwise would be deemed as trash.

Would overall not be the healthiest relationship, but still a pretty solid one, and not as disastrous as most relationships with Hockstetter.

[shyrose57]

I've made like three new life smp posts in a row today, and I'm sorry, but I gotta. I watched more episodes, I'm only doing what I must.

Im just gonna like, chunk a bunch of my trains of thought in a single post and hope for the best, honestly.

Literally Martyn is the best, followed up by Sparrow, but anyway-

I think??? It'd be hilarious if the Colin-y was just. convinced that Martyn was just some fucked up creeper, and that's why they're friendly. Like, they all stay in the mountain, so Martyn shows up, he's vaguely blue, clearly cold, and has fur. Clearly that equals fellow creeper. So they just adopt him into the group, and that's why they all decided to pile into his base. Their new friend cant fit into the old den, so they move into the big new den. Or maybe the cave was their home first and his decision to live there cemented his creeper status. Martyn doesn't know why these particular mobs have just decided to be passive, and he's beginning to think he's never going too.

I also like the idea of Martyn being really new to being a hybrid?? Like he's clearly not used to his powers, sort of, right??? So what if he just like, recently manifested these traits. And even just recently showed up in the area, even. Maybe Sparrow could know him, or something.

If he messes up his timing and unfreezes before he hits the ground, is it gonna be like he shattered?? Just like, breaks into a million pieces right before his respawn, that melt into snowflakes. Think of the potential. Think of the angst. An icesicle shattering upon the earth.

Also, and this concept has been eating me alive, has there been a Snowgrave!Martyn yet, now that he has snow powers. Can anyone point me there?? Because like, with his current lore, a Watcher deciding it wanted to possess one of its fellows, or even just a Winner and snagging up Martyn in its games would be amazing to read about. His power slowly growing as servermates disappear, taking more and more hearts each time,, and he doesn't know why. And then, eventually there's only three. His snow buries someone alive. He feels himself die with them, from maybe his own frost, or the possessed player deciding he's outlived his use and doing away with him. Then there's just one.

Katherine is a human. I have been?? Crawling up the wall since I found out. I haven't even finished her episode. I don't know if she even survives it. I do not care.

So, let's set a background where, obvious exceptions aside, everyone has sort of grown up together, even if maybe distantly. And theyre all different species, with different abilities and needs and instincts.

And Katherine is human. Humans are social. How many traits and habits do you think she'd sort of absorb from everyone.

What if she was like, all the hybrids basic idea of human, and she forgets she's human herself half the time.

I am. Desperate for a fic where Katherine meets Sparrow. Or where everyone sort of knows her, and walk into meeting Sparrow with the idea that he's gonna be similar to her, and thus, similar to them. And just get smacked in the face with how different they are.

Give me a Katherine who's spent so long around people who aren't human that she just doesn't really clock that that's what she is.

Given that new life randomly rolls you an origin,, what's the chances of Sparrow having one already that he's gonna start 'manifesting'. Do you think its a bird. I need him to be a bird. At least once.

What if he dies and to come back as a phoenix or something. That would be so cool??.

What if like, fic wise, nobody's sure if humans are included in the respawn mechanics. If they come back at all. I think that'd be fun to explore. Everyone looking out a bit more for their human servermates. The angst potential of one of them dying and returning under this premise.

Also, and this just occurred to me, the humans are space orcs approach? I'd love to see that in a fic. Sparrow and Katherine just being weird and ridiculous by hybrid standards.

[q-gorgeous]

They Think He’s the Ghost?

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 3820

Halfa!Dash AU, where Dash was at Danny's house for a school project, but started screwing around instead of working, resulting in Dash being the one to activate the portal and become a halfa/ghost hero. Being the only person Dash knows with any knowledge of ghosts (who won't try to dissect him), Danny ends up being his human helper who covers for Dash and helps him figure out how to defeat other ghosts. @raaorqtpbpdy The GIW see Danny and Dash phase through something and they kidnap Danny thinking he's the halfa. ​

i didnt know how to end this but its fine. this is kinda altered from my original invisobang idea but in the dash phantom au instead of canon au

Dash was walking with Danny down the street to the Nasty Burger. They had had a long day at school. There were way too many ghost attacks than what was warranted for one day. Dash was exhausted and he could tell Danny was too. 

He was always amazed with how much Danny did to help him. If Dash was in his position, a regular human, he didn’t think he’d be able to do all the stuff that Danny did. But that just meant Danny was just brave as he was. He didn’t need ghostly, other dimensional powers to do it for him. Dash thought that was cool. 

They had almost made it to the Nasty Burger when they heard the sound of ectoblasts echoing around between the buildings.

“Come on!” Dash said as he turned around. He watched the sky, looking to see where the ghost was. 

There it was, flying above them. Dash was about to run to hide somewhere when Danny grabbed his arm. 

“Look.” He pointed.

Chasing after the ghost was a GIW agent suited up in one of their ghost suits. He shot blasts at it from one of his ecto-guns. Many of his shots missed the ghost and instead made holes and cracks in the buildings. 

“That guy’s here.” Danny said, still pointing up at him. “We’ve fought so many ghosts already today, maybe we could leave one for the GIW?”

Dash hummed. He did like the sound of not fighting another ghost today. 

Before Dash could voice his decision, he was interrupted by the sound of a huge explosion. Him and Danny looked up and panic filled his chest when he saw that one of the buildings they were standing near was collapsing. 

They made eye contact with each other and everything seemed to happen in the matter of a second. 

Danny leapt at Dash, closing the distance between them as the building fell. Dash wrapped his arms around him and turned them intangible before the building squashed them. It hit the ground and debris flew everywhere, sending dust up into the air. 

Danny coughed. “That was a close one. Glad you were here, otherwise I would’ve been a pancake.”

“What would I do with a flattened boyfriend?” Dash sighed. “I guess I’d be forever resigned to using you as my blanket.”

Danny laughed and shoved his shoulder a little. “We need to make sure no one’s hurt. We should get going.”

Dash shook his head and turned invisible. “There’s no we this time. If buildings are collapsing I can’t risk you being here. I’ll drop you off inside the Nasty Burger and start looking for any injured people after.”

Danny scowled. “It’s not fair you got the ghost powers. I want to be able to help more.”

Dash triggered his transformation while invisible and flew across the street to the Nasty Burger. “You help plenty. And trust me, dying was not a fun experience. You should know. You were there.”

He intangibly flew through the wall and into the men’s bathroom. He set Danny on the floor and watched as he became visible. 

“Stay out of danger. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Don’t be surprised if I eat your food because you’re taking too long.”

Dash stuck his tongue out at Danny and flew back through the wall. He flew back towards the pile of rubble and cement and started scanning through it. He couldn’t see anyone on top of the rubble. That was promising. He went intangible and flew all through the rubble, checking for anyone that might have gotten stuck underneath.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. There had been no one in the building when it fell. That was extremely lucky. 

He was about to fly back to the Nasty Burger when he was being shot at. 

“Hey!” He looked up to see the GIW agent floating in the air above him. 

“Put your hands up, spook!” He shouted at Dash. “We’re onto you!”

Dash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay.”

He went invisible again and flew away. With how incompetent this agent was, leveling a whole building in the middle of town, he didn’t believe that he was onto any kind of secret at all. It was probably just some kind of bluff. 

Flying back into the men’s restroom, Dash transformed and walked out of the stall he landed in. He washed his hands and walked out. He didn’t have to look for Danny long before he found him sitting in one of the booths, two orders of food in front of him.

“I’m back!” Dash swaggered over to their table.

“Wow, that was fast. Did you find anyone in the rubble?” He took a drink of his soda.

“Nope! How lucky was that?” Dash picked up his burger and took a big bite.

“Extremely.”

“I guess it wasn’t a good idea to let the GIW agent handle that.” Dash sighed. For supposed government agents, you’d think they’d be better trained at what they’re supposed to be doing. 

“Yeah, I guess. At least we know for next time now.” Danny took a bite of his burger. 

“Yeah. If this is how they go about capturing ghosts, hopefully there won’t be a next time.”

-----

Dash stood by the stairs leading up to the school’s front doors. Danny was supposed to meet him here ten minutes ago. It wasn’t unusual for Danny to be late sometimes, but this time Dash just had a bad feeling about it. 

That was when he saw Sam and Tucker running from down the street. As soon as they saw him they made a beeline for him. They were out of breath and looked like they had run the whole way here.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Dash asked. 

They were both panting, trying to get the words out. 

“Took… GIW grabbed… Danny. They took him.” Sam forced out between breaths. 

Dash’s stomach plummeted. “What do you mean they took Danny?”

“They thought he was a ghost.” Tucker said towards the ground as he hunched over, still catching his own breath. “They saw the two of you phase through something and they assumed it was him.”

“They think he’s the ghost?” 

Sam and Tucker nodded. 

“It’s probably because his parents are the ghost hunters slash mad scientists.” Tucker said. “They have no reason to suspect that it’s you.”

“We don’t even look the same!” 

“Okay, yeah we know but that doesn’t matter right now. We need to make a plan to get Danny out of there. Where do we start?” 

“Can Tucker figure out where they’re keeping him? Like what floor, wing, building? Are you able to get into their systems?” Dash turned to face Tucker. 

“I haven’t been able to yet.” Tucker said solemnly. “But this is as good of a time to try as any.”

——-

The world came back to Danny slowly, and with a splitting headache. He didn’t remember what happened before he fell asleep. Or did he pass out? He couldn’t remember. 

He could hear a beeping sound and then the sound of a heavy door sliding open. He pried his eyes open and didn’t recognize the room he was in. 

“Daniel James Fenton.”

Who was that saying his name? Where was he? 

“We finally caught you.” 

What?

He struggled to turn his head to see the man who was standing behind him. Once his eyes were focused enough, he could make out a GIW agent. 

His eyes widened and he remembered snippets of him being taken now. Them grabbing him. The looks on Sam and Tucker’s faces. But why were they taking humans? 

“Why am I here?” Danny croaked out. His throat felt like sandpaper. 

The agent scoffed at him. “Don’t play dumb. We know who you are, Phantom.” 

Danny laughed out loud at the agent. He really thought he was Dash? How much of an idiot was this guy? 

“What are you talking about? I’m not Phantom.”

“We saw you. When that building collapsed you launched yourself at your friend. When the building was on the ground, the two of you popped up unscathed.” 

Danny could feel the pit of his stomach dropping. They saw that? He didn’t know there was anyone watching them. 

If he was here that meant that they didn’t suspect Dash. That meant Dash was fine. It was better that they had Danny here. Sam and Tucker could tell his parents and they could get him out of here. They could sue the GIW. He didn’t know if they’d be able to do that if Dash was the one that was caught. 

“It’s no use lying to us. Your time parading around in the human world is over, ghost.”

Danny swallowed. He could wait until they came to get him. He had to. “What are you going to do with me?”

“We have all sorts of stuff planned for you, Phantom.”

The agent wheeled over a cart filled with all sorts of different tools and weapons. He could feel his breath hitch. 

He had to wait. 

-----

“I’ve got something!” Tucker yelled over his shoulder towards the Fenton’s kitchen. 

Dash ran over to where Tucker sat. Danny had been missing for a week now and Tucker hadn’t been able to hack into the GIW’s database until today. They were finally making some headway. 

“What’d you find?” Dash asked. His hands were gripping the back of the couch. 

“They have all sorts of files in here on Phantom. It says he was detained and that he’s currently being held in a compound that’s a ways out of town. It also gives me the floor he’s being held on as well as the room. If you give me a little more time, I can try to find a map.” 

“Okay, great. That sounds good. Thank you.” 

Dash walked back towards the kitchen where Jazz was sitting at the table. She was fixing them a meal. Something about how they wouldn’t be able to keep working if they didn’t have the energy or something like that. Dash didn’t have much of an appetite though. 

Breaking the news about Danny getting captured by the GIW was hard for Dash. She hadn’t known about his secret, but Sam and Tucker convinced him that at least one of the Fenton’s needed to know where Danny was. He was still terrified of all the scalpels in the lab though, so he picked Jazz as the person he spilt all his secrets to. 

“What did Tucker say?” She asked him.

“He’s got a location for where they’re holding Danny. Now he’s looking for a map. Once he finds that, we can start making a plan to get him out of there. I’m thinking since Tucker’s already in their system, he can disable the power or all the ghost shields or whatever they have inside so I can just phase in and get him.”

She nodded. “That’s good. I hope he’s doing okay.” 

Dash cringed. “I want to be optimistic but it’s hard. The GIW literally collapsed a building on us the other day. My hopes that they’re treating him well aren’t high.”

Jazz took a deep breath. “I guess we’ll just have to hope that he’s still alive when we find him.”

“Yeah.” He looked away from her. He could tell she was worried out of her mind. Her hands were shaking as she stirred the potato salad she was making. 

This was all his fault. If he had been paying more attention, or even went to go fight that ghost himself, Danny wouldn’t be in this situation. They wouldn’t have taken him. 

“I’ve got the map!” Tucker shouted from the living room. 

Dash bolted back to the other room to look at Tucker’s laptop. 

He smiled when he saw the map of the GIW compound on his screen.

“Great. Now what’s the plan?”

-----

Danny laid on his back on the hard mattress that was on the floor of his cell. Memories of needles and ectoplasm flitted back and forth through his mind. Of experiments. The experiments with the electrified ectoplasm hurt the worst. 

At some point, the GIW must have figured out he wasn’t really Phantom by now. They had to. They’d done enough experiments on him by now to see that he bled red. Why was he still here? They didn’t say anything about them continuing to hunt Phantom down. Were they really that dense?

Danny lifted his hand up and tried to brush back the greasy hair that stuck to his face. Instead of making contact with his hair, his hands clipped through his forehead, clipping in and out of intangibility. 

He couldn’t tell if what they were doing to him was killing him. He was still here but the way his hands clipped through things- how he woke up and he was floating. It unsettled him. He didn’t know at what point it would switch from ‘sick with ghost powers’ to ‘dead with ghost powers’. He didn’t want to find out. 

He closed his eyes again. He just wanted to go back to sleep. He didn’t know why he had woken up in the first place. He was always so tired now. He could just go back to sleep, maybe it would make this torture go by faster. 

He was starting to drift off again, floating up off of his mattress when he heard the quiet whine of the power all around him disappear. Without the static sound of the electricity, Danny’s ears rang in his head as the quiet engulfed him. When he opened his eyes it was dark. He couldn’t see anything. 

Then he could hear shouting outside his room. A couple of GIW agents ran past his door, the pounding of their feet fading away as they ran down the corridor. Danny’s brows furrowed. What was going on?

Then suddenly, a bright light was phasing its way into his cell. It took Danny’s eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden light, but when they did he nearly burst into tears. Standing in front of him was Dash. 

“I found him!” Dash was talking into the pair of Fenton Phones he had in his ears. “Try to keep them from turning the power back on for a couple more minutes! We’ll be out soon!” 

He looked at Danny and quickly walked towards him. When he tried to grab Danny, his hands phased right through him. Danny’s eyes filled with tears. 

“This wasn’t what I wanted. When I said I wanted ghost powers to help I didn’t- this wasn’t what I…” Danny trailed off.

“I know.” Dash said. He scooped Danny up off the floor of his holding cell in the GIW compound, his hands able to hold him this time. “It’ll be okay. We’re getting you out of here.” 

Danny wrapped his arms around Dash’s neck and nodded. He could feel as they flew away. As they phased through walls and floors, he could hear various shouts from the GIW. He didn’t know if they were invisible or if the GIW were tracking Dash with one of their tracking devices. But soon enough they were phasing through the last floor and then they were in the nighttime air. Danny took a deep breath of it and gripped Dash’s neck harder. 

“We’re out!” Dash said into the Fenton Phone’s. Danny could hear Sam and Tucker cheering faintly from the headset. 

They flew quickly away from the compound and through the surrounding forest. This was the fastest Dash has ever flown with Danny. How bad did he look that he felt he needed to go this fast?

Even with the speed, Danny could feel himself nodding off in Dash’s arms. That probably wasn’t good, but he was still so tired. Maybe resting wouldn’t be so bad. 

-----

The next time he woke up, he was startled by the bright lights above him. How did he get back into the compound? 

He thrashed around, trying to throw off whatever was on top of him. He was about to rip out whatever was sticking out of his arm when a big hand stopped him. 

“Danno! It’s okay! You’re safe!” 

Danny suddenly stopped at the sound of his dad’s voice. Looking around, he could finally take in his surroundings. He was inside Amity Park’s hospital. 

“Mads, Danny’s awake!” His dad called.

His mom darted into the room and looked at him. Tears filled her eyes and she rushed her way to his bed and put her hands on both of his cheeks and kissed him all over his face. He wanted to be embarrassed but all he could do was smile as tears ran down his face. 

“We were so worried about you!” His mom cried. “You’d been missing and we didn’t know what happened. We were getting ready to assume the worst when Jazz called and said that Phantom found you!” 

“Those damned government agents are going to get what’s coming to them.” Jack said. Danny didn’t think he’d ever seen his dad this angry before. “Vladdie’s got all sorts of lawyers and he’s ready to give us all of them to get this agency disbanded.”

“If they think they can get away with hurting my baby, they have another thing-” 

His mom got interrupted by a knock on the doorframe. Danny turned his head to look and standing there was Dash holding a bouquet of flowers. His mom smiled at him.

“We can talk about this later. I’ll go get your doctor and let him know you’re awake. I’m sure your boyfriend wants to say hello to you.”

He watched his parents file out of the room. His mom gave Dash a hug on her way out and then it was just the two of them.

Dash walked over and set the bouquet of flowers on the table next to Danny’s bed. He sat down in the chair his dad had just been occupying and grabbed Danny’s hand tightly.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” He whispered. “I thought you weren’t going to be at first.”

“What happened?” Danny asked.

“You fell asleep while we were flying away from the compound. I thought maybe you were just tired, but then you weren’t responding when I got you home. Jazz told me to bring you here while she called your parents to tell them you’ve been found.”

“Oh.” Danny said quietly. “But I’m okay now. You guys saved me.”

Danny’s hand clipped through Dash’s. 

“I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have been taken if it weren’t for me. I should’ve just gone and fought that ghost that day.”

“What? No, it’s not your fault. I was the one who suggested we just let the GIW handle it. Besides, they thought I was you because of the way I launched myself at you before you turned us intangible.” 

“But if we’d been paying more attention-”

“I would have been so much more scared if it had been you in there.” Danny whispered. “Without you to do the rescue mission, there would have been no plausible way to get you out. We would’ve had to reveal you and fight it legally but who knows how long you would’ve been in there for.”

“But you almost died, Danny!” 

“But I didn’t.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Hi, Danny!” A doctor walked in, followed closely behind by his parents. “Glad to see you’re awake already!” 

“How long was I asleep for?” Danny asked. 

“Only between a day or two, but we expected you to be asleep much longer due to what your body was put through.” The doctor’s voice grew a bit more solemn. “Due to what those government agents did, you have suffered from acute ectoplasmic poisoning.” 

“Ectoplasmic poisoning?”

“Yes. This isn’t something we’ve ever encountered before. We’re going to discuss treatment plans with your parents. They’re going to help us find out if it’s possible to separate ectoplasm from living tissue.”

“And if it isn’t?” Danny asked.

“Then we’re not sure that that will ever go away.” The doctor gestured to where Danny’s fingers were clipping through Dash’s hand again. 

“Oh.” He said quietly. 

“We’re going to keep you here for a couple more days for observation and then you’ll get to go home once we know there’s no more risk of the ectoplasm causing further damage.” 

“We’re going to go with the doctor and share our research with him so we can figure out how to treat this.” His mom smiled at him. “We’ll come visit you later.” 

“With a bowl of fudge!” He said cheerily.

“Thanks, guys.” Danny smiled.

They walked back out of the room with the doctor. Danny could feel Dash’s eyes on him again. 

“Danny, please don’t sacrifice yourself for me.”

He wrinkled his nose. “What am I supposed to do? Tell them you’re Phantom? I didn’t want them kidnapping my boyfriend.”

“How do you think I felt?” 

Danny fidgeted in his bed. “It’s one thing for them to make a mistake and kidnap me. If I kept trying to convince them I wasn’t Phantom then they would’ve gone for you next and it would’ve been my fault.” 

“Danny, no-“

Paulina burst into the room, interrupting them. “I was gone for two weeks to visit my grandparents in Columbia just to come back and find out Danny got kidnapped and no one told me?” 

Tucker ran into the room behind her, out of breath. “We tried to stop her.” 

“Like I said, Paulina, we were kind of occupied.” Sam said as she walked in behind them. 

“We didn’t want to ruin your vacation.” Dash shrugged. “Besides you wouldn’t have been able to do anything besides worry, being in Columbia and all.” 

She turned her nose up in the air. “It still would’ve been nice to know, is all.” 

“Your parents told us about what your hands keep doing.” Sam said quietly.

Everyone looked at him where his hands were still intangible in Dash’s hand. 

Danny took a deep breath. “It’ll be fine. It’ll go away, or it won’t, or maybe I’ll just be a little like Dash. That’s okay.” 

Dash was silent for a moment before speaking. “Even though I’m still upset you’d sacrifice yourself to protect me, thank you for being brave for me. It’s something that I admire about you. I wish I didn’t need ghost powers to be brave.”

Danny smiled at him. “It’s easier to be brave when you have someone else to be brave with.”

“Barf.” Sam said. “You guys are making goo goo eyes at each other.”

“Enough with all this depressing nonsense.” Paulina said. “Who wants to see pictures of my abuelita?” 

Danny barked out a laugh. “Way to lighten the mood, Paulina. Sure, let’s see some pictures of your abuelita.”

Even if this ectoplasmic poisoning didn’t ever go away, Danny was at least thankful he had people here to help him be brave.

[amostimprobabledream]

I’ve been thinking about why I dislike Becca so much, and here’s what I came up with: The show tries to have its cake and eat it with her. See, throughout Season One we mostly see Becca through flashbacks from Billy’s eyes. He remembers their relationship as basically being perfect, he sees her as some kind of saviour who brought him back from the brink of destruction, and then Homelander swooped in and destroyed all of it, as he does.

When Billy reunites with Becca at the end of Season One and she’s with Homelander’s son, I thought the show was going to reveal that she’d actually cheated on Billy with Homelander - wouldn’t that have been shocking and provided some dimension to Becca? That actually their relationship wasn’t perfect and neither was she, and that Billy’s own anger issues and hatred towards the world and Supes in particular (I feel like the show’s implied outright that the real reason Billy hates Supes is because they remind him of his father, an abusive authority figure he feels weaker than and wants to take down. Homelander just compounded it with what happened with Becca.) Plus, assaulting Becca because he heard Billy talk smack about him kind of cements the idea that Becca wasn’t her own person so much as an extension of Billy that Homelander could hurt more easily. But instead it’s played totally straight, Becca is an innocent victim of Homelander’s and she chose to keep the child anyway and took on the task of raising him to be a good person.

And I think that’s where the show fell down with them, because Billy and Becca’s relationship just comes off as so two-dimensional compared to say, Hughie and Starlight where they constantly have to balance their contrasting lifestyles, how Hughie initially manipulated Starlight (albeit very reluctantly and on Billy’s instruction) and is responsible for killing one of her co-workers, while Hughie is the one source of normalcy in Starlight’s life and continues to see her as the superhero she wants to be, even while she’s commercialised and used as a puppet by Vought. But with Becca, even when she herself tries to point out that Billy’s always put her on a pedestal and his problems were serious long before they got together, the show still paints Becca like a saint. She’s basically Billy’s dream woman - like yeah, she’s a good mommy to Ryan but she still swears and smokes and has sex, guys! She’s so cool! All the Boys instantly love Becca when they meet her for no apparent reason - Hughie gushes over her being “awesome” even when she does jack all that is awesome (did he just like her because she’s a mother and Hughie’s walked out on him?), they constantly let Billy get away with some horrendous behaviour because he’s upset over her disappearance/wants Becca back, Billy consistently uses her as an excuse to be as horrible as possible (which is beautifully called out by Grace in Season 3) and Becca herself never does anything wrong - she’s treated like the perfect mother to Ryan, never shows any resentment or issues with her son even with the very traumatic circumstances of his conception, she ran away from Billy because she was ashamed and traumatised so she can’t be blamed for that, she’s forced to endure Homelander encroaching on her life because she can’t get rid of him and attempts to stand up to him, which only works because of Ryan, and in general she’s just a woman bad things happen to. Becca’s entire existence is basically defined by being a victim over and over again and her actions are driven either by her love for Billy or Ryan. She has no flaws or character development, dies a martyr and continues to get treated like one throughout Season 3 even though there was literally nothing special about Becca - by all accounts she’s a very boring and average person who just gets treated like a saint. Like even MM’s family and Robin feel more like real people despite their comparative lack of screentime, because MM’s wife leaves with MM’s daughter because of his lifestyle, a painful decision that no doubt hurt their daughter but was what she thought was best, and Robin’s onscreen for like five minutes but I felt like the trauma of her death made perfect sense for Hughie because he still expressed heavy doubt over killing Translucent even after her death and his relationship with A-Train is pretty interesting. Also, both MM’s wife and Hughie have managed to move on even when parting from their loved ones, but apparently neither Billy or Becca ever even looked at anyone else. (I get Becca was in an isolated compound and probably still dealing with the trauma of what happened to her, but it’s still like she was being ‘preserved’ until Billy could reach her somehow, she had no problems with sleeping with him immediately once they had five minutes alone.) And you know, Hughie doesn’t go around beating innocent people to death and excuses it because Robin died. I think I preferred Billy more when he was like this mysterious mentor figure to Hughie before his backstory got revealed as a pretty generic “muh wife died”, and even when it turned out she wasn’t dead it was still not all that interesting. We already know Billy was never going to be allowed to be properly reunited with Becca - you can’t decry the Seven and everyone else’s cruel, selfish, manipulative ways and then reward Billy for the same behaviour by giving him his wife back. (This is beautifully highlighted at the end of Season One where Hughie, Frenchie, Kimiko and MM all get their happy ending because they stuck together but Billy doesn’t because he chose to ditch them.)

Idk, whenever a show presents a character and goes, “Look! They’re so nice!”, that’s not enough for me to like them. I love Hughie but I like him for a lot more reasons than because he’s a nice person. First and foremost, you have to be interesting for me to take a liking to a character, and there’s absolutely nothing about Becca that is interesting to me. Also, this is super petty and based on totally subjective opinion, but I disliked Becca’s actress - she has this really whiny way of delivering her lines I found kind of grating to listen to, but that’s just me.

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

You know how people talk about rooms having specific energies, like they can feel the vibes of the place and how good/bad those are? Well it turns out that is very much an actual thing, just not in the way I was expecting!

Think, for example, about classrooms. Most all of them are designed to have all the students seated and facing forwards. The teacher is physically oriented as the center of attention and is usually able to stand up, thus further creating a micro power dynamic. The white board behind them constantly draws the eye towards whatever information they've presented; no matter how bored a student is, they will eventually drift back to it.

Classrooms are specifically designed to encourage a specific mode of interaction within them, to create a certain dynamic between teacher and students, and where this gets really crazy is when you start thinking about classrooms in the more abstract sense. Because we have all used them, the social rules for their use have become increasingly cemented such that there are specific expectations people have of the space. The individual layout of each classroom becomes subservient to the larger classroom ideal we are all pulled into once we walk through the doors.

In a very real way, different spaces have incredibly powerful vibes. Through both their physical layout and our social ideas about them, they shape our behavior and even our cognitive processes. They inform what we see as appropriate actions, what we see as transgressive, and our expectations for the next period of time.

I wasn't expecting to learn all of this from a history lecture, but I just thought it was really cool and haven't been able to stop thinking about it for the last week. Next time you walk into a place, try thinking about what its layout implies, or the social roles and rules you find yourself automatically clinging to within it. Convenience stores, public parks, entry hallways, parking lots, and every other space has some message it's screaming in a voice most people rarely perceive. It's fascinating to think about

[velvet-apricots]

How can you come up with your own OC? Help me with this please

For me, I start by taking things I like in people aesthetically and physically and then combine them in a way I find pleasing.

Lets use Arette and Fyra for examples.

I like redheads with freckles. I like braided hair. I like corsets and dresses that show shoulders. I combined these to make Arette.

Then we have Fyra!

I love grecian noses, olive skin, chocolate hair. You can see I brought the braided hair back too.

Once I am satisfied with the design, I then figure out how I want them to act. Most of my OCs these days are made SPECIFICALLY to ship with certain characters, so i make personalities that play off and contrast some what to the other.

Arette is kind, she has a moral compass, and is very protective of her adoptive daughter. But her fatal flaw is that she ignores red flags for the sake of her own comfort, this can cause her to bend her compass if given enough reason to over look things. This also ultimately puts her daughter in danger. This makes it easy for Bondrewd to tell her little white lies, and for her to ignore the red flags she does see. All until its too late and he's enacted his master plan. She turns on him, and deals with the massive guilt her own inaction caused.

Fyra is gentle and kind almost to a fault. She is naive to manipulation, but not to evil itself. She has a very strong moral compass and she sticks to it. Gideon can get away with SOME horrible things purely by lies and garnering sympathy. But he can not keep getting away with everything he does, and must adapt as Fyra can't be disposed of. Not only because she's growing powerful, but because he is growing fond of her. His jaded view of the world is slowly broken down by Fyra's kindness and love of anything and everything, broken or not. This ultimately leads to a not so tragic end for him as she changes him for the better.

After that is the part I find the hardest, which is creating a backstory and origin. Rule of thumb however is, that ones environment molds them as a person. Fyra's gentle nature is caused by the valley she grew up in, which was very peaceful. Everythig else I add to her (deceased mother, love of cooking dance and music) are all things I add for more flavor that fit a personality like she has.

Arette is a delver from Orth. She already grew up idolizing White Whistles, so its easy for her to be made to trust Bondrewd by him spinning similar tales that got all his men working for him. Her growing up there also means she can just write off Bondrewd's behavior as just him being a white whistle, as they all are a bit crazy. Her mother's dislike of delvers and the abyss pushes Arette into Bondrewd's arms when they first meet, cementing her place in his mind so when they meet again, he simply HAS to keep her with him.

So yeah. I hope this all helps you, and give you an idea what to do. Just start by making what you think looks cool, and then build off that to create a story. =)

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Not quite massively mainstream, but still a step above indie. A little too hazy to just be alternative rock, but not enough to be a full on shoegaze album. Somehow Siamese Dream manages to fall outside of the boxes it was aiming for, but the result is Smashing Pumpkins' most artistically sound release. They're more polished than on Gish, but it just helps put a finer point on their strengths. Corgan's voice is just far enough up on the mix to be fully intelligible, but not dominating it. The guitars are heavily layered and take up all the space they can in the mix whether the gentle acoustics of Sweet Sweet or the intensely heavy Geek U.S.A.. Corgan may be a megalomaniac, but this album really shows that he had a strong artistic vision at one point.

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

Where others were trying to be the toughest cop killingest rappers in the game, Snoop opted to be the weed smokingest biggest balls rapper. While still playing in the kayfabe of 90s hip hop he carves out a new niche as a disaffected cool guy who loves weed and doesn't really care what other people think. Snoop stands out from his peers not just because he perfectly embodies the Death Row Records G-Funk sound, but because his attitude necessitated a different type of flow. Snoop is so laid back in his delivery and rarely expresses anything other than mild amusement that anyone would be dumb enough to not want to be him. Somehow the attitude is infectious rather than annoying, and it drives the album to new highs that were unassailable even by Snoop himself who never quite topped his debut.

Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814

The release of 86s Control cemented Janet Jackson as a pop giant, but it was the follow up that proved she was probably the most talented member of the Jackson family. Fully embracing the New Jack Swing sound that she had pioneered on Nasty, Rhythm Nation is full of funky Hip Hop beats. This album defined pop music in the 90s, practically everyone started incorporating Hip Hop into R&B. But none of the imitators ever found a balance of edginess and sweetness, of hard beats and bubbly pop that Janet Jackson managed on this record.

Brian Eno - Another Green World

This is Brian Eno in transition for sure. The ambient sounds of Discreet Music are barely present, but the quirky pop sensibilities of Here Come The Warm Jets fully abandoned. But there are no stepping stone albums in Eno's discography. Another Green World is just as much a fully fleshed out idea as anything else. In this case ethereal beauty is the driving force. There are still some pop sensibilities on songs like St. Elmo's Fire and I'll Come Running, but they lack the outright goofiness of his earlier work. Instead the album is driven by it's instrumentals and in true Eno fashion there are a swath of guest musicians here to flesh out the sound. Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Percy Jones, and John Cale all make contributions and it really provides a lush atmosphere. Basically everything that Eno recorded, collaborated on, or produced is a masterpiece and Another Green World is one of his best.

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding

I feel like this is an underrated gem from Dylan's collection. It's main claim to fame is that it has the less popular version of All Along The Watchtower. I think Dylan actually nails the depression era hobo folk singer thing that he was clearly going for at the beginning of his career. Dear Landlord, I Am A Lonesome Hobo, and I Pity The Poor Immigrant all have strong Pete Seeger vibes while Drifter's Escape and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight are straight up country songs. It's a sharp turn from his electric era and I think Dylan is at his best when he's taking sharp turns.

Roxy Music - Avalon

I wasn't familiar with this album so I was surprised and quite happy to see that it's wholly unlike any other Roxy Music album I've heard before. Gone is the wry wit and glam quirkiness and in its place is raw romantic sincerity and smooth synths. This album has that sterile synth sound that I associate with albums that 70s prog bands put out in the 80s but it really works here. I think there's just more texture to the sounds, instead of plastic it sounds ethereal, haunted kinda. Like the kind of eerie unease that comes with letting yourself be truly known.

Bob Dylan and The Band - The Basement Tapes

I honestly think that Dylan's work with the band The Band is his best stuff. Both groups compliment each other really well and they seem to let loose when they team up. The basement tapes in particular feel a lot more fun than any other album by either artist on their own. Dylan is bluesier and The Band are a little less maudlin, like they were trying to make music in each other's style and both hit the same middle ground. It's prolly a little long, coming in over 70 minutes of music with an admittedly low level of variety, but the energy will definitely keep any blues rock or folk rock fans engaged for the full run.

Santana - Abraxas

Carlos Santana is a talented but uninspired guitarist. Come at me dads. I actually like this album a lot though. While Santana may only have one and a half guitar solos in his back pocket he also has a good sense for vibes and some great percussion. And his two smash hits are covers that blow the originals out of the water so he's doing something right. I only come down hard because Santana is treated like a guitar god or something and he really isn't but his style has influenced other better guitar players so I won't dismiss him outright.

Bill Withers - Still Bill

Bill Withers had an incredible way of dropping monstrous pop hits and still flying under the radar. It feels like instead of a string of hits he's just a one hit wonder five times in a row. Withers has all of the energy of early 70s funk and all the soul of a 60s Stax release. While overshadowed by some of his contemporaries Withers still should be seen as a titan of Soul music and this album shows it. Even funkier than his debut and led by a couple of beastly good singles. Use Me has the coolest funk grooves and Lean On Me is pretty much the platonic love song of all time.

Elvis Presley - s/t

How can I be even handed when taking about rock and roll's greatest colonizer? This album is unreviewable, do I like the music on it? Yes, I actually do. But even if I hated it you should still listen to it for the historical value. This album marks the beginning of the modern music industry. The sale of Elvis Presley's recording contract to colonel Tom Parker and RCA Records is a moment that changed musical history and this album, the result of that sale, is necessary listening for anyone that cares even a little bit about popular music. Elvis is non negotiable. You can't talk about Rome without talking about Caesar and you can't talk about popular music without talking about Elvis.

[y0noirs]

youve heard of “i have a new favorite buddy daddies episode” now get ready for “i have a new LEAST favorite buddy daddies episode” // buddy daddies ep 11 spoilers

as i was watching ep 11 the things i kept repeating as i watched were “WHAT?”, “????????”, “this is not fucking happening”, and “oh my fucking god”

needless to say i’m REALLY unsatisfied with the choice to kill misaki off ): i’m 100% not impressed at all whatsoever. i don’t think it was a good or sensible choice, even for the tragedy points. it left a bad taste in my mouth and it really sort of bothered me for the rest of the episode. there was nothing other than annoyance and dissatsifcation with the way she dropped dead.

is that the point? maybe. to which i say: that’s not cool, dude! i don’t think i will be satisfied with this result no matter what!

buddy daddies has had REALLY GOOD story beats so far. much of the writing, i was cool with! i really liked buddy daddies for the refreshing writing it had with this sort of concept. however, killing misaki off right after she had shown just how much she tried to change for miri, just how desperately she wanted to give miri everything, just how much she wanted to do for miri is so wasteful. not to mention, killing off a single mother who tried her best to change and did leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

was she the most righteous character? no. you could even say that her attempt to change even after all the neglect she put miri through is a little tasteless. not a lot of people like her, and it makes sense because she didn’t treat her daughter all that well, only to come back for her. but she’s a much deeper character than the surface hypocrisy that she displays. she was dealt a terrible hand. she was unlucky and, while she may have perpetuated her unfortunate situation, there’s no changing that she is a victim. and not every victim plays out to be someone who can be admirable or likable. the point is, though, that despite everything, misaki proved that she wanted to be miri’s mother. and that she really did try her best to be a good mother towards the end.

(fuck i hate saying that! “towards the end” is so stupid!)

i, for one, actually really like misaki’s character. i don’t like what she’s done, but she’s a very well-written and complex character. she’s supposed to be this parallel to kazuki, which was clear from their confrontation in ep 3. that’s really neat IMO! the two of them contrasted each other well, especially with how they learned to be the best parent for the same child.

but killing her off? it just seemed like a waste. i don’t feel like there’s a way to justify that choice that will satisfy me. revenge will not make it any better for me, nor will some other choice. i have no idea what they’ll do for the last episode, but i don’t feel like the conclusion will be satisfying for misaki at all. i hope they prove me wrong, but i’m not particularly that hopeful.

would it have been hard to fit her into miri's life if kazuki and rei managed to fix everything? sure. it would've been hard, but it would've been worth it. miri's happiness includes her mother, too. especially her mother who tried her best despite the bad hand she was given. just 'cause it's hard doesn't mean it's wrong.

anyway, what else? that confrontation between kazuki and rei! if there’s anything to be satisfied with in this episode, it’s probably definitely that. the contrast between kazuki wanting to pull away from miri’s life to keep her safe vs rei wanting to continue their family was really great! it flipped their dynamic on its head!

i’m always here for rei growth, ok? the way the last few episodes were about rei’s growth (ep 8 + 9) was really good for what ep 11 did to cement that character growth! and seeing that resolve become what it is now - the determination to give miri the happiness she deserves for bringing warmth into his life - is really so good to me.

and kazuki’s complexity is shown further in here. he just watched misaki die (FML!), possibly even blaming himself for it. at this point he brought BOTH of miri’s biological parents to their deaths. that’s not something that someone as soft-hearted and family oriented as kazuki can take. from this point onward, he has to cut ties with miri so that he doesn’t take any other part of her - or worse, have her taken away from him. in his eyes, nothing has changed at all. he can’t do anything but bring misery to everyone around him, exactly as misaki had once told him. wow! ouch man!

but thankfully rei can convince him. rei, who is now determined to follow through with his resolve. rei who desperately wants to keep the warmth and happiness he’s been shown by this little family of theirs. he can’t achieve that warmth and happiness alone. kazuki was part of that happiness, so he’ll do his goddamned best to to convince him that they can change - for the child who brought that happiness into their lives.

there’s a thousand things i could say about their confrontation, but there’s so many other people who are also talking about it and i don’t want to rehash everything since i agree LOL but i just ... i really liked that flashback sequence, too. “we can change” and kazuki thinks about meeting yuzuko and losing her. he thinks about meeting miri. “this time, we’ll make miri happy” and he thinks about karin’s faith in him to make miri happy. yes you can, kazuki!!! yes you can!!!!!! because when has rei wanted something this badly before? if he’s by your side, if your efforts are combined, can’t you achieve that impossible dream??

it’s not bad for both of them to need each other. it’s not bad for all three of them to need each other. altogether, their little family makes all of them happy.

but mark my words, PAworks. i care more about miri’s happiness than you do GRAHH misaki’s alive in my canon ok