#cause i assume most of my active follow comes from there now

[julymarte]

I just wanted to say that your art is really beautiful and I love it. I found out about you because of your twisted wonderland fan art. Your work has literally made me fall in love with Jade again (and with other characters too) because you convey them so well with your art. Your drawing style is amazing and I am very inspired by it. Because of your art, I tried to draw myself, despite the creative crisis. At the moment, you don't draw twst (but you did really great and I'm very sorry to lose your twst works. changing interests is fine, but if you stopped because of some uncertainty, then it's a pity. you did great!), but I still keep following you because I just love your art. Your original characters and their designs are wonderful! English is not my native language, I apologize for mistakes. Thank you very much for your art. I wish you strength and patience to overcome all adversities! Thank you very much again! ♡♡♡♡♡

Omg anon you are so sweet fbdbdbdh don't worry English is not my native language as well!

I'm very glad to hear that you liked my twst art! In part it's true that I stopped for my own insecurities, like I'd really wanted to do some fellow art or Idia or like now savanaclaw rook but something in me tells me nooo youd ruin tem! With jade I was glad that my hyperfixation overrun that thought xD but I've had a veeeeeery low inspiration and drive moment and I think that's mostly why I stopped(for now, who knows)...and cause there were some things brewing in the fandom that I wanted to avoid

But I really appreciate you staying!! And that I managed to inspire you to draw this really makes me happy🥺💕

[problematicbyler]

an incomplete history of byler sexuality discourse

and how widespread fandom purity culture and homophobia created a flourishing nsfw sub-fandom

some may call me chronically online, but i call myself a fandom historian. i've been a member of some fandom or another since i was about thirteen, and i've always been interested in the rise and fall of fandom discourse. though it's annoying in the moment it's happening, i think it's very interesting and telling to look back at the overall arcs and trends.

so, let's talk about the many times the fandom has cancelled people over byler sexuality, and how each level of "hornygate" has contributed to the growth of the proship/byler smut community.

(i use the term proship in its intended definition, which is to say, not "problematic shipping," but rather being pro-fiction, anti-censorship, and anti-harassment; it is a position of believing the fiction one creates or consumes doesn't reflect a person's real life beliefs or morals.)

i have been a stranger things lover since season 1, a byler shipper since season 2, and an active part of the byler community on tumblr since season 4. i'll mostly be focusing on post-season 4 discourse because that's what i've really been most present for and that was the period that really marked a turning point in the fandom.

seasons 1-3

i wasn't as plugged into fandom discourse back in the day, but the broad strokes of early discourse was mostly thinly veiled homophobia. claiming that it was sexualization to assume will or mike could be queer despite blatant queer coding, implying that analysts were no better than will's bullies to assume his sexuality, etc etc. people were criticized for shipping byler at all because they were so young (but these people naturally had no issue with mileven, so, again, homophobia).

season 4 (may-july 2022)

now, season 4. this is where byler was brought to the attention of a lot more fans, and stranger things' viewership reached wider than ever. the byler fandom on tumblr booms from 4k to 100k over the course of season 4's release.

this brought a lot of new people who have never been in fandoms before, people who never learned don't like don't read or your kink is not my kink and that's okay or ship and let ship.

or, a lot of times, people who had only been in fandoms for celebrities and bands, which tend to have different rules when it comes to shipping and sex, because they're real people. hence a lot of young antis' conflation of character with their actors, but that's a different rant.

so with a rapidly growing fandom, a show ripe for analysis, and the art of media literacy bleeding out on the ground in front of us, the hellscape of the fandom post-season 4 in 2022 followed as such:

august 2022

jo/kendra gate where two extremely popular analysts were called out for "sexualizing" byler while being adults (early to mid 20s). they were dogpiled and harassed because one of them said that will was giving mike "bedroom eyes" (he was) and one of them said mike was checking will out (he was):

pyshiie and moogate. the proship side of byler twitter rose up and started to divide itself. i'll credit my own joining-the-dark-side to pyshiie and moo, formerly barbjeanisms, who were two popular artists called out respectively for sexualizing byler and generally being proship. similarly, people were called out and criticized for even following or interacting with those accounts after this discourse.

september 2022

hosegate is the most famous across the byler fandom, and it's when some users proposed that the scene in the pizzeria uses phallic imagery to imply mike turns will on (or vice versa) and a lot of people thought that was too sexualized, it caused a divide, and more fanpolicing, etc.

october 2022

the artist noodlesandtea was harassed for having liked arguably nsfw bakudeku art (they were shirtless, it wasn't explicit) on the same account where they draw characters who are minors. they also drew byler kissing, which was a problem for some? anyone who defended them was also called a pedo, naturally. noodles also got called out for having drawn fanart of the popular e-rated fanfiction....

the unmarked mixtape. a massively popular sequel to a massively popular fic, the red envelope. for a long time, those were the most widely recommended byler fics, but it very soon became taboo to even admit to reading them because the sequel has explicit sex and the first has them making out.

sonnet116 gate is another fic that was beloved and then rapidly turned on by byler twitter because it had implied, fade to black sex scenes. it was about them hooking up but had no smut. and even the non explicit idea of that was offensive and pedophilic of anyone who dared read it. around this time, another fic was called out for having will moaning into a kiss, because writing a teenager moaning was also offensive and pedophilic.

i'm told i (jana / troublebyler gate?) may have influenced a lot of people joining twitter for byler smut after writing illicit affairs and some other smutty oneshots in rapid succession, seeing a lot of byler shippers moving to the proship side of the fandom just to discuss and write byler smut. i also hosted a little fandom gossip column on my curiouscat where a lot of folks confessed to reading or writing smut while pretending to be "normal" in the "main" fandom. it basically revealed/implied that a large amount of popular authors, artists, and accounts were secretly pro byler smut, and that many proshippers were "undercover" in the "main" fandom.

the blocklist era. around this time the "main" fandom also created a "st twt safety" account on twitter which was basically targeted harassment and mass reporting of proshippers. the account does warn of some genuine bad actors sending gore images via dms, being racist, etc. but by far, the majority of it was simply calling out proshippers for sexualizing byler, sharing screenshots they thought were "gross," which only resulted in spreading nsfw content to unintended audiences of minors that likely never would have seen the nsfw accounts otherwise.

november 2022

practice kissing gate is where a handful of popular fic writers were criticized for writing practice kissing fics (such as undertow), and in fact, any amount of byler making out, because adults "fantasizing" about teenagers kissing was "gross."

the proship corner of st twitter continued to grow a lot thanks to so many lovely fan creators, all of whom i couldn't possibly list but who have done a lot for the community! but we continued to get bombarded with endless callout posts and block lists and witch hunting. people were unabashedly policing people's following lists and likes on twitter to call people out for engaging with any questionable users or content. (if you search byler twitter now you can still see the wreckage of so many witch hunts.)

onward through 2023

over time things have mostly calmed down, or at least enough of the folks on "opposing sides" of the fandom have mutually blocked each other to survive. this is likely also influenced by the hiatus leaving the fandom to quiet down, the collapse of twitter-turned-x having many users migrate their fandom content elsewhere, and the mass exodus of many people from the fandom for political reasons. if i had to guess, the ramp-up to season 5 will see all new conflict as more "casual" fans return to the fandom. but who's to say.

which brings us to now:

spicybylerpolls gate, wherein the byler tag on tumblr collectively had to reckon with the fact that people want byler to have sex and it doesn't make them creeps to vote in silly polls about it. people criticized the blog for being overly sexualized and pure fantasy versus more "acceptable" analysis, with many making sweeping moralizing statements about anyone who dared interact with the blog.

this has kicked off tumblr's own sort of horny revolution in encouraging folks to be more open on here, whereas previously we were confined to our corner of twitter.

so in summary:

people over and over again put fan creators on a pedestal just to turn on them when they're "betrayed" when a person's views did not one-to-one line up to theirs.

teens in the fandom especially were "betrayed" by adults in the fandom they thought were "safe" (and i would argue that self proclaimed "safe" adults in fandom are far more dangerous to real life minors than the proship fans who sexualize fictional characters but dont interact with real teens)

most everything has been fueled by widespread ageism at any fan over the age of 18, widespread homophobia and puritanism in regards to exploring queer sexuality or discussing sex at all

so much hate has been over what are essentially "thought crimes", with people watering down serious accusations like pedophilia into a petty insult over disagreements on fiction

and the cycle repeats itself endlessly until things devolve back into witch hunting and policing peoples following and likes etc

the best part to me is that every single cancellation just resulted in more people flooding to the horny side of the fandom to post more freely and without shame. every time a person on twitter posted screenshots of my account to say how "gross" it was (while simultaneously exposing my 18+ nsfw content to their audience of minors) i had a surge in followers. the more the fandom squeezes, the more people slip from its hold.

but that doesn't make the harassment campaigns okay, and it doesn't mean the fandom didn't do massive amounts of harm to real people in an attempt to protect fictional characters.

my hope going forward is that the fandom can coexist as a community where people don't have to like or agree with certain content to treat the people who create it with respect and dignity. and i hope that, while this side of the fandom might grow more on tumblr, we don't have to relive the same old discourses and go through the same cycles we went through on twitter.

and remember kids, the block button is both free and fun.

[soopibean]

SEVENTEEN VS DISPATCH

This is how Seventeen would react to seeing a dispatch reporter following them.

Disclaimer!! As we all know, dispatch is a questionable entity and obviously the members of seventeen wouldn't react in this way. HOWEVER this is just meant for fun so don't take it too seriously.

Warnings: Mentions of cultish activities, Jeonghan is a scary man, reporter may like coups a little too much. Kidnapping?

Scoups

He angrily rants at the reporter, aggressively telling them what he'll do if he sees them here or around his members again. (Papa coups)

The reporter is left feeling a mixture of fear and arousal. Doesn't return either way.

Jeonghan

They're not watching him, he's watching them.

After a few days of following him they begin to realise he's visiting places they frequent. Restaurants they eat at, even the school they went to... But the most terrifying is when they realise at the end of the day, Jeonghan drove right to their house.

The reporter bursts through his front door to find Jeonghan eating a meal with his own wife and kids, a sinister smile played on his lips.

The reporter quits his job the next day and leaves the country.

Joshua

Simply gives them a gracious smile as he approaches them, offers a firm handshake as he begins his indoctrination. He doesn't see 'dispatch', he sees lost souls perfect for his cause.

The reporters are easy to convince.

Jun

Hasn't noticed. Assumed they were the trash collectors so he personally hands them his bin bags when he sees them. This was a good opportunity for them to snoop, though after opening them, all they find are bags full of scrunched up paper. It's all completely blank.

The reporters are left confused and empty handed.

Hoshi

'Horanghaes' in their direction whenever he see them, asks them to do it back. If they don't he becomes very upset.

The reporters now do it on impulse in most situations... They've become the laughing stock of the office.

Wonwoo

Notices them immediately. Convinced it's the government. Goes into hiding and starts wearing a tinfoil hat.

The reporters receive a bonus for capturing a photo of Wonwoo in said hat.

Woozi

They wait outside his studio for weeks. The blinds are always pulled, the lights are always on but no sign of life is seen. They finally leave but as they do, they miss the chance to see the wild Woozi emerging from the building, hissing at the sun and passing out from dehydration.

The reporters wasted everybody's time and are swiftly demoted.

DK

Greets them like old friends, asks about their families, brings them coffee on occasion. Even if they did find something they could report, they could never bring themselves to betray him.

The reporters become his personal protectors.

Mingyu

Immediately thinks they've caught him in a dating scandal. They follow him as he leaves the dorm late at night dressed perfectly in an expensive suit. He arrives at the restaurant, greeting somebody with a hug... It's Jungkook.

The reporters get sued by HYBE.

The8

Starts filming and taking pictures of them out of spite. Glares in disapproval at any given opportunity.

The reporters end every day feeling judged and self conscious.

Seungkwan

DRAMA QUEEN. Acts annoyed but is actually flattered. Begins to create his own fake scandals.

'O-oh I didn't see you there, I was just talking on the phone to my- oh I shouldn't have said that'

Struts off giggling, looking back every few seconds in hopes they'll follow.

The reporters decide to leave him to it.

Vernon

Does. Not. Care. Completely devoid of emotion when it comes to them. Simply stares blankly and unblinking in their direction.

The reporters are left feeling insignificant. They do little tricks to try to impress him. It doesn't work.

Dino

After watching him get left behind by the entire group on a beach trip they were having, the reporter offers him a ride home out of pity. Dino doesn't question the man and happily accepts, just grateful to have some company on his birthday. After hearing this the reporter couldn't bring himself to turn in any of the information he had gotten.

The reporter goes home and hugs his son.

However, if Dino had waited a few more minutes, he would have seen Seventeen returning with a birthday cake adorned with candles. Though upon seeing their youngest member missing and witnesses claiming he left in a suspicious vehicle, they are now convinced he had been kidnapped.

Thus chaos ensues... But that's a story for another time ;)

[kyomaakuma7]

After a very long break I’ve come to finally say my share. For those who want to know in more depth how I feel about the full situation I am writing it down below.

Thank you for everyone who sent kind messages and comforting words and thank you most to my good friend @thisanimatedphantom and Kou who supported me through these hard times.

My statement on the Situation

When I started in Inky Mystery, I never thought that it would  get me to where I am today with the friends that I have now.  When I was first introduced to it, and reading it I was immediately entranced into the story and wanted nothing more but to illustrate it since I had already planned to remake the original. Seeing such a well-crafted story I knew that this would be the story that I would illustrate. (And TAP knows how much work and behind the scene illustrating I’ve been doing from character turnarounds, layout design, alphabet style, and etc.)

Soon I made the first blog and received overwhelming support which I had not originally imagined would come with making my first post, and to that I am grateful. Soon I befriended the author of InkyMystery as our friendship grew, so did the attention that I received with the comics that I was illustrating for them. Unfortunately deleted against my wishes, and after trying to get it back to no avail I created a new blog where I had to restart from the beginning. This process was not easy and for those who know me, I was completely devastated by the fact that I had lost that account. After making my new account with the support of TAP I started my journey again.

Unfortunately with the positive attention comes negative attention. Soon the posts started to gain traction again, and people started to come under the assumption that I was TheGreatRouge making their come back.  What people failed to acknowledge and do was to do further research on was whether or not I actually was. As you can assume I am not them. In fact, I do not like TheGreatRouge. Their content was some thing that I consumed in great mass when I was younger, but soon realized that a lot of the things that they made were toxic and I distanced myself from that. Since then, I have gained certain opinions from on this creator. Nonetheless, I do not find it acceptable that people are taking this approach, even if they do think that I am them.

The words that were said to me in my inbox, comments, and direct messages are not things that I will repeat here. What you should know is that a lot of these things were pertaining to me being a disgusting vile human who should take my own life. As someone who struggles with depression, this was a personal hit to home and it cause my mental health to decline drastically. And I spent days going through and deleting these.

At first, I did not speak out on the issue and distance myself from my friends until eventually I came back and told them what was happening. TAP felt for me and as you may know when they made a post about it which I appreciate greatly along with comforting me and encouraging my break.

I took a long break from working on the comic, along with interacting with the community which worried a lot of people, but it was necessary for me to do since it was harming me so much. I am officially coming back and I will be more active on this account since I don’t have to follow it as a mainly Inky Mystery account.

My final statement on the situation is that even though I am not TheGreatRouge under no circumstances is it acceptable to tell somebody to take their own life or attack somebody on social media just because your beliefs do not align with theirs. No matter how wrong it is, it is not acceptable. If you think that doing those things are OK then you’re not welcome in my space. Please leave.

Thank you and I hope to continue doing this since I love it so much <3

-Sincerely, KyomaAkuma

[according2thelore]

But what if we didn’t want to be spared? What if we wanted to hear all your thoughts about Dean and him talking to Sam about Dean getting shipped off when he pissed off their dad?

Would you tell us then!??? ;)

in reference to this post here!

omg, hello friend!

well if you insist 👉👈 

talking from a meta perspective, this is so fascinating to me! because a lot of john's control in the show is enforced by his absence.

in "bad boys," dean is punished by john's absence, and he has to face the legal ramifications of his theft. in all of season one, john's control is exerted over his sons by his absence--they follow his text almost religiously, and dean has become more loyal in his absence, not less. his intentions have to be assumed, so they are assumed pure and for the benefit of his sons.

we see multiple times (but off the top of my dome, in "the girl next door") that sam is controlled from afar by john (i.e., in john's absence) from having and maintaining "outside" social relationships. he keeps him working almost 24/7 for research (triple red eye, anyone?), and controls where and how he can spend his time (sometimes using dean as an enforcer of these rules).

it's like john is most effective when he's not there. the threat of him looms over the narrative in season one, and the shadow of him is lingering around every corner until the show ends. i mean, hell, this conversation happens in SEASON FOURTEEN. TWELVE YEARS after john dies in canon. the things that sam and dean kept secret from each other on behalf of their father, and the things we are still finding out about their relationship with him never end.

he is THE absent father, but john is absent in the way that sound is absent in a party when the music is cut off--it's oppressive, it's disorienting, and someone hits you in the stomach with their elbow because their groove has been thrown off.

and so i think it is SO INTERESTING that john also controls both sam and dean with dean's absence (or, really, his exile).

dean is the obvious one, because it's a punishment. in my head--although i guess we never get this confirmed--john sends him on individual hunts that dean could take care of solo. that way, dean has to work hard for his penance, and it's another way to keep him in check, instead of sending him off to...idk...organize bobby's sock drawer.

but also sam! john is inserting himself into and causing friction within their relationship. "i think you knew that" means that john did not tell sam that he sent dean away. it means that john didn't even tell sam what dean was doing while gone, because "it wasn't because i ran out on you."

the fact that sam does not correct dean here--or after--that he knew dean was doing something else, or doing something important, implies that john a) left out information [i.e., not giving an explanation at all for dean's absence] or b) LIED and told sam that dean ran out.

sam acknowledges that this is an apology. so john actively causes friction in their relationship (as we also see in season one) through controlling access to the truth, and controlling through exile.

i also like the fact that dean is bringing it up, in sam's words, as a "deathbed apology." UNTIL THE END, this is one of the things that dean wants to clear the air on. he knows that this hurt sam, and he is still thinking about it. it haunts him. which means he also never told sam the truth, himself.

if he comes back, and sam is furious like "hey man, why did you run off?" dean just grins and accepts it and either goes along with the lie or dodges the question. sam's disapproval and pain are part of the punishment.

it also has fun implications for stanford, because what is "if you walk out that door, don't you ever come back" if not "sending away"? while i'm sure the words were spoken in anger and pain (as seen by dean in S4), john's control has always been absences and exiles and that stays true here. he is able to control both sam AND dean through sam's exile, because now dean can only depend on john, and sam completely cut off from everything he has ever known. it's a punishment for leaving, and a last minute (effective) method of controlling his departure. sam doesn't have any agency over whether he can come back, or if he wants to keep contact with them. he turns sam's act of agency into a punishment.

(not to mention, it's all very biblical in the michael & lucifer-ity of it all. the good son is exiled and proves his worth, being ultimately accepted into the fold. while the bad son is cast off for disobedience, and the good son accepts his exile and turns away from his brother. the father becomes absent. god and john are both more powerful in their absence, and the resulting power vaccuum is still about god, even when he's not there. who is most loyal? who is right? does this man/being deserve our loyalty? if he hurt us sometimes, does that make him bad? was he ever good? should we lie to ourselves and say an unequivocal yes, anyway? because if we tell the naked, scary truth, that means that we hurt each other for no reason, and will keep choosing to do so. because that's what he taught us to do.)

all this to day, THE IMPLICATIONS! THEY ARE RUNNING AROUND IN MY BRAIN! this scene is SO fascinating to me because it reveals an interesting new facet of their relationship to john and each other. do i think some of john's control was exerted as an act of love for his sons during some pretty intense extenuating circumstances? yes. do i also think that things like this were an insane power play meant as a punishment because john was an angry man? also yes.

(i didn't even get into the "you practically raised me" and "you were the one that was always there for me. the only one." which are also INSANE and i'm eating those words rapidly.)

thank you for this ask, lol!! it was so nice to see! i'm so lucky i have folks who love to scream and shout w me about these fellas! i hope my thoughts made at least a little sense. i am stirring this scene in my brainrot cauldron rn.

-lizzy

[bestshipsmackdown]

I think, for the record, it takes a lot less effort to say “JKR is a pos and has caused unequivocal and irrevocable harm to a minority/marginalized community by using her money and voice to advocate against trans people, and I do not support her,” than it does to go on a rant about how no one is entitled to your “political opinions” on your poll blog. Because trans people should not be treated as a political novelty instead of real human beings. And even if your blog has “nothing to do with politics”, queer people are surprisingly not just whittled down to a political stance you can take, and I have no problem publicly stating that this blog is safe for the lgbt community and is not founded on bigotry.

Yes, I agree that, curating your internet experience is important, and that fandom is not necessarily made up of people likeminded to their creators. HOWEVER with HP, it is much more likely that you are transphobic when you publicly tolerate it. Seeing as that is the main trend when we observe blogs still circulating HP content.

I really never had intent to even allow JKR/HP to even appear on this blog because I wanted to be as far removed from it as humanly possible. Hence why I have, in the past, just deleted HP submissions without even ever stating they weren’t going to be apart of this poll.

All this to say, I followed a blog that allowed HP characters be apart of it’s poll (explicitly stated in the submission process), which was already a red flag. And then, to truly no one’s surprise, when they were (actually very politely, considering this is the internet) asked for their stance on JKR to make sure that it was a blog they were okay with following, they had a very long winded answer, without ever actually condemning JKR [links to give an example of my first thought of how their answer sounded] besides a throwaway line about “sins of the creator.” Which, if you publicly post HP, yeah you’re gonna be scrutinized on if you’re transphobic or not. That’s the risk you assume at the current time. Just kinda what happens when you support loudly transphobic people with no reassurance that you actually can separate the art from the artist.

Now, I have made a post about my views on separating the art from the artist, previously. And I still stand by that post. When I said “There’s some creators you can’t avoid how nasty they are, because they scream it from the rooftops,” and “There are some people who do things that are so far beyond wrong that they cannot be looked at without that standing out as the most important thing about them. Their failures as a human outweigh any good that has or could ever come from them.” I specifically had JKR in mind. It is common knowledge what kind of person JKR is at this point. There is no question on what she is.

I recognize that the person behind the poll blog, that this post is about, may not like my view on this or on their statement regarding it. And I do in fact classify them under my general “no creator is a good nor perfect person” umbrella. But I will not be attaching their name to this, as I do not want anyone to harass them about it. I do not want harm to come to them about this. I would hope they would rethink how they had answered and perhaps actually acknowledge that they aren’t transphobic. But considering that would have been the easy answer to begin with, they probably are transphobic, and that really sucks.

And to anyone reading this, please do not harass the person this is about, if you do find them, or know who they are already. They are entitled to their privacy and safety, they are not actively spreading hate nor harm.

The fault I saw was in the way in which they answered the question. Because while no one is entitled to their political opinions, trans people were largely not a “hot political topic” until JKR stuck her nose in it and changed the political landscape drastically to include the prosecution of trans people. So yeah, people wanting to know if someone posting content, from that monster, is in line with her way of thinking, is actually them making sure they can curate their internet experience, by giving you the chance to be a part of that experience, given you weren’t a transphobe. Because HP itself does not condemn people for their gender nor call for their removal in spaces specifically for their gender, the writer does. The creator is 100% the problem.

People are allowed to post about HP all they want. While HP has other issues beyond it’s creator, such as the antisemitism laced throughout (also at the hands of the creator, fancy that), it is possible for people to enjoy it while standing against the creator. But those who are able to do that, are generally the kind of people who could actually articulate that they do not support JKR. And if you can’t articulate that, then it’s pretty glaringly obvious why that is something you would rather not talk about. And people who enjoy HP, but do not support JKR and would like to ethically consume HP media (without the burden of JKR supporters) are absolutely going to ask if you support JKR when you don’t outright keep HP off your blog.

TLDR: JKR is a pos and has caused unequivocal and irrevocable harm to a minority/marginalized community by using her money and voice to advocate against trans people, and I do not support her. I don’t actually think anyone is a good nor perfect person in the black and white of things. Don’t harass creators who aren’t using their platforms to cause harm to people. I will not be advocating for the removal of any content, because I have a perfectly functional block button and so do you. Make sure to register to vote/vote in your elections. Queer people are not something you can be politically/socially/economically against or for, because queer people exist and deserve to be treated as humans. And uhhh cis/cisgender/cishet aren’t slurs.

[bestworstcase]

Sooo, I've been going through some of your posts, reading up on your personal opinions on certain characters I like. I'm trying to understand why you think certain things, so sorry if I come off as rude at any point. There's likely some posts I've missed lol

Uhhh, I'll be the first to admit that I don't agree with most, if not all of your takes, but regardless I find your train of thought pretty interesting cause you do make a few points I agree with.

One thing I wanna ask is- why do you see Ozpin as someone who's a needlessly paranoid religious zealot that doesn't understand Salems point of view and is demonizing her for basically no reason?

I've probably bastardized your opinion somewhere in my attempt to paraphrase it, but I'm really curious since your opinion is pretty much the exact opposite of mine lol.

Feel free to ignore the tangent I'm gonna go on, I just want to share my opinions and debate a little (I need a little mental stimulation lol).

Personally, I honestly don't see Oz as a religious zealot, or as someone who follows the GoL unquestionably. His first reaction to the GoL offering him his task is to say- "No." Oz, thinking Salem is dead, does not care about what the GoL wants or needs from him. And when Oz takes his task (which imo he was manipulated into by the GoL) and reincarnates, he immediately ignores the GoL's incredibly vague warning and goes looking for Salem. Not only that, but when he's asked by Ruby if he has a plan to defeat Salem/unite humanity, he says he doesn't. Plus, he actively refers to his immortality as a curse, despite the GoL not framing it that way. Oz deems his task impossible, and has thus given up on it. Imho, none of this says that he unquestionably follows the Gods. Maybe he had more faith in the beginning, but by referring to his immortality a curse, he's basically insulting the GoL's task. Oz isn't as vindictive or as hateful towards them as Salem is (at least not yet, with v9 and all), but imo he's definitely not fond of them, or at least doesn't hold them in such high regard anymore. The only reason why he continued with his task in the first place is because he was already there with Salem. He doesn't exactly have a choice now, and now he's given up with it, just trying to keep the peace. And, if Jinn is as unreliable as a narrator as you say and the lost fable is from Oz's perspective, it paints the Brothers as petty and manipulative and changing their mind at the drop of a hat. The same is true in the fairytales (which I need to read in full, I currently only know a wiki summary so my knowledge is limited, I won't lie), which Ozpin helps create. I really don't think these things would exist if Oz worshipped them so thoroughly and unquestionably. It's very likely he sees them as petty and manipulative brothers whose fights result in needless death.

I'd talk more, but I don't want to make this ask too long 😅 I think your perspective is interesting, even though I don't agree with it. If/when you answer this, is it okay if I reblog so I can share my own perspective more? It's fine if not, I just like debating (in a friendly, respectful way ofc) different points like this. I really enjoy Oz as a character. He's far from perfect but I think he gets a bad rep, some of it just being different perspectives and others being completely unfair. No one can agree on him so I have fun reading lol

you’re fine—& if you want to rb with your own thoughts feel free.

to start with ozpin’s paranoia, aside from the obvious factor that he explicitly does not trust anyone in his own inner circle and justifies keeping secrets on the grounds that every ally is a betrayal waiting to happen: there is zero evidence that salem has been waging a sustained campaign against him ever since the collapse of the ozlem kingdom. 

in the lost fable, ozma sees two beowolves attacking his settlement and assumes that salem must have sent them: jinn implies that he sees her hand behind every grimm, hence “her presence was always felt.” 

but… not every grimm in the world is under salem’s control. we know this. the grimm that attack the argus express are not hers—they’re wild grimm drawn to the relic. salem had no knowledge of where the relic was or that oz had reincarnated until hazel told her. similarly, the leviathan that attacks argus later is attracted by cordovin (the WOR episode on grimm implies that grimm are drawn to violence and violent emotion specifically). she didn’t send the grimm of mountain glenn to vale; she sent cinder to kill a child on international television to incite mass hysteria that attracted grimm in huge numbers. and during her siege of atlas, it’s noted repeatedly that salem’s forces have not advanced, but wild stragglers are trickling into mantle, drawn by the fear in the crater.

so ozma, in assuming that salem is the mastermind orchestrating every grimm attack in the world, wildly overestimates her actual influence and blames her for the natural behavior of the grimm. 

at the same time, over this period of time between their kingdom collapsing and the beginning of the story, ozma has been phenomenally successful in hiding salem’s existence from the world and erasing her from history. there used to be legends about her everywhere—the witch in the woods who commanded dark powers among the beasts and monsters—and those are gone. before ruby revealed her existence to the world, no one had the slightest idea that she existed. 

the only way for ozma to bury her like that is if salem herself did not do anything to draw attention to herself and stayed very far away from civilization. ozma is just one person, and there are significant gaps in his presence and influence whenever he dies and reincarnates. there is no way he could have kept salem a secret if she periodically razed his cities to the ground or made overtures to groups like the white fang on a regular basis. what she’s done in the story isn’t a pattern of behavior: salem calls the fall of beacon her first move.

and then in v9? this happens:

SUMMER: You know how Ozpin gets. Mystery after mystery… TAIYANG: And when it turns out to be yet another run-of-the-mill patrol, it’ll be— BOTH: “I always preferred discretion!”

during summer’s time as a huntress, ozpin regularly sent her and her teammates on Urgent Top Secret Missions on short notice in the dead of night only for them to turn out to be… nothing. yet another run-of-the-mill patrol. ozpin was fighting a war that salem didn’t start to dignify with her participation until she met summer rose.

<- paranoid behavior.

but the real uh, meat of this is the zealotry.

to be clear, i think that before all the tragedy, both salem and ozma were religious and had faith in the brothers—i’ve written plenty about salem’s religiosity in the lost fable so i won’t belabor that point, but she believed in the gods until they shattered her faith by, you know, condemning her to eternal suffering because she worshipped both of them. and i see no reason to think that ozma didn’t have the same faith. the same flowers that salem brings as an offering to the god of light are hung up on the walls of their home; this was a religious household. 

so. when the god of light wakes him up, ozma believes what light tells him without question—by which i mean, he literally does not ask questions. light says that humankind will rise again, a mere fraction of what their predecessors were, and that they if they are not changed when the brothers return, they will be judged irredeemable and obliterated. ozma does not question the truth or rightness of this premise. he’s frightened and sorrowful, but he doesn’t question the god of light’s implication that humankind, as it is now, does not deserve to exist and needs redemption. 

his refusal is not predicated on a rejection of the mandate itself, and he’s very polite and respectful about it: “i’m sorry, but that world just isn’t as dear to me without her. if i may, i’d like to return to the afterlife to see salem.” ozma does not want to be the one to do this—but he accepts without question the idea that someone must, and he deliberately leaves the door open for the god of light to command him to do it (“if i may”). he’s a religious man; he’s prepared to do what his god asks of him, even as he hopes he that he won’t have to.

(the god of light absolutely manipulated him—and he used ozma’s faith, ozma’s belief in light’s benevolence and just nature, to do it.)

and once ozma reincarnates, he actually does heed the warning the god of light gave him: jinn notes that he travels for years, hearing rumors about “the witch” wherever he goes, before he gives in and decides that “he needed to see what she had become.” the god of light told him that the woman he loved was gone, and what was left of her would only bring him pain, and he believed that because, again, he had no reason not to…

…until he reunited with salem. that is when ozma began to experience doubts, because while salem had physically transformed, she was still herself. still the woman he loved. she still loved him. she hadn’t changed; they rebuilt her cottage together and lived happily. and that made him uncomfortable, because it cast doubt onto everything else the god of light had said to him. if light was wrong (or lying) about salem, what else did he lie about?

“though time passed and all seemed well, ozma’s conversation with the god of light still lingered in his mind. he had found happiness, but humanity seemed more divided than ever…”

the stakes could not be higher; the fate of the entire world is on ozma’s shoulders. in his heart of hearts, he knows salem, he wants to believe salem, but… if he trusts her and he’s wrong, the world will be condemned to annihilation. so he’s torn. he can’t stop worrying about it. how could the god of light be wrong? why would his god lie to him? but he’s happy with salem. but the world seems more divided than ever and it’s his responsibility to fix it. what’s the truth?

ozma is an intensely anxious person. he thinks fear is the one truly universal experience because he himself is afraid all the time. in the lost fable, he’s scared of the happiness he finds with salem because he cannot. stop. thinking. about the god of light saying “man will be found irredeemable and your world will be wiped from existence.” but he’s also too scared to tell salem the truth, or ask her for help, because the god of light also implicitly warned him that she was damned. he can’t bring himself to leave her, but he also can’t bring himself to believe her, and if she is damned then he wants to save her, too, not just the world.

so he carefully raises “humanity is divided” as a problem he would like to solve, without giving her any context, and when she answers “we can do that!” he decides to just… go along with her first suggestion in the hope that he can eventually ease her into accepting the rest of the divine mandate. because he loves her. because he’s terrified of losing her, and his faith in the god of light is in conflict with his love, and he tries desperately to square that circle by redeeming her.

which fails, because salem’s faith in the brothers shattered long ago and she sees them clearly as the monstrous tyrants they truly were—so she rejects the mandate entirely and asks ozma to reject it with her.

here is the part where my interpretation of ozma depends heavily on my interpretation of salem, because:

i do not think salem was proposing genocide; i think by “replace them” she meant “replace the gods who demand redemption,” in accordance with her longstanding ambition of overthrowing the brothers, and

i think ozma knew that.

frankly, in my opinion, this is the most charitable possible interpretation of what ozma does when salem holds out her hand because HE HESITATES. he looks at her hand, frowning, and then his eyes flick downward and to the side as his expression crumbles into indecision. ozma wants to take her hand. he wants to stay with her. so either salem said “let’s kill everyone!” and ozma a) seriously considered it for a moment and b) did not challenge that idea or demand an explanation from her, or… salem made her point clumsily but both she and ozma understood what she meant, and what she meant was “nothing the god of light told you matters anymore, the brothers aren’t here, why should we spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we could make a paradise without the gods, like we planned?”

(since you’ve not read the fairytale anthology, i’ll note that “what they could never be” is a paraphrase of the closing lines of the shallow sea: “And the descendants of the Humans who turned away from our god’s great gift have always carried envy in their hearts. To this day, they resent us for reminding them of what they are not and what they never can be.” just as ozpin uses fairytales to make sense of his life and ease people into his conspiracy, i think salem quoted from this old oral tradition to express her opinion of the brothers; like the faunus in the story, she chose to leap into magical waters and was transformed into something new, and she believes that remnant has the potential to be the paradise the “old gods” failed to achieve. she’s implying that the brothers are envious of remnant and resent these humans—and her—for reminding them of their failures.) 

then… you know, they murder each other and kill their children and raze their own kingdom to the ground. and ozma wakes up behind somebody else’s eyes, again. he sacrificed everything and it shattered him and now he has nothing left except the mandate.

was it worth it?

the answer is no. the answer is that this world isn’t as dear to him without salem, and if the only way to save the world is to lose her, he can’t do it. he doesn’t want to. until the end is his song. “to live free or die, it’s all the same/the enemy was right, there’s no reclaiming/in waves of shame/we’re desperate to make amends/but through a simple soul we lie complacent”—like. he knows salem is a person. he knows she’s right about the brothers. he wants to make amends, but he doesn’t believe he can, because the man fucking despises himself. 

in his commentary on ‘the infinite man,’ ozpin describes the man—himself—as both a hero and a fool who made such grievous mistakes that to some he is a villain, and suggests that he may not be worthy of forgiveness. in ‘the girl in the tower,’ the character of ozma is simply called “the hero,” and in ozpin’s commentary he says that “if you look far enough ahead […] heroes may turn out to be villains.” he isn’t talking about salem. he’s talking about himself. he sees himself as the villain in her story, and taken as a whole ‘fairytales of remnant’ reads like a tortured apology to her more than anything; he closes with a story about humans breaking the sun and creating the moon, and in his commentary: “[people] not only replaced the sun, a celestial gift from the all-powerful god of light, but also improved upon it through their own ingenuity.”

he thinks it’s too late. if he could go back and do it again, he would take her hand, but the truth is that he didn’t, and he doesn’t believe she will ever forgive him. no second chances. nothing he can do to make amends. ozma’s mindset is that he made his choice and now he has to live with that forever.

and it’s unbearable. it’s torture. 

after everything that happened, ozma clings to zealotry as a coping mechanism. in his heart of hearts, he has no real commitment to the mandate: he’s distorted it to be about salem. ozma sought the relics so he could use them to “destroy salem.” jinn told him he couldn’t; he proceeded to devote countless lifetimes to fighting an (imaginary) war against salem. he has No Plan. beacon academy is modeled after her father’s castle and ozma put his office in her tower! in her prison!!

his inner circle is a cult dedicated to the god of light and he built the academies as fortresses to safeguard his reliquaries forever and ever while he fights to protect the people of remnant from enemies like “panic” and “division” whom he represents with her face, her name, and the way he truly feels about All Of This is trapped. it’s been so long that he’s convinced himself that his lies are true—that she’s an inhuman monster who craves only death and revels in destruction—but he built her tower and locked himself inside.

ozpin lies to everyone. even himself. especially himself. the intensity of his guilt and regret drove him to weave an elaborate fantasy casting salem as the villain and himself as the fool destined to be her enemy, and he clings to it desperately because he has to believe that. he has to believe that she lied to him, too. he has to believe she’s the one who manipulated him. if it isn’t all her fault, if she isn’t the Great Evil, then his own choices have no justification.

the lying becomes so habitual, so ingrained that he lies without even thinking. why didn’t he tell the kids that the lamp might attract grimm? when they demand an answer on the train, ozpin freezes. he doesn’t have a real answer. he just… withheld vital information because that’s what he always does. a reflex.

the zealotry is of a piece with the lying. he had faith in the god of light—and he still believes that the gods will condemn and destroy the world if they’re summoned, and i think he believes it’s futile to fight them and that if salem tries they’ll crush her again, so he truly does not want her to try and he’s not lying when he claims she’ll bring about the end, because he believes that’s the only possible outcome of rebellion—and he believes himself to be beyond forgiveness. this is all he has, and the only way he can cope with that is… the fairytales. palliative fantasy. a story about a monster and the man destined to fight her. lifetime after lifetime until the lies seemed almost true.

ozma’s trauma is religious in nature. he’s a religious man who lost his faith a long time ago because his god is using him to punish salem and he hates himself because he fell for it, and now he thinks it’s too late. she’ll never forgive him. he can’t see a way out, so he clings ever harder to the mandate because it’s all he has and it gives him a shred of purpose in being her fated enemy. all he wants, all he’s everwanted, is to be with her, and if he hadn’t believed in his god when all of this began, they would have lived happily in her cottage forever.

all of which is to say, yeah, ozma does not hold the gods in high regard. his obedience does not come from reverence or love—he’s fucking terrified of them. the main difference between him and salem in their view of the gods is that she believes they can be resisted and beaten, and he does not. zealotry doesn’t require that he think the god of light is good or just, only that he obey. he’s still under light’s thumb even as it kills him inside, and he can’t escape until he stops lying to himself about what salem is.

bc she’s… not a monster. she didn’t lie to him, and she certainly didn’t manipulate by not… being able to read his mind when he hid things from her. she made it clear from the start that she wanted to replace the brothers and create a new, better world without them, and in the present all of her rage is directed at his deception and his cowardice in obeying the gods. what he did is not unforgivable. he can make amends, if he finds the courage to try. there is a door he can open to leave the tower. the first step is letting himself believe it’s possible. 

(this is why it matters that he asks the kids to forgive him and give him a second chance in V8. ozma has never forgiven himself for anything and for lifetimes he’s believed himself to be irredeemable; not just recognizing the possibility but actively choosing to ASK for forgiveness was so important, and so necessary.)

[anactualcaseofthetruth]

Help Rascal Get the Surgery He Needs!

Hi! I'm not one to ask for money from others, especially people I don't know in person/am related to, but I am desperate.

My dog Rascal needs surgery on his ear, and it's going to cost about $1000. Like most of you (I assume), I live paycheck to paycheck and don't have $1000 to give freely. I started a GoFundMe to help me with the cost.

I've had Rascal since he was 2 years old and helped rescue him from an abusive household where he was verbally and physically mistreated regularly. What caused him to be rescued was being left for days without food, water or electricity during an ice storm after his owner's fled the home due to the power outage.

When I got him he was an anxious, skittish mess, but with a lot of patience and even more love, Rascal became a happy, active, trusting pup. He is now 8 years old and my baby. I do my best to spoil him rotten, and am usually successful in doing so.

His case isn't an emergency as of now, but the vet said it will be if I wait. He is already in pain and rather uncomfortable and I HATE seeing him so mopey and unlike himself. He is usually full of energy and very active.

If you follow me, you know I am a passionate, caring, often obsessive person. I joined tumblr years ago on a whim and found a platform to share my thoughts, feelings, writing, and find friends who share in my love for whatever I'm obsessing about at the moment. I love it here and am so thankful for the friends I've made, communities I've become a part of, and lessons I've learned from people on this platform.

I have almost 1000 followers and if every one of you donate a dollar I can give my baby his surgery ASAP without worrying about how to pay my bills as well as help my baby.

ANYTHING helps, even if it just you sharing my story/link.

And hey, I know I've left multiple stories unfinished, I am not above accepting donations in exchange for information/answering questions about endings, cliffhangers, or character development. (Did that come off as a joke? I meant it as a joke.)

THANK YOU

[lasagnaeatsu]

NINJAGO MOVIE AU

(Repost cuz my phone is being dumb)

OKAY SO NINJAGO MOVID AU W ARIN, SORA AND WLYDFYRE SO HERE WE GO! But first big thanks to my friend @imotakkun who helped me come up with some stuff for this au 🤩‼️

First off, the ninja, when we saw them in the movie they were all highschoolers. But if we'll still applying some rules from the show we can assume they're all adults by now.

Now, at first, I was gonna have them be in college, but we have to take in how the movie ended. However, I did more thinking, and ninja's identities have been revealed, so it's safe to assume college and any part of their daily aspects have been affected.

So what happens? Well, first, I'm trying to figure out something equivalent to the merge, but I'm not sure if it's gonna an actual event this au as I don't want it being exactly like the merge.

But for the ninja, I came up with an idea. However, it's quite angsty. Well, Garamadon is now good, so the ninja have no one to defend ninjago from? What if this caused them all to slowly distance themselves, but before the final blow, what if Wu went missing? Wu going missing is what can be the final straw, and the ninja go there separate ways.

Yeah, that'd be pretty painful, I think.

Now I'm thinking that right after Wu disappears, something happens that like the merge can happen and cause all these people to go missing, and can open a new book of possibilities? But I'm still thinking, so if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share!

Anyways so after this event, that's the end of the original ninja, and years go by and no one has seen them. Like in series I'll add a timeskip, but this one will be confirmed (lol) I'll say 5 years.

Now something like the merge has happened, all these new developments in Ninjago City, all these new people, and the world has adjusted. So when this big event happened Arin and Sora could be like 10 then after the timeskip they'd be 15.

OKAY, now to Ninjago High School!!! Let's start with Arin and Sora. In the series they seemed to get along with people well in the crossroads, so I would like to apply this to this au.

Let's start with Arin, first off, he's a huge ninja fan, who doesn't like the ninja!? I would like to imagine that the school has a ninja fan club which he'd absolutely be the president of.

Also, he's extremely friendly, so I think he'd be pretty popular having a great personality, being a ninja fan, and making some pretty delicious pies.

To add on, he'd also definitely be into an elective where he can bake, he'd also most likely be a huge history nerd. (Since in the show tells Lloyd about all the types of pie crust, also ninja fan sooo)

Now, to the angsty part of Arin, in the big event, like in the show, he lost his parents. And well, I'd kinda wanna make this au a tad more realistic, so, following the disappearance of his parents, the world's all in chaos. However, after a while since school is mandatory here, perhaps one of his teachers caught onto this and he was put in foster care.

Unfortunately, his current foster parents aren't all too nice :( So he spends most of his time in school anyway. Not that he minds, it just gives him the chance to better his school record for college.

Luckily for him he has a great best friend!

Sora!!!

Let's dive into her story. So to start off, she's definitely a stem girl, loves stem, is a huggeeeee stem nerd. I'd imagine she's as popular as Arin. They're just seen as that duo in the halls. I mean, why wouldn't she be popular? She's super skillful, independent, and smart! (Perhaps trans? 👀)

She's also really easy to get along with. She reminds me of those nice popular girls you see around school who are crazy talented and in all these extracurricular activities.

Speaking of Sora most definitely loves all things cats, and is a huge music nerd you cannot convince me otherwise. Though I can also see her being a huge gamer so she'd definitely be I'm her school's esports club.

Now, as to her backstory...like in the show, she's a runaway, and she often compares how much better her new school is compared to her old one. Especially since her hometown sucked.

Now, no one really knows where she came from. She was just there for freshman orientation. Since she'd good at tech stuff (and she's a good student), she'd be able to escape getting put in the foster system. Whenever someone checks her records, she can just hack them.

Now, for where she lives, this would be kinda tricky, but I'd like to imagine her working at a library, and her boss (Mr frohicky) let's her stay in the library over night.

And it's not all bad! Sora even discovered a secret room hidden in the library, which she turns onto her own room. (think of Amitys secret room in the library from the owl house) She just really loves it, and it's definitely her safe space.

Sora often has sleepovers with Arin in the library. The two get a bunch of books and blankets and make a tiny fort.

And since the library has computers and free wifi it's the ultimate spot for sleepovers.

Arin would often geek out about the Ninja and ninjago history, showing Sora books, videos, photos, and stories of the ninja.

And in return, Sora would show Arin a bunch of video games, music, and her current experiments.

The two talked about everything! Heck Sora even offered to hack Arin out of the foster system, he denied, though, as it was too risky, plus he didn't want her getting caught and also being put in the foster system.

But it was fine, as they spent most of their time in school, the two did almost everything together. They were the it duo of the school. They were friendly, skilled, and straight A student, so it was a no-brainer when they were called into the office to show the new student around!

Wlydfyre, well, she's wild, I mean, what can you expect from a kid who grew up in the wild? She would often go to the nearest junkyard and do what she could with what she found. Sometimes, she'd get caught, but she's too slippery to actually get caught. She'd often use her powers, too, which appeared out of nowhere, but she didn't question it. How did this girl never get restraint? Who knows?

Until she found someone like her, a guy with fire powers?? Kai had found the girl and, after a bit of talking, decided, 'I'm adopting this child', and without all the paperwork! It was a win-win situation, adopt kid, no paperwork, yayy!!

So Kai being Kai... sent her to a highschool...yeah kinda questionable on his part, but eh governments have done worse.

But that's a story for another time. What Arin didn't expect was seeing his best friend gain these magical tech powers?

It even shocked her. You see, they were in a tight situation, causing them having to defend themselves, so Arin did his fanboy spinjitzu, and Sora discovered her magical tech powers. Through this baby dragon??(where had he come from?)

After the two got away, and the baby dragon just?? Disappeared, they were wondering if they were both collectively hallucinating. But that thought would be broken when the police appeared and ARRESTED THEM?

Welp can't do much when you're in jail. Both were in a sort of panic as Arin didn't want to deal with his foster parents, and Sora had no parents, so she'd definitely get caught.

Luckily for them, they were released by their older cousin.

...

EXCEPT THEY HAD NO OLDER COUSIN? It seemed to be this blonde guy? They couldn't really see his face as he wore a hood, but something about him was familiar to Arin.

After they left the station, both Arin and Sora were pretty cautious because...well, stranger danger? But he did bail them out.

That was until the guy took off his hood which made the two do a double take.

It was THE green ninja, Lloyd Garamdon?

Lloyd had gone years without seeing any of the ninjas, that was until he and Kai had recently found each other again. And when he found out Kai had found a kid from the wild? And he took it under his wing. He definitely didn't think he'd see the day where Kai was taking on a mentorship kinda role, yet here they are.

But anyways Lloyd was lonely, and to put it lightly really, really sad. He had been alone for about five years. He'd often visit his parents, but they were currently off on a vacation, so it was just him. Man he really missed his friends.

He decided to be the sneaky ninja he was and go out at night and see what's up.

Well, what he didn't expect to see two figures, one doing spinjitzu and the other had..Elemental powers? Before he could go up to the two, the police got to them first.

Good thing he was a master of disguise.

Once he got them out of jail, he did NOT expect to see just two lil teenagers. It reminded him of when he was in highschool and well.

I'm assuming you've all watched the ninjago movie.

So when asked who was doing spinjitzu and using Elemental powers during the street fight. The two younger duo were well surprised.

Especially Arin, poor boy, was about to faint. As the two explained that it was, in fact, them, Lloyd was getting confused now.

They both achieved these skills, WITHOUT training?

He silently cursed Wu in his head. Well, he thought he could take them under his wing just like his uncle had done! How hard could it be? Right? Right?

Everyone screamed when the baby dragon from earlier appeared out of NOWHERE.

Yeah, Lloyd had his work cut out for him.

OKAY SO THATS WHAT I HAVE SO FAR, sorry if the writings not that good...I've never made a full au before EVER, I'll try and make some art for it when I have the chance. I kinda wanted to add some type of realistic affect to this au this yk talking about foster system and just generally child services (as i and ppl close to me have experinced it sooo) ALSO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. Heads up stuff abt this au is bound to change, AND IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS OR IDEAS FEEL FREE TO SHARE!!!! but yeah that's it for now :D (also I need an au name so hand em over 😈)

[myteavsricochet]

First of all I hope I'm not overstepping by doing this on your blog and for staying off anon because I'm frankly too old to be hiding behind the little gray icon dude I've been doing the fandom thing for close to 15 years (God I'm old).

As someone who came back to tumblr (hadn't opened tumblr in like 6 years) exclusively to keep an eye on the TZP tag because he's the first actor I have a genuine interest in years, not only because he's the most beautiful man I've ever seen but also because he's engaging and funny and charismatic and because I think he could really go places if he was allowed good roles, actors can be naturally talented but most actors really get their chops from working with good directors and actively learning on set from their peers.

(As a disclaimer, I love Nick he's great and I hope his career thrives.)

Which is why the fact that people who constantly compare his career to Nick's is incredibly belittling, as your anons pointed out Taylor isn't white and that cuts the roles he can auditioned for by like 80%, the fact of the matter is TZP is always going to have a hard time finding roles because to most casting directors casting a white man is going to be easier than having to make space for a POC.

I can only assume that most of the vitriol from Nick's (who is an absolutely lovely dude) fans comes from plain old jealousy, TZP is out here hustling, attending events, etc. While Nick is not, how this is somehow Taylor's fault in their eyes? I don't even want to guess. The truth of the matter is that Taylor has to do all those things because he runs the risk of fading, he needs the networking and the connections if he wants to continue his career which is a sad truth.

On the topic of fashion, I'm only a casual observer but my god is it hard in the fashion world. Making a foothold in an industry that is filled with old brands set in their ways and where nepotism is rampant, more so than Hollywood, is almost impossible so that fact that Taylor has is beyond impressive. A career in fashion could even be more lucrative for him than an acting career which is unpredictable, a lot of people forget fashion is not just the models and the designer but all the behind the scene people that run the fashion houses, so saying Taylor is just a fashion boy? Sure, but fashion would be an amazing career path to follow, specially because Taylor believes deeply in sustainable fashion, he could really make a difference working in a behind the scenes role.

Ngl I've been giggling about the anon saying that Taylor isn't filming anything right now because he said he had a movie coming up, as if saying that somehow makes Taylor a liar. Here's the thing about that no one is filming anything right now, award season just started, Hollywood is too busy making nice with each other to make movies or shows right now, half the battle of winning awards is kissing the ass of the voters, as someone who enjoys the fashion of award season the sheer amount of events for the next month or so is wild, the stars are going to be very busy looking pretty.

No point to this rant really, just as someone who chooses to lurk around here and other places, is really starting to grind on my gears that some of Nick's fans will put down Taylor for no really reason while I've never seen this behavior from a Taylor towards Nick.

Again you don't have to post this if you don't feel comfortable.

I'm posting this ask of yours because I feel genuinely that you don't want to put one of the boys down in any way and I absolutely agree with all the points 😊

Unfortunately this comparison has been going on since the movie came out and it seems like there can never be a fandom in the world without toxic elements that only cause problems for the other costar and other fans 🥴

I want to specify that obviously it's not everyone, there are a lot of people who support both of them OR they mainly support Nick but they show respect to Taylor as it should be even if they don't follow him beyond rwrb. But there are people who are terrified there is someone other than Nick out there who is appreciated and loved and continuing to tear Taylor down like that only shows how privileged they are for not seeing the reality and the struggle that poc have to do, and Taylor specifically in this moment, in that industry.

Nick doesn't even need this attitude, which he would never tolerate and doesn't bring him anything good but who knows if they'll ever understand.

By the way how sad and insensitive it is after seeing a movie like rwrb and the people who worked on it and seeing how much heart they put into it to keep saying that Nick is the only good one who works and will works and he is done and over rwrb and he doesn't need that movie when even Aneesh some days ago in her stories said she hasn't had any roles yet and is it so difficult for her to find a job?

And they use the white actor (with immense talent, who deserves everything, let's clarify that again) against people who don't know when they will find a new place for them? so horrible.

I agree with every point and I don't have much to add and thank you for writing to me without the gray icon 😊🙏🏻

[everyneji]

Do you ship Neji with anyone?

Hehe. I answered this once but I'll definitely talk more on it. I love Shikamaru/Neji, and considering I published fic for them as recently as of 2021 those feelings are still going strong. Generally I prefer my ships to have a little more, er, content, but they captured my imagination so what can I say ...

If my followers will forgive me for getting indulgent for a spell, there's something very charming about how, in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Neji is keeping up with Shikamaru.

When they're trapped by Jirobo, Neji seems a little surprised by Shikamaru's false surrender, but keeps quiet. Now he's not a loudmouth like Kiba and Naruto, but he's also not shy about speaking his mind. However, between his own observational skills, a likely respect for the command structure, and Choji's words, he doesn't interfere. He's then right in step with Shikamaru and Choji when the plan starts.

Neji then explains that he observed everything Shikamaru did (that the prison recovered from Kiba's attacks at different rates) and why Shikamaru spoke to the enemy and so on. We expect Choji to work well with Shikamaru 'cause they're besties, but Neji was essentially a stranger to them and he's right there with them because he can get why Shikamaru does what Shikamaru does.

When they break free, Neji briefly assumes command to stop Kiba and Naruto from attacking while Shikamaru is busy thinking of another solution. Shikamaru names Neji his second-in-command -- and I know it didn't come up earlier because it wasn't relevant to the story, but in a more Watsonian perspective, it seems like Shikamaru should have done this at mission start. Neji is the shinobi with the most experience there. So did Shikamaru just assume they wouldn't have to split up or he wouldn't die (optimistic) or would he prefer to evaluate someone's leadership potential before trusting the lives of his buddies to them? I'm more inclined to believe the latter.

From all this we gather that they're both intelligent, observant people who quickly gain a mutual respect of each other when asked to work together. I happen to be a big fan of relationships between people who are both strong-willed and opinionated leader types. Yes, they can clash, but so long as they're respectful of each other there's so much potential for an interesting dynamic to explore.

They're also both lowkey people with compatible lowkey hobbies (cloud gazing & bird watching, napping & meditating) who I think could just relax together, though Neji's got a more active personality to keep some of that spark and spice. Neji needs some relaxation in his life ... Shikamaru can be very tender and emotionally intelligent if he feels like it, and Neji could use that too. What does Shikamaru need? Someone who is unafraid to challenge him, haha.

In fact, figuring out what Shikamaru wants (answer: a hardass with a nice smile) is easy because we see it in canon, but what about Neji? That, my friends, is a separate post I will make because I get very sidetracked from just gushing about my little rarepair.

Thank you for the question! ♥ In the end, I stand by my opinion that so long as Neji is getting some love all's fair! I've read or at least seen art of every Neji ship that exists I'm pretty sure … I just want good things for him. ✌️ Also, if you want to talk more specific shippy stuff, feel free to hit me up on my Naruto sideblog @hallwaydodge!

[not-goldy]

Right now there are a lot of ex tkk out there who left after Paris. Some of who wrote little to late apologies to Jimin for believing he was the devil/villain, when now they realize that title belongs to the big TK accounts who hand fed them lies. The ones who helped brain wash them & half this fandom & harass everyone. They swallowed that pill & accepted their ship is not real and Paris actually happened. Now they're just sitting around alone cause the people they thought were their friends turned their back on them for seeing the light. These people could do the funniest thing right now, the right thing. Those TK GC's and twitter spaces they were a part of and saved. Full of Tkk & big Tk accounts slandering Jimin & plans to sabotage him and vile lies they made up to spread and openly hated on Jk cause they were mad at him, spearheaded by those active TK accounts. They could email them to bighit. DM the screenshots they held onto, to Jimin and Jikook report accounts. Get these big TK and anti accounts taken down. They were on the inside and know first hand things said in private in those space. How manipulated they were and seeing how its continuing.

Their own leader, told them models called Tae Monsieur Gayhyung in Paris, only for the models to say it was disgusting lies. Instead of admitting he lied on purpose cause he didn't think these people would release statements, he let you all take the blame and look like deranged fools for spreading it and deactivated and came back a few weeks later like nothing happened and you let him. The person creates lies every day and You help spread them. Then the person deactivates cause they can't take the heat and you take the fall and he gains new braindead followers when they come back.

I know It'll never happen tho cause they aren't brave. I on the other hand would be a raging bitch, the whistleblower and expose the fuck out of every damn one of them MF's who helped gaslit me.

I HAVE THREE LARGE BREASTS AND A TAIL.

I'm alway prepared to recieve new Jikook believers into my large bossom and feed them with content 😌

They can start with @nightswithkookmin

And if they want to interact they'll find me here.

I'm open to receiving their confessions about Jikook in my ask box. Shit if it's good I'll even share it so everyone can read it.

If it's triggering and full of doubt I'll send them straight to purgatory.

Tuktukkers are indeed very much manipulated and gaslit into believing things they shouldn't believe if they had a little bit of brain cells in their skulls.

Like it's that simple, you don't even need analysis you just need to use your head, if you believe no two relationships are equal then you'd rightfully assume there must be something unique and special about every ship. Start by individualizing every ship. Start there and if you don't that's how the madness begin.

And if you believe TKk and JKK are two Unique ships- what sets them apart? You don't find this out if you succumb to the prevalent cognitive roadblocks prevalent in TKK land. To find that out what makes them each truly Unique, desist from minimizing, trivializing, overlooking, going against your instincts and going against common sense. One plus one is two. If it she's a duck it's a duck. You don't need to bend and twist and squeeze your brain out.

The common truth and fact of the matter is, however "close" TKK were in the past,however they try to be close now, Jikook are closer. That ship has sailed. However jikook try to normalize that closeness, neutralize it, do damage control- it really doesn't change the fact that out of all BTS pairs they have the most chemistry, are and do come across as the most intimate because you simply can't hide intimacy if it's there between two people.

It shows in everything they do and say.

It's like whatever Vmin have. You can't minimize it. You can't sweep it under the rag. No matter how long they go without producing Content- when they do that content will always light up warmth in our hearts.

You can't take vmin soul mates away from them no matter how much analysis you make, no matter how much you think they hate eachother underneath. They would still be Vmin.

Jikook is jikook no matter what anyone says.

And ooh for TKK, once you clock what their dynamic really is- you may not think of them as Jikook but you'd definitely appreciate them same.

I know a thing or two bout whistle-blower laws and I'm very good in street fights- if you do decide to be a raging bitch, I got your back🤭

[with-love-from-hell]

Melancholia

{part eleven}

Fandom: Obey me!

Genre: Angst

Written for F!Mc

WC: 5.1k

CW: Torture!, physical and emotional abuse!, kidnapping!,  mild sexual harassment/violence and allusion to arousal from said violence on the perpetrators end, whipping, Michael is very gross and predatory and abusive, slut shaming/victim blaming, mention of suicide vaguely, fear-based content and lots of tension, religious trauma/detailed depiction of purity culture in christianity, blood mention, violence, angst, depression, mentions to past sexual violence in Vermillion Skies,  anxiety, panic attacks, descriptions of deceit,  season 2 spoilers

A/n: be cautious with this chapter! As said in my Q&A, I got inspiration for Michael’s personality from Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame, so he’s very predatory.

Music accompaniment (Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums thru Lydia)

Tag list: @urmomondeez

>> Though I have a Masters Degree in Psychology and clinical training in treatment for mental health, I am not your therapist. If you have experienced any form of depression or suicidal thoughts, and are in need of help, please utilize the Suicide Prevention Lifeline, NIMH helpline, or the SAMHSA helpline. <<

Series Masterlist

Q&A for parts 1-10

You can find more of this series by searching the tag #Vermillion Skies or #Melancholia on my blog!

A slamming sound in the distance snaps your attention toward the small window on the door to your cell. Your senses were on high alert, eyes wide with fear of whose footsteps were clacking down the hall toward you. After experiencing numerous panic attacks and nearly losing your voice screaming for Lucifer to come help you, you had finally calmed down enough to try to think of a plan to escape your situation logically. An attempt at snapping the chains with magic was futile, and yelling through the thin barred window that lined the top of the west wall didn’t seem to do much either. You had accepted that the only way out was for someone to let you out, and for a moment you felt hopeful that maybe it was someone coming to your rescue. Though, now that the steps continue to draw nearer, you’re feeling the prickling anxiety come back, causing your limbs to tremble with anticipation of what is to come. 

You weren't sure how much time had passed in your small cage. It was enough for the sun to come up and give you a teensy bit of illumation to the place you found yourself trapped in, though part of you wished it had stayed dark. The stains of blood on the concrete walls and floors, plus the plethora of bugs, made your terror spike much higher. The odd sounds you had heard when you first awoke continued, along with occasionally yells or sobs from who you assumed to be other prisoners. You still weren't sure where you were, but the small bit of the spires you could see in the window reminded you of the Celestial Palace, which you had seen on your brief visit to the Celestial Realm many months ago.

A face finally appears in the window, startling you. The individual is one you don’t recognize. It’s hard to make out her features given the window is so small, and she has a helmet covering most of her head. She locks her bright red eyes with you for a moment, before twisting a key into the lock and activating the tumbler on the door. After numerous clacks, the door unlatches, and she holds it open. At first, you think perhaps she is letting you go, but the thought is squashed when a familiar blonde-haired man steps through the door. He stares directly at you, and you feel your body immediately tense under his stare.

You begin to feel way too hot, and beads of sweat begin to form on your clammy  skin as the man saunters over to you, his dark brown eyes flaring with intensity in the dim sun light that now shown from the thin glimpse your cell had to the outside. Following quickly behind him was the red-eyed angel who was dressed in silver and blue armor, and two other angels dressed similarly.  

“So...we finally meet.” Michael smiled at you, but behind it was a terse hatred that showed plainly on his face. His eyes scour your body, taking in the state of dress you were in and trying to ignore his surprise at how attractive he found you to be. “Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Michael, revered leader of the Celestial Council and second in command underneath the Heavenly Father.”

You nod once, not knowing what to say in response. He raises his eyebrow expectantly, and it’s now that you realize he is wanting you to introduce yourself to him. 

“Uh...I-I’m Mc...” You mutter out. “I’m the Human Ambassador to the Devildom.” 

“Within Diavolo’s Royal Court, I presume?” He raises a brow, not realizing that you held an actual title within the Devildom political system. He curses himself internally, now realizing that kidnapping someone from under Diavolo’s royal protection would potentially result in the House of Lords declaring War on the Celestial realm. 

You nod hesitantly, trying to place an emotion to the scrunched look on his face.

“Hmm. I see...” he paused, now beginning to pace the floor in front of you. “Well, I wish I could have been acquainted with you earlier, under different circumstances, but the trouble you have caused has required me to resort to extreme measures.” 

You swallow hard, not liking the vagueness in his words. “T-trouble?” 

He hummed in confirmation, pacing toward the window. “Tell me- for how long did you think you could keep getting away with your sinful actions?” 

“w--what?” You stutter out the words breathlessly, unsure of what to make of such an accusation. You had no idea what he was even talking about, and the language he used gave you no insight into why he had you chained up in this dank, smelly room. When he doesn’t reply right away, you gulp back your fear, deciding to prod further, but your voice was meek and timid. “I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand-” 

Michael’s tense and nefarious-sounding laugh, followed by the clear tightening of his fists sent alarm bells ringing through your mind. You clamped your mouth shut as he turned to look at you, the intensity of his eyes now twice that of when he had entered the room. You scoot back an inch, pressing your body into the wall as he approaches, squatting down so that he was eye-level with you.

“Your manipulative tricks won’t work on me, harlot.” He hissed searching your fear-stricken expression for some clues into your weaknesses. He glanced down from your face, noticing the way your arms and legs were tightly bound to your body, trying to hide as much as you could from him. He made note of the scars that littered your collar and parts of your exposed chest that he could see, trying to soak in as much detail as he could get from just observing you. 

You feel your body begin to tense even more than it already was under his judgmental stare and critical words, not liking how uncomfortable you felt under his prying gaze. The almost transparent half buttoned sleep shirt that hung low on your chest, along with the thin lacey underwear that was barely hidden by the hem of the shirt left you feeling very exposed. Your intention was to show off the set gifted to you by Lucifer for your engagement, since he was very smitten with how you looked in it. Had you known that you would be swiftly snatched up from your bed in the cover of night- presumably under the order of this strange man- you would have worn something more modest. The lingerie was never meant for the eyes of anyone but your lover, yet here you were, seemingly being undressed in the mind of the angel who squatted before you. 

Michael shook his head standing back up to pace after feeling his brain start to stir with delinquent thoughts related to the curvature of your body. “Tch. It’s no wonder Simeon had difficulty controlling his purity around you. Such a teasing display you give, hm? Like a piece of fresh meat dangled in front of a tiger.” 

Your eyes widen as you sit with his disgusting words, closing yourself off tighter from view. You try to speak to him, to tell him he’s misjudging you- but your voice merely comes out in a squeak. 

“Come now, enough with this demure charade.” He hisses, staring down upon you with frustration. “I want you to try to justify to me why you have turned one of our own to the life of sin. Does it simply run in your blood, given your blood association to that other traitorous wretch? Or are you simply a Sadist- desiring to ruin the purity of those around you? Even having enough skill to seduce Demons back to instinctual depravity after sophistication has become their norm truly is impressive.” 

“I...I haven’t done anything...” You whisper, feeling tears begin to well behind your eyes. “I didn’t seduce anyone...I-”

A swift backhand from Michael cuts you off. You shriek as his hand connects with your cheek, the stinging from the large ring on his fourth finger causes tears to escape from your eyes. How sudden his demeanor changed from calm to irate scared the hell out of you. 

Michael scowls at the sight of you crying from what he believes is such a simple form of discipline. His voice is raised and wavered in frustration. “The question was rhetorical, Human. You speak when I ask for a direct answer, and you will address me as “sir.”  I am owed that much respect. Is that clear?” 

You hesitate before giving a quick nod, now refusing to look at him. 

“I’m sorry, but I believe I asked for a direct answer this time, wench.” He hisses, clenching and unclenching his fist as if to loosen his knuckles for another strike. 

A shudder runs down your spine and you nod more rapidly this time, trying to make your voice louder than a mere whisper. “Y-yes...s-sir.” 

He smirks evilly at you. “Good girl.” 

You could nearly gag at the way he had just referred to you, the events of your previous trauma bubbling to the surface as you wondered what he was going to do to you. You watched his unmoving feet from your peripherals, silently shifting between calling to someone to save you from this place and convincing yourself that it was all a horrible dream. 

“Now then...” Michael stands, clasping his hands behind his back and returning to his pacing movements. “I expect you to answer my questions truthfully, and in full. First, Why is it that you’ve chosen to stay in the Devildom rather than return to your home- that of the human world?” 

“U-uh...” You pause taking a shaky breath. “The human world wasn’t very good for me...and I found a family that I love and care about in the Devildom.” 

“Why- pray tell- would you place trust in some random demons enough to refer to them as family?” He questions, gazing at you over the rim of his glasses. 

“They showed me kindness, and genuine compassion.” You state matter of factly, not liking that he was questioning the structure of your relationships with the brothers. “I had limited experiences of that with other humans.” 

“Had you even attempted to seek it out?” 

“What?” you blink back your confusion. 

“Are you deaf?” He hisses, pausing his pacing in front of you, now crossing his arms over his chest. “I asked if you had even attempted to seek such relationships elsewhere.” 

You pause, thinking back to your early family and friends during childhood. “A couple times, yes...uh, sir...” 

“So, If I may summarize.” He clears his throat, waving his hand as he spoke. “You had become entangled with demons beyond that of mere acquaintanceship, going so far as to undress before and betroth yourself to one, because your few attempts at connecting with other humans proved fruitless. So, instead of persevering through hardship, like God intended you to to, you gave up, betrayed and abandoned your people, and sought comfort in those who live lives filled to the brim with sin and stripped yourself of a morally pure path, one that would lead your bloodline to forgiveness and mercy. Is that correct?” 

“What??” You shake your head in frustration, the amount of assumptions he was making on how you had come to find the demon brothers as part of your family, and how demons actually are in real life. “T-that’s not it at all! You think you can just assume these things about me!?” 

Michael snapped his attention down as your voice came out in an annoyed retort to what he had said. He quickly snapped his fingers, and the two male guards yank you to your feet by your arms. Your heart pounds in your chest and your breathing begins to turn ragged as their grips tighten against you, holding you firmly in place as Michael leans in. His shallow breath is hot against your already too-warm face, the intoxicatingly-sweet scent of it overwhelming your olfactory senses. You try to turn your head away, but he grips your chin tightly in his gloved hand, forcing your eyes back to meet his. 

“I thought I told you to address me with respect.” He hisses, pressing his thumb and index finger tighter into your jaw. He was infuriated by your response, but he couldn't fight the nagging thought in his head that your boldness in challenging him was endearing. Something about you was striking his emotions in a way he didn't expect. His heart pounded and he felt his loins stir with excitement. It was a confusing feeling, and he was enraged by the fact that it was happening.

He shakes his thoughts away and continues, the grip on your jaw never wavering. “I believe your insolent denial is proof enough of your wrong doing. Association amongst humans and demons is bad enough, as is becoming chummy with one. That sinful sorcerer has clearly also been an influence on your attitude toward them, and clearly has lead you further to depravity by spreading your legs for them. May I remind you, that coitus outside of your species is forbidden? But no. You did not stop there. You also have set to cross established peace sanctions, and marry one. Absolutely Deplorable. You have the audacity to say that I don’t know what I’m talking about? You may have me mistaken for a fool, Mc. And I assure you, that is a grave error in judgement.” 

He finally drops your chin, shaking his head and tutting. He turns from you for a moment, clasping his hands behind his back as he mulls over his plans. He cursed himself for not being able to treat you more harshly. He anticipated you being easy to torture, but the more he was exposed to you, the more he was curious to know more about you. Perhaps it was the same power you had used on Simeon and the others...or perhaps it wasn't. Regardless of the reasoning, something about you made him want to make you his.

He pauses for a moment, deciding to change tactics. He sticks his hand in his jacket pocket, fishing around for something. You watch with baited breath, terrified for what was to come.

Finally, Michael turns. In his hand, he hold a small vial. It glows a bright, shimmering gold as he displays it between his thumb and forefinger for you. Your look at him in confusion, but your anxiety rises higher as you hear the soft gasps from the guards who held you still in their grasp. 

“Sir Michael,” The woman who stands by the door sounds uneasy as she takes a step forward. “Are...are you sure about this?” 

Michael snaps his attention toward her, his eyelid twitching in annoyance. His voice was hoarse through labored breaths and deep anger. “Are you questioning a superior officer, Dina?” 

She pauses, glancing between you and the vial. A sympathetic look passes her eyes as she finally sighs. “N-no sir. My apologies for speaking out of turn.” 

“Very good, then.” Michael turns back to you, a wicked smile appearing on his lips. He approaches slowly, and the reactions of the guards have you even more worried than before. You squirm in their hold, trying to desperately maneuver out of their arms. 

"Now, Mc." His voice returns to a casual soft tone, though there is coldness behind it. "We could have forgiven your sinful actions if it weren't for two things. One of which is Simeon's corruption, which you are solely responsible for."

You flinch as he reaches for a strand of your hair, turning it over in his fingers. His eyes never leave your face, as if studying your every reaction to his touch.

"Second to that though, is your power." He smirks, dropping your hair and now running his hand down your neck. He continues down your collarbone, stopping just above your breast, where the dull scar-like outline of Lucifer's pact sits. "Initially, my plan was to just kill you- rid the world of the problem that had been unintentionally created by offering Lilith mercy."

You swallow hard, but remain silent. He leans into to your neck, his breath tickling your earlobe. You squeeze your eyes shut, heartbeat pounding in your ears.

He takes a breath in, inhaling your scent slowly. A shudder snaked its way down his back as he moves his hand up to cup your opposite cheek. He stroked the skin gently with his thumb, his breathing shaky on the outbreath. "However...It appears that I have changed my mind after finally being able to... observe you."

You stifle a gag as he presses his forehead to the side of your temple, giving a small laugh as he muttered the words in your ear. Finally, he leans back, dropping his hand from your cheek. He returns to pacing, now facing away from you.

"So...in my infinite mercy, as that is the type of angel I am...I will allow you to make a choice." He stops his movements, looking out the window wistfully. "I suggest you think over your next move carefully."

The guards holding you share an uneasy glance as Michael flicks his wrist, waving toward the door. They drop you to your knees, and promptly leave the room. You scoot as far away from him as the chain on your ankle will allow, still repeating the silent prayer that Lucifer would come for you, and reduce Michael to a bloody pulp.

Michael holds the vial up to the light, observing it as it refracts rainbow shapes onto the walls of the cell. "Your choice will be this, Mc. Either I end your life- giving you a very slow and painful death. You will never again be reincarnated as another being, and your soul will be kept in the deepest tomb of the Celestial Palace, never to see the light of day again." He turns to you, but his expression was difficult to read. It was crossed somewhere between pity and jubilation. "Lilith's bloodline will end with you. You won't even have a spirit to roam the earth with. You will simply cease to be."

Michael's face then contorts into a wicked smile as he drops his arms down to his side, now walking briskly toward you. He squats down as you try to shift away, the chain pulling tightly on your ankle as he reaches out to strok your calf.

"Or..." His smile widens as his fingers dust along your leg. His other hand holds the vial up to you. "...You can choose the path of grace by drinking this."

You hadn't realized how heavy your breath was until it suddenly catches in your throat. You stare at the intimidating angel before you, both terrified and confused. "Wh...what is that..?"

Michael chuckles darkly, twisting the vial between his fingers. "Curious, hmm? This is nectar from a very rare plant that we farm beneath the palace. It's called the Five-Winged Corpse flower. It's nectar is what we use to allow deserving humans into the Celestial realm as angels after their death."

You stare at the vial, watching the liquid ooze in different directions as he twists it for you to observe. You furrowed your brow in confusion, trying to figure out his intentions. "To...make me an angel..? You just got done telling me how horrible I am. Why don't you just kill me?"

Michael tutted at you. "Its rude to demand so many answers at once, little dove."

You grimace at the pet name, not liking the fondness he seemed to have for you now. In all accounts, you preferred him hating you.

"You see, I've decided to give you a second chance..." Michael beamed, searching your face for a reaction. "One that would still require your death, of course... but would also allow you the opportunity to renounce your life of sin. You will still need punishment for your actions, but I would allow you to be reincarnated as an angel. You would be held under my strict supervision as you unlearn all of the sinful things you had allowed yourself to indulge in, and i would truly look forward to the opportunity to make you into the heavenly being you could be."

You swallow hard, trying to decode why he was offerring you this choice. You were confused and terrified of his proposal, neither option sounding appealing at all. And the idea that you would be at his mercy should you chose this option, though, made you feel sick. Your mind raced with all of the things you feared Michael would do to you as "punishment." Tears threaten to well behind you eyes, trying desperately to manifest a call to the brothers to come help you, but you couldn't get up the strength to send out a call. You knew the anxiety and the physical weakness you felt from when they had struck you over the head had weakened your ability, but you felt something else getting In the way. It was as if something was siphoning out your energy. Each attempt at calling Lucifer, then Mammon, then Beel, Satan, Levi, Asmo, and Belphie proved fruitless.

Michael interrupts your thoughts with a laugh, somehow knowing where your thoughts were gravitating toward. "You would be forbidden from ever setting foot in the Devildom again, of course. Your pacts would disappear, as would your connections with those horrid brothers. And your engagement with Lucifer would become annulled. You will have anything you could ever want, and the ability to regain your purity. Certainly a life here would be a million times better than one amongst demons, wouldnt you say?"

You feel tears well up behind your eyes upon realizing that both choices would result in having to abandon the brothers. You shake your head aggressively, finding anger seeping through your pores at the fact that this so-called angel was seemingly trying to own you- to keep you something he could use for his own amusement. It overridded your fear, and you swallowed it down hard as he gazed at you expectantly, awaiting your answer.

You took a deep, shaking breath, deciding that your hope to live was forlorn. "I...I'd rather die a thousand deaths than live one second as your prisoner."

Michael's smile slowly fell into an intense frown. His gentle stroking of your leg ceased, now opting to squeeze it tightly, his sharp nails dug into your skin from beneath his gloves. You try to hold back your fear, now staring him down intently as his eyes shook with rage.

"You may feel that way now..." He hisses, squeezing your leg so hard that blood begins to ooze from the shallow indents he was making. "...but perhaps your tune will change when you see the fate of your lover."

Your eyes widen slightly at his words as he stands. You had no idea what he was talking about, but a pit formed in your stomach as your mind raced with all the horrible things he was probably planning on doing or had already done to Lucifer. Michael mutters something under his breath that you couldnt quite make out before again turning to leave. He pauses with his hand on the latch of the cell, glancing over his shoulder once more to look at you.

"Your death will ckme regardless of your choice-" Michael cracked another wicked smirk, the danger behind it sending a chill down your spine. "-I've already ensured that...but the right decision would preserve the life of Lucifer, and the rest of his pathetic little family. Take some time to let that soak in before hastily making a choice, Little Dove."

You fight back another gag as Michael walks through the door. He slams it hard behind him. You flinch at the sound, knowing that the violent action was an intentional warning of his capabilities.

The sound of his and the other guards' footsteps fades down the hall as you curl into yourself, hugging your legs tightly. You gently nurse the dripping wounds on your calf as tears finally force their way out of your eyes. All you wanted was to be held in Lucifers arms again; safe within the walls of the place you called home with the 7 brothers.

Michael paced the floor of the council chambers, awaiting impatiently his colleagues to come through on his urgent request to convene. If they didn't, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, really. His plan could be commenced without their silly input. Besides, he knew at least half of them would attempt to veto his plan. "Try" being the key word here. But he wanted witness to his grand scheme- one that would surely solidify a reputation of being as powerful as God himself.

The tranquilizer he had ordered Uriel and the guards to give Lucifer would wear off within the next two hours, so it was imperative that he finish what he started before that point. He did not expect Lucifer to be so strong-willed, making him ultimately question what it was about Mc that produced such a desperation. After meeting her, he was able to understand. Her aura was intoxicating, and oddly enough, he sensed a feeling of purity radiating from her that he didn't expect.

She had done so many sinful things, and caused even the most dedicated angel to become demonic. How could she still have purity?

Michael sighed, clicking his tongue as he pondered the human. The more he thought about her, the more his emotions confused him. He felt absolute hatred toward her, but also a deep longing and curiosity that he hadn't felt before. And that curiosity drove him to the brink of insanity. Was this her manipulative nature, or was she truly just so radiant that any being would fall to their knees before her?

Regardless of what it was, he needed to keep these emotions hidden.

The last thing he wanted was for the council to discover that he had changed his game plan, even fought they hadn't even really uncovered the original from the start. Each time he thought about the initial plot to wipe her from existence, he felt a strong urge to slap his past self for being so naive. Of course this woman was something special if she harbors so much power, and instead of destroying it, he could make that power his to command.

His thoughts wandered back to her state of dress, and what he perceived to be a mixture of terror and awe as she laid her eyes upon him. He paused on the image in his brain, feeling his body quiver with excitement. He wondered if she'd give up easily; if she'd give him what he wanted when he wanted it- or if she would resist. He wasn't sure which outcome would be better. Having blind adoration made his ego feel strong, but he also thrived off of a challenge- and something felt oddly gratifying in breaking someone's spirit.

Michael smiled to himself, licking his lips in eager anticipation. He couldn't wait for the opportunity to conduct a thorough punishment, and to see the fragile human quiver below his touch. He felt a shiver run through his spine as he imagined her begging to become an angel- begging to be able to repent- as Michael brought the whip down on her once more.

Regardless of what the human chose as her path, Michael would see to it that she would become his, no matter what it took.

He paused his pacing, feeling a twinge of worry manifest in the back of his mind. The small bit of his consciousness that always second guessed his motives and actions wasn't usually loud, but this time it produced a clear warning:

What if father found out about this plan? Or even the thoughts you are having about this human? Such heinous acts should not make you feel so inflamed with desire.

Michael winced, trying to think for a moment. Was this human already turning him to sin in just the brief interaction he had with her? No, preposterous. Michael was a just and righteous man, and his desires to control this human was not sinful. Serving a just punishment was not sin, it was glory. And besides, the sexual desire that underlied these emotions toward her could be nulled when the human would perish, and then be reborn as an angel.

After all, he fully intended to change her to this path, whether she consented or not.

Michael was jolted from his thoughts as irritated and anxious murmuring grew closer from beyond the council chamber doors. Within moments, the doors creaked open, and the annoyed and concerned faces of his peers appeared, uneasily taking their place in their seats.

"Michael, what is the meaning of this?!" Remiel demanded, having already been told by Uriel that Lucifer and the human were being held prisoner under his order.

Michael smirked. "All in due time, Remmy."

Remiel glowered at him, having told him over a thousand times at this point that she loathed that nickname.

"Regardless of what your intentions are, it is completely unacceptable that you did not include us in the conversation around staging a literal kidnapping." Remiel crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "So an explanation is needed for why you thought this was acceptable."

Gabriel and Raguel nodded their heads in agreement, but Uriel let out an annoyed breath.

"It's funny you all assume Michael's in the wrong here. Obviously he didn't come to us first because you all wouldn't even try to hear him out when he talked about how dangerous this human was before." They shrugged, mimicking Remiel's posture. "Besides, I think it's time Lucifer finally got to answer better for his crimes."

"Crimes? From a war that occurred thousands of years ago?!" Raguel spat, annoyed at the grudge Uriel clearly held against the eldest brother. "We have moved past that as a civilization, so why can't you?"

"It's the principle of it!" Uriel scowled, feeling his face burn in embarrassment.

Raguel rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it is. I think you're just an immature, spoiled, brat who merely wants to enact revenge, but sure. 'It's the principal'."

Uriel gritted his teeth, muttering insults under his breath.

"Now, now," Michael smirked, now turning his back to her. Walking back toward where the council had just entered, He continued: "You all may save your discussion for when i return. For now, I must go retrieve the man of the hour."

[starwalker03]

The worst thing Bruce could do is have a Batman gambit and reveal he knows who the new Deathstroke is and didn’t tell anyone but Clark. How would Dick react to that?

So I had a good idea of what batman gambit meant but I googled it to be sure and wow. That's an actual recognised thing. Huh. Honestly that's almost funny.

Anyway. That'd be fucking hilarious. Oh my god can you imagine. Like. First of all we gotta think of the situation. Why does he have to do this? The most sense is he's atte lying to psych Deathstroke out and manipulate him into giving himself away. I have an idea where this'd likely happen in canon but all I can imagine, without spoiling, is that Bruce says it to Artemis when the league finally talks to her. And she ferries this back to Dick like 'oh my god dude. Dude. DUDE. HE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE'

Which. Oh boy that would not go well.

Part of me wants to believe Dick knows Brice well enough to see through it and recognise it as a batman gambit, because it's very much a cliche batman move. But. This would cause such an emotional reaction I don't think Dick would be able to see it. And even if he could there's be a very angry voice in his head screaming 'HE KNOWS HE KNOWS HE KNOWS AND HES DONE NOTHING'

Oh boy. Honestly the only way it ends is by Dick confronting him. He has so much emotional turmoil over all of this and hearing that Bruce actually has known who he is. Possibly all along. Dick now gets to analyse every small thing in hopes of figuring out when Bruce found out. Perhaps Slade told him? Or Bruce saw his face on security camera footage? Or an endless assortment of guesses. Dick has barely come face to face with Bruce over the decade because Slade kept them apart so everything he's analysing isn't even something he was part of firsthand, it's all from a third person perspective of how Bruce has behaved in the past ten years.

So yeah. It ends with a confrontation. It ends with Dick jumping him on a patrol and hanging him off a very tall building. Or it ends with Dick killing every active mobster currently on Brice's radar to draw his attention and empty his schedule so he can yell at Bruce on top of a building.

It ends with Dick screaming at him because WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KNOW. HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?

And Bruce realises that he's made a very big mistake because he has no idea who Deathstroke is and this is not the reaction he was expecting. He just has to bluff. But everything he says in hopes of de-escalating the situation is not working.

How long have you known? Since Slade Wilson died. (seems a recent enough time, and also would have been a lot of chaotic things happening that something could slip without Deathstroke noticing he'd given himself away) [he's known since I was free. Since Slade was gone. He didn't come for me. He didn't try to stop me from taking up the mantle. He found out and he left me]

Why didn't you track me down? Why have you never tried to speak to me? We didn't have bulletproof evidence of Wilson's passing till you attacked Red Arrow. I've seen your files as Renegade, by then I assumed you'd made your decision to follow your masters footsteps. (this makes sense. This is something anyone may think in my situation) [master? My master?? he thinks- he doesn't- he didn't want me back. He didn't care to find me. He thinks I want this]

You're a fucking piece of work Bruce you know that. Everything he ever told me about you is true. I suppose it's up to you to decide if that's true. Don't blame me for what he's done, or what you keep deciding to do. (why is he taking this so personally? Why would he call me by name? Why would Slade make a point to put dirt on my name?) [He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't UNDERSTAND]

Fucking hell Bruce. How do you even live with yourself. I may be the mercenary but you're just as bad as any of them. God how do put that mask on and call yourself a hero while you drag more innocent kids into the line of fire to save you. I have never put my children in danger. You've killed two of them now haven't you? And you didn't even try to save either of them. I've heard about Jason, I know what he did when he came back. God knows how you managed to manipulate him into working with you again, he was better off dead than fighting alongside you! You have no idea what you're talking about! I HAVE NO IDEA? ME? CAN YOU EVEN FUCKING HEAR YOURSELF?! who the hell do you think you are?! I THOUGHT YOU KNEW BRUCE, HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING I-

And he stops. And he takes a breath. And he stumbles backwards as he really looks at Bruce for the first time since the start of this conversation. And he realises.

It's a batman gambit. He's bluffing.

He's bluffing.

He doesn't know.

And he just starts laughing. Quietly chuckling until he's leaned over his knees and holding his gut because he has to laugh or he'll break into even more hysterics because BRUCE DOESN'T KNOW.

What the hell are you laughing about? You don't know. You don't. You're bluffing. This is all a bluff, you don't know who I am. Oh my god how did I fucking fall for that? Jesus Bruce you're a real piece of work.

What gave it away?

And Dick would stop. And look at him. And just shake his head with one final laugh. And he'd take off his mask.

Bruce doesn't recognise him for a moment. There's a few seconds of silence as it dawns on him. And Dick watches as it does, hurt by the fact it takes so long, and waits for Bruce to react.

Bruce has no words but he has to make sure. He has to know. He has to hear him say it-

Dick?

Rethinking anything you've just said?

I- I didn't-

You're right. You didn't. You did not. You had no idea, you just hoped it would go your way. And I guess it did, now you do know. Congratulations. Hope you're happy now.

And then he'd leave Batman gaping.

[aceofsheeps]

ARCANE: Mel’s End Scene Explained

I originally wrote this for my Medium page, 2 years ago(?) but wanted to start posting here too. I prefer the format over on Medium but it be like that. __________________________________________________________ There are many theories already on whether this end scene is just lighting the scene and dramatizing the horror of the ongoing event caused by Jinx, which it no doubt is. It’s a good transition. A slow fade from black, and then a shine of the gold that indicates something dangerous is going to happen. We’ve seen these kinds of things across different animations, anime and cartoons. For example, the common occurrence of this transition is usually visualized by a black screen followed by another effect, such as a silver sparkle of a blade before it’s shot at a protagonist. Unfortunately, I’ve had a difficult time finding examples and the best I could find is Volke’s Lethality from Fire Emblem, but I’m sure you get the point.

re-watching that specific scene again, I’ve noticed a few things that support the theory of Mel having some sort of magical ability. Personally, I believe it includes something similar to foresight, almost like a Spidey-sense.

Right before the rocket makes contact with the window, we see Mel looking at Jayce. She’s smiling after their successful voting on the peace between Piltover and Zaun. However, we can see her expression abruptly change, while Jayce remains the same. She’s alert. Her head tilts upwards like she’s sensing something and she frowns. Seeing as Jayce doesn’t look too concerned in this shot, we can assume it’s something only Mel is aware of. She knows something’s up.

Now the next shot of Mel starts off with a black screen. Then, the gold decoration slowly glows from left to right. We already know this works as just a transition scene and is most likely a reflection of the light above them. She’s our focal point. However, looking closely — although it’s difficult to see in the above GIF — there’s this distortion and chromatic aberration (seen below). It looks like an alarm. She is sensing this attack. This is what gives me the idea that she has some kind of ability to sense incoming danger. To add to this, if you listen to the scene at first you hear the rocket, but then it grows quiet. And after this brief silence you hear a musical-esque ringing. Something magical is happening here. However, given the first scene, she notices it before she starts to glow. This means this isn’t the source of her ability to sense anything but maybe an effect being activated.

Next up is her attire. You can see that the back of her dress covers a majority of the gold decorative onlay. However, when the scene comes you can see way more than what we should be able to see, assuming the black portion of her dress is transparent. If the purpose of showing the entire design — of whatever you want to call her gold decoration — wasn’t to imply some sort of ability, showing just the portion you’d expect to see off of her would do just fine. Unless of course, they just wanted a reason to show off her design. Given what we know about Arcane so far, it’s unlikely this was the only reasoning.

The three factors that lead me to believe there’s more than just editing tricks going on here are Mel’s expression and reaction, the effects surrounding her, and her attire overall. We also know this is something added on once she became older, as the younger version of her has no gold on her body whatsoever. It’s also likely now a permanent part of her as we never see her without it afterwards, meaning this could be a defensive tool or effect.

On a side note, the design looks similar to Zhonya’s Hourglass. Does anyone else see this or just me?

If Mel was a champion in League, how do you think they would go about fitting in this supposed ability to sense danger? A passive shield that activates upon taking damage perhaps?

[witchspeka]

Anyway, while still on the topic of Ritsu and maturity, I found it interesting that people tend to assume he's the older one when first watching the show

Ultimately, it does make sense because he's seemingly more responsible and reliable but that comes as a result of him walking on eggshells when it comes to Mob

Ritsu is actively trying to avoid stressing Mob out or bothering him in any way because he lives in fear of him getting overwhelmed and blowing up again

So, he takes away his responsability of being an older brother, he doesnt create any trouble or directly express any struggles lest Mob gets concerned

But that accomplishes nothing besides making them drift apart even more. Ritsu is constantly trying to manage Mob while Mob has gotten so used to Ritsu never struggling that he doesnt question his Perfect Brother act

They've both resigned to pretending The Incident didn't happen and when Mob does, eventually, bring it up, its too late. Ritsu pretends he did nothing but protect him to shield Mob from guilt, but Mob is already so deeply buried under self loathing that he refuses to properly process any of his emotions in fear that it'll result in hurting people

It's a fruitless task for both of them, they're not doing anything besides causing harm to themselves

One of the things that I love about their relationship is how messy it can be but like... ultimately they care about eachother

For a while its not certain whether Ritsu actually wants to help/protect Mob or if he's just doing it out of fear, to protect himself

Later on the answer becomes obvious, but even during their confrontation in the alleyway, Ritsu tries to claim he had no emotional investment in their relationship, that it was just an act

He's lying, most likely to purposefully hurt Mob, to convince himself that he won't let Mob influence him anymore, to live in fear of what he could do

A part of Big Cleanup is just Ritsu having an identity crisis, he's been defined by Mob's presence for so long, the admiration he once had for him mixing with fear

His desire to get powers is a reflection of that, at first he just wants them so he can reach his "standard", because his brother has them and Ritsu wants to be like him

But it eventually turns into something else, psychic powers aren't just a magic trick anymore, they're something dangerous, something that has hurt him

He wants psychic powers so he can defend himself, so he can have the courage to actually be honest with his brother

When he does gain them, when he finally faces Mob, he's finally achieved a sense of independence. He wants to cut Mob off so he can't be defined by him anymore

But, ultimately, that is not something he can do

Mob, who until now wasn't aware of Ritsu’s issues, who is still shocked by his real feelings, accepts them as they are

At the end of the day, they're still brothers, whether Ritsu likes it or not

Mob is quick to understand that Ritsu isn't fully honest, but that it isn't all a lie either. He takes responsibility for Ritsu's mistakes, asks for forgiveness from the people his brother has hurt, even if he had no part to play in any of it

Mob regains his position as an older brother. He listens to Ritsu, acknowledges the issue, then tries to set an example and asks for forgiveness on his behalf

UNFORTUNATELY this interaction stops here because some asshole decided to waltz in and ruin my catharsis

Still, I believe that after this is over, Ritsu remembers why he wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps in the first place (see: his conversation with Kamuro at the end of S1 and with Shimazaki)

Confession Arc is really the only time Ritsu is honest, both with himself and with Mob

There's no more hurdles to get through, he's got the powers he wanted, he can finally stand up against Mob

When Mob does actually lose control, he tries to stop him, he doesn't cower in fear anymore

Because he acknowledges that the person who hurt him isn't a dangerous, unexplainable entity. ???% is his brother just as much as the Mob who called him out during their confrontation but proceeded to stay by his side

People have put this into words better than I can but,,, yeah,,, I love this relationship so so much