#but then agrees and then leaves

[bajaja-blast]

you dislike Luke Castellan because he disagreed with an oppressive government system and actually took action to change the abusive ways him and his peers have been forced to follow for millennia.

I dislike Luke Castellan because in the Titans Curse he manipulated Annabeth, who he raised as his little sister, into holding up the sky, the FUCKING sky, for over 20 hours and had the audacity to walk away as though he was completely apathetic towards it while she begged and pleaded with him to help her.

we are not the same.

[aesthetic-uni]

Miles “Who’s Morales” vs Gwen “Gwwwwanda” vs Pavtir “You seem like a nice young woman I do not know” FIGHT

[cynicallyneutral]

had to be done 🤷

[redysetdare]

Oh no, you found a post where someone is saying they think sex/romance is gross! Whatever shall you do?

ignore it. literally ignore it. I'm 100% serious just fucking ignore it. it literally is not a personal attack on you. do not take it as a personal attack. scroll past it, hell block if you really need to, but you do not need to respond. it is not about you buddy - not everything is about you. close your eyes and move on buddy it's that easy. literally it is not systematically oppressing you for someone to say "Ew sex" or "Ew romance". just walk away pal.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji might be an unstoppable force, but Xie Lian has 800+ years of practice of being an immovable object.

(poll results here for context)

[icarusredwings]

Part of me thinks that Logan absolutely HATES that he likes Wade. It's really embarrassing for him, and he doesn't understand these feelings, which frustrates him more.

At first, it started off as a casual thing, and now he's getting pissed off because he's smiling and staring at him all the time. His chest feels weird around him (and not because he keeps getting stabbed and shot)

He finds himself being near him more often, almost subconsciously just following wherever he goes. They don't really notice it until about 4 days in when Wade leaves to go on a date with Vanessa and Logan accidently trails him out of the house.

He gets embarrassed and says he's just gonna go home, but instead, Wade tells Vanessa to bring a friend for him, and it becomes one big "double" date. You'd have to be blind not to see the two guys were getting on way more then Logan and vanessa's friend, seeing as for some reason they're both sitting in the same booth and not with their respected dates...

No, he's not rude to her or distrusting of her. If anything, she's quite lovely, but he's talking to her more like a friend than a date. He's more distrusting of himself really and is still trying to learn how to socialize properly. Especially with pretty ladies.

The reason for this is Logan is still nervous about new people touching him, and wants to make a good impression by.. you know... not stabbing her on accident... so he sits with someone he trusts won't mind if he knicks him.

By the end of the night, Logans was so drunk and safe that hes giggling at every little word only to go home by himself feeling... odd because Wade went to Vanessa's. Not jealous, no he knew and helped this happen. He was happy for him. He just felt... odd... being alone again..

Your honor, He has found his pack, and now he's codependent. At least he has mary puppins to cuddle up with.

[violent138]

I think that Jason's insistent on having no relation to the Bats as much as he can as a crime boss, and he enjoys refusing all normal attempts to communicate, so Dick and him have had to stage fights while conveying information in Tamaranean, mid throwing tables, chairs, escrima sticks, half a kitchen sink, one hapless goon's phone, and everything else at each other.

[equill]

I never seen this man in my life

Extra: (you did this to yourself.)

[hyperblue]

forever thinking about tim drake stumbling into one of the wayne manor unused nurseries through the window at 5 a.m., knowing damn well that he doesn't have much time before alfred or dick realize that there's been an intruder — so he does his best to move as quickly as possible, while simultaneously trying not to disturb the precious bundle against his chest, with the baby snoring away like tim's arms are the safest place on the planet to sleep in. something tugs painfully inside tim as he lowers his baby son mistake into the old wooden cradle, the emptiness of it — no blankets, no toys, just one of kon's t-shirts wrapped around baby's body as poor excuse of comfort — is a sudden sharp knife to his mind, which is still coming to terms with what happened in that sickly green underground lab; nothing felt quite real since then, not even the warm weight of another living breathing creature pressed against his own body. the moment tim's hands leave the baby, there's immediate sniffing and shuffling as if it knows that tim's leaving, and tim knows that he has to go, he has to find bruce because bruce would know how to fix everything, but something about this lonely dark room filled with shadows and the cold morning air outside open window reminds tim of something he's been trying to bury all of his life — and the baby crying so softly (tim used to cry softly; soundlessly, even, until it wasn't enough anymore and he had to start screaming against his own palm pressed to his mouth) somehow glues tim to the place where he's standing.

"shh, shh, i know, i'm so sorry", he's not even sure what he's saying sorry for at this point. it just feels like the only word that he knows, "they will take care of you, i promise, okay? no need to cry, please don't cry"

his hearts throbs to live at the pain, some new kind of pain that he doesn't know how to numb yet as he takes off his glove to touch baby's tears-wet cheek, and something blooms at the contact, first skin to skin contact since the moment tim pulled his experiment out of the test tube.

why can't he just leave?

the effort it takes to pull away once again almost leaves him gasping for air, and it takes a few seconds for baby to start crying in earnest this time, but tim can't afford himself slowing down; though he keeps talking desperately as he moves back to the window, tugging his glove back on.

"i'm so sorry, i'm sorry. i promise i will come back as soon as can"

we'll be back around christmas, tim, there's no need to cry. you're a big boy already, it's time to start acting like one

tim leaves with the first break of dawn, knowing damn well that this heartbroken wailing is going to haunt him to the other side of the world the same way kon's phantom touches still haunt him to this very day

[tenisperfection]

An underrated thing about the bachelor party scene where Tommy hugs Buck before going to work is Buck's small little "yeah, okay" when Tommy promises him that he'll try his damnedest to make it to the wedding. It is such a small moment but maybe because of his history of love interests putting work over him as well as his own abandonment issues, there is a part of Buck that doesn't look like he believes Tommy, that takes it as what someone says when they leave and don't come back or intend to come back, even when Buck waits and waits (I'm going to be right here when you come back, okay?). So the fact that Tommy literally ran from the fire to the hospital, still in his turnouts and covered in soot, all because he promised Buck he would try his best to show up and he meant it? I love that for Buck. I love the look on his face as he reads Tommy's text, because this might be new but it is good for him to finally feel like a priority in a romantic relationship in ways he's not experienced before.

[ljsarts]

"If I was so dead, where was my funeral?! Where’s my headstone?"

I'm haunted by both these quotes and the idea of what would have happened had Timothy Goose found Ylfa after she'd well ...

Quote is by Kristin Chang

now available as a print

[starry-bi-sky]

Who is the more well-adjusted twin; Damian, or Danyal? Why, it's Damian, of course!

And I have an explanation for this! But first I wanna preface this that this is just me like, rambling about this thought I have and it's not an attack on the trope as a whole. I love the Danyal Al Ghul au which is why i'm so deeply passionate about it, because I think it has a lot of potential to be explored. It's no secret that I've mentioned before that I think Danny's psychological development tends to get overlooked and underutilized in DAG aus, and the impact that growing up in an assassin league often goes ignored. This is just me further expanding on that.

Now lets set the stage! This is specifically for Danny who is adopted by the Fentons later down in life. Lets go twin au. At 10 years old, Damian goes to the Wayne Family, Danny is adopted by the Fentons (regardless of their affiliation with the League). By 14 years old, who ends up the better adjusted, more socially aware, spiritually in-tune with themselves, sibling? Why, Damian is! Why is that?

Because he has the actual support he needs compared to Danny. And I'm not talking about good or bad parents Fentons, because either way my opinion doesn't change. Damian would end up the better off twin, because, frankly, his family knows his background. They know he grew up in the League, they know what the League's teachings are, and they know he's a born and raised assassin. Knowing this, they can then help tackle and dismantle the teachings and lessons he has been given and ingrained into by the League. They may be a dysfunctional family, but they're functional enough to at least actively help deprogram all of the League's teachings that have been ingrained in Damian throughout his childhood.

Can't say the same for Danny.

Lets say Fentons here don't know his background -- and even if they do, the results may just stay the same if they play their cards wrong, -- Danny's now just been thrown into the deep end of a pool and is essentially being told sink or swim. Regardless of how he got there -- undercover, faked death, etc -- he has no proper support. He knows the League is meant to be secret, he's not gonna speak on it for various reasons. Whether it be some still lingering loyalty, fear of harm, or whatever. Whatever the reason is, he does not have a proper support system in the Fentons, no matter how nice they are. They can only tackle the surface level stuff and whatever Danny allows them to see -- if Danny ever lets them see it at all. For what do assassins do when they don't want to be caught? They hide. Sometimes in plain sight.

"But Jazz--" Jazz is a child. She is 2 years older than Danyal and no better at giving him a proper support system than the two adult Fenton parents, even with parentification. We don't know when she got into psychology or how long she'd been studying it by the time Danny's 14. We just know she's really into it. Even then, Jazz is not a licensed or reliable therapist, or even an experienced or implied good therapist, and should not be used as one either. It's a disservice to her character to reduce her down to 'supporting female emotional crutch'. Besides, therapy only works on people who want to get better. Danny, who'd be hiding who he really is, has very little incentive to want to, or to even think something is wrong with his way of thinking, even with exposure to the outside world.

When people's beliefs are outright challenged, they tend to double down on them, and Jazz canonically has a habit of psychoanalyzing her family and declaring what she thinks is the problem -- regardless of whether or not she's right about it. Jazz would get into psychology, try and psychoanalyze Danny, and all it would do is cause him to clam up, shut into himself further, and throw up even more walls so that she can't figure out that he has been lying this whole time. It would do more harm than good, and would actively hinder any progress he'd make in trying to open up to them. Roads and good intentions and all that.

That being said, I think Danny's development and dismantling of the League's teachings would be slower than Damian's. Much slower. Because he would be the one having to pick apart everything and figure out what is right, what is wrong, what he wants to keep, and what he wants to toss. Everything he unlearns would be stuff he has to unlearn himself. If he even gets to that point at all -- depending on his experiences, he very well could not change at all, or change very little. The League acts as a purge for humanity, meant to reign in their hubris and retain balance, they just also happen to be assassins for hire. Danny's time spent in Amity Park could as well strengthen his belief in their teachings just as much as it could weaken it, especially if it goes as canon and he gets bullied.

Regardless, being tossed to a civilian family as someone who is very much not a civilian, without any support, would be actively detrimental to Danny's overall mental health and development. Especially to strangers like the Fentons. Damian was closed off and standoffish even with blood family, and it took him time to open up to them -- Danny, with the Fentons, would be even more so. He doesn't know them, he doesn't trust them, he has no rhyme or reason to open up to them, and since the Fentons don't actually know him, they can't help him the way he needs. Once "Danny Fenton" is made, he has even less reason to open up. So long as Danyal allows it, they will only ever know Danny, and they'll never know Danyal.

TL:DR the Fentons aren't the better family option just because they're civilians, and actually that makes them the worser option between the two because they can't give Danny the proper support he needs. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

[laurents-secret-diary]

oh damen we're really in it now.mp4

[readerconfused]

I saw people on Twitter complaining about the way Hades talked calmly with Percy. Guys, Ares is the one who hates children, and even he tried to be nice to them. They are twelve year old kids, the gods know how to talk to them to get what they want

Don't get carried away by sympathy, Hades is not innocent, he knew exactly what he was doing there. The pomegranate juice was a joke, but a reminder that he's smart. He was being nice for a purpose.

[xoalsox]

taemin doing an impression of jonghyun (x)

[bonefall]

the worst parent poll made me realize just how many ppl in the fandom are willing to jump straight into abuse apologia. bc on one hand you have ppl dumbing down crow's abuse to "him just being mean" and on the other end you have ppl saying that curlfeather didnt abuse frostpaw because she sacrificed herself and frost + her siblings love her so she couldnt possibly be an abuser. truly mindboggling stuff take these serious topics away from the fandom asap.

Part of me feels like it's because many in this fandom have a feeling that if a character's actions are abusive, it means you're "not allowed" to like them. Like there's an impulse where if you liked a character, it MUST mean they weren't THAT bad, because you'd personally never like "an abuser."

As if it reflects poorly on your own morality, as a person, that you connected with An Abuser. Understood them, even. Even if it was just a character.

If it's immoral to Like Abusive Characters, of course your reaction is going to end up being abuse apologia. To enjoy something isn't logical, it's emotional, so you will get defensive about it when questioned. When you do, it's not going to be based on logic because you didn't reason yourself into that position in the first place. It's an attack on you as a person.

I feel like that's often the root of abuse apologia in this fandom, and sometimes the world at large; "If I admit that this character/person IS abusive, it means I was doing something bad by liking them, so I have to prove to everyone else that they weren't or it means I'm bad too."

And to that I say... That's a BAD impulse! Grow up and admit you resonated with a character that did a bad thing! If that's an uncomfortable thought, sit with it!

Sometimes abusers are likeable! They usually DO think they're justified in their actions, or doing it for "a good reason," or were just too preoccupied to care. MOST of the time, people who commit abusive actions are also hurt or traumatized in some way. You might even empathize with them. None of this means their actions have to be excused or downplayed.

"Abusers" aren't a type of goddamn yokai, they're people just like you and me. You don't help victims of abuse by putting the people who hurt us in an "untouchable" category.

In fact, all it does is make you less likely to recognize your own controlling behavior. You're capable of abuse. People you love are capable of it, too. People who love YOU can still hurt you.

In spite of how often people regurgitate "It's Ok To Like A Character As Long As You're Critical Of Their Actions," every day it is proven to me further and further that no one who says it actually understands what that means.

All that said; I think it's no contest which one's a worse parent, imo.

They both mistreated their children, but Curlfeather did it through manipulation without verbal or physical abuse. She politically groomed her into a position of power so that she could use her as a pawn. It can be argued if this counts as child abuse-- but it's firmly still under the broad category childhood maltreatment, which is damaging.

(though anon I'm with you 100% at seeing RED when "but she sacrificed herself" is used as an excuse. Curlfeather's death does NOT CHANGE what she did to Frostpaw in life. I think it's a valid point to bring up when comparing her to another terrible parent for judgement purposes, such as in the context of this poll, but I really hate the implication that redemption deaths "make up" for maltreatment.)

Crowfeather, meanwhile, is textually responsible for putting Breezepaw through verbal AND physical abuse, as well as child neglect. His motivations include embarrassment from a hurt ego, revenge on his ex, and being sad because of a dead girlfriend. This abuse drives Breezepelt towards radicalization in the Dark Forest.

You could argue Curlfeather is a worse person for Reedwhisker's murder, but as a parent? It's not even a question to me. Crowfeather's one of the worst dads in WC.