#but not that their backgrounds are fundamentally different

[knight-of-blaze]

ok im rewatching the og tailors shop scene and its making episode 9 hurt a lot more

hob directly asks if either rue or binx know who was at fault for the breaking of the engagement. rue let hob leave that conversation still believing it was apollo. they immediately pulled the conversation away, asking him about it being his victories that lead to the engagement.

maybe it was originally a first step. a lead-in to a confession. an explanation of how this has all been a big misunderstanding. but rue never gives that impression. they never make it seem as though they have other ideas of who hob is looking for. even knowing that it was themself.

they go on to have this revelation of their on feelings heightening into love at the reveal of hobs first name. and what do they do next? they scold him. yes, theyre telling him he deserves better and the sentiment behind those words are positive overall. they want whats best for him. but wouldnt it have been a perfect opportunity to come clean? to say "knickolas, i care about you so much and knowing the full scope of what youre going through now i cannot bear to continue hiding this from you"? wouldnt they understand that to criticize his very nature is to use the exact same tactics that his own court uses to keep him in line?

as far as im concerned, all the misunderstandings could have begun to clear in that moment. but rue chose to prioritize the pushing of their own ideals onto hob. they chose to hide. to not give even a hint to hob that they know the answers he seeks.

[utilitycaster]

Sort of a distant tangent off my post about Ashton, but I'm growing more and more suspicious of the fandom claim that there's no time for small RP moments in Campaign 3. I do think that it's been challenging to get deeper party bonding or serious conversations that aren't about the big philosophical questions they're facing, since those do take much more time; but then I think about Calamity, or Candela Obscura. I can genuinely give you at least a couple paragraphs about pretty much every relationship in the two Circles, or in the Ring of Brass. I can also point to no shortage of small moments between characters in the Mighty Nein Aeor or Vox Machina Vecna endgame episodes, which were all extremely plot-heavy and fast-paced, and D20 consistently nails character relationships in a fraction of the time.

I think it really does come down to, as Brennan Lee Mulligan always says, the character creation phase. Laying down a solid groundwork in which everyone has a detailed, rich backstory and sense of personality and relationship history (in the case of characters who knew each other prior to the start of the series) is absolutely crucial, and even in the case of characters who don't know each other before going in, a good amount of time spent in character creation ensures that it's easier for them to develop those interpersonal relationships on the fly. I know in actual play there's some degree of finding the character as you play, but there are games for which there is a very short runway, and I don't think it ever hurts to do more extensive character prep than the bare minimum. And if there are gaps, I think it also helps to go back and fill those in mid-way, away from the table - Travis clarifying Chetney's backstory being a great example that allowed the history of Chetney and Deanna to feel realized and full, despite only a few episodes.

I'll also be blunt: most of the time when people complain that there aren't moments because the plot keeps moving...they're mad about shipping. Which has always rung hollow to me. It was a common complaint in C2, that no time was taken for character relationships, despite them taking an entire half of an episode for the Beauyasha date and despite no shortage of moments for all three of the other couples (and plenty of platonic moments between friends). The issue was never a lack of time; it was that the characters they wanted to talk to each other didn't actually have the relationship in canon that the fans had dreamed up, and so, when the chips were down, they went to other people.

It takes two seconds to say something like "I hold their hand", even in the middle of plot-heavy adventuring. If someone doesn't say it, it's rarely the GM rushing them; it's the player either choosing not to do so, or not remembering to do so, and either of those is quite revealing regarding how the player feels about that relationship and where it stands in their priorities.

[bardicious]

I'm writing out my superhero comic idea and it's history, and it's like embarrassingly obvious what my favorite shows are. lmao.

[shiawasekai]

As in, with Nela the idea is that she was definitely a very troublesome child, but people actually pressuring her to outgrow it because it was Unbecoming Of Her only made her stick to her shenanigans even harder and, especially in her teens, gave strength to the metaphorical devil in her shoulder every Emberkin has.

Of course, she gets a wake-up call (working on what would be dramatic enough to pull her away from the slippery slope, but not so dire it would make her an outcast or anything like that. I can't quite think in anything yet that feels right), but she was on a very dangerous path because most people in her life couldn't trust a child to figure herself out.

Had they left her alone to get the childish recklessness out of her system, she would have turned out a very, very different person. That would be a fun AU to consider someday, maybe.

[shoshiwrites]

Hate that I haven't posted any writing in a couple months and also essentially abandoned my askbox but also life is...life, I'm adjusting to a new schedule/role at work, and even when it's a reeeeally slow drip my WIP googledoc stays open so. Trying not to feel too bad about it. Thank you all for sticking around❤️

[youweremyversaillesatnight]

lowkey would love to see both simon going to therapy by himself but also simon and wille going to therapy together in s3

[lord-squiggletits]

Speaking of stupid reasons to criticize the Autobots (or rather, the opposite), I actually find the ““““problematic”““““ nature of Cop IDW Optimus and other elements of the plot to be quite essential to enjoying the story and seeing it as a balanced, nuanced story.

Because like... in other continuities, the story of revolution seems to be very much “there were good revolutionaries and there were bad ones, and then the bad ones wanted to be in charge and then they fought about it for 4 million years.” Which seems very weak to me not just in the “revolution bad” sense, but it makes me wonder how the war could go on for millions of years when the Autobots and Decepticons literally had the same goal and achieved it, now they’re just fighting over who gets to be in charge.

But like, in IDW1, the Autobot insignia and stuff already existed as a badge for the previous regime of the Prime/Senate. Orion Pax (now Optimus Prime) was a lackey of Zeta Prime who was either his loyal puppet at best or being groomed for the position of Prime at worst. Most of the people Optimus Prime recruited to help him fight were other police officers and military members he was affiliated with, who were already cracking down on the Decepticon movement as it became more and more violent.

With that base of Optimus/the Autobots being actually ~problematic~, I can absolutely see why the Decepticons wouldn’t consider the war over and would continue fighting. I mean, why the hell would they trust a police enforcer/military officer who was lackeys with the PRIME? Why would they think Optimus actually believes in peace and equality?

Of course, the Decepticons have their own problems as well. What was once a universal political movement (because remember, the Decepticon movement began with Megatron’s writings but he was NOT the leader of a militarized faction until Megatron Origins) was taken over by essentially an underground criminal gladiator organization that began engaging in weapon trafficking, crime, and terrorism. From the Autobot perspective, the Decepticons are allies for equality gone bad due to Megatron’s violent influences and the gladiator/criminal aspects overtaking the actual social equality vibes.

I just think that the premise of IDW1′s Autobot-Decepticon war is so good because like, the Autobots and Decepticons existed in a way BEFORE either Megatron or Optimus became the official leaders of those two specific, organized, militarized factions. But the society that created them and the two different social classes they came from doomed them to distrust each other. It wasn’t ever a fight about who got to be in charge, it was a war between two different factions of people who had every reason to distrust each other and think that the other faction would subjugate them if they allowed them to gain power.

[riotshotguns]

my curse of acquiring the worlds most obscure blorbos continues

[roguetelepaths]

If I had to name one theme that captivates me more than anything else, it's people rejecting the abusive and coercive ways of relating to each other that are offered to them by society and choosing care and kindness instead.

[leguin]

meanwhile lestat is like i’ve always loved the way he lies :)

[quasarifxxy]

And then we get to see that same part of her being challenged in the next arc because of how unfair the system is and she feels so helpless about it. Refusing to resort to forbidden magic and trying to find innovative ways to save or help her love ones only to backfire, and all of it is happening behind Qifrey's back 😭

[anakinh]

honestly, probably an unpopular opinion but i want more stories about ambition and intelligence that isn’t portrayed as evil. also I’m not raised religious and i don’t understand the big deal re: gods

[mortalkombat4]

there’s like a genre of post that’s gotten very popular that’s basically just like. “you internet gays would be QUAKING in your little snowflake boots if you ever interacted with REAL gay and trans people who use SLURS and do DRUGS and are sometimes PROBLEMATIC”

and these posts come in all shades of joking and serious but it really rubs me the wrong way because. the people you’re talking to are also real gay people? and maybe if you saw them as such and listened to them you would understand the myriad of reasons they aren’t comfortable with the things you glorify in ~real life gay people~

idk i just don’t think someone on the internet not wanting to be called a slur or having concerns with how their own gender/sexuality is talked about makes them some coward? and maybe continually pushing this narrative that people who have been in situations where that kind of talk makes them feel scared/uncomfortable/unhappy are “fake” gay/trans people isn’t a good thing?

[wizard-mp4]

My favorite game at work is watching my coworkers doing my job for me after I already did it once

[confessedlyfannish]

DP x DC Prompt #4

When they all convene at the cave, Alfred is silently wrapping Dick's knuckles. Damian hovers beside him. Tim and Barbara are hunched over the batcomputer, not even sparing Bruce a glance as he strides over.

"Report," Batman grunts. No one reacts.

"Report!"

"Hood pushed his panic button at 2:34 AM," Barbara says shortly, straightening.

The button had been a joke, mostly because Jason would never use it and everyone knew it.

"I patched into his comm at 2:35. This is what I heard initially." At her nod, Tim presses play. What occurs next is a garble. There is the sound of high winds, as if Hood is rushing through the air, even though the comms are designed to filter out any ambiance otherwise the Bats would never hear each other. Interspersed is a mixture of static punctuated by high, inhuman screeches of metal and something else unknown.

"This goes on," Barbara says after thirty long seconds, switching it off. "Red Hood failed to respond to any attempts at contact. I dispatched Nightwing to Hood's location at 2:36 AM. He was approximately two miles away." She pulls up a GPS map of their respective locations, their beacons blinking.

"At 2:41 AM, Red Hood's comm goes off, as does his GPS," Barbara says, swallowing softly as the red beacon indicating Jason disappears. "Nightwing arrives at 2:42 AM."

Dick doesn't say anything, head hanging low as he grips the metal table he sits on. Damian glances between the two of them, expression flat but fists clenched.

"Nightwing, report."

"..."

"Scene was empty, B," Tim speaks up. "No trace of Hood, no sign of a struggle. No cameras in the alley. We've been checking the ones nearby but so far there's no sign of anyone but Hood heading in that direction...and no one, Hood included, caught in the cams heading out, not within that time frame."

"So he's still in the area," Batman concludes. "The local buildings?"

"All the entrances have cameras, which showed no evidence of Hood nor any evidence of being tampered with," Barbara says. "Nightwing, Red Robin and Robin canvased within a half mile radius to check for any signs of disturbances in any of the windows or rooftops but found no evidence to support Hood being taken. A scan confirmed several serial offenders, but when interviewed and searched there was no sign of Hood. Several in the area reported an unusual quiet for Crime Alley."

Batman forces the next question out. "Did you check the dumpsters?"

"Yes," Nightwing grits out. "Empty."

Barbara clears her throat. "I have attempted to reconnect to Jason's GPS and comm as well as restart both remotely but there's no signal at all. The thing is, when there's a disruption like that it usually leaves some sort of sign" she pulls up the audio waves, pointing at the end where the spikes conform into a straight line that makes everyone deeply uncomfortable. Upon playing, the noise from before plays before going abruptly silent. "But there is no large spike, this is clean. It just ends. His GPS is much the same. It's not off, it's just gone."

"I know you don't like to hypothesize this early on, B, but we think this involves a meta," Tim says, rewinding the audio. "We've been running the audio from Jason's comm through different filters, playing with the levels and isolating what we can and, well, take a listen--"

The screeching drops to a sort of muffle and in the background, distantly, they can hear bits of Jason's voice.

"No, I'm not---"

"--don't need--"

"get AWAY from--"

a particularly desperate yell that makes Tim flinch, "I am NOT--!"

and almost a whimper that makes Batman's blood run cold, "please..."

And then, unfairly clear even through the faint garble, Jason says "I don't have a choice, do I."

And a minute later, quietly: "Ok."

The audio cuts off.

The defeat in Jason's last words is palpable, and fundamentally wrong. Jason has never sounded defeated a day in his life, and no one knows how to process Red Hood all but giving his hands over for the cuffs. Nightwing pushes himself off the table.

"I'm going back out there," he growls. No one tries to stop him as he stalks out the cave, not even Alfred.

"I will accompany Nightwing, make sure he does not punch any more walls." Damian says, nodding tightly.

"B?" Barbara asks.

"Keep working on it. See if you can identify what could be making those noises if Hood was standing still in an alley," Batman says, walking towards the zeta tube. "I'm going to make a few calls."

[glitchdollmemoria]

please can we stop describing bigots as delusional. please. im so fucking tired. someone being sucked into a hate group surrounded by others who believe minorities should be oppressed and encouraging them to believe in conspiracy theories that the rest of the group believes, is fundamentally different from someone having a mental illness that causes delusions.

delusions, by definition, cannot be explained by things like cultural background - such as having a belief constantly reinforced by intentional attempts to rationalize it for the sake of maintaining power over minorities. yes, someone can be both delusional and a bigot, and yes conspiracy theories can feed into delusions, but the two are not fucking synonymous.

i did not spend my teen years convinced that i was being stalked by demons just to hear so many of you people equate my disability with incel behavior and genocidal propaganda. stop reinforcing harmful connotations about mental health struggles.