#does he still think that she is a monster that shouldn't exist?!?!?

[stillcarmine]

Some scenes for that marvel au where Leo gets abducted by aliens like in guardians of the galaxy:

I think it'd be funny if Leo doesn't show up until the absolute last second, like the beginning of Mark of Athena and his crash landing is basically what kicks starts the war.

He'd have to have some contact with the rest of the seven for this to work, and Octavian probably spins it as the quest group harboring an enemy of the state or something.

Also this means that Annabeth would have taken his spot on the Lost Hero quest, which is kind of funny, because she'd be stuck with a emotionally and logically confused Piper and Jason, and we'd actually get some conflict stemming from the differences in Roman and Greek leadership.

They're all angry- Piper because he dad is in trouble, Annabeth because Percy's still missing and Jason because he can't remember a goddamn thing- and easily irritated and about one second away from exploding and eventually they all do.

-

The Greeks probably make some generic ship for them to travel on, and maybe Leo upgrades it with alien stuff.

It's like. Glaringly obvious that Leo does not know anything about the mythical world.

He's actually been raised on stories of the Norse gods, so his knowledge base is inaccurate and misplaced, because like, the Norse gods on Earth are not the same as the Norse gods that he's heard about. But since none of the others know that there are terrestrial Norse gods, that doesn't come up.

So, they're trying to explain that no, the gods he's heard about aren't a thing, and Leo's like… squinting and fiddling with his fork before gesturing back and forth between the Romans and Greeks. "Okay, but y'all thought the Greeks didn't exist and the Roman's didn't exist until now so…"

No one wants to think about this on top of everything else, so they just let Leo believe what he believes. (He's right, sort of, anyway. Annabeth is not going to want to admit as much when she learns about what Magnus is up to lol)

-

When they're discussing rescuing Nico from the jar, Leo looks side to side and asks, "Are they trying to pickle him or something?"

Hazel's about ready to kill him, but Frank is just like. very confused. "Like cucumbers?"

Leo shrugs. He's had a childhood of threatening to be eaten, so it isn't the largest jump in logic for him.

Anyway, since he's got no opinion about either camp, he isn't opposed to going after Nico, though he does pull out a holographic battle map and starts suggesting some strategies.

Annabeth and Frank are very reluctantly fascinated.

-

Hazel and Leo are always commiserating or fighting over the bathrooms because Hazel's always sea sick and Leo's always throwing up from food poisoning because he's not used to earth germs.

He doesn't realize this is the issue and there's an unfortunate mishap where he tried to bond with Frank by offering him some of his snacks from space and... yeah, that was a bit of a setback on the making nice thing.

-

Percy took one look at Leo's leather outfit and went "Ares."

He tries to let go of this prejudice.

-

All the monsters they have to deal with are like, nothing compared to what's out there in the rest of the universe and Leo is deeply unimpressed by the creatures attacking them.

He doesn't have a bronze of gold weapons (and at least here that oversight makes sense).

At some point, they're fending off some beast and Leo just glances between it and the way the other demigods are fighting it with knives and swords and pulls a gun from his jacket.

It probably shouldn't work, but it's not bullets as ammo, instead some kind of energy beam doodad and the monster careens over a cliff side. Leo just leans forward to watch it fall and then goes "…cool." and walks off.

-

Festus has still been running wild at camp this whole time and now he's like, sensing his future buddy and waylays the quest group before they leave the States. Maybe it happens when the Romans catch up with them and Festus unintentionally saves them/ buys them time to escape.

THIS GUY, Leo is impressed with.

-

They don't realize what the storm or fire line means for the LONGEST just because Leo just never thinks about his fire. Like, he didn't tell any of them about it, he kind of came to think he had some kind of alien ancestry over the years and so it doesn't have anything to do with this mythic stuff in his mind yet.

Anyway, that means that Jason and Frank think it's about them (ayyy frason ) and that's just a whole big thing when Leo realizes what's going on. It would have been pretty interesting if the final outcome of the prophecy had come down to a decision made by both a Greek and Roman actually. Hm.

Anyway, with all of this in play, it might actually come down to Frank dying to stop Gaea instead of Leo, simply because the expectations were different, and that Leo doesn't have as strong of connection to this world or the rest of the seven. Which is an interesting take/explanation for Nemesis's warning to him about never finding a place with his brethren. Hm...

Anyway, either Leo dies, or Frank dies and Leo has to like. Actually, face reality because he's lost someone again and he blames himself for that death and he can't keep running, but it's not so simple because he doesn't know where or what home is.

He'd probably end up going back to space, but eventually he'd have to come back for his own peace of mind.

[junkobato]

But it's so sad that Yul's first thought when he finds out that she is alive is to kill her and die with her 😭😭😭😭 why are you doing this to ussss

[glitter-lisp]

@nart-is-a-monster said: Uhhh Hugo and Varian buying a lamp

"I hate it," Varian says.

"I think it hates you too," Hugo says, frowning at the display. "It looks, like... really angry for some reason."

"Why does it have so many corners?" Varian asks, reaching out to poke at one with trepidation, like he expects it to bite him. "Why would anyone make a brutalist lamp? This thing is a lawsuit waiting to happen."

"Does it even have a lightbulb?" Hugo asks, cocking his head to the side like the weird collection of sharp, metallic pieces will start to look more like a lamp from a different angle. "How do you turn it on?"

"I'm scared to find out," Varian admits. "I feel like you have to make a blood sacrifice, and it'll start to glow."

Hugo glances around the room. "I'm scared of all of these lamps. Varian, I've never been scared of furniture. What's wrong with these lamps and why are they so scary?"

"This is 900 dollars," Varian says instead of answering, squinting at the price tag. "Who would pay almost a thousand bucks for a lamp with no lightbulb?"

"We need to get out of these store," Hugo says fervently. "I know Rapunzel recommended it, and I trust her, but–"

Varian backs away slowly, eyes on the lamp like he's afraid it will start moving if he looks away. "But she's artsy as hell and also rich and forgot that we have to save up to afford McDonald's?"

"There's gotta be a thrift store nearby," Hugo says, taking Varian's hand as he starts to ease them towards the exit of the stupidly expensive furniture store Rapunzel recommended. Varian still doesn't look away from the lamp, locked in a staring contest with it. Hugo doesn't blame him. Half of the things for sale look like weapons, and as expensive as everything is, he wouldn't put it past them to come to life. "We can probably find one for like 5 bucks."

"I want to kill it," Varian says, and he's following Hugo but his eyes are still locked on that nightmarish floor lamp. "Hugo, we should see if they do payment plans, I hate that lamp so much–"

"We're not buying a lamp just so you can destroy it," Hugo says, hauling Varian towards the front doors. "We have to eat."

"That thing shouldn't exist," Varian insists. "I could be saving someone. Someone could buy that lamp and then cut their arm off because they walked too close to it. I could be a hero."

"Or you could buy a 5 dollar lamp from a thrift shop and leave rich people to waste all the money they want on their stupid deadly lamps," Hugo says, finally getting them out onto the street. He breathes a sigh of relief as they step outside, free from the insane modern art gallery masquerading as a furniture store that was unlocking homicidal tendencies in his boyfriend. "And still have money left to pay rent this month."

"God, that thing cost more than our rent," Varian says, rubbing at his forehead as he finally seems to break free of whatever lamp-fueled rage he was experiencing a few seconds ago. "What was she thinking? I work for her, she knows how much I make–"

"Thrift store," Hugo repeats, squeezing Varian's hand and starting to tug him towards a more familiar, less terrifyingly wealthy part of town. "Then lunch?"

"If we end up spending more than ten dollars on a lamp, I'm charging Rapunzel for it," Varian says flatly, but he squeezes Hugo's hand back as he follows him down the street.

[princesssarisa]

I've decided not to write any more long posts about why some people don't like Disney's Belle. I've probably been dwelling too much in other people's negative thoughts that I disagree with. But here are the rest of the critiques of Belle's character that I've read, and my short, succinct thoughts on each one.

I still think it's very interesting that some critics think Belle is too sweet and gentle, too feminine, and not "strong" or "modern" enough, while others think she's too defiant, too "modern," and not sweet or gentle enough.

Her desires at the beginning are ill-defined: she wants "adventure" and "more," but has no specific goal. This is true, but personally, I don't mind it. Plenty of us don't know exactly what we want from life, but do know that we want more excitement and wonderment.

She does nothing but read and complain in the village; she makes no effort to achieve her dreams of adventure, and she never does any realistic peasant chores, which makes her come across even more as a spoiled rich girl. I think it's implicit that Belle and Maurice are too poor to leave the village – that's why Maurice sets out to gain fame and fortune with his invention. And I think Belle's never doing housework onscreen was part of Linda Woolverton's feminist agenda. Maybe it's not realistic, and maybe it's overly "second wave feminist," but I do think it was fair of Woolverton to want to break away from the Walt-era Princess model and not show Belle cooking or cleaning.

Her dreams of adventure are side-swept in favor of a mere love story. I think there are two ways of addressing this issue. One is to argue that her dreams of adventure do come true, just in a way she never expected. The other, supported more by the song "A Change in Me" from the musical, is that she does lose her dreams, but for the better, as she realizes her life doesn't need to be like a romantic storybook to be happy.

Her romance with the Beast isn't nearly as fleshed-out or as realistic as fans claim it is. This is subjective. Some people think it's one of the best-written romance arcs in cinema.

She affects meek politeness and plays games with Gaston instead of plainly refusing his advances. First of all, if Belle didn't care about politeness, she would be a hypocrite to criticize Gaston and the Beast for their rudeness. Secondly, Gaston is intimidating. Third, this is only the beginning of her journey – with the Beast, she arguably learns to stand up to someone who mistreats her, which lets her decisively reject Gaston and call him a monster later on.

She seems to blindly love all books without questioning their content, which could be dangerous, especially when the French Revolution arrives. Belle has no trouble thinking for herself. If she can open her heart and mind to the Beast, and loathe Gaston while the rest of the town adores him, then I'm sure she can tell good books apart from bad and dangerous books. And the fashions in the movie are such a mish-mosh that I'm not sure if it takes place before the French Revolution or after... or if the French Revolution will even happen in this fairy tale world.

She sacrifices her own needs for men. Yes she does, but it's not framed in a gendered way, and both the Beast and Maurice do the same for her.

She emasculates the Beast. Well, I'll admit that the Beast's arc isn't very empowering for him – that's the whole point, that he learns to give up some of his personal power and love unselfishly. But is that necessarily a bad thing? I'll also admit that sometimes, I feel troubled that the Beast lets the mob attack the castle and does nothing to protect his servants. Still, we probably shouldn't judge a character whose mental health is clearly suffering at this point: immobilizing, suicidal despair doesn't only exist in fiction, so we should think twice before we call it "weakness" or "emasculation."

She needs male characters to rescue her – the Beast from the wolves, Chip from the cellar. I respect the complaint that the Disney Renaissance movies still rely too much on the "boy rescues girl" trope, but there's no shame in needing to be rescued. Especially because in the forest scene, Belle is just one human facing a whole pack of wolves, and in the cellar scene, her father is rescued too.

She never uses her skills, knowledge, or passions to solve problems – the only purpose they serve is to unite her with the Beast. I think this is just a genre problem. The whole story is geared toward uniting Belle and the Beast in love, and every story beat serves that end.

She almost leaves the Beast to die in the snow and stays angry about the West Wing incident even after he saves her life. The former is only a split second, while the latter is only in self-defense when the Beast unfairly blames her for his injury. Besides, consider the context of how the Beast has behaved until this point!

She's a hypocrite for giving the Beast a second chance yet dismissing Gaston as a monster. She doesn't give the Beast a chance until he risks his life to save hers. If Gaston had done anything like that, she would have given him a second chance too, but he doesn't. Gaston is also far more cold-blooded and narcissistic than the Beast ever is.

She's to blame for the Beat's near-death at the climax because she reveals his existence to Gaston and the other villagers. Of course she is. It's explicitly framed as a terrible mistake and she openly blames herself. But it's an impulsive act of desperation to save her father, and she tries to explain that the Beast is kind and gentle. Until it's too late, it clearly doesn't cross her mind that the villagers could form a mob to kill him!

She plays a nurturing, motherly role to both the Beast and her father. I agree that heroines shouldn't need to be nurturing. But it's not inherently anti-feminist to be that way!

She's sidelined in the final battle. Yes, this is true, but her presence is still essential to the scene, and not every heroine needs to be an action girl.

Her portrayal falls short of the original Beauty's greatest virtues: her kindness, selflessness, and compassion. Belle still has those qualities, they're just combined with more "modern" ones (adventurousness, defiance toward unjust authority figures, etc.). Besides, Disney had already made several excellent movies about heroines defined by kindness and gentleness. What's wrong with giving Belle a slightly different set of virtues?

She's too traditionally feminine and ladylike. I think most of us can agree that "femininity" ≠ "anti-feminist," and anyone who thinks that way is a little misguided.

Her creators glorify her at the expense of the other Disney Princesses. I agree that it was unfair and mean-spirited of Linda Woolverton to imply that the three Walt-era Princesses are "insipid," but I do respect her insistence on making Belle a different, more "modern" heroine. And I agree that Paige O'Hara was mistaken when she described Belle as "the first Princess not looking for a man" (neither Cinderella nor Ariel dream of romance until they actually meet their princes), but I don't hold that against Belle.

She's too blatantly written as a role model – she doesn't feel like a real person, but like a living instruction manual for how a "smart," "empowered" woman should behave. This is valid. But I personally do think she seems like a real person as well as a role model, and I think she's engaging enough that I don't mind the obvious "role model" qualities.

[flowercrowngods]

a snippet please? of the non-tumblrable fic? 👉👈

smh you know i will never refuse anyone asking for snippets 🤍 she's nothing special though, she's a weird little one

Something Steve has always wondered is why migraines make his body shut down like that, leaving him in a state where all he can do is lie down and fall into a near-catatonic limbo until the pain has lifted enough to face the rest of the world again. Fighting interdimensional monsters and posing as a feast to demonic, modified monster bats was also agony. It also made him lose his footing and almost pass out from bloodloss and pain, his back scratched open completely where the bats dragged him across rough stone. 

Migraine pains don't really compare to those. It scares him. Because he knows that's all up in his brain. His fucked up, mangled, thrice-concussed fucking brain he never got cared for because the government goons never took them seriously. Never took him seriously. 

And now here he is, lying in a near-stranger's bed in a pitch-black room that's still somehow too bright, unmoving and hoping to pass out from it all. Hoping he won't hallucinate again this time. Hoping that he won't throw up, his body convulsing because it knows it shouldn't be feeling like this. 

Throwing up from pain. There's really nothing more fucked up than that. Or, there is. Throwing up from pain and begging an invisible man to make it stop, only to realise hours later that pain can also make you hallucinate. 

He doesn't want that. He doesn't want any of that ever again, and certainly not in a strange, dark cabin with a vampire forged from a human he never even liked. 

Tears spring to his eyes, but they're not the kind that'll fall and bring relief. They just stay in the corners of his eyes, his only way to express the waves and flares of pain washing over him, wishing he could just pass out now. 

Kas tucks him in. Steve didn’t know he could do that. It strikes him as extremely non-vampiric even in this state he’s in. Steve doesn’t react, doesn’t so much as blink his eyes open as the pain travels up to his hairline and settles there, flaring over his forehead to his eyes and down to his cheekbones and then up again, a never-ending motion that he never stands a chance to get used to. 

“Safe,” Kas says again, and it zings through Steve’s body with violent force that doesn’t match at all with the gentle tone he’s using. 

Scrunching his forehead to stave off more words, Steve hopes that Kas will take the hint and know to shut up. 

But he has no such luck. 

“Here.” 

“Shhh.” He shakes his head minutely, shushing the vampire with a barely there noise, keeping the damage to a minimal amount. “You can go,” he slurs, trying not to speak at all. “Please.” 

A beat of blessed, blissful silence, before there’s shuffling again. Kas does walk to the door, but then stops in the doorway. Steve doesn’t want to look. 

“No.” Kas sounds surprised about it. Mystified. Like he wants to leave, but can’t. 

What?

“Stay. Here.” 

Whatever you do, just please be quiet about it, Steve thinks desperately. Instead of saying any of that, he shushes him again, hoping that the thump he hears means that Kas is sitting on the floor now. Though he doesn’t understand why. 

Why do you care? 

“Safe,” Kas says again, whispering the word into the room, and it doesn’t zing through Steve this time. 

With Kas refusing to leave and his pathetic state of existence so blatantly on display, and with waves and waves as his nerves fire signals to his overworked and tired brain, more tears spring to Steve's eyes. And this time they fall. Silently, and without a sob, without even a sniffle of acknowledgment. But they fall. 

And Steve just wants to go home.

[crusherthedoctor]

Opinions That Aren't Mutually Exclusive:

"Sonic should be allowed to tell stories, and the dismissal of story in Sonic because it's a video game series is silly" and "It's still a video game series first and foremost, so the gameplay part is still the top priority, meaning anyone who doesn't like a game because they didn't like the gameplay is perfectly valid"

"Sonic is a Japanese IP, and no amount of western adaptations will change that" and "It shouldn't matter where in the world the people handling a Sonic product are from, as long as they're competent and humble"

"Alternate gameplay styles can exist in Sonic" and "You can't just do anything willy nilly, it should make sense for a Sonic game in some capacity, even if it's another character"

"Sonic's world should feel like a place that people could live in" and "It should be creative, inspiring, and not emulate the real world at the cost of everything else"

"Sonic does not think like a typical superhero, nor does he go out of his way to redeem villains if they show no remorse" and "Sonic is a compassionate person who is quick to befriend others if they're not evil or if things have mended between them"

"Sonic is the namesake character, and his influence in the world around him is key to the series" and "Other characters should be allowed to exist beyond Sonic, and not have their every decision and contribution dictated solely by Sonic's influence"

"Tails should have childlike traits" and "Tails should have agency, and not be useless or a submissive yes man"

"Tails' outburst in Lost World and his moment of weakness in Forces could have been handled better" and "The solutions fans come up with are often nonsensical and would only make things worse"

"The Master Emerald and Angel Island are important to Knuckles" and "His entire existence should not revolve around them"

"Amy's love for Sonic should not be flanderized to the levels of the mid-00's" and "Amy should not be a Strong Female Character™ who's too cool for mushiness"

"Eggman is a funny guy" and "He is also a huge piece of shit"

"Eggman doesn't do things for the evulz" and "He does things for himself, and his evil is not any lesser because of that"

"Other villains can exist" and "When two decades worth of upstagings have happened, no shit I'm going to be cautious and give every newcomer the side-eye until they're confirmed to NOT drag Eggman through the mud"

"Shadow can be aggressive if he has to" and "Shadow is never an arsehole for the sake of being an arsehole"

"Shadow's backstory is necessary to the context of what made him who he is as we know him" and "He's already confronted it and should be allowed to move on without having Maria's memory dangled in front of him at all times"

"Rouge is not in Sonic's immediate group in the same way as Tails, Amy, Cream, etc" and "Rouge is not a villain, or even that morally grey, since despite her jewel thieving tendencies, the amount of times where she's helped the heroes far outweighs the number of times where she hasn't"

"I don't think Silver is an interesting character, and he was artificially shilled at Sonic's expense in '06" and "IDW Silver is a deceitful portrayal of who Silver actually is"

"Elise was not used well" and "She did not deserve the hate she received, and is hated half the time for dumbass reasons"

"Metal Sonic's identity crisis is an intriguing idea" and "You can convey that idea without him usurping Eggman and becoming another dime-a-dozen giant monster, you can't use insanity as a handwave to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks, because the good and bad ways to establish insanity always depends on who that character is"

"Some of the IDW characters had potential" and "That potential was swiftly thrown out in favor of flanderizing them, turning them into Sally clones, or turning them into Eggman Usurper #59"

"Sonic shouldn't be infantilized as a series, like Sonic's portrayal in Prime" and "It also shouldn't be edgy for edgy's own sake, like the zombot arc in IDW"

"The games are not perfect, with some of them having much more inexcusable flaws and baffling decisions than others" and "The games are what started the franchise, and the cartoons/comics/etc would not exist without them, therefore you can't pretend the latter are the centerpiece of the franchise even if you prefer them"

"SA1 is one of my favourite games in the series" and "The direction shift from Classic to Adventure may have had understandable intentions behind it, but by making said shift so vocal instead of more graceful and seamless ala 3D Mario, ultimately it was responsible for creating one of the biggest divides in the fandom since SatAM"

"Shadow the Hedgehog is not a good game" and "But it is a funny one, so I can't hate it too much"

"Sonic '06 is over a decade old, and reviewers should stop bringing it up in every review where it's not relevant" and "It's worth remembering what '06 did wrong so that its mistakes aren't repeated, which is especially crucial in the wake of fans choosing to retcon it as an underrated masterpiece"

"No game in the series is perfect, not even your favourite one" and "Literal perfection is impossible to achieve, and would be highly subjective even if it was, the flaws shouldn't cancel out your fondness for the game"

"I respect Yuji Naka's contributions to the series" and "I don't necessarily like Yuji Naka as a person"

"SEGA of Japan have not had a flawless track record" and "It's still their IP, and SEGA of America, as well as fans and creators, need to respect that"

"I've not been that interested or impressed with Daniel Barnes' output in the series so far, and the mantra of ___ Can Do No Wrong is a dangerous slope that leads to egos like Flynn's" and "I respect Barnes' integrity that other IDW crewmembers have not shown"

"I favor adaptations that are faithful to the source material" and "I can like adaptations that do their own thing as long as it doesn't go against the core of the franchise/characters too much"

"We're on our way to the ARK" and "So I guess that means we're going too"

[positively--speculative]

It's really unfortunate that a number of people (mostly white people) in the IWTV fandom here on Tumblr seem to have this watered down view of the gothic genre as "cool, sexy monster stuff." I mean, yeah. That's *part* of it, but that's like, a very high school Hot Topic view of it. I mean, nothing wrong with liking the stuff you did in high school or Hot Topic, but it shows a lack of a deeper understanding.

I know I've ragged on Anne Rice a lot here, but I honestly think that this is partly her responsibility. Did she craft interesting characters? Yes. Did she give them flaws? Yes. But does she do a good job of challenging them? Not really. In fact, the way she frames then makes it seem like they're not flaws at all. I can accept the fact that slavery was normalized in Louis time, but I cannot accept the idea if no one in the story challenging it. It is not unreasonable for Daniel to be attracted to Louis during the interview, but at the very least, he should be uncomfortable with his attraction to him. Sometimes bad people are still attractive. That's an uncomfortable truth. But AR doesn't handle it this way. She never addresses it.

So, it's really not hard to understand why her fandom carries such limited views on uncomfortable matter, because her writing didn't challenge them to feel uncomfortable with their attraction to Louis. To Lestat. To even fucking Marius (who I won't get into here. Other people have already written about him here and have done so better than I can). AR made the sexy vampire books, and her fans just go along with all the awful things they do because, hey, they're monsters and it's cool because they live outside human expectations of morality (even though Louis was awful before becoming a monster). AR presents shock value, but doesn't address what's shocking. Her fandom, in fact, seems to take pride in illustrating no shock over what is shocking. This, in my opinion, is an illustration of *failure* to create an effective gothic story.

The show does a much better job, in my opinion, at presenting something gothic. I, a Black biracial woman of the audience, should not be attracted to Lestat. But I *am.* I shouldn't be attracted to Louis, but I *am.* I shouldn't be looking at their family dynamic with Claudia in her earlier days as a vampire through heart-shaped lenses, but I *do.* And it's uncomfortable. It's supposed to be. And I think Daniel's character does a good job of bringing the audience back into the horrible reality of the situation and causes us to check ourselves.

And I think white fandom really does a disservice to Jacob Anderson *AND* Sam Reid by trying to argue with Black fandom over the subject of race. Racism is a central theme in this version of the story. But they don't want us to talk about it, because they're uncomfortable with it. They'd rather pretend it doesn't exist and doesn't need to be discussed. But it's *supposed* to make them uncomfortable. They're just not used to seeing the benefits of being challenged, because AR never did. And unfortunately, they're missing out in a very fulfilling part of enjoying the story because they want to keep themselves in a little bubble where they can pat each other on their backs for not being shocked by shocking things and never growing as people.

[coraniaid]

Not an original thought on my part but I really do still hate the end of Doppelgangland (by which I mean, specifically, the Scooby Gang's decision to send vampire!Willow back to her own dimension where both she and they believe she will be free to kill and torture people as much as she likes again). The more you think about it the more completely it undermines anything else the show is trying to say this season if not the whole premise of the show itself. I honestly think it's one of the worst writing decisions the show ever made.

I often see people comparing the scene in Bad Girls where Faith doesn't listen to Buffy and kills Allan Finch with the scene in this episode where Buffy does listen to Willow and doesn't kill her vampire alter ego. And I think this parallel probably is fully intentional, only ... what is it trying to say? To paraphrase Kendra: she's a vampire, she should die. That has consistently been the rule the show iived by up to this point (at least for soulless vampires). Xander didn't have a choice to spare vampire!Jesse, even though Jesse was his friend. Buffy promised to -- and did -- kill vampire!Ford, even though Ford was her friend and was going to die if he wasn't turned. Buffy patrols cemetaries every night killing vampires as they rise from their graves, before they've killed anyone, just because they will otherwise go on to hurt people. Buffy sent Angel to hell even though she was in love with him. But suddenly it's wrong to kill a vampire that looks like -- but isn't -- one of Buffy's friends? Even one that we know has killed and tortured people? Even one that was actively trying to do that at the time Buffy was about to stake her? How does this square with anything else in the show's history?

The episode doesn't suggest vampire!Willow's reformed in any way. It doesn't give her a soul or a chip in her head or even have her promise really hard not to hurt anyone else. On the contrary, she repeatedly tells everyone who will listen how much she enjoys hurting people and how she's going to keep doing it because it's fun. The Scooby Gang have to intervene to stop her carrying out a massacre at the Bronze in their world, in which vampire!Willow kills at least one person. And then they let her go anyway!

It's like if Season 2 had 'solved' the Angelus problem by just persuading Angelus to go and kill people in a different town than Sunnydale, one Buffy wouldn't ever visit. Or if Season 4's Doomed had ended with the gang cheerfully working toegether to have the Iniiative chip removed from Spike because he seemed sad about not being able to kill people anymore, and then had them gather at the airport to wave him off and wish him luck eating people in South America. It makes no sense at all.

And yes, we see that vampire!Willow is killed instantly on returning to her original timeline, so what the Scoobies did didn't actually get anyone human hurt. But, crucially, they didn't know that would happen when they made the decision and in fact they never learn it did. It simply cannot factor into the morality of their actions. As far as any of them ever know they let a monster free to kill and inflict misery on hundreds of people, because ... what? She looked like Willow, so she deserved "a chance"? (To do what, Willow? Increase her bodycount?) Because it's "the way it should be"? (In the dimension that ... according to the rules of the show, shouldn't even exist and was only created by an evil demon?) And then we go right back to the main plot of the season, where ... oh, yes, Faith's refusual to accept personal responsibility for the results of her actions is a sign that she has crossed a serious moral boundary. Right. No obvious hypocrisy on our heroes' part there then.

Genuinely, how does any of this make any sense at all?

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

I keep adding songs to my dp playlist for very specific amvs I construct in my head (as you do)

this is an old concept I built forever ago but this song drew it back out of me, and I want to revisit it

imagine if you will, Void Danny from Reverse Trio AU, in a timeline where the Phantom of his world (in this specific scenario it's Tucker) did not succeed and was killed by Nocturn

Nocturn at the height of his power is able to use his foot in the dream realm to clip through space, aka he can make portals, at first he just uses them to spread across the world, he teaches Danny to do the same

one day he lets slip that he can make portals to other alternate universes, and that when they are finished feeding on this world, they will move to another

at this point, with Nocturn growing overconfident and complacent, his grip on Danny's mind starts to slip, Danny starts to miss his friends, he starts to regret what they've done

in a moment of gathered willpower he decides to open a portal to a world where his friends are still alive, but midway through he hesitates, what will they think of him? he killed them after all, wouldn't they hate him? wouldn't they think he was a monster? he desperately wants to see them but he can't bare to have them see him this way

the portal opens, but it opens to a world of lush green leaves, a huge tree with a girl sitting beneath it, she has her hand on the trunk, she's crying

he recognises her

the portal had found a version of his friend who would not hate or judge him for what he had done, it found a version of his friend who was just like him

he speaks to this Sam and she tells him that he can't be here, that she killed him, his body was beneath this tree, Danny was her Phantom

he tells her where he is from, that he's escaped to find the friends he lost, he says she's not the Sam he knew, but she's clearly a Sam who regrets as he regrets, who wants what he wants, he reaches out his hand and asks her to come with him, they still have one friend left to find

she takes his hand

he opens another portal, this time to an Amity buried in sand, there's a boy holding a golden staff, he stares out over the buried ruins of the city, the grave of his friends and family, one he had dug himself with the whispers of Hotep Ra in his ear and the memories of an ancient king piloting his body, Sam was his Phantom

Danny and Sam reach out, they tell him to come with them, they'll find a new home together, in a world where none of them exist, a world that none of them have broken

he takes their hands

from here they can go anywhere, to any universe, to find a place for themselves where they are away from the influences that changed them, they are still monsters, in their own ways, with powers granted to them by those who changed them

Danny cannot survive without feeding off dreams, he roams through the dream realm every night, giving people pleasant dreams but leaving them tired and drained come morning

but he thinks perhaps if he feeds lightly, takes just enough energy from just enough people, if he makes sure to feed from different people every night, perhaps he won't need to cause anyone harm

Sam needs sunshine and soil to thrive, but she still has no sympathy for the humans who destroy nature, dragging anyone who threatens her into the ground with her roots

but maybe she can use her powers for something more, rejuvenate the land she walks on, find and connect with humans who want what she wants, they're out there, she knows, she used to be one of them

Tucker uses his magic to survive, to steal food and clothes and shelter for them all, he may have left his kingdom but he is still a king, why shouldn't he take whatever he wants? who are they to tell him no? he could crush them like bugs in his fist, they were only peasants

but does he need to kill them? can't he just take what he needs and make them forget? he has killed so many already, and for what? an empty desolate kingdom? he left that place for a reason

as the influence of their manipulators wanes, the people they once were slowly return to them, they will never be the same, they have been changed far too much, but they are together, and together they remember how to be people again, not quite the people they all once knew, but close enough to count

but eventually their guardians will notice they are missing, Nocturn will follow a trail through dimensions, he will meet others whose wards have disappeared, they will come looking for their disobedient runaway children, and they will destroy whatever lies in their path to get them back

[astreinomane]

things you’re looking forward to in stranger things s5?

(Also I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to your asks yet 😭 I’ll try to answer them soon though!)

hope you’re doing well :)

Ok, first of all, I'm doing fine, thank you for asking.

As for your ask...

Well, I surely look forward to Ronance being endgame (I know it's probably impossibile, but a man can dream, can't he?).

Oh, and Byler. Byler needs to be endgame, too.

Another thing I look forward to is Steve and Nancy finally having an heart-to-heart and realizing that they simply aren't made for each other romantically (because, say it with me, NANCY DOES NOT WANT SIX NUGGETS), and so they both decide to stay friends.

In this way, Steve will find someone else to realize his dream of having a family with, and Nancy will find someone who truly gets her and makes her happy ( *cough* Robin *cough*).

And in general, I look forward to Nancy being finally freed from this stupid ass love triangle that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Another thing I look forward to is Max waking up from her coma.

But I also really hope that she won't wake up in the last minute, but on the contrary, that she will be important to the plot, even in her state.

I'm sure the Duffers can find a way to make that happen.

And also, I hope that Erica will be an important part of the team 'cause she's awesome and she deserves it (and I also hope to see more of her bonding with the Party).

And also, if they aren't going to bring Eddie back, I at least hope that Dustin and the others will be able to restore his name to Hawkins and make people understand that he wasn't a monster, but quite the opposite, 'cause it would be fucking awful for Eddie to have sacrificed himself only for Hawkins to still see him as a monster.

He at least deserve a good memory on people's minds.

And also, I know Eduardo has confirmed he won't be returning this season, but I hope Argyle will still get to make an appearance, because I refuse to believe they'll completely throw away his character without even a mention.

Oh, and Kali, Kali needs to return as well.

And I also hope that Suzie will come to Hawkins to help Dustin save the world again.

This way, we'll finally see Dustin and Suzie interact with each other in person, and Suzie will finally be aware of all the Upside Down stuff, and so we will have more content for Duzie shippers.

And also, Jonathan needs to have more importance as a character this season.

And maybe a coming out scene from both Will and Robin, where they tell the others they're gay and immediately gets hugs and support, 'cause they both deserve it.

And finally, another thing I really hope to see in this season are more moments between the Party at complete (Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, El and Max).

And also, I really hope that they won't split up the characters, but that they will all stay together.

And I think that's all.

Damn, I didn't planned this list to be this long.

Anyway, thank you for the ask.

And tell me, what do you look forward to in season 5?

(And also, don't worry about my asks. Take your time. I can wait.)

[blood-orange-juice]

Pushing my "Childe is inspired by Uther Doul" agenda.

I wrote about how everything that he does contains a contradiction and we discussed with Cricket how Canotila's quest implies that the Abyss might not be just a place with monsters and dead forgotten gods, but rather a place where things randomly flicker in and out of existence or change to random other things.

And a huge part of my fascination with Childe is how three years after the start of the story I still can't figure him out. Human psyche doesn't bend at this angles, his combination of traits is not supposed to exist in one person (nor it can be imitated).

Yet, somehow it doesn't feel like ooc or bad writing, I have a very clear sense of what would be childelike and unchildelike, it just doesn't feel like anything that can exist inside a human brain, unless I resort to a very weird theory.

*

The theory.

China Mieville's "The Scar" has a concept called "possibility mining", certain places and certain magic/technology being able to conjure all the possible versions of a person or an object at once. It can be navigated to some extent.

There's a character called Uther Doul, a warrior-scholar, the pirate city rulers' bodyguard and overall a charming fellow. He's consistently described as someone changing the direction of his actions too quickly and unpredictably or having traits that shouldn't coexist in one person.

(he also wears grey, is proficient in most kinds of weapons and is generally polite and soft spoken. do you see my vision?)

First meeting:

  “Surrender,” he said quietly to the man before him, who looked up in terror and sobbed, fumbled idiotically for his knife.    The grey-clad man spun instantly in the air, his arms and legs bent. He twirled as if he were dancing and stamped out quickly, the bottom of his foot slamming into the fallen man’s face and smashing him back. The sailor sprawled, bleeding, unconscious or dead. As the man in grey landed he was instantly still. It was as if he had not moved.

A fight at a city arena (mostly quoting this for the reaction of other people to him):

It was only when the frenzy spread to her own boat that she realized it was a word. “Doul.” It came from all around her. “Doul, Doul, Doul.” A name. “What are they saying?” she hissed to Silas. “They’re calling for someone,” he said, his eyes scanning the surrounds. “They want a display. They’re demanding a fight from Uther Doul.” He gave her a quick, cold smile. “You’ll recognize him,” he said. “You’ll know him when you see him.” [...] Uther Doul did not seem to live in the same time as anyone else. He seemed like some visitor to a world much more gross and sluggish than his own. Despite the bulk of his body, he moved with such speed that even gravity seemed to operate more quickly for him.

The heroine contemplating after (I don't think need to comment):

They left and walked the winding nightlit pathways of Thee-And-Thine toward Shaddler, and Garwater and the Chromolith. Neither spoke. At the end of Doul’s fight, Bellis had seen something that had brought her up short and made her afraid. As he had turned, his hands clawed, his chest taut and heaving, she had seen his face. It was stretched tight, every muscle straining, into a glare of feral savagery unlike anything she had ever seen on a human being. Then a second later, with his bout won, he had turned to acknowledge the crowd and had looked once more like a contemplative priest. Bellis could imagine some fatuous warrior code, some mysticism that abstracted the violence of combat and allowed one to fight like a holy man. And equally she could imagine tapping into savagery, letting atavistic viciousness take over in a berserker fugue. But Doul’s combination stunned her. She thought of it later, as she lay in her bed, listening to light rain. He had readied and recovered himself like a monk, fought like a machine, and seemed to feel it like a predatory beast. That tension frightened her, much more than the combat skills he had shown. Those could be learned.

Uther explaining lore:

   Uther quoted something like a singer. “ ‘We have scarred this mild world with prospects, wounded it massively, broken it, made our mark on its most remote land and stretching for thousands of leagues across its sea. And what we break we may reshape, and that which fails might still succeed. We have found rich deposits of chance, and we will dig them out.’    “They meant all that literally,” he said. “It wasn’t an abstract crow of triumph. They had scarred, they had broken the world. And, in doing so, they set free forces that they were able to tap. Forces that allowed them to reshape things, to fail and succeed simultaneously-because they mined for possibilities. A cataclysm like that, shattering a world, the rupture left behind: it opens up a rich seam of potentialities.    “And they knew how to pick at the might-have-beens and pull out the best of them, use them to shape the world. For every action, there’s an infinity of outcomes. Countless trillions are possible, many milliards are likely, millions might be considered probable, several occur as possibilities to us as observers-and one comes true.    “But the Ghosthead knew how to tap some of those that might have been. To give them a kind of life. To use them, to push them into the reality that in its very existence denied theirs, which is defined by what happened and by the denial of what did not. Tapped by possibility machines, outcomes that didn’t quite make it to actuality were boosted, and made real.

Fun detail: he also wields what's called a "possible sword", it takes the shape currently preferred by the owner.

If I recall that correctly, it's never actually stated explicitly or explained why does Uther have such a weird combination of traits and fans argue a lot about which side was real.

I think all of them were. He just switched constantly between all the different versions of himself. And I think so does Childe. Not just in "he compartmentalizes" way (although that probably too) but in reality-shifting way.

I also think that's the real reason why Childe wasn't in Sumeru. His thought process itself is probably a massive spoiler. Also Nahida would have probably speedrun a corruption arc with a pace inconceivable both to King Deshret and Rukkhadevata if she tried to peek into his head.

*

It gets weirder and even more fun when you see the drops from the 4.2 boss, but I'll wait for the patch to drop to draw parallels. For now I'll just say that it involves a whale and a music instrument.

[trashboatprince]

Here's something silly for that mad scientists au I have with Dr. Crowley and Dr. McFell.

Ready to meet Jim? :)

Warning: unethical science, human-plant hybrid monster that shouldn't exist but does

On with the fic!

--

"I think that vendor scammed us!" Crowley growled as he looked into the basket. "I think we paid for apples she didn't give us."

"Well, at least we grabbed all the fresh ones, yes?" Muriel asked, looking at the basket as well as they walked back to the Crowley Manor.

"Yeah, well... still, I think we were scammed. Hope the tarts angel makes today are worth it. Things ain't cheap right now!"

"Nope! They're not!" Muriel nodded, huffing. "Just last week, when I went to get that order you placed at the butchers, I think he was trying to overcharge for the cut, and it isn't even of the best kind of meat! We were making stew, but a meal for royalty!"

Crowley smirked, listening to them rant, ah, he was such an influence on them. Just like a parental figure!

They approached the doors to their home, only to see McFell outside, fretting, pacing. He paused when he noticed them and put on a very forced, nervous smile. "O-oh! You're... you're back so soon!"

"It wasn't really a long trip to get veg, angel." Crowley commented, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"W-whatever do you mean? Nothing's wrong! What would make you say or think that?"

Muriel and Crowley looked at one another, then back at him. "Aziraphale, I'm your husband, and Muriel has been living with us for six years. We are very aware when you're upset or worked up about somethin', you're not as subtle as you think."

Aziraphale made a whimpering sound and wrung his hands, then moved to open the doors. "We can't talk about it out here, come inside."

Crowley shrugged and followed in with his purchases, Muriel trailing behind.

"Alright," Crowley started, setting his goods on a nearby table, careful of the many books on it, "who or what has you all twisted up in knots like this?"

"Well, uhh... this individual is... hmm..."

Crowley removed his dark glasses, frowning. "Is it someone we know?"

Aziraphale coughed and cleared his throat, trying to smile. "Uhh... Jim?" He called out.

This gave Crowley a moment of pause, staring at his husband. "Jim? Do we know a Jim?"

"Hello!"

Crowley whipped right around and saw an imposing figure entering their foyer. The figure was tall, slightly muscular, covered in bits of plant matter and dirt, green-tinted, and was very, very clearly naked.

It also looked just like the man that had been lying cold and unmoving on his work table in the lab just this morning.

"AHH! IT'S ALIVE!" Crowley screeched and stumbled backwards.

"I'll take care of it, Mr. Crowley!" Muriel shouted in a panic, running to the closet to grab their shovel.

"No, no! Don't do that!" Aziraphale exclaimed and rushed towards the plant man. "Don't hurt him!"

"Angel!" Crowley coughed, hand on his chest, trying to get his heart to stop beating like crazy. "How is he alive!? I thought the project failed!"

Aziraphale whizzed, looking at the monster, who was all smiles, like he clearly didn't seem to know what the problem was and was just enjoying the company. Which was probably the case. "I thought so too! But I came out of the library and there he was, right in our front doorway, ready to step out into the world as bare as a babe!"

Crowley looked around Aziraphale at the plant man. "You didn't think to cover him up?"

"I... I had a blanket on his lap, I thought he'd take it with him when he came in here."

"Clearly not."

"Hello! I'm Jim!" The plant man said, grinning.

Crowley made a face as Muriel approached, a shovel in their hands. The redheaded doctor put a hand on it, lowering it slightly, just in case. "Why did you name him Jim?" Muriel asked. "Was that the body's original name?"

"Nah, we used a variety of parts. Though there might be a James in there." Crowley replied.

"Oh!" Jim, as he was named, said. "That's the long version, right? Jim, short for James, long for Gabriel."

"Gabriel...?" Muriel raised an eyebrow.

"He looks like a man I know by that name." Aziraphale sighed. "No, I just... I panicked and just named him because he asked and it was the name that came to mind."

He coughed again, then tried to smile. "Uhh... well, at least we can say that your absolute nonsense of a scientific theory turned out to be true, eh, dear boy?"

Crowley stared at his husband, then at Jim. "You do realize this was a one in a million chance."

"Of course."

"And because of that, we now have an affront to God and Satan and all of science in our foyer, yes?"

"I am well aware."

"Who happens to be completely naked, and holding what looks like a mug of hot cocoa."

"He rather likes cocoa."

"Hm. We should probably get some pants on him and then have a long discussion about this over drinks. Strong drinks."

"That sounds like a plan."

"Muriel, put the shovel away and go get us all some of the really good stuff, it's gonna be a long talk."

--

The talk ends with them adopting Jim.

Not sure if Crowley marches off and gets hit with lightning, because this is a silly au and things like that could happen, but I'll leave that up to you, dear readers.

[bug-buzzz]

I have a LOT of questions about the newest ep of Fionna and Cake. Mainly the farm world ep and farm world in general.

OK so, assuming this is the farm world from Adventure Time, there are a TON of things that don't add up. Here are my questions.

First off, there are a bunch of characters that exist in farm world that don't seem to exist in the land of Ooo. Mainly the Destiny Gang and family. But also the majority of bg characters, they don't seem to have Ooo counterparts.

Expanding on that, why do only SOME characters exist in farmworld and Ooo? Just off the top of my head I know we see Choose Goose (Bruce now), Jake, and Wildberry Princess in the newest fionna and cake ep. But in the original Adventure Time episode we also see Simon (deceased) and Marcy. Those are the only characters I know of that we see. This could be explained by saying that magic doesn't exist in farm world but it still should. Finn only wished The Lich out of existence, there should still be elemental magic but we don't see any of our elemental characters. And why not have non magic counterparts like in normal Fionna world? Why is it only some characters? It can't be just the non magic ones bc we see normal versions of magic characters.

Why does this farm world seem post-apocalyptic? Finn wished Ice Finn to go back to normal and the crown was removed from farm world. I think there are at least 2 farm worlds, one where Farm Finn became evil from the crown and another where it never existed. When the crown was removed this could've also removed the ice keeping the mushroom bomb from exploding which would explain why this farm world seems post apocalyptic. But even if Farm Finn did keep the crown, we know that the Mushroom Bomb already went off. Either way, the great mushroom bomb SHOULD have gone off but we see the same characters still alive. So the mushroom bomb must have been removed from the equation for them to all still be alive, we see a crater where the bomb was but if it did go off, that area should be radioactive and all of the farmworld ogs should be dead. Why is this world so messy and post-apocalyptic? It doesn't add up

We see a farm world version of Marceline in the farm world shown in Adventure Time, but for some reason, she's old. This makes no sense. Marceline doesn't age in Ooo because she's part demon part vamp, so do these not exist in farmworld? The only difference farm world SHOULD have with Ooo is that The Lich never (even ever) existed, but this shouldn't apply to other magic as well. The comets, elements, GOLB and the other primordials, and relics (like the crown) should all still exist. Hunson Abadeer should still exist as he is either a demon or a primordial monster (seen in The Lichs flashback along with Coconteppi and Orgalorg while scaring King of Ooo and Toronto) But the point is, why is ALL magic gone except for the crown in farmworld when only The Lich should be missing. Could the Lich control all magic? He is the oldest scholar of GOLB, maybe even older and above the primordial monsters and elements? Its also weird that Jake isnt magic in farmworld, we know Ooo Jake gets his powers from being a spawn of Warren Ampersand who is either a primordial monster or the same species as one of these monsters (seen in The Licks flashback) But that makes Prismo stronger than The Lich (since he was able to wish him out of existence) and in turn all the primordial monsters, but weaker than GOLB as he was not able to bring Betty back (or maybe he just can't bring people back from the dead? Since he couldn't bring Margles back either) it's weird.

Why does Finn still name his daughter Bonnibel in farmworld if PB doesn't exist in farmworld? Is she still there but not shown? Are all Finns destined to have children named after Bonnie and Jake? (Pillow Finn did) Did the name just come to him as a weird cosmic communication coincidence?

Why do we see a scarecrow of Ice Finn if the crown doesn't exist in farmworld? Do people just remember when Finn was briefly Ice Finn? And why isn't Finn insane from the crown? It affected him long enough for him to start changing so shouldn't it have made him insane?

Farm world is really weird and I have lots of questions. Lmk what you guys think.

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

So, just to be clear, The Good Place is the greatest show in history, it is my heart, my soul, my everything. That said, after the bilionth rewatch, I need to talk about a couple of things:

1. Not a single person in the real Good Place should have been okay with the concept of the Bad Place from the beginning of time. The thing is that eternity, of any kind, is inherently cruel, and I was so happy that the show actually delt with it and acknowledged the problem of it, both as punishment and as a reward. But it makes no sense to me whatsoever that a person who is presumably good and caring would reach paradise and learn that there are people who will never ever reach it, and not immediately demand to talk to the manager or start a riot. In fact, even the people in the bad place wouldn't accept that. And not necessarily just about themselves! Knowing that people will suffer endlessly for the rest of time, regardless of their actions, is beyond horrific for the majority of people in the world, let alone ones who get into heaven. Even in the fake Good Place, there's no way that someone like Chiddi wouldn't be disturbed by it. You can say that Eleanor and Jason had other things to worry about, and that Tahani was too self centered at the beginning to care (though I don't think she was so self centered that she would become that cruel as to think that eternity of suffering is okay for anyone), but to know that your loved ones would never be there with you, that humans will suffer for the rest of time... I don't know how anyone could live with that. Or technically not-live with it, I guess. You know. Cause they're dead. Anyway, I know that we wouldn't have a show if this wasn't the case, but it still doesn't really make sense once you think about it.

2. Even if the humans in the existing system wouldn't revolt over the cruelty of infinity, I feel like the accountants should have. Technically speaking, within the existing system amazingly good people and generally good ones still went to the Bad Place because they had like 1,150,000 points instead of 1,200,000, and not to mention every other person with points between zero and the lower cut of the Good Place. The system makes no sense from its inception. Why on earth should a person with more than a million point literally burn in hell? Why would accountants be okay with this? To see so many green points go to hell? It's horrible.

3. Also, infinity doesn't apply only to humans - it is cruel and unfair that all non-humans in this world are immortal, and on top of that, forced into a job essentially from birth. They did touch it with Michael both changing his job and later becoming mortal, but it's such a shame that the possibility wasn't given to all non-humans. When your only options are forced labour (that you can't choose the type of) or brutal death ("retirement"), you are just as much of a prisoner of the system as the humans.

4. Why exactly is there a system? I know it is irrelevant within the frame of the show, but I am genuinely curious in the philosophical aspect of this, especially since the system in the show is explicitly detached from any religion, religiosity and divinity. Why are humans judged at all? Why only humans? What right or authority do the non-humans have to operate this system and judge humans in the first place? Does this imply a higher being does exist? Or is the universe just really into burocracy, randomly placing atoms in the shape of accountants and fire monsters?

4. Doug Forcett shouldn't have had any points at all. His motivation was just as curupt as Tahani's, and so it didn't matter how much good he did.

5. Funny enough, through the experiment Michael actually found a more moral and fair way to torture people, regardless of how it revealed the flaws in the system. This goes back to the fact that a lot of good people and just normal average people filled the Bad Place. It was established that the Bad Place workers truly believe in justice. They don't do their job because they're evil, they do it because it's their part in keeping the universe balanced. But I can't believe that a demon looks at essentially a good person's file and says "yeah they deserve to get their intestines pulled out of their ass for the rest of eternity". If the revolt wouldn't start from the humans or the accountans (or angles for that matter), it should have started with the demons, who actually deal with the consequences of the flaws in the system every day. Michael's solution is what the Bad Place should have been from the beginning - a tailored torture that fits the crimes of the individual human. Finding out that they're in the Bad Place didn't actually harm the torture at all, it's a form of torture all of its own and should have been incorporated into the new technique (which, technically, it was in the end, when it became the new system). Beyond that, it's just a question of the length of the punishment, which brings us full circle to the first point.

Still the best show ever.

[extra-somethin-somethin]

If i analyzed a mitski song through a kuwameshi lens would u care…

i just think it kinda fits as a yusuke pov is all! like here let me just-

what if yusuke wanted to be held. he hasn't been held since he was a child and had no one but a mother too young to know how to do it right. what if all of a sudden he had someone to depend on no matter how hard he bit and fought and clawed. kuwabara has his back in fights, in life, so why not be at his back in the quiet intimacy of night. maybe i can kiss your fingers for a change instead of breaking them. i can be soft. i can want soft sometimes. but it's a pointless desire because kuwabara has potential yusuke doesn't see in himself. a chance to be "normal" and "successful" away from the destruction and strife that seems to lick at yusuke's heels. all yusuke has is this man eating demon heritage and a ramen cart. so he can send kuwa off with a smile, call him college boy to further separate himself from what kuwa has the chance to achieve.

i will compare kuwabara to the sun until i die. he's bright, he saves with his light. when he smiles he beams. even his aura is yellow and hot and beautiful like the sun the very center of our existence. of yusuke's galaxy, his universe even if that doesn't make sense. and kuwabara knows what it's like. his childhood wasn't much better than yusuke's. and still somehow he came out the other side shining while yusuke belongs to the night. a creature of the night. not even a part of the grand solar system just some thing that is wrong and rough and hurting that wanted to hurt in turn. still he can't help but open a little for the sun. maybe like a morning glory. he can't bring himself to be direct can't take that leap. but he can sing for the birds to pass messages for him. little touches, sweet moments that can be laughed off if necessary, hugs they pretend didn't happen. those are his song.

do not wait!! i'm not for this place and you're meant for better so don't waste your time on something like me. there's this divide. human and demon. sun and the monster undeserving of its rays.

you'd think that because their situations were similar shizuru and atsuko would be thick as thieves but i feel like there'd be a disconnect. a sort of envy on atsuko's side and judgement on shizu's. maybe shizuru sees this child her brother brings home unattended and mean and unwilling to be cared for and she gets it but also she doesn't. because kazu isn't like that so what could've happened? yusuke knows shizuru feels bad for him, for how he was brought up but he can't bring himself to share the sentiment. he's glad for his mother even. her willingness to tell him how it is. to make sure when the world punched him he punched back ten times as hard. to not get to attached because it only hurts when you get left behind.

Kuwabara is...he really is a man amongst men. he is just that good. he's got honor, he has respect, he can do the yes ma'ams and no sirs, he can also rile you up if need be. he can raise his abysmal grades just by believing he can. he can defend he can protect he can be strong he can be sweet. he can be confident and vulnerable. he's just everything you can wish for in the guy you wanna take home to meet your parents. and yusuke wants. he doesn't want to want but he does. he wants to be worthy of that guy.

if. well when it all comes crashing down because yusuke cannot keep things afloat he doesn't keep connections he breaks and breaks and breaks. kuwabara is everything he could ever want wrapped up in one person and that's exactly why he knows he'll fuck it up because urameshi yusuke cannot keep a good thing. he shouldn't have tried it in the first place

and maybe his mom was wrong. wrong in what she taught him. the lessons she gave. but at some point down the line yusuke can realize it's not always learning what to do. but what not to do. and because kuwabara is this perfect guy he will never give up on yusuke even if he fucks up. so the least he can do is put that same effort in. maybe he understands his mother more the less he becomes like her.

[thekoopalingsandstuffs]

What’s the story with Peasley’s dad? Does Ludwig know him? Do he and Peasley get along?

Okay, this'll be a long post, I think... To start us off, Ludwig and Haru have never met, but they will someday. Haru is aware of Ludwig's existence and is very supportive/excited to meet him. Peasley has told Ludwig about Haru, so he is... A bit nervous about a few things, but also excited to meet him.

Peasley's relationship with his parents is a bit complicated... In the divorce, he chose to stay with his mom, but that doesn't mean he dislikes his father!! The two parents are kinda opposites... Persephone is super... EVERYTHING. She loves her son and is VERY protective. Would fight off monsters with her bare hands for him. Not a day goes by without her telling him how much she loves him and giving him loads of affection. But she is also the parent more involved when it comes to trouble and consequences. Peasley doesn't get in trouble much, but even as a kid, he knew if he fucked up, to go tell his dad and not his mom. (PERSEPHONE IS NOT ABUSIVE- The worst she ever did was take away toys or give a 45 minute time-out)

Haru is definitely very chill and pretty careless. Not neglectful by any means! Just... Less. Even before the divorce, he didn't really go out of his way to give affection. And he gave almost no shits whenever Peasley did something wrong, regardless of what it was. Oh yeah, he also offered Peasley some Marijuana when he was eight years old. (Peasley didn't like it and never even touched weed after that) ... Yeah, probably shouldn't have mentioned that-

Okay, so, the story... Haru was not born royalty, but was still in a pretty wealthy family. Despite this, he still wanted to enter a royal family. (After a LONG line of other women, including Princess Peach at one point) Haru married the queen of the Beanbean Kingdom, Persephone. Persephone had not much interest in being the queen... Once she split from Haru, she was able to follow her own passion while he still ruled over the kingdom for her. They never "officially divorced"... Haru is still king, and she is still technically queen (You see, if Persephone abandoned the throne, then the next rightful king would be POPPLE, so... Yeah, Haru is the better option here) Persephone can return and reclaim power at any time/Kick Haru out of his position, but she feels comfortable letting him do it.

Haru is, at least, a competent king. The kingdom is small and doesn't need much maintenance, so it's an easy job. He is also pretty famous, even without being the king! So the citizens love him and are perfectly okay with a human who is not part of the official bloodline to be in power.

Before being the king, Haru was a musician and mildly famous celebrity. Today, in the castle, you can find him plucking his old electric guitar while listening to golden vinyl records when bored. (Fun fact: Peasley's middle name is Evanescence. You have his dad to thank for that.)

Currently, Haru runs a podcast, talking to other celebrities around the world. (He can speak a multitude of languages, most notable being English, French, and Japanese) so there is no shortage of potential guests that can be on the show. Anyone from upcoming TikTok stars to controversial, retired ex-celebs are welcome. Haru is also very willing to go on other podcasts and do gigs for people who really need the endorsement/validation. He's an all-around chill and agreeable guy who will do just about anything, just because he can. Being the king has obviously made him more famous than before, but he doesn't take advantage of his spotlight or powers.

What else... Oh yeah- Haru does a lotta weed. What famous celebrity doesn't?? That sorta explains his constant chillness. He behaves just fine without it, though... Hmmm... Ah! He also does cocaine! But only on weekends, and sometimes on podcasts, with his interviewee. (Only if the interviewee is old enough/already uses cocaine, though!!) "He isn't one of those crazy homeless crack addicts," as Peasley would explain. Which, I mean, is true. Haru doesn't act all insane when high and would never get high before doing professional king business or whatever. It's just, for fun.

I can totally see Haru being the kind of celebrity that Rango would look up to. As for Ludwig... I can imagine him being a bit overwhelmed while meeting Haru for the first time. Especially since he's used to knowing Persephone. Haru isn't very affectionate or loving, but he's very friendly and outgoing to complete strangers. (Persephone somewhat has trust issues... You need to become close with her before she showers you with her love. Haru comes, trusting you with his own life, right out the gate) Both parents can be a bit... Intense with their (positive) interactions with people.

Overall, I'd say Haru isn't the BEST father... Certainly not the worst, either! He probably could do better as of paying more attention to his son, being affectionate, and not getting high all the time... But Peasley still feels plenty loved by him. There's a reason choosing which parent to stay with after the divorce was so hard! When push comes to shove, Haru would do anything for Peasley. Be it kill a person, or just give the kid a hug. And when compared to Bowser, Peach, Madame Broode, Discord, Rex, and Hooktail, it's pretty clear that Peasley got lucky when it comes to parents.